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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Practical Essays, by Alexander Bain
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Practical Essays
+
+Author: Alexander Bain
+
+Release Date: January 23, 2006 [EBook #17522]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRACTICAL ESSAYS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marc D'Hooghe.
+
+
+
+From images generously made available by Gallica
+(Bibliotheque Nationale de France) at http://gallica.bnf.fr.
+
+
+
+
+
+PRACTICAL ESSAYS.
+
+by
+
+ALEXANDER BAIN, LL.D.,
+
+EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF LOGIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.
+
+
+LONDON:
+
+1884.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The present volume is in great part a reprint of articles contributed to
+Reviews. The principal bond of union among them is their practical
+character. Beyond that, there is little to connect them apart from the
+individuality of the author and the range of his studies.
+
+That there is a certain amount of novelty in the various suggestions
+here embodied, will be admitted on the most cursory perusal. The farther
+question of their worth is necessarily left open.
+
+The first two essays are applications of the laws of mind to some
+prevailing Errors.
+
+The next two have an educational bearing: the one is on the subjects
+proper for Competitive Examinations; the other, on the present position
+of the much vexed Classical controversy.
+
+The fifth considers the range of Philosophical or Metaphysical Study,
+and the mode of conducting this study in Debating Societies.
+
+The sixth contains a retrospect of the growth of the Universities, with
+more especial reference to those of Scotland; and also a discussion of
+the University Ideal, as something more than professional teaching.
+
+The seventh is a chapter omitted from the author's "Science of
+Education"; it is mainly devoted to the methods of self-education by
+means of books. The situation thus assumed has peculiarities that admit
+of being handled apart from the general theory of Education.
+
+The eighth contends for the extension of liberty of thought, as regards
+Sectarian Creeds and Subscription to Articles. The total emancipation of
+the clerical body from the thraldom of subscription, is here advocated
+without reservation.
+
+The concluding essay discusses the Procedure of Deliberative Bodies. Its
+novelty lies chiefly in proposing to carry out, more thoroughly than has
+yet been done, a few devices already familiar. But for an extraordinary
+reluctance in all quarters to adapt simple and obvious remedies to a
+growing evil, the article need never have appeared. It so happens, that
+the case principally before the public mind at present, is the deadlock
+in the House of Commons; yet, had that stood alone, the author would not
+have ventured to meddle with the subject. The difficulty, however, is
+widely felt: and the principles here put forward are perfectly general;
+being applicable wherever deliberative bodies are numerously constituted
+and heavily laden with business.
+
+ABERDEEN, _March_, 1884.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+I.
+
+COMMON ERRORS ON THE MIND.
+
+
+Error regarding Mind as a whole--that Mind can be exerted without bodily
+expenditure.
+
+
+Errors with regard to the FEELINGS.
+
+I. Advice to take on cheerfulness.
+
+Authorities for this prescription.
+
+Presumptions against our ability to comply with it.
+
+Concurrence of the cheerful temperament with youth and health.
+
+With special corporeal vigour. With absence of care and anxiety.
+
+Limitation of Force applies to the mind.
+
+The only means of rescuing from dulness--to increase the supports and
+diminish the burdens of life.
+
+Difficulties In the choice of amusements
+
+II. Prescribing certain tastes, or pursuits, to persons
+indiscriminately.
+
+Tastes must repose as natural endowment, or else in prolonged education.
+
+III. Inverted relationship of Feelings and Imagination.
+
+Imagination does not determine Feeling, but the reverse.
+
+Examples:--Bacon, Shelley, Byron, Burke, Chalmers, the Orientals, the
+Chinese, the Celt, and the Saxon.
+
+IV. Fallaciousness of the view, that happiness is best gained by not
+being aimed at.
+
+Seemingly a self-contradiction.
+
+Butler's view of the disinterestedness of Appetite.
+
+Apart from pleasure and pain, Appetite would not move us.
+
+Parallel from other ends of pursuit--Health.
+
+Life has two aims--Happiness and Virtue--each to be sought directly on
+its own account.
+
+
+Errors connected with the WILL.
+
+I. Cost of energy, of Will. Need of a suitable physical confirmation.
+
+Courage, Prudence, Belief.
+
+II. Free-will a centre of various fallacies.
+
+Doctrines repudiated from the offence given to personal dignity.
+Operation of this on the history of Free-will.
+
+III. Departing from the usual rendering of a fact, treated as denying
+the fact.
+
+Metaphysical and Ethical examples.
+
+Alliance of Mind and Matter.
+
+Perception of a Material World.
+
+IV. The terms Freedom and Necessity miss the real point of the human
+will.
+
+V. Moral Ability and Inability.--Fallacy of seizing a question by the
+wrong end.
+
+Proper signification of Moral Inability--insufficiency of the ordinary
+motives, but not of all motives.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+II.
+
+ERRORS OF SUPPRESSED CORRELATIVES.
+
+
+Meanings of Relativity--intellectual and emotional.
+
+All impressions greatest at first. Law of Accommodation and habit.
+
+The pleasure of rest presupposes toil.
+
+Knowledge has its charm from previous ignorance.
+
+Silence is of value, after excess of speech.
+
+Previous pain not, in all cases, necessary to pleasure.
+
+Simplicity of Style praiseworthy only under prevailing artificiality. To
+extol Knowledge is to reprobate Ignorance.
+
+Authority appealed to, when in our favour, repudiated when against us.
+
+Fallacy of declaring all labour honourable alike.
+
+The happiness of Justice supposes reciprocity.
+
+Love and Benevolence need to be reciprocated.
+
+The _moral nature_ of God--a fallacy of suppressed correlative
+
+A perpetual miracle--a self-contradiction.
+
+Fallacy that, in the world, everything is mysterious.
+
+Proper meaning of Mystery.
+
+Locke and Newton on the true nature of Explanation
+
+The Understanding cannot transcend its own experience.--Time and Space,
+their Infinity.
+
+We can assimilate facts, and generalise the many into one. This alone
+constitutes Explanation.
+
+Example from Gravity: not now mysterious.
+
+Body and Mind. In what ways the mysteriousness of their union might be
+done away with.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+III.
+
+THE CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS.
+
+
+I. HISTORICAL SKETCH.
+
+First official recommendation of Competitive Examinations.
+
+Successive steps towards their adoption.
+
+First absolutely open Competition--in the India Service.
+
+Macaulay's Report on the subjects for examination and their values.
+
+Table of Subjects. Innovations of Lord Salisbury.
+
+An amended Table.
+
+
+II. THE SCIENCE CONSIDERED.
+
+Doubts expressed as to the expediency of the competitive system.
+
+Criticism of the present prescription for the higher Services.
+
+The Commissioners' Scheme of Mathematics and Natural Science
+objectionable.
+
+Classification of the Sciences into Abstract or fundamental, and
+Concrete or derivative.
+
+Those of the first class have a fixed order, the order of dependence.
+
+The other class is represented by the Natural History Sciences, which
+bring into play the Logic of Classification.
+
+Each of these is allied to one or other members of the primary Sciences.
+
+The Commissioners' Table misstates the relationships of the various
+Sciences.
+
+The London University Scheme a better model.
+
+The choice allowed by the Commissioners not founded on a proper
+principle.
+
+The higher Mathematics encouraged to excess.
+
+Amended scheme of comparative values.
+
+Position of Languages in the examinations.
+
+The place in education of Language generally.
+
+Purposes of Language acquisition.
+
+Altered position of the Classical, languages.
+
+Alleged benefits of these languages, after ceasing to be valuable in
+their original use.
+
+The teaching of the languages does not correspond to these secondary
+values.
+
+Languages are not a proper subject for competition with a view to
+appointments.
+
+For foreign service, there should be a pass examination in the languages
+needful.
+
+The training powers attributed to languages should be tested in its own
+character.
+
+Instead of the Languages of Greece, Rome, &c., substitute the History
+and Literature.
+
+Allocation of marks under this view.
+
+Objections answered.
+
+Certain subjects should be obligatory.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+IV.
+
+THE CLASSICAL CONTROVERSY.
+
+ITS PRESENT ASPECT.
+
+
+Attack on Classics by Combe, fifty years ago.
+
+Alternative proposals at the present day:--
+
+1. The existing system Attempts at extending the Science course under
+this system.
+
+2. Remitting Greek in favour of a modern language. A defective
+arrangement.
+
+3. Remitting both Latin and Greek in favour of French and German.
+
+4. Complete bifurcation of the Classical and the Modern sides.
+
+The Universities must be prepared to admit a thorough modern alternative
+course.
+
+Latin should not be compulsory in the modern side.
+
+Defences of Classics.
+
+The argument from the Greeks knowing only their own language--never
+answered.
+
+Admission that the teaching of classics needs improvement.
+
+Alleged results of contact with the great authors of Greece and
+Rome--unsupported by facts.
+
+Amount of benefit attainable without knowledge of originals.
+
+The element of training may be obtained from modern languages.
+
+The classics said to keep the mind free from party bias.
+
+Canon Liddon's argument in favour of Greek as a study.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+V.
+
+METAPHYSICS AND DEBATING SOCIETIES.
+
+Metaphysics here taken as comprising Psychology, Logic, and their
+dependent sciences.
+
+Importance of the two fundamental departments.
+
+The great problems, such as Free-will and External Perception should be
+run up into systematic Psychology.
+
+Logic also requires to be followed out systematically.
+
+Slender connection of Logic and Psychology.
+
+Derivative Sciences:--Education.
+
+Aesthetics--a corner of the larger field of Human Happiness
+
+The treatment of Happiness should be dissevered from Ethics
+
+Adam Smith's loose rendering of the conditions of happiness
+
+Sociology--treated, partly in its own field, and partly as a derivative
+of Psychology.
+
+Through it lies the way to Ethics.
+
+The sociological and the ethical ends compared.
+
+Factitious applications of Metaphysical study.
+
+Bearings on Theology, as regards both attack and defence.
+
+Incapable of supplying the place of Theology.
+
+Polemical handling of Metaphysics.
+
+Methodised Debate in the Greek Schools.
+
+Much must always be done by the solitary thinker.
+
+Best openings for Polemic:--Settling' the meanings of terms.
+
+Discussing the broader generalities.
+
+The Debate a light for mastery, and ill-suited for nice adjustments.
+
+The Essay should be a centre of amicable co-operation, which would have
+special advantages.
+
+Avoidance of such debates as are from their very nature interminable.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VI.
+
+THE UNIVERSITY IDEAL--PAST AND PRESENT.
+
+
+The Higher Teaching in Greece.
+
+The Middle Age and Boethius.
+
+Eve of the University.
+
+Separation of Philosophy from Theology.
+
+The Universities of Scotland founded--their history.
+
+First Period.--The Teaching Body.
+
+The Subjects taught and manner of teaching.
+
+Second Period.--The Reformation.
+
+Modified Curriculum--Andrew Melville.
+
+Attempted reforms in teaching.
+
+System of Disputation.
+
+Improvements constituting the transition to the Third Period.
+
+The Universities and the political revolutions.
+
+How far the Universities are essential to professional teaching:
+perennial alternative of Apprenticeship.
+
+The Ideal Graduate.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VII.
+
+THE ART OF STUDY.
+
+
+Study more immediately supposes learning from Books.
+
+The Greeks did not found an Art of Study, but afforded examples:
+Demosthenes.
+
+Quintilian's "Institutes" a landmark.
+
+Bacon's Essay on Studies. Hobbes.
+
+Milton's Tractate on Education.
+
+Locke's "Conduct of the Understanding" very specific as to rules of
+Study.
+
+Watts's work entitled "The Improvement of the Mind".
+
+What an Art of Study should attempt.
+
+Mode of approaching it.
+
+
+I. First Maxim--"Select a Text-book-in-chief".
+
+Violations of the maxim: Milton's system.
+
+Form or Method to be looked to, in the chief text-book.
+
+The Sciences. History.
+
+Non-methodical subjects.
+
+Repudiation of plans of study by some.
+
+Merits to be sought in a principal Text-book.
+
+Question as between old writers and new.
+
+Paradoxical extreme--one book and no more.
+
+Single all-sufficing books do not exist.
+
+Illustration from Locke's treatment of the Bible.
+
+
+II. "What constitutes the study of a book?"
+
+1. Copying literally:--Defects of this plan.
+
+2. Committing to memory word for word.
+
+Profitable only for brief portions of a book.
+
+Memory in extension and intension.
+
+3. Making Abstracts.
+
+Variety of modes of abstracting.
+
+4. Locke's plan of reading.
+
+A sense of Form must concur with abstracting.
+
+Example from the Practice of Medicine.
+
+Example from the Oratorical Art
+
+Choice of a series of Speeches to begin upon.
+
+An oratorical scheme essential.
+
+Exemplary Speeches.
+
+Illustration from the oratorical quality of negative tact. Macaulay's
+Speeches on Reform.
+
+Study for improvement in Style.
+
+
+III. Distributing the Attention in Reading.
+
+
+IV. Desultory Reading.
+
+
+V. Proportion of book-reading to Observation at first hand.
+
+
+VI. Adjuncts of Reading.--Conversation.
+
+Original Composition.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VIII.
+
+RELIGIOUS TESTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS.
+
+Pursuit of Truth has three departments:--order of nature, ends of
+practice, and the supernatural.
+
+Growth of Intolerance. How innovations became possible.
+
+In early society, religion a part of the civil government.
+
+Beginnings of toleration--dissentients from the State Church.
+
+Evils attendant on Subscription:--the practice inherently fallacious.
+
+Enforcement of creeds nugatory for the end in view.
+
+Dogmatic uniformity only a part of the religious character: element of
+Feeling.
+
+Recital of the general argument for religious liberty.
+
+Beginnings of prosecution for heresy in Greece:--Anaxagoras, Socrates,
+Plato, Aristotle.
+
+Forced reticence in recent times:--Carlyle, Macaulay, Lyell.
+
+Evil of disfranchising the Clerical class.
+
+Outspokenness a virtue to be encouraged.
+
+Special necessities of the present time: conflict of advancing knowledge
+with the received orthodoxy.
+
+Objections answered:--The Church has engaged itself to the State to
+teach given tenets.
+
+Possible abuse of freedom by the clergy.
+
+The history of the English Presbyterian Church exemplifies the absence
+of Subscription.
+
+Various modes of transition from the prevailing practice.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+IX.
+
+PROCEDURE OF DELIBERATIVE BODIES.
+
+Growing evil of the intolerable length of Debates.
+
+Hurried decisions might be obviated by allowing an interval previous to
+the vote.
+
+The oral debate reviewed.--Assumptions underlying it, fully examined.
+
+Evidence that, in Parliament, it is not the main engine of persuasion.
+
+Its real service is to supply the newspaper reports.
+
+Printing, without speaking, would serve the end in view.
+
+Proposal to print and distribute beforehand the reasons for each Motion.
+
+Illustration from decisions on Reports of Committees.
+
+Movers of Amendments to follow the same course.
+
+Further proposal to give to each member the liberty of circulating a
+speech in print, instead of delivering it.
+
+The dramatic element in legislation much thought of.
+
+Comparison of the advantages of reading and of listening.
+
+The numbers of backers to a motion should be proportioned to the size of
+the assembly.
+
+Absurdity of giving so much power to individuals.
+
+In the House of Commons twenty backers to each bill not too many.
+
+The advantages of printed speeches. Objections.
+
+Unworkability of the plan in Committees. How remedied.
+
+In putting questions to Ministers, there should be at least ten backers.
+
+How to compensate for the suppression of oratory in the
+House:--Sectional discussions.
+
+The divisions occasioned at one sitting to be taken at the beginning of
+the next.
+
+Every deliberative body must be free to determine what amount of
+speaking it requires.
+
+The English Parliamentary system considered as a model.
+
+Lord Derby and Lord Sherbrooke on the extension of printing.
+
+Defects of the present system becoming more apparent.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Notes and References in connection with Essay VIII. on Subscription_
+
+First imposition of Tests after the English Reformation.
+
+Dean Milman's speech in favour of total abolition of Tests.
+
+Tests in Scotland: Mr. Taylor Innes on the "Law of Creeds".
+
+Resumption of Subscription in the English Presbyterian Church.
+
+Other English Dissenting Churches.
+
+Presbyterian Church in the United States.
+
+French Protestant Church--its two divisions.
+
+Switzerland:--Canton of Valid.
+
+Independent Evangelical Church of Neuchatel.
+
+National Protestant Church of Geneva.
+
+Free Church of Geneva. Germanic Switzerland.
+
+Hungarian Reformed Church.
+
+Germany:--Recent prosecutions for heresy.
+
+Holland:--Calvinists and Modern School.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+I.
+
+COMMON ERRORS ON THE MIND.[1]
+
+
+On the prevailing errors on the mind, proposed to be considered in this
+paper, some relate to the Feelings, others to the Will.
+
+In regard to Mind as a whole, there are still to be found among us some
+remnants of a mistake, once universally prevalent and deeply rooted,
+namely, the opinion that mind is not only a different fact from
+body--which is true, and a vital and fundamental truth--but is to a
+greater or less extent independent of the body. In former times, the
+remark seldom occurred to any one, unless obtruded by some extreme
+instance, that to work the mind is also to work a number of bodily
+organs; that not a feeling can arise, not a thought can pass, without a
+set of concurring bodily processes. At the present day, however, this
+doctrine is very generally preached by men of science. The improved
+treatment of the insane has been one consequence of its reception. The
+husbanding of mental power, through a bodily _regime_, is a no less
+important application. Instead of supposing that mind is something
+indefinite, elastic, inexhaustible,--a sort of perpetual motion, or
+magician's bottle, all expenditure, and no supply,--we now find that
+every single throb of pleasure, every smart of pain, every purpose,
+thought, argument, imagination, must have its fixed quota of oxygen,
+carbon, and other materials, combined and transformed in certain
+physical organs. And, as the possible extent of physical transformation
+in each person's framework is limited in amount, the forces resulting
+cannot be directed to one purpose without being lost for other purposes.
+If an extra share passes to the muscles, there is less for the nerves;
+if the cerebral functions are pushed to excess, other functions have to
+be correspondingly abated. In several of the prevailing opinions about
+to be criticised, failure to recognise this cardinal truth is the prime
+source of mistake.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To begin with the FEELINGS.
+
+I. We shall first consider an advice or prescription repeatedly put
+forth, not merely by the unthinking mass, but by men of high repute: it
+is, that with a view to happiness, to virtue, and to the accomplishment
+of great designs, we should all be cheerful, light-hearted, gay.
+
+I quote a passage from the writings of one of the Apostolic Fathers, the
+Pastor of Hermas, as given in Dr. Donaldson's abstract:--
+
+"Command tenth affirms that sadness is the sister of doubt, mistrust,
+and wrath; that it is worse than all other spirits, and grieves the Holy
+Spirit. It is therefore to be completely driven away, and, instead of
+it, we are to put on cheerfulness, which is pleasing to God. 'Every
+cheerful man works well, and always thinks those things which are good,
+and despises sadness. The sad man, on the other hand, is always
+bad.'"[2]
+
+[FALLACY OF PRESCRIBING CHEERFULNESS.]
+
+Dugald Stewart inculcates Good-humour as a means of happiness and
+virtue; his language implying that the quality is one within our power
+to appropriate.
+
+In Mr. Smiles's work entitled "Self-Help," we find an analogous strain
+of remarks:--
+
+"To wait patiently, however, man must work cheerfully. Cheerfulness is
+an excellent working quality, imparting great elasticity to the
+character. As a Bishop has said, 'Temper is nine-tenths of
+Christianity,' so are cheerfulness and diligence [a considerable
+make-weight] nine-tenths of practical wisdom."
+
+Sir Arthur Helps, in those essays of his, combining profound observation
+with strong genial sympathies and the highest charms of style,
+repeatedly adverts to the dulness, the want of sunny light-hearted
+enjoyment of the English temperament, and, on one occasion, piquantly
+quotes the remark of Froissart on our Saxon progenitors: "They took
+their pleasures sadly, as was their fashion; _ils se divertirent moult
+tristement a la mode de leur pays_"
+
+There is no dispute as to the value or the desirableness of this
+accomplishment. Hume, in his "Life," says of himself, "he was ever
+disposed to see the favourable more than the unfavourable side of
+things; a turn of mind which it is more happy to possess than to be born
+to an estate of ten thousand a year". This sanguine, happy temper, is
+merely another form of the cheerfulness recommended to general adoption.
+
+I contend, nevertheless, that to bid a man be habitually cheerful, he
+not being so already, is like bidding him treble his fortune, or add a
+cubit to his stature. The quality of a cheerful, buoyant temperament
+partly belongs to the original cast of the constitution--like the bone,
+the muscle, the power of memory, the aptitude for science or for music;
+and is partly the outcome of the whole manner of life. In order to
+sustain the quality, the physical (as the support of the mental) forces
+of the system must run largely in one particular channel; and, of
+course, as the same forces are not available elsewhere, so notable a
+feature of strength will be accompanied with counterpart weaknesses or
+deficiencies. Let us briefly review the facts bearing upon the point.
+
+The first presumption in favour of the position is grounded in the
+concomitance of the cheerful temperament with youth, health, abundant
+nourishment. It appears conspicuously along with whatever promotes
+physical vigour. The state is partially attained during holidays, in
+salubrious climates, and health-bringing avocations; it is lost, in the
+midst of toils, in privation of comforts, and in physical prostration.
+The seeming exception of elated spirits in bodily decay, in fasting, and
+in ascetic practices, is no disproof of the general principle, but
+merely the introduction of another principle, namely, that we can feed
+one part of the system at the expense of degrading and prematurely
+wasting others.
+
+[LIGHT-HEARTEDNESS NOT IN OUR OWN POWER.]
+
+A second presumption is furnished also from our familiar experience. The
+high-pitched, hilarious temperament and disposition commonly appear in
+company with some well-marked characteristics of corporeal vigour. Such
+persons are usually of a robust mould; often large and full in person,
+vigorous in circulation and in digestion; able for fatigue, endurance,
+and exhausting pleasures. An eminent example of this constitution was
+seen in Charles James Fox, whose sociability, cheerfulness, gaiety, and
+power of dissipation were the marvel of his age. Another example might
+be quoted in the admirable physical frame of Lord Palmerston. It is no
+more possible for an ordinarily constituted person to emulate the flow
+and the animation of these men, than it is to digest with another
+person's stomach, or to perform the twelve labours of Hercules.
+
+A third fact, less on the surface, but no less certain, is, that the men
+of cheerful and buoyant temperament, as a rule, sit easy to the cares
+and obligations of life. They are not much given to care and anxiety as
+regards their own affairs, and it is not to be expected that they should
+be more anxious about other people's. In point of fact, this is the
+constitution of somewhat easy virtue: it is not distinguished by a
+severe, rigid attention to the obligations and the punctualities of
+life. We should not be justified in calling such persons selfish; still
+less should we call them cold-hearted: their exuberance overflows upon
+others in the form of heartiness, geniality, joviality, and even lavish
+generosity. Still, they can seldom be got to look far before them; they
+do not often assume the painfully circumspect attitude required in the
+more arduous enterprises. They are not conscientious in trifles. They
+cast off readily the burdensome parts of life. All which is in keeping
+with our principle. To take on burdens and cares is to draw upon the
+vital forces--to leave so much the less to cheerfulness and buoyant
+spirits. The same corporeal framework cannot afford a lavish expenditure
+in several different ways at one time. Fox had no long-sightedness, no
+tendency to forecast evils, or to burden himself with possible
+misfortunes. It is very doubtful if Palmerston could have borne the part
+of Wellington in the Peninsula; his easy-going temperament would not
+have submitted itself to all the anxieties and precautions of that vast
+enterprise. But Palmerston was hale and buoyant, and the Prime Minister
+of England at eighty: Wellington began to be infirm at sixty.
+
+[LIMITATIONS OF THE MENTAL FORCES.]
+
+To these three experimental proofs we may add the confirmation derived
+from the grand doctrine named the Correlation, Conservation,
+Persistence, or Limitation of Force, as applied to the human body and
+the human mind. We cannot create force anywhere; we merely appropriate
+existing force. The heat of our fires has been derived from the solar
+fire. We cannot lift a weight in the hand without the combustion of a
+certain amount of food; we cannot think a thought without a similar
+demand; and the force that goes in one way is unavailable in any other
+way. While we are expending ourselves largely in any single function--in
+muscular exercise, in digestion, in thought and feeling, the remaining
+functions must continue for the time in comparative abeyance. Now, the
+maintenance of a high strain of elated feeling, unquestionably costs a
+great deal to the forces of the system. All the facts confirm this high
+estimate. An unusually copious supply of arterial blood to the brain is
+an indispensable requisite, even although other organs should be
+partially starved, and consequently be left in a weak condition, or else
+deteriorate before their time. To support the excessive demand of power
+for one object, less must be exacted from other functions. Hard bodily
+labour and severe mental application sap the very foundations of
+buoyancy; they may not entail much positive suffering, but they are
+scarcely compatible with exuberant spirits. There may be exceptional
+individuals whose _total_ of power is a very large figure, who can bear
+more work, endure more privation, and yet display more buoyancy, without
+shortened life, than the average human being. Hardly any man can attain
+commanding greatness without being constituted larger than his fellows
+in the sum of human vitality. But until this is proved to be the fact
+in any given instance, we are safe in presuming that extraordinary
+endowment in one thing implies deficiency in other things. More
+especially must we conclude, provisionally at least, that a buoyant,
+hopeful, elated temperament lacks some other virtues, aptitudes, or
+powers, such as are seen flourishing in the men whose temperament is
+sombre, inclining to despondency. Most commonly the contradictory demand
+is reconciled by the proverbial "short life and merry".
+
+Adverting now to the object that Helps had so earnestly at
+heart--namely, to rouse and rescue the English population from their
+comparative dulness to a more lively and cheerful flow of existence--let
+us reflect how, upon the foregoing principles, this is to be done. Not
+certainly by an eloquent appeal to the nation to get up and be amused.
+The process will turn out to be a more circuitous one.
+
+The mental conformation of the English people, which we may admit to be
+less lively and less easily amused than the temperament of Irishmen,
+Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians, or even the German branch of our own
+Teutonic race, is what it is from natural causes, whether remote
+descent, or that coupled with the operation of climate and other local
+peculiarities. How long would it take, and what would be the way to
+establish in us a second nature on the point of cheerfulness?
+
+Again, with the national temperament such as it is, there may be great
+individual differences; and it may be possible by force of
+circumstances, to improve the hilarity and the buoyancy of any given
+person. Many of our countrymen are as joyous themselves, and as much the
+cause of joy in others, as the most light-hearted Irishman, or the
+gayest Frenchman or Italian. How shall we increase the number of such,
+so as to make them the rule rather than the exception?
+
+[SOLE MEANS OF ATTAINING CHEERFULLNESS.]
+
+The only answer not at variance with the laws of the human constitution
+is--_Increase the supports and diminish the burdens of life_.
+
+For example, if by any means you can raise the standard of health and
+longevity, you will at once effect a stride in the direction sought. But
+what an undertaking is this! It is not merely setting up what we call
+sanitary arrangements, to which, in our crowded populations, there must
+soon be a limit reached (for how can you secure to the mass of men even
+the one condition of sufficient breathing-space?), it is that health
+cannot be attained, in any high general standard, without worldly means
+far above the average at the disposal of the existing population; while
+the most abundant resources are often neutralised by ineradicable
+hereditary taint. To which it is to be added, that mankind can hardly as
+yet be said to be in earnest in the matter of health.
+
+Farther: it is especially necessary to cheerfulness, that a man should
+not be overworked, as many of us are, whether from choice or from
+necessity. Much, I believe, turns upon this circumstance. Severe toil
+consumes the forces of the constitution, without leaving the remainder
+requisite for hilarity of tone. The Irishman fed upon three meals of
+potatoes a day, the lazy Highlander, the Lazaroni of Naples living upon
+sixpence a week, are very poorly supported; but then their vitality is
+so little drawn upon by work, that they may exceed in buoyancy of
+spirits the well-fed but hard-worked labourer. We, the English people,
+would not change places with them, notwithstanding: our _ideal_ is
+industry with abundance; but then our industry sobers our temperament,
+and inclines us to the dulness that Helps regrets. Possibly, we may one
+day hit a happier mean; but to the human mind extremes have generally
+been found easiest.
+
+Once more: the light-hearted races trouble themselves little about their
+political constitution, about despotism or liberty; they enjoy the
+passing moments of a despot's smiles, and if he turns round and crushes
+them, they quietly submit. We live in dread of tyranny. Our liberty is
+a serious object; it weighs upon our minds. Now any weight upon the mind
+is so much taken from our happiness; hilarity may attend on poverty, but
+not so well on a serious, forecasting disposition. Our regard to the
+future makes us both personally industrious and politically anxious;
+a temper not to be amused with the relaxations of the Parisian in his
+_cafe_ on the boulevards, or with the Sunday merry-go-round of the
+light-hearted Dane. Our very pleasures have still a sadness in them.
+
+Then, again, what are to be our amusements? By what recreative
+stimulants shall we irradiate the gloom of our idle hours and vacation
+periods? Doubtless there have been many amusements invented by the
+benefactors of our species--society, games, music, public
+entertainments, books; and in a well-chosen round of these, many
+contrive to pass their time in a tolerable flow of satisfaction. But
+they all cost something; they all cost money, either directly, to
+procure them, or indirectly, to be educated for them. There are few very
+cheap pleasures. Books are not so difficult to obtain, but the enjoying
+of them in any high degree implies an amount of cultivation that cannot
+be had cheaply.
+
+Moreover, look at the difficulties that beset the pursuit of amusements.
+How fatiguing are they very often! How hard to distribute the time and
+the strength between them and our work or our duties! It needs some art
+to steer one's way in the midst of variety of pleasures. Hence there
+will always be, in a cautious-minded people, a disposition to remain
+satisfied with few and safe delights; to assume a sobriety of aims that
+Helps might call dulness, but that many of us call the middle path.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[FALLACY OF PRESCRIBING TASTES.]
+
+II. A second error against the limits of the human powers is the
+prescribing to persons indiscriminately, certain tastes, pursuits, and
+subjects of interest, on the ground that what is a spring of enjoyment
+to one or a few may be taken up, as a matter of course, by others with
+the same relish. It is, indeed, a part of happiness to have some taste,
+occupation, or pursuit, adequate to charm and engross us--a ruling
+passion, a favourite study. Accordingly, the victims of dulness and
+_ennui_ are often advised to betake themselves to something of this
+potent character. Kingsley, in his little book on the "Wonders of the
+Shore," endeavoured to convert mankind at large into marine naturalists;
+and, some time ago, there appeared in the newspapers a letter from
+Carlyle, regretting that he himself had not been indoctrinated into the
+zoology of our waysides. I have heard a man out of health, hypochondriac,
+and idle, recommended to begin botany, geology, or chemistry, as a
+diversion of his misery. The idea is plausible and superficial. An
+overpowering taste for any subject--botany, zoology, antiquities,
+music--is properly affirmed to be born with a man. The forces of the
+brain must from the first incline largely to that one species of
+impressions, to which must be added years of engrossing pursuit. We may
+gaze with envy at the fervour of a botanist over his dried plants, and
+may wish to take up so fascinating a pursuit: we may just as easily wish
+to be Archimedes when he leaped out of the bath; a man cannot re-cast
+his brain nor re-live his life. A taste of a high order, founded on
+natural endowment, formed by education, and strengthened by active
+devotion, is also paid for by the atrophy of other tastes, pursuits, and
+powers. Carlyle might have contracted an interest in frogs, and spiders,
+and bees, and the other denizens of the wayside, but it would have been
+with the surrender of some other interest, the diversion of his genius
+out of its present channels. The strong emotions of the mind are not to
+be turned off and on, to this subject and to that. If you begin early
+with a human being, you may impress a particular direction upon the
+feelings, you may even cross a natural tendency, and work up a taste on
+a small basis of predisposition. Place any youth in the midst of
+artists, and you may induce a taste for art that shall at length be
+decided and strong. But if you were to take the same person in middle
+life and immure him in a laboratory, that he might become an
+enthusiastic chemist, the limits of human nature would probably forbid
+your success.
+
+Such very strong tastes as impart a high and perennial zest to one's
+life are merely the special direction of a natural exuberance of feeling
+or emotion. A spare and thin emotional temperament will undoubtedly have
+preferences, likings and dislikings, but it can never supply the
+material for fervour or enthusiasm in anything.
+
+The early determining of natural tastes is a subject of high practical
+interest. We shall only remark at present that a varied and broad
+groundwork of early education is the best known device for this end.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[RELATION OF FEELINGS TO IMAGINATION.]
+
+III. A third error, deserving of brief comment, is a singular inversion
+of the relationship of the Feelings to the Imagination. It is frequently
+affirmed, both in criticism and in philosophy, that the Feelings depend
+upon, or have their basis in, the Imagination.
+
+An able and polished writer, discussing the character of Edmund Burke,
+remarks: "The passions of Burke were strong; this is attributable in
+great measure to the intensity of the imaginative faculty". Again,
+Dugald Stewart, observing upon the influence of the Imagination on
+Happiness, says: "All that part of our happiness or misery which arises
+from our _hopes_ or our _fears_ derives its existence entirely from the
+power of imagination". He even goes the length of affirming that
+"_cowardice_ is entirely a disease of the imagination". Another writer
+accounts for the intensity of the amatory sentiments in Robert Burns by
+the strength of his imagination.
+
+[IMAGINATION GROUNDED IN FEELING.]
+
+Now, I venture to affirm that this view very nearly reverses the fact.
+The Imagination is determined by the Feelings, and not the Feelings by
+the Imagination. Intensity of feeling, emotion, or passion, is the
+earlier fact: the intellect swayed and controlled by feeling, shaping
+forms to correspond with an existing emotional tone, is Imagination. It
+was not the imaginative faculty that gave Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley,
+and the poets generally, their great enjoyment of nature; but the love
+of nature, pre-existing, turned the attention and the thoughts upon
+nature, filling the mind as a consequence with the impressions, images,
+recollections of nature; out of which grew the poetic imaginings.
+Imagination is a compound of intellectual power and feeling. The
+intellectual power may be great, but if it is not accompanied with
+feeling, it will not minister to feeling; or it will minister to many
+feelings by turns, and to none in particular. As far as the intellectual
+power of a poet goes, few men have excelled Bacon. He had a mind stored
+with imagery, able to produce various and vivid illustrations of
+whatever thought came before him; but these illustrations touched no
+deep feeling; they were fresh, original, racy, fanciful, picturesque,
+a play of the head that never touched the heart. The man was by nature
+cold; he had not the emotional depth or compass of an average
+Englishman. Perhaps his strongest feeling of an enlarged or generous
+description was for human progress, but it did not rise to passion;
+there was no fervour, no fury in it. Compare him with Shelley on the
+same subject, and you will see the difference between meagreness and
+intensity of feeling. What intellect can be, without strong feeling,
+we have in Bacon; what intellect is, with strong feeling, we have in
+Shelley. The feeling gives the tone to the thoughts; sets the intellect
+at work to find language having its own intensity, to pile up lofty and
+impressive circumstances; and then we have the poet, the orator, the
+thoughts that breathe, and the words that burn. Bacon wrote on many
+impressive themes--on Truth, on Love, on Religion, on Death, and on the
+Virtues in detail; he was always original, illustrative, fanciful; if
+intellectual means and resources could make a man feel in these things,
+he would have felt deeply; yet he never did. The material of feeling is
+not contained in the intellect; it has a seat and a source apart. There
+was nothing in mere intellectual gifts to make Byron a misanthrope: but,
+given that state of the feelings, the intellect would be detained and
+engrossed by it; would minister to, expand, and illustrate it; and
+intellect so employed is Imagination.
+
+Burke had indisputably a powerful imagination. He had both
+elements:--the intellectual power, or the richly stored and highly
+productive mind; and the emotional power, or the strength of passion
+that gives the lead to intellect. His intellectual strength was often
+put forth in the Baconian manner of illustration, in light and sportive
+fancies. There were many occasions where his feelings were not much
+roused. He had topics to urge, views to express, and he poured out
+arguments, and enlivened them with illustrations. He was, on those
+occasions, an able expounder, and no more. But when his passions were
+stirred to the depths by the French Revolution, his intellectual power,
+taking a new flight, supplied him with figures of extraordinary
+intensity; it was no longer the play of a cool man, but the thunders of
+an aroused man; we have then "the hoofs of the swinish multitude,"--"the
+ten thousand swords leaping from their scabbards". Such feelings were
+not produced by the speaker's imagination: they were produced by
+themselves; they had their independent source in the region of feeling:
+coupled with adequate powers of intellect, they burst out into strong
+imagery.[3]
+
+The Orientals, as a rule, are distinguished for imaginative flights.
+This is apparent in their religion, their morality, their poetry, and
+their science. The explanation is to be sought in the strength of their
+feelings, coupled with a certain intellectual force. The same intellect,
+without the feelings, would have issued differently. The Chinese are the
+exception. They want the feelings, and they want the imagination. They
+are below Europeans in this respect. When we bring before them our own
+imaginative themes, our own cast of religion, accommodated as it is to
+our own peculiar temperament, we fail in the desired effect. Our august
+mysteries are responded to, not with reverential regard, but with, cold
+analysis.
+
+The Celt and the Saxon are often contrasted on the point of imagination;
+the prior fact is the comparative endowment for emotion.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[HOW HAPPINESS SHOULD BE AIMED AT.]
+
+IV. There is a fallacious mode of presenting the attainment of
+happiness; namely, that happiness is best secured by not being aimed at.
+We should be aiming always at something else.
+
+When examined closely, the doctrine resolves itself into a kind of
+paradox. All sorts of puzzles come up when we attempt to follow it to
+its consequences.
+
+We might ask, first, whether there is any other object of pursuit in the
+same predicament--wealth, health, knowledge, fame, power. These are,
+every one, a means or instrument of happiness, if not happiness itself.
+Must we, then, in the case of each, avoid aiming straight at the goal?
+must we look askance in some other direction?
+
+Next, in the case of happiness proper, are we to aim at nothing at all,
+to drift at random; or may we aim at a definite object, provided it is
+not happiness; or, lastly, is there one side aim in particular that we
+must take? The answer here would probably be--Aim at duty in general,
+and at the good of others in particular. These ends are not the same as
+happiness, yet by keeping them steadily in the view, and not thinking of
+self at all, we shall eventually realise our greatest happiness.
+
+Without, at present, raising any question as to the fact alleged, we
+must again remark that the prescription seems to contradict itself.
+Moralists of the austere type will never allow us to pursue happiness at
+all; we must never mention the thing to ourselves: duty or virtue is the
+one single aim and end of being. Such teachers may be right or they may
+be wrong, but they do not contradict themselves. When, however, we are
+told that by aiming at virtue, we are on the best possible road to
+happiness, this is but another way of letting us into the secret of
+happiness, of putting us on the right, instead of on the wrong, track,
+to attain it. Our teacher assumes that we are in search of happiness,
+and he tells us how we are to proceed; not by keeping it straight in the
+view, but by keeping virtue straight in the view. Instead of pointing us
+to the vulgar happiness-seeker who would take the goal in a line, he
+corrects the course, and shows us the deviation that is necessary in
+order to arrive at it; like the sailor making allowance for the
+deviation of the magnetic pole, in steering. Happiness is not gained by
+a point-blank aim; we must take a boomerang flight in some other line,
+and come back upon the target by an oblique or reflected movement. It is
+the idea of Young on the Love of Praise (Satire I., 5.)--
+
+    The love of Praise howe'er concealed by art,
+    Reigns more or less and glows in every heart,
+    The proud to gain it, toils on toils endure,
+    _The modest shun it but to make it sure_.
+
+Under this corrected method, we are happiness seekers all the same; only
+our aims are better directed, and our fruition more assured.
+
+These remarks are intended to show that the doctrine of making men aim
+at virtue, in order to happiness, has no further effect than to teach us
+to include the interests of others with our own; by showing that our own
+interests do not thereby suffer, but the contrary. The doctrine does not
+substitute a virtuous motive for a selfish one; it is a refined artifice
+for squaring the two. The world is no doubt a gainer by the change of
+view, although the individual is not made really more meritorious.
+
+We must next consider whether, in fact, the oblique aim at happiness is
+really the most effectual.
+
+A few words, first, as to the original source of the doctrine of a
+devious course. Bishop Butler is renowned for his distinction between
+Self-Love and Appetite; he contends that in Appetite the object of
+pursuit is not the pleasure of eating, but the food: consequently,
+eating is not properly a self-seeking act, it is an indifferent or
+disinterested act, to which there is an incidental accompaniment of
+pleasure. We should, under the stimulus of Hunger, seek the food,
+whether it gave us pleasure or not.
+
+Now, any truth that there is in Butler's view amounts to this:--In our
+Appetites we are not thinking every instant of subduing pain and
+attaining pleasure; we are ultimately moved by these feelings; but,
+having once seen that the medium of their gratification is a certain
+material object (food), we direct our whole aim to procuring that. The
+hungry wolf ceases to think of his pains of hunger when he is in sight
+of a sheep; but for these pains he would have paid no heed to the sheep;
+yet when the sheep has to be caught, the hunger is submerged for the
+time; the only relevant course, even on its account, is to give the
+whole mind and body to the chase of the sheep. Butler calls this
+indifferent or disinterested pursuit; and as much as says, that the wolf
+is not self-seeking, but sheep-seeking, in its chase. Now, it is quite
+true that if the wolf could give no place in its mind for anything but
+its hungry pains, it would be in a bad way. It is wiser than that; it
+knows the remedy; it is prepared to dismiss the pains from its thoughts,
+in favour of a concentrated attention upon the distant flock. This
+proves nothing as to its unselfishness; nor does it prove that Appetite
+is a different thing from self-seeking or self-love.
+
+[APPETITE DECLARED UNSELFISH.]
+
+There may be disinterested motives in our constitution; but Appetite is
+not in any sense one of these. We may have instincts answering to the
+traditional phrase used in defining instinct, "a blind propensity" to
+act, without aiming at anything in particular, and without any
+expectation of pleasure or benefit. Such instincts would conform to
+Butler's notion of appetite: they would be entirely out of the course of
+self-love or self-seeking of any sort. Whether the nest-building
+activity of birds, and the constructiveness of ants, bees, and beavers,
+comply with this condition, I do not undertake to say. There is one
+process better known to ourselves, not exactly an instinct, but probably
+a mixture of instinct and acquirement--I mean the process of
+Imitation--which works very much upon this model. Although coming under
+the control of the Will, yet in its own proper character it operates
+blindly, or without purpose; neither courting pleasure, nor chasing
+pain. In like manner, Sympathy, in its most characteristic form,
+proceeds without any distinct aim of pleasure to ourselves.
+
+Nothing of this can be affirmed of the Appetites. In them, nature places
+us, as Bentham says, under the government of two sovereign masters,
+_pain_ and _pleasure_. An appetite would cease to move us, if its
+painful and pleasurable accompaniments were done away with. It matters
+not that we remit our attention, at times, to the pain or the pleasure;
+these are always in the background; and the strength of the appetite is
+their strength.
+
+So far as concerns Butler's example of the Appetites, there is no case
+for the view that to obtain happiness we must avoid aiming at it
+directly. If we do not aim at the pleasure in its own subjective
+character, we aim at the thing that immediately brings the pleasure;
+which is, for all practical purposes, to aim at the pleasure.
+
+The prescription to look away from the final end, Happiness, in order to
+secure that end, may be tested on the example of one of our intermediate
+pursuits, as Health. It is not a good thing to be always dwelling on the
+state of our health: by doing so, we get into a morbid condition of
+self-consciousness, which is in itself pernicious. It does not follow
+that we are to live at random, without ever giving a thought to our
+health. There is a plain middle course. Guided by our own experience,
+and by the experience of those that have gone before us, we arrange our
+plan of life so as to preserve health; and our actions consist in
+adhering to that plan in the detail. So long as our scheme answers
+expectation, we think of nothing but of putting it in force, as occasion
+arises; we do not dwell upon our states of good health at all. It is
+some interruption that makes us self-conscious; and then it is that we
+have to exercise ourselves about a remedial course. This, when found, is
+likewise objectively pursued; our only subjectiveness lies in being
+aware of gradual recovery; and we are glad to get back to the state of
+paying no attention to the workings of our viscera. We do not,
+therefore, remit our pursuit; only, it is enough to observe the routine
+of outward actions, whose sole motive is to keep us in health.
+
+The pursuit of the still wider end, Happiness, has much in common with
+the narrower pursuit. When we have discovered what things promote, and
+what things impede our happiness, we transfer our attention to these, as
+the most direct mode of compassing the end. If we are satisfied that
+working for other people brings us happiness, we work accordingly; this
+is no side aim, it is as direct as any aim can be. It may involve
+immediate sacrifice, but that does not alter the case; we can get no
+considerable happiness from any source without temporary sacrifice.
+
+[HAPPINESS AND VIRTUE DISTINCT AIMS.]
+
+If it be said that the best mode of attaining happiness is to put
+ourselves entirely out of account, and to work for others exclusively,
+this, as already noted, is a self-contradiction. It is to tell people
+not to think of their own happiness, and yet to know that they are
+securing that in the most effectual way. It is also very questionable,
+indeed absolutely erroneous, in fact. The most apparent way to secure
+happiness is to ply all the known means of happiness, just as far as,
+and no farther than, they are discovered to produce the effect. We must
+keep a check upon the methods that we employ, and abandon those that do
+not answer. So long as we find happiness in serving others, so long we
+continue in that course. And it is a melancholy fact that Pope's bold
+assertion--"Virtue alone is happiness below,"--cannot be upheld against
+the stern realities of life. Life needs to be made up of two aims--the
+one, Happiness, the other Virtue, each on its own account. There is a
+certain mutual connection of the two, but all attempts at making out
+their identity are failures.
+
+It is of very great importance to teach men the bearings of virtue on
+happiness, so far as these are known. There will, however, always remain
+a portion of duty that detracts from happiness, and must be done as
+duty, nevertheless. Men are entitled to pursue happiness as directly as
+ever they please; only, they must couple with the pursuit their round of
+duties to others; in which they may or may not reap a share of the
+coveted good for self.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Let us, next, consider some of the difficulties and mistakes attaching
+to the WILL. Here there are the questions of world-renown, questions
+known even in Pandemonium--Free-will, Responsibility, Moral Ability, and
+Inability. It is now suspected, on good grounds, that, on these
+questions, we have somehow got into a wrong groove--that we are lost in
+a maze of our own constructing.
+
+[A STRONG WILL THE GIFT OF NATURE.]
+
+I. We shall first notice a misconception akin to some of the foregoing
+mistakes respecting the feelings. In addressing men with a view to spur
+their activity, there is usually a too low estimate of what is implied
+in great and energetic efforts of will. Here, exactly as in the cheerful
+temperament, we find a certain constitutional endowment, a certain
+natural force of character, having its physical supports of brain,
+muscle, and other tissue; and neither persuasion, nor even education,
+can go very far to alter that character. If there be anything at all in
+the observations of phrenology, it is the connection of energetic
+determination with size of brain. Lay your hand first on the head of an
+energetic man, and then on the head of a feeble man, and you will find
+a difference that is not to be explained away. Now it passes all the
+powers of persuasion and education combined to make up for a great
+cranial inequality. Something always comes of assiduous discipline; but
+to set up a King Alfred, or a Luther, as a model to be imitated by an
+ordinary man, on the points of energy, perseverance, endurance, courage,
+is to pass the bounds of the human constitution. Persistent energy of a
+high order, like the temperament for happiness, costs a great deal to
+the human system. A large share of the total forces of the constitution
+go to support it; and the diversion of power often leaves great defects
+in other parts of the character, as for example, a low order of the
+sensibilities, and a narrow range of sympathies. The men of
+extraordinary vigour and activity--our Roman emperors and conquering
+heroes--are often brutal and coarse. Nature does not supply power
+profusely on all sides; and delicate sympathies, of themselves, use up
+a very large fraction of the forces of the organisation. Even
+intellectually estimated, the power of sympathising with many various
+minds and conditions would occupy as much room in the brain as a
+language, or an accomplishment. A man both energetic and sympathetic--a
+Pericles, a King Alfred, an Oliver Cromwell--is one of nature's giants,
+several men in one.
+
+There is no more notable phase of our active nature than Courage. Great
+energy generally implies great courage, and courage--at least in
+nine-tenths of its amount--comes by nature. To exhort any one to be
+courageous is waste of words. We may animate, for the time, a naturally
+timid person, by explaining away the signs of danger, and by assuming a
+confident attitude ourselves; but the absolute force of courage is what
+neither we nor the man himself can add to. A long and careful education
+might effect a slight increase in this, as in other aspects of energy of
+character: we can hardly say how much, because it is a matter that is
+scarcely ever subjected to the trial; the very conditions of the
+experiment have not been thought of.
+
+The moral qualities expressed by Prudence, Forethought, Circumspection,
+are talked of with a like insufficient estimate of what they cost. Great
+are the rewards of prudence, but great also is the expenditure of the
+prudent man. To retain an abiding sense of all the possible evils, risks
+and contingencies of an ordinary man's position--professional, family,
+and personal--is to go about under a constant burden; the difference
+between a thorough-going and an easy-going circumspection is a large
+additional demand upon the forces of the brain. The being on the alert
+to duck the head at every bullet is a charge to the vital powers; so
+much so, that there comes a point when it is better to run risks than to
+pile up costly precautions and bear worrying anxieties.
+
+Lastly, the attribute of our active nature called Belief, Confidence,
+Conviction, is subject to the same line of remark. This great
+quality--the opposite of distrust and timidity, the ally of courage, the
+adjunct of a buoyant temperament--is not fed upon airy nothings. It is,
+indeed, a true mental quality, an offshoot of our mental nature; yet,
+although not material, it is based upon certain forces of the physical
+constitution; it grows when these grow, and is nourished when they are
+nourished. People possessed of great confidence have it as a gift all
+through life, like a broad chest or a good digestion. Preaching and
+education have their fractional efficacy, and deserve to be plied,
+provided the operator is aware of nature's impassable barriers, and does
+not suppose that he is working by charm. It is said of Hannibal that he
+dissolved obstructions in the Alps by vinegar; in the moral world,
+barriers are not to be removed either by acetic acid or by honey.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[PREJUDICES DUE TO PERSONAL DIGNITY.]
+
+II. The question of Free-will might be a text for discoursing on some of
+the most inveterate erroneous tendencies of the mind.
+
+For one thing, it gives occasion to remark on the influence exerted over
+our opinions by the feeling of Personal Dignity. Of sources of bias,
+prejudices, "Idola," "fallacies _a priori_" this may be allowed
+precedence. For example, the maxim has been enunciated by some
+philosophers, that, of two differing opinions, preference is to be given
+(not to what is true, but) to what ennobles and dignifies human nature.
+One of the objections seriously entertained against Darwin's theory is
+that it humbles our ancestral pride. So, to ascribe to our mental powers
+a material foundation is held to be degrading to our nobler part. Again,
+a philosopher of our own day--Sir W. Hamilton--has placed on the
+title-page of his principal work this piece of rhetoric: "On earth,
+there is nothing great but man; in man, there is nothing great but
+mind". Now one would suppose that there are on earth many things besides
+man deserving the appellation of "great"; and that the mechanism of the
+body is, in any view, quite as remarkable a piece of work as the
+mechanism of the mind. There was one step more that Hamilton, as an
+Aristotelian, should have made: "In mind, there is nothing great but
+intellect". Doubtless, we ought not to dissect an epigram; but epigrams
+brought into a perverting contact with science are not harmless. Such
+gross pandering to human vanity must be held as disfiguring a work on
+philosophy.
+
+The sentiment of dignity has much to answer for in the doctrine of
+Free-will. In Aristotle, the question had not assumed its modern
+perplexity; but the vicious element of factitious personal importance
+had already peeped out, it being one of the few points wherein the bias
+of the feelings operated decidedly in his well-balanced mind. In
+maintaining the doctrine that vice is voluntary, he argues, that if
+virtue is voluntary, vice (its opposite) must also be voluntary; now to
+assert virtue not to be voluntary would be to cast an _indignity_ upon
+it. This is the earliest association of the feeling of personal dignity
+with the exercise of the human will.
+
+[FALSE PRIDE IN CONNECTION WITH FREE-WILL.]
+
+The Stoics are commonly said to have started the free-will difficulty.
+This needs an explanation. A leading tenet of theirs was the distinction
+between things in our power and things not in our power; and they
+greatly overstrained the limits of what is in our power. Looking at the
+sentiment about death, where the _idea_ is everything, and at many of
+our desires and aversions, also purely sentimental, that is, made and
+unmade by our education (as, for example, pride of birth), they
+considered that pains in general, even physical pains and grief for
+the loss of friends, could be got over by a mental discipline, by
+intellectually holding them not to be pains. They extolled and magnified
+the power of the will that could command such a transcendent discipline,
+and infused an emotion of _pride_ into the consciousness of this
+greatness of will. In subsequent ages, poets, moralists, and theologians
+followed up the theme; and the appeal to the pride of will may be said
+to be a standing engine of moral suasion. This originating of a point of
+honour or dignity in connection with our Will has been the main lure in
+bringing us into the jungle of Free-will and Necessity.
+
+It is in the Alexandrian school that we find the next move in the
+question. In Philo Judaeus, the good man is spoken of as free, the
+wicked man as a slave. Except as the medium of a compliment to virtue,
+the word "freedom" is not very apposite, seeing that, to the highest
+goodness, there attaches submission or restraint, rather than liberty.
+
+The early Christian Fathers (notably Augustine) advanced the question to
+the Theological stage, by connecting it with the great doctrines of
+Original Sin and Predestination; in which stage it shared all the
+speculative difficulties attaching to these doctrines. The Theological
+world, however, has always been divided between Free-will and Necessity;
+and probably the weightiest names are to be found among the
+Necessitarians. No man ever brought greater acumen into theological
+controversy than did Jonathan Edwards; and he took the side of
+Necessity.
+
+Latterly, however, since the question has become one of pure
+metaphysics, Free-will has been the favourite dogma, as being most
+consonant to the dignity of man, which appears to be its chief
+recommendation, and its only argument. The weight of reasoning is, I
+believe, in favour of necessity; but the word carries with it a seeming
+affront, and hardly any amount of argument will reconcile men to
+indignity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+III. Another weakness of the human mind receives illustration from the
+free-will controversy, and deserves to be noticed, as helping to account
+for the prolonged existence of the dispute: I mean the disposition to
+regard any departure from the accustomed rendering of a fact as denying
+the fact itself. The rose under another name is not merely less sweet,
+it is not a rose at all. Some of the greatest questions have suffered by
+this weakness.
+
+[ANALYSIS DOES NOT DESTROY THE FACT.]
+
+The physical theory of matter that resolves it into _points of force_
+will seem to many as doing away with matter no less effectually than the
+Berkeleyan Idealism. A universe of inane mathematical points, attracting
+and repelling each other, must appear to the ordinary mind a sorry
+substitute for the firm-set earth, and the majestically-fretted vault
+of heaven, with its planets, stars, and galaxies. It takes a special
+education to reconcile any one to this theory. Even if it were
+everything that a scientific hypothesis should be, the previously
+established modes of speech would be a permanent obstruction to its
+being received as the popular doctrine.
+
+But the best illustrations occur in the Ethical and Metaphysical
+departments. For example, some ethical theorists endeavour to show that
+Conscience is not a primitive and distinct power of the mind, like the
+sense of colour, or the feeling of resistance, but a growth and a
+compound, being made up of various primitive impulses, together with a
+process of education. Again and again has this view been represented as
+denying conscience altogether. Exactly parallel has been the handling of
+the sentiment of Benevolence. Some have attempted to resolve it into
+simpler elements of the mind, and have been attacked as denying the
+existence of the sentiment. Hobbes, in particular, has been subjected to
+this treatment. Because he held pity to be a form of self-love, his
+opponents charged him with declaring that there is no such thing as pity
+or sympathy in the human constitution.
+
+A more notable example is the doctrine of the alliance of Mind with
+Matter. It is impossible that any mode of viewing this alliance can
+erase the distinction between the two modes of existence--the material
+and the mental; between extended inert bodies, on the one hand, and
+pleasures and pains, thoughts and volitions, on the other. Yet, after
+the world has been made familiar with the Cartesian doctrine of two
+distinct substances--the one for the inherence of material facts, and
+the other for mental facts--any thinker maintaining the separate mental
+substance to be unproved, and unnecessary, is denounced as trying to
+blot out our mental existence, and to resolve us into watches,
+steam-engines, or speaking and calculating machines. The upholder of the
+single substance has to spend himself in protestations that he is not
+denying the existence of the fact, or the phenomena called mind, but is
+merely challenging an arbitrary and unfounded hypothesis for
+representing that fact.
+
+[PERCEPTION OF A MATERIAL WORLD.]
+
+The still greater controversy--distinct from the foregoing, although
+often confounded with it--relating to the Perception of a Material
+World, is the crowning instance of the weakness we are considering.
+Berkeley has been unceasingly stigmatised as holding that there is no
+material world, merely because he exposed a self-contradiction in the
+mode of viewing it, common to the vulgar and to philosophers, and
+suggested a mode of escaping the contradiction by an altered rendering
+of the facts. The case is very peculiar. The received and
+self-contradictory view is exceedingly simple and intelligible in its
+statement; it is well adapted, not merely for all the commoner purposes
+of life, but even for most scientific purposes. The supposition of an
+independent material world, and an independent mental world, created
+apart, and coming into mutual contact--the one the objects perceived,
+and the other the mind perceiving--expresses (or over-expresses) the
+division of the sciences into sciences of matter and sciences of mind;
+and the highest laws of the material world at least are in no respect
+falsified by it. On the other hand, any attempt to state the facts of
+the outer world on Berkeley's plan, or on any plan that avoids the
+self-contradiction, is most cumbrous and unmanageable. A smaller, but
+exactly parallel instance of the situation is familiar to us. The daily
+circuit of the sun around the earth, supposed to be fixed, so exactly
+answers all the common uses that, in spite of its being false, we adhere
+to it in the language of every-day life. It is a convenient
+misrepresentation, and deceives nobody. And such will, in all
+likelihood, be the usage regarding the external world, after the
+contradiction is admitted, and rectified by a metaphysical circumlocution.
+Speculators are still only trying their hand at an unobjectionable
+circumlocution; but we may almost be sure that nothing will ever
+supersede, for practical uses, the notion of the distinct worlds of Mind
+and Matter. If, after the Copernican demonstration of the true position
+of the sun, we still find it requisite to keep up the fiction of his
+daily course; much more, after the final accomplishment of the
+Berkeleyan revolution (to my mind inevitable), shall we retain the
+fiction of an independent external world: only, we shall then know how
+to fall back upon some mode of stating the case, without incurring the
+contradiction.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+IV. To return to the Will. The fact that we have to save, and to
+represent in adequate language, is this:--A voluntary action is a
+sequence distinct and _sui generis;_ a human being avoiding the cold,
+searching for food, and clinging to other beings, is not to be
+confounded with a pure material sequence, as the fall of rain, or the
+explosion of gunpowder. The phenomena, in both kinds, are phenomena of
+sequence, and of _regular_ or _uniform_ sequence; but the things that
+make up the sequence are widely different: in the one, a feeling of the
+mind, or a concurrence of feelings, is followed by a conscious muscular
+exertion; in the other, both steps are made up of purely material
+circumstances. It is the difference between a mental or psychological,
+and a material or physical sequence--in short, the difference between
+mind and matter; the greatest contrast within the whole compass of
+nature, within the universe of being. Now language must be found to give
+ample explicitness to this diametrical antithesis; still, I am satisfied
+that rarely in the usages of human speech has a more unfortunate choice
+been made than to employ, in the present instance, the antithetic
+couple--Freedom and Necessity. It misses the real point, and introduces
+meanings alien to the case. It converts the glory of the human character
+into a reproach (although its leading motive throughout has been to pay
+us a compliment). The _constancy_ of man's emotional nature (but for
+which our life would be a chaos, an impossibility) has to be explained
+away, for no other reason than that, at one time, a blundering epithet
+was applied to designate the mental sequences. Great is the difference
+between Mind and Matter; but the terms Freedom and Necessity represent
+the point of agreement as the point of difference; and this being made
+familiar, through iteration, as the mode of expressing the contrast, the
+rectification is supposed to unsettle everything, and to obliterate the
+wide distinction of the two natures.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[SEIZING A QUESTION BY THE WRONG END.]
+
+V. What is called Moral Ability and Inability is another artificial
+perplexity in regard to the will, and might also be the text for a
+sermon on prevailing errors. More especially, it exemplifies what may be
+termed _seizing a question by the wrong end_.
+
+The votary, we shall say, of alcoholic liquor is found fault with, and
+makes the excuse, he cannot help it--he cannot resist the temptation. So
+far, the language may pass. But what shall we say to the not uncommon
+reply,--You could help it if you would. Surely there is some
+mystification here; it is not one of those plain statements that we
+desire in practical affairs. Whether we are dealing with matter or with
+mind, we ought to point out some clear and practicable method of
+attaining an end in view. To get a good crop, we till and enrich the
+soil; to make a youth knowing in mathematics, we send him to a good
+master, and stimulate his attention by combined reward and punishment.
+There are also intelligible courses of reforming the vicious: withdraw
+them from temptation till their habits are remodelled; entice them to
+other courses, by presenting objects of superior attraction; or, at
+lowest, keep the fact of punishment before their eyes. By these methods
+many are kept from vices, and not a few reclaimed after having fallen.
+But to say, "You can be virtuous if you will," is either unmeaning, or
+it disguises a real meaning. If it have any force at all--and it would
+not be used unless, some efficacy had been found attaching to it,--the
+force must be in the indirect circumstances or accompaniments. What,
+then, is the meaning that is so unhappily expressed? In the first place,
+it is a vehicle for conveying the strong wish and determination of the
+speaker; it is a clumsy substitute for--"I do wish you would amend your
+conduct"; an expression containing a real efficacy, greater or less
+according to the estimate formed of the speaker by the person spoken to.
+In the next place, it presents to the mind of the delinquent the _ideal_
+of improvement, which might also be done in unexceptionable phrase; as
+one might say--"Reflect upon your own state, and compare yourself with
+the correct and virtuous liver". Then, there is a touch of the stoical
+dignity and pride of will. Lastly, there may be a hint or suggestion to
+the mind of good and evil consequences, which is the most powerful
+motive of all. In giving rise to these various considerations, even the
+objectionable expression may have a genuine efficacy; but that does not
+justify the form itself, which by no interpretation can be construed
+into sense or intelligibility.
+
+[MEANING OF MORAL INABILITY.]
+
+Moral Inability means that ordinary motives are insufficient, but not
+all motives. The confirmed drunkard or thief has got into the stage of
+moral inability; the common motives that keep mankind sober and honest
+have failed. Yet there are motives that would succeed, if we could
+command them. Men may be sometimes cured of intemperance when the
+constitution is so susceptible that pain follows at once on indulgence.
+And so long as pleasure and pain, in fact and in prospect, operate upon
+the will, so long as the individual is in a state wherein motives
+operate, there may be moral weakness, but there is nothing more. In such
+cases, punishment may be properly employed as a corrective, and is
+likely to answer its end. This is the state termed accountability, or,
+with more correctness, PUNISHABILITY, for being accountable is merely an
+incident bound up with liability to punishment. Moral weakness is a
+matter of a degree, and in its lowest grades shades into insanity, the
+state wherein motives have lost their usual power--when pleasure and
+pain cease to be apprehended by the mind in their proper character. At
+_this_ point, punishment is unavailing; the moral inability has passed
+into something like physical inability; the loss of self-control is as
+complete as if the muscles were paralysed.
+
+In the plea of insanity, entered on behalf of any one charged with
+crime, the business of the jury is to ascertain whether the accused is
+under the operation of the usual motives--whether pain in prospect has a
+deterring effect on the conduct. If a man is as ready to jump out of the
+window as to walk downstairs, of course he is not a moral agent; but so
+long as he observes, of his own accord, the usual precautions against
+harm to himself, he is to be punished for his misdeeds.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+These various questions respecting the Will, if stripped of unsuitable
+phraseology, are not very difficult questions. They are about as easy to
+comprehend as the air-pump, the law of refraction of light, or the
+atomic theory of chemistry. Distort them by inapposite metaphors, view
+them in perplexing attitudes, and you may make them more abstruse than
+the hardest proposition of the "Principia". What is far worse, by
+involving a simple fact in inextricable contradictions, they have led
+people gravely to recognise self-contradiction as the natural and the
+proper condition of a certain class of questions. Consistency is very
+well so far, and for the humbler matters of every-day life, but there is
+a higher and a sacred region where it does not hold; where the
+principles are to be received all the more readily that they land us in
+contradictions. In ordinary matters, inconsistency is the test of
+falsehood; in transcendental subjects, it is accounted the badge of
+truth.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: _Fortnightly Review_, August, 1868.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Donaldson's "History of Christian Literature and Doctrine,"
+Vol. I., p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Intensity of passion stands confessed in the
+self-delineations of men of imaginative genius. We forbear to quote the
+familiar instances of Wordsworth, Shelley, or Burns, but may refer to a
+remarkable chapter in the life of the famous Scotch preacher, Dr. Thomas
+Chalmers. The mere title of the chapter is enough for our purpose. It
+related to his early youth, and ran thus, in his own words:--"A year of
+mental elysium". It is while living at a white-heat that all the
+thoughts and conceptions take a lofty, hyperbolical character; and the
+outpouring of these at the time, or afterwards, is the imagination of
+the orator or the poet.
+
+The spread of the misconception that we have been combating is perhaps
+accounted for by the circumstance that imagination in one man is the
+cause of feeling _in others_. Wordsworth, by his imaginative colouring,
+has excited a warmer sentiment for nature in many spectators of the lake
+country. That, however, is a different thing. We may also allow that the
+poet intensifies his own feelings by his creative embodiments of them.]
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+II.
+
+ERRORS OF SUPPRESSED CORRELATIVES.[4]
+
+
+By Relativity is here meant the all-pervading fact of our nature that we
+are not impressed, made conscious, or mentally alive, without some
+change of state or impression. An unvarying action on any of our senses
+is the same as no action at all. An even temperature, such as that
+enjoyed by the fishes in the tropical seas, leaves the mind an entire
+blank as regards heat and cold. We can neither feel nor know without
+recognising two distinct states. Hence all knowledge is double, or is
+the knowledge of contrasts or opposites: heavy is relative to light; up
+supposes down; being awake implies the state of sleep.
+
+The applications of the law in the sphere of emotion are chiefly
+contemplated in what follows. Pleasure and pain are never absolute
+states; they have reference always to the previous condition. Until we
+know what that has been in any case, we cannot pronounce upon the
+efficacy of a present stimulation. We see a person reposing, apparently
+in luxurious ease; if the state has been immediately consequent upon a
+protracted and severe exertion, we are right in calling it highly
+pleasurable. Under other circumstances, it might be quite the reverse.
+
+There is an offshoot or modification of the principle, arising out of
+the operation of habit. Impressions made upon us are greatest when they
+are absolutely new: after repetition they all lose something of their
+power; although, by remission and alternative, the causes of pleasure
+and pain have still a very considerable efficacy. Many of the
+consequences of this great fact are sufficiently acknowledged, or, if
+they are not, it is from other causes than our ignorance. The weakness
+is moral, rather than intellectual, that makes us expect that the first
+flush of a great pleasure, a newly-attained joy or success, will
+continue unabated. The poor man, probably, does not overrate the
+gratification of newly-attained wealth; what he fails to allow for is
+the deadening effect of an unbroken experience of ease and plenty. The
+author of "Romola" says of the hero and the heroine, in the early
+moments of their affection, that they could not look forward to a time
+when their kisses should be common things. So it is with the attainment
+of all great objects of pursuit: the first access of good fortune may
+not disappoint us; but as we are more and more removed from the state of
+privation, as the memory of the prior experience fades away, so does the
+vividness of the present enjoyment. It is the same with changes for the
+worse: the agony of a great loss is at first overpowering; gradually,
+however, the system accommodates itself to the new condition, and the
+severity dies away. What is called on these occasions the "force of
+custom" is the application of the law of Accommodation, or Relativity
+modified by habit.
+
+[RELATIVITY IN PLEASURES.]
+
+It is a familiar experience of mankind, yet hard to realise upon mere
+testimony, that the pleasures of rest, repose, retirement, are wholly
+relative to foregone labour and toil; after the first shock of
+transition, they are less and less felt, and can be renewed only after
+a renewal of the contrasting experience. The description, in "Paradise
+Lost," of the delicious repose of Adam and Eve in Eden is fallacious;
+the poet credits them with an intensity of pleasure attainable only by
+the brow-sweating labourer under the curse.
+
+The delights of Knowledge are relative to previous Ignorance; for,
+although the possession of knowledge is in many ways a lasting good, yet
+the full intensity of the charm is felt only at the moment of passing
+from mystery to explanation, from blankness of impression to
+intellectual attainment. This form of the pleasure is sustained only by
+new acquisitions and new discoveries. Moreover, in the minor forms of
+the gratification due to knowledge, we never escape the law of
+relativity; the "power" delights us by relation to our previous
+impotence. Plato supposed that, in knowledge, we have an example of a
+_pure_ pleasure, meaning one that had no reference to foregone privation
+or pain; but such "purity" would be a barren fact, not unlike the pure
+air of a bladeless and waterless desert. A state of uninterrupted good
+health, although a prime condition of enjoyment, is of itself a state of
+neutrality or indifference. The man that has never been ill cannot sing
+the joys of health; the exultation of that strain is attainable only by
+the valetudinarian.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+These examples have been remarked upon in every age. It is the moral
+weakness of being carried away by a present strong feeling, as if the
+state would last for ever, that blinds each of us in turn to the stern
+reality of the fact. There are, however, numerous instances, coming
+under Relativity, wherein the indispensable correlative is more or less
+dropped out of sight and disavowed. These are the proper errors or
+fallacies of Relativity, a branch of the comprehensive class termed
+"Fallacies of Confusion". The object of the present essay is to exhibit
+a few of these errors as they occur in questions of practical moment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When it is said, as by Carlyle and others, "speech is silvern, silence
+is golden," there is implied a condition of things where speech has been
+in excess; and but for this excess, the assertion is untrue. One might
+as well talk of the delights of hunger, or of cold, or of solitary
+confinement, on the ground of there being times when food, warmth, or
+society may be in excess, and when the opposing states would be a joyful
+change.
+
+The Relativity of Pleasures, although admitted in many individual cases,
+has often been misconceived. The view is sometimes expressed, that there
+can be no pleasure without a previous pain; but this goes beyond the
+exigencies of the principle. We cannot go on for ever with any delight;
+but mere remission, without any counterpart pain, is enough for our
+entering with zest on many of our pleasures. A healthy man enjoys his
+meals without any sensible previous pain of hunger. We do not need to
+have been miserable for some time as a preparation for the reading of a
+new poem. It is true that if the sense of privation has been acute, the
+pleasure is proportionally increased; and that few pleasures of any
+great intensity grow up from indifference: still, remission and
+alternation may give a zest for enjoyment without any consciousness of
+pain.
+
+The principle of Comparison is capriciously made use of by Paley, in his
+account of the elements of Happiness. He applies it forcibly and
+felicitously to depreciate certain pleasures--as greatness, rank, and
+station--and withholds its application from the pleasures that he more
+particularly countenances,--namely, the social affections, the exercise
+of the faculties, and health.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[SIMPLICITY OF STYLE A RELATIVE MERIT.]
+
+The great praise often accorded to Simplicity of Style, in literature,
+is an example of the suppression of the correlative in a case of mutual
+relationship. Simplicity is not an absolute merit; it is frequently a
+merit by correlation. Thus, if a certain subject has never been treated
+except in abstruse and difficult terminology, a man of surpassing
+literary powers, setting it forth in homely and intelligible language,
+produces a work whose highest praise is expressed by Simplicity. Again,
+after the last century period of artificial, complex, and highly-wrought
+composition, the reaction of Cowper and Wordsworth in favour of
+simplicity was an agreeable and refreshing change, and was in great part
+acceptable because of the change. It does not appear that Wordsworth
+comprehended this obvious fact; to him, a simplicity that cost nothing
+to the composer, and brought no novelty to the reader, had still a
+transcendent merit.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It has been a frequent practice of late years to celebrate the praises
+of Knowledge. Many eloquent speakers have dilated on the happiness and
+the superiority of the enlightened and the cultivated man. Now, the
+correlative or obverse must be equally true: there must be a
+corresponding degradation and disqualification attaching to ignorance
+and the want of instruction. This correlative and equally cogent
+statement is suppressed on certain occasions, and by persons that would
+not demur to the praises of knowledge: as, when we are told of the
+native good sense, the untaught sagacity, the admirable instincts of the
+people,--that is, of the ignorant or the uneducated. Hence the great
+value of the expository device of following up every principle with its,
+counter-statement, the matter denied when the principle is affirmed. If
+knowledge is a thing superlatively good, ignorance--the opposite of
+knowledge--is a thing superlatively bad. There is no middle standing
+ground.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the way that people use the argument from Authority, there is often
+an unfelt contradiction from not adverting to the correlative
+implication. If I lay stress upon some one's authority as lending weight
+to my opinion, I ought to be equally moved in the opposite direction
+when the same authority is against me. The common case, however, is to
+make a great flourish when the authority is one way, and to ignore it
+when it is the other way. This is especially the fashion in dealing with
+the ancient philosophers. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are quoted with
+much complacency when they chime in with a modern view; but, in points
+where they contradict our cherished sentiments, we treat them with a
+kind of pity as half-informed pagans. It is not seen that men liable
+to such gross errors as they are alleged to have committed--say on
+Ethics--are by that fact deprived of all weight in allied subjects, as,
+for example, Politics--in which Aristotle is still quoted as an
+authority.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[DIGNITY OF ALL LABOUR ABSURD.]
+
+Many of the sins against Relativity can be traced to rhetorical
+exaggeration. Some remarkable instances of this can be cited.
+
+When a system of ranks and dignities has once been established, there
+are associations of dignity and of indignity with different conditions
+and occupations. It is more dignified to serve in the army than to
+engage in trade; to be a surgeon is more honourable than to be a
+watchmaker. In this state of things a fervid rhetorician, eager to
+redress the inequalities of mankind, starts forth to preach the dignity
+of _all_ labour. The device is a self-contradiction. Make all labour
+alike dignified, and nothing is dignified; you simply abolish dignity by
+depriving it of the contrast that it subsists upon.
+
+Pope's lines--
+
+    Honour and shame from no condition rise;
+    Act well your part; there all the honour lies--
+
+cannot be exempted from the fallacy of self-contradiction. Differences
+of condition are made by differences in the degree of honour thereto
+attached. If every man that did his work well were put on a level, in
+point of honour, with every other man that did the same; if the
+gatekeeper of a mansion, by being unfailingly punctual in opening the
+gate, were to be equally honoured with a great leader of the House of
+Commons, then, indeed, equality of pay would be the only thing wanted to
+abolish all differences of condition. There is, no doubt, in society, a
+quantity of misplaced honour; but so long as there are employments
+exceptionally arduous, and virtues signally beneficent in their
+operation, honour is a legitimate spur and reward, and should be
+graduated according to the desert in each case.
+
+In spurring the ardour of youth to studious exertion, it is common to
+repeat the Homeric maxim, "to supplant every one else, and stand out
+first". The stimulating effect is undoubted; it is strong rhetorical
+brandy. Yet only one man can be first, and the exhortation is given
+simultaneously to a thousand.[5]
+
+[JUSTICE ADMIRABLE ONLY IF RECIPROCATED.]
+
+In the discussion and inculcation of the moral duties and virtues, there
+has been, in all ages, a tendency to suppress correlative facts, and to
+affirm unconditionally what is true only with a condition. Thus, the
+admirable nature of Justice, and the happiness of the Just man, are a
+proper theme to be extolled with all the power of eloquence. It has been
+so with every civilized people, pagan as well as Christian. In the
+dialogues of Plato, justice is a prominent subject, and is adorned with
+the full splendour of his genius. Aristotle, in one of the few moments
+when he rises to poetry, pronounces justice "greater than the
+evening-star or the morning-star". Now all this panegyric is admissible
+only on the supposition of _reciprocal_ justice. Plato, indeed, had the
+hardihood to say that the just man is happy in himself, and by reason of
+his justice, even although others are unjust to him; but the position is
+untenable. A man is happy in his justice if it procure for him justice
+in return; as a citizen is happy in his civil obedience, if it gain him
+protection in return. There are two parties in the case, and the
+moralist should obtain access to both; he should induce the one to
+fulfil his share before promising to the other the happiness of justice
+and obedience. It may be rhetorical, but it is not true, that justice
+will make a man happy in a society where it is not reciprocated.
+Justice, in these circumstances, is highly noble, praiseworthy,
+virtuous; but the applying of these lofty compliments is the proof that
+it does not bring happiness, and is an attempt to compensate the
+deficiency. There is a certain tendency, not very great as human nature
+is constituted, for justice to beget justice in return--for social
+virtue on one side to procure it on the other side. This is a certain
+encouragement to each man to perform his own part, in hope that the
+other party concerned may do the same. Still, the reciprocity
+occasionally fails, and with that the benefits to the just agent. It is
+necessary to urge strongly upon individuals, to impress upon the young,
+the necessity of performing their duty to society; it is equally
+implied, and equally indispensable, that society should perform its part
+to them. The suppressing of the correlative obligation of the State to
+the individual leaves a one-sided doctrine; the motive of the
+suppression, doubtless, is that society does not often fail of its
+duties to the individual, whereas individuals frequently fail of their
+duties to society. This may be the fact generally, but not always. It is
+not the fact where there are bad laws and corrupt administration. It is
+not the fact where the restraints on liberty are greater than the
+exigencies of the State demand. It is not the fact, so long as there is
+a single vestige of persecution for opinions. To be thoroughly
+veracious, for example, in a society that restrains the discussion and
+expression of opinions, is more than such a society is entitled to.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[PLEASURES OF BENEVOLENCE CONDITIONAL.]
+
+The same fallacy occurs in an allied theme,--the joys of Love and
+Benevolence. That love and benevolence are productive of great happiness
+is beyond question; but then the feeling must be mutual, it must be
+reciprocated. One-sided love or benevolence is a _virtue_, which is as
+much as to say it is _not_ a pleasure. The delights of benevolence are
+the delights of reciprocated benevolence; until reciprocated, in some
+form, the benevolent man has, strictly speaking, the sacrifice and
+nothing more. There is a great reluctance to encounter this simple naked
+truth; to state it in theory, at least, for it is fully admitted in
+practice. We fence it off by the assumption that benevolence will always
+have its reward somehow; that if the objects of it are ungrateful,
+others will make good the defect at last. Now these qualifications are
+very pertinent, very suitable to be urged after allowing the plain
+truth, that benevolence is intrinsically a sacrifice, a painful act; and
+that this act is redeemed, and far more than redeemed, by a fair
+reciprocity of benevolence. Only such an admission can keep us out of a
+mesh of contradictions. Like justice in itself, Benevolence in itself is
+painful; any virtue is pain in the first instance, although, when
+equally responded to, it brings a surplus of pleasure. There may be acts
+of a beneficent tendency that cost the performer nothing, or that even
+may chance to be agreeable; but these examples must not be given as the
+rule, or the type. It is the essence of virtuous acts, the prevailing
+character of the class, to tax the agent, to deprive him of some
+satisfaction to himself; this is what we must start from; we are then in
+a position to explain how and when, and under what circumstances, and
+with what limitations, the virtuous man, whether his virtue be justice
+or benevolence, is from that cause a happy man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is a fallacy of the suppressed relative to describe virtue as
+determined by the _moral nature_ of God, as opposed to his arbitrary
+will. The essence of Morality is obedience to a superior, to a Law;
+where there is no superior there is nothing either moral or immoral. The
+supreme power is incapable of an immoral act. Parliament may do what is
+injurious, it cannot do what is illegal. So the Deity may be beneficent
+or maleficent, he cannot be moral or immoral.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among the various ways, proposed in the seventeenth century, of solving
+the difficulty of the mutual action of the heterogeneous agencies--matter
+and mind--one was a mode of Divine interference, called the "Theory of
+Occasional Causes". According to this view, the Deity exerted himself by
+a _perpetual miracle_ to bring about the mental changes corresponding to
+the physical agents operating on our senses--light, sound, &c. Now in
+the mode of action suggested there is nothing self-contradictory; but in
+the use of the word "miracle" there is a mistake of relativity. The
+meaning of a miracle is an exceptional interference; it supposes an
+habitual state of things, from which it is a deviation. The very idea of
+miracle is abolished if every act is to be alike miraculous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[MYSTERY CORRELATES WITH THE INTELLIGIBLE.]
+
+We shall devote the remainder of this exposition to a still more notable
+class of mistakes due to the suppression of a correlative member in a
+relative couple--those, namely, connected with the designation,
+"Mystery," a term greatly abused, in various ways, and especially by
+disregarding its relative character. Mystery supposes certain things
+that are plain, intelligible, knowable, revealed; and, by contrast to
+these, refers to certain other things that are obscure, unintelligible,
+unknowable, unrevealed. When a man's conduct is entirely plain,
+straightforward, or accounted for, we call that an intelligible case;
+when we are perplexed by the tortuosities of a crafty, double-dealing
+person, we say it is all very mysterious. So, in nature, we consider
+that we understand certain phenomena: such as gravity, and all its
+consequences, in the fall of bodies, the flow of rivers, the motions of
+the planets, the tides. On the other hand, earthquakes and volcanoes are
+very mysterious; we do not know what they depend upon, how or in what
+circumstances they are produced. Some of the operations of living bodies
+are understood,--as the heart's action in the mechanical propulsion of
+the blood; others, and the greater number, are mysterious, as the whole
+process of germination and growth. Now the existence of the contrast
+between things plainly understood, and things not understood, gives one
+distinct meaning to the term Mystery. In some cases, a mystery is formed
+by an apparent contradiction, as in the Theological mystery of Free-will
+and Divine Foreknowledge; here, too, there is a contrast with the great
+mass of consistent and reconcilable things. But now, when we are told by
+sensational writers, that _everything is mysterious;_ that the simplest
+phenomenon in nature--the fall of a stone, the swing of a pendulum, the
+continuance of a ball shot in the air--are wonderful, marvellous,
+miraculous, our understanding is confounded; there being then nothing
+plain at all, there is nothing mysterious. The wonderful rises from the
+common; as the lofty is lofty by relation to something lower: if there
+is nothing common, then there is nothing wonderful; if all phenomena are
+mysterious, nothing is mysterious; if we are to stand aghast in
+amazement because three times four is twelve, what phenomenon can we
+take as the type of the plain and the intelligible? You must always keep
+up a standard of the common, the easy, the comprehensible, if you are to
+regard other things as wonderful, difficult, inexplicable.
+
+[LOCKE ON THE LIMITS OF THE UNDERSTANDING.]
+
+The real character of a MYSTERY, and what constitutes the Explanation of
+a fact, have been greatly misconceived. The changes of view on these
+points make up a chapter in the history of the education of the human
+mind. Perhaps the most decisive turning point was the publication of
+Locke's "Essay concerning Human Understanding," the motive of which, as
+stated in the homely and forcible language of the preface, was to
+ascertain what our understandings can do, what subjects they are fit to
+deal with, and where they should stop. I quote a few sentences:--
+
+"If by this inquiry into the nature of the Understanding, I can discover
+the powers thereof; how far they reach; to what things they are in any
+degree proportionate; and where they fail us: I suppose it may be of
+use, to prevail with the busy mind of man to be more cautious in
+meddling with things exceeding its comprehension; to stop when it is at
+the utmost extent of its tether; and to sit down in a quiet ignorance of
+those things which, upon examination, are proved to be beyond the reach
+of our capacities." "The candle that is set up in us, shines bright
+enough for all our purposes. The discoveries we can make with this ought
+to satisfy us. And we shall then use our Understandings aright, when we
+entertain all objects in that way and proportion that they are suited to
+our faculties, and upon those grounds they are capable of being proposed
+to us." "It is of great use for the sailor to know the length of his
+line, though he cannot fathom with it all the depths of the ocean."
+
+The course of physical science was preparing the same salutary lesson.
+Locke's great contemporary and friend, Isaac Newton, was his
+fellow-worker in this tutorial undertaking; nor should Bacon be
+forgotten, although there is dispute as to the extent and character of
+his influence. The combined operation of these great leaders of thought
+was apparent in the altered views of scientific inquirers as to what is
+competent in research--what is the proper aim of inquiry. There arose a
+disposition to abandon the pursuit of mysterious essences and grand
+pervading unities, and ascertain with precision the facts and the laws
+of natural phenomena. The study of astronomy was inaugurated in
+Greenwich Observatory. The experiments of Priestley and of Franklin
+farther exemplified the eighteenth-century key to the secrets of the
+universe.
+
+The lesson imparted by Newton and Locke and their successors still
+remains to be carried out and embodied in the subtler inquiries. The
+bearing upon what constitutes a Mystery, and what constitutes
+Explanation, or the accounting for appearances, may be expressed thus:--
+
+In the first place, the Understanding can never pass out of its own
+experience--its acquired knowledge, whether of body or of mind. What we
+obtain by our various sensibilities to the world about us, and by our
+self-consciousness, are the foundation, the ABC of everything that we
+are capable of knowing. We know colours, and we know sound; we know
+pleasure and pain, and the various emotions of wonder, fear, love,
+anger. If there be any being endowed with senses different from ours,
+with that being we can have no communion. If there be any phenomena that
+escape our limited sensibilities, they transcend the possibility of our
+knowledge.
+
+It is necessary, however, to take account of the combining or
+constructive aptitudes of the mind. We can go a certain length in
+putting together our alphabet of sensation and experience into many
+various compounds. We can imagine a paradise or a pandemonium; but only
+as made up of our own knowledge of things good and evil. The limits of
+this constructive power are soon reached. We are baffled to enter into
+the feelings of our own kindred, when they are far removed in character
+and circumstances from ourselves. The youth at twenty cannot approximate
+to the feelings of men of middle age. The healthy are unable to
+comprehend the life of the invalid.
+
+[TIME AND SPACE RELATIVE TO OUR FACULTIES.]
+
+To come to the practical applications. The great leading notions called
+Time and Space are known to us only under the conditions of our own
+sensibility. Time is made known by all our actions, all our senses, all
+our feelings, and by the succession of our thoughts; it is experienced
+as a continuance and a repetition of movement, sight, sound, fear, or
+any other state of feeling, or of thinking. One motion or sensation is
+continued longer than another; or it is more frequently repeated after
+intermission, giving the _numerical_ estimate of time, as in the beats
+of the pendulum. In these ways we form estimates of seconds, minutes,
+hours, days. And our constructive faculty can be brought into play to
+conceive the larger tracts of duration--a century, or a hundred
+centuries. Nay, by our arithmetical powers we can put down in cipher,
+or conceive _symbolically_ (which is the meagrest of all conceptions)
+millions of millions of centuries; these being after all but compounds
+of our alphabet of enduring or repeated sensations and thoughts. We can
+suppose this arithmetical process to operate upon past duration or upon
+future duration, and there is no limit to the numbers that we can write
+down. But there is one thing that we cannot do; we cannot fix upon a
+point when Time or succession began, or upon a point when it will cease.
+That is an operation not in keeping with our faculties; the very
+supposition is impracticable. We cannot entertain the notion of a state
+of things wherein the fact of continuance had no place; the effort
+belies itself. Time is inseparable from our mental nature; whatever we
+imagine, we must imagine as enduring. Some philosophers have supposed
+that we must be endowed by nature with the conception of Time, before we
+begin to exercise our senses; but the difficulty would be to deprive us
+of that adjunct without extinguishing our mental nature. Give us
+sensibility, and you cannot withhold the element of Time. The
+supposition of Kant and others, that it is implanted in us as an empty
+form, before we begin to employ our senses upon things, is needless; for
+as soon as we move, see, hear, think, are pleased or pained, we create
+time. And our notion of Time in general is exactly what these
+sensibilities make it, only enlarged by our constructive power already
+spoken of.
+
+[MATTER AND VOID SUPPLEMENTARY.]
+
+While all our senses and feelings give us time, it is our experience of
+Motion and Resistance,--the energetic or active side of our nature
+alone,--that gives us Space. The simplest feature of Space is the
+alternation of Resistance and Non-Resistance, of obstructed motion and
+freedom to move. The hand presses dead upon an obstacle; the obstacle
+gives way and allows free motion; these two contrasting experiences are
+the elements of the two contrasting facts--Matter and Space. By none of
+the five senses, in their pure and proper character as senses, can we
+obtain these experiences; and hence at an earlier stage of inquiry into
+the mind, when our knowledge-giving sensibilities were referred to the
+five senses, there was no adequate account of the notion of Space or
+Extension. Space includes more than this simple contrast of the
+resisting and the non-resisting; it includes what we call the
+Co-existing or Contemporaneous, the great aggregate of the outspread
+world, as existing at any moment, a somewhat complicated attainment,
+which I am not now specially concerned with. It sufficiently illustrates
+the limitation of our knowledge by our sensibilities, from the nature of
+space, to fasten attention on the double and mutually supplementing
+experience of Matter and Void; the one resisting movement, and giving
+the consciousness of resistance, or dead strain, the other permitting
+movement, and giving the consciousness of the unobstructed sweep of the
+limbs or members. Whatever else may be in space, this freedom to move,
+to soar, to expatiate (in contrast to being hemmed in, obstructed, held
+fast), is an essential part of the conception, and is formed out of our
+active or moving sensibilities. Now, as far as movement is concerned, we
+must be in one of two states;--we must be putting forth energy without
+effecting movement, being met by obstacles called matter; or we must be
+putting forth energy unresisted and effecting movement, which is what we
+mean by empty space. There is no third position in the matter of putting
+forth our active energy. Where resistance ends and freedom begins, there
+is space; where freedom ends, and obstruction begins, there is matter.
+We find our sentient life to be made up, as regards movement, of a
+certain number and range of these two alternations; in other words, free
+spaces and resisting barriers. And we can, by the constructive power
+already mentioned, imagine other proportions of the two experiences; we
+can imagine the scope for movement, the absence of obstruction, to be
+enlarged more and more, to be counted by thousands and millions of
+miles; but the only terminus or boundary that we can imagine is
+resistance, a dead obstacle. We are able to conceive the starry spaces
+widened and prolonged from galaxy to galaxy through enormous strides of
+increasing amplitude, but when we try to think an end to this career, we
+can think only of a dead wall. There is no other end of space within the
+grasp of our faculties; and that termination is not an end of extension;
+for we know that solid matter, viewed in other ways than as obstructing
+movement, has the same property of the extended belonging to the empty
+void. The inference is, that the limitation of our means of knowledge
+renders altogether incompetent the imagination of an end to either Time
+or Space. The greatest efforts of our combining faculty cannot exceed
+the elements presented to it, and these elements contain nothing that
+would set forth the situation of space ending, and obstruction not
+beginning.
+
+[ARE TIME AND SPACE INFINITE?]
+
+Under these circumstances, it is an irrevelant enquiry, to ask, Are Time
+and Space finite or infinite? Many philosophers have put the question,
+and even answered it. They say Time has no beginning and no end, and
+Space has no boundaries; or, as otherwise expressed,--Time and Space are
+Infinite: an answer of such vagueness as to mean anything, from a
+harmless and proper assertion of the limits of our faculties, up to the
+verge of extravagance and self-contradiction.
+
+When, in fact, people talk of the Infinite in Time and Space, they can
+point to one intelligible signification; as to the rest, this word is
+not a subject for scientific propositions, and the attempt at such can
+lead only to contradictions. The Infinite is a phrase most various in
+its purport: it is for the most part an emotional word, expressing human
+desire and aspiration; a word of poetry, imagination, and preaching, not
+a word to be discussed under science; no intellectual definition would
+exhibit its emotional force.
+
+The second property of our intelligence is, that we can generalise many
+facts into one. Tracing agreement among the multifarious appearances of
+things, we can comprehend in one statement a vast number of details. The
+single law of gravity expresses the fall of a stone, the flow of rivers,
+the retention of the moon in her circuit round the earth. Now, this
+generalising sweep is a real advance in our knowledge, an ascent in the
+matter of intelligence, a step towards centralising the empire of
+science. What is more, this is the only real meaning of EXPLANATION.
+A difficulty is solved, a mystery unriddled; when it can be shown to
+resemble something else; to be an example of a fact already known.
+Mystery is isolation, exception, or, it may be, apparent contradiction;
+the resolution of the mystery is found in assimilation, identity,
+fraternity. When all things are assimilated, so far as assimilation can
+go, so far as likeness holds, there is an end to explanation; there is
+an end to what the mind can do, or can intelligently desire.
+
+[GRAVITY NOT A MYSTERY.]
+
+Thus, when Gravity was generalised, by assimilating the terrestrial
+attraction seen in falling bodies with the celestial attraction of the
+sun and planets; and when, by fair presumption, the same power was
+extended to the remote stars; when, also, the _law_ was ascertained, so
+that the movements of the various bodies could be computed and
+predicted, there was nothing further to be done; explanation was
+exhausted. Unless we can find some other force to fraternise with
+gravity, so that the two might become a still more comprehensive unity,
+we must rest in gravity as the ultimatum of our faculties. There is no
+conceivable modification, or substitute, that would better our position.
+Before Newton, it was a mystery what kept the moon and the planets in
+their places; the assimilation with falling bodies was the solution.
+But, say many persons, is not gravity itself a mystery? We say No;
+gravity has passed through all the stages of legitimate and possible
+explanation; it is the most highly generalised of all physical facts,
+and by no assignable transformation could it be made more intelligible
+than it is. It is singularly easy of comprehension; its law is exactly
+known; and, excepting the details of calculation, in its more complex
+workings, there is nothing to complain of, nothing to rectify, nothing
+to pretend ignorance about; it is the very pattern, the model, the
+consummation of knowledge. The path of science, as exhibited in modern
+times, is towards generality, wider and wider, until we reach the
+highest, the widest laws of every department of things; there
+explanation is finished, mystery ends, perfect vision is gained.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What is always reckoned the mystery by pre-eminence is the union of BODY
+and MIND. How, then, should we treat this Mystery according to the
+spirit of modern thought, according to the modern laws of explanation?
+The course is to _conceive_ the elements according to the only possible
+plan, our own sensibility or consciousness; which gives us matter as one
+class of facts--extension, inertness, weight, and so on; and mind as
+another class of facts--pleasures, pains, volitions, ideas. The
+difference between these two is total, diametrical, complete; there is
+really nothing common to the experience of pleasure and the experience
+of a tree; difference has here reached its _acme_; agreement is
+eliminated; there is no higher genus to include these two in one; as the
+ultimate, the highest elements of knowledge, they admit of 110 fusion,
+no resolution, no unity. Our utmost flight of generality leaves us in
+possession of a double, a _couple_ of absolutely heterogeneous elements.
+Matter cannot be resolved into mind; mind cannot be resolved into
+matter; each has its own definition; each negatives the other.
+
+This being the fact, we accept it, and acquiesce. There is surely
+nothing to be dissatisfied with, to complain of, in the circumstance
+that the elements of our experience are, in the last resort, two, and
+not one. If we had been provided with fifty ultimate experiences, none
+of them having a single property in common with any other; and if we had
+only our present limited intellects, we might be entitled to complain
+of the world's mysteriousness in the one proper acceptation of
+mystery--namely, as overpowering our means of comprehension, as loading
+us with unassimilable facts. As it is, matter, in its commoner aspects
+and properties, is perfectly intelligible; in the great number and
+variety of its endowments or properties, it is revealed to us slowly and
+with much difficulty, and these subtle properties--the deep affinities
+and molecular arrangements--- are the mysteries rightly so called. Mind
+in itself is also intelligible; a pleasure is as intelligible as would
+be any transmutation of it into the inscrutable essence that people
+often desiderate. It is one of the facts of our sensibility, and has
+a great many facts of its own kindred, which makes it all the more
+intelligible.
+
+The varieties of pleasure, pain, and emotion are very numerous; and to
+know, remember, and classify them, is a work of labour, a _legitimate_
+mystery. The subtle links of thought are also very various, although
+probably all reducible to a small number; and the ascertaining and
+following out of these has been a work of labour and time; they have,
+therefore, been mysterious; mystery and intellectual toil being the real
+correlatives. The _complications_ of matter and the _complications_ of
+mind are genuine mysteries; the reducing or simplifying of these
+complications, by the exertions of thinking men, is the way, and the
+only way out of the darkness into light.
+
+[UNION OF MIND AND BODY.]
+
+But what now of the mysterious _union_ of the two great ultimate facts
+of human experience? What should the followers of Newton and Locke say
+to this crowning instance of deep and awful mystery? Only one answer can
+be given. Accept the union, and generalise it. Find out the fewest
+number of simple laws, such as will express all the phenomena of this
+conjoint life. Resolve into the highest possible generalities the
+connections of pleasure and pain, with all the physical stimulants of
+the senses--food, tastes, odours, sounds, lights--with all the play of
+feature and of gesture, and all the resulting movements and bodily
+changes; and when you have done that, you have so far truly, fully,
+finally explained the union of body and mind. Extend your generalities
+to the course of the thoughts; determine what physical changes accompany
+the memory, the reason, the imagination, and express those changes in
+the most general, comprehensive laws, and you have explained the how and
+the why brain causes thought, and thought works in brain. There is no
+other explanation needful, no other competent, no other that would be
+explanation. Instead of our being "unfortunate," as is sometimes said,
+in not being able to know the essence of either matter or mind--in not
+comprehending their union; our misfortune would be to have to know
+anything different from what we do or may know. If there be still much
+mystery attaching to this linking of the two extreme facts of our
+experience, it is simply this: that we have made so little way in
+ascertaining what in one goes with what in the other. We know a good
+deal about the feelings and their alliances, some of which are open and
+palpable to all mankind; and we have obtained some important
+generalities in these alliances. Of the connections of thought with
+physical changes we know very little: these connections, therefore,
+are truly and properly mysterious; but they are not intrinsically or
+hopelessly so. The advancing study of the physical organs, on the one
+hand, and of the mental functions, on the other, may gradually abate
+this mystery. And if a day arrive when the links that unite our
+intellectual workings with the workings of the nervous system and the
+other bodily organs shall be fully ascertained and adequately
+generalised, no one thoroughly educated in the scientific spirit of the
+last two centuries will call the union of mind and body any longer
+inscrutable or mysterious.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 4: _Fortnightly Review_, October, 1868.]
+
+[Footnote 5: We may here recall an incident highly characteristic of the
+late Earl of Carlisle. Being elected on one occasion to the office of
+Lord Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen, he had to deliver an address
+to the students on the usual topics of diligence and hopefulness in
+their studious career. Referring for a model to the addresses of former
+rectors, he found, in that of his immediate predecessor, Lord Eglinton,
+the Homeric sentiment above alluded to. It grated harshly on his mind,
+and he avowed the fact to the students, he could not reconcile himself
+to the elevating of one man upon the humiliation of all the rest. In a
+strain more befitting a civilized age, he urged upon his hearers the
+pursuit of excellence as such, without involving as a necessary
+accompaniment the supplanting or throwing down of other men. He probably
+did not sufficiently guard himself against a fallacy of Relativity; for
+excellence is purely comparative; it subsists upon inferior grades of
+attainment: still, there are many modes of it shared in by a great
+number, and not confined to one or a few.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+III.
+
+THE CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS[6]
+
+
+1. HISTORICAL SKETCH.
+
+
+Up to the year 1853, the appointing of Civil Servants lay wholly in the
+hands of patrons. In 1853, patronage was severely condemned and
+competitive examination officially recommended, for the first time, in a
+Report by Sir Stafford Northcote and Sir Charles Trevelyan; but, while
+the recommendation was taken up in the following year and immediately
+acted upon in the Indian Civil Service, it was not till very much later
+that it was fully adopted in the Home Service. The history, indeed, of
+this last is somewhat peculiar. After the Report already referred to,
+came an Order of Council, of date May 21, 1855, in which we find it
+"ordered that all such young men as may be proposed to be appointed to
+any junior situation in any department of the Civil Service shall,
+before they are admitted to probation, be examined by or under the
+Directors of the said Commissioners, and shall receive from them a
+Certificate of Qualification for such situation". This order was
+rigorously carried out by the Commissioners, and, although its absolute
+requirement was simply that the nominees should pass a certain
+examination, it, nevertheless, allowed the heads of departments to
+institute competition if they cared. Accordingly, we find that
+competition--_but limited_--was immediately set on foot in several of
+the offices, and the result led to the following remark in the Report of
+1856:--
+
+"We do not think it within our province to discuss the expediency of
+adopting the principle of open competition as contra-distinguished from
+examination; but we must remark that, both in the competitive
+examination for clerkships in our own and in other offices, those who
+have succeeded in attaining the appointments have appeared to us to
+possess considerably higher attainments than those who have come in upon
+simple nomination; and, we may add, that we cannot doubt that if it be
+adopted as a usual course to nominate several candidates to compete for
+each vacancy, the expectation of this ordeal will act most beneficially
+on the education and industry of those young persons who are looking
+forward to public employment."
+
+In 1857, a near approach was made to open competition, in the case of
+four clerkships awarded by the competing examination in the
+Commissioners' own establishment. "The fact of the competition was not
+made public, but was communicated to one or two heads of schools and
+colleges, and mentioned casually to other persons at various times. The
+number of competitors who presented themselves was forty-six, of which
+number, forty-four were actually examined."
+
+[BEGINNING OF OPEN COMPETITION.]
+
+It was reserved for 1858 to see the first absolutely open competition,
+in the case of eight writerships in the Office of the Secretary of State
+for India; and in that year, too, a step in advance was made when the
+Commissioners in their Report "pointed out the advantage which would
+result from enlarging the field of competition by substituting, for the
+plan of nominating three persons only to compete for each vacant
+situation, the system of nominating a proportionate number of candidates
+to compete for several appointments at one examination".
+
+The year 1860 sounded the death-knell of simple pass examination. It was
+then recommended by a Select Committee of the House of Commons, and the
+recommendation was adopted, that the competitive method, in its limited
+form, should be henceforth _universally_ applied to junior situations.
+This recommendation was at once acted upon in the case of clerkships
+under the control of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and others
+by and by followed; but, as matter of fact, it was never strictly
+carried out in all its scope and rigour; and as late as 1868 the
+Commissioners in their Report stated that "the number of situations
+filled on the competitive method has been comparatively small".
+Meanwhile, competitive examination was making way in other quarters.
+
+From 1857, the Commissioners had been in the habit of examining
+competitively, at the request of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, such
+candidates as might be nominated for cadetships in the Royal Irish
+Constabulary; and, in 1861, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
+"threw open to public competition" appointments as apprentices in Her
+Majesty's dockyards, and appointments as "engineer students" in the
+steam factories connected therewith.
+
+In 1870, the end so long aimed at was attained, and by an Order in
+Council of June 4, open competition was made the only door of entry to
+the general Civil Service.
+
+In entire contrast with this, as has been already said, was the action
+in the case of the Indian Civil Service. Here the principle of open
+competition was adopted from the first, and the examination took a very
+elevated start, comprising the highest branches of a learned education.
+These branches were duly specified in a Report drawn up in November,
+1854, by a Committee, of which Lord Macaulay was chairman; and, with the
+exception of Sanskrit and Arabic, they included simply (as might have
+been expected) the literary and scientific subjects ordinarily taught at
+the principal seats of general education in the Kingdom. These were:--
+
+English Language and Literature (Composition, History, and General
+Literature,--to each of which 500 marks were assigned, making a total of
+1,500); Greek and Latin (each with 750 marks); French, German, and
+Italian (valued at 375 marks, respectively); Mathematics, pure and mixed
+(marks 1,000); Natural and Moral Sciences (each 500); Sanscrit and
+Arabic (375 each).
+
+[PRINCIPLE OF SELECTION OF SUBJECTS.]
+
+The principle of selection here is clear and obvious. It did not rest
+upon any doctrine regarding the utility or value of subjects for mental
+training, but simply upon this, that those subjects already in the field
+must be accepted, and that (as Mr. Jowett, in his letter to Sir Charles
+Trevelyan, of January, 1854, put it) "it will not do to frame our
+examination on any mere theory of education. We must test a young man's
+ability by what he knows, not by what we wish him to know." Indeed, this
+is explicitly avowed in the Report by the author of the Scheme himself.
+The Natural Sciences are included, because (it is confessed) "of late
+years they have been introduced as a part of general education into
+several of our universities and colleges": and, as for the Moral
+Sciences, "those Sciences are, it is well known, much studied both at
+Oxford and at the Scottish Universities".
+
+Into the details of Macaulay's interesting Report, I need not here
+enter. Room, however, must be found for one quotation. It deals with the
+distribution of marks, and is both characteristic and puts the matter in
+small compass. "It will be necessary," says the writer, "that a certain
+number of marks should be assigned to each subject, and that the place
+of a candidate should be determined by the sum total of the marks which
+he has gained. The marks ought, we conceive, to be distributed among the
+subjects of examination in such a manner that no part of the kingdom,
+and no class of schools, shall exclusively furnish servants to the East
+India Company. It would be grossly unjust, for example, to the great
+academical institutions of England, not to allow skill in Greek and
+Latin versification to have a considerable share in determining the
+issue of the competition. Skill in Greek and Latin versification has,
+indeed, no direct tendency to form a judge, a financier, or a
+diplomatist. But the youth who does best what all the ablest and most
+ambitious youths about him are trying to do well will generally prove a
+superior man; nor can we doubt that an accomplishment by which Fox and
+Canning, Grenville and Wellesley, Mansfield and Tenterden first
+distinguished themselves above their fellows, indicates powers of mind,
+which, properly trained and directed, may do great service to the State.
+On the other hand, we must remember that in the north of this island the
+art of metrical composition in the ancient languages is very little
+cultivated, and that men so eminent as Dugald Stewart, Horner, Jeffrey,
+and Mackintosh, would probably have been quite unable to write a good
+copy of Latin alcaics, or to translate ten lines of Shakspeare into
+Greek iambics. We wish to see such a system of examination established
+as shall not exclude from the service of the East India Company either
+a Mackintosh or a Tenterden, either a Canning or a Horner."
+
+[ORIGINAL SCHEME FOR THE INDIA SERVICE.]
+
+Now, reverting to Macaulay's Table of Subjects as above exhibited, I may
+observe that, till quite recently, no very serious alterations were ever
+made upon it. The scale of marks, indeed, was altered more than once,
+and sometimes Sanskrit and Arabic were struck off, and Jurisprudence and
+Political Economy put in their stead; but, if we except the exclusion of
+Political Philosophy in 1858, at the desire of the present Lord Derby,
+from the Moral Science branch, the list remained, till Lord Salisbury's
+late innovation, to all intents and purposes what it was at the
+beginning. Here, for instance, is the prescription for 1875:--
+
+                                                              MAKES
+    English Composition                                         500
+    History of England, including that of the laws
+      and constitution                                          500
+    English Language and Literature                             500
+    Language, literature, and history of Greece                 750
+                                         Rome                   750
+                                         France                 375
+                                         Germany                375
+                                         Italy                  375
+    Mathematics, pure and mixed                               1,250
+    Natural Sciences, that is, (1) chemistry, including
+      heat; (2) electricity and magnetism; (3) geology
+      and mineralogy; (4) zoology; (5) botany                 1,000
+
+    *** The total (1,000) marks may be obtained by
+    adequate proficiency in any two or more of the five
+    branches of science included under this head.
+
+    Moral Sciences, that is, logic, mental and
+      moral philosophy                                          500
+    Sanskrit, language and literature                           500
+    Arabic, language and literature                             500
+
+But Lord Salisbury's changes have been great and sweeping. They are
+probably in keeping with the restriction of the competitor's age to
+"over 17 under 19"; but, if so, they serve only to shew all the more
+conclusively that the restriction is a mistake. A scheme that
+distributes marks on anything but a rational and intelligent system; a
+scheme that excludes the Natural History Sciences, mineralogy and
+Geology, as well as Psychology and Moral Philosophy from its scope
+altogether; a scheme that prescribes only _Elements_ and _Outlines_ of
+such important subjects as Natural Science (Chemistry, Electricity and
+Magnetism, &c.) and Political Economy--stands self-condemned. But, to do
+it justice, let us produce the Table _in extenso_:--
+
+                                                              MAKES.
+
+    English Composition                                         300
+    History of England, including _a period selected_
+      by the candidate                                          300
+    English Literature including _books selected_ by
+      the candidate                                             300
+    Greek                                                       600
+    Latin                                                       800
+    French                                                      500
+    German                                                      500
+    Italian                                                     400
+    Mathematics, pure and mixed                               1,000
+    Natural Science, that is, the _Elements_ of any
+      two of the following Sciences viz.:--
+    Chemistry, 500; Electricity and Magnetism,
+      300; Experimental Laws of Heat and Light,
+      300; Mechanical Philosophy, with _Outlines_
+      of Astronomy, 300.
+    Logic                                                       300
+    _Elements_ of Political Economy                        300
+    Sanskrit                                                    500
+    Arabic                                                      500
+
+    Further remarks are reserved for the sequel. Meanwhile,
+    I give the scheme advocated by myself in the
+    present Essay:--
+
+    GENERAL SCIENCES:--
+
+    Mathematics                                                 500
+    Natural Philosophy                                          500
+    Chemistry                                                   500
+    Biology, as physiology                                      500
+    Mental Science                                              500
+
+    SPECIAL OR CONCRETE SCIENCES:--
+    Mineralogy                                           }
+    Botany                                               } each 250
+    Zoology                                              } or   300
+    Geology                                              }
+
+    As a substitute for language, literature, and philosophy
+    of Greece, Rome, France, Germany, and Italy:--
+    Greece--Institutions and History                            500
+            Literature                                          250
+    Rome--Institutions and History                              500
+          Literature                                            250
+    France--Literature                                          250
+    Germany--Literature                                         250
+    Italy--Literature                                           250
+    Modern History                                            1,000
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+II. THE SCHEME CONSIDERED.
+
+The system of competitive examinations for the public service, of which
+I have laid before the Section a brief history compiled from the
+Reports, is one of those radical innovations that may ultimately lead to
+great consequences. For the present, however, it leads to many debates.
+Not merely does the working out of the scheme involve conflicting views,
+but there is still, in many quarters, great hesitation as to whether the
+innovation is to be productive of good or of evil. The Report of the
+Playfair Commission, and the more recent Report relative to the changes
+in the India Civil Service Regulations, indicate pretty broadly the
+doubts that still cleave to many minds on the whole question. It is
+enough to refer to the views of Sir Arthur Helps, W.R. Greg, and Dr.
+Farr, expressed to the Playfair Commission, as decidedly adverse to the
+competitive system. The authorities cited in the Report on the India
+Examinations scarcely go the length of total condemnation; but many
+acquiesce only because there is no hope of a reversal.
+
+The question of the expediency of the system as a whole is not well
+suited to a sectional discussion. We shall be much better employed in
+adverting to some of those details in the conduct of the examinations
+that have a bearing on the general education of the country, as well as
+on the Civil Service itself. It was very well for the Commissioners, at
+first starting, to be guided, in their choice of subjects and in their
+assigning of values to those subjects, by the received branches of
+education in the schools and colleges. But, sooner or later, these
+subjects must be discussed on their intrinsic merits for the ends in
+view. Indeed, the scheme of Lord Salisbury has already made the venture
+that Macaulay declined to make; it has absolutely excluded some of the
+best recognised subjects of our school and college teaching, instead of
+leaving them to the option of the candidates.
+
+I will occupy the present paper with the consideration of two
+departments in the examination programme--the one relating to the
+PHYSICAL or NATURAL SCIENCES, the other relating to LANGUAGES.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[COMMISSIONER' SCHEME OF SCIENCE.]
+
+The Commissioners' scheme of Mathematics and Natural Science is not, in
+my opinion, accordant either with the best views of the relations of the
+sciences, or with the best teaching usages.
+
+In the classification of the Sciences, the first and most important
+distinction is between the fundamental sciences, sometimes called the
+Abstract sciences, and the derivative or Concrete branches. My purpose
+does not require any nice clearing of the meanings of those technical
+terms. It is sufficient to say that the fundamental sciences are those
+that embrace distinct departments of the natural forces or phenomena;
+and the derivative or concrete departments assume all the laws laid down
+in the others, and apply them in certain spheres of natural objects. For
+example, Chemistry is a primary, fundamental, or abstract science; and
+Mineralogy is a derivative and concrete science. In Chemistry the stress
+lies in explaining a peculiar kind of force, called chemical force; in
+Mineralogy the stress is laid on the description and classification of
+a select group of natural objects.
+
+The fundamental, or departmental sciences, as most commonly accepted,
+are these:--1. Mathematics; 2. Natural Philosophy, or Physics; 3.
+Chemistry; 4. Biology; 5. Psychology. They may be, therefore, expressed
+as Formal, Inanimate, Animate, and Mental. In these sciences, the idea
+is to view exhaustively some department of natural phenomena, and to
+assume the order best suited for the elucidation of the phenomena.
+Mathematics, the Formal Science, exhausts the relations of Quantity
+and Number; measure being a universal property of things. Natural
+Philosophy, in its two divisions (molar and molecular), deals with one
+kind of force; Chemistry with another: and the two together conspire to
+exhaust the phenomena of _inanimate_ nature; being indispensably aided
+by the laws and formulae of quantity, as given in Mathematics. Biology
+turns over a new leaf; it takes up the phenomenon--Life, or the
+_animated_ world. Finally, Psychology makes another stride, and embraces
+the sphere of _mind_.
+
+Now, there is no fact or phenomenon of the world that is not comprised
+under the doctrines expounded in some one or other of these sciences.
+We may have fifty "ologies" besides, but they will merely repeat for
+special ends, or in special connections, the principles already
+comprised in these five fundamental subjects. The regular, systematic,
+exhaustive account of the laws of nature is to be found within their
+compass.
+
+[ORDER OF THE FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCES.]
+
+Again, these sciences have a fixed order or sequence, the order of
+dependence. Mathematics precedes them all, as being not dependent upon
+any, while all are more or less dependent upon it. The physical forces
+have to be viewed prior to the chemical; and both physical and chemical
+forces are preparatory to vital. So there are reasons for placing Mental
+Science last of all. Hence a student cannot comprehend chemistry without
+natural philosophy, nor biology without both. You cannot stand a thorough
+examination in chemistry without indirectly showing your knowledge of
+physics; and a testing examination in biology would guarantee, with some
+slight qualifications, both physics and chemistry.
+
+Let us now turn to the other sciences--those that are not fundamental,
+but derivative. The chief examples are the three commonly called Natural
+History sciences--Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology. In these sciences no law
+or principle is at work that has not been already brought forward in
+the primary sciences. The properties of a Mineral are mathematical,
+physical, and chemical: the testing of minerals is by measurement, by
+physical tests, by chemical tests. The aim of this science is not to
+teach forces unknown to the student of physics and chemistry; it is to
+embrace, under the best classification, all the bodies called minerals,
+and to describe the species in detail under mathematical, physical, and
+chemical characters. It is the first in order of the _classificatory_
+sciences. Its purpose in the economy of education is distinct and
+peculiar; it imparts knowledge, not respecting laws, forces, or
+principles of operating, but respecting the concrete constituents of
+the world. It gives us a commanding view of one whole department of
+the material universe; supplying information useful in practice, and
+interesting to the feelings. It also brings into exercise the great
+logical process, wanted on many occasions, the process of
+CLASSIFICATION.
+
+[CLASSIFICATORY SCIENCES.]
+
+So much for an instance from the Inorganic world, as showing the
+distinction between the two kinds of sciences. Another example may be
+cited from the field of Biology; it is a little more perplexing. For
+"biology" is sometimes given as the name for the two concrete
+classificatory sciences--botany and zoology. In point of fact, however,
+there is a science that precedes those two branches, although blending
+with them; the science commonly expressed by the older term,
+'Physiology,' which is not a classificatory and a dependent science, but
+a mother science, like chemistry. It expounds the peculiarities of
+living bodies, as such, and the laws of living processes--such processes
+as assimilation, nutrition, respiration, innervation, reproduction, and
+so on. One division is Vegetable Physiology, which is generally fused
+with the classificatory science of botany. Animal Physiology is allied
+with zoology, but more commonly stands alone. Lastly, the Physiology of
+the Human animal has been from time immemorial a distinct branch of
+knowledge, and is, of course, the chief of them all. Man being the most
+complicated of all organised beings, not only are the laws of his
+vitality the most numerous, and the most practically interesting, but
+they go far to include all that is to be said of the workings of animal
+life in general. Thus, then, the mother science of Biology, as a general
+or fundamental science, comprises Vegetable, Animal, and Human
+physiology. The classificatory adjunct sciences are Botany and Zoology.
+It is in the various aspects of the mother science that we look for the
+account of all vital phenomena, and all practical applications to the
+preservation of life. Even if we stop at these, we shall have a full
+command of the laws of the animate world. But we may go farther, and
+embrace the sciences that arrange, classify, and describe the
+innumerable host of living beings. These have their own independent
+interest and value, but they are not the sciences that of themselves
+teach us the living processes.
+
+Thus, then, a proper scheme of scientific instruction starts from the
+essential, fundamental, and law-giving sciences--Mathematics, Physics,
+Chemistry, Biology, and Mind. It then proceeds to the adjunct branches
+--such as Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology: and I might add others, as
+Geology, Meteorology, Geography, no one of which is primary; for they
+all repeat in new connections, and for special purposes, the laws
+systematically set forth in the primary sciences.
+
+In the foregoing remarks, I do not advance any new or debatable views.
+I believe the scientific world to be substantially in accord upon all
+that I have here stated; any differences that there are in the manner
+of expressing the points do not affect my present purpose--namely, to
+discuss the scheme of the mathematical and physical sciences as set
+forth in the Civil Service Examinations.
+
+[BAD GROUPINGS OF SCIENCES.]
+
+Under Mathematics (pure and mixed) the Commissioners (in their Scheme of
+1875), include mathematics, properly so called, and those departments of
+natural philosophy that are mathematically handled--statics, dynamics,
+and optics. But the next branch, entitled "Natural Science," is what I
+am chiefly to remark upon. Under it there is a fivefold enumeration:
+--(1) Chemistry, including Heat; (2) Electricity and Magnetism; (3)
+Geology and Mineralogy; (4) Zoology; (5) Botany. I cannot pretend to say
+where the Commissioners obtained this arrangement of natural knowledge.
+It is not supported by any authority that I am acquainted with. If the
+scheme just set forth is the correct one, it has _three_ defects. First,
+it does not embrace in one group the remaining parts of natural
+philosophy, the _experimental_ branches which, with the mathematical
+treatment, complete the department; one of these, Heat, is attached to
+chemistry, to which undoubtedly it has important relations, but not such
+as to withdraw it from physics and embody it in chemistry. Then, again,
+the physical branches, Electricity and Magnetism, are coupled in a
+department and made of co-equal value with chemistry together with heat.
+I need not say that the united couple--electricity and magnetism--is in
+point of extent of study not a half or a third of what is included in
+the other coupling. Lastly, the three remaining members of the
+enumeration are three natural history sciences; geology being coupled
+with mineralogy--which is a secondary consideration. Now I think it
+is quite right that these three sciences should have a place in the
+competition. What is objectionable is, that Biology is represented
+solely by its two classificatory components or adjuncts, botany and
+zoology; there is no mother science of Physiology: and consequently the
+knowledge of the vast region of the Laws of Life goes for nothing. Nor
+can it be said that physiology is given with the others. The subject of
+_vegetable_ physiology could easily enough be taken with Botany: I would
+not make a quarrel upon this part. It is zoology and animal physiology
+that cannot be so coupled. If we look to the questions actually set
+under zoology, we shall see that there is no pretence to take in
+physiology. I contend, therefore, that there is a radical omission in
+the scheme of natural science; an omission that seems without any
+justification. I am not here to sing the praises of Physiology: its
+place is fixed and determined by the concurrence of all competent
+judges: I merely point out that Zoology does not include it, but
+presupposes it.
+
+The Science scheme of the London University, to which the first Civil
+Service Commissioners, Sir Edward Ryan and Sir John Lefevre, were
+parties, is very nearly what I contend for. It gives the
+order--Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Biology, Mental
+Science (including Logic). In the working of that scheme, however,
+Biology is made to comprehend both the mother science, Physiology, and
+the two classificatory sciences, Botany and Zoology. Of course the
+presence of two such enormous adjuncts cramps and confines the purely
+physiological examination, which in my opinion should have full justice
+done to it in the first instance: still, the physiology is not
+suppressed nor reduced to a mere formality. Now, in any science scheme,
+I would provide for the general sciences first, and take the others, so
+far as expedient, in a new grouping, where those of a kind shall appear
+together, and stand in their proper character, not as law-giving, but as
+arranging and describing sciences. There is no more reason for coupling
+Zoology with Physiology, than for tacking on Mineralogy to Chemistry.
+In point of outward form, Mineralogy and Zoology are kindred subjects.
+
+When the subjects are placed in the order that I have suggested, there
+is an end of that promiscuous and random choosing that the arrangement
+of the Commissioners suggests and encourages. To the specification of
+the five heads of natural science, it is added, that the whole of the
+1,000 marks may be gained by high eminence in any two; as if the choice
+were a matter of indifference. Now, I cannot think that this suggestion
+is in conformity with a just view of the continuity of science. When the
+sciences are rightly arranged, there is but one order in the mother
+sciences; if we are to choose a single science, it must be (with some
+qualifications) the first; if two, the first and second, and so on. To
+choose one of the higher sciences, Chemistry or Physiology, without the
+others that precede, is irrational. Indeed, it would scarcely ever be
+done, and for this reason. A man cannot have mastered Physiology without
+having gone through Physics and Chemistry; and, although it is not
+necessary that he should retain a hold of everything in these previous
+sciences, yet he is sure to have done enough in both one and the other
+to make it worth his while to take these up in the examination. So a
+good chemist must have so much familiarity with Physics, as to make it
+bad economy on his part not to give in Physics as well. The only case
+where an earlier science might be dropped is Mathematics; for although
+that finds its application extensively in Physics and indirectly in
+Chemistry, yet there is a very large body of physical and chemical
+doctrine that is not dependent upon any of the more difficult branches,
+so that these may admit of being partially neglected. But, as an
+examination in Physics ought to include (as in the London University)
+all the mathematical applications, short of the higher calculus, it is
+not likely that Mathematics would be often dropped. So that, as regards
+the _mother_ sciences, the variation of choice would be reduced to the
+different lengths that the candidate would go in the order as laid down.
+As regards the other sciences--those of _classification_ and
+_description_--the selection might certainly be arbitrary to this
+extent, that Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology might each be prescribed
+alone. But then, whoever presented one of these would also present the
+related mother science. He that took up Mineralogy, would infallibly
+also take up the three first as far as Chemistry. He that gave in Botany
+would probably take up Physiology, although not so necessarily, because
+the area of plant Physiology is very limited, and has little bearing on
+descriptive Botany, so that anything like a familiarity with Physiology
+might be evaded. But he that took up Zoology, would to a certainty take
+up Physiology; and very probably also the antecedent members of the
+fundamental group. As to Geology, it is usually coupled with Mineralogy,
+although involving also a slight knowledge of Botany and Zoology.
+A competent mineralogist would be pretty sure to add Geology to his
+professional subjects.
+
+Before considering the re-arrangement of marks entailed by the proposed
+distribution of the sciences, I must advert to the position of
+Mathematics in the Commissioners' scheme. This position was first
+assigned in the original draft of 1854, and on the motives therein set
+forth with such ostentatious candour; namely, the wish to reward the
+existing subjects of teaching, whatever they might be. Now, I contend
+that it is wholly beside the ends either of the Indian Civil Service, or
+of the Home Service, with known exceptions, to stimulate the very high
+mathematical knowledge that has hitherto entered into the examination
+scheme. A certain amount of Mathematics, the amount required in a pass
+examination in the London University, is essential as a basis of
+rational culture; but, for a good general education, all beyond that is
+misdirected energy. After receiving the modicum required, the student
+should pass on to the other sciences, and employ his strength in adding
+Experimental Physics and Chemistry to his stock. Whether a candidate
+succeeds or fails in the competitions, this is his best policy.
+
+[PROPER SCIENCE VALUES.]
+
+Without arguing the point farther, I will now come to the amended scheme
+of science markings. It would be over-refining, and would not bring
+conviction to the general public, to make out a case for inequality in
+the five fundamental branches. It may be said that Physiology is of more
+value than Chemistry, because it is farther on, and takes Chemistry with
+it; the answer is, let the Physiology candidate go in and take marks in
+Chemistry also, which he is sure to do. I have purposely avoided all
+discussion about Mental Science; I merely assume it as a branch
+coordinate with the prior sciences placed before it in the general list.
+I would then simply, in conclusion, give the _primary sciences_,
+Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Biology (as explained),
+Mental Philosophy, each 500 marks. The other sciences, Mineralogy,
+Botany, Zoology, Geology, I would make equal as between themselves, but
+somewhat lower than the primaries. The reasons are already apparent: the
+candidate for them would always have some of the others to present; and
+their importance is, on the whole, less than the importance of the
+law-giving sciences. I should conceive that 250 or 300 marks apiece
+would be a proper amount of consideration shewn towards them. With that
+figure, I believe many science students could take up one or other in
+addition to the general sciences.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The other topic that I am to bring forward is one of very serious
+import. It concerns the Civil Service competitions only as a part of our
+whole scheme of Education. I mean the position of LANGUAGES in our
+examinations. While the vast field of Natural Science is comprised in
+one heading, with a total of 1,000 marks (raised finally to 1,400), our
+Civil Service scheme presents a row of five languages besides our
+own--two ancient, and three modern--with an aggregate value of 2,625
+marks, or 2,800, as finally adjusted. The India scheme has, in addition,
+Sanskrit and Arabic, at 500 marks each; the reasons for this
+prescription being, however, not the same as for the foregoing.
+
+The place of Language in education is not confined to the question as
+between the ancient and the modern languages. There is a wider enquiry
+as to the place of languages as a whole. In pursuing this enquiry, we
+may begin with certain things that are obvious and incontestable.
+
+In the first place, it is apparent that if a man is sent to hold
+intercourse with the people of a foreign nation, he must be able to
+understand and to speak the language of that nation. Our India civil
+servants are on that ground required to master the Hindoo spoken
+dialects.
+
+[PLACE OF LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION.]
+
+In the next place, if a certain range of information that you find
+indispensable is locked up in a foreign language, you are obliged to
+learn the language. If, in course of time, all this information is
+transferred to our native tongue, the necessity apparently ceases. These
+two extreme suppositions will be allowed at once. There may, however,
+be an indefinite number of intermediate stages. The information may be
+partially translated; and it will then be a question whether the trouble
+of learning the language should be incurred for the sake of the
+untranslated part. Or, it may be wholly translated: but, conscious of
+the necessary defects even of good translations, if the subject-matter
+be supremely important, some people will think it worth while to learn
+the language in order to obtain the knowledge in its greatest purity and
+precision. This is a situation that admits of no certain rule. Our
+clergy are expected to know the original languages of the Bible,
+notwithstanding the abundance of translations; many of which must be far
+superior in worth and authority to the judgment of a merely ordinary
+proficient in Hebrew and in Greek.
+
+It is now generally conceded that the classical languages are no longer
+the exclusive depository of any kind of valuable information, as they
+were two or three centuries ago. Yet they are still continued in the
+schools as if they possessed their original function unabated. We do not
+speak in them, nor listen to them spoken, nor write in them, nor read in
+them, for obtaining information. Why then are they kept up? Many reasons
+are given, as we know. There is an endeavour to show that even in their
+original function, they are not quite effete. Certain professions are
+said to rely upon them for some points of information not fully
+communicated by the medium of English. Such is the rather indirect
+example of the clergy with Greek. So, it is said that Law is not
+thoroughly understood without Latin, because the great source of law,
+the Roman code, is written in Latin, and is in many points
+untranslatable. Further, it is contended that Greek philosophy cannot
+be fully mastered without a knowledge of the language of Plato and
+Aristotle. But an argument that is reduced to these examples must be
+near its vanishing point. Not one of the cases stands a rigorous
+scrutiny; and they are not relied upon as the main justification of the
+continuance of classics. A new line of defence is opened up which was
+not at all present to the minds of sixteenth century scholars. We are
+told of numerous indirect and secondary advantages of cultivating
+language in general and the classic languages in particular, which make
+the acquisition a rewarding labour, even without one particle of the
+primary use. But for these secondary advantages, languages could have no
+claim to appear, with such enormous values, in the Civil Service scheme.
+
+[LANGUAGE MAY HAVE SECONDARY USES.]
+
+My purpose requires me to advert in these alleged secondary uses of
+language, not, however, for the view of counter-arguing them, but rather
+in order to indicate what seems to me the true mode of bringing them to
+the proof.
+
+The most usual phraseology for describing the indirect benefit of
+languages is, that they supply a _training_ to the powers of the mind;
+that, if not information, they are _culture_; that they re-act upon our
+mastery of our own language, and so on. It is quite necessary, however,
+to find phrases more definite and tangible than the slippery words
+"culture" and "training": we must know precisely what particular powers
+or aptitudes are increased by the study of a foreign language.
+Nevertheless, the conclusions set forth in this paper do not require me
+to work out an exhaustive review of these advantages. It is enough to
+give as many as will serve for examples.
+
+Now, it must be freely admitted as a possible case, that a practice
+introduced in the first instance for a particular purpose, may be found
+applicable to many other purposes; so much so, that, ceasing to be
+employed for the original use, the practice may be kept up for the sake
+of the after uses. For example, clothing was no doubt primarily
+contrived for warmth; but it is not now confined to that: decoration or
+ornament, distinction of sexes, ranks and offices, modesty--are also
+attained by means of clothes. This example is a suggestive one. We have
+only to suppose ourselves migrating to some African climate, where
+clothing for warmth is absolutely dispensed with. We should not on that
+account adopt literal nudity--we should still desire to maintain those
+other advantages. The artistic decoration of the person would continue
+to be thought of; and, as no amount of painting and tattooing, with
+strings of beads superadded, would answer to our ideal of personal
+elegance, we should have recourse to some light filmy textures, such as
+would allow the varieties of drapery, colours, and design, and show off
+the poetry of motion; we should also indicate the personal differences
+that we were accustomed to show by vesture. But now comes the point of
+the moral; we should not maintain our close heavy fabrics, our
+great-coats, shawls and cloaks. These would cease with the need for
+them. Perhaps the first emigrants would keep up the prejudice for their
+warm things, but not so their successors.
+
+Well, then, suppose the extreme case of a foreign language that is
+entirely and avowedly superseded as regards communication and
+interpretation of thoughts, but still furnishing so many valuable aids
+to mental improvement, that we keep it up for the sake of these. As we
+are not to hear, speak, or read the language, we do not need absolutely
+to know the meaning of every word: we may, perhaps, dispense with much
+of the technicality of its grammar. The vocables and the grammar would
+be kept up exactly so far as to serve the other purposes, and no
+farther. The teacher would have in view the secondary uses alone.
+Supposing the language related to our own by derivation of words, and
+that this was what we put stress upon; then the derivation would always
+be uppermost in the teacher's thoughts. If it were to illustrate
+Universal Grammar and Philology, this would be brought out to the
+neglect of translation.
+
+[CLASSICAL TEACHER'S IDEAL.]
+
+I have made an imaginary supposition to prepare the way for the real
+case. The classical or language teacher, is assumed to be fully
+conscious of the fact that the primary use of the languages is as good
+as defunct; and that he is continued in office because of certain
+clearly assigned secondary uses, but for which he would be superseded
+entirely. Some of the secondary uses present to his mind, at all events
+one of those that are put forward in argument, is that a foreign
+language, and especially Latin, conduces to good composition in our own
+language. And as we do compose in our own language, and never compose in
+Latin, the teacher is bound to think mainly of the English part of the
+task--to see that the pupils succeed in the English translation, whether
+they succeed in the other or not. They may be left in a state of
+considerable ignorance of good Latin forms (ignorance will never expose
+them); but any defects in their English expression will be sure to be
+disclosed. Again, it is said that Universal Grammar or Philology is
+taught upon the basis of a foreign language. Is this object, in point of
+fact, present to the mind of every teacher, and brought forward, even to
+the sacrifice of the power of reading and writing, which, by the
+supposition, is never to be wanted? Further, the Latin Grammar is said
+to be a logical discipline. Is this, too, kept in view as a
+predominating end? Once more, it is declared that, through the classics,
+we attain the highest cultivation of Taste, by seeing models of
+unparalleled literary form. Be it so: is this habitually attended to in
+the teaching of these languages?
+
+I believe I am safe in saying that, whilst these various secondary
+advantages are put forward in the polemic as to the value of languages,
+the teaching practice is by no means in harmony therewith. Even when in
+word the supporters of classics put forward the secondary uses, in deed
+they belie themselves. Excellence in teaching is held by them to
+consist, in the first instance, in the power of accurate
+interpretation,--as if that obsolete use were still _the_ use. If a
+teacher does this well, he is reckoned a good teacher, although he does
+little or nothing for the other ends, which in argument are treated as
+the reason of his existence. Indeed, this is the kind of teaching that
+is alone to be expected from the ordinary teacher; all the other ends
+are more difficult than simple word teaching. Even when English
+Composition, Logic and Taste are taught in the most direct way, they
+are more abstruse than the simple teaching of a foreign language for
+purposes of interpretation; but when tacked on as accessories to
+instruction in a language, they are still more troublesome to impart.
+A teacher of rare excellence may help his pupils in English style, in
+philology, in logic, and in taste; but the mass of teachers can do very
+little in any of those directions. They are never found fault with
+merely because their teaching does not rise to the height of the great
+arguments that justify their vocation; they would be found fault with,
+if their pupils were supposed to have made little way in that first
+function of language which is never to be called into exercise.
+
+I do not rest satisfied with quoting the palpable inconsistency between
+the practice of the teacher and the polemic of the defender of
+languages. I believe, further, that it is not expedient to carry on so
+many different acquisitions together. If you want to teach thorough
+English, you need to arrange a course of English, allot a definite time
+to it, and follow it with undivided attention during that time. If you
+wish to teach Philology you must provide a systematic scheme, or else
+a text-book of Philology, and bring together all the most select
+illustrations from languages generally. So for Logic and for Taste.
+These subjects are far too serious to be imparted in passing allusions
+while the pupil is engaged in struggling with linguistic difficulties.
+They need a place in the programme to themselves; and, when so provided
+for, the small dropping contributions of the language teacher may easily
+be dispensed with.
+
+[SECONDARY ENDS OF LANGUAGE NOT PRESSED.]
+
+The argument for Languages may, no doubt, take a bolder flight, and go
+so far as to maintain that the teacher does not need to turn aside from
+his plain path to secure these secondary ends--now the only valuable
+ends. The contention may be that in the close and rigorous attention to
+mere interpretation, just as if interpretation were still the living
+use, these other purposes are inevitably secured--good English,
+universal grammar, logic, taste, &c. I think, however, that this is too
+far from the fact to be very confidently maintained. Of course, were it
+correct, the teacher should never have departed from it, as the best
+teachers continually do, and glory in doing.
+
+On the face of the thing, it must seem an unworkable position to
+surrender the value of a language, as a language, and keep it up for
+something else. The teaching must always be guided by the original,
+although defunct, use; this is the natural, the easy, course to follow;
+for the mass of teachers at all times it is the broad way. Whatever the
+necessities of argument may drive a man to say, yet in his teaching he
+cannot help postulating to himself, as an indispensable fiction, that
+his pupils are some day or other to hear, to read, to speak, or to write
+the language.
+
+The intense conservatism in the matter of Languages--the alacrity to
+prescribe languages on all sides, without inquiring whether they are
+likely to be turned to account--may be referred to various causes. For
+one thing--although the remark may seem ungracious and invidious--many
+minds, not always of the highest force, are absorbed and intoxicated by
+languages. But apart from this, languages are, by comparison, easy to
+teach, and easy to examine upon. Now, if there is any motive in
+education more powerful than another, it is ease in the work itself. We
+are all, as teachers, copyists of that Irish celebrity who, when he came
+to a good bit of road, paced it to and fro a number of times before
+going forward to his destination on the rougher footing.
+
+So far I may seem to be arguing against the teaching of language at all,
+or, at any rate, the languages expressively called dead. I am not,
+however, pressing this point farther than as an illustration. I do not
+ask anyone to give an opinion against Classics as a subject of
+instruction; although, undoubtedly, if this opinion were prevalent, my
+principal task would be very much lightened. I have merely analysed the
+utilities ascribed to the ancient and the modern languages, with a view
+to settling their place in competitive examinations.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[LANGUAGES NOT PROPER FOR THE COMPETITION.]
+
+My thesis, then, is, that languages are not a proper subject for
+competition with a view to professional appointments. The explanation
+falls under two heads.
+
+In the first place, there are certain avocations where a foreign
+language must be known, because it has to be used in actual business.
+Such are the Indian spoken languages. Now, it is clear that in these
+cases the knowledge of the language, as being a _sine qua non_, must be
+made imperative. This, however, as I think, is not a case for
+competition, but for a sufficient pass. There is a certain pitch of
+attainment that is desirable even at first entering the service; no one
+should fall below this, and to rise much above it cannot matter a great
+deal. At all events, I think the measure should be absolute and not
+relative. I would not give a man merit in a competition because another
+man happens to be worse than himself in a matter that all must know;
+both the men may be absolutely bad.
+
+It may be the case that certain languages are so admirably constructed
+and so full of beauties that to study them is a liberal education in
+itself. But this does not necessarily hold of every language that an
+official of the British Empire may happen to need. It does not apply to
+the Indian tongues, nor to Chinese, nor, I should suppose, to the Fiji
+dialects. The only human faculty that is tested and brought into play in
+these acquisitions is the commonest kind of memory exercised for a
+certain time. The value to the Service of the man that can excel in
+spoken languages does not lie in his superior administrative ability,
+but in his being sooner fitted for actual duty. Undoubtedly, if two men
+go out to Calcutta so unequal in their knowledge of native languages, or
+in the preparation for that knowledge, that one can begin work in six
+months, while the other takes nine, there is an important difference
+between them. But what is the obvious mode of rewarding the difference?
+Not, I should think, by pronouncing one a higher man in the scale of the
+competition, but by giving him some money prize in proportion to the
+redemption of his time for official work.
+
+Now, as regards the second kind of languages--those that are supposed to
+carry with them all the valuable indirect consequences that we have just
+reviewed. There are in the Civil Service Scheme five such languages--two
+ancient, and three modern. They are kept there, not because they are
+ever to be read or spoken in the Service, but because they exercise some
+magical efficacy in elevating the whole tone of the human intellect.
+
+If I were discussing the Indian Civil Service in its own specialities,
+I would deprecate the introduction of extraneous languages into the
+competition, for this reason, that the Service itself taxes the verbal
+powers more than any other service. I do not think that Lord Macaulay
+and his colleagues had this circumstance fully in view. Macaulay was
+himself a glutton for language; and, while in India, read a great
+quantity of Latin and Greek. But he was exempted from the ordinary lot
+of the Indian civil servant; he had no native languages to acquire and
+to use. If a man both speaks and writes in good English, and converses
+familiarly in several Oriental dialects, his language memory is
+sufficiently well taxed, and if he carries with him one European
+language besides, it is as much as belongs to the fitness of things in
+that department.
+
+[SECONDARY USES OF LANGUAGE DIRECTLY TESTED.]
+
+My proposal, then, goes the length of excluding all these five
+cultivated languages from the competition, notwithstanding the influence
+that they may be supposed to have as general culture. In supporting it,
+I shall assume that everything that can be said in their favour is true
+to the letter: that they assist us in our own language, that they
+cultivate logic and taste, that they exemplify universal grammar, and so
+on. All that my purpose requires is to affirm that the same good ends
+may be attained in other ways: that Latin, Greek, &c, are but one of
+several instruments for instructing us in English composition,
+reasoning, or taste. My contention, then, is that the _ends_ themselves
+are to be looked to, and not the means or instruments, since these are
+very various. English composition is, of course, a valuable end, whether
+got through the study of Latin, or through the study of English authors
+themselves, or through the inspiration of natural genius. Whatever
+amount of skill and attainment a candidate can show in this department
+should be valued _the examination for English_; and all the good that
+Latin has done for him would thus be entered to his credit. If, then,
+the study of Latin is found the best means of securing good marks in
+English, it will be pursued on that account; if the candidate is able to
+discover other less laborious ways of attaining the end, he will prefer
+these ways.
+
+The same applies to all the other secondary ends of language. Let them
+be valued _in their own departments_. Let the improvement of the
+reasoning faculty be counted wherever that is shown in the examination.
+Good reasoning powers will evince themselves in many places, and will
+have their, reward.
+
+The principle is a plain and obvious one. It is that of payment for
+results, without inquiring into the means. There are certain extreme
+cases where the means are not improperly coupled with the results in the
+final examination; and these are illustrations of the principle. Thus,
+in passing a candidate for the medical profession, the final end is his
+or her knowledge of diseases and their remedies. As it is admitted,
+however, that there are certain indispensable preparatory
+studies--anatomy, physiology, and materia medica--such studies are made
+part of the examination, because they contribute to the testing for the
+final end.
+
+[HISTORY AND LITERATURE DETACHABLE FROM LANGUAGE.]
+
+The argument is not complete until we survey another branch of the
+subject of examination in languages. It will be observed in the wording
+of the programme that each separate language is coupled with 'literature
+and history (or, as latterly expressed, 'literature--including books
+selected by the candidate')'. It is the Language, Literature, and
+History of Rome, Greece, &c. And the examination questions show the
+exact scope of these adjuncts, and also the values attached to them, as
+compared with the language by itself.
+
+Let us consider this matter a little. Take History first, as being the
+least perplexed. Greece and Rome have both a certain lasting importance
+attaching to their history and institutions; and these accordingly are a
+useful study. Of course, the extant writings are the chief groundwork of
+our knowledge of these, and must be read. But, at the present day, all
+that can be extracted from the originals is presented to the student in
+English books; and to these he is exclusively referred for this part of
+his knowledge. In the small portion of original texts that a pupil at
+school or college toils through, he necessarily gets a few of the
+historical facts at first hand; but he could much more easily get these
+few where he gets the rest--in the English compilations. Admitting,
+then, that the history and institutions of Greece and Rome constitute a
+valuable education, it is in our power to secure it independently of the
+original tongues.
+
+The other branch--Literature--is not so easily disposed of. In fact, the
+separating of the literature from the language, you will say, is a
+self-evident absurdity. That, however, only shows that you have not
+looked carefully into examination papers. I am not concerned with what
+the _a priori_ imagination may suppose to be Literature, but with the
+actual questions put by examiners under that name. I find that such
+questions are, generally speaking, very few, perhaps one or two in a
+long paper, and nearly all pertain to the outworks of literature, so to
+speak. Here is the Latin literature of one paper:--In what special
+branch of literature were the Romans independent of the Greeks? Mention
+the principal writers in it, with the peculiar characteristics of each.
+Who was the first to employ the hexameter in Latin poetry, and in what
+poem? To what language is Latin most nearly related; and what is the
+cause of their great resemblance? The Greek literature of the same
+examination involves these points:--The Aristophanic estimate of
+Euripides, with criticisms on its taste and justice (for which, however,
+a historical subject is given as an alternative); the Greek chorus, and
+choric metres. Now such an examination is, in the first place, a most
+meagre view of literature: it does not necessarily exercise the faculty
+of critical discernment. In the next place, it is chiefly a matter of
+compilation from English sources; the actual readings of the candidate
+in Greek and Latin would be of little account in the matter. Of course,
+the choric metres could not be described without some knowledge of
+Greek, but the matter is of very trifling importance in an educational
+point of view. Generally speaking, the questions in literature, which in
+number bear no proportion to historical questions, are such as might be
+included under history, as the department of the History of Literature.
+
+[LANGUAGES EXAMINATION PAPERS REVIEWED.]
+
+The distribution of the 750 marks allotted respectively to Latin and to
+Greek, in the scheme of 1875, is this. There are three papers: two are
+occupied exclusively with translation. The third is language,
+literature, and history: the language means purely grammatical
+questions; so that possibly 583 marks are for the language proper. The
+remaining number, 167, should be allotted equally between literature and
+history, but history has always the lion's share, and is in fact the
+only part of the whole examination that has, to my mind, any real worth.
+It is generally a very searching view of important institutions and
+events, together with what may be called their philosophy. Now, the
+reform that seems to me to be wanted is to strike out everything else
+from the examination. At the same time, I should like to see the
+experiment of a _real_ literary examination, such as did not necessarily
+imply a knowledge of the originals.
+
+It is interesting to turn to the examination in modern languages, where
+the ancient scheme is copied, by appending literature and history. Here
+the Literature is decidedly more prominent and thorough. There is also
+a fair paper of History questions. What strikes us, however, in this,
+is a slavish adherence to the form, without the reality, of the ancient
+situation. We have independent histories of Greece and Rome, but
+scarcely of Germany, France, and Italy. Instead of partitioning Modern
+European history among the language-examiners for English, French,
+German, Italian, it would be better to relieve them of history
+altogether, and place the subject as a whole in the hands of a distinct
+examiner. I would still allow merit for a literary examination in
+French, German, and Italian, but would strike off the languages, and let
+the candidate get up the literature as he chose. The basis of a
+candidate's literary knowledge, and his first introduction to
+literature, ought to be his own language: but he may extend his
+discrimination and his power by other literatures, either in
+translations or in originals, as he pleases; still the examination, as
+before, should test the discrimination and the power, and not the
+vocabulary of the languages themselves.
+
+In order to do full justice to classical antiquity, I would allow
+markings at the rate of 500 for Political Institutions and History, and
+250 for Literature. Some day this will be thought too much; but
+political philosophy or sociology may become more systematic than at
+present, and history questions will then take a different form.
+
+In like manner, I would abolish the language-examination in modern
+languages, and give 250 marks for the literature of each of the three
+modern languages--French, German, Italian. The history would be taken as
+Modern History, with an adequate total value.
+
+The objections to this proposal will mainly resolve themselves into its
+revolutionary character. The remark will at once be made that the
+classical languages would cease to be taught, and even the modern
+languages discouraged. The meaning of this I take to be, that, if such
+teaching is judged solely by its fruits, it must necessarily be
+condemned.
+
+The only way to fence this unpalatable conclusion, is to maintain that
+the results could not be fully tested in an examination as suggested.
+Some of these are so fine, impalpable, and spiritual in their texture,
+that they cannot be seized by any questions that can be put; and would
+be dropped out if the present system were changed. But results so
+untraceable cannot be proved to exist at all.
+
+[LANGUAGE QUESTIONS TAKE THE PLACE OF THE SUBJECT.]
+
+So far from the results being missed by disusing the exercises of
+translation, one might contend that they would only begin to be
+appreciated fairly when the whole stress of the examination is put upon
+them. If an examiner sets a paper in Roman Law, containing long Latin
+extracts to be translated, he is starving the examination in Law by
+substituting for it an examination in Latin. Whatever knowledge of Latin
+terminology is necessary to the knowledge of Law should be required, and
+no more. So, it is not an examination in Aristotle to require long
+translations from the Greek; only by dispensing with all this, does the
+main subject receive proper attention.
+
+If the properly literary part of the present examinations were much of
+a reality, there would be a nice discussion as to the amount of literary
+tact that could be imparted in connection with a foreign language, as
+translated or translatable. But I have made an ample concession, when I
+propose that the trial should be made of examining in literature in this
+fashion; and I do not see any difficulty beyond the initial repugnance
+of the professors of languages to be employed in this task, and the
+fear, on the part of candidates, that, undue stress might be placed on
+points that need a knowledge of originals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I will conclude with a remark on the apparent tendency of the wide
+options in the Commissioners' scheme. No one subject is obligatory; and
+the choice is so wide that by a very narrow range of acquirements a man
+may sometimes succeed. No doubt, as a rule, it requires a considerable
+mixture of subjects: both sciences and literature have to be included.
+But I find the case of a man entering the Indian Service by force of
+Languages alone, which I cannot but think a miscarriage. Then the very
+high marks assigned to Mathematics allow a man to win with no other
+science, and no other culture, but a middling examination in English.
+To those that think so highly of foreign languages, this must seem a much
+greater anomaly than it does to me. I would prefer, however, that such a
+candidate had traversed a wider field of science, instead of excelling
+in high mathematics alone.
+
+There are, I should say, _three_ great regions of study that should be
+fairly represented by every successful candidate. The first is the
+Sciences as a whole, in the form and order that I have suggested. The
+second is English Composition, in which successful men in the Indian
+competition sometimes show a cipher. The third is what I may call
+loosely the Humanities, meaning the department of institutions and
+history, with perhaps literature: to be computed in any or all of the
+regions of ancient and modern history. In every one of these three
+departments, I would fix a minimum, below which the candidate must not
+fall.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 6: _The Civil Service Examination Scheme, considered with
+reference (1) to Sciences, and (2) to Languages_. A paper read before
+the Educational Section of the Social Science Association, at the
+meeting in Aberdeen. 1877: with additions relevant to Lord Salisbury's
+Scheme.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE CLASSICAL CONTROVERSY.
+
+ITS PRESENT ASPECT.[7]
+
+
+In the present state of the controversy on classical studies, the
+publication of George Combe's contributions to Education is highly
+opportune. Combe took the lead in the attack on these studies fifty
+years ago, and Mr. Jolly, the editor of the volume, gives a connected
+view of the struggle that followed. The results were, on the whole, not
+very great. A small portion of natural science was introduced into the
+secondary schools; but as the classical teaching was kept up as before,
+the pupils were simply subjected to a greater crush of subjects; they
+could derive very little benefit from science introduced on such terms.
+The effect on the Universities was _nil_; they were true to Dugald
+Stewart's celebrated deliverance on their conservatism.[8] The general
+public, however, were not unmoved; during a number of years there was
+a most material reduction in the numbers attending all the Scotch
+Universities, and the anti-classical agitation was reputed to be the
+cause.
+
+The reasonings of Combe will still repay perusal. He puts with great
+felicity and clearness the standing objections to the classical system;
+while he is exceedingly liberal in his concessions, and moderate in his
+demands. "I do not denounce the ancient languages and classical
+literature on their own account, or desire to see them cast into utter
+oblivion. I admit them to be refined studies, and think that there are
+individuals who, having a natural turn for them, learn them easily and
+enjoy them much. They ought, therefore, to be cultivated by all such
+persons. My objection is solely to the practice of rendering them the
+main substance of the education bestowed on young men who have no taste
+or talent for them, and whose pursuits in life will not render them a
+valuable acquisition."
+
+Before alluding to the more recent utterances in defence of classical
+teaching, I wish to lay out as distinctly as I can the various
+alternatives that are apparently now before us as respects the higher
+education--that is to say, the education begun in the secondary or
+grammar schools, and completed and stamped in the Universities.
+
+[THE EXISTING CLASSICAL TEACHING.]
+
+1. The existing system of requiring proficiency in both classical
+languages. Except in the University of London, this requirement is still
+imperative. The other Universities agree in exacting Latin and Greek as
+the condition of an Arts' Degree, and in very little else. The defenders
+of classics say with some truth that these languages are the principal
+basis of uniformity in our degrees; if they were struck out, the public
+would not know what a degree meant.
+
+How exclusive was the study of Latin and Greek in the schools in
+England, until lately, is too well known to need any detailed statement.
+A recent utterance of Mr. Gladstone, however, has felicitously supplied
+the crowning illustration. At Eton, in his time, the engrossment with
+classics was such as to keep out religious instruction!
+
+As not many contend that Latin and Greek make an education in
+themselves, we may not improperly call to mind what other things it has
+been found possible to include with them in the scope of the Arts'
+Degree. The Scotch Universities were always distinguished from the
+English in the breadth of their requirements: they have comprised, for
+many ages, three other subjects; mathematics, natural philosophy, and
+mental philosophy (including logic and ethics). In exceptional
+instances, another science is added; in one case, natural history, in
+another, chemistry. According to the notions of scientific order and
+completeness in the present day, a full course of the primary sciences
+would comprise mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistry, physiology or
+biology, and mental philosophy. The natural history branches are not
+looked upon as primary sciences; they give no laws, but repeat the laws
+of the primary sciences while classifying the kingdoms of Nature. (See
+paragraph that begins with: In the classification of the sciences ...).
+
+In John Stuart Mill's celebrated Address at St. Andrews, he stood up for
+the continuance of the Classics in all their integrity, and suddenly
+became a great authority with numbers of persons who probably had never
+treated him as an authority before. But his advocacy of the classics was
+coupled with an equally strenuous advocacy for the extension of the
+scientific course to the full circle of the primary sciences; that is to
+say, he urged the addition of chemistry and physiology to the received
+sciences. Those that have so industriously brandished his authority for
+retaining classics, are discreetly silent upon this other
+recommendation. He was too little conversant with the working of
+Universities to be aware that the addition of two sciences to the
+existing course was impracticable; and he was never asked which
+alternative he would prefer. I am inclined to believe that he would have
+sacrificed the classics to scientific completeness; he would have been
+satisfied with the quantum of these already gained at school. But while
+we have no positive assurance on this point, I consider that his opinion
+should be wholly discounted as not bearing on the actual case.
+
+[UNIVERSITY OF LONDON CURRICULUM.]
+
+The founders of the University of London attempted to realise Mill's
+conception to the full. They retained Classics; they added English and
+a modern language, and completed the course of the primary sciences by
+including both Chemistry and Physiology. This was a noble experiment,
+and we can now report on its success. The classical languages, English
+and French or German, mathematics and natural philosophy, and (after a
+time) logic and moral philosophy, were all kept at a good standard; thus
+exceeding the requirements of the Scotch Universities at the time by
+English and a modern language. The amount of attainment in chemistry was
+very small, and was disposed of in the Matriculation examination.
+Physiology was reserved for the final B.A. examination, and was the
+least satisfactory of all. Having myself sat at the Examining Board
+while Dr. Sharpey was Examiner in Physiology, I had occasion to know
+that he considered it prudent to be content with a mere show of studying
+the subject. Thus, though the experience of the University of London, as
+well as of the Scotch Universities, proves that the classical languages
+are compatible with a very tolerable scientific education, yet these
+will need to be curtailed if every one of the fundamental sciences, as
+Mill urged, is to be represented at a passable figure.
+
+In the various new proposals for extending the sphere of scientific
+knowledge, a much smaller amount of classics is to be required, but
+neither of the two languages is wholly dispensed with. If not taught at
+college, they must be taken up at school as a preparation for entering
+on the Arts' curriculum in the University. This can hardly be a
+permanent state of things, but it is likely to be in operation for some
+time.
+
+2. The remitting of Greek in favour of a modern language is the
+alternative most prominently before the public at present. It accepts
+the mixed form of the old curriculum, and replaces one of the dead
+languages by one of the living. Resisted by nearly the whole might of
+the classical party, this proposal finds favour with the lay professions
+as giving one language that will actually be useful to the pupils as a
+language. It is the very smallest change that would be a real relief.
+That it will speedily be carried we do not doubt.
+
+Except as a relaxation of the grip of classicism, this change is not
+altogether satisfactory. That there must be two languages (besides
+English) in order to an Arts' Degree is far from obvious. Moreover,
+although it is very desirable that every pupil should have facilities at
+school or at college for commencing modern languages, these do not rank
+as indispensable and universal culture, like the knowledge of sciences
+and of literature generally. They would have to be taught along with
+their respective literatures to correspond to the classics.
+
+Another objection to replacing classics by modern languages is the
+necessity of importing foreigners as teachers. Now, although there are
+plenty of Frenchmen and Germans that can teach as well as any
+Englishman, it is a painful fact that foreigners do oftener miscarry,
+both in teaching and in discipline, with English pupils, than our own
+countrymen. Foreign masters are well enough for those that go to them
+voluntarily with the desire of being taught; it is as teachers in a
+compulsory curriculum that their inferiority becomes apparent.
+
+The retort is sometimes made to this proposal--Why omit Greek rather
+than Latin? Should you not retain the greater of the two languages? This
+may be pronounced as mainly a piece of tactics; for every one must know
+that the order of teaching Latin and Greek at the schools will never be
+topsyturvied to suit the fancy of an individual here and there, even
+although John Stuart Mill himself was educated in that order. On the
+scheme of withdrawing all foreign languages from the imperative
+curriculum, and providing for them as voluntary adjuncts, such freedom
+of selection would be easy.[9]
+
+[ALTERNATIVE OF MODERN LANGUAGES.]
+
+3. Another alternative is to remit both Latin and Greek in favour of
+French and German. Strange to say, this advance upon the previous
+alternative was actually contained in Mr. Gladstone's ill-fated Irish
+University Bill. Had that Bill succeeded, the Irish would have been
+for fourteen years in the enjoyment of a full option for both the
+languages.[10] From a careful perusal of the debates, I could not
+discover that the opposition ever fastened upon this bold surrender of
+the classical exclusiveness.
+
+The proposal was facilitated by the existence of professors of French
+and German in the Queen's Colleges, In the English and Scotch Colleges
+endowments are not as yet provided for these languages; although it
+would be easy enough to make provision for them in Oxford and Cambridge.
+
+In favour of this alternative, it is urged that the classics, if entered
+on at all, should be entered on thoroughly and entirely. The two
+languages and literatures form a coherent whole, a homogeneous
+discipline; and those that do not mean to follow this out should not
+begin it. Some of the upholders of classics take this view.
+
+4. More thorough-going still is the scheme of complete bifurcation of
+the classical and the modern sides. In our great schools there has been
+instituted what is called the _modern side_, made up of sciences and
+modern languages, together with Latin. The understanding hitherto has
+been, that the votaries of the ancient and classical side should alone
+proceed to the Universities; the modern side being the introduction to
+commercial life, and to professions that dispense with a University
+degree. Here, as far as the schools are concerned, a fair scope is given
+to modern studies.
+
+As was to be expected, the modern side is now demanding admission to the
+Universities on its own terms; that is, to continue the same line of
+studies there, and to be crowned with the same distinctions as the
+classical side. This attempt to render school and college homogeneous
+throughout, to treat ancient studies and modern studies as of equal
+value in the eye of the law, will of course be resisted to the utmost.
+Yet it seems the only solution likely to bring about a settlement that
+will last.
+
+The defenders of the classical system in its extreme exclusiveness are
+fond of adducing examples of very illustrious men who at college showed
+an utter incapacity for science in its simplest elements. They say that,
+by classics alone, these men are what they are, and if their way had
+been stopped by serious scientific requirements, they would have never
+come before the world at all. The allegation is somewhat strongly put;
+yet we shall assume it to be correct, on condition of being allowed to
+draw an inference. If some minds are so constituted for languages, and
+for classics in particular, may not there be other minds equally
+constituted for science, and equally incapable of taking up two
+classical languages? Should this be granted, the next question is--Ought
+these two classes of minds to be treated as equal in rights and
+privileges? The upholders of the present system say, No. The Language
+mind is the true aristocrat; the Science mind is an inferior creation.
+Degrees and privileges are for the man that can score languages, with
+never so little science; outer darkness is assigned to the man whose
+_forte_ is science alone. But a war of caste in education is an unseemly
+thing; and, after all the levelling operations that we have passed
+through, it is not likely that this distinction will be long preserved.
+
+[CLAIMS OF THE MODERN SIDE.]
+
+The modern side, as at present constituted, still retains Latin. There
+is a considerable strength of feeling in favour of that language for all
+kinds of people; it is thought to be a proper appendage of the lay
+professions; and there is a wide-spread opinion in favour of its utility
+for English. So much is this the case, that the modern-siders are at
+present quite willing to come under a pledge to keep up Latin, and to
+pass in it with a view to the University. In fact, the schools find this
+for the present the most convenient arrangement. It is easier to supply
+teaching in Latin than in a modern language, or in most other things;
+and while Latin continues to be held in respect, it will remain
+untouched. Yet the quantity of time occupied by it, with so little
+result, must ultimately force a departure from the present curriculum.
+The real destination of the modern side is to be modern throughout. It
+should not be rigorously tied down even to a certain number of modern
+languages. English and one other language ought to be quite enough; and
+the choice should be free. On this footing, the modern side ought to
+have its place in the schools as the co-equal of classics; it would be
+the natural precursor of the modernised alternatives in the
+Universities; those where knowledge subjects predominate.
+
+The proposal to give an _inferior degree_ to a curriculum that excludes
+Greek should, in my judgment, be simply declined. It is, however, a
+matter of opinion whether, in point of tactics, the modern party did not
+do well to accept this as an instalment in the meantime. The Oxford
+offer, as I understand it, was so far liberal, that the new degree was
+to rank equal in privileges with the old, although inferior in
+_prestige_. In Scotland, the decree conceded by the classical party to
+a Greekless education was worthless, and was offered for that very
+reason.[11]
+
+[SURRENDER OF CLAIMS FOR SOME.]
+
+Among the adherents of classics, Professor Blackie is distinguished for
+surrendering the study of them in the case of those that cannot profit
+by them. He believes that with a free alternative, such as the thorough
+bifurcation into two sides would give, they would still hold their
+ground, and bear all their present fruits. His classical brethren,
+however, do not in general share this conviction. They seem to think
+that if they can no longer compel every University graduate to pass
+beneath the double yoke of Rome and Greece, these two illustrious
+nationalities will be in danger of passing out of the popular mind
+altogether. For my own part, I do not share their fears, nor do I think
+that, even on the voluntary footing, the study of the two languages will
+decline with any great rapidity. As I have said, the belief in Latin is
+wide and deep. Whatever may be urged as to the extraordinary stringency
+of the intellectual discipline now said to be given by means of Latin
+and Greek, I am satisfied that the feeling with both teachers and
+scholars is, that the process of acquisition is not toilsome to either
+party; less so perhaps than anything that would come in their place.
+Of the hundreds of hours spent over them, a very large number are
+associated with listless idleness. Carlyle describes Scott's novels as
+a "beatific lubber land"; with the exception of the "beatific," we might
+say nearly the same of classics. To all which must be added the immense
+endowments of classical teaching; not only of old date but of recent
+acquisition. It will be a very long time before these endowments can be
+diverted, even although the study decline steadily in estimation.
+
+The thing that stands to reason is to place the modern and the ancient
+studies on exactly the same footing; to accord a fair field and no
+favour. The public will decide for themselves in the long run. If the
+classical advocates are afraid of this test, they have no faith in the
+merits of their own case.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The arguments _pro_ and _con_ on the question have been almost
+exhausted. Nothing is left except to vary the expression and
+illustration. Still, so long as the monopoly exists, it will be argued
+and counter-argued; and, if there are no new reasons, the old will have
+to be iterated.
+
+[EXAMPLE FROM THE GREEKS THEMSELVES]
+
+Perhaps the most hackneyed of all the answers to the case for the
+classics is the one that has been most rarely replied to. I mean the
+fact that the Greeks were not acquainted with any language but their
+own. I have never known an attempt to parry this thrust. Yet, besides
+the fact itself, there are strong presumptions in favour of the position
+that to know a language well, you should devote your time and strength
+to it alone, and not attempt to learn three or four. Of course, the
+Greeks were in possession of the most perfect language, and were not
+likely to be gainers by studying the languages of their contemporaries.
+So, we too are in possession of a very admirable language, although put
+together in a nondescript fashion; and it is not impossible that if
+Plato had his Dialogues to compose among us, he would give his whole
+strength to working up our own resources, and not trouble himself with
+Greek. The popular dictum--_multum non multa_, doing one thing well--may
+be plausibly adduced in behalf of parsimony in the study of languages.
+
+The recent agitation in Cambridge, in Oxford, and indeed, all over the
+country, for remitting the study of Greek as an essential of the Arts'
+Degree, has led to a reproduction of the usual defences of things as
+they are. The articles in the March number of the _Contemporary Review,
+1879_, by Professors Blackie and Bonamy Price, may claim to be the
+_derniers mots_.
+
+Professor Blackie's article is a warning to the teachers of classics, to
+the effect that they must change their front; that, whereas the value of
+the classics as a key to thought has diminished, and is diminishing,
+they must by all means in the first place improve their drill. In fact,
+unless something can be done to lessen the labour of the acquisition by
+better teaching, and to secure the much-vaunted intellectual discipline
+of the languages, the battle will soon be lost. Accordingly, the
+professor goes minutely into what he conceives the best methods of
+teaching. It is not my purpose to follow him in this sufficiently
+interesting discussion. I simply remark that he is staking the case, for
+the continuance of Latin and Greek in the schools, on the possibility of
+something like an entire revolution in the teaching art. Revolution is
+not too strong a word for what is proposed. The weak part of the new
+position is that the value of the languages _as languages_ has declined,
+and has to be made up by the incident of their value as _drill_. This
+is, to say the least, a paradoxical position for a language teacher. If
+it is mere drill that is wanted, a very small corner of one language
+would suffice. The teacher and the pupil alike are placed between the
+two stools--interpretation and drill. A new generation of teachers must
+arise to attain the dexterity requisite for the task.
+
+Professor Blackie's concession is of no small importance in the actual
+situation. "No one is to receive a full degree without showing a fair
+proficiency in two foreign languages, one ancient and one modern, with
+free option." This would almost satisfy the present demand everywhere,
+and for some time to come.
+
+[ARGUMENT FROM RESULTS.]
+
+The article of Professor Bonamy Price is conceived in even a higher
+strain than the other. There is so far a method of argumentation in it
+that the case is laid out under four distinct heads, but there is no
+decisive separation of reasons; many of the things said under one head
+might easily be transferred without the sense of dislocation to any
+other head. The writer indulges in high-flown rhetorical assertions
+rather than in specific facts and arguments. The first merit of classics
+is that "they are languages; not particular sciences, nor definite
+branches of knowledge, but literatures". Under this head we have such
+glowing sentences as these: "Think of the many elements of thought a boy
+comes in contact with when he reads Caesar and Tacitus in succession,
+Herodotus and Homer, Thucydides and Aristotle". "See what is implied in
+having read Homer intelligently through, or Thucydides or Demosthenes;
+what light will have been shed on the essence and laws of human
+existence, on political society, on the relations of man to man, on
+human nature itself." There are various conceivable ways of
+counter-arguing these assertions, but the shortest is to call for the
+facts--the results upon the many thousands that have passed through
+their ten years of classical drill. Professor Campbell of St. Andrews,
+once remarked, with reference to the value of Greek in particular, that
+the question would have to be ultimately decided by the inner
+consciousness of those that have undergone the study. To this we are
+entitled to add, their powers as manifested to the world, of which
+powers spectators can be the judges. When, with a few brilliant
+exceptions, we discover nothing at all remarkable in the men that have
+been subjected to the classical training, we may consider it as almost
+a waste of time to analyse the grandiloquent assertions of Mr. Bonamy
+Price. But if we were to analyse them, we should find that _boys_ never
+read Caesar and Tacitus through in succession; still less Thucydides
+Demosthenes, and Aristotle; that very few _men_ read and understand
+these writers; that the shortest way to come into contact with Aristotle
+is to avoid his Greek altogether, and take his expositors and
+translators in the modern languages.
+
+The professor is not insensible to the reproach that the vaunted
+classical education has been a failure, as compared with these splendid
+promises. He says, however, that though many have failed to become
+classical scholars in the full sense of the word, "it does not follow
+that they have gained nothing from their study of Greek and Latin; just
+the contrary is the truth". The "contrary" must mean that they have
+gained something; which something is stated to be "the extent to which
+the faculties of the boy have been developed, the quantity of impalpable
+but not less real attainments he has achieved, and his general readiness
+for life, and for action as a man". But it is becoming more and more
+difficult to induce people to spend a long course of youthful years upon
+a confessedly _impalpable_ result. We might give up a few months to a
+speculative and doubtful good, but we need palpable consequences to show
+for our years spent on classics. Next comes the admission that the
+teaching is often bad. But why should the teaching be so bad, and what
+is the hope of making it better? Then we are told that science by itself
+leaves the largest and most important portion of the youths' nature
+absolutely undeveloped. But, in the first place, it is not proposed to
+reduce the school and college curriculum to science alone; and, in the
+next place, who can say what are the "impalpable" results of science?
+
+[WORTH OF THE CLASSICAL WRITERS.]
+
+The second branch of the argument relates to the greatness of the
+classical writers. Undoubtedly the Greek and Roman worlds produced some
+very great writers, and a good many not great. But the greatness of
+Herodotus, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Plato, and Aristotle can be
+exhibited in a modern rendering; while no small portion of the poetical
+excellence of Homer and the Dramatists can be made apparent without
+toiling at the original tongues. The value of the languages then
+resolves itself, as has been often remarked, into a _residuum_.
+Something also is to be said for the greatness of the writers that have
+written in modern times. Sir John Herschel remarked long ago that the
+human intellect cannot have degenerated, so long as we are able to quote
+Newton, Lagrange and Laplace, against Aristotle and Archimedes. I would
+not undertake to say that any modern mind has equalled Aristotle in the
+_range_ of his intellectual powers; but in point of intensity of grasp
+in any one subject, he has many rivals; so that to obtain his equal, we
+have only to take two or three first-rate moderns.
+
+If a few fanatics are to go on lauding to the skies the exclusive and
+transcendent greatness of the classical writers, we shall probably be
+tempted to scrutinize their merits more severely than is usual. Many
+things could be said against their sufficiency as instructors in matters
+of thought; and many more against the low and barbarous tone of their
+_morale_--the inhumanity and brutality of both their principles and
+their practice. All this might no doubt be very easily overdone, and
+would certainly be so, if undertaken in the style of Professor Price's
+panegyric.
+
+The professor's third branch of the argument comes to the real point;
+namely, what is there in Greek and Latin that there is not in the modern
+tongues? For one thing, says the professor, they are dead; which of
+course we allow. Then, being dead, they must be learnt by book and by
+rule; they cannot be learnt by ear. Here, however, Professor Blackie
+would dissent, and would say that the great improvement of teaching, on
+which the salvation of classical study now hangs, is to make it a
+teaching by the ear. But, says Professor Price: "A Greek or Latin
+sentence is a nut with a strong shell concealing the kernel--a puzzle,
+demanding reflection, adaptation of means to end, and labour for its
+solution, and the educational value resides in the shell and in the
+puzzle". As this strain of remark is not new, there is nothing new to be
+said in answer to it. Such puzzling efforts are certainly not the rule
+in learning Latin and Greek. Moreover, the very same terms would
+describe what may happen equally often in reading difficult authors in
+French, German, or Italian. Would not the pupil find puzzles and
+difficulties in Dante, or in Goethe? And are there not many puzzling
+exercises in deciphering English authors? Besides, what is the great
+objection to science, but that it is too puzzling for minds that are
+quite competent for the puzzles of Greek and Latin? Once more, the
+_teaching_ of any language must be very imperfect, if it brings about
+habitually such situations of difficulty as are here described.
+
+[ARGUMENTS FOR CLASSICS.]
+
+The professor relapses into a cooler and correcter strain when he
+remarks that the pupil's mind is necessarily more delayed over the
+expression of a thought in a foreign language (whether dead or alive
+matters not), and therefore remembers the meaning better. Here, however,
+the desiderated reform of teaching might come into play. Granted that
+the boy left to himself would go more rapidly through Burke than through
+Thucydides, might not his pace be retarded by a well-directed
+cross-examination; with this advantage, that the length of attention
+might be graduated according to the importance of the subject, and not
+according to the accidental difficulty of the language?
+
+The professor boldly grapples with the alleged waste of time in
+classics, and urges that "the gain may be measured by the time
+expended," which is very like begging the question.
+
+One advantage adduced under this head deserves notice. The languages
+being dead, as well as all the societies and interests that they
+represent, they do not excite the prejudices and passions of modern
+life. This, however, may need some qualification. Grote wrote his
+history of Greece to counterwork the party bias of Mitford. The battles
+of despotism, oligarchy, and democracy are to this hour fought over the
+dead bodies of Greece and Rome. If the professor meant to insinuate,
+that those that have gone through the classical training are less
+violent as partisans, more dispassionate in political judgments, than
+the rest of mankind, we can only say that we should not have known this
+from our actual experience. The discovery of some sweet, oblivious,
+antidote to party feeling seems, as far as we can judge, to be still in
+the future. If we want studies that will, while they last, thoroughly
+divert the mind from the prejudices of party, science is even better
+than ancient history; there are no party cries connected with the
+Binomial Theorem.
+
+The professor's last branch of argument, I am obliged, with all
+deference, to say, contains no argument at all. It is that, in classical
+education, a close contact is established between the mind of the boy
+and the mind of the master. He does not even attempt to show how the
+effect is peculiar to classical teaching. The whole of this part of the
+paper is, in fact, addressed, by way of remonstrance, to the writer's
+own friends, the classical teachers. He reproaches them for their
+inefficiency, for their not being Arnolds. It is not my business to
+interfere between him and them in this matter. So much stress does he
+lay upon the teacher's part in the work, that I almost expected the
+admission--that a good teacher in English, German, natural history,
+political economy, might even be preferable to a bad teacher of Latin
+and Greek.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[CANON LIDDON'S ARGUMENT.]
+
+The recent Oxford contest has brought out the eminent oratorical powers
+of Canon Liddon; and we have some curiosity in noting his contributions
+to the classical side. I refer to his letters in the _Times_. The gist
+of his advocacy of Greek is contained in the following allegations.
+First, the present system enables a man to recur with profit and
+advantage to Greek literature. To this, it has been often replied, that
+by far the greater number are too little familiarized with the classical
+languages, and especially Greek, to make the literature easy reading.
+But farther, the recurring to the study of ancient authors by busy
+professional men in the present day, is an event of such extreme rarity
+that it cannot be taken into account in any question of public policy.
+The second remark is, that the half-knowledge of the ordinary graduate
+is a link between the total blank of the outer world, and the thorough
+knowledge of the accomplished classic. I am not much struck by the force
+of this argument. I think that the classical scholar, might, by
+expositions, commentaries, and translations, address the outer world
+equally well, without the intervening mass of imperfect scholars.
+Lastly, the Canon puts in a claim for his own cloth. The knowledge of
+Greek paves the way for serious men to enter the ministry in middle
+life. Argument would be thrown away upon any one that could for a moment
+entertain this as a sufficient reason for compelling every graduate in
+Arts to study Greek. The observation that I would make upon it has a
+wider bearing. Middle life is not too late for learning any language
+that we suddenly discover to be a want; the stimulus of necessity or of
+strong interest, and the wider compass of general knowledge, compensate
+for the diminution of verbal memory.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 7: CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, August, 1879. A few months previously,
+there were printed, in the Review, papers on the Classical question, by
+Professors Blackie and Bonamy Price; both of which are here alluded to
+and quoted, so far as either is controverted or concurred with.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "The academical establishments of some parts of Europe are
+not without their use to the historian of the human mind. Immovably
+moored to the same station by the strength of their cables and the
+weight of their anchors, they enable him to measure the rapidity of the
+current by which the rest of the world is borne along."]
+
+[Footnote 9: If the two Literatures were studied, as they might be, by
+means of expositions and translations, the Greek would be first as a
+tiling of course. Historians of the Latin authors are obliged to trace
+their subject, in every department, to the corresponding authors in
+Greece.]
+
+[Footnote 10: No doubt the classical languages would have been required,
+to some extent, in matriculating to enter college. This arrangement,
+however, as regarded the students that chose the modern languages, would
+have been found too burdensome by our Irish friends, and, on their
+expressing themselves to that effect, would have been soon dispensed
+with.]
+
+[Footnote 11: One possible consequence of a Natural Science Degree might
+have been, that the public would have turned to it with favour, while
+the old one sank into discredit.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+V.
+
+METAPHYSICS AND DEBATING SOCIETIES.[12]
+
+
+By "Metaphysical Study," or "Metaphysics," I here mean--what seems
+intended by the designation in its current employment at present--the
+circle of the mental or subjective sciences. The central department of
+the field is PSYCHOLOGY, and the adjunct to psychology is LOGIC, which
+has its foundations partly in psychology, but still more in the sciences
+altogether, whose procedure it gathers up and formulates. The outlying
+and dependent branches are: the narrower metaphysics or Ontology,
+Ethics, Sociology, together with Art or Aesthetics. There are other
+applied sciences of the department, as Education and Philology.
+
+The branches most usually looked upon as the cognate or allied studies
+of the subjective department of human knowledge are, Psychology, Logic,
+Ontology, Ethics. The debates in a society like the present will
+generally be found to revolve in the orbit thus chalked out. It is the
+sphere of the most animated controversies, and the widest discordance of
+view. The additional branch most nearly connected with the group is
+Sociology, which under that name, and under the older title, the
+Philosophy of History, has opened up a new series of problems, of the
+kind to divide opinions and provoke debate. A quieter interest attaches
+to Aesthetics, although the subject is a not unfruitful application and
+test of psychological laws.
+
+My remarks will embrace, first, the aims, real and factitious, in the
+study of this group of sciences; and next, the polemic conduct of such
+study, or the utility and management of debating societies, instituted
+in connection therewith.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[PSYCHOLOGY AND LOGIC FUNDAMENTAL.]
+
+The two sciences--PSYCHOLOGY and LOGIC--I consider the fundamental and
+knowledge-giving departments. The others are the applications of these
+to the more stirring questions of human life. Now, the successful
+cultivation of the field requires you to give at least as much attention
+to the root sciences as you give to the branch sciences. That is to say,
+psychology, in its pure and proper character, and logic, in its
+systematic array, should be kept before the view, concurrently with
+ontology, ethics, and sociology. Essays and debates tending to clear up
+and expound systematic psychology and systematic logic should make a
+full half of the society's work.
+
+Does any one feel a doubt upon the point, as so stated? If so, it will
+be upon him to show that Psychology, in its methodical pursuit, is a
+needless and superfluous employment of strength; that the problems of
+ethics, ontology, &c., can be solved without it--a hard task indeed, so
+long as they are unsolved in any way. I have no space for indulging in
+a dissertation on the value of methodical study and arrangement in the
+extension of our knowledge, as opposed to the promiscuous mingling of
+different kinds of facts, which is often required in practice, but
+repugnant to the increase of knowledge. If you want to improve our
+acquaintance with the sense of touch, you accumulate and methodize all
+the experiences relating to touch; you compare them, see whether they
+are consistent or inconsistent, select the good, reject the bad, improve
+the statement of one by light borrowed from the others; you mark
+desiderata, experiments to be tried, or observations to be sought.
+All that time, you refrain from wandering into other spheres of mental
+phenomena. You make use of comparison with the rest of the senses, it
+may be, but you keep strictly to the points of analogy, where mutual
+lights are to be had. This is the culture of knowledge as such, and is
+the best, the essential, preparation for practical questions involving
+the particular subject along with others.
+
+To take an example from the question of the Will. I do not object: to
+the detaching and isolating of the problem of free-will, as a matter for
+discussion and debate; but I think that it can be handled to equal, if
+not greater advantage, in the systematic psychology of voluntary power.
+Those that have never tried it in this last form have not obtained the
+best vantage-ground for overcoming the inevitable subtleties that invest
+it.
+
+The great problem of External Perception has a psychological place,
+where its difficulties are very much attenuated, to say the least of it;
+and, however convenient it may be to treat it as a detached problem, we
+should carry with us into the discussion all the lights that we obtain
+while regarding it as it stands among the intellectual powers.
+
+It is in systematic Psychology that we are most free to attend to the
+defining of terms (without which a professed science is mere moonshine),
+to the formulating of axioms and generalities, to the concatenating and
+taking stock of all the existing knowledge, and to the appraising of it
+at its real value. If these things are neglected, there is nothing that
+I see to constitute a psychology at all.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[DISCUSSIONS IN LOGIC PROPER.]
+
+As to the other fundamental science, LOGIC, the same remarks may be
+repeated. Of debated questions, a certain number pertain properly to
+logic; yet most of these relate to logic at its points of contact with
+psychology. Since we have got out of the narrow round of the
+Aristotelian syllogism, we have agreed to call logic _ars artium_, or,
+better still, _scientia scientiarum_, the science that deals with the
+sciences altogether--both object sciences and subject sciences. Now this
+I take to be a study quite apart from psychology in particular,
+although, as I have said, touching it at several points. It reviews all
+science and all knowledge, as to its structure, method, arrangement,
+classification, probation, enlargement. It deals in generalities the
+most general of any. By taking up what belongs to all knowledge, it
+seems to rise above the matter of knowledge to the region of pure form;
+it demands, therefore, a peculiar subtlety of handling, and may easily
+land us, as we are all aware, in knotty questions and quagmires.
+
+Now what I have to repeat in this connection is, that you should, in
+your debates, overhaul portions or chapters of systematic logic, with a
+view to present the difficulties in their natural position in the
+subject. You might, for example, take up the question as to the Province
+of logic, with its divisions, parts, and order--all which admit of many
+various views--and bring forward the vexed controversies under lights
+favourable to their resolution. Regarding logic as an aid to the
+faculties in tackling whatever is abstruse, you should endeavour to
+cultivate and enhance its powers, in this particular, by detailed
+exposition and criticism of all its canons and prescriptions. The
+department of Classification is a good instance; a region full of
+delicate subtleties as well as "bread-and-butter" applications.
+
+It is in this last view of logic that we can canvass philosophical
+systems upon the ground of their method or procedure alone. Looking at
+the absence, in any given system, of the arts and precautions that are
+indispensable to the establishment of truth in the special case, we may
+pronounce against it, _a priori_; we know that such a system can be true
+only by accident, or else by miracle. We may reasonably demand of a
+system-builder--Is he in the narrow way that leadeth to truth, or in the
+broad way that leadeth somewhere else?
+
+I have said that I consider the connection between Logic and Psychology
+to be but slender, although not unimportant. The amount and nature of
+this connection would reward a careful consideration. There would be
+considerable difficulty in seeing any connection at all between the
+Aristotelian Syllogism and psychology, but for the high-sounding
+designations appended to the notion and the proposition--simple
+apprehension and judgment--of which I fail to discover the propriety or
+relevance. I know that Grote gave a very profound turn to the employment
+of the term "judgment" by Aristotle, as being a recognition of the
+relativity of knowledge to the affirming mind. I am not to say,
+absolutely, "Ice is cold"; I am to say that, to the best of my judgment
+or belief, or in so far as I am concerned, ice is cold. This, however,
+has little to do with the logic of the syllogism, and not much with any
+logic. So, when we speak of a "notion," we must understand it as
+apprehended by some mind; but for nearly all purposes, this is assumed
+tacitly; it need not appear in a formal designation, which, not being
+wanted, is calculated to mislead.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[APPLIED OR DERIVATIVE SCIENCES.]
+
+With these remarks on the two fundamental sciences of our group, I now
+turn to the _applied_ or _derivative_ sciences, wherein the great
+controversies stand out most conspicuous, which, in fact, exist for the
+purpose of contention--Ontology and Ethics. These branches were in
+request long before the mother sciences--psychology and logic--came into
+being at all. They had occupied their chief positions without consulting
+the others, partly because these were not there to consult, and partly
+because they were not inclined to consult any extraneous authority. By
+Ontology we may designate the standing controversies of the intellectual
+powers--perception, innate ideas, nominalism _versus_ realism, and
+noumenon _versus_ phenomenon. I am not going to pronounce upon these
+questions; I have already recommended the alternative mode of
+approaching them under systematic psychology and logic; and I will now
+regard them as constituents of the fourfold enumeration of the
+metaphysical sciences.
+
+The Germans may be credited for teaching us, or trying to teach us, to
+distinguish "bread and butter" from what passes beyond, transcends bread
+and butter. With them the distinction is thoroughly ingrained, and comes
+to hand at a moment's notice. If I am to review in detail what may be
+considered the practical or applied departments of logic and psychology,
+I am in danger of trenching on their "bread-and-butter" region. Before
+descending, therefore, into the larder, let us first spend a few seconds
+in considering psychology as the pursuit of _truth_ in all that relates
+to our mental constitution. If difficulty be a stimulus to the human
+exertions, it may be found here. To ascertain, fix, and embody the
+precise truth in regard to the facts of the mind is about as hard an
+undertaking as could be prescribed to a man. But this is another way of
+saying that psychology is not a very advanced science; is not well
+stored with clear and certain doctrines; and is unable, therefore, to
+confer any very great precision on its dependent branches, whether
+purely speculative or practical. In a word, the greatest modesty or
+humility is the deportment most becoming to all that engage in this
+field of labour, even when doing their best; while the same virtues in
+even greater measure are due from those engaging in it without doing
+their best.
+
+It must be admitted, however, that the highest evidence and safeguard of
+truth is application. In every other science, the utility test is final.
+The great parent sciences--mathematics, physics, chemistry,
+physiology--have each a host of filial dependents, in close contact with
+the supply of human wants; and the success of the applications is the
+testimony to the truth of the sciences applied. Thus, although we may
+not narrow the sphere of truth to bread and butter, yet we have no surer
+test of the truth itself. Our trade requires navigation, and navigation
+verifies astronomy; and, but for navigation, we may be pretty confident
+that astronomy would now have very little accuracy to boast of.
+
+To come then to the practical bearings or outgoings of psychology,
+assisted by logic. My contention is that the parent sciences and the
+filial sciences should be carried on together; that theses should be
+extracted by turns from all; that the lights thus obtained would be
+mutual. I will support the position by a review of the subjects thus
+drawn into the metaphysical field.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION.]
+
+Foremost among these applied sciences I would place EDUCATION, the
+subject of the day. The priority of mention is due not so much to its
+special or pre-eminent importance, as to its being the most feasible and
+hopeful of the practical applications of conjoined psychology and logic.
+I say this, however, with a more express eye to _intellectual_
+education. I deem it quite possible to frame a practical, science
+applicable to the training of the intellect that shall be precise and
+definite in a very considerable measure. The elements that make up our
+intellectual furniture can be stated with clearness; the laws of
+intellectual growth or acquisition are almost the best ascertained
+generalities of the human mind; even the most complicated studies can be
+analyzed into their components, partly by psychology and partly by the
+higher logic. In a word, if we cannot make a science of education, as
+far as Intellect is concerned, we may abandon metaphysical study
+altogether.
+
+I do not speak with the same confidence as to _moral_ education. There
+has long been in existence a respectable rule-of-thumb practice in this
+region, the result of a sufficiently wide experience. There are certain
+psychological laws, especially those relating to the formation of moral
+habits, that have a considerable value; but to frame a theory of moral
+education, on a level in a point of definiteness with the possible
+theory of intellectual education, is a task that I should not like to
+have imposed upon me. In point of fact, two problems are joined in one,
+to the confusion of both. There is _first_ the vast question of _moral
+control_, which stretches far and wide over many fields, and would have
+to be tracked with immense labour: it belongs to the arts of government;
+it comes under moral suasion, as exercised by the preacher and orator;
+it even implicates the tact of diplomacy. I do not regard this as a
+properly educational question (although it refers to an art that every
+teacher must try to master); that is to say, its solution is not
+connected with education processes strictly so called. The _second_
+problem of moral education is the one really within the scope of the
+subject--the problem of _fixing moral bents_ or habits, when the right
+conduct is once initiated. On this head, some scientific insight is
+attainable; and suggestions of solid value may in time accrue, although
+there never can be the precision attainable in the intellectual region.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I will next advert to the applied science of Art or Aesthetics, long a
+barren ground, so far as scientific handling was concerned, but now a
+land of promise. The old thesis, "What is Beauty?" a good debating
+society topic, is, I hope, past contending about. The numerous
+influences that concur in works of art, or in natural beauty, present a
+fine opening for delicate analysis; at the same time, they implicate the
+vaguest and least advanced portion of psychology--the Emotions. The
+German philosophers have usually ranked aesthetics as one of the
+subjective sciences; but, it is only of late that the department has
+taken shape in their country. Lessing gave a great impulse to literary
+art, and originated a number of pregnant suggestions; and the German
+love of music has necessarily led to theories as well as to
+compositions. We are now in the way to that consummation of aesthetics
+which may be described as containing (1) a reference to psychology as
+the mother science, (2) a classification, comparison, and contrast of
+the fine arts themselves, and (3) an induction of the principles of art
+composition from the best examples. Anything like a thorough sifting of
+fine-art questions would strain psychology at every point--senses,
+emotions, intellect; and, if criticism is to go deep, it must ground
+upon psychological reasons. Now the mere artist can never be a
+psychologist; the art critic may, but seldom will; hence, as they will
+not come over to us, some of us must go over to them. The Art discussion
+of the greatest fountains of human feeling--love and anger--would react
+with advantage upon the very difficult psychology of these emotions, so
+long the sport of superficiality.
+
+[AESTHETICS: HEDONICS.]
+
+But I hold that aesthetics is but a corner of a larger field that is
+seldom even named among the sciences of mind; I mean human happiness as
+a whole, "eudaemonics," or "hedonics," or whatever you please to call
+it. That the subject is neglected, I do not affirm; but it is not
+cultivated in the proper place, or in the proper light-giving
+connection--that is to say, under the psychology of the human feelings.
+It should have at once a close reference to psychology, and an
+independent construction; while either in comprehending aesthetics, or
+in lying side by side with that, it would give and receive illumination.
+The researches now making into the laws and limits of human sensibility,
+if they have any value, ought to lead to the economy of pleasure and the
+abatement of pain. The analysis of sensation and of emotion points to
+this end. Whoever raises any question as to human happiness should refer
+it, in the first instance, to psychology; in the next, to some general
+scheme that would answer for a science of happiness; and, thirdly, to an
+induction of the facts of human experience; the three distinct appeals
+correcting one another. If psychology can contribute nothing to the
+point, it confesses to a desideratum for future inquirers.
+
+[HEDONICS SEPARATE FROM ETHICS.]
+
+I am not at all satisfied with the coupling of happiness with ethics, as
+is usually done. Ethics is the sphere of duty; happiness is mentioned
+only to be repressed and discouraged. This is not the situation for
+unfolding all the blossoms of human delight, nor for studying to allay
+every rising uneasiness. He would be a rare ethical philosopher that
+would permit full scope to such an operation within his grounds; neither
+Epicurus nor Bentham could come up to this mark. But even if the thing
+were permitted, the lights are not there; it is only by combining the
+parent psychology and the hedonic derivative, that the work can be done.
+It is neither disrespect nor disadvantage to duty, that it is not
+mentioned in the department until the very end. To cultivate happiness
+is not selfishness or vice, unless you confine it to self; and the mere
+act of inquiring does not so confine it. If you are in other respects a
+selfish man, you will apply your knowledge for your own sole behoof; if
+you are not selfish, you will apply it for the good of your fellows
+also, which is another name for virtue.
+
+But the obstacles to a science of happiness are not solely clue to the
+gaps and deficiencies in our psychological knowledge; they are equally
+owing to the prevailing terrorism in favour of self-denial at all hands.
+Many of the maxims as to happiness would not stand examination if people
+felt themselves free to discuss them. You must work yourselves into a
+fervour of revolt and defiance, before you call in question Paley's
+declaration that "happiness is equally distributed among all orders of
+the community". I do not know whether I should wonder most at the
+cheerful temperament or the complacent optimism of Adam Smith, when he
+asks, "What can be added to the happiness of the man who is in health,
+who is out of debt, and has a clear conscience?"[13] When the greatest
+philosophers talk thus, what is to be expected from the unphilosophic
+mob? The dependence of health on activity is always kept very loose, it
+may be for the convenience of shutting our mouths against complaints of
+being overworked. To render this dependence precise is a matter of pure
+psychology.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[SOCIOLOGY.]
+
+Before coming to Ethics I must, as a preparation, view another
+derivative branch of psychology, the old subject of politics and
+society, under its new name, SOCIOLOGY. It is obvious that all terms
+used in describing social facts and their generalities are terms of
+mind: command and obedience, law and right, order and progress, are
+notions made up of human feelings, purposes, and thoughts.
+
+Sociology is usually studied in its own special field, and nowhere else;
+that is to say, the sociologist employs himself in observing and
+comparing the operations of societies under all varieties of
+circumstances, and in all historic ages. The field is essentially human
+nature, and the laws arrived at are laws of human nature. A consummate
+sociologist is not often to be found; the really great theorists in
+society could be counted on one's fingers. Some of them have been
+psychologists as well; I need mention only Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke,
+Hume, the Mills. Others as Vico, Montesquieu, Millar, Condorcet, Auguste
+Comte, De Tocqueville, have not independently studied the mind on the
+broad psychological basis. Now the bearings on sociology of a pure
+psychological preparation can be convincingly shown. The laws of
+society, if not the merest empiricisms, are derivative laws of the mind;
+hence a theorist cannot be trusted with the handling of a derivative
+law, unless he knows, as well as can be known, the simple or constituent
+laws. All the elements of human character crop up in men's social
+relations; in the foreground are their self-interest or sense of
+self-preservation, together with their social and anti-social
+promptings; a little farther back are their active energy, their
+intelligence, their artistic feelings, and their religious
+susceptibilities. Now all these should be broadly examined as elements
+of the mind, without an immediate reference to the political machine.
+Of course, the social feelings need a social situation, and cannot be
+studied without that; but there are many social situations that give
+scope for examining them, besides what is contemplated in political
+society; and the psychologist proper ought to avail himself of all the
+opportunities of rendering the statement of these various elements
+precise. For this purpose, his chief aim is the ultimate analysis of the
+various faculties and feelings. This analysis nobody but himself cares
+to institute; and yet a knowledge of the ultimate constitution of an
+emotional tendency is one of the best aids in appreciating its mode of
+working. Without a good preliminary analysis of the social and
+anti-social emotions, for example, you are almost sure to be counting
+the same thing twice over, or else confounding two different facts under
+one designation. On the one hand, the precise relationship of the states
+named love, sympathy, disinterestedness; and, on the other hand, the
+common basis of domination, resentment, pride, egotism,--should be
+distinctly cleared up, as is possible only in psychological study
+strictly so called. The workings of the religious sentiment cannot be
+shown sociologically, without a previous analysis of the constituent
+emotions.
+
+[SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICS.]
+
+An allusion so very slender to so vast a subject as sociology would be a
+waste of words, but for the conviction, that through sociology is the
+way to the great field of Ethics. This is to reverse the traditional
+arrangement--ethics, politics, or government--followed even by Bentham.
+The lights of ethics are, in the first instance, psychological; its
+discussions presuppose a number of definitions and distinctions that are
+pure psychology. But before these have to be adduced, the subject has to
+be set forth as a problem of sociology. "How is the King's government to
+be carried on?" "How is society to be held together?" is the first
+consideration; and the sociologist--as constitution-builder,
+administrator, judge--is the person to grapple with the problem. It is
+with him that law, obligation, right, command, obedience, sanction, have
+their origin and their explanation. Ethics is an important supplement to
+social or political law. But it is still a department of law. In any
+other view it is a maze, a mystery, a hopeless embroilment.
+
+That ethics is involved in society is of course admitted; what is not
+admitted is, that ethical terms should be settled under the social
+science in the first place. I may refer to the leading term "law," whose
+meaning in sociology is remarkably clear; in ethics remarkably the
+reverse. The confusion deepens when the moral faculty is brought
+forward. In the eye of the sociologist, nothing could be simpler than
+the conception of that part of our nature that is appealed to for
+securing obedience. He assumes a certain effort of the intelligence for
+understanding the signification of a command or a law; and, for the
+motive part, he counts upon nothing but volition in its most ordinary
+form--the avoidance of a pain. Intelligence and Will, in their usual and
+recognised workings, are all that are required for social obedience; law
+is conceived and framed exactly to suit the every-day and every-hour
+manifestations of these powers. The lawgiver does not speak of an
+obedience-faculty, nor even of a social-faculty. If there were in the
+mind a power unique and apart, having nothing in common with our usual
+intelligence, and nothing in common with our usual will or volition,
+that power ought to be expressed in terms that exclude the smallest
+participation of both knowledge and will; it ought to have a form
+special to itself, and not the form:--"Do this, and ye shall be made to
+suffer".
+
+I am quite aware that there are elements in ethics not included in the
+problem of social obedience; what I contend for is, that the ground
+should be cleared by marking out the two provinces, as is actually done
+by a very small number of theorists, of whom John Austin is about the
+best example.
+
+The ethical philosopher, from not building on a foregone sociology, is
+obliged to extemporize, in a paragraph, the social system; just as the
+physical philosopher would, if he had no regularly constructed
+mathematics to fall back upon, but had to stop every now and then to
+enunciate a mathematical theorem.
+
+The question of the ethical end should first appear as the question of
+the sociological end. For what purpose or purposes is society
+maintained? All the ethical difficulties are here met by anticipation,
+and in a form much better adapted to their solution. It is from the
+point of view of the social ruler, that you learn reserve, moderation,
+and sobriety in your aims; you learn to think that something much less
+than the Utopias--universal happiness and universal virtue--should be
+propounded; you find that a definite and limited province can be
+assigned, separating what the social power is able to do, must do, and
+can advantageously do, from what it is unable to do, need not do, and
+cannot with advantage do; and this or a similar demarcation is
+reproducible in ethics.
+
+[PRECEPTS OF ETHICS MAINLY SOCIAL.]
+
+The precepts of ethics are mainly the precepts of social authority; at
+all events the social precepts and their sanctions have the priority
+in scientific method. Some of the highest virtues are sociological;
+patriotic self-sacrifice is one of the conditions of social
+preservation. The inculcation of this and of many other virtues would
+not appear in ethics at all, or only in a supplementary treatment, if
+social science took its proper sphere, and fully occupied that sphere.
+
+Once more. The great problem of moral control, which I would remove
+entirely from a science of education, would be first dealt with in
+Sociology. It there appears in the form of the choice and gradation
+of punishments, in prison discipline, and in the reformation of
+criminals,--all which have been made the subject of enlightened, not
+to say scientific, treatment. It is in the best experience in those
+subjects that I would begin to seek for lights on the comprehensive
+question. I would next go to diplomacy for the arts of delicate address
+in reconciling opposing interests; after which I would look to the
+management of parties and conflicting interests in the State. I would
+farther inquire how armies are disciplined, and subordination combined
+with the enthusiasm that leads to noble deeds.
+
+There is an abundant field for the application of pure psychology to
+ethics, when it takes its own proper ground. The exact psychological
+character of disinterested impulse needs to be assigned; and, if that
+impulse can be fully referred to the sympathetic or social instincts and
+habits, the supposed moral faculty is finally eviscerated of its
+contents for all ethical purposes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So far I have exemplified what seems to me real or genuine aims and
+applications of metaphysical study. I now proceed to the objects that
+are more or less factitious. We are here on delicate ground, and run the
+risk of discrediting our pursuit, as regards the very things that in the
+eyes of many people make its value.
+
+First, then, as psychology involves all our sensibilities, pleasures,
+affections, aspirations, capacities, it is thought on that ground to
+have a special nobility and greatness, and a special power of evoking in
+the student the feelings themselves. The mathematician, dealing with
+conic sections, spirals, and differential equations, is in danger of
+being ultimately resolved into a function or a co-efficient; the
+metaphysician, by investigating conscience, must become conscientious;
+driving fat oxen is the way to grow fat.
+
+[MAN'S RELATIONS TO THE INFINITE.]
+
+But to pass to a far graver application. It has usually been supposed
+that metaphysical theory is more especially akin to the speculation that
+mounts to the supernatural and the transcendental world. "Man's
+relations to the infinite" is a frequent phrase in the mouth of the
+metaphysician. Metaphysics is supposed to be "philosophy" by way of
+eminence; and philosophy in the large sense has not merely to satisfy
+the curiosity of the human mind, it has to provide scope for its
+emotions and aspirations; in fact, to play the part of theology. In
+times when the prevailing orthodox beliefs are shaken, some scheme of
+philosophy is brought forward to take their place. If I understand
+aright the drift of the German metaphysical systems for a century back,
+they all more or less propose to themselves to supply the same spiritual
+wants as religion supplies. In our own country, such of us as are not
+under German influence put the matter differently; but we still consider
+that we have something to say on the "highest questions". We are apt to
+believe that on us more than on any other class of thinkers, does it
+depend whether the prevailing theology shall be upheld, impugned, or
+transformed. The chief weapons of the defenders of the faith are forged
+in the schools of metaphysics. Locke and Butler, Reid, Stewart and Brown
+are theological authorities. And when theology is attacked, its
+metaphysical buttresses have to be assailed as the very first thing. If
+these are declared unsound, either it must fall, or it must change its
+front. It is Natural Theology, more particularly, that is thus allied to
+metaphysics; yet, not exclusively; for the defence of Revelation by
+miracles involves at the outset a point of logic.
+
+Now I do not mean to say, that this is a purely factitious and
+ill-grounded employment of the metaphysical sciences. I fully admit that
+the later defences of theology, as well as the attacks, have been
+furnished from psychology, logic, ethics, and ontology. The earliest
+beliefs in religion, the greatest and strongest convictions, had little
+to do with any of these departments of speculation. But when simple
+traditionary faith gave place to the questionings of the reason, the
+basis of religion was transferred to the reason-built sciences; and
+metaphysics came in for a large share in the decision.
+
+[METAPHYSICS AND THEOLOGY.]
+
+What I maintain is, that there is something factitious in the degree of
+prominence given to metaphysics in this great enterprise; that its
+pretentions are excessive, its importance over-stated; and when most
+employed for such a purpose, it is least to be trusted. Theological
+polemic is only in part conducted through science; and physical science
+shares equally with moral. The most serious shocks to the traditional
+orthodoxy have come from the physical sciences. The argument from Design
+has no doubt a metaphysical or logical element--the estimate of the
+degree of analogy between the universe and a piece of human workmanship;
+but the argument itself needs a scientific survey of the entire
+phenomena of nature, both matter and mind. Our Bridgewater Treatises
+proceeded upon this view; they embraced the consideration of the whole
+circle of the sciences, as bearing on the theological argument. The
+scheme was so far just and to the purpose; the obvious drawback to the
+value of the Treatises lay in their being special pleadings, backed by a
+fee of a thousand pounds to each writer for maintaining one side. If a
+similar fee had been given to nine equally able writers to represent the
+other side, the argument from design would have been far more
+satisfactorily sifted than by the exclusively metaphysical criticism of
+Kant.
+
+When theology is supported exclusively by such doctrines as--an
+independent and immaterial soul, a special moral faculty, and what is
+called free-will,--the metaphysician is a person of importance in the
+contest; he is powerful either to uphold or to subvert the fabric. But,
+if these were ever to constitute the chief stronghold of the faith, its
+tenure would not be very secure. It is only a metaphysician, however,
+that believes or disbelieves in metaphysical grounds alone; such a man
+as Cousin, no doubt, rests his whole spiritual philosophy on this
+foundation. But the great mass will either adhere to religion in spite
+of metaphysical difficulties, or else abandon it notwithstanding its
+metaphysical evidences. An eminent man now departed said in my hearing,
+that he was a believer in Christianity until he became acquainted with
+geology, when, finding the first chapter of Genesis at variance with
+geological doctrines, he applied to the Bible the rule _falsus in uno,
+falsus in omnibus,_ and thenceforth abandoned his old belief. I never
+heard of any one that was so worked upon by a purely metaphysical
+argument.
+
+The aspect of theological doctrine that has come most to the front of
+late is the question of the Divine goodness, as shown in the plan of the
+universe. Speculations are divided between optimism and pessimism. How
+shall we decide between these extremes, or, if repudiating both, how
+shall we fix the mean? Is a metaphysician more especially qualified to
+find out the truth? I hardly think so. I believe he could contribute,
+with others, to such a solution as may be possible. He has, we shall
+suppose, surveyed closely the compass of the human sensibilities, and is
+able to assign, with more than common precision, what things operate on
+them favourably or unfavourably. So far good. Then, as a logician, he is
+more expert at detecting bad inferences in regard to the form of
+reasoning; but whether certain allegations of fact are well or ill
+founded, he may not be able to say, at least out of his own department.
+If a mixed commission of ten were nominated to adjudicate upon this vast
+problem, metaphysics might claim to be represented by two.
+
+[FILLING THE THEOLOGICAL VOID.]
+
+Least of all, do I understand the claims made in behalf of this
+department to supply the spiritual void in case the old theology is no
+longer accredited. When one looks closely at the stream and tendency of
+thought, one sees a growing alliance and kinship between religion and
+poetry or art. There is, as we know, a dogmatic, precise, severe,
+logical side of theology, by which creeds are constructed, religious
+tests imposed, and belief made a matter of legal compulsion. There is
+also a sentimental, ideal, imaginative side that resists definition,
+that refuses dogmatic prescription, and seeks only to satisfy spiritual
+needs and emotions. Metaphysics may no doubt take a part in the dogmatic
+or doctrinal treatment, but it must qualify itself by biblical study,
+and become altogether theology. In the other aspect, metaphysics, as I
+conceive it, is unavailing; the poet is the proper medium for keeping up
+the emotional side, under all transformations of doctrinal belief. But
+as conceived by others, metaphysics is philosophy and poetry in one, to
+which I can never agree. The combination of the two, as hitherto
+exhibited, has been made at the expense of both. The leading terms of
+philosophy--reason, spirit, soul, the ideal, the infinite, the absolute,
+phenomenal truth, being, consciousness--are lubricated with emotion, and
+thrown together in ways that defy the understanding. The unintelligible,
+which ought to be the shame of philosophy, is made its glory.
+
+These remarks prepare for the conclusion that I arrive at as to the
+scope of metaphysics with reference to the higher questions. That it has
+bearings upon these questions I allow; and those bearings are
+legitimately within the range of metaphysical debates. But I make a wide
+distinction between metaphysical discussion and theological discussion;
+and do not consider that they can be combined to advantage. In the great
+latitude of free inquiry in the present day, theology is freely
+canvassed, and societies might be properly devoted to that express
+object; but I cannot see any benefit that would arise by a philosophical
+society undertaking, in addition to its own province, to raise the
+questions belonging to theology. I am well aware that there is one
+society of very distinguished persons in the metropolis, calling itself
+metaphysical, that freely ventures upon the perilous seas of theological
+debate.[14] No doubt good comes from any exercise of the liberty of
+discussion, so long restrained in this region; yet, I can hardly suppose
+that purely metaphysical, studies can thrive in such a connection. Many
+of the members must think far more of the theological issues than of the
+cultivation of mental and logical science; and a purely metaphysical
+debate can seldom be pursued with profit under these conditions.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[POLEMICS IN GREECE.]
+
+I now pass to the POLEMICAL handling of the metaphysical subjects. We
+owe to the Greeks the study of philosophy through methodised debate; and
+the state of scientific knowledge in the age of the early Athenian
+schools was favourable to that mode of treatment. The conversations of
+Socrates, the Dialogues of Plato, and the Topics of Aristotle, are the
+monuments of Greek contentiousness, turned to account as a great
+refinement in social intercourse, as a stimulus to individual thought,
+and a means of advancing at least the speculative departments of
+knowledge. Grote, both in his "Plato," and in his "Aristotle," while
+copiously illustrating all these consequences, has laid extraordinary
+stress on still another aspect of the polemic of Socrates and Plato,
+the aspect of _free-thought_, as against venerated tradition and the
+received commonplaces of society. The assertion of the right of private
+judgment in matters of doctrine and belief, was, according to Grote, the
+greatest of all the fruits of the systematised negation begun by Zeno,
+and carried out in the "Search Dialogues" of Plato. In the "Exposition
+Dialogues" it is wanting; and in the "Topica," where Eristic is reduced
+to method and system by one of Aristotle's greatest logical
+achievements, the freethinker's wings are very much clipt; the execution
+of Socrates probably had to answer for that. It is to the Platonic
+dialogues that we look for the full grandeur of Grecian debate in all
+its phases. The Plato of Grote is the apotheosis of Negation; it is not
+a philosophy so much as an epic; the theme--"The Noble Wrath of the
+Greek Dissenter".
+
+At all times, there is much that has to be achieved by solitary
+thinking. Some definite shape must be given to our thoughts before we
+can submit them to the operation of other minds; the greater the
+originality, the longer must be the process of solitary elaboration.
+The "Principia" was composed from first to last by recluse meditation;
+probably the attempt to discuss or debate any parts of it would have
+only fretted and paralysed the author's invention. Indeed, after an
+enormous strain of the constructive intellect, a man may be in no humour
+to have his work carped at, even to improve it. In the region of fact,
+in observation and experiment, there must be a mass of individual and
+unassisted exertion. The use of allies in this region is to check and
+confirm the accuracy of the first observer.
+
+Again, an inquirer, by dint of prolonged familiarity with a subject, may
+be his own best critic; he may be better able to detect flaws than any
+one he could call in. This is another way of stating the superiority of
+a particular individual over all others in the same walk. Such a
+monarchical position as removes a man alike from the rivalry and from
+the sympathy of his fellows, is the exception; mutual criticism and
+mutual encouragement are the rule. The social stimulants are of avail in
+knowledge and in truth as well as everything else.
+
+A comparison of the state of speculation in the golden age of debate,
+with the state of the sciences in the present day, both metaphysical and
+physical, shows us clearly enough, what are the fields where polemic is
+most profitable. I set aside the struggles of politics and theology, and
+look to the scientific form of knowledge, which is, after all, the type
+of our highest certainty everywhere. Now, undoubtedly, it is in
+classifying, generalising, defining, and in the so-called logical
+processes--induction and deduction--that a man can be least left to
+himself. Until many men have gone over the same field of facts, a
+classification, a definition, or an induction, cannot be held as safe
+and sound. In modern science, there are numerous matters that have
+passed through the fiery furnace of iterated criticism, seven times
+purified; but there are, attaching to every science, a number of things
+still in the furnace. Most of all does this apply to the metaphysical or
+subject sciences, where, according to the popular belief, nothing has
+yet passed finally out of the fiery trial. In psychology, in logic, in
+eudaemonics, in sociology, in ethics, the facts are nearly all around
+our feet; the question is how to classify, define, generalise, express
+them. This was the situation of Zeno, Socrates, and Plato, for which
+they invoked the militant ardour of the mind. Man, they saw, is a
+fighting being; if fighting will do a thing, he will do it well.
+
+[MOST USEFUL CLASSES OF DEBATES.]
+
+In conformity with this view, the foremost class of debates, and
+certainly not the least profitable, are such as discuss the meanings of
+important terms. The genius of Socrates perceived that this was the
+beginning of all valid knowledge, and, in seeing this, laid the
+foundation of reasoned truth. I need not repeat the leading terms of
+metaphysical philosophy; but you can at once understand the form of
+proceeding by such an instance as "consciousness," debated so as to
+bring out the question whether, as Hamilton supposed, it is necessarily
+grounded on knowledge.
+
+Next to the leading terms are the broader and more fundamental
+generalities: for example, the law of relativity; the laws of memory and
+its conditions, such as the intensity of the present consciousness;
+Hamilton's inverse relationship of sensation and perception. These are
+a few psychological instances. The value of a debate on any of these
+questions depends entirely upon its resolving itself into an inductive
+survey of the facts, and such surveys are never without fruit.
+
+A debating society that includes logic in its sphere should cultivate
+the methods of debate; setting an example to other societies and to
+mankind in general. The "Topica" of Aristotle shows an immensity of
+power expended on this object, doubtless without corresponding results.
+Nevertheless the attempt, if resumed at the present day, with our
+clearer and wider views of logical method, would not be barren. This is
+too little thought of by us; and we may say that polemic, as an art, is
+still immature. The best examples of procedure are to be found in the
+Law Courts, some of whose methods might be borrowed in other debates.
+For one thing, I think that each of the two leaders should provide the
+members beforehand with a synopsis of the leading arguments or positions
+to be set forth in the debate. This, I believe, should be insisted on
+everywhere, not even excepting the debates of Parliament.
+
+It is the custom of debating societies to alternate the Debate and the
+Essay: a very important distinction, as it seems to me; and I will
+endeavour to indicate how it should be maintained. Frequently there is
+no substantial distinction observed; an essay is simply the opening of a
+debate, and a debate the criticism of an essay. I should like to see the
+two carried out each on its own principle, as I shall now endeavour to
+explain.
+
+[THE DEBATE: A FIGHT FOR MASTERY.]
+
+The Debate is _the fight for mastery_ as between two sides. The
+combatants strain their powers to say everything that can be said so
+as to shake the case of their opponents. The debate is a field-day,
+a challenge to a trial of strength. Now, while I admit that the
+intellectual powers may be quickened to unusual perspicacity under the
+sound of the trumpet and the shock of arms, I also see in the operation
+many perils and shortcomings, when the subject of contest is truth. In
+a heated controversy, only the more glaring and prominent facts,
+considerations, doctrines, distinctions, can obtain a footing. Now truth
+is the still small voice; it subsists often upon delicate differences,
+unobtrusive instances, fine calculations. Whether or not man is a wholly
+selfish being, may be submitted to a contentious debate, because the
+facts and appearances on both sides are broad and palpable; but whether
+all our actions are, in the last resort or final analysis,
+self-regarding, is almost too delicate for debate. Chalmers upholds, as
+a thesis, the intrinsic misery of the vicious affections: there could
+not be a finer topic of pure debate.
+
+My conception of the Essay, on the other hand, is that it should
+represent _amicable co-operation_, with an eye to the truth. By it you
+should rise from the lower or competitive, to the higher or communistic
+attitude. There may be a loss of energy, but there is a gain in the
+manner of applying it. The essayist should set himself to ascertain the
+truth upon a subject; he should not be anxious to make a case. The
+listeners, in the same spirit, should welcome all his suggestions, help
+him out where he is in difficulties, be indulgent to his failings,
+endeavour to see good in everything. If there be a real occasion for
+debate, it should be purposely forborne and reserved. In propounding
+subjects, the respective fitness for the debate and for the essay might
+be taken into account.
+
+[CO-OPERATIVE DISCUSSION IN THE ESSAY.]
+
+When questions have been often debated without coming nearer to a
+conclusion, it should be regarded as a sign that they are too delicate
+and subtle for debate. A trial should then be made of the amicable or
+co-operative treatment represented by the Essay. The Freedom of the Will
+might, I think, be adjusted by friendly accommodation, but not by force
+of contention. External Perception is beyond the province of debate.
+It is fair and legitimate to try all problems by debate, in the first
+instance, because the excitement quickens the intelligence, and leads to
+new suggestions; but if the question involves an adjustment of various
+considerations and minute differences, the contending sides will be
+contentious still.
+
+A society that really aims at the furtherance of knowledge, might test
+its operations by now and then preparing a report of progress; setting
+forth what problems had been debated, what themes elucidated, and with
+what results. It would be very refreshing to see a candid avowal that
+after several attempts--both debate and essay--some leading topic of the
+department remained exactly where it stood at the outset. After such a
+confession, the Society might well resolve itself into a Committee of
+the Whole House, to consider its ways, and indeed its entire position,
+with a view to a new start on some more hopeful track.
+
+My closing remark is, as to avoiding debates that are in their very
+nature interminable. It is easy to fix upon a few salient features that
+make all the difference between a hopeful and a hopeless controversy.
+For one thing, there is a certain intensity of emotion, interest, bias,
+or prejudice if you will, that can neither reason nor be reasoned with.
+On the purely intellectual side, the disqualifying circumstances are
+complexity and vagueness. If a topic necessarily hauls in numerous other
+topics of difficulty, the essay may do something for it, but not the
+debate. Worst of all is the presence of several large, ill-defined, or
+unsettled terms, of which there are still plenty in our department. A
+not unfrequent case is a combination of the several defects each perhaps
+in a small degree. A tinge of predilection or party, a double or triple
+complication of doctrines, and one or two hazy terms, will make a debate
+that is pretty sure to end as it began. Thus it is that a question,
+plausible to appearance, may contain within it capacities of
+misunderstanding, cross-purposes, and pointless issues, sufficient to
+occupy the long night of Pandemonium, or beguile the journey to the
+nearest fixed star.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 12: An Address, delivered on the 28th of March, 1877, to the
+Edinburgh University Philosophical Society. CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, April,
+1877.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This very plausible utterance begs every question. There
+would be some difficulty in condensing an equal amount of fallacy,
+confusion of thought, in so few words.
+
+In the first place, it assumes that the three requisites--health,
+freedom from debt, and a good conscience--are matters of easy and
+general attainment; that they are, in fact, the rule among human beings.
+Is this really so?
+
+Take Health, a word of very wide import. There is a certain small
+amount, such as is marked by being out of the physician's hands, but
+implying very little of the energy needed for the labours and the
+enjoyment of life. There is a high and resplendent degree that renders
+toil easy, and responds to the commonest stimulants, so that enjoyment
+cannot be quashed without unusually unfavourable circumstances. The
+first kind is widely diffused; the second is very rare, except in the
+earlier portion of life. Most men and women, as they pass middle age,
+lose the elasticity required for easy and spontaneous enjoyment, and,
+even if they keep the appearance of health, have too little animal
+spirits for enjoyment under cheap and ordinary excitements.
+
+But there is more to be said. In order to obtain, and to retain, health,
+freedom from debt, and a good conscience, there are pre-supposed very
+considerable advantages. We cannot continue healthy and out of debt,
+unless we have a fair start in life, that is, unless we have a tolerable
+provision to begin with; a circumstance that the maxim keeps out of
+sight.
+
+Yet farther. The conditions named are of themselves mere negatives; they
+imply simply the absence of certain decided causes of
+unhappiness--ill-health, poverty, and bad conduct. There is a farther
+stealthy assumption, namely, that the individual is placed in a
+situation otherwise conducive to happiness. Health, absence of debt, and
+a good conscience will not make happiness, under severe or ungenial
+toil, irritation, ill-usage, affliction, sorrow,--- even if they could
+be long maintained under such circumstances. Nor even, in the case of
+exemption from the worst ills of life, can we be happy without some
+positive agreeables--family, general society, amusements, and
+gratifications. There is a certain degree of loneliness, seclusion,
+dulness, that destroys happiness without sapping health, or miming us
+into debt and vice.
+
+The maxim, as expressed, professes to aim at happiness, but it more
+properly belongs to duty. If we fail in the conditions mentioned, we run
+the risk rather of neglecting our duties than of missing our pleasures.
+It is not every form of ill-health that makes us miserable; and we may
+become seared to debt and ill-conduct, so as to suffer only the
+incidental misery of being dunned, which many can take with great
+composure.
+
+The definition of happiness by Paley is vague and incomplete; but it
+does not omit the positive conditions. After health, Paley enumerates
+the exercise of the affections and some engaging occupation or pursuit;
+both which are highly relevant to the attainment of happiness. Indeed
+with an exemption from cares, and a considerable share of the positive
+gratifications, we can enjoy life on a very slender stock of health;
+otherwise, where should we be in the inevitable decline that age brings
+with it?]
+
+[Footnote 14: This Society has since been dissolved.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE UNIVERSITY IDEAL--PAST AND PRESENT.[15]
+
+
+GENTLEMEN,
+
+By your flattering estimate of my services, I have been unexpectedly
+summoned from retirement, to assume the honours and the duties of the
+purple, and to occupy the most historically important office in the
+Universities of Europe.
+
+The present demands upon the Rectorship somewhat resemble what we are
+told of the Homeric chief, who, in company with his Council or Senate,
+the _Boule_, and the Popular Assembly, or _Agora_, made up the political
+constitution of the tribe. The functions of the chief, it is said, were
+to supply wise counsel to the _Boule_ (as we might call our Court), and
+unctuous eloquence to the _Agora_. The second of these requirements is
+what weighs upon me at the present moment.
+
+Whatever may have been the practice of my predecessors, generally
+strangers to you, it would be altogether unbecoming in me to travel out
+of our University life, for the materials of an Address. My remarks then
+will principally bear on the UNIVERSITY IDEAL.
+
+[THE HIGHER TEACHING IN GREECE.]
+
+To the Greeks we are indebted for the earliest germ of the University.
+It was with them chiefly that education took that great leap, the
+greatest ever made, from the traditional teaching of the home, the shop,
+the social surroundings, to schoolmaster teaching properly so called.
+Nowadays, we, schoolmasters, think so much of ourselves, that we do not
+make full allowance for that other teaching, which was, for unknown
+ages, the only teaching of mankind. The Greeks were the first to
+introduce, not perhaps the primary schoolmaster, for the R's, but
+certainly the secondary or higher schoolmaster, known as Rhetorician or
+Sophist, who taught the higher professions; while their Philosophers or
+wise men, introduced a kind of knowledge that gave scope to the
+intellectual faculties, with or without professional applications; the
+very idea of our Faculty of Arts.
+
+So self-asserting were these new-born teachers of the Sophist class,
+that Plato thought it necessary to recall attention to the good old
+perennial source of instruction, the home, the trade, and the society.
+He pointed out that the pretenders to teach virtue by moral lecturing,
+were as yet completely outrivalled by the influence of the family and
+the social pressure of the community. In like manner, the arts of life
+were all originally handed down by apprenticeship and imitation. The
+greatest statesmen and generals of early times had simply the education
+of the actual work. Philip of Macedon could have had no other teaching;
+his greater son was the first of the line to receive what we may call
+a liberal, or a general education, under the educator of all Europe.
+
+[LOGIC IN THE MIDDLE AGES.]
+
+THE MIDDLE AGE AND BOETHIUS.
+
+I must skip eight centuries, to introduce the man that linked the
+ancient and the modern world, and was almost the sole luminary in the
+west during the dark ages, namely, Boethius, minister of the Gothic
+Emperor Theodoric. As much of Aristotle as was known between the 6th and
+the 11th centuries was handed down by him. During that time, only the
+logical treatises existed among the Latins; and of these the best parts
+were neglected. Historical importance attaches to a small circle of them
+known as the Old Logic (_vectus logica_), which were the pabulum of
+abstract thought for five dreary centuries. These consisted of the two
+treatises or chapters of Aristotle called the "Categories," and the "De
+Interpretatione," or the Theory of Propositions; and of a book of
+Porphyry the Neo-Platonist, entitled 'Introduction' (_Isagoge_), and
+treating of the so-called Five Predicables. A hundred average pages
+would include them all; and three weeks would suffice to master them.
+
+Boethius, however, did much more than hand on these works to the
+mediaeval students; he translated the whole of Aristotle's logical
+writings (the Organon), but the others were seldom taken up. It was he
+too that handled the question of Universals in his first Dialogue on
+Porphyry, and sowed the seed that was not to germinate till four
+centuries afterwards, but which, when the time came, was to bear fruit
+in no measured amount. And Boethius is the name associated with the
+scheme of higher education that preceded the University teaching, called
+the _quadrivium_, or quadruple group of subjects, namely, Arithmetic,
+Geometry, Music and Astronomy. This, together with the _trivium_, or
+preparatory group of three subjects--Grammar, Rhetoric, and
+Logic--constituted what was known as the _seven liberal arts_; but, in
+the darkest ages, the quadrivium was almost lost sight of, and few went
+beyond the trivium.
+
+
+EVE OF THE UNIVERSITY.
+
+In the 7th century, the era of deepest intellectual gloom, philosophy
+was at an entire stand-still. Light arises with the 8th, when we are
+introduced to the Cathedral and Cloister Schools of Charlemagne; and the
+9th saw these schools fully established, and an educational reform
+completed that was to be productive of lasting good results. But the
+range of instruction was still narrow, scarcely proceeding beyond the
+Old Logic, and the teachers were, as formerly, the Monks. The 11th
+century is really the period of dawn. The East was now opened up through
+the Crusades, and there was frequent intercourse with the learned
+Saracens of Spain; and thus there were brought into the West the whole
+of Aristotle's works, with Arabic commentaries, chiefly in Latin
+translations. The effervescence was prodigious and alarming. The schools
+were reinforced by a higher class of teachers, Lay as well as Clerical;
+a marked advance was made in Logic and Dialectic; and the great
+controversy of Realism _versus_ Nominalism, which had found its birth in
+the previous century, raged with extraordinary vigour. We are now on the
+eve of the founding of the Universities; Bologna, indeed, being already
+in existence.
+
+[TWO CLASSES OF MEDIEVAL CHURCHMEN.]
+
+SEPARATION OF PHILOSOPHY FROM THEOLOGY.
+
+The University proper, however, can hardly be dated earlier than the
+12th century; and the important particulars in its first constitution
+are these:--First, the separation of Philosophy from Theology. To
+expound this, would be to give a chapter of mediaeval history. Suffice
+it to say that Aristotle and the awakening intellect of the 11th century
+were the main causes of it. Two classes of minds at this time divided
+the Church--the pious, devout believers (such as St. Bernard), who
+needed no reasons for their faith, and the polemic speculative divines
+(such as Abaelard), who wished to make Theology rational. It was an age,
+too, of stirring political events; the crusading spirit was abroad, and
+found a certain gratification even in the war of words. The nature of
+Universals was eagerly debated; but when this controversy came into
+collision with such leading theological doctrines as the Trinity and
+Predestination, it was no longer possible for Philosophy and Theology to
+remain conjoined.
+
+A separation was effected, and determined the leading feature of the
+University system. The foundation was Philosophy, and the fundamental
+Faculty the Faculty of Arts. Bologna, indeed, was eminent for Law or
+Jurisprudence, and this celebrity it retained for ages; but the
+University of Paris, which is the prototype of our Scottish
+Universities, as of so many others, taught nothing but Philosophy--in
+other words, had no Faculty but Arts--for many years. Neither Theology,
+Medicine, nor Law had existence there till the 13th century.
+
+Second, the system of conferring Degrees, after appropriate trials.
+These were at first simply a licence to teach. They acquired their
+commanding importance through the action of Pope Nicholas I, who gave to
+the graduates of the University of Paris, the power of teaching
+everywhere, a power that our own countrymen were the foremost to turn to
+account.
+
+
+THE OFFICE OF RECTOR.
+
+Third, the Organisation of the primitive University. Europe was
+unsettled; even in the capitals, the civil power was often unhinged.
+Wherever multitudes came together, there was manifested a spirit of
+turbulence. The Universities often exemplified this fact; and it was
+found necessary to establish a government within themselves. The basis
+was popular; but, while, in Paris, only the teaching body was
+incorporated, in Bologna, the students had a voice. They elected the
+Rector, and his jurisdiction was very great indeed, and much more
+important than speechifying to his constituents. His Court had the power
+of internal regulation, with both a civil and criminal jurisdiction. The
+Scotch Universities, on this point, followed Bologna; and that fact is
+the remote cause of this day's meeting.
+
+[SCOTCHMEN ABROAD.]
+
+THE UNIVERSITIES OF SCOTLAND FOUNDED.
+
+So started the University. The idea took; and in three centuries, many
+of the leading towns in Italy, France, the German Empire, had their
+Universities; in England arose Oxford and Cambridge; the model was Paris
+or Bologna.
+
+Scotland did not at first enter the race of University-founding, but
+worked on the plan of the cuckoo, by laying its eggs in the nests of
+others. For two centuries, Scotchmen were almost shut out of England;
+and so could not make for themselves a career in Oxford and Cambridge,
+as in later times. They had, however, at home, good grammar schools,
+where they were grounded in Latin. They perambulated Europe, and were
+familiar figures in the great University towns, and especially Paris.
+From their disputatious and metaphysical aptitude, they worked their
+upward way--
+
+    And gladly would they learn and gladly teach.
+
+At length, the nation did take up the work in good earnest. In 1411, was
+founded the first of the St. Andrews' Colleges; 1451 is the date of
+Glasgow; 1494, King's College, Aberdeen. These are the pre-Reformation
+colleges; but for the Reformation, we might not have had any other.
+Their founders were ecclesiastics; their constitution and ceremonial
+were ecclesiastical. They were intended, no doubt, to keep the Scotch
+students at home. They were also expected to serve as bulwarks to the
+Church against the rising heretics of the times. In this they were a
+disappointment; the first-begotten of them became the cradle of the
+Reformation.
+
+In these our three eldest foundations, we are to seek the primitive
+constitution and the teaching system of our Universities. In essentials,
+they were the same; only between the dates of Glasgow and Old Aberdeen
+occurred two great events. One was the taking of Constantinople, which
+spread the Greek scholars with their treasures over Europe. The other
+was the progress of printing. In 1451, when Glasgow commenced, there was
+no printed text-book. In 1494, when King's College began, the ancient
+classics had been largely printed; the early editions of Aristotle in
+our Library, show the date of 1486.
+
+
+FIRST PERIOD--THE TEACHING BODY.
+
+Our Universities have three well-marked periods; the first anterior to
+the Reformation; the second from the Reformation to the beginning of
+last century; the third, the last and present centuries. Confining
+ourselves still to the Faculty of Arts, the features of the
+Pre-Reformation University were these:--
+
+First, as regards the teaching Body. The quadriennial Arts' course was
+conducted by so-called Regents, who each carried the same students
+through all the four years, thus taking upon himself the burden of all
+the sciences--a walking Encyclopaedia. The system was in full force, in
+spite of attempts to change it, during both the first and the second
+periods. You, the students of Arts, at the present day, encountering in
+your four years, seven faces, seven voices, seven repositories of
+knowledge, need an effort to understand how your predecessors could be
+cheerful and happy, confined all through to one personality; sometimes
+juvenile, sometimes senile, often feeble at his best.
+
+[ARISTOTLE THE BASIS OF THE TEACHING.]
+
+THE SUBJECTS TAUGHT.
+
+Next, as regards the Subjects taught. To know these you have simply to
+know what are the writings of Aristotle. The little work on him by Sir
+Alexander Grant supplies the needful information. The records of the
+Glasgow University furnish the curriculum of Arts soon after its
+foundation. The subjects are laid out in two heads--Logic and
+Philosophy. The Logic comprised first the three Treatises of the Old
+Logic; to these were now added the whole of the works making up
+Aristotle's Organon. This brought in the Syllogism, and allied matters.
+There was also a selection from the work known as the _Topics_, not now
+included in Logical teaching, yet one of the most remarkable and
+distinctive of Aristotle's writings. It is a highly laboured account of
+the whole art of Disputation, laid out under his scheme of the
+Predicables. The selection fell chiefly on two books--the second,
+comprising what Aristotle had to say on Induction, and the sixth, on
+Definition; together with the "Logical Captions" or Fallacies.
+Disputation was one of the products of the Greek mind; and Aristotle was
+its prophet.
+
+Now for Philosophy. This comprised nearly the whole of Aristotle's
+Physical treatises--his very worst side--together with his Metaphysics,
+some parts of which are hardly distinguishable from the Physics. Next
+was the very difficult treatise--_De Anima_, on the mind, or Soul--and
+some allied Psychological treatises, as that on Memory. Such was the
+ordinary and sufficing curriculum. It was allowed to be varied with a
+part of the Ethics; but in this age we do not find the Politics; and the
+Rhetoric is never mentioned. So also, the really valuable Biological
+works of Aristotle, including his book on Animals, appear to have been
+neglected.
+
+Certain portions of Mathematics always found a place in the curriculum.
+Likewise, some work on Astronomy, which was one of the quadrivium
+subjects.
+
+All this was given in Latin. Greek was not then known (it was introduced
+into Scotland, in 1534). No classical Latin author is given; the
+education in Latin was finished at the Grammar School.
+
+[TEACHING EXCLUSIVELY IN TEXTS.]
+
+MANNER OF TEACHING.
+
+Such was the Arts' Faculty of the 15th century; a dreary, single-manned,
+Aristotelian quadriennium. The position is not completely before us,
+till we understand farther the manner of working.
+
+The pupils could not, as a rule, possess the text of Aristotle. The
+teacher read and expounded the text for them; but a very large portion
+of the time was always occupied in dictating, or "diting," notes, which
+the pupils were examined upon, _viva voce_; their best plan usually
+being to get them by heart, as any one might ask them to repeat passages
+literally; while perhaps few could examine well upon the meaning. The
+notes would be selections and abridgments from Aristotle, with the
+comments of modern writers. The "diting" system was often complained of
+as waste of time, but was not discontinued till the third, or present,
+University dynasty, and not entirely then, as many of us know.
+
+The teaching was thus exclusively _Text_ teaching. The teacher had
+little or nothing to say for himself (at least in the earliest period).
+He was even restricted in the remarks he might make by way of
+commentary. He was as nearly as possible a machine.
+
+But lastly, to complete the view of the first period, we must add the
+practice of Disputation, of which we shall have a better idea from the
+records of the next period. This practice was co-eval with the
+Universities; it was the single mode of stimulating the thought of the
+individual student; the chief antidote to the mechanical teaching by
+Text-books and dictation.
+
+The pre-Reformation period of Aberdeen University was little more than
+sixty years. For a portion of those years it attained celebrity. In
+1541, the town was honoured by a visit from James V., and the University
+contributed to his entertainment. The somewhat penny-a-lining account
+is, that there were exercises and disputations in Greek, Latin, and
+other languages! The official records, however, show that the College at
+that very time had sunk into a convent and conventual school.
+
+
+SECOND PERIOD--THE REFORMATION.
+
+The Reformation introduced the second period, and made important
+changes. First of all, in the great convulsion of European thought, the
+ascendancy of Aristotle was shaken. It is enough to mention two
+incidents in the downfall of the mighty Stagyrite. One was the attack on
+him by the renowned Peter Rainus, in the University of Paris. Our
+countryman, Andrew Melville, attended Ramus's Lectures, and became the
+means of introducing his system into Scotland. The other incident is
+still more notable. The Reformers had to consider their attitude towards
+Aristotle. At first their opinion was condemnatory. Luther regarded him
+as a very devil; he was "a godless bulwark of the Papists". Melancthon
+was also hostile; but he soon perceived that Theology would crumble into
+fanatical dissolution without the co-operation of some philosophy. As
+yet there was nothing to fall back upon except the pagan systems. Of
+these, Melancthon was obliged to confess that Aristotle was the least
+objectionable, and was, moreover, in possession. The plan, therefore,
+was to accept him as a basis, and fence him round with orthodox
+emendations. This done, Aristotle, no longer despotic, but as a limited
+constitutional monarch, had his reign prolonged a century and a half.
+
+[NEW SUBJECTS INTRODUCED BY MELVILLE.]
+
+THE MODIFIED CURRICULUM--ANDREW MELVILLE.
+
+The first thing, after the Reformation in Scotland, was to purge the
+Universities of the inflexible adherents of the old faith. Then came
+the question of amending the Curriculum, not simply with a view to
+Protestantism, but for the sake of an enlightened teaching. The right
+man appeared at the right moment. In 1574, Andrew Melville, then in
+Geneva, received pressing invitations to come home and take part in the
+needed reforms. He was immediately made Principal of Glasgow University,
+at that time in a state of utter collapse and ruin. He had matured his
+plans, after consultation with George Buchanan, and they were worthy of
+a great reformer. He sketched a curriculum, substantially the curriculum
+of the second University period. The modifications upon the almost
+exclusive Aristotelianism of the first period, were significant. The
+Greek language was introduced, and Greek classical authors read. The
+reading in the Roman classics was extended. A text-book on Rhetoric
+accompanied the classical readings. The dialectics of Ramus made the
+prelude to Logic, instead of the three treatises of the old Logic. The
+Mathematics included Euclid. Geography and Cosmography were taken up.
+Then came a course of Moral Philosophy on an enlarged basis. With the
+Ethics and Politics of Aristotle, were combined Cicero's Ethical works
+and certain Dialogues of Plato. Finally, in the Physics, Melville still
+used Aristotle, but along with a more modern treatise. He also gave a
+view of Universal History and Chronology.
+
+This curriculum, which Melville took upon himself to teach, in order to
+train future teachers, was the point of departure of the courses in all
+the Universities during the second period. With variations of time and
+place, the Arts' course may be described as made up of the Greek and
+Latin classics, with Rhetoric, Logic, and Dialectics, Moral Philosophy,
+or Ethics, Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy. The little text-book of
+Rhetoric, by Talon or Talaeus, was made up of notes from the Lectures of
+Peter Ramus, and used in all our Colleges till superseded by the better
+compilation of the Dutch scholar, Gerard John Voss.
+
+Melville had to contend with many opponents, among them the sticklers
+for the infallibility of the Stagyrite. Like the German Reformers, he
+had accepted Aristotelianism as a basis, with a similar process of
+reconciliation. So it was that Aristotle and Calvin were brought to kiss
+each other.
+
+[MELVILLE DEFEATED ON THE REGENTING.]
+
+ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH REGENTING.
+
+Melville's next proposal was all too revolutionary. It consisted in
+restricting the Regents each to a special group of subjects; in fact,
+anticipating our modern professoriate. He actually set up this plan in
+Glasgow: one Regent took Greek and Latin; another, his nephew, James
+Melville, took Mathematics, Logic, and Moral Philosophy; a third,
+Physics and Astronomy. The system went on, in appearance at least, for
+fifty years; it is only in 1642, that we find the Regents given without
+a specific designation. Why it should have gone on so long, and been
+then dropt, we are not informed. Melville's influence started it in the
+other Universities, but it was defeated in every one from the very
+outset. After six years at Glasgow, he went to St. Andrew's as Principal
+and Professor of Divinity, and tried there the same reforms, but the
+resistance was too great. In spite of a public enactment, the division
+of labour among the Regents was never carried out. Yet such was
+Melville's authority, that the same enactment was extended to King's
+College, in a scheme having a remarkable history--the so-called New
+Foundation of Aberdeen University, promulgated in a Royal Charter of
+about the year 1581. The Earl Marischal was a chief promoter of the plan
+of reform comprised in this charter. The division of labour among the
+Regents was most expressly enjoined. The plan fell through; and there
+was a legal dispute fifty years afterwards as to whether it had ever any
+legal validity. Charles I. was made to express indignation at the idea
+of reducing the University to a school!
+
+We now approach the foundation of Marischal College. The Earl Marischal
+may have been actuated by the failure of his attempt to reform King's
+College. At all events, his mind was made up to follow Melville in
+assigning separate subjects to his Regents. The Charter is explicit on
+this head. Yet in spite of the Charter and in spite of his own presence,
+the intention was thwarted; the old Regenting lasted 160 years.
+
+
+ARISTOTELIAN PHYSICS TOO LONG MAINTAINED.
+
+Still the Curriculum reform was gained. There was, indeed, one great
+miss. The year before Marischal College was founded, Galileo had
+published his work on Mechanics, which, taken with what had been
+accomplished by Archimedes and others, laid the foundations of our
+modern Physics. Copernicus had already published his work on the
+Heavens. It was now time that the Aristotelian Physics should be clean
+swept away. In this whole department, Aristotle had made a reign of
+confusion; he had thrown the subject back, being himself off the rails
+from first to last. Had there been in Scotland an adviser in this
+department, like Melville in general literature, or like Napier of
+Merchiston in pure mathematics, one fourth of the college teaching might
+have been reclaimed from utter waste, and a healthy tone of thinking
+diffused through the remainder.
+
+A curious fascination always attached to the study of Astronomy, even
+when there was not much to be said, apart from the unsatisfactory
+disquisitions of Aristotle. A little book, entitled "_Sacrobosco_ on the
+Sphere," containing little more than what we should now teach to boys
+and girls, along with the Globes, was a University text-book throughout
+Europe for centuries. I was informed by a late King's College professor
+that the Use of the Globes was, within his memory, taught in the
+Magistrand Class. This would be simply what is termed a "survival".
+
+[GRADUATION BY MEANS OF DISPUTES ON THESIS.]
+
+SYSTEM OF DISPUTATION.
+
+Now as to the mode of instruction. There were _viva voce_ examinations
+upon the notes, such as we can imagine. But the stress was laid on
+Disputations and Declamations in various forms. Besides disputing and
+declaiming on the regular class work before the Regent, we find that,
+in Edinburgh, and I suppose elsewhere, the classes were divided into
+companies, who met apart, and conferred and debated among themselves
+daily. The students were occupied, altogether, six hours a day. Then the
+higher classes were frequently pitched against each other. This was a
+favourite occupation on Saturdays. The doctrines espoused by the leading
+students became their nicknames. The pass for Graduation consisted in
+the _propugning_ or _impugning_ of questions by each candidate in turn.
+An elaborate Thesis was drawn up by the Regent, giving the heads of his
+philosophy course; this was accepted by the candidates, signed by them,
+and printed at their expense. Then on the day of trial, at a long
+sitting, each candidate stood up and propunged or impunged a portion of
+the Thesis; all were heard in turn; and on the result the Degree was
+conferred. A good many of these Theses are preserved in our Library;
+some of them are very long--a hundred pages of close type; they are our
+best clue to the teaching of the period. We can see how far Aristotle
+was qualified by modern views.
+
+
+REGENTING DOOMED.
+
+I said there might have been times when the students never had the
+relief of a second face all the four years. The exceptions are of
+importance. First, as regards Marischal College. Within a few years of
+the foundation, Dr. Duncan Liddell founded the Mathematical Chair, and
+thus withdrew from the Regents the subject that most of all needed a
+specialist; a succession of very able mathematicians sat in this chair.
+King's College had not the same good fortune. From its foundation it
+possessed a separate functionary, the Humanist or Grammarian; but he had
+also, till 1753, to act as Rector of the Grammar School. Edinburgh
+obtained from an early date a Mathematical chair, occupied by men of
+celebrity. There was no other innovation till near the end of the 17th
+century, when Greek was isolated both in Edinburgh and in Marischal
+College; but the end of Regenting was then near.
+
+The old system, however, had some curious writhings. During the troubled
+17th century, University reform could not command persistent attention.
+But after the 1688-Revolution, opinions were strongly expressed in
+favour of the Melville system. The obvious argument was urged, that, by
+division of labour each man would be able to master a special subject,
+and do it justice in teaching. Yet, it was replied, that, by the
+continued intercourse, the master knew better the humours, inclinations,
+and talents of their scholars. To which the answer was--the humours and
+inclinations of scholars are not so deeply hid but that in a few weeks
+they appear. Moreover, it was said, the students are more respectful to
+a Master while he is new to them.
+
+The final division of subjects took place in Edinburgh, in 1708; in
+Glasgow, in 1727; in St. Andrews, in 1747. In Marischal College, the
+change was made by a minute of 11th Jan., 1753; but, whether from
+ignorance, or from want of grace, the Senatus did not record its
+satisfaction at having, after a lapse of five generations, fulfilled the
+wishes of the pious founder. In King's College, the old system lasted
+till 1798.
+
+This closes the second age of the Universities, and introduces the third
+age, the age of the Professoriate, of Lecturing instead of Text-books,
+the end of Disputation, and the use of the English Language. It was now,
+and not till now, that the Scottish Universities stood forth, in several
+leading departments of knowledge, as the teachers of the world.
+
+[AGE OF THE PROFESSORIATE.]
+
+THE UNIVERSITIES AND THE POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS.
+
+The second age of the Universities was Scotland's most trying time. In a
+hundred and thirty years, the country had passed through four revolutions
+and counter-revolutions; every one of which told upon the Universities.
+The victorious party imposed its test upon the University teacher, and
+drove out recusants. You must all know something of the purging of the
+University and the Ministry of Aberdeen by the Covenanting General
+Assembly of 1640. These deposed Aberdeen doctors may have had too strong
+leanings to episcopacy in the Church and to absolutism in the State, but
+they were not Vicars of Bray. The first half of the century was adorned
+by a band of scholars, who have gained renown by their cultivation of
+Latin poetry; a little oasis in the desert of Aristotelian Dialectics.
+It would be needless and ungracious to enquire whether this was the best
+thing that could have been done for the generation of Bishop Patrick
+Forbes.
+
+Your reading in the History of Scotland will thus bring you face to face
+with the great powers that contended for the mastery from 1560: the
+Monarchy, always striving to be absolute; the Church, whose position
+made it the advocate of popular freedom; the Universities, fluctuating
+as regards political liberty, but standing up for intellectual liberty.
+In the 17th century the Church ruled the Universities; in the 18th, it
+may be said, that the Universities returned the compliment.
+
+[PROFESSIONAL TEACHING BY APPRENTICESHIP]
+
+UNIVERSITIES NOT ESSENTIAL FOR PROFESSIONS.
+
+Enough for the past. A word or two on the present. What is now the need
+for a University system, and what must the system be to answer that
+need? Many things are altered since the 12th century.
+
+First, then, Universities, as I understand them, are not absolutely
+essential to the teaching of professions. Let me make an extreme
+supposition. A great naval commander, like Nelson, is sent on board
+ship, at eleven or twelve; his previous knowledge, or general training,
+is what you may suppose for that age. It is in the course of actual
+service, and in no other way, that he acquires his professional fitness
+for commanding fleets. Is this right or is it wrong? Perhaps it is
+wrong, but it has gone on so for a long time. Well, why may not a
+preacher be formed on the same plan? John Wesley was not a greater man
+in preaching, than Nelson in seamanship. Take, then, a youth of thirteen
+from the school. Apprentice him to the minister of a parish. Let him
+make at once preparations for clerical work. Let him store his memory
+with sermons, let him make abstracts of Divinity systems; master the
+best exegetical commentators. Then, in a year or two, he would begin to
+catechise the young, to give addresses in the way of exposition,
+exhortation, encouragement, and rebuke. Practice would bring facility.
+Might not, I say; seven years of the actual work, in the susceptible
+period of life, make a preacher of no mean power, without the Grammar
+School, without the Arts' Classes, without the Divinity Hall?
+
+What then do we gain by taking such a roundabout approach to our
+professional work? The answer is twofold.
+
+First, as regards the profession itself. Nearly every skilled
+occupation, in our time, involves principles and facts that have been
+investigated, and are taught, outside the profession; to the medical man
+are given courses of Chemistry, Physiology, and so on. Hence to be
+completely equipped for your professional work, you must repair to the
+teachers of those tributary departments of knowledge. The requirement,
+however, is not absolute; it admits of being evaded. Your professional
+teachers ought to master these outside subjects, and give you just as
+much of them as you need, and no more; which would be an obvious economy
+of your valuable time.
+
+Thus, I apprehend, the strictly professional uses of general knowledge
+fail to justify the Grammar School and the Arts' curriculum. Something,
+indeed, may still be said for the higher grades of professional
+excellence, and for introducing improved methods into the practice of
+the several crafts; for which wider outside studies lend their aid.
+This, however, is not enough; inventors are the exception. In fact, the
+ground must be widened, and include, secondly, _the life beyond the
+profession_. We are citizens of a self-governed country; members of
+various smaller societies; heads, or members of families. We have,
+moreover, to carve out recreation and enjoyment as the alternative and
+the reward of our professional toil. Now the entire tone and character
+of this life outside the profession, is profoundly dependent on the
+compass of our early studies. He that leaves the school for the shop at
+thirteen, is on one platform. He that spends the years from thirteen to
+twenty in acquiring general knowledge, is on a totally different
+platform; he is, in the best sense, an aristocrat. Those that begin work
+at thirteen, and those that are born not to work at all, are alike his
+inferiors. He should be able to spread light all around. He it is that
+may stand forth before the world as the model man.
+
+[THE GRADUATE AS SUCH.]
+
+THE IDEAL GRADUATE.
+
+All this supposes that you realise the position; that you fill up the
+measure of the opportunities; that you keep in view at once the
+Professional life, the Citizen life, and the life of Intellectual
+tastes. The mere professional man, however prosperous, cannot be a power
+in society, as the Arts' graduate may become. His leisure occupations
+are all of a lower stamp. He does not participate in the march of
+knowledge. He must be aware of his incompetence to judge for himself in
+the greater questions of our destiny; his part is to be a follower, and
+not a leader.
+
+It is not, then, the name of graduate that will do all this. It is not a
+scrape pass; it is not decent mediocrity with a languid interest. It is
+a fair and even attention throughout, supplemented by auxiliaries to the
+class work. It is such a hold of the leading subjects, such a mastery of
+the various alphabets, as will make future references intelligible, and
+a continuation of the study possible.
+
+Our curriculum is one of the completest in the country, or perhaps
+anywhere. By the happy thought of the Senatus of Marischal College, in
+1753, you have a fundamental class (Natural History) not existing in the
+other colleges. You have a fair representation of the three great lines
+of science--the Abstract, the Experimental, and the Classifying. When it
+is a general education that you are thinking of, every scheme of option
+is imperfect that does not provide for such three-sided cultivation of
+our reasoning powers. A larger quantity of one will no more serve for
+the absence of the rest than a double covering of one part of the body,
+will enable another part to be left bare.
+
+
+VOLUNTARY EXTENSION OF THE BASIS.
+
+Your time in the Arts' curriculum is not entirely used up by the
+classes. You can make up for deficiences in the course, when once you
+have formed your ideal of completeness. For a year, or two after
+graduating, while still rejoicing in youthful freshness, you can be
+widening your foundations. The thing then is, to possess a good scheme
+and to abide by it. Now, making every allowance for the variation of
+tastes and of circumstances, and looking solely to what is desirable
+for a citizen and a man, it is impossible to refuse the claims of
+the department of Historical and Social study. One or two good
+representative historical periods might be thoroughly mastered in
+conjunction with the best theoretical compends of Social Philosophy.
+
+[THE WELL-INSTRUCTED MAN.]
+
+Farther, the ideal graduate, who is to guide and not follow opinion,
+should be well versed in all the bearings of the Spiritual Philosophy of
+the time. The subject branches out into wide regions, but not wider than
+you should be capable of following it. This is not a professional study
+merely; it is the study of a well-instructed man.
+
+Once more. A share of attention should be bestowed early on the higher
+Literature of the Imagination. As, in after life, poetry and elegant
+composition are to be counted on as a pleasure and solace, they should
+be taken up at first as a study. The critical examination of styles, and
+of authors, which forms an admirable basis of a student's society,
+should be a work of study and research. The advantages will be many and
+lasting. To conceive the exact scope and functions of the Imagination in
+art, in science, in religion, and everywhere, will repay the trouble.
+
+
+THE ARTS' GRADUATE IN LITERATURE.
+
+Ever since I remember, I have been accustomed to hear of the superiority
+of the Arts' graduate, in various crafts, more especially as a teacher.
+Many of you in these days pass into another vocation--Letters, or the
+Press. Here too, almost everything you learn will pay you professionally.
+Still, I am careful not to rest the case for general education on
+professional grounds alone. I might show you that the highest work of
+all--original enquiry--needs a broad basis of liberal study; or at all
+events is vastly aided by that. Genius will work on even a narrow basis,
+but imperfect preparatory study leaves marks of imperfection in the
+product.
+
+The same considerations that determine your voluntary studies, determine
+also the University Ideal. A University, in my view, stands or falls
+with its Arts' Faculty. Without debating the details, we may say that
+this Faculty should always be representative of the needs of our
+intelligence, both for the professional and for the extra-professional
+life; it should not be of the shop, shoppy. The University exists
+because the professions would stagnate without it; and still more,
+because it may be a means of enlarging knowledge at all points. Its
+watchword is Progress. We have, at last, the division of labour in
+teaching; outside the University, teachers too much resemble the Regent
+of old--having too many subjects, and too much time spent in grinding.
+Our teachers are exactly the reverse.
+
+Yet, there cannot be progress without a sincere and single eye to the
+truth. The fatal sterility of the middle ages, and of our first and
+second University periods, had to do with the mistake of gagging men's
+mouths, and dictating all their conclusions. Things came to be so
+arranged that contradictory views ran side by side, like opposing
+electric currents; the thick wrappage of ingenious phraseology arresting
+the destructive discharge. There was, indeed, an elaborate and
+pretentious Logic, supplied by Aristotle, and amended by Bacon; what was
+still wanted was a taste of the Logic of Freedom.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 15: RECTORIAL ADDRESS, to the Students of Aberdeen University,
+_15th November_, 1882.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VII.
+
+THE ART OF STUDY.
+
+
+Of hackneyed subjects, a foremost place may be assigned to the Art of
+Study. Allied to the theory and practice of Education generally, it has
+still a field of its own, although not very precisely marked out. It
+relates more to self-education than to instruction under masters; it
+supposes the voluntary choice of the individual rather than the
+constraint of an outward discipline. Consequently, the time for its
+application is when the pupil is emancipated from the prescription and
+control of the scholastic curriculum.
+
+There is another idea closely associated with our notion of study--namely,
+learning from books. We may stretch the word, without culpable licence,
+to comprise the observation of facts of all kinds, but it more naturally
+suggests the resort to book lore for the knowledge that we are in quest
+of. There is a considerable propriety in restricting it to this meaning;
+or, at all events, in treating the art of becoming wise through reading,
+as different from the arts of observing facts at first hand. In short,
+study should not be made co-extensive with knowledge getting, but with
+book learning. In thus narrowing the field, we have the obvious advantage
+of cultivating it more carefully, and the unobvious, but very real,
+advantage of dealing with one homogeneous subject.
+
+In the current phrase, "_studying under_ some one," there is a more
+express reference to being taught by a master, as in listening to
+lectures. There is, however, the implication that the learner is
+applying his own mind to the special field, and, at the same time, is
+not neglecting the other sources of knowledge, such as books. The master
+is looked upon rather as a guide to enquiry, than as the sole fountain
+of the information sought.
+
+Thus, then, the mental exercise that we now call "study" began when
+books began; when knowledge was reduced to language and laid out
+systematically in verbal compositions. A certain form of it existed in
+the days when language was as yet oral merely; when there might be long
+compositions existing only in the memory of experts, and communicable by
+speech alone. But study then was a very simple affair: it would consist
+mainly in attentive listening to recitation, so as to store up in the
+memory what was thus communicated. The art, if any, would attach equally
+to the reciter and to the listener; the duty of the one would be to
+accommodate his lessons in time, quantity, and mode of delivery to the
+retentive capacity of the other; who, in his turn, would be required to
+con and recapitulate what he had been told, until he made it his own,
+whatever it might be worth.
+
+[BOOK STUDY AMONG THE ANCIENTS]
+
+Even when books came into existence, an art of study would be at first
+very simple. The whole extent of book literature among the Jews before
+Christ would be soon read; and, when once read, there was nothing left
+but to re-read it in whole or in part, with a view of committal to
+memory, whether for meditative reflection, or for awakening the
+emotions. We see, in the Psalms of David, the emphasis attached to
+mental dwelling on the particulars of the Mosaic Law, as the nourishment
+of the feelings of devotion.
+
+The Greek Literature about 350 B.C., when Aristotle and Demosthenes had
+reached manhood (being then 34), had attained a considerable mass; as
+one may see at a glance from Jebb's chronology attached to his Primer.
+There was a splendid poetical library, including all the great
+tragedians, with the older and the middle Comedy. There were the three
+great historians--Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon; and the
+orators--- Lysias, Isocrates, and Isaeus; there were the precursors of
+Socrates in Philosophy; and, finally, the Platonic Dialogues. To
+overtake all these would employ several years of learned leisure; and to
+imbibe their substance would be a rich and varied culture, especially of
+the poetic and rhetorical kind. To make the most of the field, a
+judicious procedure would be very helpful; there was evident scope for
+an art of study. The fertile intellect of the Greeks produced the first
+systematic guides to high culture; the Rhetorical art for Oratory and
+Poetry, the Logical art for Reasoning, and the Eristic art for
+Disputation. There was nothing precisely corresponding to an Art of
+Study, but there were examples of the self-culture of celebrated men.
+The most notorious of these is Demosthenes; of whom we know that, while
+he took special lessons in the art of oratory, he also bestowed
+extraordinary pains upon the general cultivation of his intellectual
+powers. His application to Thucydides in particular is recounted in
+terms of obvious mythical exaggeration; showing, nevertheless, his idea
+of fixing upon a special book with a view to extracting from it every
+particle of intellectual nourishment that it could yield: in which we
+have an example of the art of study as I have defined it. Then, it is
+said that, in his anxiety to master his author, he copied the entire
+work eight times, with his own hand, and had it by heart _verbatim_, so
+as to be able to re-write it when the manuscripts were accidentally
+destroyed. Both points enter into the art of study, and will come under
+review in the sequel.
+
+We do not possess from the genius of Aristotle--the originator or
+improver of so many practical departments--an Art of Study. The omission
+was not supplied by any other Greek writer known to us. The oratorical
+art was a prominent part of education both in Greece and in Rome; and
+was discussed by many authors--notably by Cicero himself; but the
+exhaustive treatment is found in Quintilian. The very wide scope of the
+"Institutes of Oratory" comprises a chapter upon the orator's reading,
+in which the author reviews the principal Greek and Roman classics from
+Homer to Seneca, with remarks upon the value of each for the mental
+cultivation of the oratorical pupil. Something of this sort might be
+legitimately included in the art of study, but might also be withheld,
+as being provided in the critical estimates already formed respecting
+all writers of note.
+
+[MODERN GUIDES TO STUDY.]
+
+After Ouintilian, it is little use to search for an art of study, either
+among the later Latin classics, or among the mediaeval authors
+generally. I proceed at once to remark upon the well-known essay of
+Bacon, which shows his characteristic subtlety, judiciousness, and
+weight; yet is too short for practical guidance. He hits the point, as
+I conceive it, when he identifies study with reading, and brings in, but
+only by way of contrast and complement, conference or conversation and
+composition. He endeavours to indicate the worth of book learning, as
+an essential addition to the actual practice of business, and the
+experience, of life. He marks a difference between books that we are
+merely to dip into (books to be tasted) and such as are to be mastered;
+without, however, stating examples. He ventures also to settle the
+respective kinds of culture assignable to different departments of
+knowledge--history, poetry, mathematics, natural philosophy, moral
+philosophy, logic and rhetoric; a very useful attempt in its own way,
+and one that may well enough enter into a comprehensive art of study,
+if not provided for in the still wider theory of Education at large.
+
+Bacon's illustrious friend, Hobbes, did not write on studies, but made
+a notable remark bearing on one topic connected with the art,--namely,
+that if he had read as much as other men, he should have remained still
+as ignorant as other men. This must not be interpreted too literally.
+Hobbes was really a great reader of the ancients, and must have studied
+with care some of the philosophers immediately preceding himself. Still,
+it indicates an important point for discussion in the art of study, in
+which great men have gone to opposite extremes--I mean in reference to
+the amount of attention to be given to previous writers, in taking up
+new ground.
+
+To come down to another great name, we have Milton's ideal of Education,
+given in his short Tractate. Here, with many protestations of knowing
+things, rather than words, we find an enormous prescription of book
+reading, including, in fact, every known author on every one of a wide
+circle of subjects. This was characteristic of the man: he was a
+voracious reader himself, and an example to show, in opposition to
+Hobbes, that original genius is not necessarily quenched by great or
+even excessive erudition. As bearing on the art of study, especially for
+striplings under twenty, Milton's scheme is open to two criticisms:
+first, that the amount of reading on the whole is too great; second,
+that in subjects handled by several authors of repute, one should have
+been selected as the leading text-book and got up thoroughly; the others
+being taken in due time as enlarging or correcting the knowledge thus
+laid in. Think of a boy learning Rhetoric upon six authors taken
+together!
+
+[LOCKE'S CONDUCT OF THE UNDERSTANDING.]
+
+The transition from Milton to Locke is the inverse of that from Hobbes
+to Milton. Locke was also a man of few books. If he had been sent to
+school under Milton, as he might have been,[16] he would have very soon
+thrown up the learned drudgery prescribed for him, and would have
+bolted.
+
+The practical outcome of Locke's enquiries respecting the human
+faculties is to be found in the little treatise named--"The Conduct of
+the Understanding". It is an earnest appeal in favour of devotion to the
+attainment of truth, and an exposure of _all_ the various sources of
+error, moral and intellectual; more especially prejudices and bias.
+There are not, however, many references to book study; and such as we
+find are chiefly directed to the one aim of painful and laborious
+examination, first, of an author's meaning, and next of the goodness of
+his arguments. Two or three sentences will give the clue. "Those who
+have read of everything, are thought to understand everything too; but
+it is not always so. Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of
+knowledge; it is thinking makes what we read ours. We are of the
+ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great
+deal of collections, unless we chew them over again, they will not give
+us strength and nourishment." Farther: "Books and reading are looked
+upon to be the great helps of the understanding, and instruments of
+knowledge, as it must be allowed that they are; and yet I beg leave to
+question whether these do not prove a hindrance to many, and keep
+several bookish men from attaining to solid and true knowledge". Here,
+again, is his stern way of dealing with any author:--"To fix in the mind
+the clear and distinct idea of the question stripped of words; and so
+likewise, in the train of argumentation, to take up the author's ideas,
+neglecting his words, observing how they connect or separate those in
+the question." Of this last, more afterwards.
+
+[WATT'S IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND.]
+
+A disciple of Locke, and a man of considerable and various powers, the
+non-conformist divine Isaac Watts, produced perhaps the first
+considerable didactic treatise on Study. I refer, of course, to his
+well-known work entitled "The Improvement of the Mind"; on which, he
+tells us, he was occupied at intervals for twenty years. It has two
+Parts: one on the acquisition of knowledge; the other on Communication
+or leaching. The scheme is a very wide one. Observation, Reading,
+attending Lectures, Conversation,--are all included. To the word
+"Study," Watts attaches a special meaning, namely Meditation and
+Reflection, together with the control or regulation of all the exercises
+of the mind. I doubt if this meaning is well supported by usage. At all
+events it is not the signification that I propose to attach to the term.
+Observation is an art in itself: so is Conversation, whether amicable or
+contentious. The _proportions_ that these exercises should bear to
+reading, would fairly claim a place in the complete Art of Study.
+
+Watts has two short chapters on Books and Reading, containing sensible
+remarks. He urges the importance of thorough mastery of select authors;
+but assumes a power of discriminating good and bad beyond the reach of
+a learner, and does not show how it is to be attained. He is very much
+concerned all through as to the moral tone and religious orthodoxy of
+the books read, he also reproves hasty and ill-natured judgments upon
+the authors.
+
+Watts's Essay is so pithily written, and so full of sense and propriety,
+that it long maintained a high position in our literature; he tells us,
+that it had become a text-book in the University. I do not know of any
+better work on the same plan. A "Student's Guide," by an American named
+Todd, was in vogue with us, some time ago; but anyone looking at its
+contents, will not be sorry that it is now forgotten. It would not,
+however, be correct to say that the subject has died out. If there have
+not been many express didactic treatises of late, there has been an
+innumerable host of small dissertations, in the form of addresses,
+speeches, incidental discussions, leading articles, sermons--all
+intended to guide both young and old in the path of useful study. What
+to read, when to read, and how to read,--have been themes of many an
+essay, texts of many a discourse. According as Education at large has
+been more and more discussed, the particular province of self-education,
+as here marked out, has had an ample share of attention from more or
+less qualified advisers.
+
+What we have got before us, then, is, first, to define our ground, and
+then to appropriate and value the accumulated fruits of the labour
+expended on it. I have already indicated how I would narrow the subject
+of Study, so as to occupy a field apart, and not jumble together matters
+that follow distinct laws. The theory of Education in general is the
+theory of good Teaching: that is a field by itself, although many things
+in it are applicable also to self-education. To estimate the values of
+different acquisitions--Science, Language, and the rest, is good for
+all modes of culture. The laws of the understanding in general, and of
+the memory in particular, must be taken into account under every mode of
+acquiring knowledge. Yet the alteration of circumstances, when a pupil
+is carving out his own course, and working under his own free-will,
+leads to new and distinct rules of procedure. Also, that part of
+self-education consisting in the application to books is distinct from
+the other forms of mental cultivation, namely, conversing, disputing,
+original composition, and tutorial aid. Each of these has its own rules
+or methods, which I do not mean to notice except by brief allusion.
+
+In connection with the Plan of study, it is material to ask what the
+individual is studying for. Each profession, each accomplishment, has
+its own course of education. If book reading is an essential part, then
+the choice of books must follow the line of the special pursuit. This is
+obvious; but does not do away with the consideration of the best modes
+of studying whatever books are suitable for the end. One man has to read
+in Chemistry, another in Law, another in Divinity, and so on. For each
+and all of these, there is a profitable and an unprofitable mode of
+working, and the speciality of the matter is unessential.
+
+[DIFFERENT ENDS OF STUDY.]
+
+The more important differences of subject, involving differences of
+method, are seen in such contrasted departments as Science and Language,
+Thought and Style, Reality and Poetry, Generality and Particularity. In
+applying the mind to these various branches, and in using books as the
+medium of acquisition, there are considerable differences in the mode of
+procedure. The study of a book of Science is not on the same plan as the
+study of a History or a Poem. Yet even in these last, there are many
+circumstances in common, arising out of the constitution of our
+faculties and the nature of a verbal medium of communication of thought.
+
+An art of Study in general should not presume to follow out in minute
+detail the education of the several professions. There should still be,
+for example, a distinct view of the training special in an Orator, on
+which the ancients bestowed so much pains; there being no corresponding
+course hitherto chalked out for a Philosopher as such, or even for a
+Poet.
+
+Next, there is an important distinction between studies for a
+professional walk, and the studies of a man's leisure, with a view to
+gratifying a special taste, or for the higher object of independent
+thinking on all the higher questions belonging to a citizen and a man.
+Both positions has its peculiarities; and an art of study should be
+catholic enough to embrace them. To have the best part of the day for
+study, and the rest for recreation and refreshment, is one thing: and to
+study in by-hours, in snatches of time, and in holidays is quite another
+thing. In the latter case, the choice of subjects, and the extent of
+them, must be considerably different; while the consideration of the
+best modes of economizing time and strength, and of harmonizing one's
+life as a whole, is more pressing and more arduous. But, when the course
+is chalked out, the details of study must conform to the general
+conditions of all acquirements in knowledge through the instrumentality
+of books.
+
+One, and only one, more preliminary clearing. When an instructor
+proceeds, as Milton in his school, or as James Mill with his son, by
+prescribing to each pupil a mass of books to be read, with more or less
+of examination as to their contents; in such a case, education from
+without has passed into study in our narrow sense; and the procedure for
+one situation is applicable to both. The two cases are equally in
+contrast to educating by the direct instruction of the teacher. In so
+far, however, as any teacher requires book study to co-operate with his
+own addresses, to that extent do the methods laid down for private study
+come into play.
+
+Under every view, it is a momentous fact, that the man of modern times
+has become a book-reading animal. The acquisition of knowledge and the
+cultivation of the intellectual powers of the mind, form only a small
+part of the use of books; although the part more properly named Study.
+The moral tendencies are controlled; the emotions regulated; sympathy
+with mankind, or the opposite, generated; pleasurable excitement
+afforded. These other uses may be provided apart, as in our literature
+of amusement, or they may be given in combination with the element of
+knowledge, in which case they are apt to be a disturbing force,
+rendering uncertain our calculations as to the efficacy of particular
+modes of study.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The practical problem of Study is not to be approached by any high
+_priori_ road; in other words, by setting out from abstract principles
+as to the nature of the mind's receptivity and the operation of
+book-reading upon that receptivity. A humbler line of approach will be
+more likely to succeed.
+
+There exist a number of received maxims on study, the result of many
+men's experience and wisdom. Our endeavour will be to collect these,
+arrange them in a methodical plan, so that they may give mutual aid, and
+supply each other's defects. We shall go a little farther, and criticise
+them according to the best available lights; and, when too vague or
+sweeping, supply needful qualifications.
+
+The Choice of Books, in the first instance, depends on the merits
+attributed to them severally by persons most conversant with the special
+department. In some degree, too, this choice is controlled by the
+consideration of the best modes of study, as will soon be apparent.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[A TEXT-BOOK-IN-CHIEF.]
+
+1. Our first maxim is--"Select a Text-book-in-chief". The meaning is,
+that when a large subject is to be overtaken by book study alone, some
+one work should be chosen to apply to, in the first instance, which work
+should be conned and mastered before any other is taken up. There being,
+in most subjects, a variety of good books, the thorough student will not
+be satisfied in the long run without consulting several, and perhaps
+making a study of them all; yet, it is unwise to distract the attention
+with more than one, while the elements are to be learnt. In Geometry,
+the pupil begins upon Euclid, or some other compendium, and is not
+allowed to deviate from the single line of his author. If he is once
+thoroughly at home on the main ideas and the leading propositions of
+Geometry, he is safe in dipping into other manuals, in comparing the
+differences of treatment, and in widening his knowledge by additional
+theorems, and by various modes of demonstration.
+
+In principle, the maxim is generally allowed. Nevertheless, it is often
+departed from in practice. This happens in several ways.
+
+[MILTON'S PLAN WITH HIS PUPILS.]
+
+[KEEPING TO A SINGLE LINE OF THOUGHT.]
+
+One way is exemplified in Milton's Tractate, already referred to. His
+method of teaching any subject would appear to have been to take, the
+received authors, and to read them one after another, probably according
+to date; the reading pace, and degree of concentration, being apparently
+equal all through. His six authors on Rhetoric were--Plato (select
+Dialogues, of course), Aristotle, Phalereus, Cicero, Hermogenes,
+Longinus. To read their several treatises through in the order named,
+with equal attention, would undoubtedly leave in the mind a good many
+thoughts on Rhetoric, but in a somewhat chaotic state. Much better would
+it have been to have adopted a Text-book-in-chief, the choice lying
+between Aristotle and Ouintilian (who comes in at a prior stage of the
+Miltonic curriculum). The book so chosen would be read, and re-read; or
+rather each chapter would be gone over several times, with appropriate
+testing exercises and examinations. The other works might then be
+overtaken and compared with the principal text-book; the judgment of
+the pupil being so far matured, as to see what in them was already
+superseded, and what might be adopted as additions to his already
+acquired stock of ideas. Milton's views of education embraced the useful
+to a remarkable degree; he was no pamperer of imagination and the
+ornamental. His list of subjects might be said to be utility run
+wild:--comprising the chief parts of Mathematics, together with
+Engineering, Navigation, Architecture, and Fortification; Natural
+Philosophy; Natural History; Anatomy, and Practice of Physic; Ethics,
+Politics, Economics, Jurisprudence, Theology; a full course of the
+Orators and Poets; Logic, Rhetoric, and Poetics. He tumbles out a whole
+library of reading: but only in Ethics, does he indicate a leading or
+preferential work; the half-dozen of classical books on the subject are
+to be perused, "under the determinate sentence" of the scripture
+authorities. With all this voracity for the useful, Milton had no
+conception of scientific form, or method; and indeed, few of the
+subjects had as yet passed the stage of desultory treatment; so that the
+idea of casting the knowledge into some one form, under the guidance of
+a chosen author, would never occur to him. Better things might have been
+expected of James Mill, in conducting the education of his son. Yet we
+find his plan to have been to require an even and exhaustive perusal of
+nearly every book on nearly every subject, without singling out any one
+to impart the best known form in each case. The disadvantage of the
+process would be that, at first, all the writers were regarded as
+profitable alike. Nevertheless, in the special subjects that he knew
+himself, he gave his own instructions as the leading text, and his
+pupil's knowledge took form according to these. In some cases, accident
+gave a text-in-chief, as when young Mill at ten years of age, studied
+Thomson's Chemistry, without the distraction of any other work. If there
+had been half-a-dozen Chemical manuals in existence, he would probably
+have read them all, and fared much worse. It happens, however, that,
+in the more exact sciences, there is a greater sameness in the leading
+ideas, than in Politics, Morals, or the Human Mind; and the evil of
+distraction is so much smaller. Undoubtedly, the best of all ways of
+learning anything is to have a competent master to dole out a fixed
+quantity every day, just sufficient to be taken in, and no more; the
+pupils to apply themselves to the matter so imparted, and to do nothing
+else. The singleness of aim is favourable to the greatest rapidity of
+acquirement; and any defects are to be left out of account, until one
+thread of ideas is firmly set in the mind. Not unfrequently, however,
+and not improperly, the teacher has a text-book in aid of his oral
+instructions. To make this a help, and not a hindrance, demands the
+greatest delicacy; the sole consideration being that the pupil must
+be kept _in one single line of thought_, and never be required to
+comprehend, on the same point, conflicting or varying statements.
+
+Even the foot-notes to a work may have to be disregarded, in the first
+instance. They may act like a second author, and keep up an irritating
+friction. There is, doubtless, a consummate power of annotation that
+anticipates difficulties, and clears away haze, without distracting the
+mind. There is also an art of bringing out relief by an accompaniment,
+like the two images of the stereoscope. This is most likely to arise
+through a living teacher or commentator, who, by his tones and emphasis,
+as well as by his very guarded and reserved additions, can make the
+meaning of the author take shape and fulness.
+
+As the chief text-book is chosen, among other reasons, for its method
+and system, any defects on this head may be very suitably supplied,
+during the reader's progress, by notes or otherwise. When the end is
+clearly kept in view, we shall not go wrong as to the means: the spirit
+will remedy an undue bias to the letter.
+
+The subjects that depend for their full comprehension upon a certain
+method and order of details, are numerous, and include the most
+important branches of human culture. The Sciences, in mass, are avowedly
+of this character: even such departments as Theology, Ethics, Rhetoric,
+and Criticism have their definite form; and, until the mind of the
+student is fully impressed with this, all the particulars are vague and
+chaotic, and comparatively useless for practical application. So, any
+subject cast in a _polemic_ form must be received and held in the
+connection thereby given to it. If the arguments _pro_ and _con_ fall
+out of their places in the mind of the reader, their force is missed or
+misconceived.
+
+History is pre-eminently a subject for method, and, therefore, involves
+some such plan as is here recommended. Every narrative read otherwise
+than for mere amusement, as we read a novel, should leave in the
+mind--(1) the Chronological sequence (more or less detailed); and (2)
+the Causal sequence, that is, the influences at work in bringing about
+the events. These are best gained by application to a single work in the
+first place; other works being resorted to in due time.
+
+Of the non-methodical subjects, forming an illustrative contrast,
+mention may be made of purely didactic treatises, where the precepts are
+each valuable for itself, and by itself: such as, until very recently,
+the works on Agriculture, and even on Medicine. A book of Domestic
+Receipts, consulted by index, is not a work for study.
+
+Poems and fictitious narrations will naturally be regarded as of the
+un-methodical class. If there are exceptions, they consist of long
+poems--Epics and Dramas--whose plan is highly artistic, and must be felt
+in order to the full effect. Probably, however, this is the merit that
+the generality of readers are content to miss, especially if greater
+strain of attention is needed to discover it. Readers bent on enjoyment
+dwell on the passing page, and are not inclined to carry with them what
+has gone before, in order to understand what is to follow.
+
+[REPUDIATION OF METHOD BY MEN OF REPUTE.]
+
+Very intelligent and superior men have wholly repudiated the notion of
+study by method. We must not lay too much stress upon these disclaimers,
+seeing that they are usually cited from those in advanced years, or men
+whose day of methodical education is passed. When Johnson said--"A man
+ought to read just as inclination leads him," he was not thinking of
+beginners, for whom he would probably have dictated a different course.
+Still, it is a prevailing tendency of many minds, to read all books
+equally, provided the interest or enjoyment of them is equal. Macaulay,
+Sir William Hamilton, De Quincey, as well as Johnson, and a numerous
+host besides, were book-gluttons, books in breeches; they imbibed
+information copiously, and also retained it, but as a matter of chance.
+The enjoyment of their life was to read; whereas, to master thoroughly a
+considerable field of knowledge, can never be all enjoyment. Gibbon was
+a book devourer, but he had a plan; he was organizing a vast work of
+composition. Macaulay, also, showed himself capable of realizing a
+scheme of composition; both his History and his Speeches have the stamp
+of method, even to the pitch of being valuable as models. Hamilton and
+De Quincey, each in his way, could form high ideals of work, and in part
+execute them; but their productiveness suffered from too much bookish
+intoxication. While readers generally mix the motive of instruction with
+stimulation, the class that seek instruction solely is but small; the
+other extreme is frequent enough.
+
+[DIFFICULTY IN CHOOSING A FIRST TEXT-BOOK.]
+
+In many subjects, the difficulties of fixing upon the proper Text-book
+are not inconsiderable. The mere reputation of a book may be great, and
+well-founded; and yet the merits may not be of the kind that fits it for
+the commencing student. Such conditions as the following must be taken
+into account. The Form or Method should be of a high order: this we
+shall have occasion to illustrate under the next head. It should be
+abreast: of the time, on its own subject. It should be moderately full,
+without being necessarily exhaustive in detail. It is on this point that
+the cheap primers of the present day are mainly defective. They state
+general ideas, and lay down outlines; but they do not provide
+sufficiently expanded illustration to stamp these on the mind of the
+learner. A shilling primer is really a more advanced book than one on a
+triple scale, that should embrace the same compass of leading ideas.
+As a farther condition, the work chosen should not have so much of
+individuality as to fail in the character of representing the prevailing
+views. The greatest authors often err on this point; and, while a work
+of genius is not to be neglected, it may, for this reason, have to take
+the second place in the order of study. Newton's _Principia_ could never
+be a work suited for an early stage of mathematical study. Lyell's
+Geology has been a landmark in the history of the subject; but it is not
+cast in the form for a beginner in Geology. It is, in its whole plan,
+argumentative; setting up and defending a special thesis in Geology; the
+facts being arrayed with that view. Many other great works have assumed
+a like form; such are Malthus on Population, Grove's Correlation of
+Physical Forces, Darwin's Origin of Species. Even expressly didactic
+works are often composed more to bring forward a peculiar view, than
+from the desire to develop a subject in its due proportions. Locke's
+Essay on the Understanding does not propose to give a methodical and
+exhaustive handling of the Powers of the Mind, or even of the Intellect.
+That was reserved for Reid.
+
+The question as between old writers and new, would receive an easy
+solution upon such grounds as the foregoing, were it not for the
+sentiment of veneration for the old, because they are old. If an ancient
+writer retains a place by virtue of surpassing merits, as against all
+subsequent writers, his case is quite clear. In the nature of things,
+this must be rare: if there be an example, it is Euclid; yet his
+position is held only through the mutual jealousy of his modern rivals.
+
+The only motive for commencing a study upon a very old writer is a
+desire to work out a subject historically; which, in some instances may
+be allowed, but not very often. In Politics, Ethics, and Rhetoric, the
+plan might have its advantages; but, with this imperative condition,
+that we shall follow out the development in the modern works. In
+proportion as a subject assumes a scientific shape, it must carefully
+define its terms, marshal its propositions in proper dependence, and
+offer strict proof of all matters of fact; now, in these respects, every
+known branch of knowledge has improved with the lapse of ages; so that
+the more recent works are necessarily the best for entering upon the
+study. A historical sequence may be proper to be observed; but that
+should be backward and not forward. The earlier stages of some subjects
+are absolutely worthless; as, for example, Physics, Chemistry, and most
+of Biology, in other subjects, as Politics and Ethics, the tentatives of
+such men as Plato and Aristotle have an undying value; nevertheless, the
+student should not begin, but end, with them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is an extreme form of putting our present doctrine that runs it
+into paradox: namely, the one-book-and-no-more maxim. Scarcely any book
+in existence is so all-sufficient for its purpose that a student is
+better occupied in re-reading it for the tenth time, than in reading
+some others once. Even the merits of the one book are not fully known
+unless we compare it with others; nor have we grasped any subject unless
+we are able to see it stated in various forms, without being distracted
+or confused. It is not a high knowledge of horsemanship that can be
+gained by the most thorough acquaintance with one horse.
+
+[NO WORK ENTIRELY SELF-SUFFICIENT.]
+
+Any truth that there is in the paradox of excluding all books but one
+from perusal, belongs to it as a form of the maxim we have now been
+considering. There is not in existence a work corresponding to the
+notion of absolute self-sufficiency. Suppose we were to go over the
+_chef-d'oeuvres_ of human genius, we should not find one in the position
+of entire independence of all others. Take, for example, the poems of
+Homer; the Republic and a few other of Plato's pre-eminent Dialogues;
+the great speeches of Demosthenes; the Ethics and Politics of Aristotle;
+the poems of Dante; Shakespeare, as a whole; Bacon's Novum Organum;
+Newton's Principia; Locke on the Understanding; the _Mechanique Celeste_
+of Laplace. No one of all these could produce its effect on the mind
+without referring to other works, previous, contemporary, or following.
+The remark is not confined to works of elucidation and comment
+merely--as the contemporary history of Greece, or the speeches of
+Demosthenes--but extends to other compositions, of the very same tenor,
+by different, although inferior, writers. Shakespeare himself is made
+much more profitable by a perusal of the other Elizabethans, and by a
+comparison with dramatic models before and after him.
+
+The nearest approach to a perfectly all-sufficing book is seen in
+scientific compilations by a conjunction of highly accomplished editors.
+A new edition of Quain's Anatomy, revised and brought up to date by the
+best anatomists, would, for the moment, probably be fully adequate to
+the wants of the student, and dispense with all other references
+whatsoever. Not that even then, it would be desirable to abstain from
+ever opening a different compendium; although undoubtedly there would be
+the very minimum of necessity for doing so. Nevertheless, literature
+presents few analogous instances. One of the great works of an original
+genius, like Aristotle, might, by profuse annotation, be made nearly
+sufficing; but this is another way of reading by quotation a plurality
+of writers; and it would be better still to peruse some of these in
+full, there being no need for studying them with the degree of intensity
+bestowed on a main work.
+
+[LOCKE'S TREATMENT OF THE BIBLE.]
+
+The example, by pre-eminence, of one self-sufficing work is the Bible.
+Being the sole and ultimate authority of Christian doctrine, it holds a
+position entirely apart; and, among Protestants at least, there is a
+becoming jealousy of allowing any extraneous writing to overbear its
+contents. Yet we are not to infer, as many have done practically, that
+no other work needs to be read in company with it. Granting that its
+genuine doctrines have been overlaid by subsequent accretions, the way
+to get clear of these is not to neglect the entire body of fathers,
+commentators, and theologians, and to give the whole attention to the
+scriptural text. Locke himself set an example of this attempt. He
+proposed, in his "Reasonableness of Christianity," to ascertain the
+exact meaning of the New Testament, by casting aside all the glosses of
+commentators and divines, and applying his own unassisted judgment to
+spell out its teachings. He did not disdain to use the lights of
+extraneous history, and the traditions of the heathen world; he only
+refused to be bound by any of the artificial creeds and systems devised
+in later ages to embody the doctrines supposed to be found in the Bible.
+The fallacy of his position obviously was, that he could not strip
+himself of his education and acquired notions, the result of the
+teaching of the orthodox church. He seemed unconscious of the necessity
+of trying to make allowance for his unavoidable prepossessions. In
+consequence, he simply fell into an old groove of received doctrines;
+and these he handled under the set purpose of simplifying the
+fundamentals of Christianity to the utmost. Such purpose was not the
+result of his Bible study, but of his wish to overcome the political
+difficulties of the time. He found, by keeping close to the Gospels and
+by making proper selections from the Epistles, that the belief in Christ
+as the Messiah could be shown to be the central fact of the Christian
+faith; that the other main doctrines followed out of this by a process
+of reasoning; and that, as all minds might not perform the process
+alike, these doctrines could not be essential to the acceptance of
+Christianity. He got out of the difficulty of framing a creed, as many
+others have done, by simply using Scripture language, without subjecting
+it to any very strict definition; certainly without the operation of
+stripping the meaning of its words, to see what it amounted to. That his
+short and easy method was not very successful, the history of the
+Deistical controversy sufficiently proves. The end in view would, in our
+time, be sought by an opposite course. Instead of disregarding
+commentators, and the successions of creed embodiments, a scholar of the
+present day would ascend through these to the original, and find out its
+meaning, after making allowance for all the tendencies that operated to
+give a bias to that meaning. As to putting us in the position of
+listening to the Bible authors at first hand, we should trust more to
+the erudition of a Pusey or an Ewald, than to the unassisted judgment of
+a Locke.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+II. "What constitutes the study of a book?" Mere perusal at the average
+reading pace is not the way to imbibe the contents of any work of
+importance, especially if the subject is new and difficult.
+
+There are various methods in use among authoritative guides. To revert
+to the Demosthenic traditions: we find two modes indicated--namely,
+repeated copying, and committing to memory _verbatim_. A third is,
+making abstracts in writing. A fourth may be designated the Lockian
+method. Let us consider the respective merits of the four.
+
+[STUDY BY LITERAL COPYING.]
+
+1. Of copying a book literally through, there is this to be said, that
+it engages the attention upon every word, until the act of writing
+serves to impress the memory. But there are very important
+qualifications to be assigned in judging of the worth of the exercise.
+Observe what is the main design of the copyist. It is to produce a
+_replica_ of an original upon paper. He cannot do this without a certain
+amount of attention to the original; enough at least to enable him to
+put down the exact words in the copy; and, by such attention, he is so
+far impressed with the matter, that a certain portion may remain in the
+memory. If, however, instead of the paper, he could write directly on
+the brain, he would be aiming straight at his object. Now, experience
+shows that the making of a copy of any document is compatible with a
+very small amount of attention to the purport. The extreme case is the
+copying clerk. He can literally reproduce an original, with entire
+forgetfulness of what it is about. If his eye takes a faithful note of
+the sequence of words, he may entirely neglect the meaning. In point of
+fact, he constantly does so. He remembers nobody's secrets; and he
+cannot be counted on to check blunders that make nonsense of his text.
+Probably no one could go on copying for eight hours a day unless the
+strain of attention to the originals were at a minimum. I conceive,
+therefore, that copying habits arising from a certain amount of
+experience at the vocation, would be utterly fatal to the employment of
+the exercise as a means of study. It may be valuable to such as have
+seldom used their pen except in original composition. Very probably, in
+school lessons, to write an exercise two or three times may be a help to
+the usual routine of saying off the book. I have heard experienced
+teachers testify to the good effects of the practice. Yet very little
+would turn the attention the wrong way. Even the requirement of neatness
+on the part of the master, or the pupil's own liking for it, would abate
+the desired impression. The multiplied copying set as punishment might
+stamp a thing on the memory through disgust; it might also engender the
+mechanical routine of the copyist. In short, to sit down and copy a long
+work is about the last thing that I should dream of, as a means of
+study. To copy Thucydides eight times, as the tradition respecting
+Demosthenes goes, would be about the same as copying Gibbon three times:
+and who would undertake that?
+
+[COMMITTING TO MEMORY WORD FOR WORD.]
+
+2. Committing to memory _verbatim_, or nearly so. This too belongs to
+the same tradition regarding Demosthenes, and is probably as inaccurate
+as the other. Certainly the eight copyings would not suffice for having
+the whole by heart. Excepting a professional rhapsodist, or some one
+gifted with extraordinary powers of memory that would hardly be
+compatible with a great understanding, nobody would think of committing
+Thucydides to memory. That Demosthenes should be a perfect master both
+of the narrated facts, and of the sagacious theorisings of Thucydides
+in those facts, we may take for granted. And, farther, the orations
+delivered by opposing speakers in the great critical debates, might very
+well have been committed _verbatim_ by a young orator; many of them are
+masterpieces of oratory in every point of view. But the reason for
+getting them by heart does not apply to the general narrative. Even to
+imbibe the best qualities of the style of Thucydides would not require
+whole pages to be learnt _verbatim_; a much better way would readily
+occur to any intelligent man.
+
+In fact, there is no case where it is profitable to load the memory with
+a whole book, or with large portions of a book. There are many small
+portions of every leading work that might be committed with advantage.
+Principal propositions ought to be retained to the letter. Passages,
+here and there, remarkable for compact force, for argumentative power,
+or elegant diction, might be read and re-read till they clung to the
+memory; but this should be the consummation of a thorough and critical
+estimate of their merits. To commit to memory without thinking of the
+meaning is a senseless act; and could not be ascribed to Demosthenes.
+At the stage when the young student is forming a style, he is assisted by
+laying up _memoriter_ a number of passages of great authors; but it is
+never necessary to go beyond select paragraphs. Detached sentences are
+valuable, and strain the memory least. Entire paragraphs have a farther
+value in impressing good paragraph connection; but, to string a number
+of paragraphs together, or to learn whole chapters by memory, has
+nothing to recommend it in the way of mental culture.
+
+There is a memory in _extension_ that holds a long string of words and
+ideas together. Its value is to get readily at anything occurring in a
+certain train, as in a given book. It is the memory of easy reference.
+There is also a memory of _intension_, that takes a strong grasp of
+brief expressions and thoughts, and brings them out for use, on the
+slightest relevancy. The two modes interfere with each other's
+development; we cannot be great in both; while, for original force, the
+second is worth the most: it extracts and resets gems to tesselate our
+future structures; it constitutes depth as against fluency.
+
+To commit poetical passages to memory is a valuable contribution to our
+stock of material for emotional resuscitation in after years. It also
+aids in adorning our style, even although we may not aspire to compose
+in poetry. But the burden of holding the connection of a long poem
+should be eschewed. Children can readily learn a short psalm or hymn,
+and can retain it in permanence; but to repeat the 119th psalm from the
+beginning is the mere _tour-de-force_ of a strong natural memory, and a
+waste of power; just as much as committing an entire book of the Aeneid
+or of Paradise Lost.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[MAKING ABSTRACTS.]
+
+3. Making Abstracts.--This is the plan of studying that most advances
+our intelligent comprehension of any work of difficulty, and also
+impresses it on the memory in the best form. But there are many ways of
+doing it; and beginners, from the very fact that they are beginners,
+are not competent to choose the best. If a book has an obvious and
+methodical plan in itself, the reader can follow that plan, taking down
+the leading positions, selecting some of the chief examples or
+illustrations, giving short headings of chapters and paragraphs, and
+thus making a synopsis, or full table of contents. All this is useful.
+The memory is much better impressed through the exertion of picking,
+choosing, and condensing, than by copying _verbatim_; and the plan or
+evolution of the whole is more fully comprehended. But, if a work does
+not easily lend itself to a methodical abstract, the task of the
+beginner is much harder. To abstract the treatises of Aristotle was
+fitting employment for Hobbes. The "Wealth of Nations" is not easy to
+abstract; but, at the present day, it would not be chosen as the
+Text-book-in-chief for Political Economy: as a third or fourth work to
+be perused at a reading pace, it would have its proper effect. The best
+studious exercise upon it would be to mark the agreements and
+disagreements with the newer authority, the weak and strong points of
+the exposition, and the perennial force of a certain number of the
+propositions and examples. Many parts could be skipped entirely as not
+even repaying historical study. Yet, as the work of a great and original
+mind, its interest is perennial.
+
+To go back once more to the example of Thucydides. Setting aside, from
+intrinsic improbability, both the traditions--the copyings, and the
+committal to memory _verbatim_,--we can easily see what Demosthenes
+could find in the work, and how he could make the most of it. The
+narrative or story could be indelibly fixed in his memory by a few
+perusals, and, if need be, by a full chronology drawn up by his own
+hand. The speeches could be committed in whole or in part, for their
+arguments and language; and a minute study could be made of the turns of
+expression, as they seemed to be either meritorious or defective. The
+young orator had already studied the more finished styles of Isocrates,
+Lysias, Isanis, and Plato, and could make comparisons between their
+forms and the peculiarities of Thucydides, which belonged to an earlier
+age. This, however, was a discipline altogether apart, and had nothing
+to do with copying, committing, or abstracting. It involved one exercise
+more or less allied to the last, namely, _making changes upon an author,
+according to ones best ideal at the time_: changes, if possible, for the
+better, but perhaps not; still requiring, however, an effort of mind,
+and so far favourable to culture.
+
+[VARIOUS MODES OF ABSTRACTING.]
+
+Every one's first attempts at abstracting must be very bad. There is no
+more opportune occasion for the assistance of a tutor or intelligent
+monitor, than to revise an abstract. The weaknesses of a beginner are
+apparent at a glance; even better than by a _viva voce_ interrogation.
+Useful abstracting comes at a late stage of study, when one or two
+subjects have been pretty well mastered. It is then that the pupil can
+best overtake more advanced works on the subjects already commenced, or
+can enter upon an entirely new department, in the light of previous
+acquisitions.
+
+Any work that deserves thorough study deserves the labour of making an
+abstract; without which, indeed, the study is not thorough. It is quite
+possible to read so as to comprehend the drift of a book, and yet forget
+it entirely. The point for us to consider is--Are we likely to want any
+portion of it afterwards? If we can fix upon the parts most likely to be
+useful, we either copy or abstract these, or preserve a reference so as
+to turn them up when wanted. In the case of a work, containing a mass of
+new and valuable materials, such as we wish to incorporate with our
+intellectual structure, we must act the part of the beginner in a new
+field, and make an abstract on the most approved plan: that is, by such
+changes as shall at once preserve the author's ideas, and intersperse
+them with our own. There is an ideal balance of two opposing tendencies:
+one to take down the writer too literally, which fails to impress the
+meaning; the other to accommodate him too much to our own language and
+thinking, in which case, we shall remember more, but it will be
+remembering ourselves and not him. He that can hit the just mean between
+these extremes is the perfect student.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There are easier modes of abstracting, such as serve many useful
+purposes, although not sufficient for the mastery of a leading
+Text-book, or even of a second or third in a new subject. We may pencil
+on the margin, or underscore, all the leading propositions, and the
+typical examples. In a well-composed scientific manual, the proceeding
+is too obvious to be impressive. Very often, however, the main points
+are not given in the most methodical way, but have to be searched out
+by carefully scanning each paragraph. This is an exercise that both
+instructs and impresses us; it is the kind of change that calls our
+faculties into play, and gives us a better hold of an author, without
+superseding him.
+
+A Table of Contents carefully examined is favourable to a comprehensive
+view of the whole; and, this attained, the details are remembered in the
+best possible way, that is, by taking their place in the scheme. Any
+other form of recollection is of the desultory kind.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[LOCKE'S RECOMMENDATIONS.]
+
+4. Let us next glance at Locke's method of reading, which is unique and
+original, like the man himself. It is given with much iteration in his
+Conduct of the Understanding, but comes in substance to this:--
+
+We are to fix in the mind the author's ideas, stripped of his words; to
+distinguish between such ideas as are pertinent to the subject, and such
+as are not; to keep the precise question steadily before our minds; to
+appreciate the bearing of the arguments; and, finally, to see what the
+question bottoms upon, or what are the fundamental verities or
+assumptions underneath.
+
+All this is very thorough in its way; but, in the first place, it
+applies chiefly to argumentative works, and, in the second place, it is
+entirely beyond the powers of ordinary students. Such an examination of
+an author as Locke contemplates is not seen many times in a generation.
+His own controversies give but indifferent examples of it; several of
+Bentham's works and a few of John Mill's polemical articles also give an
+idea of thorough handling; but it is not so properly a studious effort,
+as the consummated product of a highly logical discipline, and is within
+the reach of only a small elect number.
+
+Locke would have been more intelligible, if, instead of telling us to
+strip an author's meaning of the words, he had impressed strongly the
+necessity of _defining all leading terms_; and of making sure that each
+was always used in the same meaning. While, in order to veracious
+conclusions, it is necessary that every matter of fact should be truly
+given, it is equally necessary that the language should be free from
+ambiguity. If an author uses the word "law," at one time as an
+enactment: by some authority, and at another time, as a sequence in the
+order of nature, he is sure to land us in fallacy and confusion, as
+Butler did in explaining the Divine government. The remedy is, not to
+perform the operation of separating the meaning entirely from the
+language, but to vary the language, so as to substitute terms that have
+no ambiguity. "Law" is equivocal; "social enactment," and "order of
+nature," are both unequivocal; and when one is chosen, and adhered to,
+the confusion is at an end.
+
+The mere art of study is no preparation for such a task. It demands a
+very advanced condition of knowledge on the particular subject, as well
+as a logical habit of mind, however acquired; and to include it in a
+practical essay on the Conduct of the Understanding is to overstep the
+limits of the subject.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As our present head represents the very pith and marrow of the art of
+study, we may dwell a little longer on the process of changing the form
+of an author, whether by condensing, expanding, varying the expression,
+altering the order, selecting, and rejecting,--or by any other known
+device. Worst of all is change for the mere sake of change; it is simply
+better than literal copying. But, to rise above it, needs a sense of
+FORM already attained. According as this sense is developed, the
+exercise of altering or amending is more and more profitable.
+Consequently, there should be an express application of the mind to the
+attainment of form; and particular works pre-eminent for that quality
+should be sought out and read. "Form" is doubtless a wide word, and
+comprises both the logical or pervading method of a work, and the
+expression or dress throughout. Method by itself can be soonest acquired
+because it turns on a small number of points; language is a multifarious
+acquirement, and can hardly be forced, although it will come eventually
+by due application.
+
+[EXAMPLE FROM PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.]
+
+To show what is meant by learning Form, with a view to the more
+effectual study of subject-matter, I will take the example of a work on
+the Practice of Medicine; in which the idea is to describe Diseases
+_seriatim_, with their treatment or cures. At the present day, this
+subject possesses method or form: there is a systematic classification
+of diseased processes and diseases; also, a regular plan of setting
+forth the specific marks of each disease, its diagnosis, and, finally,
+its remedies. There are more and less perfect models of the methodical
+element; while there are differences among authors in the fulness of the
+detailed information. There is, besides, a Logic of Medicine,
+representing the absolute form, in a kind of logical synopsis, by which
+it is more easily comprehended in the first instance: not to mention the
+general body of the Logic of the Inductive Sciences, of which medicine
+is one. Now, undoubtedly, the best work to begin with--the
+Text-book-in-chief--would be one where Form is in its highest
+perfection; the amount of matter being of less consequence. In a subject
+of great complication, and vast detail, the student cannot too soon get
+possession of the best method or form of arrangement. When a work of
+this character is before him, he is to read and re-read it, till the
+form becomes strongly apparent; he is to compare one part with another,
+to see how the author adheres to his own pervading method; he should, if
+possible, make a synopsis of the plan in itself, disentangling it from
+the applications, for greater clearness. The scheme of a medical work,
+for example, comprises the Classification of Diseases, the parting off
+of Diseased Processes---Fever, Inflammation, &c.--from Diseases properly
+so called; the modes of defining Disease; the separation of defining
+marks, from predications, and so on: all involved in a strict Logic of
+Disease. Armed with these logical or methodical preliminaries, the
+student next attacks one of the extended treatises on the Practice of
+Medicine. He is now prepared to work the process of abstracting to the
+utmost advantage, both for clearness of understanding, and for
+impressing the memory. As in such a vast subject, no one author is
+deemed adequate to a full exposition, and as, moreover, a great portion
+of the information occurs, apart from systems, in detached memoirs or
+monographs,--the only mode of unifying and holding together the
+aggregate, is to reduce all the statements to a common form and order,
+by help of the pre-acquired plan. The progress of study may amend the
+plan, as well as add to the particular information; but absolute
+perfection in the scheme is not so essential as strict adherence to it
+through all the details. To work without a plan at all, is not merely to
+tax the memory beyond its powers, but probably also to misconceive and
+jumble the facts.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To enhance the illustration of the two main heads of the Art of Study,
+I will so far deviate from the idea of the essay, as to take up a special
+branch of education, which, more than any other, has been reduced to
+form and rule, I mean the great accomplishment of Oratory, or the Art of
+Persuasion. The practical Science of Rhetoric, cultivated both by
+ancients and by moderns, has especially occupied itself with directions
+for acquiring this great engine of influencing mankind.
+
+It was emphatically averred by the ancient teachers of the Oratorical
+art, that it must be grounded on a wide basis of general information.
+I do not here discuss the exact scope of this preparatory study, as my
+purpose is to narrow the illustration to what is special to the faculty
+of persuasion. I must even omit all those points relating to delivery or
+elocution, on which so much depends; and also the consideration of how
+to attain readiness or fluency in spoken address, except in so far as
+that follows from abundant oratorical resources. We thus sink the
+difference between spoken oratory, and persuasion through the press.
+
+Even as thus limited, oratory is still too wide for a pointed
+illustration: and, so, I propose farther to confine my references to the
+department of Political Oratory; coupling with that, however, the
+Forensic branch--which has much in common with the other, and has given
+birth to some of our most splendid examples of the art of persuasion.
+
+While declining to enter on the wide field of the general education of
+the orator, I may not improperly advert to the more immediate
+preparation for the political orator, by a familiar acquaintance with
+History and Political Philosophy, howsoever obtained. Then, on the other
+hand, the course here to be chalked out assumes a considerable
+proficiency in language or expression. The special education will
+incidentally improve both these accomplishments, but must not be relied
+on for creating them, or for causing a marked advance in either. The
+effect to be looked for is rather to give them direction for the special
+end.
+
+[EXAMPLE FROM THE ART OF ORATORY.]
+
+These things premised, the line of proceeding manifestly is to study the
+choicest examples of the oratorical art, according to the methods
+already laid down, with due adaptation to the peculiarities of the case.
+
+Now, we have not, as in a Science, two or three systematic works, one of
+which is to be chosen as a chief, to be followed by a reference more or
+less to the others. Our material is a long series of detached orations;
+from these we must make a selection at starting, and such selection,
+which may comprise ten or twenty or more, will have to be treated with
+the intense single-minded devotion that we hitherto limited to a single
+work. Repeated perusal, with a process of abstracting to be described
+presently, must be bestowed upon the chosen examples, before embarking,
+as will be necessary, upon the wide field of miscellaneous oratory.
+
+No doubt, an oratorical education could be grounded in a general and
+equal study of the orators at large, taking the ancients either first or
+last, according to fancy. Probably the greater number of students have
+fallen into this apparently obvious course. Our present contention is,
+that it is better to make a thorough study of a proper selection of the
+greatest speeches, together with the most persuasive unspoken
+compositions. This, however, is not all. We are following the wisdom of
+the ancients, in insisting on the farther expedient of proceeding to the
+study of the great examples by the aid of an oratorical scheme. At a
+very early stage of Oratory in Greece, its methods began to be studied,
+and, in the education of the orator, these methods were made to
+accompany the study of exemplary speeches.
+
+The principles of Rhetoric at large, and of the Persuasive art in
+particular, have been elaborated by successive stages, and are now in a
+tolerable state of advancement. The learner will choose the scheme that
+is judged best, and will endeavour to master it provisionally, before
+entering on the oratorical models; holding it open to amendment from
+time to time, as his education goes on. The scheme and the examples
+mutually act and re-act: the better the scheme, the more rapidly will
+the examples fructify; and the scheme will, in its turn, profit by the
+mastery of the details.
+
+[NECESSITY OF AN ORATORICAL ANALYSIS.]
+
+One great use of an oratorical analysis, as supplied by the teachers of
+Rhetoric, is to part off the different merits of a perfect oration; and
+to show which are to be extracted from the various exemplary orators.
+One man excels in forcible arguments, another in the lucid array of
+facts; one is impressive and impassioned, another is quiet but
+circumspect. Now, the benefit of studying on principle, instead of
+working at random, is, that we concentrate attention on each one's
+strong points, and disregard the rest. But it needs a preparatory
+analysis, in order to make the discrimination. All that the uninstructed
+reader or hearer of a great oration knows is, that the oration is great:
+this may be enough for the persons to be moved; it is insufficient for
+an oratorical disciple.
+
+In the hazardous task of pursuing the illustration by naming the
+examples of oratory most suitable to commence with, I shall pass over
+living men, and choose from the past orators of our own country. Without
+discussing minutely the respective merits of individuals, I am safe in
+selecting, as in every way suitable for our purpose, Burke, Fox,
+Erskine, Canning, Brougham, and Macaulay. Burke's Speeches on America;
+Fox on the Westminster Scrutiny; Erskine on Stockdale, and on Hardy,
+Tooke, &c.; Canning on the Slave Trade; Brougham, Lyndhurst, and Denman
+in the Queen's Trial; Macaulay on the Reform Bill,--would comprise, in a
+moderate compass, a considerable range of oratorical excellence. I doubt
+if any member of the list would be more suitable for a beginning than
+Macaulay's Reform Speeches. These are no mere displays of a brilliant
+imagination: they are known to have influenced thousands of minds
+otherwise averse to political change. The reader finds in them an
+immense repository of historical facts as well as of doctrines; but
+facts and doctrines, by themselves, do not make oratory. It is the use
+made of these, that gives us the instruction we are now in quest of. In
+a first or second reading, however, matter and form equally captivate
+the mind. It would be impossible, at that early stage, to make an
+abstract such as would separate the oratorical from the non-oratorical
+merits. Only when, by help of our scheme, we have made a critical
+distinction between the two kinds of excellence, are we able to arrive
+at an approach to a pure oratorical lesson; and, for a long time, we
+shall fail to make the desired isolation. We have to learn not to expect
+too much from any one speech: to pass over in Macaulay, what is more
+conspicuously shown, say in Fox, or in Erskine. If our political and
+historical education has made some progress, the mere thoughts and facts
+do not detain us; their employment for the end of persuasion is what we
+have to take account of.
+
+[COMPREHENSIVE PRINCIPLE OF ORATORY.]
+
+It is impossible here to indicate, except in a very general way, the
+successive steps of the operation. The one summary consideration in the
+Rhetoric of Oratory, from which flows the entire array of details, is
+the regard to the dispositions and state of mind of the audience; the
+presenting of topics and considerations that chime in with these
+dispositions, and the avoiding of everything that would conflict with
+them. To grasp this comprehensive view, and to follow it out in some of
+the chief circumstantials of persuasive address--the leading forms of
+argument, and the appeals to the more prominent feelings,--would soon
+provide a touchstone to a great oration, and lead us to distinguish the
+materials of oratory from the use made of them.
+
+Take the circumstance of _negative tact_; by which is meant the careful
+avoidance of whatever might grate on the minds of those addressed.
+Forensic oratory in general, and the oratory of Parliamentary leaders in
+particular, will show this in perfection; and, for a first study of it,
+there is probably nothing to surpass the Erskine Speeches above cited.
+It could, however, be found in Macaulay; although in a different
+proportion to the other merits.
+
+The Macaulay Speeches have the abundance of matter, and the powers of
+style, that minister to oratory, although not constituting its
+distinctive feature. In these speeches, we may note how he guages the
+minds of the men of rank and property, in and out of Parliament, who
+constituted the opposition to Reform; how tenderly he deals with their
+prejudices and class interests; how he shapes and adduces his arguments
+so as to gain those very feelings to the side he advocates; how he
+brings his accumulated store of historical illustrations to his aid,
+under the guidance of both the positive and the negative tact of the
+orator; saying everything to gain, and nothing to alienate the
+dispositions that he has carefully measured.
+
+After Erskine and Macaulay have yielded their first contribution to the
+oratorical student, he could turn with profit to Burke, who has the
+materials of oratory in the same high order as Macaulay, but who in the
+employment of them so often miscarries--sometimes partially, at other
+times wholly. It then becomes an exercise to distinguish his successes
+from his failures; to resolve these into their elementary merits and
+defects, according to the oratorical scheme. The close study of one or
+two orations is still the preferable course; and the most profitable
+transition from the Burke sample is to the selected speech or speeches
+of some other orator as Canning or Brougham. All the time, the pupil
+must be enlarging and improving his analytic scheme, which is the means
+of keeping his mind to the point in hand, amid the distraction of the
+orator's gorgeous material.
+
+The subsequent stages of oratorical study are much plainer than the
+commencement. A time comes when the pupil will roam freely over the
+great field of oratory, modern and ancient, knowing more and more
+exactly what to appropriate and what to neglect. He will be quite aware
+of the necessity of rivalling the great masters in resources of
+knowledge on the one hand, and of style on the other; but he will look
+for these elsewhere, as well as in the professed orators.
+
+[EXAMPLES OF PERSUASIVE ART.]
+
+Moreover, as the persuasive art is exemplified in men that have never
+been public speakers, the oratorical pupil will make a selection from
+the most influential of this class. He will find, for example, in the
+argumentative treatises of Johnson, in the Letters of Junius, in the
+writings of Godwin, in Sydney Smith, in Bentham, in Cobbett, in Robert
+Hall, in Fonblanque, in J.S. Mill, in Whately, and a host besides, the
+exemplification of oratorical merits, together with materials that are
+of value. It is understood, however, that the search for materials and
+the acquisition of oratorical form, are not made to advantage on the
+same lines, and, for this and other reasons, should not go together.
+
+The extreme test of the principle of concentration as against equal
+application, is the acquirement of Style, or the extending of our
+resources of diction and expression in all its particulars. Being a
+matter of endless minute details, we may feel ourselves at a loss to
+compass it by the intensive study of a narrow and select example. Still,
+with due allowance for the speciality of the case, the principle will
+still be found applicable. We should, however, carry along with us, the
+maxim exemplified under oratory, of separating in our study, as far as
+may be, the style from the matter. We begin by choosing a treatise of
+some great master. We may then operate either (1) by simple reading and
+re-reading, or (2) by committing portions to memory _verbatim_, or (3),
+best of all, by making some changes according to an already acquired
+ideal of good composition. This too shows the great importance of
+attaining as early as possible some regulating principles of goodness of
+style: the action and reaction of these, on the most exemplary authors,
+constitute our progress in the art, and, in the quickest way, store the
+memory with the resources of good expression.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[ECONOMICS OF BOOK READING.]
+
+III. The head just now finished includes really by far the greatest
+portion of the economy of study. There are various other devices of
+importance in their way, but much less liable to error in practice. Of
+these, a leading place may be assigned to the best modes of Distributing
+the Attention in reading. Such questions as the following present
+themselves for consideration to the earnest student. How many distinct
+studies can be carried on together? What interval should be allowed in
+passing from one to another? How much time should be given to the art of
+reading, and how much to subsequent meditating or ruminating on what has
+been read? These points are all susceptible of being determined, within
+moderate limits of error. As to the first, the remark was made by
+Quintilian, that, in youth, we can most easily pass from one study to
+another. The reason of this, however, is, that youth does not take very
+seriously to any study. When a special study becomes engrossing, the
+alternatives must rather be recreative than acquisitive; not much
+progress being made in what is slighted, or left over to the exhaustion
+caused by attention to the favourite topic. A more precise answer can be
+made to the second and third queries, namely, as to an interval for
+recall and meditation, after putting down a book, and before turning the
+attention into other channels. There is a very clear principle of
+economy here. We should save as far as possible the fatigue of the
+reading process, or make a given amount of attention to the printed page
+yield the greatest impression on the memory. This is done by the
+exercise of recalling without the book; an advantage that we do not
+possess in listening to a lecture, until the whole is finished, when we
+have too much to recall. To hurry from book to book is to gain
+stimulation at the cost of acquisition.
+
+I have alluded to the case of an engrossing subject, which starves all
+accompanying studies. There are but two ways of obviating the evil, if
+it be an evil; which it indeed becomes, when the alternative demands
+also are legitimate. The one is peremptorily to limit the time given to
+it daily, so as to rescue some portion of the strength for other topics.
+The other is to intermit it wholly for a certain period, and let other
+subjects have their swing. In advancing life, and when our studious
+leisure is only what is left from professional occupation, two different
+studies can hardly go on together. The alternative of a single study
+needs to be purely recreative.
+
+One other point may be noted under this head. In the application to a
+book of importance and difficulty, there are two ways of going to work:
+to move on slowly, and master as we go; or to move on quickly to the
+end, and begin again. There is most to be said for the first method,
+although distinguished men have worked upon the other. The freshness of
+the matter is taken off by a single reading; the re-reading is so much
+flatter in point of interest. Moreover, there is a great satisfaction in
+making our footing sure at each step, as well as in finishing the task
+when the first perusal is completed. We cannot well dispense with
+re-reading, but it need not extend to the whole; marked passages should
+show where the comprehension and mastery are still lagging.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[DESULTORY READING.]
+
+IV. Another topic is Desultory Reading. This is the whole of the reading
+of the unstudious mass; it is but a part of the reading of the true
+student. It may mean, for one thing, jumping from book to book, perhaps
+reading no one through, except for pure amusement. It may also include
+the reading of periodicals, where no one subject is treated at any
+length. As a general rule, such reading does not give us new
+foundations, or constitute the point of departure of a fresh department
+of knowledge; yet the amount of labour and thought bestowed upon
+articles in periodicals, may render them efficacious in adding to a
+previous stock of materials, or in correcting imperfect views. The truth
+is, that to the studious man, the desultory is not desultory. The only
+difference with him is that he has two _attitudes_ that he may
+assume--the severe and the easy-going; the one is most associated with
+systematic works on leading subjects; the other with short essays,
+periodicals, newspapers, and conversation. In this last attitude, which
+is reserved for hours of relaxation, he skips matters of difficulty, and
+absorbs scattered and interesting particulars without expressly aiming
+at the solution of problems or the discussion of abstract principles.
+There is no reason why an essay in a periodical, a pamphlet, or a speech
+in Parliament, may not take a first place in anyone's education. All the
+labour and resource that go to form a work of magnitude may be
+concentrated in any one of these. Still, they are presented in the form
+that we are accustomed to associate with our desultory work, and our
+times of relaxation; and so, they seldom produce in the minds of readers
+the effect that they are capable of producing. The thorough student will
+not fail to extract materials from one and all of them, but even he will
+scarcely choose from such sources the text for the commencement of a new
+study.
+
+The desultory is not a bad way of increasing our resources of
+expression. Although there be a systematic and a best mode of acquiring
+language, there is also an inferior, yet not ineffective mode; namely,
+reading copiously whatever authors have at once a good style and a
+sustaining interest. Hence, for this purpose, shifting from book to
+book, taking up short and light compositions, may be of considerable
+value; anything is better than not reading at all, or than reading
+compositions inferior in point of style. The desultory man will not be
+without a certain flow of language as well as a command of ideas;
+notwithstanding which, he will never be confounded with the studious
+man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+V. A fifth point is the proportion of book-reading to Observation of the
+facts at first hand. From want of opportunity, or from disinclination,
+many persons have all their information on certain subjects cast in the
+bookish mould, and do not fully conceive the particular facts as these
+strike the mind in their own character. A reader of History, with no
+experience of affairs, is likely to have imperfect bookish notions; just
+as a man of affairs, not a reader, is subject to narrowness of another
+kind. It was remarked by Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, that the German
+historians of the Athenian Democracy write like men that never had any
+actual experience of popular assemblies. A lawyer must be equally versed
+in principles and in cases as heard in court: this is a type of
+knowledge generally. In the Natural History Sciences, observation and
+reading go hand in hand from the first. In the science of the Human
+Mind, there are general doctrines, contrived to embrace the world of
+mental phenomena: the student may have to begin with these, and work
+upon them exclusively for a time, but in the end, phenomena must be
+independently viewed by him in their naked character, as exhibited
+directly in his own mind, and inferentially in the minds of those that
+fall under his observation. Book knowledge of Disease has to be coupled
+with bed-side knowledge; neither will take the place of the other.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+VI. I began by limiting the meaning of study to the reading of books,
+and have reviewed the various points in the economy of this process. The
+other means of attaining, enlarging, deepening our knowledge, namely,
+Observation of facts, Conversation, Disputation, Composition, have each
+an art of its own--especially Disputation, which has long been reduced
+to rule. Observation also admits of specific directions, but, in stating
+the necessity of combining observation with book theories and
+descriptions, I have assumed the knowledge of how to observe.
+
+[AIDS OF CONVERSATION AND COMPOSITION.]
+
+Of all the adjuncts of study, none is so familiar, so available, and,
+on the whole, so helpful, as Conversation. The authors of Guides to
+Students, as Isaac Watts, give elaborate rules for carrying on
+conversation, a good many of them being more moral than intellectual;
+but an art of conversation would be very difficult to formulate; it
+would take quite as long an essay as I have devoted to study, and even
+then would not follow half of the windings of the subject. The only
+notice of it that my plan requires, is such as I have already bestowed
+upon Observation: namely, to point out the advantage of combining a
+certain amount of reading with, conversation; a thing that almost
+everybody does according to their opportunities. To rehearse what we
+have read to some willing and sympathizing listener, is the best way
+of impressing the memory and of clearing up difficulties to the
+understanding. It brings in the social stimulus, which ranks so high
+among human motives. It is a wholesome change of attitude; relieving the
+fatigue of book-study, while adding to its fruitfulness. Even beginners
+in study are mutually helpful, by exchanging the results of their
+several book acquirements; while it is possible to raise conversation to
+the rank of a high art, both for intellectual improvement and for mutual
+delectation. I cannot say that the ideal is often realized; since two or
+more must combine to conversation, and it is not often that the mutual
+action and re-action is perfectly adjusted for the highest effect.
+
+The last great adjunct of study is original Composition, which also
+would need to be formulated distinct from the theory of book-study.
+Viewed in the same way as we have viewed the other collateral exercises,
+one can pronounce it too an invaluable adjunct to book-reading, as well
+as an end in itself; it is a variation of effort that diverts the mental
+strain, and re-acts powerfully upon the extraction of nutriment from
+books. Besides the pride of achievement, it evokes the social stimulus
+with the highest effect; our compositions being usually intended for
+some listeners. But, when to begin the work of original composition, as
+distinct from the written exercises upon books, in the way of abstracting,
+amending, and the rest; what forms it should assume at the outset, and
+by what steps it should gradually ascend to the culminating effects of
+the art,--would all admit of expansion and discussion as an altogether
+separate theme. Enough to remark here, that a course of book-reading
+without attempts at original composition is as faulty an extreme, as to
+begin and carry on writing upon a stinted basis of reading. The thorough
+student, as concerned in my present essay, carrying on book-study in the
+manner I have sketched, will almost infallibly end, at the proper time,
+in a self-thinker, and a self-originator. An adequate familiarity with
+the great writers of the past both checks presumptuous or hasty efforts
+of reproduction, and encourages modest attempts of our own as we feel
+ourselves becoming gradually invigorated through the combined influence
+of all the various modes of well-directed study.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 16: Milton had charge of pupils in 1644, when Locke was
+twelve.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+VIII.
+
+RELIGIOUS TESTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS.
+
+
+Every man has an interest in arriving at truth for himself. However
+useful it may be to mislead other people, however sweet to look down
+from a height on the erring throng beneath, it is neither useful nor
+sweet to be ourselves at sea without a compass. We may not care to walk
+by the light we have, but we do not choose to exchange it for darkness.
+
+This reflection is most obvious with reference to the order of Nature.
+Our life depends on adapting means to ends; which supposes that we know
+cause and effect in the world around us. A long story is cut short by
+the adage, "Knowledge is power"; otherwise rendered, "Truth is bliss".
+
+The bearing of truth is free from all doubt when the problem is, how to
+gain certain ends--how to be fed, how to get from one place to another,
+how to cure disease. A new case is presented by the choice of ends. The
+tyrannical French minister, when appealed to by a starving peasantry in
+the terms, "We must live," replied, "I do not see the necessity". There
+was here no question of true and false, no problem for science to solve.
+It was a question of ends, and could not be reargued. The only possible
+retort was to ask, "What does your Excellency consider a necessity?" If
+the reply were, "That I and my King may rule France and be happy," then
+might the starving wretches find some aid from a political scientist who
+could show that, in the order of nature, ruler and people must stand or
+fall together. So, it is no question of true or false in the order of
+nature, whether I shall adopt, as the end of life, my own gratification
+purely, the good of others purely, or part of both. In like manner the
+Benthamite, who propounds happiness as the general end of human society,
+cannot prove this, as Newton could prove that gravity follows the
+inverse square of the distance; nor can his position be impugned in the
+way that Newton impugned the vortices of Descartes, by showing that they
+were at variance with fact.
+
+There is a third case. Assertions are made out of the sphere of the
+sensible world, and beyond the reach of verification by the methods of
+science. There is a region of the supersensible or supernatural, where
+cause and effect may be affirmed and human interests involved, but where
+we cannot supply the same evidence or the same confutation as in
+sublunary knowledge. That all human beings shall have an existence after
+death is matter of truth or falsehood, but the evidence is of a kind
+that would not be adduced for proving that a caterpillar becomes a
+butterfly or that a seed turns to a plant. The reasoning employed, no
+doubt, makes references to facts of the order of nature; but it is
+circuitous and analogical, and is admitted merely because better cannot
+be had.
+
+[THREE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF ASSERTIONS.]
+
+The peculiarity of this last class of affirmations is that they give
+great room for the indulgence of our likings. So little being fixed with
+any precision, we can shape our beliefs to please ourselves. Even as
+regards the sensible world, we can sometimes accommodate our views to
+what we wish, as when we assume that our favourite foods and stimulants
+are wholesome; but such license soon meets with checks in the physical
+sphere, while there are no such checks in the realms of the
+superphysical.
+
+Now, in all these three departments of opinion, the interest of mankind
+lies in obtaining the best views that can possibly be obtained. As
+regards the first and third--- the region of true and false, one in the
+sensible, the other in the supersensible world--we are clearly
+interested in getting the truth. As regards the second--the region of
+ends--if there be one class of ends preferable to another, we should
+find out that class.
+
+The only doubt that can arise anywhere is, whether in the third case--the
+case of the supernatural,--truth is of the same consequence to us. Such
+a doubt, however, begs the whole question at issue. If the truth be of
+no consequence here, it is because we shall never be landed in any
+reality corresponding to what is declared: that the nature of the future
+life is purely imaginary and not to be converted into fact; in other
+words, that there is no future life; that there is merely a land of
+dreams and fiction, which can never be proved true and never proved
+false. It would then be a projection of thought from the present life,
+and would cease with that life. All that people could claim in the
+matter would be the liberty of imagination; and this being so, we are
+not to be committed to any one form. In short, we are to picture what we
+please in a world that cannot be made out to exist. The point is not, to
+be true or false; it is, to be well or ill imagined.
+
+What, then, is to be the criterion of proper or improper imagination? On
+what grounds are we to make our preference between the different schemes
+of the supersensible world? Is each one of us to be free to imagine for
+ourselves, or are we to submit to the dictation of others? These
+questions lead up to another. How far are the interests of the present
+life concerned in the form given to our conceptions of a future life?
+
+It would seem to be an unanswerable assumption that, in all the three
+situations above supposed, we should do the very best that the case
+admits of. In the order of nature we should get, as far as possible, the
+truth and the whole truth; in the choice of ends for this life we should
+embrace the best ends; in the shaping of another life we should be free
+to follow out whatever may be the course suitable to the operation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[EARLY SOURCES OF INTOLERANCE.]
+
+The means for arriving at truth in the order of nature is an active
+search according to certain well-known methods. It farther involves the
+negative condition of perfect freedom to canvass, to controvert, or to
+refute, every received doctrine or opinion. There is no use in going
+after new facts, or in rising to new generalities, if we are not to be
+allowed to displace errors. This is now conceded, except at the points
+of contact of the natural and the supernatural. In spite of the wide
+separation of the two worlds--the world of fact and the world of
+imagination,--we cannot conceive the second except in terms of the
+first; and if the shaping of the supernatural acquires fixity and
+consecration, the natural facts made use of in the fabric acquire a
+corresponding fixity, even although the rendering is found to be
+inaccurate. The prevailing conception of a future life needs a view of
+the separate and independent subsistence of the mental powers of man,
+very difficult to reconcile with present knowledge.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The growth of intolerance is quite explicable, but the explanation is
+not necessarily a justification. Although every division of the human
+family must have passed through many social phases, and must therefore
+have experienced revolutionary shocks, yet the rule of man's existence
+has been a rigorous fixity of institutions, with a hatred of change.
+Innovations, when not the effect of conquest, would be made under the
+pressure of some great crisis, or some tremendous difficulty that could
+not otherwise be met. The idea of individuals being allowed, in quiet
+times, to propose alterations in government, in religion, in morals, or
+even in the common arts of life, was thought of only to be stamped out.
+There was a step in advance of the ancient and habitual order of things,
+when an innovating citizen was permitted to make his proposal to the
+assembled tribe, with a rope about his neck, to be drawn tight if he
+failed to convince his audience. This might make men think twice before
+advancing new views, but it was not an entire suppression of them.
+
+The first introduction of the great religions of the world would in each
+case afford an interesting study of the difficulties of change and of
+the modes of surmounting these difficulties. There must always have
+concurred at least two things,--general uneasiness or discontent from
+some cause or other; and the moral or intellectual ascendency of some
+one man, whose views, although original, were yet of a kind to be
+finally accepted by the people. These conditions are equally shown in
+political changes, and are historically illustrated in many notable
+instances. It is enough to cite the Greek legislation of Lycurgus and of
+Solon.
+
+Such changes are the exceptions in human affairs; they occur only at
+great intervals. In the ordinary course of societies, the governing
+powers not merely adhere to what is established, but forbid under severe
+penalties the very suggestion of change. The chronic misery of the race
+is compatible with unreasoning acquiescence in a state of things once
+established; incipient reformers are at once immolated _pour encourager
+les autres_. It is the aim of governments to make themselves
+superfluously strong; they take precautions against unfavourable ideas
+no less than against open revolt. In this, they are seconded by the
+general community, which would make things too hot even for a reforming
+king.
+
+[SEPARATION OF RELIGION FROM POLITICS.]
+
+It is said by the evolution or historical school of politicians, that
+this was all as it should be. The free permission to question the
+existing institutions, political and religious, would have been
+incompatible with stability. In early society more especially, religion
+and morality were a part of civil government; a dissenter in religion
+was the same thing as a rebel in politics; the distinction between the
+civil and the religious could not yet be drawn.
+
+Without saying whether this was the case or not--for I should not like
+to commit myself to the position, "Whatever was, was right" at the
+time--I trust we are now far on the way to being agreed that the civil
+and the religious are no longer to be identified; that the State, as a
+state, is not concerned to uphold any one form of religious belief.
+Modern civilized communities are believed capable of existing without
+an official religion; the citizens being free to form themselves into
+self-governed religious bodies, as various as the prevailing modes of
+religious belief. It may be long ere this goal be fully reached; but
+even the upholders of the present state religions admit that, supposing
+these were not in existence, nobody would now propose to institute them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The foregoing remarks may appear somewhat desultory, as well as too
+brief for the extent of the theme. They must be accepted, however, as an
+introduction to a more limited topic, which presupposes in some measure
+the general principle of toleration by the state of all forms of
+religious opinion. Whether with or without established religions,
+perfect freedom of dissent is now demanded, and, with some hankering
+reservations, pretty generally conceded. Individuals are allowed to
+congregate into religious societies, on the most various and opposite
+creeds.
+
+So far good. Yet there remains a difficulty. Long before the age of
+toleration, when each state had an established religion, the people in
+general formed their habits of religious observance in connection with
+the State Church--its doctrines, its ritual, its buildings, and its
+sacred places. When disruption took place, the separatists formed
+themselves into societies on the original model, merely dropping the
+matters of disagreement. Fixity of creed and of ritual was still
+enacted; the only remedy for dissatisfaction on either subject was to
+swarm afresh, and set up a new variety of doctrine or of ritual, to
+which a rigid adherence was still expected as a condition of membership.
+
+By this costly and troublesome process, Churches have been multiplied
+according to the changes of view among sections of the community. A
+certain energy of conviction has always been necessary to such a result.
+Equally great changes of opinion occur among members of the older Church
+communities, without inducing them to break with these; so that nominal
+membership ceases to be a mark of real adhesion to the articles of
+belief.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[EVILS OF PENAL RESTRAINT ON DISCUSSION.]
+
+These few commonplaces are meant to introduce the enquiry--now a
+pressing one--whether, and how far, fixed creeds are desirable or
+expedient in religious bodies generally; no difference being made
+between state Churches and voluntary Churches. This is the question of
+Subscription to Articles by the clergy.
+
+Let us now review the evils attendant on subscription, and next consider
+the objections to its removal.
+
+In the first place, the process of restraining discussion by penal tests
+is inherently untenable, absurd, and fallacious.
+
+In support of this strong assertion, we have only to repeat, that every
+man has an interest in getting at the truth, and consequently in
+whatever promotes that end. We live by the truth; error is death. To
+stand between a man and the attainment of truth, is to inflict an injury
+of incalculable amount. The circumstances wherein the prohibition of
+truth is desirable, must be extraordinary and altogether exceptional.
+The few may have a self-interest in withholding truth from the many;
+neither the few nor the many have an interest in its being withheld from
+themselves. Each one of us has the most direct concern in knowing on
+what plan this universe is constituted, what are its exact arrangements
+and laws. Whether for the present life, or for any other life, we must
+steer our course by our knowledge, and that knowledge needs to be true.
+Obstruction to the truth recoils upon the obstructors. To flee to the
+refuge of lies is not the greatest happiness of anybody.
+
+It has been maintained that there are illusions so beneficial as to be
+preferable to truth. Occasionally, in private life, we practise little
+deceptions upon individuals when the truth would cause some great
+temporary mischief. This case need not be discussed. The important
+instance is in reference to religious belief. A benevolent Deity and a
+future life are so cheering and consoling, it is said, that they should
+be secured against challenge or criticism; they ought not to be weakened
+by discussion. This, of course, assumes that these doctrines are unable
+to maintain themselves against opponents, that, with all their intrinsic
+charm (which nobody can be indifferent to), they would give way under a
+free handling. Such a confession is fatal. Men will go on cherishing
+pleasing illusions, but not such as need to be _protected_ in order to
+exist. According to Plato, the belief in the goodness of the Deity was
+of so great importance that it was to be maintained by state
+penalties--about the worst way of making the belief efficacious for its
+end. What should we think of an Act passed to imprison whoever disputed
+the goodness of King Alfred, the Man of Ross, or Howard?
+
+Granting that certain illusions are highly beneficial, it does not
+follow that they are to be exempted from criticism. Their effect depends
+on the prestige of their truth. That is, they must have reasons on their
+side. But a doctrine is not supported by reasons, unless the objections
+are stated and answered; not sham objections, but the real difficulties
+of an enquiring mind. If the statement of such difficulties is forcibly
+suppressed, the rational foundations will sooner or later be sapped.
+
+[FREEDOM ESSENTIAL TO THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH.]
+
+If illusions are themselves good, freedom of thought will give us the
+best. Why should we protect inferior illusions against the discovery of
+the superior? The unfettered march of the intellect may improve the
+quality of our illusions as illusions, while also strengthening their
+foundations. If religion be a good thing, the best religion is the best
+thing; and we cannot be sure of having the best, if men are forbidden to
+make a search.
+
+Supposing, then, truth is desirable, the means to the end are desirable.
+Now one of the means is perfect liberty to call in question every
+opinion whatsoever. This is not all that is necessary; it is not even
+the principal condition of the discovery of new truth. It is, however,
+an indispensable adjunct, a negative condition. While laborious search
+for facts, care in comparing them, genius in detecting deep identities,
+are the highways to knowledge,--the permission to promulgate new
+doctrines and to counter-argue the old is equally essential. Men cannot
+be expected to go through the toil of making discoveries at the hazard
+of persecution. If a few have done so, it is their glory and everybody
+else's shame.
+
+That the torch of truth should be shaken till it shine, is generally
+admitted. Still, exceptions are made; otherwise the present argument
+would be superfluous. On certain subjects there is a demand for
+protection against innovating views. The implication is that, in these
+subjects, truth is better arrived at by delegating the search to a few,
+and treating their judgment as final. I need not ask where we should
+have been, if this mode of arriving at truth had been followed
+universally. The monopoly of enquiry claimed for the higher subjects,
+if set up in the lower, would be treated as the empire of darkness.
+
+Second. The subscription to articles, and the enforcement of a creed by
+penalties, are nugatory for their own purpose; they fail to secure
+uniformity of belief.
+
+This is shown in various ways. For instance, to inculcate adhesion to
+a set of articles, is merely to ensure that none shall use words that
+formally deny one or other of the doctrines prescribed. It does not say,
+that the subscriber shall teach the whole round of doctrines, in their
+due order and proportion. A preacher may at pleasure omit from his
+pulpit discourses any single doctrine; so that, in so far as his
+ministrations are concerned, to the hearers such doctrine is
+non-existent; without being denied, it is ignored. Against omission,
+a prosecution for heresy would not hold. In this way, the clergy have
+always had a certain amount of liberty, and have freely used it. In so
+doing, they have altered the whole character of the prescribed creed,
+without being technically heterodox. Everyone of us has listened to
+preachers of this description. Some ignore the Trinity, some the
+Atonement; many nowadays, without denying future punishment, never
+mention hell to ears polite. If the rigorous exclusion of a leading
+doctrine should excite misgivings, a very slight, formal, and passing
+admission may be made, while the stress of exhortation is thrown upon
+quite different points.
+
+[SUBSCRIPTION FAILS TO ATTAIN ITS END.]
+
+To attain a conviction for heresy, involving deprivation of office, the
+forms of justice must be respected. It is only under peculiar
+circumstances, that the ecclesiastical authority can be content with
+saying, "I do not like thee, Dr. Fell, or Dr. Smith, and I depose thee
+accordingly". A regular trial, with proof of specific contradiction of
+specific articles, allowing the accused the full benefit of his
+explanations, must be the rule in every corporation that respects
+justice. In the Church of England, a man cannot be deprived unless he
+contradict the articles clearly and consistently; the smallest
+incoherence on his part, the slightest vacillation in the rigour of his
+denial, is enough to save him. We may easily imagine, therefore, how
+widely a clergyman may stray from the fair, ordinary, current rendering
+of the doctrines of the Church, without danger. The whole essence of
+Christianity may be perverted under a few cunning precautions and by
+observing a few verbal formalities.
+
+It has been pointed out, many times over, that the legally imposed
+creeds were the creatures of accident and circumstances at the time of
+their enactment, and are wholly unsuitable to the conservation of the
+more permanent and essential articles of the Christian faith. The amount
+of heresy, as against the more truly representative doctrines, that may
+pass through their meshes is very great.
+
+This weakness is aggravated by another--the want of any provision for
+amending the creed from time to time. If it were desirable to adopt
+measures for maintaining uniformity of opinions among the clergy, the
+creed should be excised, or added to, according to the needs of every
+age. That this is not done, shows that the machinery of tests is
+altogether abnormal; it is not within the type of regular legislation.
+That any given creed should be regarded as out of keeping, as both
+redundant and defective, and yet that the ecclesiastical authority
+should shrink from applying a remedy to its most obvious defects, proves
+that the system itself is bad. All healthy legislation lends itself to
+perpetual improvement; that the enactments of articles of belief cannot
+be reconsidered, is a sign of rottenness.
+
+A third objection to tests is, that mere dogmatic uniformity, if it were
+more complete than any tests can make it, is at best but a part of the
+religious character. It does nothing to secure or promote fervour,
+feeling, the emotional element in religion. It is by moral heat, far
+more than by its mould of doctrine, that religion influences mankind.
+There is no means of censuring preachers for coldness or languid
+indifference; or rather, there is another and more legitimate means than
+penal prosecutions, namely, expressed dissatisfaction and the preference
+of those that excel in the quality. A warm, glowing manner, an unctuous
+delivery, commands hearers and conducts to popularity and importance.
+The men of cold and unfeeling natures may get into office, but they are
+lightly esteemed. They are not had up to a public trial and deposed, but
+they are treated, and spoken of, in such a way as to discourage men of
+their type from becoming preachers, and to encourage the other sort.
+There are many qualifications that go to forming a good preacher; the
+holding of the creed of the body is only one. Yet, with the exception of
+gross immorality or abandonment of duty, correctness of creed is the
+only one that is subjected to the extreme penalty of loss of office; the
+others are secured by different means. Is it too much to infer that,
+without the extreme penalty, a reasonable conformity to the prevailing
+creed might also be secured?
+
+[ELEMENT OF FEELING NOT SECURED.]
+
+The importance of the element of feeling has been most perceived in
+times when the religious current was strongest. At these times, its
+expression would not be hemmed in by rigorous formulas. The first
+communication of religious doctrines has always partaken of a broad and
+free rendering; apparent discrepancies were disregarded. To reduce all
+the utterances of the prophets and the apostles to definite forms and
+rigid dogmas, was to misconceive the situation. We may well suppose that
+the New Testament writers would have refused to subscribe the Athanasian
+Creed or the Westminster Confession; not because these were in flat
+contradiction to Scripture, but because the way of embodying the
+religious verities in these documents would be repugnant to their ideas
+of form in such matters. The creed-builders may have been never so
+anxious to give exact equivalents of the original authorities; yet their
+fine distinctions and subtle logic would have, in all probability, been
+ranked by Paul and Peter among the latter-day perversions of the faith.
+The very composition of a creed would have been as distasteful to the
+first century, as it is incongruous to the nineteenth.
+
+The evil operation of religious tests, and of the accompanying
+intolerance of the public mind as shown towards any form of dissent from
+the stereotyped orthodoxy, admits of a very wide handling. It is of
+course the problem of religious liberty. Some parts of the argument need
+to be reproduced here, to help us in replying to the objections against
+an unconditional abolition of compulsory creeds.
+
+In conversing, many years ago, with the late Jules Mohl, the great
+Oriental scholar, professor of Persian in the College de France, I was
+much struck with his account of the nature of his duties as an expounder
+of the modern Persian authors. These authors, for example the poet Sadi,
+were in creed adherents of the ancient Persian fire-worship,
+notwithstanding the Mohammedan conquest of their country. They were, of
+course, forbidden to avow that creed directly; and in consequence, they
+had recourse to a form of composition by _doubles entendres_, veiling
+the ancient creed under Mohammedan forms. Mohl's business, as their
+expounder, was to strip off the disguise and show the true bearings of
+the writers, under their show of conformity to the established opinions.
+
+This is a typical illustration of what has happened in Europe for more
+than two thousand years. The first recorded martyr to free speculation
+in philosophy was Anaxagoras in Greece. Muleted in the sum of five
+talents, and expelled from Athens, he was considered fortunate in being
+allowed to retire to Lampsacus and end his days there. His fate,
+however, was soon eclipsed by the execution of Socrates,--an event
+whereby the Athenian burghers were enabled to bias the expression of
+free opinions from that time to this. The first person to feel the shock
+was Plato. That he was affected by it, to the extent of suppressing his
+views on the higher questions, we can infer with the greatest
+probability.
+
+[CONSEQUENCES OF THE EXECUTION OF SOCRATES.]
+
+Aristotle was equally cowed. A little before his death, the chief priest
+of Eleusis, following the Socratic precedent, entered an indictment
+against him for impiety. This indictment was supported by citations of
+certain heretical doctrines from his published writings; on which Grote
+makes the significant remark, that his paean in honour of his friend
+Hermeias would be more offensive to the feelings of an ordinary Athenian
+citizen than any philosophical dogma extracted from the _cautious prose
+compositions_ of Aristotle. That is to say, the execution of Socrates
+was always before his eyes; he had to pare his expressions so as not to
+give offence to Athenian orthodoxy. We can never know the full bearings
+of such a disturbing force. The editors of Aristotle complain of the
+corruptness of his text; a far worse corruptness lies behind. In Greece,
+Socrates alone had the courage of his opinions. While his views as to a
+future life, for example, are plain and frank, the real opinion of
+Aristotle on the question is an insoluble problem. Now, considering the
+enormous sway of Aristotle in modern Europe,--how desirable was it that
+his real sentiments had reached us unperverted by the Athenian burgher
+and the hemlock!
+
+It would be too adventurous to continue the illustration in detail
+through the Christian ages. It is well known that the later schoolmen
+strove to represent reason as against authority, but wrote under the
+curb of the Papal power; hence their aims can only be divined. A modern
+instance or two will be still more effective.
+
+It can at last be clearly seen what was the motive of Carlyle's
+perplexing style of composition. We now know what his opinions were,
+when he began to write, and that to express them then would have been
+fatal to his success; yet he was not a man to indulge in rank hypocrisy.
+He, accordingly, adopted a studied and ambiguous phraseology, which for
+long imposed upon the religious public, who put their own interpretation
+upon his mystical utterances, and gave him the benefit of any doubts. In
+the "Life of Sterling" he threw off the mask, but still was not taken at
+his word. Had there been a perfect tolerance of all opinions he would
+have begun as he ended; and his strain of composition, while still
+mystical and high-flown, would never have been identified with our
+national orthodoxy.
+
+I have grave doubts as to whether we possess Macaulay's real opinions on
+religion. His way of dealing with the subject is so like the hedging of
+an unbeliever that, without some good assurance to the contrary, I must
+include him also among the imitators of Aristotle's "caution". Some
+future critic will devote himself, like Professor Mohl, to expounding
+his ambiguous utterances.
+
+[EVIL OF DISFRANCHISING THE CLERGY.]
+
+When Sir Charles Lyell brought out his "Antiquity of Man" he too was
+cautious. Knowing the dangers of his footing, he abstained from giving
+an estimate of the extension of time required by his evidences of human
+remains. Society in London, however, would not put up with that
+reticence, and he had to disclose at dinner parties what he had withheld
+from the public--namely, that, in his opinion, the duration of man
+could not be less than fifty thousand years.
+
+These few instances must suffice to represent a long history of
+compelled reticence on the part of the men best qualified to instruct
+mankind. The question now is--What has been gained by it? What did the
+condemnation of Socrates do for the Athenian public? What did the chief
+priest of Eleusis hope to attain by indicting Aristotle? Unless we can
+show, as is no doubt attempted, that the set of opinions that happen to
+be consecrated at any one time, whether right or wrong, were essential
+to the existence of society,--then the attempt to improve upon them was
+truly meritorious, instead of being censurable. If the good of society
+as a whole is not plainly implicated, there remains only the interest of
+the place-holders under the existing system, as opposed to the interest
+of the mass of the people, who are, one and all, concerned in knowing
+the truth.
+
+Again contracting the discussion to the narrow limits of the title of
+the essay, I must urge the special injury done to mankind by
+disfranchising the whole clerical class; that is to say, by depriving
+their authority of its proper weight in matters of faith. It is an
+incontrovertible rule of evidence, that the authority of an interested
+party is devoid of worth. Reasons are good in themselves, whoever utters
+them; but in trusting to authority, apart from reason, we need a
+disinterested authority. This the clergy at present are not, except on
+the points left undecided by the articles. If a man has five thousand a
+year, conditional on his holding certain views, his holding those views
+says nothing in their favour. For a much less bribe, plenty of men can
+be 'got to maintain any opinions whatsoever. When to this is added that,
+for certain other views, the holders are subjected to loss--it may be
+to fine, imprisonment, or death,--the value of men's adhesion to the
+favoured creed, as mere authority, is simply _nil_.
+
+Truth, honesty, outspokenness, are not so well established as virtues,
+that we can afford to subject them to discouragement. The contrary
+course would be more for the general good in every way. When the law is
+intolerant in principle, men will be hypocrites from policy. You cannot
+train children to speak the truth if, from whatever cause, they have an
+interest in deception. A repressive discipline induces a coarse outward
+submission, but cannot reach the inward parts: it only engenders hatred,
+and substitutes for open revolt an insidious secret retaliation. Those
+only that come under the generous nurture of freedom can be counted on
+for hearty and willing devotion. If we would reap the higher virtues, we
+must sow on the soil of liberty. Encourage a man to say whatever he
+thinks, and you make the most of him; for difficult questions, where the
+mind needs all its powers, there should be no burdensome 'caution' in
+giving out the results.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[RELAXATION NOW PRESSING.]
+
+The imposing of subscription has its defenders, and these have to be
+fairly met. First, however, let us advert to the reasons why relaxation
+is more pressing now than formerly.
+
+It is known that, among dissentients from the leading dogmas of the
+prevailing creed of Christendom, are to be included some of the most
+authoritative names of the last three centuries; our present formulas
+would not have been subscribed by Bacon, Newton, Locke, Kant; unless
+from mere pliancy and for the sake of quiet, like Hobbes. If they had
+been in clerical orders, and had freely avowed their opinions as we know
+them, they would have been liable to deposition. Yet the difficulties
+that these men might feel were far less than those that now beset the
+profession of our prevailing creeds. The advances of knowledge on all
+the subjects that come into contact with the various articles, as
+received by the orthodox Churches, may not, indeed, compel the
+relinquishment of those articles, but will force the holders to change
+front, to re-shape them in different forms. To such necessary
+modification, the creeds are a fatal obstacle. On a few points, such as
+the Creation in six days, these have been found elastic. The doctrine
+that death came by the fall has been explained away as spiritual death.
+This process cannot go much further, without too much paltering with
+obvious meanings. The recently-proclaimed doctrine of the Antiquity of
+Man comes into apparent conflict with man's creation and fall, as set
+forth in Genesis, on which are suspended the most vital doctrines of our
+creed. A reconciliation may be possible, but not without a very
+extensive modification of the scheme of the Atonement. It is not
+necessary to press Darwin's doctrine of Evolution; the deficiency of
+positive proof for that hypothesis may always be pleaded, as against the
+havoc it would make with the more distinctive points of Christian
+doctrine. But the existence of man on the earth, at the very lowest
+statement, must be carried back twenty thousand years; this is not
+hypothesis, but fact. The record of the creation and the fall of man
+will probably have to be subjected to a process of allegorising, but
+with inevitable loss. Now, whoever refuses a matter of fact counts on
+being severely handled; it is a different thing to refuse an allegory.
+
+The modern doctrine named the "struggle for existence" is the old
+difficulty, known as "the origin of evil," presented in a new shape. It
+is rendered more formidable, as a stumbling-block to the benevolence of
+the Author of nature, by making what was considered exceptional the
+rule. It gathers up into one comprehensive statement the scattered
+occasions of misery, and reveals a system whereby the few thrive at the
+expense of the many. The apologist for Divine goodness has thus an
+aggravation of his load, and needs to be freed from all unnecessary
+trammels in the shaping of his creed.
+
+[OPPOSING DOGMAS TO THE RECONCILED.]
+
+It has not escaped attention, that the honours paid to the illustrious
+Darwin, are an admission that our received Christianity is open to
+revision. In consequence of a few conciliatory phrases, Darwin has been
+credited with theism; nevertheless he has ridden rough-shod over all
+that is characteristic in our established creeds. Can the creeds come
+scathless out of the ordeal?
+
+It is passing from the greater to the less, to dwell upon the increasing
+difficulties connected with the Inspiration of the Bible. The
+Church-of-Englander luckily escapes making shipwreck here; the legal
+interpretation of the formularies saves him. Yet to mankind, generally,
+it seems necessary that a superior weight should attach to a revealed
+book; and the other Churches cling to some form of inspiration,
+notwithstanding the growing difficulties attending it. Here too there
+must be more freedom given to the men that would extricate the
+situation. At all events, the doctrine should be made an open question.
+Even Cardinal Newman suggests doubts as to its being an imperative
+portion of the creed.
+
+The attacks made on all sides against the Miraculous element in religion
+will force on a change of front. When an eminent popular writer and
+sincere friend of the Church of England surrenders miracles without the
+slightest compunction, it needs not the elaborate argumentation of
+"Supernatural Religion" to show that some new treatment of the question
+is called for. But may it not be impossible to put the new wine into the
+sworn bottles?
+
+Like most great innovations, the proposal to liberate the clergy from
+all restraint as to the opinions that they may promulgate, necessarily
+encounters opposition. We are, therefore, bound to consider the reasons
+on the other side.
+
+These reasons may be quoted in mass. As regards Established Churches in
+particular, it is said there is a State compact or understanding with
+the clergy that they should teach certain doctrines and no other; that
+if tests were abolished, there would be no security against the most
+extreme opinions; men eating the bread of a Reformed Church might
+inculcate Romanism instead of Protestantism; the pulpits might give
+forth Deism or Agnosticism. No sect could hope to maintain its
+principles, if the clergy might preach any doctrine that pleased
+themselves. More especially would it be monstrous and unjust, to allow
+the rich benefices of our highly endowed Church of England to be enjoyed
+by men whose hearts are in some quite different form of religion, or no
+religion, and who would occupy themselves in drawing men away from the
+faith.
+
+On certain assumptions, these arguments have great force. Clearly a man
+ought not to take pay for doing one thing and do something quite
+different. When a body of religionists come together upon certain
+tenets, it would be a _reductio ad absurdum_ for any of its ministers to
+be occupied in denying and controverting these tenets.
+
+All this supposes, however, that men will not be made to conform by any
+means short of prosecution and deprivation; that the suspending of a
+severe penalty over men's heads is in itself a harmless device; and that
+religious systems are now stereotyped to our satisfaction, so that to
+deviate from them is mere wantonness and love of singularity. Such are
+the assumptions that we feel called upon to challenge.
+
+The plea that the Church has engaged itself to the State to teach
+certain tenets, in return for its emoluments and privileges, has lost
+its point in our time. 'L'etat, c'est moi.' The Church and the State are
+composed of the same persons. Gibbon's famous _mot_ has collapsed. 'The
+religions of the Roman world,' he says, 'were all considered by the
+people as equally true, by the philosopher as equally false, and by the
+magistrate as equally useful' The people are now their own magistrates,
+and the true and the useful must contrive to unite upon the same thing.
+If the Church feels subscription and fixity of creed a burden, it has
+only to turn its members to account in their capacity of citizens of the
+State to relieve itself. If it silently ignores the creed, it is still
+responsible mainly to itself.
+
+[POSSIBLE ABUSES OF CLERICAL FREEDOM.]
+
+The more serious objection is the possible abuse of the freedom of the
+clergy to utter opinions at variance with the prevailing creed. This
+position needs a careful scrutiny.
+
+In the first place, the argument: supposes a condition of things that
+has now ceased. When creeds were accepted in their literality by the
+bodies professing them, when the state of general opinion contained
+nothing hostile, and suggested no difficulties,--for any one member of a
+body to turn traitor may have well seemed mere perversity, temper, love
+of singularity, or anything but a wish to get at truth. The offence
+assumed the character of a moral obliquity, and discipline can never be
+relaxed for immorality proper.
+
+All the circumstances are now changed. The ministers and members of
+religious communities no longer cherish the same set of doctrines with
+only immaterial varieties; they no longer accept their articles in the
+sense of the original framers. The body at large has contracted the
+immoral taint; the whole head is sick; any remaining soundness is not
+with the acquiescent mass, but with the out-spoken individuals. In such
+a state of things, ordinary rules are inapplicable. There is a sort of
+paralysis of authority, an uncertainty whether to punish or to wink at
+flagrant heresy. To say in such a case that the relaxation of the creed
+is not a thing to be proposed, is to confess, like Livy on the condition
+of Rome, that we can endure neither our vices nor their remedies.
+
+Too much has at all times been made of individual divergences from the
+established creed. The influence of a solitary preacher smitten with the
+love of heretical peculiarity has been grossly overrated. The assumption
+is, that his own flock will, as a matter of course, follow their
+shepherd; that is to say, the adhesion of individual congregations to
+the creed of the Church depends upon its being faithfully reproduced by
+their regular minister. Such is not by any means the fact; the creed of
+the members of a Church is not at the mercy of any passing influence.
+It has been engrained by a plurality of influences; one man did not make
+it, and one man cannot unmake it. Moreover, allowance should be made for
+the spirit of opposition found in Church members, as well as in other
+people.
+
+[INDIVIDUAL DIVERGENCES UNIMPORTANT.]
+
+It may be said that persons ought not to be subjected to the annoyance
+of hearing attacks upon their hereditary tenets, in which they expect
+to be more and more confirmed by their spiritual teacher. This is of
+course, in itself, an evil. We are not to expect ordinary men to
+recognise the necessity of listening to the arguments against their
+views, in order to hold these all the stronger. If this height were
+generally reached, every Church would invite, as a part of its
+constituted machinery, a representative of all the heresies afloat; a
+certain number of its ministers should be the avowed champions of the
+views most opposed to its own--_advocati diaboli_, so to speak. There
+would then be nothing irregular in the retention of converts from its
+own number to these other doctrines. It would be, however, altogether
+improper to found any argument on the supposition of such a state of
+matters.
+
+It is an incident of every institution made up of a large collection of
+officials, that some one or more are always below the standard of
+efficiency, whence those that depend on their services must suffer
+inconvenience. A great amount of dulness in preaching has always to be
+tolerated; so also might an occasional deviation from orthodoxy; the
+more so, that the severity of the discipline for heresy has a good deal
+to do with the dulness.
+
+If heretical tendencies have shown themselves in a Church communion,
+either they are absurd, unmeaning, irrelevant--perhaps a reversion to
+some defunct opinion,--or they are the suggestion of new knowledge in
+theology, or outside of it. In the first case, they will die a natural
+death, unless prosecution gives them importance; in the other case, they
+are to be candidly examined, to be met by argument rather than by
+deposition. An individual heretic can always be neglected; if he is
+enthusiastic and able, he may have a temporary following, especially
+when the community has sunk into torpor. If two or three in a hundred
+adopt erroneous opinions, it is nothing; if thirty or forty in a hundred
+have been led astray, the matter hangs dubious, and discretion is
+advisable. When a majority is gained, the fulness of the time has
+arrived; the heresy has triumphed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+However strong may be the theoretical reasons for the abolition of the
+penal sanctions to orthodoxy, they do not dispense with the confirmation
+of experience; and I must next refer to the more prominent examples of
+Churches constituted on the principle of freedom to the clergy.
+
+[THE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH EXEMPLARY.]
+
+The most remarkable and telling instance is that furnished by the
+English Presbyterian Church, with its coadjutor in Ireland. The history
+of this Church is not unfamiliar to us; the great lawsuit relating to
+Lady Hewley's charity gave notoriety to the changes of opinion that had
+come over it in the course of a century. But whoever is earnest on the
+question as to the expediency of tests should study the history
+thoroughly, as being in every way most instructive. The leading facts,
+as concerns the present argument, are mainly these:--
+
+First, the great decision at the Salters' Hall conference, on the 10th
+of March, 1719, when, by a majority of 73 to 69, it was resolved to
+exact no test from the clergy as a condition of their being ordained
+ministers of the body. The point more immediately at issue was the
+Trinity, on which opinions had been already divided; but the decision
+was general. The principle of the right of private judgment admitted of
+no exceptions.
+
+Second. Long before this decision, the minds of the ministers had been
+ripening to the conviction, that creeds and subscriptions could do no
+good, and often did harm, indeed, the terms employed by some of them are
+everything that we now desire. For example, Joseph Hunter, on the eve of
+the decision, wrote thus: "We have always thought that such human
+declarations of faith were far from being eligible on their own account,
+since they tend to narrow the foundations of Christianity and to
+restrain that latitude of expression in which our great Legislator has
+seen fit to deliver His Will to us".
+
+Third. Most remarkable is it to witness the consequences of this great
+act of emancipation. A hundred and sixty-five years have elapsed--a
+sufficient time for judging of the experiment. The Presbyterian body at
+the time were made up partly of Arians, partly of Trinitarians, who held
+each other in mutual tolerance; the ministers freely exchanging pulpits.
+No bad consequence followed. We do not hear of individual ministers
+going to extravagant lengths in either direction. A large body
+gravitated, in the course of time, to the modern Unitarian position;
+but, considering the start, the stride was not great. In such a century
+as the eighteenth, there might well have been greater modifications of
+the creeds than actually occurred. Evidently, in the absence of any
+compulsory adherence to settled articles, there was an abundant tendency
+to conservatism. Commencing with Baxter, Howe, and Calamy, we find, in
+the course of the century, such names as Lardner, Price, Priestley,
+Belsham, Kippis, James Lindsay, Lant Carpenter--men of liberal and
+enlightened views on all political questions, and earnest in their good
+works. These men's testimony to what is truth in religion, is of more
+value to us than the opinions of the creed-bound clergy. Reason is still
+reason, but the weight of authority is with the free enquirers.
+
+Fourth. The history of the Presbyterians answers a question that may be
+properly asked of the creed-abolitionist; namely, What bond is left to
+hold a religious community together? The bond, in their case, simply was
+voluntary adhesion and custom. A religious community may hold together,
+like a political party, with only a vague tacit understanding. When a
+body is once formed, it has an outward cohesion, which is quite enough
+for maintaining it in the absence of explosive materials. The
+established Churches could retain their historical continuity under any
+modification of the articles. By the present system, they have been
+habituated to take their creed as their legal definition; for that they
+could substitute their history and framework.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[MODES OF TRANSITION FROM THE PRESENT SYSTEM.]
+
+Various modes have been suggested for making the transition from the
+present system.
+
+One way is, to fall back upon the Bible as a test. This is the same as
+no test at all. A man could not call himself a Christian minister, if he
+did not accept the Bible in some sense; and it would be obviously
+impracticable to frame a libel, and conduct a process for heresy, on an
+appeal to the Old and New Testaments at large. The Bible may be the
+first source of the Christian faith, but other confluent streams have
+entered into its development; and we must accept the consequences of a
+fact that we cannot deny. However much religion may have to be broadened
+and liberalised, the operation cannot consist in reverting to the
+literal phraseology of the Bible.
+
+A second method is, to prune away the portions of the creed that are no
+longer tenable. It could not have been intended by the original framers
+of the creeds, that they should remain untouched for centuries. With
+many Churches, there was a clear understanding that the formulas should
+be revised at brief intervals. The non-established Churches show a
+disposition to resume this power. The United Presbyterian Church of
+Scotland has had the courage to make a beginning; still, relief will not
+in this way be given to minorities, and small changes do not correspond
+to the demands of new situations.
+
+A more effectual mode is to discourage and suspend prosecutions for
+heresy. The practice of heresy-hunting might be allowed to fall into
+disuse. Instead of deposing heretics, the orthodox champions should
+simply refute them.
+
+In the Church of England, in particular, a change of the law may be
+necessary to give the desired relaxation. The judges before whom
+heretics are tried are very exacting in the matter of evidence, but they
+cannot stop a prosecution made in regular form. The Church of Scotland
+has more latitude in this respect, and has already given indications of
+entering on the path leading to desuetude.[17]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 17: See, at the end, Notes and References on the history and
+practice of Subscription and Penal Tests.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+IX.
+
+THE PROCEDURE OF DELIBERATIVE BODIES.[18]
+
+
+That great institution of political liberty, the Deliberative Assembly,
+seems to be on the eve of breaking down. I do not speak merely of the
+highest assembly in the country, but of the numerous smaller bodies as
+well, from many of which a cry of distress may be heard. The one evil in
+all is the intolerable length of the debates. Business has increased,
+local representative bodies have a larger membership than formerly, and,
+notwithstanding the assistance rendered by committees, the meetings are
+protracted beyond bounds.
+
+In this difficulty, attention naturally fastens, in the first instance,
+on the fact that the larger part of the speaking is entirely useless;
+neither informing nor convincing any of the hearers, and yet occupying
+the time allotted for the despatch of business. How to eliminate and
+suppress this ineffectual oratory would appear to be the point to
+consider. But as Inspiration itself did not reveal a mode of separating
+in advance the tares from the wheat, so there is not now any patent
+process for insuring that, in the debates of corporate bodies, the good
+speaking, and only the good speaking, shall be allowed.
+
+Partial solutions of the difficulty are not wanting. The inventors of
+corporate government--the Greeks, were necessarily the inventors of the
+forms of debate, and they introduced the timing of the speakers. To this
+is added, occasionally, the selection of the speakers, a practice that
+could be systematically worked, if nothing else would do. Both methods
+have their obvious disadvantages. The arbitrary selection of speakers,
+even by the most impartial Committee of Selection, would, according to
+our present notions, seem to infringe upon a natural right, the right of
+each member of a body to deliver an opinion, and give the reasons for
+it. It would seem like reviving the censorship of the press, to allow
+only a select number to be heard on all occasions.
+
+May not something be done to circumvent this vast problem? May there not
+be a greater extension given to maxims and forms of procedure already in
+existence?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[OBVIATING HURRIED DECISIONS.]
+
+First, then, we recognize in various ways the propriety of obviating
+hurried and unpremeditated decisions. Giving previous notice of motions
+has that end in view; although, perhaps, this is more commonly regarded
+simply as a protection to absentees. Advantage is necessarily taken of
+the foreknowledge of the business to prepare for the debates. It is a
+farther help, that the subject has been already discussed somewhere or
+other by a committee of the body, or by the agency of the public press.
+Very often an assembly is merely called upon to decide upon the adoption
+of a proposal that has been long canvassed out of doors. The task of the
+speakers is then easy--we might almost say no speaking should be
+required: but this is to anticipate.
+
+In legislation by Parliament, the forms allow repetition of the debates
+at least three times in both Houses. This is rather a cumbrous and
+costly remedy for the disadvantage, in debate, of having to reply to a
+speaker who has just sat down. In principle, no one ought to be called
+to answer an argumentative speech on the spur of the moment. The
+generality of speakers are utterly unfit for the task, and accordingly
+do it ill. A few men, by long training, acquire the power of casting
+their thoughts into speaking train, so as to make a good appearance in
+extempore reply; yet even these would do still better if they had a
+little time. The adjournment of a debate, and the reopening of a
+question at successive stages, furnish the real opportunities for
+effective reply. In a debate begun and ended at one sitting, the
+speaking takes very little of the form of an exhaustive review, by each
+speaker, of the speeches that went before.
+
+It is always reckoned a thing of course to take the vote as soon as the
+debate is closed. There are some historical occasions when a speech on
+one side has been so extraordinarily impressive that an adjournment has
+been moved to let the fervour subside; but it is usually not thought
+desirable to let a day elapse between the final reply and the division.
+This is a matter of necessity in the case of the smaller corporations,
+which have to dispose of all current business at one sitting; but when a
+body meets for a succession of days, it would seem to be in accordance
+with sound principle not to take the vote on the same day as the debate.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[ASSUMPTIONS AT THE BASIS OF ORAL DEBATE.]
+
+These few remarks upon one important element of procedure are meant to
+clear the way for a somewhat searching examination of the principles
+that govern the, entire system of oral debate. It is this practice that
+I propose to put upon its trial. The grounds of the practice I take to
+be the following:--
+
+1. That each member of a deliberative body shall be provided with a
+complete statement of the facts and reasons in favour of a proposed
+measure, and also an equally complete account of whatever can be said
+against it. And this is a requirement I would concede to the fullest
+extent. No decision should be asked upon a question until the reasonings
+_pro_ and _con_ are brought fairly within the reach of every one; to
+which I would add--in circumstances that give due time for consideration
+of the whole case.
+
+2. The second ground is that this ample provision of arguments, for and
+against, should be made by oral delivery. Whatever opportunities members
+may have previously enjoyed for mastering a question, these are all
+discounted when the assembly is called to pronounce its decision. The
+proposer of the resolution invariably summarizes, if he is able, all
+that is to be said for his proposal; his arguments are enforced and
+supplemented by other speakers on his side; while the opposition
+endeavours to be equally exhaustive. In short, though one were to come
+to the meeting with a mind entirely blank, yet such a one, having
+ordinary faculties of judging, would in the end be completely informed,
+and prepared for an intelligent vote.
+
+Now, I am fully disposed to acquiesce in this second assumption
+likewise, but with a qualification that is of considerable moment, as we
+shall see presently.
+
+3. The third and last assumption is as follows:--Not only is the
+question in all its bearings supposed to be adequately set forth in the
+speeches constituting the debate, but, in point of fact, the mass of the
+members, or a very important section or proportion of them, rely upon
+this source, make full use of it, and are equipped for their decision by
+means of it; so much so, that if it were withdrawn none of the other
+methods as at present plied, or as they might be plied, would give the
+due preparation for an intelligent vote; whence must ensue a degradation
+in the quality of the decisions.
+
+It is this assumption that I am now to challenge, in the greatest
+instance of all, as completely belied by the facts. But, indeed, the
+case is so notoriously the opposite, that the statement of it will be
+unavoidably made up of the stalest commonplaces; and the novelty will
+lie wholly in the inference.
+
+The ordinary attendance in the House of Commons could be best described
+by a member or a regular official. An outsider can represent it only by
+the current reports. My purpose does not require great accuracy; it is
+enough, that only a very small fraction of the body makes up the average
+audience. If an official were posted to record the fluctuating numbers
+at intervals of five minutes, the attendance might be recorded and
+presented in a curve like the fluctuations of the barometer; but this
+would be misleading as to the proportion of effective listeners--those
+that sat out entire debates, or at all events the leading speeches of
+the debates, or whose intelligence was mainly fed from the speaking in
+each instance. The number of this class is next to impossible to get at;
+but it will be allowed on all hands to be very small.
+
+Perhaps, in such an inquiry, most can be made of indirect evidences. If
+members are to be qualified for an intelligent decision in chief part by
+listening to the speeches, why is not the House made large enough to
+accommodate them all at once? It would appear strange, on the
+spoken-debate theory of enlightenment, that more than one-third should
+be permanently excluded by want of space. One might naturally suppose
+that, in this fact, there was a breach of privilege of the most
+portentous kind. That it is so rarely alluded to as a grievance, even
+although amounting to the exclusion of a large number of the members
+from some of the grandest displays of eloquence and the most exciting
+State communications, is a proof that attendance in the House is not
+looked upon as a high privilege, or as the _sine qua non_ of political
+schooling.
+
+[EVIDENCE OF THE INUTILITY OF THE MERE SPEAKING.]
+
+If it were necessary to listen to the debates in order to know how to
+vote, the messages of the whips would take a different form. The members
+on each side would be warned of the time of commencement of each debate,
+that they might hear the comprehensive statement of the opener, and
+remain at least through the chief speech in reply. They might not attend
+all through the inferior and desultory speaking, but they would be ready
+to pop in when an able debater was on his legs, and they would hear the
+leaders wind up at the close. Such, however, is not the theory acted on
+by the whips. They are satisfied if they can procure attendance at the
+division, and look upon the many hours spent in the debate as an
+insignificant accessory, which could be disregarded at pleasure. It
+would take the genius of a satirist to treat the whipping-up machinery
+as it might well deserve to be treated. We are here concerned with a
+graver view of it--namely, to inquire whether the institution of oral
+debate may not be transformed and contracted in dimensions, to the great
+relief of our legislative machinery.
+
+Of course, no one is ignorant of the fact that the great body of members
+of Parliament refrain altogether from weighing individually the opposing
+arguments in the several questions, and trust implicitly to their leaders.
+This, however, is merely another nail in the coffin of the debating
+system. The theory of independent and intelligent consideration, by each
+member, of every measure that comes up, is the one most favourable to
+the present plan, while, even on that theory, its efficiency breaks down
+under a critical handling.
+
+It is time now to turn to what will have come into the mind of every
+reader of the last few paragraphs--the reporting of the speeches. Here,
+I admit, there is a real and indispensable service to legislation. My
+contention is, that in it we possess what is alone valuable; and, if we
+could secure this, in its present efficiency, with only a very small
+minimum of oral delivery, we should be as well off as we are now. The
+apparent self-contradiction of the proposal to report speeches without
+speaking, is not hard to resolve.
+
+To come at once, then, to the mode of arriving at the printed debates,
+I shall proceed by a succession of steps, each one efficient in itself,
+without necessitating a farther. The first and easiest device, and one
+that would be felt of advantage in all bodies whatsoever, would be for
+the mover of a resolution to give in, along with the terms of his
+resolution, his reasons--in fact, what he intends as his speech, to be
+printed and distributed to each member previous to the meeting. Two
+important ends are at once gained--the time of a speech is saved, and
+the members are in possession beforehand of the precise arguments to be
+used. The debate is in this way advanced an important step without any
+speaking; opponents can prepare for, instead of having to improvise
+their reply, and every one is at the outset a good way towards a final
+judgment.
+
+[DEBATES INTRODUCED BY PRINTED STATEMENTS.]
+
+As this single device could be adopted alone, I will try and meet the
+objections to it, if I am only fortunate enough to light on any. My
+experience of public bodies suggests but very few; and I think the
+strongest is the reluctance to take the requisite trouble. Most men
+think beforehand what they are to say in introducing a resolution to a
+public body, but do not consider it necessary to write down their speech
+at full. Then, again, there is a peculiar satisfaction in holding the
+attention of a meeting for a certain time, great in proportion to the
+success of the effort. But, on the other hand, many persons do write
+their speeches, and many are not so much at ease in speaking but that
+they would dispense with it willingly. The conclusive answer on the
+whole is--the greater good of the commonwealth. Such objections as these
+are not of a kind to weigh down the manifest advantages, at all events,
+in the case of corporations full of business and pressed for time.
+
+I believe that a debate so introduced would be shortened by more than
+the time gained by cutting off the speech of the mover. The greater
+preparation of everyone's mind at the commencement would make people
+satisfied with a less amount of speaking, and what there was would be
+more to the purpose.
+
+We can best understand the effects of such an innovation by referring to
+the familiar experience of having to decide on the Report of Committee,
+which has been previously circulated among the members. This is usually
+the most summary act of a deliberative body; partly owing, no doubt, to
+the fact that the concurrence of a certain proportion is already gained;
+while the _pros_ and _cons_ have been sifted by a regular conference and
+debate. Yet we all feel that we are in a much better position by having
+had before us in print, for some time previous, the materials necessary
+to a conclusion. At a later stage, I will consider the modes of raising
+the quality and status of the introductory speech to something of the
+nature of a Committee's Report.[19]
+
+The second step is to impose upon the mover of every amendment the same
+obligation to hand in his speech, in writing, along with the terms of
+the amendment. Many public bodies do not require notice of amendments.
+It would be in all cases a great improvement to insist upon such notice,
+and of course a still greater improvement to require the reasons to be
+given in also, that they might be circulated as above. The debate is now
+two steps in advance without a moment's loss of time to the constituted
+meeting; while what remains is likely to be much more rapidly gone
+through.
+
+The movers of resolutions and of amendments should, as a matter of
+course, have the right of reply; a portion of the oral system that
+would, I presume, survive all the advances towards printing direct.
+
+There remains, however, one farther move, in itself as defensible, and
+as much fraught with advantage as the two others. The resolution and the
+amendments being in the hands of the members of a body, together with
+the speeches in support of each, any member might be at liberty to send
+in, also for circulation in print, whatever remarks would constitute his
+speech in the debate, thereby making a still greater saving of the time
+of the body. This would, no doubt, be felt as the greatest innovation of
+all, being tantamount to the extinction of oral debate; there being then
+nothing left but the replies of the movers. We need not, however, go the
+length of compulsion; while a certain number would choose to print at
+once, the others could still, if they chose, abide by the old plan of
+oral address. One can easily surmise that these last would need to
+justify their choice by conspicuous merit; an assembly, having in print
+so many speeches already, would not be in a mood to listen to others of
+indifferent quality.
+
+[THE MAGIC OF ORATORY NOT DONE AWAY WITH.]
+
+Such a wholesale transfer of living speech to the silent perusal of the
+printed page, if seriously proposed in any assembly, would lead to a
+vehement defence of the power of spoken oratory. We should be told of
+the miraculous sway of the human voice, of the way that Whitfield
+entranced Hume and emptied Franklin's purse; while, most certainly,
+neither of these two would ever have perused one of his printed sermons.
+And, if the reply were that Whitfield was not a legislator, we should be
+met by the speeches of Wilberforce and Canning and Brougham upon slavery,
+where the thrill of the living voice accelerated the conviction of the
+audience. In speaking of the Homeric Assembly, Mr. Gladstone remarks, in
+answer to Grote's argument to prove it a political nullity, that the
+speakers were repeatedly cheered, and that the cheering of an audience
+contributes to the decision.
+
+Now, I am not insensible to the power of speech, nor to the
+multitudinous waves of human feeling aroused in the encounters of
+oratory before a large assembly. Apart from this excitement, it would
+often be difficult to get people to go through the drudgery of public
+meetings. Any plan that would abolish entirely the dramatic element of
+legislation would have small chance of being adopted. It is only when
+the painful side of debate comes into predominance, that we willingly
+forego some of its pleasures: the intolerable weariness, the close air,
+the late nights, must be counted along with the occasional thrills of
+delirious excitement. But as far as regards our great legislative
+bodies, it will be easy to show that there would still exist, in other
+forms, an ample scope for living oratory to make up for the deadness
+that would fall upon the chief assembly.
+
+A friend of mine once went to Roebuck to ask his attention to some point
+coming up in the House of Commons, and offered him a paper to read.
+Roebuck said, "I will not read, but I will hear". This well illustrates
+one of the favourable aspects of speech. People with time on their hands
+prefer being instructed by the living voice; the exertion is less, and
+the enlivening tones of a speaker impart an extraneous interest, to
+which we have to add the sympathy of the surrounding multitude. The
+early stages of instruction must be conducted _viva voce_; it is a late
+acquirement to be able to extract information from a printed page. Yet
+circumstances arise when the advantage of the printed page predominates.
+The more frequent experience in approaching public men is to be told,
+that they will not listen but will read. An hour's address can be read
+in ten minutes: it is not impossible, therefore, to master a
+Parliamentary debate in one-tenth of the time occupied in the delivery.
+
+A passing remark is enough to point out the revolution that would take
+place in Parliamentary reporting, and in the diffusion of political
+instruction through the press, by the system of printing the speeches
+direct. The full importance of this result will be more apparent in a
+little. There has been much talk of late about the desirability of a
+more perfect system of reporting, with a view to the preservation of the
+debates. Yet it may be very much doubted, whether the House of Commons
+would ever incur the expense of making up for the defects of newspaper
+reporting, by providing short-hand writers to take down every word, with
+a view to printing in full.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[SECONDING EXTENDED TO A PLURALITY OF BACKERS.]
+
+[PROPORTIONING OF BACKERS.]
+
+Before completing the survey of possible improvements in deliberative
+procedure, I propose to extend the employment of another device already
+in use, but scarcely more than a form; I mean the requiring of a
+seconder before a proposal can be debated. The signification of this
+must be, that in order to obtain the judgment of an assembly on any
+proposal, the mover must have the concurrence of one other member; a
+most reasonable condition surely. What I would urge farther in the same
+direction is that, instead of demanding one person in addition to the
+mover, as necessary in all cases, there should be a varying number
+according to the number of the assembly. In a copartnery of three or
+four, to demand a seconder to a motion would be absurd; in a body of six
+or eight it is scarcely admissible. I have known bodies of ten and
+twelve, where motions could be discussed without a seconder; but even
+with these, there would be a manifest propriety in compelling a member
+to convince at least one other person privately before putting the body
+to the trouble of a discussion. If, however, we should begin the
+practice of seconding with ten, is one seconder enough for twenty,
+fifty, a hundred, or six hundred? Ought there not to be a scale of
+steady increase in the numbers whose opinions have been gained
+beforehand? Let us say three or four for an assembly of five-and-twenty,
+six for fifty, ten or fifteen for a hundred, forty for six hundred. It
+is permissible, no doubt, to bring before a public body resolutions that
+there is no immediate chance of carrying; what is termed "ventilating"
+an opinion is a recognized usage, and is not to be prohibited. But when
+business multiplies, and time is precious, a certain check should be put
+upon the ventilating of views that have as yet not got beyond one or two
+individuals; the process of conversion by out-of-door agency should have
+made some progress in order to justify an appeal to the body in the
+regular course of business. That the House of Commons should ever be
+occupied by a debate, where the movers could not command more than four
+or five votes, is apparently out of all reason. The power of the
+individual is unduly exalted at the expense of the collective body.
+There are plenty of other opportunities of gaining adherents to any
+proposal that has something to be said for it; and these should be plied
+up to the point of securing a certain minimum of concurrence, before the
+ear of the House can be commanded. With a body of six hundred and fifty,
+the number of previously obtained adherents would not be extravagantly
+high, if it were fixed at forty. Yet considering that the current
+business, in large assemblies, is carried on by perhaps one-third or
+one-fourth of the whole, and that the quorum in the House of Commons is
+such as to make it possible for twenty-one votes to carry a decision of
+the House, there would be an inconsistency in requiring more than twenty
+names to back every bill and every resolution and amendment that churned
+to be discussed. Now I can hardly imagine restriction upon the liberty
+of individual members more defensible than this. If it were impossible
+to find any other access to the minds of individual members than by
+speeches in the House, or if all other modes of conversion to new views
+were difficult and inefficient in comparison, then we should say that
+the time of the House must be taxed for the ventilating process. Nothing
+of the kind, however, can be maintained. Moreover, although the House
+may be obliged to listen to a speech for a proposal that has merely half
+a dozen of known supporters, yet, whenever this is understood to be the
+case, scarcely any one will be at the trouble of counter-arguing it, and
+the question really makes no way; the mover is looked upon as a bore,
+and the House is impatient for the extinguisher of a division. The
+securing of twenty names would cost nothing to the Government, or to any
+of the parties or sections that make up the House: an individual
+standing alone should be made to work privately, until he has secured
+his backing of nineteen more names, and the exercise would be most
+wholesome as a preparation for convincing a majority of the House.
+
+If I might be allowed to assume such an extension of the device of
+seconding motions, I could make a much stronger case for the beneficial
+consequences of the operation of printing speeches without delivery.
+The House would never be moved by an individual standing alone; every
+proposal would be from the first a collective judgment, and the reasons
+given in along with it, although composed by one, would be revised and
+considered by the supporters collectively. Members would put forth their
+strength in one weighty statement to start with; no pains would be
+spared to make the argument of the nominal mover exhaustive and
+forcible. So with the amendment; there would be more put into the chief
+statement, and less left to the succeeding speakers, than at present.
+And, although the mover of the resolution and the mover of the amendment
+would each have a reply, little would be left to detain the House,
+unless when some great interests were at stake.
+
+Of course the preparation of the case in favour of each measure would be
+entrusted to the best hands; in Government business, it would be to some
+official in the department, or some one engaged by the chief in shaping
+the measure itself. The statement so prepared would have the value of a
+carefully drawn-up report, and nothing short of this should ever be
+submitted to Parliament in the procuring of new enactments. In like
+manner, the opponents and critics could employ any one they pleased to
+assist them in their compositions, A member's speech need not be in any
+sense his own; if he borrows, or uses another hand, it is likely to be
+some one wiser than himself, and the public gets the benefit of the
+difference.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[OBJECTIONS TO DIRECT PRINTING OF SPEECHES.]
+
+I may now go back for a little upon the details of the scheme of direct
+printing, with the view of pressing some of its advantages a little
+farther, as well as of considering objections. I must remark more
+particularly upon the permission, accorded to the members generally, to
+send in their speeches to be circulated with the proceedings. This I
+regard as not the least essential step in an effective reform of the
+debating system. It is the only possible plan of giving free scope to
+individuals, without wasting the time of the assembly. There need be no
+limit to the printing of speeches; the number may be unnecessarily
+great, and the length sometimes excessive, but the abuse may be left to
+the corrective of neglect. The only material disadvantage attending the
+plan of sending in speeches in writing, without delivery, is that the
+speakers would have before them only the statements-in-chief of the
+movers of motion and amendment. They could not comment upon one another,
+as in the oral debate. Not but this might not: be practicable, by
+keeping the question open for a certain length of time, and circulating
+every morning the speeches given in the day previously; but the
+cumbrousness of such an operation would not have enough to recommend it.
+The chief speakers might be expected to present a sufficiently broad
+point for criticism; while the greater number are well content, if
+allowed to give their own views and arguments without reference to those
+of others. And not to mention that, in Parliament, all questions of
+principle may be debated several times over, it is rare that any measure
+comes up without such an amount of previous discussion out of doors as
+fully to bring out the points for attack and defence. Moreover, the oral
+debate, as usually conducted, contains little of the reality of
+effective rejoinder by each successive speaker to the one preceding.
+
+The combined plan of printing speeches, and of requiring twenty backers
+to every proposal, while tolerable perhaps in the introduction of bills,
+and in resolutions of great moment, will seem to stand self-condemned
+in passing the bills through Committee, clause by clause. That every
+amendment, however trivial, should have to go through such a roundabout
+course, may well appear ridiculous in the extreme. To this I would say,
+in the first place, that the exposing of every clause of every measure
+of importance to the criticism of a large assembly, has long been
+regarded as the weak point of the Parliamentary system. It is thirty
+years since I heard the remark that a Code would never get through the
+House of Commons; so many people thinking themselves qualified to cavil
+at its details. In Mill's "Representative Government," there is a
+suggestion to the effect, that Parliament should be assisted in passing
+great measures by consultative commissions, who would have the
+preparation of the details; and that the House should not make
+alterations in the clauses, but recommit the whole with some expression
+of disapproval that would guide the commission in recasting the measure.
+
+[DIFFICULTIES OF PRINTING IN COMMITTEES.]
+
+It must be self-evident that only a small body can work advantageously
+in adjusting the details of a measure, including the verbal expressions.
+If this work is set before an assembly of two hundred, it is only by the
+reticence of one hundred and ninety that progress can be made.
+Amendments to the clauses of a bill may come under two heads: those of
+principle, where the force of parties expends itself; and those of
+wording or expression, for clearing away ambiguities or misconstruction.
+For the one class, all the machinery that I have described is fully
+applicable. To mature and present an amendment of principle, there
+should be a concurrence of the same number as is needed to move or
+oppose a second reading; there should be the same giving in of reasons,
+and the same unrestricted speech (in print) of individual members,
+culminating in replies by the movers. If this had to be done on all
+occasions, there would be much greater concentration of force upon
+special points, and the work of Committee would get on faster. As to the
+second class of amendments, I do not think that these are suitable for
+an open discussion. They should rather be given as suggestions privately
+to the promoter of the measure. But, be the matter small or great, I
+contend that nothing should bring about a vote in the House of Commons
+that has not already acquired a proper minimum of support.
+
+I am very far from presuming to remodel the entire procedure of the
+House of Commons. What I have said applies only to the one branch, not
+the least important, of the passing of bills. There are other
+departments that might, or might not, be subjected to the printing
+system, coupled with the twentyfold backing; for example, the very large
+subject of Supply, on which there is a vast expenditure of debating. The
+demand for twenty names to every amendment would extinguish a very
+considerable amount of these discussions.
+
+There is a department of the business of the House that has lately
+assumed alarming proportions--the putting of questions to Ministers upon
+every conceivable topic. I would here apply, without hesitation, the
+printing direct and the plural backing, and sweep away the practice
+entirely from the public proceedings of the House. No single member
+unsupported should have the power of trotting out a Minister at will. I
+do not say that so large a number of backers should be required in this
+case, but I would humbly suggest that the concurrence of ten members
+should be required even to put a public question. The leader of the
+Opposition, in himself a host, would not be encumbered with such a
+formality, but everyone else would have to procure ten signatures to an
+interrogative: the question would be sent in, and answered; while
+question and answer would simply appear in the printed proceedings of
+the House, and not occupy a single moment of the legislative time. This
+is a provision that would stand to be argued on its own merits,
+everything else remaining as it is. The loss would be purely in the
+dramatic interest attaching to the deliberations.
+
+[ALTERNATIVE SCOPE FOR ORATORY.]
+
+The all but total extinction of oral debate by the revolutionary sweep
+of two simple devices, would be far from destroying the power of speech
+in other ways. The influence exerted by conversation on the small scale,
+and by oratory on the great, would still be exercised. While the
+conferences in private society, and the addresses at public meetings,
+would continue, and perhaps be increased in importance, there would be a
+much greater activity of sectional discussion, than at present; in fact,
+the sectional deliberations, preparatory to motions in the House, would
+become an organized institution. A certain number of rooms would be set
+aside for the use of the different sections; and the meetings would rise
+into public importance, and have their record in the public press. The
+speaking that now protracts the sittings of the House would be
+transferred to these; even the highest oratory would not disdain to
+shine where the reward of publicity would still be reaped. As no man
+would be allowed to engage the attention of the House without a
+following, it would be in the sections, in addition to private society
+and the press, that new opinions would have to be ventilated, and the
+first converts gained.
+
+Among the innovations that are justified by the principle of avoiding at
+all points hurried decisions, there is nothing that would appear more
+defensible than to give an interval between the close of a debate and
+the taking of the vote. I apprehend that the chief and only reason why
+this has never been thought of is, that most bodies have to finish a
+mass of current business at one sitting. In assemblies that meet day
+after day, the votes on all concluded debates could be postponed till
+next day; giving a deliberate interval in private that might improve,
+and could not: deteriorate, the chances of a good decision. Let us
+imagine that, in the House of Commons, for example, the first hour at
+each meeting should be occupied with the divisions growing out of the
+previous day's debates. The consequences would be enormous, but would
+any of them be bad? The hollowness of the oral debate as a means of
+persuasion would doubtless receive a blasting exposure; many would come
+up to vote, few would remain to listen to speeches. The greater number
+of those that cared to know what was said, would rest satisfied with the
+reports in the morning papers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We need to take account of the fact that even greater moderation in the
+length of speeches would not entirely overcome the real difficulty--the
+quantity of business thrown upon our legislative bodies. Doubtless, if
+there were less talk upon burning questions there would be more
+attention given to unobtrusive matters at present neglected. The mere
+quantity of work is too great for an assembly to do well. If this amount
+cannot be lessened--and I do not see how it can be--there are still the
+six competing vehicles at old Temple Bar. The single legislative rail is
+crowded, and the only device equal to the occasion is to remove some of
+the traffic to other rails. Let a large part of the speaking be got rid
+of, or else be transferred to some different arena.
+
+[EVERY BODY ENTITLED TO CONTROL SPEECH-MAKING.]
+
+I regard as unassailable Lord Sherbrooke's position that every
+deliberative body must possess the entire control of its own procedure,
+even to the point of saying how much speaking it will allow on each
+topic. The rough-and-ready method of coughing down a superfluous speaker
+is perfectly constitutional, because absolutely necessary. If a more
+refined method of curtailing debates could be devised, without bringing
+in other evils, it should be welcomed. The forcible shutting of anyone's
+mouth will always tend to irritate, and it is impossible by any plan to
+prevent a minority from clogging the wheels of business. The freedom of
+print seems to me one good safety-valve for incontinent speech-makers;
+it allows them an equal privilege with their fellows, and yet does not
+waste legislative time.
+
+I remember hearing, some time ago, that our Chancellor of the Exchequer
+was induced, on the suggestion of the _Times_, to put into print and
+circulate to the House beforehand the figures and tables connected with
+his financial statement. I could not help remarking, why might the
+Chancellor not circulate, in the same fashion, the whole statement, down
+to the point of the declaration of the new taxes? It would save the
+House at least an hour and a half, while not a third of that time would
+be required to read the printed statement. I believe the first thing
+that would occur to anyone hearing this suggestion would be--"so the
+Chancellor might, but the same reason would apply to the movers of
+bills, and to all other business as well ".
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Our English Parliamentary system having been matured by centuries of
+experience, has become a model for other countries just entering upon
+representative government. But the imitation, if too literal, will not
+be found to work. Our system supposes a large gentry, staying half the
+year in London for pure pleasure, to which we may add the rich men of
+business resident there. A sufficient number of these classes can at any
+time be got to make up the House of Commons; and, the majority being
+composed of such, the ways of the House are regulated accordingly. Daily
+constant attendance, when necessary, and readiness to respond to the
+whip at short notice, are assumed as costing nothing. But in other
+countries, the case is not the same. In the Italian Chamber I found
+professors of the University of Turin, who still kept up their
+class-work, and made journeys to Rome at intervals of a week or two, on
+the emergence of important business. Even the payment of members is not
+enough to bring people away from their homes, and break up their
+avocations, for several months every year. The forms of procedure, as
+familiar to us, do not fit under such circumstances. The system of
+printed speeches, with division days at two or three weeks' interval,
+might be found serviceable. But, at all events, the entire arrangements
+of public deliberation need to be revised on much broader grounds than
+we have been accustomed to; and it is in this view, more than with any
+hope of bringing about immediate changes, that I have ventured to
+propound the foregoing suggestions.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[OPINIONS FAVOURABLE TO PRINTING.]
+
+Since the foregoing paper was written, opinions have been expressed
+favourable to the use of printing as a means of shortening the debates
+in the House of Commons. Among the most notable of the authorities that
+have declared their views, we may count Lord Derby and Lord Sherbrooke.
+Both advocate the printing of the answers by ministers to the daily
+string of questions addressed to them. Lord Derby goes a step farther.
+He would have everyone introducing a bill to prepare a statement of his
+reasons, to be circulated among members at the public expense. Even this
+small beginning would be fruitful of important consequences; the
+greatest being the inevitable extension of the system.
+
+I am not aware that my suggestion as to requiring a plurality of members
+to back every bill and every proposal, has gained any degree of support.
+It was urged that, if the power were taken away from single members to
+move in any case whatever, the few that are accustomed to find
+themselves alone, would form into a group to back each other. I do not
+hesitate to say that the supposition is contrary to all experience.
+Crotcheteers have this in common with the insane, that they can seldom
+agree in any conjoined action. Even in the very large body constituting
+our House of Commons, it is not infrequent for motions to be made
+without obtaining a seconder. The requirement of even five concurring
+members would put an extinguisher upon a number of propositions that
+have at present to be entertained.
+
+The last session (1883) has opened the eyes of many to the absurdity of
+allowing a single member to block a bill. When it is considered that, in
+an assembly of six hundred, there is probably at least one man, like
+Fergus O'Conner, verging on insanity, and out of the reach of all the
+common motives,--we may well wonder that a deliberative body should so
+put itself at the mercy of individuals. Surely the rule, for stopping
+bills at half-past twelve, might have been accompanied with the
+requirement of a seconder, which would have saved many in the course of
+the recent sessions. It is the gross abuse of this power that is forcing
+upon reluctant minds the first advance to plural backing, and there is
+now a demand for five or six to unite in placing a block against a
+measure.
+
+It occurred to Mr. Gladstone, during the autumn session of 1882, to take
+down the statistics of attendance in the House for several days running.
+His figures were detailed to the House, in one of his speeches, and were
+exactly what we were prepared for. They completely "pounded and
+pulverised" the notion, that listening to the debates is the way that
+members have their minds made up for giving their votes.
+
+[EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION INCREASING.]
+
+The recent parliamentary recess has witnessed an unusual development in
+the out-of-door discussion of burning questions. In addition to a full
+allowance of vacation oratory, and the unremitted current of the
+newspaper press, the monthlies have given forth a number of reasoned
+articles by cabinet ministers and by men of ministerial rank in the
+opposition. The whole tendency of our time is, to supersede
+parliamentary discussion by more direct appeals to the mind of the
+public.
+
+To stop entirely the oral discussion of business in Parliament would
+have some inconveniences; but the want of adequate consideration of such
+measures as possessed the smallest interest with any class, would not be
+one of them.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 18: _Contemporary Review_, November, 1880.]
+
+[Footnote 19: I have often thought that, the practice of circulating,
+with a motion, the proposer's reasons, would, on many occasions, be
+worthy of being voluntarily adopted.]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+_Notes and References in connection with Essay VIII., on Subscription._
+
+
+It may be useful here to supply a few memoranda as to the history and
+present practice of Subscription to Articles.
+
+In the _Quarterly Review_, No. 117, the following observations are made
+respecting the first imposition of Tests after the English
+Reformation:--
+
+"Before the Reformation no subscription was required from the body of
+the clergy, as none was necessary. The bishops at their consecration
+took an oath of obedience to the King, in which, besides promising
+subjection in matters temporal, they 'utterly renounced and clearly
+forsook all such clauses, words, sentences, and grants, which they had
+or should have of the Pope's Holiness, that in any wise were hurtful or
+prejudicial to His Highness or His Estate Royal'; whilst to the Pope
+they bound themselves by oath to keep the rules of the Holy Fathers, the
+decrees, ordinances, sentences, dispositions, reservations, provisions,
+and commandments Apostolic, and, to their powers, to cause them to be
+kept by others. And, as their command over their clergy was complete,
+and they could at once remove any who violated the established rule of
+opinion, no additional obligation or engagement from men under such
+strict discipline was requisite. The statement, therefore (by Dean
+Stanley), that 'the Roman Catholic clergy, and the clergy of the Eastern
+Church, neither formerly, nor now, were bound by any definite forms of
+subscription; and that the unity of the Church is preserved there as the
+unity of the State is preserved everywhere, not by preliminary promises
+or oaths, but by the general laws of discipline and order'; though true
+to the letter, is really wholly untrue in its application to the
+argument concerning subscriptions. For it is to the total absence of
+liberty, and to the severity of 'the general laws of discipline and
+order,' and not to a liberty greater than our own, that this absence of
+subscription is due.
+
+"In point of fact, the requirement of subscription from the clergy was
+coeval with the upgrowth of liberty of opinion: while the circumstances
+of the English Reformation of religion made it essential to the success
+and the safety of that great movement. It was essential to its success;
+for as it was accomplished mainly by a numerical minority, both of the
+clergy and laity of the land, there could be no other guarantee of its
+maintenance than the assurance that its doctrines would be honestly
+taught, and its ritual observed by the whole body of the conforming
+clergy.
+
+"Thus the _Reformation subscriptions aimed at the prevention of covert
+Popery_, a danger to which the Reforming laity felt that they were
+exposed by the strong wishes of a majority of their own class; by the
+undissembled bias of many of the parochial clergy; and by the secret
+bias of some even of the bi-hops; whilst the diminution of their
+absolute control over the clergy lessened the power of enforcing the new
+opinions when the bishop was sincerely attached to them."
+
+The entire article is of value both for its historical information as to
+the history of Tests in the English Church, and for its mode of
+advocating the retention of subscription to the Articles, as at present
+enforced.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Subscription came with the English Reformation.]
+
+The Report of the Royal Commission of 1864, on Subscription in the
+English Church, supplied a complete account of all the changes in
+subscription from the Reformation downwards. Reference may also be made
+to Stoughton's "History of Religion in England," for the incidents in
+greater detail.
+
+Perhaps the most remarkable defence of Liberty, as against the
+prevailing view in the English Church, is Dean Milman's speech before
+the Clerical Subscription Commission, of which he was a member. It is
+printed in _Fraser's Magazine_, March, 1865, and is included in the
+criticism of the _Quarterly Review_ article, already quoted.
+
+The Dean's Resolution submitted to the Commission was as follows:--
+
+"Conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of England being the best and
+the surest attainable security for 'the declared agreement of the Clergy
+with the doctrines of the Church'; with many the daily, with all the
+weekly public reading of the services of the Church of England
+(containing, as they do, the ancient creeds of the Church Catholic), and
+the constant use of the Sacramental offices and other formularies in the
+Book of Common Prayer, being a solemn and reiterated pledge of their
+belief in those doctrines, the Subscription to the thirty-nine Articles
+is unnecessary. Such Subscription adds no further guarantee for the
+clergyman's faithfulness to the doctrines of the Church; while the
+peculiar form and controversial tone in which the Articles were compiled
+is the cause of much perplexity, embarrassment, and difficulty,
+especially to the younger clergy and to those about to enter into Holy
+Orders."
+
+Much doubt was entertained, whether this motion came within the terms of
+the Commission. It was not pressed by the Dean.
+
+I give the following quotation from the speech:--
+
+... "And if I venture to question the expediency, the wisdom, I will say
+the righteousness of retaining subscription to the thirty-nine Articles
+as obligatory on all clergymen, I do so, not from any difficulty in
+reconciling with my own conscience what, during my life, I have done
+more than once, but from the deep and deliberate conviction that such
+subscription is altogether unnecessary as a safeguard for the essential
+doctrines of Christianity, which are more safely and fully protected by
+other means. It never has been, is not, and never will be a solid
+security for its professed object, the reconciling or removing religious
+differences, which it tends rather to create and keep alive; is
+embarrassing to many men who might be of the most valuable service in
+the ministry of the Church; is objectionable as concentrating and
+enforcing the attention of the youngest clergy on questions, some
+abstruse, some antiquated, and in themselves at once so minute and
+comprehensive as to harass less instructed and profound thinkers, to
+perplex and tax the sagacity of the most able lawyers and the most
+learned divines....
+
+"One of my chief objections to subscription to the thirty-nine Articles
+as a perpetual test of English Churchmanship is that they are throughout
+controversial, and speak, as of necessity they must speak, the
+controversial language of their day; they cannot, therefore, in my
+opinion, be fully, clearly, and distinctly understood without a careful
+study and a very wide knowledge of the disputes and opinions of those
+times, a calm yet deep examination of their meaning, objects,
+limitations, which cannot be expected from young theological students,
+from men fresh from their academical pursuits. I venture to add, indeed
+to argue, that their true bearing and interpretation seems to me to have
+escaped some of our most eminent judges from want of that full study and
+perfect knowledge; and I must say that, in these laborious and practical
+day, it may be questioned whether this study of controversies, many of
+them bygone, will be so useful, so profitable, as entire devotion to the
+plainer and simpler duties of the clergyman.
+
+"Their immense range, too, the infinite questions into which they branch
+out (it has been said, I know not how truly, that five hundred questions
+may be raised upon them), is a further objection to their maintenance as
+a preliminary and indispensable requirement before the young man is
+admitted to Holy Orders. On the whole I stand, without hesitation, to my
+proposition, that the doctrines of the English Church are not only more
+simply, but more fully, assuredly, more winningly, taught in our Liturgy
+and our Formularies than in our Articles."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The very elaborate work of Mr. Taylor Innes, entitled the "Law of
+Creeds," is exhaustive for Scotland; including both the Established
+Church and the various sects of Protestant Dissenters. It also
+incidentally takes notice of some of the more critical decisions on
+heresy cases in the English Church. Mr. Innes properly points out, that
+the abolition of Subscription is compatible with compulsory adherence to
+Articles. The relaxation of the forms of Subscription in the English
+Church, by the Act of 1865, gave a certain amount of relief to the
+consciences of the clergy, but left them as much exposed as ever to
+suits for heresy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Report of Presbyterian Alliance.]
+
+For the usages of the Reformed Churches, on the Continent, and in
+America, a mass of valuable information has been furnished in the Report
+of the Second General Council of the Presbyterian Alliance, convened at
+Philadelphia, September, 1880. At the previous meeting of the Council,
+held at Edinburgh, July, 1877, a Committee was appointed to Report on
+the Creeds and Subscriptions in use among the various bodies forming the
+Alliance. It is unnecessary to refer to the answers given in to the
+Committee's Queries, from Great Britain and Ireland, except to complete
+the history of the Presbyterian Church of England, so long distinguished
+for the abeyance of clerical subscription.
+
+It was in 1755, that the Presbytery of Newcastle made a movement towards
+disclaiming the Arian, Socinian and other heresies, but without
+proposing a Confession. In 1784, the same Presbytery adopted a Formula
+accepting the Westminster Confession; in 1802, however, subscription to
+the Formula was rescinded. Through Scottish influence, the return to the
+Westminster Confession was gradually brought about in the early part of
+the century. That Confession was formally adopted by the Presbytery of
+Newcastle in 1824; and since 1836, all the ministers of the body have
+been required to accept it in the most unqualified manner.
+
+The Calvinistic Methodists of Wales drew up, in 1823, a Confession
+consisting of forty-four articles, agreeing substantially with the
+Westminster Confession. Subscription is not required: but the clergy,
+prior to ordination, make a statement of their doctrinal views, which
+amounts to nearly the same thing. Like the Roman Catholic Church, the
+Methodists depend upon discipline rather than upon Subscription.
+
+The Congregational Churches take up almost the same attitude towards
+their clergy. There is no subscription; but any great deviation from the
+prevailing views of the body leads to forfeiture of the position of
+brotherhood, and possibly also to severance from the charge of a
+congregation. Still, the absence of a binding and penal test is
+favourable to freedom, from the present tendency of men's minds in that
+direction.
+
+As regards the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, we
+find that the first Presbytery was constituted in 1705. No formal
+statement of doctrine was considered necessary till the lapse of about
+a quarter of a century, when the spread of Arianism in England urged the
+Synod of Philadelphia to pass what was called the "Adopting Act" in
+1729, by which they hoped to exclude from American churches British
+ministers tainted with Arian views. They agreed that all the ministers
+of this Synod, or that shall hereafter be admitted into this Synod,
+shall declare their agreement in and approbation of the Confession of
+Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Assembly of Divines
+at Westminster, as being, in all the essential and necessary articles,
+good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine, "and we do
+also adopt the said confession and the catechisms as the Confession of
+our faith ".
+
+The formula subscribed by ministers at their ordination is, however,
+less stringent than that in use in the Churches of Scotland.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[French Protestant Churches.]
+
+Turning next to the Continent we may refer, first, to the French
+Protestant Church, now consisting of two divisions--(1) The Reformed
+Church united to the State, and (2) The Union of the Evangelical
+Churches.
+
+The Gallic Confession, styled "La Rochelle," the joint work of Calvin
+and Chaudien, was adopted as the doctrinal standard of the Reformed
+French Churches in their first national synod, which met at Paris in
+May, 1559, and was revised and confirmed by the seventh synod, which
+assembled at La Rochelle under the presidency of Theodore Beza in 1571.
+It is composed of forty articles, which reproduce faithfully the
+Calvinistic doctrine. But it is not accepted as infallible; the final
+authority, in the light of which successive synods may reform it, is the
+Bible.
+
+"The reformed doctrine, as sanctioned by the Confession of La Rochelle,
+was, in its essential features, recognised and professed by all
+Protestant France; and, notwithstanding its sufferings and internal
+dissensions, the Church during the first quarter of the 17th century
+held its own course and remained faithful to itself. A consistory, that
+of Caen, had, even as late as 1840, restored in the churches of its
+jurisdiction the Confession of La Rochelle in its full vigour. Little by
+little, however, under the influence of the naturalistic philosophy of
+the 18th century, the negative criticism of Germany, and above all the
+religious indifference which followed the repose which the Church was
+enjoying after two centuries of persecution, the Confession of Faith as
+well as the discipline fell into disuse. It was never really
+abrogated.... However, it is a practical fact that the partisans of one
+of the two sections which to-day divide the Reformed Church of France,
+not only do not consider themselves bound by the Confession of La
+Rochelle, but, tending more and more towards Rationalism, and seeing in
+Protestantism only the religion of free thought, have come to reject the
+great miracles of the gospel, and to demand for their pastors, in the
+bosom of the Church, unlimited freedom in teaching. While on the one
+hand the sovereignty of the Holy Scriptures is claimed, on the other is
+held the rule of individual conscience."
+
+The majority of the official synod which met at Paris in September,
+1848, refused to put an end to the doctrinal disorder in the Church by
+establishing in the Church a clear and positive law of faith. The
+minority, regarding the adverse vote as an official sufferance of
+indifference on doctrinal matters, separated themselves from their
+brethren, and founded the "Union of the Evangelical Churches of France".
+
+[General Synod of Paris in 1872.]
+
+In 1872, "in the face of attacks directly aimed, in the bosom of the
+Church, at the unity of her doctrine," the thirtieth general synod,
+assembled at Paris, drew up, not a complete Confession of Faith, but
+a declaration determining the doctrinal limits of the Church, and
+proclaiming "the sovereign authority of the Holy Scriptures with regard
+to belief, and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the only
+begotten Son of God, who died for our sins and rose again for our
+justification".[20]
+
+Down to 1824, new pastors indicated their adherence to the Confession of
+Faith by signature. In 1824, however, signature was replaced by a solemn
+promise. "Since that time different formulas have been used at the will
+of the pastors performing the ordination, without any one of them having
+the sanction of a synod, and without the manner of adherence having been
+expressly stipulated."
+
+"Since the Synod of 1872, in ordinations over which pastors attached to
+the Synodal Church have presided, candidates are required to conform
+formally, in the presence of the congregation, to the declaration of
+faith adopted by the Synod. Article 2, of the complete law, declares:
+'Every candidate for holy orders must, before receiving ordination,
+affirm that he adheres to the faith of the Church as stated by the
+general synod'."
+
+Theological professors were sometimes appointed without conditions.
+Still they were not permitted to teach doctrines in glaring
+contradiction to the general belief of the Churches. For example, in
+1812, M. Gasc, professor of theology at Montauban, attacked in his
+lectures the doctrine of the Trinity, whereupon several consistories
+required him either to retract his opinions or to resign his post.
+M. Gasc retracted his opinions.
+
+"The Evangelical Churches of France, composed of members who have made
+an explicit and individual profession of faith, and who recognise in
+religious matters no other authority than that of Jesus Christ, the only
+and sovereign head of the Church," accept the Old and New Testaments as
+directly inspired by God and so constituting the only and infallible
+rule of faith and life.
+
+[Churches of Switzerland.]
+
+The Churches of Switzerland have the pre-eminence in the relaxation or
+disuse of Tests. The following is a summary of their practice:--
+
+_The Reformed Church of the Canton of Vaud_.
+
+According to the ecclesiastical law of May 19, 1863 (slightly modified
+by a decree of December 2, 1874), the _National Church_ of the Canton of
+Vaud "desires chiefly that its members should lead a Christian life,"
+and "admits no other rule of instruction than the Word of God contained
+in the Holy Scriptures". Every candidate for the ministry is required by
+the ecclesiastical law of December 14, 1839, to "swear that he will
+discharge conscientiously the duties which the National Reformed
+Evangelical Church imposes upon its ministers, and that he will preach
+the Word of God in its purity and integrity as it is contained in the
+Holy Scriptures". "When accusation is brought against any minister on
+the ground of doctrine, the proceedings are distinctly marked; but in
+reality it is simply required that 'the jurymen give a conscientious
+verdict'."
+
+The _Free Evangelical Church_ of the Canton of Vaud requires that
+candidates for the ministry be examined as to their religious life,
+their calling to the ministry, their doctrine and their ecclesiastical
+principles by a committee of the synodical commission, with pastors and
+elders. After examination the candidate must "declare his cordial
+adhesion to the doctrines and institutions of the Free Church". This
+pledge is verbal.
+
+
+_Independent Evangelical Church of Neuchatel._
+
+The ancient Reformed Church of Neuchatel never put forth any special
+Confession of Faith. The assembly of Pastors, the governing body of the
+Church, down to 1848, accepted the Holy Scriptures, the forms used in
+baptism and the communion, and the Apostles' Creed as fully adequate to
+express the faith of the Church. The Synod, who took over the government
+of the Church in 1848, maintained the same position, refusing in 1857 to
+sanction an abridged Confession.
+
+On May 20, 1873, the Grand Council of the Republic and Canton of
+Neuchatel passed a new law regulating the relation of Church and State.
+Article 12 says: "Liberty of conscience in matters of religion is
+inviolable; it may neither be fettered by regulations, vows, or
+promises, by disciplinary penalties, by formulas or a creed, nor by any
+measures whatsoever".
+
+Hence resulted the separation of those that formed the Independent
+Evangelical Church of Neuchatel, which, in 1874, adopted a Confession
+"acknowledging as the only source and rule of its faith the Old and New
+Testaments, and proclaiming the great truths of salvation contained in
+the Apostles' Creed". The ministers, on ordination, take an oath to
+advance the honour and glory of God above all things; to maintain his
+word at the risk of life, body, and property; to be in unity with the
+brethren in the doctrines of religion and in the holy ministry; and to
+avoid all sectarianism and schism in the Church.
+
+
+_National Protestant Church of Geneva_.
+
+[Historical Changes in the Church of Geneva.]
+
+During the 16th century, from 1536 onwards, the National Protestant
+Church of Geneva was in constant turmoil through the insistence on, and
+the opposition to, the doctrines laid down by Calvin in his Confession
+of Faith and System of Ecclesiastical Ordinances. The 17th century is
+marked by the conflicts of Calvinism and Arminianism. After numerous
+variations, the oath of consecration was, in June 1725, changed hack to
+the form provided by the Ecclesiastical Ordinance of 1576: "You swear to
+hold the doctrine of the holy prophets and apostles, as it is contained
+in the books of the Old and New Testaments, of which doctrine our
+Catechism is a summary ". This oath remained in force for nearly a
+century, till 1806. "It was asserted in the discussion (in the Assembly)
+that no one should be forced to follow entirely Calvin's Catechism. It
+is further expected that the candidates for the ministry should be
+requested not to discuss in the pulpit any striking or useless matter
+which might tend to disturb the peace. At this time, the Confession of
+Faith of the 17th century was abolished to return to that of the 16th
+century, interpreting the latter with much freedom. The Lower Council
+ratified this decision, but ordered the Assembly to keep the most
+absolute silence upon this subject, especially in the presence of
+strangers." In 1788, the Assembly adopted a new Catechism, containing
+numerous points of divergence from the orthodox Catechism of Calvin,
+which it superseded with the sanction of the Lower Council. In 1806, the
+new formula of consecration threw out the Catechism; it ran thus--"You
+promise to teach divine truth as it is contained in the books of the Old
+and New Testaments, of which we have an abridgment in the Apostles'
+Creed". In 1810, after long deliberation, there was published a revision
+in the latitudinarian and utilitarian sense of the Larger Catechism. In
+the same year, the Apostles' Creed was thrown out of the pledge of the
+ministers, which now read thus: "You promise ... to preach, in its
+purity, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to recognise as the only
+infallible rule of faith and conduct the word of God, as it is contained
+in the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments". Presently, however,
+in 1813, a religious revival led to dangerous discussions, and the
+ministers were bound "to abstain from all sectarian spirit, to avoid all
+that would create any schism and break the union of the Church"--an
+addition suppressed towards 1850; and in 1817, they were required to
+pledge themselves to abstain from discussing four points in
+particular--the manner of the union of the divine and human nature in
+the person of Jesus Christ; original sin; the manner in which grace
+operates, or saving grace; and predestination; and, if led to utter
+their thoughts on any one of these subjects, they were "to do so without
+too much positiveness, to avoid expressions foreign to the Holy
+Scriptures, and to use, as much as possible, the terms which they
+employ". In 1847, the organisation of the Protestant worship was set
+forth in a special law, and in 1849, the Consistory called in accordance
+with this, adopted an organic rule for the Church. According to Article
+74, the functionaries of the Church may be subjected to discipline "in
+case of teaching, preaching, or publicly professing any doctrine that
+may bring scandal upon the Church". Various modifications followed. In
+1874 (April 26), Article 123 was made to declare that "each pastor
+teaches and preaches freely on his own responsibility, and no restraint
+can be put upon this liberty either by the Confession of Faith or by the
+liturgic formulas". In the end of the same year, however (Oct. 3), the
+State Council promulgated a new organic law, "in virtue of which a
+pastor can either be suspended or dismissed by the Consistory or by the
+Council of State for dogmatic motives". In 1875, the pastor obtained the
+right to use in his religious teaching any catechetical manual he
+preferred, provided he informed the Consistory of his choice. The use of
+the _liturgical prayers_, published by the Consistory, became optional.
+The pastors were now required merely to declare before God that "they
+will teach and preach conscientiously, according to their lights and
+faith the Christian truth contained in our holy hooks". The _liturgical
+collection_, published by the Consistory in 1875, contains two series of
+formulas, expressed in a dogmatic sense on the one hand, and in a
+liberal sense on the other. The Apostles' Creed is optional.
+
+
+_Free Evangelical Church of Geneva_.
+
+The Free Evangelical Church of Geneva demands only a formal adherence to
+its Profession of Faith from the elders (including the ministers) and
+the deacons. "Some of these officers have even been permitted to hold
+certain reserves on such or such article."
+
+
+_Germanic Switzerland_.
+
+Pastor Bernard of Berne, having enumerated the symbolical writings of
+Germanic Switzerland, says: "For centuries the pastors were obliged to
+sign them, although it is true that the Second Confession of Helvetic
+Faith was alone recognised as the general rule imposed upon pastors.
+The signing of the Formula Consensus was exacted only temporarily (being
+discarded about 1720). It has been only from the beginning of this
+century that, under the influence of rationalism, pastors have been
+required to preach the Gospel merely according to the _principles_ of
+the Helvetic Confession. To-day we find all confession of faith
+abolished in our Germanic Swiss Churches. Pastors preach what pleases
+them. Chosen by the parishes, they owe to them solely an avowal of their
+doctrines."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Hungarian Reformed Church has a singular history, in respect of
+Creeds. The Report of the Council goes very minutely into the detail of
+eleven confessions held successively by that church. Of these, there
+survive two--the Helvetic Confession and the Catechism of Heidelberg, by
+which ministers and office--bearers are still bound.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[German Churches.]
+
+Next as to Germany. As the several states have their separate
+ecclesiastical usages, the same rule does not apply everywhere. For an
+extreme case of absence of toleration, we may refer to the Grand Duchy
+of Mecklenburg. Lutheranism is the established religion; and the Duchy
+is the stronghold of mediaeval conservatism both in politics and in
+religion. The, removal of Baumgarten from the University of Rostock is
+an example in point; and the decree is so characteristic, and
+illustrative that it deserves to be given at length.
+
+"We have to our sincere regret been given to understand that, in your
+writings published in and since the year 1854, you have advanced
+doctrines and principles that are in the most important points at
+variance with the doctrines and principles of the symbolic books of our
+Evangelical-Lutheran Church and of our rules of Church Discipline, to
+such an extent as to amount to an attempt to shake to the very
+foundation the basis whereon these doctrines and principles and our
+church rest. In order to reach more exact certainty on these things, we
+have assembled our Consistory to consider this matter, and from them we
+have received the annexed opinion, by which the above-mentioned view has
+been fully confirmed.
+
+"Whereas, then, it is required by our Church Ordinances of 1552 and 1602
+(1650) that the Christian doctrine shall be taught 'pure and unchanged,'
+as it is contained in Holy Writ, the general symbols of the Christian
+Church, in Dr. Luther's Catechism and Confession, and in the Augsburg
+Confession of 1530, and that, if an academical teacher fall away from
+these, he shall be proceeded against; whereas, further, in Articles II.
+to IV. of the Reversals of 1621, the sovereigns gave the States the
+assurance that in the University of Rostock there should be neither
+appointed nor tolerated any other teachers but such as should be
+attached to the Augsburg Confession and the Lutheran religion: the
+establishment of the University of Rostock on the pure doctrine of the
+Christian symbols and of the Augsburg Confession has been repeated in
+Sec. 4 of the Regulations upon the relations of the town of Rostock to the
+State University of 1827, and once again in Sec. 1 of the Statutes of the
+University of 1837; no less do the statutes of the Theological Faculty
+of Rostock of 1564, and the later Regulation as to this Faculty of 1791,
+bind the members of the Faculty to expound the writings of the Prophets
+and the Apostles in the sense laid down in the general Christian
+symbols, in the Augsburg Confession, the Smalkald Articles, and the
+writings of Dr. Luther; your appointment of 31st August, 1850, referred
+you to the Statutes of the University and of the Theological Faculty,
+and also directed you to comport yourself in accordance with the rule
+and line of the revealed word of God, the unchanged Augsburg Confession,
+the _formula concordia_, and all the other symbolic books received in
+our (lands) country, as well as with the Mecklenburg Church Ordinances
+relating to these, without any innovation; you also on your induction on
+the 19th of Oct., 1850, bound yourself by oath to the duties contained
+in your appointment and to the Statutes of the University and of the
+Theological Faculty."
+
+[Removal of Baumgarten from Rostock.]
+
+"We can the shorter time entrust you with the vocation of an academic
+teacher of the Evangelical-Lutheran Theology as you have united with
+your backslidings in theological doctrine at the same time political
+doctrines of the most delicate kind, deduced relatively from those; and
+we will, therefore--after hearing of our High Consistory, and after the
+foregoing resolution of our ministry according to Sec. 10, Lit. H. of the
+Ordinance of 4th April, 1853, relating to the organisation of the
+Ministers--hereby remove you from the office, hitherto filled by you, of
+an ordinary Professor of Theology in our State University of Rostock."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In Prussia, the Clergy, and especially the University Professors of
+Theology, enjoy more liberty than in Mecklenburg; but they are not
+wholly secure from the attempts of the Church Courts to enforce
+discipline against heretical teaching. The following are recent cases.
+
+1. The St. Jacobi Gemeinde (parish) in Berlin, belonging, as is the rule
+in Prussia, to the "Unirte Kirche"--a fusion of the Lutheran and the
+Reformed Churches--in 1877, chose, as its pastor, Lic. Horzbach. The
+Consistory of Brandenburg, within whose jurisdiction Berlin lies,
+refused to admit him on account of his heterodox views. By the
+ecclesiastical law, a pastor translated from one consistory to another,
+has to be approved of by the one he enters; which gives an opportunity
+of exercising a disciplinary power, not beyond what is possessed by the
+consistory where he has once been admitted, but more opportunely and
+conveniently brought into play. St. Jacobi parish, having apparently a
+taste for advanced views, next chose a Dr. Schramm; but he too was
+rejected on the same grounds. The third selection fell on Pastor Werner
+(Guben); this was confirmed by the Consistory, but was quashed by the
+"Oberkirchenrath," or supreme ecclesiastical authority of the country,
+located in Berlin. The parish was now considered to have forfeited its
+right of election; and a pastor was chosen for it by the Oberkirchenrath.
+Happily his views were not too strict for the congregation, and peace
+was restored. In all the three instances, the rejection took place on
+the complaint of a small orthodox minority in the parish.
+
+2. Rev. Luehr, pastor at Eckenforda, in the Prussian Province of
+Schleswig-Holstein, was accused of heresy, and deprived by the
+Provincial Consistory of Kiel in December, 1881. Pastor Luehr appealed to
+the Berlin Oberkirchenrath, who reversed the sentence, and let him off
+with a reproof for the use of incautious language.
+
+There have been two still more notorious heresy hunts: one, the case of
+Dr. Sydow in Berlin; the other, Pastor Kalzhoff, who was ultimately
+deposed, and is now minister of an independent congregation in Berlin.
+
+Both the central ecclesiastical authority and the provincial
+consistories, being nominated by the Government, reflect the religious
+tendencies of the Emperor and his Ministers for the time being. At
+present, these are probably behind the country at large in point of
+liberality.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next to Switzerland, Holland is most distinguished for advanced views as
+to the remission of Tests, and the liberty of the clergy. A very
+complete account of the history and present position of the Dutch sects
+is given in a pamphlet, entitled "The Ecclesiastical Institutions of
+Holland, by Philip H. Wicksteed, M.A. (Williams & Norgate)".
+
+[Subscription in the Dutch Church.]
+
+It is pretty well known that in doctrinal views the majority in the
+Dutch Church is Calvinist; while a minority forms the "Modern School,"
+a school partaking of the rationalism of our century in matters of faith.
+The battle of the Confessions began in 1842, and is not yet finished. In
+this year an attempt was made to revive the binding authority of the old
+confessions. The General Synod in that and the following years
+successfully resisted the movement. In 1854, a new formula of
+subscription applicable to candidates for the ministry was introduced,
+less stringent and more liberal than the old one. The orthodoxy party
+endeavoured to make it more stringent, the liberals proposed to make it
+still less so. In 1874, a majority of the General Synod passed the
+following declaration:--
+
+"The doctrine contained in the Netherland Confession, the Heidelberg
+Catechism, and the Canons of the Synod of Dort, forms the historical
+foundation of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands.
+
+"Inasmuch as this doctrine is not confessed with sufficient unanimity by
+the community, there can, under the existing circumstances, be no
+possibility of 'maintaining the doctrine' in the ecclesiastical sense.
+The community, building on the principles of the Church, as manifested
+in her origin and development, continues to confess her Christian faith,
+and thereby to form the expression which may in course of time once more
+become the adequate and unanimous Confession of the Church.
+
+"Meantime, care for the interests of the Christian Church in general and
+the Reformed in particular, quickening of Christian religion and
+morality, increase of religious knowledge, preservation of order and
+unity, and furtherance of love for King and Fatherland--are ever the
+main object of all to whom any ecclesiastical office is entrusted, and
+no one can be rejected as a member or a teacher who, complying with all
+other requirements, declares himself to be convinced in his own
+conscience that in compliance with the above-named principles, he may
+belong to the Reformed Church of the Netherlands."[21]
+
+This declaration, however, did not pass the Provincial Church Courts,
+which possess the right of veto; and the law therefore remained as it
+was. But, in 1881, a new proposal for altering the formula of
+subscription passed the General Synod. Next year, it was definitely
+approved, and is now the law of the church. According to it, licentiates
+to the Ministry, on being admitted by the Provincial Church Courts, are
+made to promise that they will labour in the Ministry according to their
+vocation with zeal and faithfulness; that they will further with all
+their power the interests of the kingdom of God, and, so far as
+consistent therewith, the interests of the Dutch Reformed Church, and
+give obedience to the regulations of that Church.
+
+There is, however, both in orthodox and in semi-orthodox circles, a
+wide-spread dissatisfaction with this amount of latitude, and fears are
+entertained for its continuance.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 20: The debates in this Synod were conducted with the highest
+ability on both sides. Guizot took a part on the side of orthodoxy. The
+published report will be found abstracted in the _British Quarterly_,
+No. CXIV.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Mr. Wicksteed makes the following curious remark:--"I am
+often asked whether the 'Moderns' are Unitarians. The question is rather
+startling. It is as if one were asked whether the majority of English
+astronomers had ceased to uphold the Ptolemaic system yet. The best
+answer I can give is a reference to the chapter on 'God' in a popular
+work by Dr. Matthes which has run through four editions. In this chapter
+there is not a word about the Trinity, but at the close occurs this
+footnote: On the antiquated doctrine of the _Trinity_, see the
+fourteenth note at the end of the book,--where, accordingly, the
+doctrine is expounded and its confusions pointed out rather with the
+calm interest of the antiquarian than the eagerness of the
+controversialist.'"]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+WORKS BY PROFESSOR BAIN.
+
+
+A FIRST ENGLISH GRAMMAR, 90th Thousand.
+
+A KEY, with additional Exercises.
+
+A HIGHER ENGLISH GRAMMAR, 80th Thousand of
+
+Revised Edition.
+
+A COMPANION TO THE HIGHER GRAMMAR.
+
+ENGLISH COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC.
+
+LOGIC, in Two Parts--
+
+DEDUCTION.
+
+INDUCTION.
+
+MENTAL AND MORAL SCIENCE.
+
+_The same, in Two Parts_,
+
+MENTAL SCIENCE--PSYCHOLOGY AND HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY.
+
+MORAL SCIENCE--ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICAL SYSTEMS.
+
+THE SENSES AND THE INTELLECT, 3rd Edition.
+
+THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL, 3rd Edition.
+
+JOHN STUART MILL, a Criticism: with Personal Recollections.
+
+JAMES MILL, a Biography.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Practical Essays, by Alexander Bain
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRACTICAL ESSAYS ***
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