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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October
+1879, by Various
+
+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/license
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2012 [EBook #39459]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Nigel Blower and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes:
+
+The first part of this volume (September 1879) was produced as Project
+Gutenberg Ebook #30048. The relevant part of the table of contents has
+been extracted from that document, and a brief title page added.
+
+_Italic words_ have been enclosed in underscores.
+
+A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. Some
+inconsistent hyphenation and accents have been retained.]
+
+
+
+             THE
+         CONTEMPORARY
+            REVIEW
+
+  VOLUME XXXVI. OCTOBER, 1879
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  OCTOBER, 1879.
+                                                                    PAGE
+  India and Afghanistan. By Lieut.-Colonel R. D. Osborn              193
+
+  Critical Idealism in France. By Paul Janet                         212
+
+  On the Moral Limits of Beneficial Commerce. By Francis W. Newman   232
+
+  The Myths of the Sea and the River of Death. By C. F. Keary        243
+
+  Mr. Macvey Napier and the Edinburgh Reviewers. By Matthew Browne   263
+
+  The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology. By James
+    Darmesteter                                                      274
+
+  Lazarus Appeals to Dives. By Henry J. Miller                       290
+
+  The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures. By Professor St.
+    George Mivart                                                    313
+
+  Contemporary Life and Thought in Turkey. By an Eastern Statesman   334
+
+  Contemporary Books:--
+
+        I. History and Literature of the East, under the Direction
+           of Professor E. H. Palmer                                 350
+
+       II. Classical Literature, under the Direction of Rev.
+           Prebendary J. Davies                                      359
+
+      III. Essays, Novels, Poetry, &c.under the Direction of
+           Matthew Browne                                            366
+
+
+
+INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN.
+
+
+When the news arrived that Major Cavagnari and his companions had fallen
+victims to the fury of the Kabul populace, the _Daily Telegraph_ "called
+aloud, before Heaven, for a punishment which should ring from end to end
+of the Continent of Asia." It is a pity that so much fine and eloquent
+indignation should be expended on the Afghans instead of those who are
+truly responsible for the catastrophe which has evoked it. If ever there
+was a future event which might be predicted with absolute certainty, it
+was that Major Cavagnari and his companions would perish precisely as
+they have done. Twice, within forty years, have we invaded Afghanistan,
+although on both occasions we have frankly avowed that with the
+inhabitants of the country we had no cause of quarrel whatever.
+Nevertheless, we carried fire and sword wherever we went, cutting down
+their fruit trees, burning their villages, and leaving their women and
+children shelterless under a winter sky. What could we expect as the
+fruit of such acts, except that our victims--knowing, as we did, that
+they were revengeful, passionate, and too ignorant to forecast the
+consequences of their actions--should retaliate in kind the moment that
+they had the opportunity? The first invasion of Afghanistan is now known
+by general consent as "the iniquitous war;" but it is open to question
+if even that war was so elaborately contrived, or so long laboured for
+as this--the first act of which has terminated in the slaughter of Major
+Cavagnari and his escort.
+
+The circumstances which preceded it are briefly these. For eighteen
+months Lord Lytton had attempted, by alternate threats and cajolery, to
+prevail upon the Ameer Shere Ali to make a surrender of his
+independence, and become a vassal of the Indian Empire. These attempts
+having failed, war was declared against him on the pretence that he had
+insulted us before all Asia by declining to receive a "friendly" mission
+sent by the Indian Government. This mission was _not_ friendly. It was
+notorious throughout India that it would go to Kabul charged with an
+_ultimatum_ which offered the Ameer the choice of war, or the sacrifice
+of his independence. But even this mission the Ameer never refused to
+receive--nay, it is certain that he would have received it if the
+opportunity had been given to him, so great was the value he attached to
+English friendship. But what the Government of India desired was not the
+reception of the mission, but a pretext for making war upon the Ameer.
+It knew that the policy which it meditated in Afghanistan would so
+completely destroy the sovereignty of the Ameer, that it was impossible
+he should agree to it. At the same time, it was impossible to declare
+war against an independent prince, simply because he declined to divest
+himself of his independence. The war must, somehow or another, be made
+to appear as if it were due to some act of the Ameer. Consequently,
+almost from the hour in which the announcement was made that the mission
+was to start, the Ameer was plied with insults and menaces which, if
+they were not intended to drive him to some act of overt hostility, had
+no purpose at all. And when these proved unavailing, Lord Lytton
+directed Sir Neville Chamberlain to attempt to force his way through the
+Khyber Pass, without waiting for the permission of the Ameer. In the
+most courteous manner the Afghan officer, in command at the Khyber,
+intimated to the mission that, without the sanction of his master, it
+was impossible to allow it to proceed; and this refusal was instantly
+telegraphed to England as a deliberate insult which must be wiped out in
+blood. From first to last, so far as his conduct towards us is
+concerned, the Ameer was absolutely blameless. During his entire reign
+his consistent endeavour had been to draw closer the ties of amity
+between himself and us. The Russian mission had forced its way to Kabul,
+despite of all his endeavours to hinder its advance; and there can be no
+question that but for the previous action of Lord Lytton that mission
+would never have come to Afghanistan. But eighteen months before that
+occurrence Lord Lytton had withdrawn our Native Agent from the Court of
+the Ameer. This had been done as a mark of displeasure, and a proof that
+no alliance of any kind existed between the two States. This proceeding
+Lord Lytton followed up by the occupation of Quetta, although he was
+well aware that such an occupation would be interpreted--and rightly--by
+the Ameer, as a menace to his independence, and the harbinger of war. So
+it came about that when the Russian mission knocked for admission at the
+doors of his capital, the Ameer found himself on the one side threatened
+by Russia, and on the other abandoned and threatened by Lord Lytton.
+Lord Lytton, in point of fact, is as directly responsible for the entry
+of the Russian mission to Kabul as he is for the dispatch of his own.
+
+But if Lord Lytton's treatment of the Ameer was cruel and ungenerous,
+criminal, at least to an equal extent, was his treatment of the people
+over whom he ruled. At that time there was an appalling amount of
+suffering all over India. The country had been ravaged by a series of
+famines. In the Punjab prices were abnormally high. The North-West
+Provinces were still unrecovered from a dearth, during which the
+Government of India had exhibited a rapacity and indifference to human
+suffering which would, with difficulty, be credited in England. Terrible
+as is the mortality resulting from a famine in India, the death-roll
+represents but a tenth part of the suffering which such visitations
+inflict. For every human being that dies, ten are left, without money
+and without physical strength, to struggle feebly for existence on the
+margin of the grave. They cannot give a fair day's work for a fair day's
+wage. They may reckon themselves fortunate if their enfeebled powers can
+earn just sufficient to keep body and soul together. For all these
+wretched beings--and last year in Upper India they numbered many
+millions--the smallest rise of price in the necessities of life means
+death from hunger. A war, therefore, with the enormous rise of prices
+which it would immediately produce, was nothing less than a sentence of
+torture and death passed upon tens of thousands of our own subjects.
+Undeterred, however, by the warnings of experience, deaf to
+considerations of humanity and justice, the Government of India started
+on its wild-goose chase after a "Scientific Frontier." The victims whom
+it trampled to death in this mad chase have never been numbered--they
+never can be numbered. The Afghans who died in defence of their village
+homes form but a hundredth part of them. The residue was composed of our
+own mute and uncomplaining subjects.
+
+A war thus wantonly commenced resulted in a failure as ignominious as it
+deserved. Long before the Treaty of Gundamuck the ambitious policy of
+the Government had become an object of contempt and ridicule all over
+India. It was known that Lord Lytton and his advisers were at their
+wit's end to discover something which might be made to do duty as a
+"Scientific Frontier," and so bring a misjudged enterprise to a
+conclusion. But it is the peculiarity of our Ministers to believe that
+they can arrest the inexorable sequence of cause and effect by a
+dexterous manipulation of the faculty of speech. Lord Beaconsfield
+appears to have imparted to his colleagues his own belief in the
+omnipotence of phrases to remove mountains, and make rough places
+smooth. So the Treaty of Gundamuck was no sooner signed than Ministers
+and Ministerial journals raised a great hymn of triumph over the
+wondrous things which they had wrought in Afghanistan. The one solid
+national advantage to be derived from the sacrifice of Cavagnari and his
+comrades, is that this method of treating facts will have to be laid
+aside. Lord Lytton is not likely to appeal again to his "carefully
+verified facts" as a proof that he is a much wiser man than Lord
+Lawrence. Lord Cranbrook will not again express his conviction that the
+"objections (to an English Resident) expressed by Shere Ali will be
+shown to have been without substantial foundation." Yakoub Khan and his
+five attendants are all that remain of that "strong, friendly, and
+independent Afghanistan" which Mr. Stanhope informed the House of
+Commons had been created by the war. The anguished cry of the _Daily
+Telegraph_ "for a punishment which shall ring from end to end of the
+Continent of Asia" is the latest expression of the "results incalculably
+beneficial to the two countries" which, according to Lord Lytton, were
+to flow from the Peace of Gundamuck.
+
+A failure in policy more signal and more complete than this it is
+impossible to imagine. But it is to be noted that the Ministerial
+journals are doing their utmost to save the "Scientific Frontier" from
+the destruction which has overtaken the projects of the Ministry. And so
+long as a belief in this Frontier is cherished anywhere, the return to a
+safe and rational policy is obstructed. In the following pages,
+therefore, I shall, firstly, endeavour to show that the (so-called)
+"Scientific Frontier" is as purely fictitious as the "strong, friendly,
+and independent Afghanistan" which we were told had been created out of
+chaos by means of the war. And, secondly, I shall discuss the various
+lines of conduct which lie open to us, when we have occupied Kabul, in
+order to determine which is best fitted to ensure the stability of our
+Indian Empire and the contentment of its inhabitants.
+
+
+The Scientific Frontier.
+
+In all the discussions on this Frontier question, a very obvious, but
+all-important, fact has been persistently forgotten. It is that British
+rule in India is a rule based upon military supremacy; and that,
+therefore, our Indian army--English as well as native--is primarily a
+garrison, having its duties upon the places where it is quartered. We
+could not withdraw our troops from any part of India without incurring
+the risk of an outbreak in the districts thus denuded. The "Punjab
+Frontier Force" has always been a force distinct from the "Army of
+India," and recognized as having special duties of its own. So far as I
+know, in the discussions on a "Scientific Frontier" no reference has
+been made to the above circumstance. The Indian army has been spoken of
+as if it were so much fighting power, which we were free to concentrate
+at any point we pleased. And to this oversight is due the hallucination
+that an improved frontier would enable us to diminish the strength of
+the Indian garrison (properly so called). The fact is, that before this
+last war we had almost the very frontier which our situation in India
+required. If the authority of the Ameer had extended up to the
+boundaries of our Empire, troubles between the two States must have
+occurred, resulting inevitably in the extinction of the weaker. The evil
+of such an extension of territory no one denies; we should not only have
+had to hold Afghanistan with a strong garrison--certainly not less than
+twenty thousand men--but we should have been compelled to maintain a
+frontier force, to guard against aggression from without, either from
+Russia or Persia. Forty thousand men would have been needed for this
+double duty, in addition to the pre-existing garrison of India. But by a
+piece of supreme good fortune the authority of the Ameer did not begin
+where ours left off. Between us and him were interposed the tribes which
+dwell in the hills along our North-Western frontier. These tribes
+acknowledged allegiance neither to him nor to us. Broken up and divided
+amongst themselves, the worst they could inflict upon us was an
+occasional raid into our territories; and these we could repress without
+having to call the Ameer to an account for the lawlessness of his
+subjects. A few regiments of horse and foot were all that we needed for
+the defence of our frontier; while as against foreign invasion we
+possessed a frontier that needed no defence at all. That frontier
+consisted of the foodless deserts and inaccessible hills of Afghanistan.
+These were impenetrable to an invader, so long as we retained the
+friendship and the confidence of the people who dwell among them.
+Consequently, to quote the language of Sir Henry Rawlinson, "our main
+object has ever been, since the date of Lord Auckland's famous Simla
+Manifesto of 1838, to obtain the establishment of a strong, friendly,
+and independent Power on the North-Western frontier of India, without,
+however, accepting any crushing liabilities in return." We all know the
+manner in which Lord Auckland set about obtaining the "strong, friendly,
+and independent Power," and the "crushing liabilities" we had to accept
+in consequence. Tutored by experience, we adopted a wiser and more
+righteous policy, which was producing admirable results.
+
+The difficulty of establishing a stable friendship with Afghanistan
+arises from the character of the people. It is the habitation, not of a
+nation, but of a collection of tribes, and the nominal ruler of
+Afghanistan is never more than the ruler of a party which, for the time,
+chances to be strongest. Consequently there never existed an authority,
+recognized as legitimate throughout the country, with which we could
+enter into diplomatic relations. At the same time, their divided
+condition crippled the Afghans for all offensive purposes. We had,
+therefore, nothing to fear in the way of unprovoked aggression, and our
+obvious policy was to win the confidence of these wild tribes and their
+chiefs, by carefully abstaining from encroachments on their
+independence. Such, in fact, has been the policy which every
+Governor-General has pursued in the interval which divides the
+"plundering and blundering" of Lord Auckland from the like achievements
+of Lord Lytton. And it had been attended with the greater success,
+because under the firm guidance of two remarkable men, Afghanistan had
+progressed considerably towards the status of an organized kingdom.
+Shere Ali had diligently trod in the footsteps of his father, the Dost,
+and it is in these terms that the Government of India describes the rule
+and policy of the Ameer in the year 1876:
+
+    "Those officers of our Government who are best acquainted with the
+    affairs of Afghanistan, and the character of the Ameer and his
+    people, consider that the hypothesis that the Ameer may be
+    intimidated or corrupted by Russia (even supposing there was any
+    probability of such an attempt being made) is opposed to his
+    personal character and to the feelings and traditions of his race,
+    and that any attempt to intrigue with factions in Afghanistan,
+    opposed to the Ameer, would defeat itself, and afford the Ameer the
+    strongest motive for at once disclosing to us such proceedings.
+    Whatever may be the discontent created in Afghanistan by taxation,
+    conscription, and other unpopular measures, _there can be no
+    question that the power of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan has been
+    consolidated throughout Afghanistan in a manner unknown since the
+    days of Dost Mahomed, and that the officers entrusted with the
+    administration have shown extraordinary loyalty and devotion to the
+    Ameer's cause_. It was probably the knowledge of the Ameer's
+    strength that kept the people aloof from Yakoub Khan, in spite of
+    his popularity. At all events, Herat fell to the Ameer without a
+    blow. The rebellion in Salpoora in the extreme West was soon
+    extinguished. The disturbances in Budukshan in the North were
+    speedily suppressed. _Nowhere has intrigue or rebellion been able to
+    make head in the Ameer's dominions._ Even the Char Eimak and the
+    Hazara tribes are learning to appreciate the advantages of a firm
+    rule.... But what we wish specially to repeat is that, from the date
+    of the Umballa Durbar to the present time, _the Ameer has
+    unreservedly accepted and acted upon our advice to maintain a
+    peaceful attitude towards his neighbours_. We have no reason to
+    believe that his views are changed."
+
+This "strong, friendly, and independent Power"--this edifice of order
+and increasing stability--the British Government deliberately destroyed
+in the insane expectation of finding a "Scientific Frontier" hidden
+somewhere in the ruins. It is difficult to conceive of an action more
+impolitic or more cruel. In a month the labours of forty years were
+obliterated, old hatreds rekindled, and the wounds of 1838, which the
+wise and gentle treatment of former Viceroys had almost healed, were
+opened afresh.
+
+We come next to the inquiry as to what this "Scientific Frontier" is, in
+order to obtain which this act of vandalism was perpetrated. This is a
+question involved in some obscurity. The _Times_ is the great champion
+of the "Scientific Frontier," but in its columns, as also in Ministerial
+speeches, it changes colour like a chameleon. Sometimes it is called the
+"possession of the three highways leading to India," thereby rendering
+the Empire "invulnerable." At other times it is recommended to us
+because it protects the trade through the Bolan Pass, and enables us to
+threaten Kabul. The fact is that the (so-called) "Scientific
+Frontier"--meaning thereby the frontier we acquired by the Treaty of
+Gundamuck--is a make-believe, an imposture. It is not the "Scientific
+Frontier" in pursuit of which we "hunted the Ameer to death" and reduced
+his territories to a condition of anarchy.
+
+Those who have followed the history of the war with attention will
+remember that in September of last year the Calcutta correspondent of
+the _Times_ was smitten with a really marvellous admiration for Lord
+Lytton. "India," he wrote, "is fortunate in the possession at the
+present time of a Viceroy specially gifted with broad statesmanlike
+views, the result partly of most vigilant and profound study, partly of
+the application of great natural intellectual capacity to the close
+cultivation of political science and the highest order of statecraft."
+Here we have the portrait of the lion painted by himself; and it is not
+surprising that this superb creature should have regarded with
+considerable scorn the policy of his predecessors who never claimed to
+be "specially gifted" for the exercise of "the highest order of
+statecraft." "The present measure," the correspondent went on to say,
+"for the despatch of a mission to Kabul forms but a single move in an
+extensive concerted scheme for the protection of India, which is the
+outcome of a long-devised and elaborately worked-out system of defensive
+policy." Here we have a fine example of the "puff preliminary." In the
+issue of the _Times_ for the 10th September this "extensive concerted
+scheme for the protection of India" is detailed at length, and is there
+plainly set forth as intended for a barrier against Russia:--
+
+    "The Indian Government are most anxious to avoid adopting any policy
+    which would bear even the semblance of hostility towards Russia, but
+    the extreme probability of a collision sooner or later cannot be
+    overlooked. It is necessary, therefore, to provide for a strong
+    defensive position to guard against eventualities. From this point
+    of view it is indispensable that we should possess a commanding
+    influence over the triangle of territory formed on the map by Kabul,
+    Ghuznee, and Jellalabad, together with power over the Hindoo
+    Khosh.... This triangle we may hope to command with Afghan
+    concurrence if the Ameer is friendly. The strongest frontier line
+    which could be adopted would be along the Hindoo Khosh, from Pamir
+    to Bamian, thence to the south by the Helmund, Girishk, and
+    Kandahar, to the Arabian Sea. It is possible, therefore, that by
+    friendly negotiations some such defensive boundary may be adopted."
+
+Such were the moderate designs entertained by the Indian Government when
+they dispatched what they called a "friendly mission" to the Court of
+the Ameer. If Lord Lytton imagined that "friendly negotiations" would
+obtain these tremendous concessions from the Ameer, it would show that a
+training in "the highest order of statecraft" does not preserve even a
+"specially gifted" Viceroy from the credulousness of an infant. But his
+acts show that he entertained no such belief. He felt, as every one must
+feel who reads the extract I have made, that demands such as these must
+be preceded by a war. Hence the menacing letters addressed to the Ameer;
+hence the rude and insulting manner in which Sir Neville Chamberlain was
+ordered to attempt an entrance into Afghanistan without awaiting the
+permission of the Ameer; and hence, finally, the monstrous fiction of a
+deliberate "insult" inflicted upon us, when, in point of fact, we had
+been the "insulters" all along. The obvious intention throughout was to
+obtain a pretext for declaring war, because without a war the
+"Scientific Frontier" was manifestly unattainable. Lastly, when war had
+been determined upon, the same "official" correspondent came forward in
+the _Times_ to make known the objects of the impending campaign. "We
+have," he wrote, "been driven into what will probably be a costly war
+entirely against our will, and all our endeavours to avoid it. The
+occasion, therefore, will now be seized to secure for ourselves the
+various passes piercing the mountain ranges along the whole frontier
+from the Khyber to the Bolan; and further _strategic measures will be
+adopted to dominate entirely the Suleiman range and the Hindoo Khosh_."
+
+It is impossible not to admire the hardihood of this remarkable
+correspondent when he alleges that the war was "entirely against our
+will, and all our endeavours to avoid it." But this is not the matter
+with which I am at present concerned. The official character of these
+communications will be denied by no one, and they make it clear that the
+"Scientific Frontier" was intended as a barrier against Russia, and
+would have made the Hindoo Khosh the external boundary of the Indian
+Empire. Such a frontier is manifestly the dream of a military
+specialist, to whose mental vision the Indian Empire, with all its
+diverse interests, has no existence except as a frontier to be defended
+against the Russians. And it illustrates the ignorance and precipitate
+folly which has plunged us in our present difficulties that a project so
+wild should have been seriously entertained. To have carried it out the
+subjugation of Afghanistan would have been an indispensable preliminary,
+and then the civilizing of it, by means of a system of roads and strong
+garrisons throughout the country; the entire cost of these vast
+operations being defrayed by a country already taxed to the last point
+of endurance, heavily burdened with an increasing debt, and ravaged by
+periodical famines. Such, however, was the "Scientific Frontier" for
+which a "specially gifted Viceroy," trained in "the highest order of
+political statecraft," declared war against the Ameer. But the frontier
+which we obtained at the close of the war, and which Ministers and
+Ministerial journals would have us believe is the genuine article which
+they wanted from the beginning, is not only not this frontier, but it
+has not the smallest resemblance to it.
+
+The new frontier does not differ from the old except in three
+particulars. We hold the Khyber Pass as far as Lundi Kotal, and we have
+acquired the right to quarter troops in the Kurram Valley and the Valley
+of Peshin. Of these the Kurram Valley is a mere _cul-de-sac_, leading
+nowhere. But I will not ask of my readers to accept of my judgment on
+this matter. Among the best known advocates for a forward and aggressive
+policy in Afghanistan is Dr. Bellew. An accomplished linguist and an
+experienced traveller, he accompanied Colonel Lumsden's mission to
+Kandahar in 1857; he was also a member of the mission entrusted with the
+settlement of the Seistan boundary question, and no man living is better
+acquainted with the geography and people of Afghanistan. I believe it
+will not be denied that Lord Lytton, during the recent war, trusted
+largely in his knowledge and suggestions. He has thus expressed himself
+on the policy of occupying the Kurram Valley:--
+
+    "The Kurram Valley would involve the addition of about one hundred
+    and fifty miles of hill frontage to our border, and would bring us
+    into contact with the independent Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Toris,
+    Cabul-Khel, Waziris, and others, against whose hostility and inroads
+    here, as in other parts of the border, we should have to protect our
+    territory. By its possession, as we are now situated, we should be
+    committed to the defence of a long narrow strip of land, a perfect
+    _cul-de-sac_ in the hills, hemmed in by a number of turbulent
+    robber-tribes, who are under no control, and acknowledge no
+    authority. In ordinary times its acquisition would add to the
+    serious difficulties of our position. In times of trouble or
+    disturbance on the border, its possession would prove a positive
+    source of weakness, a dead weight upon our free action. In it we
+    should run the risk of being hemmed in by our foes in the
+    overhanging hills around, of being cut off from our communications
+    with the garrison of Kohat, by the Orakzais on the one side, by the
+    Waziris on the other. These are the disadvantages of the step. In
+    return what advantages should we derive? Not one. With Kurram in our
+    possession we certainly could not flank either the Khyber or the
+    Goleri Pass, because between it and the one, intervenes the
+    impassable snowy range of Sufed Koh; and between it and the other,
+    intervenes the vast routeless hilly tract of the Waziris. From
+    Kurram we could neither command Kabul nor Ghazni, because the route
+    to either is by a several days' march, over stupendous hills and
+    tortuous defiles, in comparison with which the historical Khyber and
+    Bolan Passes, or even the less widely-known Goleri Pass, are as
+    king's highways."
+
+This, I think, is sufficient to dispose of the Kurram Valley. If the old
+frontier has been rendered "invulnerable," it is not the acquisition of
+the Kurram Valley which has made it so. There remains the Peshin Valley.
+This valley is an open tract of country lying almost midway on the line
+of march between Quetta and Kandahar, but nearer to the former than the
+latter. Three easy marches from Quetta suffice to place a traveller in
+the centre of it. It cannot accurately be described as an extension of
+our frontier, because it is dissevered from it by more than two hundred
+miles of difficult country. Between the valley and British territory,
+the lands of the Khan of Khelat are interposed in one direction, and
+numerous robber-tribes--Kakers, Murrees, Bhoogtees--in another. Until
+the valley is securely linked to the Indus by a railway from Sukkur to
+the Bolan Pass--a costly work, which could not be executed in less than
+seven years--it will be impossible to quarter more than a few thousand
+men in it--and these for six months of the year will be as completely
+detached from their base of supply and reinforcement in India, as if a
+tract of empty space ran between them. So far from ensuring any
+increased security to India by our premature occupation of this valley,
+we have only enhanced the chances of a hostile collision with the rulers
+and people of Afghanistan. We were already in military occupation of
+Quetta, and until easy and rapid communication had been established
+between Quetta and the Indus, nothing was to be gained by a yet further
+advance from our base. As a barrier against Russia this frontier is
+without meaning, and no better proof of this fact could be adduced than
+Sir Henry Rawlinson's commentary upon its merits in the Article on the
+"Results of the Afghan War" which recently appeared in the _Nineteenth
+Century_:--
+
+    "The Afghan settlement is a very good settlement as far as it goes,
+    but it is not immaculate--_it is not complete_. To yield us its full
+    measure of defence, the Treaty must be supplemented by all
+    legitimate precautions and supports. _Persia must be detached from
+    Russia coûte que coûte._ Russia herself must not be left in any
+    uncertainty as to our intentions. She must be made to understand ...
+    _that she will not be permitted unopposed to establish herself in
+    strength ... even at Abiverd_, nor to commence intrigues against the
+    British power in India. She might indeed be warned that, if
+    necessary, we were prepared in self-defence to support the
+    Turcomans--with whom she has no legitimate quarrel--with arms or
+    money, or even to turn the tables on her by encouraging the efforts
+    of the Uzbegs to recover their liberty.... _It would be almost
+    fatuity at such a moment to withdraw our garrison from Candahar...._
+    Yacub Khan must be made to see that it is as much for his interest
+    as our own to hold an efficient body of troops in such a position
+    that, on the approach of danger ... _they might, with military
+    alacrity, occupy Herat as an auxiliary garrison_."
+
+And what is implied in detaching Persia from Russia he explains in
+another part of his Essay.
+
+    "If Russia, as there is strong reason to believe, is now pushing on
+    to Merv or Sarakhs ... with the ultimate hope of occupying Herat,
+    then it might very possibly be a sound policy to extend to Persia
+    the provisions of the Asia Minor Protectorate, or even to support
+    her actively in vindicating her rights upon the frontier of
+    Khorassán."
+
+From all which it would appear that our "Scientific Frontier" is simply
+good for nothing until it has been supplemented by an offensive and
+defensive alliance with the barbarian enemies of Russia all over the
+world. In order to ensure the safety of India, we must protect not only
+our own "Scientific Frontier," but we must guarantee the Sultan all his
+Asiatic possessions; we must be ready at any moment to fight for the
+"integrity and independence" of Persia; we must be prepared to march our
+troops to Herat, and to show a front against the Russians on the Oxus;
+we must provide the Tekeh-Turcomans with arms and money, and assist the
+Uzbegs in their attempts to recover their liberty. Such are the
+"legitimate precautions and supports" which are requisite to render the
+new frontier immaculate and complete. But if with a "Scientific
+Frontier" we remain liable to such tremendous demands as these, it
+passes imagination to conjecture in what respect we could have been
+worse off when our frontier was "haphazard."
+
+
+The Circumstances of the Peace.
+
+I shall next endeavour to show the circumstances which compelled the
+Indian Government to acquiesce in a peace which thus left the avowed
+object of the war unfulfilled. The preparations for the invasion of
+Afghanistan were on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the
+enterprise as explained by the "official" correspondent of the _Times_.
+Troops were set in motion for the North-West frontier from garrisons in
+the extreme south of India. Men were sent from England to man heavy gun
+batteries. In addition to the troops under General Roberts, no less than
+three columns were formed to invade Afghanistan viâ Sukkur and the
+Bolan, and the same number to advance through the Khyber. The force
+which marched to Kandahar was supplied with four heavy gun batteries,
+and a fifth was sent up subsequently, although, except upon the
+supposition that permanent entrenched camps were to be formed in
+Afghanistan, these heavy guns were simply an encumbrance and a source of
+danger. But the campaign had barely commenced before the Government
+became aware that it had utterly miscalculated its cost and difficulty.
+It is easy enough for an army to enter Afghanistan; it is next to
+impossible for it to subsist when it has got there. It is easy enough to
+scatter the Afghans when collected in battle array; it is next to
+impossible to subjugate them because they never are _so_ collected. From
+these causes our raid into Afghanistan was but little removed from an
+ignominious failure. If we had not made peace we should have been
+compelled to evacuate the country from the enormous costliness of
+retaining troops in it. Under such circumstances, a peace was needed too
+urgently to allow the Government to stand out for any extraordinary
+concessions. They took what they could get, which proved to be, as we
+have seen, the right to place garrisons in the two valleys of Kurram and
+Peshin. But having gone to war in search of a "Scientific Frontier," no
+alternative was left to them except to frankly confess that they had not
+found it; or to affirm that these two valleys constituted it.
+
+We come now to the causes of our failure. These are all-important, and
+ought to dissipate for ever the fear of an invasion of India by Russia
+or any other Power. The plan of the campaign required that Afghanistan
+should be invaded from three points; but the most important operation
+was understood to be the advance of General Stewart upon Kandahar. As
+soon as hostilities appeared inevitable, a small force under General
+Biddulph had been sent forward to secure Quetta against a sudden attack.
+General Stewart followed later on, and the two columns numbered upon
+paper about 20,000 men, with 60 guns. Meanwhile, a third column was
+ordered to assemble at Sukkur in support, and placed under the command
+of General Primrose. These extensive preparations were supposed to
+indicate the determination of the Indian Government to push on as far as
+Herat. The distance which had to be traversed between Sukkur and
+Kandahar is, roughly speaking, about four hundred miles, but the country
+presents extraordinary difficulties. From Sukkur to Jacobabad extends a
+level tract which, during the rains, is flooded to a depth of seven
+feet. Between Jacobabad and Dadur--a town situated at the entrance of
+the Bolan Pass--extends the Sinde desert. Any large force marching
+across this desert would have to take with them, not only food and
+forage, but water, for only at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles is
+the parched and barren soil pierced by a few brackish springs, which
+just suffice for the needs of the hamlets which have sprung up around
+them. For six months of the year this desert is literally impassable. A
+hot wind sweeps across it, which is fatal to man and beast. Only once
+did the Indian Government venture to send troops across it after this
+"blast of death" (as the natives call it) had begun to blow. This was in
+the last Afghan war. Some hundreds of native troops were sent as an
+escort in charge of supplies, and in four days one hundred Sepoys
+perished, three hundred camp followers, and (I think) nine officers out
+of fourteen. Beyond Dadur is the Bolan Pass. This Pass is about eighty
+miles in length; regular road there is none; what purports to be a road
+is merely the bed of a stream, which, during the rainy weather, is
+filled from bank to bank with a volume of rushing water. Neither food
+nor forage is obtainable in the Pass, and even the camels, when starting
+from Dadur, had to carry a seven days' supply of food for themselves.
+Between Quetta and Kandahar the country is open, but neither is food
+procurable for a large force, nor forage for the horses and camels. From
+first to last General Stewart's troops were almost wholly fed from
+India. The winter, luckily, was one of unprecedented mildness. But for
+this, in place of a march upon Kandahar, a terrible catastrophe could
+hardly have been averted. In ordinary seasons the snows fall heavily in
+and around Quetta early in November, and the cold is intense. The Bolan
+Pass is swept from end to end by hurricanes of wind and rain and snow.
+At the very time when these storms usually occur we had a dozen
+regiments and batteries straggling along the whole length of the Bolan
+Pass. Last year, however, there was neither snow nor hurricane, and our
+troops got through the Pass in safety. There was no opposition offered
+to our advance on Kandahar, but, from the want of food and the hardships
+which had to be endured, no less than twenty thousand camels perished
+upon the march. This mortality decided the campaign. When General
+Stewart reached Kandahar the situation was as follows:--The magazines at
+Quetta were nearly empty. Four months' food was collected at Sukkur, but
+awaited carriage for its transport to Quetta. The third column under
+General Primrose was assembling on the Indus, and needed ten thousand
+camels to enable it to advance. To supply all these wants there were at
+Sukkur about 1600 camels. In order to lessen the pressure on the
+Commissariat, General Stewart divided his forces, despatching one column
+to hunt for supplies in the direction of Giriskh, and sending another
+with the same object to Khelat-i-Ghilzie. These movements caused the
+death from cold and hunger of a large additional number of camels, and
+demonstrated that there was not food in that part of Afghanistan
+sufficient for a force so large as that collected at Kandahar. Sinde,
+meanwhile, had been swept so bare of camels that it was impossible to
+collect a sufficient number for the carriage of food to Quetta before
+the hot weather had set in, and the march across the desert was barred
+by "the blast of death." Immediate action was necessary if General
+Stewart's troops were not to starve; and eight thousand men returned to
+India, reducing the garrison left at Kandahar to four thousand. This
+number, it was trusted, the Commissariat would be able to feed during
+the hot weather. But even this small force was so scantily supplied with
+carriage that it could not have moved, in a body, for fifty miles in any
+direction. It was, so to speak, nailed to the spot on which it was
+encamped. This want of food, far more than the physical difficulties of
+the country, is and always will be the insuperable obstacle to carrying
+on extensive military operations in Afghanistan. The people obtain no
+more from the soil than just suffices for their own wants; and for days
+together an invading army has to pass over huge wastes with hardly a
+trace of human habitation, and consequently destitute of food.
+
+Not a little amusing was the revulsion of feeling caused throughout
+India by the lame and impotent conclusion of the advance on Kandahar. It
+was a demonstration of the impossibility of an invasion which convinced
+those who were most reluctant to be convinced. If when we had all India
+from which to draw our supplies, and with no enemy to oppose us, our
+utmost efforts had merely sufficed to place four thousand men in
+Kandahar, and leave them there, isolated and defenceless, it was
+chimerical to suppose that the Russians could march for double that
+distance an army capable of attempting the conquest of India.
+"Kandahar," writes a military correspondent to the _Pioneer_--the
+official journal of India--"is acknowledged to be a mistake, and it is
+hoped that a British army will never again be dispatched in that
+direction; it is a mere waste of men, money, and means, and an
+unsuitable line for either attack or defence."
+
+And the _Pioneer_, the very purpose of whose existence is to preach the
+infallibility of the Indian Government, thus endorses the remarks of its
+correspondent: "The theories about Kandahar are by this time exploded;
+indeed, there are many critics who have refused to adopt them from the
+very beginning; believing against General Hamley, that the main road
+into Afghanistan, whether we march as defenders of the Kabul Ameer or as
+avengers, must lie past Peshawur and Jelalabad."
+
+The failure on the Kandahar side placed the Indian Government in an
+extremely difficult position. An advance on Herat was plainly out of the
+question; even one on Ghuznee was beyond the power of General Stewart
+and his troops. Elsewhere the aspect of affairs was hardly less
+cheering. The expedition in the Kurram Valley had resulted in the
+somewhat ignominious retreat out of Khost. We had about 15,000 men
+holding the line from the Khyber to Jelalabad; but in effecting this,
+14,000 camels had perished, and several of the regiments had been more
+than decimated from sickness and exposure. We had not subjugated a rood
+of territory on which our troops were not actually encamped. The main
+strength of the Ameer's army was untouched, while all along our
+Trans-Indus frontier the hill tribes were in a state of dangerous
+unrest. The hot weather was coming on apace, when cholera and typhoid
+fever would be added to the number of our enemies. Thirty thousand
+troops had been set in motion, the garrisons in the interior of India
+dangerously weakened; three millions of money expended; and this was all
+that had been achieved. If now Yakoub Khan refused to come to terms,
+what was to be done? General Brown might be ordered to force his way
+from Jelalabad to Kabul, but what was he to do when he got there? The
+cost in money would be certainly heavy--the cost in men, not improbably,
+heavy also. And if, on our arrival at his capital, Yakoub Khan retired
+to either Balkh or Herat, we were powerless to follow him. Yakoub Khan,
+in fact, had the game in his hands. We had shot our bolt and failed. He
+had simply to decline to make peace, and keep out of our reach. We
+should then have been compelled either to evacuate the country, or to
+occupy it with the certainty that a little later on we should be
+compelled to withdraw, when the drain on the finances of India became
+too heavy to endure. Sir Henry Rawlinson rightly says, that a very small
+force can march from one end of Afghanistan to another; but a very large
+force is requisite permanently to hold it. The tribal divisions which
+hinder unity of resistance hinder also the achievement of any decisive
+victory. Each tribe is an independent centre of life, which requires a
+separate operation for its extinction.
+
+Such was the dilemma in which the Government found themselves involved.
+It was almost equally disastrous either to withdraw or to advance. If
+the troops were withdrawn, they would return burdened with the ignominy
+of failure. If they advanced, it would be into a tangle of military and
+political embarrassments, the issue of which it was impossible to
+foresee. There was only one way of escape possible, and that was to
+relinquish the ambitious projects from which the war originated, and
+acquiesce in any settlement which the adversary would agree to. The
+result was the Treaty with Yakoub Khan--a Treaty which I have no
+hesitation in saying has placed in peril the existence of our Indian
+Empire.
+
+It is, indeed, impossible to account for the infatuation or the
+obstinacy which caused the Indian Government to stipulate for the
+reception of an undefended British Envoy at the Court of a prince in the
+position of Yakoub Khan. It would have been so easy to have introduced a
+clause in the Treaty, to the effect that as soon as Yakoub Khan's
+authority was firmly established an English Envoy should be accredited
+to Kabul. This would have saved the political consistency of the
+Government without exposing the Indian Empire to the tremendous strain
+and peril of a second Afghan expedition. There was absolutely nothing to
+be gained, either in India or England, by immediately forcing an English
+Envoy on the luckless Yakoub; while it enormously enhanced the
+difficulties with which he had to cope. Nevertheless, in the face of
+historic precedents, in defiance of multiplied warnings, Lord Lytton
+deliberately resolved to reproduce, for the edification of Asia, the
+tragedy of Shah Soojah and Sir William Nacnaghten, the only difference
+being that on this occasion the principal parts were played by Yakoub
+Khan and Major Cavagnari. The fact is that from first to last in this
+bad business the chief agents were moving in a world of their own
+imagining. They appear to have persuaded themselves that they had but to
+refuse to _see_ facts, and the facts would vanish. They had but to
+publish in the _Times_ that Lord Lytton was a "Viceroy specially
+gifted," and forthwith he would become what he was described to be. They
+had but to assert that the Afghans had no objection to the presence of a
+British Envoy at Kabul, and immediately their objections would
+disappear. The mischief is done now past recall. Hardly even in 1857 was
+our Indian Empire in a position of greater peril than it is now. The
+persistent opposition between official acts and official language which
+has been the distinguishing characteristic of Lord Lytton's
+administration has created an universal disbelief in the sincerity of
+our speech and the equity of our intentions. In the circle which
+surrounds the Viceroy, it seems, indeed, to have become an accepted
+maxim that it is a matter of indifference whether or not the natives are
+heartily loyal to our rule. And Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, in his Minute
+on the Repeal of the Cotton Duties, notes the fact as "a grave political
+danger." It is a maxim which could not have been formulated except by
+the agents of a Government who felt that they had forfeited, past hope
+of recovery, the confidence of those they were set to rule over. Of the
+alienation itself there can be no question. The loyalty of the native
+has, probably, never been at a lower ebb since 1857. And any reverse in
+Afghanistan might kindle a flame that would spread from one end of India
+to the other.
+
+But there is nothing to be gained by anticipating greater difficulties
+than already beset us. I will assume that no additional complications
+occur--that General Roberts has succeeded without much difficulty in the
+occupation of Kabul--that General Stewart has possession of Kandahar,
+and that all we have to determine is what to do with Afghanistan now we
+have got it. There are but three courses of conduct possible--withdrawal
+from the country altogether, a return to the arrangements formulated in
+the Treaty of Gundamuck, or annexation. I will consider the last first.
+
+
+Annexation.
+
+Nobody, so far as I know, desires to annex Afghanistan. But there are, I
+apprehend, but few who are aware of what is involved in "the annexation
+of Afghanistan," and the danger is that we may drift almost unwillingly
+into annexation, to discover the full consequences only when too late.
+Everybody is agreed that India cannot defray the costs. This is set down
+by the supporters of Government at a sum of five millions annually. I
+believe it would be much larger; but we will assume that five millions
+is a correct estimate. By no possibility could we screw this additional
+sum from the people of India. Already the expenses of the administration
+increase at a far quicker rate than the revenues which have to meet
+them. The costs of governing Afghanistan, therefore, would have to be
+defrayed from the English Exchequer. But assuming this to be arranged,
+the pecuniary difficulty is the smallest which has to be encountered. To
+garrison the interior and frontier of Afghanistan we should require not
+less than forty thousand men--one-half of whom would have to be English
+soldiers. For, until the interior of Afghanistan is completely opened
+out by roads which can be traversed throughout the year, the garrisons
+holding the country would have to be sufficiently strong to be
+independent of reserves and supports during the winter. And if we
+attempted to hold Balkh and Herat, twenty thousand English soldiers
+would not suffice. Now where are these English soldiers to come from? An
+addition of at least forty thousand men to our regular army would be
+required in order to supply them. But the English part of our
+Afghanistan garrison does not present so insuperable a difficulty as the
+native. It would not be safe, at least for many years, to organize our
+native garrison from the Afghans themselves. The regiments would have to
+be recruited in India specially for this service--but out of what races?
+The natives of the Southern parts of India have not the physique capable
+of enduring the severities of an Afghanistan winter. The Sikhs or
+Hindoos of Upper India would certainly not enlist in a service which
+carried them so far from their homes into the midst of an alien people
+and an alien faith. The only recruits we should obtain in large numbers
+would be Muhammadans. The danger, then, is obvious. In India the fierce
+fanaticism of the Moslem creed is mitigated by its contact with the
+milder tenets of Hindooism; but remove an Indian Moslem to Afghanistan,
+and he would very soon become inspired by the religious zeal of his
+co-religionists around him. We should be exposed to the risk,
+perpetually, of our native garrison combining with the people of the
+country to expel the infidel intruders from the land, and restore the
+supremacy of the Prophet. But even these dangers dwindle into
+insignificance when we contemplate the main result of an annexation of
+Afghanistan. That result would be that the hills and deserts of
+Afghanistan would no longer extend between the Russian Power and our
+own. We should have given to Russia the power to interfere directly in
+the internal concerns of India.
+
+I have never supposed Russia to have any sinister designs upon India.
+After much reading I have failed to discover any proof of such designs.
+Those who suspect Russia obtain their evidence by a very simple process.
+They reject as incredible the objects assigned by the Russian Government
+as guiding its policy, and substitute their own fixed preconception in
+place of them. I believe that neither Russia nor any other Power would
+accept of India as a free gift. I cannot imagine a rational statesman
+coveting for his country so burdensome and unprofitable a
+responsibility. But that a Russian Government should ever attempt the
+invasion and conquest of India is to me beyond the power of belief. What
+Mr. Cobden wrote in 1835 appears to me as convincing at this day as it
+was then.
+
+    "China," he wrote, "affords the best answer to those who argue that
+    Russia meditates hostile views towards our Indian possessions. China
+    is separated from Russia by an imaginary boundary only; and that
+    country is universally supposed to contain a vast deposit of riches
+    well worthy of the spoiler's notice. Besides, it has not enjoyed the
+    '_benefit_' of being civilized by English or other Christian
+    conquerors--an additional reason for expecting to find a wealthy
+    Pagan community, waiting, like unwrought mines, the labours of some
+    Russian Warren Hastings. Why, then, does not the Czar invade the
+    Chinese Empire, which is his next neighbour, and contains an
+    unravaged soil, rather than contemplate, as the alarmist writers and
+    speakers predict he does, marching three thousand miles over regions
+    of burning deserts and ranges of snowy mountains to Hindostan, where
+    he would find that Clive and Wellesley had preceded him?"
+
+Apart, however, from the question of motives, it is not possible to
+march an army from Herat to the Indus. And we must always bear in mind
+that even if the Russian army reached the Indus, their real work,
+instead of being over, would only then commence. With that vast extent
+of hill and desert behind them they would have before them some sixty
+thousand British troops in an entrenched position. Even a victory would
+leave the invader begirt about with dangers and difficulty; a defeat
+would be his utter annihilation. Not a soldier of the army of invasion
+would return to tell the tale. It is impossible to divine where or how
+Russia could raise the money for so gigantic an enterprise; and if the
+money was forthcoming it is not credible that any Government should
+fling it away on such a hopeless undertaking. In assuming that Russia
+will refrain from an attack upon India, there is no need to credit
+either the Government or the people with more than that ordinary common
+sense which hinders men and nations from attempting to achieve the
+impossible.
+
+The danger to India arises not from the existence of any Russian designs
+against our Empire, but from the belief that such exist. This belief
+will, so to speak, hybernate for a season; then all at once we find it
+in full activity, and creating a panic in every heart of which it takes
+possession. These are the critical moments for the well-being and
+security of our Indian Empire. In such a period of panic we rushed into
+the disastrous war in Afghanistan in 1838. Under the influence of like
+feelings we involved ourselves in the inglorious raid the first act of
+which has just terminated. On both occasions we have been guilty of
+assailing a Prince whose only desire was to form an intimate alliance
+with us. On both occasions we have carried fire and sword among a people
+with whom we frankly avowed that we had no assignable cause of quarrel.
+But so long as Afghanistan extended between us and the Russian dominions
+in Asia it was physically impossible to declare war against Russia. In
+our unreasoning panic we fell upon the Ameer and his people, because
+there was no one else to attack. But if we make the Hindoo Khosh our
+military frontier, then Russia, by assembling a few thousand men upon
+the Oxus, can, whenever she pleases, agitate India from one end to the
+other. She will not need to attack. The menace will be sufficient. For
+we must remember that the undisputed supremacy of British rule in India
+depends, in the main, upon two conditions, both of which are destroyed
+if we annex Afghanistan. The one is, that no heavier burden be laid upon
+the people than they are willing to bear; and the other, the absence of
+any hope of deliverance. The cost of maintaining our supremacy in
+Afghanistan _will_ make the burden of our rule utterly intolerable alike
+to our native soldiers and our civil population; the assembling of a
+Russian army on the frontiers of Afghanistan will provide the hope of
+deliverance. The hazards and uncertainties of the situation would keep
+the natives in a state of perpetual unrest. The ambitious and the
+disaffected would engage in intrigue and conspiracy; trade would
+languish; the internal development of the country be abruptly arrested;
+and the Empire would assuredly be wrested from our hands on the occasion
+of the first European war in which we became involved.
+
+
+The Treaty of Gundamuck.
+
+Annexation being impossible, is it wise, or is it practicable, to return
+to the provisions of the Treaty of Gundamuck? It is neither wise nor
+possible, for the simple reason that this Treaty was based upon a
+fiction. It was grounded upon the utterly false assumption that there
+existed in Afghanistan a central authority, acknowledged as legitimate
+by all the people of Afghanistan, with whom we could establish permanent
+diplomatic relations. There is no such authority. Instances have been
+adduced of attacks made upon European Embassies in other Oriental
+countries, and the argument has been put forward, that as,
+notwithstanding such outbreaks, diplomatic relations have been
+maintained with Turkey and Persia, there is no reason to conclude from
+the fate of Major Cavagnari that they are impossible in Afghanistan. The
+cases are not parallel. The Ameer of Kabul has no such authority in his
+capital or throughout his dominions as the Sultan or the Shah. It is
+possible, though not very probable, that a British Envoy might reside in
+Kabul without being murdered, but the measure of his utility would
+depend upon the fluctuating fortunes of the Ameer to whom he was
+accredited. The only way to obviate this would be to place a force at
+the disposal of the Envoy, sufficient to put down all insurrectionary
+movements against the Ameer. But if we undertook this duty, we should
+become responsible for the character of the civil administration. We
+could not punish the victims of a cruel or rapacious Ameer, without at
+the same time cutting off at their source the cruelty and rapacity, by
+the deposition of an unworthy ruler. And thus, in a very brief time, we
+should find that virtually we had annexed the country. Facts are
+stubborn things, and it is worse than useless to fight against them.
+Those who contend that the murder of Major Cavagnari ought not to be
+allowed to overturn what they term the "settled policy" of the Ministry,
+are bound to show in what way this "settled policy" can be carried out.
+How do they propose to obtain an Ameer towards whom all the sections of
+the Afghans shall practise a loyal obedience? And if no such Ameer can
+be obtained, with whom or with what are we to establish diplomatic
+relations?
+
+
+The Policy of Withdrawal.
+
+There remains the policy of withdrawal. The surest barrier against
+foreign aggression in India is to be obtained in the contentment and
+prosperity of the people. A people thus situated are prompt to repel
+invasion, and secret intrigue is deprived of the conditions essential to
+its success. But in order that the people of India should be prosperous
+and contented, it is absolutely necessary that the financial burdens
+they have to carry--and especially the military charges--should not be
+enhanced. It is not possible to advance our military frontier--even to
+the extent of the (so-called) "Scientific Frontier"--without an enormous
+enhancement of our military expenditure. And all military expenditure is
+unprofitable, in the sense that it takes so much from the tax-payer and
+brings him no material equivalent. Consequently, whatever else this
+forward policy accomplishes, it cannot fail to impoverish the people and
+stimulate their discontent. Moreover, the incidents of the war have
+demonstrated that an invasion of India from Central Asia is physically
+impossible. We started from the Indus, firmly resolved to march to
+Herat, if necessary; but when we had reached Kandahar, we found it
+impossible to advance further. It would be equally impossible for a
+Russian army to march from Herat to the Indus. There is, therefore, no
+such reason for a change of frontier as was alleged in justification of
+the war.
+
+In all probability there is not even a Tory in England who does not in
+his heart approve of a policy of withdrawal; but there are, he would
+say, difficulties in the way. There are. After all the glowing eulogies
+they have pronounced upon themselves, it will not be pleasant or easy
+for Ministers to transfer these eulogies to their opponents. It will be
+extremely disagreeable for a "specially gifted Viceroy" to have to
+confess that his chiefest gift was a gigantic capacity for blundering.
+But if India is to be preserved to the nation, there is no escape from
+this unpleasant alternative. Either Ministers must acknowledge an error
+that is now patent to all the world, or India must be saddled with the
+heavy costs and the incalculable risks of an annexation of Afghanistan.
+These risks, it must be remembered, are not transitory, but enduring;
+and if we accept them, we must be prepared for a doom of absolute
+effacement in the politics of Europe. The argument which will be urged
+against withdrawing from Afghanistan is, of course, the old familiar
+one--the loss of prestige. This is an argument impossible to refute
+because the exact worth of prestige is an unknown quantity, as to which
+no two people are agreed. But whatever be its value, to rush upon ruin
+and destruction in order to preserve our prestige is an act of insanity.
+It is as if a man should commit suicide in order to preserve his
+reputation for courage. When we retired from Afghanistan in 1842, we
+frankly confessed the mistake we had committed, and I am not aware that
+any evil resulted from the confession. The wrongs that we had done left
+behind them a legacy of evil, but not the confession of those wrongs.
+And so it is now. The frontier policy of Lord Lytton has ruined our
+reputation for justice, truthfulness, and generosity, and the stain of
+that policy must cling to us for ever. We shall not conceal or efface it
+by laying a crushing burden upon our native subjects and upon future
+generations of Englishmen, in order to evade the humiliation of a
+confession. On the contrary, we make what reparation is still in our
+power when, in the interests of both, we refuse to annex Afghanistan.
+
+    ROBERT D. OSBORN,
+    _Lieutenant-Colonel_.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL IDEALISM IN FRANCE.
+
+    _La Science positive et la Métaphysique._ Par LOUIS LIARD,
+    Professeur à la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux. (Ouvrage couronné
+    par l'Institut de France.) Paris, 1879.
+
+
+For some years past there has been observable in France, outside of and
+in opposition to Positivism, a growing movement in favour of idealism in
+general, and of the critical idealism of Kant in particular. This
+philosophy, which had previously found very few adherents in our
+country, has now begun to make its way into our teaching and our
+Universities. Berkeley and Kant have been the subjects of special works,
+and an attempt has been made to translate and reproduce their ideas by
+harmonizing them with the principal doctrines of spiritualism. We have
+here a movement full of promise and well deserving of attention.[1]
+Among the different productions affording some notion of this
+philosophical tendency, we make choice--as being both the most recent
+and the most complete--of a remarkable work, distinguished and crowned
+by the French Institute, _Positive Science and Metaphysic_, by a young
+and learned professor of Bordeaux, M. Louis Liard.
+
+To begin with, M. Liard's work is well composed, its plan being simple,
+severe, and lucid. It divides itself into three parts. The first is
+devoted to determining the nature and limits of positive sciences--that
+is, of the sciences properly so called--and to showing that they cannot
+pretend to abolish or replace metaphysics. In this portion of his book
+the author discusses the three forms of the experimental philosophy of
+our day, namely--Positivism, the philosophy of association, and that of
+evolution.
+
+In the second part, the author examines what he calls Criticism--that is
+to say, the philosophy of Kant. The preceding discussion having
+demonstrated that the human mind is incapable of departing from certain
+forms, certain laws, without which experience itself would be
+impossible,--the author now resolves these into five fundamentals:
+space, time, substance, cause, the Absolute. But are these forms or laws
+of the mind the laws of things as well? Have they an objective
+authority? We know that metaphysics hang upon the solution of this
+question. We know, too, what is the solution given by Kant to this great
+problem. In recognizing the necessary existence of these forms as laws
+of the mind he disputes their external reality; hence he only admits
+critical, not real and dogmatic metaphysic. Now, as regards this point
+the author of the book under our notice, instead of dissenting from
+Criticism as he had done from Positivism, appears on the contrary to
+accept it by its own name, and to admire and endorse its conclusions. He
+seems to grant or even to affirm that if Positivism is wrong, Criticism
+is right, and that, strictly speaking, metaphysic is not a science.
+
+And yet if metaphysic were not a science in the strict sense of the
+word--that is to say, in the sense of objective sciences--would it
+follow that it was nothing, or nothing more than criticism itself? By no
+means: our author does not stop at that apparent solution; metaphysic
+according to him has an object that criticism has not reached, has not
+shaken; metaphysic has its own proper function, in which criticism can
+never take its place. Only instead of founding it on the object, we must
+found it on the subject. The mind must turn away from the external world
+and re-enter itself. It is there that, without need of forms or
+categories of which criticism has demonstrated the fallacy, the subject
+grasps itself not only in its phenomena but in its being, and determines
+itself in conformity to an end. This end is goodness: and this is the
+only notion we can form to ourselves of the Absolute. Thus, metaphysic
+is not the science of the object, but that of the subject; or if the
+name of science be still withheld, it is at least the study of the
+subject, and it is founded on and completed by morality. Thus, the
+author ends by an evolution very similar to that of Kant, but with
+certain differences which it will be our part to point out.
+
+These constitute the three parts of the work. We will now take them up
+in succession.
+
+
+I.
+
+Let us first of all consider the characteristics of positive science. It
+has for its object the conversion of facts into laws, or in other words
+the resolving the composite into the simple, the particular into the
+universal, the contingent into the necessary. But let us observe with
+our author that we are only dealing here with a relative simplicity, a
+partial universality, a conditional necessity. None of these characters
+present themselves in a really absolute manner. The simple is invariably
+composed of several terms; the universal only applies itself to a
+certain class of phenomena; the necessary is so only with relation to
+the consequences of a law, but the law itself always remains contingent.
+Thus, no positive science can ever attain to the absolute. It is the
+same with methods. These methods are induction and deduction. Now,
+however precise these processes be, however marvellous the sequence and
+interdependence of the propositions they discover and demonstrate, their
+data are never more than particular and contingent facts; consequences,
+then, can only be proportioned to those data. Hence it is certain that
+the positive sciences cannot go beyond a relative universality or
+necessity. It may seem as though we ought to make an exception in favour
+of mathematics. But by a subtle discussion which it would be difficult
+to give summarily, the author shows that they too come under the same
+law, whence it follows that the domain of positive science properly
+so-called is contained within the relative.
+
+From this consideration there has sprung up in our day a philosophy that
+reduces all sciences without exception to the knowledge of relation, and
+by so doing has declared all metaphysics impossible: and this philosophy
+is called Positivism. "Any proposition," says Auguste Comte, "which is
+not finally reducible to the simple enunciation of a particular or
+general fact, is incapable of holding a real or intelligible meaning."
+"There is nothing absolute," says the same philosopher, "if it be not
+this very proposition that there is nothing absolute." As to the proof
+of this proposition, it lies, according to the school in question, in
+the celebrated law which reduces all progress of the human mind in all
+orders of research to three phases: the theological phase, in which
+facts are explained by causes and supernatural agents; the metaphysical,
+in which they are explained by abstract and ontological entities; and,
+finally, the positive, in which phenomena are verified by experience and
+referred to their laws--that is to say, to constant and always
+verifiable relations of coincidence and succession.
+
+Our author, having expounded this doctrine with much precision, proceeds
+to criticize it with equal sagacity. He points out what is illusory in
+this law of the three states; shows that it confuses metaphysic with
+scholasticism; and proves, finally, that, in aiming at merging mind in
+knowledge, and subordinating, as he says, the subjective to the
+objective, Positivism does not understand what it is speaking of, since
+all knowledge is ultimately referable to facts of consciousness--that is
+to say, to something subjective, which is in effect, as Descartes has
+pointed out, the only order of absolutely certain truths. Besides which,
+let positive science, or rather the positive philosophy, in the name of
+positive facts, proscribe metaphysic as it will, is it not evident that
+the fundamental conceptions of all science--number, atom, force, matter,
+cause, law--are metaphysical conceptions? Is it not evident that all
+science whatever is impossible without a certain number of principles or
+notions,--in a word, of intellectual laws, which even govern experience
+itself? As yet the positive school has not answered the learned
+demonstration of Kant on the necessity of the _à priori_ principle, or
+rather it has ignored it. It has made no addition to that old
+empiricism which the school of Leibnitz and of Kant had refuted.
+
+But since the Positivism of Auguste Comte, too little versed in
+metaphysical knowledge to discuss it authoritatively, there have arisen
+two important schools, the one of association, the other of evolution.
+The former has endeavoured to base experience on an experimental and
+positive law; the latter has generalized this law, and made of it a
+particular case of a more general law embracing the whole of
+Nature--namely, the law of evolution.
+
+The doctrine of association may be referred to the fundamental law that
+all ideas rising simultaneously or successively in the human mind, tend
+invariably to recall each other in the same order; this is what is
+called association of ideas. When any two ideas have thus been
+constantly associated without ever being separated (as, for instance,
+form and colour), they unite indissolubly and thus become necessary
+laws. Now, of all these necessary connections, the most universal is
+this: no phenomenon ever appears without having been preceded by some
+other phenomenon, which is always the same under the same circumstances.
+This law is that of causality, which is both the supreme principle and,
+at the same time, the result of all experience. To this doctrine of J.
+S. Mill and Alexander Bain our author opposes the two following
+objections:--1st, How does it explain the generalization? 2nd, How does
+it explain the necessity of the laws of the understanding? On the first
+point the English School appeals to a law that it calls the law of
+_similarity_ or faculty of identifying the like in the different. But
+this is indeed, strictly speaking, a fact of association? Should not
+association, properly understood, be reduced to the law of
+contiguity--that is to say, to the fact of our ideas only becoming
+associated through relations of time? To admit the faculty of
+recognizing similarity in diversity, what is this but to admit mind,
+intelligence--something, in short, which is other than a simple external
+association? As to the second point, can we reduce the rational
+necessity that Kant and Leibnitz have laid down as the criterion of _à
+priori_ principles to a pure necessity of habit--that is to say, to the
+automatic expectation of the future inscribed on the past? Where is the
+scientific guarantee in this hypothesis? Why should Nature bend to our
+habits? "Who can assure us that we do not dream in thinking of the
+future, and that the next sensation may not interrupt our dream by an
+unforeseen shock?" We see how far-reaching this doubt is; it affects not
+only metaphysic but science as well.
+
+As to the philosophy of evolution, we know that, with regard to the
+origin of the principles of thought, it consists in linking the
+experience of present generations to that of generations past; in
+substituting secular for individual experience--in a word, in filling up
+by the accumulation of ages on ages the interval existing between
+particular and contingent facts and the universality of principles. This
+hypothesis is always at bottom no other than that of the _tabula rasa_,
+only it is no longer the individual who is this _tabula rasa_, since
+each one has, by heredity, received a pre-formed intelligence.
+Nevertheless, under pain of contradicting the hypothesis, we are forced
+to admit that there was a first subject who, prior to the action of the
+object, must have been this _tabula rasa_. But here the objections of
+Leibnitz reappear. What can a pure, abstract, and unmodified subject be?
+And again, before any meeting of subject with object, we have to admit a
+pure object having nothing subjective, just as the subject had nothing
+objective. What shall we affirm of this pure object? Let us divest it if
+you will of colour, heat, sound; must we not at least conceive it as
+extended, as existing in time, conceive it, that is, according to the
+necessary forms that are supposed to be suppressed? For to say that it
+has been capable of existing without having anything in common with
+these forms, and that out of this unknown and nameless condition have
+arisen, by way of transformation, the notions of which we treat, were to
+admit that something _can_ come out of nothing. We must therefore
+acknowledge that universal notions do at least exist as germs at the
+origin of evolution. It is not evolution that has created them,
+evolution has only developed them, and be they ever so attenuated, they
+still remain conditions without which nothing can be thought.
+
+Such is the gist of the first part of M. Liard's book, and we have
+nothing to add to it but our approbation. We can but admire the skilful
+analysis with which it begins, and the vigorous discussion accompanying
+that analysis. The three stages traversed by the experimental philosophy
+of our days--namely, Positivism, the Associative Philosophy, and that of
+Evolution--are competently and precisely summed up. The discussion is
+cogent, solid, and could not be further developed without injury to the
+unity of the work. No doubt it requires close attention to follow it;
+but it is lucid and well sustained. Whatever the difficulty metaphysic
+may encounter in constituting itself a science, and getting recognized
+as such, it has been established that empiricism is not a tenable
+position, since it has been found necessary to pass from positivism to
+association, from association to evolution; while evolution itself still
+supposed some pre-formation. One thing is certain, intelligence
+invariably contains a something that does not come from without--namely,
+intelligence itself.
+
+
+II.
+
+The criticism of Positivism has taught us that there is no knowledge
+possible without _à priori_ elements--that is to say, without laws
+inherent in thought, which impose themselves upon phenomena, so as to
+constitute veritable knowledge. This is the system of Kant, and thus
+that system avoids not only empiricism, but scepticism as well, though
+commonly confounded with it. For without necessary laws phenomena only
+form an arbitrary succession, entirely dependent upon the organization
+of the individual; we have no longer anything but individual
+sensations. In the Kantian philosophy, however, the individual is
+subjected to laws that are superior to himself; these are the laws of
+human thought, and even, perhaps, of all thought whatever. These laws
+impose themselves on each one of us in a necessary and universal manner,
+and by so doing communicate to phenomena an objective reality in this
+sense at least, that they are for individuals veritable objects; and
+thus it is that mathematical truths are objects to the intellect, even
+supposing they should be nowhere realized in any existence independent
+of thought.
+
+But are these laws of thought anything else than laws of thought? Do
+they really attain to objective reality--to _things in themselves_. Kant
+has denied that they do, and our author, in following in his steps,
+agrees, or seems to agree, with the "Kritik" of Kant.
+
+Let us then resolve the fundamental laws of the human intellect into
+five principal concepts: these are, space and time, forms of
+sensibility, substance and cause, laws of external experience, and,
+lastly, the Absolute, the final and supreme condition of all knowledge.
+Now, according to Kant and our author, these notions, at least the four
+first, are at the same time necessary as subjective conditions of
+thought, and contradictory so soon as we seek to realize them outside of
+thought.
+
+For example, that space and time are found by implication in every
+internal or external representation, that they are not the result of
+abstraction and generalization, this has been firmly established by
+Kant; for the elements from which some have sought to derive them
+already imply them. But, at the same time, they are only internal
+conditions, of which the objects are unrealizable outside of ourselves,
+and the reason of this is given by M. Liard, as follows:--Space and time
+have three essential characteristics, they are homogeneous, continuous,
+and unlimited. Now, if we seek to make of space and time _things in
+themselves_ we may doubtless conceive them as homogeneous and
+continuous, but not as unlimited, for no actual magnitude is unlimited;
+all magnitude is expressed in numbers, and numbers are necessarily
+finite, an infinite number involving a contradiction.
+
+We will not enter into a question here mooted by the author, leading to
+what Leibnitz calls the labyrinth of the continued (_Labyrinthus
+continui_), or of invisibles; we will content ourselves with pointing
+out that the reason here given is not by any means in conformity with
+the ideas of Kant--indeed, that it contradicts them. In fact, our author
+here applies to the two forms of sensibility the objection that Kant
+raised only about real things and the sensible world. The world, indeed,
+being composed of parts, can only be conceived as infinite by adding
+these parts to each other, and by thus supposing the actual reality of
+an infinite number. But it is not so with space, which, not being
+composed of parts, is consequently not representable by numbers. "There
+is only one single space, there is only one single time," says Kant. The
+notion of space is therefore not formed by the infinite addition of
+small portions of space and time. These are unities, not numbers. Hence
+illimitableness is given with the very intuition. "Space," says Kant,
+"is represented as a given infinite magnitude," _als eine gegebene
+unendliche Quantität_. Now, so soon as the infinite is _given_, instead
+of _being made_ by a mental addition, it seems to us that the above
+difficulty vanishes.
+
+Let us pass to the notion of substance and to that of cause. These two
+notions are necessary to render possible the connection of phenomena in
+the human mind. Our perceptions are, in fact, diverse; if they were only
+diverse, and had no unity, there would be no passage from one phenomenon
+to another; consciousness would arise and disappear with each
+phenomenon, to arise and die anew with the next, and so on. But then
+there would be no thought, for in order that thought should exist there
+must be at least two different things presented to the unity of
+consciousness. In other terms, we should be incapable of perceiving a
+changing thing without something that was changeless. Hence this is a
+necessary condition of knowledge. Now, let us see whether this condition
+can be rendered objective. According to our author it cannot, for if we
+subtract from surrounding things all the phenomena that fall under the
+domain of the senses, what remains? Nothing. Common-sense, indeed,
+believes in substance, but does not mean thereby an abstract and
+metaphysical entity, it means the whole of what strikes the senses; when
+the phenomenon is opposed to substance nothing is meant but that a new
+phenomenon has just added itself to preceding ones. Wood burns; here
+wood is the substance, combustion the phenomenon. This is how
+common-sense understands the matter; but if we separate from the idea of
+wood all that characterizes it as wood, nothing remains but a pure
+abstraction, of which common-sense takes no account, and has never so
+much as thought. Our author further combats the idea of substance by
+appealing to the metaphysical difficulties that it suggests. Is there
+only one substance, or are there several? Either hypothesis is equally
+difficult to sustain. In other words, substance is nothing more than
+that law in virtue of which the mind connects phenomena in one and the
+same act of thought.
+
+Here, again, we are obliged to say that the preceding arguments against
+the objectivity of the notion of substance are, in our opinion, far from
+conclusive. In the first place, it seems to us a false philosophical
+method to exclude an object from the human mind because it suggests
+difficulties that we are incapable of solving. Every object must be
+presented to us as existing before we can judge of the possibility of
+that object. Perhaps we do not possess the means of solving all the
+questions which the existence of an object may suggest, but this is no
+reason why it should not exist. The existence of things cannot be
+subordinated to the limits of our understanding; it is this very
+principle which seems to us soundest of all in the "Kritik" of Kant.
+Even should we be for ever incapable of knowing whether there is one
+substance or whether there are many, even should we be for ever doomed
+to doubt as to this point, it would not follow that the existence of one
+or of many substances were thereby done away with. Moreover, the
+criticism of our author goes much further than the imperilling the
+objectivity of substance; it really bears against the very notion
+itself. If, in fact, every phenomenon being withdrawn, nothing remains
+any longer in my mind, it is not merely objective substance that
+vanishes, it is the notion itself. What, indeed, is a notion which,
+analyzed, comes to naught? And what is this necessary law which is a
+nonentity? Our author tells us that if we remove all the accidents there
+remains "nothing perceptible to the senses." This is mere tautology, for
+it is too evident that nothing sensible ought to remain in the notion,
+all sensible accidents having been withdrawn; but what does remain is
+that without which phenomena could not be connected. And this is no
+empty concept, for how should an empty concept have any uniting power?
+And, lastly, when the author, correcting himself, as we think, says that
+the notion of substance reduces itself to what he calls a "fundamental
+phenomenon," he does nothing but change the word, and in reality reverts
+to what we call substance. For in what sense does anything
+fundamental--that is to say, that to which other phenomena ultimately
+reduce themselves, and which cannot be reduced to any other--still
+preserve the name of phenomenon? All this, therefore, is but admitting
+under one name what has been denied under another.
+
+The criticism of the notion of cause is quite similar to that of the
+notion of substance. It is a notion necessary to the mind, for just as
+without substance there can be no mental connection between simultaneous
+phenomena, in the same way without cause there can be no connection
+between successive phenomena. Causality is the necessary law that
+connects each phenomenon with its anterior conditions. Without this law
+there could be no science, no induction, no experience. It cannot,
+consequently, be derived from experience, since it is the very condition
+of it. But do we seek to render cause objective as well as substance? If
+so, we must understand it in a different sense. Cause is no longer
+merely a phenomenon anterior to another, the antecedent of a consequent.
+It is something quite different, it is force, the active power, that
+initiates the movement, and of which we find the type in our own
+consciousness. Hence, to render cause objective is nothing less than to
+spiritualize the universe, to suppose everywhere causes similar to
+ours--it is a kind of universal Fetichism. And, further, we fall into
+the same difficulties as we did with regard to substance. Is there only
+one cause or many causes? Lastly, causation thus understood is of no use
+whatever to science, for science has no need at all of metaphysical
+forces, that which is necessary to science, and employed by it under the
+name of force, being a measurable quantity which it disengages from
+phenomena and from experience.
+
+On this new ground the difficulty that confronts critical idealism is
+the same as that affecting the notion of substance. It lies in
+defending the position against empiricism, from which are borrowed all
+the arguments against the reality of the cause, while attempting,
+nevertheless, to preserve the notion of it. How succeed in retaining as
+an _à priori_ law what empiricism declares to be only an acquired habit?
+How explain a law of mind imposing a determined order on external
+phenomena? How can the entirely subjective need of relation determine
+phenomena to produce themselves in the order desired by our
+intelligence? The thunder rolls: my mind, in virtue of an innate law,
+insists on this phenomenon being connected with a certain totality of
+antecedent phenomena--namely, heat, the formation of clouds charged with
+electricity of different kinds, the meeting of these clouds, and the
+combination of the two electricities, &c. How and why have these
+phenomena produced themselves in order to satisfy my mind? Our author
+somewhere reproaches the partisans of innate ideas with supposing ideas
+on one side and phenomena on the other. How can he exonerate Kant's
+system from this objection? No philosopher ever insisted more than he on
+the opposition between matter and form, the former being, as he says,
+"given _à posteriori_," the latter ready prepared _à priori_ in the
+mind. No philosopher, not even Leibnitz, has more radically separated
+sensibility which is passive from the understanding whose principle is
+spontaneity. How do these two opposite principles happen to agree? Even
+were it pointed out that our senses themselves are innate, since our
+sensations are but the manifestation of the specific activity of each
+one of them--light, of the optic nerve, sound, of the acoustic--it still
+remains certain that our sensations are only subjective as regards their
+content and not as regards their origin; they arise in virtue of causes
+to us unknown. How should understanding, by aid of a purely mental law,
+and in order to its own satisfaction, evoke sensible phenomena from
+nothingness, and if it had such a power, it could only be in virtue of
+an active force, that is, of a veritable causality? You say that you
+require relation, without which there could be no knowledge. And why
+must there be knowledge because you feel the need of it? And why should
+there not be in the understanding a need of unity and relation that
+sensibility does not satisfy? To say that the mind at the same time that
+it thinks the law produces phenomena conformable to that law, is to make
+the mind itself the cause in the objective and metaphysical sense of the
+word--is no other than that universal spiritualism that the author began
+by refuting. We are therefore very far from admitting his criticism of
+the principles of causality. Let us go on to the notion of the absolute.
+
+M. Liard begins very properly by pointing out the confusion too often
+made between the notion of the infinite and that of the absolute. He
+says that the infinite can only be strictly understood in the
+mathematical sense, but that hence, as Leibnitz has said, the true
+infinite is the absolute. He admits the existence in the mind of the
+notion of the absolute in so far as it is inseparable from that of the
+relative. The Scotch philosopher, Hamilton, had endeavoured to suppress
+this notion, and had reproached Kant for not having completely exorcised
+the phantom of the absolute,[2] and for having retained it in the
+character of _idea_ while contesting its objective existence. It is
+remarkable that on this point, so decisive for metaphysics, Hamilton
+should have been opposed and refuted by the more modern English
+philosophers, who often pass for having pushed the critical and negative
+spirit further than he, when, indeed, on this point it is just the
+contrary. Herbert Spencer especially is one whom it is interesting to
+consult here. He maintains against Hamilton the notion of the absolute
+as positive, not negative, "as the correlative notion of the relative,
+as the substratum of all thoughts"--I quote verbally--"as the most
+important element of our knowledge."[3] He also maintains in opposition
+to Hamilton that the affirmation of the absolute is "a knowledge and not
+a belief." Only according to him this object that underlies all our
+thoughts is absolutely indeterminable by us. We know that it _is_, not
+_what_ it is. It is the incomprehensible, the unknowable.
+
+M. Liard seems to us substantially to admit all these conclusions.
+"Existence by others," he says, "is not to be understood without
+self-existence." "Without the spur of the notion of the absolute, how
+comprehend the obstinate persistence of the human mind in transcending
+the limits of the relative? Is not this a proof that the relative is not
+sufficient to itself?" It is one thing to affirm the absolute, another
+to determine its nature. Even granting that we be powerless to speak as
+to the essence of the absolute, and that it can never be for us other
+than the indeterminable and unknowable, "is it nothing to be assured of
+the existence of an unknowable? At all events religious beliefs might in
+default of scientific certainty find in an irremovable basis this
+conviction."
+
+We see therefore that our author agrees with Mr. Herbert Spencer in
+granting the existence of the absolute; he does not seem to reduce it,
+as Kant does, to a mere idea. He confines himself to saying that it
+cannot be determined. He shows that none of the notions that have been
+previously examined can fill up the concept of the absolute. Neither
+space, nor time, nor substance, nor cause, nor the totality of
+phenomena, can be raised to the notion of absolute. It is therefore
+indeterminable. Now, as the absolute is the proper object of
+metaphysics, it follows that metaphysics lack an object, having nothing
+to say thereon. Hence it is self-condemned, and consequently metaphysics
+is not a science.
+
+Such is the conclusion of the second part. The first appeared to raise
+us above phenomena by establishing the necessity of thought and of its
+fundamental law. But the second confines us within the domains of
+thought, and forbids us to go beyond. There is, indeed, a science of
+thought, but this science is criticism, not metaphysics. Have we, then,
+only escaped from positivism to fall into the abyss of scepticism?
+
+Before explaining in what manner the author has endeavoured to escape
+from this abyss, there is room for an important remark on the previous
+discussion as to the notion of the absolute. Scepticism on this point
+may assume three forms. Either, first, we do not even possess the notion
+of it, our notion is entirely negative,--the absolute is the
+non-relative, is indeed the relative with a negation: such is the view
+of Sir W. Hamilton. Or else, secondly, we have the notion of the
+absolute, of being in itself and by itself, of the superlatively real
+being, _ens realissimum_, as Kant expresses it, but it is only a notion,
+we cannot affirm the existence: this is Kant's doctrine. Or, thirdly, we
+have indeed a positive notion of the absolute, and we necessarily affirm
+its existence, only we are unable to determine its nature: this is the
+conclusion arrived at by Herbert Spencer. Now, of these three doctrines
+the two first alone, in our opinion, belong to what may be called
+criticism. The third is manifestly a return to dogmatism. The more or
+less of determination in the notion of the absolute is only the second
+problem of metaphysic; the first is the existence of that absolute. And,
+moreover, the doctrine of the divine incomprehensibility has always been
+maintained by the greatest metaphysicians as well as the greatest
+theologians. All mystics incline to it. There may therefore be room for
+debate as to the more or less approximative character of our concepts of
+the absolute. That any of these are adequate, or absolutely adequate, is
+what no philosopher has ever thought himself obliged to maintain. No
+doubt, to define the absolute as the unknowable, is to express the
+doctrine under a very rigorous form, but one could hardly refuse to
+allow the absolute to be the incomprehensible.
+
+Consequently, then, if the author, as appears to be the case from the
+passages we have quoted, thinks with Mr. Herbert Spencer that the notion
+of the absolute corresponds to an existence, and if he contents himself
+with maintaining its indeterminability, we may, if we like, consider
+this to be a singularly attenuated metaphysic, but we are not entitled
+to deny that it amounts to a departure from criticism and a return to
+metaphysic. If, on the other hand, criticism does at least suppose one
+fundamental datum,--thought, namely, and with the thought the
+thinking,--we are still forced to grant to Descartes, and consequently
+to metaphysic, the existence of the thinking subject; and hence that
+science which our author declares not to be one would be found already
+in possession of the claim by the single fact of what he has called the
+criticism of two fundamental postulates: I think, I am--I think the
+absolute, the absolute is. And is this then nothing?
+
+We are therefore of opinion that M. Liard ought to have concluded the
+second part of his work as he did the first--that is to say, that he
+ought to have shown the insufficiency of criticism as he did that of
+positivism. To our mind, criticism supposes metaphysic, as positivism
+supposes criticism. Metaphysic contains the reason of criticism, as
+criticism does that of positivism. Instead, then, of saying that
+metaphysic is not a science, we should rather call it the culminating
+point of science. But in place of following this natural order, which
+is, indeed, only his own method, our author has preferred to prove
+criticism right in the second part of his book, and metaphysic right in
+the third, by a sort of _saltus_, not contained in what goes before. He
+has chosen to appear nearer to Kant than he really is; has chosen to
+carry on his own evolution in Kant's manner, and to rebuild on different
+bases what he had demolished; but we shall see that this evolution is in
+reality quite different from that of Kant, and that his justification of
+criticism is only apparent, or at least if he defends it, this is really
+only in order subsequently to undermine it.
+
+
+III.
+
+Kant's evolution, which makes dogmatism to result from scepticism, was
+an entirely moral evolution, substituting for speculative the authority
+of practical reason. The evolution we have now to deal with is of a
+quite different character; it consists in passing from objective to
+subjective knowledge, from the object to the subject. Even if all that
+has been just said on the side of criticism were true, there is at least
+invariably one existence that remains untouched by it: this existence is
+that of the thinking subject, and this existence is incontestable. What
+appears to us as a circle to the circumference are objects, in the
+centre is the subject. We do not confound ourselves with our sensations,
+we distinguish between them and ourselves. Can, then, this consciousness
+of the thinking subject be no more than the transformation of external
+events? No; for all exterior events reduce themselves to one--_i.e._,
+motion; and all interior events to one--_i.e._, thought. There is no
+transition or transformation possible between one of these phenomena and
+the other. "We acknowledge," says a distinguished savant, Professor
+Tyndall, "that a definite thought and a molecular action of the brain
+occur simultaneously, but we do not possess the essential organ, nor
+even a rudiment of the organ we should require in order to pass by
+reasoning from the one to the other." Thus, then, the subject exists and
+is not reducible to the object. Shall we say that this subject is
+nothing more than a sum of phenomena? But what adds up these phenomena?
+A common bond is needed. Have we any consciousness of such a bond?
+"Yes," replies our author, "we call internal states of consciousness,
+past, present, or possible; we attribute them to ourselves, we say that
+they take place within us. What does this mean if the _ego_ to which we
+refer them is only their succession? How comprehend the continuity of
+consciousness?" In a word, our author admits absolutely that the _ego_
+has a consciousness of its own being, as distinct from its sensations
+and from external objects. "It is," he says, "an activity constantly
+modified, but yet always one, which dominating its states refers them
+to the unity of one same consciousness."
+
+Here, then, we have, without possibility of mistake, the fundamental
+doctrine of the spiritualistic philosophy of Descartes, Leibnitz, Maine
+de Biran, and Jouffroy. By laying down this principle the author
+believes himself enabled to reinstate that metaphysic which criticism
+had condemned. We, for our part, have no doubt of this; but we fail to
+see how the author can at the same time hold this principle and the
+Kantian principle of idealism. The "Kritik" of Kant bears upon the
+subject as well as the object; according to it both the one and the
+other are unknowable and incomprehensible noumena. The human mind is but
+a complex compound of sensations and categories, the unity of which is
+reached by the same process as the unity of external objects. No doubt
+Kant is, indeed, obliged to concede something to the _ego_, the _cogito_
+as he calls it; but he does not very clearly say what it is; it is not a
+substance, not a category, not a result. "It is," says he, "the vehicle
+of all categories." What can be more vague? The metaphor shows both how
+little disposed Kant was to assign its due part to the _ego_--how vague
+and uncertain he left it, and at the same time how he was forced to take
+it into account. The _ego_, the active, continuous, self-conscious
+_ego_, is the rock ahead to Kant's philosophy. For how dispute the
+consciousness of substance and of cause, when one admits "a continuous
+activity dominating all states of consciousness and reducing them to
+unity?"
+
+What, then, is substance, according to our author? It is, he says,
+something that does not change considered as the necessary condition of
+that which changes. What is cause? Is it not the power of initiating any
+given movement? Now, this same consciousness which gives us the _ego_ as
+a continuous activity, does it not in so doing give it us as the
+condition of phenomena and as the productive cause of movement in
+voluntary efforts? Consequently, to grant that the _ego_ knows itself as
+_ego_, and as activity, is in point of fact to restore the notions of
+cause and substance which had been done away with. At most all that has
+been gained from criticism is the difficulty of comprehending substance
+and cause without objective, that is, material form. Its results, then,
+amount only to the incomprehensibility of matter. But the cause of
+metaphysic is not to be confounded with that of matter; metaphysic is
+not tied to the existence of materialism; and were it even led in
+self-defence to deny the very existence of matter altogether, one does
+not see that such a negation need cost it much. Descartes did not
+hesitate to place the existence of bodies in doubt, in order to save the
+existence of spirit. Malebranche did not believe that the existence of
+bodies could be proved except by revelation. Leibnitz did not think that
+bodies were more than phenomena, the reality of which was spiritual.
+There is, then, no common cause between the interests of metaphysic, or
+of what Kant calls _dogmatism_, and the question of material
+objectivity, which may be left open without compromising the
+fundamental basis of things. How, then, can our author appear to assign
+the victory to criticism while in reality depriving it of its chief
+support by restoring to the _ego_ the immediate consciousness of itself
+as a being, one, active, permanent, and continuous? Kant may have played
+this game, because, in effect, outside of criticism, he only admits
+moral reasons for reinstating dogmatism. But although our author follows
+him too on that ground, he nevertheless enters in point of fact upon an
+entirely different path when he invokes immediate consciousness as a
+guarantee of the existence and activity of the mind. These are not moral
+and practical, but metaphysical reasons. Metaphysic, then, independently
+of morality, has its own proper foundation, which, far from being
+affected by criticism, is the very foundation of criticism itself. This
+foundation once admitted, are we entitled to declare metaphysic no
+science? We hold that we are not. Doubtless, if by science be meant an
+absolutely adequate knowledge of the object, such as mathematics
+affords, metaphysic cannot pretend to such knowledge; but we have here
+only a question of degree. The perfection of a science is not the same
+thing as its existence. A science is what it is by reason of the
+difficulties its objects present, and the imperfections of its method;
+but it is science none the less if it possesses a given object and a
+solid foundation. Now, such a foundation is admitted by our author when
+he admits the intuition of the _ego_ by itself; and hence it is no
+longer a mere question of words to refuse the name of science to the
+series of deductions that may be drawn from a principle which has been
+admitted valid.
+
+If our author grants the foundation of metaphysics by adhering to the
+Cartesian principle of the immediate knowledge of the mind by itself, he
+at the same time acknowledges its most elevated term by defending the
+existence of an absolute perfection, a supreme type of spirituality. "If
+in ourselves," he says, "relatively perfect ideas realize themselves in
+virtue of their relative perfection, why should not the total perfection
+from whence they are derived exist? There is nothing contradictory in
+such an absolute." Is not this to admit the doctrine of the perfect
+being as the Cartesian School has constantly expressed it? but is it
+enough _to_ say that the total perfection _may_ exist, enough to inquire
+why it should not exist? Should we not go further, and say with Bossuet,
+"On the contrary, perfection is the reason of being." Here we are forced
+to allow, in the views, or at all events in the expressions of our
+author, a fluctuation and uncertainty which now impel him towards the
+critical, and now towards the metaphysical position, without his
+arriving at a sufficiently decided conclusion. "The absolute," he says,
+"would then be the ideal of moral perfection. But by such a definition
+do we not compromise its reality?" To which doubt he replies that the
+"true reality is precisely the ideal." Now, this is an equivocal and
+obscure reply, demanding explanation. No doubt the reality claimed for
+the perfect being is not a sensible and material reality. But there is
+another than material reality--there is a spiritual, such as is
+manifested to us in the reality of consciousness, in the immediate
+activity and intuition of our being. We may, indeed, style this sort of
+existence _ideal_, in opposition to material existence; but the
+expression is incorrect, for that which, properly speaking, is an ideal
+existence is one merely represented to the mind when thinking of
+something that no longer exists, does not yet exist, nor ever will
+exist. Now, the question is, whether the moral absolute, of which we
+have just had the definition given, belongs to the first or to the
+second of these ideals; whether it exists for itself, or only for us, in
+so far as we think it, and while we think it. For a mode of existence
+like this, dependent on our own thought, is very far from being the
+supreme reality; it is only a modal and subjective reality. Thus our
+author, we see, expresses himself too uncertainly. Nevertheless, his own
+principles sufficiently authorized him to declare himself with more
+precision. Indeed, we have seen, on the one hand, that he, with Mr.
+Herbert Spencer, affirms the existence of the absolute; and, on the
+other hand, that he acknowledges the concept of total perfection to be
+in nowise contradictory. Granting so much, must not absolute perfection
+be the reason of the existence of the absolute, as relative perfection
+is the reason of the existence of the relative? If, however, any choose
+to call that supreme perfection the _Idea_, with Hegel--as Plato calls
+it the _Good_, Aristotle the pure _Act_, Descartes the _Infinitely
+Perfect Being_--we have nothing to object, so long as it be clearly
+understood that the _idea_ shall signify the identity of the thought and
+the being, and not merely a subjective conception of the human mind.
+
+To sum up: it results from what has been already said, that spite of his
+powers of thought, the author has not been able to escape a certain
+fluctuation between criticism and spiritualism, and has only arrived at
+a contradictory compromise between the two conceptions. From criticism
+he borrows the ideality of the notions of space, time, substance, cause,
+and the idea of a moral absolute founded on purely moral motives. From
+spiritualism he borrows the existence of the absolute as the necessary
+correlative of the relative, and the consciousness of the subject which
+perceives itself in its continuity as the cause of its phenomena; and,
+finally, the idea of a total perfection, which may, without involving
+any contradiction, have the reason of its existence in itself. These two
+orders of conception are not so closely connected as they should be; too
+much is conceded to criticism, too little to metaphysic; and M. Liard
+inclines overmuch to give to morality the exorbitant privilege of
+deciding between the two.
+
+
+IV.
+
+But is this equivalent to saying that we blame our author for his
+enterprise, and for the attempt he has made to reconcile criticism with
+dogmatism? By no means; for we are inclined to believe that this is the
+very aim that all metaphysic should set before itself at the present
+day. How, indeed, could we possibly admit that so powerful, so lofty an
+intellectual effort as that initiated by Kant, which under the name of
+criticism, of subjective or objective idealism, or even of positivism,
+has but been the development of his primary thought; that so prodigious
+a mental movement as this should be absolutely void of meaning, and
+destined to leave no trace in science? How believe that since the days
+of Descartes the human intellect has gone mad? Would not this be to
+express ourselves in the same way as those who, including Descartes
+himself in this condemnation, have maintained that since St. Thomas the
+whole course of human thought has been only one long error? Can there be
+anything more contrary to the laws of the human mind than this
+hypothesis of absolute truth discovered once for all, leaving no room
+beside it for anything but error? And besides, what more did Kant do
+than, under the form of a system (a defective form, no doubt, but
+hitherto the only one known to philosophy)--what more, we ask, did he
+than develop and render prominent what had been implicitly contained in
+the teaching of all preceding metaphysicians? Had not they all assigned
+a share in human consciousness to the subjective and relative, and very
+often a larger share than we are led to think, if we only regard their
+conclusions? Has there, for example, been since the days of Plato a
+single metaphysician who has denied the knowledge of the senses to be
+relative, and has the full scope and bearing of this principle been
+accurately measured? Can that be denied which has been scientifically
+demonstrated, which Descartes already affirmed, _i.e._, that light and
+sound--Nature's two great languages--are only the products of our
+physical organization, and that outside of the eye that sees, and the
+ear that hears, there is nothing external to us but a series of
+vibrations and undulations, which are neither luminous nor sonorous?
+Reduced to itself, without the presence of men or animals, matter is
+merely darkness and silence! What sort of matter may this be, and how
+little resembling the one we know? But is not, it may be said, the
+reality of that matter attested at least by resistance, by impact? The
+reality--yes; but is the very nature of the external thing, as it is in
+itself, manifested thereby? What is impact, what is resistance, if not a
+mode of our sensations? To be assured of this, we have but to turn to
+all that metaphysicians teach us as to the nature of God. All agree in
+saying that God has no sensations. If God be cognizant of matter, as is
+indubitable, it follows that He does not know it through sensations
+similar to ours. The _argumentum baculinum_ which appears so convincing
+to Sganarelle, would be powerless with regard to a pure spirit, still
+more an infinite spirit. Now is not this as much as to say that impact
+is the mode of action bodies exercise on each other, and by which
+sentient beings are made aware of their existence, but that it is a mode
+purely relative to the sensibility of finite beings? Say that, we at
+least admit with Descartes the reality of extension. But what is the
+real size of the extended things by which we are surrounded, and which
+according to the shape of our lenses we see enlarged, diminished, or
+even distorted in a thousand ways? Were it to please God, as Leibnitz
+has said, to collect the immensity of worlds into a walnut-shell, while
+preserving the proportion of objects, we should never find it out; and
+such diminution might be carried on infinitely, without ever reaching
+any term of smallness. 'We grant it,' will be the reply--'all sensible
+knowledge is relative; Plato, Malebranche, Leibnitz, have sufficiently
+told us this; but above the senses there is the understanding, which
+alone is made for truth. Our senses give us the appearance of things,
+our understanding makes us see them as they are in themselves.' Nothing
+more true, and this is the basis of metaphysics. But the question is, to
+what point the understanding is separated and separable from
+sensibility, and reciprocally, to what point sensibility enters into the
+understanding. Is there anything in us which can really be called
+understanding pure? Understanding--yes; but pure--no! Man cannot think
+without images, says Aristotle; this alone demonstrates that our
+understanding is always obliged to sensibilize its most abstract
+concepts. Moreover, between pure concepts and the data of sensibility
+there is still a debatable and obscure region--that, namely, of space
+and time. And here it is that Kant has made his mark ineffaceably. It is
+by so doing that he renovated metaphysics. He believed, thought, that
+both these domains belonged to sensibility and not to intelligence, that
+they too were only modes of representation--that is to say, modes purely
+relative to the nature of our mind. On this point also traditional
+metaphysics came to his support, at least as regards time. For is it not
+said by all schools whatever that God is not in time, that He is an
+eternal _Now_, that past and future are nothing to Him? Is it not this
+conception which is constantly appealed to as affording the solution of
+the conflict between divine prescience and human liberty? Now to affirm
+that God is not in time, and that He sees all portions of time in one
+sole and eternal present, is not this as much as to say that time is
+only the mode of representation of finite beings with regard to
+themselves; that, consequently, it is an image belonging to their
+finitude, but not to what they are in themselves, since God, who must
+see them as they are, sees them in an absolutely and radically different
+manner? Let us add another difference between the human and divine
+intelligence, pointed out by Bossuet, when he said, "We see things
+because they are, but they are because God sees them." Therefore in God
+intelligence is anterior to things, in us posterior. Now, though we can,
+through artistic creation, form some idea of an intelligence anterior to
+things, the analogy is, after all, a coarse one, since in us creative
+imagination only deals with materials borrowed from without. Hence it
+follows that our intelligence is but a very imperfect image of the
+divine. Now, as the latter alone can be the type of veritable
+intelligence, we can only attribute to ourselves a relative
+intelligence, subordinated to the conditions of the creature. But does
+not this amount precisely to saying that we only see things in a
+subjective and human manner, and that, consequently, we do not know them
+as they are in themselves? Let us go further still; let us raise
+ourselves to conceptions of the perfect being, the divine being. Here,
+too, all metaphysicians agree in acknowledging that we have only an
+entirely relative view of the Divinity. Is there one who admits that we
+can, without anthropomorphism, understand literally all the attributes
+that we impute to the Deity? Has not God Himself defined Himself in
+Scripture as _Deus absconditus_, and does not the doctrine of mysteries
+in every great religion imply that the true essence of the Deity is
+unknown to us, and that, consequently, the philosophic doctrine of the
+attributes of God is a purely human conception, by which we strive to
+represent to ourselves the unrepresentable, and to bring within the
+grasp of our sensibility and our imagination the august and sublime
+notion that confounds all created substance?
+
+This is what we are taught by all metaphysic doctrine whatever, and not
+only by that of Kant, Plato, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Descartes,
+Malebranche, Leibnitz, Fénelon: all alike teach us that the senses are
+but a confused and relative knowledge, that space and time are modes of
+finite existence, that God can only be conceived of by analogy, and not
+in His essence. Are such conceptions as these very different from those
+of Kant? And if he has taken them up again under another form, if by
+isolating he has exaggerated them, his is the merit of having brought
+them into prominence, of reminding us of them, and forcing us to assign
+them a more important place in our doctrines. Despite the warnings of
+the greatest minds, and of all great minds, are we not ceaselessly
+tempted to yield to the automatic instinct which makes us believe things
+to be as we see them, makes us suppose the existence of a matter, solid,
+coloured, sonorous, cold, or hot, such as the senses acquaint us with;
+makes us believe in an absolute space and time, with which we no longer
+know how to deal when we think of the true Absolute; makes us conceive
+of this true Absolute or Goodness as of a species of great man, that we
+strip of a body, without even reflecting whether we have really the
+power of representing to ourselves anything absolutely incorporeal? It
+is against this vulgar current dogmatism, which philosophy has so much
+trouble in getting rid of, that not only Kant, but every metaphysician,
+protests. Kant only expounded, under a rigorous and systematic form, all
+the critical portion of previous metaphysics. To us it seems
+impossible--with more or less reservation, and without insisting at
+present too rigidly on the share of the relative and subjective in human
+knowledge--impossible, we say, not to allow this share, and
+consequently, in a certain measure, not to give in our adherence to
+transcendental criticism and idealism. There is, however, as we have
+seen above, something which escapes from this relativity of all human
+knowledge: it is the very fact of knowing. This fact has in itself
+something absolute. I know not whence it comes, I cannot explain it; I
+marvel that a being should be met with in whom at one time or other what
+we call knowledge has appeared; but this fact cannot exist without being
+known by the knower. All knowledge supposes, then, a subject that knows
+itself--that is to say, who is internally present to himself. Here
+knowledge comes from within, not from without. Whatever is objective can
+only _appear_ to me, and is consequently a _phenomenon_. I only see its
+outside, and it is only in relation to myself that I can grasp even that
+outside. But the conscious _ego_ sees itself from within. Shall we say
+that it appears to itself? I am willing to say so, but as it appears to
+itself that appearance is a reality, for the form that I give it is my
+own form. In order that it should become _me_, _I_ must be _me_. Every
+other object has to be given in the first instance before it is
+perceived; in order that I should see a house, a house must be there. It
+is not so with the _ego_. For if at the moment it is given me it is not
+already me, how is it to become so? How shall I know it as such? And if
+it be already me, it is already perceived as such. Hence it follows that
+the external thing may be represented without being, as happens in
+sleep, while I cannot think without thinking myself, or think myself
+without existing. All subjectivism, all relativism, all criticism,
+therefore, are baffled in presence of the _ego_.
+
+It is from this solid and immovable foundation laid by Descartes at the
+entrance of science that we may set out to extend the sphere of our
+knowledge. Everything, it is said, is relative. What matter if that
+relative be connected by precise and fixed relations with the unknown,
+if that which is given be a strictly faithful projection of that which
+is thought? For instance, we do not know the souls of other men in
+themselves, we have never seen a soul such as it is in itself; those
+even which are dearest to us are unknown like the rest. But if we
+suppose all the signs by which they manifest themselves to be sincere,
+is it not to know them truly and in the only way intelligible to us, to
+hear their voices, and understand their words, and interpret their
+actions? No doubt nothing external to ourselves can be known internally
+by us; but if the exterior be the expression of the interior, is not the
+one the equivalent of the other? And to ask more would amount to asking
+to be more than man. Science teaches us that all appearances have a
+fixed and precise relation to reality. The visible apparent sky is
+strictly what it ought to be to express the real sky. The deeper our
+knowledge of things goes, the more we see the perfect conformity of the
+apparent to the real, the more faithfully do phenomena translate
+noumena. Are we not, therefore, justified in supposing that these
+relative noumena, which are still no more than appearances, could be
+translated in their turn, if only we had the key to them, into other
+noumena of which they are the form and image? I may say the same about
+the anthropomorphic representations of Deity. I admit that the Absolute
+is in its essence above all human representations. But these
+representations, when we disengage them as much as possible from all
+sensible elements, are none the less the true expression of that
+incomprehensible essence in so far as it appears to a human
+consciousness. If not God in Himself, it is God in relation to me; and
+it is with only this last that we have to do so long as we are but men.
+
+We do not, therefore, consider it impossible to assign to the critical
+element its part in metaphysic without denying the objective reality of
+knowledge. We think that the famous old distinction between being and
+phenomena, the intelligible and the sensible, still endures, despite the
+"Kritik" of Kant; or rather, this very "Kritik" itself is, in our eyes,
+only a hyperbolical but striking manner of expressing this great truth.
+
+    PAUL JANET.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] We already endeavoured to make this philosophy known at its earliest
+appearance, by an article that appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_
+of the 19th October, 1873, under the title, "A New Phase of
+Spiritualism." We are now dealing with the most recent form of this new
+school.
+
+[2] Hamilton's "Discussions: Cousin, Schelling."
+
+[3] Herbert Spencer's "First Principles," First Part p. 18.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE MORAL LIMITS OF BENEFICIAL COMMERCE.
+
+
+When a Professor of _Political Economy_ was first established in the
+University of Oxford, a controversy presently arose in the academical
+common rooms concerning the just meaning of the phrase. Among elder and
+conservative men, the most active-minded insisted that it ought to
+receive the full width of meaning attached to it by Aristotle in his
+Treatise on Economy, which, with him, was essentially the economy of the
+State--that is, in pure Greek, _political_ economy, although this
+epithet is not annexed to his title. By this interpretation, the science
+naturally and necessarily became implicated with moral considerations,
+which never can be excluded from the statesman's view. But the actual
+students and professors of the new science--eminently Mr. Nassau Senior
+and Dr. Whately, shortly afterwards Archbishop of Dublin--naturally
+feared that by such an interpretation political economy would become
+confounded with politics; would, indeed, cease to be a science; and by
+so great an enlargement of its area, would fail to receive that special
+and definite cultivation which Adam Smith had bestowed on it, as the
+theory of national wealth. Whately indeed, to avoid this inconvenient
+extension of the sense, proposed to call the topic, not political
+economy, but _Catallactics_--that is, the science of exchanges.
+Excellent in many respects as the last title was, it might have seemed
+to exclude the whole doctrine of taxation, and still more decisively all
+discussion of Malthus's theory of population, which belongs to politics
+or to morals, not at all to the doctrine of exchange. In the end, the
+economists ruled that their science does not at all teach what _ought_
+to be, but simply what _is_, what _goes on_, and _will go on_, as an
+inevitable result of individuals holding exchangeable right in definite
+articles. Thus they seemed to have driven moral considerations out of
+their science, as much as out of gardening or medicine. To call their
+political economy, on that account, _heartless_ (as so many have done)
+may seem ridiculous; but this form of attack on it arose from a
+perception or belief that its professors were claiming for it an
+_imperative_ force, while disclaiming morality, and were assuming that
+it was a sufficient and supreme rule for political action.
+
+Of late it has been maintained on a special ground that moral
+considerations cannot wholly be excluded from political economy. Dr. W.
+B. Hodgson, first holder of a new chair in Edinburgh as Professor of
+_Mercantile_ Economy, has urged that, in so far as morality or
+immorality in individuals affects wealth and the markets, we do not
+exhaust the discussion on exchanges while we neglect this consideration.
+Perhaps indeed no one, in discussing taxation, has omitted to consider
+what taxes lead to fraudulent evasion or to smuggling; but economists
+hitherto, with great unanimity, have resolved that, in their character
+of economists, they will not notice moral evils from an opium trade, or
+from sale of deadly weapons and ammunition, or from traffic in
+intoxicants; nor can one in general discover from their writings that
+they know vice to be wasteful, or national expenditure on needless and
+foolish objects undesirable. They have a right to select what topics
+they will treat, and what they will not treat. They have a right to say:
+"Such and such considerations belong to morals, not to _our_ political
+economy." But, on the one hand, if they are resolved that their science
+shall be as unmoral as engineering or navigation, they must not claim
+for it any decisive weight in State-politics; on the other hand, the
+topics which they neglect need, so much the more urgently, to be treated
+by others, especially since we have no professors of practical morals,
+and (for more reasons than one) questions of the market are not thought
+suitable to the pulpit.
+
+That an exchange of one thing for another does, on the whole, _please_
+both parties to the exchange, is evidently testified by the fact that
+each acts voluntarily; hence, the inference is too lightly made that
+each is _benefited_ by the transaction. Not only so, but from an
+increasing magnitude of exchanges increase of wealth is inferred,
+without any reference to the nature of the things exchanged. In a rough
+estimate, this reasoning has, no doubt, a _primâ facie_ weight, for we
+may not dictate to the tastes of others, nor assume that tastes which
+are not ours are therefore silly. Yet, evidently things which perish in
+the using quickly cease to be wealth, and things which are not likely to
+be approved continuously cannot long command the same high price. No
+article could fetch a price at all if it were not intended to be
+enjoyed, used, or consumed; the final purchase is called expenditure,
+and all expenditure is liable to moral judgment, approving or censuring.
+When we censure expenditure, not merely because it is excessive, but
+because it is essentially foolish or evil, we necessarily deplore and
+deprecate the traffic which feeds it--the traffic which it encourages;
+hence, some vicious trades are even forbidden by law. Short of this,
+there is necessarily a large margin of trades which law does not, and
+perhaps cannot successfully, forbid, which nevertheless may be justly
+regretted, censured, and, as far as may be, discountenanced. Economists
+are not here blamed if they (disowning moral considerations) do nothing
+of the kind; but they must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that
+some trades, not forbidden by law, are so far from promoting wealth and
+weal as to be gravely pernicious. To rejoice in their magnitude, to
+announce it triumphantly as a proof of national prosperity, is something
+worse than a mistake.
+
+No reader, it is believed, will complain that the last sentence is
+mysterious or obscure. Our manufacturers of cotton and woollen have of
+late loudly deplored the falling off of their home trade, while the
+consumption of intoxicating drink continues to increase. They believe
+that if the labouring classes spent less on the brewer and distiller,
+they would spend more on the clothier. The most fanatical devotee of
+alcohol cannot deny that too much of it is drunk, in face of the
+long-continued avowal of the judges that drink is by far the greatest
+cause of crime--drink, short of evident and provable drunkenness.
+Indeed, it is not from those who are outright drunk, but from those who
+have been drinking, that the worst and most numerous outrages come,
+while the foot and the eye are steady, though the brain and the passions
+are perverted. To boast and rejoice in the magnitude of the drink
+traffic, legal as it undoubtedly is, has no moral defence. The topic is
+here adduced, not in order to push that argument further, but in order
+to insist that the mere increase of a trade does not _in itself_ denote
+an increase of wealth; is not _in itself_ necessarily a thing to be
+applauded either by the economist or by the moralist. In each case we
+must look into detail, and consider whether this or that prosperous
+trade, like a huge weed in a garden, dwarfs or kills other growths,
+which, but for it, might thrive.
+
+An avowed ardent disciple of Mr. Cobden--a gentleman in some eminence of
+place and rank--has recently dissuaded taxes on wine and tobacco for the
+sake of revenue, _not_ on the ground which one might expect--viz., that
+a Government ought not to base a revenue on what may chance to be public
+vice, _but_ on the ground that "the grower of wine in France and of
+tobacco in America" can reasonably refuse to trade with us, if "we will
+not accept payment in _the only coin_ which he has to offer--namely, in
+his wine or his tobacco."[4] As if we were not competent to reply: "Of
+wine and tobacco we quickly get more than enough. Preserve your grapes
+in sawdust, or make them into raisins, and you will not find our people
+averse to enjoy them, nor will you encounter any unreasonable duty from
+our Custom-houses. As to tobacco, surely the rich land which alone can
+raise it, can raise no end of other products which we are certain to
+value." This well-informed writer, in his whole argument, seems to
+account wine the only food-product which we receive from France (to
+silks and elegant articles he once slightly alludes); but he cannot be
+ignorant that the solid food which France sends us in eggs, cheese,
+butter, vegetables, chickens, and dry fruit is enormous; she would in
+ordinary years send us wheat, did not America, Russia, and Australia
+make it needless. To speak of wine as _the only coin_ of France is a
+wonderful straining of argument. But the reason for quoting it here is
+to illustrate how completely the School of Cobden wishes the State to
+ignore moral considerations in trade. Yet the State deserves no
+reverence, if it be not moral. Laws and enactments, framed by minds
+reckless of morality, are apt to be, on the one side unjust and
+oppressive, on the other eminently corrupting. A State which gains
+revenue from a vicious trade, such as gambling and debauchery,
+demoralizes its people so effectually as to deserve reprobation rather
+than reverence. According to the ancients, the lawgiver begins to
+civilize society and to earn veneration by establishing marriage and
+sanctifying the family. Are we to say, "We have changed all that now;
+let the Church care for morality: it is no concern of the State?" Who
+first taught such sentiment as wise policy, it is not easy to say; but
+it certainly has, in practice, if not in theory, attained a deadly
+currency. It never was the doctrine of Adam Smith. It is obviously a
+sure road to ruin, if its development be unopposed.
+
+A legislator, of course, ought not to guide his enactments by the
+morality of any one school. If, in Greek fashion, we were to set up an
+Epimenides, a Solon, a Lycurgus, as plenipotentiary to start us in a new
+course, there might be some little danger of one-sided and conceited
+morals; yet not much, even so; for a very one-sided or very stupid man
+would hardly be elected: every lawgiver wishes his new institutions to
+be permanent, and is sure to have some regard to the friction which they
+would encounter in working. But where the legislation must have
+sanction, not from one man, but from a thousand men, of whom six hundred
+are elected from different circles of mixed ranks, from diverse
+localities, where forms and schools of religion, based on variety of
+thought, prevail, it is evidently impossible that in the laws
+collectively approved any moral ideas should dominate, except those
+which are common to all who are morally cultivated. To dread moral
+considerations in the debates of an English Parliament, lest the
+morality prevailing in its laws become one-sided and arbitrary, pedantic
+and ascetic, is so baseless, so wanting in good sense, as scarcely to
+seem sincere. When people tell us, "We shall be liable to have laws
+against dancing and cardplaying, or laws compelling us to go to church,
+if we insist that legislation ought to study for the public virtue,"
+they not only make themselves ridiculous, they even force us to suspect
+that they fear lest vice be repressed in ways inconvenient to the
+vicious. So much is premised, lest it be imagined or pretended that in
+pointing at moral limits to beneficial commerce any morality is desired
+less broad than that which all noble and well-reputed schools
+accept--the morals of mankind. At the same time, what is here advanced
+is intended to bear less immediately on law than on the general tenor of
+public opinion and practical writing.
+
+Many economists write, as assuming that it is a step forward in
+civilization when a barbarous people learns artificial wants. If a New
+Zealander, instead of being satisfied with a mat for his back, which,
+made by himself, will last him for years, betakes himself to an English
+coat, which he must buy with a price,--which indeed less effectually
+shields him from wet, and sooner wears out,--he does that which is
+convenient to the English trader, but to him is a very doubtful gain:
+perhaps rather he brings on himself colds, cough, and consumption. If a
+thousand Maoris did the same, the commerce might figure in a Maori
+budget, and a Maori economist might point to the new trade as a step
+forward in national prosperity. The Zulus, as described by Englishmen
+who have travelled in Zululand or lived in the midst of them in Natal,
+are an upright, generous, faithful, honest race; and strange to say,
+Englishmen, who have such experience of them, are found to corroborate
+the utterance of Cetewayo, "A Zulu trained by a missionary is a Zulu
+spoiled"--that is, when trained in our habits they lose their national
+virtues. How can this be? why should it be? Apparently, because from us
+they learn artificial wants. While an apron suffices a Zulu for
+clothing, and a very simple hut for shelter, he can in many ways afford
+to be hospitable and generous. A man with very few wants has all the
+feelings of superfluity and wealth while surrounded by possessions so
+slender that we count him very poor: and when with an amount of toil
+which to his hardihood is not at all severe, he can always calculate on
+providing for himself and family all that their simple habits need, he
+is not deterred from present generosity by studying for his own future.
+But if he learn to covet and count necessary a number of articles which
+require from him threefold labour, he feels himself no longer rich, but
+poor; then, instead of giving small favours gratuitously, he claims to
+be paid for everything; instead of being princely, he becomes mercenary
+and stingy. If he imitate the dress, he is liable to envy the wealth of
+the Englishman, and in schemes of laying up for the future he easily
+becomes avaricious, perhaps fraudulent. Such are the steps by which one
+may justly calculate that some or many barbarians degenerate from the
+normal goodness of their fellows. The artificial wants which they learn
+when housed with our missionaries, or imbibe from the crafty allurements
+of traders, are not (_primâ facie_) a benefit at all, do not conduce to
+independence, to the sense of wealth, nor to the practice of virtue.
+They are simply a convenience to the European trader. If a Maori or Zulu
+chief frown upon such trade, which judgment does he deserve--to be
+scolded as barbarous, or to be praised as sagacious? With them, perhaps
+also with us, to account but few things necessary is a foundation for
+many virtues. Our economists often reverse the picture.
+
+No stress is here laid on the fact that the historical saints of
+Christendom thought it an excellence to be satisfied with a minimum of
+external appliances for the comfort of the body. So much of arbitrary
+opinion may be imputed reasonably to them, and so much of fancy and
+credulity to their biographers, that it does not occur to the present
+writer to account their practices or principles any support to his
+argument. But the case of Socrates, and many other Greek philosophers,
+is different, and much to the point. With them, high thought, cheap
+feeding, and mean circumstantials frequently went together; and perhaps
+even those philosophers, who were somewhat mercenary and rich, would
+vehemently have renounced the idea that it is a good thing to acquire
+habits and tastes which make necessary to us things previously needless.
+But there is danger of drawing the reader's thoughts into a new channel
+by this allusion to Greek philosophers when an argument of national
+economy is chiefly intended, not of personal virtues. As it is better
+for an individual to be satisfied with supplies that are sufficient,
+close at hand, and easy of attainment, than to have fastidious tastes
+which cannot be supplied without considerable effort and labour, so it
+is better for a nation to have a taste for its native products, so far
+as our lower wants are concerned. If we can get all that the health and
+strength of the body needs from our own soil, and with small
+expenditure, this is better for us than to be enslaved to artificial
+tastes, which multiply labours for mere bodily supply. To fix ideas, let
+me illustrate the principle here contained by discussing those popular
+beverages, tea and coffee.
+
+Tea undoubtedly, as superseding beer, cider, and wine, has wrought much
+benefit to England, even if it have been (when heavily taxed) dearer
+than our native intoxicants. When taken with little food, in strong and
+frequent cups, it may often have weakened the nerves; but it does not,
+like alcohol, pervert the brain and inflame the mind, thus leading to
+folly, vice, and crime. The present writer is, and always has been, a
+tea drinker; nor have the many assaults on this beverage which have been
+sent to him shaken his belief that, taken in moderation, it has no evil
+comparable to its good. The present argument does not aim to prove that
+tea is in itself bad, only that the too-exclusive addiction to it has
+hurtfully excluded the trial of native beverages, which are perhaps
+better, certainly cheaper, and far more accessible.
+
+Rigid enemies of alcoholic drink often assure us, in poetical and
+ecstatic language, that water is the only reasonable and right drink for
+man, as for other animals; but the water which they recommend and
+describe as gushing and sparkling in mountain rills does not come to the
+hearth and home of every mountain dweller, much less is it attainable by
+the inhabitants of cities or boggy plains. The hardy beasts of the
+field, if they can get the water pure, manage to endure its coldness in
+all seasons; so perhaps might we, if we could recover robustness of the
+stomach without losing any advantage of a developed brain. That such
+recovery is impossible is not here asserted, but simply that, under the
+existing circumstances, the water (through its impurities or its
+coldness) often needs to be cooked, to be warmed, to have then some
+taste superadded which shall overcome mawkishness. When this is
+conceded, the question arises, will no native botany suffice? Are we of
+necessity driven to import tea from China or Assam? Such are the
+wonderful and deep harmonies of Nature that in each long-inhabited
+country the constitution of animals becomes adapted to its plants as
+well as to its climate, and finds among them not only its food, but its
+remedies for disease. Native herbs are often found more health-restoring
+than pretentious foreign drugs; nor is it extravagant to imagine that
+native leaves and berries might adapt themselves as well to the palate
+of Englishmen as tea and coffee, and better to their stomachs, if,
+instead of buying from the foreigner, we had duly studied our home
+resources. In the case of coffee, it curiously happens that there are
+persons among us who prefer what is called dandelion coffee to the
+coffee of Arabia; and that the preference is sincere seems proved by the
+accident that the dandelion thus prepared is dearer than the best Mocha.
+Nor does this dearness weigh against our argument. Twenty years ago
+brown bread was charged by bakers as fancy bread; ten years ago lentils
+were double their present price; in each case because the demand was so
+uncertain. The price of dandelion would quickly come down if it were in
+large and daily request. As substitutes for tea many leaves may be named
+which will not be called simply medicinal, prominently those of the
+sweet bay, the peach, and the black currant. If we were by any cause cut
+off from tropical markets, some combination would soon be discovered
+which carried off public preference; and when a national taste in it had
+once been established, every good purpose would have been attained
+without the foreign article. Should we not in that case moralize with
+wonder over the vast apparatus of great ships, which had been built, and
+manned, and stored, and sent to sea, with loss of sailors' lives,
+entailing widowhood and orphanhood, for no better reason than to bring
+back leaves, for which adequate substitutes abound at home? This
+argument undertakes not to prove, but to illustrate. It is not specially
+confined to the case of tea or coffee. It does not make positive
+assertion that we can now change the English taste, nor does it urge a
+transition which would be violent, if at all sudden. It merely points to
+reasonable probabilities, as showing that a vast trade with a distant
+country to gratify an artificial want, if it prove how much we can
+afford to spend without being ruined, yet does not at all prove that we
+enrich ourselves by the exchange. At the same time, so great is the
+facility for making drinks, that we might assume higher ground and press
+our argument farther. The deliciousness of Oriental sherbet is no matter
+of doubt or controversy. Its basis is simply barley-water; to flavour
+it, the foreigner, of course, uses some of his own fruits, but we have
+plenty of substitutes at hand, at least while sugar abounds to us. It
+may be warmed, if necessary: so little need we depend on the Chinese.
+Besides, some among us are satisfied with, and warmly applaud, the drink
+prepared from simple oatmeal. If we all had this taste, we should
+nationally be richer.
+
+It may be retorted, "Did you not name _Sugar_? Do you advocate making
+sugar of beetroot?" But no general renunciation of foreign commerce is
+for a moment here suggested as expedient. While we can bring sugar made
+from cane, and save our lands for other uses than beetroot, we presume
+this commerce to conduce to wealth. Not but that we may suspect the
+cheapness of sugar to conspire with other causes in slackening our zeal
+for _Honey_. Bees do not occupy and use up arable land. An abundance of
+cottage gardens and little rockeries satisfy them. Their depredations do
+not lessen the sweetness of flowers, nor the savour of herbs. They add
+to our wealth, at very small expense. They greatly add to the
+fertilization of plants. By all means let us get from the foreigner what
+we need; only let us not therefore neglect and forget our native
+resources.
+
+In other and greater matters a like topic recurs. When the controversy
+against the Corn Laws was at its height, the advocates of repeal were
+taunted with wishing to explode native wheat. They replied, "Wheat is
+now largely sown in England where the climate or soil is unfavourable;
+in such fields only, the culture will be discouraged; where it can be
+produced and ripened with greater certainty it will still be grown, and
+the price will no longer be forced up; the lands less suited to wheat
+may well yield, either some other grain in rotation, or other needful
+crop." Valid as this reply seemed, grand and glorious as are the results
+of opening our ports to foreign corn, the retrospect of thirty years
+nevertheless suggests new lines of thought. Want of food in Ireland when
+the potato crop failed was the argument which converted Sir Robert Peel;
+but the desire of selling cotton and woollen fabrics, or hardware, to
+those whose "chief coin" was wheat, gave an earlier impetus to the
+Anti-Corn Law League. Cobden and his associates were in the right, and
+performed well the task of the day; but the existing state of our
+agriculture is now discerned to be highly unsatisfactory. Every year
+widens and deepens the conviction that our laws of Land Tenure are
+fundamentally wrong; indeed, they are diverse from those of all the
+world; if they are not signally better than those of all other nations,
+they are gravely and lamentably worse; and the idea now presents itself,
+that the temporary relief given to us by the free importation of wheat
+has proved a buttress to an evil system of land laws, and has blinded us
+to the essential evils contingent on a perpetual increasing ratio of the
+population in great towns to that of the rustic districts. Much
+wealthier, no doubt, we are, and our poorer classes are less
+hard-worked. To dwell on the drawbacks through higher expectations,
+artificial wants, higher prices of coal, bricks, and houses--not to
+mention worse matters--might lead into too long digression. But, to
+bring out the idea here pointed at, we may speculate as to the results
+which must have followed, if no foreign markets had been able to give
+us permanent supplies of necessary food. Suppose that barely we had been
+able in 1847 to save from starvation as many poor Irishmen as we did
+save, but that in succeeding years the United Kingdom had been cast on
+its own resources for grain and cattle; will any one maintain that by a
+proper use of the land we could not have fed our own population?
+
+If any one is of that opinion, let him consider the phenomena of French
+agriculture. A century ago France seemed unable to feed her inhabitants.
+Thousands of the population died of starvation, even the king's own
+servants. Misery among the peasants and the poorer classes in towns was
+universal. No one imagined that the country could afford to export food,
+or had any idea of its vast capacity of production. Her climate is not
+now superior to what it was; her area is somewhat enlarged by the
+sagacious plantings on dunes of sand; the soil is improved by a
+century's tillage; the produce is more valuable, because the peasants
+have been taught many secrets of fruit culture. Most important of all,
+millions of peasants are owners of small freeholds. The "magic of
+property" has made them industrious, saving and ever vigilant to
+increase and improve the crops. We in England censure and deplore the
+compulsion on a French parent to divide his petty freehold and his gains
+equally among his children. If this be a grave evil, yet so much the
+more remarkable are the marvellous results of the union in one man of
+landlord, farmer, and labourer: for we see that by the universal and
+untiring industry which this fact elicits, not only were the great
+extravagances of the Second Empire and its wars sustained, but, in spite
+of the scarcely calculable losses of the Franco-German war, the fine of
+two hundred and fifty millions sterling, which France had to pay, was
+paid within four or five years, while a larger army than ever was raised
+and maintained. No one can dispute that the unexampled buoyancy of
+French finance is due mainly to the sound conditions of French landed
+tenure. Ireland, Scotland, and England all await a similar development,
+and never can be satisfied without it: but we have postponed the day of
+necessary reform by buying our food of almost every kind, in dangerous
+amount, from foreign countries, while our own arable land goes back into
+grass and pasture.
+
+And what reply does the Right Hon. John Bright make, when addressed with
+a claim of reformed landed tenure? His name is here adduced for honour,
+as an eminent type of the Cobden School; but the habitual reply is,
+"Good! we are in favour of Free Trade in land:" as though Free Trade
+were in itself a charm which can scare away all evils; as though the
+existing freedom to accumulate land to any extent by purchase were not
+one of our greatest mischiefs. Men cannot live in the air. Land for a
+dwelling is as essential as air and water. Land is very limited in
+quantity, especially land conveniently situated, with favourable
+conditions. Land primitively belongs to a nation, and no man naturally
+has any right to more of it than he can himself cultivate and use. Large
+landed estates are a vast power, social and political. Their possession
+was originally in England an official trust, coupled with political
+duties and customary dues in payment: but without right of ejectment
+while those dues were paid. The commercial idea of land is a perversion
+and abuse. Those who fancy that the abolition of entails and
+primogeniture and whatever makes conveyances expensive, will bring about
+the desirable reform, boast that their remedy will hoist up the market
+price of land; in other words, it would make an effective purchase by
+the State more and more difficult, more and more burdensome to the
+community. Nay, it might even delay the necessary reform, until the
+patience of a nation under a landlord Parliament broke down, and such a
+revolution followed as that of France under Louis XVI. As there is a
+moral limit to the magnitude of beneficial commerce with the foreigner,
+much more is there a moral limit to the beneficial magnitude of landed
+estates. Happily some despots are philanthropic; yet we are not in love
+with despotism. Some great landowners are philanthropic: higher honour
+be to them! but we must calculate that very many will covet power over
+all who reside on the estate, and will use the power not always kindly;
+or will employ it as a political engine to win state-offices and
+salaries for their families; others, more directly and unblushingly
+mercenary, will think chiefly how to raise rent, and will forbid both
+crops and inhabitants, if wealthy lovers of occasional sport outbid
+ordinary farmers. If from mere pride and love of the romantic a landlord
+make his estate a wilderness, the nation still suffers the damage. Its
+population is cooped into towns or driven into exile, its markets are
+starved, its military force is lowered. While the Cobden School
+pertinaciously connives at these great evils, and juggles with the
+phrase "Free Trade" as if land were an article which ought to be on the
+same footing as moveables, they are playing into the hands of their
+nominal adversaries.
+
+The first measure which we need is not one which shall facilitate the
+purchase of new and new estates by the over-wealthy, who, if they are
+not gamblers or otherwise vicious, often know not what to do with their
+vast incomes; but much rather a measure which shall set a maximum area
+for estates. The mildest thing to do is, not in the first instance to
+pass any new _Act_, but only a resolution or _Vote_ of the Commons,
+declaring that it is against the public interest for any individual to
+possess more than a thousand acres of rustic land, or more than five
+acres of town land; and that whoever bequeaths to one person more than
+the above-named, ought to be subjected to a heavy and special land tax.
+In the same direction we need other special votes of the House, to the
+effect--that by legislation, by purchase, and by taxation the recovery
+of the national soil for the nation from year to year ought to be
+systematically pursued, wherever now held in large masses by bodies of
+men or by individuals; and that in order to give to cultivators the full
+results of their own industry, it is expedient that the State, out of
+its own present or future domains, carve out numerous small farms to be
+held under it as by copyright tenure, not subject to rise of rent.
+Space does not permit further detail, or reply to objections; but the
+idea intended is to work in the direction of _virtual_ freeholds, ever
+increasing in number, which cannot be bought out of the hands of the
+cultivators by tempting prices from the rich, because they are legally
+State property, and destined to remain as areas of small culture. By
+buying up from time to time the lands possessed by large charities, by
+legacy taxes directed to discourage bequests of land in great mass, and
+by direct purchases of land or rather by taking the legacy tax in land
+itself, the State would beneficently in the course of many generations
+undo the injustices and frauds of the past.
+
+Land is so far from being a desirable object of unlimited commerce
+(called by the Cobden School Free Trade), that, especially under the
+modern interpretation which makes the lord (or chief man) _owner_ of the
+land, the most jealous limitations ought to be imposed on it by the
+State. So long, indeed, as a man holds no more of it than one family can
+cultivate, jealousy is needless; for the holder (especially if he pay a
+quit-rent for it) is sure to cultivate it, and cannot offend by
+excluding population. Town land ought, as soon as possible, to become
+town property; and, meanwhile, as early as possible, all town building
+to be subjected to a public veto for sanitary reasons. To make away into
+mercenary hands, as an article of trade, the whole solid area on which a
+nation lives, is astonishing as an idea of statesmanship. There is
+another matter connected with land as to which the State may justly feel
+great jealousy--namely, as to the consumption and exportation of
+material which cannot be reproduced. It is said that Sicily, under the
+Romans first, was largely deteriorated by the perpetual exportation of
+corn, exhausting even very fertile soil. Ireland in the past may have
+suffered by the constant sending out of cattle and pigs, with no
+back-current of commerce to restore all that their bones and flesh took
+out of the earth. Virginia and other States of the American Union
+largely ruined their soil by unceasing exportation of tobacco and other
+products. But to come closer home, no crops of coal can be grown in
+England and Wales. We reap where we have not sown, where we cannot sow.
+We export in enormous mass what we cannot reproduce. We allow
+individuals to become, out and out, proprietors of the national coal,
+and then sanction their unlimited exportation of it, with the high
+probability that this may cripple industry in the near future of
+England. This surely is a commerce, the benefit of which is very
+doubtful even in a cosmopolitan view. It may seem better to stimulate
+other nations to search for coal on their own soil than to use up what
+we cannot replace. And as for some other articles of immense commerce,
+as tobacco, it may seem doubtful which nation loses more by it--the
+importers or the exporters. Surely in all these cases the quality of the
+things bought and sold must be considered carefully, before we regard
+the magnitude of any trade a national benefit or a source of national
+wealth.
+
+    F. W. NEWMAN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] "Reciprocity," by Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., 1879: Printed for the
+Cobden Club.
+
+
+
+
+THE MYTHS OF THE SEA AND THE RIVER OF DEATH.
+
+
+At the present time, when theologians and those who have most aptitude
+for such discussions are arguing "in thoughts more elevate" of the
+soul's future life, and its rewards and punishments therein, the
+pre-historic student is tempted to let _his_ thoughts wander backwards
+over a different aspect of the same subject, in an effort to link again
+the chain of belief concerning heaven and hell, which joins this present
+with a long-forgotten past. The difficulty which we feel in uniting
+ourselves in thought with past ages, arises surely more often from the
+imperfection of our sympathies than from the deficiency of our positive
+knowledge. So many questions which were once new have long been settled,
+so many experiments have been tried, such experiences have been lived
+through since then; it is so impossible that the earlier conditions of
+life and society should return; and we cannot bring ourselves to make
+the effort of imagination necessary to place us in harmony with bygone
+times. But there are some few questions which seem as far from
+settlement now as they ever were; one of these is the question
+concerning the destiny of man after death, the character of his journey
+into that undiscovered country, and the sort of life he will lead when
+there.
+
+    "A riddle which one shrinks
+    To challenge from the scornful sphinx."
+
+Some would dissuade us from the continuance of these (so they say)
+unfruitful speculations; but it is very certain that man must change his
+nature before they will lose their fascination for him; and until he
+does so, he cannot read without sympathy the guesses which past
+generations of men have made towards the solution of the same problems.
+For them, indeed, these solutions have lost their interest, as ours will
+soon do for us. Whatever lot that new condition may hold in store,
+eternal pleasure or eternal pain, they have tried it now; whatever
+scene the dark curtain hides, they have passed behind it. This is very
+certain: as that we soon must. But so long as we remain here upon this
+upper earth, we must be something above or below humanity if we refuse
+ever to let our thoughts wander toward the changes and chances of
+another life.
+
+Not, indeed, that questions of this sort have ever had for the majority
+of men in one age, or for the collective mass of human kind, an
+all-absorbing interest. If we choose to look closely into the matter,
+and to test men's opinion as it is displayed in their actions (the only
+real opinion), we shall at first perhaps be struck by the slight belief
+which they possess in a future state. For it is slight compared to their
+"notional assent," that which they think they believe concerning it.
+With the majority, faith upon this point is at best but shadowy, of an
+otiose character suitable for soothing the lots of others, and
+sometimes, alas! called into requisition to relieve us from the stings
+of conscience on account of the pain which our own misconduct or neglect
+has introduced therein. And as it is with us, so, save under exceptional
+conditions, it has always been with men in the full vigour and enjoyment
+of life. There have been times when one aspect of the future--its
+terror--has been realized with an intensity, and has exercised an
+influence upon life and conduct, such as is unknown in our days. But
+these times have not been ordinary ones, and we are apt, I think, even
+to over-estimate the force of faith during the Middle Ages. That term,
+"dark ages," overrides our fancy; "we can never hear mention of them
+without an accompanying feeling as though a palpable obscure had dimmed
+the face of things, and that our ancestors wandered to and fro
+groping."[5] But, then, neither have the most light-hearted and
+sceptical of people been able to shut their eyes utterly to the warnings
+of death. We are wont to think of the Greeks as of just such a
+light-hearted, and in a fashion sceptical, temperament, and to contrast
+the spirit of Hellas with the spirit of mediæval Europe. Scarcely any
+thought of death, or of judgment after death, disturbs the serenity of
+Greek art, such as it has come down to us. Thanatos is not to be
+found;[6] even the tombs are adorned with representations of war and of
+the chase, or with figures of the dancing Hours. And yet Greek art was
+not without its darker side. It had, like mediæval poetry, its
+Dante--Polygnotus, namely--who adorned the pilgrims' house at Delphi
+with frescoes representing the judgment and the tortures of the
+damned,--a Greek Campo Santo. He would have given us a different
+impression of the Greek mind in presence of the fact of mortality, and
+shown us how easily we are led to exaggerate the divergence in thought
+between different nations and different times.
+
+So we find as far back as we can test the belief of men, certain
+theories touching the fate of the soul after death, which represent, in
+the germ at least, the prevalent opinions of our own day; and out of
+some of which these opinions have sprung. First among these, probably in
+point of time, stands the purely sceptical theory which takes its rise
+from the earliest efforts of language to give expression to the unseen.
+Casting about for a name for the essential part of man, the life or soul
+of him, language finds at first that it has no suitable word, and then
+supplies its want by using the breath--the ψυχη, _spiritus_--in this
+sense. Like the vital spark itself, the breath is seen to depart when
+the man dies. Whither has it gone? The purely negative, the purely
+sceptical answer would be, "It has disappeared." The answer actually
+given in most religious creeds is, "It has gone to the unseen _place_,"
+or the concealed _place_; as the Greeks said, to Hades (Ἀ-ίδης); or, as
+our Northern ancestors said, to Hel.[7] Thus, out of pure negation we
+have the beginning of a myth: the _spirit_ becomes something definite,
+and the place it has gone to is partly realized. The unseen place is
+underground, gained by a dark valley which stretches there from the
+upper earth. Enough of the old belief remains to keep this home of the
+dead itself dark and shadowy and lifeless. "The senseless dead, the
+simulacra of mortals," as Homer says. And we remember how even a hero
+like Achilles "would rather be on earth and serve for hire to a man of
+mean estate, than rule a king among the dead."
+
+The same thought is expressed by the Hebrew poet,[8]
+
+    "Sheol shall not praise thee, Jehovah,
+    The dead shall not celebrate thee;
+    They that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth;
+    The living, the living, shall praise thee, as I do this day."
+
+No people have held up this _destructive_ side of death, this negative
+theory of a future, with sharper outline than the Greeks and Hebrews.
+What a contrast to the teaching of modern religions is that line, "They
+that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth!" Other people
+have found themselves unable to rest at this point; they have endowed
+their place with a personality, but, still strongly impressed with its
+horrors, this personality is grim and fearful. Even with the Greeks,
+Hades is a person, not a place; with the Teutons, Hel has gone through
+the same transformation: and a thousand other images of horror to be met
+with in different creeds, devouring dragons, dogs who, like Cerberus,
+threaten those who are journeying to the underground kingdom, can be
+shown by their names to have sprung from merely negative images of
+death, the unseen, the coverer, the concealer, the cave of night.
+
+In contrast therefore with all these myths stand those which, after
+death, send the soul upon a journey to some paradise, believed generally
+to lie in the west. If these first are myths of hell, the second series
+may be fairly described as myths of heaven. Nor can it be certainly
+proved that the more cheerful view of the other world is of a later
+growth in time than the first which seems so primitive. We see
+indications of it in the interments of old stone-age grave mounds. While
+among historical people the older Hebrews are the exponents of the
+gloomier Sheol, the most hopeful picture of the soul's future finds
+expression in the ritual service of the Egyptians. There we have a
+complete history of the dead man's journey across the Nile and through
+the twilight region of Apap, king of the desert, until at last it
+reaches the home of the sun. And, to come nearer home, among all those
+peoples with whom we are allied in blood, the Indo-European family of
+nations, we shall find the evidences of a double belief, the belief in
+death as of a dim underground place or as a devouring monster, and the
+contrasting faith in death as a journey undertaken to reach a new
+country where everything is better and happier than upon earth.
+
+This is the myth of an earthly paradise, not, like our heaven,
+disconnected altogether from the world, but a distant land lying
+somewhere in the west, and forming part of the imaginary geography of
+those times: so the belief is, more than others, a realistic one,
+mingling with the daily experience of men and influencing deeply their
+daily life. The necessary portal of death is even sometimes lost sight
+of altogether, as when in the Middle Ages we find men undertaking more
+than one expedition in search of the earthly paradise, and when we find
+the current belief that in certain weathers was visible from the west
+coast of Ireland that happy island to which St. Brandon and his
+disciples had been carried when they left this world. For this reason,
+though the notion of the western paradise is essentially the same for
+all the human race, its local colouring constantly varies, changing with
+the geographical position of each people: if they change their homes and
+advance, as they will probably do, towards the land of promise, it moves
+away before them, as the rainbow moves from us. The Egyptians had their
+myth of the soul's journey, drawing all its distinctive features from
+the special character of their land, chiefly from the commanding
+influence which a great neighbouring desert exercised upon their
+imagination. But for our ancestors, the parents of the Indo-European
+races, the place of the desert was supplied by the sea.
+
+The most probable conjecture has fixed the cradle of our race in that
+corner of land which lies westward the steep range of the Beloot Tagh
+mountains, an off-shoot of the Himalayas, and northward from the high
+barren land of Cabul. This country, the ancient Bactriana, is the most
+habitable district to be found anywhere in Central Asia. There the hills
+stretch out in gentle slopes towards the west, and enclose fertile
+valleys, whose innumerable streams, fed by the mountains east and south,
+all go to swell the waters of the Oxus, now called the Jihon. Farther
+north lies another fruitful country, watered by the Jaxartes, separated
+from the first by a range of hills much inferior to those which divide
+both lands from Yarkand and Cashgar on the east, and from Cabul on the
+south. Both the great rivers empty themselves into the Sea of Aral,
+between which and the Caspian, sharply cutting off the fertile country
+from that sea, stretches the Khiva desert, a barren land affording a
+scanty nourishment to the herds of wandering Turkic tribes. There is
+good reason to believe, however, that this desert did not always exist,
+but that in times not extraordinarily remote the Caspian Sea, joined to
+the Sea of Aral, extended over a much larger area than it at present
+covers: it is known even now to be sinking steadily within its banks.
+With such a contraction of the great sea the desert would grow by a
+double process, by the laying bare its sandy bed and by the withdrawal
+of a neighbouring supply of moisture from the dry land. So it may well
+have been that the fruitful territory wherein in remotest ages were
+settled our Aryan ancestors, stretched so far west as to border upon a
+large inland Asiatic sea. It has even been conjectured that the turning
+of so much fertile land into desert was the proximate cause of those
+migrations which sent the greater part of the Aryan races westward--to
+people, at last, all the countries of Europe. The root which is common
+to the European languages for the names of the sea, means, in the Indian
+and Iranian languages, a desert: how can we account for this fact better
+than by supposing that after the European nations had left their early
+home, their brethren, who remained behind and who long afterwards
+separated into the people of India and Persia, came to know as a desert
+the district which their fathers had once known as the sea?
+
+Thus, these ancient Aryans stood with their backs toward the mountains
+and their faces toward the sea. All their prospect, all their future,
+seemed to be that way; when their migrations began they were undertaken
+in that direction--towards the west. Most important of all in the
+formation of a creed, their sun-god, or sun-hero,[9] was seen by many of
+them quenching his beams in the waters; the home of the sun is always
+likewise the home of souls. What more natural, nay, what so necessary,
+as that the Aryan paradise should lie westward beyond the sea? It has
+been said just now that the Indian word for desert corresponds
+etymologically with the European word for sea: that word must have been,
+in the old Aryan, something like _mara_, from which we get the Persian
+_mĕru_, desert, the Latin _mare_, the Teutonic (German and English)
+_meer_. But from identically the same root we likewise get the Sanksrit
+and the Zend (old Persian) _mara_, death, the Latin _mors_, the old
+Norse _mordh_, the German _mord_, our _murder_, all signifying
+originally the same thing.[10] What, then, does this imply? The word
+which the old Aryans used for sea they used likewise for death. How
+would this be possible, unless this, their first sea, were likewise the
+sea of death, the necessary stage upon the road to paradise?
+
+It might have been expected that such a connection of ideas would have
+endowed the sea with an entirely terrible character, precluding any
+attempt to explore its solitudes, or the lands which lay beyond. It has
+been already said that as a matter of experience we find that the
+_earthly_ paradise often comes to be realized so vividly that men lose
+the fear which should attach to any attempt at finding it. They were not
+religious, heavenward-looking men who, in Mr. Morris's poem, set out in
+quest of the happy land; and no doubt the bard has been guided by a true
+instinct, and that of all those mediæval mariners who were lost in their
+search after St. Brandon's isle, none knew that they had found what they
+were seeking--Death. The Greeks eagerly cherished delusions of the same
+kind; and long before they had summoned up courage sufficient to
+navigate the Mediterranean they had invented the myths of their western
+islands of the blest, to which yellow-haired Rhadamanthus was taken when
+expelled from Crete by his brother Minos, or of those gardens kept by
+the daughters of the west,[11] where decay and death could not enter. It
+is likely enough that for the Aryans _their_ western sea did long retain
+its more fearful meaning, _a death_; but that they at last gained
+courage to look upon it only as _the road_[12] to the land of which they
+had long been dreaming.
+
+How much more weighty a position the sea takes in men's thoughts than is
+warranted by their real familiarity with it! Into the mass of sedentary
+lives--the vast majority--it enters but seldom as an experience,
+provided a man live only a few miles inland. And yet of all countries
+which possess a sea-board, how full is the literature of reference to
+this one phenomenon of physical nature! The sun and the moon, and all
+the heavenly bodies, the familiar sights and sounds of land, are the
+property of all; and yet allusions to these are not more common in
+literature than allusions to the sea: one might fancy that man was
+amphibious, with a power of actually living _upon_, and not only _by_,
+the water. Charles Lamb acutely penetrates the cause of a certain
+disappointment we all feel at the sight of the sea for the first time.
+We go with the expectation of seeing all the sea at once, the
+commensurate antagonist of the earth. All that we have gathered from
+narratives of wandering seamen, what we have gained from true voyages,
+and what we cherish as credulously from romances and poetry, come
+crowding their images, and exacting strange tributes from expectation.
+Thus we are imbued with thoughts of the sea before we have had any sight
+of it ourselves, merely by the sea's great influence acting through the
+total experience of humanity. "We think of the great deep and of those
+who go down unto it: of its thousand isles, and of the vast continents
+it washes; of its receiving the mighty Plata, or Orellana, into its
+bosom, without disturbance or sense of augmentation; of Biscay swells
+and the mariner--
+
+    "For many a day and many a dreadful night,
+    Incessant labouring round the stormy cape;
+
+of fatal rocks and the 'still-vexed Bermoothes;' of great whirlpools and
+the water-spout; of sunken ships and sumless treasures swallowed up in
+the unrestoring depths." We must not narrow the influence of the sea in
+mythology within the compass of man's mere experience of it. Few among
+the Aryans lived by the Caspian shore; but the Sea of Death appears in
+one form or another in the religious belief of all the Aryan people. The
+tradition of the sea, its real wonders, and greater fancied terrors,
+must have passed from one to another, from the few who lived within
+sight and sound of the waters to others quite beyond its horizon, to
+whom it was not visible even as a faint silvery line.
+
+It is natural that, in early myths, no accurate distinction should have
+been drawn between the sea and rivers with which the Aryans were
+familiar. The Caspian was imagined a broad river bounding the habitable
+earth, the origin of the Oceanus of the Greeks; and the sea of death is,
+in its earliest form, a river of death. All after-forms of mythical
+geography, moreover, such as we find among Indians, Greeks, or Norsemen,
+are but graftings upon this central idea. As the Aryans changed their
+homes, the new experiences gradually blotted out the old. The Greek
+transferred his thoughts about the Caspian to the Mediterranean, and
+when his geography extended, the Oceanus was pushed farther and farther
+away, until the later Euhemerist geographers came to confound it with
+the Atlantic. Thus it is but by accident that we give to ocean the
+meaning which it now bears. The first ocean was the mythical river which
+flowed round the earth, and the real physical forerunner of the myth was
+not the Atlantic or any of our oceans, but the Caspian Sea as it
+stretched before the eyes of the ancient Aryan folk.
+
+The Norseman, especially the Icelander,[13] lived so close to the ocean,
+that the older myth was forgotten beside the aspect of nature so
+familiar to him. In the middle of his earth stood a high mountain, on
+which was a strong city, Asgaard, the house of the Æsir or gods. Below
+Asgaard lay the green and fruitful earth, man's home. Then outside
+flowed or lay the great mid-earth ocean, just like the Greek ocean in
+character, despite all differences of climate and country. At other
+times the mid-earth sea is personified as a devouring monster,
+Jörmungandr ("great monster"), the name of the mid-gaard serpent who
+lies at the bottom of the encircling sea, shaking the earth when he
+moves.[14] Beyond, lies the ice-bound land of giants--Jötunheim, giant's
+home--dark like the Cimmerian land, and peopled with beings as weird and
+terrible as the Cyclops or the Gorgons.
+
+Gradually the myths of the river of death and the sea of death from
+being one became two. The second was confined to those nations who lived
+upon the sea-shore, and lost in great part its early shape; but neither
+Indians, Greeks, nor Norsemen forgot the myth of the mortal river. The
+Indian retained it singly; for when his turn for wandering came, he
+passed over the eastern mountains and reached a land where no sea was
+any longer to be seen or heard of. In the mythical language of the
+Vedas, the mortal river is called Vaitera_n_i; it lies "across the
+dreadful path to the house of Yama,"[15] the god of Hell.
+
+From the belief in the river of death no doubt arose also the practice
+of committing the dead to the care of the sacred Ganges; for just as the
+Hindus kindle a funeral fire in the boat which bears the dead down this
+visible stream of death, so used the Norsemen to place their hero's body
+in his ship, and then having lighted it send it drifting out seawards
+with the tide. In conjunction with that thought of the other world which
+placed the final resting-place in a dark kingdom underground, the river
+is seen in Greek mythology transferred to Hades; but it is multiplied
+into four, which have all grown out of one, inasmuch as they were
+feigned to flow out of the upper-earth river Oceanus:--
+
+    "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
+    Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep;
+    Cocytus named of lamentation loud
+    Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
+    Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
+
+These pictures are not quite in character with the Hellenic thought
+about the future state. But it is certain that the more gloomy images of
+death are preserved in connection with the rivers of Hades, with Hades
+itself, and all that it contains. So it is with the northern Styx,
+Gjöll,[16] as it is called in the Eddas. This, too, is an underground
+stream lying, like the Indian, on the road to the gates of death.
+
+Thus a separation arises between the sea and the river myths. If we wish
+for something more cheerful than the pictures of Styx and Gjöll and
+Vaitera_n_i, we must look, for the tales of an earthly paradise which
+sprang up when men had lost their first terror of the sea, but had not
+lost the beliefs to which their earliest thoughts about that sea gave
+birth.
+
+Such beliefs are those which lie enshrined in the Odyssey. This poem is
+full of images of death, but they are not self-conscious ones, only
+mythical expressions first applied to the passage of the soul from life,
+and then made literal and physical by their transference to the
+unexplored western sea. What the Caspian may have been to the ancient
+Aryan, such was the Mediterranean to the Greek. The Ægean was his
+home-like water; there he might pass from island to island without
+losing sight of land; and he soon learnt to trust himself to its care,
+and to know its currents and its winds. Long before he had navigated
+beyond Cape Malea, all the coasts of the Ægean had become parts of his
+familiar world: outside this was the region of the unknown. The Iliad
+tells us what the early Greeks thought about the first. Myths may have
+mingled with the legend of the fall of Troy, but the story in Homer is
+essentially realistic, rationalistic even. The very powers of the
+immortals and their doings seem petty and limited. The Odyssey, on the
+other hand, is the product of the Greek imagination working in fields
+unturned by experience, free from any guiding impulse of knowledge; and
+here step in those monstrous shapes and strange adventures which differ
+altogether from the probable events of the Iliad. We feel at once that
+we are in a new world, a world not so much of supernatural beings as of
+magic; lands of glamour and illusion, most like the giant-land of the
+Norsemen; for we are getting towards the twilight regions of the earth
+and the borders of Hades.
+
+Some writers have attempted to explain the Odyssey as nothing more than
+a myth of the sun's course through heaven. But surely there is too much
+solidity about the story, too thorough an atmosphere of belief around
+it, to suit a tale relating such airy unrealities as those. The Greeks
+who first sung the ballads must have been thinking of a real journey
+upon this solid earth. But it is easy to see how many images and notions
+which had first been applied only to the sun-god would creep into such a
+history as that of Odysseus. Undoubtedly the sun-myth had first pointed
+out the home of the dead as lying in the west; and nothing is more
+natural than that a people whose thoughts and hopes carried them in the
+track of the wandering sun should, when they came to construct an epos
+of travel, make the imaginary journey lie the same way. They would
+interweave in the story such truths--or such sailors' yarns--as
+Phœnician mariners or adventurous Greeks brought home from the distant
+waters, with many images which had been first made of the sun's heavenly
+voyage, and others which had been first applied to death. Their
+geography would, indeed, be mythical; for they could have no accurate
+notions of the lands which they spoke of; but it would not be without a
+kernel of reality. Justin and Augustine may look upon the garden of the
+Hesperides or the garden of Alcinoüs as a reminiscence of Paradise;
+Strabo may assign them an exact position on the coast of Libya; and both
+may be right. The myth of the two gardens--the Hebrew and the Greek
+paradises--sprang up in obedience to an identical faculty of belief, and
+therefore the two stories are in origin the same. But each myth
+supported itself upon so much of reality as it could lay hold of: and it
+is likely enough that the famous golden apples which Hercules was sent
+to fetch owed their origin to the first oranges brought by Phœnician
+merchantmen to Greece.
+
+Besides some such slender thread of reality, the adventures of Odysseus
+are built upon what men's imagination told them might lie in the western
+seas. Now in reality there was only one thing which at the bottom of
+their hearts they believed actually did lie there--namely, death; and
+beyond that, the home of the departed. Therefore their stories of
+adventure in the Mediterranean do all, upon a minute inspection, resolve
+themselves into a variety of mythical ways of describing death; and upon
+this as a dark background the varied colours of the tale are painted.
+It need take away no jot of our pleasure in the brilliant picture to
+acknowledge this. Nay, it gather adds to it, for behind the graceful air
+of the poem, sung as a poem only, we hear a deeper note telling of the
+passionate, obstinate questionings of futurity which belonged not more
+to Greece three thousand years ago than they now belong to us.
+
+Any one acquainted with the genesis of myth would at once be disposed to
+see in the Odyssey the combination of two different legends; for one
+series of adventures comes as a tale told during the course of the
+second. We first see our hero on the island of Calypso, the sea-nymph;
+and when Hermes has brought from the gods the command for his release,
+he is carried thence by storms to the land of the Phæaceans. There
+Nausicaa finds him and brings him to her father Alcinoüs, by whom he is
+hospitably entertained, and at last sent back to Ithaca, his home. This
+forms one complete legend, the simplest and probably the first, because
+_into_ it is woven the account of Odysseus' earlier adventures. In the
+halls of Alcinoüs the wanderer tells what happened to him before he
+reached the cave of Calypso, and in this narrative we follow him to the
+island of the Lotus-eaters, to the island of the Cyclops, thence to the
+house of Circe, and from there to the very borders of hell itself. And
+we guess that we have here got hold of a later amplified legend built up
+out of the earlier myth. We find just such changes as this in Norse
+mythology; a story told in a few lines by the elder Edda, is expanded
+into an elaborate history in the younger. Looking again more closely at
+the Odyssey, we discover that many circumstances in the expanded tale
+bear close resemblance to one or other of the adventures in the shorter
+category. Take, for instance, the life with Calypso and with Circe. Both
+Calypso and Circe are nymphs, enchantresses; each lives alone upon her
+island: with each Odysseus passes a term of years, living with her as
+her husband, longing all the while to return to his own wife and his own
+home, and yet unable to do so: from each Hermes is the deliverer. What
+if Calypso and Circe both repeat in reality the same myth; and what if
+Odysseus' other great adventure, the voyage to the Phæaceans, have
+likewise its counterpart in the expanded story? The question of the real
+identity or difference of the two stories can only be decided when we
+have seen how much significance there is in the points of their apparent
+likeness.
+
+Who is Calypso? Her name bespeaks her nature not ambiguously. It is from
+καλύπτειν, to cover or conceal. She is the shrouder, or the shrouded
+place, answering exactly therefore to Hel, which, as has before been
+said, comes from the verb _helja_, "to hide." How, then, can Calypso be
+anything else than death, as she dwells there in her cave, by the shores
+of the sea? How can Odysseus' life with her, his sleep in her cave, be
+anything else than an image of dying? The gods have determined that the
+hero shall not remain in this mortal sleep for ever; so Hermes is sent
+to command Calypso to let Odysseus go. Hermes is the god whose mission
+it is to lead souls down to the realm of Hades--the psychopomp, as in
+this office he is called. But sometimes he may come upon an opposite
+message, to restore men to life; the staff which closes the eyes of men
+may likewise open them when asleep. On such a task he comes--
+
+    "Wind-like beneath, the immortal golden sandals
+    Bare up his flight o'er the limitless earth and the sea;
+    And in his hand that magic wand he carried,
+    Wherewith the eyes of men he closes in slumber,
+    Or wakens from sleeping."
+
+He comes like the breath of morning awakening the world, to rouse our
+hero from the embrace of death; and the whole scene is beautifully
+attuned to an image of returning life. Therefore the interference of
+Hermes between Odysseus and Calypso is full of significance. We
+accordingly meet the same episode in the Circe tale. That this last is a
+later widening of the first story appears from many things; chiefly in
+this, that there is more moral in the history; for the truest myth is
+content to follow the actual workings of nature, without attempting to
+adorn a story with extraneous incident, or to convert its simplicity
+into the complexities of allegory. That turning the companions into
+swine was a punishment for luxury--that points the moral; the original
+Circe, we may be sure, only touched her lovers with her sleepy magic
+rod. It was the same wand with the "slepy yerde"[17] of Hermes, and she
+used it not wantonly but only because all whom she embraces must fall
+into the unwakeful slumber. If Circe's name does not reveal her nature
+so nakedly as Calypso's does, this is but consistent with the fact of
+her later creation. Nevertheless, we easily recognise by it death in one
+of its many types--a ravenous animal or bird, a hawk or wolf.[18]
+
+When Odysseus is freed from the fatal embrace of Calypso, he is not at
+once restored to the common earth, but from his descent into hell goes
+heavenwards, or at least to the happy islands of the blessed. The land
+of the Phæaceans, Scheria, can scarcely be anything else than this
+Paradise, to which, according to one myth, Rhadamanthus fled from his
+brother Minos when he reigned in Crete. The Phæaceans, too, have had
+dealings with "yellow-haired Rhadamanthus," whom they carried back in
+their swift barques to Eubœa. The name of their island is merely land,
+shore;[19] perhaps at first only the farther coast of the sea of death.
+
+    "Far away do we live at the end of the watery plain,
+    Nor before now have we ever had dealings with other mortals;
+    But now there comes some luckless wanderer hither.
+    Him it is right that we help; for all men, fellows and strangers,
+    Come from Zeus; in his sight the smallest gift is pleasing."[20]
+
+They live close to the gods, and in familiar converse with them. It is a
+place where decay and death cannot enter. In the gardens of Alcinoüs
+flowers and fruit do not grow old and disappear; winter does not succeed
+to summer; all is one continuous round of blossoming and bearing fruit;
+in one part of the garden the trees are all abloom; in another they are
+heavy with clusters. There it _is_, as in that wizard's tower of
+Middle-Age legend it only _seemed_ to be--
+
+    "That from one window men beheld the spring,
+    And from another saw the summer glow,
+    And from a third the fruited vines arow."[21]
+
+In name the Phæaceans appear as beings of the twilight--φαίαξ,
+strengthened from φαιός, dusky, dim. Their most wondrous possessions are
+their ships, which know the thoughts of men, and sail swifter than a
+bird or than thought. "No pilots have they, no rudders, no oarsmen,
+which other ships have, for they themselves know the thoughts and minds
+of men. The rich fields they know, and the cities among all men, and
+swiftly pass over the crests of the sea, shrouded in mist and
+gloom."[22] Yet the Phæaceans themselves live remote from human
+habitation, unused to strangers. It would seem, therefore, that the
+ships travel alone on their dark voyages. For what purpose? It is not
+difficult to guess. Their part is to carry the souls of dead men over to
+the land of Paradise.[23] We can imagine them sailing in every human
+sea; calling at every port, familiar with every city, though in their
+shroud of darkness they are unseen by men. They know all the rich lands,
+for every land has its tribute to pay to the ships of death. They are
+the exact counterparts of the "grim ferryman which poets write of;" only
+that the last plies his business in the ancient underground Hades, while
+the Phæacean mariners are really believed to be inhabitants of the upper
+earth; albeit they can pass from this life to the other.
+
+Their business with Odysseus is to bring him back to the common world of
+Greece--to beloved Ithaca. He has passed to the cave of Hel, and emerged
+from it to visit the land of Paradise; now he returns, that his
+adventures may be sung in the homes of Greece. How could men ever tell
+tales of that strange country, if it really were a shore from which no
+traveller returned? Accordingly, this traveller is laid to sleep in the
+black barque of the Phæaceans, "a sweet sleep, unwakeful, nearest like
+to death; and as arose the one brightest star to herald the morning, the
+sea-troubled ship touched the shore."[24] Thus end the adventures of the
+wanderer; and, as far as regards the belief concerning the sea of death,
+this is all his adventures can tell us. His doings with the Cyclops,
+with the Lotus-eaters, have their relationship with the same belief; but
+they scarcely bring in any new elements; they only change the method of
+their treatment and symbolize them in a new way. Hades is more
+distinctly treated of in the second series; and this is enough to show
+us that the mortal character of the whole journey has been lost sight of
+more completely than in the first myths; so we noticed before, that the
+significance of Calypso's name is half forgotten when her part is
+assigned to Circe. The journey to Hades from Circe's island, Ææa,
+tallies exactly with the journey to Scheria from the island of Calypso;
+only, for the island of the blest is substituted the underground home of
+souls; and when Odysseus addresses there his companion, Elpenor, whom he
+had but a little while ago left dead on Circe's island, and asks him how
+he could have come under the dark west more quickly on foot than
+Odysseus did sailing in a black ship, we see that the meaning of the
+ocean journey is forgotten, and that a sort of confusion has arisen
+between the Hades under men's feet, to which the souls of the dead
+descend, and the Hades at the end of the journey lying far away. This
+part, then, is not significant of the Greek belief concerning an earthly
+Paradise. The learned Welcker, who first showed how these Phæacean ships
+were the carriers of souls,[25] wishes also to connect the myth with
+some non-Hellenic source. He supposes it to have been gathered from the
+Teutons. But surely we are not obliged to go so far, unless we are
+prepared to consider Charon non-Hellenic also; and no one can really
+pretend that. For the Phæacean myth is in many ways truer than the myth
+of Charon and Styx. Styx is but the earth-river (or sea), Oceanus,
+transferred to beneath the earth; and the story of the ferryman is a
+compromise between the two creeds--that of the _under_-world and that of
+the western paradise beyond sea; while the myth of the Phæaceans is a
+simple expression of the last. The connection which we find between
+Greek and German in these beliefs is derivable only from their common
+ancestry--not from a contact in later days. Certainly these legends have
+their close counterparts in Norse mythology; the two series only require
+to be stripped of local colouring, and some unessential details, to
+display very clearly their common brotherhood. How curious, for
+instance, is it to see that Calypso corresponds literally in name with
+the Northern goddess of the dead, Hel! Another myth, the story of the
+burning of Baldur, repeats the same images of death which we trace in
+the legend of Odysseus.
+
+Baldur is quite evidently the sun-god. Less of a hero, more of a god,
+than Odysseus, he is nevertheless mortal--as, indeed, all the Norse gods
+are--and falls pierced by the hand of his own brother, Hödur. Then his
+corpse is placed upon his ship, Hringhorn, and sent out upon this, as on
+a pyre, drifting into the ocean. We can imagine how to the Norsemen upon
+their stormy seas, the image of the sun dying red upon the western
+waters recalled the story of Baldur's burning ship. The Viking imitated
+his god in this, and when his time came ordered his funeral fire to be
+lighted in like manner upon a ship and himself to be set sailing, as
+Baldur was. After this we are brought in the myth to the underground
+kingdom of Hel, and there the goddess entertains Baldur, as Calypso
+entertained Odysseus, making ready her best to do him honour, and
+seating him in the highest place in her hall. Then the gods take
+counsel how Baldur is to be brought back again, and one of them,
+Hermödr,[26] the messenger, like Hermes, is sent to beg Hel to let
+Baldur out of Helheim. Fate and death are more powerful in northern
+lands than they are in Greece. The gods cannot command that this Calypso
+should let her prisoner go; and alas! they do not even obtain an answer
+to their prayer save on conditions which they are unable to fulfil. Hel
+will set Baldur free, if all things, both living and dead, weep for him;
+but if one thing refuses to weep, then he must remain in the
+under-world. Thereupon the gods sent messengers over the whole earth,
+commanding all things, living and lifeless, to weep Baldur out of
+Helheim; all things freely complied with the request, both men and
+stones, and trees and metals; until as the messengers were returning,
+deeming that their mission was accomplished, they met an old witch
+sitting in a cave, and she refused to weep, saying, "Let Hel keep her
+own."[27] This old witch is Calypso or Circe in another guise. Her name
+is Thokk, that is, darkness (dökkr).
+
+The Teutonic people had many myths and stories about the carrying the
+dead across the sea. We have signalized the belief in such a passage as
+the origin of those countless mediæval legends of the earthly Paradise:
+doubtless it is the parent of the modern superstition that ghosts will
+not cross the running water. Side by side with the story of the
+Phæaceans we may place the superstition which Procopius records touching
+our own island. The Byzantine historian of Justinian seems to have had
+but vague ideas of the position of Britain, which, by the tide of
+Teutonic invasion across the Rhine, had long been cut off from
+intercourse with the Empire. These Easterns were careless and ignorant
+of the remote West. So Procopius speaks of Britannia as lying opposite
+to Spain; and then he mentions another island, Brittia--evidently in
+reality our island--which faces the northern coast of Gaul, and of this
+he tells the following strange story:--There is, he declares, an island
+called Brittia, which lies in the Northern Seas. It is separated into
+two divisions by a wall;[28] and on one side of this wall the air is
+healthy and the land fertile and pleasant, and all things most apt for
+human habitation. But on the other side the air is so noxious that no
+one can breathe in it for an hour: it is given up to serpents and
+poisonous animals and plants. Yet not entirely; for this is the home of
+the dead. Then he goes on to relate how the fishermen who inhabit the
+coast opposite this part of Brittia have to perform the strange duty of
+carrying the souls across the strait. Each does his office in rotation;
+when the man's night has come he is awoke by a knocking at his door, but
+when he opens it, sees no one. He goes down to the shore, and finds
+there strange vessels, which, though empty to mortal eyes, lie deep in
+the water as though weighed down by some freight. Stepping in, each
+fisherman takes his rudder, and then by an unfelt wind the vessels are
+wafted in one night across the channel, a distance which, with oar and
+sail, they could usually scarce accomplish in eight. Arrived at the
+opposite side--our coast--the fishermen heard names called over and
+voices answering in rota, and they felt the boats becoming light. Then,
+when all the ghosts were landed, they were carried back to Gaul. We may
+picture them returning to the habitable world in the first glow of
+morning, or with the one bright morning star which shone on Odysseus
+landing at Ithaca.
+
+So much for the myth of the sea, or river, of death. A most important
+change was wrought in belief when the custom of burning the dead was
+introduced. It would seem that our Aryan ancestors were the beginners of
+this rite. Whence it arose we cannot say; but if the God of Fire was a
+prominent divinity, the thought of committing the dead into his charge
+seems a simple and natural one. Among the Aryan people the only deep
+traces of fire-worship are to be seen in the Vedic and Iranian
+religions,[29] while the fire-burial survived in all: but the former may
+well have held a prominent place in their older creed. Or--and this is
+far from unlikely--the custom of fire-burial may have arisen out of the
+sun myth, just as the belief in the soul's journey after death was
+suggested by watching the sun's journey to the west. The two great
+fire-funerals mentioned in Greek and Teutonic mythology are the funerals
+of sun-gods. Heracles burning on Mount Œta, on the western coast of the
+Ægean, may have been first thought of by Greeks who saw the sun setting
+in fire over that sea; and Baldur's bale on the ship _Hringhorn_ is
+evidently the Norse edition of the same story, his blazing ship the
+blaze in the sky, as the sun sinks into the water. Burning the dead
+never seems to have been a universal practice; rather a special honour
+paid to kings and heroes. But then we must remember that immortality
+itself was not, in ancient belief, granted to all men indiscriminately,
+only to the greatest.
+
+We see at once that with the use of fire-burial many of the old beliefs
+had to be given up; all those, for instance, which depended upon the
+preservation of the bodily remains. Of old time men had buried treasures
+with the corpse in the expectation that they would be of some kind of
+use to it; the body itself was at first imagined to descend to the
+under-world or to travel the western journey to the home of the sun. But
+now the body is visibly consumed upon the funeral pile, where, too, are
+placed, by a curious survival of old custom, the precious things which
+would formerly have been buried with it in the ground. The body and
+these things have been consumed, are gone; where have they gone? Have
+they perished utterly, and is there nothing more left than the earliest
+belief of an Ἀ-ίδης--a nowhere; is nothing true of all those myths of
+the soul passing away to a home of bliss? Instead of giving up this
+faith, the Aryan people have only spiritualized it, robbed it of the too
+literal and earthly clothing which in earlier times it wore. The thought
+which had once identified the life with the breath comes again into
+force, or, if some material representation is still wished for, we have
+the smoke of the funeral pyre, which rises heavenwards like an ascending
+soul. In this spirit we find in long after years, in the description of
+the funeral fire of Beowulf the Goth, it is said that the soul of the
+hero _wand to wolcum_, "curled to the clouds," imaging the smoke which
+was curling up from his pyre. There is even a curious analogy between
+the words for _smoke_ and _soul_ in the Aryan languages, showing how
+closely the two ideas were once allied. From a primitive root _dhu_,
+which means to shake or blow, we get both the Sanskrit root _dhuma_,
+smoke, and the Greek θυμός, the immaterial part of man, his thought or
+soul. Θυμός is not a mere abstraction like our word mind, but that which
+could live when the body was killed or wasted to death by disease.[30]
+
+Evidently, therefore, even the inanimate things, the weapons and
+treasures which are burnt with the dead, survive in a land of essences
+for the use of the liberated soul. To the question, Where does man's
+essence go to when it rises from the funeral fire? the answer, if the
+wish alone urged the thought, would be "To the gods." But with the
+majority of burying people the belief in future union with the gods was
+not strongly insisted upon. The islands of the blest are certainly not
+to be confounded with Olympus; although the Phæaceans claim to live very
+near the gods.[31] Yet with the use of burning, and among the Aryan
+people, the hope gains a measure of strength. The gods of the Aryan
+were, before everything, gods of the air. As the soul and the smoke
+mounted upwards, "curled to the clouds," the belief of its having gone
+to join the gods--chief god, Dyâus, the air--was impressed more vividly
+upon his mind. And as the notion of the western journey to the home of
+the sun was not abandoned, a natural compromise would be to send the
+soul upwards to the path of the sun, and make its voyage a voyage in
+heaven, led by the sun or by the wind. But his path still lay westward;
+the home of the dead ancestors lay beyond the western boundary; there
+was still an Oceanus to be crossed, and a dark Cimmerian land to be
+passed through.
+
+The heavenly path taken by the soul becomes, in the eye of mortals, a
+_bridge_ spanning the celestial arch, and carrying them over the river
+of death; and men would soon begin asking themselves where lay this
+heavenly road. Night is necessarily associated with thoughts of
+death--"Death, and his brother Sleep"--and of the other world. The
+heavens wear a more awful aspect than by day. The sun has forsaken us,
+and is himself buried beneath the earth; and a million dwellers in the
+upper regions, who were before unseen, now appear to sight--the stars,
+who in so many mythologies are associated with souls. Among the stars we
+see a bright, yet misty, bow bent overhead: can this be other than the
+destined bridge of souls? The ancient Indians called this road
+gods'-path, because besides that it was the way for souls to God, it was
+also the way from gods to men. They also called it the
+cow-path--_gôpatha_, meaning possibly cloud-path--from which it is
+likely we derive our name for it, "the Milky-way." The Low-German name
+for the Milky-way is _kau-pat_--_i.e., kuh-pfad_, cow-path. But in their
+hymns the Indians oftenest speak of it as the path of Yama, the way to
+the house of Yama, the god of the dead:--
+
+"A narrow path, an ancient one, stretches there, a path untrodden by
+men, a path I know of:
+
+"On it the wise who have known Brahma ascend to the world Svarga, when
+they have received their dismissal," sings a Sanskrit poet.[32]
+
+Another (R. V. i. 38. 5) prays the Maruts, the gods of the wind, not to
+let him wander on the path of Yama, or, when he does so--that is, when
+his time shall come--to keep him that he fall not into the hands of
+Nirrtis, the Queen of Naraka (Tartarus). In another place we find as
+guardians of the bridge two dogs, the dogs of Yama, and the dead man is
+committed to their care:--
+
+"Give him, O king Yama, to the two dogs, the watchers, the four-eyed
+guardians of the path, guardians of men: grant him safety and freedom
+from pain."
+
+Thus stands out in its complete development the myth of the Bridge of
+Souls: a narrow path spanning the arch of heaven, passing over the
+dwelling of Nirrtis, the Queen of Tartarus (perhaps not clearly
+distinguishable from the river of death), and reaching at last the
+country of the wise Pitris, the "fathers" of the tribe, who have gone to
+heaven before, and who since their death have not ceased to keep watch
+over the descendants of their race. This road is guarded by two dogs,
+the dogs of Yama, both wardens of the bridge and likewise psychopomps,
+or leaders of the soul up the strait road.
+
+This was essentially an Indian myth--or perhaps an Indian and
+Iranian--and took the place of the myth of the sea journey, as it was
+conceived by Greeks and Germans. The Indians and Iranians had never a
+sea of death, so they could not have such ferrymen as the Phæaceans, or
+legends such as the voyages of Odysseus and the burning of Baldur. In
+the place of them, and with their mortal _river_, they adopted this
+Bridge of Souls. The guardians are manifold in their nature; for their
+names show them related both to Cerberus, who guards Hades, and to
+Hermes, who leads the souls of the dead below; and, so far as we can
+gather from the Vedas, these dogs of Yama discharged both offices,
+sometimes keeping the bridge and sometimes conducting souls along it.
+"Give him," says the prayer, "O Yama, to the two dogs." No doubt their
+terrors were for the wicked only, and they are thus apt images of
+death:--
+
+    "Death comes to set thee free;
+    Oh, meet him cheerily
+      As thy true friend."[33]
+
+Still, as we see from their appearance, the dreadful aspect of death
+predominates. In like forms, as dogs or wolves, they return time out of
+mind in Norse mythology and in Middle-Age legend.
+
+It has been said that this myth of the Bridge of Souls was essentially
+Indian and Iranian (old Persian). It is often most difficult to
+ascertain what were the ancient Persian beliefs: but in this case the
+myth has been handed down to us from the Persians through the Arabs, a
+people possessing of right no part or lot in its construction. It is
+generally acknowledged that Mohammed took from the Persians that famous
+bridge so vividly described in the Korân.[34] Es-Sirât is the bridge's
+name. It is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword, and
+is, besides, guarded with thorns and briars along all its length.
+Nevertheless, when, at the last day, the good Muslim comes to cross it,
+a light will shine upon him from heaven, and he will be snatched across
+like lightning or like the wind; but when the wicked man or the
+unbeliever approaches, the light will be hidden, and, from the extreme
+narrowness of the bridge and likewise becoming entangled in the thorns,
+he will fall headlong into the abyss of fire that is beneath. This is
+the fragment of our old Aryan mythology which the Mohammedan has taken
+to himself to form an image of hell and of punishment after death. It is
+significant that from the Persians should have been inherited the most
+gloomy myth concerning the Bridge of Souls. For from the same source we
+(Christians) gain our fearfullest notions of the Devil.
+
+The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanskrit hymn
+we learn--
+
+"Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and blue, and brown, and
+gold, and red.
+
+"And this path Brahma knows, and he who has known Brahma shall take it;
+he who is pure and glorious."
+
+Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the Norse
+cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian _patha-devayano_,
+gods'-path. The Eddas call it As-bru, the bridge of the Æsir, or gods.
+Its other name, Bifröst, the trembling mile, it may even have inherited
+from the Milky-way, for that, when we look at it, seems to be always
+trembling. Asbru or Bifröst, then, is the bridge whereby the gods
+descend to earth. One end of it reaches to the famous Urdar fount, where
+sit the weird sisters three--the Nornir, or fates. "Near the fountain
+which is under the ash stands a very fair house, out of which come
+three maidens, named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Past, Present, Future).
+These maidens assign the lifetime of men, and are called Norns."[35] To
+their stream the gods ride every day along Bifröst to take counsel. For
+in the Norse creed the gods know not the hidden things of the future,
+nor have power to ward them off. Fate and death, the Twilight of the
+Gods, lies ahead for them also, as these things lie ahead of mortals.
+
+It is possible that a trace of the rainbow bridge is to be seen in the
+Greek myth of the asphodel meadows, which are a part of the infernal
+regions. But no other trace of the Bridge of Souls--if this be one--is
+to be found throughout the range of Hellenic mythology.
+
+The Eddas have nothing to say of the Milky-way. But we have clear
+evidence that it was considered by the German people a path for the
+dead. Indeed, in the scanty legends which survive, we can trace the
+characteristic features of the Indian myth of the bridge guarded by
+Yama's dogs, and the souls led along it by the wind-god. The wind-god of
+the north is the father of gods, none less than Odin himself; and this
+is why Odin is described as riding with his Valkyriur to the
+battle-fields, to choose from the dead the heroes who shall go with him
+to Valhöll, the hall of the chosen. It is because, as the wind-god, he
+collects the breath of the departed. Odin and Freyja (Air and Earth)
+divide the slain, says one legend--that is, the bodies go to earth, the
+breath goes to heaven. Now, in the Middle Ages, when Odin-worship had
+been overthrown, the gods of Asgaard descended to Helheim; from being
+deities they were turned into fiends. Odin still pursued his office as
+leader of the souls; but now he was huntsman of hell. One of the
+commonest appearances of this fiend, therefore, is as a huntsman--called
+the Wild Huntsman. He is heard by the peasants of the wild mountain
+districts at this day. He is companioned by _two dogs_, and his chase
+goes on along the Milky-way all the year through, save during the twelve
+nights which follow Christmas. During that time he hunts on earth, and
+the peasant will do well to keep his door well-barred at night. If he
+does not, one of the hell-hounds will rush in and lie down in the ashes
+of the hearth. No power will move him during the ensuing year, and for
+all that time there will be trouble in the house. When the hunt comes
+round again he will rise from his couch and rush forth, wildly howling,
+to join his master.
+
+A gentler legend is that which we find preserved in a charming poem of
+the Swede, Torpelius, called "The Winter Street"--another of the names
+for the Milky-way. With this, in the form in which it has been rendered
+into English,[36] we may end our list of legends connected with the Sea
+of Death or the Bridge of Souls. The story is of two lovers:--
+
+          "Her name Salami was, his Zulamyth;
+    And each so loved, each other loved. Thus runs the tender myth:
+
+    "That once on earth they lived, and, loving there,
+    Were wrenched apart by night, and sorrow, and despair;
+    And when death came at last, with white wings given,
+    Condemned to live apart, each reached a separate heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Yet loving still upon the azure height,
+    Across unmeasured ways of splendour, gleaming bright,
+    With worlds on worlds that spread and glowed and burned,
+    Each unto each, with love that knew no limit, longing turned.
+
+    "Zulamyth half consumed, until he willed
+    Out of his strength one night a bridge of light to build
+    Across the waste--and lo! from her far sun,
+    A bridge of light from orb to orb Salami had begun.
+
+    "A thousand years they built, still on, with faith,
+    Immeasurable, quenchless, so my legend saith,
+    Until the winter street of light--a bridge
+    Above heaven's highest vault swung clear, remotest ridge from ridge.
+
+    "Fear seized the Cherubim; to God they spake--
+    'See what amongst thy works, Almighty, these can make!'
+    God smiled, and smiling, lit the spheres with joy--
+    'What in my world love builds,' he said, 'shall I, shall Love itself
+      destroy?'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    C. F. KEARY.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] Elia.
+
+[6] Unless indeed we are to except a figure upon the Ephesian drum
+(Artemisium) now in the British Museum, which some have imagined to
+represent Thanatos.
+
+[7] Hel is from the Icl. _helja_ "to conceal."
+
+[8] Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19; cf. also Genesis xxxvii. 35; 1 Samuel
+xxviii. 19. Sheol is misrendered "grave" in our version. It means the
+place of the dead, not of bodies only.
+
+[9] The fact that the sun dies every day militates against his claim to
+the rank of a god: otherwise he would probably always receive the
+greatest meed of worship. As it is, he is often worshipped rather as a
+hero or demigod than a true immortal.
+
+[10] Fick. "Verg. Wörterbuch der I.-G. Sp." s.v. _mara_.
+
+[11] Hesperides. They are, however, called the daughters of Night by
+Hesiod and others.
+
+[12] Πόντος is from the same root as the Skr. _patha_, a _path_, _pfad_,
+&c. One might suppose from this that the Greeks were the first
+adventurers upon the deep waters. While the other Aryan folks called the
+sea "a death," they called it a "road."
+
+[13] There can be no doubt that the cosmology of the Eddas is to some
+extent infected by the source from which we derive it. The picture of
+earth, with its mountain Asgard and its surrounding sea, is nearly
+exactly the picture of Iceland.
+
+[14] So Poseidôn, the god of the sea, is the earth-shaker; earthquakes
+being apparently attributed to the water under the earth.
+
+[15] Weber in Chambr., 1020.
+
+[16] "The sounding," from _gialla_, to sound (yell).
+
+[17] Chaucer.
+
+[18] Κίρκος (whence Κίρκη) is given as both hawk and wolf in L. & S. It
+is most likely from a root _krik_, meaning to make a grating sound, and
+therefore probably applied originally to the bird (cf. our nightjar).
+The Latin _quercus_ seems to be from the same root--from its rustling?
+We may compare Circe with Charôn, which means "an eagle."
+
+[19] From σχερός.
+
+[20] Od. vi. 204, _sqq._
+
+[21] "Earthly Paradise."
+
+[22] Od. viii. 562.
+
+[23] Justin Martyr identifies the gardens of Alcinoüs with Paradise.
+"Cohort. ad Græc." xxix.
+
+[24] Od. xiii. 79, 88.
+
+[25] "Rheinisches Museum für Philologie," vol. i. N.S. p. 219. _Die
+Homerische Phäaken._
+
+[26] Hermödr (heer-muth, kriegsmuth) was originally one of the names of
+Odin, and therefore originally the wind. We easily see the connection
+between the rushing wind, and the battle's rage. Hermes is likewise the
+wind, and means "the rusher" (ὁρμάω, and cf. Sârameyas of the Vedas).
+
+[27] Edda Snorra, Dæmisaga, 49.
+
+[28] Procopius, Bel. Goth. iv. The wall identifies the island with
+Britain.
+
+[29] The Iranian religion, as it has come down to us, is the historical
+one founded by Zarathustra, who swept away most of the traces of the old
+Aryan faith. There is difficulty, therefore, in obtaining the evidence
+of a belief which was shared by the old Persians.
+
+[30]
+    κὰδ' δ' ἔπεσ' ἐν κόνιῃσι μακὼν, ἀπὸ δ' ἔπτατο θυμός.--Od. x. 163.
+
+    οὔτε τίς, οὖν μόι νοῦσος ἐπήλυθεν, ἥτε μάλιστα
+    τηκεδόνι στυγερῇ μελέων ἐξείλετο θυμόν.--Od. xi. 200.
+
+[31] We are here speaking of beliefs which sprang originally from the
+days of burial in the earth. Of these were all that class which included
+the journey of the soul.
+
+[32] V_r_hadâra_n_ayaka. Ed. Pol. iii 4-7.
+
+[33] Fouque.
+
+[34] Sale's Koran, Introd. p. 91. The Persian bridge was called Chinvat.
+
+[35] See Edda den Eldra, Grimnismâl 44, and Edda Snorra, D. 15. That
+Bifröst did not tremble through weakness we may gather from the fact
+that it is the "best of bridges," "the strongest of all bridges"
+(Simrock, D.M. 28), and that it will only be broken at the day of
+judgment.
+
+[36] By E. Keary: _Evening Hours_, vol. iii.
+
+
+
+
+MR. MACVEY NAPIER AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS.
+
+    _Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey Napier, Esq._
+    Edited by his son, MACVEY NAPIER. London: Macmillan & Co.
+
+
+Mr. Macvey Napier, who succeeded Francis Jeffrey in the editorship of
+the great Whig Review, had, of course, a perfect right to preserve the
+letters which are published in this volume, and to study them in private
+as much as he pleased. Indeed, for anything that appears to the contrary
+in the "Introduction" by his son, the present Mr. Macvey Napier, they
+may have been bequeathed by the original recipient with instructions
+that they should some day be published. An edition, privately circulated
+a short time ago, led to "representations that a correspondence of so
+much interest ought to be made more accessible," and the present volume
+is the result; but it might be maintained that the writers of such
+letters would, if they could have been consulted, have objected to their
+publication; and that to send them forth to the world in all their
+nakedness was, at all events, not a delicate or magnanimous thing to do.
+"Much might be said on both sides." Paley, in his chapter on the
+original character of the Christian Morality, remarked that though a
+thousand cases might be supposed in which the use of the golden rule
+might mislead a person, it was impossible in fact to light on such a
+case. That was a hazardous observation, for the truth is that when we
+once get beyond elementary conditions of being and doing, we find human
+beings differ so very widely, and in such utterly incalculable ways,
+that it is in vain to poll the monitor in the breast on questions that
+do in fact arise daily--five hundred in a thousand will vote one way,
+and five hundred in another. "How would you like it yourself?" is a
+question that elicits the most discordant replies. I have a very
+positive feeling that I should have left many of these letters in the
+portfolio, or put them into the fire; but when I look about me for a
+standard which I could take in my hand to Mr. Napier, I am baffled--he
+might produce one of his own that would silence me on the spot. And
+when one has taken up a book to comment upon it with as little reserve
+as may be, it seems idle, if not Irish, to begin by saying that the most
+amusing or most fertile things in it ought never to have seen the light.
+
+This point may recur before we have done; and in the meantime it should
+be remarked that nothing very momentous, either to the honour or the
+disgrace of human nature in general, or literary human nature in
+particular, can be extracted from this correspondence. A late essayist
+used to tell a true anecdote of a distinguished statesman who had lived
+many years and seen as many changes as Ulysses. A friend asked him
+something like this: "Well, now, you have had a great deal to do with
+mankind, and you have outlived the heats and prejudices of youth; what
+do you think of men in general?" And the veteran replied: "Oh, I like
+them--very good fellows; but"--and here we shall mollify his language a
+little--"but condemnably vain, you know." And really that is about the
+worst thing you can find it in your heart to say of literary men after
+running through these letters--"very good fellows, but very vain, you
+know."
+
+Another point which lies less near the surface, and has at least the
+look of novelty, would perhaps be this. It is the most frequent and most
+voluminous of the writers who unconsciously tell us the most about
+themselves; and who, with the pleasing exception of Jeffrey, show us the
+most of their unamiable sides. But there is comfort for impulsive people
+in the fact that it is not always the most self-controlled and
+inoffensive of the writers who win upon us. The Brougham-Macaulay feud
+runs sprawling through these pages till we are tired of it; and some of
+poor Brougham's letters are downright venomous. But the total absence of
+disguise and the blundering boyish inconsistency disarm us. Taking the
+letters one by one, the moral superiority is with Macaulay on Brougham
+as against Brougham on Macaulay, but taking the correspondence in the
+lump, it is something like Charles Surface against Joseph Surface, in
+another line--only, of course, there is no hypocrisy. While you come to
+feel for Brougham in his spluttering rages, you feel also that Macaulay,
+in his too-admirable self-continence, can do very well without your
+compassion, whatever he may have to complain of. It is easy to discern
+that Brougham honestly believed in his own superiority to the young
+rival who outshone him, and yet that he was inwardly tormented.
+Macaulay's forbearance was of the kind _qui coûte si peu au gens
+heureux_. The editor, Mr. Napier, was, we may conjecture, the greatest
+sufferer of the three. Much was owed to Brougham as a man of enormous
+intellectual force; to which, apart from his past services, great
+respect was due: but Macaulay was by far the best writer, and (to employ
+a bull which is common enough) incomparably the most attractive
+contributor. The strength of his hold upon the Review and its editor is
+apparent on every tenth page of the book, and comes out forcibly enough
+in a letter from Sir James Stephen to Mr. Napier. Mr. Napier had
+written to Sir James, expressing some delicate surprise that no article
+from his pen had reached the Review for a long time. Sir James excuses
+himself in this fashion:--
+
+    "I know that many of your contributors must be importunate for a
+    place; that you must be fencing and compromising at a weary rate;
+    that there are many interests of the passing day which you could not
+    overlook; and that we should all have growled like so many fasting
+    bears if denied the regular return of the Macaulay diet, to which we
+    have been so long accustomed."
+
+Sir James was an exceedingly busy man, and he was not professedly a man
+of letters like Macaulay; but we may, if we like, read between the lines
+in these excuses and find a little pique there, as well as a just sense
+of an editor's difficulties.
+
+Another point which lies broadly and prominently upon the surface in
+these letters is a very unpleasant one. It is scarcely credible how much
+dull conceit and sheer ignorant arbitrariness there often is in the
+minds of able and cultivated men. It does not seem even to occur to them
+that their own range may be limited, and their judgments upon many (or
+even a few) topics not worth ink or breath. It should hardly be
+offensive to an ordinary man to be told, or at least to find it tacitly
+assumed, that he could not have invented fluxions, painted like
+Rembrandt, or sung like Pindar. Why, then, should it be difficult for
+any cultivated specialist, of more than ordinary faculties, to make the
+reflection that he must be deficient in some direction or other? Yet we
+find in practice that it is not only difficult, but impossible, in the
+majority of cases. Mr. Napier seems to have invited, or at all events
+not to have repelled, free criticisms on his Review from the
+contributors in general, and the outcome is little short of appalling.
+If ever there was an able man it was Mr. Senior, yet these are the terms
+in which he allows himself to speak of an article on Christopher
+North--or rather of Christopher North himself:--"The article on
+Christopher North is my abomination. I think him one of the very worst
+of the clever bad writers who infest modern literature; full of bombast,
+affectation, conceit, in short, of all the _vitia_, _tristia_, as well
+as _dulcia_. I had almost as soon try to read Carlyle or Coleridge." Now
+Mr. Senior was, of course, entitled to dislike Christopher North, and
+there is plenty to be said against him in the way of criticism; but the
+charge of "affectation" is foolish, and the whole passage pitched in the
+most detestable of all literary key-notes. John Wilson was a man of
+genius, whose personal likings and rampant animal spirits led him most
+mournfully astray. He was wanting also in love of truth for its own
+sake; but he was as much superior to Mr. Senior as Shakspeare was to
+_him_. And the addition about Carlyle or Coleridge--_or_ Coleridge!--is
+just the gratuitous insolence of one-eyed dulness. There is enough and
+to spare of blame ready in any balanced mind for either of these great
+writers, but they can do without the admiration of wooden-headed prigs,
+however able. The point, however, is that it never dawns upon the mind
+of even so clever and cultivated a man as Mr. Senior, that his head may
+have gaps in it.
+
+Another instance to the same purport may be selected from a letter from
+Mr. Edwin Atherstone, the poet--for it would perhaps be hard and
+grudging to deny him the title, since he found an audience, and I have a
+vague recollection of having once read verses of his about Nineveh or
+Babylon which had in them power of the picturesque-meditative order.
+Now, this is the way in which Mr. Edwin Atherstone speaks of Dr. Thomas
+Brown, the metaphysician:--"For myself, I know not a writer, with the
+exception of Shakspeare, Milton, Homer, and Scott, from whom I have
+derived such high delight as from Dr. Brown."
+
+Was ever such a category put on paper before? It is as if a man should
+say his favourite musical instruments were the organ, the harp, the
+trumpet, the violin, and the sewing-machine. Brown was one of the most
+readable of metaphysicians; he made some acute hits, and he wrote
+elegant verses; but his position in Mr. Atherstone's list is as
+inexplicably quaint as that of "Burke, commonly called the Sublime," in
+the epitaph on the lady who "painted in water-colours," and "was first
+cousin to Lady Jones."
+
+The worst examples of all, however, come from the letters of Francis
+Jeffrey himself. Jeffrey has been underrated, and he was a most amiable
+man; but some of the verdicts he thought fit to pronounce upon articles
+in the _Edinburgh_, when edited by Mr. Napier, are _saugrenus_. In one
+case he is about suggesting a contributor, to deal with a certain topic,
+and is so polite as to say that the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill had
+struck him:--"I once thought of John Mill, but there are reasons against
+him too, independent of his great unreadable book and its elaborate
+demonstrations of axioms and truisms."
+
+There might be weighty "reasons against" Mr. Mill, but what his "Logic"
+could have to do with the question is not clear. It never seems to have
+crossed Jeffrey's mind that he _might_ be totally disqualified for
+forming an opinion of a book like that; and, having called it
+"unreadable" (though to a reader with any natural bent towards such
+matters it is deeply interesting), he actually puts forward the fact
+that Mill had written it as a reason against his being entrusted with
+the treatment of a political topic in a Whig Review. Editors are human,
+and the editorial position is a very troublesome one. An editor may lose
+his head, as an overworked wine-taster may lose his palate. In a word,
+allowances must be made; but, after a disclosure or two like this, it is
+difficult not to conclude that the Review owed no more of its success to
+its former editor than it might have owed to any intelligent clerk. But
+we cannot let Jeffrey go yet. The following passage relates to an
+article on Victor Cousin:--
+
+    "Cousin I pronounce beyond all doubt the most unreadable thing that
+    ever appeared in the _Review_. The only chance is, that gentle
+    readers may take it to be very profound, and conclude that the
+    fault is in their want of understanding. But I am not disposed to
+    agree with them. It is ten times more _mystical_ than anything my
+    friend Carlyle ever wrote, and not half so agreeably written. It is
+    nothing to the purpose that he does not agree with the worst part of
+    the mysticism, for he affects to understand it, and to explain it,
+    and to think it very ingenious and respectable, and it is mere
+    gibberish. He may possibly be a clever man. There are even
+    indications of that in his paper, but he is not a _very_ clever man,
+    nor of much power; and beyond all question he is not a good writer
+    on such subjects. If you ever admit such a disquisition again, order
+    your operator to instance and illustrate all his propositions by
+    cases or examples, and to reason and explain with reference to
+    these. This is a sure test of sheer nonsense, and moreover an
+    infinite resource for the explication of obscure truth, if there be
+    any such thing."
+
+Now, the writer of the article in question was Sir William Hamilton. "He
+may possibly be a clever man, but beyond all question he is not a good
+writer on such subjects." So much for Jeffrey.
+
+    "Nec sibi cœnarum quivis temere arroget artem,
+    Non prius exacta tenui ratione saporum."
+
+Poor Mr. Carlyle is again dragged in, and Sir William is pronounced "ten
+times more _mystical_" than he--"mystical" in italics. When a writer,
+using the word mystical opprobriously, prints it in italics, it is
+usually safe to decide that he knows nothing of metaphysics. The
+concluding sentences are instructive examples of editorial
+self-confidence: "If ever you admit such a disquisition again, _order
+your operator to_" do so-and-so. Thus, the treatment of Mill and
+Hamilton being equally ignorant and inept, there is no escape for the
+ex-editor. Both verdicts were after the too-celebrated
+"this-will-never-do" manner, and that is all.
+
+In the communications from literary men there are some fine instances of
+just self-consciousness. Tom Campbell writes, with great warmth and
+alertness, to promise an article upon a new work about the Nerves; but
+shortly afterwards writes again, candidly confessing that he had found,
+upon looking again at the work, that his aptitude for scientific detail
+was not great enough to enable him to do justice to the subject. A
+letter from William Hazlitt is so striking, both for its truthfulness
+and its clear-headedness, as to deserve quoting in full. He had been
+written to by Mr. Napier for some contributions to the _Encyclopædia
+Britannica_, and he replies, from his well-known retreat at Winterslow
+Hut, in these terms:--
+
+    "I am sorry to be obliged, from want of health and a number of other
+    engagements, which I am little able to perform, to decline the
+    flattering offer you make me. I am also afraid that I should not be
+    able to do the article in question, or yourself, justice, for I am
+    not only without books, but without knowledge of what books are
+    necessary to be consulted on the subject. To get up an article in a
+    Review on any subject of general literature is quite as much as I
+    can do without exposing myself. The object of an Encyclopædia is, I
+    take it, to condense and combine all the facts relating to a
+    subject, and all the theories of any consequence already known or
+    advanced. Now, where the business of such a work ends, is just where
+    I begin--that is, I might perhaps throw in an idle speculation or
+    two of my own, not contained in former accounts of the subject, and
+    which would have very little pretensions to rank as scientific. I
+    know something about Congreve, but nothing at all of Aristophanes,
+    and yet I conceive that the writer of an article on the Drama ought
+    to be as well acquainted with the one as the other."
+
+The honesty of this is quite refreshing. There is one more letter, of a
+similar order, which deserves to be signalized. In August, 1843,
+Macaulay, being pressed for more frequent contributions, writes from the
+Albany that he can promise, at the very utmost, no more than two
+articles in a year:--
+
+    "I ought to give my whole leisure to my History; and I fear that if
+    I suffer myself to be diverted from that design as I have done, I
+    shall, like poor Mackintosh, leave behind me the character of a man
+    who would have done something if he had concentrated his powers
+    instead of frittering them away. There are people who can carry on
+    twenty works at a time. Southey would write the history of Brazil
+    before breakfast, an ode after breakfast, then the history of the
+    Peninsular War till dinner, and an article for the _Quarterly
+    Review_ in the evening. But I am of a different temper. I never
+    write so as to please myself until my subject has for the time
+    driven away every other out of my head. When I turn from one work to
+    another a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition. I must
+    not go on dawdling and reproaching myself all my life."
+
+There is something melancholy in this, admirable as it is. Macaulay had
+begun to watch the shadow on the dial too closely to permit him to do
+much miscellaneous work with an easy mind. There is an important lesson
+for men of letters in the sentence,--"When I turn from one work to
+another, a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition." Here lies
+the great difference between serious literary work and that of ordinary
+business, where the mind is solicited by one thing after another in
+rapid succession. In the first case, time and energy have to be expended
+in evolving from within a fresh impulse for every topic. The most
+readable writings of Southey are those which he produced fragment by
+fragment, on topics for which little renewal of impulse was required. To
+write a great poem in scraps, all by the clock, was a task which only a
+very conceited and rather wooden man would have attempted; and the
+result we know, though there are fine things in Southey's longer poems.
+A powerful passage by Cardinal Newman on the difficulties of literary
+work is almost too well known to bear quoting, but a living poet, Mrs.
+Augusta Webster, has put the case so fairly that Macaulay's shade--which
+is, of course, a shade that reads everything--may be gratified by seeing
+in a handy way a few of her sentences:--
+
+    "Occupations of study, scientific research, literary production--of
+    brain-work of any kind that is carried on in the worker's private
+    home with no visible reminder of customer or client--are taken to be
+    such as can lightly be done at one time as well as another, and
+    resumed after no matter what interruptions, like a lady's
+    embroidery, which she can take up again at the very stitch she left
+    her needle in. Professions of this sort not only admit, but in many
+    instances require, considerable variation in the amount of daily
+    time directly bestowed on them,--_directly_, for the true student is
+    not at his work only when he is ostensibly employed, but whenever
+    and wherever he may have his head to himself,--and there is no
+    measure of visible quantity for the more or less results of
+    application.... The literary man probably fares the worst of all. He
+    is not merely not protected by the manual part of his processes, but
+    it is his danger. It is so easy--what anybody can do at any time!...
+    Of course the simple fact is that it is more difficult for this
+    class of persons to practise their vocations under the drawback of
+    perpetual breaks, actual and (what comes to nearly the same thing)
+    expected, than it is for 'business men.' Let the attention of the
+    solicitor, for instance, busied on the points of an intricate case,
+    be perforce diverted to another matter, there is lost from that case
+    just the time diverted, and a little extra to allow for the mind
+    which returns to any interrupted course of thought, never returning
+    to it exactly at the point at which it was forced to leave it. But
+    there are the recorded facts; the direct conclusions to be drawn
+    remain unaltered; nothing has disappeared, nothing has lost its
+    identity. But suppose, let us say, a dramatist, devising his crisis
+    after hours, perhaps days, of gradual growth, to the moment when he
+    sees it before him as a reality.... Force his attention away, and he
+    has lost, not merely the time he needed to complete a spell of
+    works, with something over for the difficulty of resuming, but the
+    _power_ of resuming. All has faded into a haze; and the fruit of
+    days, may be, has been thrown away at the ripening, for such moments
+    do not come twice."
+
+There are but few of Mr. Napier's own letters in this volume, so that we
+have only indirect means of measuring his idea of his editorial rights
+or duties as against contributors. There is one case in which Macaulay
+complains strongly of certain excisions, and there is another in which
+he defends certain phrases of his own which appear to have offended the
+taste of Mr. Napier, who found them undignified, if not slightly vulgar.
+He submits of course--all the mutilated ones submit--and he says he
+submits "willingly;" but all the while we can too plainly see the wry
+faces he is making. Mr. Napier was, apparently, a purist in the matter
+of style; but there is something almost grotesque in the spectacle of a
+man of his quality correcting Macaulay. It reminds one of _cet imbécile
+Buloz_.[37] The case of Leigh Hunt was very different, for he sometimes
+went to the extreme verge of decorum--quarterly review decorum, that
+is--and beyond it. But we may safely conclude that Macaulay knew much
+better than his editor how to turn a sentence, or when the use of a
+French locution was desirable for ends of literary effect. Upon this
+subject of imported phrases Mr. Napier was, it seems, very punctilious,
+for with Mr. G. H. Lewes he must have had a brisk correspondence about
+it. Mr. Lewes, who was then a young writer, anxious to get his feet well
+planted, submits, with every possible expression of acquiescence, one
+might almost say, of abject agreement; but it is easy to see that his
+compliance was forced. Macaulay in his discussion of this little matter
+with Napier, easily and decisively lays down the true guiding
+principle:--"The first rule of all writing,--that rule to which every
+other rule is subordinate,--is that the words used by the writer shall
+be such as most fully and precisely convey his meaning to the great body
+of his readers. All considerations about the purity and dignity of style
+ought to bend to this consideration."
+
+This, indeed, exhausts the subject; and leaves the editor only one
+question to solve--namely, whether the writer whom he employs has
+presumably a meaning fit to be conveyed to the readers of his
+periodical. Upon that point he must use his own judgment; but it was
+idle for a man like Mr. Napier to criticize the phrasing of a man like
+Macaulay, who had ten thousand times his reading. For it is upon the
+"reading" that the matter very largely turns. The force of a quotation
+or a phrase imported from a foreign tongue depends, not upon the bare
+meaning of the words, but upon the suggestiveness of certain
+associations. This does not necessarily imply that the precise context
+is recalled, or certain hackneyed trifles from Lucretius and Horace, and
+a score of such chips in porridge, would be indecent. If it be said that
+all this implies that an editor should be omniscient, or at lowest an
+omnivorous reader, the reply is, that it certainly does--unless the
+principle adopted in the conduct of the periodical be the more recent
+one of choosing contributors largely on account of their names, and then
+leaving them to answer for their own sins, if any. One thing is clear,
+that if a man like Jeffrey--or like Napier--could be shown the number of
+blunders he made in mutilating the writings of his contributors, he
+would feel very much humiliated. Thackeray complains very bitterly of
+the suppression of some of his touches of humour, and his sufferings at
+the hands of a critic like Mr. Napier (able man as he was) must have
+been terrible indeed.
+
+The system recently adopted of having every article signed, has not
+yielded the results which were predicted or expected by those who so
+long struggled to get it introduced. It has led to "starring" more
+outrageous and more audacious than any that was ever seen upon the
+stage, and to mischief far more serious. The worst of these is the
+substitution of a spurious sort of authority for the natural influence
+or weight of the writing, even upon some of the most important topics
+which can engage the human mind. The opinion, for example, of a
+versatile politician, or traveller, or physicist, on a question of
+religion or morals may be of no more value than that of the first man
+you meet on passing into the streets. But it will attract attention in
+proportion to the notoriety of the author, and though wise men may know
+that it is weak or foolish, they may wait a long while for the chance of
+saying so from any pulpit worth preaching in, because the platforms are
+pre-engaged; and also because, the "organs of opinion" being bound to
+live by keeping up a succession of attractive names in their pages, it
+will not do to offend the owners of such names. One other result of the
+recent system (not everywhere and always, of course, but generally and
+most frequently) is a want of freshness in periodical literature. This
+evil our American friends manage to escape; only they are much bolder
+than we are, and do not stand in terror of the charge of levity. But, as
+a rule, writers who are fit for starring purposes lose freshness in a
+very short time; and then they do a still farther mischief by striking
+that key-note of second-hand thought which is so prevalent, or at least
+so common in even our better literature.
+
+It is amusing enough to recall the superstition of secrecy which
+inspired the policy of the first Edinburgh Reviewers. Lord Jeffrey has
+told us how the conspirators, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Horner, and
+himself, used to meet by night in the back room of a printing-office,
+and steal to their work by winding paths and back stairs, like
+assassins. This was folly, though not inexcusably without rational
+ground or motive, and one cannot resist the belief that the more modern
+plan will work well some day, if it does not now. But the difference in
+the results is not so great as might have been hoped for. Men of letters
+do not now openly insult each other for differences of opinion in
+politics or theology; but it is not any variation of mechanism which has
+made the change, and, though less brutality of phrasing is now
+permitted, it would be difficult to surpass in bitterness or unfairness
+some of the signed and accredited criticism of our own day. On the
+whole, it comes to this,--you can get no more out of given moral
+conditions than there is in them. If public writers are clique-ish (a
+word to disturb Mr. Napier in his grave, and certainly an ugly one) and
+unjust to each other, it is because you cannot change the spots of the
+leopard. A man who loves the truth will employ his pen conscientiously
+and kindly, whether he writes anonymously or otherwise. To this it may
+be added that there is something extremely quaint in one thing that we
+may see taking place every week--the greater part of our newspaper
+writing is still unsigned, and, considering what a hastily got-up
+miscellany a newspaper necessarily is, it can hardly be otherwise. A
+column of reviews in a newspaper is sometimes the work of as many hands
+as there are books reviewed in it. But it might certainly have been
+expected beforehand that reviewers who write without signature should be
+both careful and moderate in attacking writers who sign, and who,
+presumably, take more time over their work than contributors to
+newspapers can generally do. Yet the newspaper columns in which
+quarterly and monthly periodicals are reviewed are "too often" (we must
+round the corner with the help of that commonplace) models of flippancy
+and dogmatism.
+
+On the whole, it is not from any mechanical changes of method that we
+must expect improvement in Review literature. Of course, in largeness,
+fulness, richness, and versatility the Review-writing of to-day is
+immeasurably superior to that of the days when Macaulay and Brougham
+fought for precedence in the _Edinburgh_. But so is the literature
+reviewed--one is a big "rolling miscellany," and so is the other. It
+does not seem to some of us that, _other things being made equal_, the
+literature of our modern Reviews (using the word widely) is either
+superior or inferior to that of the _Edinburgh_, for example. The
+growth, however, of literature generally in force, colour, range, and
+effectiveness, is something astounding. We note this, or rather it
+overwhelms us, in turning over such a book as the Memoirs of Harriet
+Martineau; and there is more than the insolence of new-fangled tastes in
+putting such a question as--where would Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope"
+be if it were published to-morrow? One day when Brougham had just left
+(for London) a country-house where he had been staying, Rogers, who was
+a fellow-guest with him, made some such remark as this--"In that
+post-chaise went away this morning, Bacon, Newton, Demosthenes, and
+Solon." It is not recorded that Rogers meant this as a joke; but where
+would Brougham be after a little manipulation by Mr. Jevons or Mr.
+Goldwin Smith? It would be tiresome to dwell upon this, and wrong to
+suggest that the men were smaller because the outlook was less; but this
+view, if anything, helps us to see the direction in which one of our
+best hopes for literature must lie--namely, in its ever-increasing
+volume. There will always be hostile camps, and there will always be
+warriors of low _morale_, but as each camp enlarges, the _average_ pain
+of those who suffer from injustice or neglect will be lessened. And this
+observation is by no means addressed to mere questions of reviewing in
+the minor sense, but rather to literature in the mass as representing
+the culture of the time.
+
+Since the time when Jeffrey ruled the _Edinburgh Review_, and even since
+the death of Mr. Napier, "the advertising element," and commercial
+elements in general, have played a great and new part, an increasing
+part, too, in the fortunes, and thus in regulating the quality and
+tendency, of current literature. One result of this state of things is
+an ever-increasing tendency to compromise in the expression of opinion.
+In spite of the spirit of tolerance of which we hear so much, there was
+perhaps never a time in which the expression of opinion was so much
+emasculated in the higher periodical literature, or in which so much
+trickery of accommodated phraseology was going forward. This will last
+for a long time yet--as long as periodical literature is a matter of
+commercial speculation. It is an evil omen that the greatest amount of
+freedom now displayed is in political and scientific discussion. It is
+difficult to see where the remedy is to come from in discussions of
+another kind. Probably we shall have a lesson by the cataclysmic method
+before very long. There is in this volume a letter from Brougham to
+Napier, in which Brougham is very angry about an indirect disclosure of
+Romilly's heterodoxy, and he goes off at a tangent to express a doubt
+whether Macaulay was any better than Romilly, but is very anxious that
+conventional conformity should be strictly maintained in the Review,
+even to the length of concealing from the general reader as far as
+possible such facts as that a man so good and "religious" as Romilly
+could be a disbeliever in this, that, or the other. We have now got
+beyond that; the accredited policy is in a vague way to trump the cards
+of the dangerous people, and then nobody shows his hand fairly and
+freely. Meanwhile, everybody feels uneasy, from a latent sense of
+insincerity; and, when once the excitement is off, the natural
+perception that out of nothing nothing can come, reassumes its sway.
+The game cannot go on in this way for ever, though no one can foresee by
+what accident the lights will be blown out, the tables thrown over, and
+the stakes roughly dealt with at last.
+
+A great difference, as might be expected, arises from the incredible
+widening of what might be called the constituencies of opinion.
+Political articles of the "inspired" order do not count as they did, or
+were supposed to do, in the days of "Coningsby" even, much less as they
+did a decade or two sooner. The effective currents of thought are far
+too numerous and far too massive to be guided--nay, too numerous and too
+massive for even the most conceited of propagandists or prophets to
+fancy he could calculate them. What sort of figure as a publicist or
+"inspired" political writer would a man like Croker cut at this end of
+the century? It must have been a dolorous day for such as he when they
+first felt sure the tides were coming up which were to sweep them and
+their works into oblivion, or at least into limbo, and make successors
+to their function impossible in future. We do not affirm that the
+present phase of change is for the best; no theory of progress will
+justify statements of that kind. In fact, things are quite bad enough;
+but some security against certain evils there must be, in the fact that
+these are days in which it is difficult to hide a wrong, or an error,
+which has an immediate sinister bearing upon ends cherished by any
+school of opinion. Who on earth would now think of calling the _Times_
+the Thunderer? Just when middle-aged men of to-day were babies it was
+thought finely argumentative, if not conclusive, to call the London
+University "Stinkomalee"--in the interest of Church and King; but the
+"hard hitting" of our own time is done in other fashion. Even if the
+Marquis of Salisbury were to edit a paper he would not be able to make
+much out of Titus Oates. But the allusion to that episode in another
+sphere of action may remind us of the late Lord Derby, who might almost
+be called the last of the old school of politicians. The mere mention of
+his name seems to flash light upon the gulf we have traversed since the
+days when the world was divided between a Whig organ and a Tory organ.
+
+Simultaneously with the incalculable increase of devotion to science, we
+have had an increase of devotion to ends held to be practical, and this
+has largely governed our literature. The subject now barely hinted at is
+well worth extended treatment. It is, however, no more than the truth
+that there has been recently a great diminution of speculative
+enthusiasm of all kinds, with a largely increased tendency to make
+things pleasant for all parties. Convenience, in fact, becomes more and
+more the governing factor of life; this tells upon our better
+literature; and until the wind sets again from the old quarters--as it
+certainly will some day--we shall feel the want of certain elements of
+freshness, individuality, and moral impulse which touch us more closely
+than we at first recognize in reading the old Edinburgh Reviewers.
+
+    MATTHEW BROWNE.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[37] One, at least, of the contributors whom Buloz tortured (Georges
+Sand wrote that she wished him "_au diable_" ten times a day, only he
+held her purse-strings) used to date his letters in this style:--"_A
+vingt-cinq lieues de cet imbécile Buloz._"
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME GOD IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY.
+
+Comparative Mythology.[38]
+
+
+Towards the end of the last century the men of letters of Europe were
+astonished to hear that in Asia, on the banks of the Ganges, a more
+ancient and richer language had been found than that of Homer. It
+offered in its words and forms striking analogies with the languages of
+Rome and Athens. Interest once roused, systematic comparisons were made,
+and comparative grammar was founded. The sphere of comparisons widened
+and the group of Aryan languages was established.
+
+It was thus ascertained that the languages of the Romans, of the Greeks,
+of the Gauls, of the Germans, of the Lithuanians, and of the Slavs in
+Europe, of the Hindoos and Persians in Asia, are made out of the same
+materials and cast in the same mould; that they are only varieties of
+one primitive type. The precise laws which regulated the formation of
+each of these varieties were discovered, so that it is both possible to
+proceed from one of these languages to the other, and to trace all of
+them to the original type whence they come, to the lost type which they
+reproduce. This lost type, the source of all the idioms of nearly the
+whole of Europe and of a third of Asia, science has reconstructed: with
+an almost absolute certainty, it has described the grammar, drawn up the
+lexicon of that language, of which no direct echo remains, not the
+fragment of an inscription on a broken stone, of that language of which
+the life and the death are pre-historic, and which was spoken at a
+period when there were as yet neither Romans, nor Hindoos, nor Greeks,
+nor Persians, nor Germans, nor Celts, and when the ancestors of all
+those nations were still wandering as one tribe, one knows not where,
+one knows not when.
+
+Closely following comparative grammar, almost at the same time rose up
+comparative mythology, and with the ancient words awoke the gods that
+they had sung, the beliefs that they had fostered. It was recognized
+that if the Indo-Europeans spoke essentially the same language, they
+also worshipped essentially the same gods and believed in the same
+things. As comparative grammar, on hearing the sister-tongues, caught up
+the echo of the mother, whose voice they repeat, so comparative
+mythology, in its turn, on looking at the sister religions, has tried to
+see through them the original image which they reflect. As the one
+restored the words and forms of the language which lived on the lips of
+the Aryans at the moment of the breaking up of the Aryan unity, the
+other endeavoured to restore the gods and beliefs which lived in their
+souls at the moment when, with the unity of the race, the identity of
+language and belief passed away. This restoration of the pre-historic
+gods and of the pre-historic beliefs is the final object of comparative
+mythology, just as the reconstruction of words and forms is the final
+object of comparative grammar. The object was analogous and so was the
+method. It is the comparative method, which by comparing kindred
+divinities and kindred beliefs, finds the original divinity and the
+original belief which gave birth to them, and which are reproduced in
+them. To sketch the picture of the original mythology, it is sufficient
+to separate from the various derivative mythologies the essential
+characteristics common to them. Every characteristic common to the
+secondary religions will be legitimately referred to the primitive one,
+whenever it is essential--that is to say neither borrowed from one of
+the kindred religions nor due to an identical, but quite independent
+development. If, for instance, the various Indo-European mythologies
+agree in naming the gods _Daiva_, "the shining ones," it follows that in
+the primitive mythology, in the religion of the period of unity, they
+were known already as beings of light and called thus. It is a great
+deal easier to admit that the seven derived religions have faithfully
+repeated what has been handed down to them from their common source,
+than to imagine that once separated they have created the same
+conception, each one on its side, and have clothed it with the same
+expression: the former hypothesis is a simple and natural induction: the
+second is in reality made up of seven hypotheses, and implies seven
+chances agreeing together, seven miracles.
+
+Our object in the following pages is to give a sketch of one of the
+chapters of the Aryan mythology. We try to show that the religion of the
+Indo-European unity recognized a Supreme God, and we try to find the
+most ancient form and the earliest origin of that conception among the
+Aryans, and to follow out the transformations it has undergone in the
+course of ages.
+
+
+The Supreme God: Zeus, Jupiter, Varuna, Ahura Mazda.
+
+The Aryan Gods are not organized as a Republic: they have a king. There
+is over the gods a Supreme God.
+
+Four of the Aryan mythologies have preserved a clear and precise notion
+of this conception: they are those of Greece, of Italy, of ancient
+India, and of ancient Persia. This Supreme God is called Zeus in Greece,
+Jupiter in Italy, Varuna in ancient India, Ahura Mazda in ancient
+Persia. Let us then listen to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, and to Ahura
+Mazda each in his turn.
+
+_Zeus and Jupiter._[39]--About three centuries before our era a Greek
+poet thus addressed Zeus:--
+
+    "Oh! Thou most glorious of immortals, whose names are many, for ever
+    Almighty, Zeus, Thou who rulest nature, directing all things
+    according to a law, hail! To Thee all this universe moving round the
+    earth yields obedience, following whither thou leadest, and submits
+    itself to Thy rule.... So great in Thy nature, King Supreme above
+    all things, no work is achieved without Thee, neither on the earth,
+    nor in the celestial regions of ether, nor on the sea, but those
+    which the wicked accomplish in their folly."
+
+This is the Zeus of the philosophers, of the Stoics, of Cleanthes: but
+he was already the Zeus of the ancient poets. Powerful, omniscient, and
+just is the god of Æschylus, as that of Cleanthes: he is the king of
+kings, the blessed of the blessed, the sovereign power among all powers,
+the only one who is free among the gods, who is the master of the
+mightiest, who is subservient to no one's rule; above whom no one sits,
+no one to whom from below he looks with awe; every word of his is
+absolute; he is the God of deep thoughts, whose heart has dark and
+hidden ways, impenetrable to the eye, and no scheme formed within his
+mind has ever miscarried. Finally, he is the Father of Justice, Dike,
+"the terrible virgin who breathes out on crime anger and death," it is
+he who from hell raises vengeance with its slow chastisement against the
+bold wayward mortal. Terpander proclaims in Zeus the essence of all
+things, the god who rules over everything. Archilochus sings Zeus
+father, as the God who rules the heavens, who watches the guilty and
+unjust actions of men, who administers chastisements to monsters, the
+God who created heaven and earth. The old man of Ascra knows that Zeus
+is the father of gods and of men, that his eye sees and comprehends all
+things and reaches all that he wishes. In short, as far back as the
+Greek Pantheon appears in the light of history, even from Homer, Zeus
+towers above the nation of gods which surrounds him. He himself
+proclaims, and the other gods proclaim after him, that, unrivalled in
+power and strength, he is the greatest of all; the gods, at his behest,
+silently bow down before him; he would hurl into the gloomy depths of
+Tartarus whomsoever should dare to disobey him: he would hurl him down
+into the uttermost depths of the subterranean abyss: alone against them
+all, he would master them. Should they let fall from the sky a golden
+chain on which all the gods and goddesses might be suspended, they still
+would be powerless, however hard they might strain to drag him from the
+heavens to the earth; and if it pleased him, he could draw them up even
+with the earth, even with the sea, and he would then fix the chain on
+the ridge of Olympus, and suspend on it the whole universe; so much is
+he above mankind, above the gods. Not only is he the most powerful, but
+also he is the wisest--the μητιέτης; he is all wisdom and he is likewise
+all justice. It is from him that the judges of the sons of the Achæans
+have received their laws: very good, very great, he holds learned
+conversations with Themis (the law) who sits at his side; prayers are
+his daughters, whom he avenges for all the insults of the wicked.
+
+Thus, power, wisdom, justice, belonged from all time to Zeus, to the
+Zeus of Homer as well as to the Zeus of Cleanthes; to the Zeus of the
+poets as to him of the philosophers, in the remotest period of paganism
+as at the approach of the religion of Christ. A providential god rules
+the Pantheon of the Hellenes.
+
+What Zeus is in Greece, Jupiter is in Italy: the God who is above all
+the gods. The identity of the two deities is so striking that the
+ancients themselves, forestalling comparative mythology, recognized it
+from the very first. He is the God, great and good amongst them all:
+_Jupiter, optimus, maximus_.
+
+_Varuna._--The most ancient of the religions of India, which the Vedas
+have made known to us, has also a Zeus, whose name is Varuna.[40]
+
+    "Truly admirable for grandeur are the works of Him who has separated
+    the two worlds and fixed their vast extent: of Him who has set in
+    motion the high and sublime firmament, who has spread out the
+    heavens above and the earth beneath.
+
+    "These heavens and this earth which reach so far, flowing with milk,
+    so beautiful in form, it is by the law of Varuna that they remain
+    fixed, facing each other, immortal beings with fertile seed.
+
+    "This Asura,[41] who is acquainted with all things, has propped up
+    these heavens, he has fixed the boundaries of the earth. He is
+    enthroned above all the worlds, universal king; all the laws of the
+    world are the laws of Varuna.
+
+    "In the bottomless abyss the king Varuna has lifted up the summit of
+    the celestial tree.[42] It is the king Varuna who has traced out to
+    the sun the broad path he is to follow: to footless creatures he has
+    given feet so that they may run.
+
+    "Those stars, which illumine the night, where were they during the
+    day? Infallible are the laws of Varuna: the moon kindles itself and
+    walks through the night.
+
+    "Varuna has traced out paths for the sun: he has thrown forwards the
+    fluctuating torrent of rivers. He has dug out the wide and rapid
+    beds where the waves of the days, let loose, unroll themselves in
+    their order.
+
+    "He has put strength into the horse, milk into the cow, intellect
+    into the heart, Agni[43] into the waters, the sun in the sky,
+    soma[44] into the stone.
+
+    "The wind is thy breath, O Varuna! which roars in the atmosphere,
+    like the ox in the meadow. Between this earth and the sublime heaven
+    above, all things, O Varuna, are of thy creation."
+
+There is an order in nature, there is a law, a habit, a rule, _a Rita_.
+This law, this _Rita_, it is Varuna who has established it. He is the
+god of the Rita, the god of Order, the guardian of the Rita; he is the
+god of efficient and stable laws; in him rest as in a rock the fixed
+immovable laws.
+
+Organizer of the world, he is its master. He is the first of the Asuras,
+"of the lords;" he is _the Asura_, "the Lord;" he is the sovereign of
+the whole world, the king of all beings, the universal king, the
+independent king; no one amongst the gods dares to infringe his laws;
+"it is thou, Varuna, who art the king of all."
+
+As he has omnipotence, he has omniscience too, he is "the Lord who knows
+all things," the _Asura viçva-vedas_. He is the sage who has supreme
+wisdom, in whom all sciences have their centre; when the poet wishes to
+praise the learning of a god, he compares it to that of Varuna. "He
+knows the place of the birds which fly in the air, he knows the ships
+which are sailing on the ocean, he knows the twelve months and what they
+will bring forth, he knows every creature that is born. He knows the
+path of the sublime wind in the heights, he knows who sits at the
+sacrifice. The God of stable laws, Varuna, has taken his place in his
+palace to be the universal king, the god with the wondrous intellect.
+Hence, following in his mind all these marvels, he looks around him at
+what has happened and what will happen."
+
+As he is the universal witness, he is also the universal judge, the
+infallible judge whom nothing escapes: none can deceive him, and from
+above he sees the evil done below and strikes it: he has sevenfold bands
+to clasp thrice round the liar by the upper, by the middle, and by the
+lower part of the body. The man, smitten by misfortune, implores his
+pity, and feels that he has sinned, and that the hand which strikes is
+also the hand that punishes:
+
+    "I ask Thee, O Varuna, because I wish to know my fault:
+
+    "I come to Thee, to question Thee who knowest all things. All the
+    sages, with one voice, said to me, Varuna is angry with thee.
+
+    "What great crime have I committed, O Varuna, that thou shouldst
+    want to kill thy friend, thy bard. Tell me, O Lord, O infallible
+    one, and I will then lay my homage at thy feet.
+
+    "Free me from the bonds of my crime, do not sever the thread of the
+    prayer that I am weaving, do not deliver me over to the deaths that,
+    at thy dictate, O Asura, strike him who has committed a crime: send
+    me not into the gloomy regions far from the light.
+
+    "Let me pay the penalty of my faults; but let me not suffer, O King,
+    for the crime of others; there are so many days that have not dawned
+    yet! Let them dawn for us also, O Varuna!"
+
+Such is the supreme God of the Vedic religion, an organizing God,
+almighty, omniscient, and moral. The following is a Vedic hymn which
+sums up with singular force the essential attributes of the God:--
+
+    "He who from on high rules this world sees every thing as if it were
+    before him. That which two men, seated side by side are plotting, is
+    heard by king Varuna, himself the third.
+
+    "This earth belongs to the king Varuna, and this sky, these two
+    sublime worlds with their remote limits; the two seas[45] are the
+    belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in this small pool of water.
+
+    "He who should leap over the sky and beyond it, would not escape the
+    king Varuna: he has his spies, the spies of the heavens, who go
+    through the world; he has his thousand eyes which look on the earth.
+
+    "The king Varuna sees everything, all that which is between the two
+    worlds and beyond them: he reckons the winking of the eye of all
+    creatures:
+
+    "The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester.
+
+    "Let thy sevenfold bands, O Varuna, let thy bands of wrath which are
+    thrice linked together, let them enfold the man with a lying tongue,
+    let them leave free the man with a truthful tongue!"
+
+_Ahura Mazda._[46]--Ancient Persia opposes to Zeus, to Jupiter, to
+Varuna, her Ormazd or Ahura Mazda.[47] "It is through me," he said to
+his prophet, Zoroaster, "that the firmament, with its distant
+boundaries, hewn from the sparkling ruby, subsists without pillars to
+rest upon; it is through me that the earth, through me that the sun, the
+moon, and the stars take their radiant course through the atmosphere; it
+was I who formed the seeds in such a manner that, when sown in the
+earth, they should grow, spring up, and appear on the surface; it was I
+who traced their veins in every species of plants, who in all beings put
+the fire of life which does not consume them; it is I who in the
+maternal womb produce the new-born child, who form the limbs, the skin,
+the nails, the blood, the feet, the ears; it was I who gave the water
+feet to run; it was I who made the clouds, which carry the water to the
+world," &c. This development, taken from a recent book of the Ghebers,
+the Bundahish, is to be found entire, in the very first words of their
+oldest and holiest book, the Avesta: "I proclaim and worship Ahura
+Mazda, the _Creator_." As far as history can be traced, he was already
+what he is now. Near the ruins of the ancient Ecbatana, the traveller
+may read, on the red granite of the mountain of Alvand, these words,
+which were engraved by the hand of Darius, the king of kings, nearly
+five centuries before the birth of Christ:--
+
+    "A powerful God is Aurâmazda!
+    'Twas he who made this earth here below!
+    'Twas he who made that heaven above!
+    'Twas he who made man!"
+
+This God, who made the world, rules it. He is the sovereign of the
+universe, the _Ahura_,[48] "the Lord." "He is a powerful god," exclaims
+Xerxes; "he is the greatest of all the gods." It is to his favour that
+Darius, inscribing upon the rock of Behistun the narrative of his
+nineteen victories, ascribes both his elevation and his triumphs. It is
+to his supreme care that he confides Persia: "This country of Persia,
+which Aurâmazda has given me, this beautiful country, beautiful in
+horses, beautiful in men, by the grace of Aurâmazda, and through me,
+king Darayavus, has nothing to fear from any enemy. May Aurâmazda and
+the gods of the nation bring me their help! May Aurâmazda protect this
+country from hostile armies, from barrenness and evil! May this country
+never be invaded by the stranger, nor by hostile armies, nor by
+barrenness, nor by evil! This is the favour which I implore from
+Aurâmazda and the gods of the nation!"
+
+This world which he has organized is a work of intelligence; by his
+wisdom it began, and by his wisdom it will end. He is the mind which
+knows all things, and it is to him that the sage appeals in order to
+penetrate the mysteries of the world.
+
+    "Reveal to me the truth, O Ahura! What was the beginning of the good
+    creation?
+
+    "Who is the father, who, at the beginning of time, begat Order?
+
+    "Who has traced for the sun and the stars the paths that they must
+    follow?
+
+    "Who makes the moon increase and decrease?
+
+    "O Ahura! I would learn those mysteries and many more!
+
+    "Who has fixed the earth and the immovable stars to establish them
+    firmly, so that they might not fall? Who has fixed the waters and
+    the trees?
+
+    "Who has directed the rapid course of the wind and of the clouds?
+    What skilful artist has made the light and the darkness?
+
+    "What skilful workman has made sleep and wakefulness? Through whom
+    have we dawn, noon, and night? From whom do they learn the law which
+    is traced out for them? Who endeared the son to his father so that
+    he should train him? Those are the things that I wish to ask Thee, O
+    Mazda, O beneficent Spirit, O Creator of all things!"
+
+In his omniscience are embraced all human actions. He watches over all
+things, and is far-seeing, and never sleeping. He is the infallible one;
+"it is impossible to deceive him, the Ahura, who knows all things." He
+sees man, and judges and chastises him, if he has not followed his law,
+for from him comes the law of man, as well as the law of the world; from
+him comes the science supreme among all other sciences, that of duty,
+the knowledge of those things we ought to think, say, and do, and of
+those things we ought neither to think, nor say, nor do. To the man who
+has prayed well, thought, spoken, and acted well, he opens his
+resplendent paradise; he opens hell to him who has not prayed and who
+has thought, spoken, and done evil.
+
+
+The Supreme God, the God of Heaven.
+
+Thus the Aryans of Greece, of Italy, of India, and of Persia agree in
+giving the highest place in their Pantheon to a supreme God who rules
+the world and who has founded order, a God sovereign, omniscient, and
+moral. Has this identical conception been formed in each of these cases
+by four independent creations, or is it a common inheritance from the
+Indo-European religion, and did the Aryan ancestors of the Greeks, of
+the Latins, of the Hindoos, and of the Persians already know a supreme
+God, an organizing, a sovereign, an omniscient, a moral God?
+
+Although the latter hypothesis is more simple and more probable than the
+former, it cannot, however, be taken at once as certain; because an
+abstract and logical conception of this kind may very well have
+developed itself at the same time among several nations, in an identical
+and independent manner. To whomsoever looks upon it at any time and in
+any place, the world can reveal the existence of a Supreme maker:
+Socrates is not the disciple of the psalmist; yet the heavens reveal to
+him, as to the Hebrew poet, the glory of the Lord. But if it be found
+that the abstract conception is closely connected with a naturalistic
+and material conception, and that the latter is identical in the four
+religions, as it is known, on the other hand, that these four religions
+have a common past, the hypothesis that this abstract conception is a
+heritage of this past, and not a creation of the present, may rise to a
+certainty.
+
+Now, these Gods who organize the world, rule it and watch over it; this
+Zeus, this Jupiter, this Varuna, this Ahura Mazda are not the
+personifications of a simple abstract conception; they emerge from a
+former naturalism, from which they are not yet quite detached; they
+commenced by being gods of the heavens.
+
+Zeus and Jupiter have never ceased to be gods of the heavens, and to be
+conscious of it. When the world was shared among the gods, "Zeus
+received the boundless sky in the ether and the clouds for his share."
+It is as the God of heaven that sometimes he shines luminous, calm, and
+pure, enthroned in the ethereal splendour, and that sometimes he becomes
+gloomy and gathers clouds (νεφεληγερέτης), causing the rain to fall from
+heaven (ὄμβριος, ὑέτιος), hurling upon the earth the eddy of fierce
+winds, drawing forth the hurricane from the summit of the ether,
+brandishing the lightning and the thunderbolt (κεραύνιος, ἀστραπαῖος).
+This is why the thunderbolt is his weapon, his attribute, "the
+thunderbolt with its never-tiring foot," which he hurls in the heights;
+why he rolls on a resounding chariot, brandishing in his hand the fiery
+trident, or dashing it on the wings of the eagle, or on Pegasus, the
+aërial steed of the lightning. This is why he is the husband of Dêmêter,
+"the mother Earth," whom he impregnates with his torrents of rain; this
+is why he sent forth, from his brow according to some, from his belly
+according to others, from the clouds according to the Cretan legend,
+Athênê, the resplendent goddess with the penetrating glance, who came
+forth, shaking golden weapons, with a cry which made heaven and earth
+resound, as she is the incarnation of the stormy light which breaks
+forth from the brow of heaven, from the belly of heaven, from the bosom
+of the cloud, filling space with its splendour and with the crash of its
+stormy birth. Lastly, the very name of Zeus (genitive _Dios_, formerly
+_Divos_) is, in conformity with the laws of Greek phonetics, the literal
+representative of the Sanscrit Dyaus, heaven (genitive _Divas_), and the
+union of Ζεὺς πατήρ with Δημήτηρ is the exact counterpart of the Vedic
+union of _Dyaus pitar_ with _Prithivî mâtar_, of the Heaven-Father with
+Earth-Mother. The word Ζεύς is an ancient synonym of Οὐρανός, which
+became obsolete as a common noun; still, in a certain number of
+expressions, it retains something of its former meaning. Thus it is,
+when the Earth prays Zeus to let rain fall upon her; when the Athenian
+in praying exclaims: "O dear Zeus, rain thou on the field of the
+Athenians and on the plains"--"Zeus has rained the whole night," says
+Homer: ὕε Ζεὺς πάννυχος. In all these expressions Zeus may be literally
+translated as a common noun, _sky_.
+
+Jupiter, identical with Zeus in his functions, is identical with him in
+his material attributes.
+
+The word Jûpiter, or better Jup-piter, is for Jus-piter, composed of
+_pater_ and of _Jus_, the Latin contraction of the Sanscrit _Dyaus_, of
+the Greek Ζεύς: Juppiter is then the exact equivalent of Ζεὺς πατήρ, and
+the word has even preserved more strongly than Zeus the sense of its
+early meaning; _sub Jove_ signifies "under the heavens;" the hunter
+awaits the marsian boar, heedless of the cold or snow, _sub Jove
+frigido_, "under the cold Jupiter, under the cold sky." Dyaus is also in
+Latin, as it is in Sanscrit, the name of the brilliant sky: "Behold,"
+exclaims old Ennius, "above thy head this luminous space which all
+invoke under the name of Jupiter:"
+
+    "Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem."
+
+Varuna, like his European brethren, has been, and is yet, a material
+god, and a material god of the same kind, a god of heaven. This is why
+the sun is his eye, why the sun, "the beautiful bird which flies in the
+firmament," is "his golden-winged messenger;"[49] why the celestial
+rivers flow in the hollow of his mouth, as in the hollow of a reed; why
+everywhere visible, by turns full of light and of darkness, by turns he
+infolds himself in the night, and irradiates the dawns, and by turns
+clothes himself in the white garments and in the black ones. Like Zeus,
+and from the same cause, he gathers together the clouds, he turns the
+sack that contains the rains, and lets it loose upside down on the two
+worlds; he inundates the heaven and the earth, he clothes the mountains
+with a watery garb, and his blood-red eyes unceasingly furrow the watery
+dwelling with their twinkling flashes. As Zeus is the father of Athênê,
+he is the father of Atharvan, "the Fire-God," of Bhrigu, "the
+Thunderer"--that is to say, of Agni, of the lightning. Agni himself is
+brought forth "from his belly in the waters," like a male Athênê.
+Finally, like Zeus, like Jupiter, he bears in his very name the
+expression of what he is; and the Sanscrit Varuna is the exact phonetic
+representative of Οὐρανός, sky.
+
+In fine, the sovereign god of Persia, notwithstanding the character of
+profound abstraction which he has acquired and which is reflected in his
+name Ahura Mazda, "the omniscient Lord," can himself be recognized as a
+god of the heavens. The ancient formulæ of the litanies still show that
+he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura Mazda,
+resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful; white,
+luminous, seen from afar; they invoke the entire body of Ahura Mazda,
+the body of Ahura which is the greatest of bodies; they say that the sun
+is his eye, and that the sky is the garment embroidered with stars with
+which he arrays himself; lastly, the most abstract of the Aryan gods has
+preserved a trait which shows him more closely tied than the others to
+the material world from which they have freed themselves; he is called
+"the most solid of the gods," because "he has for clothing the very
+solid stone of the sky." Like Varuna, like Zeus, the lightning is in his
+hands, "the molten brass which he causes to flow down on the two
+worlds;" like them he is the father of the god of lightning, Atar.
+Lastly, the most ancient historical evidence confirms the inductions of
+mythology, as at the very time when the Achæmenian kings proclaim the
+sovereignty of Aurâmazda, Herodotus wrote: "The Persians offer up
+sacrifices to Zeus,[50] going up on the highest summit of the mountains,
+as they call _Zeus the entire orb of the sky_."
+
+Thus the supreme gods of the four great religions of Greece, of Italy,
+of India, and of Persia, are at the same time, or have begun by being
+gods of the skies. By the side of these four, Svarogu, the god of the
+ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus, like
+Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the
+universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have
+received their functions; like them he is the god of the heavens, he is
+the thunderer, and like them he is the father of the Fire, Svarojitchi,
+"the son of heaven."[51]
+
+
+His Origin.[52]
+
+How did the god of the heavens become the organizing god, the supreme
+God, the moral God? How was the abstract conception grafted on the
+naturalistic conception? What is the connection between his material
+attribute and his abstract function? The Vedas give the solution of this
+problem.
+
+As far as the eye can reach, it can never reach beyond the sky; whatever
+is, is under the immense vault; all that which is born and dies, is born
+and dies within its bounds. Now, whatever takes place in it, takes place
+according to an immutable law. The dawn has never failed to appear at
+her appointed place in the morning, never forgotten where she is to
+appear again, nor the moment at which she is to reanimate the world.
+Darkness and light know their appointed hour, and always at the desired
+moment "the black One has given way to the white." Linked together by
+the same chain in the endless path open before them, they follow their
+way onwards, the two immortals, directed by a God, absorbing each
+other's tints. The two fertile sisters do not clash with one another;
+they never stop, dissimilar in form, but alike in spirit. Thus run the
+days with their suns, the nights with their stars, season following
+season. The sky has always in regular course ushered in by turn the day
+and the night. The moon has always lit up at the fixed hour. The stars
+have always known where they should go during the day. The rivers have
+always flowed into the one ocean without making it full.
+
+This universal order is either the motion of the heavens, or it is the
+action of the God of heaven, according as we think of the body or the
+soul, and view in the heavens the thing or the God. Thus, in the
+Rig-Veda, to say "everything is _in_ Varuna"--that is, "in the
+heavens"--and to say "everything is _through_ Varuna"--that is, "through
+the heaven-God"--are one and the same thing; and in these formulæ of the
+Veda, so clear in their uncertainty, theism is ever found side by side
+with unconscious pantheism, of which it is only an expression. "The
+three heavens and the three earths rest in Varuna," says a poet, and
+immediately afterwards, giving personality to his God: "It is the
+skilful king Varuna who makes this golden disc shine in heaven." The
+wind which whistles in the atmosphere is his breath, and all that exists
+from one world to the other was created by him. "From the king Varuna
+come this earth below, and yonder heaven, too, these two worlds with
+remote limits; the two seas are the belly of Varuna, and he rests also
+even in the small pool of water."
+
+This pantheistic theism, which makes no clear distinction between the
+God of heaven and the universe over which he rules, or which is
+comprised in him, penetrates Jupiter as well as Varuna. The Latin poets
+offer the equivalent of the vacillating formulæ of Vedism. "The
+mortals," says Lucretius, explaining the origin of the idea of God, "the
+mortals saw the regular motions of the heavens and the various seasons
+of the year succeed each other in a fixed order, without being able to
+discover the causes. They had, therefore, no other alternative than to
+attribute all to the gods, who made everything go according to their
+will, and it was in the sky that they placed the seat and domain of the
+gods, because it is there that may be seen revolve the night and the
+noon, the day and the gloomy planets of the night; the nocturnal lights
+wandering in the sky, and the flying flames, the clouds, the sun, the
+rain, the snow, the winds, the thunderbolts, the hail, the sudden
+convulsions, and the great threatening rumblings."[53]
+
+This view of the heavens as the universal centre of the movements of
+Nature might just as well have led to pantheism as to theism. The line
+of the poet: "Juppiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque
+moveris"--"Jupiter is everything that thou seest, everywhere that thou
+movest"--does not refer only to the Jupiter of the metaphysicians of the
+Porch; it also expresses one of the aspects of the Jupiter of primitive
+mythology. It was not by a deviation from his earlier nature that Zeus
+was confounded with Pan; he was Pan by birth; and if the epopee and the
+drama show us only a personal Zeus, it is because by their very nature
+they could and should see him only under this aspect, and had nothing to
+obtain from the impersonal Zeus, although in this form he was as old as
+in the other. And the Orphic theologian is not quite unfaithful to the
+earlier tradition of religion, when he sings of the universal Zeus:--
+
+    "Zeus was the first, Zeus is the last, Zeus the thunderer;
+    Zeus is the head, Zeus is the middle; it is by Zeus that all things
+      are made;
+    Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female;
+    Zeus is the base of both the earth and the starry sky;
+    Zeus is the breath of the winds, Zeus is the jet of the
+      unconquerable flame;
+    Zeus is the root of the sea, Zeus is the sun and the moon....
+    The whole of this universe is stretched out within the great body
+      of Zeus."
+
+In the same manner, although Persia has in general preserved the
+personality of her Supreme god, yet she suffers him, especially in the
+sects, to become confounded with the Infinity of matter through which he
+first revealed himself to the mind of his worshippers. After having
+invoked the heavens as the body of Ahura Mazda, the most beautiful of
+bodies, she placed above Ahura himself, and before him, the luminous
+space, where he manifests himself, what the theologians called "the
+Infinite light," and then by a new and higher abstraction declared
+_Space_[54] to have been at the beginning of the world. Between this
+wholly metaphysical principle and the naturalistic principle of the
+primitive religion, there is only the distance of two abstractions:
+Space is only the bare form of the luminous Infinite, and the luminous
+Infinite, again, is an abstraction from the Infinite and luminous sky,
+which was identical with Ahura.
+
+Thus, accordingly as the heavens were considered as the seat or as the
+cause of things, the god of the heavens became the matter of the world
+or the demiurge of the world. From the period of Aryan unity, he was
+without doubt the one and the other in turn; but it is probable that the
+theistic conception was more clearly defined than the other, as it is so
+in the derived mythologies; it has besides deeper roots in the human
+heart and human nature, which in every movement and in every phenomenon
+sees a Living Cause, a Personality.
+
+This god of the heavens, having organized the world, is all wisdom; he
+is the skilled artisan who has regulated the motion of the worlds. His
+wisdom is infinite, for of all those mysteries which man tries in vain
+to fathom he has the key, he is the author. But it is not only as the
+Creator of the world that he is omniscient: he knows all things,
+because, being all light, he sees all things. In the naturalistic
+psychology of the Aryans, to see and to know, light and knowledge, eye
+and thought, are synonymous terms. With the Hindoos, Varuna is
+omniscient because he is the Infinite light; because the sun is his eye;
+because from the height of his palace with its pillars of red brass, his
+white looks command the world; because under the golden mantle that
+covers him, his thousands, his myriads of spies, active and untiring
+agents, sunbeams during the day, stars during the night, search out for
+him all that which exists from one world to the other, with eyes that
+never sleep, never blink. And in the same way, if Zeus is the
+all-seeing, the πανόπτης, it is because his eye is the sun, this
+universal witness, the infallible spy of both gods and men (Θεῶν σκοπὸν
+ἠδὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν). The light knows the truth, it is all truth; truth is
+the great virtue which the god of heaven claims; and lying is the great
+crime which he punishes. In Homer, the Greek taking an oath, raises his
+eyes towards the expanse of heaven and calls Zeus and the sun to
+witness; in Persia, the god of heaven resembles in body the light, and
+in soul the truth: Aryan morality came down from heaven in a ray of
+light.
+
+
+His Destiny.
+
+Thus, the Indo-European religion knew a supreme God, and this God was
+the God of the heavens. He has organized the world and rules it,
+because, as he is the heaven, all is in him, and all passes within him,
+according to his law; he is omniscient and moral, because, being
+luminous, he sees all things and all hearts.
+
+This God was named by the various names of the sky--Dyaus, Varana, Svar,
+which, according to the requirements of the thought, described either
+the object or the person, the heavens or the God. Later on, each
+language made a choice, and fixed the proper name of the God on one of
+these words; by which its ancient value as a common noun was lost or
+rendered doubtful: thus, in Greek _Dyaus_ became the name of the
+heaven-god (Zeus) and Varana (Οὐρανός) was the name of the heavens, as a
+thing; in Sanscrit _Dyaus_ or _Svar_ was the material heavens; the
+heaven-god was Varana (later changed into Varuna); the Slavs fixed on
+the word Svar, by means of a derivative, Svarogu, the idea of the
+celestial god; the Romans made the same choice as the Greeks with their
+_Jup-piter_, and set aside the other names of the heavens; lastly,
+Persia described the god by one of his abstract epithets, the Lord,
+Ahura, and obliterated the external traces of his former naturalistic
+character.
+
+This god, who reigned at the time of the breaking up of the religion of
+Aryan unity, was carried away, with the various religions which sprang
+up from it, to the various regions where chance brought the Aryan
+migrations. Of the five religions over which he ruled, three remained
+faithful to him to the last, and only forsook him at the moment when
+they themselves perished;--they are those of the Greeks, of the Romans,
+and of the Slavs, with whom Zeus, Juppiter, and Svarogu preserved the
+titles and attributes of the Supreme god of the Aryans, as long as the
+national religion lasted. They succumbed to Christ; "Heaven-father" gave
+way to the "Father who is in Heaven."
+
+India, on the contrary, very soon forgot that god for whose origin and
+formation, however, she accounts much better than any other Aryan
+religion does; and it was not a foreign god who dethroned him--a god
+from without--but a native god, a god of his own family, Indra, the hero
+of the tempest.
+
+In fact, the supreme god of the Aryans was not a god of unity; the
+Asura, the Lord, was not the Lord in the same sense as Adonai. There
+were by the side of him, within himself, a number of gods, acting of
+their own accord, and often of independent origin. The wind, the rain,
+the thunder; the fire under its three forms--the sun in the heavens, the
+lightning in the cloud, the terrestrial fire on the altar; the prayer
+under its two forms--the human prayer, which ascends from the altar to
+heaven, and the heavenly prayer, which resounds in the din of the storm,
+on the lips of a divine priest, and descends from the heights with the
+torrents of libations poured from the cup of heaven, all the forces of
+nature, both concrete and abstract, appealing at once to the eye and to
+the imagination of man, were instantly deified. If the god of the
+heavens, greater in time and space, always present and everywhere
+present, easily rose to the supreme rank, carried there by his double
+Infinity, yet others, with a less continuous, but more dramatic action,
+revealing themselves by sudden, unexpected events, maintained their
+ancient independence, and religious development might lead to their
+usurping the power of the king of the heavens. Already during the middle
+of the Vedic period, Indra, the noisy god of the storm, ascends the
+summit of the Pantheon, and eclipses his majestic rival by the din of
+his resounding splendour.
+
+He is the favourite hero of the Vedic Rishis; they do not tire of
+telling how he strikes with his bolt the serpent of the cloud, which
+enfolds the light and the waters; how he shatters the cavern of Cambara,
+how he delivers the captive Auroras and cows, who will shed torrents of
+light and milk on the earth. It is he who makes the sun come out again;
+it is he who makes the world, annihilated during the night, reappear; it
+is he who recreates it, he who creates it. In a whole series of hymns he
+ascends to the side of Varuna, and shares the empire with him; at last
+he mounts above him, and becomes the Universal King:--
+
+    "He, who, as soon as he was born, a god of thought, has surpassed
+    the gods by the power of his intellect, he whose trembling made the
+    two worlds quake by the power of his strength--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who has firmly established the tottering earth and arrested the
+    quivering mountains; he who has fixed the extent of the
+    wide-stretching atmosphere, and who has propped up the sky,--O man,
+    it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who, after slaying the serpent, unpenned the seven rivers; who
+    brought forth the cows from their hiding-place in the cavern; he,
+    who, by the clashing of the two stones, has engendered Agni,--O man,
+    it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who made all these great things; he, who struck down the demon
+    race, driving it to concealment; he, who, like a fortunate gamester
+    who wins at play, carries off the wealth of the impious,--O man, it
+    is Indra!
+
+    "He, who gives life to both rich and poor, and to the priest his
+    singer who implores him; the god with beautiful lips; the protecting
+    god who brings the stones together to press out the soma,--O man, it
+    is Indra!
+
+    "He, who has in his hands the herds of horses and cows, the cities
+    and the chariots of war; he, who has created the Sun and the dawn;
+    he, who rules the waters,--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who is invoked by the two contending armies, by the enemies
+    facing each other, either triumphant or beaten; he, whom, when they
+    meet in the struggle on the same chariot, during the onslaught, they
+    invoke against each other,--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who discovered Çambara in the mountains where he had been
+    hidden forty years; he, who killed the serpent in his full strength,
+    who struck him dead on the body of Dânu,[55]--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "Heaven and earth bow down before him; when he shakes, the mountains
+    tremble; the drinker of soma, look at him! bearing the bolt in his
+    arm, the bolt in his hand,--O man, it is Indra!"
+
+But the usurper does not enjoy his triumph long; in the heat of his
+victory he is already stung to the heart, mortally wounded by a new and
+mystic power which is growing at his side, the power of prayer, of
+sacrifice, of worship, of _Brahma_, whose reign begins to dawn towards
+the end of the Vedic period, and which is still in existence.
+
+What Indra did in India during an historical period, Perkun and Odin did
+in a pre-historical period, the one among the Lithuanians, the other
+among the Germans. Perkun and Odin are the Indras of these two nations,
+and have each dethroned the god of the heavens. Perkun was the god of
+the thunder with the Lithuanian pagans, and one can recognize in him a
+twin brother of the Hindoo _Parjanya_, one of the forms of the god of
+the storm in Vedic mythology. This king of the Lithuanian Pantheon is a
+king of recent date; what proves it is that the Slavs, so closely
+related to the Lithuanians in their beliefs, as well as in their
+language, and who also knew the god Perkun, have still as their Supreme
+god the Supreme god of the ancient Aryan religion, the god of the
+heavens, Svarogu.
+
+The same revolution took place in Germany, but in a more remote period.
+The god of the heavens has vanished; he is replaced by the god of the
+stormy atmosphere, Odin, or Wuotan, the Vâta of India, the warrior god
+who is heard in the din of the tempest, leading his dishevelled bands of
+warriors, or letting loose on a celestial quarry the howling packs of
+the wild chase.
+
+Thus did the Greeks, the Romans, and the Slavs allow their god to be
+vanquished by a foreign god; the Germans, the Lithuanians, and the
+Hindoos themselves forsook him for an inferior creation. Only in one
+single nation he finds worshippers faithful to the last. They are not
+numerous, but they have not allowed their belief to be encroached upon
+either by time or by man. We mean the few thousands of Ghebers or
+Parsis, who, during the great political and religious shipwreck of
+Persia, fleeing before the victorious sword of the Prophet, kept from
+Islam the treasure of their old belief, and who to this day, in the year
+1879 of the Christian era, in the fire temples in Bombay, offer up
+sacrifices to the very same god who was sung by the unknown ancestors of
+the Aryan race at a time which eludes the grasp of history.
+
+    JAMES DARMESTETER.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[38] Cf. Max Müller: "Lectures on the Science of Language," and
+"Lectures on the Science of Religion;" Michel Bréal, "Mélanges de
+Mythologie et de Linguistique."
+
+[39] Maury, "Histoire des Religions de la Grèce;" Preller, "Griechische
+Mythologie."
+
+[40] See Muir, "Sanscrit Texts," v. 58; Max Müller, "Lectures on the
+Origin and Growth of Religion," p. 284.
+
+[41] "This Lord."
+
+[42] The cloud often compared to a tree branching out in the sky.
+
+[43] The fire (Ignis) which is born in the waters of heaven in the form
+of lightning.
+
+[44] A sacred plant whose sap is offered to the gods. It is pressed
+between two stones to extract the sacred liquor.
+
+[45] The sea of the earth and the sea of the clouds.
+
+[46] See J. Darmesteter, "Ormazd et Ahriman," §§ 18-59.
+
+[47] Ormazd is the modern name, contracted from the ancient Ahura Mazda.
+
+[48] Which is the same word as the Sanskrit Asura.
+
+[49] The sun is also the bird of Zeus (Æschylus, the Suppliants).
+
+[50] That is to say "to their Supreme God."
+
+[51] G. Klek, "Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur-Geschichte."
+
+[52] "Ormazd et Ahriman," §§ 62, sq.
+
+[53]
+    Praeterea, coeli rationes ordine certo
+    Et varia annorum cernebant tempora vorti;
+    Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.
+    Ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia Diveis
+    Tradere, et ollorum nutu facere omnia flecti.
+    In cœloque Deum sedes et templa locarunt,
+    Per cœlum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,
+    Luna, dies, et nox et noctis signa severa,
+    Noctivagaeque faces cœli, flammaeque volantes,
+    Nubila, sol, imbres, nix, ventei, fulmina, grando,
+    Et rapidei fremitus, et murmura magna minarum.--v. 1187.
+
+[54] In other systems, having regard to the eternity of the God and no
+longer to his immensity, boundless Time became the first principle
+(Zarvan Akarana).
+
+[55] His mother.
+
+
+
+
+LAZARUS APPEALS TO DIVES.
+
+
+The elaborate schemes which have been propounded in attempts to solve
+the much-vexed riddle how best and most effectually to ameliorate the
+condition of the working-classes--such as Owenism, Fourierism, and such
+like--have had their inception in the minds of philanthropists outside
+and above our circle. They have been conceived for the most part with a
+genuine feeling of the immense importance of this, the most burning and
+momentous question of modern days, and illumined in many cases with deep
+philosophic insight; yet, as it is almost impossible for any but a born
+proletarian to understand the needs, the wants and the daily lives of
+the proletarian, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the absence of
+this special knowledge may have contributed somewhat to the
+unworkableness of the various systems proposed. Beyond this, however, it
+strikes me that most of them contained a fatal flaw, inherent in their
+constitutions. They were too ambitious, aimed at too much, and were
+altogether of so revolutionary and subversive a character as to alarm
+the great majority of those whose goodwill must be obtained before it
+can be possible to reduce any theory to experiment on a sufficiently
+extended scale to enable an unprejudiced observer to pronounce
+decisively on the result accomplished.
+
+Were it not that the accident of my having been thrown by birth and
+association amongst the very poorest of the poor ("but indifferent
+honest") community of a large city may enable me to supplement to some
+extent the ideas enunciated by benevolent theorists belonging to the
+upper strata of society, I should not have the temerity to seek to pass
+out of the region of the "eternal silences." Moreover, I do not announce
+a new and perfect evangel to be ushered in by loud flourish of trumpets.
+I aim at nothing more ambitious than to be allowed to offer a few hints
+as to the direction which I conceive future gospels of humanity must
+take in order to be of practical utility.
+
+Having thus endeavoured to justify myself for rushing in where sometimes
+"angels fear to tread," I have no intention of apologizing for the
+crudeness of my ideas, or my lack of grace in literary composition.
+Taking into consideration the small amount of elementary education
+drilled into me at a charity school for a brief period of my very
+juvenile days, and the continued absence of any duly qualified
+instructor since, "all that goes without saying."
+
+One more egotistical, or egoistical, remark, and I proceed. I am in no
+sense a _specialist_. I am neither a Good Templar nor a Convivial Toper;
+neither a disciple of Nihilism, nor any other school of advanced thought
+(so called), nor a bigoted sectarian. I am a private in neither the
+ranks of bovine Toryism nor of rabid Radicalism; but I write simply as
+one of that common ruck of ordinary practical working men, which in
+reality forms the great staple of our plebiscite, although certain very
+noisy and turbulent minorities may possibly have led to a contrary
+inference.
+
+In the erection of my little structure, I, like all other architects,
+require a good foundation as the basis of operations; and in the present
+case the foundation required is simply a desire on the part of those
+bipeds who stand erect on pedestals for an increased knowledge of their
+fellows who crawl and kneel and lie in a thousand and one contorted
+postures on the miry clay. Enlarged knowledge will bring enlarged
+sympathy for each other on the part of high and low alike. As matters
+now stand, those above us never really see us in undress. When they come
+across us we are either too slavishly sycophantic or too ruggedly
+independent,--both being masks donned for the occasion,--and not in any
+sense our natural selves; and I have a dim kind of suspicion that on the
+few occasions when gentlemen voluntarily come forward and try to make us
+believe that they are taking us into their confidence--on the hustings,
+say, for instance--some disguise of the same kind may be adopted, and
+that the features we then see are not altogether the real ones. If I am
+right in this assumption, how is it possible for either class to have
+anything like a competent knowledge of the other? Indeed, I do not think
+I should be far wrong in saying that the manners and customs of the
+Fijian Islanders and other aborigines of distant lands are better known
+generally to the upper ten thousand than those of the lower native
+millions; and, of course, the converse holds equally good. Domestic
+servants, perhaps, may be said to form exceptions to this latter rule,
+seeing that they often have peeps into the innermost arcana; but as they
+are for the most part--the male portion of them at all events--more
+utterly inexplicable beings than their masters, the general fund of
+information is not much increased through that channel. Flunkeydom is
+much more insufferable and incomprehensible to the general run of us
+than swelldom itself.
+
+Granted, however, the desire for a better acquaintance with their
+humbler brethren on the part of our aristocracy and plutocracy (for
+this, like all other good things, must _descend_ from above), it will be
+found that, as a mutual understanding of each other's peculiarities is
+increased, the rich man (in this paper, as in an Act of Parliament,
+words denoting persons of the masculine gender shall be construed as
+including persons of the feminine gender also) will bestow a little less
+careful thought and attention on--shall I say partridges?--and more on
+his fellow-man; and the bitter class-prejudice which undoubtedly exists
+among the needy against the prosperous and well-fed will gradually die
+out. Then, and then only, will a new and brighter era dawn on "poor
+humanity;" and, I may say, that I hold optimist views with reference to
+this consummation. I think I observe a growing acknowledgment of the
+claims of humble folk in the literature of the day; and as literature is
+universally regarded as an outcome of the prevalent tone of feeling, I
+look upon this as a good omen.
+
+Having worked myself into this happy frame of mind, I am emboldened to
+request that consideration may be given to a few examples of the ideas
+which, "in the stillness of the night," and otherwise, have intruded
+themselves upon me--ideas embryonic and unformed, I doubt not, but
+genuine as far as they go. From the multitude of these shadowy phantoms
+which have now for a long time past oppressed me, I select those which
+strike me as having special reference to the improvement of our poor
+populations in four of the salient matters of life--viz., in health,
+pocket, mind, and amusements; and these I will deal with _seriatim_.
+
+
+Health.
+
+This, amongst all sublunary blessings, is undoubtedly the one of
+paramount importance, and, seeing how things now stand with us, it is
+imperative that it should be _the_ question to receive earliest
+attention.
+
+I think it is the Rev. Harry Jones who, in one of his warm-hearted
+essays, liken as rotten, worn-out, filthy habitation to a lump of putrid
+carrion, exhaling poison all around, and which should be as
+remorselessly cut out from amongst the dwellings of human beings as a
+fly-blown spot is cut out from a carcass. This simile, perhaps, is not a
+very savoury one, but it possesses a much greater merit, that of being
+_absolutely true_--slightly vulgar, but astonishingly correct. I could
+illustrate its verity by many pertinent instances which have come within
+my own experience, but I feel that this is not the place to do so. What
+then is the remedy? Obviously to re-enact the present "Artizans'
+Dwellings Improvement Act" as a _compulsory_ statute, and not as an
+optional one. Let the squalid, crazy, tumble-down rookeries which exist
+in every town in the kingdom be ruthlessly demolished, care, of course,
+being taken that suitable dwellings are cotemporaneously built on better
+sanitary principles for those whom it will be necessary to evict in
+order to carry out such improvements. And I would suggest, as a branch
+of the pervading idea which forms the centre and core of my suggestions
+(of which more anon), that the Municipal Corporations of our cities and
+towns should be themselves in their official capacity the landlords of
+such new and improved dwellings, and should employ their own tradesmen
+to build them. And, furthermore, that in the erection of whatever new
+cottages may be found necessary for the purpose indicated, the
+latter-day style of running them up all alike, as uniform as so many
+squares of glass in a sash, should be abandoned, and a little variety of
+style, if only in trifling particulars, introduced. Human nature, even
+the human nature of the uneducated poor, rebels against this painful
+monotony, and grows intensely weary of over-much regularity, which, if a
+virtue at all, is one of so starched and rigid a character, that it
+takes a considerable amount of resolution, and a far higher degree of
+culture than we can lay claim to, to enable us to fall in love with it.
+To our uninstructed eyes, diversity of form is much more pleasing than
+undeviating rectangularity.
+
+Again, the most painstaking care must be taken that these substituted
+domiciles be properly and thoroughly drained. Unhappily, although this
+is a truism and a self-evident proposition, it is, through carelessness
+or indifference, frequently neglected--a fact too sadly attested by the
+ravages of fever from time to time in our outlying districts, where,
+twenty years ago, the bricklayer and hodman had not arrived upon the
+scene. To obviate this it is absolutely necessary that the most skilled
+science should be employed, and the most searching local legislation
+strictly enforced, to secure the carrying out of approved sewerage and
+drainage systems.
+
+Furthermore, I would suggest that no horse or cattle slaughterer,
+tallow-melter, manure-merchant, tanner, or other person plying any of
+the trades known as noisome or offensive, should be allowed to continue
+such trades without a special licence, and that by the terms of such
+licence they should be prohibited, under heavy penalties, from carrying
+on their businesses outside the limits of a certain area to be expressly
+set aside for that purpose, at such a distance from the centre of every
+town as may be judged desirable by the sanitary authorities. Within this
+area pig-styes and fowl-houses should be erected, and no swine, ducks,
+or geese be permitted to be kept outside its boundary. An inspector
+should be appointed specially for this quarter of the town, who should
+direct all his energies to seeing that the best principles of
+ventilation, smoke-consumption, drainage, use of disinfectants, &c. &c.,
+are adopted throughout his domain; and all ill-conditioned recusants
+against the decrees of the local senate should be mulcted in heavy
+damages. On the part of the senate itself there must be no apathy, no
+supineness, no dilettanteism, but a stern, vigorous determination
+stringently and impartially to enforce prompt obedience to its edicts.
+
+No doubt this would be somewhat of a hardship upon certain individuals,
+on the score of inconvenience and increased cost of production; but I
+doubt not they would take care to indemnify themselves. Even were it
+otherwise, however, the aggregate gain in so important a matter as the
+public health must swamp all minor considerations. Private interests
+must inevitably be sacrificed in the advancement of the general weal.
+All the Mrs. Partingtons that ever existed, with all their mops (whether
+such mops are called monopolies, vested rights, or what not), must
+perforce recede before the rising tide of the ocean of civilization.
+
+Having well drained our streets and habitations, and consecrated a
+_quartier_ for the purposes last mentioned, the next step must be to
+increase the number of our iron hospitals; and, disregarding
+sentimentality, immediately to isolate and put in quarantine all persons
+suffering from infectious diseases. Firmly grasp this nettle the moment
+it crops up, and without a shadow of doubt you will reduce to a minimum
+the high rate of mortality at present existing in our overcrowded cities
+through a total neglect of proper precaution. All textile fabrics,
+bedding, books, &c., which have come in contact with the patient, to be
+consumed by fire. Even Vandalism is excusable, nay, commendable, in
+certain circumstances.
+
+Finally, on this branch of the subject, I submit for the consideration
+of municipalities the following recommendations:--
+
+1. Preserve or procure open spaces, sufficient to form recreation
+grounds for your communities--say an acre for every thousand
+inhabitants. Regard this to be quite as imperative a necessity as the
+acquisition of further land to add to the cemeteries in which you inter
+the bodies of those who have "gone over to the majority." Let the quick
+share your care and attention on equal terms with the dead in the matter
+of requisite space and accommodation.
+
+2. Cause your common lodging-houses and your still worse haunts to be
+under the most vigilant supervision; and that _constantly_, and not
+fitfully and spasmodically. The more severe and restrictive your
+regulations are with reference to these matters the better it will be
+for all decent, quiet citizens.
+
+3. Provide every householder within your jurisdiction with a _filter_,
+to insure to him and his the opportunity of enjoying water free from
+organic and other impurities.
+
+4. Furnish him also with two boxes, varying in size according to the
+dimensions of his domicile: one to form a receptacle for dust, cinders,
+old rags, broken bottles, and what is generically known as "dry dirt;"
+and the other for decayed vegetables, the entrails of fish, and that
+kind of refuse that we rather uneuphoniously call "muck." Such boxes to
+be taken away once a week and empty ones left in their stead. As a
+corollary to this, forbid him, under penalties, to continue his present
+practice of pitching derelicts into the street, as the readiest means of
+being quit of them; and make him responsible for the cleanliness of his
+doorsteps and the pavement in front of his dwelling.
+
+5. Send round carts of chloride of lime, at short intervals during warm
+or "muggy" weather, and direct a bucketful to be delivered to every
+housewife, to remove stenches from sinks, water-closets, &c.
+
+6. Erect a furnace in some convenient locality, to serve the same
+purpose as that known as the "Queen's tobacco-pipe" at the London Docks
+does or did--_i.e._, to reduce to ashes all infected or condemned
+articles.
+
+The foregoing list of recommendations might be extended indefinitely;
+but perhaps the above will be sufficient to begin with.
+
+There are, no doubt, two objections at least which may be raised against
+the adoption of any scheme founded on these hints: first, one on the
+score of increased expenditure; secondly, one condemning increased
+centralization. With regard to the former, my answer is that health,
+especially the health of the aggregate mass of the body politic, cannot
+possibly be bought too dear; and that nothing really is so costly to any
+community as pestilence and death. As to the latter, I have no other
+defence to urge than my firm conviction that, much as it is railed
+against, centralization is as nearly an unmixed good as it is possible
+for anything in this sublunary (and marvellously complex) sphere to be.
+Everybody knows how inadequate the very best isolated efforts are to
+exterminate any widespread evil; and even organizations which are
+independent of, and do not radiate from or gravitate to, a common
+centre, frequently cross each other's paths, and to some extent defeat
+each other's purposes; occasioning a great waste of wholesome energy,
+which, well directed, might achieve marvellous results. As cosmos is
+greater than chaos--as a well-spliced rope is stronger than its separate
+strands--so is centralization and cohesion greater and stronger than
+individualism and segregation.
+
+
+Pocket.
+
+Many a vigorous arm has applied the axe to that dense and matted jungle,
+the indigence of the lower orders; but little more has been accomplished
+than the blunting of the hatchet and the exhaustion of the pioneer who
+wielded it.
+
+This being the case, it would be the height of folly for me, with my far
+feebler frame and my puny weapon, to attempt to do more than to peer
+cautiously around the deep shades, and try to find out, as a dweller
+_within_ those murky woods, if here a little path and there a little
+opening, into which a gleam of sunlight penetrates at times, be not
+discoverable, half hidden, perchance, by clumps of brushwood, which it
+will cost but little trouble to clear away. I shall therefore restrict
+myself to indicating such of these openings as I see, or fancy I see,
+from whence operations might, according to my notion, be directed
+towards the demolition of portions at all events of this swart and
+gloomy forest.
+
+One of the largest of these clearings is undoubtedly, I think,
+_Co-operation_, of which there are two kinds--viz., combinations between
+masters and men in the shape of limited partnerships, a per-centage on
+profits, &c.; and combinations amongst the wage-earners themselves for
+certain specified purposes.
+
+With regard to the first named, I am rather inclined to doubt the
+probability of its ever becoming an important factor in the sum of human
+progress, on account of the unlikelihood of its being generally adopted
+either in the near or distant future, and I am still more sceptical as
+to its efficacy as a panacea, even if it were universally reduced to
+practice, especially in these days of commercial disasters.
+
+Coming, then, to the other mode of co-operation--associations of manual
+workers--this also divides itself into two branches, having two distinct
+objects--namely, the receipt of higher wages for labour performed, and
+the obtaining greater value in commodities in the disbursement of such
+wages. Both these are, no doubt, laudable aspirations; and, although at
+the first glance they may appear incompatible with, if not altogether
+antagonistic to, each other,--inasmuch as increased remuneration to the
+producer means an increase in the price of the thing produced,--yet it
+will be seen, on mature reflection, that as a very large proportion of
+operatives are employed in the manufacture of articles of luxury, of
+which they are not consumers or purchasers, so much of the increase in
+the price of such articles as finds its way into the pockets of the
+artificer in the shape of added wages is a net gain to that portion of
+the labouring classes, and will inevitably exude from such portion to
+the benefit of the whole, in the same manner as what may be called in
+contradistinction their normal earnings.
+
+I should like to say one word about combinations of workmen in this
+place, which may be distasteful to unqualified panegyrists of the
+system: such combinations should invariably be in accordance with our
+recognized code of morals, and they must be in obedience to the ordinary
+laws of Nature; and it is to be feared that these desiderata to
+perfection in co-operation have at times been lost sight of in the past.
+I am compelled to blush for my order when I find them seizing the
+opportunity of their employers being under a heavy time-contract for the
+execution of important public or other works to organize a strike: this
+is clearly an infraction of all the ethics of morality. Neither can I
+appreciate their sense of the fitness of things when I hear them laying
+it down as a sound axiom that wages should be equalized, so that the
+stupid, idle, or inferior workman should be on a par with the skilled
+and industrious one. This is a blunder against one of the most immutable
+of Nature's laws--that of variety and infinite gradation; the suggestion
+implies a yearning after the utterly unattainable, which it is
+astonishing men of otherwise sound judgment should seriously entertain
+for one moment. As a comrade of mine pithily observed, not long since,
+when we were discussing the possibility of devising a scheme by which
+all men should receive the same amount of remuneration for their labour,
+and, when received, be enabled to make it go equally far--"You might as
+well try to make men all o' one height."
+
+Remove these excrescences from our combinations, and when it is found we
+can be practical as well as earnest, co-operation will have acquired a
+new vigour, and will be able to accomplish greater results. The main
+citadel will be none the less impregnable because our forces are not
+scattered abroad in various directions, in the vain endeavour to
+strengthen totally indefensible frontiers.
+
+But, after all, it is from the other branch of co-operation--the
+_co-operative store system_--that the greatest advantages may be
+expected to accrue. This is growing into favour yearly, still growing
+(despite recent diatribes in the newspapers), and is extending its
+ramifications into quite primitive districts. The knowledge that this is
+an undoubted fact should afford gratification to the well-wishers of the
+poor.
+
+Yet this gratification is subject to some modification when it is seen
+that this, not the least important birth of the nineteenth century,
+though growing and bearing within itself the germs of almost infinite
+possibilities, is at present of too tiny dimensions to grapple with that
+colossal ogre--the wasteful expenditure of the impecunious. It is
+Hercules indeed, but Hercules still in swaddling clothes before the
+strangling of the serpent. The amount of dealings at these stores by the
+class to whom they are calculated to prove the greatest boon, when
+compared with dealings by this same class with _very_ retail shopkeepers
+and at other places where the practice of paying "through the nose"
+(pardon the vulgarity) so extensively prevails, will be found to be
+almost infinitesimal. The question therefore arises, may it not be
+possible to replace these pine torches by Edisonian lights, so as to
+eliminate from wider tracts the thick darkness enwrapping the minds of
+the sons and daughters of toil as to what constitutes their true
+interests? It appears to me that there is one way of rendering this
+feasible, which I deferentially submit for consideration. It may be
+quite impracticable; and, if practicable, may contain such flaws as to
+be futile. If so, on defects being pointed out which I am not able,
+unassisted, to discover, I can only say I am open to conviction. I have
+no desire to be charged with an ineradicable attachment to that peculiar
+feat of horsemanship known as "riding a hobby to death." My plan is
+simply this: first, let every town of say over 10,000 inhabitants
+possess an internal government complete in itself, with plenary
+administrative powers; let groups of villages, in such numbers as may be
+determined on (the present Poor-Law Union Divisions might be taken as a
+basis), form cordons round themselves in like manner, and with the like
+objects; let every care be taken to select the very best men of every
+social grade to form the local senate, and let the members of which it
+is composed be paid for their services out of the public (local) funds,
+be subject to re-election at short intervals, and be required to give
+good accounts of their stewardship. Further, let it be clearly
+understood that the only condition on which a man could hope to be
+enrolled in this representative band, or, being enrolled, expect to be
+allowed to continue his official existence, would be his distinct and
+unquestioning recognition of _personal_ responsibility, as far as is
+humanly possible, for, and his unwavering resolution to secure, the
+well-being of _all_ his constituents, physically, pecuniarily, mentally,
+and morally.
+
+These preliminaries being supposed to be satisfactorily settled, such
+incorporation or assembly of chosen ones might (always supposing my
+views happened to find favour in their sight) open as many co-operative
+stores--so many for each trade--as would be sufficient to supply the
+needs of the entire community, selecting competent men from each trade
+to manage the different departments, and paying them by an agreed salary
+in the same manner as rate collectors and relieving officers are paid. A
+certain specified per-centage to be added to the prime cost of the
+various articles to defray the estimated expenses of management,
+advertising, rent (if necessary, though it would be better if the local
+legislators were also the landlords), wear and tear, depreciation in
+stock, and miscellaneous expenses for the year; and sales to be made to
+the consumer _for cash only_. The urban or rural chancellor of the
+exchequer would, in his annual budget, soon learn to adjust the amount
+of his tax (for so the per-centage may be considered), over and above
+the original cost price, according to the probable exigencies of the
+ensuing year, by the light afforded by the transactions of the preceding
+one.
+
+Seeing how many millions of pounds are annually disbursed for the barest
+sustenance and most absolute necessaries of life by the poor of the
+three kingdoms, from most of whom exorbitant rates of profit are
+wrung,--for the fact need not be expatiated on here that the more
+indigent the purchaser, and the more his penury drives him to live from
+hand-to-mouth, the less value he receives for his money, to say nothing
+of the further irruptions made into his income by the only
+partially-slain "truck system," or by the payment of interest to the
+accommodating successors of the Lombards, whose golden balls proclaim
+them to serve the honourable office of jackal-purveyors to the lions of
+the gin-palaces,--seeing this, I say, shall I be stigmatized as a
+dreamer, a half-crazy Utopian, if I anticipate magnificent results to
+follow from fair trial of a scheme designed to stem the frightful
+torrent of improvidence at present obtaining amongst the working
+classes, and to enable them to occupy the new position of being
+participators in the benefits of a sound commercial undertaking?
+
+Here, however, as elsewhere, there are tares amongst the wheat--if,
+indeed, it be wheat. An awkward inquiry obtrudes itself unbidden. What
+is to become of the thousands of deserving folks, too old for the most
+part to begin life _de novo_, who have earned a tolerably honest
+livelihood as small shopkeepers, and who would probably find themselves,
+under the system just recommended, "improved off the face of the earth?"
+Partially the difficulty might be met by the employment of the most
+active or most experienced of them in the borough stores. A little more
+might be accomplished in this direction also by giving some of them
+appointments to the numerous new offices it will be found necessary to
+create if our municipal authorities ever do wake up and bestir
+themselves, and aspire to becoming something more suitable to the spirit
+of the age than mere assemblies for palaver. But when all this is done,
+there will still be the residuum, and that residuum composed almost
+exclusively of the feeble, the aged, the halt, the lame, and the blind,
+who will be more or less thrown upon their own resources. For these, the
+only gleam of light I can discern is the fact that a remnant of their
+old customers will not find out all at once the error of their ways, and
+will go on in their accustomed grooves for some time after the
+centralized co-operative store shall have become _un fait accompli_, and
+so their decline into pauperism will be slow and gradual. Heaven only
+knows how some of these small shopkeepers contrive to exist even now by
+vending pennyworths and halfpennyworths of this, that, and the other; it
+can only be by imposing extravagant profits on the article vended. One
+cannot help thinking that their case can hardly very well be worse than
+it is, in any event. But be this as it may, care for their particular
+interests must not be permitted to dominate over due consideration for
+those of the vast aggregate mass forming the rest of our _clientèle_,
+innumerable as "leaves in Vallambrosa,"--and, like other and greater
+folks, superfluous retailers must submit to be sacrificed for the
+benefit of the common weal.
+
+It is impossible to deal even in the most cursory manner with this
+"pocket" question without just glancing at the important bearing which
+the question of temperance must exercise upon it. To place a further
+spending power in the hands of an incurably intemperate populace would
+obviously mean only to increase and intensify the vice of intemperance.
+While deprecating any intention of making this paper the vehicle for a
+furious tirade against drunkenness, I feel bound to say in passing that,
+little as I love total abstinence, I regard it as a much lesser evil
+than the unrestrained indulgence of dipsomania; and if any man feels
+that he is so much a slave to his degraded appetite that he cannot keep
+up a nodding acquaintance with John Barleycorn without wallowing under
+his influence in the mud of inebriety, I respect that man for signing
+the pledge. My optimist instincts, however, buoy me up again on this
+subject also, for I sincerely believe that, high authority for the
+assertion though there be, mankind are _not_ mostly fools; and that when
+they have begun to realize the fact that they have a choice as to the
+kind of investment they may obtain for their money, the great majority
+of them will be looking out for some more substantial advantage than the
+questionable luxury of seeking temporary oblivion from carking cares and
+the grisly spectre of hopeless indigence. It may, I think, be relied on
+with certainty that an improvement in the pecuniary circumstances of the
+poor would beget increased self-respect, and self-respect would proclaim
+drunkenness _unfashionable_, and that now vigorous and lusty giant would
+ere long find himself as decrepit and infirm as Bunyan's Giant Pope.
+Those of us who have read of the bacchanalian orgies of the great no
+further back than the days of the Regency of George IV., and contrast it
+with the sobriety which is said to prevail amongst them in our days,
+cannot be accused of being groundlessly sanguine if we augur the
+percolation downwards of this stream of moderation under happier
+auspices, and that, too, in no remote future.
+
+A third means of lightening the strain upon our _ouvriers_ is to
+multiply the facilities for emigration. I would even go so far as to say
+that I think an _International_ Emigration and Immigration League
+between all the civilized nations of the world, for the purpose of
+drafting overplus populations into thinly inhabited districts, would be
+rather a good thing than otherwise, the inconveniences attending
+differences of language, manners, and so forth, being quite
+surmountable; whereas the difficulties attendant upon the possession of
+more hands to labour than there is work to perform, and consequently
+more hungry stomachs than there is food to fill, is altogether
+insurmountable. With regard to the affliction of _mal du pays_, from
+which undoubtedly many of the expatriated would suffer at intervals,
+that would be found to be a much more tolerable burden to bear, combined
+with a sufficiency of victuals and clothing, than the pangs of
+starvation or semi-starvation even on one's "native heather."
+
+But as it is no part of my programme to move too fast, or too far at
+once, I do not insist upon any international arrangement of the kind I
+have hinted at during, say, the present decade. I do, however, earnestly
+entreat all whom it may concern to try their best to place the matter of
+Emigration on a proper footing. I unhesitatingly maintain that whilst
+Great Britain possesses untold thousands of acres of virgin soil, and
+practically unlimited untried possibilities, in her numerous colonies,
+this our "sea-girt isle" ought not to suffer from a plethora of willing
+workers. The existing facilities held out to our overcrowded populations
+to induce them to venture upon "fresh fields and pastures new" might be
+multiplied a hundred-fold.
+
+Surely it ought to be part of the fundamental policy of a
+State--especially of a State whose real governing body is elected by
+household suffrage--to take the most active measures for insuring the
+weal of all its citizens: the humblest as well as the highest. Does not
+this, indeed, form the very quintessential attribute of good government?
+Has it not been rightly said that a State represents the totality of all
+the individuals composing it? I assume these are sound political axioms;
+and if I am right in this assumption, may I not suggest, as the most
+certain way of attaining the desired end, that our Representative
+Government should formally acknowledge our claims upon them by
+appointing a Minister for "the Condition of the People," with a seat in
+the Cabinet? The next step would be easy, for when once the whole
+surroundings were fairly brought within the range of vision, the vital
+importance of Emigration as a principal means of amelioration would be
+recognized; and it would be discovered that an able Secretary for
+Emigration would prove an invaluable auxiliary in the effective working
+of the department.
+
+It would be necessary, I apprehend, to select for this latter office a
+man eminent as well for good temper as for a capacious intellect, as the
+multiplicity of the functions he would have to perform would render such
+office by no means a sinecure; and the involved and complex matters he
+would have to deal with might, at times, go far in the direction of
+ruffling the serenest imperturbability.
+
+The eye of fancy depicts him in the active performance of his
+multifarious duties, surrounded by numerous painstaking subordinates,
+some of whom bear to him huge tomes, containing a full alphabetical list
+(compiled from the census returns and other sources) of the populations,
+industries, and assessments of the United Kingdom, divided into areas of
+certain dimensions, showing the age, sex, occupation, and earnings or
+incomings of every person; the number of houses (with their rentals or
+estimated yearly value), workshops, or other business establishments of
+every kind, specifying how many hands are employed in each and the
+amount of wages paid; and also showing the number of persons in receipt
+of out-door relief, and approximate number of vagrants in each district.
+Other attentive satellites open before him the various domesday books,
+containing reports by competent surveyors as to the quantity, and the
+latent riches or irredeemable poverty, of uncultivated lands throughout
+those vast dominions of ours on which the sun never sets; with copious
+notes by skilled mercantile men and geographers, pointing out the places
+where commodious ports might be formed, railways constructed, or
+manufactories erected. Our much-worried Secretary, whose heart is in his
+work, compares notes, and directs some of his chief clerks to prepare
+digests of, for instance, the information contained in pp. 420 to 446 of
+the 17th volume of the first set of books, and pp. 97 to 104 of the 32nd
+volume of the second set, ready for his consideration on the day but one
+following. He then takes up similar digests, which have previously been
+prepared in like manner, and sees clearly that one hundred artisan
+families of various specified trades, full particulars of which are
+before him, may, with advantage to all parties, be transplanted, passage
+free, from the blind alleys of Flintchester to the new settlement of
+Hornihand in Australasia, with the authorities of which place the usual
+arrangement will be made to assist them on their _début_, and lend them
+a helping hand until they get fairly settled down. Day after day this
+kind of thing goes on throughout the year, except for some two months
+during the late summer and autumn vacation, when the hard-worked
+Secretary and his staff are enjoying a well-earned holiday.
+
+The more I ruminate on this matter of Emigration the more I am convinced
+that it is indispensable; it should run on wider lines, and cover a far
+more extended area than is possible under anything short of Governmental
+intervention. Seeing the utter inutility and inefficacy of isolated
+exertions to deal with the mighty problems which our complex
+civilization presents for solution, I should, on behalf of myself and my
+class, hail with joy the prospect of State interference in our
+interests. Sneers may continue to be directed against, and witty
+sarcasms levelled at, a "Paternal Government," "infringement of that
+liberty of the subject which is the inherent privilege and birthright of
+every Briton," and other like cuckoo-cries. But meantime we starve; we
+increase and multiply in obedience to the law of Nature, and our
+opportunities of earning subsistence do _not_ increase and multiply in a
+corresponding ratio. And without by any means desiring to steep my pen
+in midnight blackness in order to portray possible portentous
+consequences, yet it is a proposition not to be controverted that the
+ever-increasing preponderance of born toilers over any quantity of
+remunerative toil which can by any possibility be created within the
+limits of Great Britain proper must inevitably cause such consequences
+to be calamitous. For some time past the dark shadow of over-population
+has been looming on the horizon of "Merrie England," at first no bigger
+than a man's hand, but later advancing nearer and still more near and
+assuming colossal proportions; and the time cannot be far distant when
+it will obstinately refuse to be ignored any longer, even by the most
+unreflective, but will assert itself in a manner little to be desired.
+How, then, to avert this evil? How to postpone the advent of the fateful
+day? Are not these queries of vital interest to all ranks of society? I
+for one feel them to be so: hence the above gropings after gleams of
+daylight in the midst of the gathering shades. I do not pretend to aver
+that I have found the sunshine, that I have discovered an absolute cure
+for all the ills that "flesh is heir to." Too well I know what mistakes
+and blunders are interwoven in the best-devised schemes of human origin.
+Nevertheless, I hold that the free expression and ventilation of
+opinions, even though they may be erroneous, is often eventually
+productive of good, by serving to dispel vagueness of thought and loose
+generalization, and solidifying the abstract into the concrete; until
+which process has been accomplished no thing soever can be dealt with
+satisfactorily. Therefore, as a firm _dis_believer in the Malthusian
+philosophy, as also in the recommendations for checking the increase of
+population more recently scattered broadcast amongst us, and being
+deeply impressed with the imperative necessity of confronting the
+difficulty at once--_now_, in these days when the heavens above us
+appear to be hardening into brass, and the earth beneath us to be
+corrugating into iron--I have requested the Editor of this REVIEW to
+afford me the opportunity of giving publicity to my views.
+
+Closely allied to this division of my paper, if not actually of it, is
+the subject of _Charity_. Here, again, what a lamentable waste of vital
+force, what an invertebrate entity crying aloud to be overhauled,
+remodelled, jointed, and braced! Contrast the grand sum total yearly
+given in charity with the paucity of definite results attained--the
+well-worn comparison of the Nasmyth hammer and the nut instantaneously
+recurs to one's mind. Except when subscriptions are raised for some
+specific object outside the usual round altogether, how little there is
+to show for the expenditure! Why is this so? And what is the remedy?
+Obviously, I opine, the cause is individualism, isolation, caprice,--and
+as obviously, I ween, the only cure is combination, organization,
+system. Where we have now hundreds of little benevolent societies, with
+their honorary secretaries and treasurers and fussy committees, each
+neutralizing the others, let us have two or three established on a broad
+basis, with a central committee who, when the "sinews of war" are
+collected in one focus, will be strong enough to enter on paths at
+present untrodden, and wise enough to understand that almost innumerable
+differentiations in the nature of gifts will be necessary to cope
+successfully with the almost illimitable diversities in the nature of
+requirements, and who will insist on being invested with discretionary
+powers in matters of occasional aids and supplemental benevolences. Then
+it will be no longer possible for the shameless pauper, flaunting his
+rags and sores in the marketplace, or the whining sycophantic hypocrite,
+to monopolize the coals of one society, the blankets of a second, the
+soup of a third, and so on _ad infinitum_, not seldom exchanged for
+means of procuring beer to give additional zest to the utterance of the
+sentiment--"What fools these gentlefolks be." The most searching
+inquiries would be instituted, and perchance succour afforded to those
+to whom it would prove an inestimable boon, but who, from constitutional
+timidity or _mauvaise honte_, now starve and drop and die in silence,
+overlooked by almoners who take the first miserable-looking object who
+comes to hand, the most self-asserting or the most "'umble," and
+straightway pour out the contents of their cornucopias upon shams,
+making a miserable travesty of the sacred name of Charity.
+
+
+Mind.
+
+It is refreshing to know that so far as this branch of the subject is
+concerned, our governors, having by the force of circumstances been
+compelled to realize the fact of our existence, and our claim to be
+considered as veritably part and parcel of the body politic, with rights
+of common citizenship, have further, within the last few years, by the
+passing of the Compulsory Education Act, shown themselves possessed of
+political sagacity, by thus taking steps to insure that our descendants,
+when their turn comes to exercise and enjoy the civil privileges now
+granted to them, shall at least have a ploughed and manured soil in
+which to sow the seeds of love for law and order with some chance of due
+fructification, instead of the rough, hibbly-hobbly cinder-heap of their
+forefathers, which acknowledged no fertilizing influence but gross
+bribery, and partially justified the political ostracism and exclusion
+of its owners from all share in electoral privileges.
+
+All hail, then, to the School Board system as a great step in the right
+direction. Undeniably true as are some of the accusations brought
+against it, alleging that many blunders and useless extravagances, and
+much disregard for the susceptibilities of well-meaning but mistaken
+opponents, have marked its progress onward in too many instances; yet as
+the general idea is laudable and eminently conducive to promoting the
+highest interests of the entire population, and as in the nature of
+things it may be expected that greater experience will bring greater
+wisdom, and the faults charged against the movement gradually become
+"small by degrees and beautifully less," let us heartily wish it
+God-speed.
+
+Yet, why does the good work stop here? Why should not provision be made
+for building upon the foundation thus laid? Why should totally unformed
+intelligences be the only ones to profit by this guardian care, and why
+should they be led a little way on the road and then left to flounder
+along by themselves, and lose themselves in interminable mazes? Why, in
+short, should education be confined to children, and not extended to
+adults?
+
+It is true that the University Extension Scheme, as now carried out in
+many of our larger provincial towns to a very, very limited and only
+faintly appreciable extent, tends to show that the wind is just
+beginning to blow in this direction also. Something, however, much more
+comprehensive is needed. The masses are not reached, as will be patent
+to any one who will take the trouble to attend any of the courses of
+lectures delivered in connection with this extension system. The
+neophytes seeking initiation into this or that special branch of
+learning will be found to be composed principally of what we call
+"better class" people, with a sprinkling of pupil teachers and sucking
+governesses.
+
+Nor is this the fault of the masses themselves, as may perhaps be
+conjectured; the mere circumstance of the prices charged for admission
+in itself forming an insuperable barrier to the great majority having
+any part or lot in the matter, to say nothing of the fact that the whole
+apparatus is professedly set in motion for the benefit of the
+middle-class public solely.
+
+But however inadequate this minute increase in the volume of the
+fertilizing waters of Literature and Science may be for the mighty task
+of irrigating the parched and arid desert which stretches out in
+measureless extent before us, yet I am fain to regard it as a favourable
+omen--as a symptomatic indication that the "fountains of the great
+deeps" of human ignorance are beginning to be broken up, and that the
+tide _is_ rising which, when it has reached its full height, will
+disseminate the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge far and wide over the
+landscape so that the lowly equally with the high-born may pluck and eat
+thereof. The monster Cerberus has received a buffet on one of its three
+heads, and the Hesperidean Gardens may ere long, I am sanguine enough to
+hope, be entered by any thirsty passer-by without fear of molestation.
+
+All this, however, is dreamy, unsubstantial verbiage. That it is not
+also mere chimerical nonsense, which will not bear the strain of
+practical application, I will attempt to show--always supposing as a
+necessary preliminary, as in all the hypothetical propositions
+throughout this paper, that that portion of the community who are nursed
+in the lap of fortune are imbued with sympathetic feelings towards the
+less favoured sharers of their common humanity, and do not object to
+take a little trouble and bear a little charge by way of displaying
+their fellow-feeling.
+
+Grant this premiss, and what follows, or something better, may easily be
+rendered an accomplished fact.
+
+The first step will be the formation of a council or committee, after
+the manner before suggested, save that in this case we shall want an
+infusion of men of culture who at the same time shall be good workers
+and good philanthropists (a rare combination, but not an impossible one,
+I venture to think, notwithstanding the seductions a life of Sybaritic
+ease and delicate refinement specially offers to the scholar), in every
+considerable town or group of villages throughout the length and breadth
+of the land, with power over the district purse-strings, and with no
+superior authority except the Minister or Secretary of State for
+Education at Whitehall--for, of course, such a functionary will in those
+happy times be quite as much a necessity as a Master of the
+Buckhounds--who alone will have power to veto their proceedings and
+issue general rules for their guidance.
+
+If I had the ear of this all-important official, I should whisper to him
+that in my view the best mode of enlightening the working classes would
+be to take possession of three already-existing institutions, and
+enlarge their dimensions so as to make of them real forces, distinctly
+visible, instead of the hole-and-corner obscure trivialities they are
+now. These three institutions are--1st, Free Libraries; 2nd, Lecture
+Halls; 3rd, Class Rooms.
+
+1. To Free Libraries I have accorded the first place, because in all
+probability it is there that the beneficial results will be more
+immediately apparent, and the advantages offered will, in the first
+instance, be most considerably made use of. The major portion of the
+huge and unwieldy mass to be operated on would fly off at a tangent from
+the exactness and method necessarily incident to formal lectures, and in
+a still greater degree to class-work. It must first be left to itself to
+sprawl and struggle at its own free-will; the restraining chain must not
+be too soon brought into view; gradually and insensibly the quickening
+influence must be brought to bear; the change from density to
+clear-headedness, from sluggish inertness to mental activity, will not
+be effected in a moment; not all at once will the spiritual part of the
+long-benighted assert its claim to an equality with the animal part;
+desultory reading only will impart a love for reading; odd waifs and
+strays of information picked up just anyhow will alone create the desire
+for the acquisition of further knowledge, and by imperceptible degrees
+the naturally well-regulated mind will reject vagueness and demand
+exactness; having reached which stage it will be fit to undergo the
+further regimen prescribed. A good starting-point, however, will have
+been gained when our operatives generally are imbued with a genuine love
+of books and obtain a somewhat varied, if superficial, knowledge anent
+the salient features of English literature.
+
+These words, "_English_ literature," are used advisedly; for while I
+would have every town of over 5000 inhabitants possessed of a Free
+Library (varying in size according to the population), and every village
+have its book-loan society, it would be well to insist on the greatest
+and best of our own writers being well represented upon the shelves of
+every institution of this character before venturing on translations
+either of the ancient classics or modern foreign authors, even of
+European reputation. Homer, Thucydides, Æschylus, Plato, Virgil, and the
+rest, as well as Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and the innumerable host of
+Continental immortals, can very well wait a bit. We want to inspire
+_British_ operatives with a love of letters. In endeavouring to effect
+this, shall we not give the foremost place to the productions of
+_British_ genius? We have to _form_ a taste. Is it not desirable that,
+to begin with at all events, this should be a _national_ taste? But is
+not this the very way, it may be asked, to foster insular prejudices,
+narrowness, and bigotry? I reply, not necessarily, as many of our ablest
+_littérateurs_ have not hesitated to attack the various abuses, follies,
+and weaknesses which crop up in these islands from time to time--some
+hurling denunciations at them aglow with all the fervour of passion and
+intellect; others piercing them with the sharp spear of satire; and
+others yet again calmly but pitilessly holding them up to contempt in a
+train of close reasoning. Many, too, in addition to lashing the vices
+peculiar to their native country, have, in terms of generous eloquence,
+eulogized the virtues of our neighbours. Therefore, the man who is
+disposed to wrap himself up in a mantle of national self-glorification
+and self-righteousness will not find that the hierarchs of our national
+literature are at all times compliant enough to fasten the clasp for
+him.
+
+But I have a further answer--_i.e._, independently altogether of the
+question whether the perusal of English works solely will or will not
+have a tendency to nip the growing flower of cosmopolitanism in the bud,
+the one essential point in training the English subject to think is to
+train him to think in his own vernacular--to show him of what mighty
+things his mother-tongue is capable, and to satisfy him that
+
+    "Age cannot weary, nor custom stale
+    Its infinite variety;"
+
+and that if ever he, individually, wants to raise up his voice and make
+himself heard on any subject that interests him or his fellows, he must
+not fritter away his attention on more distant objects, but concentrate
+his gaze on those which immediately surround him.
+
+This view may appear somewhat contradictory to the one expressed when
+dealing with the subject of Emigration; but really it is not so. The
+leaving behind the special spot of earth where one drew one's first
+breath, played as a boy, saw his first sweetheart, and grew up to
+manhood, the parting from old friends and long-familiar objects, may
+and does entail a severe struggle, and inflict many a bitter pang; but
+it is unavoidable, and so must be submitted to. It is otherwise with
+home ideas, habits, modes of thought, literature. These will serve to
+mitigate the poignancy of separation from one's native land, will
+intertwine themselves more closely round one's affections by reason of
+that very separation, and be the means of causing miniature Englands to
+arise in far-off regions, and in various degrees of latitude and
+longitude. While releasing as cheerfully as may be what we _must_ let
+go, let us hug more closely still that which we _can_ retain.
+
+To return: In a well-equipped Free Library no standard British author
+should be conspicuous by his absence. The poets, from Chaucer and Gower
+to Tennyson and Browning; the dramatists, from Marlowe and Shakspeare to
+W. S. Gilbert and Tom Taylor; the _modern_ historians, from Hume and
+Gibbon to Froude and Freeman; the modern theologians, from Hooker and
+Jeremy Taylor to Canon Farrar and the Dean of Westminster; the modern
+essayists, from the projectors of the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_ to the
+contributors to the current Reviews and Magazines; the philosophers, the
+leaders in all departments of science, should be there; the best writers
+of prose fiction, also, from Fielding and Goldsmith to Trollope and
+George Eliot, should be well represented. The most profound and the most
+volatile will alike find sufficient to occupy their attention here for
+some time. The "Anglican paddock" (to misapply a now well-known term)
+will afford plenty of grazing ground to cattle of moderate appetites for
+a considerable period; and when it is exhausted, why, then, there are
+toothsome grasses in endless profusion to be cropped over the boundary
+fence.
+
+2. With reference to Lecture Halls, these ought to be nearly as
+plentiful as churches both in town and country, and can with proper
+management be made to serve two ends--the carrying forward the work
+begun at the Free Library, and the rousing from torpidity those whom
+even that useful institution would fail to reach; for as many would only
+be led to attend the lecture through the library, so there are many with
+whom the contrary would hold good, as many a dormant, beer-sodden soul
+would consent to be carried off for an hour or two to a lecture hall who
+could never be persuaded to sit down in cold blood to the perusal of a
+book, although such book might be written in the most fascinating and
+brilliant style imaginable: the unused eyes would soon begin to ache,
+the palsied brain soon begin to numb; whereas the speaker, if a good
+one, and his heart in his subject, would contrive to rivet the man's
+attention, despite of himself, by the magnetism of enthusiasm, and he
+would carry away with him some sort of idea--muddled and distorted
+probably, but still an _idea_--of what it was all about.
+
+Penny Readings interspersed with music have been very much derided by
+our erudite critics, I think without sufficient cause. These really
+harmless, if not very high-class gatherings, blending together the
+ingredients of a certain kind of instruction and of entertainment, were
+doubtlessly called forth by a genuine desire to familiarize the lower
+orders of the people with some of the more dramatic passages in our
+literature, and to render visible to them a higher intellectual standard
+than the tap-room and the music-hall had made them acquainted with. It
+was a happy thought to mingle singing and playing with the readings. The
+introduction of these not only served to take off a possible monotony
+which might otherwise have been felt, but added attractions really
+elevating in their influence, the status and general surroundings of the
+auditory being taken into consideration. There is no need to pry too
+curiously into the petty vanities which prompted this elocutionist or
+that vocalist to make an appearance in public, nor to speculate too
+closely upon the disproportion between the ludicrous extravagance of the
+efforts often made by incompetent aspirants to obtain fame, and the very
+modest modicum and evanescent character of that article vouchsafed in
+return. All this is nothing to the purpose. The simple query is,--Have
+these things, known as "Penny Readings," in ever so slight a degree,
+fulfilled the object of their existence as that object is generally
+understood? If an affirmative answer can be given (as I certainly
+believe it can) to that question, then are they entitled to honest
+praise, and not to supercilious contempt.
+
+However, having deposited my little offering at this humble shrine as I
+passed by, I am free to confess that if we never get any further than
+this on the road towards the mental improvement of the million, the
+march of intellect will be a very short march indeed. But it will
+not--it cannot stop here. The universal law of progress forbids the
+idea; and in some form or another the irresistible impetus to advance
+will be felt and obeyed.
+
+Meantime, no better means, so far as I see, appearing for the moment to
+be available, I fall back upon my pet project of lectures, to be
+delivered every night (Sundays excepted) from the middle of September to
+the middle of May in every year, in every one of the multitudinous halls
+built for the purpose, by men or women well versed in the several
+subjects upon which they discourse.
+
+Failing the possibility of procuring a sufficient number of lecturers
+who could spare the time necessary to compose original matter for the
+purpose, it would be by no means a bad plan, I think, to employ good and
+experienced hands to condense and compress standard works on different
+subjects into such a compass as to occupy two or three evenings, and
+hand these digests over to practised elocutionists to be _read_. Take
+history, for example. Prescott's "Conquests of Mexico and Peru,"
+Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic," Irving's "Conquest of Granada,"
+Carlyle's "French Revolution," or Hepworth Dixon's "Her Majesty's
+Tower," are peculiarly well adapted to undergo this process. The
+absorbing interest of the incidents described could not fail to engage
+the attention of the audience; and I cannot help thinking that the
+offended _manes_ of such of the above-named great ones as have departed
+from amongst us would be appeased when it was represented to them that
+this mutilation of their invaluable legacies to posterity had been
+conducted with due reverence, and solely for the purpose of introducing
+them to a far wider (and, perchance, not less appreciative) audience
+than even their exalted talents could otherwise have commanded. As to
+the still-living ones, perhaps before taking the liberty suggested with
+their literary offspring, it might be courteous to ask their permission,
+and I feel confident they would not be churlish enough to withhold it. I
+may be reminded that there would still be publishers and owners of
+copyright to be dealt with; but I leave suggestions as to the best means
+of negotiating with these awful entities to persons of greater
+experience than myself.
+
+Obviously this lecture-hall business, like most of my other theories,
+necessarily involves considerable expenditure; but if anything is to be
+done, opulence must feel for indigence not only in heart but in pocket.
+
+3. A thorough and unstinted employment of the means above indicated will
+accomplish much towards the emancipation of our helots from that
+thraldom of ignorance which gives to the more galling thraldom of caste
+its sole _raison d'être_. But there is yet one thing needed, the
+_utilization_ of knowledge acquired, and this can only be attained by
+dint of laborious and unintermitting class-work. The sacred flame may be
+kindled in the breast by desultory and omnivorous reading, but the light
+emitted is as uncertain as that of a wandering marsh-fire--it wants
+_focussing_ to be of any use to its possessor or his species. And it is
+in the _class_, under the guidance of a gifted and genial teacher, that
+this operation can best be performed. It is here that the finishing
+touch must be applied; here the rounding-off take place; here the
+heterogeneous be brought into homogeneity, and the discordant be reduced
+to harmony and system.
+
+If these things are so, the problems which present themselves to be
+resolved are:--Given certain millions of untrained intellects in crying
+need of class tuition scattered over certain thousands of square miles
+in unequal proportions--how to provide sufficient building accommodation
+to meet the exigencies of the case? and given an uncertain but
+confessedly immense mass of torpidity and stagnation--how to infuse the
+necessary leaven into it to quicken it and arouse its latent forces?
+
+I answer as to the first proposition--Require the architects of the
+multitudinous lecture halls aforesaid to submit plans to you, which
+shall comprise sections not only of the main building but of three or
+four adjuncts thereto suitable for class-rooms, after the style of the
+chapels nestling under the wings of our old cathedrals, or the annexes
+thrown out at convenient angles from our modern industrial exhibitions
+for the display of specialities. These would add comparatively little to
+the original cost of the structure, and save a great deal of time and
+trouble in hunting up eligible sites, and, when found, negotiating terms
+of purchase. As to the second proposition, make a _liberal_ distribution
+of prizes part of your system, so liberal that not only proficiency
+would be certain of obtaining a reward, but plodding and persevering
+mediocrity also. Constant attendance, combined with such written answers
+to questions as evinced that the pupil was making an effort, should,
+however imperfectly the answers were framed, insure the possession of a
+prize at the end of every session. With such materials to work upon, a
+free use of stimulants to exertion must form no inconsiderable part of
+the programme.
+
+Again, no charge whatever must be made for admission to the classes.
+Indeed, the entire domain of adult poor education must be as free as
+United Italy--free from the Alps of the library to the Adriatic of the
+class-room.
+
+Lastly, no restriction should be made as to the age or sex of the
+scholar. I am of opinion that no greater incentive to emulation can be
+offered to either man or woman than the consciousness that they are
+associated with co-workers or competitors of the opposite sex.
+
+It would be travelling out of the record were I ever so faintly to
+attempt to enter into details as to the mode in which class-teaching
+could most advantageously be conducted, or to endeavour to shadow forth
+what I conceive to be the regulations best adapted for the purpose. No
+general rules would be found competent to meet ever-varying special
+conditions. All this must inevitably be left to conform itself to the
+peculiarities of the respective groups of the taught and the
+idiosyncrasies of the individual teachers.
+
+
+Amusements.
+
+On this last, but not least, division of the subject, I need not dilate
+at very great length. Much has been written with reference to it of late
+with which I cordially agree.
+
+No one can help being sensible of the melancholy fact that the tendency
+of many of our so-called entertainments is debasing and degrading in the
+last degree. It is difficult to imagine anything much more demoralizing
+in every aspect--anything which appears to be more utterly without
+redeeming features--than our music-halls. Dances, which are simply
+unnatural contortions on the part of the male performers, and indelicate
+exhibitions on the part of the female ones; songs, which are utterly
+idiotic and meaningless, except when their meaning is indecency,
+sounding the very lowest depths of imbecility, and having no literary
+merit save _double entendres_ of the most vulgar description; the whole
+taking place in an atmosphere redolent with the fumes of beer, gin, and
+tobacco,--such is the pabulum provided for our delectation through this
+particular medium. Much the same poisonous mixture is administered at
+our tea-gardens and other places where we most do congregate. Is it a
+marvel, then, that our young men waste their strength in drunkenness,
+and our young women stray from the narrow path? Is it wonderful that
+when you respectables meet us abroad on Bank Holidays, or Derby or Boat
+Race days, we comport ourselves in ruffianly fashion, and greet the ears
+of your dames and damsels with expressions which it is not good for them
+to hear?
+
+Ultra-exclusives! those of you who are most deeply impressed with the
+desirability of keeping us in our proper places, and are offended if we
+pass "between the wind and your nobility," to you most of all do I
+address myself, and take the liberty of saying that on _you_ rests the
+onus of providing better and more healthy recreations for us; for needs
+must that at times the most fastidious of you will find yourselves in
+the midst of us, and it will interest you even more deeply than others
+that we should not sink into unmitigated and universal rascaldom, the
+only natural goal at which the pursuit of such pleasures as those
+above-named is likely to land us. Give us attractions of a less baneful
+character, and wean us from these cesspools of infamy. To you it is
+specially important that this matter should receive attention. Do not,
+however, seek to do the work half-way; do not attempt to take away the
+means of recreation we have--evil as they are--until substitutes are
+furnished; it will not be convenient to you that the people should have
+too much time to _brood_; it will be safer for you that we should be
+_mercurial_ rather than that we should be _morose_; in one mood or the
+other, however you may strive to ignore us, we shall continue to exist
+in tangible form and be distinctly visible to your perceptions.
+
+I like not threats or innuendoes, however, and say no more concerning
+this matter.
+
+Time was when holy-days were frequent, when gorgeous pageants feasted
+the eyes of our forefathers--times of Maypoles and morrice-dancers, of
+roasted oxen and sheep, of conduits running with wine and milk: I say
+not I wish these to return. Much I fear that all was not pure, pastoral,
+Arcadian simplicity amidst these poetic scenes, fascinating as they are
+to the imagination. I doubt not the taint of vice was there, and the
+ghastly presence of misery and sorrow, and I do not regret them--let
+them go.
+
+What, then, do I suggest? Aware of the risk I run in having it imputed
+to me that my suggestions have already been too numerous, I will, with
+brevity, venture yet one more.
+
+Repetition is vexatious; notwithstanding which, unification is
+imperative, and committees must again be called into requisition.
+
+Cricket-clubs, quoit-clubs, bowling-clubs, even skittle-clubs _ad
+libitum_, in summer; ballad concerts, dramatic performances, &c., in
+winter, under the same auspices. Membership extended to all comers, fee
+payable one shilling per annum in monthly instalments; the expulsion or
+suspension for a longer or shorter term--according to the more or less
+heinous nature of the offence--of any member for bad language,
+intoxication, or other misbehaviour; the gradual unbending of the rich
+and the cultured, and their condescending to grace the sports with their
+occasional presence, thereby infusing a spirit of refinement into them;
+the prohibition of betting or _over_-drinking,--these are, shortly and
+imperfectly stated, the remedies I would suggest.
+
+To conclude the whole matter. We, the industrious poor of this
+realm--the hard-working classes--are in pressing need of help now, in
+this present time. This, I believe, is confessed on all hands, diverse
+and contradictory as the theories how such help could best be given may
+be. The question at issue is not whether ameliorations are desirable or
+the contrary, but in what manner to bring them about, and how to be
+certain that it is bread which is bestowed, and not a stone.
+
+I do not claim to have solved this enigma, or to have invented a
+millennium. I simply assert my belief that some of my propositions may
+contain germs capable of being nurtured into hopeful possibilities.
+
+As I have selected four principal points in which improvements are
+required--health, pocket, mind, and amusements--so have I striven to
+indicate four principal modes which I think best calculated to attain
+the desired end, and which for the most part must come from _without_
+our borders--namely, sympathy, earnestness, money, and centralized
+organization--all being essential; the last-named especially being so,
+for it may be regarded as an irrefragable verity that every movement to
+be really efficacious must be _national_, and not parochial.
+
+I look for many objections on both sides of the temperate zone, on the
+waters of which alone I elect to voyage. The frigid will aver that I
+expect too much, that my notions are Utopian and chimerical to the last
+degree, and the nostrums prescribed empirical and baneful; that it is
+not to be supposed sensible people will take all this trouble, and rush
+into such reckless expenditure in a project so visionary. To such my
+only answer is,--Where the return is to be great the investment must be
+great also. The torrid, on the other hand, will say I am not
+sufficiently thorough; that the only means of elevating the poor is by
+lugging the wealthy down to their level, abrogating dignities,
+distributing riches, abolishing ownership in lands and corporeal
+hereditaments. To these my reply will be,--Evil will the day be which
+shall dawn on such devil's-sabbath employments as these. Levelling
+_up_wards is laudable; levelling _down_wards is execrable. I would in
+nowise interfere with the least of these institutions. The overthrow of
+dynasties will not advantage us, nor will a general scramble conduce to
+our lasting welfare. I am a sceptic as to the benefits to be derived
+from revolution, although professing myself a warm admirer of
+reformation, as I understand the word--_re_-formation.
+
+Neither do I anticipate that the time will ever come, under the best
+devised systems, when poverty will altogether cease out of the land.
+Evil will there be, and good also, while the world stands. This,
+however, should be no excuse for indifferentism in the work of lessening
+the sum-total of the evil, and increasing the sum-total of the good.
+
+And so Lazarus unmoors his fragile boat, and launches it, unmanned and
+untended, on the bosom of the stream,--to meet its fate.
+
+    HENRY J. MILLER.
+
+
+
+
+THE FORMS AND COLOURS OF LIVING CREATURES.
+
+
+In the Essay on Animals and Plants, which appeared in the September
+Number of this Review, the names were given of the principal groups in
+which the prodigious multitude of living creatures (existing or known to
+have existed) have been classified by naturalists. It was therein also
+indicated that these various groups, and all the subdivisions of such
+groups, are distinguished one from another by variations in the forms
+and structures of the creatures which compose them. This fact alone
+would prove that very many differences in form must exist; but, indeed,
+a very slight knowledge and a very cursory examination of animals and
+plants would suffice to show this even to any one who knew nothing of
+the scope or nature of biological classification. In truth, to the
+non-scientific observer who feels an interest in living things, the
+difficulty may seem to be rather how to find general resemblances than
+how to detect differences between creatures which seem so totally
+diverse as do humming birds from whales, bees from buffaloes, or the
+numerous African herds of antelopes from the grasses on which they feed.
+
+Nevertheless it was pointed out in the second Essay of this series[56]
+that all living creatures do agree to a certain extent in the form and
+structure of their bodies, inasmuch as their bodies are always bounded
+by curved lines and surfaces, while, if we divide the body of any animal
+or plant its structure may always be seen to be heterogeneous--that is
+to say, composed of different substances, even the simplest showing a
+variety of minute particles (granules) variously distributed throughout
+its interior. It has also been pointed out[57] that all living creatures
+agree in beginning life in the form of a small rounded mass of
+protoplasm. But all animals and plants further agree in that each kind
+has its own proper size, shape, structure, and colour, and each (as we
+shall hereafter see) shows a positive unity in its fundamental
+constitution, co-existing with the heterogeneity above referred to.
+
+But though each kind has its own proper size, shape, structure, and
+colour, yet these vary more or less in different individuals, and the
+degrees of variability are different in different kinds both of animals
+and plants.
+
+As to size, although most living creatures have certain limits which
+they rarely exceed or fall below, yet many organisms vary greatly in
+this respect. Thus, that familiar weed, the common centaury (_Erythræa
+centaurium_), may vary in height--according to the soil and other
+external conditions--from half an inch to five feet.
+
+As to figure and structure there is more constancy, and the amount of
+variation which may in these respects be found between different
+individuals of the same animal species, is generally but slight. In
+plants and in plant-like animals much greater differences exist as to
+external configuration; but even in them the internal structure of each
+species varies but little.
+
+Colour is a character which some readers may be disposed to regard as
+extremely inconstant. We are familiar with many differently coloured
+varieties of our cultivated flowers; and white blackbirds, and black
+leopards are not very uncommon objects. Nevertheless, colour is really a
+character of much constancy, and is one not only constantly present in
+different individuals of one kind of plant or animal, but is one
+constantly present in particular groups of kinds.
+
+Thus, for example, all the English plants of the dandelion order which
+have opposite leaves, have yellow flowers, with the single exception of
+the eupatory (_Eupatorium cannabinum_), and whole groups of butterflies
+are respectively characterized as being blue, or white, or yellow.
+
+We have seen that the life of every living being is accompanied by, and
+may be described as, a series of adjustments of action and structure to
+external conditions which surround it. Accordingly we may expect to find
+that the sizes, shapes, structures, and colours of living beings bear
+relations, which are in very many cases obvious, to their external
+circumstances, as directly favouring their nutrition, reproduction, or
+preservation from external injury.
+
+Every living creature must be either fixed (like a rooted tree), or
+capable of spontaneously moving, or of being passively drifted from
+place to place, and must have a structure and figure suitable to one or
+other of these conditions.
+
+Again, every living creature, whether free or fixed, is either a
+terrestrial, an aquatic, or an aërial organism; and it may be fitted to
+live in any two, or even in all three of these conditions--as, for
+example, is the swan. If terrestrial, it may inhabit the surface of the
+earth only, or it may occasionally or habitually dwell beneath it. The
+structure, forms, and even colours of organisms are in most cases
+plainly adapted to their modes of life in the above respects.
+
+Thus, any living creature, which is fixed to the surface of the earth,
+must either adhere to it by having one side or portion of its body
+spread out and adjusted to irregularities in the supporting surface, or
+else by sending prolongations of its substance into the substance of the
+supporting body, as a plant sends its roots into the soil. Such
+prolongations, moreover, must (in order to hold fast) either sink deeply
+or else expand, at a slight depth, into a rounded or discoidal mass, or
+into radiating processes whereby the whole structure may be securely
+anchored.
+
+This special modification of form, again, may or may not be accompanied
+by certain further modifications of structure, according as such rooting
+parts are to serve, as mere holdfasts, simply for attachment, or (as in
+most plants) for the absorption of food also.
+
+Another modification is also correlated with these conditions. We have
+seen[58] that an interchange of gases takes place between each organism
+and its surrounding medium. But such interchange cannot take place in
+the subterranean part of the body, and a corresponding difference of
+structure between such subterranean part and other parts must therefore
+obtain.
+
+Again, as to colour, we find differences which are evidently related to
+the different degrees in which different parts of a living body are
+exposed to the influence of light. Such contrasts notoriously exist, not
+only between the green parts of plants above the soil and the lighter
+coloured roots, but between the foliage of a plant which is exposed to
+sun light and another of the same kind kept in a dark cellar. Many
+animals which live in permanent darkness are colourless, as, _e.g._, the
+_Proteus_;[59] but yet this is not an invariable rule, some, as the
+mole, being of a dark colour.
+
+The forms of organisms are evidently often directly related to
+surrounding influences. A plant or plant-like animal fixed to the soil
+may be so fixed that light, air, food, friends and enemies can have
+access equally on all sides or not. Thus, a tree so placed that light
+and air are excluded on one side, will not grow freely towards that
+side, but only in directions from whence light and air have access. A
+coral reef increases much more rapidly towards the open sea (the waves
+of which bring in food and facilitate gaseous interchange) than towards
+an adjacent shore.
+
+The mere contiguity of parts will often affect the form of organisms.
+Thus, in many flowers parts which are adjacent become dwarfed, while
+others which are freely exposed become fully developed, as we see in the
+flowers of many _Umbelliferæ_, or plants of the parsley, fennel, and
+hemlock order.
+
+The shapes of flowers bear relation (as we shall see later) to their
+need for attracting insects which by their visits effect the development
+of seed, and for repelling others the access of which would be hurtful.
+
+The avoidance of enemies may be so effected by an organism that their
+access may be made impossible save in one direction, the extent of
+vulnerable surface even in that direction being minimized. We have an
+example of such a condition in those worms which live in calcareous
+tubes, and which are some of those called "tubicolous annelids."[60]
+
+Again, the medium in which an organism lives--whether aërial or
+aqueous--has an important relation with its form. A delicate seaweed,
+the beautifully radiating form of which is a just object of admiration
+as long as it is supported by its denser natural medium (the sea water),
+collapses into an amorphous mass when withdrawn thence into the thin
+air. Obviously a much greater rigidity and strength of structure is
+needed to support an aërial organism than an aquatic one, unless the
+former can support itself on other solid structures, such as rocks or
+trees. In the latter case the form attained may be very elongated and
+slender, as in the many creeping and climbing plants, which are so often
+furnished with processes for grasping (tendrils) to aid them in their
+mode of life.
+
+An aërial fixed organism, if it does not rise from the surface of the
+earth, cannot spread itself very far without developing other points of
+support--without rooting again. This re-rooting is a familiar phenomenon
+in many plants, as, _e.g._, the strawberry. But even a shrub like the
+common bramble (which is not itself prostrate, but which sends out
+extraordinarily prolonged branches) is aided by such a process. The ends
+of its long branches apply themselves to the ground and begin to pierce
+its surface, the incipient leaves of its terminal bud becoming
+metamorphosed into roots.
+
+An aquatic fixed organism, however, may extend to a very great length,
+freely floating without effecting any such fresh attachment. Thus the
+seaweed _Laminaria digitata_[61] will spread over a circle 12 feet in
+diameter, while _L. longicornis_ grows in the form of an elongated
+riband, from 8 to 12 feet in length and 2 or 3 feet wide. The giant form
+_Macrocystis_ (with a much more subdivided outline) may extend to the
+extraordinary length of 700 feet.
+
+The conditions under which needful gaseous interchange can be effected
+and food obtained by different living creatures, govern in various other
+ways the forms of their bodies.
+
+Thus, if it is helpful to the life of a creature to submit as large a
+surface of its body as possible to the influence of light, or to the
+action of air or water, then for this purpose its body must be expanded
+and its expanded parts divided and subdivided as they extend in
+different directions. It is for this reason that trees branch, and that
+their branches and twigs divide and subdivide as they do. It is for this
+reason also that their branches do not grow out one above another in
+precisely the same direction, but, on the contrary, grow in such a
+manner that each one may overshadow those immediately beneath as little
+as may be. Similarly and for the same reason leaves are developed mostly
+in an alternating fashion, so that each may be able to expose its green
+surface to the light and air as much as possible.
+
+Plant-like animals which grow up in an arborescent manner from a fixed
+base do not generally branch in so regularly alternating a mode as do
+plants, and in some cases their successive branches may even be
+regularly superimposed. This is due to their not requiring, as plants
+do, that their surface should be very extensively exposed to light,
+neither their gaseous interchange nor their nutrition being impaired by
+such superposition. The water which carries to them both the nutritious
+particles on which they feed and the gases they respire, will act with
+nearly or quite the same efficiency in either arrangement of their
+parts.
+
+If the exigences of life require any organism to retain much fluid
+within it, this circumstance may lead to its assumption of a dilated
+more or less globular form, as in the melon cactus, and, to a less
+degree, in the leaves of the common stonecrop.
+
+But the conditions under which alone certain fixed organisms can obtain
+their food may govern also their internal structure. Thus, we shall see
+that in plants which feed by absorbing matters through their roots, an
+internal arrangement has to be effected for distributing material thus
+obtained, and conveying it upwards through the stem. So, again, many
+fixed animals need a greater supply of food and gases than they can
+obtain from the water which bathes or may reach them without effort on
+their parts. Such animals may be provided with special internal
+structures, which cause currents of water to flow towards them, and very
+often to penetrate within them, as in the shell _Mya_ or the razor
+shell.[62]
+
+Fixed subterranean creatures are rare, but such do exist, as, for
+example, the truffle (_Tuber cibarium_). Surrounding influences must in
+such instances be alike on all sides, while the imbedded position of
+such organisms render superfluous the development of any elongated
+process for the purpose of fixing them. Such creatures, then, have a
+spheroidal figure, and neither internally nor externally are their
+structures developed in special directions.[63]
+
+The fixed organisms which are the most aërial in their habits are
+attached to elevated objects, such as trees, and necessarily have a
+portion of their frame set apart to fix them to the object which
+supports them. The most conspicuous creatures of this kind are, perhaps,
+the plants termed "Epiphytes," on account of this habit. Amongst them
+may be mentioned the beautiful orchids called "air plants," and the
+familiar mistletoe. Other vegetable organisms--the multitude of
+creeping plants--rear themselves to great heights by the aid of their
+more robust brothers, but they can hardly be reckoned as aërial
+organisms.[64]
+
+The colours which plants display have sometimes a singular relation to
+the mountain elevations or geographical positions they inhabit, but
+these considerations will be aptly treated of in the relations borne by
+living creatures to physical conditions and to one another.
+
+Living creatures which are capable of moving or being freely moved
+about, present us with similar but more marked differences.
+
+Certain aquatic creatures drift passively about (borne by streams or
+currents) with no permanent relation between any fixed portion of their
+bodies and the medium which transports them. Such creatures being
+equally acted on on all sides by surrounding agencies might be expected
+(like the subterranean truffle) to exhibit a spheroidal figure, with
+only one kind of surface upon their whole exterior. This is just what we
+find to be the case in a variety of more or less minute organisms, such,
+_e.g._ as _Myxastrum radians_ and _Magosphæra planula_.[65]
+
+The former of these consists, at one stage of its existence, of a small
+globular mass of protoplasm, from the whole periphery of which a
+multitude of fine pseudopodia radiate. When about to reproduce, the
+creature retracts its pseudopodia, and forms around its exterior a
+structureless coat or cyst, an action which takes place frequently in
+lowly organisms, and is called their process of _encystment_. The
+contents of the cyst then divides into separate bodies, which escape by
+the rupture of the cyst. Each of these bodies is enclosed in a silicious
+case with an aperture at one end, whence its contained protoplasm
+issues, and, having so issued, assumes a spherical shape.
+
+_Magosphæra_ is another small creature which goes through a remarkable
+series of changes, the greater number of which exemplify the ball-like
+shape of body alike on all sides.
+
+Wherever the surface of the body is covered by pseudopodia, those
+processes, inasmuch as they have a power of spontaneous movement, enable
+the creatures possessing them slightly to aid or to resist the drifting
+action of the water in which they float.
+
+But a living organism may be devoid of any definite shape whatever, as
+in _Protamœba_,[66] which consists of a mere particle of protoplasm,
+from which irregular-shaped processes of unequal size are irregularly
+protruded in every direction, so that the form of the creature may be
+said to be quite indeterminate.
+
+The bodies of almost all organisms have, however, more or less definite
+forms, which may be all classed under seven morphological categories.
+
+(1). The simplest form of all exemplifies _spherical symmetry_, and is
+that which we have seen in the truffle, the radiolarian, the volvox,
+_Myxastrum_ and _Magosphæra_. In this spherical form any number of axes
+drawn through the creature in any direction are equal.
+
+(2). The next organic form is one in which the body sphere is more or
+less elongated at its poles, the latter being equal and similar. In such
+an organism we have one axis longer than any one of the others and
+central, while from this axis symmetrical radii can be drawn in all
+directions. This form may be said to exemplify _equipolar symmetry_, and
+such is found in some radiolarians, in some small parasites
+(_Gregarinida_),[67] and others.
+
+(3). The next morphological category may be spoken of as _unipolar
+symmetry_. Bodies which exemplify it are like those included in the last
+category, save that the two poles of the body are not alike.
+
+Instances of this symmetry are to be sought in creatures which have one
+end of their body fixed, or which always or mostly move with the same
+end of the body in front, and thus have their two extremities in more or
+less constantly different relations to surrounding influences.
+
+The lowest worms and sponges may serve as examples of this symmetry in
+its simplest expression. As also may the curious compound tunicary
+called _Pyrosoma_.[68] In all such creatures the body does not extend
+out in the form of lateral prolongations.
+
+But in many others it does send out processes on all sides, and in
+various directions, as in most trees and all plants which have a
+definite axis of growth, so that unipolar symmetry is the predominant
+symmetry in the vegetable kingdom.
+
+(4). But unipolar symmetry with diverging outgrowths leads us to the
+next category which may be called _radial symmetry_. Under this head are
+included the forms of such creatures as possess unipolar bodies from
+which equal and corresponding outgrowths radiate in different
+directions.
+
+We have examples of this in the starfishes, in the sea anemones, and in
+such plants as the melon cactus. But the outgrowths may project in only
+four directions, each being at right angles with the two neighbouring
+outgrowths. We thus get a crucial form of radiation, in which the body
+may be described as having one main axis (in the direction of motion)
+crossed by two other shorter but equal axes at right angles to it and to
+each other.
+
+We have an example of this in _Tetraplatia volitans_,[69] an aquatic
+creature with an elongated body, which presents four distinguishable
+longitudinal surfaces, of which each opposite and corresponding pair is
+hardly distinguishable from one another.
+
+(5). This form leads us directly to that kind of symmetry which is
+predominant in the animal kingdom and which is called _bilateral
+symmetry_. Forms of this kind exhibit four aspects which may be
+distinguished as right and left, dorsal and ventral. The body here
+presents a long axis (in the direction of motion) crossed by two shorter
+axes at right angles to it and to each other. Of these shorter axes, one
+connects the dorsal and ventral surfaces, while the other connects the
+lateral (right and left) surfaces, and these two axes may be, and
+generally are, unequal. All worms, insects, mollusks, fishes, birds,
+reptiles, and beasts, are examples of creatures with bilateral symmetry.
+The dorsal and ventral aspects of the body generally differ in
+correspondence with the different relations to surrounding conditions
+which they usually bear, as notably in snakes and creatures which glide
+with their bellies applied to the surface of the ground.
+
+(6). The last kind of symmetry which here needs notice is that termed
+_serial symmetry_. In the creatures which exhibit it we have a body
+which is not only almost always bilaterally symmetrical but which is
+made up of a succession of similar parts, forming a series along its
+main or longitudinal axis. Insects, crabs, lobsters, and other allied
+forms give us examples of serial symmetry, but this is perhaps best seen
+in such animals as thousand legs and hundred legs--millipedes and
+centipedes.
+
+Besides the fundamental distinctions which depend upon the kind of
+symmetry governing the form of any living being, other subordinate
+differences exist respectively related to the conditions under which the
+various activities necessary for life have to be carried on. Such
+activities are the needful gaseous interchange, the processes of
+reproduction, and the acquisition of food. Thus, the most intimate
+relation exists between the form of the body and the manner in which
+locomotion has to be effected, whether by the whole body or by processes
+projecting from it. If the latter, then whether by paddling or jumping;
+if by the whole body, then whether by lateral or vertical bendings of
+that body.
+
+Thus, we see that fishes, which swim by lateral flexure of the body,
+have the tail expanded vertically; while in porpoises, which require
+vertical flexions (to come rapidly to the surface to breathe), the tail
+is expanded horizontally. On the other hand, creatures which swim not by
+either kind of body flexure, but by a paddling action only, have the
+tail shortened, as we see in swans and turtles. Further details of this
+kind will be more appropriately treated of in an Essay devoted
+exclusively to the consideration of the forms of animals.
+
+There are a multitude of aquatic creatures which cannot be properly
+spoken of as either "fixed" or "mobile," for they are in fact both. They
+are creatures which move about by the help of others, being themselves
+fixed to other creatures which are actively locomotive.
+
+Thus, sea-snails, lobsters, fishes, whales, and even ships, bear about
+with them sometimes lowly-organized plants; but often other animals,
+permanently fixed to and growing parasitically upon them and having the
+shape of their body suited to their peculiar situation.
+
+Often such parasites form flattened encrustations on their involuntary
+hosts--as is the case with the acorn shells or sessile barnacles.[70]
+Others have elongated bodies, which stream through the water with the
+motions of the creatures carrying them. We see this in confervoid
+growths, also in ordinary barnacles, and in certain modified crab-like
+creatures, such as _Lerneocera_.[71]
+
+These creatures fix themselves to their movable supports by means
+similar to those by which other creatures secure themselves to
+stationary supports. Thus, some of these do so by means of expanded
+disks, which fit accurately to the supporting surface, while certain
+parasites fix themselves by means of ingrowing prolongations or
+root-like processes, as in the _Rhizocephala_.[72] Others, again, adhere
+by the intervention of hooks and suckers, and this is especially the
+case with such as fix themselves internally and live perpetually bathed
+(as the tape-worms[73] do) in the nutritious fluids contained within the
+bowels of the creatures they infest.
+
+Terrestrial mobile organisms can, of course, only be moved by their own
+efforts, or by the efforts of other organisms.
+
+The simplest terrestrial locomotion is like that of the aquatic
+_Amœba[74] primitiva_, and is performed by land _Amœbæ_; and the curious
+plant _Myxomycetes_[75] also moves in a substantially similar manner.
+This very curious organism consists of a net-work of protoplasmic
+threads, which spread over decaying leaves and stems. The threads
+exhibit streams of granules flowing within them, and they give out
+processes like pseudopodia, while the whole complex mass can slowly
+creep over a supporting surface, which it thus slowly flows over by its
+branching processes.
+
+Other lowly plants propel themselves by means of a pair of filamentary
+protoplasmic threads, which vibrate actively, and are therefore called
+vibratile cilia. As an example may be mentioned the _Protococcus[76]
+nivalis_, the little spheroidal alga, which abounds on Alpine summits
+and in Arctic regions.
+
+As in aquatic, so in terrestrial organisms, external form is intimately
+related to modes of motion. Thus, locomotion may be effected by
+undulations of the whole body, as often in serpents and terrestrial
+vermiform animals. It may, on the contrary, be effected by the action of
+levers projecting from the surface of the body, _i.e._, by limbs, and
+these may be multitudinous and minute, as in hundred legs and thousand
+legs, or few and large, as in beasts. Moreover, the motions may be
+movements of pulling or of pushing, or by combinations of these, or by
+jumps, which may be effected in various manners, the consideration of
+which will find a fitting place in an Essay devoted to "Motion."
+
+Again, terrestrial, like aquatic, organisms often involuntarily carry
+about with them other living creatures which have fixed themselves to
+their bodies. Thus, the fruits, or seeds, of many plants (as, _e.g._,
+those of the common Agrimony, _Agrimonia eupatoria_) are beset with
+hooks or bristles which readily adhere to the coats of passing animals,
+and so gain a greater diffusion than they could otherwise obtain. A very
+remarkable form of the kind is _Martynia proboscidea_ (called Testa di
+_Quaglia_ by the Italians), which has a pair of curved and pointed
+processes like the tusks of an elephant, which are several inches long.
+It is notorious for adhering to clothes, &c. Other noteworthy plants are
+_Uncaria procumbeus_, or the grapple plant of South Africa and
+_Harpagophytum_,[77] the fruit of which is provided with hooked
+processes. Those of _Harpagophytum_ spread out in all directions, and
+are of different lengths, with sharp hooks, variously turned, so that
+its power of clinging is extreme. The seed, with all its processes, is
+so large as to fill the hand when grasped. It is said to cause the death
+of the lion. Having adhered to that beast's skin, the irritation
+produced and the impossibility of getting it off at last induces the
+lion to bite it, and once in his mouth he cannot remove it, and so the
+animal dies miserably.
+
+Some animals fix themselves much as these seeds of plants do. Amongst
+them are the parasites known as tics which fix themselves with great
+tenacity by the appendages of their mouths. Other parasites--like the
+itch insect[78] and forms allied to it--have hooked processes and stiff,
+hard bristles, which are at once very irritating and very adherent.
+Creatures are also carried about inside others, as is the case with the
+seeds of many plants. These are disseminated by birds which have
+swallowed but have not digested such seeds, and in an analogous manner
+the great tape-worm group becomes also widely diffused.
+
+Moving subterranean organisms, inasmuch as they must penetrate through a
+dense and highly-resisting substance, must evidently either have forms
+which offer little resistance--reducing friction to a minimum--or must
+be provided with special means of penetrating such substance. Evidently
+the least resisting form is presented by a body much elongated, rounded,
+and more or less attenuated at the advancing end, which end has to
+effect the requisite penetration. This is the form of the earth-worm--a
+form which is approximated to by a variety of creatures which have not
+the least affinity of nature with it, but only more or less resemble it
+as regards its dwelling-place and mode of locomotion.
+
+Such, for example, are the curious serpents called _Typhlops_,[79] and
+such are the legless lizards[80] (_Anguis_), and such, again, are the
+simpler vermiform animals allied to frogs, called _Cæciliæ_.[81]
+
+In order to burrow quickly and easily by means of processes of the body,
+it is evidently a necessary condition that the earth should be rapidly
+removed by the powerful action of parts situated towards the body's
+anterior end. The similarity of effect of similar conditions in
+creatures which are most widely divergent in nature is exemplified by
+the mole and the mole-cricket, which are each provided with a strong and
+broadened-out pair of anterior digging-limbs.
+
+Living creatures may be sustained in the air for a longer or shorter
+time at one or another stage of their existence. The reproductive
+particles of the lowest forms of animals and plants are so excessively
+minute that they float in the air with the greatest ease, without
+needing any complication of structure--their spheroidal form harmonizing
+with the equal action upon them of influences on all sides of them.
+Reproductive parts which, though less minute than these, are still very
+small, may also be diffused by floating in the atmosphere. Such are the
+pollen grains of those trees which are fertilized merely by the action
+of the winds, such as the hazel, poplar, birch, and of lowly plants, as
+the grasses. It is by the wind that the pollen grains of these plants
+are accidentally brought into contact with the appropriate surfaces for
+their reception. Conspicuous in the spring of the year are the clouds of
+yellow dust, pollen grains, given off by fir trees, which are plants
+also wind-fertilized. But here we find a slight complication; for to
+facilitate the dispersion of such particles the outer coat of each of
+their pollen grains is produced into a short wing-like process on each
+side, and these processes help at once to sustain it in the air, and to
+aid its propulsion by offering more surface to the force of the aërial
+currents.
+
+Very much more conspicuous are the wing-like expansions of many
+seeds--such, for example, as those of the maple. These expansions serve
+to diffuse the seeds which bear them, as do also the delicate cottony
+filaments which surround the seeds of a variety of plants of widely
+different natures and affinities, as some kinds of spider float through
+the air by the aid of the delicate filaments which they send forth to
+serve as an aërial float. Familiar to every one is the delicate little
+parachute-like structure of radiating filaments on the seeds of such
+plants as the dandelion--which seeds most children have at some time
+helped to diffuse by blowing.
+
+Aërial progress by actual effort is effected by a limited group of
+organisms, and only in certain cases (bats, birds, and insects) does it
+take the form of true flight in creatures now existing. In other
+creatures, such as so-called flying fishes, squirrels, opossums, and the
+little flying dragon, the more or less prolonged aërial sustentation is
+effected by expansions of skin, which act as parachutes in ways be later
+described in detail.
+
+True flight seems to need a definite mechanism of one kind--namely, a
+mechanism which shall give rapid and reiterated blows to the air from a
+point towards the dorsal side, and head end of the body, by structures
+of considerable superficial extent, and capable of rapid and delicate
+inclinations of surface. Such structures must be light and therefore
+delicate, and yet possess very considerable strength to resist the
+strain of the body's prolonged sustentation, and to effect its
+occasionally very rapid progress, as in the swift and in dragon-flies.
+These conditions which we find fulfilled in all existing flying
+organisms were also fulfilled organisms which have for ages passed away
+from the surface of this by planet, such as the extinct flying reptiles
+called _Pterosauria_ or _Pterodactyles_.[82]
+
+In all such rapidly flying creatures the form of the body is necessarily
+modified so as to throw the centre of gravity where it may be best
+sustained. It is this which packs what are practically a bird's teeth in
+its belly, and thickens so greatly the muscles on its breast which are
+formed in such a way as to serve both the usual purposes of
+breast-muscles, and also that which is effected in most cases by muscles
+of the back, which in birds are very greatly diminished in volume and
+extent.
+
+But there are living creatures which have relations with two media;
+which, though they are aquatic, yet by the help of the air rise and
+float, so as to be partly bathed in the atmosphere; while others carry
+down a portion of that atmosphere below the surface of water, so as to
+be sub-aqueously aërial. Examples of the last-mentioned condition are
+afforded by such spiders as have the habit of enclosing a bubble of air
+within the meshes of their self-woven network, and going down with it,
+being thus able there to maintain themselves as in a diving-bell. The
+reverse condition obtains in such plants as _Valisneria_,[83] which
+secrete air within expanded bladder-like receptacles, and, thus aided,
+rise to the surface and float. Another example is that of certain polyp
+animals, such as the Portuguese man of war, which also rise and swim
+upon the surface of the sea by the aid of floats in the form of
+bladders, which are also filled with air by means of their own life
+processes. The same also is the case in many seaweeds.
+
+Thus, these multitudinous forms of living creatures, both animals and
+plants, are reducible to certain categories in harmony with their modes
+of life, and the relations existing between them and all surrounding
+influences. We may see that, without compliance with certain of such
+laws, their existence would be impossible, and we see that there is a
+general correspondence between their shape and structure on the one
+hand, and their environment (that is, the totality of all surrounding
+agencies and influences) on the other. Are we to consider that such
+influences are the _causes_ of their form and structure? Obviously the
+biological facts before us, as yet, are insufficient to enable us to
+give a satisfactory answer to this question. It will for the present be
+enough to bear in mind that by some writers the environment _is_ deemed
+the one and sufficient cause of all the characters of living creatures.
+But as yet we have not even seen what _is_ the environment. Evidently
+physical influences--the earth, sea, or air, light, heat, and motion--do
+not exhaust it. One important factor would be omitted if we neglected to
+note the share taken in the environment of each living creature by a
+multitude of other living creatures which are in various ways related to
+it. This question must occupy us later.
+
+But by the forms of living creatures is not meant merely their external
+form. Some general notion then should here at starting be obtained of
+their internal form--that is, of their essential structure.
+
+The minutest and probably the simplest forms of living creatures
+(whether plant or animal) are such as are presented by _Bacteria_,[84]
+the yeast-plant and _Protoccus_. Bacteria are those minute creatures the
+mode of origin of which in sealed infusions has been so much of late
+disputed, but the activity of which in promoting the decomposition of
+dead substances is undisputed. A _bacterium_ is a particle of
+protoplasmic matter, either spheroidal or oblong, or like a short rod,
+or shaped like a corkscrew, and bacteria may also be in the form of a
+short chain of spheroids, or of oblong particles, or of rods united in a
+zigzag manner.
+
+Their breadth may vary from the 1/30000 to 1/10000 of an inch. They may
+also assume quite another appearance, by surrounding themselves with a
+gelatinous envelope, which condition is called their _zooglæa_ state of
+existence.
+
+They may be readily obtained by making some hay tea, and keeping it for
+a day or two, when they will be found to abound in the scum which forms
+on the surface, and to be in active motion. In the corkscrew form,
+_Spirillum volitans_, each end of the body is produced into a minute
+hair-like process or _cilium_, and it is by the lashings of these cilia
+that the minute organism moves about.
+
+Other as simple but larger organisms may consist of a minute mass of
+semi-fluid protoplasm, containing granules, as we find to be the case in
+the plant _Vaucheria_,[85] and many other _Algæ_, and in the animal
+_Amœba primitiva_.[86]
+
+An organism of this simplest kind or a fragment of a higher organism
+which presents this simplest condition is called a cell.[87] Very
+generally such cell has within it a more or less distinctly marked
+generally denser and spheroidal body called a _nucleus_, within which,
+again, other minute spots may appear called _nucleoli_.
+
+Even in this simplest of all possible conditions of life a slight
+difference appears between its most external film and its inner
+substance--just as a cup of broth left to stand will form for itself a
+filmy outermost layer. This incipient difference between what is inner
+and what is outer is one which is constantly maintained in all higher
+organisms, as we shall soon see abundantly. But the distinction into
+outer and inner is, as has been said, shown in a much more marked way in
+the constituent units, or _cells_, which build up the bodies of plants
+generally; for these consist of an inner part of protoplasm, enclosed in
+a distinct external cellulose envelope or _cell-wall_. As has also been
+shown, many of the lowest animals take on occasionally the _encysted_
+condition when they also consist of a particle of bioplasm enclosed in a
+distinct cell-wall or _cyst_, though one not made of cellulose.
+
+The protoplasmic contents of the cell may attract watery fluid thus
+forming clearer spaces or _vacuoles_ within it, and these may become so
+extended that the protoplasm may be reduced to a thin layer lining the
+cell wall, thread-like processes or remnants of protoplasm often passing
+across the cell from one part of the protoplasmic lining to another. A
+cell, almost always a nucleated cell, is the original form of every
+living creature without exception; and a great number of small, and some
+considerably sized living beings, never get beyond this unicellular
+condition, however much their cell may become enlarged or complicated in
+shape. Such creatures form the lowest of all animals and plants; but the
+overwhelming majority of living creatures are formed of aggregations of
+cells which cohere and fuse together in various ways. As an example of a
+unicellular and typically cellular living creature we may take the yeast
+plant (_Saccharomyces cerevisiæ_), which consists of a particle of
+bioplasm enclosed in a cell-wall of cellulose, the whole being globular
+or oval in shape, and generally about 1/3000 of an inch in diameter.
+Within its bioplasm a clear space or vacuole may often be distinguished.
+Often these organisms appear with a more complicated outline, due to the
+growth of new saccharomycetes from its outer wall, and the budding forth
+of others again from the side of such protruding processes, all of which
+ultimately become detached as independent saccharomycetes, though they
+often continue adherent for a long time, forming strings or other
+temporary aggregations of such organisms.
+
+In _Protococcus_ we meet with one of the lowest order. Its colour is
+green, which, as in all other higher plants also, is due to the presence
+in its protoplasm of a colouring matter called _chlorophyll_, either
+diffused or aggregated in certain denser granules of protoplasmic
+substance. Protococcus may be smaller or much larger than the yeast
+plant, it is spheroidal, and its protoplasm is enclosed in a tough case
+of cellulose, which, however, it may not nearly fill, while the long
+cilia may protrude through it and propel the whole organism by their
+reiterated lashings.
+
+It has been already said that a vegetable may temporarily exist as a
+particle of bioplasm without any cell-wall, and such is the case with
+_Protococcus_, the cellular envelope of which occasionally disappears.
+More remarkable still is the form already referred to under the name
+_Myxomycetes_,[88] which, for part of its existence, is the form of an
+indefinitely-shaped, naked protoplasmic mass.[89]
+
+Living creatures which consist of a single cell may present,
+nevertheless, a considerable complication of structure. Thus, an
+organism as simple as the _amœba primitiva_, before noticed, may have
+the power of forming, or, as it is technically called, _secreting_, from
+its own substance and its surrounding medium a most complex supporting
+skeleton of calcareous or silicious nature. It may have its outer
+envelope so markedly differentiated from its inner as to require a
+distinct designation as _exosarc_, while it may give rise in its
+interior not only to a nucleus and nucleolus, but to two regularly
+formed cavities with the power of rythmical pulsation, and one definite
+portion of its external wall may be perforated to form a permanent mouth
+instead of as in such forms as _Amœba_, any part serving indifferently
+as a mouth and every portion having similar functions without
+differentiation. All these and other complications of structure may
+arise by direct growth and transubstantiation of the single cell into
+the various physically and chemically different parts.
+
+Again, a living creature which is fixed may so extend itself as to
+simulate stem, roots, and branches, and yet remain essentially simple,
+consisting merely of one greatly enlarged and complicated cell.
+
+Thus, a unicellular plant may take on a great complexity of form while
+still remaining purely unicellular. It may assume the form of a stem
+with roots and leaves. An example of such we may see in the genus
+_Caulerpa_,[90] which, although unicellular, simulates in its outline
+the fern called _Blechnum_.
+
+The next grade of structural complication in living creatures is
+produced by the lowly plants, such as _Protococcus_, which multiply by
+spontaneous self-division or _fission_. This process may take place
+repeatedly and at the same time incompletely, in this way producing an
+apparently compound organism. Thus, we have the second grade of
+structural complication in living creatures--namely, the aggregation of
+cells into a loosely joined mass.
+
+Other simple forms are those presented by the minute organisms Diatoms
+and Desmids, the former enclosed in silicious cases, and some presenting
+the only exception to the general law that organic bodies are bounded by
+curved lines and surfaces.
+
+Wonderful is the minute ornamentation presented by the surfaces of these
+microscopic plants. Some of them cohere by imperfect division in the
+second grade of structural complication just described; they may form
+longitudinal series of cells, or they may be arranged round a common
+centre.
+
+One of the best examples of this secondary grade of complication is
+presented by the spherically aggregated cells of _Volvox_.[91] These
+present us with a good example of the way in which the shape of the
+individual cells may spontaneously alter, to suit the mode of their
+aggregation. Originally spherical, the adjacent sides of these cells
+become flattened, and thus the cells acquire a polygonal figure.
+
+Other instances of the coherence of the cells of unicellular organisms
+into indefinite and inconstant aggregations is presented by some
+radiolarians, individuals which cohere into what are called _colonies_.
+
+From such incomplete aggregation, the next step is to definite and
+stable aggregations, in which the life of the constituent parts is more
+or less plainly subservient to, and dominated by, the life of the whole.
+Such we find in all but the lowest _Fungi_,[92] and _Algæ_, in
+sponges,[93] and _Hydræ_, and also in all higher organisms. In such
+permanent aggregations, the dominant life of the whole is shown partly
+in greater constancy of external form and partly in the setting apart of
+separate portions of the whole, either for the nourishment of the entire
+creature or for the reproduction of fresh individuals, or for effecting
+gaseous interchange, or (in animals) for ministering to feeling and
+locomotion.
+
+Thus, the overwhelming majority of living creatures are, as has been
+said, formed of aggregation of cells, which cohere or fuse together in
+various ways--and not only of aggregation of cells but of aggregation of
+aggregations of cells or "tissues." Each tissue is a structure formed by
+the aggregation, or by aggregation and metamorphoses, of certain sets of
+cells. Thus, every higher plant or animal is made of an inconceivable
+multitude of cells, together with tissues which are not cellular, but
+which have originated by metamorphosis of cells, and every such higher
+plant or animal at first consists entirely of an aggregate of plainly
+distinct cells; and, first of all, of one single cell only, whence its
+whole structure, however complex, has originally sprung, though
+generally not until it has had at least a portion of another cell mixed
+with it.
+
+This transformation of cells, at first all alike, into distinct orders
+of cells or _tissues_, whence different organs with different functions
+arise, is characteristic of all living creatures above those which each
+consist throughout life of one cell only.
+
+We have seen that unicellular organisms may unite into a cylindrical or
+spheroidal colony, as in some _Radiolaria_, or into a spheroid of
+closely-adjusted cells, forming one layer, as in _Volvox_. But however
+large or complex such aggregation may be, it never forms sets of united
+cells or tissues. The whole of these lower creatures, therefore, may be
+spoken of as unicellular organisms; as though they may consist of many
+cells, those cells retain their individuality. Such creatures are all
+the lowest animals--those called _Hypozoa_[94] or _Protozoa_, and also
+the lowest cryptogamic[95] plants.
+
+All other animals and all the higher plants are multicellular. The
+description of one animal (which is placed as it were on the boundary
+between the multicellular and the unicellular division), the little
+parasitic worm _Dicyema_,[96] must for the present be postponed, as its
+significance could not yet be understood.
+
+Before leaving the consideration of the forms of living creatures, a
+further distinction should be made clear--that is to say, a distinction
+in the nature of resemblances which may exist between various parts.
+
+There are two different relations which may exist between a part or
+organ in one animal or plant, and another part or organ in another
+animal or plant. One of these relations is called _analogy_ and the
+other _homology_, and it is very desirable to bear clearly in mind the
+distinction which exists between these two relations.
+
+_Analogy_ refers to the use to which any part or organ is put--that is,
+it refers to its function.
+
+Thus, the flower of the daisy is, as we shall see, analogous to that of
+the buttercup. The spathe of an arum is analogous to the corolla of the
+dead nettle (for both serve to shelter the essential parts of the
+flower).
+
+The foot of a horse is analogous to the foot of a man, and the shell of
+a tortoise to the shell of an armadillo; for the two former serve for
+support and locomotion, while the latter two are solid protecting
+envelopes to the body. So also the flying organ or wing of a bat is
+analogous to the flying organ or wing of a beetle.
+
+_Homology_ refers to essential similarity in position compared with all
+the other parts or organs of the body, and must be considered apart from
+function.
+
+Thus, as we shall see in the next Essay a single floret of the daisy is
+homologous with the whole flower of the buttercup. The spathe of an arum
+is the homologue of any bract,[97] however insignificant in size and
+apparently devoid of function. The foot of a horse is homologous (as we
+shall see later) to the middle toe only of man, while the shell of the
+tortoise is in part homologous with the shell of the armadillo and in
+part with the ribs of the latter animal.
+
+There is no relation of homology, however remote, between the wings of a
+bat and of a beetle, and these two animals (as will shortly appear) have
+the parts and organs of their bodies so fundamentally different, that it
+is doubtful whether any definite relations of homology can be
+established between them.
+
+A special term has been devoted to signify a resemblance between two
+parts in two different animals and plants, which resemblance has been
+induced by or is directly related to their common needs, and the
+similarity of external influences. This term is "homoplasy," and
+structures which may thus be supposed to have grown alike in obedience
+to the influence of similar external causes acting on similar innate
+powers have been called _Homoplasts_.
+
+Such, then, are the more general conditions as to structure and figure
+which living creatures present, and (as has been said) with great
+differences as to the amount of possible variation, most kinds have a
+definite limit as to size. It remains only to make general observations
+on the colours of living creatures.
+
+But a few years ago, hardly any few general remarks of really scientific
+interest and value could have been made respecting the varied hues and
+markings which organisms present. No rational relation was even
+suspected to exist between the colours of plants and the busy insect
+life which swarms about their blossoms or about the varied colours of
+birds, and the details of their habits and modes of existence.
+
+It was known, of course, that Arctic foxes and hares became white in
+winter, and that each benefited by its change, and suffered from the
+change of the other; the snow tint which enabled the hare to escape also
+facilitating the unobserved approach of the fox. It was also known that
+many desert animals were of the colour of the sandy plain they wandered
+over, and that tree-snakes and tree-frogs were often green. But it
+seemed incredible that the varied shades or bright adornments of the
+living world should each and all be governed by rigid laws, generally
+connected with the welfare of the organisms so furnished. Here, if
+anywhere, the reign of utilitarianism in Nature appeared to be at an
+end, and creative fancy to have full play, regardless but of the harmony
+and beauty thus revealed to appreciating eyes. The labours and fruitful
+thoughts of Bates and Wallace have, however, opened up a wide field for
+most interesting inquiry. They have made it evident that in many
+instances the most direct utility accompanies colour both in animals
+and plants. The colours of flowers serve to attract insects and birds,
+by the visits of which they are fertilized or their fertility is greatly
+augmented. It is this relation between attractiveness and insect
+fertilization which explains the absence of colour from the flowers of
+plants which are fertilized only by the wind, such as the fir trees
+before-mentioned, oaks, beeches, nettles, sedges, and many others. It
+also explains the conspicuousness of the flowers of many oceanic
+islands, such as those of the Galapagos archipelago. But it also
+explains, as Mr. Wallace has pointed out, the remarkable beauty of
+Alpine flowers, by their need of attracting insects from a distance, the
+conspicuous patches of bright colour serving thus to attract wandering
+butterflies upwards from the valleys.
+
+But more remarkable still is the explanation given to the semblance
+borne by the colours of some creatures to those of others of quite a
+different kind, as of some moths to bees, and some harmless flies to
+wasps. For now it is clear that by this mimicry they escape the attacks
+of many enemies, who avoid such apparently dangerous forms. On the other
+hand, the bright liveries of such offensive creatures are highly useful
+to the wearers, for such tints act as a warning to enemies, and so save
+them from their being pounced on by creatures which might fatally wound
+them, though unable to swallow them. But the beautiful liveries of such
+powerful predatory kinds as tigers and leopards do not serve as
+warnings. They serve their wearers, however, none the less, though it is
+by aiding their concealment, and so allowing their prey to approach them
+unsuspectingly to fatal nearness. For the vertical stripes of the tiger
+resemble the vertical shadows of the grasses of the jungle amongst which
+it lurks, as the scattered spots of the leopard agree with the scattered
+spots of shadow amongst the foliage of trees on the boughs of which it
+lies in wait. But to say more on this head would be to anticipate
+remarks to come, when the relations of living beings to one another are
+under consideration, and the subject is too extensive to be here treated
+in full. Moreover, it must be noted that such relations do not by any
+means serve to explain all the phenomena of organic colour. Direct
+action is in some curious way exerted upon many organisms, by
+surrounding tints, and similarly different geographical districts and
+varieties of locality affect directly the colour of both animals and
+plants, but these questions will be fully treated of under the head of
+the relations of animals to the physical world. Suffice it here to note
+that the phenomena of colour no less than the phenomena of form are in
+harmony with (whether or not the result of) the active agencies of all
+environing conditions. But colour of some kind is a universal attribute
+of all material things. Though apparently most irregularly distributed
+through the world of life, yet order underlies the seeming confusion. Of
+certain large groups certain tints are characteristic, as has already
+been remarked with respect to the great order to which the dandelion
+belongs. But the same remark may be made of various others, as, for
+example, of the order _Cruciferæ_ (to which the wallflower and turnip
+belong), the flowers of which are generally white, pink, or yellow,
+while the gentians, again, are noteworthy for exhibiting pure colours.
+
+But the colours which predominate in the whole mass of living creatures
+of all kinds are tints of green, brown, or reddish-yellow. Bright
+colours, such as blue, scarlet, crimson, gold, or silver are
+exceptional, and the colour blue is especially rare. The borrowed
+radiance of the inorganic world, in the form of metallic brightness, is
+especially a characteristic of those living gems, the humming birds; but
+not a few other animals also exhibit it. Thus, of birds more or less
+gifted with metallic radiance, though in a less degree than humming
+birds, may be mentioned the sunbirds, the trogons, and the beautiful
+family of pheasants; and many insects and many fishes shine with
+metallic tints.
+
+Brightness of this kind (though the leaves of a few plants have a
+coppery lustre) is unknown in the world of plants, in which shades of
+green are overwhelmingly predominant, and are universally present,
+except in a few exceptional forms, notably the fungi.[98]
+
+Various aquatic animals belonging to very different groups agree in
+possessing a perfectly glass-like transparency. Amongst them are fish
+which live in the ocean; for example, the Teleostean[99] fish
+(_Leptocephalus_), also mollusca of all kinds, including even perfectly
+transparent cuttle fishes.[100] There are also glass-like
+crustaceans,[101] and also planarians[102] and sea anemones.[103]
+Plants, however, never present this character, although by it they
+might, as well as animals, escape being preyed upon.
+
+Most fishes which inhabit the deep sea are of a dull black colour,
+though some are white, and the majority of all deep-sea animals,
+considered as a whole, are more or less decidedly coloured, many
+brightly so.[104]
+
+Luminosity is a character of many lowly animals, and it is the presence
+of minute creatures possessing this character which so often causes the
+spray dashed from the prow of an advancing ship to appear like a shower
+of sparks, while glowing bodies traverse the water beneath its surface.
+Many insects, such as fire-flies and glow-worms, are notoriously
+luminous. In the vegetable world, however, this character is very rarely
+present, being only so in certain fungi, some of which exhibit a
+wonderful luminosity. Humboldt relates that he found this to be
+especially splendid in mines.
+
+As like phenomena of colour characterize certain groups of living
+creatures, so also like phenomena of colour may characterize certain
+geographical regions being common to creatures of very different kinds
+which inhabit such regions, as we shall hereafter see. The brightest of
+living things, the humming birds, have their true home in the equatorial
+region of America, to which continent they are exclusively confined. But
+it is in the equatorial region of the whole earth that we find the most
+brilliant birds of other kinds, the most brightly coloured reptiles and
+fishes, the largest and many of the loveliest butterflies, moths and
+beetles, the most beautiful orchids, the largest of all flowers and of
+all clusters of flowers.
+
+But neither the temperate, nor even the Arctic nor Antarctic climes are
+denied the glory of bright tints in the long days of their brief, but
+sometimes fervid, summer. Indeed, the golden burst of gorse and glow of
+heather in our temperate zone have, in their way, an unequal charm;
+while every here and there Arctic lands and Alpine heights exhibit
+beauties of colour which are hardly elsewhere presented by the field of
+animated nature to the eye of man.
+
+    ST. GEORGE MIVART.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 678.
+
+[57] Loc. cit., p. 704.
+
+[58] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 703.
+
+[59] _Ibid._ for September, 1879, p. 27.
+
+[60] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 33 and 43.
+
+[61] One of the _Melanospermeæ_; _Ibid._ p. 36.
+
+[62] Creatures belonging to the class _Lammellibranchiata_; see
+CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 30 and 43.
+
+[63] The truffle may be generally regarded rather as the fruit of a
+plant than as an entire plant, and yet in some of the group the rest of
+the plant (which is called the _Mycelium_) is quite rudimentary, or even
+absent.
+
+[64] There are climbers in Brazil, the roots of which, descending around
+the trunk of the tree supporting them, clasp the latter with such a
+deadly embrace that it dies and decays. In the meantime, the descending
+roots (having become fixed in the ground) swell and meet so as to form a
+new and irregularly-shaped trunk of solid wood, which has thus (by an
+inverted process) grown downwards instead of upwards. There are other
+such creepers in the East which have a wide-spreading downward growth
+(see Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," vol. i. p. 131).
+
+[65] Creatures belonging to the group _Rhizopoda_; see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW for September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[66] One of the lowest of the _Rhizopoda_; _Ibid._ p. 36.
+
+[67] A class of _Hypozoa_; see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September, 1879,
+pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[68] _Ibid._ pp. 31 and 43.
+
+[69] _Ibid._ p. 35, and _Archiv für Mikroskop. Anatomie_, vol. xv. Heft
+3, plate xx.
+
+[70] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 31.
+
+[71] One of the _Copepoda_; see loc. cit., p. 31.
+
+[72] See loc. cit., p. 31.
+
+[73] Of the class _Cestoidea_; see loc. cit., pp. 34 and 43.
+
+[74] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[75] Loc. cit., p. 37.
+
+[76] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[77] All these three plants belong to the _Dicotyledonous_ order
+_Sesameæ_, which would come between the _Lobiatæ_ and the _Orobanchaceæ_
+of the list given on p. 42 in the CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September,
+1879. This order contains the _Sesamum orientale_, the seeds of which
+yield sesamum or gingilie oil, principally used in the manufacture of
+soap. 58,940 tons of these seeds were imported into France in 1855.
+
+[78] This and the tics belong to the class _Arachnida_; see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 32 and 43.
+
+[79] For the _Typhlopsidæ_, see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p.
+26.
+
+[80] Loc. cit., p. 24.
+
+[81] Belonging to the class _Ophiomorpha_; see loc. cit., pp. 27 and 43.
+
+[82] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 25.
+
+[83] _Valisneria spiralis_: these are distinct male and female flowers.
+The male flowers are on short stalks, which break and allow their
+flowers to rise to the surface and there float, scattering their pollen.
+The female flowers grow on long coiled stalks, which uncoil and allow
+them to rise to the surface to be fertilized, after which the stalks
+recoil and withdraw them again below. This is a monocotyledonous plant
+of the order _Hydrocharideæ_.
+
+[84] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[85] Loc. cit., p. 37.
+
+[86] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[87] There is an ambiguity in the use of the word "cell." By some
+writers it is only used to denote a particle of protoplasm with a
+nucleus (whether or not it is enclosed in a "cell-wall"), while such a
+particle without a nucleus is called by them a _Cytod_. By others it is
+used to denote any particle of protoplasm enclosed in a cell-wall, and
+by others, again, as denoting any distinct particle of protoplasm with
+or without a nucleus, and with or without a cell-wall. It is in this
+widest sense that it is here proposed to use the term "cell,"
+distinguishing, where needful, those with a nucleus or envelope as "a
+nucleated" or "a walled" cell.
+
+As yet the two natures and functions of the nucleus and nucleolus are by
+no means cleared up. The nucleus often appears to contain a complexity
+of fibrils, transitory aggregations of which have been supposed to cause
+the appearance of nucleoli. The apparently simplest protoplasm is
+probably of really very complex, most minute structure.
+
+[88] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[89] Here reference may be made to the name _Bathybius_, which was given
+by Professor Huxley to a material found at the sea bottom, of great
+extent and indefinite shape, and which was supposed by him to be the
+remains of a mass of once living protoplasm, but which there is much
+reason now to suppose was really but inorganic material. Reference is
+here made to this, because some persons seem to imagine that if
+_Bathybius_ were a lowly animal some important speculative consequences
+would follow. But this is an utter mistake. It is generally admitted
+already that there are living structureless protoplasmic organisms of no
+definite shape, and of which detached particles can live and grow. It
+would make no real difference whatever to the known facts of life if a
+creature of the kind should be found as large as the Pacific Ocean, with
+its portions exceptionally detachable and its shape irregular in the
+extreme.
+
+[90] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[91] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 36.
+
+[92] Loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.
+
+[93] Loc. cit., p. 34.
+
+[94] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[95] For explanation of this application of this term see loc. cit., p.
+38.
+
+[96] Loc. cit., p. 35.
+
+[97] A kind of leaf the nature of which as well as of spathes, florets,
+and flowers, will be explained in the next Essay.
+
+[98] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.
+
+[99] Teleostean fishes are generally bony, but the bones are represented
+by cartilages in _Leptocephalus_. As to teleosteans, see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 27.
+
+[100] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 30.
+
+[101] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 31 and 43.
+
+[102] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 33 and 43.
+
+[103] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 34. As examples of transparent sea
+anemones, Nautactis and its allies, belonging to the _Actinozoa_, may be
+mentioned.
+
+[104] See Moseley's "Challenger," p. 592.
+
+
+
+
+CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN TURKEY.
+
+
+    CONSTANTINOPLE, _Sept. 9th, 1879_.
+
+Three months have elapsed since my last letter, and were it not for the
+suffering people we might treat of the history of the Turkish Government
+during these months as so many acts in a comedy; but human suffering is
+never ridiculous, and those who live in the midst of it find nothing
+amusing in the obstinate stupidity which causes it. It is not pleasant
+to live among the ruins of a crumbling Empire, however picturesque these
+ruins may appear at a distance, and however much it may be for the
+interest of foreign politicians to leave them undisturbed. Whatever may
+be the course of contemporary thought in England, where the fate of
+Turkey has unfortunately become a party question, the people of Turkey
+can only think of it as it affects their own interests, and they desire
+above all things that the people of England, without distinction of
+party, should understand their condition as it is. This is a reasonable
+desire, whether anything can be done for them or not; and these letters
+are intended to represent contemporary life and thought _in Turkey_.
+
+
+The Fall of Khaireddin Pacha.
+
+Khaireddin Pacha commenced life as a Circassian slave in Tunis. He came
+to Constantinople last year as an exiled Prime Minister of the Bey, but
+possessed of immense wealth which he had accumulated while in office,
+and with a high reputation for learning, skill as an administrator, and
+devotion to the faith of Islam. He was well received by the Sultan, who
+often consulted him in regard to political affairs; and finally, through
+the influence of France and England, he was appointed Grand Vizier. But
+he made no friends among the Turkish Pachas, and had no party in the
+country. Even the most liberal of the governing class regarded him as an
+interloper, who had neither the ability nor the experience necessary to
+fit him for the place which he had secured by European influence. He
+reciprocated their distrust, and spoke of them freely as a band of
+bandits. He was too good a Mussulman to attempt to build up a party
+among the Christians. He depended simply upon his personal influence
+over the Sultan and the support of the French and English Ambassadors.
+He succeeded in exiling all the ex-Grand Viziers, but he had still more
+dangerous enemies among his own colleagues, who thwarted him at every
+step, worked upon the fears of the Sultan, and brought the affairs of
+the Government to a dead-lock. He finally proposed to the Sultan a plan
+of Government which, under the name of reform, involved an abdication of
+his supreme power in favour of the Grand Vizier. This was supported by
+all the influence of France, England, and Austria, but opposed by the
+Ulema and almost the whole governing class. It led to a formal decision
+on the part of the Ulema, which is of far greater importance than the
+fall of the Grand Vizier which was the first result of it. It declared
+that the Sultan ruled the Empire as Caliph, that he was bound by the
+Sheriat or sacred law, and that he could not delegate his authority to
+another. Under this decision there can be no such thing as civil
+government in Turkey. Civil law can never take the place of the Sheriat,
+and the emancipation of the Christian subjects of the Porte is an
+impossibility. The Ulema admit the necessity of administrative reform,
+and recognize the fact that the Empire is in peril; but it must be a
+return to ancient customs, and not a recognition of the principles of
+European civilization. They are in favour of limiting the power of the
+Sultan, but it must be limited by an extension of the influence of the
+Ulema. This triumph of the Ulema is the one important feature of the
+Ministerial crisis. As Khaireddin had no party, there are few who regret
+his fall. As few had any faith in the influence of English moral suasion
+applied to the Sultan by Sir A. H. Layard, there are few who are
+disappointed at its failure; but it may be well to note that Sir A. H.
+Layard and Khaireddin Pacha have both attempted to control the Turkish
+Government by their personal influence over the Sultan, and have both
+been defeated by the stronger influence of palace intrigue. There are no
+doubt certain advantages in maintaining intimate personal relations with
+an absolute sovereign, but, in fact, no sovereign is so absolute that he
+cannot be to a great extent controlled by his Ministers; and the
+Ambassador who is intimate with the Sultan, and seeks to control his
+actions, is certain to excite the jealousy and opposition of the
+Ministers and the palace. Even with the Sultan himself, he is obliged to
+assume a very different tone from that which he would use in dealing
+with a Minister. He may smile, but he cannot frown--he may suggest, but
+he cannot threaten--he may persuade, but he cannot dictate--he may
+secure a promise, but he cannot exact its fulfilment. In the present
+case he has certainly failed to keep his own _protégé_ in office, and,
+what is more important, he has failed to secure any modifications in the
+system of government.
+
+The Ulema who have triumphed in this conflict are the most powerful,
+compact, and thoroughly organized body in Turkey. They represent all the
+wealthy and influential Turkish families. They monopolize the two great
+departments of law and religion, and the revenues of the higher orders
+of the hierarchy are immense. Those who are not fanatics by nature or
+conviction are so by profession, and their idea of reform is a return to
+the good old days of the Caliph of Bagdad. The Sultan is afraid of them,
+and he has reason to be so. When the crisis came it was much easier and
+safer for him to yield to them than to follow the counsels of Sir A. H.
+Layard, or to abdicate in favour of Khaireddin Pacha. He could invite
+the former to dinner oftener than ever, and give the latter a pension.
+He had nothing to fear from either.
+
+The office of Grand Vizier was abolished for the second time within two
+years, and a Prime Minister appointed who could be trusted to do
+nothing; and it is a curious fact that this office is now abolished for
+the sake of increasing the power of the Sultan, while it was given up
+two years ago for the purpose of limiting his authority and
+strengthening that of the Ministry. It was Achmet Vefik Pacha, the most
+determined and independent man in Turkey, who was then appointed Prime
+Minister. It is Arifi Pacha, a man who never had an idea of his own, who
+is now selected to fill the place; while men of strong will and
+reactionary proclivities like Osman Pacha and Said Pacha continue to
+hold their places as Ministers of War and Justice.
+
+
+Sultan Murad.
+
+It must not be supposed that all the Turks are satisfied with this
+triumph of the Ulema, and the rule of Osman Pacha. Those who are out of
+office are, of course, dissatisfied. But beyond this there is a strong
+party at Constantinople which favours a radical change in the Government
+as the only hope of saving the Empire from destruction. They would limit
+the power of the Sultan by a genuine Constitution, and a Representative
+Assembly; but they believe that this can never be accomplished under the
+present Sultan. The fate of Mithad Pacha is always before their eyes.
+Their plan is to dethrone Hamid and reinstate Murad, whose liberal views
+are well known, and whose health is such that he could not resist
+radical measures even if he did not favour them. I have no means of
+knowing the real strength of this party, or exactly who are its leaders,
+nor do I know anything more of the health of Sultan Murad than the fact
+that his partisans declare that he is quite as sane and strong as his
+brother. But there is such a party, and it is confident of ultimate
+success. Of course, it is not supported by the British Ambassador, as
+Mithad Pacha was in the overthrow of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz; but it may have
+other foreign influence behind it, and it would, no doubt, result in the
+immediate recall of Mithad Pacha to the capital. As I am
+constitutionally a Conservative and opposed to revolution, I have not
+much sympathy with this movement; but I have no doubt that, if Turkey is
+to be left to herself to work out her own destiny, there is more to be
+hoped from a Representative Assembly than from any other possible
+modification of the Government. Mithad Pacha's Parliament was a surprise
+to the world, and not least to those who devised it. His Constitution
+was a fraud designed to deceive Europe. The members of his Assembly were
+selected by the Government, its acts were ignored. It was finally
+disbanded, and many of its members were imprisoned. But in spite of all
+this it demonstrated the fact that there was material in Turkey for an
+independent Assembly, which would be qualified by a little experience to
+control the Government, and would favour radical reforms in the
+administration. The governing class at Constantinople is hopelessly
+corrupt and effete, but men came up to this Assembly from the interior,
+who might in time have supplanted the present rulers, and infused new
+life into the administration. Those who now favour an Independent
+Parliament believe that the present Sultan will never consent to it, and
+therefore propose to reinstate Murad; but it is possible that if English
+moral suasion were turned in this direction, it might meet with more
+success than it has obtained thus far. The Ulema would probably oppose
+it, although they accepted it as part of the plan of Mithad Pacha.
+Circumstances have changed, and their experience of the last Assembly
+was not satisfactory.
+
+There is no reason to suppose that Sultan Murad himself has any part in
+this plan, or any knowledge of it. He is kept a close prisoner, and
+guarded from all outside influences with the greatest care, but his name
+is powerful, for his misfortunes and the well-known amiability of his
+character have roused the sympathy of the common people in his behalf.
+They are inclined to regard him as their rightful sovereign, and to
+believe that he might save them from their present misery. They may be
+mistaken, but all the world sympathizes with their kindly feeling
+towards this unhappy prince, whose mind gave way under the burden of
+responsibility which was suddenly forced upon him, and the shock which
+he experienced at the death of his uncle and his Ministers, who was
+himself deposed before he had regained his faculties, and who, for no
+fault of his own, is doomed to spend his life as a prisoner of State.
+
+
+The Progress of Reform.
+
+We are officially assured that the change in the Ministry will in no way
+impede the progress of reform, which has already been carried out in the
+Department of Justice, and which is soon to be applied to the civil
+administration. The plan has already been elaborated. It has been sent
+to the Valis for their approval, and will soon be submitted to the
+Eastern Roumelia Commission, after which it will be considered by the
+Sultan and, if approved by him, will be proclaimed in the form of a new
+_Hatt_. It professes to be a plan for a reorganization of the Vilayets,
+on the principle of decentralization and local self-government. It does
+not seem to excite much interest in any quarter, probably for the reason
+that all this exists already _on paper_, and that if Aali Pacha could
+not execute the elaborate scheme, which he proclaimed when the Vilayets
+were organized, there is not much probability that the new _Hatt_ will
+be any more effective. The people of Turkey have no faith in paper
+reforms. They are issued as easily as paper money, and are as easily
+repudiated; they are like leading articles in the daily papers--they are
+written, read, and forgotten, alike by the author and the reader, within
+the twenty-four hours. There is an old proverb current among the Turks
+which says, "The decrees of the Sultan last three days--the day they are
+made, the day they are kept, and the day they are forgotten." If the
+proverb were a new one, the second day would be omitted.
+
+The reforms which have been completed by Said Pacha, the Minister of
+Justice, are not of a nature to encourage the hopes of the people. A
+large number of new officials have been appointed, but they are of the
+same class as those already in office. Indeed, there seems to have been
+a special purpose in these appointments of making it known to the people
+that no change was to be expected in the method of administering the
+law. Only seventeen out of one hundred and eighty-three of these new
+officials are Christians, and the Turkish papers take pains to declare
+that it is absurd to suppose that Christians are competent to hold these
+offices. This is the result of the demand of Lord Salisbury that the
+Courts of the Empire should be reorganized under European control. They
+will continue to be what they have been, and it will be but a small
+consolation to the suffering people of Turkey to know that they have
+been condemned in strong terms by the British Government. The worst
+feature of the case is that the law offers no man any protection against
+arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. A man may be thrown into prison and
+kept there for years without any trial or any knowledge of the charges
+brought against him. Such cases are very common. Or he may he beaten by
+the police, or chained in a dungeon, on the most frivolous charge. I
+knew a case the other day of a Greek who was severely beaten because he
+requested a police officer to arrest a Turk who was plundering his shop
+in broad day. All this was done in the presence of a European gentleman,
+too. There are several Armenians in prison now in Constantinople whose
+only offence was the wearing of hats in place of the fez. At the same
+time, crimes of every description are committed with impunity without
+any apparent effort on the part of the authorities to discover the
+perpetrators. Almost in sight of Constantinople, and under the immediate
+jurisdiction of the capital, is a district where for months the peaceful
+inhabitants of Adabazar have been plundered and murdered by the
+Circassians. They have appealed again and again to Constantinople for
+protection. They have tried to interest the Ambassadors in their behalf.
+They sent a deputation to the Grand Vizier. He had no time to see them,
+but turned them over to another official who requested them to present
+him in writing a statement of the reforms which they thought were needed
+in the Empire! A few hundred soldiers, or even one determined man sent
+from Constantinople, would have restored order; but nothing could be
+done. Five men were murdered while the deputation was in this city. The
+whole Turkish coast of the Black Sea is infested with brigands who
+plunder at will. They are well known, but no one thinks of arresting or
+punishing them. Travellers are only secure when they are provided with a
+safe-conduct from the leaders. The Reports of the new Consuls in Asia
+Minor acknowledge a state of things which is almost too bad to be
+believed. There is no security in the administration of the law for
+person, property, or life, and there seems to be no prospect of any
+improvement. Some more radical reform is needed than the appointment of
+one hundred and sixty-six new Turkish judges.
+
+A scheme of financial reform has also been projected, and the foreign
+Embassies have been invited to nominate a certain number of persons as
+inspectors to superintend the collection of the revenue; but this is
+nothing new. The Imperial Ottoman Bank has nominally held this position
+for many years, and at times has exercised some control, no doubt with
+advantage to the Government. A new system of taxation, carried out under
+the control of honest and responsible Europeans, would increase the
+revenue of the Government without adding to the burdens of the people;
+but the place where reform is most needed is in the expenditure rather
+than the collection of the revenue. The present scheme does not command
+confidence in Constantinople in regard to the collection of the taxes,
+and it offers no security for the control of the expenses of the
+Government. The truth is that the whole financial system is hopelessly
+corrupt, and, however it may be patched or mended, it will be rotten
+still. There is no hope for the Turkish Government until it is ready to
+put its finances into the hands of competent Europeans who shall have
+absolute control over everything connected with expenditure as well as
+collection; and I am sorry to say that there seems to be no present
+prospect of any such arrangement. The enormous expenditure of the Palace
+is unlimited and uncontrolled, and the Sultan will not submit to any
+control. Financial reform must begin there, or it will amount to
+nothing. The present Sultan before he came to the throne was known to be
+a very careful and economical man, and no doubt he would be glad to be
+so now, but he has not the courage to break with the traditions of the
+past--give up his thousands of slaves, women, and palace officials, and
+live like a European sovereign rather than an Oriental despot. So long
+as he maintains the present system he must have money, no matter who
+starves for want of it; and he must continue to take money, on his
+personal order, from whatever department of the Government may be so
+happy as to have any in its treasury.
+
+The Government is bankrupt; its revenues are not half enough to meet its
+current expenses; its army is starving; its civil service forced to live
+on plunder; its income mortgaged for years in advance to secure loans on
+which it is paying thirty or forty per cent. interest in one form or
+another; but still no one would dare to suggest to the Sultan the
+possibility of his reducing his own expenses to a sum equal to that
+expended by the Queen of England. Thus far all talk of financial reform
+is prompted by the desire to borrow more money in Europe to meet the
+present wants of the Government. These difficulties once surmounted,
+everything would go on as before. It is no friendship to Turkey to lend
+her money, until such time as the Sultan and his Ministers are ready for
+a real reform, beginning at the Palace, and conducted under the control
+of Europeans appointed and supported by their own Governments. But there
+is no prospect of any such arrangement.
+
+The Turks do not appreciate the dangers which beset them. They see that
+the country is in an unsettled state, and they feel the want of money;
+but the evils of which the people complain are nothing new. They exist
+now in an aggravated form, on account of the war and the confusion which
+has reigned for several years at Constantinople; but the Turks see no
+reason why they should not be reduced to a normal state, and be quietly
+endured for centuries to come, as they have been for centuries past.
+Their attention is directed exclusively to their foreign relations, and
+whatever is said or done about reform is intended solely to conciliate
+public opinion in Europe. Could the rulers here be brought face to face
+with a really independent Representative Assembly, freely chosen by the
+people, they would be made to think less of Europe and more of Turkey.
+They would see that their rule has become well-nigh intolerable, even to
+the Mussulman population of the Empire. Then there would be some hope of
+genuine administration and financial reform. It is even possible that
+the Christian element in such an Assembly might be strong enough to
+secure, in time, the emancipation of the non-Mussulman population--and
+it should never be forgotten that this must come in some form. England
+does not insist upon it now, but she will, and so will all Europe. It
+would be far better for Turkey if it could be brought about by the
+Christians themselves; but if it is not, it will be forced upon the
+Turks by direct European intervention, or possibly by the overthrow of
+the Empire.
+
+
+The Egyptian Crisis.
+
+The affairs of Egypt have been so fully discussed in England that it is
+unnecessary for me to do more than to indicate the course of thought on
+this subject at Constantinople. At the outset, the Sultan and his
+Ministers sympathized with the Khedive. They feared that European
+intervention at Cairo would pave the way for a similar intervention
+here; and when he appealed to the Sultan he had reason to expect his
+support. But the Turks thought they saw their opportunity to regain
+their hold on Egypt, and the Khedive was summarily removed. The Turkish
+papers here did not hesitate to rejoice over it as a "new conquest of
+Egypt," and it is still believed here that this view of the subject was
+encouraged by England, that it was the purpose of Lord Beaconsfield to
+escape from the embarrassing demands of France by restoring Egypt to the
+control of the Sultan.
+
+But when the Turks found that they had been misled or mistaken, and that
+Egypt was less than ever under their control, they regretted the steps
+which had been taken, and began once more to sympathize with the Khedive
+whom they had deposed. He was very liberal in his expenditure of money
+at Constantinople, and always found it for his interest to maintain a
+host of retainers here; but the new Khedive will have no money to spend
+here, and will need agents in Paris and London rather than in
+Constantinople. The tribute-money no longer comes here, but is paid to
+bondholders in England and France. There is no hope of putting any more
+Turks into lucrative offices in Egypt. In short, the connection of that
+country with Turkey is no longer anything more than nominal, and the
+Turks feel their disappointment very keenly. They have now but one hope
+left. They understand very well the difficulties which must arise from a
+joint protectorate by France and England, and hope that the mutual
+jealousies of these Powers may throw Egypt once more into the hands of
+Turkey. The tone of the French press, even of so cautious and
+conservative a periodical as the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, gives them
+some ground for this hope; but the Khedive lost his throne by giving too
+much importance to this mutual jealousy, which manifested itself much
+more plainly in Egypt than it did in Europe; and it is to be hoped that
+the Turks will be equally disappointed. Every one in the East regards
+the present situation as impracticable and temporary, but it may result
+in the independence of Egypt under a general European protectorate, or
+in a further division of the Ottoman Empire by the annexation of Egypt
+to England and Syria to France. The opportunity of annexing Egypt
+without compensation to France was lost when England refused to listen
+to the suggestions of Germany three years ago, because, as Lord Derby is
+reported to have said, it would have shocked the moral sense of the
+world.
+
+
+The Greek Question.
+
+The Greek Question is not a simple one. Very few questions connected
+with the East are simple. The aspirations of the kingdom of Greece are
+natural. Her appeal to Europe was justifiable, and there can be no
+question of the advantage which it would be to Greece, and to the
+populations of Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete, if these provinces were
+annexed to the kingdom. If this were all, they would be annexed, and all
+the world would rejoice. It is to be regretted that the Congress of
+Berlin did not shut its eyes to other considerations and settle it
+off-hand in this way; but they did not, and no Power now exists which
+can do so.
+
+These provinces belong to Turkey, and she cannot see that it is for her
+interest to give them up. Greece cannot possibly offer her anything in
+return for them, and, as against Turkey, she has no claim upon them. The
+Congress of Berlin advised Turkey to arrange, by friendly negotiation,
+for the cession of a part of them; but there is really no ground upon
+which a negotiation can be based. Turkey is ready to yield something out
+of respect to Europe, but she naturally wishes to give up as little as
+possible. Then there are other Powers interested. Austria and Italy, but
+especially the former, have their own views of the destiny of European
+Turkey, and their own plans of aggrandizement. Albania and Macedonia
+have to be considered. England, France, and Russia, also, are looking
+forward to the future, and questioning how the settlement of this
+question will affect their plans for the final solution of the Eastern
+Question. Here is room for intrigues without end, and complications
+without limit.
+
+The Greeks are indignant, especially against England and Austria; and
+their papers here have used some very disagreeable language. They are
+now solemnly protesting against the right of Sir A. H. Layard and Count
+Zichy to take a short vacation, so long as this question remains
+unsettled. Some of them seem to believe that Osman Pacha really
+contemplates a reconquest of Greece itself, and that England might
+consent to it. All this is absurd; but there can be no doubt about the
+fact that England and Austria have thus far opposed the claims of
+Greece, and that Austria and Turkey have, each in her own way,
+contributed to excite discontent in Albania, and keep up a state of
+anarchy in Macedonia. A leading paper in Vienna, ten days ago, openly
+declared that it was the intention of Austria to push on to Salonica,
+after taking possession of Novi Bazaar. She certainly has very little
+sympathy with Greece, and if this question is to be settled at all she
+will keep the Greeks as far from Salonica as possible.
+
+The Turkish papers are allowed to discuss this question with perfect
+freedom, and one of the most moderate, the _Djeridei-Havadis_, says:--
+
+    "If the Hellenic Kingdom is desirous of avoiding a war with the
+    Albanians, it ought to follow the line of conduct proposed by the
+    Porte. If it acts in opposition to it, a war will follow which can
+    only result in ruin, as has happened before. If the Porte had only
+    to satisfy Greece, it is probable that it would show itself
+    yielding, but the Imperial Government cannot, with a light heart,
+    provoke a conflict and see the blood of its subjects poured out, for
+    the Albanians have decided to defend their country, arms in hand. It
+    is astonishing that Europe, in seconding the demands of Greece,
+    completely forgets the rights of the Albanians."
+
+The Commission appointed to settle this question is now in session at
+Constantinople, and some arrangement may be made, but the current
+opinion in the city, among both Greeks and Turks, is that neither party
+will yield anything. Another meeting is to be held to-morrow; and if
+the Greeks are ready to give up Janina, a settlement is possible--in
+spite of the Albanians. The impression is that they will not fight,
+although the Greeks in Thessaly and Epirus have roused their hostility,
+and have failed to do anything to conciliate them in past years. They
+have an honest fear of being Hellenized by force, and although they have
+little sympathy for the Turkish Government, and are constantly
+quarrelling among themselves, they still have a strong national pride,
+and they may take up arms in good earnest. If they do, it will be a
+serious matter for Greece.
+
+
+The Principality of Bulgaria.
+
+Bulgaria is enjoying a brief period of comparative repose. The Russians
+have left the country. The Prince has assumed the reins of Government.
+The people are busy with their harvests, and, except in certain
+districts where the disbanded soldiers of the Turkish army have taken to
+brigandage, there is peace and quiet everywhere, and there is no reason
+to fear anything more disquieting than the excitement of a general
+election.
+
+The Principality has a great advantage over Eastern Roumelia, in that it
+has secured its independence, and can work out its destiny by itself,
+without any interference on the part of the Turks or of an European
+Commission; but both Prince and people are without experience, and there
+are no popular leaders who have any practical knowledge of government.
+The people are jealous of their newly-acquired rights, and naturally
+opinionated and disputatious. The coming elections will no doubt cause
+great political excitement, and the new Assembly will not be very easily
+managed, or be likely to win the admiration of Europe by its wisdom. It
+should be remembered, however, that this lack of experience is the
+misfortune and not the fault of the Bulgarians, and that Europe has not
+dealt with them in a way to win their confidence and command their
+respect. It has left them with a grievance which they can never forget
+for a moment, which must influence all their political action, and which
+forces them to maintain intimate relations with Russia, which is not a
+country where they can learn political wisdom, although it has given
+them a Constitution which is a model of liberality. There was nothing in
+the Russian administration of the province which was adapted to prepare
+them for such a Constitution, or teach them how to conduct a free and
+liberal government. Prince and people have to begin everything for
+themselves. Indeed, they are probably worse off than they would have
+been if there had been no civil administration attempted in the province
+by the Russians. An army of occupation of any country is unfitted for
+the organization of civil government. This was attempted on a grand
+scale in the Southern States of America after the civil war, and under
+exceptionally favourable circumstances, but all these civil governments,
+established and fostered by military force, were unsatisfactory while
+they continued, and disappeared when the army was withdrawn. If this was
+a work which could not be accomplished by the United States, and by an
+army which was made up chiefly of civilians, it is not strange that,
+with all possible goodwill, the Czar of Russia failed to establish a
+satisfactory civil administration in Bulgaria. He gave them as good a
+Prince as was to be found in the German market, and as liberal a
+Constitution as any in Europe. He maintained order and protected all
+classes as long as his soldiers remained in the country; but the whole
+administration was necessarily Russian in its spirit and methods, and
+altogether unlike what it ought to be under the new Constitution. The
+Bulgarians who were trained under it will have to unlearn much that they
+have learned, and begin anew, or they will fail to satisfy the people.
+All this is the misfortune rather than the fault of the nation, and it
+has a right to expect that Europe will be patient and friendly, while it
+gains by experience the wisdom which no nation has ever acquired in any
+other way.
+
+Prince Alexander is young, and as inexperienced as his people, but those
+who know him best have confidence in his good sense, and he is said to
+be not unlike the late Prince Albert in character. He will need all his
+good qualities to attain success; and if successful, he will certainly
+deserve to be ranked with the Prince Consort and King Leopold. His work
+certainly involves more self-denial than either of theirs, and not less
+tact and good sense. He was no doubt elected through the influence of
+Russia; but he is no mere creature of the Czar, and has no desire to act
+as a Russian agent. On the contrary, he is heartily in sympathy with the
+liberal ideas of the West, and anxious to secure the goodwill of
+England. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Palgrave, the English
+Consul-General, this does not seem to the Bulgarians so hopeless a task
+as it once did.
+
+The Prince was received by his people with the greatest enthusiasm. No
+sovereign was ever more heartily welcomed, and each stage of his journey
+was a new triumph. He probably appreciated this all the more from the
+fact that his visit to Constantinople was made as disagreeable as
+possible. He was first refused permission to come at all, on the
+pretence that his life would be in danger. This plea was too absurd to
+deceive any one, but it might have caused serious difficulty if he had
+not appealed to the Great Powers, and at the same time manifested a
+disposition to conciliate the Porte by proposing to limit his stay at
+Constantinople to a visit of a few hours. He arrived in the Bosphorus in
+the morning, and left in the afternoon. He was received by the Sultan,
+but was told that owing to the pressure of business his Firman was not
+ready, and could not be delivered to him. No Bulgarian was allowed to
+approach him, and no boat allowed to go out to his steamer. Large bodies
+of troops were stationed along his route and about the Russian Embassy,
+and he was treated very much like a prisoner of State. It is not easy to
+understand why this farce was played by the Turks, or what they expected
+to gain by it. They probably refused the permission in the first place
+with the intention of treating him as an ordinary Turkish Vali, and
+sending his Firman to be read in public at Tirnova by a Turkish
+official; but after the failure of this plan there was no obvious reason
+for treating him as they did at Constantinople. Some have supposed that
+it was intended as a studied insult to the Prince, others that it was an
+elaborate practical joke played upon the Russian Embassy, which had at
+one time suggested that it was unnecessary for the Prince to come to
+Constantinople, as other vassal Princes had always done. But whatever
+may have been the motive which prompted this singular treatment, it only
+served to make the reception of the Prince the next day at Varna more
+impressive, and to give more importance to the wild enthusiasm of his
+new subjects, who could not have received him with greater joy if he had
+himself just delivered them from the hated rule of the Turks. He was
+inaugurated at Tirnova, the ancient capital, and then went at once to
+Sofia, the new seat of government. His first difficulty was the choice
+of a Ministry. Two parties had already been developed in the
+Constitutional Assembly which adopted the Constitution and elected the
+Prince. They grew out of a difference of opinion in regard to religious
+liberty, freedom of the press, the right of association, with other
+similar questions, and at once assumed the names, Conservative and
+Liberal. The Conservative party included the clergy of the Bulgarian
+Church, and some of the best educated and most enlightened Bulgarians,
+who felt that too much liberty was a dangerous thing for a people
+brought so suddenly from bondage to freedom--who feared that the country
+would be flooded with Nihilism, Socialism, and all other isms. The
+Liberal party, however, had a large majority in the Assembly, and was
+led with considerable skill by two or three experienced politicians, who
+were wise enough to avoid extreme measures. When the Prince arrived, he
+attempted to form a Ministry which should include the leaders of both
+these parties; but for some reason the majority of those selected were
+Conservatives, and the Liberals declined to serve with them, so that he
+has a Conservative Ministry, with the probability that the new Assembly
+will have a strong Liberal majority. This is an unfortunate beginning,
+as the party conflict which is likely to ensue will probably weaken the
+influence of some of the best men in the nation, who are really Liberal
+in their views, but who fear that absolute liberty will degenerate into
+license and sap the foundations of religion and morality. They do not
+think that the people are ready for "a free Church in a free State."
+They fail to see that the influence of the Church can only be
+strengthened by educating the clergy and reviving their spiritual life.
+The Bulgarians are naturally a religious people; but, both while they
+were under the Greek Patriarch, and since they have received their
+independence, their Church has been an essentially political
+organization. It needs now to be spiritualized. The best men of both
+parties acknowledge this; but, as in all other countries, there is a
+difference of opinion as to how far it should be defended and supported
+by the State.
+
+I have said that this division of parties was an unfortunate beginning
+for this new State, but after all it is far better that there should be
+real living questions before the people than that politics should
+degenerate into a new struggle for office. The very discussion of these
+questions will tend to educate the people and revive the Church, and it
+will probably be found that when a new Liberal Ministry is formed the
+responsibilities of office will make it as conservative in most respects
+as the present Government. The Prince has the confidence of all the
+people, and will no doubt accept the result of the coming elections as a
+Constitutional sovereign, and then direct the attention of the people to
+other questions of the utmost importance concerning the organization of
+the various departments of the Government. No doubt serious difficulties
+will be encountered and mistakes will be made, but the spirit of the
+people is good. They desire good order, peace, and quiet, and they will
+make every effort to secure it. They merit the sympathy and goodwill of
+all civilized nations, and especially of those who believe in free
+government and liberal institutions.
+
+
+Eastern Roumelia.
+
+The condition of affairs in Eastern Roumelia is much less hopeful, as
+the difficulties encountered in the organization of the Government are
+very much greater and more numerous. North of the Balkans they are only
+such as might be experienced by any new Representative Government in any
+civilized country, but in the nondescript province of Roumelia the
+people are suffering from evils inflicted upon them by the Congress of
+Berlin. Everything is unsettled. No one knows who rules the country, or
+what is the form of government. It seems to be for the interest of
+certain parties to prolong this state of things and introduce as much
+disorder as possible. The people are kept in a constant state of
+excitement, and no one knows what to expect from one day to another. The
+Congress of Berlin is primarily responsible for this, and no doubt it
+was for the interest of Austria to keep up a state of anarchy and
+confusion in European Turkey. It was her plan to absorb the European
+provinces herself, and the way must be kept open to Salonica and if
+possible to Constantinople. It is believed here that England went to
+Berlin with a secret agreement to support these pretensions of Austria,
+but no one sees exactly how England is to profit by this arrangement. It
+is certain that no one in Turkey gained anything by the division of
+Bulgaria, but the evils which have resulted would have been much less if
+in addition to this division the Congress had not devised the
+extraordinary scheme of giving different forms of Government to the two
+Bulgarias. This plan, of course, insured the permanent discontent of the
+whole Bulgarian nation, but, worse than this, it made the impression
+upon the Turks and Greeks that the arrangement for Eastern Roumelia was
+only a temporary one, and that by skilful agitation they might overturn
+it. They have not failed to improve this opportunity. The Phanariote
+and Roumelian Greeks are doing everything in their power to create
+disturbance and cause difficulty in Eastern Roumelia. An unceasing
+torrent of abuse is poured out upon the Bulgarians by the Greek papers
+and their French organ the _Phare du Bosphore_. They are full of false
+statements and misrepresentations of every kind, and a portion of the
+Greeks in the province act in full sympathy with these papers. Free
+Greece does not sympathize with this crusade, and an attempt was made a
+few weeks since to induce the Greeks here to come to an understanding
+with the Bulgarian Church, by withdrawing the excommunication and
+arranging for harmonious co-operation. It is understood that the
+Patriarch was in favour of this, but the Greek papers here opposed it
+with a violence which was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. They
+declared that "the maintenance of the schism was the only hope of
+Hellenism," and appealed to the Porte to prevent by force a
+reconciliation "which would inevitably result in the union of Greeks and
+Bulgarians to drive out the Turks and divide the country between them,"
+This opposition on the part of the Phanariotes prevented the execution
+of the plan.
+
+The Turks also are doing what they can to create disturbance in the
+province, and find some excuse for occupying it with their army. This
+was, of course, to be expected, and is in some degree excusable. They
+naturally wish to regain possession of this rich province, and they feel
+that they have cause of complaint against the Bulgarians, who do not
+receive the returning refugees with much cordiality. There are real
+difficulties on both sides which cannot fail to give rise to serious
+trouble. It is a pity that the whole arrangement could not have been
+left to a really impartial Commission, free to act on principles of
+equity and common sense. The difficulties are such as these, for
+example. There are many towns where the Bulgarian quarter was burned by
+the Turks. When the Turks fled and the Bulgarians returned, they
+occupied the Turkish houses, and they are now naturally disinclined to
+give them up to the refugees and camp in the fields. Again, there are
+many cases where the Bulgarians were deprived of their lands in the most
+iniquitous manner some years ago, under the pretence of a new law in
+regard to title-deeds. These lands were seized by rich Turks, who fled
+during the war, but now come back to claim them. The Bulgarians have the
+original titles and the Turks new ones. To whom do the lands rightly
+belong?
+
+There are other cases where Turks return who are known to have taken
+part in the massacres. There has been a general amnesty, but it can
+hardly be expected that these persons will be well received. These are
+only a few of the many difficulties connected with the return of the
+refugees which irritate the Turks and the Bulgarians both; and in some
+cases both parties merit our sympathy.
+
+In addition to these deliberate attempts to make trouble on the part of
+the Turks, Greeks, and also of some few hot-headed Bulgarians who are
+foolish enough to suppose that a disturbance might hasten their union
+with the Principality, the confusion in the Government is a source of
+constant trouble. No one knows what the Government is. The Porte claims
+supreme authority, and sends peremptory orders to the Pacha. The Pacha
+naturally considers himself the head of the Government. The European
+Commission claims the right to exercise control whenever it sees fit.
+The Consuls assume the right to intrigue or to dictate in the name of
+their respective Governments. The Administrative Council, a majority of
+which is Bulgarian, considers itself to be responsible for the
+administration, and there is a Constitution of hundreds of articles
+which is theoretically the law of the land. A National Assembly is soon
+to be added to the list. The militia have been under the command of a
+Levantine Frenchman, who was not responsible to the Governor, and who
+does not appear to have had a single qualification for his office.
+Happily he has just been replaced by a better man.
+
+Having inflicted all this confusion upon Eastern Roumelia, the European
+Powers are complaining that the people do not know how to govern
+themselves! Perhaps they do not, but as yet they have had no opportunity
+to make the experiment. If peace and quiet is ever to be restored to
+this unhappy province, the Government must be simplified and
+consolidated; it must be left to manage its own affairs, and to make the
+best it can of the elaborate Constitution which Europe has conferred
+upon it. Alecko Pacha is not a great man, but he was the best man
+available for his position, and he is a man who is much more likely to
+throw up his office in disgust at the trouble which it gives him than to
+lend himself to any scheme for resisting the will of Europe. He ought to
+be encouraged and supported. The Bulgarians, who constitute the majority
+of the population, are discontented at the arbitrary action which
+separated them from the Principality, but they are satisfied that they
+have nothing to gain from any present agitation of this question, and
+they only desire to be left to govern themselves in accordance with the
+decision of Europe, and to be assured that they will not be turned over
+again to the tender mercies of the Turkish Government. The fear of this
+is universal, and it is this fear which keeps them in a state of
+constant excitement. It is not without reason. A large Turkish army is
+camped on their borders. The Porte is seeking some excuse for entering
+the province. Certain European representatives at Philippopolis are
+always threatening this, and the people believe that they are intriguing
+to bring it about. Everything is in confusion and uncertainty in regard
+to the Government, and nothing seems settled. There can be no peace and
+quiet in a country which is in constant fear of invasion, and something
+ought to be done to remove this fear from Eastern Roumelia. The Turkish
+army should certainly be removed, and the Porte should be warned to let
+Alecko Pacha alone and allow him to organize his Government as best he
+can. If this source of fear and irritation were removed, the Bulgarians
+would accept the situation and make the best of it. It would be for
+their interest to do so, and an industrious, thrifty population is
+always quick to see what is for its interest.
+
+The gymnastic clubs, which were originally formed for another purpose,
+are now kept up and supported by sober, conservative men, simply from
+this fear of a Turkish invasion. If the fear were removed these
+associations would be dissolved at once, as they ought to be; for
+Bulgarian merchants are not in the habit of spending money for anything
+which is not essential to their well-being. These clubs are not
+revolutionary, but they might become a source of disorder if they were
+made permanent.
+
+It is not probable that the European Powers will allow any invasion of
+the country; but the Turks have always in hand the pretence of sending
+troops to occupy the Balkans, and this fact to some extent justifies the
+fears of the Bulgarians. If there were danger of another Russian
+invasion, the Turks would be fully justified in occupying the passes at
+once, and there is nothing in Eastern Roumelia to prevent or even delay
+such an occupation; but under present circumstances, when there is
+nothing to be feared from Russia--when peace and quiet is the thing of
+all others to be desired--the occupation of the Balkans would be a
+crime.
+
+    AN EASTERN STATESMAN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTEMPORARY BOOKS.
+
+
+I.--HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE EAST.
+
+(_Under the Direction of_ Professor E. H. PALMER.)
+
+
+Colonel Malleson certainly did well to claim permission to rewrite Sir
+John Kaye's last volume (_History of the Indian Mutiny_, by Colonel
+Malleson, Vol. I., London: W. H. Allen & Co.), and comparison of the two
+may afford to the historian of the future valuable aid in interpreting
+the volumes yet to come. A great part of the present must be held to be
+the work of the virulent pamphleteer and violent partisan rather than of
+the historian; and if the quotations of, and references to, the Red
+Pamphlet indicate relations between Colonel Malleson and its author, the
+publishers cannot be held to have exercised a wise discretion in their
+choice.
+
+The task of the reviewer of such a book is unusually heavy. Book for
+book, almost chapter for chapter, it is intended to replace Sir John
+Kaye's work, and the reviewer therefore needs to study the two
+carefully, and to compare them minutely. Colonel Malleson, no doubt, had
+access to Sir John Kaye's materials, but within a certain field seems to
+have been unable to see the other side of any question. To arm, to leave
+Sepoys armed, is simply to detain European troops to watch them; it is
+nothing that to disarm them is to drive them, and all their connections,
+wild with terror as sheep marked for the slaughter; yet he cannot be
+ignorant of the cases in which a few bad men committed a regiment, and
+how whole regiments "went" in terror of their masters' vengeful
+distrust.[105] In saying, as he does so confidently, that by enrolling
+the Calcutta Volunteers on their first offer, on 20th May, Lord Canning
+would have set free half a European regiment, Colonel Malleson must have
+been thinking of what the Volunteers might have been fit to do had they
+been enrolled and drilled six months before,--provided they had been
+willing to take the day-work of garrison duty, and to think more of the
+State than of the house and furniture at Ballygunj: the real profit of
+the enrolment was the confidence and cheerfulness organization gave to
+the Europeans themselves. And--to take a more important instance--the
+"Gagging Act" was an insolent expression of distrust of Englishmen, an
+attempt to prevent their opinions reaching England _in print_. For
+distrust of their discretion English editors had given cause enough, and
+for influencing English opinion, as Indian newspapers may be said to be
+unknown in England in their original sheets, a letter from the editor of
+the _Friend of India_ to any English paper would have been as sure of
+English readers, and of as much weight with them, as if it had been set
+up in the damp printing-house at Serampore.
+
+Colonel Malleson quotes from the "Red Pamphlet," as Sir John Kaye had
+done before him, a smart description of "Panic Sunday." From Colonel
+Cavanagh's report it seems pretty clear that the higher classes--the
+"society"--of Calcutta were not among the refugees in the fort, and as
+Secretaries to Government and Members of Council may be counted on the
+fingers, it would be as well if the historian would name the fugitives
+before death takes all who could answer the charge. We have had access
+to the diary of a young civilian, then a guest of the Member of Council
+who lived furthest from Government House, away in Alipore, beyond the
+house of the Lieutenant-Governor and the great jail of Alipore and the
+lines of the native regiment which was the great terror of Calcutta: on
+that Sunday, host and guest went to the Cathedral twice as usual, and
+after the evening service the guest returned home, while the host drove
+to Calcutta to call on some cousins; as the cousins had driven to
+Alipore, and the visitors at both houses waited a while those households
+at least were afoot till a later hour than usual, and at last went to
+bed as usual without closing an extra door.
+
+The second chapter closes with an impassioned peroration, wherein the
+removal of Mr. William Tayler from his post at Patna is likened to the
+judicial murder of Lally, and the starvation of Dupleix. It is clear
+enough, from Colonel Malleson's account, that Mr. Tayler liked to carry
+out his own plans too well to risk interference by over-frankness to his
+superiors. In the face of an enemy such concealment may be as
+mischievous as disobedience, and Sir John Kaye reminds us that at an
+earlier date confidence in Mr. Tayler's judgment had been shaken; and
+his report of his message to his district officers, the report which
+immediately preceded, and probably led to, his suspension, says nothing
+of the clause which sets the treasure above anything save human life.
+Under any circumstances Mr. Tayler's defence is not helped by sharp
+censures on Mr. Money, or by blindness to the fact that the best
+intelligence made a march to Patna seem more perilous than the far
+longer one through a jungle country to Calcutta. Wise after the event,
+indeed, we may see that Mr. Tayler's forecast was sounder than Mr.
+Halliday's; but the Lieutenant-Governor, and Lord Canning too, could
+only act on the circumstances known to them, and Mr. Tayler was replaced
+by an officer of yet higher rank in the official hierarchy, and probably
+forestalled renewed promotion by resigning the Service as soon as he
+could get a pension. But why were not his services rewarded? asks
+Colonel Malleson, ready with the hard word "intrigue." But who were the
+sharers in the intrigue, and who was to profit by it? Men whom Lord
+Canning sharply rebuked and degraded were yet recommended by him for
+honour, and no courteous letter from Mr. Talbot can do away with the
+fact that the Viceroy, writing when all heat of strife was over and all
+facts known, yet did not obtain for Mr. Tayler any distinction.
+
+On one point, however, we are bound to protest against Sir John Kaye's
+harsh judgment: to him the arrest of the Wahabi leaders was a scandalous
+breach of the usages of war. But they were unquestionably subjects of
+the British Crown, and the question surely is--would they have resisted
+arrest by ordinary process or not? If not, they had to thank Mr. Tayler
+for courteous consideration in arresting them himself, and detaining
+them in honourable captivity; in resisting they would have been guilty
+of that rebellion against their sovereign in which there was too good
+reason to believe them sharers.
+
+On the many points whereon both authors are in substantial accord it
+would be waste of space to touch, and we pass to the other important
+episode in which Colonel Malleson traverses Sir John Kaye's judgment,
+and here our verdict is with the later author: in treating of Durand's
+conduct at Indore, Colonel Malleson seems to have risen above the region
+of personal feeling, if not of personal knowledge; so that while his
+full and vivid narrative shows plainly the difficulties, political and
+strategical, of Durand's position and also of his retreat, he shows as
+clearly that it is no simple case of Durand _versus_ Holkar, but one in
+which each may be commended without loss of credit to the other.
+
+So much space has been of necessity devoted to the chief points on which
+the two authors are at variance, that none is left for the transactions
+which Colonel Malleson's changed arrangement brings into the present
+volume, though Kaye had intended for them a place in some later one. His
+work in the new field makes us only the more regret that he did not
+bring to his task the unbiassed mind of a man who had never known the
+author of the Red Pamphlet or Mr. William Tayler. But we would, in a
+concluding word, beg him to revise his Indian spelling; to a man who has
+once felt the charm of a fancy rule the claims of established usage go
+for nothing, but at all events he may be decently consistent; why does
+Colonel Malleson double so many letters which in Urdu are single, and
+why does he spell the name of the ancient and famous, if now obscure,
+town of Jaunpore as though it were "the City of Life"?
+
+Captain Low's _History of the Indian Navy_ (2 vols., London: Bentley &
+Son) has long been reproachfully demanding notice; it is easy to say
+something about such a work, not easy to treat it worthily. A man could
+hardly put together 1100 pages of small type without recording many
+noteworthy facts, but all matters of interest might have been packed in
+much smaller compass, and so packed would have found more readers and a
+more favourable verdict.
+
+The two volumes trace the rise and fall of the Navy from its germ in the
+"ten grabs and galivats" taken up for the defence of the factory and
+shipping of Surat in 1615, through the period of its glory when its
+ships bore the Company's flag alongside of the Royal Navy on many
+hard-fought days, through its decline, when they carried mails or
+transported troops with rare enjoyment of a brush, to its abolition in
+our own time, when, less fortunate than its sister service, it fell a
+victim to mutiny and disorders in which it had no share.
+
+The first period in its history ends with the year 1759, when, with the
+capture of Gheriah, and the destruction of Angria's power, piracy as a
+business of State came to an end, and when the ruin of the Seedee, and
+the substitution of the Company as High Admiral of the Mogul Empire,
+placed the local Marine first among the maritime powers of India. Its
+first serious service was in the operations which broke the power of the
+Portuguese in the Gulf, and in 1622 reduced Ormuz from an emporium of
+proverbial wealth and magnificence to its normal condition of a poor
+barren island, and for many years the Portuguese found it as much
+occupation as the pirates who might well have been its first concern. No
+doubt the captains of well-armed India-men, whose crews were borrowed
+for service on grabs and galivats, looked down on the latter as a sort
+of coastguard, but the aid of such light craft was invaluable against
+the shoals of small vessels which beset new-comers fore and aft, pouring
+down crowds of well-armed men from their long overhanging prows. For in
+the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the shores of the Indian Ocean
+swarmed with pirates, kept down indeed by the Portuguese in the heyday
+of their power, but making head again till, by the middle of the
+seventeenth century, according to Italian travellers, they feared none
+but Dutch and English, and these only for a pestilent practice of firing
+the magazine rather than surrender. Yet to the Mogul governor of Surat
+probably the pirate of home growth was less objectionable than the
+intrusive trader; and indeed the Nuwab was not without excuse if he
+regarded the European as a more powerful pirate, seeing that some
+commanders took by force goods which the native owner would not sell,
+others ransacked ships not said to belong to the Mogul's ports, the
+mutinous crews of others became open pirates; and lastly, we find
+Captain Kidd, and other heroes of the black flag, practising their
+vocation in these seas. The native pirate, the European rival, and the
+professional rover, kept the local marine pretty well employed, but it
+is not always easy to distinguish between the services of this body and
+the Company's armed trading ships.
+
+Of more interest to the Mogul Government than foreign trade were the
+vessels in which Mahomedan pilgrims of all ranks sailed to Arabian and
+Persian shrines, and for their benefit it came to terms with the Seedee,
+better known to us as the Hubshi of Jinjirah, the boldest of the
+pirates, giving him a large allowance and high rank to secure his
+convoy. The Company made more than one attempt to supplant him, and
+indeed furnished ships to guard the Mocha-Jeddah fleet in 1698, but the
+Seedee kept his office till 1759; in the general decay of the central
+power he first neglected, then openly defied, the Governor of Surat, and
+instead of protecting trade became its chief oppressor; till at last, in
+1759, after much negotiation, the Nuwab induced the Bombay Government to
+intervene, and as a reward obtained for the Company the Seedee's office.
+What direct profit the Company derived from the appointment Captain Low
+does not tell us; the omission can hardly be the consequence of the
+lamented destruction of papers which followed the sale of the old India
+House, for he records that in 1694 the Seedee's subsidy amounted to four
+lacs, no doubt considerably bettered by presents, and in 1735 the money
+allowance was but a lac and a half: the revenues of the districts and
+customs assigned to the Company went to support the Surat squadron, but
+the fees of office granted to the officer who was its deputy amounted,
+to near a lac of rupees a year; it is well to remember that the holder's
+gross pay was but Rs.1,000 a year, that the Governor of Bombay had but
+some £500, and that till near the end of the century private trade was
+allowed: no one, however, was permitted to enjoy this great prize for a
+second year. Whatever were the profits to the Company, the Nuwab could
+see that it did more for its wages than the Seedee, for in the next nine
+years the Surat squadron destroyed near a hundred pirate vessels of the
+Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay.
+
+After another seventy years the Bombay Marine became in name what, as
+the only local armed fleet, it had long been in fact--the Indian Navy.
+Wherever round the basin of the Indian Ocean there had been fighting in
+those years, the vessels of the Bombay Marine had borne the British flag
+with honour, though the services of officers and crews, both afloat and
+ashore, had been too sparingly recognised. And in those years was
+commenced the series of surveys which are still the chief authorities
+for the navigation of the Eastern seas, and have given the names of
+Rennie, Moresby, Haines, and Taylor a permanent place in history. But
+men who entered the Bombay Marine were still serving efficiently when
+the Indian Navy was abolished, in the belief that ships of the Royal
+Navy would carry on the police of the seas as efficiently, but at less
+annual cost, and that other arrangements might be made for the business
+of inland navigation and transport; the necessity for recurrent shore
+surveys seems not to have been foreseen, though already a special
+department has been created and placed under a retired officer of the
+Indian Navy. It is impossible not to admit that, through its want of
+influential friends, the Service was treated unjustly. The guarantee of
+"Colonel Sykes's clause" has, through repeated agitation, been made so
+effectual for officers of the Indian Army that men of forty have retired
+as full colonels, because all their regimental seniors had joined the
+Staff Corps, while the officers of the Indian Navy were forced to retire
+without appeal on something like the pension of their rank. But they
+must have felt a grim satisfaction in knowing that they had outlived the
+piracy which had been the scourge of Western India and the first cause
+of the creation of the force; their last serious service was in
+administering a final pounding to their old enemies the Waghers, the
+last survivors of the flourishing pirate communities of Kattyawar.
+
+Besides surveys of the Eastern seas, European nations trading with India
+are indebted to the Indian Navy for the opening up of the Overland
+Route, and so, indirectly, for the construction of the Suez Canal.
+Without steam, indeed, the Red Sea could never have become a highway of
+commerce, while with its extended use that great canal could not for
+ever be closed; but the _Hugh Lindsay_ of the Indian Navy, the first
+steamer constructed in the East, which, after thirty years of service,
+was still staunch enough for work as a tug at Kurachi, was the first
+steamer to appear on its waters, making the voyage to and from Suez in
+1830, under the command of Captain John Lindsay. The expense of the
+voyage, however, was so great that, after seven trips, the Court bade
+the Government of Bombay only repeat it in case of emergency, and it was
+reserved for Lieutenant Waghorn, also of the Indian Navy, by sacrifice
+of his private fortune and professional prospects and ten years'
+unceasing labour, to prove that communication with India through the Red
+Sea was not only a luxury of State, but a profitable commercial
+enterprise. From his labours all have profited save himself and his
+family, and the only public acknowledgment of his services is a bust in
+the Canal Garden at Suez.
+
+With some labour, caused by the want of an index, many notices of
+interest might be quarried from Captain Low's pages. The early history
+of Bombay, the antecedents of the rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar, the
+settlement at Aden, the true story of Perim, the achievements of the
+Sepoy Marines, who are now represented by two regular regiments of the
+Bombay Army, all invite notice, but our space is exhausted. Yet we must
+find room to mention the self-denial of Commodore Hayes, who, rather
+than embroil the Company with China, released two junks captured in
+running the blockade from Batavia with Dutch property, and so sacrificed
+his large share of £600,000 lawful prize; and the gallantry of
+Midshipman Denton, who, unable to board a proa, lashed her bowsprit to
+the taffrail of his gunboat, and so continued his course, fighting her
+all the time. And for contrast with the experience of the Bay of Bengal,
+where we believe that the full pressure of a great cyclone has never
+been recorded, as the anemometers have broken with a pressure of sixty
+pounds, we may note that, in the cyclone of November, 1854, so famous at
+Bombay, the pressure did not exceed thirty-five pounds to the square
+foot: with such a storm as that which raged in Calcutta in October,
+1864, the whole native town of Bombay would come down like a house of
+cards. We are sorry not to have been able to notice Captain Low's
+labours more favourably; particular points which we had noted for
+objection we will pass over in silence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Richard Burton is _facile princeps_ of modern travellers. There
+scarcely any part of the world which he has not visited, and wherever he
+goes he seems to have the history, geography, and ethnology of the
+country at his fingers' ends. His last important contribution to
+geographical science is the account of his visit to the Land of Midian,
+whither he went, commissioned by the ex-Khedive of Egypt, in search of
+the gold mines of which the ancient Arab geographer and others speak.
+The results of his expeditions are published in two works: _The
+Gold-Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities_ (London: C. Kegan
+Paul & Co., 1878) and _The Land of Midian (Revisited)_, 2 vols., issued
+by the same publishers during the present year. Having received an
+invitation from the ex-Viceroy, Captain Burton proceeded to Cairo in
+March, 1877, where an expedition was organized for the purpose of
+exploring the auriferous region. The author's comparison of the Cairo of
+the present time with the city as he knew it in his old pilgrim days,
+and as it is described in Lane's "Modern Egyptians," forms, although
+only incidental, a very interesting portion of the book. The chapter on
+Suez also is a good specimen of Captain Burton's style, and contains at
+once a topographical sketch, an archæological and historical
+description, and a chatty and amusing account of the modern city, its
+society, and surroundings. Midian, called nowadays by its inhabitants,
+as by the mediæval Arabic geographers, _Arz Maydan_, the Land of Midian,
+is that part of Arabia which occupies the east coast of the Gulf of
+Akabah, and extends some two degrees further to the south. The borders
+are somewhat difficult to ascertain, and it is probable that the ancient
+Midianites, like some of the larger and more powerful Bedawin tribes of
+the present day, wandered far and wide, and that their limits shrunk or
+extended according to their numbers, or the resisting power of their
+neighbours. The ancient history of the land is told by Captain Burton in
+a most exhaustive manner, the Biblical accounts being supplemented by
+copious references to Greek, Latin, Jewish, and Arabic writers of all
+ages. The quantity of gold, silver, and other metals mentioned in
+Numbers xxxi. 22, as being produced by Midian, was curiously borne out
+by the results of the expedition. A lengthy and learned notice is also
+given of the Nabathæans, whose former rock-cut capital, Petræa, is still
+one of the marvels of Arabia; whose king, or ethnarch, Aretas (in
+Arabic, El Hareth), is mentioned in the New Testament; and whose rule
+embraced so large a portion of Syria and Arabia, and extended late into
+Christian times.
+
+The discovery that gold existed in Midian was in the first place due to
+Haji Wali, familiar to the readers of Captain Burton's "Pilgrimage to
+Mecca and Medina" as the companion of the author in the caravanserai at
+Cairo while preparing for the journey to Hejjaz. The old Haji was once
+returning from a visit to Mecca, when halting by the shore of the Gulf
+of Akabah he scooped up a handful of granitic sand which sparkled in the
+bed of the wady and took it with him to Alexandria. There he took his
+specimen to an assayer, and, although the glitter which had attracted
+him proved only to be produced by the presence of mica, his sand when
+smelted in a crucible yielded a comparatively large portion of pure
+gold. The information of the discovery was not received with
+encouragement by the official to whom Haji Wali communicated it, and the
+latter ceased to think more of the subject. The assayer, however, set
+out for the new Eldorado and lost his life, probably murdered by the
+Bedawin. Captain Barton believes that the secret of the gold has never
+been really lost, and that the washing of sand has always been
+clandestinely carried on. Be that as it may, Captain Burton, believing
+the Haji's story, endeavoured to recommend his discovery to the notice
+of the Egyptian authorities, who _pooh-pooh'd_ the whole thing, and
+merely remarked that gold was becoming too common. For nearly a quarter
+of a century Captain Burton kept the secret to himself, but at length he
+again sought out his old friend Haji Wali, obtained from him more exact
+information as to the locality, and carried him off with the expedition,
+the means for organizing which Ismail Pasha furnished. The results of
+the expedition, which was only a pioneer one, were sufficient to
+corroborate all that the Haji had said, and to confirm Captain Burton's
+own prognostications drawn from the ancient sources which his extensive
+learning enabled him to consult. The adventures of the party fill the
+remainder of the first of his two books and form extremely pleasant
+reading.
+
+The second of the two books contains somewhat less antiquarian research,
+but more practical information than the first. It is a record of the
+second expedition (also equipped at the expense of the Egyptian
+Government by order of the ex-Khedive), and is full of pleasant
+travel-talk and adventure. Setting out from Cairo in a sickly season and
+under the most unfavourable circumstances--the resources of the country
+being drained by distress at home and the Turkish-Russian war
+abroad--they at length got under way once more for the desert, not
+without encountering hair-breadth escapes from the bursting of some of
+the tubes of the engine of their steamer. Once landed, the initial
+difficulties of desert travel had to be encountered. "It had been
+reported," says Captain Burton, "that I was the happy possessor of
+£22,000, mostly to be spent in El-Muwaylah. The unsettled Arabs plunder
+and slay; the settled Arabs slander and cheat." These, however, were
+soon smoothed over by the commander's tact and firmness, the rival
+claims of two tribes to act as escort were disposed of, and the work of
+the expedition then began.
+
+The first march, through Madyan proper (North Midian), occupied
+fifty-four days. The country was essentially a mining district, and very
+rich in mineral wealth, though, strange to say, it had not been much
+worked by the ancients. The first expedition found free gold in the
+basalt, but the researches of the second yielded none. The second march,
+through South Midian, lasted eighteen days. Its principal object was to
+ascertain the depth from east to west of the quartz formations, and to
+explore the virgin region towards the east. Here, however, they were
+stopped by the exactions and turbulent conduct of the Maazeh, who tried
+to pick quarrels with their Huweitat guides, and made it impossible for
+Captain Burton to proceed without such loss of time and other
+inconveniences as must have sacrificed the other and more important
+objects of the expedition. The last journey was through the southern
+portion of Midian, and lasted twenty-four days. This part of the country
+has been systematically worked in former times, and it is here that the
+gold and silver mines are placed by the mediæval Arab geographers.
+
+Throughout Midian, ruined towns, villages, mining stations, and smelting
+furnaces were found, testifying to the former mining industry of the
+country, and described by Captain Burton in his usual graphic and
+careful style.
+
+That Midian abounds in mineral wealth, and that gold and silver may be
+found in plenty there, is clear both from the documentary evidence of
+the author and from the testimony of the physical and geological
+features of the country. The very first reconnaissance showed a
+formation exactly reproducing "the conditions which Australia shows, and
+which produced the huge 'welcome nugget' of Ballarat." The country also
+closely resembles the known gold-working sites of Ancient Egypt, but
+with _filons_ of larger size. Some of these "Ophirs of Egypt Proper"
+yielded the treasury of Ramses the Great the enormous sum of £90,000,000
+a year, as hieroglyphic inscriptions tell us. Herodotus, too, tells us
+of the immense wealth in the precious metals possessed by some of the
+Pharaohs. The modern Bedawins have legends of "gold pieces, square as
+well as round, bearing, by way of inscription, 'prayers' to the Apostle
+of Allah," which Captain Burton suspects to be "the Tibr, or 'pure
+gold-dust,' washed from the sands and cast probably in rude moulds." The
+close proximity to the sea and the facilities of the country for
+transport, it being "prepared by Nature to receive a tramway," remove
+half the difficulties of working.
+
+That the specimens brought back by Captain Burton's expedition did not
+actually yield a larger proportion of the precious metals is in all
+probability due to the fact that they had no expert with them, and did
+not, therefore, sufficiently seek for and select stone from the
+auriferous rocks, but brought away much that the ancients had rejected,
+or left as unworkable. He is, however, convinced, as the impartial
+reader of his work must also be, that the gold land of Midian is still a
+fine field for commercial enterprise, which would soon restore to it the
+advantages which all ancient authorities declare that it once possessed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The Land of Midian" attracted another explorer besides Captain
+Burton--namely, the late Dr. Beke, an account of whose labours has been
+given to the world by his widow in a bulky volume on the subject. His
+object was to discover the "true Mount Sinai," which he identified with
+a certain Jebel Barguir, otherwise the "Mountain of Light," on the
+Eastern shore of the Gulf of Akaba, and in which he fancied he saw the
+"volcano," the existence of which he had previously conjectured in his
+pamphlet, "Mount Sinai a Volcano." To make this theory accord with the
+Scriptural account, he had not only to shift the scene of the Law-giving
+from the Sinaitic Peninsula to the other side of the Gulf, but he was
+obliged to find another Mizraim than Egypt, and boldly sacrificed
+hieroglyphic, Biblical, and classic testimony, as well as that of
+tradition, to his own hypothesis. In confirmation of his theory, he
+found indications that the Mountain of Light was regarded as a holy
+place, and discovered ancient inscriptions near the summit, of which he
+brought copies home in triumph. Unfortunately, however, the name
+_Barguir_ turns out to be his own corruption of _Bakir_, a well-known
+Mohammedan name, and, in the present instance, that of the petty Arab
+saint whose tomb gives the only sanctity the mountain may possess, while
+the proper name of the mountain is Jebel el Yitm; the inscriptions are
+only the ordinary Nabathæan _graffiti_ and Arab-tribe marks, which are
+so common all over Arabia Petræa; and lastly, there is no volcano at
+all. The volume is interesting, as it contains much topographical
+information about a country the ancient history and future prospects of
+which render it of the highest importance; but as a contribution to the
+literature of the much-vexed question of the Exodus the late Dr. Beke's
+work is absolutely useless. Whether the so-called Peninsula of Sinai is
+really the scene of the early portion of that drama, the recent Egyptian
+researches of Dr. Brugsch Bey have rendered very doubtful; but wherever
+Mount Sinai has ultimately to be placed, it is not that discovered by
+Dr. Beke.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Mrs. Burton supplemented the "Unexplored Syria" of her husband and
+the late C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake with her own more personal but none the
+less interesting "Inner Life of Syria," so she has now embodied her own
+impression of the various localities which she and Captain Burton have
+visited during the last few years in a pleasant book entitled, _A. E.
+I.: Arabia, Egypt, and India_ (London: W. Mullan & Son, 1879). Mrs.
+Burton's pages are eminently readable, her powers of observation are
+keen, and her descriptions always fresh and vivid. If the spots she
+writes about have been often before depicted by pen and pencil, she yet
+finds something new to say, and some interesting and little-known
+historical incident to narrate, concerning them. The latter part of the
+book, containing a history and description of the old Portuguese
+settlement of Goa, and a minutely-detailed account of the life and works
+of St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, will be new to most
+readers and read with interest by all. The book is one which may be
+taken up at any moment with the certainty of finding something to amuse,
+instruct, or furnish food for earnest thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Egypt to Palestine_, by S. C. Bartlett, though bearing the name and
+address of a London publisher (Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.) on the
+title-page, is evidently the production of an American firm, the name of
+which, indeed, appears on some of the maps. The book is well got up, and
+as a description of the localities, their antiquities and history, is
+equal to the average of such publications. It is, however, entirely
+composed of materials collected from the works of other authors, taken
+often without acknowledgment, and is profusely illustrated by pictures
+and maps copied from other works, the sources of which are never
+acknowledged at all. The only passages at all original in the work are
+those which describe Mr. Bartlett's own journey, the highest interest of
+which consists in an occasional enumeration of the hymns he and his
+companions sang to the Arabs (cf. p. 193), and which would have much the
+same effect on the Tiyahah as the performances of the howling dervishes
+have upon an American tourist.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir Lewis Pelly has published, in two handsome volumes, a literal
+translation of the text of the _Miracle Play of Hasan and Husein_
+(London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1879), as performed throughout India and
+Persia during the month of Mohurram, by the Shiah Mohammedans. The
+progress of Islam in its early days was so rapid that, in a short time,
+it had overwhelmed Persia, Egypt, Syria, and a large portion of the rest
+of the Byzantine Empire in its tide of conquest. The death of Mohammed
+naturally brought forward rival claimants to the supreme authority, and
+the dispute ultimately resolved itself into one between Ali, the cousin
+and son-in-law of the Prophet, and representative of the Hashimi clan,
+and Moawiyeh, the representative of the Ommayeh family, between whom and
+the Hashimis an old feud existed, originating in their rival claims to
+be the hereditary guardians of the Kaabeh Temple at Mecca. These two
+parties offered an obvious rallying point for the two opposing factions
+in El Islam, the conquered Persians and the conquering Arabs, the former
+of whom resisted the traditional ceremonial law with which their Semitic
+co-religionists would have trammelled them. The consequence was that the
+Aryan faction rallied round Ali, and the Arabs round Moawiyeh. The
+latter proved the stronger party, and were known as Sunnis, followers of
+the Sunnah or traditional law, while the adherents of the former were
+designated Shiahs or Sectarians, and thus originated the first great
+schism in Mohammedanism. The struggles of Ali's party for supremacy, his
+own murder, and the subsequent massacre of his sons, Hasan and Husein,
+who lost their lives under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, are the
+incidents on which the drama is founded, and the memory of which has
+kept alive the rancorous ill-feeling between the two sects. In the play
+itself the historical element is largely mixed with the marvellous and
+legendary, and the dramatic unities are wholly neglected; but it
+nevertheless exhibits enough of the real facts to give it an intense
+living interest, while the antiquated language and strange incidents
+that are introduced carry us back to the remotest times. An admirable
+introduction contains a notice by Dr. Birdwood, C.S.I., of the origin
+of the Shiah schism, and of the ceremonies with which the Mohurram
+festival is celebrated throughout India and Persia; and Mr. A. N.
+Wollaston, of the India Office, has both edited the text and illustrated
+it with some concise and appropriate notes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Charles Riew has just issued the first volume of his _Catalogue of
+the Persian MSS. in the British Museum_ (London: 1879), containing
+Christian and Mohammedan Theology, and the works on History and
+Geography of which the Museum has a large and important collection.
+Amongst these are the _Jámi ut tawárikh_, written in the seventh--eighth
+centuries of the Hejra, and comprising the histories of all the
+principal Turkish and Mongol dynasties; the _Táríkh i Rashídí_, a
+history of the Khans of Mogolistan and of the Amirs of Kashgar; and the
+_Zafar Namah_, the earliest authentic history of Timur, written by his
+order in 1404 A.D. A brief but complete analysis of each manuscript is
+given, enabling scholars to refer at once and without difficulty to any
+portion of the histories without the labour of looking through an often
+voluminous manuscript. The value of such a scholar-like production as
+this Catalogue is cannot be over-estimated; it has, in fact, placed
+within reach of the student of history most important and authentic
+works, the very existence of which was unknown except to a few
+Orientalists. The second volume is already complete in MS., and will be
+shortly published. We shall look forward to it with great interest, as
+the British Museum possesses a magnificent collection of Persian
+poetical and other works.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A _Pahlavi Dictionary_, by Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, of
+which the first two volumes have just appeared (London: Trübner and Co.,
+1879), supplies a want long felt by students of the old Persian speech.
+Pahlavi is the name applied to the old Persian tongue, and more
+particularly to that phase of it which was spoken during the reigns of
+the Sassanian kings. It is of great interest to the philologist,
+inasmuch as it contains a large admixture of Semitic words, derived,
+however, from a different source than the Arabic element in modern
+Persian, and appears to be akin to the Assyrian. It is sometimes called
+_Huzvaresh_, though this word seems to be more properly applied to a
+particular method of reading, by which, when a Semitic word occurs in
+the text, the priest _reads_ the Aryan equivalent, just as we in English
+say "pounds, shillings, and pence" when we meet with the signs £ s. d.,
+and _read_ "namely," though we write and print "videlicet" or "viz."
+Dastur Jamaspji Asana interprets the word _Huzvaresh_ to mean the
+"language of Assyria," a suggestion which, if correct, throws some light
+on the origin of the language. The etymology of the word Pahlavi has
+been the subject of much discussion, but the latest as well as the most
+reasonable conjecture is that of Dr. Haug (followed by the author of
+this Dictionary), that it is identical with _Parthva_, the Parthia of
+the classical writers; that most warlike and important nation having
+given its name to the language, just as the province of Pars has given
+the name to the language of modern Iran. The great difficulty in
+compiling such a dictionary as the present, apart from the
+unsatisfactory nature of the available texts, is that the alphabet is so
+very vague and confused. The language contains a very great number of
+sounds which the alphabet, borrowed from the Semitic, is incapable of
+expressing; the same letter, therefore, is often used for different
+sounds, and combinations of the various letters again often express
+simple sounds. This makes the arrangement very difficult, but the author
+of this work has adopted the only safe method, that of arranging the
+words according to the alphabetical order of the letters rather than in
+order of sounds. A table, in which the various combinations of the
+letters are explained, also much simplifies reference. The author has in
+all cases followed the traditional reading and interpretation of words,
+leaving to the more critical scholars of Europe the task of
+investigating them from a scientific point of view.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Haug's _Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the
+Parsis_ (Trübner's Oriental Series, 1878) is another most important
+contribution to comparative theology and philology. The nature of the
+doctrines of Zoroaster and the rites and ceremonies of the Magians had
+for centuries exercised the uninitiated. The earliest mention of them
+occurs in the Prophet Jeremiah (xxxix. 3), who speaks of the _rab mag_
+(chief of the Magi) as forming part of the retinue of Nebuchadnezzar at
+his entry into Jerusalem; Ezekiel calls the Persian king Cyrus (who
+professed the religion of the Magi) the "anointed of the Lord;" the New
+Testament speaks of Magi from the East--translated "wise men" in our
+version--as the first to pay homage to our Lord; and the old Persian
+language has supplied, through the New Testament also, the name
+Paradise, which is universally employed to represent heaven throughout
+the civilized world. Herodotus also mentions them, and testifies to the
+purity of their worship and their morals, and other Greek as well as
+Latin writers have treated at more or less length on the subject of the
+Magi. But these scattered and incomplete notices were all that scholars
+had until Hyde, the celebrated Oxford scholar, in 1700, collected all
+the ancient sources of information into a volume _Historia religionis
+veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum_. The original texts of the Zend
+Avesta, &c., however, of which some manuscripts had been brought to
+Europe, were still sealed books, and the Parsi priests in India and
+Persia strictly refrained from affording any information upon their
+contents. At length, in 1754, Anquetil Duperron, an enterprising
+Frenchman, undertook a journey to India with the express intention of
+procuring manuscripts and learning the Zend language, in both of which
+purposes he succeeded, and published ten years later the first known
+translation of the Zend Avesta. His work was by many scholars, Sir
+William Jones and Richardson, the Persian lexicographer, amongst the
+number, regarded as worthless, Richardson maintaining that the texts
+themselves were forgeries, while Sir William Jones endeavoured to prove
+that Anquetil had been the victim of priestly fraud and deception.
+Nearly a century later Eugene Burnouf, an eminent French Sanscrit
+scholar, proved his countryman's work to be genuine, corrected many of
+his faults, and placed the study on a sounder scientific basis. Others,
+especially German and Scandinavian _savants_, followed in the same path,
+forming, however, different schools of interpretation, until at last Dr.
+Martin Haug brought order into the confusion, and succeeded in bringing
+the study of Zend within the limits of exact philological science. The
+foundation of all these studies must of course necessarily be the
+traditional interpretation handed down by the Parsi priests, but this
+would have been comparatively useless without the investigation of
+European scholars. Many of the Avesta texts are furnished with Pahlavi
+translations and comments, but the Pahlavi itself was but imperfectly
+understood, and the whole subject was for a long time in hopeless
+confusion; the reader may, however, take up Dr. Haug's Essays with the
+full assurance that he has the most trustworthy account of the Parsis,
+their Scriptures, history, and religious rites, that can be now
+ascertained. Anything like a _résumé_ of such a work would be out of
+place here, but we can cordially recommend it as, with all its recondite
+erudition, a most readable book.
+
+Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly, has published a romance in modern
+Arabic, entitled, _The Autobiography of the Constantinople
+Story-teller_, edited by Mr. J. Catafago, a well-known Arabic scholar,
+and said to be the work of an Englishman, Colonel Rous. It is
+principally as a curiosity of literature that it will be read, as it
+does not narrate any very novel or original adventures, and the style is
+very simple and unpretending. It, however, contains some clear and
+concise descriptions of many localities in the East which are but little
+known to the ordinary reader, and will be welcome to the student of
+Arabic as an easy text-book of the language.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Professor James Sanua, late of Cairo, is an enthusiastic politician and
+an original satirist. We have just received thirty numbers of an Arabic
+comic paper, written, illustrated, and published by him in Paris, and
+directed against the ex-Khedive of Egypt, whose misgovernment he
+mercilessly exposes, and whose deposition it was his avowed object to
+bring about. The editor, a native of Egypt, and a Copt by religion, was
+for many years engaged in tuition in some of the highest families of
+Cairo. Possessing a keen sense of humour and a great mastery over the
+Arabic language, he used to pass his evenings in improvising a sort of
+dramatic entertainment, in which he himself sustained all the
+characters, and in which he satirized the social foibles of his
+fellow-countrymen. The originality of his _séances_ soon attracted large
+audiences, and amongst the visitors and admirers were the Khedive and
+the princes of his family. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and
+Professor Sanua passed from mere social topics, and administered sound
+and severe castigations to his august visitor for his misgovernment and
+oppression of the fellaheen. This boldness drew down upon him the
+displeasure of Ismail Pasha, and Abu Naddára Zerka (the Father of Blue
+Spectacles), as he was nicknamed, found it convenient to withdraw to
+Paris, where he published his paper. It is written for the most part in
+the vulgar Egyptian dialect, and contains articles upon, and
+illustrations of, the principal events of the latter part of the reign
+of the deposed prince. The pictures, which are rude, but full of force,
+are explained in a French introduction, which is prefixed to the
+collected thirty numbers, and form a very interesting and curious record
+of modern Egyptian history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A new paper, literary and political, has just been advertised at
+Constantinople. It is to be written in the Arabic language, and edited
+by M. G. Dellal, a native of Aleppo, and an accomplished Arabic scholar
+and poet. Modern Arabic literature is exceedingly plentiful at the
+present time, and Beyrout has long been a centre of activity. Sheikh
+Nasyf el Yazji, who died some few years ago, gave a great impulse to the
+study of Arabic by his "Majma' el Bahrain," a book in imitation of the
+"Macamat" of Harírí, and containing in a small compass more information
+on the Arabs of the classical period, their customs, histories,
+proverbs, &c., than perhaps any other work. Dr. Butrus Bustani, of the
+same town, earned for himself a lasting name by his Arabic lexicon,
+"Muhít el Muhít," which has not only a native but a European reputation;
+and the same eminent scholar has established a press, from which have
+emanated many standard Arabic works, and numerous translations of
+valuable European works on science and history. A magazine entitled _El
+Jinán_, "The Garden of Paradise," is also published there fortnightly,
+and contains, besides political articles and general news, a great deal
+of interesting miscellaneous information. The last important publication
+of the "Matba' al Maarif," or "Scientific Press," as it is called, is an
+Encyclopædia in the Arabic language, on the plan of the European
+Conversation-lexicons.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[105] The Sixth was never heard of after the massacre of its officers; a
+dozen men were enough for that work, and there are those still living
+who believe that the per-centage of traitors in its ranks was small. At
+Benares, too, the mess-guard held the mess-premises against all comers
+till the station was quiet, and then through sheer terror marched off
+without plunder.
+
+
+
+
+II.--CLASSICAL LITERATURE.
+
+(_Under the Direction of the_ Rev. Prebendary J. DAVIES, M.A.)
+
+
+One of the most useful volumes for classical students which has seen the
+light this year is the solid collection of _Specimens of Roman
+Literature, illustrative of Roman Thought and Style_, edited by Messrs.
+Cruttwell and Banton, of Bradfield College, and published by C. Griffin
+and Co. Mr. Cruttwell is creditably known for his compendious History of
+Roman Literature, and it is a happy afterthought of himself and his
+composition-master to supplement that manual by the present collection
+of extracts from Latin prose and poetry, designed as models for
+composition, samples to be learnt by rote, and exercises in unseen
+translation. The work contains above 900 passages, illustrative (1) of
+Roman thought in the fields of religion, philosophy, art, and letters;
+and (2) of Roman style, from the earliest date to the times of the
+Antonines. Edited of necessity, by reason of their bulk, sans note or
+comment, these selections are availably grouped in a preliminary
+synopsis, happily headed with descriptive and apposite English titles,
+and further adapted to English reference by an index of authors classed
+in their periods, and another of subjects and titles of passages. It is
+hard to conceive a completer or handier repertory of specimens of Latin
+thought and style, and it is but fair to add that no small proportion of
+the contents is comparatively novel and unhackneyed, a boon at the same
+time to the exhausted composition tutor and to the acquisition-seeking,
+wideawake pupil. For example, among descriptions selected in
+illustration of style, we come upon passages from Ennius, Pacuvius, and
+Accius, preserved in Cicero's De Divinatione and De Naturâ Deorum,
+followed by epigrams of those elder poets, Valerius Œdituus, Porcius
+Licinus, and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, embalmed in the antiquarian pages
+of Aulus Gellius. The literature of Roman agriculture is represented (§§
+31-4) by specimens of Varro de Re Rusticâ, directing how to choose the
+best oxen for draught, or slaves for farm work; how to make a duck-pond,
+or prepare a snail-bed; as well as of Columella and, of course, Virgil.
+Pliny's natural history is taxed largely for characteristic
+contributions: the letters of his nephew, as well as of Seneca and
+Cicero, for epistolary style, as well as for philosophy, religious
+views, and the like. Lucretius and Catullus are excellently represented:
+as in the field of Roman drama are Plautus and Terence, with fragments
+of elder playwrights. Nor is scant justice done to the purely Roman
+field of satire, as is seen in apt extracts from Horace, Juvenal, and
+Persius, whilst a happy selection is made of producible specimens of
+Petronius. Even Roman parody is not overlooked, nor yet an insight into
+Roman gastronomy. In fact, we know not where to turn for defaults in the
+presence of such assiduous and various compilations. Here and there may
+be detected careless printers' errors, such as _Tar_ for _Ter_. (the
+abbreviation of Terence); and it would have been neater to head the
+hortatory or suasory orations, illustrated in pp. 567-8, §§ 73-5, with
+an English title, rather than to describe each in mingled and maimed
+speech as "a suasoria" (_i.e._, "suasoria oratio.") But the work is so
+calculated to be useful to scholars and editors that we must trust its
+value will be enhanced in future editions by the most careful revision.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A volume of somewhat kindred use and purpose, though of additional value
+as suggestive of a standard of translation indisputably sound and high,
+is the collection of _Translations_, by Professor Jebb, Mr. Jackson, and
+Mr. Currey, of Trinity, Cambridge, published by Deighton, Bell, & Co.,
+Cambridge, and George Bell & Sons, London, just a year ago. Its
+usefulness is enhanced by a fourfold applicability to the wants of
+translators into Greek and Latin, and out of those languages into
+English, whether in prose or poetry. The samples are, of course, limited
+considerably by the area of the field they cover, but they will be
+admitted to be amply sufficient for models and patterns, and no tiro, or
+even advanced student, can fail to be benefited by the variety,
+excellent choice, scholarly handling, brief but seasonable annotation,
+and general accommodation to student-use, of the selections which form
+the four divisions of this practical manual. The rule of "Ne quid nimis"
+has been sufficiently respected to forbid tedious reiteration of types
+of the same style, so that in Greek verse into English only three
+examples of Theocritus occur, one a sweet piece of idyllic description,
+a second illustrative of the mimes of Sophron, a third breathing the
+Alexandrian tone of poetic stimulus to the halting liberality of the
+would-be literary Ptolemies. The proportion of extracts from Homer and
+the dramatists is scarcely larger, and rather guides the reader to form
+a criterion of style for himself than helps him to be armed beforehand
+for passages which may be set in this or that examination. In
+translation the canon of accuracy and fidelity is tendered in preference
+to that of liveliness and effect, though it cannot be said that Messrs.
+Jebb and Jackson's translations from Plautus and Terence, or those of
+Jebb and Currey from Martial, Juvenal, and Ausonius, are deficient in
+the life and spirit suggested by the originals. As much may be said
+without controversy for the prose models in either language; nor is it
+to be lightly regarded that the aim of the editors has been to help
+classical students to train themselves in preparation for examination.
+Not to be prolix in notice of a volume which may be referred to again
+and again in our examination of texts and school-books to follow in our
+chronicle, it may be admissible to quote in Latin and English some six
+lines of Professor Jebb's translation from the Phormio (pp. 140-1) as a
+type of the neatness and spirit of the average of these translations.
+Phormio is explaining how, with all his ebullitions, he has never been
+indicted for assault:--
+
+    "Quia non rete accipitri tenditur neque miluo,
+    Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tenditur;
+    Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur.
+    Aliis aliunde est periclum unde aliquid abradi potest:
+    Mihi sciunt nihil esse. Dices, ducent damnatum domum:
+    Alere nolunt hominem edacem: et sapiunt, meâ quidem sententia,
+    Pro maleficio si beneficium summum nolunt reddere."
+        _Phorm._, act. ii. 2.
+
+"Because we do not spread nets for hawks and kites that do us harm; the
+net is spread for the harmless birds. The fact is, pigeons may be
+plucked: hawks and kites mock our pains. Various dangers beset people
+who can be pilfered--I am known to have nothing. You will say, 'They
+will get a writ of _habeas corpus_.' They would rather not keep a large
+eater: and I certainly think they are right to decline requiting a bad
+turn with a signal favour."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From a summary notice of these two volumes of wider range and scope, it
+is an easy leap to such noteworthy classical translations and texts of
+the year or season as lie on our table for review. Of the former we note
+with satisfaction a new and very readable version of _The Letters of the
+Younger Pliny_, literally translated by John Delaware Lewis, M.A.
+(London: Trubner & Co., 1879), whose version of Juvenal's Satires some
+years back was accurate, lively, and well-achieved. In approaching
+another author of the silver age, well deserving of a more modern
+English transcript than those of Melmoth and Lord Orrery, Mr. Lewis has
+been minded to present this pleasantest of gossips, and most cultured of
+letter-writers, in a guise as little as possible encumbered with notes
+or excursions, and in such wise that the volume is admirably adapted for
+the library table, whether the object be comparison with the Latin text,
+or refreshment of the memory, anent this or that sentiment of the
+many-sided and voluminous man of law and letters. Under the conviction
+that enough has been done to present Pliny himself to his readers in the
+volumes by Church and Brodribb (in the Ancient Classics), and by
+Pritchard and Bernard, as well as the notices of life and letters by W.
+S. Teuffel and English bibliographers, Mr. Lewis has confined himself to
+the briefest of introductions, and been content to bestow most pains on
+apt and parallel English counterparts to the expressions and idioms of
+the Latin. Thus the task undertaken has been made to assume an easy,
+unaffected form, at the same time that it is calculated to stand close
+examination by the criterion of the Latin text. A good specimen both of
+the gossiping author and his latest translator might be cited from Book
+II. 6 to Avitus, in which is described the triple-graded dinner given by
+a shabby, purse-proud host (α) to himself and his intimates, (β) to his
+lesser friends, (γ) to his freedmen at the same board, but of fare
+graduated according to degree. Pliny tells his correspondent that he
+demurred to this procedure to his next neighbour at table, and
+propounded his own practice on this wise: "I invite people to dine, not
+to be invidiously ticketed, and I treat as my entire equals in all
+respects those whom I have already made my equals by inviting them at my
+table." And this equality, for the time being, he extended to his
+freedmen, on the sensible point of view that they were then his guests,
+not his freedmen. In the same book (letter 15) occurs a letter of Pliny
+to Valerianus, brief enough for quotation, and yet expressing with
+lively brevity more than one home truth for those who realize Horace's
+sketch, "O si angulus iste proximus accedat." "How," he asks, "does your
+old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Are you pleased
+with the estate now that it is your own? Indeed, nothing is so agreeable
+when you have once got it, as it was when you longed to have it. As for
+me, the farms which I inherited from my mother treat me but so-so: yet
+they delight me as coming from my mother; and besides, long endurance
+has hardened me: constant growling comes to this at last, that one is
+ashamed to growl." Next but one to this letter comes one of those
+charming descriptions which are, _par excellence_, Pliny's _chefs
+d'œuvre_, minutely detailing the features and attractions of his villas.
+These constitute to the young student so many _loci classici_, by no
+means to be overlooked in preparation for facing the test-paper of a
+scholarship examination, and it is sound counsel to candidates for such
+to avail themselves of a translation like Mr. Lewis's for general
+purposes, taking such letters as the one alluded to (II. xvii.) for
+special study and comparison with its original. Here, as elsewhere, Mr.
+Lewis adds pertinent and sensible notelets in cases of difficulty; but
+it is only fair to say _à propos_ of the, as he would seem to imply in
+his preface, long-since shelved translation of Melmoth, that in Bohn's
+Classical Library (George Bell & Sons) will be found a revision and
+correction of _The Letters of Caius Plinius Cœcilius Secundus_, as
+translated by Melmoth, annotated and otherwise accommodated to modern
+reading by the Rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet, B.A., of Gonville and Caius
+College, Cambridge, which will be found in all respects excellently
+suited for the need of the current reader. Whilst here and there the
+style of Melmoth strikes us as forgetting itself for a brief space,
+where the modern editor has felt bound to interpose a more literal
+rendering, and in such cases it is simpler to refer to the uniform
+translation of Lewis, it is certainly a real boon to have the notes of
+Bosanquet's Melmoth's Pliny to consult, whether they represent the
+explanatory and illustrative labour of Melmoth, and his literary or
+antiquarian contemporaries, or the careful supplementary illustrations
+of his accommodator to modern eyes. So much explanation is due to one of
+the best recent volumes of Bohn's Classical Series (1878).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The feeling is more mixed with which we touch upon Mr. T. Hart Davies's
+_Translation of Catullus into English Verse_ (London: C. Kegan Paul &
+Co., 1879), the author of which is a quondam Oxonian in the Indian Civil
+Service. Fully persuaded that Catullus is very untranslatable, and that
+the subtle charm of his dainty versification evaporates, it is evidence
+alike of Mr. Hart Davies's courage and culture that, afar from classical
+libraries, he has recreated his mind and tastes with the reproduction of
+one of the most genuine classical poets; given us anew the touching
+songs to Lesbia, and the unequalled nuptial songs (lxi. and lxii.); and
+rendered with more or less success the pictorial epic, in petto, of the
+marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and the pathetic allusions to an
+early-lost brother in the poem to Hortalus. He deserves, too, the praise
+of having read carefully the recent literature of the subject, and
+guaged with creditable acuteness and discrimination the lucubrations of
+Professor R. Ellis, the criticisms of Mr. Munro, and the critical essays
+of Schwabe, Heyse, and Couat. He hesitates, however, it would seem, to
+accept Munro's well-sustained rehabilitation of Cæsar and Mamurra (_à
+propos_ of Poem xxix. on Cæsar), and in two or three passages seems to
+us to err in point of prolixity, which is as foreign as can be conceived
+to the style of his original, as well as, in one or two places, in
+misconception of his sense. In either aspect, he cannot be regarded as
+competing (which indeed he does not aspire to do) with Theodore Martin:
+but we cannot honestly say that we regard his version of the Atys as an
+improvement in readableness on that of one of the ablest of critics, but
+most puzzling and hopeless of verse-translators, Professor Robinson
+Ellis. Indeed, it is a question whether he has imported any improvement
+into the rendering of his Galliambics by adopting the Tennysonian rather
+than the Catullian rhythm and measure. Mr. Hart Davies is mostly happy
+in his shorter versions. The invitation to Cæcilius is bright and brisk
+(p. 33): there is a touching sadness in the lines to Cornificius (p.
+35). The stanzas to the poet's self on the "Coming of Spring" (p. 43)
+breathe much of the tiptoe of expectation and love of adventure infused
+into the original lines. And as a neat sample of the translator's muse
+may be quoted the transcript of the "Lines to Sirmio," adequately
+executed, and endorsed with some of the original pathos and
+picturesqueness--
+
+    "Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be,
+      Or all peninsulas that ocean laves,
+    Whether around them roll the mighty sea,
+          Or a lake's placid waves.
+    Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view,
+      Returned from Thynia and Bithynia's plain!
+    I scarce can credit that the bliss is true
+          Thee to behold again.
+    Oh! what more blessed is than labours past!
+      In weary wanderings abroad we roam,
+    Then spent with toil we come again at last,
+          Seeking our rest at home.
+    This for our toils the sole reward is found,
+      Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere!
+    And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound,
+          Now is thy master here."
+
+Mr. Hart Davies's temporary exile has obviously the solace of
+scholarship.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If a wide divergence from the beaten track into fresh fields and
+pastures new be a merit, as it must be to jaded schoolmasters, if not to
+school-boys, some praise should be accorded to Mr. Heitland, a Fellow
+and Lecturer of St. John's, Cambridge, and his coadjutor, Mr. Raven, for
+having furnished the Pitt Press Series with so good an edition of that
+part of the _History of Quintus Curtius_, which relates to the Indian
+expedition of Alexander the Great. The subject, author, and hero are to
+modern readers novel and unhackneyed: and there is that suspicion of
+imperfect knowledge attaching to all three which sets the mind on the
+qui vive to acquire what is knowable about them. For such an undertaking
+no better guides could be needed. An introduction primes the student
+with the needful information (α) as to Curtius and his book; (β) as to
+Alexander's career; while Appendix D (187-9) supplements from Mr. Talboy
+Wheeler's "History of India from the Earliest Ages" the general and
+current information as to the plan of his Indian campaign. Anent the
+date and authorship of Curtius's history, it is shown to be the work of
+Q. Curtius Rufus, a rhetorician of the reign of Claudius, and referable
+to the silver age of Latin literature. His transparent imitation of Livy
+has suggested the not improbable supposition that he may have been even
+that historian's pupil, nor is it an impertinent criticism of the
+editors' that in common with that master Curtius seems to ignore the
+"high aims and farsightedness which give its grandeur to Alexander's
+character." The string of notable usages in Curtius's style, given in
+pp. 14-15, exhibits more than one palpable Livianism; and the use of
+poetical language bespeaks his attentive study of Virgil. Tiros will be
+comforted by hearing that "if Curtius is less pleasant to read than
+Livy, he is also less difficult." The criticisms of the editors on the
+grounds of his historical value at the revival period are interesting
+and perspicuous, and the special interest of the particular portion of
+history adopted as a specimen of the author needs no apology in a
+country where the reigning sovereign has the collateral title of Empress
+of India. Six chapters of the eighth Book bring the reader through the
+country west of the Indus to the bank of that river, its passage, and
+the ensuing battle on the eastern bank, with the defeat of the army of
+Porus; whilst the ninth Book embraces Alexander's advance through the
+Punjab, his operations in descending the Jhelam and Chenab, his descent
+of the Indus, and exploration of its mouth, with an account also of the
+homeward march; and the least that can be said of Messrs. Heitland and
+Raven's editorial work, whether critical or explanatory, is, that no
+difficulty of text is overlooked or imperfectly handled, no discrepancy,
+as comparing Curtius with parallel authorities, ignored. A test-passage,
+wherein to prove this statement, may be taken in the fourteenth chapter
+of the eighth Book, the battle between Alexander and Porus, which is
+described with unflagging care and zeal from first to last, the
+situations and details being compared, and, where possible, reconciled
+with Arrian, the poetical phrases characteristic of Curtius pointed out
+and illustrated, and the unusual words, _e.g., copidas_ ("choppers" like
+a Goorka knife, the κοπὶς from the same root as κόπτω), clearly though
+succinctly explained. On Alexander's order to Cœnus in §§ 15 of the
+battle chapter, "ipse dextrum move et turbatis signa infer" (advance the
+right wing, &c.), an excellent note, for which Mr. Heitland undertakes
+the sole responsibility, accredits him, in our judgment, as a most sound
+historical commentator, by the exhaustiveness wherewith he reconciles
+Arrian and Curtius's view of Alexander's position and movements, and
+those of Cœnus. The former with the main body took the Indian horse in
+flank, before they could change their front, and enabled Cœnus to fall
+on what had been their front but was now their disordered flank: and as
+to the difficulty in the way of this explanation, that according to
+Arrian the war-chariots were in front of the Indian horse, it is justly
+deemed easier to conceive Cœnus eluding these clumsy adversaries, than
+Alexander expecting him to see from the Macedonian left the right moment
+for his own charge, and then wheel round the whole Indian army, and
+execute his orders opportunely. With the same lucidity is the whole
+narrative commented on: and every geographical, historical, or military
+difficulty investigated, with a commendable eye both to ancient and
+modern references and authorities. Equally interesting, too, will be
+found the elucidations of questions of style, such as in viii. §§ 10,
+where "igni _alita_ sepulchra" reveals a certainly post-Augustan but
+doubtfully Ciceronian form; or as in viii. 14 §§ 41 the use of "malum"
+(plague take you) borrowed interjectionally from the comic poets and, as
+is shown in the notes ad loc., from Cicero De Off. ii. §§ 53. Students,
+however, must search this volume minutely to understand aright the helps
+it affords to their just estimate of Quintus Curtius Rufus as a
+rhetorical moralist and historian, worthy of perusal in the wake of Livy
+and of Seneca. Maps, indices, and list of names, are given, which will
+be found of service.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For our next topic of criticism recourse must be had to Ciceronian
+Latin, and to the famous speech of Rome's greatest orator, which is
+generally reckoned the first of his public and political orations.
+Called in the MSS. the speech "De imperio Gnæi Pompeii" "apud Quirites"
+it is better known as the oration _pro lege Maniliâ_, and because there
+is no compendious school edition of this speech, apart from others of
+the same orator in the hands of English school-boys, Professor Wilkins,
+of Owens College, has judiciously undertaken to prepare an edition of
+it, with the cognizance, sanction, and assistance of Karl Halm, of
+Munich, and his smaller edition for English students. The English
+professor's name is a sufficient earnest of his work's thoroughness, and
+though it might be matter of doubt whether his historical introduction
+of over forty pages is not unnecessarily circumstantial (we note that in
+Chambers' preface to the same oration in the "Ciceronis Selectæ
+Orationes," 1849, of their Educational Course, it is limited to two), it
+must be admitted that a complete preliminary summary has the result of
+shortening afterwork by admitting of copious references to it in the
+notes in place of explanation. Such is certainly the case with Mr.
+Wilkins's present task (_M. Tullii Ciceronis De Imperio Gnœi Pompeii
+Oratio ad Quirites_, by A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin in the
+Owens College, Manchester. London: Macmillan & Co., 1879), where the
+introduction traces consecutively the career and campaigns and varying
+fortunes of Mithridates, during over twenty years, through his struggles
+with Lucullus, and his easy resistance to Acilius Glabrio, down to the
+period when the tribune Manilius proposed a Bill to commit the conduct
+and consummation of the war to the then favourite of fortune, Pompey
+the Great. Against this Bill were arrayed the Moderate Republicans, and
+the talents of the orator Hortensius, whilst on behalf of it spoke
+Julius Cæsar, either with an eye to a future precedent in his own case,
+or perhaps to create a reaction. It is probable, however, that the
+masterly eloquence of Cicero in defence of the Bill, and his exhaustive
+demonstration of Pompey's fitness for the supreme command against
+Mithridates, were the causes of the general and irresistible acceptance
+of the Manilian proposal. As Mr. Wilkins notes at the close of his
+introduction, this speech contains the best example from antiquity of
+the regular arrangement of a speech of the deliberate class, while the
+third section of the argument presents a model of demonstrative oratory
+scarcely paralleled in the days of the Republic, except in the funeral
+orations. As has been already remarked, the fulness of Professor
+Wilkins's introduction tends to disencumber his commentary and its notes
+of digressive and indirect matter; and the result is highly favourable
+to the due mastery of the sense and gist of the oration by the patient
+student. Every passage has its critical difficulties explained; every
+uncommon construction or use of a word is noted; every antithesis is
+pointed out by the observant editor. In the first class may be instanced
+the use in c. ii. of _vectigalibus_ in the masculine gender for
+_tributaries_, which has its parallel in § 45; in the third the contrast
+in c. iii., between "In Asiæ luce h.e," "in the foreground of Asia,"
+_lux_ being used of what is present to the eyes of all, and open to
+extensive commerce, as opposed to "_Ponti latebris_," as the
+hiding-place of Mithridates is termed just before. In the same chapter
+there is an antithesis, as is well shown in the description of past
+generals having carried off _insignia victoriæ, non victoriam_, "only
+triumphs, not a victory;" and as a sample of other notes dealing with
+fiscal duties and such like, we may notice those in c. vi., on "ubertate
+agrorum" "magnitudine pastionis," and the sources of revenue farmed by
+the "publicani." In the same passage _scriptura_ is the "rent for
+pasturage," and _custodiis_ (§ 16) = "coastguard posts, to prevent
+vessel unloading unless at the emporia where there were custom-houses."
+For _publicanis omissis_, a despaired-of reading in c. vii. § 18, the
+editor adopts the conjecture _publicanorum bonis_ or _fortunis amissis_;
+and indeed seldom fails in the likeliest cure for a corrupt word or
+text. Incidentally he is rich in rules for orthography, as where on "tot
+milibus" he cites Lachmann (Lucret. i. 313) for the use of the single
+_l_ where a long _i_ is followed by a short one in the next syllable;
+nor does he fail to note any memorable change of construction, _e.g._,
+where in c. xiii. in the sentence, "_Hiemis_ enim non _avaritiæ_
+perfagium majores nostri in sociorum atque amicorum tectis esse
+voluerunt," we have a change from the objective to the subjective
+genitive, "a refuge _from_ the winter, not _for_ avarice." But enough
+has been said to signify the merit of this handbook; and we must deal
+more briefly with such other Latin volumes as are still on our list.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among these perhaps Mr. Reid's Lælius (_M. Tullii Ciceronis Lælius de
+Amicitia_, by James S. Reid, M.L.: Cambridge University Press, 1879) is
+the most notable, an edition based mainly on Seyffert's elaborate
+edition, yet evidently strengthened by seasonable comparison with the
+best German editions. Mr. Reid disowns acquaintance with any English
+edition of the Lælius, having only heard of that of Mr. Arthur Sidgwick,
+when his own was far advanced through the press. The object and purpose
+of the edition is twofold, viz. (1) elucidation of the subject-matter
+and comparison of the editor's own conclusions touching it with those of
+other editing scholars; and (2) a thorough elucidation of the Latinity
+of the dialogue, a task to which all who are cognizant of his edition of
+Cicero's speeches for Archias and for Balbus will admit his eminent
+fitness. A fourfold introduction summarises the salient points of
+Cicero, as a writer of philosophy; the scope of this treatise on
+"Friendship:" the structure, personages, and other circumstances of the
+dialogue, and a quasi-dramatic analysis of the same. It will be found
+that Cicero, whilst having no sympathy with the Epicurean philosophy of
+his day, sided mainly with the Peripatetics, though inclining in a few
+points of detail to the Stoics. An instructive disquisition on the
+sources of the dialogue opens out various clues to inquiring students,
+and suggests particularly minuter testing of the question how far Cicero
+directly imitated Plato's Lysis, which is perhaps more probable than
+that he used for it the Nicomachean Ethics, although, in form, beyond a
+doubt the Lælius is more Aristotelian than Platonic. The "mitis
+sapientia Læli" in the dialogue stands out in contrast with the genial
+learning of Mucius Scævola and the severer cultivation of Gaius Fannius.
+An interesting passage in the dialogue is that in which Lælius states a
+question relating to friendship, in which he was to some extent at issue
+with Scipio, viz., the difficulty of friendship enduring a whole
+lifetime. Scipio held the negative view, and Lælius demurred to it, and
+in c. x., xi., &c., the occurrences which tend to break off friendship
+are enumerated. In the tenth chapter are to be found two or three very
+apt elucidations of the text, such as that on the construction of
+"contentione condicionis," and the sense of condicio (not "conditio") in
+§ 34, but one note (16) on "optimis quibusque" stands out as a sample of
+exhaustive criticism. The argument of Lælius is that there is no greater
+curse in friendships than, in the run of men, the desire of money; in
+the best, the desire of honour and glory: "in optimis quibusque honoris
+certamen et gloria." Let us see how Mr. Reid examines this last clause,
+which he compares with the sentiment, "optimus quisque gloria maxime
+ducitur," in the oration for Archias. The best authors, it is shown, use
+only the _neuter_ plural of _quisque_, and that with a superlative; Cic.
+Fam. vii. 33, where we have "literas longissimas quasque," being
+exceptional, because literæ, "an epistle," has no singular. Mr. Reid
+instances, indeed, from the De Officiis ii. 75, "Leges et proximæ quæque
+duriores," but only to propose an emendation to a senseless reading,
+viz., "Leges, et proxima quæque"--_i.e._, "laws, and harsher each of
+them than its predecessor." In the present case, he adds, "quibusque"
+may be used for ἑκάστοις in the sense of "each set of people," or the
+plural may be due merely to assimilation with "plerisque." In a note on
+the difficult passage, p. 41, "et minime tum quidem Gaius frater, nunc
+idem acerrimus," Mr. Reid, rightly, it should seem, adopts the
+interpretation of Madvig, Opusc., 2, 281, that _minime_ qualifies _acer_
+to be supplied from "acerrimus." This sample of interpretational tact
+must suffice from a copious inventory; and with reference to helpful
+elucidation of matter and illustration of proper names, quotations,
+adagia, and what not, it need only be said that it is in this edition
+always sound and seasonable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For the same employers, the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Mr. A. G.
+Peskett, M.A., of Magdalen College, has carefully edited the fourth and
+fifth books of Cæsar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, _Gai Juli Cæsaris
+De Bello Gallico Commentariorum, IV. V._ (Cambridge University Press,
+1879), with a helpful commentary derived from study of German and
+English editors, and speculations on the topographical, geographical,
+and astronomical problems involved in Cæsar's account. These books, it
+will be remembered, contain _inter alia_ the description of Cæsar's
+Bridge over the Rhine, his preparations for invading Britain, his first
+somewhat abortive attempts, and then, after a winter in Italy and
+Illyricum, his maturer arrangements, and landing--not without damage to
+his fleet--on the shore of Britain. The second of these campaigns
+embraces the narrative of the treachery of Ambiorix and the utter defeat
+of the Romans, v. 36-7. In the fourth book, one of the most interesting
+problems is the construction of Cæsar's Rhine Bridge, c. 17; whether
+Cæsar's method of strengthening the four bearing piles with their
+transverse beams was (as Kraner and Heller practically agree) by four
+fibulæ at each junction of the beam with the piles (eight in all), or,
+as Cohausen believes, by two fibulæ at each end, one serving instead of
+cross-piece c, in fig. 1, for the beam to rest upon. Napoleon's view of
+the fibulaæ, given in fig. 4, p. 63, is far less tenable, and the most
+reasonable view is that of Heller. In c. 36, Book V., note, we have good
+examples of the actual words of Ambiorix to Titurius, as they may be
+gathered from the _oratio obliqua_ in which the historian casts them. In
+c. 37, it should seem that the reading _lapsi_ has less likelihood,
+though better authority, than "elapsi," and Napoleon's identification of
+the site of the battle is shown to be accurate, in a note discussing the
+topography of Tongres, the Geer, and the village of Lowaige. From a
+cursory examination of this edition of two interesting books of Cæsar's
+Gallic War we should be disposed to congratulate the young student of
+intelligence, into whose hands a volume at once so helpful and so lucid
+may fall. There remains on our list only one Latin volume, the third
+part of Professor Mayor's Juvenal for Schools, containing Satires X. and
+XI. But this, as well as a batch of recent editions of Greek plays and
+Greek authors, such as Xenophon, Lucian, &c., must be postponed until
+another time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III.--ESSAYS, NOVELS, POETRY, &c.
+
+(_Under the Direction of_ MATTHEW BROWNE.)
+
+
+In referring to two more of Messrs. Macmillan and Co.'s _English Men of
+Letters_ we shall reproduce, reckless of the charge of "damnable
+iteration," the charge we have made before. Here is _Burke_, by Mr. John
+Morley, and _Hume_, by Professor Huxley, each volume containing over two
+hundred close pages; and most admirable volumes they are. But let us
+turn again to the prospectus and note its language: "These Short Books
+are addressed to the general public with a view both of stirring and
+satisfying an interest in literature and its great topics in the minds
+of those who have to run as they read." This language is both wide and
+careful; the old metaphor may be read more or less loosely, of course;
+and it may be said that those who care much for Burke and Hume must be
+provided for in the series, and that the writers who deal with them have
+treated their topics as pleasantly as may be. We do not deny this, and
+the little volumes are substantial additions to the literature of the
+day. But they are not for readers who have to run with their books in
+their hand.
+
+Mr. John Morley's estimate of Burke is known to us all, and it is what
+might be expected. As a philosophical politician, and as a speculative
+writer in general, Burke, of course, pleases Mr. Morley by the positive
+tendencies of his mind. We are pleased to see that he assigns its due
+rank to the too often underrated Inquiry about the Sublime and
+Beautiful. But Mr. Morley has perhaps the fault which Sterne told his
+friend the Count belonged especially to the French; he is "too serious."
+Of course, Burke is a great man, and one must not cut jokes in a memoir
+of him--at least one must not if one can't. But it is quite certain
+Sydney Smith would have done it; and there are many ways in which a page
+may be lit up. Well worth notice, as an amusing touch, was that passage
+in the Inquiry in which Burke speaks deprecatingly of Bunyan, because he
+did not write like Virgil, and though the present work "is biographical
+rather than critical," we miss a number of amusing anecdotes. This may
+be the result of literary fastidiousness on Mr. Morley's part, but, if
+so, we submit that the fastidiousness is carried too far. There is a
+little story that some one (we forget the name at the moment) who had
+lost largely by investing in some West Indian property, alleged that he
+had been induced to invest by Burke's glowing descriptions of the
+country, and that Burke replied, "Ods boddikins! must one swear to the
+truth of a song?"--or in very similar language. Now this is really
+illustrative. We can by no means agree with Mr. Morley that Burke was
+free from the vicious tendencies of the rhetorician, not to say the
+rhetorical Celt. He had the Celtic leaning towards forlorn hopes, and
+the Celtic want of truthfulness. Of course, the Dr. Richard Price, who
+is so contemptuously treated in the "Reflections," was a much smaller
+man than Burke, but he had more love of truth and more capacity of
+adhering to principle in his little finger than Burke had in his whole
+nature. Mr. John Morley does his friendly and ingeniously reticent best
+for him; but students who reject the "positive" method (except as an
+auxiliary or a check) will persist in thinking that the painful tangles
+of the great man's life, and the blind alleys and other faults of his
+writings, were the result of his deficiency on the side of truthfulness.
+It will be doing anything but injustice to Burke, Mr. Morley, or the
+reader, if we call particular attention to p. 173 and so on to p. 177
+inclusive. They give a bird's-eye view of the most important part of the
+subject; they contain instructive comparisons between Burke, Sir Thomas
+More, and Turgot: and they seem to us to contain large proof in small
+compass of what Mr. Morley will of course not admit--namely, Burke's
+want of love for the truth, and his incapacity for abstract speculation.
+
+As a reasoned account of the life and writings of the subject of the
+book, Professor Huxley's _Hume_ is one of the very best of the
+series--we were going to pronounce it the best, but remembered in good
+time that we had not seen them all. In any case it is excellent. It does
+not seem to us that Hume's "Description of the Will" is grammatically
+open to the criticism on p. 181. But comment like this would be useless
+unless we gave the reader an opportunity of judging. This is Hume's
+"description of the Will," as quoted by Professor Huxley:--
+
+    "Of all the immediate effects of pain and pleasure there is none
+    more remarkable than the _will_; and though, properly speaking, it
+    be not comprehended among the passions, yet as the full
+    understanding of its nature and properties is necessary to the
+    explanation of them, we shall here make it the subject of our
+    inquiry. I desire it may be observed that, by the _will_, I mean
+    nothing but _the internal impression we feel and are conscious of,
+    when we knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new
+    perception of our mind_. This impression, like the preceding ones of
+    pride and humility, love and hatred, it is impossible to define, and
+    needless to describe any further."--(ii. p. 150.)
+
+And this is Professor Huxley's comment:--
+
+    "This description of a volition may be criticized on various
+    grounds. More especially does it seem defective in restricting the
+    term "will" to that feeling which arises when we act, or appear to
+    act, as causes: for one may will to strike, without striking; or to
+    think of something which we have forgotten."
+
+But is not this met by the last six of the words which Professor Huxley
+has italicised? They are certainly very wide, and one might ask, in
+addition, what word of absolute "restriction" is employed by Hume in
+this passage? He indicates what he means by the word "Will," by saying
+that it is what we are conscious of upon certain occasions, and this
+gives a clue to the quality of the sensation; but it was obvious, and
+did not need saying, that the quality of the sensation might remain,
+though its complete outcome were baulked.
+
+In presenting and criticizing Hume's views upon such topics as Theism,
+Immortality and Miracles, Necessary Truth, &c., Professor Huxley is, so
+far as we have discovered, both accurate and candid. It is only
+necessary to suggest that the reader should keep his eyes open--for
+there is really not one new word to be written upon these matters.
+
+It is not often that you are told what a man died of. You are put off
+with some such phrase as "a painful malady," or a "family complaint."
+Yet, it is often just what we desire to know, because the illness from
+which a man suffers stands in direct relation to his power of work and
+his capacity of endurance. Consumption, except in its later stage, is
+not usually painful. Nor does it necessarily make work difficult. The
+same may be said of maladies which come on paroxysmally, and leave those
+blessed intervals of ease of which Paley, himself a sufferer, writes
+with such unaccustomed tenderness. In the _Gibbon_ of this series, Mr.
+Morison slurred over the very curious, perhaps unexampled fact, that
+Gibbon had long concealed a bad hernia and had done nothing for it. It
+finally killed him, but that with his amazing corpulence he could live a
+long time with a serious rupture, and keep his general health and his
+placidity, is very interesting. Professor Huxley tells us point-blank
+what Hume died of, and it is quite as well for biographers to be
+specific in such matters. We may just inquire, in passing, where the
+Professor got his "_solid_ certainty of waking bliss"? It seems pedantic
+to notice every trifle of this sort, but if small errors in quotation
+were, so to speak, nipped in the bud, many logomachics would be saved.
+How much discussion, in pulpits and out of them, has been wasted upon
+the supposition that Pope wrote that "an honest man's the _noblest_ work
+of God." Whereas Pope wrote "noble," and it was Burns, in the "Cotter's
+Saturday Night," who started the error. Now "solid" is as good sense as
+"sober," but the latter is what suits the verse best, and it is what
+Milton made Comus say.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "run" upon Dante continues. Here is _Dante: Six Sermons_, by Philip
+H. Wicksteed, M.A. (C. Kegan Paul & Co.) "In allowing," says Mr.
+Wicksteed--
+
+    "the publication of this little volume, my only thought is to let it
+    take its chance with other fugitive productions of the pulpit that
+    appeal to the press as a means of widening the possible area rather
+    than extending the period over which the preacher's voice may
+    extend; and my only justification is the hope that it may here and
+    there reach hands to which no more adequate treatment of the subject
+    was likely to find its way."
+
+The sermons were delivered first at Little Portland Street Chapel, where
+Mr. Wicksteed succeeded Dr. Martineau, and afterwards at the Free
+Christian Church at Croydon, where the Rev. Rodolph R. Suffield formerly
+preached, but where the Rev. E. M. Geldart is now (we believe) the
+minister. The book contains only about 160 pages, and gives a very
+readable and complete account both of Dante and his poetry. The style is
+that of the pulpit, iterative, florid, and full of amplifications; but
+that was natural. It is a serious matter, however, that the author keeps
+up his strain of eulogy from end to end at a pitch which has an almost
+_falsetto_ sound with it. It seems hardly fair to leave unnoticed the
+charges of artificiality and worse which have been abundantly made
+against Dante and his poetry, especially as this book is intended for
+popular use; and it is a pity that Mr. Wicksteed should go out of his
+way to settle difficult questions in this off-hand way:--
+
+   "It is often held and taught, that a strong and definite didactic
+   purpose must inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art, must
+   clip the wings of poetic imagination, distort the symmetry of
+   poetic sympathy, and substitute hard and angular contrasts for the
+   melting grace of those curved lines of beauty which pass one into
+   the other. Had Dante never lived, I know not where we should turn
+   for the decisive refutation of this thought; but in Dante it is the
+   very combination said to be impossible that inspires and enthrals
+   us. A perfect artist guided in the exercise of his art by an
+   unflagging intensity of moral purpose; a prophet, submitting his
+   inspirations"--
+
+and so forth, in the same strained and insistent key. But no wise critic
+has ever said that "a strong and definite didactic purpose must
+inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art." What is maintained on
+_that_ side of the debate is that the "purpose" must not be permitted to
+shape the poem; that the poem itself must be moulded upon lines of
+beauty and not of "moral purpose"--though the "moral purpose" may be
+immanent in the work. But who is bound to take Mr. Wicksteed's word for
+the statement that Dante's great poem is not the very strongest
+confirmation in all literature of the truth that a _controlling_ and
+_interfering_ moral purpose injures a poem, Milton's "Paradise Lost"
+being the next strongest?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A well-known, and also imperfectly known, "nook in the Apennines" is the
+Republic of San Marino, about which there is a good deal of information
+in _A Freak of Freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino_, by J. Theodore
+Bent (Longman, Green & Co.) It appears to be partly the record of a
+visit paid by the author to the spot in 1877, and is illustrated by
+fifteen woodcuts from the author's own drawings, to say nothing of a
+map. Mr. Bent was presented with the freedom of the Republic, and we do
+not know that any one, except another citizen of it, or some near
+neighbour, could criticize his little book to much advantage. But we
+trust he will permit us to remark that he might have made his work more
+amusing and instructive. There is a good deal about the place in
+Addison, and this is referred to (among other interesting matters) in an
+article in Knight's "Penny Magazine" for May 31st, 1834. But, though we
+have not time to make references, we have a strong impression that there
+are many descriptions, new and old, of San Marino, which it would have
+been refreshing to quote. We know, however, of no work which gives so
+much information as Mr. Bent's.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It might be the subject of a very plausible doubt whether French novels
+of a high order ought to be translated into English, since those who are
+really capable of understanding and enjoying them will be certain to
+understand French, and since, moreover, the finest qualities of the
+writing must disappear in the process of translation. Then, with regard
+to French novels of a much lower class, they are not worth the trouble
+of turning into English; are more likely in themselves to do harm than
+good; and their reproduction in our language cannot tend to encourage
+"native talent." We have before us, from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston,
+Searle, & Rivington, _The Cat and Battledore, and other Tales_, by
+Honoré de Balzac, translated into English by Philip Kent, B.A. (3 vols.)
+Perhaps it was not a bad idea to give the merely English reader some
+chance of appreciating the extraordinary qualities of the author of "Le
+Père Goriot," "Le Peau de Chagrin," and "La Recherche de l'Absolu"
+(neither of which is, the general reader may be told, in this
+collection): but Balzac is not a writer with a soul in him, and the
+experiment need not be carried any further. Those who know nothing of
+Balzac, and who read novels simply for excitement, will be glad of these
+three volumes, and the glimpse they give of an unique writer; but to
+studious readers Balzac's novels have an interest which is mainly
+psychological. The preface (here translated) to the "Comédie Humaine" is
+a strange presumptuous medley, which raises, like all the author's most
+characteristic works, the question of perfect sanity--a question which
+Mr. Leslie Stephen once opened very acutely, and dismissed too curtly.
+To have read through a story of Balzac's is to have passed through one
+of those wonderfully vivid dreams which leave you puzzled and lost at
+the moment of awaking. It seems to be generally admitted that his
+writings do not tend to make his readers "immoral" in the usual sense of
+the adjective, but there is something ineffably droll in his patronage
+of "Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity," and that defence of
+his own writings which the reader may amuse himself by studying in the
+preface. He is not only conservative, he is monarchical, and objects to
+representative Government, if it "hands us over to the rule of the
+masses." But what chiefly concerns those who buy novels, or send for
+them to the libraries, is the quality of the stories, and they may
+depend upon getting a full measure of excitement, with some instruction,
+out of "La Maison du Chat qui pelote" and the companion stories.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36,
+October 1879, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October
+1879, by Various
+
+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/license
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2012 [EBook #39459]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Nigel Blower and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes:
+
+The first part of this volume (September 1879) was produced as Project
+Gutenberg Ebook #30048. The relevant part of the table of contents has
+been extracted from that document, and a brief title page added.
+
+_Italic words_ have been enclosed in underscores. Greek letters have
+been transliterated and enclosed in equals signs, e.g. =psych�=.
+
+As the oe ligature cannot be included in this format, it has been
+replaced with the separate letters, e.g. "Phoenician". Also note that on
+page 247, the original text shows a breve above the letter "e" in the
+Persian word for desert, "meru".
+
+A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. Some
+inconsistent hyphenation and accents have been retained.]
+
+
+
+
+             THE
+         CONTEMPORARY
+            REVIEW
+
+  VOLUME XXXVI. OCTOBER, 1879
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  OCTOBER, 1879.
+                                                                    PAGE
+  India and Afghanistan. By Lieut.-Colonel R. D. Osborn              193
+
+  Critical Idealism in France. By Paul Janet                         212
+
+  On the Moral Limits of Beneficial Commerce. By Francis W. Newman   232
+
+  The Myths of the Sea and the River of Death. By C. F. Keary        243
+
+  Mr. Macvey Napier and the Edinburgh Reviewers. By Matthew Browne   263
+
+  The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology. By James
+    Darmesteter                                                      274
+
+  Lazarus Appeals to Dives. By Henry J. Miller                       290
+
+  The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures. By Professor St.
+    George Mivart                                                    313
+
+  Contemporary Life and Thought in Turkey. By an Eastern Statesman   334
+
+  Contemporary Books:--
+
+        I. History and Literature of the East, under the Direction
+           of Professor E. H. Palmer                                 350
+
+       II. Classical Literature, under the Direction of Rev.
+           Prebendary J. Davies                                      359
+
+      III. Essays, Novels, Poetry, &c.under the Direction of
+           Matthew Browne                                            366
+
+
+
+
+INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN.
+
+
+When the news arrived that Major Cavagnari and his companions had fallen
+victims to the fury of the Kabul populace, the _Daily Telegraph_ "called
+aloud, before Heaven, for a punishment which should ring from end to end
+of the Continent of Asia." It is a pity that so much fine and eloquent
+indignation should be expended on the Afghans instead of those who are
+truly responsible for the catastrophe which has evoked it. If ever there
+was a future event which might be predicted with absolute certainty, it
+was that Major Cavagnari and his companions would perish precisely as
+they have done. Twice, within forty years, have we invaded Afghanistan,
+although on both occasions we have frankly avowed that with the
+inhabitants of the country we had no cause of quarrel whatever.
+Nevertheless, we carried fire and sword wherever we went, cutting down
+their fruit trees, burning their villages, and leaving their women and
+children shelterless under a winter sky. What could we expect as the
+fruit of such acts, except that our victims--knowing, as we did, that
+they were revengeful, passionate, and too ignorant to forecast the
+consequences of their actions--should retaliate in kind the moment that
+they had the opportunity? The first invasion of Afghanistan is now known
+by general consent as "the iniquitous war;" but it is open to question
+if even that war was so elaborately contrived, or so long laboured for
+as this--the first act of which has terminated in the slaughter of Major
+Cavagnari and his escort.
+
+The circumstances which preceded it are briefly these. For eighteen
+months Lord Lytton had attempted, by alternate threats and cajolery, to
+prevail upon the Ameer Shere Ali to make a surrender of his
+independence, and become a vassal of the Indian Empire. These attempts
+having failed, war was declared against him on the pretence that he had
+insulted us before all Asia by declining to receive a "friendly" mission
+sent by the Indian Government. This mission was _not_ friendly. It was
+notorious throughout India that it would go to Kabul charged with an
+_ultimatum_ which offered the Ameer the choice of war, or the sacrifice
+of his independence. But even this mission the Ameer never refused to
+receive--nay, it is certain that he would have received it if the
+opportunity had been given to him, so great was the value he attached to
+English friendship. But what the Government of India desired was not the
+reception of the mission, but a pretext for making war upon the Ameer.
+It knew that the policy which it meditated in Afghanistan would so
+completely destroy the sovereignty of the Ameer, that it was impossible
+he should agree to it. At the same time, it was impossible to declare
+war against an independent prince, simply because he declined to divest
+himself of his independence. The war must, somehow or another, be made
+to appear as if it were due to some act of the Ameer. Consequently,
+almost from the hour in which the announcement was made that the mission
+was to start, the Ameer was plied with insults and menaces which, if
+they were not intended to drive him to some act of overt hostility, had
+no purpose at all. And when these proved unavailing, Lord Lytton
+directed Sir Neville Chamberlain to attempt to force his way through the
+Khyber Pass, without waiting for the permission of the Ameer. In the
+most courteous manner the Afghan officer, in command at the Khyber,
+intimated to the mission that, without the sanction of his master, it
+was impossible to allow it to proceed; and this refusal was instantly
+telegraphed to England as a deliberate insult which must be wiped out in
+blood. From first to last, so far as his conduct towards us is
+concerned, the Ameer was absolutely blameless. During his entire reign
+his consistent endeavour had been to draw closer the ties of amity
+between himself and us. The Russian mission had forced its way to Kabul,
+despite of all his endeavours to hinder its advance; and there can be no
+question that but for the previous action of Lord Lytton that mission
+would never have come to Afghanistan. But eighteen months before that
+occurrence Lord Lytton had withdrawn our Native Agent from the Court of
+the Ameer. This had been done as a mark of displeasure, and a proof that
+no alliance of any kind existed between the two States. This proceeding
+Lord Lytton followed up by the occupation of Quetta, although he was
+well aware that such an occupation would be interpreted--and rightly--by
+the Ameer, as a menace to his independence, and the harbinger of war. So
+it came about that when the Russian mission knocked for admission at the
+doors of his capital, the Ameer found himself on the one side threatened
+by Russia, and on the other abandoned and threatened by Lord Lytton.
+Lord Lytton, in point of fact, is as directly responsible for the entry
+of the Russian mission to Kabul as he is for the dispatch of his own.
+
+But if Lord Lytton's treatment of the Ameer was cruel and ungenerous,
+criminal, at least to an equal extent, was his treatment of the people
+over whom he ruled. At that time there was an appalling amount of
+suffering all over India. The country had been ravaged by a series of
+famines. In the Punjab prices were abnormally high. The North-West
+Provinces were still unrecovered from a dearth, during which the
+Government of India had exhibited a rapacity and indifference to human
+suffering which would, with difficulty, be credited in England. Terrible
+as is the mortality resulting from a famine in India, the death-roll
+represents but a tenth part of the suffering which such visitations
+inflict. For every human being that dies, ten are left, without money
+and without physical strength, to struggle feebly for existence on the
+margin of the grave. They cannot give a fair day's work for a fair day's
+wage. They may reckon themselves fortunate if their enfeebled powers can
+earn just sufficient to keep body and soul together. For all these
+wretched beings--and last year in Upper India they numbered many
+millions--the smallest rise of price in the necessities of life means
+death from hunger. A war, therefore, with the enormous rise of prices
+which it would immediately produce, was nothing less than a sentence of
+torture and death passed upon tens of thousands of our own subjects.
+Undeterred, however, by the warnings of experience, deaf to
+considerations of humanity and justice, the Government of India started
+on its wild-goose chase after a "Scientific Frontier." The victims whom
+it trampled to death in this mad chase have never been numbered--they
+never can be numbered. The Afghans who died in defence of their village
+homes form but a hundredth part of them. The residue was composed of our
+own mute and uncomplaining subjects.
+
+A war thus wantonly commenced resulted in a failure as ignominious as it
+deserved. Long before the Treaty of Gundamuck the ambitious policy of
+the Government had become an object of contempt and ridicule all over
+India. It was known that Lord Lytton and his advisers were at their
+wit's end to discover something which might be made to do duty as a
+"Scientific Frontier," and so bring a misjudged enterprise to a
+conclusion. But it is the peculiarity of our Ministers to believe that
+they can arrest the inexorable sequence of cause and effect by a
+dexterous manipulation of the faculty of speech. Lord Beaconsfield
+appears to have imparted to his colleagues his own belief in the
+omnipotence of phrases to remove mountains, and make rough places
+smooth. So the Treaty of Gundamuck was no sooner signed than Ministers
+and Ministerial journals raised a great hymn of triumph over the
+wondrous things which they had wrought in Afghanistan. The one solid
+national advantage to be derived from the sacrifice of Cavagnari and his
+comrades, is that this method of treating facts will have to be laid
+aside. Lord Lytton is not likely to appeal again to his "carefully
+verified facts" as a proof that he is a much wiser man than Lord
+Lawrence. Lord Cranbrook will not again express his conviction that the
+"objections (to an English Resident) expressed by Shere Ali will be
+shown to have been without substantial foundation." Yakoub Khan and his
+five attendants are all that remain of that "strong, friendly, and
+independent Afghanistan" which Mr. Stanhope informed the House of
+Commons had been created by the war. The anguished cry of the _Daily
+Telegraph_ "for a punishment which shall ring from end to end of the
+Continent of Asia" is the latest expression of the "results incalculably
+beneficial to the two countries" which, according to Lord Lytton, were
+to flow from the Peace of Gundamuck.
+
+A failure in policy more signal and more complete than this it is
+impossible to imagine. But it is to be noted that the Ministerial
+journals are doing their utmost to save the "Scientific Frontier" from
+the destruction which has overtaken the projects of the Ministry. And so
+long as a belief in this Frontier is cherished anywhere, the return to a
+safe and rational policy is obstructed. In the following pages,
+therefore, I shall, firstly, endeavour to show that the (so-called)
+"Scientific Frontier" is as purely fictitious as the "strong, friendly,
+and independent Afghanistan" which we were told had been created out of
+chaos by means of the war. And, secondly, I shall discuss the various
+lines of conduct which lie open to us, when we have occupied Kabul, in
+order to determine which is best fitted to ensure the stability of our
+Indian Empire and the contentment of its inhabitants.
+
+
+The Scientific Frontier.
+
+In all the discussions on this Frontier question, a very obvious, but
+all-important, fact has been persistently forgotten. It is that British
+rule in India is a rule based upon military supremacy; and that,
+therefore, our Indian army--English as well as native--is primarily a
+garrison, having its duties upon the places where it is quartered. We
+could not withdraw our troops from any part of India without incurring
+the risk of an outbreak in the districts thus denuded. The "Punjab
+Frontier Force" has always been a force distinct from the "Army of
+India," and recognized as having special duties of its own. So far as I
+know, in the discussions on a "Scientific Frontier" no reference has
+been made to the above circumstance. The Indian army has been spoken of
+as if it were so much fighting power, which we were free to concentrate
+at any point we pleased. And to this oversight is due the hallucination
+that an improved frontier would enable us to diminish the strength of
+the Indian garrison (properly so called). The fact is, that before this
+last war we had almost the very frontier which our situation in India
+required. If the authority of the Ameer had extended up to the
+boundaries of our Empire, troubles between the two States must have
+occurred, resulting inevitably in the extinction of the weaker. The evil
+of such an extension of territory no one denies; we should not only have
+had to hold Afghanistan with a strong garrison--certainly not less than
+twenty thousand men--but we should have been compelled to maintain a
+frontier force, to guard against aggression from without, either from
+Russia or Persia. Forty thousand men would have been needed for this
+double duty, in addition to the pre-existing garrison of India. But by a
+piece of supreme good fortune the authority of the Ameer did not begin
+where ours left off. Between us and him were interposed the tribes which
+dwell in the hills along our North-Western frontier. These tribes
+acknowledged allegiance neither to him nor to us. Broken up and divided
+amongst themselves, the worst they could inflict upon us was an
+occasional raid into our territories; and these we could repress without
+having to call the Ameer to an account for the lawlessness of his
+subjects. A few regiments of horse and foot were all that we needed for
+the defence of our frontier; while as against foreign invasion we
+possessed a frontier that needed no defence at all. That frontier
+consisted of the foodless deserts and inaccessible hills of Afghanistan.
+These were impenetrable to an invader, so long as we retained the
+friendship and the confidence of the people who dwell among them.
+Consequently, to quote the language of Sir Henry Rawlinson, "our main
+object has ever been, since the date of Lord Auckland's famous Simla
+Manifesto of 1838, to obtain the establishment of a strong, friendly,
+and independent Power on the North-Western frontier of India, without,
+however, accepting any crushing liabilities in return." We all know the
+manner in which Lord Auckland set about obtaining the "strong, friendly,
+and independent Power," and the "crushing liabilities" we had to accept
+in consequence. Tutored by experience, we adopted a wiser and more
+righteous policy, which was producing admirable results.
+
+The difficulty of establishing a stable friendship with Afghanistan
+arises from the character of the people. It is the habitation, not of a
+nation, but of a collection of tribes, and the nominal ruler of
+Afghanistan is never more than the ruler of a party which, for the time,
+chances to be strongest. Consequently there never existed an authority,
+recognized as legitimate throughout the country, with which we could
+enter into diplomatic relations. At the same time, their divided
+condition crippled the Afghans for all offensive purposes. We had,
+therefore, nothing to fear in the way of unprovoked aggression, and our
+obvious policy was to win the confidence of these wild tribes and their
+chiefs, by carefully abstaining from encroachments on their
+independence. Such, in fact, has been the policy which every
+Governor-General has pursued in the interval which divides the
+"plundering and blundering" of Lord Auckland from the like achievements
+of Lord Lytton. And it had been attended with the greater success,
+because under the firm guidance of two remarkable men, Afghanistan had
+progressed considerably towards the status of an organized kingdom.
+Shere Ali had diligently trod in the footsteps of his father, the Dost,
+and it is in these terms that the Government of India describes the rule
+and policy of the Ameer in the year 1876:
+
+    "Those officers of our Government who are best acquainted with the
+    affairs of Afghanistan, and the character of the Ameer and his
+    people, consider that the hypothesis that the Ameer may be
+    intimidated or corrupted by Russia (even supposing there was any
+    probability of such an attempt being made) is opposed to his
+    personal character and to the feelings and traditions of his race,
+    and that any attempt to intrigue with factions in Afghanistan,
+    opposed to the Ameer, would defeat itself, and afford the Ameer the
+    strongest motive for at once disclosing to us such proceedings.
+    Whatever may be the discontent created in Afghanistan by taxation,
+    conscription, and other unpopular measures, _there can be no
+    question that the power of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan has been
+    consolidated throughout Afghanistan in a manner unknown since the
+    days of Dost Mahomed, and that the officers entrusted with the
+    administration have shown extraordinary loyalty and devotion to the
+    Ameer's cause_. It was probably the knowledge of the Ameer's
+    strength that kept the people aloof from Yakoub Khan, in spite of
+    his popularity. At all events, Herat fell to the Ameer without a
+    blow. The rebellion in Salpoora in the extreme West was soon
+    extinguished. The disturbances in Budukshan in the North were
+    speedily suppressed. _Nowhere has intrigue or rebellion been able to
+    make head in the Ameer's dominions._ Even the Char Eimak and the
+    Hazara tribes are learning to appreciate the advantages of a firm
+    rule.... But what we wish specially to repeat is that, from the date
+    of the Umballa Durbar to the present time, _the Ameer has
+    unreservedly accepted and acted upon our advice to maintain a
+    peaceful attitude towards his neighbours_. We have no reason to
+    believe that his views are changed."
+
+This "strong, friendly, and independent Power"--this edifice of order
+and increasing stability--the British Government deliberately destroyed
+in the insane expectation of finding a "Scientific Frontier" hidden
+somewhere in the ruins. It is difficult to conceive of an action more
+impolitic or more cruel. In a month the labours of forty years were
+obliterated, old hatreds rekindled, and the wounds of 1838, which the
+wise and gentle treatment of former Viceroys had almost healed, were
+opened afresh.
+
+We come next to the inquiry as to what this "Scientific Frontier" is, in
+order to obtain which this act of vandalism was perpetrated. This is a
+question involved in some obscurity. The _Times_ is the great champion
+of the "Scientific Frontier," but in its columns, as also in Ministerial
+speeches, it changes colour like a chameleon. Sometimes it is called the
+"possession of the three highways leading to India," thereby rendering
+the Empire "invulnerable." At other times it is recommended to us
+because it protects the trade through the Bolan Pass, and enables us to
+threaten Kabul. The fact is that the (so-called) "Scientific
+Frontier"--meaning thereby the frontier we acquired by the Treaty of
+Gundamuck--is a make-believe, an imposture. It is not the "Scientific
+Frontier" in pursuit of which we "hunted the Ameer to death" and reduced
+his territories to a condition of anarchy.
+
+Those who have followed the history of the war with attention will
+remember that in September of last year the Calcutta correspondent of
+the _Times_ was smitten with a really marvellous admiration for Lord
+Lytton. "India," he wrote, "is fortunate in the possession at the
+present time of a Viceroy specially gifted with broad statesmanlike
+views, the result partly of most vigilant and profound study, partly of
+the application of great natural intellectual capacity to the close
+cultivation of political science and the highest order of statecraft."
+Here we have the portrait of the lion painted by himself; and it is not
+surprising that this superb creature should have regarded with
+considerable scorn the policy of his predecessors who never claimed to
+be "specially gifted" for the exercise of "the highest order of
+statecraft." "The present measure," the correspondent went on to say,
+"for the despatch of a mission to Kabul forms but a single move in an
+extensive concerted scheme for the protection of India, which is the
+outcome of a long-devised and elaborately worked-out system of defensive
+policy." Here we have a fine example of the "puff preliminary." In the
+issue of the _Times_ for the 10th September this "extensive concerted
+scheme for the protection of India" is detailed at length, and is there
+plainly set forth as intended for a barrier against Russia:--
+
+    "The Indian Government are most anxious to avoid adopting any policy
+    which would bear even the semblance of hostility towards Russia, but
+    the extreme probability of a collision sooner or later cannot be
+    overlooked. It is necessary, therefore, to provide for a strong
+    defensive position to guard against eventualities. From this point
+    of view it is indispensable that we should possess a commanding
+    influence over the triangle of territory formed on the map by Kabul,
+    Ghuznee, and Jellalabad, together with power over the Hindoo
+    Khosh.... This triangle we may hope to command with Afghan
+    concurrence if the Ameer is friendly. The strongest frontier line
+    which could be adopted would be along the Hindoo Khosh, from Pamir
+    to Bamian, thence to the south by the Helmund, Girishk, and
+    Kandahar, to the Arabian Sea. It is possible, therefore, that by
+    friendly negotiations some such defensive boundary may be adopted."
+
+Such were the moderate designs entertained by the Indian Government when
+they dispatched what they called a "friendly mission" to the Court of
+the Ameer. If Lord Lytton imagined that "friendly negotiations" would
+obtain these tremendous concessions from the Ameer, it would show that a
+training in "the highest order of statecraft" does not preserve even a
+"specially gifted" Viceroy from the credulousness of an infant. But his
+acts show that he entertained no such belief. He felt, as every one must
+feel who reads the extract I have made, that demands such as these must
+be preceded by a war. Hence the menacing letters addressed to the Ameer;
+hence the rude and insulting manner in which Sir Neville Chamberlain was
+ordered to attempt an entrance into Afghanistan without awaiting the
+permission of the Ameer; and hence, finally, the monstrous fiction of a
+deliberate "insult" inflicted upon us, when, in point of fact, we had
+been the "insulters" all along. The obvious intention throughout was to
+obtain a pretext for declaring war, because without a war the
+"Scientific Frontier" was manifestly unattainable. Lastly, when war had
+been determined upon, the same "official" correspondent came forward in
+the _Times_ to make known the objects of the impending campaign. "We
+have," he wrote, "been driven into what will probably be a costly war
+entirely against our will, and all our endeavours to avoid it. The
+occasion, therefore, will now be seized to secure for ourselves the
+various passes piercing the mountain ranges along the whole frontier
+from the Khyber to the Bolan; and further _strategic measures will be
+adopted to dominate entirely the Suleiman range and the Hindoo Khosh_."
+
+It is impossible not to admire the hardihood of this remarkable
+correspondent when he alleges that the war was "entirely against our
+will, and all our endeavours to avoid it." But this is not the matter
+with which I am at present concerned. The official character of these
+communications will be denied by no one, and they make it clear that the
+"Scientific Frontier" was intended as a barrier against Russia, and
+would have made the Hindoo Khosh the external boundary of the Indian
+Empire. Such a frontier is manifestly the dream of a military
+specialist, to whose mental vision the Indian Empire, with all its
+diverse interests, has no existence except as a frontier to be defended
+against the Russians. And it illustrates the ignorance and precipitate
+folly which has plunged us in our present difficulties that a project so
+wild should have been seriously entertained. To have carried it out the
+subjugation of Afghanistan would have been an indispensable preliminary,
+and then the civilizing of it, by means of a system of roads and strong
+garrisons throughout the country; the entire cost of these vast
+operations being defrayed by a country already taxed to the last point
+of endurance, heavily burdened with an increasing debt, and ravaged by
+periodical famines. Such, however, was the "Scientific Frontier" for
+which a "specially gifted Viceroy," trained in "the highest order of
+political statecraft," declared war against the Ameer. But the frontier
+which we obtained at the close of the war, and which Ministers and
+Ministerial journals would have us believe is the genuine article which
+they wanted from the beginning, is not only not this frontier, but it
+has not the smallest resemblance to it.
+
+The new frontier does not differ from the old except in three
+particulars. We hold the Khyber Pass as far as Lundi Kotal, and we have
+acquired the right to quarter troops in the Kurram Valley and the Valley
+of Peshin. Of these the Kurram Valley is a mere _cul-de-sac_, leading
+nowhere. But I will not ask of my readers to accept of my judgment on
+this matter. Among the best known advocates for a forward and aggressive
+policy in Afghanistan is Dr. Bellew. An accomplished linguist and an
+experienced traveller, he accompanied Colonel Lumsden's mission to
+Kandahar in 1857; he was also a member of the mission entrusted with the
+settlement of the Seistan boundary question, and no man living is better
+acquainted with the geography and people of Afghanistan. I believe it
+will not be denied that Lord Lytton, during the recent war, trusted
+largely in his knowledge and suggestions. He has thus expressed himself
+on the policy of occupying the Kurram Valley:--
+
+    "The Kurram Valley would involve the addition of about one hundred
+    and fifty miles of hill frontage to our border, and would bring us
+    into contact with the independent Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Toris,
+    Cabul-Khel, Waziris, and others, against whose hostility and inroads
+    here, as in other parts of the border, we should have to protect our
+    territory. By its possession, as we are now situated, we should be
+    committed to the defence of a long narrow strip of land, a perfect
+    _cul-de-sac_ in the hills, hemmed in by a number of turbulent
+    robber-tribes, who are under no control, and acknowledge no
+    authority. In ordinary times its acquisition would add to the
+    serious difficulties of our position. In times of trouble or
+    disturbance on the border, its possession would prove a positive
+    source of weakness, a dead weight upon our free action. In it we
+    should run the risk of being hemmed in by our foes in the
+    overhanging hills around, of being cut off from our communications
+    with the garrison of Kohat, by the Orakzais on the one side, by the
+    Waziris on the other. These are the disadvantages of the step. In
+    return what advantages should we derive? Not one. With Kurram in our
+    possession we certainly could not flank either the Khyber or the
+    Goleri Pass, because between it and the one, intervenes the
+    impassable snowy range of Sufed Koh; and between it and the other,
+    intervenes the vast routeless hilly tract of the Waziris. From
+    Kurram we could neither command Kabul nor Ghazni, because the route
+    to either is by a several days' march, over stupendous hills and
+    tortuous defiles, in comparison with which the historical Khyber and
+    Bolan Passes, or even the less widely-known Goleri Pass, are as
+    king's highways."
+
+This, I think, is sufficient to dispose of the Kurram Valley. If the old
+frontier has been rendered "invulnerable," it is not the acquisition of
+the Kurram Valley which has made it so. There remains the Peshin Valley.
+This valley is an open tract of country lying almost midway on the line
+of march between Quetta and Kandahar, but nearer to the former than the
+latter. Three easy marches from Quetta suffice to place a traveller in
+the centre of it. It cannot accurately be described as an extension of
+our frontier, because it is dissevered from it by more than two hundred
+miles of difficult country. Between the valley and British territory,
+the lands of the Khan of Khelat are interposed in one direction, and
+numerous robber-tribes--Kakers, Murrees, Bhoogtees--in another. Until
+the valley is securely linked to the Indus by a railway from Sukkur to
+the Bolan Pass--a costly work, which could not be executed in less than
+seven years--it will be impossible to quarter more than a few thousand
+men in it--and these for six months of the year will be as completely
+detached from their base of supply and reinforcement in India, as if a
+tract of empty space ran between them. So far from ensuring any
+increased security to India by our premature occupation of this valley,
+we have only enhanced the chances of a hostile collision with the rulers
+and people of Afghanistan. We were already in military occupation of
+Quetta, and until easy and rapid communication had been established
+between Quetta and the Indus, nothing was to be gained by a yet further
+advance from our base. As a barrier against Russia this frontier is
+without meaning, and no better proof of this fact could be adduced than
+Sir Henry Rawlinson's commentary upon its merits in the Article on the
+"Results of the Afghan War" which recently appeared in the _Nineteenth
+Century_:--
+
+    "The Afghan settlement is a very good settlement as far as it goes,
+    but it is not immaculate--_it is not complete_. To yield us its full
+    measure of defence, the Treaty must be supplemented by all
+    legitimate precautions and supports. _Persia must be detached from
+    Russia co�te que co�te._ Russia herself must not be left in any
+    uncertainty as to our intentions. She must be made to understand ...
+    _that she will not be permitted unopposed to establish herself in
+    strength ... even at Abiverd_, nor to commence intrigues against the
+    British power in India. She might indeed be warned that, if
+    necessary, we were prepared in self-defence to support the
+    Turcomans--with whom she has no legitimate quarrel--with arms or
+    money, or even to turn the tables on her by encouraging the efforts
+    of the Uzbegs to recover their liberty.... _It would be almost
+    fatuity at such a moment to withdraw our garrison from Candahar...._
+    Yacub Khan must be made to see that it is as much for his interest
+    as our own to hold an efficient body of troops in such a position
+    that, on the approach of danger ... _they might, with military
+    alacrity, occupy Herat as an auxiliary garrison_."
+
+And what is implied in detaching Persia from Russia he explains in
+another part of his Essay.
+
+    "If Russia, as there is strong reason to believe, is now pushing on
+    to Merv or Sarakhs ... with the ultimate hope of occupying Herat,
+    then it might very possibly be a sound policy to extend to Persia
+    the provisions of the Asia Minor Protectorate, or even to support
+    her actively in vindicating her rights upon the frontier of
+    Khorass�n."
+
+From all which it would appear that our "Scientific Frontier" is simply
+good for nothing until it has been supplemented by an offensive and
+defensive alliance with the barbarian enemies of Russia all over the
+world. In order to ensure the safety of India, we must protect not only
+our own "Scientific Frontier," but we must guarantee the Sultan all his
+Asiatic possessions; we must be ready at any moment to fight for the
+"integrity and independence" of Persia; we must be prepared to march our
+troops to Herat, and to show a front against the Russians on the Oxus;
+we must provide the Tekeh-Turcomans with arms and money, and assist the
+Uzbegs in their attempts to recover their liberty. Such are the
+"legitimate precautions and supports" which are requisite to render the
+new frontier immaculate and complete. But if with a "Scientific
+Frontier" we remain liable to such tremendous demands as these, it
+passes imagination to conjecture in what respect we could have been
+worse off when our frontier was "haphazard."
+
+
+The Circumstances of the Peace.
+
+I shall next endeavour to show the circumstances which compelled the
+Indian Government to acquiesce in a peace which thus left the avowed
+object of the war unfulfilled. The preparations for the invasion of
+Afghanistan were on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the
+enterprise as explained by the "official" correspondent of the _Times_.
+Troops were set in motion for the North-West frontier from garrisons in
+the extreme south of India. Men were sent from England to man heavy gun
+batteries. In addition to the troops under General Roberts, no less than
+three columns were formed to invade Afghanistan vi� Sukkur and the
+Bolan, and the same number to advance through the Khyber. The force
+which marched to Kandahar was supplied with four heavy gun batteries,
+and a fifth was sent up subsequently, although, except upon the
+supposition that permanent entrenched camps were to be formed in
+Afghanistan, these heavy guns were simply an encumbrance and a source of
+danger. But the campaign had barely commenced before the Government
+became aware that it had utterly miscalculated its cost and difficulty.
+It is easy enough for an army to enter Afghanistan; it is next to
+impossible for it to subsist when it has got there. It is easy enough to
+scatter the Afghans when collected in battle array; it is next to
+impossible to subjugate them because they never are _so_ collected. From
+these causes our raid into Afghanistan was but little removed from an
+ignominious failure. If we had not made peace we should have been
+compelled to evacuate the country from the enormous costliness of
+retaining troops in it. Under such circumstances, a peace was needed too
+urgently to allow the Government to stand out for any extraordinary
+concessions. They took what they could get, which proved to be, as we
+have seen, the right to place garrisons in the two valleys of Kurram and
+Peshin. But having gone to war in search of a "Scientific Frontier," no
+alternative was left to them except to frankly confess that they had not
+found it; or to affirm that these two valleys constituted it.
+
+We come now to the causes of our failure. These are all-important, and
+ought to dissipate for ever the fear of an invasion of India by Russia
+or any other Power. The plan of the campaign required that Afghanistan
+should be invaded from three points; but the most important operation
+was understood to be the advance of General Stewart upon Kandahar. As
+soon as hostilities appeared inevitable, a small force under General
+Biddulph had been sent forward to secure Quetta against a sudden attack.
+General Stewart followed later on, and the two columns numbered upon
+paper about 20,000 men, with 60 guns. Meanwhile, a third column was
+ordered to assemble at Sukkur in support, and placed under the command
+of General Primrose. These extensive preparations were supposed to
+indicate the determination of the Indian Government to push on as far as
+Herat. The distance which had to be traversed between Sukkur and
+Kandahar is, roughly speaking, about four hundred miles, but the country
+presents extraordinary difficulties. From Sukkur to Jacobabad extends a
+level tract which, during the rains, is flooded to a depth of seven
+feet. Between Jacobabad and Dadur--a town situated at the entrance of
+the Bolan Pass--extends the Sinde desert. Any large force marching
+across this desert would have to take with them, not only food and
+forage, but water, for only at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles is
+the parched and barren soil pierced by a few brackish springs, which
+just suffice for the needs of the hamlets which have sprung up around
+them. For six months of the year this desert is literally impassable. A
+hot wind sweeps across it, which is fatal to man and beast. Only once
+did the Indian Government venture to send troops across it after this
+"blast of death" (as the natives call it) had begun to blow. This was in
+the last Afghan war. Some hundreds of native troops were sent as an
+escort in charge of supplies, and in four days one hundred Sepoys
+perished, three hundred camp followers, and (I think) nine officers out
+of fourteen. Beyond Dadur is the Bolan Pass. This Pass is about eighty
+miles in length; regular road there is none; what purports to be a road
+is merely the bed of a stream, which, during the rainy weather, is
+filled from bank to bank with a volume of rushing water. Neither food
+nor forage is obtainable in the Pass, and even the camels, when starting
+from Dadur, had to carry a seven days' supply of food for themselves.
+Between Quetta and Kandahar the country is open, but neither is food
+procurable for a large force, nor forage for the horses and camels. From
+first to last General Stewart's troops were almost wholly fed from
+India. The winter, luckily, was one of unprecedented mildness. But for
+this, in place of a march upon Kandahar, a terrible catastrophe could
+hardly have been averted. In ordinary seasons the snows fall heavily in
+and around Quetta early in November, and the cold is intense. The Bolan
+Pass is swept from end to end by hurricanes of wind and rain and snow.
+At the very time when these storms usually occur we had a dozen
+regiments and batteries straggling along the whole length of the Bolan
+Pass. Last year, however, there was neither snow nor hurricane, and our
+troops got through the Pass in safety. There was no opposition offered
+to our advance on Kandahar, but, from the want of food and the hardships
+which had to be endured, no less than twenty thousand camels perished
+upon the march. This mortality decided the campaign. When General
+Stewart reached Kandahar the situation was as follows:--The magazines at
+Quetta were nearly empty. Four months' food was collected at Sukkur, but
+awaited carriage for its transport to Quetta. The third column under
+General Primrose was assembling on the Indus, and needed ten thousand
+camels to enable it to advance. To supply all these wants there were at
+Sukkur about 1600 camels. In order to lessen the pressure on the
+Commissariat, General Stewart divided his forces, despatching one column
+to hunt for supplies in the direction of Giriskh, and sending another
+with the same object to Khelat-i-Ghilzie. These movements caused the
+death from cold and hunger of a large additional number of camels, and
+demonstrated that there was not food in that part of Afghanistan
+sufficient for a force so large as that collected at Kandahar. Sinde,
+meanwhile, had been swept so bare of camels that it was impossible to
+collect a sufficient number for the carriage of food to Quetta before
+the hot weather had set in, and the march across the desert was barred
+by "the blast of death." Immediate action was necessary if General
+Stewart's troops were not to starve; and eight thousand men returned to
+India, reducing the garrison left at Kandahar to four thousand. This
+number, it was trusted, the Commissariat would be able to feed during
+the hot weather. But even this small force was so scantily supplied with
+carriage that it could not have moved, in a body, for fifty miles in any
+direction. It was, so to speak, nailed to the spot on which it was
+encamped. This want of food, far more than the physical difficulties of
+the country, is and always will be the insuperable obstacle to carrying
+on extensive military operations in Afghanistan. The people obtain no
+more from the soil than just suffices for their own wants; and for days
+together an invading army has to pass over huge wastes with hardly a
+trace of human habitation, and consequently destitute of food.
+
+Not a little amusing was the revulsion of feeling caused throughout
+India by the lame and impotent conclusion of the advance on Kandahar. It
+was a demonstration of the impossibility of an invasion which convinced
+those who were most reluctant to be convinced. If when we had all India
+from which to draw our supplies, and with no enemy to oppose us, our
+utmost efforts had merely sufficed to place four thousand men in
+Kandahar, and leave them there, isolated and defenceless, it was
+chimerical to suppose that the Russians could march for double that
+distance an army capable of attempting the conquest of India.
+"Kandahar," writes a military correspondent to the _Pioneer_--the
+official journal of India--"is acknowledged to be a mistake, and it is
+hoped that a British army will never again be dispatched in that
+direction; it is a mere waste of men, money, and means, and an
+unsuitable line for either attack or defence."
+
+And the _Pioneer_, the very purpose of whose existence is to preach the
+infallibility of the Indian Government, thus endorses the remarks of its
+correspondent: "The theories about Kandahar are by this time exploded;
+indeed, there are many critics who have refused to adopt them from the
+very beginning; believing against General Hamley, that the main road
+into Afghanistan, whether we march as defenders of the Kabul Ameer or as
+avengers, must lie past Peshawur and Jelalabad."
+
+The failure on the Kandahar side placed the Indian Government in an
+extremely difficult position. An advance on Herat was plainly out of the
+question; even one on Ghuznee was beyond the power of General Stewart
+and his troops. Elsewhere the aspect of affairs was hardly less
+cheering. The expedition in the Kurram Valley had resulted in the
+somewhat ignominious retreat out of Khost. We had about 15,000 men
+holding the line from the Khyber to Jelalabad; but in effecting this,
+14,000 camels had perished, and several of the regiments had been more
+than decimated from sickness and exposure. We had not subjugated a rood
+of territory on which our troops were not actually encamped. The main
+strength of the Ameer's army was untouched, while all along our
+Trans-Indus frontier the hill tribes were in a state of dangerous
+unrest. The hot weather was coming on apace, when cholera and typhoid
+fever would be added to the number of our enemies. Thirty thousand
+troops had been set in motion, the garrisons in the interior of India
+dangerously weakened; three millions of money expended; and this was all
+that had been achieved. If now Yakoub Khan refused to come to terms,
+what was to be done? General Brown might be ordered to force his way
+from Jelalabad to Kabul, but what was he to do when he got there? The
+cost in money would be certainly heavy--the cost in men, not improbably,
+heavy also. And if, on our arrival at his capital, Yakoub Khan retired
+to either Balkh or Herat, we were powerless to follow him. Yakoub Khan,
+in fact, had the game in his hands. We had shot our bolt and failed. He
+had simply to decline to make peace, and keep out of our reach. We
+should then have been compelled either to evacuate the country, or to
+occupy it with the certainty that a little later on we should be
+compelled to withdraw, when the drain on the finances of India became
+too heavy to endure. Sir Henry Rawlinson rightly says, that a very small
+force can march from one end of Afghanistan to another; but a very large
+force is requisite permanently to hold it. The tribal divisions which
+hinder unity of resistance hinder also the achievement of any decisive
+victory. Each tribe is an independent centre of life, which requires a
+separate operation for its extinction.
+
+Such was the dilemma in which the Government found themselves involved.
+It was almost equally disastrous either to withdraw or to advance. If
+the troops were withdrawn, they would return burdened with the ignominy
+of failure. If they advanced, it would be into a tangle of military and
+political embarrassments, the issue of which it was impossible to
+foresee. There was only one way of escape possible, and that was to
+relinquish the ambitious projects from which the war originated, and
+acquiesce in any settlement which the adversary would agree to. The
+result was the Treaty with Yakoub Khan--a Treaty which I have no
+hesitation in saying has placed in peril the existence of our Indian
+Empire.
+
+It is, indeed, impossible to account for the infatuation or the
+obstinacy which caused the Indian Government to stipulate for the
+reception of an undefended British Envoy at the Court of a prince in the
+position of Yakoub Khan. It would have been so easy to have introduced a
+clause in the Treaty, to the effect that as soon as Yakoub Khan's
+authority was firmly established an English Envoy should be accredited
+to Kabul. This would have saved the political consistency of the
+Government without exposing the Indian Empire to the tremendous strain
+and peril of a second Afghan expedition. There was absolutely nothing to
+be gained, either in India or England, by immediately forcing an English
+Envoy on the luckless Yakoub; while it enormously enhanced the
+difficulties with which he had to cope. Nevertheless, in the face of
+historic precedents, in defiance of multiplied warnings, Lord Lytton
+deliberately resolved to reproduce, for the edification of Asia, the
+tragedy of Shah Soojah and Sir William Nacnaghten, the only difference
+being that on this occasion the principal parts were played by Yakoub
+Khan and Major Cavagnari. The fact is that from first to last in this
+bad business the chief agents were moving in a world of their own
+imagining. They appear to have persuaded themselves that they had but to
+refuse to _see_ facts, and the facts would vanish. They had but to
+publish in the _Times_ that Lord Lytton was a "Viceroy specially
+gifted," and forthwith he would become what he was described to be. They
+had but to assert that the Afghans had no objection to the presence of a
+British Envoy at Kabul, and immediately their objections would
+disappear. The mischief is done now past recall. Hardly even in 1857 was
+our Indian Empire in a position of greater peril than it is now. The
+persistent opposition between official acts and official language which
+has been the distinguishing characteristic of Lord Lytton's
+administration has created an universal disbelief in the sincerity of
+our speech and the equity of our intentions. In the circle which
+surrounds the Viceroy, it seems, indeed, to have become an accepted
+maxim that it is a matter of indifference whether or not the natives are
+heartily loyal to our rule. And Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, in his Minute
+on the Repeal of the Cotton Duties, notes the fact as "a grave political
+danger." It is a maxim which could not have been formulated except by
+the agents of a Government who felt that they had forfeited, past hope
+of recovery, the confidence of those they were set to rule over. Of the
+alienation itself there can be no question. The loyalty of the native
+has, probably, never been at a lower ebb since 1857. And any reverse in
+Afghanistan might kindle a flame that would spread from one end of India
+to the other.
+
+But there is nothing to be gained by anticipating greater difficulties
+than already beset us. I will assume that no additional complications
+occur--that General Roberts has succeeded without much difficulty in the
+occupation of Kabul--that General Stewart has possession of Kandahar,
+and that all we have to determine is what to do with Afghanistan now we
+have got it. There are but three courses of conduct possible--withdrawal
+from the country altogether, a return to the arrangements formulated in
+the Treaty of Gundamuck, or annexation. I will consider the last first.
+
+
+Annexation.
+
+Nobody, so far as I know, desires to annex Afghanistan. But there are, I
+apprehend, but few who are aware of what is involved in "the annexation
+of Afghanistan," and the danger is that we may drift almost unwillingly
+into annexation, to discover the full consequences only when too late.
+Everybody is agreed that India cannot defray the costs. This is set down
+by the supporters of Government at a sum of five millions annually. I
+believe it would be much larger; but we will assume that five millions
+is a correct estimate. By no possibility could we screw this additional
+sum from the people of India. Already the expenses of the administration
+increase at a far quicker rate than the revenues which have to meet
+them. The costs of governing Afghanistan, therefore, would have to be
+defrayed from the English Exchequer. But assuming this to be arranged,
+the pecuniary difficulty is the smallest which has to be encountered. To
+garrison the interior and frontier of Afghanistan we should require not
+less than forty thousand men--one-half of whom would have to be English
+soldiers. For, until the interior of Afghanistan is completely opened
+out by roads which can be traversed throughout the year, the garrisons
+holding the country would have to be sufficiently strong to be
+independent of reserves and supports during the winter. And if we
+attempted to hold Balkh and Herat, twenty thousand English soldiers
+would not suffice. Now where are these English soldiers to come from? An
+addition of at least forty thousand men to our regular army would be
+required in order to supply them. But the English part of our
+Afghanistan garrison does not present so insuperable a difficulty as the
+native. It would not be safe, at least for many years, to organize our
+native garrison from the Afghans themselves. The regiments would have to
+be recruited in India specially for this service--but out of what races?
+The natives of the Southern parts of India have not the physique capable
+of enduring the severities of an Afghanistan winter. The Sikhs or
+Hindoos of Upper India would certainly not enlist in a service which
+carried them so far from their homes into the midst of an alien people
+and an alien faith. The only recruits we should obtain in large numbers
+would be Muhammadans. The danger, then, is obvious. In India the fierce
+fanaticism of the Moslem creed is mitigated by its contact with the
+milder tenets of Hindooism; but remove an Indian Moslem to Afghanistan,
+and he would very soon become inspired by the religious zeal of his
+co-religionists around him. We should be exposed to the risk,
+perpetually, of our native garrison combining with the people of the
+country to expel the infidel intruders from the land, and restore the
+supremacy of the Prophet. But even these dangers dwindle into
+insignificance when we contemplate the main result of an annexation of
+Afghanistan. That result would be that the hills and deserts of
+Afghanistan would no longer extend between the Russian Power and our
+own. We should have given to Russia the power to interfere directly in
+the internal concerns of India.
+
+I have never supposed Russia to have any sinister designs upon India.
+After much reading I have failed to discover any proof of such designs.
+Those who suspect Russia obtain their evidence by a very simple process.
+They reject as incredible the objects assigned by the Russian Government
+as guiding its policy, and substitute their own fixed preconception in
+place of them. I believe that neither Russia nor any other Power would
+accept of India as a free gift. I cannot imagine a rational statesman
+coveting for his country so burdensome and unprofitable a
+responsibility. But that a Russian Government should ever attempt the
+invasion and conquest of India is to me beyond the power of belief. What
+Mr. Cobden wrote in 1835 appears to me as convincing at this day as it
+was then.
+
+    "China," he wrote, "affords the best answer to those who argue that
+    Russia meditates hostile views towards our Indian possessions. China
+    is separated from Russia by an imaginary boundary only; and that
+    country is universally supposed to contain a vast deposit of riches
+    well worthy of the spoiler's notice. Besides, it has not enjoyed the
+    '_benefit_' of being civilized by English or other Christian
+    conquerors--an additional reason for expecting to find a wealthy
+    Pagan community, waiting, like unwrought mines, the labours of some
+    Russian Warren Hastings. Why, then, does not the Czar invade the
+    Chinese Empire, which is his next neighbour, and contains an
+    unravaged soil, rather than contemplate, as the alarmist writers and
+    speakers predict he does, marching three thousand miles over regions
+    of burning deserts and ranges of snowy mountains to Hindostan, where
+    he would find that Clive and Wellesley had preceded him?"
+
+Apart, however, from the question of motives, it is not possible to
+march an army from Herat to the Indus. And we must always bear in mind
+that even if the Russian army reached the Indus, their real work,
+instead of being over, would only then commence. With that vast extent
+of hill and desert behind them they would have before them some sixty
+thousand British troops in an entrenched position. Even a victory would
+leave the invader begirt about with dangers and difficulty; a defeat
+would be his utter annihilation. Not a soldier of the army of invasion
+would return to tell the tale. It is impossible to divine where or how
+Russia could raise the money for so gigantic an enterprise; and if the
+money was forthcoming it is not credible that any Government should
+fling it away on such a hopeless undertaking. In assuming that Russia
+will refrain from an attack upon India, there is no need to credit
+either the Government or the people with more than that ordinary common
+sense which hinders men and nations from attempting to achieve the
+impossible.
+
+The danger to India arises not from the existence of any Russian designs
+against our Empire, but from the belief that such exist. This belief
+will, so to speak, hybernate for a season; then all at once we find it
+in full activity, and creating a panic in every heart of which it takes
+possession. These are the critical moments for the well-being and
+security of our Indian Empire. In such a period of panic we rushed into
+the disastrous war in Afghanistan in 1838. Under the influence of like
+feelings we involved ourselves in the inglorious raid the first act of
+which has just terminated. On both occasions we have been guilty of
+assailing a Prince whose only desire was to form an intimate alliance
+with us. On both occasions we have carried fire and sword among a people
+with whom we frankly avowed that we had no assignable cause of quarrel.
+But so long as Afghanistan extended between us and the Russian dominions
+in Asia it was physically impossible to declare war against Russia. In
+our unreasoning panic we fell upon the Ameer and his people, because
+there was no one else to attack. But if we make the Hindoo Khosh our
+military frontier, then Russia, by assembling a few thousand men upon
+the Oxus, can, whenever she pleases, agitate India from one end to the
+other. She will not need to attack. The menace will be sufficient. For
+we must remember that the undisputed supremacy of British rule in India
+depends, in the main, upon two conditions, both of which are destroyed
+if we annex Afghanistan. The one is, that no heavier burden be laid upon
+the people than they are willing to bear; and the other, the absence of
+any hope of deliverance. The cost of maintaining our supremacy in
+Afghanistan _will_ make the burden of our rule utterly intolerable alike
+to our native soldiers and our civil population; the assembling of a
+Russian army on the frontiers of Afghanistan will provide the hope of
+deliverance. The hazards and uncertainties of the situation would keep
+the natives in a state of perpetual unrest. The ambitious and the
+disaffected would engage in intrigue and conspiracy; trade would
+languish; the internal development of the country be abruptly arrested;
+and the Empire would assuredly be wrested from our hands on the occasion
+of the first European war in which we became involved.
+
+
+The Treaty of Gundamuck.
+
+Annexation being impossible, is it wise, or is it practicable, to return
+to the provisions of the Treaty of Gundamuck? It is neither wise nor
+possible, for the simple reason that this Treaty was based upon a
+fiction. It was grounded upon the utterly false assumption that there
+existed in Afghanistan a central authority, acknowledged as legitimate
+by all the people of Afghanistan, with whom we could establish permanent
+diplomatic relations. There is no such authority. Instances have been
+adduced of attacks made upon European Embassies in other Oriental
+countries, and the argument has been put forward, that as,
+notwithstanding such outbreaks, diplomatic relations have been
+maintained with Turkey and Persia, there is no reason to conclude from
+the fate of Major Cavagnari that they are impossible in Afghanistan. The
+cases are not parallel. The Ameer of Kabul has no such authority in his
+capital or throughout his dominions as the Sultan or the Shah. It is
+possible, though not very probable, that a British Envoy might reside in
+Kabul without being murdered, but the measure of his utility would
+depend upon the fluctuating fortunes of the Ameer to whom he was
+accredited. The only way to obviate this would be to place a force at
+the disposal of the Envoy, sufficient to put down all insurrectionary
+movements against the Ameer. But if we undertook this duty, we should
+become responsible for the character of the civil administration. We
+could not punish the victims of a cruel or rapacious Ameer, without at
+the same time cutting off at their source the cruelty and rapacity, by
+the deposition of an unworthy ruler. And thus, in a very brief time, we
+should find that virtually we had annexed the country. Facts are
+stubborn things, and it is worse than useless to fight against them.
+Those who contend that the murder of Major Cavagnari ought not to be
+allowed to overturn what they term the "settled policy" of the Ministry,
+are bound to show in what way this "settled policy" can be carried out.
+How do they propose to obtain an Ameer towards whom all the sections of
+the Afghans shall practise a loyal obedience? And if no such Ameer can
+be obtained, with whom or with what are we to establish diplomatic
+relations?
+
+
+The Policy of Withdrawal.
+
+There remains the policy of withdrawal. The surest barrier against
+foreign aggression in India is to be obtained in the contentment and
+prosperity of the people. A people thus situated are prompt to repel
+invasion, and secret intrigue is deprived of the conditions essential to
+its success. But in order that the people of India should be prosperous
+and contented, it is absolutely necessary that the financial burdens
+they have to carry--and especially the military charges--should not be
+enhanced. It is not possible to advance our military frontier--even to
+the extent of the (so-called) "Scientific Frontier"--without an enormous
+enhancement of our military expenditure. And all military expenditure is
+unprofitable, in the sense that it takes so much from the tax-payer and
+brings him no material equivalent. Consequently, whatever else this
+forward policy accomplishes, it cannot fail to impoverish the people and
+stimulate their discontent. Moreover, the incidents of the war have
+demonstrated that an invasion of India from Central Asia is physically
+impossible. We started from the Indus, firmly resolved to march to
+Herat, if necessary; but when we had reached Kandahar, we found it
+impossible to advance further. It would be equally impossible for a
+Russian army to march from Herat to the Indus. There is, therefore, no
+such reason for a change of frontier as was alleged in justification of
+the war.
+
+In all probability there is not even a Tory in England who does not in
+his heart approve of a policy of withdrawal; but there are, he would
+say, difficulties in the way. There are. After all the glowing eulogies
+they have pronounced upon themselves, it will not be pleasant or easy
+for Ministers to transfer these eulogies to their opponents. It will be
+extremely disagreeable for a "specially gifted Viceroy" to have to
+confess that his chiefest gift was a gigantic capacity for blundering.
+But if India is to be preserved to the nation, there is no escape from
+this unpleasant alternative. Either Ministers must acknowledge an error
+that is now patent to all the world, or India must be saddled with the
+heavy costs and the incalculable risks of an annexation of Afghanistan.
+These risks, it must be remembered, are not transitory, but enduring;
+and if we accept them, we must be prepared for a doom of absolute
+effacement in the politics of Europe. The argument which will be urged
+against withdrawing from Afghanistan is, of course, the old familiar
+one--the loss of prestige. This is an argument impossible to refute
+because the exact worth of prestige is an unknown quantity, as to which
+no two people are agreed. But whatever be its value, to rush upon ruin
+and destruction in order to preserve our prestige is an act of insanity.
+It is as if a man should commit suicide in order to preserve his
+reputation for courage. When we retired from Afghanistan in 1842, we
+frankly confessed the mistake we had committed, and I am not aware that
+any evil resulted from the confession. The wrongs that we had done left
+behind them a legacy of evil, but not the confession of those wrongs.
+And so it is now. The frontier policy of Lord Lytton has ruined our
+reputation for justice, truthfulness, and generosity, and the stain of
+that policy must cling to us for ever. We shall not conceal or efface it
+by laying a crushing burden upon our native subjects and upon future
+generations of Englishmen, in order to evade the humiliation of a
+confession. On the contrary, we make what reparation is still in our
+power when, in the interests of both, we refuse to annex Afghanistan.
+
+    ROBERT D. OSBORN,
+    _Lieutenant-Colonel_.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL IDEALISM IN FRANCE.
+
+    _La Science positive et la M�taphysique._ Par LOUIS LIARD,
+    Professeur � la Facult� des Lettres de Bordeaux. (Ouvrage couronn�
+    par l'Institut de France.) Paris, 1879.
+
+
+For some years past there has been observable in France, outside of and
+in opposition to Positivism, a growing movement in favour of idealism in
+general, and of the critical idealism of Kant in particular. This
+philosophy, which had previously found very few adherents in our
+country, has now begun to make its way into our teaching and our
+Universities. Berkeley and Kant have been the subjects of special works,
+and an attempt has been made to translate and reproduce their ideas by
+harmonizing them with the principal doctrines of spiritualism. We have
+here a movement full of promise and well deserving of attention.[1]
+Among the different productions affording some notion of this
+philosophical tendency, we make choice--as being both the most recent
+and the most complete--of a remarkable work, distinguished and crowned
+by the French Institute, _Positive Science and Metaphysic_, by a young
+and learned professor of Bordeaux, M. Louis Liard.
+
+To begin with, M. Liard's work is well composed, its plan being simple,
+severe, and lucid. It divides itself into three parts. The first is
+devoted to determining the nature and limits of positive sciences--that
+is, of the sciences properly so called--and to showing that they cannot
+pretend to abolish or replace metaphysics. In this portion of his book
+the author discusses the three forms of the experimental philosophy of
+our day, namely--Positivism, the philosophy of association, and that of
+evolution.
+
+In the second part, the author examines what he calls Criticism--that is
+to say, the philosophy of Kant. The preceding discussion having
+demonstrated that the human mind is incapable of departing from certain
+forms, certain laws, without which experience itself would be
+impossible,--the author now resolves these into five fundamentals:
+space, time, substance, cause, the Absolute. But are these forms or laws
+of the mind the laws of things as well? Have they an objective
+authority? We know that metaphysics hang upon the solution of this
+question. We know, too, what is the solution given by Kant to this great
+problem. In recognizing the necessary existence of these forms as laws
+of the mind he disputes their external reality; hence he only admits
+critical, not real and dogmatic metaphysic. Now, as regards this point
+the author of the book under our notice, instead of dissenting from
+Criticism as he had done from Positivism, appears on the contrary to
+accept it by its own name, and to admire and endorse its conclusions. He
+seems to grant or even to affirm that if Positivism is wrong, Criticism
+is right, and that, strictly speaking, metaphysic is not a science.
+
+And yet if metaphysic were not a science in the strict sense of the
+word--that is to say, in the sense of objective sciences--would it
+follow that it was nothing, or nothing more than criticism itself? By no
+means: our author does not stop at that apparent solution; metaphysic
+according to him has an object that criticism has not reached, has not
+shaken; metaphysic has its own proper function, in which criticism can
+never take its place. Only instead of founding it on the object, we must
+found it on the subject. The mind must turn away from the external world
+and re-enter itself. It is there that, without need of forms or
+categories of which criticism has demonstrated the fallacy, the subject
+grasps itself not only in its phenomena but in its being, and determines
+itself in conformity to an end. This end is goodness: and this is the
+only notion we can form to ourselves of the Absolute. Thus, metaphysic
+is not the science of the object, but that of the subject; or if the
+name of science be still withheld, it is at least the study of the
+subject, and it is founded on and completed by morality. Thus, the
+author ends by an evolution very similar to that of Kant, but with
+certain differences which it will be our part to point out.
+
+These constitute the three parts of the work. We will now take them up
+in succession.
+
+
+I.
+
+Let us first of all consider the characteristics of positive science. It
+has for its object the conversion of facts into laws, or in other words
+the resolving the composite into the simple, the particular into the
+universal, the contingent into the necessary. But let us observe with
+our author that we are only dealing here with a relative simplicity, a
+partial universality, a conditional necessity. None of these characters
+present themselves in a really absolute manner. The simple is invariably
+composed of several terms; the universal only applies itself to a
+certain class of phenomena; the necessary is so only with relation to
+the consequences of a law, but the law itself always remains contingent.
+Thus, no positive science can ever attain to the absolute. It is the
+same with methods. These methods are induction and deduction. Now,
+however precise these processes be, however marvellous the sequence and
+interdependence of the propositions they discover and demonstrate, their
+data are never more than particular and contingent facts; consequences,
+then, can only be proportioned to those data. Hence it is certain that
+the positive sciences cannot go beyond a relative universality or
+necessity. It may seem as though we ought to make an exception in favour
+of mathematics. But by a subtle discussion which it would be difficult
+to give summarily, the author shows that they too come under the same
+law, whence it follows that the domain of positive science properly
+so-called is contained within the relative.
+
+From this consideration there has sprung up in our day a philosophy that
+reduces all sciences without exception to the knowledge of relation, and
+by so doing has declared all metaphysics impossible: and this philosophy
+is called Positivism. "Any proposition," says Auguste Comte, "which is
+not finally reducible to the simple enunciation of a particular or
+general fact, is incapable of holding a real or intelligible meaning."
+"There is nothing absolute," says the same philosopher, "if it be not
+this very proposition that there is nothing absolute." As to the proof
+of this proposition, it lies, according to the school in question, in
+the celebrated law which reduces all progress of the human mind in all
+orders of research to three phases: the theological phase, in which
+facts are explained by causes and supernatural agents; the metaphysical,
+in which they are explained by abstract and ontological entities; and,
+finally, the positive, in which phenomena are verified by experience and
+referred to their laws--that is to say, to constant and always
+verifiable relations of coincidence and succession.
+
+Our author, having expounded this doctrine with much precision, proceeds
+to criticize it with equal sagacity. He points out what is illusory in
+this law of the three states; shows that it confuses metaphysic with
+scholasticism; and proves, finally, that, in aiming at merging mind in
+knowledge, and subordinating, as he says, the subjective to the
+objective, Positivism does not understand what it is speaking of, since
+all knowledge is ultimately referable to facts of consciousness--that is
+to say, to something subjective, which is in effect, as Descartes has
+pointed out, the only order of absolutely certain truths. Besides which,
+let positive science, or rather the positive philosophy, in the name of
+positive facts, proscribe metaphysic as it will, is it not evident that
+the fundamental conceptions of all science--number, atom, force, matter,
+cause, law--are metaphysical conceptions? Is it not evident that all
+science whatever is impossible without a certain number of principles or
+notions,--in a word, of intellectual laws, which even govern experience
+itself? As yet the positive school has not answered the learned
+demonstration of Kant on the necessity of the _� priori_ principle, or
+rather it has ignored it. It has made no addition to that old
+empiricism which the school of Leibnitz and of Kant had refuted.
+
+But since the Positivism of Auguste Comte, too little versed in
+metaphysical knowledge to discuss it authoritatively, there have arisen
+two important schools, the one of association, the other of evolution.
+The former has endeavoured to base experience on an experimental and
+positive law; the latter has generalized this law, and made of it a
+particular case of a more general law embracing the whole of
+Nature--namely, the law of evolution.
+
+The doctrine of association may be referred to the fundamental law that
+all ideas rising simultaneously or successively in the human mind, tend
+invariably to recall each other in the same order; this is what is
+called association of ideas. When any two ideas have thus been
+constantly associated without ever being separated (as, for instance,
+form and colour), they unite indissolubly and thus become necessary
+laws. Now, of all these necessary connections, the most universal is
+this: no phenomenon ever appears without having been preceded by some
+other phenomenon, which is always the same under the same circumstances.
+This law is that of causality, which is both the supreme principle and,
+at the same time, the result of all experience. To this doctrine of J.
+S. Mill and Alexander Bain our author opposes the two following
+objections:--1st, How does it explain the generalization? 2nd, How does
+it explain the necessity of the laws of the understanding? On the first
+point the English School appeals to a law that it calls the law of
+_similarity_ or faculty of identifying the like in the different. But
+this is indeed, strictly speaking, a fact of association? Should not
+association, properly understood, be reduced to the law of
+contiguity--that is to say, to the fact of our ideas only becoming
+associated through relations of time? To admit the faculty of
+recognizing similarity in diversity, what is this but to admit mind,
+intelligence--something, in short, which is other than a simple external
+association? As to the second point, can we reduce the rational
+necessity that Kant and Leibnitz have laid down as the criterion of _�
+priori_ principles to a pure necessity of habit--that is to say, to the
+automatic expectation of the future inscribed on the past? Where is the
+scientific guarantee in this hypothesis? Why should Nature bend to our
+habits? "Who can assure us that we do not dream in thinking of the
+future, and that the next sensation may not interrupt our dream by an
+unforeseen shock?" We see how far-reaching this doubt is; it affects not
+only metaphysic but science as well.
+
+As to the philosophy of evolution, we know that, with regard to the
+origin of the principles of thought, it consists in linking the
+experience of present generations to that of generations past; in
+substituting secular for individual experience--in a word, in filling up
+by the accumulation of ages on ages the interval existing between
+particular and contingent facts and the universality of principles. This
+hypothesis is always at bottom no other than that of the _tabula rasa_,
+only it is no longer the individual who is this _tabula rasa_, since
+each one has, by heredity, received a pre-formed intelligence.
+Nevertheless, under pain of contradicting the hypothesis, we are forced
+to admit that there was a first subject who, prior to the action of the
+object, must have been this _tabula rasa_. But here the objections of
+Leibnitz reappear. What can a pure, abstract, and unmodified subject be?
+And again, before any meeting of subject with object, we have to admit a
+pure object having nothing subjective, just as the subject had nothing
+objective. What shall we affirm of this pure object? Let us divest it if
+you will of colour, heat, sound; must we not at least conceive it as
+extended, as existing in time, conceive it, that is, according to the
+necessary forms that are supposed to be suppressed? For to say that it
+has been capable of existing without having anything in common with
+these forms, and that out of this unknown and nameless condition have
+arisen, by way of transformation, the notions of which we treat, were to
+admit that something _can_ come out of nothing. We must therefore
+acknowledge that universal notions do at least exist as germs at the
+origin of evolution. It is not evolution that has created them,
+evolution has only developed them, and be they ever so attenuated, they
+still remain conditions without which nothing can be thought.
+
+Such is the gist of the first part of M. Liard's book, and we have
+nothing to add to it but our approbation. We can but admire the skilful
+analysis with which it begins, and the vigorous discussion accompanying
+that analysis. The three stages traversed by the experimental philosophy
+of our days--namely, Positivism, the Associative Philosophy, and that of
+Evolution--are competently and precisely summed up. The discussion is
+cogent, solid, and could not be further developed without injury to the
+unity of the work. No doubt it requires close attention to follow it;
+but it is lucid and well sustained. Whatever the difficulty metaphysic
+may encounter in constituting itself a science, and getting recognized
+as such, it has been established that empiricism is not a tenable
+position, since it has been found necessary to pass from positivism to
+association, from association to evolution; while evolution itself still
+supposed some pre-formation. One thing is certain, intelligence
+invariably contains a something that does not come from without--namely,
+intelligence itself.
+
+
+II.
+
+The criticism of Positivism has taught us that there is no knowledge
+possible without _� priori_ elements--that is to say, without laws
+inherent in thought, which impose themselves upon phenomena, so as to
+constitute veritable knowledge. This is the system of Kant, and thus
+that system avoids not only empiricism, but scepticism as well, though
+commonly confounded with it. For without necessary laws phenomena only
+form an arbitrary succession, entirely dependent upon the organization
+of the individual; we have no longer anything but individual
+sensations. In the Kantian philosophy, however, the individual is
+subjected to laws that are superior to himself; these are the laws of
+human thought, and even, perhaps, of all thought whatever. These laws
+impose themselves on each one of us in a necessary and universal manner,
+and by so doing communicate to phenomena an objective reality in this
+sense at least, that they are for individuals veritable objects; and
+thus it is that mathematical truths are objects to the intellect, even
+supposing they should be nowhere realized in any existence independent
+of thought.
+
+But are these laws of thought anything else than laws of thought? Do
+they really attain to objective reality--to _things in themselves_. Kant
+has denied that they do, and our author, in following in his steps,
+agrees, or seems to agree, with the "Kritik" of Kant.
+
+Let us then resolve the fundamental laws of the human intellect into
+five principal concepts: these are, space and time, forms of
+sensibility, substance and cause, laws of external experience, and,
+lastly, the Absolute, the final and supreme condition of all knowledge.
+Now, according to Kant and our author, these notions, at least the four
+first, are at the same time necessary as subjective conditions of
+thought, and contradictory so soon as we seek to realize them outside of
+thought.
+
+For example, that space and time are found by implication in every
+internal or external representation, that they are not the result of
+abstraction and generalization, this has been firmly established by
+Kant; for the elements from which some have sought to derive them
+already imply them. But, at the same time, they are only internal
+conditions, of which the objects are unrealizable outside of ourselves,
+and the reason of this is given by M. Liard, as follows:--Space and time
+have three essential characteristics, they are homogeneous, continuous,
+and unlimited. Now, if we seek to make of space and time _things in
+themselves_ we may doubtless conceive them as homogeneous and
+continuous, but not as unlimited, for no actual magnitude is unlimited;
+all magnitude is expressed in numbers, and numbers are necessarily
+finite, an infinite number involving a contradiction.
+
+We will not enter into a question here mooted by the author, leading to
+what Leibnitz calls the labyrinth of the continued (_Labyrinthus
+continui_), or of invisibles; we will content ourselves with pointing
+out that the reason here given is not by any means in conformity with
+the ideas of Kant--indeed, that it contradicts them. In fact, our author
+here applies to the two forms of sensibility the objection that Kant
+raised only about real things and the sensible world. The world, indeed,
+being composed of parts, can only be conceived as infinite by adding
+these parts to each other, and by thus supposing the actual reality of
+an infinite number. But it is not so with space, which, not being
+composed of parts, is consequently not representable by numbers. "There
+is only one single space, there is only one single time," says Kant. The
+notion of space is therefore not formed by the infinite addition of
+small portions of space and time. These are unities, not numbers. Hence
+illimitableness is given with the very intuition. "Space," says Kant,
+"is represented as a given infinite magnitude," _als eine gegebene
+unendliche Quantit�t_. Now, so soon as the infinite is _given_, instead
+of _being made_ by a mental addition, it seems to us that the above
+difficulty vanishes.
+
+Let us pass to the notion of substance and to that of cause. These two
+notions are necessary to render possible the connection of phenomena in
+the human mind. Our perceptions are, in fact, diverse; if they were only
+diverse, and had no unity, there would be no passage from one phenomenon
+to another; consciousness would arise and disappear with each
+phenomenon, to arise and die anew with the next, and so on. But then
+there would be no thought, for in order that thought should exist there
+must be at least two different things presented to the unity of
+consciousness. In other terms, we should be incapable of perceiving a
+changing thing without something that was changeless. Hence this is a
+necessary condition of knowledge. Now, let us see whether this condition
+can be rendered objective. According to our author it cannot, for if we
+subtract from surrounding things all the phenomena that fall under the
+domain of the senses, what remains? Nothing. Common-sense, indeed,
+believes in substance, but does not mean thereby an abstract and
+metaphysical entity, it means the whole of what strikes the senses; when
+the phenomenon is opposed to substance nothing is meant but that a new
+phenomenon has just added itself to preceding ones. Wood burns; here
+wood is the substance, combustion the phenomenon. This is how
+common-sense understands the matter; but if we separate from the idea of
+wood all that characterizes it as wood, nothing remains but a pure
+abstraction, of which common-sense takes no account, and has never so
+much as thought. Our author further combats the idea of substance by
+appealing to the metaphysical difficulties that it suggests. Is there
+only one substance, or are there several? Either hypothesis is equally
+difficult to sustain. In other words, substance is nothing more than
+that law in virtue of which the mind connects phenomena in one and the
+same act of thought.
+
+Here, again, we are obliged to say that the preceding arguments against
+the objectivity of the notion of substance are, in our opinion, far from
+conclusive. In the first place, it seems to us a false philosophical
+method to exclude an object from the human mind because it suggests
+difficulties that we are incapable of solving. Every object must be
+presented to us as existing before we can judge of the possibility of
+that object. Perhaps we do not possess the means of solving all the
+questions which the existence of an object may suggest, but this is no
+reason why it should not exist. The existence of things cannot be
+subordinated to the limits of our understanding; it is this very
+principle which seems to us soundest of all in the "Kritik" of Kant.
+Even should we be for ever incapable of knowing whether there is one
+substance or whether there are many, even should we be for ever doomed
+to doubt as to this point, it would not follow that the existence of one
+or of many substances were thereby done away with. Moreover, the
+criticism of our author goes much further than the imperilling the
+objectivity of substance; it really bears against the very notion
+itself. If, in fact, every phenomenon being withdrawn, nothing remains
+any longer in my mind, it is not merely objective substance that
+vanishes, it is the notion itself. What, indeed, is a notion which,
+analyzed, comes to naught? And what is this necessary law which is a
+nonentity? Our author tells us that if we remove all the accidents there
+remains "nothing perceptible to the senses." This is mere tautology, for
+it is too evident that nothing sensible ought to remain in the notion,
+all sensible accidents having been withdrawn; but what does remain is
+that without which phenomena could not be connected. And this is no
+empty concept, for how should an empty concept have any uniting power?
+And, lastly, when the author, correcting himself, as we think, says that
+the notion of substance reduces itself to what he calls a "fundamental
+phenomenon," he does nothing but change the word, and in reality reverts
+to what we call substance. For in what sense does anything
+fundamental--that is to say, that to which other phenomena ultimately
+reduce themselves, and which cannot be reduced to any other--still
+preserve the name of phenomenon? All this, therefore, is but admitting
+under one name what has been denied under another.
+
+The criticism of the notion of cause is quite similar to that of the
+notion of substance. It is a notion necessary to the mind, for just as
+without substance there can be no mental connection between simultaneous
+phenomena, in the same way without cause there can be no connection
+between successive phenomena. Causality is the necessary law that
+connects each phenomenon with its anterior conditions. Without this law
+there could be no science, no induction, no experience. It cannot,
+consequently, be derived from experience, since it is the very condition
+of it. But do we seek to render cause objective as well as substance? If
+so, we must understand it in a different sense. Cause is no longer
+merely a phenomenon anterior to another, the antecedent of a consequent.
+It is something quite different, it is force, the active power, that
+initiates the movement, and of which we find the type in our own
+consciousness. Hence, to render cause objective is nothing less than to
+spiritualize the universe, to suppose everywhere causes similar to
+ours--it is a kind of universal Fetichism. And, further, we fall into
+the same difficulties as we did with regard to substance. Is there only
+one cause or many causes? Lastly, causation thus understood is of no use
+whatever to science, for science has no need at all of metaphysical
+forces, that which is necessary to science, and employed by it under the
+name of force, being a measurable quantity which it disengages from
+phenomena and from experience.
+
+On this new ground the difficulty that confronts critical idealism is
+the same as that affecting the notion of substance. It lies in
+defending the position against empiricism, from which are borrowed all
+the arguments against the reality of the cause, while attempting,
+nevertheless, to preserve the notion of it. How succeed in retaining as
+an _� priori_ law what empiricism declares to be only an acquired habit?
+How explain a law of mind imposing a determined order on external
+phenomena? How can the entirely subjective need of relation determine
+phenomena to produce themselves in the order desired by our
+intelligence? The thunder rolls: my mind, in virtue of an innate law,
+insists on this phenomenon being connected with a certain totality of
+antecedent phenomena--namely, heat, the formation of clouds charged with
+electricity of different kinds, the meeting of these clouds, and the
+combination of the two electricities, &c. How and why have these
+phenomena produced themselves in order to satisfy my mind? Our author
+somewhere reproaches the partisans of innate ideas with supposing ideas
+on one side and phenomena on the other. How can he exonerate Kant's
+system from this objection? No philosopher ever insisted more than he on
+the opposition between matter and form, the former being, as he says,
+"given _� posteriori_," the latter ready prepared _� priori_ in the
+mind. No philosopher, not even Leibnitz, has more radically separated
+sensibility which is passive from the understanding whose principle is
+spontaneity. How do these two opposite principles happen to agree? Even
+were it pointed out that our senses themselves are innate, since our
+sensations are but the manifestation of the specific activity of each
+one of them--light, of the optic nerve, sound, of the acoustic--it still
+remains certain that our sensations are only subjective as regards their
+content and not as regards their origin; they arise in virtue of causes
+to us unknown. How should understanding, by aid of a purely mental law,
+and in order to its own satisfaction, evoke sensible phenomena from
+nothingness, and if it had such a power, it could only be in virtue of
+an active force, that is, of a veritable causality? You say that you
+require relation, without which there could be no knowledge. And why
+must there be knowledge because you feel the need of it? And why should
+there not be in the understanding a need of unity and relation that
+sensibility does not satisfy? To say that the mind at the same time that
+it thinks the law produces phenomena conformable to that law, is to make
+the mind itself the cause in the objective and metaphysical sense of the
+word--is no other than that universal spiritualism that the author began
+by refuting. We are therefore very far from admitting his criticism of
+the principles of causality. Let us go on to the notion of the absolute.
+
+M. Liard begins very properly by pointing out the confusion too often
+made between the notion of the infinite and that of the absolute. He
+says that the infinite can only be strictly understood in the
+mathematical sense, but that hence, as Leibnitz has said, the true
+infinite is the absolute. He admits the existence in the mind of the
+notion of the absolute in so far as it is inseparable from that of the
+relative. The Scotch philosopher, Hamilton, had endeavoured to suppress
+this notion, and had reproached Kant for not having completely exorcised
+the phantom of the absolute,[2] and for having retained it in the
+character of _idea_ while contesting its objective existence. It is
+remarkable that on this point, so decisive for metaphysics, Hamilton
+should have been opposed and refuted by the more modern English
+philosophers, who often pass for having pushed the critical and negative
+spirit further than he, when, indeed, on this point it is just the
+contrary. Herbert Spencer especially is one whom it is interesting to
+consult here. He maintains against Hamilton the notion of the absolute
+as positive, not negative, "as the correlative notion of the relative,
+as the substratum of all thoughts"--I quote verbally--"as the most
+important element of our knowledge."[3] He also maintains in opposition
+to Hamilton that the affirmation of the absolute is "a knowledge and not
+a belief." Only according to him this object that underlies all our
+thoughts is absolutely indeterminable by us. We know that it _is_, not
+_what_ it is. It is the incomprehensible, the unknowable.
+
+M. Liard seems to us substantially to admit all these conclusions.
+"Existence by others," he says, "is not to be understood without
+self-existence." "Without the spur of the notion of the absolute, how
+comprehend the obstinate persistence of the human mind in transcending
+the limits of the relative? Is not this a proof that the relative is not
+sufficient to itself?" It is one thing to affirm the absolute, another
+to determine its nature. Even granting that we be powerless to speak as
+to the essence of the absolute, and that it can never be for us other
+than the indeterminable and unknowable, "is it nothing to be assured of
+the existence of an unknowable? At all events religious beliefs might in
+default of scientific certainty find in an irremovable basis this
+conviction."
+
+We see therefore that our author agrees with Mr. Herbert Spencer in
+granting the existence of the absolute; he does not seem to reduce it,
+as Kant does, to a mere idea. He confines himself to saying that it
+cannot be determined. He shows that none of the notions that have been
+previously examined can fill up the concept of the absolute. Neither
+space, nor time, nor substance, nor cause, nor the totality of
+phenomena, can be raised to the notion of absolute. It is therefore
+indeterminable. Now, as the absolute is the proper object of
+metaphysics, it follows that metaphysics lack an object, having nothing
+to say thereon. Hence it is self-condemned, and consequently metaphysics
+is not a science.
+
+Such is the conclusion of the second part. The first appeared to raise
+us above phenomena by establishing the necessity of thought and of its
+fundamental law. But the second confines us within the domains of
+thought, and forbids us to go beyond. There is, indeed, a science of
+thought, but this science is criticism, not metaphysics. Have we, then,
+only escaped from positivism to fall into the abyss of scepticism?
+
+Before explaining in what manner the author has endeavoured to escape
+from this abyss, there is room for an important remark on the previous
+discussion as to the notion of the absolute. Scepticism on this point
+may assume three forms. Either, first, we do not even possess the notion
+of it, our notion is entirely negative,--the absolute is the
+non-relative, is indeed the relative with a negation: such is the view
+of Sir W. Hamilton. Or else, secondly, we have the notion of the
+absolute, of being in itself and by itself, of the superlatively real
+being, _ens realissimum_, as Kant expresses it, but it is only a notion,
+we cannot affirm the existence: this is Kant's doctrine. Or, thirdly, we
+have indeed a positive notion of the absolute, and we necessarily affirm
+its existence, only we are unable to determine its nature: this is the
+conclusion arrived at by Herbert Spencer. Now, of these three doctrines
+the two first alone, in our opinion, belong to what may be called
+criticism. The third is manifestly a return to dogmatism. The more or
+less of determination in the notion of the absolute is only the second
+problem of metaphysic; the first is the existence of that absolute. And,
+moreover, the doctrine of the divine incomprehensibility has always been
+maintained by the greatest metaphysicians as well as the greatest
+theologians. All mystics incline to it. There may therefore be room for
+debate as to the more or less approximative character of our concepts of
+the absolute. That any of these are adequate, or absolutely adequate, is
+what no philosopher has ever thought himself obliged to maintain. No
+doubt, to define the absolute as the unknowable, is to express the
+doctrine under a very rigorous form, but one could hardly refuse to
+allow the absolute to be the incomprehensible.
+
+Consequently, then, if the author, as appears to be the case from the
+passages we have quoted, thinks with Mr. Herbert Spencer that the notion
+of the absolute corresponds to an existence, and if he contents himself
+with maintaining its indeterminability, we may, if we like, consider
+this to be a singularly attenuated metaphysic, but we are not entitled
+to deny that it amounts to a departure from criticism and a return to
+metaphysic. If, on the other hand, criticism does at least suppose one
+fundamental datum,--thought, namely, and with the thought the
+thinking,--we are still forced to grant to Descartes, and consequently
+to metaphysic, the existence of the thinking subject; and hence that
+science which our author declares not to be one would be found already
+in possession of the claim by the single fact of what he has called the
+criticism of two fundamental postulates: I think, I am--I think the
+absolute, the absolute is. And is this then nothing?
+
+We are therefore of opinion that M. Liard ought to have concluded the
+second part of his work as he did the first--that is to say, that he
+ought to have shown the insufficiency of criticism as he did that of
+positivism. To our mind, criticism supposes metaphysic, as positivism
+supposes criticism. Metaphysic contains the reason of criticism, as
+criticism does that of positivism. Instead, then, of saying that
+metaphysic is not a science, we should rather call it the culminating
+point of science. But in place of following this natural order, which
+is, indeed, only his own method, our author has preferred to prove
+criticism right in the second part of his book, and metaphysic right in
+the third, by a sort of _saltus_, not contained in what goes before. He
+has chosen to appear nearer to Kant than he really is; has chosen to
+carry on his own evolution in Kant's manner, and to rebuild on different
+bases what he had demolished; but we shall see that this evolution is in
+reality quite different from that of Kant, and that his justification of
+criticism is only apparent, or at least if he defends it, this is really
+only in order subsequently to undermine it.
+
+
+III.
+
+Kant's evolution, which makes dogmatism to result from scepticism, was
+an entirely moral evolution, substituting for speculative the authority
+of practical reason. The evolution we have now to deal with is of a
+quite different character; it consists in passing from objective to
+subjective knowledge, from the object to the subject. Even if all that
+has been just said on the side of criticism were true, there is at least
+invariably one existence that remains untouched by it: this existence is
+that of the thinking subject, and this existence is incontestable. What
+appears to us as a circle to the circumference are objects, in the
+centre is the subject. We do not confound ourselves with our sensations,
+we distinguish between them and ourselves. Can, then, this consciousness
+of the thinking subject be no more than the transformation of external
+events? No; for all exterior events reduce themselves to one--_i.e._,
+motion; and all interior events to one--_i.e._, thought. There is no
+transition or transformation possible between one of these phenomena and
+the other. "We acknowledge," says a distinguished savant, Professor
+Tyndall, "that a definite thought and a molecular action of the brain
+occur simultaneously, but we do not possess the essential organ, nor
+even a rudiment of the organ we should require in order to pass by
+reasoning from the one to the other." Thus, then, the subject exists and
+is not reducible to the object. Shall we say that this subject is
+nothing more than a sum of phenomena? But what adds up these phenomena?
+A common bond is needed. Have we any consciousness of such a bond?
+"Yes," replies our author, "we call internal states of consciousness,
+past, present, or possible; we attribute them to ourselves, we say that
+they take place within us. What does this mean if the _ego_ to which we
+refer them is only their succession? How comprehend the continuity of
+consciousness?" In a word, our author admits absolutely that the _ego_
+has a consciousness of its own being, as distinct from its sensations
+and from external objects. "It is," he says, "an activity constantly
+modified, but yet always one, which dominating its states refers them
+to the unity of one same consciousness."
+
+Here, then, we have, without possibility of mistake, the fundamental
+doctrine of the spiritualistic philosophy of Descartes, Leibnitz, Maine
+de Biran, and Jouffroy. By laying down this principle the author
+believes himself enabled to reinstate that metaphysic which criticism
+had condemned. We, for our part, have no doubt of this; but we fail to
+see how the author can at the same time hold this principle and the
+Kantian principle of idealism. The "Kritik" of Kant bears upon the
+subject as well as the object; according to it both the one and the
+other are unknowable and incomprehensible noumena. The human mind is but
+a complex compound of sensations and categories, the unity of which is
+reached by the same process as the unity of external objects. No doubt
+Kant is, indeed, obliged to concede something to the _ego_, the _cogito_
+as he calls it; but he does not very clearly say what it is; it is not a
+substance, not a category, not a result. "It is," says he, "the vehicle
+of all categories." What can be more vague? The metaphor shows both how
+little disposed Kant was to assign its due part to the _ego_--how vague
+and uncertain he left it, and at the same time how he was forced to take
+it into account. The _ego_, the active, continuous, self-conscious
+_ego_, is the rock ahead to Kant's philosophy. For how dispute the
+consciousness of substance and of cause, when one admits "a continuous
+activity dominating all states of consciousness and reducing them to
+unity?"
+
+What, then, is substance, according to our author? It is, he says,
+something that does not change considered as the necessary condition of
+that which changes. What is cause? Is it not the power of initiating any
+given movement? Now, this same consciousness which gives us the _ego_ as
+a continuous activity, does it not in so doing give it us as the
+condition of phenomena and as the productive cause of movement in
+voluntary efforts? Consequently, to grant that the _ego_ knows itself as
+_ego_, and as activity, is in point of fact to restore the notions of
+cause and substance which had been done away with. At most all that has
+been gained from criticism is the difficulty of comprehending substance
+and cause without objective, that is, material form. Its results, then,
+amount only to the incomprehensibility of matter. But the cause of
+metaphysic is not to be confounded with that of matter; metaphysic is
+not tied to the existence of materialism; and were it even led in
+self-defence to deny the very existence of matter altogether, one does
+not see that such a negation need cost it much. Descartes did not
+hesitate to place the existence of bodies in doubt, in order to save the
+existence of spirit. Malebranche did not believe that the existence of
+bodies could be proved except by revelation. Leibnitz did not think that
+bodies were more than phenomena, the reality of which was spiritual.
+There is, then, no common cause between the interests of metaphysic, or
+of what Kant calls _dogmatism_, and the question of material
+objectivity, which may be left open without compromising the
+fundamental basis of things. How, then, can our author appear to assign
+the victory to criticism while in reality depriving it of its chief
+support by restoring to the _ego_ the immediate consciousness of itself
+as a being, one, active, permanent, and continuous? Kant may have played
+this game, because, in effect, outside of criticism, he only admits
+moral reasons for reinstating dogmatism. But although our author follows
+him too on that ground, he nevertheless enters in point of fact upon an
+entirely different path when he invokes immediate consciousness as a
+guarantee of the existence and activity of the mind. These are not moral
+and practical, but metaphysical reasons. Metaphysic, then, independently
+of morality, has its own proper foundation, which, far from being
+affected by criticism, is the very foundation of criticism itself. This
+foundation once admitted, are we entitled to declare metaphysic no
+science? We hold that we are not. Doubtless, if by science be meant an
+absolutely adequate knowledge of the object, such as mathematics
+affords, metaphysic cannot pretend to such knowledge; but we have here
+only a question of degree. The perfection of a science is not the same
+thing as its existence. A science is what it is by reason of the
+difficulties its objects present, and the imperfections of its method;
+but it is science none the less if it possesses a given object and a
+solid foundation. Now, such a foundation is admitted by our author when
+he admits the intuition of the _ego_ by itself; and hence it is no
+longer a mere question of words to refuse the name of science to the
+series of deductions that may be drawn from a principle which has been
+admitted valid.
+
+If our author grants the foundation of metaphysics by adhering to the
+Cartesian principle of the immediate knowledge of the mind by itself, he
+at the same time acknowledges its most elevated term by defending the
+existence of an absolute perfection, a supreme type of spirituality. "If
+in ourselves," he says, "relatively perfect ideas realize themselves in
+virtue of their relative perfection, why should not the total perfection
+from whence they are derived exist? There is nothing contradictory in
+such an absolute." Is not this to admit the doctrine of the perfect
+being as the Cartesian School has constantly expressed it? but is it
+enough _to_ say that the total perfection _may_ exist, enough to inquire
+why it should not exist? Should we not go further, and say with Bossuet,
+"On the contrary, perfection is the reason of being." Here we are forced
+to allow, in the views, or at all events in the expressions of our
+author, a fluctuation and uncertainty which now impel him towards the
+critical, and now towards the metaphysical position, without his
+arriving at a sufficiently decided conclusion. "The absolute," he says,
+"would then be the ideal of moral perfection. But by such a definition
+do we not compromise its reality?" To which doubt he replies that the
+"true reality is precisely the ideal." Now, this is an equivocal and
+obscure reply, demanding explanation. No doubt the reality claimed for
+the perfect being is not a sensible and material reality. But there is
+another than material reality--there is a spiritual, such as is
+manifested to us in the reality of consciousness, in the immediate
+activity and intuition of our being. We may, indeed, style this sort of
+existence _ideal_, in opposition to material existence; but the
+expression is incorrect, for that which, properly speaking, is an ideal
+existence is one merely represented to the mind when thinking of
+something that no longer exists, does not yet exist, nor ever will
+exist. Now, the question is, whether the moral absolute, of which we
+have just had the definition given, belongs to the first or to the
+second of these ideals; whether it exists for itself, or only for us, in
+so far as we think it, and while we think it. For a mode of existence
+like this, dependent on our own thought, is very far from being the
+supreme reality; it is only a modal and subjective reality. Thus our
+author, we see, expresses himself too uncertainly. Nevertheless, his own
+principles sufficiently authorized him to declare himself with more
+precision. Indeed, we have seen, on the one hand, that he, with Mr.
+Herbert Spencer, affirms the existence of the absolute; and, on the
+other hand, that he acknowledges the concept of total perfection to be
+in nowise contradictory. Granting so much, must not absolute perfection
+be the reason of the existence of the absolute, as relative perfection
+is the reason of the existence of the relative? If, however, any choose
+to call that supreme perfection the _Idea_, with Hegel--as Plato calls
+it the _Good_, Aristotle the pure _Act_, Descartes the _Infinitely
+Perfect Being_--we have nothing to object, so long as it be clearly
+understood that the _idea_ shall signify the identity of the thought and
+the being, and not merely a subjective conception of the human mind.
+
+To sum up: it results from what has been already said, that spite of his
+powers of thought, the author has not been able to escape a certain
+fluctuation between criticism and spiritualism, and has only arrived at
+a contradictory compromise between the two conceptions. From criticism
+he borrows the ideality of the notions of space, time, substance, cause,
+and the idea of a moral absolute founded on purely moral motives. From
+spiritualism he borrows the existence of the absolute as the necessary
+correlative of the relative, and the consciousness of the subject which
+perceives itself in its continuity as the cause of its phenomena; and,
+finally, the idea of a total perfection, which may, without involving
+any contradiction, have the reason of its existence in itself. These two
+orders of conception are not so closely connected as they should be; too
+much is conceded to criticism, too little to metaphysic; and M. Liard
+inclines overmuch to give to morality the exorbitant privilege of
+deciding between the two.
+
+
+IV.
+
+But is this equivalent to saying that we blame our author for his
+enterprise, and for the attempt he has made to reconcile criticism with
+dogmatism? By no means; for we are inclined to believe that this is the
+very aim that all metaphysic should set before itself at the present
+day. How, indeed, could we possibly admit that so powerful, so lofty an
+intellectual effort as that initiated by Kant, which under the name of
+criticism, of subjective or objective idealism, or even of positivism,
+has but been the development of his primary thought; that so prodigious
+a mental movement as this should be absolutely void of meaning, and
+destined to leave no trace in science? How believe that since the days
+of Descartes the human intellect has gone mad? Would not this be to
+express ourselves in the same way as those who, including Descartes
+himself in this condemnation, have maintained that since St. Thomas the
+whole course of human thought has been only one long error? Can there be
+anything more contrary to the laws of the human mind than this
+hypothesis of absolute truth discovered once for all, leaving no room
+beside it for anything but error? And besides, what more did Kant do
+than, under the form of a system (a defective form, no doubt, but
+hitherto the only one known to philosophy)--what more, we ask, did he
+than develop and render prominent what had been implicitly contained in
+the teaching of all preceding metaphysicians? Had not they all assigned
+a share in human consciousness to the subjective and relative, and very
+often a larger share than we are led to think, if we only regard their
+conclusions? Has there, for example, been since the days of Plato a
+single metaphysician who has denied the knowledge of the senses to be
+relative, and has the full scope and bearing of this principle been
+accurately measured? Can that be denied which has been scientifically
+demonstrated, which Descartes already affirmed, _i.e._, that light and
+sound--Nature's two great languages--are only the products of our
+physical organization, and that outside of the eye that sees, and the
+ear that hears, there is nothing external to us but a series of
+vibrations and undulations, which are neither luminous nor sonorous?
+Reduced to itself, without the presence of men or animals, matter is
+merely darkness and silence! What sort of matter may this be, and how
+little resembling the one we know? But is not, it may be said, the
+reality of that matter attested at least by resistance, by impact? The
+reality--yes; but is the very nature of the external thing, as it is in
+itself, manifested thereby? What is impact, what is resistance, if not a
+mode of our sensations? To be assured of this, we have but to turn to
+all that metaphysicians teach us as to the nature of God. All agree in
+saying that God has no sensations. If God be cognizant of matter, as is
+indubitable, it follows that He does not know it through sensations
+similar to ours. The _argumentum baculinum_ which appears so convincing
+to Sganarelle, would be powerless with regard to a pure spirit, still
+more an infinite spirit. Now is not this as much as to say that impact
+is the mode of action bodies exercise on each other, and by which
+sentient beings are made aware of their existence, but that it is a mode
+purely relative to the sensibility of finite beings? Say that, we at
+least admit with Descartes the reality of extension. But what is the
+real size of the extended things by which we are surrounded, and which
+according to the shape of our lenses we see enlarged, diminished, or
+even distorted in a thousand ways? Were it to please God, as Leibnitz
+has said, to collect the immensity of worlds into a walnut-shell, while
+preserving the proportion of objects, we should never find it out; and
+such diminution might be carried on infinitely, without ever reaching
+any term of smallness. 'We grant it,' will be the reply--'all sensible
+knowledge is relative; Plato, Malebranche, Leibnitz, have sufficiently
+told us this; but above the senses there is the understanding, which
+alone is made for truth. Our senses give us the appearance of things,
+our understanding makes us see them as they are in themselves.' Nothing
+more true, and this is the basis of metaphysics. But the question is, to
+what point the understanding is separated and separable from
+sensibility, and reciprocally, to what point sensibility enters into the
+understanding. Is there anything in us which can really be called
+understanding pure? Understanding--yes; but pure--no! Man cannot think
+without images, says Aristotle; this alone demonstrates that our
+understanding is always obliged to sensibilize its most abstract
+concepts. Moreover, between pure concepts and the data of sensibility
+there is still a debatable and obscure region--that, namely, of space
+and time. And here it is that Kant has made his mark ineffaceably. It is
+by so doing that he renovated metaphysics. He believed, thought, that
+both these domains belonged to sensibility and not to intelligence, that
+they too were only modes of representation--that is to say, modes purely
+relative to the nature of our mind. On this point also traditional
+metaphysics came to his support, at least as regards time. For is it not
+said by all schools whatever that God is not in time, that He is an
+eternal _Now_, that past and future are nothing to Him? Is it not this
+conception which is constantly appealed to as affording the solution of
+the conflict between divine prescience and human liberty? Now to affirm
+that God is not in time, and that He sees all portions of time in one
+sole and eternal present, is not this as much as to say that time is
+only the mode of representation of finite beings with regard to
+themselves; that, consequently, it is an image belonging to their
+finitude, but not to what they are in themselves, since God, who must
+see them as they are, sees them in an absolutely and radically different
+manner? Let us add another difference between the human and divine
+intelligence, pointed out by Bossuet, when he said, "We see things
+because they are, but they are because God sees them." Therefore in God
+intelligence is anterior to things, in us posterior. Now, though we can,
+through artistic creation, form some idea of an intelligence anterior to
+things, the analogy is, after all, a coarse one, since in us creative
+imagination only deals with materials borrowed from without. Hence it
+follows that our intelligence is but a very imperfect image of the
+divine. Now, as the latter alone can be the type of veritable
+intelligence, we can only attribute to ourselves a relative
+intelligence, subordinated to the conditions of the creature. But does
+not this amount precisely to saying that we only see things in a
+subjective and human manner, and that, consequently, we do not know them
+as they are in themselves? Let us go further still; let us raise
+ourselves to conceptions of the perfect being, the divine being. Here,
+too, all metaphysicians agree in acknowledging that we have only an
+entirely relative view of the Divinity. Is there one who admits that we
+can, without anthropomorphism, understand literally all the attributes
+that we impute to the Deity? Has not God Himself defined Himself in
+Scripture as _Deus absconditus_, and does not the doctrine of mysteries
+in every great religion imply that the true essence of the Deity is
+unknown to us, and that, consequently, the philosophic doctrine of the
+attributes of God is a purely human conception, by which we strive to
+represent to ourselves the unrepresentable, and to bring within the
+grasp of our sensibility and our imagination the august and sublime
+notion that confounds all created substance?
+
+This is what we are taught by all metaphysic doctrine whatever, and not
+only by that of Kant, Plato, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Descartes,
+Malebranche, Leibnitz, F�nelon: all alike teach us that the senses are
+but a confused and relative knowledge, that space and time are modes of
+finite existence, that God can only be conceived of by analogy, and not
+in His essence. Are such conceptions as these very different from those
+of Kant? And if he has taken them up again under another form, if by
+isolating he has exaggerated them, his is the merit of having brought
+them into prominence, of reminding us of them, and forcing us to assign
+them a more important place in our doctrines. Despite the warnings of
+the greatest minds, and of all great minds, are we not ceaselessly
+tempted to yield to the automatic instinct which makes us believe things
+to be as we see them, makes us suppose the existence of a matter, solid,
+coloured, sonorous, cold, or hot, such as the senses acquaint us with;
+makes us believe in an absolute space and time, with which we no longer
+know how to deal when we think of the true Absolute; makes us conceive
+of this true Absolute or Goodness as of a species of great man, that we
+strip of a body, without even reflecting whether we have really the
+power of representing to ourselves anything absolutely incorporeal? It
+is against this vulgar current dogmatism, which philosophy has so much
+trouble in getting rid of, that not only Kant, but every metaphysician,
+protests. Kant only expounded, under a rigorous and systematic form, all
+the critical portion of previous metaphysics. To us it seems
+impossible--with more or less reservation, and without insisting at
+present too rigidly on the share of the relative and subjective in human
+knowledge--impossible, we say, not to allow this share, and
+consequently, in a certain measure, not to give in our adherence to
+transcendental criticism and idealism. There is, however, as we have
+seen above, something which escapes from this relativity of all human
+knowledge: it is the very fact of knowing. This fact has in itself
+something absolute. I know not whence it comes, I cannot explain it; I
+marvel that a being should be met with in whom at one time or other what
+we call knowledge has appeared; but this fact cannot exist without being
+known by the knower. All knowledge supposes, then, a subject that knows
+itself--that is to say, who is internally present to himself. Here
+knowledge comes from within, not from without. Whatever is objective can
+only _appear_ to me, and is consequently a _phenomenon_. I only see its
+outside, and it is only in relation to myself that I can grasp even that
+outside. But the conscious _ego_ sees itself from within. Shall we say
+that it appears to itself? I am willing to say so, but as it appears to
+itself that appearance is a reality, for the form that I give it is my
+own form. In order that it should become _me_, _I_ must be _me_. Every
+other object has to be given in the first instance before it is
+perceived; in order that I should see a house, a house must be there. It
+is not so with the _ego_. For if at the moment it is given me it is not
+already me, how is it to become so? How shall I know it as such? And if
+it be already me, it is already perceived as such. Hence it follows that
+the external thing may be represented without being, as happens in
+sleep, while I cannot think without thinking myself, or think myself
+without existing. All subjectivism, all relativism, all criticism,
+therefore, are baffled in presence of the _ego_.
+
+It is from this solid and immovable foundation laid by Descartes at the
+entrance of science that we may set out to extend the sphere of our
+knowledge. Everything, it is said, is relative. What matter if that
+relative be connected by precise and fixed relations with the unknown,
+if that which is given be a strictly faithful projection of that which
+is thought? For instance, we do not know the souls of other men in
+themselves, we have never seen a soul such as it is in itself; those
+even which are dearest to us are unknown like the rest. But if we
+suppose all the signs by which they manifest themselves to be sincere,
+is it not to know them truly and in the only way intelligible to us, to
+hear their voices, and understand their words, and interpret their
+actions? No doubt nothing external to ourselves can be known internally
+by us; but if the exterior be the expression of the interior, is not the
+one the equivalent of the other? And to ask more would amount to asking
+to be more than man. Science teaches us that all appearances have a
+fixed and precise relation to reality. The visible apparent sky is
+strictly what it ought to be to express the real sky. The deeper our
+knowledge of things goes, the more we see the perfect conformity of the
+apparent to the real, the more faithfully do phenomena translate
+noumena. Are we not, therefore, justified in supposing that these
+relative noumena, which are still no more than appearances, could be
+translated in their turn, if only we had the key to them, into other
+noumena of which they are the form and image? I may say the same about
+the anthropomorphic representations of Deity. I admit that the Absolute
+is in its essence above all human representations. But these
+representations, when we disengage them as much as possible from all
+sensible elements, are none the less the true expression of that
+incomprehensible essence in so far as it appears to a human
+consciousness. If not God in Himself, it is God in relation to me; and
+it is with only this last that we have to do so long as we are but men.
+
+We do not, therefore, consider it impossible to assign to the critical
+element its part in metaphysic without denying the objective reality of
+knowledge. We think that the famous old distinction between being and
+phenomena, the intelligible and the sensible, still endures, despite the
+"Kritik" of Kant; or rather, this very "Kritik" itself is, in our eyes,
+only a hyperbolical but striking manner of expressing this great truth.
+
+    PAUL JANET.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] We already endeavoured to make this philosophy known at its earliest
+appearance, by an article that appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_
+of the 19th October, 1873, under the title, "A New Phase of
+Spiritualism." We are now dealing with the most recent form of this new
+school.
+
+[2] Hamilton's "Discussions: Cousin, Schelling."
+
+[3] Herbert Spencer's "First Principles," First Part p. 18.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE MORAL LIMITS OF BENEFICIAL COMMERCE.
+
+
+When a Professor of _Political Economy_ was first established in the
+University of Oxford, a controversy presently arose in the academical
+common rooms concerning the just meaning of the phrase. Among elder and
+conservative men, the most active-minded insisted that it ought to
+receive the full width of meaning attached to it by Aristotle in his
+Treatise on Economy, which, with him, was essentially the economy of the
+State--that is, in pure Greek, _political_ economy, although this
+epithet is not annexed to his title. By this interpretation, the science
+naturally and necessarily became implicated with moral considerations,
+which never can be excluded from the statesman's view. But the actual
+students and professors of the new science--eminently Mr. Nassau Senior
+and Dr. Whately, shortly afterwards Archbishop of Dublin--naturally
+feared that by such an interpretation political economy would become
+confounded with politics; would, indeed, cease to be a science; and by
+so great an enlargement of its area, would fail to receive that special
+and definite cultivation which Adam Smith had bestowed on it, as the
+theory of national wealth. Whately indeed, to avoid this inconvenient
+extension of the sense, proposed to call the topic, not political
+economy, but _Catallactics_--that is, the science of exchanges.
+Excellent in many respects as the last title was, it might have seemed
+to exclude the whole doctrine of taxation, and still more decisively all
+discussion of Malthus's theory of population, which belongs to politics
+or to morals, not at all to the doctrine of exchange. In the end, the
+economists ruled that their science does not at all teach what _ought_
+to be, but simply what _is_, what _goes on_, and _will go on_, as an
+inevitable result of individuals holding exchangeable right in definite
+articles. Thus they seemed to have driven moral considerations out of
+their science, as much as out of gardening or medicine. To call their
+political economy, on that account, _heartless_ (as so many have done)
+may seem ridiculous; but this form of attack on it arose from a
+perception or belief that its professors were claiming for it an
+_imperative_ force, while disclaiming morality, and were assuming that
+it was a sufficient and supreme rule for political action.
+
+Of late it has been maintained on a special ground that moral
+considerations cannot wholly be excluded from political economy. Dr. W.
+B. Hodgson, first holder of a new chair in Edinburgh as Professor of
+_Mercantile_ Economy, has urged that, in so far as morality or
+immorality in individuals affects wealth and the markets, we do not
+exhaust the discussion on exchanges while we neglect this consideration.
+Perhaps indeed no one, in discussing taxation, has omitted to consider
+what taxes lead to fraudulent evasion or to smuggling; but economists
+hitherto, with great unanimity, have resolved that, in their character
+of economists, they will not notice moral evils from an opium trade, or
+from sale of deadly weapons and ammunition, or from traffic in
+intoxicants; nor can one in general discover from their writings that
+they know vice to be wasteful, or national expenditure on needless and
+foolish objects undesirable. They have a right to select what topics
+they will treat, and what they will not treat. They have a right to say:
+"Such and such considerations belong to morals, not to _our_ political
+economy." But, on the one hand, if they are resolved that their science
+shall be as unmoral as engineering or navigation, they must not claim
+for it any decisive weight in State-politics; on the other hand, the
+topics which they neglect need, so much the more urgently, to be treated
+by others, especially since we have no professors of practical morals,
+and (for more reasons than one) questions of the market are not thought
+suitable to the pulpit.
+
+That an exchange of one thing for another does, on the whole, _please_
+both parties to the exchange, is evidently testified by the fact that
+each acts voluntarily; hence, the inference is too lightly made that
+each is _benefited_ by the transaction. Not only so, but from an
+increasing magnitude of exchanges increase of wealth is inferred,
+without any reference to the nature of the things exchanged. In a rough
+estimate, this reasoning has, no doubt, a _prim� facie_ weight, for we
+may not dictate to the tastes of others, nor assume that tastes which
+are not ours are therefore silly. Yet, evidently things which perish in
+the using quickly cease to be wealth, and things which are not likely to
+be approved continuously cannot long command the same high price. No
+article could fetch a price at all if it were not intended to be
+enjoyed, used, or consumed; the final purchase is called expenditure,
+and all expenditure is liable to moral judgment, approving or censuring.
+When we censure expenditure, not merely because it is excessive, but
+because it is essentially foolish or evil, we necessarily deplore and
+deprecate the traffic which feeds it--the traffic which it encourages;
+hence, some vicious trades are even forbidden by law. Short of this,
+there is necessarily a large margin of trades which law does not, and
+perhaps cannot successfully, forbid, which nevertheless may be justly
+regretted, censured, and, as far as may be, discountenanced. Economists
+are not here blamed if they (disowning moral considerations) do nothing
+of the kind; but they must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that
+some trades, not forbidden by law, are so far from promoting wealth and
+weal as to be gravely pernicious. To rejoice in their magnitude, to
+announce it triumphantly as a proof of national prosperity, is something
+worse than a mistake.
+
+No reader, it is believed, will complain that the last sentence is
+mysterious or obscure. Our manufacturers of cotton and woollen have of
+late loudly deplored the falling off of their home trade, while the
+consumption of intoxicating drink continues to increase. They believe
+that if the labouring classes spent less on the brewer and distiller,
+they would spend more on the clothier. The most fanatical devotee of
+alcohol cannot deny that too much of it is drunk, in face of the
+long-continued avowal of the judges that drink is by far the greatest
+cause of crime--drink, short of evident and provable drunkenness.
+Indeed, it is not from those who are outright drunk, but from those who
+have been drinking, that the worst and most numerous outrages come,
+while the foot and the eye are steady, though the brain and the passions
+are perverted. To boast and rejoice in the magnitude of the drink
+traffic, legal as it undoubtedly is, has no moral defence. The topic is
+here adduced, not in order to push that argument further, but in order
+to insist that the mere increase of a trade does not _in itself_ denote
+an increase of wealth; is not _in itself_ necessarily a thing to be
+applauded either by the economist or by the moralist. In each case we
+must look into detail, and consider whether this or that prosperous
+trade, like a huge weed in a garden, dwarfs or kills other growths,
+which, but for it, might thrive.
+
+An avowed ardent disciple of Mr. Cobden--a gentleman in some eminence of
+place and rank--has recently dissuaded taxes on wine and tobacco for the
+sake of revenue, _not_ on the ground which one might expect--viz., that
+a Government ought not to base a revenue on what may chance to be public
+vice, _but_ on the ground that "the grower of wine in France and of
+tobacco in America" can reasonably refuse to trade with us, if "we will
+not accept payment in _the only coin_ which he has to offer--namely, in
+his wine or his tobacco."[4] As if we were not competent to reply: "Of
+wine and tobacco we quickly get more than enough. Preserve your grapes
+in sawdust, or make them into raisins, and you will not find our people
+averse to enjoy them, nor will you encounter any unreasonable duty from
+our Custom-houses. As to tobacco, surely the rich land which alone can
+raise it, can raise no end of other products which we are certain to
+value." This well-informed writer, in his whole argument, seems to
+account wine the only food-product which we receive from France (to
+silks and elegant articles he once slightly alludes); but he cannot be
+ignorant that the solid food which France sends us in eggs, cheese,
+butter, vegetables, chickens, and dry fruit is enormous; she would in
+ordinary years send us wheat, did not America, Russia, and Australia
+make it needless. To speak of wine as _the only coin_ of France is a
+wonderful straining of argument. But the reason for quoting it here is
+to illustrate how completely the School of Cobden wishes the State to
+ignore moral considerations in trade. Yet the State deserves no
+reverence, if it be not moral. Laws and enactments, framed by minds
+reckless of morality, are apt to be, on the one side unjust and
+oppressive, on the other eminently corrupting. A State which gains
+revenue from a vicious trade, such as gambling and debauchery,
+demoralizes its people so effectually as to deserve reprobation rather
+than reverence. According to the ancients, the lawgiver begins to
+civilize society and to earn veneration by establishing marriage and
+sanctifying the family. Are we to say, "We have changed all that now;
+let the Church care for morality: it is no concern of the State?" Who
+first taught such sentiment as wise policy, it is not easy to say; but
+it certainly has, in practice, if not in theory, attained a deadly
+currency. It never was the doctrine of Adam Smith. It is obviously a
+sure road to ruin, if its development be unopposed.
+
+A legislator, of course, ought not to guide his enactments by the
+morality of any one school. If, in Greek fashion, we were to set up an
+Epimenides, a Solon, a Lycurgus, as plenipotentiary to start us in a new
+course, there might be some little danger of one-sided and conceited
+morals; yet not much, even so; for a very one-sided or very stupid man
+would hardly be elected: every lawgiver wishes his new institutions to
+be permanent, and is sure to have some regard to the friction which they
+would encounter in working. But where the legislation must have
+sanction, not from one man, but from a thousand men, of whom six hundred
+are elected from different circles of mixed ranks, from diverse
+localities, where forms and schools of religion, based on variety of
+thought, prevail, it is evidently impossible that in the laws
+collectively approved any moral ideas should dominate, except those
+which are common to all who are morally cultivated. To dread moral
+considerations in the debates of an English Parliament, lest the
+morality prevailing in its laws become one-sided and arbitrary, pedantic
+and ascetic, is so baseless, so wanting in good sense, as scarcely to
+seem sincere. When people tell us, "We shall be liable to have laws
+against dancing and cardplaying, or laws compelling us to go to church,
+if we insist that legislation ought to study for the public virtue,"
+they not only make themselves ridiculous, they even force us to suspect
+that they fear lest vice be repressed in ways inconvenient to the
+vicious. So much is premised, lest it be imagined or pretended that in
+pointing at moral limits to beneficial commerce any morality is desired
+less broad than that which all noble and well-reputed schools
+accept--the morals of mankind. At the same time, what is here advanced
+is intended to bear less immediately on law than on the general tenor of
+public opinion and practical writing.
+
+Many economists write, as assuming that it is a step forward in
+civilization when a barbarous people learns artificial wants. If a New
+Zealander, instead of being satisfied with a mat for his back, which,
+made by himself, will last him for years, betakes himself to an English
+coat, which he must buy with a price,--which indeed less effectually
+shields him from wet, and sooner wears out,--he does that which is
+convenient to the English trader, but to him is a very doubtful gain:
+perhaps rather he brings on himself colds, cough, and consumption. If a
+thousand Maoris did the same, the commerce might figure in a Maori
+budget, and a Maori economist might point to the new trade as a step
+forward in national prosperity. The Zulus, as described by Englishmen
+who have travelled in Zululand or lived in the midst of them in Natal,
+are an upright, generous, faithful, honest race; and strange to say,
+Englishmen, who have such experience of them, are found to corroborate
+the utterance of Cetewayo, "A Zulu trained by a missionary is a Zulu
+spoiled"--that is, when trained in our habits they lose their national
+virtues. How can this be? why should it be? Apparently, because from us
+they learn artificial wants. While an apron suffices a Zulu for
+clothing, and a very simple hut for shelter, he can in many ways afford
+to be hospitable and generous. A man with very few wants has all the
+feelings of superfluity and wealth while surrounded by possessions so
+slender that we count him very poor: and when with an amount of toil
+which to his hardihood is not at all severe, he can always calculate on
+providing for himself and family all that their simple habits need, he
+is not deterred from present generosity by studying for his own future.
+But if he learn to covet and count necessary a number of articles which
+require from him threefold labour, he feels himself no longer rich, but
+poor; then, instead of giving small favours gratuitously, he claims to
+be paid for everything; instead of being princely, he becomes mercenary
+and stingy. If he imitate the dress, he is liable to envy the wealth of
+the Englishman, and in schemes of laying up for the future he easily
+becomes avaricious, perhaps fraudulent. Such are the steps by which one
+may justly calculate that some or many barbarians degenerate from the
+normal goodness of their fellows. The artificial wants which they learn
+when housed with our missionaries, or imbibe from the crafty allurements
+of traders, are not (_prim� facie_) a benefit at all, do not conduce to
+independence, to the sense of wealth, nor to the practice of virtue.
+They are simply a convenience to the European trader. If a Maori or Zulu
+chief frown upon such trade, which judgment does he deserve--to be
+scolded as barbarous, or to be praised as sagacious? With them, perhaps
+also with us, to account but few things necessary is a foundation for
+many virtues. Our economists often reverse the picture.
+
+No stress is here laid on the fact that the historical saints of
+Christendom thought it an excellence to be satisfied with a minimum of
+external appliances for the comfort of the body. So much of arbitrary
+opinion may be imputed reasonably to them, and so much of fancy and
+credulity to their biographers, that it does not occur to the present
+writer to account their practices or principles any support to his
+argument. But the case of Socrates, and many other Greek philosophers,
+is different, and much to the point. With them, high thought, cheap
+feeding, and mean circumstantials frequently went together; and perhaps
+even those philosophers, who were somewhat mercenary and rich, would
+vehemently have renounced the idea that it is a good thing to acquire
+habits and tastes which make necessary to us things previously needless.
+But there is danger of drawing the reader's thoughts into a new channel
+by this allusion to Greek philosophers when an argument of national
+economy is chiefly intended, not of personal virtues. As it is better
+for an individual to be satisfied with supplies that are sufficient,
+close at hand, and easy of attainment, than to have fastidious tastes
+which cannot be supplied without considerable effort and labour, so it
+is better for a nation to have a taste for its native products, so far
+as our lower wants are concerned. If we can get all that the health and
+strength of the body needs from our own soil, and with small
+expenditure, this is better for us than to be enslaved to artificial
+tastes, which multiply labours for mere bodily supply. To fix ideas, let
+me illustrate the principle here contained by discussing those popular
+beverages, tea and coffee.
+
+Tea undoubtedly, as superseding beer, cider, and wine, has wrought much
+benefit to England, even if it have been (when heavily taxed) dearer
+than our native intoxicants. When taken with little food, in strong and
+frequent cups, it may often have weakened the nerves; but it does not,
+like alcohol, pervert the brain and inflame the mind, thus leading to
+folly, vice, and crime. The present writer is, and always has been, a
+tea drinker; nor have the many assaults on this beverage which have been
+sent to him shaken his belief that, taken in moderation, it has no evil
+comparable to its good. The present argument does not aim to prove that
+tea is in itself bad, only that the too-exclusive addiction to it has
+hurtfully excluded the trial of native beverages, which are perhaps
+better, certainly cheaper, and far more accessible.
+
+Rigid enemies of alcoholic drink often assure us, in poetical and
+ecstatic language, that water is the only reasonable and right drink for
+man, as for other animals; but the water which they recommend and
+describe as gushing and sparkling in mountain rills does not come to the
+hearth and home of every mountain dweller, much less is it attainable by
+the inhabitants of cities or boggy plains. The hardy beasts of the
+field, if they can get the water pure, manage to endure its coldness in
+all seasons; so perhaps might we, if we could recover robustness of the
+stomach without losing any advantage of a developed brain. That such
+recovery is impossible is not here asserted, but simply that, under the
+existing circumstances, the water (through its impurities or its
+coldness) often needs to be cooked, to be warmed, to have then some
+taste superadded which shall overcome mawkishness. When this is
+conceded, the question arises, will no native botany suffice? Are we of
+necessity driven to import tea from China or Assam? Such are the
+wonderful and deep harmonies of Nature that in each long-inhabited
+country the constitution of animals becomes adapted to its plants as
+well as to its climate, and finds among them not only its food, but its
+remedies for disease. Native herbs are often found more health-restoring
+than pretentious foreign drugs; nor is it extravagant to imagine that
+native leaves and berries might adapt themselves as well to the palate
+of Englishmen as tea and coffee, and better to their stomachs, if,
+instead of buying from the foreigner, we had duly studied our home
+resources. In the case of coffee, it curiously happens that there are
+persons among us who prefer what is called dandelion coffee to the
+coffee of Arabia; and that the preference is sincere seems proved by the
+accident that the dandelion thus prepared is dearer than the best Mocha.
+Nor does this dearness weigh against our argument. Twenty years ago
+brown bread was charged by bakers as fancy bread; ten years ago lentils
+were double their present price; in each case because the demand was so
+uncertain. The price of dandelion would quickly come down if it were in
+large and daily request. As substitutes for tea many leaves may be named
+which will not be called simply medicinal, prominently those of the
+sweet bay, the peach, and the black currant. If we were by any cause cut
+off from tropical markets, some combination would soon be discovered
+which carried off public preference; and when a national taste in it had
+once been established, every good purpose would have been attained
+without the foreign article. Should we not in that case moralize with
+wonder over the vast apparatus of great ships, which had been built, and
+manned, and stored, and sent to sea, with loss of sailors' lives,
+entailing widowhood and orphanhood, for no better reason than to bring
+back leaves, for which adequate substitutes abound at home? This
+argument undertakes not to prove, but to illustrate. It is not specially
+confined to the case of tea or coffee. It does not make positive
+assertion that we can now change the English taste, nor does it urge a
+transition which would be violent, if at all sudden. It merely points to
+reasonable probabilities, as showing that a vast trade with a distant
+country to gratify an artificial want, if it prove how much we can
+afford to spend without being ruined, yet does not at all prove that we
+enrich ourselves by the exchange. At the same time, so great is the
+facility for making drinks, that we might assume higher ground and press
+our argument farther. The deliciousness of Oriental sherbet is no matter
+of doubt or controversy. Its basis is simply barley-water; to flavour
+it, the foreigner, of course, uses some of his own fruits, but we have
+plenty of substitutes at hand, at least while sugar abounds to us. It
+may be warmed, if necessary: so little need we depend on the Chinese.
+Besides, some among us are satisfied with, and warmly applaud, the drink
+prepared from simple oatmeal. If we all had this taste, we should
+nationally be richer.
+
+It may be retorted, "Did you not name _Sugar_? Do you advocate making
+sugar of beetroot?" But no general renunciation of foreign commerce is
+for a moment here suggested as expedient. While we can bring sugar made
+from cane, and save our lands for other uses than beetroot, we presume
+this commerce to conduce to wealth. Not but that we may suspect the
+cheapness of sugar to conspire with other causes in slackening our zeal
+for _Honey_. Bees do not occupy and use up arable land. An abundance of
+cottage gardens and little rockeries satisfy them. Their depredations do
+not lessen the sweetness of flowers, nor the savour of herbs. They add
+to our wealth, at very small expense. They greatly add to the
+fertilization of plants. By all means let us get from the foreigner what
+we need; only let us not therefore neglect and forget our native
+resources.
+
+In other and greater matters a like topic recurs. When the controversy
+against the Corn Laws was at its height, the advocates of repeal were
+taunted with wishing to explode native wheat. They replied, "Wheat is
+now largely sown in England where the climate or soil is unfavourable;
+in such fields only, the culture will be discouraged; where it can be
+produced and ripened with greater certainty it will still be grown, and
+the price will no longer be forced up; the lands less suited to wheat
+may well yield, either some other grain in rotation, or other needful
+crop." Valid as this reply seemed, grand and glorious as are the results
+of opening our ports to foreign corn, the retrospect of thirty years
+nevertheless suggests new lines of thought. Want of food in Ireland when
+the potato crop failed was the argument which converted Sir Robert Peel;
+but the desire of selling cotton and woollen fabrics, or hardware, to
+those whose "chief coin" was wheat, gave an earlier impetus to the
+Anti-Corn Law League. Cobden and his associates were in the right, and
+performed well the task of the day; but the existing state of our
+agriculture is now discerned to be highly unsatisfactory. Every year
+widens and deepens the conviction that our laws of Land Tenure are
+fundamentally wrong; indeed, they are diverse from those of all the
+world; if they are not signally better than those of all other nations,
+they are gravely and lamentably worse; and the idea now presents itself,
+that the temporary relief given to us by the free importation of wheat
+has proved a buttress to an evil system of land laws, and has blinded us
+to the essential evils contingent on a perpetual increasing ratio of the
+population in great towns to that of the rustic districts. Much
+wealthier, no doubt, we are, and our poorer classes are less
+hard-worked. To dwell on the drawbacks through higher expectations,
+artificial wants, higher prices of coal, bricks, and houses--not to
+mention worse matters--might lead into too long digression. But, to
+bring out the idea here pointed at, we may speculate as to the results
+which must have followed, if no foreign markets had been able to give
+us permanent supplies of necessary food. Suppose that barely we had been
+able in 1847 to save from starvation as many poor Irishmen as we did
+save, but that in succeeding years the United Kingdom had been cast on
+its own resources for grain and cattle; will any one maintain that by a
+proper use of the land we could not have fed our own population?
+
+If any one is of that opinion, let him consider the phenomena of French
+agriculture. A century ago France seemed unable to feed her inhabitants.
+Thousands of the population died of starvation, even the king's own
+servants. Misery among the peasants and the poorer classes in towns was
+universal. No one imagined that the country could afford to export food,
+or had any idea of its vast capacity of production. Her climate is not
+now superior to what it was; her area is somewhat enlarged by the
+sagacious plantings on dunes of sand; the soil is improved by a
+century's tillage; the produce is more valuable, because the peasants
+have been taught many secrets of fruit culture. Most important of all,
+millions of peasants are owners of small freeholds. The "magic of
+property" has made them industrious, saving and ever vigilant to
+increase and improve the crops. We in England censure and deplore the
+compulsion on a French parent to divide his petty freehold and his gains
+equally among his children. If this be a grave evil, yet so much the
+more remarkable are the marvellous results of the union in one man of
+landlord, farmer, and labourer: for we see that by the universal and
+untiring industry which this fact elicits, not only were the great
+extravagances of the Second Empire and its wars sustained, but, in spite
+of the scarcely calculable losses of the Franco-German war, the fine of
+two hundred and fifty millions sterling, which France had to pay, was
+paid within four or five years, while a larger army than ever was raised
+and maintained. No one can dispute that the unexampled buoyancy of
+French finance is due mainly to the sound conditions of French landed
+tenure. Ireland, Scotland, and England all await a similar development,
+and never can be satisfied without it: but we have postponed the day of
+necessary reform by buying our food of almost every kind, in dangerous
+amount, from foreign countries, while our own arable land goes back into
+grass and pasture.
+
+And what reply does the Right Hon. John Bright make, when addressed with
+a claim of reformed landed tenure? His name is here adduced for honour,
+as an eminent type of the Cobden School; but the habitual reply is,
+"Good! we are in favour of Free Trade in land:" as though Free Trade
+were in itself a charm which can scare away all evils; as though the
+existing freedom to accumulate land to any extent by purchase were not
+one of our greatest mischiefs. Men cannot live in the air. Land for a
+dwelling is as essential as air and water. Land is very limited in
+quantity, especially land conveniently situated, with favourable
+conditions. Land primitively belongs to a nation, and no man naturally
+has any right to more of it than he can himself cultivate and use. Large
+landed estates are a vast power, social and political. Their possession
+was originally in England an official trust, coupled with political
+duties and customary dues in payment: but without right of ejectment
+while those dues were paid. The commercial idea of land is a perversion
+and abuse. Those who fancy that the abolition of entails and
+primogeniture and whatever makes conveyances expensive, will bring about
+the desirable reform, boast that their remedy will hoist up the market
+price of land; in other words, it would make an effective purchase by
+the State more and more difficult, more and more burdensome to the
+community. Nay, it might even delay the necessary reform, until the
+patience of a nation under a landlord Parliament broke down, and such a
+revolution followed as that of France under Louis XVI. As there is a
+moral limit to the magnitude of beneficial commerce with the foreigner,
+much more is there a moral limit to the beneficial magnitude of landed
+estates. Happily some despots are philanthropic; yet we are not in love
+with despotism. Some great landowners are philanthropic: higher honour
+be to them! but we must calculate that very many will covet power over
+all who reside on the estate, and will use the power not always kindly;
+or will employ it as a political engine to win state-offices and
+salaries for their families; others, more directly and unblushingly
+mercenary, will think chiefly how to raise rent, and will forbid both
+crops and inhabitants, if wealthy lovers of occasional sport outbid
+ordinary farmers. If from mere pride and love of the romantic a landlord
+make his estate a wilderness, the nation still suffers the damage. Its
+population is cooped into towns or driven into exile, its markets are
+starved, its military force is lowered. While the Cobden School
+pertinaciously connives at these great evils, and juggles with the
+phrase "Free Trade" as if land were an article which ought to be on the
+same footing as moveables, they are playing into the hands of their
+nominal adversaries.
+
+The first measure which we need is not one which shall facilitate the
+purchase of new and new estates by the over-wealthy, who, if they are
+not gamblers or otherwise vicious, often know not what to do with their
+vast incomes; but much rather a measure which shall set a maximum area
+for estates. The mildest thing to do is, not in the first instance to
+pass any new _Act_, but only a resolution or _Vote_ of the Commons,
+declaring that it is against the public interest for any individual to
+possess more than a thousand acres of rustic land, or more than five
+acres of town land; and that whoever bequeaths to one person more than
+the above-named, ought to be subjected to a heavy and special land tax.
+In the same direction we need other special votes of the House, to the
+effect--that by legislation, by purchase, and by taxation the recovery
+of the national soil for the nation from year to year ought to be
+systematically pursued, wherever now held in large masses by bodies of
+men or by individuals; and that in order to give to cultivators the full
+results of their own industry, it is expedient that the State, out of
+its own present or future domains, carve out numerous small farms to be
+held under it as by copyright tenure, not subject to rise of rent.
+Space does not permit further detail, or reply to objections; but the
+idea intended is to work in the direction of _virtual_ freeholds, ever
+increasing in number, which cannot be bought out of the hands of the
+cultivators by tempting prices from the rich, because they are legally
+State property, and destined to remain as areas of small culture. By
+buying up from time to time the lands possessed by large charities, by
+legacy taxes directed to discourage bequests of land in great mass, and
+by direct purchases of land or rather by taking the legacy tax in land
+itself, the State would beneficently in the course of many generations
+undo the injustices and frauds of the past.
+
+Land is so far from being a desirable object of unlimited commerce
+(called by the Cobden School Free Trade), that, especially under the
+modern interpretation which makes the lord (or chief man) _owner_ of the
+land, the most jealous limitations ought to be imposed on it by the
+State. So long, indeed, as a man holds no more of it than one family can
+cultivate, jealousy is needless; for the holder (especially if he pay a
+quit-rent for it) is sure to cultivate it, and cannot offend by
+excluding population. Town land ought, as soon as possible, to become
+town property; and, meanwhile, as early as possible, all town building
+to be subjected to a public veto for sanitary reasons. To make away into
+mercenary hands, as an article of trade, the whole solid area on which a
+nation lives, is astonishing as an idea of statesmanship. There is
+another matter connected with land as to which the State may justly feel
+great jealousy--namely, as to the consumption and exportation of
+material which cannot be reproduced. It is said that Sicily, under the
+Romans first, was largely deteriorated by the perpetual exportation of
+corn, exhausting even very fertile soil. Ireland in the past may have
+suffered by the constant sending out of cattle and pigs, with no
+back-current of commerce to restore all that their bones and flesh took
+out of the earth. Virginia and other States of the American Union
+largely ruined their soil by unceasing exportation of tobacco and other
+products. But to come closer home, no crops of coal can be grown in
+England and Wales. We reap where we have not sown, where we cannot sow.
+We export in enormous mass what we cannot reproduce. We allow
+individuals to become, out and out, proprietors of the national coal,
+and then sanction their unlimited exportation of it, with the high
+probability that this may cripple industry in the near future of
+England. This surely is a commerce, the benefit of which is very
+doubtful even in a cosmopolitan view. It may seem better to stimulate
+other nations to search for coal on their own soil than to use up what
+we cannot replace. And as for some other articles of immense commerce,
+as tobacco, it may seem doubtful which nation loses more by it--the
+importers or the exporters. Surely in all these cases the quality of the
+things bought and sold must be considered carefully, before we regard
+the magnitude of any trade a national benefit or a source of national
+wealth.
+
+    F. W. NEWMAN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] "Reciprocity," by Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., 1879: Printed for the
+Cobden Club.
+
+
+
+
+THE MYTHS OF THE SEA AND THE RIVER OF DEATH.
+
+
+At the present time, when theologians and those who have most aptitude
+for such discussions are arguing "in thoughts more elevate" of the
+soul's future life, and its rewards and punishments therein, the
+pre-historic student is tempted to let _his_ thoughts wander backwards
+over a different aspect of the same subject, in an effort to link again
+the chain of belief concerning heaven and hell, which joins this present
+with a long-forgotten past. The difficulty which we feel in uniting
+ourselves in thought with past ages, arises surely more often from the
+imperfection of our sympathies than from the deficiency of our positive
+knowledge. So many questions which were once new have long been settled,
+so many experiments have been tried, such experiences have been lived
+through since then; it is so impossible that the earlier conditions of
+life and society should return; and we cannot bring ourselves to make
+the effort of imagination necessary to place us in harmony with bygone
+times. But there are some few questions which seem as far from
+settlement now as they ever were; one of these is the question
+concerning the destiny of man after death, the character of his journey
+into that undiscovered country, and the sort of life he will lead when
+there.
+
+    "A riddle which one shrinks
+    To challenge from the scornful sphinx."
+
+Some would dissuade us from the continuance of these (so they say)
+unfruitful speculations; but it is very certain that man must change his
+nature before they will lose their fascination for him; and until he
+does so, he cannot read without sympathy the guesses which past
+generations of men have made towards the solution of the same problems.
+For them, indeed, these solutions have lost their interest, as ours will
+soon do for us. Whatever lot that new condition may hold in store,
+eternal pleasure or eternal pain, they have tried it now; whatever
+scene the dark curtain hides, they have passed behind it. This is very
+certain: as that we soon must. But so long as we remain here upon this
+upper earth, we must be something above or below humanity if we refuse
+ever to let our thoughts wander toward the changes and chances of
+another life.
+
+Not, indeed, that questions of this sort have ever had for the majority
+of men in one age, or for the collective mass of human kind, an
+all-absorbing interest. If we choose to look closely into the matter,
+and to test men's opinion as it is displayed in their actions (the only
+real opinion), we shall at first perhaps be struck by the slight belief
+which they possess in a future state. For it is slight compared to their
+"notional assent," that which they think they believe concerning it.
+With the majority, faith upon this point is at best but shadowy, of an
+otiose character suitable for soothing the lots of others, and
+sometimes, alas! called into requisition to relieve us from the stings
+of conscience on account of the pain which our own misconduct or neglect
+has introduced therein. And as it is with us, so, save under exceptional
+conditions, it has always been with men in the full vigour and enjoyment
+of life. There have been times when one aspect of the future--its
+terror--has been realized with an intensity, and has exercised an
+influence upon life and conduct, such as is unknown in our days. But
+these times have not been ordinary ones, and we are apt, I think, even
+to over-estimate the force of faith during the Middle Ages. That term,
+"dark ages," overrides our fancy; "we can never hear mention of them
+without an accompanying feeling as though a palpable obscure had dimmed
+the face of things, and that our ancestors wandered to and fro
+groping."[5] But, then, neither have the most light-hearted and
+sceptical of people been able to shut their eyes utterly to the warnings
+of death. We are wont to think of the Greeks as of just such a
+light-hearted, and in a fashion sceptical, temperament, and to contrast
+the spirit of Hellas with the spirit of medi�val Europe. Scarcely any
+thought of death, or of judgment after death, disturbs the serenity of
+Greek art, such as it has come down to us. Thanatos is not to be
+found;[6] even the tombs are adorned with representations of war and of
+the chase, or with figures of the dancing Hours. And yet Greek art was
+not without its darker side. It had, like medi�val poetry, its
+Dante--Polygnotus, namely--who adorned the pilgrims' house at Delphi
+with frescoes representing the judgment and the tortures of the
+damned,--a Greek Campo Santo. He would have given us a different
+impression of the Greek mind in presence of the fact of mortality, and
+shown us how easily we are led to exaggerate the divergence in thought
+between different nations and different times.
+
+So we find as far back as we can test the belief of men, certain
+theories touching the fate of the soul after death, which represent, in
+the germ at least, the prevalent opinions of our own day; and out of
+some of which these opinions have sprung. First among these, probably in
+point of time, stands the purely sceptical theory which takes its rise
+from the earliest efforts of language to give expression to the unseen.
+Casting about for a name for the essential part of man, the life or soul
+of him, language finds at first that it has no suitable word, and then
+supplies its want by using the breath--the =psych�=, _spiritus_--in this
+sense. Like the vital spark itself, the breath is seen to depart when
+the man dies. Whither has it gone? The purely negative, the purely
+sceptical answer would be, "It has disappeared." The answer actually
+given in most religious creeds is, "It has gone to the unseen _place_,"
+or the concealed _place_; as the Greeks said, to Hades (=A-id�s=); or,
+as our Northern ancestors said, to Hel.[7] Thus, out of pure negation we
+have the beginning of a myth: the _spirit_ becomes something definite,
+and the place it has gone to is partly realized. The unseen place is
+underground, gained by a dark valley which stretches there from the
+upper earth. Enough of the old belief remains to keep this home of the
+dead itself dark and shadowy and lifeless. "The senseless dead, the
+simulacra of mortals," as Homer says. And we remember how even a hero
+like Achilles "would rather be on earth and serve for hire to a man of
+mean estate, than rule a king among the dead."
+
+The same thought is expressed by the Hebrew poet,[8]
+
+    "Sheol shall not praise thee, Jehovah,
+    The dead shall not celebrate thee;
+    They that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth;
+    The living, the living, shall praise thee, as I do this day."
+
+No people have held up this _destructive_ side of death, this negative
+theory of a future, with sharper outline than the Greeks and Hebrews.
+What a contrast to the teaching of modern religions is that line, "They
+that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth!" Other people
+have found themselves unable to rest at this point; they have endowed
+their place with a personality, but, still strongly impressed with its
+horrors, this personality is grim and fearful. Even with the Greeks,
+Hades is a person, not a place; with the Teutons, Hel has gone through
+the same transformation: and a thousand other images of horror to be met
+with in different creeds, devouring dragons, dogs who, like Cerberus,
+threaten those who are journeying to the underground kingdom, can be
+shown by their names to have sprung from merely negative images of
+death, the unseen, the coverer, the concealer, the cave of night.
+
+In contrast therefore with all these myths stand those which, after
+death, send the soul upon a journey to some paradise, believed generally
+to lie in the west. If these first are myths of hell, the second series
+may be fairly described as myths of heaven. Nor can it be certainly
+proved that the more cheerful view of the other world is of a later
+growth in time than the first which seems so primitive. We see
+indications of it in the interments of old stone-age grave mounds. While
+among historical people the older Hebrews are the exponents of the
+gloomier Sheol, the most hopeful picture of the soul's future finds
+expression in the ritual service of the Egyptians. There we have a
+complete history of the dead man's journey across the Nile and through
+the twilight region of Apap, king of the desert, until at last it
+reaches the home of the sun. And, to come nearer home, among all those
+peoples with whom we are allied in blood, the Indo-European family of
+nations, we shall find the evidences of a double belief, the belief in
+death as of a dim underground place or as a devouring monster, and the
+contrasting faith in death as a journey undertaken to reach a new
+country where everything is better and happier than upon earth.
+
+This is the myth of an earthly paradise, not, like our heaven,
+disconnected altogether from the world, but a distant land lying
+somewhere in the west, and forming part of the imaginary geography of
+those times: so the belief is, more than others, a realistic one,
+mingling with the daily experience of men and influencing deeply their
+daily life. The necessary portal of death is even sometimes lost sight
+of altogether, as when in the Middle Ages we find men undertaking more
+than one expedition in search of the earthly paradise, and when we find
+the current belief that in certain weathers was visible from the west
+coast of Ireland that happy island to which St. Brandon and his
+disciples had been carried when they left this world. For this reason,
+though the notion of the western paradise is essentially the same for
+all the human race, its local colouring constantly varies, changing with
+the geographical position of each people: if they change their homes and
+advance, as they will probably do, towards the land of promise, it moves
+away before them, as the rainbow moves from us. The Egyptians had their
+myth of the soul's journey, drawing all its distinctive features from
+the special character of their land, chiefly from the commanding
+influence which a great neighbouring desert exercised upon their
+imagination. But for our ancestors, the parents of the Indo-European
+races, the place of the desert was supplied by the sea.
+
+The most probable conjecture has fixed the cradle of our race in that
+corner of land which lies westward the steep range of the Beloot Tagh
+mountains, an off-shoot of the Himalayas, and northward from the high
+barren land of Cabul. This country, the ancient Bactriana, is the most
+habitable district to be found anywhere in Central Asia. There the hills
+stretch out in gentle slopes towards the west, and enclose fertile
+valleys, whose innumerable streams, fed by the mountains east and south,
+all go to swell the waters of the Oxus, now called the Jihon. Farther
+north lies another fruitful country, watered by the Jaxartes, separated
+from the first by a range of hills much inferior to those which divide
+both lands from Yarkand and Cashgar on the east, and from Cabul on the
+south. Both the great rivers empty themselves into the Sea of Aral,
+between which and the Caspian, sharply cutting off the fertile country
+from that sea, stretches the Khiva desert, a barren land affording a
+scanty nourishment to the herds of wandering Turkic tribes. There is
+good reason to believe, however, that this desert did not always exist,
+but that in times not extraordinarily remote the Caspian Sea, joined to
+the Sea of Aral, extended over a much larger area than it at present
+covers: it is known even now to be sinking steadily within its banks.
+With such a contraction of the great sea the desert would grow by a
+double process, by the laying bare its sandy bed and by the withdrawal
+of a neighbouring supply of moisture from the dry land. So it may well
+have been that the fruitful territory wherein in remotest ages were
+settled our Aryan ancestors, stretched so far west as to border upon a
+large inland Asiatic sea. It has even been conjectured that the turning
+of so much fertile land into desert was the proximate cause of those
+migrations which sent the greater part of the Aryan races westward--to
+people, at last, all the countries of Europe. The root which is common
+to the European languages for the names of the sea, means, in the Indian
+and Iranian languages, a desert: how can we account for this fact better
+than by supposing that after the European nations had left their early
+home, their brethren, who remained behind and who long afterwards
+separated into the people of India and Persia, came to know as a desert
+the district which their fathers had once known as the sea?
+
+Thus, these ancient Aryans stood with their backs toward the mountains
+and their faces toward the sea. All their prospect, all their future,
+seemed to be that way; when their migrations began they were undertaken
+in that direction--towards the west. Most important of all in the
+formation of a creed, their sun-god, or sun-hero,[9] was seen by many of
+them quenching his beams in the waters; the home of the sun is always
+likewise the home of souls. What more natural, nay, what so necessary,
+as that the Aryan paradise should lie westward beyond the sea? It has
+been said just now that the Indian word for desert corresponds
+etymologically with the European word for sea: that word must have been,
+in the old Aryan, something like _mara_, from which we get the Persian
+_meru_, desert, the Latin _mare_, the Teutonic (German and English)
+_meer_. But from identically the same root we likewise get the Sanksrit
+and the Zend (old Persian) _mara_, death, the Latin _mors_, the old
+Norse _mordh_, the German _mord_, our _murder_, all signifying
+originally the same thing.[10] What, then, does this imply? The word
+which the old Aryans used for sea they used likewise for death. How
+would this be possible, unless this, their first sea, were likewise the
+sea of death, the necessary stage upon the road to paradise?
+
+It might have been expected that such a connection of ideas would have
+endowed the sea with an entirely terrible character, precluding any
+attempt to explore its solitudes, or the lands which lay beyond. It has
+been already said that as a matter of experience we find that the
+_earthly_ paradise often comes to be realized so vividly that men lose
+the fear which should attach to any attempt at finding it. They were not
+religious, heavenward-looking men who, in Mr. Morris's poem, set out in
+quest of the happy land; and no doubt the bard has been guided by a true
+instinct, and that of all those medi�val mariners who were lost in their
+search after St. Brandon's isle, none knew that they had found what they
+were seeking--Death. The Greeks eagerly cherished delusions of the same
+kind; and long before they had summoned up courage sufficient to
+navigate the Mediterranean they had invented the myths of their western
+islands of the blest, to which yellow-haired Rhadamanthus was taken when
+expelled from Crete by his brother Minos, or of those gardens kept by
+the daughters of the west,[11] where decay and death could not enter. It
+is likely enough that for the Aryans _their_ western sea did long retain
+its more fearful meaning, _a death_; but that they at last gained
+courage to look upon it only as _the road_[12] to the land of which they
+had long been dreaming.
+
+How much more weighty a position the sea takes in men's thoughts than is
+warranted by their real familiarity with it! Into the mass of sedentary
+lives--the vast majority--it enters but seldom as an experience,
+provided a man live only a few miles inland. And yet of all countries
+which possess a sea-board, how full is the literature of reference to
+this one phenomenon of physical nature! The sun and the moon, and all
+the heavenly bodies, the familiar sights and sounds of land, are the
+property of all; and yet allusions to these are not more common in
+literature than allusions to the sea: one might fancy that man was
+amphibious, with a power of actually living _upon_, and not only _by_,
+the water. Charles Lamb acutely penetrates the cause of a certain
+disappointment we all feel at the sight of the sea for the first time.
+We go with the expectation of seeing all the sea at once, the
+commensurate antagonist of the earth. All that we have gathered from
+narratives of wandering seamen, what we have gained from true voyages,
+and what we cherish as credulously from romances and poetry, come
+crowding their images, and exacting strange tributes from expectation.
+Thus we are imbued with thoughts of the sea before we have had any sight
+of it ourselves, merely by the sea's great influence acting through the
+total experience of humanity. "We think of the great deep and of those
+who go down unto it: of its thousand isles, and of the vast continents
+it washes; of its receiving the mighty Plata, or Orellana, into its
+bosom, without disturbance or sense of augmentation; of Biscay swells
+and the mariner--
+
+    "For many a day and many a dreadful night,
+    Incessant labouring round the stormy cape;
+
+of fatal rocks and the 'still-vexed Bermoothes;' of great whirlpools and
+the water-spout; of sunken ships and sumless treasures swallowed up in
+the unrestoring depths." We must not narrow the influence of the sea in
+mythology within the compass of man's mere experience of it. Few among
+the Aryans lived by the Caspian shore; but the Sea of Death appears in
+one form or another in the religious belief of all the Aryan people. The
+tradition of the sea, its real wonders, and greater fancied terrors,
+must have passed from one to another, from the few who lived within
+sight and sound of the waters to others quite beyond its horizon, to
+whom it was not visible even as a faint silvery line.
+
+It is natural that, in early myths, no accurate distinction should have
+been drawn between the sea and rivers with which the Aryans were
+familiar. The Caspian was imagined a broad river bounding the habitable
+earth, the origin of the Oceanus of the Greeks; and the sea of death is,
+in its earliest form, a river of death. All after-forms of mythical
+geography, moreover, such as we find among Indians, Greeks, or Norsemen,
+are but graftings upon this central idea. As the Aryans changed their
+homes, the new experiences gradually blotted out the old. The Greek
+transferred his thoughts about the Caspian to the Mediterranean, and
+when his geography extended, the Oceanus was pushed farther and farther
+away, until the later Euhemerist geographers came to confound it with
+the Atlantic. Thus it is but by accident that we give to ocean the
+meaning which it now bears. The first ocean was the mythical river which
+flowed round the earth, and the real physical forerunner of the myth was
+not the Atlantic or any of our oceans, but the Caspian Sea as it
+stretched before the eyes of the ancient Aryan folk.
+
+The Norseman, especially the Icelander,[13] lived so close to the ocean,
+that the older myth was forgotten beside the aspect of nature so
+familiar to him. In the middle of his earth stood a high mountain, on
+which was a strong city, Asgaard, the house of the �sir or gods. Below
+Asgaard lay the green and fruitful earth, man's home. Then outside
+flowed or lay the great mid-earth ocean, just like the Greek ocean in
+character, despite all differences of climate and country. At other
+times the mid-earth sea is personified as a devouring monster,
+J�rmungandr ("great monster"), the name of the mid-gaard serpent who
+lies at the bottom of the encircling sea, shaking the earth when he
+moves.[14] Beyond, lies the ice-bound land of giants--J�tunheim, giant's
+home--dark like the Cimmerian land, and peopled with beings as weird and
+terrible as the Cyclops or the Gorgons.
+
+Gradually the myths of the river of death and the sea of death from
+being one became two. The second was confined to those nations who lived
+upon the sea-shore, and lost in great part its early shape; but neither
+Indians, Greeks, nor Norsemen forgot the myth of the mortal river. The
+Indian retained it singly; for when his turn for wandering came, he
+passed over the eastern mountains and reached a land where no sea was
+any longer to be seen or heard of. In the mythical language of the
+Vedas, the mortal river is called Vaitera_n_i; it lies "across the
+dreadful path to the house of Yama,"[15] the god of Hell.
+
+From the belief in the river of death no doubt arose also the practice
+of committing the dead to the care of the sacred Ganges; for just as the
+Hindus kindle a funeral fire in the boat which bears the dead down this
+visible stream of death, so used the Norsemen to place their hero's body
+in his ship, and then having lighted it send it drifting out seawards
+with the tide. In conjunction with that thought of the other world which
+placed the final resting-place in a dark kingdom underground, the river
+is seen in Greek mythology transferred to Hades; but it is multiplied
+into four, which have all grown out of one, inasmuch as they were
+feigned to flow out of the upper-earth river Oceanus:--
+
+    "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
+    Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep;
+    Cocytus named of lamentation loud
+    Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
+    Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
+
+These pictures are not quite in character with the Hellenic thought
+about the future state. But it is certain that the more gloomy images of
+death are preserved in connection with the rivers of Hades, with Hades
+itself, and all that it contains. So it is with the northern Styx,
+Gj�ll,[16] as it is called in the Eddas. This, too, is an underground
+stream lying, like the Indian, on the road to the gates of death.
+
+Thus a separation arises between the sea and the river myths. If we wish
+for something more cheerful than the pictures of Styx and Gj�ll and
+Vaitera_n_i, we must look, for the tales of an earthly paradise which
+sprang up when men had lost their first terror of the sea, but had not
+lost the beliefs to which their earliest thoughts about that sea gave
+birth.
+
+Such beliefs are those which lie enshrined in the Odyssey. This poem is
+full of images of death, but they are not self-conscious ones, only
+mythical expressions first applied to the passage of the soul from life,
+and then made literal and physical by their transference to the
+unexplored western sea. What the Caspian may have been to the ancient
+Aryan, such was the Mediterranean to the Greek. The �gean was his
+home-like water; there he might pass from island to island without
+losing sight of land; and he soon learnt to trust himself to its care,
+and to know its currents and its winds. Long before he had navigated
+beyond Cape Malea, all the coasts of the �gean had become parts of his
+familiar world: outside this was the region of the unknown. The Iliad
+tells us what the early Greeks thought about the first. Myths may have
+mingled with the legend of the fall of Troy, but the story in Homer is
+essentially realistic, rationalistic even. The very powers of the
+immortals and their doings seem petty and limited. The Odyssey, on the
+other hand, is the product of the Greek imagination working in fields
+unturned by experience, free from any guiding impulse of knowledge; and
+here step in those monstrous shapes and strange adventures which differ
+altogether from the probable events of the Iliad. We feel at once that
+we are in a new world, a world not so much of supernatural beings as of
+magic; lands of glamour and illusion, most like the giant-land of the
+Norsemen; for we are getting towards the twilight regions of the earth
+and the borders of Hades.
+
+Some writers have attempted to explain the Odyssey as nothing more than
+a myth of the sun's course through heaven. But surely there is too much
+solidity about the story, too thorough an atmosphere of belief around
+it, to suit a tale relating such airy unrealities as those. The Greeks
+who first sung the ballads must have been thinking of a real journey
+upon this solid earth. But it is easy to see how many images and notions
+which had first been applied only to the sun-god would creep into such a
+history as that of Odysseus. Undoubtedly the sun-myth had first pointed
+out the home of the dead as lying in the west; and nothing is more
+natural than that a people whose thoughts and hopes carried them in the
+track of the wandering sun should, when they came to construct an epos
+of travel, make the imaginary journey lie the same way. They would
+interweave in the story such truths--or such sailors' yarns--as
+Phoenician mariners or adventurous Greeks brought home from the distant
+waters, with many images which had been first made of the sun's heavenly
+voyage, and others which had been first applied to death. Their
+geography would, indeed, be mythical; for they could have no accurate
+notions of the lands which they spoke of; but it would not be without a
+kernel of reality. Justin and Augustine may look upon the garden of the
+Hesperides or the garden of Alcino�s as a reminiscence of Paradise;
+Strabo may assign them an exact position on the coast of Libya; and both
+may be right. The myth of the two gardens--the Hebrew and the Greek
+paradises--sprang up in obedience to an identical faculty of belief, and
+therefore the two stories are in origin the same. But each myth
+supported itself upon so much of reality as it could lay hold of: and it
+is likely enough that the famous golden apples which Hercules was sent
+to fetch owed their origin to the first oranges brought by Phoenician
+merchantmen to Greece.
+
+Besides some such slender thread of reality, the adventures of Odysseus
+are built upon what men's imagination told them might lie in the western
+seas. Now in reality there was only one thing which at the bottom of
+their hearts they believed actually did lie there--namely, death; and
+beyond that, the home of the departed. Therefore their stories of
+adventure in the Mediterranean do all, upon a minute inspection, resolve
+themselves into a variety of mythical ways of describing death; and upon
+this as a dark background the varied colours of the tale are painted.
+It need take away no jot of our pleasure in the brilliant picture to
+acknowledge this. Nay, it gather adds to it, for behind the graceful air
+of the poem, sung as a poem only, we hear a deeper note telling of the
+passionate, obstinate questionings of futurity which belonged not more
+to Greece three thousand years ago than they now belong to us.
+
+Any one acquainted with the genesis of myth would at once be disposed to
+see in the Odyssey the combination of two different legends; for one
+series of adventures comes as a tale told during the course of the
+second. We first see our hero on the island of Calypso, the sea-nymph;
+and when Hermes has brought from the gods the command for his release,
+he is carried thence by storms to the land of the Ph�aceans. There
+Nausicaa finds him and brings him to her father Alcino�s, by whom he is
+hospitably entertained, and at last sent back to Ithaca, his home. This
+forms one complete legend, the simplest and probably the first, because
+_into_ it is woven the account of Odysseus' earlier adventures. In the
+halls of Alcino�s the wanderer tells what happened to him before he
+reached the cave of Calypso, and in this narrative we follow him to the
+island of the Lotus-eaters, to the island of the Cyclops, thence to the
+house of Circe, and from there to the very borders of hell itself. And
+we guess that we have here got hold of a later amplified legend built up
+out of the earlier myth. We find just such changes as this in Norse
+mythology; a story told in a few lines by the elder Edda, is expanded
+into an elaborate history in the younger. Looking again more closely at
+the Odyssey, we discover that many circumstances in the expanded tale
+bear close resemblance to one or other of the adventures in the shorter
+category. Take, for instance, the life with Calypso and with Circe. Both
+Calypso and Circe are nymphs, enchantresses; each lives alone upon her
+island: with each Odysseus passes a term of years, living with her as
+her husband, longing all the while to return to his own wife and his own
+home, and yet unable to do so: from each Hermes is the deliverer. What
+if Calypso and Circe both repeat in reality the same myth; and what if
+Odysseus' other great adventure, the voyage to the Ph�aceans, have
+likewise its counterpart in the expanded story? The question of the real
+identity or difference of the two stories can only be decided when we
+have seen how much significance there is in the points of their apparent
+likeness.
+
+Who is Calypso? Her name bespeaks her nature not ambiguously. It is from
+=kalyptein=, to cover or conceal. She is the shrouder, or the shrouded
+place, answering exactly therefore to Hel, which, as has before been
+said, comes from the verb _helja_, "to hide." How, then, can Calypso be
+anything else than death, as she dwells there in her cave, by the shores
+of the sea? How can Odysseus' life with her, his sleep in her cave, be
+anything else than an image of dying? The gods have determined that the
+hero shall not remain in this mortal sleep for ever; so Hermes is sent
+to command Calypso to let Odysseus go. Hermes is the god whose mission
+it is to lead souls down to the realm of Hades--the psychopomp, as in
+this office he is called. But sometimes he may come upon an opposite
+message, to restore men to life; the staff which closes the eyes of men
+may likewise open them when asleep. On such a task he comes--
+
+    "Wind-like beneath, the immortal golden sandals
+    Bare up his flight o'er the limitless earth and the sea;
+    And in his hand that magic wand he carried,
+    Wherewith the eyes of men he closes in slumber,
+    Or wakens from sleeping."
+
+He comes like the breath of morning awakening the world, to rouse our
+hero from the embrace of death; and the whole scene is beautifully
+attuned to an image of returning life. Therefore the interference of
+Hermes between Odysseus and Calypso is full of significance. We
+accordingly meet the same episode in the Circe tale. That this last is a
+later widening of the first story appears from many things; chiefly in
+this, that there is more moral in the history; for the truest myth is
+content to follow the actual workings of nature, without attempting to
+adorn a story with extraneous incident, or to convert its simplicity
+into the complexities of allegory. That turning the companions into
+swine was a punishment for luxury--that points the moral; the original
+Circe, we may be sure, only touched her lovers with her sleepy magic
+rod. It was the same wand with the "slepy yerde"[17] of Hermes, and she
+used it not wantonly but only because all whom she embraces must fall
+into the unwakeful slumber. If Circe's name does not reveal her nature
+so nakedly as Calypso's does, this is but consistent with the fact of
+her later creation. Nevertheless, we easily recognise by it death in one
+of its many types--a ravenous animal or bird, a hawk or wolf.[18]
+
+When Odysseus is freed from the fatal embrace of Calypso, he is not at
+once restored to the common earth, but from his descent into hell goes
+heavenwards, or at least to the happy islands of the blessed. The land
+of the Ph�aceans, Scheria, can scarcely be anything else than this
+Paradise, to which, according to one myth, Rhadamanthus fled from his
+brother Minos when he reigned in Crete. The Ph�aceans, too, have had
+dealings with "yellow-haired Rhadamanthus," whom they carried back in
+their swift barques to Euboea. The name of their island is merely land,
+shore;[19] perhaps at first only the farther coast of the sea of death.
+
+    "Far away do we live at the end of the watery plain,
+    Nor before now have we ever had dealings with other mortals;
+    But now there comes some luckless wanderer hither.
+    Him it is right that we help; for all men, fellows and strangers,
+    Come from Zeus; in his sight the smallest gift is pleasing."[20]
+
+They live close to the gods, and in familiar converse with them. It is a
+place where decay and death cannot enter. In the gardens of Alcino�s
+flowers and fruit do not grow old and disappear; winter does not succeed
+to summer; all is one continuous round of blossoming and bearing fruit;
+in one part of the garden the trees are all abloom; in another they are
+heavy with clusters. There it _is_, as in that wizard's tower of
+Middle-Age legend it only _seemed_ to be--
+
+    "That from one window men beheld the spring,
+    And from another saw the summer glow,
+    And from a third the fruited vines arow."[21]
+
+In name the Ph�aceans appear as beings of the twilight--=phaiax=,
+strengthened from =phaios=, dusky, dim. Their most wondrous possessions
+are their ships, which know the thoughts of men, and sail swifter than a
+bird or than thought. "No pilots have they, no rudders, no oarsmen,
+which other ships have, for they themselves know the thoughts and minds
+of men. The rich fields they know, and the cities among all men, and
+swiftly pass over the crests of the sea, shrouded in mist and
+gloom."[22] Yet the Ph�aceans themselves live remote from human
+habitation, unused to strangers. It would seem, therefore, that the
+ships travel alone on their dark voyages. For what purpose? It is not
+difficult to guess. Their part is to carry the souls of dead men over to
+the land of Paradise.[23] We can imagine them sailing in every human
+sea; calling at every port, familiar with every city, though in their
+shroud of darkness they are unseen by men. They know all the rich lands,
+for every land has its tribute to pay to the ships of death. They are
+the exact counterparts of the "grim ferryman which poets write of;" only
+that the last plies his business in the ancient underground Hades, while
+the Ph�acean mariners are really believed to be inhabitants of the upper
+earth; albeit they can pass from this life to the other.
+
+Their business with Odysseus is to bring him back to the common world of
+Greece--to beloved Ithaca. He has passed to the cave of Hel, and emerged
+from it to visit the land of Paradise; now he returns, that his
+adventures may be sung in the homes of Greece. How could men ever tell
+tales of that strange country, if it really were a shore from which no
+traveller returned? Accordingly, this traveller is laid to sleep in the
+black barque of the Ph�aceans, "a sweet sleep, unwakeful, nearest like
+to death; and as arose the one brightest star to herald the morning, the
+sea-troubled ship touched the shore."[24] Thus end the adventures of the
+wanderer; and, as far as regards the belief concerning the sea of death,
+this is all his adventures can tell us. His doings with the Cyclops,
+with the Lotus-eaters, have their relationship with the same belief; but
+they scarcely bring in any new elements; they only change the method of
+their treatment and symbolize them in a new way. Hades is more
+distinctly treated of in the second series; and this is enough to show
+us that the mortal character of the whole journey has been lost sight of
+more completely than in the first myths; so we noticed before, that the
+significance of Calypso's name is half forgotten when her part is
+assigned to Circe. The journey to Hades from Circe's island, ��a,
+tallies exactly with the journey to Scheria from the island of Calypso;
+only, for the island of the blest is substituted the underground home of
+souls; and when Odysseus addresses there his companion, Elpenor, whom he
+had but a little while ago left dead on Circe's island, and asks him how
+he could have come under the dark west more quickly on foot than
+Odysseus did sailing in a black ship, we see that the meaning of the
+ocean journey is forgotten, and that a sort of confusion has arisen
+between the Hades under men's feet, to which the souls of the dead
+descend, and the Hades at the end of the journey lying far away. This
+part, then, is not significant of the Greek belief concerning an earthly
+Paradise. The learned Welcker, who first showed how these Ph�acean ships
+were the carriers of souls,[25] wishes also to connect the myth with
+some non-Hellenic source. He supposes it to have been gathered from the
+Teutons. But surely we are not obliged to go so far, unless we are
+prepared to consider Charon non-Hellenic also; and no one can really
+pretend that. For the Ph�acean myth is in many ways truer than the myth
+of Charon and Styx. Styx is but the earth-river (or sea), Oceanus,
+transferred to beneath the earth; and the story of the ferryman is a
+compromise between the two creeds--that of the _under_-world and that of
+the western paradise beyond sea; while the myth of the Ph�aceans is a
+simple expression of the last. The connection which we find between
+Greek and German in these beliefs is derivable only from their common
+ancestry--not from a contact in later days. Certainly these legends have
+their close counterparts in Norse mythology; the two series only require
+to be stripped of local colouring, and some unessential details, to
+display very clearly their common brotherhood. How curious, for
+instance, is it to see that Calypso corresponds literally in name with
+the Northern goddess of the dead, Hel! Another myth, the story of the
+burning of Baldur, repeats the same images of death which we trace in
+the legend of Odysseus.
+
+Baldur is quite evidently the sun-god. Less of a hero, more of a god,
+than Odysseus, he is nevertheless mortal--as, indeed, all the Norse gods
+are--and falls pierced by the hand of his own brother, H�dur. Then his
+corpse is placed upon his ship, Hringhorn, and sent out upon this, as on
+a pyre, drifting into the ocean. We can imagine how to the Norsemen upon
+their stormy seas, the image of the sun dying red upon the western
+waters recalled the story of Baldur's burning ship. The Viking imitated
+his god in this, and when his time came ordered his funeral fire to be
+lighted in like manner upon a ship and himself to be set sailing, as
+Baldur was. After this we are brought in the myth to the underground
+kingdom of Hel, and there the goddess entertains Baldur, as Calypso
+entertained Odysseus, making ready her best to do him honour, and
+seating him in the highest place in her hall. Then the gods take
+counsel how Baldur is to be brought back again, and one of them,
+Herm�dr,[26] the messenger, like Hermes, is sent to beg Hel to let
+Baldur out of Helheim. Fate and death are more powerful in northern
+lands than they are in Greece. The gods cannot command that this Calypso
+should let her prisoner go; and alas! they do not even obtain an answer
+to their prayer save on conditions which they are unable to fulfil. Hel
+will set Baldur free, if all things, both living and dead, weep for him;
+but if one thing refuses to weep, then he must remain in the
+under-world. Thereupon the gods sent messengers over the whole earth,
+commanding all things, living and lifeless, to weep Baldur out of
+Helheim; all things freely complied with the request, both men and
+stones, and trees and metals; until as the messengers were returning,
+deeming that their mission was accomplished, they met an old witch
+sitting in a cave, and she refused to weep, saying, "Let Hel keep her
+own."[27] This old witch is Calypso or Circe in another guise. Her name
+is Thokk, that is, darkness (d�kkr).
+
+The Teutonic people had many myths and stories about the carrying the
+dead across the sea. We have signalized the belief in such a passage as
+the origin of those countless medi�val legends of the earthly Paradise:
+doubtless it is the parent of the modern superstition that ghosts will
+not cross the running water. Side by side with the story of the
+Ph�aceans we may place the superstition which Procopius records touching
+our own island. The Byzantine historian of Justinian seems to have had
+but vague ideas of the position of Britain, which, by the tide of
+Teutonic invasion across the Rhine, had long been cut off from
+intercourse with the Empire. These Easterns were careless and ignorant
+of the remote West. So Procopius speaks of Britannia as lying opposite
+to Spain; and then he mentions another island, Brittia--evidently in
+reality our island--which faces the northern coast of Gaul, and of this
+he tells the following strange story:--There is, he declares, an island
+called Brittia, which lies in the Northern Seas. It is separated into
+two divisions by a wall;[28] and on one side of this wall the air is
+healthy and the land fertile and pleasant, and all things most apt for
+human habitation. But on the other side the air is so noxious that no
+one can breathe in it for an hour: it is given up to serpents and
+poisonous animals and plants. Yet not entirely; for this is the home of
+the dead. Then he goes on to relate how the fishermen who inhabit the
+coast opposite this part of Brittia have to perform the strange duty of
+carrying the souls across the strait. Each does his office in rotation;
+when the man's night has come he is awoke by a knocking at his door, but
+when he opens it, sees no one. He goes down to the shore, and finds
+there strange vessels, which, though empty to mortal eyes, lie deep in
+the water as though weighed down by some freight. Stepping in, each
+fisherman takes his rudder, and then by an unfelt wind the vessels are
+wafted in one night across the channel, a distance which, with oar and
+sail, they could usually scarce accomplish in eight. Arrived at the
+opposite side--our coast--the fishermen heard names called over and
+voices answering in rota, and they felt the boats becoming light. Then,
+when all the ghosts were landed, they were carried back to Gaul. We may
+picture them returning to the habitable world in the first glow of
+morning, or with the one bright morning star which shone on Odysseus
+landing at Ithaca.
+
+So much for the myth of the sea, or river, of death. A most important
+change was wrought in belief when the custom of burning the dead was
+introduced. It would seem that our Aryan ancestors were the beginners of
+this rite. Whence it arose we cannot say; but if the God of Fire was a
+prominent divinity, the thought of committing the dead into his charge
+seems a simple and natural one. Among the Aryan people the only deep
+traces of fire-worship are to be seen in the Vedic and Iranian
+religions,[29] while the fire-burial survived in all: but the former may
+well have held a prominent place in their older creed. Or--and this is
+far from unlikely--the custom of fire-burial may have arisen out of the
+sun myth, just as the belief in the soul's journey after death was
+suggested by watching the sun's journey to the west. The two great
+fire-funerals mentioned in Greek and Teutonic mythology are the funerals
+of sun-gods. Heracles burning on Mount OEta, on the western coast of the
+�gean, may have been first thought of by Greeks who saw the sun setting
+in fire over that sea; and Baldur's bale on the ship _Hringhorn_ is
+evidently the Norse edition of the same story, his blazing ship the
+blaze in the sky, as the sun sinks into the water. Burning the dead
+never seems to have been a universal practice; rather a special honour
+paid to kings and heroes. But then we must remember that immortality
+itself was not, in ancient belief, granted to all men indiscriminately,
+only to the greatest.
+
+We see at once that with the use of fire-burial many of the old beliefs
+had to be given up; all those, for instance, which depended upon the
+preservation of the bodily remains. Of old time men had buried treasures
+with the corpse in the expectation that they would be of some kind of
+use to it; the body itself was at first imagined to descend to the
+under-world or to travel the western journey to the home of the sun. But
+now the body is visibly consumed upon the funeral pile, where, too, are
+placed, by a curious survival of old custom, the precious things which
+would formerly have been buried with it in the ground. The body and
+these things have been consumed, are gone; where have they gone? Have
+they perished utterly, and is there nothing more left than the earliest
+belief of an =A-id�s=--a nowhere; is nothing true of all those myths of
+the soul passing away to a home of bliss? Instead of giving up this
+faith, the Aryan people have only spiritualized it, robbed it of the too
+literal and earthly clothing which in earlier times it wore. The thought
+which had once identified the life with the breath comes again into
+force, or, if some material representation is still wished for, we have
+the smoke of the funeral pyre, which rises heavenwards like an ascending
+soul. In this spirit we find in long after years, in the description of
+the funeral fire of Beowulf the Goth, it is said that the soul of the
+hero _wand to wolcum_, "curled to the clouds," imaging the smoke which
+was curling up from his pyre. There is even a curious analogy between
+the words for _smoke_ and _soul_ in the Aryan languages, showing how
+closely the two ideas were once allied. From a primitive root _dhu_,
+which means to shake or blow, we get both the Sanskrit root _dhuma_,
+smoke, and the Greek =thymos=, the immaterial part of man, his thought
+or soul. =Thymos= is not a mere abstraction like our word mind, but that
+which could live when the body was killed or wasted to death by
+disease.[30]
+
+Evidently, therefore, even the inanimate things, the weapons and
+treasures which are burnt with the dead, survive in a land of essences
+for the use of the liberated soul. To the question, Where does man's
+essence go to when it rises from the funeral fire? the answer, if the
+wish alone urged the thought, would be "To the gods." But with the
+majority of burying people the belief in future union with the gods was
+not strongly insisted upon. The islands of the blest are certainly not
+to be confounded with Olympus; although the Ph�aceans claim to live very
+near the gods.[31] Yet with the use of burning, and among the Aryan
+people, the hope gains a measure of strength. The gods of the Aryan
+were, before everything, gods of the air. As the soul and the smoke
+mounted upwards, "curled to the clouds," the belief of its having gone
+to join the gods--chief god, Dy�us, the air--was impressed more vividly
+upon his mind. And as the notion of the western journey to the home of
+the sun was not abandoned, a natural compromise would be to send the
+soul upwards to the path of the sun, and make its voyage a voyage in
+heaven, led by the sun or by the wind. But his path still lay westward;
+the home of the dead ancestors lay beyond the western boundary; there
+was still an Oceanus to be crossed, and a dark Cimmerian land to be
+passed through.
+
+The heavenly path taken by the soul becomes, in the eye of mortals, a
+_bridge_ spanning the celestial arch, and carrying them over the river
+of death; and men would soon begin asking themselves where lay this
+heavenly road. Night is necessarily associated with thoughts of
+death--"Death, and his brother Sleep"--and of the other world. The
+heavens wear a more awful aspect than by day. The sun has forsaken us,
+and is himself buried beneath the earth; and a million dwellers in the
+upper regions, who were before unseen, now appear to sight--the stars,
+who in so many mythologies are associated with souls. Among the stars we
+see a bright, yet misty, bow bent overhead: can this be other than the
+destined bridge of souls? The ancient Indians called this road
+gods'-path, because besides that it was the way for souls to God, it was
+also the way from gods to men. They also called it the
+cow-path--_g�patha_, meaning possibly cloud-path--from which it is
+likely we derive our name for it, "the Milky-way." The Low-German name
+for the Milky-way is _kau-pat_--_i.e., kuh-pfad_, cow-path. But in their
+hymns the Indians oftenest speak of it as the path of Yama, the way to
+the house of Yama, the god of the dead:--
+
+"A narrow path, an ancient one, stretches there, a path untrodden by
+men, a path I know of:
+
+"On it the wise who have known Brahma ascend to the world Svarga, when
+they have received their dismissal," sings a Sanskrit poet.[32]
+
+Another (R. V. i. 38. 5) prays the Maruts, the gods of the wind, not to
+let him wander on the path of Yama, or, when he does so--that is, when
+his time shall come--to keep him that he fall not into the hands of
+Nirrtis, the Queen of Naraka (Tartarus). In another place we find as
+guardians of the bridge two dogs, the dogs of Yama, and the dead man is
+committed to their care:--
+
+"Give him, O king Yama, to the two dogs, the watchers, the four-eyed
+guardians of the path, guardians of men: grant him safety and freedom
+from pain."
+
+Thus stands out in its complete development the myth of the Bridge of
+Souls: a narrow path spanning the arch of heaven, passing over the
+dwelling of Nirrtis, the Queen of Tartarus (perhaps not clearly
+distinguishable from the river of death), and reaching at last the
+country of the wise Pitris, the "fathers" of the tribe, who have gone to
+heaven before, and who since their death have not ceased to keep watch
+over the descendants of their race. This road is guarded by two dogs,
+the dogs of Yama, both wardens of the bridge and likewise psychopomps,
+or leaders of the soul up the strait road.
+
+This was essentially an Indian myth--or perhaps an Indian and
+Iranian--and took the place of the myth of the sea journey, as it was
+conceived by Greeks and Germans. The Indians and Iranians had never a
+sea of death, so they could not have such ferrymen as the Ph�aceans, or
+legends such as the voyages of Odysseus and the burning of Baldur. In
+the place of them, and with their mortal _river_, they adopted this
+Bridge of Souls. The guardians are manifold in their nature; for their
+names show them related both to Cerberus, who guards Hades, and to
+Hermes, who leads the souls of the dead below; and, so far as we can
+gather from the Vedas, these dogs of Yama discharged both offices,
+sometimes keeping the bridge and sometimes conducting souls along it.
+"Give him," says the prayer, "O Yama, to the two dogs." No doubt their
+terrors were for the wicked only, and they are thus apt images of
+death:--
+
+    "Death comes to set thee free;
+    Oh, meet him cheerily
+      As thy true friend."[33]
+
+Still, as we see from their appearance, the dreadful aspect of death
+predominates. In like forms, as dogs or wolves, they return time out of
+mind in Norse mythology and in Middle-Age legend.
+
+It has been said that this myth of the Bridge of Souls was essentially
+Indian and Iranian (old Persian). It is often most difficult to
+ascertain what were the ancient Persian beliefs: but in this case the
+myth has been handed down to us from the Persians through the Arabs, a
+people possessing of right no part or lot in its construction. It is
+generally acknowledged that Mohammed took from the Persians that famous
+bridge so vividly described in the Kor�n.[34] Es-Sir�t is the bridge's
+name. It is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword, and
+is, besides, guarded with thorns and briars along all its length.
+Nevertheless, when, at the last day, the good Muslim comes to cross it,
+a light will shine upon him from heaven, and he will be snatched across
+like lightning or like the wind; but when the wicked man or the
+unbeliever approaches, the light will be hidden, and, from the extreme
+narrowness of the bridge and likewise becoming entangled in the thorns,
+he will fall headlong into the abyss of fire that is beneath. This is
+the fragment of our old Aryan mythology which the Mohammedan has taken
+to himself to form an image of hell and of punishment after death. It is
+significant that from the Persians should have been inherited the most
+gloomy myth concerning the Bridge of Souls. For from the same source we
+(Christians) gain our fearfullest notions of the Devil.
+
+The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanskrit hymn
+we learn--
+
+"Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and blue, and brown, and
+gold, and red.
+
+"And this path Brahma knows, and he who has known Brahma shall take it;
+he who is pure and glorious."
+
+Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the Norse
+cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian _patha-devayano_,
+gods'-path. The Eddas call it As-bru, the bridge of the �sir, or gods.
+Its other name, Bifr�st, the trembling mile, it may even have inherited
+from the Milky-way, for that, when we look at it, seems to be always
+trembling. Asbru or Bifr�st, then, is the bridge whereby the gods
+descend to earth. One end of it reaches to the famous Urdar fount, where
+sit the weird sisters three--the Nornir, or fates. "Near the fountain
+which is under the ash stands a very fair house, out of which come
+three maidens, named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Past, Present, Future).
+These maidens assign the lifetime of men, and are called Norns."[35] To
+their stream the gods ride every day along Bifr�st to take counsel. For
+in the Norse creed the gods know not the hidden things of the future,
+nor have power to ward them off. Fate and death, the Twilight of the
+Gods, lies ahead for them also, as these things lie ahead of mortals.
+
+It is possible that a trace of the rainbow bridge is to be seen in the
+Greek myth of the asphodel meadows, which are a part of the infernal
+regions. But no other trace of the Bridge of Souls--if this be one--is
+to be found throughout the range of Hellenic mythology.
+
+The Eddas have nothing to say of the Milky-way. But we have clear
+evidence that it was considered by the German people a path for the
+dead. Indeed, in the scanty legends which survive, we can trace the
+characteristic features of the Indian myth of the bridge guarded by
+Yama's dogs, and the souls led along it by the wind-god. The wind-god of
+the north is the father of gods, none less than Odin himself; and this
+is why Odin is described as riding with his Valkyriur to the
+battle-fields, to choose from the dead the heroes who shall go with him
+to Valh�ll, the hall of the chosen. It is because, as the wind-god, he
+collects the breath of the departed. Odin and Freyja (Air and Earth)
+divide the slain, says one legend--that is, the bodies go to earth, the
+breath goes to heaven. Now, in the Middle Ages, when Odin-worship had
+been overthrown, the gods of Asgaard descended to Helheim; from being
+deities they were turned into fiends. Odin still pursued his office as
+leader of the souls; but now he was huntsman of hell. One of the
+commonest appearances of this fiend, therefore, is as a huntsman--called
+the Wild Huntsman. He is heard by the peasants of the wild mountain
+districts at this day. He is companioned by _two dogs_, and his chase
+goes on along the Milky-way all the year through, save during the twelve
+nights which follow Christmas. During that time he hunts on earth, and
+the peasant will do well to keep his door well-barred at night. If he
+does not, one of the hell-hounds will rush in and lie down in the ashes
+of the hearth. No power will move him during the ensuing year, and for
+all that time there will be trouble in the house. When the hunt comes
+round again he will rise from his couch and rush forth, wildly howling,
+to join his master.
+
+A gentler legend is that which we find preserved in a charming poem of
+the Swede, Torpelius, called "The Winter Street"--another of the names
+for the Milky-way. With this, in the form in which it has been rendered
+into English,[36] we may end our list of legends connected with the Sea
+of Death or the Bridge of Souls. The story is of two lovers:--
+
+          "Her name Salami was, his Zulamyth;
+    And each so loved, each other loved. Thus runs the tender myth:
+
+    "That once on earth they lived, and, loving there,
+    Were wrenched apart by night, and sorrow, and despair;
+    And when death came at last, with white wings given,
+    Condemned to live apart, each reached a separate heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Yet loving still upon the azure height,
+    Across unmeasured ways of splendour, gleaming bright,
+    With worlds on worlds that spread and glowed and burned,
+    Each unto each, with love that knew no limit, longing turned.
+
+    "Zulamyth half consumed, until he willed
+    Out of his strength one night a bridge of light to build
+    Across the waste--and lo! from her far sun,
+    A bridge of light from orb to orb Salami had begun.
+
+    "A thousand years they built, still on, with faith,
+    Immeasurable, quenchless, so my legend saith,
+    Until the winter street of light--a bridge
+    Above heaven's highest vault swung clear, remotest ridge from
+      ridge.
+
+    "Fear seized the Cherubim; to God they spake--
+    'See what amongst thy works, Almighty, these can make!'
+    God smiled, and smiling, lit the spheres with joy--
+    'What in my world love builds,' he said, 'shall I, shall Love
+      itself destroy?'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    C. F. KEARY.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] Elia.
+
+[6] Unless indeed we are to except a figure upon the Ephesian drum
+(Artemisium) now in the British Museum, which some have imagined to
+represent Thanatos.
+
+[7] Hel is from the Icl. _helja_ "to conceal."
+
+[8] Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19; cf. also Genesis xxxvii. 35; 1 Samuel
+xxviii. 19. Sheol is misrendered "grave" in our version. It means the
+place of the dead, not of bodies only.
+
+[9] The fact that the sun dies every day militates against his claim to
+the rank of a god: otherwise he would probably always receive the
+greatest meed of worship. As it is, he is often worshipped rather as a
+hero or demigod than a true immortal.
+
+[10] Fick. "Verg. W�rterbuch der I.-G. Sp." s.v. _mara_.
+
+[11] Hesperides. They are, however, called the daughters of Night by
+Hesiod and others.
+
+[12] =Pontos= is from the same root as the Skr. _patha_, a _path_,
+_pfad_, &c. One might suppose from this that the Greeks were the first
+adventurers upon the deep waters. While the other Aryan folks called the
+sea "a death," they called it a "road."
+
+[13] There can be no doubt that the cosmology of the Eddas is to some
+extent infected by the source from which we derive it. The picture of
+earth, with its mountain Asgard and its surrounding sea, is nearly
+exactly the picture of Iceland.
+
+[14] So Poseid�n, the god of the sea, is the earth-shaker; earthquakes
+being apparently attributed to the water under the earth.
+
+[15] Weber in Chambr., 1020.
+
+[16] "The sounding," from _gialla_, to sound (yell).
+
+[17] Chaucer.
+
+[18] =Kirkos= (whence =Kirk�=) is given as both hawk and wolf in L. & S.
+It is most likely from a root _krik_, meaning to make a grating sound,
+and therefore probably applied originally to the bird (cf. our
+nightjar). The Latin _quercus_ seems to be from the same root--from its
+rustling? We may compare Circe with Char�n, which means "an eagle."
+
+[19] From =scheros=.
+
+[20] Od. vi. 204, _sqq._
+
+[21] "Earthly Paradise."
+
+[22] Od. viii. 562.
+
+[23] Justin Martyr identifies the gardens of Alcino�s with Paradise.
+"Cohort. ad Gr�c." xxix.
+
+[24] Od. xiii. 79, 88.
+
+[25] "Rheinisches Museum f�r Philologie," vol. i. N.S. p. 219. _Die
+Homerische Ph�aken._
+
+[26] Herm�dr (heer-muth, kriegsmuth) was originally one of the names of
+Odin, and therefore originally the wind. We easily see the connection
+between the rushing wind, and the battle's rage. Hermes is likewise the
+wind, and means "the rusher" (=horma�=, and cf. S�rameyas of the Vedas).
+
+[27] Edda Snorra, D�misaga, 49.
+
+[28] Procopius, Bel. Goth. iv. The wall identifies the island with
+Britain.
+
+[29] The Iranian religion, as it has come down to us, is the historical
+one founded by Zarathustra, who swept away most of the traces of the old
+Aryan faith. There is difficulty, therefore, in obtaining the evidence
+of a belief which was shared by the old Persians.
+
+[30]
+    =kad' d'epes' en koni�si mak�n, apo d' eptato thymos.=--Od. x. 163.
+
+    =oute tis, oun moi nousos ep�lythen, hete malista
+    t�kedoni styger� mele�n exeilet� thymon.=--Od. xi. 200.
+
+[31] We are here speaking of beliefs which sprang originally from the
+days of burial in the earth. Of these were all that class which included
+the journey of the soul.
+
+[32] V_r_had�ra_n_ayaka. Ed. Pol. iii 4-7.
+
+[33] Fouque.
+
+[34] Sale's Koran, Introd. p. 91. The Persian bridge was called Chinvat.
+
+[35] See Edda den Eldra, Grimnism�l 44, and Edda Snorra, D. 15. That
+Bifr�st did not tremble through weakness we may gather from the fact
+that it is the "best of bridges," "the strongest of all bridges"
+(Simrock, D.M. 28), and that it will only be broken at the day of
+judgment.
+
+[36] By E. Keary: _Evening Hours_, vol. iii.
+
+
+
+
+MR. MACVEY NAPIER AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS.
+
+    _Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey Napier, Esq._
+    Edited by his son, MACVEY NAPIER. London: Macmillan & Co.
+
+
+Mr. Macvey Napier, who succeeded Francis Jeffrey in the editorship of
+the great Whig Review, had, of course, a perfect right to preserve the
+letters which are published in this volume, and to study them in private
+as much as he pleased. Indeed, for anything that appears to the contrary
+in the "Introduction" by his son, the present Mr. Macvey Napier, they
+may have been bequeathed by the original recipient with instructions
+that they should some day be published. An edition, privately circulated
+a short time ago, led to "representations that a correspondence of so
+much interest ought to be made more accessible," and the present volume
+is the result; but it might be maintained that the writers of such
+letters would, if they could have been consulted, have objected to their
+publication; and that to send them forth to the world in all their
+nakedness was, at all events, not a delicate or magnanimous thing to do.
+"Much might be said on both sides." Paley, in his chapter on the
+original character of the Christian Morality, remarked that though a
+thousand cases might be supposed in which the use of the golden rule
+might mislead a person, it was impossible in fact to light on such a
+case. That was a hazardous observation, for the truth is that when we
+once get beyond elementary conditions of being and doing, we find human
+beings differ so very widely, and in such utterly incalculable ways,
+that it is in vain to poll the monitor in the breast on questions that
+do in fact arise daily--five hundred in a thousand will vote one way,
+and five hundred in another. "How would you like it yourself?" is a
+question that elicits the most discordant replies. I have a very
+positive feeling that I should have left many of these letters in the
+portfolio, or put them into the fire; but when I look about me for a
+standard which I could take in my hand to Mr. Napier, I am baffled--he
+might produce one of his own that would silence me on the spot. And
+when one has taken up a book to comment upon it with as little reserve
+as may be, it seems idle, if not Irish, to begin by saying that the most
+amusing or most fertile things in it ought never to have seen the light.
+
+This point may recur before we have done; and in the meantime it should
+be remarked that nothing very momentous, either to the honour or the
+disgrace of human nature in general, or literary human nature in
+particular, can be extracted from this correspondence. A late essayist
+used to tell a true anecdote of a distinguished statesman who had lived
+many years and seen as many changes as Ulysses. A friend asked him
+something like this: "Well, now, you have had a great deal to do with
+mankind, and you have outlived the heats and prejudices of youth; what
+do you think of men in general?" And the veteran replied: "Oh, I like
+them--very good fellows; but"--and here we shall mollify his language a
+little--"but condemnably vain, you know." And really that is about the
+worst thing you can find it in your heart to say of literary men after
+running through these letters--"very good fellows, but very vain, you
+know."
+
+Another point which lies less near the surface, and has at least the
+look of novelty, would perhaps be this. It is the most frequent and most
+voluminous of the writers who unconsciously tell us the most about
+themselves; and who, with the pleasing exception of Jeffrey, show us the
+most of their unamiable sides. But there is comfort for impulsive people
+in the fact that it is not always the most self-controlled and
+inoffensive of the writers who win upon us. The Brougham-Macaulay feud
+runs sprawling through these pages till we are tired of it; and some of
+poor Brougham's letters are downright venomous. But the total absence of
+disguise and the blundering boyish inconsistency disarm us. Taking the
+letters one by one, the moral superiority is with Macaulay on Brougham
+as against Brougham on Macaulay, but taking the correspondence in the
+lump, it is something like Charles Surface against Joseph Surface, in
+another line--only, of course, there is no hypocrisy. While you come to
+feel for Brougham in his spluttering rages, you feel also that Macaulay,
+in his too-admirable self-continence, can do very well without your
+compassion, whatever he may have to complain of. It is easy to discern
+that Brougham honestly believed in his own superiority to the young
+rival who outshone him, and yet that he was inwardly tormented.
+Macaulay's forbearance was of the kind _qui co�te si peu au gens
+heureux_. The editor, Mr. Napier, was, we may conjecture, the greatest
+sufferer of the three. Much was owed to Brougham as a man of enormous
+intellectual force; to which, apart from his past services, great
+respect was due: but Macaulay was by far the best writer, and (to employ
+a bull which is common enough) incomparably the most attractive
+contributor. The strength of his hold upon the Review and its editor is
+apparent on every tenth page of the book, and comes out forcibly enough
+in a letter from Sir James Stephen to Mr. Napier. Mr. Napier had
+written to Sir James, expressing some delicate surprise that no article
+from his pen had reached the Review for a long time. Sir James excuses
+himself in this fashion:--
+
+    "I know that many of your contributors must be importunate for a
+    place; that you must be fencing and compromising at a weary rate;
+    that there are many interests of the passing day which you could not
+    overlook; and that we should all have growled like so many fasting
+    bears if denied the regular return of the Macaulay diet, to which we
+    have been so long accustomed."
+
+Sir James was an exceedingly busy man, and he was not professedly a man
+of letters like Macaulay; but we may, if we like, read between the lines
+in these excuses and find a little pique there, as well as a just sense
+of an editor's difficulties.
+
+Another point which lies broadly and prominently upon the surface in
+these letters is a very unpleasant one. It is scarcely credible how much
+dull conceit and sheer ignorant arbitrariness there often is in the
+minds of able and cultivated men. It does not seem even to occur to them
+that their own range may be limited, and their judgments upon many (or
+even a few) topics not worth ink or breath. It should hardly be
+offensive to an ordinary man to be told, or at least to find it tacitly
+assumed, that he could not have invented fluxions, painted like
+Rembrandt, or sung like Pindar. Why, then, should it be difficult for
+any cultivated specialist, of more than ordinary faculties, to make the
+reflection that he must be deficient in some direction or other? Yet we
+find in practice that it is not only difficult, but impossible, in the
+majority of cases. Mr. Napier seems to have invited, or at all events
+not to have repelled, free criticisms on his Review from the
+contributors in general, and the outcome is little short of appalling.
+If ever there was an able man it was Mr. Senior, yet these are the terms
+in which he allows himself to speak of an article on Christopher
+North--or rather of Christopher North himself:--"The article on
+Christopher North is my abomination. I think him one of the very worst
+of the clever bad writers who infest modern literature; full of bombast,
+affectation, conceit, in short, of all the _vitia_, _tristia_, as well
+as _dulcia_. I had almost as soon try to read Carlyle or Coleridge." Now
+Mr. Senior was, of course, entitled to dislike Christopher North, and
+there is plenty to be said against him in the way of criticism; but the
+charge of "affectation" is foolish, and the whole passage pitched in the
+most detestable of all literary key-notes. John Wilson was a man of
+genius, whose personal likings and rampant animal spirits led him most
+mournfully astray. He was wanting also in love of truth for its own
+sake; but he was as much superior to Mr. Senior as Shakspeare was to
+_him_. And the addition about Carlyle or Coleridge--_or_ Coleridge!--is
+just the gratuitous insolence of one-eyed dulness. There is enough and
+to spare of blame ready in any balanced mind for either of these great
+writers, but they can do without the admiration of wooden-headed prigs,
+however able. The point, however, is that it never dawns upon the mind
+of even so clever and cultivated a man as Mr. Senior, that his head may
+have gaps in it.
+
+Another instance to the same purport may be selected from a letter from
+Mr. Edwin Atherstone, the poet--for it would perhaps be hard and
+grudging to deny him the title, since he found an audience, and I have a
+vague recollection of having once read verses of his about Nineveh or
+Babylon which had in them power of the picturesque-meditative order.
+Now, this is the way in which Mr. Edwin Atherstone speaks of Dr. Thomas
+Brown, the metaphysician:--"For myself, I know not a writer, with the
+exception of Shakspeare, Milton, Homer, and Scott, from whom I have
+derived such high delight as from Dr. Brown."
+
+Was ever such a category put on paper before? It is as if a man should
+say his favourite musical instruments were the organ, the harp, the
+trumpet, the violin, and the sewing-machine. Brown was one of the most
+readable of metaphysicians; he made some acute hits, and he wrote
+elegant verses; but his position in Mr. Atherstone's list is as
+inexplicably quaint as that of "Burke, commonly called the Sublime," in
+the epitaph on the lady who "painted in water-colours," and "was first
+cousin to Lady Jones."
+
+The worst examples of all, however, come from the letters of Francis
+Jeffrey himself. Jeffrey has been underrated, and he was a most amiable
+man; but some of the verdicts he thought fit to pronounce upon articles
+in the _Edinburgh_, when edited by Mr. Napier, are _saugrenus_. In one
+case he is about suggesting a contributor, to deal with a certain topic,
+and is so polite as to say that the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill had
+struck him:--"I once thought of John Mill, but there are reasons against
+him too, independent of his great unreadable book and its elaborate
+demonstrations of axioms and truisms."
+
+There might be weighty "reasons against" Mr. Mill, but what his "Logic"
+could have to do with the question is not clear. It never seems to have
+crossed Jeffrey's mind that he _might_ be totally disqualified for
+forming an opinion of a book like that; and, having called it
+"unreadable" (though to a reader with any natural bent towards such
+matters it is deeply interesting), he actually puts forward the fact
+that Mill had written it as a reason against his being entrusted with
+the treatment of a political topic in a Whig Review. Editors are human,
+and the editorial position is a very troublesome one. An editor may lose
+his head, as an overworked wine-taster may lose his palate. In a word,
+allowances must be made; but, after a disclosure or two like this, it is
+difficult not to conclude that the Review owed no more of its success to
+its former editor than it might have owed to any intelligent clerk. But
+we cannot let Jeffrey go yet. The following passage relates to an
+article on Victor Cousin:--
+
+    "Cousin I pronounce beyond all doubt the most unreadable thing that
+    ever appeared in the _Review_. The only chance is, that gentle
+    readers may take it to be very profound, and conclude that the
+    fault is in their want of understanding. But I am not disposed to
+    agree with them. It is ten times more _mystical_ than anything my
+    friend Carlyle ever wrote, and not half so agreeably written. It is
+    nothing to the purpose that he does not agree with the worst part of
+    the mysticism, for he affects to understand it, and to explain it,
+    and to think it very ingenious and respectable, and it is mere
+    gibberish. He may possibly be a clever man. There are even
+    indications of that in his paper, but he is not a _very_ clever man,
+    nor of much power; and beyond all question he is not a good writer
+    on such subjects. If you ever admit such a disquisition again, order
+    your operator to instance and illustrate all his propositions by
+    cases or examples, and to reason and explain with reference to
+    these. This is a sure test of sheer nonsense, and moreover an
+    infinite resource for the explication of obscure truth, if there be
+    any such thing."
+
+Now, the writer of the article in question was Sir William Hamilton. "He
+may possibly be a clever man, but beyond all question he is not a good
+writer on such subjects." So much for Jeffrey.
+
+    "Nec sibi coenarum quivis temere arroget artem,
+    Non prius exacta tenui ratione saporum."
+
+Poor Mr. Carlyle is again dragged in, and Sir William is pronounced "ten
+times more _mystical_" than he--"mystical" in italics. When a writer,
+using the word mystical opprobriously, prints it in italics, it is
+usually safe to decide that he knows nothing of metaphysics. The
+concluding sentences are instructive examples of editorial
+self-confidence: "If ever you admit such a disquisition again, _order
+your operator to_" do so-and-so. Thus, the treatment of Mill and
+Hamilton being equally ignorant and inept, there is no escape for the
+ex-editor. Both verdicts were after the too-celebrated
+"this-will-never-do" manner, and that is all.
+
+In the communications from literary men there are some fine instances of
+just self-consciousness. Tom Campbell writes, with great warmth and
+alertness, to promise an article upon a new work about the Nerves; but
+shortly afterwards writes again, candidly confessing that he had found,
+upon looking again at the work, that his aptitude for scientific detail
+was not great enough to enable him to do justice to the subject. A
+letter from William Hazlitt is so striking, both for its truthfulness
+and its clear-headedness, as to deserve quoting in full. He had been
+written to by Mr. Napier for some contributions to the _Encyclop�dia
+Britannica_, and he replies, from his well-known retreat at Winterslow
+Hut, in these terms:--
+
+    "I am sorry to be obliged, from want of health and a number of other
+    engagements, which I am little able to perform, to decline the
+    flattering offer you make me. I am also afraid that I should not be
+    able to do the article in question, or yourself, justice, for I am
+    not only without books, but without knowledge of what books are
+    necessary to be consulted on the subject. To get up an article in a
+    Review on any subject of general literature is quite as much as I
+    can do without exposing myself. The object of an Encyclop�dia is, I
+    take it, to condense and combine all the facts relating to a
+    subject, and all the theories of any consequence already known or
+    advanced. Now, where the business of such a work ends, is just where
+    I begin--that is, I might perhaps throw in an idle speculation or
+    two of my own, not contained in former accounts of the subject, and
+    which would have very little pretensions to rank as scientific. I
+    know something about Congreve, but nothing at all of Aristophanes,
+    and yet I conceive that the writer of an article on the Drama ought
+    to be as well acquainted with the one as the other."
+
+The honesty of this is quite refreshing. There is one more letter, of a
+similar order, which deserves to be signalized. In August, 1843,
+Macaulay, being pressed for more frequent contributions, writes from the
+Albany that he can promise, at the very utmost, no more than two
+articles in a year:--
+
+    "I ought to give my whole leisure to my History; and I fear that if
+    I suffer myself to be diverted from that design as I have done, I
+    shall, like poor Mackintosh, leave behind me the character of a man
+    who would have done something if he had concentrated his powers
+    instead of frittering them away. There are people who can carry on
+    twenty works at a time. Southey would write the history of Brazil
+    before breakfast, an ode after breakfast, then the history of the
+    Peninsular War till dinner, and an article for the _Quarterly
+    Review_ in the evening. But I am of a different temper. I never
+    write so as to please myself until my subject has for the time
+    driven away every other out of my head. When I turn from one work to
+    another a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition. I must
+    not go on dawdling and reproaching myself all my life."
+
+There is something melancholy in this, admirable as it is. Macaulay had
+begun to watch the shadow on the dial too closely to permit him to do
+much miscellaneous work with an easy mind. There is an important lesson
+for men of letters in the sentence,--"When I turn from one work to
+another, a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition." Here lies
+the great difference between serious literary work and that of ordinary
+business, where the mind is solicited by one thing after another in
+rapid succession. In the first case, time and energy have to be expended
+in evolving from within a fresh impulse for every topic. The most
+readable writings of Southey are those which he produced fragment by
+fragment, on topics for which little renewal of impulse was required. To
+write a great poem in scraps, all by the clock, was a task which only a
+very conceited and rather wooden man would have attempted; and the
+result we know, though there are fine things in Southey's longer poems.
+A powerful passage by Cardinal Newman on the difficulties of literary
+work is almost too well known to bear quoting, but a living poet, Mrs.
+Augusta Webster, has put the case so fairly that Macaulay's shade--which
+is, of course, a shade that reads everything--may be gratified by seeing
+in a handy way a few of her sentences:--
+
+    "Occupations of study, scientific research, literary production--of
+    brain-work of any kind that is carried on in the worker's private
+    home with no visible reminder of customer or client--are taken to be
+    such as can lightly be done at one time as well as another, and
+    resumed after no matter what interruptions, like a lady's
+    embroidery, which she can take up again at the very stitch she left
+    her needle in. Professions of this sort not only admit, but in many
+    instances require, considerable variation in the amount of daily
+    time directly bestowed on them,--_directly_, for the true student is
+    not at his work only when he is ostensibly employed, but whenever
+    and wherever he may have his head to himself,--and there is no
+    measure of visible quantity for the more or less results of
+    application.... The literary man probably fares the worst of all. He
+    is not merely not protected by the manual part of his processes, but
+    it is his danger. It is so easy--what anybody can do at any time!...
+    Of course the simple fact is that it is more difficult for this
+    class of persons to practise their vocations under the drawback of
+    perpetual breaks, actual and (what comes to nearly the same thing)
+    expected, than it is for 'business men.' Let the attention of the
+    solicitor, for instance, busied on the points of an intricate case,
+    be perforce diverted to another matter, there is lost from that case
+    just the time diverted, and a little extra to allow for the mind
+    which returns to any interrupted course of thought, never returning
+    to it exactly at the point at which it was forced to leave it. But
+    there are the recorded facts; the direct conclusions to be drawn
+    remain unaltered; nothing has disappeared, nothing has lost its
+    identity. But suppose, let us say, a dramatist, devising his crisis
+    after hours, perhaps days, of gradual growth, to the moment when he
+    sees it before him as a reality.... Force his attention away, and he
+    has lost, not merely the time he needed to complete a spell of
+    works, with something over for the difficulty of resuming, but the
+    _power_ of resuming. All has faded into a haze; and the fruit of
+    days, may be, has been thrown away at the ripening, for such moments
+    do not come twice."
+
+There are but few of Mr. Napier's own letters in this volume, so that we
+have only indirect means of measuring his idea of his editorial rights
+or duties as against contributors. There is one case in which Macaulay
+complains strongly of certain excisions, and there is another in which
+he defends certain phrases of his own which appear to have offended the
+taste of Mr. Napier, who found them undignified, if not slightly vulgar.
+He submits of course--all the mutilated ones submit--and he says he
+submits "willingly;" but all the while we can too plainly see the wry
+faces he is making. Mr. Napier was, apparently, a purist in the matter
+of style; but there is something almost grotesque in the spectacle of a
+man of his quality correcting Macaulay. It reminds one of _cet imb�cile
+Buloz_.[37] The case of Leigh Hunt was very different, for he sometimes
+went to the extreme verge of decorum--quarterly review decorum, that
+is--and beyond it. But we may safely conclude that Macaulay knew much
+better than his editor how to turn a sentence, or when the use of a
+French locution was desirable for ends of literary effect. Upon this
+subject of imported phrases Mr. Napier was, it seems, very punctilious,
+for with Mr. G. H. Lewes he must have had a brisk correspondence about
+it. Mr. Lewes, who was then a young writer, anxious to get his feet well
+planted, submits, with every possible expression of acquiescence, one
+might almost say, of abject agreement; but it is easy to see that his
+compliance was forced. Macaulay in his discussion of this little matter
+with Napier, easily and decisively lays down the true guiding
+principle:--"The first rule of all writing,--that rule to which every
+other rule is subordinate,--is that the words used by the writer shall
+be such as most fully and precisely convey his meaning to the great body
+of his readers. All considerations about the purity and dignity of style
+ought to bend to this consideration."
+
+This, indeed, exhausts the subject; and leaves the editor only one
+question to solve--namely, whether the writer whom he employs has
+presumably a meaning fit to be conveyed to the readers of his
+periodical. Upon that point he must use his own judgment; but it was
+idle for a man like Mr. Napier to criticize the phrasing of a man like
+Macaulay, who had ten thousand times his reading. For it is upon the
+"reading" that the matter very largely turns. The force of a quotation
+or a phrase imported from a foreign tongue depends, not upon the bare
+meaning of the words, but upon the suggestiveness of certain
+associations. This does not necessarily imply that the precise context
+is recalled, or certain hackneyed trifles from Lucretius and Horace, and
+a score of such chips in porridge, would be indecent. If it be said that
+all this implies that an editor should be omniscient, or at lowest an
+omnivorous reader, the reply is, that it certainly does--unless the
+principle adopted in the conduct of the periodical be the more recent
+one of choosing contributors largely on account of their names, and then
+leaving them to answer for their own sins, if any. One thing is clear,
+that if a man like Jeffrey--or like Napier--could be shown the number of
+blunders he made in mutilating the writings of his contributors, he
+would feel very much humiliated. Thackeray complains very bitterly of
+the suppression of some of his touches of humour, and his sufferings at
+the hands of a critic like Mr. Napier (able man as he was) must have
+been terrible indeed.
+
+The system recently adopted of having every article signed, has not
+yielded the results which were predicted or expected by those who so
+long struggled to get it introduced. It has led to "starring" more
+outrageous and more audacious than any that was ever seen upon the
+stage, and to mischief far more serious. The worst of these is the
+substitution of a spurious sort of authority for the natural influence
+or weight of the writing, even upon some of the most important topics
+which can engage the human mind. The opinion, for example, of a
+versatile politician, or traveller, or physicist, on a question of
+religion or morals may be of no more value than that of the first man
+you meet on passing into the streets. But it will attract attention in
+proportion to the notoriety of the author, and though wise men may know
+that it is weak or foolish, they may wait a long while for the chance of
+saying so from any pulpit worth preaching in, because the platforms are
+pre-engaged; and also because, the "organs of opinion" being bound to
+live by keeping up a succession of attractive names in their pages, it
+will not do to offend the owners of such names. One other result of the
+recent system (not everywhere and always, of course, but generally and
+most frequently) is a want of freshness in periodical literature. This
+evil our American friends manage to escape; only they are much bolder
+than we are, and do not stand in terror of the charge of levity. But, as
+a rule, writers who are fit for starring purposes lose freshness in a
+very short time; and then they do a still farther mischief by striking
+that key-note of second-hand thought which is so prevalent, or at least
+so common in even our better literature.
+
+It is amusing enough to recall the superstition of secrecy which
+inspired the policy of the first Edinburgh Reviewers. Lord Jeffrey has
+told us how the conspirators, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Horner, and
+himself, used to meet by night in the back room of a printing-office,
+and steal to their work by winding paths and back stairs, like
+assassins. This was folly, though not inexcusably without rational
+ground or motive, and one cannot resist the belief that the more modern
+plan will work well some day, if it does not now. But the difference in
+the results is not so great as might have been hoped for. Men of letters
+do not now openly insult each other for differences of opinion in
+politics or theology; but it is not any variation of mechanism which has
+made the change, and, though less brutality of phrasing is now
+permitted, it would be difficult to surpass in bitterness or unfairness
+some of the signed and accredited criticism of our own day. On the
+whole, it comes to this,--you can get no more out of given moral
+conditions than there is in them. If public writers are clique-ish (a
+word to disturb Mr. Napier in his grave, and certainly an ugly one) and
+unjust to each other, it is because you cannot change the spots of the
+leopard. A man who loves the truth will employ his pen conscientiously
+and kindly, whether he writes anonymously or otherwise. To this it may
+be added that there is something extremely quaint in one thing that we
+may see taking place every week--the greater part of our newspaper
+writing is still unsigned, and, considering what a hastily got-up
+miscellany a newspaper necessarily is, it can hardly be otherwise. A
+column of reviews in a newspaper is sometimes the work of as many hands
+as there are books reviewed in it. But it might certainly have been
+expected beforehand that reviewers who write without signature should be
+both careful and moderate in attacking writers who sign, and who,
+presumably, take more time over their work than contributors to
+newspapers can generally do. Yet the newspaper columns in which
+quarterly and monthly periodicals are reviewed are "too often" (we must
+round the corner with the help of that commonplace) models of flippancy
+and dogmatism.
+
+On the whole, it is not from any mechanical changes of method that we
+must expect improvement in Review literature. Of course, in largeness,
+fulness, richness, and versatility the Review-writing of to-day is
+immeasurably superior to that of the days when Macaulay and Brougham
+fought for precedence in the _Edinburgh_. But so is the literature
+reviewed--one is a big "rolling miscellany," and so is the other. It
+does not seem to some of us that, _other things being made equal_, the
+literature of our modern Reviews (using the word widely) is either
+superior or inferior to that of the _Edinburgh_, for example. The
+growth, however, of literature generally in force, colour, range, and
+effectiveness, is something astounding. We note this, or rather it
+overwhelms us, in turning over such a book as the Memoirs of Harriet
+Martineau; and there is more than the insolence of new-fangled tastes in
+putting such a question as--where would Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope"
+be if it were published to-morrow? One day when Brougham had just left
+(for London) a country-house where he had been staying, Rogers, who was
+a fellow-guest with him, made some such remark as this--"In that
+post-chaise went away this morning, Bacon, Newton, Demosthenes, and
+Solon." It is not recorded that Rogers meant this as a joke; but where
+would Brougham be after a little manipulation by Mr. Jevons or Mr.
+Goldwin Smith? It would be tiresome to dwell upon this, and wrong to
+suggest that the men were smaller because the outlook was less; but this
+view, if anything, helps us to see the direction in which one of our
+best hopes for literature must lie--namely, in its ever-increasing
+volume. There will always be hostile camps, and there will always be
+warriors of low _morale_, but as each camp enlarges, the _average_ pain
+of those who suffer from injustice or neglect will be lessened. And this
+observation is by no means addressed to mere questions of reviewing in
+the minor sense, but rather to literature in the mass as representing
+the culture of the time.
+
+Since the time when Jeffrey ruled the _Edinburgh Review_, and even since
+the death of Mr. Napier, "the advertising element," and commercial
+elements in general, have played a great and new part, an increasing
+part, too, in the fortunes, and thus in regulating the quality and
+tendency, of current literature. One result of this state of things is
+an ever-increasing tendency to compromise in the expression of opinion.
+In spite of the spirit of tolerance of which we hear so much, there was
+perhaps never a time in which the expression of opinion was so much
+emasculated in the higher periodical literature, or in which so much
+trickery of accommodated phraseology was going forward. This will last
+for a long time yet--as long as periodical literature is a matter of
+commercial speculation. It is an evil omen that the greatest amount of
+freedom now displayed is in political and scientific discussion. It is
+difficult to see where the remedy is to come from in discussions of
+another kind. Probably we shall have a lesson by the cataclysmic method
+before very long. There is in this volume a letter from Brougham to
+Napier, in which Brougham is very angry about an indirect disclosure of
+Romilly's heterodoxy, and he goes off at a tangent to express a doubt
+whether Macaulay was any better than Romilly, but is very anxious that
+conventional conformity should be strictly maintained in the Review,
+even to the length of concealing from the general reader as far as
+possible such facts as that a man so good and "religious" as Romilly
+could be a disbeliever in this, that, or the other. We have now got
+beyond that; the accredited policy is in a vague way to trump the cards
+of the dangerous people, and then nobody shows his hand fairly and
+freely. Meanwhile, everybody feels uneasy, from a latent sense of
+insincerity; and, when once the excitement is off, the natural
+perception that out of nothing nothing can come, reassumes its sway.
+The game cannot go on in this way for ever, though no one can foresee by
+what accident the lights will be blown out, the tables thrown over, and
+the stakes roughly dealt with at last.
+
+A great difference, as might be expected, arises from the incredible
+widening of what might be called the constituencies of opinion.
+Political articles of the "inspired" order do not count as they did, or
+were supposed to do, in the days of "Coningsby" even, much less as they
+did a decade or two sooner. The effective currents of thought are far
+too numerous and far too massive to be guided--nay, too numerous and too
+massive for even the most conceited of propagandists or prophets to
+fancy he could calculate them. What sort of figure as a publicist or
+"inspired" political writer would a man like Croker cut at this end of
+the century? It must have been a dolorous day for such as he when they
+first felt sure the tides were coming up which were to sweep them and
+their works into oblivion, or at least into limbo, and make successors
+to their function impossible in future. We do not affirm that the
+present phase of change is for the best; no theory of progress will
+justify statements of that kind. In fact, things are quite bad enough;
+but some security against certain evils there must be, in the fact that
+these are days in which it is difficult to hide a wrong, or an error,
+which has an immediate sinister bearing upon ends cherished by any
+school of opinion. Who on earth would now think of calling the _Times_
+the Thunderer? Just when middle-aged men of to-day were babies it was
+thought finely argumentative, if not conclusive, to call the London
+University "Stinkomalee"--in the interest of Church and King; but the
+"hard hitting" of our own time is done in other fashion. Even if the
+Marquis of Salisbury were to edit a paper he would not be able to make
+much out of Titus Oates. But the allusion to that episode in another
+sphere of action may remind us of the late Lord Derby, who might almost
+be called the last of the old school of politicians. The mere mention of
+his name seems to flash light upon the gulf we have traversed since the
+days when the world was divided between a Whig organ and a Tory organ.
+
+Simultaneously with the incalculable increase of devotion to science, we
+have had an increase of devotion to ends held to be practical, and this
+has largely governed our literature. The subject now barely hinted at is
+well worth extended treatment. It is, however, no more than the truth
+that there has been recently a great diminution of speculative
+enthusiasm of all kinds, with a largely increased tendency to make
+things pleasant for all parties. Convenience, in fact, becomes more and
+more the governing factor of life; this tells upon our better
+literature; and until the wind sets again from the old quarters--as it
+certainly will some day--we shall feel the want of certain elements of
+freshness, individuality, and moral impulse which touch us more closely
+than we at first recognize in reading the old Edinburgh Reviewers.
+
+    MATTHEW BROWNE.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[37] One, at least, of the contributors whom Buloz tortured (Georges
+Sand wrote that she wished him "_au diable_" ten times a day, only he
+held her purse-strings) used to date his letters in this style:--"_A
+vingt-cinq lieues de cet imb�cile Buloz._"
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME GOD IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY.
+
+Comparative Mythology.[38]
+
+
+Towards the end of the last century the men of letters of Europe were
+astonished to hear that in Asia, on the banks of the Ganges, a more
+ancient and richer language had been found than that of Homer. It
+offered in its words and forms striking analogies with the languages of
+Rome and Athens. Interest once roused, systematic comparisons were made,
+and comparative grammar was founded. The sphere of comparisons widened
+and the group of Aryan languages was established.
+
+It was thus ascertained that the languages of the Romans, of the Greeks,
+of the Gauls, of the Germans, of the Lithuanians, and of the Slavs in
+Europe, of the Hindoos and Persians in Asia, are made out of the same
+materials and cast in the same mould; that they are only varieties of
+one primitive type. The precise laws which regulated the formation of
+each of these varieties were discovered, so that it is both possible to
+proceed from one of these languages to the other, and to trace all of
+them to the original type whence they come, to the lost type which they
+reproduce. This lost type, the source of all the idioms of nearly the
+whole of Europe and of a third of Asia, science has reconstructed: with
+an almost absolute certainty, it has described the grammar, drawn up the
+lexicon of that language, of which no direct echo remains, not the
+fragment of an inscription on a broken stone, of that language of which
+the life and the death are pre-historic, and which was spoken at a
+period when there were as yet neither Romans, nor Hindoos, nor Greeks,
+nor Persians, nor Germans, nor Celts, and when the ancestors of all
+those nations were still wandering as one tribe, one knows not where,
+one knows not when.
+
+Closely following comparative grammar, almost at the same time rose up
+comparative mythology, and with the ancient words awoke the gods that
+they had sung, the beliefs that they had fostered. It was recognized
+that if the Indo-Europeans spoke essentially the same language, they
+also worshipped essentially the same gods and believed in the same
+things. As comparative grammar, on hearing the sister-tongues, caught up
+the echo of the mother, whose voice they repeat, so comparative
+mythology, in its turn, on looking at the sister religions, has tried to
+see through them the original image which they reflect. As the one
+restored the words and forms of the language which lived on the lips of
+the Aryans at the moment of the breaking up of the Aryan unity, the
+other endeavoured to restore the gods and beliefs which lived in their
+souls at the moment when, with the unity of the race, the identity of
+language and belief passed away. This restoration of the pre-historic
+gods and of the pre-historic beliefs is the final object of comparative
+mythology, just as the reconstruction of words and forms is the final
+object of comparative grammar. The object was analogous and so was the
+method. It is the comparative method, which by comparing kindred
+divinities and kindred beliefs, finds the original divinity and the
+original belief which gave birth to them, and which are reproduced in
+them. To sketch the picture of the original mythology, it is sufficient
+to separate from the various derivative mythologies the essential
+characteristics common to them. Every characteristic common to the
+secondary religions will be legitimately referred to the primitive one,
+whenever it is essential--that is to say neither borrowed from one of
+the kindred religions nor due to an identical, but quite independent
+development. If, for instance, the various Indo-European mythologies
+agree in naming the gods _Daiva_, "the shining ones," it follows that in
+the primitive mythology, in the religion of the period of unity, they
+were known already as beings of light and called thus. It is a great
+deal easier to admit that the seven derived religions have faithfully
+repeated what has been handed down to them from their common source,
+than to imagine that once separated they have created the same
+conception, each one on its side, and have clothed it with the same
+expression: the former hypothesis is a simple and natural induction: the
+second is in reality made up of seven hypotheses, and implies seven
+chances agreeing together, seven miracles.
+
+Our object in the following pages is to give a sketch of one of the
+chapters of the Aryan mythology. We try to show that the religion of the
+Indo-European unity recognized a Supreme God, and we try to find the
+most ancient form and the earliest origin of that conception among the
+Aryans, and to follow out the transformations it has undergone in the
+course of ages.
+
+
+The Supreme God: Zeus, Jupiter, Varuna, Ahura Mazda.
+
+The Aryan Gods are not organized as a Republic: they have a king. There
+is over the gods a Supreme God.
+
+Four of the Aryan mythologies have preserved a clear and precise notion
+of this conception: they are those of Greece, of Italy, of ancient
+India, and of ancient Persia. This Supreme God is called Zeus in Greece,
+Jupiter in Italy, Varuna in ancient India, Ahura Mazda in ancient
+Persia. Let us then listen to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, and to Ahura
+Mazda each in his turn.
+
+_Zeus and Jupiter._[39]--About three centuries before our era a Greek
+poet thus addressed Zeus:--
+
+    "Oh! Thou most glorious of immortals, whose names are many, for ever
+    Almighty, Zeus, Thou who rulest nature, directing all things
+    according to a law, hail! To Thee all this universe moving round the
+    earth yields obedience, following whither thou leadest, and submits
+    itself to Thy rule.... So great in Thy nature, King Supreme above
+    all things, no work is achieved without Thee, neither on the earth,
+    nor in the celestial regions of ether, nor on the sea, but those
+    which the wicked accomplish in their folly."
+
+This is the Zeus of the philosophers, of the Stoics, of Cleanthes: but
+he was already the Zeus of the ancient poets. Powerful, omniscient, and
+just is the god of �schylus, as that of Cleanthes: he is the king of
+kings, the blessed of the blessed, the sovereign power among all powers,
+the only one who is free among the gods, who is the master of the
+mightiest, who is subservient to no one's rule; above whom no one sits,
+no one to whom from below he looks with awe; every word of his is
+absolute; he is the God of deep thoughts, whose heart has dark and
+hidden ways, impenetrable to the eye, and no scheme formed within his
+mind has ever miscarried. Finally, he is the Father of Justice, Dike,
+"the terrible virgin who breathes out on crime anger and death," it is
+he who from hell raises vengeance with its slow chastisement against the
+bold wayward mortal. Terpander proclaims in Zeus the essence of all
+things, the god who rules over everything. Archilochus sings Zeus
+father, as the God who rules the heavens, who watches the guilty and
+unjust actions of men, who administers chastisements to monsters, the
+God who created heaven and earth. The old man of Ascra knows that Zeus
+is the father of gods and of men, that his eye sees and comprehends all
+things and reaches all that he wishes. In short, as far back as the
+Greek Pantheon appears in the light of history, even from Homer, Zeus
+towers above the nation of gods which surrounds him. He himself
+proclaims, and the other gods proclaim after him, that, unrivalled in
+power and strength, he is the greatest of all; the gods, at his behest,
+silently bow down before him; he would hurl into the gloomy depths of
+Tartarus whomsoever should dare to disobey him: he would hurl him down
+into the uttermost depths of the subterranean abyss: alone against them
+all, he would master them. Should they let fall from the sky a golden
+chain on which all the gods and goddesses might be suspended, they still
+would be powerless, however hard they might strain to drag him from the
+heavens to the earth; and if it pleased him, he could draw them up even
+with the earth, even with the sea, and he would then fix the chain on
+the ridge of Olympus, and suspend on it the whole universe; so much is
+he above mankind, above the gods. Not only is he the most powerful, but
+also he is the wisest--the =m�tiet�s=; he is all wisdom and he is
+likewise all justice. It is from him that the judges of the sons of the
+Ach�ans have received their laws: very good, very great, he holds
+learned conversations with Themis (the law) who sits at his side;
+prayers are his daughters, whom he avenges for all the insults of the
+wicked.
+
+Thus, power, wisdom, justice, belonged from all time to Zeus, to the
+Zeus of Homer as well as to the Zeus of Cleanthes; to the Zeus of the
+poets as to him of the philosophers, in the remotest period of paganism
+as at the approach of the religion of Christ. A providential god rules
+the Pantheon of the Hellenes.
+
+What Zeus is in Greece, Jupiter is in Italy: the God who is above all
+the gods. The identity of the two deities is so striking that the
+ancients themselves, forestalling comparative mythology, recognized it
+from the very first. He is the God, great and good amongst them all:
+_Jupiter, optimus, maximus_.
+
+_Varuna._--The most ancient of the religions of India, which the Vedas
+have made known to us, has also a Zeus, whose name is Varuna.[40]
+
+    "Truly admirable for grandeur are the works of Him who has separated
+    the two worlds and fixed their vast extent: of Him who has set in
+    motion the high and sublime firmament, who has spread out the
+    heavens above and the earth beneath.
+
+    "These heavens and this earth which reach so far, flowing with milk,
+    so beautiful in form, it is by the law of Varuna that they remain
+    fixed, facing each other, immortal beings with fertile seed.
+
+    "This Asura,[41] who is acquainted with all things, has propped up
+    these heavens, he has fixed the boundaries of the earth. He is
+    enthroned above all the worlds, universal king; all the laws of the
+    world are the laws of Varuna.
+
+    "In the bottomless abyss the king Varuna has lifted up the summit of
+    the celestial tree.[42] It is the king Varuna who has traced out to
+    the sun the broad path he is to follow: to footless creatures he has
+    given feet so that they may run.
+
+    "Those stars, which illumine the night, where were they during the
+    day? Infallible are the laws of Varuna: the moon kindles itself and
+    walks through the night.
+
+    "Varuna has traced out paths for the sun: he has thrown forwards the
+    fluctuating torrent of rivers. He has dug out the wide and rapid
+    beds where the waves of the days, let loose, unroll themselves in
+    their order.
+
+    "He has put strength into the horse, milk into the cow, intellect
+    into the heart, Agni[43] into the waters, the sun in the sky,
+    soma[44] into the stone.
+
+    "The wind is thy breath, O Varuna! which roars in the atmosphere,
+    like the ox in the meadow. Between this earth and the sublime heaven
+    above, all things, O Varuna, are of thy creation."
+
+There is an order in nature, there is a law, a habit, a rule, _a Rita_.
+This law, this _Rita_, it is Varuna who has established it. He is the
+god of the Rita, the god of Order, the guardian of the Rita; he is the
+god of efficient and stable laws; in him rest as in a rock the fixed
+immovable laws.
+
+Organizer of the world, he is its master. He is the first of the Asuras,
+"of the lords;" he is _the Asura_, "the Lord;" he is the sovereign of
+the whole world, the king of all beings, the universal king, the
+independent king; no one amongst the gods dares to infringe his laws;
+"it is thou, Varuna, who art the king of all."
+
+As he has omnipotence, he has omniscience too, he is "the Lord who knows
+all things," the _Asura vi�va-vedas_. He is the sage who has supreme
+wisdom, in whom all sciences have their centre; when the poet wishes to
+praise the learning of a god, he compares it to that of Varuna. "He
+knows the place of the birds which fly in the air, he knows the ships
+which are sailing on the ocean, he knows the twelve months and what they
+will bring forth, he knows every creature that is born. He knows the
+path of the sublime wind in the heights, he knows who sits at the
+sacrifice. The God of stable laws, Varuna, has taken his place in his
+palace to be the universal king, the god with the wondrous intellect.
+Hence, following in his mind all these marvels, he looks around him at
+what has happened and what will happen."
+
+As he is the universal witness, he is also the universal judge, the
+infallible judge whom nothing escapes: none can deceive him, and from
+above he sees the evil done below and strikes it: he has sevenfold bands
+to clasp thrice round the liar by the upper, by the middle, and by the
+lower part of the body. The man, smitten by misfortune, implores his
+pity, and feels that he has sinned, and that the hand which strikes is
+also the hand that punishes:
+
+    "I ask Thee, O Varuna, because I wish to know my fault:
+
+    "I come to Thee, to question Thee who knowest all things. All the
+    sages, with one voice, said to me, Varuna is angry with thee.
+
+    "What great crime have I committed, O Varuna, that thou shouldst
+    want to kill thy friend, thy bard. Tell me, O Lord, O infallible
+    one, and I will then lay my homage at thy feet.
+
+    "Free me from the bonds of my crime, do not sever the thread of the
+    prayer that I am weaving, do not deliver me over to the deaths that,
+    at thy dictate, O Asura, strike him who has committed a crime: send
+    me not into the gloomy regions far from the light.
+
+    "Let me pay the penalty of my faults; but let me not suffer, O King,
+    for the crime of others; there are so many days that have not dawned
+    yet! Let them dawn for us also, O Varuna!"
+
+Such is the supreme God of the Vedic religion, an organizing God,
+almighty, omniscient, and moral. The following is a Vedic hymn which
+sums up with singular force the essential attributes of the God:--
+
+    "He who from on high rules this world sees every thing as if it were
+    before him. That which two men, seated side by side are plotting, is
+    heard by king Varuna, himself the third.
+
+    "This earth belongs to the king Varuna, and this sky, these two
+    sublime worlds with their remote limits; the two seas[45] are the
+    belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in this small pool of water.
+
+    "He who should leap over the sky and beyond it, would not escape the
+    king Varuna: he has his spies, the spies of the heavens, who go
+    through the world; he has his thousand eyes which look on the earth.
+
+    "The king Varuna sees everything, all that which is between the two
+    worlds and beyond them: he reckons the winking of the eye of all
+    creatures:
+
+    "The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester.
+
+    "Let thy sevenfold bands, O Varuna, let thy bands of wrath which are
+    thrice linked together, let them enfold the man with a lying tongue,
+    let them leave free the man with a truthful tongue!"
+
+_Ahura Mazda._[46]--Ancient Persia opposes to Zeus, to Jupiter, to
+Varuna, her Ormazd or Ahura Mazda.[47] "It is through me," he said to
+his prophet, Zoroaster, "that the firmament, with its distant
+boundaries, hewn from the sparkling ruby, subsists without pillars to
+rest upon; it is through me that the earth, through me that the sun, the
+moon, and the stars take their radiant course through the atmosphere; it
+was I who formed the seeds in such a manner that, when sown in the
+earth, they should grow, spring up, and appear on the surface; it was I
+who traced their veins in every species of plants, who in all beings put
+the fire of life which does not consume them; it is I who in the
+maternal womb produce the new-born child, who form the limbs, the skin,
+the nails, the blood, the feet, the ears; it was I who gave the water
+feet to run; it was I who made the clouds, which carry the water to the
+world," &c. This development, taken from a recent book of the Ghebers,
+the Bundahish, is to be found entire, in the very first words of their
+oldest and holiest book, the Avesta: "I proclaim and worship Ahura
+Mazda, the _Creator_." As far as history can be traced, he was already
+what he is now. Near the ruins of the ancient Ecbatana, the traveller
+may read, on the red granite of the mountain of Alvand, these words,
+which were engraved by the hand of Darius, the king of kings, nearly
+five centuries before the birth of Christ:--
+
+    "A powerful God is Aur�mazda!
+    'Twas he who made this earth here below!
+    'Twas he who made that heaven above!
+    'Twas he who made man!"
+
+This God, who made the world, rules it. He is the sovereign of the
+universe, the _Ahura_,[48] "the Lord." "He is a powerful god," exclaims
+Xerxes; "he is the greatest of all the gods." It is to his favour that
+Darius, inscribing upon the rock of Behistun the narrative of his
+nineteen victories, ascribes both his elevation and his triumphs. It is
+to his supreme care that he confides Persia: "This country of Persia,
+which Aur�mazda has given me, this beautiful country, beautiful in
+horses, beautiful in men, by the grace of Aur�mazda, and through me,
+king Darayavus, has nothing to fear from any enemy. May Aur�mazda and
+the gods of the nation bring me their help! May Aur�mazda protect this
+country from hostile armies, from barrenness and evil! May this country
+never be invaded by the stranger, nor by hostile armies, nor by
+barrenness, nor by evil! This is the favour which I implore from
+Aur�mazda and the gods of the nation!"
+
+This world which he has organized is a work of intelligence; by his
+wisdom it began, and by his wisdom it will end. He is the mind which
+knows all things, and it is to him that the sage appeals in order to
+penetrate the mysteries of the world.
+
+    "Reveal to me the truth, O Ahura! What was the beginning of the good
+    creation?
+
+    "Who is the father, who, at the beginning of time, begat Order?
+
+    "Who has traced for the sun and the stars the paths that they must
+    follow?
+
+    "Who makes the moon increase and decrease?
+
+    "O Ahura! I would learn those mysteries and many more!
+
+    "Who has fixed the earth and the immovable stars to establish them
+    firmly, so that they might not fall? Who has fixed the waters and
+    the trees?
+
+    "Who has directed the rapid course of the wind and of the clouds?
+    What skilful artist has made the light and the darkness?
+
+    "What skilful workman has made sleep and wakefulness? Through whom
+    have we dawn, noon, and night? From whom do they learn the law which
+    is traced out for them? Who endeared the son to his father so that
+    he should train him? Those are the things that I wish to ask Thee, O
+    Mazda, O beneficent Spirit, O Creator of all things!"
+
+In his omniscience are embraced all human actions. He watches over all
+things, and is far-seeing, and never sleeping. He is the infallible one;
+"it is impossible to deceive him, the Ahura, who knows all things." He
+sees man, and judges and chastises him, if he has not followed his law,
+for from him comes the law of man, as well as the law of the world; from
+him comes the science supreme among all other sciences, that of duty,
+the knowledge of those things we ought to think, say, and do, and of
+those things we ought neither to think, nor say, nor do. To the man who
+has prayed well, thought, spoken, and acted well, he opens his
+resplendent paradise; he opens hell to him who has not prayed and who
+has thought, spoken, and done evil.
+
+
+The Supreme God, the God of Heaven.
+
+Thus the Aryans of Greece, of Italy, of India, and of Persia agree in
+giving the highest place in their Pantheon to a supreme God who rules
+the world and who has founded order, a God sovereign, omniscient, and
+moral. Has this identical conception been formed in each of these cases
+by four independent creations, or is it a common inheritance from the
+Indo-European religion, and did the Aryan ancestors of the Greeks, of
+the Latins, of the Hindoos, and of the Persians already know a supreme
+God, an organizing, a sovereign, an omniscient, a moral God?
+
+Although the latter hypothesis is more simple and more probable than the
+former, it cannot, however, be taken at once as certain; because an
+abstract and logical conception of this kind may very well have
+developed itself at the same time among several nations, in an identical
+and independent manner. To whomsoever looks upon it at any time and in
+any place, the world can reveal the existence of a Supreme maker:
+Socrates is not the disciple of the psalmist; yet the heavens reveal to
+him, as to the Hebrew poet, the glory of the Lord. But if it be found
+that the abstract conception is closely connected with a naturalistic
+and material conception, and that the latter is identical in the four
+religions, as it is known, on the other hand, that these four religions
+have a common past, the hypothesis that this abstract conception is a
+heritage of this past, and not a creation of the present, may rise to a
+certainty.
+
+Now, these Gods who organize the world, rule it and watch over it; this
+Zeus, this Jupiter, this Varuna, this Ahura Mazda are not the
+personifications of a simple abstract conception; they emerge from a
+former naturalism, from which they are not yet quite detached; they
+commenced by being gods of the heavens.
+
+Zeus and Jupiter have never ceased to be gods of the heavens, and to be
+conscious of it. When the world was shared among the gods, "Zeus
+received the boundless sky in the ether and the clouds for his share."
+It is as the God of heaven that sometimes he shines luminous, calm, and
+pure, enthroned in the ethereal splendour, and that sometimes he becomes
+gloomy and gathers clouds (=nephel�geret�s=), causing the rain to fall
+from heaven (=ombrios=, =hyetios=), hurling upon the earth the eddy of
+fierce winds, drawing forth the hurricane from the summit of the ether,
+brandishing the lightning and the thunderbolt (=keraunios=, =astrapaios=).
+This is why the thunderbolt is his weapon, his attribute, "the
+thunderbolt with its never-tiring foot," which he hurls in the heights;
+why he rolls on a resounding chariot, brandishing in his hand the fiery
+trident, or dashing it on the wings of the eagle, or on Pegasus, the
+a�rial steed of the lightning. This is why he is the husband of D�m�ter,
+"the mother Earth," whom he impregnates with his torrents of rain; this
+is why he sent forth, from his brow according to some, from his belly
+according to others, from the clouds according to the Cretan legend,
+Ath�n�, the resplendent goddess with the penetrating glance, who came
+forth, shaking golden weapons, with a cry which made heaven and earth
+resound, as she is the incarnation of the stormy light which breaks
+forth from the brow of heaven, from the belly of heaven, from the bosom
+of the cloud, filling space with its splendour and with the crash of its
+stormy birth. Lastly, the very name of Zeus (genitive _Dios_, formerly
+_Divos_) is, in conformity with the laws of Greek phonetics, the literal
+representative of the Sanscrit Dyaus, heaven (genitive _Divas_), and the
+union of =Zeus pat�r= with =D�m�t�r= is the exact counterpart of the
+Vedic union of _Dyaus pitar_ with _Prithiv� m�tar_, of the Heaven-Father
+with Earth-Mother. The word =Zeus= is an ancient synonym of =Ouranos=,
+which became obsolete as a common noun; still, in a certain number of
+expressions, it retains something of its former meaning. Thus it is,
+when the Earth prays Zeus to let rain fall upon her; when the Athenian
+in praying exclaims: "O dear Zeus, rain thou on the field of the
+Athenians and on the plains"--"Zeus has rained the whole night," says
+Homer: =hye Zeus pannychos=. In all these expressions Zeus may be
+literally translated as a common noun, _sky_.
+
+Jupiter, identical with Zeus in his functions, is identical with him in
+his material attributes.
+
+The word J�piter, or better Jup-piter, is for Jus-piter, composed of
+_pater_ and of _Jus_, the Latin contraction of the Sanscrit _Dyaus_, of
+the Greek =Zeus=: Juppiter is then the exact equivalent of =Zeus pat�r=,
+and the word has even preserved more strongly than Zeus the sense of its
+early meaning; _sub Jove_ signifies "under the heavens;" the hunter
+awaits the marsian boar, heedless of the cold or snow, _sub Jove
+frigido_, "under the cold Jupiter, under the cold sky." Dyaus is also in
+Latin, as it is in Sanscrit, the name of the brilliant sky: "Behold,"
+exclaims old Ennius, "above thy head this luminous space which all
+invoke under the name of Jupiter:"
+
+    "Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem."
+
+Varuna, like his European brethren, has been, and is yet, a material
+god, and a material god of the same kind, a god of heaven. This is why
+the sun is his eye, why the sun, "the beautiful bird which flies in the
+firmament," is "his golden-winged messenger;"[49] why the celestial
+rivers flow in the hollow of his mouth, as in the hollow of a reed; why
+everywhere visible, by turns full of light and of darkness, by turns he
+infolds himself in the night, and irradiates the dawns, and by turns
+clothes himself in the white garments and in the black ones. Like Zeus,
+and from the same cause, he gathers together the clouds, he turns the
+sack that contains the rains, and lets it loose upside down on the two
+worlds; he inundates the heaven and the earth, he clothes the mountains
+with a watery garb, and his blood-red eyes unceasingly furrow the watery
+dwelling with their twinkling flashes. As Zeus is the father of Ath�n�,
+he is the father of Atharvan, "the Fire-God," of Bhrigu, "the
+Thunderer"--that is to say, of Agni, of the lightning. Agni himself is
+brought forth "from his belly in the waters," like a male Ath�n�.
+Finally, like Zeus, like Jupiter, he bears in his very name the
+expression of what he is; and the Sanscrit Varuna is the exact phonetic
+representative of =Ouranos=, sky.
+
+In fine, the sovereign god of Persia, notwithstanding the character of
+profound abstraction which he has acquired and which is reflected in his
+name Ahura Mazda, "the omniscient Lord," can himself be recognized as a
+god of the heavens. The ancient formul� of the litanies still show that
+he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura Mazda,
+resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful; white,
+luminous, seen from afar; they invoke the entire body of Ahura Mazda,
+the body of Ahura which is the greatest of bodies; they say that the sun
+is his eye, and that the sky is the garment embroidered with stars with
+which he arrays himself; lastly, the most abstract of the Aryan gods has
+preserved a trait which shows him more closely tied than the others to
+the material world from which they have freed themselves; he is called
+"the most solid of the gods," because "he has for clothing the very
+solid stone of the sky." Like Varuna, like Zeus, the lightning is in his
+hands, "the molten brass which he causes to flow down on the two
+worlds;" like them he is the father of the god of lightning, Atar.
+Lastly, the most ancient historical evidence confirms the inductions of
+mythology, as at the very time when the Ach�menian kings proclaim the
+sovereignty of Aur�mazda, Herodotus wrote: "The Persians offer up
+sacrifices to Zeus,[50] going up on the highest summit of the mountains,
+as they call _Zeus the entire orb of the sky_."
+
+Thus the supreme gods of the four great religions of Greece, of Italy,
+of India, and of Persia, are at the same time, or have begun by being
+gods of the skies. By the side of these four, Svarogu, the god of the
+ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus, like
+Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the
+universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have
+received their functions; like them he is the god of the heavens, he is
+the thunderer, and like them he is the father of the Fire, Svarojitchi,
+"the son of heaven."[51]
+
+
+His Origin.[52]
+
+How did the god of the heavens become the organizing god, the supreme
+God, the moral God? How was the abstract conception grafted on the
+naturalistic conception? What is the connection between his material
+attribute and his abstract function? The Vedas give the solution of this
+problem.
+
+As far as the eye can reach, it can never reach beyond the sky; whatever
+is, is under the immense vault; all that which is born and dies, is born
+and dies within its bounds. Now, whatever takes place in it, takes place
+according to an immutable law. The dawn has never failed to appear at
+her appointed place in the morning, never forgotten where she is to
+appear again, nor the moment at which she is to reanimate the world.
+Darkness and light know their appointed hour, and always at the desired
+moment "the black One has given way to the white." Linked together by
+the same chain in the endless path open before them, they follow their
+way onwards, the two immortals, directed by a God, absorbing each
+other's tints. The two fertile sisters do not clash with one another;
+they never stop, dissimilar in form, but alike in spirit. Thus run the
+days with their suns, the nights with their stars, season following
+season. The sky has always in regular course ushered in by turn the day
+and the night. The moon has always lit up at the fixed hour. The stars
+have always known where they should go during the day. The rivers have
+always flowed into the one ocean without making it full.
+
+This universal order is either the motion of the heavens, or it is the
+action of the God of heaven, according as we think of the body or the
+soul, and view in the heavens the thing or the God. Thus, in the
+Rig-Veda, to say "everything is _in_ Varuna"--that is, "in the
+heavens"--and to say "everything is _through_ Varuna"--that is, "through
+the heaven-God"--are one and the same thing; and in these formul� of the
+Veda, so clear in their uncertainty, theism is ever found side by side
+with unconscious pantheism, of which it is only an expression. "The
+three heavens and the three earths rest in Varuna," says a poet, and
+immediately afterwards, giving personality to his God: "It is the
+skilful king Varuna who makes this golden disc shine in heaven." The
+wind which whistles in the atmosphere is his breath, and all that exists
+from one world to the other was created by him. "From the king Varuna
+come this earth below, and yonder heaven, too, these two worlds with
+remote limits; the two seas are the belly of Varuna, and he rests also
+even in the small pool of water."
+
+This pantheistic theism, which makes no clear distinction between the
+God of heaven and the universe over which he rules, or which is
+comprised in him, penetrates Jupiter as well as Varuna. The Latin poets
+offer the equivalent of the vacillating formul� of Vedism. "The
+mortals," says Lucretius, explaining the origin of the idea of God, "the
+mortals saw the regular motions of the heavens and the various seasons
+of the year succeed each other in a fixed order, without being able to
+discover the causes. They had, therefore, no other alternative than to
+attribute all to the gods, who made everything go according to their
+will, and it was in the sky that they placed the seat and domain of the
+gods, because it is there that may be seen revolve the night and the
+noon, the day and the gloomy planets of the night; the nocturnal lights
+wandering in the sky, and the flying flames, the clouds, the sun, the
+rain, the snow, the winds, the thunderbolts, the hail, the sudden
+convulsions, and the great threatening rumblings."[53]
+
+This view of the heavens as the universal centre of the movements of
+Nature might just as well have led to pantheism as to theism. The line
+of the poet: "Juppiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque
+moveris"--"Jupiter is everything that thou seest, everywhere that thou
+movest"--does not refer only to the Jupiter of the metaphysicians of the
+Porch; it also expresses one of the aspects of the Jupiter of primitive
+mythology. It was not by a deviation from his earlier nature that Zeus
+was confounded with Pan; he was Pan by birth; and if the epopee and the
+drama show us only a personal Zeus, it is because by their very nature
+they could and should see him only under this aspect, and had nothing to
+obtain from the impersonal Zeus, although in this form he was as old as
+in the other. And the Orphic theologian is not quite unfaithful to the
+earlier tradition of religion, when he sings of the universal Zeus:--
+
+    "Zeus was the first, Zeus is the last, Zeus the thunderer;
+    Zeus is the head, Zeus is the middle; it is by Zeus that all things
+      are made;
+    Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female;
+    Zeus is the base of both the earth and the starry sky;
+    Zeus is the breath of the winds, Zeus is the jet of the
+      unconquerable flame;
+    Zeus is the root of the sea, Zeus is the sun and the moon....
+    The whole of this universe is stretched out within the great body
+      of Zeus."
+
+In the same manner, although Persia has in general preserved the
+personality of her Supreme god, yet she suffers him, especially in the
+sects, to become confounded with the Infinity of matter through which he
+first revealed himself to the mind of his worshippers. After having
+invoked the heavens as the body of Ahura Mazda, the most beautiful of
+bodies, she placed above Ahura himself, and before him, the luminous
+space, where he manifests himself, what the theologians called "the
+Infinite light," and then by a new and higher abstraction declared
+_Space_[54] to have been at the beginning of the world. Between this
+wholly metaphysical principle and the naturalistic principle of the
+primitive religion, there is only the distance of two abstractions:
+Space is only the bare form of the luminous Infinite, and the luminous
+Infinite, again, is an abstraction from the Infinite and luminous sky,
+which was identical with Ahura.
+
+Thus, accordingly as the heavens were considered as the seat or as the
+cause of things, the god of the heavens became the matter of the world
+or the demiurge of the world. From the period of Aryan unity, he was
+without doubt the one and the other in turn; but it is probable that the
+theistic conception was more clearly defined than the other, as it is so
+in the derived mythologies; it has besides deeper roots in the human
+heart and human nature, which in every movement and in every phenomenon
+sees a Living Cause, a Personality.
+
+This god of the heavens, having organized the world, is all wisdom; he
+is the skilled artisan who has regulated the motion of the worlds. His
+wisdom is infinite, for of all those mysteries which man tries in vain
+to fathom he has the key, he is the author. But it is not only as the
+Creator of the world that he is omniscient: he knows all things,
+because, being all light, he sees all things. In the naturalistic
+psychology of the Aryans, to see and to know, light and knowledge, eye
+and thought, are synonymous terms. With the Hindoos, Varuna is
+omniscient because he is the Infinite light; because the sun is his eye;
+because from the height of his palace with its pillars of red brass, his
+white looks command the world; because under the golden mantle that
+covers him, his thousands, his myriads of spies, active and untiring
+agents, sunbeams during the day, stars during the night, search out for
+him all that which exists from one world to the other, with eyes that
+never sleep, never blink. And in the same way, if Zeus is the
+all-seeing, the =panopt�s=, it is because his eye is the sun, this
+universal witness, the infallible spy of both gods and men (= The�n
+skopon �de kai andr�n=). The light knows the truth, it is all truth;
+truth is the great virtue which the god of heaven claims; and lying is
+the great crime which he punishes. In Homer, the Greek taking an oath,
+raises his eyes towards the expanse of heaven and calls Zeus and the sun
+to witness; in Persia, the god of heaven resembles in body the light,
+and in soul the truth: Aryan morality came down from heaven in a ray of
+light.
+
+
+His Destiny.
+
+Thus, the Indo-European religion knew a supreme God, and this God was
+the God of the heavens. He has organized the world and rules it,
+because, as he is the heaven, all is in him, and all passes within him,
+according to his law; he is omniscient and moral, because, being
+luminous, he sees all things and all hearts.
+
+This God was named by the various names of the sky--Dyaus, Varana, Svar,
+which, according to the requirements of the thought, described either
+the object or the person, the heavens or the God. Later on, each
+language made a choice, and fixed the proper name of the God on one of
+these words; by which its ancient value as a common noun was lost or
+rendered doubtful: thus, in Greek _Dyaus_ became the name of the
+heaven-god (Zeus) and Varana (=Ouranos=) was the name of the heavens, as
+a thing; in Sanscrit _Dyaus_ or _Svar_ was the material heavens; the
+heaven-god was Varana (later changed into Varuna); the Slavs fixed on
+the word Svar, by means of a derivative, Svarogu, the idea of the
+celestial god; the Romans made the same choice as the Greeks with their
+_Jup-piter_, and set aside the other names of the heavens; lastly,
+Persia described the god by one of his abstract epithets, the Lord,
+Ahura, and obliterated the external traces of his former naturalistic
+character.
+
+This god, who reigned at the time of the breaking up of the religion of
+Aryan unity, was carried away, with the various religions which sprang
+up from it, to the various regions where chance brought the Aryan
+migrations. Of the five religions over which he ruled, three remained
+faithful to him to the last, and only forsook him at the moment when
+they themselves perished;--they are those of the Greeks, of the Romans,
+and of the Slavs, with whom Zeus, Juppiter, and Svarogu preserved the
+titles and attributes of the Supreme god of the Aryans, as long as the
+national religion lasted. They succumbed to Christ; "Heaven-father" gave
+way to the "Father who is in Heaven."
+
+India, on the contrary, very soon forgot that god for whose origin and
+formation, however, she accounts much better than any other Aryan
+religion does; and it was not a foreign god who dethroned him--a god
+from without--but a native god, a god of his own family, Indra, the hero
+of the tempest.
+
+In fact, the supreme god of the Aryans was not a god of unity; the
+Asura, the Lord, was not the Lord in the same sense as Adonai. There
+were by the side of him, within himself, a number of gods, acting of
+their own accord, and often of independent origin. The wind, the rain,
+the thunder; the fire under its three forms--the sun in the heavens, the
+lightning in the cloud, the terrestrial fire on the altar; the prayer
+under its two forms--the human prayer, which ascends from the altar to
+heaven, and the heavenly prayer, which resounds in the din of the storm,
+on the lips of a divine priest, and descends from the heights with the
+torrents of libations poured from the cup of heaven, all the forces of
+nature, both concrete and abstract, appealing at once to the eye and to
+the imagination of man, were instantly deified. If the god of the
+heavens, greater in time and space, always present and everywhere
+present, easily rose to the supreme rank, carried there by his double
+Infinity, yet others, with a less continuous, but more dramatic action,
+revealing themselves by sudden, unexpected events, maintained their
+ancient independence, and religious development might lead to their
+usurping the power of the king of the heavens. Already during the middle
+of the Vedic period, Indra, the noisy god of the storm, ascends the
+summit of the Pantheon, and eclipses his majestic rival by the din of
+his resounding splendour.
+
+He is the favourite hero of the Vedic Rishis; they do not tire of
+telling how he strikes with his bolt the serpent of the cloud, which
+enfolds the light and the waters; how he shatters the cavern of Cambara,
+how he delivers the captive Auroras and cows, who will shed torrents of
+light and milk on the earth. It is he who makes the sun come out again;
+it is he who makes the world, annihilated during the night, reappear; it
+is he who recreates it, he who creates it. In a whole series of hymns he
+ascends to the side of Varuna, and shares the empire with him; at last
+he mounts above him, and becomes the Universal King:--
+
+    "He, who, as soon as he was born, a god of thought, has surpassed
+    the gods by the power of his intellect, he whose trembling made the
+    two worlds quake by the power of his strength--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who has firmly established the tottering earth and arrested the
+    quivering mountains; he who has fixed the extent of the
+    wide-stretching atmosphere, and who has propped up the sky,--O man,
+    it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who, after slaying the serpent, unpenned the seven rivers; who
+    brought forth the cows from their hiding-place in the cavern; he,
+    who, by the clashing of the two stones, has engendered Agni,--O man,
+    it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who made all these great things; he, who struck down the demon
+    race, driving it to concealment; he, who, like a fortunate gamester
+    who wins at play, carries off the wealth of the impious,--O man, it
+    is Indra!
+
+    "He, who gives life to both rich and poor, and to the priest his
+    singer who implores him; the god with beautiful lips; the protecting
+    god who brings the stones together to press out the soma,--O man, it
+    is Indra!
+
+    "He, who has in his hands the herds of horses and cows, the cities
+    and the chariots of war; he, who has created the Sun and the dawn;
+    he, who rules the waters,--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who is invoked by the two contending armies, by the enemies
+    facing each other, either triumphant or beaten; he, whom, when they
+    meet in the struggle on the same chariot, during the onslaught, they
+    invoke against each other,--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who discovered �ambara in the mountains where he had been
+    hidden forty years; he, who killed the serpent in his full strength,
+    who struck him dead on the body of D�nu,[55]--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "Heaven and earth bow down before him; when he shakes, the mountains
+    tremble; the drinker of soma, look at him! bearing the bolt in his
+    arm, the bolt in his hand,--O man, it is Indra!"
+
+But the usurper does not enjoy his triumph long; in the heat of his
+victory he is already stung to the heart, mortally wounded by a new and
+mystic power which is growing at his side, the power of prayer, of
+sacrifice, of worship, of _Brahma_, whose reign begins to dawn towards
+the end of the Vedic period, and which is still in existence.
+
+What Indra did in India during an historical period, Perkun and Odin did
+in a pre-historical period, the one among the Lithuanians, the other
+among the Germans. Perkun and Odin are the Indras of these two nations,
+and have each dethroned the god of the heavens. Perkun was the god of
+the thunder with the Lithuanian pagans, and one can recognize in him a
+twin brother of the Hindoo _Parjanya_, one of the forms of the god of
+the storm in Vedic mythology. This king of the Lithuanian Pantheon is a
+king of recent date; what proves it is that the Slavs, so closely
+related to the Lithuanians in their beliefs, as well as in their
+language, and who also knew the god Perkun, have still as their Supreme
+god the Supreme god of the ancient Aryan religion, the god of the
+heavens, Svarogu.
+
+The same revolution took place in Germany, but in a more remote period.
+The god of the heavens has vanished; he is replaced by the god of the
+stormy atmosphere, Odin, or Wuotan, the V�ta of India, the warrior god
+who is heard in the din of the tempest, leading his dishevelled bands of
+warriors, or letting loose on a celestial quarry the howling packs of
+the wild chase.
+
+Thus did the Greeks, the Romans, and the Slavs allow their god to be
+vanquished by a foreign god; the Germans, the Lithuanians, and the
+Hindoos themselves forsook him for an inferior creation. Only in one
+single nation he finds worshippers faithful to the last. They are not
+numerous, but they have not allowed their belief to be encroached upon
+either by time or by man. We mean the few thousands of Ghebers or
+Parsis, who, during the great political and religious shipwreck of
+Persia, fleeing before the victorious sword of the Prophet, kept from
+Islam the treasure of their old belief, and who to this day, in the year
+1879 of the Christian era, in the fire temples in Bombay, offer up
+sacrifices to the very same god who was sung by the unknown ancestors of
+the Aryan race at a time which eludes the grasp of history.
+
+    JAMES DARMESTETER.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[38] Cf. Max M�ller: "Lectures on the Science of Language," and
+"Lectures on the Science of Religion;" Michel Br�al, "M�langes de
+Mythologie et de Linguistique."
+
+[39] Maury, "Histoire des Religions de la Gr�ce;" Preller, "Griechische
+Mythologie."
+
+[40] See Muir, "Sanscrit Texts," v. 58; Max M�ller, "Lectures on the
+Origin and Growth of Religion," p. 284.
+
+[41] "This Lord."
+
+[42] The cloud often compared to a tree branching out in the sky.
+
+[43] The fire (Ignis) which is born in the waters of heaven in the form
+of lightning.
+
+[44] A sacred plant whose sap is offered to the gods. It is pressed
+between two stones to extract the sacred liquor.
+
+[45] The sea of the earth and the sea of the clouds.
+
+[46] See J. Darmesteter, "Ormazd et Ahriman," �� 18-59.
+
+[47] Ormazd is the modern name, contracted from the ancient Ahura Mazda.
+
+[48] Which is the same word as the Sanskrit Asura.
+
+[49] The sun is also the bird of Zeus (�schylus, the Suppliants).
+
+[50] That is to say "to their Supreme God."
+
+[51] G. Klek, "Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur-Geschichte."
+
+[52] "Ormazd et Ahriman," �� 62, sq.
+
+[53]
+    Praeterea, coeli rationes ordine certo
+    Et varia annorum cernebant tempora vorti;
+    Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.
+    Ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia Diveis
+    Tradere, et ollorum nutu facere omnia flecti.
+    In coeloque Deum sedes et templa locarunt,
+    Per coelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,
+    Luna, dies, et nox et noctis signa severa,
+    Noctivagaeque faces coeli, flammaeque volantes,
+    Nubila, sol, imbres, nix, ventei, fulmina, grando,
+    Et rapidei fremitus, et murmura magna minarum.--v. 1187.
+
+[54] In other systems, having regard to the eternity of the God and no
+longer to his immensity, boundless Time became the first principle
+(Zarvan Akarana).
+
+[55] His mother.
+
+
+
+
+LAZARUS APPEALS TO DIVES.
+
+
+The elaborate schemes which have been propounded in attempts to solve
+the much-vexed riddle how best and most effectually to ameliorate the
+condition of the working-classes--such as Owenism, Fourierism, and such
+like--have had their inception in the minds of philanthropists outside
+and above our circle. They have been conceived for the most part with a
+genuine feeling of the immense importance of this, the most burning and
+momentous question of modern days, and illumined in many cases with deep
+philosophic insight; yet, as it is almost impossible for any but a born
+proletarian to understand the needs, the wants and the daily lives of
+the proletarian, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the absence of
+this special knowledge may have contributed somewhat to the
+unworkableness of the various systems proposed. Beyond this, however, it
+strikes me that most of them contained a fatal flaw, inherent in their
+constitutions. They were too ambitious, aimed at too much, and were
+altogether of so revolutionary and subversive a character as to alarm
+the great majority of those whose goodwill must be obtained before it
+can be possible to reduce any theory to experiment on a sufficiently
+extended scale to enable an unprejudiced observer to pronounce
+decisively on the result accomplished.
+
+Were it not that the accident of my having been thrown by birth and
+association amongst the very poorest of the poor ("but indifferent
+honest") community of a large city may enable me to supplement to some
+extent the ideas enunciated by benevolent theorists belonging to the
+upper strata of society, I should not have the temerity to seek to pass
+out of the region of the "eternal silences." Moreover, I do not announce
+a new and perfect evangel to be ushered in by loud flourish of trumpets.
+I aim at nothing more ambitious than to be allowed to offer a few hints
+as to the direction which I conceive future gospels of humanity must
+take in order to be of practical utility.
+
+Having thus endeavoured to justify myself for rushing in where sometimes
+"angels fear to tread," I have no intention of apologizing for the
+crudeness of my ideas, or my lack of grace in literary composition.
+Taking into consideration the small amount of elementary education
+drilled into me at a charity school for a brief period of my very
+juvenile days, and the continued absence of any duly qualified
+instructor since, "all that goes without saying."
+
+One more egotistical, or egoistical, remark, and I proceed. I am in no
+sense a _specialist_. I am neither a Good Templar nor a Convivial Toper;
+neither a disciple of Nihilism, nor any other school of advanced thought
+(so called), nor a bigoted sectarian. I am a private in neither the
+ranks of bovine Toryism nor of rabid Radicalism; but I write simply as
+one of that common ruck of ordinary practical working men, which in
+reality forms the great staple of our plebiscite, although certain very
+noisy and turbulent minorities may possibly have led to a contrary
+inference.
+
+In the erection of my little structure, I, like all other architects,
+require a good foundation as the basis of operations; and in the present
+case the foundation required is simply a desire on the part of those
+bipeds who stand erect on pedestals for an increased knowledge of their
+fellows who crawl and kneel and lie in a thousand and one contorted
+postures on the miry clay. Enlarged knowledge will bring enlarged
+sympathy for each other on the part of high and low alike. As matters
+now stand, those above us never really see us in undress. When they come
+across us we are either too slavishly sycophantic or too ruggedly
+independent,--both being masks donned for the occasion,--and not in any
+sense our natural selves; and I have a dim kind of suspicion that on the
+few occasions when gentlemen voluntarily come forward and try to make us
+believe that they are taking us into their confidence--on the hustings,
+say, for instance--some disguise of the same kind may be adopted, and
+that the features we then see are not altogether the real ones. If I am
+right in this assumption, how is it possible for either class to have
+anything like a competent knowledge of the other? Indeed, I do not think
+I should be far wrong in saying that the manners and customs of the
+Fijian Islanders and other aborigines of distant lands are better known
+generally to the upper ten thousand than those of the lower native
+millions; and, of course, the converse holds equally good. Domestic
+servants, perhaps, may be said to form exceptions to this latter rule,
+seeing that they often have peeps into the innermost arcana; but as they
+are for the most part--the male portion of them at all events--more
+utterly inexplicable beings than their masters, the general fund of
+information is not much increased through that channel. Flunkeydom is
+much more insufferable and incomprehensible to the general run of us
+than swelldom itself.
+
+Granted, however, the desire for a better acquaintance with their
+humbler brethren on the part of our aristocracy and plutocracy (for
+this, like all other good things, must _descend_ from above), it will be
+found that, as a mutual understanding of each other's peculiarities is
+increased, the rich man (in this paper, as in an Act of Parliament,
+words denoting persons of the masculine gender shall be construed as
+including persons of the feminine gender also) will bestow a little less
+careful thought and attention on--shall I say partridges?--and more on
+his fellow-man; and the bitter class-prejudice which undoubtedly exists
+among the needy against the prosperous and well-fed will gradually die
+out. Then, and then only, will a new and brighter era dawn on "poor
+humanity;" and, I may say, that I hold optimist views with reference to
+this consummation. I think I observe a growing acknowledgment of the
+claims of humble folk in the literature of the day; and as literature is
+universally regarded as an outcome of the prevalent tone of feeling, I
+look upon this as a good omen.
+
+Having worked myself into this happy frame of mind, I am emboldened to
+request that consideration may be given to a few examples of the ideas
+which, "in the stillness of the night," and otherwise, have intruded
+themselves upon me--ideas embryonic and unformed, I doubt not, but
+genuine as far as they go. From the multitude of these shadowy phantoms
+which have now for a long time past oppressed me, I select those which
+strike me as having special reference to the improvement of our poor
+populations in four of the salient matters of life--viz., in health,
+pocket, mind, and amusements; and these I will deal with _seriatim_.
+
+
+Health.
+
+This, amongst all sublunary blessings, is undoubtedly the one of
+paramount importance, and, seeing how things now stand with us, it is
+imperative that it should be _the_ question to receive earliest
+attention.
+
+I think it is the Rev. Harry Jones who, in one of his warm-hearted
+essays, liken as rotten, worn-out, filthy habitation to a lump of putrid
+carrion, exhaling poison all around, and which should be as
+remorselessly cut out from amongst the dwellings of human beings as a
+fly-blown spot is cut out from a carcass. This simile, perhaps, is not a
+very savoury one, but it possesses a much greater merit, that of being
+_absolutely true_--slightly vulgar, but astonishingly correct. I could
+illustrate its verity by many pertinent instances which have come within
+my own experience, but I feel that this is not the place to do so. What
+then is the remedy? Obviously to re-enact the present "Artizans'
+Dwellings Improvement Act" as a _compulsory_ statute, and not as an
+optional one. Let the squalid, crazy, tumble-down rookeries which exist
+in every town in the kingdom be ruthlessly demolished, care, of course,
+being taken that suitable dwellings are cotemporaneously built on better
+sanitary principles for those whom it will be necessary to evict in
+order to carry out such improvements. And I would suggest, as a branch
+of the pervading idea which forms the centre and core of my suggestions
+(of which more anon), that the Municipal Corporations of our cities and
+towns should be themselves in their official capacity the landlords of
+such new and improved dwellings, and should employ their own tradesmen
+to build them. And, furthermore, that in the erection of whatever new
+cottages may be found necessary for the purpose indicated, the
+latter-day style of running them up all alike, as uniform as so many
+squares of glass in a sash, should be abandoned, and a little variety of
+style, if only in trifling particulars, introduced. Human nature, even
+the human nature of the uneducated poor, rebels against this painful
+monotony, and grows intensely weary of over-much regularity, which, if a
+virtue at all, is one of so starched and rigid a character, that it
+takes a considerable amount of resolution, and a far higher degree of
+culture than we can lay claim to, to enable us to fall in love with it.
+To our uninstructed eyes, diversity of form is much more pleasing than
+undeviating rectangularity.
+
+Again, the most painstaking care must be taken that these substituted
+domiciles be properly and thoroughly drained. Unhappily, although this
+is a truism and a self-evident proposition, it is, through carelessness
+or indifference, frequently neglected--a fact too sadly attested by the
+ravages of fever from time to time in our outlying districts, where,
+twenty years ago, the bricklayer and hodman had not arrived upon the
+scene. To obviate this it is absolutely necessary that the most skilled
+science should be employed, and the most searching local legislation
+strictly enforced, to secure the carrying out of approved sewerage and
+drainage systems.
+
+Furthermore, I would suggest that no horse or cattle slaughterer,
+tallow-melter, manure-merchant, tanner, or other person plying any of
+the trades known as noisome or offensive, should be allowed to continue
+such trades without a special licence, and that by the terms of such
+licence they should be prohibited, under heavy penalties, from carrying
+on their businesses outside the limits of a certain area to be expressly
+set aside for that purpose, at such a distance from the centre of every
+town as may be judged desirable by the sanitary authorities. Within this
+area pig-styes and fowl-houses should be erected, and no swine, ducks,
+or geese be permitted to be kept outside its boundary. An inspector
+should be appointed specially for this quarter of the town, who should
+direct all his energies to seeing that the best principles of
+ventilation, smoke-consumption, drainage, use of disinfectants, &c. &c.,
+are adopted throughout his domain; and all ill-conditioned recusants
+against the decrees of the local senate should be mulcted in heavy
+damages. On the part of the senate itself there must be no apathy, no
+supineness, no dilettanteism, but a stern, vigorous determination
+stringently and impartially to enforce prompt obedience to its edicts.
+
+No doubt this would be somewhat of a hardship upon certain individuals,
+on the score of inconvenience and increased cost of production; but I
+doubt not they would take care to indemnify themselves. Even were it
+otherwise, however, the aggregate gain in so important a matter as the
+public health must swamp all minor considerations. Private interests
+must inevitably be sacrificed in the advancement of the general weal.
+All the Mrs. Partingtons that ever existed, with all their mops (whether
+such mops are called monopolies, vested rights, or what not), must
+perforce recede before the rising tide of the ocean of civilization.
+
+Having well drained our streets and habitations, and consecrated a
+_quartier_ for the purposes last mentioned, the next step must be to
+increase the number of our iron hospitals; and, disregarding
+sentimentality, immediately to isolate and put in quarantine all persons
+suffering from infectious diseases. Firmly grasp this nettle the moment
+it crops up, and without a shadow of doubt you will reduce to a minimum
+the high rate of mortality at present existing in our overcrowded cities
+through a total neglect of proper precaution. All textile fabrics,
+bedding, books, &c., which have come in contact with the patient, to be
+consumed by fire. Even Vandalism is excusable, nay, commendable, in
+certain circumstances.
+
+Finally, on this branch of the subject, I submit for the consideration
+of municipalities the following recommendations:--
+
+1. Preserve or procure open spaces, sufficient to form recreation
+grounds for your communities--say an acre for every thousand
+inhabitants. Regard this to be quite as imperative a necessity as the
+acquisition of further land to add to the cemeteries in which you inter
+the bodies of those who have "gone over to the majority." Let the quick
+share your care and attention on equal terms with the dead in the matter
+of requisite space and accommodation.
+
+2. Cause your common lodging-houses and your still worse haunts to be
+under the most vigilant supervision; and that _constantly_, and not
+fitfully and spasmodically. The more severe and restrictive your
+regulations are with reference to these matters the better it will be
+for all decent, quiet citizens.
+
+3. Provide every householder within your jurisdiction with a _filter_,
+to insure to him and his the opportunity of enjoying water free from
+organic and other impurities.
+
+4. Furnish him also with two boxes, varying in size according to the
+dimensions of his domicile: one to form a receptacle for dust, cinders,
+old rags, broken bottles, and what is generically known as "dry dirt;"
+and the other for decayed vegetables, the entrails of fish, and that
+kind of refuse that we rather uneuphoniously call "muck." Such boxes to
+be taken away once a week and empty ones left in their stead. As a
+corollary to this, forbid him, under penalties, to continue his present
+practice of pitching derelicts into the street, as the readiest means of
+being quit of them; and make him responsible for the cleanliness of his
+doorsteps and the pavement in front of his dwelling.
+
+5. Send round carts of chloride of lime, at short intervals during warm
+or "muggy" weather, and direct a bucketful to be delivered to every
+housewife, to remove stenches from sinks, water-closets, &c.
+
+6. Erect a furnace in some convenient locality, to serve the same
+purpose as that known as the "Queen's tobacco-pipe" at the London Docks
+does or did--_i.e._, to reduce to ashes all infected or condemned
+articles.
+
+The foregoing list of recommendations might be extended indefinitely;
+but perhaps the above will be sufficient to begin with.
+
+There are, no doubt, two objections at least which may be raised against
+the adoption of any scheme founded on these hints: first, one on the
+score of increased expenditure; secondly, one condemning increased
+centralization. With regard to the former, my answer is that health,
+especially the health of the aggregate mass of the body politic, cannot
+possibly be bought too dear; and that nothing really is so costly to any
+community as pestilence and death. As to the latter, I have no other
+defence to urge than my firm conviction that, much as it is railed
+against, centralization is as nearly an unmixed good as it is possible
+for anything in this sublunary (and marvellously complex) sphere to be.
+Everybody knows how inadequate the very best isolated efforts are to
+exterminate any widespread evil; and even organizations which are
+independent of, and do not radiate from or gravitate to, a common
+centre, frequently cross each other's paths, and to some extent defeat
+each other's purposes; occasioning a great waste of wholesome energy,
+which, well directed, might achieve marvellous results. As cosmos is
+greater than chaos--as a well-spliced rope is stronger than its separate
+strands--so is centralization and cohesion greater and stronger than
+individualism and segregation.
+
+
+Pocket.
+
+Many a vigorous arm has applied the axe to that dense and matted jungle,
+the indigence of the lower orders; but little more has been accomplished
+than the blunting of the hatchet and the exhaustion of the pioneer who
+wielded it.
+
+This being the case, it would be the height of folly for me, with my far
+feebler frame and my puny weapon, to attempt to do more than to peer
+cautiously around the deep shades, and try to find out, as a dweller
+_within_ those murky woods, if here a little path and there a little
+opening, into which a gleam of sunlight penetrates at times, be not
+discoverable, half hidden, perchance, by clumps of brushwood, which it
+will cost but little trouble to clear away. I shall therefore restrict
+myself to indicating such of these openings as I see, or fancy I see,
+from whence operations might, according to my notion, be directed
+towards the demolition of portions at all events of this swart and
+gloomy forest.
+
+One of the largest of these clearings is undoubtedly, I think,
+_Co-operation_, of which there are two kinds--viz., combinations between
+masters and men in the shape of limited partnerships, a per-centage on
+profits, &c.; and combinations amongst the wage-earners themselves for
+certain specified purposes.
+
+With regard to the first named, I am rather inclined to doubt the
+probability of its ever becoming an important factor in the sum of human
+progress, on account of the unlikelihood of its being generally adopted
+either in the near or distant future, and I am still more sceptical as
+to its efficacy as a panacea, even if it were universally reduced to
+practice, especially in these days of commercial disasters.
+
+Coming, then, to the other mode of co-operation--associations of manual
+workers--this also divides itself into two branches, having two distinct
+objects--namely, the receipt of higher wages for labour performed, and
+the obtaining greater value in commodities in the disbursement of such
+wages. Both these are, no doubt, laudable aspirations; and, although at
+the first glance they may appear incompatible with, if not altogether
+antagonistic to, each other,--inasmuch as increased remuneration to the
+producer means an increase in the price of the thing produced,--yet it
+will be seen, on mature reflection, that as a very large proportion of
+operatives are employed in the manufacture of articles of luxury, of
+which they are not consumers or purchasers, so much of the increase in
+the price of such articles as finds its way into the pockets of the
+artificer in the shape of added wages is a net gain to that portion of
+the labouring classes, and will inevitably exude from such portion to
+the benefit of the whole, in the same manner as what may be called in
+contradistinction their normal earnings.
+
+I should like to say one word about combinations of workmen in this
+place, which may be distasteful to unqualified panegyrists of the
+system: such combinations should invariably be in accordance with our
+recognized code of morals, and they must be in obedience to the ordinary
+laws of Nature; and it is to be feared that these desiderata to
+perfection in co-operation have at times been lost sight of in the past.
+I am compelled to blush for my order when I find them seizing the
+opportunity of their employers being under a heavy time-contract for the
+execution of important public or other works to organize a strike: this
+is clearly an infraction of all the ethics of morality. Neither can I
+appreciate their sense of the fitness of things when I hear them laying
+it down as a sound axiom that wages should be equalized, so that the
+stupid, idle, or inferior workman should be on a par with the skilled
+and industrious one. This is a blunder against one of the most immutable
+of Nature's laws--that of variety and infinite gradation; the suggestion
+implies a yearning after the utterly unattainable, which it is
+astonishing men of otherwise sound judgment should seriously entertain
+for one moment. As a comrade of mine pithily observed, not long since,
+when we were discussing the possibility of devising a scheme by which
+all men should receive the same amount of remuneration for their labour,
+and, when received, be enabled to make it go equally far--"You might as
+well try to make men all o' one height."
+
+Remove these excrescences from our combinations, and when it is found we
+can be practical as well as earnest, co-operation will have acquired a
+new vigour, and will be able to accomplish greater results. The main
+citadel will be none the less impregnable because our forces are not
+scattered abroad in various directions, in the vain endeavour to
+strengthen totally indefensible frontiers.
+
+But, after all, it is from the other branch of co-operation--the
+_co-operative store system_--that the greatest advantages may be
+expected to accrue. This is growing into favour yearly, still growing
+(despite recent diatribes in the newspapers), and is extending its
+ramifications into quite primitive districts. The knowledge that this is
+an undoubted fact should afford gratification to the well-wishers of the
+poor.
+
+Yet this gratification is subject to some modification when it is seen
+that this, not the least important birth of the nineteenth century,
+though growing and bearing within itself the germs of almost infinite
+possibilities, is at present of too tiny dimensions to grapple with that
+colossal ogre--the wasteful expenditure of the impecunious. It is
+Hercules indeed, but Hercules still in swaddling clothes before the
+strangling of the serpent. The amount of dealings at these stores by the
+class to whom they are calculated to prove the greatest boon, when
+compared with dealings by this same class with _very_ retail shopkeepers
+and at other places where the practice of paying "through the nose"
+(pardon the vulgarity) so extensively prevails, will be found to be
+almost infinitesimal. The question therefore arises, may it not be
+possible to replace these pine torches by Edisonian lights, so as to
+eliminate from wider tracts the thick darkness enwrapping the minds of
+the sons and daughters of toil as to what constitutes their true
+interests? It appears to me that there is one way of rendering this
+feasible, which I deferentially submit for consideration. It may be
+quite impracticable; and, if practicable, may contain such flaws as to
+be futile. If so, on defects being pointed out which I am not able,
+unassisted, to discover, I can only say I am open to conviction. I have
+no desire to be charged with an ineradicable attachment to that peculiar
+feat of horsemanship known as "riding a hobby to death." My plan is
+simply this: first, let every town of say over 10,000 inhabitants
+possess an internal government complete in itself, with plenary
+administrative powers; let groups of villages, in such numbers as may be
+determined on (the present Poor-Law Union Divisions might be taken as a
+basis), form cordons round themselves in like manner, and with the like
+objects; let every care be taken to select the very best men of every
+social grade to form the local senate, and let the members of which it
+is composed be paid for their services out of the public (local) funds,
+be subject to re-election at short intervals, and be required to give
+good accounts of their stewardship. Further, let it be clearly
+understood that the only condition on which a man could hope to be
+enrolled in this representative band, or, being enrolled, expect to be
+allowed to continue his official existence, would be his distinct and
+unquestioning recognition of _personal_ responsibility, as far as is
+humanly possible, for, and his unwavering resolution to secure, the
+well-being of _all_ his constituents, physically, pecuniarily, mentally,
+and morally.
+
+These preliminaries being supposed to be satisfactorily settled, such
+incorporation or assembly of chosen ones might (always supposing my
+views happened to find favour in their sight) open as many co-operative
+stores--so many for each trade--as would be sufficient to supply the
+needs of the entire community, selecting competent men from each trade
+to manage the different departments, and paying them by an agreed salary
+in the same manner as rate collectors and relieving officers are paid. A
+certain specified per-centage to be added to the prime cost of the
+various articles to defray the estimated expenses of management,
+advertising, rent (if necessary, though it would be better if the local
+legislators were also the landlords), wear and tear, depreciation in
+stock, and miscellaneous expenses for the year; and sales to be made to
+the consumer _for cash only_. The urban or rural chancellor of the
+exchequer would, in his annual budget, soon learn to adjust the amount
+of his tax (for so the per-centage may be considered), over and above
+the original cost price, according to the probable exigencies of the
+ensuing year, by the light afforded by the transactions of the preceding
+one.
+
+Seeing how many millions of pounds are annually disbursed for the barest
+sustenance and most absolute necessaries of life by the poor of the
+three kingdoms, from most of whom exorbitant rates of profit are
+wrung,--for the fact need not be expatiated on here that the more
+indigent the purchaser, and the more his penury drives him to live from
+hand-to-mouth, the less value he receives for his money, to say nothing
+of the further irruptions made into his income by the only
+partially-slain "truck system," or by the payment of interest to the
+accommodating successors of the Lombards, whose golden balls proclaim
+them to serve the honourable office of jackal-purveyors to the lions of
+the gin-palaces,--seeing this, I say, shall I be stigmatized as a
+dreamer, a half-crazy Utopian, if I anticipate magnificent results to
+follow from fair trial of a scheme designed to stem the frightful
+torrent of improvidence at present obtaining amongst the working
+classes, and to enable them to occupy the new position of being
+participators in the benefits of a sound commercial undertaking?
+
+Here, however, as elsewhere, there are tares amongst the wheat--if,
+indeed, it be wheat. An awkward inquiry obtrudes itself unbidden. What
+is to become of the thousands of deserving folks, too old for the most
+part to begin life _de novo_, who have earned a tolerably honest
+livelihood as small shopkeepers, and who would probably find themselves,
+under the system just recommended, "improved off the face of the earth?"
+Partially the difficulty might be met by the employment of the most
+active or most experienced of them in the borough stores. A little more
+might be accomplished in this direction also by giving some of them
+appointments to the numerous new offices it will be found necessary to
+create if our municipal authorities ever do wake up and bestir
+themselves, and aspire to becoming something more suitable to the spirit
+of the age than mere assemblies for palaver. But when all this is done,
+there will still be the residuum, and that residuum composed almost
+exclusively of the feeble, the aged, the halt, the lame, and the blind,
+who will be more or less thrown upon their own resources. For these, the
+only gleam of light I can discern is the fact that a remnant of their
+old customers will not find out all at once the error of their ways, and
+will go on in their accustomed grooves for some time after the
+centralized co-operative store shall have become _un fait accompli_, and
+so their decline into pauperism will be slow and gradual. Heaven only
+knows how some of these small shopkeepers contrive to exist even now by
+vending pennyworths and halfpennyworths of this, that, and the other; it
+can only be by imposing extravagant profits on the article vended. One
+cannot help thinking that their case can hardly very well be worse than
+it is, in any event. But be this as it may, care for their particular
+interests must not be permitted to dominate over due consideration for
+those of the vast aggregate mass forming the rest of our _client�le_,
+innumerable as "leaves in Vallambrosa,"--and, like other and greater
+folks, superfluous retailers must submit to be sacrificed for the
+benefit of the common weal.
+
+It is impossible to deal even in the most cursory manner with this
+"pocket" question without just glancing at the important bearing which
+the question of temperance must exercise upon it. To place a further
+spending power in the hands of an incurably intemperate populace would
+obviously mean only to increase and intensify the vice of intemperance.
+While deprecating any intention of making this paper the vehicle for a
+furious tirade against drunkenness, I feel bound to say in passing that,
+little as I love total abstinence, I regard it as a much lesser evil
+than the unrestrained indulgence of dipsomania; and if any man feels
+that he is so much a slave to his degraded appetite that he cannot keep
+up a nodding acquaintance with John Barleycorn without wallowing under
+his influence in the mud of inebriety, I respect that man for signing
+the pledge. My optimist instincts, however, buoy me up again on this
+subject also, for I sincerely believe that, high authority for the
+assertion though there be, mankind are _not_ mostly fools; and that when
+they have begun to realize the fact that they have a choice as to the
+kind of investment they may obtain for their money, the great majority
+of them will be looking out for some more substantial advantage than the
+questionable luxury of seeking temporary oblivion from carking cares and
+the grisly spectre of hopeless indigence. It may, I think, be relied on
+with certainty that an improvement in the pecuniary circumstances of the
+poor would beget increased self-respect, and self-respect would proclaim
+drunkenness _unfashionable_, and that now vigorous and lusty giant would
+ere long find himself as decrepit and infirm as Bunyan's Giant Pope.
+Those of us who have read of the bacchanalian orgies of the great no
+further back than the days of the Regency of George IV., and contrast it
+with the sobriety which is said to prevail amongst them in our days,
+cannot be accused of being groundlessly sanguine if we augur the
+percolation downwards of this stream of moderation under happier
+auspices, and that, too, in no remote future.
+
+A third means of lightening the strain upon our _ouvriers_ is to
+multiply the facilities for emigration. I would even go so far as to say
+that I think an _International_ Emigration and Immigration League
+between all the civilized nations of the world, for the purpose of
+drafting overplus populations into thinly inhabited districts, would be
+rather a good thing than otherwise, the inconveniences attending
+differences of language, manners, and so forth, being quite
+surmountable; whereas the difficulties attendant upon the possession of
+more hands to labour than there is work to perform, and consequently
+more hungry stomachs than there is food to fill, is altogether
+insurmountable. With regard to the affliction of _mal du pays_, from
+which undoubtedly many of the expatriated would suffer at intervals,
+that would be found to be a much more tolerable burden to bear, combined
+with a sufficiency of victuals and clothing, than the pangs of
+starvation or semi-starvation even on one's "native heather."
+
+But as it is no part of my programme to move too fast, or too far at
+once, I do not insist upon any international arrangement of the kind I
+have hinted at during, say, the present decade. I do, however, earnestly
+entreat all whom it may concern to try their best to place the matter of
+Emigration on a proper footing. I unhesitatingly maintain that whilst
+Great Britain possesses untold thousands of acres of virgin soil, and
+practically unlimited untried possibilities, in her numerous colonies,
+this our "sea-girt isle" ought not to suffer from a plethora of willing
+workers. The existing facilities held out to our overcrowded populations
+to induce them to venture upon "fresh fields and pastures new" might be
+multiplied a hundred-fold.
+
+Surely it ought to be part of the fundamental policy of a
+State--especially of a State whose real governing body is elected by
+household suffrage--to take the most active measures for insuring the
+weal of all its citizens: the humblest as well as the highest. Does not
+this, indeed, form the very quintessential attribute of good government?
+Has it not been rightly said that a State represents the totality of all
+the individuals composing it? I assume these are sound political axioms;
+and if I am right in this assumption, may I not suggest, as the most
+certain way of attaining the desired end, that our Representative
+Government should formally acknowledge our claims upon them by
+appointing a Minister for "the Condition of the People," with a seat in
+the Cabinet? The next step would be easy, for when once the whole
+surroundings were fairly brought within the range of vision, the vital
+importance of Emigration as a principal means of amelioration would be
+recognized; and it would be discovered that an able Secretary for
+Emigration would prove an invaluable auxiliary in the effective working
+of the department.
+
+It would be necessary, I apprehend, to select for this latter office a
+man eminent as well for good temper as for a capacious intellect, as the
+multiplicity of the functions he would have to perform would render such
+office by no means a sinecure; and the involved and complex matters he
+would have to deal with might, at times, go far in the direction of
+ruffling the serenest imperturbability.
+
+The eye of fancy depicts him in the active performance of his
+multifarious duties, surrounded by numerous painstaking subordinates,
+some of whom bear to him huge tomes, containing a full alphabetical list
+(compiled from the census returns and other sources) of the populations,
+industries, and assessments of the United Kingdom, divided into areas of
+certain dimensions, showing the age, sex, occupation, and earnings or
+incomings of every person; the number of houses (with their rentals or
+estimated yearly value), workshops, or other business establishments of
+every kind, specifying how many hands are employed in each and the
+amount of wages paid; and also showing the number of persons in receipt
+of out-door relief, and approximate number of vagrants in each district.
+Other attentive satellites open before him the various domesday books,
+containing reports by competent surveyors as to the quantity, and the
+latent riches or irredeemable poverty, of uncultivated lands throughout
+those vast dominions of ours on which the sun never sets; with copious
+notes by skilled mercantile men and geographers, pointing out the places
+where commodious ports might be formed, railways constructed, or
+manufactories erected. Our much-worried Secretary, whose heart is in his
+work, compares notes, and directs some of his chief clerks to prepare
+digests of, for instance, the information contained in pp. 420 to 446 of
+the 17th volume of the first set of books, and pp. 97 to 104 of the 32nd
+volume of the second set, ready for his consideration on the day but one
+following. He then takes up similar digests, which have previously been
+prepared in like manner, and sees clearly that one hundred artisan
+families of various specified trades, full particulars of which are
+before him, may, with advantage to all parties, be transplanted, passage
+free, from the blind alleys of Flintchester to the new settlement of
+Hornihand in Australasia, with the authorities of which place the usual
+arrangement will be made to assist them on their _d�but_, and lend them
+a helping hand until they get fairly settled down. Day after day this
+kind of thing goes on throughout the year, except for some two months
+during the late summer and autumn vacation, when the hard-worked
+Secretary and his staff are enjoying a well-earned holiday.
+
+The more I ruminate on this matter of Emigration the more I am convinced
+that it is indispensable; it should run on wider lines, and cover a far
+more extended area than is possible under anything short of Governmental
+intervention. Seeing the utter inutility and inefficacy of isolated
+exertions to deal with the mighty problems which our complex
+civilization presents for solution, I should, on behalf of myself and my
+class, hail with joy the prospect of State interference in our
+interests. Sneers may continue to be directed against, and witty
+sarcasms levelled at, a "Paternal Government," "infringement of that
+liberty of the subject which is the inherent privilege and birthright of
+every Briton," and other like cuckoo-cries. But meantime we starve; we
+increase and multiply in obedience to the law of Nature, and our
+opportunities of earning subsistence do _not_ increase and multiply in a
+corresponding ratio. And without by any means desiring to steep my pen
+in midnight blackness in order to portray possible portentous
+consequences, yet it is a proposition not to be controverted that the
+ever-increasing preponderance of born toilers over any quantity of
+remunerative toil which can by any possibility be created within the
+limits of Great Britain proper must inevitably cause such consequences
+to be calamitous. For some time past the dark shadow of over-population
+has been looming on the horizon of "Merrie England," at first no bigger
+than a man's hand, but later advancing nearer and still more near and
+assuming colossal proportions; and the time cannot be far distant when
+it will obstinately refuse to be ignored any longer, even by the most
+unreflective, but will assert itself in a manner little to be desired.
+How, then, to avert this evil? How to postpone the advent of the fateful
+day? Are not these queries of vital interest to all ranks of society? I
+for one feel them to be so: hence the above gropings after gleams of
+daylight in the midst of the gathering shades. I do not pretend to aver
+that I have found the sunshine, that I have discovered an absolute cure
+for all the ills that "flesh is heir to." Too well I know what mistakes
+and blunders are interwoven in the best-devised schemes of human origin.
+Nevertheless, I hold that the free expression and ventilation of
+opinions, even though they may be erroneous, is often eventually
+productive of good, by serving to dispel vagueness of thought and loose
+generalization, and solidifying the abstract into the concrete; until
+which process has been accomplished no thing soever can be dealt with
+satisfactorily. Therefore, as a firm _dis_believer in the Malthusian
+philosophy, as also in the recommendations for checking the increase of
+population more recently scattered broadcast amongst us, and being
+deeply impressed with the imperative necessity of confronting the
+difficulty at once--_now_, in these days when the heavens above us
+appear to be hardening into brass, and the earth beneath us to be
+corrugating into iron--I have requested the Editor of this REVIEW to
+afford me the opportunity of giving publicity to my views.
+
+Closely allied to this division of my paper, if not actually of it, is
+the subject of _Charity_. Here, again, what a lamentable waste of vital
+force, what an invertebrate entity crying aloud to be overhauled,
+remodelled, jointed, and braced! Contrast the grand sum total yearly
+given in charity with the paucity of definite results attained--the
+well-worn comparison of the Nasmyth hammer and the nut instantaneously
+recurs to one's mind. Except when subscriptions are raised for some
+specific object outside the usual round altogether, how little there is
+to show for the expenditure! Why is this so? And what is the remedy?
+Obviously, I opine, the cause is individualism, isolation, caprice,--and
+as obviously, I ween, the only cure is combination, organization,
+system. Where we have now hundreds of little benevolent societies, with
+their honorary secretaries and treasurers and fussy committees, each
+neutralizing the others, let us have two or three established on a broad
+basis, with a central committee who, when the "sinews of war" are
+collected in one focus, will be strong enough to enter on paths at
+present untrodden, and wise enough to understand that almost innumerable
+differentiations in the nature of gifts will be necessary to cope
+successfully with the almost illimitable diversities in the nature of
+requirements, and who will insist on being invested with discretionary
+powers in matters of occasional aids and supplemental benevolences. Then
+it will be no longer possible for the shameless pauper, flaunting his
+rags and sores in the marketplace, or the whining sycophantic hypocrite,
+to monopolize the coals of one society, the blankets of a second, the
+soup of a third, and so on _ad infinitum_, not seldom exchanged for
+means of procuring beer to give additional zest to the utterance of the
+sentiment--"What fools these gentlefolks be." The most searching
+inquiries would be instituted, and perchance succour afforded to those
+to whom it would prove an inestimable boon, but who, from constitutional
+timidity or _mauvaise honte_, now starve and drop and die in silence,
+overlooked by almoners who take the first miserable-looking object who
+comes to hand, the most self-asserting or the most "'umble," and
+straightway pour out the contents of their cornucopias upon shams,
+making a miserable travesty of the sacred name of Charity.
+
+
+Mind.
+
+It is refreshing to know that so far as this branch of the subject is
+concerned, our governors, having by the force of circumstances been
+compelled to realize the fact of our existence, and our claim to be
+considered as veritably part and parcel of the body politic, with rights
+of common citizenship, have further, within the last few years, by the
+passing of the Compulsory Education Act, shown themselves possessed of
+political sagacity, by thus taking steps to insure that our descendants,
+when their turn comes to exercise and enjoy the civil privileges now
+granted to them, shall at least have a ploughed and manured soil in
+which to sow the seeds of love for law and order with some chance of due
+fructification, instead of the rough, hibbly-hobbly cinder-heap of their
+forefathers, which acknowledged no fertilizing influence but gross
+bribery, and partially justified the political ostracism and exclusion
+of its owners from all share in electoral privileges.
+
+All hail, then, to the School Board system as a great step in the right
+direction. Undeniably true as are some of the accusations brought
+against it, alleging that many blunders and useless extravagances, and
+much disregard for the susceptibilities of well-meaning but mistaken
+opponents, have marked its progress onward in too many instances; yet as
+the general idea is laudable and eminently conducive to promoting the
+highest interests of the entire population, and as in the nature of
+things it may be expected that greater experience will bring greater
+wisdom, and the faults charged against the movement gradually become
+"small by degrees and beautifully less," let us heartily wish it
+God-speed.
+
+Yet, why does the good work stop here? Why should not provision be made
+for building upon the foundation thus laid? Why should totally unformed
+intelligences be the only ones to profit by this guardian care, and why
+should they be led a little way on the road and then left to flounder
+along by themselves, and lose themselves in interminable mazes? Why, in
+short, should education be confined to children, and not extended to
+adults?
+
+It is true that the University Extension Scheme, as now carried out in
+many of our larger provincial towns to a very, very limited and only
+faintly appreciable extent, tends to show that the wind is just
+beginning to blow in this direction also. Something, however, much more
+comprehensive is needed. The masses are not reached, as will be patent
+to any one who will take the trouble to attend any of the courses of
+lectures delivered in connection with this extension system. The
+neophytes seeking initiation into this or that special branch of
+learning will be found to be composed principally of what we call
+"better class" people, with a sprinkling of pupil teachers and sucking
+governesses.
+
+Nor is this the fault of the masses themselves, as may perhaps be
+conjectured; the mere circumstance of the prices charged for admission
+in itself forming an insuperable barrier to the great majority having
+any part or lot in the matter, to say nothing of the fact that the whole
+apparatus is professedly set in motion for the benefit of the
+middle-class public solely.
+
+But however inadequate this minute increase in the volume of the
+fertilizing waters of Literature and Science may be for the mighty task
+of irrigating the parched and arid desert which stretches out in
+measureless extent before us, yet I am fain to regard it as a favourable
+omen--as a symptomatic indication that the "fountains of the great
+deeps" of human ignorance are beginning to be broken up, and that the
+tide _is_ rising which, when it has reached its full height, will
+disseminate the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge far and wide over the
+landscape so that the lowly equally with the high-born may pluck and eat
+thereof. The monster Cerberus has received a buffet on one of its three
+heads, and the Hesperidean Gardens may ere long, I am sanguine enough to
+hope, be entered by any thirsty passer-by without fear of molestation.
+
+All this, however, is dreamy, unsubstantial verbiage. That it is not
+also mere chimerical nonsense, which will not bear the strain of
+practical application, I will attempt to show--always supposing as a
+necessary preliminary, as in all the hypothetical propositions
+throughout this paper, that that portion of the community who are nursed
+in the lap of fortune are imbued with sympathetic feelings towards the
+less favoured sharers of their common humanity, and do not object to
+take a little trouble and bear a little charge by way of displaying
+their fellow-feeling.
+
+Grant this premiss, and what follows, or something better, may easily be
+rendered an accomplished fact.
+
+The first step will be the formation of a council or committee, after
+the manner before suggested, save that in this case we shall want an
+infusion of men of culture who at the same time shall be good workers
+and good philanthropists (a rare combination, but not an impossible one,
+I venture to think, notwithstanding the seductions a life of Sybaritic
+ease and delicate refinement specially offers to the scholar), in every
+considerable town or group of villages throughout the length and breadth
+of the land, with power over the district purse-strings, and with no
+superior authority except the Minister or Secretary of State for
+Education at Whitehall--for, of course, such a functionary will in those
+happy times be quite as much a necessity as a Master of the
+Buckhounds--who alone will have power to veto their proceedings and
+issue general rules for their guidance.
+
+If I had the ear of this all-important official, I should whisper to him
+that in my view the best mode of enlightening the working classes would
+be to take possession of three already-existing institutions, and
+enlarge their dimensions so as to make of them real forces, distinctly
+visible, instead of the hole-and-corner obscure trivialities they are
+now. These three institutions are--1st, Free Libraries; 2nd, Lecture
+Halls; 3rd, Class Rooms.
+
+1. To Free Libraries I have accorded the first place, because in all
+probability it is there that the beneficial results will be more
+immediately apparent, and the advantages offered will, in the first
+instance, be most considerably made use of. The major portion of the
+huge and unwieldy mass to be operated on would fly off at a tangent from
+the exactness and method necessarily incident to formal lectures, and in
+a still greater degree to class-work. It must first be left to itself to
+sprawl and struggle at its own free-will; the restraining chain must not
+be too soon brought into view; gradually and insensibly the quickening
+influence must be brought to bear; the change from density to
+clear-headedness, from sluggish inertness to mental activity, will not
+be effected in a moment; not all at once will the spiritual part of the
+long-benighted assert its claim to an equality with the animal part;
+desultory reading only will impart a love for reading; odd waifs and
+strays of information picked up just anyhow will alone create the desire
+for the acquisition of further knowledge, and by imperceptible degrees
+the naturally well-regulated mind will reject vagueness and demand
+exactness; having reached which stage it will be fit to undergo the
+further regimen prescribed. A good starting-point, however, will have
+been gained when our operatives generally are imbued with a genuine love
+of books and obtain a somewhat varied, if superficial, knowledge anent
+the salient features of English literature.
+
+These words, "_English_ literature," are used advisedly; for while I
+would have every town of over 5000 inhabitants possessed of a Free
+Library (varying in size according to the population), and every village
+have its book-loan society, it would be well to insist on the greatest
+and best of our own writers being well represented upon the shelves of
+every institution of this character before venturing on translations
+either of the ancient classics or modern foreign authors, even of
+European reputation. Homer, Thucydides, �schylus, Plato, Virgil, and the
+rest, as well as Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and the innumerable host of
+Continental immortals, can very well wait a bit. We want to inspire
+_British_ operatives with a love of letters. In endeavouring to effect
+this, shall we not give the foremost place to the productions of
+_British_ genius? We have to _form_ a taste. Is it not desirable that,
+to begin with at all events, this should be a _national_ taste? But is
+not this the very way, it may be asked, to foster insular prejudices,
+narrowness, and bigotry? I reply, not necessarily, as many of our ablest
+_litt�rateurs_ have not hesitated to attack the various abuses, follies,
+and weaknesses which crop up in these islands from time to time--some
+hurling denunciations at them aglow with all the fervour of passion and
+intellect; others piercing them with the sharp spear of satire; and
+others yet again calmly but pitilessly holding them up to contempt in a
+train of close reasoning. Many, too, in addition to lashing the vices
+peculiar to their native country, have, in terms of generous eloquence,
+eulogized the virtues of our neighbours. Therefore, the man who is
+disposed to wrap himself up in a mantle of national self-glorification
+and self-righteousness will not find that the hierarchs of our national
+literature are at all times compliant enough to fasten the clasp for
+him.
+
+But I have a further answer--_i.e._, independently altogether of the
+question whether the perusal of English works solely will or will not
+have a tendency to nip the growing flower of cosmopolitanism in the bud,
+the one essential point in training the English subject to think is to
+train him to think in his own vernacular--to show him of what mighty
+things his mother-tongue is capable, and to satisfy him that
+
+    "Age cannot weary, nor custom stale
+    Its infinite variety;"
+
+and that if ever he, individually, wants to raise up his voice and make
+himself heard on any subject that interests him or his fellows, he must
+not fritter away his attention on more distant objects, but concentrate
+his gaze on those which immediately surround him.
+
+This view may appear somewhat contradictory to the one expressed when
+dealing with the subject of Emigration; but really it is not so. The
+leaving behind the special spot of earth where one drew one's first
+breath, played as a boy, saw his first sweetheart, and grew up to
+manhood, the parting from old friends and long-familiar objects, may
+and does entail a severe struggle, and inflict many a bitter pang; but
+it is unavoidable, and so must be submitted to. It is otherwise with
+home ideas, habits, modes of thought, literature. These will serve to
+mitigate the poignancy of separation from one's native land, will
+intertwine themselves more closely round one's affections by reason of
+that very separation, and be the means of causing miniature Englands to
+arise in far-off regions, and in various degrees of latitude and
+longitude. While releasing as cheerfully as may be what we _must_ let
+go, let us hug more closely still that which we _can_ retain.
+
+To return: In a well-equipped Free Library no standard British author
+should be conspicuous by his absence. The poets, from Chaucer and Gower
+to Tennyson and Browning; the dramatists, from Marlowe and Shakspeare to
+W. S. Gilbert and Tom Taylor; the _modern_ historians, from Hume and
+Gibbon to Froude and Freeman; the modern theologians, from Hooker and
+Jeremy Taylor to Canon Farrar and the Dean of Westminster; the modern
+essayists, from the projectors of the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_ to the
+contributors to the current Reviews and Magazines; the philosophers, the
+leaders in all departments of science, should be there; the best writers
+of prose fiction, also, from Fielding and Goldsmith to Trollope and
+George Eliot, should be well represented. The most profound and the most
+volatile will alike find sufficient to occupy their attention here for
+some time. The "Anglican paddock" (to misapply a now well-known term)
+will afford plenty of grazing ground to cattle of moderate appetites for
+a considerable period; and when it is exhausted, why, then, there are
+toothsome grasses in endless profusion to be cropped over the boundary
+fence.
+
+2. With reference to Lecture Halls, these ought to be nearly as
+plentiful as churches both in town and country, and can with proper
+management be made to serve two ends--the carrying forward the work
+begun at the Free Library, and the rousing from torpidity those whom
+even that useful institution would fail to reach; for as many would only
+be led to attend the lecture through the library, so there are many with
+whom the contrary would hold good, as many a dormant, beer-sodden soul
+would consent to be carried off for an hour or two to a lecture hall who
+could never be persuaded to sit down in cold blood to the perusal of a
+book, although such book might be written in the most fascinating and
+brilliant style imaginable: the unused eyes would soon begin to ache,
+the palsied brain soon begin to numb; whereas the speaker, if a good
+one, and his heart in his subject, would contrive to rivet the man's
+attention, despite of himself, by the magnetism of enthusiasm, and he
+would carry away with him some sort of idea--muddled and distorted
+probably, but still an _idea_--of what it was all about.
+
+Penny Readings interspersed with music have been very much derided by
+our erudite critics, I think without sufficient cause. These really
+harmless, if not very high-class gatherings, blending together the
+ingredients of a certain kind of instruction and of entertainment, were
+doubtlessly called forth by a genuine desire to familiarize the lower
+orders of the people with some of the more dramatic passages in our
+literature, and to render visible to them a higher intellectual standard
+than the tap-room and the music-hall had made them acquainted with. It
+was a happy thought to mingle singing and playing with the readings. The
+introduction of these not only served to take off a possible monotony
+which might otherwise have been felt, but added attractions really
+elevating in their influence, the status and general surroundings of the
+auditory being taken into consideration. There is no need to pry too
+curiously into the petty vanities which prompted this elocutionist or
+that vocalist to make an appearance in public, nor to speculate too
+closely upon the disproportion between the ludicrous extravagance of the
+efforts often made by incompetent aspirants to obtain fame, and the very
+modest modicum and evanescent character of that article vouchsafed in
+return. All this is nothing to the purpose. The simple query is,--Have
+these things, known as "Penny Readings," in ever so slight a degree,
+fulfilled the object of their existence as that object is generally
+understood? If an affirmative answer can be given (as I certainly
+believe it can) to that question, then are they entitled to honest
+praise, and not to supercilious contempt.
+
+However, having deposited my little offering at this humble shrine as I
+passed by, I am free to confess that if we never get any further than
+this on the road towards the mental improvement of the million, the
+march of intellect will be a very short march indeed. But it will
+not--it cannot stop here. The universal law of progress forbids the
+idea; and in some form or another the irresistible impetus to advance
+will be felt and obeyed.
+
+Meantime, no better means, so far as I see, appearing for the moment to
+be available, I fall back upon my pet project of lectures, to be
+delivered every night (Sundays excepted) from the middle of September to
+the middle of May in every year, in every one of the multitudinous halls
+built for the purpose, by men or women well versed in the several
+subjects upon which they discourse.
+
+Failing the possibility of procuring a sufficient number of lecturers
+who could spare the time necessary to compose original matter for the
+purpose, it would be by no means a bad plan, I think, to employ good and
+experienced hands to condense and compress standard works on different
+subjects into such a compass as to occupy two or three evenings, and
+hand these digests over to practised elocutionists to be _read_. Take
+history, for example. Prescott's "Conquests of Mexico and Peru,"
+Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic," Irving's "Conquest of Granada,"
+Carlyle's "French Revolution," or Hepworth Dixon's "Her Majesty's
+Tower," are peculiarly well adapted to undergo this process. The
+absorbing interest of the incidents described could not fail to engage
+the attention of the audience; and I cannot help thinking that the
+offended _manes_ of such of the above-named great ones as have departed
+from amongst us would be appeased when it was represented to them that
+this mutilation of their invaluable legacies to posterity had been
+conducted with due reverence, and solely for the purpose of introducing
+them to a far wider (and, perchance, not less appreciative) audience
+than even their exalted talents could otherwise have commanded. As to
+the still-living ones, perhaps before taking the liberty suggested with
+their literary offspring, it might be courteous to ask their permission,
+and I feel confident they would not be churlish enough to withhold it. I
+may be reminded that there would still be publishers and owners of
+copyright to be dealt with; but I leave suggestions as to the best means
+of negotiating with these awful entities to persons of greater
+experience than myself.
+
+Obviously this lecture-hall business, like most of my other theories,
+necessarily involves considerable expenditure; but if anything is to be
+done, opulence must feel for indigence not only in heart but in pocket.
+
+3. A thorough and unstinted employment of the means above indicated will
+accomplish much towards the emancipation of our helots from that
+thraldom of ignorance which gives to the more galling thraldom of caste
+its sole _raison d'�tre_. But there is yet one thing needed, the
+_utilization_ of knowledge acquired, and this can only be attained by
+dint of laborious and unintermitting class-work. The sacred flame may be
+kindled in the breast by desultory and omnivorous reading, but the light
+emitted is as uncertain as that of a wandering marsh-fire--it wants
+_focussing_ to be of any use to its possessor or his species. And it is
+in the _class_, under the guidance of a gifted and genial teacher, that
+this operation can best be performed. It is here that the finishing
+touch must be applied; here the rounding-off take place; here the
+heterogeneous be brought into homogeneity, and the discordant be reduced
+to harmony and system.
+
+If these things are so, the problems which present themselves to be
+resolved are:--Given certain millions of untrained intellects in crying
+need of class tuition scattered over certain thousands of square miles
+in unequal proportions--how to provide sufficient building accommodation
+to meet the exigencies of the case? and given an uncertain but
+confessedly immense mass of torpidity and stagnation--how to infuse the
+necessary leaven into it to quicken it and arouse its latent forces?
+
+I answer as to the first proposition--Require the architects of the
+multitudinous lecture halls aforesaid to submit plans to you, which
+shall comprise sections not only of the main building but of three or
+four adjuncts thereto suitable for class-rooms, after the style of the
+chapels nestling under the wings of our old cathedrals, or the annexes
+thrown out at convenient angles from our modern industrial exhibitions
+for the display of specialities. These would add comparatively little to
+the original cost of the structure, and save a great deal of time and
+trouble in hunting up eligible sites, and, when found, negotiating terms
+of purchase. As to the second proposition, make a _liberal_ distribution
+of prizes part of your system, so liberal that not only proficiency
+would be certain of obtaining a reward, but plodding and persevering
+mediocrity also. Constant attendance, combined with such written answers
+to questions as evinced that the pupil was making an effort, should,
+however imperfectly the answers were framed, insure the possession of a
+prize at the end of every session. With such materials to work upon, a
+free use of stimulants to exertion must form no inconsiderable part of
+the programme.
+
+Again, no charge whatever must be made for admission to the classes.
+Indeed, the entire domain of adult poor education must be as free as
+United Italy--free from the Alps of the library to the Adriatic of the
+class-room.
+
+Lastly, no restriction should be made as to the age or sex of the
+scholar. I am of opinion that no greater incentive to emulation can be
+offered to either man or woman than the consciousness that they are
+associated with co-workers or competitors of the opposite sex.
+
+It would be travelling out of the record were I ever so faintly to
+attempt to enter into details as to the mode in which class-teaching
+could most advantageously be conducted, or to endeavour to shadow forth
+what I conceive to be the regulations best adapted for the purpose. No
+general rules would be found competent to meet ever-varying special
+conditions. All this must inevitably be left to conform itself to the
+peculiarities of the respective groups of the taught and the
+idiosyncrasies of the individual teachers.
+
+
+Amusements.
+
+On this last, but not least, division of the subject, I need not dilate
+at very great length. Much has been written with reference to it of late
+with which I cordially agree.
+
+No one can help being sensible of the melancholy fact that the tendency
+of many of our so-called entertainments is debasing and degrading in the
+last degree. It is difficult to imagine anything much more demoralizing
+in every aspect--anything which appears to be more utterly without
+redeeming features--than our music-halls. Dances, which are simply
+unnatural contortions on the part of the male performers, and indelicate
+exhibitions on the part of the female ones; songs, which are utterly
+idiotic and meaningless, except when their meaning is indecency,
+sounding the very lowest depths of imbecility, and having no literary
+merit save _double entendres_ of the most vulgar description; the whole
+taking place in an atmosphere redolent with the fumes of beer, gin, and
+tobacco,--such is the pabulum provided for our delectation through this
+particular medium. Much the same poisonous mixture is administered at
+our tea-gardens and other places where we most do congregate. Is it a
+marvel, then, that our young men waste their strength in drunkenness,
+and our young women stray from the narrow path? Is it wonderful that
+when you respectables meet us abroad on Bank Holidays, or Derby or Boat
+Race days, we comport ourselves in ruffianly fashion, and greet the ears
+of your dames and damsels with expressions which it is not good for them
+to hear?
+
+Ultra-exclusives! those of you who are most deeply impressed with the
+desirability of keeping us in our proper places, and are offended if we
+pass "between the wind and your nobility," to you most of all do I
+address myself, and take the liberty of saying that on _you_ rests the
+onus of providing better and more healthy recreations for us; for needs
+must that at times the most fastidious of you will find yourselves in
+the midst of us, and it will interest you even more deeply than others
+that we should not sink into unmitigated and universal rascaldom, the
+only natural goal at which the pursuit of such pleasures as those
+above-named is likely to land us. Give us attractions of a less baneful
+character, and wean us from these cesspools of infamy. To you it is
+specially important that this matter should receive attention. Do not,
+however, seek to do the work half-way; do not attempt to take away the
+means of recreation we have--evil as they are--until substitutes are
+furnished; it will not be convenient to you that the people should have
+too much time to _brood_; it will be safer for you that we should be
+_mercurial_ rather than that we should be _morose_; in one mood or the
+other, however you may strive to ignore us, we shall continue to exist
+in tangible form and be distinctly visible to your perceptions.
+
+I like not threats or innuendoes, however, and say no more concerning
+this matter.
+
+Time was when holy-days were frequent, when gorgeous pageants feasted
+the eyes of our forefathers--times of Maypoles and morrice-dancers, of
+roasted oxen and sheep, of conduits running with wine and milk: I say
+not I wish these to return. Much I fear that all was not pure, pastoral,
+Arcadian simplicity amidst these poetic scenes, fascinating as they are
+to the imagination. I doubt not the taint of vice was there, and the
+ghastly presence of misery and sorrow, and I do not regret them--let
+them go.
+
+What, then, do I suggest? Aware of the risk I run in having it imputed
+to me that my suggestions have already been too numerous, I will, with
+brevity, venture yet one more.
+
+Repetition is vexatious; notwithstanding which, unification is
+imperative, and committees must again be called into requisition.
+
+Cricket-clubs, quoit-clubs, bowling-clubs, even skittle-clubs _ad
+libitum_, in summer; ballad concerts, dramatic performances, &c., in
+winter, under the same auspices. Membership extended to all comers, fee
+payable one shilling per annum in monthly instalments; the expulsion or
+suspension for a longer or shorter term--according to the more or less
+heinous nature of the offence--of any member for bad language,
+intoxication, or other misbehaviour; the gradual unbending of the rich
+and the cultured, and their condescending to grace the sports with their
+occasional presence, thereby infusing a spirit of refinement into them;
+the prohibition of betting or _over_-drinking,--these are, shortly and
+imperfectly stated, the remedies I would suggest.
+
+To conclude the whole matter. We, the industrious poor of this
+realm--the hard-working classes--are in pressing need of help now, in
+this present time. This, I believe, is confessed on all hands, diverse
+and contradictory as the theories how such help could best be given may
+be. The question at issue is not whether ameliorations are desirable or
+the contrary, but in what manner to bring them about, and how to be
+certain that it is bread which is bestowed, and not a stone.
+
+I do not claim to have solved this enigma, or to have invented a
+millennium. I simply assert my belief that some of my propositions may
+contain germs capable of being nurtured into hopeful possibilities.
+
+As I have selected four principal points in which improvements are
+required--health, pocket, mind, and amusements--so have I striven to
+indicate four principal modes which I think best calculated to attain
+the desired end, and which for the most part must come from _without_
+our borders--namely, sympathy, earnestness, money, and centralized
+organization--all being essential; the last-named especially being so,
+for it may be regarded as an irrefragable verity that every movement to
+be really efficacious must be _national_, and not parochial.
+
+I look for many objections on both sides of the temperate zone, on the
+waters of which alone I elect to voyage. The frigid will aver that I
+expect too much, that my notions are Utopian and chimerical to the last
+degree, and the nostrums prescribed empirical and baneful; that it is
+not to be supposed sensible people will take all this trouble, and rush
+into such reckless expenditure in a project so visionary. To such my
+only answer is,--Where the return is to be great the investment must be
+great also. The torrid, on the other hand, will say I am not
+sufficiently thorough; that the only means of elevating the poor is by
+lugging the wealthy down to their level, abrogating dignities,
+distributing riches, abolishing ownership in lands and corporeal
+hereditaments. To these my reply will be,--Evil will the day be which
+shall dawn on such devil's-sabbath employments as these. Levelling
+_up_wards is laudable; levelling _down_wards is execrable. I would in
+nowise interfere with the least of these institutions. The overthrow of
+dynasties will not advantage us, nor will a general scramble conduce to
+our lasting welfare. I am a sceptic as to the benefits to be derived
+from revolution, although professing myself a warm admirer of
+reformation, as I understand the word--_re_-formation.
+
+Neither do I anticipate that the time will ever come, under the best
+devised systems, when poverty will altogether cease out of the land.
+Evil will there be, and good also, while the world stands. This,
+however, should be no excuse for indifferentism in the work of lessening
+the sum-total of the evil, and increasing the sum-total of the good.
+
+And so Lazarus unmoors his fragile boat, and launches it, unmanned and
+untended, on the bosom of the stream,--to meet its fate.
+
+    HENRY J. MILLER.
+
+
+
+
+THE FORMS AND COLOURS OF LIVING CREATURES.
+
+
+In the Essay on Animals and Plants, which appeared in the September
+Number of this Review, the names were given of the principal groups in
+which the prodigious multitude of living creatures (existing or known to
+have existed) have been classified by naturalists. It was therein also
+indicated that these various groups, and all the subdivisions of such
+groups, are distinguished one from another by variations in the forms
+and structures of the creatures which compose them. This fact alone
+would prove that very many differences in form must exist; but, indeed,
+a very slight knowledge and a very cursory examination of animals and
+plants would suffice to show this even to any one who knew nothing of
+the scope or nature of biological classification. In truth, to the
+non-scientific observer who feels an interest in living things, the
+difficulty may seem to be rather how to find general resemblances than
+how to detect differences between creatures which seem so totally
+diverse as do humming birds from whales, bees from buffaloes, or the
+numerous African herds of antelopes from the grasses on which they feed.
+
+Nevertheless it was pointed out in the second Essay of this series[56]
+that all living creatures do agree to a certain extent in the form and
+structure of their bodies, inasmuch as their bodies are always bounded
+by curved lines and surfaces, while, if we divide the body of any animal
+or plant its structure may always be seen to be heterogeneous--that is
+to say, composed of different substances, even the simplest showing a
+variety of minute particles (granules) variously distributed throughout
+its interior. It has also been pointed out[57] that all living creatures
+agree in beginning life in the form of a small rounded mass of
+protoplasm. But all animals and plants further agree in that each kind
+has its own proper size, shape, structure, and colour, and each (as we
+shall hereafter see) shows a positive unity in its fundamental
+constitution, co-existing with the heterogeneity above referred to.
+
+But though each kind has its own proper size, shape, structure, and
+colour, yet these vary more or less in different individuals, and the
+degrees of variability are different in different kinds both of animals
+and plants.
+
+As to size, although most living creatures have certain limits which
+they rarely exceed or fall below, yet many organisms vary greatly in
+this respect. Thus, that familiar weed, the common centaury (_Erythr�a
+centaurium_), may vary in height--according to the soil and other
+external conditions--from half an inch to five feet.
+
+As to figure and structure there is more constancy, and the amount of
+variation which may in these respects be found between different
+individuals of the same animal species, is generally but slight. In
+plants and in plant-like animals much greater differences exist as to
+external configuration; but even in them the internal structure of each
+species varies but little.
+
+Colour is a character which some readers may be disposed to regard as
+extremely inconstant. We are familiar with many differently coloured
+varieties of our cultivated flowers; and white blackbirds, and black
+leopards are not very uncommon objects. Nevertheless, colour is really a
+character of much constancy, and is one not only constantly present in
+different individuals of one kind of plant or animal, but is one
+constantly present in particular groups of kinds.
+
+Thus, for example, all the English plants of the dandelion order which
+have opposite leaves, have yellow flowers, with the single exception of
+the eupatory (_Eupatorium cannabinum_), and whole groups of butterflies
+are respectively characterized as being blue, or white, or yellow.
+
+We have seen that the life of every living being is accompanied by, and
+may be described as, a series of adjustments of action and structure to
+external conditions which surround it. Accordingly we may expect to find
+that the sizes, shapes, structures, and colours of living beings bear
+relations, which are in very many cases obvious, to their external
+circumstances, as directly favouring their nutrition, reproduction, or
+preservation from external injury.
+
+Every living creature must be either fixed (like a rooted tree), or
+capable of spontaneously moving, or of being passively drifted from
+place to place, and must have a structure and figure suitable to one or
+other of these conditions.
+
+Again, every living creature, whether free or fixed, is either a
+terrestrial, an aquatic, or an a�rial organism; and it may be fitted to
+live in any two, or even in all three of these conditions--as, for
+example, is the swan. If terrestrial, it may inhabit the surface of the
+earth only, or it may occasionally or habitually dwell beneath it. The
+structure, forms, and even colours of organisms are in most cases
+plainly adapted to their modes of life in the above respects.
+
+Thus, any living creature, which is fixed to the surface of the earth,
+must either adhere to it by having one side or portion of its body
+spread out and adjusted to irregularities in the supporting surface, or
+else by sending prolongations of its substance into the substance of the
+supporting body, as a plant sends its roots into the soil. Such
+prolongations, moreover, must (in order to hold fast) either sink deeply
+or else expand, at a slight depth, into a rounded or discoidal mass, or
+into radiating processes whereby the whole structure may be securely
+anchored.
+
+This special modification of form, again, may or may not be accompanied
+by certain further modifications of structure, according as such rooting
+parts are to serve, as mere holdfasts, simply for attachment, or (as in
+most plants) for the absorption of food also.
+
+Another modification is also correlated with these conditions. We have
+seen[58] that an interchange of gases takes place between each organism
+and its surrounding medium. But such interchange cannot take place in
+the subterranean part of the body, and a corresponding difference of
+structure between such subterranean part and other parts must therefore
+obtain.
+
+Again, as to colour, we find differences which are evidently related to
+the different degrees in which different parts of a living body are
+exposed to the influence of light. Such contrasts notoriously exist, not
+only between the green parts of plants above the soil and the lighter
+coloured roots, but between the foliage of a plant which is exposed to
+sun light and another of the same kind kept in a dark cellar. Many
+animals which live in permanent darkness are colourless, as, _e.g._, the
+_Proteus_;[59] but yet this is not an invariable rule, some, as the
+mole, being of a dark colour.
+
+The forms of organisms are evidently often directly related to
+surrounding influences. A plant or plant-like animal fixed to the soil
+may be so fixed that light, air, food, friends and enemies can have
+access equally on all sides or not. Thus, a tree so placed that light
+and air are excluded on one side, will not grow freely towards that
+side, but only in directions from whence light and air have access. A
+coral reef increases much more rapidly towards the open sea (the waves
+of which bring in food and facilitate gaseous interchange) than towards
+an adjacent shore.
+
+The mere contiguity of parts will often affect the form of organisms.
+Thus, in many flowers parts which are adjacent become dwarfed, while
+others which are freely exposed become fully developed, as we see in the
+flowers of many _Umbellifer�_, or plants of the parsley, fennel, and
+hemlock order.
+
+The shapes of flowers bear relation (as we shall see later) to their
+need for attracting insects which by their visits effect the development
+of seed, and for repelling others the access of which would be hurtful.
+
+The avoidance of enemies may be so effected by an organism that their
+access may be made impossible save in one direction, the extent of
+vulnerable surface even in that direction being minimized. We have an
+example of such a condition in those worms which live in calcareous
+tubes, and which are some of those called "tubicolous annelids."[60]
+
+Again, the medium in which an organism lives--whether a�rial or
+aqueous--has an important relation with its form. A delicate seaweed,
+the beautifully radiating form of which is a just object of admiration
+as long as it is supported by its denser natural medium (the sea water),
+collapses into an amorphous mass when withdrawn thence into the thin
+air. Obviously a much greater rigidity and strength of structure is
+needed to support an a�rial organism than an aquatic one, unless the
+former can support itself on other solid structures, such as rocks or
+trees. In the latter case the form attained may be very elongated and
+slender, as in the many creeping and climbing plants, which are so often
+furnished with processes for grasping (tendrils) to aid them in their
+mode of life.
+
+An a�rial fixed organism, if it does not rise from the surface of the
+earth, cannot spread itself very far without developing other points of
+support--without rooting again. This re-rooting is a familiar phenomenon
+in many plants, as, _e.g._, the strawberry. But even a shrub like the
+common bramble (which is not itself prostrate, but which sends out
+extraordinarily prolonged branches) is aided by such a process. The ends
+of its long branches apply themselves to the ground and begin to pierce
+its surface, the incipient leaves of its terminal bud becoming
+metamorphosed into roots.
+
+An aquatic fixed organism, however, may extend to a very great length,
+freely floating without effecting any such fresh attachment. Thus the
+seaweed _Laminaria digitata_[61] will spread over a circle 12 feet in
+diameter, while _L. longicornis_ grows in the form of an elongated
+riband, from 8 to 12 feet in length and 2 or 3 feet wide. The giant form
+_Macrocystis_ (with a much more subdivided outline) may extend to the
+extraordinary length of 700 feet.
+
+The conditions under which needful gaseous interchange can be effected
+and food obtained by different living creatures, govern in various other
+ways the forms of their bodies.
+
+Thus, if it is helpful to the life of a creature to submit as large a
+surface of its body as possible to the influence of light, or to the
+action of air or water, then for this purpose its body must be expanded
+and its expanded parts divided and subdivided as they extend in
+different directions. It is for this reason that trees branch, and that
+their branches and twigs divide and subdivide as they do. It is for this
+reason also that their branches do not grow out one above another in
+precisely the same direction, but, on the contrary, grow in such a
+manner that each one may overshadow those immediately beneath as little
+as may be. Similarly and for the same reason leaves are developed mostly
+in an alternating fashion, so that each may be able to expose its green
+surface to the light and air as much as possible.
+
+Plant-like animals which grow up in an arborescent manner from a fixed
+base do not generally branch in so regularly alternating a mode as do
+plants, and in some cases their successive branches may even be
+regularly superimposed. This is due to their not requiring, as plants
+do, that their surface should be very extensively exposed to light,
+neither their gaseous interchange nor their nutrition being impaired by
+such superposition. The water which carries to them both the nutritious
+particles on which they feed and the gases they respire, will act with
+nearly or quite the same efficiency in either arrangement of their
+parts.
+
+If the exigences of life require any organism to retain much fluid
+within it, this circumstance may lead to its assumption of a dilated
+more or less globular form, as in the melon cactus, and, to a less
+degree, in the leaves of the common stonecrop.
+
+But the conditions under which alone certain fixed organisms can obtain
+their food may govern also their internal structure. Thus, we shall see
+that in plants which feed by absorbing matters through their roots, an
+internal arrangement has to be effected for distributing material thus
+obtained, and conveying it upwards through the stem. So, again, many
+fixed animals need a greater supply of food and gases than they can
+obtain from the water which bathes or may reach them without effort on
+their parts. Such animals may be provided with special internal
+structures, which cause currents of water to flow towards them, and very
+often to penetrate within them, as in the shell _Mya_ or the razor
+shell.[62]
+
+Fixed subterranean creatures are rare, but such do exist, as, for
+example, the truffle (_Tuber cibarium_). Surrounding influences must in
+such instances be alike on all sides, while the imbedded position of
+such organisms render superfluous the development of any elongated
+process for the purpose of fixing them. Such creatures, then, have a
+spheroidal figure, and neither internally nor externally are their
+structures developed in special directions.[63]
+
+The fixed organisms which are the most a�rial in their habits are
+attached to elevated objects, such as trees, and necessarily have a
+portion of their frame set apart to fix them to the object which
+supports them. The most conspicuous creatures of this kind are, perhaps,
+the plants termed "Epiphytes," on account of this habit. Amongst them
+may be mentioned the beautiful orchids called "air plants," and the
+familiar mistletoe. Other vegetable organisms--the multitude of
+creeping plants--rear themselves to great heights by the aid of their
+more robust brothers, but they can hardly be reckoned as a�rial
+organisms.[64]
+
+The colours which plants display have sometimes a singular relation to
+the mountain elevations or geographical positions they inhabit, but
+these considerations will be aptly treated of in the relations borne by
+living creatures to physical conditions and to one another.
+
+Living creatures which are capable of moving or being freely moved
+about, present us with similar but more marked differences.
+
+Certain aquatic creatures drift passively about (borne by streams or
+currents) with no permanent relation between any fixed portion of their
+bodies and the medium which transports them. Such creatures being
+equally acted on on all sides by surrounding agencies might be expected
+(like the subterranean truffle) to exhibit a spheroidal figure, with
+only one kind of surface upon their whole exterior. This is just what we
+find to be the case in a variety of more or less minute organisms, such,
+_e.g._ as _Myxastrum radians_ and _Magosph�ra planula_.[65]
+
+The former of these consists, at one stage of its existence, of a small
+globular mass of protoplasm, from the whole periphery of which a
+multitude of fine pseudopodia radiate. When about to reproduce, the
+creature retracts its pseudopodia, and forms around its exterior a
+structureless coat or cyst, an action which takes place frequently in
+lowly organisms, and is called their process of _encystment_. The
+contents of the cyst then divides into separate bodies, which escape by
+the rupture of the cyst. Each of these bodies is enclosed in a silicious
+case with an aperture at one end, whence its contained protoplasm
+issues, and, having so issued, assumes a spherical shape.
+
+_Magosph�ra_ is another small creature which goes through a remarkable
+series of changes, the greater number of which exemplify the ball-like
+shape of body alike on all sides.
+
+Wherever the surface of the body is covered by pseudopodia, those
+processes, inasmuch as they have a power of spontaneous movement, enable
+the creatures possessing them slightly to aid or to resist the drifting
+action of the water in which they float.
+
+But a living organism may be devoid of any definite shape whatever, as
+in _Protamoeba_,[66] which consists of a mere particle of protoplasm,
+from which irregular-shaped processes of unequal size are irregularly
+protruded in every direction, so that the form of the creature may be
+said to be quite indeterminate.
+
+The bodies of almost all organisms have, however, more or less definite
+forms, which may be all classed under seven morphological categories.
+
+(1). The simplest form of all exemplifies _spherical symmetry_, and is
+that which we have seen in the truffle, the radiolarian, the volvox,
+_Myxastrum_ and _Magosph�ra_. In this spherical form any number of axes
+drawn through the creature in any direction are equal.
+
+(2). The next organic form is one in which the body sphere is more or
+less elongated at its poles, the latter being equal and similar. In such
+an organism we have one axis longer than any one of the others and
+central, while from this axis symmetrical radii can be drawn in all
+directions. This form may be said to exemplify _equipolar symmetry_, and
+such is found in some radiolarians, in some small parasites
+(_Gregarinida_),[67] and others.
+
+(3). The next morphological category may be spoken of as _unipolar
+symmetry_. Bodies which exemplify it are like those included in the last
+category, save that the two poles of the body are not alike.
+
+Instances of this symmetry are to be sought in creatures which have one
+end of their body fixed, or which always or mostly move with the same
+end of the body in front, and thus have their two extremities in more or
+less constantly different relations to surrounding influences.
+
+The lowest worms and sponges may serve as examples of this symmetry in
+its simplest expression. As also may the curious compound tunicary
+called _Pyrosoma_.[68] In all such creatures the body does not extend
+out in the form of lateral prolongations.
+
+But in many others it does send out processes on all sides, and in
+various directions, as in most trees and all plants which have a
+definite axis of growth, so that unipolar symmetry is the predominant
+symmetry in the vegetable kingdom.
+
+(4). But unipolar symmetry with diverging outgrowths leads us to the
+next category which may be called _radial symmetry_. Under this head are
+included the forms of such creatures as possess unipolar bodies from
+which equal and corresponding outgrowths radiate in different
+directions.
+
+We have examples of this in the starfishes, in the sea anemones, and in
+such plants as the melon cactus. But the outgrowths may project in only
+four directions, each being at right angles with the two neighbouring
+outgrowths. We thus get a crucial form of radiation, in which the body
+may be described as having one main axis (in the direction of motion)
+crossed by two other shorter but equal axes at right angles to it and to
+each other.
+
+We have an example of this in _Tetraplatia volitans_,[69] an aquatic
+creature with an elongated body, which presents four distinguishable
+longitudinal surfaces, of which each opposite and corresponding pair is
+hardly distinguishable from one another.
+
+(5). This form leads us directly to that kind of symmetry which is
+predominant in the animal kingdom and which is called _bilateral
+symmetry_. Forms of this kind exhibit four aspects which may be
+distinguished as right and left, dorsal and ventral. The body here
+presents a long axis (in the direction of motion) crossed by two shorter
+axes at right angles to it and to each other. Of these shorter axes, one
+connects the dorsal and ventral surfaces, while the other connects the
+lateral (right and left) surfaces, and these two axes may be, and
+generally are, unequal. All worms, insects, mollusks, fishes, birds,
+reptiles, and beasts, are examples of creatures with bilateral symmetry.
+The dorsal and ventral aspects of the body generally differ in
+correspondence with the different relations to surrounding conditions
+which they usually bear, as notably in snakes and creatures which glide
+with their bellies applied to the surface of the ground.
+
+(6). The last kind of symmetry which here needs notice is that termed
+_serial symmetry_. In the creatures which exhibit it we have a body
+which is not only almost always bilaterally symmetrical but which is
+made up of a succession of similar parts, forming a series along its
+main or longitudinal axis. Insects, crabs, lobsters, and other allied
+forms give us examples of serial symmetry, but this is perhaps best seen
+in such animals as thousand legs and hundred legs--millipedes and
+centipedes.
+
+Besides the fundamental distinctions which depend upon the kind of
+symmetry governing the form of any living being, other subordinate
+differences exist respectively related to the conditions under which the
+various activities necessary for life have to be carried on. Such
+activities are the needful gaseous interchange, the processes of
+reproduction, and the acquisition of food. Thus, the most intimate
+relation exists between the form of the body and the manner in which
+locomotion has to be effected, whether by the whole body or by processes
+projecting from it. If the latter, then whether by paddling or jumping;
+if by the whole body, then whether by lateral or vertical bendings of
+that body.
+
+Thus, we see that fishes, which swim by lateral flexure of the body,
+have the tail expanded vertically; while in porpoises, which require
+vertical flexions (to come rapidly to the surface to breathe), the tail
+is expanded horizontally. On the other hand, creatures which swim not by
+either kind of body flexure, but by a paddling action only, have the
+tail shortened, as we see in swans and turtles. Further details of this
+kind will be more appropriately treated of in an Essay devoted
+exclusively to the consideration of the forms of animals.
+
+There are a multitude of aquatic creatures which cannot be properly
+spoken of as either "fixed" or "mobile," for they are in fact both. They
+are creatures which move about by the help of others, being themselves
+fixed to other creatures which are actively locomotive.
+
+Thus, sea-snails, lobsters, fishes, whales, and even ships, bear about
+with them sometimes lowly-organized plants; but often other animals,
+permanently fixed to and growing parasitically upon them and having the
+shape of their body suited to their peculiar situation.
+
+Often such parasites form flattened encrustations on their involuntary
+hosts--as is the case with the acorn shells or sessile barnacles.[70]
+Others have elongated bodies, which stream through the water with the
+motions of the creatures carrying them. We see this in confervoid
+growths, also in ordinary barnacles, and in certain modified crab-like
+creatures, such as _Lerneocera_.[71]
+
+These creatures fix themselves to their movable supports by means
+similar to those by which other creatures secure themselves to
+stationary supports. Thus, some of these do so by means of expanded
+disks, which fit accurately to the supporting surface, while certain
+parasites fix themselves by means of ingrowing prolongations or
+root-like processes, as in the _Rhizocephala_.[72] Others, again, adhere
+by the intervention of hooks and suckers, and this is especially the
+case with such as fix themselves internally and live perpetually bathed
+(as the tape-worms[73] do) in the nutritious fluids contained within the
+bowels of the creatures they infest.
+
+Terrestrial mobile organisms can, of course, only be moved by their own
+efforts, or by the efforts of other organisms.
+
+The simplest terrestrial locomotion is like that of the aquatic
+_Amoeba[74] primitiva_, and is performed by land _Amoeb�_; and the
+curious plant _Myxomycetes_[75] also moves in a substantially similar
+manner. This very curious organism consists of a net-work of
+protoplasmic threads, which spread over decaying leaves and stems. The
+threads exhibit streams of granules flowing within them, and they give
+out processes like pseudopodia, while the whole complex mass can slowly
+creep over a supporting surface, which it thus slowly flows over by its
+branching processes.
+
+Other lowly plants propel themselves by means of a pair of filamentary
+protoplasmic threads, which vibrate actively, and are therefore called
+vibratile cilia. As an example may be mentioned the _Protococcus[76]
+nivalis_, the little spheroidal alga, which abounds on Alpine summits
+and in Arctic regions.
+
+As in aquatic, so in terrestrial organisms, external form is intimately
+related to modes of motion. Thus, locomotion may be effected by
+undulations of the whole body, as often in serpents and terrestrial
+vermiform animals. It may, on the contrary, be effected by the action of
+levers projecting from the surface of the body, _i.e._, by limbs, and
+these may be multitudinous and minute, as in hundred legs and thousand
+legs, or few and large, as in beasts. Moreover, the motions may be
+movements of pulling or of pushing, or by combinations of these, or by
+jumps, which may be effected in various manners, the consideration of
+which will find a fitting place in an Essay devoted to "Motion."
+
+Again, terrestrial, like aquatic, organisms often involuntarily carry
+about with them other living creatures which have fixed themselves to
+their bodies. Thus, the fruits, or seeds, of many plants (as, _e.g._,
+those of the common Agrimony, _Agrimonia eupatoria_) are beset with
+hooks or bristles which readily adhere to the coats of passing animals,
+and so gain a greater diffusion than they could otherwise obtain. A very
+remarkable form of the kind is _Martynia proboscidea_ (called Testa di
+_Quaglia_ by the Italians), which has a pair of curved and pointed
+processes like the tusks of an elephant, which are several inches long.
+It is notorious for adhering to clothes, &c. Other noteworthy plants are
+_Uncaria procumbeus_, or the grapple plant of South Africa and
+_Harpagophytum_,[77] the fruit of which is provided with hooked
+processes. Those of _Harpagophytum_ spread out in all directions, and
+are of different lengths, with sharp hooks, variously turned, so that
+its power of clinging is extreme. The seed, with all its processes, is
+so large as to fill the hand when grasped. It is said to cause the death
+of the lion. Having adhered to that beast's skin, the irritation
+produced and the impossibility of getting it off at last induces the
+lion to bite it, and once in his mouth he cannot remove it, and so the
+animal dies miserably.
+
+Some animals fix themselves much as these seeds of plants do. Amongst
+them are the parasites known as tics which fix themselves with great
+tenacity by the appendages of their mouths. Other parasites--like the
+itch insect[78] and forms allied to it--have hooked processes and stiff,
+hard bristles, which are at once very irritating and very adherent.
+Creatures are also carried about inside others, as is the case with the
+seeds of many plants. These are disseminated by birds which have
+swallowed but have not digested such seeds, and in an analogous manner
+the great tape-worm group becomes also widely diffused.
+
+Moving subterranean organisms, inasmuch as they must penetrate through a
+dense and highly-resisting substance, must evidently either have forms
+which offer little resistance--reducing friction to a minimum--or must
+be provided with special means of penetrating such substance. Evidently
+the least resisting form is presented by a body much elongated, rounded,
+and more or less attenuated at the advancing end, which end has to
+effect the requisite penetration. This is the form of the earth-worm--a
+form which is approximated to by a variety of creatures which have not
+the least affinity of nature with it, but only more or less resemble it
+as regards its dwelling-place and mode of locomotion.
+
+Such, for example, are the curious serpents called _Typhlops_,[79] and
+such are the legless lizards[80] (_Anguis_), and such, again, are the
+simpler vermiform animals allied to frogs, called _C�cili�_.[81]
+
+In order to burrow quickly and easily by means of processes of the body,
+it is evidently a necessary condition that the earth should be rapidly
+removed by the powerful action of parts situated towards the body's
+anterior end. The similarity of effect of similar conditions in
+creatures which are most widely divergent in nature is exemplified by
+the mole and the mole-cricket, which are each provided with a strong and
+broadened-out pair of anterior digging-limbs.
+
+Living creatures may be sustained in the air for a longer or shorter
+time at one or another stage of their existence. The reproductive
+particles of the lowest forms of animals and plants are so excessively
+minute that they float in the air with the greatest ease, without
+needing any complication of structure--their spheroidal form harmonizing
+with the equal action upon them of influences on all sides of them.
+Reproductive parts which, though less minute than these, are still very
+small, may also be diffused by floating in the atmosphere. Such are the
+pollen grains of those trees which are fertilized merely by the action
+of the winds, such as the hazel, poplar, birch, and of lowly plants, as
+the grasses. It is by the wind that the pollen grains of these plants
+are accidentally brought into contact with the appropriate surfaces for
+their reception. Conspicuous in the spring of the year are the clouds of
+yellow dust, pollen grains, given off by fir trees, which are plants
+also wind-fertilized. But here we find a slight complication; for to
+facilitate the dispersion of such particles the outer coat of each of
+their pollen grains is produced into a short wing-like process on each
+side, and these processes help at once to sustain it in the air, and to
+aid its propulsion by offering more surface to the force of the a�rial
+currents.
+
+Very much more conspicuous are the wing-like expansions of many
+seeds--such, for example, as those of the maple. These expansions serve
+to diffuse the seeds which bear them, as do also the delicate cottony
+filaments which surround the seeds of a variety of plants of widely
+different natures and affinities, as some kinds of spider float through
+the air by the aid of the delicate filaments which they send forth to
+serve as an a�rial float. Familiar to every one is the delicate little
+parachute-like structure of radiating filaments on the seeds of such
+plants as the dandelion--which seeds most children have at some time
+helped to diffuse by blowing.
+
+A�rial progress by actual effort is effected by a limited group of
+organisms, and only in certain cases (bats, birds, and insects) does it
+take the form of true flight in creatures now existing. In other
+creatures, such as so-called flying fishes, squirrels, opossums, and the
+little flying dragon, the more or less prolonged a�rial sustentation is
+effected by expansions of skin, which act as parachutes in ways be later
+described in detail.
+
+True flight seems to need a definite mechanism of one kind--namely, a
+mechanism which shall give rapid and reiterated blows to the air from a
+point towards the dorsal side, and head end of the body, by structures
+of considerable superficial extent, and capable of rapid and delicate
+inclinations of surface. Such structures must be light and therefore
+delicate, and yet possess very considerable strength to resist the
+strain of the body's prolonged sustentation, and to effect its
+occasionally very rapid progress, as in the swift and in dragon-flies.
+These conditions which we find fulfilled in all existing flying
+organisms were also fulfilled organisms which have for ages passed away
+from the surface of this by planet, such as the extinct flying reptiles
+called _Pterosauria_ or _Pterodactyles_.[82]
+
+In all such rapidly flying creatures the form of the body is necessarily
+modified so as to throw the centre of gravity where it may be best
+sustained. It is this which packs what are practically a bird's teeth in
+its belly, and thickens so greatly the muscles on its breast which are
+formed in such a way as to serve both the usual purposes of
+breast-muscles, and also that which is effected in most cases by muscles
+of the back, which in birds are very greatly diminished in volume and
+extent.
+
+But there are living creatures which have relations with two media;
+which, though they are aquatic, yet by the help of the air rise and
+float, so as to be partly bathed in the atmosphere; while others carry
+down a portion of that atmosphere below the surface of water, so as to
+be sub-aqueously a�rial. Examples of the last-mentioned condition are
+afforded by such spiders as have the habit of enclosing a bubble of air
+within the meshes of their self-woven network, and going down with it,
+being thus able there to maintain themselves as in a diving-bell. The
+reverse condition obtains in such plants as _Valisneria_,[83] which
+secrete air within expanded bladder-like receptacles, and, thus aided,
+rise to the surface and float. Another example is that of certain polyp
+animals, such as the Portuguese man of war, which also rise and swim
+upon the surface of the sea by the aid of floats in the form of
+bladders, which are also filled with air by means of their own life
+processes. The same also is the case in many seaweeds.
+
+Thus, these multitudinous forms of living creatures, both animals and
+plants, are reducible to certain categories in harmony with their modes
+of life, and the relations existing between them and all surrounding
+influences. We may see that, without compliance with certain of such
+laws, their existence would be impossible, and we see that there is a
+general correspondence between their shape and structure on the one
+hand, and their environment (that is, the totality of all surrounding
+agencies and influences) on the other. Are we to consider that such
+influences are the _causes_ of their form and structure? Obviously the
+biological facts before us, as yet, are insufficient to enable us to
+give a satisfactory answer to this question. It will for the present be
+enough to bear in mind that by some writers the environment _is_ deemed
+the one and sufficient cause of all the characters of living creatures.
+But as yet we have not even seen what _is_ the environment. Evidently
+physical influences--the earth, sea, or air, light, heat, and motion--do
+not exhaust it. One important factor would be omitted if we neglected to
+note the share taken in the environment of each living creature by a
+multitude of other living creatures which are in various ways related to
+it. This question must occupy us later.
+
+But by the forms of living creatures is not meant merely their external
+form. Some general notion then should here at starting be obtained of
+their internal form--that is, of their essential structure.
+
+The minutest and probably the simplest forms of living creatures
+(whether plant or animal) are such as are presented by _Bacteria_,[84]
+the yeast-plant and _Protoccus_. Bacteria are those minute creatures the
+mode of origin of which in sealed infusions has been so much of late
+disputed, but the activity of which in promoting the decomposition of
+dead substances is undisputed. A _bacterium_ is a particle of
+protoplasmic matter, either spheroidal or oblong, or like a short rod,
+or shaped like a corkscrew, and bacteria may also be in the form of a
+short chain of spheroids, or of oblong particles, or of rods united in a
+zigzag manner.
+
+Their breadth may vary from the 1/30000 to 1/10000 of an inch. They may
+also assume quite another appearance, by surrounding themselves with a
+gelatinous envelope, which condition is called their _zoogl�a_ state of
+existence.
+
+They may be readily obtained by making some hay tea, and keeping it for
+a day or two, when they will be found to abound in the scum which forms
+on the surface, and to be in active motion. In the corkscrew form,
+_Spirillum volitans_, each end of the body is produced into a minute
+hair-like process or _cilium_, and it is by the lashings of these cilia
+that the minute organism moves about.
+
+Other as simple but larger organisms may consist of a minute mass of
+semi-fluid protoplasm, containing granules, as we find to be the case in
+the plant _Vaucheria_,[85] and many other _Alg�_, and in the animal
+_Amoeba primitiva_.[86]
+
+An organism of this simplest kind or a fragment of a higher organism
+which presents this simplest condition is called a cell.[87] Very
+generally such cell has within it a more or less distinctly marked
+generally denser and spheroidal body called a _nucleus_, within which,
+again, other minute spots may appear called _nucleoli_.
+
+Even in this simplest of all possible conditions of life a slight
+difference appears between its most external film and its inner
+substance--just as a cup of broth left to stand will form for itself a
+filmy outermost layer. This incipient difference between what is inner
+and what is outer is one which is constantly maintained in all higher
+organisms, as we shall soon see abundantly. But the distinction into
+outer and inner is, as has been said, shown in a much more marked way in
+the constituent units, or _cells_, which build up the bodies of plants
+generally; for these consist of an inner part of protoplasm, enclosed in
+a distinct external cellulose envelope or _cell-wall_. As has also been
+shown, many of the lowest animals take on occasionally the _encysted_
+condition when they also consist of a particle of bioplasm enclosed in a
+distinct cell-wall or _cyst_, though one not made of cellulose.
+
+The protoplasmic contents of the cell may attract watery fluid thus
+forming clearer spaces or _vacuoles_ within it, and these may become so
+extended that the protoplasm may be reduced to a thin layer lining the
+cell wall, thread-like processes or remnants of protoplasm often passing
+across the cell from one part of the protoplasmic lining to another. A
+cell, almost always a nucleated cell, is the original form of every
+living creature without exception; and a great number of small, and some
+considerably sized living beings, never get beyond this unicellular
+condition, however much their cell may become enlarged or complicated in
+shape. Such creatures form the lowest of all animals and plants; but the
+overwhelming majority of living creatures are formed of aggregations of
+cells which cohere and fuse together in various ways. As an example of a
+unicellular and typically cellular living creature we may take the yeast
+plant (_Saccharomyces cerevisi�_), which consists of a particle of
+bioplasm enclosed in a cell-wall of cellulose, the whole being globular
+or oval in shape, and generally about 1/3000 of an inch in diameter.
+Within its bioplasm a clear space or vacuole may often be distinguished.
+Often these organisms appear with a more complicated outline, due to the
+growth of new saccharomycetes from its outer wall, and the budding forth
+of others again from the side of such protruding processes, all of which
+ultimately become detached as independent saccharomycetes, though they
+often continue adherent for a long time, forming strings or other
+temporary aggregations of such organisms.
+
+In _Protococcus_ we meet with one of the lowest order. Its colour is
+green, which, as in all other higher plants also, is due to the presence
+in its protoplasm of a colouring matter called _chlorophyll_, either
+diffused or aggregated in certain denser granules of protoplasmic
+substance. Protococcus may be smaller or much larger than the yeast
+plant, it is spheroidal, and its protoplasm is enclosed in a tough case
+of cellulose, which, however, it may not nearly fill, while the long
+cilia may protrude through it and propel the whole organism by their
+reiterated lashings.
+
+It has been already said that a vegetable may temporarily exist as a
+particle of bioplasm without any cell-wall, and such is the case with
+_Protococcus_, the cellular envelope of which occasionally disappears.
+More remarkable still is the form already referred to under the name
+_Myxomycetes_,[88] which, for part of its existence, is the form of an
+indefinitely-shaped, naked protoplasmic mass.[89]
+
+Living creatures which consist of a single cell may present,
+nevertheless, a considerable complication of structure. Thus, an
+organism as simple as the _amoeba primitiva_, before noticed, may have
+the power of forming, or, as it is technically called, _secreting_, from
+its own substance and its surrounding medium a most complex supporting
+skeleton of calcareous or silicious nature. It may have its outer
+envelope so markedly differentiated from its inner as to require a
+distinct designation as _exosarc_, while it may give rise in its
+interior not only to a nucleus and nucleolus, but to two regularly
+formed cavities with the power of rythmical pulsation, and one definite
+portion of its external wall may be perforated to form a permanent mouth
+instead of as in such forms as _Amoeba_, any part serving indifferently
+as a mouth and every portion having similar functions without
+differentiation. All these and other complications of structure may
+arise by direct growth and transubstantiation of the single cell into
+the various physically and chemically different parts.
+
+Again, a living creature which is fixed may so extend itself as to
+simulate stem, roots, and branches, and yet remain essentially simple,
+consisting merely of one greatly enlarged and complicated cell.
+
+Thus, a unicellular plant may take on a great complexity of form while
+still remaining purely unicellular. It may assume the form of a stem
+with roots and leaves. An example of such we may see in the genus
+_Caulerpa_,[90] which, although unicellular, simulates in its outline
+the fern called _Blechnum_.
+
+The next grade of structural complication in living creatures is
+produced by the lowly plants, such as _Protococcus_, which multiply by
+spontaneous self-division or _fission_. This process may take place
+repeatedly and at the same time incompletely, in this way producing an
+apparently compound organism. Thus, we have the second grade of
+structural complication in living creatures--namely, the aggregation of
+cells into a loosely joined mass.
+
+Other simple forms are those presented by the minute organisms Diatoms
+and Desmids, the former enclosed in silicious cases, and some presenting
+the only exception to the general law that organic bodies are bounded by
+curved lines and surfaces.
+
+Wonderful is the minute ornamentation presented by the surfaces of these
+microscopic plants. Some of them cohere by imperfect division in the
+second grade of structural complication just described; they may form
+longitudinal series of cells, or they may be arranged round a common
+centre.
+
+One of the best examples of this secondary grade of complication is
+presented by the spherically aggregated cells of _Volvox_.[91] These
+present us with a good example of the way in which the shape of the
+individual cells may spontaneously alter, to suit the mode of their
+aggregation. Originally spherical, the adjacent sides of these cells
+become flattened, and thus the cells acquire a polygonal figure.
+
+Other instances of the coherence of the cells of unicellular organisms
+into indefinite and inconstant aggregations is presented by some
+radiolarians, individuals which cohere into what are called _colonies_.
+
+From such incomplete aggregation, the next step is to definite and
+stable aggregations, in which the life of the constituent parts is more
+or less plainly subservient to, and dominated by, the life of the whole.
+Such we find in all but the lowest _Fungi_,[92] and _Alg�_, in
+sponges,[93] and _Hydr�_, and also in all higher organisms. In such
+permanent aggregations, the dominant life of the whole is shown partly
+in greater constancy of external form and partly in the setting apart of
+separate portions of the whole, either for the nourishment of the entire
+creature or for the reproduction of fresh individuals, or for effecting
+gaseous interchange, or (in animals) for ministering to feeling and
+locomotion.
+
+Thus, the overwhelming majority of living creatures are, as has been
+said, formed of aggregation of cells, which cohere or fuse together in
+various ways--and not only of aggregation of cells but of aggregation of
+aggregations of cells or "tissues." Each tissue is a structure formed by
+the aggregation, or by aggregation and metamorphoses, of certain sets of
+cells. Thus, every higher plant or animal is made of an inconceivable
+multitude of cells, together with tissues which are not cellular, but
+which have originated by metamorphosis of cells, and every such higher
+plant or animal at first consists entirely of an aggregate of plainly
+distinct cells; and, first of all, of one single cell only, whence its
+whole structure, however complex, has originally sprung, though
+generally not until it has had at least a portion of another cell mixed
+with it.
+
+This transformation of cells, at first all alike, into distinct orders
+of cells or _tissues_, whence different organs with different functions
+arise, is characteristic of all living creatures above those which each
+consist throughout life of one cell only.
+
+We have seen that unicellular organisms may unite into a cylindrical or
+spheroidal colony, as in some _Radiolaria_, or into a spheroid of
+closely-adjusted cells, forming one layer, as in _Volvox_. But however
+large or complex such aggregation may be, it never forms sets of united
+cells or tissues. The whole of these lower creatures, therefore, may be
+spoken of as unicellular organisms; as though they may consist of many
+cells, those cells retain their individuality. Such creatures are all
+the lowest animals--those called _Hypozoa_[94] or _Protozoa_, and also
+the lowest cryptogamic[95] plants.
+
+All other animals and all the higher plants are multicellular. The
+description of one animal (which is placed as it were on the boundary
+between the multicellular and the unicellular division), the little
+parasitic worm _Dicyema_,[96] must for the present be postponed, as its
+significance could not yet be understood.
+
+Before leaving the consideration of the forms of living creatures, a
+further distinction should be made clear--that is to say, a distinction
+in the nature of resemblances which may exist between various parts.
+
+There are two different relations which may exist between a part or
+organ in one animal or plant, and another part or organ in another
+animal or plant. One of these relations is called _analogy_ and the
+other _homology_, and it is very desirable to bear clearly in mind the
+distinction which exists between these two relations.
+
+_Analogy_ refers to the use to which any part or organ is put--that is,
+it refers to its function.
+
+Thus, the flower of the daisy is, as we shall see, analogous to that of
+the buttercup. The spathe of an arum is analogous to the corolla of the
+dead nettle (for both serve to shelter the essential parts of the
+flower).
+
+The foot of a horse is analogous to the foot of a man, and the shell of
+a tortoise to the shell of an armadillo; for the two former serve for
+support and locomotion, while the latter two are solid protecting
+envelopes to the body. So also the flying organ or wing of a bat is
+analogous to the flying organ or wing of a beetle.
+
+_Homology_ refers to essential similarity in position compared with all
+the other parts or organs of the body, and must be considered apart from
+function.
+
+Thus, as we shall see in the next Essay a single floret of the daisy is
+homologous with the whole flower of the buttercup. The spathe of an arum
+is the homologue of any bract,[97] however insignificant in size and
+apparently devoid of function. The foot of a horse is homologous (as we
+shall see later) to the middle toe only of man, while the shell of the
+tortoise is in part homologous with the shell of the armadillo and in
+part with the ribs of the latter animal.
+
+There is no relation of homology, however remote, between the wings of a
+bat and of a beetle, and these two animals (as will shortly appear) have
+the parts and organs of their bodies so fundamentally different, that it
+is doubtful whether any definite relations of homology can be
+established between them.
+
+A special term has been devoted to signify a resemblance between two
+parts in two different animals and plants, which resemblance has been
+induced by or is directly related to their common needs, and the
+similarity of external influences. This term is "homoplasy," and
+structures which may thus be supposed to have grown alike in obedience
+to the influence of similar external causes acting on similar innate
+powers have been called _Homoplasts_.
+
+Such, then, are the more general conditions as to structure and figure
+which living creatures present, and (as has been said) with great
+differences as to the amount of possible variation, most kinds have a
+definite limit as to size. It remains only to make general observations
+on the colours of living creatures.
+
+But a few years ago, hardly any few general remarks of really scientific
+interest and value could have been made respecting the varied hues and
+markings which organisms present. No rational relation was even
+suspected to exist between the colours of plants and the busy insect
+life which swarms about their blossoms or about the varied colours of
+birds, and the details of their habits and modes of existence.
+
+It was known, of course, that Arctic foxes and hares became white in
+winter, and that each benefited by its change, and suffered from the
+change of the other; the snow tint which enabled the hare to escape also
+facilitating the unobserved approach of the fox. It was also known that
+many desert animals were of the colour of the sandy plain they wandered
+over, and that tree-snakes and tree-frogs were often green. But it
+seemed incredible that the varied shades or bright adornments of the
+living world should each and all be governed by rigid laws, generally
+connected with the welfare of the organisms so furnished. Here, if
+anywhere, the reign of utilitarianism in Nature appeared to be at an
+end, and creative fancy to have full play, regardless but of the harmony
+and beauty thus revealed to appreciating eyes. The labours and fruitful
+thoughts of Bates and Wallace have, however, opened up a wide field for
+most interesting inquiry. They have made it evident that in many
+instances the most direct utility accompanies colour both in animals
+and plants. The colours of flowers serve to attract insects and birds,
+by the visits of which they are fertilized or their fertility is greatly
+augmented. It is this relation between attractiveness and insect
+fertilization which explains the absence of colour from the flowers of
+plants which are fertilized only by the wind, such as the fir trees
+before-mentioned, oaks, beeches, nettles, sedges, and many others. It
+also explains the conspicuousness of the flowers of many oceanic
+islands, such as those of the Galapagos archipelago. But it also
+explains, as Mr. Wallace has pointed out, the remarkable beauty of
+Alpine flowers, by their need of attracting insects from a distance, the
+conspicuous patches of bright colour serving thus to attract wandering
+butterflies upwards from the valleys.
+
+But more remarkable still is the explanation given to the semblance
+borne by the colours of some creatures to those of others of quite a
+different kind, as of some moths to bees, and some harmless flies to
+wasps. For now it is clear that by this mimicry they escape the attacks
+of many enemies, who avoid such apparently dangerous forms. On the other
+hand, the bright liveries of such offensive creatures are highly useful
+to the wearers, for such tints act as a warning to enemies, and so save
+them from their being pounced on by creatures which might fatally wound
+them, though unable to swallow them. But the beautiful liveries of such
+powerful predatory kinds as tigers and leopards do not serve as
+warnings. They serve their wearers, however, none the less, though it is
+by aiding their concealment, and so allowing their prey to approach them
+unsuspectingly to fatal nearness. For the vertical stripes of the tiger
+resemble the vertical shadows of the grasses of the jungle amongst which
+it lurks, as the scattered spots of the leopard agree with the scattered
+spots of shadow amongst the foliage of trees on the boughs of which it
+lies in wait. But to say more on this head would be to anticipate
+remarks to come, when the relations of living beings to one another are
+under consideration, and the subject is too extensive to be here treated
+in full. Moreover, it must be noted that such relations do not by any
+means serve to explain all the phenomena of organic colour. Direct
+action is in some curious way exerted upon many organisms, by
+surrounding tints, and similarly different geographical districts and
+varieties of locality affect directly the colour of both animals and
+plants, but these questions will be fully treated of under the head of
+the relations of animals to the physical world. Suffice it here to note
+that the phenomena of colour no less than the phenomena of form are in
+harmony with (whether or not the result of) the active agencies of all
+environing conditions. But colour of some kind is a universal attribute
+of all material things. Though apparently most irregularly distributed
+through the world of life, yet order underlies the seeming confusion. Of
+certain large groups certain tints are characteristic, as has already
+been remarked with respect to the great order to which the dandelion
+belongs. But the same remark may be made of various others, as, for
+example, of the order _Crucifer�_ (to which the wallflower and turnip
+belong), the flowers of which are generally white, pink, or yellow,
+while the gentians, again, are noteworthy for exhibiting pure colours.
+
+But the colours which predominate in the whole mass of living creatures
+of all kinds are tints of green, brown, or reddish-yellow. Bright
+colours, such as blue, scarlet, crimson, gold, or silver are
+exceptional, and the colour blue is especially rare. The borrowed
+radiance of the inorganic world, in the form of metallic brightness, is
+especially a characteristic of those living gems, the humming birds; but
+not a few other animals also exhibit it. Thus, of birds more or less
+gifted with metallic radiance, though in a less degree than humming
+birds, may be mentioned the sunbirds, the trogons, and the beautiful
+family of pheasants; and many insects and many fishes shine with
+metallic tints.
+
+Brightness of this kind (though the leaves of a few plants have a
+coppery lustre) is unknown in the world of plants, in which shades of
+green are overwhelmingly predominant, and are universally present,
+except in a few exceptional forms, notably the fungi.[98]
+
+Various aquatic animals belonging to very different groups agree in
+possessing a perfectly glass-like transparency. Amongst them are fish
+which live in the ocean; for example, the Teleostean[99] fish
+(_Leptocephalus_), also mollusca of all kinds, including even perfectly
+transparent cuttle fishes.[100] There are also glass-like
+crustaceans,[101] and also planarians[102] and sea anemones.[103]
+Plants, however, never present this character, although by it they
+might, as well as animals, escape being preyed upon.
+
+Most fishes which inhabit the deep sea are of a dull black colour,
+though some are white, and the majority of all deep-sea animals,
+considered as a whole, are more or less decidedly coloured, many
+brightly so.[104]
+
+Luminosity is a character of many lowly animals, and it is the presence
+of minute creatures possessing this character which so often causes the
+spray dashed from the prow of an advancing ship to appear like a shower
+of sparks, while glowing bodies traverse the water beneath its surface.
+Many insects, such as fire-flies and glow-worms, are notoriously
+luminous. In the vegetable world, however, this character is very rarely
+present, being only so in certain fungi, some of which exhibit a
+wonderful luminosity. Humboldt relates that he found this to be
+especially splendid in mines.
+
+As like phenomena of colour characterize certain groups of living
+creatures, so also like phenomena of colour may characterize certain
+geographical regions being common to creatures of very different kinds
+which inhabit such regions, as we shall hereafter see. The brightest of
+living things, the humming birds, have their true home in the equatorial
+region of America, to which continent they are exclusively confined. But
+it is in the equatorial region of the whole earth that we find the most
+brilliant birds of other kinds, the most brightly coloured reptiles and
+fishes, the largest and many of the loveliest butterflies, moths and
+beetles, the most beautiful orchids, the largest of all flowers and of
+all clusters of flowers.
+
+But neither the temperate, nor even the Arctic nor Antarctic climes are
+denied the glory of bright tints in the long days of their brief, but
+sometimes fervid, summer. Indeed, the golden burst of gorse and glow of
+heather in our temperate zone have, in their way, an unequal charm;
+while every here and there Arctic lands and Alpine heights exhibit
+beauties of colour which are hardly elsewhere presented by the field of
+animated nature to the eye of man.
+
+    ST. GEORGE MIVART.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 678.
+
+[57] Loc. cit., p. 704.
+
+[58] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 703.
+
+[59] _Ibid._ for September, 1879, p. 27.
+
+[60] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 33 and 43.
+
+[61] One of the _Melanosperme�_; _Ibid._ p. 36.
+
+[62] Creatures belonging to the class _Lammellibranchiata_; see
+CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 30 and 43.
+
+[63] The truffle may be generally regarded rather as the fruit of a
+plant than as an entire plant, and yet in some of the group the rest of
+the plant (which is called the _Mycelium_) is quite rudimentary, or even
+absent.
+
+[64] There are climbers in Brazil, the roots of which, descending around
+the trunk of the tree supporting them, clasp the latter with such a
+deadly embrace that it dies and decays. In the meantime, the descending
+roots (having become fixed in the ground) swell and meet so as to form a
+new and irregularly-shaped trunk of solid wood, which has thus (by an
+inverted process) grown downwards instead of upwards. There are other
+such creepers in the East which have a wide-spreading downward growth
+(see Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," vol. i. p. 131).
+
+[65] Creatures belonging to the group _Rhizopoda_; see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW for September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[66] One of the lowest of the _Rhizopoda_; _Ibid._ p. 36.
+
+[67] A class of _Hypozoa_; see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September, 1879,
+pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[68] _Ibid._ pp. 31 and 43.
+
+[69] _Ibid._ p. 35, and _Archiv f�r Mikroskop. Anatomie_, vol. xv. Heft
+3, plate xx.
+
+[70] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 31.
+
+[71] One of the _Copepoda_; see loc. cit., p. 31.
+
+[72] See loc. cit., p. 31.
+
+[73] Of the class _Cestoidea_; see loc. cit., pp. 34 and 43.
+
+[74] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[75] Loc. cit., p. 37.
+
+[76] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[77] All these three plants belong to the _Dicotyledonous_ order
+_Sesame�_, which would come between the _Lobiat�_ and the _Orobanchace�_
+of the list given on p. 42 in the CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September,
+1879. This order contains the _Sesamum orientale_, the seeds of which
+yield sesamum or gingilie oil, principally used in the manufacture of
+soap. 58,940 tons of these seeds were imported into France in 1855.
+
+[78] This and the tics belong to the class _Arachnida_; see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 32 and 43.
+
+[79] For the _Typhlopsid�_, see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p.
+26.
+
+[80] Loc. cit., p. 24.
+
+[81] Belonging to the class _Ophiomorpha_; see loc. cit., pp. 27 and 43.
+
+[82] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 25.
+
+[83] _Valisneria spiralis_: these are distinct male and female flowers.
+The male flowers are on short stalks, which break and allow their
+flowers to rise to the surface and there float, scattering their pollen.
+The female flowers grow on long coiled stalks, which uncoil and allow
+them to rise to the surface to be fertilized, after which the stalks
+recoil and withdraw them again below. This is a monocotyledonous plant
+of the order _Hydrocharide�_.
+
+[84] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[85] Loc. cit., p. 37.
+
+[86] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[87] There is an ambiguity in the use of the word "cell." By some
+writers it is only used to denote a particle of protoplasm with a
+nucleus (whether or not it is enclosed in a "cell-wall"), while such a
+particle without a nucleus is called by them a _Cytod_. By others it is
+used to denote any particle of protoplasm enclosed in a cell-wall, and
+by others, again, as denoting any distinct particle of protoplasm with
+or without a nucleus, and with or without a cell-wall. It is in this
+widest sense that it is here proposed to use the term "cell,"
+distinguishing, where needful, those with a nucleus or envelope as "a
+nucleated" or "a walled" cell.
+
+As yet the two natures and functions of the nucleus and nucleolus are by
+no means cleared up. The nucleus often appears to contain a complexity
+of fibrils, transitory aggregations of which have been supposed to cause
+the appearance of nucleoli. The apparently simplest protoplasm is
+probably of really very complex, most minute structure.
+
+[88] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[89] Here reference may be made to the name _Bathybius_, which was given
+by Professor Huxley to a material found at the sea bottom, of great
+extent and indefinite shape, and which was supposed by him to be the
+remains of a mass of once living protoplasm, but which there is much
+reason now to suppose was really but inorganic material. Reference is
+here made to this, because some persons seem to imagine that if
+_Bathybius_ were a lowly animal some important speculative consequences
+would follow. But this is an utter mistake. It is generally admitted
+already that there are living structureless protoplasmic organisms of no
+definite shape, and of which detached particles can live and grow. It
+would make no real difference whatever to the known facts of life if a
+creature of the kind should be found as large as the Pacific Ocean, with
+its portions exceptionally detachable and its shape irregular in the
+extreme.
+
+[90] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[91] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 36.
+
+[92] Loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.
+
+[93] Loc. cit., p. 34.
+
+[94] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[95] For explanation of this application of this term see loc. cit., p.
+38.
+
+[96] Loc. cit., p. 35.
+
+[97] A kind of leaf the nature of which as well as of spathes, florets,
+and flowers, will be explained in the next Essay.
+
+[98] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.
+
+[99] Teleostean fishes are generally bony, but the bones are represented
+by cartilages in _Leptocephalus_. As to teleosteans, see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 27.
+
+[100] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 30.
+
+[101] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 31 and 43.
+
+[102] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 33 and 43.
+
+[103] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 34. As examples of transparent sea
+anemones, Nautactis and its allies, belonging to the _Actinozoa_, may be
+mentioned.
+
+[104] See Moseley's "Challenger," p. 592.
+
+
+
+
+CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN TURKEY.
+
+
+    CONSTANTINOPLE, _Sept. 9th, 1879_.
+
+Three months have elapsed since my last letter, and were it not for the
+suffering people we might treat of the history of the Turkish Government
+during these months as so many acts in a comedy; but human suffering is
+never ridiculous, and those who live in the midst of it find nothing
+amusing in the obstinate stupidity which causes it. It is not pleasant
+to live among the ruins of a crumbling Empire, however picturesque these
+ruins may appear at a distance, and however much it may be for the
+interest of foreign politicians to leave them undisturbed. Whatever may
+be the course of contemporary thought in England, where the fate of
+Turkey has unfortunately become a party question, the people of Turkey
+can only think of it as it affects their own interests, and they desire
+above all things that the people of England, without distinction of
+party, should understand their condition as it is. This is a reasonable
+desire, whether anything can be done for them or not; and these letters
+are intended to represent contemporary life and thought _in Turkey_.
+
+
+The Fall of Khaireddin Pacha.
+
+Khaireddin Pacha commenced life as a Circassian slave in Tunis. He came
+to Constantinople last year as an exiled Prime Minister of the Bey, but
+possessed of immense wealth which he had accumulated while in office,
+and with a high reputation for learning, skill as an administrator, and
+devotion to the faith of Islam. He was well received by the Sultan, who
+often consulted him in regard to political affairs; and finally, through
+the influence of France and England, he was appointed Grand Vizier. But
+he made no friends among the Turkish Pachas, and had no party in the
+country. Even the most liberal of the governing class regarded him as an
+interloper, who had neither the ability nor the experience necessary to
+fit him for the place which he had secured by European influence. He
+reciprocated their distrust, and spoke of them freely as a band of
+bandits. He was too good a Mussulman to attempt to build up a party
+among the Christians. He depended simply upon his personal influence
+over the Sultan and the support of the French and English Ambassadors.
+He succeeded in exiling all the ex-Grand Viziers, but he had still more
+dangerous enemies among his own colleagues, who thwarted him at every
+step, worked upon the fears of the Sultan, and brought the affairs of
+the Government to a dead-lock. He finally proposed to the Sultan a plan
+of Government which, under the name of reform, involved an abdication of
+his supreme power in favour of the Grand Vizier. This was supported by
+all the influence of France, England, and Austria, but opposed by the
+Ulema and almost the whole governing class. It led to a formal decision
+on the part of the Ulema, which is of far greater importance than the
+fall of the Grand Vizier which was the first result of it. It declared
+that the Sultan ruled the Empire as Caliph, that he was bound by the
+Sheriat or sacred law, and that he could not delegate his authority to
+another. Under this decision there can be no such thing as civil
+government in Turkey. Civil law can never take the place of the Sheriat,
+and the emancipation of the Christian subjects of the Porte is an
+impossibility. The Ulema admit the necessity of administrative reform,
+and recognize the fact that the Empire is in peril; but it must be a
+return to ancient customs, and not a recognition of the principles of
+European civilization. They are in favour of limiting the power of the
+Sultan, but it must be limited by an extension of the influence of the
+Ulema. This triumph of the Ulema is the one important feature of the
+Ministerial crisis. As Khaireddin had no party, there are few who regret
+his fall. As few had any faith in the influence of English moral suasion
+applied to the Sultan by Sir A. H. Layard, there are few who are
+disappointed at its failure; but it may be well to note that Sir A. H.
+Layard and Khaireddin Pacha have both attempted to control the Turkish
+Government by their personal influence over the Sultan, and have both
+been defeated by the stronger influence of palace intrigue. There are no
+doubt certain advantages in maintaining intimate personal relations with
+an absolute sovereign, but, in fact, no sovereign is so absolute that he
+cannot be to a great extent controlled by his Ministers; and the
+Ambassador who is intimate with the Sultan, and seeks to control his
+actions, is certain to excite the jealousy and opposition of the
+Ministers and the palace. Even with the Sultan himself, he is obliged to
+assume a very different tone from that which he would use in dealing
+with a Minister. He may smile, but he cannot frown--he may suggest, but
+he cannot threaten--he may persuade, but he cannot dictate--he may
+secure a promise, but he cannot exact its fulfilment. In the present
+case he has certainly failed to keep his own _prot�g�_ in office, and,
+what is more important, he has failed to secure any modifications in the
+system of government.
+
+The Ulema who have triumphed in this conflict are the most powerful,
+compact, and thoroughly organized body in Turkey. They represent all the
+wealthy and influential Turkish families. They monopolize the two great
+departments of law and religion, and the revenues of the higher orders
+of the hierarchy are immense. Those who are not fanatics by nature or
+conviction are so by profession, and their idea of reform is a return to
+the good old days of the Caliph of Bagdad. The Sultan is afraid of them,
+and he has reason to be so. When the crisis came it was much easier and
+safer for him to yield to them than to follow the counsels of Sir A. H.
+Layard, or to abdicate in favour of Khaireddin Pacha. He could invite
+the former to dinner oftener than ever, and give the latter a pension.
+He had nothing to fear from either.
+
+The office of Grand Vizier was abolished for the second time within two
+years, and a Prime Minister appointed who could be trusted to do
+nothing; and it is a curious fact that this office is now abolished for
+the sake of increasing the power of the Sultan, while it was given up
+two years ago for the purpose of limiting his authority and
+strengthening that of the Ministry. It was Achmet Vefik Pacha, the most
+determined and independent man in Turkey, who was then appointed Prime
+Minister. It is Arifi Pacha, a man who never had an idea of his own, who
+is now selected to fill the place; while men of strong will and
+reactionary proclivities like Osman Pacha and Said Pacha continue to
+hold their places as Ministers of War and Justice.
+
+
+Sultan Murad.
+
+It must not be supposed that all the Turks are satisfied with this
+triumph of the Ulema, and the rule of Osman Pacha. Those who are out of
+office are, of course, dissatisfied. But beyond this there is a strong
+party at Constantinople which favours a radical change in the Government
+as the only hope of saving the Empire from destruction. They would limit
+the power of the Sultan by a genuine Constitution, and a Representative
+Assembly; but they believe that this can never be accomplished under the
+present Sultan. The fate of Mithad Pacha is always before their eyes.
+Their plan is to dethrone Hamid and reinstate Murad, whose liberal views
+are well known, and whose health is such that he could not resist
+radical measures even if he did not favour them. I have no means of
+knowing the real strength of this party, or exactly who are its leaders,
+nor do I know anything more of the health of Sultan Murad than the fact
+that his partisans declare that he is quite as sane and strong as his
+brother. But there is such a party, and it is confident of ultimate
+success. Of course, it is not supported by the British Ambassador, as
+Mithad Pacha was in the overthrow of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz; but it may have
+other foreign influence behind it, and it would, no doubt, result in the
+immediate recall of Mithad Pacha to the capital. As I am
+constitutionally a Conservative and opposed to revolution, I have not
+much sympathy with this movement; but I have no doubt that, if Turkey is
+to be left to herself to work out her own destiny, there is more to be
+hoped from a Representative Assembly than from any other possible
+modification of the Government. Mithad Pacha's Parliament was a surprise
+to the world, and not least to those who devised it. His Constitution
+was a fraud designed to deceive Europe. The members of his Assembly were
+selected by the Government, its acts were ignored. It was finally
+disbanded, and many of its members were imprisoned. But in spite of all
+this it demonstrated the fact that there was material in Turkey for an
+independent Assembly, which would be qualified by a little experience to
+control the Government, and would favour radical reforms in the
+administration. The governing class at Constantinople is hopelessly
+corrupt and effete, but men came up to this Assembly from the interior,
+who might in time have supplanted the present rulers, and infused new
+life into the administration. Those who now favour an Independent
+Parliament believe that the present Sultan will never consent to it, and
+therefore propose to reinstate Murad; but it is possible that if English
+moral suasion were turned in this direction, it might meet with more
+success than it has obtained thus far. The Ulema would probably oppose
+it, although they accepted it as part of the plan of Mithad Pacha.
+Circumstances have changed, and their experience of the last Assembly
+was not satisfactory.
+
+There is no reason to suppose that Sultan Murad himself has any part in
+this plan, or any knowledge of it. He is kept a close prisoner, and
+guarded from all outside influences with the greatest care, but his name
+is powerful, for his misfortunes and the well-known amiability of his
+character have roused the sympathy of the common people in his behalf.
+They are inclined to regard him as their rightful sovereign, and to
+believe that he might save them from their present misery. They may be
+mistaken, but all the world sympathizes with their kindly feeling
+towards this unhappy prince, whose mind gave way under the burden of
+responsibility which was suddenly forced upon him, and the shock which
+he experienced at the death of his uncle and his Ministers, who was
+himself deposed before he had regained his faculties, and who, for no
+fault of his own, is doomed to spend his life as a prisoner of State.
+
+
+The Progress of Reform.
+
+We are officially assured that the change in the Ministry will in no way
+impede the progress of reform, which has already been carried out in the
+Department of Justice, and which is soon to be applied to the civil
+administration. The plan has already been elaborated. It has been sent
+to the Valis for their approval, and will soon be submitted to the
+Eastern Roumelia Commission, after which it will be considered by the
+Sultan and, if approved by him, will be proclaimed in the form of a new
+_Hatt_. It professes to be a plan for a reorganization of the Vilayets,
+on the principle of decentralization and local self-government. It does
+not seem to excite much interest in any quarter, probably for the reason
+that all this exists already _on paper_, and that if Aali Pacha could
+not execute the elaborate scheme, which he proclaimed when the Vilayets
+were organized, there is not much probability that the new _Hatt_ will
+be any more effective. The people of Turkey have no faith in paper
+reforms. They are issued as easily as paper money, and are as easily
+repudiated; they are like leading articles in the daily papers--they are
+written, read, and forgotten, alike by the author and the reader, within
+the twenty-four hours. There is an old proverb current among the Turks
+which says, "The decrees of the Sultan last three days--the day they are
+made, the day they are kept, and the day they are forgotten." If the
+proverb were a new one, the second day would be omitted.
+
+The reforms which have been completed by Said Pacha, the Minister of
+Justice, are not of a nature to encourage the hopes of the people. A
+large number of new officials have been appointed, but they are of the
+same class as those already in office. Indeed, there seems to have been
+a special purpose in these appointments of making it known to the people
+that no change was to be expected in the method of administering the
+law. Only seventeen out of one hundred and eighty-three of these new
+officials are Christians, and the Turkish papers take pains to declare
+that it is absurd to suppose that Christians are competent to hold these
+offices. This is the result of the demand of Lord Salisbury that the
+Courts of the Empire should be reorganized under European control. They
+will continue to be what they have been, and it will be but a small
+consolation to the suffering people of Turkey to know that they have
+been condemned in strong terms by the British Government. The worst
+feature of the case is that the law offers no man any protection against
+arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. A man may be thrown into prison and
+kept there for years without any trial or any knowledge of the charges
+brought against him. Such cases are very common. Or he may he beaten by
+the police, or chained in a dungeon, on the most frivolous charge. I
+knew a case the other day of a Greek who was severely beaten because he
+requested a police officer to arrest a Turk who was plundering his shop
+in broad day. All this was done in the presence of a European gentleman,
+too. There are several Armenians in prison now in Constantinople whose
+only offence was the wearing of hats in place of the fez. At the same
+time, crimes of every description are committed with impunity without
+any apparent effort on the part of the authorities to discover the
+perpetrators. Almost in sight of Constantinople, and under the immediate
+jurisdiction of the capital, is a district where for months the peaceful
+inhabitants of Adabazar have been plundered and murdered by the
+Circassians. They have appealed again and again to Constantinople for
+protection. They have tried to interest the Ambassadors in their behalf.
+They sent a deputation to the Grand Vizier. He had no time to see them,
+but turned them over to another official who requested them to present
+him in writing a statement of the reforms which they thought were needed
+in the Empire! A few hundred soldiers, or even one determined man sent
+from Constantinople, would have restored order; but nothing could be
+done. Five men were murdered while the deputation was in this city. The
+whole Turkish coast of the Black Sea is infested with brigands who
+plunder at will. They are well known, but no one thinks of arresting or
+punishing them. Travellers are only secure when they are provided with a
+safe-conduct from the leaders. The Reports of the new Consuls in Asia
+Minor acknowledge a state of things which is almost too bad to be
+believed. There is no security in the administration of the law for
+person, property, or life, and there seems to be no prospect of any
+improvement. Some more radical reform is needed than the appointment of
+one hundred and sixty-six new Turkish judges.
+
+A scheme of financial reform has also been projected, and the foreign
+Embassies have been invited to nominate a certain number of persons as
+inspectors to superintend the collection of the revenue; but this is
+nothing new. The Imperial Ottoman Bank has nominally held this position
+for many years, and at times has exercised some control, no doubt with
+advantage to the Government. A new system of taxation, carried out under
+the control of honest and responsible Europeans, would increase the
+revenue of the Government without adding to the burdens of the people;
+but the place where reform is most needed is in the expenditure rather
+than the collection of the revenue. The present scheme does not command
+confidence in Constantinople in regard to the collection of the taxes,
+and it offers no security for the control of the expenses of the
+Government. The truth is that the whole financial system is hopelessly
+corrupt, and, however it may be patched or mended, it will be rotten
+still. There is no hope for the Turkish Government until it is ready to
+put its finances into the hands of competent Europeans who shall have
+absolute control over everything connected with expenditure as well as
+collection; and I am sorry to say that there seems to be no present
+prospect of any such arrangement. The enormous expenditure of the Palace
+is unlimited and uncontrolled, and the Sultan will not submit to any
+control. Financial reform must begin there, or it will amount to
+nothing. The present Sultan before he came to the throne was known to be
+a very careful and economical man, and no doubt he would be glad to be
+so now, but he has not the courage to break with the traditions of the
+past--give up his thousands of slaves, women, and palace officials, and
+live like a European sovereign rather than an Oriental despot. So long
+as he maintains the present system he must have money, no matter who
+starves for want of it; and he must continue to take money, on his
+personal order, from whatever department of the Government may be so
+happy as to have any in its treasury.
+
+The Government is bankrupt; its revenues are not half enough to meet its
+current expenses; its army is starving; its civil service forced to live
+on plunder; its income mortgaged for years in advance to secure loans on
+which it is paying thirty or forty per cent. interest in one form or
+another; but still no one would dare to suggest to the Sultan the
+possibility of his reducing his own expenses to a sum equal to that
+expended by the Queen of England. Thus far all talk of financial reform
+is prompted by the desire to borrow more money in Europe to meet the
+present wants of the Government. These difficulties once surmounted,
+everything would go on as before. It is no friendship to Turkey to lend
+her money, until such time as the Sultan and his Ministers are ready for
+a real reform, beginning at the Palace, and conducted under the control
+of Europeans appointed and supported by their own Governments. But there
+is no prospect of any such arrangement.
+
+The Turks do not appreciate the dangers which beset them. They see that
+the country is in an unsettled state, and they feel the want of money;
+but the evils of which the people complain are nothing new. They exist
+now in an aggravated form, on account of the war and the confusion which
+has reigned for several years at Constantinople; but the Turks see no
+reason why they should not be reduced to a normal state, and be quietly
+endured for centuries to come, as they have been for centuries past.
+Their attention is directed exclusively to their foreign relations, and
+whatever is said or done about reform is intended solely to conciliate
+public opinion in Europe. Could the rulers here be brought face to face
+with a really independent Representative Assembly, freely chosen by the
+people, they would be made to think less of Europe and more of Turkey.
+They would see that their rule has become well-nigh intolerable, even to
+the Mussulman population of the Empire. Then there would be some hope of
+genuine administration and financial reform. It is even possible that
+the Christian element in such an Assembly might be strong enough to
+secure, in time, the emancipation of the non-Mussulman population--and
+it should never be forgotten that this must come in some form. England
+does not insist upon it now, but she will, and so will all Europe. It
+would be far better for Turkey if it could be brought about by the
+Christians themselves; but if it is not, it will be forced upon the
+Turks by direct European intervention, or possibly by the overthrow of
+the Empire.
+
+
+The Egyptian Crisis.
+
+The affairs of Egypt have been so fully discussed in England that it is
+unnecessary for me to do more than to indicate the course of thought on
+this subject at Constantinople. At the outset, the Sultan and his
+Ministers sympathized with the Khedive. They feared that European
+intervention at Cairo would pave the way for a similar intervention
+here; and when he appealed to the Sultan he had reason to expect his
+support. But the Turks thought they saw their opportunity to regain
+their hold on Egypt, and the Khedive was summarily removed. The Turkish
+papers here did not hesitate to rejoice over it as a "new conquest of
+Egypt," and it is still believed here that this view of the subject was
+encouraged by England, that it was the purpose of Lord Beaconsfield to
+escape from the embarrassing demands of France by restoring Egypt to the
+control of the Sultan.
+
+But when the Turks found that they had been misled or mistaken, and that
+Egypt was less than ever under their control, they regretted the steps
+which had been taken, and began once more to sympathize with the Khedive
+whom they had deposed. He was very liberal in his expenditure of money
+at Constantinople, and always found it for his interest to maintain a
+host of retainers here; but the new Khedive will have no money to spend
+here, and will need agents in Paris and London rather than in
+Constantinople. The tribute-money no longer comes here, but is paid to
+bondholders in England and France. There is no hope of putting any more
+Turks into lucrative offices in Egypt. In short, the connection of that
+country with Turkey is no longer anything more than nominal, and the
+Turks feel their disappointment very keenly. They have now but one hope
+left. They understand very well the difficulties which must arise from a
+joint protectorate by France and England, and hope that the mutual
+jealousies of these Powers may throw Egypt once more into the hands of
+Turkey. The tone of the French press, even of so cautious and
+conservative a periodical as the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, gives them
+some ground for this hope; but the Khedive lost his throne by giving too
+much importance to this mutual jealousy, which manifested itself much
+more plainly in Egypt than it did in Europe; and it is to be hoped that
+the Turks will be equally disappointed. Every one in the East regards
+the present situation as impracticable and temporary, but it may result
+in the independence of Egypt under a general European protectorate, or
+in a further division of the Ottoman Empire by the annexation of Egypt
+to England and Syria to France. The opportunity of annexing Egypt
+without compensation to France was lost when England refused to listen
+to the suggestions of Germany three years ago, because, as Lord Derby is
+reported to have said, it would have shocked the moral sense of the
+world.
+
+
+The Greek Question.
+
+The Greek Question is not a simple one. Very few questions connected
+with the East are simple. The aspirations of the kingdom of Greece are
+natural. Her appeal to Europe was justifiable, and there can be no
+question of the advantage which it would be to Greece, and to the
+populations of Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete, if these provinces were
+annexed to the kingdom. If this were all, they would be annexed, and all
+the world would rejoice. It is to be regretted that the Congress of
+Berlin did not shut its eyes to other considerations and settle it
+off-hand in this way; but they did not, and no Power now exists which
+can do so.
+
+These provinces belong to Turkey, and she cannot see that it is for her
+interest to give them up. Greece cannot possibly offer her anything in
+return for them, and, as against Turkey, she has no claim upon them. The
+Congress of Berlin advised Turkey to arrange, by friendly negotiation,
+for the cession of a part of them; but there is really no ground upon
+which a negotiation can be based. Turkey is ready to yield something out
+of respect to Europe, but she naturally wishes to give up as little as
+possible. Then there are other Powers interested. Austria and Italy, but
+especially the former, have their own views of the destiny of European
+Turkey, and their own plans of aggrandizement. Albania and Macedonia
+have to be considered. England, France, and Russia, also, are looking
+forward to the future, and questioning how the settlement of this
+question will affect their plans for the final solution of the Eastern
+Question. Here is room for intrigues without end, and complications
+without limit.
+
+The Greeks are indignant, especially against England and Austria; and
+their papers here have used some very disagreeable language. They are
+now solemnly protesting against the right of Sir A. H. Layard and Count
+Zichy to take a short vacation, so long as this question remains
+unsettled. Some of them seem to believe that Osman Pacha really
+contemplates a reconquest of Greece itself, and that England might
+consent to it. All this is absurd; but there can be no doubt about the
+fact that England and Austria have thus far opposed the claims of
+Greece, and that Austria and Turkey have, each in her own way,
+contributed to excite discontent in Albania, and keep up a state of
+anarchy in Macedonia. A leading paper in Vienna, ten days ago, openly
+declared that it was the intention of Austria to push on to Salonica,
+after taking possession of Novi Bazaar. She certainly has very little
+sympathy with Greece, and if this question is to be settled at all she
+will keep the Greeks as far from Salonica as possible.
+
+The Turkish papers are allowed to discuss this question with perfect
+freedom, and one of the most moderate, the _Djeridei-Havadis_, says:--
+
+    "If the Hellenic Kingdom is desirous of avoiding a war with the
+    Albanians, it ought to follow the line of conduct proposed by the
+    Porte. If it acts in opposition to it, a war will follow which can
+    only result in ruin, as has happened before. If the Porte had only
+    to satisfy Greece, it is probable that it would show itself
+    yielding, but the Imperial Government cannot, with a light heart,
+    provoke a conflict and see the blood of its subjects poured out, for
+    the Albanians have decided to defend their country, arms in hand. It
+    is astonishing that Europe, in seconding the demands of Greece,
+    completely forgets the rights of the Albanians."
+
+The Commission appointed to settle this question is now in session at
+Constantinople, and some arrangement may be made, but the current
+opinion in the city, among both Greeks and Turks, is that neither party
+will yield anything. Another meeting is to be held to-morrow; and if
+the Greeks are ready to give up Janina, a settlement is possible--in
+spite of the Albanians. The impression is that they will not fight,
+although the Greeks in Thessaly and Epirus have roused their hostility,
+and have failed to do anything to conciliate them in past years. They
+have an honest fear of being Hellenized by force, and although they have
+little sympathy for the Turkish Government, and are constantly
+quarrelling among themselves, they still have a strong national pride,
+and they may take up arms in good earnest. If they do, it will be a
+serious matter for Greece.
+
+
+The Principality of Bulgaria.
+
+Bulgaria is enjoying a brief period of comparative repose. The Russians
+have left the country. The Prince has assumed the reins of Government.
+The people are busy with their harvests, and, except in certain
+districts where the disbanded soldiers of the Turkish army have taken to
+brigandage, there is peace and quiet everywhere, and there is no reason
+to fear anything more disquieting than the excitement of a general
+election.
+
+The Principality has a great advantage over Eastern Roumelia, in that it
+has secured its independence, and can work out its destiny by itself,
+without any interference on the part of the Turks or of an European
+Commission; but both Prince and people are without experience, and there
+are no popular leaders who have any practical knowledge of government.
+The people are jealous of their newly-acquired rights, and naturally
+opinionated and disputatious. The coming elections will no doubt cause
+great political excitement, and the new Assembly will not be very easily
+managed, or be likely to win the admiration of Europe by its wisdom. It
+should be remembered, however, that this lack of experience is the
+misfortune and not the fault of the Bulgarians, and that Europe has not
+dealt with them in a way to win their confidence and command their
+respect. It has left them with a grievance which they can never forget
+for a moment, which must influence all their political action, and which
+forces them to maintain intimate relations with Russia, which is not a
+country where they can learn political wisdom, although it has given
+them a Constitution which is a model of liberality. There was nothing in
+the Russian administration of the province which was adapted to prepare
+them for such a Constitution, or teach them how to conduct a free and
+liberal government. Prince and people have to begin everything for
+themselves. Indeed, they are probably worse off than they would have
+been if there had been no civil administration attempted in the province
+by the Russians. An army of occupation of any country is unfitted for
+the organization of civil government. This was attempted on a grand
+scale in the Southern States of America after the civil war, and under
+exceptionally favourable circumstances, but all these civil governments,
+established and fostered by military force, were unsatisfactory while
+they continued, and disappeared when the army was withdrawn. If this was
+a work which could not be accomplished by the United States, and by an
+army which was made up chiefly of civilians, it is not strange that,
+with all possible goodwill, the Czar of Russia failed to establish a
+satisfactory civil administration in Bulgaria. He gave them as good a
+Prince as was to be found in the German market, and as liberal a
+Constitution as any in Europe. He maintained order and protected all
+classes as long as his soldiers remained in the country; but the whole
+administration was necessarily Russian in its spirit and methods, and
+altogether unlike what it ought to be under the new Constitution. The
+Bulgarians who were trained under it will have to unlearn much that they
+have learned, and begin anew, or they will fail to satisfy the people.
+All this is the misfortune rather than the fault of the nation, and it
+has a right to expect that Europe will be patient and friendly, while it
+gains by experience the wisdom which no nation has ever acquired in any
+other way.
+
+Prince Alexander is young, and as inexperienced as his people, but those
+who know him best have confidence in his good sense, and he is said to
+be not unlike the late Prince Albert in character. He will need all his
+good qualities to attain success; and if successful, he will certainly
+deserve to be ranked with the Prince Consort and King Leopold. His work
+certainly involves more self-denial than either of theirs, and not less
+tact and good sense. He was no doubt elected through the influence of
+Russia; but he is no mere creature of the Czar, and has no desire to act
+as a Russian agent. On the contrary, he is heartily in sympathy with the
+liberal ideas of the West, and anxious to secure the goodwill of
+England. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Palgrave, the English
+Consul-General, this does not seem to the Bulgarians so hopeless a task
+as it once did.
+
+The Prince was received by his people with the greatest enthusiasm. No
+sovereign was ever more heartily welcomed, and each stage of his journey
+was a new triumph. He probably appreciated this all the more from the
+fact that his visit to Constantinople was made as disagreeable as
+possible. He was first refused permission to come at all, on the
+pretence that his life would be in danger. This plea was too absurd to
+deceive any one, but it might have caused serious difficulty if he had
+not appealed to the Great Powers, and at the same time manifested a
+disposition to conciliate the Porte by proposing to limit his stay at
+Constantinople to a visit of a few hours. He arrived in the Bosphorus in
+the morning, and left in the afternoon. He was received by the Sultan,
+but was told that owing to the pressure of business his Firman was not
+ready, and could not be delivered to him. No Bulgarian was allowed to
+approach him, and no boat allowed to go out to his steamer. Large bodies
+of troops were stationed along his route and about the Russian Embassy,
+and he was treated very much like a prisoner of State. It is not easy to
+understand why this farce was played by the Turks, or what they expected
+to gain by it. They probably refused the permission in the first place
+with the intention of treating him as an ordinary Turkish Vali, and
+sending his Firman to be read in public at Tirnova by a Turkish
+official; but after the failure of this plan there was no obvious reason
+for treating him as they did at Constantinople. Some have supposed that
+it was intended as a studied insult to the Prince, others that it was an
+elaborate practical joke played upon the Russian Embassy, which had at
+one time suggested that it was unnecessary for the Prince to come to
+Constantinople, as other vassal Princes had always done. But whatever
+may have been the motive which prompted this singular treatment, it only
+served to make the reception of the Prince the next day at Varna more
+impressive, and to give more importance to the wild enthusiasm of his
+new subjects, who could not have received him with greater joy if he had
+himself just delivered them from the hated rule of the Turks. He was
+inaugurated at Tirnova, the ancient capital, and then went at once to
+Sofia, the new seat of government. His first difficulty was the choice
+of a Ministry. Two parties had already been developed in the
+Constitutional Assembly which adopted the Constitution and elected the
+Prince. They grew out of a difference of opinion in regard to religious
+liberty, freedom of the press, the right of association, with other
+similar questions, and at once assumed the names, Conservative and
+Liberal. The Conservative party included the clergy of the Bulgarian
+Church, and some of the best educated and most enlightened Bulgarians,
+who felt that too much liberty was a dangerous thing for a people
+brought so suddenly from bondage to freedom--who feared that the country
+would be flooded with Nihilism, Socialism, and all other isms. The
+Liberal party, however, had a large majority in the Assembly, and was
+led with considerable skill by two or three experienced politicians, who
+were wise enough to avoid extreme measures. When the Prince arrived, he
+attempted to form a Ministry which should include the leaders of both
+these parties; but for some reason the majority of those selected were
+Conservatives, and the Liberals declined to serve with them, so that he
+has a Conservative Ministry, with the probability that the new Assembly
+will have a strong Liberal majority. This is an unfortunate beginning,
+as the party conflict which is likely to ensue will probably weaken the
+influence of some of the best men in the nation, who are really Liberal
+in their views, but who fear that absolute liberty will degenerate into
+license and sap the foundations of religion and morality. They do not
+think that the people are ready for "a free Church in a free State."
+They fail to see that the influence of the Church can only be
+strengthened by educating the clergy and reviving their spiritual life.
+The Bulgarians are naturally a religious people; but, both while they
+were under the Greek Patriarch, and since they have received their
+independence, their Church has been an essentially political
+organization. It needs now to be spiritualized. The best men of both
+parties acknowledge this; but, as in all other countries, there is a
+difference of opinion as to how far it should be defended and supported
+by the State.
+
+I have said that this division of parties was an unfortunate beginning
+for this new State, but after all it is far better that there should be
+real living questions before the people than that politics should
+degenerate into a new struggle for office. The very discussion of these
+questions will tend to educate the people and revive the Church, and it
+will probably be found that when a new Liberal Ministry is formed the
+responsibilities of office will make it as conservative in most respects
+as the present Government. The Prince has the confidence of all the
+people, and will no doubt accept the result of the coming elections as a
+Constitutional sovereign, and then direct the attention of the people to
+other questions of the utmost importance concerning the organization of
+the various departments of the Government. No doubt serious difficulties
+will be encountered and mistakes will be made, but the spirit of the
+people is good. They desire good order, peace, and quiet, and they will
+make every effort to secure it. They merit the sympathy and goodwill of
+all civilized nations, and especially of those who believe in free
+government and liberal institutions.
+
+
+Eastern Roumelia.
+
+The condition of affairs in Eastern Roumelia is much less hopeful, as
+the difficulties encountered in the organization of the Government are
+very much greater and more numerous. North of the Balkans they are only
+such as might be experienced by any new Representative Government in any
+civilized country, but in the nondescript province of Roumelia the
+people are suffering from evils inflicted upon them by the Congress of
+Berlin. Everything is unsettled. No one knows who rules the country, or
+what is the form of government. It seems to be for the interest of
+certain parties to prolong this state of things and introduce as much
+disorder as possible. The people are kept in a constant state of
+excitement, and no one knows what to expect from one day to another. The
+Congress of Berlin is primarily responsible for this, and no doubt it
+was for the interest of Austria to keep up a state of anarchy and
+confusion in European Turkey. It was her plan to absorb the European
+provinces herself, and the way must be kept open to Salonica and if
+possible to Constantinople. It is believed here that England went to
+Berlin with a secret agreement to support these pretensions of Austria,
+but no one sees exactly how England is to profit by this arrangement. It
+is certain that no one in Turkey gained anything by the division of
+Bulgaria, but the evils which have resulted would have been much less if
+in addition to this division the Congress had not devised the
+extraordinary scheme of giving different forms of Government to the two
+Bulgarias. This plan, of course, insured the permanent discontent of the
+whole Bulgarian nation, but, worse than this, it made the impression
+upon the Turks and Greeks that the arrangement for Eastern Roumelia was
+only a temporary one, and that by skilful agitation they might overturn
+it. They have not failed to improve this opportunity. The Phanariote
+and Roumelian Greeks are doing everything in their power to create
+disturbance and cause difficulty in Eastern Roumelia. An unceasing
+torrent of abuse is poured out upon the Bulgarians by the Greek papers
+and their French organ the _Phare du Bosphore_. They are full of false
+statements and misrepresentations of every kind, and a portion of the
+Greeks in the province act in full sympathy with these papers. Free
+Greece does not sympathize with this crusade, and an attempt was made a
+few weeks since to induce the Greeks here to come to an understanding
+with the Bulgarian Church, by withdrawing the excommunication and
+arranging for harmonious co-operation. It is understood that the
+Patriarch was in favour of this, but the Greek papers here opposed it
+with a violence which was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. They
+declared that "the maintenance of the schism was the only hope of
+Hellenism," and appealed to the Porte to prevent by force a
+reconciliation "which would inevitably result in the union of Greeks and
+Bulgarians to drive out the Turks and divide the country between them,"
+This opposition on the part of the Phanariotes prevented the execution
+of the plan.
+
+The Turks also are doing what they can to create disturbance in the
+province, and find some excuse for occupying it with their army. This
+was, of course, to be expected, and is in some degree excusable. They
+naturally wish to regain possession of this rich province, and they feel
+that they have cause of complaint against the Bulgarians, who do not
+receive the returning refugees with much cordiality. There are real
+difficulties on both sides which cannot fail to give rise to serious
+trouble. It is a pity that the whole arrangement could not have been
+left to a really impartial Commission, free to act on principles of
+equity and common sense. The difficulties are such as these, for
+example. There are many towns where the Bulgarian quarter was burned by
+the Turks. When the Turks fled and the Bulgarians returned, they
+occupied the Turkish houses, and they are now naturally disinclined to
+give them up to the refugees and camp in the fields. Again, there are
+many cases where the Bulgarians were deprived of their lands in the most
+iniquitous manner some years ago, under the pretence of a new law in
+regard to title-deeds. These lands were seized by rich Turks, who fled
+during the war, but now come back to claim them. The Bulgarians have the
+original titles and the Turks new ones. To whom do the lands rightly
+belong?
+
+There are other cases where Turks return who are known to have taken
+part in the massacres. There has been a general amnesty, but it can
+hardly be expected that these persons will be well received. These are
+only a few of the many difficulties connected with the return of the
+refugees which irritate the Turks and the Bulgarians both; and in some
+cases both parties merit our sympathy.
+
+In addition to these deliberate attempts to make trouble on the part of
+the Turks, Greeks, and also of some few hot-headed Bulgarians who are
+foolish enough to suppose that a disturbance might hasten their union
+with the Principality, the confusion in the Government is a source of
+constant trouble. No one knows what the Government is. The Porte claims
+supreme authority, and sends peremptory orders to the Pacha. The Pacha
+naturally considers himself the head of the Government. The European
+Commission claims the right to exercise control whenever it sees fit.
+The Consuls assume the right to intrigue or to dictate in the name of
+their respective Governments. The Administrative Council, a majority of
+which is Bulgarian, considers itself to be responsible for the
+administration, and there is a Constitution of hundreds of articles
+which is theoretically the law of the land. A National Assembly is soon
+to be added to the list. The militia have been under the command of a
+Levantine Frenchman, who was not responsible to the Governor, and who
+does not appear to have had a single qualification for his office.
+Happily he has just been replaced by a better man.
+
+Having inflicted all this confusion upon Eastern Roumelia, the European
+Powers are complaining that the people do not know how to govern
+themselves! Perhaps they do not, but as yet they have had no opportunity
+to make the experiment. If peace and quiet is ever to be restored to
+this unhappy province, the Government must be simplified and
+consolidated; it must be left to manage its own affairs, and to make the
+best it can of the elaborate Constitution which Europe has conferred
+upon it. Alecko Pacha is not a great man, but he was the best man
+available for his position, and he is a man who is much more likely to
+throw up his office in disgust at the trouble which it gives him than to
+lend himself to any scheme for resisting the will of Europe. He ought to
+be encouraged and supported. The Bulgarians, who constitute the majority
+of the population, are discontented at the arbitrary action which
+separated them from the Principality, but they are satisfied that they
+have nothing to gain from any present agitation of this question, and
+they only desire to be left to govern themselves in accordance with the
+decision of Europe, and to be assured that they will not be turned over
+again to the tender mercies of the Turkish Government. The fear of this
+is universal, and it is this fear which keeps them in a state of
+constant excitement. It is not without reason. A large Turkish army is
+camped on their borders. The Porte is seeking some excuse for entering
+the province. Certain European representatives at Philippopolis are
+always threatening this, and the people believe that they are intriguing
+to bring it about. Everything is in confusion and uncertainty in regard
+to the Government, and nothing seems settled. There can be no peace and
+quiet in a country which is in constant fear of invasion, and something
+ought to be done to remove this fear from Eastern Roumelia. The Turkish
+army should certainly be removed, and the Porte should be warned to let
+Alecko Pacha alone and allow him to organize his Government as best he
+can. If this source of fear and irritation were removed, the Bulgarians
+would accept the situation and make the best of it. It would be for
+their interest to do so, and an industrious, thrifty population is
+always quick to see what is for its interest.
+
+The gymnastic clubs, which were originally formed for another purpose,
+are now kept up and supported by sober, conservative men, simply from
+this fear of a Turkish invasion. If the fear were removed these
+associations would be dissolved at once, as they ought to be; for
+Bulgarian merchants are not in the habit of spending money for anything
+which is not essential to their well-being. These clubs are not
+revolutionary, but they might become a source of disorder if they were
+made permanent.
+
+It is not probable that the European Powers will allow any invasion of
+the country; but the Turks have always in hand the pretence of sending
+troops to occupy the Balkans, and this fact to some extent justifies the
+fears of the Bulgarians. If there were danger of another Russian
+invasion, the Turks would be fully justified in occupying the passes at
+once, and there is nothing in Eastern Roumelia to prevent or even delay
+such an occupation; but under present circumstances, when there is
+nothing to be feared from Russia--when peace and quiet is the thing of
+all others to be desired--the occupation of the Balkans would be a
+crime.
+
+    AN EASTERN STATESMAN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTEMPORARY BOOKS.
+
+
+I.--HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE EAST.
+
+(_Under the Direction of_ Professor E. H. PALMER.)
+
+
+Colonel Malleson certainly did well to claim permission to rewrite Sir
+John Kaye's last volume (_History of the Indian Mutiny_, by Colonel
+Malleson, Vol. I., London: W. H. Allen & Co.), and comparison of the two
+may afford to the historian of the future valuable aid in interpreting
+the volumes yet to come. A great part of the present must be held to be
+the work of the virulent pamphleteer and violent partisan rather than of
+the historian; and if the quotations of, and references to, the Red
+Pamphlet indicate relations between Colonel Malleson and its author, the
+publishers cannot be held to have exercised a wise discretion in their
+choice.
+
+The task of the reviewer of such a book is unusually heavy. Book for
+book, almost chapter for chapter, it is intended to replace Sir John
+Kaye's work, and the reviewer therefore needs to study the two
+carefully, and to compare them minutely. Colonel Malleson, no doubt, had
+access to Sir John Kaye's materials, but within a certain field seems to
+have been unable to see the other side of any question. To arm, to leave
+Sepoys armed, is simply to detain European troops to watch them; it is
+nothing that to disarm them is to drive them, and all their connections,
+wild with terror as sheep marked for the slaughter; yet he cannot be
+ignorant of the cases in which a few bad men committed a regiment, and
+how whole regiments "went" in terror of their masters' vengeful
+distrust.[105] In saying, as he does so confidently, that by enrolling
+the Calcutta Volunteers on their first offer, on 20th May, Lord Canning
+would have set free half a European regiment, Colonel Malleson must have
+been thinking of what the Volunteers might have been fit to do had they
+been enrolled and drilled six months before,--provided they had been
+willing to take the day-work of garrison duty, and to think more of the
+State than of the house and furniture at Ballygunj: the real profit of
+the enrolment was the confidence and cheerfulness organization gave to
+the Europeans themselves. And--to take a more important instance--the
+"Gagging Act" was an insolent expression of distrust of Englishmen, an
+attempt to prevent their opinions reaching England _in print_. For
+distrust of their discretion English editors had given cause enough, and
+for influencing English opinion, as Indian newspapers may be said to be
+unknown in England in their original sheets, a letter from the editor of
+the _Friend of India_ to any English paper would have been as sure of
+English readers, and of as much weight with them, as if it had been set
+up in the damp printing-house at Serampore.
+
+Colonel Malleson quotes from the "Red Pamphlet," as Sir John Kaye had
+done before him, a smart description of "Panic Sunday." From Colonel
+Cavanagh's report it seems pretty clear that the higher classes--the
+"society"--of Calcutta were not among the refugees in the fort, and as
+Secretaries to Government and Members of Council may be counted on the
+fingers, it would be as well if the historian would name the fugitives
+before death takes all who could answer the charge. We have had access
+to the diary of a young civilian, then a guest of the Member of Council
+who lived furthest from Government House, away in Alipore, beyond the
+house of the Lieutenant-Governor and the great jail of Alipore and the
+lines of the native regiment which was the great terror of Calcutta: on
+that Sunday, host and guest went to the Cathedral twice as usual, and
+after the evening service the guest returned home, while the host drove
+to Calcutta to call on some cousins; as the cousins had driven to
+Alipore, and the visitors at both houses waited a while those households
+at least were afoot till a later hour than usual, and at last went to
+bed as usual without closing an extra door.
+
+The second chapter closes with an impassioned peroration, wherein the
+removal of Mr. William Tayler from his post at Patna is likened to the
+judicial murder of Lally, and the starvation of Dupleix. It is clear
+enough, from Colonel Malleson's account, that Mr. Tayler liked to carry
+out his own plans too well to risk interference by over-frankness to his
+superiors. In the face of an enemy such concealment may be as
+mischievous as disobedience, and Sir John Kaye reminds us that at an
+earlier date confidence in Mr. Tayler's judgment had been shaken; and
+his report of his message to his district officers, the report which
+immediately preceded, and probably led to, his suspension, says nothing
+of the clause which sets the treasure above anything save human life.
+Under any circumstances Mr. Tayler's defence is not helped by sharp
+censures on Mr. Money, or by blindness to the fact that the best
+intelligence made a march to Patna seem more perilous than the far
+longer one through a jungle country to Calcutta. Wise after the event,
+indeed, we may see that Mr. Tayler's forecast was sounder than Mr.
+Halliday's; but the Lieutenant-Governor, and Lord Canning too, could
+only act on the circumstances known to them, and Mr. Tayler was replaced
+by an officer of yet higher rank in the official hierarchy, and probably
+forestalled renewed promotion by resigning the Service as soon as he
+could get a pension. But why were not his services rewarded? asks
+Colonel Malleson, ready with the hard word "intrigue." But who were the
+sharers in the intrigue, and who was to profit by it? Men whom Lord
+Canning sharply rebuked and degraded were yet recommended by him for
+honour, and no courteous letter from Mr. Talbot can do away with the
+fact that the Viceroy, writing when all heat of strife was over and all
+facts known, yet did not obtain for Mr. Tayler any distinction.
+
+On one point, however, we are bound to protest against Sir John Kaye's
+harsh judgment: to him the arrest of the Wahabi leaders was a scandalous
+breach of the usages of war. But they were unquestionably subjects of
+the British Crown, and the question surely is--would they have resisted
+arrest by ordinary process or not? If not, they had to thank Mr. Tayler
+for courteous consideration in arresting them himself, and detaining
+them in honourable captivity; in resisting they would have been guilty
+of that rebellion against their sovereign in which there was too good
+reason to believe them sharers.
+
+On the many points whereon both authors are in substantial accord it
+would be waste of space to touch, and we pass to the other important
+episode in which Colonel Malleson traverses Sir John Kaye's judgment,
+and here our verdict is with the later author: in treating of Durand's
+conduct at Indore, Colonel Malleson seems to have risen above the region
+of personal feeling, if not of personal knowledge; so that while his
+full and vivid narrative shows plainly the difficulties, political and
+strategical, of Durand's position and also of his retreat, he shows as
+clearly that it is no simple case of Durand _versus_ Holkar, but one in
+which each may be commended without loss of credit to the other.
+
+So much space has been of necessity devoted to the chief points on which
+the two authors are at variance, that none is left for the transactions
+which Colonel Malleson's changed arrangement brings into the present
+volume, though Kaye had intended for them a place in some later one. His
+work in the new field makes us only the more regret that he did not
+bring to his task the unbiassed mind of a man who had never known the
+author of the Red Pamphlet or Mr. William Tayler. But we would, in a
+concluding word, beg him to revise his Indian spelling; to a man who has
+once felt the charm of a fancy rule the claims of established usage go
+for nothing, but at all events he may be decently consistent; why does
+Colonel Malleson double so many letters which in Urdu are single, and
+why does he spell the name of the ancient and famous, if now obscure,
+town of Jaunpore as though it were "the City of Life"?
+
+Captain Low's _History of the Indian Navy_ (2 vols., London: Bentley &
+Son) has long been reproachfully demanding notice; it is easy to say
+something about such a work, not easy to treat it worthily. A man could
+hardly put together 1100 pages of small type without recording many
+noteworthy facts, but all matters of interest might have been packed in
+much smaller compass, and so packed would have found more readers and a
+more favourable verdict.
+
+The two volumes trace the rise and fall of the Navy from its germ in the
+"ten grabs and galivats" taken up for the defence of the factory and
+shipping of Surat in 1615, through the period of its glory when its
+ships bore the Company's flag alongside of the Royal Navy on many
+hard-fought days, through its decline, when they carried mails or
+transported troops with rare enjoyment of a brush, to its abolition in
+our own time, when, less fortunate than its sister service, it fell a
+victim to mutiny and disorders in which it had no share.
+
+The first period in its history ends with the year 1759, when, with the
+capture of Gheriah, and the destruction of Angria's power, piracy as a
+business of State came to an end, and when the ruin of the Seedee, and
+the substitution of the Company as High Admiral of the Mogul Empire,
+placed the local Marine first among the maritime powers of India. Its
+first serious service was in the operations which broke the power of the
+Portuguese in the Gulf, and in 1622 reduced Ormuz from an emporium of
+proverbial wealth and magnificence to its normal condition of a poor
+barren island, and for many years the Portuguese found it as much
+occupation as the pirates who might well have been its first concern. No
+doubt the captains of well-armed India-men, whose crews were borrowed
+for service on grabs and galivats, looked down on the latter as a sort
+of coastguard, but the aid of such light craft was invaluable against
+the shoals of small vessels which beset new-comers fore and aft, pouring
+down crowds of well-armed men from their long overhanging prows. For in
+the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the shores of the Indian Ocean
+swarmed with pirates, kept down indeed by the Portuguese in the heyday
+of their power, but making head again till, by the middle of the
+seventeenth century, according to Italian travellers, they feared none
+but Dutch and English, and these only for a pestilent practice of firing
+the magazine rather than surrender. Yet to the Mogul governor of Surat
+probably the pirate of home growth was less objectionable than the
+intrusive trader; and indeed the Nuwab was not without excuse if he
+regarded the European as a more powerful pirate, seeing that some
+commanders took by force goods which the native owner would not sell,
+others ransacked ships not said to belong to the Mogul's ports, the
+mutinous crews of others became open pirates; and lastly, we find
+Captain Kidd, and other heroes of the black flag, practising their
+vocation in these seas. The native pirate, the European rival, and the
+professional rover, kept the local marine pretty well employed, but it
+is not always easy to distinguish between the services of this body and
+the Company's armed trading ships.
+
+Of more interest to the Mogul Government than foreign trade were the
+vessels in which Mahomedan pilgrims of all ranks sailed to Arabian and
+Persian shrines, and for their benefit it came to terms with the Seedee,
+better known to us as the Hubshi of Jinjirah, the boldest of the
+pirates, giving him a large allowance and high rank to secure his
+convoy. The Company made more than one attempt to supplant him, and
+indeed furnished ships to guard the Mocha-Jeddah fleet in 1698, but the
+Seedee kept his office till 1759; in the general decay of the central
+power he first neglected, then openly defied, the Governor of Surat, and
+instead of protecting trade became its chief oppressor; till at last, in
+1759, after much negotiation, the Nuwab induced the Bombay Government to
+intervene, and as a reward obtained for the Company the Seedee's office.
+What direct profit the Company derived from the appointment Captain Low
+does not tell us; the omission can hardly be the consequence of the
+lamented destruction of papers which followed the sale of the old India
+House, for he records that in 1694 the Seedee's subsidy amounted to four
+lacs, no doubt considerably bettered by presents, and in 1735 the money
+allowance was but a lac and a half: the revenues of the districts and
+customs assigned to the Company went to support the Surat squadron, but
+the fees of office granted to the officer who was its deputy amounted,
+to near a lac of rupees a year; it is well to remember that the holder's
+gross pay was but Rs.1,000 a year, that the Governor of Bombay had but
+some �500, and that till near the end of the century private trade was
+allowed: no one, however, was permitted to enjoy this great prize for a
+second year. Whatever were the profits to the Company, the Nuwab could
+see that it did more for its wages than the Seedee, for in the next nine
+years the Surat squadron destroyed near a hundred pirate vessels of the
+Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay.
+
+After another seventy years the Bombay Marine became in name what, as
+the only local armed fleet, it had long been in fact--the Indian Navy.
+Wherever round the basin of the Indian Ocean there had been fighting in
+those years, the vessels of the Bombay Marine had borne the British flag
+with honour, though the services of officers and crews, both afloat and
+ashore, had been too sparingly recognised. And in those years was
+commenced the series of surveys which are still the chief authorities
+for the navigation of the Eastern seas, and have given the names of
+Rennie, Moresby, Haines, and Taylor a permanent place in history. But
+men who entered the Bombay Marine were still serving efficiently when
+the Indian Navy was abolished, in the belief that ships of the Royal
+Navy would carry on the police of the seas as efficiently, but at less
+annual cost, and that other arrangements might be made for the business
+of inland navigation and transport; the necessity for recurrent shore
+surveys seems not to have been foreseen, though already a special
+department has been created and placed under a retired officer of the
+Indian Navy. It is impossible not to admit that, through its want of
+influential friends, the Service was treated unjustly. The guarantee of
+"Colonel Sykes's clause" has, through repeated agitation, been made so
+effectual for officers of the Indian Army that men of forty have retired
+as full colonels, because all their regimental seniors had joined the
+Staff Corps, while the officers of the Indian Navy were forced to retire
+without appeal on something like the pension of their rank. But they
+must have felt a grim satisfaction in knowing that they had outlived the
+piracy which had been the scourge of Western India and the first cause
+of the creation of the force; their last serious service was in
+administering a final pounding to their old enemies the Waghers, the
+last survivors of the flourishing pirate communities of Kattyawar.
+
+Besides surveys of the Eastern seas, European nations trading with India
+are indebted to the Indian Navy for the opening up of the Overland
+Route, and so, indirectly, for the construction of the Suez Canal.
+Without steam, indeed, the Red Sea could never have become a highway of
+commerce, while with its extended use that great canal could not for
+ever be closed; but the _Hugh Lindsay_ of the Indian Navy, the first
+steamer constructed in the East, which, after thirty years of service,
+was still staunch enough for work as a tug at Kurachi, was the first
+steamer to appear on its waters, making the voyage to and from Suez in
+1830, under the command of Captain John Lindsay. The expense of the
+voyage, however, was so great that, after seven trips, the Court bade
+the Government of Bombay only repeat it in case of emergency, and it was
+reserved for Lieutenant Waghorn, also of the Indian Navy, by sacrifice
+of his private fortune and professional prospects and ten years'
+unceasing labour, to prove that communication with India through the Red
+Sea was not only a luxury of State, but a profitable commercial
+enterprise. From his labours all have profited save himself and his
+family, and the only public acknowledgment of his services is a bust in
+the Canal Garden at Suez.
+
+With some labour, caused by the want of an index, many notices of
+interest might be quarried from Captain Low's pages. The early history
+of Bombay, the antecedents of the rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar, the
+settlement at Aden, the true story of Perim, the achievements of the
+Sepoy Marines, who are now represented by two regular regiments of the
+Bombay Army, all invite notice, but our space is exhausted. Yet we must
+find room to mention the self-denial of Commodore Hayes, who, rather
+than embroil the Company with China, released two junks captured in
+running the blockade from Batavia with Dutch property, and so sacrificed
+his large share of �600,000 lawful prize; and the gallantry of
+Midshipman Denton, who, unable to board a proa, lashed her bowsprit to
+the taffrail of his gunboat, and so continued his course, fighting her
+all the time. And for contrast with the experience of the Bay of Bengal,
+where we believe that the full pressure of a great cyclone has never
+been recorded, as the anemometers have broken with a pressure of sixty
+pounds, we may note that, in the cyclone of November, 1854, so famous at
+Bombay, the pressure did not exceed thirty-five pounds to the square
+foot: with such a storm as that which raged in Calcutta in October,
+1864, the whole native town of Bombay would come down like a house of
+cards. We are sorry not to have been able to notice Captain Low's
+labours more favourably; particular points which we had noted for
+objection we will pass over in silence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Richard Burton is _facile princeps_ of modern travellers. There
+scarcely any part of the world which he has not visited, and wherever he
+goes he seems to have the history, geography, and ethnology of the
+country at his fingers' ends. His last important contribution to
+geographical science is the account of his visit to the Land of Midian,
+whither he went, commissioned by the ex-Khedive of Egypt, in search of
+the gold mines of which the ancient Arab geographer and others speak.
+The results of his expeditions are published in two works: _The
+Gold-Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities_ (London: C. Kegan
+Paul & Co., 1878) and _The Land of Midian (Revisited)_, 2 vols., issued
+by the same publishers during the present year. Having received an
+invitation from the ex-Viceroy, Captain Burton proceeded to Cairo in
+March, 1877, where an expedition was organized for the purpose of
+exploring the auriferous region. The author's comparison of the Cairo of
+the present time with the city as he knew it in his old pilgrim days,
+and as it is described in Lane's "Modern Egyptians," forms, although
+only incidental, a very interesting portion of the book. The chapter on
+Suez also is a good specimen of Captain Burton's style, and contains at
+once a topographical sketch, an arch�ological and historical
+description, and a chatty and amusing account of the modern city, its
+society, and surroundings. Midian, called nowadays by its inhabitants,
+as by the medi�val Arabic geographers, _Arz Maydan_, the Land of Midian,
+is that part of Arabia which occupies the east coast of the Gulf of
+Akabah, and extends some two degrees further to the south. The borders
+are somewhat difficult to ascertain, and it is probable that the ancient
+Midianites, like some of the larger and more powerful Bedawin tribes of
+the present day, wandered far and wide, and that their limits shrunk or
+extended according to their numbers, or the resisting power of their
+neighbours. The ancient history of the land is told by Captain Burton in
+a most exhaustive manner, the Biblical accounts being supplemented by
+copious references to Greek, Latin, Jewish, and Arabic writers of all
+ages. The quantity of gold, silver, and other metals mentioned in
+Numbers xxxi. 22, as being produced by Midian, was curiously borne out
+by the results of the expedition. A lengthy and learned notice is also
+given of the Nabath�ans, whose former rock-cut capital, Petr�a, is still
+one of the marvels of Arabia; whose king, or ethnarch, Aretas (in
+Arabic, El Hareth), is mentioned in the New Testament; and whose rule
+embraced so large a portion of Syria and Arabia, and extended late into
+Christian times.
+
+The discovery that gold existed in Midian was in the first place due to
+Haji Wali, familiar to the readers of Captain Burton's "Pilgrimage to
+Mecca and Medina" as the companion of the author in the caravanserai at
+Cairo while preparing for the journey to Hejjaz. The old Haji was once
+returning from a visit to Mecca, when halting by the shore of the Gulf
+of Akabah he scooped up a handful of granitic sand which sparkled in the
+bed of the wady and took it with him to Alexandria. There he took his
+specimen to an assayer, and, although the glitter which had attracted
+him proved only to be produced by the presence of mica, his sand when
+smelted in a crucible yielded a comparatively large portion of pure
+gold. The information of the discovery was not received with
+encouragement by the official to whom Haji Wali communicated it, and the
+latter ceased to think more of the subject. The assayer, however, set
+out for the new Eldorado and lost his life, probably murdered by the
+Bedawin. Captain Barton believes that the secret of the gold has never
+been really lost, and that the washing of sand has always been
+clandestinely carried on. Be that as it may, Captain Burton, believing
+the Haji's story, endeavoured to recommend his discovery to the notice
+of the Egyptian authorities, who _pooh-pooh'd_ the whole thing, and
+merely remarked that gold was becoming too common. For nearly a quarter
+of a century Captain Burton kept the secret to himself, but at length he
+again sought out his old friend Haji Wali, obtained from him more exact
+information as to the locality, and carried him off with the expedition,
+the means for organizing which Ismail Pasha furnished. The results of
+the expedition, which was only a pioneer one, were sufficient to
+corroborate all that the Haji had said, and to confirm Captain Burton's
+own prognostications drawn from the ancient sources which his extensive
+learning enabled him to consult. The adventures of the party fill the
+remainder of the first of his two books and form extremely pleasant
+reading.
+
+The second of the two books contains somewhat less antiquarian research,
+but more practical information than the first. It is a record of the
+second expedition (also equipped at the expense of the Egyptian
+Government by order of the ex-Khedive), and is full of pleasant
+travel-talk and adventure. Setting out from Cairo in a sickly season and
+under the most unfavourable circumstances--the resources of the country
+being drained by distress at home and the Turkish-Russian war
+abroad--they at length got under way once more for the desert, not
+without encountering hair-breadth escapes from the bursting of some of
+the tubes of the engine of their steamer. Once landed, the initial
+difficulties of desert travel had to be encountered. "It had been
+reported," says Captain Burton, "that I was the happy possessor of
+�22,000, mostly to be spent in El-Muwaylah. The unsettled Arabs plunder
+and slay; the settled Arabs slander and cheat." These, however, were
+soon smoothed over by the commander's tact and firmness, the rival
+claims of two tribes to act as escort were disposed of, and the work of
+the expedition then began.
+
+The first march, through Madyan proper (North Midian), occupied
+fifty-four days. The country was essentially a mining district, and very
+rich in mineral wealth, though, strange to say, it had not been much
+worked by the ancients. The first expedition found free gold in the
+basalt, but the researches of the second yielded none. The second march,
+through South Midian, lasted eighteen days. Its principal object was to
+ascertain the depth from east to west of the quartz formations, and to
+explore the virgin region towards the east. Here, however, they were
+stopped by the exactions and turbulent conduct of the Maazeh, who tried
+to pick quarrels with their Huweitat guides, and made it impossible for
+Captain Burton to proceed without such loss of time and other
+inconveniences as must have sacrificed the other and more important
+objects of the expedition. The last journey was through the southern
+portion of Midian, and lasted twenty-four days. This part of the country
+has been systematically worked in former times, and it is here that the
+gold and silver mines are placed by the medi�val Arab geographers.
+
+Throughout Midian, ruined towns, villages, mining stations, and smelting
+furnaces were found, testifying to the former mining industry of the
+country, and described by Captain Burton in his usual graphic and
+careful style.
+
+That Midian abounds in mineral wealth, and that gold and silver may be
+found in plenty there, is clear both from the documentary evidence of
+the author and from the testimony of the physical and geological
+features of the country. The very first reconnaissance showed a
+formation exactly reproducing "the conditions which Australia shows, and
+which produced the huge 'welcome nugget' of Ballarat." The country also
+closely resembles the known gold-working sites of Ancient Egypt, but
+with _filons_ of larger size. Some of these "Ophirs of Egypt Proper"
+yielded the treasury of Ramses the Great the enormous sum of �90,000,000
+a year, as hieroglyphic inscriptions tell us. Herodotus, too, tells us
+of the immense wealth in the precious metals possessed by some of the
+Pharaohs. The modern Bedawins have legends of "gold pieces, square as
+well as round, bearing, by way of inscription, 'prayers' to the Apostle
+of Allah," which Captain Burton suspects to be "the Tibr, or 'pure
+gold-dust,' washed from the sands and cast probably in rude moulds." The
+close proximity to the sea and the facilities of the country for
+transport, it being "prepared by Nature to receive a tramway," remove
+half the difficulties of working.
+
+That the specimens brought back by Captain Burton's expedition did not
+actually yield a larger proportion of the precious metals is in all
+probability due to the fact that they had no expert with them, and did
+not, therefore, sufficiently seek for and select stone from the
+auriferous rocks, but brought away much that the ancients had rejected,
+or left as unworkable. He is, however, convinced, as the impartial
+reader of his work must also be, that the gold land of Midian is still a
+fine field for commercial enterprise, which would soon restore to it the
+advantages which all ancient authorities declare that it once possessed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The Land of Midian" attracted another explorer besides Captain
+Burton--namely, the late Dr. Beke, an account of whose labours has been
+given to the world by his widow in a bulky volume on the subject. His
+object was to discover the "true Mount Sinai," which he identified with
+a certain Jebel Barguir, otherwise the "Mountain of Light," on the
+Eastern shore of the Gulf of Akaba, and in which he fancied he saw the
+"volcano," the existence of which he had previously conjectured in his
+pamphlet, "Mount Sinai a Volcano." To make this theory accord with the
+Scriptural account, he had not only to shift the scene of the Law-giving
+from the Sinaitic Peninsula to the other side of the Gulf, but he was
+obliged to find another Mizraim than Egypt, and boldly sacrificed
+hieroglyphic, Biblical, and classic testimony, as well as that of
+tradition, to his own hypothesis. In confirmation of his theory, he
+found indications that the Mountain of Light was regarded as a holy
+place, and discovered ancient inscriptions near the summit, of which he
+brought copies home in triumph. Unfortunately, however, the name
+_Barguir_ turns out to be his own corruption of _Bakir_, a well-known
+Mohammedan name, and, in the present instance, that of the petty Arab
+saint whose tomb gives the only sanctity the mountain may possess, while
+the proper name of the mountain is Jebel el Yitm; the inscriptions are
+only the ordinary Nabath�an _graffiti_ and Arab-tribe marks, which are
+so common all over Arabia Petr�a; and lastly, there is no volcano at
+all. The volume is interesting, as it contains much topographical
+information about a country the ancient history and future prospects of
+which render it of the highest importance; but as a contribution to the
+literature of the much-vexed question of the Exodus the late Dr. Beke's
+work is absolutely useless. Whether the so-called Peninsula of Sinai is
+really the scene of the early portion of that drama, the recent Egyptian
+researches of Dr. Brugsch Bey have rendered very doubtful; but wherever
+Mount Sinai has ultimately to be placed, it is not that discovered by
+Dr. Beke.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Mrs. Burton supplemented the "Unexplored Syria" of her husband and
+the late C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake with her own more personal but none the
+less interesting "Inner Life of Syria," so she has now embodied her own
+impression of the various localities which she and Captain Burton have
+visited during the last few years in a pleasant book entitled, _A. E.
+I.: Arabia, Egypt, and India_ (London: W. Mullan & Son, 1879). Mrs.
+Burton's pages are eminently readable, her powers of observation are
+keen, and her descriptions always fresh and vivid. If the spots she
+writes about have been often before depicted by pen and pencil, she yet
+finds something new to say, and some interesting and little-known
+historical incident to narrate, concerning them. The latter part of the
+book, containing a history and description of the old Portuguese
+settlement of Goa, and a minutely-detailed account of the life and works
+of St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, will be new to most
+readers and read with interest by all. The book is one which may be
+taken up at any moment with the certainty of finding something to amuse,
+instruct, or furnish food for earnest thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Egypt to Palestine_, by S. C. Bartlett, though bearing the name and
+address of a London publisher (Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.) on the
+title-page, is evidently the production of an American firm, the name of
+which, indeed, appears on some of the maps. The book is well got up, and
+as a description of the localities, their antiquities and history, is
+equal to the average of such publications. It is, however, entirely
+composed of materials collected from the works of other authors, taken
+often without acknowledgment, and is profusely illustrated by pictures
+and maps copied from other works, the sources of which are never
+acknowledged at all. The only passages at all original in the work are
+those which describe Mr. Bartlett's own journey, the highest interest of
+which consists in an occasional enumeration of the hymns he and his
+companions sang to the Arabs (cf. p. 193), and which would have much the
+same effect on the Tiyahah as the performances of the howling dervishes
+have upon an American tourist.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir Lewis Pelly has published, in two handsome volumes, a literal
+translation of the text of the _Miracle Play of Hasan and Husein_
+(London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1879), as performed throughout India and
+Persia during the month of Mohurram, by the Shiah Mohammedans. The
+progress of Islam in its early days was so rapid that, in a short time,
+it had overwhelmed Persia, Egypt, Syria, and a large portion of the rest
+of the Byzantine Empire in its tide of conquest. The death of Mohammed
+naturally brought forward rival claimants to the supreme authority, and
+the dispute ultimately resolved itself into one between Ali, the cousin
+and son-in-law of the Prophet, and representative of the Hashimi clan,
+and Moawiyeh, the representative of the Ommayeh family, between whom and
+the Hashimis an old feud existed, originating in their rival claims to
+be the hereditary guardians of the Kaabeh Temple at Mecca. These two
+parties offered an obvious rallying point for the two opposing factions
+in El Islam, the conquered Persians and the conquering Arabs, the former
+of whom resisted the traditional ceremonial law with which their Semitic
+co-religionists would have trammelled them. The consequence was that the
+Aryan faction rallied round Ali, and the Arabs round Moawiyeh. The
+latter proved the stronger party, and were known as Sunnis, followers of
+the Sunnah or traditional law, while the adherents of the former were
+designated Shiahs or Sectarians, and thus originated the first great
+schism in Mohammedanism. The struggles of Ali's party for supremacy, his
+own murder, and the subsequent massacre of his sons, Hasan and Husein,
+who lost their lives under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, are the
+incidents on which the drama is founded, and the memory of which has
+kept alive the rancorous ill-feeling between the two sects. In the play
+itself the historical element is largely mixed with the marvellous and
+legendary, and the dramatic unities are wholly neglected; but it
+nevertheless exhibits enough of the real facts to give it an intense
+living interest, while the antiquated language and strange incidents
+that are introduced carry us back to the remotest times. An admirable
+introduction contains a notice by Dr. Birdwood, C.S.I., of the origin
+of the Shiah schism, and of the ceremonies with which the Mohurram
+festival is celebrated throughout India and Persia; and Mr. A. N.
+Wollaston, of the India Office, has both edited the text and illustrated
+it with some concise and appropriate notes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Charles Riew has just issued the first volume of his _Catalogue of
+the Persian MSS. in the British Museum_ (London: 1879), containing
+Christian and Mohammedan Theology, and the works on History and
+Geography of which the Museum has a large and important collection.
+Amongst these are the _J�mi ut taw�rikh_, written in the seventh--eighth
+centuries of the Hejra, and comprising the histories of all the
+principal Turkish and Mongol dynasties; the _T�r�kh i Rash�d�_, a
+history of the Khans of Mogolistan and of the Amirs of Kashgar; and the
+_Zafar Namah_, the earliest authentic history of Timur, written by his
+order in 1404 A.D. A brief but complete analysis of each manuscript is
+given, enabling scholars to refer at once and without difficulty to any
+portion of the histories without the labour of looking through an often
+voluminous manuscript. The value of such a scholar-like production as
+this Catalogue is cannot be over-estimated; it has, in fact, placed
+within reach of the student of history most important and authentic
+works, the very existence of which was unknown except to a few
+Orientalists. The second volume is already complete in MS., and will be
+shortly published. We shall look forward to it with great interest, as
+the British Museum possesses a magnificent collection of Persian
+poetical and other works.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A _Pahlavi Dictionary_, by Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, of
+which the first two volumes have just appeared (London: Tr�bner and Co.,
+1879), supplies a want long felt by students of the old Persian speech.
+Pahlavi is the name applied to the old Persian tongue, and more
+particularly to that phase of it which was spoken during the reigns of
+the Sassanian kings. It is of great interest to the philologist,
+inasmuch as it contains a large admixture of Semitic words, derived,
+however, from a different source than the Arabic element in modern
+Persian, and appears to be akin to the Assyrian. It is sometimes called
+_Huzvaresh_, though this word seems to be more properly applied to a
+particular method of reading, by which, when a Semitic word occurs in
+the text, the priest _reads_ the Aryan equivalent, just as we in English
+say "pounds, shillings, and pence" when we meet with the signs � s. d.,
+and _read_ "namely," though we write and print "videlicet" or "viz."
+Dastur Jamaspji Asana interprets the word _Huzvaresh_ to mean the
+"language of Assyria," a suggestion which, if correct, throws some light
+on the origin of the language. The etymology of the word Pahlavi has
+been the subject of much discussion, but the latest as well as the most
+reasonable conjecture is that of Dr. Haug (followed by the author of
+this Dictionary), that it is identical with _Parthva_, the Parthia of
+the classical writers; that most warlike and important nation having
+given its name to the language, just as the province of Pars has given
+the name to the language of modern Iran. The great difficulty in
+compiling such a dictionary as the present, apart from the
+unsatisfactory nature of the available texts, is that the alphabet is so
+very vague and confused. The language contains a very great number of
+sounds which the alphabet, borrowed from the Semitic, is incapable of
+expressing; the same letter, therefore, is often used for different
+sounds, and combinations of the various letters again often express
+simple sounds. This makes the arrangement very difficult, but the author
+of this work has adopted the only safe method, that of arranging the
+words according to the alphabetical order of the letters rather than in
+order of sounds. A table, in which the various combinations of the
+letters are explained, also much simplifies reference. The author has in
+all cases followed the traditional reading and interpretation of words,
+leaving to the more critical scholars of Europe the task of
+investigating them from a scientific point of view.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Haug's _Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the
+Parsis_ (Tr�bner's Oriental Series, 1878) is another most important
+contribution to comparative theology and philology. The nature of the
+doctrines of Zoroaster and the rites and ceremonies of the Magians had
+for centuries exercised the uninitiated. The earliest mention of them
+occurs in the Prophet Jeremiah (xxxix. 3), who speaks of the _rab mag_
+(chief of the Magi) as forming part of the retinue of Nebuchadnezzar at
+his entry into Jerusalem; Ezekiel calls the Persian king Cyrus (who
+professed the religion of the Magi) the "anointed of the Lord;" the New
+Testament speaks of Magi from the East--translated "wise men" in our
+version--as the first to pay homage to our Lord; and the old Persian
+language has supplied, through the New Testament also, the name
+Paradise, which is universally employed to represent heaven throughout
+the civilized world. Herodotus also mentions them, and testifies to the
+purity of their worship and their morals, and other Greek as well as
+Latin writers have treated at more or less length on the subject of the
+Magi. But these scattered and incomplete notices were all that scholars
+had until Hyde, the celebrated Oxford scholar, in 1700, collected all
+the ancient sources of information into a volume _Historia religionis
+veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum_. The original texts of the Zend
+Avesta, &c., however, of which some manuscripts had been brought to
+Europe, were still sealed books, and the Parsi priests in India and
+Persia strictly refrained from affording any information upon their
+contents. At length, in 1754, Anquetil Duperron, an enterprising
+Frenchman, undertook a journey to India with the express intention of
+procuring manuscripts and learning the Zend language, in both of which
+purposes he succeeded, and published ten years later the first known
+translation of the Zend Avesta. His work was by many scholars, Sir
+William Jones and Richardson, the Persian lexicographer, amongst the
+number, regarded as worthless, Richardson maintaining that the texts
+themselves were forgeries, while Sir William Jones endeavoured to prove
+that Anquetil had been the victim of priestly fraud and deception.
+Nearly a century later Eugene Burnouf, an eminent French Sanscrit
+scholar, proved his countryman's work to be genuine, corrected many of
+his faults, and placed the study on a sounder scientific basis. Others,
+especially German and Scandinavian _savants_, followed in the same path,
+forming, however, different schools of interpretation, until at last Dr.
+Martin Haug brought order into the confusion, and succeeded in bringing
+the study of Zend within the limits of exact philological science. The
+foundation of all these studies must of course necessarily be the
+traditional interpretation handed down by the Parsi priests, but this
+would have been comparatively useless without the investigation of
+European scholars. Many of the Avesta texts are furnished with Pahlavi
+translations and comments, but the Pahlavi itself was but imperfectly
+understood, and the whole subject was for a long time in hopeless
+confusion; the reader may, however, take up Dr. Haug's Essays with the
+full assurance that he has the most trustworthy account of the Parsis,
+their Scriptures, history, and religious rites, that can be now
+ascertained. Anything like a _r�sum�_ of such a work would be out of
+place here, but we can cordially recommend it as, with all its recondite
+erudition, a most readable book.
+
+Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly, has published a romance in modern
+Arabic, entitled, _The Autobiography of the Constantinople
+Story-teller_, edited by Mr. J. Catafago, a well-known Arabic scholar,
+and said to be the work of an Englishman, Colonel Rous. It is
+principally as a curiosity of literature that it will be read, as it
+does not narrate any very novel or original adventures, and the style is
+very simple and unpretending. It, however, contains some clear and
+concise descriptions of many localities in the East which are but little
+known to the ordinary reader, and will be welcome to the student of
+Arabic as an easy text-book of the language.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Professor James Sanua, late of Cairo, is an enthusiastic politician and
+an original satirist. We have just received thirty numbers of an Arabic
+comic paper, written, illustrated, and published by him in Paris, and
+directed against the ex-Khedive of Egypt, whose misgovernment he
+mercilessly exposes, and whose deposition it was his avowed object to
+bring about. The editor, a native of Egypt, and a Copt by religion, was
+for many years engaged in tuition in some of the highest families of
+Cairo. Possessing a keen sense of humour and a great mastery over the
+Arabic language, he used to pass his evenings in improvising a sort of
+dramatic entertainment, in which he himself sustained all the
+characters, and in which he satirized the social foibles of his
+fellow-countrymen. The originality of his _s�ances_ soon attracted large
+audiences, and amongst the visitors and admirers were the Khedive and
+the princes of his family. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and
+Professor Sanua passed from mere social topics, and administered sound
+and severe castigations to his august visitor for his misgovernment and
+oppression of the fellaheen. This boldness drew down upon him the
+displeasure of Ismail Pasha, and Abu Nadd�ra Zerka (the Father of Blue
+Spectacles), as he was nicknamed, found it convenient to withdraw to
+Paris, where he published his paper. It is written for the most part in
+the vulgar Egyptian dialect, and contains articles upon, and
+illustrations of, the principal events of the latter part of the reign
+of the deposed prince. The pictures, which are rude, but full of force,
+are explained in a French introduction, which is prefixed to the
+collected thirty numbers, and form a very interesting and curious record
+of modern Egyptian history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A new paper, literary and political, has just been advertised at
+Constantinople. It is to be written in the Arabic language, and edited
+by M. G. Dellal, a native of Aleppo, and an accomplished Arabic scholar
+and poet. Modern Arabic literature is exceedingly plentiful at the
+present time, and Beyrout has long been a centre of activity. Sheikh
+Nasyf el Yazji, who died some few years ago, gave a great impulse to the
+study of Arabic by his "Majma' el Bahrain," a book in imitation of the
+"Macamat" of Har�r�, and containing in a small compass more information
+on the Arabs of the classical period, their customs, histories,
+proverbs, &c., than perhaps any other work. Dr. Butrus Bustani, of the
+same town, earned for himself a lasting name by his Arabic lexicon,
+"Muh�t el Muh�t," which has not only a native but a European reputation;
+and the same eminent scholar has established a press, from which have
+emanated many standard Arabic works, and numerous translations of
+valuable European works on science and history. A magazine entitled _El
+Jin�n_, "The Garden of Paradise," is also published there fortnightly,
+and contains, besides political articles and general news, a great deal
+of interesting miscellaneous information. The last important publication
+of the "Matba' al Maarif," or "Scientific Press," as it is called, is an
+Encyclop�dia in the Arabic language, on the plan of the European
+Conversation-lexicons.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[105] The Sixth was never heard of after the massacre of its officers; a
+dozen men were enough for that work, and there are those still living
+who believe that the per-centage of traitors in its ranks was small. At
+Benares, too, the mess-guard held the mess-premises against all comers
+till the station was quiet, and then through sheer terror marched off
+without plunder.
+
+
+
+
+II.--CLASSICAL LITERATURE.
+
+(_Under the Direction of the_ Rev. Prebendary J. DAVIES, M.A.)
+
+
+One of the most useful volumes for classical students which has seen the
+light this year is the solid collection of _Specimens of Roman
+Literature, illustrative of Roman Thought and Style_, edited by Messrs.
+Cruttwell and Banton, of Bradfield College, and published by C. Griffin
+and Co. Mr. Cruttwell is creditably known for his compendious History of
+Roman Literature, and it is a happy afterthought of himself and his
+composition-master to supplement that manual by the present collection
+of extracts from Latin prose and poetry, designed as models for
+composition, samples to be learnt by rote, and exercises in unseen
+translation. The work contains above 900 passages, illustrative (1) of
+Roman thought in the fields of religion, philosophy, art, and letters;
+and (2) of Roman style, from the earliest date to the times of the
+Antonines. Edited of necessity, by reason of their bulk, sans note or
+comment, these selections are availably grouped in a preliminary
+synopsis, happily headed with descriptive and apposite English titles,
+and further adapted to English reference by an index of authors classed
+in their periods, and another of subjects and titles of passages. It is
+hard to conceive a completer or handier repertory of specimens of Latin
+thought and style, and it is but fair to add that no small proportion of
+the contents is comparatively novel and unhackneyed, a boon at the same
+time to the exhausted composition tutor and to the acquisition-seeking,
+wideawake pupil. For example, among descriptions selected in
+illustration of style, we come upon passages from Ennius, Pacuvius, and
+Accius, preserved in Cicero's De Divinatione and De Natur� Deorum,
+followed by epigrams of those elder poets, Valerius OEdituus, Porcius
+Licinus, and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, embalmed in the antiquarian pages
+of Aulus Gellius. The literature of Roman agriculture is represented (��
+31-4) by specimens of Varro de Re Rustic�, directing how to choose the
+best oxen for draught, or slaves for farm work; how to make a duck-pond,
+or prepare a snail-bed; as well as of Columella and, of course, Virgil.
+Pliny's natural history is taxed largely for characteristic
+contributions: the letters of his nephew, as well as of Seneca and
+Cicero, for epistolary style, as well as for philosophy, religious
+views, and the like. Lucretius and Catullus are excellently represented:
+as in the field of Roman drama are Plautus and Terence, with fragments
+of elder playwrights. Nor is scant justice done to the purely Roman
+field of satire, as is seen in apt extracts from Horace, Juvenal, and
+Persius, whilst a happy selection is made of producible specimens of
+Petronius. Even Roman parody is not overlooked, nor yet an insight into
+Roman gastronomy. In fact, we know not where to turn for defaults in the
+presence of such assiduous and various compilations. Here and there may
+be detected careless printers' errors, such as _Tar_ for _Ter_. (the
+abbreviation of Terence); and it would have been neater to head the
+hortatory or suasory orations, illustrated in pp. 567-8, �� 73-5, with
+an English title, rather than to describe each in mingled and maimed
+speech as "a suasoria" (_i.e._, "suasoria oratio.") But the work is so
+calculated to be useful to scholars and editors that we must trust its
+value will be enhanced in future editions by the most careful revision.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A volume of somewhat kindred use and purpose, though of additional value
+as suggestive of a standard of translation indisputably sound and high,
+is the collection of _Translations_, by Professor Jebb, Mr. Jackson, and
+Mr. Currey, of Trinity, Cambridge, published by Deighton, Bell, & Co.,
+Cambridge, and George Bell & Sons, London, just a year ago. Its
+usefulness is enhanced by a fourfold applicability to the wants of
+translators into Greek and Latin, and out of those languages into
+English, whether in prose or poetry. The samples are, of course, limited
+considerably by the area of the field they cover, but they will be
+admitted to be amply sufficient for models and patterns, and no tiro, or
+even advanced student, can fail to be benefited by the variety,
+excellent choice, scholarly handling, brief but seasonable annotation,
+and general accommodation to student-use, of the selections which form
+the four divisions of this practical manual. The rule of "Ne quid nimis"
+has been sufficiently respected to forbid tedious reiteration of types
+of the same style, so that in Greek verse into English only three
+examples of Theocritus occur, one a sweet piece of idyllic description,
+a second illustrative of the mimes of Sophron, a third breathing the
+Alexandrian tone of poetic stimulus to the halting liberality of the
+would-be literary Ptolemies. The proportion of extracts from Homer and
+the dramatists is scarcely larger, and rather guides the reader to form
+a criterion of style for himself than helps him to be armed beforehand
+for passages which may be set in this or that examination. In
+translation the canon of accuracy and fidelity is tendered in preference
+to that of liveliness and effect, though it cannot be said that Messrs.
+Jebb and Jackson's translations from Plautus and Terence, or those of
+Jebb and Currey from Martial, Juvenal, and Ausonius, are deficient in
+the life and spirit suggested by the originals. As much may be said
+without controversy for the prose models in either language; nor is it
+to be lightly regarded that the aim of the editors has been to help
+classical students to train themselves in preparation for examination.
+Not to be prolix in notice of a volume which may be referred to again
+and again in our examination of texts and school-books to follow in our
+chronicle, it may be admissible to quote in Latin and English some six
+lines of Professor Jebb's translation from the Phormio (pp. 140-1) as a
+type of the neatness and spirit of the average of these translations.
+Phormio is explaining how, with all his ebullitions, he has never been
+indicted for assault:--
+
+    "Quia non rete accipitri tenditur neque miluo,
+    Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tenditur;
+    Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur.
+    Aliis aliunde est periclum unde aliquid abradi potest:
+    Mihi sciunt nihil esse. Dices, ducent damnatum domum:
+    Alere nolunt hominem edacem: et sapiunt, me� quidem sententia,
+    Pro maleficio si beneficium summum nolunt reddere."
+        _Phorm._, act. ii. 2.
+
+"Because we do not spread nets for hawks and kites that do us harm; the
+net is spread for the harmless birds. The fact is, pigeons may be
+plucked: hawks and kites mock our pains. Various dangers beset people
+who can be pilfered--I am known to have nothing. You will say, 'They
+will get a writ of _habeas corpus_.' They would rather not keep a large
+eater: and I certainly think they are right to decline requiting a bad
+turn with a signal favour."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From a summary notice of these two volumes of wider range and scope, it
+is an easy leap to such noteworthy classical translations and texts of
+the year or season as lie on our table for review. Of the former we note
+with satisfaction a new and very readable version of _The Letters of the
+Younger Pliny_, literally translated by John Delaware Lewis, M.A.
+(London: Trubner & Co., 1879), whose version of Juvenal's Satires some
+years back was accurate, lively, and well-achieved. In approaching
+another author of the silver age, well deserving of a more modern
+English transcript than those of Melmoth and Lord Orrery, Mr. Lewis has
+been minded to present this pleasantest of gossips, and most cultured of
+letter-writers, in a guise as little as possible encumbered with notes
+or excursions, and in such wise that the volume is admirably adapted for
+the library table, whether the object be comparison with the Latin text,
+or refreshment of the memory, anent this or that sentiment of the
+many-sided and voluminous man of law and letters. Under the conviction
+that enough has been done to present Pliny himself to his readers in the
+volumes by Church and Brodribb (in the Ancient Classics), and by
+Pritchard and Bernard, as well as the notices of life and letters by W.
+S. Teuffel and English bibliographers, Mr. Lewis has confined himself to
+the briefest of introductions, and been content to bestow most pains on
+apt and parallel English counterparts to the expressions and idioms of
+the Latin. Thus the task undertaken has been made to assume an easy,
+unaffected form, at the same time that it is calculated to stand close
+examination by the criterion of the Latin text. A good specimen both of
+the gossiping author and his latest translator might be cited from Book
+II. 6 to Avitus, in which is described the triple-graded dinner given by
+a shabby, purse-proud host (=a=) to himself and his intimates, (=b=) to
+his lesser friends, (=g=) to his freedmen at the same board, but of fare
+graduated according to degree. Pliny tells his correspondent that he
+demurred to this procedure to his next neighbour at table, and
+propounded his own practice on this wise: "I invite people to dine, not
+to be invidiously ticketed, and I treat as my entire equals in all
+respects those whom I have already made my equals by inviting them at my
+table." And this equality, for the time being, he extended to his
+freedmen, on the sensible point of view that they were then his guests,
+not his freedmen. In the same book (letter 15) occurs a letter of Pliny
+to Valerianus, brief enough for quotation, and yet expressing with
+lively brevity more than one home truth for those who realize Horace's
+sketch, "O si angulus iste proximus accedat." "How," he asks, "does your
+old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Are you pleased
+with the estate now that it is your own? Indeed, nothing is so agreeable
+when you have once got it, as it was when you longed to have it. As for
+me, the farms which I inherited from my mother treat me but so-so: yet
+they delight me as coming from my mother; and besides, long endurance
+has hardened me: constant growling comes to this at last, that one is
+ashamed to growl." Next but one to this letter comes one of those
+charming descriptions which are, _par excellence_, Pliny's _chefs
+d'oeuvre_, minutely detailing the features and attractions of his
+villas. These constitute to the young student so many _loci classici_,
+by no means to be overlooked in preparation for facing the test-paper of
+a scholarship examination, and it is sound counsel to candidates for
+such to avail themselves of a translation like Mr. Lewis's for general
+purposes, taking such letters as the one alluded to (II. xvii.) for
+special study and comparison with its original. Here, as elsewhere, Mr.
+Lewis adds pertinent and sensible notelets in cases of difficulty; but
+it is only fair to say _� propos_ of the, as he would seem to imply in
+his preface, long-since shelved translation of Melmoth, that in Bohn's
+Classical Library (George Bell & Sons) will be found a revision and
+correction of _The Letters of Caius Plinius Coecilius Secundus_, as
+translated by Melmoth, annotated and otherwise accommodated to modern
+reading by the Rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet, B.A., of Gonville and Caius
+College, Cambridge, which will be found in all respects excellently
+suited for the need of the current reader. Whilst here and there the
+style of Melmoth strikes us as forgetting itself for a brief space,
+where the modern editor has felt bound to interpose a more literal
+rendering, and in such cases it is simpler to refer to the uniform
+translation of Lewis, it is certainly a real boon to have the notes of
+Bosanquet's Melmoth's Pliny to consult, whether they represent the
+explanatory and illustrative labour of Melmoth, and his literary or
+antiquarian contemporaries, or the careful supplementary illustrations
+of his accommodator to modern eyes. So much explanation is due to one of
+the best recent volumes of Bohn's Classical Series (1878).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The feeling is more mixed with which we touch upon Mr. T. Hart Davies's
+_Translation of Catullus into English Verse_ (London: C. Kegan Paul &
+Co., 1879), the author of which is a quondam Oxonian in the Indian Civil
+Service. Fully persuaded that Catullus is very untranslatable, and that
+the subtle charm of his dainty versification evaporates, it is evidence
+alike of Mr. Hart Davies's courage and culture that, afar from classical
+libraries, he has recreated his mind and tastes with the reproduction of
+one of the most genuine classical poets; given us anew the touching
+songs to Lesbia, and the unequalled nuptial songs (lxi. and lxii.); and
+rendered with more or less success the pictorial epic, in petto, of the
+marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and the pathetic allusions to an
+early-lost brother in the poem to Hortalus. He deserves, too, the praise
+of having read carefully the recent literature of the subject, and
+guaged with creditable acuteness and discrimination the lucubrations of
+Professor R. Ellis, the criticisms of Mr. Munro, and the critical essays
+of Schwabe, Heyse, and Couat. He hesitates, however, it would seem, to
+accept Munro's well-sustained rehabilitation of C�sar and Mamurra (_�
+propos_ of Poem xxix. on C�sar), and in two or three passages seems to
+us to err in point of prolixity, which is as foreign as can be conceived
+to the style of his original, as well as, in one or two places, in
+misconception of his sense. In either aspect, he cannot be regarded as
+competing (which indeed he does not aspire to do) with Theodore Martin:
+but we cannot honestly say that we regard his version of the Atys as an
+improvement in readableness on that of one of the ablest of critics, but
+most puzzling and hopeless of verse-translators, Professor Robinson
+Ellis. Indeed, it is a question whether he has imported any improvement
+into the rendering of his Galliambics by adopting the Tennysonian rather
+than the Catullian rhythm and measure. Mr. Hart Davies is mostly happy
+in his shorter versions. The invitation to C�cilius is bright and brisk
+(p. 33): there is a touching sadness in the lines to Cornificius (p.
+35). The stanzas to the poet's self on the "Coming of Spring" (p. 43)
+breathe much of the tiptoe of expectation and love of adventure infused
+into the original lines. And as a neat sample of the translator's muse
+may be quoted the transcript of the "Lines to Sirmio," adequately
+executed, and endorsed with some of the original pathos and
+picturesqueness--
+
+    "Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be,
+      Or all peninsulas that ocean laves,
+    Whether around them roll the mighty sea,
+          Or a lake's placid waves.
+    Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view,
+      Returned from Thynia and Bithynia's plain!
+    I scarce can credit that the bliss is true
+          Thee to behold again.
+    Oh! what more blessed is than labours past!
+      In weary wanderings abroad we roam,
+    Then spent with toil we come again at last,
+          Seeking our rest at home.
+    This for our toils the sole reward is found,
+      Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere!
+    And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound,
+          Now is thy master here."
+
+Mr. Hart Davies's temporary exile has obviously the solace of
+scholarship.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If a wide divergence from the beaten track into fresh fields and
+pastures new be a merit, as it must be to jaded schoolmasters, if not to
+school-boys, some praise should be accorded to Mr. Heitland, a Fellow
+and Lecturer of St. John's, Cambridge, and his coadjutor, Mr. Raven, for
+having furnished the Pitt Press Series with so good an edition of that
+part of the _History of Quintus Curtius_, which relates to the Indian
+expedition of Alexander the Great. The subject, author, and hero are to
+modern readers novel and unhackneyed: and there is that suspicion of
+imperfect knowledge attaching to all three which sets the mind on the
+qui vive to acquire what is knowable about them. For such an undertaking
+no better guides could be needed. An introduction primes the student
+with the needful information (=a=) as to Curtius and his book; (=b=) as
+to Alexander's career; while Appendix D (187-9) supplements from Mr.
+Talboy Wheeler's "History of India from the Earliest Ages" the general
+and current information as to the plan of his Indian campaign. Anent the
+date and authorship of Curtius's history, it is shown to be the work of
+Q. Curtius Rufus, a rhetorician of the reign of Claudius, and referable
+to the silver age of Latin literature. His transparent imitation of Livy
+has suggested the not improbable supposition that he may have been even
+that historian's pupil, nor is it an impertinent criticism of the
+editors' that in common with that master Curtius seems to ignore the
+"high aims and farsightedness which give its grandeur to Alexander's
+character." The string of notable usages in Curtius's style, given in
+pp. 14-15, exhibits more than one palpable Livianism; and the use of
+poetical language bespeaks his attentive study of Virgil. Tiros will be
+comforted by hearing that "if Curtius is less pleasant to read than
+Livy, he is also less difficult." The criticisms of the editors on the
+grounds of his historical value at the revival period are interesting
+and perspicuous, and the special interest of the particular portion of
+history adopted as a specimen of the author needs no apology in a
+country where the reigning sovereign has the collateral title of Empress
+of India. Six chapters of the eighth Book bring the reader through the
+country west of the Indus to the bank of that river, its passage, and
+the ensuing battle on the eastern bank, with the defeat of the army of
+Porus; whilst the ninth Book embraces Alexander's advance through the
+Punjab, his operations in descending the Jhelam and Chenab, his descent
+of the Indus, and exploration of its mouth, with an account also of the
+homeward march; and the least that can be said of Messrs. Heitland and
+Raven's editorial work, whether critical or explanatory, is, that no
+difficulty of text is overlooked or imperfectly handled, no discrepancy,
+as comparing Curtius with parallel authorities, ignored. A test-passage,
+wherein to prove this statement, may be taken in the fourteenth chapter
+of the eighth Book, the battle between Alexander and Porus, which is
+described with unflagging care and zeal from first to last, the
+situations and details being compared, and, where possible, reconciled
+with Arrian, the poetical phrases characteristic of Curtius pointed out
+and illustrated, and the unusual words, _e.g., copidas_ ("choppers" like
+a Goorka knife, the =kopis= from the same root as =kopt�=), clearly
+though succinctly explained. On Alexander's order to Coenus in �� 15 of
+the battle chapter, "ipse dextrum move et turbatis signa infer" (advance
+the right wing, &c.), an excellent note, for which Mr. Heitland
+undertakes the sole responsibility, accredits him, in our judgment, as a
+most sound historical commentator, by the exhaustiveness wherewith he
+reconciles Arrian and Curtius's view of Alexander's position and
+movements, and those of Coenus. The former with the main body took the
+Indian horse in flank, before they could change their front, and enabled
+Coenus to fall on what had been their front but was now their disordered
+flank: and as to the difficulty in the way of this explanation, that
+according to Arrian the war-chariots were in front of the Indian horse,
+it is justly deemed easier to conceive Coenus eluding these clumsy
+adversaries, than Alexander expecting him to see from the Macedonian
+left the right moment for his own charge, and then wheel round the whole
+Indian army, and execute his orders opportunely. With the same lucidity
+is the whole narrative commented on: and every geographical, historical,
+or military difficulty investigated, with a commendable eye both to
+ancient and modern references and authorities. Equally interesting, too,
+will be found the elucidations of questions of style, such as in viii.
+�� 10, where "igni _alita_ sepulchra" reveals a certainly post-Augustan
+but doubtfully Ciceronian form; or as in viii. 14 �� 41 the use of
+"malum" (plague take you) borrowed interjectionally from the comic poets
+and, as is shown in the notes ad loc., from Cicero De Off. ii. �� 53.
+Students, however, must search this volume minutely to understand aright
+the helps it affords to their just estimate of Quintus Curtius Rufus as
+a rhetorical moralist and historian, worthy of perusal in the wake of
+Livy and of Seneca. Maps, indices, and list of names, are given, which
+will be found of service.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For our next topic of criticism recourse must be had to Ciceronian
+Latin, and to the famous speech of Rome's greatest orator, which is
+generally reckoned the first of his public and political orations.
+Called in the MSS. the speech "De imperio Gn�i Pompeii" "apud Quirites"
+it is better known as the oration _pro lege Manili�_, and because there
+is no compendious school edition of this speech, apart from others of
+the same orator in the hands of English school-boys, Professor Wilkins,
+of Owens College, has judiciously undertaken to prepare an edition of
+it, with the cognizance, sanction, and assistance of Karl Halm, of
+Munich, and his smaller edition for English students. The English
+professor's name is a sufficient earnest of his work's thoroughness, and
+though it might be matter of doubt whether his historical introduction
+of over forty pages is not unnecessarily circumstantial (we note that in
+Chambers' preface to the same oration in the "Ciceronis Select�
+Orationes," 1849, of their Educational Course, it is limited to two), it
+must be admitted that a complete preliminary summary has the result of
+shortening afterwork by admitting of copious references to it in the
+notes in place of explanation. Such is certainly the case with Mr.
+Wilkins's present task (_M. Tullii Ciceronis De Imperio Gnoei Pompeii
+Oratio ad Quirites_, by A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin in the
+Owens College, Manchester. London: Macmillan & Co., 1879), where the
+introduction traces consecutively the career and campaigns and varying
+fortunes of Mithridates, during over twenty years, through his struggles
+with Lucullus, and his easy resistance to Acilius Glabrio, down to the
+period when the tribune Manilius proposed a Bill to commit the conduct
+and consummation of the war to the then favourite of fortune, Pompey
+the Great. Against this Bill were arrayed the Moderate Republicans, and
+the talents of the orator Hortensius, whilst on behalf of it spoke
+Julius C�sar, either with an eye to a future precedent in his own case,
+or perhaps to create a reaction. It is probable, however, that the
+masterly eloquence of Cicero in defence of the Bill, and his exhaustive
+demonstration of Pompey's fitness for the supreme command against
+Mithridates, were the causes of the general and irresistible acceptance
+of the Manilian proposal. As Mr. Wilkins notes at the close of his
+introduction, this speech contains the best example from antiquity of
+the regular arrangement of a speech of the deliberate class, while the
+third section of the argument presents a model of demonstrative oratory
+scarcely paralleled in the days of the Republic, except in the funeral
+orations. As has been already remarked, the fulness of Professor
+Wilkins's introduction tends to disencumber his commentary and its notes
+of digressive and indirect matter; and the result is highly favourable
+to the due mastery of the sense and gist of the oration by the patient
+student. Every passage has its critical difficulties explained; every
+uncommon construction or use of a word is noted; every antithesis is
+pointed out by the observant editor. In the first class may be instanced
+the use in c. ii. of _vectigalibus_ in the masculine gender for
+_tributaries_, which has its parallel in � 45; in the third the contrast
+in c. iii., between "In Asi� luce h.e," "in the foreground of Asia,"
+_lux_ being used of what is present to the eyes of all, and open to
+extensive commerce, as opposed to "_Ponti latebris_," as the
+hiding-place of Mithridates is termed just before. In the same chapter
+there is an antithesis, as is well shown in the description of past
+generals having carried off _insignia victori�, non victoriam_, "only
+triumphs, not a victory;" and as a sample of other notes dealing with
+fiscal duties and such like, we may notice those in c. vi., on "ubertate
+agrorum" "magnitudine pastionis," and the sources of revenue farmed by
+the "publicani." In the same passage _scriptura_ is the "rent for
+pasturage," and _custodiis_ (� 16) = "coastguard posts, to prevent
+vessel unloading unless at the emporia where there were custom-houses."
+For _publicanis omissis_, a despaired-of reading in c. vii. � 18, the
+editor adopts the conjecture _publicanorum bonis_ or _fortunis amissis_;
+and indeed seldom fails in the likeliest cure for a corrupt word or
+text. Incidentally he is rich in rules for orthography, as where on "tot
+milibus" he cites Lachmann (Lucret. i. 313) for the use of the single
+_l_ where a long _i_ is followed by a short one in the next syllable;
+nor does he fail to note any memorable change of construction, _e.g._,
+where in c. xiii. in the sentence, "_Hiemis_ enim non _avariti�_
+perfagium majores nostri in sociorum atque amicorum tectis esse
+voluerunt," we have a change from the objective to the subjective
+genitive, "a refuge _from_ the winter, not _for_ avarice." But enough
+has been said to signify the merit of this handbook; and we must deal
+more briefly with such other Latin volumes as are still on our list.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among these perhaps Mr. Reid's L�lius (_M. Tullii Ciceronis L�lius de
+Amicitia_, by James S. Reid, M.L.: Cambridge University Press, 1879) is
+the most notable, an edition based mainly on Seyffert's elaborate
+edition, yet evidently strengthened by seasonable comparison with the
+best German editions. Mr. Reid disowns acquaintance with any English
+edition of the L�lius, having only heard of that of Mr. Arthur Sidgwick,
+when his own was far advanced through the press. The object and purpose
+of the edition is twofold, viz. (1) elucidation of the subject-matter
+and comparison of the editor's own conclusions touching it with those of
+other editing scholars; and (2) a thorough elucidation of the Latinity
+of the dialogue, a task to which all who are cognizant of his edition of
+Cicero's speeches for Archias and for Balbus will admit his eminent
+fitness. A fourfold introduction summarises the salient points of
+Cicero, as a writer of philosophy; the scope of this treatise on
+"Friendship:" the structure, personages, and other circumstances of the
+dialogue, and a quasi-dramatic analysis of the same. It will be found
+that Cicero, whilst having no sympathy with the Epicurean philosophy of
+his day, sided mainly with the Peripatetics, though inclining in a few
+points of detail to the Stoics. An instructive disquisition on the
+sources of the dialogue opens out various clues to inquiring students,
+and suggests particularly minuter testing of the question how far Cicero
+directly imitated Plato's Lysis, which is perhaps more probable than
+that he used for it the Nicomachean Ethics, although, in form, beyond a
+doubt the L�lius is more Aristotelian than Platonic. The "mitis
+sapientia L�li" in the dialogue stands out in contrast with the genial
+learning of Mucius Sc�vola and the severer cultivation of Gaius Fannius.
+An interesting passage in the dialogue is that in which L�lius states a
+question relating to friendship, in which he was to some extent at issue
+with Scipio, viz., the difficulty of friendship enduring a whole
+lifetime. Scipio held the negative view, and L�lius demurred to it, and
+in c. x., xi., &c., the occurrences which tend to break off friendship
+are enumerated. In the tenth chapter are to be found two or three very
+apt elucidations of the text, such as that on the construction of
+"contentione condicionis," and the sense of condicio (not "conditio") in
+� 34, but one note (16) on "optimis quibusque" stands out as a sample of
+exhaustive criticism. The argument of L�lius is that there is no greater
+curse in friendships than, in the run of men, the desire of money; in
+the best, the desire of honour and glory: "in optimis quibusque honoris
+certamen et gloria." Let us see how Mr. Reid examines this last clause,
+which he compares with the sentiment, "optimus quisque gloria maxime
+ducitur," in the oration for Archias. The best authors, it is shown, use
+only the _neuter_ plural of _quisque_, and that with a superlative; Cic.
+Fam. vii. 33, where we have "literas longissimas quasque," being
+exceptional, because liter�, "an epistle," has no singular. Mr. Reid
+instances, indeed, from the De Officiis ii. 75, "Leges et proxim� qu�que
+duriores," but only to propose an emendation to a senseless reading,
+viz., "Leges, et proxima qu�que"--_i.e._, "laws, and harsher each of
+them than its predecessor." In the present case, he adds, "quibusque"
+may be used for =hekastois= in the sense of "each set of people," or the
+plural may be due merely to assimilation with "plerisque." In a note on
+the difficult passage, p. 41, "et minime tum quidem Gaius frater, nunc
+idem acerrimus," Mr. Reid, rightly, it should seem, adopts the
+interpretation of Madvig, Opusc., 2, 281, that _minime_ qualifies _acer_
+to be supplied from "acerrimus." This sample of interpretational tact
+must suffice from a copious inventory; and with reference to helpful
+elucidation of matter and illustration of proper names, quotations,
+adagia, and what not, it need only be said that it is in this edition
+always sound and seasonable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For the same employers, the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Mr. A. G.
+Peskett, M.A., of Magdalen College, has carefully edited the fourth and
+fifth books of C�sar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, _Gai Juli C�saris
+De Bello Gallico Commentariorum, IV. V._ (Cambridge University Press,
+1879), with a helpful commentary derived from study of German and
+English editors, and speculations on the topographical, geographical,
+and astronomical problems involved in C�sar's account. These books, it
+will be remembered, contain _inter alia_ the description of C�sar's
+Bridge over the Rhine, his preparations for invading Britain, his first
+somewhat abortive attempts, and then, after a winter in Italy and
+Illyricum, his maturer arrangements, and landing--not without damage to
+his fleet--on the shore of Britain. The second of these campaigns
+embraces the narrative of the treachery of Ambiorix and the utter defeat
+of the Romans, v. 36-7. In the fourth book, one of the most interesting
+problems is the construction of C�sar's Rhine Bridge, c. 17; whether
+C�sar's method of strengthening the four bearing piles with their
+transverse beams was (as Kraner and Heller practically agree) by four
+fibul� at each junction of the beam with the piles (eight in all), or,
+as Cohausen believes, by two fibul� at each end, one serving instead of
+cross-piece c, in fig. 1, for the beam to rest upon. Napoleon's view of
+the fibula�, given in fig. 4, p. 63, is far less tenable, and the most
+reasonable view is that of Heller. In c. 36, Book V., note, we have good
+examples of the actual words of Ambiorix to Titurius, as they may be
+gathered from the _oratio obliqua_ in which the historian casts them. In
+c. 37, it should seem that the reading _lapsi_ has less likelihood,
+though better authority, than "elapsi," and Napoleon's identification of
+the site of the battle is shown to be accurate, in a note discussing the
+topography of Tongres, the Geer, and the village of Lowaige. From a
+cursory examination of this edition of two interesting books of C�sar's
+Gallic War we should be disposed to congratulate the young student of
+intelligence, into whose hands a volume at once so helpful and so lucid
+may fall. There remains on our list only one Latin volume, the third
+part of Professor Mayor's Juvenal for Schools, containing Satires X. and
+XI. But this, as well as a batch of recent editions of Greek plays and
+Greek authors, such as Xenophon, Lucian, &c., must be postponed until
+another time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III.--ESSAYS, NOVELS, POETRY, &c.
+
+(_Under the Direction of_ MATTHEW BROWNE.)
+
+
+In referring to two more of Messrs. Macmillan and Co.'s _English Men of
+Letters_ we shall reproduce, reckless of the charge of "damnable
+iteration," the charge we have made before. Here is _Burke_, by Mr. John
+Morley, and _Hume_, by Professor Huxley, each volume containing over two
+hundred close pages; and most admirable volumes they are. But let us
+turn again to the prospectus and note its language: "These Short Books
+are addressed to the general public with a view both of stirring and
+satisfying an interest in literature and its great topics in the minds
+of those who have to run as they read." This language is both wide and
+careful; the old metaphor may be read more or less loosely, of course;
+and it may be said that those who care much for Burke and Hume must be
+provided for in the series, and that the writers who deal with them have
+treated their topics as pleasantly as may be. We do not deny this, and
+the little volumes are substantial additions to the literature of the
+day. But they are not for readers who have to run with their books in
+their hand.
+
+Mr. John Morley's estimate of Burke is known to us all, and it is what
+might be expected. As a philosophical politician, and as a speculative
+writer in general, Burke, of course, pleases Mr. Morley by the positive
+tendencies of his mind. We are pleased to see that he assigns its due
+rank to the too often underrated Inquiry about the Sublime and
+Beautiful. But Mr. Morley has perhaps the fault which Sterne told his
+friend the Count belonged especially to the French; he is "too serious."
+Of course, Burke is a great man, and one must not cut jokes in a memoir
+of him--at least one must not if one can't. But it is quite certain
+Sydney Smith would have done it; and there are many ways in which a page
+may be lit up. Well worth notice, as an amusing touch, was that passage
+in the Inquiry in which Burke speaks deprecatingly of Bunyan, because he
+did not write like Virgil, and though the present work "is biographical
+rather than critical," we miss a number of amusing anecdotes. This may
+be the result of literary fastidiousness on Mr. Morley's part, but, if
+so, we submit that the fastidiousness is carried too far. There is a
+little story that some one (we forget the name at the moment) who had
+lost largely by investing in some West Indian property, alleged that he
+had been induced to invest by Burke's glowing descriptions of the
+country, and that Burke replied, "Ods boddikins! must one swear to the
+truth of a song?"--or in very similar language. Now this is really
+illustrative. We can by no means agree with Mr. Morley that Burke was
+free from the vicious tendencies of the rhetorician, not to say the
+rhetorical Celt. He had the Celtic leaning towards forlorn hopes, and
+the Celtic want of truthfulness. Of course, the Dr. Richard Price, who
+is so contemptuously treated in the "Reflections," was a much smaller
+man than Burke, but he had more love of truth and more capacity of
+adhering to principle in his little finger than Burke had in his whole
+nature. Mr. John Morley does his friendly and ingeniously reticent best
+for him; but students who reject the "positive" method (except as an
+auxiliary or a check) will persist in thinking that the painful tangles
+of the great man's life, and the blind alleys and other faults of his
+writings, were the result of his deficiency on the side of truthfulness.
+It will be doing anything but injustice to Burke, Mr. Morley, or the
+reader, if we call particular attention to p. 173 and so on to p. 177
+inclusive. They give a bird's-eye view of the most important part of the
+subject; they contain instructive comparisons between Burke, Sir Thomas
+More, and Turgot: and they seem to us to contain large proof in small
+compass of what Mr. Morley will of course not admit--namely, Burke's
+want of love for the truth, and his incapacity for abstract speculation.
+
+As a reasoned account of the life and writings of the subject of the
+book, Professor Huxley's _Hume_ is one of the very best of the
+series--we were going to pronounce it the best, but remembered in good
+time that we had not seen them all. In any case it is excellent. It does
+not seem to us that Hume's "Description of the Will" is grammatically
+open to the criticism on p. 181. But comment like this would be useless
+unless we gave the reader an opportunity of judging. This is Hume's
+"description of the Will," as quoted by Professor Huxley:--
+
+    "Of all the immediate effects of pain and pleasure there is none
+    more remarkable than the _will_; and though, properly speaking, it
+    be not comprehended among the passions, yet as the full
+    understanding of its nature and properties is necessary to the
+    explanation of them, we shall here make it the subject of our
+    inquiry. I desire it may be observed that, by the _will_, I mean
+    nothing but _the internal impression we feel and are conscious of,
+    when we knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new
+    perception of our mind_. This impression, like the preceding ones of
+    pride and humility, love and hatred, it is impossible to define, and
+    needless to describe any further."--(ii. p. 150.)
+
+And this is Professor Huxley's comment:--
+
+    "This description of a volition may be criticized on various
+    grounds. More especially does it seem defective in restricting the
+    term "will" to that feeling which arises when we act, or appear to
+    act, as causes: for one may will to strike, without striking; or to
+    think of something which we have forgotten."
+
+But is not this met by the last six of the words which Professor Huxley
+has italicised? They are certainly very wide, and one might ask, in
+addition, what word of absolute "restriction" is employed by Hume in
+this passage? He indicates what he means by the word "Will," by saying
+that it is what we are conscious of upon certain occasions, and this
+gives a clue to the quality of the sensation; but it was obvious, and
+did not need saying, that the quality of the sensation might remain,
+though its complete outcome were baulked.
+
+In presenting and criticizing Hume's views upon such topics as Theism,
+Immortality and Miracles, Necessary Truth, &c., Professor Huxley is, so
+far as we have discovered, both accurate and candid. It is only
+necessary to suggest that the reader should keep his eyes open--for
+there is really not one new word to be written upon these matters.
+
+It is not often that you are told what a man died of. You are put off
+with some such phrase as "a painful malady," or a "family complaint."
+Yet, it is often just what we desire to know, because the illness from
+which a man suffers stands in direct relation to his power of work and
+his capacity of endurance. Consumption, except in its later stage, is
+not usually painful. Nor does it necessarily make work difficult. The
+same may be said of maladies which come on paroxysmally, and leave those
+blessed intervals of ease of which Paley, himself a sufferer, writes
+with such unaccustomed tenderness. In the _Gibbon_ of this series, Mr.
+Morison slurred over the very curious, perhaps unexampled fact, that
+Gibbon had long concealed a bad hernia and had done nothing for it. It
+finally killed him, but that with his amazing corpulence he could live a
+long time with a serious rupture, and keep his general health and his
+placidity, is very interesting. Professor Huxley tells us point-blank
+what Hume died of, and it is quite as well for biographers to be
+specific in such matters. We may just inquire, in passing, where the
+Professor got his "_solid_ certainty of waking bliss"? It seems pedantic
+to notice every trifle of this sort, but if small errors in quotation
+were, so to speak, nipped in the bud, many logomachics would be saved.
+How much discussion, in pulpits and out of them, has been wasted upon
+the supposition that Pope wrote that "an honest man's the _noblest_ work
+of God." Whereas Pope wrote "noble," and it was Burns, in the "Cotter's
+Saturday Night," who started the error. Now "solid" is as good sense as
+"sober," but the latter is what suits the verse best, and it is what
+Milton made Comus say.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "run" upon Dante continues. Here is _Dante: Six Sermons_, by Philip
+H. Wicksteed, M.A. (C. Kegan Paul & Co.) "In allowing," says Mr.
+Wicksteed--
+
+    "the publication of this little volume, my only thought is to let it
+    take its chance with other fugitive productions of the pulpit that
+    appeal to the press as a means of widening the possible area rather
+    than extending the period over which the preacher's voice may
+    extend; and my only justification is the hope that it may here and
+    there reach hands to which no more adequate treatment of the subject
+    was likely to find its way."
+
+The sermons were delivered first at Little Portland Street Chapel, where
+Mr. Wicksteed succeeded Dr. Martineau, and afterwards at the Free
+Christian Church at Croydon, where the Rev. Rodolph R. Suffield formerly
+preached, but where the Rev. E. M. Geldart is now (we believe) the
+minister. The book contains only about 160 pages, and gives a very
+readable and complete account both of Dante and his poetry. The style is
+that of the pulpit, iterative, florid, and full of amplifications; but
+that was natural. It is a serious matter, however, that the author keeps
+up his strain of eulogy from end to end at a pitch which has an almost
+_falsetto_ sound with it. It seems hardly fair to leave unnoticed the
+charges of artificiality and worse which have been abundantly made
+against Dante and his poetry, especially as this book is intended for
+popular use; and it is a pity that Mr. Wicksteed should go out of his
+way to settle difficult questions in this off-hand way:--
+
+    "It is often held and taught, that a strong and definite didactic
+    purpose must inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art,
+    must clip the wings of poetic imagination, distort the symmetry of
+    poetic sympathy, and substitute hard and angular contrasts for the
+    melting grace of those curved lines of beauty which pass one into
+    the other. Had Dante never lived, I know not where we should turn
+    for the decisive refutation of this thought; but in Dante it is
+    the very combination said to be impossible that inspires and
+    enthrals us. A perfect artist guided in the exercise of his art by
+    an unflagging intensity of moral purpose; a prophet, submitting
+    his inspirations"--
+
+and so forth, in the same strained and insistent key. But no wise critic
+has ever said that "a strong and definite didactic purpose must
+inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art." What is maintained on
+_that_ side of the debate is that the "purpose" must not be permitted to
+shape the poem; that the poem itself must be moulded upon lines of
+beauty and not of "moral purpose"--though the "moral purpose" may be
+immanent in the work. But who is bound to take Mr. Wicksteed's word for
+the statement that Dante's great poem is not the very strongest
+confirmation in all literature of the truth that a _controlling_ and
+_interfering_ moral purpose injures a poem, Milton's "Paradise Lost"
+being the next strongest?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A well-known, and also imperfectly known, "nook in the Apennines" is the
+Republic of San Marino, about which there is a good deal of information
+in _A Freak of Freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino_, by J. Theodore
+Bent (Longman, Green & Co.) It appears to be partly the record of a
+visit paid by the author to the spot in 1877, and is illustrated by
+fifteen woodcuts from the author's own drawings, to say nothing of a
+map. Mr. Bent was presented with the freedom of the Republic, and we do
+not know that any one, except another citizen of it, or some near
+neighbour, could criticize his little book to much advantage. But we
+trust he will permit us to remark that he might have made his work more
+amusing and instructive. There is a good deal about the place in
+Addison, and this is referred to (among other interesting matters) in an
+article in Knight's "Penny Magazine" for May 31st, 1834. But, though we
+have not time to make references, we have a strong impression that there
+are many descriptions, new and old, of San Marino, which it would have
+been refreshing to quote. We know, however, of no work which gives so
+much information as Mr. Bent's.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It might be the subject of a very plausible doubt whether French novels
+of a high order ought to be translated into English, since those who are
+really capable of understanding and enjoying them will be certain to
+understand French, and since, moreover, the finest qualities of the
+writing must disappear in the process of translation. Then, with regard
+to French novels of a much lower class, they are not worth the trouble
+of turning into English; are more likely in themselves to do harm than
+good; and their reproduction in our language cannot tend to encourage
+"native talent." We have before us, from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston,
+Searle, & Rivington, _The Cat and Battledore, and other Tales_, by
+Honor� de Balzac, translated into English by Philip Kent, B.A. (3 vols.)
+Perhaps it was not a bad idea to give the merely English reader some
+chance of appreciating the extraordinary qualities of the author of "Le
+P�re Goriot," "Le Peau de Chagrin," and "La Recherche de l'Absolu"
+(neither of which is, the general reader may be told, in this
+collection): but Balzac is not a writer with a soul in him, and the
+experiment need not be carried any further. Those who know nothing of
+Balzac, and who read novels simply for excitement, will be glad of these
+three volumes, and the glimpse they give of an unique writer; but to
+studious readers Balzac's novels have an interest which is mainly
+psychological. The preface (here translated) to the "Com�die Humaine" is
+a strange presumptuous medley, which raises, like all the author's most
+characteristic works, the question of perfect sanity--a question which
+Mr. Leslie Stephen once opened very acutely, and dismissed too curtly.
+To have read through a story of Balzac's is to have passed through one
+of those wonderfully vivid dreams which leave you puzzled and lost at
+the moment of awaking. It seems to be generally admitted that his
+writings do not tend to make his readers "immoral" in the usual sense of
+the adjective, but there is something ineffably droll in his patronage
+of "Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity," and that defence of
+his own writings which the reader may amuse himself by studying in the
+preface. He is not only conservative, he is monarchical, and objects to
+representative Government, if it "hands us over to the rule of the
+masses." But what chiefly concerns those who buy novels, or send for
+them to the libraries, is the quality of the stories, and they may
+depend upon getting a full measure of excitement, with some instruction,
+out of "La Maison du Chat qui pelote" and the companion stories.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36,
+October 1879, by Various
+
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Contemporary Review, October 1879, Vol 36, No. 2
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+body              {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October
+1879, by Various
+
+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/license
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2012 [EBook #39459]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Nigel Blower and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="notes">
+<p>The first part of this volume (September 1879) was produced as Project
+Gutenberg Ebook #30048. The relevant part of the table of contents has
+been extracted from that document, and a brief title page added.</p>
+
+<p>This e-text includes characters that will only display in UTF-8 (Unicode)
+file encoding, including Greek words, e.g. <span class="greek" title="psychê">ψυχη</span>.
+If any of these characters do not display properly, or if the apostrophes and quotation marks
+in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts.
+First, make sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding”
+is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s
+default font. All Greek words have mouse-hover transliterations.</p>
+
+<p>A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected.
+Some inconsistent hyphenation and accents have been retained.</p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>THE<br />CONTEMPORARY<br />REVIEW</h1>
+<h3>VOLUME XXXVI. OCTOBER, 1879</h3>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<table summary="Contents">
+  <tr>
+    <th class="condat" colspan="2">OCTOBER, 1879.</th></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="conpgh">PAGE</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">India and Afghanistan. By Lieut.-Colonel R. D. Osborn</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">Critical Idealism in France. By Paul Janet</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">On the Moral Limits of Beneficial Commerce. By Francis W.
+      Newman</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">The Myths of the Sea and the River of Death. By C. F.
+    Keary</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">Mr. Macvey Napier and the Edinburgh Reviewers. By Matthew
+      Browne</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology. By James
+      Darmesteter</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">Lazarus Appeals to Dives. By Henry J. Miller</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures. By Professor St.
+      George Mivart</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">Contemporary Life and Thought in Turkey. By an Eastern
+      Statesman</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="concht">Contemporary Books:—</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="conchb">I. History and Literature of
+      the East, under the Direction of Professor E. H. Palmer</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="conchb">II. Classical Literature,
+      under the Direction of Rev. Prebendary J. Davies</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="conchb">III. Essays, Novels, Poetry,
+      &amp;c. under the Direction of Matthew Browne</td>
+    <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN.</h2>
+
+<p>When the news arrived that Major Cavagnari and his companions
+had fallen victims to the fury of the Kabul populace, the <i>Daily
+Telegraph</i> “called aloud, before Heaven, for a punishment which should
+ring from end to end of the Continent of Asia.” It is a pity that so
+much fine and eloquent indignation should be expended on the Afghans
+instead of those who are truly responsible for the catastrophe which
+has evoked it. If ever there was a future event which might be predicted
+with absolute certainty, it was that Major Cavagnari and his
+companions would perish precisely as they have done. Twice, within
+forty years, have we invaded Afghanistan, although on both occasions
+we have frankly avowed that with the inhabitants of the country we
+had no cause of quarrel whatever. Nevertheless, we carried fire and
+sword wherever we went, cutting down their fruit trees, burning their
+villages, and leaving their women and children shelterless under a
+winter sky. What could we expect as the fruit of such acts, except
+that our victims—knowing, as we did, that they were revengeful,
+passionate, and too ignorant to forecast the consequences of their actions—should
+retaliate in kind the moment that they had the opportunity?
+The first invasion of Afghanistan is now known by general consent as
+“the iniquitous war;” but it is open to question if even that war was
+so elaborately contrived, or so long laboured for as this—the first act
+of which has terminated in the slaughter of Major Cavagnari and his
+escort.</p>
+
+<p>The circumstances which preceded it are briefly these. For eighteen
+months Lord Lytton had attempted, by alternate threats and cajolery,
+to prevail upon the Ameer Shere Ali to make a surrender of his independence,
+and become a vassal of the Indian Empire. These attempts
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>
+having failed, war was declared against him on the pretence that he
+had insulted us before all Asia by declining to receive a “friendly”
+mission sent by the Indian Government. This mission was <i>not</i> friendly.
+It was notorious throughout India that it would go to Kabul charged
+with an <i>ultimatum</i> which offered the Ameer the choice of war, or the
+sacrifice of his independence. But even this mission the Ameer never
+refused to receive—nay, it is certain that he would have received it if
+the opportunity had been given to him, so great was the value he
+attached to English friendship. But what the Government of India
+desired was not the reception of the mission, but a pretext for making
+war upon the Ameer. It knew that the policy which it meditated in
+Afghanistan would so completely destroy the sovereignty of the Ameer,
+that it was impossible he should agree to it. At the same time, it was
+impossible to declare war against an independent prince, simply because
+he declined to divest himself of his independence. The war must,
+somehow or another, be made to appear as if it were due to some act
+of the Ameer. Consequently, almost from the hour in which the
+announcement was made that the mission was to start, the Ameer was
+plied with insults and menaces which, if they were not intended to
+drive him to some act of overt hostility, had no purpose at all. And
+when these proved unavailing, Lord Lytton directed Sir Neville Chamberlain
+to attempt to force his way through the Khyber Pass, without
+waiting for the permission of the Ameer. In the most courteous
+manner the Afghan officer, in command at the Khyber, intimated
+to the mission that, without the sanction of his master, it was impossible
+to allow it to proceed; and this refusal was instantly telegraphed to
+England as a deliberate insult which must be wiped out in blood.
+From first to last, so far as his conduct towards us is concerned, the
+Ameer was absolutely blameless. During his entire reign his consistent
+endeavour had been to draw closer the ties of amity between himself
+and us. The Russian mission had forced its way to Kabul,
+despite of all his endeavours to hinder its advance; and there can be
+no question that but for the previous action of Lord Lytton that
+mission would never have come to Afghanistan. But eighteen months
+before that occurrence Lord Lytton had withdrawn our Native Agent
+from the Court of the Ameer. This had been done as a mark of displeasure,
+and a proof that no alliance of any kind existed between the
+two States. This proceeding Lord Lytton followed up by the occupation
+of Quetta, although he was well aware that such an occupation
+would be interpreted—and rightly—by the Ameer, as a menace to his
+independence, and the harbinger of war. So it came about that when
+the Russian mission knocked for admission at the doors of his capital,
+the Ameer found himself on the one side threatened by Russia, and on
+the other abandoned and threatened by Lord Lytton. Lord Lytton,
+in point of fact, is as directly responsible for the entry of the Russian
+mission to Kabul as he is for the dispatch of his own.</p>
+
+<p>But if Lord Lytton’s treatment of the Ameer was cruel and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+ungenerous, criminal, at least to an equal extent, was his treatment of
+the people over whom he ruled. At that time there was an appalling
+amount of suffering all over India. The country had been ravaged
+by a series of famines. In the Punjab prices were abnormally high.
+The North-West Provinces were still unrecovered from a dearth, during
+which the Government of India had exhibited a rapacity and indifference
+to human suffering which would, with difficulty, be credited in England.
+Terrible as is the mortality resulting from a famine in India, the death-roll
+represents but a tenth part of the suffering which such visitations
+inflict. For every human being that dies, ten are left, without money
+and without physical strength, to struggle feebly for existence on the
+margin of the grave. They cannot give a fair day’s work for a fair
+day’s wage. They may reckon themselves fortunate if their enfeebled
+powers can earn just sufficient to keep body and soul together. For
+all these wretched beings—and last year in Upper India they numbered
+many millions—the smallest rise of price in the necessities of life means
+death from hunger. A war, therefore, with the enormous rise of prices
+which it would immediately produce, was nothing less than a sentence
+of torture and death passed upon tens of thousands of our own subjects.
+Undeterred, however, by the warnings of experience, deaf to considerations
+of humanity and justice, the Government of India started on
+its wild-goose chase after a “Scientific Frontier.” The victims whom
+it trampled to death in this mad chase have never been numbered—they
+never can be numbered. The Afghans who died in defence of
+their village homes form but a hundredth part of them. The residue
+was composed of our own mute and uncomplaining subjects.</p>
+
+<p>A war thus wantonly commenced resulted in a failure as ignominious
+as it deserved. Long before the Treaty of Gundamuck the
+ambitious policy of the Government had become an object of contempt
+and ridicule all over India. It was known that Lord Lytton and his
+advisers were at their wit’s end to discover something which might be
+made to do duty as a “Scientific Frontier,” and so bring a misjudged
+enterprise to a conclusion. But it is the peculiarity of our Ministers
+to believe that they can arrest the inexorable sequence of cause and
+effect by a dexterous manipulation of the faculty of speech. Lord
+Beaconsfield appears to have imparted to his colleagues his own belief
+in the omnipotence of phrases to remove mountains, and make rough
+places smooth. So the Treaty of Gundamuck was no sooner signed
+than Ministers and Ministerial journals raised a great hymn of triumph
+over the wondrous things which they had wrought in Afghanistan.
+The one solid national advantage to be derived from the sacrifice of
+Cavagnari and his comrades, is that this method of treating facts will
+have to be laid aside. Lord Lytton is not likely to appeal again to his
+“carefully verified facts” as a proof that he is a much wiser man than
+Lord Lawrence. Lord Cranbrook will not again express his conviction
+that the “objections (to an English Resident) expressed by Shere Ali
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+will be shown to have been without substantial foundation.” Yakoub
+Khan and his five attendants are all that remain of that “strong,
+friendly, and independent Afghanistan” which Mr. Stanhope informed
+the House of Commons had been created by the war. The anguished
+cry of the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> “for a punishment which shall ring from
+end to end of the Continent of Asia” is the latest expression of the
+“results incalculably beneficial to the two countries” which, according
+to Lord Lytton, were to flow from the Peace of Gundamuck.</p>
+
+<p>A failure in policy more signal and more complete than this it is
+impossible to imagine. But it is to be noted that the Ministerial
+journals are doing their utmost to save the “Scientific Frontier” from
+the destruction which has overtaken the projects of the Ministry. And
+so long as a belief in this Frontier is cherished anywhere, the return to
+a safe and rational policy is obstructed. In the following pages, therefore,
+I shall, firstly, endeavour to show that the (so-called) “Scientific
+Frontier” is as purely fictitious as the “strong, friendly, and independent
+Afghanistan” which we were told had been created out of
+chaos by means of the war. And, secondly, I shall discuss the various
+lines of conduct which lie open to us, when we have occupied Kabul,
+in order to determine which is best fitted to ensure the stability of our
+Indian Empire and the contentment of its inhabitants.</p>
+
+<h4>The Scientific Frontier.</h4>
+
+<p>In all the discussions on this Frontier question, a very obvious, but
+all-important, fact has been persistently forgotten. It is that British
+rule in India is a rule based upon military supremacy; and that,
+therefore, our Indian army—English as well as native—is primarily a
+garrison, having its duties upon the places where it is quartered. We
+could not withdraw our troops from any part of India without
+incurring the risk of an outbreak in the districts thus denuded. The
+“Punjab Frontier Force” has always been a force distinct from the
+“Army of India,” and recognized as having special duties of its own.
+So far as I know, in the discussions on a “Scientific Frontier” no
+reference has been made to the above circumstance. The Indian army
+has been spoken of as if it were so much fighting power, which we were
+free to concentrate at any point we pleased. And to this oversight is
+due the hallucination that an improved frontier would enable us to
+diminish the strength of the Indian garrison (properly so called).
+The fact is, that before this last war we had almost the very frontier
+which our situation in India required. If the authority of the Ameer
+had extended up to the boundaries of our Empire, troubles between the
+two States must have occurred, resulting inevitably in the extinction of
+the weaker. The evil of such an extension of territory no one denies;
+we should not only have had to hold Afghanistan with a strong
+garrison—certainly not less than twenty thousand men—but we should
+have been compelled to maintain a frontier force, to guard against
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+aggression from without, either from Russia or Persia. Forty thousand
+men would have been needed for this double duty, in addition to the
+pre-existing garrison of India. But by a piece of supreme good
+fortune the authority of the Ameer did not begin where ours left off.
+Between us and him were interposed the tribes which dwell in the
+hills along our North-Western frontier. These tribes acknowledged
+allegiance neither to him nor to us. Broken up and divided amongst
+themselves, the worst they could inflict upon us was an occasional raid
+into our territories; and these we could repress without having to call
+the Ameer to an account for the lawlessness of his subjects. A few
+regiments of horse and foot were all that we needed for the defence
+of our frontier; while as against foreign invasion we possessed a frontier
+that needed no defence at all. That frontier consisted of the foodless
+deserts and inaccessible hills of Afghanistan. These were impenetrable
+to an invader, so long as we retained the friendship and the confidence
+of the people who dwell among them. Consequently, to quote the
+language of Sir Henry Rawlinson, “our main object has ever been,
+since the date of Lord Auckland’s famous Simla Manifesto of 1838, to
+obtain the establishment of a strong, friendly, and independent Power
+on the North-Western frontier of India, without, however, accepting
+any crushing liabilities in return.” We all know the manner in which
+Lord Auckland set about obtaining the “strong, friendly, and independent
+Power,” and the “crushing liabilities” we had to accept in
+consequence. Tutored by experience, we adopted a wiser and more
+righteous policy, which was producing admirable results.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty of establishing a stable friendship with Afghanistan
+arises from the character of the people. It is the habitation, not of a
+nation, but of a collection of tribes, and the nominal ruler of Afghanistan
+is never more than the ruler of a party which, for the time, chances to
+be strongest. Consequently there never existed an authority, recognized
+as legitimate throughout the country, with which we could enter into
+diplomatic relations. At the same time, their divided condition crippled
+the Afghans for all offensive purposes. We had, therefore, nothing to
+fear in the way of unprovoked aggression, and our obvious policy was
+to win the confidence of these wild tribes and their chiefs, by carefully
+abstaining from encroachments on their independence. Such, in fact,
+has been the policy which every Governor-General has pursued in the
+interval which divides the “plundering and blundering” of Lord
+Auckland from the like achievements of Lord Lytton. And it had
+been attended with the greater success, because under the firm
+guidance of two remarkable men, Afghanistan had progressed considerably
+towards the status of an organized kingdom. Shere Ali had
+diligently trod in the footsteps of his father, the Dost, and it is in these
+terms that the Government of India describes the rule and policy of the
+Ameer in the year 1876:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Those officers of our Government who are best acquainted with the affairs
+of Afghanistan, and the character of the Ameer and his people, consider that the
+hypothesis that the Ameer may be intimidated or corrupted by Russia (even
+supposing there was any probability of such an attempt being made) is opposed
+to his personal character and to the feelings and traditions of his race, and that
+any attempt to intrigue with factions in Afghanistan, opposed to the Ameer,
+would defeat itself, and afford the Ameer the strongest motive for at once disclosing
+to us such proceedings. Whatever may be the discontent created in
+Afghanistan by taxation, conscription, and other unpopular measures, <i>there can
+be no question that the power of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan has been consolidated
+throughout Afghanistan in a manner unknown since the days of Dost Mahomed,
+and that the officers entrusted with the administration have shown extraordinary
+loyalty and devotion to the Ameer’s cause</i>. It was probably the knowledge of the
+Ameer’s strength that kept the people aloof from Yakoub Khan, in spite of his
+popularity. At all events, Herat fell to the Ameer without a blow. The rebellion
+in Salpoora in the extreme West was soon extinguished. The disturbances in
+Budukshan in the North were speedily suppressed. <i>Nowhere has intrigue or
+rebellion been able to make head in the Ameer’s dominions.</i> Even the Char Eimak
+and the Hazara tribes are learning to appreciate the advantages of a firm rule....
+But what we wish specially to repeat is that, from the date of the Umballa
+Durbar to the present time, <i>the Ameer has unreservedly accepted and acted
+upon our advice to maintain a peaceful attitude towards his neighbours</i>. We have
+no reason to believe that his views are changed.”</p></div>
+
+<p>This “strong, friendly, and independent Power”—this edifice of order
+and increasing stability—the British Government deliberately destroyed
+in the insane expectation of finding a “Scientific Frontier” hidden
+somewhere in the ruins. It is difficult to conceive of an action more
+impolitic or more cruel. In a month the labours of forty years were
+obliterated, old hatreds rekindled, and the wounds of 1838, which the
+wise and gentle treatment of former Viceroys had almost healed, were
+opened afresh.</p>
+
+<p>We come next to the inquiry as to what this “Scientific Frontier”
+is, in order to obtain which this act of vandalism was perpetrated. This
+is a question involved in some obscurity. The <i>Times</i> is the great champion
+of the “Scientific Frontier,” but in its columns, as also in Ministerial
+speeches, it changes colour like a chameleon. Sometimes it is called
+the “possession of the three highways leading to India,” thereby
+rendering the Empire “invulnerable.” At other times it is recommended
+to us because it protects the trade through the Bolan Pass, and
+enables us to threaten Kabul. The fact is that the (so-called) “Scientific
+Frontier”—meaning thereby the frontier we acquired by the Treaty of
+Gundamuck—is a make-believe, an imposture. It is not the “Scientific
+Frontier” in pursuit of which we “hunted the Ameer to death” and
+reduced his territories to a condition of anarchy.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have followed the history of the war with attention will
+remember that in September of last year the Calcutta correspondent of
+the <i>Times</i> was smitten with a really marvellous admiration for Lord
+Lytton. “India,” he wrote, “is fortunate in the possession at the
+present time of a Viceroy specially gifted with broad statesmanlike
+views, the result partly of most vigilant and profound study, partly of
+the application of great natural intellectual capacity to the close cultivation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>
+of political science and the highest order of statecraft.” Here
+we have the portrait of the lion painted by himself; and it is not surprising
+that this superb creature should have regarded with considerable
+scorn the policy of his predecessors who never claimed to be “specially
+gifted” for the exercise of “the highest order of statecraft.” “The
+present measure,” the correspondent went on to say, “for the despatch
+of a mission to Kabul forms but a single move in an extensive concerted
+scheme for the protection of India, which is the outcome of a
+long-devised and elaborately worked-out system of defensive policy.”
+Here we have a fine example of the “puff preliminary.” In the
+issue of the <i>Times</i> for the 10th September this “extensive concerted
+scheme for the protection of India” is detailed at length, and is there
+plainly set forth as intended for a barrier against Russia:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Indian Government are most anxious to avoid adopting any policy
+which would bear even the semblance of hostility towards Russia, but the
+extreme probability of a collision sooner or later cannot be overlooked. It is
+necessary, therefore, to provide for a strong defensive position to guard against
+eventualities. From this point of view it is indispensable that we should possess
+a commanding influence over the triangle of territory formed on the map by
+Kabul, Ghuznee, and Jellalabad, together with power over the Hindoo Khosh....
+This triangle we may hope to command with Afghan concurrence if the
+Ameer is friendly. The strongest frontier line which could be adopted would
+be along the Hindoo Khosh, from Pamir to Bamian, thence to the south by the
+Helmund, Girishk, and Kandahar, to the Arabian Sea. It is possible, therefore,
+that by friendly negotiations some such defensive boundary may be adopted.”</p></div>
+
+<p>Such were the moderate designs entertained by the Indian Government
+when they dispatched what they called a “friendly mission” to
+the Court of the Ameer. If Lord Lytton imagined that “friendly
+negotiations” would obtain these tremendous concessions from the Ameer,
+it would show that a training in “the highest order of statecraft” does
+not preserve even a “specially gifted” Viceroy from the credulousness
+of an infant. But his acts show that he entertained no such belief.
+He felt, as every one must feel who reads the extract I have made, that
+demands such as these must be preceded by a war. Hence the menacing
+letters addressed to the Ameer; hence the rude and insulting manner in
+which Sir Neville Chamberlain was ordered to attempt an entrance into
+Afghanistan without awaiting the permission of the Ameer; and hence,
+finally, the monstrous fiction of a deliberate “insult” inflicted upon us,
+when, in point of fact, we had been the “insulters” all along. The
+obvious intention throughout was to obtain a pretext for declaring war,
+because without a war the “Scientific Frontier” was manifestly unattainable.
+Lastly, when war had been determined upon, the same
+“official” correspondent came forward in the <i>Times</i> to make known the
+objects of the impending campaign. “We have,” he wrote, “been
+driven into what will probably be a costly war entirely against our will,
+and all our endeavours to avoid it. The occasion, therefore, will now
+be seized to secure for ourselves the various passes piercing the mountain
+ranges along the whole frontier from the Khyber to the Bolan; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+further <i>strategic measures will be adopted to dominate entirely the Suleiman
+range and the Hindoo Khosh</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible not to admire the hardihood of this remarkable
+correspondent when he alleges that the war was “entirely against our
+will, and all our endeavours to avoid it.” But this is not the matter
+with which I am at present concerned. The official character of these
+communications will be denied by no one, and they make it clear that
+the “Scientific Frontier” was intended as a barrier against Russia, and
+would have made the Hindoo Khosh the external boundary of the
+Indian Empire. Such a frontier is manifestly the dream of a military
+specialist, to whose mental vision the Indian Empire, with all its
+diverse interests, has no existence except as a frontier to be defended
+against the Russians. And it illustrates the ignorance and precipitate
+folly which has plunged us in our present difficulties that a project so
+wild should have been seriously entertained. To have carried it out
+the subjugation of Afghanistan would have been an indispensable preliminary,
+and then the civilizing of it, by means of a system of roads
+and strong garrisons throughout the country; the entire cost of these
+vast operations being defrayed by a country already taxed to the
+last point of endurance, heavily burdened with an increasing debt, and
+ravaged by periodical famines. Such, however, was the “Scientific
+Frontier” for which a “specially gifted Viceroy,” trained in “the
+highest order of political statecraft,” declared war against the Ameer.
+But the frontier which we obtained at the close of the war, and which
+Ministers and Ministerial journals would have us believe is the genuine
+article which they wanted from the beginning, is not only not this
+frontier, but it has not the smallest resemblance to it.</p>
+
+<p>The new frontier does not differ from the old except in three particulars.
+We hold the Khyber Pass as far as Lundi Kotal, and we
+have acquired the right to quarter troops in the Kurram Valley and the
+Valley of Peshin. Of these the Kurram Valley is a mere <i>cul-de-sac</i>,
+leading nowhere. But I will not ask of my readers to accept of my
+judgment on this matter. Among the best known advocates for a forward
+and aggressive policy in Afghanistan is Dr. Bellew. An accomplished
+linguist and an experienced traveller, he accompanied Colonel Lumsden’s
+mission to Kandahar in 1857; he was also a member of the mission
+entrusted with the settlement of the Seistan boundary question, and no
+man living is better acquainted with the geography and people of Afghanistan.
+I believe it will not be denied that Lord Lytton, during the recent
+war, trusted largely in his knowledge and suggestions. He has thus
+expressed himself on the policy of occupying the Kurram Valley:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Kurram Valley would involve the addition of about one hundred and
+fifty miles of hill frontage to our border, and would bring us into contact with
+the independent Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Toris, Cabul-Khel, Waziris, and others,
+against whose hostility and inroads here, as in other parts of the border, we
+should have to protect our territory. By its possession, as we are now situated,
+we should be committed to the defence of a long narrow strip of land, a perfect
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+<i>cul-de-sac</i> in the hills, hemmed in by a number of turbulent robber-tribes, who
+are under no control, and acknowledge no authority. In ordinary times its acquisition
+would add to the serious difficulties of our position. In times of trouble
+or disturbance on the border, its possession would prove a positive source of
+weakness, a dead weight upon our free action. In it we should run the risk of
+being hemmed in by our foes in the overhanging hills around, of being cut off
+from our communications with the garrison of Kohat, by the Orakzais on the one
+side, by the Waziris on the other. These are the disadvantages of the step. In
+return what advantages should we derive? Not one. With Kurram in our
+possession we certainly could not flank either the Khyber or the Goleri Pass,
+because between it and the one, intervenes the impassable snowy range of Sufed
+Koh; and between it and the other, intervenes the vast routeless hilly tract of the
+Waziris. From Kurram we could neither command Kabul nor Ghazni, because
+the route to either is by a several days’ march, over stupendous hills and tortuous
+defiles, in comparison with which the historical Khyber and Bolan Passes, or
+even the less widely-known Goleri Pass, are as king’s highways.”</p></div>
+
+<p>This, I think, is sufficient to dispose of the Kurram Valley. If the
+old frontier has been rendered “invulnerable,” it is not the acquisition
+of the Kurram Valley which has made it so. There remains the Peshin
+Valley. This valley is an open tract of country lying almost midway
+on the line of march between Quetta and Kandahar, but nearer to the
+former than the latter. Three easy marches from Quetta suffice to place
+a traveller in the centre of it. It cannot accurately be described as
+an extension of our frontier, because it is dissevered from it by more
+than two hundred miles of difficult country. Between the valley and
+British territory, the lands of the Khan of Khelat are interposed in one
+direction, and numerous robber-tribes—Kakers, Murrees, Bhoogtees—in
+another. Until the valley is securely linked to the Indus by a railway
+from Sukkur to the Bolan Pass—a costly work, which could not be
+executed in less than seven years—it will be impossible to quarter more
+than a few thousand men in it—and these for six months of the year
+will be as completely detached from their base of supply and reinforcement
+in India, as if a tract of empty space ran between them. So far
+from ensuring any increased security to India by our premature occupation
+of this valley, we have only enhanced the chances of a hostile
+collision with the rulers and people of Afghanistan. We were already
+in military occupation of Quetta, and until easy and rapid communication
+had been established between Quetta and the Indus, nothing was
+to be gained by a yet further advance from our base. As a barrier
+against Russia this frontier is without meaning, and no better proof of
+this fact could be adduced than Sir Henry Rawlinson’s commentary
+upon its merits in the Article on the “Results of the Afghan War”
+which recently appeared in the <i>Nineteenth Century</i>:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Afghan settlement is a very good settlement as far as it goes, but it is
+not immaculate—<i>it is not complete</i>. To yield us its full measure of defence, the
+Treaty must be supplemented by all legitimate precautions and supports. <i>Persia
+must be detached from Russia coûte que coûte.</i> Russia herself must not be left
+in any uncertainty as to our intentions. She must be made to understand ...
+<i>that she will not be permitted unopposed to establish herself in strength ...
+even at Abiverd</i>, nor to commence intrigues against the British power in India.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+She might indeed be warned that, if necessary, we were prepared in self-defence
+to support the Turcomans—with whom she has no legitimate quarrel—with arms
+or money, or even to turn the tables on her by encouraging the efforts of the
+Uzbegs to recover their liberty.... <i>It would be almost fatuity at such a moment
+to withdraw our garrison from Candahar....</i> Yacub Khan must be made
+to see that it is as much for his interest as our own to hold an efficient body of
+troops in such a position that, on the approach of danger ... <i>they might, with
+military alacrity, occupy Herat as an auxiliary garrison</i>.”</p></div>
+
+<p>And what is implied in detaching Persia from Russia he explains in
+another part of his Essay.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“If Russia, as there is strong reason to believe, is now pushing on to Merv or
+Sarakhs ... with the ultimate hope of occupying Herat, then it might very
+possibly be a sound policy to extend to Persia the provisions of the Asia Minor
+Protectorate, or even to support her actively in vindicating her rights upon the
+frontier of Khorassán.”</p></div>
+
+<p>From all which it would appear that our “Scientific Frontier” is
+simply good for nothing until it has been supplemented by an offensive
+and defensive alliance with the barbarian enemies of Russia all over
+the world. In order to ensure the safety of India, we must protect
+not only our own “Scientific Frontier,” but we must guarantee the
+Sultan all his Asiatic possessions; we must be ready at any moment to
+fight for the “integrity and independence” of Persia; we must be
+prepared to march our troops to Herat, and to show a front against the
+Russians on the Oxus; we must provide the Tekeh-Turcomans with arms
+and money, and assist the Uzbegs in their attempts to recover their
+liberty. Such are the “legitimate precautions and supports” which
+are requisite to render the new frontier immaculate and complete. But
+if with a “Scientific Frontier” we remain liable to such tremendous
+demands as these, it passes imagination to conjecture in what respect
+we could have been worse off when our frontier was “haphazard.”</p>
+
+<h4>The Circumstances of the Peace.</h4>
+
+<p>I shall next endeavour to show the circumstances which compelled the
+Indian Government to acquiesce in a peace which thus left the avowed
+object of the war unfulfilled. The preparations for the invasion of
+Afghanistan were on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the
+enterprise as explained by the “official” correspondent of the <i>Times</i>.
+Troops were set in motion for the North-West frontier from garrisons
+in the extreme south of India. Men were sent from England to man
+heavy gun batteries. In addition to the troops under General Roberts,
+no less than three columns were formed to invade Afghanistan viâ
+Sukkur and the Bolan, and the same number to advance through
+the Khyber. The force which marched to Kandahar was supplied
+with four heavy gun batteries, and a fifth was sent up subsequently,
+although, except upon the supposition that permanent entrenched
+camps were to be formed in Afghanistan, these heavy guns were
+simply an encumbrance and a source of danger. But the campaign
+had barely commenced before the Government became aware that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+it had utterly miscalculated its cost and difficulty. It is easy enough
+for an army to enter Afghanistan; it is next to impossible for it to
+subsist when it has got there. It is easy enough to scatter the Afghans
+when collected in battle array; it is next to impossible to subjugate
+them because they never are <i>so</i> collected. From these causes our raid
+into Afghanistan was but little removed from an ignominious failure.
+If we had not made peace we should have been compelled to evacuate
+the country from the enormous costliness of retaining troops in it.
+Under such circumstances, a peace was needed too urgently to allow the
+Government to stand out for any extraordinary concessions. They took
+what they could get, which proved to be, as we have seen, the right to
+place garrisons in the two valleys of Kurram and Peshin. But having
+gone to war in search of a “Scientific Frontier,” no alternative was left
+to them except to frankly confess that they had not found it; or to
+affirm that these two valleys constituted it.</p>
+
+<p>We come now to the causes of our failure. These are all-important,
+and ought to dissipate for ever the fear of an invasion of India by
+Russia or any other Power. The plan of the campaign required that
+Afghanistan should be invaded from three points; but the most important
+operation was understood to be the advance of General Stewart
+upon Kandahar. As soon as hostilities appeared inevitable, a small
+force under General Biddulph had been sent forward to secure Quetta
+against a sudden attack. General Stewart followed later on, and the
+two columns numbered upon paper about 20,000 men, with 60 guns.
+Meanwhile, a third column was ordered to assemble at Sukkur in
+support, and placed under the command of General Primrose. These
+extensive preparations were supposed to indicate the determination of
+the Indian Government to push on as far as Herat. The distance which
+had to be traversed between Sukkur and Kandahar is, roughly speaking,
+about four hundred miles, but the country presents extraordinary
+difficulties. From Sukkur to Jacobabad extends a level tract which,
+during the rains, is flooded to a depth of seven feet. Between Jacobabad
+and Dadur—a town situated at the entrance of the Bolan Pass—extends
+the Sinde desert. Any large force marching across this desert
+would have to take with them, not only food and forage, but water, for
+only at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles is the parched and barren
+soil pierced by a few brackish springs, which just suffice for the needs
+of the hamlets which have sprung up around them. For six months of
+the year this desert is literally impassable. A hot wind sweeps across
+it, which is fatal to man and beast. Only once did the Indian Government
+venture to send troops across it after this “blast of death” (as the
+natives call it) had begun to blow. This was in the last Afghan war.
+Some hundreds of native troops were sent as an escort in charge of
+supplies, and in four days one hundred Sepoys perished, three hundred
+camp followers, and (I think) nine officers out of fourteen. Beyond
+Dadur is the Bolan Pass. This Pass is about eighty miles in length;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>
+regular road there is none; what purports to be a road is merely the
+bed of a stream, which, during the rainy weather, is filled from bank to
+bank with a volume of rushing water. Neither food nor forage is
+obtainable in the Pass, and even the camels, when starting from Dadur,
+had to carry a seven days’ supply of food for themselves. Between
+Quetta and Kandahar the country is open, but neither is food procurable
+for a large force, nor forage for the horses and camels. From first to
+last General Stewart’s troops were almost wholly fed from India. The
+winter, luckily, was one of unprecedented mildness. But for this, in
+place of a march upon Kandahar, a terrible catastrophe could hardly
+have been averted. In ordinary seasons the snows fall heavily in and
+around Quetta early in November, and the cold is intense. The Bolan
+Pass is swept from end to end by hurricanes of wind and rain and
+snow. At the very time when these storms usually occur we
+had a dozen regiments and batteries straggling along the whole
+length of the Bolan Pass. Last year, however, there was neither
+snow nor hurricane, and our troops got through the Pass in safety.
+There was no opposition offered to our advance on Kandahar, but,
+from the want of food and the hardships which had to be endured,
+no less than twenty thousand camels perished upon the march. This
+mortality decided the campaign. When General Stewart reached
+Kandahar the situation was as follows:—The magazines at Quetta were
+nearly empty. Four months’ food was collected at Sukkur, but awaited
+carriage for its transport to Quetta. The third column under General
+Primrose was assembling on the Indus, and needed ten thousand camels
+to enable it to advance. To supply all these wants there were at
+Sukkur about 1600 camels. In order to lessen the pressure on the
+Commissariat, General Stewart divided his forces, despatching one
+column to hunt for supplies in the direction of Giriskh, and sending
+another with the same object to Khelat-i-Ghilzie. These movements
+caused the death from cold and hunger of a large additional number of
+camels, and demonstrated that there was not food in that part of
+Afghanistan sufficient for a force so large as that collected at Kandahar.
+Sinde, meanwhile, had been swept so bare of camels that it was impossible
+to collect a sufficient number for the carriage of food to Quetta
+before the hot weather had set in, and the march across the desert was
+barred by “the blast of death.” Immediate action was necessary if
+General Stewart’s troops were not to starve; and eight thousand men
+returned to India, reducing the garrison left at Kandahar to four
+thousand. This number, it was trusted, the Commissariat would be
+able to feed during the hot weather. But even this small force was so
+scantily supplied with carriage that it could not have moved, in a body,
+for fifty miles in any direction. It was, so to speak, nailed to the spot on
+which it was encamped. This want of food, far more than the physical
+difficulties of the country, is and always will be the insuperable obstacle
+to carrying on extensive military operations in Afghanistan. The people
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+obtain no more from the soil than just suffices for their own wants; and for
+days together an invading army has to pass over huge wastes with hardly
+a trace of human habitation, and consequently destitute of food.</p>
+
+<p>Not a little amusing was the revulsion of feeling caused throughout
+India by the lame and impotent conclusion of the advance on Kandahar.
+It was a demonstration of the impossibility of an invasion which convinced
+those who were most reluctant to be convinced. If when we
+had all India from which to draw our supplies, and with no enemy to
+oppose us, our utmost efforts had merely sufficed to place four thousand
+men in Kandahar, and leave them there, isolated and defenceless, it was
+chimerical to suppose that the Russians could march for double that
+distance an army capable of attempting the conquest of India. “Kandahar,”
+writes a military correspondent to the <i>Pioneer</i>—the official
+journal of India—“is acknowledged to be a mistake, and it is hoped
+that a British army will never again be dispatched in that direction; it
+is a mere waste of men, money, and means, and an unsuitable line for
+either attack or defence.”</p>
+
+<p>And the <i>Pioneer</i>, the very purpose of whose existence is to preach
+the infallibility of the Indian Government, thus endorses the remarks
+of its correspondent: “The theories about Kandahar are by this time
+exploded; indeed, there are many critics who have refused to adopt
+them from the very beginning; believing against General Hamley, that
+the main road into Afghanistan, whether we march as defenders of the
+Kabul Ameer or as avengers, must lie past Peshawur and Jelalabad.”</p>
+
+<p>The failure on the Kandahar side placed the Indian Government in
+an extremely difficult position. An advance on Herat was plainly out
+of the question; even one on Ghuznee was beyond the power of General
+Stewart and his troops. Elsewhere the aspect of affairs was hardly less
+cheering. The expedition in the Kurram Valley had resulted in the
+somewhat ignominious retreat out of Khost. We had about 15,000
+men holding the line from the Khyber to Jelalabad; but in effecting
+this, 14,000 camels had perished, and several of the regiments had been
+more than decimated from sickness and exposure. We had not
+subjugated a rood of territory on which our troops were not actually
+encamped. The main strength of the Ameer’s army was untouched,
+while all along our Trans-Indus frontier the hill tribes were in a state
+of dangerous unrest. The hot weather was coming on apace, when
+cholera and typhoid fever would be added to the number of our
+enemies. Thirty thousand troops had been set in motion, the garrisons
+in the interior of India dangerously weakened; three millions of money
+expended; and this was all that had been achieved. If now Yakoub
+Khan refused to come to terms, what was to be done? General Brown
+might be ordered to force his way from Jelalabad to Kabul, but what
+was he to do when he got there? The cost in money would be
+certainly heavy—the cost in men, not improbably, heavy also. And if,
+on our arrival at his capital, Yakoub Khan retired to either Balkh or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+Herat, we were powerless to follow him. Yakoub Khan, in fact, had
+the game in his hands. We had shot our bolt and failed. He had
+simply to decline to make peace, and keep out of our reach. We
+should then have been compelled either to evacuate the country, or to
+occupy it with the certainty that a little later on we should be compelled
+to withdraw, when the drain on the finances of India became
+too heavy to endure. Sir Henry Rawlinson rightly says, that a very
+small force can march from one end of Afghanistan to another; but
+a very large force is requisite permanently to hold it. The tribal
+divisions which hinder unity of resistance hinder also the achievement
+of any decisive victory. Each tribe is an independent centre of life,
+which requires a separate operation for its extinction.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the dilemma in which the Government found themselves
+involved. It was almost equally disastrous either to withdraw or to
+advance. If the troops were withdrawn, they would return burdened
+with the ignominy of failure. If they advanced, it would be into a
+tangle of military and political embarrassments, the issue of which it was
+impossible to foresee. There was only one way of escape possible,
+and that was to relinquish the ambitious projects from which
+the war originated, and acquiesce in any settlement which the
+adversary would agree to. The result was the Treaty with Yakoub
+Khan—a Treaty which I have no hesitation in saying has placed in peril
+the existence of our Indian Empire.</p>
+
+<p>It is, indeed, impossible to account for the infatuation or the obstinacy
+which caused the Indian Government to stipulate for the
+reception of an undefended British Envoy at the Court of a prince in
+the position of Yakoub Khan. It would have been so easy to have
+introduced a clause in the Treaty, to the effect that as soon as Yakoub
+Khan’s authority was firmly established an English Envoy should be
+accredited to Kabul. This would have saved the political consistency
+of the Government without exposing the Indian Empire to the tremendous
+strain and peril of a second Afghan expedition. There was absolutely
+nothing to be gained, either in India or England, by immediately
+forcing an English Envoy on the luckless Yakoub; while it enormously
+enhanced the difficulties with which he had to cope. Nevertheless,
+in the face of historic precedents, in defiance of multiplied warnings,
+Lord Lytton deliberately resolved to reproduce, for the edification of
+Asia, the tragedy of Shah Soojah and Sir William Nacnaghten, the
+only difference being that on this occasion the principal parts were
+played by Yakoub Khan and Major Cavagnari. The fact is that from
+first to last in this bad business the chief agents were moving in a world
+of their own imagining. They appear to have persuaded themselves
+that they had but to refuse to <i>see</i> facts, and the facts would vanish.
+They had but to publish in the <i>Times</i> that Lord Lytton was a “Viceroy
+specially gifted,” and forthwith he would become what he was described
+to be. They had but to assert that the Afghans had no objection to
+the presence of a British Envoy at Kabul, and immediately their objections
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>
+would disappear. The mischief is done now past recall. Hardly
+even in 1857 was our Indian Empire in a position of greater peril than
+it is now. The persistent opposition between official acts and official
+language which has been the distinguishing characteristic of Lord
+Lytton’s administration has created an universal disbelief in the sincerity
+of our speech and the equity of our intentions. In the circle which
+surrounds the Viceroy, it seems, indeed, to have become an accepted
+maxim that it is a matter of indifference whether or not the natives are
+heartily loyal to our rule. And Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, in his Minute on
+the Repeal of the Cotton Duties, notes the fact as “a grave political danger.”
+It is a maxim which could not have been formulated except by the
+agents of a Government who felt that they had forfeited, past hope of
+recovery, the confidence of those they were set to rule over. Of the
+alienation itself there can be no question. The loyalty of the native
+has, probably, never been at a lower ebb since 1857. And any reverse
+in Afghanistan might kindle a flame that would spread from one end
+of India to the other.</p>
+
+<p>But there is nothing to be gained by anticipating greater difficulties
+than already beset us. I will assume that no additional complications
+occur—that General Roberts has succeeded without much difficulty in the
+occupation of Kabul—that General Stewart has possession of Kandahar,
+and that all we have to determine is what to do with Afghanistan now we
+have got it. There are but three courses of conduct possible—withdrawal
+from the country altogether, a return to the arrangements formulated
+in the Treaty of Gundamuck, or annexation. I will consider the last
+first.</p>
+
+<h4>Annexation.</h4>
+
+<p>Nobody, so far as I know, desires to annex Afghanistan. But there
+are, I apprehend, but few who are aware of what is involved in “the
+annexation of Afghanistan,” and the danger is that we may drift almost
+unwillingly into annexation, to discover the full consequences only when
+too late. Everybody is agreed that India cannot defray the costs.
+This is set down by the supporters of Government at a sum of five
+millions annually. I believe it would be much larger; but we will
+assume that five millions is a correct estimate. By no possibility could
+we screw this additional sum from the people of India. Already the
+expenses of the administration increase at a far quicker rate than the
+revenues which have to meet them. The costs of governing Afghanistan,
+therefore, would have to be defrayed from the English Exchequer.
+But assuming this to be arranged, the pecuniary difficulty is the smallest
+which has to be encountered. To garrison the interior and frontier
+of Afghanistan we should require not less than forty thousand men—one-half
+of whom would have to be English soldiers. For, until
+the interior of Afghanistan is completely opened out by roads which
+can be traversed throughout the year, the garrisons holding the country
+would have to be sufficiently strong to be independent of reserves and
+supports during the winter. And if we attempted to hold Balkh and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+Herat, twenty thousand English soldiers would not suffice. Now where
+are these English soldiers to come from? An addition of at least forty
+thousand men to our regular army would be required in order to supply
+them. But the English part of our Afghanistan garrison does not
+present so insuperable a difficulty as the native. It would not be safe,
+at least for many years, to organize our native garrison from the Afghans
+themselves. The regiments would have to be recruited in India
+specially for this service—but out of what races? The natives of the
+Southern parts of India have not the physique capable of enduring the
+severities of an Afghanistan winter. The Sikhs or Hindoos of Upper
+India would certainly not enlist in a service which carried them so
+far from their homes into the midst of an alien people and an alien
+faith. The only recruits we should obtain in large numbers would be
+Muhammadans. The danger, then, is obvious. In India the fierce
+fanaticism of the Moslem creed is mitigated by its contact with the
+milder tenets of Hindooism; but remove an Indian Moslem to Afghanistan,
+and he would very soon become inspired by the religious zeal of
+his co-religionists around him. We should be exposed to the risk, perpetually,
+of our native garrison combining with the people of the country
+to expel the infidel intruders from the land, and restore the supremacy of
+the Prophet. But even these dangers dwindle into insignificance when we
+contemplate the main result of an annexation of Afghanistan. That result
+would be that the hills and deserts of Afghanistan would no longer extend
+between the Russian Power and our own. We should have given to Russia
+the power to interfere directly in the internal concerns of India.</p>
+
+<p>I have never supposed Russia to have any sinister designs upon
+India. After much reading I have failed to discover any proof of such
+designs. Those who suspect Russia obtain their evidence by a very
+simple process. They reject as incredible the objects assigned by the
+Russian Government as guiding its policy, and substitute their
+own fixed preconception in place of them. I believe that neither
+Russia nor any other Power would accept of India as a free gift. I
+cannot imagine a rational statesman coveting for his country so burdensome
+and unprofitable a responsibility. But that a Russian Government
+should ever attempt the invasion and conquest of India is to me
+beyond the power of belief. What Mr. Cobden wrote in 1835 appears
+to me as convincing at this day as it was then.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“China,” he wrote, “affords the best answer to those who argue that Russia
+meditates hostile views towards our Indian possessions. China is separated from
+Russia by an imaginary boundary only; and that country is universally supposed
+to contain a vast deposit of riches well worthy of the spoiler’s notice. Besides,
+it has not enjoyed the ‘<i>benefit</i>’ of being civilized by English or other Christian
+conquerors—an additional reason for expecting to find a wealthy Pagan community,
+waiting, like unwrought mines, the labours of some Russian Warren
+Hastings. Why, then, does not the Czar invade the Chinese Empire, which is
+his next neighbour, and contains an unravaged soil, rather than contemplate, as
+the alarmist writers and speakers predict he does, marching three thousand miles
+over regions of burning deserts and ranges of snowy mountains to Hindostan,
+where he would find that Clive and Wellesley had preceded him?”</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+Apart, however, from the question of motives, it is not possible to
+march an army from Herat to the Indus. And we must always bear
+in mind that even if the Russian army reached the Indus, their real
+work, instead of being over, would only then commence. With that
+vast extent of hill and desert behind them they would have before
+them some sixty thousand British troops in an entrenched position.
+Even a victory would leave the invader begirt about with dangers and
+difficulty; a defeat would be his utter annihilation. Not a soldier of
+the army of invasion would return to tell the tale. It is impossible to
+divine where or how Russia could raise the money for so gigantic an
+enterprise; and if the money was forthcoming it is not credible that
+any Government should fling it away on such a hopeless undertaking.
+In assuming that Russia will refrain from an attack upon India, there
+is no need to credit either the Government or the people with more than
+that ordinary common sense which hinders men and nations from
+attempting to achieve the impossible.</p>
+
+<p>The danger to India arises not from the existence of any Russian
+designs against our Empire, but from the belief that such exist. This
+belief will, so to speak, hybernate for a season; then all at once we
+find it in full activity, and creating a panic in every heart of which it
+takes possession. These are the critical moments for the well-being
+and security of our Indian Empire. In such a period of panic we
+rushed into the disastrous war in Afghanistan in 1838. Under the
+influence of like feelings we involved ourselves in the inglorious raid
+the first act of which has just terminated. On both occasions we have
+been guilty of assailing a Prince whose only desire was to form an
+intimate alliance with us. On both occasions we have carried fire and
+sword among a people with whom we frankly avowed that we had no
+assignable cause of quarrel. But so long as Afghanistan extended
+between us and the Russian dominions in Asia it was physically impossible
+to declare war against Russia. In our unreasoning panic we fell
+upon the Ameer and his people, because there was no one else to attack.
+But if we make the Hindoo Khosh our military frontier, then Russia,
+by assembling a few thousand men upon the Oxus, can, whenever
+she pleases, agitate India from one end to the other. She will not
+need to attack. The menace will be sufficient. For we must remember
+that the undisputed supremacy of British rule in India depends, in
+the main, upon two conditions, both of which are destroyed if we annex
+Afghanistan. The one is, that no heavier burden be laid upon the
+people than they are willing to bear; and the other, the absence of any
+hope of deliverance. The cost of maintaining our supremacy in Afghanistan
+<i>will</i> make the burden of our rule utterly intolerable alike to our
+native soldiers and our civil population; the assembling of a Russian army
+on the frontiers of Afghanistan will provide the hope of deliverance.
+The hazards and uncertainties of the situation would keep the natives in
+a state of perpetual unrest. The ambitious and the disaffected would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+engage in intrigue and conspiracy; trade would languish; the internal
+development of the country be abruptly arrested; and the Empire
+would assuredly be wrested from our hands on the occasion of the first
+European war in which we became involved.</p>
+
+<h4>The Treaty of Gundamuck.</h4>
+
+<p>Annexation being impossible, is it wise, or is it practicable, to return
+to the provisions of the Treaty of Gundamuck? It is neither wise nor
+possible, for the simple reason that this Treaty was based upon a fiction.
+It was grounded upon the utterly false assumption that there existed in
+Afghanistan a central authority, acknowledged as legitimate by all the
+people of Afghanistan, with whom we could establish permanent diplomatic
+relations. There is no such authority. Instances have been
+adduced of attacks made upon European Embassies in other Oriental
+countries, and the argument has been put forward, that as, notwithstanding
+such outbreaks, diplomatic relations have been maintained with
+Turkey and Persia, there is no reason to conclude from the fate of Major
+Cavagnari that they are impossible in Afghanistan. The cases are not
+parallel. The Ameer of Kabul has no such authority in his capital or
+throughout his dominions as the Sultan or the Shah. It is possible,
+though not very probable, that a British Envoy might reside in Kabul
+without being murdered, but the measure of his utility would depend
+upon the fluctuating fortunes of the Ameer to whom he was accredited.
+The only way to obviate this would be to place a force at the disposal
+of the Envoy, sufficient to put down all insurrectionary movements
+against the Ameer. But if we undertook this duty, we should become
+responsible for the character of the civil administration. We could not
+punish the victims of a cruel or rapacious Ameer, without at the same
+time cutting off at their source the cruelty and rapacity, by the deposition
+of an unworthy ruler. And thus, in a very brief time, we should
+find that virtually we had annexed the country. Facts are stubborn
+things, and it is worse than useless to fight against them. Those who
+contend that the murder of Major Cavagnari ought not to be allowed to
+overturn what they term the “settled policy” of the Ministry, are bound
+to show in what way this “settled policy” can be carried out. How do
+they propose to obtain an Ameer towards whom all the sections of the
+Afghans shall practise a loyal obedience? And if no such Ameer can
+be obtained, with whom or with what are we to establish diplomatic
+relations?</p>
+
+<h4>The Policy of Withdrawal.</h4>
+
+<p>There remains the policy of withdrawal. The surest barrier
+against foreign aggression in India is to be obtained in the contentment
+and prosperity of the people. A people thus situated are prompt to
+repel invasion, and secret intrigue is deprived of the conditions essential
+to its success. But in order that the people of India should be prosperous
+and contented, it is absolutely necessary that the financial burdens
+they have to carry—and especially the military charges—should not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>
+be enhanced. It is not possible to advance our military frontier—even
+to the extent of the (so-called) “Scientific Frontier”—without an enormous
+enhancement of our military expenditure. And all military expenditure
+is unprofitable, in the sense that it takes so much from the
+tax-payer and brings him no material equivalent. Consequently, whatever
+else this forward policy accomplishes, it cannot fail to impoverish
+the people and stimulate their discontent. Moreover, the incidents of the
+war have demonstrated that an invasion of India from Central Asia is physically
+impossible. We started from the Indus, firmly resolved to march to
+Herat, if necessary; but when we had reached Kandahar, we found it impossible
+to advance further. It would be equally impossible for a Russian
+army to march from Herat to the Indus. There is, therefore, no such
+reason for a change of frontier as was alleged in justification of the war.</p>
+
+<p>In all probability there is not even a Tory in England who does not
+in his heart approve of a policy of withdrawal; but there are, he would
+say, difficulties in the way. There are. After all the glowing eulogies
+they have pronounced upon themselves, it will not be pleasant or easy
+for Ministers to transfer these eulogies to their opponents. It will be
+extremely disagreeable for a “specially gifted Viceroy” to have to confess
+that his chiefest gift was a gigantic capacity for blundering. But if
+India is to be preserved to the nation, there is no escape from this unpleasant
+alternative. Either Ministers must acknowledge an error that
+is now patent to all the world, or India must be saddled with the heavy
+costs and the incalculable risks of an annexation of Afghanistan. These
+risks, it must be remembered, are not transitory, but enduring; and if
+we accept them, we must be prepared for a doom of absolute effacement
+in the politics of Europe. The argument which will be urged against
+withdrawing from Afghanistan is, of course, the old familiar one—the
+loss of prestige. This is an argument impossible to refute because the
+exact worth of prestige is an unknown quantity, as to which no two
+people are agreed. But whatever be its value, to rush upon ruin and
+destruction in order to preserve our prestige is an act of insanity.
+It is as if a man should commit suicide in order to preserve his reputation
+for courage. When we retired from Afghanistan in 1842, we frankly
+confessed the mistake we had committed, and I am not aware that any
+evil resulted from the confession. The wrongs that we had done left
+behind them a legacy of evil, but not the confession of those wrongs.
+And so it is now. The frontier policy of Lord Lytton has ruined our
+reputation for justice, truthfulness, and generosity, and the stain of that
+policy must cling to us for ever. We shall not conceal or efface it by
+laying a crushing burden upon our native subjects and upon future
+generations of Englishmen, in order to evade the humiliation of a confession.
+On the contrary, we make what reparation is still in our
+power when, in the interests of both, we refuse to annex Afghanistan.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Robert D. Osborn</span>,<br />
+<i>Lieutenant-Colonel</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CRITICAL IDEALISM IN FRANCE.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>La Science positive et la Métaphysique.</i> Par <span class="smcap">Louis Liard</span>,
+Professeur à la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux. (Ouvrage
+couronné par l’Institut de France.) Paris, 1879.</p></div>
+
+<p>For some years past there has been observable in France, outside of
+and in opposition to Positivism, a growing movement in favour of
+idealism in general, and of the critical idealism of Kant in particular.
+This philosophy, which had previously found very few adherents in our
+country, has now begun to make its way into our teaching and our Universities.
+Berkeley and Kant have been the subjects of special works,
+and an attempt has been made to translate and reproduce their ideas by
+harmonizing them with the principal doctrines of spiritualism. We
+have here a movement full of promise and well deserving of
+attention.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+Among the different productions affording some notion of this philosophical
+tendency, we make choice—as being both the most recent and
+the most complete—of a remarkable work, distinguished and crowned
+by the French Institute, <i>Positive Science and Metaphysic</i>, by a young
+and learned professor of Bordeaux, M. Louis Liard.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with, M. Liard’s work is well composed, its plan being
+simple, severe, and lucid. It divides itself into three parts. The first
+is devoted to determining the nature and limits of positive sciences—that
+is, of the sciences properly so called—and to showing that they cannot
+pretend to abolish or replace metaphysics. In this portion of his
+book the author discusses the three forms of the experimental philosophy
+of our day, namely—Positivism, the philosophy of association, and that
+of evolution.</p>
+
+<p>In the second part, the author examines what he calls Criticism—that
+is to say, the philosophy of Kant. The preceding discussion having
+demonstrated that the human mind is incapable of departing from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
+certain forms, certain laws, without which experience itself would be
+impossible,—the author now resolves these into five fundamentals:
+space, time, substance, cause, the Absolute. But are these forms or
+laws of the mind the laws of things as well? Have they an objective
+authority? We know that metaphysics hang upon the solution of this
+question. We know, too, what is the solution given by Kant to this great
+problem. In recognizing the necessary existence of these forms as laws
+of the mind he disputes their external reality; hence he only admits
+critical, not real and dogmatic metaphysic. Now, as regards this point
+the author of the book under our notice, instead of dissenting from Criticism
+as he had done from Positivism, appears on the contrary to accept
+it by its own name, and to admire and endorse its conclusions. He
+seems to grant or even to affirm that if Positivism is wrong, Criticism
+is right, and that, strictly speaking, metaphysic is not a science.</p>
+
+<p>And yet if metaphysic were not a science in the strict sense of the
+word—that is to say, in the sense of objective sciences—would it follow
+that it was nothing, or nothing more than criticism itself? By no means:
+our author does not stop at that apparent solution; metaphysic according
+to him has an object that criticism has not reached, has not shaken;
+metaphysic has its own proper function, in which criticism can never
+take its place. Only instead of founding it on the object, we must
+found it on the subject. The mind must turn away from the external
+world and re-enter itself. It is there that, without need of forms or
+categories of which criticism has demonstrated the fallacy, the subject
+grasps itself not only in its phenomena but in its being, and determines
+itself in conformity to an end. This end is goodness: and this is
+the only notion we can form to ourselves of the Absolute. Thus, metaphysic
+is not the science of the object, but that of the subject; or if the
+name of science be still withheld, it is at least the study of the subject,
+and it is founded on and completed by morality. Thus, the author ends by
+an evolution very similar to that of Kant, but with certain differences
+which it will be our part to point out.</p>
+
+<p>These constitute the three parts of the work. We will now take
+them up in succession.</p>
+
+<h4>I.</h4>
+
+<p>Let us first of all consider the characteristics of positive science. It
+has for its object the conversion of facts into laws, or in other words the
+resolving the composite into the simple, the particular into the universal,
+the contingent into the necessary. But let us observe with our author
+that we are only dealing here with a relative simplicity, a partial
+universality, a conditional necessity. None of these characters present
+themselves in a really absolute manner. The simple is invariably composed
+of several terms; the universal only applies itself to a certain class
+of phenomena; the necessary is so only with relation to the consequences
+of a law, but the law itself always remains contingent. Thus, no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+positive science can ever attain to the absolute. It is the same with
+methods. These methods are induction and deduction. Now, however
+precise these processes be, however marvellous the sequence and interdependence
+of the propositions they discover and demonstrate, their data are
+never more than particular and contingent facts; consequences, then, can
+only be proportioned to those data. Hence it is certain that the positive
+sciences cannot go beyond a relative universality or necessity. It may
+seem as though we ought to make an exception in favour of mathematics.
+But by a subtle discussion which it would be difficult to give summarily,
+the author shows that they too come under the same law, whence it follows
+that the domain of positive science properly so-called is contained within
+the relative.</p>
+
+<p>From this consideration there has sprung up in our day a philosophy
+that reduces all sciences without exception to the knowledge of
+relation, and by so doing has declared all metaphysics impossible:
+and this philosophy is called Positivism. “Any proposition,” says Auguste
+Comte, “which is not finally reducible to the simple enunciation of a
+particular or general fact, is incapable of holding a real or intelligible
+meaning.” “There is nothing absolute,” says the same philosopher,
+“if it be not this very proposition that there is nothing absolute.” As
+to the proof of this proposition, it lies, according to the school in question,
+in the celebrated law which reduces all progress of the human mind
+in all orders of research to three phases: the theological phase, in which
+facts are explained by causes and supernatural agents; the metaphysical,
+in which they are explained by abstract and ontological entities; and,
+finally, the positive, in which phenomena are verified by experience and
+referred to their laws—that is to say, to constant and always verifiable
+relations of coincidence and succession.</p>
+
+<p>Our author, having expounded this doctrine with much precision,
+proceeds to criticize it with equal sagacity. He points out what
+is illusory in this law of the three states; shows that it confuses
+metaphysic with scholasticism; and proves, finally, that, in aiming at
+merging mind in knowledge, and subordinating, as he says, the
+subjective to the objective, Positivism does not understand what it is
+speaking of, since all knowledge is ultimately referable to facts of consciousness—that
+is to say, to something subjective, which is in effect,
+as Descartes has pointed out, the only order of absolutely certain
+truths. Besides which, let positive science, or rather the positive
+philosophy, in the name of positive facts, proscribe metaphysic as it
+will, is it not evident that the fundamental conceptions of all science—number,
+atom, force, matter, cause, law—are metaphysical conceptions?
+Is it not evident that all science whatever is impossible without a certain
+number of principles or notions,—in a word, of intellectual laws, which
+even govern experience itself? As yet the positive school has not answered
+the learned demonstration of Kant on the necessity of the <i>à priori</i>
+principle, or rather it has ignored it. It has made no addition to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+that old empiricism which the school of Leibnitz and of Kant had
+refuted.</p>
+
+<p>But since the Positivism of Auguste Comte, too little versed in metaphysical
+knowledge to discuss it authoritatively, there have arisen two important
+schools, the one of association, the other of evolution. The former
+has endeavoured to base experience on an experimental and positive law;
+the latter has generalized this law, and made of it a particular case of a
+more general law embracing the whole of Nature—namely, the law of
+evolution.</p>
+
+<p>The doctrine of association may be referred to the fundamental law
+that all ideas rising simultaneously or successively in the human mind,
+tend invariably to recall each other in the same order; this is what is
+called association of ideas. When any two ideas have thus been constantly
+associated without ever being separated (as, for instance, form and
+colour), they unite indissolubly and thus become necessary laws. Now, of
+all these necessary connections, the most universal is this: no phenomenon
+ever appears without having been preceded by some other
+phenomenon, which is always the same under the same circumstances.
+This law is that of causality, which is both the supreme principle and,
+at the same time, the result of all experience. To this doctrine of
+J. S. Mill and Alexander Bain our author opposes the two following objections:—1st,
+How does it explain the generalization? 2nd, How does it
+explain the necessity of the laws of the understanding? On the first
+point the English School appeals to a law that it calls the law of <i>similarity</i>
+or faculty of identifying the like in the different. But this is indeed,
+strictly speaking, a fact of association? Should not association, properly
+understood, be reduced to the law of contiguity—that is to say, to the
+fact of our ideas only becoming associated through relations of time?
+To admit the faculty of recognizing similarity in diversity, what is this
+but to admit mind, intelligence—something, in short, which is other
+than a simple external association? As to the second point, can we
+reduce the rational necessity that Kant and Leibnitz have laid down as
+the criterion of <i>à priori</i> principles to a pure necessity of habit—that is to
+say, to the automatic expectation of the future inscribed on the past?
+Where is the scientific guarantee in this hypothesis? Why should
+Nature bend to our habits? “Who can assure us that we do not
+dream in thinking of the future, and that the next sensation may not
+interrupt our dream by an unforeseen shock?” We see how far-reaching
+this doubt is; it affects not only metaphysic but science as well.</p>
+
+<p>As to the philosophy of evolution, we know that, with regard to the
+origin of the principles of thought, it consists in linking the experience
+of present generations to that of generations past; in substituting
+secular for individual experience—in a word, in filling up by the accumulation
+of ages on ages the interval existing between particular and
+contingent facts and the universality of principles. This hypothesis is
+always at bottom no other than that of the <i>tabula rasa</i>, only it is no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+longer the individual who is this <i>tabula rasa</i>, since each one has,
+by heredity, received a pre-formed intelligence. Nevertheless, under
+pain of contradicting the hypothesis, we are forced to admit that there
+was a first subject who, prior to the action of the object, must have
+been this <i>tabula rasa</i>. But here the objections of Leibnitz reappear.
+What can a pure, abstract, and unmodified subject be? And again,
+before any meeting of subject with object, we have to admit a pure
+object having nothing subjective, just as the subject had nothing
+objective. What shall we affirm of this pure object? Let us divest it
+if you will of colour, heat, sound; must we not at least conceive it as
+extended, as existing in time, conceive it, that is, according to the necessary
+forms that are supposed to be suppressed? For to say that it has
+been capable of existing without having anything in common with these
+forms, and that out of this unknown and nameless condition have
+arisen, by way of transformation, the notions of which we treat, were to
+admit that something <i>can</i> come out of nothing. We must therefore
+acknowledge that universal notions do at least exist as germs at the
+origin of evolution. It is not evolution that has created them, evolution
+has only developed them, and be they ever so attenuated, they still
+remain conditions without which nothing can be thought.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the gist of the first part of M. Liard’s book, and we
+have nothing to add to it but our approbation. We can but admire
+the skilful analysis with which it begins, and the vigorous discussion
+accompanying that analysis. The three stages traversed by the experimental
+philosophy of our days—namely, Positivism, the Associative
+Philosophy, and that of Evolution—are competently and precisely
+summed up. The discussion is cogent, solid, and could not be further
+developed without injury to the unity of the work. No doubt it
+requires close attention to follow it; but it is lucid and well sustained.
+Whatever the difficulty metaphysic may encounter in constituting itself
+a science, and getting recognized as such, it has been established that
+empiricism is not a tenable position, since it has been found necessary
+to pass from positivism to association, from association to evolution;
+while evolution itself still supposed some pre-formation. One thing is
+certain, intelligence invariably contains a something that does not
+come from without—namely, intelligence itself.</p>
+
+<h4>II.</h4>
+
+<p>The criticism of Positivism has taught us that there is no knowledge
+possible without <i>à priori</i> elements—that is to say, without laws
+inherent in thought, which impose themselves upon phenomena, so as
+to constitute veritable knowledge. This is the system of Kant, and
+thus that system avoids not only empiricism, but scepticism as well,
+though commonly confounded with it. For without necessary laws
+phenomena only form an arbitrary succession, entirely dependent upon
+the organization of the individual; we have no longer anything but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+individual sensations. In the Kantian philosophy, however, the individual
+is subjected to laws that are superior to himself; these are the
+laws of human thought, and even, perhaps, of all thought whatever.
+These laws impose themselves on each one of us in a necessary and
+universal manner, and by so doing communicate to phenomena an
+objective reality in this sense at least, that they are for individuals
+veritable objects; and thus it is that mathematical truths are objects to
+the intellect, even supposing they should be nowhere realized in any
+existence independent of thought.</p>
+
+<p>But are these laws of thought anything else than laws of thought?
+Do they really attain to objective reality—to <i>things in themselves</i>. Kant
+has denied that they do, and our author, in following in his steps, agrees,
+or seems to agree, with the “Kritik” of Kant.</p>
+
+<p>Let us then resolve the fundamental laws of the human intellect into
+five principal concepts: these are, space and time, forms of sensibility,
+substance and cause, laws of external experience, and, lastly, the Absolute,
+the final and supreme condition of all knowledge. Now, according to
+Kant and our author, these notions, at least the four first, are at the
+same time necessary as subjective conditions of thought, and contradictory
+so soon as we seek to realize them outside of thought.</p>
+
+<p>For example, that space and time are found by implication in
+every internal or external representation, that they are not the result
+of abstraction and generalization, this has been firmly established by
+Kant; for the elements from which some have sought to derive them
+already imply them. But, at the same time, they are only internal
+conditions, of which the objects are unrealizable outside of ourselves,
+and the reason of this is given by M. Liard, as follows:—Space and
+time have three essential characteristics, they are homogeneous, continuous,
+and unlimited. Now, if we seek to make of space and time
+<i>things in themselves</i> we may doubtless conceive them as homogeneous
+and continuous, but not as unlimited, for no actual magnitude is unlimited;
+all magnitude is expressed in numbers, and numbers are
+necessarily finite, an infinite number involving a contradiction.</p>
+
+<p>We will not enter into a question here mooted by the author, leading
+to what Leibnitz calls the labyrinth of the continued (<i>Labyrinthus
+continui</i>), or of invisibles; we will content ourselves with pointing out
+that the reason here given is not by any means in conformity with the
+ideas of Kant—indeed, that it contradicts them. In fact, our author here
+applies to the two forms of sensibility the objection that Kant raised
+only about real things and the sensible world. The world, indeed, being
+composed of parts, can only be conceived as infinite by adding these
+parts to each other, and by thus supposing the actual reality of an
+infinite number. But it is not so with space, which, not being composed
+of parts, is consequently not representable by numbers. “There
+is only one single space, there is only one single time,” says Kant. The
+notion of space is therefore not formed by the infinite addition of small
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+portions of space and time. These are unities, not numbers. Hence illimitableness
+is given with the very intuition. “Space,” says Kant, “is
+represented as a given infinite magnitude,” <i>als eine gegebene unendliche
+Quantität</i>. Now, so soon as the infinite is <i>given</i>, instead of <i>being made</i>
+by a mental addition, it seems to us that the above difficulty vanishes.</p>
+
+<p>Let us pass to the notion of substance and to that of cause. These
+two notions are necessary to render possible the connection of phenomena
+in the human mind. Our perceptions are, in fact, diverse;
+if they were only diverse, and had no unity, there would be no passage
+from one phenomenon to another; consciousness would arise and disappear
+with each phenomenon, to arise and die anew with the next, and
+so on. But then there would be no thought, for in order that thought
+should exist there must be at least two different things presented to the
+unity of consciousness. In other terms, we should be incapable of
+perceiving a changing thing without something that was changeless.
+Hence this is a necessary condition of knowledge. Now, let us see
+whether this condition can be rendered objective. According to our
+author it cannot, for if we subtract from surrounding things all the
+phenomena that fall under the domain of the senses, what remains?
+Nothing. Common-sense, indeed, believes in substance, but does not
+mean thereby an abstract and metaphysical entity, it means the whole
+of what strikes the senses; when the phenomenon is opposed to substance
+nothing is meant but that a new phenomenon has just added itself to
+preceding ones. Wood burns; here wood is the substance, combustion
+the phenomenon. This is how common-sense understands the matter;
+but if we separate from the idea of wood all that characterizes it as
+wood, nothing remains but a pure abstraction, of which common-sense
+takes no account, and has never so much as thought. Our author
+further combats the idea of substance by appealing to the metaphysical
+difficulties that it suggests. Is there only one substance, or are there
+several? Either hypothesis is equally difficult to sustain. In other
+words, substance is nothing more than that law in virtue of which the
+mind connects phenomena in one and the same act of thought.</p>
+
+<p>Here, again, we are obliged to say that the preceding arguments
+against the objectivity of the notion of substance are, in our opinion,
+far from conclusive. In the first place, it seems to us a false philosophical
+method to exclude an object from the human mind because it
+suggests difficulties that we are incapable of solving. Every object must
+be presented to us as existing before we can judge of the possibility of
+that object. Perhaps we do not possess the means of solving all the
+questions which the existence of an object may suggest, but this is no
+reason why it should not exist. The existence of things cannot be subordinated
+to the limits of our understanding; it is this very principle
+which seems to us soundest of all in the “Kritik” of Kant. Even
+should we be for ever incapable of knowing whether there is one substance
+or whether there are many, even should we be for ever doomed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>
+to doubt as to this point, it would not follow that the existence of one or
+of many substances were thereby done away with. Moreover, the criticism
+of our author goes much further than the imperilling the objectivity of
+substance; it really bears against the very notion itself. If, in fact,
+every phenomenon being withdrawn, nothing remains any longer in my
+mind, it is not merely objective substance that vanishes, it is the notion
+itself. What, indeed, is a notion which, analyzed, comes to naught? And
+what is this necessary law which is a nonentity? Our author tells us that
+if we remove all the accidents there remains “nothing perceptible to the
+senses.” This is mere tautology, for it is too evident that nothing
+sensible ought to remain in the notion, all sensible accidents having
+been withdrawn; but what does remain is that without which phenomena
+could not be connected. And this is no empty concept, for how
+should an empty concept have any uniting power? And, lastly, when
+the author, correcting himself, as we think, says that the notion of
+substance reduces itself to what he calls a “fundamental phenomenon,”
+he does nothing but change the word, and in reality reverts to what we
+call substance. For in what sense does anything fundamental—that is
+to say, that to which other phenomena ultimately reduce themselves,
+and which cannot be reduced to any other—still preserve the name of
+phenomenon? All this, therefore, is but admitting under one name
+what has been denied under another.</p>
+
+<p>The criticism of the notion of cause is quite similar to that of the
+notion of substance. It is a notion necessary to the mind, for just as
+without substance there can be no mental connection between simultaneous
+phenomena, in the same way without cause there can be no
+connection between successive phenomena. Causality is the necessary
+law that connects each phenomenon with its anterior conditions. Without
+this law there could be no science, no induction, no experience.
+It cannot, consequently, be derived from experience, since it is the very
+condition of it. But do we seek to render cause objective as well as
+substance? If so, we must understand it in a different sense. Cause
+is no longer merely a phenomenon anterior to another, the antecedent
+of a consequent. It is something quite different, it is force, the
+active power, that initiates the movement, and of which we find the type
+in our own consciousness. Hence, to render cause objective is nothing
+less than to spiritualize the universe, to suppose everywhere causes
+similar to ours—it is a kind of universal Fetichism. And, further, we
+fall into the same difficulties as we did with regard to substance. Is
+there only one cause or many causes? Lastly, causation thus understood
+is of no use whatever to science, for science has no need at all of
+metaphysical forces, that which is necessary to science, and employed by
+it under the name of force, being a measurable quantity which it
+disengages from phenomena and from experience.</p>
+
+<p>On this new ground the difficulty that confronts critical idealism is
+the same as that affecting the notion of substance. It lies in defending
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>
+the position against empiricism, from which are borrowed all the arguments
+against the reality of the cause, while attempting, nevertheless,
+to preserve the notion of it. How succeed in retaining as an <i>à priori</i>
+law what empiricism declares to be only an acquired habit? How
+explain a law of mind imposing a determined order on external
+phenomena? How can the entirely subjective need of relation
+determine phenomena to produce themselves in the order desired by our
+intelligence? The thunder rolls: my mind, in virtue of an innate law,
+insists on this phenomenon being connected with a certain totality of
+antecedent phenomena—namely, heat, the formation of clouds charged
+with electricity of different kinds, the meeting of these clouds, and the
+combination of the two electricities, &amp;c. How and why have these
+phenomena produced themselves in order to satisfy my mind? Our author
+somewhere reproaches the partisans of innate ideas with supposing ideas
+on one side and phenomena on the other. How can he exonerate Kant’s
+system from this objection? No philosopher ever insisted more than he
+on the opposition between matter and form, the former being, as he
+says, “given <i>à posteriori</i>,” the latter ready prepared <i>à priori</i> in the
+mind. No philosopher, not even Leibnitz, has more radically separated
+sensibility which is passive from the understanding whose principle is
+spontaneity. How do these two opposite principles happen to agree?
+Even were it pointed out that our senses themselves are innate, since
+our sensations are but the manifestation of the specific activity of each
+one of them—light, of the optic nerve, sound, of the acoustic—it still
+remains certain that our sensations are only subjective as regards their
+content and not as regards their origin; they arise in virtue of causes
+to us unknown. How should understanding, by aid of a purely mental
+law, and in order to its own satisfaction, evoke sensible phenomena from
+nothingness, and if it had such a power, it could only be in virtue of an
+active force, that is, of a veritable causality? You say that you require
+relation, without which there could be no knowledge. And why must
+there be knowledge because you feel the need of it? And why should
+there not be in the understanding a need of unity and relation that sensibility
+does not satisfy? To say that the mind at the same time that
+it thinks the law produces phenomena conformable to that law, is to
+make the mind itself the cause in the objective and metaphysical sense
+of the word—is no other than that universal spiritualism that the
+author began by refuting. We are therefore very far from admitting
+his criticism of the principles of causality. Let us go on to the notion
+of the absolute.</p>
+
+<p>M. Liard begins very properly by pointing out the confusion too
+often made between the notion of the infinite and that of the absolute.
+He says that the infinite can only be strictly understood in the mathematical
+sense, but that hence, as Leibnitz has said, the true infinite is the
+absolute. He admits the existence in the mind of the notion of the
+absolute in so far as it is inseparable from that of the relative. The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>
+Scotch philosopher, Hamilton, had endeavoured to suppress this notion,
+and had reproached Kant for not having completely exorcised the phantom
+of the absolute,<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+and for having retained it in the character of <i>idea</i>
+while contesting its objective existence. It is remarkable that on this
+point, so decisive for metaphysics, Hamilton should have been opposed
+and refuted by the more modern English philosophers, who often pass for
+having pushed the critical and negative spirit further than he, when, indeed,
+on this point it is just the contrary. Herbert Spencer especially is one
+whom it is interesting to consult here. He maintains against Hamilton
+the notion of the absolute as positive, not negative, “as the correlative
+notion of the relative, as the substratum of all thoughts”—I quote
+verbally—“as the most important element of our
+knowledge.”<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> He
+also maintains in opposition to Hamilton that the affirmation of the
+absolute is “a knowledge and not a belief.” Only according to him
+this object that underlies all our thoughts is absolutely indeterminable
+by us. We know that it <i>is</i>, not <i>what</i> it is. It is the incomprehensible,
+the unknowable.</p>
+
+<p>M. Liard seems to us substantially to admit all these conclusions.
+“Existence by others,” he says, “is not to be understood without self-existence.”
+“Without the spur of the notion of the absolute, how
+comprehend the obstinate persistence of the human mind in transcending
+the limits of the relative? Is not this a proof that the relative is
+not sufficient to itself?” It is one thing to affirm the absolute, another
+to determine its nature. Even granting that we be powerless to speak
+as to the essence of the absolute, and that it can never be for us other than
+the indeterminable and unknowable, “is it nothing to be assured of the
+existence of an unknowable? At all events religious beliefs might in
+default of scientific certainty find in an irremovable basis this conviction.”</p>
+
+<p>We see therefore that our author agrees with Mr. Herbert Spencer
+in granting the existence of the absolute; he does not seem to reduce it,
+as Kant does, to a mere idea. He confines himself to saying that it
+cannot be determined. He shows that none of the notions that have
+been previously examined can fill up the concept of the absolute.
+Neither space, nor time, nor substance, nor cause, nor the totality of
+phenomena, can be raised to the notion of absolute. It is therefore indeterminable.
+Now, as the absolute is the proper object of metaphysics,
+it follows that metaphysics lack an object, having nothing to say
+thereon. Hence it is self-condemned, and consequently metaphysics is
+not a science.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the conclusion of the second part. The first appeared to
+raise us above phenomena by establishing the necessity of thought and
+of its fundamental law. But the second confines us within the domains
+of thought, and forbids us to go beyond. There is, indeed, a science of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+thought, but this science is criticism, not metaphysics. Have we, then,
+only escaped from positivism to fall into the abyss of scepticism?</p>
+
+<p>Before explaining in what manner the author has endeavoured to
+escape from this abyss, there is room for an important remark on the
+previous discussion as to the notion of the absolute. Scepticism on
+this point may assume three forms. Either, first, we do not even possess
+the notion of it, our notion is entirely negative,—the absolute is the non-relative,
+is indeed the relative with a negation: such is the view of
+Sir W. Hamilton. Or else, secondly, we have the notion of the absolute,
+of being in itself and by itself, of the superlatively real being, <i>ens
+realissimum</i>, as Kant expresses it, but it is only a notion, we cannot
+affirm the existence: this is Kant’s doctrine. Or, thirdly, we have
+indeed a positive notion of the absolute, and we necessarily affirm its
+existence, only we are unable to determine its nature: this is the conclusion
+arrived at by Herbert Spencer. Now, of these three doctrines
+the two first alone, in our opinion, belong to what may be called criticism.
+The third is manifestly a return to dogmatism. The more or
+less of determination in the notion of the absolute is only the second
+problem of metaphysic; the first is the existence of that absolute.
+And, moreover, the doctrine of the divine incomprehensibility has
+always been maintained by the greatest metaphysicians as well as the
+greatest theologians. All mystics incline to it. There may therefore
+be room for debate as to the more or less approximative character of
+our concepts of the absolute. That any of these are adequate, or
+absolutely adequate, is what no philosopher has ever thought himself
+obliged to maintain. No doubt, to define the absolute as the unknowable,
+is to express the doctrine under a very rigorous form, but one
+could hardly refuse to allow the absolute to be the incomprehensible.</p>
+
+<p>Consequently, then, if the author, as appears to be the case from
+the passages we have quoted, thinks with Mr. Herbert Spencer that the
+notion of the absolute corresponds to an existence, and if he contents
+himself with maintaining its indeterminability, we may, if we like, consider
+this to be a singularly attenuated metaphysic, but we are not entitled
+to deny that it amounts to a departure from criticism and a return to
+metaphysic. If, on the other hand, criticism does at least suppose one
+fundamental datum,—thought, namely, and with the thought the thinking,—we
+are still forced to grant to Descartes, and consequently to metaphysic,
+the existence of the thinking subject; and hence that science which
+our author declares not to be one would be found already in possession
+of the claim by the single fact of what he has called the criticism of
+two fundamental postulates: I think, I am—I think the absolute, the
+absolute is. And is this then nothing?</p>
+
+<p>We are therefore of opinion that M. Liard ought to have concluded
+the second part of his work as he did the first—that is to say, that he
+ought to have shown the insufficiency of criticism as he did that of
+positivism. To our mind, criticism supposes metaphysic, as positivism
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+supposes criticism. Metaphysic contains the reason of criticism, as
+criticism does that of positivism. Instead, then, of saying that metaphysic
+is not a science, we should rather call it the culminating point of
+science. But in place of following this natural order, which is, indeed,
+only his own method, our author has preferred to prove criticism right
+in the second part of his book, and metaphysic right in the third, by a sort
+of <i>saltus</i>, not contained in what goes before. He has chosen to appear
+nearer to Kant than he really is; has chosen to carry on his own evolution
+in Kant’s manner, and to rebuild on different bases what he had
+demolished; but we shall see that this evolution is in reality quite
+different from that of Kant, and that his justification of criticism is only
+apparent, or at least if he defends it, this is really only in order subsequently
+to undermine it.</p>
+
+<h4>III.</h4>
+
+<p>Kant’s evolution, which makes dogmatism to result from scepticism,
+was an entirely moral evolution, substituting for speculative the
+authority of practical reason. The evolution we have now to deal with
+is of a quite different character; it consists in passing from objective to
+subjective knowledge, from the object to the subject. Even if all that
+has been just said on the side of criticism were true, there is at least
+invariably one existence that remains untouched by it: this existence is
+that of the thinking subject, and this existence is incontestable. What
+appears to us as a circle to the circumference are objects, in the
+centre is the subject. We do not confound ourselves with our sensations,
+we distinguish between them and ourselves. Can, then, this
+consciousness of the thinking subject be no more than the transformation
+of external events? No; for all exterior events reduce themselves
+to one—<i>i.e.</i>, motion; and all interior events to one—<i>i.e.</i>, thought. There
+is no transition or transformation possible between one of these phenomena
+and the other. “We acknowledge,” says a distinguished savant,
+Professor Tyndall, “that a definite thought and a molecular action of
+the brain occur simultaneously, but we do not possess the essential
+organ, nor even a rudiment of the organ we should require in order to
+pass by reasoning from the one to the other.” Thus, then, the subject
+exists and is not reducible to the object. Shall we say that
+this subject is nothing more than a sum of phenomena? But what
+adds up these phenomena? A common bond is needed. Have we any
+consciousness of such a bond? “Yes,” replies our author, “we call
+internal states of consciousness, past, present, or possible; we attribute
+them to ourselves, we say that they take place within us. What does
+this mean if the <i>ego</i> to which we refer them is only their succession?
+How comprehend the continuity of consciousness?” In a word, our
+author admits absolutely that the <i>ego</i> has a consciousness of its own
+being, as distinct from its sensations and from external objects. “It
+is,” he says, “an activity constantly modified, but yet always one,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+which dominating its states refers them to the unity of one same
+consciousness.”</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, we have, without possibility of mistake, the fundamental
+doctrine of the spiritualistic philosophy of Descartes, Leibnitz,
+Maine de Biran, and Jouffroy. By laying down this principle
+the author believes himself enabled to reinstate that metaphysic
+which criticism had condemned. We, for our part, have no doubt of
+this; but we fail to see how the author can at the same time hold
+this principle and the Kantian principle of idealism. The “Kritik” of
+Kant bears upon the subject as well as the object; according to it both
+the one and the other are unknowable and incomprehensible noumena.
+The human mind is but a complex compound of sensations and categories,
+the unity of which is reached by the same process as the unity of
+external objects. No doubt Kant is, indeed, obliged to concede something
+to the <i>ego</i>, the <i>cogito</i> as he calls it; but he does not very clearly
+say what it is; it is not a substance, not a category, not a result. “It
+is,” says he, “the vehicle of all categories.” What can be more vague?
+The metaphor shows both how little disposed Kant was to assign its due
+part to the <i>ego</i>—how vague and uncertain he left it, and at the same
+time how he was forced to take it into account. The <i>ego</i>, the active,
+continuous, self-conscious <i>ego</i>, is the rock ahead to Kant’s philosophy.
+For how dispute the consciousness of substance and of cause, when one
+admits “a continuous activity dominating all states of consciousness
+and reducing them to unity?”</p>
+
+<p>What, then, is substance, according to our author? It is, he says,
+something that does not change considered as the necessary condition of
+that which changes. What is cause? Is it not the power of initiating
+any given movement? Now, this same consciousness which gives
+us the <i>ego</i> as a continuous activity, does it not in so doing give it us as
+the condition of phenomena and as the productive cause of movement
+in voluntary efforts? Consequently, to grant that the <i>ego</i> knows itself
+as <i>ego</i>, and as activity, is in point of fact to restore the notions of cause
+and substance which had been done away with. At most all that has been
+gained from criticism is the difficulty of comprehending substance and
+cause without objective, that is, material form. Its results, then, amount
+only to the incomprehensibility of matter. But the cause of metaphysic
+is not to be confounded with that of matter; metaphysic is not tied to
+the existence of materialism; and were it even led in self-defence to deny
+the very existence of matter altogether, one does not see that such a
+negation need cost it much. Descartes did not hesitate to place the
+existence of bodies in doubt, in order to save the existence of spirit.
+Malebranche did not believe that the existence of bodies could be proved
+except by revelation. Leibnitz did not think that bodies were more
+than phenomena, the reality of which was spiritual. There is, then, no
+common cause between the interests of metaphysic, or of what Kant calls
+<i>dogmatism</i>, and the question of material objectivity, which may be left
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+open without compromising the fundamental basis of things. How,
+then, can our author appear to assign the victory to criticism while in
+reality depriving it of its chief support by restoring to the <i>ego</i> the
+immediate consciousness of itself as a being, one, active, permanent, and
+continuous? Kant may have played this game, because, in effect, outside
+of criticism, he only admits moral reasons for reinstating dogmatism.
+But although our author follows him too on that ground, he
+nevertheless enters in point of fact upon an entirely different path
+when he invokes immediate consciousness as a guarantee of the existence
+and activity of the mind. These are not moral and practical, but
+metaphysical reasons. Metaphysic, then, independently of morality, has
+its own proper foundation, which, far from being affected by criticism, is
+the very foundation of criticism itself. This foundation once admitted,
+are we entitled to declare metaphysic no science? We hold that we
+are not. Doubtless, if by science be meant an absolutely adequate
+knowledge of the object, such as mathematics affords, metaphysic
+cannot pretend to such knowledge; but we have here only a question
+of degree. The perfection of a science is not the same thing as its
+existence. A science is what it is by reason of the difficulties its objects
+present, and the imperfections of its method; but it is science none the
+less if it possesses a given object and a solid foundation. Now, such a
+foundation is admitted by our author when he admits the intuition
+of the <i>ego</i> by itself; and hence it is no longer a mere question of words
+to refuse the name of science to the series of deductions that may be
+drawn from a principle which has been admitted valid.</p>
+
+<p>If our author grants the foundation of metaphysics by adhering to
+the Cartesian principle of the immediate knowledge of the mind by
+itself, he at the same time acknowledges its most elevated term by
+defending the existence of an absolute perfection, a supreme type of
+spirituality. “If in ourselves,” he says, “relatively perfect ideas realize
+themselves in virtue of their relative perfection, why should not the
+total perfection from whence they are derived exist? There is nothing
+contradictory in such an absolute.” Is not this to admit the doctrine
+of the perfect being as the Cartesian School has constantly expressed it?
+but is it enough <i>to</i> say that the total perfection <i>may</i> exist, enough to
+inquire why it should not exist? Should we not go further, and say
+with Bossuet, “On the contrary, perfection is the reason of being.”
+Here we are forced to allow, in the views, or at all events in the expressions
+of our author, a fluctuation and uncertainty which now impel
+him towards the critical, and now towards the metaphysical position,
+without his arriving at a sufficiently decided conclusion. “The absolute,”
+he says, “would then be the ideal of moral perfection. But by such
+a definition do we not compromise its reality?” To which doubt he
+replies that the “true reality is precisely the ideal.” Now, this is an
+equivocal and obscure reply, demanding explanation. No doubt the
+reality claimed for the perfect being is not a sensible and material
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+reality. But there is another than material reality—there is a spiritual,
+such as is manifested to us in the reality of consciousness, in the immediate
+activity and intuition of our being. We may, indeed, style this
+sort of existence <i>ideal</i>, in opposition to material existence; but the
+expression is incorrect, for that which, properly speaking, is an ideal
+existence is one merely represented to the mind when thinking of something
+that no longer exists, does not yet exist, nor ever will exist. Now,
+the question is, whether the moral absolute, of which we have just had
+the definition given, belongs to the first or to the second of these ideals;
+whether it exists for itself, or only for us, in so far as we think it, and
+while we think it. For a mode of existence like this, dependent on our
+own thought, is very far from being the supreme reality; it is only a
+modal and subjective reality. Thus our author, we see, expresses himself
+too uncertainly. Nevertheless, his own principles sufficiently
+authorized him to declare himself with more precision. Indeed, we
+have seen, on the one hand, that he, with Mr. Herbert Spencer, affirms
+the existence of the absolute; and, on the other hand, that he acknowledges
+the concept of total perfection to be in nowise contradictory.
+Granting so much, must not absolute perfection be the reason of the
+existence of the absolute, as relative perfection is the reason of the existence
+of the relative? If, however, any choose to call that supreme
+perfection the <i>Idea</i>, with Hegel—as Plato calls it the <i>Good</i>, Aristotle the
+pure <i>Act</i>, Descartes the <i>Infinitely Perfect Being</i>—we have nothing to object,
+so long as it be clearly understood that the <i>idea</i> shall signify the identity
+of the thought and the being, and not merely a subjective conception
+of the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>To sum up: it results from what has been already said, that spite of
+his powers of thought, the author has not been able to escape a certain
+fluctuation between criticism and spiritualism, and has only arrived at
+a contradictory compromise between the two conceptions. From criticism
+he borrows the ideality of the notions of space, time, substance, cause,
+and the idea of a moral absolute founded on purely moral motives.
+From spiritualism he borrows the existence of the absolute as the necessary
+correlative of the relative, and the consciousness of the subject
+which perceives itself in its continuity as the cause of its phenomena; and,
+finally, the idea of a total perfection, which may, without involving any
+contradiction, have the reason of its existence in itself. These two
+orders of conception are not so closely connected as they should be;
+too much is conceded to criticism, too little to metaphysic; and M. Liard
+inclines overmuch to give to morality the exorbitant privilege of deciding
+between the two.</p>
+
+<h4>IV.</h4>
+
+<p>But is this equivalent to saying that we blame our author for his
+enterprise, and for the attempt he has made to reconcile criticism with
+dogmatism? By no means; for we are inclined to believe that this is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>
+the very aim that all metaphysic should set before itself at the present
+day. How, indeed, could we possibly admit that so powerful, so lofty
+an intellectual effort as that initiated by Kant, which under the name
+of criticism, of subjective or objective idealism, or even of positivism,
+has but been the development of his primary thought; that so prodigious
+a mental movement as this should be absolutely void of meaning,
+and destined to leave no trace in science? How believe that since the
+days of Descartes the human intellect has gone mad? Would not this be
+to express ourselves in the same way as those who, including Descartes
+himself in this condemnation, have maintained that since St. Thomas
+the whole course of human thought has been only one long error? Can
+there be anything more contrary to the laws of the human mind than
+this hypothesis of absolute truth discovered once for all, leaving no room
+beside it for anything but error? And besides, what more did Kant
+do than, under the form of a system (a defective form, no doubt, but
+hitherto the only one known to philosophy)—what more, we ask,
+did he than develop and render prominent what had been implicitly
+contained in the teaching of all preceding metaphysicians? Had not
+they all assigned a share in human consciousness to the subjective and
+relative, and very often a larger share than we are led to think, if we
+only regard their conclusions? Has there, for example, been since the
+days of Plato a single metaphysician who has denied the knowledge of the
+senses to be relative, and has the full scope and bearing of this principle
+been accurately measured? Can that be denied which has been
+scientifically demonstrated, which Descartes already affirmed, <i>i.e.</i>,
+that light and sound—Nature’s two great languages—are only
+the products of our physical organization, and that outside of
+the eye that sees, and the ear that hears, there is nothing external
+to us but a series of vibrations and undulations, which are
+neither luminous nor sonorous? Reduced to itself, without the presence
+of men or animals, matter is merely darkness and silence! What sort
+of matter may this be, and how little resembling the one we know?
+But is not, it may be said, the reality of that matter attested at least
+by resistance, by impact? The reality—yes; but is the very nature of
+the external thing, as it is in itself, manifested thereby? What is
+impact, what is resistance, if not a mode of our sensations? To be assured
+of this, we have but to turn to all that metaphysicians teach us as to the
+nature of God. All agree in saying that God has no sensations. If God be
+cognizant of matter, as is indubitable, it follows that He does not know it
+through sensations similar to ours. The <i>argumentum baculinum</i> which
+appears so convincing to Sganarelle, would be powerless with regard to
+a pure spirit, still more an infinite spirit. Now is not this as much as to
+say that impact is the mode of action bodies exercise on each other, and
+by which sentient beings are made aware of their existence, but that it
+is a mode purely relative to the sensibility of finite beings? Say that, we at
+least admit with Descartes the reality of extension. But what is the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+real size of the extended things by which we are surrounded, and
+which according to the shape of our lenses we see enlarged, diminished,
+or even distorted in a thousand ways? Were it to please God, as Leibnitz
+has said, to collect the immensity of worlds into a walnut-shell, while
+preserving the proportion of objects, we should never find it out; and
+such diminution might be carried on infinitely, without ever reaching any
+term of smallness. ‘We grant it,’ will be the reply—‘all sensible knowledge
+is relative; Plato, Malebranche, Leibnitz, have sufficiently told us
+this; but above the senses there is the understanding, which alone is
+made for truth. Our senses give us the appearance of things, our
+understanding makes us see them as they are in themselves.’ Nothing
+more true, and this is the basis of metaphysics. But the question is, to
+what point the understanding is separated and separable from sensibility,
+and reciprocally, to what point sensibility enters into the understanding.
+Is there anything in us which can really be called understanding pure?
+Understanding—yes; but pure—no! Man cannot think without images,
+says Aristotle; this alone demonstrates that our understanding is always
+obliged to sensibilize its most abstract concepts. Moreover, between
+pure concepts and the data of sensibility there is still a debatable and
+obscure region—that, namely, of space and time. And here it is that Kant
+has made his mark ineffaceably. It is by so doing that he renovated
+metaphysics. He believed, thought, that both these domains belonged to
+sensibility and not to intelligence, that they too were only modes of
+representation—that is to say, modes purely relative to the nature of our
+mind. On this point also traditional metaphysics came to his support,
+at least as regards time. For is it not said by all schools whatever that
+God is not in time, that He is an eternal <i>Now</i>, that past and future
+are nothing to Him? Is it not this conception which is constantly appealed
+to as affording the solution of the conflict between divine prescience
+and human liberty? Now to affirm that God is not in time, and
+that He sees all portions of time in one sole and eternal present, is not
+this as much as to say that time is only the mode of representation of
+finite beings with regard to themselves; that, consequently, it is an image
+belonging to their finitude, but not to what they are in themselves, since
+God, who must see them as they are, sees them in an absolutely and radically
+different manner? Let us add another difference between the human and
+divine intelligence, pointed out by Bossuet, when he said, “We see things
+because they are, but they are because God sees them.” Therefore in
+God intelligence is anterior to things, in us posterior. Now, though we
+can, through artistic creation, form some idea of an intelligence
+anterior to things, the analogy is, after all, a coarse one, since in
+us creative imagination only deals with materials borrowed from
+without. Hence it follows that our intelligence is but a very
+imperfect image of the divine. Now, as the latter alone can be
+the type of veritable intelligence, we can only attribute to ourselves a
+relative intelligence, subordinated to the conditions of the creature. But
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+does not this amount precisely to saying that we only see things in a
+subjective and human manner, and that, consequently, we do not know
+them as they are in themselves? Let us go further still; let us raise
+ourselves to conceptions of the perfect being, the divine being. Here,
+too, all metaphysicians agree in acknowledging that we have only an
+entirely relative view of the Divinity. Is there one who admits that
+we can, without anthropomorphism, understand literally all the
+attributes that we impute to the Deity? Has not God Himself defined
+Himself in Scripture as <i>Deus absconditus</i>, and does not the doctrine of
+mysteries in every great religion imply that the true essence of the
+Deity is unknown to us, and that, consequently, the philosophic
+doctrine of the attributes of God is a purely human conception, by
+which we strive to represent to ourselves the unrepresentable, and to
+bring within the grasp of our sensibility and our imagination the
+august and sublime notion that confounds all created substance?</p>
+
+<p>This is what we are taught by all metaphysic doctrine whatever, and not
+only by that of Kant, Plato, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Descartes, Malebranche,
+Leibnitz, Fénelon: all alike teach us that the senses are but a
+confused and relative knowledge, that space and time are modes of
+finite existence, that God can only be conceived of by analogy, and not
+in His essence. Are such conceptions as these very different from those
+of Kant? And if he has taken them up again under another form,
+if by isolating he has exaggerated them, his is the merit of having
+brought them into prominence, of reminding us of them, and
+forcing us to assign them a more important place in our doctrines.
+Despite the warnings of the greatest minds, and of all great minds, are
+we not ceaselessly tempted to yield to the automatic instinct which
+makes us believe things to be as we see them, makes us suppose
+the existence of a matter, solid, coloured, sonorous, cold, or hot, such
+as the senses acquaint us with; makes us believe in an absolute space
+and time, with which we no longer know how to deal when we think of
+the true Absolute; makes us conceive of this true Absolute or Goodness
+as of a species of great man, that we strip of a body, without even
+reflecting whether we have really the power of representing to ourselves
+anything absolutely incorporeal? It is against this vulgar current dogmatism,
+which philosophy has so much trouble in getting rid of, that not
+only Kant, but every metaphysician, protests. Kant only expounded,
+under a rigorous and systematic form, all the critical portion of previous
+metaphysics. To us it seems impossible—with more or less reservation,
+and without insisting at present too rigidly on the share of the relative
+and subjective in human knowledge—impossible, we say, not to allow
+this share, and consequently, in a certain measure, not to give in our
+adherence to transcendental criticism and idealism. There is, however,
+as we have seen above, something which escapes from this relativity of
+all human knowledge: it is the very fact of knowing. This fact has
+in itself something absolute. I know not whence it comes, I cannot
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+explain it; I marvel that a being should be met with in whom at one
+time or other what we call knowledge has appeared; but this fact
+cannot exist without being known by the knower. All knowledge
+supposes, then, a subject that knows itself—that is to say, who is
+internally present to himself. Here knowledge comes from within, not
+from without. Whatever is objective can only <i>appear</i> to me, and is
+consequently a <i>phenomenon</i>. I only see its outside, and it is only in relation
+to myself that I can grasp even that outside. But the conscious <i>ego</i>
+sees itself from within. Shall we say that it appears to itself? I am
+willing to say so, but as it appears to itself that appearance is a reality,
+for the form that I give it is my own form. In order that it should
+become <i>me</i>, <i>I</i> must be <i>me</i>. Every other object has to be given in the
+first instance before it is perceived; in order that I should see a house,
+a house must be there. It is not so with the <i>ego</i>. For if at the
+moment it is given me it is not already me, how is it to become so?
+How shall I know it as such? And if it be already me, it is already
+perceived as such. Hence it follows that the external thing may be
+represented without being, as happens in sleep, while I cannot think
+without thinking myself, or think myself without existing. All subjectivism,
+all relativism, all criticism, therefore, are baffled in presence
+of the <i>ego</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is from this solid and immovable foundation laid by Descartes at
+the entrance of science that we may set out to extend the sphere of our
+knowledge. Everything, it is said, is relative. What matter if that
+relative be connected by precise and fixed relations with the unknown,
+if that which is given be a strictly faithful projection of that which is
+thought? For instance, we do not know the souls of other men in
+themselves, we have never seen a soul such as it is in itself; those even
+which are dearest to us are unknown like the rest. But if we suppose
+all the signs by which they manifest themselves to be sincere, is it not
+to know them truly and in the only way intelligible to us, to hear their
+voices, and understand their words, and interpret their actions? No
+doubt nothing external to ourselves can be known internally by us;
+but if the exterior be the expression of the interior, is not the one the
+equivalent of the other? And to ask more would amount to asking to
+be more than man. Science teaches us that all appearances have a
+fixed and precise relation to reality. The visible apparent sky is strictly
+what it ought to be to express the real sky. The deeper our knowledge
+of things goes, the more we see the perfect conformity of the apparent
+to the real, the more faithfully do phenomena translate noumena. Are
+we not, therefore, justified in supposing that these relative noumena,
+which are still no more than appearances, could be translated in their
+turn, if only we had the key to them, into other noumena of which
+they are the form and image? I may say the same about the anthropomorphic
+representations of Deity. I admit that the Absolute is in its
+essence above all human representations. But these representations,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+when we disengage them as much as possible from all sensible elements,
+are none the less the true expression of that incomprehensible essence
+in so far as it appears to a human consciousness. If not God in Himself,
+it is God in relation to me; and it is with only this last that we have to
+do so long as we are but men.</p>
+
+<p>We do not, therefore, consider it impossible to assign to the critical
+element its part in metaphysic without denying the objective reality
+of knowledge. We think that the famous old distinction between
+being and phenomena, the intelligible and the sensible, still endures,
+despite the “Kritik” of Kant; or rather, this very “Kritik” itself is, in
+our eyes, only a hyperbolical but striking manner of expressing this
+great truth.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Paul Janet.</span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+We already endeavoured to make this philosophy known at its earliest appearance,
+by an article that appeared in the <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i> of the 19th October, 1873,
+under the title, “A New Phase of Spiritualism.” We are now dealing with the most recent
+form of this new school.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+Hamilton’s “Discussions: Cousin, Schelling.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+Herbert Spencer’s “First Principles,” First Part p. 18.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>ON THE MORAL LIMITS OF BENEFICIAL COMMERCE.</h2>
+
+<p>When a Professor of <i>Political Economy</i> was first established in the
+University of Oxford, a controversy presently arose in the
+academical common rooms concerning the just meaning of the phrase.
+Among elder and conservative men, the most active-minded insisted
+that it ought to receive the full width of meaning attached to it by
+Aristotle in his Treatise on Economy, which, with him, was essentially
+the economy of the State—that is, in pure Greek, <i>political</i> economy,
+although this epithet is not annexed to his title. By this interpretation,
+the science naturally and necessarily became implicated with moral considerations,
+which never can be excluded from the statesman’s view.
+But the actual students and professors of the new science—eminently
+Mr. Nassau Senior and Dr. Whately, shortly afterwards Archbishop of
+Dublin—naturally feared that by such an interpretation political
+economy would become confounded with politics; would, indeed, cease
+to be a science; and by so great an enlargement of its area, would fail
+to receive that special and definite cultivation which Adam Smith had
+bestowed on it, as the theory of national wealth. Whately indeed, to
+avoid this inconvenient extension of the sense, proposed to call the
+topic, not political economy, but <i>Catallactics</i>—that is, the science of exchanges.
+Excellent in many respects as the last title was, it might
+have seemed to exclude the whole doctrine of taxation, and still more
+decisively all discussion of Malthus’s theory of population, which belongs
+to politics or to morals, not at all to the doctrine of exchange. In the
+end, the economists ruled that their science does not at all teach what
+<i>ought</i> to be, but simply what <i>is</i>, what <i>goes on</i>, and <i>will go on</i>, as an
+inevitable result of individuals holding exchangeable right in definite
+articles. Thus they seemed to have driven moral considerations out of
+their science, as much as out of gardening or medicine. To call their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+political economy, on that account, <i>heartless</i> (as so many have done)
+may seem ridiculous; but this form of attack on it arose from a perception
+or belief that its professors were claiming for it an <i>imperative</i> force,
+while disclaiming morality, and were assuming that it was a sufficient
+and supreme rule for political action.</p>
+
+<p>Of late it has been maintained on a special ground that moral considerations
+cannot wholly be excluded from political economy. Dr.
+W. B. Hodgson, first holder of a new chair in Edinburgh as Professor of
+<i>Mercantile</i> Economy, has urged that, in so far as morality or immorality
+in individuals affects wealth and the markets, we do not exhaust the
+discussion on exchanges while we neglect this consideration. Perhaps
+indeed no one, in discussing taxation, has omitted to consider what
+taxes lead to fraudulent evasion or to smuggling; but economists
+hitherto, with great unanimity, have resolved that, in their character of
+economists, they will not notice moral evils from an opium trade,
+or from sale of deadly weapons and ammunition, or from traffic
+in intoxicants; nor can one in general discover from their writings that
+they know vice to be wasteful, or national expenditure on needless and
+foolish objects undesirable. They have a right to select what topics
+they will treat, and what they will not treat. They have a right to
+say: “Such and such considerations belong to morals, not to <i>our</i>
+political economy.” But, on the one hand, if they are resolved that
+their science shall be as unmoral as engineering or navigation, they
+must not claim for it any decisive weight in State-politics; on the other
+hand, the topics which they neglect need, so much the more urgently,
+to be treated by others, especially since we have no professors of
+practical morals, and (for more reasons than one) questions of the
+market are not thought suitable to the pulpit.</p>
+
+<p>That an exchange of one thing for another does, on the whole, <i>please</i>
+both parties to the exchange, is evidently testified by the fact that each
+acts voluntarily; hence, the inference is too lightly made that each is
+<i>benefited</i> by the transaction. Not only so, but from an increasing
+magnitude of exchanges increase of wealth is inferred, without any
+reference to the nature of the things exchanged. In a rough estimate,
+this reasoning has, no doubt, a <i>primâ facie</i> weight, for we may not
+dictate to the tastes of others, nor assume that tastes which are not
+ours are therefore silly. Yet, evidently things which perish in the
+using quickly cease to be wealth, and things which are not likely to be
+approved continuously cannot long command the same high price.
+No article could fetch a price at all if it were not intended to be
+enjoyed, used, or consumed; the final purchase is called expenditure,
+and all expenditure is liable to moral judgment, approving or censuring.
+When we censure expenditure, not merely because it is excessive, but
+because it is essentially foolish or evil, we necessarily deplore and
+deprecate the traffic which feeds it—the traffic which it encourages;
+hence, some vicious trades are even forbidden by law. Short of this,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+there is necessarily a large margin of trades which law does not, and
+perhaps cannot successfully, forbid, which nevertheless may be justly
+regretted, censured, and, as far as may be, discountenanced. Economists
+are not here blamed if they (disowning moral considerations) do nothing
+of the kind; but they must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that
+some trades, not forbidden by law, are so far from promoting wealth and
+weal as to be gravely pernicious. To rejoice in their magnitude, to
+announce it triumphantly as a proof of national prosperity, is something
+worse than a mistake.</p>
+
+<p>No reader, it is believed, will complain that the last sentence is
+mysterious or obscure. Our manufacturers of cotton and woollen have
+of late loudly deplored the falling off of their home trade, while the
+consumption of intoxicating drink continues to increase. They believe
+that if the labouring classes spent less on the brewer and distiller, they
+would spend more on the clothier. The most fanatical devotee of
+alcohol cannot deny that too much of it is drunk, in face of the long-continued
+avowal of the judges that drink is by far the greatest cause
+of crime—drink, short of evident and provable drunkenness. Indeed,
+it is not from those who are outright drunk, but from those who have
+been drinking, that the worst and most numerous outrages come, while
+the foot and the eye are steady, though the brain and the passions are
+perverted. To boast and rejoice in the magnitude of the drink traffic,
+legal as it undoubtedly is, has no moral defence. The topic is here
+adduced, not in order to push that argument further, but in order to
+insist that the mere increase of a trade does not <i>in itself</i> denote an increase
+of wealth; is not <i>in itself</i> necessarily a thing to be applauded
+either by the economist or by the moralist. In each case we must look
+into detail, and consider whether this or that prosperous trade, like a
+huge weed in a garden, dwarfs or kills other growths, which, but for it,
+might thrive.</p>
+
+<p>An avowed ardent disciple of Mr. Cobden—a gentleman in some
+eminence of place and rank—has recently dissuaded taxes on wine and
+tobacco for the sake of revenue, <i>not</i> on the ground which one might
+expect—viz., that a Government ought not to base a revenue on what
+may chance to be public vice, <i>but</i> on the ground that “the grower of
+wine in France and of tobacco in America” can reasonably refuse to
+trade with us, if “we will not accept payment in <i>the only coin</i> which
+he has to offer—namely, in his wine or his
+tobacco.”<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> As if we were
+not competent to reply: “Of wine and tobacco we quickly get more
+than enough. Preserve your grapes in sawdust, or make them into
+raisins, and you will not find our people averse to enjoy them, nor
+will you encounter any unreasonable duty from our Custom-houses.
+As to tobacco, surely the rich land which alone can raise it, can raise
+no end of other products which we are certain to value.” This well-informed
+writer, in his whole argument, seems to account wine the only
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>
+food-product which we receive from France (to silks and elegant
+articles he once slightly alludes); but he cannot be ignorant that the
+solid food which France sends us in eggs, cheese, butter, vegetables,
+chickens, and dry fruit is enormous; she would in ordinary years send
+us wheat, did not America, Russia, and Australia make it needless.
+To speak of wine as <i>the only coin</i> of France is a wonderful straining
+of argument. But the reason for quoting it here is to illustrate how
+completely the School of Cobden wishes the State to ignore moral considerations
+in trade. Yet the State deserves no reverence, if it be not
+moral. Laws and enactments, framed by minds reckless of morality,
+are apt to be, on the one side unjust and oppressive, on the other
+eminently corrupting. A State which gains revenue from a vicious
+trade, such as gambling and debauchery, demoralizes its people so
+effectually as to deserve reprobation rather than reverence. According
+to the ancients, the lawgiver begins to civilize society and to earn veneration
+by establishing marriage and sanctifying the family. Are we
+to say, “We have changed all that now; let the Church care for
+morality: it is no concern of the State?” Who first taught such
+sentiment as wise policy, it is not easy to say; but it certainly has, in
+practice, if not in theory, attained a deadly currency. It never was
+the doctrine of Adam Smith. It is obviously a sure road to ruin, if
+its development be unopposed.</p>
+
+<p>A legislator, of course, ought not to guide his enactments by the
+morality of any one school. If, in Greek fashion, we were to set up an
+Epimenides, a Solon, a Lycurgus, as plenipotentiary to start us in a
+new course, there might be some little danger of one-sided and conceited
+morals; yet not much, even so; for a very one-sided or very stupid
+man would hardly be elected: every lawgiver wishes his new institutions
+to be permanent, and is sure to have some regard to the friction which
+they would encounter in working. But where the legislation must have
+sanction, not from one man, but from a thousand men, of whom six
+hundred are elected from different circles of mixed ranks, from diverse
+localities, where forms and schools of religion, based on variety of
+thought, prevail, it is evidently impossible that in the laws collectively
+approved any moral ideas should dominate, except those which are
+common to all who are morally cultivated. To dread moral considerations
+in the debates of an English Parliament, lest the morality prevailing
+in its laws become one-sided and arbitrary, pedantic and ascetic,
+is so baseless, so wanting in good sense, as scarcely to seem sincere.
+When people tell us, “We shall be liable to have laws against dancing
+and cardplaying, or laws compelling us to go to church, if we insist that
+legislation ought to study for the public virtue,” they not only make
+themselves ridiculous, they even force us to suspect that they fear lest
+vice be repressed in ways inconvenient to the vicious. So much is premised,
+lest it be imagined or pretended that in pointing at moral
+limits to beneficial commerce any morality is desired less broad than
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+that which all noble and well-reputed schools accept—the morals of
+mankind. At the same time, what is here advanced is intended to
+bear less immediately on law than on the general tenor of public opinion
+and practical writing.</p>
+
+<p>Many economists write, as assuming that it is a step forward in civilization
+when a barbarous people learns artificial wants. If a New
+Zealander, instead of being satisfied with a mat for his back, which,
+made by himself, will last him for years, betakes himself to an English
+coat, which he must buy with a price,—which indeed less effectually shields
+him from wet, and sooner wears out,—he does that which is convenient
+to the English trader, but to him is a very doubtful gain: perhaps
+rather he brings on himself colds, cough, and consumption. If a
+thousand Maoris did the same, the commerce might figure in a Maori
+budget, and a Maori economist might point to the new trade as a step
+forward in national prosperity. The Zulus, as described by Englishmen
+who have travelled in Zululand or lived in the midst of them in Natal, are
+an upright, generous, faithful, honest race; and strange to say, Englishmen,
+who have such experience of them, are found to corroborate the
+utterance of Cetewayo, “A Zulu trained by a missionary is a Zulu
+spoiled”—that is, when trained in our habits they lose their national
+virtues. How can this be? why should it be? Apparently, because
+from us they learn artificial wants. While an apron suffices a Zulu for
+clothing, and a very simple hut for shelter, he can in many ways afford
+to be hospitable and generous. A man with very few wants has all
+the feelings of superfluity and wealth while surrounded by possessions
+so slender that we count him very poor: and when with an amount of
+toil which to his hardihood is not at all severe, he can always calculate
+on providing for himself and family all that their simple habits need, he
+is not deterred from present generosity by studying for his own future.
+But if he learn to covet and count necessary a number of articles
+which require from him threefold labour, he feels himself no longer rich,
+but poor; then, instead of giving small favours gratuitously, he claims
+to be paid for everything; instead of being princely, he becomes mercenary
+and stingy. If he imitate the dress, he is liable to envy the
+wealth of the Englishman, and in schemes of laying up for the future
+he easily becomes avaricious, perhaps fraudulent. Such are the steps
+by which one may justly calculate that some or many barbarians
+degenerate from the normal goodness of their fellows. The artificial
+wants which they learn when housed with our missionaries, or imbibe
+from the crafty allurements of traders, are not (<i>primâ facie</i>) a benefit at
+all, do not conduce to independence, to the sense of wealth, nor to the
+practice of virtue. They are simply a convenience to the European trader.
+If a Maori or Zulu chief frown upon such trade, which judgment does he
+deserve—to be scolded as barbarous, or to be praised as sagacious? With
+them, perhaps also with us, to account but few things necessary is a
+foundation for many virtues. Our economists often reverse the picture.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No stress is here laid on the fact that the historical saints of
+Christendom thought it an excellence to be satisfied with a minimum
+of external appliances for the comfort of the body. So much of
+arbitrary opinion may be imputed reasonably to them, and so much of
+fancy and credulity to their biographers, that it does not occur to the
+present writer to account their practices or principles any support to
+his argument. But the case of Socrates, and many other Greek
+philosophers, is different, and much to the point. With them, high
+thought, cheap feeding, and mean circumstantials frequently went
+together; and perhaps even those philosophers, who were somewhat
+mercenary and rich, would vehemently have renounced the idea that
+it is a good thing to acquire habits and tastes which make necessary to
+us things previously needless. But there is danger of drawing the
+reader’s thoughts into a new channel by this allusion to Greek philosophers
+when an argument of national economy is chiefly intended, not
+of personal virtues. As it is better for an individual to be satisfied
+with supplies that are sufficient, close at hand, and easy of attainment,
+than to have fastidious tastes which cannot be supplied without considerable
+effort and labour, so it is better for a nation to have a taste
+for its native products, so far as our lower wants are concerned. If we
+can get all that the health and strength of the body needs from our
+own soil, and with small expenditure, this is better for us than to be
+enslaved to artificial tastes, which multiply labours for mere bodily
+supply. To fix ideas, let me illustrate the principle here contained by
+discussing those popular beverages, tea and coffee.</p>
+
+<p>Tea undoubtedly, as superseding beer, cider, and wine, has wrought
+much benefit to England, even if it have been (when heavily taxed)
+dearer than our native intoxicants. When taken with little food, in
+strong and frequent cups, it may often have weakened the nerves; but
+it does not, like alcohol, pervert the brain and inflame the mind, thus
+leading to folly, vice, and crime. The present writer is, and always
+has been, a tea drinker; nor have the many assaults on this beverage
+which have been sent to him shaken his belief that, taken in moderation,
+it has no evil comparable to its good. The present argument does not
+aim to prove that tea is in itself bad, only that the too-exclusive addiction
+to it has hurtfully excluded the trial of native beverages, which
+are perhaps better, certainly cheaper, and far more accessible.</p>
+
+<p>Rigid enemies of alcoholic drink often assure us, in poetical and
+ecstatic language, that water is the only reasonable and right drink for
+man, as for other animals; but the water which they recommend and
+describe as gushing and sparkling in mountain rills does not come
+to the hearth and home of every mountain dweller, much less is it
+attainable by the inhabitants of cities or boggy plains. The hardy
+beasts of the field, if they can get the water pure, manage to endure
+its coldness in all seasons; so perhaps might we, if we could recover
+robustness of the stomach without losing any advantage of a developed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+brain. That such recovery is impossible is not here asserted, but
+simply that, under the existing circumstances, the water (through its
+impurities or its coldness) often needs to be cooked, to be warmed, to
+have then some taste superadded which shall overcome mawkishness.
+When this is conceded, the question arises, will no native botany suffice?
+Are we of necessity driven to import tea from China or Assam? Such are
+the wonderful and deep harmonies of Nature that in each long-inhabited
+country the constitution of animals becomes adapted to its plants as well
+as to its climate, and finds among them not only its food, but its remedies
+for disease. Native herbs are often found more health-restoring than
+pretentious foreign drugs; nor is it extravagant to imagine that native
+leaves and berries might adapt themselves as well to the palate of
+Englishmen as tea and coffee, and better to their stomachs, if, instead
+of buying from the foreigner, we had duly studied our home resources.
+In the case of coffee, it curiously happens that there are persons
+among us who prefer what is called dandelion coffee to the coffee of
+Arabia; and that the preference is sincere seems proved by the accident
+that the dandelion thus prepared is dearer than the best Mocha. Nor
+does this dearness weigh against our argument. Twenty years ago
+brown bread was charged by bakers as fancy bread; ten years ago
+lentils were double their present price; in each case because the demand
+was so uncertain. The price of dandelion would quickly come down if
+it were in large and daily request. As substitutes for tea many leaves
+may be named which will not be called simply medicinal, prominently
+those of the sweet bay, the peach, and the black currant. If we were
+by any cause cut off from tropical markets, some combination would
+soon be discovered which carried off public preference; and when a
+national taste in it had once been established, every good purpose
+would have been attained without the foreign article. Should we
+not in that case moralize with wonder over the vast apparatus of great
+ships, which had been built, and manned, and stored, and sent
+to sea, with loss of sailors’ lives, entailing widowhood and orphanhood,
+for no better reason than to bring back leaves, for which adequate substitutes
+abound at home? This argument undertakes not to prove, but
+to illustrate. It is not specially confined to the case of tea or coffee.
+It does not make positive assertion that we can now change the
+English taste, nor does it urge a transition which would be violent, if
+at all sudden. It merely points to reasonable probabilities, as showing
+that a vast trade with a distant country to gratify an artificial want, if
+it prove how much we can afford to spend without being ruined, yet
+does not at all prove that we enrich ourselves by the exchange. At the
+same time, so great is the facility for making drinks, that we might
+assume higher ground and press our argument farther. The deliciousness
+of Oriental sherbet is no matter of doubt or controversy. Its basis
+is simply barley-water; to flavour it, the foreigner, of course, uses some
+of his own fruits, but we have plenty of substitutes at hand, at least
+while sugar abounds to us. It may be warmed, if necessary: so little
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+need we depend on the Chinese. Besides, some among us are satisfied
+with, and warmly applaud, the drink prepared from simple oatmeal. If
+we all had this taste, we should nationally be richer.</p>
+
+<p>It may be retorted, “Did you not name <i>Sugar</i>? Do you advocate
+making sugar of beetroot?” But no general renunciation of foreign
+commerce is for a moment here suggested as expedient. While we
+can bring sugar made from cane, and save our lands for other uses than
+beetroot, we presume this commerce to conduce to wealth. Not but
+that we may suspect the cheapness of sugar to conspire with other
+causes in slackening our zeal for <i>Honey</i>. Bees do not occupy and use
+up arable land. An abundance of cottage gardens and little rockeries
+satisfy them. Their depredations do not lessen the sweetness of flowers,
+nor the savour of herbs. They add to our wealth, at very small expense.
+They greatly add to the fertilization of plants. By all means let us
+get from the foreigner what we need; only let us not therefore
+neglect and forget our native resources.</p>
+
+<p>In other and greater matters a like topic recurs. When the controversy
+against the Corn Laws was at its height, the advocates of
+repeal were taunted with wishing to explode native wheat. They
+replied, “Wheat is now largely sown in England where the climate or
+soil is unfavourable; in such fields only, the culture will be discouraged;
+where it can be produced and ripened with greater certainty it will still
+be grown, and the price will no longer be forced up; the lands less
+suited to wheat may well yield, either some other grain in rotation, or
+other needful crop.” Valid as this reply seemed, grand and glorious as
+are the results of opening our ports to foreign corn, the retrospect of
+thirty years nevertheless suggests new lines of thought. Want of food
+in Ireland when the potato crop failed was the argument which converted
+Sir Robert Peel; but the desire of selling cotton and woollen
+fabrics, or hardware, to those whose “chief coin” was wheat, gave an
+earlier impetus to the Anti-Corn Law League. Cobden and his associates
+were in the right, and performed well the task of the day; but
+the existing state of our agriculture is now discerned to be highly
+unsatisfactory. Every year widens and deepens the conviction that our
+laws of Land Tenure are fundamentally wrong; indeed, they are diverse
+from those of all the world; if they are not signally better than those
+of all other nations, they are gravely and lamentably worse; and the
+idea now presents itself, that the temporary relief given to us by
+the free importation of wheat has proved a buttress to an evil
+system of land laws, and has blinded us to the essential evils contingent
+on a perpetual increasing ratio of the population in great towns to that
+of the rustic districts. Much wealthier, no doubt, we are, and our
+poorer classes are less hard-worked. To dwell on the drawbacks through
+higher expectations, artificial wants, higher prices of coal, bricks, and
+houses—not to mention worse matters—might lead into too long digression.
+But, to bring out the idea here pointed at, we may speculate as
+to the results which must have followed, if no foreign markets had been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+able to give us permanent supplies of necessary food. Suppose that
+barely we had been able in 1847 to save from starvation as many poor
+Irishmen as we did save, but that in succeeding years the United
+Kingdom had been cast on its own resources for grain and cattle; will
+any one maintain that by a proper use of the land we could not have
+fed our own population?</p>
+
+<p>If any one is of that opinion, let him consider the phenomena of
+French agriculture. A century ago France seemed unable to feed her
+inhabitants. Thousands of the population died of starvation, even the
+king’s own servants. Misery among the peasants and the poorer
+classes in towns was universal. No one imagined that the country
+could afford to export food, or had any idea of its vast capacity of production.
+Her climate is not now superior to what it was; her area is
+somewhat enlarged by the sagacious plantings on dunes of sand; the
+soil is improved by a century’s tillage; the produce is more valuable,
+because the peasants have been taught many secrets of fruit culture.
+Most important of all, millions of peasants are owners of small freeholds.
+The “magic of property” has made them industrious, saving and ever
+vigilant to increase and improve the crops. We in England censure
+and deplore the compulsion on a French parent to divide his petty freehold
+and his gains equally among his children. If this be a grave evil,
+yet so much the more remarkable are the marvellous results of the
+union in one man of landlord, farmer, and labourer: for we see that by
+the universal and untiring industry which this fact elicits, not only
+were the great extravagances of the Second Empire and its wars
+sustained, but, in spite of the scarcely calculable losses of the Franco-German
+war, the fine of two hundred and fifty millions sterling, which
+France had to pay, was paid within four or five years, while a larger
+army than ever was raised and maintained. No one can dispute that
+the unexampled buoyancy of French finance is due mainly to the sound
+conditions of French landed tenure. Ireland, Scotland, and England all
+await a similar development, and never can be satisfied without it: but
+we have postponed the day of necessary reform by buying our food of
+almost every kind, in dangerous amount, from foreign countries, while
+our own arable land goes back into grass and pasture.</p>
+
+<p>And what reply does the Right Hon. John Bright make, when
+addressed with a claim of reformed landed tenure? His name is here
+adduced for honour, as an eminent type of the Cobden School; but the
+habitual reply is, “Good! we are in favour of Free Trade in land:”
+as though Free Trade were in itself a charm which can scare away all
+evils; as though the existing freedom to accumulate land to any extent
+by purchase were not one of our greatest mischiefs. Men cannot live
+in the air. Land for a dwelling is as essential as air and water.
+Land is very limited in quantity, especially land conveniently situated,
+with favourable conditions. Land primitively belongs to a nation, and
+no man naturally has any right to more of it than he can himself cultivate
+and use. Large landed estates are a vast power, social and political.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+Their possession was originally in England an official trust, coupled with
+political duties and customary dues in payment: but without right of
+ejectment while those dues were paid. The commercial idea of land is
+a perversion and abuse. Those who fancy that the abolition of entails
+and primogeniture and whatever makes conveyances expensive, will bring
+about the desirable reform, boast that their remedy will hoist up the
+market price of land; in other words, it would make an effective purchase
+by the State more and more difficult, more and more burdensome
+to the community. Nay, it might even delay the necessary reform,
+until the patience of a nation under a landlord Parliament broke down,
+and such a revolution followed as that of France under Louis XVI.
+As there is a moral limit to the magnitude of beneficial commerce with
+the foreigner, much more is there a moral limit to the beneficial magnitude
+of landed estates. Happily some despots are philanthropic; yet
+we are not in love with despotism. Some great landowners are philanthropic:
+higher honour be to them! but we must calculate that very
+many will covet power over all who reside on the estate, and will use the
+power not always kindly; or will employ it as a political engine to win
+state-offices and salaries for their families; others, more directly and unblushingly
+mercenary, will think chiefly how to raise rent, and will forbid
+both crops and inhabitants, if wealthy lovers of occasional sport outbid
+ordinary farmers. If from mere pride and love of the romantic a landlord
+make his estate a wilderness, the nation still suffers the damage.
+Its population is cooped into towns or driven into exile, its markets are
+starved, its military force is lowered. While the Cobden School pertinaciously
+connives at these great evils, and juggles with the phrase “Free
+Trade” as if land were an article which ought to be on the same footing as
+moveables, they are playing into the hands of their nominal adversaries.</p>
+
+<p>The first measure which we need is not one which shall facilitate the
+purchase of new and new estates by the over-wealthy, who, if they are
+not gamblers or otherwise vicious, often know not what to do with their
+vast incomes; but much rather a measure which shall set a maximum
+area for estates. The mildest thing to do is, not in the first instance
+to pass any new <i>Act</i>, but only a resolution or <i>Vote</i> of the Commons,
+declaring that it is against the public interest for any individual to
+possess more than a thousand acres of rustic land, or more than five
+acres of town land; and that whoever bequeaths to one person more
+than the above-named, ought to be subjected to a heavy and special
+land tax. In the same direction we need other special votes of the
+House, to the effect—that by legislation, by purchase, and by taxation
+the recovery of the national soil for the nation from year to year ought
+to be systematically pursued, wherever now held in large masses by
+bodies of men or by individuals; and that in order to give to cultivators
+the full results of their own industry, it is expedient that the State, out of
+its own present or future domains, carve out numerous small farms to
+be held under it as by copyright tenure, not subject to rise of rent.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+Space does not permit further detail, or reply to objections; but the
+idea intended is to work in the direction of <i>virtual</i> freeholds, ever
+increasing in number, which cannot be bought out of the hands of the
+cultivators by tempting prices from the rich, because they are legally
+State property, and destined to remain as areas of small culture. By
+buying up from time to time the lands possessed by large charities, by
+legacy taxes directed to discourage bequests of land in great mass, and
+by direct purchases of land or rather by taking the legacy tax in land
+itself, the State would beneficently in the course of many generations
+undo the injustices and frauds of the past.</p>
+
+<p>Land is so far from being a desirable object of unlimited commerce
+(called by the Cobden School Free Trade), that, especially under the
+modern interpretation which makes the lord (or chief man) <i>owner</i> of the
+land, the most jealous limitations ought to be imposed on it by the
+State. So long, indeed, as a man holds no more of it than one family
+can cultivate, jealousy is needless; for the holder (especially if he pay a
+quit-rent for it) is sure to cultivate it, and cannot offend by excluding
+population. Town land ought, as soon as possible, to become town
+property; and, meanwhile, as early as possible, all town building to be
+subjected to a public veto for sanitary reasons. To make away into
+mercenary hands, as an article of trade, the whole solid area on which
+a nation lives, is astonishing as an idea of statesmanship. There is
+another matter connected with land as to which the State may justly
+feel great jealousy—namely, as to the consumption and exportation of
+material which cannot be reproduced. It is said that Sicily, under the
+Romans first, was largely deteriorated by the perpetual exportation of
+corn, exhausting even very fertile soil. Ireland in the past may have
+suffered by the constant sending out of cattle and pigs, with no back-current
+of commerce to restore all that their bones and flesh took out
+of the earth. Virginia and other States of the American Union largely
+ruined their soil by unceasing exportation of tobacco and other products.
+But to come closer home, no crops of coal can be grown in England
+and Wales. We reap where we have not sown, where we cannot sow.
+We export in enormous mass what we cannot reproduce. We allow
+individuals to become, out and out, proprietors of the national coal, and
+then sanction their unlimited exportation of it, with the high probability
+that this may cripple industry in the near future of England. This
+surely is a commerce, the benefit of which is very doubtful even in a
+cosmopolitan view. It may seem better to stimulate other nations to
+search for coal on their own soil than to use up what we cannot replace.
+And as for some other articles of immense commerce, as tobacco, it may seem
+doubtful which nation loses more by it—the importers or the exporters.
+Surely in all these cases the quality of the things bought and sold must
+be considered carefully, before we regard the magnitude of any trade a
+national benefit or a source of national wealth.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">F. W. Newman.</span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+“Reciprocity,” by Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., 1879: Printed for the Cobden Club.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>THE MYTHS OF THE SEA AND THE RIVER OF DEATH.</h2>
+
+<p>At the present time, when theologians and those who have most
+aptitude for such discussions are arguing “in thoughts more
+elevate” of the soul’s future life, and its rewards and punishments
+therein, the pre-historic student is tempted to let <i>his</i> thoughts wander
+backwards over a different aspect of the same subject, in an effort to
+link again the chain of belief concerning heaven and hell, which joins
+this present with a long-forgotten past. The difficulty which we feel in
+uniting ourselves in thought with past ages, arises surely more often
+from the imperfection of our sympathies than from the deficiency of
+our positive knowledge. So many questions which were once new have
+long been settled, so many experiments have been tried, such experiences
+have been lived through since then; it is so impossible that the
+earlier conditions of life and society should return; and we cannot bring
+ourselves to make the effort of imagination necessary to place us in
+harmony with bygone times. But there are some few questions which
+seem as far from settlement now as they ever were; one of these is the
+question concerning the destiny of man after death, the character of
+his journey into that undiscovered country, and the sort of life he will lead
+when there.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“A riddle which one shrinks<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To challenge from the scornful sphinx.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some would dissuade us from the continuance of these (so they
+say) unfruitful speculations; but it is very certain that man must change
+his nature before they will lose their fascination for him; and until he
+does so, he cannot read without sympathy the guesses which past generations
+of men have made towards the solution of the same problems. For
+them, indeed, these solutions have lost their interest, as ours will soon
+do for us. Whatever lot that new condition may hold in store, eternal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+pleasure or eternal pain, they have tried it now; whatever scene the
+dark curtain hides, they have passed behind it. This is very certain: as
+that we soon must. But so long as we remain here upon this upper earth,
+we must be something above or below humanity if we refuse ever to let
+our thoughts wander toward the changes and chances of another life.</p>
+
+<p>Not, indeed, that questions of this sort have ever had for the majority
+of men in one age, or for the collective mass of human kind, an all-absorbing
+interest. If we choose to look closely into the matter, and to test
+men’s opinion as it is displayed in their actions (the only real opinion),
+we shall at first perhaps be struck by the slight belief which they
+possess in a future state. For it is slight compared to their “notional
+assent,” that which they think they believe concerning it. With the
+majority, faith upon this point is at best but shadowy, of an otiose
+character suitable for soothing the lots of others, and sometimes, alas!
+called into requisition to relieve us from the stings of conscience
+on account of the pain which our own misconduct or neglect has introduced
+therein. And as it is with us, so, save under exceptional conditions,
+it has always been with men in the full vigour and enjoyment of life.
+There have been times when one aspect of the future—its terror—has
+been realized with an intensity, and has exercised an influence upon
+life and conduct, such as is unknown in our days. But these times have
+not been ordinary ones, and we are apt, I think, even to over-estimate the
+force of faith during the Middle Ages. That term, “dark ages,” overrides
+our fancy; “we can never hear mention of them without an accompanying
+feeling as though a palpable obscure had dimmed the face of
+things, and that our ancestors wandered to and fro
+groping.”<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> But, then,
+neither have the most light-hearted and sceptical of people been able to
+shut their eyes utterly to the warnings of death. We are wont to think
+of the Greeks as of just such a light-hearted, and in a fashion sceptical,
+temperament, and to contrast the spirit of Hellas with the spirit of
+mediæval Europe. Scarcely any thought of death, or of judgment after
+death, disturbs the serenity of Greek art, such as it has come down to us. Thanatos is not to be
+found;<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+even the tombs are adorned with representations of war and of the chase, or with figures of the dancing
+Hours. And yet Greek art was not without its darker side. It had,
+like mediæval poetry, its Dante—Polygnotus, namely—who adorned the
+pilgrims’ house at Delphi with frescoes representing the judgment and the
+tortures of the damned,—a Greek Campo Santo. He would have given
+us a different impression of the Greek mind in presence of the fact of mortality,
+and shown us how easily we are led to exaggerate the divergence in
+thought between different nations and different times.</p>
+
+<p>So we find as far back as we can test the belief of men, certain
+theories touching the fate of the soul after death, which represent, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>
+the germ at least, the prevalent opinions of our own day; and out of
+some of which these opinions have sprung. First among these, probably
+in point of time, stands the purely sceptical theory which takes its
+rise from the earliest efforts of language to give expression to the
+unseen. Casting about for a name for the essential part of man, the
+life or soul of him, language finds at first that it has no suitable word,
+and then supplies its want by using the breath—the <span class="greek" title="psychê">ψυχη</span>, <i>spiritus</i>—in this
+sense. Like the vital spark itself, the breath is seen to depart when the
+man dies. Whither has it gone? The purely negative, the purely
+sceptical answer would be, “It has disappeared.” The answer actually
+given in most religious creeds is, “It has gone to the unseen <i>place</i>,” or
+the concealed <i>place</i>; as the Greeks said, to Hades (<span class="greek" title="A-idês">Ἀ-ίδης</span>);
+or, as our Northern ancestors said, to
+Hel.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+Thus, out of pure negation we have the
+beginning of a myth: the <i>spirit</i> becomes something definite, and the
+place it has gone to is partly realized. The unseen place is underground,
+gained by a dark valley which stretches there from the upper
+earth. Enough of the old belief remains to keep this home of the
+dead itself dark and shadowy and lifeless. “The senseless dead, the
+simulacra of mortals,” as Homer says. And we remember how even a
+hero like Achilles “would rather be on earth and serve for hire to a man
+of mean estate, than rule a king among the dead.”</p>
+
+<p>The same thought is expressed by the Hebrew
+poet,<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Sheol shall not praise thee, Jehovah,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The dead shall not celebrate thee;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">They that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The living, the living, shall praise thee, as I do this day.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>No people have held up this <i>destructive</i> side of death, this negative
+theory of a future, with sharper outline than the Greeks and Hebrews.
+What a contrast to the teaching of modern religions is that line, “They
+that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth!” Other people
+have found themselves unable to rest at this point; they have endowed
+their place with a personality, but, still strongly impressed with its
+horrors, this personality is grim and fearful. Even with the Greeks,
+Hades is a person, not a place; with the Teutons, Hel has gone through
+the same transformation: and a thousand other images of horror to be
+met with in different creeds, devouring dragons, dogs who, like Cerberus,
+threaten those who are journeying to the underground kingdom, can be
+shown by their names to have sprung from merely negative images of
+death, the unseen, the coverer, the concealer, the cave of night.</p>
+
+<p>In contrast therefore with all these myths stand those which, after
+death, send the soul upon a journey to some paradise, believed generally
+to lie in the west. If these first are myths of hell, the second series
+may be fairly described as myths of heaven. Nor can it be certainly
+proved that the more cheerful view of the other world is of a later
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>
+growth in time than the first which seems so primitive. We see indications
+of it in the interments of old stone-age grave mounds. While
+among historical people the older Hebrews are the exponents of the
+gloomier Sheol, the most hopeful picture of the soul’s future finds expression
+in the ritual service of the Egyptians. There we have a
+complete history of the dead man’s journey across the Nile and through
+the twilight region of Apap, king of the desert, until at last it reaches
+the home of the sun. And, to come nearer home, among all those
+peoples with whom we are allied in blood, the Indo-European family of
+nations, we shall find the evidences of a double belief, the belief in
+death as of a dim underground place or as a devouring monster, and
+the contrasting faith in death as a journey undertaken to reach a new
+country where everything is better and happier than upon earth.</p>
+
+<p>This is the myth of an earthly paradise, not, like our heaven, disconnected
+altogether from the world, but a distant land lying somewhere in
+the west, and forming part of the imaginary geography of those times: so
+the belief is, more than others, a realistic one, mingling with the daily
+experience of men and influencing deeply their daily life. The necessary
+portal of death is even sometimes lost sight of altogether, as when in
+the Middle Ages we find men undertaking more than one expedition in
+search of the earthly paradise, and when we find the current belief that
+in certain weathers was visible from the west coast of Ireland that
+happy island to which St. Brandon and his disciples had been carried
+when they left this world. For this reason, though the notion of the
+western paradise is essentially the same for all the human race, its
+local colouring constantly varies, changing with the geographical position
+of each people: if they change their homes and advance, as they will
+probably do, towards the land of promise, it moves away before them, as
+the rainbow moves from us. The Egyptians had their myth of the
+soul’s journey, drawing all its distinctive features from the special
+character of their land, chiefly from the commanding influence which a
+great neighbouring desert exercised upon their imagination. But for our
+ancestors, the parents of the Indo-European races, the place of the desert
+was supplied by the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The most probable conjecture has fixed the cradle of our race in that
+corner of land which lies westward the steep range of the Beloot
+Tagh mountains, an off-shoot of the Himalayas, and northward from
+the high barren land of Cabul. This country, the ancient Bactriana,
+is the most habitable district to be found anywhere in Central Asia.
+There the hills stretch out in gentle slopes towards the west, and
+enclose fertile valleys, whose innumerable streams, fed by the mountains
+east and south, all go to swell the waters of the Oxus, now called the
+Jihon. Farther north lies another fruitful country, watered by the
+Jaxartes, separated from the first by a range of hills much inferior to
+those which divide both lands from Yarkand and Cashgar on the
+east, and from Cabul on the south. Both the great rivers empty themselves
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>
+into the Sea of Aral, between which and the Caspian, sharply
+cutting off the fertile country from that sea, stretches the Khiva desert,
+a barren land affording a scanty nourishment to the herds of wandering
+Turkic tribes. There is good reason to believe, however, that this
+desert did not always exist, but that in times not extraordinarily remote
+the Caspian Sea, joined to the Sea of Aral, extended over a much larger
+area than it at present covers: it is known even now to be sinking steadily
+within its banks. With such a contraction of the great sea the desert
+would grow by a double process, by the laying bare its sandy bed and by
+the withdrawal of a neighbouring supply of moisture from the dry land.
+So it may well have been that the fruitful territory wherein in remotest
+ages were settled our Aryan ancestors, stretched so far west as to border
+upon a large inland Asiatic sea. It has even been conjectured that the
+turning of so much fertile land into desert was the proximate cause of
+those migrations which sent the greater part of the Aryan races westward—to
+people, at last, all the countries of Europe. The root which
+is common to the European languages for the names of the sea, means,
+in the Indian and Iranian languages, a desert: how can we account for
+this fact better than by supposing that after the European nations had
+left their early home, their brethren, who remained behind and who long
+afterwards separated into the people of India and Persia, came to know
+as a desert the district which their fathers had once known as the sea?</p>
+
+<p>Thus, these ancient Aryans stood with their backs toward the mountains
+and their faces toward the sea. All their prospect, all their
+future, seemed to be that way; when their migrations began they were
+undertaken in that direction—towards the west. Most important of
+all in the formation of a creed, their sun-god, or
+sun-hero,<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> was seen
+by many of them quenching his beams in the waters; the home of the
+sun is always likewise the home of souls. What more natural, nay,
+what so necessary, as that the Aryan paradise should lie westward
+beyond the sea? It has been said just now that the Indian word for desert
+corresponds etymologically with the European word for sea: that word
+must have been, in the old Aryan, something like <i>mara</i>, from which we
+get the Persian <i>mĕru</i>, desert, the Latin <i>mare</i>, the Teutonic (German and
+English) <i>meer</i>. But from identically the same root we likewise get the
+Sanksrit and the Zend (old Persian) <i>mara</i>, death, the Latin <i>mors</i>, the
+old Norse <i>mordh</i>, the German <i>mord</i>, our <i>murder</i>, all signifying originally
+the same thing.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+What, then, does this imply? The word which the
+old Aryans used for sea they used likewise for death. How would this
+be possible, unless this, their first sea, were likewise the sea of death,
+the necessary stage upon the road to paradise?</p>
+
+<p>It might have been expected that such a connection of ideas would
+have endowed the sea with an entirely terrible character, precluding any
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+attempt to explore its solitudes, or the lands which lay beyond. It has
+been already said that as a matter of experience we find that the
+<i>earthly</i> paradise often comes to be realized so vividly that men lose
+the fear which should attach to any attempt at finding it. They were
+not religious, heavenward-looking men who, in Mr. Morris’s poem, set
+out in quest of the happy land; and no doubt the bard has been
+guided by a true instinct, and that of all those mediæval mariners who
+were lost in their search after St. Brandon’s isle, none knew that they
+had found what they were seeking—Death. The Greeks eagerly cherished
+delusions of the same kind; and long before they had summoned up
+courage sufficient to navigate the Mediterranean they had invented the
+myths of their western islands of the blest, to which yellow-haired
+Rhadamanthus was taken when expelled from Crete by his brother
+Minos, or of those gardens kept by the daughters of the
+west,<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> where
+decay and death could not enter. It is likely enough that for the
+Aryans <i>their</i> western sea did long retain its more fearful meaning,
+<i>a death</i>; but that they at last gained courage to look upon it only as <i>the
+road</i><a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+to the land of which they had long been dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>How much more weighty a position the sea takes in men’s thoughts
+than is warranted by their real familiarity with it! Into the mass of
+sedentary lives—the vast majority—it enters but seldom as an experience,
+provided a man live only a few miles inland. And yet of all countries
+which possess a sea-board, how full is the literature of reference to this
+one phenomenon of physical nature! The sun and the moon, and all
+the heavenly bodies, the familiar sights and sounds of land, are the
+property of all; and yet allusions to these are not more common in
+literature than allusions to the sea: one might fancy that man was
+amphibious, with a power of actually living <i>upon</i>, and not only <i>by</i>, the
+water. Charles Lamb acutely penetrates the cause of a certain disappointment
+we all feel at the sight of the sea for the first time. We go
+with the expectation of seeing all the sea at once, the commensurate
+antagonist of the earth. All that we have gathered from narratives of
+wandering seamen, what we have gained from true voyages, and what
+we cherish as credulously from romances and poetry, come crowding
+their images, and exacting strange tributes from expectation. Thus
+we are imbued with thoughts of the sea before we have had any sight
+of it ourselves, merely by the sea’s great influence acting through the
+total experience of humanity. “We think of the great deep and of
+those who go down unto it: of its thousand isles, and of the vast continents
+it washes; of its receiving the mighty Plata, or Orellana, into its
+bosom, without disturbance or sense of augmentation; of Biscay swells
+and the mariner—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“For many a day and many a dreadful night,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Incessant labouring round the stormy cape;<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+of fatal rocks and the ‘still-vexed Bermoothes;’ of great whirlpools
+and the water-spout; of sunken ships and sumless treasures swallowed
+up in the unrestoring depths.” We must not narrow the influence of
+the sea in mythology within the compass of man’s mere experience of it.
+Few among the Aryans lived by the Caspian shore; but the Sea of
+Death appears in one form or another in the religious belief of all the
+Aryan people. The tradition of the sea, its real wonders, and greater
+fancied terrors, must have passed from one to another, from the few who
+lived within sight and sound of the waters to others quite beyond its
+horizon, to whom it was not visible even as a faint silvery line.</p>
+
+<p>It is natural that, in early myths, no accurate distinction should have
+been drawn between the sea and rivers with which the Aryans were
+familiar. The Caspian was imagined a broad river bounding the habitable
+earth, the origin of the Oceanus of the Greeks; and the sea of death
+is, in its earliest form, a river of death. All after-forms of mythical
+geography, moreover, such as we find among Indians, Greeks, or Norsemen,
+are but graftings upon this central idea. As the Aryans changed
+their homes, the new experiences gradually blotted out the old. The
+Greek transferred his thoughts about the Caspian to the Mediterranean,
+and when his geography extended, the Oceanus was pushed farther and
+farther away, until the later Euhemerist geographers came to confound
+it with the Atlantic. Thus it is but by accident that we give to ocean
+the meaning which it now bears. The first ocean was the mythical river
+which flowed round the earth, and the real physical forerunner of the
+myth was not the Atlantic or any of our oceans, but the Caspian Sea as
+it stretched before the eyes of the ancient Aryan folk.</p>
+
+<p>The Norseman, especially the
+Icelander,<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+lived so close to the ocean,
+that the older myth was forgotten beside the aspect of nature so familiar
+to him. In the middle of his earth stood a high mountain, on which was a
+strong city, Asgaard, the house of the Æsir or gods. Below Asgaard lay
+the green and fruitful earth, man’s home. Then outside flowed or lay
+the great mid-earth ocean, just like the Greek ocean in character, despite
+all differences of climate and country. At other times the mid-earth
+sea is personified as a devouring monster, Jörmungandr (“great monster”),
+the name of the mid-gaard serpent who lies at the bottom of the encircling
+sea, shaking the earth when he
+moves.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+Beyond, lies the ice-bound land
+of giants—Jötunheim, giant’s home—dark like the Cimmerian land,
+and peopled with beings as weird and terrible as the Cyclops or the
+Gorgons.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the myths of the river of death and the sea of death from
+being one became two. The second was confined to those nations who
+lived upon the sea-shore, and lost in great part its early shape; but
+neither Indians, Greeks, nor Norsemen forgot the myth of the mortal
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+river. The Indian retained it singly; for when his turn for wandering
+came, he passed over the eastern mountains and reached a land where
+no sea was any longer to be seen or heard of. In the mythical language
+of the Vedas, the mortal river is called Vaitera<i>n</i>i; it lies “across the dreadful path to the house of
+Yama,”<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> the god of Hell.</p>
+
+<p>From the belief in the river of death no doubt arose also the practice
+of committing the dead to the care of the sacred Ganges; for just as the
+Hindus kindle a funeral fire in the boat which bears the dead down this
+visible stream of death, so used the Norsemen to place their hero’s body in
+his ship, and then having lighted it send it drifting out seawards with
+the tide. In conjunction with that thought of the other world which
+placed the final resting-place in a dark kingdom underground, the river
+is seen in Greek mythology transferred to Hades; but it is multiplied
+into four, which have all grown out of one, inasmuch as they were feigned
+to flow out of the upper-earth river Oceanus:—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cocytus named of lamentation loud<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>These pictures are not quite in character with the Hellenic thought
+about the future state. But it is certain that the more gloomy images of
+death are preserved in connection with the rivers of Hades, with Hades
+itself, and all that it contains. So it is with the northern Styx,
+Gjöll,<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>
+as it is called in the Eddas. This, too, is an underground stream
+lying, like the Indian, on the road to the gates of death.</p>
+
+<p>Thus a separation arises between the sea and the river myths. If we
+wish for something more cheerful than the pictures of Styx and Gjöll
+and Vaitera<i>n</i>i, we must look, for the tales of an earthly paradise which
+sprang up when men had lost their first terror of the sea, but had not
+lost the beliefs to which their earliest thoughts about that sea gave
+birth.</p>
+
+<p>Such beliefs are those which lie enshrined in the Odyssey. This poem
+is full of images of death, but they are not self-conscious ones, only
+mythical expressions first applied to the passage of the soul from life, and
+then made literal and physical by their transference to the unexplored
+western sea. What the Caspian may have been to the ancient Aryan, such
+was the Mediterranean to the Greek. The Ægean was his home-like water;
+there he might pass from island to island without losing sight of land;
+and he soon learnt to trust himself to its care, and to know its currents
+and its winds. Long before he had navigated beyond Cape Malea,
+all the coasts of the Ægean had become parts of his familiar world:
+outside this was the region of the unknown. The Iliad tells us what
+the early Greeks thought about the first. Myths may have mingled
+with the legend of the fall of Troy, but the story in Homer is essentially
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+realistic, rationalistic even. The very powers of the immortals and their
+doings seem petty and limited. The Odyssey, on the other hand, is the
+product of the Greek imagination working in fields unturned by experience,
+free from any guiding impulse of knowledge; and here step in those
+monstrous shapes and strange adventures which differ altogether from
+the probable events of the Iliad. We feel at once that we are in a new
+world, a world not so much of supernatural beings as of magic; lands of
+glamour and illusion, most like the giant-land of the Norsemen; for we
+are getting towards the twilight regions of the earth and the borders of
+Hades.</p>
+
+<p>Some writers have attempted to explain the Odyssey as nothing more
+than a myth of the sun’s course through heaven. But surely there is too
+much solidity about the story, too thorough an atmosphere of belief around
+it, to suit a tale relating such airy unrealities as those. The Greeks who first
+sung the ballads must have been thinking of a real journey upon this solid
+earth. But it is easy to see how many images and notions which had
+first been applied only to the sun-god would creep into such a history as
+that of Odysseus. Undoubtedly the sun-myth had first pointed out the
+home of the dead as lying in the west; and nothing is more natural than
+that a people whose thoughts and hopes carried them in the track of the
+wandering sun should, when they came to construct an epos of travel,
+make the imaginary journey lie the same way. They would interweave
+in the story such truths—or such sailors’ yarns—as Phœnician
+mariners or adventurous Greeks brought home from the distant waters,
+with many images which had been first made of the sun’s heavenly
+voyage, and others which had been first applied to death. Their geography
+would, indeed, be mythical; for they could have no accurate notions
+of the lands which they spoke of; but it would not be without a kernel
+of reality. Justin and Augustine may look upon the garden of the
+Hesperides or the garden of Alcinoüs as a reminiscence of Paradise;
+Strabo may assign them an exact position on the coast of Libya; and both
+may be right. The myth of the two gardens—the Hebrew and the
+Greek paradises—sprang up in obedience to an identical faculty of
+belief, and therefore the two stories are in origin the same. But each
+myth supported itself upon so much of reality as it could lay hold of:
+and it is likely enough that the famous golden apples which Hercules was
+sent to fetch owed their origin to the first oranges brought by Phœnician
+merchantmen to Greece.</p>
+
+<p>Besides some such slender thread of reality, the adventures of Odysseus
+are built upon what men’s imagination told them might lie in the
+western seas. Now in reality there was only one thing which at the
+bottom of their hearts they believed actually did lie there—namely, death;
+and beyond that, the home of the departed. Therefore their stories of
+adventure in the Mediterranean do all, upon a minute inspection, resolve
+themselves into a variety of mythical ways of describing death; and upon
+this as a dark background the varied colours of the tale are painted. It
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+need take away no jot of our pleasure in the brilliant picture to acknowledge
+this. Nay, it gather adds to it, for behind the graceful air of the
+poem, sung as a poem only, we hear a deeper note telling of the passionate,
+obstinate questionings of futurity which belonged not more to Greece
+three thousand years ago than they now belong to us.</p>
+
+<p>Any one acquainted with the genesis of myth would at once be disposed
+to see in the Odyssey the combination of two different legends; for one
+series of adventures comes as a tale told during the course of the second.
+We first see our hero on the island of Calypso, the sea-nymph; and
+when Hermes has brought from the gods the command for his release,
+he is carried thence by storms to the land of the Phæaceans. There
+Nausicaa finds him and brings him to her father Alcinoüs, by whom he
+is hospitably entertained, and at last sent back to Ithaca, his home.
+This forms one complete legend, the simplest and probably the first,
+because <i>into</i> it is woven the account of Odysseus’ earlier adventures. In
+the halls of Alcinoüs the wanderer tells what happened to him before
+he reached the cave of Calypso, and in this narrative we follow him to
+the island of the Lotus-eaters, to the island of the Cyclops, thence to the
+house of Circe, and from there to the very borders of hell itself. And
+we guess that we have here got hold of a later amplified legend built up
+out of the earlier myth. We find just such changes as this in Norse
+mythology; a story told in a few lines by the elder Edda, is expanded
+into an elaborate history in the younger. Looking again more closely at the
+Odyssey, we discover that many circumstances in the expanded tale bear
+close resemblance to one or other of the adventures in the shorter category.
+Take, for instance, the life with Calypso and with Circe. Both
+Calypso and Circe are nymphs, enchantresses; each lives alone upon her
+island: with each Odysseus passes a term of years, living with her as
+her husband, longing all the while to return to his own wife and his
+own home, and yet unable to do so: from each Hermes is the deliverer.
+What if Calypso and Circe both repeat in reality the same
+myth; and what if Odysseus’ other great adventure, the voyage to the
+Phæaceans, have likewise its counterpart in the expanded story? The
+question of the real identity or difference of the two stories can only be
+decided when we have seen how much significance there is in the points
+of their apparent likeness.</p>
+
+<p>Who is Calypso? Her name bespeaks her nature not ambiguously.
+It is from <span class="greek" title="kalyptein">καλύπτειν</span>, to cover or conceal. She is the shrouder, or the
+shrouded place, answering exactly therefore to Hel, which, as has
+before been said, comes from the verb <i>helja</i>, “to hide.” How, then,
+can Calypso be anything else than death, as she dwells there in her cave,
+by the shores of the sea? How can Odysseus’ life with her, his sleep
+in her cave, be anything else than an image of dying? The gods
+have determined that the hero shall not remain in this mortal sleep for
+ever; so Hermes is sent to command Calypso to let Odysseus go.
+Hermes is the god whose mission it is to lead souls down to the realm
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>
+of Hades—the psychopomp, as in this office he is called. But sometimes
+he may come upon an opposite message, to restore men to life; the
+staff which closes the eyes of men may likewise open them when asleep.
+On such a task he comes—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Wind-like beneath, the immortal golden sandals<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Bare up his flight o’er the limitless earth and the sea;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And in his hand that magic wand he carried,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wherewith the eyes of men he closes in slumber,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or wakens from sleeping.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>He comes like the breath of morning awakening the world, to rouse
+our hero from the embrace of death; and the whole scene is beautifully
+attuned to an image of returning life. Therefore the interference of
+Hermes between Odysseus and Calypso is full of significance. We
+accordingly meet the same episode in the Circe tale. That this last is
+a later widening of the first story appears from many things; chiefly
+in this, that there is more moral in the history; for the truest myth is
+content to follow the actual workings of nature, without attempting to
+adorn a story with extraneous incident, or to convert its simplicity
+into the complexities of allegory. That turning the companions into
+swine was a punishment for luxury—that points the moral; the original
+Circe, we may be sure, only touched her lovers with her sleepy magic
+rod. It was the same wand with the
+“slepy yerde”<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> of Hermes, and
+she used it not wantonly but only because all whom she embraces must
+fall into the unwakeful slumber. If Circe’s name does not reveal her
+nature so nakedly as Calypso’s does, this is but consistent with the fact
+of her later creation. Nevertheless, we easily recognise by it death in
+one of its many types—a ravenous animal or bird, a hawk or
+wolf.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Odysseus is freed from the fatal embrace of Calypso, he is
+not at once restored to the common earth, but from his descent into
+hell goes heavenwards, or at least to the happy islands of the blessed.
+The land of the Phæaceans, Scheria, can scarcely be anything else than
+this Paradise, to which, according to one myth, Rhadamanthus fled from
+his brother Minos when he reigned in Crete. The Phæaceans, too, have
+had dealings with “yellow-haired Rhadamanthus,” whom they carried
+back in their swift barques to Eubœa. The name of their island is
+merely land, shore;<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>
+perhaps at first only the farther coast of the sea of
+death.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Far away do we live at the end of the watery plain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor before now have we ever had dealings with other mortals;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But now there comes some luckless wanderer hither.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Him it is right that we help; for all men, fellows and strangers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Come from Zeus; in his sight the smallest gift is
+pleasing.”<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a><br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>They live close to the gods, and in familiar converse with
+them. It is a place where decay and death cannot enter. In the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+gardens of Alcinoüs flowers and fruit do not grow old and disappear;
+winter does not succeed to summer; all is one continuous round of
+blossoming and bearing fruit; in one part of the garden the trees are all
+abloom; in another they are heavy with clusters. There it <i>is</i>, as in that
+wizard’s tower of Middle-Age legend it only <i>seemed</i> to be—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“That from one window men beheld the spring,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And from another saw the summer glow,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And from a third the fruited vines
+arow.”<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a><br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In name the Phæaceans appear as beings of the twilight—<span class="greek" title="phaiax">φαίαξ</span>,
+strengthened from <span class="greek" title="phaios">φαιός</span>, dusky, dim. Their most wondrous possessions
+are their ships, which know the thoughts of men, and sail
+swifter than a bird or than thought. “No pilots have they, no rudders, no
+oarsmen, which other ships have, for they themselves know the thoughts
+and minds of men. The rich fields they know, and the cities among all
+men, and swiftly pass over the crests of the sea, shrouded in mist and
+gloom.”<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>
+Yet the Phæaceans themselves live remote from human habitation, unused
+to strangers. It would seem, therefore, that the ships travel alone on
+their dark voyages. For what purpose? It is not difficult to guess.
+Their part is to carry the souls of dead men over to the land
+of Paradise.<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+We can imagine them sailing in every human sea;
+calling at every port, familiar with every city, though in their shroud of
+darkness they are unseen by men. They know all the rich lands, for
+every land has its tribute to pay to the ships of death. They are the
+exact counterparts of the “grim ferryman which poets write of;” only
+that the last plies his business in the ancient underground Hades, while
+the Phæacean mariners are really believed to be inhabitants of the upper
+earth; albeit they can pass from this life to the other.</p>
+
+<p>Their business with Odysseus is to bring him back to the common
+world of Greece—to beloved Ithaca. He has passed to the cave of
+Hel, and emerged from it to visit the land of Paradise; now he returns,
+that his adventures may be sung in the homes of Greece. How could
+men ever tell tales of that strange country, if it really were a shore
+from which no traveller returned? Accordingly, this traveller is laid
+to sleep in the black barque of the Phæaceans, “a sweet sleep, unwakeful,
+nearest like to death; and as arose the one brightest star to herald
+the morning, the sea-troubled ship touched the
+shore.”<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Thus end the
+adventures of the wanderer; and, as far as regards the belief concerning
+the sea of death, this is all his adventures can tell us. His doings with the
+Cyclops, with the Lotus-eaters, have their relationship with the same
+belief; but they scarcely bring in any new elements; they only change
+the method of their treatment and symbolize them in a new way. Hades
+is more distinctly treated of in the second series; and this is enough to
+show us that the mortal character of the whole journey has been lost
+sight of more completely than in the first myths; so we noticed before,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>
+that the significance of Calypso’s name is half forgotten when her part
+is assigned to Circe. The journey to Hades from Circe’s island, Ææa,
+tallies exactly with the journey to Scheria from the island of Calypso; only,
+for the island of the blest is substituted the underground home of souls;
+and when Odysseus addresses there his companion, Elpenor, whom he had
+but a little while ago left dead on Circe’s island, and asks him how
+he could have come under the dark west more quickly on foot than
+Odysseus did sailing in a black ship, we see that the meaning of the
+ocean journey is forgotten, and that a sort of confusion has arisen between
+the Hades under men’s feet, to which the souls of the dead
+descend, and the Hades at the end of the journey lying far away.
+This part, then, is not significant of the Greek belief concerning
+an earthly Paradise. The learned Welcker, who first showed how these Phæacean ships were the carriers of
+souls,<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
+wishes also to connect the myth with some non-Hellenic source. He supposes it to have been
+gathered from the Teutons. But surely we are not obliged to go so
+far, unless we are prepared to consider Charon non-Hellenic also; and
+no one can really pretend that. For the Phæacean myth is in many
+ways truer than the myth of Charon and Styx. Styx is but the earth-river
+(or sea), Oceanus, transferred to beneath the earth; and the story of
+the ferryman is a compromise between the two creeds—that of the
+<i>under</i>-world and that of the western paradise beyond sea; while the
+myth of the Phæaceans is a simple expression of the last. The connection
+which we find between Greek and German in these beliefs is
+derivable only from their common ancestry—not from a contact in later
+days. Certainly these legends have their close counterparts in Norse
+mythology; the two series only require to be stripped of local colouring,
+and some unessential details, to display very clearly their common brotherhood.
+How curious, for instance, is it to see that Calypso corresponds
+literally in name with the Northern goddess of the dead, Hel! Another
+myth, the story of the burning of Baldur, repeats the same images of
+death which we trace in the legend of Odysseus.</p>
+
+<p>Baldur is quite evidently the sun-god. Less of a hero, more of a god,
+than Odysseus, he is nevertheless mortal—as, indeed, all the Norse gods
+are—and falls pierced by the hand of his own brother, Hödur. Then
+his corpse is placed upon his ship, Hringhorn, and sent out upon this, as on
+a pyre, drifting into the ocean. We can imagine how to the Norsemen
+upon their stormy seas, the image of the sun dying red upon the western
+waters recalled the story of Baldur’s burning ship. The Viking imitated
+his god in this, and when his time came ordered his funeral fire
+to be lighted in like manner upon a ship and himself to be set sailing,
+as Baldur was. After this we are brought in the myth to the underground
+kingdom of Hel, and there the goddess entertains Baldur, as
+Calypso entertained Odysseus, making ready her best to do him honour,
+and seating him in the highest place in her hall. Then the gods take
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>
+counsel how Baldur is to be brought back again, and one of them,
+Hermödr,<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>
+the messenger, like Hermes, is sent to beg Hel to let Baldur
+out of Helheim. Fate and death are more powerful in northern lands
+than they are in Greece. The gods cannot command that this Calypso
+should let her prisoner go; and alas! they do not even obtain an answer
+to their prayer save on conditions which they are unable to fulfil. Hel
+will set Baldur free, if all things, both living and dead, weep for him;
+but if one thing refuses to weep, then he must remain in the under-world.
+Thereupon the gods sent messengers over the whole earth, commanding
+all things, living and lifeless, to weep Baldur out of Helheim;
+all things freely complied with the request, both men and stones, and trees
+and metals; until as the messengers were returning, deeming that their
+mission was accomplished, they met an old witch sitting in a cave, and
+she refused to weep, saying, “Let Hel keep her
+own.”<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> This old witch
+is Calypso or Circe in another guise. Her name is Thokk, that is,
+darkness (dökkr).</p>
+
+<p>The Teutonic people had many myths and stories about the carrying the
+dead across the sea. We have signalized the belief in such a passage as the
+origin of those countless mediæval legends of the earthly Paradise: doubtless
+it is the parent of the modern superstition that ghosts will not cross the
+running water. Side by side with the story of the Phæaceans we may place
+the superstition which Procopius records touching our own island. The
+Byzantine historian of Justinian seems to have had but vague ideas of
+the position of Britain, which, by the tide of Teutonic invasion across the
+Rhine, had long been cut off from intercourse with the Empire. These
+Easterns were careless and ignorant of the remote West. So Procopius
+speaks of Britannia as lying opposite to Spain; and then he mentions
+another island, Brittia—evidently in reality our island—which faces the
+northern coast of Gaul, and of this he tells the following strange story:—There
+is, he declares, an island called Brittia, which lies in the Northern
+Seas. It is separated into two divisions by a
+wall;<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> and on one side of
+this wall the air is healthy and the land fertile and pleasant, and all
+things most apt for human habitation. But on the other side the air is
+so noxious that no one can breathe in it for an hour: it is given up to
+serpents and poisonous animals and plants. Yet not entirely; for
+this is the home of the dead. Then he goes on to relate how the
+fishermen who inhabit the coast opposite this part of Brittia have to
+perform the strange duty of carrying the souls across the strait. Each
+does his office in rotation; when the man’s night has come he is awoke
+by a knocking at his door, but when he opens it, sees no one. He goes
+down to the shore, and finds there strange vessels, which, though empty
+to mortal eyes, lie deep in the water as though weighed down by some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>
+freight. Stepping in, each fisherman takes his rudder, and then by an
+unfelt wind the vessels are wafted in one night across the channel, a
+distance which, with oar and sail, they could usually scarce accomplish
+in eight. Arrived at the opposite side—our coast—the fishermen heard
+names called over and voices answering in rota, and they felt the boats
+becoming light. Then, when all the ghosts were landed, they were
+carried back to Gaul. We may picture them returning to the habitable
+world in the first glow of morning, or with the one bright morning star
+which shone on Odysseus landing at Ithaca.</p>
+
+<p>So much for the myth of the sea, or river, of death. A most important
+change was wrought in belief when the custom of burning the dead
+was introduced. It would seem that our Aryan ancestors were the
+beginners of this rite. Whence it arose we cannot say; but if the God
+of Fire was a prominent divinity, the thought of committing the dead
+into his charge seems a simple and natural one. Among the Aryan
+people the only deep traces of fire-worship are to be seen in the Vedic
+and Iranian religions,<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>
+while the fire-burial survived in all: but the former
+may well have held a prominent place in their older creed. Or—and this
+is far from unlikely—the custom of fire-burial may have arisen out of
+the sun myth, just as the belief in the soul’s journey after death was
+suggested by watching the sun’s journey to the west. The two great
+fire-funerals mentioned in Greek and Teutonic mythology are the
+funerals of sun-gods. Heracles burning on Mount Œta, on the western
+coast of the Ægean, may have been first thought of by Greeks who saw
+the sun setting in fire over that sea; and Baldur’s bale on the ship
+<i>Hringhorn</i> is evidently the Norse edition of the same story, his blazing
+ship the blaze in the sky, as the sun sinks into the water. Burning the
+dead never seems to have been a universal practice; rather a special
+honour paid to kings and heroes. But then we must remember that
+immortality itself was not, in ancient belief, granted to all men indiscriminately,
+only to the greatest.</p>
+
+<p>We see at once that with the use of fire-burial many of the old beliefs
+had to be given up; all those, for instance, which depended upon the preservation
+of the bodily remains. Of old time men had buried treasures
+with the corpse in the expectation that they would be of some kind of use
+to it; the body itself was at first imagined to descend to the under-world
+or to travel the western journey to the home of the sun. But now the body
+is visibly consumed upon the funeral pile, where, too, are placed, by a
+curious survival of old custom, the precious things which would formerly
+have been buried with it in the ground. The body and these
+things have been consumed, are gone; where have they gone? Have
+they perished utterly, and is there nothing more left than the earliest
+belief of an <span class="greek" title="A-idês">Ἀ-ίδης</span>—a nowhere; is nothing true of all those myths
+of the soul passing away to a home of bliss? Instead of giving
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+up this faith, the Aryan people have only spiritualized it, robbed it
+of the too literal and earthly clothing which in earlier times it wore.
+The thought which had once identified the life with the breath comes
+again into force, or, if some material representation is still wished for,
+we have the smoke of the funeral pyre, which rises heavenwards like
+an ascending soul. In this spirit we find in long after years, in
+the description of the funeral fire of Beowulf the Goth, it is said
+that the soul of the hero <i>wand to wolcum</i>, “curled to the clouds,”
+imaging the smoke which was curling up from his pyre. There is
+even a curious analogy between the words for <i>smoke</i> and <i>soul</i> in the
+Aryan languages, showing how closely the two ideas were once allied.
+From a primitive root <i>dhu</i>, which means to shake or blow, we get both
+the Sanskrit root <i>dhuma</i>, smoke, and the Greek <span class="greek" title="thymos">θυμός</span>, the immaterial
+part of man, his thought or soul. <span class="greek" title="Thymos">Θυμός</span> is not a mere abstraction like
+our word mind, but that which could live when the body was killed or
+wasted to death by disease.<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>Evidently, therefore, even the inanimate things, the weapons and
+treasures which are burnt with the dead, survive in a land of essences
+for the use of the liberated soul. To the question, Where does man’s
+essence go to when it rises from the funeral fire? the answer, if the
+wish alone urged the thought, would be “To the gods.” But with the
+majority of burying people the belief in future union with the gods was
+not strongly insisted upon. The islands of the blest are certainly not
+to be confounded with Olympus; although the Phæaceans claim to live
+very near the gods.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>
+Yet with the use of burning, and among the
+Aryan people, the hope gains a measure of strength. The gods of the
+Aryan were, before everything, gods of the air. As the soul and the
+smoke mounted upwards, “curled to the clouds,” the belief of its having
+gone to join the gods—chief god, Dyâus, the air—was impressed more
+vividly upon his mind. And as the notion of the western journey
+to the home of the sun was not abandoned, a natural compromise would
+be to send the soul upwards to the path of the sun, and make its voyage
+a voyage in heaven, led by the sun or by the wind. But his path still
+lay westward; the home of the dead ancestors lay beyond the western
+boundary; there was still an Oceanus to be crossed, and a dark Cimmerian
+land to be passed through.</p>
+
+<p>The heavenly path taken by the soul becomes, in the eye of mortals, a
+<i>bridge</i> spanning the celestial arch, and carrying them over the river of
+death; and men would soon begin asking themselves where lay this
+heavenly road. Night is necessarily associated with thoughts of death—“Death,
+and his brother Sleep”—and of the other world. The heavens
+wear a more awful aspect than by day. The sun has forsaken us, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+is himself buried beneath the earth; and a million dwellers in the
+upper regions, who were before unseen, now appear to sight—the stars,
+who in so many mythologies are associated with souls. Among the
+stars we see a bright, yet misty, bow bent overhead: can this be other
+than the destined bridge of souls? The ancient Indians called this
+road gods’-path, because besides that it was the way for souls to God,
+it was also the way from gods to men. They also called it the cow-path—<i>gôpatha</i>,
+meaning possibly cloud-path—from which it is likely we
+derive our name for it, “the Milky-way.” The Low-German name for the
+Milky-way is <i>kau-pat</i>—<i>i.e., kuh-pfad</i>, cow-path. But in their hymns
+the Indians oftenest speak of it as the path of Yama, the way to the
+house of Yama, the god of the dead:—</p>
+
+<p>“A narrow path, an ancient one, stretches there, a path untrodden by
+men, a path I know of:</p>
+
+<p>“On it the wise who have known Brahma ascend to the world Svarga,
+when they have received their dismissal,” sings a Sanskrit
+poet.<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p>Another (R. V. i. 38. 5) prays the Maruts, the gods of the wind, not
+to let him wander on the path of Yama, or, when he does so—that is,
+when his time shall come—to keep him that he fall not into the hands
+of Nirrtis, the Queen of Naraka (Tartarus). In another place we find
+as guardians of the bridge two dogs, the dogs of Yama, and the dead
+man is committed to their care:—</p>
+
+<p>“Give him, O king Yama, to the two dogs, the watchers, the four-eyed
+guardians of the path, guardians of men: grant him safety and
+freedom from pain.”</p>
+
+<p>Thus stands out in its complete development the myth of the Bridge
+of Souls: a narrow path spanning the arch of heaven, passing over the
+dwelling of Nirrtis, the Queen of Tartarus (perhaps not clearly distinguishable
+from the river of death), and reaching at last the country of
+the wise Pitris, the “fathers” of the tribe, who have gone to heaven
+before, and who since their death have not ceased to keep watch over
+the descendants of their race. This road is guarded by two dogs, the
+dogs of Yama, both wardens of the bridge and likewise psychopomps,
+or leaders of the soul up the strait road.</p>
+
+<p>This was essentially an Indian myth—or perhaps an Indian and
+Iranian—and took the place of the myth of the sea journey, as it was
+conceived by Greeks and Germans. The Indians and Iranians had
+never a sea of death, so they could not have such ferrymen as the
+Phæaceans, or legends such as the voyages of Odysseus and the burning
+of Baldur. In the place of them, and with their mortal <i>river</i>, they
+adopted this Bridge of Souls. The guardians are manifold in their
+nature; for their names show them related both to Cerberus, who
+guards Hades, and to Hermes, who leads the souls of the dead below;
+and, so far as we can gather from the Vedas, these dogs of Yama
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+discharged both offices, sometimes keeping the bridge and sometimes
+conducting souls along it. “Give him,” says the prayer, “O Yama, to
+the two dogs.” No doubt their terrors were for the wicked only, and
+they are thus apt images of death:—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Death comes to set thee free;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, meet him cheerily<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As thy true
+friend.”<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a><br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Still, as we see from their appearance, the dreadful aspect of death
+predominates. In like forms, as dogs or wolves, they return time out
+of mind in Norse mythology and in Middle-Age legend.</p>
+
+<p>It has been said that this myth of the Bridge of Souls was essentially
+Indian and Iranian (old Persian). It is often most difficult to ascertain
+what were the ancient Persian beliefs: but in this case the myth
+has been handed down to us from the Persians through the Arabs, a
+people possessing of right no part or lot in its construction. It is generally
+acknowledged that Mohammed took from the Persians that famous bridge so vividly described in the
+Korân.<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a>
+Es-Sirât is the bridge’s name. It is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword,
+and is, besides, guarded with thorns and briars along all its length.
+Nevertheless, when, at the last day, the good Muslim comes to cross it,
+a light will shine upon him from heaven, and he will be snatched across
+like lightning or like the wind; but when the wicked man or the unbeliever
+approaches, the light will be hidden, and, from the extreme narrowness
+of the bridge and likewise becoming entangled in the thorns, he will
+fall headlong into the abyss of fire that is beneath. This is the fragment
+of our old Aryan mythology which the Mohammedan has taken to
+himself to form an image of hell and of punishment after death. It is
+significant that from the Persians should have been inherited the most
+gloomy myth concerning the Bridge of Souls. For from the same source
+we (Christians) gain our fearfullest notions of the Devil.</p>
+
+<p>The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanskrit
+hymn we learn—</p>
+
+<p>“Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and blue, and brown,
+and gold, and red.</p>
+
+<p>“And this path Brahma knows, and he who has known Brahma shall
+take it; he who is pure and glorious.”</p>
+
+<p>Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the
+Norse cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian <i>patha-devayano</i>,
+gods’-path. The Eddas call it As-bru, the bridge of the Æsir,
+or gods. Its other name, Bifröst, the trembling mile, it may even have
+inherited from the Milky-way, for that, when we look at it, seems to be
+always trembling. Asbru or Bifröst, then, is the bridge whereby the
+gods descend to earth. One end of it reaches to the famous Urdar
+fount, where sit the weird sisters three—the Nornir, or fates. “Near
+the fountain which is under the ash stands a very fair house, out of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>
+which come three maidens, named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Past,
+Present, Future). These maidens assign the lifetime of men, and are
+called Norns.”<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>
+To their stream the gods ride every day along Bifröst
+to take counsel. For in the Norse creed the gods know not the hidden
+things of the future, nor have power to ward them off. Fate and death,
+the Twilight of the Gods, lies ahead for them also, as these things lie
+ahead of mortals.</p>
+
+<p>It is possible that a trace of the rainbow bridge is to be seen in
+the Greek myth of the asphodel meadows, which are a part of the
+infernal regions. But no other trace of the Bridge of Souls—if this be
+one—is to be found throughout the range of Hellenic mythology.</p>
+
+<p>The Eddas have nothing to say of the Milky-way. But we have
+clear evidence that it was considered by the German people a path for
+the dead. Indeed, in the scanty legends which survive, we can trace
+the characteristic features of the Indian myth of the bridge guarded by
+Yama’s dogs, and the souls led along it by the wind-god. The wind-god
+of the north is the father of gods, none less than Odin himself;
+and this is why Odin is described as riding with his Valkyriur to the
+battle-fields, to choose from the dead the heroes who shall go with him
+to Valhöll, the hall of the chosen. It is because, as the wind-god, he
+collects the breath of the departed. Odin and Freyja (Air and Earth)
+divide the slain, says one legend—that is, the bodies go to earth, the
+breath goes to heaven. Now, in the Middle Ages, when Odin-worship
+had been overthrown, the gods of Asgaard descended to Helheim; from
+being deities they were turned into fiends. Odin still pursued his
+office as leader of the souls; but now he was huntsman of hell. One
+of the commonest appearances of this fiend, therefore, is as a huntsman—called
+the Wild Huntsman. He is heard by the peasants of the wild
+mountain districts at this day. He is companioned by <i>two dogs</i>, and his
+chase goes on along the Milky-way all the year through, save during
+the twelve nights which follow Christmas. During that time he hunts
+on earth, and the peasant will do well to keep his door well-barred at
+night. If he does not, one of the hell-hounds will rush in and lie
+down in the ashes of the hearth. No power will move him during the
+ensuing year, and for all that time there will be trouble in the house.
+When the hunt comes round again he will rise from his couch and
+rush forth, wildly howling, to join his master.</p>
+
+<p>A gentler legend is that which we find preserved in a charming poem
+of the Swede, Torpelius, called “The Winter Street”—another of the
+names for the Milky-way. With this, in the form in which it has been
+rendered into English,<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>
+we may end our list of legends connected with
+the Sea of Death or the Bridge of Souls. The story is of two lovers:—</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>
+<span class="i2">“Her name Salami was, his Zulamyth;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And each so loved, each other loved. Thus runs the tender myth:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">“That once on earth they lived, and, loving there,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Were wrenched apart by night, and sorrow, and despair;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when death came at last, with white wings given,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Condemned to live apart, each reached a separate heaven.<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">“Yet loving still upon the azure height,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Across unmeasured ways of splendour, gleaming bright,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With worlds on worlds that spread and glowed and burned,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Each unto each, with love that knew no limit, longing turned.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">“Zulamyth half consumed, until he willed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Out of his strength one night a bridge of light to build<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Across the waste—and lo! from her far sun,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A bridge of light from orb to orb Salami had begun.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">“A thousand years they built, still on, with faith,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Immeasurable, quenchless, so my legend saith,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Until the winter street of light—a bridge<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Above heaven’s highest vault swung clear, remotest ridge from ridge.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">“Fear seized the Cherubim; to God they spake—<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">‘See what amongst thy works, Almighty, these can make!’<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God smiled, and smiling, lit the spheres with joy—<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">‘What in my world love builds,’ he said, ‘shall I, shall Love itself destroy?’”<br /></span>
+</div>
+<hr />
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">C. F. Keary.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+Elia.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+Unless indeed we are to except a figure upon the Ephesian drum (Artemisium) now in
+the British Museum, which some have imagined to represent Thanatos.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+Hel is from the Icl. <i>helja</i> “to conceal.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19; cf. also Genesis xxxvii. 35; 1 Samuel xxviii. 19. Sheol is misrendered
+“grave” in our version. It means the place of the dead, not of bodies only.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+The fact that the sun dies every day militates against his claim to the rank of a god:
+otherwise he would probably always receive the greatest meed of worship. As it is, he is
+often worshipped rather as a hero or demigod than a true immortal.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+Fick. “Verg. Wörterbuch der I.-G. Sp.” s.v. <i>mara</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+Hesperides. They are, however, called the daughters of Night by Hesiod and others.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+<span class="greek" title="Pontos">Πόντος</span> is from the same root as the Skr. <i>patha</i>, a <i>path</i>, <i>pfad</i>, &amp;c. One might suppose
+from this that the Greeks were the first adventurers upon the deep waters. While the other
+Aryan folks called the sea “a death,” they called it a “road.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a>
+There can be no doubt that the cosmology of the Eddas is to some extent infected by
+the source from which we derive it. The picture of earth, with its mountain Asgard and its
+surrounding sea, is nearly exactly the picture of Iceland.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+So Poseidôn, the god of the sea, is the earth-shaker; earthquakes being apparently
+attributed to the water under the earth.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a>
+Weber in Chambr., 1020.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a>
+“The sounding,” from <i>gialla</i>, to sound (yell).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a>
+Chaucer.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a>
+<span class="greek" title="Kirkos">Κίρκος</span> (whence <span class="greek" title="Kirkê">Κίρκη</span>)
+is given as both hawk and wolf in L. &amp; S. It is most likely
+from a root <i>krik</i>, meaning to make a grating sound, and therefore probably applied originally
+to the bird (cf. our nightjar). The Latin <i>quercus</i> seems to be from the same root—from its
+rustling? We may compare Circe with Charôn, which means “an eagle.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a>
+From <span class="greek" title="scheros">σχερός</span>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a>
+Od. vi. 204, <i>sqq.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a>
+“Earthly Paradise.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a>
+Od. viii. 562.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a>
+Justin Martyr identifies the gardens of Alcinoüs with Paradise. “Cohort. ad Græc.” xxix.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a>
+Od. xiii. 79, 88.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a>
+“Rheinisches Museum für Philologie,” vol. i. N.S. p. 219. <i>Die Homerische Phäaken.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a>
+Hermödr (heer-muth, kriegsmuth) was originally one of the names of Odin, and therefore
+originally the wind. We easily see the connection between the rushing wind, and the
+battle’s rage. Hermes is likewise the wind, and means “the rusher” (<span class="greek" title="hormaô">ὁρμάω</span>, and cf.
+Sârameyas of the Vedas).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a>
+Edda Snorra, Dæmisaga, 49.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a>
+Procopius, Bel. Goth. iv. The wall identifies the island with Britain.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a>
+The Iranian religion, as it has come down to us, is the historical one founded by Zarathustra,
+who swept away most of the traces of the old Aryan faith. There is difficulty,
+therefore, in obtaining the evidence of a belief which was shared by the old Persians.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a>
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="greek" title="kad' d' epes' en koniêsi makôn, apo d' eptato thymos.">κὰδ’ δ’ ἔπεσ’ ἐν κόνιῃσι μακὼν, ἀπὸ δ’ ἔπτατο θυμός.</span>—Od. x. 163.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="greek" title="oute tis, oun moi nousos epêlythen, hête malista">οὔτε τίς, οὖν μόι νοῦσος ἐπήλυθεν, ἥτε μάλιστα</span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span class="greek" title="têkedoni stygerê meleôn exeiletô thymon.">τηκεδόνι στυγερῇ μελέων ἐξείλετο θυμόν.</span>—Od. xi. 200.<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a>
+We are here speaking of beliefs which sprang originally from the days of burial in the
+earth. Of these were all that class which included the journey of the soul.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a>
+V<i>r</i>hadâra<i>n</i>ayaka. Ed. Pol. iii 4-7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a>
+Fouque.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a>
+Sale’s Koran, Introd. p. 91. The Persian bridge was called Chinvat.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a>
+See Edda den Eldra, Grimnismâl 44, and Edda Snorra, D. 15. That Bifröst did not
+tremble through weakness we may gather from the fact that it is the “best of bridges,”
+“the strongest of all bridges” (Simrock, D.M. 28), and that it will only be broken at the
+day of judgment.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a>
+By E. Keary: <i>Evening Hours</i>, vol. iii.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>MR. MACVEY NAPIER AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey
+Napier, Esq.</i> Edited by his son, <span class="smcap">Macvey Napier</span>.
+London: Macmillan &amp; Co.</p></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Macvey Napier, who succeeded Francis Jeffrey in the
+editorship of the great Whig Review, had, of course, a perfect
+right to preserve the letters which are published in this volume, and to
+study them in private as much as he pleased. Indeed, for anything
+that appears to the contrary in the “Introduction” by his son, the present
+Mr. Macvey Napier, they may have been bequeathed by the original
+recipient with instructions that they should some day be published. An
+edition, privately circulated a short time ago, led to “representations
+that a correspondence of so much interest ought to be made more
+accessible,” and the present volume is the result; but it might be maintained
+that the writers of such letters would, if they could have been
+consulted, have objected to their publication; and that to send them
+forth to the world in all their nakedness was, at all events, not a
+delicate or magnanimous thing to do. “Much might be said on both
+sides.” Paley, in his chapter on the original character of the
+Christian Morality, remarked that though a thousand cases might be
+supposed in which the use of the golden rule might mislead a person,
+it was impossible in fact to light on such a case. That was a hazardous
+observation, for the truth is that when we once get beyond elementary
+conditions of being and doing, we find human beings differ so very
+widely, and in such utterly incalculable ways, that it is in vain to poll
+the monitor in the breast on questions that do in fact arise daily—five
+hundred in a thousand will vote one way, and five hundred in another.
+“How would you like it yourself?” is a question that elicits the most
+discordant replies. I have a very positive feeling that I should have
+left many of these letters in the portfolio, or put them into the fire;
+but when I look about me for a standard which I could take in my
+hand to Mr. Napier, I am baffled—he might produce one of his own
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+that would silence me on the spot. And when one has taken up a book
+to comment upon it with as little reserve as may be, it seems idle, if
+not Irish, to begin by saying that the most amusing or most fertile things
+in it ought never to have seen the light.</p>
+
+<p>This point may recur before we have done; and in the meantime it
+should be remarked that nothing very momentous, either to the honour or
+the disgrace of human nature in general, or literary human nature in
+particular, can be extracted from this correspondence. A late essayist
+used to tell a true anecdote of a distinguished statesman who had lived
+many years and seen as many changes as Ulysses. A friend asked
+him something like this: “Well, now, you have had a great deal to
+do with mankind, and you have outlived the heats and prejudices of
+youth; what do you think of men in general?” And the veteran
+replied: “Oh, I like them—very good fellows; but”—and here we
+shall mollify his language a little—“but condemnably vain, you
+know.” And really that is about the worst thing you can find it in
+your heart to say of literary men after running through these letters—“very
+good fellows, but very vain, you know.”</p>
+
+<p>Another point which lies less near the surface, and has at least the
+look of novelty, would perhaps be this. It is the most frequent and
+most voluminous of the writers who unconsciously tell us the most about
+themselves; and who, with the pleasing exception of Jeffrey, show us
+the most of their unamiable sides. But there is comfort for impulsive
+people in the fact that it is not always the most self-controlled and
+inoffensive of the writers who win upon us. The Brougham-Macaulay
+feud runs sprawling through these pages till we are tired of it; and
+some of poor Brougham’s letters are downright venomous. But the
+total absence of disguise and the blundering boyish inconsistency
+disarm us. Taking the letters one by one, the moral superiority is
+with Macaulay on Brougham as against Brougham on Macaulay, but
+taking the correspondence in the lump, it is something like Charles
+Surface against Joseph Surface, in another line—only, of course, there
+is no hypocrisy. While you come to feel for Brougham in his spluttering
+rages, you feel also that Macaulay, in his too-admirable self-continence,
+can do very well without your compassion, whatever he may have to
+complain of. It is easy to discern that Brougham honestly believed in
+his own superiority to the young rival who outshone him, and yet that
+he was inwardly tormented. Macaulay’s forbearance was of the kind
+<i>qui coûte si peu au gens heureux</i>. The editor, Mr. Napier, was, we may
+conjecture, the greatest sufferer of the three. Much was owed to
+Brougham as a man of enormous intellectual force; to which, apart from
+his past services, great respect was due: but Macaulay was by far the
+best writer, and (to employ a bull which is common enough) incomparably
+the most attractive contributor. The strength of his hold
+upon the Review and its editor is apparent on every tenth page of the
+book, and comes out forcibly enough in a letter from Sir James Stephen
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>
+to Mr. Napier. Mr. Napier had written to Sir James, expressing some
+delicate surprise that no article from his pen had reached the Review
+for a long time. Sir James excuses himself in this fashion:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“I know that many of your contributors must be importunate for a place;
+that you must be fencing and compromising at a weary rate; that there are
+many interests of the passing day which you could not overlook; and that we
+should all have growled like so many fasting bears if denied the regular return
+of the Macaulay diet, to which we have been so long accustomed.”</p></div>
+
+<p>Sir James was an exceedingly busy man, and he was not professedly
+a man of letters like Macaulay; but we may, if we like, read between
+the lines in these excuses and find a little pique there, as well as a just
+sense of an editor’s difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>Another point which lies broadly and prominently upon the surface
+in these letters is a very unpleasant one. It is scarcely credible how
+much dull conceit and sheer ignorant arbitrariness there often is in the
+minds of able and cultivated men. It does not seem even to occur to them
+that their own range may be limited, and their judgments upon many
+(or even a few) topics not worth ink or breath. It should hardly be
+offensive to an ordinary man to be told, or at least to find it tacitly
+assumed, that he could not have invented fluxions, painted like Rembrandt,
+or sung like Pindar. Why, then, should it be difficult for any cultivated
+specialist, of more than ordinary faculties, to make the reflection
+that he must be deficient in some direction or other? Yet we find in
+practice that it is not only difficult, but impossible, in the majority of
+cases. Mr. Napier seems to have invited, or at all events not to have
+repelled, free criticisms on his Review from the contributors in general,
+and the outcome is little short of appalling. If ever there was an able
+man it was Mr. Senior, yet these are the terms in which he allows
+himself to speak of an article on Christopher North—or rather of
+Christopher North himself:—“The article on Christopher North is my
+abomination. I think him one of the very worst of the clever bad
+writers who infest modern literature; full of bombast, affectation, conceit,
+in short, of all the <i>vitia</i>, <i>tristia</i>, as well as <i>dulcia</i>. I had almost
+as soon try to read Carlyle or Coleridge.” Now Mr. Senior was, of
+course, entitled to dislike Christopher North, and there is plenty to be
+said against him in the way of criticism; but the charge of “affectation”
+is foolish, and the whole passage pitched in the most detestable
+of all literary key-notes. John Wilson was a man of genius, whose
+personal likings and rampant animal spirits led him most mournfully
+astray. He was wanting also in love of truth for its own sake; but
+he was as much superior to Mr. Senior as Shakspeare was to <i>him</i>.
+And the addition about Carlyle or Coleridge—<i>or</i> Coleridge!—is just
+the gratuitous insolence of one-eyed dulness. There is enough and to
+spare of blame ready in any balanced mind for either of these great
+writers, but they can do without the admiration of wooden-headed
+prigs, however able. The point, however, is that it never dawns upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>
+the mind of even so clever and cultivated a man as Mr. Senior, that
+his head may have gaps in it.</p>
+
+<p>Another instance to the same purport may be selected from a letter
+from Mr. Edwin Atherstone, the poet—for it would perhaps be hard
+and grudging to deny him the title, since he found an audience, and I
+have a vague recollection of having once read verses of his about
+Nineveh or Babylon which had in them power of the picturesque-meditative
+order. Now, this is the way in which Mr. Edwin Atherstone
+speaks of Dr. Thomas Brown, the metaphysician:—“For myself, I
+know not a writer, with the exception of Shakspeare, Milton, Homer,
+and Scott, from whom I have derived such high delight as from Dr.
+Brown.”</p>
+
+<p>Was ever such a category put on paper before? It is as if a man
+should say his favourite musical instruments were the organ, the harp,
+the trumpet, the violin, and the sewing-machine. Brown was one of
+the most readable of metaphysicians; he made some acute hits, and
+he wrote elegant verses; but his position in Mr. Atherstone’s list is as
+inexplicably quaint as that of “Burke, commonly called the Sublime,”
+in the epitaph on the lady who “painted in water-colours,” and “was
+first cousin to Lady Jones.”</p>
+
+<p>The worst examples of all, however, come from the letters of Francis
+Jeffrey himself. Jeffrey has been underrated, and he was a most amiable
+man; but some of the verdicts he thought fit to pronounce upon
+articles in the <i>Edinburgh</i>, when edited by Mr. Napier, are <i>saugrenus</i>.
+In one case he is about suggesting a contributor, to deal with a certain
+topic, and is so polite as to say that the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill
+had struck him:—“I once thought of John Mill, but there are reasons
+against him too, independent of his great unreadable book and its
+elaborate demonstrations of axioms and truisms.”</p>
+
+<p>There might be weighty “reasons against” Mr. Mill, but what his
+“Logic” could have to do with the question is not clear. It never
+seems to have crossed Jeffrey’s mind that he <i>might</i> be totally disqualified
+for forming an opinion of a book like that; and, having called it
+“unreadable” (though to a reader with any natural bent towards such
+matters it is deeply interesting), he actually puts forward the fact that
+Mill had written it as a reason against his being entrusted with the
+treatment of a political topic in a Whig Review. Editors are human,
+and the editorial position is a very troublesome one. An editor may
+lose his head, as an overworked wine-taster may lose his palate. In a
+word, allowances must be made; but, after a disclosure or two like this,
+it is difficult not to conclude that the Review owed no more of its
+success to its former editor than it might have owed to any intelligent
+clerk. But we cannot let Jeffrey go yet. The following passage
+relates to an article on Victor Cousin:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Cousin I pronounce beyond all doubt the most unreadable thing that ever
+appeared in the <i>Review</i>. The only chance is, that gentle readers may take it to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>
+be very profound, and conclude that the fault is in their want of understanding.
+But I am not disposed to agree with them. It is ten times more <i>mystical</i> than
+anything my friend Carlyle ever wrote, and not half so agreeably written. It is
+nothing to the purpose that he does not agree with the worst part of the mysticism,
+for he affects to understand it, and to explain it, and to think it very
+ingenious and respectable, and it is mere gibberish. He may possibly be a clever
+man. There are even indications of that in his paper, but he is not a <i>very</i>
+clever man, nor of much power; and beyond all question he is not a good writer
+on such subjects. If you ever admit such a disquisition again, order your
+operator to instance and illustrate all his propositions by cases or examples,
+and to reason and explain with reference to these. This is a sure test of sheer
+nonsense, and moreover an infinite resource for the explication of obscure truth,
+if there be any such thing.”</p></div>
+
+<p>Now, the writer of the article in question was Sir William Hamilton.
+“He may possibly be a clever man, but beyond all question he is not a
+good writer on such subjects.” So much for Jeffrey.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Nec sibi cœnarum quivis temere arroget artem,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Non prius exacta tenui ratione saporum.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Poor Mr. Carlyle is again dragged in, and Sir William is pronounced
+“ten times more <i>mystical</i>” than he—“mystical” in italics. When a
+writer, using the word mystical opprobriously, prints it in italics, it is
+usually safe to decide that he knows nothing of metaphysics. The
+concluding sentences are instructive examples of editorial self-confidence:
+“If ever you admit such a disquisition again, <i>order your operator to</i>” do
+so-and-so. Thus, the treatment of Mill and Hamilton being equally
+ignorant and inept, there is no escape for the ex-editor. Both verdicts
+were after the too-celebrated “this-will-never-do” manner, and that
+is all.</p>
+
+<p>In the communications from literary men there are some fine
+instances of just self-consciousness. Tom Campbell writes, with great
+warmth and alertness, to promise an article upon a new work about the
+Nerves; but shortly afterwards writes again, candidly confessing that he
+had found, upon looking again at the work, that his aptitude for scientific
+detail was not great enough to enable him to do justice to the subject.
+A letter from William Hazlitt is so striking, both for its truthfulness
+and its clear-headedness, as to deserve quoting in full. He had been
+written to by Mr. Napier for some contributions to the <i>Encyclopædia
+Britannica</i>, and he replies, from his well-known retreat at Winterslow
+Hut, in these terms:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“I am sorry to be obliged, from want of health and a number of other engagements,
+which I am little able to perform, to decline the flattering offer you make
+me. I am also afraid that I should not be able to do the article in question, or
+yourself, justice, for I am not only without books, but without knowledge of
+what books are necessary to be consulted on the subject. To get up an article
+in a Review on any subject of general literature is quite as much as I can do
+without exposing myself. The object of an Encyclopædia is, I take it, to
+condense and combine all the facts relating to a subject, and all the theories of
+any consequence already known or advanced. Now, where the business of such
+a work ends, is just where I begin—that is, I might perhaps throw in an idle
+speculation or two of my own, not contained in former accounts of the subject,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>
+and which would have very little pretensions to rank as scientific. I know something
+about Congreve, but nothing at all of Aristophanes, and yet I conceive that
+the writer of an article on the Drama ought to be as well acquainted with the one
+as the other.”</p></div>
+
+<p>The honesty of this is quite refreshing. There is one more letter, of
+a similar order, which deserves to be signalized. In August, 1843,
+Macaulay, being pressed for more frequent contributions, writes from
+the Albany that he can promise, at the very utmost, no more than two
+articles in a year:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“I ought to give my whole leisure to my History; and I fear that if I suffer
+myself to be diverted from that design as I have done, I shall, like poor Mackintosh,
+leave behind me the character of a man who would have done something if
+he had concentrated his powers instead of frittering them away. There are
+people who can carry on twenty works at a time. Southey would write the
+history of Brazil before breakfast, an ode after breakfast, then the history of the
+Peninsular War till dinner, and an article for the <i>Quarterly Review</i> in the
+evening. But I am of a different temper. I never write so as to please myself
+until my subject has for the time driven away every other out of my head.
+When I turn from one work to another a great deal of time is lost in the mere
+transition. I must not go on dawdling and reproaching myself all my life.”</p></div>
+
+<p>There is something melancholy in this, admirable as it is. Macaulay
+had begun to watch the shadow on the dial too closely to permit him
+to do much miscellaneous work with an easy mind. There is an important
+lesson for men of letters in the sentence,—“When I turn from
+one work to another, a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition.”
+Here lies the great difference between serious literary work and that
+of ordinary business, where the mind is solicited by one thing after
+another in rapid succession. In the first case, time and energy have
+to be expended in evolving from within a fresh impulse for every topic.
+The most readable writings of Southey are those which he produced
+fragment by fragment, on topics for which little renewal of impulse
+was required. To write a great poem in scraps, all by the clock, was a
+task which only a very conceited and rather wooden man would have
+attempted; and the result we know, though there are fine things in
+Southey’s longer poems. A powerful passage by Cardinal Newman on
+the difficulties of literary work is almost too well known to bear
+quoting, but a living poet, Mrs. Augusta Webster, has put the case so
+fairly that Macaulay’s shade—which is, of course, a shade that reads
+everything—may be gratified by seeing in a handy way a few of her
+sentences:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Occupations of study, scientific research, literary production—of brain-work
+of any kind that is carried on in the worker’s private home with no visible
+reminder of customer or client—are taken to be such as can lightly be done at
+one time as well as another, and resumed after no matter what interruptions,
+like a lady’s embroidery, which she can take up again at the very stitch she left
+her needle in. Professions of this sort not only admit, but in many instances
+require, considerable variation in the amount of daily time directly bestowed
+on them,—<i>directly</i>, for the true student is not at his work only when he is
+ostensibly employed, but whenever and wherever he may have his head to himself,—and
+there is no measure of visible quantity for the more or less results of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+application.... The literary man probably fares the worst of all. He is
+not merely not protected by the manual part of his processes, but it is his
+danger. It is so easy—what anybody can do at any time!... Of course
+the simple fact is that it is more difficult for this class of persons to practise their
+vocations under the drawback of perpetual breaks, actual and (what comes to
+nearly the same thing) expected, than it is for ‘business men.’ Let the attention
+of the solicitor, for instance, busied on the points of an intricate case, be
+perforce diverted to another matter, there is lost from that case just the time
+diverted, and a little extra to allow for the mind which returns to any interrupted
+course of thought, never returning to it exactly at the point at which it
+was forced to leave it. But there are the recorded facts; the direct conclusions
+to be drawn remain unaltered; nothing has disappeared, nothing has lost its
+identity. But suppose, let us say, a dramatist, devising his crisis after hours,
+perhaps days, of gradual growth, to the moment when he sees it before him as a
+reality.... Force his attention away, and he has lost, not merely the time
+he needed to complete a spell of works, with something over for the difficulty
+of resuming, but the <i>power</i> of resuming. All has faded into a haze; and the
+fruit of days, may be, has been thrown away at the ripening, for such moments
+do not come twice.”</p></div>
+
+<p>There are but few of Mr. Napier’s own letters in this volume, so that
+we have only indirect means of measuring his idea of his editorial rights
+or duties as against contributors. There is one case in which Macaulay
+complains strongly of certain excisions, and there is another in which
+he defends certain phrases of his own which appear to have offended the
+taste of Mr. Napier, who found them undignified, if not slightly vulgar.
+He submits of course—all the mutilated ones submit—and he says he
+submits “willingly;” but all the while we can too plainly see the wry
+faces he is making. Mr. Napier was, apparently, a purist in the matter
+of style; but there is something almost grotesque in the spectacle of a
+man of his quality correcting Macaulay. It reminds one of <i>cet imbécile
+Buloz</i>.<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a>
+The case of Leigh Hunt was very different, for he sometimes
+went to the extreme verge of decorum—quarterly review decorum, that
+is—and beyond it. But we may safely conclude that Macaulay knew
+much better than his editor how to turn a sentence, or when the use of
+a French locution was desirable for ends of literary effect. Upon this
+subject of imported phrases Mr. Napier was, it seems, very punctilious,
+for with Mr. G. H. Lewes he must have had a brisk correspondence
+about it. Mr. Lewes, who was then a young writer, anxious to get his
+feet well planted, submits, with every possible expression of acquiescence,
+one might almost say, of abject agreement; but it is easy to see that
+his compliance was forced. Macaulay in his discussion of this little
+matter with Napier, easily and decisively lays down the true guiding
+principle:—“The first rule of all writing,—that rule to which every other
+rule is subordinate,—is that the words used by the writer shall be such
+as most fully and precisely convey his meaning to the great body of his
+readers. All considerations about the purity and dignity of style ought
+to bend to this consideration.”</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p>
+<p>This, indeed, exhausts the subject; and leaves the editor only one
+question to solve—namely, whether the writer whom he employs has
+presumably a meaning fit to be conveyed to the readers of his periodical.
+Upon that point he must use his own judgment; but it was idle for a
+man like Mr. Napier to criticize the phrasing of a man like Macaulay,
+who had ten thousand times his reading. For it is upon the “reading”
+that the matter very largely turns. The force of a quotation or a
+phrase imported from a foreign tongue depends, not upon the bare
+meaning of the words, but upon the suggestiveness of certain associations.
+This does not necessarily imply that the precise context is
+recalled, or certain hackneyed trifles from Lucretius and Horace,
+and a score of such chips in porridge, would be indecent. If it
+be said that all this implies that an editor should be omniscient,
+or at lowest an omnivorous reader, the reply is, that it certainly
+does—unless the principle adopted in the conduct of the periodical
+be the more recent one of choosing contributors largely on account
+of their names, and then leaving them to answer for their own sins, if
+any. One thing is clear, that if a man like Jeffrey—or like Napier—could
+be shown the number of blunders he made in mutilating the
+writings of his contributors, he would feel very much humiliated.
+Thackeray complains very bitterly of the suppression of some of his
+touches of humour, and his sufferings at the hands of a critic like
+Mr. Napier (able man as he was) must have been terrible indeed.</p>
+
+<p>The system recently adopted of having every article signed, has not
+yielded the results which were predicted or expected by those who so
+long struggled to get it introduced. It has led to “starring” more
+outrageous and more audacious than any that was ever seen upon the
+stage, and to mischief far more serious. The worst of these is the
+substitution of a spurious sort of authority for the natural influence or
+weight of the writing, even upon some of the most important topics
+which can engage the human mind. The opinion, for example, of
+a versatile politician, or traveller, or physicist, on a question of religion
+or morals may be of no more value than that of the first man you meet
+on passing into the streets. But it will attract attention in proportion
+to the notoriety of the author, and though wise men may know that it is
+weak or foolish, they may wait a long while for the chance of saying so
+from any pulpit worth preaching in, because the platforms are pre-engaged;
+and also because, the “organs of opinion” being bound to
+live by keeping up a succession of attractive names in their pages, it
+will not do to offend the owners of such names. One other result of
+the recent system (not everywhere and always, of course, but generally
+and most frequently) is a want of freshness in periodical literature.
+This evil our American friends manage to escape; only they are
+much bolder than we are, and do not stand in terror of the charge of
+levity. But, as a rule, writers who are fit for starring purposes lose
+freshness in a very short time; and then they do a still farther mischief
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+by striking that key-note of second-hand thought which is so prevalent,
+or at least so common in even our better literature.</p>
+
+<p>It is amusing enough to recall the superstition of secrecy which
+inspired the policy of the first Edinburgh Reviewers. Lord Jeffrey has
+told us how the conspirators, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Horner, and
+himself, used to meet by night in the back room of a printing-office,
+and steal to their work by winding paths and back stairs, like assassins.
+This was folly, though not inexcusably without rational ground or
+motive, and one cannot resist the belief that the more modern plan will
+work well some day, if it does not now. But the difference in the
+results is not so great as might have been hoped for. Men of letters do
+not now openly insult each other for differences of opinion in politics or
+theology; but it is not any variation of mechanism which has made the
+change, and, though less brutality of phrasing is now permitted, it
+would be difficult to surpass in bitterness or unfairness some of the signed
+and accredited criticism of our own day. On the whole, it comes to
+this,—you can get no more out of given moral conditions than there is
+in them. If public writers are clique-ish (a word to disturb Mr.
+Napier in his grave, and certainly an ugly one) and unjust to each
+other, it is because you cannot change the spots of the leopard. A
+man who loves the truth will employ his pen conscientiously and kindly,
+whether he writes anonymously or otherwise. To this it may be added
+that there is something extremely quaint in one thing that we may see
+taking place every week—the greater part of our newspaper writing is
+still unsigned, and, considering what a hastily got-up miscellany a
+newspaper necessarily is, it can hardly be otherwise. A column of
+reviews in a newspaper is sometimes the work of as many hands as
+there are books reviewed in it. But it might certainly have been
+expected beforehand that reviewers who write without signature should
+be both careful and moderate in attacking writers who sign, and who,
+presumably, take more time over their work than contributors to newspapers
+can generally do. Yet the newspaper columns in which quarterly
+and monthly periodicals are reviewed are “too often” (we must round
+the corner with the help of that commonplace) models of flippancy and
+dogmatism.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, it is not from any mechanical changes of method
+that we must expect improvement in Review literature. Of course, in
+largeness, fulness, richness, and versatility the Review-writing of to-day
+is immeasurably superior to that of the days when Macaulay and
+Brougham fought for precedence in the <i>Edinburgh</i>. But so is the literature
+reviewed—one is a big “rolling miscellany,” and so is the other.
+It does not seem to some of us that, <i>other things being made equal</i>, the
+literature of our modern Reviews (using the word widely) is either
+superior or inferior to that of the <i>Edinburgh</i>, for example. The growth,
+however, of literature generally in force, colour, range, and effectiveness, is
+something astounding. We note this, or rather it overwhelms us, in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>
+turning over such a book as the Memoirs of Harriet Martineau; and
+there is more than the insolence of new-fangled tastes in putting such
+a question as—where would Campbell’s “Pleasures of Hope” be if it
+were published to-morrow? One day when Brougham had just left
+(for London) a country-house where he had been staying, Rogers, who
+was a fellow-guest with him, made some such remark as this—“In
+that post-chaise went away this morning, Bacon, Newton, Demosthenes,
+and Solon.” It is not recorded that Rogers meant this as a joke; but
+where would Brougham be after a little manipulation by Mr. Jevons or
+Mr. Goldwin Smith? It would be tiresome to dwell upon this, and
+wrong to suggest that the men were smaller because the outlook was
+less; but this view, if anything, helps us to see the direction in which
+one of our best hopes for literature must lie—namely, in its ever-increasing
+volume. There will always be hostile camps, and there will
+always be warriors of low <i>morale</i>, but as each camp enlarges, the
+<i>average</i> pain of those who suffer from injustice or neglect will be
+lessened. And this observation is by no means addressed to mere
+questions of reviewing in the minor sense, but rather to literature in
+the mass as representing the culture of the time.</p>
+
+<p>Since the time when Jeffrey ruled the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, and even
+since the death of Mr. Napier, “the advertising element,” and commercial
+elements in general, have played a great and new part, an increasing
+part, too, in the fortunes, and thus in regulating the quality and
+tendency, of current literature. One result of this state of things is
+an ever-increasing tendency to compromise in the expression of opinion.
+In spite of the spirit of tolerance of which we hear so much, there
+was perhaps never a time in which the expression of opinion was so much
+emasculated in the higher periodical literature, or in which so much
+trickery of accommodated phraseology was going forward. This will
+last for a long time yet—as long as periodical literature is a matter
+of commercial speculation. It is an evil omen that the greatest amount
+of freedom now displayed is in political and scientific discussion. It is
+difficult to see where the remedy is to come from in discussions of
+another kind. Probably we shall have a lesson by the cataclysmic
+method before very long. There is in this volume a letter from
+Brougham to Napier, in which Brougham is very angry about an indirect
+disclosure of Romilly’s heterodoxy, and he goes off at a tangent
+to express a doubt whether Macaulay was any better than Romilly, but
+is very anxious that conventional conformity should be strictly maintained
+in the Review, even to the length of concealing from the general
+reader as far as possible such facts as that a man so good and “religious”
+as Romilly could be a disbeliever in this, that, or the other.
+We have now got beyond that; the accredited policy is in a vague
+way to trump the cards of the dangerous people, and then nobody
+shows his hand fairly and freely. Meanwhile, everybody feels uneasy,
+from a latent sense of insincerity; and, when once the excitement is
+off, the natural perception that out of nothing nothing can come,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+reassumes its sway. The game cannot go on in this way for ever,
+though no one can foresee by what accident the lights will be blown
+out, the tables thrown over, and the stakes roughly dealt with at last.</p>
+
+<p>A great difference, as might be expected, arises from the incredible
+widening of what might be called the constituencies of opinion.
+Political articles of the “inspired” order do not count as they did, or
+were supposed to do, in the days of “Coningsby” even, much less as
+they did a decade or two sooner. The effective currents of thought
+are far too numerous and far too massive to be guided—nay, too
+numerous and too massive for even the most conceited of propagandists
+or prophets to fancy he could calculate them. What sort of figure as
+a publicist or “inspired” political writer would a man like Croker cut
+at this end of the century? It must have been a dolorous day for
+such as he when they first felt sure the tides were coming up which
+were to sweep them and their works into oblivion, or at least into
+limbo, and make successors to their function impossible in future.
+We do not affirm that the present phase of change is for the best; no
+theory of progress will justify statements of that kind. In fact, things
+are quite bad enough; but some security against certain evils there
+must be, in the fact that these are days in which it is difficult to hide
+a wrong, or an error, which has an immediate sinister bearing upon
+ends cherished by any school of opinion. Who on earth would now
+think of calling the <i>Times</i> the Thunderer? Just when middle-aged
+men of to-day were babies it was thought finely argumentative, if not
+conclusive, to call the London University “Stinkomalee”—in the
+interest of Church and King; but the “hard hitting” of our own time
+is done in other fashion. Even if the Marquis of Salisbury were to
+edit a paper he would not be able to make much out of Titus Oates.
+But the allusion to that episode in another sphere of action may
+remind us of the late Lord Derby, who might almost be called the last
+of the old school of politicians. The mere mention of his name seems
+to flash light upon the gulf we have traversed since the days when the
+world was divided between a Whig organ and a Tory organ.</p>
+
+<p>Simultaneously with the incalculable increase of devotion to science,
+we have had an increase of devotion to ends held to be practical, and
+this has largely governed our literature. The subject now barely hinted
+at is well worth extended treatment. It is, however, no more than the
+truth that there has been recently a great diminution of speculative
+enthusiasm of all kinds, with a largely increased tendency to make
+things pleasant for all parties. Convenience, in fact, becomes more
+and more the governing factor of life; this tells upon our better literature;
+and until the wind sets again from the old quarters—as it certainly
+will some day—we shall feel the want of certain elements of freshness,
+individuality, and moral impulse which touch us more closely than we
+at first recognize in reading the old Edinburgh Reviewers.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Matthew Browne.</span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a>
+One, at least, of the contributors whom Buloz tortured (Georges Sand wrote that she
+wished him “<i>au diable</i>” ten times a day, only he held her purse-strings) used to date his
+letters in this style:—“<i>A vingt-cinq lieues de cet imbécile Buloz.</i>”</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>THE SUPREME GOD IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY.</h2>
+
+<h4>Comparative Mythology.<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></h4>
+
+<p>Towards the end of the last century the men of letters of Europe
+were astonished to hear that in Asia, on the banks of the Ganges,
+a more ancient and richer language had been found than that of Homer.
+It offered in its words and forms striking analogies with the languages
+of Rome and Athens. Interest once roused, systematic comparisons
+were made, and comparative grammar was founded. The sphere
+of comparisons widened and the group of Aryan languages was established.</p>
+
+<p>It was thus ascertained that the languages of the Romans, of the
+Greeks, of the Gauls, of the Germans, of the Lithuanians, and of the
+Slavs in Europe, of the Hindoos and Persians in Asia, are made out of
+the same materials and cast in the same mould; that they are only
+varieties of one primitive type. The precise laws which regulated the
+formation of each of these varieties were discovered, so that it is both
+possible to proceed from one of these languages to the other, and to
+trace all of them to the original type whence they come, to the lost
+type which they reproduce. This lost type, the source of all the
+idioms of nearly the whole of Europe and of a third of Asia, science has
+reconstructed: with an almost absolute certainty, it has described the
+grammar, drawn up the lexicon of that language, of which no direct
+echo remains, not the fragment of an inscription on a broken stone, of
+that language of which the life and the death are pre-historic, and
+which was spoken at a period when there were as yet neither Romans,
+nor Hindoos, nor Greeks, nor Persians, nor Germans, nor Celts, and
+when the ancestors of all those nations were still wandering as one
+tribe, one knows not where, one knows not when.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p>
+<p>Closely following comparative grammar, almost at the same time rose
+up comparative mythology, and with the ancient words awoke the gods
+that they had sung, the beliefs that they had fostered. It was recognized
+that if the Indo-Europeans spoke essentially the same language,
+they also worshipped essentially the same gods and believed in the
+same things. As comparative grammar, on hearing the sister-tongues,
+caught up the echo of the mother, whose voice they repeat, so comparative
+mythology, in its turn, on looking at the sister religions, has tried
+to see through them the original image which they reflect. As the one
+restored the words and forms of the language which lived on the lips of
+the Aryans at the moment of the breaking up of the Aryan unity, the
+other endeavoured to restore the gods and beliefs which lived in their
+souls at the moment when, with the unity of the race, the identity of
+language and belief passed away. This restoration of the pre-historic
+gods and of the pre-historic beliefs is the final object of comparative
+mythology, just as the reconstruction of words and forms is the final
+object of comparative grammar. The object was analogous and so was
+the method. It is the comparative method, which by comparing kindred
+divinities and kindred beliefs, finds the original divinity and the original
+belief which gave birth to them, and which are reproduced in them.
+To sketch the picture of the original mythology, it is sufficient to
+separate from the various derivative mythologies the essential characteristics
+common to them. Every characteristic common to the secondary
+religions will be legitimately referred to the primitive one, whenever it
+is essential—that is to say neither borrowed from one of the kindred
+religions nor due to an identical, but quite independent development. If,
+for instance, the various Indo-European mythologies agree in naming
+the gods <i>Daiva</i>, “the shining ones,” it follows that in the primitive
+mythology, in the religion of the period of unity, they were known
+already as beings of light and called thus. It is a great deal easier to
+admit that the seven derived religions have faithfully repeated what has
+been handed down to them from their common source, than to imagine
+that once separated they have created the same conception, each one on
+its side, and have clothed it with the same expression: the former
+hypothesis is a simple and natural induction: the second is in reality
+made up of seven hypotheses, and implies seven chances agreeing together,
+seven miracles.</p>
+
+<p>Our object in the following pages is to give a sketch of one of the
+chapters of the Aryan mythology. We try to show that the religion of
+the Indo-European unity recognized a Supreme God, and we try to
+find the most ancient form and the earliest origin of that conception
+among the Aryans, and to follow out the transformations it has undergone
+in the course of ages.</p>
+
+<h4>The Supreme God: Zeus, Jupiter, Varuna, Ahura Mazda.</h4>
+
+<p>The Aryan Gods are not organized as a Republic: they have a king.
+There is over the gods a Supreme God.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Four of the Aryan mythologies have preserved a clear and precise
+notion of this conception: they are those of Greece, of Italy, of
+ancient India, and of ancient Persia. This Supreme God is called Zeus
+in Greece, Jupiter in Italy, Varuna in ancient India, Ahura Mazda in
+ancient Persia. Let us then listen to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, and
+to Ahura Mazda each in his turn.</p>
+
+<p><i>Zeus and Jupiter.</i><a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>—About
+three centuries before our era a Greek poet thus addressed Zeus:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Oh! Thou most glorious of immortals, whose names are many, for ever Almighty,
+Zeus, Thou who rulest nature, directing all things according to a law,
+hail! To Thee all this universe moving round the earth yields obedience,
+following whither thou leadest, and submits itself to Thy rule.... So great in
+Thy nature, King Supreme above all things, no work is achieved without Thee,
+neither on the earth, nor in the celestial regions of ether, nor on the sea, but
+those which the wicked accomplish in their folly.”</p></div>
+
+<p>This is the Zeus of the philosophers, of the Stoics, of Cleanthes: but
+he was already the Zeus of the ancient poets. Powerful, omniscient, and
+just is the god of Æschylus, as that of Cleanthes: he is the king of
+kings, the blessed of the blessed, the sovereign power among all powers,
+the only one who is free among the gods, who is the master of the
+mightiest, who is subservient to no one’s rule; above whom no one sits,
+no one to whom from below he looks with awe; every word of his is
+absolute; he is the God of deep thoughts, whose heart has dark and
+hidden ways, impenetrable to the eye, and no scheme formed within his
+mind has ever miscarried. Finally, he is the Father of Justice, Dike,
+“the terrible virgin who breathes out on crime anger and death,” it is he
+who from hell raises vengeance with its slow chastisement against the
+bold wayward mortal. Terpander proclaims in Zeus the essence of all
+things, the god who rules over everything. Archilochus sings Zeus
+father, as the God who rules the heavens, who watches the guilty and
+unjust actions of men, who administers chastisements to monsters, the
+God who created heaven and earth. The old man of Ascra knows that
+Zeus is the father of gods and of men, that his eye sees and comprehends
+all things and reaches all that he wishes. In short, as far back
+as the Greek Pantheon appears in the light of history, even from
+Homer, Zeus towers above the nation of gods which surrounds him. He
+himself proclaims, and the other gods proclaim after him, that, unrivalled
+in power and strength, he is the greatest of all; the gods, at his behest,
+silently bow down before him; he would hurl into the gloomy depths of
+Tartarus whomsoever should dare to disobey him: he would hurl him
+down into the uttermost depths of the subterranean abyss: alone
+against them all, he would master them. Should they let fall from the
+sky a golden chain on which all the gods and goddesses might be
+suspended, they still would be powerless, however hard they might
+strain to drag him from the heavens to the earth; and if it pleased
+him, he could draw them up even with the earth, even with the sea,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>
+and he would then fix the chain on the ridge of Olympus, and suspend
+on it the whole universe; so much is he above mankind, above the gods.
+Not only is he the most powerful, but also he is the wisest—the
+<span class="greek" title="mêtietês">μητιέτης</span>; he is all wisdom and he is likewise all justice. It is from him
+that the judges of the sons of the Achæans have received their laws:
+very good, very great, he holds learned conversations with Themis (the
+law) who sits at his side; prayers are his daughters, whom he avenges
+for all the insults of the wicked.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, power, wisdom, justice, belonged from all time to Zeus, to the
+Zeus of Homer as well as to the Zeus of Cleanthes; to the Zeus of the
+poets as to him of the philosophers, in the remotest period of paganism
+as at the approach of the religion of Christ. A providential god rules
+the Pantheon of the Hellenes.</p>
+
+<p>What Zeus is in Greece, Jupiter is in Italy: the God who is above
+all the gods. The identity of the two deities is so striking that the
+ancients themselves, forestalling comparative mythology, recognized it
+from the very first. He is the God, great and good amongst them all:
+<i>Jupiter, optimus, maximus</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Varuna.</i>—The most ancient of the religions of India, which the Vedas
+have made known to us, has also a Zeus, whose name is
+Varuna.<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Truly admirable for grandeur are the works of Him who has separated the
+two worlds and fixed their vast extent: of Him who has set in motion the high
+and sublime firmament, who has spread out the heavens above and the earth
+beneath.</p>
+
+<p>“These heavens and this earth which reach so far, flowing with milk, so
+beautiful in form, it is by the law of Varuna that they remain fixed, facing each
+other, immortal beings with fertile seed.</p>
+
+<p>“This Asura,<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>
+who is acquainted with all things, has propped up these heavens,
+he has fixed the boundaries of the earth. He is enthroned above all the worlds,
+universal king; all the laws of the world are the laws of Varuna.</p>
+
+<p>“In the bottomless abyss the king Varuna has lifted up the summit of the
+celestial tree.<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>
+It is the king Varuna who has traced out to the sun the broad
+path he is to follow: to footless creatures he has given feet so that they may run.</p>
+
+<p>“Those stars, which illumine the night, where were they during the day?
+Infallible are the laws of Varuna: the moon kindles itself and walks through
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>“Varuna has traced out paths for the sun: he has thrown forwards the fluctuating
+torrent of rivers. He has dug out the wide and rapid beds where the
+waves of the days, let loose, unroll themselves in their order.</p>
+
+<p>“He has put strength into the horse, milk into the cow, intellect into the heart,
+Agni<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>
+into the waters, the sun in the sky,
+soma<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> into the stone.</p>
+
+<p>“The wind is thy breath, O Varuna! which roars in the atmosphere, like the
+ox in the meadow. Between this earth and the sublime heaven above, all things,
+O Varuna, are of thy creation.”</p></div>
+
+<p>There is an order in nature, there is a law, a habit, a rule, <i>a Rita</i>.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+This law, this <i>Rita</i>, it is Varuna who has established it. He is the god
+of the Rita, the god of Order, the guardian of the Rita; he is the god
+of efficient and stable laws; in him rest as in a rock the fixed immovable
+laws.</p>
+
+<p>Organizer of the world, he is its master. He is the first of the
+Asuras, “of the lords;” he is <i>the Asura</i>, “the Lord;” he is the
+sovereign of the whole world, the king of all beings, the universal king,
+the independent king; no one amongst the gods dares to infringe his
+laws; “it is thou, Varuna, who art the king of all.”</p>
+
+<p>As he has omnipotence, he has omniscience too, he is “the Lord who
+knows all things,” the <i>Asura viçva-vedas</i>. He is the sage who has
+supreme wisdom, in whom all sciences have their centre; when the
+poet wishes to praise the learning of a god, he compares it to that of
+Varuna. “He knows the place of the birds which fly in the air, he
+knows the ships which are sailing on the ocean, he knows the twelve
+months and what they will bring forth, he knows every creature that is
+born. He knows the path of the sublime wind in the heights, he knows
+who sits at the sacrifice. The God of stable laws, Varuna, has taken
+his place in his palace to be the universal king, the god with the
+wondrous intellect. Hence, following in his mind all these marvels,
+he looks around him at what has happened and what will happen.”</p>
+
+<p>As he is the universal witness, he is also the universal judge, the
+infallible judge whom nothing escapes: none can deceive him, and
+from above he sees the evil done below and strikes it: he has sevenfold
+bands to clasp thrice round the liar by the upper, by the middle, and
+by the lower part of the body. The man, smitten by misfortune,
+implores his pity, and feels that he has sinned, and that the hand which
+strikes is also the hand that punishes:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“I ask Thee, O Varuna, because I wish to know my fault:</p>
+
+<p>“I come to Thee, to question Thee who knowest all things. All the sages,
+with one voice, said to me, Varuna is angry with thee.</p>
+
+<p>“What great crime have I committed, O Varuna, that thou shouldst want to
+kill thy friend, thy bard. Tell me, O Lord, O infallible one, and I will then lay
+my homage at thy feet.</p>
+
+<p>“Free me from the bonds of my crime, do not sever the thread of the prayer
+that I am weaving, do not deliver me over to the deaths that, at thy dictate, O
+Asura, strike him who has committed a crime: send me not into the gloomy
+regions far from the light.</p>
+
+<p>“Let me pay the penalty of my faults; but let me not suffer, O King, for the
+crime of others; there are so many days that have not dawned yet! Let them
+dawn for us also, O Varuna!”</p></div>
+
+<p>Such is the supreme God of the Vedic religion, an organizing God,
+almighty, omniscient, and moral. The following is a Vedic hymn
+which sums up with singular force the essential attributes of the
+God:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“He who from on high rules this world sees every thing as if it were before
+him. That which two men, seated side by side are plotting, is heard by king
+Varuna, himself the third.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“This earth belongs to the king Varuna, and this sky, these two sublime worlds with their remote limits; the two
+seas<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a>
+are the belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in this small pool of water.</p>
+
+<p>“He who should leap over the sky and beyond it, would not escape the king
+Varuna: he has his spies, the spies of the heavens, who go through the world;
+he has his thousand eyes which look on the earth.</p>
+
+<p>“The king Varuna sees everything, all that which is between the two worlds
+and beyond them: he reckons the winking of the eye of all creatures:</p>
+
+<p>“The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester.</p>
+
+<p>“Let thy sevenfold bands, O Varuna, let thy bands of wrath which are thrice
+linked together, let them enfold the man with a lying tongue, let them leave free
+the man with a truthful tongue!”</p></div>
+
+<p><i>Ahura Mazda.</i><a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>—Ancient
+Persia opposes to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, her Ormazd or Ahura
+Mazda.<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>
+“It is through me,” he said to his prophet, Zoroaster, “that the firmament, with its distant
+boundaries, hewn from the sparkling ruby, subsists without pillars to
+rest upon; it is through me that the earth, through me that the sun,
+the moon, and the stars take their radiant course through the
+atmosphere; it was I who formed the seeds in such a manner that,
+when sown in the earth, they should grow, spring up, and appear on
+the surface; it was I who traced their veins in every species of plants,
+who in all beings put the fire of life which does not consume them; it
+is I who in the maternal womb produce the new-born child, who form
+the limbs, the skin, the nails, the blood, the feet, the ears; it was I who
+gave the water feet to run; it was I who made the clouds, which carry
+the water to the world,” &amp;c. This development, taken from a recent
+book of the Ghebers, the Bundahish, is to be found entire, in the very
+first words of their oldest and holiest book, the Avesta: “I proclaim
+and worship Ahura Mazda, the <i>Creator</i>.” As far as history can be
+traced, he was already what he is now. Near the ruins of the ancient
+Ecbatana, the traveller may read, on the red granite of the mountain of
+Alvand, these words, which were engraved by the hand of Darius, the
+king of kings, nearly five centuries before the birth of Christ:—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“A powerful God is Aurâmazda!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">’Twas he who made this earth here below!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">’Twas he who made that heaven above!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">’Twas he who made man!”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>This God, who made the world, rules it. He is the sovereign of the
+universe, the <i>Ahura</i>,<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>
+“the Lord.” “He is a powerful god,” exclaims
+Xerxes; “he is the greatest of all the gods.” It is to his favour that
+Darius, inscribing upon the rock of Behistun the narrative of his
+nineteen victories, ascribes both his elevation and his triumphs. It is
+to his supreme care that he confides Persia: “This country of
+Persia, which Aurâmazda has given me, this beautiful country, beautiful
+in horses, beautiful in men, by the grace of Aurâmazda, and through
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>
+me, king Darayavus, has nothing to fear from any enemy. May
+Aurâmazda and the gods of the nation bring me their help! May
+Aurâmazda protect this country from hostile armies, from barrenness
+and evil! May this country never be invaded by the stranger, nor by
+hostile armies, nor by barrenness, nor by evil! This is the favour
+which I implore from Aurâmazda and the gods of the nation!”</p>
+
+<p>This world which he has organized is a work of intelligence; by his
+wisdom it began, and by his wisdom it will end. He is the mind which
+knows all things, and it is to him that the sage appeals in order to
+penetrate the mysteries of the world.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Reveal to me the truth, O Ahura! What was the beginning of the good
+creation?</p>
+
+<p>“Who is the father, who, at the beginning of time, begat Order?</p>
+
+<p>“Who has traced for the sun and the stars the paths that they must follow?</p>
+
+<p>“Who makes the moon increase and decrease?</p>
+
+<p>“O Ahura! I would learn those mysteries and many more!</p>
+
+<p>“Who has fixed the earth and the immovable stars to establish them firmly,
+so that they might not fall? Who has fixed the waters and the trees?</p>
+
+<p>“Who has directed the rapid course of the wind and of the clouds? What
+skilful artist has made the light and the darkness?</p>
+
+<p>“What skilful workman has made sleep and wakefulness? Through whom have
+we dawn, noon, and night? From whom do they learn the law which is traced
+out for them? Who endeared the son to his father so that he should train
+him? Those are the things that I wish to ask Thee, O Mazda, O beneficent
+Spirit, O Creator of all things!”</p></div>
+
+<p>In his omniscience are embraced all human actions. He watches
+over all things, and is far-seeing, and never sleeping. He is the
+infallible one; “it is impossible to deceive him, the Ahura, who knows
+all things.” He sees man, and judges and chastises him, if he has not
+followed his law, for from him comes the law of man, as well as the
+law of the world; from him comes the science supreme among all other
+sciences, that of duty, the knowledge of those things we ought to think,
+say, and do, and of those things we ought neither to think, nor say, nor
+do. To the man who has prayed well, thought, spoken, and acted well,
+he opens his resplendent paradise; he opens hell to him who has not
+prayed and who has thought, spoken, and done evil.</p>
+
+<h4>The Supreme God, the God of Heaven.</h4>
+
+<p>Thus the Aryans of Greece, of Italy, of India, and of Persia agree in
+giving the highest place in their Pantheon to a supreme God who rules
+the world and who has founded order, a God sovereign, omniscient, and
+moral. Has this identical conception been formed in each of these
+cases by four independent creations, or is it a common inheritance from
+the Indo-European religion, and did the Aryan ancestors of the Greeks, of
+the Latins, of the Hindoos, and of the Persians already know a supreme
+God, an organizing, a sovereign, an omniscient, a moral God?</p>
+
+<p>Although the latter hypothesis is more simple and more probable
+than the former, it cannot, however, be taken at once as certain;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
+because an abstract and logical conception of this kind may very well
+have developed itself at the same time among several nations, in an
+identical and independent manner. To whomsoever looks upon it at
+any time and in any place, the world can reveal the existence of a
+Supreme maker: Socrates is not the disciple of the psalmist; yet the
+heavens reveal to him, as to the Hebrew poet, the glory of the Lord.
+But if it be found that the abstract conception is closely connected
+with a naturalistic and material conception, and that the latter is
+identical in the four religions, as it is known, on the other hand, that
+these four religions have a common past, the hypothesis that this abstract
+conception is a heritage of this past, and not a creation of the
+present, may rise to a certainty.</p>
+
+<p>Now, these Gods who organize the world, rule it and watch over it;
+this Zeus, this Jupiter, this Varuna, this Ahura Mazda are not the personifications
+of a simple abstract conception; they emerge from a former
+naturalism, from which they are not yet quite detached; they commenced
+by being gods of the heavens.</p>
+
+<p>Zeus and Jupiter have never ceased to be gods of the heavens, and
+to be conscious of it. When the world was shared among the gods,
+“Zeus received the boundless sky in the ether and the clouds for his
+share.” It is as the God of heaven that sometimes he shines luminous,
+calm, and pure, enthroned in the ethereal splendour, and that sometimes
+he becomes gloomy and gathers clouds (<span class="greek" title="nephelêgeretês">νεφεληγερέτης</span>), causing the rain
+to fall from heaven (<span class="greek" title="ombrios">ὄμβριος</span>,
+<span class="greek" title="hyetios">ὑέτιος</span>), hurling upon the earth the eddy of
+fierce winds, drawing forth the hurricane from the summit of the ether,
+brandishing the lightning and the thunderbolt
+(<span class="greek" title="keraunios">κεραύνιος</span>,
+<span class="greek" title="astrapaios">ἀστραπαῖος</span>).
+This is why the thunderbolt is his weapon, his attribute, “the thunderbolt
+with its never-tiring foot,” which he hurls in the heights; why he rolls
+on a resounding chariot, brandishing in his hand the fiery trident, or
+dashing it on the wings of the eagle, or on Pegasus, the aërial steed of
+the lightning. This is why he is the husband of Dêmêter, “the mother
+Earth,” whom he impregnates with his torrents of rain; this is why he
+sent forth, from his brow according to some, from his belly according
+to others, from the clouds according to the Cretan legend, Athênê, the
+resplendent goddess with the penetrating glance, who came forth, shaking
+golden weapons, with a cry which made heaven and earth resound, as
+she is the incarnation of the stormy light which breaks forth from the
+brow of heaven, from the belly of heaven, from the bosom of the cloud,
+filling space with its splendour and with the crash of its stormy birth.
+Lastly, the very name of Zeus (genitive <i>Dios</i>, formerly <i>Divos</i>) is, in
+conformity with the laws of Greek phonetics, the literal representative
+of the Sanscrit Dyaus, heaven (genitive <i>Divas</i>), and the union of
+<span class="greek" title="Zeus patêr">Ζεὺς πατήρ</span> with
+<span class="greek" title="Dêmêtêr">Δημήτηρ</span> is the exact counterpart of the Vedic union of
+<i>Dyaus pitar</i> with <i>Prithivî mâtar</i>, of the Heaven-Father with Earth-Mother.
+The word <span class="greek" title="Zeus">Ζεύς</span> is an ancient synonym
+of <span class="greek" title="Ouranos">Οὐρανός</span>, which
+became obsolete as a common noun; still, in a certain number of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
+expressions, it retains something of its former meaning. Thus it is,
+when the Earth prays Zeus to let rain fall upon her; when the Athenian
+in praying exclaims: “O dear Zeus, rain thou on the field of the
+Athenians and on the plains”—“Zeus has rained the whole night,” says
+Homer: <span class="greek" title="hye Zeus pannychos">ὕε Ζεὺς πάννυχος</span>. In all these expressions Zeus may be literally
+translated as a common noun, <i>sky</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Jupiter, identical with Zeus in his functions, is identical with him in
+his material attributes.</p>
+
+<p>The word Jûpiter, or better Jup-piter, is for Jus-piter, composed of
+<i>pater</i> and of <i>Jus</i>, the Latin contraction of the Sanscrit <i>Dyaus</i>, of the
+Greek <span class="greek" title="Zeus">Ζεύς</span>: Juppiter is then the exact
+equivalent of <span class="greek" title="Zeus patêr">Ζεὺς πατήρ</span>, and the
+word has even preserved more strongly than Zeus the sense of its early
+meaning; <i>sub Jove</i> signifies “under the heavens;” the hunter awaits
+the marsian boar, heedless of the cold or snow, <i>sub Jove frigido</i>, “under
+the cold Jupiter, under the cold sky.” Dyaus is also in Latin, as it is
+in Sanscrit, the name of the brilliant sky: “Behold,” exclaims old
+Ennius, “above thy head this luminous space which all invoke under
+the name of Jupiter:”</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Varuna, like his European brethren, has been, and is yet, a material
+god, and a material god of the same kind, a god of heaven. This is
+why the sun is his eye, why the sun, “the beautiful bird which
+flies in the firmament,” is “his golden-winged
+messenger;”<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> why the
+celestial rivers flow in the hollow of his mouth, as in the hollow of a
+reed; why everywhere visible, by turns full of light and of darkness, by
+turns he infolds himself in the night, and irradiates the dawns, and by
+turns clothes himself in the white garments and in the black ones. Like
+Zeus, and from the same cause, he gathers together the clouds, he turns
+the sack that contains the rains, and lets it loose upside down on the
+two worlds; he inundates the heaven and the earth, he clothes the
+mountains with a watery garb, and his blood-red eyes unceasingly
+furrow the watery dwelling with their twinkling flashes. As Zeus is
+the father of Athênê, he is the father of Atharvan, “the Fire-God,” of
+Bhrigu, “the Thunderer”—that is to say, of Agni, of the lightning.
+Agni himself is brought forth “from his belly in the waters,” like
+a male Athênê. Finally, like Zeus, like Jupiter, he bears in his very
+name the expression of what he is; and the Sanscrit Varuna is the exact
+phonetic representative of <span class="greek" title="Ouranos">Οὐρανός</span>, sky.</p>
+
+<p>In fine, the sovereign god of Persia, notwithstanding the character of
+profound abstraction which he has acquired and which is reflected in his
+name Ahura Mazda, “the omniscient Lord,” can himself be recognized
+as a god of the heavens. The ancient formulæ of the litanies still
+show that he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura
+Mazda, resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+white, luminous, seen from afar; they invoke the entire body of Ahura
+Mazda, the body of Ahura which is the greatest of bodies; they say
+that the sun is his eye, and that the sky is the garment embroidered
+with stars with which he arrays himself; lastly, the most abstract of the
+Aryan gods has preserved a trait which shows him more closely tied
+than the others to the material world from which they have freed themselves;
+he is called “the most solid of the gods,” because “he has for
+clothing the very solid stone of the sky.” Like Varuna, like Zeus,
+the lightning is in his hands, “the molten brass which he causes to flow
+down on the two worlds;” like them he is the father of the god of
+lightning, Atar. Lastly, the most ancient historical evidence confirms
+the inductions of mythology, as at the very time when the Achæmenian
+kings proclaim the sovereignty of Aurâmazda, Herodotus wrote: “The Persians offer up sacrifices to
+Zeus,<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a>
+going up on the highest summit of the mountains, as they call <i>Zeus the entire orb of the sky</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Thus the supreme gods of the four great religions of Greece, of Italy,
+of India, and of Persia, are at the same time, or have begun by being
+gods of the skies. By the side of these four, Svarogu, the god of
+the ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus,
+like Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the
+universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have
+received their functions; like them he is the god of the heavens, he is the
+thunderer, and like them he is the father of the Fire, Svarojitchi, “the
+son of heaven.”<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<h4>His Origin.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></h4>
+
+<p>How did the god of the heavens become the organizing god, the
+supreme God, the moral God? How was the abstract conception
+grafted on the naturalistic conception? What is the connection between
+his material attribute and his abstract function? The Vedas give the
+solution of this problem.</p>
+
+<p>As far as the eye can reach, it can never reach beyond the sky;
+whatever is, is under the immense vault; all that which is born and
+dies, is born and dies within its bounds. Now, whatever takes place in
+it, takes place according to an immutable law. The dawn has never
+failed to appear at her appointed place in the morning, never forgotten
+where she is to appear again, nor the moment at which she is to
+reanimate the world. Darkness and light know their appointed hour,
+and always at the desired moment “the black One has given way to
+the white.” Linked together by the same chain in the endless path
+open before them, they follow their way onwards, the two immortals,
+directed by a God, absorbing each other’s tints. The two fertile sisters
+do not clash with one another; they never stop, dissimilar in form, but
+alike in spirit. Thus run the days with their suns, the nights with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+their stars, season following season. The sky has always in regular
+course ushered in by turn the day and the night. The moon has always
+lit up at the fixed hour. The stars have always known where they should
+go during the day. The rivers have always flowed into the one ocean
+without making it full.</p>
+
+<p>This universal order is either the motion of the heavens, or it
+is the action of the God of heaven, according as we think of the
+body or the soul, and view in the heavens the thing or the God. Thus,
+in the Rig-Veda, to say “everything is <i>in</i> Varuna”—that is, “in
+the heavens”—and to say “everything is <i>through</i> Varuna”—that is,
+“through the heaven-God”—are one and the same thing; and in
+these formulæ of the Veda, so clear in their uncertainty, theism is ever
+found side by side with unconscious pantheism, of which it is only an
+expression. “The three heavens and the three earths rest in Varuna,”
+says a poet, and immediately afterwards, giving personality to his God:
+“It is the skilful king Varuna who makes this golden disc shine in
+heaven.” The wind which whistles in the atmosphere is his breath,
+and all that exists from one world to the other was created by
+him. “From the king Varuna come this earth below, and yonder
+heaven, too, these two worlds with remote limits; the two seas are
+the belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in the small pool of
+water.”</p>
+
+<p>This pantheistic theism, which makes no clear distinction between
+the God of heaven and the universe over which he rules, or which is
+comprised in him, penetrates Jupiter as well as Varuna. The Latin
+poets offer the equivalent of the vacillating formulæ of Vedism. “The
+mortals,” says Lucretius, explaining the origin of the idea of God,
+“the mortals saw the regular motions of the heavens and the various
+seasons of the year succeed each other in a fixed order, without being
+able to discover the causes. They had, therefore, no other alternative
+than to attribute all to the gods, who made everything go according to
+their will, and it was in the sky that they placed the seat and domain of
+the gods, because it is there that may be seen revolve the night and the
+noon, the day and the gloomy planets of the night; the nocturnal
+lights wandering in the sky, and the flying flames, the clouds, the sun,
+the rain, the snow, the winds, the thunderbolts, the hail, the sudden
+convulsions, and the great threatening
+rumblings.”<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>This view of the heavens as the universal centre of the movements
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>
+of Nature might just as well have led to pantheism as to theism. The
+line of the poet: “Juppiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris”—“Jupiter
+is everything that thou seest, everywhere that thou movest”—does
+not refer only to the Jupiter of the metaphysicians of the
+Porch; it also expresses one of the aspects of the Jupiter of primitive
+mythology. It was not by a deviation from his earlier nature that
+Zeus was confounded with Pan; he was Pan by birth; and if the epopee
+and the drama show us only a personal Zeus, it is because by their
+very nature they could and should see him only under this aspect, and
+had nothing to obtain from the impersonal Zeus, although in this form
+he was as old as in the other. And the Orphic theologian is not quite
+unfaithful to the earlier tradition of religion, when he sings of the
+universal Zeus:—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Zeus was the first, Zeus is the last, Zeus the thunderer;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Zeus is the head, Zeus is the middle; it is by Zeus that all things are made;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Zeus is the base of both the earth and the starry sky;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Zeus is the breath of the winds, Zeus is the jet of the unconquerable flame;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Zeus is the root of the sea, Zeus is the sun and the moon....<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The whole of this universe is stretched out within the great body of Zeus.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the same manner, although Persia has in general preserved the
+personality of her Supreme god, yet she suffers him, especially in the
+sects, to become confounded with the Infinity of matter through which
+he first revealed himself to the mind of his worshippers. After having
+invoked the heavens as the body of Ahura Mazda, the most beautiful of
+bodies, she placed above Ahura himself, and before him, the luminous
+space, where he manifests himself, what the theologians called “the
+Infinite light,” and then by a new and higher abstraction
+declared <i>Space</i><a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a>
+to have been at the beginning of the world. Between this wholly
+metaphysical principle and the naturalistic principle of the primitive
+religion, there is only the distance of two abstractions: Space is only
+the bare form of the luminous Infinite, and the luminous Infinite, again,
+is an abstraction from the Infinite and luminous sky, which was identical
+with Ahura.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, accordingly as the heavens were considered as the seat or as
+the cause of things, the god of the heavens became the matter of the
+world or the demiurge of the world. From the period of Aryan unity,
+he was without doubt the one and the other in turn; but it is probable
+that the theistic conception was more clearly defined than the other, as
+it is so in the derived mythologies; it has besides deeper roots in the
+human heart and human nature, which in every movement and in every
+phenomenon sees a Living Cause, a Personality.</p>
+
+<p>This god of the heavens, having organized the world, is all wisdom;
+he is the skilled artisan who has regulated the motion of the worlds.
+His wisdom is infinite, for of all those mysteries which man tries in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+vain to fathom he has the key, he is the author. But it is not only as
+the Creator of the world that he is omniscient: he knows all things,
+because, being all light, he sees all things. In the naturalistic psychology
+of the Aryans, to see and to know, light and knowledge, eye and
+thought, are synonymous terms. With the Hindoos, Varuna is omniscient
+because he is the Infinite light; because the sun is his eye;
+because from the height of his palace with its pillars of red brass, his
+white looks command the world; because under the golden mantle that
+covers him, his thousands, his myriads of spies, active and untiring
+agents, sunbeams during the day, stars during the night, search out for
+him all that which exists from one world to the other, with eyes that
+never sleep, never blink. And in the same way, if Zeus is the all-seeing,
+the <span class="greek" title="panoptês">πανόπτης</span>, it is because his eye is the sun, this universal witness,
+the infallible spy of both gods and men
+(<span class="greek" title="Theôn skopon êde kai andrôn">Θεῶν σκοπὸν ἠδὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν</span>).
+The light knows the truth, it is all truth; truth is the great virtue
+which the god of heaven claims; and lying is the great crime which he
+punishes. In Homer, the Greek taking an oath, raises his eyes towards
+the expanse of heaven and calls Zeus and the sun to witness; in Persia,
+the god of heaven resembles in body the light, and in soul the truth:
+Aryan morality came down from heaven in a ray of light.</p>
+
+<h4>His Destiny.</h4>
+
+<p>Thus, the Indo-European religion knew a supreme God, and this God
+was the God of the heavens. He has organized the world and rules it,
+because, as he is the heaven, all is in him, and all passes within him,
+according to his law; he is omniscient and moral, because, being
+luminous, he sees all things and all hearts.</p>
+
+<p>This God was named by the various names of the sky—Dyaus, Varana,
+Svar, which, according to the requirements of the thought, described
+either the object or the person, the heavens or the God. Later on, each
+language made a choice, and fixed the proper name of the God on one of
+these words; by which its ancient value as a common noun was lost or
+rendered doubtful: thus, in Greek <i>Dyaus</i> became the name of the
+heaven-god (Zeus) and Varana (<span class="greek" title="Ouranos">Οὐρανός</span>) was the name of the heavens,
+as a thing; in Sanscrit <i>Dyaus</i> or <i>Svar</i> was the material heavens; the
+heaven-god was Varana (later changed into Varuna); the Slavs fixed on
+the word Svar, by means of a derivative, Svarogu, the idea of the
+celestial god; the Romans made the same choice as the Greeks with
+their <i>Jup-piter</i>, and set aside the other names of the heavens; lastly,
+Persia described the god by one of his abstract epithets, the Lord,
+Ahura, and obliterated the external traces of his former naturalistic
+character.</p>
+
+<p>This god, who reigned at the time of the breaking up of the religion
+of Aryan unity, was carried away, with the various religions which
+sprang up from it, to the various regions where chance brought the
+Aryan migrations. Of the five religions over which he ruled, three
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>
+remained faithful to him to the last, and only forsook him at the
+moment when they themselves perished;—they are those of the Greeks,
+of the Romans, and of the Slavs, with whom Zeus, Juppiter, and
+Svarogu preserved the titles and attributes of the Supreme god of the
+Aryans, as long as the national religion lasted. They succumbed to
+Christ; “Heaven-father” gave way to the “Father who is in
+Heaven.”</p>
+
+<p>India, on the contrary, very soon forgot that god for whose origin
+and formation, however, she accounts much better than any other
+Aryan religion does; and it was not a foreign god who dethroned him—a
+god from without—but a native god, a god of his own family,
+Indra, the hero of the tempest.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, the supreme god of the Aryans was not a god of unity;
+the Asura, the Lord, was not the Lord in the same sense as Adonai.
+There were by the side of him, within himself, a number of gods, acting
+of their own accord, and often of independent origin. The wind, the
+rain, the thunder; the fire under its three forms—the sun in the
+heavens, the lightning in the cloud, the terrestrial fire on the altar; the
+prayer under its two forms—the human prayer, which ascends from the
+altar to heaven, and the heavenly prayer, which resounds in the din of
+the storm, on the lips of a divine priest, and descends from the heights
+with the torrents of libations poured from the cup of heaven, all the
+forces of nature, both concrete and abstract, appealing at once to the
+eye and to the imagination of man, were instantly deified. If the god
+of the heavens, greater in time and space, always present and everywhere
+present, easily rose to the supreme rank, carried there by his
+double Infinity, yet others, with a less continuous, but more dramatic
+action, revealing themselves by sudden, unexpected events, maintained
+their ancient independence, and religious development might lead to
+their usurping the power of the king of the heavens. Already during
+the middle of the Vedic period, Indra, the noisy god of the storm,
+ascends the summit of the Pantheon, and eclipses his majestic rival by
+the din of his resounding splendour.</p>
+
+<p>He is the favourite hero of the Vedic Rishis; they do not tire of
+telling how he strikes with his bolt the serpent of the cloud, which
+enfolds the light and the waters; how he shatters the cavern of
+Cambara, how he delivers the captive Auroras and cows, who will
+shed torrents of light and milk on the earth. It is he who makes the
+sun come out again; it is he who makes the world, annihilated during
+the night, reappear; it is he who recreates it, he who creates it. In a
+whole series of hymns he ascends to the side of Varuna, and shares the
+empire with him; at last he mounts above him, and becomes the
+Universal King:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“He, who, as soon as he was born, a god of thought, has surpassed the gods by
+the power of his intellect, he whose trembling made the two worlds quake by the
+power of his strength—O man, it is Indra!
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“He, who has firmly established the tottering earth and arrested the quivering
+mountains; he who has fixed the extent of the wide-stretching atmosphere, and
+who has propped up the sky,—O man, it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“He, who, after slaying the serpent, unpenned the seven rivers; who brought
+forth the cows from their hiding-place in the cavern; he, who, by the clashing of
+the two stones, has engendered Agni,—O man, it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“He, who made all these great things; he, who struck down the demon race,
+driving it to concealment; he, who, like a fortunate gamester who wins at play,
+carries off the wealth of the impious,—O man, it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“He, who gives life to both rich and poor, and to the priest his singer who implores
+him; the god with beautiful lips; the protecting god who brings the stones
+together to press out the soma,—O man, it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“He, who has in his hands the herds of horses and cows, the cities and the
+chariots of war; he, who has created the Sun and the dawn; he, who rules the
+waters,—O man, it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“He, who is invoked by the two contending armies, by the enemies facing each
+other, either triumphant or beaten; he, whom, when they meet in the struggle on
+the same chariot, during the onslaught, they invoke against each other,—O man,
+it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“He, who discovered Çambara in the mountains where he had been hidden
+forty years; he, who killed the serpent in his full strength, who struck him dead on
+the body of Dânu,<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>—O man,
+it is Indra!</p>
+
+<p>“Heaven and earth bow down before him; when he shakes, the mountains
+tremble; the drinker of soma, look at him! bearing the bolt in his arm, the bolt in
+his hand,—O man, it is Indra!”</p></div>
+
+<p>But the usurper does not enjoy his triumph long; in the heat of his
+victory he is already stung to the heart, mortally wounded by a new
+and mystic power which is growing at his side, the power of prayer, of
+sacrifice, of worship, of <i>Brahma</i>, whose reign begins to dawn towards
+the end of the Vedic period, and which is still in existence.</p>
+
+<p>What Indra did in India during an historical period, Perkun and
+Odin did in a pre-historical period, the one among the Lithuanians, the
+other among the Germans. Perkun and Odin are the Indras of these
+two nations, and have each dethroned the god of the heavens. Perkun
+was the god of the thunder with the Lithuanian pagans, and one can
+recognize in him a twin brother of the Hindoo <i>Parjanya</i>, one of the
+forms of the god of the storm in Vedic mythology. This king of the
+Lithuanian Pantheon is a king of recent date; what proves it is that
+the Slavs, so closely related to the Lithuanians in their beliefs, as well
+as in their language, and who also knew the god Perkun, have still as
+their Supreme god the Supreme god of the ancient Aryan religion, the
+god of the heavens, Svarogu.</p>
+
+<p>The same revolution took place in Germany, but in a more remote
+period. The god of the heavens has vanished; he is replaced by the
+god of the stormy atmosphere, Odin, or Wuotan, the Vâta of India,
+the warrior god who is heard in the din of the tempest, leading his
+dishevelled bands of warriors, or letting loose on a celestial quarry the
+howling packs of the wild chase.</p>
+
+<p>Thus did the Greeks, the Romans, and the Slavs allow their god to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>
+vanquished by a foreign god; the Germans, the Lithuanians, and
+the Hindoos themselves forsook him for an inferior creation. Only in one
+single nation he finds worshippers faithful to the last. They are not
+numerous, but they have not allowed their belief to be encroached
+upon either by time or by man. We mean the few thousands of
+Ghebers or Parsis, who, during the great political and religious shipwreck
+of Persia, fleeing before the victorious sword of the Prophet,
+kept from Islam the treasure of their old belief, and who to this day,
+in the year 1879 of the Christian era, in the fire temples in Bombay,
+offer up sacrifices to the very same god who was sung by the unknown
+ancestors of the Aryan race at a time which eludes the grasp of
+history.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">James Darmesteter.</span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a>
+Cf. Max Müller: “Lectures on the Science of Language,” and “Lectures on the
+Science of Religion;” Michel Bréal, “Mélanges de Mythologie et de Linguistique.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a>
+Maury, “Histoire des Religions de la Grèce;” Preller, “Griechische Mythologie.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a>
+See Muir, “Sanscrit Texts,” v. 58; Max Müller, “Lectures on the Origin and Growth
+of Religion,” p. 284.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a>
+“This Lord.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a>
+The cloud often compared to a tree branching out in the sky.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a>
+The fire (Ignis) which is born in the waters of heaven in the form of lightning.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a>
+A sacred plant whose sap is offered to the gods. It is pressed between two stones to
+extract the sacred liquor.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a>
+The sea of the earth and the sea of the clouds.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a>
+See J. Darmesteter, “Ormazd et Ahriman,” §§ 18-59.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a>
+Ormazd is the modern name, contracted from the ancient Ahura Mazda.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a>
+Which is the same word as the Sanskrit Asura.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a>
+The sun is also the bird of Zeus (Æschylus, the Suppliants).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a>
+That is to say “to their Supreme God.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a>
+G. Klek, “Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur-Geschichte.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a>
+“Ormazd et Ahriman,” §§ 62, sq.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a>
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">Praeterea, coeli rationes ordine certo<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et varia annorum cernebant tempora vorti;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia Diveis<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Tradere, et ollorum nutu facere omnia flecti.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In cœloque Deum sedes et templa locarunt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Per cœlum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Luna, dies, et nox et noctis signa severa,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Noctivagaeque faces cœli, flammaeque volantes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nubila, sol, imbres, nix, ventei, fulmina, grando,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et rapidei fremitus, et murmura magna minarum.—v. 1187.<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a>
+In other systems, having regard to the eternity of the God and no longer to his
+immensity, boundless Time became the first principle (Zarvan Akarana).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a>
+His mother.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>LAZARUS APPEALS TO DIVES.</h2>
+
+<p>The elaborate schemes which have been propounded in attempts
+to solve the much-vexed riddle how best and most effectually to
+ameliorate the condition of the working-classes—such as Owenism,
+Fourierism, and such like—have had their inception in the minds of
+philanthropists outside and above our circle. They have been conceived
+for the most part with a genuine feeling of the immense importance of
+this, the most burning and momentous question of modern days, and
+illumined in many cases with deep philosophic insight; yet, as it is almost
+impossible for any but a born proletarian to understand the needs, the
+wants and the daily lives of the proletarian, it is not unreasonable to
+suppose that the absence of this special knowledge may have contributed
+somewhat to the unworkableness of the various systems proposed. Beyond
+this, however, it strikes me that most of them contained a fatal flaw,
+inherent in their constitutions. They were too ambitious, aimed at
+too much, and were altogether of so revolutionary and subversive a
+character as to alarm the great majority of those whose goodwill must
+be obtained before it can be possible to reduce any theory to experiment
+on a sufficiently extended scale to enable an unprejudiced observer to
+pronounce decisively on the result accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>Were it not that the accident of my having been thrown by birth
+and association amongst the very poorest of the poor (“but indifferent
+honest”) community of a large city may enable me to supplement to
+some extent the ideas enunciated by benevolent theorists belonging to
+the upper strata of society, I should not have the temerity to seek
+to pass out of the region of the “eternal silences.” Moreover, I do not
+announce a new and perfect evangel to be ushered in by loud flourish
+of trumpets. I aim at nothing more ambitious than to be allowed to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>
+offer a few hints as to the direction which I conceive future gospels
+of humanity must take in order to be of practical utility.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus endeavoured to justify myself for rushing in where
+sometimes “angels fear to tread,” I have no intention of apologizing for
+the crudeness of my ideas, or my lack of grace in literary composition.
+Taking into consideration the small amount of elementary education
+drilled into me at a charity school for a brief period of my very juvenile
+days, and the continued absence of any duly qualified instructor since,
+“all that goes without saying.”</p>
+
+<p>One more egotistical, or egoistical, remark, and I proceed. I am in
+no sense a <i>specialist</i>. I am neither a Good Templar nor a Convivial
+Toper; neither a disciple of Nihilism, nor any other school of advanced
+thought (so called), nor a bigoted sectarian. I am a private in neither
+the ranks of bovine Toryism nor of rabid Radicalism; but I write
+simply as one of that common ruck of ordinary practical working men,
+which in reality forms the great staple of our plebiscite, although certain
+very noisy and turbulent minorities may possibly have led to a contrary
+inference.</p>
+
+<p>In the erection of my little structure, I, like all other architects,
+require a good foundation as the basis of operations; and in the present
+case the foundation required is simply a desire on the part of those
+bipeds who stand erect on pedestals for an increased knowledge of their
+fellows who crawl and kneel and lie in a thousand and one contorted
+postures on the miry clay. Enlarged knowledge will bring enlarged
+sympathy for each other on the part of high and low alike. As matters
+now stand, those above us never really see us in undress. When they
+come across us we are either too slavishly sycophantic or too ruggedly
+independent,—both being masks donned for the occasion,—and not in
+any sense our natural selves; and I have a dim kind of suspicion that on the
+few occasions when gentlemen voluntarily come forward and try to make
+us believe that they are taking us into their confidence—on the hustings,
+say, for instance—some disguise of the same kind may be adopted, and
+that the features we then see are not altogether the real ones. If I am
+right in this assumption, how is it possible for either class to have anything
+like a competent knowledge of the other? Indeed, I do not
+think I should be far wrong in saying that the manners and customs of
+the Fijian Islanders and other aborigines of distant lands are better
+known generally to the upper ten thousand than those of the lower
+native millions; and, of course, the converse holds equally good.
+Domestic servants, perhaps, may be said to form exceptions to this latter
+rule, seeing that they often have peeps into the innermost arcana; but
+as they are for the most part—the male portion of them at all events—more
+utterly inexplicable beings than their masters, the general fund of
+information is not much increased through that channel. Flunkeydom
+is much more insufferable and incomprehensible to the general run of
+us than swelldom itself.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Granted, however, the desire for a better acquaintance with their
+humbler brethren on the part of our aristocracy and plutocracy (for this,
+like all other good things, must <i>descend</i> from above), it will be found
+that, as a mutual understanding of each other’s peculiarities is
+increased, the rich man (in this paper, as in an Act of Parliament, words
+denoting persons of the masculine gender shall be construed as including
+persons of the feminine gender also) will bestow a little less careful
+thought and attention on—shall I say partridges?—and more on his
+fellow-man; and the bitter class-prejudice which undoubtedly exists
+among the needy against the prosperous and well-fed will gradually
+die out. Then, and then only, will a new and brighter era dawn
+on “poor humanity;” and, I may say, that I hold optimist views
+with reference to this consummation. I think I observe a growing
+acknowledgment of the claims of humble folk in the literature of the
+day; and as literature is universally regarded as an outcome of the
+prevalent tone of feeling, I look upon this as a good omen.</p>
+
+<p>Having worked myself into this happy frame of mind, I am emboldened
+to request that consideration may be given to a few examples
+of the ideas which, “in the stillness of the night,” and otherwise, have intruded
+themselves upon me—ideas embryonic and unformed, I doubt not,
+but genuine as far as they go. From the multitude of these shadowy
+phantoms which have now for a long time past oppressed me, I select those
+which strike me as having special reference to the improvement of
+our poor populations in four of the salient matters of life—viz., in health,
+pocket, mind, and amusements; and these I will deal with <i>seriatim</i>.</p>
+
+<h4>Health.</h4>
+
+<p>This, amongst all sublunary blessings, is undoubtedly the one of
+paramount importance, and, seeing how things now stand with us,
+it is imperative that it should be <i>the</i> question to receive earliest attention.</p>
+
+<p>I think it is the Rev. Harry Jones who, in one of his warm-hearted
+essays, liken as rotten, worn-out, filthy habitation to a lump of putrid
+carrion, exhaling poison all around, and which should be as remorselessly
+cut out from amongst the dwellings of human beings as a fly-blown
+spot is cut out from a carcass. This simile, perhaps, is not a very
+savoury one, but it possesses a much greater merit, that of being
+<i>absolutely true</i>—slightly vulgar, but astonishingly correct. I could
+illustrate its verity by many pertinent instances which have come within
+my own experience, but I feel that this is not the place to do so.
+What then is the remedy? Obviously to re-enact the present “Artizans’
+Dwellings Improvement Act” as a <i>compulsory</i> statute, and not as an
+optional one. Let the squalid, crazy, tumble-down rookeries which
+exist in every town in the kingdom be ruthlessly demolished, care, of
+course, being taken that suitable dwellings are cotemporaneously built
+on better sanitary principles for those whom it will be necessary to
+evict in order to carry out such improvements. And I would suggest,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>
+as a branch of the pervading idea which forms the centre and core of
+my suggestions (of which more anon), that the Municipal Corporations
+of our cities and towns should be themselves in their official capacity
+the landlords of such new and improved dwellings, and should employ
+their own tradesmen to build them. And, furthermore, that in the
+erection of whatever new cottages may be found necessary for the
+purpose indicated, the latter-day style of running them up all alike, as
+uniform as so many squares of glass in a sash, should be abandoned,
+and a little variety of style, if only in trifling particulars, introduced.
+Human nature, even the human nature of the uneducated poor, rebels
+against this painful monotony, and grows intensely weary of over-much
+regularity, which, if a virtue at all, is one of so starched and rigid a
+character, that it takes a considerable amount of resolution, and a far
+higher degree of culture than we can lay claim to, to enable us to fall
+in love with it. To our uninstructed eyes, diversity of form is much
+more pleasing than undeviating rectangularity.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the most painstaking care must be taken that these substituted
+domiciles be properly and thoroughly drained. Unhappily,
+although this is a truism and a self-evident proposition, it is, through
+carelessness or indifference, frequently neglected—a fact too sadly
+attested by the ravages of fever from time to time in our outlying
+districts, where, twenty years ago, the bricklayer and hodman had not
+arrived upon the scene. To obviate this it is absolutely necessary that
+the most skilled science should be employed, and the most searching
+local legislation strictly enforced, to secure the carrying out of approved
+sewerage and drainage systems.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, I would suggest that no horse or cattle slaughterer,
+tallow-melter, manure-merchant, tanner, or other person plying any of
+the trades known as noisome or offensive, should be allowed to continue
+such trades without a special licence, and that by the terms of such
+licence they should be prohibited, under heavy penalties, from carrying
+on their businesses outside the limits of a certain area to be expressly
+set aside for that purpose, at such a distance from the centre of every
+town as may be judged desirable by the sanitary authorities. Within
+this area pig-styes and fowl-houses should be erected, and no swine,
+ducks, or geese be permitted to be kept outside its boundary. An inspector
+should be appointed specially for this quarter of the town, who
+should direct all his energies to seeing that the best principles of
+ventilation, smoke-consumption, drainage, use of disinfectants, &amp;c. &amp;c.,
+are adopted throughout his domain; and all ill-conditioned recusants
+against the decrees of the local senate should be mulcted in heavy
+damages. On the part of the senate itself there must be no apathy,
+no supineness, no dilettanteism, but a stern, vigorous determination
+stringently and impartially to enforce prompt obedience to its edicts.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt this would be somewhat of a hardship upon certain individuals,
+on the score of inconvenience and increased cost of production;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>
+but I doubt not they would take care to indemnify themselves. Even
+were it otherwise, however, the aggregate gain in so important a matter
+as the public health must swamp all minor considerations. Private
+interests must inevitably be sacrificed in the advancement of the general
+weal. All the Mrs. Partingtons that ever existed, with all their mops
+(whether such mops are called monopolies, vested rights, or what
+not), must perforce recede before the rising tide of the ocean of
+civilization.</p>
+
+<p>Having well drained our streets and habitations, and consecrated a
+<i>quartier</i> for the purposes last mentioned, the next step must be to increase
+the number of our iron hospitals; and, disregarding sentimentality,
+immediately to isolate and put in quarantine all persons suffering from
+infectious diseases. Firmly grasp this nettle the moment it crops up,
+and without a shadow of doubt you will reduce to a minimum the high
+rate of mortality at present existing in our overcrowded cities through
+a total neglect of proper precaution. All textile fabrics, bedding,
+books, &amp;c., which have come in contact with the patient, to be consumed
+by fire. Even Vandalism is excusable, nay, commendable, in certain
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, on this branch of the subject, I submit for the consideration
+of municipalities the following recommendations:—</p>
+
+<p>1. Preserve or procure open spaces, sufficient to form recreation
+grounds for your communities—say an acre for every thousand inhabitants.
+Regard this to be quite as imperative a necessity as the
+acquisition of further land to add to the cemeteries in which you inter
+the bodies of those who have “gone over to the majority.” Let the
+quick share your care and attention on equal terms with the dead in
+the matter of requisite space and accommodation.</p>
+
+<p>2. Cause your common lodging-houses and your still worse haunts
+to be under the most vigilant supervision; and that <i>constantly</i>, and not
+fitfully and spasmodically. The more severe and restrictive your regulations
+are with reference to these matters the better it will be for all
+decent, quiet citizens.</p>
+
+<p>3. Provide every householder within your jurisdiction with a <i>filter</i>,
+to insure to him and his the opportunity of enjoying water free from
+organic and other impurities.</p>
+
+<p>4. Furnish him also with two boxes, varying in size according to
+the dimensions of his domicile: one to form a receptacle for dust, cinders,
+old rags, broken bottles, and what is generically known as “dry
+dirt;” and the other for decayed vegetables, the entrails of fish, and
+that kind of refuse that we rather uneuphoniously call “muck.” Such
+boxes to be taken away once a week and empty ones left in their stead.
+As a corollary to this, forbid him, under penalties, to continue his
+present practice of pitching derelicts into the street, as the readiest
+means of being quit of them; and make him responsible for the cleanliness
+of his doorsteps and the pavement in front of his dwelling.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>5. Send round carts of chloride of lime, at short intervals during
+warm or “muggy” weather, and direct a bucketful to be delivered to
+every housewife, to remove stenches from sinks, water-closets, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>6. Erect a furnace in some convenient locality, to serve the same
+purpose as that known as the “Queen’s tobacco-pipe” at the London
+Docks does or did—<i>i.e.</i>, to reduce to ashes all infected or condemned
+articles.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing list of recommendations might be extended indefinitely;
+but perhaps the above will be sufficient to begin with.</p>
+
+<p>There are, no doubt, two objections at least which may be raised against
+the adoption of any scheme founded on these hints: first, one on the score
+of increased expenditure; secondly, one condemning increased centralization.
+With regard to the former, my answer is that health, especially
+the health of the aggregate mass of the body politic, cannot possibly
+be bought too dear; and that nothing really is so costly to any community
+as pestilence and death. As to the latter, I have no other defence to
+urge than my firm conviction that, much as it is railed against, centralization
+is as nearly an unmixed good as it is possible for anything in this
+sublunary (and marvellously complex) sphere to be. Everybody knows
+how inadequate the very best isolated efforts are to exterminate
+any widespread evil; and even organizations which are independent of,
+and do not radiate from or gravitate to, a common centre, frequently
+cross each other’s paths, and to some extent defeat each other’s purposes;
+occasioning a great waste of wholesome energy, which, well directed,
+might achieve marvellous results. As cosmos is greater than chaos—as
+a well-spliced rope is stronger than its separate strands—so is centralization
+and cohesion greater and stronger than individualism and segregation.</p>
+
+<h4>Pocket.</h4>
+
+<p>Many a vigorous arm has applied the axe to that dense and matted
+jungle, the indigence of the lower orders; but little more has been
+accomplished than the blunting of the hatchet and the exhaustion of the
+pioneer who wielded it.</p>
+
+<p>This being the case, it would be the height of folly for me, with my
+far feebler frame and my puny weapon, to attempt to do more than to
+peer cautiously around the deep shades, and try to find out, as a dweller
+<i>within</i> those murky woods, if here a little path and there a little
+opening, into which a gleam of sunlight penetrates at times, be not
+discoverable, half hidden, perchance, by clumps of brushwood, which it
+will cost but little trouble to clear away. I shall therefore restrict
+myself to indicating such of these openings as I see, or fancy I see, from
+whence operations might, according to my notion, be directed towards
+the demolition of portions at all events of this swart and gloomy forest.</p>
+
+<p>One of the largest of these clearings is undoubtedly, I think,
+<i>Co-operation</i>, of which there are two kinds—viz., combinations between
+masters and men in the shape of limited partnerships, a per-centage on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>
+profits, &amp;c.; and combinations amongst the wage-earners themselves for
+certain specified purposes.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to the first named, I am rather inclined to doubt the
+probability of its ever becoming an important factor in the sum of
+human progress, on account of the unlikelihood of its being generally
+adopted either in the near or distant future, and I am still more
+sceptical as to its efficacy as a panacea, even if it were universally reduced
+to practice, especially in these days of commercial disasters.</p>
+
+<p>Coming, then, to the other mode of co-operation—associations of
+manual workers—this also divides itself into two branches, having two
+distinct objects—namely, the receipt of higher wages for labour
+performed, and the obtaining greater value in commodities in the disbursement
+of such wages. Both these are, no doubt, laudable aspirations;
+and, although at the first glance they may appear incompatible
+with, if not altogether antagonistic to, each other,—inasmuch as increased
+remuneration to the producer means an increase in the price of the
+thing produced,—yet it will be seen, on mature reflection, that as a
+very large proportion of operatives are employed in the manufacture of
+articles of luxury, of which they are not consumers or purchasers, so
+much of the increase in the price of such articles as finds its way into
+the pockets of the artificer in the shape of added wages is a net gain to
+that portion of the labouring classes, and will inevitably exude from
+such portion to the benefit of the whole, in the same manner as what
+may be called in contradistinction their normal earnings.</p>
+
+<p>I should like to say one word about combinations of workmen in this
+place, which may be distasteful to unqualified panegyrists of the system:
+such combinations should invariably be in accordance with our recognized
+code of morals, and they must be in obedience to the ordinary laws of
+Nature; and it is to be feared that these desiderata to perfection in
+co-operation have at times been lost sight of in the past. I am compelled
+to blush for my order when I find them seizing the opportunity
+of their employers being under a heavy time-contract for the execution
+of important public or other works to organize a strike: this is clearly
+an infraction of all the ethics of morality. Neither can I appreciate
+their sense of the fitness of things when I hear them laying it down as
+a sound axiom that wages should be equalized, so that the stupid, idle,
+or inferior workman should be on a par with the skilled and industrious
+one. This is a blunder against one of the most immutable of Nature’s
+laws—that of variety and infinite gradation; the suggestion implies a
+yearning after the utterly unattainable, which it is astonishing men of
+otherwise sound judgment should seriously entertain for one moment.
+As a comrade of mine pithily observed, not long since, when we were
+discussing the possibility of devising a scheme by which all men should
+receive the same amount of remuneration for their labour, and, when
+received, be enabled to make it go equally far—“You might as well
+try to make men all o’ one height.”
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Remove these excrescences from our combinations, and when it is
+found we can be practical as well as earnest, co-operation will have
+acquired a new vigour, and will be able to accomplish greater results.
+The main citadel will be none the less impregnable because our forces
+are not scattered abroad in various directions, in the vain endeavour to
+strengthen totally indefensible frontiers.</p>
+
+<p>But, after all, it is from the other branch of co-operation—the
+<i>co-operative store system</i>—that the greatest advantages may be expected
+to accrue. This is growing into favour yearly, still growing (despite
+recent diatribes in the newspapers), and is extending its ramifications
+into quite primitive districts. The knowledge that this is an undoubted
+fact should afford gratification to the well-wishers of the poor.</p>
+
+<p>Yet this gratification is subject to some modification when it is seen
+that this, not the least important birth of the nineteenth century, though
+growing and bearing within itself the germs of almost infinite possibilities,
+is at present of too tiny dimensions to grapple with that colossal
+ogre—the wasteful expenditure of the impecunious. It is Hercules
+indeed, but Hercules still in swaddling clothes before the strangling
+of the serpent. The amount of dealings at these stores
+by the class to whom they are calculated to prove the greatest
+boon, when compared with dealings by this same class with <i>very</i>
+retail shopkeepers and at other places where the practice of paying
+“through the nose” (pardon the vulgarity) so extensively prevails, will
+be found to be almost infinitesimal. The question therefore arises,
+may it not be possible to replace these pine torches by Edisonian lights,
+so as to eliminate from wider tracts the thick darkness enwrapping the
+minds of the sons and daughters of toil as to what constitutes their true
+interests? It appears to me that there is one way of rendering this
+feasible, which I deferentially submit for consideration. It may be
+quite impracticable; and, if practicable, may contain such flaws as to be
+futile. If so, on defects being pointed out which I am not able,
+unassisted, to discover, I can only say I am open to conviction.
+I have no desire to be charged with an ineradicable attachment
+to that peculiar feat of horsemanship known as “riding a hobby
+to death.” My plan is simply this: first, let every town of
+say over 10,000 inhabitants possess an internal government complete
+in itself, with plenary administrative powers; let groups of
+villages, in such numbers as may be determined on (the present Poor-Law
+Union Divisions might be taken as a basis), form cordons round
+themselves in like manner, and with the like objects; let every care be
+taken to select the very best men of every social grade to form the local
+senate, and let the members of which it is composed be paid for their
+services out of the public (local) funds, be subject to re-election at short
+intervals, and be required to give good accounts of their stewardship.
+Further, let it be clearly understood that the only condition on which a
+man could hope to be enrolled in this representative band, or, being enrolled,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>
+expect to be allowed to continue his official existence, would be his
+distinct and unquestioning recognition of <i>personal</i> responsibility, as far as is
+humanly possible, for, and his unwavering resolution to secure, the well-being
+of <i>all</i> his constituents, physically, pecuniarily, mentally, and morally.</p>
+
+<p>These preliminaries being supposed to be satisfactorily settled, such
+incorporation or assembly of chosen ones might (always supposing my
+views happened to find favour in their sight) open as many co-operative
+stores—so many for each trade—as would be sufficient to supply the
+needs of the entire community, selecting competent men from each
+trade to manage the different departments, and paying them by an
+agreed salary in the same manner as rate collectors and relieving
+officers are paid. A certain specified per-centage to be added to the
+prime cost of the various articles to defray the estimated expenses of
+management, advertising, rent (if necessary, though it would be better
+if the local legislators were also the landlords), wear and tear, depreciation
+in stock, and miscellaneous expenses for the year; and sales to be
+made to the consumer <i>for cash only</i>. The urban or rural chancellor of the
+exchequer would, in his annual budget, soon learn to adjust the amount
+of his tax (for so the per-centage may be considered), over and above the
+original cost price, according to the probable exigencies of the ensuing
+year, by the light afforded by the transactions of the preceding one.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing how many millions of pounds are annually disbursed for the
+barest sustenance and most absolute necessaries of life by the poor of the
+three kingdoms, from most of whom exorbitant rates of profit are wrung,—for
+the fact need not be expatiated on here that the more indigent the
+purchaser, and the more his penury drives him to live from hand-to-mouth,
+the less value he receives for his money, to say nothing of the further
+irruptions made into his income by the only partially-slain “truck
+system,” or by the payment of interest to the accommodating successors
+of the Lombards, whose golden balls proclaim them to serve the
+honourable office of jackal-purveyors to the lions of the gin-palaces,—seeing
+this, I say, shall I be stigmatized as a dreamer, a half-crazy
+Utopian, if I anticipate magnificent results to follow from fair trial of a
+scheme designed to stem the frightful torrent of improvidence at present
+obtaining amongst the working classes, and to enable them to occupy
+the new position of being participators in the benefits of a sound commercial
+undertaking?</p>
+
+<p>Here, however, as elsewhere, there are tares amongst the wheat—if,
+indeed, it be wheat. An awkward inquiry obtrudes itself unbidden.
+What is to become of the thousands of deserving folks, too old for the
+most part to begin life <i>de novo</i>, who have earned a tolerably honest
+livelihood as small shopkeepers, and who would probably find themselves,
+under the system just recommended, “improved off the face of the
+earth?” Partially the difficulty might be met by the employment of
+the most active or most experienced of them in the borough stores. A
+little more might be accomplished in this direction also by giving some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>
+of them appointments to the numerous new offices it will be found
+necessary to create if our municipal authorities ever do wake up and
+bestir themselves, and aspire to becoming something more suitable to
+the spirit of the age than mere assemblies for palaver. But when all
+this is done, there will still be the residuum, and that residuum
+composed almost exclusively of the feeble, the aged, the halt, the lame,
+and the blind, who will be more or less thrown upon their own
+resources. For these, the only gleam of light I can discern is the fact
+that a remnant of their old customers will not find out all at once the
+error of their ways, and will go on in their accustomed grooves for some
+time after the centralized co-operative store shall have become <i>un fait
+accompli</i>, and so their decline into pauperism will be slow and gradual.
+Heaven only knows how some of these small shopkeepers contrive to
+exist even now by vending pennyworths and halfpennyworths of this,
+that, and the other; it can only be by imposing extravagant profits on the
+article vended. One cannot help thinking that their case can hardly very
+well be worse than it is, in any event. But be this as it may, care for
+their particular interests must not be permitted to dominate over due
+consideration for those of the vast aggregate mass forming the rest of
+our <i>clientèle</i>, innumerable as “leaves in Vallambrosa,”—and, like other
+and greater folks, superfluous retailers must submit to be sacrificed for
+the benefit of the common weal.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to deal even in the most cursory manner with this
+“pocket” question without just glancing at the important bearing
+which the question of temperance must exercise upon it. To place a
+further spending power in the hands of an incurably intemperate
+populace would obviously mean only to increase and intensify the vice
+of intemperance. While deprecating any intention of making this
+paper the vehicle for a furious tirade against drunkenness, I feel bound
+to say in passing that, little as I love total abstinence, I regard it as
+a much lesser evil than the unrestrained indulgence of dipsomania; and
+if any man feels that he is so much a slave to his degraded appetite that
+he cannot keep up a nodding acquaintance with John Barleycorn without
+wallowing under his influence in the mud of inebriety, I respect
+that man for signing the pledge. My optimist instincts, however, buoy
+me up again on this subject also, for I sincerely believe that, high
+authority for the assertion though there be, mankind are <i>not</i> mostly
+fools; and that when they have begun to realize the fact that they have
+a choice as to the kind of investment they may obtain for their money,
+the great majority of them will be looking out for some more substantial
+advantage than the questionable luxury of seeking temporary
+oblivion from carking cares and the grisly spectre of hopeless indigence.
+It may, I think, be relied on with certainty that an improvement in the
+pecuniary circumstances of the poor would beget increased self-respect,
+and self-respect would proclaim drunkenness <i>unfashionable</i>, and that now
+vigorous and lusty giant would ere long find himself as decrepit and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>
+infirm as Bunyan’s Giant Pope. Those of us who have read of the
+bacchanalian orgies of the great no further back than the days of the
+Regency of George IV., and contrast it with the sobriety which is said
+to prevail amongst them in our days, cannot be accused of being groundlessly
+sanguine if we augur the percolation downwards of this stream
+of moderation under happier auspices, and that, too, in no remote
+future.</p>
+
+<p>A third means of lightening the strain upon our <i>ouvriers</i> is to
+multiply the facilities for emigration. I would even go so far as to
+say that I think an <i>International</i> Emigration and Immigration League
+between all the civilized nations of the world, for the purpose of
+drafting overplus populations into thinly inhabited districts, would be
+rather a good thing than otherwise, the inconveniences attending
+differences of language, manners, and so forth, being quite surmountable;
+whereas the difficulties attendant upon the possession of more hands
+to labour than there is work to perform, and consequently more hungry
+stomachs than there is food to fill, is altogether insurmountable. With
+regard to the affliction of <i>mal du pays</i>, from which undoubtedly many
+of the expatriated would suffer at intervals, that would be found to
+be a much more tolerable burden to bear, combined with a sufficiency
+of victuals and clothing, than the pangs of starvation or semi-starvation
+even on one’s “native heather.”</p>
+
+<p>But as it is no part of my programme to move too fast, or too far
+at once, I do not insist upon any international arrangement of the
+kind I have hinted at during, say, the present decade. I do, however,
+earnestly entreat all whom it may concern to try their best to place the
+matter of Emigration on a proper footing. I unhesitatingly maintain
+that whilst Great Britain possesses untold thousands of acres of virgin
+soil, and practically unlimited untried possibilities, in her numerous
+colonies, this our “sea-girt isle” ought not to suffer from a plethora
+of willing workers. The existing facilities held out to our overcrowded
+populations to induce them to venture upon “fresh fields and pastures
+new” might be multiplied a hundred-fold.</p>
+
+<p>Surely it ought to be part of the fundamental policy of a State—especially
+of a State whose real governing body is elected by household
+suffrage—to take the most active measures for insuring the weal of all
+its citizens: the humblest as well as the highest. Does not this, indeed,
+form the very quintessential attribute of good government? Has it not
+been rightly said that a State represents the totality of all the individuals
+composing it? I assume these are sound political axioms; and if I am
+right in this assumption, may I not suggest, as the most certain way of
+attaining the desired end, that our Representative Government should formally
+acknowledge our claims upon them by appointing a Minister for
+“the Condition of the People,” with a seat in the Cabinet? The next
+step would be easy, for when once the whole surroundings were fairly
+brought within the range of vision, the vital importance of Emigration as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>
+a principal means of amelioration would be recognized; and it would be
+discovered that an able Secretary for Emigration would prove an invaluable
+auxiliary in the effective working of the department.</p>
+
+<p>It would be necessary, I apprehend, to select for this latter office a
+man eminent as well for good temper as for a capacious intellect, as the
+multiplicity of the functions he would have to perform would render such
+office by no means a sinecure; and the involved and complex matters he
+would have to deal with might, at times, go far in the direction of
+ruffling the serenest imperturbability.</p>
+
+<p>The eye of fancy depicts him in the active performance of his multifarious
+duties, surrounded by numerous painstaking subordinates, some
+of whom bear to him huge tomes, containing a full alphabetical list
+(compiled from the census returns and other sources) of the populations,
+industries, and assessments of the United Kingdom, divided into areas
+of certain dimensions, showing the age, sex, occupation, and earnings or
+incomings of every person; the number of houses (with their rentals or
+estimated yearly value), workshops, or other business establishments of
+every kind, specifying how many hands are employed in each and the
+amount of wages paid; and also showing the number of persons in receipt
+of out-door relief, and approximate number of vagrants in each district.
+Other attentive satellites open before him the various domesday books,
+containing reports by competent surveyors as to the quantity, and the latent
+riches or irredeemable poverty, of uncultivated lands throughout those vast
+dominions of ours on which the sun never sets; with copious notes by
+skilled mercantile men and geographers, pointing out the places where
+commodious ports might be formed, railways constructed, or manufactories
+erected. Our much-worried Secretary, whose heart is in his work,
+compares notes, and directs some of his chief clerks to prepare digests of,
+for instance, the information contained in pp. 420 to 446 of the 17th
+volume of the first set of books, and pp. 97 to 104 of the 32nd volume
+of the second set, ready for his consideration on the day but one following.
+He then takes up similar digests, which have previously been prepared
+in like manner, and sees clearly that one hundred artisan families
+of various specified trades, full particulars of which are before him, may,
+with advantage to all parties, be transplanted, passage free, from the
+blind alleys of Flintchester to the new settlement of Hornihand in Australasia,
+with the authorities of which place the usual arrangement will be
+made to assist them on their <i>début</i>, and lend them a helping hand until
+they get fairly settled down. Day after day this kind of thing goes on
+throughout the year, except for some two months during the late summer
+and autumn vacation, when the hard-worked Secretary and his staff are
+enjoying a well-earned holiday.</p>
+
+<p>The more I ruminate on this matter of Emigration the more I am convinced
+that it is indispensable; it should run on wider lines, and cover
+a far more extended area than is possible under anything short of Governmental
+intervention. Seeing the utter inutility and inefficacy of isolated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
+exertions to deal with the mighty problems which our complex civilization
+presents for solution, I should, on behalf of myself and my class, hail
+with joy the prospect of State interference in our interests. Sneers may
+continue to be directed against, and witty sarcasms levelled at, a “Paternal
+Government,” “infringement of that liberty of the subject which is the
+inherent privilege and birthright of every Briton,” and other like cuckoo-cries.
+But meantime we starve; we increase and multiply in obedience
+to the law of Nature, and our opportunities of earning subsistence do <i>not</i>
+increase and multiply in a corresponding ratio. And without by any
+means desiring to steep my pen in midnight blackness in order to portray
+possible portentous consequences, yet it is a proposition not to be
+controverted that the ever-increasing preponderance of born toilers over
+any quantity of remunerative toil which can by any possibility be created
+within the limits of Great Britain proper must inevitably cause such
+consequences to be calamitous. For some time past the dark shadow
+of over-population has been looming on the horizon of “Merrie England,”
+at first no bigger than a man’s hand, but later advancing nearer
+and still more near and assuming colossal proportions; and the time
+cannot be far distant when it will obstinately refuse to be ignored any
+longer, even by the most unreflective, but will assert itself in a manner
+little to be desired. How, then, to avert this evil? How to postpone
+the advent of the fateful day? Are not these queries of vital interest to
+all ranks of society? I for one feel them to be so: hence the above
+gropings after gleams of daylight in the midst of the gathering shades.
+I do not pretend to aver that I have found the sunshine, that I have
+discovered an absolute cure for all the ills that “flesh is heir to.” Too
+well I know what mistakes and blunders are interwoven in the best-devised
+schemes of human origin. Nevertheless, I hold that the free
+expression and ventilation of opinions, even though they may be
+erroneous, is often eventually productive of good, by serving to dispel
+vagueness of thought and loose generalization, and solidifying the abstract
+into the concrete; until which process has been accomplished no
+thing soever can be dealt with satisfactorily. Therefore, as a firm <i>dis</i>believer
+in the Malthusian philosophy, as also in the recommendations
+for checking the increase of population more recently scattered broadcast
+amongst us, and being deeply impressed with the imperative necessity
+of confronting the difficulty at once—<i>now</i>, in these days when the
+heavens above us appear to be hardening into brass, and the earth
+beneath us to be corrugating into iron—I have requested the Editor of
+this <span class="smcap">Review</span> to afford me the opportunity of giving publicity to my
+views.</p>
+
+<p>Closely allied to this division of my paper, if not actually of it, is the
+subject of <i>Charity</i>. Here, again, what a lamentable waste of vital force,
+what an invertebrate entity crying aloud to be overhauled, remodelled,
+jointed, and braced! Contrast the grand sum total yearly given in
+charity with the paucity of definite results attained—the well-worn
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>
+comparison of the Nasmyth hammer and the nut instantaneously recurs
+to one’s mind. Except when subscriptions are raised for some specific
+object outside the usual round altogether, how little there is to show for
+the expenditure! Why is this so? And what is the remedy? Obviously,
+I opine, the cause is individualism, isolation, caprice,—and as obviously,
+I ween, the only cure is combination, organization, system. Where we
+have now hundreds of little benevolent societies, with their honorary
+secretaries and treasurers and fussy committees, each neutralizing the
+others, let us have two or three established on a broad basis, with a
+central committee who, when the “sinews of war” are collected in one
+focus, will be strong enough to enter on paths at present untrodden, and
+wise enough to understand that almost innumerable differentiations in
+the nature of gifts will be necessary to cope successfully with the almost
+illimitable diversities in the nature of requirements, and who will insist
+on being invested with discretionary powers in matters of occasional
+aids and supplemental benevolences. Then it will be no longer possible
+for the shameless pauper, flaunting his rags and sores in the marketplace,
+or the whining sycophantic hypocrite, to monopolize the coals of one
+society, the blankets of a second, the soup of a third, and so on <i>ad infinitum</i>,
+not seldom exchanged for means of procuring beer to give additional
+zest to the utterance of the sentiment—“What fools these gentlefolks
+be.” The most searching inquiries would be instituted, and perchance
+succour afforded to those to whom it would prove an inestimable
+boon, but who, from constitutional timidity or <i>mauvaise honte</i>, now starve
+and drop and die in silence, overlooked by almoners who take the first miserable-looking
+object who comes to hand, the most self-asserting or the most
+“’umble,” and straightway pour out the contents of their cornucopias
+upon shams, making a miserable travesty of the sacred name of Charity.</p>
+
+<h4>Mind.</h4>
+
+<p>It is refreshing to know that so far as this branch of the subject
+is concerned, our governors, having by the force of circumstances been
+compelled to realize the fact of our existence, and our claim
+to be considered as veritably part and parcel of the body politic,
+with rights of common citizenship, have further, within the last few
+years, by the passing of the Compulsory Education Act, shown themselves
+possessed of political sagacity, by thus taking steps to insure that
+our descendants, when their turn comes to exercise and enjoy the civil
+privileges now granted to them, shall at least have a ploughed and
+manured soil in which to sow the seeds of love for law and order with
+some chance of due fructification, instead of the rough, hibbly-hobbly
+cinder-heap of their forefathers, which acknowledged no fertilizing
+influence but gross bribery, and partially justified the political ostracism
+and exclusion of its owners from all share in electoral privileges.</p>
+
+<p>All hail, then, to the School Board system as a great step in the
+right direction. Undeniably true as are some of the accusations brought
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
+against it, alleging that many blunders and useless extravagances, and
+much disregard for the susceptibilities of well-meaning but mistaken
+opponents, have marked its progress onward in too many instances; yet
+as the general idea is laudable and eminently conducive to promoting
+the highest interests of the entire population, and as in the nature of things
+it may be expected that greater experience will bring greater wisdom,
+and the faults charged against the movement gradually become “small
+by degrees and beautifully less,” let us heartily wish it God-speed.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, why does the good work stop here? Why should not provision
+be made for building upon the foundation thus laid? Why should
+totally unformed intelligences be the only ones to profit by this guardian
+care, and why should they be led a little way on the road and then left
+to flounder along by themselves, and lose themselves in interminable
+mazes? Why, in short, should education be confined to children, and
+not extended to adults?</p>
+
+<p>It is true that the University Extension Scheme, as now carried out
+in many of our larger provincial towns to a very, very limited and only
+faintly appreciable extent, tends to show that the wind is just beginning
+to blow in this direction also. Something, however, much more comprehensive
+is needed. The masses are not reached, as will be patent to
+any one who will take the trouble to attend any of the courses of lectures
+delivered in connection with this extension system. The neophytes
+seeking initiation into this or that special branch of learning will be
+found to be composed principally of what we call “better class” people,
+with a sprinkling of pupil teachers and sucking governesses.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is this the fault of the masses themselves, as may perhaps be
+conjectured; the mere circumstance of the prices charged for admission
+in itself forming an insuperable barrier to the great majority having
+any part or lot in the matter, to say nothing of the fact that the
+whole apparatus is professedly set in motion for the benefit of the
+middle-class public solely.</p>
+
+<p>But however inadequate this minute increase in the volume of the
+fertilizing waters of Literature and Science may be for the mighty
+task of irrigating the parched and arid desert which stretches out in
+measureless extent before us, yet I am fain to regard it as a favourable
+omen—as a symptomatic indication that the “fountains of the great
+deeps” of human ignorance are beginning to be broken up, and that the
+tide <i>is</i> rising which, when it has reached its full height, will disseminate
+the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge far and wide over the landscape so
+that the lowly equally with the high-born may pluck and eat thereof.
+The monster Cerberus has received a buffet on one of its three heads,
+and the Hesperidean Gardens may ere long, I am sanguine enough to
+hope, be entered by any thirsty passer-by without fear of molestation.</p>
+
+<p>All this, however, is dreamy, unsubstantial verbiage. That it is not
+also mere chimerical nonsense, which will not bear the strain of
+practical application, I will attempt to show—always supposing as a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>
+necessary preliminary, as in all the hypothetical propositions throughout
+this paper, that that portion of the community who are nursed in the lap of
+fortune are imbued with sympathetic feelings towards the less favoured
+sharers of their common humanity, and do not object to take a little
+trouble and bear a little charge by way of displaying their fellow-feeling.</p>
+
+<p>Grant this premiss, and what follows, or something better, may
+easily be rendered an accomplished fact.</p>
+
+<p>The first step will be the formation of a council or committee, after
+the manner before suggested, save that in this case we shall want an
+infusion of men of culture who at the same time shall be good workers
+and good philanthropists (a rare combination, but not an impossible
+one, I venture to think, notwithstanding the seductions a life of Sybaritic
+ease and delicate refinement specially offers to the scholar), in every
+considerable town or group of villages throughout the length and
+breadth of the land, with power over the district purse-strings, and
+with no superior authority except the Minister or Secretary of State for
+Education at Whitehall—for, of course, such a functionary will in those
+happy times be quite as much a necessity as a Master of the Buckhounds—who
+alone will have power to veto their proceedings and issue general
+rules for their guidance.</p>
+
+<p>If I had the ear of this all-important official, I should whisper to him
+that in my view the best mode of enlightening the working classes would be
+to take possession of three already-existing institutions, and enlarge their
+dimensions so as to make of them real forces, distinctly visible, instead of
+the hole-and-corner obscure trivialities they are now. These three institutions
+are—1st, Free Libraries; 2nd, Lecture Halls; 3rd, Class Rooms.</p>
+
+<p>1. To Free Libraries I have accorded the first place, because in all
+probability it is there that the beneficial results will be more immediately
+apparent, and the advantages offered will, in the first instance, be most considerably
+made use of. The major portion of the huge and unwieldy mass
+to be operated on would fly off at a tangent from the exactness and
+method necessarily incident to formal lectures, and in a still greater
+degree to class-work. It must first be left to itself to sprawl and struggle
+at its own free-will; the restraining chain must not be too soon brought
+into view; gradually and insensibly the quickening influence must be
+brought to bear; the change from density to clear-headedness, from
+sluggish inertness to mental activity, will not be effected in a moment;
+not all at once will the spiritual part of the long-benighted assert its
+claim to an equality with the animal part; desultory reading only will
+impart a love for reading; odd waifs and strays of information picked
+up just anyhow will alone create the desire for the acquisition of further
+knowledge, and by imperceptible degrees the naturally well-regulated
+mind will reject vagueness and demand exactness; having reached which
+stage it will be fit to undergo the further regimen prescribed. A good
+starting-point, however, will have been gained when our operatives
+generally are imbued with a genuine love of books and obtain a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>
+somewhat varied, if superficial, knowledge anent the salient features of
+English literature.</p>
+
+<p>These words, “<i>English</i> literature,” are used advisedly; for while
+I would have every town of over 5000 inhabitants possessed of a
+Free Library (varying in size according to the population), and every
+village have its book-loan society, it would be well to insist on the greatest
+and best of our own writers being well represented upon the shelves
+of every institution of this character before venturing on translations
+either of the ancient classics or modern foreign authors, even of
+European reputation. Homer, Thucydides, Æschylus, Plato, Virgil, and
+the rest, as well as Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and the innumerable host
+of Continental immortals, can very well wait a bit. We want to inspire
+<i>British</i> operatives with a love of letters. In endeavouring to effect
+this, shall we not give the foremost place to the productions of <i>British</i>
+genius? We have to <i>form</i> a taste. Is it not desirable that, to begin
+with at all events, this should be a <i>national</i> taste? But is not this the
+very way, it may be asked, to foster insular prejudices, narrowness, and
+bigotry? I reply, not necessarily, as many of our ablest <i>littérateurs</i>
+have not hesitated to attack the various abuses, follies, and weaknesses
+which crop up in these islands from time to time—some hurling denunciations
+at them aglow with all the fervour of passion and intellect;
+others piercing them with the sharp spear of satire; and others yet
+again calmly but pitilessly holding them up to contempt in a train of
+close reasoning. Many, too, in addition to lashing the vices peculiar to
+their native country, have, in terms of generous eloquence, eulogized the
+virtues of our neighbours. Therefore, the man who is disposed to wrap
+himself up in a mantle of national self-glorification and self-righteousness
+will not find that the hierarchs of our national literature are at all times
+compliant enough to fasten the clasp for him.</p>
+
+<p>But I have a further answer—<i>i.e.</i>, independently altogether of the
+question whether the perusal of English works solely will or will not
+have a tendency to nip the growing flower of cosmopolitanism in the
+bud, the one essential point in training the English subject to think
+is to train him to think in his own vernacular—to show him of what
+mighty things his mother-tongue is capable, and to satisfy him that</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Age cannot weary, nor custom stale<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Its infinite variety;”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>and that if ever he, individually, wants to raise up his voice and make
+himself heard on any subject that interests him or his fellows, he must
+not fritter away his attention on more distant objects, but concentrate
+his gaze on those which immediately surround him.</p>
+
+<p>This view may appear somewhat contradictory to the one expressed
+when dealing with the subject of Emigration; but really it is not so.
+The leaving behind the special spot of earth where one drew one’s first
+breath, played as a boy, saw his first sweetheart, and grew up to manhood,
+the parting from old friends and long-familiar objects, may and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>
+does entail a severe struggle, and inflict many a bitter pang; but it is
+unavoidable, and so must be submitted to. It is otherwise with home
+ideas, habits, modes of thought, literature. These will serve to mitigate
+the poignancy of separation from one’s native land, will intertwine
+themselves more closely round one’s affections by reason of that very
+separation, and be the means of causing miniature Englands to arise in
+far-off regions, and in various degrees of latitude and longitude. While
+releasing as cheerfully as may be what we <i>must</i> let go, let us hug more
+closely still that which we <i>can</i> retain.</p>
+
+<p>To return: In a well-equipped Free Library no standard British author
+should be conspicuous by his absence. The poets, from Chaucer and
+Gower to Tennyson and Browning; the dramatists, from Marlowe and
+Shakspeare to W. S. Gilbert and Tom Taylor; the <i>modern</i> historians,
+from Hume and Gibbon to Froude and Freeman; the modern theologians,
+from Hooker and Jeremy Taylor to Canon Farrar and the Dean of
+Westminster; the modern essayists, from the projectors of the <i>Tatler</i> and
+<i>Spectator</i> to the contributors to the current Reviews and Magazines;
+the philosophers, the leaders in all departments of science, should be
+there; the best writers of prose fiction, also, from Fielding and Goldsmith
+to Trollope and George Eliot, should be well represented. The
+most profound and the most volatile will alike find sufficient to occupy
+their attention here for some time. The “Anglican paddock” (to
+misapply a now well-known term) will afford plenty of grazing ground
+to cattle of moderate appetites for a considerable period; and when it
+is exhausted, why, then, there are toothsome grasses in endless profusion
+to be cropped over the boundary fence.</p>
+
+<p>2. With reference to Lecture Halls, these ought to be nearly as
+plentiful as churches both in town and country, and can with proper
+management be made to serve two ends—the carrying forward the
+work begun at the Free Library, and the rousing from torpidity those
+whom even that useful institution would fail to reach; for as many
+would only be led to attend the lecture through the library, so there
+are many with whom the contrary would hold good, as many a dormant,
+beer-sodden soul would consent to be carried off for an hour or two to
+a lecture hall who could never be persuaded to sit down in cold blood
+to the perusal of a book, although such book might be written in the
+most fascinating and brilliant style imaginable: the unused eyes would
+soon begin to ache, the palsied brain soon begin to numb; whereas the
+speaker, if a good one, and his heart in his subject, would contrive to rivet
+the man’s attention, despite of himself, by the magnetism of enthusiasm,
+and he would carry away with him some sort of idea—muddled and
+distorted probably, but still an <i>idea</i>—of what it was all about.</p>
+
+<p>Penny Readings interspersed with music have been very much derided
+by our erudite critics, I think without sufficient cause. These really
+harmless, if not very high-class gatherings, blending together the
+ingredients of a certain kind of instruction and of entertainment, were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>
+doubtlessly called forth by a genuine desire to familiarize the lower
+orders of the people with some of the more dramatic passages in our
+literature, and to render visible to them a higher intellectual standard
+than the tap-room and the music-hall had made them acquainted with.
+It was a happy thought to mingle singing and playing with the readings.
+The introduction of these not only served to take off a possible monotony
+which might otherwise have been felt, but added attractions really
+elevating in their influence, the status and general surroundings of the
+auditory being taken into consideration. There is no need to pry too
+curiously into the petty vanities which prompted this elocutionist or
+that vocalist to make an appearance in public, nor to speculate too
+closely upon the disproportion between the ludicrous extravagance of
+the efforts often made by incompetent aspirants to obtain fame, and the
+very modest modicum and evanescent character of that article vouchsafed
+in return. All this is nothing to the purpose. The simple
+query is,—Have these things, known as “Penny Readings,” in ever so
+slight a degree, fulfilled the object of their existence as that object is
+generally understood? If an affirmative answer can be given (as I
+certainly believe it can) to that question, then are they entitled to
+honest praise, and not to supercilious contempt.</p>
+
+<p>However, having deposited my little offering at this humble shrine as I
+passed by, I am free to confess that if we never get any further than this
+on the road towards the mental improvement of the million, the march of
+intellect will be a very short march indeed. But it will not—it cannot
+stop here. The universal law of progress forbids the idea; and in some
+form or another the irresistible impetus to advance will be felt and obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime, no better means, so far as I see, appearing for the moment
+to be available, I fall back upon my pet project of lectures, to be
+delivered every night (Sundays excepted) from the middle of September
+to the middle of May in every year, in every one of the multitudinous
+halls built for the purpose, by men or women well versed in the several
+subjects upon which they discourse.</p>
+
+<p>Failing the possibility of procuring a sufficient number of lecturers
+who could spare the time necessary to compose original matter for the
+purpose, it would be by no means a bad plan, I think, to employ good
+and experienced hands to condense and compress standard works on
+different subjects into such a compass as to occupy two or three evenings,
+and hand these digests over to practised elocutionists to be <i>read</i>. Take
+history, for example. Prescott’s “Conquests of Mexico and Peru,”
+Motley’s “Rise of the Dutch Republic,” Irving’s “Conquest of
+Granada,” Carlyle’s “French Revolution,” or Hepworth Dixon’s “Her
+Majesty’s Tower,” are peculiarly well adapted to undergo this process.
+The absorbing interest of the incidents described could not fail to
+engage the attention of the audience; and I cannot help thinking that
+the offended <i>manes</i> of such of the above-named great ones as have
+departed from amongst us would be appeased when it was represented
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>
+to them that this mutilation of their invaluable legacies to posterity
+had been conducted with due reverence, and solely for the purpose of
+introducing them to a far wider (and, perchance, not less appreciative)
+audience than even their exalted talents could otherwise have commanded.
+As to the still-living ones, perhaps before taking the liberty
+suggested with their literary offspring, it might be courteous to ask
+their permission, and I feel confident they would not be churlish
+enough to withhold it. I may be reminded that there would still be
+publishers and owners of copyright to be dealt with; but I leave
+suggestions as to the best means of negotiating with these awful entities
+to persons of greater experience than myself.</p>
+
+<p>Obviously this lecture-hall business, like most of my other theories,
+necessarily involves considerable expenditure; but if anything is to be
+done, opulence must feel for indigence not only in heart but in pocket.</p>
+
+<p>3. A thorough and unstinted employment of the means above
+indicated will accomplish much towards the emancipation of our helots
+from that thraldom of ignorance which gives to the more galling
+thraldom of caste its sole <i>raison d’être</i>. But there is yet one thing
+needed, the <i>utilization</i> of knowledge acquired, and this can only be
+attained by dint of laborious and unintermitting class-work. The sacred
+flame may be kindled in the breast by desultory and omnivorous reading,
+but the light emitted is as uncertain as that of a wandering marsh-fire—it
+wants <i>focussing</i> to be of any use to its possessor or his species.
+And it is in the <i>class</i>, under the guidance of a gifted and genial teacher,
+that this operation can best be performed. It is here that the finishing
+touch must be applied; here the rounding-off take place; here the
+heterogeneous be brought into homogeneity, and the discordant be
+reduced to harmony and system.</p>
+
+<p>If these things are so, the problems which present themselves to be
+resolved are:—Given certain millions of untrained intellects in crying
+need of class tuition scattered over certain thousands of square miles in
+unequal proportions—how to provide sufficient building accommodation
+to meet the exigencies of the case? and given an uncertain but confessedly
+immense mass of torpidity and stagnation—how to infuse the
+necessary leaven into it to quicken it and arouse its latent forces?</p>
+
+<p>I answer as to the first proposition—Require the architects of the
+multitudinous lecture halls aforesaid to submit plans to you, which shall
+comprise sections not only of the main building but of three or four
+adjuncts thereto suitable for class-rooms, after the style of the chapels
+nestling under the wings of our old cathedrals, or the annexes thrown
+out at convenient angles from our modern industrial exhibitions for the
+display of specialities. These would add comparatively little to the
+original cost of the structure, and save a great deal of time and trouble
+in hunting up eligible sites, and, when found, negotiating terms of
+purchase. As to the second proposition, make a <i>liberal</i> distribution of
+prizes part of your system, so liberal that not only proficiency would be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>
+certain of obtaining a reward, but plodding and persevering mediocrity also.
+Constant attendance, combined with such written answers to questions
+as evinced that the pupil was making an effort, should, however imperfectly
+the answers were framed, insure the possession of a prize at the end
+of every session. With such materials to work upon, a free use of stimulants
+to exertion must form no inconsiderable part of the programme.</p>
+
+<p>Again, no charge whatever must be made for admission to the classes.
+Indeed, the entire domain of adult poor education must be as free as United
+Italy—free from the Alps of the library to the Adriatic of the class-room.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, no restriction should be made as to the age or sex of the
+scholar. I am of opinion that no greater incentive to emulation can be
+offered to either man or woman than the consciousness that they are
+associated with co-workers or competitors of the opposite sex.</p>
+
+<p>It would be travelling out of the record were I ever so faintly to
+attempt to enter into details as to the mode in which class-teaching
+could most advantageously be conducted, or to endeavour to shadow
+forth what I conceive to be the regulations best adapted for the purpose.
+No general rules would be found competent to meet ever-varying special
+conditions. All this must inevitably be left to conform itself to the
+peculiarities of the respective groups of the taught and the idiosyncrasies
+of the individual teachers.</p>
+
+<h4>Amusements.</h4>
+
+<p>On this last, but not least, division of the subject, I need not dilate
+at very great length. Much has been written with reference to it of
+late with which I cordially agree.</p>
+
+<p>No one can help being sensible of the melancholy fact that the
+tendency of many of our so-called entertainments is debasing and
+degrading in the last degree. It is difficult to imagine anything much
+more demoralizing in every aspect—anything which appears to be more
+utterly without redeeming features—than our music-halls. Dances,
+which are simply unnatural contortions on the part of the male performers,
+and indelicate exhibitions on the part of the female ones; songs,
+which are utterly idiotic and meaningless, except when their meaning
+is indecency, sounding the very lowest depths of imbecility, and having
+no literary merit save <i>double entendres</i> of the most vulgar description;
+the whole taking place in an atmosphere redolent with the fumes of
+beer, gin, and tobacco,—such is the pabulum provided for our delectation
+through this particular medium. Much the same poisonous
+mixture is administered at our tea-gardens and other places where we
+most do congregate. Is it a marvel, then, that our young men waste
+their strength in drunkenness, and our young women stray from the
+narrow path? Is it wonderful that when you respectables meet us
+abroad on Bank Holidays, or Derby or Boat Race days, we comport
+ourselves in ruffianly fashion, and greet the ears of your dames and
+damsels with expressions which it is not good for them to hear?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ultra-exclusives! those of you who are most deeply impressed with
+the desirability of keeping us in our proper places, and are offended if
+we pass “between the wind and your nobility,” to you most of all do
+I address myself, and take the liberty of saying that on <i>you</i> rests the
+onus of providing better and more healthy recreations for us; for needs
+must that at times the most fastidious of you will find yourselves in
+the midst of us, and it will interest you even more deeply than others
+that we should not sink into unmitigated and universal rascaldom, the
+only natural goal at which the pursuit of such pleasures as those above-named
+is likely to land us. Give us attractions of a less baneful
+character, and wean us from these cesspools of infamy. To you it is
+specially important that this matter should receive attention. Do not,
+however, seek to do the work half-way; do not attempt to take away the
+means of recreation we have—evil as they are—until substitutes are
+furnished; it will not be convenient to you that the people should have
+too much time to <i>brood</i>; it will be safer for you that we should be
+<i>mercurial</i> rather than that we should be <i>morose</i>; in one mood or the
+other, however you may strive to ignore us, we shall continue to exist in
+tangible form and be distinctly visible to your perceptions.</p>
+
+<p>I like not threats or innuendoes, however, and say no more concerning
+this matter.</p>
+
+<p>Time was when holy-days were frequent, when gorgeous pageants
+feasted the eyes of our forefathers—times of Maypoles and morrice-dancers,
+of roasted oxen and sheep, of conduits running with wine and
+milk: I say not I wish these to return. Much I fear that all was not
+pure, pastoral, Arcadian simplicity amidst these poetic scenes, fascinating
+as they are to the imagination. I doubt not the taint of vice was
+there, and the ghastly presence of misery and sorrow, and I do not
+regret them—let them go.</p>
+
+<p>What, then, do I suggest? Aware of the risk I run in having it
+imputed to me that my suggestions have already been too numerous,
+I will, with brevity, venture yet one more.</p>
+
+<p>Repetition is vexatious; notwithstanding which, unification is imperative,
+and committees must again be called into requisition.</p>
+
+<p>Cricket-clubs, quoit-clubs, bowling-clubs, even skittle-clubs <i>ad libitum</i>,
+in summer; ballad concerts, dramatic performances, &amp;c., in winter,
+under the same auspices. Membership extended to all comers, fee
+payable one shilling per annum in monthly instalments; the expulsion
+or suspension for a longer or shorter term—according to the more or
+less heinous nature of the offence—of any member for bad language,
+intoxication, or other misbehaviour; the gradual unbending of the rich
+and the cultured, and their condescending to grace the sports with
+their occasional presence, thereby infusing a spirit of refinement into
+them; the prohibition of betting or <i>over</i>-drinking,—these are, shortly
+and imperfectly stated, the remedies I would suggest.</p>
+
+<p>To conclude the whole matter. We, the industrious poor of this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>
+realm—the hard-working classes—are in pressing need of help now, in
+this present time. This, I believe, is confessed on all hands, diverse
+and contradictory as the theories how such help could best be given
+may be. The question at issue is not whether ameliorations are
+desirable or the contrary, but in what manner to bring them about, and
+how to be certain that it is bread which is bestowed, and not a stone.</p>
+
+<p>I do not claim to have solved this enigma, or to have invented a
+millennium. I simply assert my belief that some of my propositions may
+contain germs capable of being nurtured into hopeful possibilities.</p>
+
+<p>As I have selected four principal points in which improvements are
+required—health, pocket, mind, and amusements—so have I striven to
+indicate four principal modes which I think best calculated to attain the
+desired end, and which for the most part must come from <i>without</i> our
+borders—namely, sympathy, earnestness, money, and centralized organization—all
+being essential; the last-named especially being so, for it
+may be regarded as an irrefragable verity that every movement to be
+really efficacious must be <i>national</i>, and not parochial.</p>
+
+<p>I look for many objections on both sides of the temperate zone, on
+the waters of which alone I elect to voyage. The frigid will aver that
+I expect too much, that my notions are Utopian and chimerical to the
+last degree, and the nostrums prescribed empirical and baneful; that
+it is not to be supposed sensible people will take all this trouble, and
+rush into such reckless expenditure in a project so visionary. To
+such my only answer is,—Where the return is to be great the investment
+must be great also. The torrid, on the other hand, will say I am not
+sufficiently thorough; that the only means of elevating the poor is by
+lugging the wealthy down to their level, abrogating dignities, distributing
+riches, abolishing ownership in lands and corporeal hereditaments.
+To these my reply will be,—Evil will the day be which shall dawn on
+such devil’s-sabbath employments as these. Levelling <i>up</i>wards is laudable;
+levelling <i>down</i>wards is execrable. I would in nowise interfere
+with the least of these institutions. The overthrow of dynasties will
+not advantage us, nor will a general scramble conduce to our lasting
+welfare. I am a sceptic as to the benefits to be derived from revolution,
+although professing myself a warm admirer of reformation, as I
+understand the word—<i>re</i>-formation.</p>
+
+<p>Neither do I anticipate that the time will ever come, under the best
+devised systems, when poverty will altogether cease out of the land.
+Evil will there be, and good also, while the world stands. This, however,
+should be no excuse for indifferentism in the work of lessening the
+sum-total of the evil, and increasing the sum-total of the good.</p>
+
+<p>And so Lazarus unmoors his fragile boat, and launches it, unmanned
+and untended, on the bosom of the stream,—to meet its fate.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Henry J. Miller.</span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>THE FORMS AND COLOURS OF LIVING CREATURES.</h2>
+
+<p>In the Essay on Animals and Plants, which appeared in the
+September Number of this Review, the names were given of the
+principal groups in which the prodigious multitude of living creatures
+(existing or known to have existed) have been classified by naturalists.
+It was therein also indicated that these various groups, and all the
+subdivisions of such groups, are distinguished one from another by
+variations in the forms and structures of the creatures which compose
+them. This fact alone would prove that very many differences in form
+must exist; but, indeed, a very slight knowledge and a very cursory
+examination of animals and plants would suffice to show this even
+to any one who knew nothing of the scope or nature of biological
+classification. In truth, to the non-scientific observer who feels an
+interest in living things, the difficulty may seem to be rather how
+to find general resemblances than how to detect differences between
+creatures which seem so totally diverse as do humming birds from whales,
+bees from buffaloes, or the numerous African herds of antelopes from the
+grasses on which they feed.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless it was pointed out in the second Essay of this
+series<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a>
+that all living creatures do agree to a certain extent in the form and
+structure of their bodies, inasmuch as their bodies are always bounded by
+curved lines and surfaces, while, if we divide the body of any animal
+or plant its structure may always be seen to be heterogeneous—that is
+to say, composed of different substances, even the simplest showing a
+variety of minute particles (granules) variously distributed throughout its interior. It has also been pointed
+out<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a>
+that all living creatures agree in beginning life in the form of a small rounded mass of protoplasm. But
+all animals and plants further agree in that each kind has its own proper
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+size, shape, structure, and colour, and each (as we shall hereafter see)
+shows a positive unity in its fundamental constitution, co-existing with
+the heterogeneity above referred to.</p>
+
+<p>But though each kind has its own proper size, shape, structure, and
+colour, yet these vary more or less in different individuals, and the degrees
+of variability are different in different kinds both of animals and plants.</p>
+
+<p>As to size, although most living creatures have certain limits which
+they rarely exceed or fall below, yet many organisms vary greatly in this
+respect. Thus, that familiar weed, the common centaury (<i>Erythræa
+centaurium</i>), may vary in height—according to the soil and other
+external conditions—from half an inch to five feet.</p>
+
+<p>As to figure and structure there is more constancy, and the amount
+of variation which may in these respects be found between different
+individuals of the same animal species, is generally but slight. In plants
+and in plant-like animals much greater differences exist as to external
+configuration; but even in them the internal structure of each species
+varies but little.</p>
+
+<p>Colour is a character which some readers may be disposed to
+regard as extremely inconstant. We are familiar with many differently
+coloured varieties of our cultivated flowers; and white blackbirds,
+and black leopards are not very uncommon objects. Nevertheless,
+colour is really a character of much constancy, and is one not only
+constantly present in different individuals of one kind of plant or
+animal, but is one constantly present in particular groups of kinds.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, for example, all the English plants of the dandelion order
+which have opposite leaves, have yellow flowers, with the single
+exception of the eupatory (<i>Eupatorium cannabinum</i>), and whole groups of
+butterflies are respectively characterized as being blue, or white, or yellow.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that the life of every living being is accompanied
+by, and may be described as, a series of adjustments of action and
+structure to external conditions which surround it. Accordingly we
+may expect to find that the sizes, shapes, structures, and colours of
+living beings bear relations, which are in very many cases obvious, to
+their external circumstances, as directly favouring their nutrition,
+reproduction, or preservation from external injury.</p>
+
+<p>Every living creature must be either fixed (like a rooted tree), or
+capable of spontaneously moving, or of being passively drifted from place
+to place, and must have a structure and figure suitable to one or other
+of these conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Again, every living creature, whether free or fixed, is either a
+terrestrial, an aquatic, or an aërial organism; and it may be fitted
+to live in any two, or even in all three of these conditions—as, for
+example, is the swan. If terrestrial, it may inhabit the surface of the
+earth only, or it may occasionally or habitually dwell beneath it.
+The structure, forms, and even colours of organisms are in most cases
+plainly adapted to their modes of life in the above respects.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Thus, any living creature, which is fixed to the surface of the earth,
+must either adhere to it by having one side or portion of its body
+spread out and adjusted to irregularities in the supporting surface, or
+else by sending prolongations of its substance into the substance of
+the supporting body, as a plant sends its roots into the soil. Such
+prolongations, moreover, must (in order to hold fast) either sink deeply
+or else expand, at a slight depth, into a rounded or discoidal mass,
+or into radiating processes whereby the whole structure may be
+securely anchored.</p>
+
+<p>This special modification of form, again, may or may not be
+accompanied by certain further modifications of structure, according
+as such rooting parts are to serve, as mere holdfasts, simply for
+attachment, or (as in most plants) for the absorption of food also.</p>
+
+<p>Another modification is also correlated with these conditions. We
+have seen<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a>
+that an interchange of gases takes place between each
+organism and its surrounding medium. But such interchange cannot
+take place in the subterranean part of the body, and a corresponding
+difference of structure between such subterranean part and other parts
+must therefore obtain.</p>
+
+<p>Again, as to colour, we find differences which are evidently related to
+the different degrees in which different parts of a living body are exposed
+to the influence of light. Such contrasts notoriously exist, not only
+between the green parts of plants above the soil and the lighter coloured
+roots, but between the foliage of a plant which is exposed to sun light
+and another of the same kind kept in a dark cellar. Many animals which
+live in permanent darkness are colourless, as, <i>e.g.</i>, the
+<i>Proteus</i>;<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> but yet
+this is not an invariable rule, some, as the mole, being of a dark colour.</p>
+
+<p>The forms of organisms are evidently often directly related to surrounding
+influences. A plant or plant-like animal fixed to the soil
+may be so fixed that light, air, food, friends and enemies can have access
+equally on all sides or not. Thus, a tree so placed that light and air
+are excluded on one side, will not grow freely towards that side, but
+only in directions from whence light and air have access. A coral reef
+increases much more rapidly towards the open sea (the waves of which
+bring in food and facilitate gaseous interchange) than towards an adjacent
+shore.</p>
+
+<p>The mere contiguity of parts will often affect the form of organisms.
+Thus, in many flowers parts which are adjacent become dwarfed, while
+others which are freely exposed become fully developed, as we see in
+the flowers of many <i>Umbelliferæ</i>, or plants of the parsley, fennel, and
+hemlock order.</p>
+
+<p>The shapes of flowers bear relation (as we shall see later) to their
+need for attracting insects which by their visits effect the development
+of seed, and for repelling others the access of which would be hurtful.</p>
+
+<p>The avoidance of enemies may be so effected by an organism that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
+their access may be made impossible save in one direction, the extent
+of vulnerable surface even in that direction being minimized. We have
+an example of such a condition in those worms which live in calcareous
+tubes, and which are some of those called “tubicolous
+annelids.”<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
+
+<p>Again, the medium in which an organism lives—whether aërial or
+aqueous—has an important relation with its form. A delicate seaweed,
+the beautifully radiating form of which is a just object of admiration as
+long as it is supported by its denser natural medium (the sea water),
+collapses into an amorphous mass when withdrawn thence into the thin
+air. Obviously a much greater rigidity and strength of structure is
+needed to support an aërial organism than an aquatic one, unless the
+former can support itself on other solid structures, such as rocks or
+trees. In the latter case the form attained may be very elongated and
+slender, as in the many creeping and climbing plants, which are so often
+furnished with processes for grasping (tendrils) to aid them in their
+mode of life.</p>
+
+<p>An aërial fixed organism, if it does not rise from the surface of the
+earth, cannot spread itself very far without developing other points of
+support—without rooting again. This re-rooting is a familiar phenomenon
+in many plants, as, <i>e.g.</i>, the strawberry. But even a shrub
+like the common bramble (which is not itself prostrate, but which sends
+out extraordinarily prolonged branches) is aided by such a process.
+The ends of its long branches apply themselves to the ground and begin
+to pierce its surface, the incipient leaves of its terminal bud becoming
+metamorphosed into roots.</p>
+
+<p>An aquatic fixed organism, however, may extend to a very great
+length, freely floating without effecting any such fresh attachment. Thus the seaweed
+<i>Laminaria digitata</i><a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a>
+will spread over a circle 12 feet in diameter, while <i>L. longicornis</i> grows in the form of an elongated
+riband, from 8 to 12 feet in length and 2 or 3 feet wide. The giant
+form <i>Macrocystis</i> (with a much more subdivided outline) may extend to
+the extraordinary length of 700 feet.</p>
+
+<p>The conditions under which needful gaseous interchange can be
+effected and food obtained by different living creatures, govern in
+various other ways the forms of their bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, if it is helpful to the life of a creature to submit as large a
+surface of its body as possible to the influence of light, or to the action
+of air or water, then for this purpose its body must be expanded and
+its expanded parts divided and subdivided as they extend in different
+directions. It is for this reason that trees branch, and that their
+branches and twigs divide and subdivide as they do. It is for this
+reason also that their branches do not grow out one above another in
+precisely the same direction, but, on the contrary, grow in such a
+manner that each one may overshadow those immediately beneath as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>
+little as may be. Similarly and for the same reason leaves are developed
+mostly in an alternating fashion, so that each may be able to
+expose its green surface to the light and air as much as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Plant-like animals which grow up in an arborescent manner from a
+fixed base do not generally branch in so regularly alternating a mode
+as do plants, and in some cases their successive branches may even be
+regularly superimposed. This is due to their not requiring, as plants
+do, that their surface should be very extensively exposed to light,
+neither their gaseous interchange nor their nutrition being impaired
+by such superposition. The water which carries to them both the
+nutritious particles on which they feed and the gases they respire, will
+act with nearly or quite the same efficiency in either arrangement
+of their parts.</p>
+
+<p>If the exigences of life require any organism to retain much fluid
+within it, this circumstance may lead to its assumption of a dilated
+more or less globular form, as in the melon cactus, and, to a less degree,
+in the leaves of the common stonecrop.</p>
+
+<p>But the conditions under which alone certain fixed organisms can
+obtain their food may govern also their internal structure. Thus, we
+shall see that in plants which feed by absorbing matters through their
+roots, an internal arrangement has to be effected for distributing material
+thus obtained, and conveying it upwards through the stem. So, again,
+many fixed animals need a greater supply of food and gases than they
+can obtain from the water which bathes or may reach them without
+effort on their parts. Such animals may be provided with special internal
+structures, which cause currents of water to flow towards them,
+and very often to penetrate within them, as in the shell <i>Mya</i> or the
+razor shell.<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p>
+
+<p>Fixed subterranean creatures are rare, but such do exist, as, for
+example, the truffle (<i>Tuber cibarium</i>). Surrounding influences must in such
+instances be alike on all sides, while the imbedded position of such
+organisms render superfluous the development of any elongated process
+for the purpose of fixing them. Such creatures, then, have a spheroidal
+figure, and neither internally nor externally are their structures developed
+in special directions.<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
+
+<p>The fixed organisms which are the most aërial in their habits are
+attached to elevated objects, such as trees, and necessarily have a portion
+of their frame set apart to fix them to the object which supports them.
+The most conspicuous creatures of this kind are, perhaps, the plants
+termed “Epiphytes,” on account of this habit. Amongst them may be
+mentioned the beautiful orchids called “air plants,” and the familiar
+mistletoe. Other vegetable organisms—the multitude of creeping
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>
+plants—rear themselves to great heights by the aid of their
+more robust brothers, but they can hardly be reckoned as aërial
+organisms.<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<p>The colours which plants display have sometimes a singular relation
+to the mountain elevations or geographical positions they inhabit, but
+these considerations will be aptly treated of in the relations borne by living
+creatures to physical conditions and to one another.</p>
+
+<p>Living creatures which are capable of moving or being freely moved
+about, present us with similar but more marked differences.</p>
+
+<p>Certain aquatic creatures drift passively about (borne by streams or
+currents) with no permanent relation between any fixed portion of their
+bodies and the medium which transports them. Such creatures being
+equally acted on on all sides by surrounding agencies might be expected
+(like the subterranean truffle) to exhibit a spheroidal figure, with only
+one kind of surface upon their whole exterior. This is just what we
+find to be the case in a variety of more or less minute organisms, such, <i>e.g.</i>
+as <i>Myxastrum radians</i> and
+<i>Magosphæra planula</i>.<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p>
+
+<p>The former of these consists, at one stage of its existence, of a small
+globular mass of protoplasm, from the whole periphery of which a multitude
+of fine pseudopodia radiate. When about to reproduce, the
+creature retracts its pseudopodia, and forms around its exterior a
+structureless coat or cyst, an action which takes place frequently in
+lowly organisms, and is called their process of <i>encystment</i>. The contents
+of the cyst then divides into separate bodies, which escape by the
+rupture of the cyst. Each of these bodies is enclosed in a silicious
+case with an aperture at one end, whence its contained protoplasm
+issues, and, having so issued, assumes a spherical shape.</p>
+
+<p><i>Magosphæra</i> is another small creature which goes through a remarkable
+series of changes, the greater number of which exemplify the ball-like
+shape of body alike on all sides.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever the surface of the body is covered by pseudopodia, those
+processes, inasmuch as they have a power of spontaneous movement,
+enable the creatures possessing them slightly to aid or to resist the
+drifting action of the water in which they float.</p>
+
+<p>But a living organism may be devoid of any definite shape whatever,
+as in <i>Protamœba</i>,<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>
+which consists of a mere particle of protoplasm, from
+which irregular-shaped processes of unequal size are irregularly protruded
+in every direction, so that the form of the creature may be
+said to be quite indeterminate.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>
+The bodies of almost all organisms have, however, more or less
+definite forms, which may be all classed under seven morphological
+categories.</p>
+
+<p>(1). The simplest form of all exemplifies <i>spherical symmetry</i>, and
+is that which we have seen in the truffle, the radiolarian, the volvox,
+<i>Myxastrum</i> and <i>Magosphæra</i>. In this spherical form any number of
+axes drawn through the creature in any direction are equal.</p>
+
+<p>(2). The next organic form is one in which the body sphere is more
+or less elongated at its poles, the latter being equal and similar. In
+such an organism we have one axis longer than any one of the others
+and central, while from this axis symmetrical radii can be drawn in all
+directions. This form may be said to exemplify <i>equipolar symmetry</i>,
+and such is found in some radiolarians, in some small parasites
+(<i>Gregarinida</i>),<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a>
+and others.</p>
+
+<p>(3). The next morphological category may be spoken of as <i>unipolar
+symmetry</i>. Bodies which exemplify it are like those included in
+the last category, save that the two poles of the body are not alike.</p>
+
+<p>Instances of this symmetry are to be sought in creatures which have
+one end of their body fixed, or which always or mostly move with the
+same end of the body in front, and thus have their two extremities in
+more or less constantly different relations to surrounding influences.</p>
+
+<p>The lowest worms and sponges may serve as examples of this symmetry
+in its simplest expression. As also may the curious compound
+tunicary called <i>Pyrosoma</i>.<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a>
+In all such creatures the body does not
+extend out in the form of lateral prolongations.</p>
+
+<p>But in many others it does send out processes on all sides, and in
+various directions, as in most trees and all plants which have a definite
+axis of growth, so that unipolar symmetry is the predominant symmetry
+in the vegetable kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>(4). But unipolar symmetry with diverging outgrowths leads us to
+the next category which may be called <i>radial symmetry</i>. Under this
+head are included the forms of such creatures as possess unipolar bodies
+from which equal and corresponding outgrowths radiate in different
+directions.</p>
+
+<p>We have examples of this in the starfishes, in the sea anemones, and
+in such plants as the melon cactus. But the outgrowths may project
+in only four directions, each being at right angles with the two neighbouring
+outgrowths. We thus get a crucial form of radiation, in which
+the body may be described as having one main axis (in the direction of
+motion) crossed by two other shorter but equal axes at right angles to
+it and to each other.</p>
+
+<p>We have an example of this in
+<i>Tetraplatia volitans</i>,<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>
+an aquatic creature with an elongated body, which presents four distinguishable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
+longitudinal surfaces, of which each opposite and corresponding pair
+is hardly distinguishable from one another.</p>
+
+<p>(5). This form leads us directly to that kind of symmetry which is
+predominant in the animal kingdom and which is called <i>bilateral
+symmetry</i>. Forms of this kind exhibit four aspects which may be
+distinguished as right and left, dorsal and ventral. The body here
+presents a long axis (in the direction of motion) crossed by two shorter
+axes at right angles to it and to each other. Of these shorter axes, one
+connects the dorsal and ventral surfaces, while the other connects the
+lateral (right and left) surfaces, and these two axes may be, and
+generally are, unequal. All worms, insects, mollusks, fishes, birds,
+reptiles, and beasts, are examples of creatures with bilateral symmetry.
+The dorsal and ventral aspects of the body generally differ in correspondence
+with the different relations to surrounding conditions which
+they usually bear, as notably in snakes and creatures which glide with
+their bellies applied to the surface of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>(6). The last kind of symmetry which here needs notice is that
+termed <i>serial symmetry</i>. In the creatures which exhibit it we have a
+body which is not only almost always bilaterally symmetrical but which
+is made up of a succession of similar parts, forming a series along its
+main or longitudinal axis. Insects, crabs, lobsters, and other allied
+forms give us examples of serial symmetry, but this is perhaps best seen
+in such animals as thousand legs and hundred legs—millipedes and
+centipedes.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the fundamental distinctions which depend upon the kind of
+symmetry governing the form of any living being, other subordinate
+differences exist respectively related to the conditions under which the
+various activities necessary for life have to be carried on. Such activities
+are the needful gaseous interchange, the processes of reproduction,
+and the acquisition of food. Thus, the most intimate relation exists
+between the form of the body and the manner in which locomotion has
+to be effected, whether by the whole body or by processes projecting
+from it. If the latter, then whether by paddling or jumping; if by
+the whole body, then whether by lateral or vertical bendings of that body.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, we see that fishes, which swim by lateral flexure of the body,
+have the tail expanded vertically; while in porpoises, which require
+vertical flexions (to come rapidly to the surface to breathe), the tail is
+expanded horizontally. On the other hand, creatures which swim not
+by either kind of body flexure, but by a paddling action only, have the
+tail shortened, as we see in swans and turtles. Further details of this
+kind will be more appropriately treated of in an Essay devoted
+exclusively to the consideration of the forms of animals.</p>
+
+<p>There are a multitude of aquatic creatures which cannot be properly
+spoken of as either “fixed” or “mobile,” for they are in fact both.
+They are creatures which move about by the help of others, being themselves
+fixed to other creatures which are actively locomotive.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Thus, sea-snails, lobsters, fishes, whales, and even ships, bear
+about with them sometimes lowly-organized plants; but often other
+animals, permanently fixed to and growing parasitically upon them and
+having the shape of their body suited to their peculiar situation.</p>
+
+<p>Often such parasites form flattened encrustations on their involuntary
+hosts—as is the case with the acorn shells or sessile
+barnacles.<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Others
+have elongated bodies, which stream through the water with the motions
+of the creatures carrying them. We see this in confervoid growths,
+also in ordinary barnacles, and in certain modified crab-like creatures,
+such as <i>Lerneocera</i>.<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p>
+
+<p>These creatures fix themselves to their movable supports by means
+similar to those by which other creatures secure themselves to stationary
+supports. Thus, some of these do so by means of expanded disks, which
+fit accurately to the supporting surface, while certain parasites fix themselves
+by means of ingrowing prolongations or root-like processes, as in
+the <i>Rhizocephala</i>.<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>
+Others, again, adhere by the intervention of hooks
+and suckers, and this is especially the case with such as fix themselves
+internally and live perpetually bathed (as the
+tape-worms<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> do) in the
+nutritious fluids contained within the bowels of the creatures they infest.</p>
+
+<p>Terrestrial mobile organisms can, of course, only be moved by their
+own efforts, or by the efforts of other organisms.</p>
+
+<p>The simplest terrestrial locomotion is like that of the aquatic
+<i>Amœba<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> primitiva</i>,
+and is performed by land <i>Amœbæ</i>; and the curious
+plant <i>Myxomycetes</i><a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a>
+also moves in a substantially similar manner. This
+very curious organism consists of a net-work of protoplasmic threads,
+which spread over decaying leaves and stems. The threads exhibit
+streams of granules flowing within them, and they give out processes like
+pseudopodia, while the whole complex mass can slowly creep over a
+supporting surface, which it thus slowly flows over by its branching
+processes.</p>
+
+<p>Other lowly plants propel themselves by means of a pair of filamentary
+protoplasmic threads, which vibrate actively, and are therefore
+called vibratile cilia. As an example may be mentioned the
+<i>Protococcus<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>
+nivalis</i>, the little spheroidal alga, which abounds on Alpine summits and
+in Arctic regions.</p>
+
+<p>As in aquatic, so in terrestrial organisms, external form is intimately
+related to modes of motion. Thus, locomotion may be effected by
+undulations of the whole body, as often in serpents and terrestrial vermiform
+animals. It may, on the contrary, be effected by the action of
+levers projecting from the surface of the body, <i>i.e.</i>, by limbs, and these
+may be multitudinous and minute, as in hundred legs and thousand
+legs, or few and large, as in beasts. Moreover, the motions may be
+movements of pulling or of pushing, or by combinations of these, or by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>
+jumps, which may be effected in various manners, the consideration of
+which will find a fitting place in an Essay devoted to “Motion.”</p>
+
+<p>Again, terrestrial, like aquatic, organisms often involuntarily carry
+about with them other living creatures which have fixed themselves to their
+bodies. Thus, the fruits, or seeds, of many plants (as, <i>e.g.</i>, those of the
+common Agrimony, <i>Agrimonia eupatoria</i>) are beset with hooks or bristles
+which readily adhere to the coats of passing animals, and so gain a
+greater diffusion than they could otherwise obtain. A very remarkable
+form of the kind is <i>Martynia proboscidea</i> (called Testa di <i>Quaglia</i> by the
+Italians), which has a pair of curved and pointed processes like the
+tusks of an elephant, which are several inches long. It is notorious
+for adhering to clothes, &amp;c. Other noteworthy plants are <i>Uncaria
+procumbeus</i>, or the grapple plant of South Africa and
+<i>Harpagophytum</i>,<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>
+the fruit of which is provided with hooked processes. Those of <i>Harpagophytum</i>
+spread out in all directions, and are of different lengths, with
+sharp hooks, variously turned, so that its power of clinging is extreme.
+The seed, with all its processes, is so large as to fill the hand when
+grasped. It is said to cause the death of the lion. Having adhered to
+that beast’s skin, the irritation produced and the impossibility of getting
+it off at last induces the lion to bite it, and once in his mouth he
+cannot remove it, and so the animal dies miserably.</p>
+
+<p>Some animals fix themselves much as these seeds of plants do.
+Amongst them are the parasites known as tics which fix themselves
+with great tenacity by the appendages of their mouths. Other parasites—like
+the itch insect<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>
+and forms allied to it—have hooked processes and
+stiff, hard bristles, which are at once very irritating and very adherent.
+Creatures are also carried about inside others, as is the case with the
+seeds of many plants. These are disseminated by birds which have
+swallowed but have not digested such seeds, and in an analogous manner
+the great tape-worm group becomes also widely diffused.</p>
+
+<p>Moving subterranean organisms, inasmuch as they must penetrate
+through a dense and highly-resisting substance, must evidently either
+have forms which offer little resistance—reducing friction to a minimum—or
+must be provided with special means of penetrating such substance.
+Evidently the least resisting form is presented by a body
+much elongated, rounded, and more or less attenuated at the advancing
+end, which end has to effect the requisite penetration. This is the
+form of the earth-worm—a form which is approximated to by a variety
+of creatures which have not the least affinity of nature with it, but
+only more or less resemble it as regards its dwelling-place and mode
+of locomotion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>
+Such, for example, are the curious serpents called
+<i>Typhlops</i>,<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> and such
+are the legless lizards<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>
+(<i>Anguis</i>), and such, again, are the simpler
+vermiform animals allied to frogs, called
+<i>Cæciliæ</i>.<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p>
+
+<p>In order to burrow quickly and easily by means of processes of the
+body, it is evidently a necessary condition that the earth should be
+rapidly removed by the powerful action of parts situated towards
+the body’s anterior end. The similarity of effect of similar conditions
+in creatures which are most widely divergent in nature is exemplified by
+the mole and the mole-cricket, which are each provided with a strong
+and broadened-out pair of anterior digging-limbs.</p>
+
+<p>Living creatures may be sustained in the air for a longer or shorter
+time at one or another stage of their existence. The reproductive
+particles of the lowest forms of animals and plants are so excessively
+minute that they float in the air with the greatest ease, without
+needing any complication of structure—their spheroidal form harmonizing
+with the equal action upon them of influences on all sides of
+them. Reproductive parts which, though less minute than these, are
+still very small, may also be diffused by floating in the atmosphere.
+Such are the pollen grains of those trees which are fertilized merely by
+the action of the winds, such as the hazel, poplar, birch, and of lowly
+plants, as the grasses. It is by the wind that the pollen grains of these
+plants are accidentally brought into contact with the appropriate surfaces
+for their reception. Conspicuous in the spring of the year are the clouds
+of yellow dust, pollen grains, given off by fir trees, which are plants
+also wind-fertilized. But here we find a slight complication; for to
+facilitate the dispersion of such particles the outer coat of each of their
+pollen grains is produced into a short wing-like process on each side,
+and these processes help at once to sustain it in the air, and to aid its
+propulsion by offering more surface to the force of the aërial currents.</p>
+
+<p>Very much more conspicuous are the wing-like expansions of many
+seeds—such, for example, as those of the maple. These expansions serve
+to diffuse the seeds which bear them, as do also the delicate cottony
+filaments which surround the seeds of a variety of plants of widely
+different natures and affinities, as some kinds of spider float through
+the air by the aid of the delicate filaments which they send forth to
+serve as an aërial float. Familiar to every one is the delicate little
+parachute-like structure of radiating filaments on the seeds of such
+plants as the dandelion—which seeds most children have at some
+time helped to diffuse by blowing.</p>
+
+<p>Aërial progress by actual effort is effected by a limited group of organisms,
+and only in certain cases (bats, birds, and insects) does it take
+the form of true flight in creatures now existing. In other creatures,
+such as so-called flying fishes, squirrels, opossums, and the little flying
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>
+dragon, the more or less prolonged aërial sustentation is effected by
+expansions of skin, which act as parachutes in ways be later described
+in detail.</p>
+
+<p>True flight seems to need a definite mechanism of one kind—namely,
+a mechanism which shall give rapid and reiterated blows to the air
+from a point towards the dorsal side, and head end of the body, by
+structures of considerable superficial extent, and capable of rapid and
+delicate inclinations of surface. Such structures must be light and therefore
+delicate, and yet possess very considerable strength to resist the strain
+of the body’s prolonged sustentation, and to effect its occasionally very
+rapid progress, as in the swift and in dragon-flies. These conditions
+which we find fulfilled in all existing flying organisms were also fulfilled
+organisms which have for ages passed away from the surface of this by
+planet, such as the extinct flying reptiles called <i>Pterosauria</i> or
+<i>Pterodactyles</i>.<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p>
+
+<p>In all such rapidly flying creatures the form of the body is necessarily
+modified so as to throw the centre of gravity where it may be best sustained.
+It is this which packs what are practically a bird’s teeth in its
+belly, and thickens so greatly the muscles on its breast which are
+formed in such a way as to serve both the usual purposes of breast-muscles,
+and also that which is effected in most cases by muscles of the
+back, which in birds are very greatly diminished in volume and extent.</p>
+
+<p>But there are living creatures which have relations with two media;
+which, though they are aquatic, yet by the help of the air rise and float,
+so as to be partly bathed in the atmosphere; while others carry down a
+portion of that atmosphere below the surface of water, so as to be sub-aqueously
+aërial. Examples of the last-mentioned condition are
+afforded by such spiders as have the habit of enclosing a bubble of air
+within the meshes of their self-woven network, and going down with it,
+being thus able there to maintain themselves as in a diving-bell. The
+reverse condition obtains in such plants as
+<i>Valisneria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> which secrete
+air within expanded bladder-like receptacles, and, thus aided, rise to the
+surface and float. Another example is that of certain polyp animals,
+such as the Portuguese man of war, which also rise and swim upon the
+surface of the sea by the aid of floats in the form of bladders, which are
+also filled with air by means of their own life processes. The same also
+is the case in many seaweeds.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, these multitudinous forms of living creatures, both animals
+and plants, are reducible to certain categories in harmony with their
+modes of life, and the relations existing between them and all surrounding
+influences. We may see that, without compliance with certain of such
+laws, their existence would be impossible, and we see that there is a general
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>
+correspondence between their shape and structure on the one hand, and
+their environment (that is, the totality of all surrounding agencies and
+influences) on the other. Are we to consider that such influences are
+the <i>causes</i> of their form and structure? Obviously the biological facts
+before us, as yet, are insufficient to enable us to give a satisfactory
+answer to this question. It will for the present be enough to bear in
+mind that by some writers the environment <i>is</i> deemed the one and
+sufficient cause of all the characters of living creatures. But as yet we
+have not even seen what <i>is</i> the environment. Evidently physical influences—the
+earth, sea, or air, light, heat, and motion—do not exhaust
+it. One important factor would be omitted if we neglected to note the
+share taken in the environment of each living creature by a multitude
+of other living creatures which are in various ways related to it. This
+question must occupy us later.</p>
+
+<p>But by the forms of living creatures is not meant merely their external
+form. Some general notion then should here at starting be obtained
+of their internal form—that is, of their essential structure.</p>
+
+<p>The minutest and probably the simplest forms of living creatures
+(whether plant or animal) are such as are presented by
+<i>Bacteria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> the
+yeast-plant and <i>Protoccus</i>. Bacteria are those minute creatures the
+mode of origin of which in sealed infusions has been so much of late
+disputed, but the activity of which in promoting the decomposition of
+dead substances is undisputed. A <i>bacterium</i> is a particle of protoplasmic
+matter, either spheroidal or oblong, or like a short rod, or shaped like a
+corkscrew, and bacteria may also be in the form of a short chain of
+spheroids, or of oblong particles, or of rods united in a zigzag manner.</p>
+
+<p>Their breadth may vary from the 1/30000 to 1/10000 of an inch. They
+may also assume quite another appearance, by surrounding themselves
+with a gelatinous envelope, which condition is called their <i>zooglæa</i>
+state of existence.</p>
+
+<p>They may be readily obtained by making some hay tea, and keeping it
+for a day or two, when they will be found to abound in the scum which
+forms on the surface, and to be in active motion. In the corkscrew
+form, <i>Spirillum volitans</i>, each end of the body is produced into a minute
+hair-like process or <i>cilium</i>, and it is by the lashings of these cilia that the
+minute organism moves about.</p>
+
+<p>Other as simple but larger organisms may consist of a minute mass
+of semi-fluid protoplasm, containing granules, as we find to be the case
+in the plant <i>Vaucheria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a>
+and many other <i>Algæ</i>, and in the animal
+<i>Amœba primitiva</i>.<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p>
+
+<p>An organism of this simplest kind or a fragment of a higher organism
+which presents this simplest condition is called a
+cell.<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Very generally
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>
+such cell has within it a more or less distinctly marked generally denser
+and spheroidal body called a <i>nucleus</i>, within which, again, other minute
+spots may appear called <i>nucleoli</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Even in this simplest of all possible conditions of life a slight difference
+appears between its most external film and its inner substance—just as
+a cup of broth left to stand will form for itself a filmy outermost layer.
+This incipient difference between what is inner and what is outer is one
+which is constantly maintained in all higher organisms, as we shall soon
+see abundantly. But the distinction into outer and inner is, as has been
+said, shown in a much more marked way in the constituent units, or
+<i>cells</i>, which build up the bodies of plants generally; for these consist of
+an inner part of protoplasm, enclosed in a distinct external cellulose
+envelope or <i>cell-wall</i>. As has also been shown, many of the lowest animals
+take on occasionally the <i>encysted</i> condition when they also consist of a
+particle of bioplasm enclosed in a distinct cell-wall or <i>cyst</i>, though one
+not made of cellulose.</p>
+
+<p>The protoplasmic contents of the cell may attract watery fluid thus
+forming clearer spaces or <i>vacuoles</i> within it, and these may become so extended
+that the protoplasm may be reduced to a thin layer lining the cell
+wall, thread-like processes or remnants of protoplasm often passing across
+the cell from one part of the protoplasmic lining to another. A cell,
+almost always a nucleated cell, is the original form of every living
+creature without exception; and a great number of small, and some
+considerably sized living beings, never get beyond this unicellular
+condition, however much their cell may become enlarged or complicated
+in shape. Such creatures form the lowest of all animals and plants;
+but the overwhelming majority of living creatures are formed of
+aggregations of cells which cohere and fuse together in various ways.
+As an example of a unicellular and typically cellular living creature we
+may take the yeast plant (<i>Saccharomyces cerevisiæ</i>), which consists of a
+particle of bioplasm enclosed in a cell-wall of cellulose, the whole being
+globular or oval in shape, and generally about 1/3000 of an inch in
+diameter. Within its bioplasm a clear space or vacuole may often be
+distinguished. Often these organisms appear with a more complicated
+outline, due to the growth of new saccharomycetes from its outer wall,
+and the budding forth of others again from the side of such protruding
+processes, all of which ultimately become detached as independent
+saccharomycetes, though they often continue adherent for a long time,
+forming strings or other temporary aggregations of such organisms.</p>
+
+<p>In <i>Protococcus</i> we meet with one of the lowest order. Its colour is
+green, which, as in all other higher plants also, is due to the presence in its
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>
+protoplasm of a colouring matter called <i>chlorophyll</i>, either diffused
+or aggregated in certain denser granules of protoplasmic substance.
+Protococcus may be smaller or much larger than the yeast plant, it is
+spheroidal, and its protoplasm is enclosed in a tough case of cellulose,
+which, however, it may not nearly fill, while the long cilia may protrude
+through it and propel the whole organism by their reiterated
+lashings.</p>
+
+<p>It has been already said that a vegetable may temporarily exist as a
+particle of bioplasm without any cell-wall, and such is the case with
+<i>Protococcus</i>, the cellular envelope of which occasionally disappears.
+More remarkable still is the form already referred to under the name
+<i>Myxomycetes</i>,<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>
+which, for part of its existence, is the form of an indefinitely-shaped,
+naked protoplasmic mass.<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p>
+
+<p>Living creatures which consist of a single cell may present, nevertheless,
+a considerable complication of structure. Thus, an organism as
+simple as the <i>amœba primitiva</i>, before noticed, may have the power of
+forming, or, as it is technically called, <i>secreting</i>, from its own substance
+and its surrounding medium a most complex supporting skeleton of
+calcareous or silicious nature. It may have its outer envelope so
+markedly differentiated from its inner as to require a distinct designation
+as <i>exosarc</i>, while it may give rise in its interior not only to a nucleus
+and nucleolus, but to two regularly formed cavities with the power of
+rythmical pulsation, and one definite portion of its external wall may
+be perforated to form a permanent mouth instead of as in such forms
+as <i>Amœba</i>, any part serving indifferently as a mouth and every portion
+having similar functions without differentiation. All these and other
+complications of structure may arise by direct growth and transubstantiation
+of the single cell into the various physically and
+chemically different parts.</p>
+
+<p>Again, a living creature which is fixed may so extend itself as to
+simulate stem, roots, and branches, and yet remain essentially simple,
+consisting merely of one greatly enlarged and complicated cell.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, a unicellular plant may take on a great complexity of form
+while still remaining purely unicellular. It may assume the form of
+a stem with roots and leaves. An example of such we may see in the
+genus <i>Caulerpa</i>,<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a>
+which, although unicellular, simulates in its outline the
+fern called <i>Blechnum</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>
+The next grade of structural complication in living creatures is
+produced by the lowly plants, such as <i>Protococcus</i>, which multiply by
+spontaneous self-division or <i>fission</i>. This process may take place
+repeatedly and at the same time incompletely, in this way producing an
+apparently compound organism. Thus, we have the second grade of
+structural complication in living creatures—namely, the aggregation of
+cells into a loosely joined mass.</p>
+
+<p>Other simple forms are those presented by the minute organisms
+Diatoms and Desmids, the former enclosed in silicious cases, and some
+presenting the only exception to the general law that organic bodies
+are bounded by curved lines and surfaces.</p>
+
+<p>Wonderful is the minute ornamentation presented by the surfaces of
+these microscopic plants. Some of them cohere by imperfect division
+in the second grade of structural complication just described; they may
+form longitudinal series of cells, or they may be arranged round a
+common centre.</p>
+
+<p>One of the best examples of this secondary grade of complication is
+presented by the spherically aggregated cells of
+<i>Volvox</i>.<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> These
+present us with a good example of the way in which the shape of
+the individual cells may spontaneously alter, to suit the mode of their
+aggregation. Originally spherical, the adjacent sides of these cells
+become flattened, and thus the cells acquire a polygonal figure.</p>
+
+<p>Other instances of the coherence of the cells of unicellular organisms
+into indefinite and inconstant aggregations is presented by some radiolarians,
+individuals which cohere into what are called <i>colonies</i>.</p>
+
+<p>From such incomplete aggregation, the next step is to definite and stable
+aggregations, in which the life of the constituent parts is more or less
+plainly subservient to, and dominated by, the life of the whole. Such
+we find in all but the
+lowest <i>Fungi</i>,<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a>
+and <i>Algæ</i>, in sponges,<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a>
+and <i>Hydræ</i>, and also in all higher organisms. In such permanent aggregations,
+the dominant life of the whole is shown partly in greater constancy of
+external form and partly in the setting apart of separate portions of
+the whole, either for the nourishment of the entire creature or for the
+reproduction of fresh individuals, or for effecting gaseous interchange, or
+(in animals) for ministering to feeling and locomotion.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, the overwhelming majority of living creatures are, as has been
+said, formed of aggregation of cells, which cohere or fuse together in
+various ways—and not only of aggregation of cells but of aggregation
+of aggregations of cells or “tissues.” Each tissue is a structure formed
+by the aggregation, or by aggregation and metamorphoses, of certain
+sets of cells. Thus, every higher plant or animal is made of an inconceivable
+multitude of cells, together with tissues which are not cellular,
+but which have originated by metamorphosis of cells, and every such
+higher plant or animal at first consists entirely of an aggregate of plainly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>
+distinct cells; and, first of all, of one single cell only, whence its whole
+structure, however complex, has originally sprung, though generally not
+until it has had at least a portion of another cell mixed with it.</p>
+
+<p>This transformation of cells, at first all alike, into distinct orders of
+cells or <i>tissues</i>, whence different organs with different functions arise, is
+characteristic of all living creatures above those which each consist
+throughout life of one cell only.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that unicellular organisms may unite into a cylindrical
+or spheroidal colony, as in some <i>Radiolaria</i>, or into a spheroid of closely-adjusted
+cells, forming one layer, as in <i>Volvox</i>. But however large or
+complex such aggregation may be, it never forms sets of united cells or
+tissues. The whole of these lower creatures, therefore, may be spoken of
+as unicellular organisms; as though they may consist of many cells,
+those cells retain their individuality. Such creatures are all the lowest
+animals—those called
+<i>Hypozoa</i><a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a>
+or <i>Protozoa</i>, and also the lowest
+cryptogamic<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a>
+plants.</p>
+
+<p>All other animals and all the higher plants are multicellular. The
+description of one animal (which is placed as it were on the boundary
+between the multicellular and the unicellular division), the little
+parasitic worm <i>Dicyema</i>,<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a>
+must for the present be postponed, as its
+significance could not yet be understood.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the consideration of the forms of living creatures, a
+further distinction should be made clear—that is to say, a distinction
+in the nature of resemblances which may exist between various parts.</p>
+
+<p>There are two different relations which may exist between a part or
+organ in one animal or plant, and another part or organ in another
+animal or plant. One of these relations is called <i>analogy</i> and the other
+<i>homology</i>, and it is very desirable to bear clearly in mind the distinction
+which exists between these two relations.</p>
+
+<p><i>Analogy</i> refers to the use to which any part or organ is put—that is, it
+refers to its function.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, the flower of the daisy is, as we shall see, analogous to that
+of the buttercup. The spathe of an arum is analogous to the corolla of
+the dead nettle (for both serve to shelter the essential parts of the
+flower).</p>
+
+<p>The foot of a horse is analogous to the foot of a man, and the shell
+of a tortoise to the shell of an armadillo; for the two former serve for
+support and locomotion, while the latter two are solid protecting
+envelopes to the body. So also the flying organ or wing of a bat is
+analogous to the flying organ or wing of a beetle.</p>
+
+<p><i>Homology</i> refers to essential similarity in position compared with all
+the other parts or organs of the body, and must be considered apart
+from function.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, as we shall see in the next Essay a single floret of the daisy is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>
+homologous with the whole flower of the buttercup. The spathe of an
+arum is the homologue of any
+bract,<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a>
+however insignificant in size and
+apparently devoid of function. The foot of a horse is homologous (as
+we shall see later) to the middle toe only of man, while the shell of the
+tortoise is in part homologous with the shell of the armadillo and in
+part with the ribs of the latter animal.</p>
+
+<p>There is no relation of homology, however remote, between the wings
+of a bat and of a beetle, and these two animals (as will shortly
+appear) have the parts and organs of their bodies so fundamentally
+different, that it is doubtful whether any definite relations of homology
+can be established between them.</p>
+
+<p>A special term has been devoted to signify a resemblance between
+two parts in two different animals and plants, which resemblance has
+been induced by or is directly related to their common needs, and the
+similarity of external influences. This term is “homoplasy,” and
+structures which may thus be supposed to have grown alike in obedience
+to the influence of similar external causes acting on similar innate
+powers have been called <i>Homoplasts</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Such, then, are the more general conditions as to structure and figure
+which living creatures present, and (as has been said) with great differences
+as to the amount of possible variation, most kinds have a definite limit
+as to size. It remains only to make general observations on the
+colours of living creatures.</p>
+
+<p>But a few years ago, hardly any few general remarks of really scientific
+interest and value could have been made respecting the varied hues
+and markings which organisms present. No rational relation was even
+suspected to exist between the colours of plants and the busy insect
+life which swarms about their blossoms or about the varied colours of
+birds, and the details of their habits and modes of existence.</p>
+
+<p>It was known, of course, that Arctic foxes and hares became white in
+winter, and that each benefited by its change, and suffered from the
+change of the other; the snow tint which enabled the hare to escape
+also facilitating the unobserved approach of the fox. It was also known
+that many desert animals were of the colour of the sandy plain they
+wandered over, and that tree-snakes and tree-frogs were often green.
+But it seemed incredible that the varied shades or bright adornments of
+the living world should each and all be governed by rigid laws, generally
+connected with the welfare of the organisms so furnished. Here, if
+anywhere, the reign of utilitarianism in Nature appeared to be at an
+end, and creative fancy to have full play, regardless but of the harmony
+and beauty thus revealed to appreciating eyes. The labours and fruitful
+thoughts of Bates and Wallace have, however, opened up a wide field for
+most interesting inquiry. They have made it evident that in many
+instances the most direct utility accompanies colour both in animals and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
+plants. The colours of flowers serve to attract insects and birds, by the
+visits of which they are fertilized or their fertility is greatly augmented.
+It is this relation between attractiveness and insect fertilization
+which explains the absence of colour from the flowers of plants
+which are fertilized only by the wind, such as the fir trees before-mentioned,
+oaks, beeches, nettles, sedges, and many others. It also explains
+the conspicuousness of the flowers of many oceanic islands, such as those
+of the Galapagos archipelago. But it also explains, as Mr. Wallace has
+pointed out, the remarkable beauty of Alpine flowers, by their need of
+attracting insects from a distance, the conspicuous patches of bright colour
+serving thus to attract wandering butterflies upwards from the valleys.</p>
+
+<p>But more remarkable still is the explanation given to the semblance
+borne by the colours of some creatures to those of others of quite a
+different kind, as of some moths to bees, and some harmless flies to
+wasps. For now it is clear that by this mimicry they escape the attacks
+of many enemies, who avoid such apparently dangerous forms. On the
+other hand, the bright liveries of such offensive creatures are highly useful
+to the wearers, for such tints act as a warning to enemies, and so save them
+from their being pounced on by creatures which might fatally wound them,
+though unable to swallow them. But the beautiful liveries of such
+powerful predatory kinds as tigers and leopards do not serve as warnings.
+They serve their wearers, however, none the less, though it is by aiding
+their concealment, and so allowing their prey to approach them unsuspectingly
+to fatal nearness. For the vertical stripes of the tiger resemble the
+vertical shadows of the grasses of the jungle amongst which it lurks, as
+the scattered spots of the leopard agree with the scattered spots of
+shadow amongst the foliage of trees on the boughs of which it lies in
+wait. But to say more on this head would be to anticipate remarks to
+come, when the relations of living beings to one another are under consideration,
+and the subject is too extensive to be here treated in full.
+Moreover, it must be noted that such relations do not by any means
+serve to explain all the phenomena of organic colour. Direct action is
+in some curious way exerted upon many organisms, by surrounding tints,
+and similarly different geographical districts and varieties of locality
+affect directly the colour of both animals and plants, but these questions
+will be fully treated of under the head of the relations of animals to the
+physical world. Suffice it here to note that the phenomena of colour no
+less than the phenomena of form are in harmony with (whether or not
+the result of) the active agencies of all environing conditions. But colour
+of some kind is a universal attribute of all material things. Though
+apparently most irregularly distributed through the world of life, yet
+order underlies the seeming confusion. Of certain large groups certain
+tints are characteristic, as has already been remarked with respect to the
+great order to which the dandelion belongs. But the same remark may
+be made of various others, as, for example, of the order <i>Cruciferæ</i> (to which
+the wallflower and turnip belong), the flowers of which are generally
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>
+white, pink, or yellow, while the gentians, again, are noteworthy for
+exhibiting pure colours.</p>
+
+<p>But the colours which predominate in the whole mass of living
+creatures of all kinds are tints of green, brown, or reddish-yellow.
+Bright colours, such as blue, scarlet, crimson, gold, or silver are
+exceptional, and the colour blue is especially rare. The borrowed
+radiance of the inorganic world, in the form of metallic brightness,
+is especially a characteristic of those living gems, the humming birds; but
+not a few other animals also exhibit it. Thus, of birds more or less gifted
+with metallic radiance, though in a less degree than humming birds, may
+be mentioned the sunbirds, the trogons, and the beautiful family of
+pheasants; and many insects and many fishes shine with metallic tints.</p>
+
+<p>Brightness of this kind (though the leaves of a few plants have a
+coppery lustre) is unknown in the world of plants, in which shades of
+green are overwhelmingly predominant, and are universally present,
+except in a few exceptional forms, notably the
+fungi.<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p>
+
+<p>Various aquatic animals belonging to very different groups agree
+in possessing a perfectly glass-like transparency. Amongst them
+are fish which live in the ocean; for example, the
+Teleostean<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> fish
+(<i>Leptocephalus</i>), also mollusca of all kinds, including even perfectly
+transparent cuttle fishes.<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a>
+There are also glass-like
+crustaceans,<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> and
+also planarians<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a>
+and sea anemones.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a>
+Plants, however, never present
+this character, although by it they might, as well as animals, escape
+being preyed upon.</p>
+
+<p>Most fishes which inhabit the deep sea are of a dull black colour,
+though some are white, and the majority of all deep-sea animals, considered
+as a whole, are more or less decidedly coloured, many brightly
+so.<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p>
+
+<p>Luminosity is a character of many lowly animals, and it is the
+presence of minute creatures possessing this character which so often
+causes the spray dashed from the prow of an advancing ship to appear
+like a shower of sparks, while glowing bodies traverse the water
+beneath its surface. Many insects, such as fire-flies and glow-worms,
+are notoriously luminous. In the vegetable world, however, this
+character is very rarely present, being only so in certain fungi,
+some of which exhibit a wonderful luminosity. Humboldt relates that
+he found this to be especially splendid in mines.</p>
+
+<p>As like phenomena of colour characterize certain groups of living
+creatures, so also like phenomena of colour may characterize certain
+geographical regions being common to creatures of very different kinds
+which inhabit such regions, as we shall hereafter see. The brightest of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>
+living things, the humming birds, have their true home in the equatorial
+region of America, to which continent they are exclusively
+confined. But it is in the equatorial region of the whole earth that
+we find the most brilliant birds of other kinds, the most brightly
+coloured reptiles and fishes, the largest and many of the loveliest
+butterflies, moths and beetles, the most beautiful orchids, the largest
+of all flowers and of all clusters of flowers.</p>
+
+<p>But neither the temperate, nor even the Arctic nor Antarctic climes
+are denied the glory of bright tints in the long days of their brief, but
+sometimes fervid, summer. Indeed, the golden burst of gorse and glow
+of heather in our temperate zone have, in their way, an unequal charm;
+while every here and there Arctic lands and Alpine heights exhibit
+beauties of colour which are hardly elsewhere presented by the field of
+animated nature to the eye of man.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">St. George Mivart.</span></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for July, 1879, p. 678.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 704.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for July, 1879, p. 703.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i> for September, 1879, p. 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, pp. 33 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a>
+One of the <i>Melanospermeæ</i>; <i>Ibid.</i> p. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a>
+Creatures belonging to the class <i>Lammellibranchiata</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>,
+September, 1879, pp. 30 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a>
+The truffle may be generally regarded rather as the fruit of a plant than as an entire
+plant, and yet in some of the group the rest of the plant (which is called the <i>Mycelium</i>) is
+quite rudimentary, or even absent.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a>
+There are climbers in Brazil, the roots of which, descending around the trunk of the
+tree supporting them, clasp the latter with such a deadly embrace that it dies and decays.
+In the meantime, the descending roots (having become fixed in the ground) swell and meet
+so as to form a new and irregularly-shaped trunk of solid wood, which has thus (by an
+inverted process) grown downwards instead of upwards. There are other such creepers
+in the East which have a wide-spreading downward growth (see Wallace’s “Malay
+Archipelago,” vol. i. p. 131).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a>
+Creatures belonging to the group <i>Rhizopoda</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for September,
+1879, pp. 35 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a>
+One of the lowest of the <i>Rhizopoda</i>; <i>Ibid.</i> p. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a>
+A class of <i>Hypozoa</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i> pp. 31 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i> p. 35, and <i>Archiv für Mikroskop. Anatomie</i>, vol. xv. Heft 3, plate xx.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a>
+See <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 31.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a>
+One of the <i>Copepoda</i>; see loc. cit., p. 31.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a>
+See loc. cit., p. 31.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a>
+Of the class <i>Cestoidea</i>; see loc. cit., pp. 34 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a>
+All these three plants belong to the <i>Dicotyledonous</i> order <i>Sesameæ</i>, which would come
+between the <i>Lobiatæ</i> and the <i>Orobanchaceæ</i> of the list given on p. 42 in the <span class="smcap">Contemporary
+Review</span> for September, 1879. This order contains the <i>Sesamum orientale</i>, the seeds of
+which yield sesamum or gingilie oil, principally used in the manufacture of soap. 58,940
+tons of these seeds were imported into France in 1855.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a>
+This and the tics belong to the class <i>Arachnida</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>,
+September, 1879, pp. 32 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a>
+For the <i>Typhlopsidæ</i>, see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 26.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 24.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a>
+Belonging to the class <i>Ophiomorpha</i>; see loc. cit., pp. 27 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a>
+See <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 25.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a>
+<i>Valisneria spiralis</i>: these are distinct male and female flowers. The male flowers are
+on short stalks, which break and allow their flowers to rise to the surface and there float, scattering
+their pollen. The female flowers grow on long coiled stalks, which uncoil and allow
+them to rise to the surface to be fertilized, after which the stalks recoil and withdraw them
+again below. This is a monocotyledonous plant of the order <i>Hydrocharideæ</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a>
+See <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a>
+There is an ambiguity in the use of the word “cell.” By some writers it is only used
+to denote a particle of protoplasm with a nucleus (whether or not it is enclosed in a “cell-wall”),
+while such a particle without a nucleus is called by them a <i>Cytod</i>. By others it is
+used to denote any particle of protoplasm enclosed in a cell-wall, and by others, again, as
+denoting any distinct particle of protoplasm with or without a nucleus, and with or without a
+cell-wall. It is in this widest sense that it is here proposed to use the term “cell,” distinguishing,
+where needful, those with a nucleus or envelope as “a nucleated” or “a walled”
+cell.</p>
+
+<p>As yet the two natures and functions of the nucleus and nucleolus are by no means cleared
+up. The nucleus often appears to contain a complexity of fibrils, transitory aggregations
+of which have been supposed to cause the appearance of nucleoli. The apparently simplest
+protoplasm is probably of really very complex, most minute structure.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a>
+Here reference may be made to the name <i>Bathybius</i>, which was given by Professor
+Huxley to a material found at the sea bottom, of great extent and indefinite shape, and
+which was supposed by him to be the remains of a mass of once living protoplasm, but
+which there is much reason now to suppose was really but inorganic material. Reference
+is here made to this, because some persons seem to imagine that if <i>Bathybius</i> were a lowly
+animal some important speculative consequences would follow. But this is an utter mistake.
+It is generally admitted already that there are living structureless protoplasmic organisms of
+no definite shape, and of which detached particles can live and grow. It would make no
+real difference whatever to the known facts of life if a creature of the kind should be found
+as large as the Pacific Ocean, with its portions exceptionally detachable and its shape
+irregular in the extreme.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 36.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 34.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a>
+For explanation of this application of this term see loc. cit., p. 38.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a>
+Loc. cit., p. 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a>
+A kind of leaf the nature of which as well as of spathes, florets, and flowers, will be
+explained in the next Essay.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a>
+<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a>
+Teleostean fishes are generally bony, but the bones are represented by cartilages in
+<i>Leptocephalus</i>. As to teleosteans, see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., p. 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., pp. 31 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., pp. 33 and 43.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a>
+<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., p. 34. As examples of transparent sea anemones, Nautactis and its
+allies, belonging to the <i>Actinozoa</i>, may be mentioned.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a>
+See Moseley’s “Challenger,” p. 592.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN TURKEY.</h2>
+
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Constantinople</span>, <i>Sept. 9th, 1879</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Three months have elapsed since my last letter, and were it not
+for the suffering people we might treat of the history of the
+Turkish Government during these months as so many acts in a comedy;
+but human suffering is never ridiculous, and those who live in the
+midst of it find nothing amusing in the obstinate stupidity which
+causes it. It is not pleasant to live among the ruins of a crumbling
+Empire, however picturesque these ruins may appear at a distance, and
+however much it may be for the interest of foreign politicians to leave
+them undisturbed. Whatever may be the course of contemporary
+thought in England, where the fate of Turkey has unfortunately
+become a party question, the people of Turkey can only think of it as
+it affects their own interests, and they desire above all things that the
+people of England, without distinction of party, should understand their
+condition as it is. This is a reasonable desire, whether anything can be
+done for them or not; and these letters are intended to represent contemporary
+life and thought <i>in Turkey</i>.</p>
+
+<h4>The Fall of Khaireddin Pacha.</h4>
+
+<p>Khaireddin Pacha commenced life as a Circassian slave in Tunis.
+He came to Constantinople last year as an exiled Prime Minister of the
+Bey, but possessed of immense wealth which he had accumulated while
+in office, and with a high reputation for learning, skill as an administrator,
+and devotion to the faith of Islam. He was well received by the
+Sultan, who often consulted him in regard to political affairs; and finally,
+through the influence of France and England, he was appointed Grand
+Vizier. But he made no friends among the Turkish Pachas, and had
+no party in the country. Even the most liberal of the governing class
+regarded him as an interloper, who had neither the ability nor the experience
+necessary to fit him for the place which he had secured by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>
+European influence. He reciprocated their distrust, and spoke of them
+freely as a band of bandits. He was too good a Mussulman to
+attempt to build up a party among the Christians. He depended
+simply upon his personal influence over the Sultan and the support of
+the French and English Ambassadors. He succeeded in exiling all the
+ex-Grand Viziers, but he had still more dangerous enemies among his
+own colleagues, who thwarted him at every step, worked upon the fears
+of the Sultan, and brought the affairs of the Government to a dead-lock.
+He finally proposed to the Sultan a plan of Government which, under
+the name of reform, involved an abdication of his supreme power in
+favour of the Grand Vizier. This was supported by all the influence of
+France, England, and Austria, but opposed by the Ulema and almost
+the whole governing class. It led to a formal decision on the part of
+the Ulema, which is of far greater importance than the fall of the Grand
+Vizier which was the first result of it. It declared that the Sultan
+ruled the Empire as Caliph, that he was bound by the Sheriat or sacred
+law, and that he could not delegate his authority to another. Under
+this decision there can be no such thing as civil government in Turkey.
+Civil law can never take the place of the Sheriat, and the emancipation
+of the Christian subjects of the Porte is an impossibility. The Ulema
+admit the necessity of administrative reform, and recognize the fact that
+the Empire is in peril; but it must be a return to ancient customs, and
+not a recognition of the principles of European civilization. They are
+in favour of limiting the power of the Sultan, but it must be limited by
+an extension of the influence of the Ulema. This triumph of the
+Ulema is the one important feature of the Ministerial crisis. As
+Khaireddin had no party, there are few who regret his fall. As few had
+any faith in the influence of English moral suasion applied to the
+Sultan by Sir A. H. Layard, there are few who are disappointed at its
+failure; but it may be well to note that Sir A. H. Layard and
+Khaireddin Pacha have both attempted to control the Turkish Government
+by their personal influence over the Sultan, and have both been
+defeated by the stronger influence of palace intrigue. There are no
+doubt certain advantages in maintaining intimate personal relations
+with an absolute sovereign, but, in fact, no sovereign is so absolute that
+he cannot be to a great extent controlled by his Ministers; and the
+Ambassador who is intimate with the Sultan, and seeks to control his
+actions, is certain to excite the jealousy and opposition of the Ministers
+and the palace. Even with the Sultan himself, he is obliged to assume
+a very different tone from that which he would use in dealing with a
+Minister. He may smile, but he cannot frown—he may suggest, but he
+cannot threaten—he may persuade, but he cannot dictate—he may
+secure a promise, but he cannot exact its fulfilment. In the present case
+he has certainly failed to keep his own <i>protégé</i> in office, and, what is
+more important, he has failed to secure any modifications in the system
+of government.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Ulema who have triumphed in this conflict are the most powerful,
+compact, and thoroughly organized body in Turkey. They represent
+all the wealthy and influential Turkish families. They monopolize the
+two great departments of law and religion, and the revenues of the
+higher orders of the hierarchy are immense. Those who are not
+fanatics by nature or conviction are so by profession, and their idea of
+reform is a return to the good old days of the Caliph of Bagdad. The
+Sultan is afraid of them, and he has reason to be so. When the crisis
+came it was much easier and safer for him to yield to them than to
+follow the counsels of Sir A. H. Layard, or to abdicate in favour of
+Khaireddin Pacha. He could invite the former to dinner oftener than
+ever, and give the latter a pension. He had nothing to fear from
+either.</p>
+
+<p>The office of Grand Vizier was abolished for the second time
+within two years, and a Prime Minister appointed who could be trusted
+to do nothing; and it is a curious fact that this office is now abolished
+for the sake of increasing the power of the Sultan, while it was given
+up two years ago for the purpose of limiting his authority and strengthening
+that of the Ministry. It was Achmet Vefik Pacha, the most
+determined and independent man in Turkey, who was then appointed
+Prime Minister. It is Arifi Pacha, a man who never had an idea of
+his own, who is now selected to fill the place; while men of strong
+will and reactionary proclivities like Osman Pacha and Said Pacha
+continue to hold their places as Ministers of War and Justice.</p>
+
+<h4>Sultan Murad.</h4>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed that all the Turks are satisfied with this
+triumph of the Ulema, and the rule of Osman Pacha. Those who are
+out of office are, of course, dissatisfied. But beyond this there is a
+strong party at Constantinople which favours a radical change in the
+Government as the only hope of saving the Empire from destruction.
+They would limit the power of the Sultan by a genuine Constitution,
+and a Representative Assembly; but they believe that this can never be
+accomplished under the present Sultan. The fate of Mithad Pacha is
+always before their eyes. Their plan is to dethrone Hamid and reinstate
+Murad, whose liberal views are well known, and whose health is such
+that he could not resist radical measures even if he did not favour them.
+I have no means of knowing the real strength of this party, or exactly
+who are its leaders, nor do I know anything more of the health of
+Sultan Murad than the fact that his partisans declare that he is quite
+as sane and strong as his brother. But there is such a party, and it is
+confident of ultimate success. Of course, it is not supported by the
+British Ambassador, as Mithad Pacha was in the overthrow of Sultan
+Abd-ul-Aziz; but it may have other foreign influence behind it, and it
+would, no doubt, result in the immediate recall of Mithad Pacha to the
+capital. As I am constitutionally a Conservative and opposed to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>
+revolution, I have not much sympathy with this movement; but I have
+no doubt that, if Turkey is to be left to herself to work out her own
+destiny, there is more to be hoped from a Representative Assembly than
+from any other possible modification of the Government. Mithad
+Pacha’s Parliament was a surprise to the world, and not least to those
+who devised it. His Constitution was a fraud designed to deceive
+Europe. The members of his Assembly were selected by the Government,
+its acts were ignored. It was finally disbanded, and many of
+its members were imprisoned. But in spite of all this it demonstrated
+the fact that there was material in Turkey for an independent
+Assembly, which would be qualified by a little experience to control the
+Government, and would favour radical reforms in the administration.
+The governing class at Constantinople is hopelessly corrupt and effete,
+but men came up to this Assembly from the interior, who might in time
+have supplanted the present rulers, and infused new life into the
+administration. Those who now favour an Independent Parliament
+believe that the present Sultan will never consent to it, and therefore
+propose to reinstate Murad; but it is possible that if English moral
+suasion were turned in this direction, it might meet with more success
+than it has obtained thus far. The Ulema would probably oppose it,
+although they accepted it as part of the plan of Mithad Pacha.
+Circumstances have changed, and their experience of the last Assembly
+was not satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>There is no reason to suppose that Sultan Murad himself has any
+part in this plan, or any knowledge of it. He is kept a close prisoner,
+and guarded from all outside influences with the greatest care, but his
+name is powerful, for his misfortunes and the well-known amiability of
+his character have roused the sympathy of the common people in his
+behalf. They are inclined to regard him as their rightful sovereign,
+and to believe that he might save them from their present misery.
+They may be mistaken, but all the world sympathizes with their kindly
+feeling towards this unhappy prince, whose mind gave way under the
+burden of responsibility which was suddenly forced upon him, and the
+shock which he experienced at the death of his uncle and his Ministers,
+who was himself deposed before he had regained his faculties, and who,
+for no fault of his own, is doomed to spend his life as a prisoner of
+State.</p>
+
+<h4>The Progress of Reform.</h4>
+
+<p>We are officially assured that the change in the Ministry will in no
+way impede the progress of reform, which has already been carried out
+in the Department of Justice, and which is soon to be applied to the
+civil administration. The plan has already been elaborated. It has
+been sent to the Valis for their approval, and will soon be submitted to
+the Eastern Roumelia Commission, after which it will be considered by
+the Sultan and, if approved by him, will be proclaimed in the form of a
+new <i>Hatt</i>. It professes to be a plan for a reorganization of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>
+Vilayets, on the principle of decentralization and local self-government.
+It does not seem to excite much interest in any quarter, probably for
+the reason that all this exists already <i>on paper</i>, and that if Aali Pacha
+could not execute the elaborate scheme, which he proclaimed when the
+Vilayets were organized, there is not much probability that the new
+<i>Hatt</i> will be any more effective. The people of Turkey have no faith
+in paper reforms. They are issued as easily as paper money, and are
+as easily repudiated; they are like leading articles in the daily papers—they
+are written, read, and forgotten, alike by the author and the reader,
+within the twenty-four hours. There is an old proverb current among
+the Turks which says, “The decrees of the Sultan last three days—the
+day they are made, the day they are kept, and the day they are forgotten.”
+If the proverb were a new one, the second day would be omitted.</p>
+
+<p>The reforms which have been completed by Said Pacha, the Minister
+of Justice, are not of a nature to encourage the hopes of the people.
+A large number of new officials have been appointed, but they are of
+the same class as those already in office. Indeed, there seems to have
+been a special purpose in these appointments of making it known to
+the people that no change was to be expected in the method of
+administering the law. Only seventeen out of one hundred and eighty-three
+of these new officials are Christians, and the Turkish papers take
+pains to declare that it is absurd to suppose that Christians are competent
+to hold these offices. This is the result of the demand of Lord
+Salisbury that the Courts of the Empire should be reorganized under
+European control. They will continue to be what they have been, and
+it will be but a small consolation to the suffering people of Turkey to
+know that they have been condemned in strong terms by the British
+Government. The worst feature of the case is that the law offers no
+man any protection against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. A man
+may be thrown into prison and kept there for years without any trial
+or any knowledge of the charges brought against him. Such cases are
+very common. Or he may he beaten by the police, or chained in a
+dungeon, on the most frivolous charge. I knew a case the other day
+of a Greek who was severely beaten because he requested a police officer
+to arrest a Turk who was plundering his shop in broad day. All this
+was done in the presence of a European gentleman, too. There are
+several Armenians in prison now in Constantinople whose only offence
+was the wearing of hats in place of the fez. At the same time, crimes
+of every description are committed with impunity without any apparent
+effort on the part of the authorities to discover the perpetrators.
+Almost in sight of Constantinople, and under the immediate jurisdiction
+of the capital, is a district where for months the peaceful inhabitants
+of Adabazar have been plundered and murdered by the Circassians.
+They have appealed again and again to Constantinople for protection.
+They have tried to interest the Ambassadors in their behalf. They sent
+a deputation to the Grand Vizier. He had no time to see them, but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>
+turned them over to another official who requested them to present him
+in writing a statement of the reforms which they thought were needed
+in the Empire! A few hundred soldiers, or even one determined man
+sent from Constantinople, would have restored order; but nothing could
+be done. Five men were murdered while the deputation was in this
+city. The whole Turkish coast of the Black Sea is infested with
+brigands who plunder at will. They are well known, but no one
+thinks of arresting or punishing them. Travellers are only secure
+when they are provided with a safe-conduct from the leaders. The
+Reports of the new Consuls in Asia Minor acknowledge a state of
+things which is almost too bad to be believed. There is no security in
+the administration of the law for person, property, or life, and there
+seems to be no prospect of any improvement. Some more radical
+reform is needed than the appointment of one hundred and sixty-six
+new Turkish judges.</p>
+
+<p>A scheme of financial reform has also been projected, and the foreign
+Embassies have been invited to nominate a certain number of persons
+as inspectors to superintend the collection of the revenue; but this is
+nothing new. The Imperial Ottoman Bank has nominally held this
+position for many years, and at times has exercised some control, no
+doubt with advantage to the Government. A new system of taxation,
+carried out under the control of honest and responsible Europeans,
+would increase the revenue of the Government without adding to the
+burdens of the people; but the place where reform is most needed is in
+the expenditure rather than the collection of the revenue. The present
+scheme does not command confidence in Constantinople in regard to
+the collection of the taxes, and it offers no security for the control of
+the expenses of the Government. The truth is that the whole financial
+system is hopelessly corrupt, and, however it may be patched or mended,
+it will be rotten still. There is no hope for the Turkish Government
+until it is ready to put its finances into the hands of competent Europeans
+who shall have absolute control over everything connected with expenditure
+as well as collection; and I am sorry to say that there seems to be
+no present prospect of any such arrangement. The enormous expenditure
+of the Palace is unlimited and uncontrolled, and the Sultan will
+not submit to any control. Financial reform must begin there, or it
+will amount to nothing. The present Sultan before he came to the
+throne was known to be a very careful and economical man, and no
+doubt he would be glad to be so now, but he has not the courage to
+break with the traditions of the past—give up his thousands of slaves,
+women, and palace officials, and live like a European sovereign rather
+than an Oriental despot. So long as he maintains the present system
+he must have money, no matter who starves for want of it; and he
+must continue to take money, on his personal order, from whatever
+department of the Government may be so happy as to have any in its
+treasury.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Government is bankrupt; its revenues are not half enough to
+meet its current expenses; its army is starving; its civil service forced
+to live on plunder; its income mortgaged for years in advance to secure
+loans on which it is paying thirty or forty per cent. interest in one form
+or another; but still no one would dare to suggest to the Sultan the
+possibility of his reducing his own expenses to a sum equal to that
+expended by the Queen of England. Thus far all talk of financial
+reform is prompted by the desire to borrow more money in Europe to
+meet the present wants of the Government. These difficulties once
+surmounted, everything would go on as before. It is no friendship to
+Turkey to lend her money, until such time as the Sultan and his
+Ministers are ready for a real reform, beginning at the Palace, and conducted
+under the control of Europeans appointed and supported by their
+own Governments. But there is no prospect of any such arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>The Turks do not appreciate the dangers which beset them. They
+see that the country is in an unsettled state, and they feel the want of
+money; but the evils of which the people complain are nothing new.
+They exist now in an aggravated form, on account of the war and the
+confusion which has reigned for several years at Constantinople; but
+the Turks see no reason why they should not be reduced to a normal
+state, and be quietly endured for centuries to come, as they have been
+for centuries past. Their attention is directed exclusively to their
+foreign relations, and whatever is said or done about reform is intended
+solely to conciliate public opinion in Europe. Could the rulers here
+be brought face to face with a really independent Representative
+Assembly, freely chosen by the people, they would be made to think
+less of Europe and more of Turkey. They would see that their rule
+has become well-nigh intolerable, even to the Mussulman population
+of the Empire. Then there would be some hope of genuine administration
+and financial reform. It is even possible that the Christian
+element in such an Assembly might be strong enough to secure, in
+time, the emancipation of the non-Mussulman population—and it
+should never be forgotten that this must come in some form. England
+does not insist upon it now, but she will, and so will all Europe.
+It would be far better for Turkey if it could be brought about by the
+Christians themselves; but if it is not, it will be forced upon the
+Turks by direct European intervention, or possibly by the overthrow of
+the Empire.</p>
+
+<h4>The Egyptian Crisis.</h4>
+
+<p>The affairs of Egypt have been so fully discussed in England that
+it is unnecessary for me to do more than to indicate the course of
+thought on this subject at Constantinople. At the outset, the Sultan
+and his Ministers sympathized with the Khedive. They feared that
+European intervention at Cairo would pave the way for a similar intervention
+here; and when he appealed to the Sultan he had reason to
+expect his support. But the Turks thought they saw their opportunity
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>
+to regain their hold on Egypt, and the Khedive was summarily
+removed. The Turkish papers here did not hesitate to rejoice over it
+as a “new conquest of Egypt,” and it is still believed here that this
+view of the subject was encouraged by England, that it was the purpose
+of Lord Beaconsfield to escape from the embarrassing demands of
+France by restoring Egypt to the control of the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>But when the Turks found that they had been misled or mistaken,
+and that Egypt was less than ever under their control, they regretted
+the steps which had been taken, and began once more to sympathize
+with the Khedive whom they had deposed. He was very liberal in
+his expenditure of money at Constantinople, and always found it for
+his interest to maintain a host of retainers here; but the new Khedive
+will have no money to spend here, and will need agents in Paris and
+London rather than in Constantinople. The tribute-money no longer
+comes here, but is paid to bondholders in England and France. There
+is no hope of putting any more Turks into lucrative offices in Egypt.
+In short, the connection of that country with Turkey is no longer
+anything more than nominal, and the Turks feel their disappointment
+very keenly. They have now but one hope left. They understand
+very well the difficulties which must arise from a joint protectorate by
+France and England, and hope that the mutual jealousies of these
+Powers may throw Egypt once more into the hands of Turkey. The
+tone of the French press, even of so cautious and conservative a
+periodical as the <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i>, gives them some ground for
+this hope; but the Khedive lost his throne by giving too much importance
+to this mutual jealousy, which manifested itself much more
+plainly in Egypt than it did in Europe; and it is to be hoped that the
+Turks will be equally disappointed. Every one in the East regards the
+present situation as impracticable and temporary, but it may result in
+the independence of Egypt under a general European protectorate, or
+in a further division of the Ottoman Empire by the annexation of
+Egypt to England and Syria to France. The opportunity of annexing
+Egypt without compensation to France was lost when England refused
+to listen to the suggestions of Germany three years ago, because, as
+Lord Derby is reported to have said, it would have shocked the moral
+sense of the world.</p>
+
+<h4>The Greek Question.</h4>
+
+<p>The Greek Question is not a simple one. Very few questions connected
+with the East are simple. The aspirations of the kingdom of
+Greece are natural. Her appeal to Europe was justifiable, and there
+can be no question of the advantage which it would be to Greece, and
+to the populations of Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete, if these provinces
+were annexed to the kingdom. If this were all, they would be annexed,
+and all the world would rejoice. It is to be regretted that the Congress
+of Berlin did not shut its eyes to other considerations and settle it
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>
+off-hand in this way; but they did not, and no Power now exists which
+can do so.</p>
+
+<p>These provinces belong to Turkey, and she cannot see that it is for
+her interest to give them up. Greece cannot possibly offer her anything
+in return for them, and, as against Turkey, she has no claim
+upon them. The Congress of Berlin advised Turkey to arrange, by
+friendly negotiation, for the cession of a part of them; but there is
+really no ground upon which a negotiation can be based. Turkey is
+ready to yield something out of respect to Europe, but she naturally
+wishes to give up as little as possible. Then there are other Powers
+interested. Austria and Italy, but especially the former, have their
+own views of the destiny of European Turkey, and their own plans of
+aggrandizement. Albania and Macedonia have to be considered.
+England, France, and Russia, also, are looking forward to the future,
+and questioning how the settlement of this question will affect their
+plans for the final solution of the Eastern Question. Here is room for
+intrigues without end, and complications without limit.</p>
+
+<p>The Greeks are indignant, especially against England and Austria;
+and their papers here have used some very disagreeable language. They
+are now solemnly protesting against the right of Sir A. H. Layard and
+Count Zichy to take a short vacation, so long as this question remains
+unsettled. Some of them seem to believe that Osman Pacha really
+contemplates a reconquest of Greece itself, and that England might consent
+to it. All this is absurd; but there can be no doubt about the fact
+that England and Austria have thus far opposed the claims of Greece,
+and that Austria and Turkey have, each in her own way, contributed to
+excite discontent in Albania, and keep up a state of anarchy in Macedonia.
+A leading paper in Vienna, ten days ago, openly declared that
+it was the intention of Austria to push on to Salonica, after taking possession
+of Novi Bazaar. She certainly has very little sympathy with
+Greece, and if this question is to be settled at all she will keep the
+Greeks as far from Salonica as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The Turkish papers are allowed to discuss this question with perfect
+freedom, and one of the most moderate, the <i>Djeridei-Havadis</i>, says:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“If the Hellenic Kingdom is desirous of avoiding a war with the Albanians,
+it ought to follow the line of conduct proposed by the Porte. If it acts in opposition
+to it, a war will follow which can only result in ruin, as has happened
+before. If the Porte had only to satisfy Greece, it is probable that it would
+show itself yielding, but the Imperial Government cannot, with a light heart,
+provoke a conflict and see the blood of its subjects poured out, for the Albanians
+have decided to defend their country, arms in hand. It is astonishing that
+Europe, in seconding the demands of Greece, completely forgets the rights of the
+Albanians.”</p></div>
+
+<p>The Commission appointed to settle this question is now in session at
+Constantinople, and some arrangement may be made, but the current
+opinion in the city, among both Greeks and Turks, is that neither party
+will yield anything. Another meeting is to be held to-morrow; and if
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>
+the Greeks are ready to give up Janina, a settlement is possible—in spite
+of the Albanians. The impression is that they will not fight, although
+the Greeks in Thessaly and Epirus have roused their hostility, and have
+failed to do anything to conciliate them in past years. They have an
+honest fear of being Hellenized by force, and although they have little
+sympathy for the Turkish Government, and are constantly quarrelling
+among themselves, they still have a strong national pride, and they may
+take up arms in good earnest. If they do, it will be a serious matter for
+Greece.</p>
+
+<h4>The Principality of Bulgaria.</h4>
+
+<p>Bulgaria is enjoying a brief period of comparative repose. The Russians
+have left the country. The Prince has assumed the reins of Government.
+The people are busy with their harvests, and, except in certain
+districts where the disbanded soldiers of the Turkish army have taken to
+brigandage, there is peace and quiet everywhere, and there is no reason
+to fear anything more disquieting than the excitement of a general
+election.</p>
+
+<p>The Principality has a great advantage over Eastern Roumelia, in
+that it has secured its independence, and can work out its destiny by
+itself, without any interference on the part of the Turks or of an
+European Commission; but both Prince and people are without experience,
+and there are no popular leaders who have any practical knowledge of
+government. The people are jealous of their newly-acquired rights, and
+naturally opinionated and disputatious. The coming elections will no
+doubt cause great political excitement, and the new Assembly will not be
+very easily managed, or be likely to win the admiration of Europe by its
+wisdom. It should be remembered, however, that this lack of experience
+is the misfortune and not the fault of the Bulgarians, and that Europe
+has not dealt with them in a way to win their confidence and command
+their respect. It has left them with a grievance which they can never
+forget for a moment, which must influence all their political action, and
+which forces them to maintain intimate relations with Russia, which is
+not a country where they can learn political wisdom, although it has
+given them a Constitution which is a model of liberality. There was
+nothing in the Russian administration of the province which was adapted
+to prepare them for such a Constitution, or teach them how to conduct
+a free and liberal government. Prince and people have to begin everything
+for themselves. Indeed, they are probably worse off than they
+would have been if there had been no civil administration attempted in the
+province by the Russians. An army of occupation of any country is
+unfitted for the organization of civil government. This was attempted
+on a grand scale in the Southern States of America after the civil war,
+and under exceptionally favourable circumstances, but all these civil
+governments, established and fostered by military force, were unsatisfactory
+while they continued, and disappeared when the army was withdrawn.
+If this was a work which could not be accomplished by the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>
+United States, and by an army which was made up chiefly of civilians,
+it is not strange that, with all possible goodwill, the Czar of Russia failed
+to establish a satisfactory civil administration in Bulgaria. He gave
+them as good a Prince as was to be found in the German market, and as
+liberal a Constitution as any in Europe. He maintained order and protected
+all classes as long as his soldiers remained in the country; but the
+whole administration was necessarily Russian in its spirit and methods,
+and altogether unlike what it ought to be under the new Constitution.
+The Bulgarians who were trained under it will have to unlearn much
+that they have learned, and begin anew, or they will fail to satisfy
+the people. All this is the misfortune rather than the fault of the
+nation, and it has a right to expect that Europe will be patient and
+friendly, while it gains by experience the wisdom which no nation has
+ever acquired in any other way.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Alexander is young, and as inexperienced as his people, but
+those who know him best have confidence in his good sense, and he is
+said to be not unlike the late Prince Albert in character. He will need
+all his good qualities to attain success; and if successful, he will certainly
+deserve to be ranked with the Prince Consort and King Leopold.
+His work certainly involves more self-denial than either of theirs, and
+not less tact and good sense. He was no doubt elected through the
+influence of Russia; but he is no mere creature of the Czar, and has no
+desire to act as a Russian agent. On the contrary, he is heartily in
+sympathy with the liberal ideas of the West, and anxious to secure the
+goodwill of England. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Palgrave, the English
+Consul-General, this does not seem to the Bulgarians so hopeless a task
+as it once did.</p>
+
+<p>The Prince was received by his people with the greatest enthusiasm.
+No sovereign was ever more heartily welcomed, and each stage of his
+journey was a new triumph. He probably appreciated this all the more
+from the fact that his visit to Constantinople was made as disagreeable
+as possible. He was first refused permission to come at all, on the
+pretence that his life would be in danger. This plea was too absurd to
+deceive any one, but it might have caused serious difficulty if he had
+not appealed to the Great Powers, and at the same time manifested a
+disposition to conciliate the Porte by proposing to limit his stay at
+Constantinople to a visit of a few hours. He arrived in the Bosphorus
+in the morning, and left in the afternoon. He was received by the
+Sultan, but was told that owing to the pressure of business his Firman
+was not ready, and could not be delivered to him. No Bulgarian was
+allowed to approach him, and no boat allowed to go out to his steamer.
+Large bodies of troops were stationed along his route and about the
+Russian Embassy, and he was treated very much like a prisoner of State.
+It is not easy to understand why this farce was played by the Turks, or
+what they expected to gain by it. They probably refused the permission
+in the first place with the intention of treating him as an ordinary
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
+Turkish Vali, and sending his Firman to be read in public at Tirnova
+by a Turkish official; but after the failure of this plan there was no
+obvious reason for treating him as they did at Constantinople. Some
+have supposed that it was intended as a studied insult to the Prince,
+others that it was an elaborate practical joke played upon the Russian
+Embassy, which had at one time suggested that it was unnecessary for
+the Prince to come to Constantinople, as other vassal Princes had always
+done. But whatever may have been the motive which prompted this
+singular treatment, it only served to make the reception of the Prince
+the next day at Varna more impressive, and to give more importance to
+the wild enthusiasm of his new subjects, who could not have received
+him with greater joy if he had himself just delivered them from the
+hated rule of the Turks. He was inaugurated at Tirnova, the ancient
+capital, and then went at once to Sofia, the new seat of government.
+His first difficulty was the choice of a Ministry. Two parties had
+already been developed in the Constitutional Assembly which adopted
+the Constitution and elected the Prince. They grew out of a difference
+of opinion in regard to religious liberty, freedom of the press, the right
+of association, with other similar questions, and at once assumed the
+names, Conservative and Liberal. The Conservative party included the
+clergy of the Bulgarian Church, and some of the best educated and most
+enlightened Bulgarians, who felt that too much liberty was a dangerous
+thing for a people brought so suddenly from bondage to freedom—who
+feared that the country would be flooded with Nihilism, Socialism, and
+all other isms. The Liberal party, however, had a large majority in
+the Assembly, and was led with considerable skill by two or three experienced
+politicians, who were wise enough to avoid extreme measures.
+When the Prince arrived, he attempted to form a Ministry which should
+include the leaders of both these parties; but for some reason the
+majority of those selected were Conservatives, and the Liberals declined
+to serve with them, so that he has a Conservative Ministry, with the
+probability that the new Assembly will have a strong Liberal majority.
+This is an unfortunate beginning, as the party conflict which is likely to
+ensue will probably weaken the influence of some of the best men in the
+nation, who are really Liberal in their views, but who fear that absolute
+liberty will degenerate into license and sap the foundations of religion
+and morality. They do not think that the people are ready for “a free
+Church in a free State.” They fail to see that the influence of the
+Church can only be strengthened by educating the clergy and reviving
+their spiritual life. The Bulgarians are naturally a religious people; but,
+both while they were under the Greek Patriarch, and since they have
+received their independence, their Church has been an essentially political
+organization. It needs now to be spiritualized. The best men of
+both parties acknowledge this; but, as in all other countries, there is
+a difference of opinion as to how far it should be defended and supported
+by the State.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I have said that this division of parties was an unfortunate beginning
+for this new State, but after all it is far better that there should be real
+living questions before the people than that politics should degenerate
+into a new struggle for office. The very discussion of these questions
+will tend to educate the people and revive the Church, and it will probably
+be found that when a new Liberal Ministry is formed the responsibilities
+of office will make it as conservative in most respects as the
+present Government. The Prince has the confidence of all the people,
+and will no doubt accept the result of the coming elections as a Constitutional
+sovereign, and then direct the attention of the people to other
+questions of the utmost importance concerning the organization of the
+various departments of the Government. No doubt serious difficulties
+will be encountered and mistakes will be made, but the spirit of the
+people is good. They desire good order, peace, and quiet, and they will
+make every effort to secure it. They merit the sympathy and goodwill
+of all civilized nations, and especially of those who believe in free
+government and liberal institutions.</p>
+
+<h4>Eastern Roumelia.</h4>
+
+<p>The condition of affairs in Eastern Roumelia is much less hopeful, as
+the difficulties encountered in the organization of the Government are
+very much greater and more numerous. North of the Balkans they
+are only such as might be experienced by any new Representative
+Government in any civilized country, but in the nondescript province of
+Roumelia the people are suffering from evils inflicted upon them by the
+Congress of Berlin. Everything is unsettled. No one knows who
+rules the country, or what is the form of government. It seems to be
+for the interest of certain parties to prolong this state of things and
+introduce as much disorder as possible. The people are kept in a
+constant state of excitement, and no one knows what to expect from one
+day to another. The Congress of Berlin is primarily responsible for
+this, and no doubt it was for the interest of Austria to keep up a
+state of anarchy and confusion in European Turkey. It was her plan
+to absorb the European provinces herself, and the way must be kept
+open to Salonica and if possible to Constantinople. It is believed here
+that England went to Berlin with a secret agreement to support these
+pretensions of Austria, but no one sees exactly how England is to
+profit by this arrangement. It is certain that no one in Turkey gained
+anything by the division of Bulgaria, but the evils which have resulted
+would have been much less if in addition to this division the Congress
+had not devised the extraordinary scheme of giving different forms of
+Government to the two Bulgarias. This plan, of course, insured the
+permanent discontent of the whole Bulgarian nation, but, worse than
+this, it made the impression upon the Turks and Greeks that the
+arrangement for Eastern Roumelia was only a temporary one, and that
+by skilful agitation they might overturn it. They have not failed to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>
+improve this opportunity. The Phanariote and Roumelian Greeks are
+doing everything in their power to create disturbance and cause difficulty
+in Eastern Roumelia. An unceasing torrent of abuse is poured
+out upon the Bulgarians by the Greek papers and their French organ
+the <i>Phare du Bosphore</i>. They are full of false statements and misrepresentations
+of every kind, and a portion of the Greeks in the province
+act in full sympathy with these papers. Free Greece does not
+sympathize with this crusade, and an attempt was made a few weeks
+since to induce the Greeks here to come to an understanding with the
+Bulgarian Church, by withdrawing the excommunication and arranging
+for harmonious co-operation. It is understood that the Patriarch was
+in favour of this, but the Greek papers here opposed it with a violence
+which was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. They declared that
+“the maintenance of the schism was the only hope of Hellenism,” and
+appealed to the Porte to prevent by force a reconciliation “which
+would inevitably result in the union of Greeks and Bulgarians to drive
+out the Turks and divide the country between them,” This opposition
+on the part of the Phanariotes prevented the execution of the plan.</p>
+
+<p>The Turks also are doing what they can to create disturbance in the
+province, and find some excuse for occupying it with their army. This
+was, of course, to be expected, and is in some degree excusable. They
+naturally wish to regain possession of this rich province, and they feel
+that they have cause of complaint against the Bulgarians, who do not
+receive the returning refugees with much cordiality. There are real
+difficulties on both sides which cannot fail to give rise to serious trouble.
+It is a pity that the whole arrangement could not have been left to a
+really impartial Commission, free to act on principles of equity and
+common sense. The difficulties are such as these, for example. There
+are many towns where the Bulgarian quarter was burned by the Turks.
+When the Turks fled and the Bulgarians returned, they occupied the
+Turkish houses, and they are now naturally disinclined to give them up
+to the refugees and camp in the fields. Again, there are many cases
+where the Bulgarians were deprived of their lands in the most iniquitous
+manner some years ago, under the pretence of a new law in regard to
+title-deeds. These lands were seized by rich Turks, who fled during the
+war, but now come back to claim them. The Bulgarians have the
+original titles and the Turks new ones. To whom do the lands rightly
+belong?</p>
+
+<p>There are other cases where Turks return who are known to have
+taken part in the massacres. There has been a general amnesty, but it
+can hardly be expected that these persons will be well received. These
+are only a few of the many difficulties connected with the return of the
+refugees which irritate the Turks and the Bulgarians both; and in some
+cases both parties merit our sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to these deliberate attempts to make trouble on the part
+of the Turks, Greeks, and also of some few hot-headed Bulgarians who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
+are foolish enough to suppose that a disturbance might hasten their
+union with the Principality, the confusion in the Government is a source
+of constant trouble. No one knows what the Government is. The
+Porte claims supreme authority, and sends peremptory orders to the
+Pacha. The Pacha naturally considers himself the head of the Government.
+The European Commission claims the right to exercise control
+whenever it sees fit. The Consuls assume the right to intrigue or to
+dictate in the name of their respective Governments. The Administrative
+Council, a majority of which is Bulgarian, considers itself to be
+responsible for the administration, and there is a Constitution of hundreds
+of articles which is theoretically the law of the land. A National
+Assembly is soon to be added to the list. The militia have been under
+the command of a Levantine Frenchman, who was not responsible to
+the Governor, and who does not appear to have had a single qualification
+for his office. Happily he has just been replaced by a better
+man.</p>
+
+<p>Having inflicted all this confusion upon Eastern Roumelia, the European
+Powers are complaining that the people do not know how to
+govern themselves! Perhaps they do not, but as yet they have had no
+opportunity to make the experiment. If peace and quiet is ever to be
+restored to this unhappy province, the Government must be simplified
+and consolidated; it must be left to manage its own affairs, and to
+make the best it can of the elaborate Constitution which Europe has
+conferred upon it. Alecko Pacha is not a great man, but he was the
+best man available for his position, and he is a man who is much more
+likely to throw up his office in disgust at the trouble which it gives him
+than to lend himself to any scheme for resisting the will of Europe.
+He ought to be encouraged and supported. The Bulgarians, who constitute
+the majority of the population, are discontented at the arbitrary
+action which separated them from the Principality, but they are satisfied
+that they have nothing to gain from any present agitation of this
+question, and they only desire to be left to govern themselves in
+accordance with the decision of Europe, and to be assured that they
+will not be turned over again to the tender mercies of the Turkish
+Government. The fear of this is universal, and it is this fear which
+keeps them in a state of constant excitement. It is not without reason.
+A large Turkish army is camped on their borders. The Porte is seeking
+some excuse for entering the province. Certain European representatives
+at Philippopolis are always threatening this, and the people believe
+that they are intriguing to bring it about. Everything is in confusion
+and uncertainty in regard to the Government, and nothing seems
+settled. There can be no peace and quiet in a country which is in
+constant fear of invasion, and something ought to be done to remove
+this fear from Eastern Roumelia. The Turkish army should certainly
+be removed, and the Porte should be warned to let Alecko Pacha alone
+and allow him to organize his Government as best he can. If this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>
+source of fear and irritation were removed, the Bulgarians would
+accept the situation and make the best of it. It would be for their
+interest to do so, and an industrious, thrifty population is always quick
+to see what is for its interest.</p>
+
+<p>The gymnastic clubs, which were originally formed for another
+purpose, are now kept up and supported by sober, conservative men,
+simply from this fear of a Turkish invasion. If the fear were removed
+these associations would be dissolved at once, as they ought to be; for
+Bulgarian merchants are not in the habit of spending money for anything
+which is not essential to their well-being. These clubs are not
+revolutionary, but they might become a source of disorder if they were
+made permanent.</p>
+
+<p>It is not probable that the European Powers will allow any invasion
+of the country; but the Turks have always in hand the pretence of
+sending troops to occupy the Balkans, and this fact to some extent
+justifies the fears of the Bulgarians. If there were danger of another
+Russian invasion, the Turks would be fully justified in occupying the
+passes at once, and there is nothing in Eastern Roumelia to prevent or
+even delay such an occupation; but under present circumstances, when
+there is nothing to be feared from Russia—when peace and quiet is the
+thing of all others to be desired—the occupation of the Balkans would
+be a crime.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">An Eastern Statesman.</span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTEMPORARY BOOKS.</h2>
+
+<h3>I.—HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE EAST.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>Under the Direction of</i> Professor <span class="smcap">E. H. Palmer</span>.)</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Malleson certainly did well to claim permission to rewrite Sir
+John Kaye’s last volume (<i>History of the Indian Mutiny</i>, by Colonel Malleson,
+Vol. I., London: W. H. Allen &amp; Co.), and comparison of the two may afford to the
+historian of the future valuable aid in interpreting the volumes yet to come. A great
+part of the present must be held to be the work of the virulent pamphleteer and violent
+partisan rather than of the historian; and if the quotations of, and references to, the
+Red Pamphlet indicate relations between Colonel Malleson and its author, the
+publishers cannot be held to have exercised a wise discretion in their choice.</p>
+
+<p>The task of the reviewer of such a book is unusually heavy. Book for book,
+almost chapter for chapter, it is intended to replace Sir John Kaye’s work, and the
+reviewer therefore needs to study the two carefully, and to compare them minutely.
+Colonel Malleson, no doubt, had access to Sir John Kaye’s materials, but within a
+certain field seems to have been unable to see the other side of any question. To
+arm, to leave Sepoys armed, is simply to detain European troops to watch them;
+it is nothing that to disarm them is to drive them, and all their connections, wild
+with terror as sheep marked for the slaughter; yet he cannot be ignorant of the
+cases in which a few bad men committed a regiment, and how whole regiments
+“went” in terror of their masters’ vengeful
+distrust.<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a>
+In saying, as he does so
+confidently, that by enrolling the Calcutta Volunteers on their first offer, on 20th
+May, Lord Canning would have set free half a European regiment, Colonel Malleson
+must have been thinking of what the Volunteers might have been fit to do had they
+been enrolled and drilled six months before,—provided they had been willing to take
+the day-work of garrison duty, and to think more of the State than of the house
+and furniture at Ballygunj: the real profit of the enrolment was the confidence and
+cheerfulness organization gave to the Europeans themselves. And—to take a more
+important instance—the “Gagging Act” was an insolent expression of distrust of
+Englishmen, an attempt to prevent their opinions reaching England <i>in print</i>. For
+distrust of their discretion English editors had given cause enough, and for influencing
+English opinion, as Indian newspapers may be said to be unknown in England
+in their original sheets, a letter from the editor of the <i>Friend of India</i> to any
+English paper would have been as sure of English readers, and of as much weight
+with them, as if it had been set up in the damp printing-house at Serampore.</p>
+
+<p>Colonel Malleson quotes from the “Red Pamphlet,” as Sir John Kaye had done
+before him, a smart description of “Panic Sunday.” From Colonel Cavanagh’s
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>
+report it seems pretty clear that the higher classes—the “society”—of Calcutta were
+not among the refugees in the fort, and as Secretaries to Government and Members of
+Council may be counted on the fingers, it would be as well if the historian would
+name the fugitives before death takes all who could answer the charge. We have
+had access to the diary of a young civilian, then a guest of the Member of Council
+who lived furthest from Government House, away in Alipore, beyond the house
+of the Lieutenant-Governor and the great jail of Alipore and the lines of the
+native regiment which was the great terror of Calcutta: on that Sunday, host and
+guest went to the Cathedral twice as usual, and after the evening service the
+guest returned home, while the host drove to Calcutta to call on some cousins;
+as the cousins had driven to Alipore, and the visitors at both houses waited a while
+those households at least were afoot till a later hour than usual, and at last went to
+bed as usual without closing an extra door.</p>
+
+<p>The second chapter closes with an impassioned peroration, wherein the removal of
+Mr. William Tayler from his post at Patna is likened to the judicial murder of
+Lally, and the starvation of Dupleix. It is clear enough, from Colonel Malleson’s
+account, that Mr. Tayler liked to carry out his own plans too well to risk interference
+by over-frankness to his superiors. In the face of an enemy such concealment
+may be as mischievous as disobedience, and Sir John Kaye reminds us that at an
+earlier date confidence in Mr. Tayler’s judgment had been shaken; and his report of
+his message to his district officers, the report which immediately preceded, and
+probably led to, his suspension, says nothing of the clause which sets the treasure above
+anything save human life. Under any circumstances Mr. Tayler’s defence is not
+helped by sharp censures on Mr. Money, or by blindness to the fact that the best
+intelligence made a march to Patna seem more perilous than the far longer one
+through a jungle country to Calcutta. Wise after the event, indeed, we may see
+that Mr. Tayler’s forecast was sounder than Mr. Halliday’s; but the Lieutenant-Governor,
+and Lord Canning too, could only act on the circumstances known to
+them, and Mr. Tayler was replaced by an officer of yet higher rank in the official
+hierarchy, and probably forestalled renewed promotion by resigning the Service as
+soon as he could get a pension. But why were not his services rewarded? asks
+Colonel Malleson, ready with the hard word “intrigue.” But who were the sharers
+in the intrigue, and who was to profit by it? Men whom Lord Canning sharply
+rebuked and degraded were yet recommended by him for honour, and no courteous
+letter from Mr. Talbot can do away with the fact that the Viceroy, writing when
+all heat of strife was over and all facts known, yet did not obtain for Mr. Tayler any
+distinction.</p>
+
+<p>On one point, however, we are bound to protest against Sir John Kaye’s harsh
+judgment: to him the arrest of the Wahabi leaders was a scandalous breach of
+the usages of war. But they were unquestionably subjects of the British Crown,
+and the question surely is—would they have resisted arrest by ordinary process or
+not? If not, they had to thank Mr. Tayler for courteous consideration in arresting
+them himself, and detaining them in honourable captivity; in resisting they would
+have been guilty of that rebellion against their sovereign in which there was too
+good reason to believe them sharers.</p>
+
+<p>On the many points whereon both authors are in substantial accord it would be
+waste of space to touch, and we pass to the other important episode in which Colonel
+Malleson traverses Sir John Kaye’s judgment, and here our verdict is with the later
+author: in treating of Durand’s conduct at Indore, Colonel Malleson seems to have
+risen above the region of personal feeling, if not of personal knowledge; so that while
+his full and vivid narrative shows plainly the difficulties, political and strategical, of
+Durand’s position and also of his retreat, he shows as clearly that it is no simple case
+of Durand <i>versus</i> Holkar, but one in which each may be commended without loss of
+credit to the other.</p>
+
+<p>So much space has been of necessity devoted to the chief points on which the two
+authors are at variance, that none is left for the transactions which Colonel Malleson’s
+changed arrangement brings into the present volume, though Kaye had intended
+for them a place in some later one. His work in the new field makes us only the
+more regret that he did not bring to his task the unbiassed mind of a man who had
+never known the author of the Red Pamphlet or Mr. William Tayler. But we would,
+in a concluding word, beg him to revise his Indian spelling; to a man who has once
+felt the charm of a fancy rule the claims of established usage go for nothing, but at
+all events he may be decently consistent; why does Colonel Malleson double so many
+letters which in Urdu are single, and why does he spell the name of the ancient and
+famous, if now obscure, town of Jaunpore as though it were “the City of Life”?
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Captain Low’s <i>History of the Indian Navy</i> (2 vols., London: Bentley &amp; Son)
+has long been reproachfully demanding notice; it is easy to say something about such
+a work, not easy to treat it worthily. A man could hardly put together 1100 pages
+of small type without recording many noteworthy facts, but all matters of interest
+might have been packed in much smaller compass, and so packed would have found
+more readers and a more favourable verdict.</p>
+
+<p>The two volumes trace the rise and fall of the Navy from its germ in the “ten
+grabs and galivats” taken up for the defence of the factory and shipping of Surat in
+1615, through the period of its glory when its ships bore the Company’s flag alongside
+of the Royal Navy on many hard-fought days, through its decline, when they
+carried mails or transported troops with rare enjoyment of a brush, to its abolition
+in our own time, when, less fortunate than its sister service, it fell a victim to mutiny
+and disorders in which it had no share.</p>
+
+<p>The first period in its history ends with the year 1759, when, with the capture of
+Gheriah, and the destruction of Angria’s power, piracy as a business of State came
+to an end, and when the ruin of the Seedee, and the substitution of the Company as
+High Admiral of the Mogul Empire, placed the local Marine first among the maritime
+powers of India. Its first serious service was in the operations which broke the
+power of the Portuguese in the Gulf, and in 1622 reduced Ormuz from an emporium
+of proverbial wealth and magnificence to its normal condition of a poor barren island,
+and for many years the Portuguese found it as much occupation as the pirates who
+might well have been its first concern. No doubt the captains of well-armed India-men,
+whose crews were borrowed for service on grabs and galivats, looked down on
+the latter as a sort of coastguard, but the aid of such light craft was invaluable against
+the shoals of small vessels which beset new-comers fore and aft, pouring down crowds
+of well-armed men from their long overhanging prows. For in the sixteenth and
+seventeenth centuries the shores of the Indian Ocean swarmed with pirates, kept
+down indeed by the Portuguese in the heyday of their power, but making head again
+till, by the middle of the seventeenth century, according to Italian travellers, they
+feared none but Dutch and English, and these only for a pestilent practice of firing
+the magazine rather than surrender. Yet to the Mogul governor of Surat probably
+the pirate of home growth was less objectionable than the intrusive trader; and indeed
+the Nuwab was not without excuse if he regarded the European as a more powerful
+pirate, seeing that some commanders took by force goods which the native owner
+would not sell, others ransacked ships not said to belong to the Mogul’s ports, the
+mutinous crews of others became open pirates; and lastly, we find Captain Kidd, and
+other heroes of the black flag, practising their vocation in these seas. The native
+pirate, the European rival, and the professional rover, kept the local marine pretty
+well employed, but it is not always easy to distinguish between the services of this
+body and the Company’s armed trading ships.</p>
+
+<p>Of more interest to the Mogul Government than foreign trade were the vessels in
+which Mahomedan pilgrims of all ranks sailed to Arabian and Persian shrines, and
+for their benefit it came to terms with the Seedee, better known to us as the Hubshi
+of Jinjirah, the boldest of the pirates, giving him a large allowance and high rank to
+secure his convoy. The Company made more than one attempt to supplant him, and
+indeed furnished ships to guard the Mocha-Jeddah fleet in 1698, but the Seedee kept
+his office till 1759; in the general decay of the central power he first neglected, then
+openly defied, the Governor of Surat, and instead of protecting trade became its
+chief oppressor; till at last, in 1759, after much negotiation, the Nuwab induced the
+Bombay Government to intervene, and as a reward obtained for the Company the
+Seedee’s office. What direct profit the Company derived from the appointment
+Captain Low does not tell us; the omission can hardly be the consequence of the
+lamented destruction of papers which followed the sale of the old India House, for he
+records that in 1694 the Seedee’s subsidy amounted to four lacs, no doubt considerably
+bettered by presents, and in 1735 the money allowance was but a lac and a half: the
+revenues of the districts and customs assigned to the Company went to support the
+Surat squadron, but the fees of office granted to the officer who was its deputy
+amounted, to near a lac of rupees a year; it is well to remember that the holder’s gross
+pay was but Rs.1,000 a year, that the Governor of Bombay had but some £500, and
+that till near the end of the century private trade was allowed: no one, however,
+was permitted to enjoy this great prize for a second year. Whatever were the
+profits to the Company, the Nuwab could see that it did more for its wages
+than the Seedee, for in the next nine years the Surat squadron destroyed near
+a hundred pirate vessels of the Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay.</p>
+
+<p>After another seventy years the Bombay Marine became in name what, as the only
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>
+local armed fleet, it had long been in fact—the Indian Navy. Wherever round the
+basin of the Indian Ocean there had been fighting in those years, the vessels of the
+Bombay Marine had borne the British flag with honour, though the services of
+officers and crews, both afloat and ashore, had been too sparingly recognised. And
+in those years was commenced the series of surveys which are still the chief
+authorities for the navigation of the Eastern seas, and have given the names of
+Rennie, Moresby, Haines, and Taylor a permanent place in history. But men who
+entered the Bombay Marine were still serving efficiently when the Indian Navy was
+abolished, in the belief that ships of the Royal Navy would carry on the police of the
+seas as efficiently, but at less annual cost, and that other arrangements might be
+made for the business of inland navigation and transport; the necessity for recurrent
+shore surveys seems not to have been foreseen, though already a special department
+has been created and placed under a retired officer of the Indian Navy. It is impossible
+not to admit that, through its want of influential friends, the Service was
+treated unjustly. The guarantee of “Colonel Sykes’s clause” has, through repeated
+agitation, been made so effectual for officers of the Indian Army that men of forty
+have retired as full colonels, because all their regimental seniors had joined the Staff
+Corps, while the officers of the Indian Navy were forced to retire without appeal on
+something like the pension of their rank. But they must have felt a grim satisfaction
+in knowing that they had outlived the piracy which had been the scourge of Western
+India and the first cause of the creation of the force; their last serious service was
+in administering a final pounding to their old enemies the Waghers, the last survivors
+of the flourishing pirate communities of Kattyawar.</p>
+
+<p>Besides surveys of the Eastern seas, European nations trading with India are
+indebted to the Indian Navy for the opening up of the Overland Route, and so,
+indirectly, for the construction of the Suez Canal. Without steam, indeed, the Red
+Sea could never have become a highway of commerce, while with its extended use
+that great canal could not for ever be closed; but the <i>Hugh Lindsay</i> of the Indian
+Navy, the first steamer constructed in the East, which, after thirty years of service,
+was still staunch enough for work as a tug at Kurachi, was the first steamer to
+appear on its waters, making the voyage to and from Suez in 1830, under the command
+of Captain John Lindsay. The expense of the voyage, however, was so great
+that, after seven trips, the Court bade the Government of Bombay only repeat it in
+case of emergency, and it was reserved for Lieutenant Waghorn, also of the Indian
+Navy, by sacrifice of his private fortune and professional prospects and ten years’
+unceasing labour, to prove that communication with India through the Red Sea was
+not only a luxury of State, but a profitable commercial enterprise. From his labours
+all have profited save himself and his family, and the only public acknowledgment
+of his services is a bust in the Canal Garden at Suez.</p>
+
+<p>With some labour, caused by the want of an index, many notices of interest might
+be quarried from Captain Low’s pages. The early history of Bombay, the antecedents
+of the rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar, the settlement at Aden, the true story
+of Perim, the achievements of the Sepoy Marines, who are now represented by two
+regular regiments of the Bombay Army, all invite notice, but our space is exhausted.
+Yet we must find room to mention the self-denial of Commodore Hayes, who, rather
+than embroil the Company with China, released two junks captured in running the
+blockade from Batavia with Dutch property, and so sacrificed his large share of
+£600,000 lawful prize; and the gallantry of Midshipman Denton, who, unable to
+board a proa, lashed her bowsprit to the taffrail of his gunboat, and so continued his
+course, fighting her all the time. And for contrast with the experience of the Bay
+of Bengal, where we believe that the full pressure of a great cyclone has never been
+recorded, as the anemometers have broken with a pressure of sixty pounds, we may
+note that, in the cyclone of November, 1854, so famous at Bombay, the pressure did
+not exceed thirty-five pounds to the square foot: with such a storm as that which
+raged in Calcutta in October, 1864, the whole native town of Bombay would come
+down like a house of cards. We are sorry not to have been able to notice Captain
+Low’s labours more favourably; particular points which we had noted for objection
+we will pass over in silence.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Captain Richard Burton is <i>facile princeps</i> of modern travellers. There
+scarcely any part of the world which he has not visited, and wherever he goes he
+seems to have the history, geography, and ethnology of the country at his fingers’
+ends. His last important contribution to geographical science is the account
+of his visit to the Land of Midian, whither he went, commissioned by the ex-Khedive
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
+of Egypt, in search of the gold mines of which the ancient Arab geographer and
+others speak. The results of his expeditions are published in two works: <i>The Gold-Mines
+of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities</i> (London: C. Kegan Paul &amp; Co.,
+1878) and <i>The Land of Midian (Revisited)</i>, 2 vols., issued by the same publishers
+during the present year. Having received an invitation from the ex-Viceroy, Captain
+Burton proceeded to Cairo in March, 1877, where an expedition was organized for
+the purpose of exploring the auriferous region. The author’s comparison of the
+Cairo of the present time with the city as he knew it in his old pilgrim days, and as
+it is described in Lane’s “Modern Egyptians,” forms, although only incidental, a very
+interesting portion of the book. The chapter on Suez also is a good specimen of
+Captain Burton’s style, and contains at once a topographical sketch, an archæological
+and historical description, and a chatty and amusing account of the modern city, its
+society, and surroundings. Midian, called nowadays by its inhabitants, as by the
+mediæval Arabic geographers, <i>Arz Maydan</i>, the Land of Midian, is that part of
+Arabia which occupies the east coast of the Gulf of Akabah, and extends some two
+degrees further to the south. The borders are somewhat difficult to ascertain, and it
+is probable that the ancient Midianites, like some of the larger and more powerful
+Bedawin tribes of the present day, wandered far and wide, and that their limits
+shrunk or extended according to their numbers, or the resisting power of their
+neighbours. The ancient history of the land is told by Captain Burton in a most
+exhaustive manner, the Biblical accounts being supplemented by copious references
+to Greek, Latin, Jewish, and Arabic writers of all ages. The quantity of gold,
+silver, and other metals mentioned in Numbers xxxi. 22, as being produced by Midian,
+was curiously borne out by the results of the expedition. A lengthy and learned
+notice is also given of the Nabathæans, whose former rock-cut capital, Petræa, is still
+one of the marvels of Arabia; whose king, or ethnarch, Aretas (in Arabic, El Hareth),
+is mentioned in the New Testament; and whose rule embraced so large a portion of
+Syria and Arabia, and extended late into Christian times.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery that gold existed in Midian was in the first place due to Haji Wali,
+familiar to the readers of Captain Burton’s “Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina” as
+the companion of the author in the caravanserai at Cairo while preparing for the
+journey to Hejjaz. The old Haji was once returning from a visit to Mecca, when
+halting by the shore of the Gulf of Akabah he scooped up a handful of granitic sand
+which sparkled in the bed of the wady and took it with him to Alexandria. There he
+took his specimen to an assayer, and, although the glitter which had attracted him
+proved only to be produced by the presence of mica, his sand when smelted in a
+crucible yielded a comparatively large portion of pure gold. The information of the
+discovery was not received with encouragement by the official to whom Haji Wali
+communicated it, and the latter ceased to think more of the subject. The assayer,
+however, set out for the new Eldorado and lost his life, probably murdered by the
+Bedawin. Captain Barton believes that the secret of the gold has never been really
+lost, and that the washing of sand has always been clandestinely carried on. Be that
+as it may, Captain Burton, believing the Haji’s story, endeavoured to recommend his
+discovery to the notice of the Egyptian authorities, who <i>pooh-pooh’d</i> the whole thing,
+and merely remarked that gold was becoming too common. For nearly a quarter of
+a century Captain Burton kept the secret to himself, but at length he again sought
+out his old friend Haji Wali, obtained from him more exact information as to the
+locality, and carried him off with the expedition, the means for organizing which
+Ismail Pasha furnished. The results of the expedition, which was only a pioneer
+one, were sufficient to corroborate all that the Haji had said, and to confirm Captain
+Burton’s own prognostications drawn from the ancient sources which his extensive
+learning enabled him to consult. The adventures of the party fill the remainder of
+the first of his two books and form extremely pleasant reading.</p>
+
+<p>The second of the two books contains somewhat less antiquarian research, but
+more practical information than the first. It is a record of the second expedition (also
+equipped at the expense of the Egyptian Government by order of the ex-Khedive),
+and is full of pleasant travel-talk and adventure. Setting out from Cairo in a
+sickly season and under the most unfavourable circumstances—the resources of the
+country being drained by distress at home and the Turkish-Russian war abroad—they
+at length got under way once more for the desert, not without encountering
+hair-breadth escapes from the bursting of some of the tubes of the engine of their
+steamer. Once landed, the initial difficulties of desert travel had to be encountered.
+“It had been reported,” says Captain Burton, “that I was the happy possessor of
+£22,000, mostly to be spent in El-Muwaylah. The unsettled Arabs plunder and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>
+slay; the settled Arabs slander and cheat.” These, however, were soon smoothed over
+by the commander’s tact and firmness, the rival claims of two tribes to act as escort
+were disposed of, and the work of the expedition then began.</p>
+
+<p>The first march, through Madyan proper (North Midian), occupied fifty-four days.
+The country was essentially a mining district, and very rich in mineral wealth, though,
+strange to say, it had not been much worked by the ancients. The first expedition
+found free gold in the basalt, but the researches of the second yielded none. The
+second march, through South Midian, lasted eighteen days. Its principal object
+was to ascertain the depth from east to west of the quartz formations, and to
+explore the virgin region towards the east. Here, however, they were stopped by the
+exactions and turbulent conduct of the Maazeh, who tried to pick quarrels with
+their Huweitat guides, and made it impossible for Captain Burton to proceed without
+such loss of time and other inconveniences as must have sacrificed the other and
+more important objects of the expedition. The last journey was through the
+southern portion of Midian, and lasted twenty-four days. This part of the country
+has been systematically worked in former times, and it is here that the gold and
+silver mines are placed by the mediæval Arab geographers.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout Midian, ruined towns, villages, mining stations, and smelting furnaces
+were found, testifying to the former mining industry of the country, and described
+by Captain Burton in his usual graphic and careful style.</p>
+
+<p>That Midian abounds in mineral wealth, and that gold and silver may be
+found in plenty there, is clear both from the documentary evidence of the author and
+from the testimony of the physical and geological features of the country. The very
+first reconnaissance showed a formation exactly reproducing “the conditions which
+Australia shows, and which produced the huge ‘welcome nugget’ of Ballarat.” The
+country also closely resembles the known gold-working sites of Ancient Egypt, but
+with <i>filons</i> of larger size. Some of these “Ophirs of Egypt Proper” yielded the
+treasury of Ramses the Great the enormous sum of £90,000,000 a year, as hieroglyphic
+inscriptions tell us. Herodotus, too, tells us of the immense wealth in the
+precious metals possessed by some of the Pharaohs. The modern Bedawins have
+legends of “gold pieces, square as well as round, bearing, by way of inscription,
+‘prayers’ to the Apostle of Allah,” which Captain Burton suspects to be “the Tibr,
+or ‘pure gold-dust,’ washed from the sands and cast probably in rude moulds.” The
+close proximity to the sea and the facilities of the country for transport, it being
+“prepared by Nature to receive a tramway,” remove half the difficulties of working.</p>
+
+<p>That the specimens brought back by Captain Burton’s expedition did not actually
+yield a larger proportion of the precious metals is in all probability due to the fact
+that they had no expert with them, and did not, therefore, sufficiently seek for
+and select stone from the auriferous rocks, but brought away much that the ancients
+had rejected, or left as unworkable. He is, however, convinced, as the impartial
+reader of his work must also be, that the gold land of Midian is still a fine field for
+commercial enterprise, which would soon restore to it the advantages which all
+ancient authorities declare that it once possessed.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>“The Land of Midian” attracted another explorer besides Captain Burton—namely,
+the late Dr. Beke, an account of whose labours has been given to the world
+by his widow in a bulky volume on the subject. His object was to discover the “true
+Mount Sinai,” which he identified with a certain Jebel Barguir, otherwise the “Mountain
+of Light,” on the Eastern shore of the Gulf of Akaba, and in which he fancied he saw
+the “volcano,” the existence of which he had previously conjectured in his pamphlet,
+“Mount Sinai a Volcano.” To make this theory accord with the Scriptural account,
+he had not only to shift the scene of the Law-giving from the Sinaitic Peninsula to
+the other side of the Gulf, but he was obliged to find another Mizraim than Egypt,
+and boldly sacrificed hieroglyphic, Biblical, and classic testimony, as well as that
+of tradition, to his own hypothesis. In confirmation of his theory, he found indications
+that the Mountain of Light was regarded as a holy place, and discovered
+ancient inscriptions near the summit, of which he brought copies home in triumph.
+Unfortunately, however, the name <i>Barguir</i> turns out to be his own corruption of
+<i>Bakir</i>, a well-known Mohammedan name, and, in the present instance, that of the
+petty Arab saint whose tomb gives the only sanctity the mountain may possess,
+while the proper name of the mountain is Jebel el Yitm; the inscriptions are only
+the ordinary Nabathæan <i>graffiti</i> and Arab-tribe marks, which are so common all over
+Arabia Petræa; and lastly, there is no volcano at all. The volume is interesting, as
+it contains much topographical information about a country the ancient history and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span>
+future prospects of which render it of the highest importance; but as a contribution
+to the literature of the much-vexed question of the Exodus the late Dr. Beke’s work
+is absolutely useless. Whether the so-called Peninsula of Sinai is really the scene
+of the early portion of that drama, the recent Egyptian researches of Dr. Brugsch
+Bey have rendered very doubtful; but wherever Mount Sinai has ultimately to be
+placed, it is not that discovered by Dr. Beke.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>As Mrs. Burton supplemented the “Unexplored Syria” of her husband and the
+late C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake with her own more personal but none the less interesting
+“Inner Life of Syria,” so she has now embodied her own impression of the various
+localities which she and Captain Burton have visited during the last few years in a
+pleasant book entitled, <i>A. E. I.: Arabia, Egypt, and India</i> (London: W. Mullan &amp;
+Son, 1879). Mrs. Burton’s pages are eminently readable, her powers of observation
+are keen, and her descriptions always fresh and vivid. If the spots she writes about
+have been often before depicted by pen and pencil, she yet finds something new to say,
+and some interesting and little-known historical incident to narrate, concerning them.
+The latter part of the book, containing a history and description of the old Portuguese
+settlement of Goa, and a minutely-detailed account of the life and works of St.
+Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, will be new to most readers and read with
+interest by all. The book is one which may be taken up at any moment with the
+certainty of finding something to amuse, instruct, or furnish food for earnest
+thought.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><i>Egypt to Palestine</i>, by S. C. Bartlett, though bearing the name and address of a
+London publisher (Sampson Low, Marston, &amp; Co.) on the title-page, is evidently the
+production of an American firm, the name of which, indeed, appears on some of the
+maps. The book is well got up, and as a description of the localities, their
+antiquities and history, is equal to the average of such publications. It is, however,
+entirely composed of materials collected from the works of other authors, taken often
+without acknowledgment, and is profusely illustrated by pictures and maps copied
+from other works, the sources of which are never acknowledged at all. The only
+passages at all original in the work are those which describe Mr. Bartlett’s own
+journey, the highest interest of which consists in an occasional enumeration of the
+hymns he and his companions sang to the Arabs (cf. p. 193), and which would have
+much the same effect on the Tiyahah as the performances of the howling dervishes
+have upon an American tourist.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Sir Lewis Pelly has published, in two handsome volumes, a literal translation of the
+text of the <i>Miracle Play of Hasan and Husein</i> (London: W. H. Allen &amp; Co., 1879), as
+performed throughout India and Persia during the month of Mohurram, by the Shiah
+Mohammedans. The progress of Islam in its early days was so rapid that, in a short
+time, it had overwhelmed Persia, Egypt, Syria, and a large portion of the rest of the
+Byzantine Empire in its tide of conquest. The death of Mohammed naturally brought
+forward rival claimants to the supreme authority, and the dispute ultimately resolved
+itself into one between Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, and representative
+of the Hashimi clan, and Moawiyeh, the representative of the Ommayeh family,
+between whom and the Hashimis an old feud existed, originating in their rival claims
+to be the hereditary guardians of the Kaabeh Temple at Mecca. These two parties
+offered an obvious rallying point for the two opposing factions in El Islam, the conquered
+Persians and the conquering Arabs, the former of whom resisted the traditional
+ceremonial law with which their Semitic co-religionists would have trammelled
+them. The consequence was that the Aryan faction rallied round Ali, and the
+Arabs round Moawiyeh. The latter proved the stronger party, and were known as
+Sunnis, followers of the Sunnah or traditional law, while the adherents of the
+former were designated Shiahs or Sectarians, and thus originated the first great
+schism in Mohammedanism. The struggles of Ali’s party for supremacy, his own
+murder, and the subsequent massacre of his sons, Hasan and Husein, who lost their
+lives under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, are the incidents on which the drama
+is founded, and the memory of which has kept alive the rancorous ill-feeling between
+the two sects. In the play itself the historical element is largely mixed with the
+marvellous and legendary, and the dramatic unities are wholly neglected; but it
+nevertheless exhibits enough of the real facts to give it an intense living interest,
+while the antiquated language and strange incidents that are introduced carry us
+back to the remotest times. An admirable introduction contains a notice by Dr.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>
+Birdwood, C.S.I., of the origin of the Shiah schism, and of the ceremonies with
+which the Mohurram festival is celebrated throughout India and Persia; and Mr.
+A. N. Wollaston, of the India Office, has both edited the text and illustrated it with
+some concise and appropriate notes.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Dr. Charles Riew has just issued the first volume of his <i>Catalogue of the Persian
+MSS. in the British Museum</i> (London: 1879), containing Christian and Mohammedan
+Theology, and the works on History and Geography of which the Museum
+has a large and important collection. Amongst these are the <i>Jámi ut tawárikh</i>,
+written in the seventh—eighth centuries of the Hejra, and comprising the histories
+of all the principal Turkish and Mongol dynasties; the <i>Táríkh i Rashídí</i>, a history
+of the Khans of Mogolistan and of the Amirs of Kashgar; and the <i>Zafar Namah</i>,
+the earliest authentic history of Timur, written by his order in 1404 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> A brief
+but complete analysis of each manuscript is given, enabling scholars to refer at
+once and without difficulty to any portion of the histories without the labour of
+looking through an often voluminous manuscript. The value of such a scholar-like
+production as this Catalogue is cannot be over-estimated; it has, in fact, placed
+within reach of the student of history most important and authentic works, the
+very existence of which was unknown except to a few Orientalists. The second
+volume is already complete in MS., and will be shortly published. We shall look
+forward to it with great interest, as the British Museum possesses a magnificent
+collection of Persian poetical and other works.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>A <i>Pahlavi Dictionary</i>, by Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, of which
+the first two volumes have just appeared (London: Trübner and Co., 1879), supplies
+a want long felt by students of the old Persian speech. Pahlavi is the name applied
+to the old Persian tongue, and more particularly to that phase of it which was
+spoken during the reigns of the Sassanian kings. It is of great interest to the
+philologist, inasmuch as it contains a large admixture of Semitic words, derived, however,
+from a different source than the Arabic element in modern Persian, and appears
+to be akin to the Assyrian. It is sometimes called <i>Huzvaresh</i>, though this word
+seems to be more properly applied to a particular method of reading, by which, when
+a Semitic word occurs in the text, the priest <i>reads</i> the Aryan equivalent, just as
+we in English say “pounds, shillings, and pence” when we meet with the signs
+£ s. d., and <i>read</i> “namely,” though we write and print “videlicet” or “viz.” Dastur
+Jamaspji Asana interprets the word <i>Huzvaresh</i> to mean the “language of Assyria,”
+a suggestion which, if correct, throws some light on the origin of the language. The
+etymology of the word Pahlavi has been the subject of much discussion, but the
+latest as well as the most reasonable conjecture is that of Dr. Haug (followed by the
+author of this Dictionary), that it is identical with <i>Parthva</i>, the Parthia of the
+classical writers; that most warlike and important nation having given its name to
+the language, just as the province of Pars has given the name to the language of
+modern Iran. The great difficulty in compiling such a dictionary as the present,
+apart from the unsatisfactory nature of the available texts, is that the alphabet is
+so very vague and confused. The language contains a very great number of sounds
+which the alphabet, borrowed from the Semitic, is incapable of expressing; the same
+letter, therefore, is often used for different sounds, and combinations of the various
+letters again often express simple sounds. This makes the arrangement very difficult,
+but the author of this work has adopted the only safe method, that of arranging the
+words according to the alphabetical order of the letters rather than in order of
+sounds. A table, in which the various combinations of the letters are explained, also
+much simplifies reference. The author has in all cases followed the traditional
+reading and interpretation of words, leaving to the more critical scholars of Europe
+the task of investigating them from a scientific point of view.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Dr. Haug’s <i>Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the
+Parsis</i> (Trübner’s Oriental Series, 1878) is another most important contribution
+to comparative theology and philology. The nature of the doctrines of Zoroaster
+and the rites and ceremonies of the Magians had for centuries exercised the uninitiated.
+The earliest mention of them occurs in the Prophet Jeremiah (xxxix. 3),
+who speaks of the <i>rab mag</i> (chief of the Magi) as forming part of the retinue of
+Nebuchadnezzar at his entry into Jerusalem; Ezekiel calls the Persian king Cyrus
+(who professed the religion of the Magi) the “anointed of the Lord;” the New Testament
+speaks of Magi from the East—translated “wise men” in our version—as the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>
+first to pay homage to our Lord; and the old Persian language has supplied,
+through the New Testament also, the name Paradise, which is universally employed
+to represent heaven throughout the civilized world. Herodotus also mentions them,
+and testifies to the purity of their worship and their morals, and other Greek as well
+as Latin writers have treated at more or less length on the subject of the Magi.
+But these scattered and incomplete notices were all that scholars had until Hyde, the
+celebrated Oxford scholar, in 1700, collected all the ancient sources of information
+into a volume <i>Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum</i>. The
+original texts of the Zend Avesta, &amp;c., however, of which some manuscripts had been
+brought to Europe, were still sealed books, and the Parsi priests in India and Persia
+strictly refrained from affording any information upon their contents. At length, in
+1754, Anquetil Duperron, an enterprising Frenchman, undertook a journey to India
+with the express intention of procuring manuscripts and learning the Zend language,
+in both of which purposes he succeeded, and published ten years later the first known
+translation of the Zend Avesta. His work was by many scholars, Sir William Jones
+and Richardson, the Persian lexicographer, amongst the number, regarded as worthless,
+Richardson maintaining that the texts themselves were forgeries, while Sir William
+Jones endeavoured to prove that Anquetil had been the victim of priestly fraud and
+deception. Nearly a century later Eugene Burnouf, an eminent French Sanscrit
+scholar, proved his countryman’s work to be genuine, corrected many of his faults,
+and placed the study on a sounder scientific basis. Others, especially German and
+Scandinavian <i>savants</i>, followed in the same path, forming, however, different schools
+of interpretation, until at last Dr. Martin Haug brought order into the confusion,
+and succeeded in bringing the study of Zend within the limits of exact philological
+science. The foundation of all these studies must of course necessarily be the
+traditional interpretation handed down by the Parsi priests, but this would have
+been comparatively useless without the investigation of European scholars. Many
+of the Avesta texts are furnished with Pahlavi translations and comments, but the
+Pahlavi itself was but imperfectly understood, and the whole subject was for a long
+time in hopeless confusion; the reader may, however, take up Dr. Haug’s Essays
+with the full assurance that he has the most trustworthy account of the Parsis, their
+Scriptures, history, and religious rites, that can be now ascertained. Anything like
+a <i>résumé</i> of such a work would be out of place here, but we can cordially recommend
+it as, with all its recondite erudition, a most readable book.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly, has published a romance in modern Arabic,
+entitled, <i>The Autobiography of the Constantinople Story-teller</i>, edited by Mr. J.
+Catafago, a well-known Arabic scholar, and said to be the work of an Englishman,
+Colonel Rous. It is principally as a curiosity of literature that it will be read, as it
+does not narrate any very novel or original adventures, and the style is very simple
+and unpretending. It, however, contains some clear and concise descriptions of many
+localities in the East which are but little known to the ordinary reader, and will be
+welcome to the student of Arabic as an easy text-book of the language.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Professor James Sanua, late of Cairo, is an enthusiastic politician and an original
+satirist. We have just received thirty numbers of an Arabic comic paper, written,
+illustrated, and published by him in Paris, and directed against the ex-Khedive of
+Egypt, whose misgovernment he mercilessly exposes, and whose deposition it was
+his avowed object to bring about. The editor, a native of Egypt, and a Copt by
+religion, was for many years engaged in tuition in some of the highest families of
+Cairo. Possessing a keen sense of humour and a great mastery over the Arabic
+language, he used to pass his evenings in improvising a sort of dramatic
+entertainment, in which he himself sustained all the characters, and in which
+he satirized the social foibles of his fellow-countrymen. The originality of his
+<i>séances</i> soon attracted large audiences, and amongst the visitors and admirers were
+the Khedive and the princes of his family. The opportunity was too good to be
+lost, and Professor Sanua passed from mere social topics, and administered sound
+and severe castigations to his august visitor for his misgovernment and oppression
+of the fellaheen. This boldness drew down upon him the displeasure of Ismail
+Pasha, and Abu Naddára Zerka (the Father of Blue Spectacles), as he was nicknamed,
+found it convenient to withdraw to Paris, where he published his paper. It
+is written for the most part in the vulgar Egyptian dialect, and contains articles
+upon, and illustrations of, the principal events of the latter part of the reign of
+the deposed prince. The pictures, which are rude, but full of force, are explained in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>
+a French introduction, which is prefixed to the collected thirty numbers, and form a
+very interesting and curious record of modern Egyptian history.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>A new paper, literary and political, has just been advertised at Constantinople.
+It is to be written in the Arabic language, and edited by M. G. Dellal, a native of
+Aleppo, and an accomplished Arabic scholar and poet. Modern Arabic literature is
+exceedingly plentiful at the present time, and Beyrout has long been a centre of
+activity. Sheikh Nasyf el Yazji, who died some few years ago, gave a great impulse
+to the study of Arabic by his “Majma‘ el Bahrain,” a book in imitation of the
+“Macamat” of Harírí, and containing in a small compass more information on the
+Arabs of the classical period, their customs, histories, proverbs, &amp;c., than perhaps
+any other work. Dr. Butrus Bustani, of the same town, earned for himself a lasting
+name by his Arabic lexicon, “Muhít el Muhít,” which has not only a native but a
+European reputation; and the same eminent scholar has established a press, from
+which have emanated many standard Arabic works, and numerous translations of
+valuable European works on science and history. A magazine entitled <i>El Jinán</i>,
+“The Garden of Paradise,” is also published there fortnightly, and contains, besides
+political articles and general news, a great deal of interesting miscellaneous information.
+The last important publication of the “Matba‘ al Maarif,” or “Scientific
+Press,” as it is called, is an Encyclopædia in the Arabic language, on the plan of
+the European Conversation-lexicons.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a>
+The Sixth was never heard of after the massacre of its officers; a dozen men were
+enough for that work, and there are those still living who believe that the per-centage of
+traitors in its ranks was small. At Benares, too, the mess-guard held the mess-premises
+against all comers till the station was quiet, and then through sheer terror marched off without
+plunder.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<h3>II.—CLASSICAL LITERATURE.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>Under the Direction of the</i> Rev. Prebendary <span class="smcap">J. Davies</span>, M.A.)</p>
+
+<p>One of the most useful volumes for classical students which has seen the light
+this year is the solid collection of <i>Specimens of Roman Literature, illustrative
+of Roman Thought and Style</i>, edited by Messrs. Cruttwell and Banton, of
+Bradfield College, and published by C. Griffin and Co. Mr. Cruttwell is creditably
+known for his compendious History of Roman Literature, and it is a happy afterthought
+of himself and his composition-master to supplement that manual by the
+present collection of extracts from Latin prose and poetry, designed as models for
+composition, samples to be learnt by rote, and exercises in unseen translation. The
+work contains above 900 passages, illustrative (1) of Roman thought in the fields of
+religion, philosophy, art, and letters; and (2) of Roman style, from the earliest date
+to the times of the Antonines. Edited of necessity, by reason of their bulk, sans note
+or comment, these selections are availably grouped in a preliminary synopsis, happily
+headed with descriptive and apposite English titles, and further adapted to English
+reference by an index of authors classed in their periods, and another of subjects and
+titles of passages. It is hard to conceive a completer or handier repertory of
+specimens of Latin thought and style, and it is but fair to add that no small
+proportion of the contents is comparatively novel and unhackneyed, a boon at the
+same time to the exhausted composition tutor and to the acquisition-seeking,
+wideawake pupil. For example, among descriptions selected in illustration of style,
+we come upon passages from Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius, preserved in Cicero’s De
+Divinatione and De Naturâ Deorum, followed by epigrams of those elder poets,
+Valerius Œdituus, Porcius Licinus, and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, embalmed in the
+antiquarian pages of Aulus Gellius. The literature of Roman agriculture is represented
+(§§ 31-4) by specimens of Varro de Re Rusticâ, directing how to choose the
+best oxen for draught, or slaves for farm work; how to make a duck-pond, or prepare
+a snail-bed; as well as of Columella and, of course, Virgil. Pliny’s natural history is
+taxed largely for characteristic contributions: the letters of his nephew, as well as
+of Seneca and Cicero, for epistolary style, as well as for philosophy, religious views,
+and the like. Lucretius and Catullus are excellently represented: as in the field of
+Roman drama are Plautus and Terence, with fragments of elder playwrights. Nor
+is scant justice done to the purely Roman field of satire, as is seen in apt
+extracts from Horace, Juvenal, and Persius, whilst a happy selection is made of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>
+producible specimens of Petronius. Even Roman parody is not overlooked, nor yet
+an insight into Roman gastronomy. In fact, we know not where to turn for defaults
+in the presence of such assiduous and various compilations. Here and there may be
+detected careless printers’ errors, such as <i>Tar</i> for <i>Ter</i>. (the abbreviation of Terence);
+and it would have been neater to head the hortatory or suasory orations, illustrated
+in pp. 567-8, §§ 73-5, with an English title, rather than to describe each in mingled
+and maimed speech as “a suasoria” (<i>i.e.</i>, “suasoria oratio.”) But the work is so
+calculated to be useful to scholars and editors that we must trust its value will be
+enhanced in future editions by the most careful revision.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>A volume of somewhat kindred use and purpose, though of additional value as
+suggestive of a standard of translation indisputably sound and high, is the collection of
+<i>Translations</i>, by Professor Jebb, Mr. Jackson, and Mr. Currey, of Trinity, Cambridge,
+published by Deighton, Bell, &amp; Co., Cambridge, and George Bell &amp; Sons, London,
+just a year ago. Its usefulness is enhanced by a fourfold applicability to the wants
+of translators into Greek and Latin, and out of those languages into English,
+whether in prose or poetry. The samples are, of course, limited considerably by the
+area of the field they cover, but they will be admitted to be amply sufficient for
+models and patterns, and no tiro, or even advanced student, can fail to be benefited
+by the variety, excellent choice, scholarly handling, brief but seasonable annotation,
+and general accommodation to student-use, of the selections which form the four
+divisions of this practical manual. The rule of “Ne quid nimis” has been sufficiently
+respected to forbid tedious reiteration of types of the same style, so that in Greek
+verse into English only three examples of Theocritus occur, one a sweet piece of
+idyllic description, a second illustrative of the mimes of Sophron, a third breathing
+the Alexandrian tone of poetic stimulus to the halting liberality of the would-be
+literary Ptolemies. The proportion of extracts from Homer and the dramatists is
+scarcely larger, and rather guides the reader to form a criterion of style for himself
+than helps him to be armed beforehand for passages which may be set in this or that
+examination. In translation the canon of accuracy and fidelity is tendered in
+preference to that of liveliness and effect, though it cannot be said that Messrs. Jebb
+and Jackson’s translations from Plautus and Terence, or those of Jebb and Currey
+from Martial, Juvenal, and Ausonius, are deficient in the life and spirit suggested by
+the originals. As much may be said without controversy for the prose models in
+either language; nor is it to be lightly regarded that the aim of the editors has
+been to help classical students to train themselves in preparation for examination.
+Not to be prolix in notice of a volume which may be referred to again and
+again in our examination of texts and school-books to follow in our chronicle, it may
+be admissible to quote in Latin and English some six lines of Professor Jebb’s translation
+from the Phormio (pp. 140-1) as a type of the neatness and spirit of the average of
+these translations. Phormio is explaining how, with all his ebullitions, he has never
+been indicted for assault:—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Quia non rete accipitri tenditur neque miluo,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tenditur;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Aliis aliunde est periclum unde aliquid abradi potest:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Mihi sciunt nihil esse. Dices, ducent damnatum domum:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alere nolunt hominem edacem: et sapiunt, meâ quidem sententia,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pro maleficio si beneficium summum nolunt reddere.”—<i>Phorm.</i>, act. ii. 2.<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>“Because we do not spread nets for hawks and kites that do us harm; the net
+is spread for the harmless birds. The fact is, pigeons may be plucked: hawks and
+kites mock our pains. Various dangers beset people who can be pilfered—I am
+known to have nothing. You will say, ‘They will get a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>.’
+They would rather not keep a large eater: and I certainly think they are right to
+decline requiting a bad turn with a signal favour.”</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>From a summary notice of these two volumes of wider range and scope, it is an easy
+leap to such noteworthy classical translations and texts of the year or season as lie on
+our table for review. Of the former we note with satisfaction a new and very readable
+version of <i>The Letters of the Younger Pliny</i>, literally translated by John Delaware
+Lewis, M.A. (London: Trubner &amp; Co., 1879), whose version of Juvenal’s Satires some
+years back was accurate, lively, and well-achieved. In approaching another
+author of the silver age, well deserving of a more modern English transcript than
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
+those of Melmoth and Lord Orrery, Mr. Lewis has been minded to present this
+pleasantest of gossips, and most cultured of letter-writers, in a guise as little as
+possible encumbered with notes or excursions, and in such wise that the volume is
+admirably adapted for the library table, whether the object be comparison with the
+Latin text, or refreshment of the memory, anent this or that sentiment of the
+many-sided and voluminous man of law and letters. Under the conviction that enough
+has been done to present Pliny himself to his readers in the volumes by Church and
+Brodribb (in the Ancient Classics), and by Pritchard and Bernard, as well as the
+notices of life and letters by W. S. Teuffel and English bibliographers, Mr. Lewis has
+confined himself to the briefest of introductions, and been content to bestow most
+pains on apt and parallel English counterparts to the expressions and idioms of the
+Latin. Thus the task undertaken has been made to assume an easy, unaffected
+form, at the same time that it is calculated to stand close examination by the criterion
+of the Latin text. A good specimen both of the gossiping author and his latest
+translator might be cited from Book II. 6 to Avitus, in which is described the triple-graded
+dinner given by a shabby, purse-proud host (<span class="greek" title="a">α</span>) to himself and his intimates,
+(<span class="greek" title="b">β</span>) to his lesser friends,
+(<span class="greek" title="g">γ</span>) to his freedmen at the same board, but of fare graduated
+according to degree. Pliny tells his correspondent that he demurred to this procedure
+to his next neighbour at table, and propounded his own practice on this wise: “I invite
+people to dine, not to be invidiously ticketed, and I treat as my entire equals in
+all respects those whom I have already made my equals by inviting them at my
+table.” And this equality, for the time being, he extended to his freedmen, on the
+sensible point of view that they were then his guests, not his freedmen. In the
+same book (letter 15) occurs a letter of Pliny to Valerianus, brief enough for quotation,
+and yet expressing with lively brevity more than one home truth for those who
+realize Horace’s sketch, “O si angulus iste proximus accedat.” “How,” he asks,
+“does your old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Are you
+pleased with the estate now that it is your own? Indeed, nothing is so agreeable
+when you have once got it, as it was when you longed to have it. As for me, the
+farms which I inherited from my mother treat me but so-so: yet they delight
+me as coming from my mother; and besides, long endurance has hardened me:
+constant growling comes to this at last, that one is ashamed to growl.” Next but
+one to this letter comes one of those charming descriptions which are, <i>par excellence</i>,
+Pliny’s <i>chefs d’œuvre</i>, minutely detailing the features and attractions of his
+villas. These constitute to the young student so many <i>loci classici</i>, by no means to
+be overlooked in preparation for facing the test-paper of a scholarship examination,
+and it is sound counsel to candidates for such to avail themselves of a translation
+like Mr. Lewis’s for general purposes, taking such letters as the one alluded to
+(II. xvii.) for special study and comparison with its original. Here, as elsewhere,
+Mr. Lewis adds pertinent and sensible notelets in cases of difficulty; but it is only
+fair to say <i>à propos</i> of the, as he would seem to imply in his preface, long-since
+shelved translation of Melmoth, that in Bohn’s Classical Library (George Bell &amp;
+Sons) will be found a revision and correction of <i>The Letters of Caius Plinius
+Cœcilius Secundus</i>, as translated by Melmoth, annotated and otherwise accommodated
+to modern reading by the Rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet, B.A., of Gonville and Caius
+College, Cambridge, which will be found in all respects excellently suited for the
+need of the current reader. Whilst here and there the style of Melmoth strikes us
+as forgetting itself for a brief space, where the modern editor has felt bound to interpose
+a more literal rendering, and in such cases it is simpler to refer to the uniform
+translation of Lewis, it is certainly a real boon to have the notes of Bosanquet’s
+Melmoth’s Pliny to consult, whether they represent the explanatory and illustrative
+labour of Melmoth, and his literary or antiquarian contemporaries, or the careful
+supplementary illustrations of his accommodator to modern eyes. So much
+explanation is due to one of the best recent volumes of Bohn’s Classical Series
+(1878).</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>The feeling is more mixed with which we touch upon Mr. T. Hart Davies’s <i>Translation
+of Catullus into English Verse</i> (London: C. Kegan Paul &amp; Co., 1879), the author
+of which is a quondam Oxonian in the Indian Civil Service. Fully persuaded that
+Catullus is very untranslatable, and that the subtle charm of his dainty versification
+evaporates, it is evidence alike of Mr. Hart Davies’s courage and culture that, afar
+from classical libraries, he has recreated his mind and tastes with the reproduction
+of one of the most genuine classical poets; given us anew the touching songs to
+Lesbia, and the unequalled nuptial songs (lxi. and lxii.); and rendered with more or less
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>
+success the pictorial epic, in petto, of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and the
+pathetic allusions to an early-lost brother in the poem to Hortalus. He deserves,
+too, the praise of having read carefully the recent literature of the subject, and
+guaged with creditable acuteness and discrimination the lucubrations of Professor
+R. Ellis, the criticisms of Mr. Munro, and the critical essays of Schwabe, Heyse, and
+Couat. He hesitates, however, it would seem, to accept Munro’s well-sustained
+rehabilitation of Cæsar and Mamurra (<i>à propos</i> of Poem xxix. on Cæsar), and in
+two or three passages seems to us to err in point of prolixity, which is as foreign as
+can be conceived to the style of his original, as well as, in one or two places, in
+misconception of his sense. In either aspect, he cannot be regarded as competing
+(which indeed he does not aspire to do) with Theodore Martin: but we cannot
+honestly say that we regard his version of the Atys as an improvement in readableness
+on that of one of the ablest of critics, but most puzzling and hopeless of verse-translators,
+Professor Robinson Ellis. Indeed, it is a question whether he has imported
+any improvement into the rendering of his Galliambics by adopting the Tennysonian
+rather than the Catullian rhythm and measure. Mr. Hart Davies is mostly happy
+in his shorter versions. The invitation to Cæcilius is bright and brisk (p. 33): there
+is a touching sadness in the lines to Cornificius (p. 35). The stanzas to the poet’s
+self on the “Coming of Spring” (p. 43) breathe much of the tiptoe of expectation and
+love of adventure infused into the original lines. And as a neat sample of the
+translator’s muse may be quoted the transcript of the “Lines to Sirmio,” adequately
+executed, and endorsed with some of the original pathos and picturesqueness—</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<span class="i0">“Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or all peninsulas that ocean laves,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whether around them roll the mighty sea,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or a lake’s placid waves.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Returned from Thynia and Bithynia’s plain!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I scarce can credit that the bliss is true<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thee to behold again.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh! what more blessed is than labours past!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In weary wanderings abroad we roam,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then spent with toil we come again at last,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Seeking our rest at home.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This for our toils the sole reward is found,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Now is thy master here.”<br /></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Mr. Hart Davies’s temporary exile has obviously the solace of scholarship.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>If a wide divergence from the beaten track into fresh fields and pastures new be a
+merit, as it must be to jaded schoolmasters, if not to school-boys, some praise should
+be accorded to Mr. Heitland, a Fellow and Lecturer of St. John’s, Cambridge, and his
+coadjutor, Mr. Raven, for having furnished the Pitt Press Series with so good an
+edition of that part of the <i>History of Quintus Curtius</i>, which relates to the Indian
+expedition of Alexander the Great. The subject, author, and hero are to modern
+readers novel and unhackneyed: and there is that suspicion of imperfect knowledge
+attaching to all three which sets the mind on the qui vive to acquire what is
+knowable about them. For such an undertaking no better guides could be needed.
+An introduction primes the student with the needful information (<span class="greek" title="a">α</span>) as to Curtius
+and his book; (<span class="greek" title="b">β</span>) as to Alexander’s career; while Appendix D (187-9) supplements
+from Mr. Talboy Wheeler’s “History of India from the Earliest Ages” the
+general and current information as to the plan of his Indian campaign. Anent
+the date and authorship of Curtius’s history, it is shown to be the work of
+Q. Curtius Rufus, a rhetorician of the reign of Claudius, and referable to the silver
+age of Latin literature. His transparent imitation of Livy has suggested the
+not improbable supposition that he may have been even that historian’s pupil,
+nor is it an impertinent criticism of the editors’ that in common with that master
+Curtius seems to ignore the “high aims and farsightedness which give its
+grandeur to Alexander’s character.” The string of notable usages in Curtius’s style,
+given in pp. 14-15, exhibits more than one palpable Livianism; and the use of poetical
+language bespeaks his attentive study of Virgil. Tiros will be comforted by hearing
+that “if Curtius is less pleasant to read than Livy, he is also less difficult.” The criticisms
+of the editors on the grounds of his historical value at the revival period are interesting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>
+and perspicuous, and the special interest of the particular portion of history
+adopted as a specimen of the author needs no apology in a country where the reigning
+sovereign has the collateral title of Empress of India. Six chapters of the eighth
+Book bring the reader through the country west of the Indus to the bank of that
+river, its passage, and the ensuing battle on the eastern bank, with the defeat of the
+army of Porus; whilst the ninth Book embraces Alexander’s advance through the
+Punjab, his operations in descending the Jhelam and Chenab, his descent of the
+Indus, and exploration of its mouth, with an account also of the homeward march;
+and the least that can be said of Messrs. Heitland and Raven’s editorial work,
+whether critical or explanatory, is, that no difficulty of text is overlooked or imperfectly
+handled, no discrepancy, as comparing Curtius with parallel authorities,
+ignored. A test-passage, wherein to prove this statement, may be taken in the fourteenth
+chapter of the eighth Book, the battle between Alexander and Porus, which is
+described with unflagging care and zeal from first to last, the situations and details
+being compared, and, where possible, reconciled with Arrian, the poetical phrases
+characteristic of Curtius pointed out and illustrated, and the unusual words, <i>e.g.,
+copidas</i> (“choppers” like a Goorka knife, the <span class="greek" title="kopis">κοπὶς</span>
+from the same root as <span class="greek" title="koptô">κόπτω</span>),
+clearly though succinctly explained. On Alexander’s order to Cœnus in §§ 15 of
+the battle chapter, “ipse dextrum move et turbatis signa infer” (advance the right
+wing, &amp;c.), an excellent note, for which Mr. Heitland undertakes the sole responsibility,
+accredits him, in our judgment, as a most sound historical commentator, by
+the exhaustiveness wherewith he reconciles Arrian and Curtius’s view of Alexander’s
+position and movements, and those of Cœnus. The former with the main body took
+the Indian horse in flank, before they could change their front, and enabled Cœnus
+to fall on what had been their front but was now their disordered flank: and as to
+the difficulty in the way of this explanation, that according to Arrian the war-chariots
+were in front of the Indian horse, it is justly deemed easier to conceive Cœnus eluding
+these clumsy adversaries, than Alexander expecting him to see from the Macedonian left
+the right moment for his own charge, and then wheel round the whole Indian army,
+and execute his orders opportunely. With the same lucidity is the whole narrative
+commented on: and every geographical, historical, or military difficulty investigated,
+with a commendable eye both to ancient and modern references and authorities.
+Equally interesting, too, will be found the elucidations of questions of style, such as in
+viii. §§ 10, where “igni <i>alita</i> sepulchra” reveals a certainly post-Augustan but doubtfully
+Ciceronian form; or as in viii. 14 §§ 41 the use of “malum” (plague take you)
+borrowed interjectionally from the comic poets and, as is shown in the notes ad loc.,
+from Cicero De Off. ii. §§ 53. Students, however, must search this volume minutely to
+understand aright the helps it affords to their just estimate of Quintus Curtius
+Rufus as a rhetorical moralist and historian, worthy of perusal in the wake of Livy
+and of Seneca. Maps, indices, and list of names, are given, which will be found of
+service.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>For our next topic of criticism recourse must be had to Ciceronian Latin, and to
+the famous speech of Rome’s greatest orator, which is generally reckoned the first of
+his public and political orations. Called in the MSS. the speech “De imperio Gnæi
+Pompeii” “apud Quirites” it is better known as the oration <i>pro lege Maniliâ</i>, and
+because there is no compendious school edition of this speech, apart from others of
+the same orator in the hands of English school-boys, Professor Wilkins, of Owens
+College, has judiciously undertaken to prepare an edition of it, with the cognizance,
+sanction, and assistance of Karl Halm, of Munich, and his smaller edition for
+English students. The English professor’s name is a sufficient earnest of his work’s
+thoroughness, and though it might be matter of doubt whether his historical
+introduction of over forty pages is not unnecessarily circumstantial (we note
+that in Chambers’ preface to the same oration in the “Ciceronis Selectæ Orationes,”
+1849, of their Educational Course, it is limited to two), it must be admitted that
+a complete preliminary summary has the result of shortening afterwork by admitting
+of copious references to it in the notes in place of explanation. Such is certainly the
+case with Mr. Wilkins’s present task (<i>M. Tullii Ciceronis De Imperio Gnœi Pompeii
+Oratio ad Quirites</i>, by A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin in the Owens College,
+Manchester. London: Macmillan &amp; Co., 1879), where the introduction traces consecutively
+the career and campaigns and varying fortunes of Mithridates, during over
+twenty years, through his struggles with Lucullus, and his easy resistance to Acilius
+Glabrio, down to the period when the tribune Manilius proposed a Bill to commit the
+conduct and consummation of the war to the then favourite of fortune, Pompey the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
+Great. Against this Bill were arrayed the Moderate Republicans, and the talents of
+the orator Hortensius, whilst on behalf of it spoke Julius Cæsar, either with an eye
+to a future precedent in his own case, or perhaps to create a reaction. It is probable,
+however, that the masterly eloquence of Cicero in defence of the Bill, and his exhaustive
+demonstration of Pompey’s fitness for the supreme command against Mithridates,
+were the causes of the general and irresistible acceptance of the Manilian proposal.
+As Mr. Wilkins notes at the close of his introduction, this speech contains the best
+example from antiquity of the regular arrangement of a speech of the deliberate
+class, while the third section of the argument presents a model of demonstrative
+oratory scarcely paralleled in the days of the Republic, except in the funeral
+orations. As has been already remarked, the fulness of Professor Wilkins’s introduction
+tends to disencumber his commentary and its notes of digressive and indirect
+matter; and the result is highly favourable to the due mastery of the sense and gist
+of the oration by the patient student. Every passage has its critical difficulties
+explained; every uncommon construction or use of a word is noted; every antithesis
+is pointed out by the observant editor. In the first class may be instanced the use
+in c. ii. of <i>vectigalibus</i> in the masculine gender for <i>tributaries</i>, which has its parallel
+in § 45; in the third the contrast in c. iii., between “In Asiæ luce h.e,” “in the foreground
+of Asia,” <i>lux</i> being used of what is present to the eyes of all, and
+open to extensive commerce, as opposed to “<i>Ponti latebris</i>,” as the hiding-place of
+Mithridates is termed just before. In the same chapter there is an antithesis, as is well
+shown in the description of past generals having carried off <i>insignia victoriæ, non
+victoriam</i>, “only triumphs, not a victory;” and as a sample of other notes dealing
+with fiscal duties and such like, we may notice those in c. vi., on “ubertate agrorum”
+“magnitudine pastionis,” and the sources of revenue farmed by the “publicani.”
+In the same passage <i>scriptura</i> is the “rent for pasturage,” and <i>custodiis</i> (§ 16) = “coastguard
+posts, to prevent vessel unloading unless at the emporia where there
+were custom-houses.” For <i>publicanis omissis</i>, a despaired-of reading in c. vii. § 18,
+the editor adopts the conjecture <i>publicanorum bonis</i> or <i>fortunis amissis</i>; and indeed
+seldom fails in the likeliest cure for a corrupt word or text. Incidentally he is rich
+in rules for orthography, as where on “tot milibus” he cites Lachmann (Lucret. i. 313)
+for the use of the single <i>l</i> where a long <i>i</i> is followed by a short one in the next syllable;
+nor does he fail to note any memorable change of construction, <i>e.g.</i>, where in
+c. xiii. in the sentence, “<i>Hiemis</i> enim non <i>avaritiæ</i> perfagium majores nostri in sociorum
+atque amicorum tectis esse voluerunt,” we have a change from the objective to the
+subjective genitive, “a refuge <i>from</i> the winter, not <i>for</i> avarice.” But enough has
+been said to signify the merit of this handbook; and we must deal more briefly with
+such other Latin volumes as are still on our list.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Among these perhaps Mr. Reid’s Lælius (<i>M. Tullii Ciceronis Lælius de Amicitia</i>,
+by James S. Reid, M.L.: Cambridge University Press, 1879) is the most
+notable, an edition based mainly on Seyffert’s elaborate edition, yet evidently
+strengthened by seasonable comparison with the best German editions. Mr. Reid
+disowns acquaintance with any English edition of the Lælius, having only heard of
+that of Mr. Arthur Sidgwick, when his own was far advanced through the press. The
+object and purpose of the edition is twofold, viz. (1) elucidation of the subject-matter
+and comparison of the editor’s own conclusions touching it with those of other
+editing scholars; and (2) a thorough elucidation of the Latinity of the dialogue, a task
+to which all who are cognizant of his edition of Cicero’s speeches for Archias and for
+Balbus will admit his eminent fitness. A fourfold introduction summarises the salient
+points of Cicero, as a writer of philosophy; the scope of this treatise on “Friendship:”
+the structure, personages, and other circumstances of the dialogue, and a quasi-dramatic
+analysis of the same. It will be found that Cicero, whilst having no sympathy with the
+Epicurean philosophy of his day, sided mainly with the Peripatetics, though inclining
+in a few points of detail to the Stoics. An instructive disquisition on the sources
+of the dialogue opens out various clues to inquiring students, and suggests particularly
+minuter testing of the question how far Cicero directly imitated Plato’s
+Lysis, which is perhaps more probable than that he used for it the Nicomachean
+Ethics, although, in form, beyond a doubt the Lælius is more Aristotelian than
+Platonic. The “mitis sapientia Læli” in the dialogue stands out in contrast with
+the genial learning of Mucius Scævola and the severer cultivation of Gaius Fannius.
+An interesting passage in the dialogue is that in which Lælius states a question
+relating to friendship, in which he was to some extent at issue with Scipio, viz.,
+the difficulty of friendship enduring a whole lifetime. Scipio held the negative view,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>
+and Lælius demurred to it, and in c. x., xi., &amp;c., the occurrences which tend to
+break off friendship are enumerated. In the tenth chapter are to be found two or
+three very apt elucidations of the text, such as that on the construction of “contentione
+condicionis,” and the sense of condicio (not “conditio”) in § 34, but one
+note (16) on “optimis quibusque” stands out as a sample of exhaustive criticism.
+The argument of Lælius is that there is no greater curse in friendships than, in the
+run of men, the desire of money; in the best, the desire of honour and glory: “in
+optimis quibusque honoris certamen et gloria.” Let us see how Mr. Reid examines
+this last clause, which he compares with the sentiment, “optimus quisque gloria
+maxime ducitur,” in the oration for Archias. The best authors, it is shown, use
+only the <i>neuter</i> plural of <i>quisque</i>, and that with a superlative; Cic. Fam. vii. 33,
+where we have “literas longissimas quasque,” being exceptional, because literæ, “an
+epistle,” has no singular. Mr. Reid instances, indeed, from the De Officiis ii. 75,
+“Leges et proximæ quæque duriores,” but only to propose an emendation to a senseless
+reading, viz., “Leges, et proxima quæque”—<i>i.e.</i>, “laws, and harsher each of
+them than its predecessor.” In the present case, he adds, “quibusque” may be used
+for <span class="greek" title="hekastois">ἑκάστοις</span> in the sense of “each set of people,” or the plural may be due merely
+to assimilation with “plerisque.” In a note on the difficult passage, p. 41, “et minime
+tum quidem Gaius frater, nunc idem acerrimus,” Mr. Reid, rightly, it should seem,
+adopts the interpretation of Madvig, Opusc., 2, 281, that <i>minime</i> qualifies <i>acer</i> to be
+supplied from “acerrimus.” This sample of interpretational tact must suffice from
+a copious inventory; and with reference to helpful elucidation of matter and
+illustration of proper names, quotations, adagia, and what not, it need only be said
+that it is in this edition always sound and seasonable.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>For the same employers, the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Mr. A. G. Peskett, M.A.,
+of Magdalen College, has carefully edited the fourth and fifth books of Cæsar’s
+Commentaries on the Gallic War, <i>Gai Juli Cæsaris De Bello Gallico Commentariorum,
+IV. V.</i> (Cambridge University Press, 1879), with a helpful commentary
+derived from study of German and English editors, and speculations on the topographical,
+geographical, and astronomical problems involved in Cæsar’s account.
+These books, it will be remembered, contain <i>inter alia</i> the description of Cæsar’s
+Bridge over the Rhine, his preparations for invading Britain, his first somewhat
+abortive attempts, and then, after a winter in Italy and Illyricum, his maturer
+arrangements, and landing—not without damage to his fleet—on the shore of
+Britain. The second of these campaigns embraces the narrative of the treachery of
+Ambiorix and the utter defeat of the Romans, v. 36-7. In the fourth book, one of
+the most interesting problems is the construction of Cæsar’s Rhine Bridge, c. 17;
+whether Cæsar’s method of strengthening the four bearing piles with their transverse
+beams was (as Kraner and Heller practically agree) by four fibulæ at each junction
+of the beam with the piles (eight in all), or, as Cohausen believes, by two fibulæ at
+each end, one serving instead of cross-piece c, in fig. 1, for the beam to rest upon.
+Napoleon’s view of the fibulaæ, given in fig. 4, p. 63, is far less tenable, and the most
+reasonable view is that of Heller. In c. 36, Book V., note, we have good examples
+of the actual words of Ambiorix to Titurius, as they may be gathered from the
+<i>oratio obliqua</i> in which the historian casts them. In c. 37, it should seem that the
+reading <i>lapsi</i> has less likelihood, though better authority, than “elapsi,” and
+Napoleon’s identification of the site of the battle is shown to be accurate, in a note
+discussing the topography of Tongres, the Geer, and the village of Lowaige. From
+a cursory examination of this edition of two interesting books of Cæsar’s Gallic
+War we should be disposed to congratulate the young student of intelligence, into
+whose hands a volume at once so helpful and so lucid may fall. There remains on
+our list only one Latin volume, the third part of Professor Mayor’s Juvenal for
+Schools, containing Satires X. and XI. But this, as well as a batch of recent
+editions of Greek plays and Greek authors, such as Xenophon, Lucian, &amp;c., must
+be postponed until another time.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr />
+<h3>III.—ESSAYS, NOVELS, POETRY, &amp;c.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>Under the Direction of</i> <span class="smcap">Matthew Browne</span>.)</p>
+
+<p>In referring to two more of Messrs. Macmillan and Co.’s <i>English Men of Letters</i> we
+shall reproduce, reckless of the charge of “damnable iteration,” the charge we have
+made before. Here is <i>Burke</i>, by Mr. John Morley, and <i>Hume</i>, by Professor Huxley,
+each volume containing over two hundred close pages; and most admirable volumes
+they are. But let us turn again to the prospectus and note its language: “These
+Short Books are addressed to the general public with a view both of stirring and satisfying
+an interest in literature and its great topics in the minds of those who have to
+run as they read.” This language is both wide and careful; the old metaphor may
+be read more or less loosely, of course; and it may be said that those who care much
+for Burke and Hume must be provided for in the series, and that the writers who
+deal with them have treated their topics as pleasantly as may be. We do not deny
+this, and the little volumes are substantial additions to the literature of the day.
+But they are not for readers who have to run with their books in their hand.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. John Morley’s estimate of Burke is known to us all, and it is what might be
+expected. As a philosophical politician, and as a speculative writer in general,
+Burke, of course, pleases Mr. Morley by the positive tendencies of his mind. We
+are pleased to see that he assigns its due rank to the too often underrated Inquiry
+about the Sublime and Beautiful. But Mr. Morley has perhaps the fault which
+Sterne told his friend the Count belonged especially to the French; he is “too
+serious.” Of course, Burke is a great man, and one must not cut jokes in a memoir
+of him—at least one must not if one can’t. But it is quite certain Sydney Smith
+would have done it; and there are many ways in which a page may be lit up. Well
+worth notice, as an amusing touch, was that passage in the Inquiry in which Burke
+speaks deprecatingly of Bunyan, because he did not write like Virgil, and though the
+present work “is biographical rather than critical,” we miss a number of amusing
+anecdotes. This may be the result of literary fastidiousness on Mr. Morley’s part,
+but, if so, we submit that the fastidiousness is carried too far. There is a little story
+that some one (we forget the name at the moment) who had lost largely by investing
+in some West Indian property, alleged that he had been induced to invest by
+Burke’s glowing descriptions of the country, and that Burke replied, “Ods boddikins!
+must one swear to the truth of a song?”—or in very similar language. Now this is
+really illustrative. We can by no means agree with Mr. Morley that Burke was free
+from the vicious tendencies of the rhetorician, not to say the rhetorical Celt. He
+had the Celtic leaning towards forlorn hopes, and the Celtic want of truthfulness.
+Of course, the Dr. Richard Price, who is so contemptuously treated in the “Reflections,”
+was a much smaller man than Burke, but he had more love of truth and more
+capacity of adhering to principle in his little finger than Burke had in his whole
+nature. Mr. John Morley does his friendly and ingeniously reticent best for him;
+but students who reject the “positive” method (except as an auxiliary or a check) will
+persist in thinking that the painful tangles of the great man’s life, and the blind alleys
+and other faults of his writings, were the result of his deficiency on the side of truthfulness.
+It will be doing anything but injustice to Burke, Mr. Morley, or the reader, if
+we call particular attention to p. 173 and so on to p. 177 inclusive. They give a bird’s-eye
+view of the most important part of the subject; they contain instructive comparisons
+between Burke, Sir Thomas More, and Turgot: and they seem to us to contain
+large proof in small compass of what Mr. Morley will of course not admit—namely,
+Burke’s want of love for the truth, and his incapacity for abstract speculation.</p>
+
+<p>As a reasoned account of the life and writings of the subject of the book, Professor
+Huxley’s <i>Hume</i> is one of the very best of the series—we were going to pronounce it
+the best, but remembered in good time that we had not seen them all. In any
+case it is excellent. It does not seem to us that Hume’s “Description of the Will”
+is grammatically open to the criticism on p. 181. But comment like this would be
+useless unless we gave the reader an opportunity of judging. This is Hume’s
+“description of the Will,” as quoted by Professor Huxley:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“Of all the immediate effects of pain and pleasure there is none more remarkable than
+the <i>will</i>; and though, properly speaking, it be not comprehended among the passions, yet
+as the full understanding of its nature and properties is necessary to the explanation of
+them, we shall here make it the subject of our inquiry. I desire it may be observed that,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>
+by the <i>will</i>, I mean nothing but <i>the internal impression we feel and are conscious of, when we
+knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new perception of our mind</i>. This impression,
+like the preceding ones of pride and humility, love and hatred, it is impossible to
+define, and needless to describe any further.”—(ii. p. 150.)</p></div>
+
+<p>And this is Professor Huxley’s comment:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“This description of a volition may be criticized on various grounds. More especially
+does it seem defective in restricting the term “will” to that feeling which arises when we
+act, or appear to act, as causes: for one may will to strike, without striking; or to think
+of something which we have forgotten.”</p></div>
+
+<p>But is not this met by the last six of the words which Professor Huxley has
+italicised? They are certainly very wide, and one might ask, in addition, what word
+of absolute “restriction” is employed by Hume in this passage? He indicates what
+he means by the word “Will,” by saying that it is what we are conscious of upon
+certain occasions, and this gives a clue to the quality of the sensation; but it was
+obvious, and did not need saying, that the quality of the sensation might remain,
+though its complete outcome were baulked.</p>
+
+<p>In presenting and criticizing Hume’s views upon such topics as Theism, Immortality
+and Miracles, Necessary Truth, &amp;c., Professor Huxley is, so far as we have
+discovered, both accurate and candid. It is only necessary to suggest that the reader
+should keep his eyes open—for there is really not one new word to be written upon
+these matters.</p>
+
+<p>It is not often that you are told what a man died of. You are put off with some
+such phrase as “a painful malady,” or a “family complaint.” Yet, it is often just
+what we desire to know, because the illness from which a man suffers stands in direct
+relation to his power of work and his capacity of endurance. Consumption, except
+in its later stage, is not usually painful. Nor does it necessarily make work difficult.
+The same may be said of maladies which come on paroxysmally, and leave those
+blessed intervals of ease of which Paley, himself a sufferer, writes with such unaccustomed
+tenderness. In the <i>Gibbon</i> of this series, Mr. Morison slurred over the
+very curious, perhaps unexampled fact, that Gibbon had long concealed a bad hernia
+and had done nothing for it. It finally killed him, but that with his amazing
+corpulence he could live a long time with a serious rupture, and keep his general
+health and his placidity, is very interesting. Professor Huxley tells us point-blank
+what Hume died of, and it is quite as well for biographers to be specific in such
+matters. We may just inquire, in passing, where the Professor got his “<i>solid</i> certainty
+of waking bliss”? It seems pedantic to notice every trifle of this sort, but if small
+errors in quotation were, so to speak, nipped in the bud, many logomachics would be
+saved. How much discussion, in pulpits and out of them, has been wasted upon the
+supposition that Pope wrote that “an honest man’s the <i>noblest</i> work of God.”
+Whereas Pope wrote “noble,” and it was Burns, in the “Cotter’s Saturday Night,”
+who started the error. Now “solid” is as good sense as “sober,” but the latter is
+what suits the verse best, and it is what Milton made Comus say.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>The “run” upon Dante continues. Here is <i>Dante: Six Sermons</i>, by Philip H.
+Wicksteed, M.A. (C. Kegan Paul &amp; Co.) “In allowing,” says Mr. Wicksteed—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>“the publication of this little volume, my only thought is to let it take its chance with
+other fugitive productions of the pulpit that appeal to the press as a means of widening the
+possible area rather than extending the period over which the preacher’s voice may extend;
+and my only justification is the hope that it may here and there reach hands to which no
+more adequate treatment of the subject was likely to find its way.”</p></div>
+
+<p>The sermons were delivered first at Little Portland Street Chapel, where Mr. Wicksteed
+succeeded Dr. Martineau, and afterwards at the Free Christian Church at
+Croydon, where the Rev. Rodolph R. Suffield formerly preached, but where the Rev.
+E. M. Geldart is now (we believe) the minister. The book contains only about 160
+pages, and gives a very readable and complete account both of Dante and his poetry.
+The style is that of the pulpit, iterative, florid, and full of amplifications; but that
+was natural. It is a serious matter, however, that the author keeps up his strain of
+eulogy from end to end at a pitch which has an almost <i>falsetto</i> sound with it.
+It seems hardly fair to leave unnoticed the charges of artificiality and worse which
+have been abundantly made against Dante and his poetry, especially as this book is
+intended for popular use; and it is a pity that Mr. Wicksteed should go out of his way
+to settle difficult questions in this off-hand way:—</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>“It is often held and taught, that a strong and definite didactic purpose must inevitably
+be fatal to the highest forms of art, must clip the wings of poetic imagination, distort the
+symmetry of poetic sympathy, and substitute hard and angular contrasts for the melting
+grace of those curved lines of beauty which pass one into the other. Had Dante never
+lived, I know not where we should turn for the decisive refutation of this thought; but in
+Dante it is the very combination said to be impossible that inspires and enthrals us. A
+perfect artist guided in the exercise of his art by an unflagging intensity of moral purpose;
+a prophet, submitting his inspirations”—</p></div>
+
+<p>and so forth, in the same strained and insistent key. But no wise critic has ever
+said that “a strong and definite didactic purpose must inevitably be fatal to the
+highest forms of art.” What is maintained on <i>that</i> side of the debate is that the
+“purpose” must not be permitted to shape the poem; that the poem itself must
+be moulded upon lines of beauty and not of “moral purpose”—though the “moral
+purpose” may be immanent in the work. But who is bound to take Mr. Wicksteed’s
+word for the statement that Dante’s great poem is not the very strongest confirmation
+in all literature of the truth that a <i>controlling</i> and <i>interfering</i> moral purpose
+injures a poem, Milton’s “Paradise Lost” being the next strongest?</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>A well-known, and also imperfectly known, “nook in the Apennines” is the
+Republic of San Marino, about which there is a good deal of information in <i>A Freak
+of Freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino</i>, by J. Theodore Bent (Longman,
+Green &amp; Co.) It appears to be partly the record of a visit paid by the author to the
+spot in 1877, and is illustrated by fifteen woodcuts from the author’s own drawings,
+to say nothing of a map. Mr. Bent was presented with the freedom of the Republic,
+and we do not know that any one, except another citizen of it, or some near
+neighbour, could criticize his little book to much advantage. But we trust he will
+permit us to remark that he might have made his work more amusing and instructive.
+There is a good deal about the place in Addison, and this is referred to (among other
+interesting matters) in an article in Knight’s “Penny Magazine” for May 31st, 1834.
+But, though we have not time to make references, we have a strong impression that
+there are many descriptions, new and old, of San Marino, which it would have been
+refreshing to quote. We know, however, of no work which gives so much information
+as Mr. Bent’s.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>It might be the subject of a very plausible doubt whether French novels of a high
+order ought to be translated into English, since those who are really capable of
+understanding and enjoying them will be certain to understand French, and since,
+moreover, the finest qualities of the writing must disappear in the process of translation.
+Then, with regard to French novels of a much lower class, they are not
+worth the trouble of turning into English; are more likely in themselves to do harm
+than good; and their reproduction in our language cannot tend to encourage “native
+talent.” We have before us, from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, &amp; Rivington,
+<i>The Cat and Battledore, and other Tales</i>, by Honoré de Balzac, translated into
+English by Philip Kent, B.A. (3 vols.) Perhaps it was not a bad idea to give the
+merely English reader some chance of appreciating the extraordinary qualities of the
+author of “Le Père Goriot,” “Le Peau de Chagrin,” and “La Recherche de
+l’Absolu” (neither of which is, the general reader may be told, in this collection):
+but Balzac is not a writer with a soul in him, and the experiment need not be carried
+any further. Those who know nothing of Balzac, and who read novels simply for
+excitement, will be glad of these three volumes, and the glimpse they give of an
+unique writer; but to studious readers Balzac’s novels have an interest which is
+mainly psychological. The preface (here translated) to the “Comédie Humaine” is
+a strange presumptuous medley, which raises, like all the author’s most characteristic
+works, the question of perfect sanity—a question which Mr. Leslie Stephen
+once opened very acutely, and dismissed too curtly. To have read through a story
+of Balzac’s is to have passed through one of those wonderfully vivid dreams which
+leave you puzzled and lost at the moment of awaking. It seems to be generally
+admitted that his writings do not tend to make his readers “immoral” in the usual
+sense of the adjective, but there is something ineffably droll in his patronage of
+“Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity,” and that defence of his own writings
+which the reader may amuse himself by studying in the preface. He is not only
+conservative, he is monarchical, and objects to representative Government, if it
+“hands us over to the rule of the masses.” But what chiefly concerns those who buy
+novels, or send for them to the libraries, is the quality of the stories, and they may
+depend upon getting a full measure of excitement, with some instruction, out of
+“La Maison du Chat qui pelote” and the companion stories.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36,
+October 1879, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October
+1879, by Various
+
+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/license
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: April 16, 2012 [EBook #39459]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Nigel Blower and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Notes:
+
+The first part of this volume (September 1879) was produced as Project
+Gutenberg Ebook #30048. The relevant part of the table of contents has
+been extracted from that document, and a brief title page added.
+
+_Italic words_ have been enclosed in underscores. Greek letters have
+been transliterated and enclosed in equals signs, e.g. =psyche=.
+
+As the oe ligature cannot be included in this format, it has been
+replaced with the separate letters, e.g. "Phoenician". Also note that on
+page 247, the original text shows a breve above the letter "e" in the
+Persian word for desert, "meru".
+
+A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. Some
+inconsistent hyphenation and accents have been retained.]
+
+
+
+
+             THE
+         CONTEMPORARY
+            REVIEW
+
+  VOLUME XXXVI. OCTOBER, 1879
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  OCTOBER, 1879.
+                                                                    PAGE
+  India and Afghanistan. By Lieut.-Colonel R. D. Osborn              193
+
+  Critical Idealism in France. By Paul Janet                         212
+
+  On the Moral Limits of Beneficial Commerce. By Francis W. Newman   232
+
+  The Myths of the Sea and the River of Death. By C. F. Keary        243
+
+  Mr. Macvey Napier and the Edinburgh Reviewers. By Matthew Browne   263
+
+  The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology. By James
+    Darmesteter                                                      274
+
+  Lazarus Appeals to Dives. By Henry J. Miller                       290
+
+  The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures. By Professor St.
+    George Mivart                                                    313
+
+  Contemporary Life and Thought in Turkey. By an Eastern Statesman   334
+
+  Contemporary Books:--
+
+        I. History and Literature of the East, under the Direction
+           of Professor E. H. Palmer                                 350
+
+       II. Classical Literature, under the Direction of Rev.
+           Prebendary J. Davies                                      359
+
+      III. Essays, Novels, Poetry, &c.under the Direction of
+           Matthew Browne                                            366
+
+
+
+
+INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN.
+
+
+When the news arrived that Major Cavagnari and his companions had fallen
+victims to the fury of the Kabul populace, the _Daily Telegraph_ "called
+aloud, before Heaven, for a punishment which should ring from end to end
+of the Continent of Asia." It is a pity that so much fine and eloquent
+indignation should be expended on the Afghans instead of those who are
+truly responsible for the catastrophe which has evoked it. If ever there
+was a future event which might be predicted with absolute certainty, it
+was that Major Cavagnari and his companions would perish precisely as
+they have done. Twice, within forty years, have we invaded Afghanistan,
+although on both occasions we have frankly avowed that with the
+inhabitants of the country we had no cause of quarrel whatever.
+Nevertheless, we carried fire and sword wherever we went, cutting down
+their fruit trees, burning their villages, and leaving their women and
+children shelterless under a winter sky. What could we expect as the
+fruit of such acts, except that our victims--knowing, as we did, that
+they were revengeful, passionate, and too ignorant to forecast the
+consequences of their actions--should retaliate in kind the moment that
+they had the opportunity? The first invasion of Afghanistan is now known
+by general consent as "the iniquitous war;" but it is open to question
+if even that war was so elaborately contrived, or so long laboured for
+as this--the first act of which has terminated in the slaughter of Major
+Cavagnari and his escort.
+
+The circumstances which preceded it are briefly these. For eighteen
+months Lord Lytton had attempted, by alternate threats and cajolery, to
+prevail upon the Ameer Shere Ali to make a surrender of his
+independence, and become a vassal of the Indian Empire. These attempts
+having failed, war was declared against him on the pretence that he had
+insulted us before all Asia by declining to receive a "friendly" mission
+sent by the Indian Government. This mission was _not_ friendly. It was
+notorious throughout India that it would go to Kabul charged with an
+_ultimatum_ which offered the Ameer the choice of war, or the sacrifice
+of his independence. But even this mission the Ameer never refused to
+receive--nay, it is certain that he would have received it if the
+opportunity had been given to him, so great was the value he attached to
+English friendship. But what the Government of India desired was not the
+reception of the mission, but a pretext for making war upon the Ameer.
+It knew that the policy which it meditated in Afghanistan would so
+completely destroy the sovereignty of the Ameer, that it was impossible
+he should agree to it. At the same time, it was impossible to declare
+war against an independent prince, simply because he declined to divest
+himself of his independence. The war must, somehow or another, be made
+to appear as if it were due to some act of the Ameer. Consequently,
+almost from the hour in which the announcement was made that the mission
+was to start, the Ameer was plied with insults and menaces which, if
+they were not intended to drive him to some act of overt hostility, had
+no purpose at all. And when these proved unavailing, Lord Lytton
+directed Sir Neville Chamberlain to attempt to force his way through the
+Khyber Pass, without waiting for the permission of the Ameer. In the
+most courteous manner the Afghan officer, in command at the Khyber,
+intimated to the mission that, without the sanction of his master, it
+was impossible to allow it to proceed; and this refusal was instantly
+telegraphed to England as a deliberate insult which must be wiped out in
+blood. From first to last, so far as his conduct towards us is
+concerned, the Ameer was absolutely blameless. During his entire reign
+his consistent endeavour had been to draw closer the ties of amity
+between himself and us. The Russian mission had forced its way to Kabul,
+despite of all his endeavours to hinder its advance; and there can be no
+question that but for the previous action of Lord Lytton that mission
+would never have come to Afghanistan. But eighteen months before that
+occurrence Lord Lytton had withdrawn our Native Agent from the Court of
+the Ameer. This had been done as a mark of displeasure, and a proof that
+no alliance of any kind existed between the two States. This proceeding
+Lord Lytton followed up by the occupation of Quetta, although he was
+well aware that such an occupation would be interpreted--and rightly--by
+the Ameer, as a menace to his independence, and the harbinger of war. So
+it came about that when the Russian mission knocked for admission at the
+doors of his capital, the Ameer found himself on the one side threatened
+by Russia, and on the other abandoned and threatened by Lord Lytton.
+Lord Lytton, in point of fact, is as directly responsible for the entry
+of the Russian mission to Kabul as he is for the dispatch of his own.
+
+But if Lord Lytton's treatment of the Ameer was cruel and ungenerous,
+criminal, at least to an equal extent, was his treatment of the people
+over whom he ruled. At that time there was an appalling amount of
+suffering all over India. The country had been ravaged by a series of
+famines. In the Punjab prices were abnormally high. The North-West
+Provinces were still unrecovered from a dearth, during which the
+Government of India had exhibited a rapacity and indifference to human
+suffering which would, with difficulty, be credited in England. Terrible
+as is the mortality resulting from a famine in India, the death-roll
+represents but a tenth part of the suffering which such visitations
+inflict. For every human being that dies, ten are left, without money
+and without physical strength, to struggle feebly for existence on the
+margin of the grave. They cannot give a fair day's work for a fair day's
+wage. They may reckon themselves fortunate if their enfeebled powers can
+earn just sufficient to keep body and soul together. For all these
+wretched beings--and last year in Upper India they numbered many
+millions--the smallest rise of price in the necessities of life means
+death from hunger. A war, therefore, with the enormous rise of prices
+which it would immediately produce, was nothing less than a sentence of
+torture and death passed upon tens of thousands of our own subjects.
+Undeterred, however, by the warnings of experience, deaf to
+considerations of humanity and justice, the Government of India started
+on its wild-goose chase after a "Scientific Frontier." The victims whom
+it trampled to death in this mad chase have never been numbered--they
+never can be numbered. The Afghans who died in defence of their village
+homes form but a hundredth part of them. The residue was composed of our
+own mute and uncomplaining subjects.
+
+A war thus wantonly commenced resulted in a failure as ignominious as it
+deserved. Long before the Treaty of Gundamuck the ambitious policy of
+the Government had become an object of contempt and ridicule all over
+India. It was known that Lord Lytton and his advisers were at their
+wit's end to discover something which might be made to do duty as a
+"Scientific Frontier," and so bring a misjudged enterprise to a
+conclusion. But it is the peculiarity of our Ministers to believe that
+they can arrest the inexorable sequence of cause and effect by a
+dexterous manipulation of the faculty of speech. Lord Beaconsfield
+appears to have imparted to his colleagues his own belief in the
+omnipotence of phrases to remove mountains, and make rough places
+smooth. So the Treaty of Gundamuck was no sooner signed than Ministers
+and Ministerial journals raised a great hymn of triumph over the
+wondrous things which they had wrought in Afghanistan. The one solid
+national advantage to be derived from the sacrifice of Cavagnari and his
+comrades, is that this method of treating facts will have to be laid
+aside. Lord Lytton is not likely to appeal again to his "carefully
+verified facts" as a proof that he is a much wiser man than Lord
+Lawrence. Lord Cranbrook will not again express his conviction that the
+"objections (to an English Resident) expressed by Shere Ali will be
+shown to have been without substantial foundation." Yakoub Khan and his
+five attendants are all that remain of that "strong, friendly, and
+independent Afghanistan" which Mr. Stanhope informed the House of
+Commons had been created by the war. The anguished cry of the _Daily
+Telegraph_ "for a punishment which shall ring from end to end of the
+Continent of Asia" is the latest expression of the "results incalculably
+beneficial to the two countries" which, according to Lord Lytton, were
+to flow from the Peace of Gundamuck.
+
+A failure in policy more signal and more complete than this it is
+impossible to imagine. But it is to be noted that the Ministerial
+journals are doing their utmost to save the "Scientific Frontier" from
+the destruction which has overtaken the projects of the Ministry. And so
+long as a belief in this Frontier is cherished anywhere, the return to a
+safe and rational policy is obstructed. In the following pages,
+therefore, I shall, firstly, endeavour to show that the (so-called)
+"Scientific Frontier" is as purely fictitious as the "strong, friendly,
+and independent Afghanistan" which we were told had been created out of
+chaos by means of the war. And, secondly, I shall discuss the various
+lines of conduct which lie open to us, when we have occupied Kabul, in
+order to determine which is best fitted to ensure the stability of our
+Indian Empire and the contentment of its inhabitants.
+
+
+The Scientific Frontier.
+
+In all the discussions on this Frontier question, a very obvious, but
+all-important, fact has been persistently forgotten. It is that British
+rule in India is a rule based upon military supremacy; and that,
+therefore, our Indian army--English as well as native--is primarily a
+garrison, having its duties upon the places where it is quartered. We
+could not withdraw our troops from any part of India without incurring
+the risk of an outbreak in the districts thus denuded. The "Punjab
+Frontier Force" has always been a force distinct from the "Army of
+India," and recognized as having special duties of its own. So far as I
+know, in the discussions on a "Scientific Frontier" no reference has
+been made to the above circumstance. The Indian army has been spoken of
+as if it were so much fighting power, which we were free to concentrate
+at any point we pleased. And to this oversight is due the hallucination
+that an improved frontier would enable us to diminish the strength of
+the Indian garrison (properly so called). The fact is, that before this
+last war we had almost the very frontier which our situation in India
+required. If the authority of the Ameer had extended up to the
+boundaries of our Empire, troubles between the two States must have
+occurred, resulting inevitably in the extinction of the weaker. The evil
+of such an extension of territory no one denies; we should not only have
+had to hold Afghanistan with a strong garrison--certainly not less than
+twenty thousand men--but we should have been compelled to maintain a
+frontier force, to guard against aggression from without, either from
+Russia or Persia. Forty thousand men would have been needed for this
+double duty, in addition to the pre-existing garrison of India. But by a
+piece of supreme good fortune the authority of the Ameer did not begin
+where ours left off. Between us and him were interposed the tribes which
+dwell in the hills along our North-Western frontier. These tribes
+acknowledged allegiance neither to him nor to us. Broken up and divided
+amongst themselves, the worst they could inflict upon us was an
+occasional raid into our territories; and these we could repress without
+having to call the Ameer to an account for the lawlessness of his
+subjects. A few regiments of horse and foot were all that we needed for
+the defence of our frontier; while as against foreign invasion we
+possessed a frontier that needed no defence at all. That frontier
+consisted of the foodless deserts and inaccessible hills of Afghanistan.
+These were impenetrable to an invader, so long as we retained the
+friendship and the confidence of the people who dwell among them.
+Consequently, to quote the language of Sir Henry Rawlinson, "our main
+object has ever been, since the date of Lord Auckland's famous Simla
+Manifesto of 1838, to obtain the establishment of a strong, friendly,
+and independent Power on the North-Western frontier of India, without,
+however, accepting any crushing liabilities in return." We all know the
+manner in which Lord Auckland set about obtaining the "strong, friendly,
+and independent Power," and the "crushing liabilities" we had to accept
+in consequence. Tutored by experience, we adopted a wiser and more
+righteous policy, which was producing admirable results.
+
+The difficulty of establishing a stable friendship with Afghanistan
+arises from the character of the people. It is the habitation, not of a
+nation, but of a collection of tribes, and the nominal ruler of
+Afghanistan is never more than the ruler of a party which, for the time,
+chances to be strongest. Consequently there never existed an authority,
+recognized as legitimate throughout the country, with which we could
+enter into diplomatic relations. At the same time, their divided
+condition crippled the Afghans for all offensive purposes. We had,
+therefore, nothing to fear in the way of unprovoked aggression, and our
+obvious policy was to win the confidence of these wild tribes and their
+chiefs, by carefully abstaining from encroachments on their
+independence. Such, in fact, has been the policy which every
+Governor-General has pursued in the interval which divides the
+"plundering and blundering" of Lord Auckland from the like achievements
+of Lord Lytton. And it had been attended with the greater success,
+because under the firm guidance of two remarkable men, Afghanistan had
+progressed considerably towards the status of an organized kingdom.
+Shere Ali had diligently trod in the footsteps of his father, the Dost,
+and it is in these terms that the Government of India describes the rule
+and policy of the Ameer in the year 1876:
+
+    "Those officers of our Government who are best acquainted with the
+    affairs of Afghanistan, and the character of the Ameer and his
+    people, consider that the hypothesis that the Ameer may be
+    intimidated or corrupted by Russia (even supposing there was any
+    probability of such an attempt being made) is opposed to his
+    personal character and to the feelings and traditions of his race,
+    and that any attempt to intrigue with factions in Afghanistan,
+    opposed to the Ameer, would defeat itself, and afford the Ameer the
+    strongest motive for at once disclosing to us such proceedings.
+    Whatever may be the discontent created in Afghanistan by taxation,
+    conscription, and other unpopular measures, _there can be no
+    question that the power of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan has been
+    consolidated throughout Afghanistan in a manner unknown since the
+    days of Dost Mahomed, and that the officers entrusted with the
+    administration have shown extraordinary loyalty and devotion to the
+    Ameer's cause_. It was probably the knowledge of the Ameer's
+    strength that kept the people aloof from Yakoub Khan, in spite of
+    his popularity. At all events, Herat fell to the Ameer without a
+    blow. The rebellion in Salpoora in the extreme West was soon
+    extinguished. The disturbances in Budukshan in the North were
+    speedily suppressed. _Nowhere has intrigue or rebellion been able to
+    make head in the Ameer's dominions._ Even the Char Eimak and the
+    Hazara tribes are learning to appreciate the advantages of a firm
+    rule.... But what we wish specially to repeat is that, from the date
+    of the Umballa Durbar to the present time, _the Ameer has
+    unreservedly accepted and acted upon our advice to maintain a
+    peaceful attitude towards his neighbours_. We have no reason to
+    believe that his views are changed."
+
+This "strong, friendly, and independent Power"--this edifice of order
+and increasing stability--the British Government deliberately destroyed
+in the insane expectation of finding a "Scientific Frontier" hidden
+somewhere in the ruins. It is difficult to conceive of an action more
+impolitic or more cruel. In a month the labours of forty years were
+obliterated, old hatreds rekindled, and the wounds of 1838, which the
+wise and gentle treatment of former Viceroys had almost healed, were
+opened afresh.
+
+We come next to the inquiry as to what this "Scientific Frontier" is, in
+order to obtain which this act of vandalism was perpetrated. This is a
+question involved in some obscurity. The _Times_ is the great champion
+of the "Scientific Frontier," but in its columns, as also in Ministerial
+speeches, it changes colour like a chameleon. Sometimes it is called the
+"possession of the three highways leading to India," thereby rendering
+the Empire "invulnerable." At other times it is recommended to us
+because it protects the trade through the Bolan Pass, and enables us to
+threaten Kabul. The fact is that the (so-called) "Scientific
+Frontier"--meaning thereby the frontier we acquired by the Treaty of
+Gundamuck--is a make-believe, an imposture. It is not the "Scientific
+Frontier" in pursuit of which we "hunted the Ameer to death" and reduced
+his territories to a condition of anarchy.
+
+Those who have followed the history of the war with attention will
+remember that in September of last year the Calcutta correspondent of
+the _Times_ was smitten with a really marvellous admiration for Lord
+Lytton. "India," he wrote, "is fortunate in the possession at the
+present time of a Viceroy specially gifted with broad statesmanlike
+views, the result partly of most vigilant and profound study, partly of
+the application of great natural intellectual capacity to the close
+cultivation of political science and the highest order of statecraft."
+Here we have the portrait of the lion painted by himself; and it is not
+surprising that this superb creature should have regarded with
+considerable scorn the policy of his predecessors who never claimed to
+be "specially gifted" for the exercise of "the highest order of
+statecraft." "The present measure," the correspondent went on to say,
+"for the despatch of a mission to Kabul forms but a single move in an
+extensive concerted scheme for the protection of India, which is the
+outcome of a long-devised and elaborately worked-out system of defensive
+policy." Here we have a fine example of the "puff preliminary." In the
+issue of the _Times_ for the 10th September this "extensive concerted
+scheme for the protection of India" is detailed at length, and is there
+plainly set forth as intended for a barrier against Russia:--
+
+    "The Indian Government are most anxious to avoid adopting any policy
+    which would bear even the semblance of hostility towards Russia, but
+    the extreme probability of a collision sooner or later cannot be
+    overlooked. It is necessary, therefore, to provide for a strong
+    defensive position to guard against eventualities. From this point
+    of view it is indispensable that we should possess a commanding
+    influence over the triangle of territory formed on the map by Kabul,
+    Ghuznee, and Jellalabad, together with power over the Hindoo
+    Khosh.... This triangle we may hope to command with Afghan
+    concurrence if the Ameer is friendly. The strongest frontier line
+    which could be adopted would be along the Hindoo Khosh, from Pamir
+    to Bamian, thence to the south by the Helmund, Girishk, and
+    Kandahar, to the Arabian Sea. It is possible, therefore, that by
+    friendly negotiations some such defensive boundary may be adopted."
+
+Such were the moderate designs entertained by the Indian Government when
+they dispatched what they called a "friendly mission" to the Court of
+the Ameer. If Lord Lytton imagined that "friendly negotiations" would
+obtain these tremendous concessions from the Ameer, it would show that a
+training in "the highest order of statecraft" does not preserve even a
+"specially gifted" Viceroy from the credulousness of an infant. But his
+acts show that he entertained no such belief. He felt, as every one must
+feel who reads the extract I have made, that demands such as these must
+be preceded by a war. Hence the menacing letters addressed to the Ameer;
+hence the rude and insulting manner in which Sir Neville Chamberlain was
+ordered to attempt an entrance into Afghanistan without awaiting the
+permission of the Ameer; and hence, finally, the monstrous fiction of a
+deliberate "insult" inflicted upon us, when, in point of fact, we had
+been the "insulters" all along. The obvious intention throughout was to
+obtain a pretext for declaring war, because without a war the
+"Scientific Frontier" was manifestly unattainable. Lastly, when war had
+been determined upon, the same "official" correspondent came forward in
+the _Times_ to make known the objects of the impending campaign. "We
+have," he wrote, "been driven into what will probably be a costly war
+entirely against our will, and all our endeavours to avoid it. The
+occasion, therefore, will now be seized to secure for ourselves the
+various passes piercing the mountain ranges along the whole frontier
+from the Khyber to the Bolan; and further _strategic measures will be
+adopted to dominate entirely the Suleiman range and the Hindoo Khosh_."
+
+It is impossible not to admire the hardihood of this remarkable
+correspondent when he alleges that the war was "entirely against our
+will, and all our endeavours to avoid it." But this is not the matter
+with which I am at present concerned. The official character of these
+communications will be denied by no one, and they make it clear that the
+"Scientific Frontier" was intended as a barrier against Russia, and
+would have made the Hindoo Khosh the external boundary of the Indian
+Empire. Such a frontier is manifestly the dream of a military
+specialist, to whose mental vision the Indian Empire, with all its
+diverse interests, has no existence except as a frontier to be defended
+against the Russians. And it illustrates the ignorance and precipitate
+folly which has plunged us in our present difficulties that a project so
+wild should have been seriously entertained. To have carried it out the
+subjugation of Afghanistan would have been an indispensable preliminary,
+and then the civilizing of it, by means of a system of roads and strong
+garrisons throughout the country; the entire cost of these vast
+operations being defrayed by a country already taxed to the last point
+of endurance, heavily burdened with an increasing debt, and ravaged by
+periodical famines. Such, however, was the "Scientific Frontier" for
+which a "specially gifted Viceroy," trained in "the highest order of
+political statecraft," declared war against the Ameer. But the frontier
+which we obtained at the close of the war, and which Ministers and
+Ministerial journals would have us believe is the genuine article which
+they wanted from the beginning, is not only not this frontier, but it
+has not the smallest resemblance to it.
+
+The new frontier does not differ from the old except in three
+particulars. We hold the Khyber Pass as far as Lundi Kotal, and we have
+acquired the right to quarter troops in the Kurram Valley and the Valley
+of Peshin. Of these the Kurram Valley is a mere _cul-de-sac_, leading
+nowhere. But I will not ask of my readers to accept of my judgment on
+this matter. Among the best known advocates for a forward and aggressive
+policy in Afghanistan is Dr. Bellew. An accomplished linguist and an
+experienced traveller, he accompanied Colonel Lumsden's mission to
+Kandahar in 1857; he was also a member of the mission entrusted with the
+settlement of the Seistan boundary question, and no man living is better
+acquainted with the geography and people of Afghanistan. I believe it
+will not be denied that Lord Lytton, during the recent war, trusted
+largely in his knowledge and suggestions. He has thus expressed himself
+on the policy of occupying the Kurram Valley:--
+
+    "The Kurram Valley would involve the addition of about one hundred
+    and fifty miles of hill frontage to our border, and would bring us
+    into contact with the independent Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Toris,
+    Cabul-Khel, Waziris, and others, against whose hostility and inroads
+    here, as in other parts of the border, we should have to protect our
+    territory. By its possession, as we are now situated, we should be
+    committed to the defence of a long narrow strip of land, a perfect
+    _cul-de-sac_ in the hills, hemmed in by a number of turbulent
+    robber-tribes, who are under no control, and acknowledge no
+    authority. In ordinary times its acquisition would add to the
+    serious difficulties of our position. In times of trouble or
+    disturbance on the border, its possession would prove a positive
+    source of weakness, a dead weight upon our free action. In it we
+    should run the risk of being hemmed in by our foes in the
+    overhanging hills around, of being cut off from our communications
+    with the garrison of Kohat, by the Orakzais on the one side, by the
+    Waziris on the other. These are the disadvantages of the step. In
+    return what advantages should we derive? Not one. With Kurram in our
+    possession we certainly could not flank either the Khyber or the
+    Goleri Pass, because between it and the one, intervenes the
+    impassable snowy range of Sufed Koh; and between it and the other,
+    intervenes the vast routeless hilly tract of the Waziris. From
+    Kurram we could neither command Kabul nor Ghazni, because the route
+    to either is by a several days' march, over stupendous hills and
+    tortuous defiles, in comparison with which the historical Khyber and
+    Bolan Passes, or even the less widely-known Goleri Pass, are as
+    king's highways."
+
+This, I think, is sufficient to dispose of the Kurram Valley. If the old
+frontier has been rendered "invulnerable," it is not the acquisition of
+the Kurram Valley which has made it so. There remains the Peshin Valley.
+This valley is an open tract of country lying almost midway on the line
+of march between Quetta and Kandahar, but nearer to the former than the
+latter. Three easy marches from Quetta suffice to place a traveller in
+the centre of it. It cannot accurately be described as an extension of
+our frontier, because it is dissevered from it by more than two hundred
+miles of difficult country. Between the valley and British territory,
+the lands of the Khan of Khelat are interposed in one direction, and
+numerous robber-tribes--Kakers, Murrees, Bhoogtees--in another. Until
+the valley is securely linked to the Indus by a railway from Sukkur to
+the Bolan Pass--a costly work, which could not be executed in less than
+seven years--it will be impossible to quarter more than a few thousand
+men in it--and these for six months of the year will be as completely
+detached from their base of supply and reinforcement in India, as if a
+tract of empty space ran between them. So far from ensuring any
+increased security to India by our premature occupation of this valley,
+we have only enhanced the chances of a hostile collision with the rulers
+and people of Afghanistan. We were already in military occupation of
+Quetta, and until easy and rapid communication had been established
+between Quetta and the Indus, nothing was to be gained by a yet further
+advance from our base. As a barrier against Russia this frontier is
+without meaning, and no better proof of this fact could be adduced than
+Sir Henry Rawlinson's commentary upon its merits in the Article on the
+"Results of the Afghan War" which recently appeared in the _Nineteenth
+Century_:--
+
+    "The Afghan settlement is a very good settlement as far as it goes,
+    but it is not immaculate--_it is not complete_. To yield us its full
+    measure of defence, the Treaty must be supplemented by all
+    legitimate precautions and supports. _Persia must be detached from
+    Russia coute que coute._ Russia herself must not be left in any
+    uncertainty as to our intentions. She must be made to understand ...
+    _that she will not be permitted unopposed to establish herself in
+    strength ... even at Abiverd_, nor to commence intrigues against the
+    British power in India. She might indeed be warned that, if
+    necessary, we were prepared in self-defence to support the
+    Turcomans--with whom she has no legitimate quarrel--with arms or
+    money, or even to turn the tables on her by encouraging the efforts
+    of the Uzbegs to recover their liberty.... _It would be almost
+    fatuity at such a moment to withdraw our garrison from Candahar...._
+    Yacub Khan must be made to see that it is as much for his interest
+    as our own to hold an efficient body of troops in such a position
+    that, on the approach of danger ... _they might, with military
+    alacrity, occupy Herat as an auxiliary garrison_."
+
+And what is implied in detaching Persia from Russia he explains in
+another part of his Essay.
+
+    "If Russia, as there is strong reason to believe, is now pushing on
+    to Merv or Sarakhs ... with the ultimate hope of occupying Herat,
+    then it might very possibly be a sound policy to extend to Persia
+    the provisions of the Asia Minor Protectorate, or even to support
+    her actively in vindicating her rights upon the frontier of
+    Khorassan."
+
+From all which it would appear that our "Scientific Frontier" is simply
+good for nothing until it has been supplemented by an offensive and
+defensive alliance with the barbarian enemies of Russia all over the
+world. In order to ensure the safety of India, we must protect not only
+our own "Scientific Frontier," but we must guarantee the Sultan all his
+Asiatic possessions; we must be ready at any moment to fight for the
+"integrity and independence" of Persia; we must be prepared to march our
+troops to Herat, and to show a front against the Russians on the Oxus;
+we must provide the Tekeh-Turcomans with arms and money, and assist the
+Uzbegs in their attempts to recover their liberty. Such are the
+"legitimate precautions and supports" which are requisite to render the
+new frontier immaculate and complete. But if with a "Scientific
+Frontier" we remain liable to such tremendous demands as these, it
+passes imagination to conjecture in what respect we could have been
+worse off when our frontier was "haphazard."
+
+
+The Circumstances of the Peace.
+
+I shall next endeavour to show the circumstances which compelled the
+Indian Government to acquiesce in a peace which thus left the avowed
+object of the war unfulfilled. The preparations for the invasion of
+Afghanistan were on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the
+enterprise as explained by the "official" correspondent of the _Times_.
+Troops were set in motion for the North-West frontier from garrisons in
+the extreme south of India. Men were sent from England to man heavy gun
+batteries. In addition to the troops under General Roberts, no less than
+three columns were formed to invade Afghanistan via Sukkur and the
+Bolan, and the same number to advance through the Khyber. The force
+which marched to Kandahar was supplied with four heavy gun batteries,
+and a fifth was sent up subsequently, although, except upon the
+supposition that permanent entrenched camps were to be formed in
+Afghanistan, these heavy guns were simply an encumbrance and a source of
+danger. But the campaign had barely commenced before the Government
+became aware that it had utterly miscalculated its cost and difficulty.
+It is easy enough for an army to enter Afghanistan; it is next to
+impossible for it to subsist when it has got there. It is easy enough to
+scatter the Afghans when collected in battle array; it is next to
+impossible to subjugate them because they never are _so_ collected. From
+these causes our raid into Afghanistan was but little removed from an
+ignominious failure. If we had not made peace we should have been
+compelled to evacuate the country from the enormous costliness of
+retaining troops in it. Under such circumstances, a peace was needed too
+urgently to allow the Government to stand out for any extraordinary
+concessions. They took what they could get, which proved to be, as we
+have seen, the right to place garrisons in the two valleys of Kurram and
+Peshin. But having gone to war in search of a "Scientific Frontier," no
+alternative was left to them except to frankly confess that they had not
+found it; or to affirm that these two valleys constituted it.
+
+We come now to the causes of our failure. These are all-important, and
+ought to dissipate for ever the fear of an invasion of India by Russia
+or any other Power. The plan of the campaign required that Afghanistan
+should be invaded from three points; but the most important operation
+was understood to be the advance of General Stewart upon Kandahar. As
+soon as hostilities appeared inevitable, a small force under General
+Biddulph had been sent forward to secure Quetta against a sudden attack.
+General Stewart followed later on, and the two columns numbered upon
+paper about 20,000 men, with 60 guns. Meanwhile, a third column was
+ordered to assemble at Sukkur in support, and placed under the command
+of General Primrose. These extensive preparations were supposed to
+indicate the determination of the Indian Government to push on as far as
+Herat. The distance which had to be traversed between Sukkur and
+Kandahar is, roughly speaking, about four hundred miles, but the country
+presents extraordinary difficulties. From Sukkur to Jacobabad extends a
+level tract which, during the rains, is flooded to a depth of seven
+feet. Between Jacobabad and Dadur--a town situated at the entrance of
+the Bolan Pass--extends the Sinde desert. Any large force marching
+across this desert would have to take with them, not only food and
+forage, but water, for only at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles is
+the parched and barren soil pierced by a few brackish springs, which
+just suffice for the needs of the hamlets which have sprung up around
+them. For six months of the year this desert is literally impassable. A
+hot wind sweeps across it, which is fatal to man and beast. Only once
+did the Indian Government venture to send troops across it after this
+"blast of death" (as the natives call it) had begun to blow. This was in
+the last Afghan war. Some hundreds of native troops were sent as an
+escort in charge of supplies, and in four days one hundred Sepoys
+perished, three hundred camp followers, and (I think) nine officers out
+of fourteen. Beyond Dadur is the Bolan Pass. This Pass is about eighty
+miles in length; regular road there is none; what purports to be a road
+is merely the bed of a stream, which, during the rainy weather, is
+filled from bank to bank with a volume of rushing water. Neither food
+nor forage is obtainable in the Pass, and even the camels, when starting
+from Dadur, had to carry a seven days' supply of food for themselves.
+Between Quetta and Kandahar the country is open, but neither is food
+procurable for a large force, nor forage for the horses and camels. From
+first to last General Stewart's troops were almost wholly fed from
+India. The winter, luckily, was one of unprecedented mildness. But for
+this, in place of a march upon Kandahar, a terrible catastrophe could
+hardly have been averted. In ordinary seasons the snows fall heavily in
+and around Quetta early in November, and the cold is intense. The Bolan
+Pass is swept from end to end by hurricanes of wind and rain and snow.
+At the very time when these storms usually occur we had a dozen
+regiments and batteries straggling along the whole length of the Bolan
+Pass. Last year, however, there was neither snow nor hurricane, and our
+troops got through the Pass in safety. There was no opposition offered
+to our advance on Kandahar, but, from the want of food and the hardships
+which had to be endured, no less than twenty thousand camels perished
+upon the march. This mortality decided the campaign. When General
+Stewart reached Kandahar the situation was as follows:--The magazines at
+Quetta were nearly empty. Four months' food was collected at Sukkur, but
+awaited carriage for its transport to Quetta. The third column under
+General Primrose was assembling on the Indus, and needed ten thousand
+camels to enable it to advance. To supply all these wants there were at
+Sukkur about 1600 camels. In order to lessen the pressure on the
+Commissariat, General Stewart divided his forces, despatching one column
+to hunt for supplies in the direction of Giriskh, and sending another
+with the same object to Khelat-i-Ghilzie. These movements caused the
+death from cold and hunger of a large additional number of camels, and
+demonstrated that there was not food in that part of Afghanistan
+sufficient for a force so large as that collected at Kandahar. Sinde,
+meanwhile, had been swept so bare of camels that it was impossible to
+collect a sufficient number for the carriage of food to Quetta before
+the hot weather had set in, and the march across the desert was barred
+by "the blast of death." Immediate action was necessary if General
+Stewart's troops were not to starve; and eight thousand men returned to
+India, reducing the garrison left at Kandahar to four thousand. This
+number, it was trusted, the Commissariat would be able to feed during
+the hot weather. But even this small force was so scantily supplied with
+carriage that it could not have moved, in a body, for fifty miles in any
+direction. It was, so to speak, nailed to the spot on which it was
+encamped. This want of food, far more than the physical difficulties of
+the country, is and always will be the insuperable obstacle to carrying
+on extensive military operations in Afghanistan. The people obtain no
+more from the soil than just suffices for their own wants; and for days
+together an invading army has to pass over huge wastes with hardly a
+trace of human habitation, and consequently destitute of food.
+
+Not a little amusing was the revulsion of feeling caused throughout
+India by the lame and impotent conclusion of the advance on Kandahar. It
+was a demonstration of the impossibility of an invasion which convinced
+those who were most reluctant to be convinced. If when we had all India
+from which to draw our supplies, and with no enemy to oppose us, our
+utmost efforts had merely sufficed to place four thousand men in
+Kandahar, and leave them there, isolated and defenceless, it was
+chimerical to suppose that the Russians could march for double that
+distance an army capable of attempting the conquest of India.
+"Kandahar," writes a military correspondent to the _Pioneer_--the
+official journal of India--"is acknowledged to be a mistake, and it is
+hoped that a British army will never again be dispatched in that
+direction; it is a mere waste of men, money, and means, and an
+unsuitable line for either attack or defence."
+
+And the _Pioneer_, the very purpose of whose existence is to preach the
+infallibility of the Indian Government, thus endorses the remarks of its
+correspondent: "The theories about Kandahar are by this time exploded;
+indeed, there are many critics who have refused to adopt them from the
+very beginning; believing against General Hamley, that the main road
+into Afghanistan, whether we march as defenders of the Kabul Ameer or as
+avengers, must lie past Peshawur and Jelalabad."
+
+The failure on the Kandahar side placed the Indian Government in an
+extremely difficult position. An advance on Herat was plainly out of the
+question; even one on Ghuznee was beyond the power of General Stewart
+and his troops. Elsewhere the aspect of affairs was hardly less
+cheering. The expedition in the Kurram Valley had resulted in the
+somewhat ignominious retreat out of Khost. We had about 15,000 men
+holding the line from the Khyber to Jelalabad; but in effecting this,
+14,000 camels had perished, and several of the regiments had been more
+than decimated from sickness and exposure. We had not subjugated a rood
+of territory on which our troops were not actually encamped. The main
+strength of the Ameer's army was untouched, while all along our
+Trans-Indus frontier the hill tribes were in a state of dangerous
+unrest. The hot weather was coming on apace, when cholera and typhoid
+fever would be added to the number of our enemies. Thirty thousand
+troops had been set in motion, the garrisons in the interior of India
+dangerously weakened; three millions of money expended; and this was all
+that had been achieved. If now Yakoub Khan refused to come to terms,
+what was to be done? General Brown might be ordered to force his way
+from Jelalabad to Kabul, but what was he to do when he got there? The
+cost in money would be certainly heavy--the cost in men, not improbably,
+heavy also. And if, on our arrival at his capital, Yakoub Khan retired
+to either Balkh or Herat, we were powerless to follow him. Yakoub Khan,
+in fact, had the game in his hands. We had shot our bolt and failed. He
+had simply to decline to make peace, and keep out of our reach. We
+should then have been compelled either to evacuate the country, or to
+occupy it with the certainty that a little later on we should be
+compelled to withdraw, when the drain on the finances of India became
+too heavy to endure. Sir Henry Rawlinson rightly says, that a very small
+force can march from one end of Afghanistan to another; but a very large
+force is requisite permanently to hold it. The tribal divisions which
+hinder unity of resistance hinder also the achievement of any decisive
+victory. Each tribe is an independent centre of life, which requires a
+separate operation for its extinction.
+
+Such was the dilemma in which the Government found themselves involved.
+It was almost equally disastrous either to withdraw or to advance. If
+the troops were withdrawn, they would return burdened with the ignominy
+of failure. If they advanced, it would be into a tangle of military and
+political embarrassments, the issue of which it was impossible to
+foresee. There was only one way of escape possible, and that was to
+relinquish the ambitious projects from which the war originated, and
+acquiesce in any settlement which the adversary would agree to. The
+result was the Treaty with Yakoub Khan--a Treaty which I have no
+hesitation in saying has placed in peril the existence of our Indian
+Empire.
+
+It is, indeed, impossible to account for the infatuation or the
+obstinacy which caused the Indian Government to stipulate for the
+reception of an undefended British Envoy at the Court of a prince in the
+position of Yakoub Khan. It would have been so easy to have introduced a
+clause in the Treaty, to the effect that as soon as Yakoub Khan's
+authority was firmly established an English Envoy should be accredited
+to Kabul. This would have saved the political consistency of the
+Government without exposing the Indian Empire to the tremendous strain
+and peril of a second Afghan expedition. There was absolutely nothing to
+be gained, either in India or England, by immediately forcing an English
+Envoy on the luckless Yakoub; while it enormously enhanced the
+difficulties with which he had to cope. Nevertheless, in the face of
+historic precedents, in defiance of multiplied warnings, Lord Lytton
+deliberately resolved to reproduce, for the edification of Asia, the
+tragedy of Shah Soojah and Sir William Nacnaghten, the only difference
+being that on this occasion the principal parts were played by Yakoub
+Khan and Major Cavagnari. The fact is that from first to last in this
+bad business the chief agents were moving in a world of their own
+imagining. They appear to have persuaded themselves that they had but to
+refuse to _see_ facts, and the facts would vanish. They had but to
+publish in the _Times_ that Lord Lytton was a "Viceroy specially
+gifted," and forthwith he would become what he was described to be. They
+had but to assert that the Afghans had no objection to the presence of a
+British Envoy at Kabul, and immediately their objections would
+disappear. The mischief is done now past recall. Hardly even in 1857 was
+our Indian Empire in a position of greater peril than it is now. The
+persistent opposition between official acts and official language which
+has been the distinguishing characteristic of Lord Lytton's
+administration has created an universal disbelief in the sincerity of
+our speech and the equity of our intentions. In the circle which
+surrounds the Viceroy, it seems, indeed, to have become an accepted
+maxim that it is a matter of indifference whether or not the natives are
+heartily loyal to our rule. And Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, in his Minute
+on the Repeal of the Cotton Duties, notes the fact as "a grave political
+danger." It is a maxim which could not have been formulated except by
+the agents of a Government who felt that they had forfeited, past hope
+of recovery, the confidence of those they were set to rule over. Of the
+alienation itself there can be no question. The loyalty of the native
+has, probably, never been at a lower ebb since 1857. And any reverse in
+Afghanistan might kindle a flame that would spread from one end of India
+to the other.
+
+But there is nothing to be gained by anticipating greater difficulties
+than already beset us. I will assume that no additional complications
+occur--that General Roberts has succeeded without much difficulty in the
+occupation of Kabul--that General Stewart has possession of Kandahar,
+and that all we have to determine is what to do with Afghanistan now we
+have got it. There are but three courses of conduct possible--withdrawal
+from the country altogether, a return to the arrangements formulated in
+the Treaty of Gundamuck, or annexation. I will consider the last first.
+
+
+Annexation.
+
+Nobody, so far as I know, desires to annex Afghanistan. But there are, I
+apprehend, but few who are aware of what is involved in "the annexation
+of Afghanistan," and the danger is that we may drift almost unwillingly
+into annexation, to discover the full consequences only when too late.
+Everybody is agreed that India cannot defray the costs. This is set down
+by the supporters of Government at a sum of five millions annually. I
+believe it would be much larger; but we will assume that five millions
+is a correct estimate. By no possibility could we screw this additional
+sum from the people of India. Already the expenses of the administration
+increase at a far quicker rate than the revenues which have to meet
+them. The costs of governing Afghanistan, therefore, would have to be
+defrayed from the English Exchequer. But assuming this to be arranged,
+the pecuniary difficulty is the smallest which has to be encountered. To
+garrison the interior and frontier of Afghanistan we should require not
+less than forty thousand men--one-half of whom would have to be English
+soldiers. For, until the interior of Afghanistan is completely opened
+out by roads which can be traversed throughout the year, the garrisons
+holding the country would have to be sufficiently strong to be
+independent of reserves and supports during the winter. And if we
+attempted to hold Balkh and Herat, twenty thousand English soldiers
+would not suffice. Now where are these English soldiers to come from? An
+addition of at least forty thousand men to our regular army would be
+required in order to supply them. But the English part of our
+Afghanistan garrison does not present so insuperable a difficulty as the
+native. It would not be safe, at least for many years, to organize our
+native garrison from the Afghans themselves. The regiments would have to
+be recruited in India specially for this service--but out of what races?
+The natives of the Southern parts of India have not the physique capable
+of enduring the severities of an Afghanistan winter. The Sikhs or
+Hindoos of Upper India would certainly not enlist in a service which
+carried them so far from their homes into the midst of an alien people
+and an alien faith. The only recruits we should obtain in large numbers
+would be Muhammadans. The danger, then, is obvious. In India the fierce
+fanaticism of the Moslem creed is mitigated by its contact with the
+milder tenets of Hindooism; but remove an Indian Moslem to Afghanistan,
+and he would very soon become inspired by the religious zeal of his
+co-religionists around him. We should be exposed to the risk,
+perpetually, of our native garrison combining with the people of the
+country to expel the infidel intruders from the land, and restore the
+supremacy of the Prophet. But even these dangers dwindle into
+insignificance when we contemplate the main result of an annexation of
+Afghanistan. That result would be that the hills and deserts of
+Afghanistan would no longer extend between the Russian Power and our
+own. We should have given to Russia the power to interfere directly in
+the internal concerns of India.
+
+I have never supposed Russia to have any sinister designs upon India.
+After much reading I have failed to discover any proof of such designs.
+Those who suspect Russia obtain their evidence by a very simple process.
+They reject as incredible the objects assigned by the Russian Government
+as guiding its policy, and substitute their own fixed preconception in
+place of them. I believe that neither Russia nor any other Power would
+accept of India as a free gift. I cannot imagine a rational statesman
+coveting for his country so burdensome and unprofitable a
+responsibility. But that a Russian Government should ever attempt the
+invasion and conquest of India is to me beyond the power of belief. What
+Mr. Cobden wrote in 1835 appears to me as convincing at this day as it
+was then.
+
+    "China," he wrote, "affords the best answer to those who argue that
+    Russia meditates hostile views towards our Indian possessions. China
+    is separated from Russia by an imaginary boundary only; and that
+    country is universally supposed to contain a vast deposit of riches
+    well worthy of the spoiler's notice. Besides, it has not enjoyed the
+    '_benefit_' of being civilized by English or other Christian
+    conquerors--an additional reason for expecting to find a wealthy
+    Pagan community, waiting, like unwrought mines, the labours of some
+    Russian Warren Hastings. Why, then, does not the Czar invade the
+    Chinese Empire, which is his next neighbour, and contains an
+    unravaged soil, rather than contemplate, as the alarmist writers and
+    speakers predict he does, marching three thousand miles over regions
+    of burning deserts and ranges of snowy mountains to Hindostan, where
+    he would find that Clive and Wellesley had preceded him?"
+
+Apart, however, from the question of motives, it is not possible to
+march an army from Herat to the Indus. And we must always bear in mind
+that even if the Russian army reached the Indus, their real work,
+instead of being over, would only then commence. With that vast extent
+of hill and desert behind them they would have before them some sixty
+thousand British troops in an entrenched position. Even a victory would
+leave the invader begirt about with dangers and difficulty; a defeat
+would be his utter annihilation. Not a soldier of the army of invasion
+would return to tell the tale. It is impossible to divine where or how
+Russia could raise the money for so gigantic an enterprise; and if the
+money was forthcoming it is not credible that any Government should
+fling it away on such a hopeless undertaking. In assuming that Russia
+will refrain from an attack upon India, there is no need to credit
+either the Government or the people with more than that ordinary common
+sense which hinders men and nations from attempting to achieve the
+impossible.
+
+The danger to India arises not from the existence of any Russian designs
+against our Empire, but from the belief that such exist. This belief
+will, so to speak, hybernate for a season; then all at once we find it
+in full activity, and creating a panic in every heart of which it takes
+possession. These are the critical moments for the well-being and
+security of our Indian Empire. In such a period of panic we rushed into
+the disastrous war in Afghanistan in 1838. Under the influence of like
+feelings we involved ourselves in the inglorious raid the first act of
+which has just terminated. On both occasions we have been guilty of
+assailing a Prince whose only desire was to form an intimate alliance
+with us. On both occasions we have carried fire and sword among a people
+with whom we frankly avowed that we had no assignable cause of quarrel.
+But so long as Afghanistan extended between us and the Russian dominions
+in Asia it was physically impossible to declare war against Russia. In
+our unreasoning panic we fell upon the Ameer and his people, because
+there was no one else to attack. But if we make the Hindoo Khosh our
+military frontier, then Russia, by assembling a few thousand men upon
+the Oxus, can, whenever she pleases, agitate India from one end to the
+other. She will not need to attack. The menace will be sufficient. For
+we must remember that the undisputed supremacy of British rule in India
+depends, in the main, upon two conditions, both of which are destroyed
+if we annex Afghanistan. The one is, that no heavier burden be laid upon
+the people than they are willing to bear; and the other, the absence of
+any hope of deliverance. The cost of maintaining our supremacy in
+Afghanistan _will_ make the burden of our rule utterly intolerable alike
+to our native soldiers and our civil population; the assembling of a
+Russian army on the frontiers of Afghanistan will provide the hope of
+deliverance. The hazards and uncertainties of the situation would keep
+the natives in a state of perpetual unrest. The ambitious and the
+disaffected would engage in intrigue and conspiracy; trade would
+languish; the internal development of the country be abruptly arrested;
+and the Empire would assuredly be wrested from our hands on the occasion
+of the first European war in which we became involved.
+
+
+The Treaty of Gundamuck.
+
+Annexation being impossible, is it wise, or is it practicable, to return
+to the provisions of the Treaty of Gundamuck? It is neither wise nor
+possible, for the simple reason that this Treaty was based upon a
+fiction. It was grounded upon the utterly false assumption that there
+existed in Afghanistan a central authority, acknowledged as legitimate
+by all the people of Afghanistan, with whom we could establish permanent
+diplomatic relations. There is no such authority. Instances have been
+adduced of attacks made upon European Embassies in other Oriental
+countries, and the argument has been put forward, that as,
+notwithstanding such outbreaks, diplomatic relations have been
+maintained with Turkey and Persia, there is no reason to conclude from
+the fate of Major Cavagnari that they are impossible in Afghanistan. The
+cases are not parallel. The Ameer of Kabul has no such authority in his
+capital or throughout his dominions as the Sultan or the Shah. It is
+possible, though not very probable, that a British Envoy might reside in
+Kabul without being murdered, but the measure of his utility would
+depend upon the fluctuating fortunes of the Ameer to whom he was
+accredited. The only way to obviate this would be to place a force at
+the disposal of the Envoy, sufficient to put down all insurrectionary
+movements against the Ameer. But if we undertook this duty, we should
+become responsible for the character of the civil administration. We
+could not punish the victims of a cruel or rapacious Ameer, without at
+the same time cutting off at their source the cruelty and rapacity, by
+the deposition of an unworthy ruler. And thus, in a very brief time, we
+should find that virtually we had annexed the country. Facts are
+stubborn things, and it is worse than useless to fight against them.
+Those who contend that the murder of Major Cavagnari ought not to be
+allowed to overturn what they term the "settled policy" of the Ministry,
+are bound to show in what way this "settled policy" can be carried out.
+How do they propose to obtain an Ameer towards whom all the sections of
+the Afghans shall practise a loyal obedience? And if no such Ameer can
+be obtained, with whom or with what are we to establish diplomatic
+relations?
+
+
+The Policy of Withdrawal.
+
+There remains the policy of withdrawal. The surest barrier against
+foreign aggression in India is to be obtained in the contentment and
+prosperity of the people. A people thus situated are prompt to repel
+invasion, and secret intrigue is deprived of the conditions essential to
+its success. But in order that the people of India should be prosperous
+and contented, it is absolutely necessary that the financial burdens
+they have to carry--and especially the military charges--should not be
+enhanced. It is not possible to advance our military frontier--even to
+the extent of the (so-called) "Scientific Frontier"--without an enormous
+enhancement of our military expenditure. And all military expenditure is
+unprofitable, in the sense that it takes so much from the tax-payer and
+brings him no material equivalent. Consequently, whatever else this
+forward policy accomplishes, it cannot fail to impoverish the people and
+stimulate their discontent. Moreover, the incidents of the war have
+demonstrated that an invasion of India from Central Asia is physically
+impossible. We started from the Indus, firmly resolved to march to
+Herat, if necessary; but when we had reached Kandahar, we found it
+impossible to advance further. It would be equally impossible for a
+Russian army to march from Herat to the Indus. There is, therefore, no
+such reason for a change of frontier as was alleged in justification of
+the war.
+
+In all probability there is not even a Tory in England who does not in
+his heart approve of a policy of withdrawal; but there are, he would
+say, difficulties in the way. There are. After all the glowing eulogies
+they have pronounced upon themselves, it will not be pleasant or easy
+for Ministers to transfer these eulogies to their opponents. It will be
+extremely disagreeable for a "specially gifted Viceroy" to have to
+confess that his chiefest gift was a gigantic capacity for blundering.
+But if India is to be preserved to the nation, there is no escape from
+this unpleasant alternative. Either Ministers must acknowledge an error
+that is now patent to all the world, or India must be saddled with the
+heavy costs and the incalculable risks of an annexation of Afghanistan.
+These risks, it must be remembered, are not transitory, but enduring;
+and if we accept them, we must be prepared for a doom of absolute
+effacement in the politics of Europe. The argument which will be urged
+against withdrawing from Afghanistan is, of course, the old familiar
+one--the loss of prestige. This is an argument impossible to refute
+because the exact worth of prestige is an unknown quantity, as to which
+no two people are agreed. But whatever be its value, to rush upon ruin
+and destruction in order to preserve our prestige is an act of insanity.
+It is as if a man should commit suicide in order to preserve his
+reputation for courage. When we retired from Afghanistan in 1842, we
+frankly confessed the mistake we had committed, and I am not aware that
+any evil resulted from the confession. The wrongs that we had done left
+behind them a legacy of evil, but not the confession of those wrongs.
+And so it is now. The frontier policy of Lord Lytton has ruined our
+reputation for justice, truthfulness, and generosity, and the stain of
+that policy must cling to us for ever. We shall not conceal or efface it
+by laying a crushing burden upon our native subjects and upon future
+generations of Englishmen, in order to evade the humiliation of a
+confession. On the contrary, we make what reparation is still in our
+power when, in the interests of both, we refuse to annex Afghanistan.
+
+    ROBERT D. OSBORN,
+    _Lieutenant-Colonel_.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL IDEALISM IN FRANCE.
+
+    _La Science positive et la Metaphysique._ Par LOUIS LIARD,
+    Professeur a la Faculte des Lettres de Bordeaux. (Ouvrage couronne
+    par l'Institut de France.) Paris, 1879.
+
+
+For some years past there has been observable in France, outside of and
+in opposition to Positivism, a growing movement in favour of idealism in
+general, and of the critical idealism of Kant in particular. This
+philosophy, which had previously found very few adherents in our
+country, has now begun to make its way into our teaching and our
+Universities. Berkeley and Kant have been the subjects of special works,
+and an attempt has been made to translate and reproduce their ideas by
+harmonizing them with the principal doctrines of spiritualism. We have
+here a movement full of promise and well deserving of attention.[1]
+Among the different productions affording some notion of this
+philosophical tendency, we make choice--as being both the most recent
+and the most complete--of a remarkable work, distinguished and crowned
+by the French Institute, _Positive Science and Metaphysic_, by a young
+and learned professor of Bordeaux, M. Louis Liard.
+
+To begin with, M. Liard's work is well composed, its plan being simple,
+severe, and lucid. It divides itself into three parts. The first is
+devoted to determining the nature and limits of positive sciences--that
+is, of the sciences properly so called--and to showing that they cannot
+pretend to abolish or replace metaphysics. In this portion of his book
+the author discusses the three forms of the experimental philosophy of
+our day, namely--Positivism, the philosophy of association, and that of
+evolution.
+
+In the second part, the author examines what he calls Criticism--that is
+to say, the philosophy of Kant. The preceding discussion having
+demonstrated that the human mind is incapable of departing from certain
+forms, certain laws, without which experience itself would be
+impossible,--the author now resolves these into five fundamentals:
+space, time, substance, cause, the Absolute. But are these forms or laws
+of the mind the laws of things as well? Have they an objective
+authority? We know that metaphysics hang upon the solution of this
+question. We know, too, what is the solution given by Kant to this great
+problem. In recognizing the necessary existence of these forms as laws
+of the mind he disputes their external reality; hence he only admits
+critical, not real and dogmatic metaphysic. Now, as regards this point
+the author of the book under our notice, instead of dissenting from
+Criticism as he had done from Positivism, appears on the contrary to
+accept it by its own name, and to admire and endorse its conclusions. He
+seems to grant or even to affirm that if Positivism is wrong, Criticism
+is right, and that, strictly speaking, metaphysic is not a science.
+
+And yet if metaphysic were not a science in the strict sense of the
+word--that is to say, in the sense of objective sciences--would it
+follow that it was nothing, or nothing more than criticism itself? By no
+means: our author does not stop at that apparent solution; metaphysic
+according to him has an object that criticism has not reached, has not
+shaken; metaphysic has its own proper function, in which criticism can
+never take its place. Only instead of founding it on the object, we must
+found it on the subject. The mind must turn away from the external world
+and re-enter itself. It is there that, without need of forms or
+categories of which criticism has demonstrated the fallacy, the subject
+grasps itself not only in its phenomena but in its being, and determines
+itself in conformity to an end. This end is goodness: and this is the
+only notion we can form to ourselves of the Absolute. Thus, metaphysic
+is not the science of the object, but that of the subject; or if the
+name of science be still withheld, it is at least the study of the
+subject, and it is founded on and completed by morality. Thus, the
+author ends by an evolution very similar to that of Kant, but with
+certain differences which it will be our part to point out.
+
+These constitute the three parts of the work. We will now take them up
+in succession.
+
+
+I.
+
+Let us first of all consider the characteristics of positive science. It
+has for its object the conversion of facts into laws, or in other words
+the resolving the composite into the simple, the particular into the
+universal, the contingent into the necessary. But let us observe with
+our author that we are only dealing here with a relative simplicity, a
+partial universality, a conditional necessity. None of these characters
+present themselves in a really absolute manner. The simple is invariably
+composed of several terms; the universal only applies itself to a
+certain class of phenomena; the necessary is so only with relation to
+the consequences of a law, but the law itself always remains contingent.
+Thus, no positive science can ever attain to the absolute. It is the
+same with methods. These methods are induction and deduction. Now,
+however precise these processes be, however marvellous the sequence and
+interdependence of the propositions they discover and demonstrate, their
+data are never more than particular and contingent facts; consequences,
+then, can only be proportioned to those data. Hence it is certain that
+the positive sciences cannot go beyond a relative universality or
+necessity. It may seem as though we ought to make an exception in favour
+of mathematics. But by a subtle discussion which it would be difficult
+to give summarily, the author shows that they too come under the same
+law, whence it follows that the domain of positive science properly
+so-called is contained within the relative.
+
+From this consideration there has sprung up in our day a philosophy that
+reduces all sciences without exception to the knowledge of relation, and
+by so doing has declared all metaphysics impossible: and this philosophy
+is called Positivism. "Any proposition," says Auguste Comte, "which is
+not finally reducible to the simple enunciation of a particular or
+general fact, is incapable of holding a real or intelligible meaning."
+"There is nothing absolute," says the same philosopher, "if it be not
+this very proposition that there is nothing absolute." As to the proof
+of this proposition, it lies, according to the school in question, in
+the celebrated law which reduces all progress of the human mind in all
+orders of research to three phases: the theological phase, in which
+facts are explained by causes and supernatural agents; the metaphysical,
+in which they are explained by abstract and ontological entities; and,
+finally, the positive, in which phenomena are verified by experience and
+referred to their laws--that is to say, to constant and always
+verifiable relations of coincidence and succession.
+
+Our author, having expounded this doctrine with much precision, proceeds
+to criticize it with equal sagacity. He points out what is illusory in
+this law of the three states; shows that it confuses metaphysic with
+scholasticism; and proves, finally, that, in aiming at merging mind in
+knowledge, and subordinating, as he says, the subjective to the
+objective, Positivism does not understand what it is speaking of, since
+all knowledge is ultimately referable to facts of consciousness--that is
+to say, to something subjective, which is in effect, as Descartes has
+pointed out, the only order of absolutely certain truths. Besides which,
+let positive science, or rather the positive philosophy, in the name of
+positive facts, proscribe metaphysic as it will, is it not evident that
+the fundamental conceptions of all science--number, atom, force, matter,
+cause, law--are metaphysical conceptions? Is it not evident that all
+science whatever is impossible without a certain number of principles or
+notions,--in a word, of intellectual laws, which even govern experience
+itself? As yet the positive school has not answered the learned
+demonstration of Kant on the necessity of the _a priori_ principle, or
+rather it has ignored it. It has made no addition to that old
+empiricism which the school of Leibnitz and of Kant had refuted.
+
+But since the Positivism of Auguste Comte, too little versed in
+metaphysical knowledge to discuss it authoritatively, there have arisen
+two important schools, the one of association, the other of evolution.
+The former has endeavoured to base experience on an experimental and
+positive law; the latter has generalized this law, and made of it a
+particular case of a more general law embracing the whole of
+Nature--namely, the law of evolution.
+
+The doctrine of association may be referred to the fundamental law that
+all ideas rising simultaneously or successively in the human mind, tend
+invariably to recall each other in the same order; this is what is
+called association of ideas. When any two ideas have thus been
+constantly associated without ever being separated (as, for instance,
+form and colour), they unite indissolubly and thus become necessary
+laws. Now, of all these necessary connections, the most universal is
+this: no phenomenon ever appears without having been preceded by some
+other phenomenon, which is always the same under the same circumstances.
+This law is that of causality, which is both the supreme principle and,
+at the same time, the result of all experience. To this doctrine of J.
+S. Mill and Alexander Bain our author opposes the two following
+objections:--1st, How does it explain the generalization? 2nd, How does
+it explain the necessity of the laws of the understanding? On the first
+point the English School appeals to a law that it calls the law of
+_similarity_ or faculty of identifying the like in the different. But
+this is indeed, strictly speaking, a fact of association? Should not
+association, properly understood, be reduced to the law of
+contiguity--that is to say, to the fact of our ideas only becoming
+associated through relations of time? To admit the faculty of
+recognizing similarity in diversity, what is this but to admit mind,
+intelligence--something, in short, which is other than a simple external
+association? As to the second point, can we reduce the rational
+necessity that Kant and Leibnitz have laid down as the criterion of _a
+priori_ principles to a pure necessity of habit--that is to say, to the
+automatic expectation of the future inscribed on the past? Where is the
+scientific guarantee in this hypothesis? Why should Nature bend to our
+habits? "Who can assure us that we do not dream in thinking of the
+future, and that the next sensation may not interrupt our dream by an
+unforeseen shock?" We see how far-reaching this doubt is; it affects not
+only metaphysic but science as well.
+
+As to the philosophy of evolution, we know that, with regard to the
+origin of the principles of thought, it consists in linking the
+experience of present generations to that of generations past; in
+substituting secular for individual experience--in a word, in filling up
+by the accumulation of ages on ages the interval existing between
+particular and contingent facts and the universality of principles. This
+hypothesis is always at bottom no other than that of the _tabula rasa_,
+only it is no longer the individual who is this _tabula rasa_, since
+each one has, by heredity, received a pre-formed intelligence.
+Nevertheless, under pain of contradicting the hypothesis, we are forced
+to admit that there was a first subject who, prior to the action of the
+object, must have been this _tabula rasa_. But here the objections of
+Leibnitz reappear. What can a pure, abstract, and unmodified subject be?
+And again, before any meeting of subject with object, we have to admit a
+pure object having nothing subjective, just as the subject had nothing
+objective. What shall we affirm of this pure object? Let us divest it if
+you will of colour, heat, sound; must we not at least conceive it as
+extended, as existing in time, conceive it, that is, according to the
+necessary forms that are supposed to be suppressed? For to say that it
+has been capable of existing without having anything in common with
+these forms, and that out of this unknown and nameless condition have
+arisen, by way of transformation, the notions of which we treat, were to
+admit that something _can_ come out of nothing. We must therefore
+acknowledge that universal notions do at least exist as germs at the
+origin of evolution. It is not evolution that has created them,
+evolution has only developed them, and be they ever so attenuated, they
+still remain conditions without which nothing can be thought.
+
+Such is the gist of the first part of M. Liard's book, and we have
+nothing to add to it but our approbation. We can but admire the skilful
+analysis with which it begins, and the vigorous discussion accompanying
+that analysis. The three stages traversed by the experimental philosophy
+of our days--namely, Positivism, the Associative Philosophy, and that of
+Evolution--are competently and precisely summed up. The discussion is
+cogent, solid, and could not be further developed without injury to the
+unity of the work. No doubt it requires close attention to follow it;
+but it is lucid and well sustained. Whatever the difficulty metaphysic
+may encounter in constituting itself a science, and getting recognized
+as such, it has been established that empiricism is not a tenable
+position, since it has been found necessary to pass from positivism to
+association, from association to evolution; while evolution itself still
+supposed some pre-formation. One thing is certain, intelligence
+invariably contains a something that does not come from without--namely,
+intelligence itself.
+
+
+II.
+
+The criticism of Positivism has taught us that there is no knowledge
+possible without _a priori_ elements--that is to say, without laws
+inherent in thought, which impose themselves upon phenomena, so as to
+constitute veritable knowledge. This is the system of Kant, and thus
+that system avoids not only empiricism, but scepticism as well, though
+commonly confounded with it. For without necessary laws phenomena only
+form an arbitrary succession, entirely dependent upon the organization
+of the individual; we have no longer anything but individual
+sensations. In the Kantian philosophy, however, the individual is
+subjected to laws that are superior to himself; these are the laws of
+human thought, and even, perhaps, of all thought whatever. These laws
+impose themselves on each one of us in a necessary and universal manner,
+and by so doing communicate to phenomena an objective reality in this
+sense at least, that they are for individuals veritable objects; and
+thus it is that mathematical truths are objects to the intellect, even
+supposing they should be nowhere realized in any existence independent
+of thought.
+
+But are these laws of thought anything else than laws of thought? Do
+they really attain to objective reality--to _things in themselves_. Kant
+has denied that they do, and our author, in following in his steps,
+agrees, or seems to agree, with the "Kritik" of Kant.
+
+Let us then resolve the fundamental laws of the human intellect into
+five principal concepts: these are, space and time, forms of
+sensibility, substance and cause, laws of external experience, and,
+lastly, the Absolute, the final and supreme condition of all knowledge.
+Now, according to Kant and our author, these notions, at least the four
+first, are at the same time necessary as subjective conditions of
+thought, and contradictory so soon as we seek to realize them outside of
+thought.
+
+For example, that space and time are found by implication in every
+internal or external representation, that they are not the result of
+abstraction and generalization, this has been firmly established by
+Kant; for the elements from which some have sought to derive them
+already imply them. But, at the same time, they are only internal
+conditions, of which the objects are unrealizable outside of ourselves,
+and the reason of this is given by M. Liard, as follows:--Space and time
+have three essential characteristics, they are homogeneous, continuous,
+and unlimited. Now, if we seek to make of space and time _things in
+themselves_ we may doubtless conceive them as homogeneous and
+continuous, but not as unlimited, for no actual magnitude is unlimited;
+all magnitude is expressed in numbers, and numbers are necessarily
+finite, an infinite number involving a contradiction.
+
+We will not enter into a question here mooted by the author, leading to
+what Leibnitz calls the labyrinth of the continued (_Labyrinthus
+continui_), or of invisibles; we will content ourselves with pointing
+out that the reason here given is not by any means in conformity with
+the ideas of Kant--indeed, that it contradicts them. In fact, our author
+here applies to the two forms of sensibility the objection that Kant
+raised only about real things and the sensible world. The world, indeed,
+being composed of parts, can only be conceived as infinite by adding
+these parts to each other, and by thus supposing the actual reality of
+an infinite number. But it is not so with space, which, not being
+composed of parts, is consequently not representable by numbers. "There
+is only one single space, there is only one single time," says Kant. The
+notion of space is therefore not formed by the infinite addition of
+small portions of space and time. These are unities, not numbers. Hence
+illimitableness is given with the very intuition. "Space," says Kant,
+"is represented as a given infinite magnitude," _als eine gegebene
+unendliche Quantitaet_. Now, so soon as the infinite is _given_, instead
+of _being made_ by a mental addition, it seems to us that the above
+difficulty vanishes.
+
+Let us pass to the notion of substance and to that of cause. These two
+notions are necessary to render possible the connection of phenomena in
+the human mind. Our perceptions are, in fact, diverse; if they were only
+diverse, and had no unity, there would be no passage from one phenomenon
+to another; consciousness would arise and disappear with each
+phenomenon, to arise and die anew with the next, and so on. But then
+there would be no thought, for in order that thought should exist there
+must be at least two different things presented to the unity of
+consciousness. In other terms, we should be incapable of perceiving a
+changing thing without something that was changeless. Hence this is a
+necessary condition of knowledge. Now, let us see whether this condition
+can be rendered objective. According to our author it cannot, for if we
+subtract from surrounding things all the phenomena that fall under the
+domain of the senses, what remains? Nothing. Common-sense, indeed,
+believes in substance, but does not mean thereby an abstract and
+metaphysical entity, it means the whole of what strikes the senses; when
+the phenomenon is opposed to substance nothing is meant but that a new
+phenomenon has just added itself to preceding ones. Wood burns; here
+wood is the substance, combustion the phenomenon. This is how
+common-sense understands the matter; but if we separate from the idea of
+wood all that characterizes it as wood, nothing remains but a pure
+abstraction, of which common-sense takes no account, and has never so
+much as thought. Our author further combats the idea of substance by
+appealing to the metaphysical difficulties that it suggests. Is there
+only one substance, or are there several? Either hypothesis is equally
+difficult to sustain. In other words, substance is nothing more than
+that law in virtue of which the mind connects phenomena in one and the
+same act of thought.
+
+Here, again, we are obliged to say that the preceding arguments against
+the objectivity of the notion of substance are, in our opinion, far from
+conclusive. In the first place, it seems to us a false philosophical
+method to exclude an object from the human mind because it suggests
+difficulties that we are incapable of solving. Every object must be
+presented to us as existing before we can judge of the possibility of
+that object. Perhaps we do not possess the means of solving all the
+questions which the existence of an object may suggest, but this is no
+reason why it should not exist. The existence of things cannot be
+subordinated to the limits of our understanding; it is this very
+principle which seems to us soundest of all in the "Kritik" of Kant.
+Even should we be for ever incapable of knowing whether there is one
+substance or whether there are many, even should we be for ever doomed
+to doubt as to this point, it would not follow that the existence of one
+or of many substances were thereby done away with. Moreover, the
+criticism of our author goes much further than the imperilling the
+objectivity of substance; it really bears against the very notion
+itself. If, in fact, every phenomenon being withdrawn, nothing remains
+any longer in my mind, it is not merely objective substance that
+vanishes, it is the notion itself. What, indeed, is a notion which,
+analyzed, comes to naught? And what is this necessary law which is a
+nonentity? Our author tells us that if we remove all the accidents there
+remains "nothing perceptible to the senses." This is mere tautology, for
+it is too evident that nothing sensible ought to remain in the notion,
+all sensible accidents having been withdrawn; but what does remain is
+that without which phenomena could not be connected. And this is no
+empty concept, for how should an empty concept have any uniting power?
+And, lastly, when the author, correcting himself, as we think, says that
+the notion of substance reduces itself to what he calls a "fundamental
+phenomenon," he does nothing but change the word, and in reality reverts
+to what we call substance. For in what sense does anything
+fundamental--that is to say, that to which other phenomena ultimately
+reduce themselves, and which cannot be reduced to any other--still
+preserve the name of phenomenon? All this, therefore, is but admitting
+under one name what has been denied under another.
+
+The criticism of the notion of cause is quite similar to that of the
+notion of substance. It is a notion necessary to the mind, for just as
+without substance there can be no mental connection between simultaneous
+phenomena, in the same way without cause there can be no connection
+between successive phenomena. Causality is the necessary law that
+connects each phenomenon with its anterior conditions. Without this law
+there could be no science, no induction, no experience. It cannot,
+consequently, be derived from experience, since it is the very condition
+of it. But do we seek to render cause objective as well as substance? If
+so, we must understand it in a different sense. Cause is no longer
+merely a phenomenon anterior to another, the antecedent of a consequent.
+It is something quite different, it is force, the active power, that
+initiates the movement, and of which we find the type in our own
+consciousness. Hence, to render cause objective is nothing less than to
+spiritualize the universe, to suppose everywhere causes similar to
+ours--it is a kind of universal Fetichism. And, further, we fall into
+the same difficulties as we did with regard to substance. Is there only
+one cause or many causes? Lastly, causation thus understood is of no use
+whatever to science, for science has no need at all of metaphysical
+forces, that which is necessary to science, and employed by it under the
+name of force, being a measurable quantity which it disengages from
+phenomena and from experience.
+
+On this new ground the difficulty that confronts critical idealism is
+the same as that affecting the notion of substance. It lies in
+defending the position against empiricism, from which are borrowed all
+the arguments against the reality of the cause, while attempting,
+nevertheless, to preserve the notion of it. How succeed in retaining as
+an _a priori_ law what empiricism declares to be only an acquired habit?
+How explain a law of mind imposing a determined order on external
+phenomena? How can the entirely subjective need of relation determine
+phenomena to produce themselves in the order desired by our
+intelligence? The thunder rolls: my mind, in virtue of an innate law,
+insists on this phenomenon being connected with a certain totality of
+antecedent phenomena--namely, heat, the formation of clouds charged with
+electricity of different kinds, the meeting of these clouds, and the
+combination of the two electricities, &c. How and why have these
+phenomena produced themselves in order to satisfy my mind? Our author
+somewhere reproaches the partisans of innate ideas with supposing ideas
+on one side and phenomena on the other. How can he exonerate Kant's
+system from this objection? No philosopher ever insisted more than he on
+the opposition between matter and form, the former being, as he says,
+"given _a posteriori_," the latter ready prepared _a priori_ in the
+mind. No philosopher, not even Leibnitz, has more radically separated
+sensibility which is passive from the understanding whose principle is
+spontaneity. How do these two opposite principles happen to agree? Even
+were it pointed out that our senses themselves are innate, since our
+sensations are but the manifestation of the specific activity of each
+one of them--light, of the optic nerve, sound, of the acoustic--it still
+remains certain that our sensations are only subjective as regards their
+content and not as regards their origin; they arise in virtue of causes
+to us unknown. How should understanding, by aid of a purely mental law,
+and in order to its own satisfaction, evoke sensible phenomena from
+nothingness, and if it had such a power, it could only be in virtue of
+an active force, that is, of a veritable causality? You say that you
+require relation, without which there could be no knowledge. And why
+must there be knowledge because you feel the need of it? And why should
+there not be in the understanding a need of unity and relation that
+sensibility does not satisfy? To say that the mind at the same time that
+it thinks the law produces phenomena conformable to that law, is to make
+the mind itself the cause in the objective and metaphysical sense of the
+word--is no other than that universal spiritualism that the author began
+by refuting. We are therefore very far from admitting his criticism of
+the principles of causality. Let us go on to the notion of the absolute.
+
+M. Liard begins very properly by pointing out the confusion too often
+made between the notion of the infinite and that of the absolute. He
+says that the infinite can only be strictly understood in the
+mathematical sense, but that hence, as Leibnitz has said, the true
+infinite is the absolute. He admits the existence in the mind of the
+notion of the absolute in so far as it is inseparable from that of the
+relative. The Scotch philosopher, Hamilton, had endeavoured to suppress
+this notion, and had reproached Kant for not having completely exorcised
+the phantom of the absolute,[2] and for having retained it in the
+character of _idea_ while contesting its objective existence. It is
+remarkable that on this point, so decisive for metaphysics, Hamilton
+should have been opposed and refuted by the more modern English
+philosophers, who often pass for having pushed the critical and negative
+spirit further than he, when, indeed, on this point it is just the
+contrary. Herbert Spencer especially is one whom it is interesting to
+consult here. He maintains against Hamilton the notion of the absolute
+as positive, not negative, "as the correlative notion of the relative,
+as the substratum of all thoughts"--I quote verbally--"as the most
+important element of our knowledge."[3] He also maintains in opposition
+to Hamilton that the affirmation of the absolute is "a knowledge and not
+a belief." Only according to him this object that underlies all our
+thoughts is absolutely indeterminable by us. We know that it _is_, not
+_what_ it is. It is the incomprehensible, the unknowable.
+
+M. Liard seems to us substantially to admit all these conclusions.
+"Existence by others," he says, "is not to be understood without
+self-existence." "Without the spur of the notion of the absolute, how
+comprehend the obstinate persistence of the human mind in transcending
+the limits of the relative? Is not this a proof that the relative is not
+sufficient to itself?" It is one thing to affirm the absolute, another
+to determine its nature. Even granting that we be powerless to speak as
+to the essence of the absolute, and that it can never be for us other
+than the indeterminable and unknowable, "is it nothing to be assured of
+the existence of an unknowable? At all events religious beliefs might in
+default of scientific certainty find in an irremovable basis this
+conviction."
+
+We see therefore that our author agrees with Mr. Herbert Spencer in
+granting the existence of the absolute; he does not seem to reduce it,
+as Kant does, to a mere idea. He confines himself to saying that it
+cannot be determined. He shows that none of the notions that have been
+previously examined can fill up the concept of the absolute. Neither
+space, nor time, nor substance, nor cause, nor the totality of
+phenomena, can be raised to the notion of absolute. It is therefore
+indeterminable. Now, as the absolute is the proper object of
+metaphysics, it follows that metaphysics lack an object, having nothing
+to say thereon. Hence it is self-condemned, and consequently metaphysics
+is not a science.
+
+Such is the conclusion of the second part. The first appeared to raise
+us above phenomena by establishing the necessity of thought and of its
+fundamental law. But the second confines us within the domains of
+thought, and forbids us to go beyond. There is, indeed, a science of
+thought, but this science is criticism, not metaphysics. Have we, then,
+only escaped from positivism to fall into the abyss of scepticism?
+
+Before explaining in what manner the author has endeavoured to escape
+from this abyss, there is room for an important remark on the previous
+discussion as to the notion of the absolute. Scepticism on this point
+may assume three forms. Either, first, we do not even possess the notion
+of it, our notion is entirely negative,--the absolute is the
+non-relative, is indeed the relative with a negation: such is the view
+of Sir W. Hamilton. Or else, secondly, we have the notion of the
+absolute, of being in itself and by itself, of the superlatively real
+being, _ens realissimum_, as Kant expresses it, but it is only a notion,
+we cannot affirm the existence: this is Kant's doctrine. Or, thirdly, we
+have indeed a positive notion of the absolute, and we necessarily affirm
+its existence, only we are unable to determine its nature: this is the
+conclusion arrived at by Herbert Spencer. Now, of these three doctrines
+the two first alone, in our opinion, belong to what may be called
+criticism. The third is manifestly a return to dogmatism. The more or
+less of determination in the notion of the absolute is only the second
+problem of metaphysic; the first is the existence of that absolute. And,
+moreover, the doctrine of the divine incomprehensibility has always been
+maintained by the greatest metaphysicians as well as the greatest
+theologians. All mystics incline to it. There may therefore be room for
+debate as to the more or less approximative character of our concepts of
+the absolute. That any of these are adequate, or absolutely adequate, is
+what no philosopher has ever thought himself obliged to maintain. No
+doubt, to define the absolute as the unknowable, is to express the
+doctrine under a very rigorous form, but one could hardly refuse to
+allow the absolute to be the incomprehensible.
+
+Consequently, then, if the author, as appears to be the case from the
+passages we have quoted, thinks with Mr. Herbert Spencer that the notion
+of the absolute corresponds to an existence, and if he contents himself
+with maintaining its indeterminability, we may, if we like, consider
+this to be a singularly attenuated metaphysic, but we are not entitled
+to deny that it amounts to a departure from criticism and a return to
+metaphysic. If, on the other hand, criticism does at least suppose one
+fundamental datum,--thought, namely, and with the thought the
+thinking,--we are still forced to grant to Descartes, and consequently
+to metaphysic, the existence of the thinking subject; and hence that
+science which our author declares not to be one would be found already
+in possession of the claim by the single fact of what he has called the
+criticism of two fundamental postulates: I think, I am--I think the
+absolute, the absolute is. And is this then nothing?
+
+We are therefore of opinion that M. Liard ought to have concluded the
+second part of his work as he did the first--that is to say, that he
+ought to have shown the insufficiency of criticism as he did that of
+positivism. To our mind, criticism supposes metaphysic, as positivism
+supposes criticism. Metaphysic contains the reason of criticism, as
+criticism does that of positivism. Instead, then, of saying that
+metaphysic is not a science, we should rather call it the culminating
+point of science. But in place of following this natural order, which
+is, indeed, only his own method, our author has preferred to prove
+criticism right in the second part of his book, and metaphysic right in
+the third, by a sort of _saltus_, not contained in what goes before. He
+has chosen to appear nearer to Kant than he really is; has chosen to
+carry on his own evolution in Kant's manner, and to rebuild on different
+bases what he had demolished; but we shall see that this evolution is in
+reality quite different from that of Kant, and that his justification of
+criticism is only apparent, or at least if he defends it, this is really
+only in order subsequently to undermine it.
+
+
+III.
+
+Kant's evolution, which makes dogmatism to result from scepticism, was
+an entirely moral evolution, substituting for speculative the authority
+of practical reason. The evolution we have now to deal with is of a
+quite different character; it consists in passing from objective to
+subjective knowledge, from the object to the subject. Even if all that
+has been just said on the side of criticism were true, there is at least
+invariably one existence that remains untouched by it: this existence is
+that of the thinking subject, and this existence is incontestable. What
+appears to us as a circle to the circumference are objects, in the
+centre is the subject. We do not confound ourselves with our sensations,
+we distinguish between them and ourselves. Can, then, this consciousness
+of the thinking subject be no more than the transformation of external
+events? No; for all exterior events reduce themselves to one--_i.e._,
+motion; and all interior events to one--_i.e._, thought. There is no
+transition or transformation possible between one of these phenomena and
+the other. "We acknowledge," says a distinguished savant, Professor
+Tyndall, "that a definite thought and a molecular action of the brain
+occur simultaneously, but we do not possess the essential organ, nor
+even a rudiment of the organ we should require in order to pass by
+reasoning from the one to the other." Thus, then, the subject exists and
+is not reducible to the object. Shall we say that this subject is
+nothing more than a sum of phenomena? But what adds up these phenomena?
+A common bond is needed. Have we any consciousness of such a bond?
+"Yes," replies our author, "we call internal states of consciousness,
+past, present, or possible; we attribute them to ourselves, we say that
+they take place within us. What does this mean if the _ego_ to which we
+refer them is only their succession? How comprehend the continuity of
+consciousness?" In a word, our author admits absolutely that the _ego_
+has a consciousness of its own being, as distinct from its sensations
+and from external objects. "It is," he says, "an activity constantly
+modified, but yet always one, which dominating its states refers them
+to the unity of one same consciousness."
+
+Here, then, we have, without possibility of mistake, the fundamental
+doctrine of the spiritualistic philosophy of Descartes, Leibnitz, Maine
+de Biran, and Jouffroy. By laying down this principle the author
+believes himself enabled to reinstate that metaphysic which criticism
+had condemned. We, for our part, have no doubt of this; but we fail to
+see how the author can at the same time hold this principle and the
+Kantian principle of idealism. The "Kritik" of Kant bears upon the
+subject as well as the object; according to it both the one and the
+other are unknowable and incomprehensible noumena. The human mind is but
+a complex compound of sensations and categories, the unity of which is
+reached by the same process as the unity of external objects. No doubt
+Kant is, indeed, obliged to concede something to the _ego_, the _cogito_
+as he calls it; but he does not very clearly say what it is; it is not a
+substance, not a category, not a result. "It is," says he, "the vehicle
+of all categories." What can be more vague? The metaphor shows both how
+little disposed Kant was to assign its due part to the _ego_--how vague
+and uncertain he left it, and at the same time how he was forced to take
+it into account. The _ego_, the active, continuous, self-conscious
+_ego_, is the rock ahead to Kant's philosophy. For how dispute the
+consciousness of substance and of cause, when one admits "a continuous
+activity dominating all states of consciousness and reducing them to
+unity?"
+
+What, then, is substance, according to our author? It is, he says,
+something that does not change considered as the necessary condition of
+that which changes. What is cause? Is it not the power of initiating any
+given movement? Now, this same consciousness which gives us the _ego_ as
+a continuous activity, does it not in so doing give it us as the
+condition of phenomena and as the productive cause of movement in
+voluntary efforts? Consequently, to grant that the _ego_ knows itself as
+_ego_, and as activity, is in point of fact to restore the notions of
+cause and substance which had been done away with. At most all that has
+been gained from criticism is the difficulty of comprehending substance
+and cause without objective, that is, material form. Its results, then,
+amount only to the incomprehensibility of matter. But the cause of
+metaphysic is not to be confounded with that of matter; metaphysic is
+not tied to the existence of materialism; and were it even led in
+self-defence to deny the very existence of matter altogether, one does
+not see that such a negation need cost it much. Descartes did not
+hesitate to place the existence of bodies in doubt, in order to save the
+existence of spirit. Malebranche did not believe that the existence of
+bodies could be proved except by revelation. Leibnitz did not think that
+bodies were more than phenomena, the reality of which was spiritual.
+There is, then, no common cause between the interests of metaphysic, or
+of what Kant calls _dogmatism_, and the question of material
+objectivity, which may be left open without compromising the
+fundamental basis of things. How, then, can our author appear to assign
+the victory to criticism while in reality depriving it of its chief
+support by restoring to the _ego_ the immediate consciousness of itself
+as a being, one, active, permanent, and continuous? Kant may have played
+this game, because, in effect, outside of criticism, he only admits
+moral reasons for reinstating dogmatism. But although our author follows
+him too on that ground, he nevertheless enters in point of fact upon an
+entirely different path when he invokes immediate consciousness as a
+guarantee of the existence and activity of the mind. These are not moral
+and practical, but metaphysical reasons. Metaphysic, then, independently
+of morality, has its own proper foundation, which, far from being
+affected by criticism, is the very foundation of criticism itself. This
+foundation once admitted, are we entitled to declare metaphysic no
+science? We hold that we are not. Doubtless, if by science be meant an
+absolutely adequate knowledge of the object, such as mathematics
+affords, metaphysic cannot pretend to such knowledge; but we have here
+only a question of degree. The perfection of a science is not the same
+thing as its existence. A science is what it is by reason of the
+difficulties its objects present, and the imperfections of its method;
+but it is science none the less if it possesses a given object and a
+solid foundation. Now, such a foundation is admitted by our author when
+he admits the intuition of the _ego_ by itself; and hence it is no
+longer a mere question of words to refuse the name of science to the
+series of deductions that may be drawn from a principle which has been
+admitted valid.
+
+If our author grants the foundation of metaphysics by adhering to the
+Cartesian principle of the immediate knowledge of the mind by itself, he
+at the same time acknowledges its most elevated term by defending the
+existence of an absolute perfection, a supreme type of spirituality. "If
+in ourselves," he says, "relatively perfect ideas realize themselves in
+virtue of their relative perfection, why should not the total perfection
+from whence they are derived exist? There is nothing contradictory in
+such an absolute." Is not this to admit the doctrine of the perfect
+being as the Cartesian School has constantly expressed it? but is it
+enough _to_ say that the total perfection _may_ exist, enough to inquire
+why it should not exist? Should we not go further, and say with Bossuet,
+"On the contrary, perfection is the reason of being." Here we are forced
+to allow, in the views, or at all events in the expressions of our
+author, a fluctuation and uncertainty which now impel him towards the
+critical, and now towards the metaphysical position, without his
+arriving at a sufficiently decided conclusion. "The absolute," he says,
+"would then be the ideal of moral perfection. But by such a definition
+do we not compromise its reality?" To which doubt he replies that the
+"true reality is precisely the ideal." Now, this is an equivocal and
+obscure reply, demanding explanation. No doubt the reality claimed for
+the perfect being is not a sensible and material reality. But there is
+another than material reality--there is a spiritual, such as is
+manifested to us in the reality of consciousness, in the immediate
+activity and intuition of our being. We may, indeed, style this sort of
+existence _ideal_, in opposition to material existence; but the
+expression is incorrect, for that which, properly speaking, is an ideal
+existence is one merely represented to the mind when thinking of
+something that no longer exists, does not yet exist, nor ever will
+exist. Now, the question is, whether the moral absolute, of which we
+have just had the definition given, belongs to the first or to the
+second of these ideals; whether it exists for itself, or only for us, in
+so far as we think it, and while we think it. For a mode of existence
+like this, dependent on our own thought, is very far from being the
+supreme reality; it is only a modal and subjective reality. Thus our
+author, we see, expresses himself too uncertainly. Nevertheless, his own
+principles sufficiently authorized him to declare himself with more
+precision. Indeed, we have seen, on the one hand, that he, with Mr.
+Herbert Spencer, affirms the existence of the absolute; and, on the
+other hand, that he acknowledges the concept of total perfection to be
+in nowise contradictory. Granting so much, must not absolute perfection
+be the reason of the existence of the absolute, as relative perfection
+is the reason of the existence of the relative? If, however, any choose
+to call that supreme perfection the _Idea_, with Hegel--as Plato calls
+it the _Good_, Aristotle the pure _Act_, Descartes the _Infinitely
+Perfect Being_--we have nothing to object, so long as it be clearly
+understood that the _idea_ shall signify the identity of the thought and
+the being, and not merely a subjective conception of the human mind.
+
+To sum up: it results from what has been already said, that spite of his
+powers of thought, the author has not been able to escape a certain
+fluctuation between criticism and spiritualism, and has only arrived at
+a contradictory compromise between the two conceptions. From criticism
+he borrows the ideality of the notions of space, time, substance, cause,
+and the idea of a moral absolute founded on purely moral motives. From
+spiritualism he borrows the existence of the absolute as the necessary
+correlative of the relative, and the consciousness of the subject which
+perceives itself in its continuity as the cause of its phenomena; and,
+finally, the idea of a total perfection, which may, without involving
+any contradiction, have the reason of its existence in itself. These two
+orders of conception are not so closely connected as they should be; too
+much is conceded to criticism, too little to metaphysic; and M. Liard
+inclines overmuch to give to morality the exorbitant privilege of
+deciding between the two.
+
+
+IV.
+
+But is this equivalent to saying that we blame our author for his
+enterprise, and for the attempt he has made to reconcile criticism with
+dogmatism? By no means; for we are inclined to believe that this is the
+very aim that all metaphysic should set before itself at the present
+day. How, indeed, could we possibly admit that so powerful, so lofty an
+intellectual effort as that initiated by Kant, which under the name of
+criticism, of subjective or objective idealism, or even of positivism,
+has but been the development of his primary thought; that so prodigious
+a mental movement as this should be absolutely void of meaning, and
+destined to leave no trace in science? How believe that since the days
+of Descartes the human intellect has gone mad? Would not this be to
+express ourselves in the same way as those who, including Descartes
+himself in this condemnation, have maintained that since St. Thomas the
+whole course of human thought has been only one long error? Can there be
+anything more contrary to the laws of the human mind than this
+hypothesis of absolute truth discovered once for all, leaving no room
+beside it for anything but error? And besides, what more did Kant do
+than, under the form of a system (a defective form, no doubt, but
+hitherto the only one known to philosophy)--what more, we ask, did he
+than develop and render prominent what had been implicitly contained in
+the teaching of all preceding metaphysicians? Had not they all assigned
+a share in human consciousness to the subjective and relative, and very
+often a larger share than we are led to think, if we only regard their
+conclusions? Has there, for example, been since the days of Plato a
+single metaphysician who has denied the knowledge of the senses to be
+relative, and has the full scope and bearing of this principle been
+accurately measured? Can that be denied which has been scientifically
+demonstrated, which Descartes already affirmed, _i.e._, that light and
+sound--Nature's two great languages--are only the products of our
+physical organization, and that outside of the eye that sees, and the
+ear that hears, there is nothing external to us but a series of
+vibrations and undulations, which are neither luminous nor sonorous?
+Reduced to itself, without the presence of men or animals, matter is
+merely darkness and silence! What sort of matter may this be, and how
+little resembling the one we know? But is not, it may be said, the
+reality of that matter attested at least by resistance, by impact? The
+reality--yes; but is the very nature of the external thing, as it is in
+itself, manifested thereby? What is impact, what is resistance, if not a
+mode of our sensations? To be assured of this, we have but to turn to
+all that metaphysicians teach us as to the nature of God. All agree in
+saying that God has no sensations. If God be cognizant of matter, as is
+indubitable, it follows that He does not know it through sensations
+similar to ours. The _argumentum baculinum_ which appears so convincing
+to Sganarelle, would be powerless with regard to a pure spirit, still
+more an infinite spirit. Now is not this as much as to say that impact
+is the mode of action bodies exercise on each other, and by which
+sentient beings are made aware of their existence, but that it is a mode
+purely relative to the sensibility of finite beings? Say that, we at
+least admit with Descartes the reality of extension. But what is the
+real size of the extended things by which we are surrounded, and which
+according to the shape of our lenses we see enlarged, diminished, or
+even distorted in a thousand ways? Were it to please God, as Leibnitz
+has said, to collect the immensity of worlds into a walnut-shell, while
+preserving the proportion of objects, we should never find it out; and
+such diminution might be carried on infinitely, without ever reaching
+any term of smallness. 'We grant it,' will be the reply--'all sensible
+knowledge is relative; Plato, Malebranche, Leibnitz, have sufficiently
+told us this; but above the senses there is the understanding, which
+alone is made for truth. Our senses give us the appearance of things,
+our understanding makes us see them as they are in themselves.' Nothing
+more true, and this is the basis of metaphysics. But the question is, to
+what point the understanding is separated and separable from
+sensibility, and reciprocally, to what point sensibility enters into the
+understanding. Is there anything in us which can really be called
+understanding pure? Understanding--yes; but pure--no! Man cannot think
+without images, says Aristotle; this alone demonstrates that our
+understanding is always obliged to sensibilize its most abstract
+concepts. Moreover, between pure concepts and the data of sensibility
+there is still a debatable and obscure region--that, namely, of space
+and time. And here it is that Kant has made his mark ineffaceably. It is
+by so doing that he renovated metaphysics. He believed, thought, that
+both these domains belonged to sensibility and not to intelligence, that
+they too were only modes of representation--that is to say, modes purely
+relative to the nature of our mind. On this point also traditional
+metaphysics came to his support, at least as regards time. For is it not
+said by all schools whatever that God is not in time, that He is an
+eternal _Now_, that past and future are nothing to Him? Is it not this
+conception which is constantly appealed to as affording the solution of
+the conflict between divine prescience and human liberty? Now to affirm
+that God is not in time, and that He sees all portions of time in one
+sole and eternal present, is not this as much as to say that time is
+only the mode of representation of finite beings with regard to
+themselves; that, consequently, it is an image belonging to their
+finitude, but not to what they are in themselves, since God, who must
+see them as they are, sees them in an absolutely and radically different
+manner? Let us add another difference between the human and divine
+intelligence, pointed out by Bossuet, when he said, "We see things
+because they are, but they are because God sees them." Therefore in God
+intelligence is anterior to things, in us posterior. Now, though we can,
+through artistic creation, form some idea of an intelligence anterior to
+things, the analogy is, after all, a coarse one, since in us creative
+imagination only deals with materials borrowed from without. Hence it
+follows that our intelligence is but a very imperfect image of the
+divine. Now, as the latter alone can be the type of veritable
+intelligence, we can only attribute to ourselves a relative
+intelligence, subordinated to the conditions of the creature. But does
+not this amount precisely to saying that we only see things in a
+subjective and human manner, and that, consequently, we do not know them
+as they are in themselves? Let us go further still; let us raise
+ourselves to conceptions of the perfect being, the divine being. Here,
+too, all metaphysicians agree in acknowledging that we have only an
+entirely relative view of the Divinity. Is there one who admits that we
+can, without anthropomorphism, understand literally all the attributes
+that we impute to the Deity? Has not God Himself defined Himself in
+Scripture as _Deus absconditus_, and does not the doctrine of mysteries
+in every great religion imply that the true essence of the Deity is
+unknown to us, and that, consequently, the philosophic doctrine of the
+attributes of God is a purely human conception, by which we strive to
+represent to ourselves the unrepresentable, and to bring within the
+grasp of our sensibility and our imagination the august and sublime
+notion that confounds all created substance?
+
+This is what we are taught by all metaphysic doctrine whatever, and not
+only by that of Kant, Plato, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Descartes,
+Malebranche, Leibnitz, Fenelon: all alike teach us that the senses are
+but a confused and relative knowledge, that space and time are modes of
+finite existence, that God can only be conceived of by analogy, and not
+in His essence. Are such conceptions as these very different from those
+of Kant? And if he has taken them up again under another form, if by
+isolating he has exaggerated them, his is the merit of having brought
+them into prominence, of reminding us of them, and forcing us to assign
+them a more important place in our doctrines. Despite the warnings of
+the greatest minds, and of all great minds, are we not ceaselessly
+tempted to yield to the automatic instinct which makes us believe things
+to be as we see them, makes us suppose the existence of a matter, solid,
+coloured, sonorous, cold, or hot, such as the senses acquaint us with;
+makes us believe in an absolute space and time, with which we no longer
+know how to deal when we think of the true Absolute; makes us conceive
+of this true Absolute or Goodness as of a species of great man, that we
+strip of a body, without even reflecting whether we have really the
+power of representing to ourselves anything absolutely incorporeal? It
+is against this vulgar current dogmatism, which philosophy has so much
+trouble in getting rid of, that not only Kant, but every metaphysician,
+protests. Kant only expounded, under a rigorous and systematic form, all
+the critical portion of previous metaphysics. To us it seems
+impossible--with more or less reservation, and without insisting at
+present too rigidly on the share of the relative and subjective in human
+knowledge--impossible, we say, not to allow this share, and
+consequently, in a certain measure, not to give in our adherence to
+transcendental criticism and idealism. There is, however, as we have
+seen above, something which escapes from this relativity of all human
+knowledge: it is the very fact of knowing. This fact has in itself
+something absolute. I know not whence it comes, I cannot explain it; I
+marvel that a being should be met with in whom at one time or other what
+we call knowledge has appeared; but this fact cannot exist without being
+known by the knower. All knowledge supposes, then, a subject that knows
+itself--that is to say, who is internally present to himself. Here
+knowledge comes from within, not from without. Whatever is objective can
+only _appear_ to me, and is consequently a _phenomenon_. I only see its
+outside, and it is only in relation to myself that I can grasp even that
+outside. But the conscious _ego_ sees itself from within. Shall we say
+that it appears to itself? I am willing to say so, but as it appears to
+itself that appearance is a reality, for the form that I give it is my
+own form. In order that it should become _me_, _I_ must be _me_. Every
+other object has to be given in the first instance before it is
+perceived; in order that I should see a house, a house must be there. It
+is not so with the _ego_. For if at the moment it is given me it is not
+already me, how is it to become so? How shall I know it as such? And if
+it be already me, it is already perceived as such. Hence it follows that
+the external thing may be represented without being, as happens in
+sleep, while I cannot think without thinking myself, or think myself
+without existing. All subjectivism, all relativism, all criticism,
+therefore, are baffled in presence of the _ego_.
+
+It is from this solid and immovable foundation laid by Descartes at the
+entrance of science that we may set out to extend the sphere of our
+knowledge. Everything, it is said, is relative. What matter if that
+relative be connected by precise and fixed relations with the unknown,
+if that which is given be a strictly faithful projection of that which
+is thought? For instance, we do not know the souls of other men in
+themselves, we have never seen a soul such as it is in itself; those
+even which are dearest to us are unknown like the rest. But if we
+suppose all the signs by which they manifest themselves to be sincere,
+is it not to know them truly and in the only way intelligible to us, to
+hear their voices, and understand their words, and interpret their
+actions? No doubt nothing external to ourselves can be known internally
+by us; but if the exterior be the expression of the interior, is not the
+one the equivalent of the other? And to ask more would amount to asking
+to be more than man. Science teaches us that all appearances have a
+fixed and precise relation to reality. The visible apparent sky is
+strictly what it ought to be to express the real sky. The deeper our
+knowledge of things goes, the more we see the perfect conformity of the
+apparent to the real, the more faithfully do phenomena translate
+noumena. Are we not, therefore, justified in supposing that these
+relative noumena, which are still no more than appearances, could be
+translated in their turn, if only we had the key to them, into other
+noumena of which they are the form and image? I may say the same about
+the anthropomorphic representations of Deity. I admit that the Absolute
+is in its essence above all human representations. But these
+representations, when we disengage them as much as possible from all
+sensible elements, are none the less the true expression of that
+incomprehensible essence in so far as it appears to a human
+consciousness. If not God in Himself, it is God in relation to me; and
+it is with only this last that we have to do so long as we are but men.
+
+We do not, therefore, consider it impossible to assign to the critical
+element its part in metaphysic without denying the objective reality of
+knowledge. We think that the famous old distinction between being and
+phenomena, the intelligible and the sensible, still endures, despite the
+"Kritik" of Kant; or rather, this very "Kritik" itself is, in our eyes,
+only a hyperbolical but striking manner of expressing this great truth.
+
+    PAUL JANET.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] We already endeavoured to make this philosophy known at its earliest
+appearance, by an article that appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_
+of the 19th October, 1873, under the title, "A New Phase of
+Spiritualism." We are now dealing with the most recent form of this new
+school.
+
+[2] Hamilton's "Discussions: Cousin, Schelling."
+
+[3] Herbert Spencer's "First Principles," First Part p. 18.
+
+
+
+
+ON THE MORAL LIMITS OF BENEFICIAL COMMERCE.
+
+
+When a Professor of _Political Economy_ was first established in the
+University of Oxford, a controversy presently arose in the academical
+common rooms concerning the just meaning of the phrase. Among elder and
+conservative men, the most active-minded insisted that it ought to
+receive the full width of meaning attached to it by Aristotle in his
+Treatise on Economy, which, with him, was essentially the economy of the
+State--that is, in pure Greek, _political_ economy, although this
+epithet is not annexed to his title. By this interpretation, the science
+naturally and necessarily became implicated with moral considerations,
+which never can be excluded from the statesman's view. But the actual
+students and professors of the new science--eminently Mr. Nassau Senior
+and Dr. Whately, shortly afterwards Archbishop of Dublin--naturally
+feared that by such an interpretation political economy would become
+confounded with politics; would, indeed, cease to be a science; and by
+so great an enlargement of its area, would fail to receive that special
+and definite cultivation which Adam Smith had bestowed on it, as the
+theory of national wealth. Whately indeed, to avoid this inconvenient
+extension of the sense, proposed to call the topic, not political
+economy, but _Catallactics_--that is, the science of exchanges.
+Excellent in many respects as the last title was, it might have seemed
+to exclude the whole doctrine of taxation, and still more decisively all
+discussion of Malthus's theory of population, which belongs to politics
+or to morals, not at all to the doctrine of exchange. In the end, the
+economists ruled that their science does not at all teach what _ought_
+to be, but simply what _is_, what _goes on_, and _will go on_, as an
+inevitable result of individuals holding exchangeable right in definite
+articles. Thus they seemed to have driven moral considerations out of
+their science, as much as out of gardening or medicine. To call their
+political economy, on that account, _heartless_ (as so many have done)
+may seem ridiculous; but this form of attack on it arose from a
+perception or belief that its professors were claiming for it an
+_imperative_ force, while disclaiming morality, and were assuming that
+it was a sufficient and supreme rule for political action.
+
+Of late it has been maintained on a special ground that moral
+considerations cannot wholly be excluded from political economy. Dr. W.
+B. Hodgson, first holder of a new chair in Edinburgh as Professor of
+_Mercantile_ Economy, has urged that, in so far as morality or
+immorality in individuals affects wealth and the markets, we do not
+exhaust the discussion on exchanges while we neglect this consideration.
+Perhaps indeed no one, in discussing taxation, has omitted to consider
+what taxes lead to fraudulent evasion or to smuggling; but economists
+hitherto, with great unanimity, have resolved that, in their character
+of economists, they will not notice moral evils from an opium trade, or
+from sale of deadly weapons and ammunition, or from traffic in
+intoxicants; nor can one in general discover from their writings that
+they know vice to be wasteful, or national expenditure on needless and
+foolish objects undesirable. They have a right to select what topics
+they will treat, and what they will not treat. They have a right to say:
+"Such and such considerations belong to morals, not to _our_ political
+economy." But, on the one hand, if they are resolved that their science
+shall be as unmoral as engineering or navigation, they must not claim
+for it any decisive weight in State-politics; on the other hand, the
+topics which they neglect need, so much the more urgently, to be treated
+by others, especially since we have no professors of practical morals,
+and (for more reasons than one) questions of the market are not thought
+suitable to the pulpit.
+
+That an exchange of one thing for another does, on the whole, _please_
+both parties to the exchange, is evidently testified by the fact that
+each acts voluntarily; hence, the inference is too lightly made that
+each is _benefited_ by the transaction. Not only so, but from an
+increasing magnitude of exchanges increase of wealth is inferred,
+without any reference to the nature of the things exchanged. In a rough
+estimate, this reasoning has, no doubt, a _prima facie_ weight, for we
+may not dictate to the tastes of others, nor assume that tastes which
+are not ours are therefore silly. Yet, evidently things which perish in
+the using quickly cease to be wealth, and things which are not likely to
+be approved continuously cannot long command the same high price. No
+article could fetch a price at all if it were not intended to be
+enjoyed, used, or consumed; the final purchase is called expenditure,
+and all expenditure is liable to moral judgment, approving or censuring.
+When we censure expenditure, not merely because it is excessive, but
+because it is essentially foolish or evil, we necessarily deplore and
+deprecate the traffic which feeds it--the traffic which it encourages;
+hence, some vicious trades are even forbidden by law. Short of this,
+there is necessarily a large margin of trades which law does not, and
+perhaps cannot successfully, forbid, which nevertheless may be justly
+regretted, censured, and, as far as may be, discountenanced. Economists
+are not here blamed if they (disowning moral considerations) do nothing
+of the kind; but they must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that
+some trades, not forbidden by law, are so far from promoting wealth and
+weal as to be gravely pernicious. To rejoice in their magnitude, to
+announce it triumphantly as a proof of national prosperity, is something
+worse than a mistake.
+
+No reader, it is believed, will complain that the last sentence is
+mysterious or obscure. Our manufacturers of cotton and woollen have of
+late loudly deplored the falling off of their home trade, while the
+consumption of intoxicating drink continues to increase. They believe
+that if the labouring classes spent less on the brewer and distiller,
+they would spend more on the clothier. The most fanatical devotee of
+alcohol cannot deny that too much of it is drunk, in face of the
+long-continued avowal of the judges that drink is by far the greatest
+cause of crime--drink, short of evident and provable drunkenness.
+Indeed, it is not from those who are outright drunk, but from those who
+have been drinking, that the worst and most numerous outrages come,
+while the foot and the eye are steady, though the brain and the passions
+are perverted. To boast and rejoice in the magnitude of the drink
+traffic, legal as it undoubtedly is, has no moral defence. The topic is
+here adduced, not in order to push that argument further, but in order
+to insist that the mere increase of a trade does not _in itself_ denote
+an increase of wealth; is not _in itself_ necessarily a thing to be
+applauded either by the economist or by the moralist. In each case we
+must look into detail, and consider whether this or that prosperous
+trade, like a huge weed in a garden, dwarfs or kills other growths,
+which, but for it, might thrive.
+
+An avowed ardent disciple of Mr. Cobden--a gentleman in some eminence of
+place and rank--has recently dissuaded taxes on wine and tobacco for the
+sake of revenue, _not_ on the ground which one might expect--viz., that
+a Government ought not to base a revenue on what may chance to be public
+vice, _but_ on the ground that "the grower of wine in France and of
+tobacco in America" can reasonably refuse to trade with us, if "we will
+not accept payment in _the only coin_ which he has to offer--namely, in
+his wine or his tobacco."[4] As if we were not competent to reply: "Of
+wine and tobacco we quickly get more than enough. Preserve your grapes
+in sawdust, or make them into raisins, and you will not find our people
+averse to enjoy them, nor will you encounter any unreasonable duty from
+our Custom-houses. As to tobacco, surely the rich land which alone can
+raise it, can raise no end of other products which we are certain to
+value." This well-informed writer, in his whole argument, seems to
+account wine the only food-product which we receive from France (to
+silks and elegant articles he once slightly alludes); but he cannot be
+ignorant that the solid food which France sends us in eggs, cheese,
+butter, vegetables, chickens, and dry fruit is enormous; she would in
+ordinary years send us wheat, did not America, Russia, and Australia
+make it needless. To speak of wine as _the only coin_ of France is a
+wonderful straining of argument. But the reason for quoting it here is
+to illustrate how completely the School of Cobden wishes the State to
+ignore moral considerations in trade. Yet the State deserves no
+reverence, if it be not moral. Laws and enactments, framed by minds
+reckless of morality, are apt to be, on the one side unjust and
+oppressive, on the other eminently corrupting. A State which gains
+revenue from a vicious trade, such as gambling and debauchery,
+demoralizes its people so effectually as to deserve reprobation rather
+than reverence. According to the ancients, the lawgiver begins to
+civilize society and to earn veneration by establishing marriage and
+sanctifying the family. Are we to say, "We have changed all that now;
+let the Church care for morality: it is no concern of the State?" Who
+first taught such sentiment as wise policy, it is not easy to say; but
+it certainly has, in practice, if not in theory, attained a deadly
+currency. It never was the doctrine of Adam Smith. It is obviously a
+sure road to ruin, if its development be unopposed.
+
+A legislator, of course, ought not to guide his enactments by the
+morality of any one school. If, in Greek fashion, we were to set up an
+Epimenides, a Solon, a Lycurgus, as plenipotentiary to start us in a new
+course, there might be some little danger of one-sided and conceited
+morals; yet not much, even so; for a very one-sided or very stupid man
+would hardly be elected: every lawgiver wishes his new institutions to
+be permanent, and is sure to have some regard to the friction which they
+would encounter in working. But where the legislation must have
+sanction, not from one man, but from a thousand men, of whom six hundred
+are elected from different circles of mixed ranks, from diverse
+localities, where forms and schools of religion, based on variety of
+thought, prevail, it is evidently impossible that in the laws
+collectively approved any moral ideas should dominate, except those
+which are common to all who are morally cultivated. To dread moral
+considerations in the debates of an English Parliament, lest the
+morality prevailing in its laws become one-sided and arbitrary, pedantic
+and ascetic, is so baseless, so wanting in good sense, as scarcely to
+seem sincere. When people tell us, "We shall be liable to have laws
+against dancing and cardplaying, or laws compelling us to go to church,
+if we insist that legislation ought to study for the public virtue,"
+they not only make themselves ridiculous, they even force us to suspect
+that they fear lest vice be repressed in ways inconvenient to the
+vicious. So much is premised, lest it be imagined or pretended that in
+pointing at moral limits to beneficial commerce any morality is desired
+less broad than that which all noble and well-reputed schools
+accept--the morals of mankind. At the same time, what is here advanced
+is intended to bear less immediately on law than on the general tenor of
+public opinion and practical writing.
+
+Many economists write, as assuming that it is a step forward in
+civilization when a barbarous people learns artificial wants. If a New
+Zealander, instead of being satisfied with a mat for his back, which,
+made by himself, will last him for years, betakes himself to an English
+coat, which he must buy with a price,--which indeed less effectually
+shields him from wet, and sooner wears out,--he does that which is
+convenient to the English trader, but to him is a very doubtful gain:
+perhaps rather he brings on himself colds, cough, and consumption. If a
+thousand Maoris did the same, the commerce might figure in a Maori
+budget, and a Maori economist might point to the new trade as a step
+forward in national prosperity. The Zulus, as described by Englishmen
+who have travelled in Zululand or lived in the midst of them in Natal,
+are an upright, generous, faithful, honest race; and strange to say,
+Englishmen, who have such experience of them, are found to corroborate
+the utterance of Cetewayo, "A Zulu trained by a missionary is a Zulu
+spoiled"--that is, when trained in our habits they lose their national
+virtues. How can this be? why should it be? Apparently, because from us
+they learn artificial wants. While an apron suffices a Zulu for
+clothing, and a very simple hut for shelter, he can in many ways afford
+to be hospitable and generous. A man with very few wants has all the
+feelings of superfluity and wealth while surrounded by possessions so
+slender that we count him very poor: and when with an amount of toil
+which to his hardihood is not at all severe, he can always calculate on
+providing for himself and family all that their simple habits need, he
+is not deterred from present generosity by studying for his own future.
+But if he learn to covet and count necessary a number of articles which
+require from him threefold labour, he feels himself no longer rich, but
+poor; then, instead of giving small favours gratuitously, he claims to
+be paid for everything; instead of being princely, he becomes mercenary
+and stingy. If he imitate the dress, he is liable to envy the wealth of
+the Englishman, and in schemes of laying up for the future he easily
+becomes avaricious, perhaps fraudulent. Such are the steps by which one
+may justly calculate that some or many barbarians degenerate from the
+normal goodness of their fellows. The artificial wants which they learn
+when housed with our missionaries, or imbibe from the crafty allurements
+of traders, are not (_prima facie_) a benefit at all, do not conduce to
+independence, to the sense of wealth, nor to the practice of virtue.
+They are simply a convenience to the European trader. If a Maori or Zulu
+chief frown upon such trade, which judgment does he deserve--to be
+scolded as barbarous, or to be praised as sagacious? With them, perhaps
+also with us, to account but few things necessary is a foundation for
+many virtues. Our economists often reverse the picture.
+
+No stress is here laid on the fact that the historical saints of
+Christendom thought it an excellence to be satisfied with a minimum of
+external appliances for the comfort of the body. So much of arbitrary
+opinion may be imputed reasonably to them, and so much of fancy and
+credulity to their biographers, that it does not occur to the present
+writer to account their practices or principles any support to his
+argument. But the case of Socrates, and many other Greek philosophers,
+is different, and much to the point. With them, high thought, cheap
+feeding, and mean circumstantials frequently went together; and perhaps
+even those philosophers, who were somewhat mercenary and rich, would
+vehemently have renounced the idea that it is a good thing to acquire
+habits and tastes which make necessary to us things previously needless.
+But there is danger of drawing the reader's thoughts into a new channel
+by this allusion to Greek philosophers when an argument of national
+economy is chiefly intended, not of personal virtues. As it is better
+for an individual to be satisfied with supplies that are sufficient,
+close at hand, and easy of attainment, than to have fastidious tastes
+which cannot be supplied without considerable effort and labour, so it
+is better for a nation to have a taste for its native products, so far
+as our lower wants are concerned. If we can get all that the health and
+strength of the body needs from our own soil, and with small
+expenditure, this is better for us than to be enslaved to artificial
+tastes, which multiply labours for mere bodily supply. To fix ideas, let
+me illustrate the principle here contained by discussing those popular
+beverages, tea and coffee.
+
+Tea undoubtedly, as superseding beer, cider, and wine, has wrought much
+benefit to England, even if it have been (when heavily taxed) dearer
+than our native intoxicants. When taken with little food, in strong and
+frequent cups, it may often have weakened the nerves; but it does not,
+like alcohol, pervert the brain and inflame the mind, thus leading to
+folly, vice, and crime. The present writer is, and always has been, a
+tea drinker; nor have the many assaults on this beverage which have been
+sent to him shaken his belief that, taken in moderation, it has no evil
+comparable to its good. The present argument does not aim to prove that
+tea is in itself bad, only that the too-exclusive addiction to it has
+hurtfully excluded the trial of native beverages, which are perhaps
+better, certainly cheaper, and far more accessible.
+
+Rigid enemies of alcoholic drink often assure us, in poetical and
+ecstatic language, that water is the only reasonable and right drink for
+man, as for other animals; but the water which they recommend and
+describe as gushing and sparkling in mountain rills does not come to the
+hearth and home of every mountain dweller, much less is it attainable by
+the inhabitants of cities or boggy plains. The hardy beasts of the
+field, if they can get the water pure, manage to endure its coldness in
+all seasons; so perhaps might we, if we could recover robustness of the
+stomach without losing any advantage of a developed brain. That such
+recovery is impossible is not here asserted, but simply that, under the
+existing circumstances, the water (through its impurities or its
+coldness) often needs to be cooked, to be warmed, to have then some
+taste superadded which shall overcome mawkishness. When this is
+conceded, the question arises, will no native botany suffice? Are we of
+necessity driven to import tea from China or Assam? Such are the
+wonderful and deep harmonies of Nature that in each long-inhabited
+country the constitution of animals becomes adapted to its plants as
+well as to its climate, and finds among them not only its food, but its
+remedies for disease. Native herbs are often found more health-restoring
+than pretentious foreign drugs; nor is it extravagant to imagine that
+native leaves and berries might adapt themselves as well to the palate
+of Englishmen as tea and coffee, and better to their stomachs, if,
+instead of buying from the foreigner, we had duly studied our home
+resources. In the case of coffee, it curiously happens that there are
+persons among us who prefer what is called dandelion coffee to the
+coffee of Arabia; and that the preference is sincere seems proved by the
+accident that the dandelion thus prepared is dearer than the best Mocha.
+Nor does this dearness weigh against our argument. Twenty years ago
+brown bread was charged by bakers as fancy bread; ten years ago lentils
+were double their present price; in each case because the demand was so
+uncertain. The price of dandelion would quickly come down if it were in
+large and daily request. As substitutes for tea many leaves may be named
+which will not be called simply medicinal, prominently those of the
+sweet bay, the peach, and the black currant. If we were by any cause cut
+off from tropical markets, some combination would soon be discovered
+which carried off public preference; and when a national taste in it had
+once been established, every good purpose would have been attained
+without the foreign article. Should we not in that case moralize with
+wonder over the vast apparatus of great ships, which had been built, and
+manned, and stored, and sent to sea, with loss of sailors' lives,
+entailing widowhood and orphanhood, for no better reason than to bring
+back leaves, for which adequate substitutes abound at home? This
+argument undertakes not to prove, but to illustrate. It is not specially
+confined to the case of tea or coffee. It does not make positive
+assertion that we can now change the English taste, nor does it urge a
+transition which would be violent, if at all sudden. It merely points to
+reasonable probabilities, as showing that a vast trade with a distant
+country to gratify an artificial want, if it prove how much we can
+afford to spend without being ruined, yet does not at all prove that we
+enrich ourselves by the exchange. At the same time, so great is the
+facility for making drinks, that we might assume higher ground and press
+our argument farther. The deliciousness of Oriental sherbet is no matter
+of doubt or controversy. Its basis is simply barley-water; to flavour
+it, the foreigner, of course, uses some of his own fruits, but we have
+plenty of substitutes at hand, at least while sugar abounds to us. It
+may be warmed, if necessary: so little need we depend on the Chinese.
+Besides, some among us are satisfied with, and warmly applaud, the drink
+prepared from simple oatmeal. If we all had this taste, we should
+nationally be richer.
+
+It may be retorted, "Did you not name _Sugar_? Do you advocate making
+sugar of beetroot?" But no general renunciation of foreign commerce is
+for a moment here suggested as expedient. While we can bring sugar made
+from cane, and save our lands for other uses than beetroot, we presume
+this commerce to conduce to wealth. Not but that we may suspect the
+cheapness of sugar to conspire with other causes in slackening our zeal
+for _Honey_. Bees do not occupy and use up arable land. An abundance of
+cottage gardens and little rockeries satisfy them. Their depredations do
+not lessen the sweetness of flowers, nor the savour of herbs. They add
+to our wealth, at very small expense. They greatly add to the
+fertilization of plants. By all means let us get from the foreigner what
+we need; only let us not therefore neglect and forget our native
+resources.
+
+In other and greater matters a like topic recurs. When the controversy
+against the Corn Laws was at its height, the advocates of repeal were
+taunted with wishing to explode native wheat. They replied, "Wheat is
+now largely sown in England where the climate or soil is unfavourable;
+in such fields only, the culture will be discouraged; where it can be
+produced and ripened with greater certainty it will still be grown, and
+the price will no longer be forced up; the lands less suited to wheat
+may well yield, either some other grain in rotation, or other needful
+crop." Valid as this reply seemed, grand and glorious as are the results
+of opening our ports to foreign corn, the retrospect of thirty years
+nevertheless suggests new lines of thought. Want of food in Ireland when
+the potato crop failed was the argument which converted Sir Robert Peel;
+but the desire of selling cotton and woollen fabrics, or hardware, to
+those whose "chief coin" was wheat, gave an earlier impetus to the
+Anti-Corn Law League. Cobden and his associates were in the right, and
+performed well the task of the day; but the existing state of our
+agriculture is now discerned to be highly unsatisfactory. Every year
+widens and deepens the conviction that our laws of Land Tenure are
+fundamentally wrong; indeed, they are diverse from those of all the
+world; if they are not signally better than those of all other nations,
+they are gravely and lamentably worse; and the idea now presents itself,
+that the temporary relief given to us by the free importation of wheat
+has proved a buttress to an evil system of land laws, and has blinded us
+to the essential evils contingent on a perpetual increasing ratio of the
+population in great towns to that of the rustic districts. Much
+wealthier, no doubt, we are, and our poorer classes are less
+hard-worked. To dwell on the drawbacks through higher expectations,
+artificial wants, higher prices of coal, bricks, and houses--not to
+mention worse matters--might lead into too long digression. But, to
+bring out the idea here pointed at, we may speculate as to the results
+which must have followed, if no foreign markets had been able to give
+us permanent supplies of necessary food. Suppose that barely we had been
+able in 1847 to save from starvation as many poor Irishmen as we did
+save, but that in succeeding years the United Kingdom had been cast on
+its own resources for grain and cattle; will any one maintain that by a
+proper use of the land we could not have fed our own population?
+
+If any one is of that opinion, let him consider the phenomena of French
+agriculture. A century ago France seemed unable to feed her inhabitants.
+Thousands of the population died of starvation, even the king's own
+servants. Misery among the peasants and the poorer classes in towns was
+universal. No one imagined that the country could afford to export food,
+or had any idea of its vast capacity of production. Her climate is not
+now superior to what it was; her area is somewhat enlarged by the
+sagacious plantings on dunes of sand; the soil is improved by a
+century's tillage; the produce is more valuable, because the peasants
+have been taught many secrets of fruit culture. Most important of all,
+millions of peasants are owners of small freeholds. The "magic of
+property" has made them industrious, saving and ever vigilant to
+increase and improve the crops. We in England censure and deplore the
+compulsion on a French parent to divide his petty freehold and his gains
+equally among his children. If this be a grave evil, yet so much the
+more remarkable are the marvellous results of the union in one man of
+landlord, farmer, and labourer: for we see that by the universal and
+untiring industry which this fact elicits, not only were the great
+extravagances of the Second Empire and its wars sustained, but, in spite
+of the scarcely calculable losses of the Franco-German war, the fine of
+two hundred and fifty millions sterling, which France had to pay, was
+paid within four or five years, while a larger army than ever was raised
+and maintained. No one can dispute that the unexampled buoyancy of
+French finance is due mainly to the sound conditions of French landed
+tenure. Ireland, Scotland, and England all await a similar development,
+and never can be satisfied without it: but we have postponed the day of
+necessary reform by buying our food of almost every kind, in dangerous
+amount, from foreign countries, while our own arable land goes back into
+grass and pasture.
+
+And what reply does the Right Hon. John Bright make, when addressed with
+a claim of reformed landed tenure? His name is here adduced for honour,
+as an eminent type of the Cobden School; but the habitual reply is,
+"Good! we are in favour of Free Trade in land:" as though Free Trade
+were in itself a charm which can scare away all evils; as though the
+existing freedom to accumulate land to any extent by purchase were not
+one of our greatest mischiefs. Men cannot live in the air. Land for a
+dwelling is as essential as air and water. Land is very limited in
+quantity, especially land conveniently situated, with favourable
+conditions. Land primitively belongs to a nation, and no man naturally
+has any right to more of it than he can himself cultivate and use. Large
+landed estates are a vast power, social and political. Their possession
+was originally in England an official trust, coupled with political
+duties and customary dues in payment: but without right of ejectment
+while those dues were paid. The commercial idea of land is a perversion
+and abuse. Those who fancy that the abolition of entails and
+primogeniture and whatever makes conveyances expensive, will bring about
+the desirable reform, boast that their remedy will hoist up the market
+price of land; in other words, it would make an effective purchase by
+the State more and more difficult, more and more burdensome to the
+community. Nay, it might even delay the necessary reform, until the
+patience of a nation under a landlord Parliament broke down, and such a
+revolution followed as that of France under Louis XVI. As there is a
+moral limit to the magnitude of beneficial commerce with the foreigner,
+much more is there a moral limit to the beneficial magnitude of landed
+estates. Happily some despots are philanthropic; yet we are not in love
+with despotism. Some great landowners are philanthropic: higher honour
+be to them! but we must calculate that very many will covet power over
+all who reside on the estate, and will use the power not always kindly;
+or will employ it as a political engine to win state-offices and
+salaries for their families; others, more directly and unblushingly
+mercenary, will think chiefly how to raise rent, and will forbid both
+crops and inhabitants, if wealthy lovers of occasional sport outbid
+ordinary farmers. If from mere pride and love of the romantic a landlord
+make his estate a wilderness, the nation still suffers the damage. Its
+population is cooped into towns or driven into exile, its markets are
+starved, its military force is lowered. While the Cobden School
+pertinaciously connives at these great evils, and juggles with the
+phrase "Free Trade" as if land were an article which ought to be on the
+same footing as moveables, they are playing into the hands of their
+nominal adversaries.
+
+The first measure which we need is not one which shall facilitate the
+purchase of new and new estates by the over-wealthy, who, if they are
+not gamblers or otherwise vicious, often know not what to do with their
+vast incomes; but much rather a measure which shall set a maximum area
+for estates. The mildest thing to do is, not in the first instance to
+pass any new _Act_, but only a resolution or _Vote_ of the Commons,
+declaring that it is against the public interest for any individual to
+possess more than a thousand acres of rustic land, or more than five
+acres of town land; and that whoever bequeaths to one person more than
+the above-named, ought to be subjected to a heavy and special land tax.
+In the same direction we need other special votes of the House, to the
+effect--that by legislation, by purchase, and by taxation the recovery
+of the national soil for the nation from year to year ought to be
+systematically pursued, wherever now held in large masses by bodies of
+men or by individuals; and that in order to give to cultivators the full
+results of their own industry, it is expedient that the State, out of
+its own present or future domains, carve out numerous small farms to be
+held under it as by copyright tenure, not subject to rise of rent.
+Space does not permit further detail, or reply to objections; but the
+idea intended is to work in the direction of _virtual_ freeholds, ever
+increasing in number, which cannot be bought out of the hands of the
+cultivators by tempting prices from the rich, because they are legally
+State property, and destined to remain as areas of small culture. By
+buying up from time to time the lands possessed by large charities, by
+legacy taxes directed to discourage bequests of land in great mass, and
+by direct purchases of land or rather by taking the legacy tax in land
+itself, the State would beneficently in the course of many generations
+undo the injustices and frauds of the past.
+
+Land is so far from being a desirable object of unlimited commerce
+(called by the Cobden School Free Trade), that, especially under the
+modern interpretation which makes the lord (or chief man) _owner_ of the
+land, the most jealous limitations ought to be imposed on it by the
+State. So long, indeed, as a man holds no more of it than one family can
+cultivate, jealousy is needless; for the holder (especially if he pay a
+quit-rent for it) is sure to cultivate it, and cannot offend by
+excluding population. Town land ought, as soon as possible, to become
+town property; and, meanwhile, as early as possible, all town building
+to be subjected to a public veto for sanitary reasons. To make away into
+mercenary hands, as an article of trade, the whole solid area on which a
+nation lives, is astonishing as an idea of statesmanship. There is
+another matter connected with land as to which the State may justly feel
+great jealousy--namely, as to the consumption and exportation of
+material which cannot be reproduced. It is said that Sicily, under the
+Romans first, was largely deteriorated by the perpetual exportation of
+corn, exhausting even very fertile soil. Ireland in the past may have
+suffered by the constant sending out of cattle and pigs, with no
+back-current of commerce to restore all that their bones and flesh took
+out of the earth. Virginia and other States of the American Union
+largely ruined their soil by unceasing exportation of tobacco and other
+products. But to come closer home, no crops of coal can be grown in
+England and Wales. We reap where we have not sown, where we cannot sow.
+We export in enormous mass what we cannot reproduce. We allow
+individuals to become, out and out, proprietors of the national coal,
+and then sanction their unlimited exportation of it, with the high
+probability that this may cripple industry in the near future of
+England. This surely is a commerce, the benefit of which is very
+doubtful even in a cosmopolitan view. It may seem better to stimulate
+other nations to search for coal on their own soil than to use up what
+we cannot replace. And as for some other articles of immense commerce,
+as tobacco, it may seem doubtful which nation loses more by it--the
+importers or the exporters. Surely in all these cases the quality of the
+things bought and sold must be considered carefully, before we regard
+the magnitude of any trade a national benefit or a source of national
+wealth.
+
+    F. W. NEWMAN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] "Reciprocity," by Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., 1879: Printed for the
+Cobden Club.
+
+
+
+
+THE MYTHS OF THE SEA AND THE RIVER OF DEATH.
+
+
+At the present time, when theologians and those who have most aptitude
+for such discussions are arguing "in thoughts more elevate" of the
+soul's future life, and its rewards and punishments therein, the
+pre-historic student is tempted to let _his_ thoughts wander backwards
+over a different aspect of the same subject, in an effort to link again
+the chain of belief concerning heaven and hell, which joins this present
+with a long-forgotten past. The difficulty which we feel in uniting
+ourselves in thought with past ages, arises surely more often from the
+imperfection of our sympathies than from the deficiency of our positive
+knowledge. So many questions which were once new have long been settled,
+so many experiments have been tried, such experiences have been lived
+through since then; it is so impossible that the earlier conditions of
+life and society should return; and we cannot bring ourselves to make
+the effort of imagination necessary to place us in harmony with bygone
+times. But there are some few questions which seem as far from
+settlement now as they ever were; one of these is the question
+concerning the destiny of man after death, the character of his journey
+into that undiscovered country, and the sort of life he will lead when
+there.
+
+    "A riddle which one shrinks
+    To challenge from the scornful sphinx."
+
+Some would dissuade us from the continuance of these (so they say)
+unfruitful speculations; but it is very certain that man must change his
+nature before they will lose their fascination for him; and until he
+does so, he cannot read without sympathy the guesses which past
+generations of men have made towards the solution of the same problems.
+For them, indeed, these solutions have lost their interest, as ours will
+soon do for us. Whatever lot that new condition may hold in store,
+eternal pleasure or eternal pain, they have tried it now; whatever
+scene the dark curtain hides, they have passed behind it. This is very
+certain: as that we soon must. But so long as we remain here upon this
+upper earth, we must be something above or below humanity if we refuse
+ever to let our thoughts wander toward the changes and chances of
+another life.
+
+Not, indeed, that questions of this sort have ever had for the majority
+of men in one age, or for the collective mass of human kind, an
+all-absorbing interest. If we choose to look closely into the matter,
+and to test men's opinion as it is displayed in their actions (the only
+real opinion), we shall at first perhaps be struck by the slight belief
+which they possess in a future state. For it is slight compared to their
+"notional assent," that which they think they believe concerning it.
+With the majority, faith upon this point is at best but shadowy, of an
+otiose character suitable for soothing the lots of others, and
+sometimes, alas! called into requisition to relieve us from the stings
+of conscience on account of the pain which our own misconduct or neglect
+has introduced therein. And as it is with us, so, save under exceptional
+conditions, it has always been with men in the full vigour and enjoyment
+of life. There have been times when one aspect of the future--its
+terror--has been realized with an intensity, and has exercised an
+influence upon life and conduct, such as is unknown in our days. But
+these times have not been ordinary ones, and we are apt, I think, even
+to over-estimate the force of faith during the Middle Ages. That term,
+"dark ages," overrides our fancy; "we can never hear mention of them
+without an accompanying feeling as though a palpable obscure had dimmed
+the face of things, and that our ancestors wandered to and fro
+groping."[5] But, then, neither have the most light-hearted and
+sceptical of people been able to shut their eyes utterly to the warnings
+of death. We are wont to think of the Greeks as of just such a
+light-hearted, and in a fashion sceptical, temperament, and to contrast
+the spirit of Hellas with the spirit of mediaeval Europe. Scarcely any
+thought of death, or of judgment after death, disturbs the serenity of
+Greek art, such as it has come down to us. Thanatos is not to be
+found;[6] even the tombs are adorned with representations of war and of
+the chase, or with figures of the dancing Hours. And yet Greek art was
+not without its darker side. It had, like mediaeval poetry, its
+Dante--Polygnotus, namely--who adorned the pilgrims' house at Delphi
+with frescoes representing the judgment and the tortures of the
+damned,--a Greek Campo Santo. He would have given us a different
+impression of the Greek mind in presence of the fact of mortality, and
+shown us how easily we are led to exaggerate the divergence in thought
+between different nations and different times.
+
+So we find as far back as we can test the belief of men, certain
+theories touching the fate of the soul after death, which represent, in
+the germ at least, the prevalent opinions of our own day; and out of
+some of which these opinions have sprung. First among these, probably in
+point of time, stands the purely sceptical theory which takes its rise
+from the earliest efforts of language to give expression to the unseen.
+Casting about for a name for the essential part of man, the life or soul
+of him, language finds at first that it has no suitable word, and then
+supplies its want by using the breath--the =psyche=, _spiritus_--in this
+sense. Like the vital spark itself, the breath is seen to depart when
+the man dies. Whither has it gone? The purely negative, the purely
+sceptical answer would be, "It has disappeared." The answer actually
+given in most religious creeds is, "It has gone to the unseen _place_,"
+or the concealed _place_; as the Greeks said, to Hades (=A-ides=); or,
+as our Northern ancestors said, to Hel.[7] Thus, out of pure negation we
+have the beginning of a myth: the _spirit_ becomes something definite,
+and the place it has gone to is partly realized. The unseen place is
+underground, gained by a dark valley which stretches there from the
+upper earth. Enough of the old belief remains to keep this home of the
+dead itself dark and shadowy and lifeless. "The senseless dead, the
+simulacra of mortals," as Homer says. And we remember how even a hero
+like Achilles "would rather be on earth and serve for hire to a man of
+mean estate, than rule a king among the dead."
+
+The same thought is expressed by the Hebrew poet,[8]
+
+    "Sheol shall not praise thee, Jehovah,
+    The dead shall not celebrate thee;
+    They that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth;
+    The living, the living, shall praise thee, as I do this day."
+
+No people have held up this _destructive_ side of death, this negative
+theory of a future, with sharper outline than the Greeks and Hebrews.
+What a contrast to the teaching of modern religions is that line, "They
+that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth!" Other people
+have found themselves unable to rest at this point; they have endowed
+their place with a personality, but, still strongly impressed with its
+horrors, this personality is grim and fearful. Even with the Greeks,
+Hades is a person, not a place; with the Teutons, Hel has gone through
+the same transformation: and a thousand other images of horror to be met
+with in different creeds, devouring dragons, dogs who, like Cerberus,
+threaten those who are journeying to the underground kingdom, can be
+shown by their names to have sprung from merely negative images of
+death, the unseen, the coverer, the concealer, the cave of night.
+
+In contrast therefore with all these myths stand those which, after
+death, send the soul upon a journey to some paradise, believed generally
+to lie in the west. If these first are myths of hell, the second series
+may be fairly described as myths of heaven. Nor can it be certainly
+proved that the more cheerful view of the other world is of a later
+growth in time than the first which seems so primitive. We see
+indications of it in the interments of old stone-age grave mounds. While
+among historical people the older Hebrews are the exponents of the
+gloomier Sheol, the most hopeful picture of the soul's future finds
+expression in the ritual service of the Egyptians. There we have a
+complete history of the dead man's journey across the Nile and through
+the twilight region of Apap, king of the desert, until at last it
+reaches the home of the sun. And, to come nearer home, among all those
+peoples with whom we are allied in blood, the Indo-European family of
+nations, we shall find the evidences of a double belief, the belief in
+death as of a dim underground place or as a devouring monster, and the
+contrasting faith in death as a journey undertaken to reach a new
+country where everything is better and happier than upon earth.
+
+This is the myth of an earthly paradise, not, like our heaven,
+disconnected altogether from the world, but a distant land lying
+somewhere in the west, and forming part of the imaginary geography of
+those times: so the belief is, more than others, a realistic one,
+mingling with the daily experience of men and influencing deeply their
+daily life. The necessary portal of death is even sometimes lost sight
+of altogether, as when in the Middle Ages we find men undertaking more
+than one expedition in search of the earthly paradise, and when we find
+the current belief that in certain weathers was visible from the west
+coast of Ireland that happy island to which St. Brandon and his
+disciples had been carried when they left this world. For this reason,
+though the notion of the western paradise is essentially the same for
+all the human race, its local colouring constantly varies, changing with
+the geographical position of each people: if they change their homes and
+advance, as they will probably do, towards the land of promise, it moves
+away before them, as the rainbow moves from us. The Egyptians had their
+myth of the soul's journey, drawing all its distinctive features from
+the special character of their land, chiefly from the commanding
+influence which a great neighbouring desert exercised upon their
+imagination. But for our ancestors, the parents of the Indo-European
+races, the place of the desert was supplied by the sea.
+
+The most probable conjecture has fixed the cradle of our race in that
+corner of land which lies westward the steep range of the Beloot Tagh
+mountains, an off-shoot of the Himalayas, and northward from the high
+barren land of Cabul. This country, the ancient Bactriana, is the most
+habitable district to be found anywhere in Central Asia. There the hills
+stretch out in gentle slopes towards the west, and enclose fertile
+valleys, whose innumerable streams, fed by the mountains east and south,
+all go to swell the waters of the Oxus, now called the Jihon. Farther
+north lies another fruitful country, watered by the Jaxartes, separated
+from the first by a range of hills much inferior to those which divide
+both lands from Yarkand and Cashgar on the east, and from Cabul on the
+south. Both the great rivers empty themselves into the Sea of Aral,
+between which and the Caspian, sharply cutting off the fertile country
+from that sea, stretches the Khiva desert, a barren land affording a
+scanty nourishment to the herds of wandering Turkic tribes. There is
+good reason to believe, however, that this desert did not always exist,
+but that in times not extraordinarily remote the Caspian Sea, joined to
+the Sea of Aral, extended over a much larger area than it at present
+covers: it is known even now to be sinking steadily within its banks.
+With such a contraction of the great sea the desert would grow by a
+double process, by the laying bare its sandy bed and by the withdrawal
+of a neighbouring supply of moisture from the dry land. So it may well
+have been that the fruitful territory wherein in remotest ages were
+settled our Aryan ancestors, stretched so far west as to border upon a
+large inland Asiatic sea. It has even been conjectured that the turning
+of so much fertile land into desert was the proximate cause of those
+migrations which sent the greater part of the Aryan races westward--to
+people, at last, all the countries of Europe. The root which is common
+to the European languages for the names of the sea, means, in the Indian
+and Iranian languages, a desert: how can we account for this fact better
+than by supposing that after the European nations had left their early
+home, their brethren, who remained behind and who long afterwards
+separated into the people of India and Persia, came to know as a desert
+the district which their fathers had once known as the sea?
+
+Thus, these ancient Aryans stood with their backs toward the mountains
+and their faces toward the sea. All their prospect, all their future,
+seemed to be that way; when their migrations began they were undertaken
+in that direction--towards the west. Most important of all in the
+formation of a creed, their sun-god, or sun-hero,[9] was seen by many of
+them quenching his beams in the waters; the home of the sun is always
+likewise the home of souls. What more natural, nay, what so necessary,
+as that the Aryan paradise should lie westward beyond the sea? It has
+been said just now that the Indian word for desert corresponds
+etymologically with the European word for sea: that word must have been,
+in the old Aryan, something like _mara_, from which we get the Persian
+_meru_, desert, the Latin _mare_, the Teutonic (German and English)
+_meer_. But from identically the same root we likewise get the Sanksrit
+and the Zend (old Persian) _mara_, death, the Latin _mors_, the old
+Norse _mordh_, the German _mord_, our _murder_, all signifying
+originally the same thing.[10] What, then, does this imply? The word
+which the old Aryans used for sea they used likewise for death. How
+would this be possible, unless this, their first sea, were likewise the
+sea of death, the necessary stage upon the road to paradise?
+
+It might have been expected that such a connection of ideas would have
+endowed the sea with an entirely terrible character, precluding any
+attempt to explore its solitudes, or the lands which lay beyond. It has
+been already said that as a matter of experience we find that the
+_earthly_ paradise often comes to be realized so vividly that men lose
+the fear which should attach to any attempt at finding it. They were not
+religious, heavenward-looking men who, in Mr. Morris's poem, set out in
+quest of the happy land; and no doubt the bard has been guided by a true
+instinct, and that of all those mediaeval mariners who were lost in their
+search after St. Brandon's isle, none knew that they had found what they
+were seeking--Death. The Greeks eagerly cherished delusions of the same
+kind; and long before they had summoned up courage sufficient to
+navigate the Mediterranean they had invented the myths of their western
+islands of the blest, to which yellow-haired Rhadamanthus was taken when
+expelled from Crete by his brother Minos, or of those gardens kept by
+the daughters of the west,[11] where decay and death could not enter. It
+is likely enough that for the Aryans _their_ western sea did long retain
+its more fearful meaning, _a death_; but that they at last gained
+courage to look upon it only as _the road_[12] to the land of which they
+had long been dreaming.
+
+How much more weighty a position the sea takes in men's thoughts than is
+warranted by their real familiarity with it! Into the mass of sedentary
+lives--the vast majority--it enters but seldom as an experience,
+provided a man live only a few miles inland. And yet of all countries
+which possess a sea-board, how full is the literature of reference to
+this one phenomenon of physical nature! The sun and the moon, and all
+the heavenly bodies, the familiar sights and sounds of land, are the
+property of all; and yet allusions to these are not more common in
+literature than allusions to the sea: one might fancy that man was
+amphibious, with a power of actually living _upon_, and not only _by_,
+the water. Charles Lamb acutely penetrates the cause of a certain
+disappointment we all feel at the sight of the sea for the first time.
+We go with the expectation of seeing all the sea at once, the
+commensurate antagonist of the earth. All that we have gathered from
+narratives of wandering seamen, what we have gained from true voyages,
+and what we cherish as credulously from romances and poetry, come
+crowding their images, and exacting strange tributes from expectation.
+Thus we are imbued with thoughts of the sea before we have had any sight
+of it ourselves, merely by the sea's great influence acting through the
+total experience of humanity. "We think of the great deep and of those
+who go down unto it: of its thousand isles, and of the vast continents
+it washes; of its receiving the mighty Plata, or Orellana, into its
+bosom, without disturbance or sense of augmentation; of Biscay swells
+and the mariner--
+
+    "For many a day and many a dreadful night,
+    Incessant labouring round the stormy cape;
+
+of fatal rocks and the 'still-vexed Bermoothes;' of great whirlpools and
+the water-spout; of sunken ships and sumless treasures swallowed up in
+the unrestoring depths." We must not narrow the influence of the sea in
+mythology within the compass of man's mere experience of it. Few among
+the Aryans lived by the Caspian shore; but the Sea of Death appears in
+one form or another in the religious belief of all the Aryan people. The
+tradition of the sea, its real wonders, and greater fancied terrors,
+must have passed from one to another, from the few who lived within
+sight and sound of the waters to others quite beyond its horizon, to
+whom it was not visible even as a faint silvery line.
+
+It is natural that, in early myths, no accurate distinction should have
+been drawn between the sea and rivers with which the Aryans were
+familiar. The Caspian was imagined a broad river bounding the habitable
+earth, the origin of the Oceanus of the Greeks; and the sea of death is,
+in its earliest form, a river of death. All after-forms of mythical
+geography, moreover, such as we find among Indians, Greeks, or Norsemen,
+are but graftings upon this central idea. As the Aryans changed their
+homes, the new experiences gradually blotted out the old. The Greek
+transferred his thoughts about the Caspian to the Mediterranean, and
+when his geography extended, the Oceanus was pushed farther and farther
+away, until the later Euhemerist geographers came to confound it with
+the Atlantic. Thus it is but by accident that we give to ocean the
+meaning which it now bears. The first ocean was the mythical river which
+flowed round the earth, and the real physical forerunner of the myth was
+not the Atlantic or any of our oceans, but the Caspian Sea as it
+stretched before the eyes of the ancient Aryan folk.
+
+The Norseman, especially the Icelander,[13] lived so close to the ocean,
+that the older myth was forgotten beside the aspect of nature so
+familiar to him. In the middle of his earth stood a high mountain, on
+which was a strong city, Asgaard, the house of the AEsir or gods. Below
+Asgaard lay the green and fruitful earth, man's home. Then outside
+flowed or lay the great mid-earth ocean, just like the Greek ocean in
+character, despite all differences of climate and country. At other
+times the mid-earth sea is personified as a devouring monster,
+Joermungandr ("great monster"), the name of the mid-gaard serpent who
+lies at the bottom of the encircling sea, shaking the earth when he
+moves.[14] Beyond, lies the ice-bound land of giants--Joetunheim, giant's
+home--dark like the Cimmerian land, and peopled with beings as weird and
+terrible as the Cyclops or the Gorgons.
+
+Gradually the myths of the river of death and the sea of death from
+being one became two. The second was confined to those nations who lived
+upon the sea-shore, and lost in great part its early shape; but neither
+Indians, Greeks, nor Norsemen forgot the myth of the mortal river. The
+Indian retained it singly; for when his turn for wandering came, he
+passed over the eastern mountains and reached a land where no sea was
+any longer to be seen or heard of. In the mythical language of the
+Vedas, the mortal river is called Vaitera_n_i; it lies "across the
+dreadful path to the house of Yama,"[15] the god of Hell.
+
+From the belief in the river of death no doubt arose also the practice
+of committing the dead to the care of the sacred Ganges; for just as the
+Hindus kindle a funeral fire in the boat which bears the dead down this
+visible stream of death, so used the Norsemen to place their hero's body
+in his ship, and then having lighted it send it drifting out seawards
+with the tide. In conjunction with that thought of the other world which
+placed the final resting-place in a dark kingdom underground, the river
+is seen in Greek mythology transferred to Hades; but it is multiplied
+into four, which have all grown out of one, inasmuch as they were
+feigned to flow out of the upper-earth river Oceanus:--
+
+    "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;
+    Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep;
+    Cocytus named of lamentation loud
+    Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
+    Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
+
+These pictures are not quite in character with the Hellenic thought
+about the future state. But it is certain that the more gloomy images of
+death are preserved in connection with the rivers of Hades, with Hades
+itself, and all that it contains. So it is with the northern Styx,
+Gjoell,[16] as it is called in the Eddas. This, too, is an underground
+stream lying, like the Indian, on the road to the gates of death.
+
+Thus a separation arises between the sea and the river myths. If we wish
+for something more cheerful than the pictures of Styx and Gjoell and
+Vaitera_n_i, we must look, for the tales of an earthly paradise which
+sprang up when men had lost their first terror of the sea, but had not
+lost the beliefs to which their earliest thoughts about that sea gave
+birth.
+
+Such beliefs are those which lie enshrined in the Odyssey. This poem is
+full of images of death, but they are not self-conscious ones, only
+mythical expressions first applied to the passage of the soul from life,
+and then made literal and physical by their transference to the
+unexplored western sea. What the Caspian may have been to the ancient
+Aryan, such was the Mediterranean to the Greek. The AEgean was his
+home-like water; there he might pass from island to island without
+losing sight of land; and he soon learnt to trust himself to its care,
+and to know its currents and its winds. Long before he had navigated
+beyond Cape Malea, all the coasts of the AEgean had become parts of his
+familiar world: outside this was the region of the unknown. The Iliad
+tells us what the early Greeks thought about the first. Myths may have
+mingled with the legend of the fall of Troy, but the story in Homer is
+essentially realistic, rationalistic even. The very powers of the
+immortals and their doings seem petty and limited. The Odyssey, on the
+other hand, is the product of the Greek imagination working in fields
+unturned by experience, free from any guiding impulse of knowledge; and
+here step in those monstrous shapes and strange adventures which differ
+altogether from the probable events of the Iliad. We feel at once that
+we are in a new world, a world not so much of supernatural beings as of
+magic; lands of glamour and illusion, most like the giant-land of the
+Norsemen; for we are getting towards the twilight regions of the earth
+and the borders of Hades.
+
+Some writers have attempted to explain the Odyssey as nothing more than
+a myth of the sun's course through heaven. But surely there is too much
+solidity about the story, too thorough an atmosphere of belief around
+it, to suit a tale relating such airy unrealities as those. The Greeks
+who first sung the ballads must have been thinking of a real journey
+upon this solid earth. But it is easy to see how many images and notions
+which had first been applied only to the sun-god would creep into such a
+history as that of Odysseus. Undoubtedly the sun-myth had first pointed
+out the home of the dead as lying in the west; and nothing is more
+natural than that a people whose thoughts and hopes carried them in the
+track of the wandering sun should, when they came to construct an epos
+of travel, make the imaginary journey lie the same way. They would
+interweave in the story such truths--or such sailors' yarns--as
+Phoenician mariners or adventurous Greeks brought home from the distant
+waters, with many images which had been first made of the sun's heavenly
+voyage, and others which had been first applied to death. Their
+geography would, indeed, be mythical; for they could have no accurate
+notions of the lands which they spoke of; but it would not be without a
+kernel of reality. Justin and Augustine may look upon the garden of the
+Hesperides or the garden of Alcinoues as a reminiscence of Paradise;
+Strabo may assign them an exact position on the coast of Libya; and both
+may be right. The myth of the two gardens--the Hebrew and the Greek
+paradises--sprang up in obedience to an identical faculty of belief, and
+therefore the two stories are in origin the same. But each myth
+supported itself upon so much of reality as it could lay hold of: and it
+is likely enough that the famous golden apples which Hercules was sent
+to fetch owed their origin to the first oranges brought by Phoenician
+merchantmen to Greece.
+
+Besides some such slender thread of reality, the adventures of Odysseus
+are built upon what men's imagination told them might lie in the western
+seas. Now in reality there was only one thing which at the bottom of
+their hearts they believed actually did lie there--namely, death; and
+beyond that, the home of the departed. Therefore their stories of
+adventure in the Mediterranean do all, upon a minute inspection, resolve
+themselves into a variety of mythical ways of describing death; and upon
+this as a dark background the varied colours of the tale are painted.
+It need take away no jot of our pleasure in the brilliant picture to
+acknowledge this. Nay, it gather adds to it, for behind the graceful air
+of the poem, sung as a poem only, we hear a deeper note telling of the
+passionate, obstinate questionings of futurity which belonged not more
+to Greece three thousand years ago than they now belong to us.
+
+Any one acquainted with the genesis of myth would at once be disposed to
+see in the Odyssey the combination of two different legends; for one
+series of adventures comes as a tale told during the course of the
+second. We first see our hero on the island of Calypso, the sea-nymph;
+and when Hermes has brought from the gods the command for his release,
+he is carried thence by storms to the land of the Phaeaceans. There
+Nausicaa finds him and brings him to her father Alcinoues, by whom he is
+hospitably entertained, and at last sent back to Ithaca, his home. This
+forms one complete legend, the simplest and probably the first, because
+_into_ it is woven the account of Odysseus' earlier adventures. In the
+halls of Alcinoues the wanderer tells what happened to him before he
+reached the cave of Calypso, and in this narrative we follow him to the
+island of the Lotus-eaters, to the island of the Cyclops, thence to the
+house of Circe, and from there to the very borders of hell itself. And
+we guess that we have here got hold of a later amplified legend built up
+out of the earlier myth. We find just such changes as this in Norse
+mythology; a story told in a few lines by the elder Edda, is expanded
+into an elaborate history in the younger. Looking again more closely at
+the Odyssey, we discover that many circumstances in the expanded tale
+bear close resemblance to one or other of the adventures in the shorter
+category. Take, for instance, the life with Calypso and with Circe. Both
+Calypso and Circe are nymphs, enchantresses; each lives alone upon her
+island: with each Odysseus passes a term of years, living with her as
+her husband, longing all the while to return to his own wife and his own
+home, and yet unable to do so: from each Hermes is the deliverer. What
+if Calypso and Circe both repeat in reality the same myth; and what if
+Odysseus' other great adventure, the voyage to the Phaeaceans, have
+likewise its counterpart in the expanded story? The question of the real
+identity or difference of the two stories can only be decided when we
+have seen how much significance there is in the points of their apparent
+likeness.
+
+Who is Calypso? Her name bespeaks her nature not ambiguously. It is from
+=kalyptein=, to cover or conceal. She is the shrouder, or the shrouded
+place, answering exactly therefore to Hel, which, as has before been
+said, comes from the verb _helja_, "to hide." How, then, can Calypso be
+anything else than death, as she dwells there in her cave, by the shores
+of the sea? How can Odysseus' life with her, his sleep in her cave, be
+anything else than an image of dying? The gods have determined that the
+hero shall not remain in this mortal sleep for ever; so Hermes is sent
+to command Calypso to let Odysseus go. Hermes is the god whose mission
+it is to lead souls down to the realm of Hades--the psychopomp, as in
+this office he is called. But sometimes he may come upon an opposite
+message, to restore men to life; the staff which closes the eyes of men
+may likewise open them when asleep. On such a task he comes--
+
+    "Wind-like beneath, the immortal golden sandals
+    Bare up his flight o'er the limitless earth and the sea;
+    And in his hand that magic wand he carried,
+    Wherewith the eyes of men he closes in slumber,
+    Or wakens from sleeping."
+
+He comes like the breath of morning awakening the world, to rouse our
+hero from the embrace of death; and the whole scene is beautifully
+attuned to an image of returning life. Therefore the interference of
+Hermes between Odysseus and Calypso is full of significance. We
+accordingly meet the same episode in the Circe tale. That this last is a
+later widening of the first story appears from many things; chiefly in
+this, that there is more moral in the history; for the truest myth is
+content to follow the actual workings of nature, without attempting to
+adorn a story with extraneous incident, or to convert its simplicity
+into the complexities of allegory. That turning the companions into
+swine was a punishment for luxury--that points the moral; the original
+Circe, we may be sure, only touched her lovers with her sleepy magic
+rod. It was the same wand with the "slepy yerde"[17] of Hermes, and she
+used it not wantonly but only because all whom she embraces must fall
+into the unwakeful slumber. If Circe's name does not reveal her nature
+so nakedly as Calypso's does, this is but consistent with the fact of
+her later creation. Nevertheless, we easily recognise by it death in one
+of its many types--a ravenous animal or bird, a hawk or wolf.[18]
+
+When Odysseus is freed from the fatal embrace of Calypso, he is not at
+once restored to the common earth, but from his descent into hell goes
+heavenwards, or at least to the happy islands of the blessed. The land
+of the Phaeaceans, Scheria, can scarcely be anything else than this
+Paradise, to which, according to one myth, Rhadamanthus fled from his
+brother Minos when he reigned in Crete. The Phaeaceans, too, have had
+dealings with "yellow-haired Rhadamanthus," whom they carried back in
+their swift barques to Euboea. The name of their island is merely land,
+shore;[19] perhaps at first only the farther coast of the sea of death.
+
+    "Far away do we live at the end of the watery plain,
+    Nor before now have we ever had dealings with other mortals;
+    But now there comes some luckless wanderer hither.
+    Him it is right that we help; for all men, fellows and strangers,
+    Come from Zeus; in his sight the smallest gift is pleasing."[20]
+
+They live close to the gods, and in familiar converse with them. It is a
+place where decay and death cannot enter. In the gardens of Alcinoues
+flowers and fruit do not grow old and disappear; winter does not succeed
+to summer; all is one continuous round of blossoming and bearing fruit;
+in one part of the garden the trees are all abloom; in another they are
+heavy with clusters. There it _is_, as in that wizard's tower of
+Middle-Age legend it only _seemed_ to be--
+
+    "That from one window men beheld the spring,
+    And from another saw the summer glow,
+    And from a third the fruited vines arow."[21]
+
+In name the Phaeaceans appear as beings of the twilight--=phaiax=,
+strengthened from =phaios=, dusky, dim. Their most wondrous possessions
+are their ships, which know the thoughts of men, and sail swifter than a
+bird or than thought. "No pilots have they, no rudders, no oarsmen,
+which other ships have, for they themselves know the thoughts and minds
+of men. The rich fields they know, and the cities among all men, and
+swiftly pass over the crests of the sea, shrouded in mist and
+gloom."[22] Yet the Phaeaceans themselves live remote from human
+habitation, unused to strangers. It would seem, therefore, that the
+ships travel alone on their dark voyages. For what purpose? It is not
+difficult to guess. Their part is to carry the souls of dead men over to
+the land of Paradise.[23] We can imagine them sailing in every human
+sea; calling at every port, familiar with every city, though in their
+shroud of darkness they are unseen by men. They know all the rich lands,
+for every land has its tribute to pay to the ships of death. They are
+the exact counterparts of the "grim ferryman which poets write of;" only
+that the last plies his business in the ancient underground Hades, while
+the Phaeacean mariners are really believed to be inhabitants of the upper
+earth; albeit they can pass from this life to the other.
+
+Their business with Odysseus is to bring him back to the common world of
+Greece--to beloved Ithaca. He has passed to the cave of Hel, and emerged
+from it to visit the land of Paradise; now he returns, that his
+adventures may be sung in the homes of Greece. How could men ever tell
+tales of that strange country, if it really were a shore from which no
+traveller returned? Accordingly, this traveller is laid to sleep in the
+black barque of the Phaeaceans, "a sweet sleep, unwakeful, nearest like
+to death; and as arose the one brightest star to herald the morning, the
+sea-troubled ship touched the shore."[24] Thus end the adventures of the
+wanderer; and, as far as regards the belief concerning the sea of death,
+this is all his adventures can tell us. His doings with the Cyclops,
+with the Lotus-eaters, have their relationship with the same belief; but
+they scarcely bring in any new elements; they only change the method of
+their treatment and symbolize them in a new way. Hades is more
+distinctly treated of in the second series; and this is enough to show
+us that the mortal character of the whole journey has been lost sight of
+more completely than in the first myths; so we noticed before, that the
+significance of Calypso's name is half forgotten when her part is
+assigned to Circe. The journey to Hades from Circe's island, AEaea,
+tallies exactly with the journey to Scheria from the island of Calypso;
+only, for the island of the blest is substituted the underground home of
+souls; and when Odysseus addresses there his companion, Elpenor, whom he
+had but a little while ago left dead on Circe's island, and asks him how
+he could have come under the dark west more quickly on foot than
+Odysseus did sailing in a black ship, we see that the meaning of the
+ocean journey is forgotten, and that a sort of confusion has arisen
+between the Hades under men's feet, to which the souls of the dead
+descend, and the Hades at the end of the journey lying far away. This
+part, then, is not significant of the Greek belief concerning an earthly
+Paradise. The learned Welcker, who first showed how these Phaeacean ships
+were the carriers of souls,[25] wishes also to connect the myth with
+some non-Hellenic source. He supposes it to have been gathered from the
+Teutons. But surely we are not obliged to go so far, unless we are
+prepared to consider Charon non-Hellenic also; and no one can really
+pretend that. For the Phaeacean myth is in many ways truer than the myth
+of Charon and Styx. Styx is but the earth-river (or sea), Oceanus,
+transferred to beneath the earth; and the story of the ferryman is a
+compromise between the two creeds--that of the _under_-world and that of
+the western paradise beyond sea; while the myth of the Phaeaceans is a
+simple expression of the last. The connection which we find between
+Greek and German in these beliefs is derivable only from their common
+ancestry--not from a contact in later days. Certainly these legends have
+their close counterparts in Norse mythology; the two series only require
+to be stripped of local colouring, and some unessential details, to
+display very clearly their common brotherhood. How curious, for
+instance, is it to see that Calypso corresponds literally in name with
+the Northern goddess of the dead, Hel! Another myth, the story of the
+burning of Baldur, repeats the same images of death which we trace in
+the legend of Odysseus.
+
+Baldur is quite evidently the sun-god. Less of a hero, more of a god,
+than Odysseus, he is nevertheless mortal--as, indeed, all the Norse gods
+are--and falls pierced by the hand of his own brother, Hoedur. Then his
+corpse is placed upon his ship, Hringhorn, and sent out upon this, as on
+a pyre, drifting into the ocean. We can imagine how to the Norsemen upon
+their stormy seas, the image of the sun dying red upon the western
+waters recalled the story of Baldur's burning ship. The Viking imitated
+his god in this, and when his time came ordered his funeral fire to be
+lighted in like manner upon a ship and himself to be set sailing, as
+Baldur was. After this we are brought in the myth to the underground
+kingdom of Hel, and there the goddess entertains Baldur, as Calypso
+entertained Odysseus, making ready her best to do him honour, and
+seating him in the highest place in her hall. Then the gods take
+counsel how Baldur is to be brought back again, and one of them,
+Hermoedr,[26] the messenger, like Hermes, is sent to beg Hel to let
+Baldur out of Helheim. Fate and death are more powerful in northern
+lands than they are in Greece. The gods cannot command that this Calypso
+should let her prisoner go; and alas! they do not even obtain an answer
+to their prayer save on conditions which they are unable to fulfil. Hel
+will set Baldur free, if all things, both living and dead, weep for him;
+but if one thing refuses to weep, then he must remain in the
+under-world. Thereupon the gods sent messengers over the whole earth,
+commanding all things, living and lifeless, to weep Baldur out of
+Helheim; all things freely complied with the request, both men and
+stones, and trees and metals; until as the messengers were returning,
+deeming that their mission was accomplished, they met an old witch
+sitting in a cave, and she refused to weep, saying, "Let Hel keep her
+own."[27] This old witch is Calypso or Circe in another guise. Her name
+is Thokk, that is, darkness (doekkr).
+
+The Teutonic people had many myths and stories about the carrying the
+dead across the sea. We have signalized the belief in such a passage as
+the origin of those countless mediaeval legends of the earthly Paradise:
+doubtless it is the parent of the modern superstition that ghosts will
+not cross the running water. Side by side with the story of the
+Phaeaceans we may place the superstition which Procopius records touching
+our own island. The Byzantine historian of Justinian seems to have had
+but vague ideas of the position of Britain, which, by the tide of
+Teutonic invasion across the Rhine, had long been cut off from
+intercourse with the Empire. These Easterns were careless and ignorant
+of the remote West. So Procopius speaks of Britannia as lying opposite
+to Spain; and then he mentions another island, Brittia--evidently in
+reality our island--which faces the northern coast of Gaul, and of this
+he tells the following strange story:--There is, he declares, an island
+called Brittia, which lies in the Northern Seas. It is separated into
+two divisions by a wall;[28] and on one side of this wall the air is
+healthy and the land fertile and pleasant, and all things most apt for
+human habitation. But on the other side the air is so noxious that no
+one can breathe in it for an hour: it is given up to serpents and
+poisonous animals and plants. Yet not entirely; for this is the home of
+the dead. Then he goes on to relate how the fishermen who inhabit the
+coast opposite this part of Brittia have to perform the strange duty of
+carrying the souls across the strait. Each does his office in rotation;
+when the man's night has come he is awoke by a knocking at his door, but
+when he opens it, sees no one. He goes down to the shore, and finds
+there strange vessels, which, though empty to mortal eyes, lie deep in
+the water as though weighed down by some freight. Stepping in, each
+fisherman takes his rudder, and then by an unfelt wind the vessels are
+wafted in one night across the channel, a distance which, with oar and
+sail, they could usually scarce accomplish in eight. Arrived at the
+opposite side--our coast--the fishermen heard names called over and
+voices answering in rota, and they felt the boats becoming light. Then,
+when all the ghosts were landed, they were carried back to Gaul. We may
+picture them returning to the habitable world in the first glow of
+morning, or with the one bright morning star which shone on Odysseus
+landing at Ithaca.
+
+So much for the myth of the sea, or river, of death. A most important
+change was wrought in belief when the custom of burning the dead was
+introduced. It would seem that our Aryan ancestors were the beginners of
+this rite. Whence it arose we cannot say; but if the God of Fire was a
+prominent divinity, the thought of committing the dead into his charge
+seems a simple and natural one. Among the Aryan people the only deep
+traces of fire-worship are to be seen in the Vedic and Iranian
+religions,[29] while the fire-burial survived in all: but the former may
+well have held a prominent place in their older creed. Or--and this is
+far from unlikely--the custom of fire-burial may have arisen out of the
+sun myth, just as the belief in the soul's journey after death was
+suggested by watching the sun's journey to the west. The two great
+fire-funerals mentioned in Greek and Teutonic mythology are the funerals
+of sun-gods. Heracles burning on Mount OEta, on the western coast of the
+AEgean, may have been first thought of by Greeks who saw the sun setting
+in fire over that sea; and Baldur's bale on the ship _Hringhorn_ is
+evidently the Norse edition of the same story, his blazing ship the
+blaze in the sky, as the sun sinks into the water. Burning the dead
+never seems to have been a universal practice; rather a special honour
+paid to kings and heroes. But then we must remember that immortality
+itself was not, in ancient belief, granted to all men indiscriminately,
+only to the greatest.
+
+We see at once that with the use of fire-burial many of the old beliefs
+had to be given up; all those, for instance, which depended upon the
+preservation of the bodily remains. Of old time men had buried treasures
+with the corpse in the expectation that they would be of some kind of
+use to it; the body itself was at first imagined to descend to the
+under-world or to travel the western journey to the home of the sun. But
+now the body is visibly consumed upon the funeral pile, where, too, are
+placed, by a curious survival of old custom, the precious things which
+would formerly have been buried with it in the ground. The body and
+these things have been consumed, are gone; where have they gone? Have
+they perished utterly, and is there nothing more left than the earliest
+belief of an =A-ides=--a nowhere; is nothing true of all those myths of
+the soul passing away to a home of bliss? Instead of giving up this
+faith, the Aryan people have only spiritualized it, robbed it of the too
+literal and earthly clothing which in earlier times it wore. The thought
+which had once identified the life with the breath comes again into
+force, or, if some material representation is still wished for, we have
+the smoke of the funeral pyre, which rises heavenwards like an ascending
+soul. In this spirit we find in long after years, in the description of
+the funeral fire of Beowulf the Goth, it is said that the soul of the
+hero _wand to wolcum_, "curled to the clouds," imaging the smoke which
+was curling up from his pyre. There is even a curious analogy between
+the words for _smoke_ and _soul_ in the Aryan languages, showing how
+closely the two ideas were once allied. From a primitive root _dhu_,
+which means to shake or blow, we get both the Sanskrit root _dhuma_,
+smoke, and the Greek =thymos=, the immaterial part of man, his thought
+or soul. =Thymos= is not a mere abstraction like our word mind, but that
+which could live when the body was killed or wasted to death by
+disease.[30]
+
+Evidently, therefore, even the inanimate things, the weapons and
+treasures which are burnt with the dead, survive in a land of essences
+for the use of the liberated soul. To the question, Where does man's
+essence go to when it rises from the funeral fire? the answer, if the
+wish alone urged the thought, would be "To the gods." But with the
+majority of burying people the belief in future union with the gods was
+not strongly insisted upon. The islands of the blest are certainly not
+to be confounded with Olympus; although the Phaeaceans claim to live very
+near the gods.[31] Yet with the use of burning, and among the Aryan
+people, the hope gains a measure of strength. The gods of the Aryan
+were, before everything, gods of the air. As the soul and the smoke
+mounted upwards, "curled to the clouds," the belief of its having gone
+to join the gods--chief god, Dyaus, the air--was impressed more vividly
+upon his mind. And as the notion of the western journey to the home of
+the sun was not abandoned, a natural compromise would be to send the
+soul upwards to the path of the sun, and make its voyage a voyage in
+heaven, led by the sun or by the wind. But his path still lay westward;
+the home of the dead ancestors lay beyond the western boundary; there
+was still an Oceanus to be crossed, and a dark Cimmerian land to be
+passed through.
+
+The heavenly path taken by the soul becomes, in the eye of mortals, a
+_bridge_ spanning the celestial arch, and carrying them over the river
+of death; and men would soon begin asking themselves where lay this
+heavenly road. Night is necessarily associated with thoughts of
+death--"Death, and his brother Sleep"--and of the other world. The
+heavens wear a more awful aspect than by day. The sun has forsaken us,
+and is himself buried beneath the earth; and a million dwellers in the
+upper regions, who were before unseen, now appear to sight--the stars,
+who in so many mythologies are associated with souls. Among the stars we
+see a bright, yet misty, bow bent overhead: can this be other than the
+destined bridge of souls? The ancient Indians called this road
+gods'-path, because besides that it was the way for souls to God, it was
+also the way from gods to men. They also called it the
+cow-path--_gopatha_, meaning possibly cloud-path--from which it is
+likely we derive our name for it, "the Milky-way." The Low-German name
+for the Milky-way is _kau-pat_--_i.e., kuh-pfad_, cow-path. But in their
+hymns the Indians oftenest speak of it as the path of Yama, the way to
+the house of Yama, the god of the dead:--
+
+"A narrow path, an ancient one, stretches there, a path untrodden by
+men, a path I know of:
+
+"On it the wise who have known Brahma ascend to the world Svarga, when
+they have received their dismissal," sings a Sanskrit poet.[32]
+
+Another (R. V. i. 38. 5) prays the Maruts, the gods of the wind, not to
+let him wander on the path of Yama, or, when he does so--that is, when
+his time shall come--to keep him that he fall not into the hands of
+Nirrtis, the Queen of Naraka (Tartarus). In another place we find as
+guardians of the bridge two dogs, the dogs of Yama, and the dead man is
+committed to their care:--
+
+"Give him, O king Yama, to the two dogs, the watchers, the four-eyed
+guardians of the path, guardians of men: grant him safety and freedom
+from pain."
+
+Thus stands out in its complete development the myth of the Bridge of
+Souls: a narrow path spanning the arch of heaven, passing over the
+dwelling of Nirrtis, the Queen of Tartarus (perhaps not clearly
+distinguishable from the river of death), and reaching at last the
+country of the wise Pitris, the "fathers" of the tribe, who have gone to
+heaven before, and who since their death have not ceased to keep watch
+over the descendants of their race. This road is guarded by two dogs,
+the dogs of Yama, both wardens of the bridge and likewise psychopomps,
+or leaders of the soul up the strait road.
+
+This was essentially an Indian myth--or perhaps an Indian and
+Iranian--and took the place of the myth of the sea journey, as it was
+conceived by Greeks and Germans. The Indians and Iranians had never a
+sea of death, so they could not have such ferrymen as the Phaeaceans, or
+legends such as the voyages of Odysseus and the burning of Baldur. In
+the place of them, and with their mortal _river_, they adopted this
+Bridge of Souls. The guardians are manifold in their nature; for their
+names show them related both to Cerberus, who guards Hades, and to
+Hermes, who leads the souls of the dead below; and, so far as we can
+gather from the Vedas, these dogs of Yama discharged both offices,
+sometimes keeping the bridge and sometimes conducting souls along it.
+"Give him," says the prayer, "O Yama, to the two dogs." No doubt their
+terrors were for the wicked only, and they are thus apt images of
+death:--
+
+    "Death comes to set thee free;
+    Oh, meet him cheerily
+      As thy true friend."[33]
+
+Still, as we see from their appearance, the dreadful aspect of death
+predominates. In like forms, as dogs or wolves, they return time out of
+mind in Norse mythology and in Middle-Age legend.
+
+It has been said that this myth of the Bridge of Souls was essentially
+Indian and Iranian (old Persian). It is often most difficult to
+ascertain what were the ancient Persian beliefs: but in this case the
+myth has been handed down to us from the Persians through the Arabs, a
+people possessing of right no part or lot in its construction. It is
+generally acknowledged that Mohammed took from the Persians that famous
+bridge so vividly described in the Koran.[34] Es-Sirat is the bridge's
+name. It is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword, and
+is, besides, guarded with thorns and briars along all its length.
+Nevertheless, when, at the last day, the good Muslim comes to cross it,
+a light will shine upon him from heaven, and he will be snatched across
+like lightning or like the wind; but when the wicked man or the
+unbeliever approaches, the light will be hidden, and, from the extreme
+narrowness of the bridge and likewise becoming entangled in the thorns,
+he will fall headlong into the abyss of fire that is beneath. This is
+the fragment of our old Aryan mythology which the Mohammedan has taken
+to himself to form an image of hell and of punishment after death. It is
+significant that from the Persians should have been inherited the most
+gloomy myth concerning the Bridge of Souls. For from the same source we
+(Christians) gain our fearfullest notions of the Devil.
+
+The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanskrit hymn
+we learn--
+
+"Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and blue, and brown, and
+gold, and red.
+
+"And this path Brahma knows, and he who has known Brahma shall take it;
+he who is pure and glorious."
+
+Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the Norse
+cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian _patha-devayano_,
+gods'-path. The Eddas call it As-bru, the bridge of the AEsir, or gods.
+Its other name, Bifroest, the trembling mile, it may even have inherited
+from the Milky-way, for that, when we look at it, seems to be always
+trembling. Asbru or Bifroest, then, is the bridge whereby the gods
+descend to earth. One end of it reaches to the famous Urdar fount, where
+sit the weird sisters three--the Nornir, or fates. "Near the fountain
+which is under the ash stands a very fair house, out of which come
+three maidens, named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Past, Present, Future).
+These maidens assign the lifetime of men, and are called Norns."[35] To
+their stream the gods ride every day along Bifroest to take counsel. For
+in the Norse creed the gods know not the hidden things of the future,
+nor have power to ward them off. Fate and death, the Twilight of the
+Gods, lies ahead for them also, as these things lie ahead of mortals.
+
+It is possible that a trace of the rainbow bridge is to be seen in the
+Greek myth of the asphodel meadows, which are a part of the infernal
+regions. But no other trace of the Bridge of Souls--if this be one--is
+to be found throughout the range of Hellenic mythology.
+
+The Eddas have nothing to say of the Milky-way. But we have clear
+evidence that it was considered by the German people a path for the
+dead. Indeed, in the scanty legends which survive, we can trace the
+characteristic features of the Indian myth of the bridge guarded by
+Yama's dogs, and the souls led along it by the wind-god. The wind-god of
+the north is the father of gods, none less than Odin himself; and this
+is why Odin is described as riding with his Valkyriur to the
+battle-fields, to choose from the dead the heroes who shall go with him
+to Valhoell, the hall of the chosen. It is because, as the wind-god, he
+collects the breath of the departed. Odin and Freyja (Air and Earth)
+divide the slain, says one legend--that is, the bodies go to earth, the
+breath goes to heaven. Now, in the Middle Ages, when Odin-worship had
+been overthrown, the gods of Asgaard descended to Helheim; from being
+deities they were turned into fiends. Odin still pursued his office as
+leader of the souls; but now he was huntsman of hell. One of the
+commonest appearances of this fiend, therefore, is as a huntsman--called
+the Wild Huntsman. He is heard by the peasants of the wild mountain
+districts at this day. He is companioned by _two dogs_, and his chase
+goes on along the Milky-way all the year through, save during the twelve
+nights which follow Christmas. During that time he hunts on earth, and
+the peasant will do well to keep his door well-barred at night. If he
+does not, one of the hell-hounds will rush in and lie down in the ashes
+of the hearth. No power will move him during the ensuing year, and for
+all that time there will be trouble in the house. When the hunt comes
+round again he will rise from his couch and rush forth, wildly howling,
+to join his master.
+
+A gentler legend is that which we find preserved in a charming poem of
+the Swede, Torpelius, called "The Winter Street"--another of the names
+for the Milky-way. With this, in the form in which it has been rendered
+into English,[36] we may end our list of legends connected with the Sea
+of Death or the Bridge of Souls. The story is of two lovers:--
+
+          "Her name Salami was, his Zulamyth;
+    And each so loved, each other loved. Thus runs the tender myth:
+
+    "That once on earth they lived, and, loving there,
+    Were wrenched apart by night, and sorrow, and despair;
+    And when death came at last, with white wings given,
+    Condemned to live apart, each reached a separate heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Yet loving still upon the azure height,
+    Across unmeasured ways of splendour, gleaming bright,
+    With worlds on worlds that spread and glowed and burned,
+    Each unto each, with love that knew no limit, longing turned.
+
+    "Zulamyth half consumed, until he willed
+    Out of his strength one night a bridge of light to build
+    Across the waste--and lo! from her far sun,
+    A bridge of light from orb to orb Salami had begun.
+
+    "A thousand years they built, still on, with faith,
+    Immeasurable, quenchless, so my legend saith,
+    Until the winter street of light--a bridge
+    Above heaven's highest vault swung clear, remotest ridge from
+      ridge.
+
+    "Fear seized the Cherubim; to God they spake--
+    'See what amongst thy works, Almighty, these can make!'
+    God smiled, and smiling, lit the spheres with joy--
+    'What in my world love builds,' he said, 'shall I, shall Love
+      itself destroy?'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    C. F. KEARY.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] Elia.
+
+[6] Unless indeed we are to except a figure upon the Ephesian drum
+(Artemisium) now in the British Museum, which some have imagined to
+represent Thanatos.
+
+[7] Hel is from the Icl. _helja_ "to conceal."
+
+[8] Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19; cf. also Genesis xxxvii. 35; 1 Samuel
+xxviii. 19. Sheol is misrendered "grave" in our version. It means the
+place of the dead, not of bodies only.
+
+[9] The fact that the sun dies every day militates against his claim to
+the rank of a god: otherwise he would probably always receive the
+greatest meed of worship. As it is, he is often worshipped rather as a
+hero or demigod than a true immortal.
+
+[10] Fick. "Verg. Woerterbuch der I.-G. Sp." s.v. _mara_.
+
+[11] Hesperides. They are, however, called the daughters of Night by
+Hesiod and others.
+
+[12] =Pontos= is from the same root as the Skr. _patha_, a _path_,
+_pfad_, &c. One might suppose from this that the Greeks were the first
+adventurers upon the deep waters. While the other Aryan folks called the
+sea "a death," they called it a "road."
+
+[13] There can be no doubt that the cosmology of the Eddas is to some
+extent infected by the source from which we derive it. The picture of
+earth, with its mountain Asgard and its surrounding sea, is nearly
+exactly the picture of Iceland.
+
+[14] So Poseidon, the god of the sea, is the earth-shaker; earthquakes
+being apparently attributed to the water under the earth.
+
+[15] Weber in Chambr., 1020.
+
+[16] "The sounding," from _gialla_, to sound (yell).
+
+[17] Chaucer.
+
+[18] =Kirkos= (whence =Kirke=) is given as both hawk and wolf in L. & S.
+It is most likely from a root _krik_, meaning to make a grating sound,
+and therefore probably applied originally to the bird (cf. our
+nightjar). The Latin _quercus_ seems to be from the same root--from its
+rustling? We may compare Circe with Charon, which means "an eagle."
+
+[19] From =scheros=.
+
+[20] Od. vi. 204, _sqq._
+
+[21] "Earthly Paradise."
+
+[22] Od. viii. 562.
+
+[23] Justin Martyr identifies the gardens of Alcinoues with Paradise.
+"Cohort. ad Graec." xxix.
+
+[24] Od. xiii. 79, 88.
+
+[25] "Rheinisches Museum fuer Philologie," vol. i. N.S. p. 219. _Die
+Homerische Phaeaken._
+
+[26] Hermoedr (heer-muth, kriegsmuth) was originally one of the names of
+Odin, and therefore originally the wind. We easily see the connection
+between the rushing wind, and the battle's rage. Hermes is likewise the
+wind, and means "the rusher" (=hormao=, and cf. Sarameyas of the Vedas).
+
+[27] Edda Snorra, Daemisaga, 49.
+
+[28] Procopius, Bel. Goth. iv. The wall identifies the island with
+Britain.
+
+[29] The Iranian religion, as it has come down to us, is the historical
+one founded by Zarathustra, who swept away most of the traces of the old
+Aryan faith. There is difficulty, therefore, in obtaining the evidence
+of a belief which was shared by the old Persians.
+
+[30]
+    =kad' d'epes' en koniesi makon, apo d' eptato thymos.=--Od. x. 163.
+
+    =oute tis, oun moi nousos epelythen, hete malista
+    tekedoni stygere meleon exeileto thymon.=--Od. xi. 200.
+
+[31] We are here speaking of beliefs which sprang originally from the
+days of burial in the earth. Of these were all that class which included
+the journey of the soul.
+
+[32] V_r_hadara_n_ayaka. Ed. Pol. iii 4-7.
+
+[33] Fouque.
+
+[34] Sale's Koran, Introd. p. 91. The Persian bridge was called Chinvat.
+
+[35] See Edda den Eldra, Grimnismal 44, and Edda Snorra, D. 15. That
+Bifroest did not tremble through weakness we may gather from the fact
+that it is the "best of bridges," "the strongest of all bridges"
+(Simrock, D.M. 28), and that it will only be broken at the day of
+judgment.
+
+[36] By E. Keary: _Evening Hours_, vol. iii.
+
+
+
+
+MR. MACVEY NAPIER AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS.
+
+    _Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey Napier, Esq._
+    Edited by his son, MACVEY NAPIER. London: Macmillan & Co.
+
+
+Mr. Macvey Napier, who succeeded Francis Jeffrey in the editorship of
+the great Whig Review, had, of course, a perfect right to preserve the
+letters which are published in this volume, and to study them in private
+as much as he pleased. Indeed, for anything that appears to the contrary
+in the "Introduction" by his son, the present Mr. Macvey Napier, they
+may have been bequeathed by the original recipient with instructions
+that they should some day be published. An edition, privately circulated
+a short time ago, led to "representations that a correspondence of so
+much interest ought to be made more accessible," and the present volume
+is the result; but it might be maintained that the writers of such
+letters would, if they could have been consulted, have objected to their
+publication; and that to send them forth to the world in all their
+nakedness was, at all events, not a delicate or magnanimous thing to do.
+"Much might be said on both sides." Paley, in his chapter on the
+original character of the Christian Morality, remarked that though a
+thousand cases might be supposed in which the use of the golden rule
+might mislead a person, it was impossible in fact to light on such a
+case. That was a hazardous observation, for the truth is that when we
+once get beyond elementary conditions of being and doing, we find human
+beings differ so very widely, and in such utterly incalculable ways,
+that it is in vain to poll the monitor in the breast on questions that
+do in fact arise daily--five hundred in a thousand will vote one way,
+and five hundred in another. "How would you like it yourself?" is a
+question that elicits the most discordant replies. I have a very
+positive feeling that I should have left many of these letters in the
+portfolio, or put them into the fire; but when I look about me for a
+standard which I could take in my hand to Mr. Napier, I am baffled--he
+might produce one of his own that would silence me on the spot. And
+when one has taken up a book to comment upon it with as little reserve
+as may be, it seems idle, if not Irish, to begin by saying that the most
+amusing or most fertile things in it ought never to have seen the light.
+
+This point may recur before we have done; and in the meantime it should
+be remarked that nothing very momentous, either to the honour or the
+disgrace of human nature in general, or literary human nature in
+particular, can be extracted from this correspondence. A late essayist
+used to tell a true anecdote of a distinguished statesman who had lived
+many years and seen as many changes as Ulysses. A friend asked him
+something like this: "Well, now, you have had a great deal to do with
+mankind, and you have outlived the heats and prejudices of youth; what
+do you think of men in general?" And the veteran replied: "Oh, I like
+them--very good fellows; but"--and here we shall mollify his language a
+little--"but condemnably vain, you know." And really that is about the
+worst thing you can find it in your heart to say of literary men after
+running through these letters--"very good fellows, but very vain, you
+know."
+
+Another point which lies less near the surface, and has at least the
+look of novelty, would perhaps be this. It is the most frequent and most
+voluminous of the writers who unconsciously tell us the most about
+themselves; and who, with the pleasing exception of Jeffrey, show us the
+most of their unamiable sides. But there is comfort for impulsive people
+in the fact that it is not always the most self-controlled and
+inoffensive of the writers who win upon us. The Brougham-Macaulay feud
+runs sprawling through these pages till we are tired of it; and some of
+poor Brougham's letters are downright venomous. But the total absence of
+disguise and the blundering boyish inconsistency disarm us. Taking the
+letters one by one, the moral superiority is with Macaulay on Brougham
+as against Brougham on Macaulay, but taking the correspondence in the
+lump, it is something like Charles Surface against Joseph Surface, in
+another line--only, of course, there is no hypocrisy. While you come to
+feel for Brougham in his spluttering rages, you feel also that Macaulay,
+in his too-admirable self-continence, can do very well without your
+compassion, whatever he may have to complain of. It is easy to discern
+that Brougham honestly believed in his own superiority to the young
+rival who outshone him, and yet that he was inwardly tormented.
+Macaulay's forbearance was of the kind _qui coute si peu au gens
+heureux_. The editor, Mr. Napier, was, we may conjecture, the greatest
+sufferer of the three. Much was owed to Brougham as a man of enormous
+intellectual force; to which, apart from his past services, great
+respect was due: but Macaulay was by far the best writer, and (to employ
+a bull which is common enough) incomparably the most attractive
+contributor. The strength of his hold upon the Review and its editor is
+apparent on every tenth page of the book, and comes out forcibly enough
+in a letter from Sir James Stephen to Mr. Napier. Mr. Napier had
+written to Sir James, expressing some delicate surprise that no article
+from his pen had reached the Review for a long time. Sir James excuses
+himself in this fashion:--
+
+    "I know that many of your contributors must be importunate for a
+    place; that you must be fencing and compromising at a weary rate;
+    that there are many interests of the passing day which you could not
+    overlook; and that we should all have growled like so many fasting
+    bears if denied the regular return of the Macaulay diet, to which we
+    have been so long accustomed."
+
+Sir James was an exceedingly busy man, and he was not professedly a man
+of letters like Macaulay; but we may, if we like, read between the lines
+in these excuses and find a little pique there, as well as a just sense
+of an editor's difficulties.
+
+Another point which lies broadly and prominently upon the surface in
+these letters is a very unpleasant one. It is scarcely credible how much
+dull conceit and sheer ignorant arbitrariness there often is in the
+minds of able and cultivated men. It does not seem even to occur to them
+that their own range may be limited, and their judgments upon many (or
+even a few) topics not worth ink or breath. It should hardly be
+offensive to an ordinary man to be told, or at least to find it tacitly
+assumed, that he could not have invented fluxions, painted like
+Rembrandt, or sung like Pindar. Why, then, should it be difficult for
+any cultivated specialist, of more than ordinary faculties, to make the
+reflection that he must be deficient in some direction or other? Yet we
+find in practice that it is not only difficult, but impossible, in the
+majority of cases. Mr. Napier seems to have invited, or at all events
+not to have repelled, free criticisms on his Review from the
+contributors in general, and the outcome is little short of appalling.
+If ever there was an able man it was Mr. Senior, yet these are the terms
+in which he allows himself to speak of an article on Christopher
+North--or rather of Christopher North himself:--"The article on
+Christopher North is my abomination. I think him one of the very worst
+of the clever bad writers who infest modern literature; full of bombast,
+affectation, conceit, in short, of all the _vitia_, _tristia_, as well
+as _dulcia_. I had almost as soon try to read Carlyle or Coleridge." Now
+Mr. Senior was, of course, entitled to dislike Christopher North, and
+there is plenty to be said against him in the way of criticism; but the
+charge of "affectation" is foolish, and the whole passage pitched in the
+most detestable of all literary key-notes. John Wilson was a man of
+genius, whose personal likings and rampant animal spirits led him most
+mournfully astray. He was wanting also in love of truth for its own
+sake; but he was as much superior to Mr. Senior as Shakspeare was to
+_him_. And the addition about Carlyle or Coleridge--_or_ Coleridge!--is
+just the gratuitous insolence of one-eyed dulness. There is enough and
+to spare of blame ready in any balanced mind for either of these great
+writers, but they can do without the admiration of wooden-headed prigs,
+however able. The point, however, is that it never dawns upon the mind
+of even so clever and cultivated a man as Mr. Senior, that his head may
+have gaps in it.
+
+Another instance to the same purport may be selected from a letter from
+Mr. Edwin Atherstone, the poet--for it would perhaps be hard and
+grudging to deny him the title, since he found an audience, and I have a
+vague recollection of having once read verses of his about Nineveh or
+Babylon which had in them power of the picturesque-meditative order.
+Now, this is the way in which Mr. Edwin Atherstone speaks of Dr. Thomas
+Brown, the metaphysician:--"For myself, I know not a writer, with the
+exception of Shakspeare, Milton, Homer, and Scott, from whom I have
+derived such high delight as from Dr. Brown."
+
+Was ever such a category put on paper before? It is as if a man should
+say his favourite musical instruments were the organ, the harp, the
+trumpet, the violin, and the sewing-machine. Brown was one of the most
+readable of metaphysicians; he made some acute hits, and he wrote
+elegant verses; but his position in Mr. Atherstone's list is as
+inexplicably quaint as that of "Burke, commonly called the Sublime," in
+the epitaph on the lady who "painted in water-colours," and "was first
+cousin to Lady Jones."
+
+The worst examples of all, however, come from the letters of Francis
+Jeffrey himself. Jeffrey has been underrated, and he was a most amiable
+man; but some of the verdicts he thought fit to pronounce upon articles
+in the _Edinburgh_, when edited by Mr. Napier, are _saugrenus_. In one
+case he is about suggesting a contributor, to deal with a certain topic,
+and is so polite as to say that the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill had
+struck him:--"I once thought of John Mill, but there are reasons against
+him too, independent of his great unreadable book and its elaborate
+demonstrations of axioms and truisms."
+
+There might be weighty "reasons against" Mr. Mill, but what his "Logic"
+could have to do with the question is not clear. It never seems to have
+crossed Jeffrey's mind that he _might_ be totally disqualified for
+forming an opinion of a book like that; and, having called it
+"unreadable" (though to a reader with any natural bent towards such
+matters it is deeply interesting), he actually puts forward the fact
+that Mill had written it as a reason against his being entrusted with
+the treatment of a political topic in a Whig Review. Editors are human,
+and the editorial position is a very troublesome one. An editor may lose
+his head, as an overworked wine-taster may lose his palate. In a word,
+allowances must be made; but, after a disclosure or two like this, it is
+difficult not to conclude that the Review owed no more of its success to
+its former editor than it might have owed to any intelligent clerk. But
+we cannot let Jeffrey go yet. The following passage relates to an
+article on Victor Cousin:--
+
+    "Cousin I pronounce beyond all doubt the most unreadable thing that
+    ever appeared in the _Review_. The only chance is, that gentle
+    readers may take it to be very profound, and conclude that the
+    fault is in their want of understanding. But I am not disposed to
+    agree with them. It is ten times more _mystical_ than anything my
+    friend Carlyle ever wrote, and not half so agreeably written. It is
+    nothing to the purpose that he does not agree with the worst part of
+    the mysticism, for he affects to understand it, and to explain it,
+    and to think it very ingenious and respectable, and it is mere
+    gibberish. He may possibly be a clever man. There are even
+    indications of that in his paper, but he is not a _very_ clever man,
+    nor of much power; and beyond all question he is not a good writer
+    on such subjects. If you ever admit such a disquisition again, order
+    your operator to instance and illustrate all his propositions by
+    cases or examples, and to reason and explain with reference to
+    these. This is a sure test of sheer nonsense, and moreover an
+    infinite resource for the explication of obscure truth, if there be
+    any such thing."
+
+Now, the writer of the article in question was Sir William Hamilton. "He
+may possibly be a clever man, but beyond all question he is not a good
+writer on such subjects." So much for Jeffrey.
+
+    "Nec sibi coenarum quivis temere arroget artem,
+    Non prius exacta tenui ratione saporum."
+
+Poor Mr. Carlyle is again dragged in, and Sir William is pronounced "ten
+times more _mystical_" than he--"mystical" in italics. When a writer,
+using the word mystical opprobriously, prints it in italics, it is
+usually safe to decide that he knows nothing of metaphysics. The
+concluding sentences are instructive examples of editorial
+self-confidence: "If ever you admit such a disquisition again, _order
+your operator to_" do so-and-so. Thus, the treatment of Mill and
+Hamilton being equally ignorant and inept, there is no escape for the
+ex-editor. Both verdicts were after the too-celebrated
+"this-will-never-do" manner, and that is all.
+
+In the communications from literary men there are some fine instances of
+just self-consciousness. Tom Campbell writes, with great warmth and
+alertness, to promise an article upon a new work about the Nerves; but
+shortly afterwards writes again, candidly confessing that he had found,
+upon looking again at the work, that his aptitude for scientific detail
+was not great enough to enable him to do justice to the subject. A
+letter from William Hazlitt is so striking, both for its truthfulness
+and its clear-headedness, as to deserve quoting in full. He had been
+written to by Mr. Napier for some contributions to the _Encyclopaedia
+Britannica_, and he replies, from his well-known retreat at Winterslow
+Hut, in these terms:--
+
+    "I am sorry to be obliged, from want of health and a number of other
+    engagements, which I am little able to perform, to decline the
+    flattering offer you make me. I am also afraid that I should not be
+    able to do the article in question, or yourself, justice, for I am
+    not only without books, but without knowledge of what books are
+    necessary to be consulted on the subject. To get up an article in a
+    Review on any subject of general literature is quite as much as I
+    can do without exposing myself. The object of an Encyclopaedia is, I
+    take it, to condense and combine all the facts relating to a
+    subject, and all the theories of any consequence already known or
+    advanced. Now, where the business of such a work ends, is just where
+    I begin--that is, I might perhaps throw in an idle speculation or
+    two of my own, not contained in former accounts of the subject, and
+    which would have very little pretensions to rank as scientific. I
+    know something about Congreve, but nothing at all of Aristophanes,
+    and yet I conceive that the writer of an article on the Drama ought
+    to be as well acquainted with the one as the other."
+
+The honesty of this is quite refreshing. There is one more letter, of a
+similar order, which deserves to be signalized. In August, 1843,
+Macaulay, being pressed for more frequent contributions, writes from the
+Albany that he can promise, at the very utmost, no more than two
+articles in a year:--
+
+    "I ought to give my whole leisure to my History; and I fear that if
+    I suffer myself to be diverted from that design as I have done, I
+    shall, like poor Mackintosh, leave behind me the character of a man
+    who would have done something if he had concentrated his powers
+    instead of frittering them away. There are people who can carry on
+    twenty works at a time. Southey would write the history of Brazil
+    before breakfast, an ode after breakfast, then the history of the
+    Peninsular War till dinner, and an article for the _Quarterly
+    Review_ in the evening. But I am of a different temper. I never
+    write so as to please myself until my subject has for the time
+    driven away every other out of my head. When I turn from one work to
+    another a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition. I must
+    not go on dawdling and reproaching myself all my life."
+
+There is something melancholy in this, admirable as it is. Macaulay had
+begun to watch the shadow on the dial too closely to permit him to do
+much miscellaneous work with an easy mind. There is an important lesson
+for men of letters in the sentence,--"When I turn from one work to
+another, a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition." Here lies
+the great difference between serious literary work and that of ordinary
+business, where the mind is solicited by one thing after another in
+rapid succession. In the first case, time and energy have to be expended
+in evolving from within a fresh impulse for every topic. The most
+readable writings of Southey are those which he produced fragment by
+fragment, on topics for which little renewal of impulse was required. To
+write a great poem in scraps, all by the clock, was a task which only a
+very conceited and rather wooden man would have attempted; and the
+result we know, though there are fine things in Southey's longer poems.
+A powerful passage by Cardinal Newman on the difficulties of literary
+work is almost too well known to bear quoting, but a living poet, Mrs.
+Augusta Webster, has put the case so fairly that Macaulay's shade--which
+is, of course, a shade that reads everything--may be gratified by seeing
+in a handy way a few of her sentences:--
+
+    "Occupations of study, scientific research, literary production--of
+    brain-work of any kind that is carried on in the worker's private
+    home with no visible reminder of customer or client--are taken to be
+    such as can lightly be done at one time as well as another, and
+    resumed after no matter what interruptions, like a lady's
+    embroidery, which she can take up again at the very stitch she left
+    her needle in. Professions of this sort not only admit, but in many
+    instances require, considerable variation in the amount of daily
+    time directly bestowed on them,--_directly_, for the true student is
+    not at his work only when he is ostensibly employed, but whenever
+    and wherever he may have his head to himself,--and there is no
+    measure of visible quantity for the more or less results of
+    application.... The literary man probably fares the worst of all. He
+    is not merely not protected by the manual part of his processes, but
+    it is his danger. It is so easy--what anybody can do at any time!...
+    Of course the simple fact is that it is more difficult for this
+    class of persons to practise their vocations under the drawback of
+    perpetual breaks, actual and (what comes to nearly the same thing)
+    expected, than it is for 'business men.' Let the attention of the
+    solicitor, for instance, busied on the points of an intricate case,
+    be perforce diverted to another matter, there is lost from that case
+    just the time diverted, and a little extra to allow for the mind
+    which returns to any interrupted course of thought, never returning
+    to it exactly at the point at which it was forced to leave it. But
+    there are the recorded facts; the direct conclusions to be drawn
+    remain unaltered; nothing has disappeared, nothing has lost its
+    identity. But suppose, let us say, a dramatist, devising his crisis
+    after hours, perhaps days, of gradual growth, to the moment when he
+    sees it before him as a reality.... Force his attention away, and he
+    has lost, not merely the time he needed to complete a spell of
+    works, with something over for the difficulty of resuming, but the
+    _power_ of resuming. All has faded into a haze; and the fruit of
+    days, may be, has been thrown away at the ripening, for such moments
+    do not come twice."
+
+There are but few of Mr. Napier's own letters in this volume, so that we
+have only indirect means of measuring his idea of his editorial rights
+or duties as against contributors. There is one case in which Macaulay
+complains strongly of certain excisions, and there is another in which
+he defends certain phrases of his own which appear to have offended the
+taste of Mr. Napier, who found them undignified, if not slightly vulgar.
+He submits of course--all the mutilated ones submit--and he says he
+submits "willingly;" but all the while we can too plainly see the wry
+faces he is making. Mr. Napier was, apparently, a purist in the matter
+of style; but there is something almost grotesque in the spectacle of a
+man of his quality correcting Macaulay. It reminds one of _cet imbecile
+Buloz_.[37] The case of Leigh Hunt was very different, for he sometimes
+went to the extreme verge of decorum--quarterly review decorum, that
+is--and beyond it. But we may safely conclude that Macaulay knew much
+better than his editor how to turn a sentence, or when the use of a
+French locution was desirable for ends of literary effect. Upon this
+subject of imported phrases Mr. Napier was, it seems, very punctilious,
+for with Mr. G. H. Lewes he must have had a brisk correspondence about
+it. Mr. Lewes, who was then a young writer, anxious to get his feet well
+planted, submits, with every possible expression of acquiescence, one
+might almost say, of abject agreement; but it is easy to see that his
+compliance was forced. Macaulay in his discussion of this little matter
+with Napier, easily and decisively lays down the true guiding
+principle:--"The first rule of all writing,--that rule to which every
+other rule is subordinate,--is that the words used by the writer shall
+be such as most fully and precisely convey his meaning to the great body
+of his readers. All considerations about the purity and dignity of style
+ought to bend to this consideration."
+
+This, indeed, exhausts the subject; and leaves the editor only one
+question to solve--namely, whether the writer whom he employs has
+presumably a meaning fit to be conveyed to the readers of his
+periodical. Upon that point he must use his own judgment; but it was
+idle for a man like Mr. Napier to criticize the phrasing of a man like
+Macaulay, who had ten thousand times his reading. For it is upon the
+"reading" that the matter very largely turns. The force of a quotation
+or a phrase imported from a foreign tongue depends, not upon the bare
+meaning of the words, but upon the suggestiveness of certain
+associations. This does not necessarily imply that the precise context
+is recalled, or certain hackneyed trifles from Lucretius and Horace, and
+a score of such chips in porridge, would be indecent. If it be said that
+all this implies that an editor should be omniscient, or at lowest an
+omnivorous reader, the reply is, that it certainly does--unless the
+principle adopted in the conduct of the periodical be the more recent
+one of choosing contributors largely on account of their names, and then
+leaving them to answer for their own sins, if any. One thing is clear,
+that if a man like Jeffrey--or like Napier--could be shown the number of
+blunders he made in mutilating the writings of his contributors, he
+would feel very much humiliated. Thackeray complains very bitterly of
+the suppression of some of his touches of humour, and his sufferings at
+the hands of a critic like Mr. Napier (able man as he was) must have
+been terrible indeed.
+
+The system recently adopted of having every article signed, has not
+yielded the results which were predicted or expected by those who so
+long struggled to get it introduced. It has led to "starring" more
+outrageous and more audacious than any that was ever seen upon the
+stage, and to mischief far more serious. The worst of these is the
+substitution of a spurious sort of authority for the natural influence
+or weight of the writing, even upon some of the most important topics
+which can engage the human mind. The opinion, for example, of a
+versatile politician, or traveller, or physicist, on a question of
+religion or morals may be of no more value than that of the first man
+you meet on passing into the streets. But it will attract attention in
+proportion to the notoriety of the author, and though wise men may know
+that it is weak or foolish, they may wait a long while for the chance of
+saying so from any pulpit worth preaching in, because the platforms are
+pre-engaged; and also because, the "organs of opinion" being bound to
+live by keeping up a succession of attractive names in their pages, it
+will not do to offend the owners of such names. One other result of the
+recent system (not everywhere and always, of course, but generally and
+most frequently) is a want of freshness in periodical literature. This
+evil our American friends manage to escape; only they are much bolder
+than we are, and do not stand in terror of the charge of levity. But, as
+a rule, writers who are fit for starring purposes lose freshness in a
+very short time; and then they do a still farther mischief by striking
+that key-note of second-hand thought which is so prevalent, or at least
+so common in even our better literature.
+
+It is amusing enough to recall the superstition of secrecy which
+inspired the policy of the first Edinburgh Reviewers. Lord Jeffrey has
+told us how the conspirators, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Horner, and
+himself, used to meet by night in the back room of a printing-office,
+and steal to their work by winding paths and back stairs, like
+assassins. This was folly, though not inexcusably without rational
+ground or motive, and one cannot resist the belief that the more modern
+plan will work well some day, if it does not now. But the difference in
+the results is not so great as might have been hoped for. Men of letters
+do not now openly insult each other for differences of opinion in
+politics or theology; but it is not any variation of mechanism which has
+made the change, and, though less brutality of phrasing is now
+permitted, it would be difficult to surpass in bitterness or unfairness
+some of the signed and accredited criticism of our own day. On the
+whole, it comes to this,--you can get no more out of given moral
+conditions than there is in them. If public writers are clique-ish (a
+word to disturb Mr. Napier in his grave, and certainly an ugly one) and
+unjust to each other, it is because you cannot change the spots of the
+leopard. A man who loves the truth will employ his pen conscientiously
+and kindly, whether he writes anonymously or otherwise. To this it may
+be added that there is something extremely quaint in one thing that we
+may see taking place every week--the greater part of our newspaper
+writing is still unsigned, and, considering what a hastily got-up
+miscellany a newspaper necessarily is, it can hardly be otherwise. A
+column of reviews in a newspaper is sometimes the work of as many hands
+as there are books reviewed in it. But it might certainly have been
+expected beforehand that reviewers who write without signature should be
+both careful and moderate in attacking writers who sign, and who,
+presumably, take more time over their work than contributors to
+newspapers can generally do. Yet the newspaper columns in which
+quarterly and monthly periodicals are reviewed are "too often" (we must
+round the corner with the help of that commonplace) models of flippancy
+and dogmatism.
+
+On the whole, it is not from any mechanical changes of method that we
+must expect improvement in Review literature. Of course, in largeness,
+fulness, richness, and versatility the Review-writing of to-day is
+immeasurably superior to that of the days when Macaulay and Brougham
+fought for precedence in the _Edinburgh_. But so is the literature
+reviewed--one is a big "rolling miscellany," and so is the other. It
+does not seem to some of us that, _other things being made equal_, the
+literature of our modern Reviews (using the word widely) is either
+superior or inferior to that of the _Edinburgh_, for example. The
+growth, however, of literature generally in force, colour, range, and
+effectiveness, is something astounding. We note this, or rather it
+overwhelms us, in turning over such a book as the Memoirs of Harriet
+Martineau; and there is more than the insolence of new-fangled tastes in
+putting such a question as--where would Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope"
+be if it were published to-morrow? One day when Brougham had just left
+(for London) a country-house where he had been staying, Rogers, who was
+a fellow-guest with him, made some such remark as this--"In that
+post-chaise went away this morning, Bacon, Newton, Demosthenes, and
+Solon." It is not recorded that Rogers meant this as a joke; but where
+would Brougham be after a little manipulation by Mr. Jevons or Mr.
+Goldwin Smith? It would be tiresome to dwell upon this, and wrong to
+suggest that the men were smaller because the outlook was less; but this
+view, if anything, helps us to see the direction in which one of our
+best hopes for literature must lie--namely, in its ever-increasing
+volume. There will always be hostile camps, and there will always be
+warriors of low _morale_, but as each camp enlarges, the _average_ pain
+of those who suffer from injustice or neglect will be lessened. And this
+observation is by no means addressed to mere questions of reviewing in
+the minor sense, but rather to literature in the mass as representing
+the culture of the time.
+
+Since the time when Jeffrey ruled the _Edinburgh Review_, and even since
+the death of Mr. Napier, "the advertising element," and commercial
+elements in general, have played a great and new part, an increasing
+part, too, in the fortunes, and thus in regulating the quality and
+tendency, of current literature. One result of this state of things is
+an ever-increasing tendency to compromise in the expression of opinion.
+In spite of the spirit of tolerance of which we hear so much, there was
+perhaps never a time in which the expression of opinion was so much
+emasculated in the higher periodical literature, or in which so much
+trickery of accommodated phraseology was going forward. This will last
+for a long time yet--as long as periodical literature is a matter of
+commercial speculation. It is an evil omen that the greatest amount of
+freedom now displayed is in political and scientific discussion. It is
+difficult to see where the remedy is to come from in discussions of
+another kind. Probably we shall have a lesson by the cataclysmic method
+before very long. There is in this volume a letter from Brougham to
+Napier, in which Brougham is very angry about an indirect disclosure of
+Romilly's heterodoxy, and he goes off at a tangent to express a doubt
+whether Macaulay was any better than Romilly, but is very anxious that
+conventional conformity should be strictly maintained in the Review,
+even to the length of concealing from the general reader as far as
+possible such facts as that a man so good and "religious" as Romilly
+could be a disbeliever in this, that, or the other. We have now got
+beyond that; the accredited policy is in a vague way to trump the cards
+of the dangerous people, and then nobody shows his hand fairly and
+freely. Meanwhile, everybody feels uneasy, from a latent sense of
+insincerity; and, when once the excitement is off, the natural
+perception that out of nothing nothing can come, reassumes its sway.
+The game cannot go on in this way for ever, though no one can foresee by
+what accident the lights will be blown out, the tables thrown over, and
+the stakes roughly dealt with at last.
+
+A great difference, as might be expected, arises from the incredible
+widening of what might be called the constituencies of opinion.
+Political articles of the "inspired" order do not count as they did, or
+were supposed to do, in the days of "Coningsby" even, much less as they
+did a decade or two sooner. The effective currents of thought are far
+too numerous and far too massive to be guided--nay, too numerous and too
+massive for even the most conceited of propagandists or prophets to
+fancy he could calculate them. What sort of figure as a publicist or
+"inspired" political writer would a man like Croker cut at this end of
+the century? It must have been a dolorous day for such as he when they
+first felt sure the tides were coming up which were to sweep them and
+their works into oblivion, or at least into limbo, and make successors
+to their function impossible in future. We do not affirm that the
+present phase of change is for the best; no theory of progress will
+justify statements of that kind. In fact, things are quite bad enough;
+but some security against certain evils there must be, in the fact that
+these are days in which it is difficult to hide a wrong, or an error,
+which has an immediate sinister bearing upon ends cherished by any
+school of opinion. Who on earth would now think of calling the _Times_
+the Thunderer? Just when middle-aged men of to-day were babies it was
+thought finely argumentative, if not conclusive, to call the London
+University "Stinkomalee"--in the interest of Church and King; but the
+"hard hitting" of our own time is done in other fashion. Even if the
+Marquis of Salisbury were to edit a paper he would not be able to make
+much out of Titus Oates. But the allusion to that episode in another
+sphere of action may remind us of the late Lord Derby, who might almost
+be called the last of the old school of politicians. The mere mention of
+his name seems to flash light upon the gulf we have traversed since the
+days when the world was divided between a Whig organ and a Tory organ.
+
+Simultaneously with the incalculable increase of devotion to science, we
+have had an increase of devotion to ends held to be practical, and this
+has largely governed our literature. The subject now barely hinted at is
+well worth extended treatment. It is, however, no more than the truth
+that there has been recently a great diminution of speculative
+enthusiasm of all kinds, with a largely increased tendency to make
+things pleasant for all parties. Convenience, in fact, becomes more and
+more the governing factor of life; this tells upon our better
+literature; and until the wind sets again from the old quarters--as it
+certainly will some day--we shall feel the want of certain elements of
+freshness, individuality, and moral impulse which touch us more closely
+than we at first recognize in reading the old Edinburgh Reviewers.
+
+    MATTHEW BROWNE.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[37] One, at least, of the contributors whom Buloz tortured (Georges
+Sand wrote that she wished him "_au diable_" ten times a day, only he
+held her purse-strings) used to date his letters in this style:--"_A
+vingt-cinq lieues de cet imbecile Buloz._"
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPREME GOD IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY.
+
+Comparative Mythology.[38]
+
+
+Towards the end of the last century the men of letters of Europe were
+astonished to hear that in Asia, on the banks of the Ganges, a more
+ancient and richer language had been found than that of Homer. It
+offered in its words and forms striking analogies with the languages of
+Rome and Athens. Interest once roused, systematic comparisons were made,
+and comparative grammar was founded. The sphere of comparisons widened
+and the group of Aryan languages was established.
+
+It was thus ascertained that the languages of the Romans, of the Greeks,
+of the Gauls, of the Germans, of the Lithuanians, and of the Slavs in
+Europe, of the Hindoos and Persians in Asia, are made out of the same
+materials and cast in the same mould; that they are only varieties of
+one primitive type. The precise laws which regulated the formation of
+each of these varieties were discovered, so that it is both possible to
+proceed from one of these languages to the other, and to trace all of
+them to the original type whence they come, to the lost type which they
+reproduce. This lost type, the source of all the idioms of nearly the
+whole of Europe and of a third of Asia, science has reconstructed: with
+an almost absolute certainty, it has described the grammar, drawn up the
+lexicon of that language, of which no direct echo remains, not the
+fragment of an inscription on a broken stone, of that language of which
+the life and the death are pre-historic, and which was spoken at a
+period when there were as yet neither Romans, nor Hindoos, nor Greeks,
+nor Persians, nor Germans, nor Celts, and when the ancestors of all
+those nations were still wandering as one tribe, one knows not where,
+one knows not when.
+
+Closely following comparative grammar, almost at the same time rose up
+comparative mythology, and with the ancient words awoke the gods that
+they had sung, the beliefs that they had fostered. It was recognized
+that if the Indo-Europeans spoke essentially the same language, they
+also worshipped essentially the same gods and believed in the same
+things. As comparative grammar, on hearing the sister-tongues, caught up
+the echo of the mother, whose voice they repeat, so comparative
+mythology, in its turn, on looking at the sister religions, has tried to
+see through them the original image which they reflect. As the one
+restored the words and forms of the language which lived on the lips of
+the Aryans at the moment of the breaking up of the Aryan unity, the
+other endeavoured to restore the gods and beliefs which lived in their
+souls at the moment when, with the unity of the race, the identity of
+language and belief passed away. This restoration of the pre-historic
+gods and of the pre-historic beliefs is the final object of comparative
+mythology, just as the reconstruction of words and forms is the final
+object of comparative grammar. The object was analogous and so was the
+method. It is the comparative method, which by comparing kindred
+divinities and kindred beliefs, finds the original divinity and the
+original belief which gave birth to them, and which are reproduced in
+them. To sketch the picture of the original mythology, it is sufficient
+to separate from the various derivative mythologies the essential
+characteristics common to them. Every characteristic common to the
+secondary religions will be legitimately referred to the primitive one,
+whenever it is essential--that is to say neither borrowed from one of
+the kindred religions nor due to an identical, but quite independent
+development. If, for instance, the various Indo-European mythologies
+agree in naming the gods _Daiva_, "the shining ones," it follows that in
+the primitive mythology, in the religion of the period of unity, they
+were known already as beings of light and called thus. It is a great
+deal easier to admit that the seven derived religions have faithfully
+repeated what has been handed down to them from their common source,
+than to imagine that once separated they have created the same
+conception, each one on its side, and have clothed it with the same
+expression: the former hypothesis is a simple and natural induction: the
+second is in reality made up of seven hypotheses, and implies seven
+chances agreeing together, seven miracles.
+
+Our object in the following pages is to give a sketch of one of the
+chapters of the Aryan mythology. We try to show that the religion of the
+Indo-European unity recognized a Supreme God, and we try to find the
+most ancient form and the earliest origin of that conception among the
+Aryans, and to follow out the transformations it has undergone in the
+course of ages.
+
+
+The Supreme God: Zeus, Jupiter, Varuna, Ahura Mazda.
+
+The Aryan Gods are not organized as a Republic: they have a king. There
+is over the gods a Supreme God.
+
+Four of the Aryan mythologies have preserved a clear and precise notion
+of this conception: they are those of Greece, of Italy, of ancient
+India, and of ancient Persia. This Supreme God is called Zeus in Greece,
+Jupiter in Italy, Varuna in ancient India, Ahura Mazda in ancient
+Persia. Let us then listen to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, and to Ahura
+Mazda each in his turn.
+
+_Zeus and Jupiter._[39]--About three centuries before our era a Greek
+poet thus addressed Zeus:--
+
+    "Oh! Thou most glorious of immortals, whose names are many, for ever
+    Almighty, Zeus, Thou who rulest nature, directing all things
+    according to a law, hail! To Thee all this universe moving round the
+    earth yields obedience, following whither thou leadest, and submits
+    itself to Thy rule.... So great in Thy nature, King Supreme above
+    all things, no work is achieved without Thee, neither on the earth,
+    nor in the celestial regions of ether, nor on the sea, but those
+    which the wicked accomplish in their folly."
+
+This is the Zeus of the philosophers, of the Stoics, of Cleanthes: but
+he was already the Zeus of the ancient poets. Powerful, omniscient, and
+just is the god of AEschylus, as that of Cleanthes: he is the king of
+kings, the blessed of the blessed, the sovereign power among all powers,
+the only one who is free among the gods, who is the master of the
+mightiest, who is subservient to no one's rule; above whom no one sits,
+no one to whom from below he looks with awe; every word of his is
+absolute; he is the God of deep thoughts, whose heart has dark and
+hidden ways, impenetrable to the eye, and no scheme formed within his
+mind has ever miscarried. Finally, he is the Father of Justice, Dike,
+"the terrible virgin who breathes out on crime anger and death," it is
+he who from hell raises vengeance with its slow chastisement against the
+bold wayward mortal. Terpander proclaims in Zeus the essence of all
+things, the god who rules over everything. Archilochus sings Zeus
+father, as the God who rules the heavens, who watches the guilty and
+unjust actions of men, who administers chastisements to monsters, the
+God who created heaven and earth. The old man of Ascra knows that Zeus
+is the father of gods and of men, that his eye sees and comprehends all
+things and reaches all that he wishes. In short, as far back as the
+Greek Pantheon appears in the light of history, even from Homer, Zeus
+towers above the nation of gods which surrounds him. He himself
+proclaims, and the other gods proclaim after him, that, unrivalled in
+power and strength, he is the greatest of all; the gods, at his behest,
+silently bow down before him; he would hurl into the gloomy depths of
+Tartarus whomsoever should dare to disobey him: he would hurl him down
+into the uttermost depths of the subterranean abyss: alone against them
+all, he would master them. Should they let fall from the sky a golden
+chain on which all the gods and goddesses might be suspended, they still
+would be powerless, however hard they might strain to drag him from the
+heavens to the earth; and if it pleased him, he could draw them up even
+with the earth, even with the sea, and he would then fix the chain on
+the ridge of Olympus, and suspend on it the whole universe; so much is
+he above mankind, above the gods. Not only is he the most powerful, but
+also he is the wisest--the =metietes=; he is all wisdom and he is
+likewise all justice. It is from him that the judges of the sons of the
+Achaeans have received their laws: very good, very great, he holds
+learned conversations with Themis (the law) who sits at his side;
+prayers are his daughters, whom he avenges for all the insults of the
+wicked.
+
+Thus, power, wisdom, justice, belonged from all time to Zeus, to the
+Zeus of Homer as well as to the Zeus of Cleanthes; to the Zeus of the
+poets as to him of the philosophers, in the remotest period of paganism
+as at the approach of the religion of Christ. A providential god rules
+the Pantheon of the Hellenes.
+
+What Zeus is in Greece, Jupiter is in Italy: the God who is above all
+the gods. The identity of the two deities is so striking that the
+ancients themselves, forestalling comparative mythology, recognized it
+from the very first. He is the God, great and good amongst them all:
+_Jupiter, optimus, maximus_.
+
+_Varuna._--The most ancient of the religions of India, which the Vedas
+have made known to us, has also a Zeus, whose name is Varuna.[40]
+
+    "Truly admirable for grandeur are the works of Him who has separated
+    the two worlds and fixed their vast extent: of Him who has set in
+    motion the high and sublime firmament, who has spread out the
+    heavens above and the earth beneath.
+
+    "These heavens and this earth which reach so far, flowing with milk,
+    so beautiful in form, it is by the law of Varuna that they remain
+    fixed, facing each other, immortal beings with fertile seed.
+
+    "This Asura,[41] who is acquainted with all things, has propped up
+    these heavens, he has fixed the boundaries of the earth. He is
+    enthroned above all the worlds, universal king; all the laws of the
+    world are the laws of Varuna.
+
+    "In the bottomless abyss the king Varuna has lifted up the summit of
+    the celestial tree.[42] It is the king Varuna who has traced out to
+    the sun the broad path he is to follow: to footless creatures he has
+    given feet so that they may run.
+
+    "Those stars, which illumine the night, where were they during the
+    day? Infallible are the laws of Varuna: the moon kindles itself and
+    walks through the night.
+
+    "Varuna has traced out paths for the sun: he has thrown forwards the
+    fluctuating torrent of rivers. He has dug out the wide and rapid
+    beds where the waves of the days, let loose, unroll themselves in
+    their order.
+
+    "He has put strength into the horse, milk into the cow, intellect
+    into the heart, Agni[43] into the waters, the sun in the sky,
+    soma[44] into the stone.
+
+    "The wind is thy breath, O Varuna! which roars in the atmosphere,
+    like the ox in the meadow. Between this earth and the sublime heaven
+    above, all things, O Varuna, are of thy creation."
+
+There is an order in nature, there is a law, a habit, a rule, _a Rita_.
+This law, this _Rita_, it is Varuna who has established it. He is the
+god of the Rita, the god of Order, the guardian of the Rita; he is the
+god of efficient and stable laws; in him rest as in a rock the fixed
+immovable laws.
+
+Organizer of the world, he is its master. He is the first of the Asuras,
+"of the lords;" he is _the Asura_, "the Lord;" he is the sovereign of
+the whole world, the king of all beings, the universal king, the
+independent king; no one amongst the gods dares to infringe his laws;
+"it is thou, Varuna, who art the king of all."
+
+As he has omnipotence, he has omniscience too, he is "the Lord who knows
+all things," the _Asura vicva-vedas_. He is the sage who has supreme
+wisdom, in whom all sciences have their centre; when the poet wishes to
+praise the learning of a god, he compares it to that of Varuna. "He
+knows the place of the birds which fly in the air, he knows the ships
+which are sailing on the ocean, he knows the twelve months and what they
+will bring forth, he knows every creature that is born. He knows the
+path of the sublime wind in the heights, he knows who sits at the
+sacrifice. The God of stable laws, Varuna, has taken his place in his
+palace to be the universal king, the god with the wondrous intellect.
+Hence, following in his mind all these marvels, he looks around him at
+what has happened and what will happen."
+
+As he is the universal witness, he is also the universal judge, the
+infallible judge whom nothing escapes: none can deceive him, and from
+above he sees the evil done below and strikes it: he has sevenfold bands
+to clasp thrice round the liar by the upper, by the middle, and by the
+lower part of the body. The man, smitten by misfortune, implores his
+pity, and feels that he has sinned, and that the hand which strikes is
+also the hand that punishes:
+
+    "I ask Thee, O Varuna, because I wish to know my fault:
+
+    "I come to Thee, to question Thee who knowest all things. All the
+    sages, with one voice, said to me, Varuna is angry with thee.
+
+    "What great crime have I committed, O Varuna, that thou shouldst
+    want to kill thy friend, thy bard. Tell me, O Lord, O infallible
+    one, and I will then lay my homage at thy feet.
+
+    "Free me from the bonds of my crime, do not sever the thread of the
+    prayer that I am weaving, do not deliver me over to the deaths that,
+    at thy dictate, O Asura, strike him who has committed a crime: send
+    me not into the gloomy regions far from the light.
+
+    "Let me pay the penalty of my faults; but let me not suffer, O King,
+    for the crime of others; there are so many days that have not dawned
+    yet! Let them dawn for us also, O Varuna!"
+
+Such is the supreme God of the Vedic religion, an organizing God,
+almighty, omniscient, and moral. The following is a Vedic hymn which
+sums up with singular force the essential attributes of the God:--
+
+    "He who from on high rules this world sees every thing as if it were
+    before him. That which two men, seated side by side are plotting, is
+    heard by king Varuna, himself the third.
+
+    "This earth belongs to the king Varuna, and this sky, these two
+    sublime worlds with their remote limits; the two seas[45] are the
+    belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in this small pool of water.
+
+    "He who should leap over the sky and beyond it, would not escape the
+    king Varuna: he has his spies, the spies of the heavens, who go
+    through the world; he has his thousand eyes which look on the earth.
+
+    "The king Varuna sees everything, all that which is between the two
+    worlds and beyond them: he reckons the winking of the eye of all
+    creatures:
+
+    "The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester.
+
+    "Let thy sevenfold bands, O Varuna, let thy bands of wrath which are
+    thrice linked together, let them enfold the man with a lying tongue,
+    let them leave free the man with a truthful tongue!"
+
+_Ahura Mazda._[46]--Ancient Persia opposes to Zeus, to Jupiter, to
+Varuna, her Ormazd or Ahura Mazda.[47] "It is through me," he said to
+his prophet, Zoroaster, "that the firmament, with its distant
+boundaries, hewn from the sparkling ruby, subsists without pillars to
+rest upon; it is through me that the earth, through me that the sun, the
+moon, and the stars take their radiant course through the atmosphere; it
+was I who formed the seeds in such a manner that, when sown in the
+earth, they should grow, spring up, and appear on the surface; it was I
+who traced their veins in every species of plants, who in all beings put
+the fire of life which does not consume them; it is I who in the
+maternal womb produce the new-born child, who form the limbs, the skin,
+the nails, the blood, the feet, the ears; it was I who gave the water
+feet to run; it was I who made the clouds, which carry the water to the
+world," &c. This development, taken from a recent book of the Ghebers,
+the Bundahish, is to be found entire, in the very first words of their
+oldest and holiest book, the Avesta: "I proclaim and worship Ahura
+Mazda, the _Creator_." As far as history can be traced, he was already
+what he is now. Near the ruins of the ancient Ecbatana, the traveller
+may read, on the red granite of the mountain of Alvand, these words,
+which were engraved by the hand of Darius, the king of kings, nearly
+five centuries before the birth of Christ:--
+
+    "A powerful God is Auramazda!
+    'Twas he who made this earth here below!
+    'Twas he who made that heaven above!
+    'Twas he who made man!"
+
+This God, who made the world, rules it. He is the sovereign of the
+universe, the _Ahura_,[48] "the Lord." "He is a powerful god," exclaims
+Xerxes; "he is the greatest of all the gods." It is to his favour that
+Darius, inscribing upon the rock of Behistun the narrative of his
+nineteen victories, ascribes both his elevation and his triumphs. It is
+to his supreme care that he confides Persia: "This country of Persia,
+which Auramazda has given me, this beautiful country, beautiful in
+horses, beautiful in men, by the grace of Auramazda, and through me,
+king Darayavus, has nothing to fear from any enemy. May Auramazda and
+the gods of the nation bring me their help! May Auramazda protect this
+country from hostile armies, from barrenness and evil! May this country
+never be invaded by the stranger, nor by hostile armies, nor by
+barrenness, nor by evil! This is the favour which I implore from
+Auramazda and the gods of the nation!"
+
+This world which he has organized is a work of intelligence; by his
+wisdom it began, and by his wisdom it will end. He is the mind which
+knows all things, and it is to him that the sage appeals in order to
+penetrate the mysteries of the world.
+
+    "Reveal to me the truth, O Ahura! What was the beginning of the good
+    creation?
+
+    "Who is the father, who, at the beginning of time, begat Order?
+
+    "Who has traced for the sun and the stars the paths that they must
+    follow?
+
+    "Who makes the moon increase and decrease?
+
+    "O Ahura! I would learn those mysteries and many more!
+
+    "Who has fixed the earth and the immovable stars to establish them
+    firmly, so that they might not fall? Who has fixed the waters and
+    the trees?
+
+    "Who has directed the rapid course of the wind and of the clouds?
+    What skilful artist has made the light and the darkness?
+
+    "What skilful workman has made sleep and wakefulness? Through whom
+    have we dawn, noon, and night? From whom do they learn the law which
+    is traced out for them? Who endeared the son to his father so that
+    he should train him? Those are the things that I wish to ask Thee, O
+    Mazda, O beneficent Spirit, O Creator of all things!"
+
+In his omniscience are embraced all human actions. He watches over all
+things, and is far-seeing, and never sleeping. He is the infallible one;
+"it is impossible to deceive him, the Ahura, who knows all things." He
+sees man, and judges and chastises him, if he has not followed his law,
+for from him comes the law of man, as well as the law of the world; from
+him comes the science supreme among all other sciences, that of duty,
+the knowledge of those things we ought to think, say, and do, and of
+those things we ought neither to think, nor say, nor do. To the man who
+has prayed well, thought, spoken, and acted well, he opens his
+resplendent paradise; he opens hell to him who has not prayed and who
+has thought, spoken, and done evil.
+
+
+The Supreme God, the God of Heaven.
+
+Thus the Aryans of Greece, of Italy, of India, and of Persia agree in
+giving the highest place in their Pantheon to a supreme God who rules
+the world and who has founded order, a God sovereign, omniscient, and
+moral. Has this identical conception been formed in each of these cases
+by four independent creations, or is it a common inheritance from the
+Indo-European religion, and did the Aryan ancestors of the Greeks, of
+the Latins, of the Hindoos, and of the Persians already know a supreme
+God, an organizing, a sovereign, an omniscient, a moral God?
+
+Although the latter hypothesis is more simple and more probable than the
+former, it cannot, however, be taken at once as certain; because an
+abstract and logical conception of this kind may very well have
+developed itself at the same time among several nations, in an identical
+and independent manner. To whomsoever looks upon it at any time and in
+any place, the world can reveal the existence of a Supreme maker:
+Socrates is not the disciple of the psalmist; yet the heavens reveal to
+him, as to the Hebrew poet, the glory of the Lord. But if it be found
+that the abstract conception is closely connected with a naturalistic
+and material conception, and that the latter is identical in the four
+religions, as it is known, on the other hand, that these four religions
+have a common past, the hypothesis that this abstract conception is a
+heritage of this past, and not a creation of the present, may rise to a
+certainty.
+
+Now, these Gods who organize the world, rule it and watch over it; this
+Zeus, this Jupiter, this Varuna, this Ahura Mazda are not the
+personifications of a simple abstract conception; they emerge from a
+former naturalism, from which they are not yet quite detached; they
+commenced by being gods of the heavens.
+
+Zeus and Jupiter have never ceased to be gods of the heavens, and to be
+conscious of it. When the world was shared among the gods, "Zeus
+received the boundless sky in the ether and the clouds for his share."
+It is as the God of heaven that sometimes he shines luminous, calm, and
+pure, enthroned in the ethereal splendour, and that sometimes he becomes
+gloomy and gathers clouds (=nephelegeretes=), causing the rain to fall
+from heaven (=ombrios=, =hyetios=), hurling upon the earth the eddy of
+fierce winds, drawing forth the hurricane from the summit of the ether,
+brandishing the lightning and the thunderbolt (=keraunios=, =astrapaios=).
+This is why the thunderbolt is his weapon, his attribute, "the
+thunderbolt with its never-tiring foot," which he hurls in the heights;
+why he rolls on a resounding chariot, brandishing in his hand the fiery
+trident, or dashing it on the wings of the eagle, or on Pegasus, the
+aerial steed of the lightning. This is why he is the husband of Demeter,
+"the mother Earth," whom he impregnates with his torrents of rain; this
+is why he sent forth, from his brow according to some, from his belly
+according to others, from the clouds according to the Cretan legend,
+Athene, the resplendent goddess with the penetrating glance, who came
+forth, shaking golden weapons, with a cry which made heaven and earth
+resound, as she is the incarnation of the stormy light which breaks
+forth from the brow of heaven, from the belly of heaven, from the bosom
+of the cloud, filling space with its splendour and with the crash of its
+stormy birth. Lastly, the very name of Zeus (genitive _Dios_, formerly
+_Divos_) is, in conformity with the laws of Greek phonetics, the literal
+representative of the Sanscrit Dyaus, heaven (genitive _Divas_), and the
+union of =Zeus pater= with =Demeter= is the exact counterpart of the
+Vedic union of _Dyaus pitar_ with _Prithivi matar_, of the Heaven-Father
+with Earth-Mother. The word =Zeus= is an ancient synonym of =Ouranos=,
+which became obsolete as a common noun; still, in a certain number of
+expressions, it retains something of its former meaning. Thus it is,
+when the Earth prays Zeus to let rain fall upon her; when the Athenian
+in praying exclaims: "O dear Zeus, rain thou on the field of the
+Athenians and on the plains"--"Zeus has rained the whole night," says
+Homer: =hye Zeus pannychos=. In all these expressions Zeus may be
+literally translated as a common noun, _sky_.
+
+Jupiter, identical with Zeus in his functions, is identical with him in
+his material attributes.
+
+The word Jupiter, or better Jup-piter, is for Jus-piter, composed of
+_pater_ and of _Jus_, the Latin contraction of the Sanscrit _Dyaus_, of
+the Greek =Zeus=: Juppiter is then the exact equivalent of =Zeus pater=,
+and the word has even preserved more strongly than Zeus the sense of its
+early meaning; _sub Jove_ signifies "under the heavens;" the hunter
+awaits the marsian boar, heedless of the cold or snow, _sub Jove
+frigido_, "under the cold Jupiter, under the cold sky." Dyaus is also in
+Latin, as it is in Sanscrit, the name of the brilliant sky: "Behold,"
+exclaims old Ennius, "above thy head this luminous space which all
+invoke under the name of Jupiter:"
+
+    "Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem."
+
+Varuna, like his European brethren, has been, and is yet, a material
+god, and a material god of the same kind, a god of heaven. This is why
+the sun is his eye, why the sun, "the beautiful bird which flies in the
+firmament," is "his golden-winged messenger;"[49] why the celestial
+rivers flow in the hollow of his mouth, as in the hollow of a reed; why
+everywhere visible, by turns full of light and of darkness, by turns he
+infolds himself in the night, and irradiates the dawns, and by turns
+clothes himself in the white garments and in the black ones. Like Zeus,
+and from the same cause, he gathers together the clouds, he turns the
+sack that contains the rains, and lets it loose upside down on the two
+worlds; he inundates the heaven and the earth, he clothes the mountains
+with a watery garb, and his blood-red eyes unceasingly furrow the watery
+dwelling with their twinkling flashes. As Zeus is the father of Athene,
+he is the father of Atharvan, "the Fire-God," of Bhrigu, "the
+Thunderer"--that is to say, of Agni, of the lightning. Agni himself is
+brought forth "from his belly in the waters," like a male Athene.
+Finally, like Zeus, like Jupiter, he bears in his very name the
+expression of what he is; and the Sanscrit Varuna is the exact phonetic
+representative of =Ouranos=, sky.
+
+In fine, the sovereign god of Persia, notwithstanding the character of
+profound abstraction which he has acquired and which is reflected in his
+name Ahura Mazda, "the omniscient Lord," can himself be recognized as a
+god of the heavens. The ancient formulae of the litanies still show that
+he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura Mazda,
+resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful; white,
+luminous, seen from afar; they invoke the entire body of Ahura Mazda,
+the body of Ahura which is the greatest of bodies; they say that the sun
+is his eye, and that the sky is the garment embroidered with stars with
+which he arrays himself; lastly, the most abstract of the Aryan gods has
+preserved a trait which shows him more closely tied than the others to
+the material world from which they have freed themselves; he is called
+"the most solid of the gods," because "he has for clothing the very
+solid stone of the sky." Like Varuna, like Zeus, the lightning is in his
+hands, "the molten brass which he causes to flow down on the two
+worlds;" like them he is the father of the god of lightning, Atar.
+Lastly, the most ancient historical evidence confirms the inductions of
+mythology, as at the very time when the Achaemenian kings proclaim the
+sovereignty of Auramazda, Herodotus wrote: "The Persians offer up
+sacrifices to Zeus,[50] going up on the highest summit of the mountains,
+as they call _Zeus the entire orb of the sky_."
+
+Thus the supreme gods of the four great religions of Greece, of Italy,
+of India, and of Persia, are at the same time, or have begun by being
+gods of the skies. By the side of these four, Svarogu, the god of the
+ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus, like
+Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the
+universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have
+received their functions; like them he is the god of the heavens, he is
+the thunderer, and like them he is the father of the Fire, Svarojitchi,
+"the son of heaven."[51]
+
+
+His Origin.[52]
+
+How did the god of the heavens become the organizing god, the supreme
+God, the moral God? How was the abstract conception grafted on the
+naturalistic conception? What is the connection between his material
+attribute and his abstract function? The Vedas give the solution of this
+problem.
+
+As far as the eye can reach, it can never reach beyond the sky; whatever
+is, is under the immense vault; all that which is born and dies, is born
+and dies within its bounds. Now, whatever takes place in it, takes place
+according to an immutable law. The dawn has never failed to appear at
+her appointed place in the morning, never forgotten where she is to
+appear again, nor the moment at which she is to reanimate the world.
+Darkness and light know their appointed hour, and always at the desired
+moment "the black One has given way to the white." Linked together by
+the same chain in the endless path open before them, they follow their
+way onwards, the two immortals, directed by a God, absorbing each
+other's tints. The two fertile sisters do not clash with one another;
+they never stop, dissimilar in form, but alike in spirit. Thus run the
+days with their suns, the nights with their stars, season following
+season. The sky has always in regular course ushered in by turn the day
+and the night. The moon has always lit up at the fixed hour. The stars
+have always known where they should go during the day. The rivers have
+always flowed into the one ocean without making it full.
+
+This universal order is either the motion of the heavens, or it is the
+action of the God of heaven, according as we think of the body or the
+soul, and view in the heavens the thing or the God. Thus, in the
+Rig-Veda, to say "everything is _in_ Varuna"--that is, "in the
+heavens"--and to say "everything is _through_ Varuna"--that is, "through
+the heaven-God"--are one and the same thing; and in these formulae of the
+Veda, so clear in their uncertainty, theism is ever found side by side
+with unconscious pantheism, of which it is only an expression. "The
+three heavens and the three earths rest in Varuna," says a poet, and
+immediately afterwards, giving personality to his God: "It is the
+skilful king Varuna who makes this golden disc shine in heaven." The
+wind which whistles in the atmosphere is his breath, and all that exists
+from one world to the other was created by him. "From the king Varuna
+come this earth below, and yonder heaven, too, these two worlds with
+remote limits; the two seas are the belly of Varuna, and he rests also
+even in the small pool of water."
+
+This pantheistic theism, which makes no clear distinction between the
+God of heaven and the universe over which he rules, or which is
+comprised in him, penetrates Jupiter as well as Varuna. The Latin poets
+offer the equivalent of the vacillating formulae of Vedism. "The
+mortals," says Lucretius, explaining the origin of the idea of God, "the
+mortals saw the regular motions of the heavens and the various seasons
+of the year succeed each other in a fixed order, without being able to
+discover the causes. They had, therefore, no other alternative than to
+attribute all to the gods, who made everything go according to their
+will, and it was in the sky that they placed the seat and domain of the
+gods, because it is there that may be seen revolve the night and the
+noon, the day and the gloomy planets of the night; the nocturnal lights
+wandering in the sky, and the flying flames, the clouds, the sun, the
+rain, the snow, the winds, the thunderbolts, the hail, the sudden
+convulsions, and the great threatening rumblings."[53]
+
+This view of the heavens as the universal centre of the movements of
+Nature might just as well have led to pantheism as to theism. The line
+of the poet: "Juppiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque
+moveris"--"Jupiter is everything that thou seest, everywhere that thou
+movest"--does not refer only to the Jupiter of the metaphysicians of the
+Porch; it also expresses one of the aspects of the Jupiter of primitive
+mythology. It was not by a deviation from his earlier nature that Zeus
+was confounded with Pan; he was Pan by birth; and if the epopee and the
+drama show us only a personal Zeus, it is because by their very nature
+they could and should see him only under this aspect, and had nothing to
+obtain from the impersonal Zeus, although in this form he was as old as
+in the other. And the Orphic theologian is not quite unfaithful to the
+earlier tradition of religion, when he sings of the universal Zeus:--
+
+    "Zeus was the first, Zeus is the last, Zeus the thunderer;
+    Zeus is the head, Zeus is the middle; it is by Zeus that all things
+      are made;
+    Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female;
+    Zeus is the base of both the earth and the starry sky;
+    Zeus is the breath of the winds, Zeus is the jet of the
+      unconquerable flame;
+    Zeus is the root of the sea, Zeus is the sun and the moon....
+    The whole of this universe is stretched out within the great body
+      of Zeus."
+
+In the same manner, although Persia has in general preserved the
+personality of her Supreme god, yet she suffers him, especially in the
+sects, to become confounded with the Infinity of matter through which he
+first revealed himself to the mind of his worshippers. After having
+invoked the heavens as the body of Ahura Mazda, the most beautiful of
+bodies, she placed above Ahura himself, and before him, the luminous
+space, where he manifests himself, what the theologians called "the
+Infinite light," and then by a new and higher abstraction declared
+_Space_[54] to have been at the beginning of the world. Between this
+wholly metaphysical principle and the naturalistic principle of the
+primitive religion, there is only the distance of two abstractions:
+Space is only the bare form of the luminous Infinite, and the luminous
+Infinite, again, is an abstraction from the Infinite and luminous sky,
+which was identical with Ahura.
+
+Thus, accordingly as the heavens were considered as the seat or as the
+cause of things, the god of the heavens became the matter of the world
+or the demiurge of the world. From the period of Aryan unity, he was
+without doubt the one and the other in turn; but it is probable that the
+theistic conception was more clearly defined than the other, as it is so
+in the derived mythologies; it has besides deeper roots in the human
+heart and human nature, which in every movement and in every phenomenon
+sees a Living Cause, a Personality.
+
+This god of the heavens, having organized the world, is all wisdom; he
+is the skilled artisan who has regulated the motion of the worlds. His
+wisdom is infinite, for of all those mysteries which man tries in vain
+to fathom he has the key, he is the author. But it is not only as the
+Creator of the world that he is omniscient: he knows all things,
+because, being all light, he sees all things. In the naturalistic
+psychology of the Aryans, to see and to know, light and knowledge, eye
+and thought, are synonymous terms. With the Hindoos, Varuna is
+omniscient because he is the Infinite light; because the sun is his eye;
+because from the height of his palace with its pillars of red brass, his
+white looks command the world; because under the golden mantle that
+covers him, his thousands, his myriads of spies, active and untiring
+agents, sunbeams during the day, stars during the night, search out for
+him all that which exists from one world to the other, with eyes that
+never sleep, never blink. And in the same way, if Zeus is the
+all-seeing, the =panoptes=, it is because his eye is the sun, this
+universal witness, the infallible spy of both gods and men (= Theon
+skopon ede kai andron=). The light knows the truth, it is all truth;
+truth is the great virtue which the god of heaven claims; and lying is
+the great crime which he punishes. In Homer, the Greek taking an oath,
+raises his eyes towards the expanse of heaven and calls Zeus and the sun
+to witness; in Persia, the god of heaven resembles in body the light,
+and in soul the truth: Aryan morality came down from heaven in a ray of
+light.
+
+
+His Destiny.
+
+Thus, the Indo-European religion knew a supreme God, and this God was
+the God of the heavens. He has organized the world and rules it,
+because, as he is the heaven, all is in him, and all passes within him,
+according to his law; he is omniscient and moral, because, being
+luminous, he sees all things and all hearts.
+
+This God was named by the various names of the sky--Dyaus, Varana, Svar,
+which, according to the requirements of the thought, described either
+the object or the person, the heavens or the God. Later on, each
+language made a choice, and fixed the proper name of the God on one of
+these words; by which its ancient value as a common noun was lost or
+rendered doubtful: thus, in Greek _Dyaus_ became the name of the
+heaven-god (Zeus) and Varana (=Ouranos=) was the name of the heavens, as
+a thing; in Sanscrit _Dyaus_ or _Svar_ was the material heavens; the
+heaven-god was Varana (later changed into Varuna); the Slavs fixed on
+the word Svar, by means of a derivative, Svarogu, the idea of the
+celestial god; the Romans made the same choice as the Greeks with their
+_Jup-piter_, and set aside the other names of the heavens; lastly,
+Persia described the god by one of his abstract epithets, the Lord,
+Ahura, and obliterated the external traces of his former naturalistic
+character.
+
+This god, who reigned at the time of the breaking up of the religion of
+Aryan unity, was carried away, with the various religions which sprang
+up from it, to the various regions where chance brought the Aryan
+migrations. Of the five religions over which he ruled, three remained
+faithful to him to the last, and only forsook him at the moment when
+they themselves perished;--they are those of the Greeks, of the Romans,
+and of the Slavs, with whom Zeus, Juppiter, and Svarogu preserved the
+titles and attributes of the Supreme god of the Aryans, as long as the
+national religion lasted. They succumbed to Christ; "Heaven-father" gave
+way to the "Father who is in Heaven."
+
+India, on the contrary, very soon forgot that god for whose origin and
+formation, however, she accounts much better than any other Aryan
+religion does; and it was not a foreign god who dethroned him--a god
+from without--but a native god, a god of his own family, Indra, the hero
+of the tempest.
+
+In fact, the supreme god of the Aryans was not a god of unity; the
+Asura, the Lord, was not the Lord in the same sense as Adonai. There
+were by the side of him, within himself, a number of gods, acting of
+their own accord, and often of independent origin. The wind, the rain,
+the thunder; the fire under its three forms--the sun in the heavens, the
+lightning in the cloud, the terrestrial fire on the altar; the prayer
+under its two forms--the human prayer, which ascends from the altar to
+heaven, and the heavenly prayer, which resounds in the din of the storm,
+on the lips of a divine priest, and descends from the heights with the
+torrents of libations poured from the cup of heaven, all the forces of
+nature, both concrete and abstract, appealing at once to the eye and to
+the imagination of man, were instantly deified. If the god of the
+heavens, greater in time and space, always present and everywhere
+present, easily rose to the supreme rank, carried there by his double
+Infinity, yet others, with a less continuous, but more dramatic action,
+revealing themselves by sudden, unexpected events, maintained their
+ancient independence, and religious development might lead to their
+usurping the power of the king of the heavens. Already during the middle
+of the Vedic period, Indra, the noisy god of the storm, ascends the
+summit of the Pantheon, and eclipses his majestic rival by the din of
+his resounding splendour.
+
+He is the favourite hero of the Vedic Rishis; they do not tire of
+telling how he strikes with his bolt the serpent of the cloud, which
+enfolds the light and the waters; how he shatters the cavern of Cambara,
+how he delivers the captive Auroras and cows, who will shed torrents of
+light and milk on the earth. It is he who makes the sun come out again;
+it is he who makes the world, annihilated during the night, reappear; it
+is he who recreates it, he who creates it. In a whole series of hymns he
+ascends to the side of Varuna, and shares the empire with him; at last
+he mounts above him, and becomes the Universal King:--
+
+    "He, who, as soon as he was born, a god of thought, has surpassed
+    the gods by the power of his intellect, he whose trembling made the
+    two worlds quake by the power of his strength--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who has firmly established the tottering earth and arrested the
+    quivering mountains; he who has fixed the extent of the
+    wide-stretching atmosphere, and who has propped up the sky,--O man,
+    it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who, after slaying the serpent, unpenned the seven rivers; who
+    brought forth the cows from their hiding-place in the cavern; he,
+    who, by the clashing of the two stones, has engendered Agni,--O man,
+    it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who made all these great things; he, who struck down the demon
+    race, driving it to concealment; he, who, like a fortunate gamester
+    who wins at play, carries off the wealth of the impious,--O man, it
+    is Indra!
+
+    "He, who gives life to both rich and poor, and to the priest his
+    singer who implores him; the god with beautiful lips; the protecting
+    god who brings the stones together to press out the soma,--O man, it
+    is Indra!
+
+    "He, who has in his hands the herds of horses and cows, the cities
+    and the chariots of war; he, who has created the Sun and the dawn;
+    he, who rules the waters,--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who is invoked by the two contending armies, by the enemies
+    facing each other, either triumphant or beaten; he, whom, when they
+    meet in the struggle on the same chariot, during the onslaught, they
+    invoke against each other,--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "He, who discovered Cambara in the mountains where he had been
+    hidden forty years; he, who killed the serpent in his full strength,
+    who struck him dead on the body of Danu,[55]--O man, it is Indra!
+
+    "Heaven and earth bow down before him; when he shakes, the mountains
+    tremble; the drinker of soma, look at him! bearing the bolt in his
+    arm, the bolt in his hand,--O man, it is Indra!"
+
+But the usurper does not enjoy his triumph long; in the heat of his
+victory he is already stung to the heart, mortally wounded by a new and
+mystic power which is growing at his side, the power of prayer, of
+sacrifice, of worship, of _Brahma_, whose reign begins to dawn towards
+the end of the Vedic period, and which is still in existence.
+
+What Indra did in India during an historical period, Perkun and Odin did
+in a pre-historical period, the one among the Lithuanians, the other
+among the Germans. Perkun and Odin are the Indras of these two nations,
+and have each dethroned the god of the heavens. Perkun was the god of
+the thunder with the Lithuanian pagans, and one can recognize in him a
+twin brother of the Hindoo _Parjanya_, one of the forms of the god of
+the storm in Vedic mythology. This king of the Lithuanian Pantheon is a
+king of recent date; what proves it is that the Slavs, so closely
+related to the Lithuanians in their beliefs, as well as in their
+language, and who also knew the god Perkun, have still as their Supreme
+god the Supreme god of the ancient Aryan religion, the god of the
+heavens, Svarogu.
+
+The same revolution took place in Germany, but in a more remote period.
+The god of the heavens has vanished; he is replaced by the god of the
+stormy atmosphere, Odin, or Wuotan, the Vata of India, the warrior god
+who is heard in the din of the tempest, leading his dishevelled bands of
+warriors, or letting loose on a celestial quarry the howling packs of
+the wild chase.
+
+Thus did the Greeks, the Romans, and the Slavs allow their god to be
+vanquished by a foreign god; the Germans, the Lithuanians, and the
+Hindoos themselves forsook him for an inferior creation. Only in one
+single nation he finds worshippers faithful to the last. They are not
+numerous, but they have not allowed their belief to be encroached upon
+either by time or by man. We mean the few thousands of Ghebers or
+Parsis, who, during the great political and religious shipwreck of
+Persia, fleeing before the victorious sword of the Prophet, kept from
+Islam the treasure of their old belief, and who to this day, in the year
+1879 of the Christian era, in the fire temples in Bombay, offer up
+sacrifices to the very same god who was sung by the unknown ancestors of
+the Aryan race at a time which eludes the grasp of history.
+
+    JAMES DARMESTETER.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[38] Cf. Max Mueller: "Lectures on the Science of Language," and
+"Lectures on the Science of Religion;" Michel Breal, "Melanges de
+Mythologie et de Linguistique."
+
+[39] Maury, "Histoire des Religions de la Grece;" Preller, "Griechische
+Mythologie."
+
+[40] See Muir, "Sanscrit Texts," v. 58; Max Mueller, "Lectures on the
+Origin and Growth of Religion," p. 284.
+
+[41] "This Lord."
+
+[42] The cloud often compared to a tree branching out in the sky.
+
+[43] The fire (Ignis) which is born in the waters of heaven in the form
+of lightning.
+
+[44] A sacred plant whose sap is offered to the gods. It is pressed
+between two stones to extract the sacred liquor.
+
+[45] The sea of the earth and the sea of the clouds.
+
+[46] See J. Darmesteter, "Ormazd et Ahriman," Sec.Sec. 18-59.
+
+[47] Ormazd is the modern name, contracted from the ancient Ahura Mazda.
+
+[48] Which is the same word as the Sanskrit Asura.
+
+[49] The sun is also the bird of Zeus (AEschylus, the Suppliants).
+
+[50] That is to say "to their Supreme God."
+
+[51] G. Klek, "Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur-Geschichte."
+
+[52] "Ormazd et Ahriman," Sec.Sec. 62, sq.
+
+[53]
+    Praeterea, coeli rationes ordine certo
+    Et varia annorum cernebant tempora vorti;
+    Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.
+    Ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia Diveis
+    Tradere, et ollorum nutu facere omnia flecti.
+    In coeloque Deum sedes et templa locarunt,
+    Per coelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,
+    Luna, dies, et nox et noctis signa severa,
+    Noctivagaeque faces coeli, flammaeque volantes,
+    Nubila, sol, imbres, nix, ventei, fulmina, grando,
+    Et rapidei fremitus, et murmura magna minarum.--v. 1187.
+
+[54] In other systems, having regard to the eternity of the God and no
+longer to his immensity, boundless Time became the first principle
+(Zarvan Akarana).
+
+[55] His mother.
+
+
+
+
+LAZARUS APPEALS TO DIVES.
+
+
+The elaborate schemes which have been propounded in attempts to solve
+the much-vexed riddle how best and most effectually to ameliorate the
+condition of the working-classes--such as Owenism, Fourierism, and such
+like--have had their inception in the minds of philanthropists outside
+and above our circle. They have been conceived for the most part with a
+genuine feeling of the immense importance of this, the most burning and
+momentous question of modern days, and illumined in many cases with deep
+philosophic insight; yet, as it is almost impossible for any but a born
+proletarian to understand the needs, the wants and the daily lives of
+the proletarian, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the absence of
+this special knowledge may have contributed somewhat to the
+unworkableness of the various systems proposed. Beyond this, however, it
+strikes me that most of them contained a fatal flaw, inherent in their
+constitutions. They were too ambitious, aimed at too much, and were
+altogether of so revolutionary and subversive a character as to alarm
+the great majority of those whose goodwill must be obtained before it
+can be possible to reduce any theory to experiment on a sufficiently
+extended scale to enable an unprejudiced observer to pronounce
+decisively on the result accomplished.
+
+Were it not that the accident of my having been thrown by birth and
+association amongst the very poorest of the poor ("but indifferent
+honest") community of a large city may enable me to supplement to some
+extent the ideas enunciated by benevolent theorists belonging to the
+upper strata of society, I should not have the temerity to seek to pass
+out of the region of the "eternal silences." Moreover, I do not announce
+a new and perfect evangel to be ushered in by loud flourish of trumpets.
+I aim at nothing more ambitious than to be allowed to offer a few hints
+as to the direction which I conceive future gospels of humanity must
+take in order to be of practical utility.
+
+Having thus endeavoured to justify myself for rushing in where sometimes
+"angels fear to tread," I have no intention of apologizing for the
+crudeness of my ideas, or my lack of grace in literary composition.
+Taking into consideration the small amount of elementary education
+drilled into me at a charity school for a brief period of my very
+juvenile days, and the continued absence of any duly qualified
+instructor since, "all that goes without saying."
+
+One more egotistical, or egoistical, remark, and I proceed. I am in no
+sense a _specialist_. I am neither a Good Templar nor a Convivial Toper;
+neither a disciple of Nihilism, nor any other school of advanced thought
+(so called), nor a bigoted sectarian. I am a private in neither the
+ranks of bovine Toryism nor of rabid Radicalism; but I write simply as
+one of that common ruck of ordinary practical working men, which in
+reality forms the great staple of our plebiscite, although certain very
+noisy and turbulent minorities may possibly have led to a contrary
+inference.
+
+In the erection of my little structure, I, like all other architects,
+require a good foundation as the basis of operations; and in the present
+case the foundation required is simply a desire on the part of those
+bipeds who stand erect on pedestals for an increased knowledge of their
+fellows who crawl and kneel and lie in a thousand and one contorted
+postures on the miry clay. Enlarged knowledge will bring enlarged
+sympathy for each other on the part of high and low alike. As matters
+now stand, those above us never really see us in undress. When they come
+across us we are either too slavishly sycophantic or too ruggedly
+independent,--both being masks donned for the occasion,--and not in any
+sense our natural selves; and I have a dim kind of suspicion that on the
+few occasions when gentlemen voluntarily come forward and try to make us
+believe that they are taking us into their confidence--on the hustings,
+say, for instance--some disguise of the same kind may be adopted, and
+that the features we then see are not altogether the real ones. If I am
+right in this assumption, how is it possible for either class to have
+anything like a competent knowledge of the other? Indeed, I do not think
+I should be far wrong in saying that the manners and customs of the
+Fijian Islanders and other aborigines of distant lands are better known
+generally to the upper ten thousand than those of the lower native
+millions; and, of course, the converse holds equally good. Domestic
+servants, perhaps, may be said to form exceptions to this latter rule,
+seeing that they often have peeps into the innermost arcana; but as they
+are for the most part--the male portion of them at all events--more
+utterly inexplicable beings than their masters, the general fund of
+information is not much increased through that channel. Flunkeydom is
+much more insufferable and incomprehensible to the general run of us
+than swelldom itself.
+
+Granted, however, the desire for a better acquaintance with their
+humbler brethren on the part of our aristocracy and plutocracy (for
+this, like all other good things, must _descend_ from above), it will be
+found that, as a mutual understanding of each other's peculiarities is
+increased, the rich man (in this paper, as in an Act of Parliament,
+words denoting persons of the masculine gender shall be construed as
+including persons of the feminine gender also) will bestow a little less
+careful thought and attention on--shall I say partridges?--and more on
+his fellow-man; and the bitter class-prejudice which undoubtedly exists
+among the needy against the prosperous and well-fed will gradually die
+out. Then, and then only, will a new and brighter era dawn on "poor
+humanity;" and, I may say, that I hold optimist views with reference to
+this consummation. I think I observe a growing acknowledgment of the
+claims of humble folk in the literature of the day; and as literature is
+universally regarded as an outcome of the prevalent tone of feeling, I
+look upon this as a good omen.
+
+Having worked myself into this happy frame of mind, I am emboldened to
+request that consideration may be given to a few examples of the ideas
+which, "in the stillness of the night," and otherwise, have intruded
+themselves upon me--ideas embryonic and unformed, I doubt not, but
+genuine as far as they go. From the multitude of these shadowy phantoms
+which have now for a long time past oppressed me, I select those which
+strike me as having special reference to the improvement of our poor
+populations in four of the salient matters of life--viz., in health,
+pocket, mind, and amusements; and these I will deal with _seriatim_.
+
+
+Health.
+
+This, amongst all sublunary blessings, is undoubtedly the one of
+paramount importance, and, seeing how things now stand with us, it is
+imperative that it should be _the_ question to receive earliest
+attention.
+
+I think it is the Rev. Harry Jones who, in one of his warm-hearted
+essays, liken as rotten, worn-out, filthy habitation to a lump of putrid
+carrion, exhaling poison all around, and which should be as
+remorselessly cut out from amongst the dwellings of human beings as a
+fly-blown spot is cut out from a carcass. This simile, perhaps, is not a
+very savoury one, but it possesses a much greater merit, that of being
+_absolutely true_--slightly vulgar, but astonishingly correct. I could
+illustrate its verity by many pertinent instances which have come within
+my own experience, but I feel that this is not the place to do so. What
+then is the remedy? Obviously to re-enact the present "Artizans'
+Dwellings Improvement Act" as a _compulsory_ statute, and not as an
+optional one. Let the squalid, crazy, tumble-down rookeries which exist
+in every town in the kingdom be ruthlessly demolished, care, of course,
+being taken that suitable dwellings are cotemporaneously built on better
+sanitary principles for those whom it will be necessary to evict in
+order to carry out such improvements. And I would suggest, as a branch
+of the pervading idea which forms the centre and core of my suggestions
+(of which more anon), that the Municipal Corporations of our cities and
+towns should be themselves in their official capacity the landlords of
+such new and improved dwellings, and should employ their own tradesmen
+to build them. And, furthermore, that in the erection of whatever new
+cottages may be found necessary for the purpose indicated, the
+latter-day style of running them up all alike, as uniform as so many
+squares of glass in a sash, should be abandoned, and a little variety of
+style, if only in trifling particulars, introduced. Human nature, even
+the human nature of the uneducated poor, rebels against this painful
+monotony, and grows intensely weary of over-much regularity, which, if a
+virtue at all, is one of so starched and rigid a character, that it
+takes a considerable amount of resolution, and a far higher degree of
+culture than we can lay claim to, to enable us to fall in love with it.
+To our uninstructed eyes, diversity of form is much more pleasing than
+undeviating rectangularity.
+
+Again, the most painstaking care must be taken that these substituted
+domiciles be properly and thoroughly drained. Unhappily, although this
+is a truism and a self-evident proposition, it is, through carelessness
+or indifference, frequently neglected--a fact too sadly attested by the
+ravages of fever from time to time in our outlying districts, where,
+twenty years ago, the bricklayer and hodman had not arrived upon the
+scene. To obviate this it is absolutely necessary that the most skilled
+science should be employed, and the most searching local legislation
+strictly enforced, to secure the carrying out of approved sewerage and
+drainage systems.
+
+Furthermore, I would suggest that no horse or cattle slaughterer,
+tallow-melter, manure-merchant, tanner, or other person plying any of
+the trades known as noisome or offensive, should be allowed to continue
+such trades without a special licence, and that by the terms of such
+licence they should be prohibited, under heavy penalties, from carrying
+on their businesses outside the limits of a certain area to be expressly
+set aside for that purpose, at such a distance from the centre of every
+town as may be judged desirable by the sanitary authorities. Within this
+area pig-styes and fowl-houses should be erected, and no swine, ducks,
+or geese be permitted to be kept outside its boundary. An inspector
+should be appointed specially for this quarter of the town, who should
+direct all his energies to seeing that the best principles of
+ventilation, smoke-consumption, drainage, use of disinfectants, &c. &c.,
+are adopted throughout his domain; and all ill-conditioned recusants
+against the decrees of the local senate should be mulcted in heavy
+damages. On the part of the senate itself there must be no apathy, no
+supineness, no dilettanteism, but a stern, vigorous determination
+stringently and impartially to enforce prompt obedience to its edicts.
+
+No doubt this would be somewhat of a hardship upon certain individuals,
+on the score of inconvenience and increased cost of production; but I
+doubt not they would take care to indemnify themselves. Even were it
+otherwise, however, the aggregate gain in so important a matter as the
+public health must swamp all minor considerations. Private interests
+must inevitably be sacrificed in the advancement of the general weal.
+All the Mrs. Partingtons that ever existed, with all their mops (whether
+such mops are called monopolies, vested rights, or what not), must
+perforce recede before the rising tide of the ocean of civilization.
+
+Having well drained our streets and habitations, and consecrated a
+_quartier_ for the purposes last mentioned, the next step must be to
+increase the number of our iron hospitals; and, disregarding
+sentimentality, immediately to isolate and put in quarantine all persons
+suffering from infectious diseases. Firmly grasp this nettle the moment
+it crops up, and without a shadow of doubt you will reduce to a minimum
+the high rate of mortality at present existing in our overcrowded cities
+through a total neglect of proper precaution. All textile fabrics,
+bedding, books, &c., which have come in contact with the patient, to be
+consumed by fire. Even Vandalism is excusable, nay, commendable, in
+certain circumstances.
+
+Finally, on this branch of the subject, I submit for the consideration
+of municipalities the following recommendations:--
+
+1. Preserve or procure open spaces, sufficient to form recreation
+grounds for your communities--say an acre for every thousand
+inhabitants. Regard this to be quite as imperative a necessity as the
+acquisition of further land to add to the cemeteries in which you inter
+the bodies of those who have "gone over to the majority." Let the quick
+share your care and attention on equal terms with the dead in the matter
+of requisite space and accommodation.
+
+2. Cause your common lodging-houses and your still worse haunts to be
+under the most vigilant supervision; and that _constantly_, and not
+fitfully and spasmodically. The more severe and restrictive your
+regulations are with reference to these matters the better it will be
+for all decent, quiet citizens.
+
+3. Provide every householder within your jurisdiction with a _filter_,
+to insure to him and his the opportunity of enjoying water free from
+organic and other impurities.
+
+4. Furnish him also with two boxes, varying in size according to the
+dimensions of his domicile: one to form a receptacle for dust, cinders,
+old rags, broken bottles, and what is generically known as "dry dirt;"
+and the other for decayed vegetables, the entrails of fish, and that
+kind of refuse that we rather uneuphoniously call "muck." Such boxes to
+be taken away once a week and empty ones left in their stead. As a
+corollary to this, forbid him, under penalties, to continue his present
+practice of pitching derelicts into the street, as the readiest means of
+being quit of them; and make him responsible for the cleanliness of his
+doorsteps and the pavement in front of his dwelling.
+
+5. Send round carts of chloride of lime, at short intervals during warm
+or "muggy" weather, and direct a bucketful to be delivered to every
+housewife, to remove stenches from sinks, water-closets, &c.
+
+6. Erect a furnace in some convenient locality, to serve the same
+purpose as that known as the "Queen's tobacco-pipe" at the London Docks
+does or did--_i.e._, to reduce to ashes all infected or condemned
+articles.
+
+The foregoing list of recommendations might be extended indefinitely;
+but perhaps the above will be sufficient to begin with.
+
+There are, no doubt, two objections at least which may be raised against
+the adoption of any scheme founded on these hints: first, one on the
+score of increased expenditure; secondly, one condemning increased
+centralization. With regard to the former, my answer is that health,
+especially the health of the aggregate mass of the body politic, cannot
+possibly be bought too dear; and that nothing really is so costly to any
+community as pestilence and death. As to the latter, I have no other
+defence to urge than my firm conviction that, much as it is railed
+against, centralization is as nearly an unmixed good as it is possible
+for anything in this sublunary (and marvellously complex) sphere to be.
+Everybody knows how inadequate the very best isolated efforts are to
+exterminate any widespread evil; and even organizations which are
+independent of, and do not radiate from or gravitate to, a common
+centre, frequently cross each other's paths, and to some extent defeat
+each other's purposes; occasioning a great waste of wholesome energy,
+which, well directed, might achieve marvellous results. As cosmos is
+greater than chaos--as a well-spliced rope is stronger than its separate
+strands--so is centralization and cohesion greater and stronger than
+individualism and segregation.
+
+
+Pocket.
+
+Many a vigorous arm has applied the axe to that dense and matted jungle,
+the indigence of the lower orders; but little more has been accomplished
+than the blunting of the hatchet and the exhaustion of the pioneer who
+wielded it.
+
+This being the case, it would be the height of folly for me, with my far
+feebler frame and my puny weapon, to attempt to do more than to peer
+cautiously around the deep shades, and try to find out, as a dweller
+_within_ those murky woods, if here a little path and there a little
+opening, into which a gleam of sunlight penetrates at times, be not
+discoverable, half hidden, perchance, by clumps of brushwood, which it
+will cost but little trouble to clear away. I shall therefore restrict
+myself to indicating such of these openings as I see, or fancy I see,
+from whence operations might, according to my notion, be directed
+towards the demolition of portions at all events of this swart and
+gloomy forest.
+
+One of the largest of these clearings is undoubtedly, I think,
+_Co-operation_, of which there are two kinds--viz., combinations between
+masters and men in the shape of limited partnerships, a per-centage on
+profits, &c.; and combinations amongst the wage-earners themselves for
+certain specified purposes.
+
+With regard to the first named, I am rather inclined to doubt the
+probability of its ever becoming an important factor in the sum of human
+progress, on account of the unlikelihood of its being generally adopted
+either in the near or distant future, and I am still more sceptical as
+to its efficacy as a panacea, even if it were universally reduced to
+practice, especially in these days of commercial disasters.
+
+Coming, then, to the other mode of co-operation--associations of manual
+workers--this also divides itself into two branches, having two distinct
+objects--namely, the receipt of higher wages for labour performed, and
+the obtaining greater value in commodities in the disbursement of such
+wages. Both these are, no doubt, laudable aspirations; and, although at
+the first glance they may appear incompatible with, if not altogether
+antagonistic to, each other,--inasmuch as increased remuneration to the
+producer means an increase in the price of the thing produced,--yet it
+will be seen, on mature reflection, that as a very large proportion of
+operatives are employed in the manufacture of articles of luxury, of
+which they are not consumers or purchasers, so much of the increase in
+the price of such articles as finds its way into the pockets of the
+artificer in the shape of added wages is a net gain to that portion of
+the labouring classes, and will inevitably exude from such portion to
+the benefit of the whole, in the same manner as what may be called in
+contradistinction their normal earnings.
+
+I should like to say one word about combinations of workmen in this
+place, which may be distasteful to unqualified panegyrists of the
+system: such combinations should invariably be in accordance with our
+recognized code of morals, and they must be in obedience to the ordinary
+laws of Nature; and it is to be feared that these desiderata to
+perfection in co-operation have at times been lost sight of in the past.
+I am compelled to blush for my order when I find them seizing the
+opportunity of their employers being under a heavy time-contract for the
+execution of important public or other works to organize a strike: this
+is clearly an infraction of all the ethics of morality. Neither can I
+appreciate their sense of the fitness of things when I hear them laying
+it down as a sound axiom that wages should be equalized, so that the
+stupid, idle, or inferior workman should be on a par with the skilled
+and industrious one. This is a blunder against one of the most immutable
+of Nature's laws--that of variety and infinite gradation; the suggestion
+implies a yearning after the utterly unattainable, which it is
+astonishing men of otherwise sound judgment should seriously entertain
+for one moment. As a comrade of mine pithily observed, not long since,
+when we were discussing the possibility of devising a scheme by which
+all men should receive the same amount of remuneration for their labour,
+and, when received, be enabled to make it go equally far--"You might as
+well try to make men all o' one height."
+
+Remove these excrescences from our combinations, and when it is found we
+can be practical as well as earnest, co-operation will have acquired a
+new vigour, and will be able to accomplish greater results. The main
+citadel will be none the less impregnable because our forces are not
+scattered abroad in various directions, in the vain endeavour to
+strengthen totally indefensible frontiers.
+
+But, after all, it is from the other branch of co-operation--the
+_co-operative store system_--that the greatest advantages may be
+expected to accrue. This is growing into favour yearly, still growing
+(despite recent diatribes in the newspapers), and is extending its
+ramifications into quite primitive districts. The knowledge that this is
+an undoubted fact should afford gratification to the well-wishers of the
+poor.
+
+Yet this gratification is subject to some modification when it is seen
+that this, not the least important birth of the nineteenth century,
+though growing and bearing within itself the germs of almost infinite
+possibilities, is at present of too tiny dimensions to grapple with that
+colossal ogre--the wasteful expenditure of the impecunious. It is
+Hercules indeed, but Hercules still in swaddling clothes before the
+strangling of the serpent. The amount of dealings at these stores by the
+class to whom they are calculated to prove the greatest boon, when
+compared with dealings by this same class with _very_ retail shopkeepers
+and at other places where the practice of paying "through the nose"
+(pardon the vulgarity) so extensively prevails, will be found to be
+almost infinitesimal. The question therefore arises, may it not be
+possible to replace these pine torches by Edisonian lights, so as to
+eliminate from wider tracts the thick darkness enwrapping the minds of
+the sons and daughters of toil as to what constitutes their true
+interests? It appears to me that there is one way of rendering this
+feasible, which I deferentially submit for consideration. It may be
+quite impracticable; and, if practicable, may contain such flaws as to
+be futile. If so, on defects being pointed out which I am not able,
+unassisted, to discover, I can only say I am open to conviction. I have
+no desire to be charged with an ineradicable attachment to that peculiar
+feat of horsemanship known as "riding a hobby to death." My plan is
+simply this: first, let every town of say over 10,000 inhabitants
+possess an internal government complete in itself, with plenary
+administrative powers; let groups of villages, in such numbers as may be
+determined on (the present Poor-Law Union Divisions might be taken as a
+basis), form cordons round themselves in like manner, and with the like
+objects; let every care be taken to select the very best men of every
+social grade to form the local senate, and let the members of which it
+is composed be paid for their services out of the public (local) funds,
+be subject to re-election at short intervals, and be required to give
+good accounts of their stewardship. Further, let it be clearly
+understood that the only condition on which a man could hope to be
+enrolled in this representative band, or, being enrolled, expect to be
+allowed to continue his official existence, would be his distinct and
+unquestioning recognition of _personal_ responsibility, as far as is
+humanly possible, for, and his unwavering resolution to secure, the
+well-being of _all_ his constituents, physically, pecuniarily, mentally,
+and morally.
+
+These preliminaries being supposed to be satisfactorily settled, such
+incorporation or assembly of chosen ones might (always supposing my
+views happened to find favour in their sight) open as many co-operative
+stores--so many for each trade--as would be sufficient to supply the
+needs of the entire community, selecting competent men from each trade
+to manage the different departments, and paying them by an agreed salary
+in the same manner as rate collectors and relieving officers are paid. A
+certain specified per-centage to be added to the prime cost of the
+various articles to defray the estimated expenses of management,
+advertising, rent (if necessary, though it would be better if the local
+legislators were also the landlords), wear and tear, depreciation in
+stock, and miscellaneous expenses for the year; and sales to be made to
+the consumer _for cash only_. The urban or rural chancellor of the
+exchequer would, in his annual budget, soon learn to adjust the amount
+of his tax (for so the per-centage may be considered), over and above
+the original cost price, according to the probable exigencies of the
+ensuing year, by the light afforded by the transactions of the preceding
+one.
+
+Seeing how many millions of pounds are annually disbursed for the barest
+sustenance and most absolute necessaries of life by the poor of the
+three kingdoms, from most of whom exorbitant rates of profit are
+wrung,--for the fact need not be expatiated on here that the more
+indigent the purchaser, and the more his penury drives him to live from
+hand-to-mouth, the less value he receives for his money, to say nothing
+of the further irruptions made into his income by the only
+partially-slain "truck system," or by the payment of interest to the
+accommodating successors of the Lombards, whose golden balls proclaim
+them to serve the honourable office of jackal-purveyors to the lions of
+the gin-palaces,--seeing this, I say, shall I be stigmatized as a
+dreamer, a half-crazy Utopian, if I anticipate magnificent results to
+follow from fair trial of a scheme designed to stem the frightful
+torrent of improvidence at present obtaining amongst the working
+classes, and to enable them to occupy the new position of being
+participators in the benefits of a sound commercial undertaking?
+
+Here, however, as elsewhere, there are tares amongst the wheat--if,
+indeed, it be wheat. An awkward inquiry obtrudes itself unbidden. What
+is to become of the thousands of deserving folks, too old for the most
+part to begin life _de novo_, who have earned a tolerably honest
+livelihood as small shopkeepers, and who would probably find themselves,
+under the system just recommended, "improved off the face of the earth?"
+Partially the difficulty might be met by the employment of the most
+active or most experienced of them in the borough stores. A little more
+might be accomplished in this direction also by giving some of them
+appointments to the numerous new offices it will be found necessary to
+create if our municipal authorities ever do wake up and bestir
+themselves, and aspire to becoming something more suitable to the spirit
+of the age than mere assemblies for palaver. But when all this is done,
+there will still be the residuum, and that residuum composed almost
+exclusively of the feeble, the aged, the halt, the lame, and the blind,
+who will be more or less thrown upon their own resources. For these, the
+only gleam of light I can discern is the fact that a remnant of their
+old customers will not find out all at once the error of their ways, and
+will go on in their accustomed grooves for some time after the
+centralized co-operative store shall have become _un fait accompli_, and
+so their decline into pauperism will be slow and gradual. Heaven only
+knows how some of these small shopkeepers contrive to exist even now by
+vending pennyworths and halfpennyworths of this, that, and the other; it
+can only be by imposing extravagant profits on the article vended. One
+cannot help thinking that their case can hardly very well be worse than
+it is, in any event. But be this as it may, care for their particular
+interests must not be permitted to dominate over due consideration for
+those of the vast aggregate mass forming the rest of our _clientele_,
+innumerable as "leaves in Vallambrosa,"--and, like other and greater
+folks, superfluous retailers must submit to be sacrificed for the
+benefit of the common weal.
+
+It is impossible to deal even in the most cursory manner with this
+"pocket" question without just glancing at the important bearing which
+the question of temperance must exercise upon it. To place a further
+spending power in the hands of an incurably intemperate populace would
+obviously mean only to increase and intensify the vice of intemperance.
+While deprecating any intention of making this paper the vehicle for a
+furious tirade against drunkenness, I feel bound to say in passing that,
+little as I love total abstinence, I regard it as a much lesser evil
+than the unrestrained indulgence of dipsomania; and if any man feels
+that he is so much a slave to his degraded appetite that he cannot keep
+up a nodding acquaintance with John Barleycorn without wallowing under
+his influence in the mud of inebriety, I respect that man for signing
+the pledge. My optimist instincts, however, buoy me up again on this
+subject also, for I sincerely believe that, high authority for the
+assertion though there be, mankind are _not_ mostly fools; and that when
+they have begun to realize the fact that they have a choice as to the
+kind of investment they may obtain for their money, the great majority
+of them will be looking out for some more substantial advantage than the
+questionable luxury of seeking temporary oblivion from carking cares and
+the grisly spectre of hopeless indigence. It may, I think, be relied on
+with certainty that an improvement in the pecuniary circumstances of the
+poor would beget increased self-respect, and self-respect would proclaim
+drunkenness _unfashionable_, and that now vigorous and lusty giant would
+ere long find himself as decrepit and infirm as Bunyan's Giant Pope.
+Those of us who have read of the bacchanalian orgies of the great no
+further back than the days of the Regency of George IV., and contrast it
+with the sobriety which is said to prevail amongst them in our days,
+cannot be accused of being groundlessly sanguine if we augur the
+percolation downwards of this stream of moderation under happier
+auspices, and that, too, in no remote future.
+
+A third means of lightening the strain upon our _ouvriers_ is to
+multiply the facilities for emigration. I would even go so far as to say
+that I think an _International_ Emigration and Immigration League
+between all the civilized nations of the world, for the purpose of
+drafting overplus populations into thinly inhabited districts, would be
+rather a good thing than otherwise, the inconveniences attending
+differences of language, manners, and so forth, being quite
+surmountable; whereas the difficulties attendant upon the possession of
+more hands to labour than there is work to perform, and consequently
+more hungry stomachs than there is food to fill, is altogether
+insurmountable. With regard to the affliction of _mal du pays_, from
+which undoubtedly many of the expatriated would suffer at intervals,
+that would be found to be a much more tolerable burden to bear, combined
+with a sufficiency of victuals and clothing, than the pangs of
+starvation or semi-starvation even on one's "native heather."
+
+But as it is no part of my programme to move too fast, or too far at
+once, I do not insist upon any international arrangement of the kind I
+have hinted at during, say, the present decade. I do, however, earnestly
+entreat all whom it may concern to try their best to place the matter of
+Emigration on a proper footing. I unhesitatingly maintain that whilst
+Great Britain possesses untold thousands of acres of virgin soil, and
+practically unlimited untried possibilities, in her numerous colonies,
+this our "sea-girt isle" ought not to suffer from a plethora of willing
+workers. The existing facilities held out to our overcrowded populations
+to induce them to venture upon "fresh fields and pastures new" might be
+multiplied a hundred-fold.
+
+Surely it ought to be part of the fundamental policy of a
+State--especially of a State whose real governing body is elected by
+household suffrage--to take the most active measures for insuring the
+weal of all its citizens: the humblest as well as the highest. Does not
+this, indeed, form the very quintessential attribute of good government?
+Has it not been rightly said that a State represents the totality of all
+the individuals composing it? I assume these are sound political axioms;
+and if I am right in this assumption, may I not suggest, as the most
+certain way of attaining the desired end, that our Representative
+Government should formally acknowledge our claims upon them by
+appointing a Minister for "the Condition of the People," with a seat in
+the Cabinet? The next step would be easy, for when once the whole
+surroundings were fairly brought within the range of vision, the vital
+importance of Emigration as a principal means of amelioration would be
+recognized; and it would be discovered that an able Secretary for
+Emigration would prove an invaluable auxiliary in the effective working
+of the department.
+
+It would be necessary, I apprehend, to select for this latter office a
+man eminent as well for good temper as for a capacious intellect, as the
+multiplicity of the functions he would have to perform would render such
+office by no means a sinecure; and the involved and complex matters he
+would have to deal with might, at times, go far in the direction of
+ruffling the serenest imperturbability.
+
+The eye of fancy depicts him in the active performance of his
+multifarious duties, surrounded by numerous painstaking subordinates,
+some of whom bear to him huge tomes, containing a full alphabetical list
+(compiled from the census returns and other sources) of the populations,
+industries, and assessments of the United Kingdom, divided into areas of
+certain dimensions, showing the age, sex, occupation, and earnings or
+incomings of every person; the number of houses (with their rentals or
+estimated yearly value), workshops, or other business establishments of
+every kind, specifying how many hands are employed in each and the
+amount of wages paid; and also showing the number of persons in receipt
+of out-door relief, and approximate number of vagrants in each district.
+Other attentive satellites open before him the various domesday books,
+containing reports by competent surveyors as to the quantity, and the
+latent riches or irredeemable poverty, of uncultivated lands throughout
+those vast dominions of ours on which the sun never sets; with copious
+notes by skilled mercantile men and geographers, pointing out the places
+where commodious ports might be formed, railways constructed, or
+manufactories erected. Our much-worried Secretary, whose heart is in his
+work, compares notes, and directs some of his chief clerks to prepare
+digests of, for instance, the information contained in pp. 420 to 446 of
+the 17th volume of the first set of books, and pp. 97 to 104 of the 32nd
+volume of the second set, ready for his consideration on the day but one
+following. He then takes up similar digests, which have previously been
+prepared in like manner, and sees clearly that one hundred artisan
+families of various specified trades, full particulars of which are
+before him, may, with advantage to all parties, be transplanted, passage
+free, from the blind alleys of Flintchester to the new settlement of
+Hornihand in Australasia, with the authorities of which place the usual
+arrangement will be made to assist them on their _debut_, and lend them
+a helping hand until they get fairly settled down. Day after day this
+kind of thing goes on throughout the year, except for some two months
+during the late summer and autumn vacation, when the hard-worked
+Secretary and his staff are enjoying a well-earned holiday.
+
+The more I ruminate on this matter of Emigration the more I am convinced
+that it is indispensable; it should run on wider lines, and cover a far
+more extended area than is possible under anything short of Governmental
+intervention. Seeing the utter inutility and inefficacy of isolated
+exertions to deal with the mighty problems which our complex
+civilization presents for solution, I should, on behalf of myself and my
+class, hail with joy the prospect of State interference in our
+interests. Sneers may continue to be directed against, and witty
+sarcasms levelled at, a "Paternal Government," "infringement of that
+liberty of the subject which is the inherent privilege and birthright of
+every Briton," and other like cuckoo-cries. But meantime we starve; we
+increase and multiply in obedience to the law of Nature, and our
+opportunities of earning subsistence do _not_ increase and multiply in a
+corresponding ratio. And without by any means desiring to steep my pen
+in midnight blackness in order to portray possible portentous
+consequences, yet it is a proposition not to be controverted that the
+ever-increasing preponderance of born toilers over any quantity of
+remunerative toil which can by any possibility be created within the
+limits of Great Britain proper must inevitably cause such consequences
+to be calamitous. For some time past the dark shadow of over-population
+has been looming on the horizon of "Merrie England," at first no bigger
+than a man's hand, but later advancing nearer and still more near and
+assuming colossal proportions; and the time cannot be far distant when
+it will obstinately refuse to be ignored any longer, even by the most
+unreflective, but will assert itself in a manner little to be desired.
+How, then, to avert this evil? How to postpone the advent of the fateful
+day? Are not these queries of vital interest to all ranks of society? I
+for one feel them to be so: hence the above gropings after gleams of
+daylight in the midst of the gathering shades. I do not pretend to aver
+that I have found the sunshine, that I have discovered an absolute cure
+for all the ills that "flesh is heir to." Too well I know what mistakes
+and blunders are interwoven in the best-devised schemes of human origin.
+Nevertheless, I hold that the free expression and ventilation of
+opinions, even though they may be erroneous, is often eventually
+productive of good, by serving to dispel vagueness of thought and loose
+generalization, and solidifying the abstract into the concrete; until
+which process has been accomplished no thing soever can be dealt with
+satisfactorily. Therefore, as a firm _dis_believer in the Malthusian
+philosophy, as also in the recommendations for checking the increase of
+population more recently scattered broadcast amongst us, and being
+deeply impressed with the imperative necessity of confronting the
+difficulty at once--_now_, in these days when the heavens above us
+appear to be hardening into brass, and the earth beneath us to be
+corrugating into iron--I have requested the Editor of this REVIEW to
+afford me the opportunity of giving publicity to my views.
+
+Closely allied to this division of my paper, if not actually of it, is
+the subject of _Charity_. Here, again, what a lamentable waste of vital
+force, what an invertebrate entity crying aloud to be overhauled,
+remodelled, jointed, and braced! Contrast the grand sum total yearly
+given in charity with the paucity of definite results attained--the
+well-worn comparison of the Nasmyth hammer and the nut instantaneously
+recurs to one's mind. Except when subscriptions are raised for some
+specific object outside the usual round altogether, how little there is
+to show for the expenditure! Why is this so? And what is the remedy?
+Obviously, I opine, the cause is individualism, isolation, caprice,--and
+as obviously, I ween, the only cure is combination, organization,
+system. Where we have now hundreds of little benevolent societies, with
+their honorary secretaries and treasurers and fussy committees, each
+neutralizing the others, let us have two or three established on a broad
+basis, with a central committee who, when the "sinews of war" are
+collected in one focus, will be strong enough to enter on paths at
+present untrodden, and wise enough to understand that almost innumerable
+differentiations in the nature of gifts will be necessary to cope
+successfully with the almost illimitable diversities in the nature of
+requirements, and who will insist on being invested with discretionary
+powers in matters of occasional aids and supplemental benevolences. Then
+it will be no longer possible for the shameless pauper, flaunting his
+rags and sores in the marketplace, or the whining sycophantic hypocrite,
+to monopolize the coals of one society, the blankets of a second, the
+soup of a third, and so on _ad infinitum_, not seldom exchanged for
+means of procuring beer to give additional zest to the utterance of the
+sentiment--"What fools these gentlefolks be." The most searching
+inquiries would be instituted, and perchance succour afforded to those
+to whom it would prove an inestimable boon, but who, from constitutional
+timidity or _mauvaise honte_, now starve and drop and die in silence,
+overlooked by almoners who take the first miserable-looking object who
+comes to hand, the most self-asserting or the most "'umble," and
+straightway pour out the contents of their cornucopias upon shams,
+making a miserable travesty of the sacred name of Charity.
+
+
+Mind.
+
+It is refreshing to know that so far as this branch of the subject is
+concerned, our governors, having by the force of circumstances been
+compelled to realize the fact of our existence, and our claim to be
+considered as veritably part and parcel of the body politic, with rights
+of common citizenship, have further, within the last few years, by the
+passing of the Compulsory Education Act, shown themselves possessed of
+political sagacity, by thus taking steps to insure that our descendants,
+when their turn comes to exercise and enjoy the civil privileges now
+granted to them, shall at least have a ploughed and manured soil in
+which to sow the seeds of love for law and order with some chance of due
+fructification, instead of the rough, hibbly-hobbly cinder-heap of their
+forefathers, which acknowledged no fertilizing influence but gross
+bribery, and partially justified the political ostracism and exclusion
+of its owners from all share in electoral privileges.
+
+All hail, then, to the School Board system as a great step in the right
+direction. Undeniably true as are some of the accusations brought
+against it, alleging that many blunders and useless extravagances, and
+much disregard for the susceptibilities of well-meaning but mistaken
+opponents, have marked its progress onward in too many instances; yet as
+the general idea is laudable and eminently conducive to promoting the
+highest interests of the entire population, and as in the nature of
+things it may be expected that greater experience will bring greater
+wisdom, and the faults charged against the movement gradually become
+"small by degrees and beautifully less," let us heartily wish it
+God-speed.
+
+Yet, why does the good work stop here? Why should not provision be made
+for building upon the foundation thus laid? Why should totally unformed
+intelligences be the only ones to profit by this guardian care, and why
+should they be led a little way on the road and then left to flounder
+along by themselves, and lose themselves in interminable mazes? Why, in
+short, should education be confined to children, and not extended to
+adults?
+
+It is true that the University Extension Scheme, as now carried out in
+many of our larger provincial towns to a very, very limited and only
+faintly appreciable extent, tends to show that the wind is just
+beginning to blow in this direction also. Something, however, much more
+comprehensive is needed. The masses are not reached, as will be patent
+to any one who will take the trouble to attend any of the courses of
+lectures delivered in connection with this extension system. The
+neophytes seeking initiation into this or that special branch of
+learning will be found to be composed principally of what we call
+"better class" people, with a sprinkling of pupil teachers and sucking
+governesses.
+
+Nor is this the fault of the masses themselves, as may perhaps be
+conjectured; the mere circumstance of the prices charged for admission
+in itself forming an insuperable barrier to the great majority having
+any part or lot in the matter, to say nothing of the fact that the whole
+apparatus is professedly set in motion for the benefit of the
+middle-class public solely.
+
+But however inadequate this minute increase in the volume of the
+fertilizing waters of Literature and Science may be for the mighty task
+of irrigating the parched and arid desert which stretches out in
+measureless extent before us, yet I am fain to regard it as a favourable
+omen--as a symptomatic indication that the "fountains of the great
+deeps" of human ignorance are beginning to be broken up, and that the
+tide _is_ rising which, when it has reached its full height, will
+disseminate the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge far and wide over the
+landscape so that the lowly equally with the high-born may pluck and eat
+thereof. The monster Cerberus has received a buffet on one of its three
+heads, and the Hesperidean Gardens may ere long, I am sanguine enough to
+hope, be entered by any thirsty passer-by without fear of molestation.
+
+All this, however, is dreamy, unsubstantial verbiage. That it is not
+also mere chimerical nonsense, which will not bear the strain of
+practical application, I will attempt to show--always supposing as a
+necessary preliminary, as in all the hypothetical propositions
+throughout this paper, that that portion of the community who are nursed
+in the lap of fortune are imbued with sympathetic feelings towards the
+less favoured sharers of their common humanity, and do not object to
+take a little trouble and bear a little charge by way of displaying
+their fellow-feeling.
+
+Grant this premiss, and what follows, or something better, may easily be
+rendered an accomplished fact.
+
+The first step will be the formation of a council or committee, after
+the manner before suggested, save that in this case we shall want an
+infusion of men of culture who at the same time shall be good workers
+and good philanthropists (a rare combination, but not an impossible one,
+I venture to think, notwithstanding the seductions a life of Sybaritic
+ease and delicate refinement specially offers to the scholar), in every
+considerable town or group of villages throughout the length and breadth
+of the land, with power over the district purse-strings, and with no
+superior authority except the Minister or Secretary of State for
+Education at Whitehall--for, of course, such a functionary will in those
+happy times be quite as much a necessity as a Master of the
+Buckhounds--who alone will have power to veto their proceedings and
+issue general rules for their guidance.
+
+If I had the ear of this all-important official, I should whisper to him
+that in my view the best mode of enlightening the working classes would
+be to take possession of three already-existing institutions, and
+enlarge their dimensions so as to make of them real forces, distinctly
+visible, instead of the hole-and-corner obscure trivialities they are
+now. These three institutions are--1st, Free Libraries; 2nd, Lecture
+Halls; 3rd, Class Rooms.
+
+1. To Free Libraries I have accorded the first place, because in all
+probability it is there that the beneficial results will be more
+immediately apparent, and the advantages offered will, in the first
+instance, be most considerably made use of. The major portion of the
+huge and unwieldy mass to be operated on would fly off at a tangent from
+the exactness and method necessarily incident to formal lectures, and in
+a still greater degree to class-work. It must first be left to itself to
+sprawl and struggle at its own free-will; the restraining chain must not
+be too soon brought into view; gradually and insensibly the quickening
+influence must be brought to bear; the change from density to
+clear-headedness, from sluggish inertness to mental activity, will not
+be effected in a moment; not all at once will the spiritual part of the
+long-benighted assert its claim to an equality with the animal part;
+desultory reading only will impart a love for reading; odd waifs and
+strays of information picked up just anyhow will alone create the desire
+for the acquisition of further knowledge, and by imperceptible degrees
+the naturally well-regulated mind will reject vagueness and demand
+exactness; having reached which stage it will be fit to undergo the
+further regimen prescribed. A good starting-point, however, will have
+been gained when our operatives generally are imbued with a genuine love
+of books and obtain a somewhat varied, if superficial, knowledge anent
+the salient features of English literature.
+
+These words, "_English_ literature," are used advisedly; for while I
+would have every town of over 5000 inhabitants possessed of a Free
+Library (varying in size according to the population), and every village
+have its book-loan society, it would be well to insist on the greatest
+and best of our own writers being well represented upon the shelves of
+every institution of this character before venturing on translations
+either of the ancient classics or modern foreign authors, even of
+European reputation. Homer, Thucydides, AEschylus, Plato, Virgil, and the
+rest, as well as Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and the innumerable host of
+Continental immortals, can very well wait a bit. We want to inspire
+_British_ operatives with a love of letters. In endeavouring to effect
+this, shall we not give the foremost place to the productions of
+_British_ genius? We have to _form_ a taste. Is it not desirable that,
+to begin with at all events, this should be a _national_ taste? But is
+not this the very way, it may be asked, to foster insular prejudices,
+narrowness, and bigotry? I reply, not necessarily, as many of our ablest
+_litterateurs_ have not hesitated to attack the various abuses, follies,
+and weaknesses which crop up in these islands from time to time--some
+hurling denunciations at them aglow with all the fervour of passion and
+intellect; others piercing them with the sharp spear of satire; and
+others yet again calmly but pitilessly holding them up to contempt in a
+train of close reasoning. Many, too, in addition to lashing the vices
+peculiar to their native country, have, in terms of generous eloquence,
+eulogized the virtues of our neighbours. Therefore, the man who is
+disposed to wrap himself up in a mantle of national self-glorification
+and self-righteousness will not find that the hierarchs of our national
+literature are at all times compliant enough to fasten the clasp for
+him.
+
+But I have a further answer--_i.e._, independently altogether of the
+question whether the perusal of English works solely will or will not
+have a tendency to nip the growing flower of cosmopolitanism in the bud,
+the one essential point in training the English subject to think is to
+train him to think in his own vernacular--to show him of what mighty
+things his mother-tongue is capable, and to satisfy him that
+
+    "Age cannot weary, nor custom stale
+    Its infinite variety;"
+
+and that if ever he, individually, wants to raise up his voice and make
+himself heard on any subject that interests him or his fellows, he must
+not fritter away his attention on more distant objects, but concentrate
+his gaze on those which immediately surround him.
+
+This view may appear somewhat contradictory to the one expressed when
+dealing with the subject of Emigration; but really it is not so. The
+leaving behind the special spot of earth where one drew one's first
+breath, played as a boy, saw his first sweetheart, and grew up to
+manhood, the parting from old friends and long-familiar objects, may
+and does entail a severe struggle, and inflict many a bitter pang; but
+it is unavoidable, and so must be submitted to. It is otherwise with
+home ideas, habits, modes of thought, literature. These will serve to
+mitigate the poignancy of separation from one's native land, will
+intertwine themselves more closely round one's affections by reason of
+that very separation, and be the means of causing miniature Englands to
+arise in far-off regions, and in various degrees of latitude and
+longitude. While releasing as cheerfully as may be what we _must_ let
+go, let us hug more closely still that which we _can_ retain.
+
+To return: In a well-equipped Free Library no standard British author
+should be conspicuous by his absence. The poets, from Chaucer and Gower
+to Tennyson and Browning; the dramatists, from Marlowe and Shakspeare to
+W. S. Gilbert and Tom Taylor; the _modern_ historians, from Hume and
+Gibbon to Froude and Freeman; the modern theologians, from Hooker and
+Jeremy Taylor to Canon Farrar and the Dean of Westminster; the modern
+essayists, from the projectors of the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_ to the
+contributors to the current Reviews and Magazines; the philosophers, the
+leaders in all departments of science, should be there; the best writers
+of prose fiction, also, from Fielding and Goldsmith to Trollope and
+George Eliot, should be well represented. The most profound and the most
+volatile will alike find sufficient to occupy their attention here for
+some time. The "Anglican paddock" (to misapply a now well-known term)
+will afford plenty of grazing ground to cattle of moderate appetites for
+a considerable period; and when it is exhausted, why, then, there are
+toothsome grasses in endless profusion to be cropped over the boundary
+fence.
+
+2. With reference to Lecture Halls, these ought to be nearly as
+plentiful as churches both in town and country, and can with proper
+management be made to serve two ends--the carrying forward the work
+begun at the Free Library, and the rousing from torpidity those whom
+even that useful institution would fail to reach; for as many would only
+be led to attend the lecture through the library, so there are many with
+whom the contrary would hold good, as many a dormant, beer-sodden soul
+would consent to be carried off for an hour or two to a lecture hall who
+could never be persuaded to sit down in cold blood to the perusal of a
+book, although such book might be written in the most fascinating and
+brilliant style imaginable: the unused eyes would soon begin to ache,
+the palsied brain soon begin to numb; whereas the speaker, if a good
+one, and his heart in his subject, would contrive to rivet the man's
+attention, despite of himself, by the magnetism of enthusiasm, and he
+would carry away with him some sort of idea--muddled and distorted
+probably, but still an _idea_--of what it was all about.
+
+Penny Readings interspersed with music have been very much derided by
+our erudite critics, I think without sufficient cause. These really
+harmless, if not very high-class gatherings, blending together the
+ingredients of a certain kind of instruction and of entertainment, were
+doubtlessly called forth by a genuine desire to familiarize the lower
+orders of the people with some of the more dramatic passages in our
+literature, and to render visible to them a higher intellectual standard
+than the tap-room and the music-hall had made them acquainted with. It
+was a happy thought to mingle singing and playing with the readings. The
+introduction of these not only served to take off a possible monotony
+which might otherwise have been felt, but added attractions really
+elevating in their influence, the status and general surroundings of the
+auditory being taken into consideration. There is no need to pry too
+curiously into the petty vanities which prompted this elocutionist or
+that vocalist to make an appearance in public, nor to speculate too
+closely upon the disproportion between the ludicrous extravagance of the
+efforts often made by incompetent aspirants to obtain fame, and the very
+modest modicum and evanescent character of that article vouchsafed in
+return. All this is nothing to the purpose. The simple query is,--Have
+these things, known as "Penny Readings," in ever so slight a degree,
+fulfilled the object of their existence as that object is generally
+understood? If an affirmative answer can be given (as I certainly
+believe it can) to that question, then are they entitled to honest
+praise, and not to supercilious contempt.
+
+However, having deposited my little offering at this humble shrine as I
+passed by, I am free to confess that if we never get any further than
+this on the road towards the mental improvement of the million, the
+march of intellect will be a very short march indeed. But it will
+not--it cannot stop here. The universal law of progress forbids the
+idea; and in some form or another the irresistible impetus to advance
+will be felt and obeyed.
+
+Meantime, no better means, so far as I see, appearing for the moment to
+be available, I fall back upon my pet project of lectures, to be
+delivered every night (Sundays excepted) from the middle of September to
+the middle of May in every year, in every one of the multitudinous halls
+built for the purpose, by men or women well versed in the several
+subjects upon which they discourse.
+
+Failing the possibility of procuring a sufficient number of lecturers
+who could spare the time necessary to compose original matter for the
+purpose, it would be by no means a bad plan, I think, to employ good and
+experienced hands to condense and compress standard works on different
+subjects into such a compass as to occupy two or three evenings, and
+hand these digests over to practised elocutionists to be _read_. Take
+history, for example. Prescott's "Conquests of Mexico and Peru,"
+Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic," Irving's "Conquest of Granada,"
+Carlyle's "French Revolution," or Hepworth Dixon's "Her Majesty's
+Tower," are peculiarly well adapted to undergo this process. The
+absorbing interest of the incidents described could not fail to engage
+the attention of the audience; and I cannot help thinking that the
+offended _manes_ of such of the above-named great ones as have departed
+from amongst us would be appeased when it was represented to them that
+this mutilation of their invaluable legacies to posterity had been
+conducted with due reverence, and solely for the purpose of introducing
+them to a far wider (and, perchance, not less appreciative) audience
+than even their exalted talents could otherwise have commanded. As to
+the still-living ones, perhaps before taking the liberty suggested with
+their literary offspring, it might be courteous to ask their permission,
+and I feel confident they would not be churlish enough to withhold it. I
+may be reminded that there would still be publishers and owners of
+copyright to be dealt with; but I leave suggestions as to the best means
+of negotiating with these awful entities to persons of greater
+experience than myself.
+
+Obviously this lecture-hall business, like most of my other theories,
+necessarily involves considerable expenditure; but if anything is to be
+done, opulence must feel for indigence not only in heart but in pocket.
+
+3. A thorough and unstinted employment of the means above indicated will
+accomplish much towards the emancipation of our helots from that
+thraldom of ignorance which gives to the more galling thraldom of caste
+its sole _raison d'etre_. But there is yet one thing needed, the
+_utilization_ of knowledge acquired, and this can only be attained by
+dint of laborious and unintermitting class-work. The sacred flame may be
+kindled in the breast by desultory and omnivorous reading, but the light
+emitted is as uncertain as that of a wandering marsh-fire--it wants
+_focussing_ to be of any use to its possessor or his species. And it is
+in the _class_, under the guidance of a gifted and genial teacher, that
+this operation can best be performed. It is here that the finishing
+touch must be applied; here the rounding-off take place; here the
+heterogeneous be brought into homogeneity, and the discordant be reduced
+to harmony and system.
+
+If these things are so, the problems which present themselves to be
+resolved are:--Given certain millions of untrained intellects in crying
+need of class tuition scattered over certain thousands of square miles
+in unequal proportions--how to provide sufficient building accommodation
+to meet the exigencies of the case? and given an uncertain but
+confessedly immense mass of torpidity and stagnation--how to infuse the
+necessary leaven into it to quicken it and arouse its latent forces?
+
+I answer as to the first proposition--Require the architects of the
+multitudinous lecture halls aforesaid to submit plans to you, which
+shall comprise sections not only of the main building but of three or
+four adjuncts thereto suitable for class-rooms, after the style of the
+chapels nestling under the wings of our old cathedrals, or the annexes
+thrown out at convenient angles from our modern industrial exhibitions
+for the display of specialities. These would add comparatively little to
+the original cost of the structure, and save a great deal of time and
+trouble in hunting up eligible sites, and, when found, negotiating terms
+of purchase. As to the second proposition, make a _liberal_ distribution
+of prizes part of your system, so liberal that not only proficiency
+would be certain of obtaining a reward, but plodding and persevering
+mediocrity also. Constant attendance, combined with such written answers
+to questions as evinced that the pupil was making an effort, should,
+however imperfectly the answers were framed, insure the possession of a
+prize at the end of every session. With such materials to work upon, a
+free use of stimulants to exertion must form no inconsiderable part of
+the programme.
+
+Again, no charge whatever must be made for admission to the classes.
+Indeed, the entire domain of adult poor education must be as free as
+United Italy--free from the Alps of the library to the Adriatic of the
+class-room.
+
+Lastly, no restriction should be made as to the age or sex of the
+scholar. I am of opinion that no greater incentive to emulation can be
+offered to either man or woman than the consciousness that they are
+associated with co-workers or competitors of the opposite sex.
+
+It would be travelling out of the record were I ever so faintly to
+attempt to enter into details as to the mode in which class-teaching
+could most advantageously be conducted, or to endeavour to shadow forth
+what I conceive to be the regulations best adapted for the purpose. No
+general rules would be found competent to meet ever-varying special
+conditions. All this must inevitably be left to conform itself to the
+peculiarities of the respective groups of the taught and the
+idiosyncrasies of the individual teachers.
+
+
+Amusements.
+
+On this last, but not least, division of the subject, I need not dilate
+at very great length. Much has been written with reference to it of late
+with which I cordially agree.
+
+No one can help being sensible of the melancholy fact that the tendency
+of many of our so-called entertainments is debasing and degrading in the
+last degree. It is difficult to imagine anything much more demoralizing
+in every aspect--anything which appears to be more utterly without
+redeeming features--than our music-halls. Dances, which are simply
+unnatural contortions on the part of the male performers, and indelicate
+exhibitions on the part of the female ones; songs, which are utterly
+idiotic and meaningless, except when their meaning is indecency,
+sounding the very lowest depths of imbecility, and having no literary
+merit save _double entendres_ of the most vulgar description; the whole
+taking place in an atmosphere redolent with the fumes of beer, gin, and
+tobacco,--such is the pabulum provided for our delectation through this
+particular medium. Much the same poisonous mixture is administered at
+our tea-gardens and other places where we most do congregate. Is it a
+marvel, then, that our young men waste their strength in drunkenness,
+and our young women stray from the narrow path? Is it wonderful that
+when you respectables meet us abroad on Bank Holidays, or Derby or Boat
+Race days, we comport ourselves in ruffianly fashion, and greet the ears
+of your dames and damsels with expressions which it is not good for them
+to hear?
+
+Ultra-exclusives! those of you who are most deeply impressed with the
+desirability of keeping us in our proper places, and are offended if we
+pass "between the wind and your nobility," to you most of all do I
+address myself, and take the liberty of saying that on _you_ rests the
+onus of providing better and more healthy recreations for us; for needs
+must that at times the most fastidious of you will find yourselves in
+the midst of us, and it will interest you even more deeply than others
+that we should not sink into unmitigated and universal rascaldom, the
+only natural goal at which the pursuit of such pleasures as those
+above-named is likely to land us. Give us attractions of a less baneful
+character, and wean us from these cesspools of infamy. To you it is
+specially important that this matter should receive attention. Do not,
+however, seek to do the work half-way; do not attempt to take away the
+means of recreation we have--evil as they are--until substitutes are
+furnished; it will not be convenient to you that the people should have
+too much time to _brood_; it will be safer for you that we should be
+_mercurial_ rather than that we should be _morose_; in one mood or the
+other, however you may strive to ignore us, we shall continue to exist
+in tangible form and be distinctly visible to your perceptions.
+
+I like not threats or innuendoes, however, and say no more concerning
+this matter.
+
+Time was when holy-days were frequent, when gorgeous pageants feasted
+the eyes of our forefathers--times of Maypoles and morrice-dancers, of
+roasted oxen and sheep, of conduits running with wine and milk: I say
+not I wish these to return. Much I fear that all was not pure, pastoral,
+Arcadian simplicity amidst these poetic scenes, fascinating as they are
+to the imagination. I doubt not the taint of vice was there, and the
+ghastly presence of misery and sorrow, and I do not regret them--let
+them go.
+
+What, then, do I suggest? Aware of the risk I run in having it imputed
+to me that my suggestions have already been too numerous, I will, with
+brevity, venture yet one more.
+
+Repetition is vexatious; notwithstanding which, unification is
+imperative, and committees must again be called into requisition.
+
+Cricket-clubs, quoit-clubs, bowling-clubs, even skittle-clubs _ad
+libitum_, in summer; ballad concerts, dramatic performances, &c., in
+winter, under the same auspices. Membership extended to all comers, fee
+payable one shilling per annum in monthly instalments; the expulsion or
+suspension for a longer or shorter term--according to the more or less
+heinous nature of the offence--of any member for bad language,
+intoxication, or other misbehaviour; the gradual unbending of the rich
+and the cultured, and their condescending to grace the sports with their
+occasional presence, thereby infusing a spirit of refinement into them;
+the prohibition of betting or _over_-drinking,--these are, shortly and
+imperfectly stated, the remedies I would suggest.
+
+To conclude the whole matter. We, the industrious poor of this
+realm--the hard-working classes--are in pressing need of help now, in
+this present time. This, I believe, is confessed on all hands, diverse
+and contradictory as the theories how such help could best be given may
+be. The question at issue is not whether ameliorations are desirable or
+the contrary, but in what manner to bring them about, and how to be
+certain that it is bread which is bestowed, and not a stone.
+
+I do not claim to have solved this enigma, or to have invented a
+millennium. I simply assert my belief that some of my propositions may
+contain germs capable of being nurtured into hopeful possibilities.
+
+As I have selected four principal points in which improvements are
+required--health, pocket, mind, and amusements--so have I striven to
+indicate four principal modes which I think best calculated to attain
+the desired end, and which for the most part must come from _without_
+our borders--namely, sympathy, earnestness, money, and centralized
+organization--all being essential; the last-named especially being so,
+for it may be regarded as an irrefragable verity that every movement to
+be really efficacious must be _national_, and not parochial.
+
+I look for many objections on both sides of the temperate zone, on the
+waters of which alone I elect to voyage. The frigid will aver that I
+expect too much, that my notions are Utopian and chimerical to the last
+degree, and the nostrums prescribed empirical and baneful; that it is
+not to be supposed sensible people will take all this trouble, and rush
+into such reckless expenditure in a project so visionary. To such my
+only answer is,--Where the return is to be great the investment must be
+great also. The torrid, on the other hand, will say I am not
+sufficiently thorough; that the only means of elevating the poor is by
+lugging the wealthy down to their level, abrogating dignities,
+distributing riches, abolishing ownership in lands and corporeal
+hereditaments. To these my reply will be,--Evil will the day be which
+shall dawn on such devil's-sabbath employments as these. Levelling
+_up_wards is laudable; levelling _down_wards is execrable. I would in
+nowise interfere with the least of these institutions. The overthrow of
+dynasties will not advantage us, nor will a general scramble conduce to
+our lasting welfare. I am a sceptic as to the benefits to be derived
+from revolution, although professing myself a warm admirer of
+reformation, as I understand the word--_re_-formation.
+
+Neither do I anticipate that the time will ever come, under the best
+devised systems, when poverty will altogether cease out of the land.
+Evil will there be, and good also, while the world stands. This,
+however, should be no excuse for indifferentism in the work of lessening
+the sum-total of the evil, and increasing the sum-total of the good.
+
+And so Lazarus unmoors his fragile boat, and launches it, unmanned and
+untended, on the bosom of the stream,--to meet its fate.
+
+    HENRY J. MILLER.
+
+
+
+
+THE FORMS AND COLOURS OF LIVING CREATURES.
+
+
+In the Essay on Animals and Plants, which appeared in the September
+Number of this Review, the names were given of the principal groups in
+which the prodigious multitude of living creatures (existing or known to
+have existed) have been classified by naturalists. It was therein also
+indicated that these various groups, and all the subdivisions of such
+groups, are distinguished one from another by variations in the forms
+and structures of the creatures which compose them. This fact alone
+would prove that very many differences in form must exist; but, indeed,
+a very slight knowledge and a very cursory examination of animals and
+plants would suffice to show this even to any one who knew nothing of
+the scope or nature of biological classification. In truth, to the
+non-scientific observer who feels an interest in living things, the
+difficulty may seem to be rather how to find general resemblances than
+how to detect differences between creatures which seem so totally
+diverse as do humming birds from whales, bees from buffaloes, or the
+numerous African herds of antelopes from the grasses on which they feed.
+
+Nevertheless it was pointed out in the second Essay of this series[56]
+that all living creatures do agree to a certain extent in the form and
+structure of their bodies, inasmuch as their bodies are always bounded
+by curved lines and surfaces, while, if we divide the body of any animal
+or plant its structure may always be seen to be heterogeneous--that is
+to say, composed of different substances, even the simplest showing a
+variety of minute particles (granules) variously distributed throughout
+its interior. It has also been pointed out[57] that all living creatures
+agree in beginning life in the form of a small rounded mass of
+protoplasm. But all animals and plants further agree in that each kind
+has its own proper size, shape, structure, and colour, and each (as we
+shall hereafter see) shows a positive unity in its fundamental
+constitution, co-existing with the heterogeneity above referred to.
+
+But though each kind has its own proper size, shape, structure, and
+colour, yet these vary more or less in different individuals, and the
+degrees of variability are different in different kinds both of animals
+and plants.
+
+As to size, although most living creatures have certain limits which
+they rarely exceed or fall below, yet many organisms vary greatly in
+this respect. Thus, that familiar weed, the common centaury (_Erythraea
+centaurium_), may vary in height--according to the soil and other
+external conditions--from half an inch to five feet.
+
+As to figure and structure there is more constancy, and the amount of
+variation which may in these respects be found between different
+individuals of the same animal species, is generally but slight. In
+plants and in plant-like animals much greater differences exist as to
+external configuration; but even in them the internal structure of each
+species varies but little.
+
+Colour is a character which some readers may be disposed to regard as
+extremely inconstant. We are familiar with many differently coloured
+varieties of our cultivated flowers; and white blackbirds, and black
+leopards are not very uncommon objects. Nevertheless, colour is really a
+character of much constancy, and is one not only constantly present in
+different individuals of one kind of plant or animal, but is one
+constantly present in particular groups of kinds.
+
+Thus, for example, all the English plants of the dandelion order which
+have opposite leaves, have yellow flowers, with the single exception of
+the eupatory (_Eupatorium cannabinum_), and whole groups of butterflies
+are respectively characterized as being blue, or white, or yellow.
+
+We have seen that the life of every living being is accompanied by, and
+may be described as, a series of adjustments of action and structure to
+external conditions which surround it. Accordingly we may expect to find
+that the sizes, shapes, structures, and colours of living beings bear
+relations, which are in very many cases obvious, to their external
+circumstances, as directly favouring their nutrition, reproduction, or
+preservation from external injury.
+
+Every living creature must be either fixed (like a rooted tree), or
+capable of spontaneously moving, or of being passively drifted from
+place to place, and must have a structure and figure suitable to one or
+other of these conditions.
+
+Again, every living creature, whether free or fixed, is either a
+terrestrial, an aquatic, or an aerial organism; and it may be fitted to
+live in any two, or even in all three of these conditions--as, for
+example, is the swan. If terrestrial, it may inhabit the surface of the
+earth only, or it may occasionally or habitually dwell beneath it. The
+structure, forms, and even colours of organisms are in most cases
+plainly adapted to their modes of life in the above respects.
+
+Thus, any living creature, which is fixed to the surface of the earth,
+must either adhere to it by having one side or portion of its body
+spread out and adjusted to irregularities in the supporting surface, or
+else by sending prolongations of its substance into the substance of the
+supporting body, as a plant sends its roots into the soil. Such
+prolongations, moreover, must (in order to hold fast) either sink deeply
+or else expand, at a slight depth, into a rounded or discoidal mass, or
+into radiating processes whereby the whole structure may be securely
+anchored.
+
+This special modification of form, again, may or may not be accompanied
+by certain further modifications of structure, according as such rooting
+parts are to serve, as mere holdfasts, simply for attachment, or (as in
+most plants) for the absorption of food also.
+
+Another modification is also correlated with these conditions. We have
+seen[58] that an interchange of gases takes place between each organism
+and its surrounding medium. But such interchange cannot take place in
+the subterranean part of the body, and a corresponding difference of
+structure between such subterranean part and other parts must therefore
+obtain.
+
+Again, as to colour, we find differences which are evidently related to
+the different degrees in which different parts of a living body are
+exposed to the influence of light. Such contrasts notoriously exist, not
+only between the green parts of plants above the soil and the lighter
+coloured roots, but between the foliage of a plant which is exposed to
+sun light and another of the same kind kept in a dark cellar. Many
+animals which live in permanent darkness are colourless, as, _e.g._, the
+_Proteus_;[59] but yet this is not an invariable rule, some, as the
+mole, being of a dark colour.
+
+The forms of organisms are evidently often directly related to
+surrounding influences. A plant or plant-like animal fixed to the soil
+may be so fixed that light, air, food, friends and enemies can have
+access equally on all sides or not. Thus, a tree so placed that light
+and air are excluded on one side, will not grow freely towards that
+side, but only in directions from whence light and air have access. A
+coral reef increases much more rapidly towards the open sea (the waves
+of which bring in food and facilitate gaseous interchange) than towards
+an adjacent shore.
+
+The mere contiguity of parts will often affect the form of organisms.
+Thus, in many flowers parts which are adjacent become dwarfed, while
+others which are freely exposed become fully developed, as we see in the
+flowers of many _Umbelliferae_, or plants of the parsley, fennel, and
+hemlock order.
+
+The shapes of flowers bear relation (as we shall see later) to their
+need for attracting insects which by their visits effect the development
+of seed, and for repelling others the access of which would be hurtful.
+
+The avoidance of enemies may be so effected by an organism that their
+access may be made impossible save in one direction, the extent of
+vulnerable surface even in that direction being minimized. We have an
+example of such a condition in those worms which live in calcareous
+tubes, and which are some of those called "tubicolous annelids."[60]
+
+Again, the medium in which an organism lives--whether aerial or
+aqueous--has an important relation with its form. A delicate seaweed,
+the beautifully radiating form of which is a just object of admiration
+as long as it is supported by its denser natural medium (the sea water),
+collapses into an amorphous mass when withdrawn thence into the thin
+air. Obviously a much greater rigidity and strength of structure is
+needed to support an aerial organism than an aquatic one, unless the
+former can support itself on other solid structures, such as rocks or
+trees. In the latter case the form attained may be very elongated and
+slender, as in the many creeping and climbing plants, which are so often
+furnished with processes for grasping (tendrils) to aid them in their
+mode of life.
+
+An aerial fixed organism, if it does not rise from the surface of the
+earth, cannot spread itself very far without developing other points of
+support--without rooting again. This re-rooting is a familiar phenomenon
+in many plants, as, _e.g._, the strawberry. But even a shrub like the
+common bramble (which is not itself prostrate, but which sends out
+extraordinarily prolonged branches) is aided by such a process. The ends
+of its long branches apply themselves to the ground and begin to pierce
+its surface, the incipient leaves of its terminal bud becoming
+metamorphosed into roots.
+
+An aquatic fixed organism, however, may extend to a very great length,
+freely floating without effecting any such fresh attachment. Thus the
+seaweed _Laminaria digitata_[61] will spread over a circle 12 feet in
+diameter, while _L. longicornis_ grows in the form of an elongated
+riband, from 8 to 12 feet in length and 2 or 3 feet wide. The giant form
+_Macrocystis_ (with a much more subdivided outline) may extend to the
+extraordinary length of 700 feet.
+
+The conditions under which needful gaseous interchange can be effected
+and food obtained by different living creatures, govern in various other
+ways the forms of their bodies.
+
+Thus, if it is helpful to the life of a creature to submit as large a
+surface of its body as possible to the influence of light, or to the
+action of air or water, then for this purpose its body must be expanded
+and its expanded parts divided and subdivided as they extend in
+different directions. It is for this reason that trees branch, and that
+their branches and twigs divide and subdivide as they do. It is for this
+reason also that their branches do not grow out one above another in
+precisely the same direction, but, on the contrary, grow in such a
+manner that each one may overshadow those immediately beneath as little
+as may be. Similarly and for the same reason leaves are developed mostly
+in an alternating fashion, so that each may be able to expose its green
+surface to the light and air as much as possible.
+
+Plant-like animals which grow up in an arborescent manner from a fixed
+base do not generally branch in so regularly alternating a mode as do
+plants, and in some cases their successive branches may even be
+regularly superimposed. This is due to their not requiring, as plants
+do, that their surface should be very extensively exposed to light,
+neither their gaseous interchange nor their nutrition being impaired by
+such superposition. The water which carries to them both the nutritious
+particles on which they feed and the gases they respire, will act with
+nearly or quite the same efficiency in either arrangement of their
+parts.
+
+If the exigences of life require any organism to retain much fluid
+within it, this circumstance may lead to its assumption of a dilated
+more or less globular form, as in the melon cactus, and, to a less
+degree, in the leaves of the common stonecrop.
+
+But the conditions under which alone certain fixed organisms can obtain
+their food may govern also their internal structure. Thus, we shall see
+that in plants which feed by absorbing matters through their roots, an
+internal arrangement has to be effected for distributing material thus
+obtained, and conveying it upwards through the stem. So, again, many
+fixed animals need a greater supply of food and gases than they can
+obtain from the water which bathes or may reach them without effort on
+their parts. Such animals may be provided with special internal
+structures, which cause currents of water to flow towards them, and very
+often to penetrate within them, as in the shell _Mya_ or the razor
+shell.[62]
+
+Fixed subterranean creatures are rare, but such do exist, as, for
+example, the truffle (_Tuber cibarium_). Surrounding influences must in
+such instances be alike on all sides, while the imbedded position of
+such organisms render superfluous the development of any elongated
+process for the purpose of fixing them. Such creatures, then, have a
+spheroidal figure, and neither internally nor externally are their
+structures developed in special directions.[63]
+
+The fixed organisms which are the most aerial in their habits are
+attached to elevated objects, such as trees, and necessarily have a
+portion of their frame set apart to fix them to the object which
+supports them. The most conspicuous creatures of this kind are, perhaps,
+the plants termed "Epiphytes," on account of this habit. Amongst them
+may be mentioned the beautiful orchids called "air plants," and the
+familiar mistletoe. Other vegetable organisms--the multitude of
+creeping plants--rear themselves to great heights by the aid of their
+more robust brothers, but they can hardly be reckoned as aerial
+organisms.[64]
+
+The colours which plants display have sometimes a singular relation to
+the mountain elevations or geographical positions they inhabit, but
+these considerations will be aptly treated of in the relations borne by
+living creatures to physical conditions and to one another.
+
+Living creatures which are capable of moving or being freely moved
+about, present us with similar but more marked differences.
+
+Certain aquatic creatures drift passively about (borne by streams or
+currents) with no permanent relation between any fixed portion of their
+bodies and the medium which transports them. Such creatures being
+equally acted on on all sides by surrounding agencies might be expected
+(like the subterranean truffle) to exhibit a spheroidal figure, with
+only one kind of surface upon their whole exterior. This is just what we
+find to be the case in a variety of more or less minute organisms, such,
+_e.g._ as _Myxastrum radians_ and _Magosphaera planula_.[65]
+
+The former of these consists, at one stage of its existence, of a small
+globular mass of protoplasm, from the whole periphery of which a
+multitude of fine pseudopodia radiate. When about to reproduce, the
+creature retracts its pseudopodia, and forms around its exterior a
+structureless coat or cyst, an action which takes place frequently in
+lowly organisms, and is called their process of _encystment_. The
+contents of the cyst then divides into separate bodies, which escape by
+the rupture of the cyst. Each of these bodies is enclosed in a silicious
+case with an aperture at one end, whence its contained protoplasm
+issues, and, having so issued, assumes a spherical shape.
+
+_Magosphaera_ is another small creature which goes through a remarkable
+series of changes, the greater number of which exemplify the ball-like
+shape of body alike on all sides.
+
+Wherever the surface of the body is covered by pseudopodia, those
+processes, inasmuch as they have a power of spontaneous movement, enable
+the creatures possessing them slightly to aid or to resist the drifting
+action of the water in which they float.
+
+But a living organism may be devoid of any definite shape whatever, as
+in _Protamoeba_,[66] which consists of a mere particle of protoplasm,
+from which irregular-shaped processes of unequal size are irregularly
+protruded in every direction, so that the form of the creature may be
+said to be quite indeterminate.
+
+The bodies of almost all organisms have, however, more or less definite
+forms, which may be all classed under seven morphological categories.
+
+(1). The simplest form of all exemplifies _spherical symmetry_, and is
+that which we have seen in the truffle, the radiolarian, the volvox,
+_Myxastrum_ and _Magosphaera_. In this spherical form any number of axes
+drawn through the creature in any direction are equal.
+
+(2). The next organic form is one in which the body sphere is more or
+less elongated at its poles, the latter being equal and similar. In such
+an organism we have one axis longer than any one of the others and
+central, while from this axis symmetrical radii can be drawn in all
+directions. This form may be said to exemplify _equipolar symmetry_, and
+such is found in some radiolarians, in some small parasites
+(_Gregarinida_),[67] and others.
+
+(3). The next morphological category may be spoken of as _unipolar
+symmetry_. Bodies which exemplify it are like those included in the last
+category, save that the two poles of the body are not alike.
+
+Instances of this symmetry are to be sought in creatures which have one
+end of their body fixed, or which always or mostly move with the same
+end of the body in front, and thus have their two extremities in more or
+less constantly different relations to surrounding influences.
+
+The lowest worms and sponges may serve as examples of this symmetry in
+its simplest expression. As also may the curious compound tunicary
+called _Pyrosoma_.[68] In all such creatures the body does not extend
+out in the form of lateral prolongations.
+
+But in many others it does send out processes on all sides, and in
+various directions, as in most trees and all plants which have a
+definite axis of growth, so that unipolar symmetry is the predominant
+symmetry in the vegetable kingdom.
+
+(4). But unipolar symmetry with diverging outgrowths leads us to the
+next category which may be called _radial symmetry_. Under this head are
+included the forms of such creatures as possess unipolar bodies from
+which equal and corresponding outgrowths radiate in different
+directions.
+
+We have examples of this in the starfishes, in the sea anemones, and in
+such plants as the melon cactus. But the outgrowths may project in only
+four directions, each being at right angles with the two neighbouring
+outgrowths. We thus get a crucial form of radiation, in which the body
+may be described as having one main axis (in the direction of motion)
+crossed by two other shorter but equal axes at right angles to it and to
+each other.
+
+We have an example of this in _Tetraplatia volitans_,[69] an aquatic
+creature with an elongated body, which presents four distinguishable
+longitudinal surfaces, of which each opposite and corresponding pair is
+hardly distinguishable from one another.
+
+(5). This form leads us directly to that kind of symmetry which is
+predominant in the animal kingdom and which is called _bilateral
+symmetry_. Forms of this kind exhibit four aspects which may be
+distinguished as right and left, dorsal and ventral. The body here
+presents a long axis (in the direction of motion) crossed by two shorter
+axes at right angles to it and to each other. Of these shorter axes, one
+connects the dorsal and ventral surfaces, while the other connects the
+lateral (right and left) surfaces, and these two axes may be, and
+generally are, unequal. All worms, insects, mollusks, fishes, birds,
+reptiles, and beasts, are examples of creatures with bilateral symmetry.
+The dorsal and ventral aspects of the body generally differ in
+correspondence with the different relations to surrounding conditions
+which they usually bear, as notably in snakes and creatures which glide
+with their bellies applied to the surface of the ground.
+
+(6). The last kind of symmetry which here needs notice is that termed
+_serial symmetry_. In the creatures which exhibit it we have a body
+which is not only almost always bilaterally symmetrical but which is
+made up of a succession of similar parts, forming a series along its
+main or longitudinal axis. Insects, crabs, lobsters, and other allied
+forms give us examples of serial symmetry, but this is perhaps best seen
+in such animals as thousand legs and hundred legs--millipedes and
+centipedes.
+
+Besides the fundamental distinctions which depend upon the kind of
+symmetry governing the form of any living being, other subordinate
+differences exist respectively related to the conditions under which the
+various activities necessary for life have to be carried on. Such
+activities are the needful gaseous interchange, the processes of
+reproduction, and the acquisition of food. Thus, the most intimate
+relation exists between the form of the body and the manner in which
+locomotion has to be effected, whether by the whole body or by processes
+projecting from it. If the latter, then whether by paddling or jumping;
+if by the whole body, then whether by lateral or vertical bendings of
+that body.
+
+Thus, we see that fishes, which swim by lateral flexure of the body,
+have the tail expanded vertically; while in porpoises, which require
+vertical flexions (to come rapidly to the surface to breathe), the tail
+is expanded horizontally. On the other hand, creatures which swim not by
+either kind of body flexure, but by a paddling action only, have the
+tail shortened, as we see in swans and turtles. Further details of this
+kind will be more appropriately treated of in an Essay devoted
+exclusively to the consideration of the forms of animals.
+
+There are a multitude of aquatic creatures which cannot be properly
+spoken of as either "fixed" or "mobile," for they are in fact both. They
+are creatures which move about by the help of others, being themselves
+fixed to other creatures which are actively locomotive.
+
+Thus, sea-snails, lobsters, fishes, whales, and even ships, bear about
+with them sometimes lowly-organized plants; but often other animals,
+permanently fixed to and growing parasitically upon them and having the
+shape of their body suited to their peculiar situation.
+
+Often such parasites form flattened encrustations on their involuntary
+hosts--as is the case with the acorn shells or sessile barnacles.[70]
+Others have elongated bodies, which stream through the water with the
+motions of the creatures carrying them. We see this in confervoid
+growths, also in ordinary barnacles, and in certain modified crab-like
+creatures, such as _Lerneocera_.[71]
+
+These creatures fix themselves to their movable supports by means
+similar to those by which other creatures secure themselves to
+stationary supports. Thus, some of these do so by means of expanded
+disks, which fit accurately to the supporting surface, while certain
+parasites fix themselves by means of ingrowing prolongations or
+root-like processes, as in the _Rhizocephala_.[72] Others, again, adhere
+by the intervention of hooks and suckers, and this is especially the
+case with such as fix themselves internally and live perpetually bathed
+(as the tape-worms[73] do) in the nutritious fluids contained within the
+bowels of the creatures they infest.
+
+Terrestrial mobile organisms can, of course, only be moved by their own
+efforts, or by the efforts of other organisms.
+
+The simplest terrestrial locomotion is like that of the aquatic
+_Amoeba[74] primitiva_, and is performed by land _Amoebae_; and the
+curious plant _Myxomycetes_[75] also moves in a substantially similar
+manner. This very curious organism consists of a net-work of
+protoplasmic threads, which spread over decaying leaves and stems. The
+threads exhibit streams of granules flowing within them, and they give
+out processes like pseudopodia, while the whole complex mass can slowly
+creep over a supporting surface, which it thus slowly flows over by its
+branching processes.
+
+Other lowly plants propel themselves by means of a pair of filamentary
+protoplasmic threads, which vibrate actively, and are therefore called
+vibratile cilia. As an example may be mentioned the _Protococcus[76]
+nivalis_, the little spheroidal alga, which abounds on Alpine summits
+and in Arctic regions.
+
+As in aquatic, so in terrestrial organisms, external form is intimately
+related to modes of motion. Thus, locomotion may be effected by
+undulations of the whole body, as often in serpents and terrestrial
+vermiform animals. It may, on the contrary, be effected by the action of
+levers projecting from the surface of the body, _i.e._, by limbs, and
+these may be multitudinous and minute, as in hundred legs and thousand
+legs, or few and large, as in beasts. Moreover, the motions may be
+movements of pulling or of pushing, or by combinations of these, or by
+jumps, which may be effected in various manners, the consideration of
+which will find a fitting place in an Essay devoted to "Motion."
+
+Again, terrestrial, like aquatic, organisms often involuntarily carry
+about with them other living creatures which have fixed themselves to
+their bodies. Thus, the fruits, or seeds, of many plants (as, _e.g._,
+those of the common Agrimony, _Agrimonia eupatoria_) are beset with
+hooks or bristles which readily adhere to the coats of passing animals,
+and so gain a greater diffusion than they could otherwise obtain. A very
+remarkable form of the kind is _Martynia proboscidea_ (called Testa di
+_Quaglia_ by the Italians), which has a pair of curved and pointed
+processes like the tusks of an elephant, which are several inches long.
+It is notorious for adhering to clothes, &c. Other noteworthy plants are
+_Uncaria procumbeus_, or the grapple plant of South Africa and
+_Harpagophytum_,[77] the fruit of which is provided with hooked
+processes. Those of _Harpagophytum_ spread out in all directions, and
+are of different lengths, with sharp hooks, variously turned, so that
+its power of clinging is extreme. The seed, with all its processes, is
+so large as to fill the hand when grasped. It is said to cause the death
+of the lion. Having adhered to that beast's skin, the irritation
+produced and the impossibility of getting it off at last induces the
+lion to bite it, and once in his mouth he cannot remove it, and so the
+animal dies miserably.
+
+Some animals fix themselves much as these seeds of plants do. Amongst
+them are the parasites known as tics which fix themselves with great
+tenacity by the appendages of their mouths. Other parasites--like the
+itch insect[78] and forms allied to it--have hooked processes and stiff,
+hard bristles, which are at once very irritating and very adherent.
+Creatures are also carried about inside others, as is the case with the
+seeds of many plants. These are disseminated by birds which have
+swallowed but have not digested such seeds, and in an analogous manner
+the great tape-worm group becomes also widely diffused.
+
+Moving subterranean organisms, inasmuch as they must penetrate through a
+dense and highly-resisting substance, must evidently either have forms
+which offer little resistance--reducing friction to a minimum--or must
+be provided with special means of penetrating such substance. Evidently
+the least resisting form is presented by a body much elongated, rounded,
+and more or less attenuated at the advancing end, which end has to
+effect the requisite penetration. This is the form of the earth-worm--a
+form which is approximated to by a variety of creatures which have not
+the least affinity of nature with it, but only more or less resemble it
+as regards its dwelling-place and mode of locomotion.
+
+Such, for example, are the curious serpents called _Typhlops_,[79] and
+such are the legless lizards[80] (_Anguis_), and such, again, are the
+simpler vermiform animals allied to frogs, called _Caeciliae_.[81]
+
+In order to burrow quickly and easily by means of processes of the body,
+it is evidently a necessary condition that the earth should be rapidly
+removed by the powerful action of parts situated towards the body's
+anterior end. The similarity of effect of similar conditions in
+creatures which are most widely divergent in nature is exemplified by
+the mole and the mole-cricket, which are each provided with a strong and
+broadened-out pair of anterior digging-limbs.
+
+Living creatures may be sustained in the air for a longer or shorter
+time at one or another stage of their existence. The reproductive
+particles of the lowest forms of animals and plants are so excessively
+minute that they float in the air with the greatest ease, without
+needing any complication of structure--their spheroidal form harmonizing
+with the equal action upon them of influences on all sides of them.
+Reproductive parts which, though less minute than these, are still very
+small, may also be diffused by floating in the atmosphere. Such are the
+pollen grains of those trees which are fertilized merely by the action
+of the winds, such as the hazel, poplar, birch, and of lowly plants, as
+the grasses. It is by the wind that the pollen grains of these plants
+are accidentally brought into contact with the appropriate surfaces for
+their reception. Conspicuous in the spring of the year are the clouds of
+yellow dust, pollen grains, given off by fir trees, which are plants
+also wind-fertilized. But here we find a slight complication; for to
+facilitate the dispersion of such particles the outer coat of each of
+their pollen grains is produced into a short wing-like process on each
+side, and these processes help at once to sustain it in the air, and to
+aid its propulsion by offering more surface to the force of the aerial
+currents.
+
+Very much more conspicuous are the wing-like expansions of many
+seeds--such, for example, as those of the maple. These expansions serve
+to diffuse the seeds which bear them, as do also the delicate cottony
+filaments which surround the seeds of a variety of plants of widely
+different natures and affinities, as some kinds of spider float through
+the air by the aid of the delicate filaments which they send forth to
+serve as an aerial float. Familiar to every one is the delicate little
+parachute-like structure of radiating filaments on the seeds of such
+plants as the dandelion--which seeds most children have at some time
+helped to diffuse by blowing.
+
+Aerial progress by actual effort is effected by a limited group of
+organisms, and only in certain cases (bats, birds, and insects) does it
+take the form of true flight in creatures now existing. In other
+creatures, such as so-called flying fishes, squirrels, opossums, and the
+little flying dragon, the more or less prolonged aerial sustentation is
+effected by expansions of skin, which act as parachutes in ways be later
+described in detail.
+
+True flight seems to need a definite mechanism of one kind--namely, a
+mechanism which shall give rapid and reiterated blows to the air from a
+point towards the dorsal side, and head end of the body, by structures
+of considerable superficial extent, and capable of rapid and delicate
+inclinations of surface. Such structures must be light and therefore
+delicate, and yet possess very considerable strength to resist the
+strain of the body's prolonged sustentation, and to effect its
+occasionally very rapid progress, as in the swift and in dragon-flies.
+These conditions which we find fulfilled in all existing flying
+organisms were also fulfilled organisms which have for ages passed away
+from the surface of this by planet, such as the extinct flying reptiles
+called _Pterosauria_ or _Pterodactyles_.[82]
+
+In all such rapidly flying creatures the form of the body is necessarily
+modified so as to throw the centre of gravity where it may be best
+sustained. It is this which packs what are practically a bird's teeth in
+its belly, and thickens so greatly the muscles on its breast which are
+formed in such a way as to serve both the usual purposes of
+breast-muscles, and also that which is effected in most cases by muscles
+of the back, which in birds are very greatly diminished in volume and
+extent.
+
+But there are living creatures which have relations with two media;
+which, though they are aquatic, yet by the help of the air rise and
+float, so as to be partly bathed in the atmosphere; while others carry
+down a portion of that atmosphere below the surface of water, so as to
+be sub-aqueously aerial. Examples of the last-mentioned condition are
+afforded by such spiders as have the habit of enclosing a bubble of air
+within the meshes of their self-woven network, and going down with it,
+being thus able there to maintain themselves as in a diving-bell. The
+reverse condition obtains in such plants as _Valisneria_,[83] which
+secrete air within expanded bladder-like receptacles, and, thus aided,
+rise to the surface and float. Another example is that of certain polyp
+animals, such as the Portuguese man of war, which also rise and swim
+upon the surface of the sea by the aid of floats in the form of
+bladders, which are also filled with air by means of their own life
+processes. The same also is the case in many seaweeds.
+
+Thus, these multitudinous forms of living creatures, both animals and
+plants, are reducible to certain categories in harmony with their modes
+of life, and the relations existing between them and all surrounding
+influences. We may see that, without compliance with certain of such
+laws, their existence would be impossible, and we see that there is a
+general correspondence between their shape and structure on the one
+hand, and their environment (that is, the totality of all surrounding
+agencies and influences) on the other. Are we to consider that such
+influences are the _causes_ of their form and structure? Obviously the
+biological facts before us, as yet, are insufficient to enable us to
+give a satisfactory answer to this question. It will for the present be
+enough to bear in mind that by some writers the environment _is_ deemed
+the one and sufficient cause of all the characters of living creatures.
+But as yet we have not even seen what _is_ the environment. Evidently
+physical influences--the earth, sea, or air, light, heat, and motion--do
+not exhaust it. One important factor would be omitted if we neglected to
+note the share taken in the environment of each living creature by a
+multitude of other living creatures which are in various ways related to
+it. This question must occupy us later.
+
+But by the forms of living creatures is not meant merely their external
+form. Some general notion then should here at starting be obtained of
+their internal form--that is, of their essential structure.
+
+The minutest and probably the simplest forms of living creatures
+(whether plant or animal) are such as are presented by _Bacteria_,[84]
+the yeast-plant and _Protoccus_. Bacteria are those minute creatures the
+mode of origin of which in sealed infusions has been so much of late
+disputed, but the activity of which in promoting the decomposition of
+dead substances is undisputed. A _bacterium_ is a particle of
+protoplasmic matter, either spheroidal or oblong, or like a short rod,
+or shaped like a corkscrew, and bacteria may also be in the form of a
+short chain of spheroids, or of oblong particles, or of rods united in a
+zigzag manner.
+
+Their breadth may vary from the 1/30000 to 1/10000 of an inch. They may
+also assume quite another appearance, by surrounding themselves with a
+gelatinous envelope, which condition is called their _zooglaea_ state of
+existence.
+
+They may be readily obtained by making some hay tea, and keeping it for
+a day or two, when they will be found to abound in the scum which forms
+on the surface, and to be in active motion. In the corkscrew form,
+_Spirillum volitans_, each end of the body is produced into a minute
+hair-like process or _cilium_, and it is by the lashings of these cilia
+that the minute organism moves about.
+
+Other as simple but larger organisms may consist of a minute mass of
+semi-fluid protoplasm, containing granules, as we find to be the case in
+the plant _Vaucheria_,[85] and many other _Algae_, and in the animal
+_Amoeba primitiva_.[86]
+
+An organism of this simplest kind or a fragment of a higher organism
+which presents this simplest condition is called a cell.[87] Very
+generally such cell has within it a more or less distinctly marked
+generally denser and spheroidal body called a _nucleus_, within which,
+again, other minute spots may appear called _nucleoli_.
+
+Even in this simplest of all possible conditions of life a slight
+difference appears between its most external film and its inner
+substance--just as a cup of broth left to stand will form for itself a
+filmy outermost layer. This incipient difference between what is inner
+and what is outer is one which is constantly maintained in all higher
+organisms, as we shall soon see abundantly. But the distinction into
+outer and inner is, as has been said, shown in a much more marked way in
+the constituent units, or _cells_, which build up the bodies of plants
+generally; for these consist of an inner part of protoplasm, enclosed in
+a distinct external cellulose envelope or _cell-wall_. As has also been
+shown, many of the lowest animals take on occasionally the _encysted_
+condition when they also consist of a particle of bioplasm enclosed in a
+distinct cell-wall or _cyst_, though one not made of cellulose.
+
+The protoplasmic contents of the cell may attract watery fluid thus
+forming clearer spaces or _vacuoles_ within it, and these may become so
+extended that the protoplasm may be reduced to a thin layer lining the
+cell wall, thread-like processes or remnants of protoplasm often passing
+across the cell from one part of the protoplasmic lining to another. A
+cell, almost always a nucleated cell, is the original form of every
+living creature without exception; and a great number of small, and some
+considerably sized living beings, never get beyond this unicellular
+condition, however much their cell may become enlarged or complicated in
+shape. Such creatures form the lowest of all animals and plants; but the
+overwhelming majority of living creatures are formed of aggregations of
+cells which cohere and fuse together in various ways. As an example of a
+unicellular and typically cellular living creature we may take the yeast
+plant (_Saccharomyces cerevisiae_), which consists of a particle of
+bioplasm enclosed in a cell-wall of cellulose, the whole being globular
+or oval in shape, and generally about 1/3000 of an inch in diameter.
+Within its bioplasm a clear space or vacuole may often be distinguished.
+Often these organisms appear with a more complicated outline, due to the
+growth of new saccharomycetes from its outer wall, and the budding forth
+of others again from the side of such protruding processes, all of which
+ultimately become detached as independent saccharomycetes, though they
+often continue adherent for a long time, forming strings or other
+temporary aggregations of such organisms.
+
+In _Protococcus_ we meet with one of the lowest order. Its colour is
+green, which, as in all other higher plants also, is due to the presence
+in its protoplasm of a colouring matter called _chlorophyll_, either
+diffused or aggregated in certain denser granules of protoplasmic
+substance. Protococcus may be smaller or much larger than the yeast
+plant, it is spheroidal, and its protoplasm is enclosed in a tough case
+of cellulose, which, however, it may not nearly fill, while the long
+cilia may protrude through it and propel the whole organism by their
+reiterated lashings.
+
+It has been already said that a vegetable may temporarily exist as a
+particle of bioplasm without any cell-wall, and such is the case with
+_Protococcus_, the cellular envelope of which occasionally disappears.
+More remarkable still is the form already referred to under the name
+_Myxomycetes_,[88] which, for part of its existence, is the form of an
+indefinitely-shaped, naked protoplasmic mass.[89]
+
+Living creatures which consist of a single cell may present,
+nevertheless, a considerable complication of structure. Thus, an
+organism as simple as the _amoeba primitiva_, before noticed, may have
+the power of forming, or, as it is technically called, _secreting_, from
+its own substance and its surrounding medium a most complex supporting
+skeleton of calcareous or silicious nature. It may have its outer
+envelope so markedly differentiated from its inner as to require a
+distinct designation as _exosarc_, while it may give rise in its
+interior not only to a nucleus and nucleolus, but to two regularly
+formed cavities with the power of rythmical pulsation, and one definite
+portion of its external wall may be perforated to form a permanent mouth
+instead of as in such forms as _Amoeba_, any part serving indifferently
+as a mouth and every portion having similar functions without
+differentiation. All these and other complications of structure may
+arise by direct growth and transubstantiation of the single cell into
+the various physically and chemically different parts.
+
+Again, a living creature which is fixed may so extend itself as to
+simulate stem, roots, and branches, and yet remain essentially simple,
+consisting merely of one greatly enlarged and complicated cell.
+
+Thus, a unicellular plant may take on a great complexity of form while
+still remaining purely unicellular. It may assume the form of a stem
+with roots and leaves. An example of such we may see in the genus
+_Caulerpa_,[90] which, although unicellular, simulates in its outline
+the fern called _Blechnum_.
+
+The next grade of structural complication in living creatures is
+produced by the lowly plants, such as _Protococcus_, which multiply by
+spontaneous self-division or _fission_. This process may take place
+repeatedly and at the same time incompletely, in this way producing an
+apparently compound organism. Thus, we have the second grade of
+structural complication in living creatures--namely, the aggregation of
+cells into a loosely joined mass.
+
+Other simple forms are those presented by the minute organisms Diatoms
+and Desmids, the former enclosed in silicious cases, and some presenting
+the only exception to the general law that organic bodies are bounded by
+curved lines and surfaces.
+
+Wonderful is the minute ornamentation presented by the surfaces of these
+microscopic plants. Some of them cohere by imperfect division in the
+second grade of structural complication just described; they may form
+longitudinal series of cells, or they may be arranged round a common
+centre.
+
+One of the best examples of this secondary grade of complication is
+presented by the spherically aggregated cells of _Volvox_.[91] These
+present us with a good example of the way in which the shape of the
+individual cells may spontaneously alter, to suit the mode of their
+aggregation. Originally spherical, the adjacent sides of these cells
+become flattened, and thus the cells acquire a polygonal figure.
+
+Other instances of the coherence of the cells of unicellular organisms
+into indefinite and inconstant aggregations is presented by some
+radiolarians, individuals which cohere into what are called _colonies_.
+
+From such incomplete aggregation, the next step is to definite and
+stable aggregations, in which the life of the constituent parts is more
+or less plainly subservient to, and dominated by, the life of the whole.
+Such we find in all but the lowest _Fungi_,[92] and _Algae_, in
+sponges,[93] and _Hydrae_, and also in all higher organisms. In such
+permanent aggregations, the dominant life of the whole is shown partly
+in greater constancy of external form and partly in the setting apart of
+separate portions of the whole, either for the nourishment of the entire
+creature or for the reproduction of fresh individuals, or for effecting
+gaseous interchange, or (in animals) for ministering to feeling and
+locomotion.
+
+Thus, the overwhelming majority of living creatures are, as has been
+said, formed of aggregation of cells, which cohere or fuse together in
+various ways--and not only of aggregation of cells but of aggregation of
+aggregations of cells or "tissues." Each tissue is a structure formed by
+the aggregation, or by aggregation and metamorphoses, of certain sets of
+cells. Thus, every higher plant or animal is made of an inconceivable
+multitude of cells, together with tissues which are not cellular, but
+which have originated by metamorphosis of cells, and every such higher
+plant or animal at first consists entirely of an aggregate of plainly
+distinct cells; and, first of all, of one single cell only, whence its
+whole structure, however complex, has originally sprung, though
+generally not until it has had at least a portion of another cell mixed
+with it.
+
+This transformation of cells, at first all alike, into distinct orders
+of cells or _tissues_, whence different organs with different functions
+arise, is characteristic of all living creatures above those which each
+consist throughout life of one cell only.
+
+We have seen that unicellular organisms may unite into a cylindrical or
+spheroidal colony, as in some _Radiolaria_, or into a spheroid of
+closely-adjusted cells, forming one layer, as in _Volvox_. But however
+large or complex such aggregation may be, it never forms sets of united
+cells or tissues. The whole of these lower creatures, therefore, may be
+spoken of as unicellular organisms; as though they may consist of many
+cells, those cells retain their individuality. Such creatures are all
+the lowest animals--those called _Hypozoa_[94] or _Protozoa_, and also
+the lowest cryptogamic[95] plants.
+
+All other animals and all the higher plants are multicellular. The
+description of one animal (which is placed as it were on the boundary
+between the multicellular and the unicellular division), the little
+parasitic worm _Dicyema_,[96] must for the present be postponed, as its
+significance could not yet be understood.
+
+Before leaving the consideration of the forms of living creatures, a
+further distinction should be made clear--that is to say, a distinction
+in the nature of resemblances which may exist between various parts.
+
+There are two different relations which may exist between a part or
+organ in one animal or plant, and another part or organ in another
+animal or plant. One of these relations is called _analogy_ and the
+other _homology_, and it is very desirable to bear clearly in mind the
+distinction which exists between these two relations.
+
+_Analogy_ refers to the use to which any part or organ is put--that is,
+it refers to its function.
+
+Thus, the flower of the daisy is, as we shall see, analogous to that of
+the buttercup. The spathe of an arum is analogous to the corolla of the
+dead nettle (for both serve to shelter the essential parts of the
+flower).
+
+The foot of a horse is analogous to the foot of a man, and the shell of
+a tortoise to the shell of an armadillo; for the two former serve for
+support and locomotion, while the latter two are solid protecting
+envelopes to the body. So also the flying organ or wing of a bat is
+analogous to the flying organ or wing of a beetle.
+
+_Homology_ refers to essential similarity in position compared with all
+the other parts or organs of the body, and must be considered apart from
+function.
+
+Thus, as we shall see in the next Essay a single floret of the daisy is
+homologous with the whole flower of the buttercup. The spathe of an arum
+is the homologue of any bract,[97] however insignificant in size and
+apparently devoid of function. The foot of a horse is homologous (as we
+shall see later) to the middle toe only of man, while the shell of the
+tortoise is in part homologous with the shell of the armadillo and in
+part with the ribs of the latter animal.
+
+There is no relation of homology, however remote, between the wings of a
+bat and of a beetle, and these two animals (as will shortly appear) have
+the parts and organs of their bodies so fundamentally different, that it
+is doubtful whether any definite relations of homology can be
+established between them.
+
+A special term has been devoted to signify a resemblance between two
+parts in two different animals and plants, which resemblance has been
+induced by or is directly related to their common needs, and the
+similarity of external influences. This term is "homoplasy," and
+structures which may thus be supposed to have grown alike in obedience
+to the influence of similar external causes acting on similar innate
+powers have been called _Homoplasts_.
+
+Such, then, are the more general conditions as to structure and figure
+which living creatures present, and (as has been said) with great
+differences as to the amount of possible variation, most kinds have a
+definite limit as to size. It remains only to make general observations
+on the colours of living creatures.
+
+But a few years ago, hardly any few general remarks of really scientific
+interest and value could have been made respecting the varied hues and
+markings which organisms present. No rational relation was even
+suspected to exist between the colours of plants and the busy insect
+life which swarms about their blossoms or about the varied colours of
+birds, and the details of their habits and modes of existence.
+
+It was known, of course, that Arctic foxes and hares became white in
+winter, and that each benefited by its change, and suffered from the
+change of the other; the snow tint which enabled the hare to escape also
+facilitating the unobserved approach of the fox. It was also known that
+many desert animals were of the colour of the sandy plain they wandered
+over, and that tree-snakes and tree-frogs were often green. But it
+seemed incredible that the varied shades or bright adornments of the
+living world should each and all be governed by rigid laws, generally
+connected with the welfare of the organisms so furnished. Here, if
+anywhere, the reign of utilitarianism in Nature appeared to be at an
+end, and creative fancy to have full play, regardless but of the harmony
+and beauty thus revealed to appreciating eyes. The labours and fruitful
+thoughts of Bates and Wallace have, however, opened up a wide field for
+most interesting inquiry. They have made it evident that in many
+instances the most direct utility accompanies colour both in animals
+and plants. The colours of flowers serve to attract insects and birds,
+by the visits of which they are fertilized or their fertility is greatly
+augmented. It is this relation between attractiveness and insect
+fertilization which explains the absence of colour from the flowers of
+plants which are fertilized only by the wind, such as the fir trees
+before-mentioned, oaks, beeches, nettles, sedges, and many others. It
+also explains the conspicuousness of the flowers of many oceanic
+islands, such as those of the Galapagos archipelago. But it also
+explains, as Mr. Wallace has pointed out, the remarkable beauty of
+Alpine flowers, by their need of attracting insects from a distance, the
+conspicuous patches of bright colour serving thus to attract wandering
+butterflies upwards from the valleys.
+
+But more remarkable still is the explanation given to the semblance
+borne by the colours of some creatures to those of others of quite a
+different kind, as of some moths to bees, and some harmless flies to
+wasps. For now it is clear that by this mimicry they escape the attacks
+of many enemies, who avoid such apparently dangerous forms. On the other
+hand, the bright liveries of such offensive creatures are highly useful
+to the wearers, for such tints act as a warning to enemies, and so save
+them from their being pounced on by creatures which might fatally wound
+them, though unable to swallow them. But the beautiful liveries of such
+powerful predatory kinds as tigers and leopards do not serve as
+warnings. They serve their wearers, however, none the less, though it is
+by aiding their concealment, and so allowing their prey to approach them
+unsuspectingly to fatal nearness. For the vertical stripes of the tiger
+resemble the vertical shadows of the grasses of the jungle amongst which
+it lurks, as the scattered spots of the leopard agree with the scattered
+spots of shadow amongst the foliage of trees on the boughs of which it
+lies in wait. But to say more on this head would be to anticipate
+remarks to come, when the relations of living beings to one another are
+under consideration, and the subject is too extensive to be here treated
+in full. Moreover, it must be noted that such relations do not by any
+means serve to explain all the phenomena of organic colour. Direct
+action is in some curious way exerted upon many organisms, by
+surrounding tints, and similarly different geographical districts and
+varieties of locality affect directly the colour of both animals and
+plants, but these questions will be fully treated of under the head of
+the relations of animals to the physical world. Suffice it here to note
+that the phenomena of colour no less than the phenomena of form are in
+harmony with (whether or not the result of) the active agencies of all
+environing conditions. But colour of some kind is a universal attribute
+of all material things. Though apparently most irregularly distributed
+through the world of life, yet order underlies the seeming confusion. Of
+certain large groups certain tints are characteristic, as has already
+been remarked with respect to the great order to which the dandelion
+belongs. But the same remark may be made of various others, as, for
+example, of the order _Cruciferae_ (to which the wallflower and turnip
+belong), the flowers of which are generally white, pink, or yellow,
+while the gentians, again, are noteworthy for exhibiting pure colours.
+
+But the colours which predominate in the whole mass of living creatures
+of all kinds are tints of green, brown, or reddish-yellow. Bright
+colours, such as blue, scarlet, crimson, gold, or silver are
+exceptional, and the colour blue is especially rare. The borrowed
+radiance of the inorganic world, in the form of metallic brightness, is
+especially a characteristic of those living gems, the humming birds; but
+not a few other animals also exhibit it. Thus, of birds more or less
+gifted with metallic radiance, though in a less degree than humming
+birds, may be mentioned the sunbirds, the trogons, and the beautiful
+family of pheasants; and many insects and many fishes shine with
+metallic tints.
+
+Brightness of this kind (though the leaves of a few plants have a
+coppery lustre) is unknown in the world of plants, in which shades of
+green are overwhelmingly predominant, and are universally present,
+except in a few exceptional forms, notably the fungi.[98]
+
+Various aquatic animals belonging to very different groups agree in
+possessing a perfectly glass-like transparency. Amongst them are fish
+which live in the ocean; for example, the Teleostean[99] fish
+(_Leptocephalus_), also mollusca of all kinds, including even perfectly
+transparent cuttle fishes.[100] There are also glass-like
+crustaceans,[101] and also planarians[102] and sea anemones.[103]
+Plants, however, never present this character, although by it they
+might, as well as animals, escape being preyed upon.
+
+Most fishes which inhabit the deep sea are of a dull black colour,
+though some are white, and the majority of all deep-sea animals,
+considered as a whole, are more or less decidedly coloured, many
+brightly so.[104]
+
+Luminosity is a character of many lowly animals, and it is the presence
+of minute creatures possessing this character which so often causes the
+spray dashed from the prow of an advancing ship to appear like a shower
+of sparks, while glowing bodies traverse the water beneath its surface.
+Many insects, such as fire-flies and glow-worms, are notoriously
+luminous. In the vegetable world, however, this character is very rarely
+present, being only so in certain fungi, some of which exhibit a
+wonderful luminosity. Humboldt relates that he found this to be
+especially splendid in mines.
+
+As like phenomena of colour characterize certain groups of living
+creatures, so also like phenomena of colour may characterize certain
+geographical regions being common to creatures of very different kinds
+which inhabit such regions, as we shall hereafter see. The brightest of
+living things, the humming birds, have their true home in the equatorial
+region of America, to which continent they are exclusively confined. But
+it is in the equatorial region of the whole earth that we find the most
+brilliant birds of other kinds, the most brightly coloured reptiles and
+fishes, the largest and many of the loveliest butterflies, moths and
+beetles, the most beautiful orchids, the largest of all flowers and of
+all clusters of flowers.
+
+But neither the temperate, nor even the Arctic nor Antarctic climes are
+denied the glory of bright tints in the long days of their brief, but
+sometimes fervid, summer. Indeed, the golden burst of gorse and glow of
+heather in our temperate zone have, in their way, an unequal charm;
+while every here and there Arctic lands and Alpine heights exhibit
+beauties of colour which are hardly elsewhere presented by the field of
+animated nature to the eye of man.
+
+    ST. GEORGE MIVART.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 678.
+
+[57] Loc. cit., p. 704.
+
+[58] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 703.
+
+[59] _Ibid._ for September, 1879, p. 27.
+
+[60] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 33 and 43.
+
+[61] One of the _Melanospermeae_; _Ibid._ p. 36.
+
+[62] Creatures belonging to the class _Lammellibranchiata_; see
+CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 30 and 43.
+
+[63] The truffle may be generally regarded rather as the fruit of a
+plant than as an entire plant, and yet in some of the group the rest of
+the plant (which is called the _Mycelium_) is quite rudimentary, or even
+absent.
+
+[64] There are climbers in Brazil, the roots of which, descending around
+the trunk of the tree supporting them, clasp the latter with such a
+deadly embrace that it dies and decays. In the meantime, the descending
+roots (having become fixed in the ground) swell and meet so as to form a
+new and irregularly-shaped trunk of solid wood, which has thus (by an
+inverted process) grown downwards instead of upwards. There are other
+such creepers in the East which have a wide-spreading downward growth
+(see Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," vol. i. p. 131).
+
+[65] Creatures belonging to the group _Rhizopoda_; see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW for September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[66] One of the lowest of the _Rhizopoda_; _Ibid._ p. 36.
+
+[67] A class of _Hypozoa_; see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September, 1879,
+pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[68] _Ibid._ pp. 31 and 43.
+
+[69] _Ibid._ p. 35, and _Archiv fuer Mikroskop. Anatomie_, vol. xv. Heft
+3, plate xx.
+
+[70] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 31.
+
+[71] One of the _Copepoda_; see loc. cit., p. 31.
+
+[72] See loc. cit., p. 31.
+
+[73] Of the class _Cestoidea_; see loc. cit., pp. 34 and 43.
+
+[74] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[75] Loc. cit., p. 37.
+
+[76] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[77] All these three plants belong to the _Dicotyledonous_ order
+_Sesameae_, which would come between the _Lobiatae_ and the _Orobanchaceae_
+of the list given on p. 42 in the CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September,
+1879. This order contains the _Sesamum orientale_, the seeds of which
+yield sesamum or gingilie oil, principally used in the manufacture of
+soap. 58,940 tons of these seeds were imported into France in 1855.
+
+[78] This and the tics belong to the class _Arachnida_; see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 32 and 43.
+
+[79] For the _Typhlopsidae_, see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p.
+26.
+
+[80] Loc. cit., p. 24.
+
+[81] Belonging to the class _Ophiomorpha_; see loc. cit., pp. 27 and 43.
+
+[82] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 25.
+
+[83] _Valisneria spiralis_: these are distinct male and female flowers.
+The male flowers are on short stalks, which break and allow their
+flowers to rise to the surface and there float, scattering their pollen.
+The female flowers grow on long coiled stalks, which uncoil and allow
+them to rise to the surface to be fertilized, after which the stalks
+recoil and withdraw them again below. This is a monocotyledonous plant
+of the order _Hydrocharideae_.
+
+[84] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[85] Loc. cit., p. 37.
+
+[86] Loc. cit., p. 36.
+
+[87] There is an ambiguity in the use of the word "cell." By some
+writers it is only used to denote a particle of protoplasm with a
+nucleus (whether or not it is enclosed in a "cell-wall"), while such a
+particle without a nucleus is called by them a _Cytod_. By others it is
+used to denote any particle of protoplasm enclosed in a cell-wall, and
+by others, again, as denoting any distinct particle of protoplasm with
+or without a nucleus, and with or without a cell-wall. It is in this
+widest sense that it is here proposed to use the term "cell,"
+distinguishing, where needful, those with a nucleus or envelope as "a
+nucleated" or "a walled" cell.
+
+As yet the two natures and functions of the nucleus and nucleolus are by
+no means cleared up. The nucleus often appears to contain a complexity
+of fibrils, transitory aggregations of which have been supposed to cause
+the appearance of nucleoli. The apparently simplest protoplasm is
+probably of really very complex, most minute structure.
+
+[88] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[89] Here reference may be made to the name _Bathybius_, which was given
+by Professor Huxley to a material found at the sea bottom, of great
+extent and indefinite shape, and which was supposed by him to be the
+remains of a mass of once living protoplasm, but which there is much
+reason now to suppose was really but inorganic material. Reference is
+here made to this, because some persons seem to imagine that if
+_Bathybius_ were a lowly animal some important speculative consequences
+would follow. But this is an utter mistake. It is generally admitted
+already that there are living structureless protoplasmic organisms of no
+definite shape, and of which detached particles can live and grow. It
+would make no real difference whatever to the known facts of life if a
+creature of the kind should be found as large as the Pacific Ocean, with
+its portions exceptionally detachable and its shape irregular in the
+extreme.
+
+[90] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37.
+
+[91] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 36.
+
+[92] Loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.
+
+[93] Loc. cit., p. 34.
+
+[94] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.
+
+[95] For explanation of this application of this term see loc. cit., p.
+38.
+
+[96] Loc. cit., p. 35.
+
+[97] A kind of leaf the nature of which as well as of spathes, florets,
+and flowers, will be explained in the next Essay.
+
+[98] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.
+
+[99] Teleostean fishes are generally bony, but the bones are represented
+by cartilages in _Leptocephalus_. As to teleosteans, see CONTEMPORARY
+REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 27.
+
+[100] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 30.
+
+[101] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 31 and 43.
+
+[102] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 33 and 43.
+
+[103] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 34. As examples of transparent sea
+anemones, Nautactis and its allies, belonging to the _Actinozoa_, may be
+mentioned.
+
+[104] See Moseley's "Challenger," p. 592.
+
+
+
+
+CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN TURKEY.
+
+
+    CONSTANTINOPLE, _Sept. 9th, 1879_.
+
+Three months have elapsed since my last letter, and were it not for the
+suffering people we might treat of the history of the Turkish Government
+during these months as so many acts in a comedy; but human suffering is
+never ridiculous, and those who live in the midst of it find nothing
+amusing in the obstinate stupidity which causes it. It is not pleasant
+to live among the ruins of a crumbling Empire, however picturesque these
+ruins may appear at a distance, and however much it may be for the
+interest of foreign politicians to leave them undisturbed. Whatever may
+be the course of contemporary thought in England, where the fate of
+Turkey has unfortunately become a party question, the people of Turkey
+can only think of it as it affects their own interests, and they desire
+above all things that the people of England, without distinction of
+party, should understand their condition as it is. This is a reasonable
+desire, whether anything can be done for them or not; and these letters
+are intended to represent contemporary life and thought _in Turkey_.
+
+
+The Fall of Khaireddin Pacha.
+
+Khaireddin Pacha commenced life as a Circassian slave in Tunis. He came
+to Constantinople last year as an exiled Prime Minister of the Bey, but
+possessed of immense wealth which he had accumulated while in office,
+and with a high reputation for learning, skill as an administrator, and
+devotion to the faith of Islam. He was well received by the Sultan, who
+often consulted him in regard to political affairs; and finally, through
+the influence of France and England, he was appointed Grand Vizier. But
+he made no friends among the Turkish Pachas, and had no party in the
+country. Even the most liberal of the governing class regarded him as an
+interloper, who had neither the ability nor the experience necessary to
+fit him for the place which he had secured by European influence. He
+reciprocated their distrust, and spoke of them freely as a band of
+bandits. He was too good a Mussulman to attempt to build up a party
+among the Christians. He depended simply upon his personal influence
+over the Sultan and the support of the French and English Ambassadors.
+He succeeded in exiling all the ex-Grand Viziers, but he had still more
+dangerous enemies among his own colleagues, who thwarted him at every
+step, worked upon the fears of the Sultan, and brought the affairs of
+the Government to a dead-lock. He finally proposed to the Sultan a plan
+of Government which, under the name of reform, involved an abdication of
+his supreme power in favour of the Grand Vizier. This was supported by
+all the influence of France, England, and Austria, but opposed by the
+Ulema and almost the whole governing class. It led to a formal decision
+on the part of the Ulema, which is of far greater importance than the
+fall of the Grand Vizier which was the first result of it. It declared
+that the Sultan ruled the Empire as Caliph, that he was bound by the
+Sheriat or sacred law, and that he could not delegate his authority to
+another. Under this decision there can be no such thing as civil
+government in Turkey. Civil law can never take the place of the Sheriat,
+and the emancipation of the Christian subjects of the Porte is an
+impossibility. The Ulema admit the necessity of administrative reform,
+and recognize the fact that the Empire is in peril; but it must be a
+return to ancient customs, and not a recognition of the principles of
+European civilization. They are in favour of limiting the power of the
+Sultan, but it must be limited by an extension of the influence of the
+Ulema. This triumph of the Ulema is the one important feature of the
+Ministerial crisis. As Khaireddin had no party, there are few who regret
+his fall. As few had any faith in the influence of English moral suasion
+applied to the Sultan by Sir A. H. Layard, there are few who are
+disappointed at its failure; but it may be well to note that Sir A. H.
+Layard and Khaireddin Pacha have both attempted to control the Turkish
+Government by their personal influence over the Sultan, and have both
+been defeated by the stronger influence of palace intrigue. There are no
+doubt certain advantages in maintaining intimate personal relations with
+an absolute sovereign, but, in fact, no sovereign is so absolute that he
+cannot be to a great extent controlled by his Ministers; and the
+Ambassador who is intimate with the Sultan, and seeks to control his
+actions, is certain to excite the jealousy and opposition of the
+Ministers and the palace. Even with the Sultan himself, he is obliged to
+assume a very different tone from that which he would use in dealing
+with a Minister. He may smile, but he cannot frown--he may suggest, but
+he cannot threaten--he may persuade, but he cannot dictate--he may
+secure a promise, but he cannot exact its fulfilment. In the present
+case he has certainly failed to keep his own _protege_ in office, and,
+what is more important, he has failed to secure any modifications in the
+system of government.
+
+The Ulema who have triumphed in this conflict are the most powerful,
+compact, and thoroughly organized body in Turkey. They represent all the
+wealthy and influential Turkish families. They monopolize the two great
+departments of law and religion, and the revenues of the higher orders
+of the hierarchy are immense. Those who are not fanatics by nature or
+conviction are so by profession, and their idea of reform is a return to
+the good old days of the Caliph of Bagdad. The Sultan is afraid of them,
+and he has reason to be so. When the crisis came it was much easier and
+safer for him to yield to them than to follow the counsels of Sir A. H.
+Layard, or to abdicate in favour of Khaireddin Pacha. He could invite
+the former to dinner oftener than ever, and give the latter a pension.
+He had nothing to fear from either.
+
+The office of Grand Vizier was abolished for the second time within two
+years, and a Prime Minister appointed who could be trusted to do
+nothing; and it is a curious fact that this office is now abolished for
+the sake of increasing the power of the Sultan, while it was given up
+two years ago for the purpose of limiting his authority and
+strengthening that of the Ministry. It was Achmet Vefik Pacha, the most
+determined and independent man in Turkey, who was then appointed Prime
+Minister. It is Arifi Pacha, a man who never had an idea of his own, who
+is now selected to fill the place; while men of strong will and
+reactionary proclivities like Osman Pacha and Said Pacha continue to
+hold their places as Ministers of War and Justice.
+
+
+Sultan Murad.
+
+It must not be supposed that all the Turks are satisfied with this
+triumph of the Ulema, and the rule of Osman Pacha. Those who are out of
+office are, of course, dissatisfied. But beyond this there is a strong
+party at Constantinople which favours a radical change in the Government
+as the only hope of saving the Empire from destruction. They would limit
+the power of the Sultan by a genuine Constitution, and a Representative
+Assembly; but they believe that this can never be accomplished under the
+present Sultan. The fate of Mithad Pacha is always before their eyes.
+Their plan is to dethrone Hamid and reinstate Murad, whose liberal views
+are well known, and whose health is such that he could not resist
+radical measures even if he did not favour them. I have no means of
+knowing the real strength of this party, or exactly who are its leaders,
+nor do I know anything more of the health of Sultan Murad than the fact
+that his partisans declare that he is quite as sane and strong as his
+brother. But there is such a party, and it is confident of ultimate
+success. Of course, it is not supported by the British Ambassador, as
+Mithad Pacha was in the overthrow of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz; but it may have
+other foreign influence behind it, and it would, no doubt, result in the
+immediate recall of Mithad Pacha to the capital. As I am
+constitutionally a Conservative and opposed to revolution, I have not
+much sympathy with this movement; but I have no doubt that, if Turkey is
+to be left to herself to work out her own destiny, there is more to be
+hoped from a Representative Assembly than from any other possible
+modification of the Government. Mithad Pacha's Parliament was a surprise
+to the world, and not least to those who devised it. His Constitution
+was a fraud designed to deceive Europe. The members of his Assembly were
+selected by the Government, its acts were ignored. It was finally
+disbanded, and many of its members were imprisoned. But in spite of all
+this it demonstrated the fact that there was material in Turkey for an
+independent Assembly, which would be qualified by a little experience to
+control the Government, and would favour radical reforms in the
+administration. The governing class at Constantinople is hopelessly
+corrupt and effete, but men came up to this Assembly from the interior,
+who might in time have supplanted the present rulers, and infused new
+life into the administration. Those who now favour an Independent
+Parliament believe that the present Sultan will never consent to it, and
+therefore propose to reinstate Murad; but it is possible that if English
+moral suasion were turned in this direction, it might meet with more
+success than it has obtained thus far. The Ulema would probably oppose
+it, although they accepted it as part of the plan of Mithad Pacha.
+Circumstances have changed, and their experience of the last Assembly
+was not satisfactory.
+
+There is no reason to suppose that Sultan Murad himself has any part in
+this plan, or any knowledge of it. He is kept a close prisoner, and
+guarded from all outside influences with the greatest care, but his name
+is powerful, for his misfortunes and the well-known amiability of his
+character have roused the sympathy of the common people in his behalf.
+They are inclined to regard him as their rightful sovereign, and to
+believe that he might save them from their present misery. They may be
+mistaken, but all the world sympathizes with their kindly feeling
+towards this unhappy prince, whose mind gave way under the burden of
+responsibility which was suddenly forced upon him, and the shock which
+he experienced at the death of his uncle and his Ministers, who was
+himself deposed before he had regained his faculties, and who, for no
+fault of his own, is doomed to spend his life as a prisoner of State.
+
+
+The Progress of Reform.
+
+We are officially assured that the change in the Ministry will in no way
+impede the progress of reform, which has already been carried out in the
+Department of Justice, and which is soon to be applied to the civil
+administration. The plan has already been elaborated. It has been sent
+to the Valis for their approval, and will soon be submitted to the
+Eastern Roumelia Commission, after which it will be considered by the
+Sultan and, if approved by him, will be proclaimed in the form of a new
+_Hatt_. It professes to be a plan for a reorganization of the Vilayets,
+on the principle of decentralization and local self-government. It does
+not seem to excite much interest in any quarter, probably for the reason
+that all this exists already _on paper_, and that if Aali Pacha could
+not execute the elaborate scheme, which he proclaimed when the Vilayets
+were organized, there is not much probability that the new _Hatt_ will
+be any more effective. The people of Turkey have no faith in paper
+reforms. They are issued as easily as paper money, and are as easily
+repudiated; they are like leading articles in the daily papers--they are
+written, read, and forgotten, alike by the author and the reader, within
+the twenty-four hours. There is an old proverb current among the Turks
+which says, "The decrees of the Sultan last three days--the day they are
+made, the day they are kept, and the day they are forgotten." If the
+proverb were a new one, the second day would be omitted.
+
+The reforms which have been completed by Said Pacha, the Minister of
+Justice, are not of a nature to encourage the hopes of the people. A
+large number of new officials have been appointed, but they are of the
+same class as those already in office. Indeed, there seems to have been
+a special purpose in these appointments of making it known to the people
+that no change was to be expected in the method of administering the
+law. Only seventeen out of one hundred and eighty-three of these new
+officials are Christians, and the Turkish papers take pains to declare
+that it is absurd to suppose that Christians are competent to hold these
+offices. This is the result of the demand of Lord Salisbury that the
+Courts of the Empire should be reorganized under European control. They
+will continue to be what they have been, and it will be but a small
+consolation to the suffering people of Turkey to know that they have
+been condemned in strong terms by the British Government. The worst
+feature of the case is that the law offers no man any protection against
+arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. A man may be thrown into prison and
+kept there for years without any trial or any knowledge of the charges
+brought against him. Such cases are very common. Or he may he beaten by
+the police, or chained in a dungeon, on the most frivolous charge. I
+knew a case the other day of a Greek who was severely beaten because he
+requested a police officer to arrest a Turk who was plundering his shop
+in broad day. All this was done in the presence of a European gentleman,
+too. There are several Armenians in prison now in Constantinople whose
+only offence was the wearing of hats in place of the fez. At the same
+time, crimes of every description are committed with impunity without
+any apparent effort on the part of the authorities to discover the
+perpetrators. Almost in sight of Constantinople, and under the immediate
+jurisdiction of the capital, is a district where for months the peaceful
+inhabitants of Adabazar have been plundered and murdered by the
+Circassians. They have appealed again and again to Constantinople for
+protection. They have tried to interest the Ambassadors in their behalf.
+They sent a deputation to the Grand Vizier. He had no time to see them,
+but turned them over to another official who requested them to present
+him in writing a statement of the reforms which they thought were needed
+in the Empire! A few hundred soldiers, or even one determined man sent
+from Constantinople, would have restored order; but nothing could be
+done. Five men were murdered while the deputation was in this city. The
+whole Turkish coast of the Black Sea is infested with brigands who
+plunder at will. They are well known, but no one thinks of arresting or
+punishing them. Travellers are only secure when they are provided with a
+safe-conduct from the leaders. The Reports of the new Consuls in Asia
+Minor acknowledge a state of things which is almost too bad to be
+believed. There is no security in the administration of the law for
+person, property, or life, and there seems to be no prospect of any
+improvement. Some more radical reform is needed than the appointment of
+one hundred and sixty-six new Turkish judges.
+
+A scheme of financial reform has also been projected, and the foreign
+Embassies have been invited to nominate a certain number of persons as
+inspectors to superintend the collection of the revenue; but this is
+nothing new. The Imperial Ottoman Bank has nominally held this position
+for many years, and at times has exercised some control, no doubt with
+advantage to the Government. A new system of taxation, carried out under
+the control of honest and responsible Europeans, would increase the
+revenue of the Government without adding to the burdens of the people;
+but the place where reform is most needed is in the expenditure rather
+than the collection of the revenue. The present scheme does not command
+confidence in Constantinople in regard to the collection of the taxes,
+and it offers no security for the control of the expenses of the
+Government. The truth is that the whole financial system is hopelessly
+corrupt, and, however it may be patched or mended, it will be rotten
+still. There is no hope for the Turkish Government until it is ready to
+put its finances into the hands of competent Europeans who shall have
+absolute control over everything connected with expenditure as well as
+collection; and I am sorry to say that there seems to be no present
+prospect of any such arrangement. The enormous expenditure of the Palace
+is unlimited and uncontrolled, and the Sultan will not submit to any
+control. Financial reform must begin there, or it will amount to
+nothing. The present Sultan before he came to the throne was known to be
+a very careful and economical man, and no doubt he would be glad to be
+so now, but he has not the courage to break with the traditions of the
+past--give up his thousands of slaves, women, and palace officials, and
+live like a European sovereign rather than an Oriental despot. So long
+as he maintains the present system he must have money, no matter who
+starves for want of it; and he must continue to take money, on his
+personal order, from whatever department of the Government may be so
+happy as to have any in its treasury.
+
+The Government is bankrupt; its revenues are not half enough to meet its
+current expenses; its army is starving; its civil service forced to live
+on plunder; its income mortgaged for years in advance to secure loans on
+which it is paying thirty or forty per cent. interest in one form or
+another; but still no one would dare to suggest to the Sultan the
+possibility of his reducing his own expenses to a sum equal to that
+expended by the Queen of England. Thus far all talk of financial reform
+is prompted by the desire to borrow more money in Europe to meet the
+present wants of the Government. These difficulties once surmounted,
+everything would go on as before. It is no friendship to Turkey to lend
+her money, until such time as the Sultan and his Ministers are ready for
+a real reform, beginning at the Palace, and conducted under the control
+of Europeans appointed and supported by their own Governments. But there
+is no prospect of any such arrangement.
+
+The Turks do not appreciate the dangers which beset them. They see that
+the country is in an unsettled state, and they feel the want of money;
+but the evils of which the people complain are nothing new. They exist
+now in an aggravated form, on account of the war and the confusion which
+has reigned for several years at Constantinople; but the Turks see no
+reason why they should not be reduced to a normal state, and be quietly
+endured for centuries to come, as they have been for centuries past.
+Their attention is directed exclusively to their foreign relations, and
+whatever is said or done about reform is intended solely to conciliate
+public opinion in Europe. Could the rulers here be brought face to face
+with a really independent Representative Assembly, freely chosen by the
+people, they would be made to think less of Europe and more of Turkey.
+They would see that their rule has become well-nigh intolerable, even to
+the Mussulman population of the Empire. Then there would be some hope of
+genuine administration and financial reform. It is even possible that
+the Christian element in such an Assembly might be strong enough to
+secure, in time, the emancipation of the non-Mussulman population--and
+it should never be forgotten that this must come in some form. England
+does not insist upon it now, but she will, and so will all Europe. It
+would be far better for Turkey if it could be brought about by the
+Christians themselves; but if it is not, it will be forced upon the
+Turks by direct European intervention, or possibly by the overthrow of
+the Empire.
+
+
+The Egyptian Crisis.
+
+The affairs of Egypt have been so fully discussed in England that it is
+unnecessary for me to do more than to indicate the course of thought on
+this subject at Constantinople. At the outset, the Sultan and his
+Ministers sympathized with the Khedive. They feared that European
+intervention at Cairo would pave the way for a similar intervention
+here; and when he appealed to the Sultan he had reason to expect his
+support. But the Turks thought they saw their opportunity to regain
+their hold on Egypt, and the Khedive was summarily removed. The Turkish
+papers here did not hesitate to rejoice over it as a "new conquest of
+Egypt," and it is still believed here that this view of the subject was
+encouraged by England, that it was the purpose of Lord Beaconsfield to
+escape from the embarrassing demands of France by restoring Egypt to the
+control of the Sultan.
+
+But when the Turks found that they had been misled or mistaken, and that
+Egypt was less than ever under their control, they regretted the steps
+which had been taken, and began once more to sympathize with the Khedive
+whom they had deposed. He was very liberal in his expenditure of money
+at Constantinople, and always found it for his interest to maintain a
+host of retainers here; but the new Khedive will have no money to spend
+here, and will need agents in Paris and London rather than in
+Constantinople. The tribute-money no longer comes here, but is paid to
+bondholders in England and France. There is no hope of putting any more
+Turks into lucrative offices in Egypt. In short, the connection of that
+country with Turkey is no longer anything more than nominal, and the
+Turks feel their disappointment very keenly. They have now but one hope
+left. They understand very well the difficulties which must arise from a
+joint protectorate by France and England, and hope that the mutual
+jealousies of these Powers may throw Egypt once more into the hands of
+Turkey. The tone of the French press, even of so cautious and
+conservative a periodical as the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, gives them
+some ground for this hope; but the Khedive lost his throne by giving too
+much importance to this mutual jealousy, which manifested itself much
+more plainly in Egypt than it did in Europe; and it is to be hoped that
+the Turks will be equally disappointed. Every one in the East regards
+the present situation as impracticable and temporary, but it may result
+in the independence of Egypt under a general European protectorate, or
+in a further division of the Ottoman Empire by the annexation of Egypt
+to England and Syria to France. The opportunity of annexing Egypt
+without compensation to France was lost when England refused to listen
+to the suggestions of Germany three years ago, because, as Lord Derby is
+reported to have said, it would have shocked the moral sense of the
+world.
+
+
+The Greek Question.
+
+The Greek Question is not a simple one. Very few questions connected
+with the East are simple. The aspirations of the kingdom of Greece are
+natural. Her appeal to Europe was justifiable, and there can be no
+question of the advantage which it would be to Greece, and to the
+populations of Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete, if these provinces were
+annexed to the kingdom. If this were all, they would be annexed, and all
+the world would rejoice. It is to be regretted that the Congress of
+Berlin did not shut its eyes to other considerations and settle it
+off-hand in this way; but they did not, and no Power now exists which
+can do so.
+
+These provinces belong to Turkey, and she cannot see that it is for her
+interest to give them up. Greece cannot possibly offer her anything in
+return for them, and, as against Turkey, she has no claim upon them. The
+Congress of Berlin advised Turkey to arrange, by friendly negotiation,
+for the cession of a part of them; but there is really no ground upon
+which a negotiation can be based. Turkey is ready to yield something out
+of respect to Europe, but she naturally wishes to give up as little as
+possible. Then there are other Powers interested. Austria and Italy, but
+especially the former, have their own views of the destiny of European
+Turkey, and their own plans of aggrandizement. Albania and Macedonia
+have to be considered. England, France, and Russia, also, are looking
+forward to the future, and questioning how the settlement of this
+question will affect their plans for the final solution of the Eastern
+Question. Here is room for intrigues without end, and complications
+without limit.
+
+The Greeks are indignant, especially against England and Austria; and
+their papers here have used some very disagreeable language. They are
+now solemnly protesting against the right of Sir A. H. Layard and Count
+Zichy to take a short vacation, so long as this question remains
+unsettled. Some of them seem to believe that Osman Pacha really
+contemplates a reconquest of Greece itself, and that England might
+consent to it. All this is absurd; but there can be no doubt about the
+fact that England and Austria have thus far opposed the claims of
+Greece, and that Austria and Turkey have, each in her own way,
+contributed to excite discontent in Albania, and keep up a state of
+anarchy in Macedonia. A leading paper in Vienna, ten days ago, openly
+declared that it was the intention of Austria to push on to Salonica,
+after taking possession of Novi Bazaar. She certainly has very little
+sympathy with Greece, and if this question is to be settled at all she
+will keep the Greeks as far from Salonica as possible.
+
+The Turkish papers are allowed to discuss this question with perfect
+freedom, and one of the most moderate, the _Djeridei-Havadis_, says:--
+
+    "If the Hellenic Kingdom is desirous of avoiding a war with the
+    Albanians, it ought to follow the line of conduct proposed by the
+    Porte. If it acts in opposition to it, a war will follow which can
+    only result in ruin, as has happened before. If the Porte had only
+    to satisfy Greece, it is probable that it would show itself
+    yielding, but the Imperial Government cannot, with a light heart,
+    provoke a conflict and see the blood of its subjects poured out, for
+    the Albanians have decided to defend their country, arms in hand. It
+    is astonishing that Europe, in seconding the demands of Greece,
+    completely forgets the rights of the Albanians."
+
+The Commission appointed to settle this question is now in session at
+Constantinople, and some arrangement may be made, but the current
+opinion in the city, among both Greeks and Turks, is that neither party
+will yield anything. Another meeting is to be held to-morrow; and if
+the Greeks are ready to give up Janina, a settlement is possible--in
+spite of the Albanians. The impression is that they will not fight,
+although the Greeks in Thessaly and Epirus have roused their hostility,
+and have failed to do anything to conciliate them in past years. They
+have an honest fear of being Hellenized by force, and although they have
+little sympathy for the Turkish Government, and are constantly
+quarrelling among themselves, they still have a strong national pride,
+and they may take up arms in good earnest. If they do, it will be a
+serious matter for Greece.
+
+
+The Principality of Bulgaria.
+
+Bulgaria is enjoying a brief period of comparative repose. The Russians
+have left the country. The Prince has assumed the reins of Government.
+The people are busy with their harvests, and, except in certain
+districts where the disbanded soldiers of the Turkish army have taken to
+brigandage, there is peace and quiet everywhere, and there is no reason
+to fear anything more disquieting than the excitement of a general
+election.
+
+The Principality has a great advantage over Eastern Roumelia, in that it
+has secured its independence, and can work out its destiny by itself,
+without any interference on the part of the Turks or of an European
+Commission; but both Prince and people are without experience, and there
+are no popular leaders who have any practical knowledge of government.
+The people are jealous of their newly-acquired rights, and naturally
+opinionated and disputatious. The coming elections will no doubt cause
+great political excitement, and the new Assembly will not be very easily
+managed, or be likely to win the admiration of Europe by its wisdom. It
+should be remembered, however, that this lack of experience is the
+misfortune and not the fault of the Bulgarians, and that Europe has not
+dealt with them in a way to win their confidence and command their
+respect. It has left them with a grievance which they can never forget
+for a moment, which must influence all their political action, and which
+forces them to maintain intimate relations with Russia, which is not a
+country where they can learn political wisdom, although it has given
+them a Constitution which is a model of liberality. There was nothing in
+the Russian administration of the province which was adapted to prepare
+them for such a Constitution, or teach them how to conduct a free and
+liberal government. Prince and people have to begin everything for
+themselves. Indeed, they are probably worse off than they would have
+been if there had been no civil administration attempted in the province
+by the Russians. An army of occupation of any country is unfitted for
+the organization of civil government. This was attempted on a grand
+scale in the Southern States of America after the civil war, and under
+exceptionally favourable circumstances, but all these civil governments,
+established and fostered by military force, were unsatisfactory while
+they continued, and disappeared when the army was withdrawn. If this was
+a work which could not be accomplished by the United States, and by an
+army which was made up chiefly of civilians, it is not strange that,
+with all possible goodwill, the Czar of Russia failed to establish a
+satisfactory civil administration in Bulgaria. He gave them as good a
+Prince as was to be found in the German market, and as liberal a
+Constitution as any in Europe. He maintained order and protected all
+classes as long as his soldiers remained in the country; but the whole
+administration was necessarily Russian in its spirit and methods, and
+altogether unlike what it ought to be under the new Constitution. The
+Bulgarians who were trained under it will have to unlearn much that they
+have learned, and begin anew, or they will fail to satisfy the people.
+All this is the misfortune rather than the fault of the nation, and it
+has a right to expect that Europe will be patient and friendly, while it
+gains by experience the wisdom which no nation has ever acquired in any
+other way.
+
+Prince Alexander is young, and as inexperienced as his people, but those
+who know him best have confidence in his good sense, and he is said to
+be not unlike the late Prince Albert in character. He will need all his
+good qualities to attain success; and if successful, he will certainly
+deserve to be ranked with the Prince Consort and King Leopold. His work
+certainly involves more self-denial than either of theirs, and not less
+tact and good sense. He was no doubt elected through the influence of
+Russia; but he is no mere creature of the Czar, and has no desire to act
+as a Russian agent. On the contrary, he is heartily in sympathy with the
+liberal ideas of the West, and anxious to secure the goodwill of
+England. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Palgrave, the English
+Consul-General, this does not seem to the Bulgarians so hopeless a task
+as it once did.
+
+The Prince was received by his people with the greatest enthusiasm. No
+sovereign was ever more heartily welcomed, and each stage of his journey
+was a new triumph. He probably appreciated this all the more from the
+fact that his visit to Constantinople was made as disagreeable as
+possible. He was first refused permission to come at all, on the
+pretence that his life would be in danger. This plea was too absurd to
+deceive any one, but it might have caused serious difficulty if he had
+not appealed to the Great Powers, and at the same time manifested a
+disposition to conciliate the Porte by proposing to limit his stay at
+Constantinople to a visit of a few hours. He arrived in the Bosphorus in
+the morning, and left in the afternoon. He was received by the Sultan,
+but was told that owing to the pressure of business his Firman was not
+ready, and could not be delivered to him. No Bulgarian was allowed to
+approach him, and no boat allowed to go out to his steamer. Large bodies
+of troops were stationed along his route and about the Russian Embassy,
+and he was treated very much like a prisoner of State. It is not easy to
+understand why this farce was played by the Turks, or what they expected
+to gain by it. They probably refused the permission in the first place
+with the intention of treating him as an ordinary Turkish Vali, and
+sending his Firman to be read in public at Tirnova by a Turkish
+official; but after the failure of this plan there was no obvious reason
+for treating him as they did at Constantinople. Some have supposed that
+it was intended as a studied insult to the Prince, others that it was an
+elaborate practical joke played upon the Russian Embassy, which had at
+one time suggested that it was unnecessary for the Prince to come to
+Constantinople, as other vassal Princes had always done. But whatever
+may have been the motive which prompted this singular treatment, it only
+served to make the reception of the Prince the next day at Varna more
+impressive, and to give more importance to the wild enthusiasm of his
+new subjects, who could not have received him with greater joy if he had
+himself just delivered them from the hated rule of the Turks. He was
+inaugurated at Tirnova, the ancient capital, and then went at once to
+Sofia, the new seat of government. His first difficulty was the choice
+of a Ministry. Two parties had already been developed in the
+Constitutional Assembly which adopted the Constitution and elected the
+Prince. They grew out of a difference of opinion in regard to religious
+liberty, freedom of the press, the right of association, with other
+similar questions, and at once assumed the names, Conservative and
+Liberal. The Conservative party included the clergy of the Bulgarian
+Church, and some of the best educated and most enlightened Bulgarians,
+who felt that too much liberty was a dangerous thing for a people
+brought so suddenly from bondage to freedom--who feared that the country
+would be flooded with Nihilism, Socialism, and all other isms. The
+Liberal party, however, had a large majority in the Assembly, and was
+led with considerable skill by two or three experienced politicians, who
+were wise enough to avoid extreme measures. When the Prince arrived, he
+attempted to form a Ministry which should include the leaders of both
+these parties; but for some reason the majority of those selected were
+Conservatives, and the Liberals declined to serve with them, so that he
+has a Conservative Ministry, with the probability that the new Assembly
+will have a strong Liberal majority. This is an unfortunate beginning,
+as the party conflict which is likely to ensue will probably weaken the
+influence of some of the best men in the nation, who are really Liberal
+in their views, but who fear that absolute liberty will degenerate into
+license and sap the foundations of religion and morality. They do not
+think that the people are ready for "a free Church in a free State."
+They fail to see that the influence of the Church can only be
+strengthened by educating the clergy and reviving their spiritual life.
+The Bulgarians are naturally a religious people; but, both while they
+were under the Greek Patriarch, and since they have received their
+independence, their Church has been an essentially political
+organization. It needs now to be spiritualized. The best men of both
+parties acknowledge this; but, as in all other countries, there is a
+difference of opinion as to how far it should be defended and supported
+by the State.
+
+I have said that this division of parties was an unfortunate beginning
+for this new State, but after all it is far better that there should be
+real living questions before the people than that politics should
+degenerate into a new struggle for office. The very discussion of these
+questions will tend to educate the people and revive the Church, and it
+will probably be found that when a new Liberal Ministry is formed the
+responsibilities of office will make it as conservative in most respects
+as the present Government. The Prince has the confidence of all the
+people, and will no doubt accept the result of the coming elections as a
+Constitutional sovereign, and then direct the attention of the people to
+other questions of the utmost importance concerning the organization of
+the various departments of the Government. No doubt serious difficulties
+will be encountered and mistakes will be made, but the spirit of the
+people is good. They desire good order, peace, and quiet, and they will
+make every effort to secure it. They merit the sympathy and goodwill of
+all civilized nations, and especially of those who believe in free
+government and liberal institutions.
+
+
+Eastern Roumelia.
+
+The condition of affairs in Eastern Roumelia is much less hopeful, as
+the difficulties encountered in the organization of the Government are
+very much greater and more numerous. North of the Balkans they are only
+such as might be experienced by any new Representative Government in any
+civilized country, but in the nondescript province of Roumelia the
+people are suffering from evils inflicted upon them by the Congress of
+Berlin. Everything is unsettled. No one knows who rules the country, or
+what is the form of government. It seems to be for the interest of
+certain parties to prolong this state of things and introduce as much
+disorder as possible. The people are kept in a constant state of
+excitement, and no one knows what to expect from one day to another. The
+Congress of Berlin is primarily responsible for this, and no doubt it
+was for the interest of Austria to keep up a state of anarchy and
+confusion in European Turkey. It was her plan to absorb the European
+provinces herself, and the way must be kept open to Salonica and if
+possible to Constantinople. It is believed here that England went to
+Berlin with a secret agreement to support these pretensions of Austria,
+but no one sees exactly how England is to profit by this arrangement. It
+is certain that no one in Turkey gained anything by the division of
+Bulgaria, but the evils which have resulted would have been much less if
+in addition to this division the Congress had not devised the
+extraordinary scheme of giving different forms of Government to the two
+Bulgarias. This plan, of course, insured the permanent discontent of the
+whole Bulgarian nation, but, worse than this, it made the impression
+upon the Turks and Greeks that the arrangement for Eastern Roumelia was
+only a temporary one, and that by skilful agitation they might overturn
+it. They have not failed to improve this opportunity. The Phanariote
+and Roumelian Greeks are doing everything in their power to create
+disturbance and cause difficulty in Eastern Roumelia. An unceasing
+torrent of abuse is poured out upon the Bulgarians by the Greek papers
+and their French organ the _Phare du Bosphore_. They are full of false
+statements and misrepresentations of every kind, and a portion of the
+Greeks in the province act in full sympathy with these papers. Free
+Greece does not sympathize with this crusade, and an attempt was made a
+few weeks since to induce the Greeks here to come to an understanding
+with the Bulgarian Church, by withdrawing the excommunication and
+arranging for harmonious co-operation. It is understood that the
+Patriarch was in favour of this, but the Greek papers here opposed it
+with a violence which was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. They
+declared that "the maintenance of the schism was the only hope of
+Hellenism," and appealed to the Porte to prevent by force a
+reconciliation "which would inevitably result in the union of Greeks and
+Bulgarians to drive out the Turks and divide the country between them,"
+This opposition on the part of the Phanariotes prevented the execution
+of the plan.
+
+The Turks also are doing what they can to create disturbance in the
+province, and find some excuse for occupying it with their army. This
+was, of course, to be expected, and is in some degree excusable. They
+naturally wish to regain possession of this rich province, and they feel
+that they have cause of complaint against the Bulgarians, who do not
+receive the returning refugees with much cordiality. There are real
+difficulties on both sides which cannot fail to give rise to serious
+trouble. It is a pity that the whole arrangement could not have been
+left to a really impartial Commission, free to act on principles of
+equity and common sense. The difficulties are such as these, for
+example. There are many towns where the Bulgarian quarter was burned by
+the Turks. When the Turks fled and the Bulgarians returned, they
+occupied the Turkish houses, and they are now naturally disinclined to
+give them up to the refugees and camp in the fields. Again, there are
+many cases where the Bulgarians were deprived of their lands in the most
+iniquitous manner some years ago, under the pretence of a new law in
+regard to title-deeds. These lands were seized by rich Turks, who fled
+during the war, but now come back to claim them. The Bulgarians have the
+original titles and the Turks new ones. To whom do the lands rightly
+belong?
+
+There are other cases where Turks return who are known to have taken
+part in the massacres. There has been a general amnesty, but it can
+hardly be expected that these persons will be well received. These are
+only a few of the many difficulties connected with the return of the
+refugees which irritate the Turks and the Bulgarians both; and in some
+cases both parties merit our sympathy.
+
+In addition to these deliberate attempts to make trouble on the part of
+the Turks, Greeks, and also of some few hot-headed Bulgarians who are
+foolish enough to suppose that a disturbance might hasten their union
+with the Principality, the confusion in the Government is a source of
+constant trouble. No one knows what the Government is. The Porte claims
+supreme authority, and sends peremptory orders to the Pacha. The Pacha
+naturally considers himself the head of the Government. The European
+Commission claims the right to exercise control whenever it sees fit.
+The Consuls assume the right to intrigue or to dictate in the name of
+their respective Governments. The Administrative Council, a majority of
+which is Bulgarian, considers itself to be responsible for the
+administration, and there is a Constitution of hundreds of articles
+which is theoretically the law of the land. A National Assembly is soon
+to be added to the list. The militia have been under the command of a
+Levantine Frenchman, who was not responsible to the Governor, and who
+does not appear to have had a single qualification for his office.
+Happily he has just been replaced by a better man.
+
+Having inflicted all this confusion upon Eastern Roumelia, the European
+Powers are complaining that the people do not know how to govern
+themselves! Perhaps they do not, but as yet they have had no opportunity
+to make the experiment. If peace and quiet is ever to be restored to
+this unhappy province, the Government must be simplified and
+consolidated; it must be left to manage its own affairs, and to make the
+best it can of the elaborate Constitution which Europe has conferred
+upon it. Alecko Pacha is not a great man, but he was the best man
+available for his position, and he is a man who is much more likely to
+throw up his office in disgust at the trouble which it gives him than to
+lend himself to any scheme for resisting the will of Europe. He ought to
+be encouraged and supported. The Bulgarians, who constitute the majority
+of the population, are discontented at the arbitrary action which
+separated them from the Principality, but they are satisfied that they
+have nothing to gain from any present agitation of this question, and
+they only desire to be left to govern themselves in accordance with the
+decision of Europe, and to be assured that they will not be turned over
+again to the tender mercies of the Turkish Government. The fear of this
+is universal, and it is this fear which keeps them in a state of
+constant excitement. It is not without reason. A large Turkish army is
+camped on their borders. The Porte is seeking some excuse for entering
+the province. Certain European representatives at Philippopolis are
+always threatening this, and the people believe that they are intriguing
+to bring it about. Everything is in confusion and uncertainty in regard
+to the Government, and nothing seems settled. There can be no peace and
+quiet in a country which is in constant fear of invasion, and something
+ought to be done to remove this fear from Eastern Roumelia. The Turkish
+army should certainly be removed, and the Porte should be warned to let
+Alecko Pacha alone and allow him to organize his Government as best he
+can. If this source of fear and irritation were removed, the Bulgarians
+would accept the situation and make the best of it. It would be for
+their interest to do so, and an industrious, thrifty population is
+always quick to see what is for its interest.
+
+The gymnastic clubs, which were originally formed for another purpose,
+are now kept up and supported by sober, conservative men, simply from
+this fear of a Turkish invasion. If the fear were removed these
+associations would be dissolved at once, as they ought to be; for
+Bulgarian merchants are not in the habit of spending money for anything
+which is not essential to their well-being. These clubs are not
+revolutionary, but they might become a source of disorder if they were
+made permanent.
+
+It is not probable that the European Powers will allow any invasion of
+the country; but the Turks have always in hand the pretence of sending
+troops to occupy the Balkans, and this fact to some extent justifies the
+fears of the Bulgarians. If there were danger of another Russian
+invasion, the Turks would be fully justified in occupying the passes at
+once, and there is nothing in Eastern Roumelia to prevent or even delay
+such an occupation; but under present circumstances, when there is
+nothing to be feared from Russia--when peace and quiet is the thing of
+all others to be desired--the occupation of the Balkans would be a
+crime.
+
+    AN EASTERN STATESMAN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTEMPORARY BOOKS.
+
+
+I.--HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE EAST.
+
+(_Under the Direction of_ Professor E. H. PALMER.)
+
+
+Colonel Malleson certainly did well to claim permission to rewrite Sir
+John Kaye's last volume (_History of the Indian Mutiny_, by Colonel
+Malleson, Vol. I., London: W. H. Allen & Co.), and comparison of the two
+may afford to the historian of the future valuable aid in interpreting
+the volumes yet to come. A great part of the present must be held to be
+the work of the virulent pamphleteer and violent partisan rather than of
+the historian; and if the quotations of, and references to, the Red
+Pamphlet indicate relations between Colonel Malleson and its author, the
+publishers cannot be held to have exercised a wise discretion in their
+choice.
+
+The task of the reviewer of such a book is unusually heavy. Book for
+book, almost chapter for chapter, it is intended to replace Sir John
+Kaye's work, and the reviewer therefore needs to study the two
+carefully, and to compare them minutely. Colonel Malleson, no doubt, had
+access to Sir John Kaye's materials, but within a certain field seems to
+have been unable to see the other side of any question. To arm, to leave
+Sepoys armed, is simply to detain European troops to watch them; it is
+nothing that to disarm them is to drive them, and all their connections,
+wild with terror as sheep marked for the slaughter; yet he cannot be
+ignorant of the cases in which a few bad men committed a regiment, and
+how whole regiments "went" in terror of their masters' vengeful
+distrust.[105] In saying, as he does so confidently, that by enrolling
+the Calcutta Volunteers on their first offer, on 20th May, Lord Canning
+would have set free half a European regiment, Colonel Malleson must have
+been thinking of what the Volunteers might have been fit to do had they
+been enrolled and drilled six months before,--provided they had been
+willing to take the day-work of garrison duty, and to think more of the
+State than of the house and furniture at Ballygunj: the real profit of
+the enrolment was the confidence and cheerfulness organization gave to
+the Europeans themselves. And--to take a more important instance--the
+"Gagging Act" was an insolent expression of distrust of Englishmen, an
+attempt to prevent their opinions reaching England _in print_. For
+distrust of their discretion English editors had given cause enough, and
+for influencing English opinion, as Indian newspapers may be said to be
+unknown in England in their original sheets, a letter from the editor of
+the _Friend of India_ to any English paper would have been as sure of
+English readers, and of as much weight with them, as if it had been set
+up in the damp printing-house at Serampore.
+
+Colonel Malleson quotes from the "Red Pamphlet," as Sir John Kaye had
+done before him, a smart description of "Panic Sunday." From Colonel
+Cavanagh's report it seems pretty clear that the higher classes--the
+"society"--of Calcutta were not among the refugees in the fort, and as
+Secretaries to Government and Members of Council may be counted on the
+fingers, it would be as well if the historian would name the fugitives
+before death takes all who could answer the charge. We have had access
+to the diary of a young civilian, then a guest of the Member of Council
+who lived furthest from Government House, away in Alipore, beyond the
+house of the Lieutenant-Governor and the great jail of Alipore and the
+lines of the native regiment which was the great terror of Calcutta: on
+that Sunday, host and guest went to the Cathedral twice as usual, and
+after the evening service the guest returned home, while the host drove
+to Calcutta to call on some cousins; as the cousins had driven to
+Alipore, and the visitors at both houses waited a while those households
+at least were afoot till a later hour than usual, and at last went to
+bed as usual without closing an extra door.
+
+The second chapter closes with an impassioned peroration, wherein the
+removal of Mr. William Tayler from his post at Patna is likened to the
+judicial murder of Lally, and the starvation of Dupleix. It is clear
+enough, from Colonel Malleson's account, that Mr. Tayler liked to carry
+out his own plans too well to risk interference by over-frankness to his
+superiors. In the face of an enemy such concealment may be as
+mischievous as disobedience, and Sir John Kaye reminds us that at an
+earlier date confidence in Mr. Tayler's judgment had been shaken; and
+his report of his message to his district officers, the report which
+immediately preceded, and probably led to, his suspension, says nothing
+of the clause which sets the treasure above anything save human life.
+Under any circumstances Mr. Tayler's defence is not helped by sharp
+censures on Mr. Money, or by blindness to the fact that the best
+intelligence made a march to Patna seem more perilous than the far
+longer one through a jungle country to Calcutta. Wise after the event,
+indeed, we may see that Mr. Tayler's forecast was sounder than Mr.
+Halliday's; but the Lieutenant-Governor, and Lord Canning too, could
+only act on the circumstances known to them, and Mr. Tayler was replaced
+by an officer of yet higher rank in the official hierarchy, and probably
+forestalled renewed promotion by resigning the Service as soon as he
+could get a pension. But why were not his services rewarded? asks
+Colonel Malleson, ready with the hard word "intrigue." But who were the
+sharers in the intrigue, and who was to profit by it? Men whom Lord
+Canning sharply rebuked and degraded were yet recommended by him for
+honour, and no courteous letter from Mr. Talbot can do away with the
+fact that the Viceroy, writing when all heat of strife was over and all
+facts known, yet did not obtain for Mr. Tayler any distinction.
+
+On one point, however, we are bound to protest against Sir John Kaye's
+harsh judgment: to him the arrest of the Wahabi leaders was a scandalous
+breach of the usages of war. But they were unquestionably subjects of
+the British Crown, and the question surely is--would they have resisted
+arrest by ordinary process or not? If not, they had to thank Mr. Tayler
+for courteous consideration in arresting them himself, and detaining
+them in honourable captivity; in resisting they would have been guilty
+of that rebellion against their sovereign in which there was too good
+reason to believe them sharers.
+
+On the many points whereon both authors are in substantial accord it
+would be waste of space to touch, and we pass to the other important
+episode in which Colonel Malleson traverses Sir John Kaye's judgment,
+and here our verdict is with the later author: in treating of Durand's
+conduct at Indore, Colonel Malleson seems to have risen above the region
+of personal feeling, if not of personal knowledge; so that while his
+full and vivid narrative shows plainly the difficulties, political and
+strategical, of Durand's position and also of his retreat, he shows as
+clearly that it is no simple case of Durand _versus_ Holkar, but one in
+which each may be commended without loss of credit to the other.
+
+So much space has been of necessity devoted to the chief points on which
+the two authors are at variance, that none is left for the transactions
+which Colonel Malleson's changed arrangement brings into the present
+volume, though Kaye had intended for them a place in some later one. His
+work in the new field makes us only the more regret that he did not
+bring to his task the unbiassed mind of a man who had never known the
+author of the Red Pamphlet or Mr. William Tayler. But we would, in a
+concluding word, beg him to revise his Indian spelling; to a man who has
+once felt the charm of a fancy rule the claims of established usage go
+for nothing, but at all events he may be decently consistent; why does
+Colonel Malleson double so many letters which in Urdu are single, and
+why does he spell the name of the ancient and famous, if now obscure,
+town of Jaunpore as though it were "the City of Life"?
+
+Captain Low's _History of the Indian Navy_ (2 vols., London: Bentley &
+Son) has long been reproachfully demanding notice; it is easy to say
+something about such a work, not easy to treat it worthily. A man could
+hardly put together 1100 pages of small type without recording many
+noteworthy facts, but all matters of interest might have been packed in
+much smaller compass, and so packed would have found more readers and a
+more favourable verdict.
+
+The two volumes trace the rise and fall of the Navy from its germ in the
+"ten grabs and galivats" taken up for the defence of the factory and
+shipping of Surat in 1615, through the period of its glory when its
+ships bore the Company's flag alongside of the Royal Navy on many
+hard-fought days, through its decline, when they carried mails or
+transported troops with rare enjoyment of a brush, to its abolition in
+our own time, when, less fortunate than its sister service, it fell a
+victim to mutiny and disorders in which it had no share.
+
+The first period in its history ends with the year 1759, when, with the
+capture of Gheriah, and the destruction of Angria's power, piracy as a
+business of State came to an end, and when the ruin of the Seedee, and
+the substitution of the Company as High Admiral of the Mogul Empire,
+placed the local Marine first among the maritime powers of India. Its
+first serious service was in the operations which broke the power of the
+Portuguese in the Gulf, and in 1622 reduced Ormuz from an emporium of
+proverbial wealth and magnificence to its normal condition of a poor
+barren island, and for many years the Portuguese found it as much
+occupation as the pirates who might well have been its first concern. No
+doubt the captains of well-armed India-men, whose crews were borrowed
+for service on grabs and galivats, looked down on the latter as a sort
+of coastguard, but the aid of such light craft was invaluable against
+the shoals of small vessels which beset new-comers fore and aft, pouring
+down crowds of well-armed men from their long overhanging prows. For in
+the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the shores of the Indian Ocean
+swarmed with pirates, kept down indeed by the Portuguese in the heyday
+of their power, but making head again till, by the middle of the
+seventeenth century, according to Italian travellers, they feared none
+but Dutch and English, and these only for a pestilent practice of firing
+the magazine rather than surrender. Yet to the Mogul governor of Surat
+probably the pirate of home growth was less objectionable than the
+intrusive trader; and indeed the Nuwab was not without excuse if he
+regarded the European as a more powerful pirate, seeing that some
+commanders took by force goods which the native owner would not sell,
+others ransacked ships not said to belong to the Mogul's ports, the
+mutinous crews of others became open pirates; and lastly, we find
+Captain Kidd, and other heroes of the black flag, practising their
+vocation in these seas. The native pirate, the European rival, and the
+professional rover, kept the local marine pretty well employed, but it
+is not always easy to distinguish between the services of this body and
+the Company's armed trading ships.
+
+Of more interest to the Mogul Government than foreign trade were the
+vessels in which Mahomedan pilgrims of all ranks sailed to Arabian and
+Persian shrines, and for their benefit it came to terms with the Seedee,
+better known to us as the Hubshi of Jinjirah, the boldest of the
+pirates, giving him a large allowance and high rank to secure his
+convoy. The Company made more than one attempt to supplant him, and
+indeed furnished ships to guard the Mocha-Jeddah fleet in 1698, but the
+Seedee kept his office till 1759; in the general decay of the central
+power he first neglected, then openly defied, the Governor of Surat, and
+instead of protecting trade became its chief oppressor; till at last, in
+1759, after much negotiation, the Nuwab induced the Bombay Government to
+intervene, and as a reward obtained for the Company the Seedee's office.
+What direct profit the Company derived from the appointment Captain Low
+does not tell us; the omission can hardly be the consequence of the
+lamented destruction of papers which followed the sale of the old India
+House, for he records that in 1694 the Seedee's subsidy amounted to four
+lacs, no doubt considerably bettered by presents, and in 1735 the money
+allowance was but a lac and a half: the revenues of the districts and
+customs assigned to the Company went to support the Surat squadron, but
+the fees of office granted to the officer who was its deputy amounted,
+to near a lac of rupees a year; it is well to remember that the holder's
+gross pay was but Rs.1,000 a year, that the Governor of Bombay had but
+some L500, and that till near the end of the century private trade was
+allowed: no one, however, was permitted to enjoy this great prize for a
+second year. Whatever were the profits to the Company, the Nuwab could
+see that it did more for its wages than the Seedee, for in the next nine
+years the Surat squadron destroyed near a hundred pirate vessels of the
+Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay.
+
+After another seventy years the Bombay Marine became in name what, as
+the only local armed fleet, it had long been in fact--the Indian Navy.
+Wherever round the basin of the Indian Ocean there had been fighting in
+those years, the vessels of the Bombay Marine had borne the British flag
+with honour, though the services of officers and crews, both afloat and
+ashore, had been too sparingly recognised. And in those years was
+commenced the series of surveys which are still the chief authorities
+for the navigation of the Eastern seas, and have given the names of
+Rennie, Moresby, Haines, and Taylor a permanent place in history. But
+men who entered the Bombay Marine were still serving efficiently when
+the Indian Navy was abolished, in the belief that ships of the Royal
+Navy would carry on the police of the seas as efficiently, but at less
+annual cost, and that other arrangements might be made for the business
+of inland navigation and transport; the necessity for recurrent shore
+surveys seems not to have been foreseen, though already a special
+department has been created and placed under a retired officer of the
+Indian Navy. It is impossible not to admit that, through its want of
+influential friends, the Service was treated unjustly. The guarantee of
+"Colonel Sykes's clause" has, through repeated agitation, been made so
+effectual for officers of the Indian Army that men of forty have retired
+as full colonels, because all their regimental seniors had joined the
+Staff Corps, while the officers of the Indian Navy were forced to retire
+without appeal on something like the pension of their rank. But they
+must have felt a grim satisfaction in knowing that they had outlived the
+piracy which had been the scourge of Western India and the first cause
+of the creation of the force; their last serious service was in
+administering a final pounding to their old enemies the Waghers, the
+last survivors of the flourishing pirate communities of Kattyawar.
+
+Besides surveys of the Eastern seas, European nations trading with India
+are indebted to the Indian Navy for the opening up of the Overland
+Route, and so, indirectly, for the construction of the Suez Canal.
+Without steam, indeed, the Red Sea could never have become a highway of
+commerce, while with its extended use that great canal could not for
+ever be closed; but the _Hugh Lindsay_ of the Indian Navy, the first
+steamer constructed in the East, which, after thirty years of service,
+was still staunch enough for work as a tug at Kurachi, was the first
+steamer to appear on its waters, making the voyage to and from Suez in
+1830, under the command of Captain John Lindsay. The expense of the
+voyage, however, was so great that, after seven trips, the Court bade
+the Government of Bombay only repeat it in case of emergency, and it was
+reserved for Lieutenant Waghorn, also of the Indian Navy, by sacrifice
+of his private fortune and professional prospects and ten years'
+unceasing labour, to prove that communication with India through the Red
+Sea was not only a luxury of State, but a profitable commercial
+enterprise. From his labours all have profited save himself and his
+family, and the only public acknowledgment of his services is a bust in
+the Canal Garden at Suez.
+
+With some labour, caused by the want of an index, many notices of
+interest might be quarried from Captain Low's pages. The early history
+of Bombay, the antecedents of the rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar, the
+settlement at Aden, the true story of Perim, the achievements of the
+Sepoy Marines, who are now represented by two regular regiments of the
+Bombay Army, all invite notice, but our space is exhausted. Yet we must
+find room to mention the self-denial of Commodore Hayes, who, rather
+than embroil the Company with China, released two junks captured in
+running the blockade from Batavia with Dutch property, and so sacrificed
+his large share of L600,000 lawful prize; and the gallantry of
+Midshipman Denton, who, unable to board a proa, lashed her bowsprit to
+the taffrail of his gunboat, and so continued his course, fighting her
+all the time. And for contrast with the experience of the Bay of Bengal,
+where we believe that the full pressure of a great cyclone has never
+been recorded, as the anemometers have broken with a pressure of sixty
+pounds, we may note that, in the cyclone of November, 1854, so famous at
+Bombay, the pressure did not exceed thirty-five pounds to the square
+foot: with such a storm as that which raged in Calcutta in October,
+1864, the whole native town of Bombay would come down like a house of
+cards. We are sorry not to have been able to notice Captain Low's
+labours more favourably; particular points which we had noted for
+objection we will pass over in silence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Richard Burton is _facile princeps_ of modern travellers. There
+scarcely any part of the world which he has not visited, and wherever he
+goes he seems to have the history, geography, and ethnology of the
+country at his fingers' ends. His last important contribution to
+geographical science is the account of his visit to the Land of Midian,
+whither he went, commissioned by the ex-Khedive of Egypt, in search of
+the gold mines of which the ancient Arab geographer and others speak.
+The results of his expeditions are published in two works: _The
+Gold-Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities_ (London: C. Kegan
+Paul & Co., 1878) and _The Land of Midian (Revisited)_, 2 vols., issued
+by the same publishers during the present year. Having received an
+invitation from the ex-Viceroy, Captain Burton proceeded to Cairo in
+March, 1877, where an expedition was organized for the purpose of
+exploring the auriferous region. The author's comparison of the Cairo of
+the present time with the city as he knew it in his old pilgrim days,
+and as it is described in Lane's "Modern Egyptians," forms, although
+only incidental, a very interesting portion of the book. The chapter on
+Suez also is a good specimen of Captain Burton's style, and contains at
+once a topographical sketch, an archaeological and historical
+description, and a chatty and amusing account of the modern city, its
+society, and surroundings. Midian, called nowadays by its inhabitants,
+as by the mediaeval Arabic geographers, _Arz Maydan_, the Land of Midian,
+is that part of Arabia which occupies the east coast of the Gulf of
+Akabah, and extends some two degrees further to the south. The borders
+are somewhat difficult to ascertain, and it is probable that the ancient
+Midianites, like some of the larger and more powerful Bedawin tribes of
+the present day, wandered far and wide, and that their limits shrunk or
+extended according to their numbers, or the resisting power of their
+neighbours. The ancient history of the land is told by Captain Burton in
+a most exhaustive manner, the Biblical accounts being supplemented by
+copious references to Greek, Latin, Jewish, and Arabic writers of all
+ages. The quantity of gold, silver, and other metals mentioned in
+Numbers xxxi. 22, as being produced by Midian, was curiously borne out
+by the results of the expedition. A lengthy and learned notice is also
+given of the Nabathaeans, whose former rock-cut capital, Petraea, is still
+one of the marvels of Arabia; whose king, or ethnarch, Aretas (in
+Arabic, El Hareth), is mentioned in the New Testament; and whose rule
+embraced so large a portion of Syria and Arabia, and extended late into
+Christian times.
+
+The discovery that gold existed in Midian was in the first place due to
+Haji Wali, familiar to the readers of Captain Burton's "Pilgrimage to
+Mecca and Medina" as the companion of the author in the caravanserai at
+Cairo while preparing for the journey to Hejjaz. The old Haji was once
+returning from a visit to Mecca, when halting by the shore of the Gulf
+of Akabah he scooped up a handful of granitic sand which sparkled in the
+bed of the wady and took it with him to Alexandria. There he took his
+specimen to an assayer, and, although the glitter which had attracted
+him proved only to be produced by the presence of mica, his sand when
+smelted in a crucible yielded a comparatively large portion of pure
+gold. The information of the discovery was not received with
+encouragement by the official to whom Haji Wali communicated it, and the
+latter ceased to think more of the subject. The assayer, however, set
+out for the new Eldorado and lost his life, probably murdered by the
+Bedawin. Captain Barton believes that the secret of the gold has never
+been really lost, and that the washing of sand has always been
+clandestinely carried on. Be that as it may, Captain Burton, believing
+the Haji's story, endeavoured to recommend his discovery to the notice
+of the Egyptian authorities, who _pooh-pooh'd_ the whole thing, and
+merely remarked that gold was becoming too common. For nearly a quarter
+of a century Captain Burton kept the secret to himself, but at length he
+again sought out his old friend Haji Wali, obtained from him more exact
+information as to the locality, and carried him off with the expedition,
+the means for organizing which Ismail Pasha furnished. The results of
+the expedition, which was only a pioneer one, were sufficient to
+corroborate all that the Haji had said, and to confirm Captain Burton's
+own prognostications drawn from the ancient sources which his extensive
+learning enabled him to consult. The adventures of the party fill the
+remainder of the first of his two books and form extremely pleasant
+reading.
+
+The second of the two books contains somewhat less antiquarian research,
+but more practical information than the first. It is a record of the
+second expedition (also equipped at the expense of the Egyptian
+Government by order of the ex-Khedive), and is full of pleasant
+travel-talk and adventure. Setting out from Cairo in a sickly season and
+under the most unfavourable circumstances--the resources of the country
+being drained by distress at home and the Turkish-Russian war
+abroad--they at length got under way once more for the desert, not
+without encountering hair-breadth escapes from the bursting of some of
+the tubes of the engine of their steamer. Once landed, the initial
+difficulties of desert travel had to be encountered. "It had been
+reported," says Captain Burton, "that I was the happy possessor of
+L22,000, mostly to be spent in El-Muwaylah. The unsettled Arabs plunder
+and slay; the settled Arabs slander and cheat." These, however, were
+soon smoothed over by the commander's tact and firmness, the rival
+claims of two tribes to act as escort were disposed of, and the work of
+the expedition then began.
+
+The first march, through Madyan proper (North Midian), occupied
+fifty-four days. The country was essentially a mining district, and very
+rich in mineral wealth, though, strange to say, it had not been much
+worked by the ancients. The first expedition found free gold in the
+basalt, but the researches of the second yielded none. The second march,
+through South Midian, lasted eighteen days. Its principal object was to
+ascertain the depth from east to west of the quartz formations, and to
+explore the virgin region towards the east. Here, however, they were
+stopped by the exactions and turbulent conduct of the Maazeh, who tried
+to pick quarrels with their Huweitat guides, and made it impossible for
+Captain Burton to proceed without such loss of time and other
+inconveniences as must have sacrificed the other and more important
+objects of the expedition. The last journey was through the southern
+portion of Midian, and lasted twenty-four days. This part of the country
+has been systematically worked in former times, and it is here that the
+gold and silver mines are placed by the mediaeval Arab geographers.
+
+Throughout Midian, ruined towns, villages, mining stations, and smelting
+furnaces were found, testifying to the former mining industry of the
+country, and described by Captain Burton in his usual graphic and
+careful style.
+
+That Midian abounds in mineral wealth, and that gold and silver may be
+found in plenty there, is clear both from the documentary evidence of
+the author and from the testimony of the physical and geological
+features of the country. The very first reconnaissance showed a
+formation exactly reproducing "the conditions which Australia shows, and
+which produced the huge 'welcome nugget' of Ballarat." The country also
+closely resembles the known gold-working sites of Ancient Egypt, but
+with _filons_ of larger size. Some of these "Ophirs of Egypt Proper"
+yielded the treasury of Ramses the Great the enormous sum of L90,000,000
+a year, as hieroglyphic inscriptions tell us. Herodotus, too, tells us
+of the immense wealth in the precious metals possessed by some of the
+Pharaohs. The modern Bedawins have legends of "gold pieces, square as
+well as round, bearing, by way of inscription, 'prayers' to the Apostle
+of Allah," which Captain Burton suspects to be "the Tibr, or 'pure
+gold-dust,' washed from the sands and cast probably in rude moulds." The
+close proximity to the sea and the facilities of the country for
+transport, it being "prepared by Nature to receive a tramway," remove
+half the difficulties of working.
+
+That the specimens brought back by Captain Burton's expedition did not
+actually yield a larger proportion of the precious metals is in all
+probability due to the fact that they had no expert with them, and did
+not, therefore, sufficiently seek for and select stone from the
+auriferous rocks, but brought away much that the ancients had rejected,
+or left as unworkable. He is, however, convinced, as the impartial
+reader of his work must also be, that the gold land of Midian is still a
+fine field for commercial enterprise, which would soon restore to it the
+advantages which all ancient authorities declare that it once possessed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The Land of Midian" attracted another explorer besides Captain
+Burton--namely, the late Dr. Beke, an account of whose labours has been
+given to the world by his widow in a bulky volume on the subject. His
+object was to discover the "true Mount Sinai," which he identified with
+a certain Jebel Barguir, otherwise the "Mountain of Light," on the
+Eastern shore of the Gulf of Akaba, and in which he fancied he saw the
+"volcano," the existence of which he had previously conjectured in his
+pamphlet, "Mount Sinai a Volcano." To make this theory accord with the
+Scriptural account, he had not only to shift the scene of the Law-giving
+from the Sinaitic Peninsula to the other side of the Gulf, but he was
+obliged to find another Mizraim than Egypt, and boldly sacrificed
+hieroglyphic, Biblical, and classic testimony, as well as that of
+tradition, to his own hypothesis. In confirmation of his theory, he
+found indications that the Mountain of Light was regarded as a holy
+place, and discovered ancient inscriptions near the summit, of which he
+brought copies home in triumph. Unfortunately, however, the name
+_Barguir_ turns out to be his own corruption of _Bakir_, a well-known
+Mohammedan name, and, in the present instance, that of the petty Arab
+saint whose tomb gives the only sanctity the mountain may possess, while
+the proper name of the mountain is Jebel el Yitm; the inscriptions are
+only the ordinary Nabathaean _graffiti_ and Arab-tribe marks, which are
+so common all over Arabia Petraea; and lastly, there is no volcano at
+all. The volume is interesting, as it contains much topographical
+information about a country the ancient history and future prospects of
+which render it of the highest importance; but as a contribution to the
+literature of the much-vexed question of the Exodus the late Dr. Beke's
+work is absolutely useless. Whether the so-called Peninsula of Sinai is
+really the scene of the early portion of that drama, the recent Egyptian
+researches of Dr. Brugsch Bey have rendered very doubtful; but wherever
+Mount Sinai has ultimately to be placed, it is not that discovered by
+Dr. Beke.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As Mrs. Burton supplemented the "Unexplored Syria" of her husband and
+the late C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake with her own more personal but none the
+less interesting "Inner Life of Syria," so she has now embodied her own
+impression of the various localities which she and Captain Burton have
+visited during the last few years in a pleasant book entitled, _A. E.
+I.: Arabia, Egypt, and India_ (London: W. Mullan & Son, 1879). Mrs.
+Burton's pages are eminently readable, her powers of observation are
+keen, and her descriptions always fresh and vivid. If the spots she
+writes about have been often before depicted by pen and pencil, she yet
+finds something new to say, and some interesting and little-known
+historical incident to narrate, concerning them. The latter part of the
+book, containing a history and description of the old Portuguese
+settlement of Goa, and a minutely-detailed account of the life and works
+of St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, will be new to most
+readers and read with interest by all. The book is one which may be
+taken up at any moment with the certainty of finding something to amuse,
+instruct, or furnish food for earnest thought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Egypt to Palestine_, by S. C. Bartlett, though bearing the name and
+address of a London publisher (Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.) on the
+title-page, is evidently the production of an American firm, the name of
+which, indeed, appears on some of the maps. The book is well got up, and
+as a description of the localities, their antiquities and history, is
+equal to the average of such publications. It is, however, entirely
+composed of materials collected from the works of other authors, taken
+often without acknowledgment, and is profusely illustrated by pictures
+and maps copied from other works, the sources of which are never
+acknowledged at all. The only passages at all original in the work are
+those which describe Mr. Bartlett's own journey, the highest interest of
+which consists in an occasional enumeration of the hymns he and his
+companions sang to the Arabs (cf. p. 193), and which would have much the
+same effect on the Tiyahah as the performances of the howling dervishes
+have upon an American tourist.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir Lewis Pelly has published, in two handsome volumes, a literal
+translation of the text of the _Miracle Play of Hasan and Husein_
+(London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1879), as performed throughout India and
+Persia during the month of Mohurram, by the Shiah Mohammedans. The
+progress of Islam in its early days was so rapid that, in a short time,
+it had overwhelmed Persia, Egypt, Syria, and a large portion of the rest
+of the Byzantine Empire in its tide of conquest. The death of Mohammed
+naturally brought forward rival claimants to the supreme authority, and
+the dispute ultimately resolved itself into one between Ali, the cousin
+and son-in-law of the Prophet, and representative of the Hashimi clan,
+and Moawiyeh, the representative of the Ommayeh family, between whom and
+the Hashimis an old feud existed, originating in their rival claims to
+be the hereditary guardians of the Kaabeh Temple at Mecca. These two
+parties offered an obvious rallying point for the two opposing factions
+in El Islam, the conquered Persians and the conquering Arabs, the former
+of whom resisted the traditional ceremonial law with which their Semitic
+co-religionists would have trammelled them. The consequence was that the
+Aryan faction rallied round Ali, and the Arabs round Moawiyeh. The
+latter proved the stronger party, and were known as Sunnis, followers of
+the Sunnah or traditional law, while the adherents of the former were
+designated Shiahs or Sectarians, and thus originated the first great
+schism in Mohammedanism. The struggles of Ali's party for supremacy, his
+own murder, and the subsequent massacre of his sons, Hasan and Husein,
+who lost their lives under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, are the
+incidents on which the drama is founded, and the memory of which has
+kept alive the rancorous ill-feeling between the two sects. In the play
+itself the historical element is largely mixed with the marvellous and
+legendary, and the dramatic unities are wholly neglected; but it
+nevertheless exhibits enough of the real facts to give it an intense
+living interest, while the antiquated language and strange incidents
+that are introduced carry us back to the remotest times. An admirable
+introduction contains a notice by Dr. Birdwood, C.S.I., of the origin
+of the Shiah schism, and of the ceremonies with which the Mohurram
+festival is celebrated throughout India and Persia; and Mr. A. N.
+Wollaston, of the India Office, has both edited the text and illustrated
+it with some concise and appropriate notes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Charles Riew has just issued the first volume of his _Catalogue of
+the Persian MSS. in the British Museum_ (London: 1879), containing
+Christian and Mohammedan Theology, and the works on History and
+Geography of which the Museum has a large and important collection.
+Amongst these are the _Jami ut tawarikh_, written in the seventh--eighth
+centuries of the Hejra, and comprising the histories of all the
+principal Turkish and Mongol dynasties; the _Tarikh i Rashidi_, a
+history of the Khans of Mogolistan and of the Amirs of Kashgar; and the
+_Zafar Namah_, the earliest authentic history of Timur, written by his
+order in 1404 A.D. A brief but complete analysis of each manuscript is
+given, enabling scholars to refer at once and without difficulty to any
+portion of the histories without the labour of looking through an often
+voluminous manuscript. The value of such a scholar-like production as
+this Catalogue is cannot be over-estimated; it has, in fact, placed
+within reach of the student of history most important and authentic
+works, the very existence of which was unknown except to a few
+Orientalists. The second volume is already complete in MS., and will be
+shortly published. We shall look forward to it with great interest, as
+the British Museum possesses a magnificent collection of Persian
+poetical and other works.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A _Pahlavi Dictionary_, by Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, of
+which the first two volumes have just appeared (London: Truebner and Co.,
+1879), supplies a want long felt by students of the old Persian speech.
+Pahlavi is the name applied to the old Persian tongue, and more
+particularly to that phase of it which was spoken during the reigns of
+the Sassanian kings. It is of great interest to the philologist,
+inasmuch as it contains a large admixture of Semitic words, derived,
+however, from a different source than the Arabic element in modern
+Persian, and appears to be akin to the Assyrian. It is sometimes called
+_Huzvaresh_, though this word seems to be more properly applied to a
+particular method of reading, by which, when a Semitic word occurs in
+the text, the priest _reads_ the Aryan equivalent, just as we in English
+say "pounds, shillings, and pence" when we meet with the signs L s. d.,
+and _read_ "namely," though we write and print "videlicet" or "viz."
+Dastur Jamaspji Asana interprets the word _Huzvaresh_ to mean the
+"language of Assyria," a suggestion which, if correct, throws some light
+on the origin of the language. The etymology of the word Pahlavi has
+been the subject of much discussion, but the latest as well as the most
+reasonable conjecture is that of Dr. Haug (followed by the author of
+this Dictionary), that it is identical with _Parthva_, the Parthia of
+the classical writers; that most warlike and important nation having
+given its name to the language, just as the province of Pars has given
+the name to the language of modern Iran. The great difficulty in
+compiling such a dictionary as the present, apart from the
+unsatisfactory nature of the available texts, is that the alphabet is so
+very vague and confused. The language contains a very great number of
+sounds which the alphabet, borrowed from the Semitic, is incapable of
+expressing; the same letter, therefore, is often used for different
+sounds, and combinations of the various letters again often express
+simple sounds. This makes the arrangement very difficult, but the author
+of this work has adopted the only safe method, that of arranging the
+words according to the alphabetical order of the letters rather than in
+order of sounds. A table, in which the various combinations of the
+letters are explained, also much simplifies reference. The author has in
+all cases followed the traditional reading and interpretation of words,
+leaving to the more critical scholars of Europe the task of
+investigating them from a scientific point of view.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Dr. Haug's _Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the
+Parsis_ (Truebner's Oriental Series, 1878) is another most important
+contribution to comparative theology and philology. The nature of the
+doctrines of Zoroaster and the rites and ceremonies of the Magians had
+for centuries exercised the uninitiated. The earliest mention of them
+occurs in the Prophet Jeremiah (xxxix. 3), who speaks of the _rab mag_
+(chief of the Magi) as forming part of the retinue of Nebuchadnezzar at
+his entry into Jerusalem; Ezekiel calls the Persian king Cyrus (who
+professed the religion of the Magi) the "anointed of the Lord;" the New
+Testament speaks of Magi from the East--translated "wise men" in our
+version--as the first to pay homage to our Lord; and the old Persian
+language has supplied, through the New Testament also, the name
+Paradise, which is universally employed to represent heaven throughout
+the civilized world. Herodotus also mentions them, and testifies to the
+purity of their worship and their morals, and other Greek as well as
+Latin writers have treated at more or less length on the subject of the
+Magi. But these scattered and incomplete notices were all that scholars
+had until Hyde, the celebrated Oxford scholar, in 1700, collected all
+the ancient sources of information into a volume _Historia religionis
+veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum_. The original texts of the Zend
+Avesta, &c., however, of which some manuscripts had been brought to
+Europe, were still sealed books, and the Parsi priests in India and
+Persia strictly refrained from affording any information upon their
+contents. At length, in 1754, Anquetil Duperron, an enterprising
+Frenchman, undertook a journey to India with the express intention of
+procuring manuscripts and learning the Zend language, in both of which
+purposes he succeeded, and published ten years later the first known
+translation of the Zend Avesta. His work was by many scholars, Sir
+William Jones and Richardson, the Persian lexicographer, amongst the
+number, regarded as worthless, Richardson maintaining that the texts
+themselves were forgeries, while Sir William Jones endeavoured to prove
+that Anquetil had been the victim of priestly fraud and deception.
+Nearly a century later Eugene Burnouf, an eminent French Sanscrit
+scholar, proved his countryman's work to be genuine, corrected many of
+his faults, and placed the study on a sounder scientific basis. Others,
+especially German and Scandinavian _savants_, followed in the same path,
+forming, however, different schools of interpretation, until at last Dr.
+Martin Haug brought order into the confusion, and succeeded in bringing
+the study of Zend within the limits of exact philological science. The
+foundation of all these studies must of course necessarily be the
+traditional interpretation handed down by the Parsi priests, but this
+would have been comparatively useless without the investigation of
+European scholars. Many of the Avesta texts are furnished with Pahlavi
+translations and comments, but the Pahlavi itself was but imperfectly
+understood, and the whole subject was for a long time in hopeless
+confusion; the reader may, however, take up Dr. Haug's Essays with the
+full assurance that he has the most trustworthy account of the Parsis,
+their Scriptures, history, and religious rites, that can be now
+ascertained. Anything like a _resume_ of such a work would be out of
+place here, but we can cordially recommend it as, with all its recondite
+erudition, a most readable book.
+
+Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly, has published a romance in modern
+Arabic, entitled, _The Autobiography of the Constantinople
+Story-teller_, edited by Mr. J. Catafago, a well-known Arabic scholar,
+and said to be the work of an Englishman, Colonel Rous. It is
+principally as a curiosity of literature that it will be read, as it
+does not narrate any very novel or original adventures, and the style is
+very simple and unpretending. It, however, contains some clear and
+concise descriptions of many localities in the East which are but little
+known to the ordinary reader, and will be welcome to the student of
+Arabic as an easy text-book of the language.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Professor James Sanua, late of Cairo, is an enthusiastic politician and
+an original satirist. We have just received thirty numbers of an Arabic
+comic paper, written, illustrated, and published by him in Paris, and
+directed against the ex-Khedive of Egypt, whose misgovernment he
+mercilessly exposes, and whose deposition it was his avowed object to
+bring about. The editor, a native of Egypt, and a Copt by religion, was
+for many years engaged in tuition in some of the highest families of
+Cairo. Possessing a keen sense of humour and a great mastery over the
+Arabic language, he used to pass his evenings in improvising a sort of
+dramatic entertainment, in which he himself sustained all the
+characters, and in which he satirized the social foibles of his
+fellow-countrymen. The originality of his _seances_ soon attracted large
+audiences, and amongst the visitors and admirers were the Khedive and
+the princes of his family. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and
+Professor Sanua passed from mere social topics, and administered sound
+and severe castigations to his august visitor for his misgovernment and
+oppression of the fellaheen. This boldness drew down upon him the
+displeasure of Ismail Pasha, and Abu Naddara Zerka (the Father of Blue
+Spectacles), as he was nicknamed, found it convenient to withdraw to
+Paris, where he published his paper. It is written for the most part in
+the vulgar Egyptian dialect, and contains articles upon, and
+illustrations of, the principal events of the latter part of the reign
+of the deposed prince. The pictures, which are rude, but full of force,
+are explained in a French introduction, which is prefixed to the
+collected thirty numbers, and form a very interesting and curious record
+of modern Egyptian history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A new paper, literary and political, has just been advertised at
+Constantinople. It is to be written in the Arabic language, and edited
+by M. G. Dellal, a native of Aleppo, and an accomplished Arabic scholar
+and poet. Modern Arabic literature is exceedingly plentiful at the
+present time, and Beyrout has long been a centre of activity. Sheikh
+Nasyf el Yazji, who died some few years ago, gave a great impulse to the
+study of Arabic by his "Majma' el Bahrain," a book in imitation of the
+"Macamat" of Hariri, and containing in a small compass more information
+on the Arabs of the classical period, their customs, histories,
+proverbs, &c., than perhaps any other work. Dr. Butrus Bustani, of the
+same town, earned for himself a lasting name by his Arabic lexicon,
+"Muhit el Muhit," which has not only a native but a European reputation;
+and the same eminent scholar has established a press, from which have
+emanated many standard Arabic works, and numerous translations of
+valuable European works on science and history. A magazine entitled _El
+Jinan_, "The Garden of Paradise," is also published there fortnightly,
+and contains, besides political articles and general news, a great deal
+of interesting miscellaneous information. The last important publication
+of the "Matba' al Maarif," or "Scientific Press," as it is called, is an
+Encyclopaedia in the Arabic language, on the plan of the European
+Conversation-lexicons.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[105] The Sixth was never heard of after the massacre of its officers; a
+dozen men were enough for that work, and there are those still living
+who believe that the per-centage of traitors in its ranks was small. At
+Benares, too, the mess-guard held the mess-premises against all comers
+till the station was quiet, and then through sheer terror marched off
+without plunder.
+
+
+
+
+II.--CLASSICAL LITERATURE.
+
+(_Under the Direction of the_ Rev. Prebendary J. DAVIES, M.A.)
+
+
+One of the most useful volumes for classical students which has seen the
+light this year is the solid collection of _Specimens of Roman
+Literature, illustrative of Roman Thought and Style_, edited by Messrs.
+Cruttwell and Banton, of Bradfield College, and published by C. Griffin
+and Co. Mr. Cruttwell is creditably known for his compendious History of
+Roman Literature, and it is a happy afterthought of himself and his
+composition-master to supplement that manual by the present collection
+of extracts from Latin prose and poetry, designed as models for
+composition, samples to be learnt by rote, and exercises in unseen
+translation. The work contains above 900 passages, illustrative (1) of
+Roman thought in the fields of religion, philosophy, art, and letters;
+and (2) of Roman style, from the earliest date to the times of the
+Antonines. Edited of necessity, by reason of their bulk, sans note or
+comment, these selections are availably grouped in a preliminary
+synopsis, happily headed with descriptive and apposite English titles,
+and further adapted to English reference by an index of authors classed
+in their periods, and another of subjects and titles of passages. It is
+hard to conceive a completer or handier repertory of specimens of Latin
+thought and style, and it is but fair to add that no small proportion of
+the contents is comparatively novel and unhackneyed, a boon at the same
+time to the exhausted composition tutor and to the acquisition-seeking,
+wideawake pupil. For example, among descriptions selected in
+illustration of style, we come upon passages from Ennius, Pacuvius, and
+Accius, preserved in Cicero's De Divinatione and De Natura Deorum,
+followed by epigrams of those elder poets, Valerius OEdituus, Porcius
+Licinus, and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, embalmed in the antiquarian pages
+of Aulus Gellius. The literature of Roman agriculture is represented (Sec.Sec.
+31-4) by specimens of Varro de Re Rustica, directing how to choose the
+best oxen for draught, or slaves for farm work; how to make a duck-pond,
+or prepare a snail-bed; as well as of Columella and, of course, Virgil.
+Pliny's natural history is taxed largely for characteristic
+contributions: the letters of his nephew, as well as of Seneca and
+Cicero, for epistolary style, as well as for philosophy, religious
+views, and the like. Lucretius and Catullus are excellently represented:
+as in the field of Roman drama are Plautus and Terence, with fragments
+of elder playwrights. Nor is scant justice done to the purely Roman
+field of satire, as is seen in apt extracts from Horace, Juvenal, and
+Persius, whilst a happy selection is made of producible specimens of
+Petronius. Even Roman parody is not overlooked, nor yet an insight into
+Roman gastronomy. In fact, we know not where to turn for defaults in the
+presence of such assiduous and various compilations. Here and there may
+be detected careless printers' errors, such as _Tar_ for _Ter_. (the
+abbreviation of Terence); and it would have been neater to head the
+hortatory or suasory orations, illustrated in pp. 567-8, Sec.Sec. 73-5, with
+an English title, rather than to describe each in mingled and maimed
+speech as "a suasoria" (_i.e._, "suasoria oratio.") But the work is so
+calculated to be useful to scholars and editors that we must trust its
+value will be enhanced in future editions by the most careful revision.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A volume of somewhat kindred use and purpose, though of additional value
+as suggestive of a standard of translation indisputably sound and high,
+is the collection of _Translations_, by Professor Jebb, Mr. Jackson, and
+Mr. Currey, of Trinity, Cambridge, published by Deighton, Bell, & Co.,
+Cambridge, and George Bell & Sons, London, just a year ago. Its
+usefulness is enhanced by a fourfold applicability to the wants of
+translators into Greek and Latin, and out of those languages into
+English, whether in prose or poetry. The samples are, of course, limited
+considerably by the area of the field they cover, but they will be
+admitted to be amply sufficient for models and patterns, and no tiro, or
+even advanced student, can fail to be benefited by the variety,
+excellent choice, scholarly handling, brief but seasonable annotation,
+and general accommodation to student-use, of the selections which form
+the four divisions of this practical manual. The rule of "Ne quid nimis"
+has been sufficiently respected to forbid tedious reiteration of types
+of the same style, so that in Greek verse into English only three
+examples of Theocritus occur, one a sweet piece of idyllic description,
+a second illustrative of the mimes of Sophron, a third breathing the
+Alexandrian tone of poetic stimulus to the halting liberality of the
+would-be literary Ptolemies. The proportion of extracts from Homer and
+the dramatists is scarcely larger, and rather guides the reader to form
+a criterion of style for himself than helps him to be armed beforehand
+for passages which may be set in this or that examination. In
+translation the canon of accuracy and fidelity is tendered in preference
+to that of liveliness and effect, though it cannot be said that Messrs.
+Jebb and Jackson's translations from Plautus and Terence, or those of
+Jebb and Currey from Martial, Juvenal, and Ausonius, are deficient in
+the life and spirit suggested by the originals. As much may be said
+without controversy for the prose models in either language; nor is it
+to be lightly regarded that the aim of the editors has been to help
+classical students to train themselves in preparation for examination.
+Not to be prolix in notice of a volume which may be referred to again
+and again in our examination of texts and school-books to follow in our
+chronicle, it may be admissible to quote in Latin and English some six
+lines of Professor Jebb's translation from the Phormio (pp. 140-1) as a
+type of the neatness and spirit of the average of these translations.
+Phormio is explaining how, with all his ebullitions, he has never been
+indicted for assault:--
+
+    "Quia non rete accipitri tenditur neque miluo,
+    Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tenditur;
+    Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur.
+    Aliis aliunde est periclum unde aliquid abradi potest:
+    Mihi sciunt nihil esse. Dices, ducent damnatum domum:
+    Alere nolunt hominem edacem: et sapiunt, mea quidem sententia,
+    Pro maleficio si beneficium summum nolunt reddere."
+        _Phorm._, act. ii. 2.
+
+"Because we do not spread nets for hawks and kites that do us harm; the
+net is spread for the harmless birds. The fact is, pigeons may be
+plucked: hawks and kites mock our pains. Various dangers beset people
+who can be pilfered--I am known to have nothing. You will say, 'They
+will get a writ of _habeas corpus_.' They would rather not keep a large
+eater: and I certainly think they are right to decline requiting a bad
+turn with a signal favour."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From a summary notice of these two volumes of wider range and scope, it
+is an easy leap to such noteworthy classical translations and texts of
+the year or season as lie on our table for review. Of the former we note
+with satisfaction a new and very readable version of _The Letters of the
+Younger Pliny_, literally translated by John Delaware Lewis, M.A.
+(London: Trubner & Co., 1879), whose version of Juvenal's Satires some
+years back was accurate, lively, and well-achieved. In approaching
+another author of the silver age, well deserving of a more modern
+English transcript than those of Melmoth and Lord Orrery, Mr. Lewis has
+been minded to present this pleasantest of gossips, and most cultured of
+letter-writers, in a guise as little as possible encumbered with notes
+or excursions, and in such wise that the volume is admirably adapted for
+the library table, whether the object be comparison with the Latin text,
+or refreshment of the memory, anent this or that sentiment of the
+many-sided and voluminous man of law and letters. Under the conviction
+that enough has been done to present Pliny himself to his readers in the
+volumes by Church and Brodribb (in the Ancient Classics), and by
+Pritchard and Bernard, as well as the notices of life and letters by W.
+S. Teuffel and English bibliographers, Mr. Lewis has confined himself to
+the briefest of introductions, and been content to bestow most pains on
+apt and parallel English counterparts to the expressions and idioms of
+the Latin. Thus the task undertaken has been made to assume an easy,
+unaffected form, at the same time that it is calculated to stand close
+examination by the criterion of the Latin text. A good specimen both of
+the gossiping author and his latest translator might be cited from Book
+II. 6 to Avitus, in which is described the triple-graded dinner given by
+a shabby, purse-proud host (=a=) to himself and his intimates, (=b=) to
+his lesser friends, (=g=) to his freedmen at the same board, but of fare
+graduated according to degree. Pliny tells his correspondent that he
+demurred to this procedure to his next neighbour at table, and
+propounded his own practice on this wise: "I invite people to dine, not
+to be invidiously ticketed, and I treat as my entire equals in all
+respects those whom I have already made my equals by inviting them at my
+table." And this equality, for the time being, he extended to his
+freedmen, on the sensible point of view that they were then his guests,
+not his freedmen. In the same book (letter 15) occurs a letter of Pliny
+to Valerianus, brief enough for quotation, and yet expressing with
+lively brevity more than one home truth for those who realize Horace's
+sketch, "O si angulus iste proximus accedat." "How," he asks, "does your
+old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Are you pleased
+with the estate now that it is your own? Indeed, nothing is so agreeable
+when you have once got it, as it was when you longed to have it. As for
+me, the farms which I inherited from my mother treat me but so-so: yet
+they delight me as coming from my mother; and besides, long endurance
+has hardened me: constant growling comes to this at last, that one is
+ashamed to growl." Next but one to this letter comes one of those
+charming descriptions which are, _par excellence_, Pliny's _chefs
+d'oeuvre_, minutely detailing the features and attractions of his
+villas. These constitute to the young student so many _loci classici_,
+by no means to be overlooked in preparation for facing the test-paper of
+a scholarship examination, and it is sound counsel to candidates for
+such to avail themselves of a translation like Mr. Lewis's for general
+purposes, taking such letters as the one alluded to (II. xvii.) for
+special study and comparison with its original. Here, as elsewhere, Mr.
+Lewis adds pertinent and sensible notelets in cases of difficulty; but
+it is only fair to say _a propos_ of the, as he would seem to imply in
+his preface, long-since shelved translation of Melmoth, that in Bohn's
+Classical Library (George Bell & Sons) will be found a revision and
+correction of _The Letters of Caius Plinius Coecilius Secundus_, as
+translated by Melmoth, annotated and otherwise accommodated to modern
+reading by the Rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet, B.A., of Gonville and Caius
+College, Cambridge, which will be found in all respects excellently
+suited for the need of the current reader. Whilst here and there the
+style of Melmoth strikes us as forgetting itself for a brief space,
+where the modern editor has felt bound to interpose a more literal
+rendering, and in such cases it is simpler to refer to the uniform
+translation of Lewis, it is certainly a real boon to have the notes of
+Bosanquet's Melmoth's Pliny to consult, whether they represent the
+explanatory and illustrative labour of Melmoth, and his literary or
+antiquarian contemporaries, or the careful supplementary illustrations
+of his accommodator to modern eyes. So much explanation is due to one of
+the best recent volumes of Bohn's Classical Series (1878).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The feeling is more mixed with which we touch upon Mr. T. Hart Davies's
+_Translation of Catullus into English Verse_ (London: C. Kegan Paul &
+Co., 1879), the author of which is a quondam Oxonian in the Indian Civil
+Service. Fully persuaded that Catullus is very untranslatable, and that
+the subtle charm of his dainty versification evaporates, it is evidence
+alike of Mr. Hart Davies's courage and culture that, afar from classical
+libraries, he has recreated his mind and tastes with the reproduction of
+one of the most genuine classical poets; given us anew the touching
+songs to Lesbia, and the unequalled nuptial songs (lxi. and lxii.); and
+rendered with more or less success the pictorial epic, in petto, of the
+marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and the pathetic allusions to an
+early-lost brother in the poem to Hortalus. He deserves, too, the praise
+of having read carefully the recent literature of the subject, and
+guaged with creditable acuteness and discrimination the lucubrations of
+Professor R. Ellis, the criticisms of Mr. Munro, and the critical essays
+of Schwabe, Heyse, and Couat. He hesitates, however, it would seem, to
+accept Munro's well-sustained rehabilitation of Caesar and Mamurra (_a
+propos_ of Poem xxix. on Caesar), and in two or three passages seems to
+us to err in point of prolixity, which is as foreign as can be conceived
+to the style of his original, as well as, in one or two places, in
+misconception of his sense. In either aspect, he cannot be regarded as
+competing (which indeed he does not aspire to do) with Theodore Martin:
+but we cannot honestly say that we regard his version of the Atys as an
+improvement in readableness on that of one of the ablest of critics, but
+most puzzling and hopeless of verse-translators, Professor Robinson
+Ellis. Indeed, it is a question whether he has imported any improvement
+into the rendering of his Galliambics by adopting the Tennysonian rather
+than the Catullian rhythm and measure. Mr. Hart Davies is mostly happy
+in his shorter versions. The invitation to Caecilius is bright and brisk
+(p. 33): there is a touching sadness in the lines to Cornificius (p.
+35). The stanzas to the poet's self on the "Coming of Spring" (p. 43)
+breathe much of the tiptoe of expectation and love of adventure infused
+into the original lines. And as a neat sample of the translator's muse
+may be quoted the transcript of the "Lines to Sirmio," adequately
+executed, and endorsed with some of the original pathos and
+picturesqueness--
+
+    "Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be,
+      Or all peninsulas that ocean laves,
+    Whether around them roll the mighty sea,
+          Or a lake's placid waves.
+    Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view,
+      Returned from Thynia and Bithynia's plain!
+    I scarce can credit that the bliss is true
+          Thee to behold again.
+    Oh! what more blessed is than labours past!
+      In weary wanderings abroad we roam,
+    Then spent with toil we come again at last,
+          Seeking our rest at home.
+    This for our toils the sole reward is found,
+      Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere!
+    And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound,
+          Now is thy master here."
+
+Mr. Hart Davies's temporary exile has obviously the solace of
+scholarship.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If a wide divergence from the beaten track into fresh fields and
+pastures new be a merit, as it must be to jaded schoolmasters, if not to
+school-boys, some praise should be accorded to Mr. Heitland, a Fellow
+and Lecturer of St. John's, Cambridge, and his coadjutor, Mr. Raven, for
+having furnished the Pitt Press Series with so good an edition of that
+part of the _History of Quintus Curtius_, which relates to the Indian
+expedition of Alexander the Great. The subject, author, and hero are to
+modern readers novel and unhackneyed: and there is that suspicion of
+imperfect knowledge attaching to all three which sets the mind on the
+qui vive to acquire what is knowable about them. For such an undertaking
+no better guides could be needed. An introduction primes the student
+with the needful information (=a=) as to Curtius and his book; (=b=) as
+to Alexander's career; while Appendix D (187-9) supplements from Mr.
+Talboy Wheeler's "History of India from the Earliest Ages" the general
+and current information as to the plan of his Indian campaign. Anent the
+date and authorship of Curtius's history, it is shown to be the work of
+Q. Curtius Rufus, a rhetorician of the reign of Claudius, and referable
+to the silver age of Latin literature. His transparent imitation of Livy
+has suggested the not improbable supposition that he may have been even
+that historian's pupil, nor is it an impertinent criticism of the
+editors' that in common with that master Curtius seems to ignore the
+"high aims and farsightedness which give its grandeur to Alexander's
+character." The string of notable usages in Curtius's style, given in
+pp. 14-15, exhibits more than one palpable Livianism; and the use of
+poetical language bespeaks his attentive study of Virgil. Tiros will be
+comforted by hearing that "if Curtius is less pleasant to read than
+Livy, he is also less difficult." The criticisms of the editors on the
+grounds of his historical value at the revival period are interesting
+and perspicuous, and the special interest of the particular portion of
+history adopted as a specimen of the author needs no apology in a
+country where the reigning sovereign has the collateral title of Empress
+of India. Six chapters of the eighth Book bring the reader through the
+country west of the Indus to the bank of that river, its passage, and
+the ensuing battle on the eastern bank, with the defeat of the army of
+Porus; whilst the ninth Book embraces Alexander's advance through the
+Punjab, his operations in descending the Jhelam and Chenab, his descent
+of the Indus, and exploration of its mouth, with an account also of the
+homeward march; and the least that can be said of Messrs. Heitland and
+Raven's editorial work, whether critical or explanatory, is, that no
+difficulty of text is overlooked or imperfectly handled, no discrepancy,
+as comparing Curtius with parallel authorities, ignored. A test-passage,
+wherein to prove this statement, may be taken in the fourteenth chapter
+of the eighth Book, the battle between Alexander and Porus, which is
+described with unflagging care and zeal from first to last, the
+situations and details being compared, and, where possible, reconciled
+with Arrian, the poetical phrases characteristic of Curtius pointed out
+and illustrated, and the unusual words, _e.g., copidas_ ("choppers" like
+a Goorka knife, the =kopis= from the same root as =kopto=), clearly
+though succinctly explained. On Alexander's order to Coenus in Sec.Sec. 15 of
+the battle chapter, "ipse dextrum move et turbatis signa infer" (advance
+the right wing, &c.), an excellent note, for which Mr. Heitland
+undertakes the sole responsibility, accredits him, in our judgment, as a
+most sound historical commentator, by the exhaustiveness wherewith he
+reconciles Arrian and Curtius's view of Alexander's position and
+movements, and those of Coenus. The former with the main body took the
+Indian horse in flank, before they could change their front, and enabled
+Coenus to fall on what had been their front but was now their disordered
+flank: and as to the difficulty in the way of this explanation, that
+according to Arrian the war-chariots were in front of the Indian horse,
+it is justly deemed easier to conceive Coenus eluding these clumsy
+adversaries, than Alexander expecting him to see from the Macedonian
+left the right moment for his own charge, and then wheel round the whole
+Indian army, and execute his orders opportunely. With the same lucidity
+is the whole narrative commented on: and every geographical, historical,
+or military difficulty investigated, with a commendable eye both to
+ancient and modern references and authorities. Equally interesting, too,
+will be found the elucidations of questions of style, such as in viii.
+Sec.Sec. 10, where "igni _alita_ sepulchra" reveals a certainly post-Augustan
+but doubtfully Ciceronian form; or as in viii. 14 Sec.Sec. 41 the use of
+"malum" (plague take you) borrowed interjectionally from the comic poets
+and, as is shown in the notes ad loc., from Cicero De Off. ii. Sec.Sec. 53.
+Students, however, must search this volume minutely to understand aright
+the helps it affords to their just estimate of Quintus Curtius Rufus as
+a rhetorical moralist and historian, worthy of perusal in the wake of
+Livy and of Seneca. Maps, indices, and list of names, are given, which
+will be found of service.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For our next topic of criticism recourse must be had to Ciceronian
+Latin, and to the famous speech of Rome's greatest orator, which is
+generally reckoned the first of his public and political orations.
+Called in the MSS. the speech "De imperio Gnaei Pompeii" "apud Quirites"
+it is better known as the oration _pro lege Manilia_, and because there
+is no compendious school edition of this speech, apart from others of
+the same orator in the hands of English school-boys, Professor Wilkins,
+of Owens College, has judiciously undertaken to prepare an edition of
+it, with the cognizance, sanction, and assistance of Karl Halm, of
+Munich, and his smaller edition for English students. The English
+professor's name is a sufficient earnest of his work's thoroughness, and
+though it might be matter of doubt whether his historical introduction
+of over forty pages is not unnecessarily circumstantial (we note that in
+Chambers' preface to the same oration in the "Ciceronis Selectae
+Orationes," 1849, of their Educational Course, it is limited to two), it
+must be admitted that a complete preliminary summary has the result of
+shortening afterwork by admitting of copious references to it in the
+notes in place of explanation. Such is certainly the case with Mr.
+Wilkins's present task (_M. Tullii Ciceronis De Imperio Gnoei Pompeii
+Oratio ad Quirites_, by A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin in the
+Owens College, Manchester. London: Macmillan & Co., 1879), where the
+introduction traces consecutively the career and campaigns and varying
+fortunes of Mithridates, during over twenty years, through his struggles
+with Lucullus, and his easy resistance to Acilius Glabrio, down to the
+period when the tribune Manilius proposed a Bill to commit the conduct
+and consummation of the war to the then favourite of fortune, Pompey
+the Great. Against this Bill were arrayed the Moderate Republicans, and
+the talents of the orator Hortensius, whilst on behalf of it spoke
+Julius Caesar, either with an eye to a future precedent in his own case,
+or perhaps to create a reaction. It is probable, however, that the
+masterly eloquence of Cicero in defence of the Bill, and his exhaustive
+demonstration of Pompey's fitness for the supreme command against
+Mithridates, were the causes of the general and irresistible acceptance
+of the Manilian proposal. As Mr. Wilkins notes at the close of his
+introduction, this speech contains the best example from antiquity of
+the regular arrangement of a speech of the deliberate class, while the
+third section of the argument presents a model of demonstrative oratory
+scarcely paralleled in the days of the Republic, except in the funeral
+orations. As has been already remarked, the fulness of Professor
+Wilkins's introduction tends to disencumber his commentary and its notes
+of digressive and indirect matter; and the result is highly favourable
+to the due mastery of the sense and gist of the oration by the patient
+student. Every passage has its critical difficulties explained; every
+uncommon construction or use of a word is noted; every antithesis is
+pointed out by the observant editor. In the first class may be instanced
+the use in c. ii. of _vectigalibus_ in the masculine gender for
+_tributaries_, which has its parallel in Sec. 45; in the third the contrast
+in c. iii., between "In Asiae luce h.e," "in the foreground of Asia,"
+_lux_ being used of what is present to the eyes of all, and open to
+extensive commerce, as opposed to "_Ponti latebris_," as the
+hiding-place of Mithridates is termed just before. In the same chapter
+there is an antithesis, as is well shown in the description of past
+generals having carried off _insignia victoriae, non victoriam_, "only
+triumphs, not a victory;" and as a sample of other notes dealing with
+fiscal duties and such like, we may notice those in c. vi., on "ubertate
+agrorum" "magnitudine pastionis," and the sources of revenue farmed by
+the "publicani." In the same passage _scriptura_ is the "rent for
+pasturage," and _custodiis_ (Sec. 16) = "coastguard posts, to prevent
+vessel unloading unless at the emporia where there were custom-houses."
+For _publicanis omissis_, a despaired-of reading in c. vii. Sec. 18, the
+editor adopts the conjecture _publicanorum bonis_ or _fortunis amissis_;
+and indeed seldom fails in the likeliest cure for a corrupt word or
+text. Incidentally he is rich in rules for orthography, as where on "tot
+milibus" he cites Lachmann (Lucret. i. 313) for the use of the single
+_l_ where a long _i_ is followed by a short one in the next syllable;
+nor does he fail to note any memorable change of construction, _e.g._,
+where in c. xiii. in the sentence, "_Hiemis_ enim non _avaritiae_
+perfagium majores nostri in sociorum atque amicorum tectis esse
+voluerunt," we have a change from the objective to the subjective
+genitive, "a refuge _from_ the winter, not _for_ avarice." But enough
+has been said to signify the merit of this handbook; and we must deal
+more briefly with such other Latin volumes as are still on our list.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among these perhaps Mr. Reid's Laelius (_M. Tullii Ciceronis Laelius de
+Amicitia_, by James S. Reid, M.L.: Cambridge University Press, 1879) is
+the most notable, an edition based mainly on Seyffert's elaborate
+edition, yet evidently strengthened by seasonable comparison with the
+best German editions. Mr. Reid disowns acquaintance with any English
+edition of the Laelius, having only heard of that of Mr. Arthur Sidgwick,
+when his own was far advanced through the press. The object and purpose
+of the edition is twofold, viz. (1) elucidation of the subject-matter
+and comparison of the editor's own conclusions touching it with those of
+other editing scholars; and (2) a thorough elucidation of the Latinity
+of the dialogue, a task to which all who are cognizant of his edition of
+Cicero's speeches for Archias and for Balbus will admit his eminent
+fitness. A fourfold introduction summarises the salient points of
+Cicero, as a writer of philosophy; the scope of this treatise on
+"Friendship:" the structure, personages, and other circumstances of the
+dialogue, and a quasi-dramatic analysis of the same. It will be found
+that Cicero, whilst having no sympathy with the Epicurean philosophy of
+his day, sided mainly with the Peripatetics, though inclining in a few
+points of detail to the Stoics. An instructive disquisition on the
+sources of the dialogue opens out various clues to inquiring students,
+and suggests particularly minuter testing of the question how far Cicero
+directly imitated Plato's Lysis, which is perhaps more probable than
+that he used for it the Nicomachean Ethics, although, in form, beyond a
+doubt the Laelius is more Aristotelian than Platonic. The "mitis
+sapientia Laeli" in the dialogue stands out in contrast with the genial
+learning of Mucius Scaevola and the severer cultivation of Gaius Fannius.
+An interesting passage in the dialogue is that in which Laelius states a
+question relating to friendship, in which he was to some extent at issue
+with Scipio, viz., the difficulty of friendship enduring a whole
+lifetime. Scipio held the negative view, and Laelius demurred to it, and
+in c. x., xi., &c., the occurrences which tend to break off friendship
+are enumerated. In the tenth chapter are to be found two or three very
+apt elucidations of the text, such as that on the construction of
+"contentione condicionis," and the sense of condicio (not "conditio") in
+Sec. 34, but one note (16) on "optimis quibusque" stands out as a sample of
+exhaustive criticism. The argument of Laelius is that there is no greater
+curse in friendships than, in the run of men, the desire of money; in
+the best, the desire of honour and glory: "in optimis quibusque honoris
+certamen et gloria." Let us see how Mr. Reid examines this last clause,
+which he compares with the sentiment, "optimus quisque gloria maxime
+ducitur," in the oration for Archias. The best authors, it is shown, use
+only the _neuter_ plural of _quisque_, and that with a superlative; Cic.
+Fam. vii. 33, where we have "literas longissimas quasque," being
+exceptional, because literae, "an epistle," has no singular. Mr. Reid
+instances, indeed, from the De Officiis ii. 75, "Leges et proximae quaeque
+duriores," but only to propose an emendation to a senseless reading,
+viz., "Leges, et proxima quaeque"--_i.e._, "laws, and harsher each of
+them than its predecessor." In the present case, he adds, "quibusque"
+may be used for =hekastois= in the sense of "each set of people," or the
+plural may be due merely to assimilation with "plerisque." In a note on
+the difficult passage, p. 41, "et minime tum quidem Gaius frater, nunc
+idem acerrimus," Mr. Reid, rightly, it should seem, adopts the
+interpretation of Madvig, Opusc., 2, 281, that _minime_ qualifies _acer_
+to be supplied from "acerrimus." This sample of interpretational tact
+must suffice from a copious inventory; and with reference to helpful
+elucidation of matter and illustration of proper names, quotations,
+adagia, and what not, it need only be said that it is in this edition
+always sound and seasonable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For the same employers, the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Mr. A. G.
+Peskett, M.A., of Magdalen College, has carefully edited the fourth and
+fifth books of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, _Gai Juli Caesaris
+De Bello Gallico Commentariorum, IV. V._ (Cambridge University Press,
+1879), with a helpful commentary derived from study of German and
+English editors, and speculations on the topographical, geographical,
+and astronomical problems involved in Caesar's account. These books, it
+will be remembered, contain _inter alia_ the description of Caesar's
+Bridge over the Rhine, his preparations for invading Britain, his first
+somewhat abortive attempts, and then, after a winter in Italy and
+Illyricum, his maturer arrangements, and landing--not without damage to
+his fleet--on the shore of Britain. The second of these campaigns
+embraces the narrative of the treachery of Ambiorix and the utter defeat
+of the Romans, v. 36-7. In the fourth book, one of the most interesting
+problems is the construction of Caesar's Rhine Bridge, c. 17; whether
+Caesar's method of strengthening the four bearing piles with their
+transverse beams was (as Kraner and Heller practically agree) by four
+fibulae at each junction of the beam with the piles (eight in all), or,
+as Cohausen believes, by two fibulae at each end, one serving instead of
+cross-piece c, in fig. 1, for the beam to rest upon. Napoleon's view of
+the fibulaae, given in fig. 4, p. 63, is far less tenable, and the most
+reasonable view is that of Heller. In c. 36, Book V., note, we have good
+examples of the actual words of Ambiorix to Titurius, as they may be
+gathered from the _oratio obliqua_ in which the historian casts them. In
+c. 37, it should seem that the reading _lapsi_ has less likelihood,
+though better authority, than "elapsi," and Napoleon's identification of
+the site of the battle is shown to be accurate, in a note discussing the
+topography of Tongres, the Geer, and the village of Lowaige. From a
+cursory examination of this edition of two interesting books of Caesar's
+Gallic War we should be disposed to congratulate the young student of
+intelligence, into whose hands a volume at once so helpful and so lucid
+may fall. There remains on our list only one Latin volume, the third
+part of Professor Mayor's Juvenal for Schools, containing Satires X. and
+XI. But this, as well as a batch of recent editions of Greek plays and
+Greek authors, such as Xenophon, Lucian, &c., must be postponed until
+another time.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III.--ESSAYS, NOVELS, POETRY, &c.
+
+(_Under the Direction of_ MATTHEW BROWNE.)
+
+
+In referring to two more of Messrs. Macmillan and Co.'s _English Men of
+Letters_ we shall reproduce, reckless of the charge of "damnable
+iteration," the charge we have made before. Here is _Burke_, by Mr. John
+Morley, and _Hume_, by Professor Huxley, each volume containing over two
+hundred close pages; and most admirable volumes they are. But let us
+turn again to the prospectus and note its language: "These Short Books
+are addressed to the general public with a view both of stirring and
+satisfying an interest in literature and its great topics in the minds
+of those who have to run as they read." This language is both wide and
+careful; the old metaphor may be read more or less loosely, of course;
+and it may be said that those who care much for Burke and Hume must be
+provided for in the series, and that the writers who deal with them have
+treated their topics as pleasantly as may be. We do not deny this, and
+the little volumes are substantial additions to the literature of the
+day. But they are not for readers who have to run with their books in
+their hand.
+
+Mr. John Morley's estimate of Burke is known to us all, and it is what
+might be expected. As a philosophical politician, and as a speculative
+writer in general, Burke, of course, pleases Mr. Morley by the positive
+tendencies of his mind. We are pleased to see that he assigns its due
+rank to the too often underrated Inquiry about the Sublime and
+Beautiful. But Mr. Morley has perhaps the fault which Sterne told his
+friend the Count belonged especially to the French; he is "too serious."
+Of course, Burke is a great man, and one must not cut jokes in a memoir
+of him--at least one must not if one can't. But it is quite certain
+Sydney Smith would have done it; and there are many ways in which a page
+may be lit up. Well worth notice, as an amusing touch, was that passage
+in the Inquiry in which Burke speaks deprecatingly of Bunyan, because he
+did not write like Virgil, and though the present work "is biographical
+rather than critical," we miss a number of amusing anecdotes. This may
+be the result of literary fastidiousness on Mr. Morley's part, but, if
+so, we submit that the fastidiousness is carried too far. There is a
+little story that some one (we forget the name at the moment) who had
+lost largely by investing in some West Indian property, alleged that he
+had been induced to invest by Burke's glowing descriptions of the
+country, and that Burke replied, "Ods boddikins! must one swear to the
+truth of a song?"--or in very similar language. Now this is really
+illustrative. We can by no means agree with Mr. Morley that Burke was
+free from the vicious tendencies of the rhetorician, not to say the
+rhetorical Celt. He had the Celtic leaning towards forlorn hopes, and
+the Celtic want of truthfulness. Of course, the Dr. Richard Price, who
+is so contemptuously treated in the "Reflections," was a much smaller
+man than Burke, but he had more love of truth and more capacity of
+adhering to principle in his little finger than Burke had in his whole
+nature. Mr. John Morley does his friendly and ingeniously reticent best
+for him; but students who reject the "positive" method (except as an
+auxiliary or a check) will persist in thinking that the painful tangles
+of the great man's life, and the blind alleys and other faults of his
+writings, were the result of his deficiency on the side of truthfulness.
+It will be doing anything but injustice to Burke, Mr. Morley, or the
+reader, if we call particular attention to p. 173 and so on to p. 177
+inclusive. They give a bird's-eye view of the most important part of the
+subject; they contain instructive comparisons between Burke, Sir Thomas
+More, and Turgot: and they seem to us to contain large proof in small
+compass of what Mr. Morley will of course not admit--namely, Burke's
+want of love for the truth, and his incapacity for abstract speculation.
+
+As a reasoned account of the life and writings of the subject of the
+book, Professor Huxley's _Hume_ is one of the very best of the
+series--we were going to pronounce it the best, but remembered in good
+time that we had not seen them all. In any case it is excellent. It does
+not seem to us that Hume's "Description of the Will" is grammatically
+open to the criticism on p. 181. But comment like this would be useless
+unless we gave the reader an opportunity of judging. This is Hume's
+"description of the Will," as quoted by Professor Huxley:--
+
+    "Of all the immediate effects of pain and pleasure there is none
+    more remarkable than the _will_; and though, properly speaking, it
+    be not comprehended among the passions, yet as the full
+    understanding of its nature and properties is necessary to the
+    explanation of them, we shall here make it the subject of our
+    inquiry. I desire it may be observed that, by the _will_, I mean
+    nothing but _the internal impression we feel and are conscious of,
+    when we knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new
+    perception of our mind_. This impression, like the preceding ones of
+    pride and humility, love and hatred, it is impossible to define, and
+    needless to describe any further."--(ii. p. 150.)
+
+And this is Professor Huxley's comment:--
+
+    "This description of a volition may be criticized on various
+    grounds. More especially does it seem defective in restricting the
+    term "will" to that feeling which arises when we act, or appear to
+    act, as causes: for one may will to strike, without striking; or to
+    think of something which we have forgotten."
+
+But is not this met by the last six of the words which Professor Huxley
+has italicised? They are certainly very wide, and one might ask, in
+addition, what word of absolute "restriction" is employed by Hume in
+this passage? He indicates what he means by the word "Will," by saying
+that it is what we are conscious of upon certain occasions, and this
+gives a clue to the quality of the sensation; but it was obvious, and
+did not need saying, that the quality of the sensation might remain,
+though its complete outcome were baulked.
+
+In presenting and criticizing Hume's views upon such topics as Theism,
+Immortality and Miracles, Necessary Truth, &c., Professor Huxley is, so
+far as we have discovered, both accurate and candid. It is only
+necessary to suggest that the reader should keep his eyes open--for
+there is really not one new word to be written upon these matters.
+
+It is not often that you are told what a man died of. You are put off
+with some such phrase as "a painful malady," or a "family complaint."
+Yet, it is often just what we desire to know, because the illness from
+which a man suffers stands in direct relation to his power of work and
+his capacity of endurance. Consumption, except in its later stage, is
+not usually painful. Nor does it necessarily make work difficult. The
+same may be said of maladies which come on paroxysmally, and leave those
+blessed intervals of ease of which Paley, himself a sufferer, writes
+with such unaccustomed tenderness. In the _Gibbon_ of this series, Mr.
+Morison slurred over the very curious, perhaps unexampled fact, that
+Gibbon had long concealed a bad hernia and had done nothing for it. It
+finally killed him, but that with his amazing corpulence he could live a
+long time with a serious rupture, and keep his general health and his
+placidity, is very interesting. Professor Huxley tells us point-blank
+what Hume died of, and it is quite as well for biographers to be
+specific in such matters. We may just inquire, in passing, where the
+Professor got his "_solid_ certainty of waking bliss"? It seems pedantic
+to notice every trifle of this sort, but if small errors in quotation
+were, so to speak, nipped in the bud, many logomachics would be saved.
+How much discussion, in pulpits and out of them, has been wasted upon
+the supposition that Pope wrote that "an honest man's the _noblest_ work
+of God." Whereas Pope wrote "noble," and it was Burns, in the "Cotter's
+Saturday Night," who started the error. Now "solid" is as good sense as
+"sober," but the latter is what suits the verse best, and it is what
+Milton made Comus say.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The "run" upon Dante continues. Here is _Dante: Six Sermons_, by Philip
+H. Wicksteed, M.A. (C. Kegan Paul & Co.) "In allowing," says Mr.
+Wicksteed--
+
+    "the publication of this little volume, my only thought is to let it
+    take its chance with other fugitive productions of the pulpit that
+    appeal to the press as a means of widening the possible area rather
+    than extending the period over which the preacher's voice may
+    extend; and my only justification is the hope that it may here and
+    there reach hands to which no more adequate treatment of the subject
+    was likely to find its way."
+
+The sermons were delivered first at Little Portland Street Chapel, where
+Mr. Wicksteed succeeded Dr. Martineau, and afterwards at the Free
+Christian Church at Croydon, where the Rev. Rodolph R. Suffield formerly
+preached, but where the Rev. E. M. Geldart is now (we believe) the
+minister. The book contains only about 160 pages, and gives a very
+readable and complete account both of Dante and his poetry. The style is
+that of the pulpit, iterative, florid, and full of amplifications; but
+that was natural. It is a serious matter, however, that the author keeps
+up his strain of eulogy from end to end at a pitch which has an almost
+_falsetto_ sound with it. It seems hardly fair to leave unnoticed the
+charges of artificiality and worse which have been abundantly made
+against Dante and his poetry, especially as this book is intended for
+popular use; and it is a pity that Mr. Wicksteed should go out of his
+way to settle difficult questions in this off-hand way:--
+
+    "It is often held and taught, that a strong and definite didactic
+    purpose must inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art,
+    must clip the wings of poetic imagination, distort the symmetry of
+    poetic sympathy, and substitute hard and angular contrasts for the
+    melting grace of those curved lines of beauty which pass one into
+    the other. Had Dante never lived, I know not where we should turn
+    for the decisive refutation of this thought; but in Dante it is
+    the very combination said to be impossible that inspires and
+    enthrals us. A perfect artist guided in the exercise of his art by
+    an unflagging intensity of moral purpose; a prophet, submitting
+    his inspirations"--
+
+and so forth, in the same strained and insistent key. But no wise critic
+has ever said that "a strong and definite didactic purpose must
+inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art." What is maintained on
+_that_ side of the debate is that the "purpose" must not be permitted to
+shape the poem; that the poem itself must be moulded upon lines of
+beauty and not of "moral purpose"--though the "moral purpose" may be
+immanent in the work. But who is bound to take Mr. Wicksteed's word for
+the statement that Dante's great poem is not the very strongest
+confirmation in all literature of the truth that a _controlling_ and
+_interfering_ moral purpose injures a poem, Milton's "Paradise Lost"
+being the next strongest?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A well-known, and also imperfectly known, "nook in the Apennines" is the
+Republic of San Marino, about which there is a good deal of information
+in _A Freak of Freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino_, by J. Theodore
+Bent (Longman, Green & Co.) It appears to be partly the record of a
+visit paid by the author to the spot in 1877, and is illustrated by
+fifteen woodcuts from the author's own drawings, to say nothing of a
+map. Mr. Bent was presented with the freedom of the Republic, and we do
+not know that any one, except another citizen of it, or some near
+neighbour, could criticize his little book to much advantage. But we
+trust he will permit us to remark that he might have made his work more
+amusing and instructive. There is a good deal about the place in
+Addison, and this is referred to (among other interesting matters) in an
+article in Knight's "Penny Magazine" for May 31st, 1834. But, though we
+have not time to make references, we have a strong impression that there
+are many descriptions, new and old, of San Marino, which it would have
+been refreshing to quote. We know, however, of no work which gives so
+much information as Mr. Bent's.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It might be the subject of a very plausible doubt whether French novels
+of a high order ought to be translated into English, since those who are
+really capable of understanding and enjoying them will be certain to
+understand French, and since, moreover, the finest qualities of the
+writing must disappear in the process of translation. Then, with regard
+to French novels of a much lower class, they are not worth the trouble
+of turning into English; are more likely in themselves to do harm than
+good; and their reproduction in our language cannot tend to encourage
+"native talent." We have before us, from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston,
+Searle, & Rivington, _The Cat and Battledore, and other Tales_, by
+Honore de Balzac, translated into English by Philip Kent, B.A. (3 vols.)
+Perhaps it was not a bad idea to give the merely English reader some
+chance of appreciating the extraordinary qualities of the author of "Le
+Pere Goriot," "Le Peau de Chagrin," and "La Recherche de l'Absolu"
+(neither of which is, the general reader may be told, in this
+collection): but Balzac is not a writer with a soul in him, and the
+experiment need not be carried any further. Those who know nothing of
+Balzac, and who read novels simply for excitement, will be glad of these
+three volumes, and the glimpse they give of an unique writer; but to
+studious readers Balzac's novels have an interest which is mainly
+psychological. The preface (here translated) to the "Comedie Humaine" is
+a strange presumptuous medley, which raises, like all the author's most
+characteristic works, the question of perfect sanity--a question which
+Mr. Leslie Stephen once opened very acutely, and dismissed too curtly.
+To have read through a story of Balzac's is to have passed through one
+of those wonderfully vivid dreams which leave you puzzled and lost at
+the moment of awaking. It seems to be generally admitted that his
+writings do not tend to make his readers "immoral" in the usual sense of
+the adjective, but there is something ineffably droll in his patronage
+of "Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity," and that defence of
+his own writings which the reader may amuse himself by studying in the
+preface. He is not only conservative, he is monarchical, and objects to
+representative Government, if it "hands us over to the rule of the
+masses." But what chiefly concerns those who buy novels, or send for
+them to the libraries, is the quality of the stories, and they may
+depend upon getting a full measure of excitement, with some instruction,
+out of "La Maison du Chat qui pelote" and the companion stories.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36,
+October 1879, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 ***
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