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diff --git a/old/66103-0.txt b/old/66103-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cfc4aeb..0000000 --- a/old/66103-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3545 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lambkin's Remains, by Hilaire Belloc - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Lambkin's Remains - -Author: Hilaire Belloc - -Release Date: August 21, 2021 [eBook #66103] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, Benjamin Fluehr and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAMBKIN'S REMAINS *** - - - - - LAMBKIN’S REMAINS - - BY H. B. - - _Author of “The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts,” etc_ - - - PUBLISHED BY - THE PROPRIETORS OF THE _J.C.R._ AT - J. VINCENT’S - 96, HIGH STREET OXFORD - - 1900 - - -_Lambkin on “Sleep” appeared in “The Isis.” It is reprinted here by -kind permission of the Proprietors. The majority of the remaining -pieces were first published in “The J. C. R.”_ - -[_All rights reserved._] - - - - - DEDICATION - - - TO - - THE REPUBLICAN CLUB - - I AM DETERMINED - TO - DEDICATE - THIS BOOK - AND NOTHING SHALL TURN ME FROM - MY PURPOSE. - - - - -DEDICATORY ODE. - - - I mean to write with all my strength - (It lately has been sadly waning), - A ballad of enormous length-- - Some parts of which will need explaining.[1] - - Because (unlike the bulk of men, - Who write for fame and public ends), - I turn a lax and fluent pen - To talking of my private friends.[2] - - For no one, in our long decline, - So dusty, spiteful and divided, - Had quite such pleasant friends as mine, - Or loved them half as much as I did. - - * * * * * - - The Freshman ambles down the High, - In love with everything he sees, - He notes the clear October sky, - He sniffs a vigorous western breeze. - - “Can this be Oxford? This the place” - (He cries), “of which my father said - The tutoring was a damned disgrace, - The creed a mummery, stuffed and dead? - - “Can it be here that Uncle Paul - Was driven by excessive gloom, - To drink and debt, and, last of all, - To smoking opium in his room? - - “Is it from here the people come, - Who talk so loud, and roll their eyes, - And stammer? How extremely rum! - How curious! What a great surprise. - - “Some influence of a nobler day - Than theirs (I mean than Uncle Paul’s), - Has roused the sleep of their decay, - And decked with light their ancient walls. - - “O! dear undaunted boys of old, - Would that your names were carven here, - For all the world in stamps of gold, - That I might read them and revere. - - “Who wrought and handed down for me - This Oxford of the larger air, - Laughing, and full of faith, and free, - With youth resplendent everywhere.” - - Then learn: thou ill-instructed, blind, - Young, callow, and untutored man, - Their private names were----[3] - Their club was called REPUBLICAN. - - * * * * * - - Where on their banks of light they lie, - The happy hills of Heaven between, - The Gods that rule the morning sky - Are not more young, nor more serene - - Than were the intrepid Four that stand, - The first who dared to live their dream, - And on this uncongenial land - To found the Abbey of Theleme. - - We kept the Rabelaisian plan:[4] - We dignified the dainty cloisters - With Natural Law, the Rights of Man, - Song, Stoicism, Wine and Oysters. - - The library was most inviting: - The books upon the crowded shelves - Were mainly of our private writing: - We kept a school and taught ourselves. - - We taught the art of writing things - On men we still should like to throttle: - And where to get the blood of kings - At only half-a-crown a bottle. - - * * * * * - - Eheu Fugaces! Postume! - (An old quotation out of mode); - My coat of dreams is stolen away, - My youth is passing down the road. - - * * * * * - - The wealth of youth, we spent it well - And decently, as very few can. - And is it lost? I cannot tell; - And what is more, I doubt if you can. - - The question’s very much too wide, - And much too deep, and much too hollow, - And learned men on either side - Use arguments I cannot follow. - - They say that in the unchanging place, - Where all we loved is always dear, - We meet our morning face to face, - And find at last our twentieth year.... - - They say, (and I am glad they say), - It is so; and it may be so: - It may be just the other way, - I cannot tell. But this I know: - - From quiet homes and first beginning, - Out to the undiscovered ends, - There’s nothing worth the wear of winning, - But laughter and the love of friends. - - * * * * * - - But something dwindles, oh! my peers, - And something cheats the heart and passes, - And Tom that meant to shake the years - Has come to merely rattling glasses. - - And He, the Father of the Flock, - Is keeping Burmesans in order, - An exile on a lonely rock - That overlooks the Chinese border. - - And One (myself I mean--no less), - Ah!--will Posterity believe it-- - Not only don’t deserve success, - But hasn’t managed to achieve it. - - Not even this peculiar town - Has ever fixed a friendship firmer, - But--one is married, one’s gone down, - And one’s a Don, and one’s in Burmah. - - * * * * * - - And oh! the days, the days, the days, - When all the four were off together: - The infinite deep of summer haze, - The roaring boast of autumn weather! - - * * * * * - - I will not try the reach again, - I will not set my sail alone, - To moor a boat bereft of men - At Yarnton’s tiny docks of stone. - - But I will sit beside the fire, - And put my hand before my eyes, - And trace, to fill my heart’s desire, - The last of all our Odysseys. - - The quiet evening kept her tryst: - Beneath an open sky we rode, - And mingled with a wandering mist - Along the perfect Evenlode. - - The tender Evenlode that makes - Her meadows hush to hear the sound - Of waters mingling in the brakes, - And binds my heart to English ground. - - A lovely river, all alone, - She lingers in the hills and holds - A hundred little towns of stone, - Forgotten in the western wolds. - - * * * * * - - I dare to think (though meaner powers - Possess our thrones, and lesser wits - Are drinking worser wine than ours, - In what’s no longer Austerlitz) - - That surely a tremendous ghost, - The brazen-lunged, the bumper-filler, - Still sings to an immortal toast, - The Misadventures of the Miller. - - The vasty seas are hardly bar - To men with such a prepossession; - We were? Why then, by God, we _are_-- - Order! I call the club to session! - - You do retain the song we set, - And how it rises, trips and scans? - You keep the sacred memory yet, - Republicans? Republicans? - - You know the way the words were hurled, - To break the worst of fortune’s rub? - I give the toast across the world, - And drink it, “Gentlemen: the Club.” - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - DEDICATORY ODE v - - PREFACE xv - - I. INTRODUCTORY 1 - - II. LAMBKIN’S NEWDIGATE 14 - - III. SOME REMARKS ON LAMBKIN’S PROSE STYLE 22 - - IV. LAMBKIN’S ESSAY ON “SUCCESS” 28 - - V. LAMBKIN ON “SLEEP” 37 - - VI. LAMBKIN’S ADVICE TO FRESHMEN 42 - - VII. LAMBKIN’S LECTURE ON “RIGHT” 51 - - VIII. LAMBKIN’S SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE 58 - - IX. LAMBKIN’S ADDRESS TO THE LEAGUE OF PROGRESS 72 - - X. LAMBKIN’S LEADER 83 - - XI. LAMBKIN’S REMARKS ON THE END OF TERM 88 - - XII. LAMBKIN’S ARTICLE ON THE NORTH-WEST CORNER - OF THE MOSAIC PAVEMENT OF THE ROMAN VILLA - AT BIGNOR 95 - - XIII. LAMBKIN’S SERMON 104 - - XIV. LAMBKIN’S OPEN LETTER TO CHURCHMEN 114 - - XV. LAMBKIN’S LETTER TO A FRENCH FRIEND 123 - - XVI. INTERVIEW WITH MR. LAMBKIN 132 - - - - -PREFACE - - -The preparation of the ensuing pages has been a labour of love, and -has cost me many an anxious hour. “Of the writing of books,” says the -learned Psalmist (or more probably a Syro-Chaldæic scribe of the third -century) “there is no end”; and truly it is a very solemn thought -that so many writers, furnishing the livelihood of so many publishers, -these in their turn supporting so many journals, reviews and magazines, -and these last giving bread to such a vast army of editors, reviewers, -and what not--I say it is a very solemn thought that this great mass -of people should be engaged upon labour of this nature; labour which, -rightly applied, might be of immeasurable service to humanity, but -which is, alas! so often diverted into useless or even positively -harmful channels: channels upon which I could write at some length, -were it not necessary for me, however, to bring this reflection to a -close. - -A fine old Arabic poem--probably the oldest complete literary work in -the world--(I mean the Comedy which we are accustomed to call the Book -of Job)[5] contains hidden away among its many treasures the phrase, -“Oh! that mine enemy had written a book!” This craving for literature, -which is so explicable in a primitive people, and the half-savage -desire that the labour of writing should fall upon a foeman captured in -battle, have given place in the long process of historical development -to a very different spirit. There is now, if anything, a superabundance -of literature, and an apology is needed for the appearance of such a -work as this, nor, indeed, would it have been brought out had it not -been imagined that Lambkin’s many friends would give it a ready sale. - -Animaxander, King of the Milesians, upon being asked by the Emissary -of Atarxessus what was, in his opinion, the most wearying thing in the -world, replied by cutting off the head of the messenger, thus outraging -the religious sense of a time to which guests and heralds were sacred, -as being under the special protection of Ζεύς (pronounced “Tsephs”). - -Warned by the awful fate of the sacrilegious monarch, I will put a term -to these opening remarks. My book must be its own preface, I would that -the work could be also its own publisher, its own bookseller, and its -own reviewer. - -It remains to me only to thank the many gentlemen who have aided me -in my task with the loan of letters, scraps of MSS., portraits, and -pieces of clothing--in fine, with all that could be of interest in -illustrating Lambkin’s career. My gratitude is especially due to Mr. -Binder, who helped in part of the writing; to Mr. Cook, who was kind -enough to look over the proofs; and to Mr. Wallingford, Q.C., who very -kindly consented to receive an advance copy. I must also thank the -Bishop of Bury for his courteous sympathy and ever-ready suggestion; I -must not omit from this list M. Hertz, who has helped me with French, -and whose industry and gentlemanly manners are particularly pleasing. - -I cannot close without tendering my thanks in general to the printers -who have set up this book, to the agencies which have distributed it, -and to the booksellers, who have put it upon their shelves; I feel a -deep debt of gratitude to a very large number of people, and that is a -pleasant sensation for a man who, in the course of a fairly successful -career, has had to give (and receive) more than one shrewd knock. - - THE CHAPLAINCY, - BURFORD COLLEGE, - OXFORD. - -P.S.--I have consulted, in the course of this work, Liddell and -Scott’s _Larger Greek Lexicon_, Smith’s _Dictionary of Antiquities_, -Skeats’ _Etymological Dictionary_, _Le Dictionnaire Franco-Anglais, -et Anglo-Français_, of Boileau, Curtis’ _English Synonyms_, Buffle on -_Punctuation_, and many other authorities which will be acknowledged in -the text. - - - - -Lambkin’s Remains - -_Being the unpublished works of J. A. Lambkin, M.A. sometime Fellow of -Burford College_ - - - - -I. - -INTRODUCTORY - - -It is without a trace of compunction or regret that I prepare to edit -the few unpublished essays, sermons and speeches of my late dear -friend, Mr. Lambkin. On the contrary, I am filled with a sense that -my labour is one to which the clearest interests of the whole English -people call me, and I have found myself, as the work grew under my -hands, fulfilling, if I may say so with due modesty, a high and noble -duty. I remember Lambkin himself, in one of the last conversations I -had with him, saying with the acuteness that characterised him, “The -world knows nothing of its greatest men.” This pregnant commentary upon -human affairs was, I admit, produced by an accident in the _Oxford -Herald_ which concerned myself. In a description of a Public Function -my name had been mis-spelt, and though I was deeply wounded and -offended, I was careful (from a feeling which I hope is common to all -of us) to make no more than the slightest reference to this insult. - -The acute eye of friendship and sympathy, coupled with the instincts of -a scholar and a gentleman, perceived my irritation, and in the evening -Lambkin uttered the memorable words that I have quoted. I thanked him -warmly, but, if long acquaintance had taught him my character, so had -it taught me his. I knew the reticence and modesty of my colleague, -the almost morbid fear that vanity (a vice which he detested) might be -imputed to him on account of the exceptional gifts which he could not -entirely ignore or hide; and I was certain that the phrase which he -constructed to heal my wound was not without some reference to his own -unmerited obscurity. - -The world knows nothing of its greatest men! Josiah Lambkin! from -whatever Cypress groves of the underworld which environs us when on -dark winter evenings in the silence of our own souls which nothing can -dissolve though all attunes to that which nature herself perpetually -calls us, always, if we choose but to remember, your name shall be -known wherever the English language and its various dialects are -spoken. The great All-mother has made me the humble instrument, and I -shall perform my task as you would have desired it in a style which -loses half its evil by losing all its rhetoric; I shall pursue my way -and turn neither to the right nor to the left, but go straight on in -the fearless old English fashion till it is completed. - -Josiah Abraham Lambkin was born of well-to-do and gentlemanly parents -in Bayswater[6] on January 19th, 1843. His father, at the time of his -birth, entertained objections to the great Public Schools, largely -founded upon his religious leanings, which were at that time opposed -to the ritual of those institutions. In spite therefore of the -vehement protestations of his mother (who was distantly connected on -the maternal side with the Cromptons of Cheshire) the boy passed his -earlier years under the able tutorship of a Nonconformist divine, and -later passed into the academy of Dr. Whortlebury at Highgate.[7] - -Of his school-days he always spoke with some bitterness. He appears -to have suffered considerably from bullying, and the Headmaster, -though a humane, was a blunt man, little fitted to comprehend the -delicate nature with which he had to deal. On one occasion the nervous -susceptible lad found it necessary to lay before him a description of -the treatment to which he had been subjected by a younger and smaller, -but much stronger boy; the pedagogue’s only reply was to flog Lambkin -heartily with a light cane, “inflicting,” as he himself once told me, -“such exquisite agony as would ever linger in his memory.” Doubtless -this teacher of the old school thought he was (to use a phrase then -common) “making a man of him,” but the object was not easily to be -attained by brutal means. Let us be thankful that these punishments -have nearly disappeared from our modern seminaries. - -When Josiah was fifteen years of age, his father, having prospered -in business, removed to Eaton Square and bought an estate in Surrey. -The merchant’s mind, which, though rough, was strong and acute, -had meanwhile passed through a considerable change in the matter -of religion; and as the result of long but silent self-examination -he became the ardent supporter of a system which he had formerly -abhorred. It was therefore determined to send the lad to one of the -two great Universities, and though Mrs. Lambkin’s second cousins, the -Crumptons, had all been to Cambridge, Oxford was finally decided upon -as presenting the greater social opportunities at the time.[8] - -Here, then, is young Lambkin, in his nineteenth year, richly but -soberly dressed, and eager for the new life that opens before him. He -was entered at Burford College on October the 15th, 1861; a date which -is, by a curious coincidence, exactly thirty-six years, four months, -and two days from the time in which I pen these lines. - -Of his undergraduate career there is little to be told. Called by his -enemies “The Burford Bounder,” or “dirty Lambkin,” he yet acquired the -respect of a small but choice circle who called him by his own name. He -was third _proxime accessit_ for the Johnson prize in Biblical studies, -and would undoubtedly have obtained (or been mentioned for) the -Newdigate, had he not been pitted against two men of quite exceptional -poetic gifts--the present editor of “The Investor’s Sure Prophet,” and -Mr. Hound, the well-known writer on “Food Statistics.” - -He took a good Second-class in Greats in the summer of 1864, and was -immediately elected to a fellowship at Burford. It was not known at the -time that his father had become a bankrupt through lending large sums -at a high rate of interest to a young heir without security, trusting -to the necessity under which his name and honour would put him to pay. -In the shipwreck of the family fortunes, the small endowment was a -veritable godsend to Josiah, who but for this recognition of his merits -would have been compelled to work for his living. - -As it was, his peculiar powers were set free to plan his great -monograph on “Being,” a work which, to the day of his death, he -designed not only to write but to publish. - -There was not, of course, any incident of note in the thirty years -during which he held his fellowship. He did his duty plainly as it lay -before him, occasionally taking pupils, and after the Royal Commission, -even giving lectures in the College hall. He was made Junior Dean in -October, 1872, Junior Bursar in 1876, and Bursar in 1880, an office -which he held during the rest of his life. - -In this capacity no breath of calumny ever touched him. His character -was spotless. He never offered or took compensations of any kind, and -no one has hinted that his accounts were not accurately and strictly -kept. - -He never allowed himself to be openly a candidate for the Wardenship of -the College, but it is remarkable that he received one vote at each of -the three elections held in the twenty years of his residence. - -He passed peacefully away just after Hall on the Gaudy Night of last -year. When his death was reported, an old scout, ninety-two years of -age, who had grown deaf in the service of the College, burst into tears -and begged that the name might be more clearly repeated to him, as he -had failed to catch it. On hearing it he dried his eyes, and said he -had never known a better master. - -His character will, I think, be sufficiently evident in the writings -which I shall publish. He was one of nature’s gentlemen; reticent, -just, and full of self-respect. He hated a scene, and was careful to -avoid giving rise even to an argument. On the other hand, he was most -tenacious of his just rights, though charitable to the deserving poor, -and left a fortune of thirty-five thousand pounds. - -In the difficult questions which arise from the superior rank of -inferiors he displayed a constant tact and judgment. It is not always -easy for a tutor to control and guide the younger members of the -aristocracy without being accused of pitiless severity on the one -hand or of gross obsequiousness on the other. Lambkin, to his honour, -contrived to direct with energy and guide without offence the men upon -whom England’s greatness depends. - -He was by no means a snob--snobbishness was not in him. On the -other hand, he was equally removed from what is almost worse than -snobbishness--the morbid terror of subservience which possesses some -ill-balanced minds. - -His attitude was this: that we are compelled to admit the aristocratic -quality of the English polity and should, while decently veiling -its cruder aspects, enjoy to the full the benefits which such a -constitution confers upon society and upon our individual selves. - -By a genial observance of such canons he became one of the most -respected among those whom the chances of an academic career presented -to him as pupils or parents. He was the guest and honoured friend of -the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Pembroke, the Duke of Limerick -(“Mad Harry”), and the Duke of Lincoln; he had also the honour of -holding a long conversation with the Duke of Berkshire, whom he met -upon the top of an omnibus in Piccadilly and instantly recognised. He -possessed letters, receipts or communications from no less than four -Marquises, one Marquess, ten Barons, sixteen Baronets and one hundred -and twenty County Gentlemen. I must not omit Lord Grumbletooth, who had -had commercial dealings with his father, and who remained to the end of -his life a cordial and devoted friend.[9] - -His tact in casual conversation was no less remarkable than his general -_savoir faire_ in the continuous business of life. Thus upon one -occasion a royal personage happened to be dining in Hall. It was some -days after the death of Mr. Hooligan, the well-known Home Rule leader. -The distinguished guest, with perhaps a trifle of licence, turned to -Lambkin and said “Well, Mr. Bursar, what do you think of Hooligan?” We -observed a respectful silence and wondered what reply Lambkin would -give in these difficult circumstances. The answer was like a bolt from -the blue, “De mortuis nil nisi bonum,” said the Classical Scholar, and -a murmur of applause went round the table. - -Indeed his political views were perhaps the most remarkable feature -in a remarkable character. He died a convinced and staunch Liberal -Unionist, and this was the more striking as he was believed by all his -friends to be a Conservative until the introduction of Mr. Gladstone’s -famous Bill in 1885. - -In the delicate matter of religious controversy his own writings must -describe him, nor will I touch here upon a question which did not rise -to any considerable public importance until after his death. Perhaps -I may be permitted to say this much; he was a sincere Christian in -the true sense of the word, attached to no narrow formularies, but -following as closely as he could the system of Seneca, stiffened (as it -were) with the meditations of Marcus Aurelius, though he was never so -violent as to attempt a practice of what that extreme stoic laid down -in theory. - -Neither a ritualist nor a low-churchman, he expressed his attitude -by a profound and suggestive silence. These words only escaped him -upon one single occasion. Let us meditate upon them well in the stormy -discussions of to-day: “Medio tutissimus ibis.” - -His learning and scholarship, so profound in the dead languages, was -exercised with singular skill and taste in the choice he made of modern -authors. - -He was ignorant of Italian, but thoroughly conversant with the -French classics, which he read in the admirable translations of the -‘Half-crown Series.’ His principal reading here was in the works of -Voltaire, wherein, however, he confessed, “He could find no style, -and little more than blasphemous ribaldry.” Indeed, of the European -languages he would read German with the greatest pleasure, confining -himself chiefly to the writings of Lessing, Kant, and Schiller. His -mind acquired by this habit a singular breadth and fecundity, his style -a kind of rich confusion, and his speech (for he was able to converse -a little in that idiom) was strengthened by expressions of the deepest -philosophic import; a habit which gave him a peculiar and individual -power over his pupils, who mistook the Teutonic gutturals for violent -objurgations. - -Such was the man, such the gentleman, the true ‘Hglaford,’ the modern -‘Godgebidden Eorldemanthingancanning,’ whose inner thoughts shall unroll -themselves in the pages that follow. - - - - -II. - -Lambkin’s Newdigate - -POEM WRITTEN FOR “NEWDIGATE PRIZE” IN ENGLISH VERSE - -BY J. A. LAMBKIN, ESQ., OF BURFORD COLLEGE - -_N.B._--[_The competitors are confined to the use of Rhymed Heroic -Iambic Pentameters, but the introduction of_ LYRICS _is permitted_] - -Subject: “THE BENEFITS CONFERRED BY SCIENCE, ESPECIALLY IN CONNECTION -WITH THE ELECTRIC LIGHT” - -_For the benefit of those who do not care to read through the Poem but -desire to know its contents, I append the following headings_: - - -INVOCATION TO THE MUSE - - Hail! Happy Muse, and touch the tuneful string! - The benefits conferred by Science[10] I sing. - - -HIS THEME: THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND ITS BENEFITS - - Under the kind Examiners’[11] direction - I only write about them in connection - With benefits which the Electric Light - Confers on us; especially at night. - These are my theme, of these my song shall rise. - My lofty head shall swell to strike the skies,[12] - And tears of hopeless love bedew the maiden’s eyes. - - -SECOND INVOCATION TO THE MUSE - - Descend, O Muse, from thy divine abode, - - -OSNEY - - To Osney, on the Seven Bridges Road; - For under Osney’s solitary shade - The bulk of the Electric Light is made. - Here are the works, from hence the current flows - Which (so the Company’s prospectus goes) - - -POWER OF WORKS THERE - - Can furnish to Subscribers hour by hour - No less than sixteen thousand candle power,[13] - All at a thousand volts. (It is essential - To keep the current at this high potential - In spite of the considerable expense.) - - -STATISTICS CONCERNING THEM - - The Energy developed represents, - Expressed in foot-tons, the united forces - Of fifteen elephants and forty horses. - But shall my scientific detail thus - Clip the dear wings of Buoyant Pegasus? - - -POETICAL OR RHETORICAL QUESTIONS - - Shall pure statistics jar upon the ear - That pants for Lyric accents loud and clear? - Shall I describe the complex Dynamo - Or write about its commutator? No! - - -THE THEME CHANGES - - To happier fields I lead my wanton pen, - The proper study of mankind is men. - - -THIRD INVOCATION TO THE MUSE - - Awake, my Muse! Portray the pleasing sight - That meets us where they make Electric Light. - - -A PICTURE OF THE ELECTRICIAN - - Behold the Electrician where he stands: - Soot, oil, and verdigris are on his hands; - Large spots of grease defile his dirty clothes, - The while his conversation drips with oaths. - Shall such a being perish in its youth? - Alas! it is indeed the fatal truth. - In that dull brain, beneath that hair unkempt, - Familiarity has bred contempt. - We warn him of the gesture all too late; - Oh, Heartless Jove! Oh, Adamantine Fate! - - -HIS AWFUL FATE - - Some random Touch--a hand’s imprudent slip-- - The Terminals--a flash--a sound like “Zip!” - A smell of Burning fills the startled Air-- - The Electrician is no longer there! - - * * * * * - - -HE CHANGES HIS THEME - - But let us turn with true Artistic scorn - From facts funereal and from views forlorn - Of Erebus and Blackest midnight born.[14] - - -FOURTH INVOCATION TO THE MUSE - - Arouse thee, Muse! and chaunt in accents rich - The interesting processes by which - The Electricity is passed along: - These are my theme, to these I bend my song. - - -DESCRIPTION OF METHOD BY WHICH THE CURRENT IS USED - - It runs encased in wood or porous brick - Through copper wires two millimetres thick, - And insulated on their dangerous mission - By indiarubber, silk, or composition, - Here you may put with critical felicity - The following question: “What is Electricity?” - - -DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING NATURE OF ELECTRICITY - - “Molecular Activity,” say some, - Others when asked say nothing, and are dumb. - Whatever be its nature: this is clear, - The rapid current checked in its career, - Baulked in its race and halted in its course[15] - Transforms to heat and light its latent force: - - -CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. PROOFS OF THIS: NO EXPERIMENT NEEDED - - It needs no pedant in the lecturer’s chair - To prove that light and heat are present there. - The pear-shaped vacuum globe, I understand, - Is far too hot to fondle with the hand. - While, as is patent to the meanest sight, - The carbon filament is very bright. - - -DOUBTS ON THE MUNICIPAL SYSTEM, BUT-- - - As for the lights they hang about the town, - Some praise them highly, others run them down. - This system (technically called the arc) - Makes some passages too light, others too dark. - - -NONE ON THE DOMESTIC - - But in the house the soft and constant rays - Have always met with universal praise. - - -ITS ADVANTAGES - - For instance: if you want to read in bed - No candle burns beside your curtains’ head, - Far from some distant corner of the room - The incandescent lamp dispels the gloom, - - -ADVANTAGES OF LARGE PRINT - - And with the largest print need hardly try - The powers of any young and vigorous eye. - - -FIFTH INVOCATION TO THE MUSE - - Aroint thee, Muse! inspired the poet sings! - I cannot help observing future things! - - -THE ONLY HOPE OF HUMANITY IS IN SCIENCE - - Life is a vale, its paths are dark and rough - Only because we do not know enough. - When Science has discovered something more - We shall be happier than we were before. - - -PERORATION IN THE SPIRIT OF THE REST OF THE POEM - - Hail! Britain, mistress of the Azure Main, - Ten Thousand Fleets sweep over thee in vain! - Hail! mighty mother of the brave and free, - That beat Napoleon, and gave birth to me! - Thou that canst wrap in thine emblazoned robe - One quarter of the habitable globe. - Thy mountains, wafted by a favouring breeze, - Like mighty hills withstand the stormy seas. - - -WARNING TO BRITAIN - - Thou art a Christian Commonwealth. And yet - Be thou not all unthankful--nor forget - As thou exultest in Imperial might - The benefits of the Electric Light. - - - - -III. - -Some Remarks on Lambkin’s Prose Style - - -No achievement of my dear friend’s produced a greater effect than the -English Essay which he presented at his examination. That so young -a man, and a man trained in such an environment as his, should have -written an essay at all was sufficiently remarkable, but that his -work should have shown such mastery in the handling, such delicate -balance of idea, and so much know-ledge (in the truest sense of the -word), coupled with such an astounding insight into human character -and contemporary psychology, was enough to warrant the remark of the -then Warden of Burford: “If these things” (said the aged but eminent -divine), “if these things” (it was said in all reverence and with a -full sense of the responsibility of his position), “If these things are -done in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” - -Truly it may be said that the Green Wood of Lambkin’s early years as an -Undergraduate was worthily followed by the Dry Wood of his later life -as a fellow and even tutor, nay, as a Bursar of his college. - -It is not my purpose to add much to the reader’s own impressions of -this _tour de force_, or to insist too strongly upon the skill and -breadth of treatment which will at once make their mark upon any -intelligent man, and even upon the great mass of the public. But I may -be forgiven if I give some slight personal memories in interpretation -of a work which is necessarily presented in the cold medium of type. - -Lambkin’s hand-writing was flowing and determined, but was often -difficult to read, a quality which led in the later years of his life -to the famous retort made by the Rural Dean of Henchthorp to the -Chaplain of Bower’s Hall.[16] His manuscript was, like Lord Byron’s -(and unlike the famous Codex V in the Vatican), remarkable for its -erasures, of which as many as three may be seen in some places -super-imposed, ladderwise, _en échelle_, the one above the other, -perpendicularly to the line of writing. - -This excessive fastidiousness in the use of words was the cause of his -comparatively small production of written work; and thus the essay -printed below was the labour of nearly three hours. His ideas in this -matter were best represented by his little epigram on the appearance -of Liddell and Scott’s larger Greek Lexicon. “Quality not quantity” -was the witty phrase which he was heard to mutter when he received his -first copy of that work. - -The nervous strain of so much anxiety about his literary work wearied -both mind and body, but he had his reward. The scholarly aptitude of -every particle in the phrase, and the curious symmetry apparent in -the great whole of the essay are due to a quality which he pushed -indeed to excess, but never beyond the boundary that separates Right -and Wrong; we admire in the product what we might criticise in the -method, and when we judge as critics we are compelled as Englishmen and -connoisseurs to congratulate and to applaud. - -He agreed with Aristotle in regarding lucidity as the main virtue -of style. And if he sometimes failed to attain his ideal in this -matter, the obscurity was due to none of those mannerisms which are so -deplorable in a Meredith or a Browning, but rather to the fact that he -found great difficulty in ending a sentence as he had begun it. His -mind outran his pen; and the sentence from his University sermon, -“England must do her duty, or what will the harvest be?” stirring and -patriotic as it is, certainly suffers from some such fault, though I -cannot quite see where. - -The Oxymoron, the Aposiopesis, the Nominativus Pendens, the Anacoluthon -and the Zeugma he looked upon with abhorrence and even with dread. -He was a friend to all virile enthusiasm in writing but a foe to -rhetoric, which (he would say) “Is cloying even in a demagogue, and -actually nauseating in the literary man.” He drew a distinction between -_eloquence_ and rhetoric, often praising the one and denouncing the -other with the most abandoned fervour: indeed, it was his favourite -diversion in critical conversation accurately to determine the meaning -of words. In early youth he would often split an infinitive or end -a sentence with a preposition. But, ever humble and ready to learn, -he determined, after reading Mrs. Griffin’s well-known essays in the -_Daily American_, to eschew such conduct for the future; and it was a -most touching sight to watch him, even in extreme old age, his reverend -white locks sweeping the paper before him and his weak eyes peering -close at the MSS. as he carefully went over his phrases with a pen, -scratching out and amending, at the end of his day’s work, the errors -of this nature. - -He commonly used a gilt “J” nib, mounted upon a holder of imitation -ivory, but he was not cramped by any petty limitations in such details -and would, if necessity arose, make use of a quill, or even of a -fountain pen, insisting, however, if he was to use the latter, that it -should be of the best. - -The paper upon which he wrote the work that remains to us was the -ordinary ruled foolscap of commerce; but this again he regarded as -quite unimportant. It was the matter of what he wrote that concerned -him, not (as is so often the case with lesser men) the mere accidents -of pen or paper. - -I remember little else of moment with regard to his way of writing, but -I make no doubt that these details will not be without their interest; -for the personal habits of a great man have a charm of their own. I -read once that the sum of fifty pounds was paid for the pen of Charles -Dickens. I wonder what would be offered for a similar sacred relic, of -a man more obscure, but indirectly of far greater influence; a relic -which I keep by me with the greatest reverence, which I do not use -myself, however much at a loss I may be for pen or pencil, and with -which I never, upon any account, allow the children to play. - -But I must draw to a close, or I should merit the reproach of lapsing -into a sentimental peroration, and be told that I am myself indulging -in that rhetoric which Lambkin so severely condemned. - - - - -IV. - -Lambkin’s Essay on “Success” - - -ON “SUCCESS:” ITS CAUSES AND RESULTS - -[Sidenote: Difficulty of Subject] - -In approaching a problem of this nature, with all its anomalies and -analogues, we are at once struck by the difficulty of conditioning any -accurate estimate of the factors of the solution of the difficulty -which is latent in the very terms of the above question. We shall do -well perhaps, however, to clearly differentiate from its fellows the -proposition we have to deal with, and similarly as an inception of -our analysis to permanently fix the definitions and terms we shall be -talking of, with, and by. - -[Sidenote: Definition of Success] - -Success may be defined as the _Successful Consummation of an Attempt_ -or more shortly as the _Realisation of an imagined Good_, and as it -implies Desire or the Wish for a thing, and at the same time action -or the attempt to get at a thing,[17] we might look at Success from -yet another point of view and say that _Success is the realisation -of Desire through action_. Indeed this last definition seems on the -whole to be the best; but it is evident that in this, as in all -other matters, it is impossible to arrive at perfection, and our -safest definition will be that which is found to be on the whole most -approximately the average mean[18] of many hundreds that might be -virtually constructed to more or less accurately express the idea we -have undertaken to do. - -So far then it is evident that while we may have a fairly definite -subjective visual concept of what Success is, we shall never be able to -convey to others in so many words exactly what our idea may be. - - “What am I? - , . . . . - An infant crying for the light - That has no language but a cry” - -[Sidenote: Method of dealing with Problem] - -It is, however, of more practical importance nevertheless, to arrive -at some method or other by which we can in the long run attack the -very serious problem presented to us. Our best chance of arriving at -any solution will lie in attempting to give objective form to what it -is we have to do with. For this purpose we will first of all divide -all actions into (א) Successful and (ב) Non-successful[19] actions. -These two categories are at once mutually exclusive and collectively -universal. Nothing of which Success can be truly predicated, can at -the same time be called with any approach to accuracy Unsuccessful; -and similarly if an action finally result in Non-success, it is quite -evident that to speak of its “Success” would be to trifle with words -and to throw dust into our own eyes, which is a fatal error in any -case. We have then these two primary catēgories what is true of one -will, with certain reservations, be untrue of the other, in most cases -(we will come to that later) and _vice-versâ_. - - (1) Success. - (2) Non-success. - -[Sidenote: First great Difficulty] - -But here we are met at the outset of our examination by a difficulty of -enormous dimensions. There is not one success; there are many. There -is the success of the Philosopher, of the Scientist, of the Politician, -of the Argument, of the Commanding Officer, of the Divine, of the -mere unthinking Animal appetite, and of others more numerous still. -It is evident that with such a vast number of different subsidiary -catēgories within our main catēgory it would be impossible to arrive at -any absolute conclusions, or to lay down any firm general principle. -For the moment we had erected some such fundamental foundation the -fair structure would be blown to a thousand atoms by the consideration -of some fresh form, aspect or realisation, of Success which might -have escaped our vision, so that where should we be then? It is -therefore most eminently a problem in which we should beware of undue -generalisations and hasty dogmatism. We must abandon here as everywhere -the immoral and exploded cant of mediæval deductive methods invented by -priests and mummers to enslave the human mind, and confine ourselves to -what we absolutely _know_. Shall we towards the end of this essay truly -_know_ anything with regard to Success? Who can tell! But at least let -us not cheat ourselves with the axioms, affirmations and dogmas which -are, in a certain sense, the ruin of so many; let us, if I may use a -metaphor, “abandon the _à priori_ for the _chiaro-oscuro_.” - -[Sidenote: Second much greater Difficulty] - -But if the problem is complex from the great variety of the various -kinds of Success, what shall we say of the disturbance introduced -by a new aspect of the matter, which we are now about to allude to! -Aye! What indeed! An aspect so widespread in its consequences, so -momentous and so fraught with menace to all philosophy, so big with -portent, and of such threatening aspect to humanity itself, that we -hesitate even to bring it forward![20] _Success is not always Success: -Non-success (or Failure) is an aspect of Success, and vice-versâ._ This -apparent paradox will be seen to be true on a little consideration. -For “Success” in any one case involves the “Failure” or “Non-success” -of its opposite or correlative. Thus, if we bet ten pounds with one of -our friends our “Success” would be his “Non-success,” and _vice-versâ_, -collaterally. Again, if we desire to fail in a matter (_e.g._, any man -would hope to fail in being hanged[21]), then to succeed is to fail, -and to fail is to succeed, and our successful failure would fail were -we to happen upon a disastrous success! And note that the _very same -act_, not this, that, or another, but THE VERY SAME, is (according -to the way we look at it) a “successful” or an “unsuccessful” act. -Success therefore not only _may_ be, but _must_ be Failure, and the two -catēgories upon which we had built such high hopes have disappeared for -ever! - -[Sidenote: Solemn considerations consequent upon this] - -Terrible thought! A thing can be at once itself and not itself--nay -its own opposite! The mind reels, and the frail human vision peering -over the immense gulf of metaphysical infinity is lost in a cry for -mercy and trembles on the threshold of the unseen! What visions of -horror and madness may not be reserved for the too daring soul which -has presumed to knock at the Doors of Silence! Let us learn from the -incomprehensible how small and weak a thing is man! - -[Sidenote: A more cheerful view] - -But it would ill-befit the philosopher to abandon his effort because -of a kind of a check or two at the start. The great hand of Time -shouts ever “onward”; and even if we cannot discover the Absolute in -the limits of this essay, we may rise from the ashes of our tears to -better and happier things. - -[Sidenote: The beginning of a Solution] - -A light seems to dawn on us. We shall not arrive at the full day -but we shall see “in a glass darkly” what, in the final end of our -development, may perhaps be more clearly revealed to us. It is evident -that we have been dealing with a relative. _How_ things so apparently -absolute as hanging or betting can be in any true sense relative we -cannot tell, because we cannot conceive the majestic whole of which -Success and Failure, plus and minus, up and down, yes and no, truth -and lies, are but as the glittering facets of a diamond borne upon the -finger of some titled and wealthy person. - -Our error came from foolish self-sufficiency and pride. We thought -(forsooth) that our mere human conceptions of contradiction were real. -It has been granted to us (though we are but human still), to discover -our error--there is no hot or cold, no light or dark, and no good or -evil, all are, in a certain sense, and with certain limitations (if I -may so express myself) the Aspects---- - -_At this point the bell rang and the papers had to be delivered up. -Lambkin could not let his work go, however, without adding a few words -to show what he might have done had time allowed. He wrote:--_ - -“No Time. Had intended examples--Success, Academic, Acrobatic, -Agricultural, Aristocratic, Bacillic ... Yaroslavic, Zenobidic, -etc. Historical cases examined, Biggar’s view, H. Unity, Univ. -Consciousness, Amphodunissa,[22] Setxm [Illustration].” - - - - -V. - -Lambkin on Sleep - - -[_This little gem was written for the great Monograph on “Being,” which -Lambkin never lived to complete. It was included, however, in his -little volume of essays entitled “Rictus Almae Matris.” The careful -footnotes, the fund of information, and the scholarly accuracy of -the whole sketch are an example--(alas! the only one)--of what his -full work would have been had he brought it to a conclusion. It is an -admirable example of his manner in maturer years._] - -In sleep our faculties lie dormant.[23] We perceive nothing or almost -nothing of our surroundings; and the deeper our slumber the more -absolute is the barrier between ourselves and the outer world. The -causes of this “Cessation of Consciousness” (as it has been admirably -called by Professor M‘Obvy)[24] lie hidden from our most profound -physiologists. It was once my privilege to meet the master of physical -science who has rendered famous the University of Kreigenswald,[25] and -I asked him what in his opinion was the cause of sleep. He answered, -with that reverence which is the glory of the Teutonic mind, “It is in -the dear secret of the All-wise Nature-mother preserved.” I have never -forgotten those wise and weighty words.[26] - -Perhaps the nearest guess as to the nature of Sleep is to be -discovered in the lectures of a brilliant but sometimes over-daring -young scholar whom we all applaud in the chair of Psychology. “Sleep” -(he says) “is the direct product of Brain Somnolence, which in its -turn is the result of the need for Repose that every organism must -experience after any specialised exertion.” I was present when this -sentence was delivered, and I am not ashamed to add that I was one of -those who heartily cheered the young speaker.[27] - -We may assert, then, that Science has nearly conquered this last -stronghold of ignorance and superstition.[28] - -As to the Muses, we know well that Sleep has been their favourite -theme for ages. With the exception of Catullus (whose verses have been -greatly over-rated, and who is always talking of people lying awake -at night), all the ancients have mentioned and praised this innocent -pastime. Everyone who has done Greats will remember the beautiful -passage in Lucretius,[29] but perhaps that in Sidonius Apollinaris, the -highly polished Bishop of Gaul, is less well known.[30] To turn to our -own literature, the sonnet beginning “To die, to sleep,” etc.,[31] must -be noted, and above all, the glorious lines in which Wordsworth reaches -his noblest level, beginning-- - - “It is a pleasant thing to go to sleep!” - -lines which, for my part, I can never read without catching some of -their magical drowsy influence.[32] - -All great men have slept. George III. frequently slept,[33] and that -great and good man Wycliffe was in the habit of reading his Scriptural -translations and his own sermons nightly to produce the desired -effect.[34] The Duke of Wellington (whom my father used to call “The -Iron Duke”) slept on a little bedstead no larger than a common man’s. - -As for the various positions in which one may sleep, I treat of them -in my little book of Latin Prose for Schools, which is coming out next -year.[35] - - - - -VI. - -Lambkin’s Advice to Freshmen - - -Mr. Lambkin possessed among other great and gracious qualities the -habit of writing to his nephew, Thomas Ezekiel Lambkin,[36] who -entered the college as an undergraduate when his uncle was some four -years a Fellow. Of many such communications he valued especially -this which I print below, on account of the curious and pathetic -circumstances which surrounded it. Some months after Thomas had been -given his two groups and had left the University, Mr. Lambkin was -looking over some books in a second-hand book shop--not with the -intention of purchasing so much as to improve the mind. It was a -favourite habit of his, and as he was deeply engaged in a powerful -romance written under the pseudonym of “Marie Corelli”[37] there -dropped from its pages the letter which he had sent so many years -before. It lay in its original envelope unopened, and on turning to -the flyleaf he saw the name of his nephew written. It had once been -his! The boy had so treasured the little missive as to place it in his -favourite book! - -Lambkin was so justly touched by the incident as to purchase the -volume, asking that the price might be entered to his account, which -was not then of any long standing. The letter he docketed “to be -published after my death.” And I obey the wishes of my revered friend: - - “MY DEAR THOMAS, - -“Here you are at last in Oxford, and at Burford, ‘a Burford Man.’ How -proud your mother must be and even your father, whom I well remember -saying that ‘if he were not an accountant, he would rather be a Fellow -of Burford than anything else on earth.’ But it was not to be. - -“The life you are entering is very different from that which you -have left behind. When you were at school you were under a strict -discipline, you were compelled to study the classics and to play -at various games. Cleanliness and truthfulness were enforced by -punishment, while the most instinctive habits of decency and good -manners could only be acquired at the expense of continual application. -In a word, ‘you were a child and thought as a child.’ - -“Now all that is changed, you are free (within limits) to follow your -own devices, to make or mar yourself. But if you use Oxford aright she -will make you as she has made so many of your kind--a perfect gentleman. - -“But enough of these generalities. It is time to turn to one or two -definite bits of advice which I hope you will receive in the right -spirit. My dear boy, I want you to lay your hand in mine while I speak -to you, not as an uncle, but rather as an elder brother. Promise me -three things. First never to gamble in any form; secondly, never to -drink a single glass of wine after dinner; thirdly, never to purchase -anything without paying for it in cash. If you will make such strict -rules for yourself and keep them religiously you will find after years -of constant effort a certain result developing (as it were), you will -discover with delight that your character is formed; that you have -neither won nor lost money at hazards, that you have never got drunk -of an evening, and that you have no debts. Of the first two I can only -say that they are questions of morality on which we all may, and all -_do_, differ. But the third is of a vital and practical importance. -Occasional drunkenness is a matter for private judgment, its rightness -or wrongness depends upon our ethical system; but debt is fatal to any -hope of public success. - -“I hesitate a little to mention one further point; but--may I say -it?--will you do your best to avoid drinking neat spirits in the early -morning--especially Brandy? Of course a Governor and Tutor, whatever -his abilities, gets removed in his sympathies from the younger men.[38] -The habit may have died out, and if so I will say no more, but in my -time it was the ruin of many a fair young life. - -“Now as to your day and its order. First, rise briskly when you are -called, and into your cold bath, you young dog![39] No shilly-shally; -into it. Don’t splash the water about in a miserable attempt to deceive -your scout, but take an Honest British Cold Bath like a man. Soap -should never be used save on the hands and neck. As to hot baths, -never ask for them in College, it would give great trouble, and it is -much better to take one in the Town for a shilling; nothing is more -refreshing than a good hot bath in the Winter Term. - -“Next you go out and ‘keep’ a Mosque, Synagogue, or Meeting of the -Brethren, though if you can agree with the system it is far better to -go to your College Chapel; it puts a man right with his superiors and -you obey the Apostolic injunction.[40] - -“Then comes your breakfast. Eat as much as you can; it is the -foundation of a good day’s work in the Vineyard. But what is this?--a -note from your Tutor. Off you go at the appointed time, and as you -may be somewhat nervous and diffident I will give you a little -Paradigm,[41] as it were, of a Freshman meeting his Tutor for the first -time. - -“[_The Student enters, and as he is half way through the door says:--_] - -“_St._--Good morning! Have you noticed what the papers say -about--[_Here mention some prominent subject of the day._] - -“[_The Tutor does not answer but goes on writing in a little book; at -last he looks up and says:--_] - -“_Tut._--Pray, what is your name? - -“_St._--M. or N. - -“_Tut._--What have you read before coming up, Mr. ----? - -“_St._--The existing Latin authors from Ennius to Sidonius -Apollinaris, with their fragments. The Greek from Sappho to Origen -including Bacchylides. - -[_The Tutor makes a note of this and resumes...._] - -“_Tut._--Have you read the Gospels? - -“_St._--No, Sir. - -“_Tut._--You must read two of them as soon as possible in the Greek, as -it is necessary to the passing of Divinity, unless indeed you prefer -the beautiful work of Plato. Come at ten to-morrow. Good morning. - -“_St._--I am not accustomed to being spoken to in that fashion. - -[_The Tutor will turn to some other Student, and the first Student will -leave the room._] - -“I have little more to say. You will soon learn the customs of the -place, and no words of mine can efficiently warn you as experience -will. Put on a black coat before Hall, and prepare for that meal -with neatness, but with no extravagant display. Do not wear your cap -and gown in the afternoon, do not show an exaggerated respect to the -younger fellows (except the Chaplain), on the one hand, nor a silly -contempt for the older Dons upon the other. The first line of conduct -is that of a timid and uncertain mind; it is of no profit for future -advancement, and draws down upon one the contempt of all. The second -is calculated to annoy as fine a body of men as any in England, and -seriously to affect your reputation in Society. - -“You will find in every college some club which contains the wealthier -undergraduates and those of prominent position. Join it if possible -at once before you are known. At its weekly meetings speak soberly, -but not pompously. Enliven your remarks with occasional flashes of -humour, but do not trench upon the ribald nor pass the boundary of -right-reason. Such excesses may provoke a momentary laugh, but they -ultimately destroy all respect for one’s character. Remember Lot’s wife! - -“You will row, of course, and as you rush down to the river after a -hurried lunch and dash up to do a short bit of reading before Hall, -your face will glow with satisfaction at the thought that every day of -your life will be so occupied for four years. - -“Of the grosser and lower evils I need not warn you: you will not give -money to beggars in the street, nor lend it to your friends. You will -not continually expose your private thoughts, nor open your heart to -every comer in the vulgar enthusiasm of some whom you may meet. No, my -dear Ezekiel, it would be unworthy of your name, and I know you too -well, to fear such things of you. You are a Gentleman, and that you -may, like a gentleman, be always at your ease, courteous on occasion, -but familiar never, is the earnest prayer of-- - - “JOSIAH LAMBKIN.” - - - - -VII. - -Lambkin’s Lecture on “Right” - - -Of the effects of Mr. Lambkin’s lectures, the greatest and (I venture -to think) the most permanent are those that followed from his course -on _Ethics_. The late Dean of Heaving-on-the-Marsh (the Honourable -Albert Nathan-Merivale, the first name adopted from his property in -Rutland) told me upon one occasion that he owed the direction of his -mind to those lectures (under Providence) more than to any other -lectures he could remember. - -Very much the same idea was conveyed to me, more or less, by the -Bishop of Humbury, who turned to me in hall, only a year ago, with a -peculiar look in his eyes, and (as I had mentioned Lambkin’s name) said -suddenly, like a man who struggles with an emotion:[42] “Lambkin(!)[43] -... did not he give lectures in your hall ... on Ethics?” “Some,” -I replied, “were given in the Hall, others in Lecture Room No. 2 -over the glory-hole.” His lordship said nothing, but there was a -world of thought and reminiscence in his eyes. May we not--knowing -his lordship’s difficulties in matters of belief, and his final -victory--ascribe something of this progressive and salutary influence -to my dear friend? - - -ON “RIGHT” - - [_Being Lecture V. in a course of Eight, delivered, in the Autumn - Term of 1878._] - -We have now proceeded for a considerable distance in our journey -towards the Solution. Of eight lectures, of which I had proposed to -make so many milestones on the road, the fifth is reached, and now we -are in measurable distance of the Great Answer; the Understanding of -the Relations of the Particular to the Universal. - -It is an easy, though a profitable task to wander in what the late Sir -Reginald Hawke once called in a fine phrase “the flowery meads and -bosky dells of Positive Knowledge.” It is in the essence of any modern -method of inquiry that we should be first sure of our facts, and it -is on this account that all philosophical research worthy of the name -must begin with the physical sciences. For the last few weeks I have -illustrated my lectures with chemical experiments and occasionally -with large coloured diagrams, which, especially to young people like -yourselves have done not a little to enliven what might at first appear -a very dull subject. It is therefore with happy, hopeful hearts, -with sparkling eyes and eager appetite that we leave the physical -entry-hall of knowledge to approach the delicious feast of metaphysics. - -But here a difficulty confronts us. So far we have followed an -historical development. We have studied the actions of savages and the -gestures of young children; we have enquired concerning the habits -of sleepwalkers, and have drawn our conclusions from the attitudes -adopted in special manias. So far, then, we have been on safe ground. -We have proceeded from the known to the unknown, and we have correlated -Psychology, Sociology, Anatomy, Morphology, Physiology, Geography, -and Theology (_here Mr. Darkin of Vast, who had been ailing a long -time, was carried out in a faint; Mr. Lambkin, being short-sighted, -did not fully seize what had happened, and thinking that certain of -his audience were leaving the Hall without permission, he became as -nearly angry as was possible to such a man. He made a short speech on -the decay of manners, and fell into several bitter epigrams. It is only -just to say that, on learning the occasion of the interruption, he -regretted the expression “strong meat for babes” which had escaped him -at the time._) - -So far so good. But there is something more. No one can proceed -indefinitely in the study of Ethics without coming, sooner or later, -upon the Conventional conception of _Right_. I do not mean that this -conception has any philosophic value. I should be the last to lay down -for it those futile, empirical and dogmatic foundations which may -satisfy narrow, deductive minds. But there it is, and as practical men -with it we must deal. What is _Right_? Whence proceeds this curious -conglomeration of idealism, mysticism, empiricism, and fanaticism to -which the name has been given? - -It is impossible to say. It is the duty of the lecturer to set -forth the scheme of truth: to make (as it were) a map or plan of -Epistemology. He is not concerned to demonstrate a point; he is not -bound to dispute the attitude of opponents. Let them fall of their own -weight (_Ruant mole suâ_). It is mine to show that things _may_ be thus -or thus, and I will most steadily refuse to be drawn into sterile -argument and profitless discussion with mere affirmations. - -“The involute of progression is the subconscious evolution of the -particular function.” No close reasoner will deny this. It is the -final summing up of all that is meant by Development. It is the root -formula of the nineteenth century that is now, alas! drawing to a close -under our very eyes. Now to such a fundamental proposition I add a -second. “The sentiment of right is the inversion of the subconscious -function in its relation to the indeterminate ego.” This also I take -to be admitted by all European philosophers in Germany. Now I will not -go so far as to say that a major premiss when it is absolutely sound, -followed by a minor equally sound, leads to a sure conclusion. God -fulfils himself in many ways, and there are more things in heaven and -earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But I take this -tentatively: that if these two propositions are true (and we have the -word of Herr Waldteufel,[44] who lives in the Woodstock Road, that -it is true) then it follows conclusively that no certainty can be -arrived at in these matters. I would especially recommend you on this -point (_here Mr. Lambkin changed his lecturing voice for a species of -conversational, interested and familiar tone_) to read the essay by -the late Dr. Barton in _Shots at the Probable_: you will also find the -third chapter of Mr. Mendellsohn’s _History of the Soul_ very useful. -Remember also, by the way, to consult the footnote on p. 343, of -Renan’s _Anti-Christ_. The Master of St. Dives’ _Little Journeys in the -Obvious_ is light and amusing, but instructive in its way. - -There is a kind of attitude (_this was Lambkin’s peroration, and he was -justly proud of it_) which destroys nothing but creates much: which -transforms without metamorphosis, and which says “look at this, I have -found truth!” but which dares not say “look away from that--it is -untrue.” - -Such is our aim. Let us make without unmaking and in this difficult -question of the origin of _Right_, the grand old Anglo-Saxon sense -of “Ought,” let us humbly adopt as logicians, but grimly pursue as -practical men some such maxim as what follows: - -“Right came from nothing, it means nothing, it leads to nothing; with -it we are nothing, but without it we are worse than nothing.”[45] - -Next Thursday I shall deal with morality in international relations. - - - - -VIII. - -Lambkin’s Special Correspondence - - -Lambkin was almost the first of that great band of Oxford Fellows who -go as special correspondents for Newspapers to places of difficulty -and even of danger. On the advantages of this system he would often -dilate, and he was glad to see, as he grew to be an older, a wealthier, -and a wiser man, that others were treading in his footsteps. “The -younger men,” he would say, “have noticed what perhaps I was the first -to see, that the Press is a Power, and that men who are paid to educate -should not be ashamed to be paid for any form of education.” He was, -however, astonished to see how rapidly the letters of a correspondent -could now be issued as a book, and on finding that such publications -were arranged for separately with the publishers, and were not the -property of the Newspapers, he expressed himself with a just warmth in -condemnation of such a trick. - -“Sir” (said he to the Chaplain), “in my young days we should have -scorned to have faked up work, well done for a particular object, in -a new suit for the sake of wealth”; and I owe it to Lambkin’s memory -to say that he did not make a penny by his “Diary on the Deep,”[46] -in which he collected towards the end of his life his various letters -written to the Newspapers, and mostly composed at sea. - -The occasion which produced the following letter was the abominable -suppression by Italian troops of the Catholic Riots at Rome in 1873. -Englishmen of all parties had been stirred to a great indignation at -the news of the atrocities. “As a nation” (to quote my dear friend) “we -are slow to anger, but our anger is terrible.” And such was indeed the -case. - -A great meeting was held at Hampstead, in which Mr. Ram made his famous -speech. “This is not a question of religion or of nationality but of -manhood (he had said), and if we do not give our sympathy freely, if we -do not send out correspondents to inform us of the truth, if we do not -meet in public and protest, if we do not write and speak and read till -our strength be exhausted, then is England no longer the England of -Cromwell and of Peel.” - -Such public emotion could not fail to reach Lambkin. I remember his -coming to me one night into my rooms and saying “George (for my name -is George), I had to-day a letter from Mr. Solomon’s paper--_The Sunday -Englishman_. They want me to go and report on this infamous matter, and -I will go. Do not attempt to dissuade me. I shall return--if God spares -my life--before the end of the vacation. The offer is most advantageous -in every way: I mean to England, to the cause of justice, and to that -freedom of thought without which there is no true religion. For, -understand me, that though these poor wretches are Roman Catholics, I -hold that every man should have justice, and my blood boils within me.” - -He left me with a parting grip of the hand, promising to bring me back -photographs from the Museum at Naples. - -If the letter that follows appears to be lacking in any full account of -the Italian army and its infamies, if it is observed to be meagre and -jejune on the whole subject of the Riots, that is to be explained by -the simple facts that follow. - -When Lambkin sailed, the British Fleet had already occupied a deep and -commodious harbour on the coast of Apulia, and public irritation was -at its height; but by the time he landed the Quirinal had been forced -to an apology, the Vatican had received monetary compensation, and the -Piedmontese troops had been compelled to evacuate Rome. - -He therefore found upon landing at Leghorn[47] a telegram from the -newspaper, saying that his services were not required, but that the -monetary engagements entered into by the proprietors would be strictly -adhered to. - -Partly pleased, partly disappointed, Lambkin returned to Oxford, -taking sketches on the way from various artists whom he found willing -to sell their productions. These he later hung round his room, not on -nails (which as he very properly said, defaced the wall), but from a -rail;--their colours are bright and pleasing. He also brought me the -photographs I asked him for, and they now hang in my bedroom. - -This summary must account for the paucity of the notes that follow, and -the fact that they were never published. - -[There was some little doubt as to whether certain strictures on -the First Mate in Mr. Lambkin’s letters did not affect one of our -best families. Until I could make certain whether the Estate should -be credited with a receipt on this account or debited with a loss I -hesitated to publish. Mr. Lambkin left no heirs, but he would have been -the first to regret (were he alive) any diminution of his small fortune. - -I am glad to say that it has been satisfactorily settled, and that -while all parties have gained none have lost by the settlement.] - - - * * * * * - - -THE LETTERS - - _s.s. Borgia, Gravesend, - Sunday, Sept. 27th, 1873_ - -Whatever scruples I might have had in sending off my first letter -before I had left the Thames, and upon such a day, are dissipated -by the emotions to which the scenes I have just passed through give -rise.[48] - -What can be more marvellous than this historic river! All is dark, save -where the electric light on shore, the river-boats’ lanterns on the -water, the gas-lamps and the great glare of the town[49] dispel the -gloom. And over the river itself, the old Tamesis, a profound silence -reigns, broken only by the whistling of the tugs, the hoarse cries of -the bargemen and the merry banjo-party under the awning of our ship. -All is still, noiseless and soundless: a profound silence broods over -the mighty waters. It is night. - -It is night and silent! Silence and night! The two primeval things! -I wonder whether it has ever occurred to the readers of the _Sunday -Englishman_ to travel over the great waters, or to observe in their -quiet homes the marvellous silence of the night? Would they know of -what my thoughts were full? They were full of those poor Romans, -insulted, questioned and disturbed by a brutal soldiery, and I thought -of this: that we who go out on a peculiarly pacific mission, who have -only to write while others wield the sword, we also do our part. Pray -heaven the time may soon come when an English Protectorate shall be -declared over Rome and the hateful rule of the Lombard foreigners shall -cease.[50] - -There is for anyone of the old viking blood a kind of fascination in -the sea. The screw is modern, but its vibration is the very movement -of the wild white oars that brought the Northmen[51] to the field of -Senlac.[52] Now I know how we have dared and done all. I could conquer -Sicily to-night. - -As I paced the deck, an officer passed and slapped me heartily on -the shoulder. It was the First Mate. A rough diamond but a diamond -none the less. He asked me where I was bound to. I said Leghorn. He -then asked me if I had all I needed for the voyage. It seems that I -had strayed on to the part of the deck reserved for the second-class -passengers. I informed him of his error. He laughed heartily and said -we shouldn’t quarrel about that. I said his ship seemed to be a Saucy -Lass. He answered “That’s all right,” asked me if I played “Turn-up -Jack,” and left me. It is upon men like this that the greatness of -England is founded. - -Well, I will “turn in” and “go below” for my watch; “you gentlemen of -England” who read the _Sunday Englishman_, you little know what life is -like on the high seas; but we are one, I think, when it comes to the -love of blue water. - - _Posted at Dover, Monday, Sept. 28, 1873._ - -We have dropped the pilot. I have nothing in particular to write. -There is a kind of monotony about a sea voyage which is very depressing -to the spirits. The sea was smooth last night, and yet I awoke this -morning with a feeling of un-quiet to which I have long been a -stranger, and which should not be present in a healthy man. I fancy -the very slight oscillation of the boat has something to do with it, -though the lady sitting next to me tells me that one only feels it in -steamboats. She said her dear husband had told her it was “the smell of -the oil”--I hinted that at breakfast one can talk of other things. - -The First Mate sits at the head of our table. I do not know how it is, -but there is a lack of _social reaction_ on board a ship. A man is a -seaman or a passenger, and there is an end of it. One has no fixed -rank, and the wholesome discipline of social pressure seems entirely -lost. Thus this morning the First Mate called me “The Parson,” and I -had no way to resent his familiarity. But he meant no harm; he is a -sterling fellow. - -After breakfast my mind kept running to this question of the Roman -Persecution, and (I know not how) certain phrases kept repeating -themselves literally “_ad nauseam_” in my imagination. They kept pace -with the throb of the steamer, an altogether new sensation, and my -mind seemed (as my old tutor, Mr. Blurt, would put it) to “work in a -circle.” The pilot will take this. He is coming over the side. He is -not in the least like a sailor, but small and white. He wears a bowler -hat, and looks more like a city clerk than anything else. When I asked -the First Mate why this was, he answered “It’s the Brains that tell.” A -very remarkable statement, and one full of menace and warning for our -mercantile marine. - - * * * * * - - _Thursday, Oct. 1, 1873._ - -I cannot properly describe the freshness and beauty of the sea after a -gale. I have not the style of the great masters of English prose, and -I lack the faculty of expression which so often accompanies the poetic -soul. - -The white curling tips (white horses) come at one if one looks to -windward, or if one looks to leeward seem to flee. There is a kind of -balminess in the air born of the warm south; and there is jollity in -the whole ship’s company, as Mrs. Burton and her daughters remarked to -me this morning. I feel capable of anything. When the First Mate came -up to me this morning and tried to bait me with his vulgar chaff I -answered roundly, “Now, sir, listen to me. I am not seasick, I am not a -landlubber, I am on my sea legs again, and I would have you know that I -have not a little power to make those who attack me feel the weight of -my arm.” - -He turned from me thoroughly ashamed, and told a man to swab the decks. -The passengers appeared absorbed in their various occupations, but I -felt I had “scored a point” and I retired to my cabin. - -My steward told me of a group of rocks off the Spanish coast which we -are approaching. He said they were called “The Graveyard.” If a man can -turn his mind to the Universal Consciousness and to a Final Purpose all -foolish fears will fall into a secondary plane. I will not do myself -the injustice of saying that I was affected by the accident, but a lady -or child might have been, and surely the ship’s servants should be -warned not to talk nonsense to passengers who need all their strength -for the sea. - - _Friday, Oct. 2, 1873._ - -To-day I met the Captain. I went up on the bridge to speak to him. -I find his name is Arnssen. He has risen from the ranks, his father -having been a large haberdasher in Copenhagen and a town councillor. I -wish I could say the same of the First Mate, who is the scapegrace son -of a great English family, though he seems to feel no shame. Arnssen -and I would soon become fast friends were it not that his time is -occupied in managing the ship. He is just such an one as makes the -strength of our British Mercantile marine. He will often come and walk -with me on the deck, on which occasions I give him a cigar, or even -sometimes ask him to drink wine with me. He tells me it is against the -rules for the Captain to offer similar courtesies to his guests, but -that if ever I am in Ernskjöldj, near Copenhagen, and if he is not -absent on one of his many voyages, he will gratefully remember and -repay my kindness. - -I said to the Captain to-day, putting my hand upon his shoulder, “Sir, -may one speak from one’s heart?” “Yes,” said he, “certainly, and God -bless you for your kind thought.” “Sir,” said I, “you are a strong, -silent, God-fearing man and my heart goes out to you--no more.” He was -silent, and went up on the bridge, but when I attempted to follow him, -he assured me it was not allowed. - -Later in the day I asked him what he thought of the Roman trouble. He -answered, “Oh! knock their heads together and have done with it.” It -was a bluff seaman’s answer, but is it not what England would have said -in her greatest days? Is it not the very feeling of a Chatham? - -I no longer speak to the First Mate. But in a few days I shall be able -to dismiss the fellow entirely from my memory, so I will not dwell on -his insolence. - - _Leghorn, Oct. 5, 1873._ - -Here is the end of it. I have nothing more to say. I find that the -public has no need of my services, and that England has suffered a -disastrous rebuff. The fleet has retreated from Apulia. England--let -posterity note this--has not an inch of ground in all the Italian -Peninsula. Well, we are worsted, and we must bide our time; but this I -will say: if that insolent young fool the First Mate thinks that his -family shall protect him he is mistaken. The press is a great power and -never greater than where (as in England) a professor of a university or -the upper classes write for the papers, and where a rule of anonymity -gives talent and position its full weight.[53] - - - - -IX. - -Lambkin’s Address to the League of Progress - - -Everybody will remember the famous meeting of the Higher Spinsters -in 1868; a body hitherto purely voluntary in its organisation, it -had undertaken to add to the houses of the poor and wretched the -element which reigns in the residential suburbs of our great towns. If -Whitechapel is more degraded now than it was thirty years ago we must -not altogether disregard the earlier efforts of the Higher Spinsters, -they laboured well each in her own sphere and in death they were not -divided. - -The moment however which gave their embryonic conceptions an organic -form did not sound till this year of 1868. It was in the Conference -held at Burford during that summer that, to quote their eloquent -circular, “the ideas were mooted and the feeling was voiced which -made us what we are.” In other words the Higher Spinsters were merged -in the new and greater society of the League of Progress. How much -the League of Progress has done, its final recognition by the County -Council, the sums paid to its organisers and servants I need not here -describe; suffice it to say that, like all our great movements, it -was a spontaneous effort of the upper middle class, that it concerned -itself chiefly with the artisans, whom it desired to raise to its own -level, and that it has so far succeeded as to now possess forty-three -Cloisters in our great towns, each with its Grand Master, Chatelaine, -Corporation of the Burghers of Progress and Lay Brothers, the whole -supported upon salaries suitable to their social rank and proceeding -entirely from voluntary contributions with the exception of that part -of the revenue which is drawn from public funds. - -The subject of the Conference, out of which so much was destined to -grow, was “The Tertiary Symptoms of Secondary Education among the Poor.” - -Views upon this matter were heard from every possible standpoint; men -of varying religious persuasions from the Scientific Agnostic to the -distant Parsee lent breadth and elasticity to the fascinating subject. -Its chemical aspect was admirably described (with experiments) by Sir -Julius Wobble, the Astronomer Royal, and its theological results by the -Reader in Burmesan. - -Lambkin was best known for the simple eloquence in which he could -clothe the most difficult and confused conceptions. It was on this -account that he was asked to give the Closing Address with which the -Proceedings terminated. - -Before reciting it I must detain the reader with one fine anecdote -concerning this occasion, a passage worthy of the event and of the man. -Lambkin (as I need hardly say) was full of his subject, enthusiastic -and absorbed. No thought of gain entered his head, nor was he the -kind of man to have applied for payment unless he believed money to -be owing to him. Nevertheless it would have been impossible to leave -unremunerated such work as that which follows. It was decided by the -authorities to pay him a sum drawn from the fees which the visitors had -paid to visit the College Fish-Ponds, whose mediæval use in monkish -times was explained in a popular style by one who shall be nameless, -but who gave his services gratuitously. - -After their departure Mr. Large entered Lambkin’s room with an -envelope, wishing to add a personal courtesy to a pleasant duty, and -said: - -“I have great pleasure, my dear Lambkin, in presenting you with this -Bank Note as a small acknowledgment of your services at the Conference.” - -Lambkin answered at once with: - -“My dear Large, I shall be really displeased if you estimate that -slight performance of a pleasurable task at so high a rate as ten -pounds.” - -Nor indeed was this the case. For when Lambkin opened the enclosure -(having waited with delicate courtesy for his visitor to leave -the room) he discovered but five pounds therein. But note what -follows--Lambkin neither mentioned the matter to a soul, nor passed -the least stricture upon Large’s future actions, save in those matters -where he found his colleague justly to blame: and in the course of the -several years during which they continually met, the restraint and -self-respect of his character saved him from the use of ignoble weapons -whether of pen or tongue. It was a lesson in gentlemanly irony to see -my friend take his place above Large at high table in the uneasy days -that followed. - - - THE ADDRESS - - MY DEAR FRIENDS, - -I shall attempt to put before you in a few simple, but I hope -well-chosen words, the views of a plain man upon the great subject -before us to-day. I shall attempt with the greatest care to avoid -any personal offence, but I shall not hesitate to use the knife with -an unsparing hand, as is indeed the duty of the Pastor whosoever he -may be. I remember a late dear friend of mine [who would not wish me -to make his name public but whom you will perhaps recognise in the -founder and builder of the new Cathedral at Isaacsville in Canada[54]]. -I remember his saying to me with a merry twinkle of the eye that -looms only from the free manhood of the west: “Lambkin,” said he, -“would you know how I made my large fortune in the space of but three -months, and how I have attained to such dignity and honour? It was by -following this simple maxim which my dear mother[55] taught me in the -rough log-cabin[56] of my birth: ‘Be courteous to all strangers, but -familiar with none.’”[57] - -My friends, you are not strangers, nay, on the present solemn occasion -I think I may call you friends--even brethren!--dear brothers and -sisters! But a little bird has told me.... (_Here a genial smile passed -over his face and he drank a draught of pure cold water from a tumbler -at his side._) A little bird has told me, I say, that some of you -feared a trifle of just harshness, a reprimand perhaps, or a warning -note of danger, at the best a doubtful and academic temper as to the -future. Fear nothing. I shall pursue a far different course, and -however courteous I may be I shall indulge in no familiarities. - -“The Tertiary symptoms of Secondary Education among the Poor” is -a noble phrase and expresses a noble idea. Why the very words are -drawn from our Anglo-Saxon mother-tongue deftly mingled with a few -expressions borrowed from the old dead language of long-past Greece and -Rome. - -What is Education? The derivation of the word answers this question. It -is from “e” that is “out of,” “duc-o” “I lead,” from the root Duc--to -lead, to govern (whence we get so many of our most important words such -as “Duke”; “Duck” = a drake; etc.) and finally the termination “-tio” -which corresponds to the English “-ishness.” We may then put the whole -phrase in simple language thus, “The threefold Showings of twofold -Led-out-of-ishness among the Needy.” - -The Needy! The Poor! Terrible words! It has been truly said that -we have them always with us. It is one of our peculiar glories in -nineteenth century England, that we of the upper classes have fully -recognised our heavy responsibility towards our weaker fellow-citizens. -Not by Revolution, which is dangerous and vain, not by heroic -legislation or hair-brained schemes of universal panaceas, not by -frothy Utopias. No!--by solid hard work, by quiet and persistent -effort, with the slow invisible tenacity that won the day at Badajoz, -we have won this great social victory. And if any one should ask me for -the result I should answer him--go to Bolton, go to Manchester, go to -Liverpool; go to Hull or Halifax--the answer is there. - -There are many ways in which this good work is proceeding. Life is a -gem of many facets. Some of my friends take refuge in Prayer, others -have joined the Charity Organisation Society, others again have -laboured in a less brilliant but fully as useful a fashion by writing -books upon social statistics which command an enormous circulation. You -have turned to education, and you have done well. Show me a miner or -a stevedore who attends his lectures upon Rossetti, and I will show -you a man. Show me his wife or daughter at a cookery school or engaged -in fretwork, and I will shew you a woman. A man and a woman--solemn -thought! - -A noble subject indeed and one to occupy the whole life of a man! This -“Education,” this “Leading-out-of,” is the matter of all our lives here -in Oxford except in the vacation.[58] And what an effect it has! Let me -prove it in a short example. - -At a poor lodging-house in Lafayette, Pa., U.S.A., three well-educated -men from New England who had fallen upon evil times were seated at a -table surrounded by a couple of ignorant and superstitious Irishmen; -these poor untaught creatures, presuming upon their numbers, did not -hesitate to call the silent and gentlemanly unfortunates “Dommed -High-faluthing Fules”; but mark the sequel. A fire broke out in the -night. The house was full of these Irishmen and of yet more repulsive -Italians. Some were consumed by the devouring element, others -perished in the flames, others again saved their lives by a cowardly -flight.[59] But what of those three from Massachusetts whom better -principles had guided in youth and with whom philosophy had replaced -the bitter craft of the Priest? They were found--my dear friends--they -were found still seated calmly at the table; they had not moved; no -passion had blinded them, no panic disturbed: in their charred and -blackened features no trace of terror was apparent. Such is the effect, -such the glory of what my late master and guide, the Professor of -Tautology, used to call the “Principle of the Survival of the Fittest.” - -(_Applause, which was only checked by a consideration for the respect -due to the Sacred edifice._) - -Go forth then! Again I say go forth! Go forth! Go forth! The time is -coming when England will see that your claims to reverence, recognition -and emolument are as great as our own. I repeat it, go forth, and when -you have brought the great bulk of families to change their mental -standpoint, then indeed you will have transformed the world! For -without the mind the human intellect is nothing. - - - - -X. - -Lambkin’s Leader - - -Mr. Solomon was ever determined to keep the _Sunday Englishman_ at a -high level. “We owe it” (he would say) “first to the public who are -thereby sacrificed--I mean satisfied--and to ourselves, who secure -thereby a large and increasing circulation.” [“Ourselves” alluded to -the shareholders, for the _Sunday Englishman_ was a limited Company, in -which the shares (of which Mr. Solomon held the greater number) were -distributed in the family; the tiniest toddler of two years old was -remembered, and had been presented with a share by his laughing and -generous parent.] - -In this laudable effort to keep “abreast of the times” (as he phrased -it), the Editor and part Proprietor determined to have leaders written -by University men, who from their position of vantage enjoy a unique -experience in practical matters. He had formed a very high opinion -of Lambkin’s journalistic capacity from his unpublished letters as a -special correspondent. Indeed, he was often heard to say that “a man -like him was lost at Oxford, and was born for Fleet Street.” He wrote, -therefore, to Mr. Lambkin and gave him “Carte Blanche,” as one French -scholar to another, sending him only the general directions that his -leader must be “smart, up-to-date, and with plenty of push,” it was to -be “neither too long nor too short,” and while it should be written in -an easy familiar tone, there should be little or no seriously offensive -matter included. - -Mr. Lambkin was delighted, and when at his request the article had been -paid for, he sent in the following: - - * * * * * - -THE LEADER. - -“The English-Speaking Race has--if we except the Dutch, Negro, and -Irish elements--a marvellous talent for self-government. From the -earliest origins of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers to the latest Parish -Council, guided but not controlled by the modern ‘Mass Thegen’ or local -‘Gesithcund man,’ this talent, or rather genius, is apparent. We cannot -tell why, in the inscrutable designs of Providence, our chosen race -should have been so specially gifted, but certain it is that wherever -plain ordinary men _such as I who write this and you who read it_,[60] -may be planted, there they cause the desert to blossom, and the waters -to gush from the living rock. Who has not known, whether among his -personal acquaintance or from having read of him in books, the type -of man who forms the strength of this mighty national organism? And -who has not felt that he is himself something of that kidney? We stand -aghast at our own extraordinary power, and it has been finely said that -Nelson was greater than he knew. From one end of the earth to the other -the British language is spoken and understood. The very words that I am -writing will be read to-morrow in London, the day after in Oxford--and -from this it is but a step to the uttermost parts of the earth. - -“Under these conditions of power, splendour, and domination it is -intolerable that the vast metropolis of this gigantic empire should -be pestered with crawling cabs. There are indeed many things which in -the Divine plan have it in their nature to crawl. We of all the races -of men are the readiest to admit the reign of universal law. Meaner -races know not the law, but we are the children of the law, and where -crawling is part of the Cosmos we submit and quit ourselves like -men, being armed with the armour of righteousness. Thus no Englishman -(whatever foreigners may feel) is offended at a crawling insect or -worm. A wounded hare will crawl, and we Read that ‘the serpent was -cursed and crawled upon his belly’; again, Aristotle in his Ethics -talks of those whose nature (φύσις) it is ‘ἕρπειν,’ which is usually -translated ‘to crawl,’ and Kipling speaks of fifes ‘crawling.’ With -all this we have no quarrel, but the crawling cab is a shocking and -abominable thing; and if the titled owners of hansoms do not heed -the warning in time they will find that the spirit of Cromwell is -not yet dead, and mayhap the quiet determined people of this realm -will rise and sweep them and their gaudy gew-gaws and their finnicky -high-stepping horses, and their perched-up minions, from the fair face -of England.” - - - - -XI. - -Lambkin’s Remarks on the End of Term - - _Delivered in Hall on Saturday, Dec. 6th, 1887, the morning upon - which the College went down._ - - - MY DEAR FRIENDS; MY DEAR UNDERGRADUATE MEMBERS OF THIS COLLEGE, - -The end of Term is approaching--nay, is here. A little more, and we -shall meet each other no longer for six weeks. It is a solemn and -a sacred thought. It is not the sadness, and even the regret, that -takes us at the beginning of the Long Vacation. This is no definitive -close. We lose (I hope) no friends; none leave us for ever, unless I -may allude to the young man whom few of you knew, but through whose -criminal folly the head of this foundation has lost the use of one eye. - -This is not a time of exaltation, so should it not be a time for too -absolute a mourning. This is not the end of the Easter Term, nor of -the Summer Term. It is the end of Michaelmas Term. That is the fact, -and facts must be looked in the face. What are we to do with the -approaching vacation? What have we done with the past term? - -In the past term (I think I can answer for some of you) a much deeper -meaning has entered into your lives. Especially you, the young freshmen -(happily I have had the control of many, the teaching of some), I know -that life has become fuller for you. That half-hour a week to which you -pay so little heed will mean much in later years. You have come to me -in batches for half-an-hour a week, and each of you has thus enjoyed -collectively the beginning of that private control and moulding of -the character which is the object of all our efforts here in Oxford. -And can you not, as you look back, see what a great change has passed -over you in the short few months? I do not mean the corporeal change -involved by our climate or our prandial habits; neither do I allude to -the change in your dress and outward appearance. I refer to the mental -transformation. - -You arrived sure of a number of things which you had learnt at school -or at your mother’s knee. Of what are you certain now? Of nothing! It -is necessary in the mysterious scheme of education that this blind -faith or certitude should be laid as a foundation in early youth. -But it is imperative that a man--if he is to be a man and not a -monster--should lose it at the outset of his career. My young friends, -I have given you the pearl of great price. You have begun to doubt. - -Half-an-hour a week--four hours in all the term ... could any positive, -empirical, or dogmatic teaching have been conveyed in that time, or -with so much fullness as the great scheme of negation can be? I trow -not. - -So much for knowledge and tutorship. What of morals? It is a delicate -subject, but I will treat of it boldly. You all remember how, shortly -after the month of October, the College celebrated Guy Fawkes’ day: -the elders, by a dinner in honour of their founder, the juniors by -lighting a bonfire in the quadrangle. You all know what followed. I do -not wish to refer again--certainly not with bitterness--to the excesses -of that evening; but the loss of eyesight is a serious thing, and one -that the victim may forgive, but hardly can forget. I hope the lesson -will suffice, and that in future no fellow of this College will have to -regret so serious a disfigurement at the hands of a student. - -To pass to lighter things. The Smoking Concert on All Souls’ Day -was a great success. I had hoped to organise some similar jollity -on Good Friday, but I find that it falls in the Easter vacation. It -is, however, an excellent precedent, and we will not fail to have -one on some other festal occasion. To the action of one of our least -responsible members I will not refer. But surely there is neither good -breeding nor decency in dressing up as an old lady, in assuming the -name of one of our Greatest Families, and in so taking advantage of the -chivalry, and perhaps the devotion, of one’s superiors. The offence is -one that can not lightly be passed over, and the culprit will surely be -discovered. - -Of the success of the College at hockey and in the inter-University -draughts competition, I am as proud as yourselves. [_Loud cheers, -lasting for several minutes._] They were games of which in my youth I -was myself proud. On the river I see no reason to be ashamed; next term -we have the Torpids, and after that the Eights. We have no cause to -despair. It is my experience (an experience based on ten years of close -observation), that no college can permanently remain at the bottom of -the river. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the -flood leads on to fortune, let us therefore taking heart of grace and -screw our courage to the sticking point. We have the lightest cox. in -the ’Varsity and an excellent coach. Much may be done with these things. - -As to the religious state of the college it is, as you all know, -excellent--I wish I could say the same for the Inorganic Chemistry. -This province falls under the guidance of Mr. Large, but the deficiency -in our standing is entirely the fault of his pupils. There are not -twenty men in the University better fitted to teach Inorganic Chemistry -than my colleague. At any rate it is a very grave matter and one by -which a college ultimately stands or falls. - -We have had no deaths to deplore during this term, and in my opinion -the attack of mumps that affected the college during November can -hardly be called an epidemic. The drains will be thoroughly overhauled -during the vacation, and the expense of this, spread as it will be -among all undergraduate members whether in residence or not, will form -a very trifling addition to Battells. I doubt if its effect will be -felt. - -There is one last thing that I shall touch upon. We have been -constantly annoyed by the way in which undergraduates tread down the -lawn. The Oxford turf is one of the best signs of our antiquity as -a university. There is no turf like it in the world. The habit of -continually walking upon it is fatal to its appearance. Such an action -would certainly never be permitted in a gentleman’s seat, and there -is some talk of building a wall round the quadrangle to prevent the -practice in question. I need hardly tell you what a disfigurement such -a step would involve, but if there is one thing in the management of -the college that I am more determined upon than another it is that no -one be he scholar or be he commoner shall walk upon the grass! - -I wish you a very Merry Christmas at the various country houses you may -be visiting, and hope and pray that you may find united there all the -members of your own family. - -Mr. Gurge will remain behind and speak to me for a few moments. - - - - -XII. - -Lambkin’s Article on the North-west Corner of the Mosaic Pavement of -the Roman Villa at Bignor - - -Of Mr. Lambkin’s historical research little mention has been made, -because this was but the recreation of a mind whose serious work -was much more justly calculated to impress posterity. It is none -the less true that he had in the inner _coterie_ of Antiquarians, a -very pronounced reputation, and that on more than one occasion his -discoveries had led to animated dispute and even to friction. He is -referred to as “Herr Professor Lambkin” in Winsk’s “Roman Sandals,”[61] -and Mr. Bigchurch in the Preface of his exhaustive work on “The -Drainage of the Grecian Sea Port” (which includes much information -on the Ionian colonies and Magna Graecia) acknowledges Mr. Lambkin’s -“valuable sympathy and continuous friendly aid which have helped him -through many a dark hour.” Lambkin was also frequently sent books on -Greek and Roman Antiquities to review; and it must be presumed that the -editor of _Culture_,[62] who was himself an Oxford man and had taken -a House degree in 1862, would hardly have had such work done by an -ignorant man. - -If further proof were needed of Mr. Lambkin’s deep and minute -scholarship in this matter it would be discovered in the many -reproductions of antiquities which used to hang round his room -in college. They were photographs of a reddish-brown colour and -represented many objects dear to the Scholar, such as the Parthenon, -the Temples of Paestum, the Apollo Belvedere, and the Bronze head at -the Vatican; called in its original dedication an Ariadne, but more -properly described by M. Crémieux-Nathanson, in the light of modern -research, as a Silenus. - -Any doubts as to Lambkin’s full claim to detailed-knowledge in those -matters, will, however, be set at rest by the one thing he has left -us of the kind--his article in the _Revue Intellectuelle_, which was -translated for him by a Belgian friend, but of which I have preserved -the original MSS.[63] It is as follows: - - -THE ARTICLE. - -I cannot conceive how M. Bischoff[64] and Herr Crapiloni[65] can have -fallen into their grotesque error with regard to the Head in the Mosaic -at Bignor. The Head, as all the world knows, is to be found in the -extreme north-west corner of the floor of the Mosaic at Bignor, in -Sussex. Its exact dimensions from the highest point of the crown to -the point or cusp of the chin, and from the furthest back edge of the -cerebellum to the outer tip of the nose are one foot five inches and -one foot three inches, respectively. The Head is thus of the Heroic or -exaggerated size, and _not_ (as Wainwright says in his _Antiquities_), -“of life size.” It represents the head and face of an old man, and is -composed of fragments, in which are used the colours black, brown, -blue, yellow, pink, green, purple and bright orange. There can be no -doubt that the floor must have presented a very beautiful and even -brilliant appearance when it was new, but at the present day it is much -dulled from having lain buried for fifteen hundred years. - -My contention is that M. Bischoff and Herr Crapiloni have made a -very ridiculous mistake (I will not call it by a harsher name) in -representing this head to be a figure of Winter. In one case (that of -M. Bischoff) I have no doubt that patriotic notions were too strong -for a well-balanced judgment;[66] but in the other, I am at a loss to -find a sufficient basis for a statement which is not only false, but -calculated to do a grave hurt to history and even to public morals. -M. Bischoff admits that he visited England in company with Herr -Crapiloni--I have no doubt that the latter influenced the former, and -that the blame and shame of this matter must fall on the ultra-montane -German and not on the philosophical but enthusiastic Gaul. - -For my opponents’ abuse of myself in the columns of such rags as -the _Bulletin de la Société Historique de Bourges_, or the _Revue -d’Histoire Romaine_, I have only contempt and pity; but _we_ in -_England_ are taught that a lie on any matter is equally serious, and I -will be no party to the calling of the Mosaic a figure of “Winter” when -I am convinced it is nothing of the kind. - -As far as I can make out from their somewhat turgid rhetoric, my -opponents rely upon the inscription “Hiems” put in with white stones -beneath the mosaic, and they argue that, as the other four corners are -admitted to be “Spring,” “Summer,” and “Autumn,” each with their title -beneath, _therefore_ this fourth corner must be Winter! - -It is just such an argument from analogy as I should have expected -from men brought up in the corrupt morality and the base religious -conceptions of the Continent! When one is taught that authority is -everything and cannot use one’s judgment,[67] one is almost certain to -jump at conclusions in this haphazard fashion in dealing with definite -facts. - -For my part I am convinced that the head is the portrait of the Roman -proprietor of the villa, and I am equally convinced that the title -“Hiems” has been added below at a later date, so as to furnish a trap -for all self-sufficient and gullible historians. Are my continental -critics aware that _no single copy_ of the mosaic is to be found in -the whole of the Roman Remains of Britain? Are they aware the villa at -Bignor has changed hands three times in this century? I do not wish -to make any insinuations of bad faith, but I would hint that the word -“Hiems” has a fresh new look about it which puzzles me. - -To turn to another matter, though it is one connected with our subject. -The pupil of the eye has disappeared. We know that the loss is of -ancient date, as Wright mentions its absence in his catalogue. A very -interesting discussion has arisen as to the material of which the pupil -was composed. The matter occupied the Society at Dresden (of which I -am a corresponding member) in a debate of some days, I have therefore -tried to fathom it but with only partial success. I have indeed found -a triangular blue fragment which is much the same shape as the missing -cavity; it is however, somewhat larger in all its dimensions, and is -convex instead of flat, and I am assured it is but a piece of blue -china of recent manufacture, of which many such odds and ends are to -be found in the fields and dustbins. If (as I strongly suspect) these -suggestions are only a ruse, and if (as I hope will be the case) my -fragment, after some filing and chipping, can be made to fit the -cavity, the discovery will be of immense value; for it will show that -the owner of the villa was a Teuton and will go far to prove the theory -of Roman continuity, which is at present based on such slight evidence. -I will let you know the result. - -The coins recently dug up in the neighbourhood, and on which so many -hopes were based, prove nothing as to the date of the mosaic. They -cannot be of Roman origin, for they bear for the most part the head and -inscription of William III., while the rest are pence and shillings of -the Georges. One coin was a guinea, and will, I fear, be sold as gold -to the bank. I was very disappointed to find so poor a result: ever -since my enquiry labourers have kept coming to me with coins obviously -modern--especially bronze coins of Napoleon III.--which they have -buried to turn them green, and subsequently hammered shapeless in the -hopes of my purchasing them. I have had the misfortune to purchase, -for no less a sum than a sovereign, what turned out to be the circular -brass label on a dog’s collar. It contained the name of “Ponto,” -inscribed in a classic wreath which deceived me. - -Nothing else of real importance has occurred since my last -communication. - - - - -XIII. - -Lambkin’s Sermon. - - -A man not over-given to mere words, Lambkin was always also somewhat -diffident of his pulpit eloquence and his sermons were therefore rare. -It must not be imagined that he was one of those who rebel vainly -against established usage. There was nothing in him of the blatant and -destructive demagogue; no character could have been more removed from -the demons who drenched the fair soil of France with such torrents of -blood during the awful reign of terror. - -But just as he was in politics a liberal in the truest sense (not in -the narrow party definition of the word), so in the religious sphere -he descried the necessity of gentle but persistent reform. “The -present,” he would often say, “is inseparable from the past,” but he -would add “continual modification to suit the necessities of a changing -environment is a cardinal condition of vitality.” - -It was, therefore, his aim to keep the form of all existing -institutions and merely to change their matter. - -Thus, he was in favour of the retention of the Regius Professorship -of Greek, and even voted for a heavy increase in the salary of its -occupant; but he urged and finally carried the amendment by which -that dignitary is at present compelled to lecture mainly on current -politics. Mathematics again was a subject whose interest he discerned, -however much he doubted its value as a mental discipline; he was, -therefore, a supporter of the prize fellowships occasionally offered on -the subject, but, in the determination of the successful candidate he -would give due weight to the minutiae of dress and good manners. - -It will be seen from all this that if Lambkin was essentially a modern, -yet he was as essentially a wise and moderate man; cautious in action -and preferring judgment to violence he would often say, “_trans_former -please, not _re_former,” when his friends twitted him over the port -with his innovations.[68] - -Religion, then, which must be a matter of grave import to all, was not -neglected by such a mind. - -He saw that all was not lost when dogma failed, but that the great -ethical side of the system could be developed in the room left by the -decay of its formal character. Just as a man who has lost his fingers -will sometimes grow thumbs in their place, so Lambkin foresaw that in -the place of what was an atrophied function, vigorous examples of an -older type might shoot up, and the organism would gain in breadth what -it lost in definition. “I look forward to the time” (he would cry) -“when the devotional hand of man shall be all thumbs.” - -The philosophy which he thus applied to formal teaching and dogma took -practical effect in the no less important matter of the sermon. He -retained that form or shell, but he raised it as on stepping-stones -from its dead self to higher things; the success of many a man in this -life has been due to the influence exerted by his simple words. - -The particular allocution which I have chosen as the best illustration -of his method was not preached in the College Chapel, but was on the -contrary a University Sermon given during eight weeks. It ran as -follows: - - -SERMON - -I take for my text a beautiful but little-known passage from the -Talmud: - - “_I will arise and gird up my lions--I mean loins--and go; yea, I - will get me out of the land of my fathers which is in Ben-ramon, even - unto Edom and the Valley of Kush and the cities about Laban to the - uttermost ends of the earth._” - -There is something about foreign travel, my dear Brethren, which seems, -as it were, a positive physical necessity to our eager and high-wrought -generation. At specified times of the year we hunt, or debate; we -attend to our affairs in the city, or we occupy our minds with the -guidance of State. The ball-room, the drawing-room, the club, each have -their proper season. In our games football gives place to cricket, and -the deep bay of the faithful hound yields with the advancing season to -the sharp crack of the Winchester, as the grouse, the partridge, or the -very kapper-capercailzie itself falls before the superior intelligence -of man. One fashion also will succeed another, and in the mysterious -development of the years--a development not entirely under the guidance -of our human wills--the decent croquet-ball returns to lawns that had -for so long been strangers to aught but the fierce agility of tennis. - -So in the great procession of the times and the seasons, there comes -upon us the time for travel. It is not (my dear Brethren), it is -not in the winter when all is covered with a white veil of snow--or -possibly transformed with the marvellous effects of thaw; it is not -in the spring when the buds begin to appear in the hedges, and when -the crocus studs the spacious sward in artful disorder and calculated -negligence--no it is not then--the old time of Pilgrimage,[69] that our -positive and enlightened era chooses for its migration.[70] - -It is in the burning summer season, when the glare of the sun is almost -painful to the jaded eye of the dancer, when the night is shortest and -the day longest, that we fly from these inhospitable shores and green -fields of England. - -And whither do we fly? Is it to the cool and delicious north, to the -glaciers of Greenland, or to the noble cliffs and sterling characters -of Orkney? Is it to Norway? Can it be to Lapland? Some perhaps, a very -few, are to be found journeying to these places in the commodious -and well-appointed green boats of Mr. Wilson, of Tranby Croft. But, -alas! the greater number leave the hot summer of England for the yet -more torrid climes of Italy, Spain, the Levant and the Barbary coast. -Negligent of the health that is our chiefest treasure, we waste our -energies in the malaria of Rome, or in Paris poison our minds with the -contempt aroused by the sight of hideous foreigners. - -Let me turn from this painful aspect of a question which certainly -presents nobler and more useful issues. It is most to our purpose, -perhaps, in a certain fashion; it is doubtless more to our purpose in -many ways to consider on an occasion such as this the moral aspects of -foreign travel, and chief among these I reckon those little points of -mere every day practice, which are of so much greater importance than -the rare and exaggerated acts to which our rude ancestors gave the name -of Sins. - -Consider the over-charges in hotels. The economist may explain, -the utilitarian may condone such action, but if we are to make for -Righteousness, we cannot pass without censure a practice which we would -hardly go so far as to condemn. If there be in the sacred edifice any -one of those who keep houses of entertainment upon the Continent, -especially if there sit among you any representative of that class in -Switzerland, I would beg him to consider deeply a matter which the -fanatical clergy of his land may pardon, but which it is the duty of -ours to publicly deplore. - -Consider again the many examples of social and moral degradation which -we meet with in our journeyings! We pass from the coarse German, to the -inconstant Gaul. We fly the indifference and ribald scoffing of Milan -only to fall into the sink of idolatory and superstition which men -call Naples; we observe in our rapid flight the indolent Spaniard, the -disgusting Slav, the uncouth Frisian and the frightful Hun. Our travels -will not be without profit if they teach us to thank Heaven that our -fathers preserved us from such a lot as theirs. - -Again, we may consider the great advantages that we may gather as -individuals from travel. We can exercise our financial ingenuity (and -this is no light part of mental training) in arranging our expenses -for the day. We can find in the corners of foreign cities those relics -of the Past which the callous and degraded people of the place ignore, -and which are reserved for the appreciation of a more vigorous race. In -the galleries we learn the beauties of a San Mirtānoja, and the vulgar -insufficiency and ostentation of a Sanzio.[71] In a thousand ways the -experience of the Continent is a consolation and a support. - -Fourthly, my dear brethren, we contrast our sturdy and honest crowd of -tourists with the ridiculous castes and social pettiness of the ruck -of foreign nations. There the peasant, the bourgeois, the noble, the -priest, the politician, the soldier, seems each to live in his own -world. In our happier England there are but two classes, the owners of -machinery and the owners of land; and these are so subtly and happily -mixed, there is present at the same time so hearty an independence -and so sensible a recognition of rank, that the whole vast mass of -squires and merchants mingle in an exquisite harmony, and pour like a -life-giving flood over the decaying cities of Europe. - -But I have said enough. I must draw to a close. The love of fame, which -has been beautifully called the last infirmity of noble-minds, alone -would tempt me to proceed. But I must end. I hope that those of you who -go to Spain will visit the unique and interesting old town of Saragossa. - -(_Here Mr. Lambkin abruptly left the Pulpit._) - - - - -XIV. - -Lambkin’s Open Letter to Churchmen - - -The noise made by Mr. Lambkin’s famous advice to Archdeacon Burfle -will be remembered by all my readers. He did not, however, publish -the letter (as is erroneously presumed in _Great Dead Men of the -Period_),[72] without due discussion and reflection. I did not -personally urge him to make it public--I thought it unwise. But -Mr. Large may almost be said to have insisted upon it in the long -Conversation which he and Josiah had upon the matter. When Lambkin -had left Large’s room I took the liberty of going up to see him -again, but the fatal missive had been posted, and appeared next day -in _The Times_, the _Echo_, and other journals, not to mention the -_Englishman’s Anchor_. I do not wish to accuse Mr. Large of any -malicious purpose or deliberately misleading intention, but I fear that -(as he was not an impulsive man) his advice can only have proceeded -from a woeful and calculated lack of judgment. - -There is no doubt that (from Lambkin’s own point of view), the -publication of this letter was a very serious error. It bitterly -offended Arthur Bundleton, and alienated all the “Pimlico” group (as -they were then called). At the same time it did not satisfy the small -but eager and cultured body who followed Tamworthy. It gave a moderate -pleasure to the poorer clergy in the country parishes, but I doubt -very much whether these are the men from whom social advantage or -ecclesiastical preferment is to be expected. I often told Lambkin that -the complexity of our English Polity was a dangerous thing to meddle -with. “A man,” I would say to him, “who expresses an opinion is like -one who plunges a knife into some sensitive part of the human frame. -The former may offend unwittingly by the mere impact of his creed or -prejudice, much as the latter may give pain by happening upon some -hidden nerve.” - -Now Lambkin was essentially a wise man. He felt the obligation--the -duty (to give it a nobler name)--which is imposed on all of us of -studying our fellows. He did not, perhaps, say where his mind lay -in any matter more than half a dozen times in his life, for fear of -opposing by such an expression the wider experience or keener emotion -of the society around him. He felt himself a part of a great stream, -which it was the business of a just man to follow, and if he spoke -strongly (as he often did) it was in some matter upon which the vast -bulk of his countrymen were agreed; indeed he rightly gave to public -opinion, and to the governing classes of the nation, an overwhelming -weight in his system of morals; and even at twenty-one he had a -wholesome contempt for the doctrinaire enthusiast who neglects his -newspaper and hatches an ethical system out of mere blind tradition or -(what is worse) his inner conscience. - -It is remarkable, therefore, that such a man should have been guilty of -one such error. “It was not a crime,” he said cleverly, in speaking of -the matter to me, “it was worse; it was a blunder.” And that is what we -all felt. The matter can be explained, however, by a reference to the -peculiar conditions of the moment in which it appeared. The Deanery of -Bury had just fallen vacant by death of Henry Carver, the elder.[73] A -Liberal Unionist Government was in power, and Lambkin perhaps imagined -that controversy still led--as it had done but a few years before--to -the public notice which it merits. He erred, but it was a noble error. - -One thing at least we can rejoice in, the letter may have hurt Lambkin -in this poor mortal life; but it was of incalculable advantage to the -generation immediately succeeding his own. I cannot but believe that -from that little source springs all the mighty river of reform which -has left so profound a mark upon the hosiery of this our day. - -The letter is as follows:-- - - -AN OPEN LETTER - - BURFORD. _St. John’s Eve, 1876._ - - MY DEAR BURFLE, - - You have asked my advice on a matter of deep import, a matter upon - which every self-respecting Englishman is asking himself the question - “Am I a _sheep_ or a _goat_?” My dear Burfle, I will answer you - straight out, and I know you will not be angry with me if I answer - also in the agora, “before the people,” as Paul would have done. Are - you a _sheep_ or a _goat_? Let us think. - - You say rightly that the question upon which all this turns is the - question of boots. It is but a symbol, but it is a symbol upon which - all England is divided. On the one hand we have men strenuous, - determined, eager--men (if I may say so) of true Apostolic quality, - to whom the buttoned boot is sacred to a degree some of us may find - it difficult to understand. They are few, are these devout pioneers, - but they are in certain ways, and from some points of view, among the - _élite_ of the Nation, so to speak. - - On the other hand we have the great mass of sensible men, earnest, - devout, practical--what Beeker calls in a fine phrase “Thys corpse - and verie bodie of England[74]”--determined to maintain what their - fathers had before them, and insisting on the laced boot as the - proper foot-gear of the Church. - - No one is more sensible than myself (my dear Burfle), I say no one is - more sensible than I am, of the gravity of this schism--for schism - it threatens to be. And no one appreciates more than I do how much - there is to be said on both sides. The one party will urge (with - perfect justice), that the buttoned boot is a development. They - maintain (and there is much to be said in their favour), that the - common practice of wearing buttoned boots, their ornate appearance, - and the indication of well-being which they afford, fit them most - especially for the Service of the Temple. They are seen upon the feet - of Parisians, of Romans, of Viennese; they are associated with our - modern occasions of Full Dress, and when we wear them we feel that we - are one with all that is of ours in Christendom. In a word, they are - Catholic, in the best and truest sense of the word. - - Now, my dear Burfle, consider the other side of the argument. The - laced boot, modern though it be in form and black and solid, is - yet most undoubtedly the Primitive Boot in its essential. That the - early Christians wore sandals is now beyond the reach of doubt or the - power of the wicked. There is indeed the famous forgery of Gelasius, - which may have imposed upon the superstition of the dark ages,[75] - there is the doubtful evidence also of the mosaic at Ravenna. But - the only solid ground ever brought forward was the passage in the - Pseudo-Johannes, which no modern scholar will admit to refer to - buttons. ξύγον means among other things a lace, an absolute lace, - and I defy our enemies (who are many and unscrupulous), to deny. The - Sandal has been finally given its place as a Primitive Christian - ornament; and we can crush the machinations of foreign missions, I - think, with the plain sentence of that great scholar, Dr. Junker, - “The sandal,” he says, “is the parent of the laced boot.” - - So far then, so good. You see (my dear Burfle), how honestly the two - sides may differ, and how, with such a backing upon either side, the - battle might rage indefinitely, to the final extinction, perhaps, of - our beloved country and its most cherished institutions. - - Is there no way by which such a catastrophe may be avoided? - - Why most certainly _yes_. There is a road on which both may travel, - a place in which all may meet. I mean the boot (preferably the - cloth boot) with elastic sides. Already it is worn by many of our - clergy.[76] It offends neither party, it satisfies, or should - satisfy, both; and for my part, I see in it one of those compromises - upon which our greatness is founded. Let us then determine to be in - this matter neither _sheep_ nor _goats_. It is better, far better, to - admit some sheepishness into our goatishness, or (if our extremists - _will_ have it so), some goatishness into our sheepishness--it is - better, I say, to enter one fold and be at peace together, than to - imperil our most cherished and beloved tenets in a mere wrangle upon - non-essentials. For, after all what is essential to us? Not boots, I - think, but righteousness. Righteousness may express itself in boots, - it is just and good that it should do so, but to see righteousness in - the boot itself is to fall into the gross materialism of the middle - ages, and to forget our birthright and the mess of pottage. - - Yours (my dear Burfle) in all charity, - - JOSIAH LAMBKIN. - - - - -XV. - -Lambkin’s Letter to a French Friend - - -Lambkin’s concern for the Continent was deep and lasting. He knew the -Western part of this Division of the Globe from a constant habit of -travel which would take him by the Calais-Bâle, passing through the -St. Gothard by night, and so into the storied plains of Italy.[77] It -was at Milan that he wrote his _Shorter Anglo-Saxon Grammar_, and in -Assisi that he corrected the proofs of his article on the value of -oats as human food. Everyone will remember the abominable outrage at -Naples, where he was stabbed by a coachman in revenge for his noble and -disinterested protection of a poor cab-horse; in a word, Italy is full -of his vacations, and no name is more familiar to the members of the -Club at the Villa Marinoni. - -It may seem strange that under such circumstances our unhappy -neighbours across the Channel should so especially have taken up his -public action. He was no deep student of the French tongue, and he -had but a trifling acquaintance with the habits of the common people -of that country; but he has said himself with great fervour, in his -“Thoughts on Political Obligations,” that no man could be a good -citizen of England who did not understand her international position. -“What” (he would frequently exclaim) “what can they know of England, -who only England know?”[78] He did not pretend to a familiarity with -the minute details of foreign policy, nor was he such a pedant as to -be offended at the good-humoured chaff directed against his accent in -the pronunciation of foreign names. Nevertheless he thought it--and -rightly thought it--part of his duty to bring into any discussion of -the affairs of the Republic those chance phrases which lend colour and -body to a conversation. He found this duty as it lay in his path and -accomplished it, without bombast, but with full determination, and -with a vast firmness of purpose. Thus he would often let drop such -expressions as “état majeur,” “la cléricalisme c’est l’ennemi,” “l’état -c’est moi,”[79] and such was his painful and exact research that he -first in the University arrived at the meaning of the word “bordereau,” -which, until his discovery, all had imagined to be a secret material of -peculiar complexity. - -Mr. Lambkin had but one close friend in France, a man who had from -cosmopolitan experience acquired a breadth and humour which the -Frenchman so conspicuously lacks; he united, therefore, the charm -of the French character to that general experience which Lambkin -invariably demanded of his friends, and the fact that he belonged to -a small political minority and had so long associated with foreigners -had winnowed from that fine soul the grossness and one-sidedness, the -mingled vanity and ferocity, which seems so fatal a part of the Gallic -temper. In some ways this friend reminded one of the great Huguenots -whom France to her eternal loss banished by the revocation of the Edict -of Nantes, and of whom a bare twenty thousand are now to be found in -the town of Nîmes. In other ways this gifted mind recalled--and this -would be in his moments of just indignation--the manner and appearance -of a Major Prophet. - -Jules de la Vaguère dè Bissac was the first of his family to bear that -ancient name, but not the least worthy. Born on a Transatlantic in the -port of Hamburg, his first experience of life had been given him in the -busy competition of New York. It was there that he acquired the rapid -glance, the grasp, the hard business head which carried him from Buenos -Ayres to Amsterdam, and finally to a fortune. His wealth he spent in -the entertainment of his numerous friends, in the furtherance of just -aims in politics (to which alas! the rich in France do not subscribe -as they should), to the publication of sound views in the press, and -occasionally (for old habit is second nature[80]), in the promotion -of some industrial concern destined to benefit his country and the -world.[81] With transactions, however sound and honest, that savoured -of mere speculation De Bissac would have nothing to do, and when his -uncle and brother fled the country in 1887, he helped, indeed, with his -purse but he was never heard to excuse or even to mention the poor, -fallen men. - -His hotel in the Rue des Fortifications (a modest but coquettish -little gem, whose doors were bronze copies of the famous gates of the -Baptistery at Florence), had often received Mr. Lambkin and a happy -circle of friends. Judge then of the horror and indignation with which -Oxford heard that two of its beautiful windows had been intentionally -broken on the night of June 15th, 1896. The famous figure of “Mercy,” -taken from the stained glass at Rheims, was destroyed and one of the -stones had fallen on the floor within an inch of a priceless Sèvres -vase that had once belonged to Law and had been bought from M. Panama. -It was on the occasion of this abominable outrage that Mr. Lambkin sent -the following letter, which, as it was published in the _Horreur_, I -make no scruple of reprinting. But, for the sake of the historical -interest it possesses, I give it in its original form:-- - - “CHER AMI ET MONSIEUR, - - Je n’ai pas de doute que vous aurez souvenu votre visite à Oxford, - car je suis bien sur que je souviens ma visite à Paris, quand je fus - recu avec tant de bienveillance par vous et votre aimable famille. - - Vous aurez donc immediatement après l’accident pensé à nous car vous - aurez su que nous étions, moi et Bilkin, vos amis sincerès surtout - dans la politique. Nous avons expecté quelque chose pareille et nous - comprenons bien pourquoi c’est le mauvais Durand qui a jété les - pierres. Vous avez été trop bon pour cet homme là. Souvenez-vous en - future que c’est exactement ceux à qui nous pretons de l’argent et - devraient être dévoués à nous, qui deviennent des ennemis. Voilà - ce qui empêche si souvent de faire du bien excepté à ceux qui nous - seront fideles et doux. - - (_All this, being of a private nature, was not printed in M. de - Bissac’s paper. The public portion follows._) - - Il est bien evident d’où viennent des abominables et choquants choses - pareilles. C’est que la France se meurent. Un pays où il n’y a - personne[82] qui peut empecher des fanatiques de briser les verres - est un pays en décadence, voilà ce que l’Irlande aurait été si nous - étions pas là pour l’empecher. On briserait des verres très surement - et beaucoup. J’espère que je ne blesse pas votre cœur de Français en - disant tout celà, mais il est bien mieux de connaître ce que l’on a, - même si c’est mortel comme en France. - - Vous l’avez bien dit c’est les militarisme et cléricalisme qui font - ces outrages. Examinez bien l’homme qui a fait ça et vous verrez - qu’il a été baptisé et très probablement il a fait son service - militaire. Oh! Mon cher ami que Dieu[83] vous a merveilleusement - préservé de l’influence du Sabe et du Goupillon! Vous n’avez pas - fait votre service et si vous êtes sage ne faites le jamais car il - corrompt le caractère. Je nous ne l’avons pas. - - J’ai lu avec grand plaisir votre article “Le Prêtre au Bagne,” oui! - c’est au Bagne que’l on devrait envoyer les Prêtres seulement dans - un pays ou tant de personne sont Catholiques, je crains que les jurys - sentimentales de votre pays aquitterait honteusement ces hommes - néfastes. - - J’espère que je ne blesse pas votre Cœur de Catholique en disant - cela.[84] Nos Catholiques ici ne sont pas si mauvais que nos - Catholiques là-bas. Beaucoup des notres sont de très bonnes familles, - mais en Irlande l’ignorance et terrible, et on veut le faire plus - grand avec une Université! - - En éspérant que la France redeviendra son vrai même[85] ce que je - crains être impossible, je reste, mon cher ami (et Monsieur) votre - ami sincère, agriez mes vœux pressés, tout-à-toi. - - JOSUE LAMBKIN. - - - - -XVI. - -Interview with Mr. Lambkin. - - -A representative of _The J. C. R._ had, but a short while before -his death, the privilege of an interview with Mr. Lambkin on those -numerous questions of the day which the enterprise of the Press puts -before its readers. The meeting has a most pathetic interest! Here -was the old man full and portly, much alive to current questions, and -to the last a true representative of his class. Within a week the -fatal Gaudy had passed and he was no more! Though the words here given -are reported by another, they bear the full, fresh impress of his -personality and I treasure them as the last authentic expression of -that great mind. - -“Ringing the bell” (writes our representative) “at a neat villa in -the Banbury Road, the door was answered by a trim serving-maid in a -chintz gown and with a white cap on her head. The whole aspect of Mr. -Lambkin’s household without and within breathes repose and decent -merriment. I was ushered into a well-ordered study, and noticed upon -the walls a few handsome prints, chosen in perfect taste and solidly -mounted in fine frames, ‘The meeting of Wellington and Blucher at -Waterloo,’ ‘John Knox preaching before Mary Queen of Scots,’ ‘The trial -of Lord William Russell,’ and two charming pictures of a child and a -dog: ‘Can ’oo talk?’ and ‘Me too!’ completed the little gallery. I -noticed also a fine photograph of the Marquis of Llanidloes, whose -legal attainments and philological studies had formed a close bond -between him and Mr. Lambkin. A faded daguerreotype of Mr. Lambkin’s -mother and a pencil sketch of his father’s country seat possessed a -pathetic interest. - -“Mr. Lambkin came cheerily into the room, and I plunged at once ‘in -medias res.’ - -“‘Pray Mr. Lambkin what do you think of the present position of -parties?’” - -“‘Why, if you ask me,’ he replied, with an intelligent look, ‘I think -the great party system needs an opposition to maintain it in order, and -I regret the absence of any man of weight or talent--I had almost said -of common decency--on the Liberal side. The late Lord Llanidloes--who -was the old type of Liberal--such a noble heart!--said to me in this -very room, ‘Mark my words, Lambkin’ (said he) ‘_the Opposition is -doomed_.’ This was in Mr. Gladstone’s 1885 Parliament; it has always -seemed to me a wonderful prophecy. But Llanidloes was a wonderful man, -and the place of second Under-Secretary for Agriculture was all too -little a reward for such services as his to the State. ‘Do you know -those lines,’ here Mr. Lambkin grew visibly affected, ‘Then all were -for the party and none were for the State, the rich man paid the poor -man, and the weak man loved the great’? ‘I fear those times will never -come again.’ - -“A profound silence followed. ‘However,’ continued he with quiet -emphasis, ‘Home Rule is dead, and there is no immediate danger of any -tampering with the judicial system of Great Britain after the fashion -that obtains in France.’ - -“‘Yes,’ he continued, with the smile that makes him so familiar, ‘these -are my books: trifles,--but my own. Here’ (taking down a volume), ‘is -_What would Cromwell have done?_--a proposal for reforming Oxford. Then -here, in a binding with purple flowers, is my _Time and Purpose_,--a -devotional book which has sold largely. The rest of the shelf is what -I call my ‘casual’ work. It was mainly done for that great modern -publisher,--Matthew Straight, who knows so well how to combine the -old Spirit with Modern exigencies. You know his beautiful sign of the -Boiling Pot in Plummer’s Court? It was painted for him by one of his -young artists. You have doubtless seen his name in the lists of guests -at country houses; I often meet him when I go to visit my friends, and -we plan a book together. - -“‘Thus my _Boys of Great Britain_--an historical work, was conceived -over the excellent port of Baron Gusmann at Westburton Abbey. Then -there is the expansion of this book, _English Boyhood_, in three -volumes, of which only two have appeared--_Anglo-Saxon Boyhood_ and -_Mediæval Boyhood in England_. It is very laborious. - -“‘No,’ he resumed, with nervous rapidity, ‘I have not confined myself -to these. There is “_What is Will?_” “_Mehitopel the Jewess of Prague_” -(a social novel); “_The Upper House of Convocation before History_;” -“_Elements of the Leibnitzian Monodology for Schools_” (which is the -third volume in the High School Series); “_Physiology of the Elephant_” -and its little abbreviated form for the use of children, “_How Jumbo -is made Inside_,” dedicated, by the way, to that dear little fairy, -Lady Constantia de la Pole: such a charming child, and destined, I am -sure, to be a good and beautiful woman. She is three years old, and -shooting up like a graceful young lily.’ - -“‘I fear I am detaining you,’ I said, as the good man, whose eyes -had filled with tears during the last remark (he is a great lover of -children) pulled out a gold watch and consulted its tell-tale dial. -‘Not at all!,’ he replied with finished courtesy, ‘but I always make a -point of going in to High Tea and seeing my wife and family well under -weigh before I go off to Hall. Surely that must be the gong, and there -(as the pleasant sound of children’s high voices filled the house) come -what I call my young barbarians.’ - -“He accompanied me to the door with true old-world politeness and -shook me beautifully by the hand. ‘Good-bye,’ he said, ‘Good-bye and -God-speed. You may make what use you like of this, that I believe the -task of the journalist to be among the noblest in our broad land. The -Press has a great mission, a great mission.’ - -“With these words still ringing in my ears I gathered up my skirts to -cross the muddy roadway and stepped into the tram.” - - -Women’s Printing Society, Ltd., 66, Whitcomb St. W.C. - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -[1] - - But do not think I shall explain - To any great extent. Believe me, - I partly write to give you pain, - And if you do not like me, leave me. - - -[2] - - And least of all can you complain, - Reviewers, whose unholy trade is, - To puff with all your might and main - Biographies of single ladies. - - -[3] Never mind. - -[4] - - The plan forgot (I know not how, - Perhaps the Refectory filled it), - To put a chapel in: and now - We’re mortgaging the rest to build it. - - -[5] There can be no doubt that the work is a true example of the early -Semitic Comedy. It was probably sung in Parts at the Spring-feast, and -would be acted by shepherds wearing masks and throwing goatskins at one -another, as they appear on the Bas-relief at Ik-shmûl. See the article -in _Righteousness_, by a gentleman whom the Bible Society sent out to -Assyria at their own expense; and the note to Appendix A of Benson’s -_Og: King of Bashan_. - -[6] The house is now occupied by Mr. Heavy, the well-known financier. - -[7] The old school house has been pulled down to make room for a set -of villas called “Whortlebury Gardens.” I believe No. 35 to be the -exact spot, but was unable to determine it accurately on account of the -uncourteous action of the present proprietor. - -[8] I am speaking of 1861. - -[9] Mr. Lambkin has assured me that his lordship had maintained these -relations to the day of his death. - -[10] To be pronounced as a monosyllable in the American fashion. - -[11] Mr. Punt, Mr. Howl, and Mr. Grewcock--(now, alas! deceased). - -[12] A neat rendering of “Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.” - -[13] _To the Examiners._--These facts (of which I guarantee the -accuracy) were given me by a Director. - -[14] A reminiscence of Milton: “Fas est et ab hoste doceri.” - -[15] Lambkin told me he regretted this line, which was for the sake of -Rhyme. He would willingly have replaced it, but to his last day could -construct no substitute. - -[16] The anecdote will be found in my _Fifty Years of Chance -Acquaintances_. (Isaacs & Co., 44s. nett.) - -[17] Lambkin resolutely refused to define Happiness when pressed to do -so by a pupil in June, 1881: in fact, his hatred of definitions was so -well-known as to earn him the good-humoured nick-name of “the Sloucher” -among the wilder young scholars. - -[18] τὸ μεσόν - -[19] This was the first historical example of Lambkin’s acquaintance -with Hebrew--a knowledge which he later turned to such great account in -his attack on the pseudo-Johannes. - -[20] It is the passage that follows which made so startling an -impression on the examiners. At that time young Lambkin was almost -alone in holding the views which have since, through the Fellows of -Colleges who may be newspaper men or colonial governors, influenced the -whole world. - -[21] Jocular. - -[22] The MS. is here almost illegible - -[23] The very word “dormant” comes from the Latin for “sleeping.” - -[24] I knew Professor M‘O. in the sixties. He was a charming and -cultured Scotchman, with a thorough mastery of the English tongue. - -[25] Dr. von Lieber-Augustin. I knew him well. He was a charming and -cultured German. - -[26] How different from the cynical ribaldry of Voltaire. - -[27] Mr. Buffin. I know him well. His uncle is Lord Glenaltamont, one -of the most charming and cultured of our new peers. - -[28] See especially “Hypnotism,” being the researches of the Research -Society (xiv. vols., London, 1893), and “Superstitions of the Past, -especially the belief in the Influence of Sleep upon Spells,” by Dr. -Beradini. Translated by Mrs. Blue. (London: Tooby & Co., 1895.) - -[29] Bk. I. or Bk. IV. - -[30] “Amo dormire. Sed nunquam dormio post nonas horas nam episcopus -sum et volo dare bonum exemplum fidelibus.” App. Sid. Epistol., Bk. -III., Epist. 26. (Libermach’s edition. Berlin, 1875.) It has the true -ring of the fifth century. - -[31] So Herrick, in his famous epigram on Buggins. A learned prelate of -my acquaintance would frequently quote this. - -[32] The same lines occur in several other poets. Notably _Tupper_ and -_Montgomery_. - -[33] See “Private Memoirs of the Court of Geo. III. and the Regent,” by -Mrs. Fitz-H----t. - -[34] See further, _The Morning Star of England_, in “Stirrers of the -Nations Series,” by the Rev. H. Turmsey, M.A. Also _Foes and Friends of -John of Gaunt_, by Miss Matchkin. - -[35] “Latin Proses,” 3_s._ 6_d._ net. Jason and Co., Piccadilly. - -[36] Now doing his duty to the Empire nobly as a cattle-man in -Minnesota. - -[37] Everyone will remember the striking article on this author in _The -Christian Home_ for July, 1886. It was from Lambkin’s pen. - -[38] Lambkin was, when he wrote this letter, fully twenty-six years of -age. - -[39] Only a playful term of course. - -[40] A considerable discussion has arisen as to the meaning of this. - -[41] A jocular allusion. - -[42] “Sicut ut homo qui”--my readers will fill in the rest. - -[43] The note of exclamation is my own. - -[44] Author of _Prussian Morals_. - -[45] These are almost the exact words that appeared in the subsequent -and over-rated book of Théophile Gauthier: “Rien ne mène à rien -cependant tout arrive.” - -[46] It was by my suggestion (_quorum pars parva fui_) that was added -the motto “They that go down to the sea in ships, they see the wonders -of the Lord.” - -[47] _Livorno_ in Italian. - -[48] Or “have given rise.” Myself and my colleagues attempted (or had -attempted) to determine this point. But there can be little doubt that -the version we arrived at is right both in grammar and in fact. The MS. -is confused. - -[49] Though posted in Gravesend this letter appears to have been -written between London and the Estuary. Some say in Dead Man’s Reach. - -[50] This passage was set for the Latin Prose in the Burford -Scholarship of 1875. It was won by Mr. Hurt, now Chaplain of the -Wainmakers’ Guild. - -[51] Normans. - -[52] Hastings. - -[53] These letters were never printed till now. - -[54] The late Hon. John Tupton, the amiable colonial who purchased -Marlborough House and made so great a stir in London some years ago. - -[55] Mrs. Tupton, senior, a woman whose heroic struggles in the face of -extreme poverty were a continual commentary on the awful results of our -so-called perfected Penal System. - -[56] There is great doubt upon the exactitude of this. In his lifetime -Tupton often spoke of “the poor tenement house in New York where I was -born,” and in a letter he alludes to “my birth at sea in the steerage -of a Liner.” - -[57] This was perhaps the origin of a phrase which may be found -scattered with profusion throughout Lambkin’s works. - -[58] Mr. Lambkin did not give the derivation of this word. - -[59] “Alii igni infamiae vitam alii fugâ dederunt.”--_Tacitus, In Omnes -Caesares_, I. viii. 7. - -[60] The italicised words were omitted in the article. - -[61] The full title of the translation is “The Roman Sandal: Its -growth, development and decay. Its influence on society and its -position in the liturgy of the Western Church.” - -[62] Nephew of Mr. Child, the former editor; grandson of Mr. Pilgrim, -the founder; and father of the present editor of _Culture_. - -[63] Mr. Cook criticises this sentence. It is a point upon which -friends may “_agréer à différer_.” - -[64] Author of _Psychologie de l’Absurde_. - -[65] Professor of Micro-graphy at Bonn. - -[66] This was rather severe, as M. Bischoff had spent some years in a -Maison de Santé. - -[67] An example of these occasional difficulties in style, due to the -eagerness of which I have spoken. - -[68] The meaning of this sentence is made clear thus: They (subject) -twitted (predicate), with-his-qualifications (adverbially “how”), -over--the--port (adverbially “where and when”), him (object). - -[69] Mr. Lambkin loved to pass a quiet hour over the MSS. in the -Bodleian, and would quote familiarly the rare lines of Chaucer, -especially, among the mediæval poets. - -[70] This sentence is an admirable example of Lambkin’s later manner. - -[71] Raphael. - -[72] P. 347, “The impetuosity of the action ill-suits with what is -known of Lambkin.” It is all very well for the editor of _Great Dead -Men_ to say that this apologises for the misfortune; that apology does -not excuse the imputation of impetuosity (forsooth!) to a man whose -every gesture was restrained. - -[73] Better known perhaps as an author than as a cleric. He met his -end in a shocking manner in a railway accident. His life was, however, -insured, and he had upon him a copy of _Golden Deeds_. - -[74] Beeker’s _A Torch for the Chapell; or the Nonconformists -out-done_. Folio, 1663, p. 71. - -[75] Referring to the edict on Buttoned Boots of Romulus Augustulus: a -very shameless injustice. - -[76] Lambkin lived to see its almost universal adoption: a result in -which he was no mean agent. - -[77] “On fair Italia’s storied plains,” Biggin, xii., _l._ 32. - -[78] I am assured by Mr. Venial that this well-known line originally -took shape on Mr. Lambkin’s lips. - -[79] This phrase he noticed early in his studies to be a rhyming -catchword, and pronounced it so to the day of his death. - -[80] Hobbes. - -[81] Thus M. dè Bissac was the President of the Société Anonyme des -Voitures-fixes. - -[82] “Accuracy in the use of negatives,” Mr. Lambkin would say, “is the -test of a scholar.” - -[83] Changed to “le Destin” in the newspaper. - -[84] M. de Bissac was a Catholic, but one of the most liberal temper. -He respected the Pope, but said that he was led astray by his advisers. -He voted every year for the suppression of public worship in France and -the turning of the churches into local museums. He was in every way -remarkably unprejudiced for a man of that persuasion. His indefatigable -attacks upon the clergy of his country have earned him the admiration -of part of the whole civilised world. - -[85] The phrase is “return to her true self.” It was a favourite one of -Lambkin’s, but is I fear untranslatable. The French have no such subtle -ideas. The whole sentence was left out in the _Horreur_, and the final -paragraph began with “Je reste.” - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE. - - -This eBook makes the following corrections to the printed text: - - Pg v footnote - single ladies - single ladies. - Table of Contents - End of Term - End of Term 88 - Table of Contents - Mr. Lambkin - Mr. Lambkin 132 - Pg 5 - the Crumpton’s - the Crumptons - Pg 13 - teutonic gutturals - Teutonic gutturals - Pg 14 - WITH THE ELECTRIC LIGHT - WITH THE ELECTRIC LIGHT” - Pg 28 - our analusis - our analysis - Pg 47 - from Ennius to Sidonius Appollinaris - from Ennius to Sidonius Apollinaris - Pg 57 - transforms without metamorphysis - transforms without metamorphosis - Pg 63 footnote - London and the Estuary - London and the Estuary. - Pg 71 footnote - never printed till now - never printed till now. - Pg 98 footnote - o me years in a Maison - some years in a Maison - Pg 121 - In there no way - Is there no way - Pg 129 - si nous etions pas pour l’empecher - si nous étions pas pour l’empecher. - Pg 129 - les militarisme et clericalisme - les militarisme et cléricalisme - Pg 133 - position of parties?” - position of parties?’” - Pg 136 - “Physiology of the Elephant - “Physiology of the Elephant” - Pg 136 - ‘Not at al!,’ - ‘Not at all!,’ - Pg 137 - Whitcomb St. W.C - Whitcomb St. W.C. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAMBKIN'S REMAINS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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