LIBRARY
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNI.
GIFT OF
MRS. MARTHA E. HALLIDIE.
GfcM
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION AND
OTHER ESSAYS
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION
AND OTHER ESSAYS
BY ISAAC TAYLOR
LONDON
BELL AND DALDY FLEET STREET
1860
CONTENTS.
ESSAY I.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. In Two Parts
Page
ESSAY II.
MIND IN FORM 134
ESSAY III.
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS AND LAY INVENTORS 191
ESSAY IV.
LAY THEOLOGTANS ...... 234
ESSAY V.
IPIDEMIC WHIMS 254.
ESSAY VI.
[EADS IN GROUPS 289
ESSAY VII.
'HE ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE . . . 314
Supplementary Notes . . . . . -337
HE ESSAYS conflicting this volume
have not before appeared in print,
with the exception of portions of
the FOURTH ESSAY " Lay Theologians,"
which had place in the " Eclectic Review " fome
years ago. The fubftance of the FIFTH ESSAY
" Epidemic Whims" was delivered as a Lec-
ture in the AfTembly Room of the Free -Trade
Hall, Manchefter, in 1856.
ESSAYS, ETC.
Ultimate Civilization.
PART I.
i.
I VILIZ ATION is a term of the body
focial ; not of the man individual.
Within the circle of a community in
even the moft advanced ftate of civi-
lization, very many of its members may, and in-
deed muft, remain in a condition of inferiority, as
well in refpecl: of knowledge, intelligence, refine-
ment, as of the enjoyment of the goods of material
existence.
The phrafe, Ultimate Civilization, has no fuch
meaning as this that the advancement of the
individual man has reached a limit forbidding the
hope of further progrefs ; but this only, that the
feveral orders and conftituents of the Social Mafs
have come, at length, into a ftate of ftable equili-
brium, or of undifturbed, and unreftri&ed, and
productive interaction.
2 ESS ATS, ETC.
Civilization involves an idea of the focial fyftem
which allows us to think of it analogically as if
it were a living organization ; it fuppofes, there-
fore, an equable diftribution of the vital force ; but
then it excludes the fuppofition of an identity of
functions among its conftituents ; nor does it ad-
mit either an equality of pofition, or an unquiet
tendency toward a greater fimplification of ftruc-
ture. On the contrary, as the higheft poflible
civilization demands a multiplicity of elements,
and, therefore, alfo, a great complexity of ftruc-
ture, and a correfponding intricacy of movements,
it will demand the tranquil interaction of all thefe
parts, or members. Few elements, and a fimple
ftructure, and a near approximation of orders, may
indeed confift with the well-being and the intelli-
gence of individuals ; but it will not admit an ad-
vance in the civilization of the mafs, beyond the
fecond, or the third, ftage upward, from the rudeft
barbarifm.
Within a community that is in a condition of
advanced and progreflive civilization, there will be
an indefinite, or, an unlimited progrefs in a uniform
direction ; but there will be no change of direction ;
or there will be the minimum of change. There
will be the greater}, {lability ; but no ftagnation.
There will be a conftant interaction of the parts,
and a normal commotion among them ; but no dif-
location of orders ; no interchange of functions ;
no invafions of office. Within fuch a focial fyftem
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 3
the individual man enjoys his maximum of perfonal
liberty, and he has unreftricted room of develop-
ment ; but the functions and the orders have little,
if any room of relative development. A focial
fyftem that is in a high condition of civilization
will be inexorably confervative in whatever be-
longs to the abftract ; and it is free, in the fulleft
fenfe, as to whatever is concrete.
Ultimate Civilization by the very import of the
phrafe implies the fact of an anterior, or a more
ancient Civilization ; or a lefs perfect, and an
earlier condition, out of which the later, and the
more perfect, has flowly arifen. Hiftory gives us
no inftance of an extemporaneous civilization ;
there can be none that has been newly manufac-
tured none that has been planned and devifed,
and put in courfe of experiment by the men of yef-
terday ; none that comes frefh and bright from
the fire, and the hammer, and the anvil. A high
civilization muft be the product of ages, and the
habitude of centuries \ it muft have been fo abraded
in the pafTage of a multitude of years as that the
ribs of the mould, wherein it was caft, were long
ago rubbed off from its furface, and are now
quite worn away. The civilization of a people
muft have come to it, like its language, from a re-
mote and almoft forgotten age ; or fay like its
alluvial foil the depofit of uncounted eras.
Inafmuch as Civilization is a term of the focial
body, and finds its analogies in the animal organi-
4 ESS4TS, ETC.
zation, an advanced civilization implies health
throughout the body ; nor can it ever confift,
either with a chronic difeafed condition of any part,
or with unconfcioufnefs of fuch difeafe, in the fen-
forium of the body. A perfect fenfitivenefs in the
fenforium is the caution of Nature againft the in-
fidious advances of difeafe, in the extremities.
Analogies are helps, they are not proofs, they
are not arguments ; and yet they are very fervice-
able helps when a true and a fubftantiaiy^z<?/} of
principle connects the things that are fo brought
into hypothetic comparifon ; when the type and
the antitype are inftances of the operation of the
fame law, or of a law that is of the fame order.
We affirm that it is fo when we compare the
Social Syftem, i. e. a community of men ufmg
the fame language, and living under one Govern-
ment, and conforming themfelves to one political
fcheme to a living body an animal organization.
Let it be underftood then, that we fhall not mif-
ufe, or pufh beyond bounds of reafon this analogy ;
but that we fhall employ it as an aid ; or as an
intelligible exemplification of certain principles ;
fo far only as fuch an analogy may fairly be fo ufed.
Thus ufed then, this type fuffices for driving from
off the field of our fubjecl: certain notions of civi-
lization which are current in converfation, and
rife alfo in popular literature. Civilization is to
the focial body what full health is to the animal ;
or at the leaft, it demands, as its neceflary condi-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 5
tion, that which is the equivalent of health in the
animal body : therefore
A highly advanced refinement of manners and
taftes in the upper clafTes, in the various particulars
of inftrucliion, intelligence, modes of living, and
correctnefs in the lefTer moralities, and in the pro-
prieties of fpeech and behaviour ; thefe things, or
this advanced condition of a clafs, though it be a
large clafs, or of two, or more fuch clafles, this is
not civilization j for it may confift, and often has
confifted, as it does now, with the extremes of
mifery, and a hopelefs deftitution even the fheer
barbarifm, and the confequent habitual atrocities
of a clafs that is not lefs numerous ; probably it is
much more numerous than the others put together,
and exifting fide by fide with this partial civiliza-
tion, and, as one may fay, intertwined with it, juft
as the abforbents are interwoven with the blood
veflels, and the nerves. If the abforbent fyftem
be everywhere congefted with poifons, or if the
lacleals be exhaufted of chyle mail the body be in
health ? Such a queftion needs no anfwer, either
as to the type, or as to the antitype. The body,
if it do not inftantiy fhow its difeafed condition,
will in fad!:, or occultly, be " full of wounds and
bruifes and putrifying fores." If not to-day, yet at
no diftant day, the vital fluids of fuch a body will
have become c< as the blood of a dead man."
And therefore^ reverting to our axiom and fo
far as our analogy ferves us civilization neither
6 ESS4TS, ETC.
refults from, nor does it confift in, any actual,
or any poflible, or any imaginable advancements
of the mechanical arts, or of thofe arts and thofe
applicate fciences which extend the power of man
over the elements, and which give him the ufe of
the chemical forces of the material world. Any
fuch inventions and improvements great and
marvellous as they may be are, to the focial body,
juft as they are to the individual man the means
and the tools they are the opportunities, and the
inducements, that facilitate his perfonal advance-
ment ; and they are aids towards civilization ; but
they are not itfelf, and they may win triumphs for
fcience, as if it were in mockery of the popular
wretchednefs. The rudeft of men may travel by
Exprefs, and may fend a notice of his coming by
telegraph ; and he may be photographed for two-
and-fixpence, or for the fixpence; and all this while
he, and the clafs to which he belongs, maybe grofs
and revolting in their habits ; and fome of them
may be clad in tatters, and be wanting a morfel
of bread. Difcoveries, and improvements, and ad-
vancements, of this order, may confift, as we fee,
juft as do refinements of manners in the upper
clafs, with mifery, and its characleriftic favage-
nefs, prevailing in a large lower clafs ; and this
mifery may be rendered the more extreme, and
the more defperate, by the fenfe of hopelefs exclu-
fion from a (hare, even in thofe good things which
machinery has brought almoft within their reach
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 7
by cheapnefs. Machine-made clothing, offered at
a price little above the coft of the tatters he wears,
mocks the fhivering wretch who cannot afford
even to replace his tatters by the caft-ofF tatters of
one who is a degree lefs miferable than himfelf.
Once more if our analogy ferves us it will be
true
That the elaboration, and the theoretic perfec-
tionment of codes, and of ftatutes, and of police,
and of adminiftrative functions, is not civilization.
Thefe things do indeed indicate the civilization of
a people when they are the products of its growth,
and have a remotely hiftorical origin. Faultlefs
Conftitutions, or constitutions boafted of as fault-
lefs, may confift, as we fee, either with the fullen
defpotifm of an autocrat ; or worfe, with the favage
defpotifm of the many: the difference being what-
ever there may be that is eligible between the Baf-
tile, and the Lamp-iron ; or between Siberia, and
Lynch-law.
But the ideas that naturally confort themfelves
with the word civilization, comprife what is more
than health, even than robuft health ; and which
differs much from it namely REFINEMENT.
Refinement and this includes elegance in cof-
tume, and grace in deportment, and a neat viva-
city in fpeech will never pervade the maffes of an
induftrial community ; for refinement demands a
confcious, and an inherited fecurity in the enjoy-
ment of leifure, and of the funds of luxury. Re-
8 ESS ATS, ETC.
finement demands alfo the carrying education
onward, toward mature years. A thorough re-
finement demands moreover PEDIGREE, and the
pofleflion of undifputed and immemorial, and
therefore, unenvied diftin&ions. Or, if fuch
diftincliions come to be placed within the poflible
attainment of individual ambition and ability, then
the acquifition muft derive its principal value from
the fat that it is a participation in that which is
already poflefled, in full, by a clafs irrefpeftively
of the ambition or the ability of the holders.
No limit can be put; or none can \>e fpecified ;
to the advancements, intellectual or moral, of the
individual man ; for thefe take their rife in the illi-
mitable treafure-houfe of Nature; they fpring from
birth-gifts, of which, perhaps, no complete fample
may hitherto have actually been given to the world.
But as to any poflible advancements of the Social
Mafs^ thefe will always take their limit from that
which is the mean level of mind within it ; or,
the average quantity of Mind in the Body Social.
Individual minds may lift this mean level a degree
or two, and may fuftain it for a while ; but the
ftatic power of the community, after a little, takes
its fteady effect upon the fcale.
We may, therefore, fpeak of Ultimate Civiliza-
tion, as a final condition of perfect health, in the
focial body ; or, of diffufed and tranquil functional
life throughout ; and yet we plant no hypothetic
barrier acrofs the path of the individual man, as
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 9
if we might know the utmoft that may be poflible
to him ; this we can never know. We note the
boundary line of fociety, forward ; but we abftain
from bandaging nature, in the man.
There may be thofe, and there are fuch always,
who will be dreaming about fome future unde-
finable advancements of man in fociety. Harm-
lefs dreams are thefe ; for the moft part they are
the paftime of vague undifciplined intelle&s. An-
ticipations which involve, or which demand,
what is altogether hypothetic in human nature,
and of which, in its elements, hiftory has nothing
to fay, thefe things are juft now beyond our range
of vifion. As we admit nothing fabulous in the
paft, fo we build upon nothing fabulous in the
future.
Of every improvement, and advancement,
which we difcern upon the horizon, a germ or a
rudiment, if not more, is now under the hand, or
it is quite in near profpecl:.
II.
WHATEVER may feem proper to our fubjedl: in
this EiTay is advanced on the fuppofition that we
have before us a file, or better to put it, an infu-
lated community, a ONE PEOPLE ONE in all thofe
fenfes that may bring it within the range of our
analogy our illuftrative type Animal Organi-
zation. We need not fuppofe that an infular peo-
io ESSATS, ETC.
pie is a&ually cut off from the fellowfhip of na-
tions ; but we have now to do with it only in
refpecl: to thofe interior functions, which, though
they may be open to influences, or perturbations,
from without, are thus interfered with in an inci-
dental, or remote manner only.
As to cofmopolitan civilization, the fubjecl: is
not merely indefinitely vaft, but it involves the
prefence, and the operation, of fome wholly dif-
ferent principles. It is a great theme, and a theme
of another order, in a logical fenfe. This caution,
therefore, given, we return to our enclofed field.
Within an infular community civilization is pro-
moted, and facilitated, and is ftimulated, and, there-
fore, it may be actually advanced by various means
which fhould be called incidental ; and fome of
them are quite fortuitous. But concerning fuch
means it muft not be forgotten that each of them
more or lefs fo, may claim to be confidered,
either as a means a caufe of advancing civiliza-
tion, or as the confequence of its advancing con-
dition. In moft inftances that which we fhould
think of as a caufe, viewed on one fide, looks more
like a confequence viewed on fome other fide. A
caufe it is if we are thinking of the accidents, or
of the individual efforts that have attached to it at
the moment of its rife : a confequence, an effect:,
if we inquire concerning thofe needs of the time
which it came forward to fupply. A caufe, feen at
the moment of funrife : a confequence, looked at
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. n
at earlieft break of day. So it was with the art of
printing.
The firft to be mentioned of thefe means, or
thefe ftimulative caufes of civilization, are thofe
happy difcoveries, and thofe furprifmg inventions
and improvements in the Arts, which we have
already named for the purpofe of excepting againft
them, as things in which it does not confift, and
in the prefence of which the condition of a peo-
ple, at large, may be fuch as that we muft affign
them a low place on the fcale of national well-
being. Not only inventions, or great difcoveries
in the Arts, but even the introduction of fome new,
and hitherto unthought of material available in
the Arts may vaftly facilitate the progrefs of an
already advancing civilization ; and fo alfo may
fome inconfiderable change in the domeftic, or
the trading ufages of a people ; and which attract
little attention, as they work themfelves filently
into the routine of its daily life. Inftances of this
order might be named in hundreds. The reader
will here, perhaps, be thinking of vaft matters
fuch as railway travelling fleam navigation the
electric telegraph ; but we might be content to
name inftances of a far humbler order, and may
affirm that our now-prefent civilization ought not
to difdain to own its obligations to improvements
of a kind which philofophic writers would, per-
haps, think quite beneath their notice. For in-
ftance, what a burlefque upon " philofophic gene-
12 ESS ATS, ETC.
ralifation" would it be to mention fuch things
among the ftimulants of civilization, as the intro-
duction and univerfal ufeof lucifer matches ! never-
thelefs, the feptuagenarian ftudent, who remem-
bers well his winter morning's conflict with flint,
and fteel, and tinder-box, and brimftone-match,
will own that he has won a fifteen minutes for his
books, through fix months of the year, by aid of
the lucifer match an infallible candle-lighter in
three feconds ! Incalculable is the gain that has
accrued in modern times in facilitating the free ex-
preffion of thought by writing in fuch things as
thefe : the adoption of a curfive hand-writing, in
place of the fquare, or the uncial letter and along
with this, the ufe of a limpid chemical dye, as ink,
in the place of a body-ink ; and along with thefe,
the coming in of cheap fcribbling paper. It has
been by fuch means as thefe, not only that com-
mercial and domeftic communication by writing
has been fo vaftly extended ; but (which is of more
importance) that the private utterance of thought,
by the pen, has come to be fo much lefs formal,
lefs periodic, and fo much more fpontaneous, and
genuine, and full, and that it has gone fo far into
detail ; and thus, that the vaft difference between
ftiff literary antiquity, and our daily felves, in what-
ever relates to the recording of our minds, has had
its origin, and has come to be fo great as it is. In
proportion as writing is aflimilated to the freedom
of converfation, it fheds the common light of in-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 13
tellectual life abroad ; and fends it far beyond pri-
vileged circles.
Small things, and things of the lefs noticeable
order, are thofe that, in fact, have wrought the
moft important changes in modern times. So it
has been in Legiflative action. The popular no-
tion of govermental agency, through the means
of the enactment of laws, is of this fort that, by
thefe organic evolutions a nation may be fet for-
ward at great ftrides : and fuch, in fome rare
inftances, has been the confequence of Acts of
Parliament, and of ftatutes, and of the orders and
decrees of autocratic ftates. When fuch enact-
ments are good, and when they affimilate well
with the people's condition, they are, in truth, the
laft refults of flow focial advancements ; they are
never its caufes. The legiflative formality is the
utterance, in technical ftyle, of the everywhere
out-fpoken fenfe of the community. But gover-
mental regulations, and thofe changes of a lower
order that come within the admitted powers of
the feparate departments of a ftate, have often
done more in ftimulating or in facilitating the
focial improvement of a people, than has been
effected by thofe arduous labours of fenates, which
did not reach their iflue until a revolution, or the
overthrow of public order, had become imminent.
It might feem as if a tafte for paradoxes had
led us aftray, if we were to put any fuch quef-
tion as this Has Britifh civilization been moft
, ETC.
effectively promoted by Reform in Parliament
by Catholic Emancipation by Abolition of the
Com Laws, on the one hand ; or, on the other
hand, by the Penny Poftage by the equalization
of charges as to diftance thus effecting the anni-
hilation of diftance^ as to bufinefs and the domeftic
life, and by the practice of charging poftage by
weight ? Small things comparatively, or fmall in
the efteem of political agitators ; yet are they often
of immeafurable importance in their bearing upon
the moral and the intellectual progrefs of the
people. And thus it is in the animal body : it
is a notable thing to fet, or to refet a limb ; but it
is doing more for life and health to reftore action
throughout congefted microfcopic veflels over the
entire furface of the body. It is good to endow
colleges, and to found chairs and to ftipendiate
profeflbrs ; but it may be a greater good to lower
the duty upon paper, and upon tea, and upon
bricks and timber. It is a good to annul obfolete
ftatutes, reftridtive of the liberty of worfhip long
enjoyed by all, fpite of ftatutes : it was a greater
good to abolifh entirely and for ever the window
tax.
An enlightened government a government
well underftanding its beneficial function will
pafs, or will favour the patting of acts that have
been demanded, in louder and louder tones, thefe
ten years paft or more. But, without being afked
to do it, it will do fuch things as might be likened
ULTIMATE CI7ILIZ4TION. 15
to the better packing of the ballaft of a {hip the
doing which allows the (hip to right herfelf.
Conftitutional evolutions legislative reforms,
may well be put out of our view, as if they might
be pre-concerted, or brought about upon fhowing
of reafons. They will come when they muft
come and whether it be for good or for evil.
Meantime the regulative and noifelefs a&s of an
Executive muft fpring from the intelligence of
individual men. Statefmen, as a clafs, will oppofe
innovations of every kind ; but there comes in one
official perfon in a thoufand who will bring them
about, and rifk his political exiftence in doing it.
What we are here concerned with are thofe
matters that come within the admitted range of
the meditative and fpeculative intelligence of edu-
cated men : fuch things as obtrude themfelves upon
notice in a community which, like that of Eng-
land, is actually in a ftate of hopeful and rapid de-
velopment, and of even-paced progrefs. A higher
Civilization, thought of, and defired, and aimed
at, and alfo in near profpecl:, is before us ; nor is
our profpecl: intercepted by any defpotifm ftanding
acrofs the road. Neither from above, nor from
beneath is the Britifh people, juft now, threatened
with defpotic interdictions.
16 ESSATS, ETC.
in.
A NATIONAL condition of hopeful progrefs toward
a fettled, or permanent civilization (permanent, if,
to human affairs at all, fuch an epithet may ever
be applied) demands fuch things as we have already
briefly indicated, and which mould now be fet in
view with more fpeciality ; as thus : we muft
find under our hand, in the focial body, the greateft
number^ and the greateft variety of conftituents
or of feparate and independent Elements.
No cuftomary phrafe prefents itfelf, which, in
the fulnefs of its meaning, may well ferve to re-
prefent that independence, and that feparate force
of the feveral conftituents of a focial mafs which
we muft defire to find in it. For if we mould
fay that fuch elements are antagonlftic, a ftate of
unreft or of open rivalry is implied, which, if we
may revert to our analogy, would induce not
health, but difeafe, in the body, and which muft
iflue in its diflblution. If we fpoke of feparate
elements as heterogeneous^ then this word feems to
forbid the hope of a tranquil and healthful inter-
action among them : an organization binding
together heterogeneous ingredients, will be fpend-
ing its forces upon itjelf^ rather than combining
them for the purpofes of the common life ; and
yet it is certain that a thorough homogeneoufnefs
in the materials of a community will confift only
with the loweft order of focial exiftence. Little
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 17
can be expected from a focial mafs that might beft
be refembled to the mollufcs Jelly only : or if
jelly and fhell, then the analogy finds its antitype
in the oriental condition defpot and flaves the
holder and the holden !
Separate elements, tending more to conferve
their feparate exiftence, than to lofe and merge it
fuch mould we choofe as affording the moft
aufpicious conditions, or as the charafteriftics of
a community affumed to be in a hopeful ftate for
advance in civilization. What then are the ingre-
dients of our Englim focial mafs : Englijh^ here
ftands for Britijh, and it embraces whatever be-
longs to the one People centred in the one Go-
vernment ?
The firft, or the moft rudimental of thefe in-
gredients, are its Aboriginal Diverfities of Race.
The Englim population, when, with the records
of its hiftory before us, we look round upon it as
anobje&of phyfiological fcience, offers to the eye
the ftill-diftinguifhable traces of the three or four
Races^ that have become intimately commingled,
by innumerable croffings, taking effecl: through
many generations, and which yet, by virtue of an
infcrutable law, conferve their phyfiognomical and
phyfical chara&eriftics. But now, as related to
our immediate fubjecl:, this fact is to be noted, that,
although thefe diverfities have no doubt greatly
contributed to make the Englim people what it is,
in nerve, and bone, and mufcle, and animal energy,
c
1 8 ESS ATS, ETC.
and in moral tone, and in intellectual elafticity,
they have at length and through a period of feven
hundred years ceafed to be thought of, or to be
recognized and have ceafed to interact, one upon
the other, with any appreciable antagonifm, or
mutual revulfion, or contrariety, and therefore we
muft put them quite out of our reckoning, and dif-
allow their claim to be mentioned among the in-
gredients of our focial exiftence. At the rail of
the chancel the " happy pair " kneel, fide by fide,
quite unconfcious of the fact which the phyfiog-
nomift is fure of that the one is Saxon, or Dane,
the other Norman. Wonderful is that perfiftence
of Race-types which are not loft among the inter-
mixtures of a thoufand years ! Thefe race ele-
ments, how much foever they may have made the
Englifh Engtijb) are not, as fuck, to be now
numbered among the active elements of Englifh
civilization.
Something different from this muft be faid in
relation to National diverfities ; for thefe, while
they include differences of race, have received an
imprefs of long-continued political antagonifm,
and are ftill vividly recognizable as counteractive
elements within the Britifh focial mafs. England,
Scotland, Ireland, are ftill three, as well as one ;
and they are ftill three, more than they are one.
Nor is the time near at hand, probably, when
thefe nationalities mail have quite melted them-
felves down into a homogeneous mafs.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 19
At a point which we fhould look for fomewhere
at a mid-diftance between antagonifm, in the fenfe
of declared hoftility, and of a tame and fervile
affentation fomewhere between machinations and
the hatching of confpiracies, and an obfequious
fubferviency at a point not very eafily found, or
defined, we muft defire to fee national differences
or avulfions perpetuated ; fo far as that we may
continue to derive from them all the advantage
which they yield in ftimulating, and pufhing for-
ward, and, it may be, provoking the civilization of
the entire people. It muft feem a nice matter to
lay the finger upon this mid-point. Juft on one fide
of it muft ftand thofe national prejudices thofe
unreafoning and unreafonable diflikes, or inftinc-
tive avulfions which hedge a people about, as re-
lated to its neareft neighbours. On the other fide
there will be many namelefs differences of tafte,
and modes of behaviour, and many habitudes
of fpeech, which are not indeed enough to keep
worthy people apart, but which yet are enough to
acl: as a drag upon the abfolute freedom and full
enjoyment of focial and domeftic intercourfe.
It is thus that England, Scotland, Ireland ftand
related, each toward the other two ; the people
are not enemies, far from it : they are not dan-
gerous rivals : they are not employed in plotting
each other's overthrow : they are not brooding
over intended invafions or maffacres. Neverthe-
lefs the three nations do maintain their decifive
20 ESS4TS, ETC.
chara&eriftics ; and whoever it is, in the feat of
power, that holds them in hand, feels each fepa-
rately pulling its own way : he feels the near
horfe, the middle horfe, and the off horfe, and he
knows that each muft be looked to at every turn
of the road ; and that the bit in the mouth of each
muft be adjufted in relation to the temper of the
creature, as over hot, or as fluggim.
National differences affume a new afpect when,
as is almoft always the fa6t, they receive an inten-
fity from religious differences. Religious antago-
nifms, confidered as powerful ftimulants of na-
tional civilization and fuch indeed they are
demand a diftin<5t and a thoughtful confideration.
Everybody among ourfelves has at length come
to underftand, or at leaft paflively to afTent to,
this fimple and moft momentous truth that re-
ligious differences, when inflamed by intolerance,
become active caufes of focial confufion tending
toward national difmtegration : this has been fig-
nally exemplified in the paft hiftory of Spain, and
of France. It is a truth not fo generally under-
ftood among ourfelves or it is not fo cordially
admitted that the abfolutely unreftriclied develop-
ment, and the fixed confervation of religious dif-
ferences, is a principal, and indeed an indifpenfable
condition of Social Advancement, and of the pro-
grefs of a people toward a ftate of equipoife, with-
out ftagnation.
Religious differences, well defined, firmly main-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 21
tained, and freely developed, and in fuch a condi-
tion that they are not merely elements^ but are
energies within the focial mafs, when duly attem-
pered, ftand, if not foremoft, yet quite prominent^
among the forces that are carrying us forward
toward a higher civilization. This due tempera-
ment, or this balancing of thefe energies implies
fuch things as thefe : firft, there muft be, on the
fide of abatement, or, let us fay, offafety the pre-
valent fecular good fenfe of the mafs of the people
there muft be a homely right feeling abroad,
which is always ready to acl: as a rebuke and as a
check upon religious violences, upon extrava-
gancies, upon abfurdities, of all fpecies ; and which
exprefTes itfelf (too rudely perhaps fometimes)
through that harm-toned wind-inftrument the
Newfpaper. But on the fide of abatement we
need alfo, what is far better, and which is every
way approvable, namely a genuine catholicity of
feeling a properly Chriftian mood, pervading the
religious community, and favoured always by the
few better-minded leaders of each party, and which,
at this time, is much promoted by thofe evangelical
combinations that call forth large fympathies, phi-
lanthropies, melting companions, ftrong enough
to overflow all embankments.
But there muft alfo be prefent a confervative,
and, fo far, a mutually repulfive energy ; and it
muft be in operation beneath the furface of the
feveral communions ; for if there be not this
22 ESSATS, ETC.
repulfive confervatifm, or if religious indifferentifm
fhould prevail on all fides, and if what are conven-
tionally flyled " minor differences " fhould come
to be regarded as matters of no importance, if
truth, even in fmall things, fhould fall into dif-
efteem, then, as is evident, the energy of thefe
feveral elements has pafTed away ; religious pro-
feffion, as related to modifications of belief, and to
modes of government and worfhip, has become
flaccid ; and thenceforward religious differences,
having ceafed to acT: as impulfes^ are left to reft
upon the furface of fociety as fo many dead en-
cumbrances : they are the debris of the old red
fandftone, and of the granite of a remote era of
religious earneftnefs.
In abatement of the mortification one may have
felt in liftening to the vivacity and the eagernefs
of certain religious perfuafions, pleading for them-
felves upon very nugatory argumentative grounds
confiderations of this order may take effecl:.
We may remember that, apart from this perti-
nacity of a narrow-going logic, the needful vitality
of thefe elements would be gone. Convince the
zealous upholder of certain forms and modes that
he u difquiets himfelf in vain," and in doing fo
you unnerve him ; expand his views, and you
induce upon him a faintnefs, and he becomes, if
more of a philofopher, yet lefs of an efficient force
within the great mechanifm of our focial exiftence.
It is unavoidable in treating fubjects of this
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 23
kind, fuch as they appear when feen from the
fecular point of view, that we fhould fpeak of
what is ordinarily regarded from quite another
point of view, in a ftyle which may alarm or of-
fend fome Chriftian people. Yet the nervous
apprehenfion of doing fo the over caution, and
the timidity, leading toward evafivenefs^ which
thence would take its rife, brings with it a danger
of a more ferious kind even the rifk of gene-
rating, in other minds, a fufpicion as to Chrif-
tianity itfelf. An even-paced courage, founded
upon knowledge, muft always be fafe.
Antagoniftic elements of one kind often over-
lap, or dove-tail into, antagoniftic elements of
another kind. It is thus that, within the Britifh
commonwealth, the nationalities intermix with
the religious differences more or lefs fo. So it is
with Scotland and its puritanifm, fpread over Eng-
land in its nonconformity ; and with Ireland, and
its romanifm, fp^read over England in its noble fa-
milies and its gentry, ftill adhering to the faith of
1500. There is another interlacing which needs
to be mentioned, although it has ceafed to be of
much importance : this is that of the religious
elements with the permanent partition of the Bri-
tifh people into the three eftates of the ariftocracy,
the mercantile or monied body, and the induftrial
whether manufacturing, rural, or municipal
plough-driving, or fhopkeeping. It is upon the
broad bafis of this triform antagonifm that Britifh
24 ESS ATS, ETC.
energy, and its world-wide developments, take
their ftart. Should one of thefe principal elements
of living power ever fall from its place, or forget
itfelf fhould it become effete, or fliould it fuc-
cumb to its oppofite, England will be England no
more : it will not, as now it is, be prefent on all
ihores ; it will not, as now it is, be in command
on all oceans : thenceforward it muft be looked
for nowhere, but on the pages of tranfatlantic hif-
torians ; for it will have loft even its own literary
exiftence, along with its fupremacy in arts and
arms.
Everyone underftands that the threefold confti-
tution of the Britifh commonwealth finds now no
exprefiion of itfelf in the obfolete conftitutional
formula the king, the lords, and the commons,
of our earlier hiftory. More real, and widely un-
like each other are thofe conditions under which
ariftocratic life, mercantile life, trading life, induf-
trial life, rear and train the individual man, from
his very babyhood to his ripe years. It can never
be otherwife than that the average man or, as
we call him, the reprefentative man of each of
thefe orders, mall differ from his brethren of either
of the other claffes mail differ, not only in a
marked manner, but in a manner the chara&eriftics
of which are quite indelible. The inftances muft
be rare in the extreme, if indeed any one fuch in-
ftance could be adduced, in which thefe charac-
teriftics have been wholly effaced, either by fignal
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 25
revolutions of fortune, or by the force of mind, in
the individual man.
The permanence of thefe fixed diftin&ions af-
fords therefore a ground of calculation as to the
onward movements of the Social Mafs. So long
as thefe orders are maintained, each clafs will be
working its deftined effecl: upon the other clafles,
in the way of an emulative and a ftimulative ele-
ment. The others would not continue to be what
they^are, or what they may be feverally, if any one
of them were removed, or were to become unim-
portant. Under the now harmonious balancings
of the feveral orders, this reciprocity, this invigo-
rative interaction, is felt, and is recognized on all
hands. The Induftrial Clafs, efpecially, has fo been
brought into correfpondence with the Ariftocratic,
as that there has been communicated to both, in
different modes, a fort of galvanic impulfe, which
is greatly beneficial to both, and not lefs fo to the
loftier, than to the lower of the two.
There have indeed been times of peril when
fome real caufes of difquiet, and fome that were
imaginary, have afforded to the crafty demagogue
an occafion, which he has eagerly improved, for
inflaming the induftrial Mind. There have been
moments when the equipoife of the fyftem has
been nearly overthrown, and when its utter ruin
has come to be imminent. But the gloomy day
paffed over, and the morrow of England was fine.
Let it be affirmed, if it may with truth be
26 ESS ATS, ETC.
affirmed, that a high civilization is attainable, as
well (or better) apart from Monarchy and Arifto-
cracy, as with their prefence and help. The in-
ftance of any fuch focial marvel, or of a Social
Syftem, thus fruftrate has yet to be produced
from the book of Hiftory. Meantime it ftiould be
fhown, in fupport of a theory thus unauthenti-
cated, that a clearly-defined element intrinfically
effective, as toward other elements an element
the more, would, if it were removed, or if it were
rendered ineffective, leave the mafs by fo much
the more enriched, and by fo much the better
fitted for attaining an advanced civilization. To
fhow a probability on this fide, in favour of a mere
hypothefis, would not be eafy.
But does not every community contain a nu-
merous clafs which has not been named in the
above account of the ftated conftituents of the
Social Syftem ? Affu redly it does. A clafs hete-
rogeneous and helplefs, inorganic and unfervice-
able, conftituted of the uncounted multitude that
has filtered down from out of the Induftrial Clafs,
firjl and next, in a fmaller proportion, from the
trading clafs, and to fome extent from the mer-
cantile, and even, it may be, from the ariftocratic
clafTes.
The exiftence of this inorganic multitude this
undefined, undefinable, unintended, and neverthe-
lefs this conftant body, muft be diftin&ly recog-
nized in a community that would think itfelf to be
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 27
in a hopeful ftate, and that believes itfelf to be pro-
greflive toward a higher civilization. And not
merely muft this multitude be recognized ; but it
muft be held conftantly in view ; it muft be in-
cefTantly thought of; and in fuch ways it muft
be cared for as may be approvable firft, on the
grounds of an enlightened Chriftian benevolence ;
andfecondfy, on the grounds of political fcience ;
or rather, on grounds whereupon the two fpecies
of influence may be found to coincide, and to har-
monize.
A recognition of this mixed multitude the
camp-followers of focial order conftituted as it
is of thofe who bring with them their humanity,
and its urgent wants, and its miferies, and thefe
miferies mixed up confufedly with its individual
wrongfulnefs this recognition will lead on to ano-
ther branch of our fubjecl: when we mail have to
mention thofe prevalent beliefs, or thofe diffufed
habits of feeling thofe undefined moral principles,
apart from which, or in their abfence, a commu-
nity muft not be allowed to fpeak hopefully con-
cerning itfelf.
IV.
IT would be an idle occupation in truth it would
be a mockery to fpeculate, or to hold difcourfe
concerning the advancing civilization of a Com-
munity within which there exifts, in a legalized
28 ESS ATS, ETC.
and authenticated form, any ufage that has been
inherited from barbarifm, and that is a chara&e-
riftic, and a caufe, and a confequence, of a low
ftage of focial life a ftage not far raifed above the
favage condition.
So long as barbarifm, in any one of its cuftomary
manifeftations, is recognized by a State and by a
people, with approval fo long as fuch a ufage is
not merely tolerated, but is pleaded for, and is
boafted of fo long muft we continue to leave
them out of our account, when we are confidering
the means and the conditions of national progrefs.
The exiftence, in the bofom of a denfe popula-
tion, of a large indigent clafs, enduring the extreme
miferies of want, and liable to the worfe wretched-
nefs of moral ruin, is believed (whether on fuffi-
cient grounds or not) to be everywhere an inevi-
table evil. Purely evil it is held to be ; and as
fuch it is undefired, it is unintended, it is difal-
lowed, it is difapproved. None among us come
forward to argue for it as a good, or to fpeak of it
as evil, in appearance only. This mifery of a clafs
is the fubjecl: of earned inquiries inquiries re-
newed with zeft at fhort intervals. Every one
afks What is the remedy ? What is it that can
be done to remove, or to exclude entirely, or to
mitigate this wretchednefs, phyfical and moral ?
So far, then, there is a conftant preflure, tending
toward the diminution, or the abfolute abolition of
what all fo much deplore.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 29
How great foever may be the extent of the in-
digent clafs, or how deep foever the miferies that
are endured within its dark borders, it does not
prohibit national progrefs fo long as it is in this
manner as above faid recognized, and deplored,
and is fubjecled to remedial action whether wifely
ordered, or otherwife.
The cafe is wholly different when the fpe&acle
of national life prefents to view the terrible paradox
of fome barbaric ufage or inftitution, which is re-
cognized as a goody and is vaunted of as a glory
and is upheld with arrogant determination to con-
ferve it to the laft.
Thefe relics of barbarifm may be enumerated
thus *Polygamy, Infanticide, Legalized Profti-
tution, Capricious Divorce, Sanguinary and Im-
moral Games, Inflidtion of Torture, Wars of Ra-
pacity, Cafte, and Slavery. In fight of communities
tolerating any one of thefe Plagues, philanthropy
fickens.
If the recognition and the authentication of any
barbaric ufage bars the advance of a people, and
poftpones the confideration of its future good, fo
may the exiftence, within it, of a large indigent
clafs, If it be not thought of if it is not cared for ;
or if it be thought of, and cared for, only here and
there, by a martyr-like philanthropift. The mafles
juft above the miferable loweft, and from thefe to
* " Effays, etc." p. 345.
30 ESS ATS, ETC.
thofe next above, even to the uppermoft, muft have
become formally cognizant of this wretch ednefs
near them ; as well as incidentally informed con-
cerning it. Each clafs, and each in its own manner,
muft have given ear willingly to thofe who have
dived into the abyfs, and have come up to make
their report concerning its woes. There muft
pervade the feveral fuperincumbent orders, a fen-
fitivenefs, a difquietude, a reftlefs defire to find and
to apply practicable remedies ; and there muft be
a willingnefs to render fubftantial aid in whatever
mode has been found to be the moft approvable.
If this be the mind and feeling of the feveral eftates
of the commonwealth, as toward the helplefs and
miferable, then its own progrefs may well be re-
garded as hopeful. Certainly not if it be otherwife.
The remedial means that may have been recom-
mended, and reforted to, at the firft impulfe of
this humane difquietude, were perhaps fuch as
muft be difallowed, for they were ill-judged and
ineffective ; or they may even be of a kind that
is likely to aggravate, more than to alleviate, the
evils in view. All this may be ; and fuch unap-
proved movements are a probable confequence of
the unlooked-for difclofure of thofe appalling facts
which benevolent zeal has difclofed. Sudden re-
velations of extreme mifery give rife to temporizing
expedients for its relief. Such things may be ; and
worfe woes may fpring up to aftound thofe who
had expected to bring home a golden harveft. Yet
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 31
notwithftanding a feries of difappointments, good
muft enfue in the end, fo long as the national fen-
fitivenefs, in regard to the lot of helplefs thoufands,
is maintained in its due vivacity.
What then does this Senfitivenefs this hu-
mane confcioufnefs imply ? And what are the re-
medial courfes to which it will give rife ? And in
what modes will any fuch means actually take effecl: ?
Queftions a reply to which will beft be given,
informally, and in fuch manner as to interweave
the various matters that are therein involved.
Writers of a certain clafs in the department of
political economy demand an unconditional af-
fent to axioms concerning the phyfical and the
moral well-being of a people, which axioms they
affirm to be demonftrably true, and which more-
over are of a kind that comes within the province
of arithmetic to make intelligible ; and fo it would
be, if only human nature and horfe nature might
properly be treated of in the fame modes of ex-
preffion, and might be fubje&ed to the fame for-
mulae. We underftand human nature otherwife.
There can be no queftion thus far, that whatever
per centage of the population it is which is found,
at any time, to belong to the indigent cafte, and
whatever may be the depth of its wretchednefs,
and the meafure of its deftitution, thefe things are
produces of caufes that are calculable to a great
extent. The ratio of increafe in the population
the caufes which are regulative of wages the
32 ESS4TS, ETC.
revolutions and viciffitudes of man u fa 61 u res the
turn of foreign trade and commerce, and the ba-
lancings of the energies of neighbouring nations,
are intelligible caufes of the increafe, or of the
decreafe of deftitution in the loweft clafs, as they
are of comfort, or of diftrefs in the induftrial and
trading clafs. Influences like .thefe, and many
there are that have equal claims to be confidered,
concur to render the reafonings of Political Eco-
nomy infinitely complicated, and, to a great ex-
tent, precarious and difappointing. A refult ap-
proximately true is the beft that ought to be looked
for, as likely to reward the labours of thofe who,
difdaining to fee in human nature anything which
figures will not fymbolize, or which tables will
not bring under the eye, are driven in upon the
fallacies of a hypothetic philofophy.
The actual number of the indigent in a com-
munity, and the quality of the mifery that is en-
dured by them, are determined, as much by influ-
ences that are undefmable, as they are by caufes
that may be fpecified, and meafured, and numbered.
The condition of thofe who float, or who are
driven, hither and thither, outfide of the pale of
Induftrial Order, ftands related to the ftate of
feeling and opinion, and to the domeftic habits,
and the modes of life that prevail in the clafs
proximate to thefe outcafts : that is to fay, the
clafs from which, chiefly, though not folely, thefe
outcafts drop off, one by one, into the abyfs.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 33
A procefs of difmtegration is always going on
upon the lower furface of the loweft induftrial
clafs, which augments the inorganic mafs beneath ;
but at what rate it (hall make thefe augments
depends greatly upon the habits and the feeling
which pervade that penultimate clafs.
The feeling and habits of this clafs are the con-
fequence of what is prevalent in the clafs next
above this, and which we might defignate as the
antepenultimate. And thus fhould we afcend, in
fearch of the effective opinion of the community,
from rank to rank, and we fhall find it to be the
moft effective in the middle zone of focial con-
fcioufnefs the region of thoughtful and enter-
prifing fyrnpathy. We fhall find effective fym-
pathies on that level where education, and a fenfe
of refponfibility, and the wider range of thought
that attaches to the difcharge of public functions,
are at the beft. It will be on that level that
we muft find if anywhere a feeling concerning
THE DUES OF HUMANITY which will operate,
with more or lefs force, as a regulative caufe,
determining the actual conditions of human life,
down to its loweft ranges. What thefe condi-
tions are will, in fome degree, depend upon the
feeling of the community as to what they ought
to be.
What then fhould the Dues of Humanity in-
clude ? Certainly we intend by this phrafe no fuch
things as are cuftomarily claimed for " every
D
34 ESS ATS, ETC.
citizen," by political theorifts, or fuch as are noifed
by felf-feeking demagogues. Let political rights
be pleaded for, where rights can, to fome good
purpofe, be argued, and afcertained in fenates, and
in newfpapers. Such rights as thefe can be claimed
in behalf only of about a twenty per cent, of the
wretched namely, the adult males among them
the able-bodied, and thofe who, for the moft
part, if they were to receive their dues, muft
accept them in the fhape of chaftifement for vaga-
bondifm.
Thofe Dues of Humanity which we have to
claim are to be claimed in behalf of the helplefs
woman, and of her lucklefs infants, and of the
maimed, and of the fick, and of the imbecile, and
of the aged ; a great multitude it is, and fuch it
will be, wherever millions of people are denfely
congregated. Thefe then are our clients ; but
what is it that we are intending to claim for them ?
Is it Parochial Relief? This is accorded al-
ready; and it actually meets a fmall portion of the
multitude, and to thefe it affords the Jiatuteable
minimum of fupply for the animal neceffities of
human nature. Is what we claim that which may
be afforded within eleemofynary eftablimments ?
This fource alfo does its part, through the filtra-
tion of trufteeftiips, and of official favouritifm.
Is it the miniftrations of cafual and private charity ?
It is thefe ; but it is much more than thefe.
Whether or not the promptings and the im-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 35
pulfes of a fenfitive philanthropy can be realized in
particular inftances whether or not the wretch-
ednefs which we come to the knowledge of may
be alTuaged, at this moment ; or if not to-day
foon, yet there remains, to demand inceflant
thought, the condition of thofe who are deftitute
of what we have defignated as the Dues of Hu-
manity ; and thefe dues include thofe undefined,
and undefinable good things of life good things,
as well for the body as the foul thofe comforts,
thofe decencies, thofe natural enjoyments, thofe
endearments, thofe means of prefent well-being,
thofe hopes and poffibilitiesof improvement, which,
when the miferable are in our view, float before
us, dimly feen, and which, in facl:, are a refraction
from everyone's perfonal confcioufnefs of comfort,
and of fufficiency, and of hopefulnefs. Tacitly,
we demand, for whoever is miferable, fuch things
as make the difference between their lot and our
own.
Every humane and fenfitive mind carries about
it its individual idea, or its unexprefled conception
of what is due to humanity ; not as to factitious
wants ; but as to fuch as are univerfal and fubftantial.
There is a condition, animal moral intellectual,
which each of us holds before himfelf, as hypothe-
tically fitting to human nature proper to it ; it
is, in my eftimate, a minimum of good, lefs than
which, if we find any in human form wanting it,
the fpectacle can never be regarded without a pun-
36 ESS4TS, ETC.
gent diftrefs it is a fpe&acle that is intolerable ;
and yet it is not to be driven off with a felfifh
fhrug ; but rather is to be thought of, until the re-
medy be found and applied.
The Dues of Humanity are whatever thofe
things are which go to make up, in each mind,
the abftracl: conception of the lot of our fellows,
according to our individual fenfitivenefs, and our
conftitutional power of fympathy, and the meafure
of our companions everyone's " bowels of
mercies." If it be fo, and if, for the recognition
of the indigent and the outcaft clafs, and for the
effecT:ivenefs of any remedial means, we are to
look to the diffufed humane feeling of the clafles
next above the loweft, then, in aiming at the pro-
greflive civilization of a people, the foremoft care
mould be given to whatever tends to cherifh and
D
to enhance the fenfitivenefs of that clafs ; and
therefore it is that care mould be taken to con-
trovert, or to prevent the defufion among them,
of the vilifying doctrines of materialifm.
There is a momentous truth, although it is
vaguely exprefled, in the aphorifm Men will be,
whatever you think them to be ; or, otherwife
worded Human Nature rifes, and it falls, in its
phyfical, and in its moral condition, in accordance
with popular beliefs concerning it. Think ill of
all the world, and of thofe around you, and they
will not fail to juftify your eftimate of them.
So it is undoubtedly within the domeftic circle :
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 37
children, fervants, are falfe, fraudful, foul, if the
mifanthropic man, who is father and mafter, lets
fall among them, in his outbreaks of paffion, his
opinion that they are fo.
On this ground it is that Chriftianity works its
way in Chriftianizing a community if only it
have free fcope. It does this, not by glozing the
evil that is in the world ; not by extenuating, or
by exaggerating the damage which human nature
has fuftained ; but it does fo by raiting, in all
minds, the ideal of human nature ; by enhancing,
to the utmoft intenfity, the confcioufnefs of the
difference between good and evil, and the after
iffues of both ; by opening the gate of immortality
to the moft degraded of beings ; and not the leaft
by giving force tothofe emotions that are needed
for furmounting the difgufts and averfions that
hedge off the wretched near us. Precepts, enjoin-
ing a&s of mercy, take effecl: upon confciences,
and they wring alms out of grudging natures ; but
a CHRISTIAN SENSITIVENESS toward moral de-
gradation and toward bodily fuffering takes effect
upon better upon loftier natures, and in its re-
fults it immeafurably goes beyond the range of any
formal commandment, or any motive of fear.
The heterogeneous indigent multitude every-
where wearing nearly the fame afpecl: of fqualor
requires that fome diftinftions fhould be regarded
as to its conftituents. There are depths, and
there are ftill lower depths, of mifery mifery
38 ESSJrS, ETC.
which is the fixed lot of thoufands of the people.
At the very loweft level, or on the bafement of
the pit, there are thofe nor is it known what pro-
portion they bear to the whole, who may be de-
fignated as the Aborigines of Woe-land born
they were in it ; trained in it ; habituated are they
to the fullen modes of a favage exiftence ; they
have known no other mode ; and the confequent
unconfcioufnefs of their condition is that which is
the moft charafteriftic of thefe natives of the den.
It is this want of the " Woe is me !" that renders
their recovery fo hopelefs. As to any fragmentary
elements of the religious confcioufnefs, fcarcely
are any fuch fragments difcoverable in this cafte.
Whatever is done for them muft be applied as by
force : never will fuch miniftrations be invited;
and therefore it is that a diftindl: recognition of the
exiftence, and the nearnefs to us, of fuch a clafs
fhould be regarded as the firft poftulate of popular
civilization. Where no fuch recognition has been
made, and where nothing has been attempted for
the removal of favage life from the heart of great
cities, no boaft can rightfully be made on behalf
of a people as if they were moving in an onward
courfe. Let us rather blufh for whatever feems to
be great and profperous, until we have taken this
work in hand ; and until we mail be doing it to
purpofe.
Prefenting itfelf under nearly the fame afpe&s
clad in the fame difmal coftumes there are very
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 39
many of quite another order. Thefe are thofe who,
one by one, or three or five together, banded in
misfortune, have fallen out of place in the clafs to
which they belong by birth and habits. <c Oh yes,
but you may fpare your pity as to fuch perfons ;
for let me tell you, you mail find that nineteen out
of every twenty of fuch miferables have come to
be where they are more by their own fault than
by any mere misfortune.'' We grant you it is fo;
or it may be fo ; what you affirm is, you fay, the
" refult of your careful inquiries ;" take it then,
take this " refult," to yourfelf, and wear it as your
"mackintofh," proof againft twingesofconfcience,
and againft importunities alfo ; take it the bell
rings for dinner; begone there is foup,fifh, viands,
entremets^ game, paftry, wines and the deflert ;
at any rate, ftand out of our way; for thefe mife-
rables are at the door, and we muft help them.
We are now in queft of thofe alas, it is fo !
of whom we mail find very many, extended
prone or fupine, upon the cold clay of hunger and
raggednefs : there they are perhaps by their
fault it is likely ! Faults of what fort ? Such as
inconfequence in their habits of thinking and act-
ing; mindlefTnefs ; obduracy ; petulance ;
or worfe than thefe faults of a fort that are cog-
nizable by law ; falls, and faults, for which the
conftitutions of fociety provide no place of repent-
ance. There they are their faults, and their mif-
fortunes on their heads; a tangled mafsit is, which,
40 ESS4TS, ETC.
as no human fagacity can ever avail to fet off the
one from the other, muft be accepted in the lump,
and muft be allowed to ftand in Mercy's book, as
plea for help. Sins, imprudences, forrows warp
and woof, a many-coloured garb of mifery ; we fhall
gain nothing by pulling it thread from thread.
But look now into the weltered hearts, and into
the blighted memories of thofe whom we have
o
thus gathered from out of the thoufands of the
loft and wretched. The heart, and the memory
both are broken and fhivered fhall mow you, if
you could but fee it pictures of homes, and of the
dead, who were once the light and life of the
home. There will be glimpfes of gay gardens, and
remembrances of fire-fide circles ; there will be
fomething of Sunday hours, and of church-going
ufages ; there will be bits and fnatches of all things
that are the pureft and the brighteft belonging to
earth ; there will be gleams, fading, and always
fading, more and more, of a future life a heaven
that once was fpoken of in aflured tranquil tones, as
the " where we fhall all meet again." Alas ! the
cruel intenfity of every day's mifery, through long
years, has prefled all hopes earthly and unearthly
together from out of the blafted and blighted
and torn up nature ! In thought of fuch as thefe
and in every city or town fcores and hundreds
may be found within fifteen minutes' walk of you
in fearch of fuch as thefe, do not delay to go
out ; find them, and do what may be done to turn
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 41
their feet toward the path whereupon the Dues of
Humanity fliall come again within their reach.
VI.
IN modes that ftand clear of reafonable blame on
the part of Political Economifts, or of the pro-
fefTors of Social Science, great progrefs may be
made not, indeed, in the abolition of poverty
not in the extinction of crime ; but in narrowing
the field of both, by inceflant encroachments
inch by inch, and in the preffure upon them of
fuch forces as are quite at our command. Improved
methods of doing what has hitherto been done
fyftem intelligent adaptation of fimple expedi-
ents combination in benevolent enterprifes, thefe
things have become the characteriftics of the
times prefent ; and they are its bright points of
hope, as to national progrefs : they are means of
reform, of the efficacy of which we are only juft
now beginning to form fome conception. Carried
forward with an always increafing earneftnefs, ani-
mated by unlocked for fuccefles, greater things
will be achieved in the next twenty years than
even the moft fanguine are furmifing.
The firft want^ in-the profpect of effecting fuch
reforms, is a thorough exploration of what (hall
we call it ? the dark region of dens in cities ;
or, as already named, that Woe-land which fpreads
its acres, in and out, among the fquares, and the
42 ESS ATS, ETC.
parades where comfort and luxury make their
abode. Whatever is actually doing in this pro-
cefs of exploration is to be commended, and to be
promoted, and to be urged forward fpite of
fcruples. Whatever is done, conformably with
order, and alfo nonconformably with order re-
gularly and irregularly judicioufly and injudi-
cioufly all will be too little: Church, and
police, and committees, and aflbciations, and indi-
vidual kind-heartednefs all, and much more is
needed, fo that at laft the meafure of mifery anear
us may be correclly taken ; fo that the depth of
the abyfs may be fathomed ; and all may be known
the worft known. Known it muft be ; but
under what conditions, and under what reftraints
of propriety blazoned, and put into print, is another
matter ; nor has this always been duly thought of.
An extenfive and exatt knowledge of the habi-
tual mifery that lurks in towns and cities, as it
does alfo in rural diftricts, may undoubtedly be ac-
quired ; and it may come before us, as does the
locality of epidemics, within calculable limits. Evil
and fuffering are vaft in this world ; but they are
not illimitable ; they are not infinite ; and it is a
great folace to think of them, as one might fay,
topographically. A deadly miafma has its area, its
fkirts, and its altitude ; it may be laid down upon
a map ; and it may be fhown in fedlion. Thus
alfo, and with little abatement as to the precifion
of the terms we ufe, may the cubic contents of
the wretchednefs of cities be found and recorded.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 43
Thefe things known, then the good fenfe, and
the practical ability of inftructed philanthropifts
takes in hand a tafk that is difficult indeed, but
which is far from being hopelefs. Mifery and
ftarvation are houfed fomewhere ; and how vile
foever its domicile may be, and however fmall the
rent it pays for the fhelter it ufes, that rent may
be made an equivalent for a home weather proof,
periodically cleanfed, and fuch as that a regard to
the decorums of a better condition fhall be therein
poffible. Suffering and want have put off half
their horrors when they have been led forth from
a filthy den, and have betaken themfelves to a room
which a little would make to look home-like.
No improper interference with " the labour
market," no tampering with the felf-reliant prin-
ciple which muft not in any way be enervated
nothing blameworthy is involved in advancing a
ftep or two beyond this of the demolition of
dens. It comes within the admitted offices of Go-
vernment Government in a country jealous of its
liberties, and averfe to centralization to interdict,
and actually to prevent^ the bringing to market of
vile and poifonous articles of food. Thus one other
of the horrors of indigence may be put out of the
way of its victims by the arm of the public force.
Vile and poifonous food is not cheaper than what
is wholefome : it is far dearer ; and all the differ-
ence goes into the hands of the murderous ruf-
fians that live by fupplying the worfe, and charging
the price of the better.
44 ESS ATS,
Always, or almoft always, it is the purchafer of
the very vileft refufe it is he who buys the caft-
off caft-offs that pays an extortion price the fe-
venty or eighty per cent, upon the real value, and
the fair dealer's profit. If great prices are paid for
articles of luxury which carry a fafliion premium
upon them, it is a ftill more exorbitant price
that is paid for articles which would never find a
purchafer at all, if the actual purchafer were not
at the inftant periming for the want of them.
How far lhall it be poffible to meet the dealers
in fuch things in their own market, and to drive
them out of it in the way of honeft competition ?
this is a queftion too complicated for a difcuf-
fion of it in this place. But it is a queftion to
which attention might well be given.
In a word, wretchednefs and deftitution, how-
ever extenfive and extreme they are, may be num-
bered, and meafured, and reported of; and al-
though Mifery is not to be defended againft itfelf^
it may undoubtedly be defended againft the can-
nibals that fatten upon it. This is a rule
That as the gains of the rapacious are always
enormous, there is therefore always room for a
fair profit, if any will ftep in to drive the extor-
tioner out of his field. And yet no fuch com-
petition is likely to be entered upon apart from
benevolent interference. DirecT: motives of trade
will not avail for meeting occafions of this kind.
Neverthelefs it does come within limits of reafon-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 45
able hope that thofe who have already made fuc-
cefsful inroads upon fuch extortions in one line
the " Home" mould attempt it in another j not
as if for gain, but for leflening and lefTening by
little and little, the worft miferies of mifery.
Thus to border evils which we may not hope
to remove entirely, and thus to mitigate fufferings
which will ftill cling to the lot of man, and thus
to fubtracl: one by one ills from ills, is indeed a
good work, and, unlefs it be always a-doing, no
boaftings of national progrefs can be liftened to.
But ftill better were it to apply ourfelves to
that undermoft furface of the induftrial mafs
throughout the extent of which the procefs of
disintegration is continually going on. The wages
of thofe fpecies of labour that are of the lowefr.,
or of the meaneft kinds, and efpecially the hand-
work of women, and of children, and of the in-
firm, will always tend to ftand at a level which is
by only an inappreciable diftance higher than the
ftarvation mark. It is on this ftage that the help-
lefs and there are thoufands of them in cities
encounter the Employer even the man who is
the brother, or the coufin, or the u AND Co." of
the provifion dealer the dealer in thofe poifonous
abominations, to obtain which thofe who purchafe
muft work twenty hours out of the twenty-four.
It would be both a weaknefs and a delufion to
look for any fort of remorfe or compunction on
the part either of the Provifion Dealer, or of his
4 6 ESS ATS, ETC.
partner the Employer in thefe inftances ; we
may be fure they will both of them go on to ply
their trades, each after his fafhion ; nor are there
now any reafonable men philanthropifts who
would attempt to forbid thefe barbarities by A6ts
of Parliament ; as if there might be a minimum
price of food affixed in the market ; or a minimum
of wages prefcribed by ftatutes ; or a rule uni-
verfal as to hours of labour. We muft wage war
upon extortioners in another manner. We muft
feek to drive them out of their gains on other
ground, and we muft do fo on principles which
will not involve a prejudicial reaction a " leav-
ing things worfe than we found them."
Obvious are the means of righting the labour
market by ryftematic emigration, on the one hand ;
and, on the other hand, by opening up new occu-
pations, adapted to women ; and they muft be
fuch occupations as mall leave the woman a wo-
man ftill. But neither of thefe remedial procefTes
will be put effectively in courfe, or will be fuccefT-
fully carried forward, and perfifted in, if left to be
brought about at the inftigation of the direct mo-
tives of Induftrial or Commercial enterprife. It is
juft at this point that the principles of Political
Economy muft be not contravened, not violated
but SUPPLEMENTED. It is here that thofe (few
they may be) who will take thought for the mor-
row of the helplefs around them, may well and
in truth they muft do it come in, to aflume to
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 47
themfelves a tafk which none but themfelves will
ever achieve. In any cafe, when what we have to
do with is a mafs of heterogeneous elements, the
Sciences that relate to thefe elements muft part
off, and each muft deal, in its own manner, with
its own matters. The focial body muft thus be
dealt with ; and human nature, in all cafes, muft
thus be treated and not be treated as if the rea-
fons, the influences, the tendencies affecling it,
were all of one order : they are not fo they are
diverfe ; and to treat human nature as if its well-
being were a fimple element, is a mifchievous
quackery.
Philanthropifts men who are not fchemers,but
are well inftrucled in Political Economy men
who are not refolved to effectuate, each his
crotchet, but are informed, and temperate, and
wife, and who are modeft enough to make a halt,
and to retrace their fteps, when there may be
reafon to do fo : it is fuch men who muft do the
things that are needed to be done, for the purpofe
of thwarting and of overthrowing the monfters of
whom the helplefs, in cities, are the victims. It
is fuch men who muft enter, and who will rifk
themfelves in entering, the cavern where cruelty
is gorging itfelf upon its victims, and they will
thence " lead captivity captive."
Nothing can be more futile than the attempt
to make employments for the unemployed ; and
nothing that is factitious can become a lafting
48 ESS ATS, ETC.
good. Nor muft it be attempted to take employ-
ment out of the hands of thofe who have it, for
the purpofe of giving it to our pets our election.
But what may be done is to carry forward the
principle of the divifion of labour, by releafmg
from his fpecies of labour a man who, in fact,
poflefles more mind and ftrength than his occu-
pation calls for ; and by bringing into his place
thofe who will find it to be juft the equivalent of
their powers of mind and of body.
Thofe who, in fome good degree, are conver-
fant with the wide range of the induftrial arts
the vaft field of manufacturing and of decorative
labour, as carried on in towns muft be aware of
the fact, that, notwithftanding the much that has
been faid of late of thofe admirable adjuftments
which give effect to the Divifion of Labour, thefe
adaptations actually take effect very partially.
Single manufactures which, through a courfe of
years, have drawn upon themfelves the concen-
trated attention of a feries of intelligent managers,
have reached, perhaps, the higheft poflible point
of perfection in relation to the divifion of labour.
This point has been attained under the continuous
preflure of competition in price : to underfell our
rivals, at home or abroad, in a particular article,
has led or we may fay, driven the manufacturer
to extend and to attenuate his procefles, in the
allotment of tafks, to an extreme point. But now,
for one branch of manufacture which has received,
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 49
point. But now, for one branch of manufacture
which has received, in full, the benefit of this fub-
divifion, a dozen might be found in which it has
not hitherto been made available much beyond the
rudeft ftages of obfolete procefles.
What is the inference but this ? That, greatly to
the advantage of the community greatly to the
augmentation of the annual product of the national
induftry greatly to the benefit of the loweft rank
of thofe who live by labour, the principle of the
Divifion of Labour might yet be applied to the in-
duftrial and the decorative arts ; and that, if fo
applied in the mode of a gradual a year-by-year
extenfion of it and if this procefs were going
on, without noife, over a field fo incalculably
extenfive as is the manufacturing and artiftic in-
duftry of England, it would abforb or better, it
would always be in courfe of abforbing the lower-
clafs labour, everywhere ; that efpecially of women
and children which would come into requeft, and
thus thefe would be able to live by their hands ;
this would come about ; and, in confequence of
fuch a change, this, among many other things
muft enfue, that the making of a fhirt muft thence-
forward be paid for at a rate which would not inflict
a flow death by torture upon the needlewoman !
How are changes of this fort to be initiated ? It
will never be if we wait in reliance upon the
fallacious doctrine, that manufacturers are always
quick to fee their interefts, and that they will
50 ESSATS, ETC.
devife and avail themfelves of, every beneficial re-
form, without our bidding. It may be fo in three
inftances, or in five ; but it will not be fo in the
twenty inftances to which attention has not as yet
been forcibly directed. Here again caufes of one
kind muft be fupplemented by bringing to bear
upon them a caufation of another kind. The
force of public opinion, inftigated and directed
by men of intelligence, is needed for overcoming
the fluggifhnefs, the ftupidity, the vis inertia^ of
thofe who, in purfuit of the neareft of their in-
terefts, become unconfcious of furer and greater
interefts, which ftand a little way remote from
their daily profpect.
In refpedl: then of the progreflive well-being of
the lower ftratum of a denfe population, there muft
beprefent,and there muft be available, a thoughtful
philanthropy, giving head, with a fteady vigilance,
to thofe interefts of the helplefs clafs^ which will
never be promoted, or fecured, by the fpontaneous
operation of any laws with which political econo-
my concerns itfelf. THE DUES OF HUMANITY
muft be looked after, and muft be cared for, by
the HUMANE. We have need only of this cau-
tion in aiming to fet philanthropy to work for the
good of the helplefs that it mould not fo mifun-
derftand its function as to undertake to manage
the interefts of thofe next above the helplefs, who
may, and who muft, help themfelves : otherwife
than as hereafter to be mentioned.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 51
VI.
AT this time the feveral orders of the Common-
wealth the privileged and the induftrial do not
ftand, as once they did, arrayed againft each other
in hoftile purpofe, or in deadly hate. The over-
throw of public order is not threatened, as once
it was, by popular impatience of the dignities and
fplendours of the ariftocracy. So far then the
State-focial is in equilibrium. But it is lefs fo, it is
lefs at reft, in the interior of the Induflrial Clafs.
Inteftinal difcords, fpringing from inveterate
mifapprehenfions of their common interefts, ftill
drive the employed in upon the employer, to the
equal injury of both. Here again, therefore, na-
tional boafting muft be deferred, until the evil
demon of labour-prejudice has been expelled ; and
until the mif-judging wage-takers have come to
a better mind. This is not the place for dif-
cufiing political economy queftions. The infatua-
tions which befet the walks of labour will in time
work themfelves off, and demonftrate, in the view
of all concerned, their own mifchievous properties.
Mifapprehenfions prevalent within a clafs meet
their corre&ion by aid of the good fenfe of the
next neighbouring clafs brought to bear upon it,
juft where it is needed, in the fpontaneous ut-
terances of Public Opinion the common-fenfe
of what is right and reafonable, exprefTed by thofe
whofe own immediate interefts are not touched
52 ESS ATS, ETC.
in the particular matter in queftion. Privatequ ar-
rels, as well as what may be called inteftinal dif-
agreements, fooner or later, where the Prefs is free,
are fubje&ed to a fort of trial by jury : it is a jury
unfworn, andunempanelled, but not, therefore, the
lefs likely to be heeded in its decifions. The ufeful
conditions of this fpontaneoufly-conftituted body
are thefe three : firft, that the crotchetty one or
two out of a dozen are not permitted to thwart
the common reafon of the ten or eleven by their
folly, and their pig-headednefs ; fecondly, that the
majority is not reckoned by polls, but by brains ;
and thirdly, that the verdicl: is always a mixed ver-
ditl ; it is a verdicl: with conditions attached
refembling more a Judgment delivered in Equity,
with reafons given, than the bare yea or nay which
the foreman delivers for himfelf and his colleagues,
when he returns into Court.
This Public Opinion, when it takes effecl: upon
minor interefts, and does not relate to thofe deeper
Political Queftions which are driven forward to-
ward a precipitate iflue by factions, and which are
myftified by demagogues, is ufually the opinion
and the judgment of the calm-minded, becaufe
they are the non-inter eft ed, upon fome partial in-
tereft. It is the judgment, moft often, of the
beft-informed perfons of the community ; and it is
a judgment which finks fo much the deeper into
the ears and hearts of thofe concerned, becaufe it
carries with it no other weight than that which
may belong to it in mere reafon.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 53
Public opinion floating and winded about in
the unpremeditated utterances of all men abroad
and at home, is at once fwayed by the organs
through which it proclaims itfelf, namely, the
Periodic Prefs ; and again fways the printed mind,
which that mind afTumes to lead. Reciprocally
leading, and led, public opinion, and the periodic
prefs, bring themfelves, by a procefs of unauthentic
arbitration, to a fubftantial agreement. That
which the editor fays is moft often an amended
product ; for on his fide it is a compromife between
his earlier and his later decifions ; or it is a revifed
edition to-day of his utterance yefterday ; and on
the fide of the public, the readers, who have heard
alfo what other editors may fay, the mind they
come to is likely to be a near approximation to
reafon, as related to the particular matter in hand :
the particular matter in hand a private
wrong, or right ; or a fer,ional antagonifm ; for it
is far from being true that, in relation to organic
conftitutional queftions, the better reafon is fure to
get the uppermoft. In this higher region, a people
is ever moving this way, or that way, at the mercy
of profound caufes caufes which take effecl: in the
courfe of two or three generations, and which lie
as much beyond control as they are beyond know-
ledge , they are fecular deftinies ; they may intend
progrefs; or it is as likely that they may iflue in
focial diflblution.
To return, for a moment, to fuch matters as
54 ESS ATS, ETC.
may well come under the jurifdi&ion of Diurnal
Public Opinion, and in relation to which the Prefs
ordinarily exercifes its function in an aufpicious
manner. Within the limits of this defignation, as
we have faid, come the merits and the mifdoings
of individual public perfons, which in the end are
equitably dealt with. Then come thofe cafes of
inteftinal antagonifm fuch as are the difagree-
ments between mafters and men, or between rival
combinations already alluded to j then thofe in-
ftances in which the better-informed members
of the community take it in hand to promote
the interefts, to enhance the comforts, to fubftan-
tiate the wealth, to fecure the health, to regulate
and improve the amufements and the enjoyments
of the lefs well-informed clafles ; this fort of in-
tervention is over and beyond that already con-
fidered, in which the benevolent move forward
for the help of the deftitute, and at the fummons
of outraged humanity.
A marked indication it is of the advance of a
People toward a higher Civilization, when the
Periodic Prefs afligns a fair proportion of its type-
filled area to fubjects of thefe feveral clafles
namely, to projects, fchemes, fuggeftions, the
profefled intention of which is to aid the induf-
trial, and the fmall-trading members of the com-
munity in their efforts to take care of them-
felves. It is thus that at once the natural tendency
to fave and to hoard, and the natural tendency
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 55
alfo to fpend and to enjoy, have both been met, and
cherifhed. And thus, too, the health of thofe
confined to large towns has been cared for ; and
thus that recreations of a humanizing, not of a
brutalizing kind, have, on fo large a fcale, been
provided. All thefe things are recent ; many of us
remember the earlieft of thefe liberal movements,
and well remember, alfo, thofe barbarities, a very
fele&ive defcription of which is enough to horrify
a modern family circle. It is far from being true
that the morals of the lower and middle clafles
have advanced in a ratio at all equal to that in
which their vifible civilization has undergone im-
provement. It is not fo ; and yet this vifible
civilization is by itfelf an incalculable gain. This
gain and this advancement are mainly attributable
to what we have mentioned the thoughtful regard
of the better-informed clafles, turned toward the
interefts and the enjoyments of the lefs well-in-
formed.
Vaftly more has been boafted of than common
fenfe and fa&s would warrant, concerning the
efficacy of Fine Art Exhibitions, and of Mufeums,
in " culturing the tafte " of the induftrial clafles.
The Labourer in any line below the profeflional
if indeed Nature has fo gifted him as that he,
individually, may come to poflefs a cultured tafte,
and a refined fenfe of beauty in Art and Poetry
is a man who ftiould be moved up until he reaches
a level where fuch taftes may be indulged, and
56 ESSATS, ETC.
where they will not be his difparagement as a
workman his torture his tax ; in a word, his
misfortune. If a rife in his cafe be quite impof-
fible, then the fruftrated faculty which Nature has
beftowed is a difcount to be reckoned off from
his fum of happinefs.
Lectures, Exhibitions, Mufeums, Galleries of
Art, and Intellectual Entertainments, as related to
the induftrial and trading clafTes, are incidental
aids in carrying forward a People's civilization,
and they may be fo in one mode, the men-
tion of which may, perhaps, be refented as fri-
volous. Thefe aflemblages or fome of them do
fo bring into contiguity, in a tranquil fedative
mood, the two far-apart elements of the focial
body namely, thofe who vifit the Mufeum, the
Exhibition, the Palace, the Botanic Garden, to
fpend a holiday, wrung out of the year, once or
twice, or more, and thofe who come there to
lounge away the heavy portions of a life of days
and hours, at their own difpofal. In and out
upon the fame boards pafs thefe widely-diffimilar,
and, in fact, alienated inheritors of the fame
nature ; thus do they wander over the furface,
like fparks upon a tinder-paper. Well would it
be if directors, inftead of going about to fegregate,
more and more, the two communions the la-
bouring and the leifurely would aim rather to
bring about thefe intermixtures of ranks.
Juxtapofitions of this kind may, or they might
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 57
be, beneficial to fome of the leifure clafs ; but
greatly advantageous may they be to many of the
labour clafs. Partly it will be fo in teaching thefe
to emulate thofe, and even to perfonate them in
attire, in toilette-making, in gefture, in utterance,
in fpoken Englifh ; all this is fomething gained, for
as to the affectation it may bring with it, this, in a
broad view of a people's welfare, is an evil, if indeed
an evil, which is of no account. Let thefe apings
be abfurd the abfurdity does not go deep ; and it
cofts little, or nothing ; the imitation is a fpur to
ambition, and fo to induftry, and to enterprife, and
to a gainful fpecies of fpending. The induftrious
the elder and the younger will make renewed
efforts to command mere decorations; and the pro-
duel of fuch enhanced endeavours will greatly over-
balance what may have been lavifhed upon vanity.
The promifcuoufnefs of thefe affemblages upon
the floors of Mufeums and Cryftal Palaces, has
another, and a more fubftantial good refult a re-
fult which tends powerfully to carry forward the
civilizing of the mafs of the people the million.
For receiving that benefit of this intermixture
which has already been mentioned, there is needed
the upward looking tendency the admiration fenti-
ment in human nature ; and on this ground we
calculate upon the " organ of veneration." But
for receiving that more fubftantial benefit which
we have next to name, accruing to the Induftrial
clafs, as they tread the platform along with the
58 ESS4TS, ETC.
well-drefled and the leifurely, there comes into
operation the contrary tendency the downward
looking the critical, and the felf-approving ten-
dency, which is alfo an element in the fame human
nature. To underftand this influence, and to form
an idea of its power, one muft have had opportu-
nity to know fomething of the depths of certain
moods of mind that are not apt to utter themfelves
in words.
Many, it may be very many, of thofe who fpend
their fparfe holiday in Exhibitions and Mufeums
are men of robuft temperament ; confcious they
are of energies, confcious of faculties that are only
partially developed. It is not in human nature to
look, near at hand, upon a coftly and a faultlefs
attire, and upon an unblemimed complexion, and
upon ungrimed hands ; or to joftle elbows with
the fweet-fcented ; and to meet the haftily-averted
eye of thofe whofe equipages are in attendance
outfide ; it is not in man nor does the cripple
Epi&etus tell us how to do it thus to encounter
and to touch a more blefled condition without
emotion ; the feeling need not be envy; it may not
be embittered by a grudge ; but it will be a feeling
that generates an intenfe reaction within a ftrong
mind. " I mail never be, I mall never poflefs, what
thefe well-drefled and leifurely folks are, and pof-
fefs : yet I care not. I know that I am, what they
are not ; and I am more than they are, by all the
difference of my daily achievements, and of my
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 59
pra&ifed fkill, and of my powers of endurance
my fortitude, and my force of will ; fuch as I am,
I am not unworthy to be compared with them,
fuch as I take them to be, looking at them near,
and when they are off their guard."
So has muttered to himfelf many a workman
who thus has been brought into contact with " his
betters ;" and in fo thinking every energy of his
nature has received a new impulfe ; he leaves the
place amufed, it may be informed, by the things
he has liftleffly looked at under glafs-cafes ; but
more than this he leaves it in a mood of mind
which nerves him afrem for doing his part among
the hard things of life.
It would feem that fomething mould here be
faid concerning Popular Education. How can
one entertain at all the idea of an improving
national condition, and of the progrefs of a people
toward a higher civilization, apart from this in-
difpenfable preliminary namely, the univerfality
of at leaft rudimentary education ? An indif-
penfable preliminary, indeed, is this letting in of
the light of knowledge upon the millions of the
people who, up to this moment, fit in darknefs ;
and all are now agreed as to the neceflity of this
impartation. To every man of intelligence, the
flacknefs of others, and his own, in bringing about
this needed reform has become a heavy griev-
ance. To all men of ordinary intelligence, and
of unfectarian feeling, the obftru&ions thrown in
6o ESSAYS, ETC.
the way of popular education are caufes at once
of grief, of irritation, of amazement, and of hu-
miliation alfo. How is it that many eftimable
men, undoubtedly benevolent, but narrow in un-
derftanding, and rigid in temper, will rather fee
millions die in ftarvation than help in diftri-
buting among them loaves that are not baked in
their oven, and are not crofled with their mark !
Alas ! fo it is ; and, therefore, we at this prefent
time, as a people, muft put the finger to the lip,
and exclaim, in reply to the inquiry Where is
boafting ? fay " It is excluded," or at beft, it is
poftponed -fine die.
On the fubjecl:, therefore, of popular rudi-
mental education, as there is no reafonable con-
troverfy, there can be no need for enlargement ;
for, as regards the views and feelings of intel-
ligent men, all think alike ; and all ftand ready
to follow up their convictions in whatever mode
may prefent itfelf in the courfe of events as the
moft pra&icable.
We have here fpoken of rudimental popular
education. What the limits are of fuch a train-
ing of the children of the people we need not ftop
to determine. The bounds within which it will
actually confine itfelf have been drawn around it
by the good fenfe of fome, or have been extended by
the ambitious benevolence of others, among thofe
who adminifter and control it. Thefe limits, in the
natural courfe of things, are likely to be in a ftate of
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 61
gradual extenfion always ; for the increafing pro-
ficiency of teachers, and their emulations alfo, will
be inducing them to pull up the old Irakes, and
to thruft them in upon new ground continually ;
nor need we be careful to plant prohibitions upon
the off-field of philofophy and literature. Thefe
extenfions, in fchools for the children of the work-
ing-clafs, in towns, and even in the country, have
already fometimes touched upon the ludicrous, and
will do fo,unlefs driven in by the good fenfe of Com-
mittees. A clafs of (might we call them urchins ?)
good boys and girls, who are prefently to hiethem-
felves away to attics or cellars, and to take their
rafher and potato upon the door-ftep, are quef-
tioned by a bright-eyed, pale-faced young teacher,
after this famion : u What in your view, my
dear children, is the chara&eriftic difference as to
ftyle between Chaucer and Spenfer ; or tell me
what were the fervices rendered to our modern
literature by Petrarch ? "
Rudimental Education is education for chil-
dren whofe education muft reach its conclufion
in their twelfth or thirteenth year. But the be-
nevolence of modern times the all-embracing
good-will of philanthropic profeffors, has earned
for itfelf a high praife praife of peculiar mean-
ing in the endeavour to open wide the gates
of the Upper Philofophy and of Erudite Lite-
rature before the ADULT WORKMAN. And who
that is liberally-hearted, and that has himfelf been
62 ESS4TS, ETC.
a partaker of the good things of fcience and litera-
ture, would wifh to interdict thefe endeavours, or
would intimate an adverfe opinion as to their
utility ? None would do fo : in truth it is quite
in the courfe of things that fuch endeavours fhould
be made at this time. That which Solomon has
faid of Strife might be affirmed alfo concerning
Knowledge, namely, that the beginning of
Knowledge is like the letting out of waters : go
on it will fpread it will. And yet, looked at
apart from benevolent enthufiafm, the earneft en-
deavours now made to teach to workmen what
has heretofore been taught only in colleges car-
ries with it a much deeper meaning as related to
the Teacher, than it does as related to the taught.
It means much for the profeflbrial clafs that men
of this order fhould undertake a talk fo irkfome
as that of fchooling unfchooled adults ! and it
means fometh ing, although not fo much, as to the
working man, that he fhould be willing to enlift
himfelf as a fchoolboy, to receive the elements of
learning.
This however fhould be granted, that, in its
bearing upon the breadth of the national condi-
tion upon the wide ftream of a people's progrefs
this upper education inflifted M$QH adults of the
labouring clafs, ought to be thought of only as an
exceptional, or a paradoxical fact. The working
man's college is an admirable anomaly a bright
outbreak. It appears that intelligence and learning
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 63
are now fo filling their wonted channels, as to burft
their banks : the low fields are not as yet quite
under water ; but ftray ftreams are running hither
and thither. Unlefs we believe ourfelves to be juft
now entering upon what would need to be called
a fabulous era a time in which work fhall not be
work, but be fomething elfe unknown hitherto,
unlefs it be fo then it muft continue to be true
that Philofophy and Learning, and that the expan-
fion of mind which is connected with thefe, and
the refinement of perfonal habits which culture
induces, and which it will yearn after, muft be
much out of accordance with the conditions of a
life of labour, or of fedulous attention to trade.
In the inftance of the thoufand all but one, it
muft ever be fo. Thofe who think otherwife are
thofe probably who have feeri working men only,
or chiefly, in Clafs^ and by gaflight, and who have
not followed them have not ftood befide them
have not talked with them have not known
their mood when they are begrimed at the bench,
and are toiling within beat of the engine. There
are men, it is true, and we have feen fuch, who,
at the dinner-hour, read Butler, and Locke, or
Milton ; but we have not feen fuch any the
better workman at the anvil, or with the chifel and
hammer in hand, or getting up a fcraped furface
for a fit, on a chipping-piece.
To fum up what thus far has been faid, it is to
this effect that before any reafonable hope can be
64 ESS ATS, ETC.
entertained of a marked national progrefs, and be-
fore we ought to think ourfelves in near profpeft
of a much higher civilization than has yet been
realized, thefe following things muft be done, or,
if not done, they muft, at leaft, be in courfe of
doing ; and the earneft mind and the refolute pur-
pofe of more than a few muft be fteadily directed
toward them namely, firft, the ftatiftic meafure-
ment and the fathoming of that wretchednefs, and
of that utter abandonment, which underlie, at
prefent, the focial ftructure, as a deep and wide
rottennefs. Then to know is to undertake the
work of making continuous inroads upon this mi-
fery, and of removing from it, piecemeal, the moft
extreme of the ills that prey upon it.
This done, or this in courfe of doing, then we
next take thought for the Induftrial clafles, in
thofe feveral inftances that have been named, and
in any others that may be regarded as practicable,
and as not queftionable in their tendency. It is
thus that we are to pafs over a ground which, if
it be not furveyed, and be not put in repair, will
be fruitful of diforders, do what we may in pro-
moting improvements upon higher levels.
VII.
YET upon higher levels it muft be, if at all, that
an advanced Civilization is to work itfelf out, and
to become a fa6r, as well as a conception. The
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 65
profpecl: of attaining a ftate of Ultimate Civiliza-
tion fuppofes fo much actual progrefs in the peo-
ple's condition as is implied in the introverfion of
the national mind upon itfelf; and this muft mean
that more than a few minds are intently and fixedly
regardful of its progrefs. Thefe muft, of courfe,
be the inftrufttd minds ; for the uninftru&ed, or
the femi-taught Popular Intellect is not merely
incompetent to labours of this fort, but it is always
fubje&ed to a mljleading at the impulfe of thofe
who may be interefted in mifleading it. It is true
that the popular mind may come right in the end ;
but it never kads aright : in fo far as it actually
leads the way toward change, it leads towards the
difintegration of the focial fyftem. Popular in-
ftin&s are folvent, much rather than cohefive :
they are more deftru&ive than conftru&ive.
The inftru&ed the educated National Mind,
when it is fent in upon itfelf, and comes to revolve
the national condition, and to be confcious of that
condition, and when it fets itfelf free from the
factious influences of political rivalry, muft alfo
break itfelf away from, and renounce thofe doc-
trines which, from day to day, are boafted of as
the very neweft fafhion of Thought, or, in its
own phrafe, as the belief of the moft advanced
Thinkers and which, afluming the tones of a
high civilization, are likely to be its contraries
its irreconcileable antagonifts ; and which, fo far
F
66 ESS ATS, ETC.
as they may take effect, tend to bring about the
people's relapfe into barbarifm.
To find thefe retrograde tendencies, we muft
inquire diftributively concerning things which,
although feparable, are not two^ in a Scientific
fenfe, but one, as thus
The vaft complexity of influences that are
taking effect within a civilized community may
be looked at either as they arife from the Mafs,
and thence work out their effect upon the Indivi-
dual man ; or otherwife, as arifing from Indivi-
dual Minds, and from thofe centres work them-
felves forth upon the Mafs. We take up this
laft-named afpect of things firft.
The hope, and the only fure hopeof an advancing
focial condition, is that which arifes from the free
development of Individual Minds. Nothing worth
the having, or the thinking about, can be looked
for, nor can there be any vitality in the focial
fyftem, nor any fremnefs there will be no new
turns in the courfe of events no unexpected
welling-up of life from its fources there will be
nothing bright, nothing progreflive, unlefs this full
development of the Individual Man be favoured
and cherimed to the utmoft.
To make fure of a fettled enjoyment of this
indifpenfable good, we need, firft, a recognized
and accepted DOCTRINE OF INDIVIDUALITY a
Philofophy, founded upon the belief of the inde-
pendence, the fpontaneity, and the proper Caufality
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 67
of Mind : and we need alfo A POLITICS OF
INDIVIDUALITY. This fecond condition may be
difmifled in a few words.
A Politics of Individuality is beft defcribed by
naming the things that are its contraries, and that
are incompatible with it. The contrary of the full
individual development of the human mind is for
example, a defpotifm which will be making itfelf
feen and felt everywhere and always. It is the
fpectre of the Autocrat, haunting the path of
common life. The Defpot, in a thoufand infuf-
ferable interferences, would control men's perfonal
behaviour, and, from hour to hour, be cruftiing
the foul of a people. It is a tyranny of this fort
that prevails almoft throughout the Continent of
Europe. Not only may not men be trufted to
govern and manage the fmall matters of muni-
cipal and rural routine ; but they may not get in
and out of a Diligence, otherwife than by an
order from the heavens ! The liveried man of
office is always at your fide, and will be ready
with his tape to tie your hands and then to un-
tie them ; for it is only by an Imperial Grace that
you do fo ! How beneficent muft the fovereign
man be who thus permits you the ufe of your hands
and arms ! Grant it minds are ftill free, and it
will be true that Englilhmen, fretted by thefe
impertinences, fpring up from it, fo much the
more free : this may be fo ; but it is certain that
nations long exifting beneath a preffure fo intole-
68 ESS ATS, ETC.
rable, bow under it, and confenting to it, become
unconfcious of the load, nor will they fail to give
evidence of the fact in the mingled fervility and
frivolity of their habitual mood : they are, and
they will fhow themfelves to be the creatures of
the all-penetrative tyranny that has fpun its films
around its victims their limbs, their wings, their
bodies, their fouls !
Things that are often fpoken of as the very
oppofites of each other are likely to be nearly
identical in facl: ; and fo it is that the vexatious
tyranny of the individual defpot meets its analogue
in the infolent tyranny of the many the " ma-
jority," which bears fway in democratic commu-
nities. The autocratic crum, from the hand of
the fingle tyrant is felt here and there ; or now
and then ; but the mob-crufh takes effect more
extenfively, and it touches the every-day exifr-
ence of the people at many more points j for
your houfe is next door to the <c majority." The
autocratic tyranny obferves, when it can do fo
a rule, and it apes a decorum it follows an ef-
tabliihed ufage ; it has zjiyle even in its cruelties.
But the mob-tyranny is in all things unmannerly
it is brutifh ; it is brutal often, and is gifted
with the fcent of blood : it is not appeafed,
otherwife than as the carnivora are appeafed. In
terror of this tyranny fudden and fierce as it is
the individual man cowers, as by the inftincT:
of terror, to the will of his mafters : he learns to
ULTIMATE CI7ILIZATION. 69
conform himfelf, and to hide his mind under con-
ventional falfities of fpeech ; but it will always be
true that mind habitually hidden and falfified,
difappears it perimes.
When we thus fpeak of " the many," the
dreaded defpotifm of which breaks down the
individuality of a people formed on the purely
democratic principle it mould be well under-
ftood that " the many" are not in fact the greater
number of the people ; but are that number, fpoken
for, reprefented, and heedleffly driven forward, by
the felfim ambition of here and there a man who
knows how to infuriate the multitude by the lam
of his tongue. It is thus that nations, purely
democratic in their politics, are liable to be driven
over precipices, and to be loft in the deeps of
barbarifm.
Under far gentler influences individual develop-
ment is itayed, or it is quite prevented by the
tyrannies of fafhion, by conventional refinements,
or fuper-refinements, by the pervading dread of
opinion, and by that infulative egotifm which
makes it a rule to rifk nothing at the prompting of
generous feeling, or of what the cold felfift calls
quixotifm.
Againft thefe forces, reprefiive of individual
expanfion, and forbidding its utterance, a pre-
fervative is found in what we have already named
a DOCTRINE OF INDIVIDUALITY ; and by this
we mean a philofophy, founded upon the belief
70 ESSATS, ETC.
of the fpontaneity, and of the proper Caufality of
Mind.
This doctrine is not an abftrufenefs proper to
be difcourfed of from a metaphyfic chair : it is not
a hard-to-be-underftood chapter, which the initi-
ated only will read. What we mean is nothing
more than the import of every man's conviction
concerning his own mind, and the minds of thofe
around him : it is the natural utterance of hu-
man confcioufnefs confcioufnefs unfophifticated.
It is a doctrine which would never have come to
be put forward in propofitions, if there had not
been a need, at times, to affirm great truths in con-
tradiction of the whims, the paradoxes the pan-
theiftic fafhions of thought, which win favour for
a day, in fo far as they ftartle the multitude, and
profefs to be intelligible to the million.
To generalize upon an array of facts exceed-
ingly (lender is not lefs the fault of this age than
it has been of paft ages : in truth, it is, in an un-
ufual degree, the fault of the paffing time. There
muft be a philofophy of all things, whether we
underftand all things or not ; and therefore there
muft be a philofophy of the progrefs of fociety ;
but then a philofophy is not worth the having,
unlefs its refults may be tabulated, and put in
figures. Human Hiftory the hiftory of nations
is affirmed to be the conftant development of a
fcheme of caufation which we, of this time, may
lay bare and expound. It is a fcheme, the future
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 71
refults of which, in remote ages, philofophers are
now or foon may become, competent to predict.
The future of the world's hiftory may be pre-
dicted, as the future configuration of the planetary
fyftem may be figured in an Almanack, becaufe
both fchemes of movement, alike, obey phyfical
laws which are invariable, and therefore are cal-
culable. Such are the pretenfions of thofe who
generalize upon axioms proper to Pantheifm !
As a confpicuous facl: a fact that is irrefpe6live
of any philofophy it is true that the progrefs of
nations their conquefts, their politics, their lite-
rature, their fcience, and their moral condition,
refolves itfelf into a few biographies. Give us a
dozen, or a twenty, or a fifty noted biographies,
and we may difpenfe with many volumes of uni-
verfal hiftory. What is hiftory ? It is the doings
of a very few men ; and it is their fortunes, and It
is their chances alfo, as well as their doings ; for as
the progrefs of nations hinges upon the a&s and
energies of individual minds, fo alfo is it true that
the individualizing tendency of human affairs has
remarkably difplayed itfelf in thofe furprifing inci-
dents, occurring in the life of fuch men, which
have been determinative of their courfe. Pure
accidents near chances narrow efcapes for life
incalculable throws of fortune ; it is fuch things
that have overruled the deftinies of the few men
whofe doings have turned the current of human
affairs for centuries.
7 2 ESSATS, ETC.
Phyfical caufes that are eafily enumerated do
indeed take effect upon the progrefs, the rife, and
the fall of nations ; and it is the occupation of a
materialiftic philofophy to name thefe obvious in-
fluences, and to be profound in fpreading them
forth to view. But if thefe vifible caufes are real
in their way, it is far more the individual energy
that is the determinative caufe. Univerfal hiftory
is lit up by a few refplendent minds; and thefe
minds have been kindled, often, by flitting fparks,
blown by the winds.
Not in any fenfe does the doctrine which brings
the Individual into the foremoft place put out of
view phyfical caufation; but it opens up a World
higher than the world of phyfical caufation a
Mind-world, a Soul-world, a world wherein, and
upon which the SOVEREIGN MIND works its
purpofes. The philofophy of the Individual does
not contradict Phyfical caufation ; but it does con-
tradict, and it (lands oppofed to, and it excludes,
the fophifms of the Pantheift and the Materialift.
It is a doctrine which, if expounded theiftically,
and truly, yields a religious inference, as to the
paft; and it infpires alfo a religious hopefulnefs, as
to the future.
But now this fame doctrine has another afpect
another meaning, as related to the progrefs of
nations, and the liability of their inftitutions.
Bright Lights one here and there in an age,
and Burning Souls one here and there in an age,
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 73
are the immediate inftruments in bringing about
national advancement, as well intellectual as moral.
In thefe beftowments " from above " there is a
fource of the higheft hopes for the focial fyftem ;
but this is not enough ; for the focial mafs muft
have its points of fixednefs ; and there muft be
many fuch points ; otherwife, what is achieved at
one time will be loft in the time next enfuing.
The notable Individual Mind leads onward, and
the many unnoted individual minds, each pofleffing
in itfelf a principle of endurance a fteadfaftnefs
receives and retains what has thus been achieved.
If the illuftrious Individual Mind be the moving
power, it is the non-illuftrious individual minds
that become the fulcrum of the leverage. But
whence is this pailive power of ordinary individual
minds to be derived ?
It would be fuperfluous in truth, it would be
an affectation at this time, to inquire at large
whence fuch a power might be derived ; for an
adequate fource of it we poflefs, at hand, in our
Chriftianity. Our modern Civilization what it
is as compared with the partial refinements of the
ancient world is, in a word, the confequence of
that Gofpel which has given to the individual man
his confcience towards God his hope of immor-
tality, and his fenfe of refponfibility towards the
unfeen Judge, and the future tribunal. Such are
the elements of that new moral life to which
Chriftianity has given exiftence, and which is its
74 ESS4TS, ETC.
foremoft intention, as related to the renovation of
the world. Thence has fprung the lifting up of
the meaneft of the fpecies ; thence the indeftru&i-
bility of his religious convictions ; thence the dig-
nity, thence the facrednefs of the individual human
being, irrefpe&ively of what may be his perfonal
qualities or merits. Here we find the very centre
of the centre principle of our modern focial ryftem;
here the corner-ftone of our politics, and of our
univerfal liberty, conforted as this is with the
greater! inequalities of rank and privilege. In a
free country no queftion may be afked concerning
the individual man, as to his deferts, his talents,
his acquirements, or his ability to ufe well his rights.
He is what he is, as he ftands in the fight of God ;
arid it is the Gofpel that vindicates, in his behalf,
whatever of privilege, or of dignity, attaches, or
may attach, to him in virtue of this relationfhip.
In this principle of the facrednefs of the indivi-
dual man, and of the rights of confcience, and of
the immoveablenefs of religious convi&ions in
this Chriftian confervatifm is found the only effec-
tive fecurity againft the encroachment of ty-
rannies. So long as a people, or as numerous
bodies within the community, retain modes of
religious belief that are immoveably fixed, fo long
as there are many and too many for the tyrant to
pick them out, and crufti them, one by one fo
long as it is fo, the defpot quails the autocrat
counts what will be the coft of attempting to
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 75
carry out his machinations againft the liberties of
a people. There are thoufands of men, and there
are women and children too, who have courage
enough to dare him to do his worft upon them:
he knows this, and therefore he forbears.
Is not our Britifh hiftory in fubftance, the hif-
tory of this often-renewed thwarting of the defpot
by the power of the individual confcience ? Our
Britim liberty is it not the offspring of ourChrif-
tianity ? Let thofe contradict this averment who
will profefs themfelves willing toentruft their own
liberty, for the future, to monarchs, or to parlia-
ments, or to hierarchies, or to mobs Chriftianity
withdrawn ! Thofe who at this time are fig-
nalizing their hatred of the Gofpel, would them-
felves tremble if they were fuddenly thrown upon
the chances of political agitation deprived of the
fuccour of the religious conftancy of Chriftian
men around them.
In a word, then, the advancement of a people
on the road of civilization its progrefs toward a
higher and a more permanent condition, demands
this doctrine of the power of the Individual, in
thefe, its two fenfes^/?r/?, that of the illuftrious
few, as oppofed to pantheiftic generalizations, and
to the fole operation of phyfical caufes ; and
fecondly^ that of the firm individuality of the non-
illuftrious many, apart from which there can be
no ftability or fecurity no truftworthinefs, dif-
fufed throughout the mafs. There muft bethe
76 ESSJrS, ETC.
few to lead, and the many, or, a many a more
than a few, to liflen to the challenge, and not only
to liften and to follow, but to keep firm hold of
whatever has fo been acquired and accepted. It is
thus that, not merely a movement onwards may
take place, but a fuftained movement. In ftag-
nant or retrogreffive ages in dreary periods of
national decline, not only have the few been too
few, but thefe have failed to find around them
thofe who mould follow their call. A voice
once in a century was heard ; but there was no
refponfe : it was an echo, that died away at the
next moment. Nearly thus was it throughout
Europe from the fixth century to the fourteenth.
The conditions of fociety from that laft date
to this prefent time have been becoming more and
more favourable to progrefs in both thefe refpe&s :
the leading few have been many more than
heretofore, and the liflening few have been incal-
culably more than they were. At this moment
thefe are fo many (it is fo within the Britim com-
munity) as that their counter-influence upon
leading minds makes itfelf confpicuous : it has be-
come a fact that is chara&eriftic of thefe times.
This reverberative influence is that which we
have intended above, as the influence of the mafs
upon its centres. It has become cuftomary in the
biographies of remarkable men to note this fort of
reaction. It is ufual for the biographer to admit
that the illuftrious man whofe genius and energy
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 77
gave a new turn to human affairs, or who led the
minds of his contemporaries upon a new path,
was himfelf as much the creature of his time, as
he became its matter. He might be the creature
of his age in a difparaging fenfe ; for he was lefs
than he might have been, if he had flood exempt
from the errors and prejudices of his age and
country. This may be true ; but it will be true
alfo, and true in a more aufpicious fenfe, that the
leading mind takes to itfelf, and aflimilates, and
condenfes, and embodies, and iflues anew, what-
ever is beft in the beliefs, and in the feelings of the
men of his time. And this will be more and more
fo in proportion to the rate of advance on the path
of improvement. The more fuch advances are
fubftantial and rapid, fo much the more true, and
the more rapid will they thenceforward become.
What are thofe moods of mind that diftinguifh
the Reformer the onward-going fpirit that burns
to bring about an improved condition of fociety,
and whofe ambition from boyhood it has been, to
leave the world better than he found it ? It is of
this fort whatever is true in the philofophy, and
good in the morals, or in the inftitutions of the
people thefe things he has come into the know-
ledge and enjoyment of unconfcioufly infenfibly:
thefe things are his own they are his inherit-
ance they are himfelf: it is thefe things that give
him his actual {landing ; and it is from this vantage-
ground that he looks around him. It is in the
78 ESS ATS, ETC.
light of the trueft and the beft things that he looks
at whatever is not true or good. It is in the un-
confcious pofleflion of things that are right, that
the regenerator of his age gathers force for his
combat with things that are evil and falfe. Thus
it is that the Divine adage receives, in his cafe,
its accomplifhment " To him that hath {hall
more be given, and he fhall have abundance"-
and fo it is that a period of focial improvement,
or of intellectual advancement, contains within
itfelf a principle of acceleration.
Apart from any vague and groundlefs hypothecs,
as to the future condition of the human family
the fabulous quite excluded there is, therefore,
reafon to entertain large expectations as to the
progrefs of an infulated people in well-being in
well-doing, in right-thinking, in right-feeling. Our
poftulates muft be exemption from foreign ty-
ranny from invafion and interference, and from
foreign contagions-, and alfo, and chiefly, the per-
petuity, and the free expanfion of that One Vital
Force THE CHRISTIAN FAITH apart from
which the body focial becomes putrefcent.
Thefe neceflary conditions conceded, then it
will be that the energetic fpirits the Lights and
the Fires of the time enfuing, will find a people
better prepared incalculably fo, to liften to a
challenge for the next needed reforms and im-
provements than were the people of the time juft
now gone by. The years of one generation pa/Ted,
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 79
if reckoned forward upon the dial of the future,
may find the Britim people advancing in a geo-
metric ratio of improvement : it may be fo, inaf-
much as the reaction of the focial mafs upon
individual minds is as above ftated, a principle of
acceleration.
VIII.
IF the fabulous be excluded, then we muft ex-
clude the fuppofition that the now-conftant con-
ditions of induftrial life fhall ever ceafe to be
difficult, and, in a fenfe, painful : ftrenuous con-
tinuous labour is pain : neverthelefs it is a pain
that may be alleviated by habit, and may be ani-
mated by hope, and rendered pleafurable by fuccefs.
If to live to eat, and to be clothed, and to be
houfed mould become eafy eafy to all then
certain functions, indifpenfable as they are to the
right ordering and comfort of a community, would
not be undertaken by anybody ; nor would any of
the more arduous occupations or profeffions be
carried forward with the requifite energy. Unlefs
the fuftenance of civilized life were difficult
unlefs to live were coftly^ and unlefs to keep a home
in comfort were an arduous tafk, men would not
be perfuaded to do fome things that muft be done ;
nor would they do anything with the needed refo-
lution. Chimneys would not be fwept fewers
would not be cleanfed night watch would not
be kept (hips would not be manned furgeons'
8o ESSJTS, ETC.
work would not be done (would boys be taught ? )
if it were not fo that, to live by induftry is ex-
ceedingly difficult.
Never again will it be attempted in this country
to forbid or reftrift competition, or to build up
monopolies by ftatutes. If any exceptive cafes
fhould actually arife, they will be exceedingly
rare. Never again will licence be granted to thofe
tyrannies either of the few, or of the many, the
intention of which is to reduce to a dead level the
mind and the energy the bodily or the intellectual
fuperiority, of thofe whom Nature has eminently
endowed. The reftridlions with which the ftupid,
the inert, the arrogant, and the immoral, would
be fain to bind down the intelligent and the ftrong,
and the right-minded, muft be put quite out of the
way they are relics of barbarifm. But if fo, then
we muft leave the lefs favoured of Nature to ftrug-
gle for life at a fad difadvantage ; and if fo, then
there will ftill be an undermoft and a feeble clafs,
weighted down by the clafs next above it. Never-
thelefs an advancing civilization will bring in its
alleviations : it will do fo in the modes that have
already been adverted to ; and in other modes
which will not fail to be difcovered and applied
when the difFufed and quickened focial confciouf-
nefs, above mentioned, fhall be bringing the fuf-
ferings of every fuffering clafs under inceflant
notice.
Again, if the fabulous be excluded from our
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 81
anticipations of the future, then muft room be left,
even in the brightest of our profpe&s, for the
hofpital for the afylum for the functions of the
phyfician, the furgeon, and the nurfe. To bring a
people near to the condition of a well-ordered
family would indeed be a triumph for the patriot
philanthropies who fhould effect it ; but we may
not forget that the home enclofure, at the beft, is
open to the invafion of ills that bring with them
the phyfician and the nurfe. Neverthelefs at this
point it is allowable to purfue to their probable
iffue, the recent advancements of fcience in the
treatment of the public health. To a certain
extent, or, if not fo, to an uncertain^ or an unde-
fined extent, the public health comes within range
of means that are as fimple and as practicable as
is the draining of a marfh, or the opening of a
window in the houfe that has long been nailed
up. A fever in a family comes no doubt by " the
vifitation of God ;" and fo does a national pefti-
lence ; but in both inftances alike it is true (con-
ditionally true) that if the mafter of the family
drains and ventilates the houfe, and reforms the
perfonal habits of his children and fervants, then
the " vifitation" will not occur: and fo the pefti-
lence (the limits of human preventive means being
, always religioufly kept in view).
Apart from accidents, from malformations, and
peculiar conftitutional tendencies, the health of a
G
82 ESS^rS, ETC.
family is not a myftery : it is quite a practicable
achievement, demanding in its heads good fenfe
firmnefs temperance early habits religious
order. And fo for the community the health-
fulnefs of the mafs of the people may be fecured
on the fame conditions. The firft item in this
lift of requirements, namely good fenfe, muft be
held to take a bearing upon the medical profeffion,
and upon its ufages. An advancing civilization
will undoubtedly ere long take cognizance of many
antiquated ufages in each of the profeffions ; and
foremoft of thofe of the medical profeffion, in
bringing into contempt thofe fpurious modes of
dealing with the fick, to which the fick man's
temporary infirmity of mind, and his ignorance,
offer too ftrong a temptation : there is a remnant
of obfolete practices which the improving good
fenfe of the community mail at length refent, and
inftead of which it mall demand not drugs,
but cures.
The public health, as diftinguimed from dome/lit
health, has this chance in its favour, that the
means which may be recommended by men of
fcience to promote it, are likely to come under the
fupervifion of the laity (the non-medical) and
when thus looked into, they may be ftripped of
fuch things as whimfical theories may be eager
to propound. Whoever, as layman, has had ac-
quaintance with medical ufages will be ready to
admit the praife that is due to thofe who effect as
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 83
much good as they do, in alleviating human fuffer-
ings, notwithftanding the waywardnefs and the
ignorance of the patient, and of his friends, and
ftill more, in fpite of fallacies inherited from ages
when fuperftition and quackery, along with me-
dical (kill, entered the fick man's chamber.
The Public Wealth, the Public Health, and
the Public Peace are fruits of an advancing civi-
lization too nearly related, and too intimately
blended in their caufes, and in their confequences,
to be well treated of diftinclively. The oppofites
of thefe namely helplefs Indigence, Difeafe
perennial in the haunts of indigence, and Crimes
of violence, are, feverally, the caufes, as they are
the confequences, each of the others. The Three
Woes Want, topical Peftilence, and Crime, go
hand in hand : where one comes, the others are
fure to make their appearance. Yet this is the
dark fide of a truth which has its bright fide ; and
it is .with the bright fide juft now that we are
concerned. Whatever it is that it may be poffible
to do, or hopeful to devife and attempt, in the re-
moval or diminution of one of thefe ills, will not
fail to take fome effect upon the other two, at
leaft for their alleviation, perhaps for their removal.
Undoubtedly, if it were poffible to remove from
the bafement of the focial ftruclure the moft ex-
treme indigence, then the fifter evils, difeafe and
crime, would be leflened ; and thus if want and
difeafe were in courfe of diminution, crime might
84 ESSJTS, ETC.
then be fo dealt with as muft reduce it within
limits, more and more narrow, every year.
A cautious writer would abftain from giving
expreflion to the fulnefs of his belief as to thofe im-
provements which another twenty or thirty years
may fee realized in the habits and behaviour of
the clafles in which, chiefly, at prefent, inftances
of criminal violence occur. Always fuppofing the
continuance, for fo long a time, of the tranquil
onward courfe of all things, and the liability of
our Institutions.
A period fuch as we have named or a little
more may bring about a focial condition in which
crimes amenable to law would be of the rareft
occurrence ; grand juries finding no " true
bills," becaufe the clerk of the court has in hand
no indictments ! A ftate of things fo aufpicious
as this muft not be fuppofed to imply, what it
might feem to mean a correfponding or equiva-
lent rife in the moral condition of the community
at large : far from it. Thofe overt acls and
palpable mifdoings of which Courts of Juftice take
cognizance, are to be accounted as accidents of the
barbarous condition of the lower orders, and there-
fore they are removable, as that condition comes
to be ameliorated. As to the guiltinefs of the per-
petrators of fuch offences, it is often far lefs deep
than that of many whofe vices no human law may
reach, and whofe enormities touch only uncom-
plaining vicYims. But inafmuch as crime, for the
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 85
moft part, is an accident of favage life in the loweft
clafs, it will undoubtedly be driven off from that
clafs in fo far as an affimilation with the habits of
the clafs next above it is going on. Bring the
rudeft man the brutal creature of ungoverned
paflions into frequent and clofe communion
with thofe whofe deportment is governed by
opinion and habit, if not by better motives, and
he infenfibly yields himfelf to an influence which,
like the preffure of the atmofphere, furrounds us,
and fuftains us, though we know it not.
It has been thus that, at length, the ferocities
in which, forty years ago, the upper claffes took
their fhare, have been driven off from it : duel-
ling, and a participation in fanguinary conflicts,
have had this end. The men who now do not
murder each other upon a meafured ground may
not perhaps be more virtuous (yet there is a
chance that they are fo) than were their fires who
did fuch things : but the community has gained
immenfely by the reform.
A fallacious hope indeed it would be, that the
deeper fources of crime might be abfolutely clofed
by any imaginable ameliorations or refinements in
the habits of the people. Thofe impulfes, whence
murder and violence take their rife, are fo deep-
feated that though it be rarely they bring men of
education before tribunals, and therefore will they,
with greater frequency, take effect among the ruder
claffes. Defpair, jealoufy, revenge, remorfe, mo-
86 ESSJTS, ETC.
mentary paroxyfmsofpaflion, are incident to man,
and lurk even in bright homes ; and fo are thofe
tranfient overthrows of the reafon which inqueft
juries wrongfully defignate as " temporary infa-
nity." From thefe fources, and others, murders,
and murderous aflaults will not fail to arife. It
will be fo while the phyfiological, the pfychologi-
cal, and the moral elements of the human confti-
tution are commingled, and continue to interact
upon each other in a manner that perplexes equally
the philofopher, the legiflator, and the religious
teacher.
There is yet a fource of crime, and how abun-
dant is it ! which needs to be fpoken of when we
are confidering what may be done by the inftructed
clafs, for the uninftrucled. The abounding intem-
perance of the lower clafles of the Britim people
is emphatically the caufe of crime. Drunkennefs,
if in a fenfe it be accidental to the rude condition
of thefe clafles, has a deeper origin, nor is it to be
removed by merely civilizing the man: alas!
many of thofe who are hopeleflly intemperate
are among the moft highly civilized. Confidered
only as a caufe of violence and outrage, drunken-
nefs might eafily be compelled to be lefs obtrujive
than it is : the brutal difturber of the peace of
a ftreet may be fo far tamed as that he will hide his
vice, and thus fubfide into the fullen viclim of his
own mifery, and the curfe of a devaftated home.
Yet little is gained by the fubftitution of a
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 87
pallid wretchednefs for a florid and noify nuifance.
Vice had better brawl than be filent.
In proportion to the vail extent of this evil, and
to the intenfity of the fufferings it entails, muft be
the defire of enlightened philanthropifts that it
fhould be encountered on TRUE PRINCIPLES.
Great will be the anxiety of fuch when it is feen
to be coming under a hafty treatment in the hands
of agitators and theorifts. What mould be faid
on a fubjecl: fo perilous as this mujl be faid, for
if, from over caution, or from a miftaken modefty,
we throw up our common fenfe, in deference to
thofe who have thrown away their own, we do
them an injury, by leflening the chances of their
recovering fo precious a pofTeffion.*
Not to be miftaken are thofe fymptoms of
whimfical prepofTeflion, and of eagernefs to carry
its own wiftful will, which, from the firft, have
marked the courfe of what is called " the
Temperance Movement." But the leaders of
this movement will be quick to retort upon us
citing on their fide high authorities even one or
two of the firft men in fcience, and fome leading
men in political life : " Such and fuch men
philofophers ftatefmen have given in their ad-
herence to this great caufe. What have you to fay
in contravention of the teftimony of fuch men ?
Where is your reply ?" Our reply is founder/?, in
appealing to that not-noify, but rightful utterance
* See Supplementary Note.
88 ESSJTS, ETC.
of Englifh good fenfe, on the other fide, which, as
with a fure inftinct of reafon, refufes to be driven
headlong in any fuch manner. We next find our
reply in looking back into the hiftory of the bene-
volent infatuations of paft times errors angel-
plumed and long triumphant, but to which are to
be traced fome of the moft fatal of the diforders
that have afflicted humanity in modern times.
The points of refemblance are ftriking between
the " Total Abftinence" doctrine of the prefent
time, and the "Celibacy" doctrine of the early
Church. Taking its rife in the oriental myfticifm,
it fpread its poifon weftward, until it had dark-
ened Chriftian doctrine, and perverted everywhere
Chriftian morality. The common people were
told and great pains were taken in perfuading
them to believe it that Temperance and Virtue^
fuch as are enjoined in the Apoftolic writings, were
wholly impracticable : that there could be no tem-
perate ufe of the things of this life : that total
abftinence is the only wifdom for frail humanity ;
and that therefore it is the only virtue : between
diflblutenefs and the " Vow" there could be no
middle path. Men were left to draw, for them-
felves, thefe two atheiftic and anti-chriftian infer-
ences : the firft this that God's appointments
are evil, not good ; and the fecond this that a
fpecies of virtue, far more elevated in its aims than
that which we may gather from the New Tefta-
ment, is the only morality that is worth the labour
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 89
of the acquifition. There can be no need now to
go in fearch of what were the confequences of this
falfe teaching. Yet it was taken up, and it was
zealoufly promoted by the chief men of three con-
fpicuous centuries.
Throughout the long ages which followed thofe
times, the mafles of the people were fubje&ed to
a driving force that was all of one kind : there
was little or no counteraction there was no ba-
lancing offerees ; there were no aids, no open road
in another direction. The ftate of things was
analogous to that of which the modern inftances
are found in democratic ftates, wherein a Driving
Force is at the command of a few overweening or
fanatical dogmatifts, whofe vehemence intimidates
the inert multitude. Who is it that fhall have
courage to meet the ftorm of fire which thefe men
have it in their power to raife at a moment ? In
communities of this order "carried unanimoufly"
means carried by terror. But thus it is not
among ourfelves in the "old country." With us
there are feparate orders there are independent
clafles; and thefe fo ftand apart, and they fo
maintain their ground each for itfelf, as to forbid
the audacity of thofe who would otherwife quickly
trample upon public and private liberty.
As on the one hand the miferies of which drunk-
ennefs is the fource can never be over-ftated ; fo
on the other fide, thofe many inftances of reforma-
tion, of which this abftinence movement makes its
go ESS ATS, ETC.
boaft, are not to be denied : nor fhould we be
reluctant to admit them to the full, fo far as they
are authentically reported. Further than this we
may fafely go. We may ailent to this movement,
we may encourage and promote it, and may join
ourfelves to it if indeed it be the only means., or
the beft means left us for flaying the plague. But
we deny that it is our only means, nor believe it
to be the true means.
So difficult is it always to touch any fingle fub-
jecl:, linking itfelf with the moral condition of the
people, and in doing fo to abftain from fubjec~ts of a
wider bearing, and of a more perplexing kind : fo
it is now. Never far from the haunts of the
drunkard are thofe haunts where woman man's
victim, endures miferies far more extreme than any
that are the penalty of intemperance. This fub-
jecT: in an equal degree painful and embarraffing
ftands acrofs our path, nor ought it to be evaded.
AfTuredly a community that, under the guidance
of religious principles, interpreted in a Chriftian
fenfe, is making progrefs on the road toward a
higher civilization, will find the means of exclud-
ing from the focial economy horrors and wretched-
nefs, fuch as that which is now in view the lot
of fallen women.
If now it were granted that, for the prevention
of drunkennefs, or for its reftri&ion, certain para-
doxical fchemes of reform might be warrantable,
no one, or none that are well-informed and wife,
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 91
would venture upon any fuch perilous modes of
encountering evils like thefe. Nothing that is tem-
porizing nothing that involves a compromifing
of morality nothing bringing with it the rifk of
exchanging vice for vice, muft here be attempted.
The ftern requirements of Chriftian morality
fhould be looked to as the only means applicable in
this inftance. Whatever may be lefs than thefe will
bring with it not a remedy, but an aggravation.
No doubt it is a good work to feek the unpitied
victim, and to lead her away from her path of
final ruin ; but it would be a far better work if a
charity like this were poffible, to forfend the cruelty
that makes her its victim : to do this may be dif-
ficult ; but it is not impoflible. Each fad hiftory
of ruin would mow that, ten years ago or it may
be a much lefs time this loft one this outcaft
was a laughing thoughtlefs child ; her girlifh
faults fuch only as mother-like care would have
corrected. Is it not now an intolerable anguifh
to think of her, as what me has become ? or how
(hall we fitly fpeak of wretchednefs like hers ?
She treads the earth throughout the brief remain-
ing years of her courfe a living fample of damna-
tion ! You refent thefe ftrong terms ; and fay they
are unfeemly : would to God we might blot
them out as unwarrantable !
If it be faid by any, in exculpation of their back-
wardnefs in duty, " We are painfully confcious of
the depth of the miferies that are now fpoken of ;
92 ESS ATS, ETC.
but believe that, for thefe evils, there is no remedy.
Meantime we keep in check fo far as vigilance
can do it what neither law nor public opinion
will prevent ; moreover we fupport Penitentiaries."
This is well : it is bare juftice it is lefs than
mercy; but this charity of yours or this juftice,
is an after-thought. Charity that is well inftrucled
and fincere will be early at its work it will
where it can do fo, fpare its lateft endeavours, by
refcuing thofe in time who otherwife will need
them. Charity of a kind that might earn for
itfelf unabated commendation would look to the
Child years before the time when her perdition
may have been fealed. Thefe thoufands of the
" Loft at twenty" have come to be where they
are from a home ; or from what fhould have been
a home ; and if, indeed, it had been a home, a mo-
ther's child would not have become a ruffian's
prey.
The firft acl: of mercy, on this arduous path,
is to fling from us with fcorn, the corrupt infinua-
tions and the mockeries uttered by men whofe
levity of fpeech poorly veils the pandemonium of
their fouls : foul ! is it a foul that fuch men carry
about them ? The fecond preliminary for doing
with confidence what religious matrons will be
called to do, is, to reckon at what it may be worth,
and in truth it is worth very little the preten-
tious wifdom, and the knowing cautions of men
reputed to be of high ftanding in phyfiological
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 93
fcience, but whofe philofophy, as it is that of the
materialift, fo does it prompt them to palliate, or
even to juftify, the practices of licentious felfifts.
Let us firft rid ourfelves of fophifms thofe of
depraved men, and thofe of heartlefs philofophifts;
and then addrefs ourfelves to a work the difficulty
of which will demand confidence in the axiom
that what is well intended, and is alfo wifely done^
will be crowned with fuccefs fmall in the be-
ginning, but great in the end.
The conduct of women of the young efpe-
cially much more than the conduct of men is
governed by an unfpoken participation in the
moral tone of thofe with whom they are every
day converfant ; and it is moreover true that even
an infrequent and incidental intercourfe with the
right-minded of their own fex, does by itfelf^ and
apart from any verbal teaching or admonition,
take a powerful hold of the better feelings of girls
at the time when they are patting from childhood
to womanhood. It is granted that much of this
fort of beneficent intercourfe does actually take
place among the thoufands of our Sunday Schools.
This is true ; and fo far it is good ; but it is not
fufficient, nor is it precifely what is needed : there
is needed that which the amiable and unknowing
daughters of Chriftian homes our Sunday School
teachers cannot be qualified to do ; it muft be
done by Chriftian-hearted mothers ; and thefe
fhould be wife enough to know that explicit cau-
94 ESS ATS, ETC.
tions, as they enter a too liftful ear, are likely to
be fuggeftive of evil, more than to become pre-
fervatives againft it. As in family treatment, where
all influences are under our hand, it is not the
rebuking of vice, but the practice and fpeaking of
virtue that takes a happy effect: ; fo muft it be in
the cafe of that fragmentary inftruction which we
afford to children whom we fee only once a week;
or, if oftener, at ftated hours.
If it be afked, where mall we find thofe whom
we {hould wifh to fortify and to refcue ? The
anfwer is Make fearch for them, firft, in your
own home. Two, three, five, or more, of fuch,
are receiving wages at your hand : they are
cooking dinners, and fweeping rooms ; and they
are hearing, and making their fport of, petulant
rebukes on account of their many fhortcomings ;
but are they not in fact: more alienated, as to any
kindly feelingj, from the lady and her daughters,
than are the pampered pets that fleep on the
hearth-rug ? It is not lefforis that thefe young
women moft need : it is, on the part of a fuperior,
an unaffected humane communion with them :
it is a correfpondence and an interchange of gen-
uine fympathies, fuch as would in no way be
detrimental to conventional diftinctions. If you
fay, in exculpation of your coldnefs and diftant
bearing, that thofe who ferve you, and who are
the minifters of your luxurious habits, have come
to you already fo felfim, and fo much depraved as
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 95
to be capable of no better treatment than what
you give them to fay this is to calumniate your
kind : it is not fo as you think. It may be true
that a few who enter families are fo far depraved as
to be irreclaimable perhaps ; but thefe excepted,
thofe who ferve you might be fo treated as would
difpel the felfifhnefs they have acquired elfewhere,
and which they have acquired in felf-defence ; and
then they would learn to render and how blefled
are thofe who render, and thofe who receive it
a daughter-like and a loving fervice !
The Matron who thus does her part at ho?ne^
will next look beyond it ; and we may now think
of her as refident in a rural parifh. Unlefs fhe is
quite new to country life, me will not expect to
find there ruftic purity and fimple-hearted honefty.
We do not we muft not dream of any fuch
Edens. But when we rejecT: what would favour
of romance, let us difcard alfo what would be
calumnious. It is the fad fate of the rural popula-
tion to feed the wafting population of cities ; and
as to the daughters of the cottage, they might re-
ceive a far better preparation than they do for
encountering the trials which await them in pafT-
ing forward from the country to the town.
When we fay they might receive this better
preparation, we are fuppofing only fuch a progrefs
to be making toward right-mindednefs in the upper
clafles, as mall give efficiency to motives of which
Economifts take little account ; or which, per-
96 ESS4TS, ETC.
haps, they hold in contempt. We need nothing
here beyond the application of common fenfe and
of ordinary humanity to inftances where deep-
going reforms come within the range of imall
cofts, and demand only confcience and thought-
fulnefs. What we have to fay is foon faid, and
will be intelligible to thofe who mould heed it.
The cafes are not few in which the rural and
induftrial population is fo houfed as to make a re-
gard to the feminine decorums of domeftic life
fcarcely poflible. In the hovel of the agricultural
labourer girls pafs on from childhood to the time
when " places " muft be found for them in town,
habituated in a manner which too nearly refembles
the conditions of Hottentot life. The formation,
and the prefervation if it were formed of the
woman's inftinclive fenfe of propriety, in fuch
abodes, is extremely difficult. Might it be ren-
dered more eafy ? Never, fo long as Economic
Arithmetic mail be allowed to trample upon Hu-
manity. The cafe is this and the landowner,
with his ten thoufand a year, at the head of his table,
mail be allowed to plead his own caufe, in his
wonted manner. <c Cottage property ! I affure
you it does not yield three per cent, upon the in-
veftment ! where now mould I be, think you, if
I were to expend enough upon it to make all the
cottages upon my property what I grant you,
they ought to be ? The thing is demonftrably
tmpojfible : an incumbrance are thefe cottages
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 97
already a dead weight on my means ; and can
you ferioufly afk me to make the burden heavier
than it is ? I mould fbon be ruined ! "
It is not true in fuch inftances that there is no
kind-heartednefs at the Manfion. The portly
gentleman is reputed a good landlord : the portly
lady alfo does me not inftru6t the houfekeeper
to difpenfe gallons of foup, weekly, from the
kitchen ? and as to the young ladies they are
as compaflionate as they are blithe and bright-
complexioned ! What is wanted more than this
is CONSIDERATION. What is wanted more than
the foup, or the bonnets for the cottage children
is the bringing to bear upon the arithmetic of
the eftate- agent an arithmetic that looks far for-
ward, and that is inclufive of the value of the
bodies and the fouls of thofe whofe fate is in our
hands. The coft of a decorative reform through-
out the houfe, or of decorative improvements in
the grounds, would often much more than fuffice
for rendering every cottage upon an eftate habit-
able for a family, in which a mother's and a wo-
man's inftin&s of propriety would prompt her to
cherifh fuch feelings if it could be done. But
the ever-repeated reply to matronly remonftrances
is that word of defpair " What can we do ?
look at this cottage only three rooms for nine of
us ; and then we are obliged to take in a lodger to
make up the rent ! "
It is as thus, and it is as there trained, that the
H
98 ESSJTS, ETC.
girl at fifteen is fent up to fervice, in her firft place:
it is fomewhere in Radcliffe Highway, or in
Deptford ! She is as good a girl as (he can be,
reared as fhe has been reared ; but her womanly
confcioufnefs, which is her defence, would have
been other than it is if a fmall outlay upon the
cottage, fifteen years ago, had rendered it a fit
home for a family. Are thefe things fables, are
they exaggerations ? Thofe may think fo who
hav enottroubled themfelves to know any more
of a rural diftricl: than its piclurefquenefs.
Yet, notwithstanding thefe, or any fuch-like
ftatements of facts, England is moving on toward
a better ftate of things. This may be believed
becaufe deep-feated and inveterate evils one by
one, are coming under notice ; and this awaken-
ing is not that of here and there a fervent fpirit ;
but of many who, although they are not fervent
perhaps, yet are fo minded, after the Englim mode
of fedate right intention, as (hall bring in a train
of reforms until the Body Social mall have become
fo far healthful as may confift with its attainment
of a fully-developed Civilization.
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 99
PART II.
i.
AT an advanced period of his career^ the In-
dividual Man becomes what the trials and
the exigencies of that career have made him. His
original talents and his early endowments had
fitted him for the work he was to do ; but it has
been the work itfelf in its greatnefs, and its diffi-
culty, and its dangers, and its endurances that has
enhanced fo much thofe firft gifts of nature, and
thofe youthful acquifitions. So it will be with na-
tions : as to a people it may be that nature has
favoured them, and that their geographical pofition
alfo has favoured them ; and then centuries of ar-
duous ftruggles have fchooled them ; but at length,
by the courfe of events, and by the manifefted
predeftination of Heaven, they are called to a
work not lefs wide than the world itfelf, which
long before they (hall have fully achieved it
will, by its greatnefs, and by its difficulty, and by
its dangers, and by its endurances, have enhanced
incalculably as well thofe firft gifts of nature, as
that education which the training of centuries had
conferred upon them.
If, then, we are to inquire in particular as to
what fhall be the Ultimate Civilization of a People
that of the Britifh Iflands for inftance the
ioo ESS ATS, ETC.
queftion prefents itfelf in this form What is the
work which, by the articulate voice of God, they
are now engaged in, and which they are labouring
to accomplim ?
Here, then, we find the text of what has fur-
ther to be faid in this EfTay. The future, and the
now-approaching focial condition of the Britifh
People fhall be fuch as that great work {hall make
it, which at this time this people is doing. The
Ultimate Civilization of the Parent People {hall
be what its own energies, put forth over fo large
a field, mall have induced, and mall have brought
it to accept, and to reft in. It is not otherwife
than by the interaction of forces, and by reverbe-
rations, that things excellent, in any line, are pro-
duced ; and thus it is that the Britim People
predeftined to a work to which no other people
has ever been called, has now fet foot upon a
courfe the remoter iflues of which it would be an
unwarrantable boldnefs, in any one, to fpeak of
with diftinclnefs. Neverthelefs, anticipations of
this order mould not be indulged apart from a
frequent mention (already it has been mentioned)
of that one condition whereupon the realizing of
them depends namely the continuance, for
long years to come, of Infular Independence. And
need the caution be added that this independence
this infular fecurity is every moment threat-
ened by the jealous tyrannies that beleaguer it on
every fide tyrannies, highly civilized indeed for
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 101
effecting mifchief; but thoroughly barbarian in
mood and purpofe.
Affumptions of this order, made in behalf of
one among the brotherhood of nations, cannot be
exempted from an afpeft of arrogance, and may
be held to indicate an overweening eftimate of a
people's merits. Let, then, nothing be fpoken of
that is not matter of confpicuous fact, or that may,
on any reafonable ground, be controverted. Our
neighbours have alfo their destination ; but it is
not like ours themfelves being judges. Nor
fhall the refult be the fame ; nor is the method of
realizing it a method of the fame order. Our
European neighbours are ever and again bringing
into debate the firft axioms of focial exiftence
the Theory of Society : the deepeft philofophy
needs to be queftioned anew concerning all things
that touch a people's welfare. With ourfelves it
is wholly different, and it is different, not merely
becaufe theory or no theory we are well con-
tent, within a little, with things as they are ; but
more than this becaufe certain principles having
long ago been afcertained, and afTented to, on all
fides the Britifh people in confequence of its
pofition at the centre of a world-wide occupation
of diftant lands is every day called upon not
learnedly and at leifure to difcufs abftract queftions
of political and focial fcience ; but, on fome new
and urgent occafion fprung up in the Eaft or
in the Weft in this hemifphere, or in that, to
102 ESSAYS, ETC.
determine a momentous practical queflion : its
ftatefmen are fummoned to do this or that or to
forbid this or that; and to fend inftru&ions to
agents or to governors " by the next mail." The
Britifh people its ftatefmen its legiflators its
daily writers its platform orators are inceflantly
called upon to move, and to make others move,
at the moment, and, as the phyfician fays, pro re
nata. So it is that, while ftatefmen and philofo-
phers around us are defcending into the heart of
the earth there to find wifdom and to bring it,
at length, to the furface the public men of all
clafles, among ourfelves, are writing defpatches
are advifing their fons, fettled at the Antipodes ;
or are framing treaties with barbarians ; or they
are giving "the word of an Englifhman" to the
chiefs of fome favage horde.
Wholly diflimilar, therefore, are the occupa-
tions and the training of nations throughout the
European community, and among this Infular
People. And the product mail be as different as
is the procefs. Let our neighbours furpafs us in
whatever is of the glofs and varnim, the glitter
and the monotonous order, of an advanced civili-
zation. The Britim people will be content to
ftand foremoft as having achieved for themfelves,
and for their fons and daughters all the world
over the mighty and excellent reality the very
fubftance of focial well-being ; and then mall
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 103
they leave unenvied to others, its femblances, its
fhadows, and its counterfeits.
The filken phrafe " an advanced civilization"
falls foftly upon the ear in academic groves in
college halls in mirror-lined faloons. It fhall
carry with it a far weightier fenfe when it fhall
come home to us, as an echo, borne over the
ocean from all fhores whereupon, or near to
which, Englifh homes, Englifh probity, Englifh
energy and wealth, and England's Chriftianity,
fhall have eftablifhed themfelves for ages.
An axiom, or a firft principle, univerfally af-
fented to, may {lumber in the memories of a
people itfelf long at reft : or, if it be not quite
forgotten, it may more often be found in books,
than upon men's lips. Not fo if it muft daily be
put in force, and muft be relied upon, as our fafe
guide, on new and arduous occafions, confronting
us, or our fons, at the world's end. Thus it is
that GREAT TRUTHS liable as they are to fub-
fide into decrepitude, renew their vital forces
are fuddenly lifted aloft, and become intenfified as
they prefent themfelves in the form of Rules of
Conduct which coft what it may to adhere to
them muft never be violated.
The work of the Britifti People the work
they are called to not of choice, but by the Pro-
vidential Ordinance of God is of two kinds,
very diffimilar, and yet tending always to run the
104 ESSATS, ETC.
one into the other. The firft of thefe tafks is that
of fettling, and ruling, and of aiding, and nourifh-
ing, and advifing, its own people gone forth, as
they are, and creating for themfelves homes new
Englands in all latitudes. This work, in almoft
every inftance, adjoins the other work namely
that of taming the ferocity of favages, and of in-
ftructing them in the arts of life, and of winning
them over to their own good ; and then, that alfo
of ruling nations that are already advanced in
culture ; but which yet are necefTarily fubjecl: to
European control.
So it has come about that there is no condition
of human life, from the very loweft upwards to
the higheft, with which the Britifh traveller, or
fettler, or trader, or miflionary, or foldier, has not
come into near correfpondence. All modes of
exiftence, wretched and revolting as fome of them
are, have been witnefled, and fubmitted to, and
converfed with, and have been brought under a
civilizing influence. Moreover, thefe various
forms of individual and focial life have come into
notice, and have been put under management in
every imaginable variety as to the terms and mode
of it ; fuch, for inftance, as that of a tranfient and
diftruftful intercourfe ; and that of amicable fet-
tlement, and that of permanent fupremacy, and
that of military domination. Thus it is, there-
fore, that all thefe phafes of life, converfed with
under all thefe diverfities of circumftance, as to
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 105
the terms of the intercourfe, have had the effect
of bringing into prominence, as well abftract prin-
ciples, as practical rules of conduct, political,
economic, commercial, and religious. In a word,
a broad field the field of the world laboured
upon in all modes, has become the fource and the
occafion of that various difcipline which the
Britifh mind, and the Britifh heart, is now under-
going. And mall not the greatnefs of the refult
correfpond with the extent of the fchooling ?
There muft be a vaft difference between an
abftract principle, verbally aflented to, and the
fame truth, brought into its bearing, in a practical
manner, upon great and unlooked-for occafions.
THE REASON OF CIVILIZATION may, indeed, be
fet forth in fome fix or feven formal propofitions ;
but this fame reafon, actually worked out under
the accidents of a fpontaneous world-wide pro-
grefs in national welfare, will prefent itfelf with
furpafiing force. All men will fee difplayed in
their view Reafon in the concrete Reafon and
Truth, made vifible and palpable, and which, in-
ftead of its being digefted in a philofophy that
muft be mafteredj mall be recorded and read as
a hiftory that is to be pondered.
This is a hiftory which is now in courfe of be-
ing acted out ; and it is alfo in courfe of being re-
corded page by page as faft as it is acted out.
Let us take an inftance, and it (hall be that which
muft ftand foremoft in any ftatement, whether
106 ESS4TS, ETC.
formal or informal, of the Elements of Civiliza-
tion. Put into terms abftra&edly, or exprefTed
as a popular aphorifm, that truth which is the
corner-ftone of focial fcience is this That MAN
is man, irrefpeclive of colour, or of distinctions of
race. If this be fo- then, man and woman huf-
band and wife parents and children, may not be
bought and fold as cattle ; their labour muft not
be coerced their bodies and their fouls muft be
refpecled : the diftin&ion between man and the
brute, it is the higheft of all crimes it is an abo-
mination it is a blafphemy, to difregard.
We may confult our tafte, as to the wording of
this firft principle of Social Science ; but the mean-
ing muft be the fame, and the inferences fpringing
from it muft be the fame namely, thefe that no
reafons of expediency, not even the moft urgent,
can be admitted to excufe the perpetration, and the
perpetuation of Slavery ; and that the exiftence,
and the tolerance of Slavery in any community,
although it may confift well with the glofs, and
the varnifh, and the fhadow, and the counterfeits
of an advanced civilization, muft forbid, muft ex-
clude, and muft render impoflible, its fubftance.
Among ourfelves all this has become trite :
there are no refpondents on the contrary fide.
Moreover, at this moment, Britifh Supremacy
Britifh Force upon every acre of its occupation,
all the world over, ftands glorioufly free from im-
putation or contradiction. So it is; yet this is
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION'. 107
not enough. An abftracT: principle, which none
dare to call in queftion, is likely, as we have faid,
to fall out of its place, and ceafe to be uttered, or
to be affirmed with vivacity. But provifion is
made againft any fuch confequence as this in the
extraordinary conditions under which Britifh co-
lonization is taking place upon all the border-lands
of favage life, and of femi-barbarous national ex-
iftence. Amid thefe various conditions the Great
Truth above affirmed, and now everywhere,
among ourfelves,aflented to becomes liable every
day to many ambiguous expofitions : it prefents
itfelf often as open to fpecial exceptions ; or as if a
regard to it were impracticable, and as if, although
undoubtedly true in the abftracT:, it muft juft now,
be held in abeyance. This will happen as long as
rude fettlers who are immigrants, in one fenfe,
and outcafts, perhaps, in another fenfe fhall be
liftening to the dictates of their felfimnefs and cu-
pidity far away from the control, either of opi-
nion, or of law. But after a time a report of the
violence and of the wrongfulnefs that have had
their courfe upon the border-lands of colonies
reaches home: it is brought forward in Parlia-
ment : it is repeated in newfpapers : it is talked
of around firefides ; it is noifed on platforms.
Then follow difcuffions, and controverfies, in ani-
mated and angry tones, it may be. Firft principles
are reverted to, and are affirmed with a new vehe-
mence ; and thefe axioms, quietly afTented to by
io8 ESSJrS, ETC.
all men, in the abftracl, are now fhown to apply-
to the particular cafe in hand : it is proved that
the imagined exception is no exception ; and that
if England will ftill be true to herfelf fuch
things as have been done, in the remote land,
muft now be forbidden, and a recurrence of them
henceforward muft be prevented.
Such has been the courfe of things, again and
again, and under many diverfities of circumftance,
in the modern hiftory of Britifh colonization. So
it has been in Africa weftern, and fouthern, and
eaftern fo in India, and in Auftralia, and in New
Zealand, and in Polynefia. Nor have occafions
of this kind ceafed to prefent themfelves ; nor will
they foon ceafe to occur ; but as often as they do
occur, the under-work the great procefs of na-
tional education is continuoufly going on : it is
going on unthought of perhaps ; but truly and
really; and toward its produc"t, at the laft, we are
every year drawing nearer. And can we doubt of
what fort this product mail be ? Or ought we to call
in queftion the reafonable belief that, by the
ordination of God, the Britifh people, with its
Chriftian confcioufnefs, and its humane inftincls,
has fo been fpread over the world, and has fo been
driven forwards, and has fo been thruft into the
very heart of all barbarifms, and has fo been made
to encompafs and to interpenetrate the many
forms of imperfect civilization, as mall bring it
ere long into a place of bright fupremacy, as the
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 109
World-Expounder of that Firft Truth that cor-
ner principle of focial welfare concerning the
Rights of Man ; and the proclamation fhall be
made it is even now in courfe of being made,
that, in Britim thought, and Britifh confcience,
and Britifh rule, colour is of no account diftinc-
tions of race are of no account cafte is of no ac-
count ; but, on the contrary, that, wherever the
fun mines, man is man, and all men brethren.
To flop at this point is to fay that the Ultimate
Civilization which fhall diftinguifh this Infular
People, although it may fall fhort in many refine-
ments, fhall be approvable in the fight of God
it mail be Truth acted upon and realized, for the
good of all nations.
II.
THE rights of MAN, as Man, muft be underftood
in a fenfe that can admit of no fingle exception ;
for to allege an exception is the fame thing as to
deny the principle : we reject, therefore, with
fcorn, any profeflion of refpect to the principle
which in fact comes to us clogged, and contra-
dicted by a petition for an exception.
It is not fo in regard to what are called Political
Rights; for thefe can be enjoyed, and made good
ufe of, by none but thofe who are competent to
demand, and are capable of entering upon them
as their undifputed inheritance. There is a na~
no ESS ATS, ETC.
tural capacity for the enjoyment of political rights
which is the chara&eriftic of a Race ; it is its
diftin&ion it is its difference, as one among the
families of mankind ; and it is the prerogative of
fuch a race, as a confequence alfo of centuries of
difcipline ; and it is a prerogative that muft be
afferted, and defended, anew for itfelf, by each
following generation of that Race.
As to the infirm, and the infantile Races, and
as to the barbarous and the fluggifh, or the fta-
tionary, and as to the oriental races, and as to na-
tions debafed by inveterate fuperftitions, and as to
thofe of the European community that have long
tolerated the negation of thefe rights, and that
have lately taken defpotifms upon their moulders
anew, they all have very much to learn, and many
arduous achievements to accomplim, before the
tranquil and aflured enjoyment of POLITICAL
RIGHTS can in any way be poffible to them.
Until thofe leflbns have been learned, and until
that difcipline has had its courfe, fuch nations
afar off, and near muft confent To be governed
as they may , for their good-, and perhaps the more
fuch defpotifms are caft in iron, and are framed in
brafs, fo much the better will it be for the en-
flaved and proftrate people.
There is one idea of human nature which
(hows its prefence in all thofe various forms of
defpotifm to which the infirm, and the infantile
races are fubjedted whether Afiatic, or Euro-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. in
pean. This idea is a compofite conception,
bringing into one two heterogeneous notions of
humanity: in fuch inftances the Governing
Power pleafes itfelf in thinking of men mixedly,
and alternately as brutes and as babies ; and it
deals with them accordingly now in refpet of
their fuppofed ferocity, and now in refpecl: of
their actual imbecility. If inquiry were made
concerning various forms of government all the
world over, a very fimple clarification would be
amply fufficient for reprefenting them, in this way ;
in fome the brute idea is the moft prominent ;
in others, it is the infantile that prevails. It is
quite otherwife with the Anglo-Saxon Race, fuch
as it is either in its home, or in any of its far-off
fettlements.
There are, indeed, thofe among us who allow
themfelves to fpeak diffidently, or diftruftfully,
concerning the perpetuation of constitutional go-
vernment in England, and the prefervation of the
liberties, civil, political, and religious, of this In-
fular Commonwealth ; nor would any one dare to
deny that political decay may at length ftrike into
the very heart of our inftitutions ; or that the dry
rot of moral fophiftication may bring the venerable
ftrudure to the ground ! And who can affirm it
to be an inconceivable event, that the cowering
defpotifms near around us hating us, and trem-
bling in the prefence of Britim Liberty may, in
fome evil day, mutter in force that fhall be fkffi-
ii2 ESS ATS, ETC.
cient for their purpofe : no doubt the Demon
revolves this purpofe ; and his legions may find
their opportunity who fhall fay how foon ?
Diffident fpeculations of this order, always tend-
ing, as they do, to realize themfelves for- fear
often converts fpe&res into fubftances take their
rife mainly from the profitlefs ufage of philofo-
phifing in the abftratt upon principles, and upon
theories of government. So it is that Ariftotle is
read, and Plato is confulted : Montefquieu, and
Machiavelli, and Hobbes, and Grotius, and Puf-
fendorf, and many others, down to J. Bentham,
and J. S. Mill, are read and quoted. This may
be well in its way ; but there is another field from
any pofition upon which thefe thick clouds of fpe-
culation may be looked at with advantage, and at
leifure, and without difmay. Theories, liftened
to, or not regarded not even known, or men-
tioned the great problem of the confervation of
political, civil, and religious liberty, is now in
courfe of being fuccefsfully worked out ; it is now
in actual progrefs, from the rudeft inchoation, to
the moft elaborate finifhing, on the borders, and
upon the breadths of Continents, in both hemif-
pheres; and to us, here at home, thofe eflential
conditions of Ultimate Civilization, concerning
which we may have given way to tremors, fhall
come back they fliall be reimported realized, in
all the energy of young life the life of new-born
Anglo-Saxon nations !
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 113
It is a queftion fcarcely worth the putting, and
certainly not worth much trouble in feeking an
anfwer to it under what actual conftitutional
forms thefe remote Anglo-Saxon policies may at
length congeft themfelves : they may be more
or lefs monarchical and ariftocratic j or they
may be democratic and republican. Nor does
this other queftion much concern us whether
fuch far-off colonies fhall retain their political con-
nection with the Mother country, or fhall fever
the tie. Be thefe things as they may; and let the
refult be fuch as may flatter, or fuch as may mortify,
national pride. This is enough that, under every
fky where the fons of the Infular People fhall be
growing wheat, and rearing cattle, they will alfo
be realizing and maintaining the prime require-
ments of focial exiftence namely, civil, political,
and religious liberty. Thus fhall the fubftance of
an advanced Civilization be conferved in the
world defpite of the defpots our neighbours.
The inaufpicious ufage of thinking and of writ-
ing concerning forms of government in the pe-
dantic terms of abftracl: philofophy, has induced
the belief that free inftitutions, conftitutional go-
vernment, and the confequent liberties of the
people, are, and have been, the produces of a cer-
tain counterpoife of political forces ; and that an
artificial ftrucl:ure, and a fcientific and careful
putting together of the framework of fociety, are
efTential to the confervation of thefe liberties.
ii4 ESS ATS, ETC.
This can be true only to a limited extent. The
Britim Conftitution, with the liberties it fecures,
is the produft of fpecific NATURAL QUALITIES
in the Anglo-Saxon race. The contrary fuppo-
fition or the abftract conception of a happy
national exiftence, as if it were the refult of Forms
of Government has no doubt operated prejudicially
in leading aftray thofe of the European commu-
nity that have fet themfelves, in recent inftances,
to the tafk of amending their domeftic conftitu-
tions after a Britifh pattern. Continental phi-
lofophers have thought that, if only they might
fet up, at home, fomething like a working model
of the Englifh Conftitution, this would give them
at once Englifh liberties ! Every fuch attempt,
or all but one, has hitherto miferably failed to get
itfelf realized.
Thofe fpecific qualities of the Anglo-Saxon race
whence its Conftitutional Forms have fprung, may
eafily be enumerated : they are not to be fought
for in depths of fpeculative thought : they are
patent upon the furface. The hiftory of England
{hows us the Produ6ts ; but it is the phyfiology
of the people that gives us a clue when we inquire
concerning the Caufes. It is true, in a fenfe, that
Englifti liberties reft upon fuch things as Magna
Charta, and the Bill of Rights, and the Repeal of
Intolerant Statutes ; and, it may be, alfo, upon
Parliamentary Reform. Grant all this to the full ;
but it is of far more fignificance to bear in mind
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 115
the fact that thefe liberties thefe fubftantial good
things of our focial exiftence, take their broad bear-
ing upon the bone and mufcle, upon the animal
force and elafticity, upon the nervous energy, upon
the reftleflhefs, upon the power of endurance, upon
the fteadfaft holding toapurpofe upon thofe things
that are the pby/fical dijiinftions of the Infular People.
It is thefe qualities of the race qualities animal,
mental, moral whence comes impatience of im-
pertinent interference and ufelefs control ; it is
hence that fprings the felf-reliance, the determi-
nation to achieve a work in the beft manner
and thence alfo, and indirectly the love of order,
the refpect for law, the loyalty toward conftituted
and rightful authorities, and the jealoufy of infi-
dious infringements of any right or privilege.
It is out of its phyfical and of its mental con-
formation, in their commixture, that arife the
practical tendency, and the diflruft, in all things,
of merely theoretic guidance. A vigorous good
fenfe is the natural product of bodily vigour, con-
joined with the unworn integrity of the intellectual
faculties. In harmony with a national conforma-
tion of this healthful order is the feeling, and the
doctrine, that felf-government, in the detail, is
better, is cheaper, is more timely^ than the imper-
tinent omniprefence of the Central Power. A
People, mentally and bodily in health, may well
govern itfelfin all things fhort of what concerns
its foreign relationmips, and its matters of form.
n6 ESS ATS, ETC.
As a rule, the maximum of political good will beft
confift with the minimum of the liveried, ftaff-
bearing, feal-bearing, wig-and-gown-wearing fti-
pendiaries of Government.
Of a piece with thefe chara&eriftics of the
race (and it is the product of them) is that now-
eftablifhed ufage of the Britifh People to conceive
great projects, and to inaugurate them, and to
carry them forward, in the mode of fpontaneous
aflbciations, and " Public Meetings," gathered
without afking leave from authorities ; and which
are promoted fearleffly, neverthelefs in awe of that
public opinion which is arbiter of all movements,
and which gives judgment upon all enterprifes. The
difcuffion of thefe fpontaneous defigns in the co-
lumns of a vigilant free prefs free within each
fmall circle, and free in the larger circle gives to
the national energies at once all thefcope that can
be defired for them, and all the corrective fuper-
vifion that the moft timid need wifh for. Then
upon all this wide field of popular energy a wife
Government looks down, from its high feat, with
unanxious complacency : " Thefe things may go
on, and they will go the moft fafely, when they
are left to go by themfelves."
Again, then, we are to look out toward the fkirts
of the world to the borders of the wildernefs,
and into the heart of fubjugated nations wherever
trade, colonization, unavoidable military advances,
and Chriftian zeal have already carried the Britifh
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 117
fettler, the traveller, the miflionary, or the foldier.
If this one condition of thefe ofFsettings be granted
namely, that the Anglo-Saxon race fhall maintain
its original energy, and fhall conferve the vital force
of its blood then it will be that, at diftant points,
and under many and various conditions, the prin-
cipal elements of an advanced Civilization will
be going through a procefs of development, and
this always with a new force and frefhnefs. Firft
the RIGHTS OF MAN muft everywhere, all the
world over, be recognized, and refpe&ed, and
religioufly watched over, and courageoufly de-
fended: to do this is the audible call of God, now
addrefTed to the Britifh People. The fecond call
is that which fhall fecure POLITICAL RIGHTS for
whoever it may be that is qualified to enjoy and
ufe them. Thefe rights, if definitely named, muft
leave nothing unprovided for that may be needed
in flopping the way againft infidious infringements,
or encroachments, or machinations, or forcible in-
vafions, of whatfoever is precious to the thought,
the feeling, the domeftic fan&ity, and to the reli-
gious confcioufnefs, of all men individually, and
focially regarded.
It may be, or in time it may come fo to be, that
the Britifh people fophifticated, and enfeebled by
too much intercourfe with thofe neareft to them,
who themfelves are cringing under defpotifms, and
are ufed to the fefter of the chain upon their
necks, fhall remit their watchfulnefs, and fhall be
n8 ESS4TS, ETC.
weary of their jealoufy of the encroachments of
power, and fhall learn to lull themfelves in refine-
ments, and to amufe themfelves with the glitter of
a falfe civilization ; it may be that the Britifh heart
fhall thicken, and that its pulfes fhall intermit ; yet
even then, the fame blood, beating in young arte-
ries abroad, fhall return to its fource, and England
fhall thus " renew her youth as the Eagle."
We have juft now faid, in relation to the Rights
of Man, that they are univerfal and unexceptive ;
or, if not fo, then they are none at all. To pro-
fefs the principle, and then to plead for an excep-
tion let the plea be what it may is to deny the
principle, and it is to utter a treafon againft hu-
manity. The fame is true, and it is true with an
emphafis, in relation to thofe Rights which are at
once the fureft guarantee of every other, and the
moft precious of all namely, the Rights of Con-
fcience. We fay Rights ; for although they are one^
they yet include what muft be carefully fpecified,
in detail, as a caution againft all contradictions, and
againft any infringement. If you affirm that the
right or liberty of every man to think^ as he pleafes,
need not be mentioned, or be formally claimed,
inafmuch as it cannot be refufed or reftricled ;
this may feem to be a truifm ; but it is not true in
faft ; for Liberty of Thought, if liberty of utter-
ance be denied, or if it be reftricted, or if liberty
of teaching, preaching, profelytizing, and wor-
fhipping, be in the leaft degree hedged about
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 119
with conditions, is a liberty which will only pine
itfelf away as a fmothered anguifh ; the freedom
of Unuttered Thought what better is it to a man
than a cancer, rooted in his foul ? Free he is to
mufe, and free to figh, and free to wifh himfelf in
a lone wildernefs a thoufand miles away from
the haunts of his fellows : this is a mifery from
which a man will feek to relieve himfelf, by ceaf-
ing to think by lulling the inquietudes of reafon
and of confcience too, in fordid or in fenfuous
purfuits.
Befides : Liberty is no liberty, in any fenfe, if
at all it be bandaged. Thofe reftraints which
attach to focial life for the fafety of all alike are
none in the feeling of the right-minded. But the
bandaging of men in refpecl of their religious con-
victions, and profeflions, and condudr, is a reftraint
which is ufelefs more than any other ; for danger
on this ground does not come, if it be not created;
and it is prejudicial more than any other ; becaufe
religious liberty, in its amplitude, and when it is
enjoyed by many, does, by itfelf, render defpotifms
impoflible.
The Rights of Confcience not underftood, or
if they be mifunderftood by a government then
the Civilization of fuch a people is a glittering
barbarifm ; it is nothing better. The refinements
of the upper clafles of fuch a people are a falfenefs,
concealing the want of reality, the want of ear-
neftnefs, the non-entity of all profeflions. If, in
120 ESS4TS, ETC.
fact, there be fubftance and truth among the people,
who fhall know it to be there ? For every utter-
ance of men's fouls has become habituated to a
ufage which may beft ferve to fecure it againft the
notice of the omniprefent tyranny. It is not fo
among ourfelves. But is this amplitude of reli-
gious liberty in any jeopardy here in its home ?
Let it be granted that it is not, any way, in peril.
Yet if it were fo, and if, from the eafmefs of our
unqueftioned enjoyment of it, there fhould'enfue
indifference, then do we find a remedy then do
we find a means of its renovation, in looking to
the out-planting of the Britifh Stock out-planted
under conditions the moft favourable for impart-
ing a new energy to the religious confcioufnefs of
the people.
It might be made to appear a probable fuppofi-
tion that, by the even-paced advancement of po-
pular inftruclion, and by the gradual foftening of
popular manners, down even to the loweft clafs,
and by the fpreading humanities of clafs toward
clafs, and by the coming in of a reign of courte-
fies, thofe deeper and ftronger motives wherewith
Chriftianity concerns itfelf mall lofe their place
if not in individual minds, yet in the focial fyftem
at large. In fuch a ftateof things what becomes
of the Rights of Confcience ? They are not vio-
lated, for no one cares to invade them ; but they
are not guarded, they are not thought of, they are
not affirmed they fade away as obfolete. Of
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 121
this fort, no doubt, are thofe anticipations of Ulti-
mate Civilization which fome at this time are en-
tertaining. But never {hall it be fo ; or if it might
be fo, we have at hand, and afar off too, our
means of recovery.
in.
THE pofition of England as the Mother country
of Settlements that are fpread, and are continually
fpreading over all the world, and its pofition alfo
as Miffion-Centre towards fo many peoples, has
no parallel in hiftory ancient or modern. From
this fmgularity it might follow that any fort of an-
ticipative reafoning as if founded upon experience
and analogy muft be fallacious ; or at beft muft
be very uncertain. Who mail dare to conjecture
what iflue any courfe of events mail have, to
which we find no refemblance among the paft
experiences of mankind ? This uncertainty muft
feem all the more cloudy in the view of thofe
whofe habits of thought, and habits of life too,
lead them to think of a yet-diftant and an ultimate
civilization on the fide of the probable advance-
ments that mail attend it in Philofophy, in Social
Science, in the Science of Government, in Lite-
rature, in Tafte, in the Fine Arts, and in the
poliftiing of manners or, in three words, as in-
clufive of The Reign of Intellect, the Reign of
^Efthetics, and the Reign of Courtefies.
122 ESSATS, ETC.
While foft anticipations of this order are in
view, the rough and rude things upon the far-off
world of the Britifh outfpread, come in upon us
only to difturb us only to diftract attention from
our own loftier aims ; in facl:, they are a fo much,
come in, not to promote our advances ; but to
hinder them ; not to lift, but to deprefs, the mean
level of our Home-condition, as to its refinements
and its civilization. It maybe thought if England
were but as free from thefe remote attachments as
is Germany, then might me give herfelf, at leifure,
to the profundities of AbftracT: Thought, and to
the elaborations of critical learning. Or, if Eng-
land were but clear of colonies otherwife than as
held by the fword, as is France, then might fhe
beftow all her mind upon whatever is the moft
finimed and the moft tafteful, in art, and luxury,
and amufement. This is one view of national
progrefs ; but there is another view.
The call, coming in from afar, every day, to the
Britifh People, in its Infular Home, is an urgent
fummons to concern itfelf for the fake of its own
fons and daughters, and for the fake of many
favage tribes, and for the fake of the millions
of inert and enflaved nations, and for the fake of
all tribes of earth upon whofe borders Britifh in-
fluence touches a call to give attention to, and
to take in hand, whatever is the hardeft to do, and
the moft difficult to decide upon ; and whatever
may not be touched at all, except let the words
be here permitted in atruefenfe except by God's
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 123
Elect. What we mean, conveyed in the fimpleft
terms, is this that the unexampled vocation of
theBritifh People is of that fort that mail call forth,
from out of its nurturing bofom, men of the higheft
quality in mind, and in moral force ; men devoted
as martyrs prompt to rifk life and all things in
their path of duty ; men who, although they are
themfelves cultured, and accomplimed, and habi-
tuated to every refinement, (hall freely break away
from all, and mall count all fuch things as drofs, and
fhall tread painful paths into the gloomieft depths
of barbarifm there to teach, to reclaim, to ci-
vilize, to govern, and to immortalize their brethren
of all races. Thefe things are not fables : they
are not dreams of the future : they are fuch
things as are taking place, even now, in our view.
Whatever is the moft robuft, the moft health-
ful, whatever has in it the quality of a genuine
heroifm, whatever brings out the choiceft virtue,
and the higheft wifdom, whatever engages the
thoughts of the moft thoughtful, and is carefully
confidered at home, and is refolutely carried for-
ward abroad, and is nobly achieved there ; it is
thefe things that now are, and that mall be, more
and more, the moft held in honour among the
Infular People : more admired fhall fuch things
be than military achievements ; and they fhall be
fpoken of with a reverence that filences the pre-
tenfionsof foul-lefs IntellecT:, of felf-pleafmgTaftes,
and of heartlefs accomplimments.
124 ESS4TS, ETC.
Fa&s of this order fubtend a very fmall angle in
the view of luxurious and eafy-going people ; and
to fome fuch, or to moft of them, the fubjeft is
altogether unattractive nay, it is repulfive. Yet
it is true that great revolutions in the moral
world have taken their courfe, notwithftanding
,the indifference, or the exprefled contempt of the
fame clafs of perfons. But is it indeed a fmall
angle that is fubtended by the outfpread of the
Britifti Stock at this time ? Take the Map of the
World in hand or rather, take two fuch maps.
Give to one of them the date, 1760; to the other,
that of the year now current. Upon the firft mark,
in red, the then Englifli occupations upon all
fliores, whether that of Colonies, or of Fa&ories
only, or of Forts, or of a tranfient trading contact.
Mark upon the fecond Map, in the fame colour,
the colonial occupation, at this time the Impe-
rial Governments the trading fettlements the
points of intercourfe, which {how the part which
England is playing upon all Continents and
Iflands the world over. On grounds of the
fureft calculation (calculations which are irrefpec-
tive of what may be the political fortunes of colo-
nies) look forward another fifty years, or another
hundred. At this time it is fo ; and at that time
it (hall be fo in a new fenfe that the Anglo-
Saxon Race, led on always in noble and royal ftyle
by the Infular People, fhall be in courfe, at a rapid
rate to Anglicize the Habitable Earth. A boaft
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 125
this may feem in its found but a homely matter
of fact it is in its fubjlance.
To eftimate duly what this Britifh out-planting
includes, and what it muft bring with it, it is need-
ful to look to the conditions under which it is
everywhere taking place. It is nothing lefs than
a fetting out, upon new foil, of the Englifh Do-
meftic feeling this centre feeling of all our feel-
ings. The Englifh home, with its enjoyments,
its cares, its tear-fheddings, and its fanctities, goes
wherever Englifhmen go. The Englimwoman is
always there : her better confcioufnefs of what
is right and good is there : her fenfeof fitnefs and
order is there ; her mother's inftin&s, and not the
leaft, if laft to be mentioned, her fond undying
recollections of a home in England, and the loved
perfons parents, brothers, filters of that home.
The Englimwoman abroad, not unfrequently,
is one of the ariftocratic clafs ; often fhe is of
the fully-educated clafs : greatly fhe is of the
clafs next below this, and yet is not wanting in the
qualities which life abroad mall call into action.
Conditions fuch as thefe are wholly unlike thofe
that have attached to the conquefts and coloniza-
tions of Spain, or of Portugal, or of Holland, or of
France, or of Denmark, in paft times : an ap-
proach toward thefe conditions, in a few exceptive
inftances, is all that can be claimed for any of thofe
European outfpreads, of the fifteenth, the fix-
teenth, and the feventeenth centuries.
126 ESS ATS, ETC.
We have faid as is the work which, in his
term of years, the man has to do fuch is he.
With a peculiar meaning the affirmation ftands
good, as to the other fex. As is the part me is
called to a<5t in life fuch is the WOMAN. Sig-
nally has this averment received illuftration in the
courfe of recent events. A feven years, dated
back from this year, with the unexampled
events of that time, have given to the heroifm
and the conftancy of Woman a new afpecl: : a
fplendid page for woman has found a place among
the dark pages of recent Englim hiftory. And fo
it mall be, ever and again : dangers fufferings
patient continuances in well-doing, thefe things,
and not luxurious modes of life, not the amplitude
of accomplimments and refinements it is thefe
that make the WOMAN. Life in the lone wilder-
nefs, and life on the fkirts, or in the heart oflaw-
lefs hordes the life of the fettler, and that of the
Miffionary, and that of the Civil and Military re-
fident in pagan countries, is of a fort that is likely
to give to the woman who takes out England in
her heart, the very truefr, of all forms of female
goodnefs.
In all this, if we choofe to call it an hypothecs
of Englim life upon the waftes of the world
there is a condition aiTumed. There muft be
prefent in the understanding and in the affections
and convictions of thofe who mail (how this cou-
rage, and this patience, and this devotednefs
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 127
there muft be A FORCE adequate to occafions of
fo unufual a kind. In queft of fuch a Force it
would be a vapid affe&ation to fuppofe this or
that influence or motive as fufficient ; and then to
grant in candour to each its due. There is now but
one Power in the world which indeed is fufficient
for every arduous occafion, and for the mofr. ardu-
ous. It is Chriftianity, and nothing lefs than this,
that will animate the courage, and fuftain the pa-
tience, and nerve the fortitude demanded in thofe
the men and the women who mail undertake
and achieve the great and various labours which,
by the ordinance of God, are to be carried for-
ward throughout the world.
It would be a fuperfluous courtefy as toward
any rival fcheme religious or irreligious, to chal-
lenge it to come forward when great things of this
kind are to be done, and to fay " A danger the
moft extreme is juft now to be encountered ; a
labour the moft irkfome is at this time to be
undertaken ; a fervice that is equivalent to a
martyrdom is to be performed : there is an ear-
neft outcry for help. Will you liften to this cry?
Will you rife from downy cumions, and leave your
place at banquets, and turn away from golden ap-
pointments at this call ?" The call need not be
urged in any fuch quarters. It is Chriftian men
and women, and thefe only, who do ftep forward
at the fummons. Chriftian men and women have
already left their all, and are gone out, haftening
128 ESS ATS, ETC.
to their fields of fervice. This courfe of things is
not conjecture. Thefe things are doing before
our eyes, and in our hearing. Such men and
women are now found in the fore-front of labour
and danger, both at home and abroad : they have
diftanced rivalries, if there were any competitors :
they are gone out of hearing of cavils ; and they
are contented to leave to their leifure, the profef-
fors and teachers of a nugatory pantheiftic myfti-
cifm leaving them to talk to write to advance
frivolous exceptions, and to detracl from merits
which they cannot underftand.
It {hall be in the acl: of doing a far greater work
in the world than any other people is, or has ever
been called to attempt, that the Infular Anglo-
Saxon People {hall attain (more or lefs perfectly)
that condition of intellectual and moral eminence
to which, and to nothing lefs than which, the phrafe
which {lands at the head of this Eflay ought to be
applied. In taking this as our mark, there is no
need that, at the impulfe of a four or fanatical
mood, we mould denounce, or {hould fpeak con-
temptuoufly of thofe polimings of the furface
which we muft deny to be of the fuljlance of an
advanced civilization. The fpontaneous ingenuity
of thofe who are well paid in meeting the never-
fatisfied requirements of luxury luxury intellectual^
as well as fenfuous and fenfual, will no doubt go
on heightening, and yet heightening more, the
dazzle of the focial mafs, in its upper grades. All
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 129
this will be; and let it be. But after all, we
muft ftill be feeking for that which is not only of
another fort, in itfelf, but which mall have fprung
from motives wholly of another order.
The ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION we are looking
for muft be fuch as fhall leave no miferies unheeded
at home : it muft be fuch as will take no reft fo
long as there are clajfes of the people loft in intem-
perance and profligacy. This fame energy of
national health this ftrong pulfe of the moral life,
will carry out its own health and its confcioufnefs
of right to every land where the fons and daugh-
ters of England have already gone. The Social
Equilibrium we are looking for is the oppofite
not merely of ftagnation, but of reft. The
Infular People, fafe at home in its focial adjuft-
ments, and too wife, politically, to indulge am-
bition or to covet conquefts ambitious only to
make full proof of its appointed miniftry in the
world takes pofleflion of the waftes of all Conti-
nents, in right of its deferving fo to do ; and of its
fitnefs to rule the nations by its own Moral Force.
Grant it, that, in large averments of this fort
there are aiTumptions as to the future, as well as
there is a ftatement of vifible and indifputable
fails. It is fo : and thefe very aflumptions aflume
another ; and in this laft inftance a due religious
modefty ought to prohibit a tone of over-confi-
dence, as well as of arrogance.
What then we further aflume is this That
130 ESS ATS, ETC.
there is A PROVIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT of hu-
man affairs, which, however flow it may be in
bringing about its purpofes, intends, and will give
effect: to, a fcheme of beneficence for the good of
all nations. We aflume this alfo that THE DIVINE
BENEFICENT INTENTION is, and will be, carried
forward through the inftrumentality of men who
are granted to the world, and are perfonally gifted,
and are trained, and are fent forward in further-
ance of this intention, and are fuftained in accom-
plifhing it.
The final afTumption which is needed in the in-
ftance before us is this, and it fhould not even be
named without diffidence That THE BRITISH
PEOPLE has thus been gifted, and has fo been
trained in the ftruggles of centuries, and has fo
been brought into a pofition that is wholly un-
exampled for the accomplimment of the Divine
Intention toward the Human Family to tame,
to teach, to guide, and to rule, with Truth and
Goodnefs, all that are afar off.
The ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION of the Infular
People itfelf, mail therefore be that condition
intellectual and moral which will be the refult,
and the proper fruit of its continuing to fulfil its
miffion, throughout the World.
In what has thus been faid nothing is included
that mould belong to the fubjecl: of Cofmopolitan
Civilization a fubjecl: not only difficult in the
higheft degree, but wholly conjectural or fpecu-
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 131
lative, as to the grounds on which it muft reft.
We enter upon Dream-land the moment when
we begin to imagine thofe changes, thofe revolu-
tions, thofe advances which may occur anywhere,
throughout the European Continent, but toward
which, at this time, no progrefs appears to be mak-
ing. In refpecl: of each of the prime Elements of
focial health, and of political equilibrium, and of
moral amelioration, and of a well-underftood
doctrine and practice of Religious Liberty, the
European Empires and Kingdoms two inconfi-
derable inftances excepted and thefe are ambigu-
ous exceptions are now in retrogreflion. There
were afpects of the European commonwealth
forty-five years ago, and again twenty-fix years ago,
which looked like breaks in the cloud-mafs of dark
centuries : all things good might then have been
fpoken of as probable. But the cloud-mafs has
again clofed over the gap through which a funbeam
had made its way; and it muft be left to thofe who
can pleafe themfelves in fuch an employment,
to tell us, at hazard, what ihall be the condition,
twenty years hence, of all countries, from the
Straits of Gibraltar to the White Sea. Through-
out the greater part of this extent of lands far as
they are advanced in material civilization, and in
whatever belongs to the glofs and glitter of refine-
ment and how great foever are the attainments
of fome of them in fcience, and high their merits in
literature the mafs of the people (upper and lower
clafles alike) are almoft as unfit for the enjoyment,
132 ESS ATS, ETC.
and for the wife ufe of political rights, and of con-
ftitutional government, as are the people of India,
or the millions of China. In thofe European States
where thefe rights and enjoyments are fomewhat
better underftood, and are eagerly coveted, there
is ftill wanting, not only the long habitudes of
Civil Liberty, but that vigorous praftical fenfe
which mould give reality to free conftitutions.
Theories, and the bootlefs metaphyfics of Social
Science, are dreamed about by thofe who affecl: to
lead opinion. The fruit of Theories are periodic
outburfts of popular impatience ending always
in a new tightening of cords a new riveting of
chains.
Nations overfhadowed by vaft {landing armies,
arrayed in pretext againft neighbour armies,
in reality againft the mafles of the people, mufl be
content to wait for their liberties to the coming
in of the millennium ! And furthermore, muft it
not be held as a truth, fubftantiated by all expe-
rience, that an unexcepted, an unconditioned en-
joyment of Religious Liberty apart from which
no other liberties are fecure, will never confift
with the dominance of vilifying fuperftitions
fuch as that of Rome, or that of the Greek Church.
Never fhall there be breathed, in any land, the
health-infpiring atmofphere of perfect liberty of
thought, of fpeech, of teaching, of worfhip, where
the priefts of thefe fuperftitions are everywhere to
be feen, keeping the people in awe. The prefence
ULTIMATE CIVILIZATION. 133
of a priefthood, the dealers in falfities at the beft
occupied in mummeries, and too many of them
enacting the immoralities of the clerical celibate
fuch a prefence in a country removes to an in-
calculable futurity the hope and the poflibility of
national moral health.
Wholly irrefpe&ive, therefore, of its European
afpecl:, muft we learn to concern ourfelves with
what relates to the miflion and the work of the
Infular People, as at this time it is in progrefs
throughout the world. What the Britifh People
has now to do is to fulfil its deftiny on all con-
tinents ; and, while earneftly thus employed, to de-
fend itfelf, as it beft may, againft the jealoufy, and
the fear, and the hatred of its mighty neighbours
right hand and left hand.
'34
ESSATS, ETC.
ESSAY II.
Mind in Form.
E leave untouched, at this time, all
queftions metaphyfical or phyfio-
logical concerning the interaction
of Mind and Matter, and the de-
pendence of the Mind upon the Body; as alfo
of the functions of the Brain in relation to Thought
and Confcioufnefs. Our fubjecl: we find more
upon the furface of things ; and it is of a kind
that taxes no powers of abftraftion. We have
before us the wide world of organized beings
vegetable and animal ; and we are to afk concern-
ing thefe infinitely diverfified objects, in what way,
or on what principles, we may fafely interpret
FORM, confidered as the fymbol, or as the vifible
expreflion of MIND. This word Form, muft, in
this EfTay, be made to include more than in ftrict-
nefs it is held to mean, that is to fay more than
fhape or figure, as cognizable by the fight and
MIND IN FORM. 135
touch ; for it muft comprehend, along with the vifi-
ble configuration of bodies, all diverfities of colour,
and of texture, as well thofe that are fixed and
inherent, as thofe which are incidental and mo-
mentary. For example, the Tree now in my
view has its permanent fpecific form of trunk,
branches, foliage, and leaf, proper to it as oak or
elm. It has, moreover, its individual form, deter-
mined as this has been by the circumftances of its
pofition and growth : it has, moreover, itsfpecifa
colours^ and its incidental colouring which may be
that of June, or that of October. Then, befides
thefe differences, whether permanent or incidental,
this particular tree has its mathematical perfpecJive^
as feen from the fpot where I ftand ; and it has
alfo its aerial perfpective ; together with the ac-
cidents of light and fhadow, and thofe many
pictorial phafes which come and go while I am
looking at it. The meaning of the word, as thus
exemplified, embraces therefore whatever it is by
means of which the fenfes of fight and of touch
fight efpecially diftinguifh one object from an-
other, at the paffing moment. All fuch differences
are included in the meaning which we now attri-
bute to the one word FORM.
In what fenfes, then, does Form fymbolize, or
give expreffion to Mind ? In two fenfes it does
fo ; or it is in two fenfes, now to be mentioned,
that we are here intending to fpeak of it.
FORM fymbolizes MIND in fo far as it is the
136 ESS ATS, ETC.
vifible expreffion of the Intention^ or of the pur-
pofe, or of the feeling, or tafte, which we attribute
to the plaftic or conftru&ive Thought whence we
believe it to have fprung. The pen in my hand
fymbolizes the purpofe it fubferved when it was
one of twenty feathery blades like itfelf confti-
tuting a wing ; but in the configuration it has
lately received from the knife, it fpeaks of a differ-
ent defign, attaching to another mind the pen-
cutter, and he, whoever he might be, has thus
adapted it to my ufe, as an inftrument in writing.
FORM, as an expreffion of Mind, may indicate
not merely, as abovefaid, what may be called
mechanical intention as does a hammer, or a faw
but Feeling alfo, or Tafte. The tool may be
decorated ; the handle may be curioufly carved ;
it may be ftudded with brilliants. An article
of furniture, good and proper for its purpofe, as
chair or table, may have been fo overloaded with
carvings and inlayings, with gildings and varnifh-
ings all which are expreffions of the maker's
tafte and feeling, that we forget the mere ufe of
the ftru&ure ; and give it a place among our
ipecimens of decorative art.
Thefe inftances belong to one fide only of our
prefent fubjecl: : the other fide, and the more
fpecial of the two, is that which brings before us
the fymbolization of MIND in FORM through the
medium of contours, or of lines, and other diver-
fities of the furface, conftituting Character and
MIND IN FORM. 137
ExpreJJton. In the confideration of inftances be-
longing to this fide of our fubjecl:, we foon find
ourfelves in depths, where we have to feel our
way, and where it is at once as impoffible to doubt
the reality and the fignificance of what we have
to do with, as it is to give a clear, or a perfectly
fatisfa&ory account of the ground of our convic-
tions. What are the grounds of thofe inftanta-
neous phyfiognomical judgments which we are
tacitly paffing every day and hour ? This quef-
tion is not fo eafily anfwered as we may at firft
fuppofe ; for as to the reafon or thefoitrce of our
phyfiognomical intuitions, there is room, as we
may fee, for various fpeculations ; and the hy-
pothefes we may accept as probable are far from
having a fcientific afpecl:. Neverthelefs there are
fome principles and inferences, phyfiological and
moral, connected with thefe fpeculations which
affume a practical meaning, and concerning which
it may be well to reach a conclufion, if only on
probable grounds if fuch grounds there are.
Mind produces Form ; and then, in the refulting
ftruclure or organization we read the intention^
and we read alfo the quality^ and often fo it is in
human works we read the quantity alfo of that
Mind. But Mind itfelf re/ides in Form, and as
therein refident it moulds and famions its material
abode to itfelf : it puts itfelf forth in contour, and
in colouring, and (within limits) it brings its habi-
tation into accordance with itfelf as to its material
138 ESS4TS, ETC.
the folids, and the fluids, until a harmony en-
fues between Mind and Form. This correfpond-
ence has refpeft to power, and to temper, and to
temperament ; and alfo to thofe after-formed habits
and modes of exiftence which belong to the indi-
vidual. In this fenfe underftood by the phrafe
Mind in Form we aflume the exiftence of an oc-
cult Force which gives utterance to itfelf in what
is vifible and tangible in its material lodgment.
It will be expeded, here, on the threfhold of
our fubjecl:, that we (hould (how reafon for aflum-
ing, as we do, that the occult Force the indwel-
ling mind does thus fubjugate to itfelf the material
organization. Is not this a doctrine too bold
to be advanced without proof? Manifeftly the
contrary may be affirmed, as equally probable ; or
a queftion of this fort may be put " Which of
the two is indeed the plaftic force ? Which is it
that is determinative of the other ?" Or, other-
wife ftated " In what direction does the dynamic
current flow? Is it the Individual Mind that
gives law to the Individual Form ? or does this
give law to that ? or do the two forces inter-
mingle their influences ?"
At this point we muft fairly beg the queftion,
and take with us the doctrine that Mind is the up-
permoft authority ; but yet not fo as that it rules
the Form in an undifturbed, or undifputed manner:
this is far from being true. If now we have be-
fore us an Individual human form, and we are pro-
MIND IN FORM. 139
pofmg to treat it as an objecl: of fcience, we (hall
foon find ourfelves perplexed among the indica-
tions of many confluent caufes, each of which has
its claim to be regarded as foremoft ; or at leaft as
on a par with others. Not to recognize thefe feveral
caufes would be to throw ourfelves upon gueflfes,
fuch as thofe with which Lavater, and his difci-
ples, have filled volumes.
If we would do better than this, we muft learn
to fet ofF, one by one, thofe various influences or
caufes ethnical, phyfiological, and artificial, or
accidental which make themfelves vifible in the
human exterior, and which are fuperadded to, and
which overlay that individual Mind-Force of which
we are in fearch. In feeking for this it may be
well to take a ftart from a pofition a little higher
up than might be quite neceflary : as thus.
Among the various means by aid of which one
mind conveys itfelf to other minds, language, with
all its conveniences, and its copioufnefs, is far from
being always the beft, or the one that is the moft
precife, or the moft conclufive. A pictorial con-
veyance of thought is often much more fo. A
geometric figure is at once more fignificant, and
it is more fure than the words that might be em-
ployed inftead of it. Works of art have the power
of conveying in combination^ and at a glance,
meanings to which many pages of writing would
not fully give utterance. A fet of carpenter's
tools fpeaks much of the mathematical and the
140 ESSJTS, ETC.
mechanical fcience, and of the civilization, and of
the habits of the people among whom he labours.
Still more, the tools and weapons of the favage
man fymbolize his condition and his habits : they
do this in the ftyle, and in the abundance of the
decorations the carvings, and the inlayings, that
give them their value in his view j for they mow
that the weapon is not a tool of {laughter merely;
but that it is a fymbol of thofe habits of feeling
that, among a barbarous people, make war a glory,
and flaughter a virtue. As our companion in
making our way over an unknown country, mall
we take a Guide-book, or a map ? both, if we
can obtain both ; but a map, if we muft choofe
between the two.
When feveral meanings are to be conveyed, at
once, the palpable and the vifible object is at once
more fure, and it is more fignificant than the
fpoken, or the written utterance of thofe feveral
meanings. A plank thrown acrofs a chafm or
torrent, and well fecured on both fides, is evidence
of a Mind my precurfor on this path. A place
of reft provided for me at even diftances through-
out a journey carries with it an infallible proof of
fuch precurfive intention. But if the place of
reft has been fo chofen as to command an exten-
five profpecl:, and if this election of tafle prefents
itfelf repeatedly throughout the track of a long
pilgrimage, then I have evidence, not merely of a
benevolent intention, but of a feeling alfo, as to the
MIND IN FORM. 141
beauty of landfcape. This latter indication this
utterance of Mind is not at all lefs fure, or lefs
explicit than the other ; and the two together are
at leaft as intelligible as any verbal utterance could
be. It is thus that we read off, from the furface
of the vifible world (or we may do fo) the quali-
ties or attributes of the Creative Mind ; for there
is before us, not ftru&ural reafon only, but, added
to this, ornamentative feeling, or confcioufnefs
of beauty alfo. The one clafs of utterance is quite
as articulate as is the other clafs.
FORM, fuch as it prefents itfelf in all inorganic
maffes folid, fluid, aerial is in no fmgle inftance
let the folecifm be allowed -formlefs^ in the
fenfe in which that word is colloquially employed.
Every mafs, whether it be mountain, or cloud, or
wave of the fea, or cafual heap of ftones fpeaks of
the force, or the forces, whence it has become what
it is ; which may be gravitation, or chemical action,
or magnetic aclion, or atmofpheric action, or the
aclinic influence of light, or of electricity. Form,
in every inftance without an exception, fpeaks of
caufation, which itfelf fpeaks of Mind for Mind
is the only CAUSE.
But from FORM, inorganic, we pafs on to Form
organic vegetable and animal ; and in confider-
ing thefe our proper theme in this EfTay needs
to be fet off from that with which, in fact, it is
always clofely intermingled. Organizations invite
attention (i) in refpecl: of the REASON of the
142 ESSJTS, ETC.
ftru&ure, which is the fubjecl: of Phyfiological
Science (2) in refpect of the ornamentation, or
BEAUTY which they carry on their furface ; and,
in animal organizations, in refpedl: (3) of the CHA-
RACTER, the difpofitions, and the now-pafling
emotions of the Individual Mind which is therein
refident. It is with this laft-named afpecl: of or-
ganic Forms that we are now chiefly concerned.
Yet as this character of animal organization never
offers itfelf to the eye otherwife than as intimately
commingled with what is proper to the other
two namely, the ftructural Reafon, and the
Ornamentation it becomes needful to mark, with
fome care, the boundaries of each.
An organization, vegetable or animal, is a con-
geries of parts, each of which is related to, and
finds its purpofe in, certain functions of the entire
ftru&ure ; as to its growth, or its reproduction,
or its movements, or its defence. The confti-
tuents of an organized being are, in moft inftances,
related concentrically to one or more principal or-
gans ; and from this organ, or thefe organs, arife
thofe interior movements in the circuit of which
all the functions of the ftru6ture are completed.
There is thus at once a direction of the vital forces
from the exterior inwards, and a counter-direction,
from the centre outwards.
It is not poffible otherwife than on the afTump-
tion of a purpofe, or defign, on the ground of what
are called final caufes^ that we mould regard an
MIND IN FORM. 143
organization as interpret 'able , either in its feparate
parts, or as a whole. If this affumption of a Final
Caufe, or Reafon, orPurpofe, may not warrantably
be taken as granted, then we may as well ftop
fhort at this point ; for there can be no room for
reafoning concerning ftrutures that have no rea-
fon in themfelves. If we are feeking for Mind,
we do fo on the belief that it is where we are
looking for it. We hold it for certain that Mind
isj wherever we find that we can read it off, and
fo come into communion with it, by a coherent
interpretation of its fymbols. Mind is in any
ftru&ure the conftituents of which are caufally
related each to the others, in a mode that fits
them to conftitute a whole ; and fits the whole
to its purpofe, or its final caufe.
Throughout this Effay we ufe the phrafe FUNC-
TIONAL FORM, as indicative of whatever belongs
to they?r^?wr^, as related to its purpofes of life
or movement, confidered fimply in the phyfiolo-
gical, or fcientific fenfe. The phrafe DECORATIVE
FORM has relation to that which is appreciable
by the fenfe of Beauty, or Tafte, and which is
found on the furface only ; whereas Structural or
Functional Form attaches to the interior prin-
cipally, and to the exterior incidentally. The
phrafe CHARACTERISTIC FORM carries a very
different meaning, and it brings before us what-
ever it is upon the exterior of an animal organiza-
tion that gives ground for inferences, or furmifes,
144 ESSATS, ETC.
as to the permanent difpofitions, or as to the
tranfient emotions of the indwelling mind.
Intimately as the three principles of Form are
commingled in almoft every animal organization
above the loweft grades each has its proper
order of line , or, as we muft call it, in want of a
better term its character iftic ftyle of contour.
There is alfo to be noted the characleriftic con-
tour, or that ftyle of line which diftinguifhes
vegetable from animal organizations ; and this pe-
culiarity, which is feldom abfent, attaches as well
to the interior ftrudure, as to the decorative
exterior. If we bring into comparifon, as we
eafily may with the aid of illuftrated books of
vegetable and animal phyfiology, either the vaf-
cular fyftem, or the folid framework of the two
orders, it will be eafy,in moft inftances,tofetofFthe
one from the other, as vegetable or animal ; and
we may do fo without referring to the appended
explanations of the figures. And thus too, as to
all kinds of ornamentation whether in contour,
or in colour the two kingdoms of Nature, moft
often, if not always, exhibit, each its proper ftyle.
On this ground a difcrimination might be effected
in thofe border fpecies, concerning which, as to
whether they are vegetable or animal, phyfiologifts
are ftill divided in opinion.
It is true that among the rudimental forms of
vegetable and animal organization, fome inftances
prefent themfelves which muft perplex all but
MIND IN FORM. 145
profeffional eyes to determine whether the ftem
and the branches whether the root, and the fibres,
and the flower, be thofe of a plant, or thofe of an
animal. This muft be granted ; neverthelefs there
are fome diftin&ions that are feldom, if ever, liable
to ambiguity : as thus
In the animal, the vital functions are carried
forward by means of organs clofely packed, one
upon another, in a central pofition ; and they are
fo attached to a folid framework as may beft
favour locomotion flow or fwift. The organs,
thus packed or flowed away, and thus made to
adhere to their folid fupports, are embraced by a
mufcular fyftem ; and thefe again are wrapped
about by ligaments and integuments ; and thefe,
in their turn, are vefted decoratively. But it
is otherwife with the functions of vegetable life,
which (the exceptions are rare) are carried for-
ward by means of attenuated films, and through-
out infinitely minute vafcular expanfions ; and thefe
are difpofed upon, or very near to, the exterior
fur faces, and fo it is that an adjuftment admirable
if we duly think of it ! brings two of the above-
named laws of Form the Functional and the
Decorative^ into the neareft poffible juxta-pofition ;
and yet, while they feem fo to impinge one upon
the other, each in facl: holds its own with a
marked diftin&nefs, as we may have occafion to
point out.
The Animal reftores oxygen to the vital fluid
146 ESS4TS, ETC.
in lobes, that are packed out of fight, and out
of harm's way, in the well-fenced thorax. But
the Plant tranfa&s the analogous chemical pro-
cefs abroad, and in the very beams of the fun ;
and it inhales, and it exhales its gafes, throughout
the glofly films of its foliage : its fpongy, or its
filken gloves, are its laboratory. The Animal
fnatches its nutriment haftily, and fends it where
it may elaborate its fuftenance in the ftew-pans of
its interior apparatus. But the Plant, feeking a
part of what it needs underground, a part above,
brings it into day for the preparation of its juices,
and for depofiting them on the very furface, or
next to the vifible furface.
Take a leaf of any kind, and examine its orga-
nization thinking of it fimply as a ftruclure
adapted to its chemical purpofes in the economy
of vegetative life. Thus regarded, we might eafily
imagine it to be of a fimpler or more homely pat-
tern than it is ; and we might difpofe its parts fo as
to be more rigidly mathematical in its outline than
it is : fome leaves in facl: are nothing more than filmy
expanfions, adapted to their functional purpofes.
But if the contours of fome plants are functional
only, all but a few are what we fhould require
them to be, if the intention was that of fatisfying
the requirements of tafte, and of meeting the fenfe
of beauty. Then, along with the beauty of out-
line, there are the many graces of attitude alfo, in
each of thofe pofitions . in which the fingle leaf
MIND IN FORM. 147
may happen to prefent itfelf to the eye. To thefe
incidental graces, are added the grained texture,
the emboflments, the tracery, the tinges of colour,
the tints, compounded of the primitive colours in
thofe proportions that are the moft grateful to the
eye. Such is the fmgle leaf; and almoft the
homelieft leaf we may find in the hedge has thefe
recommendations, or fome of them. But we
here touch a large, and a moft inviting fubjedl:
which is of a kind that requires to be treated by
itfelf; and in this place it can only be adverted to
in paffing.
ii.
AT the moment when we quit the Vegetable
Kingdom, and fet foot upon the platform of Ani-
mal Life, we find that the two laws that of
Functional Structure, and that of Decorative
Form, or Ornamentation are developed under
new, and wholly different conditions. What we
have now to do with are not parts of an organi-
zation each of which is feparately beautiful, and
beautiful ftill more fo in clufters and in groupings,
and by the facility with which thefe may be com-
bined, in larger and ftill larger mafTes conftituting
the broad charm of landfcape. It is not fo in the
Animal Orders ; for we have here to do with in-
dividual ///*, and its nervous confcioufnefs. The
animal has an importance, fingly, to which the
plant or tree can make no pretenfion. He may
148 ESS4TS, ETC.
himfelf be gaily attired, or be graceful in figure
and movement ; but he is better looked at by
himfelf, than in the group or herd.
The animal, becaufe he is confcious of his own
exiftence, and becaufe he is fenfitive of pleafure
and pain, muft be confidered and refpe&ed in his
individuality. His limbs are his own ; he can
fpare none of them ; he muft not be pruned and
lopped as a tree ; and not only does he afk better
treatment than this, but he may fuddenly refent a
worfe treatment. He may do you fervice, or he
may do you harm ; and this will be determined,
partly by his confcioufnefs of the extent of his
bodily powers ; but mainly according to his tem-
per, his inftin&s, his difpofitions, his mood of
mind at the moment when you meet and offend
him. Inafmuch, therefore, as it is the temper
and difpofition of the animal whether we think
of ihefpeciesy or of the individual^ that it concerns
us to underftand, thefe conditions of the inner
nature are, with more or lefs diftin&nefs, fpoken
of in the exterior form. Animal forms, in various
degrees, are fymbolic of the quality of the therein-
refident Mind ; and the reafon why it fhould be
fo, is obvious.
This, then, being the general intention of Na-
ture throughout the animal world, or at leaft in
the upper grades of life, there refults from it a
peculiar relationfhip between the ftruture of the
animal, confidered pkyfiologically ; and his exterior
MIND IN FORM. 149
proportions, and his outlines, confidered either in
the fenfe of Beauty, or regarded as the indication
of Character ; or as the means of exprefling the
emotions of the moment. Mind, as thus indicated
by its exterior fymbols, may, we fay, be regarded
either in relation to its permanent qualities (and
then we fpeak of fuch qualities as conftituting
CHARACTER) or it may be in relation to a ftate
of tranfient excitement ; and in this latter cafe we
apply to fuch vifible fymbols the term EXPRES-
SION.
FORM, therefore, throughout the animal world,
or in its higher orders, afks to be confidered under
a fourfold claffification, as thus : FIRST, we find
upon it Decoration^ or Ornamentation ; and this
confifts often in varieties of colour, or in richnefs
of chifelling (if fo we may fpeak of it). The in-
ftances need hardly be named : they are fuch as
abound in the collections of the Conchologift, and
in thofe of the Ornithologift and the Entomologift.
Marvels of tafte are difplayed in thefe inftances,
efpecially in fuch as are revealed by the microfcope.
The Second Clafs might feem to be embraced
in the Firft ; but in fact the diftinction on which
it refts includes a difference of principle. Forms
that may rightfully claim a place under this fecond
head are defignated as Beautiful : and in ftricl;nefs
this word ought to be held facred, and to be fpar-
ingly applied to a very few forms of the higheft
order among animals ; and in the fulleft and more
1 50 ESS ATS, ETC.
proper fenfe it fhould be reftri&ed to the human
form ; and among thefe, only to the rareft famples
of it. BEAUTY is a prerogative of Humanity.
The THIRD Clafs includes thofe Forms that
are, or that are aflumed to be, fignificant of CHA-
RACTER ; that is to fay, thofe in looking at which
we inftin&ively (or we do fo from acquired feel-
ings) impute certain mental powers or qualities,
or permanent difpofitions, to the being then in
our view.
The FOURTH Clafs includes all thofe momen-
tary attitudes or geftures, and thofe mufcular and
integumentary changes, which indicate the rifmg
and the pafling away of paflions and emotions.
As to the Firft of thefe clafles of Form the
Decorative it abounds indeed with materials of
an inviting kind ; but in this place they are pafled
by with a mere recognition of them, to the effect
that they are not forgotten. Decoration through-
out Nature fpeaks of the attributes of the CRE-
ATIVE MIND, and is properly confidered in rela-
tion to Theology, which is not now our fubjedl:.
Forms of the fecond clafs, like thofe of the firft,
are beft treated of by themfelves Decoration, or
Ornamentation, under the firft ; Beauty under
the fecond.
in.
LET it be that we have before us, by aid of draw-
ings, engravings, fluffed fpecimens, or, better than
MIND IN FORM. 15 r
thefe, the living realities, fix or eight pairs of
animals, fuch as may well be taken as repre-
fentatives of many clafles and orders. For in-
ftance the wolf or hyaena, and the fheep or the
lamb. The lion or the tiger, and the ox. The
eagle or the vulture, and the linnet or the ring-
dove. The horfe, and the camel ; the crocodile,
or caman, and the hippopotamus ; the buffalo, and
the antelope. The wild boar, and the hare ; the
bull-dog, and the ferret.
Thefe portraits, or thefe living forms, fpeak
their meaning at the inftant, to every eye ; and
we aflign to the animal his difpo/Jtlons^ or, as we
now fay, his ckarafter^ and we pronounce him to
be fierce, or mild, or rapacious, or irafcible, or
cunning, or docile, or ftupidly patient, or petu-
lant, or furly, or bland. There would fcarcely
ever arife, among a hundred fpe6tators at a mena-
gerie, a difference of opinion as to any fuch in-
tuitive and inftantaneous judgments. But now
(hall we be able to give an intelligible reafon for
thefe unreafoning impulfes thefe averfions, and
thefe preferences ? To a certain extent we may
do fo ; for there is at hand a ratlonalljlic explica-
tion of the phenomena, which may avail us fome
little way in folving the problem. For it may be faid
We feel thus and thus, in fight of the wolf and
the lamb, becaufe our experience has taught us fo
to feel : we have always found a wolf to behave
himfelf like a wolf; and a lamb like a lamb ; and
152 ESSJTS, ETC.
this has happened in fo many inftances, as to war-
rant our pronouncing an inftantaneous judgment,
on every new occafion.
And yet hitherto, perhaps, in the whole courfe
of our experience, it has not happened to us, fo
much as once, to make acquaintance with wolf,
or tiger, or crocodile ; neverthelefs we do not
hefitate to condemn them unknown and un-
heard. On the mere evidence of their uninviting
phyfiognomies, we arraign them as rapacious and
cruel beafts ! Or perhaps this prejudice has taken
its rife in fome fancied, or fome real analogy or
refemblance, in feature, to fome other animals,
that may have been better known to us. Or,
perhaps, a rule of analogy ftretched a little too
far has fuggefted a refemblance of the fox, or of
the fnake, or of the ox, or of the afs, to certain
human vifages ; and we then judge the brute, by
help of an hypothecs drawn from our experience
of mankind. In taking this courfe, we go round
a circuit, and draw inferences from other infer-
ences, as thus :
When human vifages are before us, and we in-
ftin&ively give judgment upon the perfons, as to
their difpofitions, and when it is required of us to
{how caufe for fuch deciflons, our firft reply may
be, as above ftated : refting on the ground of
experience. We fay, " I have always found fuch
and fuch a form and ftyle of features to be con-
joined with fuch and fuch difpofitions." If, how-
MIND IN FORM. 153
ever, we are not able to allege the actual inftances
in human nature, then we fay " The man has
the very contour of the hog, or the very look of
the fhark, or the grin of the tiger ; and you will
find him to be fuch in temper." Thus it is that
we firft feek a reafon for the inftindtive prejudices
that befet us at the menagerie, by making refer-
ences to human analogues ; and then again, we
excufe the judgments we pafs upon our fellow-
men, by feeking for their refemblances among the
brutes ! This mode of reafoning in a circle, al-
though it is not quite fatis factory, is not to be dif-
carded as wholly unfatisfactory ; and the feeling
is as if there were a truth, near at hand to us,
which yet conceals itfelf among the fads. Shall
we be able to draw it forth ?
Whether or not we may fucceed in fuch an en-
deavour, we are ftill fafe in affuming it as a/^7,
whether it be explicable or not, that a law of corre-
fpondence between FORM and MIND does indeed
prevail throughout the animal orders human na-
ture included. For if the feeling inftindtively
produced at the fight of certain forms were a mere
illufion, and entirely groundlefs^ it muft have met fo
many contradictions in the courfe of our ordinary
experience as would have utterly difpelled it long
ago. But fuch inftinctive feelings, inftead of
having been difpelled, do in fact receive fo many
confirmations in the world around us, that we
come to regard them as not inftinftive feelings,
154 ESS ATS ^ ETC.
but as fure deductions from experience. Our
inference, therefore, is this that the belief of the
correfpondence between animal forms and the
Mind, as to its difpofitions and its qualities as well
thofe of the fpecies as thofe of the individual is
an inftin&ive feeling ; and alfo^ that it is an induc-
tion from experience. As an Inftintt, and which,
in a few individuals, is a fpecial gift of nature, it
is feldom at fault. As to our deductions from ex-
perience, on this fame ground, they are open to
many fallacies, and in following them we are
almoft as often wrong as right. Neverthelefs
there are means of correction, if we be fkilled
in the knowledge and the ufe of them, which
are of fome avail.
The much-noted Rofetta Stone a treafure of
the Britifh Mufeum bears upon its furface a
trilinguial infcription : one of thefe, as to its cha-
racter and its language, is quite intelligible : a
fecond in hieroglyphics, guefled at heretofore, is
now interpretable by aid of the firft ; and the third
the enchorial, has, in like manner, become in-
terpretable ; and, in turn, it gives its aid where
there is what might be ambiguous in the other
two. Might we thus far liken the human form
and vifage to the Rofetta ftone ? The exterior
man fpeaks of the Mind within, as to its powers,
and its difpofitions, and as to its emotions, through
three fpecies of fymbols ; one of thefe thofe of
Expreifion as it is the moft familiarly known of
MIND IN FORM. 155
the three, is the reading which we rarely mifun-
derftand. Another is not interpretable otherwife
than as under conditions that are recondite; fo that
the renderings are more or lefs ambiguous : a
third might better be relied upon; but then it
would be the occupation of a life to learn the Al-
phabet.
We thus apply this companion ; the firft^ and
the beft underftood of thofe iymbols by means of
which the inner man is uttered forth upon the
outer man, are thofe movements of the features,
and thofe attitudes of the limbs and trunk, and of
the arm and hand efpecially, which accompany
fudden emotions, of whatever fort. Of this lan-
guage we may well fay it is a univerfal dialect
never much mifunderftood, either by favage or by
civilized man by the adult, or by the infant. Ex-
ceptive inftances are apparent only ; namely, thofe
in which Expreflion is counterfeited, for purpofes
of deception. Thefecond fpecies of thefe iymbols
are thofe permanent fhapings of the features, and
of the ij^ull, of which Phyfiognomifts and Phre-
nologifts profefs to give us the meaning ; but in
the rendering of which egregious errors are often
fallen into. The third kind of fymbols are thofe
forms, and proportions, and thofe relative magni-
tudes, and, ftill more, thofe peculiarities of texture
and of colour which, as they do not obtrude them-
felves upon notice, are often wholly left out of the
account, as well by fcientific, as by unfcientific
156 ESSJTS, ETC.
obfervers. Such, for inftance, are the configura-
tion of the ear, with its outer rim, and the lobe j
and the cartilaginous quality of the expanded fur-
faces ; and the relative magnitudes, and the pack-
ing of the teeth ; and their angle of mfertion in
the jaw : and the quality of the facial integu-
ments, whether thefe be thick, thin, flaccid, or
fhowing a tympanous tenilon ; and the purity and
clearnefs, or the hirfute condition of the (kin ;
and the form and proportions of the hand, and
the fetting on of the fingers, and the quality of
the nails. Thefe, and many other fuch like fpe-
cialities of the individual man, are of a kind that
is not interfered with, in any appreciable degree,
by Habitual Expreflion, or by any unmeaning
ufages of the features ; moreover they ftand quite
out of the reach of falfification. Thefe occult
indications of the power of the mind, and of its in-
tellectual and moral qualities, might be much
relied upon ; and yet, even thefe are liable to
crofling difturbances which render them ambigu-
ous. To thefe fources of error the reader's
attention is now invited.
The Individual Form, comprehending every-
thing that is vifible, and by means of which we
inftantly recognize, in a crowd, thofe who are
known to us, is each man's diftin&ion, as he
moves about among other men. In this fenfe a
man's phyfiognomy is his own ; and moreover, it
is, to fome extent, an indication of the quality of
MIND IN FORM. 157
the individual mind, and of its temper, and of its
power, and of its tendency ; but then, there is a
fenfe ftill more comprehenfive, in which it is true
that the individual form is not the man's own,
otherwife than by inheritance; his exterior has
come to him through a long-dated pedigree. The
figure, the fkeleton, the mufcular proportions, the
dimenfions of the features, the colouring, have
come upon the individual man through many
channels of tranfmiffion ; and thefe are obfcure,
circuitous, and attenuated. We fee in him not
merely (perhaps not at all) his parents one or
both of them ; but more often, and more decifively,
he reprefents his anceftors in the oblique line of af-
cent. It is thefe derived peculiarities of form it
is thefe inherited features, it is the cranium which
has come to be his as a legacy that perplex the
candid and truthful Phyfiologift and Phrenologift,
and that drive the unfcrupulous profeflbr into pre-
tenfion and abfurdity : and thus it has happened
that between the perplexities of the one clafs of
inquirers, on this field, and the bafelefs theories of
another clafs, uncertainty enough has attached to
the fubjecl: to exclude it altogether from the circle
of the authentic fciences.
In the working of the focial (yftem it is a matter
of incomparably higher importance that the indi-
vidual man fhould be inftantly and infallibly re-
cognizable by thofe with whom he has to do, than
that his inner difpofitions his character, and the
158 ESSATS, ETC.
rate of his powers mould be readable by his
friends, on his face, or on his fkull. Welfares
the moft facred, and welfares the moft ordinary,
and yet important, would everyday be put in
jeopardy, if it were not true that the outward form
and vifage whatever it may indicate is fo broadly
diftinguifhable that inftances of miftake (beyond
a momentary error) mail be accidents of the rareft
occurrence. As to the few perfons with whom
our own welfare is the moft intimately connected,
we fhall not fail to find much furer and more am-
ple means of coming to a proper knowledge of
their characters than could be afforded by any
imaginable fkill we might acquire in Phyfiognomy,
or in Phrenology. In our daily intercourfe with
the perfons of the home circle, or with thofe of
the circle next beyond it, a liability to miftake, or
any uncertainty, as to the perfon^ would throw the
domeftic life, and the focial fyftem at large, into
utter confufion, and would become a fource, daily
and hourly, of the moft tormenting difquietudes.
Againft fatal rifks of this kind, and the miferies
of any fuch poflible ambiguity, an effective provi-
fion is made in the inter-working of thofe phyfio-
logical and pfychological laws which take effect
upon the origination of the individual form^ in its
primaeval period, and the complications of which
give fcope for infinite diverfities : diverfities,
conjoined with thofe refemblances which bring the
individuals of a race, or of a clan, or of a family
MIND IN FORM. 159
into groups, and which give evidence of pe-
digree.
It is of the utmoft importance that A, B, C, D,
fliould feverally be recognizable, at a glance
each of the four, by the other three ; and it is alfo
often of importance that B fliould be recognized
as related by confanguinity to D, and alfo to K,
or to Y, from whom he may juft now (land re-
mote in the focial fcheme. Thefe indifpenfable
requirements of the focial fyftem would not be fatif-
fied unlefs individual forms were open to what we
may here call accidental, and infinitely diverfified
caufes of difference. But now, as to the differ-
ences of individual minds and tempers, thefe (there
is reafon to think fo) may be reducible to a very
few genera andfpecies, and to a few varieties. Coun-
tenances, therefore, muft be open to other influences
than thofe that belong to the individual mind ; for
if it were not fo, and if the exterior man were only
as is bis mind, and nothing more we mould every
day be taking one man for another to his damage,
and our own. The indifpenfable infinitude of differ-
ence is drawn from thofe other phyfiological fources
to which we are now inviting attention. Not only
are the permanent characleriftics of the perfon
inherited, but even thofe momentary variations of
feature which indicate tranfient emotion even in
thefe brief utterances of feeling, the law of defcent,
or of remote derivation, gives evidence of its pre-
fence. A fmile of good-nature, perhaps, or
160 ESS ATS, ETC.
oftener, a farcaftic fupprefled laugh, or a glance
of envy, or the rigid lines of ungoverned petu-
lance thefe lights and thefe fhadows which pafs
over it may be, an amiable countenance, will
fometimes recall the recollection of fome remote
relative, in the oblique line, now deceafed, between
whom and this defcendant there may be no other
point of refemblance whatever, either in the fea-
tures, or in the difpofitions. That peculiar fmile,
or that fmifter momentary look, or that curl of the
lip, has feemed to raife the dead in our view :
years have pafled fince that very look, pafling
over a countenance long ago fealed in death
caught the eye, and left upon the memory an
indelible impreflion.
Thofe who have lived to fee u one generation
pafs away, and another come in its place," will, if
they have been obfervant, be able to adduce many
inftances confirmatory of what is here affirmed.
Such a looker-on we fuppofe to be prefent at a
family meeting, where coufms and fecond coufins,
uncles and aunts, as well as fires and grandfires,
mothers and grandmammas, are aflembled. In
the younger group feveral will appear who, in the
ftyle of the features, and in the contour of the
head, and in the complexion, and the colouring,
it will be eafy to trace whatever is the moft dif-
tin&ive of the individual, up to fome of the fe-
niors of the party ; or, perhaps to fome abfent,
who are remembered. Whatever the portrait
MIND IN FORM. 161
painter will labour at for fecuring the verdict in
his favour a moft ftriking likenefs every fuch
mark of the individual face and figure, may often
be traced along a line, direct or oblique, to an an-
ceftor. But now it will not be found that the cha-
rafter the qualities of the mind, as to its powers,
its taftes, its temper, are alfo traceable along the
fame line, up to the fame fource. A correfpond-
ence of this kind will be far from manifeft. As
to what is intellectual and moral, conftituting the
individual character, it will appear that the contrafts
and the contrarieties are as great, as the refem-
blances of form and feature are ftriking. There
may not be wanting fome few inftances of likenefs,
or even of Identity of mind and temper, conjoined
with the outer refemblance ; but any fuch cafes
of what might be called double likenefs will be
exceedingly rare.
If, then, fo much as this may be affirmed, and
if the conclufion it feems to warrant may be eftab-
lifhed by abundance of inftances, then what will
have become of our fyftems of phyfiognomy; or
where, henceforward, fhall we find room for the
dogmatic fkull-maps of the phrenologift ? Are
thefe fchemes all at fault ? Not entirely fo ; but
it is certain that conclufions haftily drawn from
fmgle inftances, and decifions pronounced on the
faith of formal rules, are open to many and to
large exceptions ; and are liable to conditions in
M
1 62 ESS4TS, ETC.
difregard of which, or in ignorance of them, blun-
ders of ill confequence are gathered from heads in
great abundance.
There feems, then, to be need of a Theory
of fome fort, by aid of which we may at once
retain our belief in the reality of the correfpond-
ence between MIND and FORM ; or, in other
words, may continue to confide in the truthful-
nefs of thofe irrefiftible impreffions of character
which we receive at the fight of certain faces and
heads, along with an exceptive doctrine, which
allows for the derivation of every individual form,
from progenitors. Such a theory, or at leaft fome
fcattered hints available in conftructing it, may
perhaps come within our compafs.
IV.
LOOKING back to the queftion propounded in an
opening paragraph of this Eflay Is it the MIND
that gives law to FORM ; or is it the Form that
gives law to Mind ? We muft now affume the
firft of thefe fuppofitions as true, and therefore,
fo far, muft reject the latter (exceptive cafes al-
lowed for).
A courfe of argument on this fubjedt which
mould embrace all that belongs to it, muft include
certain portions of phyfiological fcience that are
unfuited to thefe pages. But alongfide with what
is directly phyfiological, there is much that is en-
MIND IN FORM. 163
tirely proper to an EfTay, intended to come into
the hand of general readers.
In animal phyfiology, human and comparative,
it is true
(i) That, throughout the animal world the di-
rection of the vital Force is from a centre toward
the extremities ; or from within toward the exte-
rior. (2) Determinative or chara&eriftic Forms
are the refults of a central vital energy, working
itfelf out from fluids to fofter fubftances, and from
the fofter folids to the harder. (3) A vifcus or
organ is in relation to its function, or its energy
proportioned to the area of its enveloping membrane;
or it is as its denfity ; or it is as both, as co-ordi-
nate forces. (4) The exterior contour of a vifcus
or organ is open to many modifications, and it
may fuit itfelf to the convenience of its packing
with its neighbour organs ; or it may yield itfelf to
reafons of mechanical convenience : i. e. Given
an organ, and its enveloping membrane, and its
area, and what we may call its cellular infinitude
its incalculable ramifications and then it might be
moulded and packed in this form, or in that form,
almoft with indifference : or again : Given a bra-
nular mafs, fuch as that which was found to be
contained in the cranium of Pafcal, or in that of
Napoleon Bonaparte, and you might lodge it in a
fkull fhaped as you pleafe; or you might put it
into the cavity that is appropriated to the ftomach.
If only the Vital Energy be not cribbed or
1 64 ESS ATS, ETC.
cramped, and fo long as the peculiar function of
an organ is allowed plenty of elbow room, then we
may mould, or chip away, or round off, the angles
of the exterior, without much damage to that
function. If this be fo, then the inference will be
this that many difturbing influences may come
to take effect upon that exterior, none of which
(hall go deep, or mail mow any refults, as to the
working of either the bodily or the mental powers.
Neverthelefs it will be true that the Central
Energy call it what we may the MIND-GERM,
or the Vital Nucleus, or the Individual Monad,
with its peculiar conftitution, its quantity, and its
quality, will be always tending to exprefs itfelf,
radially, from the germinating point, toward the
exterior. Therefore, and if this be true, the ex-
terior of the individual man is as THE INDIVIDUAL
GERM excepting only thofe various perturbations
that have come in upon it in the courfe of its de-
rivation from its anceftry, and from other influ-
ences. As to thefe difturbing forces, the laws
they obey are at prefent unknown to fcience : facts,
patent to obfervation, are all we find to be in our
poffeflion.
If there were in our view an animal that had
ftarted into exiftence underived, or by an imme-
diate act of creation, we mould expect to find
in it a pure expreflion of the inhabiting mind, as
to its powers, and as to its difpofitions ; or as to
its Quantity, and its Quality. But, in fact, no
MIND IN FORM. 165
fuch inftance of unparented exiftence does ever
come under the eye. Whatever we fee around
us in the animal world is a birth ; and it is a birth
of births afcending to a point indefinitely remote
in the origin of the fpecies. Each of thefe tranf-
miffions each of thefe new fendings forward of
life, has left its traces upon the newly-originated
form : the anceftral hiftory is written in cypher
upon each individual animal.
In the individual animal or we fhould now
think only of the human organization we have
before us thefe two independent forces croffing
each other, and contending, with variable intenfity,
for fupremacy : there is the individual mind
which is the germ of character with its qualities,
intellectual and moral ; and then there is the de-
rived, or the tranfmitted type, which obeys an
obfcure law of parentage, and of oblique relation-
ihip.
Thefe counteractive forces are of variable and
unequal intenfity : feldom do they feem to be
evenly balanced. Once in every hundred births,
or in every thoufandth, or in a hundred thou-
fandth, or in any other number which we may
choofe to take as our integer, there occurs a Mind
which, as to its quantity, or as to its quality, or as
to both together, greatly exceeds the average rate :
it is extraordinary, in fome one fenfe, or perhaps
in every fenfe. In thefe rare inftances the law of
pedigree, whether direct or avuncular, gives way,
1 66 ESSJTS, ETC.
and is driven off, and is almoft merged ; or it wholly
vanifhes. The Individual Mind triumphs over the
phyfiognomy of race, and of tribe, and of family,
which remains only as an inappreciable refiduum
a mere made of the parent ftock. Therefore in
this inftance there is thrown in upon the family
type a new type : fhal^ we fay, an Uncial,
brought from another fount, comes in to break
up the uniformity of the page. But then this, in
its turn, reproduces itfelf among defendants right
hand and left hand. The fharp and bold alto-relievo
of this vifage this novelty , commingled with new
elements, and elements inert, in its paffage for-
wards through two or three generations, becomes
lefs and lefs diftinclly traceable, until at length it is
quite gone ; or it exifts only as an unaccounted-for
peculiarity in a few of the clan. As to ninety-
nine individual forms the head and the face taken
together, or as to the thoufand, all but one, if the
queftion were afked What does this form indi-
cate ? A fufficlent anfwer would be this : It
indicates the unknown facls of its derivation from
remote anceftors. This or that vifage fignifies
little or nothing but the infignificance of the indi-
vidual mind. The face means what it may mean
in its relation to a parentage afcending, perhaps,
through centuries.
Abundantly is the twofold principle fuftained by
facts namely ( i) That the Anceftral Type, as to
outline, and as to texture and colour, and as to
MIND IN FORM. 167
the quality of the integuments, does not either
control or exclude Mind, in the Individual : and
(2) That no fuch Type, whatever it mayfeem to
indicate, according to phyfiognomical rules, or to
our intuitions, may be taken as a fure voucher for
the actual exiftence of any eminence of Mind in
the Individual. Otherwife worded, what we here
affirm is to this effecT: that Mind in the Indivi-
dual Man may be of greater force, and of morefove-
relgnty than that it mould be limited or controlled
by any limitations or conditions belonging to the
Inherited Type : that Mind may be exiftent, and
may poflefs even the higheft energy as refident in
Forms with which our phyfiognomical intuitions
would impel us to pronounce it incompatible.
Yet in fuch inftances we are not compelled to
rejecl: thefe intuitions as if they were in themfelves
delufive; for to do fo is fcarcely poffible; but only
to have recourfe to the faving doctrine here af-
firmed, that Mind, in the individual, or, as we may
call it, the Single Mind-Germ, is of higher au-
thority than the Anceftral Type, and freely over-
rules, or furmounts its limitations.
Further in explication of the principle, above
ftated, it may be affirmed that a type of form
fay that of the Cranium, and which has come to the
Individual in a line of oblique, and perhaps of re-
mote defcent, may be fuch that, on any ground of
phyfiognomical or phrenological difcrimination, it
would be pronounced to be of a high order ; ne-
1 68 ESS ATS, ETC.
verthelefs this fpecimen perchance of a Shake-
fpeare, or of a Bacon, or of a Newton in Bone,
may fhow himfelf to be in facl: fit only for a very
humble pofition upon the commoneft walks of
life. Inftances of this order, though they may
baffle the profeflbr of craniology, will not much
perplex the anatomift or phyfiologift ; for in the
difTe&mg-room a branular condition will make
itfelf manifeft which amply fuffices for mowing
how the want of a Newton's intelligence may
confift with the pofleffion of a Newton's cranium.
It may be, that the branular mafs has little denfity;
or that the area of the enclofmg membrane the
pia mater^ is very fmall the involutions of the
cerebrum, which it reprefents, and of which it is
the fuperficial meafure, being exceedingly mallow.
But then, in accepting an explanation of the diffi-
culty, on this ground, it muft not be fuppofed
that we are tracing mind to its fource in the nerv-
ous organization ; for we ftart with the admitted
principle that Mind is the central force, giving law
to the organization : the mind determining the
quality of the brain. If it be afked Wherefore
then is this wafte ? or why mould a cranium be
beftowed as if only to fignalize the abfence of
mind ? To fuch a queftion Phyfiological fcience,
in its prefent ftate, furnifhes no reply. The laws
that determine the tranfmiffion of forms ac-
cording to certain types, are unknown, and they
may perhaps be regarded as wholly infcrutable.
MIND IN FORM.
169
A general purpofe fubferved by this tranfmiffion
of national and family types has already been men-
tioned (p. 1 57) that it is by means of thefe patterns,
giving rife to infinite varieties of individual phyfi-
ognomy, the important obje& is attained of fecur-
ing inftantaneous recognitions the man feldom,
if ever, miftaken for his fellow. This general
reafon {hows its adaptation to the varying occa-
fions of the focial fyftem in this manner that, in
proportion as a community is more numerous
within the limits of frequent intercourfe as where
the population is crowded in cities and diftricls,
thefe individual diverfities are more extreme, and
thus are more infinitely varied; while among
fcanty populations, and in nomadic tribes, they
are much lefs marked ; little more fo than are
the vifages of the fhepherd's flock.
No ferious mifchief is likely to arife in thofe
inftances in which the patrimonial form that of
the fkull for inftance holds forth a promife which
the in-refident mind fails to make good. Little
or no notice is taken in fociety of thefe unfuftained
craniological dimenfions : there may be a half
inch too much in the perpendicular ; or an inch of
excefs in the parietal dimenfions : as to the per-
fonal ability of the man it matters little it has be-
come known in modes of eftimation that are more
fure. On the other fide, important confequences,
moral, political, and educational, are involved in THE
DOCTRINE, of the non-importance of the anceflral
1 70 ESS ATS, ETC.
type as to the powers of the indwelling Mind ; or,
to ftate this do&rine otherwife MIND exifts, and
developes itfelf with indifference within this or that
race-type, or national type, or type of the family.
Mind, which is the germ of life, and its fovereign
power, difowns the tyranny of the Callipers, and
fpurns the gauge, or the plummet line. It will
dwell at eafe wherever it may chance to be lodged ;
and it will find the means of doing well, even in
narrow apartments.
The moft fignal inftance, in illuftration of this
principle, is that afforded by the African race ;
the proper Negro ; or, to take up its ancient
defignation the Ethiopian. The fa&s belong-
ing to this now trite fubjecl: are familiarly known
to moft readers : they are abundant ; they are
various in their quality, and valid in argument,
fo far as in this place we mould reft any con-
clufion upon them. The ./Ethiopian type is the
moft widely diftinguifhed of any from all other
types ; it is diftinguifhed in its ofteology, and in
its proportions or fymmetry ; it is diftinguifhed in
colour, and in other conditions of the integu-
ments ; and moreover it poflefles a peculiar per-
fiftence or pertinacity, and it adheres to its pecu-
liarities with more conftancy, through many cen-
turies, than any other type, in the courfe of its
admixture with other races. One might be
tempted to fay that the Negro Model, in form
and in colour, has been thrown in upon the hu-
MIND IN FORM. 171
man fyftem for the very purpofe of demonftrating,
in a manner that mail be the moft flagrant and
conclufive, the Independence of Mind, as well as
to Form, as to Colour, and as to other accidents
of the exterior man.
The ancient portion of the evidence which
bears upon this much-controverted fubjecl:, is con-
clufive to this extent, that, under thefe fame
phyfical conditions the fame in an abfolute fenfe
intellectual development has had place, if not
in every department of mental achievement, yet in
a s many departments as can be claimed in behalf
of other races, the type of which has more nearly
approached that of the Caucafian, or the Semitic.
The moft ancient civilization of India, the moft
ancient civilization of Egypt, and that of north-
ern and eaftern Africa, found room enough within
the Negro fkull, and beneath a woolly chevelure,
for its expanfion. As to the modern portion of
this mafs of evidence, it is in an equal degree
availing in proof of everything which the largeft
philanthropy might wifh to fee put beyond doubt;
and it is to this efFecl:, that, under due culture,
and in the routine of fchool and college difcipline,
neither the contour of the face and cranium, nor
any other fpecialities of the African boy and
youth, afford ground of diftin&ion between Mind
and Mind, as if they might be feparable into race
clajfis. In a hundred youths of the European
type, there will be one or two feldom fo many
172 ESSJTS, ETC.
as three who diftinguifh themfelves by a fponta-
neous and animated devotion to their ftudies. In
about the fame proportion there will be African
youths in a fchool or college, who attract the
teacher's notice, and win his favour by their quick
intelligence, and their eagernefs to learn. Eu-
ropean or African, it is the few, and it is a very
few, who are gifted of nature, and born to lead
the way in thought and action. Mind has its
laws, and fkulls have their laws, and the rete mu-
cofum has its laws ; but the independence of thefe
two orders of caufation, is forced upon our ob-
fervance with peculiar meaning in the inftance of
thofe Ancient Races which perfiftent as they
have been in Type, and this type being, as it is,
a contradiction of our phyfiognomical belief, and
an offence to our European taftes neverthelefs
has been found to give play to the intellectual, as
well as to the moral and emotional endowments
of our one human nature mainly the fame in all
races, and in every age.
v.
THERE is not in our hands any fixed gauge of
minds, by help of which we fhould fet forth what
thofe quantities of intellectual or of moral power
are, which may be fymbolized in any expreflion
that can be given of the difference between let
it be the largeft and loftieft of human minds,
MIND IN FORM. 173
and a mind of the ordinary rate. This difference,
if only we could fpread it out to view in any mode
of fitting meafurement, would need to be likened
to what ? to the difference between " the cedar
of Lebanon and the hyffop that groweth on the
wall ;" or between the loftieft of the Pyramids of
Gizeh, and the hut of the Bedouin beneath it;
or between the planet Jupiter, and one of his
moons. The difference between mind and mind
(not going down beyond the average of undiftin-
guimed famples) is a difference of Intenfity and
power^ and a difference of capacity or largenefs
offetentivenefs, and a difference of ability to grafp
a multitude of objects fimultaneoufly ; it is a
vaft difference in the power of apprehending and
of purfuing pure abftra&ions. Then come the in-
calculable differences that attach to the vividnefs
of the Conceptive Faculty to the Imagination,
and to the energy of thofe emotions with which
the Imaginative faculty connects itfelf, and which
are its life and fpring.
Familiar inftances might eafily be adduced in
illuftration of what we here affirm namely, that
Mind differs from Mind in a degree to which no
comparifon we can think of will give a due ex-
preffion. The inequality is indeed immeafurably
great. But now what is the amount of that vifible
difference of the organization which mould feem
to be proportionate to fo vaft a difparity ? It is
fo inconfiderable in moft inftances as at once to
174 ESSATS, ETC.
force upon us a convi&ion, as above uttered that
Mind has its laws organization its laws and that
while the two lines of Caufation do in fact inter-
fe&, and thus become, as we may fay, tangled
together, they are abfolutely different they repre-
fent Forces between which, until this intermin-
gling takes place, there is no correfpondence, no
analogy, no abftract reafon why they fhould fo
come into combination.
There are in exiftence what may be regarded
as authentic profiles of the moft noted men of
modern times. Now take any fix of fuch profiles,
which may warrantably be accepted as true. Fur-
nifh yourfelf alfo with a correfponding half-dozen
of care fully- taken profiles of average men thofe
who may be well known to you in the circle of
your everyday focial intercourfe. They are per-
fons whom you have known long enough, and
have converfed with often enough to exclude the
pofiibility of your having wholly mifunderftood
any of them, as to their mental quality. You
have not fo mifinterpreted fome worthy man who
has been your neighbour for twenty years, as to at-
tribute to him nothing more than plain common
fenfe, whereas in facT: he is one who might have
revolutionized Philofophy by a Novum Organon^ or
might have been the author of another Paradife
Loft. Take tracings of thefe fix profiles of your
fedate acquaintances, or of your kindred, and (fup-
pofing that they are all delineated on the fame fcale)
MIND IN FORM. 175
lay them fucceffively one fet over the other fet.
Differences will appear : there is a rifing or a de-
preflion, here and there, to the extent perhaps of a
line, more or lefs : at the moft the excefs of the di-
menfions longitudinal, or perpendicular, or tranf-
verfe between one of thefe European heads, and
another, will in no cafe exceed what might fairly
be regarded as proportionate to the intellectual differ-
ence between one ordinary mind and another ordi-
nary mind. One man, at a Parifh Veftry, fpeaks
more to the purpofe than another: one is fhrewd;
another is dull ; and it may be that the two crania
do actually differ in fomething like a correfponding
amount : or it may be that they do not differ in
any fuch manner, or to any extent that can be
confidered as fignificant of the inequality of the
minds in queftion.
The next procefs will be to meafure one of
thefe your worthy neighbours, in whofe com-
pany you never abide an hour, if you can do other-
wife meafure him as to his mind, and as to his
doings, with any one of the fix notables whom you
may choofe to {elect as fitteft for the purpofe : let it
be the originator of a philofophy ; or the difcoverer
of aphyfical law; or the founder of an Empire; or
the ftatefman who carried his country triumphantly
through the tempefts of a revolution ; or take the
poet, or the painter, who lives, immortal in his
works. If the twelve men are regarded on this
ground, the difparities among them are greater far
176 ESS4TS, ETC.
than any forms of language can fuffice for expref-
fing. As we have already faid, minds differ in
ratios fuch as that of the mountain to the mole-hill ;
but beads differ -in no proportion that can be thought
of as rymbolic of any fuch vaftnefs of difparity.
The lines or contour of a noted head, or its dl-
menJionS) may indeed dimly adumbrate the fweep of
THOUGHT which, within that narrow compafs, has
had its feventy years' ufage of the cavern. A mind
that might have afked the girt of a planet, as the
fitting meafure of its home, has quietly made itfelf
at eafe within limits which the ribbon around any
man's cap will meafure. Herein is exemplified
the modefty of Nature, which, when me beftows
great gifts, will not encourage the difplay of them.
Already we have adverted to thofe differences
in the branular mafs which the anatomift detects,
and which attach to it as a vifcus, adapted to the
fupply of the nervous energy. Thefe are differ-
ences of abfolute weight, and of the denfity of the
nervous matter bulk for bulk and of the depth
of the convolutions of the cerebrum, as thefe are
meafured by the pia mater. As to any fuch
individual peculiarities of the branular mafs,
they bear reference to thofe peculiarities of tem-
perament of which we find the vifible indica-
tions upon the exterior, and which afford grounds
of phyfiognomical difcrimination that are fel-
dom fallacious, if only we are (killed in the read-
ing them. Of thefe differences of tempera-
MIND IN FORM. 177
ment fomething mould be faid ; if it were only for
the purpofe of fencing our do&rine, as to the
relation of Mind to Form, againft a contrary
theory.
VI.
THE word Temperament has been much ufed
popularly, and alfo by phyfiologifts, and yet with
little diftinc~tnefs or conftancy, as to the fenfe it
fhould carry. There can, however, be no doubt
that a term for which a need has always been found,
has a fubftantial import in the nature of things ; it
is a term ufeful in its undefined colloquial mean-
ing ; and indifpenfable in medical and phyfiological
difcuflions ; it muft, therefore, be admitted to
ftand as the reprefentative of a clafs and it is a
large clafs of facls. In truth, a Science of Hu-
man Nature confidered as Mind in organization
muft treat Temperament as a principal fubjecl: :
in this Eflay the moft brief allufion to it muft be
our limit ; that befides this fubjecl:, confidered phy-
fiologically, muft embrace feveral inquiries that
would be unfuited to a place in a volume of
mifcellaneous eflays.
Queftions concerning Temperament, as affe6t-
ing the individual character, might be pafled by, in
this place, except for this reafon, that, in fo leaving
the fubjedl: untouched, room would be left for alleg-
ing, in contradiction of the affirmed Independence
and fovereignty of the Mind, as related to the animal
178 ESS4TS, ETC.
organization, that its dependence thereupon is
proved by innumerable fa&s, attefting the counter
principle namely, that the individual Mind as
well as to the intellectual faculties, as to the difpofi-
tions and the moral fentiments, takes its tone from
the idiofyncrafies of the body ; or, in a word, from
the temperament of the man. Of this mafs of
fa6r.s none can be ignorant or unmindful who have
given any attention to the philofophy of human
nature. On this field there is brought into view,
with great diftin&nefs, the alternating action of
the Mind upon the Body, and of the Body upon
the Mind j and as this laft-mentioned influence
has been much infifted upon, and is no doubt
real, and is of great extent, it has almoft put out
of view the contrary action namely, that of the
Mind upon the Body in actually fubftituting one
original temperament for another; or in greatly
modifying its vifible chara&eriftics. This counter-
influence is fo much the more fignificant, and is
fo much the more conclufive, as to the inference
it fuggefts, becaufe it is of an occult kind, and is
fo infenfible in its advances as to efcape obferva-
tion. The phyfiologift, and the medical practi-
tioner, and, often, even the religious advifer, does
not fail to have in readinefs, fcores or hundreds of
trite cafes in point eftablifhing beyond doubt the
docTrine that the mind inclufive of the reafon-
ing faculty, and the temper, and the views a man
MIND IN FORM. 179
takes of life, and alfo his behaviour in meeting the
occafions of his lot, are all determined by the con-
dition of the animal organization, or temperament
of the body ; and by its prefent ftate, whether of
health or difeafe. On this beaten road an ingenious
teacher, efpecially if he be incited by the animus of
the materialiftic philofophy, may gather inftances
fit for his purpofe, as eafily as nuts and black-
berries are gathered in paffing along a rural lane.
We mould know where it is that we are to look
for thofe chara&eriftics of the Individual Temper-
ament which may warrantably be regarded as in-
dications of the qualities of the intellect and moral
fentiments, in fo far as they are products of the
mind.
Temperament (hows itfelf in the fofter ma-
terials of the organization in the elaftic force
and texture of the integuments and their cover-
ings, down to the mufcular fyftem ; and in the
fecretions, and their depofits ; and in the fize and
tenacity of the fuperficial vefTels arteries and
veins ; and even in the proportions and the denfity
of the mufcular fyftem ; and in the nervous fyftem
alfo ; and in the abforbents, if thefe were expofed
to view. It is upon thefurface, and upon fo much
of the penultimate furface as may be judged of
without diflection, that we are to find what be-
longs to the individual temperament.
What is it then, as concerning the Mind of the
i8o ESSATS, ETC.
Individual man, which may warrantably be in-
ferred from thefe fuperficial conditions of the Body ?
From thefe vifible chara&eriftics there may be in-
ferred, with an approach to certainty, much re-
lating to the Force of the Mind the Reafon,
and the Moral difpofitions included. From the
quality of the integuments, and their colour, and
tenfion, and quantity, and from the ftyle of con-
tour it fuftains where the outline confifts of,
and is formed by integument, an opinion may be
formed, firjl in refpecl: of the habitual Intenfity
of Thought and of its rate of going ; or, as it
may be called, the fpeed of the Mind ; and of its
power of fuftained action. But then thefe indica-
tions leave undetermined what the field of Thought
may be ; nor do they (how whether its habit be
abftraclive, or inductive, or analytic, or cumu-
lative, or inventive. As to the Emotional Nature,
inclufive of the animal propenfities, and the moral
difpofitions, and the temper, and the difpofition
(temper and difpofition are often of very oppofite
quality) and as to the force of the Will, or the
determinative power of the Mind its adhefive-
nefs to a purpofe thefe things, and the like, are
more or lefs certainly inferible from thofe charac-
teriftics of the exterior perfons which belong to,
and which denote the temperament.
All this may fafely be granted, and much of
this fort might be aflumed if we were in fearch of
the bafis of a phyfiognomical fcience. But then
MIND IN FORM. 181
there comes in upon us an appalling amount of
anomalous inftances, or grounds of exception.
Yet by no fuch reftraints will the Theorift the
empirical phyfiognomift be held back or impeded
in giving judgment upon heads and faces ; and in
truth, his tact, and his experience, and the fre-
quent corredtnefs of his judgments, avail to con-
firm him in the oracular confidence with which
he gives forth his verdicts. Something better
than this might perhaps be done ; nor is it quite
unlikely that progrefs may at length be made in
digefting what mould be admitted as a Philofophy
of Human Nature, drawn from a large induction
of its individual diverfities of form.
We turn to take account of facts of another
order ; and the Reader who may not have given
much attention to this clafs of fads will be likely
to refufe his aflent to what we may now think it
warrantable to affirm.
Granted, that the Individual Mind does, to a
great extent, receive its character from the animal
organization, and that it is greatly dependent upon
the temperament. This admitted, then we go on
to affirm, as a counter-truth, that, to an equal ex-
tent, or in a degree which we may not at firft be
prepared to fuppofe, the temperament itfelf, and
the animal organization, receive their character
from the Mind ; and they do fo often in a man-
ner, and under conditions that exclude reafonable
doubt as to the reality of this alleged influence.
1 82 ESS ATS, ETC.
What is here intended may be more diftin&ly
ftated in other terms, as thus: The Integu-
ments, meafured a little way in from the fur-
face the epidermis, the cuticle, the fecretions of
the rete mucofum^ the complexion, the quality of
the fluids excreted by the flcin, and indeed what-
ever it is that contributes toward the vifible and
recognizable perfonality, often take their chara6ter-
iftics from thofe ftates of the Mind which are the
moft purely mental^ and which are not tranfient or
emotional only; as, for inftance, from peculiar
opinions, admitted in confequence of a mowing of
reafons, and of liftening to dry argumentation.
Sometimes philofophical opinions political
opinions often religious opinions very often, if
not ordinarily exhibit, in this way, the myfterious
force of the mind, in moulding to its own mood
the animal organization. A peculiar Belief, ac-
cepted, and zealoufly embraced at a time of life
that is not too far advanced toward its middle
term, mall be feen to have made to itfelf, in a
courfe of years, a bodily envelope that is very fig-
nificant of itfelf, and is fuch as may be recognized
in a moment by thofe who have habitually given
attention to this clafs of phenomena.
In affirming fo much as this we put out of
view all thofe obvioufly natural mouldings of the
features which refult from chronic tempers, and
recurrent emotions, and which are the accumu-
lated produces of thoufands, and tens of thoufands
MIND IN FORM. 183
of outburfts of temper; or of ftrivings to quell or
to conceal fuch outburfts. Thence come rigidi-
ties, and contractions, and contortions of the facial
mufcles ; and thence thofe ufages of the features
which mean nothingbut the habitof falfifying every
natural expreffion. There will be the petulant
ridge or furrow in the integument of the forehead
and brows ; there is the fardonic corner turn of
the lips ; there is the irafcible glare-action of the
eyelids ; or there is the merry rotund of the front
afpect, or the benevolent dimple, and the graceful
fweep of the lines of the cheeks. All fuch indi-
cations of the chronic condition of the Emotions are
obvious, and quite intelligible in themfelves, and
in their origination ; nor need they here be fpe-
cified : every obfervant eye muft be familiar with
them. Given in the feweft words, the difference
between vifages of the lower order, and vifages of
the upper order, it is this ; thofe are the products
of years of the undifguifed expreffion of emotions :
thefe are the products of years of the fupprefled ex-
preffion of the fame. Something different is in-
tended when we affirm that a Scheme of Belief, a
principle, remote from all worldly interefts, or
from the worldly interefts of the individual man,
or woman, (hall mow itfelf in the lapfe of years, by
bringing upon the exterior certain indubitable
marks of an actual change in the conftitutional
temperament a change, too, from one fpecies of
envelope to another fpecies : in this fubftitution
1 84 ESSAYS, ETC,
there is what is palpable, there is what is vifible :
changes have taken place that attach to the
chemical condition of the organization. Each of
the profeflions has its acquired temperament, each
has its authentic complexion: each has not merely
its own gefticulation, and its attitudes of reft and
of motion ; but its hue, and its tint, and its un-
der-colours. The feveral ranks and orders in the
focial fyftem have their bodily or organic Jiyles ;
or, as we might call them, their flemly coftumes.
The fame may be affirmed of moft of the ftated
occupations of common life the trades and the
mechanic arts ; nor would any extraordinary fkill
be needed in any one who mould undertake to
parcel off a hundred men in a crowd, defpatching
each man rightly to his forge, or his bench, or his
table, or his warehoufe, or his counter.
There will be room always, on this ground, for
the rationaliftic philofophy ; and the inftances
will be many in relation to which it may plaufibly
be faid It is the temperament that has predeter-
mined the calling, or that has ruled the choice of
a profeffion, whether it be the military, or the
legal, or the clerical, or any other. Let all fuch
inftances be allowed to pafs, unqueftioned, to the
fide to which they feem to give fupport ; but
inftances in much greater abundance will prefent
themfelves that defy explication by help of any
fuch obvious and reafonable principles : inftances
they are not of the animal organization, leading
MIND IN FORM. 185
the mind toward this or that path of life ; nor of
the habits, profeflional or mechanical, which have
{lowly given a character to the movements and
geftures ; but of the prefence of that occult
PLASTIC FORCE OF THE MIND, the noifelefs ener-
gies of which work their effecl: upon the yielding
fubftances of the body, from the interior outwards.
It is well known that the very fubftance of the
animal bone, mufcle, finew, fkin is undergoing
a perpetual removal of the old, and a fubftitution
of new materials ; fo it is that the body preferves
its identity, not by an atomic perfiftence of the
materials that belongs to it, but by an infenfible
renovation according to the fame type. Analogies
enough give evidence of a law to this effecl
That whereas the inertnefs of the Vital Force, or
its undifturbed famenefs, from day to day, from
year to year, allows this mifting of the fubftance
to go on, in undeviating conformity with the ori-
ginal pattern ; on the contrary, a highly active
condition of the Vital Force or call it the Mind
mows its prefence as a gentle preflure, or a
prevailing guidance, giving form to forms, and
moulding to its will each fucceflive depofit of the
crude materials.
VII.
TAKE the human Form in its very higheft ftyle
of fymmetry, vigour, and grace ; and we may then
afk What is the meaning of that Form, if we
1 86 ESS4TS, ETC.
regard it as the reprefentative of the Indwelling
Mind ? What are thofe inherent qualities of the
Spiritual Nature the intelle&ual, the active, and
the emotional which are fpoken of, or indicated
by this embodiment of dignity and beauty ? Put
this queftion in any variety of phrafes which may
beft accord with the philofophy we may have
adopted, as to the relationfhip of Mind and Body :
in any manner worded, the anfwer will be fub-
ftantially the fame. Whether our creed be that
the animal framework gives law to the Mind, or
(as we afTuredly take it) that the Mind alfo gives
law to the organization, it will be true that, in this
combined action, the Vifible does fymbolize the
Invifible the fpiritual and the imperifhable (hows
its quality in the material and the perimable : the
corruptible does witnefs for the incorruptible ; the
natural does vouch for the fuper-natural.
Whence foever may have come our intuitive
beliefs concerning the fignificance of Form thefe
involuntary convictions this unprompted confi-
dence in the meaning of the outward man has
too much of force to allow of its being fet afide
as a fallacy : we take it, and we muft take it, as
true. AfTuming, then, the truth, or the truthful-
nefs, of this perfuafion, then we repeat the quef-
tion, and afk What is the meaning of the human
Form, taken in its higheft perfection, as to the
Indwelling Spiritual Nature ?
Now we might feek an anfwer to this queftion
MIND IN FORM. 187
by confulting our individual feelings and confciouf-
nefs our own modes of thinking, influenced as
thefe will be by our opinions, religious and philo-
fophical ; or, otherwife, we may take a courfe
which muft be far more fatisfa&ory, and in adopt-
ing which we exempt ourfelves effectively from
every perfonal prejudice. We have at hand a
means of appeal to thofe whofe judgment, in fuch
matters, carries the greateft weight, and who, in
giving their verdict long ages ago, were altogether
unconfcious of thofe beliefs or impreffions which
have come to mix themfelves with, and to influ-
ence, our modern judgments in matters of tafte.
Again, then, we propofe our queftion, and we
feek an anfwer from the gifted men of that bright
age in which the SOUL OF FORM uttered itfelf in
a matchlefs manner by the Sculptor's chifel. In
the fenfe of Phidias, and of his peerlefs comrades
in Art, what is that MIND which the human FORM
fymbolizes ? Thefe great artifts have left us (and
Time has fpared fragments of their teftimony) their
convictions on this ground.
Thofe muft confent to be adjudged utterly def-
titute of a true feeling in Art who imagine that
the Greek fculptors of the beft age laboured to
impart fuch things to marble as were aimed at by
the artifts of the times of Imperial Rome, or by
many of thofe of modern times. It was neither
Individual Portraiture (this was incidental) nor
was it Character, abftractedly thought of j nor
i88 ESSATS, ETC.
was it Paffion, or Emotion, or the Expreffion of
tranfient dramatic feelings. A far loftier aim guided
the genius of the Greek fculptors of that brilliant
time. That which Phidias and his contempora-
ries faw in the human exterior, was the Divinity
within. When they would breathe the Immortal
into marble, they felt no need of an exaggeration
of what they faw, or of any factitious graces to be
fuperadded to it: for the Human Form, in the
feverity of its truthfulnefs, embodied, in their view,
the "ApfyoToi;: the grace and the grandeur of
that form fpoke of nothing lefs than of unearthly
perfection. In their feeling it was the 'AQavarog
the Divine, the undying, which this Form
fymbolized. The genuine, and the inevitable in-
terpretation of the flwjTo'f, and of the (S^orof, was
this rendering of it into a conception of a fuper-
human mode of exiftence. Inftru&ive, on this
ground, is the contraft between thefe artift philo-
fophers, and the artift courtiers of that degenerate
age when the flatterer chifel in hand, took into
his fhop the imperial portrait, and thence ifTued
it with a lie, when he faid this is the Divus, to
whom the world is bound to offer incenfe !
Socrates had reafoned concerning immortal hu-
manity : Plato had tranflated the logic of his
Mafter into a grand conception, and a poetry, and
a profound philofophy ; and he had given to the
divinities of the Iliad that air of abftra&ednefs
which was needed to bring them into accordance
MIND IN FORM. 189
with the advance which the Greek mind had made
in the lapfe of centuries. But now, that which
Socrates had drawn out of the rudiments of human
nature, by reafoning, and that which Plato had
obtained by idealizing its conditions, the Sculptors
of the preceding time had feen in its FORM : theirs
was the direct inference ; that of the fages was
the indirect inference. The Men of Thought
laboured to bring the Idea of Immortal Perfection
down from the heavens : the Men of Art had
found this doctrine before them, in their living
models of humanity : with them MIND in
FORM, was MIND IMMORTAL immortal in
power and in felicity.
Among the exifting remains of Greek Art of
the beft age, the choiceft famples are thofe which
embody the idea of Man as a being exempt from
the accidents of his earthly condition Man, in the
plenitude of animal force ; free from neceflity,
unknowing of toil or pain free from paflion, free
from fear, and from all immediate concernment
with any conditions upon which his well-being
may be dependent. The one Commanding Idea
of thefe Forms is that of REPOSE repofe full of
life : it is not fo much Reft, as if reft were a wel-
come ceflation of labour : it is the reft of body
and mind in the unchanging fruition of all good
unfought good the eternal inheritance of him
who has it. Whatever in Art differs from this
conception of abfolute Repofe, is fo far lefs than
i go ESSJrS, ETC.
Art, in its higheft fpecies : it is a defcent from the
idea of the immortal to the conditions of the
mortal.
To follow a natural track of meditation on this
ground would bring us quickly near to concep-
tions of the future life which are too remote from
the ordinary pathway of Chriftian meditation to
be eafily conforted therewith. We therefore leave
fuch fpeculative mufmgs, and turn afide from a
field whereupon it is likely one may wander out
of the way of fobriety ; and flop fhort in a word.
MIND in FORM (we may be allowed to believe this)
{hall at laft mow the entirenefs of its fignificance
in human nature at that moment, when the ter-
reftrial body fhall have given way to the celeftial
when that which was fown in corruption fhall
have been raifed in incorruption when that
which was fown in difhonour fhall have been
raifed in glory ; and when that which was fown
in weaknefs fhall have been raifed in power ; and
when that which was fown a natural body fhall
have been raifed a fpiritual body; yet (till, and
for ever A BODY.
ESSAY III.
Modern Advancements^ and Lay Inventors.
I.
EVERAL expreffions, all nearly of
the fame import, have been coming
into current ufe, which, although
they may carry an air of exaggera-
tion, do but inadequately reprefent the value of
the fa&s to which they relate. Thus it is that
the time in which we live is fo often fpoken of as
an era of mechanical marvels an age of " mi-
racles;" and, in fa<5t, fo furprifing are fome of the
inventions which have fignalized the nineteenth
century, that, if they could have been forefhown
in their bare refults to the great men of the feven-
teenth century as for inftance to Bacon, to
Pafcal, to Newton, fuch a report would have
feemed to them to indicate the arrival of almoft a
fupernatural difpenfation ; or as if the men of the
coming time were to be matters of the powers of
magic ; or were to compel fpirits of a higher order
to ftoop and do the drudgery of this world. In the
ftricT:eft fenfe of the word, a mere report of fome of
thefe modern inventions, and of what has been ac-
192 ESS4TS, ETC.
complifhed by the means of them, would, even to
the moft intelligent lifteners of a by-gone age, have
feemed paradoxical paffing, and far furpafiing the
limits of reafonable belief. The inftances need
fcarcely be named : they are fuch as the travell-
ing at a fpeed of fixty miles per hour the crofling
the Atlantic in nine days the conveyance of
fpeeches and difpatches a thoufand miles in feconds
of time and the production of perfect pictures
in time that is alfo meafured by feconds, and by
procefles as cheap as the providing of a dinner.
The political and the commercial refults of fome
of thefe inventions would feem, or would have
feemed to our predecefTors, even more paradoxical
than the inventions themfelves : as, for inftance,
if it had been predicted that, by aid of the manu-
facturing wealth accruing from fome of them,
Great Britain would be able to hold herfelf in
heart through long years of war, while all the
world was leagued againft her.
Fa6ts of this clafs have now become trite in
books in lectures in popular addrefles, and in
ordinary converfational difcourfe. Modern In-
ventions and modern Advancements, touching
almoft every one of the arts of life mechanical
and chemical have given a great impulfe to the
focial fyftem at large, and a new direction to
feveral lines of human induftry, the ultimate con-
fequences of which are ftill veiled by an awful
uncertainty ; fo that we have come almoft to ab-
ftain from putting the queftion " What (hall
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 193
the end of thefe things be ? Shall the feet of men,
in a coming age, fpurn the folid earth, and fpeed
away to neighbour planets ?"
There is, however, a circumftance conne&ed
with thefe late inventions and improvements
which, although it is highly fignificant, has been
little regarded, as a colleElive faff, or as indicative
of a principle. Frequently adverted to incidentally,
and mentioned in connection with particular in-
ftances, it has not taken the place that may ap-
pear to be due to it in the hiftory of human pro-
grefs, and of the advance of the applicate fciences.
This recurrent facl: is this that almoft every one
of the fignal modern inventions, and a large pro-
portion alfo of thofe fupplemental improvements
which have followed in the track of the principal,
have been the offspring of Minds that were un-
trained in the profeflions undifciplined un-
taught ; or, to fay all in a word a word which
we muft borrow for the occafion it is LAYMEN
who have placed the nineteenth century fo far in
advance of its predeceffors.
A facl:, confequential to this as might eafily
have been anticipated is this that, in almoft
every fuch inftance in which gifted and inventive
laymen have given a new impulfe and a new di-
rection to human induftry, they have done fo in
front of, and in fpite of, the briftled array of the
Profeflions that is to fay, of all inftru6t,ed and dif-
ciplined men the authorized occupants of the
o
i 9 4 ESSATS, ETC.
ground in queftion, who have continued their op-
pofition to each novelty, in its turn, even to the
very laft moment in which to do fo might be any
way poflible.
What, then, will be the inference or what
will it be if by an adduction of facls, gathered
from various quarters we mail make good the
allegation with which we fet out ? Not this
that knowledge and difcipline are obftru&ive of
advancement. Nor this that fyftematic education
has no prerogatives. Northis that difcoveries are
only lucky chances, and that whatever is prac-
tically good muft be empirical, not fcientific. No
fuch inferences as thefe will feem to be authen-
tically derivable from the fads which we have in
profpeft. The warrantable inference will fcarcely
fail to fuggeft itfelf to the intelligent and unpre-
judiced reader, as he follows a brief ftatement of
the fa&s.
When we bring into one point of view the
various mafs of difcoveries, inventions, improve-
ments, which have fignalized the hundred years,
laft paft, fome fort of clarification of them may
feem to be needed to avoid confufion. Within
this range there are (i) Difcoveries of a purely
fcientific kind, which have been made available in
the arts ; (2) Mechanical appliances, involving
nothing new, but the adaptation and extenfion of
long known mechanical principles, and heretofore
partially converted to fuch, or to analogous pur-
MODERN ADVANCEMENT, ETC. 195
pofes; and (3) Inventions, in which were com-
bined difcoveries in fcience, with novel adaptations
of known mechanical or chemical principles. As
an inftance of the firft kind, we might name the
modern Ele&ricity, in its two departments me-
chanical and chemical : inftances of the fecond
kind would be the Spinning Machine, and the
Power Loom : and an inftance, moft fignal, of
the third kind, is the Steam-Engine, in the ftruc-
ture and action of which chemical and mechanical
principles have been brought into the moft inti-
mate combination.
That development of free-handed intelligence,
as diftinguimed from the trammelled and trained
intelligence of the profeflions which juft now
we have in view, has been rare in the walks of
purely fcientific difcovery ; but it has abounded
beyond computation in all departments of me-
chanical appliance : again, it has been lefs frequent
where difcoveries in fcience have been brought
forward, and made available in the mechanic arts,
or have given rife to procefles that are altogether
new. When thefe outburfts of unfchooled genius
in the mechanic arts are placed by the fide of the
canonical procedures of the Profefiional Mind,
an analogy prefents itfelf which may properly
be noted as we pafs ; although it mould not be
too ftrongly infifted upon. If the Inventive
Faculty, as developed in man, be compared with
the Inftin&ive Conftru&ive fkill of fome of the
196 ESSJTS, ETC.
animal orders, it fhows a difadvantage for an
abundance of errors, and of failures attend it ;
but then thefe mifchances are crowned at length
with fplendid fuccefles : after all its miftakes, and
notwithftanding many and coftly mifcalculations,
the human inventive faculty juftifies itfelf in the
end. On the other fide, as no errors are charge-
able upon Inftin&s, and there is perfect work in-
variably, fo from one thoufand years to another
no advancement takes place : rule, and routine,
and immobility have held their fway, undifputed,
on the fide of animal intelligence, from the crea-
tion, to this time.
In another place,* I have ventured to ufe the
phrafes Fixed Reafon, and Free Reafon, as dif-
tin&ively proper to the conftruclive inftin&s of
the animal orders, and the conftru&ive intelli-
gence of man. Now (no offence intended) one
might be inclined to fpeak of the Fixed Reafon, or
the difciplined intelligence of the Profeflions, as
contrafted with the Free Reafon, or the Inventive
Genius from which have fprung moft in truth,
almoft all of thofe great improvements that fig-
nalize our modern civilization. The afTertion, if
it be not pumed too far, is true, that Mind, as
difplayed within the Profeflions, is the mind not
of the individual ; but of the corporation or guild ;
the individual man, within the profeflions gains
* WORLD OP MIND.
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 197
his diftinction, and takes the lead of his brethren
by his fuccefs in fome particular and authentic
inftance, and by putting a higher fmifh, or giving
a wider application to fome eftablifhed and con-
ventional achievement. But the Gifted Man
the man who was born, and has been reared out-
fide the pale of profeflional life who gives a new
direction, and imparts a new impulfe to human
induftry, does what he does in fuch a manner as
if it were an intended outrage upon all that is
authentic ; and in effecting his purpofe he un-
avoidably and grievoufly offends each of the fondly-
cherimed beliefs of that privileged clafs to whofe
tribunal he is fure to be cited, and to whofe au-
thority he is required to fubmit himfelf. But the
afleflbrs in that tribunal are not merely pre-oc-
cupied ; for they are irritated and alarmed ; nor
is it their ufage to give in until long after the open
world around them has pronounced a fpontaneous
decifion in favour of the lawlefs benefactor.
This courfe of things, we have faid, has been
lefs frequent on the upper grounds of philofophy ;
but on the lower levels of mechanic art the in-
ftances of a contrary fort are the exceptions, and
they are exceedingly rare.
ii.
THAT threefold claffification of modern Inven-
tions which has been named above, although it is
loS ESS ATS, ETC.
admiffible, would be cumberfome in the applica-
tion to inftances where an admixture of the three
ingredients fo frequently takes place. An inar-
tificial arrangement, by the ftmple rule of chro-
nology, might eafily be followed ; and if this were
done, it would appear that a law of fequcnce, or
of fuggeftion, or a procefs of natural evoh;
has had place in this advancing courfe of inventive
development. So it has been that Inventions and
Improvements, in this or that line of art, have
been quickly followed by correfponding advance-
ments in other lines; and this has happened,
partly in the way, as we have faid, offugge/lion
as thus, it has been afked Why not apply Inch
and fuch an invention to this or to that other and
very different purpoie ? For example, when
the fleam-engine had been brought up to a cer-
tain ftate of effe&ivenefs employed as a lla-
tionary force it would naturally come to be
thought of as available for the purpofes of loco-
motion : and then, if this were done fuccefsfully
upon iron roads, it would be afked Why not
apply it to Marine locomotion? Inftances of
this fort of fequency are abundant in all the arts;
and many fuch will occur to the inftru&ed reader's
recolle&ion. On this ground, therefore, we might
take our point of departure from fome moment
midway in the laft century ; and thence following
the almanack of inventions, fhould arrive at the
date of the moft recent of thofe fignal inventions
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 199
that are juft now coming into operation ; and the
derivation of which from fome earlier invention
might, in moft cafes, be fliown. Each improve-
ment is, in a fenfe, a ftep forward on *#* ^#/ ,
and it gives fupport in its turn to another, which
is foon to follow, on another path.
Yet, in making out this fort of natural (cries of
inventions, the temptation would be ftrong to put
a (train upon fome of the facts, and to run them
out beyond the reafon of things; we decline,
therefore, to follow precifely in this track. The
ufual diftribution of the induftrial arts, and of the
applicate fciences, might eafily be adopted; as
thus the primary and the fecondary wants of
human life call for -firjl, the arts and the methods
that fecure to a people a fupply of Food more
ample, and more conftant, and of better quality,
than that wherewith the favage fuftains his pre-
carious exiftence, alternating between gorging and
ftarvation. Next come thofe arts which clothe
the civilized man with textile fabrics mainly.
Next to thefe, or alongfide of them, are the arts
that hwfe him ; then, or at the lame time thofe
arts that put tools and weapons into his hands ;
and after theft, come the long train, not eafily
numbered, of thofe arts which minifter to the in-
tellectual requirements of a refined and inftrucfced
community, and which meet its taftes, and fatisfy
the factitious defires of the leifure clafs, into whofe
laps have flowed the accumulating wealth of the
200 ESS ATS, ETC.
community. Laft of all are the arts which have
fprung, as if by miracle, from fome flam of dif-
covery, and which at once provoke fome new
defire, and fatisfy it.
Embracing all thefe wants primary and fecond-
ary and miniftering to all, and doing their bidding
as the univerfal fervant the drudge of all (unlike
a reluctant drudge are its rates of going) then come
thofe recent inventions which give to nations the
means of locomotion the tranfit of goods the
tranfit of perfons, and the tranfit of Thought
thought, written and fpoken, and thought, neither
written nor fpoken, but fymbolized.
But what we are thinking of in this EfTay is,
not the Sciences, or the Arts, but the INDIVIDUAL
MINDS ; we are in queft of the folitary man, and
his unaided achievements, and his forrows, and his
triumphs, in that day when, at length, JOSEPH, on
Pharaoh's feat, fees his envious brethren on their
knees at his footftool. In looking at our lift of
names, we find that, if we were to bring forward
afample only of inftances, pertinent to our purpofe,
and a lift which mould be drawn chiefly from the
annals of Britijh induftry, there would be a long
array of men who have fprung up from outfide of
the profejffions to which their labours had relation ;
and who, for the moft part, were deftitute ofpro-
fefiional learning, and who or many of whom
were contradicted, and perfecuted, and plundered,
and who, neverthelefs, have done what has been
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 201
the means of clothing, and of feeding, and of ex-
pediting, and indeed of calling into exigence, mil-
lions of their countrymen, and of all nations.
Thefe men have opened up mines of uncounted
wealth ; they have enabled an Empire to carry on
deadly ftruggles ; and, if civilization in its many
elements be a good, then have they conferred upon
modern nations benefits that are of incalculable
value. As a counterpart to any fuch lift, which
includes a few only out of many the non-profef-
fional difcoverers, the inventors, the benefactors
it would be difficult to make up a lift of a twen-
tieth of the number of profeflionally-trained, and
learned, and accomplifhed men, who might be
matched with them on the ground of any equiva-
lent fervices done to their country, and to man-
kind, in the fame, or in any other courfes of la-
bour.
If now we are thinking of the men, and lefs of
their feveral departments of labour, we may ad-
vance into the midft of them, and bring forward
in front of the band, a few famples rude, it may
be, in their habiliments and appointments, un-
couth in guife and gefture often; unblefled of for-
tune unlucky often, and thrifdefs ; wan and
wafted often ; fcorned, defpoiled, often ; but yet
each of them is now at this time ftanding (or fit-
ting) in marble, upon his pedeftal in halls and
places of honour ; and it is around thefe monu-
ments that the youth of colleges are aflembled, to
202 ESS ATS, ETC.
receive there the infpiration which they may need
in purfuing their future courfes.
in.
WE have faid juft above that, in the walks of purely
fcientific difcovery^ the inftances of undifciplined,
or, as we now term it Lay invafions upon privi-
leged ground, have been more rare than upon the
levels of the applicate fciences and mechanic arts.
Neverthelefs a few fuch inftances prefent them-
felves, which are of a kind to elucidate and to
confirm a general inference.
If we may truft to his portraits BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN is the man who, by right of his cha-
racleriftic phyfiognomy and air, ftiould lead the
van in this array of Plebeian Genius. We fhould
remember, however, that the extant portraits of
this great man were taken after the time when his
concernment with public affairs, and his inter-
courfe with ftatefmen and accomplifhed European
perfons had thrown fomething of an ariftocratic
glow upon his fquare and rugged features. He is,
neverthelefs, the man who is well qualified to head
the band that includes Arkwright, Brindley, Ste-
phenfon.
Among the many natural endowments which
fitted him to mine as a practical man, and as a ftatef-
man,he was gifted in a high degree with philofophic
fagacity. If his deftiny in life had been favourable
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 203
to fuch a courfe, he might have taken up Bacon's
work, and better perhaps than any of his fcientific
contemporaries, have carried it forward toward its
prefent advanced pofition. He had the fcientific
geniusa gift of nature ; and this, in his inftance,
was in equipoife with other faculties ; and fo made
him a cautious theorizer. Then his early pofition
in the focial fyftem was fuch as fecured for him a
certain liberty of thought a non-conventional
habit of fpeculation ; fo it was that, in his philofo-
phic range he was exempt from thofe intimidations
which furround, and often enfeeble, men of a
higher focial grade. Thefe, finding themfelves
early in the pofleffion of a European fcientific re-
putation, which might be loft by adventure, will
rifk nothing. Franklin ftarted on his courfe with
nothing to jeopardize : his name, until his later
years, drew after it no cumbrous length of acade-
mic Uncials : until the clofe of his career, and
at a time when his reputation could float without
corks, he was the uncanonized of learned bodies.
It was with a rude and forceful abftra&ive fa-
culty that he fet foot upon the ground of fcientific
fpeculation. The then-recently-noticed pheno-
mena of electricity were of that kind that was
likely to fix the attention of a mind fuch as his.
The veil was juft then rifing which brought to
view a world of myftery ; the adytum of Nature
was about to be fet open, and he ftepped forward
to gaze upon thefe new phenomena, not only ex-
204 ESSAYS, ETC.
empt from obligation toward any hereditary philo-
fophic theory ; but fingulariy free alfo from what
may be called philofophic fuperftition. The bold,
native thought of filling a bottle with the fires of
heaven was an audacity which might have been
culpable in the inftance of a mind of inferior phi-
lofophic quality ; and then the fimple means he
employed for effe&ing his purpofe were indicative
of that homely difregard of whatever is extrinfical,
which belonged to his habits and to his courfe of
life, and which we muft admit to be " Poor
Richard's" own chara&eriftics. It is ufual to fpeak
of Franklin's eminently practical turn of mind,
in connection with his fcientific courfe. This, in
him, was the combination of that higher intellec-
tual faculty which brought into his view, from the
firft, the remoter bearings of an abftracl: fcienti-
fic principle, along with the notions and the habits
and the rules of conduct which had grown up with
him as a fhrewd craftfman, who fpent his week's
earnings in the thriftieft poflible manner. On
fuch ground as this it is that we head our lift of
illuftrious Lay Difcoverers with the name of Ben-
jamin Franklin.
An inftance analogous, at feveral points, to that
of Franklin, is that of JOHN DALTON. He was
altogether a felf-taught man, and one whofe early
years had been pafled amidft drudgeries the moft
difheartening : meanly circumftanced, niggardly
remunerated unaided uncourted mifunder-
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS^ ETC. 205
flood ; and as if a fingular inftance were to be
given of the force and fupremacy of MIND, there
were brought together, in Dalton's training, fome
elements which are rarely found in combination
namely, Quakerifm, and Unthriftinefs ; nor did
the two together, in this inftance, quafh at all the
intellectual force ; but rather headed it up. The
mighty revolution which he effected in Che-
miftry, and, by confequence, in Phyfical fcience,
generally in fo far as he pierce^ rather than lifted^
the veil of nature was not a lucky guefs that had
fprung up out of a random experiment. As truly
fo as were Newton's triumphs, Dalton's philofo-
phy was a proper work of the higheft confecutive
reafon : it was a genuine product of the inductive
and the fynthetic faculty, working itfelf forward
on a folid path not by leaps at hazard ; but by a
firm meafured tread, a feeling of the ground ftep
after ftep. Nothing in the wide range of modern
fcience has been lefs fortuitous ; nothing was
more purely rational than was the bringing the
Atomic Theory into a coherent form. Quite in
harmony with what might be called the rufticity
of his felf-taught learning, was the rudenefs, and
the inefficiency of the apparatus of his laboratory.
In Dalton's achievements all was MIND or
mind was all : nothing was extrinfic, nothing had
to be fupplemented by conventional aids. He
ftands well therefore as a Leading Inftance in our
prefent array.
206 ESS4TS, ETC.
Men may have been highly educated they may
have become decked with college honours ; but if
in facl: they have had no profeffional training, as
related to the departments of philofophy wherein
they have fignalized themfelves, then a claim may
be made good in refpecl: of them, as LAY DISCO-
VERERS. Yet we refrain from the doubtful argu-
mentation which might be needed in eftablifhing
a claim of this fort, in fome of the inftances ; and
therefore only give place, in paffing, to the names
of fuch men as Robert Boyle, and Cavendifh, and
Prieftley, and Young ; and room fhould be found
among thefe for Napoleon Bonaparte, who, if
his ftar had not led him to trample upon thrones,
might now have occupied a high place among the
philofophers of his time. The taunting queftion
" Why do you not look for planets outfide the
zodiac?" is faid to have given the aftronomic
world a hoft of afteroids. The queftion (if indeed
it was put) was precifely one of that fort which is
chara&eriftic of a man of genius, who is untram-
melled by profeffional habitudes of thought.
IV.
BUT we pafs on from inftances that might provoke
controverfy, to thofe which can give place to none;
and turning from fcience ftrictly fpeaking look
toward the wide and various fields of the applicate
and productive mechanic arts. Confpicuoufly fit
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 207
for our purpofe is the inftance of JAMES BRIND-
LEY the mill-wright a man who remained un-
taught to the laft, and born as if to fhow what
Mind and nothing may do.
Whatever, in our modern material condition
(we are thinking juft now of Infular Britain) is
the moft vaft in its extent, or incalculable in its
commercial value, and which, in its progrefs, has
furmounted the moft appalling difficulties, and
which has triumphed the moft completely over
interefted oppofition all fuch things have come to
us by the genius and labours of men of whom : if
we were in fearch of an eminently chara&eriftic
fample James Brindley, the unfchooled mill-
wright, would ftand as its trueft reprefentative.
Let the figures be given which fhall fymbolize
the money-value up to this time of Brindley's
engineering genius ! Briti/h wealth, in moft of its
unwrought materials, and of its produces, is every
day feen afloat upon the bofom of the tranquil
waters of our Inland Navigation. Britim wealth
of any kind, if we follow it a little way toward
its fources, will bring us to the margin of a canal
whereupon the patient drudge a fingle haggard
horfe is dragging after him the barge, laden, till it
well nigh finks, either with the means of labour, or
with its finimed refults. It is now many years ago
that fifteen millions fterling had been profitably
fpent in England upon works of this clafs ; and at
this time it is very much more. Water-carriage
208 ESS ATS, ETC.
has come up to almoft every man's door, or to a
wharf within an hour of it; nor has this economic
means of tranfit been fuperfeded,or rendered other-
wife than highly remunerative, by the competitive
fpeed of the Railway Train ; and whereas the be-
nefits of this latter mode have been purchafed for
the Public at a price (through the profligate folly
of thofe firft concerned) ten times greater than it
ought to have reached, Inland Navigation, for the
moft part, has been reafonably effe&ed at only its
genuine coft."
Brindley's merit was not that of conceiving of
fuch a thing as the digging a trench to be filled
with water, upon which laden veflels might cheaply
be towed: all this had been done long before his
time, and elfewhere than in England ; but it was
his to achieve this enterprife in a country like
England, the levels of which are nowhere ex-
tenfive, and which fuch as they are ftretch
themfelves out upon different plateaus ; few of
them being overhung by elevated water-fheds :
and befides all this natural difficulty, England is
cut up by roads, and by crofs-roads, innumerable ;
and it is a country upon every acre of which is
planted the prohibitive token u No Thorough-
fare." The rights and the ufages of a jealous
proprietorfhip confront the Engineer on every
foot of ground in this Ifland : he muft not only
{how how a navigable water-courfe might be car-
ried acrofs the ups and downs of the country, but
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 209
he muft fight for every mile of his way over it, in
parliamentary committee rooms : he muft not only
be able to traverfe expanfes of mud, and to ftanch
abyfles of fand ; but alfo, and more than this, he
muft know how to dig a pathway for reafon
athwart the clays and the bogs of dull intellects !
A phrafe very ufual with writers who have eu-
logized men like Brindley is this He was a
man inexhauftible in refources : when difficulties
arofe which would have baffled, and which did
baffle ordinary mnids, he rofe to meet the occafion,
and at moments when all around him had def-
ponded, he never failed to exhibit the fertility of
his genius by fome new device or expedient, that
was equally fimple in itfelf, and effective. The
true, or, it may be the pfychological import of ex-
preffions fuch as thefe we fhould afcertain ; for
they carry with them the very point of contraft
which is now in view, between the profeffional,
and the non-pro feffional mind. The " refources"
of minds that have been trained and tamed and
difciplined are ufually comprifed in the lift of
thofe authentic means and expedients to which
the " Profeffion" has affixed its mark of approval,
as proper and fufficient for fuch and fuch occa-
fions, and which lift is clofed, implicitly or ex-
plicitly, with the interdiclive decifion " if tbefe
means will not avail, the thing may fafely be fet
down as impracticable."
210 ESS4TS, ETC.
But now the untrained man the interloper as
to the profeffions, is, it may be, altogether ignorant
of the exiftence of this catalogue of legitimate de-
vices: or perhaps he has looked at the lift, and
he holds them in utter contempt as lumbering,
cumberfome, circuitous ; and whether they are
better or worfe, he barely troubles himfelf to in-
quire. Nature has enriched him with one of
her rareft beftowments namely, a clear vifion
throughout the region of abftraclions (i.e. mecha-
nical abftraclions) and along with it, the analo-
gical and the fynthetical faculty the fame that, in
another mental department, makes a man a wit,
and gives a fparkling brilliancy to his utterances
on all fubje&s. So it is that this rude fon of Na-
ture, when he is encountered on his path by " un-
thought of obftacles," betakes himfelf, forthwith,
to that region which is his own : he converfes
near at hand, with the elementary principles of
mechanical and mathematical relationfhip : the
occafion calls up before him the deepeft properties
of things : the need is fuggeftive of the means:
cuftomary and often-tried combinations thefe are
left in the rear they ftrew that ground in frag-
ments whereupon the profeflional, the " ftaff,"
ftick faft in hopelefs perplexity. The effective ex-
pedient that comes forth at the call of genius is
that which is the neareft pojjible approximation to
firft principles in fcience : when ordinary men fee
it they fay half in contempt How fimple is
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 211
this ! why did nobody think of it long ago? In
the Jimplicity of the thought, the inventor's praife
is likely to be loft fight of; and fo the world is
faved the burden, and the coft too, of its gratitude.
Thus it was often with Brindley as he flood re-
lated to the Engineering world. Happily for him,
and for England, the noble Bridgewater's intelli-
gence was his fhield at fuch times.*
v.
THE feeding of Britifh induftry with its rude
materials, and the cheap conveyance of its finifhed
prod u&s, hither and thither, had thus been achieved
by the illiterate mill-wright of Macclesfield. Then
came forward the alfo illiterate barber of Bolton,
who at length gave to that induftry its field and
its reward, in devifing the means of expandingthe
Cotton manufacture to dimenfions almoft incal-
culably great. The wealth of England, as to a
principal element of its trade and its commerce,
is mainly RICHARD ARKWRIGHT'S doing. There
can now be no need and certainly not in this
EfTay to enter upon the worn controverfy con-
cerning they?r/V7 originality of his inventions and
improvements. Ample and laborious argumenta-
tion, carried on in courts of law, and before the
general public alfo, has come to this iflue that
* A claim to Rennie might be controverted j but Tel-
ford we may number in our lift of felf-taught engineers.
212 ESS ATS, ETC.
Arkwright's fame his honours, and his fortune,
were fairly of his own winning; and that his in-
dividual genius aided, or not aided, in particular
inftances by what he might have chanced to know
of the doings of other men (and of which probably
heknewlittle or nothing) was of that order which,
while it is furmounting obftacles, draws to itfelf,
and incorporates with its own, whatever ftands
neighbouring to it.
In thus giving to Arkwright the place which we
believe to be his due and which is now allowed
to be fo it would not merely be an injuftice, but
a miftake, in relation to our prefent intention, to
pafs in filence the name of his predeceflbr, JOHN
WYATT. In truth, Wyatt was a man of the very
fort we are in queft of nothing more than an " in-
genious machinift ;" but an inventor, born^ and not
bred, and when, in his folitude, he flood watch-
ing the firft performance of his " Rollers" " be-
ing all the time," as he fays, " in a pleafing but
trembling fufpenfe," he was looking out upon a
field over which, forty years later, another more
fortunate than himfelf, fhould drive plough and
harrow, and carry the fickle gathering a large
harveft out of which millions of men, through
centuries, (hould be fed.
Arkwright's eminent ability, as a man of bufi-
nefs, and a manufacturer, ought to be fet off, in
this our account, from the eftimate we form of
his genius, which was pre-eminent, as a mecha-
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 213
nical inventor. This proper diftinction gives us
our ground of companion in bringing forward a
man of genius, diftinguifhed on the fame path,
who, as to his origin and training, takes his place
in our lift of Lay inventors ; but who, as a man of
bufmefs, or as thrifty and worldly-wife, lacked the
requifite qualities. The informed reader will know
that we have in view the inventor of the Mule
Jenny the highly intellectual and the melan-
cholic SAMUEL CROMPTON. But we mould firft
give a line to HARGREAVES the "poor weaver of
Lancafhire;" for it was he that gave the moft de-
cifive ftart to that courfe of invention which, in
the end, took the fpinning procefs out of the hand
of the fpinner, with her wheel, her treadle, and
her fmgle fpindle ; and in doing fo, though fhe
fuffered much meantime, gave bread to a thoufand
for one, of thofe who before had lived to ftarve; and
gave cheap garments to tens of thoufands, for one
who had been clad hitherto in tatters. The in-
ventor of the Shubbing Billy the next important
invention in this line we do not certainly know ;
but it is true, with very few exceptions, that men
of no profeffional quality men the moft obfcure
in birth and early occupation were the authors of
that prodigious revolution which has had place in
the induftrial arts in the department efpecially of
the manufactures of woven fabrics, during the laft
hundred years.
It was this Samuel Crompton, a " needy work-
214 ESSJTS, ETC.
man" who brought into a more ufeful form at
once the elements of Hargreave's invention, and
of Arkwright's too : his Mule Jenny was a pla^i-
arifm, or an infringement of both hence its name.
In the department of mechanical invention pla-
giarifm follows in the necejfary order of develop-
ment and of practical applicability. Infringement
of Patents is a wrong, to be punifhed by the State,
which is, or which fhould be, a terror to evil-
doers: but if we would forbid altogether mecha-
nical plagiarifm, we muft forbid all progrefs in the
mechanic arts. Crompton,a man of genius, faw
what had not yet been developed in the con-
trivances of his predecefibrs ; and he gave to them
this development in his fpinning machine the
draw rollers^ the revolving fpindles, and the ad-
jufted and variable velocities of the two elements
of the machine thefe, when at length they were
fully matured in the inventor's laft thoughts, gave
him a claim, rightfully, to the praife that is due to
an original inventor. Crompton's pofition in re-
lation to the fpinning machineries was analogous
to that of Watt, in relation to thefteam-engine ; or
to that of Stephenfon, as to the locomotive engine.
The application of thefe inventions to woven
fabrics of other materials than cotton, namely, to
flax, wool, and filk, required many adaptations of
their elementary principles, and thefe were not
effe&ed otherwife than by the genius and afliduity
of men who, nineteen out of twenty of them,
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 215
were men whom we claim, in this EfTay, as our
Induftrial Heroes men in whom Mind mind as
old as the infant man illuftrates its fupremacy as
related to whatever may be fet off as extraneous,
fupplementary, adventitious, and advantageous to
other men. To name the men in this order,
whofe ingenuity carried the primary mechanic con-
ception out into its various adaptations, would lead
us too far away from our theme. We are adducing
famples only and not more than may fuffice to
indicate, and to make good our conclufion.*
VI.
WE fhould ftep forward from fpinning to weaving;
in which department, however, the improvements
that have taken place, although highly important,
have not been comparable to thofe which put out
of exiftence the houfewife's fpinning-wheel and
her diftaff. Highly important indeed were thefe
inventions ; for to what point of depreflion would
the Cotton manufactures of this, and of other
countries now fall, if interdicted the ufe of the
Power Loom ? To whom then, does the gar-
ment-wearing world all the world over owe
its cheap raiment? it is to a Clergyman-, fo we
muft call him, if we judge him by the colour of
* William Kelly, of Glafgow, might take his place
here j but we are not fully informed as to his early hiftory.
216 ESSJTS, ETC.
his cloth ; but a layman, as to his relation to the pro-
feflion the province of which he invaded. EDMUND
CARTWRIGHT, Perpetual Curate of Brampton,
and afterwards Rector of Goadby Marwood, was
a literary man too, and a writer of fonnets ; but
we challenge him as one of our order an inftance
in proof of a principle. Cartwright had com-
pleted his fortieth year when his mechanical
genius broke the fhell : it was in his forty-fecond
year that the Power Loom, of his invention, came
into operation. At the moment when the then-
expanding application of machinery to manufac-
tures opened itfelf incidentally to his view, he faw
with what advantage, and with what eafe too, the
new agent which Watt had brought to bear upon
mining, and other operations, might be applied to
the loom. " The thing is impoffible :" this was
the unanimous verdicl: of the u practical men" of
that time, and of the profeflional clan, whofe
opinion Cartwright afked : u or if we were to
grant you that the thing might be done, it would
not be worth the doing: it would never pay."
This fage prediction fo foon to be falfified in its
mechanical fenfe, and falfified alfo in its commer-
cial fenfe, as to the manufacturing world was
verified in one fenfe only, namely, in its meaning
as toward the individual inventor ; for he, even
after receiving his ten thoufand pounds from the
niggard generofity of Parliament, went to his grave
a ruined man : or, if not fo, many thoufands out
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 217
of pocket. An inftance parallel, in this refpect, is
the one which fhould find its place next in order;
it is that of the u poor Straw-hat Maker of
Lyons," whofe inventive genius has given to the
Loom an incalculable extenfion of its powers.
The Jacquard Engine, or rather thisfapplement to
the loom, brings decorative weaving, as to colour,
and as to textile configuration, entirely within the
range of a merely mechanic adjuftment.
JACQUARD, in confequence of an incidental
glance at an Englifh newfpaper, was woke up to
mechanical fpeculation : he fucceeded in contriving
a machine for net-making ; and thenceforward this
field engaged all his thoughts. The machine which
paffes by his name and which was very flowly
elaborated did at length eftablifh its claim to
adoption in all varieties of decorative weaving, and
as to all materials. But the inventor faw his ex-
quifite organifm deftroyed, by order of the magif-
trates of Lyons, and himfelf the objecl: of feveral
confpiracies againft his life. Neverthelefs this
invention has long conftituted a principal element
in the manufacturing means of all manufacturing
countries. Whether the lucklefs " ftraw-hat
maker" drew any perfonal advantage, from that
which had enriched the world, does not appear.*
* I have failed to meet with Jacquard's Chriftian name,
nor have been able to learn what was his perfonal hiftory
in later years.
218 ESSdrS, ETC.
In the hiftory of thofe manufactures which have
to do with textile-fabrics, many names occur of
improvers and inventors moft of whom were
men of the operative clafs; or, if not fo, at lean:
they were men who were non-profeffional, and
were untrained and untrammelled by eftablifhed
ufages. To give them, all, and to each, his due,
would lead us too far in refpecl: of our purpofe in
this Eflay.
VII.
WE muft now ftep back a few years in the order
of time, and adduce aninftance a fignal inftance
indeed it is, and one that is moft proper to our
purpofe: the reader knows that the man we have
here in profpecl is JAMES WATT. But our right
to claim him, as belonging to our illuftrious com-
pany of the non-profeffional, may perhaps be dif-
puted. Watt, at length, or jlowly In the courfe of
years^ became a fcientific, and a highly-inftru&ed
man. Within his department, and even beyond
it, he flood abreaft of the moft diftinguifhed phi-
lofophers of his times; and in fome inftances he
led the way in fcience; nor was he, even in his
earlieft years, like Arkwright, or Stephenfon, an
uninformed youth a mere cottage genius. At
the time of his return from London to Glafgow
if not at an earlier date he could hold converfe
intelligently with profeflbrs of fcience, and with
fuch men as Dr. Black.
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 219
Yet, notwithftanding his fupplemented acquifi-
tion of thefe advantages, James Watt is a man of
our company, and we claim him on fuch accounts
as thefe following : he was f elf-educated : his
conftitutional tendencies and infirmity of health
made him always a folitary ftudent: he was an
infulated thinker. The habit of his mind was that
of felf-prompted meditation : his mufings were
from within; and his trains of analogic reafoning,
when in queft of a dimly-perceived fa6t in advance,
were from the abftracl out toward the concrete ;
and thefe thoughts were followed in the mood of
a high independence of what other men might be
thinking of, or doing. He liftened eagerly to Dr.
Black, and others of the Glafgow Univerfity ;
but it was as Columbus might have given ear to
the aftronomers of his time : if what thefe men
knew, and which he did not know, could be
brought to bear upon his great telluric conception,
and his enterprife, it was well : if not, he was not
dimeartened.
If Watt had had no predeceflbrs in the inven-
tion of the Steam-Engine, it is probable that he
would have done nearly the fame thing as he ac-
tually did taking it up where he found it. The
mereft incident, which might direcT: his attention
to the force of fteam would have given him all
the fuggeftive aid he needed. The analogic and
the fynthetic forecaft, or, as we fay, the mecha-
nical fagacity, would, at a bound, have carried
220 ESS^rS, ETC.
him forward from the ground of his firft crude
thoughts to the advanced ground whereupon he
fet his foot when he took in hand the repair of a
Newcomen's Engine.
Neither as a mechanical inventor, nor as a civil
engineer, was Watt, at any time, or in any fenfe,
a profeffional practitioner : a Layman he was in
all lines, from the firft to the laft. And fo were
thofe who were his predeceflbrs in the invention
of the Steam-Engine ; and fo have been fome of
the moft diftinguifhed of thofe who, fince his time,
have fupplemented it by important improvements.
The early hiftory of this prime invention the
one tool of modern material civilization gives us
the name of an illuftrious layman, the Marquis of
Worcefter layman in every fenfe ; and fo was
Captain Thomas Savary, " Gent.," as he ftyles
himfelf; and fo was Thomas Newcomen, the
blackfmitb of Dartmouth, and fo his partner, John
Cawley, glazier, of the fame place, and fo was
Humphrey Potter, the inventor of the automatic
valve-opener. The Steam-Engine, fuch as Watt
took it in hand, and fuch as he bequeathed it to
the world, is the triumph of undrilled and of non-
profeffional genius ; and it is what it is in defpite
of the pertinacious oppofition of thofe whofe fuc-
cefTors now call him their Apoftle.
Upon the Eddyftone lighthoufe we may lay a
finger taking it to ourfelves as a fignal monu-
ment of non-profeflional intelligence. The firft
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 221
lighthoufe, on this difficult fite, was conftru&ed
by WINSTANLEY "a gentleman of EfTex ;"
partly of wood, partly of ftone : it gave way (No-
vember, 1703) in a hurricane, the moft fevere,
perhaps, that has ever occurred in thefe latitudes.
The fecond lighthoufe, wholly of wood, was con-
ftru&ed by RUDYERD, a filk mercer; and we may
accept Smeaton's opinion of it, who fays that
it was " well devifed, and effectively executed."
This ftru&ure was deftroyed by fire, after with-
ftanding the ftorms of fifty winters. The third,
and the now extant Eddyftone lighthoufe, was
contrived and conftru&ed by SMEATON a man
bred to the law, and who made himfelf, and was
not made a profeflional engineer ; and who took
a foremoft place in his profeflion by force of ge-
nius, and by that afliduity which attends genius of
the higher order.
VIII.
AN average fpeed per hour, of twenty-five, or
thirty miles for the Britim Iflands, and a lefs fpeed
elfewhere ; but a fifty miles for exprefs trains
this is the product before us ; but the project to
bring it about, or to realize a half of it, or a third
part, was pronounced, and was denounced, by
every prof ejjtonal man in England, as impracticable,
and abfurd it was nothing better than " a mad-
man's fcheme." Spite of faclis before their eyes
fpite of the cleareft demonftrations of fcience
222 ESSJTS, ETC.
this mindlefs obduracy animated by the pitiful
jealoufies of a difciplined body, held to its own
its ftupidity through many long years. Through-
out the years of GEORGE STEPHENSON'S uphill
labours, from the time of the opening of the
Stockton and Darlington Railway, to that of the
undifputed achievement of the Manchefter and
Liverpool, it was lefs the titan phyfical difficulties
of his enterprife, than the virulent antagonifm
of profeflional perfons, that fo long delayed his
triumphs. Parliamentary Committees, prompted
and inftru&ed by the Profeffion, more forely tried
the patience of this great man than quickfands or
than peat bogs than Kilfby tunnel, or than Chat
Mofs.
The life and labours of the brakefman at Black
Callerton, and the hiftory of his fuccefles, carry
in them, by condenfation, many leflbns of practical
wifdom, as touching the progrefs of the Induftrial
Arts, and the mechanical advancements of civil-
ized communities. The pregnant pages where-
upon thofe labours are recorded will be perufed
in all time future, and muft bring about a clearer
underftanding than has hitherto had place, of
fuch truths as thefe that fignal forward move-
ments in the arts of life fpring from MIND, not
from Schooling ; and this too that thofe con-
gefted modes of thinking which prevail within
the profeffions are oftener obftructive, than pro-
motive, of fuch movements. In contravention
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 223
of this laft-named principle many pertinent in-
ftances might be adduced, feemingly favourable to
an oppofite conclufion. Let them be brought for-
ward, for they are proper elements of an equitable
inductive argument, on this fubjecl: ; but fo we
affume when they have found the place and the
value which is due to them, they will prove this
That profeffional training, with the vaft fum of
its prerogatives and powers, has itfelf, in thefe
times, been the product of UNDISCIPLINED MINDS.
Brindley, Arkwright, Watt, Stephenfon, after fe-
verally driving from the field the phalanx of the
profeffions that then ftood in their way, have in-
augurated the new profeffions that now carry out
their fplendid conceptions.
Mind-Force ! and what a force it is when
fome law of the material world fome principle
which nature makes ufe of in ruling the move-
ments of planets, or in the upheaving of moun-
tains is difcerned in its fimplicity, and is read off,
without a blunder, from the mechanifm of the
heavens, and is brought, in its fimpleft form, to
bear upon the labours of man ! Was the reader
one of the fpectators when an iron tube, weight
1, 800 tons, was lifted aloft from its barges, and
poifed high in air, and was lodged upon its fup-
ports, athwart the Menai Straits ? This lifting
was the work of the Hydraulic Prefs. But among
any hundred of thofe fpe6tators, taking even the
beft-educated of the throng, it would probably
224 ESSATS, ETC.
have been only a few of them who could have
given us a clear and true account of this mighty
engine, as to the reafon of its power. At this
time it is the Hydraulic Prefs that fupplements, in
all lines of induftrial art, the Steam-Engine; for
it is employed in doing better, and in doing in a
more manageable way, what this might be made
to do ; and in doing alfo fome things which this
could by no means be made to achieve. In en-
tering any of thofe places of enormous productive
force wherein giant work is in progrefs, the vifitor
may, if he pleafes, imagine that he fees, on his
right hand, the Gog, on his left hand, the Magog,
of Force : to wit the Steam-Engine, and the
Hydraulic Prefs, each, in its way, multiplying or
furpaffing, in a million-fold proportion, the human
mufcular power, and that of the horfe.
JOSEPH BRAMAH, the inventor of this Engine,
was one of our illuftrious band : he was of humble
origin, and ferved his apprenticefhip to a Car-
penter in his native town, Stainborough, York-
(hire. This was his only preparation for his courfe,
as one of the moft fertile and fuccefsful of modern
mechanifts. He began life, in London, as a
Cabinet-maker; but he foon originated improve-
ments in certain domeftic appointments which
opened a path of remunerative bufmefs before
him : then came the Bramah lock, and fome time
later, the Hydraulic Prefs : afterwards, his planing
machines, and then the improvements he carried
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 225
out in the printing and numbering of Bank of
England notes. As with Watt and the Steam-
Engine, fo with Bramah and the Hydraulic Prefs ;
it was not his boaft that he had difcovered the law
of which he herein availed himfelf ; nor was he
even the firft to give it expreffion in an actual
ftruclure ; but it was his merit to fee, in the hy-
draulic paradox, an available force a force illi-
mitable and to devife the means of rendering it
eafily available for practical purpofes. When trees
of the largeft fize were torn up by the roots
iilently and with eafe two men only at the pumps
there was an exhibition, in brief, of that relation-
fhip of the human mind to the material world
whence all advancement in the arts takes its rife ;
but the full meaning of which is not underftood
until the deftined time comes for making it known,
as opened to fome rude intellect, born in a cottage,
and unknowing, and unknown of fcience.
The much-entangled hiftory of Steam Naviga-
tion, contefted, as it has been, at every point, fur-
nifhes feveral names that would be proper for our
purpofe ; but in making good a claim to indi-
viduals, controverfies that are ftill undecided muft
be entered upon, and much documentary evidence
muft be examined and critically dealt with. A
labour of this fort would be ill-fpent in this in-
ftance ; and in truth our conclufion ftands good
without the aid which it might yield. It would
be more eafy to name twenty, than to felect five
226 ESSATS, ETC.
names that fliould be the moft fit to be brought
forward in an argument of this kind ; for in each
of thofe departments wherein, recently, the moft
remarkable advancements have been efre&ed, there
are many names that ought to ftand on our lift.
So it is as to later improvements in the Steam-
Engine, and in Gas Illumination, and in Marine
Architecture, and in Paper-making, and in Calico-
printing, and in Calico-engraving, and in Machine-
printing, and in the feveral arts that are dependent
upon Electricity mechanical and chemical ; and
in Photography, and in Lithography, and in the
various applications of Caoutchouc, and of Gutta
Percha.
We have thus fo often been led to trace our
men of mind to their birth-places in cottages, and
to follow them in their training in fhops ; but
there are not wanting inftances of another or-
der : fome have already been named, of men
who, born in a higher pofition, have earned their
fame apart from profefiional training: laymen
they were, as to the profeffions, which have at
length recognized their merits. Such was Marc
Ifambard Brunei : fuch is Mr. Talbot, the Pho-
tographic inventor ; and fuch, pre-eminently, was
the nobleman to whom literature is largely in-
debted on account of his Printing Prefs, and his
improvements in the methods of Stereotype Print-
ing. The illiterate Brindley companion as he
was from year to year, of a duke, will not feel
MODERN ADVANCEMENT, ETC. 227
himfelf abafhed, if he be afked to lead a band of
men which is brought up by a non-profeffional
inventor even fuch a one as Charles, Earl Stan-
hope.
IX.
A READER of this EfTay who, although generally
well-informed, may not heretofore have given
attention to the fubjet of it, would be likely
to fuppofe that a few inftances, of the fort we
have mentioned, might perhaps be found if they
were looked for, and carefully hunted up : two or
three may occur at once to his recollection, and
others might be found in the dim obfcurity of
workfliops and mills thofe blackened dens of toil
into which curious travellers are led to look, at
Manchefter, and Birmingham, and Glafgow. In
fuch places, it would not be doubted, that a grim
Daniel Scroggins, and an aproned Sam Smith,
might be found fad tipfy fellows, both of them,
to whofe ingenuity this or that mechanical im-
provement has been due. But our inftances have
not been of this ambiguous order : far otherwife.
The hafty glance which we have thus taken,
has comprehended the very chief, and the moft
ftupendous of thofe advancements that have
fignalized the paft hundred years, and that have
been the main means of placing Great Britain in
its front pofition among the nations ; and which
have doubled its population, and have brought in
228 ESS4TS, ETC.
upon it incalculable perennial revenues. Now
the men who have achieved all thefe triumphs
and there is barely an exceptive inftance have
done it under thofe fevere conditions of unaided
fpontaneity, and of non-profeffional initiation,
which meet the requirements of our argument.
Thefe great men Nature's own ftamping is
upon them her mark on their fronts, after having
firft conquered the obduracy of material elements,
and after bending things the moft refractory to
their purpofes, have then vanquifhed, and have
triumphed over, and have led captive at their
chariot-wheels, the marfhalled hofts of the Pro-
feffional world thofe men of might who dwell
in cities walled up to heaven even the briftled
munitions of profeffional privilege and of felfifh
prejudice.
The facts herein glanced at bear upon them an
afpect of uniformity which at once indicates the
operation of a law, and fuggefts what fort of law
it is. But firft we may afk room for an inference
which may be named, and which, if it were
heeded, might foften a little the rigour of pro-
feffional jealoufy, and abate a little profeffional
over-weening. Are we intending to difparage
profeffional education, or to lower the eftimate
that fhould be formed of the importance the
neceffity of fpecial difcipline, fpecial learning, fpe-
cial rules and maxims ? Far from it. Should
we choofe to put ourfelves into the hands of
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 229
a lay furgeon ; or willingly be treated, in fever,
by quacks? Certainly not. The Profeffions, the
Cloth, the Clergy, are conftituted for adminifter-
ing, and for giving the beft poflible effecl: to, every
known and well - authenticated maxim every
axiom, rule, method, formula, to which highly in-
ftrucl:ed teachers have attached their authoritative
fignature. All this is certain, and it can need no
argumentation to eftablifli it. Thefe admiffions
made, then thofe who are of the Profefiions mould
underftand that fo we infer on the ground of all
paft experience, and on the evidence of fa&s
largely available Advancements and Improve-
ments are not their fun ft ion. The world does not
afk, or look for, new things at their hands. New
things always, or all but always, come in from with-
out. No corporation has ever been feen to reform
itfelf no guild relaxes its hold of its own no
reftrt&ed community is revolutionary : the pri-
vileged never forget to bar the door againft the
unprivileged. The fully-inftru&ed if, as com-
pared with other men, they have three eyes for
two, yet are they apt to lofe the ufe of the two, in
the fond ufe they make of the one eye. The in-
ference would be this Inform yourfelves as to
the fa6ls before you commit yourfelves as the an-
tagonifts of Inventions and Improvements, when
fuch are propounded by idiotic men.
The fa&s above adduced, and the many more
that are adducible, have, we fay, that afpecl: of uni-
230 ESS ATS, ETC.
formity which entitles them to be regarded as indi-
cative of a fixed principle of the Intellectual Syftem.
At leaft they are available for the purpofe of en-
hancing and confirming our belief in the INDIVI-
DUALITY OF MIND; that is to fay its Force, and
its Sovereignty, as developed, from the birth, in
this and that man, who proves himfelf to be one
of Nature's own fons richly endowed from the
firft and not made by cir cum/lances, or fafhioned
by training. The man is not following a train of
world-wide influences ; for he leads, or, better to
defcribe his labours, be pujhes the world onward^
in front of him.
Much has been faid of late, and one would
think more than enough, the meaning of which
would be to put out of view this Individuality of
Mind, and to bring into the place of it fome vague
" tendency," fome " requirement of the age," or
whatever is undefinable, or nearly deftitute of
meaning, and that is at variance with the hiftory
of the progrefs of nations. Tendencies, no
doubt, are of great force ; and they do rule the
multitude ; but Individuality is of far greater force ;
and it overrules tendencies ; or, more often, it
creates them; it is the initiation of courfes of
events.
If now, from the facts that have been haftily
glanced at in this EfTay, we were to attempt an
induction which fhould iffue in bringing before us
fome law of thought, in a phycological fenfe,
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 231
then thefe fame facls, when ftri&ly examined,
would perplex any attempted generalization. As
thus: Suppofe we were to reftricl: ourfelves to
three or four eminent inftances, each of which
appears to reprefent a clafs of inftances, and were
to take the names of Brindley, Arkwright, Watt,
and Stephenfon, as the four heroes of material
Power. If the fuccefles of thefe men of genius
might be traced to the predominance of one, and
the fame intelle&ual faculty as, for example, the
fenfe of analogy; or otherwife, to the purely ab-
ftra&ive faculty the power of following on from
the multiform concrete, to the elementary, then it
might indeed be eafy, or not very difficult, to (how
that this one mental force ats with the higheft
advantage when it is the leaft encumbered with
the extrinfic aids of education, and of artificial
culture. And therefore it is that the great in-
ventor is one who has walked forth upon the in-
duftrial world not from univerfities, but from
hovels not as clad in filks, and decked with ho-
nours, but as clad in fuftian, and grimed with
foot and oil.
But now let us read the hiftory of the four
great men above-mentioned, and follow their
courfe in detail, and fee in what manner, from day
to day, they encountered unlooked-for difficulties,
and conquered, where all but themfelves would
have fallen. Watch them efpecially when they
come up to things " impracticable," as everybody
232 ESS ATS, ETC.
tells them, and, neverthelefs, walk on, ftraight
away, through other men's " impoffibilities." In
thus following the daily courfe of fuch men, we
muft convince ourfelves of this truth Thatthefe
arduous occafions have called into action not any
one intellectual faculty ; but every feveral faculty
that enriches the human mind ; and that the work
actually achieved by them was the product lefs of
a fmgle predominant mental power, than of the
harmony and equilibrium of all faculties. Inven-
tion, in its higher inftances, is not a fheer phyco-
logical element ; but it is a congeries, or an or-
ganization combining all elements.
If the broad import of the facts adduced, or
hinted at, in thefe pages, and if the pervading co-
lour of them is fuch as to indicate the prefence of
a law, this law muft be looked for on a higher
platform than that wherewith the philofophy of
tabulated generalization is converfant. The law
we are in fearch of muft be Heaven's own law,
and which, as often as it difplays itfelf with con-
fpicuous majefty, does fo in fovereign difregard of
thofe things which are moft the objects of admir-
ation and worfhip among men. In a word, the
great men of this laft epoch, whofe labours have
incalculably promoted the material well-being of
mankind, and have given to the civilized nations
their needed advantage over the brute force of the
uncivilized, thefe men have been God's own gift
to the human family, in the completenefs of their
MODERN ADVANCEMENTS, ETC. 233
faculties. They did not appear until the clock of the
world had ftruck the hour for their coming until
the moment when all the ftars were favourable.
Then they came ; and they came from the ob-
fcureft cabins they came from dens of penury
unlearned and idiotic men they were ; and thofe
who might have hailed their advent, did their
utmoft to tread them out of exiftence. But their
commiffion had been counterfigned on high, and
the world now fees it, and gladly enters upon
their labours.
Taking it thus (fuperftition and exaggeration
apart) then the belief that thefe men, and others
like them, have been gifts from above, carries with
it a tacit promife that others, in due time, {hall in
like manner be given, who {hall carry forward, to
yet another ftage, that fcheme of human advance-
ment, as to its material well-being, which {hall
attend, and which {hall facilitate, and which mall
fpread far its advancement in the higher well-being
of the moral and religious life.
ESSAY IV.
Lay Theologians.
HE mafs of fa6ts brought together in
a preceding EfTay is fufficient to fuf-
tain the affirmation That a large
proportion of thofe inventions and
improvements which have fignalized the laft hun-
dred years have fprung from men who did not
enjoy the advantages of a profeflional education ;
and who, for the moft part, have had to encounter
profeffional hoftility.
A queftion now prefents itfelf of this fort Has
an analogous courfe of things had place within and
around the precin&s of Theology ?
The conditions under which anything fimilar to
this might find room within thefe precincts are of
a very different kind ; and they are fuch as might
feem quite to exclude the expectation that it could
be fo. In Theology (Chriftian Belief and Chriftian
Morals) no advancements or difcoveries, in any
fenfe analogous to thefe that have opened new
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 235
fields of action in the arts, and given a new im-
pulfe to Philofophy, and the Sciences, are to be
looked for as poflible, nor can they find any place
among defiderata. And then, moreover, this other
condition ftands acrofs the path of advancement
by lay incurfions; for as well the confervation
and diffufion, as the elucidation of Chriftian truth,
and the maintenance of Chriftian morality, have
been configned, in a diftinct and authoritative
manner, to an order of men, thereunto dedicated;
and who, for the difcharge of the offices thereto
related, receive, or mould receive, a fpecific train-
ing, and an ample courfe of inftruction. What
room, then, can there be left for intruders upon
the precincts of facred fcience? or what call can
there be here for the undifciplined and the unap-
pointed ? or how mail Laymen find a warranty
for their prefumption in daring to teach in the
Church ?
To this, and to much more that might be ad-
vanced in corroboration of the doctrine that the
Chriftian miniftry is a Divinely-eftablimed inftitu-
tion, and that its functions are not to be arrogated
at pleafure by men whofe zeal may outftep their
humility, to all this, or to fo much of it as maybe
made good by clear warranty of Scripture, we give
our fubmifiive aflent. Neverthelefs, after doing
fo, we yet have a defenfible pofition to maintain.
In the firft place, it may fairly be afked, whether
there are not functions to be difcharged, and
236 ESSATS, ETC.
fervices to be rendered, which are highly im-
portant to the religious well-being of a Chriftian
community, but which, in the very nature of the
cafe, could not be previoufly defined, or fubjected
to control, as belonging to an eftablifhed order, or
a recognized miniftry ? We think an affirmative
reply to this queftion may be confidently afTumed.
And yet this reafonable affumption might be
fuperfeded by an appeal to an array of unqueftion-
able facts. The ways of Heaven are above rule :
gifts are conferred in a fovereign manner from on
high. Orders are for men, and from them : difpen-
fations of grace are divine prerogatives ; and thefe
difpenfations have, in every age, been inclufive of
miniftrations that were out of rule. More than
this may be affirmed ; for albeit the Lay function
could not, in its very nature, come within the
terms of a fpecification of orders for in that cafe
it would ceafe to be Laic ; yet it has received its
authentication by clear inference from the fact,
that, under the ancient Theocracy, and again
throughout the whole period of the Hebrew mo-
narchy, the moft noted of thofe " holy men of old,
by whom God fpake unto the fathers," were called
from the non-hierarchical families of the people :
few infpired men were of the tribe of Levi, or of
the family of Aaron. How ftands the lift of the
Infpired perfons ? Are its elements moftly facer-
dotal, or moftly laical ? A brief review of the
facts furnilhes a fufficient reply to this queftion.
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 237
Thofe who may not hitherto have given atten-
tion to the fubjecl:, may refent the writer's bold-
nefs in making out fo large a Catalogue of non-
hierarchical perfons commiffioned, neverthelefs,
to preach, teach, and write, within the pale of a
religious inftitution.
The firft act in the inauguration of the Ancient
Church gives warrant enough for what is here
affirmed. Aaron was the prieft : not fo his
brother the man who ruled as " a king in Jefhu-
run" who gave law to the defcendants of Abra-
ham, and who indited a Revelation for the people
of all times. MOSES, therefore, ftands at the head
of this lift. JOB, or the writer of his hiftory,
might take the fecond place ; and DAVID the
third, and SOLOMON the fourth ; and then follow
the prophets in their feries, and thofe, from age to
age, who delivered to the men of their times fome
fpecific meflage. So far as appears, GAD and NA-
THAN belong to the fame order, and then follow
ISAIAH, and JONAH, and AMOS, and JOEL ;
HOSEA alfo, and NAHUM, MICAH, and ZEPHA-
NIAH, and HABAKKUK, and OBADIAH, and HAG-
GAI, and ZECHARIAH ; and, as a pre-eminent
inftance, DANIEL, a fecular perfon undoubtedly,
and NEHEMIAH, who brings up this array of men
who were Infpired, but were not of the priefthood.
A lift fuch as this may, at leaft, warrant the belief
that there are fervices to be performed, and func-
tions to be difcharged, for the performance of
238 ESS ATS, ETC.
which it is the rule of the Divine adminiftration
to call forward thofe who ftand exempted from
facerdotal duties, and who are unfhackled by thofe
habits of thought and thofe prepofTeffions which
are chara6leriftic of that order.
This is manifeft, that in the constitution of the
Jewilh State Civil and Sacred effective provi-
fion was made for counteracting the undue preva-
lence of facerdotal influence, and for checking, at
the outfet, its infidious encroachments. " Every-
thing in the Theology (of the Hebrew people) was
marked out, circumfcribed, and fixed ; and there-
fore it was an unfit material of fpiritual defpotifm.
Nor fhould we fail to notice the fingular fact,
that the prefcience of future mundane events
a pretence to which has been fo mighty an engine
of prieftly power, was (fo far as granted at all)
conveyed through the inftrumentality of an extra
facerdotal clafs namely, that of the prophets,
who were, indifcriminately, of every tribe, and
who, even when, in a few inftances, of Levitical
origin, derived none of their authority from the
hands of the fuperiors of their own order .... It
is the exclufive pofleffion, and the irrefponfible
control of all kinds of fpiritual power which ena-
bles a hierarchy to digeft its plans of encroach-
ment, and to achieve gradual usurpations ; but no
fuch exclufive domination was ever permitted to
the Jewim clergy. An unfailing fucceilion of in-
fpired men, fometimes members of the Aaronic
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 239
houfe, but more often not fo, flood up as the im-
mediate minifters of Jehovah, dealing rebukes,
with high intrepidity, on all fides ; and aflailing
the vices, or the remiflhefs, as well of the priefts,
as of the princes, or the fovereign. The high-
prieft could never call himfelf the Vicar of God,
or the ultimate authority, from whofe decifions
there could be no appeal. Whatever fcheme of
aggrandizement for his order an ambitious hierarch
might meditate, he could never, for a moment, fe-
cure himfelf againft the thundering reproof of fome
extra-facerdotal voice, the pealing of which muft
have {battered his devices."*
In defcending the ftream of time, inftances
proper to our prefent purpofe meet us frequently.
If we do not claim the author of the " Wifdom of
Solomon," there need be no hefitation concerning
Jomua, fon of Sirach an eminent contributor to
the ftores of axiomatic wifdom, and a writer who,
if it had not been his misfortune to ftand in a pofi-
tion of difadvantageous comparifon with the in-
fpired writers, would have commanded a high
reputation in the clafs to which he actually belongs.
He is not a Plato, nor a Seneca, nor an Epi&etus ;
but he is one who, having learned a wifdom deeper
or more fpiritual than that of the fages of Greece,
will be read with pleafure and advantage by thofe
who know whence to draw the elements of a wif-
* Spiritual Defpotifm : fecond edition, pp 96. 105.
240 ESS^rS, ETC.
dom more genuine, and ftill more fpiritual than
his own.
Other names might here take their places, but
a high reputation leads us on to a later time
that of PHILO : and here let our rule of felection
be kept in view : we claim as a Layman any one,
who, difcharging a function of a religious kind,
whether or not he might be of facerdotal paren-
tage, did not exercife the prieftly office ; but, in
addicting himfelf to facred literature and philofo-
phy, was moved to do fo by his individual tafte, and
the religious turn of his mind. It is thus that we
bring forward Philo the Platonic Jew, who was
of facerdotal extraction ; but was never a prieft in
office, and employed himfelf, through life, either
in fecular affairs, or in the purfuit of philofophy and
literature. "Quid loquar de Philone," afks St. Je-
rome, " quern vel alterum, vel fecundum Plato-
nem, critici pronunciant ?" Of facerdotal extrac-
tion alfo fo he aflures us, but, in difpofition and
in occupation, thoroughly a fecular man, was JOSE-
PHUS ; neverthelefs, a religious writer, and emi-
nent in his line. How ill could we fpare his folios
from the (helf that contains the principal authors
in the department of ancient religious literature !
On much the fame ground we give a place, and
nothing more, to the names of AQUILA, and of
THEODOTION, and of SYMMACHUS ; but we waive
a formal claim to them as proper inftances in this
enumeration. There are inftances enough of men
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 241
highly diftinguiftied in this line, and concerning
whom no queftion, on this ground, can be raifed.*
JUSTIN MARTYR a fecular perfon a philo-
fopher, and a writer, and more than this, a Chrif-
tian man who could die for his faith, after he
had written well in its defence. Avoiding difput-
able inftances, we leave unclaimed the names of
ATHENAGORAS, PANT^NUS, APOLLONIUS, ARIS-
TIDES ; nor fhall we enter upon a debate concern-
ing TERTULLIAN, who, though defignated " pref-
byter," never appears to have exercifed the prieftly
office. But, without a doubt, that accompliflied
writer, MINUCIUS FELIX, is claimable on our fide.
A lawyer, and man of the world, and, as a writer,
elegant and cauftic, and an efficient apologift for
the Chriftianity of his times ; and the more fo,
becaufe, as one who was converfant with the bufi-
nefs of life, in the open world, and who occupied
an independent pofition, his profeflion as a Chrif-
tian has a peculiar value. " How able a defender
of the faith would he have been, if he had given
himfelf wholly to ftudies of that order." f We do
not join in the implied wifti that he had done fo.
The " Oftavius" draws much of its value from
* Good reafons induce us to omit altogether the names
that belong to the Apoftolic College.
f Quam idoneus veritatis aflertor efle potuifTet, li fe
totum ad id ftudium contuliflet. Laftantius. De Juftitia,
Lib. V.
242 ESSATS, ETC.
this very circumftance, that it is a lay contribution
to the defence of Chriftian Truth.
In the period now in view, names abound that
might properly fwell our lift. Philofophers, gram-
marians, orators, vanquifhed by the Gofpel, avowed
themfelves Chriftians, and, without forfaking their
callings, made contributions to the flock of reli-
gious literature. Such was ORIGEN a layman
until late in his courfe, and never other than, in
form, a prefbyter : his is a name worth a thou-
fand, and we might dwell long upon it, but muft
haften on. ARNOBIUS may follow Origen with
honour ; and to him fhould fucceed LACTANTIUS
worthy, indeed, of a perufal by the modern
fludent, as he was worthy of better treatment
than he met with from his contemporaries.
By the rule of claiming as a layman, any who,
although they had taken orders, never exercifed the
Chriftian miniftry, but were literary men entirely,
we mould lay a bold hand upon the great theo-
logue of Bethlehem, JEROME : for, by formal fli-
pulation, he was exempted from all clerical duties
and obligations. As a layman we might chal-
lenge him, inafmuch as he flood aloof from the
clerical body, and made himfelf the fharp reprover
of its errors and vices. Unfparing and ungentle
were his aflaults upon monks, prefbyters, and
bifhops fuch as he found them in his times. An
object of dread and hatred was he, not only among
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 243
heretics, but with the clergy too : Oderunt cle-
rici, quia vitia eorum infe&atur et crimina.
We pafs many names, fome of them queftion-
able as to their ecclefiaftical pofition ; others, un-
doubtedly, laic and reach the times of the laft of
the feries of noted Chriftian writers. BOETIUS,
conful and religious poet a man of whom the
church of a brighter age might have been proud.
The night of the following ages was illumined by
a few ftars, laical ; but we (hall not ftop to argue
the point of our right to claim them as fuch. Ar-
gument apart, ABELARD is ours and fo (we ftep
back in chronology) is ALFRED king Chriftian
man, and Chriftian writer.
We fhould afk MAIMONIDES to come over to
our fide ; and then DANTE, if he will walk in
company with the Jew ; and thence ftep forward
to modern times, with which, fo far as any ferious
inference may connect itfelf with the fubjecl: of
this Eflay, we have a far more vital connection
than with antiquity.
II.
IT is in thefe laft days it is fmce the re-anima-
tion of philofophy and literature, and it is fmce the
religious emancipation of the European mind, that
the LAY FUNCTION, in its bearing upon Chriftian
development, has diftin&ly marked itfelf upon
the courfe of religious thought. Throughout thefe
244 ESS ATS, ETC.
three-and-a-half centuries, thefe irregular auxilia-
ries the non-authorized the unfent the un-
called for, and (for the moft part) the undefired,
are fo many, that they bear a large proportion to
the entire number of Chriftian authors ; and fome
who ftand upon the lift are names of the very
brighteft luftre. We briefly adduce the inftances ;
and, while they pafs in review, let the queftion be
confidered whether Lay intrufion upon the field of
Theology, and of Chriftian thought, fhould not be
regarded with indulgence, or even approval ; or at
leaft allowed to ftand exempt from ferious blame ;
perhaps be welcomed, as a tacitly authenticated
office in the Chriftian commonwealth.
As to thefe laft times, the Lay function in Theo-
logy is headed by a royal divine ; but of what fort
that " Faith" was which he defended, or with
what fort of arguments he defended it, it is now
of no moment to inquire ; but of fome import-
ance, and of much fignificance is the fact, that
king HENRY {hould be the man to inaugurate this
non-official lay interference in religious contro-
verfy, and that he fhould do fo while contending
with vehemence for thofe principles of Church
authority, and of clerical ufurpation, which were
then rapidly breaking up. Churchmen were tel-
ling the people to read the Bible, and to think for
themfelves. And it was then that a layman, a
learned prince^ is fhowing them that they may do
fo ; and how they may do it. Another layman, a
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 245
better, and perhaps a wifer man, than his matter,
and endowed with a keener intellect THOMAS
MORE, carries forward the emancipative work of
modern times, while zealoufly labouring to ftem
the advancing tide. He argues in fupport of the
lofty pretenfions of the clergy ; but, while doing
fo, he not only forefees the approaching over-
throw of this pretenfion, but he promotes it in
making himfelf as a layman, the champion of
the Church. " I am not a theologian," faidMore
to his royal mafter ; but, in oppofing himfelf to
the king's wifhes he took up his pofition on theo-
logical ground ; and how could he refufe to be
called a theologian, while he wrote largely, as he
did ; and when, in accepting the chancellorfhip,
he pufhed the church from the place me had fo
long occupied ? A line for his name in this lift,
but not more, may be given to THOMAS CROM-
WELL. The names are many of ftatefmen whofe
interference in the religious convulfions of the
fixteenth and feventeenth centuries would give
them a right to ftand in this lift, but we turn
rather to the clafs of writers and thinkers.
So fully had religious thought at this time taken
pofTeflion of the European mind, that, in every
department of Philofophy, it had come to give law
to fpeculation. Lay philofophers were, all of
them, theologians, by a neceffity arifing in the
courfe of the intellectual development which they
promoted. DES CARTES, SPINOZA, HOBBES, and
246 ESS4TS, ETC.
MALEBRANCHE, are inftances fufficient for fuf-
taining this aflumption; and the Jewifh meta-
phyfician, efpecially, is fo ; for he fhows that a
fyftem of philofophy, even although it fhould be
fuch as may lead the way to Atheifm, muft, never-
thelefs, at every ftep of its advance, be theological,
as well in its aflumptions, as in its method. Of
a'different clafs, but with a claim to a diftinguifhed
place in this array, is HUGO GROTIUS. Has any
churchman given to the Chriftian world a better
book fo conclufive, and fo highly condenfed
than is the treatife "De Veritate Religionis Chrif-
tianae?"
Illuftrious are the names that adorn this, and the
next following period they are thofe of LEIB-
NITZ, Sir ISAAC NEWTON, PASCAL, MILTON,
LOCKE, Sir THOMAS BROWNE, Judge HALE,
BOYLE, MICHAELIS. To BARCLAY we mould
allow a place in this lift ; and SWEDENBORG,
alfo, may take his pofition in it.
This clufter of names or let feven of them be
fingled out carries with it an inference which
mould be noted as we pafs. The Reformation
ftorm had effectively loofened the human mind
from its confinements, and had fet it clear of def-
potifms ; and clear, to a great extent, of falfe judg-
ments the growth of many centuries. At no
time within the limits of hiftory had the energies
of cultured thought been more amply developed, or
developed more varioufly as to its objects. Grant
LAT THEOLOGIANS. 247
it, as what we {hould look for, that thofe men of
mind who were officially committed to the opinions
they held, would be pertinacious in abiding by
their perfuafions. This allowed then we are
free to inquire in what manner thofe who had not
charged themfelves with the refponfibilities of
office, ufed, or mifufed, their intellectual liberty.
We are free to afk What courfe was taken by
the moft illuftrious LAY THINKERS of that age in
which great divines, as a matter of courfe, held
faft the faith of their profeffion ? An anfwer to
this queftion is before us ; and it is an anfwer that
is open to no valid exception : we find our an-
fwer in this aflemblage of names. The men who
not being of the clerical profeffion took part
freely in the religious difcuffions of the times the
Lay Theologians of that period, were fuch men
that none greater have appeared in any age they
are BACON, and LEIBNITZ, and NEWTON, and
PASCAL, and MILTON, and LOCKE, and BOYLE.
Thefe men were the chiefs of that era of intel-
lectual expanfion. The adherence of each of
thefe Advanced Thinkers to the great principles
of theology, and of Ghriftian theology, fpecially,
was firm, and undoubtedly fincere : their faith
was a matured judgment of reafon arrived at
after a hearing of the caufe ; and it included a
knowledge of the counter-pleas. Look to each in-
ftance, and it muft be granted that this LAY TES-
TIMONY was freely given, and that it has a value
248 ESS ATS, ETC.
which is permanent, and is liable to no material
exception ; unlefs it could be fhown either that
in the lapfe of later years, facts have come to light
which muft weaken or deftroy the Chriftian hif-
toric argument ; or that the recent advancements
of the Phyfical Sciences have elicited fome new
principles, or new methods of reafoning which, if
they had been known to thofe great men, muft
have compelled them Bacon, Leibnitz, Newton,
Locke, Pafcal, Boyle to abandon their ground as
religious men. This has not been done ; though
it may be pretended to have been done.
The foremoft minds of the next following in-
tellectual era, were not, in power or grafp, equal
to their predeceflbrs. Thofe whom we may chal-
lenge as claiming a place in our lift, .might be
clafled thus : (we are thinking of Englifh litera-
ture chiefly:) firft come the EfTayifts the mo-
ralifts with ADDISON at their head ; and who, by
the frefhnefs of their ftyle, and the general approv-
ablenefs of their principles, did much to bring back
the Englifh mind, throughout the upper and mid-
dle clafles, into a loftier and purer moral condition ;
and to reftore fome moral tone to the reading world
debauched as it had been by the loofe writers of
the fame, and of a preceding time. In this line
follow the names of SAMUEL JOHNSON, with whom
may ftand the object of his ire SOAME JENYNS.
Then comes HANNAH MORE, an eftimable pro-
faift 5 and ALEXANDER KNOX, and the array is
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 249
clofed by a name of great fignificance in modern
Englifli thought that of COLERIDGE ; and let us
append the names of SOUTHEY, and of Sir WIL-
LIAM JONES.
But, by this time, Methodifm had fpread itfelf
throughout almoft every county of England :
it had eftablifhed itfelf in towns ; and had fuffufed
its influence far beyond its own recognized boun-
daries : Methodifm, or if fome may plead for a de-
fignation more to their tafte let us fay A New
Religious Tone had won a pofition in Englifh
literature, as well as in the pulpit. This decifive
revival of Chriftian feeling whether Methodiftic,
or Anti-methodiftic produced very many lay co-
adjutors; and fome ofthefe were men of note, re-
ligioufly; albeit, they were not all of them writers;
but although not fo, yet they gave their weight
that of their genius, their virtues, their pofition,
and their political confequence very zealoufly to
fuftain this new aufpicious Chriftian movement.
Such were HENRY THORNTON, and ZACHARY
MACAULAY ; and fuch were COWPER, and WIL-
BERFORCE, and CLARKSON, and GRANVILLE
SHARP; and let JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY claim a
place in the group, and JOHN BOWDLER another,
as well as OLINTHUS GREGORY, and THOMAS
ERSKINE, and ROBERT NELSON ; nor fhould we
have omitted the HALDANES, higher up. A ftep
or two forward, from this point, would lead us
among our contemporaries, and muft involve an
250 ESSJTS, ETC.
expreflion of opinion that might feem invidious.
Yet, as to the now-prefent relationfhip of the
literary laity to theological principles, and to Chrif-
tianity, fomething may be faid all proprieties duly
regarded or fuch proprieties as are due from one
writer toward others of the literary guild, who
may like, or miflike, what he fays.
When a layman religioufly-minded, and fuffi-
ciently informed alfo, comes forward as a volun-
teer on the field of Chriftian Literature, he brings
with him the advantage of boldly profeffing a
faith to which he does not ftand pledged, either by
profeffional obligations, or by any direct perfonal
intereft. Probably he might avow himfelf the
champion of an anti-chriftian belief without in-
curring any perfonal rifk, or bringing any damage
to his worldly well-doing. His faith, at leaft, is
unpaid for ; it has not been ftipulated : he has
put his fignature to no articles, to no Confeflion.
Thus far he pofTefTes an advantage which may
be turned to good account, and which his readers
may well bear in mind in his favour. Never-
thelefs, as he has publicly given in his adherence
to the Chriftian faith, in a more or lefs definite
manner, he thus far ftands perfonally compro-
mifed.
Yet there are functions to be difcharged which
are important and, indeed, indifpenfable, as related
to the healthful condition of the religious com-
munity, but which are fuch that no minifterof re-
LAY THEOLOGIANS. 251
ligion could undertake them (or not among our-
felves), and which, in the very nature of the cafe,
a Cbri/tianfy-minded layman could not difcharge.
Theology in the abftraft, and Chriftianity in the
concrete, muft ftand proof againft ferious and
determined aflaults : how can it be otherwife ?
And therefore, we muft now challenge the af-
failants of both, under a defignation which they
might not choofe to acknowledge : we muft, of
neceflity, give them the place due to them in our
catalogue of Lay Theologians, whether they ac-
cept this title of honour, or rejedl: it.
How can any other courfe of things be ima-
gined as poffible, in a community that is highly
inftru&ed, and that is varioufly trained, and that
is exempt, in the moft abfolute manner, from au-
thoritative interdictions and intimidations than
that the firft principles of religious belief, and the
feveral elements of Chriftian faith, mould provoke
contradiction ? Nothing elfe can even be conceived
of, unlefs it were under one of thefe two fuppofi-
tions, namely, either that all liberty of fpeech and
of writing is withdrawn, and that " heretics and
infidels" are to be held under the tight hand of
penal ftatutes ; or, otherwife, that by the coming
in of a new moral fcheme a millennium there
fhould prevail among inftru&ed men one opinion
only, and one Faith, and that this one belief is
fincerely profefled by all. As to the firft of thefe
two fuppofitions, will any one profefs to think it
252 ESS ATS, ETC.
definable ? As to the fecond, the confideration
of it may well be poftponed until we find ourfelves
on the eve of its advent.
But now, if public fpeaking, and teaching, and
writing, are indeed to be as free as is thought,
then, unqueftionably, we muft defire, on the fide
of religious belief, that the antagonifm in face of
which it maintains its pofition, fhould be carried
forward with all the ability and accomplimment
and with all the learning and the intenfity of purpofe,
which, in the nature of the cafe, can be brought into
a&ion, on that fide. Do I wifh to find myfelf in
pofTeffion of a Faith that no one dares to contra-
dict ? Could I find any comfort, in my Chriftian
perfuafion, by looking down upon the ignorance,
or the logical feeblenefs of thofe who affail it?
Thofe who take pains to inform themfelves of the
progrefs of opinion will rejoice to fee that the
Antagonift Argument has of late been carried for-
ward with all the forces that are ever likely to be
brought to bear upon it ; and that, at this time, it
is maintained with a zeal and pertinacity which
no overthrows can abate.
Here, then, there is a function to be difcharged,
which muft be regarded as indifpenfable to the well-
being of the religious community. And as to thofe
who difcharge it mould it be thought an infuf-
ferable folecifm to call them Auxiliaries ? Whe-
ther this liberty be allowable or not, the able,
and, fome of them, brilliant writers who have
LAT THEOLOGIANS. 253
lately fignalized their zeal on that fide, muft not
refufe to be numbered among Theologians :
they bring up the array of thofe who, unappointed,
unfent, uncalled for, often ill-fpoken of, and often
indeed unrecompenfed, have, from age to age,
imparted frefhnefs, vigour, animation, to the lan-
guid religious thought of their times. Celfus and
Porphyry did this in their day : Straufs and Au-
gufte Comte have done it in this time : with lofs
and damage to themfelves and to their admirers
lofs, who mall fay how great ? Damage it may
be irretrievable : neverthelefs, in the end, and
looked at on a large view of the neceflary balanc-
ings of opinion, it does not appear how we could
well have difpenfed with the zealous fervices of
thefe, and of other like-minded, Lay Theologians
of whom fome have, with great ability, fucceeded
in reducing the hiftorical, and others the abftradT:,
or philofophical Anti-Religious Argument, to its
ultimate condition of a felf-confuted abfurdity.
ESSAY V.
Epidemic Whims.
I.
'HE quaintnefs of the phrafe which
(rands at the head of this Effay might
feem to indicate the writer's intention
to gather entertainment from his fub-
je6t, by treating, in farcaftic ftyle, fome of thofe
many forms of popular fatuity, which each, for a
brief feafon, gives movement to the mafs, and ruf-
fles the furface of fociety. It is not in fardonic
mood that we enter upon this ground ; nor do we
intend to give a cynical turn to fubjecls that might,
perhaps, afford occafions to it.
The cynical temper is unamiable in itfelf, nor
does it confift with that mood of ferioufnefs and
earneftnefs which is in accordance with good feel-
ing toward all, and with an indulgent willingnefs
to look on the brighter fide of the lefs admirable
developments of human nature, which is alfo the
hopeful fide, and upon which may be difcerned the
cheering indications of life and health. In a word ,
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 255
we feek on this field not fuch things as a mifan-
thropic humour might catch at ; but thofe things
the thought of which generates confidence in the
upward tendency of the Social Syftem.
So it is that we think of thofe free outburfts
and exuberances of the individual mind, or of the
popular mind, to which we may apply the difpa-
raging epithet and call them WHIMS.
If thefe developments of unreafon areJymptomS)
when we think of them as attaching to the indi-
vidual mind whence they fpring, they are indica-
tions of the health of a community upon the
furface of which they abound. Liberty of thought
and fpeech, long enjoyed by a people of hardy
conftitution, will not be of one colour or fafhion ;
but it will take every colour and fafhion : it is
abhorrent of liveries, and it breaks away from
trammels ; and if it loves conformity, it alfo fa-
vours non-conformity; and its compliances with
eftablifhed ufages are re-a&ions from its wiftful-
nefs and its confcious power to be contradictory
and inconfiftent.
Thofe Whims epidemic or individual which
fpread, and have their brief feafon foon to be for-
gottenare the accompaniments, or, we might
better fay, they are the Complements of Truth :
they are (hoots that fpring up as the gardener fays
" below the crown," and therefore require the
pruning-knife. Yet if it be true that the abound-
in gof Whims is a hopeful fign, it mould be un-
256 ESSATS, ETC.
derftood that where whims abound, there abounds
alfo a powerful counteractive Good Senfe. There
mud be a Reafon-force fomewhere, and a vis me-
dicatrix, which fhall balance and withftand thefe
conceits. Woe to a land upon which whims run
wild, and exhauft the foil of its richnefs !
The collective Good Senfe of the many aroufed
and ftartled, perhaps, comes to bear upon popular
infatuations, and gives them a check. If it were
not fo, what would the end be ? The eager pro-
moters of fome fcheme that is to new-model the
world, provoke, at length, the impatient contra-
diction of fober folks, and the agitators find that
they muft bequeath the " great work of their lives"
to their unborn fucceflbrs.
A Whim and we are now thinking of fuch as
have a tendency to become epidemic a Whim is
a notion, an opinion, or it is a practice, or it is a
courfe of conduct, founded thereupon, which, al-
though it embodies a truth, and perhaps a ufeful
truth, yet fo mifapprehends, or fo overlays that
precious element, as nearly to fmother it, or to
give it an afpecl: of abfurdity ; moreover, the pro-
moter of a whim, in teaching what he holds, ufes
a jargon, and he fo makes a jumble of the true and
the falfe the ufeful and the worthlefs, as that
fober men may well be pardoned who laugh when,
to their advantage, perhaps, they might liften.
A Whim a Whim of the epidemic fort, mould
be looked to, and analyfed, yet always in a kindly
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 257
mood, and it fhould be compelled to clear itfelf of
its hufk or its excrefcence ; and this for the general
good. There is never too much of truth afloat in
fociety ; nor can we afford to fee any fraction of
that which we actually poflefs, damaged or loft.
But, beyond this, the Whim-maker^ and his coad-
jutors, demand attention, and confiderate treat-
ment. Inafmuch as a whim is a notion thatincludes
fome ufeful principle, fo it will ufually be found
that, as well the author, as the early promulgators of
a popular impulfe of this kind are well-intentioned :
they are beings of the philofophico-phiianthropic
order. He the originator, is a fuggeftive thinker,
and is fertile in expedients ; and likely to be difin-.
terefted, nay, often he is heroic in his devotion to
the caufe in hand. He is a man of the meditative
clafs : he walks the ftreets abftra&edly : as he
goes he digefts enterprifes, fraught with world-wide
benefits. The author of a Whim is alfoa man of
keen fympathies ; but his emotions ripen into fruit
too quickly, and are feldom found to be in a
mature condition. His benevolence, like the
thiftle-down, is carried upon the winds, wide over
the field of the world ; and fo it is that qualities
which are only too rare in any community blow
away with little product. And yet even this wafte
of what might be ufeful is, fometimes, not the
worft of the confequences that enfues when the
whim itfelf, and its author, fail and become the
objects of fcorn to the felfifh, the interefted, the
s
258 ESS ATS, ETC.
fordid, and the malignant ; for then there is heard
a fhout in the camp of the Philiftines : the
enemy exults, and is enheartened to purfue his
courfes with renewed eagernefs : and he fays,
with glee The men that troubled us are fallen !
We fhall not foon again be difquieted by thefe
dreaming philanthropifts.
Our fubje&j then, has thefe three inducements,
namely, firft, we would not forego any promifeof
truth : -fecondly^ we cannot afford to lofe the fer-
vices of any of the benevolent, whether they be
wife or unwife : and, thirdly , we would fain fnatch
that triumph from the hands of the felfim and fordid
which they make fo bad a ufe of, when ill-ima-
gined fchemes of benevolence break up and dif-
appear.
True it is, moreover, that popular delufions
Epidemic Whims do fometimes pafs into a viru-
lent or malignant ftate ; and thus become ferioufly
dangerous. The working of human nature, in fuch
inftances, is very intelligible. How defective foever
may be the intellectual ftructure of any mind, and
how illogical foever may be its modes of reaching
conclufions, it will yet be true of it the exceptions
are few that no man lapfes into an abfurdity, or
embraces a glaring inconfequence, without having a
whifpered confcioufnefsof the fact that he is going
wrong. The admonitory office which Confcience
difcharges for every man, in relation to his moral
acts and condition, is fuftained in every man
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 259
more or lefs perfe&ly in relation to the Reafon,
by what might be called the Logical Confclence.
The man who has at length perfuaded himfelf
that two and three areyx-, ftill retains an uneafy
conviction that they make only Jive. What hap-
pens then, when he finds himfelf contradicted and
confuted in the open world, is this: Self-love
has been wounded : overweening vanity flames up
the man declares himfelf mifunderftood,wronged,
and perfecuted ! He denounces his antagonifts as
interefted bigots : he prepares himfelf for martyr-
dom ; and to prove to himfelf, and to the world,
that he is a martyr, and alfo to demonftrate that
he is in the right he launches out into the deep
he plunges deeper ftill into the abyfs ofunreafon;
and now, not content with affirming that two and
three arey/.* 1 , he puts the brazen trumpet to his
lips, and proclaims it that they are more than
fix ; yes that they 2.refeven y or even eight. It
is at this ftage of his courfe that he finds thofe who
will go with him to thefe lengths of folly. Scores of
men are now ready to take up his caufe : he becomes
their apoftle, and they are willing to make com-
mon caufe with him againft all the world let
him fay whatfoever he may pleafe ! Thus it comes
about that Whims which at firft are the aberra-
tions of a fingle brain pafs with heat into the epi-
demic form ; and in this inflamed condition they
become popular delufions ; and may even threaten
ferious mifchief. The Chiefs begin to blufter, and
260 ESS ATS, ETC.
they threaten further mifchiefs. " An Agitation"
is got up, for carrying extreme meafures. Pre-
fently, finding themfelves pufhed on by a recklefs
crowd in the rear, and led on too, perhaps, by pa-
radoxical men of repute in fcience, and flattered
by public men, who themfelves are courting po-
pularity, the Whim-leader and his enheartened
followers come, at length, to perfuade themfelves
that they {hall be ftrong enough to burft open the
door of Legiflative Aflemblies. " It is a facV'
fays an ambitious Orator " that we are now, at
laft, coming to occupy a proud pofition before the
country. In the next feflion it may be or, at
the late ft, in the feflion after the next we mail
command votes enough to pafs an Aft declara-
tive of the great and the now-demonftrated
Truth that two and three ARE fix ! Yes and
more than this fines will be inflicted, if not
imprifonment, upon any perfons who, thencefor-
ward, mail dare to affirm that two and three are
five only."
When things feem to be coming to this pafs
and when A6h of Parliament to enforce the
monftrous nonfenfe of a half-dozen agitators, are
talked of, it is high time that any fuch Epidemic
Whim mould be looked into ; and that crazed
brains fhould come under a refrigerative treatment.
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 261
ii.
WHAT is a whim ? The word is one of a clafs
including five or fix perhaps, which, though more
or lefs nearly allied to it, are yet diftinguiftiable,
and fhould be confidered apart. A Whim differs
much from a Crotchet. The whim, at its birth, is
a mild or amiable error ; and it {hows itfelf to have
an attractive, or gregarious tendency ; and hence
it is liable to become epidemic. But the crotchet
is the very oppofite of this : it might be defined
as antagoniftic individuality : a crotchet, inftead
of the cohefive principle, takes up the repulfive :
the w him focializes men : the crotchet diftances
the one man from his fellows. The crotchetty
man's individual notion makes him refemble the
unfortunate being who has an anchylofis joint
mif-fet at right angles with his upright pofition.
The crotchetty man is an impracticable member
of a committee : he is one who muft either be
yielded to in all things ; orelfe expelled. In pub-
lic life, the crotchetty man is one who breaks up
a government : on a Jury he ftarves his col-
leagues : at home, he boards up a chimney, and
would compel the fmoke to find its way out at
the window : all things muft learn to be the con-
traries of their nature : everything in the univerfe
muft contradict every other thing in the univerfe ;
and muft belie its purpofe. Crotchets, therefore,
262 ESS ATS, ETC.
are little likely to pafs into the epidemic condition ;
for the crotchetty man, though he may beard a
crowd, never heads a crowd.
The Whim differs from the Hobby. As the
crotchet is the product of individual temper fo the
hobby is the creature of individual tajte. It is a
harmlefs purfuit an innocent occupation ; it is
the ferious bufmefs of thofe who have none : it is
an induftry which byftanders fmile, or wonder at :
the hobby, although it be individual^ is not unfocial
in mood ; on the contrary, the man who rides it
invites everybody to look at its paces. The hobby
does not draw well in double harnefs ; but goes
beft when the rider ambles away on a bridle-path,
through a foreft. The man who has his hobby
fpends prodigious pains and induftry upon employ-
ments which, to other men, feem infinitely unim-
portant, or utterly frivolous.
A Whim is not a Fajhion : thefe are, indeed,
epidemic ; but then the fymptoms are mild, and
the feizures are of fhort duration. Fafhions are,
one month the fpur of Trade ; and its calamity
the next : they are the conceits of the luxurious
clafles one day feeding the induftrious clafs the
next day ftarving it.
A Whim is not z^htactery; for whereas quackery
is knavifh and interefted, the Whim, at leaft in
its origin, is philanthropic and full of a pure zeal
for the public good. Often, indeed, it happens
that a quackery woos and wins a Whim, and the
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 263
couple remain in company until death do them
part : the quackery furviving the whim.
In the praife of whims, it fhould be faid, that
they are often the forerunners of highly beneficial
reforms. Not feldom, whims are random utter-
ances of truths dimly feen in advance of the ac-
tual ftate of public opinion, or even of Science.
The originator of a whim is adventurous, becaufe
he is unreafoning ; he is bold, for he does not cal-
culate. Whims, when they acquire momentum
by becoming popular, often perform the needed
and difficult fervice of (baking loofe, inveterate
prejudices. The author of a popular delufion
takes to himfelf the function of that officer of the
royal houfehold centuries ago who, privileged
by his imputed want of fober reafon, was allowed
to be the one out-fpoken perfon at court. Thus
it has happened that men gifted with a rambling
wit, and little judgment, have had the honour of
forecafting the courfe of opinion, and have made a
disjointed announcement of fome hitherto latent
principle, which, after a time, philofophers take
up and expound in their authentic manner. We
{hall find inftances of this fort of happy clairvoy-
ance, in which the author of a whim has been
we might fay, the Fortune-teller of Philofophy :
in the right, by favour of his good demon. Whims
are very many ; but we muft keep within limits,
and (hall mention a few famples only, under certain
heads : the firft to be fpoken of are
264 ESSAYS, ETC.
Educational Whims, or wild and ftartling no-
tions relating to the training and treatment of
children. Thefe are the product of plaufible,
but fhallow theories of human nature : and of
fuch theories there was a plenteous harveft in the
early years of this century. On this ground we
find an inftance in which whims do their office in
bringing out truths ; and where illufions are the
harbingers of realities, and where a bafelefs philo-
fophy acts as the pioneer of fcience. The fignal
improvements that of late years have had place in
the art and the practices of popular education ;
that is to fay in the fchooling of the children of
the mafTes of the people the induftrial clafles,
have fprung as might be ihown in detail out
of the conceits, the quaint fchemes, the fhifts,
and the devices of thofe worthy enthufiafts who
were the firft experimenters in this line. A ge-
nuine benevolence to begin with an inventive
genius a highly fanguine temperament ; and along
with thefe an infirm reafon. Then thefe quali-
ties, having been incited by oppofition, and thrown
into a fort of delirium by alternations of fuccefs
and failure, effected, in the educational fyftems of
Europe, a great revolution, and brought about
reforms, the ultimate benefits of which have not
yet been fully realized. The procefs has ufually
been of this fort : a man of glowing kindlinefs of
nature one born with fun-beams about him, and
inexhauftibly fertile in devices has found his
elyfium, with infancy and childhood crowding
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 265
upon him, and pulling his fkirts : his plain, loving
face has fhed light and life upon gliftening chubby
vifages. Education fo dreary a work with moft
teachers, was all a laughing game with this teacher :
work and play changed their name and their na-
tures under his management ; and as to punifh-
ment no fuch thing fhould be thought of in a rofy
world, like this Evil tempers, vices, and felfifh-
nefs are, he fays, the produces of falfe methods of
treating human nature ; thefe evils have been
taught and propagated by teachers of the times
that are now pafling away. You may do anything
you pleafe with human beings, fays the reformer,
if you do but begin with it in the cradle. Only
put into the hands of the educational philofopher
a hundred or two of infants, in an airy room, with
a cradle apart for each, and in the courfe of years,
the earth will be peopled with a race of innocents
five feet, and five-feet-fix in height. And
fuch one fhould almoft think, would be the refult,
if only this fame gifted man, with his rare attri-
butes of conftitutional funfhine, and of childlike
fimplicity, and of wit, were to be always the maf-
ter of the magic operation ; but this cannot be
long : the brightnefs which furrounds him is that
of three April days in January: the "New Syf-
tem" muft be fet agoing in other places, away
from the fcene of its firft triumphs, and it muft be
made to work under ordinary conditions : the
whim muft be brought down to the neap-tide level
266 ESS4TS, ETC.
of the national mind and morals : it muft learn to
ftand and go by itfelf. You muft find agents to give
effe& to it ; and thefe will be fuch as you can meet
with : they will not be gifted philanthropes,
but average perfons men and women famples
of the multitude ; and they muft be trained, and
they muft be falaried too ; and they will abandon
their appointments as foon as they fee advertifed
an occupation that is more to their liking, or that
is better paid. The whim therefore fo far as
it is a whim breaks down, and is caft forth as one
of a thoufand impracticable devices, that have coft
too much in the firft experiment. So it may feem ;
but no fuch fcheme actually vanifhes leaving us
juft where we were before. Out of it fprings up
fome fubftantial good. Seeing what may be done
by a fincere and devoted man, fingularly gifted for
the work he undertakes, men of benevolence, and
of fober mental ftru&ure, give themfelves to the
tafkoffupplyingthe place of extraordinary talents^
by extraordinary induftry; and of fupplementing
fertile ingenuity, by fuftained energy, and by bufi-
nefs-like adaptations ; and thus it comes about,
that the Parent-whim, which mould haveconverted
earth into a paradife, by miracle, iflues in the eftab-
limment of extenfive and lafting reforms. Traced
to their fource, or to their incidental origin, the
highly advanced fchool-fyftem of manufacturing
towns, with the Infant School by its fide, and the
Ragged School thefe ineftimable means of national
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 267
improvement muft we not confefs the fact
were born, not of fcience and philofophy ; but of
whims or let us call them Illufive beliefs con-
cerning human nature, and what may be done
with it, by help of ingenious devices.
Yet this fhould be faid and always remem-
bered, in behalf of the men to whofe adventurous
benevolence fociety is fo deeply indebted, that any
fuch unfubftantial perfuafions concerning human
nature, on the ground of which we excufe our
ingratitude towards them, were not, in truth, fo
falfe or fictitious as to us they may now appear to
be. Two facts fhould be kept in view : Flrft^ this
that the benevolent Enthufiaft takes his notion
of human nature from what is quite real
namely, his own individual difpofitions. His mif-
take is only that of imputing to others what he
afluredly knows to be in himfelf. Secondly^ this
that thofe famples of human nature with which the
philanthropift individually converfes are of a kind
which his own rare qualities have created, or have
called forth, within his own enclofure: they are
picked fpecimens. The beings of his daily life are
not beings of the average ftamp ; for his own
beams have drawn them toward himfelf, and have
affimilated them to himfelf. He is not far wrong
as to the facts that are actually in his view : his
error is that he does not look far enough abroad
beyond his near circle his enclofure.
It is only in relation to lower-clafs education
268 ESSJtrS, ETC.
the teaching of the mafles of the people, that
whims are likely to fpread, and to go into the
epidemic ftage. Whims that take their bearing
upon domeftic training, and in private fchools
and of which there are always fome in vogue, fhow
themfelves rather as crotchets; and in this form
they fhed perplexity and vexation upon homes.
Perhaps it is "Mamma" who is the " Philofo-
pher" a lady moft eftimable, but who has re-
folved to cc think for herfelf," in all things ; and
who with her own "Theory" afflicts hufband
governefs children fervants, caufmg all, in
their turn, to figh for an interregnum of Philo-
fophy, and to wifh for the tranquil rule of the
dulled common fenfe. Very little wonderfully
little that is worth its coft, and that can be per-
manent, remains to be effected by " new theories,"
or by " new lights in philofophy." We have feen
ftrange things attempted in the treatment of the
lucklefs young-ones of a family, or of a fchool ;
but we have not feen the happy, expected refults
of fuch tamperings with minds and tempers.
in.
PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC whims, or thofe noifed and
advertifed difcoveries which profefs to lay bare the
deepeft myfteries of animal life, or the marvels of
the intellectual and the fpiritual world, have alfo
abounded in this nineteenth centurv. The whim-
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 269
author has the courage to profefs that he is matter
of every branch of fcience touching upon human
nature phyfical, intellectual, and moral ; and he
is able fo to treat thefe grave fubjects as to render
them, not only intelligible to "the million," but
entertaining alfo ; and befides, there are great
practical benefits likely to follow in the train of
his difcoveries ! The profeflbr is at once a po-
pular lecturer, and a private practitioner; and he
gives leflbns at home to ladies.
We have faid that a whim, ufually, if not al-
ways, embraces an element of truth : and when-
ever a whim actually draws the multitude in its
wake, it is likely to include what might be con-
vertible to ufeful purpofes ; there is fomething
that is real fomething that is beneficial, fome-
thing which fhould be liftened to, notwithftand-
ing the loofe matter with which it coalefces, and
the quackery toward which it tends, and with
which it combines itfelf.
In the lift of Pfeudo-fcientific whims, which,
from time to time have caught the popular ear,
and have been talked of in all circles, and have
been lectured upon by itinerant profefTors, the
foremoft place fhould be claimed for thofe philo-
fophies of human nature which if we will but
liften to them put us in pofition to read off the
profoundeft myfteries of the intellectual world by
deciphering the inequalities of the Cranium.
There was a time, not fo long ago, when the
270 ESS4TS, ETC.
world liftened with unmeafured credulity to thofe
who taught Craniology, and, after a while, the
amended Phrenology, in a tone of loud aflurance.
Thefe " Sciences," a few years ago, carried the
world before them ; and they ftill retain a hold of
the popular mind to a certain extent ; and flare
up anew, at intervals.
We may be fure that a belief which thus feizes
upon, and holds, the convictions of many, and
which is profefled by intelligent perfons for a
length of time, has fome foundation in truth ; and
that it is able to make a triumphant appeal, in its
fupport, to many unqueftionable and ftartling
facts. So it is in this inftance. Facts, patent to
the eye, and to the ringer, do fuftain the theory, that
there is a correfpondence of fome kind, between
the exterior contour of the head, and the mental
faculty, and the difpofitions. It may be proved
that, throughout the animated world, the folid
framework of the animal fyftem does not give law
to the organization, but itfelf obeys a law; and that
this law, or this ruling force, taking its rife in the
depths of the organization, fymbolizes itfelf, in
certain conftant modes onward and outward
until it reaches the fhell and the integument; and
this not in man only, but in all orders of ani-
mated beings. So it is that the inner nature fpeaks
to the Gy& fomething concerning its generic felf, and
fomething alfo of its Jptctfic felf, and fomething alfo
of its individual felf.
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 271
Not now to enter upon a fubjecl: fo wide, fo
deep, fo difficult as is the philofophy of animal life,
and of human nature, all we do, in paffing onward,
is to infift upon the fact, that, inafmuch as the
Philofophy of animal life is complicated and, more
than any other branch of fcience, is difficult de-
manding in thofe who make it the occupation of
their lives, a knowledge of the circle of the Phyfical
Sciences, it can never be brought down to the level
of an ordinarily inftrucled public. Craniology and
Phrenology, or the like to thefe, can be no.fub-
jects of popular entertainment ; unlefs they be ren-
dered attractive by fuch trickery as may better
become the conjuror than the Profeflbr of Science.
But the Phrenological charlatan has feen,and has
caught at his advantage, in offering to fatisfy that
prurient curiofity which feeks to penetrate the in-
ftinclive referve which veils the difpofitions and
propenfities of individual minds. Put into my
hand, if you can, a key to the lock-up of my
neighbour's mind and purpofes, and tell me how
I may detect his, or her weaknefles : tell me
how I may come to know, that which I can never
know, unlefs by magic or by aid of your new
Science. The very eagernefs with which an initia-
tion in thefe myfteries is fought for, might be cau-
tion enough to the well-informed to hold them-
felves aloof from ground where a little fcience,
and much impudence may fo cheaply win the
rewards of the impoftor.
272 ESS4TS, ETC.
To ftrange extents of folly has this pfeudo-
fcientific whim run itfelf out from time to time.
An epidemic whim indeed it was, when not mo-
thers only, but their nurfery maids proclaimed
themfelves adepts in the art of reading-off intellec-
tual faculties, and moral propenfities, and of treat-
ing the fkull accordingly. So it has been at times,
when the epidemic phrenzy was at its height ; and
it was mortifying to fee men of intelligence lend-
ing themfelves to delufions of fo monftrous a fort!
Human nature deep, myfterious, and allied, as
it is, on the one fide, to the animal world, of which
it is the chief inftance, and allied, on the other fide
we muft not doubt it to higher clafles of being,
blending itfelf, we know not how, with the invi-
fible is ever contorting itfelf upon itfelf, and tor-
menting itfelf with the inexplicable problems of its
own conftitution at once animal and fpiritual.
Ever has the excurfive human mind been thrufting
itfelf forward in the dark, where it will be mif-read-
ing the fymbols of its own ftru&ure the blended
life of matter and fpirit. Thus it is that, at one
time, the world is challenged to liften to a new phi-
lofophy of ofleous protuberances ; and prefently af-
terwards to hear about a fcheme of Mind, born of
" cells ;" and then, of a moral univerfe, that may
be evolved in a galvanic trough ! Yefterday, the
philofopher needed no other aid for fathoming the
depths of the human foul than the Callipers ! To-
day, having done with this tool, he afks for che-
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 273
micals and a microfcope ; and better ftill, if, cut-
ting fhort the dull methods of fcience, he fhall
come into the knowledge of all myfteries pre-
fent, paft, and future by putting queftions to a
ftool, or a table, or to fome epileptic victim of his
own training !
A mortifying tafk indeed it would be only to
recount the phrafes wherein were fignalized the
prodigious follies and the impieties the mingled
quackeries, juggleries, and blafphemies, that fpread
as a peftilence over fociety during the feafon of
table-turning, and of fpirit-rapping, and of the
kindred infatuations of Spiritualifm. One turns in
grief and in loathing from a fubject fo humiliating !
But let this fact be noted, that, at the very time
when men of education were profefling their dif-
regard of the moft conclufive reafoning in fupport
of thofe Great Truths which are the refting-places
of moral and intellectual philofophy, they might be
feen foremoft among the gaping lifteners that fur-
rounded the mountebank and the conjurer, who
faid he had his " fpecial correfpondent" in the re-
gions of the dead ! Atheifm and Credulity are man
and wife ; or brother and fifter ; or whatever may
be the relationfhip which holds them in company,
fo it is that wherever the male of the two Athe-
ifm makes his appearance, the eafy-tempered
lady Credulity follows clofe upon his heels.
And yet, at this point, we mould be careful
to fet off the precious from the vile. We have
T
274 ESS ATS, ETC.
faid that an opinion charadteriftically abfurd
which feizes the popular fancy, and keeps its
hold for a length of time, muft contain within it-
felf a nucleus of truth. In company with the in-
fatuation laft mentioned, or connected with it by
parentage, in fome way not worth the pains of an
inquiry, a mafs of facts has flood confufedly min-
gled, which, as related to the functions of the
nervous fyftem, are fecond to none, in their figni-
ficance and importance in Human Phyfiology. In
truth, Science has been almoft driven off from this
ground, or frightened away from it, by the pre-
occupation of the mefmeric empiric. But the pro-
grefs of inquiry is at length bringing this fubject
under a more authentic treatment; and in due time,
thofe who have ferved themfelves of the credulity
of the multitude will be fupplanted by men of an-
other order of mind.* No fuch inquirer would
now affirm concerning any alleged fact, for the
reality of which there may be fome good evidence,
that it cannot be real ; or that no amount of evi-
dence mould avail to win his aflent to it. As to
the relationfhip of mind and body, and as to the
extent to which the mind for a time may exert
its independence of the animal organization in a
word, as to facts, bearing upon the unknown in
this dim region, we are free to liften to them, and
free to fpeculate, and free to admit into our belief,
* See Supplementary Note.
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 275
things, however ft range they may feem, which,
hitherto, our authenticated philofophy has not
dreamed of. In preparation for the advance of
fcience, in this dire&ion, flagrant delufion fliould
be put out of fight, and everything difcouraged
which courts momentary popular favour.
Popular agitations, or Whims Epidemic, lead
the way, we have faid, fometimes to difcoveries in
Science, fometimes to reforms. It has already
been fo, in fome degree, in the philofophy of hu-
man nature. Thefe lawlefs excurfions upon the
terra incognita of the combined ftru&ure of body
and mind have had an appreciable influence in
driving further off, into the blue diftance, the
wordy metaphyfics of paft times. Human nature,
regarded as the fubjecl: of fcientific treatment, is
more and more coming within the range of Phy-
fical Science ; and it is felt that progrefs muft not
henceforth be looked for, in this department, from
any new recenfion, or new elaboration, of the
phrafeology of abftracl: fpeculation.
IV.
SHALL we be fo bold as to touch a difficult topic
the Homoeopathic philofophy? Difficult it is
for this reafon that while the profeflbrs and the
practitioners, in this new line, offer themfelves as
a mark for criticifm, by the ufe they make of a
jargon, more proper for a quackery than for fcience,
276 ESS ATS, ETC.
and adopt practices which inftructed men would
wifh to fhun, yet undoubtedly they are making
good ufe of fome forgotten or neglected phyfio-
logical principles; and moreover, as toward " the
Profeflion" they are bringing forward much need-
ed reforms in medical practice. Let not then the
Public the Infirmary Public, the " Patients," the
large fuffering clafs be defrauded of this their fub-
ftantial benefit, whether it be that which perchance
may be derived from the microfcopic globule itfelf,
or that accruing from a faith which is large in the
inverfe proportion to the dimenfions of the re-
medy.
There can be no need to mention thofe obvious
caufes, which, in all times, have rendered Medical
Practice a rich gold-field to the fpeculative, the
enterprizing, and the unfcritpulous. A dark un-
known an abyfs, is the nofological region, if it be
thought of as a department in fcience ; and how
dark, when its own darknefs is deepened at once
by the ignorance of the practitioner, and by the
ignorance of the fufferer. A dark unknown it is,
wherein a lucky hit may often bring to the fur-
face, ftartling prizes wonderful recoveries ; and
it is true that fome men are born with an inftinc-
tive fkill in catching at luck in the dark. And as
to the fufferer, a world unknown is the region of
difeafe, inafmuch as it is here that mind and body,
fpirit and matter, when they are put out of their
wonted harmony, and are in a mifadjufted condi-
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 277
tion, give to the mind what might be called, a
ufurped power of interference with the functions
of animal life. Marvels, at fuch a time, may be
effected within the organization, and among the
deranged functions, by an intenfe concentration of
the mind upon a fingle part, or function. All this
is well known, and is out of queftion ; nor do con-
fcientious practitioners hefitate, in certain peculiar
cafes, to avail themfelves of this hypernatural and
morbid energy. But a medical practice that is
founded upon any fuch principle, would not fail
quickly to become a dangerous delufion nearly
allied at once to impiety, and to impudent empi-
ricifm.
But there are in the Homoeopathic circle prac-
titioners as honeft as other men ; and not only are
they honeft, but they are well-inftrudled alfo ; and
not only fo, but eminently fuccefsful. This fhould
be no wonder. The medical profeffion, in the
daily practice of it juft like every other profeffion
and daily labour (and this profeffion efpecially fo)
becomes perfunctory. Rule and ufage inevitably
fuperfede thought and attention : and befides this
a famion of the day, as to the treatment of par-
ticular difeafes a theory, a whim, a paradox,
thefe are the powers that give law, tyrannically,
to whatever is done in the daily round of vifiting
the fick; and, in truth, they fave a world of trouble.
The theory that was laft put forth, becomes, to
the ordinary practitioner, in fadl, his conference;
278 ESSATS, ETC.
for he holds hi mfelf quite blamelefs fo long as he
does precifely what he finds to be noted and ap-
proved in the authenticated formulae of this recent
doctrine. But things take another turn when a
theory, or a new Idea has fprung up, and has
grown to a confpicuous bulk, and has drawn to
itfelf the fuffering clafs without the confent, and
oppofed to the teaching, of the chief men in the
profeflion. The courfe of things, at fuch a junc-
ture, will be this : Men of active intelligence,
and of bold temperament, men who are awake,
men who have everything to win in life, and, per-
haps, little to lofe, take up the new fyftem : their
zealous devotion to it keeps them alive : they
have an eye open, and an ear attent, and a touch,
and every fenfe engaged in queft of confirmations
of their adopted medical faith. In a word, it is thefe
men who actually look at difeafe it is thefe who
look into it who watch its changes, and who give
their mind to their patient; and thus they become
the confequence is quite natural they become fkil-
ful ; and of courfe they become fuccefsful beyond
the ufual rate ; and it is they who effect " fur-
prifmg cures" notfo much as Homoeopath ifts
but as men whofe heart is in their daily practice.
Yet this is not all that fhould be confidered and
granted in behalf of the Homoeopathic fyftem.
We need not have waited to be told by Hahne-
mann that a wonderfully fmall quantity, by weight,
of certain mineral fubftances, and of certain ve-
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 279
getable matters, as they have power to injure
health, or fuddenly to deftroy life, muft, by confe-
quence, have power to work counter effects upon
it. Nor need we learn from him, or from any
one elfe, that a dofe which is fmall enough to lodge
itfelf in the fyftem, produces effects which are not
produced by a large dofe which does not abide
there. Yet is great praife due to the man who
draws attention forcibly to a well known, but
neglected truth. But to flop at this point is not
the courfe of things, for the practitioner's tempta-
tion a temptation which he will not refift is this
with a reality in his hand, of unknown efficacy,
he is at liberty to go as far as he pleafes on the
road of exaggeration.
Granted, that the hundredth part of a grain of
active poifon may be ufed as a ferviceable medi-
cine. Grant the fame to be juft conceivable in
refpedt of the thoufandth part of a grain. But
when we propofe to adminifter to the open-
mouthed credulity of the fick man, the million ft h,
and then the billloneth part of that quantity, and
if, in doing this, a favourable refult enfues, and if,
as a rule, the effect of a drug appears to be in-
verfely as the quantity adminiftered, then it be-
comes manifeft nor can an intelligent practi-
tioner fail to know it to be fo that he is working,
not with the chemical materials of the pharma-
copoeia, but with the immeafurable mind-force of
his patient. The extent of this force has never
280 ESS^rS, ETC,
yet been afcertained ; nor, perhaps, ever will be.
Science has no gauge for it ; but in turning it to
account daily, for the cure of difeafe, the rifles to
the honefty of the practitioner are greater than a
high-toned and educated man will choofe to incur.
It is at this corner that quackery ftands offering
its aids to an unfcrupulous, and yet, perhaps, a
benevolent man. Curative wonders are at his
command ; but he muft, in fome meafure, forfeit
felf-refpecl: in attempting to effecl: them on thefe
conditions. Say to the fufferer I am giving you
very fmall dofes of a moft powerful drug, and all
may be well. Tell him What I am giving you
is the millioneth of a drop of an eflence diftilled
from the beams of the moon ; and it may chance
that this dofe will far furpafs the power of pills, the
fize of a pea, in its remedial effe&s ; but mail any
one go the rounds of his practice, thus armed with
the infinitely fmall, and return home with an eafy
confcience ?
Although we do not find a genuine philofophy
of human nature in any one of thofe famions of
opinion which have here been adverted to, and which
are more adapted to the extemporizing purpofes of
a popular lecturer than for thofe of an Inftru&or
in a college, yet each has its recommendatory
truth each its film of reality ; and more than
this may be admitted in their favour, that they at
once indicate^ and they accelerate the progrefs of
a moft defirable modern reform, in the courfe of
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 281
which the upper clafles, mainly, and the middle
clafTes alfo, are coming to underftand the COMMON
SENSE OF HEALTH.
How large a theme would open itfelf before us if
we fhould treat the many varieties of DIETARY
WHIMS ; for thefe are almoft as many as there
are dyfpeptic perfons, gifted with a genius for
theorizing upon the digeftive functions.
Whims of this extenfive order exprefs them-
f elves in the way fometimes of extravagant enco-
miums, laviftied upon certain favoured articles of
food, or of drink ; fometimes, and, in truth, very
much oftener, in the form of paflionately uttered
anathemas againft certain aliments, or liquors ;
and fometimes this is done in the ftern tones of a
fuperfine morality, or of a fan&imonious deteftation
of this or that " good creature" granted by God
to the ufe of man. Whims of thefe orders, and
whether they be mild-tempered, or acrimonious
whether they be fecular, or religious, have two
diftint fources. They arife, either, on the one
hand, from irritated brains brains difordered by
the diftrefles of a ftomach vitiated by excefles ; or,
on the other hand, they have their rife, and this is
very often their fource in the paradoxical con-
ceits of men, who, being in fome repute as matters
in phyfiological fcience, feek to fignalize the period
of their profeffional fupremacy by announcing fome
282 ESS4TS, ETC.
ftartling do&rine as to what all men are eating
and drinking. The tafte for paradox, which, in
fome minds, is irrefiftibly ftrong, when by mif-
fortune of nature it is conjoined at once with a
crotchetty temper, and profeflional ambition, may
impel a man whofe attainments enable him to draw
attention, to utter, and zealoufly to defend, the
moft prodigious abfurdities in relation to meats, to
drinks, to clothing, and to modes of living. The
uninformed community, amazed and frightened,
are fain to think it time to haften out of a world
in which fo many things hitherto thought to be
wholefome are now proved to be deadly poifons.
Thofe Dietary Whims that take their rife from
dyfpeptic ftomachs are as various as there are va-
rieties in the modes of meeting the demands of
hunger, and the more various requirements of
luxury. The abounding of fuch whims at any
time and it is fo at this time may be taken as
the indication of a facl: in the alimentative ufages
of a people, which deferves attention ; it is this
That fophifticated modes of living, and a luxurious
cookery, have together come to take effecl: upon
that highly-wrought branular excitement, and that
exceflive nervous tenfion, which have enfued from
commercial and profeflional overworking. So it
is that the brain and the ftomach or, the mind
and the alimentary functions have come into a
ftate of too much mutual confcioufnefs ; too many
queftions are directed netherward, as to the work-
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 283
ing of the machinery of animal life. There is too
much (in truth there fhould be abfolutely nothing
of the fort) there is too much of mental interfer-
ence with the felf-acling functions of the fyftem :
there is a meddling, where there mould be utter
unconfcioufnefs. A man in health knows nothing
of brain, or ftomach, or heart, or lungs, or liver,
or mefenteric dudts. Cattle at pafture, if watched,
will not fatten : let them alone, and all goes on
well.
This mifchief acquires a reverberatory force
when the hypochondriac has learned to avail him-
felf of the dinner-guidance which is proffered to
him in fome fcientific treatifes. Defperate, indeed,
is the ftate of things when it comes to this Read
fuch a book upon Diet, and you will never again
touch what is it we mould not touch ? not fer-
mented bread : not animal fibre : not fatty fub-
ftances : not falted meats : not green vegetables :
not tubers : not paftry: not pickles : not preferves:
not for this is a horror not fermented liquors :
not the vinous not the alcoholetic, for all are
poifons ; and not only poifons, but fins ! And yet
things may come to be worfe than this ; for when
dyfpeptic whims foftered and myftified by fcien-
tific jargon come within range of the Mani-
chasan prohibitive doctrine, and when thofe many
things which the beneficence of the Creator has
granted " richly" to man, for his enjoyment, are
fternly denounced as eflentially evil; when it
284 ESSJTS, ETC.
comes to this, what, at the firft, was (imply a
whim, and only ridiculous, aflumes the virulent
afpecT: of a dark fanaticifm, little fhort of infanity,
and likely enough to end in bringing on that
calamity.
Until proof of the facl: comes before us, it might
feem incredible that inftrucled men fhould dare to
affirm, what has been affirmed by fome fuch, con-
cerning meats and drinks, as unwholefome, or
pernicious, or unlawful. When this laft-named
ground of exception has been taken, and when
the ufeof folids or fluids, hitherto conftituting the
ordinary fuftenance of human life, is denounced as
finfuly then another characleriftic of fuch extrava-
gances does not long delay to make its appearance ;
for thefe denunciations are uttered with the growl
of the ancient Atheifm : it is either the Gnoftic,
or the Manichaean who fpeaks, and the import of
the malediction is this that the Creation is not,
and was not at the firft, good, but evil ; and fpe-
cially, that the great law of the animal fyfrem
life fed upon life, is an abomination, with the guilti-
nefs of which thofe who are holy will have nothing
to do. At this ftage Whims are going beyond our
reach in this EfTay. Yet in turning away from
errors fo ferious, we might ftop to note the facl:
as a caution that Dietary whims have a ftrange
tendency (one fees inftances of it frequently) to
lead away their victims toward infidelity, and
thence on to Atheifm.
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 285
Altogether, and glorioufly at variance with grim
abftemious fancies of every order, is the tone and
the language of the infpired writers. " Every
creature of God," they tell us, " is good, and is
nothing to be refufed, if it be received with thankf-
giving." Or we may read the iO4th Pfalm,
which might be called a Charter of Life, and of
life's enjoyments, to man, and to all that breathe
granted to them in perpetuity by the Creator.
In another tone fpeak thofe who would be more
wife, and more pure than HE. In every age there
have been thofe who have denounced Temperance
as impracticable, or as half a fin ; and have pro-
claimed Abftlnence as the only virtue.
As to Dietary prohibitions, and bill-of-fare re-
ftriclions, either in meats or in drinks, the only
fit places for them are hofpitals and infirmaries, or
the chambers of the fick, or within the walls of
befieged towns. As often as we hear factitious
precepts of this kind advanced, whether it be
abroad in the world, or at a family table, we may
be fure that at the bottom there is a theory of hu-
man nature which is falfe in phyfiology, falfe in
focial economics, falfe in morals ; and, which more-
over, is Atheiftic in its feeling and its tendency.
We fay it is falfe in Phyfiology: unfortunately,
the paradoxes of fome of its profeffors have come to
be at a premium, in the open world ! When a
whim of any fort, efpecially a whim relating to
Diet, or to the treatment of difeafe, has become epi-
286 ESS4TS, ETC.
demic, and when its authors and its movers have
made it the bafis of fome extenfive combination ;
and when " Meetings" are to be held to keep the
new fcheme alive ; and when fpeeches are to be
uttered, and when the columns of Newfpapers are
to be filled with controverfies about it ; then it
is that any teftimony in its favour which can be
obtained from the pens or lips of thofe who com-
mand the ear of the public, is greedily fnatched
at : more of the fame fort is afked for, and it is
folicited in flattering terms. The fupply follows
upon the demand ; and thus it is that the whim
of the whimfical finds the means of bolftering
itfelf up with the credit of authoritative perfons.
Any amount of this fort of authorization may
be had, when motives of benevolence come in to
fuftain a popular Whim. So it is that kind-hearted
men fign teftimonials, to obtain a good place for a
worthy friend ; and thus do men, whofe word
pafles for much, lend themfelves, too eafily, to
what they can barely approve.
At this point we draw near to fubjecls of another
clafs namely, REFORMATORY WHIMS. Thefe
have been many of late ; and the abundance of
them is the indication of that hopeful modern re-
volution which has thrown the focial confciouf-
nefs in upon itfelf, and which affords ground for
large expectations as to the advance of a genuine
civilization. One may have feen with fome anxiety
the extent to which there has been a tampering
EPIDEMIC WHIMS. 287
with human nature, and a recklefs experimenting
upon the helplefs Pauper, and the fturdy ConvicT:,
in Unions and in Prifons; and yet, almoft any-
thing in this way is better than focial flagnation
and indifference. An indolent contentment with
things as they are, and a felfifh willingnefs to let
things go on quietly in their wonted courfe, would
indeed be fatal fymptoms in the condition of a peo-
ple. Rather than that this quietnefs of death mould
come over us, let us tolerate the ampleft effloref-
cence of philanthropic UNREASON. It is enough if
there be among us, ClafTes that are independent as to
their focial pofition, and which are difpofed to watch
the doings one of another ; and withal, if there be,
as happily there ij, a Free Prefs ; and if this Free
Prefs gives utterance to the feeling of each of thefe
feveral Clafles. Not only is a Free Prefs needed,
but it mould be an Inflantaneous Free Prefs : there
is much in this : a Daily ^ and a Free, and a Cheap
Prefs, is a fword hanging by a thread over every
man's pate : it is a fcourge, held by a ruthlefs
hand, near to every man's moulders. We muft
not admit the hope that by this means every abufe,
and every error mail meet its immediate correc-
tion; but this is at the leaft affirmable,that a procefs
of revifion is always in activity : a court of appeal
is always open ; a power of farcafm is always near
at hand ; and a power of argument is alfo available,
whenever it may be needed ; and by thefe means
the amended reafon of the community (hall in the
288 ESSATS, ETC.
end prevail over the worfe reafon of the few, and
thus the iflue fhall be good.
It is on fuch grounds as thefe therefore that, in a
country like this, where no crofling interference of
a central defpotifm is to be apprehended, we may
fafely include in our calculations of national pro-
grefs even thofe outburfts of reforming zeal which,
in themfelves, are little to be admired.
ESSAY VI.
Heads In Groups.
i.
'HE fcheme of Mental Philofophy which
we receive from the authenticated
teachers of that Science, is a body of
abftractions, only remotely related to
the infinitely diverfified phenomena of the think-
ing and the living world that world around us,
which is developing its powers upon the fields of
active public life, and of productive thought.
Seldom, if ever, does that fcheme mow itfelf to
be available for the interpretation of fuch facts as
thofe that prefent themfelves on either of thofe
fields. On the other fide the Mental Philofophy
which has been put forward under the defignation
of Phrenology, or of fimilar terms, muft not pre-
tend to be better than a mafs of guefles, de-
rived from a fingering of the fuperficies of the
Cranium. It may be reafonable to imagine that
a fyftem, combining facts of every kind into what
mould be One Science, may at length prefent itfelf,
and that this product of a larger induction, while
2QO ESS4TS, ETC.
it fhall be lefs vague and wordy than the firfl, will
be far lefs precarious and conjectural than is the
fecond, of the above-mentioned fyftems. If any
fuch combination might be hoped for, it would not
be effected without taking within our range a much
wider circuit of facts than has hitherto been brought
to bear upon the fubject on either fide the meta-
phyfical, or the phyfiological.
The queftion prefents itfelf Shall we go on to
feek for our knowledge of the human mind on the
adamantine pathway of a fevere analyfis of the in-
dividual confcioufnefs ; or fhall we feek it upon
{haven pates : or fhall we feek it where it is
actually developing itfelf from age to age upon
the great theatre of life ? Shall we feek our Science
where its ample materials are to be found ? No
doubt upon this theatre ; if indeed it be open to
our infpection.
Evidence, authentic and fufficiently ample, re-
lating to the intellectual ftructure of a large num-
ber of notable minds, is actually in our hands. In
the undoubted records of the public conduct, and,
fometimes alfo, of the private life, of the principal
men of hiftory ; or, better ftill, in their writings,
or in other extant monuments of their genius,
we may confidently believe ourfelves to pofTefs
materials that are copious enough for effecting
firft, an afTortment or clarification, and then an
analytic criticifm of very many of the moft re-
markable minds of twenty centuries back. But it
HEADS IN GROUPS. 291
might be better, at the ftart of a method with
which we may not yet have made ourfelves fami-
liar, to limit our range of view, and to take fome
not very remote period, with the chief men of
which every reader of modern hiftory and litera-
ture, muft be familiarly acquainted. By thefe
well-known perfonages, each in his own way,
every field of action political and military, and
every region of thought fcientific and imagina-
tive, and every department of art, has been illu-
mined. Within this modern circuit the human
mind has given itfelf forth with the higheft advan-
tage. If the queftions to be propounded con-
cerning the Human Mind be thefe What are its
Elements, or its feparate Faculties ; what is its
ftru&ure, and what the laws of its activity ?
we mail do well to go, in fearch of our anfwer, to
that great platform of European action and thought
whereupon fo many hundred Minds all of them of
noticeable degree, and fome of them of the higheft
degree have worked out, each in his own way,
the problems of Mental Philofophy. Thus it
will be that not hypothedcally, but actually, and
in all conceivable modes, and under the moft vari-
ous and the moft arduous conditions we mail fee
this ftru&ure difplaying its principles, and deve-
loping its laws. What more, or what better could
we defire, if indeed it be our purpofe to obtain,
byfure methods of induction, a GENUINE INTEL-
LECTUAL PHILOSOPHY which mail fupplant, on
292 ESS^rS, ETC.
the one hand, a fet of vague or abftrufe metaphy-
fical phrafes, and, on the other hand, a confufed
mafs of empirical and materialiftic conjectures ?
In queft of the fats that are applicable to quef-
tions of this order, we may, if we pleafe, find them
at hand, in a diluted condition, among our friends
and neighbours ; or we may look out for the
noted men of our time, of whofe individual mental
furniture we may believe ourfelves to have a com-
petent knowledge. But then, as to thefe con-
fpicuous perfons the men of mark, our contem-
poraries although they may, to fome extent,
ferve our purpofe, they are few in number j and
what is known, or what is believed concerning
them, at this paffing moment, is likely to undergo
a fevere revifion in time to come. As to the mul-
titude of ordinary, or average minds the perfons
of any focial circle, thefe can be made available
for any fuch purpofe as that which we have now
in view, only in a very imperfect manner. Minds
of low quality develope themfelves in pattern :
the Individuality of fuch minds may tell in a
Cenfus, but it does not tell in a Philofophy. Of
the vaft mafs of human actions the things that
are daily done and faid in the world around us
they are faid and done according to a ufage of
fpeech and a ufage of action : they are in accord-
ance with the {landing orders of a civilized
community. The millions of utterances, and the
millions of actings which every day carry the
HEADS IN GROUPS. 293
world one more day forward upon the dial of all
time thefe things have indeed a fignificance at
large they have a diluted meaning ; but they
have very little or no meaning, as products of
individual minds. As it is true of the multitude
of human forms (p. 166) that they fignify little
beyond what may belong to the inherited type, fo
of the multitude of actions and utterances, they
are ruled and fafhioned by inveterate confuetudes,
and by inftincts.
It will be better therefore to return to the broad
field of fome Paft Era, whereupon we have to do
with minds that, beyond doubt, have marked their
own individuality by confpicuous courfes of action,
the memorials of which are ample; or by fome
creations of Thought which are now actually in
our hands, and upon which we may fix attention
again and again. On this broad Field the choiceft
famples of Mind are opened out under the eye,
and we are free to infpect the mechanifm and the
working in each inftance. Yet if there be any-
thing to be learned in Philofophy, on this ground,
it can be obtained in no other way than by infti-
tuting comparifons. Minds muft be forted and
marmalled, and muft be brought under infpection
in clufters in groups ; and this muft be done in
conformity with fome rule of claffification. Such
a rule fhould have refpect to a true analogy^ on
the ground of which two or more minds may fitly
be placed fide by fide, and may be eftimated, firft,
:
294 ESSAYS, ETC.
in fo far as they are like; and then, in fo far as
they are unlike. A clarification fo obvious as that
which has refpect only to the focial pofition, or
to the occupations of men, would here do us no
fervice ; for it could determine nothing as to the
quality or the original endowments of illuftrious
men merely to fort them as Statefmen Warriors
Philofophers Mathematicians Poets Artifts,
and the like. A genuine clarification muft begin
its work further in toward the centre of the intel-
lectual organization. Take a dozen of the moft
noted warriors of modern hiftory: they were fuch,
not by the predominance of any fuppofed warrior
faculty in each, but by the eminence of different
powers in each. Charles XII, Guftavus Adol-
phus, Turenne, Marlborough, Van Tromp, Clive,
Wellington, Napoleon, Nelfon, Napier thefe,
and any other renowned winners of battles, may
indeed beafTociated on the ground of their calling,
or cloth ; but as to the ftru&ure of their minds they
fhould be otherwife dealt with : the group muft
be broken up into clafles with a more exacSt re-
gard to the elementary differences that diftin-
guifh them. How then mail fuch a grouping be
beft effected ? Probably by the aid of thofe in-
ftantaneous and involuntary perceptions to which
we are ufed to truft ourfelves, without thought,
on the occafions of common life.
Let the reader confider what it is that takes
place on fuch occafions as thefe. It may be that,
HEADS IN GROUPS. 295
for years, we have been hearing and fpeaking, and
thinking much about noted public men ; and we
have formed our eftimate of them as to their abi-
lities, and their moral qualities. But at length it
happens to us to fee them ; perhaps to fit oppo-
fite to them at table ; or to fee and liften to them
in Parliament. At fuch a moment, whether we
are confcious of the facl: or not, there takes place
what might be likened to the inftantaneous cryf-
tallization that is effected in a fluid mixture by a
drop of fome potent new ingredient. What had
been cloudy, and unfhapen, and intangible, now
(hoots out into (harp angles and fhining furfaces,
and thenceforward we have in our view well-de-
fined cubes and rhomboids. Heretofore we may
have miftaken one chemical mixture for another ;
not fo from the inftant when cryftallization has
taken place. So it is after a half hour's interview
with perfons, efpecially diftinguifhed perfons, of
whom hitherto we have entertained a conjectural
idea only.
A refult of the fame kind, although it is not
quite fo fure, nor is it fo fharply defined, takes
place when the effigies of the illuftrious dead are
placed before us even their authentic likenefles
it may be in marble, or on canvafs, or on coins
and medallions, or in drawings, or engravings.
The vifible perfon the man, in the entirenefs of
his body and mind his gefture, his expreflion,
his features thefe bring into a focus all thofe
296 ESS ATS, ETC.
loofe notions, or fhapelefs ideas of him that
had flitted as a phantom before the imagination,
while our thoughts about him were unauthentic
conceptions. There are few of the principal per-
fons of the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries
that are not almoft as well known to us, in their
effigies, as are our friends and neighbours, with
whom we have daily intercourfe. It is not eafy
barely is it poflible to think of thefe heroes
of hiftory otherwife than as clothed in thofe
exterior forms which have been handed down
by graphic art. Make now the attempt to dif-
fociate your notion of certain illuftrious perfons
from your idea of the men as they have been given
to us by Titian, Holbein, Rubens, Vandyke, Knel-
ler, Reynolds, Gainfborough ; or, try the experi-
ment with theferiesofftatefmen Sir Robert Wai-
pole, Lord Chatham, William Pitt, Charles James
Fox, Lord Eldon. The divorce of the Intellectual
from the Vifible the divulfion of the fpirit from
the body may indeed be effected for an inftant,
for an inftant only, and then the two elements
collapfe and re-unite, and the man entire recovers
his place in our chamber of imagery. So it is that
our judgments are mainly ruled by thefe concep-
tions of the man mind and body as one perfon.
What we think of the relative merits of noted
men of the fame clafs is greatly determined by
thefe coalefcent conceptions of them. That this
is the fact, and that thefe conceptions are not alto-
HEADS IN GROUPS. 297
gether fallacious may be fhown by making a trial
upon fome familiar inftances. That our notions
of character, formed on this bafis, are not illufory
or unreal, we may become convinced in fuch me-
thods as the following :
When we undertake the grouping of notable
minds, or the bringing them into clafles, not ac-
cording to factitious diftinclions, but in accordance
with their intrinfic qualities, we muft, ofneceffity,
follow the guidance of an hypothecs as to thofe
qualities, which hypothefis will itfelf need to be
confirmed or amended after a fcrutiny of the facts
we are dealing with, as thus. We make up a
group conftituted of fuch names as thofe of
Bacon, Defcartes, Leibnitz, Hobbes, Newton,
Locke, Boyle, D'Alembert, Voltaire, Diderot,
Laplace. In bringing thefe names together, we
affume fomething concerning each ; and this, if
we have not quite erred in our fuppofition, fhould
be a leading element in each, which, notwith-
ftanding any actual points of difference, however
great, will continue to hold them in company :
there will thus appear to be a reafon for the group-
ing that has been effected fo far, as that, into
this group of heads it would feem an incongruity
to thruft the heads of fuch men as Columbus, or
Raphael, or Peter of Rufiia, or Milton, or Ark-
wright, or Dean Swift, or Wordfworth. Our
hypothefis, in this cafe, muft be this that the
notable perfons above-mentioned, notwithftanding
298 ESS ATS, ETC.
individual differences of power, or of tafte, or of
temper, were all men of the intellectual and medi-
tative clafs: they were Thinkers, and all but one
or two of them they chofe to ftand off from the
theatre of a&ive life. Concerning all of them, in
a comprehenfive fenfe, it may be affirmed, that
their occupation, from firft to laft, was the pur-
fuit of Truth. Each of them profefled himfelf to
be tending forward on a path which fhould lead
himfelf, and whoever would follow him, into a
better pofition, as to firft principles, than that in
which he found his contemporaries to be ftanding.
Each of thefe diftinguifhed men from Lord Ba-
con to Diderot believed himfelf to be confronting
a mafs of errors, philofophic and popular, and that
it was his deftination the bufmefs of his life to
difabufe the men of his times of many inveterate
illufions. Each of them, as was natural there-
fore, wrote and taught with that fort of animation
and confidence which is chara&eriftic of one who
has reached a ridge in an unexplored country, and
who, beckoning to his companions in the rear,
calls out I have found the right path, follow me,
and we fhall reach our journey's end well. The
queft of firft principles is then the connecting
element in this group ; and, moreover, the fearch
for Truth was to be carried forward in front of
mountains of ancient falfities.
But, after they have been thus conforted, the
men of this clafs will afk to be fet off, one from
HE JDS IN GROUPS. 299
another, on the ground of real and important dif-
ferences that are as worthy to be noticed as is the
one reafon of their aflbciation. Thus it will be
that any grouping, on the ground of analogy or
refemblance, will lead on to difcriminations which,
in their ifTue, are likely to give us, inductively,
that fort of analyfis of minds, in comparifon with
which, on the one hand, metaphyfical abftra&ions
are vague and vapid ; and, on the other hand, the
utterances of a materialiftic philofophy found like
a prefumptuous jargon.
It was as true in the opinion of Voltaire, as it
was true in that of Lord Bacon, that, in his age,
a great work of demolition needed to be achieved,
preparatory to the coming in of a bright Era of
Reafon. But while, in the one mind, the Con-
ftru&ive InftincT: always took the lead, the de-
ftructive inftincl: being fubfidiary to it, and inci-
dental, in the other mind the Deftru&ive Inftincl
was always paramount, and it had acquired the
force of a ruthlefs paflion, leaving no leifure for
that happier counter-work toward which benefi-
cent natures are always feen to be bending their
efforts. It is then chiefly in the quality of the
Intellectual Motives that governed thefe two minds
that we find the difference between them the one
mind loves to foar into the upper fldes ; for it has
an inftin&ive relim of funfhine ; the other moves
upon earth, and follows the fcent of whatever has
already gone into the putrefcent condition, and
reeks corruption.
300 ESS ATS, ETC.
But now in effecting thefe groupings, and then
in breaking up a group by needful difcriminations,
it may be afked, whether any real aid may be de-
rived from the comparifon of the vifages of the
men, in relation either to this grouping, or to this
difcrimination. The outlines attached to this
Eflay imperfect as they may be in an artiftic
fenfe are truthful enough for ferving the purpofe
of indicating the method which any reader may
purfue for himfelf, if he pleafes, whofe collection
of portraits is large, and who may therefore bring
into comparifon the moft authentic of the extant
likenefles of the diftinguifhed men of modern
times. Thefe four profiles have been taken, al-
moft at hazard, as famples in the clafs above-men-
tioned namely, that of Minds impelled mainly
by the queft of Truth, either in its pofitive and
permanent condition, or in its negative and inci-
dental condition, when it may have been overladen
with errors.
The firft of thefe outlines is from the ftatue in
St. Michael's Church,* the face is as it appears,
Teen obliquely from beneath. The fecond is from
the often-repeated picture of Erafmus by Holbein.
The third Woodcut brings together a pair of
* The front view of Lord Bacon's ftatue is the one that
would be at once recognized, having been fo often pre-
fented in engravings j but it is lefs charafteriftic than the
three-quarter face, as leen by the fpe&ator who takes his
pofition on the pavement.
HEADS IN GROUPS. 301
brilliant Frenchmen the Baron Montefquieu and
Voltaire ; as to this laft, it may be affirmed that
the trueft likenefs of this prince of French litera-
ture will be the one that has moft of the look of
a caricature. In this inftance the radiant fplen-
dour of a mind fo brilliant as his ferved, in its re-
lation to the form within which it refided, to {how
off the more frightfully the deformities of the
temperament of the man : one might liken it to
an Electric Fire, enclofed in a paper lanthorn,
which has been decorated with the glaring features
of a Hindoo demon.
Francis Bacon's tranquil upward look is the
look of a hopeful complacency ; it is a look into
the cloudlefs azure of unbounded Thought
Thought as large as a finite mind may take within
its compafs : it is, moreover, a look into the fur-
theft diftance ofhuman fpeculation, and of human
progrefs ; a look perfectly affured and at eafe in
its perceptions : fo fure is it as to give quietnefs
to the belief which prompted the flighted fage to
bequeath his fame, as the regenerator of philofo-
phy, to the intelligence of a remote age, and to
the juftice of foreign nations.
The indefatigable monk of Rotterdam, with a
ferenity, and a felf-colle&ednefs, and a felf-reliance,
like Bacon's, fixes his downcaft eye upon the
things that are real, and the things that are fantaftic
ftrewingthe field of the lower world even this
plateau of vanities, and of toils, and of pretences,
302 ESS4TS, ETC.
and of realities, never realized. In this mirror of
learned induftry one fees reflected the mountain
pile of a life of literary labour. If every tile upon
the roofs of Rotterdam had been a blank folio, and
if the tafk affigned to him had been to fill each of
thefe tomes in minion type, Erafmus would have
feated himfelf cheerily at his table, juft as Holbein
has here depicted him ; well content in the prof-
peel: of fo much work to be done. Then in the
keen olfactory confcioufnefs of the cartilaginous
nofe, and in the forbidden grin of the lips, there is
brought into view the naughty fatires and the gro-
tefque cuts of the MHPIA2 EFKHMION the
a Praife of Folly." One may fee in this profile,
now the man who was the light and the leader
of univerfal erudite induftry ; and now not lefs
the mercilefs holder of a fcourge that mould be
the terror of monkim vices, and the difmay of
Papal arrogance. The man is before us who
would put to mame the ihamelefs doings, and the
not-doings of a corrupt age ; yet he is not the
man who will rifk his fhrivelled fkin in doing
boldly the reformer's work : this is not a Savona-
rola, it is not a Luther, it is not a Tyndale, it is
not a Wickliffe, nor a Jerome of Prague j but
then neither is he a Bonner, or a Laud.
We ftill keep hold of an element of famenefs
an analogy, in bringing into this quadruple group
the two very diflimilar profiles thofe of Montef-
quieu and of Voltaire, along with Bacon and
HEADS IN GROUPS. 303
sic scde&at
LORD BACON.
. OF
34
ESSATS, ETC.
ERASMUS.
HEADS IN GROUPS. 305
f
V
MONTESQUIEU. VOLTAIRE.
306 ESS ATS, ETC.
Erafmus. To what extent we may fafely go in
carrying forward a procefs of difcrimination and
analyfis, by aid of portraiture^ may well be in-
quired : to fame extent undoubtedly this may be
done. Portraiture, if it be authentic, is a key
that fits the wards of that Iron Safe the human
fpirit ; or if not fo, it gives us, at leaft in cipher,
a note of the contents of the chert. Service-
able is this graphic help when, by other means,
we have a&ually gained accefs to the interior.
The value and reality of this fubfidiary aid may
be tefted in this manner : Take up each of thefe
four outlines, and at pleafure affign to it, in turn,
the qualities which belong in facl: to another.
Take the profile of Erafmus ; cover with flips
of paper the hat and the monk's hood, or coat,
and then perfuade yourfelf that you have before
you the effigy of Lord Bacon ! This will not
do ; for you want the large apprehenfion of the
UNIVERSAL you want a confcioufnefs of the AB-
SOLUTE ; and moft diftinctly is there wanting in
this vifage the all-embracing fenfe of analogy the
poets' fenfe, which converts the natural and the
vifible into a boundlefs treafury of fymbols, for
giving expreflion to the fpiritual and the abftracl.
In this profile there is indeed the Facunditas of in-
terminable length ; but there is not the Facunditas
of boundlefs breadth, which was the chara&eriftic
of Bacon's eloquence. But will the profile of
Voltaire fit well our idea of the learned Monk ?
HEADS IN GROUPS. 307
Is there here before us the voluminous editor of
Jerome, and of tons of patriftic theology ? Surely
not ; and yet we might believe it to reprefent the
author of " the Praife of Folly;" and the man
who gave Holbein his inftruftions for Sketching
the wicked woodcuts of that book. The keen,
well-chifelled, and fixedly determinate features of
Montefquieu are wanting in mafs if we were ex-
peeling to find in this face the indications of that
never-to-be-wearied induftry of which the profile
of Erafmus fpeaks fo plainly. But then it exprefTes a
fearlefs truth fulnefs, a probity, a firm moral direc-
tion, in all which qualities the profile of Voltaire
mows him to have been wholly deftitute. This
Montefquieu will reafon well concerning policies ;
and he will find, in the fpec"tacle of the Roman
people,many inftances that might, with vaft advan-
tage, have been taken to heart by the French people,
and by their infatuated rulers. This face well corre-
fponds with our idea of the writer who affirms that,
having thoughtfully contemplated the manners of
his contemporaries the French of the times of
Louis XV. he had believed that the portraiture
of the Roman people and of their rulers, in the
times of a decaying empire, might well be ex-
hibited as a warning " aux peuples corrompus."
Now put fide by fide the profiles of Voltaire
and of Lord Bacon. The contraft, in this in-
flance, is as great as can be prefented by any pair
of notable heads that might fo be collated. The
3o8 ESS4TS, ETC.
antique buft of Homer (whether it be a real or
imaginary likenefs) and the miniature of Alexander
Pope are not more inconvertible, the one for the
other, than are thefe. Nor are the portraits of
John Locke and of William Cowper more in con-
traft. The obvious, or the flagrant element in
this contraft is that of the dominant motive of
the two minds. The paramount impulfe of the
one mind was that which is diftin&ive of the
loftieft intelligences : it was a love of Truth
not fo much as if Truth needed to be difengaged
from Error, or muft be affirmed in contradiction
of falfity ; but it was the defire of the Abfolute:
it was a pure InftincT: of the Intellect : it was a
Paflion which, in a few minds, is the moft com-
manding, while it is the moft tranquil of all the
impulfes to which the human mind may furrender
itfelf. The work of difengaging abfolute truth
from its encruftment of errors will be effected by
this Mind with that fort of indifference which a
man mows who, in returning from abroad, makes
off", careleflly, the duft, or rids himfelf of the mud
that he has brought in from the highway. As to
the other Mind the elements which it feeks are
all found in the fcavenger-heap of the lower world.
This Mind gifted as it is with a piercing faga-
city has no inftinctive tendency toward Abfolute
Reafon ; nor has it any emotions of a purely in-
tellectual order : there is in it no confcioufnefs
forgetful of the egotifm and the vanity of the
HEADS IN GROUPS. 309
man. To trample upon, and to defame the ex-
cellence with which it has no fympathy, and of
which it has no apprehenfion, is its congenial
work ; and the plaudits on which it lives are as
welcome when fhouted by the moft ignoble, as
when uttered by the wife. Bacon was content to
wait the lapfe of long centuries for his expected
revenue of fame : Voltaire exacted the peal from
the mob; and the din muft always be ringing in
his ears. Bacon's Elyfium was the Ecclefia of
the great minds of all time ; Voltaire's was fully
realized in the uproar of the Parifian theatre,
wherein he felt himfelf in peril, as he faid, of being
" ftifled with rofes."
In this way difcriminations might be adven-
tured, when we have in view four profiles, fuch
as thefe ; or better, if the originals, whence they
have been derived, were before us. This might
be done apart from that mafs of documentary evi-
dence with which, in fact, all readers of books
are quite familiar, and which is extant in the va-
rious writings of the four men. Relying upon
phyfiognomical intuitions alone, we might thus
give judgment upon the men ; nor would there
be much rifk in affirming, as to the firft of them
Bacon that this mind muft have been great in
its conceptions, rich in ideality, well aflured in
its beliefs, and of a lofty tranquil mood. Of the
fecond, we mould fay that it was indefatigable in
the achievement of a chofen tafk keen in its cri-
3 io ESS ATS, ETC.
tical perceptions fardonic in temper, farcaftic in
ftyle,and yet paffively tolerant of evil : the man was
timid in his perfonal conduct he was no martyr.
As to the third fample that of Montefquieu, we
mould attribute to him a determinate perfpicacity,
vividnefs in his conceptions, a range of thought
more juridical than philofophical ; and a mind want-
ing, not in the love of order, but in the faculty for
effecting it. As to the man of whom the fourth
outline gives us the femblance, he might have il-
lumined his times with the inceffant corufcations
of his genius like a meteor, {rationed in the fky
of Europe, and lighting up its remoteft horizon,
year after year. Yet was this bright intelligence
wholly unbleffed of nature as to any generous
fympathies, or noble afpirations : no confciouf-
nefs had he toward the Good, the Pure, the Great
in the moral world ; or none but that of the lite-
rary artift. This mind was more impulfive in
its malignities, than even in its ambition ; and fo
infatuated by paflions of this order as to be driven
forward by them, from audacity to effrontery.
Neverthelefs, although it might be fafe thus to
give judgment upon the outlines apart from other
fources of information we mould not choofe to do
fo , nor forget that, in fact, a copious knowledge
of thefe four minds has already lodged itfelf in our
recollection the recollection of all educated per-
fons j and that it has eftablifhed itfelf fo im-
moveably in the judgment and memory that it
HEADS IN GROUPS. 311
would be a fruitlefs attempt to get quit of it. If,
therefore, the queftion in debate were concerning
the certainty, or validity of our phyfiognomical
intuitions, a very large allowance would need to
be made for this co-exiftent documentary informa-
tion, concerning the four minds that are now in
view. An objector may fairly fay You know
already fo much about Bacon, and Erafmus, and
Montefquieu, and Voltaire, that you muft not
profefs yourfelf to be qualified to pronounce im-
partial judgments upon the evidence of thefe out-
lines merely, as if you could, from thefe alone,
divine the intellectual and the moral qualities of
the men. The force of this plea of exception
muft be allowed ; neverthelefs, we are not want-
ing in a reafonable reply to it, which would be of
this fort : although it be true, when thefe profiles
are put before us, without the names that we do,
inftantly, recognize each of them ; for we know
the men at a glance, and therefore our judgments
are pre-occupied ; yet it is certain that thefe phy-
fiognomical intuitions are, in themfelves, far too
decifive to admit of a fubftitution of any one of the
profiles for any other of them. This has already
been affirmed ; and the reader may convince him-
felf that it is fo by an eafy procefs as above-men-
tioned ; or otherwife, by attempting to reconcile
himfelf to the belief, as to any one of the outlines,
that it is the likenefs of any other notable per-
fonage of hiftory ; as thus take Erafmus for Dry-
312 ESS4TS, ETC.
den, or for Dante, or for Sir Walter Scott : or
take Voltaire for Fenelon, or for Melan&hon, or
for Bimop Butler, or for Lord Mansfield.
Experiments of this kind may be repeated end-
leflly ; and the refult will be nearly the fame always
namely, a ftrengthening of our confidence in
the reality of thefe unfupported intuitions, although
not in their infallibility. The experiment might
be varied in this way : Look out, among thefe
four vifages, fortheneareft analogue you can find
for each. For inftance, find among them the
author of Junius. The portrait of Bacon will not
here ferve you ; and certainly not that of Eraf-
mus ; pojjtbly that of Montefquieu might be ad-
mitted to correfpond to your notion of that un-
known terror of ftatefmen ; but now have we not
found him in this bright and malicious French-
man ? This is a conjecture that might apart
from our knowledge to the contrary be enter-
tained. But look out among the four, for Ca-
faubon, or for Gronovius, or for Richard Bentley.
Erafmus is the only one of the fet that might be
allowed to pafs in fuch a fubftitution. Find John
Locke among them : Lord Bacon is the neareft
approach to this conception ; but it is a remote
approximation only ; for this face wants the cri-
tical analytic determination, proper to the author
of the Eflay which was to overthrow the theory of
Innate Ideas. Nor is Sir Ifaac Newton in this
quaternion ; for here is not the firm-footed ma-
thematician not the man who would hold his
HEADS IN GROUPS. 313
Theory of Gravitation in doubt, fo long as the
meafurement of an arc of the meridian was not to
be reconciled therewith.
Now, in all fuch inftances in which we adopt
decifive judgments, founded upon our phyfiogno-
mical perceptions, as thefe ftand related to ample
documentary evidence, we are, in truth, bringing
them to the moft proper teft ; and the refult will
be to ftrengthen our confidence in their reality
whencefoever they may take their rife. Never
are they to be relied upon, in fingle inftances, as if
infallible, by tbemfelves; nor are they to be over-
looked, or fet afide as if of no fignificance. The
VISIBLE SYMBOLIZATION OF MIND in the indi-
vidual human FORM will be regarded, and will be
made ufe of as an aid highly important and avail-
able in the labours of thofe who, in a time future,
may undertake the huge tafk of digefting a Philo-
fophy of Human Nature which, in refpecl: of Me-
taphyfical Abftra&ions, mail be PHYSICAL, and
mall be fubftantial, and mall be copious, and mail
be fruitful of applicate conclufions, bearing upon
the Economy of Life. Such a Philofophy, more-
over, if put in comparifon with thofe empiricifms
that take their reft upon the hypothecs of Mate-
rialifm, will commend itfelf to the approval of
every one who himfelf is of the Ariftocracy in the
community of Mind even of every one whofe
own confcioufnefs (with, or without, the leave of
philofophy) refutes and rejects all fophifms that
are of the Earth earthy.
ESSAY VII.
The Ornamentation of Nature.
i.
'N the Second of thefe E flays (pp. 142
150) a paffing allufion is made to
a fubjecl: incidentally connected with
the one there treated of, and which
is mentioned as a theme proper to Natural Theo-
logy, and which is of great extent, as well as at-
tractive in itfelf. In this EfTay, it is propofed to
enter upon this fubjecT: only fo far as may ferve,
perhaps, to invite toward it the attention of fome
reader who, with advantage, might take it up as
the agreeable employment of years, or of a life of
leifure. Be it faid, in the way of caution, that this
field is one of thofe that demands qualifications that
are not the moft common, inafmuch as they are
almoft peculiar to thofe who have been profeffion-
ally trained, and are very rare among ourfelves of
the Britim Iflands ; rare always in high latitudes,
where fkies are fo much overloaded with moifture.
The fenfe of beauty in Nature, even among cul-
tured people, is lefs often met with than other men-
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 315
tal endowments. An affectation about pictures,
or an unaffefted, and yet a. factitious tafte for them,
is indeed common enough ; but the genuine feel-
ing, as to Nature, muft ftill be fpoken of as the
native tafte of a very few. To follow out, through
all its branches, a fubjecl: of the kind, defignated
in the title of this Effay, would lead a writer to
affirm, concerning the common objects of a rural
fcene or a flower-garden, fome things that mull
found like riddles, or like a jargon, or like extra-
vagant affectations, to many, even of thofe who
crowd around pictures in a Gallery, and who think
they underftand matters of Art.
This rarenefs of the genuine fenfe of Beauty,
and of Decoration, in Nature, is a fact confir-
matory of the conclufion, on other grounds eftab-
lifhed that Beauty and Decoration, throughout
Nature, have not been thrown in upon the great
fcheme of the Univerfe, and that thefe graces have
not been fo largely worked in upon all forms, and
fo fpread over all furfaces, in regard to the human
eye, or as if to win the approval of man. They
do indeed invite his attention ; and they do call
forth his approval ; but this occurs in inftances far
too few to be put in any fort of comparifon with
the millions of inftances and the millions of mil-
lions of places, in which forms that are the moft
admirable rife into being, and pafs away ,unno-
ticed by fo heedlefs and ill-inftructed an obferver
as he, for the moft part, is. But that this elabo-
3 i6 ESS ATS, ETC.
rate and multifarious decorative fcheme has no
relation at all to eyes, need not be fuppofed ; for,
probably, it meets, and it gives filent contentment
to animal inftinclis of which man has no know-
ledge, and in which he has no participation.
The relation of this fubjecl: to Natural Theo-
logy fhould not be mifunderftood. The copious
beauty of the vifible world, and the abundant and
various decoration of its organic furfaces, is indeed
conclufively available in the theiftic argument ;
and it is fo in the fame manner, and partly for
the fame purpofes, as is the ftruclural intention of
all organizations ; or, to employ the ufual phrafe
as an Evidence of Defign, and fo, as a proof of
the Intelligence of the Caufe whence they fpring.
But Beauty and Decoration are Evidences, differ-
ing from the proofs of ftru&ural defign, as to one
inference that is derivable from them. It is true
of tbefe manifeftations of the Creative Mind, as of
thofe, that they produce but a feeble efFecl: when they
are logically appealed to, as they often are, for the
purpofe of refuting atheiftic fophifms. When thus
mifemployed, thefe proofs rather aggravate than
difpel the infatuation which has its rife at a greater
depth in the moral economy of the man ; and
until Thought and Feeling have come to flow to-
gether in a true direction, no good is done by mere
logic. If the DIVINE NATURE be firft appre-
hended in that only way in which the knowledge
of God is poffible, then the human reafon has been
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 317
opened fo as to admit its proper objects, in their
due connexion, and in their rightful order.
As we fay to thofe who are deftitute of the ge-
nuine confcioufnefs of Beauty you muft acquire
this fenfe ; or elfe not approach our fubjecl: at all ;
fo muft we fay, on the other fide, to thofe who are
wanting in the Religious Confcioufnefs firft feek
it ; or elfe hold off from the theme that is now in
profpe6t. We fhall not convert you in the flower-
garden we may inform or enrich your medita-
tions there ; but we fhall not infpire a fenfe of the
Divine in Nature, by aid of the Beautiful in
Nature.
The ONENESS of the celeftial fyftem, which is
fpoken for by the univerfality of the law of Gra-
vitation, is alfo manifefted by the tranfit of Light,
from fide to fide of the infinite fields wherein
millions of worlds are running their courfes.
Wherever there may be Reafon like the human
reafon, and Eyes like the human eye, upon the
furface of thofe worlds, this inference fo mo-
mentous is vouched for Thaj: the univerfe is
a unlverfe ; it is ONE Syftem. There is, how-
ever, another law which, prefumably^ is every-
where refpecl:ed throughout this one celeftial eco-
nomy ; we fo think, becaufe everywhere, upon
this one planet a twentieth-rate world as it is, we
find it to be conftantly regarded. This other law
is the Law of Decoration, which, in all inftances,
throughout all organizations, conforms itfelf to the
318 ESS4TS, ETC.
conditions of radiative Light. Light, radiative,
not latent, has relation to furfaces ; and, ftrike
where it may upon organizations, it exa6ts this
condition that it fhall there find Decoration,
or Symmetry, or Beauty. Stru&ures that are not
directly related to radiative light, are left to obferve
the bare reafon of their constitution : thefe ftruc-
tural forms exhibit no ornamentation. Orna-
mentation is for light, and for eyes. Ornamenta-
tion is a complementary purpofe thrown in upon
the ftru&ural reafon of organizations.
LIGHT, radiative or latent, is the ultimate ele-
ment of the material univerfe. MIND is the one,
and the only other existence, beyond and above
the material univerfe; and thus it is that wherever
the two come into combination wherever MIND
comes to converfe with LIGHT, there the union of
the two is fignalized by Decoration, by ornamenta-
tion, or by Beauty. To enfure the due obfervance
of this all-pervading Law the Law of Beauty
and of Ornament elaborate provifion is made
throughout all organizations, vegetable and animal,
for bringing out upon the furface the requifite
forms and colours. This provifion includes certain
mechanical adjuftments of the interior structure,
and many occult procefles of the chemistry of life,
vegetable or animal ; and many preparations which
are effected throughout thofe infinite vafcular ra-
mifications which are revealed only by aid of the
higheft powers of the microfcope. That it is fo,
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 319
proofs innumerable, and in every imaginable man-
ner diverfified, are adducible. In a large clafs of
thefe inftances Nature's preparation for the toilet^
belongs to the individual being, and may be traced
inwards from the furface to the very centre frame-
work of the being, whether plant or animal. In
another clafs of fuch inftances the Decorative In-
tention is provided for in the circuitous mode of
remote relationfhips between object and object ;
which relationfhip, although it may feem as if it
were fortuitous only, is yet found to be real. A
fample or two of both kinds we may adduce, as
we go on. So it will appear that the ftyle of the
Creation is ornamentative everywhere. The
elaboratenefs of the means reforted to for bringing
Beauty and Decoration together, or feparately
out upon the furface, wherever Light may ftrike
upon it, and whencefoever light may be reflected,
is evidence enough of the reality of that which we
thus fpeak of. Thefe are not illufory human con-
ceits : we muft not fo think of them, for the in-
tention to bring them forth, wherever Light may
falute organic forms, is confpicuoufly indicated
among the unfightly ribbings, the fmewy adjuft-
ments, and the flefhly mouldings of the out-of-
fight ftructure. A recognition of the difference
between the fuperficies^ and the interior as to the
ftyle of the form, pervades, as well the vegetable,
as the animal kingdoms. (Page 144.)
Decoration is a law of the furface, throughout
320 ESSATS, ETC.
Nature ; but on what ground are we warranted
in afTuming it to be the law or ftyle of the Mate-
rial Univerfe elfewhere than in this our planet ?
Of the Univerfe we are immediately cognizant,
of one fample only and it is from what we fee
upon an atom-planet that we are gathering a
fuppofition fo large as this now mentioned ! A
fuppofitton it is : this muft be granted ; neverthe-
lefs a contrary belief not only has no fupport of
its own ; but it would weaken our confidence in
any reafoning that is not rigidly mathematical. It
is true that, within the range of vifion nightly,
there may be thoufands of worlds that are nothing
more than globules of glowing lava : and there
may be other worlds upon which life is barely in-
choative : and there maybe other worlds that are
flowly labouring onwards towards the dawn of
organization crepufcular only are they as to vital
confcioufnefs ; and there may be worlds where-
upon though life in its lower grades is abundant,
no minds are there ; and fuch a world was this
Earth through eras which arithmetic may not
venture to compute. Neverthelefs it is certain,
as to this Earth, that, fo foon as there was any life,
fo foon as there were algae, and fungi, and ferns, and
palms, there was Ornamentation alfo. So foon as
there were organicy?r##wm, there was decoration
of the exterior, if not beauty. The morning hour
of Forefts, of Trees, and of Foliage upon earth
gladdened its fplendours daily, with new difplay
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 321
of colour, and with a thoufand fymmetries of
branch, and leaf, and bud, and leaflet. Juft as
the planet itfelf was then abudding, fo did each
bud, among millions of the like, (how fample of
that matchlefs elegance of contour, and of that
pure commingling of fecondary colours which is
peculiar to the fpring-time ftage of vegetative life.
The firft Nautilus that fcudded upon the glafly
furface of warm primaeval oceans gave evidence
that this Precept of Creation fhould be refpefted,
as well throughout the regions of the great deep,
as upon the dry land. As foon as the pools and
caverns of the fea glittered and {hone with coral-
lines and polypi with anemones and ftar-fifh
as foon as irridefcent pearly greys, and flaring crim-
fons, and yellows, and purples, courted funbeams
down through the fathoms of feas and lakes, fo
foon, and in all places where life in its lower, and
life in its upper grades was burfting its fliell, or
was {haling off its hufk, there and then did this
Rule fpeak itfelf out ; and it was thus that the
Creation is framed, moulded, fmiflied, in con-
formity with an Attribute which yet wants a name
in our Theology ; but which we may conceive of,
fo far as it is feebly reflected in the human mind
by its confcioufnefs of, and its delight in Beauty
and Ornament.
322 ESSATS, ETC.
ii.
THE ornamentation of Nature is effected in two
modes of which the one offers itfelf to every
eye ; while the other is lefs obtrufive, being a re-
fult, as we have faid, of relations among objects,
and of what may feem to be the fortuitous pofitions
of things, whether few or many. Simple Deco-
ration is of the firft kind ; for it is fuch orna-
ment as is attached to the individual object,
either in its configuration, or in its permanent
colours ; and often the two are found together.
So it is in mod flowers, as the tulip, and the rofe ;
and thus too in the vaft variety of (hells, the moft
admired famples of which exhibit the two elements
of vifible grace that of form, or fymmetry, and
that of colour, fo combined as if they were con-
tending for the pre-eminence, and as if each
was ftriving to fafcinate the eye in its own pe-
culiar manner. Thus it is alfo in the plumage of
birds, and upon the downy wings of moths and
butterflies. The other, and the lefs obtrufive, but
not the lefs real mode of ornamentation, prevailing
throughout nature, is that which, not being intrin-
fical or inherent in any fmgle objecl:, is the refult
of the relationfhip of objects, and of their acci-
dental juxta-pofition. It is this kind, therefore,
which needs the moft to be pointed out, and to be
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 323
infifted upon, inafmuch as its reality is not unlikely
to be called in queftion by many whofe confciouf-
nefs toward it has not hitherto been awakened.
Inherent, or intrinfic, or as we may call it,
Fixed Decoration that, for example, of colour,
and that of form, every eye recognizes the in-
fant and the adult alike ; nor need the inftances,
abundant as they are, be adduced, which mow
how widely the rule of decoration prevails through-
out the vegetable and the animal kingdoms. What
might yet be done on this ground, but which
could not be done with advantage otherwife than
by the aid of copious graphic illufrrations, would
be to eftablifh the fact that, deep within the ftruc-
ture of almoft all organizations, careful preparations
are made, in the difpofal of the folids, and in the
arrangements of the vafcular fyftem, and in what
belongs to the chemical functions, which clearly
indicate a foregoing intention to decorate^ as in-
cluded in the plan of the plant, or of the animal.
Take an inftance which may illuftrate this in the
way of a contraft : the ftains upon a decaying
wall may have run themfelves out into a figure,
the outlines of which, perhaps, are graceful ; or
they are fuch as feem to carry with them fome
fort of grotefque meaning ; fo that we are tempted
to impute a defign, or intention, to this chance-
work. Or it may be, and often it is fo, that the
mingling of colours, and the apportion of tertiary
tints upon fuch a difcoloured wall is fuch that a
324 ESSATS, ETC.
painter will not fail to admire it ; and he will be
quick to transfer it to his canvafs, as an all-har-
monizing back-ground the beft poffible forgiving
effect to a portrait. But now let us apply a fcraper
to this ftained furface, and at once any fuppofition
of preordination in bringing out upon it thefe fig-
nificant forms, or thefe commingled colours, is
difpelled ; and, in fact, the deeper we go with our
fcalpel the further off fhall we find ourfelves from
any indications of a defign to effect that which
the furface actually exhibits. The very con-
trary of this prefents itfelf when we apply the
fcalpel to any natural organization, fuch as thatof
the petals of variegated flowers ; for, in thefe
bedded in the ftructure (albeit the fubjedt is far
from being at prefent fully understood) the mi-
crofcope detects elaborate vafcular adjuftments,
adapted to no other purpofe than that of imparting
different degrees of oxygenation to the chromule^
or colouring matter of plants ; or for the fixation
of carbon, in ftreaks, or in fpots, to the membrane
of the leaf. Then all thefe preparations are
adaptations to the actinic power of the folar ray, in
fuch manner as to bring forth this or that one of
the elements of light, or to produce a peculiar
commixture of thofe elements : and this is done
fometimes in pattern, as in the pencilled-gera-
nium ; and, fometimes, it is done with a gorgeous
difregard of pattern, as in tulips : fometimes
with mathematical precifion ; and in other in-
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 325
fiances with a rich diforderly opulence of figuring
and of painting as if dafhed in with a free hand.
As in the ftru&ure of thofe plants which yield
efTential oils, or aromas, or which fecrete fugars,
or acids, or bitters, the chemical pre-requifite for
effecting thefe purpofes is fecured in a laboratory
feated in the ftru6ture, and as for the production
of the perfumes of flowers, analogous preparations
may be detected, even in the earlieft germination
of the plant, fo has its future ornamentation been
held in profpecl: from the very firft : this magnifi-
cence of the expanded flower is not an extempo-
rary accident ; it is an embryo purpofe : Deco-
ration is a decree that has been written out in the
primaeval archives of the vegetable and the ani-
mated world.
An inftance of ' Jlruttural preparation for bring-
ing Beauty of form out upon the exterior we fhall
adduce a little further on [fee note] ; and now
revert to thofe modes of ornamentation which are
the refult of the relation of objects, or of their in-
cidental pofition toward each other. Thefe means,
though they are lefs obvious, are far too many,
and they are too multiform to be difmifled as if
they were unreal.
In a preceding Eflay (page 146) the purpofe
now in view has been briefly ftated ; we now take
it up where we there left it ; yet ftill it muft be
in the mode of a curfory allufion to a few in-
flances, taken at hazard from among hundreds or
326 ESS ATS, ETC.
thoufands, each of which fhould find a place in a
treatife upon this extenfive fubjecl:.
The fingle leaf is the rudiment of beauty in
landfcape ; and we are now thinking of landfcape
as it is conftituted of its mineral, and its vegetable,
and its atmofpheric ingredients. We take then a
fingle leaf, and in taking the fimpleft we can find
in a hedge, we are the more fecure as to our in-
tended illuftration of a principle. This leaf is
fymmetrical in contour, and it has its individual
grace of a fweeping and tapering figure ; or it may
be oval, or ovate, or orbicular, or heart-fhaped,
or arrow-fhaped, or halbert-headed ; or any one of
twenty other diftinguifhable forms ; and its edges
may be toothed, or crifped, or fpiked, or ferrated.
Its furface may be fmooth and mining, or it may be
rugged, or plaited, or veined, or ribbed ; or it may
be hirfute, or downy, or fpeckled, or lined ; or in
any other among a hundred varieties of furface, it
may be decorated. As to its texture and its
graining, it may be membranous, or papery, or
leathery, or cruftaceous, or flefhy, or fpongy, or
waxy, or rigid ; or any other among a hundred
varieties, as to feel and look. As to colour and
tinge, the differences that are certainly diftinguifh-
able do not fall fhort of a hundred. Take a leaf
not one of the mofr. ornate in thefe feveral refpefts,
but one that is the leaft eligible on the ground
of its pretenfions to beauty ; yet a beautiful
objecl: it is laid down and fpread flat upon a fheet
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 327
of paper: apply the microfcope to this object, or
to the fmalleft cutting of it ; and its claims to be
commended on this fcore will not be diminiftied
or difpelled. And if now, in place of the home-
lieft fpecimen from the hedge, we were to take
fome gorgeous fample of botanic and tropical regal
grandeur in form and dimenfions in texture in
colour, and then imagine it to be a fample of human
tafte and art, how fhall we find words fitting for
giving utterance to the eulogium it would deferve ?
But this commendation of a fmgle leaf, which
we have plucked from its ftem, includes a fmall
part only of what will appear to be due to it, when,
inftead of rending it from its ftem, we look at it
where Nature herfelf has placed it. This rudiment
of beauty in landfcape has fo been conftituted as fits
it to become a germinating centre of graces of
another order, when it takes its individual place in
that vaft fyftem of Grouping out of which the inex-
hauftible treafures of landfcape ornamentation are
drawn. The fpray, or ftem, graced with its dozen
or twenty leaves, and its buds, is a compofition
afking to be gazed at, and to be admired, in refpect
of new, or of more fully exprefled principles.
The fmgle leaf is one of a dozen or twenty its
fellows on the fame ftem ; and yet thefe are not
abfolute repetitions of the fame type. The leaf is
jointed on fymmetrically with its compeers upon
this ftem by its own flexible pellicle or ftalk al-
lowing to each of them a liberty of movement.
328 ESSATS, ETC.
Here, then, upon the threfhold of vegetable or-
ganization, we find in unifon thofe two modes of
ornamentation which prevail throughout Nature ;
namely, the fixed, or intrinfic ; and the unfixed
and the incidental : the firft of thefe is obvious ;
the fecond is in a degree occult. If this branch-
let, with its fet of leaves, be laid out flat upon a
paper, then the miniature tree, like each fingle
leaf, demands admiration ; for it brings together
thofe two attractions which the human eye never
fails to recognize with pleafure famenefs and re-
petition, along with differences and contrafts, or
appofitions and oppofitions. But then, after thefe
intrinfic elements of ornament have won their due
commendation, we mould recognize, in the very
fame fet of objects, certain ornamentative elements
of quite another clafs ; for thefe are thofe ever-vary-
ing charms that refult from attitude pofition
perfpective ; and, in a word, from the relations of
objects to objects, near or remote.
While we are thus writing, the vigorous holly-
hock the fhowy pride of a cottage-garden is
preparing to put forth its July glories. The plant,
at this moment, is " in its teens :" life and fum-
mer-tide are all in anticipation ; and each feparate
bud is fwelling with the confcioufnefs of its own
folded-up charms. The rampant ftalk is of un-
ufual altitude ; for the feafon has been warm and
moift, and fo it afpires to touch the fky j or, at
leaft, to greet the noon-day fun undaunted : but
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 329
juft now, the head overladen with buds, droops
low as if this creature of earth, not ungrateful
toward its parent, would take a laft look, and bid
adieu to the brown bed whence its roots ftill draw
aliment. To-morrow the curving neck fhall ga-
ther ftrength the pyramidal ftrudture will rear
itfelf erecl:, as if to proclaim the fact of its majo-
rity and all the garden fhall know that the holly-
hock is no mean plant. Even now its golden
hues, and its deep crimfons, and its royal purples,
are fteaming in dye within each bud.
The Phyfiologift may give us a fufficient, and a
true reafon for whatever he finds in this ftrudture ;
fuch as the ribbing of the leaf, and the anaftomof-
ing net-work of its veflels, and the quality and the
colour of the intervening pulpy mafs. But he
would fail if he were to attempt to render afcien-
tific explication of thofe extrinfic and incidental
adaptations of the form and the colour which fit
this plant to take its place, and to do its office in
the vaft economy of Nature's ornamentative fyf-
tem. What is it then that we here find which
can have reference to fo magnificent a purpofe ?
The main ftem of the plant, which has not yet
acquired its fibrous rigidity, is overladen with
leafage, and with buds ; and fo it droops ; but the
line of its inclination from the perpendicular is the
very line which ART and TASTE would wifh to
have given it. Do we think that this is an imaginary
adaptation ; or that it is a conceit and a factitious
330 ESSdrS, ETC.
imputation of a merit of which Nature knows no-
thing ? Then, if fo, we muft go on, and fhall find that
the requirements of Art and of Tafte (which them-
felves are products of the fchoolings of Nature)
are everywhere fatisfied. The gradually dimi-
nifhing bulk and weight of the buds, up to the
very fummit, has the effecT:, not only of giving a
graceful fymmetry to the whole plant, but alfo this
lefTening of the burden from midway to the top,
imparts to the upper curve an elegance which the
inftrufted and tafteful eye refts upon with keen
fatisfa&ion. Seven or eight inches below the
fummit the now expanding leaves larger and
larger, in each pair, and alternating with bloflbm-
buds, in their rooting on the ftem, are fanning
themfelves forth to drink in their fill of light, and to
exhale their gafes. But now of thefe pairs of leaves
of which there may be twenty, it is not more
than two that prefent themfelves in a full front
view or as that fingle leaf appears, when fpread
out upon my table. As to the other eighteen leaves,
they fhow me their furfaces in as many different
afpecls. Some are feen juft edgeways, fome
in a three-quarter's view : fome have a graceful
curl, which ferves to exhibit the upper and the
under furfaces at once; fo that the full green of
the upper furface is foiled by the filvery grey of the
under furface : fome leaves are fo forefhortened,
as to make them fall into line with their ftalks. In
fome the edge line, with its indentations, throws an
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 331
elongated madow upon the leaf next below it ;
and as this furface is undulating, new curves are pro-
duced which the plant could not itfelf exhibit ; yet
they are grateful to the eye mixing as they do
with its own more rugged contours. Along with
this complication of lines there is always mingled,
in the mind of the trained fpectator, a recollection
of the actual fymmetry of the plant the ftalk,
the leaves, the buds if all were laid out in archi-
tectural ftyle, fo as to furnim a " front elevation."
Here, then, what we find in Nature isfir/t,
functional ftructure ; and^fecondly^ decoration of
contour and colour, inherent in the plant; and,
thirdly, thofe graces of pofition, of perfpective, of
afpect, and of accidental accordances with things
around it, of which accordance none but natural
objects are fully fufceptible.
This adaptation to Grouping^ in the fenfe of plea-
fure-giving effects, is, we fay, the prerogative of natu-
ral forms. From the fmalleft of thefe rudiments of
landfcape to the largeft of them from the dimi-
nutive leaflet, or blade of grafs, to the Alpine front
of precipitous rock, the things of Nature are fuch
in their contour, and they are fuch in their colours,
and they are fuch in their relation to light and to at-
mofpheric changes, as fits them to blend the
fmaller mafles with the larger mafles, and the ob-
jects of a near foreground with the mafles of a
mountain diftance, fo as that the combination,
fortuitous as it is in each of thefe inftances,
creates a fpedtacle upon which the cultured
332 ESSATS,
human eye gazes with never-fatiated delight.
Upon thefe natural combinations, upon thefe
groupings, from the fmalleft to the largeft upon
this chance-work of Nature, man looks en-
tranced ; and he looks upon it with an unwearied
fatisfa&ion, fo that he would fain never turn his
foot away from the fpots where beft it may be con-
templated. It is thus that he feels in the morn-
ing-time of life and it is thus that he ftill feels in
his lateft day : toward other pleafures of the fenfes
he becomes indifferent ; but never if indeed he
has felt them do thefe exhibitions of the vifible
world lofe their charm. Man is not formally in-
vited to be an applauding fpe&ator of thefe exhibi-
tions : he may come forward if he lift ; he may put
his foot upon the threftiold of the theatre of Nature,
when he fo pleafes or when his many avocations
in the bufy world permit him an hour of leifure.
But as to the fpe&acle itfelf millions of times, and
in millions of places in vaft folitudes which no
human foot has ever defecrated, have thefe glories
been fpread out before the fun. Every fublimity of
form every richnefs and magnificence of colour
every gracefulnefs in fmaller objects and every
afpe6t of terror in the larger the infinite diver-
fities of pattern, and the infinite complications of
thefe under accidents of light and of fhade fuch
things have they not been put forth upon Earth
when, and where, none were prefent, but the
CREATOR ; and the unconfcious works of His
hand ?
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 333
From the fpectacle of the ail-but infinite abound-
ings of confcious animal life upon the folid Earth,
and, not lefs fo, throughout the vaftnefs of the
Great Deep, our human modes of thinking draw a
theologic conclufion, to which faulty and ambi-
guous as it maybe language gives utterance ; and
thus it is that we ufe ourfelves to fpeak of the
Divine Attribute of GOODNESS, or Benevolence.
And it is in the fame manner, and it is under the
fame conditions of faultinefs and ambiguity, that we
fpeak of the Divine Attribute of WISDOM, or In-
telligence vouched for as this is, in the infinitely
diverfified adaptations of means to an end, through-
out the framework of the material world. Why
is it then or how is it to be accounted for, that
human thought has quite failed to find fome mode
of expreffion proper to take its place in Theology,
as reprefentative of this other Attribute of the
Creative Will, whence refults the univerfal Or-
namentation of Nature ? An anfwer to this quef-
tion does not very obvioufly prefent itfelf : it might
perhaps be found among thofe modes of feeling
which are incidental to the labours of man, when
he is aiming at ornament. Ornament, or decora-
tion, in human works, is coftly ; it is fupple-
mentary, and it is bellowed only upon certain
clafles of objects : it is an exceptive labour ; and
is almoft entirely excluded from thofe produces of
fkill which are of the higheft utility.
At this point, then, the analogy between the
334 ESS ATS, ETC.
Infinite Mind and the human mind feems not
indeed to be loft, or quite to fail us ; but yet the
clue drops from the hand ; and we are perplexed
in attempting to recover it. Human ornamenta-
tion attaches to the furfaces of things ; but then
the Artift-Man, when he beftows his labour at the
call of tafte, felects thofe furfaces that are fure to
attract the approval of his fellows. The Divine
Ornamentation, beftowed as it is upon furfaces,
abounds in folitudes, and in depths ; and it is la-
vifhed upon objects that are infinitely minute ;
and often it is the moft exquifite and elaborate
when it graces the attire of creatures whofe term
of life is only a fummer's day. The every-where-
abounding decoration of Nature is an inexhauftible
opulence; it is as if any fingle inftance, and any
fingle occafion, although it be in itfelf incalculably
unimportant, might neverthelefs command, and
might well deferve to receive, a care and a coft,
as to its form and its colour, which none but
the rareft fpecimens ought to pretend to. This
DIVINE ATTRIBUTE of which the Ornamenta-
tion of Nature is the vifible expreffion, we fail
to comprehend, as we alfo fail to comprehend
whatever is of the Infinite ; but, moreover, we
fail to think of it with intelligent coherence :
we fail in attempting to bring thefe mani-
feftations of the Divine Mind into an alliance of
congruity with our human modes of thinking ; and
fo it is that human language, with all its ftores at
ORNAMENTATION OF NATURE. 335
our command, ftill wants a term, fit for conveying
any notion of it, although the vouchers for its
reality confront us every moment when the Ma-
terial Creation is in view. On this threfhold
Thought falters ; or, at leaft, the meafured ftep
of Reafon here wants fupport. Neverthelefs, even
here, excurfive Meditation might, without blame,
make trial of its power, and might adventure up-
wards toward fpheres brighter than this home of
man, whereupon this opulence of Decorative Will
may be putting itfelf forth under fkies lefs auftere
than are the ftorm-troubled heavens that enwrap
the Earth.
The fubjett of this EJ/ay the author has confi-
dered^ under another of its afpefts^ in THE WORLD
OF MIND. Sett. 288.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.
Note to the Fir ft E/ay, page 87.
means of treatment are in queftion
for the removal or abatement of flagrant
diforders, affecting the community at
large and Drunkennefs is foremoft among
fuch diforders it is of the utmoil im-
portance that we keep in view the obvious, but the
often-forgotten, diftinftion between what is an offence
againft Society, and what is a Sin as toward God, and
which as a fin is the woe and burden of the indivi-
dual tranfgreffor. To lofe fight of this diftinftion is a
miftake which will not fail to mow its ill confequences,
on the one hand, in bringing in impracticable and in-
effective meafures of prevention, or of prohibition ; and,
on the other hand, in throwing confufion upon the firft
principles of morality, and in weakening the force of re-
ligious motives.
It is thus, and it is in both thefe modes that the be-
nevolent movers of the modern enterprife for the pre-
vention of Drunkennefs have gone fo far aftray ; and,
in thus going aftray, have failed to fecure the approval
z
338 SUPPLEMENT ART NOTES.
and fupport of the more thoughtful part of the commu-
nity. Encouraged to go on by many inftances of re-
formation, thefe zealous perfons have deafened them-
felves againft the cautions and advices of whoever might
call their proceedings in queftion, albeit as benevolent
as themfelves, and perhaps better informed. This hot
eagernefs this over-weening of their own ways has
emboldened fome of the leaders of the movement to
affirm, with a noify affurance, the moft enormous ab-
furdities touching the phyfical conftitution of man ; and,
along with thefe crudities, to put forth ferious mif-ftate-
ments of facls, relating to the Biblical Evidence, on the
fubjecl in queftion.
Drunkennefs, which is fo lamentably the difgrace of
the Induftrial and lower clafles of the Britifh people, is
firft to be thought of as a grievous violation of public
order: it is the immediate, and the moft frequent
fource of crimes of violence : it is the caufe of the
domeftic miferies, and of the difeafe, and of the deftitu-
tion which afflift, and which fo heavily prefs upon,
certain claries of the community, and which throw a
fifcal burden upon all. On thefe grounds, therefore,
the Community the Public Mind the Public Force,
needs be reftrained by no fcruples in dealing, vigoroufly,
and as beft it may, with a vice by which fo many of
the guiltlefs are injured. Whatever thefe meafures of
prevention may be, we have only to fee to it that they
neither trench upon the civil rights of other clafles, nor
are of a kind to provoke, and to fuperinduce diforders
that may be more to be dreaded than Drunkennefs it-
felf. No doubt the Social Body is free to rid itfelf, as
it may, and yet always wifely of fo terrible a plague
SUPPLEMENT4RT NOTES. 339
as this. So clear is this duty, and fo urgent are the
reafons for effecting a reform, that, if only more difcre-
tion were mown by thofe who labour in this caufe than
hitherto they have difplayed, the hearty concurrence of
all well-difpofed and thoughtful perfons might be fe-
cured ; and thus, progrefs might be made, on a large
fcale, for reducing this vice fo far as it is the vice of a
clafs within narrow, and always diminiming limits.
But Drunkennefs is not only a diforder it is a Sin:
it is the grievous fin and woe of the miferable man who
has become its victim : it is the ruin of his body, and
if not repented of it entails the ruin of his foul.
In this light regarded, a courfe of treatment altogether
and abfolutely of another kind is called for in attempt-
ing the refcue of the drunkard from the perdition that
awaits him ; and if, in making this attempt, we adopt,
and recommend a falfe principle, there are no limits to
the mifchiefs that will in the end enfue. The endea-
vour thus to fubftitute a temporifing fcheme of our own
devifing in the room of unalterable moral and religious
principles has been experimented, many times over, in
the courfe of ages : the confequences have always been
the fame a temporary fuccefs a frightful re-alion,
and a lafting damage inflicted upon Chriftian communi-
ties, as to their moral and religious condition.
It is always eafier to take the lower ground of
fecular motives, than to keep our footing firmly upon the
higher ground of religious principles ; and fo it is that
when we make this defcent,the confequenceis an aban-
donment, or a forgetfulnefs of thofe higher principles.
It is thus, in the moral treatment of a family. Induce
among children orderly habits courtefies a fenfe of
340 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.
propriety, and of honour, all which involve no religious
motives, and we may wonderfully fucceed in giving, to
fuch a family, an afpeft of cheerfulnefs and obedience.
But in this fuccefs there is involved a dangerous indif-
ference toward all motives of a higher and more ferious
order. Young perfons, fo trained, go forth into the
world well-behaved atheifts. Thus to deal with en-
tire claffes of the people with adults of the induftrial
clafs is indeed a moft perilous adventure.
The recent inftances fully reported and much dif-
cuffed as they have been of religious revivals, have
eftabliftied, at leaft, this principle That Chriflianity
alone, and in its proper force, has power to reclaim the
Drunkard, as well as the profligate of every other clafs. It
is proved, as it has been proved, heretofore, in innumera-
ble inftances, that the fole fear of God, and a well-founded
dread of the future judgment, are enough now, as of
old, to ween the moft depraved men from their fenfu-
alities, and from every wrongful courfe of life. The
Gofpel only proclaim it in its own manner will effect
reformations that mail be lafting, and good, in every
fenfe. Thofe who zealoufly preach abjlinence, and
who urge the pledge inftead of temperance, are likely
to miftruft the efficacy of purely Religious Principles,
and they will faulter in their affertion of thofe truths
that go deeper than the mallows of a decent and an or-
derly behaviour at home and abroad.
Great Reforms are wont to pafs through ftages, nor
are they realized as permanent benefits until after the
earlier experimentation has run itfelf out. It will be fo
in this inftance. Drunkennefs, as the woe and plague of
the Britim workman, and the rural labourer, will at length
SUPPLEMENT4RT NOTES. 341
come under fuch a reformatory preflure as muft reduce
it continually, in extent, and in offenfivenefs. It will
furvive as the vice and mifery of here and there a
wretched viftim. So it is now in all clafles above the
two lower clafles. When this Reform has been realized
in Scotland, and in Ireland, as well as England, the
Originators, and the promoters of the Total Abfti-
nence Movement will deferve, and they will receive
great praife : or if they have pafled from among us,
they will be had in lailing remembrance. Their miftakes
and their platform utterances will be forgotten; we
need not fay forgiven, for things of this quality are fure
to die out of mind, before the time comes when they
mould be formally forgiven.
Note to the Fifth EJfay,page 274.
" TTT/ZL be fupplanted by men of another order of
V T Mind." It would be a tacit injuflice to make
even this curfory allufion to the Mefmeric empiricifm,
and not to connect with the fubjecl the name of Mr.
Braid, of Manchefter. This gentleman's experiments
and inquiries in elucidating that abnormal condition of
the Mind and body which he has treated under the
term HYPNOTISM, have gone far to diflipate the illu-
fions of Mefmerifm. Mefmerifm aflumes and affirms a
myfterious correfpondence to fubiift between the mef-
merizer and the mefmerized fubjeft. Mr. Braid's
practice, in bringing on the fomnambular uncon-
fcioufnefs, wholly excludes all pretenfions of this or-
der ; and affumes only this fadl a fa6l unqueftionable,
342 SUPPLEMENT ART NOTES.
although unexplained, and, at prefent, inexplicable of
the induction of this ftate of non-natural fleep by means
of very fimple manipulations. In the ufe of thefe
means fkilfully employed he has produced refults
which may be marvelled at, but which muft not be de-
nied. This reference to Mr. Braid has connected itfelf
in the mind of the writer, with the circumftance that
the fubftance of this Eflay, on Epidemic Whims, was
delivered, as a Lefture, at Manchefter, where he wit-
nefled, in feveral inilances, Mr. Braid's curative mani-
pulations.
Note to the Seventh EJ/ay, page 318.
r I 1 HE intention to induce decoration and Beauty
-L. upon the furface is " confpicuoujly indicated among
tbe unjigbtly ribbings, tbe Jinewy adjujlments, and the
fejbly mouldings of tbe out-of-Jigbt ftrufture"
The three wood-cuts fubjoined may be taken as fuffi-
cient proof and illuftration of what is affirmed in this
Eflay in the place above referred to, and in other
places of the fame ; and they need little explanation.
The firft of thefe figures mows the bony ftrudlure of the
human foot (a female foot) : the fecond exhibits the
outer layer of the mufcles, as well as the finews and the
ligaments of the fame ; and the third mows the exterior
contour fuch as we find it in a well-known fample of
Greek art : and the three together furnifh an inftance
one among innumerable inflances, of the admirable me-
thod of packing the inner mafles, and of arranging what
is mechanical, for the purpofe of fecuring the ultimate
SUPPLEMENT ART NOTES. 343
intention of giving fymmetrical proportions and a grace-
ful contour to the exterior.
The human foot is conftituted of twenty-fix bones,
admitting of greater or lefs extent of movement each
upon its neighbours, and which, by the arched ftrufture
of the whole, gives that firm and elaflic fupport that is
344 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.
needed for the fecurity and the locomotive facility of a
body of fuch height, and of fo much weight each foot
having, in its turn, to fuftain the entire weight, and to
give impulfe to the whole, adapting itfelf to the chang-
ing equilibrium of the body. As adapted to thefe pur-
pofes, the bony build of the human foot may truly be
regarded as fymbolizing, at once, the dignity and the
commanding power of man, and as an indication of the
vaftnefs of the interval which feparates him from the
higheft of the brute orders.
This bony framework is worked by as many as twenty-
eight mufcles lodged, either upon itfelf entirely, or
upon the leg, and yet taking their hold upon its bones,
by their tendons ; all being held compactly together by
ligaments which combine the greateft flrength, or tena-
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 345
city, with the leail poffible bulk, or thicknefs. To form
a juft conception of what are the performances of this
piece of complicated mechanifm confidered in relation
to the fize of the parts or of the whole we muft firft
calculate the force that is expended when the body of a
full-lized man is by means of this engine alone, pro-
jected into the air to a height half his own ; or when,
in the twenty or thirty thoufand beats of a three hours'
march, this body is propelled over a furface of twelve
miles. Thus eftimating the powers that are actually
put forth by this mechanifm, then we mould take the
fcalpel in hand throw off the integuments extricate,
each by itfelf, the mufcular films, cords, and bands
affign to each its particular mare of the work done by
the whole, and then eftimate thofe prodigies of nervous
energy, and alfo of coheflvenefs and tenacity in the ma-
terials, which are implied in the thus packing and com-
preffing the whole, fo as that the exterior contour of the
human foot mall be what it is a perfect fample of
elegance and of fymmetry in itfelf, and in its relation
to the limb, and to the figure.
When we think of what it has to do, in a mechanical
fenfe, we might well demand for it a bulk three times
greater than is actually allowed it ; and at the fame time
might give it proportions, not much lefs obtufe than are
thofe of the foot of the hippopotamus. In this inftance,
as in fo many equally conclufive, it is feen that a regard
to the law of Beauty (as to the exterior) has been kept
in view in the innermoit framework of the animal or-
ganization, and that for making fure of this exterior
grace, nothing has been fpared, either as to the quality
of the fibrous materials, or as to the development of vital
A A
346 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.
force in the mufcles. Let the fymmetry of the whole,
and the grace of the lines of the human foot be com-
promifed, and then if we might fo fpeak a far lefs
expenfive organization might have been fufficient.
FINIS.
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