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diff --git a/44949-8.txt b/44949-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7ae6083..0000000 --- a/44949-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4772 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's James Frederick Ferrier, by Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane - -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: James Frederick Ferrier - -Author: Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane - -Illustrator: Joseph Brown - -Release Date: February 17, 2014 [EBook #44949] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected -without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have -been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with -underscores: _italics_. - - - - -JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER - - -FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES - - -_The following Volumes are now ready_-- - - THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON - ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON - HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK - JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES - ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN - THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE - RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor HERKLESS - SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON - THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE - JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK - TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON - FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND - THE BLACKWOOD GROUP. By SIR GEORGE DOUGLAS - NORMAN MACLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD - SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY - KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ - ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART - JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE - MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN - DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD - WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON - SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON - ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK - THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER - POLLOK and AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON - ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON - ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORRISON - JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE - - - - -JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER - - -BY - -E. S. HALDANE - - -FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES - -PUBLISHED BY OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER -EDINBURGH AND LONDON - - -The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr. Joseph Brown, and -the printing from the press of Morrison & Gibb Limited, Edinburgh. - -1899. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - -INTRODUCTION 7 - - -CHAPTER I - -EARLY LIFE 11 - - -CHAPTER II - -WANDERJAHRE--SOCIAL LIFE IN SCOTLAND--BEGINNING OF -HIS LITERARY WORK 27 - - -CHAPTER III - -PHILOSOPHY BEFORE FERRIER'S DAY 41 - - -CHAPTER IV - -'FIERCE WARRES AND FAITHFUL LOVES' 56 - - -CHAPTER V - -DEVELOPMENT OF 'SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHY, THE OLD AND THE -NEW'--FERRIER AS A CORRESPONDENT 72 - - -CHAPTER VI - -FERRIER'S SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY--HIS PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS 88 - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE COLERIDGE PLAGIARISM--MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY WORK 106 - - -CHAPTER VIII - -PROFESSORIAL LIFE 122 - - -CHAPTER IX - -LIFE AT ST. ANDREWS 138 - - -CHAPTER X - -LAST DAYS 152 - - - - -JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -Mr. Oliphant Smeaton has asked me to write a few words of preface to -this little book. If I try, it is only because I am old enough to have -had the privilege of knowing some of those who were most closely -associated with Ferrier. - -When I sat at the feet of Professor Campbell Fraser in the Metaphysics -classroom at Edinburgh in 1875, Ferrier's writings were being much read -by us students. The influence of Sir William Hamilton was fast -crumbling in the minds of young men who felt rather than saw that much -lay beyond it. We were still engrossed with the controversy, waged in -books which now, alas! sell for a tenth of their former price, about -the Conditioned and the Unconditioned. We still worked at Reid, -Hamilton, and Mansel. But the attacks of Mill on the one side, and of -Ferrier and Dr. Stirling on the other, were slowly but surely -withdrawing our interest. Ferrier had pointed out a path which seemed -to lead us in the direction of Germany if we would escape from Mill, -and Stirling was urging us in the same sense. It was not merely that -Ferrier had written books. He had died more than ten years earlier, but -his personality was still a living influence. Echoes of his words came -to us through Grant and Sellar. Outside the University, men like -Blackwood and Makgill made us feel what a power he had been. But that -was not all for at least some of us. Mrs. Ferrier had removed to -Edinburgh--and I endorse all that my sister says of her rare quality. -She lived in a house in Torphichen Street, which was the resort of -those attracted, not only by the memory of her husband, but by her own -great gifts. She was an old lady and an invalid. But though she could -not move from her chair, paralysis had not dimmed her mental powers. -She was a true daughter of 'Christopher North.' I doubt whether I have -seen her rival in quickness, her superior I never saw. She could talk -admirably to those sitting near her, and yet follow and join in the -conversation of another group at the end of the room. She could adapt -herself to everyone--to the shy and awkward student of eighteen, who -like myself was too much in awe of her to do more unhelped than answer, -and to the distinguished men of letters who came from every quarter -attracted by her reputation for brilliance. The words of no one could -be more incisive, the words of no one were habitually more kind than -hers. She had known everybody. She forgot nobody. In those days the -relation between Literature and the Parliament House, if less close -than it had been, was more apparent than it is to-day, and -distinguished Scottish judges and advocates mingled in the afternoon in -the drawing-room, where she sat in a great arm-chair, with such men as -Sellar and Stevenson and Grant and Shairp and Tulloch. But her -personality was the supreme bond. - -Those days are over, and with them has passed away much of what -stimulated one to read in the _Institutes_ or the _Philosophical -Remains_. But for the historian of British philosophy Ferrier -continues as a prominent figure. He it was who first did, what Stirling -and Green did again at a stage later on--make a serious appeal to -thoughtful people to follow no longer the shallow rivulets down which -the teaching of the great German thinkers had trickled to them, but to -seek the sources. If as a guide to those sources we do not look on him -to-day as adequate, we are not the less under a deep obligation to him -for having been the pioneer of later guides. What Ferrier wrote about -forty years ago has now become readily accessible, and what has been -got by going there is in process of rapid and complete assimilation. -The opinions which were in 1856 regarded by the authorities of the Free -and United Presbyterian Churches as disqualifying Ferrier for the -opportunity of influencing the mind of the youth of Edinburgh, from the -Chair of Logic and Metaphysics in succession to Sir William Hamilton, -are regarded by the present generation of Presbyterians as the main -reliable bulwark against the attacks of unbelievers. If one may judge -by the essays in the recent volume called _Lux Mundi_, the same -phenomenon displays itself among the young High Church party in -England. The Time-Spirit is fond of revenges. - -But even for others than the historians of the movement of Thought the -books of Ferrier remain attractive. There is about them a certain -atmosphere in which everything seems alive and fresh. Their author was -no Dryasdust. He was a living human being, troubled as we are troubled, -and interested in the things which interest us. He spoke to us, not -from the skies, but from among a crowd of his fellow human beings, and -we feel that he was one of ourselves. As such it is good that a -memorial of him should be placed where it may easily be seen. - -R. B. HALDANE. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -EARLY LIFE - - -It may be a truism, but it is none the less a fact, that it is not -always he of whom the world hears most who influences most deeply the -thought of the age in which he lives. The name of James Frederick -Ferrier is little heard of beyond the comparatively small circle of -philosophic thinkers who reverence his memory and do their best to keep -it green: to others it is a name of little import--one among a -multitude at a time when Scotland had many sons rising up to call her -blessed, and not perhaps one of the most notable of these. And yet, -could we but estimate the value of work accomplished in the higher -sphere of thought as we estimate it in the other regions of practical -work--an impossibility, of course--we might be disposed to modify our -views, and accord our praises in very different quarters from those in -which they are usually bestowed. - -James Ferrier wrote no popular books; he came before the public -comparatively little; he made no effort to reconcile religion with -philosophy on the one hand, or to propound theories startling in their -unorthodoxy on the other. And still we may claim for him a place--and -an honourable place--amongst the other Famous Scots, for the simple -reason that after a long century of wearisome reiteration of tiresome -platitudes--platitudes which had lost their original meaning even to -the utterers of them, and which had become misleading to those who -heard and thought they understood--Ferrier had the courage to strike -out new lines for himself, to look abroad for new inspiration, and to -hand on these inspirations to those who could work them into a truly -national philosophy. - -In Scotland, where, in spite of politics, traditions are honoured to a -degree unknown to most other countries, family and family associations -count for much; and in these James Ferrier was rich. His father was a -Writer to the Signet, John Ferrier by name, whose sister was the famous -Scottish novelist, Susan Ferrier, authoress of _The Inheritance_, -_Destiny_, and _Marriage_. Susan Ferrier did for high life in Scotland -what Gait achieved for the humbler ranks of society, and attained to -considerable eminence in the line of fiction which she adopted. Her -works are still largely read, have recently been republished, and in -their day were greatly admired by no less an authority than Sir Walter -Scott, himself a personal friend of the authoress.[1] Ferrier's -grandfather, James Ferrier, also a Writer to the Signet, was a man of -great energy of character. He acted in a business capacity for many -years both to the Duke of Argyle of the time and to various branches of -the Clan Campbell: it was, indeed, through the influence of the Duke -that he obtained the appointment which he held of Principal Clerk of -Session. James Ferrier, like his daughter, was on terms of intimate -friendship with Sir Walter Scott, with whom he likewise was a colleague -in office. Scott alludes to him in his Journal as 'Uncle Adam,' the -name of a character in Miss Ferrier's _Inheritance_, drawn, as she -herself acknowledges, from her father. He died in 1829, at which time -Scott writes of him: 'Honest old Mr. Ferrier is dead, at extreme old -age. I confess I should not like to live so long. He was a man with -strong passions and strong prejudices, but with generous and manly -sentiments at the same time.' James Ferrier's wife, Miss Coutts, was -remarkable for her beauty: a large family was born to her, the eldest -son of whom was James Frederick Ferrier's father. Young Ferrier, the -subject of this sketch, used frequently to dine with his grandfather at -his house in Morningside, where Susan Ferrier acted in the capacity of -hostess; and it is easy to imagine the bright talk which would take -place on these occasions, and the impression which must have been made -upon the lad, both then and after he attained to manhood; for Miss -Ferrier survived until 1854. In later life, indeed, her wit was said to -be somewhat caustic, and she was possibly dreaded by her younger -friends and relatives as much as she was respected; but this, to do her -justice, was partly owing to infirmities. She was at anyrate keenly -interested in the fortunes of her nephew, to whom she was in the habit -of alluding as 'the last of the metaphysicians'--scarcely, perhaps, a -very happy title for one who was somewhat of an iconoclast, and began a -new era rather than concluded an old. - - [1] In a _Life of Susan Ferrier_, lately published, an - account of the family is given which was written by Miss - Ferrier, for her nephew, the subject of our memoir. - -James Frederick Ferrier's mother, Margaret Wilson, was a sister of -Professor John Wilson--the 'Christopher North' of immortal memory, -whose daughter he was afterwards to marry. Margaret Ferrier was a woman -of striking personal beauty. Her features were perfect in their -symmetry, as is shown in a lovely miniature, painted by Saunders, a -well-known miniature painter of the day, now in the possession of -Professor Ferrier's son, her grandson. Many of these personal charms -descended to James Ferrier, whose well-cut features bore considerable -resemblance to his mother's. And his close connection with the Wilson -family had the result of bringing the young man into association with -whatever was best in literature and art. While yet a boy, we are told, -he sat upon Sir Walter's knee; the Ettrick Shepherd had told him tales -and recited Border ballads; while Lockhart took the trouble to draw -pictures, as he only could, to amuse the child. - -In surroundings such as these James Frederick Ferrier was born on the -16th day of June 1808, his birthplace being Heriot Row, in the new town -of Edinburgh--a street which has been made historic to us by the -recollections of another child who lived there long years afterwards, -and who left the grey city of his birth to die far off in an island in -the Pacific. But of Ferrier's child-life we know nothing: whether he -played at 'tig' or 'shinty' with the children in the adjoining gardens, -or climbed Arthur's Seat, or tried to scale the 'Cats' Nick' in the -Salisbury Crags close by; or whether he was a grave boy, 'holding at' -his lessons, or reading other books that interested him, in preference -to his play. Ferrier did not dwell on these things or talk much of his -youth; or if he did so, his words have been forgotten. What we do -know are the barest facts: that his second name was given him in -consideration of his father's friendship with Lord Frederick Campbell, -Lord Clerk Register of Scotland; that his first name, as is usual in -Scotland for an elder son, was his paternal grandfather's; and that he -was sent to live with the Rev. Dr. Duncan, the parish minister of -Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire, to receive his early education. Dr. Duncan -of Ruthwell was a man of considerable ability and energy of character, -though not famous in any special sphere of learning. He is well known, -however, in the south of Scotland as the originator of Savings Banks -there, and his works on the Seasons bear evidence of an interest in the -natural world. At anyrate the time passed in Dumfriesshire would appear -to have left pleasant recollections; for when Ferrier in later life -alluded to it, it was with every indication of gratitude for the -instruction which he received. He kept up his friendship with the sons -of his instructor as years went on, and always expressed himself as -deeply attached to the place where a happy childhood had been passed. -Nor was learning apparently neglected, for Ferrier began his Latin -studies at Ruthwell, and there first learned--an unusual lesson for so -young a boy--to delight in the reading of the Latin poets, and of -Virgil and Ovid in particular. After leaving Ruthwell, he attended the -High School of Edinburgh, the great Grammar School of the metropolis, -which was, however, soon to have a rival in another day school set up -in the western part of the rapidly growing town; and then he was sent -to school at Greenwich, where he was placed under the care of Dr. -Burney, a nephew of the famous Fanny Burney, afterwards Madame -d'Arblay. From school, as the manner of the time was, the boy passed to -the University of Edinburgh at the age of seventeen,--older really than -was customary in his day,--and here he remained for the two sessions -1825-26 and 1826-27, or until he was old enough to matriculate at -Oxford. At Edinburgh, Ferrier distinguished himself in the class of -Moral Philosophy, and carried off the prize of the year for a poem -which was looked upon as giving promise of literary power afterwards -fulfilled. His knowledge of Latin and Greek were considered good (the -standard might not have been very high), but in mathematics he was -nowhere. At Oxford he was entered in 1828 as a 'gentleman-commoner' at -Magdalen College, the College of his future father-in-law, John Wilson. -A gentleman-commoner of Magdalen in the earlier half of the century is -not suggestive of severe mental exercise,[2] and from the very little -one can gather from tradition--for contemporaries and friends have -naturally passed away--James Ferrier was no exception to the common -rule. That he rode is very clear; the College was an expensive one, -and he was probably inclined to be extravagant. Tradition speaks of -his pelting the deer in Magdalen Park with eggs; but as to further -distinction in more intellectual lines, record does not tell. In this -respect he presents a contrast to his predecessor at Oxford, and friend -of later days, Sir William Hamilton, whose monumental learning created -him a reputation while still an undergraduate. Sir Roundell Palmer, -afterwards Lord Selborne, was a contemporary of Ferrier's at Oxford; -Sheriff Campbell Smith was at the bar of the House of Lords acting as -Palmer's junior the day after Ferrier's death, and Sir Roundell told -him that he remembered Ferrier well at College; he described him as -'careless about University work,' but as writing clever verses, several -of which he repeated with considerable gusto. Of other friends the -names alone are preserved, William Edward Collins, afterwards -Collins-Wood of Keithick, Perthshire, who died in 1877, and J. P. -Shirley of Ettington Park, in Warwickshire;[3] but what influences were -brought to bear upon him by his University life, or whether his -interest in philosophical pursuits were in any way aroused during his -time at College, we have no means of telling. A later friend, Henry -Inglis, wrote of these early days: 'My friendship with Ferrier began -about the time he was leaving Oxford, or immediately after he had left -it--I should say about 1830 or thereabout. At that University I don't -think he did anything more remarkable than contracting a large tailor's -bill; which annoyed him for many years afterwards. At that time he was -a wonderfully handsome, intellectual-looking young man,--a tremendous -"swell" from top to toe, and with his hair hanging down over his -shoulders.' Though later on in life this last characteristic was not so -marked, Ferrier's photographs show his hair still fairly long and -brushed off a finely-modelled square forehead, such as is usually -associated with strongly developed intellectual faculties. - - [2] The gentlemen-commoners at Magdalen, as elsewhere, paid - higher fees and wore a distinctive costume; at Magdalen they - had a common room of their own, distinct from that of the - Fellows, or the Demies or Scholars, and seldom read for - honours. In Ferrier's days Magdalen College admitted no - ordinary commoners, and there were but few resident - undergraduates, many of the thirty demies being graduates - and non-resident. In the year of his matriculation there - were only ten gentlemen-commoners; thus, as far as - undergraduates went, the College was a small one. - - [3] Mr. Shirley was Member of Parliament for South - Warwickshire, a well-known genealogist, and the author of - _The Noble and Gentle Men of England_. - -It is known that Ferrier took his Bachelor's degree in 1832, and that -he had by that time managed to acquire a very tolerable knowledge of -the classics and begun to study philosophy, so that his time could not -have been entirely idle. For the rest, he probably passed happily -through his years at College, as many others have done before and after -him, without allowing more weighty cares to dwell upon his mind. -Another friend of after days, the late Principal Tulloch, after noting -the fact that Oxford had not then developed the philosophic spirit -which in recent years has marked her schools, and which had not then -taken root any more than the High Church movement which preceded it, -goes on: 'It may be doubted, indeed, whether Oxford exercised any -definite intellectual influence on Professor Ferrier. He had imbibed -his love for the Latin poets before he went there, and his devotion to -Greek philosophy was an after-growth with which he never associated his -Magdalen studies. To one who visited the College with him many years -afterwards, and to whom he pointed out with admiration its noble walks -and trees, his associations with the place seemed to be mainly those of -amusement. There is reason to think that few of those who knew him at -Magdalen would have afterwards recognised him in the laborious student -at St. Andrews, who for weeks together would scarcely cross the -threshold of his study; and yet to all who knew him well, there was -nevertheless a clear connection between the gay gownsman and the -hard-working Professor.' - -In 1832, Ferrier became an advocate at Edinburgh, but it does not -appear that he had any serious idea of practising at the Bar. This is -the period at which we know that the passion for metaphysical -speculation laid hold of him,--a passion which is unintelligible and -inexplicable to those who do not share in it,--and as Ferrier could not -clearly say in what direction this was leading him, as far as practical -life was concerned, he probably deemed it best to attach himself to a -profession which left much scope to the adopter of it, to strike out -lines of his own. What led Ferrier to determine to spend some months of -the year 1834 at Heidelberg it would be extremely interesting to know. -The friend first quoted writes: 'I cannot tell of the influences under -which he devoted himself to metaphysics. My opinion is that there were -none, but that he was a philosopher born. He attached himself at once -to the fellowship of Sir William Hamilton, to whom he was introduced by -a common friend--I think the late Mr. Ludovic Colquhoun. I know that he -looked on Sir William at that time as his master.' - -Probably the friendship with Hamilton simply arose from the natural -attraction which two sympathetic spirits feel to one another. It is -clear that at this time Ferrier's bent was towards metaphysics, and -that, as Mr. Inglis says, this bent was born with him and was only -beginning to find its natural outlet; therefore it would be very -natural to suppose that acquaintance would be sought with one who was -at this time in the zenith of his powers, and whose writings in the -_Edinburgh Review_ were exciting liveliest interest. A casual -acquaintanceship between the young man of three-and-twenty and the -matured philosopher twenty years his senior soon ripened into a -friendship, not perhaps common between two men so different in age. It -is perhaps more remarkable considering the differences in opinion on -philosophical questions which soon arose between the two; for it is -just as difficult for those whose point of view is fundamentally -opposed on speculative questions to carry on an intercourse concerning -their pursuits which shall be both friendly and unconstrained, as for -two political opponents to discuss vital questions of policy without -any undercurrent of self-restraint, when they start from entirely -opposite principles. Most likely had the two been actually -contemporaries it might not have been so easy, but as it was, the -younger man started with, and preserved, the warmest feelings to his -senior; and even in his criticisms he expresses himself in the -strongest terms of gratitude: 'He (Hamilton) has taught those who study -him to _think_, and he must take the consequences, whether they think -in unison with himself or not. We conceive, however, that even those -who differ from him most, would readily own that to his instructive -disquisitions they were indebted for at least half of all they know of -philosophy.' And in the appendix to the _Institutes_, written soon -after Sir William's death, Ferrier says: 'Morally and intellectually, -Sir William Hamilton was among the greatest of the great. A simpler and -a grander nature never arose out of darkness into human life; a truer -and a manlier character God never made. For years together scarcely a -day passed in which I was not in his company for hours, and never on -this earth may I expect to live such happy hours again. I have learned -more from him than from all other philosophers put together; more, both -as regards what I assented to and what I dissented from.' It was this -open and free discussion of all questions that came before -them--discussion in which there must have been much difference of -opinion freely expressed on both sides, that made these evenings spent -in Manor Place, where the Hamiltons, then a recently married couple, -had lately settled, so delightful to young Ferrier. He had -individuality and originality enough not to be carried away by the -arguments used by so great an authority and so learned a man as his -friend was reckoned, and then as later he constantly expressed his -regret that powers so great had been devoted to the service of a -philosophic system--that of Reid--of which Ferrier so thoroughly -disapproved. But at the same time he hardly dared to expect that the -labours of a lifetime could be set aside at the bidding of a man so -much his junior, and to say the truth it is doubtful whether Hamilton -ever fully grasped his opponent's point of view. Still, Ferrier tells -us that from first to last his whole intercourse with Sir William -Hamilton was marked with more pleasure and less pain than ever attended -his intercourse with any human being, and after Hamilton was gone he -cherished that memory with affectionate esteem. A touching account is -given in Sir William's life of how during that terrible illness which -so sadly impaired his powers and nearly took his life, Ferrier might be -seen pacing to and fro on the street opposite his bedroom window during -the whole anxious night, watching for indications of his condition, yet -unwilling to intrude on the attendants, and unable to tear himself from -the spot where his friend was possibly passing through the last agony. -Such friendship is honourable to both men concerned. - -Perhaps, then, it was this intercourse with kindred spirits (for many -such were in the habit of gathering at the Professor's house) that -caused Ferrier finally to determine to make philosophy the pursuit of -his life--this combined, it may be, with the interest in letters which -he could not fail to derive from his own immediate circle. He was in -constant communication with Susan Ferrier, his aunt, who encouraged his -literary bent to the utmost of her power. Then Professor Wilson, his -uncle, though of a very different character from his own, attracted him -by his brightness and wit--a brightness which he says he can hardly -bring before himself, far less communicate to others who had not known -him. Perhaps, as the same friend quoted before suggests, the attraction -was partly due to another source. He says: 'How Ferrier got on with -Wilson I never could divine; unless it were through the bright eyes of -his daughter. Wilson and Ferrier seemed to me as opposite as the poles; -the one all poetry, the other all prose. But the youth probably yielded -to the mature majesty and genius of the man. Had they met on equal -terms I don't think they could have agreed for ten minutes. As it was, -they had serious differences at times, which, however, I believe were -all ultimately and happily adjusted.' - -The visits to his uncle's home, and the attractive young lady whom he -there met, must have largely contributed to Ferrier's happiness in -these years of mental fermentation. Such times come in many men's lives -when youth is turning into manhood, and powers are wakening up within -that seem as though they would lead us we know not whither. And so it -may have been with Ferrier. But he was endowed with considerable -calmness and self-command, combined with a confidence in his powers -sufficient to carry him through many difficulties that might otherwise -have got the better of him. Wilson's home, Elleray, near the Lake of -Windermere, was the centre of a circle of brilliant stars. Ferrier -recollected, while still a lad of seventeen years of age, meeting there -at one time, in the summer of 1825, Scott, Wordsworth, Lockhart, and -Canning, a conjunction difficult to beat.[4] Once more, we are told, -and on a sadder occasion, he came into association with the greatest -Scottish novelist. 'It was on that gloomy voyage when the suffering man -was conveyed to Leith from London, on his return from his ill-fated -foreign journey. Mr. Ferrier was also a passenger, and scarcely dared -to look on the almost unconscious form of one whose genius he so warmly -admired.' The end was then very near. - - [4] This meeting occurred after the Irish tour of Scott, - Miss Anne Scott, and Lockhart, when they visited Wilson at - Elleray. Canning was staying at Storre, in the - neighbourhood. - -Professor Ferrier's daughter tells us that long after, in the summer of -1856, the family went to visit the English Lakes, the centre of -attraction being Elleray, Mr. Ferrier's old home and birthplace. 'The -very name of Elleray breathes of poetry and romance. Our father and -mother had, of course, known it in its glorious prime, when our -grandfather, "Christopher North," wrestled with dalesmen, strolled in -his slippers with Wordsworth to Keswick (a distance of seventeen -miles), and kept his ten-oared barge in the long drawing-room of -Elleray. In these days they had "rich company," and the names of -Southey, Wordsworth, De Quincey, and Coleridge were to them familiar -household words. The cottage my mother was born in still stands, -overshadowed by a giant sycamore.' - -We can easily imagine the effect which society such as this would have -on a young man's mind. But more than that, the friendship with the -attractive cousin, Margaret Wilson, developed into something warmer, -and an engagement was finally formed, which culminated in his marriage -in 1837. Not many of James Ferrier's letters to his cousin during the -long engagement have been preserved; the few that are were written from -Germany in 1834, the year in which he went to Heidelberg; they were -addressed to Thirlstane House, near Selkirk, where Miss Wilson was -residing, and they give a lively account of his adventures. - -The voyage from Leith to Rotterdam, judging from the first letter -written from Heidelberg, and dated August 1834, would appear to have -begun in inauspicious fashion. Ferrier writes: 'I have just been here a -week, and would have answered your letter sooner, had it not been that -I wished to make myself tolerably well acquainted with the surrounding -scenery before writing to you, and really the heat has been so -overwhelming that I have been impelled to take matters leisurely, and -have not even yet been able to get through so much _view-hunting_ as I -should have wished. What I have seen I will endeavour to describe to -you. This place itself is most delightful, and the country about it is -magnificent. But this, as a reviewer would say, _by way of -anticipation_. Have patience, and in the meantime let me take events in -their natural order, and begin by telling you I sailed from Leith on -the morning of the second of this month, with no wind at all. We -drifted on, I know not how, and toward evening were within gunshot of -Inchkeith; on the following morning we were in sight of the Bass, and -in sight of the same we continued during the whole day. For the next -two or three days we went beating up against a head-wind, which forced -us to tack so much that whenever we made one mile we travelled ten, a -pleasant mode of progressing, is it not? However, I had the whole ship -to myself, and plenty of female society in the person of the captain's -lady, who, being fond of pleasure, had chosen to diversify her -monotonous existence at Leith by taking a delightful summer trip to -Rotterdam, which confined her to her crib during almost the whole of -our passage under the pressure of racking headaches and roaring -sickness. She had a weary time of it, poor woman, and nothing could do -her any good--neither spelding, cheese, nor finnan haddies, nor bacon, -nor broth, nor salt beef, nor ale, nor gin, nor brandy and water, nor -Epsom salts, though of one or other of these she was _aye takin'_ a wee -bit, or a little drop. We were nearly a week in clearing our own Firth, -and did no good till we got as far as Scarborough. At this place I had -serious intentions of getting ashore if possible, and making out the -rest of my journey by means that were more to be depended on. Just in -the nick of time, however, a fair wind sprang up, and from Scarborough -we had a capital run, with little or no interruption, to the end of our -voyage.' An account of a ten days' voyage which makes us thankful to be -in great measure independent of the winds at sea! Holland, our -traveller thinks an intolerable country to live in, and the first -impressions of the Rhine are distinctly unfavourable. 'The river -himself is a fine fellow, certainly, but the country through which he -flows is stale, flat, though I believe, not unprofitable. The banks on -either side are covered either with reeds or with a matting of rank -shrubbery formed apparently out of dirty green worsted, and the -continuance of it so palls upon the senses that the mind at last -becomes unconscious of everything except the constant flap-flapping of -the weary paddles as they go beating on, awakening the dull echoes of -the sedgy shores. The eye is occasionally relieved by patches of naked -sand, and now and then a stone about the size of your fist, diversifies -the monotony of the scene. Occasionally, in the distance, are to be -seen funny, forlorn-looking objects, trying evidently to look like -trees, but whether they would really turn out to be trees on a nearer -inspection is what I very much doubt.' At Cologne he had an amusing -meeting with an Englishman, 'whom I at once twigged to be an Oxford -man, and more, even, an Oxford tutor. There is a stiff twitch in the -right shoulder of the tribe, answering to a similar one in the hip-bone -on the same side, which there is no mistaking.' The tutor appears to -have done valiant service in making known the traveller's wants in -French to waiters, etc., though 'he spent rather too much of his time -in scheming how to abridge the sixpence which, "time out of mind," has -been the perquisite of Boots, doorkeepers, etc.' 'But,' he adds in -excuse, 'his name was Bull, and therefore, as the authentic epitome of -his countrymen, he would not fail to possess this along with the other -peculiarities of Englishmen.' From Cologne, Ferrier went to Bonn, where -he had an introduction to Dr. Welsh, and then proceeded up the Rhine to -Mayence. He does not form a very high estimate of the beauty of the -scenery. He feels 'a want of something; in fact, to my mind, there is a -want of everything which makes earth, wood, and water something more -than mere water, wood, and earth. We have here a constant and endless -variety of imposing objects (imposing is just the word for them), but -there is no variety in them, nothing but one round-backed hill after -another, generally carrying their woods, when they have any, very -stiffly, and when they have none presenting to the eye a surface of -tawdry and squalid patchwork,' thus suggesting, in his view, a series -of children's gardens--an impression often left on travellers when -visiting this same country. His next letters find him settled in the -University town of Heidelberg. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -WANDERJAHRE--SOCIAL LIFE IN SCOTLAND--BEGINNING OF HIS LITERARY LIFE - - -In the present century in Germany we have seen a period of almost -unparalleled literary glory succeeded by a time of great commercial -prosperity and national enthusiasm. But when Ferrier visited that -country in 1834 the era of its intellectual greatness had hardly passed -away; some, at least, of its stars remained, and others had very -recently ceased to be. Goethe had died just two years before, but Heine -lived till many years afterwards; amongst the philosophers, though Kant -and Fichte, of course, were long since gone, Schelling was still at -work at Munich, and Hegel lived at Berlin till November of 1831, when -he was cut off during an epidemic of cholera. Most of the great men had -disappeared, and yet the memory of their achievements still survived, -and the impetus they gave to thought could not have been lost. The -traditional lines of speculation consistently carried out since -Reformation days had survived war and national calamity, and it -remained to be seen whether the greater tests of prosperity and success -would be as triumphantly undergone. - -We can imagine Ferrier's feelings when this new world opened up before -him, a Scottish youth, to whom it was a new, untrodden country. It may -be true that it was his literary rather than his speculative affinities -that first attracted him to Germany. To form in literature he always -attached the greatest value, and to the end his interest in letters was -only second to his attachment to philosophy. German poetry was to him -what it was to so many of the youth of the country from which it -came--the expression of their deepest, and likewise of their freshest -aspiration. The poetry of other countries and other tongues--English -and Latin, for example--meant much to him, but that of Germany was -nearest to his heart. French learning did not attract him; neither its -literature nor its metaphysics and psychological method appealed to his -thoughtful, analytic mind; but in Germany he found a nation which had -not as yet resigned its interest in things of transcendental import in -favour of what pertained to mere material welfare. - -Such was the Germany into which Ferrier came in 1834. He did not, so -far as we can hear, enter deeply into its social life; he visited it as -a traveller, rather than as a student, and his stay in it was brief. -Considering the shortness of his time there, and the circumstances of -his visit, the impression that it made upon him is all the more -remarkable, for it was an impression that lasted and was evident -throughout all his after life. Since his day, indeed, it would be -difficult to say how many young Scotsmen have been impressed in a -similar way by a few months' residence at a University town in Germany. -For partly owing to Ferrier's own efforts, and perhaps even more owing -to the 'boom'--to use a vulgarism--brought about by Carlyle's writings, -and by his first making known the marvels of German literature to the -ordinary English-speaking public, who had never learned the language or -tried to understand its recent history, the old traditional literary -alliance between Scotland and France appeared for the time being to -have broken down in favour of a similar association with its rival -country, Germany. The work of Goethe was at last appreciated, nothing -was now too favourable to say about its merits; philosophy was suddenly -discovered to have its home in Germany, and there alone; our insularity -in keeping to our antiquated methods--dryasdust, we were told, as the -old ones of the schools, and perhaps as edifying--was vigorously -denounced. Theology, which had hitherto found complete support from the -philosophic system which acted as her handmaid, and was only tolerated -as such, was naturally affected in like manner by the change; and to -her credit be it said, that instead of with averted eyes looking -elsewhere, as might easily have been done, she determined to face the -worst, and wisely asked the question whether in her department too she -had not something she could learn from a sister country across the sea. -Hence a great change was brought about in the mental attitude of -Scotland; but we anticipate. - -Ferrier, after leaving Heidelberg, paid a short visit to Leipzig, and -then for a few weeks took up his abode at Berlin. From Leipzig he -writes to Miss Wilson again: 'How do you like an _epistola_ dated from -this great emporium of taste and letters, this culminating point of -Germanism, where waggons jostle philosophy, and tobacco-impregnated air -is articulated into divinest music? It is fair-time, and I did not -arrive, as one usually does, a day _behind_ it, but on the very day it -commenced. It will last, I believe, some weeks, and during that time -all business is done on the open streets, which are lined on each side -with large wooden booths, and are swarming with men and merchandise of -every description and from every quarter of the world. It very much -resembles a _Ladies' Sale_ in the Assembly Rooms (what I never saw), -only the ladies here are frequently Jews with fierce beards, and have -always a pipe in their mouths when not eating or drinking. As you walk -along you will find the order of the day to be somewhat as follows. You -first come to pipes, then shawls, then nails, then pipes, pipes again, -pipes, gingerbread, dolls, then pipes, bridles, spurs, pipes, books, -warming-pans, pipes, china, writing-desks, pipes again, pipes, pipes, -pipes, nothing but pipes--the very pen will write nothing but pipes. -Pipes, you see, decidedly carry it. I wonder they don't erect public -tobacco-smoke works, lay _pipes_ for it along the streets, and smoke -away--a city at a time. Private families might take it in as we do -gas!' - -Ferrier appears to have spent a week at Frankfort before reaching his -destination at Leipzig. He describes his journey there: 'At Frankfort I -saw nothing worthy of note except a divine statue of Ariadne riding on -a leopard. After lumbering along for two nights and two days in a -clumsy diligence, I reached Leipzig two days ago. I thought that by the -way I might perhaps see something worthy of mention, and accordingly -sometimes put my head out of the window to look. But no--the trees, for -instance, had all to a man planted their heads in the earth, and were -growing with their legs upwards, just as they do with us; and as for -the natives, they, on the contrary, had each of them filled a -flower-pot, called a skull, full of earth, put their heads in it, and -were growing _downwards_, just as the same animal does in our country; -and on coming to one's recollection in the morning in a German -diligence you find yourself surrounded by the same drowsy, idiotical, -glazed, stained, and gummy complement of faces which might have -accompanied you into Carlisle on an autumn morning after a night of -travel in His Majesty's mail coach.' - -Berlin impressed Ferrier by its imposing public buildings and general -aspect of prosperity. It had, of course, long before reached a position -of importance under the great Frederick's government, though not the -importance or the size that it afterwards attained. Still, it was the -centre of attraction for all classes throughout Prussia, and possessed -a cultivated society in which the middle-class element was to all -appearances predominant. Ferrier writes of the town: 'Of the inside of -the buildings and what is to be seen there I have nothing yet to say, -but their external aspect is most magnificent. Palaces, churches, -mosque-like structures, spires and domes and towers all standing -together, but with large spaces and fine open drives between, so that -all are seen to the greatest possible advantage, conspire to form a -most glorious city. At this moment a fountain which I can see from my -window is playing in the middle of the square. A _jet d'eau_ indeed!! -It may do very well for a Frenchman to call it that, but we must call -it a perfect volcano of water. A huge column goes hissing up as high as -a steeple, with the speed and force of a rocket, and comes down in -thunder, and little rainbows are flitting about in the showery spray. -It being Sunday, every thing and person is gayer than usual. Bands are -playing and soldiers are parading all through the town; everything, -indeed, is military, and yet little is foppish--a statement which to -English ears will sound like a direct contradiction.' - -Our traveller had been given letters to certain Berlin Professors from -young Blackie, afterwards Professor of Greek in Edinburgh University, -who had just translated Goethe's _Faust_ into the English tongue. 'I -went about half an hour ago to call upon a sort of Professor here to -whom I had a letter and a _Faust_ to present from Blackie--found him -ill and confined to bed--was admitted, however, very well received, and -shall call again when I think there is a chance of his being better. I -have still another Professor to call on with a letter and book from -Blackie, and there my acquaintance with the society of Berlin is likely -to terminate.' One other introduction to Ferrier on this expedition to -Germany is mentioned in a note from his aunt, Miss Susan Ferrier, the -only letter to her nephew that has apparently been preserved: whether -or not he availed himself of the offer, history does not record. It -runs as follows:-- - - 'EDINR., _1st August_. - - 'I could not get a letter to Lord Corehouse's German sister - (Countess Purgstall), as it seems she is in bad health, and not fit - to entertain vagabonds; but I enclose a very kind one from my - friend, Mrs. Erskine, to the ambassadress at Munich, and if you - don't go there you may send it by post, as it will be welcome at - any time on its own account.' - -It was, as has been said, only about three years previously to this -visit that Hegel had passed away at Berlin, and one wonders whether -Ferrier first began to interest himself in his writings at this time, -and whether he visited the graveyard near the city gate where Hegel -lies, close to his great predecessor Fichte. One would almost think -this last was so from the exact description given in his short -biography of Hegel; and it is significant that on his return he brought -with him a medallion and a photograph of the great philosopher. This -would seem to indicate that his thoughts were already tending in the -direction of Hegelian metaphysics, but how far this was so we cannot -tell. Certainly the knowledge of the German language acquired by -Ferrier during this visit to the country proved most valuable to him, -and enabled him to study its philosophy at a time when translations -were practically non-existent, and few had learned to read it. That -knowledge must indeed have been tolerably complete, for in 1851, when -Sir Edward Bulwer (afterwards Lord Lytton) was about to republish his -translation of Schiller's Ballads, he corresponded with Ferrier -regarding the accuracy and exactness of his work. He afterwards, in the -preface to the volume, acknowledges the great services Ferrier had -rendered; and in dedicating the book to him, speaks of the debt of -gratitude he owes to one whose 'critical judgment and skill in -detecting the finer shades of meaning in the original' had been so -useful. Ferrier likewise has the credit, accorded him by De Quincey, of -having corrected several errors in _all_ the English translations of -_Faust_ then extant--errors which were not merely literary -inaccuracies, but which also detracted from the vital sense of the -original. As to Lord Lytton, Ferrier must at this time have been -interested in his writings; for in a letter to Miss Wilson, he advises -her to read Bulwer's _Pilgrims of the Rhine_ if she wishes for a -description of the scenery, and speaks of the high esteem with which he -was regarded by the Germans. - -It was in 1837 that Ferrier married the young lady with whom he had so -long corresponded. The marriage was in all respects a happy one. Mrs. -Ferrier's gifts and graces, inherited from her father, will not soon be -forgotten, either in St. Andrews where she lived so long, or in -Edinburgh, the later home of her widowhood. One whose spirits were less -gay might have found a husband whose interests were so completely in -his work--and that a work in which she could not share--difficult to -deal with; but she possessed understanding to appreciate that work, as -well as humour, and could accommodate herself to the circumstances in -which she found herself; while he, on his part, entered into the gaiety -on occasion with the best. A friend and student of the St. Andrews' -days writes of Ferrier: 'He married his cousin Margaret, Professor's -Wilson's daughter, and I don't doubt that a shorthand report of their -courtship would have been better worth reading than nine hundred and -ninety-nine out of every thousand courtships, for she had wit as well -as beauty, and he was capable of appreciating both. No more charming -woman have I ever seen or heard making game of mankind in general, and -in particular of pedants and hypocrites. She would even laugh at her -husband on occasion, but it was dangerous for any volunteer to try to -help her in that sport. A finer-looking couple I have never seen.[5] - - [5] Another sister married William Edmondstoune Aytoun, the - poet. It was regarding Professor Aytoun's proposal for Miss - Wilson's hand that the following story is told. When the - engagement was being formed, Aytoun somewhat demurred to - interviewing the father of the lady, and she herself - undertook the mission. Presently she returned with a card - pinned upon her breast bearing the satisfactory inscription, - 'With the author's compliments'! Aytoun, as is well known, - was extremely plain, and it was of his bust in the - Blackwoods' saloon, a recognisable but idealistic likeness, - that Ferrier remarked, 'I should call that the pursuit of - beauty under difficulties.' - -During her infancy Edinburgh had become Mrs. Ferrier's home, though she -made frequent visits to Westmorland, of whose dialect she had a -complete command. The courtship, however, had been for the most part -carried on at the picturesque old house of Gorton, where 'Christopher -North' was temporarily residing, and which, situated as it is -overlooking the lovely glen made immortal by the name of Hawthornden, -in view of Roslin Chapel, and surrounded by old-fashioned walks and -gardens, must have been an ideal spot for a romantic couple like the -Ferriers to roam in. Another friend writes of Wilson's later home at -Elleray: 'In his hospitable house, where the wits of _Blackwood_ -gathered at intervals and visited individually in season and out of -season, his daughter saw strange men of genius, such as few young -ladies had the fortune to see, and heard talk such as hardly another -has the fortune to hear. Lockhart, with his caricatures and his -incisive sarcasm, was an intimate of the house. The Ettrick Shepherd, -with his plaid and homely Doric, broke in occasionally, as did also De -Quincey, generally towards midnight, when he used to sit pouring forth -his finely-balanced, graceful sentences far on among the small hours of -the morning. There were students, too, year after year, many of them -not undistinguished, and some of whom had, we doubt not, ideas of their -own regarding the flashing hazel eyes of their eloquent Professor's -eldest daughter.' But her cousin was her choice, though wealth offered -no attraction, and neither side had reason to regret the marriage of -affection. - -At the time of his marriage Ferrier had been practising at the Bar, -probably with no great measure of success, seeing that his heart was -not really set upon his work. It was at this period that he first began -to write, and his first contribution to literature took the form of -certain papers contributed to _Blackwood's Magazine_, the subject being -the 'Philosophy of Consciousness.' From that time onwards Ferrier -continued to write on philosophic or literary topics until his death, -and many of these writings were first published in the famous magazine. - -Before entering, however, on any consideration of Ferrier's writings -and of the philosophy of the day, it might be worth while to try to -picture to ourselves the social conditions and feelings of the time, in -order that we may get some idea of the influences which surrounded him, -and be assisted in our efforts to understand his outlook. - -In the beginning of the nineteenth century Scotland had been ground -down by a strange tyranny--the tyranny of one man as it seemed, which -man was Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, who for many long years -ruled our country as few countries have been ruled before. What this -despotism meant it is difficult for us, a century later, to figure to -ourselves. All offices were dependent on his patronage; it was to him -that everyone had to look for whatever post, advancement, or concession -was required. And Dundas, with consummate power and administrative -ability, moulded Scotland to his will, and by his own acts made her -what she was before the world. But all the while, though unperceived, a -new spirit was really dawning; the principles of the Revolution, in -spite of everything, had spread, and all unobserved the time-spirit -made its influence felt below a surface of apparent calm. It laid hold -first of all of the common people--weavers and the like: it roused -these rough, uneducated men to a sense of wrong and the resolution to -seek a remedy. Not much, however, was accomplished. Some futile risings -took place--risings pitiable in their inadequacy--of hard-working -weavers armed with pikes and antiquated muskets. Of course, such rebels -were easily suppressed; the leaders were sentenced to execution or -transportation, as the case might be; but though peace apparently was -restored and public meetings to oppose the Government were rigorously -suppressed, trade and manufactures were arising: Scotland was not -really dead, as she appeared. A new life was dawning: reform was in the -air, and in due time made its presence felt. But the memory of these -times of political oppression, when the franchise was the privilege of -the few, and of the few who were entirely out of sympathy with the most -part of their countrymen or their country's wants, remained with the -people just as did the 'Killing-time' of Covenanting days two centuries -before. Time heals the wounds of a country as of an individual, but the -operation is slow, and it is doubtful whether either period of history -will ever be forgotten. At anyrate, if they are so as this century -closes, they were not in the Scotland known to Ferrier; they were still -a very present memory and one whose influence was keenly felt. - -And along with this political struggle yet another struggle was taking -place, no less real though not so evident. The religion of the country -had been as dead as was the politics in the century that was gone--dead -in the sleep of Moderatism and indifferentism. But it, too, had -awakened; the evangelical school arose, liberty of church government -was claimed, a liberty which, when denied it, rent the Established -Church in twain. - -In our country it has been characteristic that great movements have -usually begun with those most in touch with its inmost life, the -so-called lower orders of its citizens. The nobles and the kings have -rather followed than taken the lead. In the awakening of the present -century this at anyrate was the case. 'Society,' so called, remained -conservative in its view for long after the people had determined to -advance. Scott, it must be remembered, was a retrogressive influence. -The romanticism of his novels lent a charm to days gone by which might -or might not be deserved; but they also encouraged their readers to -imagine a revival of those days of chivalry as a possibility even now, -when men were crying for their rights, when they had awakened to a -sense of their possessions, and would take nothing in their place. The -real chieftains were no more; they were imitation chieftains only who -were playing at the game, and it was a game the clansmen would not join -in. Few exercises could be more strange than first to read the account -of Scottish life in one of the immortal novels by Scott dealing with -last century, and then to turn to Miss Ferrier or Galt, depicting a -period not so very different. Setting aside all questions of genius, -where comparison would be absurd, it would seem as if a beautiful -enamel had been removed, and a bare reality revealed, somewhat sordid -in comparison. The life was not really sordid,--realism as usual had -overshot its mark,--but the enamel had been somewhat thickly laid, and -might require to be removed, if truth were to be revealed. - -So in the higher grades of Edinburgh society the enamel of gentility -has done its best to prejudice us against much true and genuine worth. -It was characterised by a certain conventional unconventionality, a -certain 'preciosity' which brought it near deserving a still stronger -name, and it maintained its right to formulate the canons of criticism -for the kingdom. Edinburgh, it must be recollected, was no 'mean city,' -no ordinary provincial town. It was still esteemed a metropolis. It had -its aristocracy, though mainly of the order of those unable to bear the -greater expense of London life. It had no manufactories to speak of, no -mercantile class to 'vulgarise' it; it possessed a University, and the -law courts of the nation. But above all it had a literary society. In -the beginning of the century it had such men as Henry Mackenzie, Dugald -Stewart, John Playfair, Dr. Gregory, Dr. Thomas Brown, not to speak of -Scott and Jeffrey--a society unrivalled out of London. And in later -days, when these were gone, others rose to fill their places. - -Of course, in addition to the movement of the working people, there was -an educated protest against Toryism, and it was made by a party who, to -their credit be it said, risked their prospects of advancement for the -principles of freedom. In their days Toryism, we must recollect, meant -something very different from what it might be supposed to signify in -our own. It meant an attitude of obstruction as regards all change from -established standards of whatever kind; it signified a point of view -which said that grievances should be unredressed unless it was in its -interest to redress them. The new party of opposition included in its -numbers Whig lawyers like Gibson Craig and Henry Erskine, in earlier -days, and Francis Jeffrey and Lord Cockburn later on; a party of -progress was also formed within the Church, and the same within the -precincts of the University. The movement, as became a movement on the -political side largely headed by lawyers, had no tendency to violence; -it was moderate in its policy, and by no means revolutionary--indeed it -may be doubted whether there ever was much tendency to revolt even -amongst those working men who expressed themselves most strongly. The -advance party, however, carried the day, and when Ferrier began to -write, Scotland was in a very different state from that of twenty years -before. The Reform Bill had passed, and men had the moulding of their -country's destiny practically placed within their hands. In the -University, again, Sir William Hamilton, a Whig, had just been -appointed to the Chair of Logic, while Moncreiff, Chalmers, and the -rest, were prominent in the Church. The traditions of literary -Edinburgh at the beginning of the century had been kept up by a circle -amongst whom Lockhart, Wilson, and De Quincey may be mentioned; now -Carlyle, who had left Edinburgh not long before, was coming into -notice, and a new era seemed to be dawning, not so glorious as the -past, but more untrammelled and more free. - -How philosophy was affected by the change, and how Ferrier assisted in -its progress, it is our business now to tell; but we must first briefly -sketch the history of Scottish speculation to this date, in order to -show the position in which he found it. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -PHILOSOPHY BEFORE FERRIER'S DAY - - -In attempting to give some idea of philosophy as it was in Scotland in -the earlier portion of the present century, we shall have to go back -two hundred years or thereabout, in order to find a satisfactory basis -from which to start. For philosophy, as no one realised more than -Ferrier, is no arbitrary succession of systems following one upon -another as their propounders might decree; it is a development in the -truest and highest significance of that word. It means the gradual -working out of the questions which reason sets to be answered; and -though it seems as if we had sometimes to turn our faces backwards, and -to revert to systems of bygone days, we always find, when we look more -closely, that in our onward course we have merely dropped some thread -in our web, the recovery of which is requisite in order that it may be -duly taken up and woven with the rest. - -At the time of which we write the so-called 'Scottish School' of Reid, -Stewart, and Beattie reigned supreme in orthodox Scotland; it had -undisputed power in the Universities, and besides this obtained a very -reputable place in the estimation of Europe, and more especially of -France. As it was this school more especially that Ferrier spent much -of his time in combating, it is its history and place that we wish -shortly to describe. To do so, however, it is needful to go back to its -real founder, Locke, in order that its point of view may fairly be set -forth. - -In applying his mind to the views of Locke, the ordinary man finds -himself arriving at very commonplace and well-accustomed conceptions. -Locke, indeed, may reasonably be said to represent the ideas of common, -everyday life. The ordinary man does not question the reality of -things, he accepts it without asking any questions, and bases his -theories--scientific or otherwise--upon this implied reality. Locke -worked out the theory which had been propounded by Lord Bacon, that -knowledge is obtained by the observation of facts which are implicitly -accepted as realities; and what, it was asked, could be more -self-evident and sane? It is easy to conceive a number of perceiving -minds upon the one hand, ready to take up perceptions of an outside -material substance upon the other. The mind may be considered as a -piece of white paper--a _tabula rasa_, as it was called--on which -external things may make what impression they will, and knowledge is -apparently explained at once. But though Locke certainly succeeded in -making these terms the common coin of ordinary life, difficulties crop -up when we come to examine them more closely. After all, it is evident, -the only knowledge our mind can have is a knowledge of its own -ideas--ideas which are, of course, caused by something which is -outside, or at least, as Locke would say, by its _quality_. Now, from -this it would appear that these 'ideas' after all come between the mind -and the 'thing,' whatever it is, that causes them--that is to say, we -can perhaps maintain that we only know our 'ideas,' and not things as -in themselves. Locke passes into elaborate distinctions between primary -qualities of things, of which he holds exact representations are given, -and secondary qualities, which are not in the same position; but the -whole difficulty we meet with is summed up in the question whether we -really _know_ substance, or whether it is that we can only hope to know -ideas, and 'suppose' some substratum of reality outside. Then another -difficulty is that we can hardly really know our _selves_. How can we -know that the self exists; and if, like Malebranche, we speak of God -revealing substance to us, how do we know about God? We cannot form any -'general' impressions, have any 'general' knowledge; only a sort of -conglomeration of unrelated or detached bits of knowledge can possibly -come home to us. The fact is, that modern philosophy starts with two -separate and self-existent substances; that it does not see how they -can be combined, and that the 'white-paper' theory is so abstract that -we can never arrive at self-consciousness by its means. - -Berkeley followed out the logical consequences of Locke, though perhaps -he hardly knew where these would carry him. He acknowledged that we -know nothing but ideas--nothing outside of our mind. But he adds the -conception of self, and by analogy the conception of God, who acts as a -principle of causation. Whether there is necessary connection in his -sensations or not, he does not say. Hume followed with criticism, -scathing and merciless. He states that all we know of is the experience -we have; and by experience he signifies perceptions. Ideas to him are -nothing more than perceptions, and whether they are ideas simply of the -mind, or ideas of some object, is to him the same. If we begin to -imagine such conceptions as those of universality or necessity, of God -or the self, beyond a complex of successive ideas, we are going farther -than experience permits. We cannot connect our perceptions with an -object, nor can we get beyond what experience allows. Custom merely -brings about certain conclusions which are often enough misleading. It -connects effect and cause, really different events: it brings about -ideas of morality very often deceptive. We have our custom of regarding -things, another has his--who can say which is correct? All we can do -is, what seems a hopeless task enough--we can try to show how these -unrelated particulars seem by repetition to produce an illusionary -connection in our minds. - -Both mind and matter appear, then, to be wanting, and experience alone -is suggested as the means of solving the difficulty in which we are -placed--a point in the argument which left an opportunity open to Kant -to suggest a new development, to ask whether things being found -inadequate in producing knowledge, we might not ask if knowledge could -not be more successful with things. But it is the Scottish lines of -attempted solution that we wish to follow out, and not the German. -Perhaps they are not so very different. - -Philosophy, as Reid found it, was in a bad way enough, as far as the -orthodox mind of Scotland was concerned. All justification for belief -in God, in immortality, in all that was held sacred in a century of -much orthodoxy if little zeal, was gone. Such things might be believed -in by those who found any comfort in so believing, but to the educated -man who had seriously reflected on them, they were anachronisms. The -very desperateness of the case, however, seemed to promise a remedy. -Men could not rest in a state of permanent scepticism, in a world -utterly incapable of being rationally explained. Even the propounder of -the theories allowed this to be true; and as for others, they felt that -they were rational beings, and this signified that there was system in -the world. - -A champion arose when things were at their worst in Thomas Reid, the -founder, or at least the chiefest ornament, of the so-called Scottish -School of Philosophy. He it was who set himself to add the principle of -the coherence of the Universe, and the consequent possibility of -establishing Faith once more in the world. Reid, to begin with, instead -of looking at Hume's results as serious, regarded them as necessarily -absurd. He started a new theory of his own, the theory of Immediate -Perception, which signified that we are able immediately to -apprehend--not ideas only, but the Truth. And how, we may ask, can this -be done? - -It had been pointed out first of all that sensations as understood by -Locke--that is, the relations so called by Locke--might be separated -from sensation in itself; in fact, that these first pertained to mind. -Hence we have a dualistic system given us to start with, and the -question is how the two sides are to be connected? What does this -theory of Immediate Perception, which Reid puts forward as the -solution, mean? Is it just a mechanical union of two antitheses, or is -it something more? - -As to this last, perhaps the real answer would be that it both is, and -is not. That is, the philosophy of Reid would seem still dualistic in -its nature; it certainly implies the mechanical contact of two -confronting substances whose independence is vigorously maintained, in -opposition to the idealistic system which it superseded; but in -reference to Reid we must recollect that his theory of Immediate -Perception was also something more. As regards sensation, for example, -he says that we do not begin with unrelated sensations, but with -judgment--that is, we refer our sensations to a permanent subject, 'I.' -Sensations 'suggest' the nature of a mind and the belief in its -existence. And this signifies that we have the power of making -inferences--how we do not exactly know, but we believe it to be, not by -any special reasoning process, but by the 'common-sense' innately born -within us. Common-sense is responsible for a good deal more--for the -conceptions of existence and of cause, for instance; for Reid -acknowledges that sensations alone must fail to account for ideas such -as those of extension, space, and motion. This standpoint seems indeed -as if it did not differ widely from the Kantian, but at the same time -Reid appears to think that it is not an essential that feelings should -be perceptively referred to an external object; the first part of the -process of perception is carried on without our consciousness--the -mental sensation merely follows--and sensation simply supposes a -sentient being and a certain manner in which that being is affected, -which leaves us much where we were, as far as the subjectivity of our -ideas is concerned. He does not hold that all sensation is a percept -involving extension and much else--involving, indeed, existence. - -Following upon Reid, Dugald Stewart obtained a very considerable -reputation, and he was living and writing at the time Ferrier was a -young man. His main idea would, however, seem to have been to guard his -utterances carefully, and enter upon no keen discussions or -contentions: when a bold assertion is made, it is always under shelter -of some good authority. But his rounded phrases gained him considerable -admiration, as such writing often does. He carried--perhaps -inadvertently--Reid's views farther than he would probably have held as -justifiable. He says we are not, properly speaking, conscious of self -or the existence of self, but merely of a sensation or some other -quality, which, by a _subsequent suggestion_ of the understanding, -leads to a belief in that which exercises the quality. This is the -doctrine of Reid put very crudely, and in a manner calculated to bring -us back to unrelated sensation in earnest. Stewart adopted a new -expression for Reid's 'common-sense,' _i.e._ the 'fundamental laws of -belief,' which might be less ambiguous, but never took popular hold as -did the first. - -There were many others belonging to this school besides Reid and -Stewart, whom it would be impossible to speak of here. The Scottish -Philosophy had its work to do, and no doubt understood that work--the -first essential in a criticism: it endeavoured to vindicate perception -as against sensational idealism, and it only partially succeeded in its -task. But we must be careful not to forget that it opened up the way -for a more comprehensive and satisfactory point of view. It was with -Kant that the distinction arose between sensation and the forms -necessary to its perception, the form of space and time, and so on. As -to this part of the theory of knowledge, Reid and his school were not -clear; they only made an effort to express the fact that something was -required to verify our knowledge, but they were far from satisfactorily -attaining to their goal. The very name of 'common-sense' was -misleading--making people imagine, as it did, that there was nothing in -philosophy after all that the man in the street could not know by -applying the smallest modicum of reflection to the subject. Philosophy -thus came to be considered as superfluous, and it was thought that the -sooner we got rid of it and were content to observe the mandates of our -hearts, the better for all concerned. - -What, then, was the work which Ferrier placed before himself when he -commenced to write upon and teach philosophy? He was thoroughly and -entirely dissatisfied with the old point of view, the point of view of -the 'common-sense' school of metaphysicians, to begin with. Sometimes -it seems as though we could not judge a system altogether from the best -exponent of it, although theoretically we are always bound to turn to -him. In a national philosophy, at least, we want something that will -wear, that will bear to be put in ordinary language, something which -can be understood of the people, which can be assimilated with the -popular religion and politics--in fact, which can really be _lived_ as -well as thought; and it is only after many years of use that we can -really tell whether these conditions have been fulfilled. For this -reason we are in some measure justified in taking the popular estimate -of a system, and in considering its practical results as well as the -value of its theory. Now, the commonly accepted view of the -eighteenth-century philosophers in Scotland is that there is nothing -very wonderful about the subject--like the _Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ of -Molière, we are shown that we have been philosophising all our lives, -only we never knew it. 'Common-sense'--an attribute with which we all -believe we are in some small measure endowed--explains everything if we -simply exercise it, and that is open to us all: there has been much -talk, it would seem, about nothing; secrets hidden to wise men are -revealed to babes, and we have but to keep our minds open in order to -receive them. - -We are all acquainted with this talk in speculative regions of -knowledge, but we most of us also know how disastrous it is to any true -advancement in such directions. What happens now is just what happened -in the eighteenth century. Men relapse into a self-satisfied indolence -of mind: in religion they are content with believing in a sort of -general divine Beneficence which will somehow make matters straight, -however crooked they may seem to be; and in philosophy they are guided -by their instincts, which teach them that what they wish to believe is -true. - -Now, all this is what Ferrier and the modern movement, largely -influenced by German modes of thought, wish to protest against with all -their might. The scepticism of Hume and Gibbon was logical, if utterly -impossible as a working creed and necessarily ending in absurdity; but -this irrational kind of optimism was altogether repugnant to those who -demanded a reasonable explanation of themselves and of their place in -nature. The question had become summed up in one of superlative -importance, namely, the distinction that existed between the natural -and supernatural sides of our existence. The materialistic school had -practically done away with the latter in its entirety, had said that -nature is capable of being explained by mechanical means, and that -these must necessarily suffice for us. But the orthodox section adopted -other lines; it accepted all the ordinarily received ideas of God, -immortality, and the like, but it maintained the existence of an -Absolute which can only be inferred, but not presented to the mind, -and, strangest of all, declared that the 'last and highest consecration -of all true religion must be an altar "To the unknown and unknowable -God."'[6] This so-called 'pious' philosophy declares that 'To think -that God is, as we can think Him to be, is blasphemy,' and 'A God -understood would be no God at all.' The German philosophy saw that if -once we are to renounce our reason, or trust to it only within a -certain sphere, all hope for us is lost, as far as withstanding the -attack of outside enemies is concerned. We are liable to sceptical -attacks from every side, and all we can maintain against them is a -personal conviction which is not proof. How, then, was the difficulty -met? - - [6] _Philosophy of the Unconditioned_ (Sir William - Hamilton), p. 15. - -Kant, as we have said, made an important development upon the position -of Hume. Hume had arrived at the point of declaring the particular mind -and matter equally incompetent to afford an ultimate explanation of -things, and he suggested experience in their place. This is the first -note of the new philosophy: experience, not a process of the -interaction of two separate things, mind on the one hand, matter on the -other, but something comprehending both. This, however, was scarcely -realised either by Hume or Kant, though the latter came very near the -formulation of it. Kant saw, at least, that things could not produce -knowledge, and he therefore changed his front and suggested starting -with the knowledge that was before regarded as result--a change in -point of view that caused a revolution in thought similar to that -caused in our ideas of the natural world by the introduction of the -system of Copernicus. Still, while following out his Copernican theory, -Kant did not go far enough. His methods were still somewhat -psychological in nature. He still regarded thought as something which -can be separated from the thinker; he still maintained the existence of -things in themselves independent and outside of thought. He gives us a -'theory' of knowledge, when what we want to reach is knowledge itself, -and not a subjective conception of it. - -Here it is that the Absolute Idealism comes in--the Idealism most -associated with the name of Hegel. Hegel takes experience, knowledge, -or thought, in another and much more comprehensive fashion than did his -predecessors. Knowledge, in fact, is all-comprehending; it embraces -both sides in itself, and explains them as 'moments,' _i.e._ -complementary factors in the one Reality. To make this clearer: we have -been all along taking knowledge as a dualistic process, as having two -sides involved in it, a subject and an object. Now, Hegel says our -mistake is this: we cannot make a separation of such a kind except by a -process of abstraction: the one really implies the other, and could not -possibly exist without it. We may in our ordinary pursuits do so, -without doubt; we may concentrate our attention on one side or the -other, as the case may be; we may look at the world as if it could be -explained by mechanical means, as, indeed, to a certain point it can. -But, Hegel says, these explanations are not sufficient; they can easily -be shown to be untrue, when driven far enough: the world is something -larger; it has the ideal side as well as the real, and, as we are -placed, they are both necessarily there, and must both be recognised, -if we are to attain to true conceptions. - -Without saying that Ferrier wholly assimilated the modern German -view,--for of course he did not,--he was clearly largely influenced by -it, more largely perhaps than he was even himself aware. It -particularly met the present difficulties with which he was confronted. -The negative attitude was felt to be impossible, and the other, the -Belief which then, as now, was so strongly advocated, the Belief which -meant a more or less blind acceptance of a spiritual power beyond our -own, the Belief in the God we cannot know and glory in not being able -so to know, he felt to be an equal impossibility. Ferrier, and many -others, asked the question, Are these alternatives exhaustive? Can we -not have a rational explanation of the world and of ourselves? Can we -not, that is, attain to freedom? The new point of view seemed in some -measure to meet the difficulty, and therefore it was looked to with -hope and anticipation even although its bearing was not at first -entirely comprehended. Ferrier was one of those who perceived the -momentous consequences which such a change of front would cause, and he -set himself to work it out as best he could. In an interesting paper -which he writes on 'The Philosophy of Common-Sense,' with special -reference to Sir William Hamilton's edition of the works of Dr. Reid, -we see in what way his opinions had developed. - -The point which Ferrier made the real crux of the whole question of -philosophy was the distinction which exists between the ordinary -psychological doctrine of perception and the metaphysical. The former -drew a distinction between the perceiving mind and matter, and based -its reasonings on the assumed modification of our minds brought about -by matter regarded as self-existent, _i.e._ existent in itself and -without regard to any perceiving mind. Now, Ferrier points out that -this system of 'representationalism,' of representative ideas, -necessarily leads to scepticism; for who can tell us more, than that we -have certain ideas--that is, how can it be known that the real matter -supposed to cause them has any part at all in the process? Scepticism, -as we saw before, has the way opened up for it, and it doubts the -existence of matter, seeing that it has been given no reasonable -grounds for belief in it, while Idealism boldly denies its -instrumentality and existence. What then, he asks, of Dr. Reid and his -School of Common-Sense? Reid cannot say that matter is known in -consciousness, but what he does say is that something innately born -within us forces us to believe in its existence. But then, as Ferrier -pertinently points out, scepticism and idealism do not merely doubt and -deny the existence of a self-existent matter as an object of -consciousness, but also because it is no object of belief. And what has -Reid to show for his beliefs? Nothing but his word. We must all, -Ferrier says, be sceptics or idealists; we are all forced on to deny -that matter in any form exists, for it is only self-existent matter -that we recognise as psychologists. Stewart tries to reinstate it by an -appeal to 'direct observation,' an appeal which, Ferrier truly says, is -manifestly absurd; reasoning is useless, and we must, it would appear, -allow any efforts we might make towards rectifying our position to be -recognised as futile. - -But now, Ferrier says, the metaphysical solution of the problem comes -in. We are in an _impasse_, it would appear; the analysis of the given -fact is found impossible. But the failure of psychology opens up the -way to metaphysic. 'The turning-round of thought from psychology to -metaphysic is the true interpretation of the Platonic conversion of the -soul from ignorance to knowledge, from mere opinion to certainty and -satisfaction; in other words, from a discipline in which the thinking -is only _apparent_, to a discipline in which the thinking is _real_.' -'The difference is as great between "the science of the human mind" and -metaphysic, as it is between the Ptolemaic and the Copernican -astronomy, and it is very much of the same kind.' It is not that -metaphysic proposes to do _more_ than psychology; it aims at nothing -but what it can fully overtake, and does not propose to carry a man -farther than his tether extends, or the surroundings in which he finds -himself. Metaphysic in the hands of all true astronomers of thought, -from Plato to Hegel, if it accomplishes more, attempts less. - -Metaphysic, Ferrier says, demands the whole given fact, and that fact -is summed up in this: 'We apprehend the perception of an object,' and -nothing short of this suffices--that is, not the perception of matter, -but our apprehension of that perception, or what we before called -knowledge, ultimate knowledge in its widest sense. And this given fact -is unlike the mere perception of matter, for it is capable of analysis -and is not simply subjective and egoistic. Psychology recognises -perception on the one hand (subjective), and matter on the other -(objective), but metaphysic says the distinction ought to be drawn -between 'our apprehension' and 'the perception-of-matter,' the latter -being one fact and indivisible, and on no account to be taken as two -separate facts or thoughts. The whole point is, that by no possible -means can the perception-of-matter be divided into two facts or -existences, as was done by psychology. And Ferrier goes on to point out -that this is not a subjective idealism, it is not a condition of the -human soul alone, but it 'dwells apart, a mighty and independent -system, a city fitted up and upheld by the living God.' And in -authenticating this last belief Ferrier calls in internal convictions, -'common-sense,' to assist the evidence of speculative reason, where, -had he followed more upon the lines of the great German Idealists, he -might have done without it. - -Now, Ferrier continues, we are safe against the cavils of scepticism; -the metaphysical theory of perception steers clear of all the -perplexities of representationalism; for it gives us in perception one -only object, the perception of matter; the objectivity of this _datum_ -keeps us clear from subjective idealism. - -From the perception of matter, a fact in which man merely participates, -Ferrier infers a Divine mind, of which perceptions are the property: -they are states of the everlasting intellect. The exercise of the -senses is the condition upon which we are permitted to apprehend or -participate in the objective perception of material things. This, -shortly, is the position from which he starts. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -'FIERCE WARRES AND FAITHFUL LOVES' - - -'If Ferrier's life should be written hereafter,' said one, who knew and -valued him, just after his death,[7] 'let his biographer take for its -motto these five words from the _Faery Queen_ which the biographer of -the Napiers has so happily chosen.' Ferrier's life was not, what it -perhaps seems, looking back on its comparatively uneventful course, -consistently calm and placid,--a life such as is commonly supposed to -befit those who soar into lofty speculative heights, and find the -'difficult air' in which they dwell suited to their contemplative -temperaments. Ferrier was intrepid and daring in his reasoning; a sort -of free lance, Dr. Skelton says he was considered in orthodox -philosophical circles; a High Tory in politics, yet one who did not -hesitate to probe to the bottom the questions which came before him, -even though the task meant changing the whole attitude of mind from -which he started. And once sure of his point, Ferrier never hesitated -openly to declare it. What he hated most of all was 'laborious dulness -and consecrated feebleness'; commonplace orthodoxy was repugnant to him -in the extreme, and possibly few things gave him more sincere pleasure -than violently to combat it. The fighting instinct is proper to most -men who have 'stuff' in them, and Ferrier in spite of his slight and -delicately made frame was manly to the core. But, as the same writer -says, 'though combative over his books and theories, his nature was -singularly pure, affectionate, and tolerant. He loved his friends even -better than he hated his foes. His prejudices were invincible; but, -apart from his prejudices, his mind was open and receptive--prepared to -welcome truth from whatever quarter it came.' Such a keen, eager nature -was sure to be in the fray if battle had to be fought, and we think -none the worse of him for that. Battles of intellect are not less keen -than battles of physical strength, and much more daring and subtlety -may be called into play in the fighting of them; and Ferrier, refined, -sensitive, fastidious, as he was, had his battles to fight, and fought -them with an eagerness and zeal almost too great for the object he had -in view. - - [7] The late Sir John Skelton, K.C.B. - -After his marriage in 1837, Ferrier devoted his attention almost -entirely to the philosophy he loved so well. He did not succeed--did -not perhaps try to succeed--at the Bar, to which he had been called. -Many qualities are required by a successful advocate besides the subtle -mind and acute reasoning powers which Ferrier undoubtedly possessed: -possibly--we might almost say probably--these could have been -cultivated had he made the effort. He had, to begin with, a fair junior -counsel's practice, owing to his family connections, and this might -have been easily developed; his ambition, however, did not soar in the -direction of the law courts, and he did not give that whole-hearted -devotion to the subject which is requisite if success is to follow the -efforts of the novice. But if he was not attracted by the work at the -Parliament House, he was attracted elsewhere; and to his first -mistress, Philosophy, none could be more faithful. In other lines, it -is true, he read much and deeply: literature in its widest sense -attracted him as it would attract any educated man. Poetry, above all, -he loved, in spite of the tale sometimes told against him, that he -gravely proposed turning _In Memoriam_ into prose in order to ascertain -logically 'whether its merits were sustained by reason as well as by -rhyme'--a proposition which is said greatly to have entertained its -author, when related to him by a mutual friend. Works of imagination he -delighted in--all spheres of literature appealed to him; he had the -sense of form which is denied to many of his craft; he wrote in a style -at once brilliant and clear, and carelessness on this score in some of -the writings of his countrymen irritated him, as those sensitive to -such things are irritated. He has often been spoken of as a living -protest against the materialism of the age, working away in the quiet, -regardless of the busy throng, without its ambitions and its cares. -Sometimes, of course, he temporarily deserted the work he loved the -best for regions less remote; sometimes he consented to lecture on -purely literary topics, and often he wrote biographies for a -dictionary, or articles or reviews for _Blackwood's Edinburgh -Magazine_. As it was to this serial that Ferrier made his most -important contributions, both philosophic and literary, for the next -fifteen years, and as it was in its pages that the development of his -system may be traced, a few words about its history may not be out of -place, although it is a history with which we have every reason to be -familiar now. - -About 1816 the _Edinburgh Review_ reigned supreme in literature. What -was most strange, however, was that the Conservative party, so strong -in politics, had no literary organ of their own--and this at a time -when the line of demarcation between the rival sides in politics was so -fixed that no virtue could be recognised in an opponent or in an -opponent's views, even though they were held regarding matters quite -remote from politics. The Whig party, though in a minority politically -and socially, represented a minority of tremendous power, and possessed -latent capabilities which soon broke forth into action. At this time, -for instance, they had literary ability of a singularly marked -description; they were not bound down by traditions as were their -opponents, and were consequently much more free to strike out lines of -their own, always of course under the guidance of that past-master in -criticism, Francis Jeffrey. Although his words were received as -oracular by his friends, this dictatorship in matters of literary taste -was naturally extremely distasteful to those who differed from him, -especially as the influence it exerted was not a local or national -influence alone, but one which affected the opinion of the whole United -Kingdom. For a time, no doubt, the party was so strong that the matter -was not taken as serious, but it soon became evident that a strenuous -effort must be made if affairs were to be placed on a better footing, -and if a protest were to be raised against the cynical criticism in -which the Reviewers indulged. Consequently, in April 1817, a literary -periodical called the _Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_ was started by two -gentlemen of some experience in literary matters, with the assistance -of Mr. William Blackwood, an enterprising Edinburgh publisher, whose -reputation had grown of recent years to considerable dimensions. This -magazine was not a great success: the editors and publisher did not -agree, and finally Mr. Blackwood purchased the formers' share in it, -took over the magazine himself, and, to make matters clear, gave it his -name; thus in October of the same year the first number of _Blackwood's -Edinburgh Magazine_ appeared. From a quiet and unobtrusive 'Miscellany' -the magazine developed into a strongly partisan periodical, with a -brilliant array of young contributors, determined to oppose the -_Edinburgh Review_ régime with all its might, and not afraid to speak -its mind respecting the literary gods of the day. Every month some one -came under the lash; Coleridge, Leigh Hunt, and many others were dealt -with in terms unmeasured in their severity, and in the very first -number appeared the famous 'Chaldee Manuscript' which made the hair of -Edinburgh society stand on end with horror. In spite of the immoderate -expression of its opinions, the magazine flourished--it was fresh and -novel, and much genius was enlisted in writing for its pages. The -editor's identity was always matter for conjecture; but though the -contributors included a number of distinguished men, such as Mackenzie, -De Quincey, Hogg, Fraser Tytler, and Jameson, there were two names -which were always associated with the periodical--those of John Gibson -Lockhart and Ferrier's uncle and father-in-law, John Wilson. The latter -in particular was often held to be the real editor whom everyone was so -anxious to discover, but this belief has been emphatically denied. -Although the management might appear to be in the control of a -triumvirate, Blackwood himself kept the supreme power in his hands, -whatever he might at times find it politic to lead outsiders to infer. - -When Ferrier began to write for it in 1838, _Blackwood's Magazine_ was -not of course the same fiery publication of twenty years before; nor -were Ferrier's articles for the most part of a nature such as to appeal -strongly to an excitable and partisan public. Things had changed much -since 1817: the Reform Bill had passed; the politics of the country -were very different; the Toryism of Ferrier and his friends was quite -unlike the Toryism of the early part of the century: it more resembled -the Conservatism or Traditionalism of a yet later date, which objected -to violent changes only owing to their violence, and by no means to -reform, if gradually carried out. This policy was reflected in _Maga's_ -pages, to which Ferrier would naturally turn when he wished to reach -the public ear, both from family association and hereditary politics. -His first contribution was certainly not light in character; nor did it -resemble the 'bright, racy' articles which are supposed to be the -requisite for modern serial publications. The subject was 'An -Introduction to the Philosophy of Consciousness,' and it consisted of a -series of papers contributed during two successive years (1838 and -1839), which really embodied the result of the work in which Ferrier -had during the past few years been engaged, and signified a complete -divergence from the accepted manner of regarding consciousness, and a -protest against the 'faith-philosophy' which it became Ferrier's -special mission to combat. Perhaps it is only in Scotland that a public -could be found sufficiently interested in speculative questions to make -them the subject of interest to a fairly wide and general circle, such -as would be likely to peruse the pages of a monthly magazine like -Blackwood's. But of this interesting contribution to metaphysical -speculation, in which Ferrier commenced his philosophical career by -grappling with the deepest and most fundamental questions in a manner, -as Hamilton acknowledges, hitherto unattempted in the humbler -speculations of this country, we shall speak later on, as also of his -further contributions to the magazine. - -In the year 1821, Sir William Hamilton had been a candidate for the -Chair of Moral Philosophy along with John Wilson, Ferrier's future -father-in-law. In spite of Wilson's literary gifts, there is probably -no question that of the two his opponent was best qualified to teach -the subject, owing to the greatness of his philosophical attainments -and the profundity of his learning. But in the temper of the time the -merits of the candidates could not be calmly weighed by the Town -Council, the electing body; and Hamilton was a Whig, and a Whig -contributor to that atheistical and Jacobin _Edinburgh Review_, and was -therefore on no account to be elected. The disappointment to Hamilton -was great; but it was slightly salved by his subsequent election--to -their credit be it said, for Whig principles were far from popular -among them--by the Faculty of Advocates to a chair rendered vacant in -1821 by the resignation of Professor Fraser Tytler--the Chair of Civil -History. In 1836, however, Sir William's merits at length received -their reward, and he became the Professor of Logic and Metaphysics. -When Ferrier probably felt the need of some more lucrative form of -employment, he applied for the Chair of History once occupied by -Hamilton, and rendered vacant by the resignation of Professor Skene; he -obtained the appointment in 1842, and held it for four years -subsequently. Large remuneration it certainly did not bring with it, -but the duties were comparatively and correspondingly light.[8] Indeed, -as attendance was not required of students studying for the degrees in -Arts, or for any of the professions, the difficulty was to form a -regular class at all. The salary paid to Sir William was £100 a year, -and even this small sum was apparently only to be obtained with -difficulty. The main advantage of holding the chair at all was the -prospect it held out of succeeding later on to some more important -office. Of Ferrier's class-work at this time we know but little. The -reading requisite for the post was likely to prove useful in later -days, and could not have been uncongenial; but probably in a class -sometimes formed--if tradition speak aright--of one solitary student, -the work of preparation would not be taken very seriously. Anyhow, -there was plenty of time left to pursue his philosophic studies; and in -1844-45, when Sir William Hamilton came so near to death, Ferrier acted -as his substitute, and carried on his classes with zeal and with -success--a success which was warmly acknowledged by the Professor. Of -course, though he conducted the examinations and other class-work, -Ferrier merely read the lectures written by Hamilton; else there might, -one would fancy, be found to be a lack of continuity between the -deliverances of the two staunch friends but uncompromising opponents. -Any differences of opinion made, however, no difference in their -friendship. The distress of Ferrier on his friend's sudden paralytic -seizure has already been described; to his affectionate nature it was -no small thing that one for whom he had so deep a regard came so very -near death's door. Every Sunday while in Edinburgh, he spent the -afternoon in walking with his friend and in talking of the subjects -which most interested both. - - [8] There was a movement amongst the students to secure the - chair for Thomas Carlyle, then coming into fame amongst - them; but Ferrier was chosen by the patrons, the Faculty of - Advocates. - -Of these early days Professor Fraser writes:--'My personal intercourse -with Ferrier was very infrequent, but very delightful when it did -occur. He was surely the most picturesque figure among the Scottish -philosophers--easy, graceful, humorous, eminently subtle, and with a -fine literary faculty--qualities not conspicuous in most of them. When -I was a private member of Sir W. Hamilton's advanced class in -metaphysics in 1838-39, and for some years after, I was often at Sir -William's house, and Ferrier was sometimes of the party on these -occasions. I remember his kindly familiarity with us students, the -interest and sympathy with which he entered into metaphysical -discussion, his help and co-operation in a metaphysical society which -we were endeavouring to organise. His essays on the Philosophy of -Consciousness were then being issued in _Blackwood_, and were felt to -open questions strange at a time when speculation was almost dead in -Scotland--Reid at a discount, Brown found empty, and Hamilton, with -Kant, only struggling into ascendency. - -'In these days, if I remember right, Ferrier lived in Carlton Street, -Stockbridge--an advocate whose interest was all in letters and -philosophy, a student of simple habits, fond of German, not a -conspicuous talker, of easy polished manners and fond of a joke, with a -scientific interest in all sorts of facts and their meanings, and -perhaps a disposition to paradox. I remember the interest he took in -phenomena of "mesmeric sleep," as it was called. An eminent student was -sometimes induced for experiment to submit himself to mesmeric -influence at these now far-off evening gatherings at Sir William's. To -Ferrier the phenomena suggested curious speculation, but I think -without scientific result.' The subject was one on which Ferrier -afterwards wrote in _Blackwood_, and it was a subject which always had -the deepest interest for him. It, however, as he believed, cost him the -friendship of Professor Cairns, a frequent subject at these informal -séances, and one whom Ferrier rashly twitted for what he evidently -regarded as a weakness, his easily accomplished subjection to the -application of mesmeric power. - -In 1845 the Chair of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews, -then occupied by Dr. Cook, and once held by Dr. Chalmers, became vacant -by the former's death, and Ferrier entered as a candidate. Highly -recommended as he was by Hamilton and others, Ferrier was the -successful applicant, and St. Andrews became his home for nineteen -years thereafter, or until his death in 1864. - -Such is a bald statement of the facts of what would seem a singularly -uneventful life. Life divided between the study, library, and -classroom, there was little room for incident outside the ordinary -incidents of domestic and academic routine. Yet Ferrier never sank into -the conventionality which life in a small University town might induce. -His interests were always fresh; he was constantly engaged in writing -and rewriting his lectures, which, unlike some of his calling, he was -not content to read and re-read from year to year unaltered. His -thoughts were constantly on his subject and on his students, planning -how best to communicate to them the knowledge that he was endeavouring -to convey--a life which came as near the ideal of philosophic devotion -as is perhaps possible in this nineteenth century of turmoil and -unrest. Still, gentleman and man of culture as he was, Ferrier had a -fighting side as well, and that side was once or twice aroused in all -the vehemence of its native strength. - -Twice Ferrier made application for a philosophical chair in the town of -his birth and boyhood. In 1852, when his father-in-law, John Wilson, -retired, he became a candidate for the professorship of Moral -Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh; and then again, in 1856, he -offered himself as a successor to Sir William Hamilton as Professor of -Logic and Metaphysics. On neither occasion was he successful, and on -both occasions he suffered much from calumnious statements respecting -his 'German' and unorthodox views--a kind of calumny which is more than -likely to arise and carry weight when the judges are men of honourable -character but of little education, men to whom a shibboleth is -everything and real progress in learning nothing. On the first occasion -there were several candidates who submitted their applications, but on -Professor M'Cosh's retiring from the combat, the two who were 'in the -running' were Professor Ferrier of St. Andrews and Professor Macdougall -of the Free Church College in Edinburgh. It is curious, as instancing -the strange change which had come over the politics of Scotland since -the Reform Act had passed, that the very influences that told in favour -of John Wilson in applying for a professorship in 1821 should thirty -years later tell as strongly against his son-in-law. In 1852, nine -years after the Disruption, so greatly had matters altered, that the -Free Church liberal party carried all before it in the Corporation. And -although the liberal journals of the earlier date were never tired of -maintaining liberty of thought and action, yet when circumstances -changed, the liberty appeared in a somewhat different light; and the -qualification of being a Whig was added to a considerable number of -appointments both in the Church and in the State. Professor Macdougall, -Ferrier's opponent, had held his professorship in the Free Church -College, lately established for the teaching of theology and -preparation of candidates for the ministry. On the establishment of the -College, the subject of Moral Philosophy was considered to be one which -should be taught elsewhere than in an 'Erastian' University, and -accordingly it was thought necessary to institute the chair occupied by -Professor Macdougall. In the first instance the class was eminently -successful in point of numbers, and the corresponding class in the -University proportionately suffered; but as time went on the attendance -in the Free Church class dwindled, and it was considered that this -chair need not be continued, but that students might be permitted to -attend at the University. When Professor Macdougall now offered himself -as candidate for the University chair, there was of course an immediate -outcry of a 'job.' Rightly or wrongly it was said, 'Let the Free Church -have a Professor of her own body and opinions if she will, but why -force him upon the Established Church as well; are her country and -ministers to be indoctrinated with Voluntary principles?' There might -not have been much force in the argument had the status of the two -candidates been the same, but it was evident to all unprejudiced -observers that this was far from being the case. And it could hardly be -pleaded in justification of the Council's action that they formed their -judgment upon the testimonials laid before them; for Ferrier's far -exceeded his rival's in weight, if not in strength of expression, and -included in their number communications from such men as Sir William -Hamilton, De Quincey, Bulwer, Alison, and Lockhart--men the most -distinguished of the age. De Quincey's opinion of Ferrier is worth -quoting. He says that he regards him as 'the metaphysician of greatest -promise among his contemporaries either in England or in Scotland,' and -the testimonial which at this time he accorded Ferrier is as remarkable -a document as is often produced on such occasions, when commonplace -would usually appear to be the object aimed at. It is several pages in -length, and goes fully into the question not only of what Ferrier was, -but also of what a candidate ought to be. De Quincey speaks warmly of -Ferrier's services in respect of the English rendering of _Faust_ -before alluded to, and points out the benefit there is in having had an -education which has run along two separate paths--paths differing from -one another in nature, doubtless, but integrating likewise--the one -being that resulting from his intercourse with Wilson and his literary -coterie, the other that of the course of study he had pursued on German -lines. He sums up Ferrier's philosophic qualities by saying, 'Out of -Germany, and comparing him with the men of his own generation, such at -least as I had any means of estimating, Mr. Ferrier was the only man -who exhibited much of true metaphysical subtlety, as contrasted with -mere dialectical acuteness.' For this testimonial, we may incidentally -mention, Ferrier writes a most interesting letter of thanks, which is -published in his _Remains_. As a return for the kindness done him, he -'sets forth a slight chart of the speculative latitudes' he had -reached, and which he 'expects to navigate without being -wrecked'--really an admirably clear epitome in so short a space of the -argument of the _Institutes_. - -But to come back to the contest: in spite of testimonials, the fact -remained that Ferrier had studied German philosophy, and might have -imbibed some German infidelity, while his opponent made no professions -of being acquainted either with the German philosophy or language, -besides having the advantage of being a Liberal and Free Churchman; and -he was consequently appointed to the chair. Of course, there was an -outcry. The election was put forward as an argument against the -abolition of Tests, though in this case Ferrier, as an Episcopalian, -might be said to be a Dissenter equally with his opponent. It was -argued that the election should be set aside unless the necessary -subscription were made before the Presbytery of the bounds. For a -century back such tests had not been exacted as far as the Moral -Philosophy chair was concerned, nor would they probably have been so -had Ferrier himself been nominated. But though the Presbytery concerned -was in this case prepared to go all lengths, it appeared that it was -not in its members that the initiative was vested, the practice being -to take the oath before the Lord Provost or other authorised -magistrate. Consequently, indignant at discovering their impotence, the -members of the body retaliated by declaring that they would divert past -the new Professor's class the students who should afterwards come -within their jurisdiction, and thus, by their foolish action, they -probably did their best to bring about the result they deprecated so -much--the abolition of Tests in their entirety. - -Ecclesiastical feeling ran high at the time, and things were said and -done on both sides which were far from being wise or prudent. But the -effect on a sensitive nature like Ferrier's is easy to imagine. This -was the first blow he had met with, and being the first he did not take -it quite so seriously to heart. But when it was followed years later by -yet another repulse, signifying to his view an attitude of mind in -orthodox Scotland opposed to any liberty of thought amongst its -teachers, Ferrier felt the day for silence was ended, and, wisely or -unwisely, he published a hot defence of his position in a pamphlet -entitled _Scottish Philosophy, the Old and the New_. On this occasion -the question had risen above the mere discussion of Church and Tests; -the whole future of philosophy in Scotland was, he believed, at stake; -it was time, he felt, that someone should speak out his mind, and who -more suitable than the leader of the modern movement and the one, as he -considered it, who had suffered most by his opinions? - -Without having lived through the time or seen something of its effects, -it would be difficult to realise how narrow were the bounds allowed to -speculative thought some forty years ago in Scotland. Since the old -days of Moderatism and apathy there had, indeed, been a great revival -of interest in such matters as concerned Belief. Men's convictions were -intense and sincere; and what had once been a subject of convention and -common usage, had now become the one important topic of their lives. So -far the change was all for the good; it promoted many important -virtues; it made men serious about serious things; it made them realise -their responsibilities as human beings. But as those who lived through -it, or saw the results it brought about, must also know, it had another -side. A certain spiritual self-assurance sprang into existence, which, -though it was bred of intense reality of conviction, brought with it -consequences of a specially trying kind to those who did not altogether -share in it. As so often happens when a new light dawns, men thought -that to them at length _all_ truth had been revealed, and acted in -accordance with this belief. They formulated their systems--hide-bound -almost as before--and decided in their minds that in them they had the -standards for judging of their fellows. But Truth is a strange -will-o'-the-wisp after all,--when we think we have reached her, she has -eluded our grasp,--and so when those rose up who said the end of the -matter was not yet, a storm of indignation fell upon their heads. This -is what happened with Ferrier and the orthodox Edinburgh world. There -might, it was said by the latter, be men lax enough to listen to -reasonings such as his, and even to agree with them, but for those who -_knew_ the truth as it was in its reality, such pandering to -latitudinarian doctrines was unpardonable. And as at this time the Town -Council of Edinburgh was seriously inclined (some of the members, in -the second instance, were the same as those who had adjudicated in the -former contest), Ferrier's fate was, he considered, sealed before the -question really came before them. Whether the matter was quite as -serious as Ferrier thought, it is perhaps unnecessary to say. At -anyrate, there was a considerable element of truth in the view he took -of it, and he was justified in much--if not in all--of what he said in -his defence. The _Institutes_, first published in 1854, had just -reached a second edition, so that his views were fairly before the -world. What caused the tremendous outburst of opposition we must take -another chapter to consider; and then we must try to trace the course -of Ferrier's development from the time at which he first began to write -on philosophic subjects, and when he openly broke with the Scottish -School of Philosophy. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -DEVELOPMENT OF 'SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHY, THE OLD AND THE NEW'--FERRIER AS A -CORRESPONDENT - - -It is probably in the main a wise rule for defeated candidates to keep -silence about the cause of their defeat. But every rule has its -exception, and there are times in which we honour a man none the less -because--contrary to the dictates of worldly wisdom--he gives voice to -the sense of injustice that is rankling in his mind. Ferrier had been -disappointed in 1852 in not obtaining the Chair of Moral Philosophy for -which he was a candidate; but then he had not published the work which -has made his name famous, and his claims were therefore not what -afterwards they became. But when in 1856, after the _Institutes_ had -been two years before the public, and just after the book had reached a -second edition, another defeat followed on the first, Ferrier ascribed -the result to the opposition to, and misrepresentation of, his system, -and claimed with some degree of justice that it was not his merits that -were taken into account, but the supposed orthodoxy, or want of -orthodoxy, of his views. For this reason he issued a 'Statement' in -pamphlet form, entitled _Scottish Philosophy, the Old and the New_, -dealing with the matter at length. - -In Ferrier's view, a serious crisis had been arrived at in the history -of the University of Edinburgh, and one which might lead to yet further -evil were not something done to place matters on a better footing. Had -the Town Council, the electing body, been affected simply by personal -or sectarian feelings, it would not so much have mattered; but when -Ferrier was forced to the conclusion that what they did must end in the -curtailment of all liberty in regard to philosophical opinion, so far -as the University was concerned, he felt the time had come to speak. -For a quarter of a century he had devoted the best part of his life and -energies to the study of philosophy, and he held he had a duty to -discharge to it as one of the public instructors of the land. What -cause, he asked, had a body like the Council to say originality was to -be proscribed and independence utterly forbidden? Through their -liberalism tests had been practically abolished: was another test, far -more exacting than the last, to be substituted in their place? A -candidate for a philosopher's chair need not be a believer in Christ or -a member of the Established Church; but he must, it would appear, -believe in Dr. Reid and the Hamiltonian system of philosophy. - -The 'common-sense' school, against which Ferrier's attacks were mainly -directed, too often found its satisfaction in commonplace statements of -obvious facts, and we cannot wonder that Ferrier should ask why -Scottish students should be required to pay for 'bottled air' while the -whole atmosphere is 'floating with liquid balm that could be had for -nothing?'--a question, indeed, which cannot fail to strike whoever -tries to wade through certain tedious dissertations of the time, all -expressing truths which seem incontrovertible in their nature, but all -of which are also inexpressibly uninteresting. Philosophy to Ferrier is -not the elementary science that it would appear from these discourses: -loose ways of thinking which we ordinarily adopt must, he considers, be -rectified and not confirmed. And yet he disclaims the accusation that -he has conjured with 'the portentous name of Hegel,' or derived his -system from German soil. Hegel, he constantly confesses, is frequently -to him inexplicable, and his system is Scottish to the core. - -A warm debt of gratitude to Hamilton, Ferrier, it is true, acknowledges -even while he differs from his views--a debt to one whose 'soul could -travel on eagles' wings,' and from whom he had learned so much--whom, -indeed, he had loved so warmly. Hamilton had not agreed with Ferrier; -he had thought him wrong, and told him so, and Ferrier was the last to -resent this action, or think the less of him for not recanting at his -word the conclusions of a lifetime's labour. Provocation, the younger -man acknowledges, he had often given him, and 'never was such rough -provocation retaliated with such gentle spleen.' - -But what most roused Ferrier's ire was, not the criticisms of men like -Hamilton, but such as were contained in a pamphlet published by the -Rev. Mr. Cairns of Berwick, afterwards Principal Cairns of the United -Presbyterian College--a pamphlet which he believed had biassed the -judgment of the electors in making their decision. We now know that -indirectly they had requested Mr. Cairns's advice, and he, considering -that orthodoxy was being seriously threatened by German rationalistic -views, had formulated his indictment against Ferrier in the strongest -possible terms. He believed that in Ferrier's writings there was an -attempt to substitute formal demonstration of real existence for -'belief,' thereby making faith of no effect; also that he denied the -separate existence of the material world and the mind, and that (and -probably this is the most serious count in the charge) the -substantiality of the mind was subverted, and consequently belief in -personal identity rendered impossible. He further said that by Ferrier -absolute existence is reduced to a mere relation, and finally, that his -conception of a Deity is inadequate, and metaphysics and natural -theology are divorced. - -We cannot, of course, deal in detail with Ferrier's energetic -repudiation of the accusation brought so specifically against him. The -heat with which he wrote seems scarcely justified now that we look back -on it from the standpoint of more than forty years ahead. But we do not -realise how much such accusations meant at the time at which they were -made--how they affected not a man's personal advancement only, but also -the opinion in which he was held by those for whose opinion he cared -the most. The greater toleration of the present day may mean -corresponding lack of zeal or interest, but surely it also means a -recognition of the fact that men may choose their own methods in the -search for truth without thereby endangering the object held in view. -Mr. Cairns's attack--without intention, for he was an honourable man -and able scholar--was unjust. Ferrier does not claim to _prove_ -existence--he accepts it, and only reasons as to what it is; as to the -material world, he acknowledges not a mere material world, but one -along with which intelligence is and must be known; the separate -existence of mind he likewise denies only in so far as to assert that -mind without thought is nonsense. The substantiality of the mind he -maintains as the one great permanent existence amid all fluctuations -and contingencies, and without personal identity, he tells us, there -can be no continued consciousness amid the changes of the unfluctuating -existence called the 'I'--though in this regard one feels that -something is left to say in criticism, from the orthodox point of view. -Absolute existence is indeed reduced into relations, but into relations -together constituting the truth, if contradictory in themselves; that -is, a concrete, as distinguished from an abstract truth. As to the -final accusation of the insufficiency of Ferrier's view of the Deity, -it is true he states that the Deity is not independent of His creative -powers, revelation and manifestation; but surely this is a worthier -conception than the old one of the Unknown God, which tells us to -worship we know not what. - -The pity is that in this publication, and another on very similar -lines,[9] Ferrier allowed himself to turn from philosophical to -personal criticism, and to say what he must afterwards have regretted. -In the second edition of his first pamphlet these references were -modified, and in any case they must be ascribed to the quick temper -with which he was naturally endowed, and which led him to express his -feelings more strongly than he should, rather than to deliberate -judgment. No one was more sensible than he of the danger to which he -was subject of allowing himself to be carried off his feet in the heat -of argument. This is very clearly shown by a letter to a friend quoted -in the _Remains_: 'One thing I would recommend, not to be too sharp in -your criticism of others. No one has committed this fault oftener, or -is more disposed to commit it than myself; but I am certain that it is -not pleasing to the reader, and after an interval it is displeasing to -oneself. In the heat and hurry of writing a lecture I often hit a -brother philosopher as I think cleverly enough, but on coming to it -coolly next year I very seldom repeat the passage.' An admission and -acknowledgment which does a proud man like Ferrier credit. - - [9] _A Letter to the Lord Advocate on the Necessity of a - Change in the Patronage of the University of Edinburgh._ - -One cannot help speculating on the effect of the mass of criticism and -counter-criticism (for there were others who took up the cudgels on -either side, once the controversy was fairly started) upon the -unfortunate Town Councillors of Edinburgh, to whom they were directed: -one would imagine them to wish their powers curtailed if they were to -involve their mastering several conflicting theories of existence, and -forming a just judgment regarding their respective merits. The exercise -of patronage is always a difficult and thankless task, but surely in no -case could it have been more difficult than in this, and we can hardly -wonder now that the electors simply took the advice of those they -deemed most worthy to bestow it; certainly the candidate finally -selected was one who did everything in the occupation of his chair to -disarm the criticism then brought to bear upon the appointment. In -cooler moments probably none would have been readier to admit this than -was Ferrier; but when he wrote he was smarting under the sense of -having failed to receive a fair consideration of his claims, and he -undoubtedly spoke more strongly than the case required. - -After this controversy was over, Ferrier's interest in polemical -philosophy in great degree waned; and in the quiet of the old -University town of St. Andrews--the town which provides so rich a fund -of historic interest combined with the academic calm of University -life--Ferrier passed the remainder of his days working at his favourite -subjects. Sometimes these were varied by incursions into literature, in -which his interest grew ever keener; and economics, which was one of -the subjects he was bound to teach. His life was uneventful; it was -varied little by expeditions into the outer world, much as these would -have been appreciated by his friends. His whole interest was centred in -his work and in the University in which he taught, and whose well-being -was so dear to him. Of his letters, few, unfortunately, have been -preserved; and this is the more unfortunate that he had the gift, now -comparatively so rare, of expressing himself with ease, and in bright, -well-chosen language. Of his correspondents one only seems to have -preserved the letters written to him, Mr. George Makgill of Kemback, a -neighbouring laird in Fife and advocate in Edinburgh, whose similarity -in tastes drew him towards the St. Andrews Philosophy Professor. - -Of these letters there are some of sufficient interest to bear -quotation. One of the first is written in October 1851 from St. -Andrews, and plunges into the deepest topics without much preface. -Ferrier says:-- - -'What is the Beginning of Philosophy? Philosophy must have had the same -Beginning that all other things have, otherwise there would be -something peculiar or anomalous or sectarian in its origin, which would -destroy its claims to genuineness and catholicity. What, then, is the -Beginning of all things and consequently the Beginning of Philosophy? - -'Answer--WANT. - -'Want is the Beginning of Philosophy because it is the Beginning of all -things. Is the Beginning of Philosophy a bodily want? No. Why not? -Because nothing that may be given to the Body has any effect in -appeasing the want. The Beginning of Philosophy, then, must be an -intellectual want--a Hunger of the Soul. - -'But all wants have their objects in which they seek and find their -gratification. What then is the object of the hunger of the soul? - -'Answer--KNOWLEDGE. - -'Philosophy is a Hunger of the Soul after Knowledge. What is -Knowledge?--reduced through various intermediate stages to question, -what is the common and essential quality in all knowledge--the quality -which makes knowledge knowledge? Answer approached by raising question: -What is the essential quality in all food--the quality which makes food -food? This is obviously its physically nutritive quality. Whatever has -the nutritive property is food; whatever has it not is not food, -however like excellent beef and mutton it may be. So in regard to -knowledge, its common and essential quality--the quality in virtue of -which knowledge is knowledge--is its nutritive quality. Whatever -nourishes and satisfies the mind is knowledge, as whatever nourishes -and satisfies the body is food. The intellectually _nutritive property_ -in knowledge is the common and essential property in knowledge. What is -the nutritive quality in knowledge? Answer (without beating about the -bush)--TRUTH. - -'What is TRUTH? Answer--Truth is whatever is supported by Evidence. - -'What is EVIDENCE? Evidence is whatever is supported by Experience. -What is EXPERIENCE? Here we stop; we can only divide Experience into -its kinds, which are two, _Experience of Fact_ and _Experience of Pure -Reason_. Observe the manoeuvre in the last line by which you knaves of -the anti-metaphysical school are outwitted. You _oppose Pure Reason_ to -_Experience,_ and philosophers generally assent to the distinction. -This at once gives your school the advantage, for the world will always -cleave to experience in preference to anything else, leaving us -metaphysicians, who are supposed to abandon experience, hanging as it -were in baskets in the clouds. But _I_ do not abandon experience as the -ultimate foundation of _all_ knowledge; only I maintain that there are -_two_ kinds of experience, both of which are equally experience, the -experience of Fact and the experience of Pure Reason. You are thus -deprived of your advantage. I am as much a man of experience as you -are.' - -Evidently it had been a question with Ferrier whether he should use the -expression Experience, so well known to us now, or substitute for it -Consciousness, which, as a matter of fact, he afterwards did: 'Why is -it so grievous and fatal an error to confound Experience and -Consciousness? Is not a man's experience the whole developed contents -of his consciousness? I cannot see how this can be denied. And -therefore, before you wrote, I was _swithering_ (and am so still) -whether I should not make consciousness the basis of the whole -superstructure--the raw material of the article which in its finished -state is knowledge. After all, the dispute, I suspect, is mainly -verbal.' - -There are many evidences in these letters that Ferrier was not -neglecting German Philosophy, for taking Experience as his basis he -shows how it may be divided into _Wesen_ (_-an sich_), _Seyn_ (_für -sich_), and the _Begriff_ (_anundfürsich_) on the lines of German -metaphysics. As to the 'Common-Sense' Philosophy, he expresses himself -in no measured terms: 'I am glad we agree in opinion as to the merits -of the Common-Sense Philosophy. Considered in its details and -accessories, it certainly contains many good things; but, viewed as a -whole and _in essentialibus_, it is about the greatest humbug that ever -was palmed off upon an unwary world. As an instance among many which -might be adduced, of the ambiguity of the word, and of the vacillation -of the members of this school, it may be remarked that while Reid made -the essence of common-sense to consist in this, that its judgments are -not conclusions obtained by ratiocination (_Works_, Sir W. Hamilton's -edition, p. 425), Stewart, on the contrary, holds that these judgments -are "the result of a train of reasoning so rapid as to escape notice" -(_Elements_, vol. ii. p. 103). Sir W.'s _one hundred and six witnesses_ -are a most conglomerate set, and a little cross-examination would try -their mettle severely.' - -The most important part of Ferrier's system was his working out of the -'Theory of Ignorance,' in which, indeed, he might congratulate himself -in having in great measure broken open new ground. He says of it: -'Hurrah, [Greek: eurêka], I have discovered the _Law of Ignorance_--and -if I had a hecatomb of kain hens at my command I would sacrifice them -_instanter_ to the propitious patron of metaphysics. Look you here. The -Law of Knowledge is this, that, in order to know any _one_ thing we -must always know two things; _hoc cum alio_--object plus subject--thing -+ me. This is the unit of knowledge. Analogously, only inversely, in -order to be ignorant of any _one_ thing we must be ignorant of _two_ -things--_hujus cum alio_--object plus subject--thing + me. This is the -unit of ignorance.' Apparently, in spite of full explanation of his -newly-discovered view, Ferrier's correspondent had failed to take it -in, and consequently he gently rails at him for 'sticking at the -axiom,' and wishes him to help him to a name for what he calls the -'Agnoiology' for want of something better. He goes on: 'I take it that -I have caught you in my net, and that wallop about as you will I shall -land you at last. I have now little fear that I shall succeed in -convincing you, or at anyrate less hardened sinners, that the knowledge -of object-subject is a self-contradiction, and that therefore -object-subject, or matter _per se_, is not a thing of which we can with -any sense or propriety be said to be ignorant. Be this as it may, you -must at anyrate recognise in this doctrine a very great novelty in -philosophy. The more incogitable a thing becomes, the more ignorant of -it do _we_ become--that is the natural supposition. Is it not then a -bold and original stroke to show that when a thing passes into absolute -incogitability we cease that instant to be ignorant of it? I believe -that doctrine to be right and true, but I am certain that, obvious as -it is, it has been nowhere anticipated or even hinted at in the bygone -career of speculation. I claim this as _my discovery_. In the doctrine -of Ignorance I believe that I have absolutely no precursor. What think -you?' - -Mr. Makgill had accused Ferrier of anthropomorphism in his system, and -he replies as follows:--'You cannot charge me with anthropomorphism -without being guilty of it yourself. Don't you see that "the Beyond" -all human thought and knowledge is itself _a category_ of human -thought? There is much _naïveté_ in the procedure of you cautious -gentry who would keep scrupulously _within_ the length of your tether: -as if the conception of a _without_ that tether was not a mode of -thinking. Will you tell me why you and Kant and others don't make -_existence_ a category of human thought? This has always puzzled me. - -'Surely the man who made extension and time mere forms of human -knowledge need have made no bones of existence. Meanwhile, as the post -is just starting, I beg you to consider this, that the anthropomorphist -and the anti-anthropomorphists are both of necessity anthropomorphists, -and for my part I maintain that the anti-man is the bigger -anthropomorphist of the two.' This criticism of the 'Beyond' and its -unknowableness, while yet it was acknowledged, is as much to the point -in the present day as it was in those, and its statement brings -forcibly before our minds the truth of Goethe's well-known saying: -'_Der Mensch begreift niemals wie anthropomorphisch er ist_.' - -The doctrine of Ignorance, so essential to Ferrier's system, he found -it hard to make clear to others:--'I am astonished at your not seeing -the use, indeed the absolute necessity, of a _true_ doctrine of -ignorance. This blindness of yours shows me what I may expect from the -public; and how careful I must be, if I would go down at all, to render -myself perfectly clear and explicit. Don't you see that a correct -doctrine of ignorance is necessary for two reasons--_first_, on account -of the _false_ doctrine of ignorance universally prevalent, one which -has hitherto rendered, and must ever render, anything like a scientific -ontology impossible; and, _secondly_, because this correct theory of -ignorance follows inevitably from my doctrine of knowledge? This, which -I consider a very strong recommendation, an indispensable condition of -the theory of ignorance, is the very ground on which you object to it. -Surely you would not have me establish a doctrine of ignorance which -was not consistent with my doctrine of knowledge. Surely I am entitled -to deduce all that is logically deducible from my principles. Your -meaning I presume is that my doctrine of ignorance flows so manifestly -from my doctrine of knowledge that it is unnecessary to develop and -parade it. There I differ from you. It flows _inevitably_, but I cannot -think that it flows obviously. Else why was it never hit upon until -now?... Don't tell me, then, that _my_ conclusions that matter _per -se_, _Ding an sich_, is what it is impossible for us to be ignorant of, -just _because_ it is absolutely unknowable (and for no other reason). -Don't tell me that this conclusion is so obvious as not to require to -be put down in black and white, when we find Kant and _every_ other -philosopher drawing, but most erroneously, the directly opposite -conclusion from the same premises. Matter _per se_, _Ding an sich_, was -of all things that of which we were most ignorant!! and the ruin of -metaphysics was the consequence of their infatuated blindness. Your -objection, then, to my doctrine of ignorance, viz., that it is fixed in -the very fixing of the doctrine of knowledge, and therefore does not -require explication or elucidation, I cannot regard as a good -objection. It is true that the one of these fixes the other; but it -requires some amount of explanation and demonstration to make this -palpable to the understandings even of the most acute, and I am not -sure that even you (yes, put on your best pair of spectacles, you will -need them) yet see how impossible it is for us to be ignorant of matter -_per se_, or of anything which is absolutely unknowable.' - -This matter of the _Ding an sich_ Ferrier felt to be the crucial point -in his system: 'You talk glibly of "existence _per se_," as maids of -fifteen do of puppy dogs. This shows that, like a carpet knight, you -have never smelt the real smoke of metaphysical battle, but at most -have taken part in the sham fights and listened to the shotless popguns -of the martinet of Königsberg. You will find existence _per se_ a -tougher customer than you imagine.' - -As to the _Institutes_, then on the verge of publication, the author -says: 'I am inclined to follow your advice, so far, in regard to the -title of the work, and to call it the "Theory of Knowing and Being," -leaving out ignorance. But why an _introduction_ to metaphysics? If -this be an _introduction_ to metaphysics, pray, Mr. Pundit, what and -where are metaphysics themselves? No, sir, it shall be called a -_text-book_ of metaphysics, meaning thereby, that it is a complete body -(and soul) of metaphysics. You are an uncommonly _modest_ fellow in so -far as the protestations of your _friends_ are concerned!' - -This correspondence appears to have continued regularly for some years, -and to have dealt almost entirely with metaphysical and economic -subjects--the subjects which were constantly in Ferrier's mind, as he -taught them in the University and tried to work them out in his study. -Doubtless it was of the greatest use to him to be able to write about -them as he would, had opportunity served, have spoken; and this -opportunity was afforded by his friendship with his correspondent, -whose interest in philosophy was keen, and whose critical faculties -were exceptionally acute, although he never accomplished any original -work on philosophical lines. - -Of other letters few have been preserved. Absence from home did not -make a reason for writing, for Ferrier's journeyings were but few. In -1859, however, he made an expedition to England to see his -newly-married daughter, Lady Grant, start for India with her husband, -Sir Alexander Grant, after his appointment to the Chancellorship of the -University of Bombay. From Southampton he made his way to the scene of -his schooldays at Greenwich, from which place he writes to one of the -sons of Dr. Bruce of Ruthwell, with whom he spent a happy childhood: -'One of our fêtes was a sumptuous fish dinner at Greenwich. I call it -sumptuous, but in truth the fish was utter trash, the best of them not -comparable to Loch Fyne herring. Whitebait is the greatest humbug of -the age, though it may be heresy to say so in your neighbourhood.' This -journey was concluded by a visit to Oxford and to the Lake country, -with both of which Ferrier's associations were so many and so -agreeable. - -The following is a letter, dated 21st March 1862, to Professor -Lushington, his friend and biographer:--'I have been very remiss in not -acknowledging your photograph, which came safe, and is much admired by -all who have seen it. I must get a book for its reception and that of -some other worthies, otherwise my children will appropriate it for -their collections, with which the house is swarming.... The _ego_ is an -infinite and active capacity of _never being anything in particular_. I -will uphold that definition against the world. Did you never feel how -much you revolted from being fixed and determined? Depend upon it, that -is the true nature of a spirit--never to be any determinate existence. -This is our real immutability--for death can get hold only of that -which has a determinate being. _We_ stand loose from all -determinations. That is our chance of escaping his clutches." - -This expresses Ferrier's views and hopes for an after life: he looked -forward to an immortality in which the particular and determinate -should disappear and only the absolute element remain--in which death -should mean only the rising from the individual into a true and -universal life. It is a matter to which he frequently refers, and -always in terms of a very similar nature. We shall see how, when the -end was coming near, his views remained the same, and he was able to -face the inevitable without a qualm or shadow of complaint. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -FERRIER'S SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY--PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS - - -'If one were asked,' says Professor Fraser, 'for the English writings -which are fitted in the most attractive way to absorb a reader of -competent intelligence and imagination in the final or metaphysical -question concerning the Being in which we and the world of sensible -things participate, Berkeley's _Dialogues_, Hume's _Inquiry into Human -Understanding_, and some of the lately published _Philosophical -Remains_ of Professor Ferrier are probably those which would best -deserve to be mentioned.' - -It has been given to few philosophers of modern days to write on -philosophic questions in a manner at once so lucid and so convincing as -that of Ferrier. Nor can it in his case be said that matter is -sacrificed to form, for the writer does not hesitate to 'nail his -colours to the mast,' as he himself expresses it, and to tackle -questions the most vital in their character in a straightforward and -uncompromising fashion. His earliest published writings, as we have -seen, took the form of a series of seven articles, which appeared, -roughly speaking, in alternate months, between February of 1838 and -March of 1839. These articles, entitled _An Introduction to the -Philosophy of Consciousness_, represented the results of their author's -work during the years which had elapsed since he first began to be -really interested in philosophy, and to feel that the way of looking at -it adopted almost universally in Scotland was not satisfying to -himself, or in any way defensible. - -The whole point in Ferrier's view turns upon the way in which we look -at 'Mind.' 'The human mind, to speak it profanely,' says Ferrier, 'is -like the goose that laid the golden eggs. The metaphysician resembles -the analytic poulterer who slew it to get at them in a lump, and found -_nothing_ for his pains.... Look at thought, and feeling, and passion, -as they glow in the pages of Shakespeare--golden eggs indeed! Look at -the same as they stagnate on the dissecting-table of Dr. Brown, and -marvel at the change. Behold how shapeless and extinct they have -become!' Locke began by saying there are no original ideas, simply -impressions from without; Hume then says cause and effect are incapable -of explanation, and the notion which we form of them is a nonentity, -seeing that we have a series of impressions alone to work from; Reid -says there is a mind and there is an object, and calls in common-sense -to interpret between the two. But the mistake all through is very -evident: man looks at Nature in a certain way, interprets her by -certain categories, and then he turns his eye upon himself, -endeavouring thereby to judge of what he finds within by methods of a -similar kind. And the human mind cannot be so 'objectised'; it is -something more than the sum of its 'feelings,' 'passions,' and 'states -of mind.' Dr. Reid had done a service by exploding the old doctrine of -'ideas'; he brought mind into contact with immediate things, but much -more is left for us to do; the same office has to be performed for -'mind'--that is, mind when we regard it as something which connects us -with the universe, or something which can be looked at and examined, as -we might look at or examine a thing outside ourselves, and not as that -which is necessary to any such examination. 'Is it not enough for a man -that he is _himself_? There can be no dispute about that. _I_ am; what -more would I have? What more would I be? Why would I be _mind_? I am -_myself_ therefore let it perish.' - -What, then, makes a man what he is? It is the fact of consciousness, -the fact which marks him off from all other things with a deep line of -separation. It is this and this alone, Ferrier says, this '_human_ -phenomenon,' and not its objects, passions, or emotions, which leads us -into pastures fresh and far separated from the dreary round which the -old metaphysicians followed. The same discovery, of course, is always -being made, though to Ferrier it was new; we are always straying into -devious ways, ways that lead us into grey regions of abstraction, and -we always want to be called back to the concrete and the real, to the -freshness and the brightness of life as it is and lives. - -Ferrier from this time onwards, from his youth until his death, kept -one definite aim in view: the object of his life was to insist with all -his might that our interests must be concentrated on man as he is as -man, and not on a mere sum-total of passions and sensations by which -the human being is affected. The consciousness of a state of mind is -very different from that state of mind itself, and the two must be kept -absolutely distinct. 'Let mind have the things which are mind's, and -man the things which are man's.' We should, Ferrier says, fling 'mind' -and its lumber overboard, busy ourselves with _the man_ and his facts. -Man's passions and sensations may be referred to 'mind' indeed, but he -cannot lay his hands upon the fact of consciousness. That fact cannot -be conceived of as vested in the _object_ called the 'human mind,' an -object being something really or ideally different from ourselves. In -speaking of 'my mind,' mind may be what it chooses, but the -consciousness is in the _ego_; and mind is really destitute of -consciousness, otherwise the _ego_ would necessarily be present in it. -The dilemma is as follows: 'Unless the philosophers of mind attribute -consciousness to mind, they leave out of view the most important -phenomena of man; and _if_ they attribute consciousness to mind, they -annihilate the object of their research, in so far as the whole extent -of this fact is concerned.' - -Since Ferrier's time this point has been worked out very fully, and by -none more successfully than by an English philosopher, Professor T. H. -Green of Oxford, in his Introduction to the works of Hume. But when -Ferrier wrote, his ideas were new; in England at least he was breaking -up ground hitherto untouched, and therefore the debt of gratitude we -owe him is not small, especially when we consider the forces against -which he warred. 'Common-sense,' the solution offered for all -philosophic difficulties, is really the _problem_ of philosophy, and to -speak of the 'philosophy of common-sense' is simply to confuse the -problem with its solution. Common-sense, or rather what is given by its -means, has simply to be construed into intelligible forms: in itself it -makes no attempt to solve the difficulties that present themselves, and -it is folly to suggest its doing so. When a man speaks of _my_ -sensations or _my_ states of mind, he means something of which he--as -consciousness--is independent, and which can be made an object to him. -Were it not so, of course he could not possibly arrive at freedom, but -would merely be the helpless child of destiny; and, as Ferrier points -out, were consciousness and sensation one, consciousness would not have -the power, undoubtedly possessed by it, of 'recovering the balance' -that it loses on experiencing pain or passion; the return of -consciousness, as he puts it, 'lowers the temperature' of the sensation -or the passion, and the man regains the personality that for the time -had almost vanished. A man, he tells us, can hardly even be said to be -the 'victim' of his mind, and irresponsible--_i.e._, man stands aloof -from the modifications which may visit him, therefore we should study -him as he is, and not merely these 'states of mind' common to him and -to animals alike. And consciousness must be active, exercising itself -upon those states, and thereby realising human freedom. - -Philosophy, then, is the gospel of freedom as contrasted with the -bondage of the physical kingdom. But we are in subjection at the first, -and all our lifetime a constant fight is being carried on. Philosophy -paints its grey in grey, another great philosopher has told us, only -when the freshness and life of youth has gone: the reconciliation is in -the ideal, not the actual world. And so with Ferrier: 'The flowers of -thy happiness,' says he, 'are withered. They could not last; they -gilded but for a day the opening portals of life. But in their place I -will give thee freedom's flowers. To act _according_ to thy inclination -may be enjoyment; but know that to act _against_ it is liberty, and -thou only actest thus because thou art really free.' Great and weighty -words, which might be pondered by many more than those to whom they -were originally addressed. - -Having established his fundamental principles, Ferrier goes on to trace -the birth of self-consciousness in the child--the knowledge of itself -as 'I,' which means the knowledge of good and evil--the moral birth. -Perception, again, is a synthesis of sensation and consciousness--the -realisation of self in conjunction with the sensation experienced: it -is, of course, peculiar to man. Things can only take effect on 'me' -when there is a 'me' to take effect upon, and not at birth, or before I -come to consciousness. Consciousness is the very essence and origin of -the _ego_; without consciousness no man would be 'I.' It is our refusal -to be acted on by outside impressions that constitutes our personality -and perception of them; our communication with the universe is the -communication of _non_-communication. And the _ego_ is not something -which comes into the world ready-made; it is a living activity which is -_never_ passive, for were it passive, it would be annihilated; in -submitting to the action of causality its life would be gone. Our -destiny is to free ourselves from the bonds of nature, from that -'blessed state of primeval innocence,' the blessedness, after all, of -bondage. A man cannot _be_ until he _acts_, for his Being arises out of -his actions: consciousness being an act, our proper existence is the -consequence of that act. His natural condition for others, and before -he comes to existence, Ferrier says, is given, while his existence for -himself is made by his thinking himself. It is only in the latter case -that he can attain to Liberty, instead of remaining bound by the bonds -imposed upon him by Necessity. The three great moments of humanity are: -first, the natural or given man in enslaved Being; second, the -conscious man in action working into freedom against passion; third, -the 'I': man as free, that is, real personal Being. - -Philosophy has thus a great future before her. Instead of being a mere -dead theory as heretofore, she becomes renovated into a new life when -she gets her proper place; she is separated from her supposed -connection with the physical world, and is recognised as consciousness. -When this is so, she loses her merely theoretic aspect, and is -identified with the living practical interests of mankind. The dead -symbols become living realities, the dead twigs are clothed with -verdure. 'Know thyself, and in knowing thyself thou shalt see that this -self is not thy true self; but, in the very act of knowing this, thou -shalt at once displace this false self, and establish thy true self in -its room.' And Ferrier goes on to trace the bearings of his theories in -the moral and intellectual world. He finds in morality something more -than a refined self-love; he finds the dawning will endeavouring to -assert itself, to break free from the trammels imposed upon it by -nature. Freedom, the great end of man, is contravened by the passive -conditions of his nature; these are therefore wrong, and every act of -resistance tends to the accomplishment of the one important end, which -is to procure his liberty. - -This essay, or series of essays, gives the keynote to Ferrier's thought -and writings, therefore it seemed worth while to consider its argument -in detail. The completeness of the break with the old philosophy is -manifest. The 'scientific' methods applied to every region of knowledge -were then in universal use, and no little courage was required to -challenge their pretensions as they were challenged by Ferrier. But in -courage, as we know, Ferrier was never lacking. His mind once made up, -he had no fear in making his opinions known. He considered that the -Scottish Philosophy had become something very like materialism in the -hands of Brown and others, and he believed that the whole point of view -must be changed if a really spiritual philosophy was to take its place. -There may be traces of the impetuosity of youth in this attack: much -working out was undoubtedly required before it could be said that a -system had been established. But all the same this essay is a brilliant -piece of philosophic writing--instinct with life and enthusiasm--one -which must have made its readers feel that the dry bones of a dead -system had wakened into life, and that what they had imagined an -abstract and dismal science had become instinct with living, practical -interest--something to be 'lived' as well as studied. - -The _Institutes of Metaphysics_--the work by which Ferrier's name will -descend to posterity--is a development of the Philosophy of -Consciousness; but it is more carefully reasoned out and -systematised--the result of many years of thoughtful labour. For -several years before the work was published (in 1854) the propositions -which are contained in it were developed in the course of Ferrier's -regular lectures. The _Institutes_, or _Theory of Knowing and Being_, -commences with a definition of philosophy as a 'body of reasoned -truth,' and states that though there were plenty of dissertations on -the subject in existence, there was no philosophy itself--no scheme of -demonstrated truth; and this, and not simply a 'contribution' to -philosophy was what was now required, and what the writer proposed to -give. The divisions into which he separates Philosophy are: first, the -Epistemology, or theory of knowledge; secondly, the Agnoiology, or -theory of ignorance; and thirdly, the Ontology, or theory of being. The -fundamental question is, 'What is the _one_ feature which is identical, -invariable, and essential in all the varieties of our knowledge?' - -The first condition of knowledge is that we should know ourselves, and -reason gives certainty to this proposition which is not capable of -demonstration, owing to its being itself the starting-point; the -counter-proposition, asserting the separate subject and object of -knowledge, and the mutual presence of the two without intelligence's -being necessarily cognisant of itself, represents general opinion, and -the ordinary view of popular psychology. Knowledge, then, Ferrier goes -on, always has the self as an essential part of it; it is -knowledge-in-union-with-whatever-it-apprehends. The objective part of -the object of knowledge, though distinguishable, is not really -separable from the subjective or _ego_; both constitute the _unit_ of -knowledge--an utterance thoroughly Hegelian in its character, however -Ferrier may disclaim a connection with Hegel's system. In space they -may be separated, but not in cognition, and this idealism does not for -one moment deny the existence of 'external' things, but only says they -can have no meaning if out of relation to those which are 'internal'; -as Hegel might have put it, they could be known as separable by means -of 'abstraction' only. From this point we are led on to the next -statement, and a most important statement it is, that matter _per se_ -is of necessity absolutely unknowable; or to what Ferrier calls the -Theory of Ignorance. Whether or not this theory can make good the title -to originality which its author claims for it, there is no doubt that -its statement in clear language, such as no one can fail to understand, -marks an important era in English speculation. There are, Ferrier says, -two sorts of so-called ignorance: one of these is incidental to some -minds, but not to all--an ignorance of defect, he puts it--just as we -might be said to be ignorant of a language we had never learned. But -the other ignorance (not, properly speaking, ignorance at all) is -incident to _all_ intelligence by its very nature, and is no defect or -imperfection. The law of ignorance hence is that 'we can be ignorant -only of what can be known,' or 'the knowable is alone the ignorable.' -The bearing of this important point is seen at once when we turn back -to the theory of knowing. Knowledge is something of which the subject -cannot shake himself free; 'I' must always, in whatever I apprehend, -apprehend 'me.' We don't apprehend 'things,' that is, but what is -apprehended is 'me-apprehending-things.' Things-plus-me is the only -knowable, and consequently the only 'ignorable.' - -This brings us a great way towards the Absolute Idealism associated -mainly with the name of Hegel--towards the Knowledge or 'Experience' (a -word which Ferrier afterwards himself makes use of) which shall cease -to be a 'theory,' being recognised as comprehending within itself all -Reality--as recognising no distinction between object and subject, -excepting when they are regarded as two poles both equally essential, -and separated only when looked at in abstraction. If Ferrier's 'theory -of knowledge' did not proceed so far, he at least made the discovery -that the subjective idealism of Kant was as unsatisfactory as the -relativity of Hamilton, and as certainly tending to agnosticism. Kant's -'thing-in-itself' is not that of which we are ignorant, or a hidden -reality which can be known by faith. It is that which cannot possibly -be known--and, in other words, a contradiction or nonsense. Now, -Ferrier says, we arrive at the true Idealism--the triumph of -philosophy. If it is said to reduce all things to the phenomena of -consciousness, it does the same to every _nothing_. What falls out of -consciousness becomes incogitable; it lapses, not into nothing, but -into what is contradictory. The material universe _per se_, and all its -qualities _per se_, are not only absolutely unknowable, but absolutely -unthinkable. We do indeed know substance, but only as object plus -subject--as matter _mecum_ or in cognition as thought together with the -self. - -It may be true that we cannot claim for Ferrier complete originality in -his thinking; work on very similar lines was being carried on -elsewhere. It is not difficult to trace throughout his writings the -mode of his development. The earlier works are evidently influenced by -Fichte and his school, since the personal _ego_ and individual freedom -figure as the principal conceptions in our knowledge; and even while -the Scottish school of psychologists is being combated, the influence -of Hamilton is very manifest. But as time goes on, Ferrier's ideas -become more concrete; the theory of consciousness becomes more absolute -in its conception; the human or individual element is less conspicuous -as the universal element is more, which signifies that gradually he -approaches closer to the standpoint of the later German thinkers by a -careful study of their works, though for the most part it is Reid and -Hamilton his criticisms have in view, and not the corresponding work of -Kant. - -Still, we should say that Ferrier's attitude represented another phase -in the same struggle against abstraction and towards unity in -knowledge, rather than being a simple outcome of the German influence -in Scotland. This last assumption he at least repudiated with energy, -and boldly claimed to have developed and completed his system for -himself. He claimed to have worked on national lines; to have started -from the philosophy of his country as it was currently accepted, and to -have little difficulty in proving from itself its absolute inadequacy. -He felt that in his doctrine of the reality of knowledge he had found -the means of solving problems hitherto dark and obscure, and he used -his instruments bravely, and on the whole successfully. - -The faith-philosophy which professed to know reality through the -senses, when these senses were a part of the external universe, or -signified taking for granted the matter in dispute, was utterly -repugnant to Ferrier. The Unknowable of Sir William Hamilton was -inconceivable to him, and he ever kept this theory and its errors in -his mind, while developing a system of his own. It is better that a -philosophic system should grow up thus, instead of coming to us from -without in language hard to understand because of foreign idioms and -unwonted modes of expression. To be of use, a philosophy should speak -the language of the people: until it becomes identified with ordinary -ways of thinking, its influence is never really great; and the Idealism -of Germany has in this country always suffered from being intelligible -only to the few. Therefore we hold all credit due to Ferrier for -consistently refusing to adopt the phraseology of a foreign country, -and setting himself, heart and soul, to find expression for his -thoughts in the language of his birth. - -Ferrier introduces his _Lectures on Greek Philosophy_, the last subject -on which he undertook to write, in a manner which reminds us of Hegel's -remarkable Introduction to his _History of Philosophy_; he begins, like -Hegel, by pointing out that the study of philosophy is just the study -of our own reason in its development, but that what is worked out in -our minds hurriedly and within contracted limits, is in philosophy -evolved at leisure, and seen in its just proportions: the historian of -philosophy has not merely to record the existence of dead systems of -thought that are past and gone, but the living products of his _own_, -full of present, vital interest, and there is nothing arbitrary or -capricious in such a history: all is reasoned thought as it manifests -and reveals itself. - -Philosophy, Ferrier defines, by calling it the pursuit of Truth--not -relative Truth, but absolute, what necessarily exists for all minds -alike; and man's faculties (contrary to what is generally supposed) are -competent to attain to it, provided only that they have something in -common with all other minds, _i.e._, are partakers in a universal -intelligence. He works this out in his Introduction in an extremely -interesting way, showing, as he does, how in all intelligence there -must be a universal, a unity; that the very essence of religion, for -example, rests on the unity which constitutes the bond between God and -man, and that when this is denied, religion is made impossible. What -then, we may ask, is the Truth that has to be pursued? - -It is that which is the real, the object of philosophy--the real which -exists for all intelligence. The historian of philosophy must show that -philosophy in its history corresponds with this definition, if the -definition be a true one. - -The lectures begin with Thales and the followers of the Ionic school, -and Ferrier points out how, in spite of the material elements which are -taken as a basis, their systems are philosophic, in so far as they aim -at the establishment of a universal in all things, and carry with them -the belief that this universal is the ultimately real; and this gives -them an interest which from their sensuous forms we could hardly have -expected to find. But it was Heraclitus' doctrine of Becoming that was -most congenial to Ferrier, as it was to his great predecessor Hegel. -Being and Not-Being, the unity of contraries as essential sides of -Truth, in such conceptions as these Ferrier believes we come nearer to -the truth of the universe than in the current views of philosophy, in -which the unity of contrary determinations in one subject is regarded -as impossible. Apart, either side is incomprehensible, and hence Mr. -Mansel and Sir William Hamilton argue the impotence of human reason; -but if, as Ferrier believes, they are shown to be but moments or -essential factors in conception, the antagonism will be proved -unreal--it will be an antagonism proper to the very life and essence of -reason. - -Possibly in his account of the early Greek philosophers Ferrier may -have done what many historians of philosophy have done before him, he -may have read into the systems which he has been describing much more -than he was entitled so to read. He may, when he is talking of the -Eleatics of Heraclitus, and even of Socrates and Plato, have had before -his mind the special battle which he had chosen to fight--the battle -against sensationalism in Scotland, against materialism in the form in -which he found it--rather than fairly to set before his readers an -exact and accurate account of the teaching of the particular -philosopher of whom he writes. But has it ever been otherwise in any -history of thought that was ever written, excepting perhaps in some -dryasdust compendium which none excepting those weighed down with dread -of examination questions, care to peruse? Thought reads itself from -itself, and if it sometimes reads the present into the past, and thinks -to see it there, is there matter for surprise, or is it so very far -wrong? If it tells us something of the secrets it itself conceals, it -is surely telling us after all much of those that are gone. - -For Plato, Ferrier naturally had a very great affinity; he deals with -him at length, and evidently had made a special and careful study of -his writings. But the same method is applied by him to Plato as was -before applied to the other Greek philosophers. 'It is not so much by -reading Plato as by studying our own minds that we can find out what -ideas are, and perceive the significance of the theory which expounds -them. It is only by verifying in our own consciousness the discoveries -of antecedent philosophers that we can hope rightly to understand their -doctrines or appreciate the value and importance of their -speculations.' And so Ferrier proceeds to prove the necessity for the -existence of 'ideas'--of universals--as the absolute truth and -groundwork of whatever is. No intelligence can be intelligent excepting -by their light, and they are the necessary laws or principles on which -all Being and Knowing are dependent. 'All philosophy,' he says of -Plato, 'speculative and practical, has been foreshadowed by his -prophetic intelligence; often dimly, but always so attractively as to -whet the curiosity and stimulate the ardour of those who have chosen -him as a guide.' And it was as such that Ferrier marked him out and -chose him as his own. With Aristotle he had probably less in common, -and his treatment both of him and of the Stoics, Epicureans, and -Neo-Platonists, with which the history ends, is less sympathetic in its -tone and understanding in its style. But these lectures as a whole, -though never put together for printing as a book, must always be of -interest to the student of philosophy. - -A philosophic article, entitled _Berkeley and Idealism_, and published -in June of 1842, was designed to meet the attack of Mr. Samuel Bailey, -who had written a _Review of Berkeley's Theory of Vision_, criticising -the soundness of his views. Mr. Bailey replied, and Ferrier a year -later published an article on that reply. Ferrier rightly appreciates -the very important place which ought to be allowed to Berkeley as a -factor in the development of philosophic truth--a place which has only -been properly understood in later years. He saw the part he had played -in bringing the real significance of Absolute Idealism into view, and -deprecated the representation of his system made by David Hume, or the -popular idea that Berkeley denied all reality to matter. What he did -deny was the reality which is supposed to lie beyond experience, and -his criticism in this regard was invaluable as a basis for a future -system. In his own words, he did not wish to change things into ideas, -but _ideas_ into _things_: matter could not exist independently of -mind. But yet Ferrier is perfectly aware that Berkeley did not entirely -grasp the absolute standpoint that the thing is the appearance, and the -appearance is the thing. Regarded merely as a literary production, this -article is entitled to rank with the classics of philosophic writings -both as regards the beauty of its style and its logical development. -Ferrier does not often touch directly on questions of religion or -theology, but there is an interesting passage in this essay which shows -his views regarding the question of immortality. He is talking of the -impossibility of our ever conceiving to ourselves the idea of our -annihilation. Such an idea could not be rationally articulated. We -_appear_, indeed, to be able to realise it, but we only _think_ we -think it: real thought of death in this sense would involve our being -already dead; but in thought we are and must be immortal. 'We have -nothing to wait for; eternity is even now within us, and time, with all -its vexing troubles, is no more.' - -It was something absolute and enduring for which Ferrier was ever on -the search. Those of his Introductory Lectures which are preserved bear -out this statement, if nothing else were left to do so. Philosophy, -thought, is more than systems: 'As long as man thinks, the light must -burn.' Could he but teach the young men who gathered round him day by -day to think, he cared little as to what so-called 'system' they -adopted. He put his arguments clearly before them, but they were free -to criticise as they would. And perhaps it was because they realised -that the Truth was more to him than personal fame that their affection -for him was so great. He always kept before him, too, that in teaching -any science the mental discipline which it involves must not be -overlooked. The practical rule of disciplining the mind should run side -by side with the theoretical instruction, which might soon be -forgotten; the great effort of a teacher should be in the best and -highest sense to _educate_ his students. That is, he has not only to -instil their minds with multifarious learning, but to make their -thinking systematic. - -And philosophy must, he tells us, be made interesting if it is to be of -any use: we must arrive at a 'philosophic consciousness,' and -distinguish philosophy from mere opinion. It is mind which is the -permanent and immutable in all change and mutation; even the Greeks -found the idea of permanence in mind while they regarded change as the -principle of matter. - -Thus, when the end of the day had come, when the lamp grew dim, and the -books he loved so much must be for the last time shut, Ferrier's -teaching was not so very different from what it was nearly thirty years -before. The only real change was that the impetuosity of youth had -gone; the man and his system had both become matured: the one more -tolerant, more careful in expression, more considerate of the feelings -of his opponents; the other more systematic, more coordinated, firmer -in its grasp. There was much to do if the system were to be shown to -hold its place in every department of life, as an absolute system must: -much that has not even yet been accomplished. But for those who came in -contact with him, the man was more even than his creed--to them this -frail form which seemed to be wasting away before their eyes, yet never -losing the keen interest in work to be accomplished, must have taught a -lesson more than systems of philosophy dream of. For they could not -fail to learn that the eternal can be found in history--even in history -of long centuries ago, as in every other sphere of knowledge--and that -the search for it supports the seeker in his daily life, takes all its -bitterness from what is hardest, from pain, suffering, and even death. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE COLERIDGE PLAGIARISM--MISCELLANEOUS LITERARY WORK - - -The story of the so-called Coleridge plagiarism is an old one now, but -it is one which roused much feeling at the time, and likewise one on -which there is considerable division of opinion even in the present -day. Into this controversy Ferrier plunged by writing a formidable -indictment of Coleridge's position in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for March -of 1840. - -When Ferrier took up the cudgels the matter stood thus. In the earlier -quarter of the century German Philosophy was coming, or rather had -already come, more or less into vogue in England; and as the German -language was not largely read, and yet people were vaguely interested, -though in what they hardly knew, they welcomed an appreciative -interpreter of that philosophy, and an original writer on similar -lines, in one whose reputation was esteemed so highly as that of -Coleridge. Coleridge in this matter, indeed, occupied a position which -was unique; for the treasures of German poetry and prose had not as yet -been fully opened up, and he was held to possess the means of doing -this in a quite exceptional degree. The works of Schiller, Goethe, and -the other poets came to the world--and to Coleridge with the rest--as a -sort of revelation. But the poet in his own mind was nothing if not a -philosopher--a kind of seer amongst men, speculating, somewhat vaguely -it might be, on matters of transcendental import--and in Schelling he -thought he had discovered a kindred spirit; in his writings he believed -he had found the Idealism for which he had so long been seeking in -Böhme, Fox, and the other mystics--a creed which, though pantheistic in -its essence, yet fulfilled the condition of being both orthodox and -Trinitarian in its form. This, for many reasons, was a creed presenting -many attractions to the younger men of the day, especially when set -forth with a certain literary flavour. We have Carlyle's immortal -picture of how it influenced John Sterling and his friends. - -Coleridge's _Biographia Literaria_, in which the principal so-called -Schelling plagiarisms are contained, was published in 1817, but it was -not for a considerable time after that that the plagiarisms were -discovered, or at least taken notice of. The first serious indictment -came from no less an authority than De Quincey, whose interest in -philosophical matters was as great as Coleridge's, and who published -his views in an appreciative but gossipy article in _Tait's Magazine_ -of September 1834. To commence with, he took up the question of the -'Hymn to Chamouni'; but since, in this matter, Coleridge afterwards -admitted his indebtedness to a German poetess, Frederica Brun, it does -not seem an important one. Nor, indeed, does De Quincey pretend to take -exception to certain expressions in Coleridge's 'France' which are -evidently borrowed from Milton, or to regard them as indicating more -than a peculiar omission of quotation marks. But the really serious -matter, one for which De Quincey cannot by any means account, is that -in the _Biographia Literaria_ there occurs a dissertation on the -doctrine of Knowing and Being which is an exact translation from an -essay written by Schelling. De Quincey cannot indeed explain away the -mystery, but he makes the best of it, pleading excuses such as we often -hear adduced in cases of 'kleptomania' when they occur amongst the -well-to-do, or so-called higher classes--_e.g._, the evident fact that -there was no necessity so to steal, no motive for stealing, even though -the theft had evidently been committed. Still, though the defence may -be ingenious, and though we may go so far as to acknowledge that -Coleridge had sufficient originality of mind to weave out theories of -his own without borrowing from others, it must be confessed that under -the aggravated circumstances the argument falls somewhat flat; and this -was the impression made on many minds even at the time. The ball once -set rolling, the dispute went on, and the next important incident was -an article by Julius Hare in the _British Magazine_ of January 1835. -This is a hot defence of the so-called 'Christian' philosopher, who is -said to be influencing the best and most promising young men of the -day, as against the assault of the 'English Opium-Eater'--'that -ill-boding _alias_ of evil record.' As to De Quincey's somewhat unkind -but entertaining stories, there is some reason in Hare's objections, -seeing that they were told of one to whom the writer owned himself -indebted. But when Hare tackles the plagiarisms themselves, and -endeavours to defend them, his task is harder. Coleridge had indeed -stated that his ideas were thought out and matured before he had seen a -page of Schelling; but at the same time, in an earlier portion of his -work, he made a somewhat ambiguous reference to his indebtedness to the -German philosopher, and deprecated his being accused of intentioned -plagiarism from his writings. Of course it may be said that a thief -does not draw attention to the goods from which he has stolen, but yet -even Hare acknowledges that it is hard to understand how half a dozen -pages (we now know that it really exceeded thirty) should have been -bodily transferred from one work to another, and suggests that the most -probable solution is that Coleridge had a practice of keeping notebooks -for his thoughts, mingled with extracts from what he had been reading -at the time, and that he thus became confused between the two. - -At this point Ferrier steps in and takes the whole matter under -review--a matter which he looked upon as serious (perhaps more serious -than we should now consider it) from a national as well as an -individual point of view. He held that the reputation of his country -was at stake, as well as that of a single philosophic thinker, and that -neither De Quincey nor Hare had gone into the matter with sufficient -care or knowledge, or ascertained how large it really was. It was -undoubtedly the case that Coleridge's reputation in philosophic -matters--and in these days that reputation was not small--was derived -from what he had purloined from the writings of a German youth, and -whatever the poet's claim on our regard on other scores may be, it was -certainly due to Schelling that the debt should be acknowledged. As far -as the _Biographia Literaria_ is concerned, the facts are plain. -Coleridge makes certain general acknowledgments of indebtedness to -Schelling to begin with. He acknowledges that there may be found in his -works an identity of thought or phrase with Schelling's, and allows him -to be the founder of the philosophy of nature; but he claims at the -same time the honour of making that philosophy intelligible to his -fellow-countrymen, and even of thinking it out beforehand. Having said -so much, there follow pages together--sometimes as many as six or eight -on end--which are virtually copied _verbatim_ from Schelling, though -with occasional interpolations of the so-called author here and there. -Ferrier has examined the whole matter most minutely, and made a long -list of the more flagrant cases of copying: thirty-one pages, he points -out, are faithfully transcribed, partially or wholly, from Schelling's -works alone, without allowing for what the author admits to be -translated _in part_ from a 'contemporary writer of the Continent.' And -Schelling was not the only sufferer, nor was it only in the region of -metaphysics that the thefts were made. The substratum of a whole -chapter of the _Biographia Literaria_ is, Ferrier discovered, taken -from another author named Maasz, and Coleridge's lecture 'On Poesy or -Art' is closely copied and largely translated from Schelling's -'Discourse upon the Relations in which the Plastic Arts stand to -Nature.' This was a blow indeed to those who had boasted of the -profundity of Coleridge's views on art; but his poetry surely remained -intact. But no, 'Verses exemplifying the Homeric Metre' are found to -be--unacknowledged--a translation from Schiller; and yet worse, because -less likely to be discovered, the lines written 'To a Cataract' have -the same metre, language, and thought as certain verses by Count von -Stolberg, which were shown to Ferrier by a friend. - -The whole matter is a very strange one and not easy to explain. Of -course the references to Schelling's labours in similar lines are -there, and may in a sense disarm our criticism. But then, -unfortunately, there also are the statements that the ideas had been -matured in Coleridge's mind before he had seen a single line of -Schelling's work, and he clearly gives us to understand that he had -toiled out the system for himself, and that it was the 'offspring of -his own spirit.' It is this overmuch protesting that makes us, like -Ferrier, disposed to take the darkest view of the affair: anything that -can be said in Coleridge's defence is found in the manner in which it -was taken by the one who had most right to feel aggrieved. In the life -of Jowett,[10] recently published, there is an interesting account of -Schelling's views on Coleridge, taken from a conversation, notes of -which were made by the late Sir Alexander Grant, Ferrier's son-in-law, -when still an undergraduate. Jowett, while at Berlin, had, it appears, -seen Schelling, and talked to him of the plagiarisms. He took the -matter, Jowett states, good-naturedly, thought Coleridge to have been -attacked unfairly, and even went so far as to assert that he had -expressed many things better than he could have done himself--certainly -a very generous acknowledgment. Probably the most charitable -construction we can put on Coleridge's act is that which Jowett himself -advances in saying that the poet is not to be looked upon or judged as -an ordinary man would be, seeing that often enough he hardly could be -said to have been responsible for his actions; while his egotism, which -was extreme, may have likewise led him--it may be almost -unconsciously--into acts of doubtful honesty. But evidently, in spite -of Ferrier's work, Jowett, and possibly even Schelling himself, had no -idea of the extent to which the plagiarisms extended. There would, of -course, have been comparatively little harm in Coleridge's action had -he been content to borrow materials which he was about to work up in -his own way, or to do what his biographer Gillman says is done by the -'bee which flies from flower to flower in quest of food,' but which -'digests and elaborates' that food by its native power. Unfortunately, -the more we read Coleridge's philosophic writings, the more we feel -constrained to agree with Ferrier that the matter is not digested as -Gillman suggests, but taken possession of in its ready-made condition. -The parts which he adds do not assist in throwing light on what -precedes, but are evidently padding of a somewhat commonplace and -superficial kind. We can only say, like Jowett, that the manner of his -life may have injured Coleridge's moral sense, and that his desire to -pose as a philosopher who should yet be a so-called 'Christian' may -have led him to encroach upon the spheres of others, instead of keeping -to those in which he could hold his own unchallenged. - - [10] _Life of Benjamin Jowett_, vol. i. pp. 98 and 145. - -A labour of love with Ferrier, on very different lines than the above, -was to bring out in five volumes the works of his father-in-law, John -Wilson, 'Christopher North,' including the _Noctes Ambrosianæ_, and his -Essays and Papers contributed to _Blackwood_. This was published in -1856, but must, of course, have meant a considerable amount of work to -the editor for some time previously. One of the most interesting parts -of the work is Ferrier's preface to the famous 'Chaldee Manuscript,' in -vol. iv. The story of the 'Chaldee MS.' is now a matter of history, -fully recorded in the recently published records of the famous house of -Blackwood. In 1817 the Whigs ruled in matters literary, mainly through -the instrumentality of the _Edinburgh Review_, then in its heyday of -fame. A reaction, however, set in, and the change was inaugurated by -the publication of the so-called 'Chaldee MS.,' a wild _extravaganza_, -or _jeu d'esprit_, hitting off the foibles of Whiggism, under the guise -of an allegory describing the origin and rise of _Blackwood's -Magazine_, the rival which had risen up in opposition to the _Review_, -and the discomfiture of another journal carried on under the auspices -of Constable. It was in the seventh number of _Blackwood_ that the -satire appeared--that is, the first number of _Blackwood's Edinburgh -Magazine_ as distinguished from the _Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_, -published from Blackwood's office to begin with, but on comparatively -mild and inoffensive lines. One may imagine the effect of this Tory -outburst on the society of Edinburgh. All the _literati_ of the town -were involved: Sir Walter Scott himself, Mackenzie, Sir David Brewster, -Sir William Hamilton, Professor Jamieson, Tytler, Playfair, and many -others, some of whom emerged but seldom from the retirement of private -life. Nowadays it would be difficult, if not impossible, to identify -the different characters, were it not for the assistance of Professor -Ferrier's marginal notes; but in those days they were no doubt -recognisable enough. Of course the magazine went like wildfire; but the -ludicrous description in semi-biblical language of individuals with -absurd allegorical appendages, constituted, as Ferrier acknowledges, an -offence against propriety which could not be defended, even though no -real malevolence might be signified. Whether Ferrier was justified in -republishing the _Noctes_, in so far as they could be identified with -Wilson, has been disputed; but, as the publisher, Major Blackwood, -points out, the time was past for anyone to be hurt by the -personalities which they contained, and the only harm the republication -could inflict was upon the _Noctes_ themselves. The conception of the -'Chaldee Manuscript,' he tells us, was in the first part due to Hogg; -and Wilson and Lockhart were held responsible for the last. There is a -tradition, too, though Ferrier does not mention it, that Hamilton was -one of the party in Mr. Wilson's house (53 Queen Street) where the skit -was said to have been concocted, and that he even contributed to it a -verse. This may have been the case, as Wilson and Lockhart were his -intimate friends; but it seems strange to think of so thoroughgoing a -Whig being found mixed up in such a plot, and with such companions. - -Though it is easy to understand that Ferrier felt the editing of his -father-in-law and uncle's work was a duty which it was incumbent upon -him to perform, one cannot help surmising that it may have been a less -congenial task to him than many others. There was little in common -between the two men, both distinguished in their way, and Wilson's -humour and poetic fancy, however bright and vivid, was not of the sort -that would appeal most to Ferrier. A few years before his death Ferrier -gave up the project he had in view of writing Wilson's life, partly in -despair of setting forth his talents as he felt they should be set -forth, and partly from the lack of material to work from. He says, in a -letter written at the time, 'It would do no good to talk in general -terms of his wonderful powers, of his genius being greater (as in some -sense it was) than that of any of his contemporaries--greater, too, -than any of his publications show. The public would require other -evidences of this beyond one's mere word--something might have been -done had some of us Boswellized him judiciously, but this having been -omitted, I do not see how it is possible to do him justice.' The book -was eventually undertaken, and successfully accomplished, by Wilson's -daughter, Mrs. Gordon. - -We have spoken of Ferrier's interest in German literature; so early as -1839 he published a translation of _Pietro d'Abano_ by Ludwig Tieck, -one of the inner circle of the so-called Romantic School to which the -Schlegels and Novalis also belonged--the school which opposed itself to -the eighteenth-century enlightenment, making its cry the return to -nature, and demanding with Fichte that a work of art should be a 'free -product of the inner consciousness.' Another specimen of Ferrier's -translating powers is given in a rendering from Deinhardstein's _Bild -der Danæ_, a love story in which Salvator Rosa figures. This appeared -in _Blackwood_ of September 1841, and an extract from it is published -in the _Remains_. - -But one of the earliest and most remarkable of Ferrier's literary -criticisms in _Blackwood's Magazine_ was an anonymous article on the -various translations of Goethe's _Faust_ published in 1840. We have -seen that Ferrier had made a special study of the writings of Schiller -and Goethe, and that his work had been much appreciated both by Lytton -and De Quincey. In this article the writer takes seven different -renderings of the drama, carefully analyses them, points out their -deficiencies, and even adventures on the difficult task, for a critic, -of himself translating one or two pages. Now that German is so widely -read in England, we are all too well aware of the insufficiency of any -translation of _Faust_ to regard even the best in any other light than -as a makeshift. But then things were different, and it was possible -that wrong impressions of the original might be conveyed by inadequate -translations. Ferrier's point was that Goethe, while writing in rhyme -and in exquisitely poetical language, managed at the same time to find -words such as might really be used by ordinary mortals; but the -translators, in endeavouring rightly enough to keep to the rhyming -form, entirely fail in their endeavour after the same end. He considers -that though in prose we may deviate from the ordinary proprieties of -language, we may not do so in rhyming poetry; for though the poet has -to describe the thought and passion of real men in the language of real -life, his dialect must at the same time be taken out of the category of -ordinary discourse because of the use of rhyme; and he is therefore -called upon as far as possible to remove this bar, and reconcile us to -the peculiarity of his style by the simplicity of his language; -otherwise all illusion will be at an end. Rhymes brought together by -force can succeed in giving us no pleasure; the writer should possess -the power of mastering his material and compelling it to serve his -ends. - -Ferrier's speculative instincts naturally led him to discuss the -often-discussed motive of the play. Is it so, as Coleridge says, that -the love of knowledge for itself could not bring about the evil -consequences depicted in the character of Faust, but only the love of -knowledge for some base purpose? Ferrier replies, No, the love of -knowledge as an end in itself would people the world with Fausts. 'Such -a love of knowledge exercises itself in speculation merely, and not in -action; and if the experiences of purely speculative men were gathered, -we think that most of them would be found to confess, bitterly confess, -that indulgence in an abstract reflective thinking (whatever effect it -may have ultimately upon their nobler genius, supposing them to have -one) in the meantime absolutely kills, or appears to kill, all the -minor faculties of the soul--all the lesser genial powers, upon the -exercise of which the greater part of human happiness depends. They -would own, not without remorse, that pure speculation--that is, -knowledge pursued _for itself_ alone--has often been tasted by them to -be, as Coleridge elsewhere says, 'the bitterest and rottenest part of -the core of the fruit of the forbidden tree.' This seems a strange -confession for a thinker reputed so abstract as Ferrier, but of course -the truth of what he says is evident. Knowledge regarded as an end in -itself might have brought Faust into his troubles, it is true, and he -might likewise have found himself ready to rush into what he conceives -to be the opposite extreme; but a greater philosopher than Ferrier has -said that though 'knowledge brought about the Fall, it also contains -the principle of Redemption,' and we take this to signify that we must -look at knowledge as a necessary element in the culture and education -of an individual or a people, which, though it carries trouble in its -wake, does not leave us in our distress, but brings along with it the -principle of healing, or is the 'healer of itself.' - -Soon after the above, Ferrier contributes to the same journal an -article entitled 'The Tittle-Tattle of a Philosopher,' or an account of -the 'Journey through Life' of Professor Krug of Leipzig. Krug appears -to have been a sort of Admirable Crichton amongst philosophers, to whom -no subject came amiss, and who was ready to take his part in every sort -of philosophical discussion. By Hegel and the idealist school he is -somewhat contemptuously referred to as one of that class of writers of -whom it is said '_Ils se sont battus les flancs pour être de grands -hommes_.' Anyhow, his recollections are at least amusing, if not -philosophically edifying. - -A review of the poems of Coventry Patmore a few years later is a very -different production. It carries us back to the old days of -_Blackwood_, when calm judgment was not so much an object as strength -of expression, withering criticism, and biting sarcasm. Ferrier no -doubt believed it would be well for literature to turn back to the old -days of the knout; but few, we fancy, will agree with him, even if they -suffer for so differing by permitting certain trashy publications to -see the light. Too often, unfortunately, the knout, when it is applied, -arrives on shoulders that are innocent. Of course Ferrier believed that -the worst prognostications of a quarter of a century before were now -being realised by the application not being persevered in; but as to -this particular piece of criticism, whatever our opinion of Patmore's -poetic powers may be, surely the writer was unreasonably severe; surely -the work does not deserve to be dealt with in such unmeasured terms of -opprobrium. It is refreshing to turn to an appreciative, if also -somewhat critical review of the poems of Elizabeth Barrett, published -in the same year, 1844, part of which has been republished in the -_Remains_. In this article Ferrier urges once more the point on which -he continually insists--the adoption of a direct simplicity of style: -one which goes straight to the point, or, as he puts it, which is felt -to 'get through business.' Excepting certain criticism on the score of -style and phraseology, however, Ferrier is all praise of the high -degree of poetic merit which the writings revealed--merit which he must -have been amongst the first to discover and make known. - -The last of Ferrier's work for the magazine in which he had so often -written, was a series of articles on the New Readings from Shakespeare, -published in 1853. These articles were in the main a criticism of Mr. -Payne Collier's 'Notes and Emendations' to the Text of Shakespeare's -'Plays' from early MS. corrections which he had discovered in a copy of -the folio 1632. Ferrier, who was a thorough Shakespeare student, and -whose appreciation of Shakespeare is often spoken of by those who knew -him, had no faith in the authenticity of the new readings, though he -thinks they have a certain interest as matter of curiosity. He goes -through the plays and the alterations made in them _seriatim_, and -comes to the conclusion that in most cases they have little value. In -fact, he proceeds so far as to say that they have opened his eyes to 'a -depth of purity and correctness in the received text of Shakespeare' of -which he had no suspicion--a satisfactory conclusion to the ordinary -reader. - -Besides his work for _Blackwood_, Ferrier was in the habit of -contributing articles to the _Imperial Dictionary of Universal -Biography_ on the various philosophers. Two of these, the biographies -of Schelling and Hegel, are printed in the _Remains_, but besides these -he wrote on Adam Smith, Swift, Schiller, etc., and occasionally -utilised the articles in his lectures. - -On yet another line Ferrier wrote a pamphlet in 1848, entitled -_Observations on Church and State_, suggested by the Duke of Argyll's -essay on the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland. This pamphlet aims at -proving that the Assembly of the Church is really, as the Duke argues, -not merely an ecclesiastical, but a national council, or, as Ferrier -terms it, the 'second and junior of the Scottish Houses of Parliament.' -Being therefore amenable to no other earthly power, it was justified in -opposing the decrees of the Court of Session; though, however, the Free -Church ministers were right in defending their constitutional -privileges, Ferrier holds that they were wrong in doing so as the -'Church' in opposition to the 'State,' and that this brought upon them -their discomfiture. They should not, in his view, have acknowledged -that the Church's property could be forfeit to the State, and -consequently should not have voluntarily resigned their livings. The -pamphlet shows considerable interest in the controversy raging so -vehemently at the time. - -In St. Andrews there was no social meeting at which Ferrier was not a -welcome guest. When popular lectures, then coming into vogue, were -instituted in the town, Ferrier was called upon to deliver one of the -series, the subject chosen being 'Our Contemporary Poetical -Literature.' He says in a letter: 'I am in perfect agony in quest of -something to say about "Our Contemporary Poets" in the Town Hall here -on Friday. I must pump up something, being committed like an ass to -that subject, but devil a thing will come. I wish Aytoun would come -over and plead their cause.' However, in spite of fears, the lecture -appears to have been a success: it was an eloquent appeal on behalf of -poetry as an invaluable educational factor and agent in carrying -forward the work of human civilisation, and an appreciation of the work -of Tennyson, Macaulay, Aytoun, and Lytton. In the same year, but a few -months later, Ferrier was asked to deliver the opening address of the -Edinburgh Philosophical Institution. This Institution has for long been -the means of bringing celebrities from all parts of the country to -lecture before an Edinburgh audience, and its origin and conception was -largely due to Professor Wilson, Ferrier's father-in-law, who was in -the habit of opening the session with an introductory address. His -health no longer permitting this to be done, the directors requested -Ferrier to take his place. The address was on purely general topics, -dealing mainly with the objects of the Institution, then somewhat of a -novelty. He concluded: 'Labour is the lot of man. No pleasure can -surpass the satisfaction which a man feels in the efficient discharge -of the active duties of his calling. But it is equally true that every -professional occupation, from the highest to the lowest, requires to be -counterpoised and alleviated by pursuits of a more liberal order than -itself. Without these the best faculties of our souls must sink down -into an ignoble torpor, and human intercourse be shorn of its highest -enjoyments, and its brightest blessings.' This is characteristic of -Ferrier's view of life. One-sidedness was his particular abhorrence, -and if he could in any measure impress its evil upon those whose daily -business was apt to engross their attention, to the detriment of the -higher spheres of thinking, he was glad at least to make the attempt. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -PROFESSORIAL LIFE - - -The St. Andrews University has the reputation of being given to strife, -and never being thoroughly at rest unless it has at least one law-plea -in operation before the Court of Session in Edinburgh, or an appeal -before the House of Lords in London. In a small town, and more -especially in a small University town, there is of course unlimited -opportunity for discussing every matter of interest, and battles are -fought and won before our very doors--battles often just as interesting -as those of the great world outside, and more engrossing because in -them we probably play the part of active participators, instead of -being simple spectators from outside. Of this time Sheriff Smith, -however, writes: 'Never was the University set more social, and less -given to strife than in Ferrier's day. Grander feats I have often seen -elsewhere, but brighter or more intellectual talk, ranging from the -playful to the profound, never have I heard anywhere.' In this respect -it contrasts with the more self-conscious and less natural social -gatherings of the neighbouring city of Edinburgh, whose stiffness and -formality was unknown to the smaller town. The company, without passing -beyond University bounds, was excellent. There was Tulloch at St. -Mary's, still a young man at his prime, and a warm friend of Ferrier's -in spite of the traditional decree that St. Mary's dealings with the -other College should be as few as might be; there was Shairp, -afterwards Professor of Poetry in Oxford, and always a delightful and -inspiring companion; in the Chair of Logic there was Professor -Spalding, whose ill-health alone prevented him from sharing largely in -the social life; and he was succeeded by Professor Veitch, afterwards -of Glasgow, whose appreciation of Ferrier was keen, and with whom -Ferrier had so much intercourse of a mutually enjoyable sort. Then -there was Professor Sellar, a staunch friend and true, and likewise Sir -David Brewster, the veteran man of science, whom Scotland delights to -honour. When Brewster resigned the Principalship of the United College -in 1859, Ferrier was pressed to become a candidate for the post, and -Brewster himself promised his support, and urged Ferrier's claims; but -there were difficulties in the way, and his place was filled by another -follower of science, Principal Forbes. - -Ferrier's students are now, of course, dispersed abroad far and wide. -One of their number, Sheriff Campbell Smith of Dundee, writes of them -as follows:--'His old students are scattered everywhere--through all -countries, professions, and climates. To many of them the world of -faith and action has become more narrow and less ideal than it seemed -when they sat listening to his lofty and eloquent speculations in the -little old classroom among earnest young faces that are no longer -young, and nearly all grown dim to memory; but to none of them can -there be any feeling regarding him alien to respect and affection, -while to many there will remain the conviction that he was for them and -their experience the _first_ impersonation of living literature, whose -lectures, set off by his thrilling voice, slight interesting burr, and -solemn pauses, and holding in solution profound original thought and -subtle critical suggestions, were a sort of revelation, opening up new -worlds, and shedding a flood of new light upon the old familiar world -of thought and knowledge in which genius alone could see and disclose -wonders.' And this sometime student tells how in passages from the -standard poets undetected meanings were discovered, and new light was -thrown upon the subject of his talk by quotations from the classics, -from Milton and Byron as well as from his favourite Horace. His -eloquence, he tells us, might not be so strong and overwhelming as that -of Chalmers, but it was more fine, subtle, and poetical in its -affinities, revealing thought more splendid and transcendental. 'In -person and manner Professor Ferrier was the very ideal of a Professor -and a gentleman. Nature had made him in the body what he strove after -in spirit. His features were cast in the finest classic mould, and were -faultlessly perfect, as was also his tall thin person,--from the finely -formed head, thickly covered with black hair, which the last ten years -turned into iron-grey, to the noticeably handsome foot.... A human -being less under the influence of low or selfish motives could not be -conceived in this mercenary anti-ideal age. If he made mistakes, they -were due to his living in an ideal world, and not to either malice or -guile, both of which were entirely foreign to his nature.'[11] And yet -there was nothing of the Puritan about the Professor's nature. There -are celebrations in St. Andrews in commemoration of a certain damsel, -Kate Kennedy by name, which are characterised by demonstrations of a -somewhat noisy order. Some of the Professors denounced this institution -and demanded its abolition. But Ferrier had too much sense of humour to -do this; he did not rebuke the lads for the exuberance of their -spirits, but by his calm dignity contrived to keep them within due -bounds. - - [11] _Writings by the Way_, by John Campbell Smith, p. 357 - _seq._ - -A picture of Ferrier was painted about a year before his death by Sir -John Watson Gordon, and it may still be seen in the University Hall -beside the other men of learning who have adorned their University. It -was painted for his friends and former students, but though a fairly -accurate likeness, it is said not to have conveyed to others the keen, -intellectual look so characteristic of the face. It was the nameless -charm--charm of manner and personality--that drew Ferrier's students so -forcibly towards him. As his colleague, Principal Tulloch, said in a -lecture after his death: 'There was a buoyant and graceful charm in all -he did--a perfect sympathy, cordiality, and frankness which won the -hearts of his students as of all who sought his intellectual -companionship. Maintaining the dignity of his position with easy -indifference, he could descend to the most free and affectionate -intercourse; make his students as it were parties with him in his -discussions, and, while guiding them with a master hand, awaken at the -same time their own activities of thought as fellow-workers with -himself. There was nothing, I am sure, more valuable in his teaching -than this--nothing for which his students will longer remember it with -gratitude. No man could be more free from the small vanity of making -disciples. He loved speculation too dearly for itself--he prized too -highly the sacred right of reason, to wish any man or any student -merely to adopt his system or repeat his thought. Not to manufacture -thought for others, but to excite thought in others; to stimulate the -powers of inquiry, and brace all the higher functions of the intellect, -was his great aim. He might be comparatively careless, therefore, of -the small process of drilling, and minute labour of correction. These, -indeed, he greatly valued in their own place. But he felt that his -strength lay in a different direction--in the intellectual impulse -which his own thinking, in its life, its zealous and clear open -candour, was capable of imparting.' - -Ferrier was not, perhaps, naturally endowed with any special capacity -for business, but the business that fell to him as a member of the -_Senatus Academicus_ was performed with the greatest care and zeal. -With the movement for women's University education, which has always -been to the front in St. Andrews, he was sympathetic, although it was -not a matter in which he played any special part. 'No one,' it was -said, 'had clearer perceptions or a cooler and fairer judgment in any -matter which seemed to him of importance.' Principal Tulloch tells how -on one occasion in particular, where the interests of the University -were at stake, his clear sense and vigilance carried it through its -troubles. His loyalty to St. Andrews at all times was indeed -unquestioned. It is possible that had he made it his endeavour to -devote more interest to practical affairs outside the University -limits, it might have been better for himself. There may, perhaps, be -truth in the saying that metaphysics is apt to have an enervating -effect upon the moral senses, or at least upon the practical -activities, and to take from men's usefulness in the ordinary affairs -of life; but one can hardly realise Ferrier other than he was, a -student whose whole interests were devoted to the philosophy he had -espoused, and who loved to deal with the fundamental questions that -remained beneath all action and all thought, rather than with those -more concrete; and the former lay in a region purely speculative. Such -as he was, he never failed to preserve the most perfect order in his -class, and to do what was required of him with praiseworthy accuracy -and minute attention to details. - -'Life in his study,' says Principal Tulloch, 'was Professor Ferrier's -characteristic life. There have been, I daresay, even in our time, -harder students than he was; but there could scarcely be anyone who was -more habitually a student, who lived more amongst books, and took more -special and constant delight in intercourse with them. In his very -extensive but choice library he knew every book by head-mark, as he -would say, and could lay his hands upon the desired volume at once. It -was a great pleasure to him to bring to the light from an obscure -corner some comparatively unknown English speculator of whom the -University library knew nothing.' - -We are often told how he would be found seated in his library clad in a -long dressing-gown which clung round his tall form, and making him look -even taller--a typical philosopher, though perhaps handsomer than many -of his craft. 'My father rarely went from home,' writes his daughter, -'and when not in the College class-room was to be found in his snug, -well-stocked, ill-bound library, writing or reading, clad in a very -becoming dark blue dressing-gown. He was no smoker, but carried with -him a small silver snuff-box.' - -Professor Shairp says that now and then he used to go to hear him -lecture. 'I never saw anything better than his manner towards his -students. There was in it ease, yet dignity so respectful both to them -and to himself that no one could think of presuming with him. Yet it -was unusually kindly, and full of a playful humour which greatly -attached them to him. No one could be farther removed from either the -Don or the Disciplinarian. But his look of keen intellect and high -breeding, combined with gentleness and feeling for his students, -commanded attention more than any discipline could have done. In -matters of College discipline, while he was fair and just, he always -leant to the forbearing side.... Till his illness took a more serious -form, he was to be met at dinner-parties, to which his society always -gave a great charm. In general society his conversation was full of -humour and playful jokes, and he had a quick yet kindly eye to note the -extravagances and absurdities of men.' And the Professor goes on to -narrate how on a winter afternoon he would fall to talking of Horace, -an especial favourite of his, and how then he would read the racy and -unconventional translation he had made up for amusement. And afterwards -he would talk of Wordsworth and the feelings he awoke in him, showing -'a richness of literary knowledge, and a delicacy and keenness of -appreciation, of which his philosophical writings, except by their fine -style, give no hint.' Hegel and Plato were the favourite objects of his -study. Of the former he never satisfied himself that he had completely -mastered the conception. But the insight that he had got into his -dialectic and into the doctrine of Reality contributed very largely to -making his philosophy what it was. He endeavoured to apply the system -in various directions, and ever continued in his efforts to work it out -more fully. - -Another former student, who has been quoted before, writes in his -Recollections of student life at St. Andrews:[12] 'Ferrier had not -Spalding's thorough method of teaching. He had no regular time for -receiving and correcting essays; he had only one written examination; -for oral examination he had an easy way, in which the questions -suggested the answers; yet all these drawbacks were atoned for by his -living presence. It was an embodiment of literary and philosophical -enthusiasm, happily blended with sympathy and urbanity. It did the work -of the most thorough class drill, for it arrested the attention, opened -the mind, and filled it with love of learning and wisdom. Intellect and -humanity seemed to radiate from his countenance like light and heat, -and illumined and fascinated all on whom they fell.... Let me recall -him as he appeared in the spring of 1854. The eleven-o'clock bell has -rung. All the other classes have gone in to lecture. We, the students -of Moral Philosophy, are lingering in the quadrangle, for the -Professor, punctual in his unpunctuality, comes in regularly two or -three minutes after the hour. Through the archway under the -time-honoured steeple of St. Salvator's he approaches--a tall somewhat -emaciated figure, with intellectual and benevolent countenance. As he -hurries in we follow and take our seats. In a minute he issues gowned -from his anteroom, seats himself in his chair, and places his silver -snuff-box before him. Now that he is without his hat and in his gown, -he has a striking appearance. His head is large, well-developed, and -covered with thick iron-grey hair; his features are regular, his mouth -is refined and sensitive, his chin is strong, and his eyes as seen -behind his spectacles are keenly intelligent and at the same time -benevolent. He begins by calling up a student to be orally examined; -and the catechising goes on very much in the following style:-- - - [12] _Pleasant Recollections of a Busy Life_, by David - Pryde, LL.D., p. 59. - -'"_Professor._--Well, Mr. Brown, answer a few questions, if you please. -What is the first proposition of the lectures? - -'"_Student_ repeats it. - -'"_Professor._--Quite right, Mr. Brown. And, Mr. Brown, is this quite -true? - -'"_Stud._--Yes. - -'"_Prof._--Quite right, Mr. Brown. At least, so I think. And, Mr. -Brown, is it not absurd to hold the reverse? - -'"_Stud._--Yes. - -'"_Prof._--Yes, yes. Thank you, Mr. Brown. That will do." - -'The Professor then begins his lecture. As long as he is stating and -proving the propositions in his metaphysical system, his tone is simple -and matter-of-fact. His great aim is to make his meaning plain, and for -that purpose he often expresses an important idea in various ways, -using synonyms, and sometimes reading a sentence twice. But when he -comes to illustrate his thoughts, his manner changes. He lets loose his -fancy, his imagination, and even his humour; and his whole soul comes -into his voice. His burr, scarcely distinguishable in his ordinary -speech, now becomes strong, and his whole utterance is slow, intense, -and fervid. He is particularly happy in his quotations from the poets, -and he has a peculiarity in reading them which increases the effect. -When rolling forth a line he sometimes pauses before he comes to the -end, as if to collect his strength, and then utters the last word or -words with redoubled emphasis. The effect of his eloquence on the -students is electrical. They cease to take notes; every head is raised; -every face beams with delight; and at the end of a passage their -feelings find vent in a thunderstorm of applause. - -'The two most remarkable features of his lectures were their method and -clearness. Order and light were the very elements in which his mind -lived and moved. He kept this end in view, threw aside the facts that -were unnecessary, arranged the facts that were necessary, and expressed -them with a precision about which there could be no ambiguity. In fact, -each idea and the whole chain of ideas were visible by their own light. -So perspicuous were the words that they might have been called -crystallised thoughts. - -'Out of the classroom Ferrier was equally polite and kind, especially -to those students who showed a love and a capacity for philosophy. It -was no uncommon thing for him to stop a student in the street and -invite him to the house to have a talk about the work of the class. I -have a distant recollection of my first visit to his study; I see him -yet, with his noble, benignant countenance, as he reads and discusses -passages in my first essay, gravely reasoning with me on the points -that were reasonable, passing lightly over those that were merely -rhetorical, and smiling good-naturedly at those that attacked in no -measured language his own system.' - -Professor Ferrier was never failing in hospitality to his students as -to his other friends. Dr. Pryde goes on: 'Every year Ferrier invited -the best of his students to dinner. At the dinner at which I was -present there were two of his fellow-professors, Sellar and Fischer. It -was a great treat for a youth like me. Mrs. Ferrier was effervescent -with animal spirits and talk; Ferrier himself, looking like a nobleman -in his old-fashioned dress-coat with gold buttons, interposed -occasionally with his subtle touches of wit and humour.' The Professor -appears to have been an inveterate snuffer. His students used to tell -how the silver snuff-box was made the medium of explaining the -Berkeleian system, and how to their minds the system, fairly clear in -words, became a hopeless tangle when the assistance of the snuff-box -was resorted to. And Dr. Pryde narrates how he used to see Professor -Spalding and Professor Ferrier seated side by side in the students' -benches, looking on the same book, listening to their young colleague -Professor Sellar's inspiring lectures, and at intervals exchanging -snuff-boxes. He gives the following account of his last visit to -Ferrier, when he was on his deathbed, but still in his library among -his books: 'He told me that his disease was mortal; but face to face -with death he was cheerful and contented, and had bated not one jot of -his interest in learning and in public events. He was very anxious that -I should take lunch with Mrs. Ferrier and the rest of the family; and -though he could not join us, he sent into the dining-room a special -bottle of wine as a substitute for himself. Two months afterwards he -had passed away.' - -Tulloch writes after the sad event had occurred:[13] 'I have, of course, -heard the sad news from St. Andrews. What sadness it has been to me I -cannot tell you. St. Andrews never can be the same place without -Ferrier. God knows what is to become of the University with all these -breaks upon its old society; and where can we supply such a place as -Ferrier's?' And his biographer adds: 'The removal of that delicate and -clear spirit from a little society in which his position was so -important, and his innate refinement of mind so powerful and beneficial -an influence, was a loss almost indescribable, not only to the friends -who loved him, but to the University. His great reputation was an -honour to the place, combining as it did so many associations of the -brilliant past with that due to the finest intellectual perception and -the most engaging and attractive character. Even his little -whimsicalities and strain of quaint humour gave a charm the more; and -the closing of the cheerful house, the centre of wit and brightness to -the academical community, was a loss which St. Andrews never failed to -feel, nor the survivors to lament.' - - [13] _Memoir_, p. 196, by Mrs. Oliphant. - -Professor Ferrier was occasionally called upon to make a visit to -London, although this did not seem to have been by any means a frequent -occurrence. Business he must occasionally have had there, for in 1861 -he was appointed to examine in the London University, and in 1863, -shortly before his death, the Society of Arts offered him an -examinership in Logic and Mental Science, in place of the late -Archbishop of York, which he accepted. But of one visit which he paid -in 1858, with Principal Tulloch as joint delegate from the University -of St. Andrews, Mrs. Oliphant gives an amusing account, in her _Memoir -of Principal Tulloch_.[14] The object of the deputation was to watch the -progress of the University Bill through the House of Commons. This Bill -was one of the earliest efforts after regulating the studies, degrees, -etc., of the Scottish Universities, and also dealt with an increase in -the Parliamentary grant which, if it passed, would considerably affect -the Professors' incomes as well as the resources of the University. The -Bill, which was under the charge of Lord Advocate Inglis (afterwards -Lord Justice-General of Scotland), likewise provided that in each -University a University Court should be established, as also a -University Council composed of graduates. Ferrier and Tulloch no doubt -did their part in the business which they had in hand: they visited all -the Members of Parliament who were likely to be interested, as other -Scottish deputations have done before and since, and received the same -evasive and varying replies. But in the evenings, and when they were -free, they entertained themselves in different fashion. First of all, -they have hardly arrived after their long night's journey's travel -before they burst upon the 'trim and well-ordered room where Mr. John -Blackwood and his wife were seated at breakfast'--this evidently at -Ferrier's instigation. Then, having settled in Duke Street, St. -James's, they are asked, rather inappropriately, it would seem, to a -ball, where they were 'equally impressed by the size of the crinoline -and the absence of beauty.' Next Cremorne was visited, Tulloch -declaring that his object was to take care of his companion. 'If you -had seen Ferrier as he gazed frae him with the half-amused, -half-scowling expression he not unfrequently assumes, looking bored, -and yet with a vague philosophical interest at the wonderful expanse of -gay dresses and fresh womanhood around him!' 'He will go nowhere -without a cab; to-day for the first time I got him into an omnibus in -search of an Aberdeen Professor, a wild and wandering distance which we -thought we never should reach.' The theatre was visited, too; Lear was -being played, very possibly by Charles Kean. In the Royal Academy, -Frith's Derby Day was the attraction of the year. But quite remarkable -was the interest which Ferrier--who did not appreciate in general -'going to church,' and used to say he preferred to sit and listen to -the faint sounds of the organ from the quiet of his room--betrayed in -the eloquence of Spurgeon, then at the height of his fame and -attracting enormous congregations round him in the Surrey Garden -Theatre. Tulloch wrote to his wife: 'We have just been to hear -Spurgeon, and have been both so much impressed that I write to give you -my impressions while they are fresh. As we came out we both confessed, -"There is no doubt about _that_," and I was struck with Ferrier's -remarkable expression, "I feel it would do me good to hear the like of -that, it sat so close to reality." The sermon is about the most real -thing I have come in contact with for a long time.' The building was -large and airy, with window-doors from which you could walk into the -gardens beyond, and Ferrier, Tulloch writes, now and then took a turn -in the fresh air outside while the sermon was progressing. - - [14] P. 127. - -After London, Oxford was visited, and here the friends lived at Balliol -with Mr. Jowett, who had not yet become the Master. Ferrier would -doubtless delight in showing to his friend the beauties of the place -with which he had so many memories, but to attend eight-o'clock chapel -with Tulloch was, the latter tells us, beyond the limits of his zeal. -Just before this, in 1857, another visit was paid by Ferrier to Oxford -with his family, and this time to visit Lady Grant, the mother of his -future son-in-law. It was at Commemoration-time, we are told, and a -ball was given in honour of the party. On this occasion Ferrier for the -first time met Professor Jowett, besides many other kindred spirits, -and he thoroughly enjoyed wandering about the old haunts at Magdalen, -where in his youth he had pelted the deer and played the part of a -young and thoughtless gownsman. - -A little book was published some years ago, on behoof of the St. -Andrews Students' Union, entitled _Speculum Universitatis_, in which -former students and _alumni_ piously record their recollections of -their _Alma Mater_. Some of these papers bring before us very vividly -the sort of impression which the life left upon the lads, drawn -together from all manner of home surroundings, and equally influenced -by the memories of the past and the living presence of those who were -the means of opening up new tracts of knowledge to their view. One of -them, already often quoted, says in a paper called 'The Light of Long -Ago': 'I always sink into the conviction that the St. Andrews United -College was never so well worth attending as during the days when in -its classrooms Duncan taught Mathematics, Spalding taught Logic, and -Ferrier taught Metaphysics and Moral Science, illustrating living -literature in his literary style, and in the strange tones, pauses, and -inflections of his voice. To the field of literature and speculation -Ferrier restored glimpses of the sunshine of Paradise. Under his -magical spell they ceased to look like fields that had been cursed with -weeds, watered with sweat and tears, and levelled and planted with -untold labour. Every utterance of his tended alike to disclose the -beauty and penetrate the mystery of existence. He was a persevering -philosopher, but he was also a poet by a gift of nature. The burden of -this most unintelligible world did not oppress him, nor any other -burden. Intellectual action proving the riddles of reason was a joy to -him. He loved philosophy and poetry for their own sake, and he infected -others with a kindred, but not an equal, passion. He could jest and -laugh and play. If he ever discovered that much study is a weariness of -the flesh, he most effectually concealed that discovery.' - -And to conclude, we have the testimony of another former student who is -now distinguished in the fields of literature, but who always remains -faithful to his home of early days. Mr. Andrew Lang says: 'Professor -Ferrier's lectures on Moral Philosophy were the most interesting and -inspiriting that I ever listened to either at Oxford or St. Andrews. I -looked on Mr. Ferrier with a kind of mysterious reverence, as on the -last of the golden chain of great philosophers. There was, I know not -what of dignity, of humour, and of wisdom in his face; there was an air -of the student, the vanquisher of difficulties, the discoverer of -hidden knowledge, in him that I have seen in no other. His method at -that time was to lecture on the History of Philosophy, and his manner -was so persuasive that one believed firmly in the tenets of each school -he described, till he advanced those of the next! Thus the whole -historical evolution of thought went on in the mind of each of his -listeners.' - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -LIFE AT ST. ANDREWS - - -In an old-world town like St. Andrews the stately, old-world Moral -Philosophy Professor must have seemed wonderfully in his place. There -are men who, good-looking in youth, become 'ordinary-looking' in later -years, but Ferrier's looks were not of such a kind. To the last--of -course he was not an old man when he died--he preserved the same -distinguished appearance that we are told marked him out from amongst -his fellows while still a youth. The tall figure, clad in -old-fashioned, well-cut coat and white duck trousers, the close-shaven -face, and merry twinkle about the eye signifying a sense of humour -which removed him far from anything which we associate with the name of -pedant; the dignity, when dignity was required, and yet the sympathy -always ready to be extended to the student, however far he was from -taking up the point, if he were only trying his best to comprehend--all -this made up to those who knew him, the man, the scholar, and the -high-bred gentleman, which, in no ordinary or conventional sense, -Professor Ferrier was. It is the personality which, when years have -passed and individual traits have been forgotten, it is so difficult to -reproduce. The personal attraction, the atmosphere of culture and -chivalry, which was always felt to hang about the Professor, has not -been forgotten by those who can recall him in the old St. Andrews days; -but who can reproduce this charm, or do more than state its existence -as a fact? Perhaps this sort only comes to those whose life is mainly -intellectual--who have not much, comparatively speaking, to suffer from -the rough and tumble to which the 'practical' man is subjected in the -course of his career. Sometimes it is said that those who preach high -maxims of philosophy and conduct belie their doctrines in their outward -lives; but on the whole, when we review their careers, this would -wonderfully seldom seem to be the case. From Socrates' time onwards we -have had philosophers who have taught virtue and practised it -simultaneously, and in no case has this combination been better -exemplified in recent days than in that of James Frederick Ferrier, and -one who unsuccessfully contested his chair upon his death, Thomas Hill -Green, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford. It seems as though it -may after all be good to speculate on the deep things of the earth as -well as to do the deeds of righteousness. - -If the saying is true, that the happiest man is he who is without a -history, then Ferrier has every claim to be enrolled in the ranks of -those who have attained their end. For happiness _was_ an end to -Ferrier: he had no idea of practising virtue in the abstract, and -finding a sufficiency in this. He believed, however, that the happiness -to be sought for was the happiness of realising our highest aims, and -the aim he put before him he very largely succeeded in attaining. His -life was what most people would consider monotonous enough: few events -outside the ordinary occurrences of family and University life broke in -upon its tranquil course. Unlike the custom of some of his colleagues, -summer and winter alike were passed by Ferrier in the quaint old -sea-bound town. He lived there largely for his work and books. Not that -he disliked society; he took the deepest interest even in his -dinner-parties, and whether as a host or as a guest, was equally -delightful as a companion or as a talker. But in his books he found his -real life; he would take them down to table, and bed he seldom reached -till midnight was passed by two hours at least. One who knew and cared -for him, the attractive wife of one of his colleagues, who spent ten -sessions at St. Andrews before distinguishing the Humanity Chair in -Edinburgh, tells how the West Park house had something about its -atmosphere that marked it out as unique--something which was due in -great measure to the cultured father, but also to the bright and witty -mother and the three beautiful young daughters, who together formed a -household by itself, and one which made the grey old town a different -place to those who lived in it. - -Ferrier, as we have seen, had many distinguished colleagues in the -University. Besides Professor Sellar, who held the Chair of Greek, -there was the Principal of St. Mary's (Principal Tulloch), Professor -Shairp, then Professor of Latin, and later on the Principal; the Logic -Professor, Veitch, Sir David Brewster, Principal of the United -Colleges, and others. But the society was unconventional in the -extreme. The salaries were not large: including fees, the ordinance of -the Scottish Universities Commission appointing the salaries of -Professors in 1861, estimates the salary of the professorship of Moral -Philosophy at St. Andrews at £444, 18s., and the Principal only -received about £100 more. But there were not those social customs and -conventions to maintain that succeed in making life on a small income -irksome in a larger city. All were practically on the same level in the -University circle, and St. Andrews was not invaded by so large an army -of golfing visitors then as now, though the game of course was played -with equal keenness and enthusiasm. Professor Ferrier took no part in -this or other physical amusement: possibly it had been better for him -had he left his books and study at times to do so. The friend spoken of -above tells, however, of the merry parties who walked home after dining -out, the laughing protests which she made against the Professor's rash -statement (in allusion to his theory of _perception-mecum_) that _she_ -was 'unredeemed nonsense' without _him_; the way in which, when an idea -struck him, he would walk to her house with his daughter, regardless of -the lateness of the hour, and throw pebbles at the lighted bedroom -windows to gain admittance--and of course a hospitable supper; how she, -knowing that a tablemaid was wanted in the Ferrier establishment, -dressed up as such and interviewed the mistress, who found her highly -satisfactory but curiously resembling her friend Mrs. Sellar; and how -when this was told her husband, he exclaimed, 'Why, of course it's she -dressed up; let us pursue her,' which was done with good effect! All -these tales, and many others like them, show what the homely, sociable, -and yet cultured life was like--a life such as we in this country -seldom have experience of: perhaps that of a German University town may -most resemble it. In spite of being in many ways a recluse, Ferrier was -ever a favourite with his students, just because he treated them, not -with familiarity indeed, but as gentlemen like himself. Other -Professors were cheered when they appeared in public, but the loudest -cheers were always given to Ferrier. - -Mrs. Ferrier's brilliant personality many can remember who knew her -during her widowhood in Edinburgh. She had inherited many of her -father, 'Christopher North's' physical and mental gifts, shown in looks -and wit. A friend of old days writes: 'She was a queen in St. Andrews, -at once admired for her wit, her eloquence, her personal charms, and -dreaded for her free speech, her powers of ridicule, and her withering -mimicry. Faithful, however, to her friends, she was beloved by them, -and they will lament her now as one of the warmest-hearted and most -highly-gifted of her sex.' Mrs. Ferrier never wrote for -publication,--she is said to have scorned the idea,--but those who knew -her never can forget the flow of eloquence, the wit and satire mingled, -the humorous touches and the keen sense of fun that characterised her -talk; for she was one of an era of brilliant talkers that would seem to -have passed away. Mrs. Ferrier's capacity for giving appropriate -nicknames was well known: Jowett, afterwards Master of Balliol, she -christened the 'little downy owl.' Her husband's philosophy she -graphically described by saying that 'it made you feel as if you were -sitting up on a cloud with nothing on, a lucifer match in your hand, -but nothing to strike it on,'--a description appealing vividly to many -who have tried to master it! - -In many ways she seemed a link with the past of bright memories in -Scotland, when these links were very nearly severed. Five children in -all were born to her; of her sons one, now dead, inherited many of his -father's gifts. Her elder daughter, Lady Grant, the wife of Sir -Alexander Grant, Principal of the Edinburgh University and a -distinguished classical scholar, likewise succeeded to much of her -mother's grace and charm as well as of her father's accomplishments. -Under the initials 'O. J.' she was in the habit of contributing -delightful humorous sketches to _Blackwood's Magazine_--the magazine -which her father and her grandfather had so often contributed to in -their day; but her life was not a long one: she died in 1895, eleven -years after her husband, and while many possibilities seemed still -before her. - -Perhaps we might try to picture to ourselves the life in which Ferrier -played so prominent a part in the only real University town of which -Scotland can boast. For it is in St. Andrews that the traditional -distinctions between the College and the University are maintained, -that there is the solemn stillness which befits an ancient seat of -learning, that every step brings one in view of some monument of ages -that are past and gone, and that we are reminded not only of the -learning of our ancestors, of their piety and devotion to the College -they built and endowed, but of the secular history of our country as -well. In this, at least, the little University of the North has an -advantage over her rich and powerful rivals, inasmuch as there is -hardly any important event which has taken place in Scottish history -but has left its mark upon the place. No wonder the love of her -students to the _Alma Mater_ is proverbial. In Scotland we have little -left to tell us of the mediæval church and life, so completely has the -Reformation done its work, and so thoroughly was the land cleared of -its 'popish images'; and hence we value what little there remains to us -all the more. And the University of St. Andrews, the oldest of our -seats of learning, has come down to us from mediæval days. It was -founded by a Catholic bishop in 1411, about a century after the -dedication of the Cathedral, now, of course, a ruin. But it is to the -good Bishop Kennedy who established the College of St. Salvator, one of -the two United Colleges of later times, that we ascribe most honour in -reference to the old foundation. Not only did he build the College on -the site which was afterwards occupied by the classrooms in which -Ferrier and his colleagues taught, but he likewise endowed them with -vestments and rich jewels, including amongst their numbers a -beautifully chased silver mace which may still be seen. Of the old -College buildings there is but the chapel and janitor's house now -existing; within the chapel, which is modernised and used for -Presbyterian service, is the ancient founder's tomb. The quadrangle, -after the Reformation, fell into disrepair, and the present buildings -are comparatively of recent date. The next College founded--that of St. -Leonard--which became early imbued with Reformation principles, was, in -the eighteenth century, when its finances had become low, incorporated -with St. Salvator's, and when conjoined they were in Ferrier's time, as -now, known as the 'United College.' Besides the United College there -was a third and last College, called St. Mary's. Though founded by the -last of the Catholic bishops before the Reformation, it was -subsequently presided over by the anti-prelatists Andrew Melville and -Samuel Rutherford. St. Mary's has always been devoted to the study of -theology. - -But the history of her colleges is not all that has to be told of the -ancient city. Association it has with nearly all who have had to do -with the making of our history--the good Queen Margaret, Beaton, and, -above all, Queen Mary and her great opponent Knox. The ruined Castle -has many tales to tell could stones and trees have tongues--stories of -bloodshed, of battle, of the long siege when Knox was forced to yield -to France and be carried to the galleys. After the murder of Archbishop -Sharp, and the revolution of 1688, the town once so prosperous dwindled -away, and decayed into an unimportant seaport. There is curiously -little attractive about its situation in many regards. It is out of the -way, difficult of access once upon a time, and even now not on a main -line of rail, too near the great cities, and yet at the same time too -far off. The coast is dangerous for fishermen, and there is no harbour -that can be called such. No wonder, it seems, that the town became -neglected and insanitary, that Dr. Johnson speaks of 'the silence and -solitude of inactive indigence and gloomy depopulation,' and left it -with 'mournful images.' But if St. Andrews had its drawbacks, it had -still more its compensations. It had its links--the long stretch of -sandhills spread far along the coast, and bringing crowds of visitors -to the town every summer as it comes round; and for the pursuit of -learning the remoteness of position has some advantages. Even at its -worst the University showed signs of its recuperative powers. Early in -the century Chalmers was assistant to the Professor of Mathematics, and -then occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy (that chair to which -Ferrier was afterwards appointed), and drew crowds of students round -him. Then came a time of innovation. If in 1821 St. Andrews was badly -paved, ill-lighted, and ruinous, an era of reform set in. New -classrooms were built, the once neglected library was added to and -rearranged, and the town was put to rights through an energetic -provost, Major, afterwards Sir Hugh, Lyon Playfair. He made 'crooked -places straight' in more senses than one, swept away the 'middens' that -polluted the air, saw to the lighting and paving of the streets, and -generally brought about the improvements which we expect to find in a -modern town. 'On being placed in the civic chair, he had found the -streets unpaved, uneven, overgrown with weeds, and dirty; the ruins of -the time-honoured Cathedral and Castle used as a quarry for greedy and -sacrilegious builders, and the University buildings falling into -disrepair; and he had resolved to change all this. With persistency -almost unexampled, he had employed all the arts of persuasion and -compulsion upon those who had the power to remedy these abuses. He had -dunned, he had coaxed, he had bantered, he had bargained, he had -borrowed, he had begged; and he had been successful. In 1851 the -streets were paved and clean, the fine old ruins were declared sacred, -and the dilapidated parts of the University buildings had been replaced -by a new edifice. And he--the Major, as he was called--a little man, -white-haired, shaggy-eyebrowed, blue-eyed, red-faced, with his hat -cocked on the side of his head, and a stout cane in his hand, walked -about in triumph, the uncrowned king of the place.'[15] - - [15] _Pleasant Memories_, by David Pryde, LL.D. - -Of this same renovating provost, it is told that one day he dropped in -to see the Moral Philosophy Professor, who, however deeply engaged with -his books, was always ready to receive his visitors. 'Well, Major, I -have just completed the great work of my life. In this book I claim to -make philosophy intelligible to the meanest understanding.' Playfair at -once requested to hear some of it read aloud. Ferrier reluctantly -started to read in his slow, emphatic way, till the Major became -fidgety; still he went on, till Playfair started to his feet. 'I say, -Ferrier, do you mean to say this is intelligible to the meanest -understanding?' 'Do you understand it, Major?' 'Yes, I think I do.' -'Then, Major, I'm satisfied.' - -Of the social life, Mrs. Oliphant says in her _Life of Principal -Tulloch_: 'The society, I believe, was more stationary than it has been -since, and more entirely disposed to make of St. Andrews the -pleasantest and brightest of abiding-places. Sir David Brewster was -still throned in St. Leonard's. Professor Ferrier, with his witty and -brilliant wife--he full of quiet humour, she of wildest wit, a mimic of -alarming and delightful power, with something of the countenance and -much of the genius of her father, the great "Christopher North" of -_Blackwood's Magazine_--made the brightest centre of social mirth and -meetings. West Park, their pleasant home, at the period which I record -it, was ever open, ever sounding with gay voices and merry laughter, -with a boundless freedom of talk and comment, and an endless stream of -good company. Professor Ferrier himself was one of the greatest -metaphysicians of his time--the first certainly in Scotland; but this -was perhaps less upon the surface than a number of humorous ways which -were the delight of his friends, many quaint abstractions proper to his -philosophic character, and a happy friendliness and gentleness along -with his wit, which gave his society a continual charm.' Professor -Knight, who now occupies Ferrier's place in the professoriate of St. -Andrews, in his _Life of Professor Shairp_, quotes from a paper of -reminiscences by Professor Sellar: 'The centre of all the intellectual -and social life of the University and of the town was Professor -Ferrier. He inspired in the students a feeling of affectionate devotion -as well as admiration, such as I have hardly ever known inspired by any -teacher; and to many of them his mere presence and bearing in the -classroom was a large element in a liberal education. By all his -colleagues he was esteemed as a man of most sterling honour, a staunch -friend, and a most humorous and delightful companion.... There -certainly never was a household known to either of us in which the -spirit of racy and original humour and fun was so exuberant and -spontaneous in every member of it, as that of which the Professor and -his wife--the most gifted and brilliant, and most like her father of -the three gifted daughters of "Christopher North"--were the heads. Our -evenings there generally ended in the Professor's study, where he was -always ready to discuss, either from a serious or humorous point of -view (not without congenial accompaniment), the various points of his -system till the morning was well advanced.' - -Ferrier's daughter writes of the house at West Park: 'It was an -old-fashioned, rough cast or "harled" house standing on the road in -Market Street, but approached through a small green gate and a short -avenue of trees--trees that were engraven on the heart and memory from -childhood. The garden at the back still remains. In our time it was a -real old-fashioned Scotch garden, well stocked with "berries," pears, -and apples; quaint grass walks ran through it, and a summer-house with -stained-glass windows stood in a corner. West Park was built on a site -once occupied by the Grey Friars, and I am not romancing when I say -that bones and coins were known to have been discovered in the garden -even in our time. Our home was socially a very amusing and happy one, -though my father lived a good deal apart from us, coming down from his -dear old library occasionally in the evenings to join the family -circle.' This family circle was occasionally supplemented by a French -teacher or a German, and for one year by a certain Mrs. Huggins, an old -ex-actress who originally came to give a Shakespeare reading in St. -Andrews, and who fell into financial difficulties, and was invited by -the hospitable Mrs. Ferrier to make her home for a time at West Park. -The visit was not in all respects a success, Mrs. Huggins being -somewhat exacting in her requirements and difficult to satisfy. So -little part did its master take in household matters that it was only -by accident, after reading prayers one Sunday evening, that he noticed -her presence. On inquiring who the stranger was, Mrs. Ferrier replied, -'Oh, that is Mrs. Huggins.' 'Then what is her avocation?' 'To read -Shakespeare and draw your window-curtains,' said the ever-ready Mrs. -Ferrier! The children of the house were brought up to love the stage -and everyone pertaining to it, and whenever a strolling company came to -St. Andrews the Ferriers were the first to attend their play. The same -daughter writes that when children their father used to thrill them -with tales of Burke and Hare, the murderers and resurrectionists whose -doings brought about a reign of terror in Edinburgh early in the -century. As a boy, Ferrier used to walk out to his grandfather's in -Morningside--then a country suburb--in fear and trembling, expecting -every moment to meet Burke, the object of his terror. On one occasion -he believed that he had done so, and skulked behind a hedge and lay -down till the scourge of Edinburgh passed by. In 1828 he witnessed his -hanging in the Edinburgh prison. Professor Wilson, his father-in-law, -it may be recollected, spoke out his mind about the famous Dr. Knox in -the _Noctes_ as well as in his classroom, and it was a well-known fact -that his favourite Newfoundland dog Brontë was poisoned by the students -as an act of retaliation. - -Murder trials had always a fascination for Ferrier. On one occasion he -read aloud to his children De Quincey's essay, 'Murder as a Fine Art,' -which so terrified his youngest daughter that she could hardly bring -herself to leave her father's library for bed. Somewhat severe to his -sons, to his daughters Ferrier was specially kind and indulgent, -helping them with their German studies, reading Schiller's plays to -them, and when little children telling them old-world fairy tales. A -present of Grimm's Tales, brought by her father after a visit to -London, was, she tells us, a never-to-be-forgotten joy to the -recipient. - -The charm of the West Park house was spoken of by all the numerous -young men permitted to frequent its hospitable board. There was a -wonderful concoction known by the name of 'Bishop,' against whose -attraction one who suffered by its potency says that novices were -warned, more especially in view of a certain sunk fence in the -immediate vicinity which had afterwards to be avoided. The jokes that -passed at these entertainments, which were never dull, are past and -gone,--their piquancy would be gone even could they be reproduced,--but -the impression left on the minds of those who shared in them is -ineffaceable, and is as vivid now as forty years ago. - -There was a custom, now almost extinct, of keeping books of so-called -'Confessions,' in which the contributors had the rather formidable task -of filling up their likes or dislikes for the entertainment of their -owners. In Mrs. Sellar's album Ferrier made several interesting -'confessions'--whether we take them _au grand sérieux_ or only as -playful jests with a grain of truth behind. Here are some of the -questions and their answers. - - Question. Answer. - - Your favourite character in Socrates. - history. - - The character you most dislike. Calvin. - - Your favourite kind of literature. _The Arabian Nights._ - - Your favourite author. Hegel. - - Your favourite occupation and Driving with a handsome - amusement. woman. - - Those you dislike most. Fishing, walking, and - dancing. - - Your favourite topics of Humorous and tender. - conversation. - - Those you dislike most. Statistical and personal. - - Your ambition. To reach the Truth. - - Your ideal. Always to pay ready money. - - Your hobby. Peacemaking. - - The virtue you most admire. Reasonableness. - - The vices to which you are The world, the flesh, and - most lenient. the devil. - -These last two answers are very characteristic of Ferrier's point of -view in later days. He was above all reasonable--no ascetic who could -not understand the temptations of the world, but one who enjoyed its -pleasures, saw the humorous side of life, appreciated the æsthetic, and -yet kept the dictates of reason ever before his mind. And his ambition -to reach the Truth - - 'Differed from a host - Of aims alike in character and kind, - Mostly in this--that in itself alone - Shall its reward be, not an alien end - Blending therewith.' - -Thus, like Paracelsus, he aspired. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -LAST DAYS - - -It used to be said that none can be counted happy until they die, and -certainly the manner of a man's death often throws light upon his -previous life, and enables us to judge it as we should not otherwise -have been able to do. Ferrier's death was what his life had been: it -was with calm courage that he looked it in the face--the same calm -courage with which he faced the perhaps even greater problems of life -that presented themselves. Death had no terrors to him; he had lived in -the consciousness that it was an essential factor in life, and a factor -which was not ever to be overlooked. And he had every opportunity, -physically speaking, for expecting its approach. In November 1861 he -had a violent seizure of _angina pectoris_, after which, although he -temporarily recovered, he never completely regained his strength. For -some weeks he was unable to meet his students, and then, when partially -recovered, he arranged to hold the class in the dining-room of his -house, which was fitted up specially for the purpose. Twice in the year -1863 was he attacked in a similar way; in June of that year he went up -to London to conduct the examination in philosophy of the students of -the London University; but in October, when he ought to have gone there -once more, he was unable to carry out his intention. On the 31st of -October, Dr. Christison was consulted about his state, and pronounced -his case to be past hope of remedy. He opened his class on the 11th of -November in his own house, but during this month was generally confined -to bed. On the 8th of December he was attacked by congestion of the -brain, and never lectured again. His class was conducted by Mr. -Rhoades,[16] then Warden of the recently-founded College Hall, who, as -many others among his colleagues would have been ready to do, willingly -undertook the melancholy task of officiating for so beloved and -honoured a friend. After this, all severe study and mental exertion was -forbidden. He became gradually weaker, with glimpses now and then of -transitory improvement. So in unfailing courage and resignation, not -unwilling to hope for longer respite, but always prepared to die, he -placidly, reverently, awaited the close, tended by the watchful care of -his devoted wife and children.[17] On the 11th day of June 1864, Ferrier -passed away. He is buried in Edinburgh, in the old churchyard of St. -Cuthbert's, in the heart of the city, near his father and his -grandfather, and many others whose names are famous in the annals of -his country. - - [16] Afterwards Ferrier's son-in-law. - - [17] _Lectures and Philosophical Remains_, Introductory - Notes, p. xxii. - -During these three years, in which death had been a question of but a -short time, Ferrier had not ceased to be busy and interested in his -work. The dates of his lectures on Greek Philosophy show that he had -not failed to carry on the work of bringing them into shape, and though -the wish could not be accomplished in its entirety, it speaks much for -his resolution and determination that through all his bodily weakness -he kept his work in hand. Of course much had to be forgone. Ferrier was -never what is called robust, and his manner of life was not conducive -to physical health, combining as it did late hours with lack of -physical exercise. But in these later years he was unable to walk more -than the shortest distance, the ascent of a staircase was an effort to -him, and tendencies to asthma developed which must have made his life -often enough a physical pain. Still, though it was evident that there -could be but one ending to the struggle, Ferrier gave expression to no -complaints, and though he might, as Principal Tulloch says, utter a -half-playful, half-grim expression regarding his sufferings, he never -seemed to think there was anything strange in them, anything that he -should not bear calmly as a man and as a Christian. Nor did he talk of -change of scene or climate as likely to give relief. He 'quietly, -steadily, and cheerfully' faced the issue, be it what it might. The -very day before he died, he was, we are told, in his library, busy -amongst his books. Truly, it may be said of him as of another cut off -while yet in his prime, 'he died learning.' - -'Towards his friends during this time,' says his biographer, 'all -that was sweetest in his disposition seemed to gain strength and -expansion from the near shadow of death. He spoke of death with -entire fearlessness, and though this was nothing new to those who -knew him best, it impressed their minds at this time more vividly -than ever. The less they dared to hope for his life being prolonged, -the more their love and regard were deepened by his tender -thoughtfulness for others, and the kindliness which annihilated all -absorbing concern for himself. In many little characteristic touches of -humour, frankness, beneficence, beautiful gratitude for any slight help -or attention, his truest and best nature seemed to come out all the -more freely; he grew as it were more and more entirely himself indeed. -If ever a man was true to philosophy, or a man's philosophy true to -him, it was so with Ferrier during all the time when he looked death in -the face and possessed his soul in patience.' And, as so often happens -when the things of this world are regarded _sub specie æternitatis_, -the old animosities, such as they were, faded away. It is told how a -former opponent on philosophical questions whose criticisms he had -resented, called to inquire for him, and when the card was given to -him, Ferrier exclaimed, 'That must be a good fellow!' Principal -Tulloch, his friend and for ten years his colleague, was with him -constantly, and talked often to him about his work--the work on Plato -and his philosophy, that he would have liked to accomplish in order to -complete his lectures. The summer before his death they read together -some of Plato's dialogues which he had carefully pencilled with his -notes. He also took to reading Virgil, in which occupation his friend -frequently joined with him, and this seemed to relieve the languor from -which he suffered. As to religion, which was a subject on which he -thought much, although he did not frequently express an opinion, -Tulloch says: 'He was unable to feel much interest in any of its -popular forms, but he had a most intense interest in its great -mysteries, and a thorough reverence for its truths when these were not -disfigured by superstition and formalism.' Immortality, as we have -seen, meant to him that there is a permanent and abiding element beyond -the merely particular and individual which must pass away, and so far -it was a reality in his mind. God was a real presence in the world, and -not a far away divinity in whom men believed but whom they could not -know; but as to the creeds and doctrines of the Church, they seemed far -removed from the Essential, from true Reality. Professor (afterwards -Principal) Shairp writes: 'In the visits which I made to his bedroom -from time to time, when I found him sometimes on chair or sofa, -sometimes in bed, I never heard one peevish or complaining word escape -him, nothing but what was calm and cheerful, though to himself as to -others it was evident that the outward man was fast perishing. The last -time but one that I saw him was on a Sunday in April. He was sitting up -in bed. The conversation fell on serious subjects, on the craving the -soul feels for some strength and support out from and above itself, on -the certainty that all men feel that need, and on the testimony left by -those who have tried it most, that they had found that need met by Him -of whose earthly life the gospel histories bear witness. This, or -something like this, was the subject on which our conversation turned. -He paused and dwelt on the thought of the soul's hunger. "Hunger is the -great weaver in moral things as in physical. The hunger that is in the -new-born child sits weaving the whole bodily frame, bones and sinews, -out of nothing. And so I suppose in moral and spiritual things it is -hunger that builds up the being."' - -Professor Veitch, a later colleague at St. Andrews, adds: 'We miss the -finely-cut decisive face, the erect manly presence, the measured -meditative step, the friendly greeting. But there are men, and Ferrier -was one of them, for whom, once known, there is no real past. The -characteristic features and qualities of such men become part of our -conscious life; memory keeps them before us living and influential, in -a higher, truer present which overshadows the actual and visible.' And -Professor Baynes speaks of him as one of the noblest and most -pure-hearted men that he had ever known, combining 'a fine ethereal -intelligence with a most gallant, tender, and courageous spirit.' - -Such is the man as he presented himself to his friends even when the -shadows were darkening and the last long journey coming very near: a -true man and a good; one in whose footsteps we fain would tread, one -who makes it easier for those who follow him to tread them too. His -work was done; it might seem unfinished--what work is ever complete? -But he had taken his share in it, the little bit that any individual -man can do, and had done it with all his strength. And what did it -amount to? Was it worth the labour of so many years of toil? Who is -there who can reply? And yet we can see something of what has been -accomplished; we can see that philosophy has been made a more living -thing for Scotland, that a blow has been struck against materialistic -creeds, or beliefs which are merely formal and without any true -convincing power. It may not have been much: the work was but begun, -and it was left to others to carry that work on. But in philosophy, as -in the rest, it is the first step that costs, and amid great difficulty -and considerable opposition Ferrier took that step. He left much -unexplained; he dwelt too much in the clouds, and did not try to solve -the real difficulties of personal, individual life; he did not show how -his high-flown theories worked in a world of strife and struggle, of -sin and sorrow. He could only be said to have struck a keynote, but -that keynote as far as it went was true, and the harmonies may be left -to follow. - - - - -"FAMOUS SCOTS" SERIES. - -_Some Opinions of the Press on_ - -ADAM SMITH. - -BY HECTOR C. MACPHERSON. - - -"The style is pleasant, and the treatment luminous. The monograph, as a -whole, should be found attractive and informing."--_Globe._ - -"Smith's life is briefly and clearly told, and there is a good deal -of independent criticism interspersed amidst the chapters on the -philosopher's two principal treatises. Mr. Macpherson's analysis of -Smith's economic teaching makes excellent reading."--_Echo._ - -"His personal and intellectual career, so far as the limits of the -'Famous Scots' Series permitted, is clearly and entertainingly -presented by Mr. Macpherson."--_Morning Leader._ - -"The book is of great price. It is complete, proportioned, vivid, -the picture of a great man, and with all its brevity, worthy of his -greatness."--_Expository Times._ - -"Interesting both as a contribution to the literature of political -economy, and as a sketch of the career of one of Scotland's most -illustrious sons."--_Publishers' Circular._ - -"The monograph is a clear and able exposition and criticism of its -subject. It deserves a prominent place in the series it belongs -to."--_Bookman._ - -"An interesting and lively study of the English founder of political -economy, this little book is remarkable as a whole-hearted vindication -of the Cobdenic ideas of international policy. The author considers it -to be Adam Smith's chief achievement that he has demonstrated with -scientific completeness that Free Trade, as Cobden happily expressed -it, is the international law of God Almighty."--_Spectator._ - -"This little book is written with brains and a degree of courage which -is in keeping with its convictions. It has vision, too, and that counts -for righteousness, if anywhere, in political economy."--_Speaker._ - -"A sound and able piece of work, and contains a fair and discerning -estimate of Smith in his essential character as the author of the -doctrine of Free Trade, and consequently of the modern science of -economics."--_Glasgow Herald._ - -"The writer of this biography deserves to be warmly congratulated on -the result of his labour. He has written, to my mind at least, one of -the best of the series of 'Famous Scots,' and has enshrined the author -of the 'Wealth of Nations' in a manner at once attractive, interesting, -and instructive."--_Northern Figaro._ - -"Of Adam Smith the man there are some interesting stories in this -volume."--_Academy._ - -"This book is one warmly to be commended as among the very best of a -notable series."--_Kilmarnock Standard._ - -"The story of Smith's life is plainly but interestingly told, with -occasional graphic descriptions of the society of his time; but it -will undoubtedly be as an exposition of the philosophical questions -involved that the book will be most highly prized."--_Daily Free -Press._ - -"It is a biography with a specific purpose, and this purpose is -admirably worked out. In some respects, indeed, Mr. Macpherson's object -is educational. Not content with doing justice to the great master of -economic science, he shows what we owe to other workers in the same -school of thought."--_Leeds Mercury._ - -"Those who have read Mr. Macpherson's 'Thomas Carlyle,' with which -this highly interesting series was opened, will turn with pleasure and -expectancy to the volume just issued. Mr. Macpherson has given us a -volume much above the average of the series both in literary merit and -thoughtfulness. We strongly recommend this excellent pen-and-ink -portrait, of the man who gave Britain the key to the wealth of the -world, of our fellow-students."--_Student._ - -"One of the best of an admirable series."--_Scots Pictorial._ - -"An admirable monograph."--_London Daily Mail._ - -"A thoughtful and capably written monograph."--_Liverpool Daily Post._ - -"Mr. Macpherson states the facts most admirably, and he has such a -knowledge of the movements and events of the times in which Smith -lived that he is able to make an excellent use of them as showing how -they influenced such a thinker as the author of the 'Wealth of -Nations,' and how, in turn, he was able to change the trend of the -thinking of his age."--_Perthshire Courier._ - -MR. HERBERT SPENCER says: "I have learned much from your sketch of -Adam Smith's life and work. It presents the essential facts in a lucid -and interesting way. Especially am I glad to see that you have -insisted upon the individualistic character of his teaching. It is -well that his authority on the side of individualism should be put -forward in these days of rampant Socialism, when the great mass of -legislative measures extend public agency and restrict private agency; -the advocates of such measures being blind to the fact that by small -steps they are bringing about a state in which the citizen will have -lost all freedom." - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of James Frederick Ferrier, by -Elizabeth Sanderson Haldane - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER *** - -***** This file should be named 44949-8.txt or 44949-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/9/4/44949/ - -Produced by sp1nd and the Online Distributed Proofreading -Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from -images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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