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diff --git a/40590-8.txt b/40590-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5d11e00..0000000 --- a/40590-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11277 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's A Century of Science and Other Essays, by John Fiske - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: A Century of Science and Other Essays - -Author: John Fiske - -Release Date: August 27, 2012 [EBook #40590] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CENTURY OF SCIENCE *** - - - - -Produced by David Garcia, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, -Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) - - - - - - - -A CENTURY OF SCIENCE - -And Other Essays - -BY - -JOHN FISKE - - _Out of the shadows of night - The world rolls into light: - It is daybreak everywhere._ - - LONGFELLOW. - - -BOSTON AND NEW YORK -HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY -The Riverside Press, Cambridge -1899 - - -COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY JOHN FISKE -ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - - - -DEDICATORY EPISTLE TO THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY, - -PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE KEIO GIJUKU, AT TOKYO. - - -DEAR TOM,--It has long been my wish to make you the patron saint or -tutelar divinity of some book of mine, and it has lately occurred to me -that it ought to be a book of the desultory and chatty sort that would -remind you, in your present exile at the world's eastern rim, of the -many quiet evenings of old, when, over a tankard of mellow October and -pipe of fragrant Virginia, while Yule logs crackled blithely and the -music of pattering sleet was upon the window-pane, we used to roam in -fancy through the universe and give free utterance to such thoughts, -sedate or frivolous, as seemed to us good. I dare say the present volume -may serve as an epitome of many such old-time sessions of sweet -discourse, which I trust we shall by and by repeat and renew. - -But there is one link of association which in my mind especially -connects you with the present occasion. My theory of the causes and -effects of the prolongation of human infancy, with reference to the -evolution of man, was first published in the "North American Review" for -October, 1873, when you were the editor of that periodical. The article, -which was entitled "The Progress from Brute to Man," was made up of two -chapters of my "Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy" (part ii. chaps, xxi., -xxii.), which was published a year later, in October, 1874. The value of -the theory therein set forth was at once recognized by many leading -naturalists. In the address of Vice-President Edward Morse, before the -American Association, at its meeting at Buffalo in 1876, my theory -receives extended notice as one of the most important contributions yet -made to the Doctrine of Evolution; and it is declared that I have given -"for the first time a rational explanation of the origin and persistence -of family relations, and thence communal [_i. e._, clan] relations, and, -finally, of society."[1] - -Uncontrollable circumstances have prevented my giving to the further -elaboration of this infancy theory the time and attention which it -deserves and demands; but in my little book, "The Destiny of Man," -published in 1884, I gave a popular exposition of it which has made it -widely known in all English-speaking countries and on the continent of -Europe, as well as among your worthy Japanese neighbours, Tom, who have -done me the honour to translate some of my books into their vernacular. -The theory has become still further popularized through having furnished -the starting-point for some of the most characteristic speculations of -the late Henry Drummond. In these and other ways my infancy theory has -so far entered into the current thoughts of the present age that people -have (naturally enough) begun to forget with whom it originated. For -example, in the recent book, "Through Nature to God," while criticising -a remark of Huxley's, I found it desirable to make a restatement of the -infancy theory; whereupon a friendly reviewer, referring to that -particular part of the book, observes that "of course" it makes no -pretensions to originality, but is simply my lucid summary of -speculations with which every reader of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, -Romanes, and Drummond is familiar! In point of fact, not the faintest -suggestion of this infancy theory can be found in all the writings of -Darwin, Huxley, and Romanes. In Spencer's "Sociology," vol. i. p. 630, -it is briefly mentioned with approval as an important contribution -originating with me; and in Drummond's "Ascent of Man," which is really -built upon it, credit is cordially given me.[2] - -Indeed, down to the present time, I have been left almost in exclusive -possession of that area of speculation which is occupied with the -genesis of Man as connected with that prolongation of infancy which -first began to become conspicuous in the manlike apes. There are many -who assent to what I have put forth, but few who seem inclined to enter -that difficult field on the marchland between biology, psychology, and -sociology. Doubtless this is because the attention of the scientific -world has for forty years been absorbed in the more general questions -concerning the competency of natural selection, the causes of variation, -the agencies alleged by Lamarck, and in these latter days Weismannism, -etc. In course of time, however, the more special problems connected -with man's genesis will surely come uppermost, and then we may hope to -see the causes of the lengthening of infancy investigated by thinkers -duly conversant alike with psychology and embryology. - -Questions of priority in originating new theories may not greatly -interest the general reader, but you and I feel interested in preventing -any misconception in the present case; and it was thus that the careless -remark of the friendly reviewer led me to insert in the present volume -the shorthand report of some autobiographical remarks on the infancy -theory. In reading the proof-sheets I have noticed that the book -contains elsewhere many allusions to personal experiences. This feature, -which was quite unforeseen, will not fail to commend it all the more -strongly to you, my ancient friend and comrade. As for readers in -general, I may best conclude in the words of old Aaron Rathbone, whose -book entitled "The Surveyor" was dated "from my lodging at the house of -M. Roger Bvrgis, against Salisburie-house-gate, in the Strand, this sixt -of Nouember, 1616." This wise and placid philosopher saith: "To perswade -the courteous were causelesse, for they are naturally kind; and to -diswade the captious were bootless, for they will not be diverted. Let -the first make true vse of these my labours, and they shall find -pleasure and profit therein; let the last (if they like not) leave it, -and it shall not offend them." - -Wherefore let me, without further ado, subscribe myself, - -Ever yours, -JOHN FISKE. - -CAMBRIDGE, _October 25, 1899_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - -I. A CENTURY OF SCIENCE 1 - -II. THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION: ITS SCOPE AND PURPORT 39 - -III. EDWARD LIVINGSTON YOUMANS 64 - -IV. THE PART PLAYED BY INFANCY IN THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 100 - -V. THE ORIGINS OF LIBERAL THOUGHT IN AMERICA 122 - -VI. SIR HARRY VANE 154 - -VII. THE ARBITRATION TREATY 166 - -VIII. FRANCIS PARKMAN 194 - -IX. EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN 265 - -X. CAMBRIDGE AS VILLAGE AND CITY 286 - -XI. A HARVEST OF IRISH FOLK-LORE 319 - -XII. GUESSING AT HALF AND MULTIPLYING BY TWO 333 - -XIII. FORTY YEARS OF BACON-SHAKESPEARE FOLLY 350 - -XIV. SOME CRANKS AND THEIR CROTCHETS 405 - -NOTE 461 - -INDEX 467 - - - - -A CENTURY OF SCIENCE - - - - -I - -A CENTURY OF SCIENCE[3] - - -In the course of the year 1774 Dr. Priestley found that by heating red -precipitate, or what we now call red oxide of mercury, a gas was -obtained, which he called "dephlogisticated air," or, in other words, -air deprived of phlogiston, and therefore incombustible. This -incombustible air was _oxygen_, and such was man's first introduction to -the mighty element that makes one fifth of the atmosphere in volume and -eight ninths of the ocean by weight, besides forming one half of the -earth's solid crust, and supporting all fire and all life. I know of -nothing which can reveal to us with such startling vividness the extent -of the gulf which the human mind has traversed within little more than a -hundred years. It is scarcely possible to put ourselves back into the -frame of mind in which oxygen was unknown, and no man could tell what -takes place when a log of wood is burned on the hearth. The language -employed by Dr. Priestley carries us back to the time when chemistry was -beginning to emerge from alchemy. It was Newton's contemporary, Stahl, -who invented the doctrine of phlogiston in order to account for -combustion. Stahl supposed that all combustible substances contain a -common element, or fire principle, which he called phlogiston, and which -escapes in the process of combustion. Indeed, the act of combustion was -supposed to consist in the escape of phlogiston. Whither this mysterious -fire principle betook itself, after severing its connection with visible -matter, was not too clearly indicated, but of course it was to that -limbo far larger than purgatory, the oubliette wherein have perished -men's unsuccessful guesses at truth. Stahl's theory, however, marked a -great advance upon what had gone before, inasmuch as it stated the case -in such a way as to admit of direct refutation. Little use was made of -the balance in those days, but when it was observed that zinc and lead -and sundry other substances grow heavier in burning, it seemed hardly -correct to suppose that anything had escaped from these substances. To -this objection the friends of the fire principle replied that -phlogiston might weigh less than nothing, or, in other words, might be -endowed with a positive attribute of levity, so that to subtract it from -a body would increase the weight of the body. This was a truly shifty -method of reasoning, in which your phlogiston, with its plus sign to-day -and its minus sign to-morrow, exhibited a skill in facing both ways like -that of an American candidate for public office. - -Into the structure of false science that had been reared upon these -misconceptions Dr. Priestley's discovery of oxygen came like a -bombshell. As in so many other like cases, the discovery was destined to -come at about that time; it was made again three years afterward by the -Swedish chemist Scheele, without knowing what Priestley had done. The -study of oxygen soon pointed to the conclusion that, whatever may escape -during combustion, oxygen is always united with the burning substance. -Then came Lavoisier with his balance, and proved that whenever a thing -burns it combines with Priestley's oxygen, and the weight of the -resulting product is equal to the weight of the substance burned plus -the weight of oxygen abstracted from the air. Thus combustion is simply -union with oxygen, and nothing escapes. No room was left for phlogiston. -Men's thoughts were dephlogisticated from that time forth. The balance -became the ruling instrument of chemistry. One further step led to the -generalization that in all chemical changes there is no such thing as -increase or diminution, but only substitution, and upon this fundamental -truth of the indestructibility of matter all modern chemistry rests. - -When we look at the stupendous edifice of science that has been reared -upon this basis, when we consider the almost limitless sweep of -inorganic and organic chemistry, the myriad applications to the arts, -the depth to which we have been enabled to penetrate into the innermost -proclivities of matter, it seems almost incredible that a single century -can have witnessed so much achievement. We must admit the fact, but our -minds cannot take it in; we are staggered by it. One thing stands out -prominently, as we contrast this rapid and coherent progress with the -barrenness of ancient alchemy and the chaotic fumbling of the Stahl -period: we see the importance of untrammelled inquiry, and of sound -methods of investigation which admit of verification at every step. That -humble instrument the balance, working in the service of sovereign law, -has been a beneficent Jinni unlocking the portals of many a chamber -wherein may be heard the secret harmonies of the world. - -It is not only in chemistry, however, that the marvellous advance of -science has been exhibited. In all directions the quantity of -achievement has been so marked that it is worth our while to take a -brief general survey of the whole, to see if haply we may seize upon the -fundamental characteristics of this great progress. In the first place, -a glance at astronomy will show us how much our knowledge of the world -has enlarged in space since the day when Priestley set free his -dephlogisticated air. - -The known solar system then consisted of sun, moon, earth, and the five -planets visible to the naked eye. Since the days of the Chaldæan -shepherds there had been no additions except the moons of Jupiter and -Saturn. Herschel's telescope was to win its first triumph in the -detection of Uranus in 1781. The Newtonian theory, promulgated in 1687, -had come to be generally accepted, but there were difficulties -remaining, connected with the planetary perturbations and the -inequalities in the moon's motion, which the glorious labours of -Lagrange and Laplace were presently to explain and remove,--labours -which bore their full fruition two generations later, in 1845, when the -discovery of the planet Neptune, by purely mathematical reasoning from -the observed effects of its gravitation, furnished for the Newtonian -theory the grandest confirmation known in the whole history of science. -In Priestley's time, sidereal astronomy was little more than the -cataloguing of such stars and nebulæ as could be seen with the -telescopes then at command. Sixty years after the discovery of oxygen -the distance of no star had been measured. In 1836, Auguste Comte -assured his readers that such a feat was impossible, that the Newtonian -theory could never be proved to extend through the interstellar spaces, -and that the matter of which stars are composed may be entirely -different in its properties from the matter with which we are familiar. -Within three years the first part of this prophecy was disproved when -Bessel measured the distance of the star 61 Cygni; since then the study -of the movements of double and multiple stars has shown them conforming -to Newton's law; and as for the matter of which they are composed, we -are introduced to a chapter in science which even the boldest speculator -of half a century ago would have derided as a baseless dream. The -discovery of spectrum analysis and the invention of the spectroscope, -completed in 1861 by Kirchhoff and Bunsen, have supplied data for the -creation of a stellar chemistry; showing us, for example, hydrogen in -Sirius and the nebula of Orion, sodium and potassium, calcium and iron, -in the sun; demonstrating the gaseous character of nebulæ; and revealing -chemical elements hitherto unknown, such as helium, a mineral first -detected in the sun's atmosphere, and afterward found in Norway. A still -more wonderful result of spectrum analysis is our ability to measure the -motion of a star through a slight shifting in the wave-lengths of the -light which it emits. In this way we can measure, in the absence of all -parallax, the direct approach or recession of a star; and in somewhat -similar wise has been discovered the cause of the long-observed -variations of brilliancy in Algol. That star, which is about the size of -our sun, has a dark companion not much smaller, and the twain are moving -around a third body, also dark: the result is an irregular series of -eclipses of Algol, and the gravitative forces exerted by the two -invisible stars are estimated through their effects upon the spectrum of -the bright star. In no department of science has a region of inference -been reached more remote than this. From such a flight one may come back -gently to more familiar regions while remarking upon the manifold -results that have begun to be attained from the application of a -sensitive photograph plate to the telescope in place of the human eye. -It may suffice to observe that we thus catch the fleeting aspects of -sun-spots and preserve them for study; we detect the feeble -self-luminosity still left in such a slowly cooling planet as Jupiter; -and since the metallic plate does not quickly weary, like the human -retina, the cumulative effects of its long exposure reveal the existence -of countless stars and nebulæ too remote to be otherwise reached by any -visual process. By such photographic methods George Darwin has caught an -equatorial ring in the act of detachment from its parent nebula, and the -successive phases of the slow process may be watched and recorded by -generations of mortals yet to come. - -To appreciate the philosophic bearings of this vast enlargement of the -mental horizon, let us recall just what happened when Newton first took -the leap from earth into the celestial spaces by establishing a law of -physics to which moon and apple alike conform. It was the first step, -and a very long one, toward proving that the terrestrial and celestial -worlds are dynamically akin, that the same kind of order prevails -through both alike, that both are parts of one cosmic whole. So late as -Kepler's time, it was possible to argue that the planets are propelled -in their elliptic orbits by forces quite unlike any that are disclosed -by purely terrestrial experience, and therefore perhaps inaccessible to -any rational interpretation. Such imaginary lines of demarcation between -earth and heavens were forever swept away by Newton, and the recent work -of spectrum analysis simply completes the demonstration that the -remotest bodies which the photographic telescope can disclose are truly -part and parcel of the dynamic world in which we live. - -All this enlargement of the mental horizon, from Newton to Kirchhoff, -had reference to space. The nineteenth century has witnessed an equally -notable enlargement with reference to time. The beginnings of scientific -geology were much later than those of astronomy. The phenomena were less -striking and far more complicated; it took longer, therefore, to bring -men's minds to bear upon them. Antagonism on the part of theologians was -also slower in dying out. The complaint against Newton, that he -substituted Blind Gravitation for an Intelligent Deity, was nothing -compared to the abuse that was afterwards lavished upon geologists for -disturbing the accepted Biblical chronology. At the time when Priestley -discovered oxygen, educated men were still to be found who could -maintain with a sober face that fossils had been created already dead -and petrified, just for the fun of the thing. The writings of Buffon -were preparing men's minds for the belief that the earth's crust has -witnessed many and important changes, but there could be no scientific -geology until further progress was made in physics and chemistry. It was -only in 1763 that Joseph Black discovered latent heat, and thus gave us -a clue to what happens when water freezes and melts, or when it is -turned into steam. It was in 1786 that the publication of James Hutton's -"Theory of the Earth" ushered in the great battle between Neptunians and -Plutonists which prepared the way for scientific geology. When the new -science won its first great triumph with Lyell in 1830, the philosophic -purport of the event was the same that was being proclaimed by the -progress of astronomy. Newton proved that the forces which keep the -planets in their orbits are not strange or supernatural forces, but just -such as we see in operation upon this earth every moment of our lives. -Geologists before Lyell had been led to the conclusion that the general -aspect of the earth's surface with which we are familiar is by no means -its primitive or its permanent aspect, but that there has been a -succession of ages, in which the relations of land and water, of -mountain and plain, have varied to a very considerable extent; in which -soils and climates have undergone most complicated vicissitudes; and in -which the earth's vegetable products and its animal populations have -again and again assumed new forms, while the old forms have passed away. -In order to account for such wholesale changes, geologists were at first -disposed to imagine violent catastrophes brought about by strange -agencies,--agencies which were perhaps not exactly supernatural, but -were in some vague, unspecified way different from those which are now -at work in the visible and familiar order of nature. But Lyell proved -that the very same kind of physical processes which are now going on -about us would suffice, during a long period of time, to produce the -changes in the inorganic world which distinguish one geological period -from another. Here, in Lyell's geological investigations, there was for -the first time due attention paid to the immense importance of the -prolonged and cumulative action of slight and unobtrusive causes. The -continual dropping that wears away stones might have served as a text -for the whole series of beautiful researches of which he first summed up -the results in 1830. As astronomy was steadily advancing toward the -proof that in the abysses of space the physical forces at work are the -same as our terrestrial forces, so geology, in carrying us back to -enormously remote periods of time, began to teach that the forces at -work have all along been the same forces that are operative now. Of -course, in that early stage when the earth's crust was in process of -formation, when the temperature was excessively high, there were -phenomena here such as can no longer be witnessed, but for which we must -look to big planets like Jupiter; in that intensely hot atmosphere -violent disturbances occur, and chemical elements are dissociated which -we are accustomed to find in close combination here. But ever since our -earth cooled to a point at which its solid crust acquired stability, -since the earliest mollusks and vertebrates began to swim in the seas -and worms to crawl in the damp ground, if at almost any time we could -have come here on a visit, we should doubtless have found things going -on at measured pace very much as at present,--here and there earthquake -and avalanche, fire and flood, but generally rain falling, sunshine -quickening, herbage sprouting, creatures of some sort browsing, all as -quiet and peaceful as a daisied field in June, without the slightest -visible presage of the continuous series of minute secular changes that -were gradually to transform a Carboniferous world into what was by and -by to be a Jurassic world, and that again into what was after a while -to be an Eocene world, and so on, until the aspect of the world that we -know to-day should noiselessly steal upon us. - -When once the truth of Lyell's conclusions began to be distinctly -realized, their influence upon men's habits of thought and upon the -drift of philosophic speculation was profound. The conception of -Evolution was irresistibly forced upon men's attention. It was proved -beyond question that the world was not created in the form in which we -find it to-day, but has gone through many phases, of which the later are -very different from the earlier; and it was shown that, so far as the -inorganic world is concerned, the changes can be much more -satisfactorily explained by a reference to the ceaseless, all-pervading -activity of gentle, unobtrusive causes such as we know than by an appeal -to imaginary catastrophes such as we have no means of verifying. It -began to appear, also, that the facts which form the subject-matter of -different departments of science are not detached and independent groups -of facts, but that all are intimately related one with another, and that -all may be brought under contribution in illustrating the history of -cosmic events. It was a sense of this interdependence of different -departments that led Auguste Comte to write his "Philosophie Positive," -the first volume of which appeared in 1830, in which he sought to point -out the methods which each science has at command for discovering truth, -and the manner in which each might be made to contribute toward a sound -body of philosophic doctrine. The attempt had a charm and a stimulus for -many minds, but failed by being enlisted in the service of sundry -sociological vagaries upon which the author's mind was completely -wrecked. "Positivism," from being the name of a potent scientific -method, became the name of one more among the myriad ways of having a -church and regulating the details of life. - -While the ponderous mechanical intellect of Comte was striving to elicit -the truth from themes beyond its grasp, one of the world's supreme poets -had already discerned some of the deeper aspects of science presently to -be set forth. By temperament and by training, Goethe was one of the -first among evolutionists. The belief in an evolution of higher from -lower organisms could not fail to be strongly suggested to a mind like -his as soon as the classification of plants and animals had begun to be -conducted upon scientific principles. It is not for nothing that a table -of classes, orders, families, genera, and species, when graphically laid -out, resembles a family tree. It was not long after Linnæus that -believers in some sort of a development theory, often fantastic enough, -began to be met with. The facts of morphology gave further suggestions -in the same direction. Such facts were first generalized on a grand -scale by Goethe in his beautiful little essay on "The Metamorphoses of -Plants," written in 1790, and his "Introduction to Morphology," written -in 1795, but not published until 1807. In these profound treatises, -which were too far in advance of their age to exert much influence at -first, Goethe laid the philosophic foundations of comparative anatomy in -both vegetal and animal worlds. The conceptions of metamorphosis and of -homology, which were thus brought forward, tended powerfully toward a -recognition of the process of evolution. It was shown that what under -some circumstances grows into a stem with a whorl of leaves, under other -circumstances grows into a flower; it was shown that in the general -scheme of the vertebrate skeleton a pectoral fin, a fore leg, and a wing -occupy the same positions: thus was strongly suggested the idea that -what under some circumstances developed into a fin might under other -circumstances develop into a leg or a wing. The revelations of -palæontology, showing various extinct adult forms, with corresponding -organs in various degrees of development, went far to strengthen this -suggestion, until an unanswerable argument was reached with the study of -rudimentary organs, which have no meaning except as remnants of a -vanished past during which the organism has been changing. The study of -comparative embryology pointed in the same direction; for it was soon -observed that the embryos and larvæ of the higher forms of each group of -animals pass, "in the course of their development, through a series of -stages in which they more or less completely resemble the lower forms of -the group."[4] - -Before the full significance of such facts of embryology and morphology -could be felt, it was necessary that the work of classification should -be carried far beyond the point at which it had been left by Linnæus. In -mapping out the relationships in the animal kingdom, the great Swedish -naturalist had relied less than his predecessors upon external or -superficial characteristics; the time was arriving when classification -should be based upon a thorough study of internal structure, and this -was done by a noble company of French anatomists, among whom Cuvier was -chief. It was about 1817 that Cuvier's gigantic work reached its climax -in bringing palæontology into alliance with systematic zoölogy, and -effecting that grand classification of animals in space and time which -at once cast into the shade all that had gone before it. During the past -fifty years there have been great changes made in Cuvier's -classification, especially in the case of the lower forms of animal -life. His class of _Radiata_ has been broken up, other divisions in his -invertebrate world have been modified beyond recognition, his vertebrate -scheme has been overhauled in many quarters, his attempt to erect a -distinct order for Man has been overthrown. Among the great anatomists -concerned in this work the greatest name is that of Huxley. The -classification most generally adopted to-day is Huxley's, but it is -rather a modification of Cuvier's than a new development. So enduring -has been the work of the great Frenchman. - -With Cuvier the analysis of the animal organism made some progress in -such wise that anatomists began to concentrate their attention upon the -study of the development and characteristic functions of organs. -Philosophically, this was a long step in advance, but a still longer one -was taken at about the same time by that astonishing youth whose career -has no parallel in the history of science. When Xavier Bichat died in -1802, in his thirty-first year, he left behind him a treatise on -comparative anatomy in which the subject was worked up from the study -of the tissues and their properties. The path thus broken by Bichat led -to the cell doctrine of Schleiden and Schwann, matured about 1840, which -remains, with some modifications, the basis of modern biology. The -advance along these lines contributed signally to the advancement of -embryology, which reached a startling height in 1829 with the -publication of Baer's memorable treatise, in which the development of an -ovum is shown to consist in a change from homogeneity to heterogeneity -through successive differentiations. But while Baer thus arrived at the -very threshold of the law of evolution, he was not in the true sense an -evolutionist; he had nothing to say to phylogenetic evolution, or the -derivation of the higher forms of life from lower forms through physical -descent with modifications. Just so with Cuvier. When he effected his -grand classification, he prepared the way most thoroughly for a general -theory of evolution, but he always resisted any such inference from his -work. He was building better than he knew. - -The hesitancy of such men as Cuvier and Baer was no doubt due partly to -the apparent absence of any true cause for physical modifications in -species, partly to the completeness with which their own great work -absorbed their minds. Often in the history of science we witness the -spectacle of a brilliant discoverer travelling in triumph along some new -path, but stopping just short of the goal which subsequent exploration -has revealed. There it stands looming up before his face, but he is -blind to its presence through the excess of light which he has already -taken in. The intellectual effort already put forth has left no surplus -for any further sweep of comprehension, so that further advance requires -a fresher mind and a new start with faculties unjaded and unwarped. To -discover a great truth usually requires a succession of thinkers. Among -the eminent anatomists who in the earlier part of our century were -occupied with the classification of animals, there were some who found -themselves compelled to believe in phylogenetic evolution, although they -could frame no satisfactory theory to account for it. The weight of -evidence was already in favour of such evolution, and these men could -not fail to see it. Foremost among them was Jean Baptiste Lamarck, whose -work was of supreme importance. His views were stated in 1809 in his -"Philosophic Zoölogique," and further illustrated in 1815, in his -voluminous treatise on invertebrate animals. Lamarck entirely rejected -the notion of special creations, and he pointed out some of the -important factors in evolution, especially the law that organs and -faculties tend to increase with exercise, and to diminish with disuse. -His weakest point was the disposition to imagine some inherent and -ubiquitous tendency toward evolution, whereas a closer study of nature -has taught us that evolution occurs only where there is a concurrence of -favourable conditions. Among others who maintained some theory of -evolution were the two Geoffroy Saint-Hilaires, father and son, and the -two great botanists, Naudin in France and Hooker in England. In 1852 the -case of evolution as against special creations was argued by Herbert -Spencer with convincing force, and in 1855 appeared "The Principles of -Psychology," by the same author, a book which is from beginning to end -an elaborate illustration of the process of evolution, and is divided -from everything that came before it by a gulf as wide as that which -divides the Copernican astronomy from the Ptolemaic. - -The followers of Cuvier regarded the methods and results of these -evolutionists with strong disapproval. In the excess of such a feeling, -they even went so far as to condemn all philosophic thinking on subjects -within the scope of natural history as visionary and unscientific. Why -seek for any especial significance in the fact that every spider and -every lobster is made up of just twenty segments? Is it not enough to -know the fact? Children must not ask too many questions. It is the -business of science to gather facts, not to seek for hidden -implications. Such was the mental attitude into which men of science -were quite commonly driven, between 1830 and 1860, by their desire to -blink the question of evolution. A feeling grew up that the true glory -of a scientific career was to detect for the two hundredth time an -asteroid, or to stick a pin through a beetle with a label attached -bearing your own latinized name, _Browni_, or _Jonesii_, or -_Robinsoniense_. This feeling was especially strong in France, and was -not confined to physical science. It was exhibited a few years later in -the election of some Swedish or Norwegian naturalist (whose name I -forget) to the French Academy of Science instead of Charles Darwin: the -former had described some new kind of fly, the latter was only a -theorizer! The study of origins in particular was to be frowned upon. In -1863 the Linguistic Society of Paris passed a by-law that no -communications bearing upon the origin of language would be received. In -the same mood, Sir Henry Maine's treatise on "Ancient Law" was condemned -at a leading American university: it was enough for us to know our own -laws; those of India might interest British students who might have -occasion to go there, but not Americans. Such crude notions, utterly -hostile to the spirit of science, were unduly favoured fifty years ago -by the persistent unwillingness to submit the phenomena of organic -nature to the kind of scientific explanation which facts from all -quarters were urging upon us. - -During the period from 1830 to 1860, the factor in evolution which had -hitherto escaped detection was gradually laid hold of and elaborately -studied by Charles Darwin. In the nature of his speculations, and the -occasion that called them forth, he was a true disciple of Lyell. The -work of that great geologist led directly up to Darwinism. As long as it -was supposed that each geologic period was separated from the periods -before and after it by Titanic convulsions which revolutionized the face -of the globe, it was possible for men to acquiesce in the supposition -that these convulsions wrought an abrupt and a wholesale destruction of -organic life, and that the lost forms were replaced by an equally abrupt -and wholesale supernatural creation of new forms at the beginning of -each new period. But, as people ceased to believe in the convulsions, -such an explanation began to seem improbable, and it was completely -discredited by the fact that many kinds of plants and animals have -persisted with little or no change during several successive periods, -side by side with other kinds in which there have been extensive -variation and extinction. - -In connection with this a fact of great significance was elicited. -Between the fauna and flora of successive periods in the same -geographical region there is apt to be a manifest family likeness, -indicating that the later are connected with the earlier through the -bonds of physical descent. It was a case of this sort that attracted -Darwin's attention in 1835. The plants and animals of the Galapagos -Islands are either descended, with specific modifications, from those of -the mainland of Ecuador, or else there must have been an enormous number -of special creations. The case is one which at a glance presents the -notion of special creations in an absurd light. But what could have -caused the modification? What was wanted was, to be able to point to -some agency, similar to agencies now in operation, and therefore -intelligible, which could be proved to be capable of making specific -changes in plants and animals. Darwin's solution of the problem was so -beautiful, it seems now so natural and inevitable, that we may be in -danger of forgetting how complicated and abstruse the problem really -was. Starting from the known experiences of breeders of domestic animals -and cultivated plants, and duly considering the remarkable and sometimes -astonishing changes that are wrought by simple selection, the problem -was to detect among the multifarious phenomena of organic nature any -agency capable of accomplishing what man thus accomplishes by selection. -In detecting the agency of natural selection, working perpetually -through the preservation of favoured individuals and races in the -struggle for existence, Darwin found the true cause for which men were -waiting. With infinite patience and caution, he applied his method of -explanation to one group of organic phenomena after another, meeting in -every quarter with fresh and often unexpected verification. After more -than twenty years, a singular circumstance led him to publish an account -of his researches. The same group of facts had set a younger naturalist -to work upon the same problem, and a similar process of thought had led -to the same solution. Without knowing what Darwin had done, Alfred -Russel Wallace made the same discovery, and sent from the East Indies, -in 1858, his statement of it to Darwin as to the man whose judgment upon -it he should most highly prize. This made publication necessary for -Darwin. The vast treasures of theory and example which he had -accumulated were given to the world, the notion of special creations was -exploded, and the facts of phylogenetic evolution won general -acceptance. - -Under the influence of this great achievement, men in every department -of science began to work in a more philosophical spirit. Naturalists, -abandoning the mood of the stamp collectors, saw in every nook and -corner some fresh illustration of Darwin's views. One serious obstacle -to any general statement of the doctrine of evolution was removed. It -was in 1861 that Herbert Spencer began to publish such a general -systematic statement. His point of departure was the point reached by -Baer in 1829, the change from homogeneity to heterogeneity. The theory -of evolution had already received in Spencer's hands a far more complete -and philosophical treatment than ever before, when the discovery of -natural selection came to supply the one feature which it lacked. -Spencer's thought is often more profound than Darwin's, but he would be -the first to admit the indispensableness of natural selection to the -successful working-out of his own theory. - -The work of Spencer is beyond precedent for comprehensiveness and depth. -He began by showing that as a generalization of embryology Baer's law -needs important emendations, and he went on to prove that, as thus -rectified, the law of the development of an ovum is the law which covers -the evolution of our planetary system, and of life upon the earth's -surface in all its myriad manifestations. In Spencer's hands, the -time-honoured Nebular Theory propounded by Immanuel Kant in 1755, the -earliest of all scientific theories of evolution, took on fresh life and -meaning; and at the same time the theories of Lamarck and Darwin as to -organic evolution were worked up along with his own profound -generalization of the evolution of mind into one coherent and majestic -whole. Mankind have reason to be grateful that the promise of that -daring prospectus which so charmed and dazzled us in 1860 is at last -fulfilled; that after six-and-thirty years, despite all obstacles and -discouragements, the Master's work is virtually done. - -Such a synthesis could not have been achieved, nor even attempted, -without the extraordinary expansion of molecular physics that marked the -first half of the nineteenth century. When Priestley discovered oxygen, -the undulatory theory of light, the basis of all modern physics, had not -been established. It had indeed been propounded as long ago as 1678 by -the illustrious Christian Huyghens, whom we should also remember as the -discoverer of Saturn's rings and the inventor of the pendulum clock. But -Huyghens was in advance of his age, and the overshadowing authority of -Newton, who maintained a rival hypothesis, prevented due attention being -paid to the undulatory theory until the beginning of the present -century, when it was again taken up and demonstrated by Fresnel and -Thomas Young. About the same time, our fellow countryman, Count Rumford, -was taking the lead in that series of researches which culminated in the -discovery of the mechanical equivalent of heat by Dr. Joule in 1843. One -of Priestley's earliest books, the one which made him a doctor of laws -and a fellow of the Royal Society, was a treatise on electricity, -published in 1767. It was a long step from that book to the one in which -the Danish physicist Oersted, in 1820, demonstrated the intimate -correlation between electricity and magnetism, thus preparing the way -for Faraday's great discovery of magneto-electric induction in 1831. By -the middle of our century the work in these various departments of -physics had led to the detection of the deepest truth in science,--the -law of correlation and conservation, which we owe chiefly to Helmholtz, -Mayer, and Grove. It was proved that light and heat, and the -manifestations of force which we group together under the name of -electricity, are various modes of undulatory motion transformable one -into another; and that, in the operations of nature, energy is never -annihilated, but only changed from one form into another. This -generalization includes the indestructibility of matter, and thus lies -at the bottom of all chemistry and physics and of all science. - -Returning to that chemistry with which we started, we may recall two -laws that were propounded early in the century, one of which was -instantly adopted, while the other had to wait for its day. Dalton's law -of definite and multiple proportions has been ever since 1808 the corner -stone of chemical science, and the atomic theory by which he sought to -explain the law has exercised a profound influence upon all modern -speculation. The other law, announced by Avogadro in 1811, that, "under -the same conditions of pressure and temperature, equal volumes of all -gaseous substances, whether elementary or compound, contain the same -number of molecules," was neglected for nearly fifty years, and then, -when it was taken up and applied, it remodelled the whole science of -chemistry, and threw a flood of light upon the internal constitution of -matter. In this direction a new world of speculation is opening up -before us, full of wondrous charm. The amazing progress made since -Priestley's day may be summed up in a single contrast. In 1781 Cavendish -ascertained the bare fact that water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen; -within ninety years from that time Sir William Thomson was able to tell -us that "if the drop of water were magnified to the size of the earth, -the constituent atoms would be larger than peas, but not so large as -billiard balls." Such a statement is confessedly provisional, but, -allowing for this, the contrast is no less striking. - -Concerning the various and complicated applications of physical science -to the arts, by which human life has been so profoundly affected in the -present century, a mere catalogue of them would tax our attention to -little purpose. As my object in the present sketch is simply to trace -the broad outlines of advance in pure science, I pass over these -applications, merely observing that the perpetual interaction between -theory and practice is such that each new invention is liable to modify -the science in which it originated, either by encountering fresh -questions or by suggesting new methods, or in both these ways. The work -of men like Pasteur and Koch cannot fail to influence biological theory -as much as medical practice. The practical uses of electricity are -introducing new features into the whole subject of molecular physics, -and in this region, I suspect, we are to look for some of the most -striking disclosures of the immediate future. - -A word must be said of the historical sciences, which have witnessed as -great changes as any others, mainly through the introduction of the -comparative method of inquiry. The first two great triumphs of the -comparative method were achieved contemporaneously in two fields of -inquiry very remote from one another: the one was the work of Cuvier, -above mentioned; the other was the founding of the comparative philology -of the Aryan languages by Franz Bopp, in 1816. The work of Bopp exerted -as powerful an influence throughout all the historical fields of study -as Cuvier exerted in biology. The young men whose minds were receiving -their formative impulses between 1825 and 1840, under the various -influences of Cuvier and Saint-Hilaire, Lyell, Goethe, Bopp, and other -such great leaders, began themselves to come to the foreground as -leaders of thought about 1860: on the one hand, such men as Darwin, -Gray, Huxley, and Wallace; on the other hand, such as Kuhn and -Schleicher, Maine, Maurer, Mommsen, Freeman, and Tylor. The point of -the comparative method, in whatever field it may be applied, is that it -brings before us a great number of objects so nearly alike that we are -bound to assume for them an origin and general history in common, while -at the same time they present such differences in detail as to suggest -that some have advanced further than others in the direction in which -all are travelling; some, again, have been abruptly arrested, others -perhaps even turned aside from the path. In the attempt to classify such -phenomena, whether in the historical or in the physical sciences, the -conception of development is presented to the student with irresistible -force. In the case of the Aryan languages, no one would think of -doubting their descent from a common original: just side by side is the -parallel case of one sub-group of the Aryan languages, namely, the seven -Romance languages which we know to have been developed out of Latin -since the Christian era. In these cases we can study the process of -change resulting in forms that are more or less divergent from their -originals. In one quarter a form is retained with little modification; -in another it is completely blurred, as the Latin _metipsissimus_ -becomes _medesimo_ in Italian, but _mismo_ in Spanish, while in modern -French there is nothing left of it but _même_. So in Sanskrit and in -Lithuanian we find a most ingenious and elaborate system of conjugation -and declension, which in such languages as Greek and Latin is more or -less curtailed and altered, and which in English is almost completely -lost. Yet in Old English there are quite enough vestiges of the system -to enable us to identify it with the Lithuanian and Sanskrit. - -So the student who applies the comparative method to the study of human -customs and institutions is continually finding usages, beliefs, or laws -existing in one part of the world that have long since ceased to exist -in another part; yet where they have ceased to exist they have often -left unmistakable traces of their former existence. In Australasia we -find types of savagery ignorant of the bow and arrow; in aboriginal -North America, a type of barbarism familiar with the art of pottery, but -ignorant of domestic animals or of the use of metals; among the earliest -Romans, a higher type of barbarism, familiar with iron and cattle, but -ignorant of the alphabet. Along with such gradations in material culture -we find associated gradations in ideas, in social structure, and in -deep-seated customs. Thus, some kind of fetishism is apt to prevail in -the lower stages of barbarism, and some form of polytheism in the -higher stages. The units of composition in savage and barbarous -societies are always the clan, the phratry, and the tribe. In the lower -stages of barbarism we see such confederacies as those of the Iroquois; -in the highest stage, at the dawn of civilization, we begin to find -nations imperfectly formed by conquest without incorporation, like -aboriginal Peru or ancient Assyria. In the lower stages we see captives -tortured to death, then at a later stage sacrificed to the tutelar -deities, then later on enslaved and compelled to till the soil. Through -the earlier stages of culture, as in Australasia and aboriginal America, -we find the marriage tie so loose and paternity so uncertain that -kinship is reckoned only through the mother; but in the highest stage of -barbarism, as among the earliest Greeks, Romans, and Jews, the more -definite patriarchal family is developed, and kinship begins to be -reckoned through the father. It is only after that stage is reached that -inheritance of property becomes fully developed, with the substitution -of individual ownership for clan ownership, and so on to the development -of testamentary succession, individual responsibility for delict and -crime, and the substitution of contract for status. In all such -instances--and countless others might be cited--we see the marks of an -intelligible progression, a line of development which human ideas and -institutions have followed. But in the most advanced societies we find -numerous traces of such states of things as now exist only among savage -or barbarous societies. Our own ancestors were once polytheists, with -plenty of traces of fetishism. They were organized in clans, phratries, -and tribes. There was a time when they used none but stone tools and -weapons; when there was no private property in land, and no political -structure higher than the tribe. Among the forefathers of the present -civilized inhabitants of Europe are unmistakable traces of human -sacrifices, and of the reckoning of kinship through the mother only. -When we have come to survey large groups of facts of this sort, the -conclusion is irresistibly driven home to us that the more advanced -societies have gone through various stages now represented here and -there by less advanced societies; that there is a general path of social -development, along which, owing to special circumstances, some peoples -have advanced a great way, some a less way, some but a very little way; -and that by studying existing savages and barbarians we get a valuable -clue to the interpretation of prehistoric times. All these things are -to-day commonplaces among students of history and archæology; sixty -years ago they would have been scouted as idle vagaries. It is the -introduction of such methods of study that is making history scientific. -It is enabling us to digest the huge masses of facts that are daily -poured in upon us by decipherers of the past,--monuments, inscriptions, -pottery, weapons, ethnological reports, and all that sort of thing,--and -to make all contribute toward a coherent theory of the career of mankind -upon the earth. - -In the course of the foregoing survey one fact stands out with especial -prominence: it appears that about half a century ago the foremost minds -of the world, with whatever group of phenomena they were occupied, had -fallen, and were more and more falling, into a habit of regarding -things, not as having originated in the shape in which we now find them, -but as having been slowly metamorphosed from some other shape through -the agency of forces similar in nature to forces now at work. Whether -planets, or mountains, or mollusks, or subjunctive moods, or tribal -confederacies were the things studied, the scholars who studied them -most deeply and most fruitfully were those who studied them as phases in -a process of development. The work of such scholars has formed the -strong current of thought in our time, while the work of those who did -not catch these new methods has been dropped by the way and forgotten; -and as we look back to Newton's time we can see that ever since then the -drift of scientific thought has been setting in this direction, and with -increasing steadiness and force. - -Now, what does all this drift of scientific opinion during more than two -centuries mean? It can, of course, have but one meaning. It means that -the world _is_ in a process of development, and that gradually, as -advancing knowledge has enabled us to take a sufficiently wide view of -the world, we have come to see that it is so. The old statical -conception of a world created all at once in its present shape was the -result of very narrow experience; it was entertained when we knew only -an extremely small segment of the world. Now that our experience has -widened, it is outgrown and set aside forever; it is replaced by the -dynamical conception of a world in a perpetual process of evolution from -one state into another state. This dynamical conception has come to stay -with us. Our theories as to what the process of evolution is may be more -or less wrong and are confessedly tentative, as scientific theories -should be. But the dynamical conception, which is not the work of any -one man, be he Darwin or Spencer or any one else, but the result of the -cumulative experience of the last two centuries,--this is a permanent -acquisition. We can no more revert to the statical conception than we -can turn back the sun in his course. Whatever else the philosophy of -future generations may be, it must be some kind of a philosophy of -evolution. - -Such is the scientific conquest achieved by the nineteenth century, a -marvellous story without any parallel in the history of human -achievement. The swiftness of the advance has been due partly to the -removal of the ancient legal and social trammels that beset free -thinking in every conceivable direction. It is largely due also to the -use of correct methods of research. The waste of intellectual effort has -been less than in former ages. The substitution of Lavoisier's balance -for Stahl's _a priori_ reasoning is one among countless instances of -this. Sound scientific method is a slow acquisition of the human mind, -and for its more rapid introduction, in Priestley's time and since, we -have largely to thank the example set by those giants of a former age, -Galileo and Kepler, Descartes and Newton. - -The lessons that might be derived from our story are many. But one that -we may especially emphasize is the dignity of Man whose persistent -seeking for truth is rewarded by such fruits. We may be sure that the -creature whose intelligence measures the pulsations of molecules and -unravels the secret of the whirling nebula is no creature of a day, but -the child of the universe, the heir of all the ages, in whose making and -perfecting is to be found the consummation of God's creative work. - -_May, 1896._ - - - - -II - -THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION: ITS SCOPE AND PURPORT[5] - - -It was not strange that among the younger men whose opinions were -moulded between 1830 and 1840 there should have been one of organizing -genius, with a mind inexhaustibly fertile in suggestions, who should -undertake to elaborate a general doctrine of evolution, to embrace in -one grand coherent system of generalizations all the minor -generalizations which workers in different departments of science were -establishing. It is this prodigious work of construction that we owe to -Herbert Spencer. He is the originator and author of what we know to-day -as the doctrine of evolution, the doctrine which undertakes to formulate -and put into scientific shape the conception of evolution toward which -scientific investigation had so long been tending. In the mind of the -general public there seems to be dire confusion with regard to Mr. -Spencer and his relations to evolution and to Darwinism. Sometimes, I -believe, he is even supposed to be chiefly a follower and expounder of -Mr. Darwin! No doubt this is because so many people mix up Darwinism -with the doctrine of evolution, and have but the vaguest and haziest -notions as to what it is all about. As I explained above, Mr. Darwin's -great work was the discovery of natural selection, and the demonstration -of its agency in effecting specific changes in plants and animals; and -in that work he was completely original. But plants and animals are only -a part of the universe, though an important part, and with regard to -universal evolution or any universal formula for evolution Darwinism had -nothing to say. Such problems were beyond its scope. - -The discovery of a universal formula for evolution, and the application -of this formula to many diverse groups of phenomena, have been the great -work of Mr. Spencer, and in this he has had no predecessor. His wealth -of originality is immense, and it is unquestionable. But as the most -original thinker must take his start from the general stock of ideas -accumulated at his epoch, and more often than not begins by following a -clue given him by somebody else, so it was with Mr. Spencer when, about -forty years ago, he was working out his doctrine of evolution. The clue -was not given by Mr. Darwin. Darwinism was not yet born. Mr. Spencer's -theory was worked out in all its parts, and many parts of it had been -expounded in various published volumes and essays before the publication -of the "Origin of Species." - -The clue which Mr. Spencer followed was given him by the great -embryologist, Karl Ernst von Baer, and an adumbration of it may perhaps -be traced back through Kaspar Friedrich Wolf to Linnæus. Hints of it may -be found, too, in Goethe and in Schelling. The advance from simplicity -to complexity in the development of an egg is too obvious to be -overlooked by any one, and was remarked upon, I believe, by Harvey; but -the analysis of what that advance consists in was a wonderfully -suggestive piece of work. Baer's great book was published in 1829, just -at the time when so many stimulating ideas were being enunciated, and -its significant title was _Entwickelungsgeschichte_, or "History of -Evolution." It was well known that, so far as the senses can tell us, -one ovum is indistinguishable from another, whether it be that of a man, -a fish, or a parrot. The ovum is a structureless bit of organic matter, -and, in acquiring structure along with its growth in volume and mass, it -proceeds through a series of differentiations, and the result is a -change from homogeneity to heterogeneity. Such was Baer's conclusion, to -which scanty justice is done by such a brief statement. As all know, his -work marked an epoch in the study of embryology; for to mark the -successive differentiations in the embryos of a thousand animals was to -write a thousand life histories upon correct principles. - -Here it was that Mr. Spencer started. As a young man, he was chiefly -interested in the study of political government and in history so far as -it helps the study of politics. A philosophical student of such subjects -must naturally seek for a theory of evolution. If I may cite my own -experience, it was largely the absorbing and overmastering passion for -the study of history that first led me to study evolution in order to -obtain a correct method. When one has frequent occasion to refer to the -political and social _progress_ of the human race, one likes to know -what one is talking about. Mr. Spencer needed a theory of progress. He -could see that the civilized part of mankind has undergone some change -from a bestial, unsocial, perpetually fighting stage of savagery into a -partially peaceful and comparatively humane and social stage, and that -we may reasonably hope that the change in this direction will go on. He -could see, too, that along with this change there has been a building-up -of tribes into nations, a division of labour, a differentiation of -governmental functions, a series of changes in the relations of the -individual to the community. To see so much as this is to whet one's -craving for enlarged resources wherewith to study human progress. Mr. -Spencer had a wide, accurate, and often profound acquaintance with -botany, zoölogy, and allied studies. The question naturally occurred to -him, Where do we find the process of development most completely -exemplified from beginning to end, so that we can follow and -exhaustively describe its consecutive phases? Obviously in the -development of the ovum. There, and only there, do we get the whole -process under our eyes from the first segmentation of the yolk to the -death of the matured individual. In other groups of phenomena we can -only see a small part of what is going on; they are too vast for us, as -in astronomy, or too complicated, as in sociology. Elsewhere our -evidences of development are more or less piecemeal and scattered, but -in embryology we do get, at any rate, a connected story. - -So Mr. Spencer took up Baer's problem, and carried the solution of it -much further than the great Esthonian naturalist. He showed that in the -development of the ovum the change from homogeneity to heterogeneity is -accompanied by a change from indefiniteness to definiteness; there are -segregations of similarly differentiated units resulting in the -formation of definite organs. He further showed that there is a parallel -and equally important change from incoherence to coherence; along with -the division of labour among the units there is an organization of -labour: at first, among the homogeneous units there is no -subordination,--to subtract one would not alter the general aspect; but -at last, among the heterogeneous organs there is such subordination and -interdependence that to subtract any one is liable to undo the whole -process and destroy the organism. In other words, integration is as much -a feature of development as differentiation; the change is not simply -from a structureless whole into parts, but it is from a structureless -whole into an organized whole with a consensus of different functions, -and that is what we call an organism. So while Baer said that the -evolution of the chick is a change from homogeneity to heterogeneity -through successive differentiations, Mr. Spencer said that the evolution -of the chick is a continuous change from indefinite incoherent -homogeneity to definite coherent heterogeneity through successive -differentiations and integrations. - -But Mr. Spencer had now done something more than describe exhaustively -the evolution of an individual organism. He had got a standard of high -and low degrees of organization; and the next thing in order was to -apply this standard to the whole hierarchy of animals and plants -according to their classified relationships and their succession in -geological time. This was done with most brilliant success. From the -earliest records in the rocks, the general advance in types of -organization has been an advance in definiteness, coherence, and -heterogeneity. The method of evolution in the life history of the animal -and vegetal kingdoms has been like the method of evolution in the life -history of the individual. - -To go into the inorganic world with such a formula might seem rash. But -as the growth of organization is essentially a particular kind of -redistribution of matter and motion, and as redistribution of matter and -motion is going on universally in the inorganic world, it is interesting -to inquire whether, in such simple approaches toward organization as we -find, there is any approach toward the characteristics of organic -evolution as above described. It was easy for Mr. Spencer to show that -the change from a nebula into a planetary system conforms to the -definition of evolution in a way that is most striking and suggestive. -But in studying the inorganic world Mr. Spencer was led to modify his -formula in a way that vastly increased its scope. He came to see that -the primary feature of evolution is an integration of matter and -concomitant dissipation of motion. According to circumstances, this -process may or not be attended with extensive internal rearrangements -and development of organization. The continuous internal rearrangement -implied in the development of organization is possible only where there -is a medium degree of mobility among the particles, a plasticity such as -is secured only by those peculiar chemical combinations which make up -what we call organic matter. In the inorganic world, where there is an -approach to organization there is an adumbration of the law as realized -in the organic world. But in the former, what strikes us most is the -concentration of the mass with the retention of but little internal -mobility; in the latter, what strikes us most is the wonderful -complication of the transformations wrought by the immense amount of -internal mobility retained. These transformations are to us the mark, -the distinguishing feature, of life. - -Having thus got the nature of the differences between the organic and -inorganic worlds into a series of suggestive formulas, the next thing -to be done was to inquire into the applicability of the law of evolution -to the higher manifestations of vital activity,--in other words, to -psychical and social life. Here it was easy to point out analogies -between the development of society and the development of an organism. -Between a savage state of society and a civilized state, it is easy to -see the contrasts in complexity of life, in division of labour, in -interdependence and coherence of operations and of interests. The -difference resembles that between a vertebrate animal and a worm. - -Such analogies are instructive, because at the bottom of the phenomena -there is a certain amount of real identity. But Mr. Spencer did not stop -with analogies; he pursued his problem into much deeper regions. There -is one manifest distinction between a society and an organism. In the -organism, the conscious life, the psychical life, is not in the parts, -but in the whole; but in a society, there is no such thing as corporate -consciousness: the psychical life is all in the individual men and -women. The highest development of this psychical life is the end for -which the world exists. The object of social life is the highest -spiritual welfare of the individual members of society. The individual -human soul thus comes to be as much the centre of the Spencerian world -as it was the centre of the world of mediæval theology; and the history -of the evolution of conscious intelligence becomes a theme of surpassing -interest. - -This is the part of his subject which Mr. Spencer has handled in the -most masterly manner. Nothing in the literature of psychology is more -remarkable than the long-sustained analysis in which he starts with -complicated acts of quantitative reasoning and resolves them into their -elementary processes, and then goes on to simpler acts of judgment and -perception, and then down to sensation, and so on resolving and -resolving, until he gets down to the simple homogeneous psychical shocks -or pulses in the manifold compounding and recompounding of which all -mental action consists. Then, starting afresh from that conception of -life as the continuous adjustment of inner relations within the organism -to outer relations in the environment,--a conception of which he made -such brilliant use in his "Principles of Biology,"--he shows how the -psychical life gradually becomes specialized in certain classes of -adjustments or correspondences, and how the development of psychical -life consists in a progressive differentiation and integration of such -correspondences. Intellectual life is shown to have arisen by slow -gradations, and the special interpretations of reflex action, instinct, -memory, reason, emotion, and will are such as to make the "Principles of -Psychology" indubitably the most suggestive book upon mental phenomena -that was ever written. - -Toward the end of the first edition of the "Origin of Species," -published in 1859, Mr. Darwin looked forward to a distant future when -the conception of gradual development might be applied to the phenomena -of intelligence. But the first edition of the "Principles of -Psychology," in which this was so successfully done, had already been -published four years before,--in 1855,--so that Mr. Darwin in later -editions was obliged to modify his statement, and confess that, instead -of looking so far forward, he had better have looked about him. I -remember hearing Mr. Darwin laugh merrily over this at his own expense. - -This extension of the doctrine of evolution to psychical phenomena was -what made it a universal doctrine, an account of the way in which the -world, as we know it, has been evolved. There is no subject, great or -small, that has not come to be affected by the doctrine, and, whether -men realize it or not, there is no nook or corner in speculative science -where they can get away from the sweep of Mr. Spencer's thought. - -This extension of the doctrine to psychical phenomena is by many people -misunderstood. The "Principles of Psychology" is a marvel of -straightforward and lucid statement; but, from its immense reach and -from the abstruseness of the subject, it is not easy reading. It -requires a sustained attention such as few people can command, except on -subjects with which they are already familiar. Hence few people read it -in comparison with the number who have somehow got it into their heads -that Mr. Spencer tries to explain mind as evolved out of matter, and is -therefore a materialist. How many worthy critics have been heard to -object to the doctrine of evolution that you cannot deduce mind from the -primeval nebula, unless the germs of mind were present already! But that -is just what Mr. Spencer says himself. I have heard him say it more than -once, and his books contain many passages of equivalent import.[6] He -never misses an opportunity for attacking the doctrine that mind can be -explained as evolved from matter. But, in spite of this, a great many -people suppose that the gradual evolution of mind _must_ mean its -evolution out of matter, and are deaf to arguments of which they do not -perceive the bearing. Hence Mr. Spencer is so commonly accredited with -the doctrine which he so earnestly repudiates. - -But there is another reason why people are apt to suppose the doctrine -of evolution to be materialistic in its implications. There are able -writers who have done good service in illustrating portions of the -general doctrine, and are at the same time avowed materialists. One may -be a materialist, whatever his scientific theory of things; and to such -a person the materialism naturally seems to be a logical consequence -from the scientific theory. We have received this evening a -communication from Professor Ernst Haeckel, of Jena, in which he lays -down five theses regarding the doctrine of evolution:-- - -1. "The general doctrine appears to be already unassailably founded; - -2. "Thereby every supernatural creation is completely excluded; - -3. "Transformism and the theory of descent are inseparable constituent -parts of the doctrine of evolution; - -4. "The necessary consequence of this last conclusion is the descent of -man from a series of vertebrates." - -So far, very good; we are within the limits of scientific competence, -where Professor Haeckel is strong. But now, in his fifth thesis, he -enters the region of metaphysics,--the transcendental region, which -science has no competent methods of exploring,--and commits himself to a -dogmatic assertion: - -5. "The beliefs in an 'immortal soul' and in 'a personal God' are -therewith" (_i. e._, with the four preceding statements) "completely -ununitable (_völlig unvereinbar_)." - -Now, if Professor Haeckel had contented himself with asserting that -these two beliefs are not susceptible of scientific demonstration; if he -had simply said that they are beliefs concerning which a scientific man, -in his scientific capacity, ought to refrain from making assertions, -because Science knows nothing whatever about the subject, he would have -occupied an impregnable position. His fifth thesis would have been as -indisputable as his first four. But Professor Haeckel does not stop -here. He declares virtually that if an evolutionist is found -entertaining the beliefs in a personal God and an immortal soul, -nevertheless these beliefs are not philosophically reconcilable with his -scientific theory of things, but are mere remnants of an old-fashioned -superstition from which he has not succeeded in freeing himself. - -Here one must pause to inquire what Professor Haeckel means by "a -personal God." If he refers to the Latin conception of a God remote -from the world of phenomena, and manifested only through occasional -interference,--the conception that has until lately prevailed in the -Western world since the time of St. Augustine,--then we may agree with -him; the practical effect of the doctrine of evolution is to abolish -such a conception. But with regard to the Greek conception entertained -by St. Athanasius; the conception of God as immanent in the world of -phenomena and manifested in every throb of its mighty rhythmical life; -the deity that Richard Hooker, prince of English churchmen, had in mind -when he wrote of Natural Law that "her seat is the bosom of God, and her -voice the harmony of the world,"--with regard to this conception the -practical effect of the doctrine of evolution is not to abolish, but to -strengthen and confirm it. For, into whatever province of Nature we -carry our researches, the more deeply we penetrate into its laws and -methods of action, the more clearly do we see that all provinces of -Nature are parts of an organic whole animated by a single principle of -life that is infinite and eternal. I have no doubt Professor Haeckel -would not only admit this, but would scout any other view as -inconsistent with the monism which he professes. But he would say that -this infinite and eternal principle of life is not psychical, and -therefore cannot be called in any sense "a personal God." In an ultimate -analysis, I suspect Professor Haeckel's ubiquitous monistic principle -would turn out to be neither more nor less than Dr. Büchner's mechanical -force (_Kraft_). On the other hand, I have sought to show--in my little -book "The Idea of God"--that the Infinite and Eternal Power that -animates the universe must be psychical in its nature, that any attempt -to reduce it to mechanical force must end in absurdity, and that the -only kind of monism which will stand the test of an ultimate analysis is -monotheism. While in the chapter on Anthropomorphic Theism, in my -"Cosmic Philosophy," I have taken great pains to point out the -difficulties in which (as finite thinkers) we are involved when we try -to conceive the Infinite and Eternal Power as psychical in his nature, I -have in the chapter on Matter and Spirit, in that same book, taken equal -pains to show that we are logically compelled thus to conceive Him. - -One's attitude toward such problems is likely to be determined by one's -fundamental conception of psychical life. To a materialist the ultimate -power is mechanical force, and psychical life is nothing but the -temporary and local result of fleeting collocations of material elements -in the shape of nervous systems. Into the endless circuit of -transformations of molecular motion, says the materialist, there enter -certain phases which we call feelings and thoughts; they are part of the -circuit; they arise out of motions of material molecules, and disappear -by being retransformed into such motions: hence, with the death of the -organism in which such motions have been temporarily gathered into a -kind of unity, all psychical activity and all personality are _ipso -facto_ abolished. Such is the materialistic doctrine, and such, I -presume, is what Professor Haeckel has in mind when he asserts that the -belief in an immortal soul is incompatible with the doctrine of -evolution. The theory commonly called that of the correlation of forces, -and which might equally well or better be called the theory of the -metamorphosis of motions, is indispensable to the doctrine of evolution. -But for the theory that light, heat, electricity, and nerve-action are -different modes of undulatory motion transformable one into another, and -that similar modes of motion are liberated by the chemical processes -going on within the animal or vegetal organism, Mr. Spencer's work could -never have been done. That theory of correlation and transformation is -now generally accepted, and is often appealed to by materialists. A -century ago Cabanis said that the brain secretes thought as the liver -secretes bile. If he were alive to-day, he would doubtless smile at this -old form of expression as crude, and would adopt a more subtle phrase; -he would say that "thought is transformed motion." - -Against this interpretation I have maintained that the theory of -correlation not only fails to support it, but actually overthrows it. -The arguments may be found in the chapter on Matter and Spirit, in my -"Cosmic Philosophy," published in 1874, and in the essay entitled "A -Crumb for the Modern Symposium," written in 1877, and reprinted in -"Darwinism and Other Essays."[7] Their purport is, that in tracing the -correlation of motions into the organism through the nervous system and -out again, we are bound to get an account of each step in terms of -motion. Unless we can show that every unit of motion that disappears is -transformed into an exact quantitative equivalent, our theory of -correlation breaks down; but when we have shown this we shall have given -a complete account of the whole affair without taking any heed whatever -of thought, feeling, or consciousness. In other words, these psychical -activities do not enter into the circuit, but stand outside of it, as a -segment of a circle may stand outside a portion of an entire -circumference with which it is concentric. Motion is never transformed -into thought, but only into some other form of measurable (in fact, or -at any rate in theory, measurable) motion that takes place in -nerve-threads and ganglia. _It is not the thought, but the nerve-action -that accompanies the thought, that is really "transformed motion._" I -say that if we are going to verify the theory of correlation, it must be -done (actually or theoretically) by measurement; quantitative -equivalence must be proved at every step; and hence we must not change -our unit of measurement; from first to last it must be a unit of motion: -if we change it for a moment, our theory of correlation that moment -collapses. I say, therefore, that the theory of correlation and -equivalence of forces lends no support whatever to materialism. On the -contrary, its manifest implication is that psychical life cannot be a -mere product of temporary collocations of matter. - -The argument here set forth is my own. When I first used it, I had never -met with it anywhere in books or conversation. Whether it has since been -employed by other writers I do not know, for during the past fifteen -years I have read very few books on such subjects. At all events, it is -an argument for which I am ready to bear the full responsibility. Some -doubt has recently been expressed whether Mr. Spencer would admit the -force of this argument. It has been urged by Mr. S. H. Wilder, in two -able papers published in the "New York Daily Tribune," June 13 and July -4, 1890, that the use of this argument marks a radical divergence on my -part from Mr. Spencer's own position. - -It is true that in several passages of "First Principles" there are -statements which either imply or distinctly assert that motion can be -transformed into feeling and thought,--_e. g._: "Those modes of the -Unknowable which we call heat, light, chemical affinity, etc., are alike -transformable into each other, and into those modes of the Unknowable -which we distinguish as sensation, emotion, thought; these, in their -turns, being directly or indirectly retransformable into the original -shapes;"[8] and again, it is said "to be a necessary deduction from the -law of correlation that what exists in consciousness under the form of -feeling is transformable into an equivalent of mechanical motion," -etc.[9] Now, if this, as literally interpreted, be Mr. Spencer's -deliberate opinion, I entirely dissent from it. To speak of quantitative -equivalence between a unit of feeling and a unit of motion seems to me -to be talking nonsense,--to be combining terms which severally possess a -meaning into a phrase which has no meaning. I am therefore inclined to -think that the above sentences, literally interpreted, do not really -convey Mr. Spencer's opinion. They appear manifestly inconsistent, -moreover, with other passages in which he has taken much more pains to -explain his position.[10] In the sentence from page 558 of "First -Principles," Mr. Spencer appears to me to mean that the nerve-action, -which is the objective concomitant of what is subjectively known as -feeling, is transformable into an equivalent of mechanical motion. When -he wrote that sentence perhaps he had not shaped the case quite so -distinctly in his own mind as he had a few years later, when he made the -more elaborate statements in the second edition of the Psychology. -Though in these more elaborate statements he does not assert the -doctrine I have here maintained, yet they seem consistent with it. When -I was finishing the chapter on Matter and Spirit, in my room in London, -one afternoon in February, 1874, Mr. Spencer came in, and I read to him -nearly the whole chapter, including my argument from correlation above -mentioned. He expressed warm approval of the chapter, without making any -specific qualifications. In the course of the chapter I had occasion to -quote a passage from the Psychology,[11] in which Mr. Spencer twice -inadvertently used the phrase "nervous shock" where he meant "psychical -shock." As his object was to keep the psychical phenomena and their -cerebral concomitants distinct in his argument, this colloquial use of -the word "nervous" was liable to puzzle the reader, and give querulous -critics a chance to charge Mr. Spencer with the materialistic -implications which it was his express purpose to avoid. Accordingly, in -my quotation I changed the word "nervous" to "psychical," using brackets -and explaining my reasons. On showing all this to Mr. Spencer, he -desired me to add in a footnote that he thoroughly approved the -emendation. - -I mention this incident because our common, every-day speech abounds in -expressions that have a materialistic flavour; and sometimes in serious -writing an author's sheer intentness upon his main argument may lead him -to overlook some familiar form of expression which, when thrown into a -precise and formal context, will strike the reader in a very different -way from what the author intended. I am inclined to explain in this way -the passages in "First Principles" which are perhaps chiefly responsible -for the charge of materialism that has so often and so wrongly been -brought up against the doctrine of evolution. - -As regards the theological implications of the doctrine of evolution, I -have never undertaken to speak for Mr. Spencer; on such transcendental -subjects it is quite enough if one speaks for one's self. It is told of -Diogenes that, on listening one day to a sophistical argument against -the possibility of motion, he grimly got up out of his tub and walked -across the street. Whether his adversaries were convinced or not, we are -not told. Probably not; it is but seldom that adversaries are convinced. -So, when Professor Haeckel declares that belief in a "personal God" and -an "immortal soul" is incompatible with acceptance of the doctrine of -evolution, I can only say, for myself--however much or little the -personal experience may be worth--I find that the beliefs in the -psychical nature of God and in the immortality of the human soul seem to -harmonize infinitely better with my general system of cosmic philosophy -than the negation of these beliefs. If Professor Haeckel, or any other -writer, prefers a materialistic interpretation, very well. I neither -quarrel with him nor seek to convert him; but I do not agree with him. I -do not pretend that my opinion on these matters is susceptible of -scientific demonstration. Neither is his. I say, then, that his fifth -thesis has no business in a series of scientific generalizations about -the doctrine of evolution. - -Far beyond the limits of what scientific methods, based upon our brief -terrestrial experience, can demonstrate, there lies on every side a -region with regard to which Science can only suggest questions. As -Goethe so profoundly says:-- - - "Willst du ins Unendliche streiten, - Geh' nur im Endlichen nach allen Seiten."[12] - -It is of surpassing interest that the particular generalization which -has been extended into a universal formula of evolution should have been -the generalization of the development of an ovum. In enlarging the -sphere of life in such wise as to make the whole universe seem actuated -by a single principle of life, we are introduced to regions of sublime -speculation. The doctrine of evolution, which affects our thought about -all things, brings before us with vividness the conception of an ever -present God,--not an absentee God who once manufactured a cosmic -machine capable of running itself, except for a little jog or poke here -and there in the shape of a special providence. The doctrine of -evolution destroys the conception of the world as a machine. It makes -God our constant refuge and support, and Nature his true revelation; and -when all its religious implications shall have been set forth, it will -be seen to be the most potent ally that Christianity has ever had in -elevating mankind. - -_March, 1890._ - - - - -III - -EDWARD LIVINGSTON YOUMANS[13] - - -In one of the most beautiful of all the shining pages of his "History of -the Spanish Conquest in America," Sir Arthur Helps describes the way in -which, through "some fitness of the season, whether in great scientific -discoveries or in the breaking into light of some great moral cause, the -same processes are going on in many minds, and it seems as if they -communicated with each other invisibly. We may imagine that all good -powers aid the 'new light,' and brave and wise thoughts about it float -aloft in the atmosphere of thought as downy seeds are borne over the -fruitful face of the earth."[14] The thinker who elaborates a new system -of philosophy, deeper and more comprehensive than any yet known to -mankind, though he may work in solitude, nevertheless does not work -alone. The very fact which makes his great scheme of thought a success, -and not a failure, is the fact that it puts into definite and coherent -shape the ideas which many people are more or less vaguely and loosely -entertaining, and that it carries to a grand and triumphant conclusion -processes of reasoning in which many persons have already begun taking -the earlier steps. This community in mental trend between the immortal -discoverer and many of the brightest contemporary minds, far from -diminishing the originality of his work, constitutes the feature of it -which makes it a permanent acquisition for mankind, and distinguishes it -from the eccentric philosophies which now and then come up to startle -the world for a while, and are presently discarded and forgotten. The -history of modern physics--as in the case of the correlation of forces -and the undulatory theory of light--furnishes us with many instances of -wise thoughts floating like downy seeds in the atmosphere until the -moment has come for them to take root. And so it has been with the -greatest achievement of modern thinking,--the doctrine of evolution. -Students and investigators in all departments, alike in the physical and -in the historical sciences, were fairly driven by the nature of the -phenomena before them into some hypothesis, more or less vague, of -gradual and orderly change or development. The world was ready and -waiting for Herbert Spencer's mighty work when it came, and it was for -that reason that it was so quickly triumphant over the old order of -thought. The victory has been so thorough, swift, and decisive that it -will take another generation to narrate the story of it so as to do it -full justice. Meanwhile, people's minds are apt to be somewhat dazed -with the rapidity and wholesale character of the change; and nothing is -more common than to see them adopting Mr. Spencer's ideas without -recognizing them as his or knowing whence they got them. As fast as Mr. -Spencer could set forth his generalizations they were taken hold of here -and there by special workers, each in his own department, and utilized -therein. His general system was at once seized, assimilated, and set -forth with new illustrations by serious thinkers who were already -groping in the regions of abstruse thought which the master's vision -pierced so clearly. And thus the doctrine of evolution has come to be -inseparably interfused with the whole mass of thinking in our day and -generation. I do not mean to imply that people commonly entertain very -clear ideas about it, for clear ideas are not altogether common. I -suspect that a good many people would hesitate if asked to state exactly -what Newton's law of gravitation is. - -Among the men in America whose minds, between thirty and forty years -ago, were feeling their way toward some such unified conception of -nature as Mr. Spencer was about to set forth in all its dazzling -glory,--among the men who were thus prepared to grasp the doctrine of -evolution at once and expound it with fresh illustrations,--the first in -the field was the man to whose memory we have met here this evening to -pay a brief word of tribute. It is but a little while since that noble -face was here with us, and the tones of that kindly voice were fraught -with good cheer for us. To most of you, I presume, the man Edward -Livingston Youmans is still a familiar presence. There must be many here -this evening who listened to the tidings of his death three years ago -with a sense of personal bereavement. No one who knew him is likely ever -to forget him. But for those who remember distinctly the man it may not -be superfluous to recount the principal incidents of his life and work. -It is desirable that the story should be set forth concisely, so as to -be remembered; for the work was like the man, unselfish and unobtrusive, -and in the hurry and complication of modern life such work is liable to -be lost from sight, so that people profit by it without knowing that it -was ever done. So genuinely modest, so utterly destitute of -self-regarding impulses, was our friend, that I believe it would be -quite like him to chide us for thus drawing public attention to him, as -he would think, with too much emphasis. But such mild reproof it is -right that we should disregard; for the memory of a life so beautiful -and useful is a precious possession of which mankind ought not to be -deprived. - -Edward Livingston Youmans was born in the town of Coeymans, Albany -County, N.Y., on the 3d of June, 1821. From his father and mother, both -of whom survived him, he inherited strong traits of character as well as -an immense fund of vital energy, such that the failure of health a few -years ago seemed (to me, at least) surprising. His father, Vincent -Youmans, was a man of independent character, strong convictions, and -perfect moral courage, with a quick and ready tongue, in the use of -which earnestness and frankness perhaps sometimes prevailed over -prudence. The mother, Catherine Scofield, was notable for balance of -judgment, prudence, and tact. The mother's grandfather was Irish; and -while I very much doubt the soundness of the generalizations we are so -prone to make about race characteristics, I cannot but feel that for the -impulsive--one had almost said explosive--warmth of sympathy, the -enchanting grace and vivacity of manner, in Edward Youmans, this strain -of Irish blood may have been to some extent accountable. Both father and -mother belonged to the old Puritan stock of New England, and the -father's ancestry was doubtless purely English. Nothing could be more -honourably or characteristically English than the name. In the old -feudal society, the _yeoman_, like the _franklin_, was the small -freeholder, owning a modest estate, yet holding it by no servile tenure; -a man of the common people, yet no churl; a member of the state who -"knew his rights, and knowing dared maintain." Few indeed were the nooks -and corners outside of merry England where such men flourished as the -yeomen and franklins who founded democratic New England. It has often -been remarked how the most illustrious of Franklins exemplified the -typical virtues of his class. There was much that was similar in the -temperament and disposition of Edward Youmans,--the sagacity and -penetration, the broad common sense, the earnest purpose veiled but not -hidden by the blithe humour, the devotion to ends of wide practical -value, the habit of making in the best sense the most out of life. - -When Edward was but six months old, his parents moved to Greenfield, -near Saratoga Springs. With a comfortable house and three acres of -land, his father kept a wagon shop and smithy. In those days, while it -was hard work to wring a subsistence out of the soil or to prosper upon -any of the vocations which rural life permitted, there was doubtless -more independence of character and real thriftiness than in our time, -when cities and tariffs have so sapped the strength of the farming -country. In the family of Vincent Youmans, though rigid economy was -practised, books were reckoned to a certain extent among the necessaries -of life, and the house was one in which neighbours were fond of -gathering to discuss questions of politics or theology, social reform or -improvements in agriculture. On all such questions Vincent Youmans was -apt to have ideas of his own; he talked with enthusiasm, and was also -ready to listen; and he evidently supplied an intellectual stimulus to -the whole community. For a boy of bright and inquisitive mind, listening -to such talk is no mean source of education. It often goes much further -than the reading of books. From an early age Edward Youmans seems to -have appropriated all such means of instruction. He had that insatiable -thirst for knowledge which is one of God's best gifts to man; for he who -is born with this appetite must needs be grievously ill made in other -respects if it does not constrain him to lead a happy and useful life. - -After ten years at Greenfield the family moved to a farm at Milton, some -two miles distant. Until his sixteenth year Edward helped his father at -farm work in the summer, and attended the district school in winter. It -was his good fortune at that time to fall into the hands of a teacher -who had a genius for teaching,--a man who in those days of rote-learning -did not care to have things learned by heart, but sought to stimulate -the thinking powers of his pupils, and who in that age of canes and -ferules never found it necessary to use such means of discipline, -because the fear of displeasing him was of itself all-sufficient. -Experience of the methods of such a man was enough to sharpen one's -disgust for the excessive mechanism, the rigid and stupid manner of -teaching, which characterize the ordinary school. In after years Youmans -used to say that "Uncle Good"--as this admirable pedagogue was -called--first taught him what his mind was for. Through intercourse and -training of this sort he learned to doubt, to test the soundness of -opinions, to make original inquiries, and to find and follow clues. - -But even the best of teachers can effect but little unless he finds a -mind ready of itself to take the initiative. It is doubtful if men of -eminent ability are ever made so by schooling. The school offers -opportunities, but in such men the tendency to the initiative is so -strong that if opportunities are not offered they will somehow contrive -to create them. When Edward Youmans was about thirteen years old he -persuaded his father to buy him a copy of Comstock's Natural Philosophy. -This book he studied at home by himself, and repeated many of the -experiments with apparatus of his own contriving. When he made a -centrifugal water wheel, and explained to the men and boys of the -neighbourhood the principle of its revolution in a direction opposite to -that of the stream which moved it, we may regard it as his earliest -attempt at giving scientific lectures. It was natural that one who had -become interested in physics should wish to study chemistry. The teacher -(who was not "Uncle Good") had never so much as laid eyes on a textbook -of chemistry; but Edward was not to be daunted by such trifles. A copy -of Comstock's manual was procured, another pupil was found willing to -join in the study, and this class of two proceeded to learn what they -could from reading the book, while the teacher asked them the printed -questions,--those questions the mere existence of which in textbooks is -apt to show what a low view publishers take of the average intelligence -of teachers! It was not a very hopeful way of studying such a subject as -chemistry; but doubtless the time was not wasted, and the foundations -for a future knowledge of chemistry were laid. The experience of farm -work which accompanied these studies explains the interest which in -later years Mr. Youmans felt in agricultural chemistry. He came to -realize how crude and primitive are our methods of making the earth -yield its produce, and it was his opinion that when men have once -learned how to conduct agriculture upon sound scientific principles, -farming will become at once the most wholesome and the most attractive -form of human industry. - -Along with the elementary studies in science there went a great deal of -miscellaneous reading, mostly, it would appear, of good solid books. -Apparently there was at that time no study of languages, ancient or -modern. At the age of seventeen the young man had shown so much promise -that it was decided he should study law, and he had already entered upon -a more extensive course of preparation in an academy in Saratoga County -when the event occurred which changed the whole course of his life. He -had been naturally gifted with keen and accurate vision, was a good -sports-man and an excellent shot with a rifle; but at about the age of -thirteen there had come an attack of ophthalmia, which left the eyes -weak and sensitive. Perpetual reading probably increased the difficulty -and hindered complete recovery. At the age of seventeen violent -inflammation set in; the sight in one eye was completely lost, while in -the other it grew so dim as to be of little avail. Sometimes he would be -just able to find his way about the streets, at other times the -blindness was almost total; and this state of things lasted for nearly -thirteen years. - -This dreadful calamity seemed to make it impossible to continue any -systematic course of study, and the outlook for satisfactory work of any -sort was extremely discouraging. The first necessity was medical -assistance, and in quest of this Mr. Youmans came in the autumn of 1839 -to New York, where for the most part he spent the remainder of his life. -Until 1851 he was under the care of an oculist. Under such -circumstances, if a man of eager energy and boundless intellectual -craving were to be overwhelmed with despondency, we could not call it -strange. If he were to become dependent upon friends for the means of -support, it would be ungracious, if not unjust, to blame him. But Edward -Youmans was not made of the stuff that acquiesces in defeat. He rose -superior to calamity; he won the means of livelihood, and in darkness -entered upon the path to an enviable fame. At first he had to resign -himself to spending weary weeks over tasks that with sound eyesight -could have been dispatched in as many days. He invented some kind of -writing machine, which held his paper firmly, and enabled his pen to -follow straight lines at proper distances apart. Long practice of this -sort gave his handwriting a peculiar character which it retained in -later years. When I first saw it in 1863 it seemed almost -undecipherable; but that was far from being the case, and after I had -grown used to it I found it but little less legible than the most -beautiful chirography. The strokes, gnarled and jagged as they were, had -a method in their madness, and every pithy sentence went straight as an -arrow to its mark. - -While conquering these physical obstacles Mr. Youmans began writing for -the press, and gradually entered into relations with leading newspapers -which became more and more important and useful as years went on. He -became acquainted with Horace Greeley, William Henry Charming, and other -gentlemen who were interested in social reforms. His sympathies were -strongly enlisted with the little party of abolitionists, then held in -such scornful disfavour by all other parties. He was also interested in -the party of temperance, which, as he and others were afterward to -learn, compounded for its essential uprightness of purpose by indulging -in very gross intemperance of speech and action. The disinterestedness -which always characterized him was illustrated by his writing many -articles for a temperance paper which could not afford to pay its -contributors, although he was struggling with such disadvantages in -earning his own livelihood and carrying on his scientific studies. Those -were days when leading reformers believed that by some cunningly -contrived alteration of social arrangements our human nature, with all -its inheritance from countless ages of brutality, can somehow be made -over all in a moment, just as one would go to work with masons and -carpenters and revamp a house. There are many good people who still -labour under such a delusion. - -Though Mr. Youmans was brought into frequent contact with reformers of -this sort, it does not seem to me that his mind was ever deeply -impressed with such ways of thinking. Science is teaching us that the -method of evolution is that mill of God, of which we have heard, which, -while it grinds with infinite efficacy, yet grinds with wearisome -slowness. It was Mr. Darwin's discovery of natural selection which first -brought this truth home to us; but Sir Charles Lyell had in 1830 shown -how enormous effects are wrought by the cumulative action of slight and -unobtrusive causes, and this had much to do with turning men's minds -toward some conception of evolution. It was about 1847 that Mr. Youmans -was deeply interested in the work of geologists, as well as in the -Nebular Theory, to which recent discoveries were adding fresh -confirmation. Some time before this he had read that famous book -"Vestiges of Creation," and although Professor Agassiz truly declared -that it was an unscientific book, crammed with antiquated and exploded -fancies, I suspect that Mr. Youmans felt that amid all the chaff there -was a very sound and sturdy kernel of truth. - -Among the books which Mr. Youmans projected at this time, the first was -a compendious history of progress in discovery and invention; but, after -he had made extensive preparations, a book was published so similar in -scope and treatment that he abandoned the undertaking. Another work was -a treatise on arithmetic, on a new and philosophical plan; but, when -this was approaching completion, he again found himself anticipated, -this time by the book of Horace Mann. This was discouraging enough, but -a third venture resulted in a brilliant success. We have observed the -eagerness with which, as a schoolboy, Mr. Youmans entered upon the study -of chemistry. His interest in this science grew with years, and he -devoted himself to it so far as was practicable. For a blind man to -carry on the study of a science which is preëminently one of observation -and experiment might seem hopeless. It was at any rate absolutely -necessary to see with the eyes of others, if not with his own. Here the -assistance rendered by his sister was invaluable. During most of this -period she served as amanuensis and reader for him. But, more than this, -she kept up for some time a course of laboratory work, the results of -which were minutely described to her brother and discussed with him in -the evenings. The lectures of Dr. John William Draper on chemistry were -also thoroughly discussed and pondered. - -The conditions under which Mr. Youmans worked made it necessary for him -to consider every point with the extreme deliberation involved in -framing distinct mental images of things and processes which he could -not watch with the eye. It was hard discipline, but he doubtless -profited from it. Nature had endowed him with an unusually clear head, -but this enforced method must have made it still clearer. One of the -most notable qualities of his mind was the absolute luminousness with -which he saw things and the relations among things. It was this quality -that made him so successful as an expounder of scientific truths. In the -course of his pondering over chemical facts which he was obliged to take -at second hand, it occurred to him that most of the pupils in common -schools who studied chemistry were practically no better off. It was -easy enough for schools to buy textbooks, but difficult for them to -provide laboratories and apparatus; and it was much easier withal to -find teachers who could ask questions out of a book than those who could -use apparatus if provided. It was customary, therefore, to learn -chemistry by rote; or, in other words, pupils' heads were crammed with -unintelligible statements about things with queer names,--such as -manganese or tellurium,--which they had never seen, and would not know -if they were to see them. It occurred to Mr. Youmans that if visible -processes could not be brought before pupils, at any rate the -fundamental conceptions of chemistry might be made clear by means of -diagrams. He began devising diagrams in different colours, to illustrate -the diversity in the atomic weights of the principal elements, and the -composition of the more familiar compounds. At length, by uniting his -diagrams, he obtained a comprehensive chart exhibiting the outlines of -the whole scheme of chemical combination according to the binary or -dualist theory then in vogue. This chart, when published, was a great -success. It not only facilitated the acquirement of clear ideas, but it -was suggestive of new ideas. It proved very popular, and kept the field -until the binary theory was overthrown by the modern doctrine of -substitution, which does not lend itself so readily to graphic -treatment. - -The success of the chemical chart led to the writing of a textbook of -chemistry. This laborious work was completed in 1851, when Mr. Youmans -was thirty years old. Professor Silliman was then regarded as one of our -foremost authorities in chemistry, but it was at once remarked of the -new book that it showed quite as thorough a mastery of the whole subject -of chemical combination as Silliman's. It was a textbook of a kind far -less common then than now. There was nothing dry about it. The subject -was presented with beautiful clearness, in a most attractive style. -There was a firm grasp of the philosophical principles underlying -chemical phenomena, and the meaning and functions of the science were -set forth in such a way as to charm the student and make him wish for -more. The book had an immediate and signal success; in after years it -was twice rewritten by the author, to accommodate it to the rapid -advances made by the science, and it is still one of our best textbooks -of chemistry. It has had a sale of about one hundred and fifty thousand -copies. - -The publication of this book at once established its author's reputation -as a scientific writer, and in another way it marked an era in his life. -The long, distressing period of darkness now came to an end. Sight was -so far recovered in one eye that it became possible to go about freely, -to read, to recognize friends, to travel, and make much of life. I am -told that his face had acquired an expression characteristic of the -blind, but that expression was afterward completely lost. When I knew -him it would never have occurred to me that his sight was imperfect, -except perhaps as regards length of range. - -Youmans' career as a scientific lecturer now began. His first lecture -was the beginning of a series on the relations of organic life to the -atmosphere. It was illustrated with chemical apparatus, and was given in -a private room in New York to an audience which filled the room. -Probably no lecturer ever faced his first audience without some -trepidation, and Youmans had not the mainstay and refuge afforded by a -manuscript, for his sight was never good enough to make such an aid -available for his lectures. At first the right words were slow in -finding their way to those ready lips, and his friends were beginning to -grow anxious, when all at once a happy accident broke the spell. He was -remarking upon the characteristic inertness of nitrogen, and pointing to -a jar of that gas on the table before him, when some fidgety movement of -his knocked the jar off the table. He improved the occasion with one of -his quaint _bons mots_, and, as there is nothing that greases the wheels -of life like a laugh, the lecture went on to a successful close. - -This was the beginning of a busy career of seventeen years of lecturing, -ending in 1868; and I believe it is safe to say that few things were -done in all those years of more vital and lasting benefit to the -American people than this broadcast sowing of the seeds of scientific -thought in the lectures of Edward Youmans. They came just at the time -when the world was ripe for the doctrine of evolution, when all the -wondrous significance of the trend of scientific discovery since -Newton's time was beginning to burst upon men's minds. The work of Lyell -in geology, followed at length in 1859 by the Darwinian theory; the -doctrine of the correlation of forces and the consequent unity of -nature; the extension and reformation of chemical theory; the -simultaneous advance made in sociological inquiry, and in the conception -of the true aims and proper methods of education,--all this made the -period a most fruitful one for the peculiar work of such a teacher as -Youmans. The intellectual atmosphere was charged with conceptions of -evolution. Youmans had arrived at such conceptions in the course of his -study of the separate lines of scientific speculation which were now -about to be summed up and organized by Herbert Spencer into that system -of philosophy which marks the highest point to which the progressive -intelligence of mankind has yet attained. In the field of scientific -generalization upon this great scale, Youmans was not an originator; but -his broadly sympathetic and luminous mind moved on a plane so near to -that of the originators that he seized at once upon the grand scheme of -thought as it was developed, made it his own, and brought to its -interpretation and diffusion such a happy combination of qualities as -one seldom meets with. The ordinary popularizer of great and novel -truths is a man who comprehends them but partially, and illustrates them -in a lame and fragmentary way. But it was the peculiarity of Youmans -that while on the one hand he could grasp the newest scientific thought -so surely and firmly that he seemed to have entered into the innermost -mind of its author, on the other hand he could speak to the general -public in an extremely convincing and stimulating way. This was the -secret of his power, and there can be no question that his influence in -educating the American people to receive the doctrine of evolution was -great and widespread. - -The years when Youmans was travelling and lecturing were the years when -the old lyceum system of popular lectures was still in its vigour. The -kind of life led by the energetic lecturer in those days was not that of -a Sybarite, as may be seen from a passage in one of his letters: "I -lectured in Sandusky, and had to get up at five o'clock to reach Elyria; -I had had but very little sleep. To get from Elyria to Pittsburg I must -take the five o'clock morning train, and the hotel darky said he would -_try_ to waken me. I knew what that meant, and so did not get a single -wink of sleep that night. Rode all day to Pittsburg, and had to lecture -in the great Academy of Music over footlights.... The train that left -for Zanesville departed at two in the morning. I had been assured a -hundred times (for I asked everybody I met) that I could get a -sleeping-car to Zanesville, and when I was all ready to start I was -informed that _this_ morning there was no sleeping-car. By the time I -reached here I was pretty completely used up." - -Such a fatiguing life, however, has its compensations. It brings the -lecturer into friendly contact with the brightest minds among his fellow -countrymen in many and many places, and enlarges his sphere of influence -in a way that is not easy to estimate. Clearly, an earnest lecturer, of -commanding intelligence and charming manner, with a great subject to -teach, must have an opportunity for sowing seeds that will presently -ripen in a change of opinion or sentiment, in an altered way of looking -at things on the part of whole communities. No lecturer has ever had a -better opportunity of this sort than Edward Youmans, and none ever made -a better use of his opportunity. His gifts as a talker were of the -highest order. The commonest and plainest story, as told by Edward -Youmans, had all the breathless interest of the most thrilling romance. -Absolutely unconscious of himself, simple, straightforward, and -vehement, wrapped up in his subject, the very embodiment of faith and -enthusiasm, of heartiness and good cheer, it was delightful to hear -him. And when we join with all this his unfailing common sense, his -broad and kindly view of men and things, and the delicious humour that -kept flashing out in quaint, pithy phrases such as no other man would -have thought of, and such as are the despair of any one trying to -remember and quote them, we can seem to imagine what a power he must -have been with his lectures. - -When such a man goes about for seventeen years, teaching scientific -truths for which the world is ripe, we may be sure that his work is -great, albeit we have no standard whereby we can exactly measure it. In -hundreds of little towns with queer names did this strong personality -appear and make its way and leave its effects in the shape of new -thoughts, new questions, and enlarged hospitality of mind, among the -inhabitants. The results of all this are surely visible to-day. In no -part of the English world has Herbert Spencer's philosophy met with such -a general and cordial reception as in the United States. This may no -doubt be largely explained by a reference to general causes; but as it -is almost always necessary, along with our general causes, to take into -the account some personal influence, so it is in this case. It is safe -to say that among the agencies which during the past fifty years have -so remarkably broadened the mind of the American people, very few have -been more potent than the gentle and subtle but pervasive work done by -Edward Youmans with his lectures, and to this has been largely due the -hospitable reception of Herbert Spencer's ideas. - -It was in 1856 that Youmans fell in with a review of "Spencer's -Principles of Psychology," by Dr. Morell, in "The Medico-Chirurgical -Review." This paper impressed him so deeply that he at once sent to -London for a copy of the book, which had been published in the preceding -year. It will be observed that this was four years before the Darwinian -theory was announced in the first edition of the "Origin of -Species."[15] - -After struggling for a while with the weighty problems of this book, -Youmans saw that the theory expounded in it was a long stride in the -direction of a general theory of evolution. His interest in this subject -received a new and fresh stimulus. He read "Social Statics," and began -to recognize Spencer's hand in the anonymous articles in the quarterlies -in which he was then announcing and illustrating various portions or -segments of his newly discovered law of evolution. One evening in -February, 1860, as Youmans was calling at a friend's house in Brooklyn, -the Rev. Samuel Johnson, of Salem, handed him the famous prospectus of -the great series of philosophical works which Spencer proposed to issue -by subscription. Mr. Johnson had obtained this from Edward Silsbee, who -was one of the very first Americans to become interested in Spencer. The -very next day Youmans wrote a letter to Spencer, offering his aid in -procuring American subscriptions and otherwise facilitating the -enterprise by every means in his power. With this letter and Spencer's -cordial reply began the lifelong friendship between the two men. It was -in that same month that I first became aware of Spencer's existence, -through a single paragraph quoted from him by Lewes, and in that -paragraph there was immense fascination. I had been steeping myself in -the literature of modern philosophy, starting with Bacon and Descartes, -and was then studying Comte's "Philosophie Positive," which interested -me as suggesting that the special doctrines of the several sciences -might be organized into a general body of doctrine of universal -significance. Comte's work was crude and often wildly absurd, but there -was much in it that was very suggestive. In May, 1860, in the Old Corner -Bookstore in Boston, I fell upon a copy of that same prospectus of -Spencer's works, and read it with exulting delight; for clearly there -was to be such an organization of scientific doctrine as the world was -waiting for. It appeared that there was some talk of Ticknor & Fields -undertaking to conduct the series in case subscriptions enough should be -received. Spencer preferred to have his works appear in Boston; but when -in the course of 1860 his book on "Education" was offered to Ticknor & -Fields, they declined to publish it,--which was, of course, a grave -mistake from the business point of view. Youmans, however, was not sorry -for this, for it gave him the opportunity to place Spencer's books where -he could do most to forward their success. - -Some years before, during his blindness, his sister had led him one day -into the store of Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. in quest of a book, and Mr. -William Appleton had become warmly interested in him. I believe the firm -now look back to this chance visit as one of the most auspicious events -in their annals. Youmans became by degrees a kind of adviser as regarded -matters of publication, and it was largely through his far-sighted -advice that the Appletons entered upon the publication of such books as -those of Buckle, Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, Haeckel, and others of like -character; always paying a royalty to the authors, the same as to -American authors, in spite of the absence of an international copyright -law. As publishers of books of this sort the Appletons have come to be -preëminent. It is obvious enough nowadays that such books are profitable -from a business point of view; but thirty years and more ago this was by -no means obvious. We Americans were terribly provincial. Reprints of -English books and translations from French and German were sadly behind -the times. In the Connecticut town where I lived, people would begin to -wake up to the existence of some great European book or system of -thought after it had been before the world anywhere from a dozen to -fifty years. In those days, therefore, it required some boldness to -undertake the reprinting of new scientific books; and none have -recognized more freely than the Appletons the importance of the part -played by Youmans in this matter. His work as adviser to a great -publishing house and his work as lecturer reinforced each other, and -thus his capacity for usefulness was much increased. - -When Spencer's book on "Education" failed to find favour in Boston the -Appletons took it, and thus presently secured the management of the -philosophical series. This brought Youmans into permanent relations with -Spencer and his work. In 1861 Youmans was married, and in the course of -the following year made a journey in Europe with his wife. It was now -that he became personally acquainted with Spencer, and found him quite -as interesting and admirable as his books. Friendships were also begun -with Huxley and other foremost men of science. From more than one of -these men I have heard the warmest expressions of personal affection for -Youmans, and of keen appreciation of the aid that they have obtained in -innumerable ways from his intelligent and enthusiastic sympathy. But no -one else got so large a measure of this support as Spencer. As fast as -his books were republished Youmans wrote reviews of them, and by no -means in the usual perfunctory way; his reviews and notices were turned -out by the score, and scattered about in the magazines and newspapers -where they would do the most good. Whenever he found another writer who -could be pressed into the service, he would give him Spencer's books, -kindle him with a spark from his own magnificent enthusiasm, and set him -to writing for the press. The most indefatigable vender of wares was -never more ruthlessly persistent in advertising for lucre's sake than -Edward Youmans in preaching in a spirit of the purest disinterestedness -the gospel of evolution. As long as he lived, Spencer had upon this -side of the Atlantic an _alter ego_ ever on the alert with vision like -that of a hawk for the slightest chance to promote his interests and -those of his system of thought. - -Among the allies thus enlisted at that early time were Mr. George Ripley -and the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, both of whom did good service, in their -different ways, in awakening public interest in the doctrine of -evolution. In those days of the Civil War it was especially hard to keep -up the list of subscribers in an abstruse philosophical publication of -apparently interminable length. Youmans now and then found it needful to -make a journey in the interests of the work, and it was on one of these -occasions, in November, 1863, that I made his acquaintance. I had -already published, in 1861, an article in one of the quarterly reviews, -in which Spencer's work was referred to; and another in 1863, in which -the law of evolution was illustrated in connection with certain problems -of the science of language. The articles were anonymous, as was then the -fashion, and Youmans' curiosity was aroused. There were so few people -then who had any conception of what Spencer's work meant that they could -have been counted on one's fingers. At that time I knew of only three: -the late Professor Gurney, of Harvard; Mr. George Litch Roberts, now an -eminent patent lawyer in Boston; and Mr. John Spencer Clark, now of the -Prang Educational Company. I have since known that there were at least -two or three others about Boston, among them my learned friend the Rev. -William Rounseville Alger, besides several in other parts of the -country. When we sometimes ventured to observe that Spencer's work was -as great as Newton's, and that his theory of evolution was going to -remodel human thinking upon all subjects whatever, people used to stare -at us and take us for idiots. Any one member of such a small community -was easy to find; and I have always dated a new era in my life from the -Sunday afternoon when Youmans came to my room in Cambridge. It was the -beginning of a friendship such as hardly comes but once to a man. At -that first meeting I knew nothing of him except that he was the author -of a textbook of chemistry which I had found interesting, in spite of -its having been crammed down my throat by an old-fashioned memorizing -teacher who, I am convinced, never really knew so much as the difference -between oxygen and antimony. At first it was a matter of breathless -interest to talk with a man who had seen Herbert Spencer. But one of -the immediate results of this interview was the beginning of my own -correspondence and intimate friendship with Spencer. And from that time -forth it always seemed as if, whenever any of the good or lovely things -of life came to my lot, somehow or other Edward Youmans was either the -cause of it, or at any rate intimately concerned with it. The sphere of -his unselfish goodness was so wide and its quality so potent that one -could not come into near relations with him without becoming in all -manner of unsuspected ways strengthened and enriched. - -In the autumn of 1865 we were dismayed by the announcement that Spencer -would no longer be able to go on issuing his works. In London they were -published at his own expense and risk, and those books which now yield a -handsome profit did not then pay the cost of making them. By the summer -of 1865 there was a balance of £1100 against Spencer, and his property -was too small to admit of his going on and losing at such a rate. As -soon as this was known, John Stuart Mill begged to be allowed to assume -the entire pecuniary responsibility of continuing the publication; but -this, Mr. Spencer, while deeply affected by such noble sympathy, would -not hear of. He consented, however, with great reluctance, to the -attempt of Huxley and Lubbock, and other friends, to increase -artificially the list of subscribers by inducing people to take the work -just in order to help support it. But after several months the sudden -death of Spencer's father added something to his means of support, and -he thereupon withdrew his consent to this arrangement, and determined to -go on publishing as before, and bearing the loss. - -But as soon as the first evil tidings reached America Youmans made up -his mind that $5500 must be forthwith raised by subscription, in order -to make good the loss already incurred. It is delightful to remember the -vigour with which he took hold of this work. The sum of $7000 was raised -and invested in American securities in Spencer's name. If he did not see -fit to accept these securities, they would go without an owner. The best -of Waltham watches was procured for Spencer by his American friends; a -letter, worded with rare delicacy and tact, was written by the late -Robert Minturn; and Youmans sailed for England to convey the letter and -the watch to Spencer. It was a charming scene on a summer day in an -English garden when the great philosopher was apprised of what had been -done. It was so skilfully managed that he could not refuse the tribute -without seeming churlish. He therefore accepted it, and applied it to -extending his researches in descriptive sociology. - -Of the many visits which Youmans made to England, now and then extending -them to the Continent, one of the most important was in 1871, for the -purpose of establishing the International Scientific Series. This was a -favourite scheme of Youmans. He realized that popular scientific books, -adapted to the general reader, are apt to be written by third-rate men -who do not well understand their subject; they are apt to be dry or -superficial, or both. No one can write so good a popular book as the -master of a subject, if he only has a fair gift of expressing himself -and keeps in mind the public for which he is writing. The master knows -what to tell and what to omit, and can thus tell much in a short compass -and still make it interesting; moreover, he avoids the inaccuracies -which are sure to occur in second-hand work. Masters of subjects are -apt, however, to be too much occupied with original research to write -popular books. It was Youmans' plan to induce the leading men of science -in Europe and America to contribute small volumes on their special -subjects to a series to be published simultaneously in several countries -and languages. Furthermore, by special contract with publishing houses -of high reputation, the author was to receive the ordinary royalty on -every copy of his book sold in every one of the countries in question; -thus anticipating international copyright upon a very wide scale, and -giving the author a much more adequate compensation for his labour. To -put this scheme into operation was a task of great difficulty, so many -conflicting interests had to be considered. Youmans' brilliant success -is attested by that noble series of more than fifty volumes, on all -sorts of scientific subjects, written by men of real eminence, and -published in England, France, Italy, Germany, and Russia, as well as in -the United States. - -A word is all that can be spared for other parts of our friend's work, -which deserve many words, and those carefully considered. His book on -"Household Science" is not the usual collection of scrappy comment, -recipe, and apothegm, but a valuable scientific treatise on heat, light, -air, and food in their relations to every-day life. In his "Correlation -of Physical Forces" he brings together the epoch-making essays of the -men who have successively established that doctrine, introducing them -with an essay of his own, in which its history and its philosophical -implications are set forth in a masterly manner. In his book on the -"Culture demanded by Modern Life" we have a similar collection of essays -with a similar excellent original discussion, showing the need for wider -and later training in science, and protesting against the excess of time -and energy that is spent in classical education where it is merely the -following of an old tradition. - -As a crown to all this useful work, Youmans established, in 1872, "The -Popular Science Monthly," which has unquestionably been of high -educational value to the general public. It was not the aim of this -magazine to give an account of every theory expounded, every fact -observed, every discovery made, from year to year, whether significant -or insignificant. The mind of the people is not educated by dumping a -great unshapely mass of facts into it. It needs to be stimulated rather -than crammed. Education in science should lead one to think for one's -self. The scientific magazine, therefore, should present articles from -all quarters that deal with the essential conceptions of science or -discuss problems of real theoretical or practical interest, no matter -whether every particular asteroid or the last new species of barnacle -receives full attention or not. "The Popular Science Monthly" has now -been with us eighteen years; its character has always been of the -highest, and it must have exerted an excellent influence not only as a -diffuser of valuable knowledge, but in training its readers to -scientific habits of thought in so far as mere reading can contribute to -such a result. - -In concluding our survey of this useful and noble life, what impresses -us most, I think, is the broad democratic spirit and the absolute -unselfishness which it reveals at every moment and in every act. To -Edward Youmans the imperative need for educating the great mass of the -people so as to use their mental powers to the best advantage came home -as a living, ever present fact. He saw all that it meant and means in -the raising of mankind to a higher level of thought and action than that -upon which they now live. To this end he consecrated himself with -unalloyed devotion; and we who mourn his loss look back upon his noble -career with a sense of victory, knowing how the good that such a man -does lives after him and can never die. - -_March, 1890._ - - - - -IV - -THE PART PLAYED BY INFANCY IN THE EVOLUTION OF MAN[16] - - -The remarks which my friend Mr. Clark has made with reference to the -reconciling of science and religion seem to carry me back to the days -when I first became acquainted with the fact that there were such things -afloat in the world as speculations about the origin of man from lower -forms of life; and I can recall step by step various stages in which -that old question has come to have a different look from what it had -thirty years ago. One of the commonest objections we used to hear, from -the mouths of persons who could not very well give voice to any other -objection, was that anybody, whether he knows much or little about -evolution, must have the feeling that there is something degrading about -being allied with lower forms of life. That was, I suppose, owing to the -survival of the old feeling that a dignified product of creation ought -to have been produced in some exceptional way. That which was done in -the ordinary way, that which was done through ordinary processes of -causation, seemed to be cheapened and to lose its value. It was a -remnant of the old state of feeling which took pleasure in miracles, -which seemed to think that the object of thought was more dignified if -you could connect it with something supernatural; that state of culture -in which there was an altogether inadequate appreciation of the amount -of grandeur that there might be in the slow creative work that goes on -noiselessly by little minute increments, even as the dropping of the -water that wears away the stone. The general progress of familiarity -with the conception of evolution has done a great deal to change that -state of mind. Even persons who have not much acquaintance with science -have at length caught something of its lesson,--that the infinitely -cumulative action of small causes like those which we know is capable of -producing results of the grandest and most thrilling importance, and -that the disposition to recur to the cataclysmic and miraculous is only -a tendency of the childish mind which we are outgrowing with wider -experience. - -The whole doctrine of evolution, and in fact the whole advance of -modern science from the days of Copernicus down to the present day, have -consisted in the substitution of processes which are familiar and the -application of those processes, showing how they produce great results. - -When Darwin's "Origin of Species" was first published, when it gave us -that wonderful explanation of the origin of forms of life from allied -forms through the operation of natural selection, it must have been like -a mental illumination to every person who comprehended it. But after all -it left a great many questions unexplained, as was natural. It accounted -for the phenomena of organic development in general with wonderful -success, but it must have left a great many minds with the feeling: If -man has been produced in this way, if the mere operation of natural -selection has produced the human race, wherein is the human race anyway -essentially different from lower races? Is not man really dethroned, -taken down from that exceptional position in which we have been -accustomed to place him, and might it not be possible, in the course of -the future, for other beings to come upon the earth as far superior to -man as man is superior to the fossilized dragons of Jurassic antiquity? - -Such questions used to be asked, and when they were asked, although one -might have a very strong feeling that it was not so, at the same time -one could not exactly say why. One could not then find any scientific -argument for objections to that point of view. But with the further -development of the question the whole subject began gradually to wear a -different appearance; and I am going to give you a little bit of -autobiography, because I think it may be of some interest in this -connection. I am going to mention two or three of the successive stages -which the whole question took in my own mind as one thing came up after -another, and how from time to time it began to dawn upon me that I had -up to that point been looking at the problem from not exactly the right -point of view. - -When Darwin's "Descent of Man" was published in 1871, it was of course a -book characterized by all his immense learning, his wonderful fairness -of spirit and fertility of suggestion. Still, one could not but feel -that it did not solve the question of the origin of man. There was one -great contrast between that book and his "Origin of Species." In the -earlier treatise he undertook to point out a _vera causa_ of the origin -of species, and he did it. In his "Descent of Man" he brought together a -great many minor generalizations which facilitated the understanding of -man's origin. But he did not come at all near to solving the central -problem, nor did he anywhere show clearly why natural selection might -not have gone on forever producing one set of beings after another -distinguishable chiefly by physical differences. But Darwin's -co-discoverer, Alfred Russel Wallace, at an early stage in his -researches, struck out a most brilliant and pregnant suggestion. In that -one respect Wallace went further than ever Darwin did. It was a point of -which, indeed, Darwin admitted the importance. It was a point of which -nobody could fail to understand the importance, that in the course of -the evolution of a very highly organized animal, if there came a point -at which it was of more advantage to that animal to have variations in -his intelligence seized upon and improved by natural selection than to -have physical changes seized upon, then natural selection would begin -working almost exclusively upon that creature's intelligence, and he -would develop in intelligence to a great extent, while his physical -organism would change but slightly. Now, that of course applied to the -case of man, who is changed physically but very slightly from the apes, -while he has traversed intellectually such a stupendous chasm. - -As soon as this statement was made by Wallace, it seemed to me to open -up an entirely new world of speculation. There was this enormous -antiquity of man, during the greater part of which he did not know -enough to make history. We see man existing here on the earth, no one -can say how long, but surely many hundreds of thousands of years, yet -only during just the last little fringe of four or five thousand years -has he arrived at the point where he makes history. Before that, -something was going on, a great many things were going on, while his -ancestors were slowly growing up to that point of intelligence where it -began to make itself felt in the recording of events. This agrees with -Wallace's suggestion of a long period of psychical change, accompanied -by slight physical change. - -Well, in the spring of 1871, when Darwin's "Descent of Man" came out, -just about the same time I happened to be reading Wallace's account of -his experiences in the Malay Archipelago, and how at one time he caught -a female orang-outang with a new-born baby, and the mother died, and -Wallace brought up the baby orang-outang by hand; and this baby -orang-outang had a kind of infancy which was a great deal longer than -that of a cow or a sheep, but it was nothing compared to human infancy -in length. This little orang-outang could not get up and march around, -as mammals of less intelligence do, when he was first born, or within -three or four days; but after three or four weeks or so he would get -up, and begin taking hold of something and pushing it around, just as -children push a chair; and he went through a period of staring at his -hands, as human babies do, and altogether was a good deal slower in -getting to the point where he could take care of himself. And while I -was reading of that I thought, Dear me! if there is any one thing in -which the human race is signally distinguished from other mammals, it is -in the enormous duration of their infancy; but it is a point that I do -not recollect ever seeing any naturalist so much as allude to. - -It happened at just that time that I was making researches in psychology -about the organization of experiences, the way in which conscious -intelligent action can pass down into quasi-automatic action, the -generation of instincts, and various allied questions; and I thought, -Can it be that the increase of intelligence in an animal, if carried -beyond a certain point, must necessarily result in prolongation of the -period of infancy,--must necessarily result in the birth of the mammal -at a less developed stage, leaving something to be done, leaving a good -deal to be done, after birth? And then the argument seemed to come along -very naturally, that for every action of life, every adjustment which a -creature makes in life, whether a muscular adjustment or an intelligent -adjustment, there has got to be some registration effected in the -nervous system, some line of transit worn for nervous force to follow; -there has got to be a connection between certain nerve-centres before -the thing can be done, whether it is the acts of the viscera or the acts -of the limbs, or anything of that sort; and of course it is obvious that -if the creature has not many things to register in his nervous system, -if he has a life which is very simple, consisting of few actions that -are performed with great frequency, that animal becomes almost automatic -in his whole life; and all the nervous connections that need to be made -to enable him to carry on life get made during the foetal period or -during the egg period, and when he comes to be born, he comes all ready -to go to work. As one result of this, he does not learn from individual -experience, but one generation is like the preceding generations, with -here and there some slight modifications. But when you get the creature -that has arrived at the point where his experience has become varied, he -has got to do a good many things, and there is more or less -individuality about them; and many of them are not performed with the -same minuteness and regularity, so that there does not begin to be that -automatism within the period during which he is being developed and his -form is taking on its outlines. During prenatal life there is not time -enough for all these nervous registrations, and so by degrees it comes -about that he is born with his nervous system perfectly capable only of -making him breathe and digest food,--of making him do the things -absolutely requisite for supporting life; instead of being born with a -certain number of definite developed capacities, he has a number of -potentialities which have got to be roused according to his own -individual experience. Pursuing that line of thought, it began after a -while to seem clear to me that the infancy of the animal in a very -undeveloped condition, with the larger part of his faculties in -potentiality rather than in actuality, was a direct result of the -increase of intelligence, and I began to see that now we have two steps: -first, natural selection goes on increasing the intelligence; and -secondly, when the intelligence goes far enough, it makes a longer -infancy, a creature is born less developed, and therefore there comes -this plastic period during which he is more teachable. The capacity for -progress begins to come in, and you begin to get at one of the great -points in which man is distinguished from the lower animals, for one of -those points is undoubtedly his progressiveness; and I think that any -one will say, with very little hesitation, that if it were not for our -period of infancy we should not be progressive. If we came into the -world with our capacities all cut and dried, one generation would be -very much like another. - -Then, looking round to see what are the other points which are most -important in which man differs from the lower animals, there comes that -matter of the family. The family has adumbrations and foreshadowings -among the lower animal, but in general it may be said that while mammals -lower than man are gregarious, in man have become established those -peculiar relationships which constitute what we know as the family; and -it is easy to see how the existence of helpless infants would bring -about just that state of things. The necessity of caring for the infants -would prolong the period of maternal affection, and would tend to keep -the father and mother and children together, but it would tend -especially to keep the mother and children together. This business of -the marital relations was not really a thing that became adjusted in the -primitive ages of man, but it has become adjusted in the course of -civilization. Real monogamy, real faithfulness of the male parent, -belongs to a comparatively advanced stage; but in the early stages the -knitting together of permanent relations between mother and infant, and -the approximation toward steady relations on the part of the male -parent, came to bring the family, and gradually to knit those -organizations which we know as clans. - -Here we come to another stage, another step forward. The instant society -becomes organized in clans, natural selection cannot let these clans be -broken up and die out,--the clan becomes the chief object or care of -natural selection, because if you destroy it you retrograde again, you -lose all you have gained; consequently, those clans in which the -primeval selfish instincts were so modified that the individual conduct -would be subordinated to some extent to the needs of the clan,--those -are the ones which would prevail in the struggle for life. In this way -you gradually get an external standard to which man has to conform his -conduct, and you get the germs of altruism and morality; and in the -prolonged affectionate relation between the mother and the infant you -get the opportunity for that development of altruistic feeling which, -once started in those relations, comes into play in the more general -relations, and makes more feasible and more workable the bonds which -keep society together, and enable it to unite on wider and wider terms. - -So it seems that from a very small beginning we are reaching a very -considerable result. I had got these facts pretty clearly worked out, -and carried them around with me some years, before a fresh conclusion -came over me one day with a feeling of surprise. In the old days before -the Copernican astronomy was promulgated, man regarded himself as the -centre of the universe. He used to entertain theological systems which -conformed to his limited knowledge of nature. The universe seemed to be -made for his uses, the earth seemed to have been fitted up for his -dwelling place, he occupied the centre of creation, the sun was made to -give him light, etc. When Copernicus overthrew that view, the effect -upon theology was certainly tremendous. I do not believe that justice -has ever been done to the shock that it gave to man when he was made to -realize that he occupied a kind of miserable little clod of dirt in the -universe, and that there were so many other worlds greater than this. It -was one of the first great shocks involved in the change from ancient to -modern scientific views, and I do not doubt it was responsible for a -great deal of the pessimistic philosophizing that came in the -seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. - -Now, it flashed upon me a dozen years or so ago--after thinking about -this manner in which man originated--that man occupies certainly just -as exceptional a position as before, if he is the terminal in a long -series of evolutionary events. If at the end of the long history of -evolution comes man, if this whole secular process has been going on to -produce this supreme object, it does not much matter what kind of a -cosmical body he lives on. He is put back into the old position of -theological importance, and in a much more intelligent way than in the -old days when he was supposed to occupy the centre of the universe. We -are enabled to say that while there is no doubt of the evolutionary -process going on throughout countless ages which we know nothing about, -yet in the one case where it is brought home to us we spell out an -intelligible story, and we do find things working along up to man as a -terminal fact in the whole process. This is indeed a consistent -conclusion from Wallace's suggestion that natural selection, in working -toward the genesis of man, began to follow a new path and make psychical -changes instead of physical changes. Obviously, here you are started -upon a new chapter in the history of the universe. It is no longer going -to be necessary to shape new limbs, and to thicken the skin and make new -growths of hair, when man has learned how to build a fire, when he can -take some other animal's hide and make it into clothes. You have got to -a new state of things. - -After I had put together all these additional circumstances with regard -to the origination of human society and the development of altruism, I -began to see a little further into the matter. It then began to appear -that not only is man the terminal factor in a long process of evolution, -but in the origination of man there began the development of the higher -psychical attributes, and those attributes are coming to play a greater -and greater part in the development of the human race. Just take this -mere matter of "altruism," as we call it. It is not a pretty word, but -must serve for want of a better. In the development of altruism from the -low point, where there was scarcely enough to hold the clan together, up -to the point reached at the present day, there has been a notable -progress, but there is still room for an enormous amount of improvement. -The progress has been all in the direction of bringing out what we call -the higher spiritual attributes. The feeling was now more strongly -impressed upon me than ever, that all these things tended to set the -whole doctrine of evolution into harmony with religion; that if the past -through which man had originated was such as has been described, then -religion was a fit and worthy occupation for man, and some of the -assumptions which underlie every system of religion must be true. For -example, with regard to the assumption that what we see of the present -life is not the whole thing; that there is a spiritual side of the -question beside the material side; that, in short, there is for man a -life eternal. When I wrote the "Destiny of Man," all that I ventured to -say was, that it did not seem quite compatible with ordinary common -sense to suppose that so much pains would have been taken to produce a -merely ephemeral result. But since then another argument has occurred to -me: that just at the time when the human race was beginning to come upon -the scene, when the germs of morality were coming in with the family, -when society was taking its first start, there came into the human -mind--how one can hardly say, but there did come--the beginnings of a -groping after something that lies outside and beyond the world of sense. -That groping after a spiritual world has been going on here for much -more than a hundred thousand years, and it has played an enormous part -in the history of mankind, in the whole development of human society. -Nobody can imagine what mankind would have been without it up to the -present time. Either all religion has been a reaching out for a phantom -that does not exist, or a reaching out after something that does exist, -but of which man, with his limited intelligence, has only been able to -gain a crude idea. And the latter seems a far more probable conclusion, -because, if it is not so, it constitutes a unique exception to all the -operations of evolution we know about. As a general thing in the whole -history of evolution, when you see any internal adjustment reaching out -toward something, it is in order to adapt itself to something that -really exists; and if the religious cravings of man constitute an -exception, they are the one thing in the whole process of evolution that -is exceptional and different from all the rest. And this is surely an -argument of stupendous and resistless weight. - -I take this autobiographical way of referring to these things, in the -order in which they came before my mind, for the sake of illustration. -The net result of the whole is to put evolution in harmony with -religious thought,--not necessarily in harmony with particular religious -dogmas or theories, but in harmony with the great religious drift, so -that the antagonism which used to appear to exist between religion and -science is likely to disappear. So I think it will before a great while. -If you take the case of some evolutionist like Professor Haeckel, who is -perfectly sure that materialism accounts for everything (he has got it -all cut and dried and settled; he knows all about it, so that there is -really no need of discussing the subject!); if you ask the question -whether it was his scientific study of evolution that really led him to -such a dogmatic conclusion, or whether it was that he started from some -purely arbitrary assumption, like the French materialists of the -eighteenth century, I have no doubt the latter would be the true -explanation. There are a good many people who start on their theories of -evolution with these ultimate questions all settled to begin with. It -was the most natural thing in the world that after the first assaults of -science upon old beliefs, after a certain number of Bible stories and a -certain number of church doctrines had been discredited, there should be -a school of men who in sheer weariness should settle down to scientific -researches, and say, "We content ourselves with what we can prove by the -methods of physical science, and we will throw everything else -overboard." That was very much the state of mind of the famous French -atheists of the last century. But only think how chaotic nature was to -their minds compared to what she is to our minds to-day. Just think how -we have in the present century arrived where we can see the bearings of -one set of facts in nature as collated with another set of facts, and -contrast it with the view which even the greatest of those scientific -French materialists could take. Consider how fragmentary and how lacking -in arrangement was the universe they saw compared with the universe we -can see to-day, and it is not strange that to them it could be an -atheistic world. That hostility between science and religion continued -as long as religion was linked hand in hand with the ancient doctrine of -special creation. But now that the religious world has unmoored itself, -now that it is beginning to see the truth and beauty of natural science -and to look with friendship upon conceptions of evolution, I suspect -that this temporary antagonism, which we have fallen into a careless way -of regarding as an everlasting antagonism, will come to an end perhaps -quicker than we realize. - -There is one point that is of great interest in this connection, -although I can only hint at it. Among the things that happened in that -dim past when man was coming into existence was the increase of his -powers of manipulation; and that was a factor of immense importance. -Anaxagoras, it is said, wrote a treatise in which he maintained that the -human race would never have become human if it had not been for the -hand. I do not know that there was so very much exaggeration about -that. It was certainly of great significance that the particular race of -mammals whose intelligence increased far enough to make it worth while -for natural selection to work upon intelligence alone was the race which -had developed hands and could manipulate things. It was a wonderful era -in the history of creation when that creature could take a club and use -it for a hammer, or could pry up a stone with a stake, thus adding one -more lever to the levers that made up his arm. From that day to this, -the career of man has been that of a person who has operated upon his -environment in a different way from any animal before him. An era of -similar importance came probably somewhat later, when man learned how to -build a fire and cook his food; thus initiating that course of culinary -development of which we have seen the climax in our dainty dinner this -evening. Here was another means of acting upon the environment. Here was -the beginning of the working of endless physical and chemical changes -through the application of heat, just as the first use of the club or -the crowbar was the beginning of an enormous development in the -mechanical arts. - -Now, at the same time, to go back once more into that dim past, when -ethics and religion, manual art and scientific thought, found -expression in the crudest form of myths, the æsthetic sense was -germinating likewise. Away back in the glacial period you find pictures -drawn and scratched upon the reindeer's antler, portraitures of mammoths -and primitive pictures of the chase; you see the trinkets, the personal -decorations, proving beyond question that the æsthetic sense was there. -There has been an immense æsthetic development since then. And I believe -that in the future it is going to mean far more to us than we have yet -begun to realize. I refer to the kind of training that comes to mankind -through direct operation upon his environment, the incarnation of his -thought, the putting of his ideas into new material relations. This is -going to exert powerful effects of a civilizing kind. There is something -strongly educational and disciplinary in the mere dealing with matter, -whether it be in the manual training school, whether it be in carpentry, -in overcoming the inherent and total depravity of inanimate things, -shaping them to your will, and also in learning to subject yourself to -their will (for sometimes you must do that in order to achieve your -conquests; in other words, you must humour their habits and -proclivities). In all this there is a priceless discipline, moral as -well as mental, let alone the fact that, in whatever kind of artistic -work a man does, he is doing that which in the very working has in it an -element of something outside of egoism; even if he is doing it for -motives not very altruistic, he is working toward a result the end of -which is the gratification or the benefit of other persons than himself; -he is working toward some result which in a measure depends upon their -approval, and to that extent tends to bring him into closer relations to -his fellow man. - -In the future, to an even greater extent than in the recent past, crude -labour will be replaced by mechanical contrivances. The kind of labour -which can command its price is the kind which has trained intelligence -behind it. One of the great needs of our time is the multiplication of -skilled and special labour. The demand for the products of intelligence -is far greater than that for mere crude products of labour, and it will -be more and more so. For there comes a time when the latter products -have satisfied the limit to which a man can consume food and drink and -shelter,--those things which merely keep the animal alive. But to those -things which minister to the requirements of the spiritual side of a man -there is almost no limit. The demand one can conceive is well-nigh -infinite. One of the philosophical things that have been said, in -discriminating man from the lower animals, is that he is the one -creature who is never satisfied. It is well for him that he is so, that -there is always something more for which he craves. To my mind, this -fact most strongly hints that man is infinitely more than a mere animate -machine. - -_May, 1895._ - - - - -V - -THE ORIGINS OF LIBERAL THOUGHT IN AMERICA[17] - - -In approaching the subject of the origins of liberal thought in America, -one cannot help remembering that the discovery of the new continent was -itself such a stimulus to free thinking as the world had never before -witnessed. From time immemorial, the trade between Europe and the remote -parts of Asia had followed certain customary routes. From ancient days, -long before Olympiads were heard of, when Assyrian kings with curly -beards commemorated their victories in arrow-headed inscriptions, men -had used those same routes. Up the Red Sea, in the early prime of -hundred-gated Thebes, came ships from the Indian Ocean, with gems and -spices to exchange for Egyptian fine linens and amulets of amber from -the Baltic; and five thousand years later Venetian argosies at -Alexandria were laden with just such gems and spices to distribute to -the merchants of Augsburg, the royal household at Paris, the lords and -ladies of Haddon Hall. Empires rose and fell, creeds and pantheons came -and went, stately temples reared their heads for centuries and slowly -crumbled in ruins, and still amid all the secular change the world's -great stream of trade flowed through the same unshifting channels, and -there was nothing to show that this state of things, to which men's -ideas and habits had always been adjusted, was not to endure forever. So -it was in that recent time when Henry V. of England was smiting the -French chivalry at Agincourt, and his cousin Prince Henry of Portugal -was beginning the search for an ocean route to the Indies. Never did the -human mind get such a wrench out of its ancient grooves, never were such -vistas of new possibilities laid open, never was beheld such glorious -hardihood, such startling romance, as in the time when Columbus sailed -westward to find the East, and Cortes met warriors of the Stone Age face -to face. The men of Europe suddenly found themselves placed in new and -unsuspected relations to the planet on which they lived; worlds of -barbarism and savagery, unheard of and unspeakably bizarre, were brought -to their notice; strange constellations arose in the firmament; strange -beasts and birds were encountered amid outlandish trees and shrubs in -new climates beyond unknown seas. The old familiarity with nature's -aspects received an abrupt shock. On every side loomed up new questions -to be answered, new practical problems to be solved. All man's inventive -faculty, all his patient inquisitiveness, all the courage he could -summon, were forthwith called into play. The dreams of boundless riches, -the eager thirst for new knowledge, the superhuman bravery, which -characterized the epoch of maritime discovery, are symptoms that reveal -to us the highly wrought condition of the European mind at the time. A -study of contemporary chronicles and letters cannot fail to bring home -to us the singular intensity with which the thrill of venturesome -romance was felt in every fibre of man's being. - -The impulse thus given to free thinking must have been extremely -powerful. It is customary to attribute the brilliant efflorescence of -the human mind in the sixteenth century to the revival of Greek -learning. Without seeking to diminish the respect due to that mighty -cause, it may be contended that the influence of maritime discovery was -equally important. While the Greek renaissance brought men into -wholesome and stimulating intercourse with the highest achievements of -literature, art, and philosophy, the discovery of the New World -impressed upon them, as nothing had ever done before, the feasibleness -of doing things in novel ways. With the wholesale displacement of -commercial relations, the European mind burst the bounds of the snug -little world to which its habits and theories, its politics civil and -ecclesiastical, its science and its theology, had been adapted. The -sudden and unprecedented widening of the environment soon set up a -general fermentation of ideas. There was nothing accidental in Martin -Luther's coming in the next generation after Columbus. Nor was it -strange that in the following age the English mind, wrought to its -highest tension under the combined influences of Renaissance, -Reformation, and maritime adventure, should have put forth a literature -the boldest and grandest that had ever appeared; that the era of Raleigh -and Frobisher and the early Puritans should have seen even the highest -mark of Greek achievement surpassed by Shakespeare. The gigantic -revolution set on foot by Copernicus was already in full progress, the -era of Descartes was just arriving, and the next century was to see -modern scientific method receive its supreme illustration at the hands -of Newton, while the principles of freedom in thought and speech were to -find invincible champions in Milton and Locke. - -Such was the age in which the work of English colonization in America -was beginning. In looking for the origins of liberal thought in America, -it is chiefly with English-speaking America that we are concerned. The -Spanish mind, indeed, felt strongly the stimulus of the maritime -discoveries and the contact with strange races of men, until an age of -chivalrous enterprise bloomed forth in the literature of Calderon and -Lope de Vega and Cervantes; but the new spirit was not strong enough to -prevail over an ecclesiastical organization that had been growing in -power since the Visigothic times. The higher intellectual life of Spain -perished in the fires of the Inquisition, and art and song failed to -lead the way to science and free thought; no Spanish Locke or Newton -followed in the train of a Lope and a Murillo, but so lately as the year -1771 the University of Salamanca prohibited the teaching of the law of -gravitation as discordant with revealed religion.[18] With such a state -of things in the mother country, liberal thought in the Spanish colonies -was a plant of very slow growth. As for France at the end of the -sixteenth century, there was a sturdy intellectual life there which no -efforts of tyranny could more than partially repress; but circumstances -threw the work of colonization into the hands of the Jesuits, and -accordingly the history of New France, while eminent for devoted bravery -and heroic endurance, shows scarcely a trace of liberal thinking either -in politics or in matters pertaining to religion. Not with the French -and Spanish portions of America, therefore, but with the colonies that -developed into the United States, is our inquiry concerned. - -The first and most obvious consideration which strikes us is that while -the two centuries following the discovery of America witnessed an -unprecedented awakening of the European mind, yet it was only with those -nations that had retained self-government that this intellectual -awakening was to come to prompt and full fruition. From the British -islands and the Netherlands came the kind of public policy that allowed -free thinking to take deep root and send up a thrifty tree of liberty. -The planting of such seed in the spacious virgin soil of the New World -was doubtless the greatest of all the manifold unforeseen results for -which Columbus opened the way. It made political freedom the strongest -power on earth, and thus favoured the attainment of that equable -flexibility of mind which allows the thought to play freely about the -facts which are laid before it. Not in a moment was such a grand result -achieved; its complete realization has not yet come, and none of us may -live to see it, yet toward that goal the whole impetus of men's -civilizing work is tending, and there is no power that can prevent the -consummation. Year by year, no matter how grave the questions with which -we have to deal, we are becoming more and more able to let our minds -play freely with them, to turn them hither and thither till all sides be -seen and all aspects duly considered. - -Not all in a moment, I say, has such a desirable result been achieved. -So far is it, moreover, from having been brought about by conscious -human effort that mankind have in general struggled desperately against -it. Compared with the mass of men, it is only a few minds that have -learned to regard absolute freedom of thought as something to be -desired. Though the colonization of America came at a time when men's -minds were stirred by novel ideas as never before, though the men of -that generation were moving irrepressibly toward liberality of thought, -yet there were very few who had any liking for liberal thought, or any -good word to bestow upon it. There were few who doubted that absolute -truth was attainable concerning the most abstruse questions of -philosophy and religion, and an exactly true belief on minute points of -theology was deemed necessary for one's personal salvation. Changes in -opinion simply wrought a transfer of allegiance from one orthodoxy to -another, and the new orthodoxy felt bound as much as the old one to -persecute all who refused such allegiance. From this point of view the -history of the progress of liberal thought becomes curiously -interesting, for it shows how one of the most momentous revolutions in -human life has steadily gone on in spite of the inveterate antagonism of -the very men concerned in bringing it about! To a considerable extent, -the history has been the same over a large part of the globe. The causes -which have been at work in America have also been at work in Europe, and -even beyond; and the liberal thought with which we are familiar is -characteristic not so much of America as of the latter part of the -nineteenth century. But along with the general causes there have been -local causes which have especially concerned the New World, and a clear -account of the matter requires us to indicate both the one and the -other. - -From the revolt of Henry VIII. against the Papacy down to the Revolution -of 1688, there was in England a progressive movement toward liberal -thought. It was at first a crude unconscious movement in the direction -of toleration, which is a necessary condition for the development of -free thinking. When we have arrived at a truly cordial toleration of -opinions, allowing to all free play to stand or fall, just as hypotheses -in science are suffered to stand or fall, then is men's thought for the -first time really untrammelled. Whatever, therefore, tended toward -toleration of diverse forms of creed or worship was a step in the path -that led to free thinking; and whatever tended to democratize the church -and relieve it from state control was a step toward toleration. The -revolt of Henry VIII. at first but realized what the _proemunire_ -statutes of Edward I. and Edward III. had threatened. But by breaking up -the religious orders, expelling abbots from Parliament, and making the -headship of the church a subject of fierce dispute, it contributed -immensely to weaken and relax the bonds of conservatism, and it afforded -a rare opportunity for the thoughts of laymen and small preachers to -assert themselves. Thus the Lollardism which had been partially -suppressed for more than a century now reared its head again defiantly, -and, after learning lessons in democracy from Calvin, came forth as -Puritanism, clad in full panoply for one of the world's most fateful -contests. - -In the course of Elizabeth's reign we find this Puritanism taking three -different shapes. There were the moderate reformers, whose wish was -simply to trim and prune the tree of Episcopacy; and secondly, those who -were afterward known as "root and branch" men, whose name is descriptive -enough. Instead of pruning they would uproot the tree and cast it away. -To these Presbyterians the royal supremacy was no more than the papal a -part of the living growth of Christ's church; it was but stubble fit for -burning. Kings looked with horror upon such views, which threatened -political danger no less than ecclesiastical. "A Scottish presbytery," -cried James I., "agreeth as well with a monarchy as God and the Devil. -Then Jack and Tom and Will and Dick shall meet, and at their pleasures -censure me and my council and all our proceedings." The case could not -have been more pithily stated, yet even Presbyterianism stopped short of -full-fledged democracy. For Jack and his friends, by means of synods and -general assemblies, could create a governing body with power of -enforcing conformity upon unwilling congregations. In protest against -this somewhat oligarchical method, Puritanism assumed its third form, -that of Independency. The beginnings of Independency are to be sought -among the Brownists of Elizabeth's reign, though their day of glory -first came with the Civil War. In the theory of the Independents, as -fully developed, any group of persons wishing to worship God in common -might come together and organize themselves into a Congregational -church, existing by as good a warrant as any other church, and entirely -free from the control of any bishop, or synod, or council. No outside -power could prescribe its creed or interfere with its ceremonial. Each -church became, therefore, a little self-governing republic, as -completely autonomous as an ancient Greek city, and the union of such -churches was based solely upon the spirit of spontaneous Christian -fellowship. Such was the theory of Independency. - -In these successive stages of Protestantism we may see the preliminary -steps toward general toleration and toward liberal thought. In each -stage the strength of the coercive power that could be exercised over -men's opinions and expressions of opinion was sensibly diminished. From -the coercive power of the universal Church, which had once been able to -direct a crusade against the Albigenses, it was a long step downward to -the coercive power of Queen Elizabeth, whose will to suppress Puritanism -was perpetually held in check by motives of public policy. It was a yet -further step downward from the coercive power of a sovereign to that of -a synod, and thence again to that of a congregation. So striking is the -progress that one who knew nothing of history might easily mistake the -theory of Independency as providing practically for something like -complete toleration. History tells us that this was far from being the -case. Heresy, or dissent from the commonly accepted orthodoxy, has been -no more tolerated in Independent churches than elsewhere; and even in -the absence of serious differences in dogma, persecution has been -visited upon divergences from the customary ritual, as for example in -the treatment long accorded to Baptists. In their militant days, neither -Presbyterianism nor Independency ever professed to be tolerant. The -gravest reproach they could imagine was to be charged with encouraging -free thinking. The eminent Scottish divine Rutherford gave expression to -the prevailing sentiment when he declared, "We regard toleration of all -religions as not far removed from blasphemy." Nevertheless, the movement -which gave rise to Presbyterianism and to Independency was sure to -advance to the announcement of the principle of universal toleration. -That movement was itself the expression of a vast amount of free -thinking, and it was not to stop short of recognizing the claims of -free thought. The century that witnessed the beginnings of an -English-speaking America saw also the genuine principles of toleration -laid down by Roger Williams and William Penn, and demonstrated with -resistless wealth of learning and logic by Milton and Locke. - -In an account of the origins of liberal thought in America this English -development is all-important, but it does not cover the whole field. -America's inheritance from Europe comes chiefly, but not entirely, from -the British islands. In the early days of the Protestant Reformation, -there were European countries in which religious toleration had advanced -practically much further than in England. The England of Henry VIII. as -compared with the Netherlands was in a crude and backward condition. The -contrast might be likened to that between rural life with its narrow -mental horizon and the varied cosmopolitan life of the city. England -politically was a land of unrivalled promise, but she was not quite -abreast with the most advanced culture of the time. Her government was -mainly in the hands of country gentlemen, who lacked some valuable -elements of experience that were possessed by the burghers of commercial -Antwerp and Ghent. A careful survey of the Middle Ages shows plainly an -abiding antagonism between commerce and the ecclesiastical spirit. A -general connection between the predominance of international trade and -the secularization of public life is distinctly traceable. On the map of -mediæval Europe one may point out peculiar spots where the Papacy never -gained complete sway. In some of these, as in Bohemia and southern Gaul, -the resistance was due to Manichæan heresies brought in from the Eastern -Empire, giving rise to a kind of mediæval Puritanism; in these we do not -find a spirit of liberal thought developed, but rather an anti-Catholic -fanaticism. The other peculiar spots lie in the great pathway of -commerce between the Levant and the northern seas. In the free cities of -northern Italy and southern Germany, in the Hansa towns, and in the -Netherlands, priestcraft had less sway than elsewhere, and the general -tone of thought was more liberal and modern. No city came so completely -under the secularizing influences of maritime commerce as Venice; and it -is significant that the Papacy, at the very pinnacle of its power and -arrogance in the thirteenth century, utterly failed in its attempt to -force the Inquisition upon that republic of merchants. - -In similar wise, we find the commercial Netherlands in the sixteenth -century exhibiting practically such toleration in matters of religion as -the British islands attained only much later, and after prolonged and -distressing struggle. From the time of Edward III. commercial -intercourse with the great Dutch and Flemish cities was one of the most -potent civilizing influences at work in England. It was a liberalizing -influence in religion and in politics, and must be named among the -causes which made the eastern counties preëminent for heresy. In later -days, when the Dutch provinces had saved their Protestantism and -recovered political freedom, they adopted a policy of toleration so -broad as to seem to most contemporaries very eccentric. Their noble -country was stigmatized as "the common harbour of all heresies" and a -"cage of unclean birds." How it harboured heretics escaping from England -is something that no American is ever likely to forget. - -If, after this glance at European conditions, we cross the Atlantic and -observe the group of twelve colonies that were planted during the -seventeenth century, we find that five of them were especially notable -for pursuing from the outset a policy of toleration,--a policy -favourable to liberal thought. These five, naming them in order of -seniority, were New Netherland, Maryland, Rhode Island, and -Pennsylvania, with Delaware. In New Netherland the Dutch simply -maintained their traditional secularized policy. On the hospitable -island of Manhattan all the varieties of European religion met on terms -of equality,--Lutherans and Catholics, Quakers[19] and Puritans, -Moravians and Jews. After the English conquest this liberal policy was -continued by the bigoted Duke of York, for reasons similar to those -which made toleration a necessity in the province of the liberal and -sagacious Calverts. The Catholic proprietors of Maryland wished to make -their province a desirable home for Catholics who were inclined to leave -England, and the only possible way of accomplishing this, without -interference from the British government, was to pursue a policy broad -enough to include Catholics along with all other kinds of Christians in -its benefits. A similar necessity confronted Charles II. and James II. -In order to secure as much protection as possible for Catholics without -interference from Parliament, it was necessary to pursue a policy broad -enough to include Quakers along with Catholics. For such reasons James -refrained from disturbing the liberal Dutch policy in New York. For -such reasons both Stuart kings supported the schemes of William Penn, in -whose proprietary colonies of Pennsylvania and Delaware the principles -of toleration were carried out, on the whole, more completely than -anywhere else in English-speaking America. It is interesting in this -connection to observe that the mother of William Penn was a Dutch lady, -though perhaps it is possible to make too much of such a fact. The -Quakers, who formed the strength of the colony, represented a phase of -Puritanism more liberal than Independency. As contrasted with -Independency, Quakerism was a notable advance in the direction of -Individualism; it had outgrown the set of notions according to which a -civic community ought to consist of a united body of believers. -Pennsylvania, therefore, and its appendage Delaware, profited by the -late date at which they were founded; they represented a more advanced -stage of opinion than the colonies which started in the time of James I. -Their proprietary government remained undisturbed until the Declaration -of Independence, and in 1776 these two states were the only ones in -which all Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, stood socially and -politically on an equal footing. For after the accession of William and -Mary had made the Episcopal Church supreme in New York and Maryland, -the Catholic inhabitants of those colonies were disfranchised and made -the subject of various oppressive enactments. Even the laws of Rhode -Island, as first printed, early in the eighteenth century, expressly -prohibit Roman Catholics from voting. The date of this statute is not -accurately known, but it was certainly between 1688 and 1705,[20] and -may be due to the strong antagonism aroused by the conduct of James II. -and his Jacobites. However that may be, the statute was not repealed -until 1784. - -The disfranchisement of Catholics was contrary to the spirit of the -Rhode Island charter and to the views of Roger Williams, who certainly -understood the rational grounds for religious toleration better than any -other man of his time, save perhaps Milton and Vane. He represents the -Protestant principle of the sacred right of private judgment carried out -with unflinching logical consistency. In him the transition from -Independency to Individualism is completed. The contrast between the two -is illustrated in the controversy between Williams and Cotton which was -called forth by the publication in 1644 of Williams's book entitled "The -Bloudy Tenent of Persecution." John Cotton was a typical Independent, -and by no means a man of persecuting temperament, but his view of the -matter is extremely one-sided. He admits that it is wrong for error to -persecute truth, but he holds it to be the sacred duty of truth to -persecute error! Williams, on the other hand, sees that truth stands in -no need of violent or artificial support, and that error contains within -itself the seeds of death. He feels, too, that when I venture to -persecute what I call error in others, I virtually assume my own -infallibility. Thus not until pure Individualism is reached is the -fundamental fallacy of Catholicism escaped. In order to protect this -sacred Individualism, Williams would have a complete separation between -church and state. Under no pretext whatever should the civil government -interfere with religious matters. There should be no more statutes -against heresy or heretics, no enforced attendance upon public worship, -no support of churches by taxation. Roger Williams not only proclaimed -such doctrines, but he lived up to them. He never took pains to conceal -his dislike of Quaker doctrines; in his seventy-third year he once rowed -himself in a boat the whole length of Narragansett Bay, in order to -conduct a dispute against three valiant Quaker champions; yet, in spite -of vehement pressure from the neighbouring colonies, he resolutely -refused to allow the civil power of Rhode Island to be used against -Quakers. Massachusetts in fury threatened to cut off the trade of the -weaker colony, but nothing could intimidate Williams into what he termed -"exercising a civil power over men's consciences." Among the public men -of the seventeenth century Roger Williams deserves a preëminent place; -he was the first to conceive thoroughly and carry out consistently, in -the face of strong opposition, a theory of religious liberty broad -enough to win assent and approval from advanced thinkers of the present -day. - -The separation of church from state, which was effected with such -remarkable success in the founding of Rhode Island, did not become -general in the United States until after the winning of independence. On -this issue the eighteenth century had its memorable struggle, in which -the protagonist was Virginia, and the victory was achieved under the -leadership of Jefferson and Madison. The early policy of Virginia was to -drive out dissentients, or subject them to civil disabilities; and of -the Puritans who went thither for a while the greater part left the -colony, many of them retreating into tolerant Maryland. After 1660, for -three generations the Episcopal folk had it all their own way. But -about 1720 began the wholesale immigration of Presbyterians and -Lutherans into the Shenandoah Valley, and after the middle of the -century trouble began when the tide-water Cavaliers tried to impose -taxes upon these people for the support of the Established Church. The -most numerous and powerful opponents of this narrow policy were the -Presbyterians; and inasmuch as these had come, not from Scotland where -their own church was established, but from Ireland where it was -persecuted, their experience had led them to approve the separation of -church from state. Their political notions were also strongly -democratic, and with the aid of their votes Jefferson's party not only -abolished primogeniture and entail and other old English customs, but -also carried the disestablishment of the Episcopal Church in Virginia. -Madison's Religious Freedom Act of 1785, which not only effected this, -but likewise did away with all religious tests, is a very important -event in the history of the United States. The statute, which declared -that "opinion in matters of religion shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, -or affect civil capacities," attracted attention far and wide; it was -translated into several European languages, and published with admiring -comments; and in the course of the next forty years it was imitated by -one state after another, until all over the land religious freedom came -to be _almost_ as complete as legislation could make it. The qualifying -adverb is still needed; for, by the constitutions of Pennsylvania and -Tennessee, no man can hold office unless he believes in God and a future -state of rewards and punishments; in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, the -two Carolinas, and Maryland, belief in God is required; and in Arkansas -and Maryland a man who does not believe in God and a future state of -retribution is deemed incompetent as a witness or juror.[21] Such -curiosities of law-making--survivals from a lower state, like the caudal -vertebra in man and the higher apes--are common enough in history. - -The various stages here mentioned in the progress toward religious -toleration, and toward the separation of church and state, are important -symptoms of the progress of liberal thought. Of course Madison's -Religious Freedom Act could not have been proposed by an Endicott, or -sustained by a community that would not endure the presence of Baptists -or Quakers. The sketch here given shows an enormous advance in liberal -thought in the course of two centuries and a half. But such a survey is -far from telling us the whole story. A further inquiry into causal -agencies is needed, and the best field for it is furnished by that -theocratic Puritanism which cast out Roger Williams,--the Puritanism of -the four confederated New England colonies, and especially of -Massachusetts. No one can deny that in Massachusetts, during the -nineteenth century, liberal thought has advanced further and has -permeated the community more thoroughly than in any other state of the -American Union. For at least three generations the intellectual ferment -upon which liberal thought in the United States has thriven has come -chiefly from Massachusetts. Yet among our colonies which attained social -maturity during the seventeenth century there was none which made such -emphatic exhibitions of intolerance and bigotry as Massachusetts. She -was as clearly and avowedly founded upon an illiberal principle as Rhode -Island was founded upon a principle of liberality. The Endicott type of -mind is the very antipodes of the Roger Williams type; yet it was in the -land of Endicott, and in a congenial soil, that Theodore Parker lately -flourished. Whence came so great a change? The answer will remind us -that there are two sources from which liberal thought is nourished. The -one is the secularized Gallio spirit that deems it folly to interpose -obstacles in the way of the natural working of reason and common sense; -the other is the intense devotion to spiritual ideals which, in spite of -all inherited encumbrances of bigotry and superstition, never casts off -its allegiance to reason as the final arbiter. The former spirit is of -vast use in the world, although its tendency is to deaden into mere -worldliness as typified in a Franklin; the latter spirit may commit many -an error, but its drift is toward light and stimulus and exaltation of -life as typified in an Emerson. In the darkest days of New England -Puritanism the paramount allegiance to reason was never lost sight of; -and out of this fact came the triumph of free thinking, although no such -result was ever intended. - -The aims of the Puritans who settled in New England were not all alike, -but one dominant aim with many was the founding of a commonwealth in -which church and state should be identified, somewhat after the pattern -of the old Hebrew theocracy. To this end the suffrage in Massachusetts -and New Haven was limited to persons qualified to receive the sacrament -in Congregational churches. This Massachusetts idea was never adopted by -Plymouth, and the founding of Connecticut was at least in part a liberal -protest against it. In New Haven it was soon suppressed by the act of -Charles II. which put an end to the separate existence of the colony. In -Massachusetts, where this theocratic policy prevailed for half a -century, the result was the growth of an unenfranchised class which came -to include four fifths of the community. During the first generation, -when the policy was administered by broad-minded, sagacious men like -Winthrop and Cotton, its evils were not flagrant. But after 1650, with -such fanatics as Norton and the aged Endicott at the helm, it soon -became evident that the rulers were at variance on many points with the -mass of the people. This was shown with glaring force in the Quaker -persecution, when the violence of Endicott's party produced a popular -reaction of feeling, which enabled the Quakers to carry their point and -remain in the colony in defiance of statutes. It was further shown in -the Half-way Covenant and the founding of the Old South Church in 1669, -as parts of a movement toward extending the suffrage; and again in the -rise of the Tory party under the lead of Joseph Dudley, opposed to the -pretensions of the clergy. The magnificent work of the Massachusetts -theocracy in resisting the crown throughout the whole reign of Charles -II. can never be forgotten. Nothing was ever done in America that -contributed more toward the maintenance of political freedom. But in -spite of its merits, the faults of the theocracy were such that we -cannot regret its speedy overthrow. When that overthrow was effected, by -the charter of 1692, there were a great many people in Massachusetts -more or less hostile to the kind of Puritanism entertained by their -grandfathers, and thus prepared for a more liberal mental habit. There -was also a marked secularization of thought, a diminution of interest in -theological problems, and a deadening of religious zeal. A wonderful -series of changes was set on foot by the writings and preaching of -Jonathan Edwards, and the group of revivals between 1735 and 1750 known -as "the Great Awakening." Few figures in history are more pathetic or -more sublime than that of Jonathan Edwards in the lonely woodlands of -Northampton and Stockbridge, a thinker for depth and acuteness surpassed -by not many that have lived, a man with the soul of a poet and prophet, -wrestling with the most terrible problems that humanity has ever -encountered, with more than the courage and candour of Augustine or -Calvin, with all the lofty inspiration of Fichte or Novalis. An -interesting historical essay might be devoted to tracing the effects -wrought upon New England by this giant personality. The Great -Awakening, in which he took part, and to which his preaching powerfully -contributed, revived the popular interest in theological questions, -disencumbered of the ever present political implications of the previous -century. In many ways his theories acted as a disintegrating solvent -upon the beliefs of the time. For example, the prominence which he gave -to spiritual conversion, or what was called "change of heart," brought -about the overthrow of the doctrine of the Half-way Covenant. It also -weakened the logical basis of infant baptism, and led to the winning of -hosts of converts by the Baptists. Moreover, the uses to which Edwards -put his doctrine of the will produced a reaction toward Arminianism, -which not only affected the teachings of the Baptists, but predisposed -many persons to join in the wave of Methodism which was just about to -sweep over the country. A similar reaction against Edwards's views of -divine justice, reinforced by some first faint inklings of Biblical -criticism, pointed the way toward Universalism. Still more, the -discussions aroused by Edwards's speculations on original sin and the -atonement began to undermine the doctrine of the Trinity and prepare -men's minds for the Unitarian movement. No such results would have been -possible save in a country where education was universal and the Sunday -sermon a favourite theme of discussion. Sooner or later, the perpetual -appeal to reason, with the familiar use of metaphysical arguments and -citations of Scripture, must lead to novelties of doctrine and to -negative criticism; while for the education of the popular intelligence -nothing could be more effective. In seventeenth-century Puritanism, -therefore, in spite of its rigid narrowness, there were latent the -speculations of an Edwards, the further conclusions to which some of -them were pushed, the reactions against them, the keen edge of the -critical faculty in New England, and much of the free thinking of a -later age. - -In the course of the eighteenth century some influence was doubtless -exercised in America by the English deists, and at the very end of the -century by Thomas Paine. There is no reason to suppose that any -appreciable effect was produced by the atheism of the French -encyclopædists, which was mainly a reaction, largely emotional and aided -by the shallowest of metaphysics, against the effete ecclesiastical -system in France. It was too remote from American ideas to exert much -influence here. The deism of Voltaire found a few scattered admirers. A -quiet religion of humanity, which set little store by miracles, or -abstruse doctrines, or the divine authority of Scripture, was held by a -number of eminent persons of strong prosaic common sense and feeble -spirituality, among whom may be named Franklin and Jefferson and John -Adams. This phase of free thought was of considerable importance, but -the dominant influence in New England down to the rise of the -transcendental movement was that which could be traced back to Edwards. - -In the early part of the present century, the most advanced phase of -liberal thought, represented by the Unitarians in Massachusetts, was -trying to hold an utterly untenable position, halfway between narrow -orthodoxy and untrammelled free thinking, when the ground began to be -cut from under it by the transcendentalists, whose native temperaments, -not wanting in kinship with that of Edwards, were stimulated by a brief -contact with Kantian and post-Kantian speculation in Germany. In -Emerson's poetic soul the result was a seminal influence upon high -thinking, in America and in the Old World, the power of which we cannot -but feel, but which it is as yet too soon to estimate. In the middle of -the century some wholesome destructive work still needed to be done, and -it was well done. When German criticism, with the other weapons in the -powerful hands of Theodore Parker, freed us from the spectre of -bibliolatry, it might indeed be said that the promise of the Protestant -Reformation was at length fulfilled. The change wrought in the Unitarian -church since Parker began his preaching has been to some extent followed -by analogous changes in other churches. On every side, the last quarter -of the nineteenth century has been preëminently the age of the -decomposition of orthodoxies. Here and there and everywhere they are -crumbling into ruins; and as the world has long since left behind the -age of trilobites and the age of dinosaurs, so in the world to which we -are coming there will be neither a place nor a use for orthodoxies. - -For, as I must observe in conclusion, there is all about us a resistless -and world-wide influence at work, to which all the temporary and local -causes I have mentioned have been but the ministering servants. From age -to age, our knowledge is growing from more to more. From the discovery -of America, from the astronomy of Copernicus and the physics of Galileo, -down to the universal doctrine of evolution in our own time, there has -been one grand coherent and consecutive tale of ever enlarging, ever -more organized knowledge of the world in which we live. By this enlarged -experience our minds are affected, from day to day and from year to -year, in more ways than we can detect or enumerate. It opens our minds -to some notions, and makes them incurably hostile to others; so that, -for example, new truths well-nigh beyond comprehension, like some of -those connected with the luminiferous ether, are accepted, and old -beliefs once universal, like witchcraft, are scornfully rejected. Vast -changes in mental attitude are thus wrought before it is generally -realized. Into the new scheme of things old beliefs no longer fit, and -are therefore thrown aside and forgotten. Now our orthodoxies are of -older date than the goodly fabric of modern knowledge. They are the -outcome of more primitive and childlike thinking, they have ceased to -fit the world as we know it, and therefore they fade and fall away from -us, in spite of all our efforts to retain undisturbed the venerable and -hallowed associations. In this inevitable struggle there has always been -more or less pain, and hence free thought has not usually been popular. -It has come to our life feast as a guest unbidden and unwelcome; but it -has come to stay with us, and already proves more genial than was -expected. Deadening, cramping finality has lost its charm for him who -has tasted of the ripe fruit of the tree of knowledge. In this broad -universe of God's wisdom and love, not leashes to restrain us are -needed, but wings to sustain our flight. Let bold but reverent thought -go on and probe creation's mysteries, till faith and knowledge "make one -music as before, but vaster." - -_October, 1895._ - - - - -VI - -SIR HARRY VANE[22] - - -With the single exception of Cromwell, the greatest statesman of the -heroic age of Puritanism was unquestionably the younger Henry Vane. He -did as much as any one to compass the downfall of Strafford; he brought -the military strength of Scotland to the aid of the hard-pressed -Parliament; he administered the navy with which Blake won his -astonishing victories; he dared even withstand Cromwell at the height of -his power, when his measures savoured too much of violence. After the -death of Pym in 1643, Sir Henry Vane, then thirty-one years of age, was -the foremost man in the Long Parliament, and so remained as long as that -Parliament controlled the march of events. As Baxter said, "he was that -within the House that Cromwell was without." Yet before the beginning of -his brilliant career in England, this young man had written his name -indelibly upon one of the earliest pages in the history of the American -people. It is pleasant to remember that this admirable man was once the -chief magistrate of an American commonwealth. Thorough republican and -enthusiastic lover of liberty, he was spiritually akin to Jefferson and -to Samuel Adams. His career furnishes an excellent illustration of Mr. -Doyle's remark, that "by looking at the colony of Massachusetts, we can -see what sort of a commonwealth was constructed by the best men of the -Puritan party, and to some extent what they would have made of the -government of England if they could have had their way unchecked." - -An adequate biography of this great statesman was a thing much to be -desired. Half a century ago Mr. C. W. Upham contributed to Sparks's -"American Biography" an interesting life of Vane; and about the same -time Mr. John Forster, in his "Statesmen of the Commonwealth," made a -sketch characterized by his usual brilliancy. But both these writers -indulged themselves in that kind of indiscriminate eulogy which used in -those days to be thought necessary for biographers; and by way of foil -to their hero they seemed to feel bound to underrate and misinterpret -Cromwell, even as Carlyle seemed to think he was exalting the great, -Protector in belittling Vane. The remarkable advance in fairness and -breadth of view which historical studies have made within the last fifty -years is nowhere better illustrated than in the spirit in which the -seventeenth century in England is treated by Masson and Gardiner as -contrasted with Macaulay. It is no longer the fashion to depict -individuals or parties as wholly saintlike or quite the reverse, and it -is beginning to be practically recognized that there are two sides to -almost every question. - -The need for an adequate life of Sir Harry Vane has been most thoroughly -and admirably satisfied by Mr. Hosmer. As a biography and as a -historical monograph, it deserves to be ranked among the best books of -the day. It paints a lifelike picture of the man, and it describes, in a -broad, generous spirit and with keen philosophical insight, the causal -succession of events in one of the most momentous political contests the -world has ever seen. We are getting far enough away from the seventeenth -century to realize the critical importance of the struggle in which -kingship was struck down in England just as it was attaining unchecked -supremacy in all the other great nations of Europe. We can put the Great -Rebellion into its proper place in the series of conflicts which have so -far resulted in spreading constitutional government far and wide over -two hemispheres; and we can begin to see how disastrous in its -consequences would have been the victory of the Cavaliers, true and -gallant men as most of them doubtless were. Without dealing too much in -generalities, Mr. Hosmer's narrative keeps before us the gravity of the -issues at stake, while our attention is seldom drawn away from the -powerful but quiet and gracious personality that occupies the centre of -the canvas. It is customary for great eras to live in the twilight of -popular memory in association with some one surpassing name, while other -heroes of the time are dimly remembered or quite forgotten. The work of -these other men gets unconsciously transferred to the credit of the most -brilliant or striking hero, as Hamilton, for example, is apt to get -associated not merely with his own all-important achievements, but -likewise with those of Madison and the Federal Convention generally. In -accordance with this labour-saving habit of mind, the Great Rebellion in -popular memory means Oliver Cromwell, while such men as Eliot and Pym, -Fairfax and Ireton, are passed over; and if Hampden stays, it is partly -due to the often-quoted line of the poet Gray. So there are many who -know Vane only through Milton's sonnet,--itself perhaps the noblest -literary tribute ever paid to a statesman. In Mr. Hosmer's pages Sir -Harry lives again, one of the brightest figures of the Puritan age, -cheerful and affectionate, full of sacred enthusiasm, yet shrewd and -self-contained. "He was indeed a man of extraordinary parts, a pleasant -wit, a great understanding which pierced into and discerned the purposes -of men with wonderful sagacity, whilst he had himself _vultum clausum_, -that no man could make a guess of what he intended." So says Clarendon, -who loved him not, but could not help admiring the skill which, at the -most critical moment of the war, when many stout adherents of the -parliamentary cause were inclined to abandon it as lost, all at once -brought light out of darkness, as the signing of the Solemn League and -Covenant summoned Alexander Leslie and twenty thousand brawny Scots -across the border to stand side by side with Cromwell and Fairfax at -Marston Moor. In later days it became matter of common report that the -northern Covenanters had fallen a prey to the wiles of "that sweet -youth," and allowed themselves to be hoodwinked and cozened by "sly Sir -Harry," until, in the hope of establishing Presbyterianism south of the -Tweed, they lent themselves to the work of setting the monster -Independency upon its feet. Mr. Hosmer carefully examines this charge, -and, we think, successfully refutes it. It was neither the first nor the -last contract on record which has afterward come to receive conflicting -interpretations from the two parties without any tricksome intent on -either side. "The Scots," says Mr. Hosmer, "understood that England -assumed their own narrow Presbyterianism, with its complete intolerance; -Vane and his friends gave the instrument a different interpretation, -which they honestly felt it would bear." The amendments which Vane -partly succeeded in engrafting upon the Scottish proposals at Edinburgh -are sufficient evidence of his straightforwardness. It was plain enough -that, in making a league to overcome the King, the Scots wanted one -thing, while the English wanted another. Vane did not hide this fact; to -have emphasized it would have been to forfeit all claim to diplomatic -tact. His part in the memorable negotiation is tersely summed up by -Clarendon: "Sir Harry Vane was one of the commissioners, and therefore -the others need not be named, since he was all in any business where -others were joined with him." In the Committee of Both Kingdoms which -the league created he was equally effective, and it was mainly through -his persistent dexterity that the committee acquired the control of -military affairs, and thus gave to the operations of the parliamentary -army that unity which they had hitherto lacked. - -The firstfruits of Vane's diplomacy were Marston Moor and Naseby, and it -would be unreasonable to find fault with Mr. Hosmer for pausing to -describe those battles. They are brilliant episodes in his narrative. We -have nowhere seen the two battles more lucidly explained. The author has -been himself a soldier, and has looked at the ground with a military -eye. One quite envies him the pleasant journey, as on his tricycle he -follows the route of the Ironsides over the smooth roads and smiling -fields of Merry England. His pages are redolent of the mellow cheer and -fragrance of the summer day under that mild northern sun. One catches, -with the author, the spirit of the deadly fight, and realizes, as Naseby -spire fades away in the distance, the gravity of the crisis and the -completeness of the victory. Said stout old Sir Jacob Astley, when the -Roundheads took him captive a few months afterward, "Gentlemen, ye may -now sit down and play, for you have done all your work, if you fall not -out among yourselves." - -They were already falling out among themselves; how seriously, Dunbar -and Worcester were by and by to show. "Their own generation," says Mr. -Hosmer, "believed that the Independents drew their origin from America." -Certainly there had been witnessed in Boston, in the year when Harvard -College was founded, some noteworthy manifestations of Independency, and -scenes had been enacted which had left a deep impress upon Sir Harry's -youthful mind. In 1635 the gossips wrote: "Sir Henry Vane hath as good -as lost his eldest son, who is gone into New England for conscience' -sake; he likes not the discipline of the Church of England;... no -persuasions of our bishops nor authority of his parents could prevail -with him: let him go." The fascinating boy arrived in Boston in October, -1635, and in the following March, having won all hearts, was elected -governor of Massachusetts. He witnessed the Pequot war, the beautiful -heroism and rare diplomacy of Roger Williams, and the bitter strife -which ensued upon the teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson. Mr. Hosmer gives a -vivid picture of the life in the little colony, the theological warfare, -and the passionate tears of the young man as the difficulties thickened -around him. Perhaps his indiscreet threat of an appeal to the throne in -favour of the Antinomians, as he sailed for England in the summer of -1637, may have served to hasten the banishment of Mrs. Hutchinson; but -the lesson of toleration was already taking shape in his mind, as was -clearly shown in his controversy with Winthrop. His friendly relations -with Roger Williams began at the time of the Pequot war; and in 1643, -when Williams visited England in quest of a charter for Rhode Island, he -was Vane's guest at his house in London, and also at his country seat in -Lincolnshire. It was then that Williams wrote that noble book, "The -Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience," in the preface to -which he thus refers to his friend: "Mine ears were glad and late -witnesses of an heavenly speech of one of the most eminent of that High -Assembly of Parliament: _Why should the labours of any be suppressed, if -sober, though never so different? We now profess to seek God, we desire -to see light!_"[23] Mr. Hosmer gives in facsimile a touching letter from -Vane to Winthrop in 1645, in which he urges his friends in New England -to respect the liberty of conscience. - -In 1648, in order to save the cause of liberty from losing to intrigue -and chicanery all the ground it had won by the sword, the Ironsides felt -themselves called upon to take things into their own hands. This period -of the story, extending to the forcible dissolution of the Rump -Parliament in 1653, Mr. Hosmer treats under the rubric of American -England. For the moment, the spirit of Independency, which reigned -supreme in Massachusetts, asserted itself in England in the temporary -overthrow of the crown and the aristocracy. In this period Sir Harry -appears as the opponent of the extreme measures of his party. He -heartily disapproves of such irregular proceedings as Pride's Purge and -the execution of the King. Here is shown the strong conservatism of -temperament of this law-abiding American-Englishman. He had all the -ingrained reverence of our sturdy practical race for constitutional -methods, and withal a far-sighted intelligence that could discern ways -of settling the difficulty which were for the moment impracticable, -because his contemporaries had not grown up to them. In his mind were -the rudiments of the idea of a written constitution, upon which a new -government for England might be built, with powers neatly defined and -limited. One fancies that in some respects he would have felt himself -more at home if he could have been suddenly translated from the Rump -Parliament of 1653 to the Federal Convention of 1787, in which immortal -assembly there sat perhaps no man of loftier spirit than his. It was -natural enough that Cromwell, whose stern common sense discerned the -practical need of the moment and reluctantly fulfilled it, should cry, -"The Lord deliver me from Sir Harry Vane!" In spite of this antagonism -at the supreme crisis, however, the Protector recognized the worth of -his opponent, and seems to have borne him no deep-seated ill will. There -was no downright break between them until the Healing Question came up, -in 1656. - -In Vane's last years there seemed to be some good reasons for -distrusting his judgment on practical questions. The element of dreamy -enthusiasm always present in him began to come into the foreground as -his more sober ideas and plans were thwarted. Some of his latest -utterances are like the rhapsodies of the Fifth Monarchists. Herein -again appears his spiritual kinship with his friends in Massachusetts. -The theocratic ideal of the founders of Massachusetts, as developed -freely in the American wilderness, was kept within rational bounds; but -if hemmed in by such inexorable circumstances as checked the early -growth of republicanism in England, it would very likely have flowered -grotesquely enough in Fifth Monarchist vagaries. From Edward Johnson, of -Woburn, author of the "Wonder-Working Providence," there often came the -dithyrambic utterances of an extreme Fifth Monarchy man. - -When Charles II. came back to his father's throne, there was but one -thing to be done with such a representative republican as Sir Harry -Vane. His head must come off, for there was not room enough in England -to hold him and the son of Charles I. at the same time. He died on Tower -Hill, with all the fearlessness and charming sweetness that had always -marked his life. His memory is a precious possession for all coming -generations; and the book in which Mr. Hosmer has told the story of his -life, with such warm sympathy and such broad intelligence, is worthy of -its subject. - -_January, 1889._ - - - - -VII - -THE ARBITRATION TREATY - - -After negotiations which had been pending for nearly two years, the -general Arbitration Treaty between the United States and Great Britain -was signed on the 11th of January [1897] by Mr. Richard Olney and Sir -Julian Pauncefote, representing the two countries concerned; and on the -following day the document was sent by President Cleveland to the Senate -for ratification. The provisions of this important treaty may be -summarized as follows:-- - -It is expected that differences arising between the two countries will -ordinarily admit of settlement by the customary methods of diplomacy. It -is only with cases where such customary methods fail that the provisions -of the present treaty are concerned; and the parties hereby agree to -submit all such cases to arbitration after the manner herein provided. - -The "questions in difference" that are liable to arise are arranged in -three grades or classes: (1) small pecuniary claims; (2) large pecuniary -claims, and others not involving questions of territory; (3) -territorial claims. For each of these grades there is to be a special -method of settlement. - -First, "all pecuniary claims or groups of claims, which in the aggregate -do not exceed $500,000 in amount and do not involve the determination of -territorial claims," shall be decided by a tribunal constituted as -follows: "Each party shall nominate one arbitrator, who shall be a -jurist of repute, and the two arbitrators so nominated shall, within two -months of their nomination, select an umpire. In the event of their -failing to do so within the limit of time, the umpire shall be appointed -by agreement between the members of the Supreme Court of the United -States and the members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in -Great Britain." In case these persons fail to agree upon an umpire -within three months, the King of Sweden and Norway shall appoint one. -Among public personages of unquestionable dignity and importance, this -sovereign is as likely as any to be free from bias against either the -United States of Great Britain; but should either party object to him, -they may adopt a substitute, if they can agree upon one. It does not -seem likely that the failure to select an umpire would often reach the -stage where an appeal to the Swedish King would be necessary. The -umpire, when and however appointed, shall be president of the tribunal -of three, and the award of a majority of the members shall be final. -Under these provisions, it may be expected that all petty claims can be -disposed of without unreasonable delay, and with as little risk of -unfairness as one would find in any court whatever. - -Secondly, "all pecuniary claims or groups of claims exceeding $500,000, -and all other matters in respect whereof either of the parties shall -have rights against the other, under the treaty or otherwise, provided -they do not involve territorial claims," shall be dealt with as follows: -Such claims must be submitted to the tribunal of three, as above -described, and its award, if unanimous, shall be final. If the award is -not unanimous, either party may demand a review of it, but such demand -must be made within six months from the date of the award. In such case, -the appellate tribunal shall consist of five jurists of repute, no one -of whom has been a member of the tribunal of three whose award is to be -reviewed. Of these five jurists, two shall be selected by each party, -and these four shall agree upon their umpire within three months after -their nomination. In case of their failure, the umpire shall be selected -(as in the former case) by the members of the Supreme Court and the -Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; and if these do not agree -within three months, the selection shall be left (as before) to the King -of Sweden and Norway. The umpire, when selected, shall preside. The -award of the tribunal of three shall be reviewed by this tribunal of -five, and the award of a majority of the five shall be final. - -Thirdly, "any controversy involving the determination of territorial -claims shall be submitted to a tribunal of six members," three of whom -shall be judges of the Supreme Court or of Circuit Courts, to be -nominated by the President of the United States. The other three shall -be members of the highest British court or members of the Judicial -Committee of the Privy Council, to be nominated by the Queen. "Their -award by a majority of not less than five to one shall be final. If -there is less than the prescribed majority, the award shall also be -final, unless either party within three months protests that the award -is erroneous. If the award is protested, or if the members of the -tribunal are equally divided, there shall be no recourse to hostile -measures of any description until the mediation of one or more friendly -powers shall have been invited by one or the other party." It is also -provided that "where one of the United States or a British colony is -specially concerned, the President or Queen may make a judicial officer -of the state or colony an arbitrator." - -In some cases, a question may be removed from the jurisdiction of the -tribunal of three or the tribunal of five, and transferred to that of -the tribunal of six. If, prior to the close of the hearing of the claim -before the lower tribunal, it shall be decided by the tribunal, upon the -motion of either party, that the determination of the claim necessarily -involves a decision of some "disputed question of principle of grave -general importance, affecting the national rights of such party as -distinct from its private rights, of which it is merely an international -representative," then the jurisdiction of the lower tribunal over the -claim shall at once cease, and it shall be dealt with by the tribunal of -six. - -With regard to territorial claims, a special article defines them as -including not only all claims to territory, but also "all other claims -involving questions of servitude, rights of navigation, access to -fisheries, and all rights and interests necessary to control the -enjoyment of either's territory." - -The treaty is to remain in force for five years from the date at which -it becomes operative, and "until a year after either party shall have -notified the other of its wish to terminate it." - -The first impression which one gets from reading the treaty is that it -is strictly defined and limited in its application. Yet, when duly -considered, it seems to cover all chances of controversy that are likely -to arise between the United States and Great Britain. Under such a -treaty as this, nearly all the questions at issue between the two -countries since 1783 might have been satisfactorily adjusted,--the -payment of private debts to British creditors, the relinquishment of the -frontier posts by British garrisons, the northeastern boundary, the -partition of the Oregon territory, the questions concerning the -Newfoundland fisheries, the navigation of the Great Lakes, the catching -of seals in Bering Sea, the difference of opinion over the San Juan -boundary, etc. Possibly some of the old questions growing out of the -African slave trade might have been brought within its purview, but that -is now of small consequence, since no issues of that sort are likely -ever to rise again. Differences attending the future construction of a -Nicaragua canal, regarded as an easement or a servitude possibly -affecting vested rights, might, under a liberal interpretation, be dealt -with; and one may suppose that the Venezuela question is meant to be -covered, since it relates to territorial claims in which, though they -may not obviously concern the United States either immediately or -remotely, our government has with unexpected emphasis declared itself -interested. - -On the other hand, one does not seem to find in the treaty any provision -which would have covered two or three of the most serious questions that -have ever been in dispute between the United States and Great Britain. -One of these questions, concerning the right of search and the -impressment of seamen, was conspicuous among the causes of the -ill-considered and deplorable War of 1812. But it may be presumed, with -strong probability, that no difficulty of that kind can again arise -between these two powers. The affair of the Trent in 1861 seems also to -be a kind of case not provided for. But that affair, most creditably -settled at a moment of fierce irritation and under aggravating -circumstances, was settled in such wise as to establish a great -principle which will make it extremely difficult for such a case to -occur again. As for the Alabama Claims, they could apparently have been -adjusted under the present treaty, as large pecuniary claims involving -international principles of grave general importance. - -On the whole, there seems to be small likelihood of any dispute arising -between this country and Great Britain which cannot be amicably -settled, with reasonable promptness, under the provisions of this new -Arbitration Treaty. Once chief desideratum in any such instrument is to -secure impartiality in the arbitrating tribunals, and here the -arrangements made in our treaty will doubtless yield as good results as -can ever be achieved through mere arrangements. In such matters, the -best of machinery is of less consequence than the human nature by which -the machinery is to be worked. Impartiality, not only real, but -conspicuous and unmistakable, is the prime requisite in a court of -arbitration. Its life and health can be sustained only in an atmosphere -of untainted and unsuspected integrity. But in an age which does not yet -fully comprehend the damnable villainy of such maxims as "Our country, -right or wrong," gross partisanship is not easy to eliminate from human -nature. Even austere judges, taken from a Supreme Court, have sometimes -shown themselves to be men of like passions with ourselves. It would -need but few awards made on the "eight to seven" principle, as in the -Electoral Commission of 1877, to make our arbitrating tribunal the -laughing-stock of the world, and to set back for a generation or two the -hand upon the timepiece of civilization. - -A general experience, however, justifies us in hoping much better things -from the group of international tribunals contemplated in our present -treaty. There is no doubt that the good work is undertaken in entire -good faith by both nations; both earnestly wish to make international -arbitration successful, and there is little fear that the importance of -fair dealing will be overlooked or undervalued. If the present -proceedings result in the establishment of a tribunal whose integrity -and impartiality shall win the permanent confidence of British and -Americans alike, it will be an immense achievement, fraught with -incalculable benefit to mankind. For the first time, the substitution of -international lawsuits for warfare will have been systematically begun -by two of the leading nations of the world; and an event which admits of -such a description cannot be without many consequences, enduring and -profound. - -For observe that the interest of the present treaty lies not so much in -the fact that it provides for arbitration as in the fact that it aims at -making arbitration the regular and permanent method of settling -international disputes. In due proportion to the gravity of the problem -is the modest caution with which it is approached. The treaty merely -asks to be tried on its merits, and only for five years at that. Only -for such a brief period is the most vociferous Jingo in the United -States Senate or elsewhere asked to put a curb upon his sanguinary -propensities and see what will happen. Nay, if we really prefer war to -peace; if, like the giant in the nursery tale, we are thirsting for a -draught of British blood, neither this nor any other treaty could long -restrain us. As Hosea Biglow truly observes,-- - - "The right to be a cussed fool - Is safe from all devices human." - -It has been rumoured that some Senators will vote against the treaty, in -order to show their spite against President Cleveland and Mr. Olney. If -the treaty should fail of confirmation through such a cause, it would be -no more than has happened before. Members of the Sapsea family have sat -in other chambers than those of the Capitol at Washington. But, as a -rule, good causes have not long been hindered through such pettiness, -and should the treaty thus fail for the moment, it would not be ruined, -but only delayed. In any event, it is not likely to be long in acquiring -its five years' lease of life. If during that time nothing should occur -to discredit it, even should no cases arise to call it into operation, -its purpose is so much in harmony with the most enlightened spirit of -the age that it is pretty sure to be renewed. Should cases arise under -it, the machinery which it provides is confessedly provisional and -tentative, and upon renewal can be modified in such wise as may seem -desirable. Other human institutions have been moulded by experience, and -so, doubtless, it will be with international courts of arbitration. - -The working of the tribunals created by the present treaty will be -carefully watched by other nations than the two parties directly -concerned, and should it achieve any notable success it will furnish a -precedent likely to be imitated. The removal of any source of irritation -at all comparable to the Alabama Claims would be, of course, a success -of the first magnitude; great good, with far-reaching consequences, -might be wrought by a much smaller one. Probably few readers are aware -of the extent to which the arbitration at Geneva in 1872 has already -served as a precedent for the peaceful solution of international -difficulties.[24] Already the moral effect of that event has been such -as to suggest that it may hereafter be commemorated as the illustrious -herald of a new era. The Geneva event was brought about by a treaty -specially framed for the purpose, and might thus be regarded as -exceptional or extraordinary in its nature. Still greater, then, would -be the moral effect of a similar success achieved by a tribunal created -under the provisions of a permanent treaty. - - The commission to arbitrate between the Argentine Republic - and Brazil, 1886. - - Arbitration by Spain between Colombia and Venezuela, 1887. - - Arbitration by the minister of Spain at Bogotá between - Italy and Colombia, 1887. - - Arbitration by President Cleveland between Nicaragua and - Costa Rica, 1888. - - Arbitration by the Queen of Spain between Peru and Ecuador, - 1888. - - Arbitration by Baron Lambermont between England and - Germany; affair of Lamoo, 1888. - - Arbitration by the Czar of Russia between France and the - Netherlands; affair of the boundaries of Guinea, 1888. - - Arbitration by Sir Edward Momson between Denmark and - Sweden, 1888. - - Compromise between the United States and Venezuela, 1890. - - Compromise between Germany, the United States, and Great - Britain; affair of Terranova, 1891. - - Arbitration by Switzerland between England, the United - States, and Portugal; affair of the railroads at Delagoa - Bay, 1891. - - Arbitration between Great Britain and the United States - relating to the question of the delimitation of territorial - power in Bering Sea, 1893. - -It may be urged that arbitration cannot often succeed in dealing with -difficulties so formidable as those connected with the Alabama Claims. -The questions hitherto settled by arbitration have for the most part -been of minor importance, in which "national honour" has not been at -stake, and the bestial impulse to tear and bruise, which so many -light-headed persons mistake for patriotism, has not been aroused. The -London "Spectator" tells us that if the United States should ever repeat -the Mason and Slidell incident, or should feel insulted by the speech of -some British prime minister, there would be war, no matter how loudly -the lawyers in both countries might appeal to the Arbitration Treaty. -The two illustrations cited are not happy ones, since from both may be -deduced reasons why war is not likely to ensue. The Mason and Slidell -incident was a most impressive illustration of the value of delay and -discussion in calming popular excitement. The principle of international -law which the United States violated on that occasion was a principle -for which the United States had long and earnestly contended against the -opposition of Great Britain. A very brief discussion of the affair in -the American press made this clear to every one, and there was no -cavilling when our government disowned the act and surrendered the -prisoners with the noble frankness which characterized President -Lincoln's way of doing things. What chiefly tended to hinder or prevent -such a happy termination of the affair was the unnecessary arrogance of -Lord Palmerston's government in making its demand of us. What chiefly -favoured it was the absence of an ocean telegraph, affording the delay -needful for sober second thought. I remember hearing people say at the -time that the breaking of the first Atlantic cable in 1858 had thus -turned out to be a blessing in disguise! Now, should any incident as -irritating as the Trent affair occur in future, the Arbitration Treaty -can be made to furnish the delay which the absence of an ocean cable -once necessitated; and I have enough respect for English-speaking people -on both sides of the water to believe that in such case they will behave -sensibly, and not like silly duellists. So, too, as regards "feeling -insulted" by the speech of a prime minister, there is a recent historic -instance to the point. Our British cousins may have had reason to feel -insulted by some expressions in President Cleveland's message of -December, 1895, but they took the matter very quietly. Had the boot been -on the other leg, a few pupils of Elijah Pogram might have indulged in -Barmecide suppers of gore, but there the affair would probably have -ended. The reason is that deliberate public opinion in both countries -feels sure that nothing is to be gained, and much is to be lost, by -fighting. Under such conditions, the growing moral sentiment which -condemns most warfare as wicked has a chance to assert itself. Thus the -delay which allows deliberate public opinion to be brought to bear upon -irritating incidents is a great advantage; and the mere existence of a -permanent arbitration treaty tends toward insuring such delay. - -People who prefer civilized and gentleman-like methods of settling -disputes to the savage and ruffian-like business of burning and -slaughtering are sometimes stigmatized by silly writers as -"sentimentalists." In the deliberate public opinion which has come to be -so strong a force in preventing war between the United States and Great -Britain, sentiment has as yet probably no great place; but it is hoped -and believed that it will by and by have much more. In the days of -Alexander Hamilton, there was very little love for the Federal Union in -any part of this country; it was accepted as a disagreeable necessity. -But his policy brought into existence a powerful group of selfish -interests binding men more and more closely to the Union, and more so at -the North than at the South. When Webster made his reply to Hayne, -there was a growing sentiment of Union for him to appeal to, and -stronger at the North than at the South. When the Civil War came, that -sentiment was strong enough to sadden the heart of many a Southerner -whose sense of duty made him a secessionist; at the North it had waxed -so powerful that men were ready to die for it, as the Mussulman for his -Prophet or the Cavalier for his King. Thus sentiment can quickly and -sturdily grow when favoured by habits of thought originally dictated by -self-interest. Obviously a state of things in favour of which a strong -sentiment is once enlisted has its chances of permanence greatly -increased. I therefore hope and believe that in the deliberate public -opinion above mentioned sentiment will by and by have a larger place -than it has at present. As feelings of dislike between the peoples of -two countries are always unintelligent and churlish, so feelings of -friendship are sure to be broadening and refining. The abiding sentiment -of Scotchmen toward England was for many centuries immeasurably more -rancorous than any Yankee schoolboy ever gave vent to on the Fourth of -July. There is no reason why the advent of the twenty-first century -should not find the friendship between the United States and Great -Britain quite as strong as that between Scotland and England to-day. -Toward so desirable a consummation a permanent policy of arbitration -must surely tend. - -The fact that deliberate public opinion in both countries can be counted -upon as strongly adverse to war is the principal fact which makes such a -permanent policy feasible. It is our only sufficient guarantee that the -awards of the international tribunal will be respected. These -considerations need to be borne in mind, if we try to speculate upon the -probable influence upon other nations of a successful system of -arbitration between the United States and Great Britain. Upon the -continent of Europe a considerable interest seems already to have been -felt in the treaty, and, as I observed above, its working is sure to be -carefully watched; for the states of Europe are suffering acutely from -the apparent necessity of keeping perpetually prepared for war, and any -expedient that holds out the slightest chance of relief from such a -burden cannot fail to attract earnest attention. - -The peoples of Europe are not unfamiliar with the principles of -arbitration. Indeed, like many other good things which have loomed up -conspicuously in recent times, arbitration can be traced back to the -ancient Greeks, for whom it occasionally mitigated the evils attendant -upon frequent warfare between their city-states. Among the Italian -republics of the Middle Ages, disputes were sometimes submitted to the -arbitration of learned professors in the universities at Bologna and -other towns. But such methods could not prevail over the ruder fashions -of Europe north of the Alps. As mediæval Italy was the industrial and -commercial centre of the world, so in our day it is the nations most -completely devoted to industry and commerce, the English-speaking -nations, that are foremost in bringing into practice the methods of -arbitration. The settlement of the Alabama Claims is the most brilliant -instance on record, and we have already cited examples of the readiness -of sundry nations, great and small, to imitate it. Such examples, even -when concerned with questions of minor importance, are to some extent an -indication of the growing conviction that war, and the unceasing -preparations for it, are becoming insupportable burdens. - -It is the steadily increasing complication of industrial life, and the -heightened standard of living that has come therewith, that are making -men, year by year, more unwilling to endure the burdens entailed by war. -In the Middle Ages, human life was made hideous by famine, pestilence, -perennial warfare, and such bloody superstitions as the belief in -witchcraft; but men contrived to endure it, because they had no -experience of anything better, and could not even form a conception of -relief save such as the Church afforded. Deluges of war, fraught with -horrors which stagger our powers of conception, swept at brief intervals -over every part of the continent of Europe, and the intervals were -mostly filled with petty waspish raids that brought robbery and murder -home to everybody's door; while honest industry, penned up within walled -towns, was glad of such precarious immunity as stout battlements eked -out by blackmail could be made to afford. Fighting was incessant and -ubiquitous. The change wrought in six centuries has been amazing, and it -has been chiefly due to industrial development. Private warfare has been -extinguished, famine and pestilence seldom occur in civilized countries, -mental habits nurtured by science have banished the witches, the land is -covered with cheerful homesteads, and the achievement of success in life -through devotion to industrial pursuits has become general. Wars have -greatly diminished in frequency, in length, and in the amount of misery -needlessly inflicted. We have thus learned how pleasant life can become -under peaceful conditions, and we are determined as far as possible to -prolong such conditions. We have no notion of submitting to misery like -that of the Middle Ages; on the contrary, we have got rid of so much of -it that we mean to go on and get rid of the whole. Such is the general -feeling among civilized men. It may safely be said not only to that no -nation in Christendom wishes to go to war, but also that the nations are -few which would not make a considerable sacrifice of interests and -feelings rather than incur its calamities. For reasons such as these, -the states of Continental Europe are showing an increasing disposition -to submit questions to arbitration, and in view of this situation the -fullest measure of success for our Arbitration Treaty is to be desired, -for the sake of its moral effect. - -The method at present in vogue on the continent of Europe for averting -warfare is the excessively cumbrous expedient of keeping up great -armaments in time of peace. The origin of this expedient may be traced -back to the _levée en masse_ to which revolutionary France resorted in -the agonies of self-defence in 1792. The _levée en masse_ proved to be a -far more formidable engine of warfare than the small standing armies -with which Europe had long been familiar; and so, after the old military -system of Prussia had been overthrown in 1806, the reforms of Stein and -Scharnhorst introduced the principle of the _levée en masse_ into times -of peace, dividing the male population into classes which could be kept -in training, and might be successively called to the field as soon as -military exigencies should demand it. The prodigious strength which -Prussia could put forth under this system was revealed in 1866 and 1870, -and since then similar methods have become universally adopted, so that -the commencement of a general European war to-day would doubtless find -several millions of men under arms. The progress of invention is at the -same time daily improving projectiles on the one hand, and -fortifications on the other; we may perhaps hope that some of us will -live long enough to see what will happen when a ball is fired with -irresistible momentum against an impenetrable wall! To keep up with the -progress of invention enormous sums are expended on military engines, -while each nation endeavours to avert war by making such a show of -strength as will deter other nations from attacking it. A mania for -increasing armaments has thus been produced, and although this state of -things is far less destructive and demoralizing than actual war, it lays -a burden upon Europe which is fast becoming intolerable. For the modern -development of industry has given rise to problems that press for -solution, and no satisfactory solution can be reached in the midst of -this monstrous armed peace. Competition has reached a point where no -nation can afford to divert a considerable percentage of its population -from industrial pursuits. Each nation, in order to maintain its rank in -the world, is called upon to devote its utmost energies to agriculture, -manufactures, and commerce. Moreover, the economic disturbances due to -the withdrawal of so many men from the work of production are closely -connected with the discontent which finds vent in the wild schemes of -socialists, communists, and anarchists. There is no other way of -beginning the work of social redemption but by a general disarmament; -and this opinion has for some years been gaining strength in Europe. It -is commonly felt that in one way or another the state of armed peace -will have to be abandoned. - -In a lecture at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in 1880, I argued -that the contrast between the United States, with a population quite -freed from the demands of militarism, and the continent of Europe, with -its enormous armaments useless for productive purposes, could not long -be maintained; that American competition would soon come to press so -severely upon Europe as to compel a disarmament, and in this way the -swords would get beaten into ploughshares. American competition is less -effective than it might be, owing to our absurd tariffs and vicious -currency, but its tendency has undoubtedly been in the direction -indicated. I suspect, however, that the process will be less simple. -Within the last twenty years the operations of production and -distribution have been assuming colossal proportions. Syndicates, -trusts, and other huge combinations of capital have begun carrying on -business upon a scale heretofore unprecedented. Already we see symptoms -that such combinations are to include partners in various parts of the -earth. Business, in short, is becoming more and more international; and -under such circumstances the era of general disarmament is likely to be -hastened. In the long run, peace has no other friend so powerful as -commerce. - -While every successful resort to arbitration is to be welcomed as a step -toward facilitating disarmament, it seems probable that institutions of -somewhat broader scope than courts of arbitration will be required for -the settlement of many complex international questions. In the European -congresses which have assembled from time to time to deal with peculiar -exigencies, we have the precedent for such more regular and permanent -institutions. An example of what is meant was furnished by the Congress -of Paris in 1856, when it dealt summarily with the whole group of vexed -questions relating to the rights and duties of neutrals and belligerents -upon the ocean, and put an end to the chaos of two centuries by -establishing an international code relating to piracy, blockades, and -seizures in times of naval war. This code has been respected by maritime -powers and enforced by the world's public opinion, and its establishment -was a memorable incident in the advance of civilization. Now, such work -as the Congress of Paris did can be done in future by other congresses, -but it is work of broader scope than has hitherto been undertaken by -courts of arbitration. I am inclined to think that both these -institutions--the International Congress and the Tribunal of -Arbitration--are destined to survive, with very considerable increase in -power and dignity, in the political society of the future, long after -disarmament has become an accomplished fact. - -About the time that a small party of Englishmen at Jamestown were laying -the first foundation stones of the United States, one of the greatest -kings and one of the greatest ministers of modern times were deeply -engaged in what they called the Great Design, a scheme for a European -Confederation. The plan of Henry IV. of France and the Duke of Sully -contemplated a federal republic of Christendom, comprising six -hereditary crowns (France, England, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Lombardy), -five elective crowns (the Empire, the Papacy, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland), -and four republics (Venice, the small Italian states, Switzerland, and -the Netherlands). There was to be a federal government in three -branches, legislative, executive, judicial; a federal army of about -three hundred thousand men, and a powerful federal fleet. The purpose of -the federation was to put an end once and forever to wars, both civil -and international. Probably the two great statesmen were not sanguine as -to the immediate success of their Great Design, and doubtless none knew -better than they that it would cost at least one mighty war to establish -it. But there is a largeness of view about the scheme that is refreshing -to meet in a world of arid and narrow commonplaces. With all their -breadth of vision, however, Henry and Sully would surely have been -amazed had they been told that the handful of half-starved Englishmen at -Jamestown were inaugurating a political and social development that in -course of time would contribute powerfully toward the success of -something like their Great Design. - -In human affairs a period of three centuries is a brief one, and the -progress already made in the direction toward which the two great -Frenchmen were looking is significant and prophetic. The vast armaments -now maintained on the continent of Europe cannot possibly endure. -Economic necessities will put an end to them before many years. But -disarmament, apparently, can only proceed _pari passu_ with the -establishment of peaceful methods of settling international questions. -The machinery for this will probably be found in the further development -of two institutions that have already come into existence, the -International Congress and the Court of Arbitration. The existence of -these institutions, which is now occasional, will tend to become -permanent: the former will deal preferably with the establishment of -general principles, the latter with their judicial application to -special cases. As European congresses meet now upon extraordinary -occasions, so once it was with the congresses of the American colonies, -such as the New York Congress of 1690 and the Albany Congress of 1754 -for concerting measures against New France, and the New York Congress of -1765 for protesting against the Stamp Act. Then came the Continental -Congress of 1774, which circumstances kept in existence for fifteen -years, until a political revolution reached its consummation in -replacing it by a completely organized federal government. In 1754 the -possibility of a permanent federation of American states was derided as -an idle dream of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Hutchinson. Very little -love was lost between the people of different colonies; and when the -crisis came on, after 1783, the majority hated and dreaded a permanent -Federal Union, and accepted it _only as the alternative to something -worse_, namely, anarchy and civil war. In like manner, it may be -surmised as not improbable that in course of time the occasions for -summoning European congresses will recur with increasing frequency until -the functions which they are called upon to discharge will convert them -into a permanent institution. Such a development, combined with the -increased employment of arbitration, must ultimately tend toward the -creation of a Federal Union in Europe. The fact that such a result will -be hated and dreaded by many people, perhaps by the great majority, need -not prevent its being accepted and acquiesced in _as the alternative to -something worse_, namely, the indefinite continuance of the system of -vast armaments. - -By the time when such a result comes clearly within sight, it will very -likely have been made evident that the policy of isolation which our -country has wisely pursued for the century past cannot be maintained -perpetually. When Washington wrote his Farewell Address, the danger of -our getting dragged into the mighty struggle then raging in Europe was a -real and serious danger, against which we needed to be solemnly warned. -Since then times have changed, and they are changing still. From a -nation scarcely stronger than Portugal we have become equal to the -strongest. Railways, telegraphs, and international industries are making -every part of the world the neighbour of every other part. To preserve a -policy of isolation will not always be possible, nor will it be -desirable. Situations will arise (if they have not already arisen) in -which such moral weight as the United States can exert will be called -for. The pacification of Europe, therefore, is not an affair that is -foreign to our interests. In that, as in every other aspect of the -Christian policy of "peace on earth and good will to men," we are most -deeply concerned; and every incident, like the present Arbitration -Treaty, that promises to advance us even by one step toward the sublime -result, it is our solemn duty to welcome and encourage by all the means -within our power. - -_February, 1897._ - - - - -VIII - -FRANCIS PARKMAN[25] - - -In the summer of 1865 I had occasion almost daily to pass by the -pleasant windows of Little, Brown & Co., in Boston, and it was not an -easy thing to do without stopping for a moment to look in upon their -ample treasures. Among the freshest novelties there displayed were to be -seen Lord Derby's translation of the Iliad, Forsyth's Life of Cicero, -Colonel Higginson's Epictetus, a new edition of Edmund Burke's writings, -and the tasteful reprint of Froude's History of England, just in from -the Riverside Press. One day, in the midst of such time-honoured -classics and new books on well-worn themes, there appeared a stranger -that claimed attention and aroused curiosity. It was a modest crown -octavo, clad in sombre garb, and bearing the title "Pioneers of France -in the New World." The author's name was not familiar to me, but -presently I remembered having seen it upon a stouter volume labelled -"The Conspiracy of Pontiac," of which many copies used to stand in a row -far back in the inner and dusky regions of the shop. This older book I -had once taken down from its shelf, just to quiet a lazy doubt as to -whether Pontiac might be the name of a man or a place. Had that -conspiracy been an event in Merovingian Gaul or in Borgia's Italy, I -should have felt a twinge of conscience at not knowing about it; but the -deeds of feathered and painted red men on the Great Lakes and the -Alleghanies, only a century old, seemed remote and trivial. Indeed, with -the old-fashioned study of the humanities, which tended to keep the -Mediterranean too exclusively in the centre of one's field of vision, it -was not always easy to get one's historical perspective correctly -adjusted. Scenes and events that come within the direct line of our -spiritual ancestry, which until yesterday was all in the Old World, thus -become unduly magnified, so as to deaden our sense of the interest and -importance of the things that have happened since our forefathers went -forth from their homesteads to grapple with the terrors of an outlying -wilderness. We find no difficulty in realizing the historic significance -of Marathon and Chalons, of the barons at Runnymede or Luther at -Wittenberg; and scarcely a hill or a meadow in the Romans Europe but -blooms for us with flowers of romance. Literature and philosophy, art -and song, have expended their richest treasures in adding to the -witchery of Old World spots and Old World themes. - -But as we learn to broaden our horizon, the perspective becomes somewhat -shifted. It begins to dawn upon us that in New World events, also, there -is a rare and potent fascination. Not only is there the interest of -their present importance, which nobody would be likely to deny, but -there is the charm of a historic past as full of romance as any chapter -whatever in the annals of mankind. The Alleghanies as well as the -Apennines have looked down upon great causes lost and won, and the -Mohawk Valley is classic ground no less than the banks of the Rhine. To -appreciate these things thirty years ago required the vision of a master -in the field of history; and when I carried home and read the "Pioneers -of France," I saw at once that in Francis Parkman we had found such a -master. The reading of the book was for me, as doubtless for many -others, a pioneer experience in this New World. It was a delightful -experience, repeated and prolonged for many a year, as those glorious -volumes came one after another from the press, until the story of the -struggle between France and England for the possession of North America -was at last completed. It was an experience of which the full -significance required study in many and apparently diverse fields to -realize. By step after step one would alight upon new ways of regarding -America and its place in universal history. - -First and most obvious, plainly visible from the threshold of the -subject, was its extreme picturesqueness. It is a widespread notion that -American history is commonplace and dull; and as for the American red -man, he is often thought to be finally disposed of when we have -stigmatized him as a bloodthirsty demon and grovelling beast. It is safe -to say that those who entertain such notions have never read Mr. -Parkman. In the theme which occupied him his poet's eye saw nothing that -was dull or commonplace. To bring him vividly before us, I will quote -his own words from one of the introductory pages of his opening -volume:-- - -"The French dominion is a memory of the past; and when we evoke its -departed shades, they rise upon us from their graves in strange romantic -guise. Again their ghostly camp fires seem to burn, and the fitful -light is cast around on lord and vassal and black-robed priest, mingled -with wild forms of savage warriors, knit in close fellowship on the same -stern errand. A boundless vision grows upon us: an untamed continent; -vast wastes of forest verdure; mountains silent in primeval sleep; -river, lake, and glimmering pool; wilderness oceans mingling with the -sky. Such was the domain which France conquered for civilization. Plumed -helmets gleamed in the shade of its forests, priestly vestments in its -dens and fastnesses of ancient barbarism. Men steeped in antique -learning, pale with the close breath of the cloister, here spent the -noon and evening of their lives, ruled savage hordes with a mild -parental sway, and stood serene before the direst shapes of death. Men -of courtly nurture, heirs to the polish of a far-reaching ancestry, here -with their dauntless hardihood put to shame the boldest sons of toil." - -When a writer in sentences that are mere generalizations gives us such -pictures as these, one has much to expect from his detailed narrative, -glowing with sympathy and crowded with incident. In Parkman's books such -expectations are never disappointed. What was an uncouth and howling -wilderness in the world of literature he has taken for his own domain, -and peopled it forever with living figures, dainty and winsome, or grim -and terrible, or sprightly and gay. Never shall be forgotten the -beautiful earnestness, the devout serenity, the blithe courage, of -Champlain; never can we forget the saintly Marie de l'Incarnation, the -delicate and long-suffering Lalemant, the lionlike Brébeuf, the -chivalrous Maisonneuve, the grim and wily Pontiac, or that man against -whom fate sickened of contending, the mighty and masterful La Salle. -These, with many a comrade and foe, have now their place in literature -as permanent and sure as Tancred or St. Boniface, as the Cid or Robert -Bruce. As the wand of Scott revealed unsuspected depths of human -interest in Border castle and Highland glen, so it seems that North -America was but awaiting the magician's touch that should invest its -rivers and hillsides with memories of great days gone by. Parkman's -sweep has been a wide one, and many are the spots that his wand has -touched, from the cliffs of the Saguenay to the Texas coast, and from -Acadia to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. - -I do not forget that earlier writers than Parkman had felt something of -the picturesqueness and the elements of dramatic force in the history of -the conquest of our continent. In particular, the characteristics of the -red men and the incidents of forest life had long ago been made the -theme of novels and poems, such as they were; I wonder how many people -of to-day remember even the names of such books as "Yonnondio" or -"Kabaosa"? All such work was thrown into the shade by that of Fenimore -Cooper, whose genius, though limited, was undeniable. But when we -mention Cooper we are brought at once by contrast to the secret of -Parkman's power. It has long been recognized that Cooper's Indians are -more or less unreal; just such creatures never existed anywhere. When -Corneille and Racine put ancient Greeks or Romans on the stage they -dressed them in velvet and gold lace, flowing wigs and high buckled -shoes, and made them talk like Louis XIV.'s courtiers; in -seventeenth-century dramatists the historical sense was lacking. In the -next age it was not much better. When Rousseau had occasion to -philosophize about men in a state of nature he invented the Noble -Savage, an insufferable creature whom any real savage would justly -loathe and despise. The noble savage has figured extensively in modern -literature, and has left his mark upon Cooper's pleasant pages as well -as upon many a chapter of serious history. But you cannot introduce -unreal Indians as factors in the development of a narrative without -throwing a shimmer of unreality about the whole story. It is like -bringing in ghosts or goblins among live men and women: it instantly -converts sober narrative into fairy tale; the two worlds will no more -mix than oil and water. The ancient and mediæval minds did not find it -so, as the numberless histories encumbered with the supernatural -testify; but the modern mind does find it so. The modern mind has taken -a little draught, the prelude to deeper draughts, at the healing and -purifying well of science; and it has begun to be dissatisfied with -anything short of exact truth. When any unsound element enters into a -narrative, the taint is quickly tasted, and its flavour spoils the -whole. - -We are then brought, I say, to the secret of Parkman's power. His -Indians are true to the life. In his pages Pontiac is a man of warm -flesh and blood, as much so as Montcalm or Israel Putnam. This solid -reality in the Indians makes the whole work real and convincing. Here is -the great contrast between Parkman's work and that of Prescott, in so -far as the latter dealt with American themes. In reading Prescott's -account of the conquest of Mexico, one feels one's self in the world of -the "Arabian Nights;" indeed, the author himself, in occasional -comments, lets us see that he is unable to get rid of just such a -feeling. - -His story moves on in a region that is unreal to him, and therefore -tantalizing to the reader; his Montezuma is a personality like none that -ever existed beneath the moon. This is because Prescott simply followed -his Spanish authorities not only in their statements of physical fact, -but in their inevitable misconceptions of the strange Aztec society -which they encountered; the Aztecs in his story are unreal, and this -false note vitiates it all. In his Peruvian story Prescott followed -safer leaders in Garcilasso de la Vega and Cieza de Leon, and made a -much truer picture; but he lacked the ethnological knowledge needful for -coming into touch with that ancient society, and one often feels this as -the weak spot in a narrative of marvellous power and beauty. - -Now it was Parkman's good fortune at an early age to realize that in -order to do his work it was first of all necessary to know the Indian by -personal fellowship and contact. It was also his good fortune that the -right sort of Indians were still accessible. What would not Prescott -have given, what would not any student of human evolution give, for a -chance to pass a week or even a day in such a community as the Tlascala -of Xicotencatl or the Mexico of Montezuma! That phase of social -development has long since disappeared. But fifty years ago, on our -great western plains and among the Rocky Mountains, there still -prevailed a state of society essentially similar to that which greeted -the eyes of Champlain upon the St. Lawrence and of John Smith upon the -Chickahominy. In those days the Oregon Trail had changed but little -since the memorable journey of Lewis and Clark in the beginning of the -present century. In 1846, two years after taking his bachelor degree at -Harvard, young Parkman had a taste of the excitements of savage life in -that primeval wilderness. He was accompanied by his kinsman, Mr. Quincy -Shaw. They joined a roving tribe of Sioux Indians, at a time when to do -such a thing was to take their lives in their hands, and they spent a -wild summer among the Black Hills of Dakota and in the vast moorland -solitudes through which the Platte River winds its interminable length. -In the chase and in the wigwam, in watching the sorcery of which their -religion chiefly consisted, or in listening to primitive folk tales by -the evening camp fire, Parkman learned to understand the red man, to -interpret his motives and his moods. With his naturalist's keen and -accurate eye and his quick poetic apprehension, that youthful -experience formed a safe foundation for all his future work. From that -time forth he was fitted to absorb the records and memorials of the -early explorers, and to make their strange experiences his own. - -The next step was to gather these early records from government -archives, and from libraries public and private, on both sides of the -Atlantic,--a task, as Parkman himself called it, "abundantly irksome and -laborious." It extended over many years and involved several visits to -Europe. It was performed with a thoroughness approaching finality. -Already in the preface to the "Pioneers" the author was able to say that -he had gained access to all the published materials in existence. Of his -research among manuscript sources a notable monument exists in a cabinet -now standing in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, -containing nearly two hundred folio volumes of documents copied from the -originals by expert copyists. Ability to incur heavy expense is, of -course, a prerequisite for all undertakings of this sort, and herein our -historian was favoured by fortune. Against this chiefest among -advantages were to be offset the hardships entailed by delicate health -and inability to use the eyes for reading and writing. Parkman always -dictated instead of holding the pen, and his huge mass of documents had -to be read aloud to him. The heroism shown year after year in contending -with physical ailments was the index of a character fit to be mated, for -its pertinacious courage, with the heroes that live in those shining -pages. - -The progress in working up materials was slow and sure. "The Conspiracy -of Pontiac," which forms the sequel and conclusion of Parkman's work, -was first published in 1851, only five years after the summer spent with -the Indians; fourteen years then elapsed before the "Pioneers" made its -appearance in Little, Brown & Co.'s window; and then there were yet -seven-and-twenty years more before the final volumes came out in 1892. -Altogether, about half a century was required for the building of this -grand literary monument. Nowhere can we find a better illustration of -the French critic's definition of a great life,--a thought conceived in -youth, and realized in later years. - -This elaborateness of preparation had its share in producing the intense -vividness of Parkman's descriptions. Profusion of detail makes them seem -like the accounts of an eye-witness. The realism is so strong that the -author seems to have come in person fresh from the scenes he describes, -with the smoke of the battle hovering about him and its fierce light -glowing in his eyes. Such realism is usually the prerogative of the -novelist rather than of the historian, and in one of his prefaces -Parkman recognizes that the reader may feel this and suspect him. "If at -times," he says, "it may seem that range has been allowed to fancy, it -is so in appearance only, since the minutest details of narrative or -description rest on authentic documents or on personal observation." - -This kind of personal observation Parkman carried so far as to visit all -the important localities, indeed well-nigh all the localities, that form -the scenery of his story, and study them with the patience of a surveyor -and the discerning eye of a landscape painter. His strong love of nature -added keen zest to this sort of work. From boyhood he was a trapper and -hunter; in later years he became eminent as a horticulturist, -originating new varieties of flowers. To sleep under the open sky was -his delight. His books fairly reek with the fragrance of pine woods. I -open one of them at random, and my eye falls upon such a sentence as -this: "There is softness in the mellow air, the warm sunshine, and the -budding leaves of spring; and in the forest flower, which, more delicate -than the pampered offspring of gardens, lifts its tender head through -the refuse and decay of the wilderness." Looking at the context, I find -that this sentence comes in a remarkable passage suggested by Colonel -Henry Bouquet's western expedition of 1764, when he compelled the -Indians to set free so many French and English prisoners. Some of these -captives were unwilling to leave the society of the red men; some -positively refused to accept the boon of what was called freedom. In -this strange conduct, exclaims Parkman, there was no unaccountable -perversity; and he breaks out with two pages of noble dithyrambics in -praise of savage life. "To him who has once tasted the reckless -independence, the haughty self-reliance, the sense of irresponsible -freedom, which the forest life engenders, civilization thenceforth seems -flat and stale.... The entrapped wanderer grows fierce and restless, and -pants for breathing room. His path, it is true, was choked with -difficulties, but his body and soul were hardened to meet them; it was -beset with dangers, but these were the very spice of his life, -gladdening his heart with exulting self-confidence, and sending the -blood through his veins with a livelier current. The wilderness, rough, -harsh, and inexorable, has charms more potent in their seductive -influence than all the lures of luxury and sloth. And often he on whom -it has cast its magic finds no heart to dissolve the spell, and remains -a wanderer and an Ishmaelite to the hour of his death."[26] - -No one can doubt that the man who could write like this had the kind of -temperament that could look into the Indian's mind and portray him -correctly. But for this inborn temperament all his microscopic industry -would have availed him but little. To use his own words: "Faithfulness -to the truth of history involves far more than a research, however -patient and scrupulous, into special facts. Such facts may be detailed -with the most minute exactness, and yet the narrative, taken as a whole, -may be unmeaning or untrue." These are golden words for the student of -the historical art to ponder. To make a truthful record of a vanished -age patient scholarship is needed, and something more. Into the making -of a historian there should enter something of the philosopher, -something of the naturalist, something of the poet. In Parkman this rare -union of qualities was realized in a greater degree than in any other -American historian. Indeed, I doubt if the nineteenth century can show -in any part of the world another historian quite his equal in respect of -such a union. - -There is one thing which lends to Parkman's work a peculiar interest, -and will be sure to make it grow in fame with the ages. Not only has he -left the truthful record of a vanished age so complete and final that -the work will never need to be done again, but if any one should in -future attempt to do it again he cannot approach the task with quite -such equipment as Parkman. In an important sense, the age of Pontiac is -far more remote from us than the age of Clovis or the age of Agamemnon. -When barbaric society is overwhelmed by advancing waves of civilization, -its vanishing is final; the thread of tradition is cut off forever with -the shears of Fate. Where are Montezuma's Aztecs? Their physical -offspring still dwell on the table-land of Mexico, and their ancient -speech is still heard in the streets, but that old society is as extinct -as the trilobites, and has to be painfully studied in fossil fragments -of custom and tradition. So with the red men of the North: it is not -true that they are dying out physically, as many people suppose, but -their stage of society is fast disappearing, and soon it will have -vanished forever. Soon their race will be swallowed up and forgotten, -just as we overlook and ignore to-day the existence of five thousand -Iroquois farmers in the state of New York. - -Now the study of comparative ethnology has begun to teach us that the -red Indian is one of the most interesting of men. He represents a stage -of evolution through which civilized men have once passed,--a stage far -more ancient and primitive than that which is depicted in the Odyssey or -in the Book of Genesis. When Champlain and Frontenac met the feathered -chieftains of the St. Lawrence, they talked with men of the Stone Age -face to face. Phases of life that had vanished from Europe long before -Rome was built survived in America long enough to be seen and studied by -modern men. Behind Mr. Parkman's picturesqueness, therefore, there lies -a significance far more profound than one at first would suspect. He has -portrayed for us a wondrous and forever fascinating stage in the -evolution of humanity. We may well thank Heaven for sending us such a -scholar, such an artist, such a genius, before it was too late. As we -look at the changes wrought in the last fifty years, we realize that -already the opportunities by which he profited in youth are in large -measure lost. He came not a moment too soon to catch the fleeting light -and fix it upon his immortal canvas. - -Thus Parkman is to be regarded as first of all the historian of -Primitive Society. No other great historian has dealt intelligently and -consecutively with such phases of barbarism as he describes with such -loving minuteness. To the older historians all races of men very far -below the European grade of culture seemed alike; all were ignorantly -grouped together as "savages." Mr. Lewis Morgan first showed the wide -difference between true savages, such as the Apaches and Bannocks on the -one hand, and barbarians with developed village life, like the Five -Nations and the Cherokees. The latter tribes in the seventeenth and -eighteenth centuries exhibited social phenomena such as were probably -witnessed about the shores of the Mediterranean some seven or eight -thousand years earlier. If we carry our thoughts back to the time that -saw the building of the Great Pyramid, and imagine civilized Egypt -looking northward and eastward upon tribes of white men with social and -political ideas not much more advanced than those of Frontenac's red -men, our picture will be in its most essential features a correct one. -What would we not give for a historian who, with a pen like that of -Herodotus, could bring before us the scenes of that primeval Greek world -before the cyclopean works at Tiryns were built, when the ancestors of -Solon and Aristides did not yet dwell in neatly joinered houses and -fasten their door-latches with a thong, when the sacred city-state was -still unknown, and the countryman had not yet become a bucolic or -"tender of cows," and butter and cheese were still in the future! No -written records can ever take us back to that time in that place; for -there, as everywhere in the eastern hemisphere, the art of writing came -many years later than the domestication of animals, and some ages later -than the first building of towns. But in spite of the lack of written -records, the comparative study of institutions, especially comparative -jurisprudence, throws back upon those prehistoric times a light that is -often dim, but sometimes wonderfully suggestive and instructive. It is a -light that reveals among primeval Greeks ideas and customs essentially -similar to those of the Iroquois. It is a light that grows steadier and -brighter as it leads us to the conclusion that five or six thousand -years before Christ white men around the Ægean Sea had advanced about as -far as the red men in the Mohawk Valley two centuries ago. The one phase -of this primitive society illuminates the other, though extreme caution -is necessary in drawing our inferences. Now Parkman's minute and vivid -description of primitive society among red men is full of lessons that -may be applied with profit to the study of preclassic antiquity in the -Old World. No other historian has brought us into such close and -familiar contact with human life in such ancient stages of its progress. -In Parkman's great book we have a record of vanished conditions such as -hardly exists anywhere else in literature. - -I say his great book, using the singular number; for, with the exception -of that breezy bit of autobiography, "The Oregon Trail," all Parkman's -books are the closely related volumes of a single comprehensive work. -From the adventures of "The Pioneers of France" a consecutive story is -developed through "The Jesuits in North America" and "The Discovery of -the Great West." In "The Old Régime in Canada" it is continued with a -masterly analysis of French methods of colonization in this their -greatest colony, and then from "Frontenac and New France under Louis -XIV." we are led through "A Half-Century of Conflict" to the grand -climax in the volumes on "Montcalm and Wolfe," after which "The -Conspiracy of Pontiac" brings the long narrative to a noble and -brilliant close. In the first volume we see the men of the Stone Age at -that brief moment when they were disposed to adore the bearded newcomers -as Children of the Sun; in the last we read the bloody story of their -last and most desperate concerted effort to loosen the iron grasp with -which these palefaces had seized and were holding the continent. It is a -well-rounded tale, and as complete as anything in real history, where -completeness and finality are things unknown. - -Between the beginning and the end of this well-rounded tale a mighty -drama is wrought out in all its scenes. The struggle between France and -England for the soil of North America was one of the great critical -moments in the career of mankind,--no less important than the struggle -between Greece and Persia, or between Rome and Carthage. Out of the long -and complicated interaction between Roman and Teutonic institutions -which made up the history of the Middle Ages, two strongly contrasted -forms of political society had grown up and acquired aggressive strength -when in the course of the sixteenth century a New World beyond the sea -was laid open for colonization. The maritime nations of Europe were -naturally the ones to be attracted to this new arena of enterprise; and -Spain, Portugal, France, England, and Holland each played its -interesting and characteristic part. Spain at first claimed the whole, -excepting only that Brazilian coast which Borgia's decree gave to -Portugal. But Spain's methods, as well as her early failure of strength, -prevented her from making good her claim. Spain's methods were limited -to stepping into the place formerly occupied by the conquering races of -half-civilized Indians. She made aboriginal tribes work for her, just as -the Aztec Confederacy and the Inca dynasty had done. Where she was -brought into direct contact with American barbarism without the -intermediation of half-civilized native races, she made little or no -headway. Her early failure of strength, on the other hand, was due to -her total absorption in the fight against civil and religious liberty in -Europe. The failure became apparent as soon as the absorption had begun -to be complete. Spain's last aggressive effort in the New World was the -destruction of the little Huguenot colony in Florida in 1565, and it is -at that point that Parkman's great work appropriately begins. From that -moment Spain simply beat her strength to pieces against the rocks of -Netherland courage and resourcefulness. As for the Netherlands, their -energies were so far absorbed in taking over and managing the great -Eastern empire of the Portuguese that their work in the New World was -confined to seizing upon the most imperial geographical position, and -planting a cosmopolitan colony there that, in the absence of adequate -support, was sure to fall into the hands of one or the other of the -competitors more actively engaged upon the scene. - -The two competitors thus more actively engaged were France and England, -and from an early period it was felt between the two to be a combat in -which no quarter was to be given or accepted. These two strongly -contrasted forms of political society had each its distinct ideal, and -that ideal was to be made to prevail, to the utter exclusion and -destruction of the other. Probably the French perceived this somewhat -earlier than the English; they felt it to be necessary to stamp out the -English before the latter had more than realized the necessity of -defending themselves against the French. For the type of political -society represented by Louis XIV. was preëminently militant, as the -English type was preëminently industrial. The aggressiveness of the -former was more distinctly conscious of its own narrower aims, and was -more deliberately set at work to attain them, while the English, on the -other hand, rather drifted into a tremendous world fight without -distinct consciousness of their purpose. Yet after the final issue had -been joined, the refrain _Carthago delenda est_ was heard from the -English side, and it came fraught with impending doom from the lips of -Pitt as in days of old from the lips of Cato. - -The French idea, had it prevailed in the strife, would not have been -capable of building up a pacific union of partially independent states, -covering this vast continent from ocean to ocean. Within that rigid and -rigorous bureaucratic system there was no room for spontaneous -individuality, no room for local self-government, and no chance for a -flexible federalism to grow up. A well-known phrase of Louis XIV. was, -"The state is myself." That phrase represented his ideal. It was -approximately true in Old France, realized as far as sundry adverse -conditions would allow. The Grand Monarch intended that in New France it -should be absolutely true. Upon that fresh soil was to be built up a -pure monarchy without concession to human weaknesses and limitations. It -was a pet scheme of Louis XIV., and never did a philanthropic -world-mender contemplate his grotesque phalanstery or pantarchy with -greater pleasure than this master of kingcraft looked forward to the -construction of a perfect Christian state in America. - -The pages of our great historian are full of examples which prove that -if the French idea failed of realization, and the state it founded was -overwhelmed, it was not from any lack of lofty qualities in individual -Frenchmen. In all the history of the American continent no names stand -higher than some of the French names. For courage, for fortitude and -high resolve, for sagacious leadership, statesmanlike wisdom, unswerving -integrity, devoted loyalty, for all the qualities which make life -heroic, we may learn lessons innumerable from the noble Frenchmen who -throng in Parkman's pages. The difficulty was not in the individuals, -but in the system; not in the units, but in the way they were put -together. For while it is true--though many people do not know it--that -by no imaginable artifice can you make a society that is better than the -human units you put into it, it is also true that nothing is easier than -to make a society that is worse than its units. So it was with the -colony of New France. - -Nowhere can we find a description of despotic government more careful -and thoughtful, or more graphic and lifelike, than Parkman has given us -in his volume on "The Old Régime in Canada." Seldom, too, will one find -a book fuller of political wisdom. The author never preaches like -Carlyle, nor does he hurl huge generalizations at our heads like Buckle; -he simply describes a state of society that has been. But I hardly need -say that his description is not--like the Dryasdust descriptions we are -sometimes asked to accept as history--a mere mass of pigments flung at -random upon a canvas. It is a picture painted with consummate art; and -in this instance the art consists in so handling the relations of cause -and effect as to make them speak for themselves. These pages are alive -with political philosophy, and teem with object lessons of extraordinary -value. It would be hard to point to any book where History more fully -discharges her high function of gathering friendly lessons of caution -from the errors of the past. - -Of all the societies that have been composed of European men, probably -none was ever so despotically organized as New France, unless it may -have been the later Byzantine Empire, which it resembled in the -minuteness of elaborate supervision over all the pettiest details of -life. In Canada the protective, paternal, socialistic, or nationalistic -theory of government--it is the same old cloven hoof, under whatever -specious name you introduce it--was more fully carried into operation -than in any other community known to history except ancient Peru. No -room was left for individual initiative or enterprise. All undertakings -were nationalized. Government looked after every man's interests in this -world and the next: baptized and schooled him; married him and paid the -bride's dowry; gave him a bounty with every child that was born to him; -stocked his cupboard with garden seeds and compelled him to plant them; -prescribed the size of his house and the number of horses and cattle he -might keep, and the exact percentages of profit he might be allowed to -make, and how his chimneys should be swept, and how many servants he -might employ, and what theological doctrine he might believe, and what -sort of bread the bakers might bake, and where goods might be bought and -how much might be paid for them; and if in a society so well cared for -it were possible to find indigent persons, such paupers were duly -relieved, from a fund established by government. Unmitigated benevolence -was the theory of Louis XIV.'s Canadian colony, and heartless political -economy had no place there. Nor was there any room for free thinkers; -when the King after 1685 sent out word that no mercy must be shown to -heretics, the governor, Denonville, with a pious ejaculation, replied -that not so much as a single heretic could be found in all Canada. - -Such was the community whose career our historian has delineated with -perfect soundness of judgment and wealth of knowledge. The fate of this -nationalistic experiment, set on foot by one of the most absolute of -monarchs and fostered by one of the most devoted and powerful of -religious organizations, is traced to the operation of causes inherent -in its very nature. The hopeless paralysis, the woeful corruption, the -moral torpor, resulting from the suppression of individualism, are -vividly portrayed; yet there is no discursive generalizing, and from -moment to moment the development of the story proceeds from within -itself. It is the whole national life of New France that is displayed -before us. Historians of ordinary calibre exhibit their subject in -fragments, or they show us some phases of life and neglect others. Some -have no eyes save for events that are startling, such as battles and -sieges; or decorative, such as coronations and court balls. Others give -abundant details of manners and customs; others have their attention -absorbed by economics; others again feel such interest in the history of -ideas as to lose sight of mere material incidents. Parkman, on the other -hand, conceives and presents his subject as a whole. He forgets nothing, -overlooks nothing; but whether it is a bloody battle, or a theological -pamphlet, or an exploring journey though the forest, or a code for the -discipline of nunneries, each event grows out of its context as a -feature in the total development that is going on before our eyes. It is -only the historian who is also philosopher and artist that can thus deal -in block with the great and complex life of a whole society. The -requisite combination is realized only in certain rare and high types -of mind, and there has been no more brilliant illustration of it than -Parkman's volumes afford. - -The struggle between the machine-like socialistic despotism of New -France and the free and spontaneous political vitality of New England is -one of the most instructive object lessons with which the experience of -mankind has furnished us. The depth of its significance is equalled by -the vastness of its consequences. Never did Destiny preside over a more -fateful contest; for it determined which kind of political seed should -be sown all over the widest and richest political garden plot left -untilled in the world. Free industrial England pitted against despotic -militant France for the possession of an ancient continent reserved for -this decisive struggle, and dragging into the conflict the belated -barbarism of the Stone Age,--such is the wonderful theme which Parkman -has treated. When the vividly contrasted modern ideas and personages are -set off against the romantic though lurid background of Indian life, the -artistic effect becomes simply magnificent. Never has historian grappled -with another such epic theme, save when Herodotus told the story of -Greece and Persia, or when Gibbon's pages resounded with the solemn -tread of marshalled hosts through a thousand years of change. - -The story of Mr. Parkman's life can be briefly told. He was born in -Boston, in what is now known as Allston Street, September 16, 1823. His -ancestors had for several generations been honourably known in -Massachusetts. His great-grandfather, Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, a graduate -of Harvard in 1741, was minister of the Congregational church in -Westborough for nearly sixty years; he was a man of learning and -eloquence, whose attention was not all given to Calvinistic theology, -for he devoted much of it to the study of history. A son of this -clergyman, at the age of seventeen, served as private in a Massachusetts -regiment in that greatest of modern wars which was decided on the -Heights of Abraham. How little did this gallant youth dream of the glory -that was by and by to be shed on the scenes and characters passing -before his eyes by the genius of one of his own race and name! Another -son of Ebenezer Parkman returned to Boston and became a successful -merchant, engaged in that foreign traffic which played so important and -liberalizing a part in American life in the days before the Enemy of -mankind had invented forty per cent tariffs. The home of this merchant, -Samuel Parkman, on the corner of Green and Chardon streets, was long -famous for its beautiful flower garden, indicating perhaps the kind of -taste and skill so conspicuous afterwards in his grandson. In Samuel the -clerical profession skipped one generation, to be taken up again by his -son, Rev. Francis Parkman, a graduate of Harvard in 1807, and for many -years after 1813 the eminent and beloved pastor of the New North Church. -Dr. Parkman was noted for his public spirit and benevolence. Bishop -Huntington, who knew him well, says of him: "Every aspect of suffering -touched him tenderly. There was no hard spot in his breast. His house -was the centre of countless mercies to various forms of want; and there -were few solicitors of alms, local or itinerant, and whether for private -necessity or public benefactions, that his doors did not welcome and -send away satisfied.... For many years he was widely known and esteemed -for his efficient interest in some of our most conspicuous and useful -institutions of philanthropy. Among these may be especially mentioned -the Massachusetts Bible Society, the Society for Propagating the Gospel, -the Orphan Asylum, the Humane Society, the Medical Dispensary, the -Society for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Clergymen, and the -Congregational Charitable Society." He also took an active interest in -Harvard University, of which he was an Overseer. In 1829 he founded -there the professorship of "Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care," -familiarly known as the Parkman Professorship. A pupil and friend of -Channing, he was noted among Unitarians for a broadly tolerant -disposition. His wealth of practical wisdom was enlivened by touches of -mirth, so that it was said that you could not "meet Dr. Parkman in the -street, and stop a minute to exchange words with him, without carrying -away with you some phrase or turn of thought so exquisite in its mingled -sagacity and humour that it touched the inmost sense of the ludicrous, -and made the heart smile as well as the lips." Such was the father of -our historian. - -Mr. Parkman's mother was a descendant of Rev. John Cotton, one of the -most eminent of the leaders in the great Puritan exodus of the -seventeenth century. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Hall, of Medford, -member of a family which was represented in the convention that framed -the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780. Caroline Hall was a lady of -remarkable character, and many of her fine qualities were noticeable in -her distinguished son. Of her the late Octavius Frothingham says: -"Humility, charity, truthfulness, were her prime characteristics. Her -conscience was firm and lofty, though never austere. She had a strong -sense of right, coupled with perfect charity toward other people; -inflexible in principle, she was gentle in practice. Intellectually she -could hardly be called brilliant or accomplished, but she had a strong -vein of common sense and practical wisdom, great penetration into -character, and a good deal of quiet humour." - -Of her six children, the historian, Francis Parkman, was the eldest. As -a boy his health was delicate. In a fragment of autobiography, written -in the third person, he tells us that "his childhood was neither -healthful nor buoyant," and "his boyhood, though for a time active, was -not robust." There was a nervous irritability and impulsiveness which -kept driving him into activity more intense than his physical strength -was well able to bear. At the same time an inborn instinct of -self-control, accompanied, doubtless, by a refined unwillingness to -intrude his personal feelings upon the notice of other people, led him -into such habits of self-repression that his friends sometimes -felicitated him on "having no nerves." There was something rudely -stoical in his discipline. As he says: "It was impossible that -conditions of the nervous system abnormal as his had been from infancy -should be without their effects on the mind, and some of these were of a -nature highly to exasperate him. Unconscious of their character and -origin, and ignorant that with time and confirmed health they would have -disappeared, he had no other thought than that of crushing them by -force, and accordingly applied himself to the work. Hence resulted a -state of mental tension, habitual for several years, and abundantly -mischievous in its effects. With a mind overstrained and a body -overtasked, he was burning his candle at both ends." - -The conditions which were provided for the sensitive and highly strung -boy during a part of his childhood were surely very delightful, and -there can be little doubt that they served to determine his career. His -grandfather Hall's home in Medford was situated on the border of the -Middlesex Fells, a rough and rocky woodland, four thousand acres in -extent, as wild and savage in many places as any primeval forest. The -place is within eight miles of Boston, and it may be doubted if anywhere -else can be found another such magnificent piece of wilderness so near -to a great city. It needs only a stray Indian or two, with a few bears -and wolves, to bring back for us the days when Winthrop's company landed -on the shores of the neighbouring bay. In the heart of this shaggy -woodland is Spot Pond, a lake of glorious beauty, with a surface of -three hundred acres, and a homely name which it is to be hoped it may -always keep,--a name bestowed in the good old times before the national -vice of magniloquence had begun to deface our maps. Among the pleasure -drives in the neighbourhood of Boston, the drive around Spot Pond is -perhaps foremost in beauty. A few fine houses have been built upon its -borders, and well-kept roads have given to some parts of the forest the -aspect of a park, but the greater part of the territory is undisturbed, -and will probably remain so. Seventy years ago the pruning hand of -civilization has scarcely touched it. To his grandfather's farm, on the -outskirts of this enchanting spot, the boy Parkman was sent in his -eighth year. There, he tells us, "I walked twice a day to a school of -high but undeserved reputation, about a mile distant, in the town of -Medford. Here I learned very little, and spent the intervals of -schooling more profitably in collecting eggs, insects, and reptiles, -trapping squirrels and woodchucks, and making persistent though rarely -fortunate attempts to kill birds with arrows. After four years of this -rustication I was brought back to Boston, when I was unhappily seized -with a mania for experiments in chemistry, involving a lonely, confined, -unwholesome sort of life, baneful to body and mind." No doubt the -experience of four years of plastic boyhood in Middlesex Fells gave to -Parkman's mind the bent which directed him toward the history of the -wilderness. This fact he recognized of himself in after life, while he -recalled those boyish days as the brightest in his memory. - -At the age of fifteen or so the retorts and crucibles were thrown away -forever, and a reaction in favor of woodland life began; "a fancy," he -says, "which soon gained full control over the course of the literary -pursuits to which he was also addicted." Here we come upon the first -mention of the combination of interests which determined his career. A -million boys might be turned loose in Middlesex Fells, one after -another, there to roam in solitude until our globe should have entered -upon a new geological period, and the chances are against any one of -them becoming a great historian, or anything else above mediocrity. But -in Parkman, as in all men of genius, the dominant motive power was -something within him, something which science has not data enough to -explain. The divine spark of genius is something which we know only -through the acts which it excites. In Parkman the strong literary -instinct showed itself at Chauncy Hall School, where we find him, at -fourteen years of age, eagerly and busily engaged in the study and -practice of English composition. It was natural that tales of heroes -should be especially charming at that time of life, and among Parkman's -efforts were paraphrasing parts of the Æneid, and turning into rhymed -verse the scene of the tournament in "Ivanhoe." From the artificial -stupidity which is too often superinduced in boys by their early -schooling he was saved by native genius and breezy woodland life, and -his progress was rapid. In 1840, having nearly completed his seventeenth -year, he entered Harvard College. His reputation there for scholarship -was good, but he was much more absorbed in his own pursuits than in the -regular college studies. In the summer vacation of 1841 he made a rough -journey of exploration in the woods of northern New Hampshire, -accompanied by one classmate and a native guide, and there he had a -taste of adventure slightly spiced with hardship. - -How much importance this ramble may have had one cannot say, but he -tells us that "before the end of the Sophomore year my various schemes -had crystallized into a plan of writing the story of what was then known -as the 'Old French War,'--that is, the war that ended in the conquest of -Canada; for here, as it seemed to me, the forest drama was more -stirring, and the forest stage more thronged with appropriate actors, -than in any other passage of our history. It was not until some years -later that I enlarged the plan to include the whole course of the -American conflict between France and England, or, in other words, the -history of the American forest; for this was the light in which I -regarded it. My theme fascinated me, and I was haunted with wilderness -images day and night." The way in which true genius works could not be -more happily described. - -When the great scheme first took shape in Mr. Parkman's mind, he -reckoned that it would take about twenty years to complete the task. How -he entered upon it may best be told in his own words:-- - -"The time allowed was ample; but here he fell into a fatal error, -entering on this long pilgrimage with all the vehemence of one starting -on a mile heat. His reliance, however, was less on books than on such -personal experience as should in some sense identify him with his theme. -His natural inclinations urged him in the same direction, for his -thoughts were always in the forest, whose features, not unmixed with -softer images, possessed his waking and sleeping dreams, filling him -with vague cravings impossible to satisfy. As fond of hardships as he -was vain of enduring them, cherishing a sovereign scorn for every -physical weakness or defect, deceived moreover by a rapid development of -frame and sinews which flattered him with the belief that discipline -sufficiently unsparing would harden him into an athlete, he slighted the -precautions of a more reasonable woodcraft, tired old foresters with -long marches, stopped neither for heat nor rain, and slept on the earth -without a blanket." In other words, "a highly irritable organism spurred -the writer to excess in a course which, with one of different -temperament, would have produced a free and hardy development of such -faculties and forces as he possessed." Along with the irritable organism -perhaps a heritage of fierce ancestral Puritanism may have prompted him -to the stoical discipline which sought to ignore the just claims of the -physical body. He tells us of his undoubting faith that "to tame the -Devil, it is best to take him by the horns;" but more mature experiences -made him feel less sure "of the advantages of this method of dealing -with that subtle personage." - -Under these conditions, perhaps the college vacations which he spent in -the woods of Canada and New England may have done more to exhaust than -to recruit his strength. In his Junior year, some physical injury, the -nature of which does not seem to be known, caused it to be thought -necessary to send him to Europe for his health. He went first to -Gibraltar in a sailing ship, and a passage from his diary may serve to -throw light upon the voyage and the man: "It was a noble sight when at -intervals the sun broke out over the savage waves, changing their -blackness to a rich blue almost as dark; while the foam that flew over -it seemed like whirling snow wreaths on the mountain.... As soon as it -was daybreak I went on deck. Two or three sails were set. The vessel was -scouring along, leaning over so that her lee gunwale scooped up the -water; the water in a foam, and clouds of spray flying over us, -frequently as high as the main yard. The spray was driven with such -force that it pricked the cheek like needles. I stayed on deck two or -three hours, when, being thoroughly salted, I went down, changed my -clothes, and read 'Don Quixote' till Mr. Snow appeared at the door with -'You are the man that wants to see a gale, are ye? Now is your chance; -only just come up on deck.' Accordingly I went. The wind was yelling and -howling in the rigging in a fashion that reminded me of a storm in a -Canadian forest.... The sailors clung, half drowned, to whatever they -could lay hold of, for the vessel was at times half inverted, and tons -of water washed from side to side of her deck." - -Mr. Parkman's route was from Gibraltar by way of Malta, to Sicily, where -he travelled over the whole island, and thence to Naples, where he fell -in with the great preacher Theodore Parker. Together they climbed -Vesuvius and peered into its crater, and afterwards in and about Rome -they renewed their comradeship. Here Mr. Parkman wished to spend a few -weeks in a monastery, in order to study with his own eyes the priests -and their way of life. More than once he met with a prompt and -uncompromising refusal, but at length the coveted privilege was granted -him; and, curiously enough, it was by the strictest of all the monastic -orders, the Passionists, brethren addicted to wearing hair shirts and -scourging themselves without mercy. When these worthy monks learned that -their visitor was not merely a Protestant, but a Unitarian, their horror -was intense; but they were ready for the occasion, poor souls! and tried -their best to convert him, thereby doubtless enhancing their value in -the historian's eyes as living and breathing historic material. This -visit was surely of inestimable service to the pen which was to be so -largely occupied with the Jesuits and Franciscans of the New World. - -Mr. Parkman did not leave Rome until he had seen temples, churches, and -catacombs, and had been presented to the Pope. He stopped at Florence, -Bologna, Modena, Parma, and Milan, and admired the Lake of Como, to -which, however, he preferred the savage wildness of Lake George. He saw -something of Switzerland, went to Paris and London, and did a bit of -sight-seeing in Edinburgh and its neighbourhood. From Liverpool he -sailed for America; and in spite of the time consumed in this trip we -find him taking his degree at Cambridge, along with his class, in 1844. -Probably his name stood high in the rank list, for he was at once -elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After this he entered -the Law School, but stayed not long, for his life's work was already -claiming him. In his brief vacation journeys he had seen tiny remnants -of wilderness here and there in Canada or in lonely corners of New -England; now he wished to see the wilderness itself in all its gloom and -vastness, and to meet face to face with the dusky warriors of the Stone -Age. At this end of the nineteenth century, as already observed, such a -thing can no longer be done. Nowhere now, within the United States, does -the primitive wilderness exist, save here and there in shreds and -patches. In the middle of the century it covered the western half of the -continent, and could be reached by a journey of sixteen or seventeen -hundred miles, from Boston to the plains of Nebraska. Parkman had become -an adept in woodcraft and a dead shot with the rifle, and could do such -things with horses, tame or wild, as civilized people never see done -except in a circus. There was little doubt as to his ability to win the -respect of Indians by outshining them in such deeds as they could -appreciate. Early in 1846 he started for the wilderness with Mr. Quincy -Shaw. A passage from the preface to the fourth edition of "The Oregon -Trail," published in 1872, will here be of interest:-- - -"I remember, as we rode by the foot of Pike's Peak, when for a fortnight -we met no face of man, my companion remarked, in a tone anything but -complacent, that a time would come when those plains would be a grazing -country, the buffalo give place to tame cattle, houses be scattered -along the watercourses, and wolves, bears, and Indians be numbered among -the things that were. We condoled with each other on so melancholy a -prospect, but with little thought what the future had in store. We knew -that there was more or less gold in the seams of those untrodden -mountains; but we did not foresee that it would build cities in the -West, and plant hotels and gambling houses among the haunts of the -grizzly bear. We knew that a few fanatical outcasts were groping their -way across the plains to seek an asylum from Gentile persecution; but we -did not imagine that the polygamous hordes of Mormons would rear a -swarming Jerusalem in the bosom of solitude itself. We knew that more -and more, year after year, the trains of emigrant wagons would creep in -slow procession towards barbarous Oregon or wild and distant California; -but we did not dream how Commerce and Gold would breed nations along the -Pacific, the disenchanting screech of the locomotive break the spell of -weird, mysterious mountains, woman's rights invade the fastnesses of the -Arapahoes, and despairing savagery, assailed in front and rear, veil its -scalp locks and feathers before triumphant commonplace. We were no -prophets to foresee all this; and had we foreseen it, perhaps some -perverse regret might have tempered the ardour of our rejoicing. - -"The wild tribe that defiled with me down the gorges of the Black Hills, -with its paint and war plumes, fluttering trophies and savage -embroidery, bows, arrows, lances, and shields, will never be seen again. -Those who formed it have found bloody graves, or a ghastlier burial in -the maws of wolves. The Indian of to-day, armed with a revolver and -crowned with an old hat, cased possibly in trousers or muffled in a -tawdry shirt, is an Indian still, but an Indian shorn of the -picturesqueness which was his most conspicuous merit. The mountain -trapper is no more, and the grim romance of his wild, hard life is a -memory of the past." - -This first of Parkman's books, "The Oregon Trail," was published in -1847, as a series of articles in the "Knickerbocker Magazine." Its pages -reveal such supreme courage, such physical hardiness, such rapturous -enjoyment of life, that one finds it hard to realize that even in -setting out upon this bold expedition the writer was something of an -invalid. A weakness of sight--whether caused by some direct injury, or a -result of widespread nervous disturbance, is not quite clear--had -already become serious and somewhat alarming. On arriving at the Indian -camp, near the Medicine Bow range of the Rocky Mountains, he was -suffering from a complication of disorders. "I was so reduced by -illness," he says, "that I could seldom walk without reeling like a -drunken man; and when I rose from my seat upon the ground the landscape -suddenly grew dim before my eyes, the trees and lodges seemed to sway to -and fro, and the prairie to rise and fall like the swells of the ocean. -Such a state of things is not enviable anywhere. In a country where a -man's life may at any moment depend on the strength of his arm, or it -may be on the activity of his legs, it is more particularly -inconvenient. Nor is sleeping on damp ground, with an occasional -drenching from a shower, very beneficial in such cases. I sometimes -suffered the extremity of exhaustion, and was in a tolerably fair way of -atoning for my love of the prairie by resting there forever. I tried -repose and a very sparing diet. For a long time, with exemplary -patience, I lounged about the camp, or at the utmost staggered over to -the Indian village, and walked faint and dizzy among the lodges. It -would not do, and I bethought me of starvation. During five days I -sustained life on one small biscuit a day. At the end of that time I was -weaker than before, but the disorder seemed shaken in its stronghold, -and very gradually I began to resume a less rigid diet." It did not seem -prudent to Parkman to let the signs of physical ailment become -conspicuous, "since in that case a horse, a rifle, a pair of pistols, -and a red shirt might have offered temptations too strong for aboriginal -virtue." Therefore, in order that his prestige with the red men might -not suffer diminution, he would "hunt buffalo on horseback over a broken -country, when without the tonic of the chase he could scarcely sit -upright in the saddle." - -The maintenance of prestige was certainly desirable. The Ogillalah band -of Sioux, among whom he found himself, were barbarians of a low type. -"Neither their manners nor their ideas were in the slightest degree -modified by contact with civilization. They knew nothing of the power -and real character of the white men, and their children would scream in -terror when they saw me. Their religion, superstitions, and prejudices -were the same handed down to them from immemorial time. They fought with -the weapons that their fathers fought with, and wore the same garments -of skins. They were living representatives of the Stone Age; for, though -their lances and arrows were tipped with iron procured from the traders, -they still used the rude stone mallet of the primeval world." These -savages welcomed Parkman and one of his white guides with cordial -hospitality, and they were entertained by the chieftain Big Crow, whose -lodge in the evening presented a picturesque spectacle. "A score or more -of Indians were seated around it in a circle, their dark, naked forms -just visible by the dull light of the smouldering fire in the middle. -The pipe glowed brightly in the gloom as it passed from hand to hand. -Then a squaw would drop a piece of buffalo fat on the dull embers. -Instantly a bright flame would leap up, darting its light to the very -apex of the tall conical structure, where the tops of the slender poles -that supported the covering of hide were gathered together. It gilded -the features of the Indians, as with animated gestures they sat around -it, telling their endless stories of war and hunting, and displayed rude -garments of skins that hung around the lodge; the bow, quiver, and lance -suspended over the resting place of the chief, and the rifles and -powderhorns of the two white guests. For a moment all would be bright as -day; then the flames would die out; fitful flashes from the embers would -illumine the lodge, and then leave it in darkness. Then the light would -wholly fade, and the lodge and all within it be involved again in -obscurity." From stories of war and the chase the conversation was now -and then diverted to philosophic themes. When Parkman asked what makes -the thunder, various opinions were expressed; but one old wrinkled -fellow, named Red Water, asseverated that he had always known what it -was. "It was a great black bird; and once he had seen it in a dream -swooping down from the Black Hills, with its loud roaring wings; and -when it flapped them over a lake, they struck lightning from the water." -Another old man said that the wicked thunder had killed his brother last -summer, but doggedly refused to give any particulars. It was afterwards -learned that this brother was a member of a thunder-fighting fraternity -of priests or medicine men. On the approach of a storm they would "take -their bows and arrows, their magic drum, and a sort of whistle made out -of the wing bone of the war eagle, and, thus equipped, run out and fire -at the rising cloud, whopping, yelling, whistling, and beating their -drum, to frighten it down again. One afternoon a heavy black cloud was -coming up, and they repaired to the top of a hill, where they brought -all their magic artillery into play against it. But the undaunted -thunder, refusing to be terrified, darted out a bright flash, which -struck [the aforesaid brother] dead as he was in the very act of shaking -his long iron-pointed lance against it. The rest scattered, and ran -yelling in an ecstasy of superstitious terror back to their lodges." - -One should read Mr. Parkman's detailed narrative of the strange life of -these people, and the manner of his taking part in it: how he called the -villagers together and regaled them sumptuously with boiled dog, and -made them a skilful speech, in which he quite satisfied them as to his -reasons for coming to dwell among them; how a warm friendship grew up -between himself and the venerable Red Water, who was the custodian of -an immense fund of folk lore, but was apt to be superstitiously afraid -of imparting any of it to strangers; how war parties were projected and -abandoned; how buffalo and antelope were hunted, and how life was -carried on in the dull intervals between such occupations. If one were -to keep on quoting what is of especial interest in the book, one would -have to quote the whole of it. But one characteristic portrait contains -so much insight into Indian life that I cannot forbear giving it. It is -the sketch of a young fellow called the Hail-Storm, as Parkman found him -one evening on his return from the chase: "his light graceful figure -reclining on the ground in an easy attitude, while ... near him lay the -fresh skin of a female elk which he had just killed among the mountains, -only a mile or two from camp. No doubt the boy's heart was elated with -triumph, but he betrayed no sign of it. He even seemed totally -unconscious of our approach, and his handsome face had all the -tranquillity of Indian self-control,--a self-control which prevents the -exhibition of emotion without restraining the emotion itself. It was -about two months since I had known the Hail-Storm, and within that time -his character had remarkably developed. When I first saw him, he was -just emerging from the habits and feelings of the boy into the ambition -of the hunter and warrior. He had lately killed his first deer, and this -had excited his aspirations for distinction. Since that time he had been -continually in search for game, and no young hunter in the village had -been so active or so fortunate as he. All this success had produced a -marked change in his character. As I first remembered him, he always -shunned the society of the young squaws, and was extremely bashful and -sheepish in their presence; but now, in the confidence of his new -reputation, he began to assume the airs and arts of a man of gallantry. -He wore his red blanket dashingly over his left shoulder, painted his -cheeks every day with vermilion, and hung pendants of shells in his -ears. If I observed aright, he met with very good success in his new -pursuits; still the Hail-Storm had much to accomplish before he attained -the full standing of a warrior. Gallantly as he began to bear himself -before the women and girls, he was still timid and abashed in the -presence of the chiefs and old men; for he had never yet killed a man, -or stricken the dead body of an enemy in battle. I have no doubt that -the handsome smooth-faced boy burned with desire to flesh his maiden -scalping knife, and I would not have encamped alone with him without -watching his movements with a suspicious eye." Mr. Parkman once told me -that it was rare for a young brave to obtain full favour with the women -without having at least one scalp to show; and this fact was one of the -secret sources of danger which the ordinary white visitor would never -think of. Peril is also liable to lurk in allowing one's self to be -placed in a ludicrous light among these people; accordingly, whenever -such occasions arose, Parkman knew enough to "maintain a rigid, -inflexible countenance, and [thus] wholly escaped their sallies." He -understood that his rifle and pistols were the only friends on whom he -could invariably rely when alone among Indians. His own observation -taught him "the extreme folly of confidence, and the utter impossibility -of foreseeing to what sudden acts the strange, unbridled impulses of an -Indian may urge him. When among this people, danger is never so near as -when you are unprepared for it, never so remote as when you are armed -and on the alert to meet it at any moment. Nothing offers so strong a -temptation to their ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity, -weakness, or security." - -The immense importance of this sojourn in the wilderness, in its -relation to Parkman's life work, is obvious. Knowledge, intrepidity, and -tact carried him through it unscathed, and good luck kept him clear of -encounters with hostile Indians, in which these qualities might not have -sufficed to avert destruction. It was rare good fortune that kept his -party from meeting with an enemy during five months of travel through a -dangerous region. Scarcely three weeks after he had reached the confines -of civilization, the Pawnees and Comanches began a systematized series -of hostilities, and "attacked ... every party, large or small, that -passed during the next six months." - -During this adventurous experience, says Parkman, "my business was -observation, and I was willing to pay dearly for the opportunity of -exercising it." A heavy price was exacted of him, not by red men, but by -that "subtle personage" whom he had tried to take by the horns, and who -seems to have resented such presumption. Toward the end of the journey -Parkman found himself ill in much the same way as at the beginning, and -craved medical advice. It was in mid-September, on a broad meadow in the -wild valley of the Arkansas, where his party had fallen in with a huge -Santa Fé caravan of white-topped wagons, with great droves of mules and -horses; and we may let Parkman tell the story in his own words, in the -last of our extracts from his fascinating book. One of the guides had -told him that in this caravan was a physician from St. Louis, by the -name of Dobbs, of the very highest standing in his profession. "Without -at all believing him, I resolved to consult this eminent practitioner. -Walking over to the camp, I found him lying sound asleep under one of -the wagons. He offered in his own person but indifferent evidence of his -skill; for it was five months since I had seen so cadaverous a face. His -hat had fallen off, and his yellow hair was all in disorder; one of his -arms supplied the place of a pillow; his trousers were wrinkled halfway -up to his knees, and he was covered with little bits of grass and straw -upon which he had rolled in his uneasy slumber. A Mexican stood near, -and I made him a sign to touch the doctor. Up sprang the learned Dobbs, -and sitting upright rubbed his eyes and looked about him in -bewilderment. I regretted the necessity of disturbing him, and said I -had come to ask professional advice. - -"'Your system, sir, is in a disordered state,' said he solemnly, after a -short examination. I inquired what might be the particular species of -disorder. 'Evidently a morbid action of the liver,' replied the medical -man. 'I will give you a prescription.' - -"Repairing to the back of one of the covered wagons, he scrambled in; -for a moment I could see nothing of him but his boots. At length he -produced a box which he had extracted from some dark recess within, and -opening it presented me with a folded paper. 'What is it?' said I. -'Calomel,' said the doctor. - -"Under the circumstances I would have taken almost anything. There was -not enough to do me much harm, and it might possibly do good; so at camp -that night I took the poison instead of supper." - -After the return from the wilderness Parkman found his physical -condition rather worse than better. The trouble with the eyes continued, -and we begin to find mention of a lameness which was sometimes serious -enough to confine him to the house, and which evidently lasted a long -time; but from this he seems to have recovered. My personal acquaintance -with him began in 1872, and I never noticed any symptoms of lameness, -though I remember taking several pleasant walks with him. Perhaps the -source of lameness may be indicated in the following account of his -condition in 1848, cited from the fragment of autobiography in which he -uses the third person: "To the maladies of the prairie succeeded a suite -of exhausting disorders, so reducing him that circulation of the -extremities ceased, the light of the sun became insupportable, and a -wild whirl possessed his brain, joined to a universal turmoil of the -nervous system which put his philosophy to the sharpest test it had -hitherto known. All collapsed, in short, but the tenacious strength of -muscles hardened by long activity." In 1851, whether due or not to -disordered circulation, there came an effusion of water on the left -knee, which for the next two years prevented walking. - -It was between 1848 and 1851 that Parkman was engaged in writing "The -Conspiracy of Pontiac." He felt that no regimen could be worse for him -than idleness, and that no tonic could be more bracing than work in -pursuance of the lofty purpose which had now attained maturity in his -mind. He had to contend with a "triple-headed monster:" first, the -weakness of the eyes, which had come to be such that he could not keep -them open to the light while writing his own name; secondly, the -incapacity for sustained attention; and thirdly, the indisposition to -putting forth mental effort. Evidently, the true name of this -triple-headed monster was nervous exhaustion; there was too much soul -for the body to which it was yoked. - -"To be made with impunity, the attempt must be made with the most -watchful caution. He caused a wooden frame to be constructed of the -size and shape of a sheet of letter paper. Stout wires were fixed -horizontally across it, half an inch apart, and a movable back of thick -pasteboard fitted behind them. The paper for writing was placed between -the pasteboard and the wires, guided by which, and using a black lead -crayon, he could write not illegibly with closed eyes. He was at the -time absent from home, on Staten Island, where, and in the neighbouring -city of New York, he had friends who willingly offered their aid. It is -needless to say to which half of humanity nearly all these kind -assistants belonged. He chose for a beginning that part of the work -which offered fewest difficulties and with the subject of which he was -most familiar; namely, the Siege of Detroit. The books and documents, -already partially arranged, were procured from Boston, and read to him -at such times as he could listen to them; the length of each reading -never without injury much exceeding half an hour, and periods of several -days frequently occurring during which he could not listen at all. Notes -were made by him with closed eyes, and afterwards deciphered and read to -him till he had mastered them. For the first half-year the rate of -composition averaged about six lines a day. The portion of the book thus -composed was afterwards partially rewritten. - -"His health improved under the process, and the remainder of the -volume--in other words, nearly the whole of it--was composed in Boston, -while pacing in the twilight of a large garret, the only exercise which -the sensitive condition of his sight permitted him in an unclouded day -while the sun was above the horizon. It was afterwards written down from -dictation by relatives under the same roof, to whom he was also indebted -for the preparatory readings. His progress was much less tedious than at -the outset, and the history was complete in about two years and a half." - -The book composed under such formidable difficulties was published in -1851. It did not at once meet with the reception which it deserved. The -reading public did not expect to find entertainment in American history. -In the New England of those days the general reader had heard a good -deal about the Pilgrim Fathers and Salem Witchcraft, and remembered -hazily the stories of Hannah Dustin and of Putnam and the wolf, but -could not be counted on for much else before the Revolution. I remember -once hearing it said that the story of the "Old French War" was -something of no more interest or value for Americans of to-day than the -cuneiform records of an insurrection in ancient Nineveh; and so slow are -people in gaining a correct historical perspective that within the last -ten years the mighty world struggle in which Pitt and Frederick were -allied is treated in a book entitled "Minor Wars of the United States"! -In 1851 the soil was not yet ready for the seed sown by Parkman, and he -did not quickly or suddenly become popular. But after the publication of -the "Pioneers of France" in 1865 his fame grew rapidly. In those days I -took especial pleasure in praising his books, from the feeling that they -were not so generally known as they ought to be, particularly in -England, where he has since come to be recognized as foremost among -American writers of history. In 1879 I had been giving a course of -lectures at University College, London, on "America's Place in History," -and shortly afterwards repeated this course at the little Hawthorne -Hall, on Park Street, in Boston. One evening, having occasion to allude -briefly to Pontiac and his conspiracy, I said, among other things, that -it was memorable as "the theme of one of the most brilliant and -fascinating books that have ever been written by any historian since the -days of Herodotus." The words were scarcely out of my mouth when I -happened to catch sight of Mr. Parkman in my audience. I had not -observed him before, though he was seated quite near me. I shall never -forget the sudden start which he gave, and the heightened colour of his -noble face, with its curious look of surprise and pleasure,--an -expression as honest and simple as one might witness in a rather shy -schoolboy suddenly singled out for praise. I was so glad that I had said -what I did without thinking of his hearing me. - -In May, 1850, while at work upon this great book, Mr. Parkman married -Catherine, daughter of Jacob Bigelow, an eminent physician of Boston. Of -this marriage there were three children,--a son, who died while an -infant, and two daughters, who still survive. Mrs. Parkman died in 1858, -and her husband never married again. - -During these years, when his complicated ailments for a time made -historical work impossible even to this man of Titanic will, he assuaged -his cravings for spiritual creation by writing a novel, "Vassall -Morton." Of his books it is the only one that I have never seen, and I -can speak of it only from hearsay. It is said to be not without signal -merits, but it did not find a great many readers, and its author seems -not to have cared much for it. The main current of his interest in life -was too strong to allow of much diversion into side channels. - -"Meanwhile," to cite his own words, "the Faculty of Medicine were not -idle, displaying that exuberance of resource for which that remarkable -profession is justly famed. The wisest, indeed, did nothing, commending -his patient to time and faith; but the activity of his brethren made -full amends for this masterly inaction. One was for tonics, another for -a diet of milk; one counselled galvanism, another hydropathy; one -scarred him behind the neck with nitric acid, another drew red-hot irons -along his spine with a view of enlivening that organ. Opinion was -divergent as practice. One assured him of recovery in six years; another -thought that he would never recover. Another, with grave circumlocution, -lest the patient should take fright, informed him that he was the victim -of an organic disease of the brain which must needs dispatch him to -another world within a twelvemonth; and he stood amazed at the smile of -an auditor who neither cared for the announcement nor believed it. -Another, an eminent physiologist of Paris, after an acquaintance of -three months, one day told him that from the nature of the disorder he -had at first supposed that it must, in accordance with precedent, be -attended with insanity, and had ever since been studying him to discover -under what form the supposed aberration declared itself; adding, with a -somewhat humorous look, that his researches had not been rewarded with -the smallest success." - -Soon after his marriage Mr. Parkman became possessor of a small estate -of three acres or so in Jamaica Plain, on the steep shore of the -beautiful pond. It was a charming place, thoroughly English in its -homelike simplicity and refined comfort. The house stood near the -entrance, and on not far from the same level as the roadway; but from -the side and rear the ground fell off rapidly, so that it was quite a -sharp descent to the pretty little wharf or dock, where one might sit -and gaze on the placid, dreamy water. It is with that lovely home that -Parkman is chiefly associated in my mind. Twenty years ago, while I was -acting as librarian at Harvard University, he was a member of the -corporation, and I had frequent occasion to consult with him on matters -of business. At such times I would drive over from Cambridge or take a -street car to Jamaica Plain, sure of a cordial greeting and a pleasant -chat, in which business always received its full measure of justice, and -was then thrust aside for more inspiring themes. The memory of one day -in particular will go with me through life,--an enchanted day in the -season of apple blossoms, when I went in the morning for a brief -errand, taking with me one of my little sons. The brief errand ended in -spending the whole day and staying until late in the evening, while the -world of thought was ransacked and some of its weightiest questions -provisionally settled! Nor was either greenhouse or garden or pond -neglected. At such times there was nothing in Parkman's looks or manner -to suggest the invalid. He and I were members of a small club of a dozen -or more congenial spirits who now for nearly thirty years have met once -a month to dine together. When he came to the dinner he was always one -of the most charming companions at the table; but ill health often -prevented his coming, and in the latter years of his life he never came. -I knew nothing of the serious nature of his troubles; and when I heard -the cause of his absence alleged, I used to suppose that it was merely -some need for taking care of digestion or avoiding late hours that kept -him at home. What most impressed one, in talking with him, was the -combination of power and alertness with extreme gentleness. Nervous -irritability was the last thing of which I should have suspected him. He -never made the slightest allusion to his ill health; he would probably -have deemed it inconsistent with good breeding to intrude upon his -friends with such topics; and his appearance as always most cheerful. -His friend (our common friend), the late Octavius Frothingham, says of -him: "Again and again he had to restrain the impulse to say vehement -things, or to do violent deeds without the least provocation; but he -maintained so absolutely his moral self-control that none but the -closest observer would notice any deviation from the most perfect calm -and serenity." I can testify that until after Mr. Parkman's death I had -never dreamed of the existence of any such deviation. - -Garden and greenhouse formed a very important part of the home by -Jamaica Pond. Mr. Parkman's love for Nature was in no way more -conspicuously shown than in his diligence and skill in cultivating -flowers. It is often observed that plants will grow for some persons, -but not for others; one man's conservatory will be heavy with verdure, -gorgeous in its colours, and redolent of sweet odours, while his -neighbour's can show nothing but a forlorn assemblage of pots and -sticks. The difference is due to the loving care which learns and -humours the idiosyncrasies of each individual thing that grows, the keen -observation of the naturalist supplemented by the watchful solicitude of -the nurse. Among the indications of rare love and knowledge of Nature -is marked success in inducing her to bring forth her most exquisite -creations, the flowers. As an expert in horticulture Parkman achieved -celebrity. His garden and greenhouse had extraordinary things to show. -As he pointed out to me on my first visit to them, he followed Darwinian -methods and originated new varieties of plants. The _Lilium Parkmani_ -has long been famous among florists. He was also eminent in the culture -of roses, and author of a work entitled "The Book of Roses," which was -published in 1866. He was President of the Horticultural Society, and at -one time Professor of Horticulture in Harvard University. There can be -no doubt as to the beneficial effects of these pursuits. It is wholesome -to be out of doors with spade and trowel and sprinkler; there is -something tonic in the aroma of fresh damp loam; and nothing is more -restful to the soul than daily sympathetic intercourse with flowering -plants. It was surely here that Parkman found his best medicine. - -When he entered, in 1851, upon his great work on "France and England in -the New World," he had before him the task "of tracing out, collecting, -indexing, arranging, and digesting a great mass of incongruous material -scattered on both sides of the Atlantic." A considerable portion of -this material was in manuscript, and involved much tedious exploration -and the employment of trained copyists. It was necessary to study -carefully the catalogues of many European libraries, and to open -correspondence with such scholars and public officials in both -hemispheres as might be able to point to the whereabouts of fresh -sources of information. Work of this sort, as one bit of clue leads to -another, is capable of arousing the emotion of pursuit to a very high -degree; and I believe the effect of it upon Parkman's health must have -been good, in spite of, or rather because of, its difficulties. The -chase was carried on until his manuscript treasures had been brought to -an extraordinary degree of completeness. These made his library quite -remarkable. In printed books it was far less rich. He had not the tastes -of a bibliophile, and did not feel it necessary, as Freeman did, to own -all the books he used. His library of printed books, which at his death -went to Harvard University, was a very small one for a scholar,--about -twenty-five hundred volumes, including more or less of Greek and Latin -literature and theology inherited from his father. His manuscripts, as I -have already mentioned, went to the library of the Massachusetts -Historical Society. - -When the manuscripts had come into his hands, an arduous labour was -begun. All had to be read to him and taken in slowly, bit by bit. The -incapacity to keep steadily at work made it impossible to employ regular -assistants profitably; and for readers he either depended upon members -of his own family or called in pupils from the public schools. Once he -speaks of having had a well-trained young man, who was an excellent -linguist; on another occasion it was a schoolgirl "ignorant of any -tongue but her own," and "the effect, though highly amusing to -bystanders, was far from being so to the person endeavouring to follow -the meaning of this singular jargon." The larger part of the documents -used in preparing the earlier volumes were in seventeenth-century -French, which, though far from being Old French, is enough unlike the -nineteenth-century speech to have troubled Parkman's readers, and thus -to have worried his ears. - -As Frothingham describes his method, when the manuscripts were slowly -read to him, "first the chief points were considered, then the details -of the story were gone over carefully and minutely. As the reading went -on he made notes, first of essential matters, then of non-essential. -After this he welded everything together, made the narrative completely -his own, infused into it his own fire, quickened it by his own -imagination, and made it, as it were, a living experience, so that his -books read like personal reminiscences. It was certainly a slow and -painful process, but the result more than justified the labour." - -In the fragment of autobiography already quoted, which Mr. Parkman left -with Dr. Ellis in 1868, but which was apparently written in 1865, he -says: "One year, four years, and numerous short intervals lasting from a -day to a month represent the literary interruptions since the work in -hand was begun. Under the most favourable conditions it was a slow and -doubtful navigation, beset with reefs and breakers, demanding a constant -lookout and a constant throwing of the lead. Of late years, however, the -condition of the sight has so far improved as to permit reading, not -exceeding on the average five minutes at one time. This modicum of -power, though apparently trifling, proves of the greatest service, since -by a cautious management its application may be extended. By reading for -one minute, and then resting for an equal time, this alternate process -may generally be continued for about half an hour. Then after a -sufficient interval it may be repeated, often three or four times in the -course of the day. By this means nearly the whole of the volume now -offered ["Pioneers"] has been composed.... How far, by a process -combining the slowness of the tortoise with the uncertainty of the hare, -an undertaking of close and extended research can be advanced, is a -question to solve which there is no aid from precedent, since it does -not appear that an attempt under similar circumstances has hitherto been -made. The writer looks, however, for a fair degree of success." - -After 1865 the progress was certainly much more rapid than before. The -next fourteen years witnessed the publication of "The Jesuits," "La -Salle," "The Old Régime," and "Frontenac," and saw "Montcalm and Wolfe" -well under way; while the "Half-Century of Conflict," intervening -between "Frontenac" and "Montcalm and Wolfe," was reserved until the -last-mentioned work should be done, for the same reason that led Herbert -Spencer to postpone the completing of his "Sociology" until he should -have finished his "Principles of Ethics." In view of life's -vicissitudes, it was prudent to make sure of the crowning work, at all -events leaving some connecting links to be inserted afterwards. As one -obstacle after another was surmounted, as one grand division of the work -after another became an accomplished fact, the effect upon Parkman's -condition must have been bracing, and he seems to have acquired fresh -impetus as he approached the goal. - -For desultory work in the shape of magazine articles he had little -leisure; but two essays of his, on "The Failure of Universal Suffrage" -and on "The Reasons against Woman Suffrage," are very thoughtful, and -worthy of serious consideration. In questions of political philosophy, -his conclusions, which were reached from a very wide and impartial -survey of essential facts, always seemed to me of the highest value. - -When I look back upon Parkman's noble life, I think of Mendelssohn's -chorus, "He that shall endure to the end," with its chaste and severely -beautiful melody, and the calm, invincible faith which it expresses. -After all the harrowing years of doubt and distress, the victory was -such in its magnitude as has been granted to but few mortals to win. He -lived to see his life's work done; the thought of his eighteenth year -was realized in his sixty-ninth; and its greatness had come to be -admitted throughout the civilized world. In September, 1893, his -seventieth year was completed, and his autumn in the lovely home at -Jamaica Plain was a pleasant one. On the first Sunday afternoon in -November he rowed on the pond in his boat, but felt ill as he returned -to the house, and on the next Wednesday, the 8th, he passed quietly -away. Thus he departed from a world which will evermore be the richer -and better for having once had him as its denizen. The memory of a life -so strong and beautiful is a precious possession for us all. - -As for the book on which he laboured with such marvellous heroism, a -word may be said in conclusion. Great in his natural powers and great in -the use he made of them, Parkman was no less great in his occasion and -in his theme. Of all American historians he is the most deeply and -peculiarly American, yet he is at the same time the broadest and most -cosmopolitan. The book which depicts at once the social life of the -Stone Age, and the victory of the English political ideal over the ideal -which France inherited from imperial Rome, is a book for all mankind and -for all time. The more adequately men's historic perspective gets -adjusted, the greater will it seem. Strong in its individuality, and -like to nothing else, it clearly belongs, I think, among the world's few -masterpieces of the highest rank, along with the works of Herodotus, -Thucydides, and Gibbon. - -_February, 1897._ - - - - -IX - -EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN - - -The sudden death of Professor Freeman, last March [1892], was a great -calamity to the world of letters. Although his achievements in the field -of historical writing had been so varied and voluminous, yet some of his -most important themes--some of those which had been slowly ripening and -most richly developed in his mind--were still awaiting literary -treatment at his hands, and at the time of his death he had just -finished the third volume of a colossal work which was still in its -earlier stages. His end was premature, and it is with a keen sense of -bereavement that we take this occasion to pay a brief word of tribute to -so dear and honoured a teacher. - -Edward Augustus Freeman, son of John Freeman of Redmore Hall, in -Worcestershire, was born at Harborne, Staffordshire, August 2, 1823. His -life was always purely that of a scholar and teacher, and a chronicle of -its events would consist chiefly of the record of books published and -offices held at the University of Oxford. He was graduated at Trinity -College in 1845, and remained there as a Fellow until 1847. In 1857, -1863, and 1873 he served as Examiner in Modern History. In 1880 he was -chosen honorary Fellow of Trinity, and in 1884 Fellow of Oriel. In the -latter year he was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History, -succeeding Bishop Stubbs in that position. It is not necessary to -enumerate the honorary degrees which he received from Oxford and -Cambridge, and from universities in various European countries. At the -time of his death he was a member of learned societies in nearly all -parts of the world. For many years he had been a Knight Commander of the -Greek Order of the Saviour. He had also received honours of knighthood -from Servia and Montenegro. In 1868 he was a candidate for Parliament, -but failed of election; and that seems to have been his sole venture in -the world of politics. His travels upon the continent of Europe were -many and extensive. When at home he lived in rural seclusion,--"far from -the madding crowd,"--upon his estate at Somerleaze, near Wells and its -noble cathedral; only in these latter years he made a home for himself, -during the Oxford terms, at St. Giles in that city. - -From the very beginning Freeman's historical studies were characterized -on the one hand by philosophical breadth of view, and on the other hand -by extreme accuracy of statement, and such loving minuteness of detail -as is apt to mark the local antiquary whose life has been spent in -studying only one thing. It was to the combination of these two -characteristics that the preëminent greatness of his historical work was -due. We see the combination already prefigured, and to some extent -realized, in his first book, "A History of Architecture," published in -1849, although this can hardly be called such a work of original -research as the books of his maturer years. Two years afterward appeared -the learned "Essay on the Origin and Development of Window Tracery in -England," a work which I do not feel able to criticise, but which I am -sure is very charming to read. I believe that this book was followed by -at least three others in the same department, "Architectural Antiquities -of Gower," "The Antiquities of St. David's," and "The Architecture of -Llandaff Cathedral," but I have never seen them. In the preface to the -essay on window tracery Mr. Freeman alludes to Rev. G. W. Cox as his -"friend and coadjutor in many undertakings," and I have heard of a -volume of poems "by G. W. C. and E. A. F." published in those days, but -I know no more about it. It is to be hoped that these early works, -which have become very scarce, will before long be collected and -reprinted. - -When, after these publications on architecture, Freeman began publishing -books and articles on ancient Greece and on the Saracens, I presume -there were many of his readers who thoughtlessly assumed that he had -changed his vocation; he must more than once have had to answer the -stupid question why he had gone over from architecture to history. But -in his mind the evolution of architecture was never separated from the -course of political history; and the effect of these early studies in -architecture, which were indeed never abandoned, but kept up with -enthusiasm in later years, was to give increased definiteness and -concreteness to his presentation of historical events. When I use such a -word as "evolution" in this connection, I do not mean that Mr. Freeman -was in any sense a "disciple" of the modern evolution philosophy. There -is nothing to show that he ever gave any time or attention to the study -of that subject, or that he had any technical knowledge even of its -terminology. Whether consciously or unconsciously, however, he was an -evolutionist in spirit. From the outset he was deeply impressed with the -solidarity of human history, and no student of political development in -our time has made more effective use of the comparative method. - -From 1850 to 1863 Freeman's published writings were chiefly concerned -with Mediterranean history viewed on the broadest scale in relation to -all those movements of progressive humanity which have had that great -inland sea for a common centre. Here came those brilliant essays on -"Ancient Greece and Mediæval Italy," "Homer and the Homeric Age," "The -Athenian Democracy," "Alexander the Great," "Greece during the -Macedonian Period," "Mommsen's History of Rome," "The Flavian Cæsars," -and others since collected in the second series of his "Historical -Essays." To this period also belongs the little book on the "History of -the Saracens," based upon lectures given at the Philosophical -Institution in Edinburgh. - -From these Mediterranean studies may be said to have grown two of -Freeman's three great works,--both of them, unfortunately, left -incomplete at his death,--the "History of Federal Government" and the -"History of Sicily." Freeman was remarkably free from the common -habit--common even among eminent historians--of concentrating his -attention upon some exceptionally brilliant period or so-called -"classical age," to the exclusion of other ages that went before and -came after. Such a habit is fatal to all correct understanding of -history, even that of the ages upon which attention is thus unwisely -concentrated. Freeman understood that in some respects, if not in -others, the history of Greece is just as important after the battle of -Chæronea as before; and he became especially interested in the history -of the Achaian League and other Greek attempts at federation. Thence -grew the idea of studying the development of federal union as the -highest form of nation-building, beginning with its germs in the leagues -among Greek autonomous cities. The enterprise was arduous, involving as -it did the determination of obscure points in the history of many ages -and countries, more particularly Greece, Switzerland, and America. The -first volume, containing the general introduction and the history of the -Greek federations, was published in 1863, a stalwart octavo of 721 -pages. It bore upon the title-page a motto from "The Federalist," No. -XVIII.,--"Could the interior structure and regular operation of the -Achaian League be ascertained, it is probable that more light might be -thrown by it on the science of federal government than by any of the -like experiments with which we are acquainted." This book is of -priceless value, and if Freeman had never published anything more, it -would have entitled him to a place in the foremost rank of historians. -It deals thoroughly with a very important portion of the world's -history to which no one before had even begun to do justice. Its -admirable philosophical spirit is matched by its keen critical insight -and its minute and exhaustive control of all sources of information. Its -narrative, moreover, is full of human interest. Yet it never became a -popular book. It was hard to make people believe that the Achaian League -could be interesting, and in order to realize the philosophical value of -the whole story most readers would need to have the later portions of it -set before their eyes. - -But this noble work, in some respects the grandest of the author's -conceptions, was never completed. The first volume was all that ever was -published. For this fact I have sometimes heard Americans offer a -grotesque explanation. The volume published in 1863, in the middle of -our Civil War, bore the title "History of Federal Government, from the -Foundation of the Achaian League to the Disruption of the United -States." This title gave offence in America. It was too hastily taken to -indicate that the author wished well to the Southern Confederacy, and -regarded its independence as an accomplished fact. There can be no doubt -that the title was ill chosen; but to suppose, as some people did, that -chagrin at the success of the Union arms prevented Freeman from going -on with his book was simply ridiculous. It was not anything that -happened in America, but something that happened in Europe, which caused -him to defer the completion of his second volume. That volume was to -deal with federal government as exemplified in Switzerland and otherwise -in Germany; and the war of 1866 between Prussia and Austria marked the -beginning of organic changes in Germany which Freeman was anxious to -watch for a while before finishing his book. - -He therefore turned aside and took up the third of his three great -works,--the only one that he lived to complete,--the "History of the -Norman Conquest of England, its Causes and its Results." Upon this -subject he had thought and studied for nearly twenty years, or ever -since the time when he was publishing works on architecture. As one -turns the leaves of these stout volumes, each of seven or eight hundred -pages, crowded with minute and accurate erudition, one marvels that the -author could carry along so many researches and of such exhaustive -character at the same time. Alike in Greek, in German, and in English -history, along with abundant generalizations, often highly original and -suggestive, we find investigations of obscure points in which every item -of evidence is weighed as in an apothecary's scale, and in all these -directions Freeman was working at once. When it came to publishing, -volume followed volume with surprising quickness. Turning aside in 1866 -from the second volume of the "Federal Government" when a large part of -it was already written, Freeman brought out the first volume of the -"Norman Conquest" in 1867, the second in 1868, the third in 1869, the -fourth in 1871, the fifth more leisurely in 1876. The proportions of -this work are eminently characteristic of the author's historical -perspective. In order to understand the Norman Conquest, a survey of all -previous English history, and especially of the struggle between -Englishmen and Danes, is essential; and the first volume carries us in -one great sweep from the landing of Hengist to the accession of Edward -the Confessor, while the early history of Normandy also receives due -attention. We now enter the region of proximate causes, which require -more detailed specification, and the second volume takes us through the -four-and-twenty years of Edward's reign. His death hurries the situation -to its dramatic climax, and the whole of the third volume is devoted to -the events of the single year 1066. The completion of the Conquest down -to the death of the Conqueror is treated with less detail, and the -twenty-one years are comprised within a volume. Finally, in summing up -the results of the great event, the last volume covers two centuries, -and leaves us in the reign of Edward I., the king who did so much to -make modern English history the glorious tale that it has been. In -finishing his work upon these proportions, Freeman encountered many -points in the reign of William Rufus that needed fuller treatment, and -so in 1882 he published in two volumes the history of that reign as a -sequel to the "Norman Conquest." Taken as a whole, the seven volumes -give us such a masterly philosophic analysis and such a picturesque and -vivid narrative of the history of England in the eleventh century that -it must be pronounced the monumental work upon which Freeman's -reputation will chiefly rest. - -While these volumes were in course of publication, there was scarcely a -year when its busy author, from his wealth of knowledge, did not bring -out some other book. Sometimes it was what men count a slight affair, -such as a textbook,--albeit the textbook is perhaps the hardest kind of -book to write well; sometimes it was a brief monograph or course of -lectures; sometimes a collection of earlier writings. There was an "Old -English History for Children" (1869), a "Short History of the Norman -Conquest" (1880), and a "General Sketch of European History" (1873). The -"Growth of the English Constitution" was suggestively treated in a small -volume (1872). There was a "History of the Cathedral Church at Wells" -(1870), and there was a collection of "Historical and Architectural -Sketches," chiefly from Italy (1876), followed by "Sketches from the -Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice" (1881). In these two last-named -volumes, illustrated chiefly from the author's own drawings, one sees -that his interest in Diocletian and Theodoric was scarcely less keen -than in Alfred of Wessex or William the Norman. No other modern -traveller has done such justice to Istria and Dalmatia. "I am not -joking," he writes, "when I say that the best guide to those parts is -still the account written by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus -more than nine hundred years back. But it is surely high time that there -should be another." Freeman's accurate knowledge of southeastern Europe -and its peoples, coupled with his wide and comprehensive study of the -contact between Christians and Mussulmans in all ages, led him to take -very sound and wholesome views of the unspeakable Turk and the -everlasting Eastern Question; and in 1877, when public attention was so -strongly directed toward the Balkans, he published a lucid and graphic -little volume on "The Ottoman Power in Europe." This book was a -companion to the "History of the Saracens," above mentioned, and the two -together make as good an introduction to Mussulman history in its -relations to Europe as the general reader is likely to find. - -Among the host of side works which were issued during these years, two -call for especial mention. In the lectures on "Comparative Politics," -given at the Royal Institution in 1873, Freeman analyzed and described -the different forms assumed by Aryan institutions among Greeks, Romans, -and Teutons. This book is his most distinct attempt to make his central -theme the career of an institution, such as kingship or representative -assemblies, rather than the career of a state or a people. In the -"History of Federal Government," the two kinds of treatment, analytical -and synthetical, were combined in a way that would, I think, have made -that his grandest work, had it been completed. In the lectures we get an -able analysis and comparison, full of fruitful suggestions, and in our -author's happiest style. There is not the originality of scholarship -here that we find in Sir Henry Maine, nor do we find the breadth of view -that can be gained only when the barbaric non-Aryan world is taken into -account. Such breadth was not to be expected twenty years ago, and -before the path-breaking work of the American scholar Lewis Morgan. -Freeman's outlook was confined to the Aryan domain; but he did not -attempt more than he knew. His task was conceived with so clear a -consciousness of his limitations, and every point was so richly -illustrated, that the "Comparative Politics" remains one of his most -useful and charming books. - -The other work calling for especial mention is "The Historical Geography -of Europe," published in 1880. Its object was "to trace out the extent -of territory which the different states and nations of Europe have held -at different times in the world's history; to mark the different -boundaries which the same country has had, and the different meanings in -which the same name has been used." Such work is of great and -fundamental importance, because men are perpetually making grotesque -mistakes through ignorance or forgetfulness of the changes which have -occurred on the map; as, for example, when somebody speaks of Lyons in -the twelfth century as a French city, or supposes that Charles the Bold -invaded Swiss territory. Historical writings fairly swarm with blunders -based upon unconscious errors of this sort, and nowhere did Freeman do -better service than in pointing them out on every possible occasion. No -writer has so effectively warned the historical student against that -besetting sin of "bondage to the modern map." His exposition of -historical geography is a book of purest gold, and no serious student of -history can safely neglect it. - -In 1881 Mr. Freeman visited the United States, and gave lectures on "The -English People in its Three Homes" and "The Practical Bearings of -European History," which were afterward published in a volume. After -returning home he published "Some Impressions of the United States" -(1883), a very entertaining book because of the author's ingrained habit -of comparing and discriminating social phenomena upon so wide a scale. -Gauls and Illyrians, Wessex and Achaia, come in to point each a moral, -and show how to this great historian the whole European past was almost -as much a present and living reality as the incidents occurring before -his eyes. - -In the same year, 1883, Freeman published his "English Towns and -Districts," a series of addresses and sketches in which he had from time -to time embodied the results of his antiquarian and architectural -studies in many parts of England and Wales. It is a book of rare -fascination as illustrating how largely national history is made up of -local history, and how it is impossible to understand the former -correctly without paying much attention to the latter. In further -illustration of the same point, Freeman projected the well-known series -of monographs on "Historic Towns," to which he himself contributed the -opening volume, on "Exeter" (1886). - -Having been called to the Regius Professorship at Oxford in 1884, -Freeman's next publications were university lectures on "Methods of -Historical Study," "The Chief Periods of European History," "Fifty Years -of European History," "Teutonic Conquest in Gaul and Britain," "Greater -Greece and Greater Britain," and "George Washington the Expander of -England" (1886-88). Meanwhile, the colossal work on "Sicily" was rapidly -assuming its final shape. This topic obviously touched upon Freeman's -other two chief topics at two points. Ancient Sicily was part of that -Greek world which he had so thoroughly studied in connection with the -beginnings of federal government. Mediæval Sicily was one of the most -important of the Norman's fields of activity. But the thought of writing -the history of that fateful island did not come to Freeman as an -afterthought suggested by his other two great works. On the contrary, -the conception of the historic position of Sicily was among the first -that stimulated his philosophic mind to undertake comprehensive studies. -The contact between the Aryan and Semitic civilizations along the coasts -of the Mediterranean is surely the most interesting topic in the history -of mankind, as the reader will at once admit when he reflects that it -involves the origin and rise of Christianity. But, restricting ourselves -to the political aspects of the subject, how full of dramatic grandeur -it is! How stirring were the scenes of which Sicily has been the -theatre! There struggled Carthage, first against Greek, and then against -Roman; and in later times the conflict was renewed between -Arabic-speaking Mussulmans and Greek-speaking Christians, until the -Norman came to assert his sway over both, and to loosen the clutch of -the Saracen upon the centre of the Mediterranean world. The theme, in -its manifold bearings, was worthy of Freeman, and he was worthy of it. -His design was to start with the earliest times in which Sicily is known -to history, and to carry on the narrative as far as the death of the -Emperor Frederick II. and the final overthrow of the Hohenstaufen -dynasty. The scheme lay ripening in his mind for nearly half a century, -and its consummation was begun with characteristic swiftness and vigour. -Two noble volumes were published in 1891, and the third was out of the -author's hands by the end of last January. But for a death most -lamentably sudden and premature there was no reason why the whole task -should not have been soon accomplished. The author seems to have fallen -a victim to his superabundant zeal and energy. He had always been a -traveller, visiting in person the scenes of his narratives, narrowly -scrutinizing each locality with the eye of an antiquarian, exploring -battlefields and making drawings of churches and castles, running from -one end of Europe to the other to verify some mooted point. It was, I -believe, on some such expedition as this that he found himself, last -March, at Alicante, where an attack of smallpox suddenly ended his life. - -To the faithful students of his works the tidings of Freeman's death -must have come like the news of the loss of a personal friend. To those -who enjoyed his friendship even in a slight way the sense of loss was -keen, for he was a very lovable man. Some people, indeed, seem to think -of him as a gruff and growling pedant, ever on the lookout for some -culprit to chastise; but, while not without some basis, this notion is -far from the truth. Freeman's conception of the duty of a historian was -a high one, and he lived up to it. He had a holy horror of slovenly and -inaccurate work; pretentious sciolism was something that he could not -endure, and he knew how easy it is to press garbled or misunderstood -history into the service of corrupt politics. He found the minds of -English-speaking contemporaries full of queer notions of European -history, especially as to the Middle Ages,--notions usually misty and -often grotesquely wrong; and he did more than any other Englishman of -our time to correct such errors and clear up men's minds. Such work -could not be done without attacking blunders and the propagators of -blunders. Freeman's assaults were not infrequent, and they were apt to -be crushing; but they were made in the interests of historic truth, and -there were none too many of them. Like "Mr. F.'s Aunt," the great -historian did "hate a fool;" and it is clearly right that fools should -be silenced and made to know their place. - -Not only foolishness and inaccuracy did Freeman hate, but also tyranny, -fraud, and social injustice, under whatever specious disguises they -might be veiled. In matters of right and wrong his perceptions were -rather clouded. He never could be duped into admiring a charlatan like -the late Emperor of the French. Upon the Eastern Question he wielded a -Varangian axe, and had his advice been heeded, the Commander of the -Faithful would ere now have been sent back to Brusa, or beyond. But -while in politics and in criticism he could hit hard, his disposition -was as tender and humane as Uncle Toby's. Eminently characteristic is -the discussion on fox-hunting which he carried on with Anthony Trollope -some years ago in the "Fortnightly Review," in which he condemned that -time-honoured sport as intolerably cruel. - -Mr. Freeman was very domestic in his habits. When not travelling, he was -to be found in his country home, writing in his own library. When he was -in the United States, it amused him to see people's surprise when told -that he did not live in a city, and did not spend his time deciphering -musty manuscripts in public libraries or archives. He used to say that, -even in point of economy, he thought it better to dwell among pleasant -green fields and to consult one's own books than to take long journeys -or be stifled in dirty cities in order to consult other people's book. -His chief subjects of study favoured such a policy, for most of the -sources of information on the eleventh century, as well as upon ancient -Greece, are contained in printed volumes. Now and then he missed some -little point upon which a manuscript might have helped him. But one -cannot help wishing he might have stayed among the quiet fields of -Somerset instead of taking that last fatal journey to Alicante. - -It was chiefly with the political aspects of history that Freeman -concerned himself; not in the old-fashioned way, as a mere narrative of -the deeds of kings and cabinets, but in scientific fashion, as an -application of the comparative method to the various processes of -nation-building. I do not mean that his narrative was subordinated to -scientific exposition, but that it was informed and vitalized by the -spirit and methods of science. In pure description Freeman was often -excellent; his account of the death of William Rufus, for example, is a -masterpiece of impressive narrative. In description and in argument -alike Freeman usually confined his attention to political history, -except when he dealt in his suggestive way with architecture and -archæology. To art in general, to the history of philosophy and of -scientific ideas, to the development of literary expression, of manners -and customs, of trade and the industrial arts, he devoted much less -thought. I believe he did not fully approve of his friend Green's method -of carrying along political, social, and literary topics abreast in his -"History of the English People." Few will doubt, however, that in this -respect Green's artistic grasp upon his subject was stronger than -Freeman's. - -It is some slight consolation for our bitter loss to know that many of -the great historian's books were in large part written long before he -felt the time to be ripe for completing and publishing them. Some of the -unfinished portions may be brought toward completeness and edited by -other hands. In this way I hope we may look for one or two more volumes -of the "Sicily," and perhaps for the second volume of the "Federal -Government," dealing with the Swiss and other German federations. -Probably no other Englishman, and few other men anywhere in our time, -knew anything like so much as Freeman about the history of Switzerland. -I once or twice begged him to make haste and finish that volume, but -desisted; for it was evident that "Sicily" was absorbing him, and an -author does not like to be pestered with advice to turn aside from the -work that is uppermost in his mind. - -_November, 1892._ - - - - -X - -CAMBRIDGE AS VILLAGE AND CITY[27] - - -We have met together this evening on one of those occasions, which keep -recurring, for communities as well as for individuals, when it is -desirable to take a retrospect of the past, to call attention to some of -the characteristic incidents in our history, to sum up the work we have -done and estimate the position we occupy in the world. As long as we -retain the decimal numeration that is natural to ten-fingered creatures, -we shall encounter such moments at intervals of half centuries and -centuries, and happy are the communities that can meet them without -shameful memories that shun the light of history; happy are the people -that can look back upon the work of their fathers and in their heart of -hearts pronounce it good! What a blot it was upon the civic fame of -every Greek community that took part in putting out the brightest light -of Hellas in the wicked Peloponnesian War! Can any right-minded Venetian -look without blushing at the bronze horses that surmount the stately -portal of St. Mark's?--a perpetual memento of that black day when -ravening commercial jealousy decoyed an army of Crusaders to the -despoiling of the chief city of Christendom, and thus broke away the -strongest barrier in the path of the advancing Turk! What must the -citizen of Paris think to-day of cowardly massacres of unresisting -prisoners, such as happened in 1418 and in 1792? Is there any dweller in -Birmingham who would not gladly expunge from the past that summer -evening which witnessed the burning of the house and library of Dr. -Priestley? From such melancholy scenes, and from complicity in political -crime, our community, our neighbourhood, has been notably free. The -annals of Massachusetts, during its existence of nearly three centuries, -are written in a light that is sometimes dull or sombre, but very seldom -lurid. In particular the career of Cambridge has been a placid one. We -do not find in it many things to startle us; but there is much that we -can approve, much upon which, without falling into the self-satisfied -mood that is the surest index of narrowness and provincialism, we may -legitimately pride ourselves. In commemorating the fiftieth anniversary -of the incorporation of Cambridge as a city, a retrospect of the half -century is needful; but we shall find it pleasant to go farther back, -and start with a glimpse of the beginnings of our town. - -I came near saying "humble beginnings;" it is a stock phrase, and -perhaps savours of tautology, since beginnings are apt to be humble as -compared with long-matured results. But an adjective which better suits -the beginnings of our Cambridge is "dignified." Circumstances of dignity -attended the selection of this spot upon the bank of Charles River as -the site of a town, and there was something peculiarly dignified in the -circumstances of the change of vocation which determined the change in -its name. The story is a very different one from that of the founding of -towns in the Old World, in the semi-barbarous times when the art of -nation-making was in its infancy. In those earlier ages, it was only -through prolonged warfare against enemies nearly equal in prowess and -resources that a free political life could be maintained; and it was -only after numberless crude experiments that nations could be formed in -which political rights could be efficiently preserved for the people. -All the training that such long ages of turbulence could impart had been -gained by our forefathers in the Old World. To the founders of our -Cambridge it had come as a rich inheritance. They were not as the rough -followers of Alaric or Hengist. They had profited by the work of Roman -civilization, with its vast and subtle nexus of legal and political -ideas. In the hands of their fathers had been woven the wonderful fabric -of English law; they were familiar with parliamentary institutions; they -had been brought up in a country where the king's peace was better -preserved than anywhere else in Europe, and where at the same time -self-government was maintained in full vigour. They had profited, -moreover, by the scholastic learning of the Middle Ages and the Greek -scholarship of the Renaissance; nor was the newly awakening spirit of -scientific inquiry, visible in Galileo and Gilbert, lost upon their keen -and inquisitive minds. These Puritans, heirs to what was strongest and -best in the world's culture, came to Massachusetts Bay in order to put -into practice a theory of civil government in which the interests both -of liberty and of godliness seemed to them likely to be best subserved. -They came to plant the most advance civilization in the midst of a -heathen wilderness, and thus the selection of a seat of government for -the new commonwealth was an affair of dignity and importance. - -Half a dozen towns, including Boston, had already been begun, when it -was decided that a site upon the bank of Charles River, three or four -miles inland, would be most favourable for the capital of the Puritan -colony. It would be somewhat more defensible against a fleet than the -peninsulas of Boston and Charlestown. The warships to be dreaded at that -moment were not so much those of any foreign power as those of King -Charles himself; for none could tell that the grim clouds of civil war -then lowering upon the horizon of England and Scotland might not also -darken the coast of Massachusetts Bay. When the site was selected, on -the 28th of December, 1630, it was agreed that the governor, deputy -governor, and all the Court of Assistants (except Endicott, already -settled at Salem) should build their houses here. Fortunately no name -was bestowed upon the new town. It was known simply as the New Town, and -here in the years before 1638 the General Court was several times -assembled. During those seven years the number of Puritans in New -England increased from about 1500 to nearly 20,000. It was also clear -that the King's troubles at home were likely to keep him from molesting -Massachusetts. With the increased feeling of security, Boston came to be -preferred as the seat of government, and only two of its members ever -fulfilled the agreement to build their houses in the New Town. - -The building of the New Town, however, furnished the occasion for -determining at the outset what kind of government the Puritan -commonwealth should have. It was to be a walled town, for defence -against frontier barbarism of the New World type; not the formidable -destructive power of an Attila or a Bayazet, but the feeble barbarism of -the red men and the Stone Age, so that a wall of masonry was not -required, but a wooden palisade would do. In 1632 the Court of -Assistants imposed a tax of £60 for the purpose of building this -palisade; but the men of Watertown refused to pay their share, on the -ground that they were not represented in the taxing body. The ensuing -discussion resulted in the establishment of a House of Deputies, in -which every town was represented. Henceforth the Court of Assistants -together with the House of Deputies formed the General Court. There was -no authority for such a representative body in the charter, which vested -the government in the Court of Assistants; but, as Hutchinson tells us, -the people assumed that the right to such representation was implied in -that clause of the charter which reserved to them the natural rights of -Englishmen. Thus the building of a wooden palisade from Ash Street to -Jarvis Field furnished the occasion for the first distinct assertion in -the New World of the principles that were to bear fruit in the -independence of the United States. - -But the most interesting event in the history of the New Town before it -became Cambridge was the brief sojourn of the Rev. Thomas Hooker and his -company, from Braintree in England. In popular generalizations it is -customary to allude to our Puritan forefathers as if they were all alike -in their ways of thinking, whereas in reality it would be difficult to -point out any group of men and women among whom individualism has more -strongly flourished. Among the numberless differences of opinion and -policy, it was only a few--and mostly such as were related to vital -political questions--that blazed up in acts of persecution. For the -disorganization wrought by Mrs. Hutchinson swift banishment seemed the -only available remedy; but slighter differences could be healed by a -peaceful secession, which some people deprecated as the "removal of a -candlestick." Such a secession was that of Hooker and his friends. The -difference between Hooker's ideal of government and Winthrop's has come -to be recognized as in some measure foreshadowing the different -conceptions of Jefferson and Hamilton in later days. But of controversy -between the two eminent Puritans only slight traces are left. One act of -omission on the part of the friendly seceders is more forcible than -reams of argument: the founders of Connecticut did not see fit to limit -the suffrage by the qualification of church membership. - -The removal of so many people to the banks of the Connecticut left in -the New Town only eleven families of those who had settled here before -1635. But depopulation was prevented by the arrival of a new -congregation from England. There stands on our common a monument in -commemoration of John Bridge, who was for many years a selectman of -Cambridge, and dwelt beyond the western limits of the town, on or near -the site since famous as the headquarters of Washington and the home of -Longfellow. This John Bridge, deacon of the First Church, was one of the -earliest settlers of the New Town, and one of the eleven householders -that stayed behind, a connecting link between the old congregation of -Thomas Hooker and the new congregation of Thomas Shepard. The coming of -this eminent divine was undoubtedly an event of cardinal importance in -the history of our community, for in the Hutchinson controversy, which -shook the little colony to its foundations, his zeal and vigilance in -exposing heresy were conspicuously shown; and, if we may believe Cotton -Mather, it was this circumstance that led to the selection of the New -Town as the site for the projected college. It was well for students of -divinity to sit under the preaching of such a man, and of such as he -might train up to succeed him. How vain were all such hopes of keeping -this New English Canaan free from heresy was shown when Henry Dunster, -first president of the college, was censured by the magistrates and -dismissed from office for disapproving of infant baptism! - -In the great English universities at that time Royalism and Episcopacy -prevailed at Oxford, while Puritanism more or less allied with -Republicanism was rife at Cambridge. Ever since the fourteenth century a -superior flexibility in opinion had been observable in the eastern -counties, whence came so many of the people that founded New England. -Not only Hooker and Shepard, but most of our clergy, among whom -individualism was so rife, were graduates of Cambridge. When it was -decided that the New Town was to be the home of our college, it was -natural for people to fall into the habit of calling it Cambridge; and -this name, so long enshrined already in their affections, already made -illustrious by Erasmus and Fisher, by Latimer and Cranmer, by Burghley -and Walsingham and the two Bacons, by Edmund Spenser and Ben -Jonson,--this name of such fame and dignity was adopted in 1638 by an -order of the General Court. The map of the United States abounds in town -names taken at random from the Old World, often inappropriate and -sometimes ludicrous from the incongruity of associations. The name of -our city is connected by a legitimate bond of inheritance with that of -the beautiful city on the Cam. It was given in the thought that the work -for scholarship, for godliness, and for freedom, which had so long been -carried on in the older city, was to be continued in the younger. The -name thus given was a pledge to posterity, and it has been worthily -fulfilled. - -Into the history of the town of Cambridge during the two centuries after -it received its name I do not propose to enter. But a glimpse of its -general appearance during the greater part of that period is needful, in -order to give precision and the right sort of emphasis to the contrast -which we see before us to-day. The Cambridge of those days was simply -the seat of the college, not yet developed into a university. Within the -memory of persons now living, Old Cambridge was commonly alluded to as -"the village." In the original laying out of the township we seem to -see a reminiscence of the ancient threefold partition into town mark, -arable mark, and common. The "east gate," near the corner of Harvard and -Linden streets, and the "west gate," at the corner of Ash and Brattle, -marked the limits of the town in those directions. The town was at first -comprised between Harvard Street and the marshes which cut off approach -to the river bank. Afterward, the "West End," from Harvard Square to -Sparks Street, was gradually covered with homesteads. The common began, -as now, hard by God's Acre, the venerable burying ground, and afforded -pasturage for the village cattle as far as Linnæan Street. The regions -now occupied by Cambridgeport and East Cambridge contained the arable -district with many farms, small and large, but everywhere salt marshes -bordered the river, and much of the country was a wild woodland. The -tale of wolves killed in Cambridge for the year 1696 was seventy-six, -and a bear was seen roaming as late as 1754. It was a rough country -which the British first encountered when they landed at Lechmere Point -in 1775, on their night march to Lexington. Cambridge then turned its -back toward Boston, to which the only approach was by a causeway and -bridge at what we now call Boylston Street, and by this route the -distance was eight miles, as we still read upon the ancient milestone in -God's Acre. To complete our outline of the village, we must recall the -principal public buildings. The meetinghouse, a little south of the site -of Dane Hall, was used both as church and as townhouse until 1708, when -a building was erected in the middle of Harvard Square to serve for town -meetings and courts. A little eastward, near the "east gate," stood the -parsonage. The schoolhouse was behind the site of Holyoke House. The -jail stood on then west side of Winthrop Square, which was then an open -market. Between this market and Harvard Square, in the sanded parlour of -the Blue Anchor Tavern, then selectmen held their meetings; and on the -corner of the street which still bears the name of Harvard's first -president was something rarely to be seen in so small a village, the -printing press now known as the University Press, established in -1639,--the only one in English America until Boston followed the example -in 1676. - -Until the beginning of the present century these outlines of Cambridge -remained with but little change, save for the building of noble houses -on spacious estates toward Mount Auburn in one direction, and upon Dana -Hill in the other. The occupants of many of these estates were members -of the Church of England, and the building of Christ Church in 1759 was -one marked symptom of the change that was creeping over the little -Puritan community. It was a change toward somewhat wider views of life, -and toward the softening of old animosities. In contrast with the age in -which we live the whole eighteenth century in New England seems a slow -and quiet time, when the public pulse beat more languidly, or at any -rate less feverishly, than now. The people of New England led a -comparatively isolated life. - -Thought in our college town did not keep pace with European centres of -thought, as it does in our day. There was less hospitality toward -foreign ideas. Few people visited Europe. Life in New England was thrown -upon its own resources, and this was in great measure true of Cambridge -in the days when it was eight miles from Boston, and indefinitely remote -from the mother country. One of the surest results of social isolation -is the acquirement of peculiarities of speech, often shown in the -retaining of archaisms which fashionable language had dropped. That -quaint Yankee dialect, of which Hosea Biglow says that, - - "For puttin' in a downright lick - 'Twixt Humbug's eyes, ther's few can metch it, - An' then it helves my thoughts ez slick - Ez stret-grained hickory doos a hetchet,"-- - -that dialect so sweet to the ears of every true child of New England may -still be heard, if we go to seek it; but in Lowell's boyhood it must -have been a familiar sound in the neighbourhood of Elmwood. - -But the work done in this rustic college community, if done within -somewhat narrow horizons, was eminently a widening and liberalizing -work. The seeds of the nineteenth century were germinating in the -eighteenth. Two or three indications must suffice, out of many that -might be cited. In 1669 there was a schism in the First Parish of -Boston, brought about by an attempt to revise the conditions of church -membership, in order to obviate some of the difficulties arising from -the restriction of the suffrage to church members, and the founding of -the Old South Church by the more liberal party was a result of this -schism. One hundred and sixty years later, in 1829, there was a schism -in the First Parish of Cambridge, which resulted in the founding of the -Shepard Church by the more conservative party. The questions at issue -between the two parties were the questions that divide Unitarian -theology from Trinitarian, and the distance between the kind of -interests at stake in the earlier controversy and in the later may serve -as a fair measure of the progress which the mind of Massachusetts had -been making during that interval of a hundred and sixty years. In all -that time, the chief training school for the ministers by whom the -speculative minds of Massachusetts were stimulated and guided was -Harvard College. But it was here, too, that men eminent in civic life -were trained; and among the various illustrations of the type thus -nurtured may be cited Samuel Adams and Thomas Hutchinson, foemen worthy -of one another, Warren and Hancock, Jonathan Trumbull and John Adams. So -far as New England was concerned, the chief work in bringing on the -Revolution was done by graduates of Harvard. In the convention which -framed our Federal Constitution, three important delegates were the -Harvard men, Gerry, Strong, and King; and in this connection we cannot -fail to recall names so closely associated with our national beginnings -as Timothy Pickering and Fisher Ames, nor can we omit the noble line of -jurists from Parsons to Story, and so on to Curtis, whom so many of us -well remember; or, going back to that Massachusetts convention, of which -the work is commemorated in the name of Federal Street, we may single -out for mention the great minister and statesman, type of what is best -in Puritanism, Samuel West, of New Bedford. Such names speak for the -kind of quiet, unobtrusive work that was going on in Cambridge during -those two centuries of rural existence. Such strengthening and unfolding -of the spirit is the only work that is truly immortal. In a town like -ours the material relics of the past are inspiring, and it is right that -we should do our best to preserve them; but they are perishable. The -gambrel-roofed house from the door of which President Langdon asked -God's blessing upon the men that were starting for Bunker Hill, in later -days the birthplace and homestead of our beloved Autocrat, has vanished -from the scene; the venerable elm under which Washington drew the sword -in defence of American liberty is slowly dying, year by year. But for -the spiritual achievement that has marked the career of our community -there is no death, and they that have turned many to righteousness shall -shine in our firmament as the stars forever and ever. - -In contrasting the Cambridge of the nineteenth with that of the two -preceding centuries, the first fact which strikes our attention is the -increase in the rate of growth. In 1680 the population of Cambridge -seems to have been about 850, and the graduating class for that year -numbered five. In 1793 the population--not counting the parishes that -have since become Brighton and Arlington--was about 1200, and there was -a graduating class of 38. Thus in more than a century the population -had increased barely fifty per cent. In 1793 there were only four houses -east of Dana Street, but that year witnessed an event of cardinal -importance, the opening of West Boston Bridge. The distance between -Boston and Old Cambridge was thus reduced from eight miles to three, and -a direct avenue was opened between the interior of Middlesex County and -the Boston markets. The effect was shown in doubling the population of -Cambridge by the year 1809, when another bridge was completed from -Lechmere Point to the north end of Boston. These were toll bridges, in -the hands of private corporations, and their success led to further -bridges,--the one at River Street in 1811, the one at Western Avenue in -1825, and Brookline Bridge so lately as 1850. The principal -thoroughfares south and east of Old Cambridge were built as highways -connecting with these bridges: thus River Street and Western Avenue were -tributary to West Boston Bridge, and to that point the Concord Turnpike -was prolonged by Broadway, the Middlesex Turnpike by Hampshire Street, -and the Medford Road by Webster Avenue; while Cambridge Street, -intersecting these avenues, formed a direct thoroughfare from the -Concord and Watertown roads to the northern part of Boston. The -completion of these important works led to projects for filling up the -marshes and establishing docks in rivalry of Boston,--plans but very -slightly realized before circumstances essentially changed them. - -In this way, Cambridge, which had hitherto faced the Brighton mainland, -turned its face toward the Boston peninsula, and two new villages began -to grow up at "the Port" and "the Point," otherwise Cambridgeport and -East Cambridge. It was not long before the new villages began in some -ways to assert rivalry with the old one. The corporation which owned the -bridge and large tracts of land at Lechmere Point naturally wished to -increase the value of its real estate. Middlesex County needed a new -courthouse and jail. In 1757 a new courthouse had been built on the site -of Lyceum Hall, but in 1813 there was a need for something better; -whereupon the Lechmere Point Corporation forthwith built a courthouse -and jail in East Cambridge, and presented them, with the ground on which -they stood, to the county. In 1818, a lot of land in the Port, bounded -by Harvard, Prospect, Austin, and Norfolk streets, was appropriated for -a poorhouse. Soon afterward it was proposed to inclose our -common,--which with the lapse of time had shrunk to about its present -size,--and to convert it from a grazing ground into an ornamental park. -The scheme met with vehement opposition, and the town meetings in this -growing community suddenly became so large that the old courthouse in -Harvard Square would not hold them. Accordingly, a bigger townhouse was -built in 1832 on the eastern part of the poorhouse lot, and thus was the -civic centre removed from Old Cambridge. - -This event served to emphasize the state of things which had been -growing up with increasing rapidity since the beginning of the century. -Instead of a single village, with a single circle of interests, there -were now three villages, with interests diverse and sometimes -conflicting as regards the expending of public money, so that feelings -of sectional antagonism were developed. - -In New England history, the usual remedy for such a state of things has -been what might be called "spontaneous fission." The overgrown town -would divide into three, and the segments would go on pouting at each -other as independent neighbours. We need not be surprised to learn that -in 1842 the people of Old Cambridge petitioned to be set off as a -separate town; but this attempt was successfully opposed, with the -result that in 1846 a city government was adopted. In that year the -population had reached 13,000, and was approaching the point at which -town meetings become unmanageable from sheer bulk. For small -communities, Thomas Jefferson was probably right in holding that the -town meeting is the best form of government ever devised by man. It was -certainly the form best loved in New England down to 1822, when Boston, -with its population of 40,000, reluctantly gave it up, and adopted a -representative government instead. The example of Boston was followed in -1836 by Salem and Lowell, and next in 1846 by Roxbury and Cambridge. -From that time forth the making of cities went on more rapidly. It was -the beginning of a period of urban development, the end of which we -cannot as yet even dimly foresee. This unprecedented growth of cities is -sometimes spoken of as peculiarly American, but it is indeed not less -remarkable in Europe, and it extends over the world so far as the -influence of railroad and telegraph extends. The influence of these -agencies of communication serves to diffuse over wide areas the effects -wrought by machinery at different centres of production. With increased -demand for human energy, the earth's power of sustaining human life has -vastly increased, and there is a strong tendency to congregate about -centres of production and exchange. In 1846 there were but five cities -in the United States with a population exceeding 100,000; New York had -not yet reached half a million. To-day New York is approaching the -two-million mark, three other cities[28] have passed the million, and -not less than thirty have passed the hundred-thousand. During this half -century the 13,000 of Cambridge have increased to more than 80,000. The -Cambridge of to-day contains as many people as the Boston of sixty years -ago. - -The causes of this growth of Cambridge might be treated, had we space -for it, under three heads. Our city has grown because of its proximity -to Boston; it has grown by reason of its flourishing manufactures; and -it has grown with the growth of the University. That Cambridge should -have shared in the general prosperity of this whole suburban region is -but natural. But persons at a distance are apt to show surprise when we -speak of it as a manufacturing city. This feature in our development -belongs to the period subsequent to 1846, and has much to do with the -growth of the eastern portions of Cambridge, where the combined -facilities for railroad and water communication have been peculiarly -favourable to manufactures. In the early part of this century, the -glassworks at East Cambridge, which have since departed, were somewhat -famous, considerable manufactures of soap and leather had been begun, -and cars and wagons were made here. At the present time some of our -chief manufactures are of engine boilers and various kinds of machinery, -of which the annual product exceeds $2,000,000. Among the industries -which produce in yearly value more than $1,000,000 may be mentioned -printing and publishing, musical instruments (especially pianos and -organs), furniture, clothing, carpenter's work, soap and candles, -biscuit-baking; while among those that produce $500,000 or more are -carriage-making and wheelwright's work, plumbing and plumber's -materials, bricks and tiles, and confectionery. Not only our own new -Harvard Bridge, but most of the steel railway bridges in New England, -have been built in Cambridge. We supply a considerable part of the world -with hydraulic engines; the United States Navy comes here for its pumps, -and our pumping machines may be seen at work in Honolulu, in Sydney, in -St. Petersburg. In the dimensions of its pork-packing industry, -Cambridge comes next after Chicago and Kansas City. In 1842 all the -fish-netting used in America was made in England; to-day it is chiefly -made in East Cambridge, which also furnishes the twine prized by -disciples of Izaak Walton in many parts of the world. Last year the -potteries on Walden Street turned out seven million flower-pots. Such -facts as these bear witness to the unusual facilities of our city, where -coal can be taken and freight can be shipped at the very door of the -factory, where taxes and insurance are not burdensome and the fire -department is unsurpassed for efficiency, where skilled labour is easy -to get because good workmen find life comfortable and attractive, with -excellent sanitary conditions and unrivalled means of free education, -even to the Latin School and the Manual Training School. It is well -said, in one of the reports in our semi-centennial volume, that "to -Cambridge herself, as much as to any other one thing, is the success of -all her manufacturing enterprises due, and all agree in acknowledging -it." - -Among Cambridge industries, two may be mentioned as especially -characteristic and famous. Of the printing establishments now existing, -not many can be more venerable than our University Press, of which we -have spoken as beginning in 1639. Of the wise and genial founder of the -Riverside Press--who once was mayor of our city, and whose memory we -love and revere--it may be said that few men of recent times have had a -higher conception of bookmaking as one of the fine arts. These two -institutions have set a lofty standard for the Athenæum Press, which has -lately come to bear them company. The past half century has seen -Cambridge come into the foremost rank among the few publishing centres -of the world, where books are printed with faultless accuracy and -artistic taste. - -The visitor to Cambridge from Brookline, as he leaves the bridge at -Brookline Street, comes upon a pleasant dwelling house, with a private -observatory, and hard by it a plain brick building. That is the shop of -Alvan Clark & Sons, who have carried the art of telescope-making to a -height never reached before. There have been made the most powerful -refracting telescopes in the world, and one of the firm, more than -thirty years ago, himself acquired fame as an astronomer for his -discovery of the companion of Sirius. - -From this quiet nook in the Port one's thoughts naturally turn to the -Harvard Observatory, which in those days the two Bonds made famous for -their accurate methods of research, their discoveries relating to the -planet Saturn, and their share in the application of photography to -telescopic observation. The honourable position then taken by the -Observatory has been since maintained; but as we note this, we find -ourselves brought to the consideration of the University and its last -half century of growth. And here my remarks cannot help taking the form, -to some extent, of personal reminiscences. - -When I first came to Old Cambridge, in 1860, it still had much of the -village look, which it has since been fast losing. Pretty much all the -spaces now covered by street after street of wooden "Queen Anne" houses, -in such proximity as to make one instinctively look for the whereabouts -of the nearest fire alarm, were then open, smiling fields. The old house -where the Shepard Church stands was rural enough for the Berkshire -Hills; and on the site of Austin Hall, in the doorway of a homestead -built in 1710, one might pause for a cosy chat with the venerable and -courtly Royal Morse, whose personal recollections went back into the -eighteenth century. The trees on the common were the merest saplings, -but an elm of mighty sweep, whose loss one must regret, shaded the whole -of Harvard Square. Horse cars came and went on week days, but on Sunday -he who would visit Boston must either walk or take an omnibus, in which -riding was a penance severe enough to atone for the sin. "Blue Laws" in -the University were in full force; the student who spent his Sundays at -home in Boston must bring out a certificate showing that he had attended -divine service twice; no discretion was allowed the parents. - -College athletics were in their infancy, as the little gymnasium still -standing serves to remind us. There were rowing matches, but baseball -had not come upon the scene, and football had just been summarily -suppressed. The first college exercise in which I took part was the -burial of the football, with solemn rites, in a corner of this Delta. On -Class Day there was no need for closing the yard; there was room enough -for all, and groups of youths and maidens in light summer dress, dancing -on the green before Holworthy, made a charming picture, like that of an -ancient May Day in merry England, save for the broiling heat. - -The examination days which followed were more searching than at other -American colleges. The courses of study were on the whole better -arranged than elsewhere, but during the first half of the course -everything was prescribed, and in the last half the elective system -played but a subordinate part. The system of examinations did not extend -to the Law School, where a simple residence of three terms entitled a -student to receive the bachelor's degree. The library at Gore Hall had -less than one fifth of its present volumes, with no catalogue accessible -to the public, while one small table accommodated all the readers. For -laboratory work the facilities were meagre, and very little was done. We -all studied a book of chemistry; how many of us ever really looked at -such things as manganese or antimony? For the student of biology the -provision was better, for the Botanic Garden was very helpful, and in -the autumn of 1860 was opened the first section of our glorious Museum -of Comparative Zoölogy. - -Here one is naturally led to the reflection that in that day of small -things, as some might call it, there were spiritual influences operative -at Harvard which more than made up for shortcomings in material -equipment. There is a kind of human presence, all too rare in this -world, which is in itself a stimulus and an education worth more than -all the scholastic artifices that the wit of man has devised; for in the -mere contact with it one's mind is trained and widened as if by -enchantment. Such a human presence in Cambridge was Louis Agassiz. Can -one ever forget that beaming face as he used to come strolling across -the yard, with lighted cigar, in serene obliviousness of the University -statutes? Scarcely had one passed him, when one might exchange a -pleasant word with Asa Gray, or descry in some arching vista the -picturesque figures of Sophocles or Peirce, or, turning up Brattle -Street, encounter, with a thrill of pleasure not untinged with awe, -Longfellow and Lowell walking side by side. In such wise are the streets -and lawns of our city hallowed by the human presences that once graced -them; and few are the things to be had for which one would exchange the -memories of those days! - -My class of 1863, with 120 members, was the largest that had been -graduated here. It would have been larger but for the Civil War, and a -period followed with classes of less than 100 members,--a sad commentary -upon the times. Boundless possibilities of valuable achievement must be -sacrificed to secure the supreme end, that the commonwealth should not -suffer harm. How nobly Harvard responded to the demand is recorded upon -the solemn tablets in this Memorial Hall. For those who are inclined to -dally with the thought that war is something that may be undertaken -lightly and with frolicsome heart, this sacred precinct and the monument -on yonder common have their lesson that may well be pondered. - -The vast growth of our country since the Civil War has been attended -with the creation of new universities and the enlargement of the old -ones to such an extent as to show that the demand for higher education -more than keeps pace with the increase of population. The last -graduating class in our Quinquennial Catalogue numbered 350 members. The -University contains more than 3000 students.[29] The increase in number -of instructors, in courses of instruction, in laboratories and museums, -in facilities and appliances of every sort, has wrought changes like -those in a fairy tale. The Annual Catalogue is getting to be as -multifarious as Bradshaws Guide, and a trained intellect is required to -read it. The little college of half a century ago has bloomed forth as -one of the worlds foremost universities. Such things can come from great -opportunities wielded and made the most of by clearness of vision and -administrative capacity. - -To this growth of the University must be added the most happy inception -and growth of Radcliffe College, marking as it does the maturing of a -new era in the education of women. We may well wish for Radcliffe a -career as noble and as useful as that of Harvard, and I doubt not that -such is in store for it. A word must be said of the Episcopal -Theological School, based upon ideas as sound and broad as Christianity; -and of the New-Church Theological School, more recently founded. We must -hail such indications of the tendency toward making our Cambridge the -centre for the untrammelled study of the most vital problems that can -occupy the human mind. - -But the day we are celebrating is a civic, not a university occasion, -and I must dwell no longer upon academic themes. We are signalizing the -anniversary of the change which we once made from government by town -meeting to city government. Have we a good reason for celebrating that -change? Has our career as a civic community been worthy of approval? In -answering this question, I shall not undertake to sum up the story of -our public schools and library; our hospital and charity organizations; -the excellent and harmonious work of our churches, Protestant and -Catholic; our Prospect Union, warmly to be commended; our arrangements -for water supply and sewage; and our admirable park system (in which we -may express a hope that Elmwood will be included). This interesting and -suggestive story may be read in the semi-centennial volume, "The -Cambridge of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-Six," just issued from the -Riverside Press. It is an enlivening story of progress, but like every -story it has a moral, and I am going to pass over details and make -straight for that moral. Americans are a bragging race because they have -enjoyed immense opportunities, and are apt to forget that the true merit -lies, not in the opportunity, but in the use we make of it. Much -gratifying progress can be achieved in spite of the worst sort of -blundering and sinning on the part of governments. The greater part, -indeed, of human progress within historic times has been thus achieved. -A good deal of the progress of which Americans are wont to boast has -been thus achieved. Now the moral of our story is closely concerned with -the fact that in the city of Cambridge such has not been the case. Our -city government has from the outset been upright, intelligent, and -helpful. We are satisfied with it. We do not wish to change it. In this -respect the experience of Cambridge is very different from that of many -other American cities. The government of our cities is acknowledged to -be a problem of rare difficulty, so that it has begun to seem a natural -line of promotion for a successful mayor to elect him governor, and then -to send him to the White House! In some cities one finds people inclined -to give up the problem as insoluble. I was lately assured by a -gentleman in a city which I will not name, but more than a thousand -miles from here, that the only cure for the accumulated wrongs of that -community would be an occasional _coup d'état_, with the massacre of all -the city officers. So the last word of our boasted progress, when it -comes to municipal government, is declared to be the Oriental idea of -"despotism tempered by assassination"! Now to what cause or causes are -we to ascribe the contrast between Cambridge and the cities that are so -wretchedly governed? The answer is, that in Cambridge we keep city -government clear of politics, we do not mix up municipal questions with -national questions. If I may repeat what I have said elsewhere, "since -the object of a municipal election is simply to secure an upright and -efficient municipal government, to elect a city magistrate because he is -a Republican or a Democrat is about as sensible as to elect him because -he believes in homoeopathy or has a taste for chrysanthemums." Upon -this plain and obvious principle of common sense our city has acted, on -the whole with remarkable success, during its half century of municipal -existence. The results we see all about us, and the example may be -commended as an object lesson to all who are interested in the most -vital work that can occupy the mind of an American,--the work of -elevating the moral tone of public life. For it is neither wealth, nor -power, nor cunning, nor craft that exalts a nation, but righteousness -and the fear of the Lord. - -_May, 1896._ - - - - -XI - -A HARVEST OF IRISH FOLK-LORE - - -Since the days when Castrèn made his arduous journeys of linguistic -exploration in Siberia, or when the brothers Grimm collected their rich -treasures of folk-lore from the lips of German peasants, an active quest -of vocables and myths has been conducted with much zeal and energy in -nearly all parts of the world. We have tales, proverbs, fragments of -verse, superstitious beliefs and usages, from Greenland, from the -southern Pacific, from the mountaineers of Thibet and the freedmen upon -Georgia plantations. We follow astute Reynard to the land of the -Hottentots, and find the ubiquitous Jack planting his beanstalk among -the Dog-Rib Indians. At the same time, the nooks and corners of Europe -have been ransacked with bountiful results; so that whereas our -grandfathers, in speculating about the opinions and mental habits of -people in low stages of culture, were dealing with a subject about which -they knew almost nothing, on the other hand, our chief difficulty -to-day is in shaping and managing the enormous mass of data which keen -and patient inquirers have collected. It is well that this work has been -carried so far in our time, for modern habits of thought are fast -exterminating the Old World fancies. Railroad, newspaper, and -telegraphic bulletin of prices are carrying everything before them. The -peasant's quaint dialect and his fascinating myth tales are disappearing -along with his picturesque dress; and savages, such of them as do not -succumb to fire-water, are fast taking on the airs and manners of -civilized folk. It is high time to be gathering in all the primitive -lore we can find, before the men and women in whose minds it is still a -living reality have all passed from the scene. - -The collection of Irish myth stories lately published by Mr. Jeremiah -Curtin[30] is the result of a myth-hunting visit which the author made -in Ireland in 1887, and is one of the most interesting and valuable -contributions to the study of folk-lore that have been made for many -years. "All the tales in my collection," says Mr. Curtin, "of which -those printed in this volume form but a part, were taken down from the -mouths of men who, with one or two exceptions, spoke only Gaelic, or but -little English, and that imperfectly. These men belong to a group of -persons all of whom are well advanced in years, and some very old; with -them will pass away the majority of the story-tellers of Ireland, unless -new interest in the ancient language and lore of the country is roused. - -"For years previous to my visit of 1887 I was not without hope of -finding some myth tales in a good state of preservation. I was led to -entertain this hope by indications in the few Irish stories already -published, and by certain tales and beliefs that I had taken down myself -from old Irish persons in the United States. Still, during the earlier -part of my visit in Ireland, I was greatly afraid that the best myth -materials had perished. Inquiries as to who might be in possession of -these old stories seemed fruitless for a considerable time. The persons -whom I met that were capable of reading the Gaelic language had never -collected stories, and could refer only in a general way to the -districts in which the ancient language was still living. All that was -left was to seek out the old people for whom Gaelic is the every-day -speech, and trust to fortune to find the story-tellers." - -Thus Mr. Curtin was led to explore the counties of Kerry, Galway, and -Donegal. "Comforting myself with the Russian proverb that 'game runs to -meet the hunter,' I set out on my pilgrimage, giving more prominence to -the study and investigation of Gaelic, which, though one of the two -objects of my visit, was not the first. In this way I thought to come -more surely upon men who had myth tales in their minds than if I went -directly seeking for them. I was not disappointed, for in all my -journeyings I did not meet a single person who knew a myth tale or an -old story who was not fond of Gaelic, and specially expert in the use of -it, while I found very few story-tellers from whom a myth tale could be -obtained unless in the Gaelic language; and in no case have I found a -story in the possession of a man or woman who knew only English." - -There is something so interesting in this fact, and so pathetic in the -explanation of it, that we are tempted to quote further: "Since all -mental training in Ireland is directed by powers both foreign and -hostile to everything Gaelic, the moment a man leaves the sphere of that -class which uses Gaelic as an every-day language, and which clings to -the ancient ideas of the people, everything which he left behind seems -to him valueless, senseless, and vulgar; consequently he takes no care -to retain it, either in whole or in part. Hence the clean sweep of myth -tales in one part of the country,--the greater part, occupied by a -majority of the people; while they are still preserved in other and -remoter districts, inhabited by men who, for the scholar and the student -of mankind, are by far the most interesting in Ireland." - -The fate of the Gaelic language has, indeed, been peculiarly sad. In -various parts of Europe, and especially among the western Slavs, the -native tongues have been to some extent displaced by the speech of -conquering peoples; yet it is only in Erin that, within modern times, a -"language of Aryan stock has been driven first from public use, and then -dropped from the worship of God and the life of the fireside." Hence, -while in many parts of Europe the ancient tales live on, often with -their incidents more or less dislocated and their significance quite -blurred, on the other hand, in English-speaking Ireland they have been -cleared away "as a forest is felled by the axe." - -Nevertheless, in the regions where Irish myths have been preserved, they -have been remarkably well preserved, and bear unmistakable marks of -their vast antiquity. One very noticeable feature in these myths is the -definiteness and precision of detail with which the personages and their -fields of action are brought before us. This is a characteristic of -mythologies which are, comparatively speaking, intact; and, as Mr. -Curtin observes, it is to be seen in the myths of the American Indians. -As long as a mythology remains intact it "puts its imprint on the whole -region to which it belongs." Every rock, every spring, is the scene of -some definite incident; every hill has its mythical people, who are as -real to the narrators as the flesh-and-blood population which one finds -there. In this whole world of belief and sentiment there is the vigour -of fresh life, and the country is literally enchanted ground. But when, -through the invasion of alien peoples, there is a mingling and conflict -of sacred stories, and new groups of ideas and associations have partly -displaced the old ones, so that only the argument or general statement -of the ancient myth is retained, and perhaps even that but partially, -then "all precision and details with reference to persons and places -vanish; they become indefinite; are in some kingdom, some -place,--nowhere in particular." There is this vagueness in the -folk-tales of eastern and central Europe as contrasted with those of -Ireland. "Where there was or where there was not," says the Magyar, -"there was in the world;" or, if the Russian hero goes anywhere, it is -simply across forty-nine kingdoms, etc.; "but in the Irish tales he is -always a person of known condition in a specified place" (for example, -"There was a blacksmith in Dunkenealy, beyond Killybegs," etc., page -244). - -As to the antiquity and the primitive character of Mr. Curtin's stories -an experienced observer can entertain no doubt. His book is certainly -the most considerable achievement in the field of Gaelic mythology since -the publication, thirty years ago, of Campbell's "Tales of the West -Highlands;" and it does for the folk-lore of Ireland what Asbjörnsen and -Moe's collection (the English translation of which is commonly, and with -some injustice, known by the name of the translator as Dasent's "Norse -Tales") did for the folk-lore of Norway. This is, of course, very high -praise, but we do not believe it will be called extravagant by any -competent scholar who reads Mr. Curtin's book. The stories have -evidently been reduced to writing with most scrupulous and loving -fidelity. In turning the Gaelic into English some of the characteristic -Hibernian phrases and constructions of our language have been employed, -and this has been done with such perfect good taste that the effect upon -the ear is like that of a refined and delicate brogue. - -The mythical material in the stories is largely that with which the -student of Aryan folk-lore is familiar. We have variants of Cinderella, -the swan maidens, the giant who had no heart in his body, the cloak of -darkness, the sword of light, the magic steed which overtakes the wind -before and outstrips the wind behind; the pot of plenty, from which one -may eat forever, and the cup that is never drained; the hero who -performs impossible tasks, and wooes maidens whose beauty hardly -relieves their treacherous cruelty: "I must tell you now that three -hundred king's sons, lacking one, have come to ask for my daughter, and -in the garden behind my castle are three hundred iron spikes, and every -spike of them but one is covered with the head of a king's son who -couldn't do what my daughter wanted of him, and I'm greatly in dread -that your own head will be put on the one spike that is left uncovered." -The princess in this story--Shaking-Head--is such a wretch, not a bit -better than Queen Labe in the "Arabian Nights," that one marvels at the -hero for marrying her at last, instead of slicing off her head with his -two-handed sword of darkness, and placing it on the three-hundredth -spike. But moral as well as physical probabilities are often -overstrained in this deliciously riotous realm of folk-lore. - -Along with much material that is common to the Aryan world there is some -that is peculiar to Ireland, while the Irish atmosphere is over -everything. The stories of Fin MacCumhail (pronounced MacCool) and the -Fenians of Erin are full of grotesque incident and inimitable drollery. -Fin and his redoubtable dog Bran, the one-eyed Gruagach, the hero -Diarmuid, the old hag with the life-giving ointment, the weird hand of -Mal MacMulcan, and the cowherd that was son of the king of Alban make a -charming series of pictures. Among Fin's followers there is a certain -Conán Maol, "who never had a good word in his mouth for any man," and -for whom no man had a good word. This counterpart of Thersites, as Mr. -Curtin tells us, figures as conspicuously in North American as in Aryan -myths. Conán was always at Fin's side, and advising him to mischief. -Once it had like to have gone hard with Conán. The Fenians had been -inveigled into an enchanted castle, and could not rise from their chairs -till two of Fin's sons had gone and beheaded three kings in the north of -Erin, and put their blood into three goblets, and come back and rubbed -the blood on the chairs. Conán had no chair, but was sitting on the -floor, with his back to the wall, and just before they came to him the -last drop of blood gave out. The Fenians were hurrying past without -minding the mischief-maker, when, upon his earnest appeal, Diarmuid -"took him by one hand, and Goll MacMornee by the other, and, pulling -with all their might, tore him from the wall and the floor. But if they -did, he left all the skin of his back, from his head to his heels, on -the floor and the wall behind him. But when they were going home through -the hills of Tralee, they found a sheep on the way, killed it, and -clapped the skin on Conán. The sheepskin grew to his body; and he was so -well and strong that they sheared him every year, and got wool enough -from his back to make flannel and frieze for the Fenians of Erin ever -after." This is a favourite incident, and recurs in the story of the -laughing Gruagach. In most of the Fenian stories the fighting is brisk -and incessant. It is quite a Donnybrook fair. Everybody kills everybody -else, and then some toothless old woman comes along and rubs a magic -salve on them, when, all in a minute, up they pop, and go at it again. - -One of the quaintest conceits, and a pretty one withal, is that of Tir -na n-Og, the Land of Youth, the life-giving region just beneath the -ground, whence mysteriously spring the sturdy trees, the soft green -grass, and the bright flowers. The journey thither is not long; -sometimes the hero just pulls up a root and dives down through the hole -into the blessed Tir na n-Og,--as primitive a bit of folk-lore as one -could wish to find! A lovely country, of course, was that land of -sprouting life, and some queer customs did they have there. The mode of -"running for office" was especially worthy of mention. Once in seven -years all the champions and best men "met at the front of the palace, -and ran to the top of a hill two miles distant. On the top of that hill -was a chair, and the man that sat first in the chair was king of Tir na -n-Og for the next seven years." This method enabled them to dispense -with nominating conventions and campaign lies, but not with intrigue and -sorcery, as we find in the droll story of Oisin (or Ossian), which -concludes the Fenian series. - -The story of the Fisherman's Son and the Gruagach of Tricks is -substantially the same with the famous story of Farmer Weathersky, in -the Norse collection translated by Sir George Dasent. Gruagach (accented -on the first syllable) means "the hairy one," and, as Mr. Curtin -cautiously observes, "we are more likely to be justified in finding a -solar agent concealed in the person of the laughing Gruagach or the -Gruagach of Tricks than in many of the sun myths put forth by some -modern writers." He reminds one of Hermes and of Proteus, and in the -wonderful changes at the end of the story we have, as in Farmer -Weathersky, a variant of the catastrophe in the story of the Second -Royal Mendicant in the "Arabian Nights;" but the Irishman gives us a -touch of humour that is quite his own. The Gruagach and his eleven -artful sons are chasing the fisherman's son through water and air, and -various forms of fish and bird are assumed, until at length the -fisherman's son, in the shape of a swallow, hovers over the summerhouse -where the daughter of the king of Erin is sitting. Weary with the chase, -the swallow becomes a ring, and falls into the girl's lap; it takes her -fancy, and she puts it on her finger. Then the twelve pursuers change -from hawks into handsome men, and entertain the king in his castle with -music and games, until he asks them what in the world he can give them. -All they want, says the old Gruagach, is the ring which he once lost, -and which is now on the princess's finger. Of course, says the king, if -his daughter has got the ring, she must give it to its owner. But the -ring, overhearing all this, speaks to the princess, and tells her what -to do. She gets a gallon of wheat grains and three gallons of the -strongest _potheen_ that was ever brewed in Ireland, and she mixes them -together in an open barrel before the fire. Then her father calls her -and asks for the ring; and when she finds that her protests are of no -avail, and she must give up, she throws it into the fire. "That moment -the eleven brothers made eleven pairs of tongs of themselves; their -father, the old Gruagach, was the twelfth pair. The twelve jumped into -the fire to know in what spark of it would they find the old fisherman's -son; and they were a long time working and searching through the fire, -when out flew a spark, and into the barrel. The twelve made themselves -men, turned over the barrel, and spilled the wheat on the floor. Then in -a twinkling they were twelve cocks strutting around. They fell to, and -picked away at the wheat, to know which one would find the fisherman's -son. Soon one dropped on one side, and a second on the opposite side, -until all twelve were lying drunk from the wheat." - -One seems to see the gleam in the corner of the eye and the pucker in -the Gaelic visage of the old narrator. To be sure, it was the wheat. It -couldn't have been the mountain dew; it never is. Well, when things had -come to this pass, the spark that was the fisherman's son just turned -into a fox, and with one smart bite he took the head off the old -Gruagach, and the eleven other boozy cocks he finished with eleven other -bites. Then he made himself the handsomest man in Erin, and married the -princess and succeeded to the crown. - -There is a breezy freshness about these tales, which will make the book -a welcome addition to young people's libraries. It is safe to predict -for it an enviable success. In the next edition there ought to be an -index, and we wish the author need not feel it necessary to be so -sparing with his own notes and comments. His brief Introduction is so -charming, from its weight of sense and beauty of expression, that one -would gladly hear more from the author himself. It is to be hoped that -the book lately published is the forerunner of many. - -_August, 1890._ - - - - -XII - -GUESSING AT HALF AND MULTIPLYING BY TWO - - -"The small philosopher is a great character in New England. His -fundamental rule of logical procedure is to guess at the half and -multiply by two. [Applause.]"[31] It is [in 1880] only two or three -years since the philosopher from whom this text is quoted was himself a -great character in New England, inasmuch as he could give a lecture once -every week, in one of the largest halls of New England's principal city, -and could entertain his audience of two or three thousand people with -discussions of the most vast and abstruse themes of science and -metaphysics. The success with which he entertained his audience is -carefully chronicled for us in the volumes made up from the reports of -his lectures, in which parenthetical notes of "laughter," "applause," -or "sensation" occur as frequently as in ordinary newspaper reports of -stump speeches or humorous convivial harangues. As a social phenomenon -this career of the Rev. Joseph Cook possesses considerable -interest,--enough, at any rate, to justify a brief inquiry as to his -"fundamental rule of procedure." - -Among the wise and witty sayings of the ancients with which our children -are puzzled and edified in the first dozen pages of the Greek Reader, -there is a caustic remark attributed to Phokion, on the occasion of -being very loudly applauded by the populace. "Dear me," said the old -statesman, "can it be that I have been making a fool of myself?" So, -when three thousand people are made to laugh and clap their hands over -statements about the origin of species or the anatomy of the nervous -system, the first impulse of any scientific inquirer of ordinary -sagacity and experience is to ask in what meretricious fashion these -sober topics can have been treated, in order to have produced such a -result. The inference may be cynical, but is none the less likely to be -sound. In the present case, one does not need to read far in the -published reports of these lectures to see that the fundamental rule of -procedure is something very different from any of the rules by which -truth is wooed and won by scientific inquirers. Among Mill's -comprehensive canons of logical method one might search in vain for a -specimen of the method employed by Mr. Cook. Of the temper of mind, -indeed, in which scientific inquiries are conducted, he has no more -conception than Laura Bridgman could have of Pompeian red or a chord of -the minor ninth. The process of holding one's judgment in suspense over -a complicated problem, of patiently gathering and weighing the evidence -on either side, of subjecting one's own first-formed hypotheses to -repeated verification, of clearly comprehending and fairly stating -opposing views, of setting forth one's conclusions at last, guardedly -and with a distinct consciousness of the conditions under which they are -tenable,--all this sort of thing is quite foreign to Mr. Cook's nature. - -To him a scientific thesis is simply a statement over which it is -possible to get up a fight. The gamecock is his totem; to him the bones -of the vertebrate subkingdom are only so many bones of contention, and -the sponge is interesting chiefly as an emblem which is never, on any -account, to be thrown up. He talks accordingly of scientific men lying -in wait for Mr. Darwin, ready to pounce on him like a tiger on its prey; -he is very fond of exhibiting what he calls the "strategic point" of a -scientific book or theory; and altogether his attitude is bellicose to a -degree that is as unbecoming in a preacher of the gospel as it is out of -place in a discussion of scientific questions. His favourite method of -dealing with a scientific writer is to quote from him all sorts of -detached statements and inferences, and, without the slightest regard to -the writer's general system of opinions or habits of thought, to praise -or vituperate the detached statements according to some principle which -it is not always easy for the reader to discover, but which has always -doubtless some reference to their supposed bearings upon the peculiar -kind of orthodoxy of which Mr. Cook appears as the champion. There are -some writers whom he thinks it necessary always to scold or vilify, no -matter what they say. If they happen to say something which ought to be -quite satisfactory to any reasonable person of "orthodox" opinions, Mr. -Cook either accuses them of insincerity or represents them as making -"concessions." - -This last device, I am sorry to be obliged to add, is not an uncommon -one with theological controversialists, when their zeal runs away with -them. When a man makes a statement which expresses his deepest -convictions, there is no easier way of seeming to knock away the -platform on which he stands than to quote his statement, and describe -it as something which he has reluctantly "conceded." In dealing with the -principal writers on evolution, Mr. Cook is continually found resorting -to this cheap device. For example, when Professor Tyndall declares that -"if a right-hand spiral movement of the particles of the brain could be -shown to occur in love, and a left-hand spiral movement in hate, we -should be as far off as ever from understanding the connection of this -physical motion with the spiritual manifestations,"--when Professor -Tyndall declares this, he simply asserts what is a cardinal proposition -with the group of English philosophers to which he belongs. With -Professor Huxley, as well as with Mr. Spencer, it is a fundamental -proposition that psychical phenomena cannot possibly be interpreted in -terms of matter and motion, and this proposition they have at various -times set forth and defended. In the chapter on Matter and Spirit, in my -work on "Cosmic Philosophy," I have fully expounded this point, and have -further illustrated it in "The Unseen World." With the conclusions there -set forth the remark of Professor Tyndall thoroughly agrees, and it does -so because all these expressions of opinion and all these arguments are -part and parcel of a coherent system of anti-materialistic thought -adopted[32] by the English school of evolutionists. Yet when Mr. Cook -quotes Professor Tyndall's remark, he does it in this wise: "It is -notorious that even Tyndall _concedes_," etc., etc. - -By proceeding in this way, Mr. Cook finds it easy to make out a -formidable array of what he calls "the concessions of evolutionists." He -first gives the audience a crude impression of some sort of theory of -evolution, such as no scientific thinker ever dreamed of; or, to speak -more accurately, he plays upon the crude impression already half formed -in the average mind of his audience, and which he evidently shares -himself. The _average_ notion of the doctrine of evolution, possessed in -common by an audience big enough to fill Tremont Temple, would no doubt -seem to Darwin or to Spencer something quite fearful and wonderful. -Playing with this sort of crude material, Mr. Cook puts together a -series of numbered propositions, which remind one of those interminable -auction catalogues of Walt Whitman, which some of our British cousins, -more ardent than discriminating, mistake for a truly American species of -inspired verse. In this long catena of statements, almost everything is -easily seen to disagree with the crude general impression to which the -speaker appeals, and almost everything is accordingly set down as a -"concession." And as the audience go out after the lecture, they -doubtless ask one another, in amazed whispers, how it is that sensible -men who make so many "concessions" can find it in their hearts to -maintain the doctrine of evolution at all! - -Sometimes Mr. Cook goes even farther than this, and, in the very act of -quoting an author's declared opinions, expressly refuses to give him -credit for them. Thus he has the hardihood to say: "Even Herbert -Spencer, _who would be very glad to prove the opposite_,[33] says, in -his Biology, 'The proximate chemical principles or chemical -units--albumen, fibrine, gelatine, or the hypothetical proteine -substance--cannot possess the property of forming the endlessly varied -structures of animal forms.'" Mr. Cook here lays claim to a knowledge of -his author's innermost thoughts and wishes which is quite remarkable. -For a fit parallel one would have to cite the instance of the German who -flogged his son for profanity, though the boy had not opened his mouth. -"You dinks tamn," exclaimed the irate father, "and I vips you for dat!" - -As there are some writers whom Mr. Cook thinks it always necessary to -vituperate, no matter what they say, so there are others whom he finds -it convenient to quote, as foils to the former, and to mention with -praise on all occasions, though it is difficult to assign the reasons -for this preference, except on the hypothesis that the lecturer has an -implicit faith in the simple and confiding nature of his audience. -Before giving these lectures Mr. Cook had studied awhile in Germany, and -his citations of German writers show how far he deems it safe to presume -on New England's ignorance of what the Fatherland thinks. It is nice to -have such a learned country as Germany at one's disposal to hurl at the -heads of people whose "outlook in philosophy does not reach beyond the -Straits of Dover;" it saves a great deal of troublesome argument, and -still more painful examination of facts. This English opinion is all -very well, you know, but it comes from a philosopher "whose star is just -touching the western pines," and a German professor whom I am about to -quote, whose book I "hold in my hand," and "whose star is in the -ascendant," does not agree with it. All this is extremely neat and -convincing, apparently, to the crowd in Tremont Temple. With all Germany -at his disposal, however, it must be acknowledged that our lecturer -makes a very sparing use of his resources. He quotes Helmholtz and -Wundt every now and then with warm approval, though wherein they should -be found any more acceptable to the orthodox world than Tyndall and -Spencer it is not easy to see, save that the ill repute of German free -thinkers takes somewhat longer to get diffused in New England than the -ill repute of English free thinkers. - -Then, among these Germans who are to set the English-speaking world -aright we have Delitzsch! To speak of Wundt and Delitzsch is as if one -were to bracket together John Stuart Mill and Frederick Denison Maurice. -And then comes the admirable Lotze, whom Mr. Cook is continually setting -off as a foil to Herbert Spencer. On page 179 of the lectures on -"Heredity" he enumerates, with emphasis, those opinions of Lotze which -he deems of especial importance with regard to the relations between -matter and mind, and then proceeds to deprecate the "thunder" which he -presumes he has evoked "from all quarters of the Spencerian sky." But, -considering that the propositions he quotes from Lotze express the very -views of Herbert Spencer, only somewhat inadequately worded, it would -seem that the lecturer's alarm cannot be very real, and the thunder in -question is only a kind of comic-opera thunder manufactured behind the -curtain for the benefit of the acquiescent audience. For example, the -fourth proposition quoted with approval from Lotze reads thus: "Physical -phenomena point to an underlying being to which they belong, but do not -determine whether that being is material or immaterial." Now this is -Spencerism, pure and simple, and it is a crucial proposition, too, -pointing out the drift of the whole philosophy before which it is set -up. The fact that Mr. Cook adopts such an opinion when stated by Lotze, -but vituperates the same opinion when stated by Spencer, reveals to us, -with a pungent though not wholly delicious flavour, the "true -inwardness" of his fundamental method of procedure. - -That method, it must be acknowledged with due regard to the _bon mot_ of -the old Greek statesman, is a method well adapted to conciliate the -favour of an immense audience,--even in Boston. We are all descended -from fighting ancestors, and many of us, who care little for the -disinterested discussion of scientific theories, still like to see a man -knocked down or impaled, provided the knocking down be done with a -syllogistic club, or the impaling be restricted to such a hard substance -as is afforded by the horns of a dilemma. It satisfies our combative -instincts, without shocking our physical sympathies or making any great -demand on our keener thinking powers, which most people do most of all -dislike to be called upon to exercise. To this kind of feeling Mr. -Cook's lectures appeal, and the peculiar character of his success seems -to show that he knows well how to deal with it. In a moment of winning -frankness he exclaims: "Do you suppose that I think that this audience -can be _cheated_? I do not know where in America there is another weekly -audience with as many brains in it; at least, I do not know where in New -England I should be so likely to be tripped up, if I were to make an -incorrect statement, as here."[34] After this coaxing little dose, Mr. -Cook proceeds to show his respect for the learning of his audience in -some remarks on _bathybius_, which, as he condescendingly explains, is a -name derived from two Greek words, meaning _deep_ and _sea_!! The -profound knowledge of Greek thus exhibited is quite equalled by his -account of bathybius from the zoölogical point of view. He begins by -telling his hearers that, in a paper published in the "Microscopical -Journal" in 1868, Professor Huxley "announced his belief that the -gelatinous substance found in the ooze of the beds of the deep seas is a -sheet of living matter extending around the globe." Furthermore, of -"this amazingly strategic [!!] and haughtily trumpeted substance ... -Huxley assumed that it was in the past, and would be in the future, the -progenitor of all the life on the planet." Now it is not true that, in -the paper referred to, Huxley announces any such belief or makes any -such assumption as is here ascribed to him; but we shall see, in a -moment, that Mr. Cook's system of quotation is peculiar in enabling him -to extract from the text of an author any meaning whatever that may -happen to suit his purposes. This ingenious garbling enables the -lecturer to come in with telling effect at the close of his third -lecture, and earn an ignoble round of applause by holding up the current -number of the "American Journal of Science and Arts" (which he would -appear to have picked up at a bookstall on his way to the lecture room) -and citing from it, as the fifty-first and closing "concession" of -evolutionists, "that bathybius has been discovered in 1875, by the ship -Challenger, to be--hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth!--sulphate of -lime; and that when dissolved it crystallizes as gypsum. [Applause.]" -This is what Mr. Cook calls striking, with the "latest scientific -intelligence," at the "bottom stem" of the great tree of evolution. The -"latest scientific intelligence," with him, means the last book or -article which he has glanced over without comprehending its import, but -from which he has contrived to glean some statement calculated to edify -his audience and scatter the hosts of Midian. In point of fact, the -identification of bathybius with sulphate of lime was set down by Sir -Wyville Thomson only as a suspicion, to which Huxley, like a true man of -science, at once accorded all possible weight, while leaving the -question open for further discussion. Only a mountebank, dealing with an -audience upon whose ignorance of the subject he might safely rely, could -pretend to suppose that the fate of the doctrine of evolution was in any -way involved in the question as to the organic nature of bathybius. The -amazing strategy was all Mr. Cook's own, and the haughty trumpeting -appears to have been chiefly done with his own very brazen instrument. - -I said a moment ago that Mr. Cook's system of quotation is peculiar. The -following instance is so good that it will bear citing at some length. -According to Mr. Cook, Professor Huxley says, in his article on Biology -in the ninth edition of the "Encyclopædia Britannica:" "_Throughout -almost the whole series of living beings, we find agamogenesis, or -not-sexual generation._" After a pause, Mr. Cook proceeded in a lower -voice: "When the topic of the origin of the life of our Lord on the -earth is approached from the point of view of the microscope, some men, -who know not what the holy of holies in physical and religious science -is, say that we have no example of the origin of life without two -parents." He went on to cite the familiar instances of parthenogenesis -in bees and silk moths, and then proceeded as follows: "Take up your -Mivart, your Lyell, your Owen, and you will read [where?] this same -important fact which Huxley here asserts, when he says that the law that -perfect individuals may be virginally born extends to the higher forms -of life. I am in the presence of Almighty God; and yet, when a great -soul like that tender spirit of our sainted Lincoln, in his early days, -with little knowledge but with great thoughtfulness, was troubled by his -difficulty, and almost thrown into infidelity by not knowing that the -law that there must be two parents is not universal, I am willing to -allude, even in such a presence as this, to the latest science -concerning miraculous conception. [Sensation.]" - -The vulgarity of this rhetoric is as glaring as its absurdity. All that -concerns me now, however, is to point out the Brobdignagian dimensions -of the misstatement of facts. Let us look back for a moment at the -italicized quotation from Huxley, upon which Mr. Cook builds up the -wondrous assertion "that the law that perfect individuals may be -virginally born extends to the higher forms of life." Then let us turn -to Huxley's article and see what he really does say. - -Treating of the whole subject of agamogenesis in the widest possible way -by including it under the more general process of cell-multiplication, -Huxley says: "Common as the process is in plants and in the lower -animals, it becomes rare among the higher animals. In these, the -reproduction of the whole organism from a part, in the way indicated -above, ceases. At most we find that the cells at the end of an amputated -portion of the organism are capable of reproducing the lost part, and in -the very highest animals even this power vanishes in the adult.... -_Throughout almost the whole series of living beings, however, we find -concurrently with the process of agamogenesis, or asexual generation_, -another method of generation, in which the development of the germ into -an organism resembling the parent depends on an influence exerted by -living matter different from the germ. This is _gamogenesis_, or sexual -generation."[35] - -Comparing the italicized passage here with Mr. Cook's italicized -quotation, we see vividly illustrated the fundamental method of -procedure by which the "Monday Lectureship" jumps from a statement -about the reproduction of a lobster's claw to the inference that a man -may be born without a father. It reminds one of that worthy clergyman -who introduced a scathing sermon on a new-fangled variety of ladies' -headdress by the appropriate text, "Top-knot come down!" On being -reminded by one of his deacons that the full verse seemed to read, "Let -him that is upon the housetop not come down," the pastor boldly -justified his abridgment on the ground that any particular collocation -of words in Scripture is as authoritative as any other, since all parts -of the Bible are equally inspired. Perhaps there are some who would -justify Mr. Cook's peculiar principle of abridgment on the familiar -ground that the end sanctifies the means, and that if a statement seems -helpful to "the truth" in general, it is no matter whether the statement -itself is true or not. - -Enough of this. If we were to go through with these volumes in detail, -we should find little else but misrepresentations of facts, -misconceptions of principles, and floods of tawdry rhetoric, of which -the specimens here quoted are quite sufficient to illustrate the -lecturer's "fundamental method of procedure." If I have treated him -somewhat lightly, it is because there is nothing in his matter or in -his manner that would justify, or even excuse, a more serious style of -treatment. The only aspect of his career which affords matter for grave -reflection is the ease with which he succeeded for a moment in imposing -on the credulity and in appealing to the prejudices of his public. The -eagerness with which the orthodox world hailed the appearance of this -new champion could not but remind one, with sad emphasis, of -Oxenstjern's famous remark: "Quam parva sapientia mundus regitur!" It is -comforting to remember that one of the world's greatest naturalists, Asa -Gray,--whose orthodoxy is as unimpeachable as his science,--very -promptly declared in print that such championship is something of which -orthodoxy has no reason to feel proud. - -_December, 1880._ - - - - -XIII - -FORTY YEARS OF BACON-SHAKESPEARE FOLLY[36] - - -Some time ago, while I happened to be looking over a wheelbarrow-load of -rubbish written to prove that such plays as "King Lear" and "The Merry -Wives of Windsor" emanated from one of the least poetical and least -humorous minds of modern times, I was reminded of a story which I heard -when a boy. I forget whether it was some whimsical man of letters like -Charles Lamb, or some such professional wag as Theodore Hook, who took -it into his head one day to stand still on a London street, with face -turned upward, gazing into the sky. Thereupon the next person who came -that way forthwith stopped and did likewise, and then the next, and the -next, until the road was blocked by a dense crowd of men and women, all -standing as if rooted in the ground, and with solemn sky-ward stare. The -enchantment was at last broken when some one asked what they were -looking at, and nobody could tell. It was simply an instance of a -certain remnant of primitive gregariousness of action on the part of -human beings, which exhibits itself from time to time in sundry queer -fashions and fads. - -So when Miss Delia Bacon, in the year which saw the beginning of "The -Atlantic Monthly," published a book purporting to unfold the -"philosophy" of Shakespeare's dramas, it was not long before other -persons began staring intently into the silliest mare's nest ever -devised by human dulness; and the fruits of so much staring have -appeared in divers eccentric volumes, of which more specific mention -will presently be made. Neither in number nor in quality are they such -as to indicate that the Bacon-Shakespeare folly has yet become -fashionable, and we shall presently observe in it marked suicidal -tendencies which are likely to prevent its ever becoming so; but there -are enough of such volumes to illustrate the point of my anecdote. - -Another fad, once really fashionable, and in defence of which some -plausible arguments could be urged, was the Wolfian theory of the -Homeric poems, which dazzled so many of our grandparents. It is worth -our while to mention it here by way of prelude. The theory that the -Iliad and Odyssey are mere aggregations of popular ballads, collected -and arranged in the time of Pisistratus, was perhaps originally -suggested by the philosopher Vico, but first attracted general attention -in 1795, when set forth by Friedrich August Wolf, one of the most -learned and brilliant of modern scholars. Thus eminently respectable in -its parentage and quite reasonable on the surface, this ballad theory -came to be widely fashionable; forty years ago it was accepted by many -able scholars, though usually with large modifications. - -The Wolfians urged that we know absolutely nothing about the man Homer, -not even when or where he lived. His existence is merely matter of -tradition, or of inference from the existence of the poems. But as the -poems know nothing of Dorians in Peloponnesus, their date can hardly be -so late as 1100 B. C. What happened, then, when "an edition of Homer" -was made at Athens, about 530 B. C., by Pisistratus, or under his -orders? Did the editor simply edit two great poems already six centuries -old, or did he make up two poems by piecing together a miscellaneous lot -of ancient ballads? Wolf maintained the latter alternative, chiefly -because of the alleged impossibility of composing and preserving such -long poems in the alleged absence of the art of writing. Having thus -made a plausible start, the Wolfians proceeded to pick the poems to -pieces, and to prove by "internal evidence" that there was nothing like -"unity of design" in them, etc.; and so it went on, till poor old Homer -was relegated to the world of myth. As a schoolboy I used to hear the -belief in the existence of such a poet derided as "uncritical" and -"unscholarly." - -In spite of these terrifying epithets, the ballad theory never made any -impression upon me; for it seemed to ignore the most conspicuous and -vital fact about the poems, namely, the _style_, the noble, rapid, -simple, vivid, supremely poetical style,--a style as individual and -unapproachable as that of Dante or Keats. For an excellent -characterization of it, read Matthew Arnold's charming essays "On -Translating Homer." The style is the man, and to suppose that this -Homeric style ever came from a democratic multitude of minds, or from -anything save one of those supremely endowed individual natures such as -get born once or twice in a millennium, is simply to suppose a -psychological impossibility. I remember once talking about this with -George Eliot, who had lately been reading Frederick Paley's ingenious -restatement of the ballad theory, and was captivated by its ingenuity. -I told her I did not wonder that old dry-as-dust philologists should -hold such views, but I was indeed surprised to find such a literary -artist as herself ignoring the impassable gulf between Homer's language -and that which any ballad theory necessarily implies. She had no answer -for this except to say that she should have supposed an evolutionist -like me would prefer to regard the Homeric poems as gradually evolved -rather than suddenly created! A retort so clever and amiable most surely -entitled her to the woman's privilege of the last word. - -The Wolfian theory may now be regarded as a thing of the past; it has -had its day and been flung aside. If Wolf himself were living, he would -be the first to laugh at it. Its original prop has been knocked away, -since it has become pretty clear that the art of writing was practised -about the shores of the Ægean Sea long before 1100 B. C. Even Wolf would -now admit that it might have been a real letter that Bellerophon carried -to the father of Anteia.[37] All attempts to show a lack of unity in the -design of the Iliad and the Odyssey have failed irretrievably, and the -discussion has served only to make more and more unmistakable the work -of the mighty master. The ballad theory is dead and buried, and he who -would read its obituary may find keen pleasure, as well as many a -wholesome lesson in sound criticism, in the sensible and brilliant book -by Andrew Lang on "Homer and the Epic." - -The Bacon-Shakespeare folly has never been set forth by scholars of -commanding authority, like Wolf and Lachmann, or Niese and Wilamowitz -Moellendorff. Among Delia Bacon's followers not one can by any -permissible laxity of speech be termed a scholar, and their theory has -found acceptance with very few persons. Nevertheless, it illustrates as -well as the Wolfian theory the way in which such notions grow. It starts -from a false premise, hazily conceived, and it subsists upon arguments -in which trivial facts are assigned higher value than facts of vital -importance. Mr. Lang's remark upon certain learned Homeric commentators, -"that they pore over the hyssop on the wall, but are blind to the cedar -of Lebanon," applies with tenfold force to the Bacon-Shakespeare -sciolists. In them we always miss the just sense of proportion which is -one of the abiding marks of sanity. The unfortunate lady who first -brought their theory into public notoriety in 1857 was then sinking -under the cerebral disease of which she died two years later, and her -imitators have been chiefly weak minds of the sort that thrive upon -paradox, closely akin to the circle-squarers and inventors of perpetual -motion. Underlying all the absurdities, however, there is something that -deserves attention. Like many other morbid phenomena, the -Bacon-Shakespeare folly has its natural history which is instructive. -The vagaries of Delia Bacon and her followers originated in a group of -conditions which admit of being specified and described, and which the -historian of nineteenth-century literature will need to notice. In order -to understand the natural history of the affair, it is necessary to -examine the Delia Bacon theory at greater length than it would otherwise -deserve. Let us see how it is constructed. - -It starts with a syllogism, of which the major premise is that the -dramas ascribed to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and ever since -believed to be his, abound in evidences of extraordinary book-learning. -The minor premise is that William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon could -not have acquired or possessed so much book-learning. The conclusion is -that he could not have written those plays. - -The question then arises, Which of Shakespeare's contemporaries had -enough book-lore to have written them? No doubt Francis Bacon had -enough. The conclusion does not follow, however, that he wrote the -plays; for there were other contemporaries with learning enough and to -spare, as for example George Chapman and Ben Jonson. These two men, to -judge from their acknowledged works, were great poets, whereas in -Bacon's fifteen volumes there is not a paragraph which betrays poetical -genius. Why not, then, ascribe the Shakespeare dramas to Chapman or -Jonson? Here the Baconizers endeavour to support their assumption by -calling attention to similarities in thought and phrase between Francis -Bacon and the writer of the dramas. Up to this point their argument -consists of deductions from assumed premises; here they adduce inductive -evidence, such as it is. We shall see specimens of it by and by. At -present we are concerned with the initial syllogism. - -And first, as to the major premise, it must be met with a flat denial. -The Shakespeare plays do not abound with evidences of scholarship or -learning of the sort that is gathered from profound and accurate study -of books. It is precisely in this respect that they are conspicuously -different from many of the plays contemporary with them, and from other -masterpieces of English literature. Such plays as Jonson's "Sejanus" and -"Catiline" are the work of a scholar deeply indoctrinated with the -views and mental habits of classic antiquity; he has soaked himself in -the style of Lucan and Seneca, until their mental peculiarities have -become like a second nature to him, and are unconsciously betrayed alike -in the general handling of his story and in little turns of expression. -Or take Milton's "Lycidas:" no one but a man saturated in every fibre -with Theocritus and Virgil could have written such a poem. An extremely -foreign and artificial literary form has been so completely mastered and -assimilated by Milton that he uses it with as much ease as Theocritus -himself, and has produced a work that even the master of idyls had -scarcely equalled. After the terrific invective against the clergy and -the beautiful invocation to the flowers, followed by the triumphant -hallelujah of Christian faith, observe the sudden reversion to pagan -sentiment where Lycidas is addressed as the genius of the shore. Only -profound scholarship could have written this wonderful poem,--could have -brought forth the Christian thought as if spontaneously through the -medium of the pagan form. Now there is nothing of this sort in -Shakespeare. He uses classical materials, or anything else under the sun -that suits his purpose. He takes a chronicle from Holinshed, a biography -from North's translation of Plutarch, a legend from Saxo Grammaticus -through Belleforest's French version, a novel of Boccaccio, a miracle -play,--whatever strikes his fancy; he chops up his materials and weaves -them into a story without much regard to classical models; defying rules -of order and unity, and not always heeding probability, but never -forgetful of his abiding purpose, to create live men and women. These -people may have Greek or Latin names, and their scene of action may be -Rome or Mitylene, decorated with scraps of classical knowledge such as a -bright man might pick up in miscellaneous reading; but all this is the -superficial setting, the mere frame to the picture. The living canvas is -human nature as Shakespeare saw it in London and depicted with supreme -poetic faculty. Among the new books within his reach was Chapman's -magnificent translation of the Iliad, which at a later day inspired -Keats to such a noble outburst of encomium; and in "Troilus and -Cressida" we have the Greek and Trojan heroes set before us with an -incisive reality not surpassed by Homer himself. This play shows how -keenly Shakespeare appreciated Homer, how delicately and exquisitely he -could supplement the picture; but there is nothing in its five acts that -shows him clothed in the garment of ancient thought as Milton wore it. -Shakespeare's freedom from such lore is a great advantage to him; in -"Troilus and Cressida" there is a freedom of treatment hardly possible -to a professional scholar. It is because of this freedom that -Shakespeare reaches a far wider public of readers and listeners than -Milton or Dante, whose vast learning makes them in many places "caviare -to the general." Book-lore is a great source of power, but one may -easily be hampered by it. What we forever love in Homer is the freshness -that comes with lack of it, and in this sort of freshness Shakespeare -agrees with Homer far more than with the learned poets. - -It is not for a moment to be denied that Shakespeare's plays exhibit a -remarkable wealth of varied knowledge. The writer was one of the keenest -observers that ever lived. In the woodland or on the farm, in the -printing shop or the alehouse, or up and down the street, not the -smallest detail escaped him. Microscopic accuracy, curious interest in -all things, unlimited power of assimilating knowledge, are everywhere -shown in the plays. These are some of the marks of what we call -_genius_,--something that we are far from comprehending, but which -experience has shown that books and universities cannot impart. All the -colleges on earth could not by combined effort make the kind of man we -call a genius, but such a man may at any moment be born into the world, -and it is as likely to be in a peasant's cottage as anywhere. - -There is nothing in which men differ more widely than in the capacity -for imbibing and assimilating knowledge. The capacity is often exercised -unconsciously. When my eldest son, at the age of six, was taught to read -in the course of a few weeks of daily instruction, it was suddenly -discovered that his four-year-old brother also could read. Nobody could -tell how it happened. Of course the younger boy must have taken keen -notice of what the elder one was doing, but the process went on without -attracting attention until the result appeared. - -This capacity for unconscious learning is not at all uncommon. It is -possessed to some extent by everybody; but a very high degree of it is -one of the marks of genius. I remember one evening, many years ago, -hearing Herbert Spencer in a friendly discussion regarding certain -functions of the cerebellum. Abstruse points of comparative anatomy and -questions of pathology were involved. Spencer's three antagonists were -not violently opposed to him, but were in various degrees unready to -adopt his views. The three were: Huxley, one of the greatest of -comparative anatomists; Hughlings Jackson, a very eminent authority on -the pathology of the nervous system; and George Henry Lewes, who, -although more of an amateur in such matters, had nevertheless devoted -years of study to neural physiology, and was thoroughly familiar with -the history of the subject. Spencer more than held his ground against -the others. He met fact with fact, brought up points in anatomy the -significance of which Huxley confessed that he had overlooked, and had -more experiments and clinical cases at his tongue's end than Jackson -could muster. It was quite evident that he knew all they knew on the -subject, and more besides. Yet Spencer had never been through a course -of "regular training" in the studies concerned; nor had he ever studied -at a university, or even at a high school. Where did he learn the -wonderful mass of facts which he poured forth that evening? Whence came -his tremendous grasp upon the principles involved? Probably he could not -have told you. A few days afterward I happened to be talking with -Spencer about history, a subject of which he modestly said he knew but -little. I told him I had often been struck with the aptness of the -historic illustrations cited in many chapters of his "Social Statics," -written when he was twenty-nine years old. The references were not only -always accurate, but they showed an intelligence and soundness of -judgment unattainable, one would think, save by close familiarity with -history. Spencer assured me that he had never read extensively in -history. Whence, then, this wealth of knowledge,--not smattering, not -sciolism, but solid, well-digested knowledge? Really, he did not know, -except that when his interest was aroused in any subject he was keenly -alive to all facts bearing upon it, and seemed to find them whichever -way he turned. When I mentioned this to Lewes, while recalling the -discussion on the cerebellum, he exclaimed: "Oh, you can't account for -it! It's his genius. Spencer has greater instinctive power of -observation and assimilation than any man since Shakespeare, and he is -like Shakespeare for hitting the bull's-eye every time he fires. As for -Darwin and Huxley, we can follow their intellectual processes, but -Spencer is above and beyond all; he is inspired!" - -Those were Lewes's exact words, and they made a deep impression upon me. -The comparison with Shakespeare struck me as a happy one, and I can -understand both Spencer and Shakespeare the better for it. Concerning -Spencer one circumstance may be observed. Since his early manhood he has -lived in London, and has had for his daily associates men of vast -attainments in every department of science. He has thus had rare -opportunities for absorbing an immense fund of knowledge unconsciously. - -It is evident that the author of Shakespeare's plays possessed an -extraordinary "instinctive power of observation and assimilation." There -was nothing strange in such a genius growing up in a small Warwickshire -town. The difficulty is one which the Delia-Baconians have created for -themselves. As it is their chief stock in trade, they magnify it in -every way they can think of. Shakespeare's parents, they say, were -illiterate, and he did not know how to spell his own name. It appears as -Shagspere, Shaxpur, Shaxberd, Chacsper, and so on through some thirty -forms, several of which William Shakespeare himself used indifferently. -The implication is that such a man must have been shockingly ignorant. -The real ignorance, however, is on the part of those who use such an -argument. Apparently, they do not know that in Shakespeare's time such -laxity in spelling was common in all ranks of society and in all grades -of culture. The name of Elizabeth's great Lord Treasurer, Cecil, and his -title, Burghley, were both spelled in half a dozen ways. The name of -Raleigh occurs in more than forty different forms, and Sir Walter, one -of the most accomplished men of his time, wrote it Rauley, Rawleyghe, -Ralegh, and in yet other ways. The talk of the Baconizers on this point -is simply ludicrous. - -Equally silly is their talk about the dirty streets of Stratford. They -seem to have just discovered that Elizabeth's England was a badly -drained country, with heaps of garbage in the streets. Shakespeare's -father, they tell us, was a butcher, and evidently from a butcher's son, -living in an ill-swept town, and careless about the spelling of his -name, not much in the way of intellectual achievement was to be -expected! In point of fact, Shakespeare's parents belonged to the middle -class. His father owned several houses in Stratford and two or three -farms in the neighbourhood. As a farmer in those days, he would -naturally have cattle slaughtered on his premises and would sell wool -off the backs of his own flocks, whence the later tradition of his -having been butcher and wool dealer. That his social position was good -is shown by the facts that he was chief alderman and high bailiff of -Stratford, and justice of the peace, and was styled "Master John -Shakespeare," or (as we should say) "Mr.;" whereas, had he been one of -the common folk, his style had been "Goodman Shakespeare." A visit to -his home in Henley Street, and to Anne Hathaway's cottage at Shottery, -shows that the two families were in eminently respectable circumstances. -The son of the high bailiff would see the best people in the -neighbourhood. There was in the town a remarkably good free grammar -school, where he might have learned the "small Latin and less Greek" -which his friend Ben Jonson assures us he possessed. This expression, by -the way, is usually misunderstood, because people do not pause to -consider it. Coming from Ben Jonson, I should say that "small Latin and -less Greek" might fairly describe the amount of those languages -ordinarily possessed by a member of the graduating class at Harvard in -good standing. It can hardly imply less than the ability to read Terence -at sight, and perhaps Euripides less fluently. The author of the plays, -with his unerring accuracy of observation, knows Latin enough at least -to use the Latin part of English most skilfully; at the same time, when -he has occasion to use Greek authors, such as Homer or Plutarch, he -usually prefers an English translation. At all events, Jonson's remark -informs us that the man whom he addresses as "sweet swan of Avon" knew -_some_ Latin and _some_ Greek,--a conclusion which is so distasteful to -one of our Baconizers, Mr. Edwin Reed, that he will not admit it. Rather -than do so, he has the assurance to ask us to believe that by the -epithet "sweet swan of Avon" Jonson really meant Francis Bacon! Dear me, -Mr. Reed, do you really mean it? And how about the editor of Beaumont -and Fletcher in 1647, when, in his dedication to Shakespeare's friend -the Earl of Pembroke, he speaks of "Sweet Swan of Avon Shakespear"? Was -he too a participator in the little scheme for fooling posterity? Or was -he one of those who were fooled? - -Whether Shakespeare had other chances for book-lore than those which the -grammar school afforded, whether there was any interesting parson at -hand, as often in small towns, to guide and stimulate his unfolding -thoughts,--upon such points we have no information. But there were -things to be learned in the country town quite outside of books and -pedagogues. There, while the poet listened to the "strain of strutting -chanticleer," and watched the "sun-burn'd sicklemen, of August weary," -putting on their rye-straw hats and making holiday with rustic nymphs, -he could rejoice in - - "Earth's increase, foison plenty, - Barns and garners never empty; - Vines with clust'ring bunches growing; - Plants with goodly burthen bowing;" - -there he could see the "unbacked colts" prick their ears, advance their -eyelids, lift up their noses, as if they smelt music; there he knew, -doubtless, many a bank where the wild thyme grew and on which the -moonlight sweetly slept; there he watched the coming of "violets dim," -"pale primroses," flower-de-luce, carnations, with "rosemary and rue" to -keep their "savour all the winter long," - - "When icicles hang by the wall, - And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, - And Tom bears logs into the hall, - And milk comes frozen home in pail." - -Such lore as this no books or college could impart. - -It was this that Milton had in mind when he introduced Shakespeare and -Ben Jonson into his poem "L'Allegro." Milton was in his thirtieth year -when Jonson, poet laureate, was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey; he -was only a boy of eight years when Shakespeare died, but the beautiful -sonnet written fourteen years later shows how lovingly he studied his -works:-- - - "What needs my Shakespeare, for his honoured bones," etc. - -The poem "L'Allegro" and its fellow "Il Penseroso" describe the delights -of Milton's life at his father's country house near Windsor Castle. He -used often to ride into London to hear music or pass an evening at the -theatre, as in the following lines:-- - - "Then to the well-trod stage anon, - If Jonson's learned sock be on, - Or sweetest Shakespeare, fancy's child, - Warble his native woodnotes wild." - -This accurate and happy contrast exasperates the Baconizers, for it -spoils their stock in trade, and accordingly they try their best to -assure us that Milton did not know what he was writing about. They -asseverate with vehemence that in all the seven-and-thirty plays there -is no such thing as a native woodnote wild. - -But before leaving the contrast we may pause for a moment to ask, Where -did Ben Jonson get his learning? He was, as he himself tells us, "poorly -brought up" by his stepfather, a bricklayer. He went to Westminster -School, where he was taught by Camden, and he may have spent a short -time at Cambridge, though this is doubtful. His schooling was nipped in -the bud, for he had to go home and lay brick; and when he found such an -existence insupportable he went into the army and fought in the -Netherlands. At about the age of twenty we find him back in London, and -there lose sight of him for five years, when all at once his great -comedy "Every Man in his Humour" is performed, and makes him famous. -Now, in such a life, when did Jonson get the time for his immense -reading and his finished classical scholarship? Reasoning after the -manner of the Delia-Baconians, we may safely say that he could not -possibly have accumulated the learning which is shown in his plays: -therefore he could not have written those plays; therefore Lord Bacon -must have written them! There are daring soarers in the empyrean who do -not shrink from this conclusion; a doctor in Michigan, named Owen, has -published a pamphlet to prove, among other things, that Bacon was the -author of the plays which were performed and printed as Jonson's. - -To return to Shakespeare. Somewhere about 1585, when he was -one-and-twenty, he went to London, leaving his wife and three young -children at Stratford. His father had lost money, and the fortunes of -the family were at the lowest ebb. In London we lose sight of -Shakespeare for a while, just as we lose sight of Jonson, until literary -works appear. The work first published is "Venus and Adonis," one of the -most exquisite pieces of diction in the English language. It was -dedicated to Henry, Earl of Southampton, by William Shakespeare, whose -authorship of the poem is asserted as distinctly as the title-page of -"David Copperfield" proclaims that novel to be by Charles Dickens, yet -some precious critics assure us that Shakespeare "could not" have -written the poem, and never knew the Earl of Southampton. Some years -ago, Mr. Appleton Morgan, who does not wish to be regarded as a -Baconizer, published an essay on the Warwickshire dialect, in which he -maintained that since no traces of that kind of speech occur in "Venus -and Adonis," therefore it could not have been written by a young man -fresh from a small Warwickshire town. This is a specimen of the loose -kind of criticism which prepares soil for Delia-Baconian weeds to grow -in. The poem was published in 1593, seven or eight years after -Shakespeare's coming to London; and we are asked to believe that the -world's greatest genius, one of the most consummate masters of speech -that ever lived, could tarry seven years in the city without learning -how to write what Hosea Biglow calls "citified English"! One can only -exclaim with Gloster, "O monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought!" - -In those years Shakespeare surely learned much else. It seems clear that -he had a good reading acquaintance with French and Italian, though he -often uses translations, as for instance Florio's version of Montaigne. -In estimating what Shakespeare "must have" known or "could not have" -known, one needs to use more caution than some of our critics display. -For example, in "The Winter's Tale" the statue of Hermione is called "a -piece ... now newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio -Romano." Now, since Romano is known as a great painter, but not as a -sculptor, this has been cited as a blunder on Shakespeare's part. It -appears, however, that the first edition of Vasari's "Lives of the -Painters," published in 1550 and never translated from its original -Italian, informs us that Romano did work in sculpture. In Vasari's -second edition, published in 1568 and translated into several languages, -this information is not given. From these facts, the erudite German -critic Dr. Karl Elze, who is not a bit of a Delia-Baconian, but only an -occasional sufferer from _vesania commentatorum_, introduces us to a -solemn dilemma: either the author of "The Winter's Tale" must have -consulted the first edition of Vasari in the original Italian, or else -he must have travelled in Italy and gazed upon statues by Romano. Ah! -prithee not so fast, worthy doctor; be not so lavish with these "musts." -It is, I think, improbable that Shakespeare ever saw Italy except with -the eyes of his imperial fancy. On the other hand, there are many -indications that he could read Italian, but among them we cannot attach -much importance to this one. Why should he not have learned from -_hearsay_ that Romano had made statues? In the name of common sense, are -there no sources of knowledge save books? Or, since it was no unusual -thing for Italian painters in the sixteenth century to excel in -sculpture and architecture, why should not Shakespeare have assumed -without verification that it was so in Romano's case? It was a tolerably -safe assumption to make, especially in an age utterly careless of -historical accuracy, and in a comedy which provides Bohemia with a -sea-coast, and mixes up times and customs with as scant heed of -probability as a fairy tale. - -In arguing about what Shakespeare "must have" or "could not have" known, -we must not forget that at no time or place since history began has -human thought fermented more briskly than in London while he was living -there. The age of Drake and Raleigh was an age of efflorescence in -dramatic poetry, such as had not been seen in the twenty centuries since -Euripides died. Among Shakespeare's fellow craftsmen were writers of -such great and varied endowments as Chapman, Marlowe, Greene, Nash, -Peele, Marston, Dekker, Webster, and Cyril Tourneur. During his earlier -years in London, Richard Hooker was master of the Middle Temple, and -there a little later Ford and Beaumont were studying. The erudite -Camden was master of Westminster School; among the lights of the age -for legal learning were Edward Coke and Francis Bacon; at the same time, -one might have met in London the learned architect Inigo Jones and the -learned poet John Donne, both of them excellent classical scholars; -there one would have found the divine poet Edmund Spenser, just come -over from Ireland to see to the publication of his "Faerie Queene;" not -long afterward came John Fletcher from Cambridge, and the acute -philosopher Edward Herbert from Oxford and one and all might listen to -the incomparable table-talk of that giant of scholarship, John Selden. -The delights of the Mermaid Tavern, where these rare wits were wont to -assemble, still live in tradition. As Keats says:-- - - "Souls of poets dead and gone, - What Elysium have ye known, - Happy field or mossy cavern, - Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?" - -It has always been believed that this place was one of Shakespeare's -favourite haunts. By common consent of scholars, it has been accepted as -the scene of those contests of wit between Shakespeare and Jonson of -which Fuller tells us when he compares Jonson to a Spanish galleon, -built high with learning, but slow in movement, while he likens -Shakespeare to an English cruiser, less heavily weighted, but apt for -victory because of its nimbleness,--the same kind of contrast, by the -way, as that which occurred to Milton. - -But our Baconizing friends will not allow that Shakespeare ever went to -the Mermaid, or knew the people who met there; at least, none but a few -fellow dramatists. We have no documentary proof that he ever met with -Raleigh, or Bacon, or Selden. Let us observe that, while these sapient -critics are in some cases ready to welcome the slightest circumstantial -evidence, there are others in which they will accept nothing short of -absolute demonstration. Did Shakespeare ever see a maypole? The word -occurs just once in his plays, namely, in the "Midsummer Night's Dream," -where little Hermia, quarrelling with tall Helena, calls her a "painted -maypole;" but that proves nothing. I am not aware that there is any -absolute documentary proof that Shakespeare ever set eyes on a maypole. -It is nevertheless certain that in England, at that time, no boy could -grow to manhood without seeing many a maypole. Common sense has some -rights which we are bound to respect. - -Now, Shakespeare's London was a small city of from 150,000 to 200,000 -souls, or about the size of Providence or Minneapolis at the present -time. In cities of such size, everybody of the slightest eminence is -known all over town, and such persons are sure to be more or less -acquainted with one another; it is a very rare exception when it is not -so. Before his thirtieth year, Shakespeare was well known in London as -an actor, a writer of plays, and the manager of a prominent theatre. It -was in that year that Spenser, in his "Colin Clout's Come Home Again," -alluding to Shakespeare under the name of Aëtion, or "eagle-like," paid -him this compliment:-- - - "And there, though last, not least, is Aëtion; - A gentler shepherd may nowhere be found; - Whose muse, full of high thought's invention, - Doth, like himself, heroically sound." - -Four years after this, in 1598, Francis Meres published his book -entitled "Palladis Tamia," a very interesting contribution to literary -history. The author, who had been an instructor in rhetoric in the -University of Oxford, was then living in London, near the Globe Theatre. -In this book Meres tells his readers that "the sweet witty soul of Ovid -lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare; witness his 'Venus -and Adonis,' his 'Lucrece,' his sugared sonnets among his private -friends, etc.... As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for comedy -and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among the English is the -most excellent in both kinds for the stage: for comedy, witness his -'Gentlemen of Verona,' his 'Errors,' his 'Love's Labour's Lost,' his -'Love's Labour's Wonne,'[38] his 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' and his -'Merchant of Venice;' for tragedy, his 'Richard II.,' 'Richard III.,' -'Henry IV.,' 'King John,' 'Titus Andronicus,' and his 'Romeo and -Juliet.' As Epius Stolo said that the Muses would speak with Plautus's -tongue if they would speak Latin, so I say that the Muses would speak -with Shakespeare's fine filed phrase if they would speak English." In -other passages Meres mentions Shakespeare's lyrical quality, for which -he likens him to Pindar and Catullus; and the glory of his style, for -which he places him along with Virgil and Homer. It thus appears that, -at the age of thirty-four, this poet from Stratford was already ranked -by critical scholars by the side of the greatest names of antiquity. Let -me add that the popularity of his plays was making him a somewhat -wealthy man, so that he had relieved his father from pecuniary troubles, -and had just bought for himself the Great House at Stratford where the -last years of his life were spent. His income seems already to have been -equivalent to $10,000 a year in our modern money. His position had come -to be such that he could extend patronage to others. It was in 1598 that -through his influence Ben Jonson obtained, after many rebuffs, his first -hearing before a London audience, when "Every Man in his Humour" was -brought out at Blackfriars Theatre, with Shakespeare acting one of the -parts. - -To suppose that such a man as this, in a town the size of Minneapolis, -connected with a principal theatre, writer of the most popular plays of -the day, a poet whom men were already coupling with Homer and -Pindar,--to suppose that such a man was not known to all the educated -people in the town is simply absurd. There were probably very few men, -women, or children in London, between 1595 and 1610, who did not know -who Shakespeare was when he passed them in the street; and as for such -wits as drank ale and sack at the Mermaid, as for Raleigh and Bacon and -Selden and the rest, to suppose that Shakespeare did not know them -well--nay, to suppose that he was not the leading spirit and brightest -wit of those ambrosial nights--is about as sensible as to suppose that -he never saw a maypole. - -The facts thus far contemplated point to one conclusion. The son of a -well-to-do magistrate in a small country town is born with a genius -which the world has never seen surpassed. Coming to London at the age -of twenty-one, he achieves such swift success that within thirteen years -he is recognized as one of the chief glories of English literature. -During this time he is living in the midst of such a period of -intellectual ferment as the world has seldom seen, and in a position -which necessarily brings him into frequent contact with all the most -cultivated men. Under such circumstances, there is nothing in the -smallest degree strange or surprising in his acquiring the varied -knowledge which his plays exhibit. The major premise of the -Delia-Baconians has, therefore, nothing in it whatever. It is a mere -bubble, an empty vagary,--only this, and nothing more. - -Before leaving this part of the subject, however, there are still one or -two points of interest to be mentioned. Shakespeare shows a fondness for -the use of phrases and illustrations taken from the law; and on such -grounds our Delia-Baconians argue that the plays must have been written -by an eminent lawyer, such as the Lord Chancellor Bacon undoubtedly was. -They feel that this is a great point on their side. One instance, cited -by Nathaniel Holmes and other Baconizers, is the celebrated case of Sir -James Hales, who committed suicide by drowning, and was accordingly -buried at the junction of crossroads, with a stake through his body, -while all his property was forfeited to the Crown. Presently his widow -brought suit for an estate by survivorship in joint-tenancy. Her case -turned upon the question whether the forfeiture occurred during her late -husband's lifetime: if it did, he left no estate which she could take; -if it did not, she took the estate by survivorship. The lady's counsel -argued that so long as Sir James was alive he had not been guilty of -suicide, and the instant he died the estate vested in his widow as -joint-tenant. But the opposing counsel argued that the instant Sir James -voluntarily made the fatal plunge, and therefore before the breath had -left his body, the guilt of suicide was incurred and the forfeiture took -place. The court decided in favour of this view, and the widow got -nothing. - -There can be little doubt that this decision is travestied in the -conversation of the two clowns in "Hamlet" with regard to Ophelia's -right to Christian burial. The first clown makes precisely the point -upon which the ingenious counsel for the defendant had rested his -argument: "If I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act, and an act -hath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to perform." In making -this distinction the counsel had maintained that the second branch, or -the doing, was the only thing for the law to consider. The talk of the -clowns brings out the humour of the case with Shakespeare's inimitable -lightness of touch. - -The report of the Hales case was published in the volume of "Plowden's -Reports" which was issued in 1578; and Mr. Holmes informs us that "there -is not the slightest ground for a belief, on the facts which we know, -that Shakespeare ever looked into 'Plowden's Reports.'" This is one of -the cases where your stern Baconizer will not hear of anything short of -absolute demonstration. Mere considerations of human probability might -disturb the cogency of a neat little pair of syllogisms:-- - -(1.) The author of "Hamlet" must have read Plowden. Shakespeare never -read Plowden. Therefore Shakespeare was not the author of "Hamlet." - -(2.) The author of "Hamlet" must have read Plowden. The lawyer, Bacon, -must have read Plowden. Therefore Bacon wrote "Hamlet." - -With regard to the major premise here, one might freely deny it. The -author of "Hamlet" might easily have got all the knowledge involved from -an evening chat with some legal friend at an alehouse. Then as to the -minor premise, what earthly improbability is there in Shakespeare's -having dipped into Plowden? Can anybody but lawyers or law students -enjoy reading reports of law cases? I remember that, when I was about -ten years old, a favourite book with me was one entitled "Criminal -Trials of All Countries, by a Member of the Philadelphia Bar." I read it -and read it, until forbidden to read such a gruesome book, and then I -read it all the more. One of the most elaborate reports in it was that -of the famous case of Captain Donellan, tried in 1780 on a charge of -poisoning his wife's brother, Sir Theodosius Boughton, a dissipated and -diseased young man, who died very suddenly one day. A post-mortem -inspection showed spots in the intestine, which three ordinary country -doctors ascribed to poisoning by laurel water, while Sir John Hunter, -one of the greatest authorities in Europe, testified that they might -equally well have ensued upon death from apoplexy. The judge, Sir -Francis Buller, saw fit, in his charge, to reckon this as the testimony -of three experts against one; and thus the jury were driven to a verdict -of murder, though it was not proved that any murder had been committed. -Captain Donellan, who lived in his brother-in-law's house, was a man of -blameless life, an amateur chemist, much given to fooling with odorous -liquids and hissing retorts. It was proved that he had been distilling -laurel water, and one or two other suspicious circumstances were -alleged. The whole trial was begun and ended on the same day, the jury -were about twenty minutes in finding the captain guilty, and three days -afterward he was hung. It was a case where reason was submerged and -drowned under a wave of angry prejudice shrieking for a victim. - -Now, if I did not forthwith write a play, and take the occasion to -ridicule the judge's charge to the jury, it was because I could not -write a play, not because I did not fully appreciate the insult to law -and common sense which that unfortunate case involved. In view of this -and other experiences, when I now read a play or a novel that contains -an intelligent allusion to some law case, I am far from feeling driven -to the conclusion that it must have been written by a lord chancellor. - -If Shakespeare's dramas are proved by such internal evidence to have -been written by a lawyer, that lawyer, by parity of reasoning, could -hardly have been Francis Bacon. For he was preëminently a chancery -lawyer, and chancery phrases are in Shakespeare conspicuously absent. -The word "injunctions" occurs five times in the plays, once perhaps with -a reference to its legal use ("Merchant of Venice," II. ix.); but -nowhere do we find any exhibition of a knowledge of chancery law. His -allusions to the common law are often very amusing, as when, in "Love's -Labour's Lost," at the end of a brisk punning-match between Boyet and -Maria, he offers to kiss her, laughingly asking for a grant of pasture -on her lips, and she replies, "Not so; my lips are no common, though -several they be." Again, in "The Comedy of Errors," "Dromio asserts that -there is no time for a bald man to recover his hair. This having been -written, the law phrase suggested itself, and he was asked whether he -might not do it by fine and recovery, and this suggested the efficiency -of that proceeding to bar heirs; and this started the conceit that thus -the lost hair of another man would be recovered."[39] In such quaint -allusions to the common law and its proceedings Shakespeare abounds, and -we cannot help remembering that Nash, in his prefatory epistle to -Greene's "Menaphon," printed about 1589, makes sneering mention of -Shakespeare as a man who had left the "trade of Noverint," whereunto he -was born, in order to try his hand at tragedy. The "trade of Noverint" -was a slang expression for the business of attorney; and this passage -has suggested that Shakespeare may have spent some time in a law office, -as student or as clerk, either before leaving Stratford, or perhaps -soon after his arrival in London. This seems to me not improbable. On -the other hand, "The Merchant of Venice" contains such crazy law that it -is hard to imagine it coming even from a lawyer's clerk. At all events, -we may safely say that the legal knowledge exhibited in the plays is no -more than might readily have been acquired by a man of assimilative -genius associating with lawyers. It simply shows the range and accuracy -of Shakespeare's powers of observation. - -Let us come now to the second part of the Delia Bacon theory. Having -satisfied herself that William Shakespeare could not have written the -poems and plays published under his name, she jumped to the conclusion -that Francis Bacon was the author. Surely, a singular choice! Of all -men, why Francis Bacon?[40] Why not, as I said before, George Chapman or -Ben Jonson, men who were at once learned scholars and great poets? -Chapman, like Marlowe, could write the "mighty line." Jonson had rare -lyric power; his verses sing, as witness the wonderful "Do but look on -her eyes," which Francis Bacon could no more have written than he could -have jumped over the moon. To pitch upon Bacon as the writer of -"Twelfth Night" or "Romeo and Juliet" is about as sensible as to assert -that "David Copperfield" must have been written by Charles Darwin. After -a familiar acquaintance of more than forty years with Shakespeare's -works, of nearly forty years with Bacon's, the two men impress me as -simply antipodal one to the other. A similar feeling was entertained by -the late Mr. Spedding, the biographer and editor of Bacon; and no one -has more happily hit off the vagaries of the Baconizers than the -foremost Bacon scholar now living, Dr. Kuno Fischer, in his recent -address before the Shakespeare Society at Weimar.[41] I used to wonder -whether the Bacon-Shakespeare people really knew anything about Bacon, -and, now that chance has led me to read their books, I am quite sure -they do not. To their minds, his works are simply a storehouse of texts -which serve them for controversial missiles, very much as scattered -texts from the Bible used to serve our uncritical grandfathers. - -Francis Bacon was one of the most interesting persons of his time, and, -as is often the case with such many-sided characters, posterity has held -various opinions about him. On the one hand, his fame has grown brighter -with the years; on the other hand, it has come to be more or less -circumscribed and limited. Pope's famous verse, "The wisest, brightest, -meanest of mankind," may be disputed in all its three specifications. -Bacon's treatment of Essex, which formerly called forth such bitter -condemnation, has been, I think, completely justified; and as for the -taking of bribes, which led to his disgrace, there were circumstances -which ought largely to mitigate the severity of our judgment. But if -Bacon was far from being a mean example of human nature, it is surely an -exaggeration to call him the wisest and brightest of mankind. He was a -scholar and critic of vast accomplishments, a writer of noble English -prose, and a philosopher who represented rather than inaugurated a most -beneficial revolution in the aims and methods of scientific inquiry. He -is one of the real glories of English literature, but he is also one of -the most overrated men of modern times. When we find Macaulay saying -that Bacon had "the most exquisitely constructed intellect that has ever -been bestowed on any of the children of men," we need not be surprised -to find that his elaborate essay on Bacon is as false in its fundamental -conception as it is inaccurate in details. For a long time it was one of -the accepted commonplaces that Bacon inaugurated the method by which -modern discoveries in physical science have been made. Early in the -present century, such writers on the history of science as Whewell began -to show the incorrectness of this notion, and it was completely exploded -by Stanley Jevons in his "Principles of Science," the most profound -treatise on method that has appeared in the last fifty years. Jevons -writes: "It is wholly a mistake to say that modern science is the result -of the Baconian philosophy; it is the Newtonian philosophy and the -Newtonian method which have led to all the great triumphs of physical -science, and ... the 'Principia' forms the true Novum Organon." This -statement of Jevons is thoroughly sound. The great Harvey, who knew how -scientific discoveries are made, said with gentle sarcasm that Bacon -"wrote philosophy like a lord chancellor;" yet Harvey would not have -denied that the chancellor was doing noble service as the eloquent -expounder of many sides of the scientific movement that was then -gathering strength. Bacons mind was eminently sagacious and fertile in -suggestions, but the supreme creative faculty, the power to lead men -into new paths, was precisely the thing which he did not possess. His -place is a very high one among intellects of the second order; but to -rank him with such godlike spirits as Newton, Spinoza, and Leibnitz -simply shows that one has no real knowledge of the work which such men -have done. - -So much for Bacon himself. With regard to him as possible author of the -Shakespeare poems and plays, it is difficult to imagine so learned a -scholar making the kind of mistakes that abound in those writings. Bacon -would hardly have introduced clocks into the Rome of Julius Cæsar; nor -would he have made Hector quote Aristotle, nor Hamlet study at the -University of Wittenberg, founded five hundred years after Hamlet's -time; nor would he have put pistols into the age of Henry IV., nor -cannon into the age of King John; and we may be pretty sure that he -would not have made one of the characters in "King Lear" talk about -Turks and Bedlam. In this severely realistic age of ours, writers are -more on their guard against such anachronisms than they were in -Shakespeare's time; in his works we cannot call them serious blemishes, -for they do not affect the artistic character of the plays, but they are -certainly such mistakes as a scholar like Bacon would not have -committed. - -Deeper down lies the contrast involved in the fact that Bacon was in a -high degree a subjective writer, from whom you are perpetually getting -revelations of his idiosyncrasies and moods, whereas of all writers in -the world Shakespeare is the most completely objective, the most -absorbed in the work of creation. In the one writer you are always -reminded of the man Bacon; in the other the personality is never thrust -into sight. Bacon is highly self-conscious; from Shakespeare -self-consciousness is absent. - -The contrast is equally great in respect of humour. I would not deny -that Bacon relished a joke, or could perpetrate a pun; but the bubbling, -seething, frolicsome, irrepressible drollery of Shakespeare is something -quite foreign to him. Read his essays, and you get charming English, -wide knowledge, deep thought, keen observation, worldly wisdom, good -humour, sweet serenity; but exuberant fun is not there. In writing these -essays Bacon was following an example set by Montaigne, but, as -contrasted with the delicate effervescent humour of the Frenchman, his -style seems sober and almost insipid. Only fancy such a man trying to -write "The Merry Wives of Windsor"! - -Both Shakespeare and Bacon were sturdy and rapacious purloiners. They -seized upon other men's bright thoughts and made them their own without -compunction and without acknowledgment; and this may account for sundry -similarities which may be culled from the plays and from Bacon's works, -upon which Baconizing text-mongers are wont to lay great stress as proof -of common authorship. Some such resemblances may be due to borrowing -from common sources; others are doubtless purely fanciful; others -indicate either that Shakespeare cribbed from Bacon or _vice versa_. -Here are a few miscellaneous instances:-- - -Where Bacon says, "Be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others" -("Essay of Wisdom"), Shakespeare says:-- - - "To thine own self be true, - And it must follow, as the night the day, - Thou canst not then be false to any man." - - (Hamlet, I. iii.) - -This looks as if one writer might have copied from the other. If so, it -is Bacon who is the thief, for the lines occur in the quarto "Hamlet" -published in 1603, whereas the "Essay of Wisdom" was first published in -1612. - -Again, where Bacon, in the "Essay of Gardens," says, "The breath of -flowers comes and goes like the warbling of music," it reminds one -strongly of the exquisite passage in "Twelfth Night" where the Duke -exclaims:-- - - "That strain again! it had a dying fall: - O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south, - That breathes upon a bank of violets, - Stealing and giving odour." - -I have little doubt that Bacon had this passage in mind when he wrote -the "Essay of Gardens," which was first published in 1625, two years -later than the complete folio of Shakespeare. This effectually disposes -of the attempt to cite these correspondences in evidence that Bacon -wrote the plays. - -Another instance is from "Richard III.:"-- - - "By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust - Ensuing danger; as, by proof, we see - The waters swell before a boisterous storm." - -Bacon, in the "Essay of Sedition," writes, "As there are ... secret -swellings of seas before a tempest, so there are in states." But this -essay was not published till 1625, so again we find him copying -Shakespeare. Many such "parallelisms," cited to prove that Bacon wrote -Shakespeare's works, do really prove that he read them with great care -and remembered them well, or else took notes from them. - -An interesting illustration of the helpless ignorance shown by -Baconizers is furnished by a remark of Sir Toby Belch in "Twelfth -Night." In his instructions to that dear old simpleton, Sir Andrew -Aguecheek, about the challenge, Sir Toby observes, "If thou thou'st him -some thrice, it shall not be amiss." In Elizabethan English, to address -a man as "thou" was to treat him as socially inferior; such familiarity -was allowable only between members of the same family or in speaking to -servants, just as you address your wife, and likewise the cook and -housemaid, by their Christian names, while with the ladies of your -acquaintance such familiarity would be rudeness. The same rule for the -pronoun survives to-day in French and German, but has been forgotten in -English. In the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1604, Justice Coke -insulted the prisoner by calling out, "Thou viper! for I _thou_ thee, -thou traitor!" Now, one of our Baconizers thinks that his idol, in -writing "Twelfth Night," introduced Sir Toby's suggestion in order to -recall to the audience Coke's abusive remark. Once more, a little -attention to dates would have prevented the making of a bad blunder. We -know from Manningham's Diary that "Twelfth Night" had been on the stage -nearly two years before Raleigh's trial. On the other hand, to say that -the play might have suggested to Coke his coarse speech would be -admissible, but idle, inasmuch as the expression "to _thou_ a man" was -an every-day phrase in that age. - -Here it naturally occurs to me to mention the "Promus," about which as -much fuss has been made as if it really furnished evidence in support -of the Baconian folly. There is in the British Museum a manuscript, in -Bacon's handwriting, entitled "Promus of Formularies and Elegancies." -"Promus" means "storehouse" or "treasury." A date at the top of the -first page shows that it was begun in December, 1594; there is nothing, -I believe, to show over how many years it extended. It is a scrap-book -in which Bacon jotted down such sentences, words, and phrases as struck -his fancy, such as might be utilized in his writings. These neatly -turned phrases, these "formularies and elegancies," are gathered from -all quarters,--from the Bible, from Virgil and Horace, from Ovid and -Seneca, from Erasmus, from collections of proverbs in various languages, -etc. As there is apparently nothing original in this scrap-bag, Mr. -Spedding did not think it worth while to include it in his edition of -Bacon's works, but in the fourteenth volume he gives a sufficient -description of it, with illustrative extracts. In 1883 Mrs. Henry Pott -published the whole of this "Promus" manuscript, and swelled it by -comments and dissertations into a volume of 600 octavo pages. She had -found in it several hundred expressions which reminded her of passages -in Shakespeare, and so it confirmed her in the opinion which she already -entertained that Bacon was the author of Shakespeare's works. Thus, -when the "Promus" has a verse from Ovid, which means, "And the forced -tongue begins to lisp the sound commanded," it reminds Mrs. Pott of -divers lines in which Shakespeare uses the word "lisp," as for example, -in "As You Like It," "you lisp and wear strange suits;" and she jumps to -the conclusion that when Bacon jotted down the verse from Ovid, it was -as a preparatory study toward "As You Like It," and any other play that -contains the word "lisp:" therefore Bacon wrote all those plays, _Q. E. -D._! On the next page we find Virgil's remark, "Thus was I wont to -compare great things with small," made the father of Falstaff's "base -comparisons," and Fluellen's "Macedon and Monmouth," as well as honest -Dogberry's "comparisons are odorous." When one reads such things, -evidently printed in all seriousness, one feels like asking Mrs. Pott, -in the apt words of Shakespeare's friend Fletcher, "What mare's nest -hast thou found?" ("Bonduca," V. ii.) - -There are many phrases, however, in the "Promus" which undoubtedly agree -with phrases in the plays. They show that Bacon heard or read the plays -with great interest, and culled from them his "elegancies" with no -stinted hand. As for Mrs. Pott's bulky volume, it brings us so near to -the final _reductio ad absurdum_ of the Bacon theory that we hardly -need spend many words upon the gross improbabilities which that theory -involves. The plays of Shakespeare were universally ascribed to him by -his contemporaries; many of them were published during his lifetime with -his name upon the title-page as the author; all were collected and -published together by Hemminge and Condell, two of his fellow actors, -seven years after his death; and for more than two centuries nobody ever -dreamed of looking for a different authorship, or of associating the -plays with Bacon. But this Chimborazo of _prima facie_ evidence becomes -a mere mole-hill in the hands of your valiant Baconizer. It is all clear -to him. Bacon did not acknowledge the authorship of these works because -such literature was deemed frivolous, and current prejudices against -theatres and playwrights might injure his hopes of advancement at the -bar and in political life. Therefore, by some sort of private -understanding with the ignorant and sordid wretch Shakespeare,[42] at -whose theatre they were brought out, their authorship was ascribed to -him, the real author died without revealing the secret, and the whole -world was deceived until the days of Delia Bacon. - -But there are questions which even this ingenious hypothesis fails to -answer. Why should Bacon have taken the time to write those thirty-seven -plays, two poems, and one hundred and fifty-four sonnets, if they were -never to be known as his works? Not for money, surely, for that grasping -Shakespeare seems to have got the money as well as the fame; Bacon died -a poor man. His principal aim in life was to construct a new system of -philosophy; on this noble undertaking he spent such time as he could -save from the exactions of his public career as member of Parliament, -chancery lawyer, solicitor-general, attorney-general, lord chancellor; -and he died with this work far from finished. The volumes which he left -behind him were only fragments of the mighty structure which he had -planned. We may well ask, Where did this overburdened writer find the -time for doing work of another kind voluminous enough to fill a -lifetime, and what motive had he for doing it without recompense in -either fame or money? Baconizers find it strange that Shakespeare's will -contains no reference to his plays as literary property. The omission is -certainly interesting, since it seems to indicate that he had parted -with his pecuniary interest in them,--had perhaps sold it out to the -Globe Theatre. If this omission can be held to show that Shakespeare -was lacking in fondness for the productions of his own genius, what -shall be said of the notion that Bacon spent half his life in writing -works the paternity of which he must forever disown? - -This question is answered by Mr. Ignatius Donnelly, a writer who -speculates with equal infelicity on all subjects, but never suffers for -lack of boldness. He published in 1887 a book even bigger than that of -Mrs. Pott, for it has nearly 1000 pages. Its title is, "The Great -Cryptogram," and its thesis is, that Bacon really did claim the -authorship of the Shakespeare plays. Only the claim was made in a -cipher, and if you simply make some numbers mean some words, and other -words mean other numbers, and perform a good many sums in what the Mock -Turtle called "ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision," you -will be able to read this claim between the lines, along with much other -wonderful information. Thus does the arithmetical Donnelly carry us -quite a long stride nearer to the _reductio ad absurdum_, or suicide -point, than we were left by Mrs. Pott, with her lisping and limping -comparisons. - -But before we come to the jumping-off place, let us pause for a moment -and take a retrospective glance at the natural history of the -Bacon-Shakespeare craze. What was it that first unlocked the -sluice-gates, and poured forth such a deluge of foolishness upon a -sorely suffering world? It will hardly do to lay the blame upon poor -Delia Bacon. Her suggestions would have borne no fruit had they not -found a public, albeit a narrow one, in some degree prepared for them. -Who, then, prepared the soil for the seeds of this idiocy to take root? -Who but the race of fond and foolish Shakespeare commentators, with -their absurd claims for their idol? During the eighteenth century -Shakespeare was generally underrated. Voltaire wondered how a nation -that possessed such a noble tragedy as Addison's "Cato" could endure -such plays as "Hamlet" and "Othello." In the days of Scott and Burns a -reaction set in; and Shakespeare worship reached its height when the -Germans took it up, and, not satisfied with calling him the prince of -poets and peerless master of dramatic art, began to discover in his -works all sorts of hidden philosophy and impossible knowledge. Of the -average German mind Lowell good-naturedly says that "it finds its -keenest pleasure in divining a profound significance in the most -trifling things, and the number of mare's nests that have been stared -into by the German _Gelehrter_ through his spectacles passes -calculation."[43] But the Germans are not the only sinners; let me cite -an instance from near home. In the quarto "Hamlet" of 1603 we read:-- - - "Full forty years are past, their date is gone, - Since happy time joined both our hearts as one: - And now the blood that filled my youthful veins - Runs weakly in their pipes," etc. - -Whereupon Mr. Edward Vining calls upon us to observe how Shakespeare, -"to whom all human knowledge seems to be but a matter of instinct, in -[these lines] asserts the circulation of the blood in the veins and -'pipes,' a truth which Harvey probably did not even suspect until at -least thirteen years later," etc.[44] Does Mr. Vining really suppose -that what Harvey did was to discover that blood runs in our veins? A -little further study of history would have taught him that even the -ancients knew that blood runs in the veins.[45] About fourteen hundred -years before "Hamlet" was written, Galen proved that it also runs in -the arteries. After Galen's time, it was believed that the dark blood -nourishes such plebeian organs as the liver, while the bright blood -nourishes such lordly organs as the brain, and that the interchange -takes place in the heart; until the sixteenth century, when Vesalius -proved that the interchange does not take place in the heart, and the -martyr Servetus proved that it does take place in the lungs; and so on -till 1619, when Harvey discovered that dark blood is brought by the -veins to the right side of the heart, and thence driven into the lungs, -where it becomes bright and flows into the left side of the heart, -thence to be propelled throughout the body in the arteries. That it then -grows dark and returns through the veins Harvey believed, but no one -could tell how, until, forty years later, Malpighi with his microscope -detected the capillaries. Now to talk about Shakespeare discerning as if -by instinct a truth which Harvey afterward discovered is simply silly. -Instead of showing rare scientific knowledge, his remark about blood -running in the veins is one that anybody might have made. - -This is a fair specimen of the ignorant way in which doting commentators -have built up an impossible Shakespeare, until at last they have -provoked a reaction. Sooner or later the question was sure to arise, -Where did your Stratford boy get all this abstruse scientific knowledge? -The keynote was perhaps first sounded by August von Schlegel, who -persuaded himself that Shakespeare had mastered "all the things and -relations of this world," and then went on to declare that the accepted -account of his life must be a mere fable. Thus we reach the point from -which Delia Bacon started. - -It may safely be said that all theories of Shakespeare's plays which -suppose them to be attempts at teaching occult philosophical doctrines, -or which endow them with any other meanings than those which their words -directly and plainly convey, are a delusion and a snare. Those plays -were written, not to teach philosophy, but to fill the theatre and make -money. They were written by a practised actor and manager, the most -consummate master of dramatic effects that ever lived; a poet -unsurpassed for fertility of invention, unequalled for melody of -language, unapproached for delicacy of fancy, inexhaustible in humour, -profoundest of moralists; a man who knew human nature by intuition, as -Mozart knew counterpoint or as Chopin knew harmony. The name of that -writer was none other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon. - -It was inevitable that the Bacon folly, after once adopting such methods -as those of Mrs. Pott and Mr. Donnelly, should proceed to commit suicide -by piling up extravagances. By such methods one can prove anything, and -accordingly we find these writers busy in tracing Bacon's hand in the -writings of Greene, Marlowe, Shirley, Marston, Massinger, Middleton, and -Webster. They are sure that he was the author of Montaigne's Essays, -which were afterward translated into what we have always supposed to be -the French original. Mr. Donnelly believes that Bacon also wrote -Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy." Next comes Dr. Orville Owen with a new -cipher, which proves that Bacon was the son of Queen Elizabeth by Robert -Dudley, and that he was the author of the "Faerie Queene" and other -poems attributed to Edmund Spenser. Finally we have Mr. J. E. Roe, who -does not mean to be outdone. He asks us what we are to think of the -notion that an ignorant tinker, like John Bunyan, could have written the -most perfect allegory in any language. Perish the thought! Nobody but -Bacon could have done it. Of course Bacon had been more than fifty years -in his grave when "Pilgrim's Progress" was published as Bunyan's. But -your true Baconizer is never stopped by trifles. Mr. Roe assures us -that Bacon wrote that heavenly book, as well as "Robinson Crusoe" and -the "Tale of a Tub;" which surely begins to make him seem ubiquitous and -everlasting. If things go on at this rate, we shall presently have a -religious sect holding as its first article of faith that Francis Bacon -created the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh -day. - -_November, 1896._ - - - - -XIV - -SOME CRANKS AND THEIR CROTCHETS - - "Now, by two-headed Janus, - Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time!" - - _Merchant of Venice_, I. i. - - -About five-and-twenty years ago, when I was assistant librarian at -Harvard University, much of my time was occupied in revising and -bringing toward completion the gigantic pair of twin catalogues--of -authors and subjects--which my predecessor, Dr. Ezra Abbot, had started -in 1861. Twins they were in simultaneity of birth, but not in likeness -of growth. Naturally, the classified catalogue was much bigger than its -brother, filled more drawers, cost more money, and made a vast deal more -trouble. For while some books were easy enough to classify, others were -not at all easy, and sometimes curious questions would arise. - -One day, for example, I happened to be looking at a pamphlet on the -value of Pi; and, should any of my readers ask what that might mean, I -should answer that Pi ([Greek: p]) is the Greek letter which geometers -use to denote the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its -diameter. The arithmetical value of this symbol is 3.1415926536, and so -on in an endless fraction. Is it not hard to see what there can be in -such an innocent decimal to irritate human beings and destroy their -peace of mind? Yet so it is. Many a human life has been wrecked upon Pi. -To a certain class of our fellow-creatures its existence is maddening. -It interferes with the success of a little scheme on which they have set -their hearts,--nothing less than to construct a square which shall be -exactly equivalent in dimensions to a given circle. Nobody has ever done -such a thing, for it cannot be done. But when mathematicians tell these -poor people that such is the case, they howl with rage, and, dipping -their pens in gall, write book after book bristling with figures to -prove that they have "squared the circle." The Harvard library does not -buy such books, but it accepts all manner of gifts, and has thus come to -contain some queer things. - -When I consulted the subject catalogue, to see under what head it had -been customary to classify these lucubrations on Pi, I found, sure -enough, that it was Mathematics § Circle-Squaring. Following this cue, I -explored the drawers in other directions, and found books on "perpetual -motion" formed a section under Physics, while crazy interpretations of -the book of Daniel were grouped along with works of solid Biblical -scholarship by such eminent writers as Reuss and Kuenen and Cheyne. -Clearly, here was a case for reform. The principle of classification was -faulty. In one sense, the treatment of the quadrature of the circle may -be regarded as a section under the general head of mathematics; as, for -example, when Lindemann, in 1882, showed that Pi cannot be represented -as the root of any algebraic equation with rational coefficients. But -our circle-squaring literature is very different. It is usually written -by persons whose mathematical horizon scarcely extends beyond long -division: just as the writers on perpetual motion know nothing of -physics; just as so many expositors have dealt with the ten-horned beast -in blissful ignorance alike of ancient history and of the principles of -literary criticism. What all such books illustrate, however various may -be their ostensible themes, is the pathology of the human mind. They are -specimens of Insane Literature. As such they have a certain sort of -interest; and to any rational being it is the only sort they can have. - -So I culled from many a little drawer the cards appertaining to divers -printed products of morbid cerebration, and gathered them into a class -of Insane Literature; and under this rubric such sections as -Circle-Squaring, Perpetual Motion, Great Pyramid, Earth not a Globe, -etc., were evidently in their proper place. The name of the class was -duly inscribed on the outside of its drawer, and the matter seemed -happily disposed of. - -The way of the reformer, however, is beset with difficulties, and it is -seldom that his first efforts are crowned with entire success. Not many -days had elapsed since this emendation of the catalogue, when one of my -assistants brought me the card of a book on the Apocalypse, by a certain -Mr. Smallwit, and called my attention to the fact that it was classified -as Insane Literature. - -"Very well," I said, "so it is." - -"I don't doubt it, sir," said she; "but the author lives over in -Chelsea, and I saw him this morning in one of the alcoves. Perhaps, if -he were to look in the catalogue and see how his book is classified, he -mightn't altogether like it. Then, as I looked a little further along -the cards, I came upon this pamphlet by Herr Dummkopf, of Breslau, -upsetting the law of gravitation; and--do you know?--Herr Dummkopf is -spending the winter here in Cambridge!" - -"To be sure," said I, "it was very stupid of me not to foresee such -cases. Of course we can't call a man a fool to his face. In a catalogue -which marshals the quick along with the dead some heed must be paid to -the amenities of life. Pray get and bring me all those cards." - -By the time they arrived a satisfactory solution of the difficulty had -suggested itself. I told the assistant simply to scratch out "Insane," -and put "Eccentric" instead. For while the harsh Latin epithet would of -course infuriate Messrs. Dummkopf, Smallwit & Co., it might be doubted -if their feelings would be hurt by the milder Greek word. Some people of -their stripe, to whom notoriety is the very breath of their nostrils, -would consider it a mark of distinction to be called eccentric. At all -events, the harshness would be delicately veiled under a penumbra of -ambiguity. - -Thus the class Eccentric Literature was established in our catalogue, -and there it has remained, while the books in the library have increased -from a hundred thousand to half a million. Once or twice, I am told, has -some disgusted author uttered a protest, but the quiet of Gore Hall has -not been disturbed thereby. Care is needed in treating such a subject, -and my rule was that no amount of mere absurdity, no extremity of -dissent from generally received opinions, should consign a book to the -class of Eccentric Literature, unless it showed unmistakable symptoms of -crankery, or the buzzing of a bee in the author's bonnet. This rule has -been strictly followed. One lot of books--the Bacon-Shakespeare -stuff--which I intended to put in this class, but forgot to do so -because of sore stress of work, still remain absurdly grouped along with -the books on Shakespeare written by men in their senses. With this -exception, the class offers us a fairly comprehensive view of the -literature of cranks. - -Just where the line should be drawn between sanity and crankery is not -always easy to determine, and must usually be left to soundness of -judgment in each particular case, as with so many other questions of all -grades, from the supreme court down to the kitchen. One of the most -frequent traits of your crank is his megalomania, or self-magnification. -His intellectual equipment is so slender that he cannot see wherein he -is inferior to Descartes or Newton. Without enough knowledge to place -him in the sixth form of a grammar school, he will assail the -conclusions of the greatest minds the world has seen. His mood is -belligerent; since people will not take him at his own valuation, he is -apt to regard society as engaged in a conspiracy to ignore and belittle -him. Of humour he is pretty sure to be destitute; an abounding sense of -the ludicrous is one of the best safeguards of mental health, and even a -slight endowment will usually nip and stunt the fungus growth of -crankery. - -The slightest glimmering sense of humour would have restrained that -inveterate circle-squarer, James Smith, from publishing (in 1865) his -pamphlet entitled "The British Association in Jeopardy, and Dr. Whewell, -the Master of Trinity, in the Stocks without Hope of Escape." His case, -with those of many other ingenious lunatics, was racily set forth by the -late Professor De Morgan in his "Budget of Paradoxes" (London, 1872), a -bulky book dealing with the author's personal experiences with cranks -and their crotchets. It was De Morgan's lot as an eminent mathematician -to be outrageously bored by circle-squarers and their kin, and it was a -happy thought to put on record the queer things that happened. His -friends asked him again and again why he took the trouble to mention and -expose such absurdities. He replied that, when your crank publishes a -book "full of figures which few readers can criticise, a great many -people are staggered to this extent, that they imagine there must be the -indefinite _something_ in the mysterious _all this_. They are brought to -the point of suspicion that the mathematicians ought not to treat _all -this_ with such undisguised contempt, at least. Now I have no fear for -[Greek: p]; but I do think it possible that general opinion might in -time demand that the crowd of circle-squarers, etc., should be admitted -to the honours of opposition; and this would be a time-tax of five per -cent. one man with another, upon those who are better employed." At any -rate, continues De Morgan, with a twinkle in the corner of his eye, -whether in chastising cranks he has any motive but public good "must be -referred to those who can decide whether a missionary chooses his -pursuit solely to convert the heathen." He confesses that perhaps he may -have a little of the spirit of Colonel Quagg, whose principle of action -was thus succinctly expressed: "I licks ye because I kin, and because I -like, and because ye's critters that licks is good for!" - -Among the creatures whose malady seemed to call for such drastic -treatment was Captain Forman, R. N., who in 1833 wrote against the law -of gravitation, and got not a word of notice. Then he wrote to Sir John -Herschel and Lord Brougham, asking them to get his book reviewed in some -of the quarterlies. Receiving no answer from these gentlemen, he -addressed in one of the newspapers a card to Lord John Russell, -inveighing against their "dishonest" behaviour. Still getting no -satisfaction, the valorous captain wrote to the Royal Astronomical -Society with a challenge to controversy. To this letter came a polite -but brief answer, advising him to study the rudiments of mechanics. It -was not in the paradoxer's nature to submit tamely to such treatment; -and he replied in a printed pamphlet, wherein he called that learned -society "craven dunghill cocks," and bestrewed them, with other choice -flowers of rhetoric, much to the relief of his feelings. - -One of this naval officer's fellow sufferers was a farm labourer, who -took it into his head that the Lord Chancellor had offered £100,000 -reward to any one who should square the circle. So Hodge went to work -and squared it, and then hied him to London, blissfully dreaming of -sudden wealth. Hearing that De Morgan was a great mathematician, he left -his papers with him, including a letter to the Lord Chancellor, claiming -the £100,000. De Morgan returned the papers with a note, saying that no -such prize had ever been offered, and gently hinting that the worthy -Hodge had not sufficient knowledge to see in what the problem consisted. -This elicited from the rustic philosopher a long letter, from which I -must quote a few sentences, so characteristic of the circle-squaring -talent and temper:-- - - Doctor Morgan, Sir. Permit me to address you - - Brute Creation may perhaps enjoy the faculty of beholding - visible things with a more penitrating eye than ourselves. - But Spiritual objects are as far out of their reach as - though they had no being Nearest therefore to the brute - Creation are those men who Suppose themselves to be so far - governed by external objects as to believe nothing but what - they See and feel And Can accomedate to their Shallow - understanding and Imaginations - - ... When a Gentleman of your Standing in Society ... Can - not understand or Solve a problem That is explicitly - explained by words and Letters and mathematacally operated - by figuers He had best consult the wise proverd - - Do that which thou Canst understand and Comprehend for thy - good. - - I would recommend that Such Gentleman Change his business - - And appropriate his time and attention to a Sunday School - to Learn what he Could and keep the Litle Children form - durting their Close - - With Sincere feelings of Gratitude for your weakness and - Inability I am - - Sir your Superior in Mathematics. - - X. Y. - -A few days after this elegant epistle there came to De Morgan another -from the same hand. Hodge had sent his papers to some easy-going -American professor, whose reply must clearly have been too polite. It is -never safe to give your crank an inch of comfort; it will straightway -become an ell of assurance. This American savant, crows Rusticus, -"highly approves of my work. And Says he will Insure me Reward in the -States I write this that you may understand that I have knowledge of the -unfair way that I am treated in my own nati County I am told and have -reasons to believe that it is the Clergy that treat me so unjust. I am -not Desirious of heaping Disonors upon my own nation. But if I have to -Leave this kingdom without my Just dues. The world Shall know how I am -and have been treated - -"I am Sir Desirous of my Just dues - - "X. Y." - -A cynical philosopher once said that you cannot find so big a fool but -there will be some bigger fool to swear by him; and so our agricultural -friend had his admiring disciple who felt bound to break a lance for him -with the unappreciative De Morgan:-- - -"He has done what you nor any other mathematician as those who call -themselves such have done. And what is the reason that you will not -candidly acknowledge to him ... that he has squared the circle shall I -tell you? it is because he has performed the feat to obtain the glory of -which mathematicians have battled from time immemorial that they might -encircle their brows with a wreath of laurels far more glorious than -ever conqueror won it is simply this that it is a poor man a humble -artisan who has gained that victory that you don't like to acknowledge -it you don't like to be beaten and worse to acknowledge that you have -miscalculated, you have in short too small a soul to acknowledge that he -is right.... I am backed in my opinion not only by Mr. Q. a -mathematician and watchmaker residing in the boro of Southwark but by no -less an authority than the Professor of mathematics of ... College -United States Mr. Q and I presume that he at least is your equal as an -authority and Mr. Q says that the government of the U. S. will -recompense X. Y. for the discovery he has made if so what a reflection -upon Old england the boasted land of freedom the nursery of the arts and -sciences that her sons are obliged to go to a foreign country to obtain -that recompense to which they are justly entitled."[46] - -Ordinarily, the aim of the paradoxers is to achieve renown by doing -what nobody ever did. Hence the fascination exercised upon them by those -apparently simple problems which already in ancient times were -recognized as "old stickers," the quadrature of the circle, the -trisection of angles, and the duplicature of the cube. The ancients -found these geometric problems insolvable, though it was left for modern -algebra to point out the reason, namely, that no quantities can be -geometrically constructed from given quantities, except such as can be -formed from them algebraically by the solution of quadratic equations; -if the algebraic solution comes as the root of a cubic or biquadratic -equation, it cannot be constructed by geometry. Against this hopeless -wall the crowd of paradoxers will doubtless continue to break their -heads until the millennium dawns. - -Sometimes, however, our crank has a practical end in view, as in the -numerous attempts to discover "perpetual motion," or, in other words, to -invent a machine out of which you can get indefinitely more energy than -you put in. It is not strange that many thousands of dollars have been -wasted in this effort to recover Aladdin's lost lamp. The notorious -Keely motor is but one of a host of contrivances born and bred of crass -ignorance of the alphabet of dynamics. But perpetual motion is not the -only form assumed by wealth-seeking crankery. In 1861 a Captain Roblin, -of Normandy, having ascertained to his own satisfaction, from the -prolonged study of the zodiac of Denderah, the sites of sundry -gold-mines, came forward with proposals for a joint stock company to dig -and be rich. The labours of Herr Johannes von Gumpach were of a more -philanthropic turn. He published in 1861 a pamphlet entitled "A -Million's Worth of Property and Five Hundred Lives annually lost at Sea -by the Theory of Gravitation. A Letter on the True Figure of the Earth, -addressed to the Astronomer Royal." Next year this pamphlet grew into a -stout volume. It maintained that a great many shipwrecks were occasioned -by errors of navigation due to an erroneous conception of the shape of -the earth. Since Newton's time, it has been supposed to be flattened at -the poles, whereas the amiable Gumpach calls upon his fellow-creatures -to take notice that it is elongated, and to mend their ways accordingly. - -The desire to prove great men wrong is one of the crank's most frequent -and powerful incentives. The name of Newton is the greatest in the -history of science: how flattering to one's self it must be, then, to -prove him a fool! In eccentric literature the books against Newton are -legion. Here is a title: "David and Goliath, or an Attempt to prove -that the Newtonian System of Astronomy is directly opposed to the -Scriptures. By William Lander, Mere, Wilts, 1833." And here is De -Morgan's terse summary of the book: "Newton is Goliath; Mr. Lander is -David. David took five pebbles; Mr. Lander takes five arguments. He -expects opposition; for Paul and Jesus both met with it." - -There are few subjects over which cranks are more painfully exercised -than the figure of the earth, and its relations to heavenly bodies. -Aristotle proved that the earth is a globe; Copernicus showed that it is -one of a system of planets revolving about the sun; Newton explained the -dynamics of this system. But at length came a certain John Hampden, who -with dauntless breast maintained that all this is wrong! His pamphlet -was prudently dedicated "to the unprofessional public and the common -sense men of Europe and America;" he knew that it could find no favor -with bigoted men of science. This Hampden, like his great namesake, is -nothing if not bold. "The Newtonian or Copernican theory," he tells us, -"from the first hour of its invention, has never dared to submit to an -appeal to facts!" Again, "Defenders it never had; and no threats, no -taunts or exposure, will ever rouse the energies of a single champion." -In other words, astronomers do not waste their time in noticing Mr. -Hampden's taunts and threats. Why is this so? His next sentence reminds -us that "cowardice always accompanies conscious guilt." He goes on to -tell us the true state of the case: "The earth, as it came from the -hands of its Almighty Creator, is a motionless Plane, based and built -upon foundations which the Word of God expressly declares cannot be -searched out or discovered.... The stars are hardly bigger than the gas -jets which light our streets, and, if they could be made to change -places with them, no astronomer could detect the difference." The North -Pole is the centre of the flat earth, and its extreme southern limit is -not a South Pole, but a circle 30,000 miles in circumference. Night is -caused by the sun passing behind a layer of clouds 7000 miles thick. It -is not gravitation which makes a river run down hill, but the impetus of -the water behind pressing on the water before. Is not this delicious? As -for Newton, poor fellow, he "lived in a superstitious age and district; -he was educated among an illiterate peasantry." This is like the way in -which the Baconizing cranks dispose of Shakespeare. So zealous was Mr. -Hampden that in 1876 he began publishing a periodical called "The Truth -Seeker's Oracle." Similar views were set forth by one Samuel Rowbotham, -who wrote under the name of "Parallax," and by a William Carpenter, -whose pamphlet, "One Hundred Proofs that the Earth is not a Globe" -(Baltimore, 1885), is quite a curiosity; for example, Proof 33: "If the -earth were a globe, people--except those on top--would certainly have to -be fastened to its surface by some means or other;... but as we know -that we simply walk on its surface, without any other aid than that -which is necessary for locomotion on a plane, it follows that we have -herein a conclusive proof that Earth is not a globe." Since Mr. -Carpenter understands the matter so thoroughly, can we wonder at the -earnestness with which he rebukes the late Richard Proctor? "Mr. -Proctor, we charge you that, whilst you teach the theory of the earth's -rotundity, you KNOW that it is a plane!" - -More original than Messrs. Hampden and Carpenter are the writers who -maintain that the earth is hollow, and supports a teeming population in -its interior. Early in the present century this idea came with the force -of a revelation to the mind of Captain John Cleves Symmes, a retired -army officer engaged in trade at St. Louis. In 1818 he issued a -circular, of which the following is an abridgment: "TO ALL THE WORLD I -declare the earth is hollow and habitable within; containing a number of -solid concentric spheres, one within the other, and that it is open at -the poles twelve or sixteen degrees. I pledge my life in support of this -truth, and am ready to explore the hollow, if the world will support and -aid me in the undertaking.... My terms are [Hear, Messrs. Quay and -Platt! and give ear, O Tammany!] _the_ PATRONAGE _of_ THIS _and the_ NEW -WORLDS.... I select Dr. S. L. Mitchell, Sir H. Davy, and Baron Alexander -von Humboldt as my protectors. I ask one hundred brave companions, well -equipped, to start from Siberia, in the fall season, with reindeer and -sleighs, on the ice of the frozen sea. I engage we find a warm and rich -land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and animals, if not men, on -reaching one degree northward of latitude 82°. We will return in the -succeeding spring." - -This circular was sent by mail to men of science, colleges, learned -societies, legislatures, and municipal bodies, all over the United -States and Europe; for when it comes to postage, your crank seems always -to have unlimited funds at his disposal. At Paris, the distinguished -traveller, Count Volney, doubtless with a significant shrug, presented -the precious document to the Academy of Sciences, by which it was -mirthfully laid upon the table. Nowhere did learned men take it -seriously; it was generally set down as a rather stupid hoax. But, -nothing daunted by such treatment, the worthy Symmes began giving -lectures on the subject, and succeeded in making some impression upon an -uninstructed public. In 1824 his audience at Hamilton, Ohio, at the -close of a lecture, "_resolved_, that we esteem Symmes' Theory of the -Earth deserving of serious examination and worthy of the attention of -the American people." At a theatre in Cincinnati, a benefit was given -for the proposed polar expedition, and verses were recited suitable to -the occasion:-- - - "Has not Columbia one aspiring son - By whom the unfading laurel may be won? - Yes! history's pen may yet inscribe the name - Of SYMMES to grace her future scroll of fame." - -The captain's petitions to Congress, however, praying for ships and men, -were heartlessly laid on the table, and nothing was left him but to keep -on crying in the wilderness, which he did until his death in 1829. In -the cemetery at Hamilton, the freestone monument over his grave, placed -there by his son, Americus Symmes, is surmounted with a hollow globe, -open at the poles. - -Half a century later the son published a pamphlet,[47] in which he gave -a somewhat detailed exposition of his father's notions. From this we -learn that the interior world is well lighted; for the sun's rays, -passing through "the dense cold air of the verges" (that is, the -circular edge of the big polar hole), are powerfully refracted, and -after getting inside they are forthwith reflected from one concave -surface to another, with the result that the whole interior is -illuminated with a light equal to 3600 times that of the full moon. We -learn, too, that the famous Swedish geographer, Norpensjould (_semper -sic!_), after passing the magnetic pole, found a timbered country with -large rivers and abundant animal life. Afterward one Captain Wiggins -visited this country, where he found flax and wheat, highly magnetic -iron ore, and rich mines of copper and gold. The trees are as big as any -in California; hides, wool, tallow, ivory, and furs abound. The -inhabitants are very tall, with Roman noses, and speak Hebrew. Yes, -echoes Captain Tuttle, an old whaler, who also has visited this new -country, they speak Hebrew, and are a smart people. "Would it not be -logical," writes Americus, "to think that this was one of the lost -tribes of Israel? for we read in the Bible that they went up the -Euphrates to the north and dwelt in a land where man never dwelt -before." Just so; evidently, Messrs. "Norpensjould," Wiggins, and Tuttle -sailed "across the verge" and into the interior country, the concave -world, which shall henceforth be known as Symmzonia! The book ends with -the triumphant query, "Where were those explorers if not in the Hollow -of the Earth, and would they not have come out at the South Pole if they -had continued on their course?" - -It is sad to have such positive conclusions disputed, but even in -eccentric lore the doctors are found to disagree. Scarcely had Americus -put forth his revised edition, when a pamphlet entitled "The Inner -World," by Frederick Culmer, was published at Salt Lake City (1886). Its -chapters have resounding titles: "I. The Universal Vacuity of Centres; -II. The Polar Orifices of the Earth; III. The Alleged Northwest Passage -and Symmes' Hole." We are told that although the polar orifices have -diameters of about a thousand miles each, nevertheless, in spite of -Wiggins and Tuttle, "there is no passage to the inner world on the north -of America;" on the contrary, it must be sought within the antarctic -circle. But Mr. Culmer would discourage rash attempts at exploration, -and believes that "no man will be able to plant the standard of his -country on any land in that region worth one dime to himself or any one -else at present." For this gloomy outlook we must try to console -ourselves with the knowledge that Mr. Culmer has detected the true -explanation of the Aurora Borealis: "It is the sun's rays shining on a -placid interior ocean and reflecting upon the outer atmosphere." - -A favourite occupation of cranks is the discovery of hidden meanings in -things. Whether we are to say that the passionate quest of the occult -has been prolific in mental disturbances, or whether we had better say -that persons with ill-balanced minds take especial delight in the search -for the occult, the practical result is about the same. The impelling -motive is not very different from that of the circle-squarers; it is -pleasing to one's self-love to feel that one discerns things to which -all other people are blind. Hence the number of mare's-nests that have -been complacently stared into by learned donkeys is legion. Mere -erudition is no sure safeguard against the subtle forms which the -temptation takes on, as we may see from the ingenuity that has been -wasted on the Great Pyramid. In 1864, Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for -Scotland, published his book entitled "Our Inheritance in the Great -Pyramid," and afterward followed it with other similar books. Whatever -may have been the original complexion of this gentleman's mind, it was -not such as to prevent his attaining distinction and achieving -usefulness as a practical astronomer. But the pyramids were too much for -his mental equilibrium. As De Morgan kindly puts it, "his work on Egypt -is paradox of a very high order, backed by a great quantity of useful -labour, the results of which will be made available by those who do not -receive the paradoxes." - -The pyramidal tombs of Egyptian kings were an evolution in stone or -brick from the tumulus of earth which in prehistoric ages was heaped -over the body of the war chief. They are objects of rare dignity and -interest, not only from their immense size, but from sundry -peculiarities in their construction. In their orientation great care was -taken, though usually with imperfect success. Their sides face the four -cardinal points, and the descending entry-way forms a kind of telescope, -from the bottom of which an observer, sixty centuries ago, could look -out at what was then the polestar. These and other features of the -pyramids are no doubt connected with Egyptian religion, and may very -likely have subserved astrological purposes. But what say the pyramid -cranks, or "pyramidalists," as they have been called? - -According to them, the builders of the Great Pyramid were supernaturally -instructed, probably by Melchizedek, King of Salem. Thus they were -enabled to place it in latitude 30° N.; to make its four sides face the -cardinal points; to adopt the sacred cubit, or one twenty millionth part -of the earth's polar axis, as their unit of length; "and to make the -side of the square base equal to just so many of these sacred cubits as -there are days and parts of a day in a year. They were further by -supernatural help enabled to square the circle, and symbolized their -victory over this problem by making the pyramid's height bear to the -perimeter of the base the ratio which the radius of a circle bears to -the circumference."[48] In like manner, by immediate divine revelation, -the builders of the pyramid were instructed as to the exact shape and -density of the earth, the sun's distance, the precession of the -equinoxes, etc., so that their figures on all these subjects were more -accurate than any that modern science has obtained, and these figures -they built into the pyramid. They also built into it the divinely -revealed and everlasting standards of "length, area, capacity, weight, -density, heat, time, and money," and finally they wrought into its -structure the precise date at which the millennium is to begin. All this -valuable information, handed down directly from heaven, was thus -securely bottled up in the Great Pyramid for six thousand years or so, -awaiting the auspicious day when Mr. Piazzi Smyth should come and draw -the cork. Why so much knowledge should have been bestowed upon the -architects of King Cheops, only to be concealed from posterity, is a -pertinent question; and one may also ask, why was it worth while to -bring a Piazzi Smyth into the world to reveal it, since plodding human -reason had after all by slow degrees discovered every bit of it, except -the date of the millennium? Why, moreover, did the revelation thus -elaborately buried in or about B. C. 4000 come just abreast of the -scientific knowledge of A. D. 1864, and there stop short? Is it credible -that old Melchizedek knew nothing about the telephone, or the Roentgen -ray, or the cholera bacillus? Our pyramidalists should be more -enterprising, and elicit from their venerable fetish some useful hints -as to wireless telegraphy, or the ventilation of Pullman cars, or the -purification of Pennsylvania politics. Perhaps the last-named problem -might vie in difficulty with squaring the circle! - -The lucubrations of Piazzi Smyth, like those of Miss Delia Bacon, called -into existence a considerable quantity of eccentric literature. For -example, there is Skinner's "Key to the Hebrew-Egyptian Mystery in the -Source of Measures originating the British Inch and the Ancient Cubit," -published in Cincinnati in 1875, a tall octavo of 324 pages, bristling -with diagrams and decimals, Hebrew words and logarithms. The book begins -by getting the circle neatly squared, and then goes on to aver that -sundry crosses, including the Christian cross, are an emblematic display -of the origin of measures. The "mound-builders" come in for a share of -the author's attention; for the mounds are "alike Typhonic emblems with -the pyramid of Egypt and with Hebrew symbols." A Typhonic emblem relates -to Typhon, the "lord of sepulture," whose Egyptian representative was -the crocodile, as his Hebrew representative was the hog; "exemplified in -the Christian books by the devil leaving the man and passing into the -herd of swine, which thereupon rushed into the sea, another emblem of -Typhon." Yet another such emblem is a mound in Ohio which simulates the -contour of an alligator. A certain Aztec pyramid, described by Humboldt, -has 318 niches, apparently in allusion to the days of the old Mexican -civil calendar. Mr. Skinner sees in this numeral the value of Pi, and -furthermore informs us that 318 is the Gnostic symbol for Christ, as -well as the number of Abraham's trained servants. Frequent use of it is -made in the Great Pyramid; for example, multiplied by six it gives the -height of the king's chamber, and multiplied by two it gives half the -base side of that apartment. Our author then puts the pyramid into a -sphere, and after this feat it is an easy transition to Noah's flood, -the zodiac, and modern ritualism. Of similar purport, though more -concise than this octavo, is Dr. Watson Quinby's "Solomon's Seal, a Key -to the Pyramid," published at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1880. From this -little book we learn that "in the early days of the world some one -measured the earth, and found its diameter, in round numbers, to be -41,569,000 feet, or 498,828,000 inches;" also that "Vishnu means -Fish-Nuh, Noah-the-Fish, in allusion to his sojourn in the ark." -Moreover, the Institutes of Manu were written by Noah, since Maha-Nuh = -Great-Noah! With equal felicity, Rev. Edward Dingle (in his "The Balance -of Physics, the Square of the Circle, and the Earth's True Solar and -Lunar Distances," London, 1885, pp. 246) declares that "my success, let -it be held what it may, was secured by cleaving to the Mosaic initiation -of the Sabbatic number for my radius." At the end of his book Mr. -Dingle exclaims: "To the Lord be all thanksgiving, who has kept my -intellect and the directing of its thoughts sound, while seeking to -deliver his word from the exulting shouts of his enemies and the -seducers of mankind!" - -From these grotesque rigmaroles it is not a long step to the -lucubrations of the writers in whose bonnets the bee of prophecy has -buzzed until they have come to fancy themselves skilled interpreters. -There is apt to be the same droll mixing of arithmetic with history that -we find among the pyramid cranks, and to the performance of such antics -the book of Daniel and the Apocalypse present irresistible temptations. -In my library days, I never used to pick up a commentary on either of -those books without looking for some of the stigmata or witch-marks of -crankery. Many a feeble intellect has been toppled over by that shining -image, with head of gold and feet of iron and clay, which Nebuchadnezzar -beheld in a dream. For example, let us take a few sentences from -"Emmanuel: An Original and Exhaustive Commentary on Creation and -Providence Alike. By an Octogenarian Layman," London, 1883, pp. 420: -"Upwards of thirty years ago, a fancy for chronological research, -fostered by boundless leisure and a competent facility in mental -calculation, riveted my attention on the metallic image, in the vague -hope of symmetrizing the four sections of the collective emblem with the -successive dominations of the individual empires. Failing in so shadowy -an aspiration, I seemed to be more than compensated by detecting an -identity of duration, equally pregnant and positive, between the gold -and the silver and the brass and the iron taken together on the one -hand, and the mountain that was to crush them all to powder on the -other,--the former aggregate being assumed to stretch from -Nebuchadnezzar's succession in 606 B. C. to the dethronement of -Augustulus in 476 A. D., and the latter again from the epoch just -specified to Elizabeth's purgation of the Sanctuary in 1558." Having -thus taken two equal periods of 1082 years, our Octogenarian proceeds to -break them up (Heaven knows why!) each into four periods of 68, 204, -269, and 541 years. Then we are treated to the following equations:-- - - 68 = 2 × 34 - 204 = 6 × 34 - 269 = 5 × 34 + 3 × 33 - 541 = 13 × 34 + 3 × 33 - -Hence, "with such a fulcrum as the Lamb slain before the foundation of -the world, and such a lever as the span of the Victim's sublunary -humiliation, was I too rash in aiming at a result infinitely grander -than Archimedes's speculative displacement of the earth?" - -That eminent mathematician, Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch, used to say that -sometimes, when Laplace passed from one equation to the next with an -"evidently," he would find a week's study necessary to cross the abyss -which the transcendent mind of the master traversed in a single leap. I -fancy that more than a week would be needed to fathom the Octogenarian's -"hence," and it would by no means be worth while to go through so much -and get so little. After a few pages of the Octogenarian, we are -prepared to hear that in 1750 one Henry Sullamar squared the circle by -the number of the Beast with seven heads and ten horns; and that in 1753 -a certain French officer, M. de Causans, "cut a circular piece of turf, -squared it, and deduced original sin and the Trinity."[49] - -The reader is doubtless by this time weary of so much tomfoolery; but as -it is needful, for the due comprehension of crankery and its crotchets, -that he should by and by have still more of it, I will give him a -moment's relief while I tell of a little game with which De Morgan and -Whewell once amused themselves. The task was to make a sentence which -should contain all the letters of the alphabet, and each only once. "No -one," says De Morgan, "has done it with _v_ and _j_ treated as -consonants; but _you_ and _I_ can do it" (_u_ and _i_: oh, monstrous -pun!). Dr. Whewell got only separate words, and failed to make a -sentence: _phiz_, _styx_, _wrong_, _buck_, _flame_, _quid_. Very pretty, -but De Morgan beat him out of sight with this weird sentiment; _I, -quartz pyx, who fling muck beds!_ Well, what in the world can that mean? -"I long thought that no human being could say it under any -circumstances. At last I happened to be reading a religious writer--as -he thought himself--who threw aspersions on his opponents thick and -threefold. Heyday! came into my head, this fellow flings muck beds: he -must be a quartz pyx. And then I remembered that a pyx is a sacred -vessel, and quartz is a hard stone, as hard as the heart of a religious -foe-curser. So that the line is the motto of the ferocious sectarian, -who turns his religious vessels into mud-holders for the benefit of -those who will not see what he sees."[50] - -I cite this drollery to show the world-wide difference between the -playful nonsense of the wise man and the strenuous nonsense of the -monomaniac; in this little _cabbala alphabetica_, moreover, a great -deal of the cabalistic lore which cumbers library shelves is neatly -satirized. - -As already observed, my rule was never to put into the class of -eccentric literature any books save such as seemed to have emanated from -diseased brains. To hold and absurd belief, to write in its defense, to -shape one's career in accordance with it, is no proof of an unsound -mind. Of the hundreds of enthusiasts who spent their lives in quest of -the philosopher's stone, many were doubtless cranks; but many were able -thinkers who made the best use they could of the scientific resources of -the time. Wrong ways must often be tried before the right way can be -found. Even the early circle-squarers cannot fairly be charged with -crankery; they sinned against no light that was accessible to them. But -anybody who to-day should advertise a recipe for turning base metals -into gold would meet with a chill welcome from chemists. He would -speedily be posted as a quack, though doubtless many weak heads would be -turned by him. It is the perverse sinning against light that is one of -the most abiding features of crankery, and from this point of view such -a book as "Coin's Financial School" has many claims for admission to the -limbo of eccentric literature. - -About seventy years ago, one John Ranking published in London a volume -entitled "Historical Researches on the Conquest of Peru, Mexico, Bogota, -Natchez, and Talomeco,[51] in the Thirteenth Century, by the Mongols, -accompanied with Elephants." It is well known that in 1281 the Mongols, -after conquering pretty much everything from the Carpathian Mountains -and the river Euphrates to the Yellow Sea, invaded Japan. A typhoon -dispersed their fleet; and their army of more than 100,000 men, cut off -from its communications, was completely annihilated by the Japanese. But -Mr. Ranking believed that this wholesale destruction was a fiction of -the chroniclers. He maintained that most of the army escaped in a new -fleet and crossed the Pacific Ocean, taking with them a host of -elephants, with the aid of which they made extensive conquests in -America and founded kingdoms in Mexico and Peru. The widespread fossil -remains of the American mastodon he took to be the bones of these -Mongolian elephants. Now, this is an extremely wild theory, unsound and -untenable in every particular, but it does not bring Mr. Ranking's book -within the class of eccentric literature. The author was deficient in -scholarship and in critical judgment, but he was not daft. - -A very different verdict must be rendered in the case of Mr. Edwin -Johnson's book, called "The Rise of Christendom," published in London in -1890, an octavo of 500 pages. According to Mr. Johnson, the rise of -Christendom began in the twelfth century of our era, and it was preceded -by two centuries of Hebrew religion, which started in Moslem Spain! -First came Islam, then Judaism, then Christianity. The genesis of both -the latter was connected with that revolt against Islam which we call -the Crusades. What we suppose to be the history of Israel, as well as -that of the first eleven Christian centuries, is a gigantic lie, -concocted in the thirteenth century by the monks of St. Basil and St. -Benedict. The Roman emperors knew nothing of Christianity, and the -multifarious allusions to it in ancient writers were all explained by -Mr. Johnson as fraudulent interpolations. As for the Greek and Latin -fathers, they never existed. "The excellent stylist, who writes under -the name of Lactantius, not earlier than the fourteenth century;" "the -Augustinian of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, who writes the -romantic Confessions,"--such is the airy way in which the matter is -disposed of. As for the New Testament, "it is not yet clear whether the -book was first written in Latin or in Greek." This reminds me of -something once said by Rev. Robert Taylor, a crazy clergyman who in 1821 -suffered imprisonment for blasphemy, and came to be known as the Devil's -Chaplain. Taylor declared that for the book of Revelation there was no -Greek original at all, but Erasmus wrote it in Switzerland, in the year -1516. The audience, or part of it, probably took Taylor's word as -sufficient; and in like manner not a syllable of proof is alleged for -Mr. Johnson's prodigious assertions. From cover to cover, there is no -trace of a consciousness that proof is needed; it is simply, Thus saith -Edwin Johnson. The man who can write such a book is surely incapable of -making a valid will. - -Another acute phase of insanity is exemplified in Nason's "History of -the Prehistoric Ages, written by the Ancient Historic Band of Spirits" -(Chicago, 1880). This is a mediumistic affair. The ancient band consists -of four-and-twenty spirits, the eldest of whom occupied a material body -46,000 years ago, and the youngest 3000 years ago. They dictated to Mr. -Nason the narrative, which begins with the origin of the solar system -and comes down to Romulus and Remus, betraying on every page the -preternatural dullness and ignorance so characteristic of all the -spirits with whom mediums have dealings. - -Concerning the Bacon-Shakespeare lunacy a word must suffice. As I have -shown in a previous essay, the doubt concerning the authorship of -Shakespeare's plays was in part a reaction against the extravagances of -doting commentators; but in its original form it was simply an insane -freak. The unfortunate lady who gave it currency belonged to a -distinguished Connecticut family, and the story of her malady is a sad -one. At the age of eight-and-forty she died in the asylum at Hartford, -two years after the publication of her book, "The Philosophy of -Shakespeare's Plays Unfolded." The suggestion of her illustrious -namesake, and perhaps kinsman, as the author of Shakespeare's works, was -a clear instance of the megalomania which is a well-known symptom of -paranoia; and her book has all the hazy incoherence that is so quickly -recognizable in the writings of the insane. A friend of mine once asked -me if I did not find it hard to catch her meaning. "Meaning!" I -exclaimed, "there's none to catch." Among the books of her followers are -all degrees of eccentricity. That of Nathaniel Holmes stands upon the -threshold of the limbo; while as for Ignatius Donnelly, all his works -belong in its darkest recesses. - -The considerations which would lead one to consign a book to that limbo -are often complex. There is Miss Marie Brown's book, "The Icelandic -Discoverers of America; or, Honour to whom Honour is Due." In -maintaining that Columbus knew all about the voyages of the Northmen to -Vinland, and was helped thereby in finding his way to the Bahamas, there -is nothing necessarily eccentric. Professor Rasmus Anderson has defended -that thesis in a book which is able and scholarly, a book which every -reader must treat with respect, even though he may not find its -arguments convincing. But when Miss Brown declares that the papacy has -been partner in a conspiracy for depriving the Scandinavians of the -credit due them as discoverers of America, and assures us that this is a -matter in which the interests of civil and religious liberty are at -stake, one begins to taste the queer flavour; and, taking this in -connection with the atmosphere of rage which pervades the book, one -feels inclined to place it in the limbo. For example: "What but Catholic -genius, the genius for deceit, for trickery, for secrecy, for wicked and -diabolical machinations, could have pursued such a system of fraud for -centuries as the one now being exposed! What but Catholic genius, a -prolific genius for evil, would have attempted to rob the Norsemen of -their fame,... and to foist a miserable Italian adventurer and upstart -upon Americans as the true candidate for these posthumous honours,--the -man or saint to whom they are to do homage, and through this homage -allow the Church of Rome to slip the yoke of spiritual subjection over -their necks!" - -A shrill note of anger is sometimes the sure ear-mark of a book from -Queer Street. Anger is, indeed, a kind of transient mania, and eccentric -literature is apt to be written in high dudgeon. When you take up a -pamphlet by "Vindex," and read the title, "A Box on Both Ears to the -Powers that ought not to be at Washington," you may be prepared to find -incoherency. I once catalogued an edition of Plutarch's little essay on -Superstition, and was about to let it go on its way, along with ordinary -Greek books, when my eye happened to fall upon the last sentence of the -editor's preface: "I terminate this my Preface by consigning all Greek -Scholars to the special care of Beelzebub." "Oho!" I thought, "there's a -cloven foot here; perhaps, if we explore further, we may get a whiff of -brimstone." And it was so. - -It thus appears that the topics treated in eccentric literature are -numerous and manifold. Not only, moreover, has this department its -vigorous prose-writers; it has also its inspired poets. Witness the -following lines from the volume entitled "Eucleia" (Salem, 1861):-- - - "Hark, hear that distant boo-oo-oo, - As, walking by moonlight, - He whistles, instructing Carlo - To be still, and not bite." - -But even this lofty flight of inspiration is out-flown by Mr. John -Landis, who was limner and draughtsman as well as poet. In his "Treatise -on Magnifying God" (New York, 1843) he gives us an engraved portrait of -himself surrounded by ministering angels, and accompanies it by an ode -to himself, one verse of which will suffice:-- - - "With Messrs. Milton, Watts, and Wesley, - Familiar thy Name will e'er be. - Of America's Poets thou - Stand'st on the foremost list now; - On the pinions of fame does shine, - _Landis!_ brightened by ev'ry line, - From thy poetic pen in rhyme, - Thy name descends to the end of time." - -Immortality of fame is something desired by many, but attained by few. -Physical immortality is something which has hitherto been supposed to be -inexorably denied to human beings. The phrase "All men are mortal" -figures in textbooks of logic as the truest of truisms. But we have -lately been assured that this is a mistake. It is only an induction -based upon simple enumeration, and the first man who escapes death will -disprove it. So, at least, I was told by a very downright person who -called on me some years ago with a huge parcel of manuscript, for which -he wanted me to find him a publisher. He had been cruelly snubbed and -ill-used, but truth would surely prevail over bigotry, as in Galileo's -case. I took his address and let him leave his manuscript. Its recipe -for physical immortality, diluted through 600 foolscap pages, was simply -to learn how to go without food! Usually such a regimen will kill you by -the fifth day, but if, at that critical moment, while at the point of -death, you make one heroic effort and stay alive, why, then you will -have overcome the King of Terrors once for all. I returned the -gentleman's manuscript with a polite note, regretting that his line of -research was so remote from those to which I was accustomed that I could -not give him intelligent aid. - -On one of the beautiful hills of Petersham, near the centre of -Massachusetts, there dwelt a few years since a small religious community -of persons who believed that they were destined to escape death. Not -science, but faith, had won for them this boon. They believed that the -third person of the Trinity was incarnated in their leader or high -priest, Father Howland. This community, I believe, came from Rhode -Island about forty years ago, and at the height of its prosperity may -have numbered twenty-five or thirty men and women. Their establishment -consisted of one large mansard-roofed house, with barns and sheds and a -good-sized farm. Their housekeeping was tidy, and they put up -apple-sauce. They maintained that the eighteen and a half centuries of -the so-called Christian era have really been the dispensation of John -the Baptist, and that the true Christian era was ushered in by the Holy -Ghost in the person of Father Howland, through believing in whom -Christians might attain to eternal life on this planet. They had their -Sabbath on Saturday, and worked in the fields on Sunday; and they made -sundry distinctions between clean and unclean foods, based upon their -slender understanding of the Old Testament. - -For a few years these worthy people enjoyed the simple rural life on -their pleasant hillside without having their dream of immortality rudely -tested. When one member fell ill and died, and was presently followed by -another, it was easy to dispose of such cases by asserting that the -deceased were not true believers; they were black sheep, hypocrites, -pretenders, whited sepulchres, and their deaths had purified the flock. -But the next one to die was Father Howland himself. On a warm summer day -of 1874, as he was driving in his buggy over a steep mountain road, the -horse shied so violently as to throw out the venerable sage against a -wood-pile, whereupon sundry loose logs fell upon his head and shoulders, -inflicting fatal wounds. Then a note of consternation mingled with the -genuine mourning of the little community. It was a perplexing -providence. About twelve months afterward I made my first visit to these -people, in company with my friend Dr. William James and five -carriage-loads of city folk who were spending the summer at Petersham. -It was a Saturday morning, and all the worshippers were in their best -clothes. They received us with a quiet but cordial welcome, and showed -us into a spacious parlour that was simply brilliant with cheerfulness. -Its west windows looked down upon a vast and varied landscape, with rich -pastures, smiling cornfields, and long stretches of pine forest covering -range upon range of hills moulded in forms of exquisite beauty. Beyond -the foreground of delicate yellow and soft green tints the eye rested -upon the sombre green of the woodland, and behind it all came the rich -purple of the distant hills, fitfully checkered with shadows from the -golden clouds. Here and there gleamed the white church spires of some -secluded hamlet, while on the horizon, seventy miles distant, arose the -lofty peak of old Greylock. Thence to Mount Grace, in one huge sweep, -the entire breadth of Vermont was displayed, a wilderness of pale-blue -summits blending with the sky; and over all, and part of it all, was the -radiant glory of the September sunshine. - -"Truly," said I to one of the brethren, a man of saintly face, "if you -are expecting to dwell forever upon the earth, you could not have chosen -a more inspiring and delightful spot." "Yes, indeed," he replied, "it -seems too beautiful to leave." The topic which agitated the little -community was thus brought up for discussion, and, except for a brief -prayer, the ordinary Sabbath exercises were set aside for this purpose. -All these people seemed polite and gentle in manner; their -simple-mindedness was noticeable, and their ignorance was abysmal, -though I believe they could all read the Bible and do a little writing -and arithmetic. In the facial expression of every one I thought I could -see something that betrayed more or less of a lapse from complete -sanity. Only one of the whole number showed any sense of humour, a -keen-eyed old woman, yclept Sister Caroline, who could argue neatly and -make quaint retorts. She and the man of saintly face were the only -interesting personalities; the rest were but soulless clods. - -It soon appeared that the belief in terrestrial immortality had not yet -been seriously shaken by Father Howland's demise. There were some -curious incipient symptoms of a resurrection myth. Their leader's death -had been heralded by signs and portents. One aged brother, while taking -his afternoon nap in a rocking-chair, fell forward upon the floor, -bringing down the chair upon his back; and at that identical moment -another brother rushed in from the garden, exclaiming, "I have seen with -these eyes the glory of the Lord revealed!" Evidently, the fall of the -rocking-chair prefigured the fall of the wood-pile, and the moment of -Howland's fatal injury was the moment of his glorification. Then it was -remembered by Sister Caroline and others that he had lately foretold his -apparent death, and declared that it was to be only an appearance. -"Though I shall seem to be dead, it will only be for a little while, and -then I shall return to you." - -The morning's conversation made it clear that these simple folk were -unanimous in believing that the completion of Father Howland's work -demanded his presence for a short time in the other world, and that he -would within a few more weeks or months return to them. It seemed to Dr. -James and myself that the conditions were favourable to the sudden -growth of a belief in his resurrection, and for some time after that -visit we half expected to hear that one or more of the household had -seen him. In this, however, we were disappointed. I suspect that its -mental soil may, after all, have been too barren for such a growth. - -Seven years elapsed before my second and last visit to these worthy -people. In the mean time a large addition had been made to the principal -house, nearly doubling its capacity; and I was told that the community -had been legally incorporated under the Hebrew title of Adoni-shomo, or -"The Lord is there." One would naturally infer that the membership had -increased, but the true explanation was very different. On a Saturday -afternoon in the summer of 1882, in company with fifteen friends, I -visited the community. Our reception this time was something more than -polite; there was a noticeable warmth of welcome about it. We were -ushered into one of the newly built rooms,--a long chapel, with seats on -either side and a reading-desk at one end. All the women, both hosts and -guests, took their seats on one side, all the men on the other. A -whisper from my neighbour informed me that the community was reduced to -twelve persons: thus the guests outnumbered the hosts. The high priest, -Father Richards, a venerable man of ruddy hue, with enormous beard as -white as snow, stood by the reading-desk, and in broken tones gave -thanks to God, while abundant tears coursed down his cheeks. Now, he -said, at last the word of the Lord was fulfilled. Two or three years ago -the word had come that they must build a chapel and add to their -living-rooms, for they were about to receive a large accession of new -converts. So--just think of it, gentle reader, in the last quarter of -this skeptical century--there was faith enough on that rugged -mountain-side to put three or four thousand dollars, earned with pork -and apple-sauce, into solid masonry and timber-work! And now at last, -said Father Richards, in the arrival of this goodly company the word of -the Lord was fulfilled! It seemed cruel to disturb such jubilant -assurance, but we soon found that we need not worry ourselves on that -score. The old man's faith was a rock on which unwelcome facts were -quickly wrecked. Though we took pains to make it clear that we had only -come for a visit, it was equally clear to him that we were to be -converted that very afternoon, and would soon come to abide with the -Adoni-shomo. - -Then Sister Caroline, stepping forward, made a long metaphysical -harangue, at the close of which she walked up one side of the room and -down the other, taking each person by the hand and saying to each a few -words. When she came to me she suddenly broke out with a stream of -gibberish, and went on for five mortal minutes, pouring it forth as -glibly as if it had been her mother tongue. After the meeting had broken -up, I was informed that this "speaking with tongues" was not uncommon -with the Adoni-shomo. A wicked wag in our party then asked Sister -Caroline if she knew what language it was in which she had addressed me. -"No, sir," she replied, "nor do I know the meaning of what I said: I -only uttered what the Lord put into my mouth." "Well," said this -graceless scoffer, with face as sober as a deacon's, "I am thoroughly -familiar with Hebrew, and I recognized at once the very dialect of -Galilee as spoken when our Saviour was on the earth!" At this, I need -hardly add, Sister Caroline was highly pleased. - -By this time there had been so many deaths that induction by simple -enumeration was getting to be too much for the Adoni-shomo. They were -beginning to realize the old Scotchman's conception of the elect: "Eh, -Jamie! hoo mony d'ye thank there be of the elact noo alive on earth?" -"Eh! mabbee a doozen." "Hoot, mon, nae sae mony as thot!" We found our -worthy hosts less willing than of old to discuss their doctrine of -terrestrial immortality, and there were symptoms of a tendency to give -it a Pickwickian construction. Since that day, their little community -has vanished, and its glorious landscape knows it no more. - -It is a pity that before the end it should not have had a visit from Mr. -Hyland C. Kirk, whose book on "The Possibility of Not Dying" was -published in New York in 1883. In this book the philosophic -plausibleness of the opinion that a time will come when we shall no -longer need to shuffle off this mortal coil is argued at some length, -but the question as to how this is to happen is ignored. Mr. Isaac -Jennings, in his "Tree of Life" (1867), thinks it can be accomplished by -total abstinence from "alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, animal food, -spices, and caraway." This is sufficiently specific; but Mr. Kirk's -treatment of the question is so hazy as to suggest the suspicion that he -has nothing to offer us. - -I once knew such a case of a delusion without any theory, or, if you -please, the grin without the Cheshire cat. In the course of a lecturing -journey, some thirty years ago, I was approached by a refined and -cultivated gentleman, who imparted to me in strict confidence and with -much modesty of manner the fact that he had arrived at a complete -refutation of the undulatory theory of light! To ask him for some -statement of his own theory was but ordinary courtesy; but whenever we -arrived at this point--which happened perhaps half a dozen times--he -would put on a smile of mystery and decline to pursue the subject. I -assured him that he need have no fear of my stealing his thunder, for I -had not the requisite knowledge; but he grew more darkly mysterious than -ever, and said that the time for him to speak had not yet come. - -A few months later, this gentleman, whom I will designate as Mr. -Flighty, appeared in Cambridge, and came to my desk in the college -library. Distress was written in his face. He had called upon Professor -Silliman and other professors in Eastern colleges, and had been shabbily -treated. Nobody had shown him any politeness except Professor Youmans, -in whom he believed he had found a convert. "Ah!" I exclaimed, "then you -told him your theory; perhaps the time has come when you can tell it to -me." But no; again came the subtle smile, and he began to descant upon -the persecution of Galileo, a favourite topic with cranks of all sorts. -He asked me for some of the best books on the undulatory theory, and I -gave him Cauchy, whereat he stood aghast, and said the book was full of -mathematics which he could not read; but he would like to see Newton's -Opticks, for that book did not uphold the undulatory theory. "Oh!" said -I, "then are you falling back on the corpuscular theory?" "No, indeed; -mine is neither the one nor the other," and again came the Sibylline -smile. As I went for the book, I found Professor Lovering in the alcove, -halfway up a tall ladder. "Hallo!" said I _sotto voce_. "There is a man -in here who has upset the undulatory theory of light; do you want to see -him?" "Heavens, no! Can't you inveigle him into some dark corner while I -run away?" "Don't worry," I replied,--"make yourself comfortable; I'll -keep him from you." So I lured Mr. Flighty into a discourse on the -bigotry of scientific folk, while Old Joe, whose fears were not so -easily allayed, soon stealthily emerged from his alcove and hurried from -the hall. - -The next time that I happened to be in New York, chatting with Youmans -at the Century Club, I alluded to Mr. Flighty, who believed he had made -a convert of him. - -"Ay, ay," rejoined Youmans, "and he said the same of you." - -"Indeed! Well, I suspected as much. Unless you drive a crank from the -room with cuffs and jeers, he is sure to think you agree with him. I do -not yet know what Mr. Flighty's theory is." - -"Nor I," said Youmans. - -"Do you believe he has any theory at all?" - -"Not a bit of it. He is a madman, and his belief that he has a theory is -simply the form which his delusion takes." - -"Exactly so," I said; and so it proved. Severe business troubles had -wrecked Mr. Flighty's mind, and it was not long before we heard that he -had killed himself in a fit of acute mania. - -My story must not end with such a gruesome affair. Out of the many queer -people I have known, let me mention one who is associated with pleasant -memories of childhood and youth. This man was no charlatan, but a -learned naturalist, of solid and genuine scientific attainments, who -came to be a little daft in his old age. Dr. Joseph Barratt, whose life -extended over three fourths of the present century, was born in England. -He was at one time a pupil of Cuvier, and cherished his memory with the -idolatrous affection which that wonderful man seems always to have -inspired. Dr. Barratt, as a physician practising in Middletown, -Connecticut, is one of the earliest figures in my memory,--a quaint and -lovable figure. His attainments in botany and comparative anatomy were -extensive; he was more or less of a geologist, and well read withal in -history and general literature, besides being a fair linguist. Though -eminently susceptible of the tender passion, he never married; he was -neither a householder nor an autocrat of the breakfast table, but dwelt -hermit-like in a queer snuggery over somebody's shop. His working-room -was a rare sight; so much confusion has not been seen since this fair -world weltered in its primeval chaos. With its cases of mineral and -botanical specimens, stuffed birds and skeletons galore; with its -beetles and spiders mounted on pins, its brains of divers creatures in -jars of alcohol, its weird retorts and crucibles, its microscopes and -surgeon's tools, its shelves of mysterious liquids in vials, its slabs -of Portland sandstone bearing footprints of Triassic dinosaurs, and near -the door a grim pterodactyl keeping guard over all, it might have been -the necromancing den of a Sidrophel. Maps and crayon sketches, mingled -with femurs and vertebræ, sprawled over tables and sofas and cumbered -the chairs, till there was scarcely a place to sit down, while -everywhere in direst helter-skelter yawned and toppled the books. And -such books! There I first browsed in Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Lamarck -and Blainville, and passed enchanted hours with the "Règne Animal." The -doctor was a courtly gentleman of the old stripe, and never did he clear -a chair for me without an apology, saying that he only awaited a -leisure day to put all things in strictest order. Dear soul! that day -never came. - -Dr. Barratt was of course intensely interested in the Portland quarries, -and they furnished the theme of the monomania which overtook him at -about his sixtieth year. He accepted with enthusiasm the geological -proofs of the antiquity of man in Europe, and presently undertook to -reinforce them by proofs of his own gathering in the Connecticut Valley. -An initial difficulty confronted him. The red freestone of that region -belongs to the Triassic period, the oldest of the secondary series. It -was an age of giant reptiles, contemporary with the earliest specimens -of mammalian life, and not a likely place in which to look for relics of -the highest of mammals. But Dr. Barratt insisted that this freestone is -Eocene, thus bringing it into the tertiary series; and while geologists -in general were unwilling to admit the existence of man before the -Pleistocene period, he boldly carried it back to the Eocene. Thus, by -adding a few million years to the antiquity of mankind and subtracting a -few million from that of the rocks, he was enabled at once to maintain -that he had discovered in the Portland freestone the indisputable -remains of an ancient human being with only three fingers, upon whom he -bestowed the name of _Homo tridactylus_. For companions he gave this -personage four species of kangaroo, and from that time forth discoveries -multiplied. - -Such claims, when presented before learned societies with the doctor's -quaint enthusiasm, and illustrated by his marvellous crayon sketches, -were greeted with shouts of laughter. Among the geologists who chiefly -provoked his wrath was the celebrated student of fossil footprints, Dr. -Edward Hitchcock. "Why, sir," he would exclaim, "Dr. Hitchcock is a -perfect fool, sir! I can teach ten of him, sir!" In spite of all scoffs -and rebuffs, the old gentleman moved on to the end serene in his -unshakable convictions. A courteous listener was, of course, a rare boon -to him; and so, in that little town, it became his habit to confide his -new discoveries to me. When I was out walking, if chary of my half hours -(as sometimes happened), a long detour would be necessary, to avoid his -accustomed haunts; and once, on my return from a journey, I had hardly -rung the doorbell when he appeared on the veranda with an essay entitled -"An Eocene Picnic," which he hoped to publish in "The Atlantic Monthly," -and which he insisted upon reading to me then and there. At one time a -very large bone was found in one of the quarries, which was pronounced -by Dr. Hitchcock to have belonged to an extinct batrachian; but Dr. -Barratt saw in it the bone of a pachyderm. "Why, sir," said he, "it was -their principal beast of burden,--as big as a rhinoceros and as gentle -as a lamb. The children of Homo tridactylus used to play about his feet, -sir, in perfect safety. I call him _Mega-ergaton docile_, 'the teachable -great-worker.' Liddell and Scott give only the masculine, _ergates_, but -for a beast of burden, sir, I prefer the neuter form. A gigantic -pachyderm, sir; and Dr. Hitchcock, sir, perfect fool, sir, says it was a -bullfrog!" - -The mortal remains of this gentle palæontologist rest in the beautiful -Indian Hill Cemetery at Middletown, and his gravestone, designed and -placed there by my dear friend, the late Charles Browning, is -appropriate and noble. For the doctor was after all a sterling man, -whose unobtrusive merits were great, while his foibles were not -important. The stone is a piece of fossil tree-trunk, brought over from -Portland, imbedded in an amorphous block untouched by chisel, save -where, on a bit of polished surface, one reads the name and dates, with -the simple legend, "The Testimony of the Rocks." - -_November, 1898._ - - - - -NOTE - -AN ACCOUNT OF THE ADONI-SHOMO COMMUNITY - -From the _Springfield Republican_. (1876.) - - -As queer a people as are often met, and apparently as upright and -religious, withal, are the Community situated on the stage-road between -Athol and Petersham, and commonly known thereabouts as "Howlandites" or -"Fullerites." According to their account, nearly twenty-one years ago, -two Worcester women, Mrs. Sarah J. Hervey and her sister, Caroline E. -Hawks, had come to hope for a divine revelation to them, and in -expectation of it had gone to a camp-meeting at Groton. Entering the -meeting they heard a stranger "talking in tongues," who proved to be the -man to meet their wants, in the person of Frederick T. Howland, a -Quaker, of good social standing, from New Bedford. That day, September -15, 1855, was the origin "in the faith," though not in temporal -association, of the Community, these three being the "pioneers," as -Sister Hervey takes pride in calling herself and associates. Mrs. -Hervey's husband died a year or two later, though not in the faith, -"these things," as they say, "having been beyond him." Soon after, the -new belief received the addition of eight persons from Athol, among them -Leonard C. Fuller, the present Spiritual head of the Community, and his -wife. In May, 1861, having been "moved by the Spirit" to form an -association for living together, they settled at Fuller's, at the south -end of Pleasant Street in Athol. In August, 1864, they removed to their -present farm in Petersham. Brother Howland held the position of head of -the body till killed by a runaway horse, not quite two years ago. His -people considered him a prophet, and say the Lord spoke by him, and that -he led them as Moses led the people of Israel. - -Their religious belief in many respects resembles that of the -Adventists, but differs in the vital point, that the reign of Christ, -under the expected new dispensation, is to be spiritual, and not -personal, as the Adventists hold. They construe the saying of John the -Revelator, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," to refer to a period -of time to begin with the 7000th year of the world, which is near at -hand. The judgment day they believe has already begun, and in a short -time, at the opening of the new dispensation, the holy dead are to be -raised. When a man who has only received "common" salvation dies, he has -no consciousness till the resurrection; but some, who are "specially" -saved, will not die. Miracles will be performed commonly. When the new -dispensation begins they are to be of the 144,000 spoken of by John, and -are to judge the nations. They do not believe in a hypothetical heaven -somewhere in space; the earth is not to be destroyed but changed; and -finally the devil is to be bound for a thousand years. They entirely -denounce Spiritualism, saying that it is from the Devil, or Antichrist. -Brother Howland, they say, lay down to rise with the prophets, and they -have written out what they claim to be prophecies made by him months or -years before his death as to the manner in which it should occur, which, -judged by the event, are certainly striking. - -The Community live mostly upon farinaceous food; they drink principally -water, sometimes herb tea. No flesh is eaten, because there is to be a -restitution of the order of things that prevailed in the garden of Eden, -and nothing that grows in the ground, because the ground is cursed. They -live on the apostolic plan of having all property in common. If any -among them wish to get married, they have to leave the Community. -Morning and evening they "wait before the Lord," standing, repeat the -Lord's prayer, and read and explain the Bible, "as the Spirit gives -utterance." Although the district public school is only a stone's throw -away, the half-dozen children of the Community, whom they have adopted, -"as the Lord sent them," are taught at home by Sister Hervey. Sometimes, -the neighbours' children come in, also, and they are said to do better -there than at the public school. The school gives an occasional visit -before the family, and a Christmas tree is provided. No jewelry is worn, -and they dress very plainly; though the "world's people" claim that the -Community wear as expensive "fixin's" and show as much pride as they do. -The Community observe a seventh-day Sabbath, extending from 6 P. M., -Friday, to the same hour, Saturday. The exercises begin at 10 o'clock, -Saturday, and continue without intermission till 3. They are of the -opinion that they need not go to a synagogue or "where the minister has -to go 'round and wake the people up, as he did down to the Advent Church -in Athol, last Sunday." The family seat themselves in the parlour on -three sides of the room, with the occasional visitors on the fourth -side; and the exercises consist of exhortations by the various members, -according as they are moved by the Spirit, with abundant "amens" from -the rest. If no one feels called upon to speak, they study the Bible. -Often they break out into singing. The house is free to visitors at all -times. Last year from June to October, they had over two hundred -visitors, among them nineteen, unexpectedly, one Sabbath.[52] - -Their number, now about twenty, varies from time to time. They say they -do not expect additions, though recently they have received two or three -which they count of considerable importance. One of them is a woman, -formerly a member of the Shaker Community at Dayton, O., where she was -not satisfied, who walked all the way from Ohio to join them; another is -an ex-Baptist minister from Athol. They say they have suffered -considerable persecution "for righteousness' sake." Mrs. Fuller thinks -she was cheated out of property which her mother left her, and, because -of the faith, two of their number, while sick, they say, were turned out -of a house on School Street in this city. They add, however, that those -forward in opposing them have died sudden or violent deaths. On the -other hand, they are prospering; they own a farm of two hundred and ten -acres, and Brother Asa Richards, their Temporal head, raises stock, -grain, fruits, etc., nearly sufficient to support them. Brother Fuller, -though their Spiritual head,[53] does the marketing, principally in -Athol. They have decided to enlarge the house and build a chapel in a -short time, "if the Lord permits." Last winter, to protect their -property, they went to the secretary of the Commonwealth and were -organized under recent state laws as a corporation, with all the powers -of a chartered body, under the name of "Adoni-shomo," Hebrew for "the -Lord is there;" that name being found in Ezekiel xlviii. 35. All their -property will now remain in the Community while a single member of it is -living. - -It may be added that the views which outsiders hold of their Community -do not always agree with their own. A "brother" named Mann died, last -fall, and, by their own confession, they had some difficulty with his -heirs, but finally settled for a nominal sum. At first they refused to -pay over anything, but the heirs, four in number, threatening law, they -finally concluded that the Lord willed them to give up $800. The common -belief is that Mann was worth as many thousands; at any rate, the -Petersham property was deeded to him in connection with Howland. Athol -people scout the idea that Howland had prophetic powers, and think that -the Community was simply the result of a shrewd plan of his to get a -living without working for it. - - - - -INDEX - - -Abbot, Ezra, 405. - -Adams, John, 150. - -Adams, Samuel, 155, 300. - -Adoni-shomo, a religious community, 449-452. - -Agassiz, Louis, 77, 312. - -Agricultural chemistry, 73. - -Alabama Claims, 172, 176. - -Albigenses, crusade against the, 132. - -Alger, W. R., 93. - -Algol, a multiple star, 7. - -Alphabet puzzle, 435. - -Altruism, 113. - -America, discovery of, 123, 124; - effects of its discovery upon political freedom, 127. - -American history, picturesqueness of, 197-199. - -Ames, Fisher, 300. - -Anachronisms in Shakespeare's plays, 389. - -Anaxagoras, 117. - -Anglophobia of Scotchmen in former times, 181. - -Anthropocentric thought, 111, 112. - -Appleton, D., & Co., 89-91. - -Arbitration, instances of, 176, 177; - among the ancient Greeks, 182; - among the Italian republics, 183. - -Arbitration Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, 165-193. - -Arnold, Matthew, on translating Homer, 353. - -Arts, beginning of, 118-120. - -Aryan languages, 31, 32. - -Asbjoernsen's folk-tales of Norway, 325. - -Astley, Sir Jacob, 160. - -Astronomy at the Harvard Observatory, 309. - -Athanasius, 53. - -Athenæum Press, the, 309. - -Atomic theory, 28. - -Augustine, 53. - -Avogadro's law of gaseous volumes, 28. - -Aztecs, 209. - - -Bacon, Delia, a paradoxer, 351, 356, 385, 399, 402, 440. - -Bacon, Francis, 356, 357, 367, 370, 374, 375, 378, 379, 381, 383, - 385-398, 403, 404. - -Bacon-Shakespeare folly, 350-404, 410. - -Baer, K. E. von, 18, 19, 25, 41. - -Balance, use of, 2, 3. - -Baptists, 148. - -Barbarism, types of, 32-34. - -Barratt, Joseph, 455-459. - -Bathybius, 343-345. - -Baxter, Richard, 154. - -Beaumont, Francis, 374. - -Beecher, Henry Ward, 92. - -Bellerophon, his letter, 354. - -Bessel, F. W., 6. - -Biblical chronology disturbed by geologists, 9. - -Bichat, X., his study of tissues, 17. - -Big Crow, a Sioux chief, 240. - -Biglow, Hosea, on the right to be a fool, 175; - on the Yankee dialect, 298; - on citified English, 371. - -Black, Joseph, his discovery of latent heat, 10. - -Blackfriars Theatre, 378. - -Blake, Robert, 154. - -Blue Anchor Tavern, 297. - -Boccaccio, G., 359. - -Bond, G. P., 309. - -Bond, W. C., 309. - -Bopp, Franz, 30. - -Boughton, Sir T., 382. - -Bouquet, Henry, 207. - -Bowditch, Nathaniel, 434. - -Brébeuf, J., 199. - -Bridge, John, 293. - -Bridges of Cambridge, 302. - -Bridgman, Laura, 335. - -Brougham, Lord, 412. - -Brown, Marie, a paradoxer, 441. - -Browning, Charles, 459. - -Büchner, L., 54. - -Buckle, H. T., 218. - -Buller, Sir Francis, his absurd charge to the jury, 382. - -Bunker Hill, 301. - -Bunyan, John, 403. - -Burghley, Lord, 364. - -Burke, Edmund, 194. - -Burton, Robert, 403. - - -Cabanis, Pierre, 55. - -Calvin, J., 130. - -Cambridge, Mass., its history, 286-318; - originally intended to be capital of Massachusetts, 290; - in what sense the daughter of Cambridge, England, 295; - complex nature of its growth, 306; - its extensive manufactures, 307-309; - excellence of its municipal government, 316, 317. - -Camden, William, 374. - -Carlyle, Thomas, 218. - -Caroline, Sister, 447, 450, 451. - -Carpenter, W., a paradoxer, 421. - -Catastrophes in geology, 21. - -Catholics, disfranchised in Rhode Island, 139. - -Causans, M. de, a circle-squarer, 434. - -Cavaliers in Virginia, 142. - -Cavendish, Henry, his analysis of water, 29. - -Champlain, S., 199, 203, 210. - -Chancery phrases seldom found in Shakespeare, 383. - -Chapman, George, 357, 359, 373, 385. - -Charles I., 290. - -Charles II., 137, 165. - -Chemical chart, devised by E. L. Youmans, 79. - -Chemistry, Youmans's textbook of, 80, 81. - -Christ Church in Cambridge, 298. - -Cieza de Leon, 202. - -Circle-squaring, 406-408, 411-417. - -Cities in Massachusetts, 305. - -Clan ownership, 33. - -Clarendon, Earl of, 158. - -Clark, J. S., 93, 100. - -Class Day forty years ago, 311. - -Classification of organisms, significance of, 14, 15. - -Cleveland, Grover, 175; - his Venezuela message, 179. - -"Coin's Financial School," 436. - -Coke, Edward, 374, 393. - -Columbus, Christopher, 123. - -Commercial spirit and ecclesiastical spirit, antagonism between, 134-136. - -Comparative method, 30-35. - -Comte, Auguste, his assertion that a stellar astronomy is impossible, 6; - failure of his philosophy, 13, 14, 88. - -Conán Maol, 327. - -Congress of American Colonies, 191. - -Congresses, International, 188, 189. - -Connecticut, founding of, 145. - -Controverted questions between the United States and Great Britain, - 171, 172. - -Cook, Joseph, 333-349. - -Cooper, James Fenimore, unreality of his Indians, 200. - -Copernicus, N., 102, 111, 125. - -Copyright, international, 97. - -Correlation of forces, 27, 28, 55, 97. - -Cortes, H., 123. - -Cotton, John, 139, 146, 225. - -Criminal trials, 382. - -Cromwell, Oliver, 154-164. - -Culmer, Frederick, a paradoxer, 425, 426. - -Culture, early stages of, 32-34. - -Cumulative action, 11, 12, 77, 101. - -Curtin, Jeremiah, 320-332. - -Curtis, B. R., 300. - -Cuvier, his classification of animals in space and time, 16, 17. - - -Dalton's law of proportions, 28. - -Darwin, Charles, 21-24, 30, 40, 49, 77, 103-105, 335, 363, 386. - -Darwin, George Howard, 8. - -Defoe, Daniel, 404. - -Delitzsch, Franz, 341. - -De Morgan, Augustus, 411-419, 427, 435. - -Derby, Earl of, 194. - -Descartes, René, 125. - -Dickens, Charles, 370. - -Differentiation, 44. - -Dingle, Edward, a paradoxer, 431. - -Diogenes, on the possibility of motion, 61. - -Disarmament, 191-193. - -Disqualifications, religious, 143. - -Dobbs, a caravan doctor, 247. - -Dogberry, 395. - -Donellan, John, famous case of, 382. - -Donne, John, 374. - -Donnelly, Ignatius, a paradoxer, 398, 403, 440. - -Doyle, J. A., 155. - -Dudley, Joseph, 146. - -Dummkopf, Herr, substituted name for a paradoxer, 408, 409. - -Dunster, Henry, 294. - -Dying, how to avoid, 411-452. - -Dynamical conception of the world, 36. - - -East Gate of Cambridge, 296. - -Eccentric literature, 409-444. - -Ecclesiasticism and commercialism, antagonism between, 134-136. - -Edward I., 130. - -Edward III., 130, 136. - -Edwards, Jonathan, 147, 148, 164. - -Electoral Commission of 1877, 173. - -Eliot, George, 353, 354. - -Eliot, John, 157. - -Elizabeth, Queen, 131, 132. - -Elze, K., 372. - -Embryology, its lessons, 16. - -Emerson, R. W., 145, 150. - -Endicott, John, 143, 144. - -Evolution, 35-38; - and the study of history, 42, 65, 66. - - -Facts vs. theories, 21. - -Fairfax, Thomas, 157. - -Faraday, M., his discovery of magneto-electric induction, 27. - -Farmer Weathersky, 329. - -Fenian legends, 327. - -Fifth Monarchists, 164. - -Fischer, Kuno, 386. - -Fletcher, John, 374, 395. - -Flighty, Mr., substituted name for a paradoxer, 452-455. - -Forman, Captain, a paradoxer, 412, 413. - -Forsyth, W., 194. - -Foster, John, 155. - -Fox-hunting, condemned by E. A. Freeman, 283. - -France and England, their struggle for North America, 216. - -Franklin, Benjamin, 69, 145, 150. - -Freedom of thought, unpopularity of, 128, 152. - -Freeman, E. A., 30; - his birth, 265; - leading events of his life, 266; - his early work in architecture, 267; - his breadth of view, 268; - his historical essays, 269; - his book on federal government, 269-272; - his "Norman Conquest" and "William Rufus," 272-274; - his miscellaneous work, especially relating to eastern Europe, 275; - his lectures on comparative politics, 276; - his work on historical geography, 277; - other work, 278, 279; - his history of Sicily, 279, 280; - his premature death, 281; - his warfare against fools and tyrants, 281, 282; - his wholesome view of the Eastern Question, 282; - his condemnation of fox-hunting, 283; - his domestic habits, 283. - -French heroism, 218. - -French materialists of the 18th century, 116, 117. - -French war of 1755-1763; - its importance not generally comprehended, 251. - -Fresnel, A. J., 27. - -Frontenac, Count, 210. - -Frothingham, Octavius Brooks, 225, 257, 260. - -Froude, J. C., 194. - -Fuller, Thomas, 374. - - -Gaelic language, its pathetic fate, 320-323. - -Galapagos Islands, 23. - -Galen, 400. - -Galileo, 444, 453. - -Garcilasso de la Vega, 202. - -Gardiner, S. R., 156. - -Gerry, Elbridge, 300. - -God's Acre in Cambridge, 296. - -Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, one of the first among evolutionists, 14, - 15, 41, 62. - -Gravitation, theory of, called atheistic, 9; - forbidden to be taught in Spain, 126. - -Gray, Asa, 30, 312, 349. - -Gray, Thomas, 157. - -Great Awakening, the, 147, 148. - -Great Design, the, of Henry IV., 190. - -Greece in primitive times, 211, 212. - -Greene, Robert, 373, 384. - -Grove, Sir W., 27. - -Gruagach of Tricks, the, 329-331. - -Gumpach, Johannes, a paradoxer, 418. - -Gurney, E. W., 93. - - -Haddon Hall, 123. - -Haeckel, Ernst, his materialism refuted, 51-62, 115, 116. - -Hail-Storm, a young warrior, 243-245. - -Hales, Sir James, case of, 379, 380. - -Half-way Covenant, 146-148. - -Hall, Caroline, 225. - -Hall, Nathaniel, 225. - -Hamilton, Alexander, 157, 180. - -Hampden, John, 157. - -Hampden, John, a paradoxer, 419. - -Harvard College, founding of, 161, 294. - -Harvey, William, on the advance from simplicity to complexity, 41; - his remark about Bacon, 388; - his discovery of the circulation of blood, 400, 401. - -Hathaway, Anne, her cottage at Shottery, 365. - -Helium, 7. - -Helmholtz, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von, 27. - -Helps, Sir Arthur, 64. - -Henry V. of England, 125. - -Henry VIII. of England, 129, 134. - -Henry the Navigator, Prince, 123. - -Herbert, Edward, 374. - -Herschel, Sir John, 412. - -Heterogeneity, 44. - -Higginson, T. W., 194. - -Hippocrates, 400. - -Historian, requirements for making an, 208. - -Hitchcock, Edward, 458, 459. - -Hodge, a circle-squarer, 413-416. - -Holinshed, Raphael, 358. - -Holmes, Nathaniel, a paradoxer, 379-381, 440. - -Holmes, O. W., his birthplace, 301. - -_Homo tridactylus_, 458. - -Homogeneity, 44. - -Hook, Theodore, 350. - -Hooker, Sir J., 20. - -Hooker, Richard, 53, 373. - -Hooker, Thomas, 292. - -Hosmer, J. K., 156-165. - -Household science, 97. - -Howland, Father, 444, 445, 448. - -Human sacrifices, 34. - -Human soul, centre of Spencerian world, 48. - -Humboldt, Alexander von, 422. - -Humour, Bacon's deficiency in, 490; - seldom found in cranks, 410. - -Hunter, Sir John, 382. - -Hutchinson, Anne, 161, 292. - -Hutchinson, Thomas, 291, 300. - -Hutton, James, his theory of the earth, 10. - -Huxley, T. H., 17, 30, 91, 95, 337, 343-348, 361, 363. - -Huyghens, Christian, 26, 27. - - -Immortality of the soul, 61, 114. - -Independency, 131-134. - -Indestructibility of matter, 28. - -Infancy, chief causes of the prolongation of human, 106-109; - effect of the prolongation of human, 109; - of the orang-outang, 105. - -Inquisition in Spain, effects of, 126. - -Insane literature, 407-409. - -Integration, 44. - -International Scientific Series, 96, 97. - -Ireton, Henry, 157. - -Irish folk-lore, 319-332. - -Iroquois farmers in the State of New York, 209. - -Isolation of the United States, impossibility of maintaining, 193. - - -Jackson, Hughlings, 361, 362. - -James I., 131. - -James II., 137. - -James, William, 446, 448. - -Jamestown, founding of, 190 - -Japan, Mongolian invasion of, 437. - -Jefferson, Thomas, 141, 142, 150, 305. - -Jennings, Isaac, a paradoxer, 452. - -Jesuits in New France, 127. - -Jevons, Stanley, 388. - -Johnson, Edwin, a paradoxer, 438, 439. - -Johnson, Rev. Samuel, 88. - -Jones, Inigo, 374. - -Jonson, Ben, 357, 366-370, 374, 378, 385. - -Joule, J. P., 27. - -Jupiter, the planet, still feebly self-luminous, 8. - - -Kabaosa, 200. - -Kant, Immanuel, 26, 150. - -Keats, John, 359, 374. - -Keely motor, 417. - -Kelvin, Lord, on the size of atoms, 29. - -Kepler, Johannes, 8. - -King, Rufus, 300. - -King of Sweden, as an umpire, 167. - -Kinship, reckoned through the mother, 33. - -Kirk, H. C., a paradoxer, 452. - -Koch, Robert, 29. - -Kuhn, Adolph, 30. - - -Lalemant, J., 199. - -Lamb, Charles, 350. - -Lander, William, a paradoxer, 419. - -Landis, John, eccentric poet, 443. - -Lang, Andrew, on the Homeric poems, 355. - -Langdon, Samuel, 301. - -Laplace, Marquis Pierre Simon de, 434. - -La Salle, Robert, 199. - -Lavoisier, A. L., his theory of combustion, 3, 37. - -Lecturer, hardships of a, 84. - -Lectures on science by E. L. Youmans, 82-87. - -Leibnitz, G. W., 389. - -Leslie, Alexander, 158. - -_Levée en masse_, system of, 185, 186. - -Lewes, G. H., 361-333. - -Lewis and Clark, 203. - -Light, undulatory theory of, 27. - -Lindemann's researches on Pi, 407. - -Linguistic Society of Paris, 21. - -Linnæus, his system of classification, 16; - his relation to evolution, 41. - -Little, Brown & Co., 194, 205. - -Locke, John, 125, 134. - -Lollardism, 130. - -London, size of, in Shakespeare's time, 375. - -Longfellow, H. W., 312. - -Lotze, H. R., 341. - -Louis XIV., 216. - -Lovering, Joseph, 454. - -Lowell, J. R., 299, 312, 399. - -Lubbock, Sir J., 95. - -Luther, Martin, 125. - -Lutherans, 142. - -Lyell, Sir Charles, greatness of his work, 10-13; 7. - - -Macaulay, Lord, 156, 387. - -Madison, James, 141-143, 157. - -Maine, Sir Henry, 21, 30. - -Malpighi, M., 401. - -Manipulation, its importance in the evolution of man, 117, 118. - -Manuscripts used by Parkman, 204. - -Marie de l'Incarnation, 199. - -Marlowe, Christopher, 373, 385. - -Maryland, 136. - -Massachusetts, growth of liberal thought in, 144-149. - -Masson, David, 156. - -Mastodon, 437. - -Materialism, attacked by Herbert Spencer, 50. - -Mather, Cotton, 294. - -Maurer, K., 30. - -Maurice, F. D., 341. - -Mayer, J. R., 27. - -Maypoles, 375. - -_Mega-ergaton docile_, 459. - -Megalomania of cranks, 410. - -Memorial Hall at Cambridge, Mass., 313. - -"Merchant of Venice," its crazy law, 386. - -Meres, Francis, his praise of Shakespeare, 376, 377. - -Mermaid Tavern, 374. - -Metamorphosis of motions, 55-57. - -Methodism, 148. - -Mexico, conquest of, 201, 202. - -Middle Ages, accumulated misery in, 183, 184. - -Middlesex Fells, 227. - -"Midsummer Night's Dream, A," 375. - -Mill, J. S., 94, 335. - -Milton, John, 125, 134, 139; - his "Lycidas," 358; - his verses on Shakespeare, 368, 369. - -Minturn, R. B., 95. - -Mommsen, T., 30. - -Montaigne, M. de, 390, 403. - -Montcalm, 201. - -Montezuma, 203. - -Morality, beginnings of, 110. - -Morell, J. D., 87. - -Morgan, Appleton, 371. - -Morse, Royal, 310. - -Morphology, 15. - - -Nash, Thomas, 384. - -Nason, a paradoxer, 439. - -Natural selection, 24. - -Nebular theory, 26, 45, 46, 77. - -Neptune, the planet, discovery of, 5. - -Netherlands, toleration in, 135, 136. - -New Haven Colony, suppressed by Charles II., 146. - -New Netherlands, 136. - -Newton, Sir Isaac, 2, 5, 6, 9, 27, 37, 66, 125, 126, 388, 418, 419. - -Noble Savage, 200. - -Nordenskjöld, Baron, Swedish explorer, 424, 425. - -Norton, John, 146. - -"Noverint, trade of," a slang expression, 384. - - -Octogenarian layman, an, 432-434. - -Odyssey, the, 210. - -Oersted, H. C., 27. - -Ogillalah Indians, 240. - -Old South Church, founding of, 146, 299. - -Olney, Richard, 166, 175. - -Ophelia, her right to Christian burial, 380. - -Orang-outang, an infant, brought up by A. R. Wallace, 105, 106. - -"Oregon Trail, The," by Francis Parkman, 236-248. - -Orion, nebula of, 7. - -Orthodoxies, new and old, 129, 151. - -Ovum, shows the process of development in all its stages, 43, 44. - -Owen, Orville, a paradoxer, 370, 403. - -Oxenstjern, cynical remark of, 349. - - -Paine, Thomas, 149. - -Paley, Frederick, 353. - -Paris, massacres of prisoners in, 287. - -Parker, Theodore, 144, 151, 230. - -Parkman, Ebenezer, 223. - -Parkman, Francis, as an historian, 194-222; - his birth, 223; - his boyhood, 226-230; - his first journey to Europe, 233-235; - his life among Indians, 235-246; - his ill-health, 238, 239, 246-250, 254, 256, 261; - how he composed "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," 249-251; - his marriage, 253; - his house at Jamaica Plain, 255, 256; - his garden and greenhouse, 257, 258; - his eminence in horticulture, 258; - his pamphlets, 263; - his death, 264; - greatness of his work, 264. - -Parkman, Rev. Francis, 224, 225. - -Parkman, Samuel, 223. - -Parsons, Theophilus, 300. - -Parthenogenesis, 345-348. - -Passionists, a monastic order, 234. - -Pasteur, Louis, 29. - -Pauncefote, Sir J., 166. - -Peaceful tendencies of commerce, 187, 188. - -Peirce, Benjamin, 313. - -Peloponnesian War, 289. - -Pembroke, Earl of, 367. - -Pendulum, 27. - -Penn, William, 134, 138. - -Pennsylvania, 137. - -Perpetual motion, 417. - -Perspective, historic, 195, 196. - -Petersham, Mass., a religious community in, 444-452. - -Phlogiston, doctrine of, 2-4. - -Phokion, his estimate of popularity, 334. - -Photography, application to the telescope, 8. - -Pi, a geometrical symbol, 405-407, 412. - -Pickering, Timothy, 300. - -Pisistratus, 352. - -Platte River, the, 203. - -Plowden's Reports, 381. - -Plutarch, 358; - his essay on superstition, edited by a paradoxer, 442. - -Poetry, eccentric, 443. - -"Pontiac, The Conspiracy of," 195, 249-251. - -Pope, Alexander, 387. - -"Popular Science Monthly, The," 98. - -Positivism, weakness of, 14. - -Pott, Mrs. H., a paradoxer, her edition of the Promus manuscript, 394, 395. - -_Proemunire_ statutes, 130. - -Precision of detail in myths, 323-325. - -Presbyterianism, 131. - -Presbyterians, 142. - -Prescott, William, 201, 202. - -Pride's Purge, 163. - -Priestley, Joseph, his discovery of oxygen, 1-4, 26, 37; - his treatise on electricity, 27; - burning of his house, 287. - -Proctor, Richard, 421. - -Profanity, silent, 339. - -Progressiveness of man, explanation of the, 108. - -"Promus of Formularies and Elegancies," 394. - -Prophecy lunatics, 432-434. - -Prospect Union, the, 315. - -Protection run mad, 219, 220. - -Prussia, revelation of her military strength, 186. - -Psychology, Spencer's masterly treatment of, 48, 49. - -Puritan theocracy, 145, 146. - -Puritanism, origin of, 130-132. - -Putnam, Israel, 201. - -Pym, John, 157. - -Pyramid lunatics, 428-431. - -Pyramids of Egypt, 211. - - -Quakerism, wherein distinguished from Independency, 138. - -Quimby, W., a paradoxer, 431. - - -Radcliffe College, 314. - -Radiata, 17. - -Raleigh, Sir Walter, 125, 364, 373, 393. - -Ranking, John, 437. - -Red Water, an Indian warrior, 241. - -Reed, Edwin, a paradoxer, 366, 367. - -Reform of human nature, slowness of, 76. - -Registration of experiences, 107, 108. - -Religion, reality of, 114, 115. - -Renaissance, 124. - -Rhode Island, 136; - Catholics disfranchised in, 139. - -Richards, Father, 449, 450. - -Ripley, George, 92. - -Riverside Press, the, 308. - -Roberts, G. L., 93. - -Roblin, Captain, a paradoxer, 418. - -Roe, J. E., a paradoxer, 403. - -Romano, Julio, 372, 373. - -"Root and branch" men, 131. - -Rousseau, J. J., 200. - -Rowbotham, Samuel, a paradoxer, 421. - -Rumford, Count, 27. - -Running for office in Tir na n-Og, 329. - -Russell, Lord John, 412. - -Rutherford, Samuel, 133. - - -Saint-Hilaire, Étienne Geoffroy, 20. - -Saint-Hilaire, Isidore Geoffroy, 20. - -Saturn's rings, 27. - -Savage life, delights of, 207, 208. - -Savagery, types of, 32. - -Savages and barbarians, 211. - -Saxo Grammaticus, 359. - -Scheele, C. W., his relation to the discovery of oxygen, 3. - -Schelling, F. W. J., 41. - -Schlegel, August von, 402. - -Schleicher, A., 30. - -Schleiden, M. J., his cell doctrine, 18. - -School-teacher, a model, 71. - -Schwann's cell doctrine, 18. - -Science, pure and applied, 29. - -Scofield, Catherine, 68. - -Scott, Sir Walter, 199. - -Selden, John, 374. - -Servetus, Michael, 401. - -Shakespeare, William, 125, 356-404. - -Shaw, Quincy, 203, 236. - -Shenandoah Valley, settlement of, 142. - -Shepard, Thomas, 293. - -Shepard Church in Cambridge, founding of, 299. - -Shocks, nervous and psychical, 60. - -Silliman, B., 453. - -Silsbee, Edward, 88. - -Skinner, a paradoxer, 430. - -Smallwit, Mr., substituted name for a paradoxer, 408, 409. - -Smith, James, a circle-squarer, 411. - -Smith, Captain John, 203. - -Smyth, C. Piazzi, a paradoxer, 426-429. - -Society and organism, deepest distinction between, 47. - -Solar system, 5. - -Solemn League and Covenant, 158. - -Sophocles, E. A., 312. - -Southampton, Earl of, 370. - -Spain, her methods in America, 214, 215. - -Spanish literature and science, 126. - -Speaking with tongues, 451. - -Spectrum analysis, 6, 7. - -Spedding, James, 386. - -Spencer, Herbert, 20, 25, 26, 39-51, 55, 66, 67, 86-96, 339, 341, 361-363; - some ambiguities of expression, 58-61. - -Spencerians, forty years ago, 93. - -Spenser, Edmund, 374; - his compliment to Shakespeare, 376. - -Spinoza, B., 388. - -Spot Pond, 227. - -Stahl, G. E., 2-4, 37. - -Standard of degrees of organization, 45. - -Stars, multiple, 6, 7. - -Stone Age, men of the, 210, 240, 291. - -Story, Joseph, 300. - -Strafford, Earl of, 154. - -Stratford, its dirty streets, 365. - -Strong, Caleb, 300. - -Stuyvesant, Peter, his treatment of Quakers, 137. - -Suffrage, limited to church members in Massachusetts and New Haven, 145, 146. - -Sullamar, Henry, a circle-squarer, 434. - -Sully, Duke of, 190. - -Swan of Avon, 366, 367. - -Swift, Jonathan, 404. - -Symmes, Americus, a paradoxer, 424, 425. - -Symmes, J. C., a paradoxer, 421-423. - -Synods and congregations, 133. - - -Taylor, Robert, imprisoned for blasphemy, 439. - -Telescope-making in Cambridge, 309. - -Theocritus, 358. - -Thirst for knowledge, 70. - -Thomson, Sir William. _See_ Kelvin, Lord. - -Thomson, Sir Wyville, 345. - -"Thou" and "you" in Shakespeare's time, 392, 393. - -Thunder-fighters, the, 242. - -Ticknor & Fields, 89. - -Tir na n-Og, the land of youth, 328. - -"Top-knot come down," 348. - -Tory party in New England, 146. - -Tourneur, Cyril, 373. - -Town meetings, 305. - -Trade between Europe and Asia, 122, 123. - -Trent, affair of the, 172, 178, 179. - -Tribunals of arbitration, 167-170. - -Troilus and Cressida, 359. - -Trollope, Anthony, his controversy with E. A. Freeman as to fox-hunting, 283. - -Tylor, T. B., 30. - -Tyndall, John, 337. - - -"Uncle Good," 71. - -Uniformity in geology, 10. - -Union, the sentiment of, 180, 181. - -Unitarian movement, the, 148-151. - -Universalism, 148. - -University Press in Cambridge, 297, 308. - -Upham, C. W., 155. - -Uranus, the planet, 5. - - -Vane, Sir Henry, 139, 154-165. - -Vasari's "Lives of the Painters," 372. - -Venice, would not accept the Inquisition, 135; - her crime against Constantinople, 287. - -"Venus and Adonis," 370, 371. - -Vesalius, A., 401. - -"Vestiges of Creation," 77. - -Vico, G. B., 352. - -Vindex, a paradoxer, 442. - -Vining, Edward, 400. - -Virginia and religious freedom, 141, 142. - -Volney, Count, 422. - -Voltaire, 149; - his remark about Shakespeare, 399. - - -Wallace, A. R., 24, 30, 102-104. - -Washington's Farewell Address, 193. - -Watertown, its protest against taxation without representation, 291. - -Webster, John, 373. - -West, Rev. Samuel, 300. - -West Gate of Cambridge, 296. - -Whewell, William, 411, 435. - -Whitman, Walt, 338. - -Wilder, S. H., 58. - -William and Mary, 138. - -Williams, Roger, 134, 139-141, 161, 162. - -Winthrop, John, 146. - -Wolf, F. A., 352; - his theory of the Homeric poems, 352-354. - -Wolf, K. F., 41. - -Wolves and bears in Cambridge, 296. - - -Xicotencatl, 202. - - -Yonnondio, 200. - -Youmans, E. L., 67-99, 453-455. - -Youmans, Vincent, 67-71. - -Young, Thomas, 27. - -ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED -BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO. - - * * * * * - -The Riverside Press - - * * * * * - -CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Morse, _What American Zoölogists have done for Evolution_, pp. 37, -39-41, Salem, 1876; _Proc. Amer. Assoc. for Adv. of Sci._, vol. xxii. - -[2] _The Ascent of Man_, pp. 282-291; cf. Tyler, _The Whence and the -Whither of Man_, pp. 179, 217, etc. - -[3] An address delivered in the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, -May 13, 1896, at the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of its -founding, under the lead of the illustrious Dr. Priestley. - -[4] Balfour, _Comparative Embryology_, i. 2. - -[5] Part of an address before the Brooklyn Ethical Association, May 31, -1891. - -[6] See, for example, _Principles of Psychology_, second edition, -1870-72, vol. ii. pp. 145-162. - -[7] See also _Excursions of an Evolutionist_, 1883, pp. 274-282. - -[8] _First Principles_, second edition, 1867, p. 217. - -[9] _Id._ p. 558. - -[10] See, e. g., _Principles of Psychology_, second edition, vol. i. pp. -158-161, 616-627. - -[11] Vol. i. p. 158. Cf. my _Cosmic Philosophy_, vol. ii. p. 444. - -[12] "If thou wouldst press into the infinite, go but to all parts of -the finite." - -[13] An address before the Brooklyn Ethical Association, March 23, 1890. - -[14] Vol. iii. p. 113. - -[15] See above, p. 49. - -[16] Short-hand report of my speech at a dinner given for me by Mr. John -Spencer Clark, at the Aldine Club, New York, May 13, 1895. - -[17] An address delivered at the National Conference of Unitarian -Churches, at Washington, D.C., October 23, 1895. - -[18] Sempere, _Monarchie Espagnole_, ii. 152. - -[19] Stuyvesant's brief persecution of Quakers, for which he was sternly -rebuked by the home government, constitutes an exception to the rule. -See my _Dutch and Quaker Colonies_, i. 232-237. - -[20] See Arnold's _History of Rhode Island_, ii. 490-496. - -[21] Stimson, _American Statue Law_, §46. - -[22] _The Life of Young Sir Henry Vane, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, -and Leader of the Long Parliament._ With a Consideration of the English -Commonwealth as a Forecast of America. By James K. Hosmer. Boston: -Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1888. - -[23] See my _Beginnings of New England_, p. 185. - -[24] The following list of instances within a period of twelve years is -cited from an able article by Professor Pasquale Fiore, of the -University of Naples, in the _International Journal of Ethics_, October, -1896:-- - -Arbitration by the Emperor of Austria between Great Britain and -Nicaragua, 1881. - -A mixed commission to arbitrate between France and Chili, 1882. - -Arbitration by the President of the French Republic between the -Netherlands and the Republic of San Domingo, 1882. - -Arbitration by Pope Leo XIII. between Germany and Spain; affair of the -Caroline Islands, 1885. - -[25] This paper originated in an address at Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, -December 6, 1893, at a service commemorative of Mr. Parkman. In its -presently greatly expanded shape it was printed as the Introduction to -the revised edition of Parkman's Works, Boston, 1897-98, 20 vols., -octavo. - -[26] _Pontiac_, iii. 112. - -[27] An oration delivered in Sanders Theatre, June 2, 1896, at the civic -jubilee commemorating the incorporation of Cambridge as a city. - -[28] Chicago, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. By the annexation of Brooklyn, -the population of New York is now (1899) carried up to 3,500,000, making -it the second city in the world. - -[29] In 1898 the number had risen to 4660, besides 411 women students in -Radcliffe. - -[30] _Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland._ By Jeremiah Curtin. Boston: -Little, Brown & Co. 1890. - -[31] Cook's _Boston Monday Lectures: Biology_, p. 51. After some -hesitation I have decided to reprint this paper, because the -"fundamental rule of procedure" here criticised is a favourite one with -other controversialists than Mr. Cook, and it is one against which -readers sometimes need to be put on their guard. - -[32] In spite of an occasional slip of the pen which may seem to imply -the contrary. See above, pp. 58-60. - -[33] The italicizing is, of course, mine, both here and below. - -[34] _Biology_, p. 67. - -[35] _Encyclopædia Britannica_, ninth edition, "Biology," p. 686. - -[36] This article was published in the fortieth-anniversary number of -_The Atlantic Monthly_, November, 1897. - -[37] Iliad, vi. 168. - -[38] The comedy afterward developed into _All's Well that Ends Well_. - -[39] Davis, _The Law in Shakespeare_, St. Paul, 1884. - -[40] There is reason for believing that this choice was an instance of -the megalomania developed by Miss Bacon's malady. She imagined a remote -kinship between herself and Lord Bacon. Possibly there may have been -such kinship. - -[41] Fischer, _Shakespeare und die Bacon Mythen_, Heidelberg, 1895. - -[42] The Baconizers usually delight in berating poor Shakespeare, making -much of the deer-stealing business, the circumstances of his marriage, -etc. - -[43] _Literary Essays_, ii. 163. - -[44] The Bankside _Shakespeare_, vol. xi. p. xi. - -[45] The writings of Hippocrates abound in examples, as in his -interesting explanation of congestion, extravasation, etc. (_De Ventis_, -x.-xiv., _Opera_, ed. Littré, tom. vi. pp. 104-114), to cite one -instance out of a thousand: [Greek: Epeidan oun es tas pacheias kai -poluaimous tôn phlebôn polus aêr brisê, brisas de menê, kôluetai to -haima diexienai tê men oun enestêke, tê de nôthrôs diexerchetai, tê de -thasson] etc. - -[46] _Budget of Paradoxes_, pp. 9, 178, 259, 260, 336. - -[47] _The Theory of Concentric Spheres_, Louisville, 1878; second -edition, 1885. - -[48] Proctor, _The Great Pyramid_, p. 43. - -[49] De Morgan, p. 179. - -[50] De Morgan, p. 163. - -[51] A site not far from that of Evansville, Indiana. - -[52] This was my first visit, with Dr. James and other friends, as above -described. - -[53] Brother Fuller resigned in 1877, and was succeeded by Brother -Richards as Spiritual head, or high priest of the Adoni-shomo. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Century of Science and Other Essays, by -John Fiske - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CENTURY OF SCIENCE *** - -***** This file should be named 40590-8.txt or 40590-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/5/9/40590/ - -Produced by David Garcia, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, -Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net. 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