SELF-HELP
j* 1 ^T
DAVID LIVINGSTONE.
[Frontispiece
SELF-HELP
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF
CONDUCT AND PERSEVERANCE
BY SAMUEL [SMTLES, LL.D.
AUTHOR OF ' LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS,' ETC.
"This above all, To thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.''
SHAKESPEARE.
" Might I give counsel to any young man, I would say to him,
Try to frequent the company of your betters. In books and in
life, that is the most wholesome society ; learn to admire
rightly ; the great pleasure of life is that. Note what great
men admired; they admired great things; narrow spirits
admire basely and worship meanly." W. M. THACKERAY.
NEW IMPRESSION
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1905
PRINTED AND BOUND BY
HA2ELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LP.,
LONDON AND AVLESBURV.
PREFACE
THIS is a revised edition of a book which has
already been received with considerable
favour at home and abroad. It has been
reprinted in various forms in America ; translations
have appeared in Dutch and French, and others
are about to appear in German and Danish. The
book has, doubtless, proved attractive to readers
in different countries by reason of the variety of
anecdotal illustrations of life and character which
it contains, and the interest which all more or less
feel in the labours, the trials, the struggles, and
the achievements of others. No one can be better
aware than the author of its fragmentary character,
arising from the manner in which it was for the
most part originally composed, having been put
together principally from jottings made during
many years, intended as readings for young men,
and without any view to publication. The appear-
ance of this edition has furnished an opportunity
for pruning the volume of some superfluous matter,
and introducing various new illustrations, which
will probably be found of general interest.
In one respect the title of the book, which it
is now too late to alter, has proved unfortunate,
as it has led some, who have judged it merely
vi PREFACE
by the title, to suppose that it consists of a eulogy
of selfishness : the very opposite of what it really
is, or at least of what the author intended it to
be. Although its chief object unquestionably is to
stimulate youths to apply themselves diligently
to right pursuits, sparing neither labour, pains,
nor self-denial in prosecuting them, and to rely
upon their own efforts in life, rather than depend
upon the help or patronage of others, it will also
be found, from the examples given of literary and
scientific men, artists, inventors, educators, philan-
thropists, missionaries, and martyrs, that the duty
of helping one's self in the highest sense involves
the helping of one's neighbours.
It has also been objected to the book that too
much notice is taken in it of men who have
succeeded in life by helping themselves, and too
little of the multitude of men who have failed. " Why
should not Failure," it has been asked, "have its
Plutarch as well as Success ? " There is, indeed,
no reason why Failure should not have its Plutarch,
except that a record of mere failure would probably
be found excessively depressing as well as unin-
structive reading. It is, however, shown in the
following pages that Failure is the best discipline
of the true worker, by stimulating him to renewed
efforts, evoking his best powers, and carrying him
onward in self-culture, self-control, and growth in
knowledge and wisdom. Viewed in this light,
Failure, conquered by Perseverance, is always
full of interest and instruction, and this we have
endeavoured to illustrate by many examples.
As for Failure per se, although it may be well
to find consolations for it at the close of life, there
PREFACE vii
is reason to doubt whether it is an object that
ought to be set before youth at the beginning of it.
Indeed, "how not to do it" is of all things the
easiest learnt : it needs neither teaching, effort,
self-denial, industry, patience, perseverance, nor
judgment. Besides, readers do not care to know
about the general who lost his battles, the engineer
whose engines blew up, the architect who designed
only deformities, the painter who never got beyond
daubs, the schemer who did not invent his machine,
the merchant who could not keep out of the
Gazette. It is true, the best of men may fail, in
the best of causes. But even these best of men
did not try to fail, or regard their failure as
meritorious ; on the contrary, they tried to succeed,
and looked upon failure as misfortune. Failure in
any good cause is, however, honourable, whilst
success in any bad cause is merely infamous. At
the same time success in the good cause is un-
questionably better than failure. But it is not the
result in any case that is to be regarded so much
as the aim and the effort, the patience, the courage,
and the endeavour with which desirable and worthy
objects are pursued ;
" 'Tis not in mortals to command success ;
We will do more deserve it."
The object of the book briefly is, to re-inculcate
these old-fashioned but wholesome lessons which
perhaps cannot be too often urged, that youth
must work in order to enjoy, that nothing credit-
able can be accomplished without application and
diligence, that the student must not be daunted
by difficulties, but conquer them by patience and
viii PREFACE
perseverance, and that, above all, he must seek
elevation of character, without which capacity is
worthless and worldly success is naught. If the
author has not succeeded in illustrating these
lessons, he can only say that he has failed in his
object.
Among the new passages introduced in the
present edition may be mentioned the following :
Illustrious Foreigners of Humble Origin (pp. 12,
14), French Generals and Marshals risen from the
Ranks (16), De Tocqueville and Mutual Help (29),
William Lee, M.A., and the Stocking-loom (50),
John Heathcoat, M.P., and the Bobbin-net Machine
(56), Jacquard and his Loom (66), Vaucanson (69),
Joshua Heilmann and the Combing-machine (74),
Bernard Palissy and his Struggles (81), Bottgher,
Discoverer of Hard Porcelain (95), Comte de Buffon
as Student (123), Cuvier (151), Ambrose Pare (158),
Claude Lorraine (189), Jacques Callot (192), Ben-
venuto Cellini (194), Nicolas Poussin (199), Ary
Scheffer (202), the Strutts of Belper (252), Francis
Xavier (280), Napoleon as a Man of Business
(325), Intrepidity of Deal Boatmen (471), besides
numerous other passages which it is unnecessary
to specify.
LONDON, May, 1866.
INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION
THE origin of this book may be briefly told.
Some fifteen years since, the author was requested to
deliver an address before the members of some evening classes,
which had been formed in a northern town for mutual improve-
ment, under the following circumstances :
Two or three young men of the humblest rank resolved
to meet in the winter evenings, for the purpose of improving
themselves by exchanging knowledge with each other. Their
first meetings were held in the room of a cottage in which one
of the members lived ; and, as others shortly joined them, the
place soon became inconveniently filled. When summer set
in, they adjourned to the cottage garden outside ; and the
classes were then held in the open air, round a little boarded
hut used as a garden-house, in which those who officiated as
teachers set the sums, and gave forth the lessons of the
evening. When -the weather was fine, the youths might be
seen, until a late hour, hanging round the door of the hut like
a cluster of bees; but sometimes a sudden shower of rain
would dash the sums from their slates, and disperse them for
the evening unsatisfied.
Winter, with its cold nights, was drawing near, and what
were they to do for shelter ? Their numbers had by this time
so increased, that no room of an ordinary cottage could
accommodate them. Though they were for the most part
young men earning comparatively small weekly wages, they
resolved to incur the risk of hiring a room ; and, on making
x INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION
inquiry, they found a large dingy apartment to let, which had
been used as a temporary Cholera Hospital. No tenant could
be found for the place, which was avoided as if the plague
still clung to it. But the mutual improvement youths, nothing
daunted, hired the cholera room at so much a week, lit it up,
placed a few benches and a deal table in it, and began their
winter classes. The place soon presented a busy and cheerful
appearance in the evenings. The teaching may have been,
as no doubt it was, of a very rude and imperfect sort ; but it
was done with a will. Those who knew a little taught those
who knew less improving themselves while they improved
the others; and, at all events, setting before them a good
working example. Thus these youths and there were also
grown men amongst them proceeded to teach themselves
and each other, reading and writing, arithmetic and geography ;
and even mathematics, chemistry, and some of the modern
languages.
About a hundred young men had thus come together, when,
growing ambitious, they desired to have lectures delivered to
them ; and then it was that the author became acquainted with
their proceedings. A party of them waited on him, for the
purpose of inviting him to deliver an introductory address, or,
as they expressed it, " to talk to them a bit " ; prefacing the
request by a modest statement of what they had done and
what they were doing. He could not fail to be touched by
the admirable self-helping spirit which they had displayed;
and, though entertaining but slight faith in popular lecturing,
he felt that a few words of encouragement, honestly and
sincerely uttered, might not be without some good effect.
And in this spirit he addressed them on more than one
occasion, citing examples of what other men had done, as
illustrations of what each might, in a greater or less degree,
do for himself; and pointing out that their happiness and well-
being as individuals in after life must necessarily depend
mainly upon themselves upon their own diligent self-culture,
self-discipline, and self-control and, above all, on that honest
INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION xi
and upright performance of individual duty which is the glory
of manly character.
There was nothing in the slightest degree new or original
in this counsel, which was as old as the Proverbs of Solomon,
and possibly quite as familiar. But old-fashioned though the
advice may have been, it was welcomed. The youths went
forward in their course ; worked on with energy and resolution ;
and, reaching manhood, they went forth in various directions
into the world, where many of them now occupy positions of
trust and usefulness. Several years after the incidents referred
to, the subject was unexpectedly recalled to the author's
recollection by an evening visit from a young man apparently
fresh from the work of a foundry who explained that he was
now an employer of labour and a thriving man ; and he was
pleased to remember with gratitude the words spoken in all
honesty to him and to his fellow-pupils years before, and even
to attribute some measure of his success in life to the en-
deavours which he had made to work up to their spirit
The author's personal interest having in this way been
attracted to the subject of Self-Help, he was accustomed to
add to the memoranda from which he had addressed these
young men ; and to note down occasionally in his leisure
evening moments, after the hours of business, the results of
such reading, observation, and experience of life, as he con-
ceived to bear upon it. One of the most prominent illustrations
cited in his earlier addresses was that of George Stephenson,
the engineer ; and the original interest of the subject, as well
as the special facilities and opportunities which the author
possessed for illustrating Mr. Stephenson's life and career,
induced him to prosecute it at his leisure, and eventually to
publish his biography. The present volume is written in a
similar spirit, as it has been similar in its origin. The illustra.
tive sketches of character introduced are, however, necessarily
less elaborately treated being busts rather than full-length
portraits, and, in many of the cases, only some striking feature
has been noted ; the lives of individuals, as indeed of nations,
xii INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION
often concentrating their lustre and interest in a few passages.
Such as the book is, the author now leaves it in the hands
of the reader ; in the hope that the lessons of industry, persever-
ance, and self-culture, which it contains, will be found useful
and instructive, as well as generally interesting.
LONDON, September, 1859.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
SELF-HELP NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL
PAGE
Spirit of Self-Help Institutions and men Government a
reflex of the individualism of a nation Cassarism and
Self-Help William Dargan on Independence Patient
labourers in all ranks Self-Help a feature in the English
Character Power of example and of work in practi-
cal education Value of biographies Great men belong
to no exclusive class or rank Illustrious men sprung
from the ranks Shakespeare Various humble origin of
many eminent men Distinguished astronomers Emi-
nent sons of clergymen Of attorneys Illustrious foreign-
ers of humble origin Vauquelin, the chemist Promo-
tions from the ranks in the French army Instances of
persevering application and energy Joseph Brotherton
W. J. Fox W. S. Lindsay William Jackson
Richard Cobden Diligence indispensable to usefulness
and distinction The wealthier ranks not all idlers Ex-
amplesMilitary men Philosophers Men of science
Politicians Literary men Sir Robert Peel Lord
Brougham Lytton Disraeli Wordsworth on self-
reliance De Tocqueville : his industry and recognition
of the help of others Men their own best helpers . . I
CHAPTER II
LEADERS OF INDUSTRY INVENTORS AND PRODUCERS
Industry of the English people Work the best educator
Hugh Miller Poverty and toil not insurmountable
obstacles Working men as inventors Invention of the
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
steam-engine James Watt : his industry and habit of
attention Matthew Boulton Applications of the steam-
engine The cotton manufacture The early inventors
Paul and Highs Arkwright : his early life Barber,
inventor and manufacturer His influence and character
The Peels of South Lancashire The founder of the
family The first Sir Robert Peel, cotton-printer Lady
Peel Rev. William Lee, inventor of the stocking-frame
Dies abroad in misery James Lee The Nottingham
lace manufacture John Heathcoat, inventor of the
bobbin-net machine His early life, his ingenuity, and
plodding perseverance Invention of his machine
Anecdote of Lord Lyndhurst Progress of the lace-trade
Heathcoat's machines destroyed by the Luddites His
character Jacquard : his inventions and adventures
Vaucanson : his mechanical genius, improvements in silk
manufacture Jacquard improves Vaucanson's machine
The Jacquard loom adopted Joshua Heilmann, in-
ventor of the combing-machine History of the invention
Its value ....... i-;V - *> 32
CHAPTER III
THREE GREAT POTTERS PALISSY, BOTTGHER, WEDGWOOD
Ancient pottery Etruscan ware Luca della Robbia, the
Florentine sculptor : re-discovers the art of enamelling
Bernard Palissy : sketch of his life and labours In-
flamed by the sight of an Italian cup His search after
the secret of the enamel His experiments during years
of unproductive toil His personal and family privations
Indomitable perseverance, burns his furniture to heat
the furnace, and success at last Reduced to destitution
Condemned to death, and release His writings Dies
in the Bastille John Frederick Bottgher, the Berlin 'gold
cook' His trick in alchemy and consequent troubles
Flight into Saxony His detention at Dresden-
Discovers how to make red and white porcelain The
manufacture taken up by the Saxon Government
Bottgher treated as a prisoner and a slave His unhappy
CONTENTS xv
end The Sevres porcelain manufactory Josiah Wedg-
wood, the English potter Early state of English earthen-
ware manufacture Wedgwood's indefatigable industry,
skill, and perseverance His success The Barberini vase
Wedgwood a national benefactor Industrial heroes . 79
CHAPTER IV
APPLICATION AND PERSEVERANCE
Great results attained by simple means Fortune favours the
industrious " Genius is patience " Newton and Kepler
Industry of eminent men Power acquired by repeated
effort Anecdote of Sir Robert Peel's cultivation of
memory Facility comes by practice Importance of
patience Cheerfulness Sydney Smith Dr. Hook
Hope an important element in character Carey the
missionary Anecdote of Dr. Young Anecdote of
Audubon the ornithologist Anecdote of Mr. Carlyle
and his MS. of the 'French Revolution' Perseverance
of Watt and Stephenson Perseverance displayed in the
discovery of the Nineveh marbles by Rawlinson and
Layard Comte de Buffon as student His continuous
and unremitting labours Sir Walter Scott's perseverance
John Britton London Samuel Drew Joseph Hume in
CHAPTER V
HELPS AND OPPORTUNITIES | SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS
No great result achieved by accident Newton's discoveries
Dr. Young Habit of observing with intelligence
Galileo Inventions of Brown, Watt, and Brunei acci-
dentally suggested Philosophy in little things Apol-
lonius Pergaeus and conic sections Franklin and Galvani
Discovery of steam power Opportunities seized or
made Simple and rude tools of great workers Lee and
Stone's opportunities for learning Sir Walter Scott's
Dr. Priestley Sir Humphry Davy Faraday Davy and
xvi CONTENTS
PAGE
Coleridge Cuvier Dalton's industry Examples of im-
provement of time Daguesseau and Bentham Melanc-
thon and Baxter Writing down observations Great
note-makers Dr. Pye Smith John Hunter : his patient
study of little things His great labours Ambrose Pare",
the French surgeon Harvey Jenner Sir Charles Bell
Dr. Marshall Hall Sir William Herschel William
Smith, the geologist : his discoveries, his geological map
Hugh Miller : his observant faculties John Brown and
Robert Dick, geologists Sir Roderick Murchison : his
industry and attainments . *".' . '/' . . 139
CHAPTER VI
WORKERS IN ART
Sir Joshua Reynolds on the power of industry in art Humble
origin of eminent artists Acquisition of wealth not the
ruling motive with artists Michael Angelo on riches
Patient labours of Michael Angelo and Titian West's
early success a disadvantage Richard Wilson and
Zuccarelli Sir Joshua Reynolds, Blake, Bird, Gains-
borough, and Hogarth, as boy artists Hogarth a
keen observer Banks and Mulready Claude Lorraine
and Turner : their indefatigable industry Perrier and
Jacques C allot and their visits to Rome Callot and the
gipsies Benvenuto Cellini, goldsmith and musician : his
ambition to excel Casting of his statue of Perseus
Nicolas Poussin, a sedulous student and worker Du-
quesnoi Poussin's fame Ary Schefifer : his hindrances
and success John Flaxman : his genius and persever-
anceHis brave wife Their visit to Rome Francis
Chantrey : his industry and energy David Wilkie and
William Etty, unflagging workers Privations endured by
artists Martin Pugin George Kemp, architect of the
Scott monument John Gibson, Robert Thorburn, Noel
Paton James Sharpies, the blacksmith artist : his auto-
biography Industry of musicians Handel, Haydn,
Beethoven, Bach, Meyerbeer Dr. Arne William
Jackson, the self-taught composer 182
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER VII
INDUSTRY AND THE PEERAGE
PACK
The peerage fed from the industrial ranks Fall of old
families : Bohuns, Mortimers, and Plantagenets The
peerage comparatively modern Peerages originating
with traders and merchants Richard Foley, nailmaker,
founder of the Foley peerage Adventurous career of
William Phipps, founder of the Normanby peerage : his
recovery of sunken treasure Sir William Petty, founder
of the Lansdowne peerage Jedediah Strutt, founder of
the Belper peerage William and Edward Strutt Naval
and military peers Peerages founded by lawyers
Lords Tenterden and Campbell Lord Eldon : his early
struggles and eventual success Baron Langdale
Rewards of perseverance . 238
CHAPTER VIII
ENERGY AND COURAGE
Energy characteristic of the Teutonic race The foundations
of strength of character Force of purpose Concentra-
tion Courageous working Words of Hugh Miller and
Fowell Buxton Power and freedom of will Words of
Lamennais Suwarrow Napoleon and "glory" Well-
ington and " duty" Promptitude in action Energy dis-
played by the British in India Warren Hastings Sir
Charles Napier : his adventure with the Indian swords-
man The rebellion in India The Lawrences Nicholson
The siege of Delhi Captain Hodson Missionary
labourers Francis Xavier's missions in the East John
Williams Dr. Livingstone John Howard Jonas Han-
way : his career The philanthropic labours of Granville
Sharp Position of slaves in England Result of Sharp's
efforts Clarkson's labours Fowell Buxton : his resolute
purpose and energy Abolition of slavery . . . 262
b
xviii CONTENTS
CHAPTER IX
MEN OF BUSINESS
PAGE
Hazlitt's definition of the man of business The chief requisite
qualities Men of genius men of business Shakespeare,
Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Newton, Cowper, Wordsworth,
Scott, Ricardo, Grote, J. S. Mill Labour and application
necessary to success Lord Melbourne's advice The
school of difficulty a good school Conditions of success
in law The industrious architect The salutary in-
fluence of work Consequences of contempt for arithmetic
Dr. Johnson on the alleged injustice of "the world"
Washington Irving's views Practical qualities necessary
in business Importance of accuracy Charles James
Fox Method Richard Cecil and De Witt : their des-
patch of business Value of time Sir Walter Scott's
advice Promptitude Economy of time Punctuality
Firmness Tact Napoleon and Wellington as men of
business Napoleou's attention to details The 'Napo-
leon Correspondence' Wellington's business faculty
Wellington in the Peninsula " Honesty the best policy '
Trade tries character Dishonest gains David Barclay
a model man of business 310
CHAPTER X
MONEY ITS USE AND ABUSE
The right use of money a test of wisdom The virtue of self-
denial Self-imposed taxes Economy necessary to inde-
pendence Helplessness of the improvident Frugality
an important public question Counsels of Richard
Cobden and John Bright The bondage of the improvi-
dent Independence attainable by working men Francis
Horner's advice from his father Robert Burns Living
within the means Bacon's maxim Wasters Running
into debt Haydon's debts Fichte Dr. Johnson on debt
John Locke The Duke of Wellington on debt
Washington Earl St. Vincent : his protested bill Joseph
CONTENTS xix
Hume on living too high Ambition after gentility
Napier's order to his officers in India Resistance to
temptation Hugh Miller's case High standard of life
necessary Proverbs on money-making and thrift
Thomas Wright and the reclamation of criminals Mere
money-making John Foster Riches no proof of worth
All honest industry honourable The power of money
over-estimated Joseph Brotherton True Respectability
Lord Collingwood 341
CHAPTER XI
SELF-CULTUREFACILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES
Sir W. Scott and Sir B. Brodie on self-culture Dr. Arnold's
spirit Active employment salutary Malthus's advice to
his son Importance of physical health Hodson, of
" Hodson's Horse " Dr. Channing Early labour
Training in use of tools Healthiness of great men Sir
Walter Scott's athletic sports Barrow, Fuller, Clarke
Labour conquers all things Words of Chatterton, Fergu-
son, Stone, Drew Well-directed labour Opinions of Sir
Joshua Reynolds, Fowell Buxton, Dr. Ross, F. Horner,
Loyola, and Lord St. Leonards Thoroughness, accuracy,
decision, and promptitude The virtue of patient labour
The mischievous effects of " cramming " in labour-
saving processes and multifarious reading The right use
of knowledge Books may impart learning, but well-
applied knowledge and experience only exhibit wisdom
The Magna Charta men Brindley, Stephenson,
Hunter, and others, not book-learned, yet great Self-
respect Jean Paul Richter Knowledge as a means of
rising Base views of the value of knowledge Ideas of
Bacon and Southey Douglas Jerrold on comic literature
Danger of immoderate love of pleasure Benjamin
Constant : his high thinking and low living Thierry : his
noble character Coleridge and Southey Robert Nicoll
on Coleridge Charles James Fox on perseverance The
wisdom and strength acquired through failure Hunter,
Rossini, Davy, Mendelssohn The uses of difficulty and
adversity Lyndhurst, D'Alembert, Carissimi, Reynolds,
xx CONTENTS
PAGE
and Henry Clay on persistency Curran on honest poverty
Struggles with difficulties : Alexander Murray, William
Chambers, Cobbett The French stonemason turned
professor Sir Samuel Romilly as a self-cultivator John
Leyden's perseverance Professor Lee : his perseverance
and his attainments as a linguist Late learners : Spel-
man, Franklin, Dryden, Scott, Boccaccio, Arnold, and
others Illustrious dunces : Generals Grant, Stonewall
Jackson, John Howard, Davy, and others Story of a
dunce Success depends on perseverance . . . 369
CHAPTER XII
EXAMPLE MODELS
Example a potent instructor Influence of conduct Parental
example All acts have their train of consequences
Disraeli on Cobden Words of Babbage Human re-
sponsibility Every person owes a good example to others
Doing, not saying Mrs. Chisholm Dr. Guthrie and
John Pounds Good models of conduct The company
of our betters Francis Homer's views on personal inter-
course The Marquis of Lansdowne and Malesherbes
Fowell Buxton and the Gurney family Personal in-
fluence of John Sterling Influence of artistic genius upon
others Example of the brave an inspiration to the timid
Biography valuable as forming high models of char-
acter Lives influenced by biography Romilly, Franklin,
Drew, Alfieri, Loyola, Wolff, Horner, Reynolds
Examples of cheerfulness Dr. Arnold's influence over
others Career of Sir John Sinclair .... 423
CHAPTER XIII
CHARACTER THE TRUE GENTLEMAN
Character a man's best possession Character of Francis
Horner Franklin Character is power The higher
qualities of character Lord Erskine's rules of conduct
A high standard of life necessary Truthfulness
Wellington's character of Peel Be what you seem
CONTENTS xxi
Integrity and honesty of action Importance of habits
Habits constitute character Growth of habit in youth
Words of Robertson of Brighton Manners and morals
Civility and kindness Anecdote of Abernethy True
politeness Great-hearted men of no exclusive rank or
class William and Charles Grant, the "Brothers
Cheeryble " The true gentleman Lord Edward Fitz-
gerald Honour, probity, rectitude The gentleman will
not be bribed Anecdotes of Hanway, Wellington,
Wellesley, and Sir C. Napier The poor in purse may be
rich in spirit A noble peasant Intrepidity of Deal boat-
men Anecdotes of the Emperor of Austria and of two
English navvies Truth makes the success of the gentle-
man Courage and gentleness Gentlemen in India
Outram, Henry Lawrence Lord Clyde The private
soldiers at Agra The wreck of the Birkenhead Use of
power, the test of the Gentleman Sir Ralph Abercromby
Fuller's character of Sir Francis Drake . . . 449
INDEX , 481
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
DAVID LIVINGSTONE Frontispitct
SIR RICHARD ARKWRIGHT Facing page 38
JOHN FLAXMAN . . ., ^ J i V '^V ". ,, I>8
SIR ISAMBARD BRUNEL ., 142
WILLIAM HARVEY l6a
LORD NELSON ........ ,,324
jociii
SELF-HELP, &c.
CHAPTER I
SELF-HELP NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL
"The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals
composing it." -J, S. Mill.
"We put too much faith in systems, and look too little to men."
B. Disraeli,
" T T EAVEN helps those who help themselves "
1 1 is a well-tried maxim, embodying in a
small compass the results of vast human
experience. The spirit of self-help is the root of
all genuine growth in the individual ; and, exhibited
in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source
of national vigour and strength. Help from without
is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from
within invariably invigorates. Whatever is done
for men or classes, to a certain extent takes away
the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves ;
and where men are subjected to over-guidance
and over-government, the inevitable tendency is
to render them comparatively helpless.
Even the best institutions can give a man no
I
2 GOVERNMENT AND INDIVIDUAL [CHAP. I
active help. Perhaps the most they can do is to
leave him free to develop himself and improve his
individual condition. But in all times men have
been prone to believe that their happiness and
well-being were to be secured by means of institu-
tions rather than by their own conduct. Hence
the value of legislation as an agent in human ad-
vancement has usually been much over-estimated.
To constitute the millionth part of a Legislature,
by voting for one or two men once in three or five
years, however conscientiously this duty may be
performed, can exercise but little active influence
upon any man's life and character. Moreover, it
is every day becoming more clearly understood,
that the function of Government is negative and
restrictive, rather than positive and active; being
resolvable principally into protection protection
of life, liberty, and property. Laws, wisely ad-
ministered, will secure men in the enjoyment of
the fruits of their labour, whether of mind or body,
at a comparatively small personal sacrifice ; but no
laws, however stringent, can make the idle indus-
trious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken
sober. Such reforms can only be effected by
means of individual action, economy, and self-
denial; by better habits, rather than by greater
rights.
The Government of a nation itself is usually
found to be but the reflex of the individuals com-
posing it. The Government that is ahead of the
people will inevitably be dragged down to their
level, as the Government that is behind them will
in the long run be dragged up. In the order of
nature, the collective character of a nation will as
surely find its befitting results in its law and
CHAP. I] NATIONAL PROGRESS 3
government, as water finds its own level. The
noble people will be nobly ruled, and the ignorant
and corrupt ignobly. Indeed, all experience serves
to prove that the worth and strength of a State
depend far less upon the form of its institutions
than upon the character of its men. For the nation
is only an aggregate of individual conditions, and
civilization itself is but a question of the personal
improvement of the men, women, and children of
whom society is composed.
National progress is the sum of individual in-
dustry, energy, and uprightness, as national decay
is of individual idleness, selfishness, and vice.
What we are accustomed to decry as great social
evils, will, for the most part, be found to be but
the outgrowth of man's own perverted life ; and
though we may endeavour to cut them down and
extirpate them by means of Law, they will only
spring up again with fresh luxuriance in some
other form, unless the conditions of personal life
and character are radically improved. If this view
be correct, then it follows that the highest patriotism
and philanthropy consist, not so much in altering
laws and modifying institutions, as in helping
and stimulating men to elevate and improve them-
selves by their own free and independent individual
action.
It may be of comparatively little consequence
how a man is governed from without, whilst every-
thing depends upon how he governs himself from
within. The greatest slave is not he who is ruled
by a despot, great though that evil be, but he
who is the thrall of his own moral ignorance,
selfishness, and vice. Nations who are thus en-
slaved at heart cannot be freed by any mere
4 CjESARISM [CHAP. I
changes of masters or of institutions ; and so long
as the fatal delusion prevails, that liberty solely
depends upon and consists in government, so
long will such changes, no matter at what cost
they may be effected, have as little practical and
lasting result as the shifting of the figures in a
phantasmagoria. The solid foundations of liberty
must rest upon individual character ; which is also
the only sure guarantee for social security and
national progress. John Stuart Mill truly observes
that "even despotism does not produce its worst
effects so long as individuality exists under it;
and whatever crushes individuality ts despotism,
by whatever name it be called."
Old fallacies as to human progress are con-
stantly turning up. Some call for Caesars, others
for Nationalities, and others for Acts of Parliament.
We are to wait for Caesars, and when they are
found, "happy the people who recognize and
follow them." * This doctrine shortly means,
everything for the people, nothing by them, a
doctrine which, if taken as a guide, must, by de-
stroying thelfree conscience of a community, speedily
prepare the way for any form of despotism.
Caesarism is human idolatry in its worst form
a worship of mere power, as degrading in its
effects as the worship of mere wealth would be.
A far healthier doctrine to inculcate among the
nations would be that of Self-Help ; and so soon
as it is thoroughly understood and carried into
action, Caesarism will be no more. The two prin-
ciples are directly antagonistic; and what Victor
Hugo said of the Pen and the Sword alike applies
to them, " Ceci tuera cela." [This will kill that.']
* Napoleon III., 'Life of Caesar.'
CHAP, i] INDEPENDENCE 5
The power of Nationalities and Acts of Parlia-
ment is also a prevalent superstition. What
William Dargan, one of Ireland's truest patriots,
said at the closing of the first Dublin Industrial
Exhibition, may well be quoted now. " To tell
the truth," he said, " I never heard the word inde-
pendence mentioned that my own country and
my own fellow townsmen did not occur to my mind.
I have heard a great deal about the independence
that we were to get from this, that, and the other
place, and of the great expectations we were to
have from persons from other countries coming
amongst us. Whilst I value as much as any man
the great advantages that must result to us from that
intercourse, I have always been deeply impressed
with the feeling that our industrial independence
is dependent upon ourselves. I believe that with
simple industry and careful exactness in the
utilization of our energies, we never had a fairer
chance nor a brighter prospect than the present.
We have made a step, but perseverance is the great
agent of success ; and if we but go on zealously,
I believe in my conscience that in a short period
we shall arrive at a position of equal comfort, of
equal happiness, and of equal independence, with
that of any other people."
All nations have been made what they are by
the thinking and the working of many generations
of men. Patient and persevering labourers in all
ranks and conditions of life, cultivators of the soil
and explorers of the mine, inventors and dis-
coverers, manufacturers, mechanics and artisans,
poets, philosophers, and politicians, all have con-
tributed towards the grand result, one generation
building upon another's labours, and carrying them
6 LIFE "A SOLDIERS' BATTLE" [CHAP. I
forward to still higher stages. This constant
succession of noble workers the artisans of
civilization has served to create order out of chaos
in industry, science, and art ; and the living race
has thus, in the course of nature, become the
inheritor of the rich estate provided by the skill
and industry of our forefathers, which is placed
in our hands to cultivate, and to hand down, not
only unimpaired but improved, to our successors.
The spirit of self-help, as exhibited in the
energetic action of individuals, has in all times
been a marked feature in the English character,
and furnishes the true measure of our power as
a nation. Rising above the heads of the mass,
there were always to be found a series of individuals
distinguished beyond others, who commanded the
public homage. But our progress has also been
owing to multitudes of smaller and less known
men. Though only the generals' names may be
remembered in the history of any great campaign,
it has been in a great measure through the individual
valour and heroism of the privates that victories
have been won. And life, too, is "a soldiers'
battle," men in the ranks having in all times been
amongst the greatest of workers. Many are the
lives of men unwritten, which have nevertheless
as powerfully influenced civilization and progress
as the more fortunate Great whose names are
recorded in biography. Even the humblest person,
who sets before his fellows an example of industry,
sobriety, and upright honesty of purpose in life,
has a present as well as a future influence upon
the well-being of his country ; for his life and
character pass unconsciously into the lives of others,
and propagate good example for all time to come.
CHAP, i] THE BEST PRACTICAL EDUCATION 7
Daily experience shows that it is energetic
individualism which produces the most powerful
effects upon the life and action of others, and
really constitutes the best practical education.
Schools, academies, and colleges, give but the
merest beginnings of culture in comparison with
it. Far more influential is the life-education daily
given in our homes, in the streets, behind counters,
in workshops, at the loom and the plough, in
counting-houses and manufactories, and in the busy
haunts of men. This is that finishing instruction
as members of society, which Schiller designated
" the education of the human race," consisting in
action, conduct, self-culture, self-control, all that
tends to discipline a man truly, and fit him for the
proper performance of the duties and business
of life, a kind of education not to be learnt from
books, or acquired by any amount of mere literary
training. With his usual weight of words Bacon
observes, that " Studies teach not their own use ;
but that is a wisdom without them, and above
them, won by observation"; a remark that holds
true of actual life, as well as of the cultivation of
the intellect itself. For all experience serves to
illustrate and enforce the lesson, that a man perfects
himself by work more than by reading, that it is
life rather than literature, action rather than study,
and character rather than biography, which tend
perpetually to renovate mankind.
Biographies of great, but especially of good
men, are nevertheless most instructive and useful,
as helps, guides, and incentives to others. Some
of the best are almost equivalent to gospels
teaching high living, high thinking, and energetic
action for their own and the world's good. The
8 DIFFICULTIES THE BEST HELPERS [CHAP. I
valuable examples which they furnish of the power
of self-help, of patient purpose, resolute working,
and steadfast integrity, issuing in the formation
of truly noble and manly character, exhibit, in
language not to be misunderstood, what it is in
the power of each to accomplish for himself; and
eloquently illustrate the efficacy of self-respect
and self-reliance in enabling men of even the
humblest rank to work out for themselves an
honourable competency and a solid reputation.
Great men of science, literature, and art apos-
tles of great thoughts and lords of the great heart
have belonged to no exclusive class nor rank in
life. They have come alike from colleges, work-
shops, and farmhouses, from the huts of poor men
and the mansions of the rich. Some of God's greatest
apostles have come from " the ranks." The poorest
have sometimes taken the highest places ; nor have
difficulties apparently the most insuperable proved
obstacles in their way. Those very difficulties,
in many instances, would ever seem to have been
their best helpers, by evoking their powers of
labour and endurance, and stimulating into life
faculties which might otherwise have lain dormant.
The instances of obstacles thus surmounted, and
of triumphs thus achieved, are indeed so numerous,
as almost to justify the proverb that "with Will
one can do anything." Take, for instance, the
remarkable fact, that from the barber's shop came
Jeremy Taylor, the most poetical of divines; Sir
Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning-
jenny and founder of the cotton manufacture;
Lord Tenterden, one of the most distinguished of
Lord Chief Justices; and Turner, the greatest
among landscape painters.
CHAP. I] SHAKESPEARE OF LOWLY BIRTH 9
No one knows to a certainty what Shakespeare
was ; but it is unquestionable that he sprang from
a humble rank. His father was a butcher and
grazier ; and Shakespeare himself is supposed to
have been in early life a woolcomber ; whilst others
aver that he was an usher in a school and after-
wards a scrivener's clerk. He truly seems to have
been "not one, but all mankind's epitome." For
such is the accuracy of his sea phrases that a naval
writer alleges that he must have been a sailor;
whilst a clergyman infers, from internal evidence
in his writings, that he was probably a parson's
clerk ; and a distinguished judge of horse-flesh in-
sists that he must have been a horse-dealer. Shake-
speare was certainly an actor, and in the course
of his life "played many parts," gathering his
wonderful stores of knowledge from a wide field
of experience and observation. In any event, he
must have been a close student and a hard worker ;
and to this day his writings continue to exercise
a powerful influence on the formation of English
character.
The common class of day [labourers has given
us Brindley the engineer, Cook the navigator, and
Burns the poet. Masons and bricklayers can boast
of Ben Jonson, who worked at the building of
Lincoln's Inn, with a trowel in his hand and
a book in his pocket, Edwards and Telford the
engineers, Hugh Miller the geologist, and Allan
Cunningham the writer and sculptor; whilst among
distinguished carpenters we find the names of
Inigo Jones the architect, Harrison the chrono-
meter-maker, John Hunter the physiologist,
Romney and Opie the painters, Professor Lee the
Orientalist, and John Gibson the sculptor.
io SOME OF THE GREATEST MEN [CHAP. I
From the weaver class have sprung Simson the
mathematician, Bacon the sculptor, the two Milners,
Adam Walker, John Foster, Wilson the ornitho-
logist, Dr. Livingstone the missionary traveller,
and Tannahill the poet. Shoemakers have given
us Sir Cloudesley Shovel the great admiral,
Sturgeon the electrician, Samuel Drew the essayist,
Gifford the editor of the ' Quarterly Review,' Bloom-
field the poet, and William Carey the missionary ;
whilst Morrison, another laborious missionary, was
a maker of shoe-lasts. Within the last few years,
a profound naturalist has been discovered in the
person of a shoemaker at Banff, named Thomas
Edwards, who, while maintaining himself by his
trade, has devoted his leisure to the study of
natural science in all its branches, his researches
in connexion with the smaller crustaceae having
been rewarded by the discovery of a new species,
to which the name of " Praniza Edwardsii " has
been given by naturalists.
Nor have tailors been undistinguished. John
Stow, the historian, worked at the trade during
some part of his life. Jackson, the painter, made
clothes until he reached manhood. The brave Sir
John Hawkswood, who so greatly distinguished him-
self at Poictiers, and was knighted by Edward III.
for his valour, was in early life apprenticed to a
London tailor. Admiral Hobson, who broke the
boom at Vigo in 1702, belonged to the same calling.
He was working as a tailor's apprentice near Bon-
church, in the Isle of Wight, when the news flew
through the village that a squadron of men-of-war
was sailing off the island. He sprang from the
shopboard, and ran down with his comrades to the
beach, to gaze upon the glorious sight. The boy
CHAP, i] HAVE COME FROM "THE RANKS" n
was suddenly inflamed with the ambition to be a
sailor; and springing into a boat, he rowed off to
the squadron, gained the admiral's ship, and was
accepted as a volunteer. Years after, he returned
to his native village full of honours, and dined off
bacon and eggs in the cottage where he had worked
as an apprentice. But the greatest tailor of all
is unquestionably Andrew Johnson, the present
President of the United States a man of extra-
ordinary force of character and vigour of intellect.
In his great speech at Washington, when describing
himself as having begun his political career as an
alderman, and run through all the branches of the
legislature, a voice in the crowd cried, "From a
tailor up." It was characteristic of Johnson to take
the intended sarcasm in good part, and even to turn
it to account. " Some gentleman says I have been
a tailor. That does not disconcert me in the least ;
for when I was a tailor I had the reputation of being
a good one, and making close fits; I was always
punctual with my customers, and always did good
work."
Cardinal Wolsey, De Foe, Akenside, and Kirke
White were the sons of butchers ; Bunyan was a
tinker, and Joseph Lancaster a basket-maker.
Among the great names identified with the in-
vention of the steam-engine are those of Newcomen,
Watt, and Stephenson; the first a blacksmith,
the second a maker of mathematical instruments,
and the third an engine-fireman. Huntingdon the
preacher was originally a coalheaver, and Bewick,
the father of wood-engraving, a coalminer. Dodsley
was a footman, and Holcroft a groom. Baffin the
navigator began his seafaring career as a man
before the mast, and Sir Cloudesley Shovel as a
12 MEN OF SCIENCE [CHAP. I
cabin-boy. Herschel played the oboe in a military
band. Chantrey was a journeyman carver, Etty a
journeyman printer, and Sir Thomas Lawrence the
son of a tavern-keeper. Michael Faraday, the son
of a blacksmith, was in early life apprenticed to
a bookbinder, and worked at that trade until he
reached his twenty-second year : he now occupies
the very first rank as a philosopher, excelling even
his master, Sir Humphry Davy, in the art of lucidly
expounding the most difficult and abstruse points
in natural science.
Among those who have given the greatest im-
pulse to the sublime science of astronomy, we find
Copernicus, the son of a Polish baker ; Kepler, the
son of a German public-house keeper, and himself
the "gar^on de cabaret"; d'Alembert, a foundling
picked up one winter's night on the steps of the
church of St. Jean le Rond at Paris, and brought
up by the wife of a glazier; and Newton and
Laplace, the one the son of a small freeholder near
Grantham, the other the son of a poor peasant of
Beaumont-en-Auge, near Honfleur. Notwithstand-
ing their comparatively adverse circumstances in
early life, these distinguished men achieved a solid
and enduring reputation by the exercise of their
genius, which all the wealth in the world could not
have purchased. The very possession of wealth
might indeed have proved an obstacle greater even
than the humble means to which they were born.
The father of Lagrange, the astronomer and
mathematician, held the office of Treasurer of War
at Turin ; but having ruined himself by speculations,
his family were reduced to comparative poverty.
To this circumstance Lagrange was in after life
accustomed partly to attribute his own fame and
CHAP, i] EMINENT MIDDLE-CLASS MEN 13
happiness. " Had I been rich," said he, " I should
probably not have become a mathematician."
The sons of clergymen and ministers of religion
generally have particularly distinguished them-
selves in our country's history. Amongst them we
find the names of Drake and Nelson, celebrated in
naval heroism ; of Wollaston, Young, Playfair, and
Bell, in science; of Wren, Reynolds, Wilson, and
Wilkie, in art ; of Thurlow and Campbell, in law ;
and of Addison, Thomson, Goldsmith, Coleridge,
and Tennyson, in literature. Lord Hardinge,
Colonel Edwardes, and Major Hodson, so honour-
ably known in Indian warfare, were also the sons
of clergymen. Indeed, the empire of England in
India was won and held chiefly by men of the
middle class such as Clive, Warren Hastings,
and their successors men for the most part bred
in factories and trained to habits of business.
Among the sons of attorneys we find Edmund
Burke, Smeaton the engineer, Scott and Words-
worth, and Lords Somers, Hardwick, and Dunning.
Sir William Blackstone was the posthumous
son of a silk-mercer. Lord Gifford's father was
a grocer at Dover ; Lord Denman's a physician ;
Judge Talfourd's a country brewer ; and Lord Chief
Baron Pollock's a celebrated saddler at Charing
Cross. Layard, the discoverer of the monuments
of Nineveh, was an articled clerk in a London
solicitor's office; and Sir William Armstrong, the
inventor of hydraulic machinery and of the Arm-
strong ordnance, was also trained to the law and
practised for some time as an attorney. Milton
was the son of a London scrivener, and Pope and
Southey were the sons of linendrapers. Professor
Wilson was the son of a Paisley manufacturer,
14 ILLUSTRIOUS FOREIGNERS [CHAP. I
and Lord Macaulay of an African merchant. Keats
was a druggist, and Sir Humphry Davy a country
apothecary's apprentice. Speaking of himself, Davy
once said, "What I am I have made myself: I
say this without vanity, and in pure simplicity of
heart." Richard Owen, the Newton of Natural
History, began life as a midshipman, and did not
enter upon the line of scientific research, in which
he has since become so distinguished, until com-
paratively late in life. He laid the foundations of
his great knowledge while occupied in cataloguing
the magnificent museum accumulated by the in-
dustry of John Hunter, a work which occupied
him at the College of Surgeons during a period
of about ten years.
Foreign not less than English biography abounds
in illustrations of men who have glorified the lot
of poverty by their labours and their genius. In
Art we find Claude, the son of a pastrycook ; Geefs,
of a baker ; Leopold Robert, of a watchmaker ;
and Haydn, of a wheelwright ; whilst Daguerre
was a scene-painter at the Opera. The father of
Gregory VII. was a carpenter; of Sextus V., a
shepherd ; and of Adrian VI., a poor bargeman.
When a boy, Adrian, unable to pay for a light
by which to study, was accustomed to prepare his
lessons by the light of the lamps in the streets and
the church porches, exhibiting a degree of patience
and industry which were the certain forerunners
of his future distinction. Of like humble origin
were Hauy, the mineralogist, who was the son of a
weaver of Saint-Just ; Hautefeuille, the mechanician,
of a baker at Orleans ; Joseph Fourier, the mathe-
matician, of a tailor at Auxerre ; Durand, the
architect, of a Paris shoemaker; and Gesner, the
CHAP, i] OF HUMBLE ORIGIN 15
naturalist, of a skinner or worker in hides, at
Zurich. This last began his career under all the
disadvantages attendant on poverty, sickness, and
domestic calamity ; none of which, however, were
sufficient to damp his courage or hinder his pro-
gress. His life was indeed an eminent illustration
of the truth of the saying, that those who have
most to do and are willing to work, will find the
most time. Pierre Ramus was another man of like
character. He was the son of poor parents in
Picardy, and when a boy was employed to tend
sheep. But not liking the occupation he ran away
to Paris. After encountering much misery, he
succeeded in entering the College of Navarre as
a servant. The situation, however, opened for him
the road to learning, and he shortly became one
of the most distinguished men of his time.
The chemist Vauquelin was the son of a peasant
of Saint-Andre-d'Herbetot, in the Calvados. When
a boy at school, though poorly clad, he was full
of bright intelligence ; and the master, who taught
him to read and write, when praising him for his
diligence, used to say, "Go on, my boy; work,
study, Colin, and one day you will go as well
dressed as the parish churchwarden ! " A country
apothecary who visited the school admired the
robust boy's arms, and offered to take him into his
laboratory to pound his drugs, to which Vauquelin
assented, in the hope of being able to continue his
lessons. But the apothecary would not permit him
to spend any part of his time in learning ; and on
ascertaining this, the youth immediately determined
to quit his service. He therefore left Saint-Andre
and took the road for Paris with his havresac on
his back. Arrived there, he searched for a place
16 PROMOTION FROM THE RANKS [CHAP. I
as apothecary's boy, but could not find one. Worn
out by fatigue and destitution, Vauquelin fell ill
and in that state was taken to the hospital, where
he thought he should die. But better things were
in store for the poor boy. He recovered, and again
proceeded in search of employment, which he at
length found with an apothecary. Shortly after,
he became known to Fourcroy the eminent chemist,
who was so pleased with the youth that he made
him his private secretary; and many years after,
on the death of that great philosopher, Vauquelin
succeeded him as Professor of Chemistry. Finally,
in 1829, the electors of the district of Calvados
appointed him their representative in the Chamber
of Deputies, and he re-entered in triumph the
village which he had left so many years before,
so poor and so obscure.
England has no parallel instances to show, of
promotions from the ranks of the army to the
highest military offices, which have been so
common in France since the first Revolution.
" La carriere ouverte aux talents " has there re-
ceived many striking illustrations, which would
doubtless be matched among ourselves were the
road to promotion as open. Hoche, Humbert, and
Pichegru, began their respective careers as private
soldiers. Hoche, while in the King's army, was
accustomed to embroider waistcoats to enable him
to earn money wherewith to purchase books on
military science. Humbert was a scapegrace when
a youth ; at sixteen he ran away from home, and
was by turns servant to a tradesman at Nancy, a
workman at Lyons, and a hawker of rabbit skins.
In 1792 he enlisted as a volunteer; and in a year
he was general of brigade. Kleber, Lefevre, Suchet,
CHAP, i] IN THE FRENCH ARMY 17
Victor, Lannes, Soult, Massena, St. Cyr, D'Erlon,
Murat, Augereau, Bessieres, and Ney, all rose from
the ranks. In some cases promotion was rapid,
in others it was slow. St. Cyr, the son of a
tanner of Toul, began life as an actor, after which
he enlisted in the Chasseurs, and was promoted
to a captaincy within a year. Victor, Due de
Belluno, enlisted in the Artillery in 1781 : during
the events preceding the Revolution he was dis-
charged ; but immediately on the outbreak of war
he re-enlisted, and in the course of a few months
his intrepidity and ability secured his promotion
as Adjutant-Major and chief of battalion. Murat,
"le beau sabreur," was the son of a village inn-
keeper in Perigord, where he looked after the
horses. He first enlisted in a regiment of Chas-
seurs, from which he was dismissed for insub-
ordination : but again enlisting, he shortly rose to
the rank of Colonel. Ney enlisted at eighteen in
a Hussar regiment, and gradually advanced step
by step ; Kleber soon discovered his merits, sur-
naming him " The Indefatigable," and promoted
him to be Adjutant-General when only twenty-five.
On the other hand, Soult * was six years from the
date of his enlistment before he reached the rank
of sergeant. But Soult's advancement was rapid
compared with that of Massena, who served for
fourteen years before he was made sergeant ; and
though he afterwards rose successively, step by
step, to the grades of Colonel, General of Division,
* Soult received but little education in his youth, and learnt
next to no geography until he became foreign minister of France,
when the study of this branch of knowledge is said to have given
him the greatest pleasure. '(Euvres, &c., d'Alexis de Tocqueville.
Par G. de Beaumont.' Paris, 1861. I. 52.
2
i8 MR. J. BROTHERTON [CHAP. I
and Marshal, he declared that the post of sergeant
was the step which of all others had cost him
the most labour to win. Similar promotions from
the ranks, in the French army, have continued
down to our own day. Changarnier entered the
King's bodyguard as a private in 1815. Marshal
Bugeaud served four years in the ranks, after which
he was made an officer. Marshal Randon, the
present French Minister of War, began his military
career as a drummer boy; and in the portrait of
him in the gallery at Versailles, his hand rests
upon a drum-head, the picture being thus painted
at his own request. Instances such as these inspire
French soldiers with enthusiasm for their service,
as each private feels that he may possibly carry
the baton of a marshal in his knapsack.
The instances of men, in this and other countries,
who, by dint of persevering application and energy,
have raised themselves from the humblest ranks
of industry to eminent positions of usefulness and
influence in society, are indeed so numerous that
they have long ceased to be regarded as exceptional.
Looking at some of the more remarkable, it might
almost be said that early encounter with difficulty
and adverse circumstances was the necessary and
indispensable condition of success. The British
House of Commons has always contained a con-
siderable number of such self-raised men fitting
representatives of the industrial character of the
people ; and it is to the credit of our Legislature
that they have been welcomed and honoured
there. When the late Joseph Brotherton, member
for Salford, in the course of the discussion on
the Ten Hours Bill, detailed with true pathos the
hardships and fatigues to which he had been
CHAP, i] MR. LINDSAY 19
subjected when working as a factory boy in a
cotton mill, and described the resolution which
he had then formed, that if ever it was in his
power he would endeavour to ameliorate the con-
dition of that class, Sir James Graham rose immedi-
ately after him, and declared, amidst the cheers
of the House, that he did not before know that
Mr. Brotherton's origin had been so humble, but
that it rendered him more proud than he had ever
before been of the House of Commons, to think
that a person risen from that condition should
be able to sit side by side, on equal terms, with
the hereditary gentry of the land.
The late Mr. Fox, member for Oldham, was
accustomed to introduce his recollections of past
times with the words, "When I was working as
a weaver boy at Norwich " ; and there are other
members of Parliament, still living, whose origin
has been equally humble. Mr. Lindsay, the well-
know ship-owner, until recently member for
Sunderland, once told the simple story of his
life to the electors of Weymouth, in answer to an
attack made upon him by his political opponents.
He had been left an orphan at fourteen, and when
he left Glasgow for Liverpool to push his way
in the world, not being able to pay the usual
fare, the captain of the steamer agreed to take his
labour in exchange, and the boy worked his passage
by trimming the coals in the coal hole. At Liver-
pool he remained for seven weeks before he could
obtain employment, during which time he lived
in sheds and fared hardly ; until at last he found
shelter on board a West Indiaman. He entered
as a boy, and before he was nineteen, by steady
good conduct he had risen to the command of a
20 MR. W. JACKSON [CHAP. I
ship. At twenty-three he retired from the sea,
and settled on shore, after which his progress was
rapid. " He had prospered," he said, " by steady
industry, by constant work, and by ever keeping
in view the great principle of doing to others as
you would be done by."
The career of Mr. William Jackson, of Birken-
head, the present member for North Derbyshire,
bears considerable resemblance to that of Mr.
Lindsay. His father, a surgeon at Lancaster, died,
leaving a family of eleven children, of whom
William Jackson was the seventh son. The elder
boys had been well educated while the father lived,
but at his death the younger members had to shift
for themselves. William, when under twelve
years old, was taken from school, and put to hard
work at a ship's side from six in the morning till
nine at night. His master falling ill, the boy was
taken into the counting-house, where he had more
leisure. This gave him an opportunity of reading,
and having obtained access to a set of the ' Encyclo-
paedia Britannica,' he read the volumes through
from A to Z, partly by day, but chiefly at night.
He afterwards put himself to a trade, was diligent,
and succeeded in it. Now he has ships sailing on
almost every sea, and holds commercial relations
with nearly every country on the globe.
Among like men of the same class may be
ranked the late Richard Cobden, whose start in
life was equally humble. The son of a small
farmer at Midhurst in Sussex, he was sent at an
early age to London and employed as a boy in
a warehouse in the City. He was diligent, well
conducted, and eager for information. His master,
a man of the old school, warned him against too
CHAP, i] RICHARD COBDEN 21
much reading; but the boy went on in his own
course, storing his mind with the wealth found
in books. He was promoted from one position
of trust to another became a traveller for his
house secured a large connection, and eventually
started in business as a calico printer at Manchester.
Taking an interest in public questions, more
especially in popular education, his attention was
gradually drawn to the subject of the Corn Laws,
to the repeal of which he may be said to have
devoted his fortune and his life. It may be
mentioned as a curious fact that the first speech
he delivered in public was a total failure. But he
had great perseverance, application, and energy;
and with persistency and practice, he became at
length one of the most persuasive and effective
of public speakers, extorting the disinterested
eulogy of even Sir Robert Peel himself. M.
Drouyn de Lhuys, the French ambassador, has
eloquently said of Mr. Cobden, that he was "a
living proof of what merit, perseverance, and
labour can accomplish ; one of the most complete
examples of those men who, sprung from the
humblest ranks of society, raise themselves to the
highest rank in public estimation by the effect of
their own worth and of their personal services ;
finally, one of the rarest examples of the solid
qualities inherent in the English character."
In all these cases, strenuous individual appli-
cation was the price paid for distinction ; excellence
of any sort being invariably placed beyond the
reach of indolence. It is the diligent hand and
head alone that maketh rich in self-culture, growth
in wisdom, and in business. Even when men are
born to wealth and high social position, any solid
22 DILIGENCE INDISPENSABLE [CHAP. I
reputation which they may individually achieve
can only be attained by energetic application ; for
though an inheritance of acres may be bequeathed,
an inheritance of knowledge and wisdom cannot.
The wealthy man may pay others for doing his
work for him, but it is impossible to get his thinking
done for him by another, or to purchase any kind
of self-culture. Indeed, the doctrine that excellence
in any pursuit is only to be achieved by laborious
application, holds as true in the case of the man of
wealth as in that of Drew and Gifford, whose only
school was a cobbler's stall, or Hugh Miller, whose
only college was a Cromarty stone quarry.
Riches and ease, it is perfectly clear, are not
necessary for man's highest culture, else had not
the world been so largely indebted in all times to
those who have sprung from the humbler ranks.
An easy and luxurious existence does not train
men to effort or encounter with difficulty ; nor does
it awaken that consciousness of power which is so
necessary for energetic and effective action in life.
Indeed, so far from poverty being a misfortune, it
may, by vigorous self-help, be converted even into
a blessing ; rousing a man to that struggle with the
world in which, though some may purchase ease by
degradation, the right-minded and true-hearted find
strength, confidence, and triumph. Bacon says,
" Men seem neither to understand their riches nor
their strength : of the former they believe greater
things than they should ; of the latter much less.
Self-reliance and self-denial will teach a man to
drink out of his own cistern, and eat his own sweet
bread, and to learn and labour truly to get his
living, and carefully to expend the good things
committed to his trust."
CHAP, i] WEALTHIER RANKS NOT IDLERS 23
Riches are so great a temptation to ease and
self-indulgence, to which men are by nature prone,
that the glory is all the greater of those who, born
to ample fortunes, nevertheless take an active part
in the work of their generation who " scorn de-
lights and live laborious days." It is to the honour
of the wealthier ranks in this country that they are
not idlers ; for they do their fair share of the work
of the state, and usually take more than their fair
share of its dangers. It was a fine thing said of
a subaltern officer in the Peninsular campaigns,
observed trudging along through mud and mire by
the side of his regiment, "There goes i5,ooo/. a
year!" and in our own day, the bleak slopes of
Sebastopol and the burning soil of India have borne
witness to the like noble self-denial and devotion on
the part of our gentler classes ; many a gallant and
noble fellow, of rank and estate, having risked his
life, or lost it, in one or other of those fields of action,
in the service of his country.
Nor have the wealthier classes been undis-
tinguished in the more peaceful pursuits of philo-
sophy and science. Take, for instance, the great
names of Bacon, the father of modern philosophy,
and of Worcester, Boyle, Cavendish, Talbot, and
Rosse, in science. The last named may be re-
garded as the great mechanic of the peerage;
a man who, if he had not been born a peer,
would probably have taken the highest rank as
an inventor. So thorough is his knowledge of
smith-work that he is said to have been pressed
on one occasion to accept the foremanship of a
large workshop, by a manufacturer to whom his
rank was unknown. The great Rosse telescope,
of his own fabrication, is certainly the most
24 SIR ROBERT PEEL [CHAP. I
extraordinary instrument of the kind that has yet
been constructed.
But it is principally in the departments of politics
and literature that we find the most energetic
labourers amongst our higher classes. Success in
these lines of action, as in all others, can only be
achieved through industry, practice, and study ; and
the great Minister, or parliamentary leader, must
necessarily be amongst the very hardest of workers.
Such was Palmerston; and such are Derby and
Russell, Disraeli and Gladstone. These men have
had the benefit of no Ten Hours Bill, but have
often, during the busy season of Parliament, worked
" double shift," almost day and night. One of the
most illustrious of such workers in modern times
was unquestionably the late Sir Robert Peel. He
possessed in an extraordinary degree the power of
continuous intellectual labour, nor did he spare
himself. His career, indeed, presented a remarkable
example of how much a man of comparatively
moderate powers can accomplish by means of
assiduous application and indefatigable industry.
During the forty years that he held a seat in
Parliament, his labours were prodigious. He was
a most conscientious man, and whatever he under-
took to do, he did thoroughly. All his speeches
bear evidence of his careful study of everything
that had been spoken or written on the subject
under consideration. He was elaborate almost to
excess ; and spared no pains to adapt himself to
the various capacities of his audience. Withal,
he possessed much practical sagacity, great strength
of purpose, and power to direct the issues of action
with steady hand and eye. In one respect he
surpassed most men : his principles broadened
CHAP. I] LORD BROUGHAM 25
and enlarged with time ; and age, instead of con-
tracting, only served to mellow and ripen his
nature. To the last he continued open to the
reception of new views, and, though many thought
him cautious to excess, he did not allow himself
to fall into that indiscriminating admiration of the
past, which is the palsy of many minds similarly
educated, and renders the old age of many nothing
but a pity.
The indefatigable industry of Lord Brougham
has become almost proverbial. His public labours
have extended over a period of upwards of sixty
years, during which he has ranged over many
fields of law, literature, politics, and science,
and achieved distinction in them all. How he
contrived it, has been to many a mystery. Once,
when Sir Samuel Romilly was requested to under-
take some new work, he excused himself by saying
that he had no time ; " but," he added, " go with
it to that fellow Brougham, he seems to have
time for everything." The secret of it was, that
he never left a minute unemployed ; withal he
possessed a constitution of iron. When arrived
at an age at which most men would have retired
from the world to enjoy their hard-earned leisure,
perhaps to doze away their time in an easy chair,
Lord Brougham commenced and prosecuted a
series of elaborate investigations as to the laws
of Light, and he submitted the results to the
most scientific audiences that Paris and London
could muster. About the same time, he was
passing through the press his admirable sketches
of the ' Men of Science and Literature of the Reign
of George III.,' and taking his full share of the
law business and the political discussions in the
26 SIR E. BULWER LYTTON [CHAP. I
House of Lords. Sydney Smith once recom-
mended him to confine himself to only the trans-
action of so much business as three strong men
could get through. But such was Brougham's love
of work long become a habit that no amount
of application seems to have been too great for
him ; and such was his love of excellence, that
it has been said of him that if his station in life
had been only that of a shoe-black, he would
never have rested satisfied until he had become
the best shoe-black in England.
Another hard-working man of the same class
is Sir E. Bulwer Lytton. Few writers have done
more, or achieved higher distinction in various
walks as a novelist, poet, dramatist, historian,
essayist, orator, and politician. He has worked
his way step by step, disdainful of ease, and
animated throughout by the ardent desire to excel.
On the score of mere industry, there are few
living English writers who have written so much,
and none that have produced so much of high
quality. The industry of Bulwer is entitled to
all the greater praise that it has been entirely
self-imposed. To hunt, and shoot, and live at ease,
to frequent the clubs and enjoy the opera, with
the variety of London visiting and sight-seeing
during the " season," and then off to the country
mansion, with its well-stocked preserves, and its
thousand delightful out-door pleasures, to travel
abroad, to Paris, Vienna, or Rome, all this is
excessively attractive to a lover of pleasure and
a man of fortune, and by no means calculated to
make him voluntarily undertake continuous labour
of any kind. Yet these pleasures, all within his
reach, Bulwer must, as compared with men born
CHAP, i] MR. DISRAELI 27
to similar estate, have denied himself in assuming
the position and pursuing the career of a literary
man. Like Byron, his first effort was poetical
(' Weeds and Wild Flowers '), and a failure. His
second was a novel (' Falkland '), and it proved
a failure too. A man of weaker nerve would have
dropped authorship ; but Bulwer had pluck and
perseverance ; and he worked on, determined to
succeed. He was incessantly industrious, read
extensively, and from failure went courageously
onwards to success. ' Pelham ' followed ' Falkland '
within a year, and the remainder of Bulwer's
literary life, now extending over a period of thirty
years, has been a succession of triumphs.
Mr. Disraeli affords a similar instance of the
power of industry and application in working out
an eminent public career. His first achievements
were, like Bulwer's, in literature ; and he reached
success only through a succession of failures. His
' Wondrous Tale of Alroy ' and ' Revolutionary
Epic' were laughed at, and regarded as indications
of literary lunacy. But he worked on in other
direction's, and his 'Coningsby,' 'Sybil,' and
'Tancred,' proved the sterling stuff of which he
was made. As an orator too, his first appearance
in the House of Commons was a failure. It was
spoken of as "more screaming than a Adelphi
farce." Though composed in a grand and
ambitious strain, every sentence was hailed with
"loud laughter." 'Hamlet' played as a comedy
were nothing to it. But he concluded with a
sentence which embodied a prophecy. Writhing
under the laughter with which his studied
eloquence had been received, he exclaimed, "I
have begun several times many things, and have
28 HELP DERIVED FROM OTHERS [CHAP. I
succeeded in them at last. I shall sit down now,
but the time will come when you will hear me."
The time did come ; and how Disraeli succeeded
in at length commanding the attention of the first
assembly of gentlemen in the world, affords a
striking illustration of what energy and determina-
tion will do ; for Disraeli earned his position by
dint of patient industry. He did not, as many
young men do, having once failed, retire dejected,
to mope and whine in a corner, but diligently
set himself to work. He carefully unlearnt his
faults, studied the character of his audience,
practised sedulously the art of speech, and in-
dustriously filled his mind with the elements of
parliamentary knowledge. He worked patiently
for success ; and it came, but slowly : then the
House laughed with him, instead of at him. The
recollection of his early failure was effaced, and
by general consent he was at length admitted to
be one of the most finished and effective of parlia-
mentary speakers.
Although much may be accomplished by means
of individual industry and energy, as these and
other instances set forth in the following pages
serve to illustrate, it must at the same time be
acknowledged that the help which we derive from
others in the journey of life is of very great
importance. The poet Wordsworth has well said
that " these two things, contradictory though they
may seem, must go together manly dependence
and manly independence, manly reliance and
manly self-reliance." From infancy to old age,
all are more or less indebted to others for nurture
and culture ; and the best and strongest are usually
found the readiest to acknowledge such help.
CHAP, i] ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 29
Take, for example, the career of the late Alexis
de Tocqueville, a man doubly well-born, for his
father was a distinguished peer of France, and his
mother a grand-daughter of Malesherbes. Through
powerful family influence, he was appointed Judge
Auditor at Versailles when only twenty-one; but
probably feeling that he had not fairly won the
position by merit, he determined to give it up
and owe his future advancement in life to himself
alone. " A foolish resolution," some will say ; but
De Tocqueville bravely acted it out. He resigned
his appointment, and made arrangements to leave
France for the purpose of travelling through the
United States, the results of which were published
in his great book on ! 'Democracy in America.'
His friend and travelling companion, Gustave de
Beaumont, has described his indefatigable industry
during this journey. " His nature," he says, " was
wholly averse to idleness, and whether he was
travelling or resting, his mind was always at
work. . . . With Alexis, the most agreeable con-
versation was that which was the most useful.
The worst day was the lost day, or the day ill
spent; the least loss of time annoyed him."
Tocqueville himself wrote to a friend " There
is no time of life at which one can wholly cease
from action ; for effort without one's self, and still
more effort within, is equally necessary, if not
more so, when we grow old, as it is in youth.
I compare man in this world to a traveller
journeying without ceasing towards a colder and
colder region ; the higher he goes, the faster he
ought to walk. The great malady of the soul is
cold. And in resisting this formidable evil, one
needs not only to be sustained by the action of a
30 TOCQUEVILLE'S OBLIGATIONS [CHAP. I
mind employed, but also by contact with one's
fellows in the business of life." *
Notwithstanding De Tocqueville's decided views
as to the necessity of exercising individual energy
and self-dependence, no one could be more ready
than he was to recognize the value of that help and
support for which all men are indebted to others in
a greater or less degree. Thus, he often acknow-
ledged, with gratitude, his obligations to his friends
De Kergorlay and Stofells, to the former for
intellectual assistance, and to the latter for moral
support and sympathy. To De Kergorlay he
wrote "Thine is the only soul in which I have
confidence, and whose influence exercises a genuine
effect upon my own. Many others have influence
upon the details of my actions, but no one has so
much influence as thou on the origination of
fundamental ideas, and of those principles which
are the rule of conduct." De Tocqueville was not
less ready to confess the great obligations which
he owed to his wife, Marie, for the preservation
of that temper and frame of mind which enabled
him to prosecute his studies with success. He
believed that a noble-minded woman insensibly
elevated the character of her husband, while one
of a grovelling nature as certainly tended to
degrade it.f
* ' CEuvres et Correspondance inedite d' Alexis de Tocqueville.
Par Gustave de Beaumont.' I. 398.
t " I have seen," said he, "a hundred times in the course of my
life, a weak man exhibit genuine public virtue, because supported
by a wife who sustained him in his course, not so much by
advising him to such and such acts, as by exercising a strength-
ening influence over the manner in which duty or even ambition
was to be regarded. Much oftener, however, it must be con-
fessed, have I seen private and domestic life gradually transform
CHAP, i] MEN THEIR OWN BEST HELPERS 31
In fine, human character is moulded by a
thousand subtle influences ; by example and pre-
cept; by life and literature; by friends and
neighbours ; by the world we live in as well as
by the spirits of our forefathers, whose legacy of
good words and deeds we inherit. But great,
unquestionably, though these influences are acknow-
ledged to be, it is nevertheless equally clear that
men must necessarily be the active agents of their
own well-being and well-doing ; and that, however
much the wise and the good may owe to others,
they themselves must in the very nature of things
be their own best helpers.
a man to whom nature had given generosity, disinterestedness,
and even some capacity for greatness, into an ambitious, mean-
spirited, vulgar, and selfish creature who, in matters relating to
his country, ended by considering them only in so far as they
rendered his own particular condition more comfortable and easy."
' CEuvres de Tocqueville.' II. 349.
CHAPTER II
LEADERS OF INDUSTRY INVENTORS AND PRODUCERS
" Le travail et la Science sont desormais les maltres du monde." De
Salvandy.
" Deduct all that men of the humbler classes have done for England in
the way of inventions only, and see where she would have been but for
them." Arthur Helps.
ONE of the most strongly-marked features of the
English people is their spirit of industry,
standing out prominent and distinct in their
past history, and as strikingly characteristic of
them now as at any former period. It is this spirit,
displayed by the commons of England, which has
laid the foundations and built up the industrial
greatness of the empire. This vigorous growth of
the nation has been mainly the result of the free
energy of individuals, and it has been contingent
upon the number of hands and minds from time
to time actively employed within it, whether as
cultivators of the soil, producers of articles of
utility, contrivers of tools and machines, writers of
books, or creators of works of art. And while this
spirit of active industry has been the vital principle
of the nation, it has also been its saving and remedial
one, counteracting from time to time the effects
of errors in our laws and imperfections in our
constitution.
CHAP, n] TOIL THE BEST SCHOOL 33
The career of industry which the nation has
pursued, has also proved its best education. As
steady application to work is the healthiest training
for every individual, so is it the best discipline of a
state. ^Honourable industry travels the same road
with duty ; and Providence has closely linked both
with happiness.J The gods, says the poet, have
placed labour and toil on the way leading to the
Elysian fields. Certain it is that no bread eaten by
man is so sweet as that earned by his own labour,
whether bodily or mental. By labour the earth has
been subdued, and man redeemed from barbarism ;
nor has a single step in civilization been made
without it. Labour is not only a necessity and a
duty, but a blessing : only the idler feels it to be a
curse. The duty of work is written on the thews
and muscles of the limbs, the mechanism of the
hand, the nerves and lobes of the brain the sum
of whose healthy action is satisfaction and enjoy-
ment. In the school of labour is taught the best
practical wisdom ;fnor is a life of manual employ-
ment, as we shall hereafter find, incompatible with
high mental cultured] ^
Hugh Miller, than whom none knew better the
strength and the weakness belonging to the lot of
labour, stated the result of his experience to be,
that Work, even the hardest, is full of pleasure and
materials for self-improvement. He held honest
labour to be the best of teachers, and that the
school of toil is the noblest of schools save only
the Christian one, that it is a school in which the
ability of being useful is imparted, the spirit of
independence learnt, and the habit of persevering
effort acquired. He was even of opinion that the
training of the mechanic, by the exercise which
3
34 GREAT INVENTORS [CHAP. II
it gives to his observant faculties, from his daily
dealing with things actual and practical, and the
close experience of life which he acquires, better
fits him for picking his way along the journey of
life, and is more favourable to his growth as a
Man, emphatically speaking, than the training
afforded by any other condition.
The array of great names which we have already
cursorily cited, of men springing from the ranks of
the industrial classes, who have achieved distinction
in various walks of life in science, commerce,
literature, and art shows that at all events the
difficulties interposed by poverty and labour are
not insurmountable. As respects the great con-
trivances and inventions which have conferred
so much power and wealth upon the nation, it is
unquestionable that for the greater part of them
we have been indebted to men of the humblest
rank. Deduct what they have done in this parti-
cular line of action, and it will be found that
very little indeed remains for other men to have
accomplished.
Inventors have set in motion some of the
greatest industries of the world. To them society
owes many of its chief necessaries, comforts, and
luxuries; and by their genius and labour daily
life has been rendered in all respects more easy
as well as enjoyable. Our food, our clothing, the
furniture of our homes, the glass which admits
the light to our dwellings at the same time that
it excludes the cold, the gas which illuminates
our streets, our means of locomotion by land and
by sea, the tools by which our various articles
of necessity and luxury are fabricated, have been
the result of the labour and ingenuity of many
CHAP, n] INVENTION OF STEAM-ENGINE 35
men and many minds. Mankind at large are all
the happier for such inventions, and are every
day reaping the benefit of them in an increase
of individual well-being as well as of public
enjoyment.
Though the invention of the working steam-
engine the king of machines belongs, com-
paratively speaking, to our own epoch, the idea
of it was born many centuries ago. Like other
contrivances and discoveries, it was effected step
by step one man transmitting the result of his
labours, at the time apparently useless, to his
successors, who took it up and carried it forward
another stage, the prosecution of the inquiry
extending over many generations. Thus the idea
promulgated by Hero of Alexandria was never
altogether lost ; but, like the grain of wheat hid
in the hand of the Egyptian mummy, it sprouted
and again grew vigorously when brought into
the full light of modern science. The steam-engine
was nothing, however, until it emerged from the
state of theory, and was taken in hand by practical
mechanics ; and what a noble story of patient,
laborious investigation, of difficulties encountered
and overcome by heroic industry, does not that
marvellous machine tell of! It is indeed, in itself,
a monument of the power of self-help in man.
Grouped around it we find Savary, the military
engineer ; Newcomen, the Dartmouth blacksmith ;
Cawley, the glazier ; Potter, the engine-boy ;
Smeaton, the civil engineer; and, towering abo^e
all, the laborious, patient, never-tiring James Watt,
the mathematical-instrument maker.
Watt was one of the most industrious of men ;
and the story of his life proves, what all experience
36 JAMES WATT [CHAP, n
confirms, that it is not the man of the greatest
natural vigour and capacity who achieves the
highest results, but he who employs his powers
with the greatest industry and the most carefully
disciplined skill the skill that comes by labour,
application, and experience. Many men in his
time knew far more than Watt, but none laboured
so assiduously as he did to turn all that he did
know to useful practical purposes. He was, above
all things, most persevering in the pursuit of facts.
He cultivated carefully that habit of active attention
on which all the higher working qualities of the
mind mainly depend. Indeed, Mr. Edgeworth
entertained the opinion, that the difference of
intellect in men depends more upon the early
cultivation of this habit of attention, than upon
any great disparity between the powers of one
individual and another.
Even when a boy, Watt found science in his
toys. The quadrants lying about his father's
carpenter's shop led him to the study of optics
and astronomy ; his ill health induced him to pry
into the secrets of physiology; and his solitary
walks through the country attracted him to the
study of botany and history. While carrying on
the business of a mathematical-instrument maker,
he received an order to build an organ ; and,
though without an ear for music, he undertook
the study of harmonics, and successfully con-
structed the instrument. And, in like manner,
when the little model of Newcomen's steam-engine,
belonging to the University of Glasgow, was placed
in his hands to repair, he forthwith set himself to
learn all that was then known about heat, evapora-
tion, and condensation, at the same time plodding
CHAP, n] APPLICATIONS OF STEAM-ENGINE 37
his way in mechanics and the science of con-
struction, the results of which he at length em-
bodied in his condensing steam-engine.
For ten years he went on contriving and
inventing with little hope to cheer him, and
with few friends to encourage him. He went on,
meanwhile, earning bread for his family by making
and selling quadrants, making and mending fiddles,
flutes, and musical instruments ; measuring mason-
work, surveying roads, superintending the construc-
tion of canals, or doing anything that turned up, and
offered a prospect of honest gain. At length, Watt
found a fit partner in another eminent leader of
industry Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham ; a
skilful, energetic, and far-seeing man, who vigor-
ously undertook the enterprise of introducing the
condensing-engine into general use as a working
power; and the success of both is now matter
of history.*
Many skilful inventors have from time to time
added new power to the steam-engine; and, by
numerous modifications, rendered it capable of
being applied to nearly all the purposes of
manufacture driving machinery, impelling ships,
grinding corn, printing books, stamping money,
hammering, planing, and turning iron; in short,
of performing every description of mechanical
labour where power is required. One of the
most useful modifications in the engine was that
devised by Trevithick, and eventually perfected
by George Stephenson and his son, in the form of
* Since the original publication of this book, the author has in
another work, ' The Lives of Boulton and Watt,' endeavoured
to portray in greater detail the character and achievements of
these two remarkable men.
38 THE COTTON-MANUFACTURE [CHAP. II
the railway locomotive, by which social changes
of immense importance have been brought about,
of even greater consequence, considered in their
results on human progress and civilization, than
the condensing-engine of Watt.
One of the first grand results of Watt's in-
vention which placed an almost unlimited power
at the command of the producing classes was
the establishment of the cotton-manufacture. The
person most closely identified with the foundation
of this great branch of industry was unquestionably
Sir Richard Arkwright, whose practical energy
and sagacity were perhaps even more remarkable
than his mechanical inventiveness. His originality
as an inventor has indeed been called in question,
like that of Watt and Stephenson. Arkwright
probably stood in the same relation to the spinning-
machine that Watt did to the steam-engine and
Stephenson to the locomotive. He gathered to-
gether the scattered threads of ingenuity which
already existed, and wove them, after his own
design, into a new and original fabric. Though
Lewis Paul, of Birmingham, patented the invention
of spinning by rollers thirty years before Arkwright,
the machines constructed by him were so imperfect
in their details, that they could not be profitably
worked, and the invention was practically a
failure. Another obscure mechanic, a reed-maker
of Leigh, named Thomas Highs, is also said to
have invented the water-frame and spinning-jenny ;
but they, too, proved unsuccessful.
When the demands of industry are found to
press upon the resources of inventors, the same
idea is usually found floating about in many minds ;
such has been the case with the steam-engine,
SIR RICHARD ARKWRIGHT, 1732-1792.
By Joseph Wright, A.R.A.
\Tofacep. 38.
CHAP, n] R. ARKWRIGHT BARBER 39
the safety-lamp, the electric telegraph, and other
inventions. Many ingenious minds are found
labouring in the throes of invention, until at
length the master mind, the strong practical
man, steps forward, and straightway delivers
them of their idea, applies the principle successfully,
and the thing is done. Then there is a loud out-
cry among all the smaller contrivers, who see
themselves distanced in the race; and hence men
such as Watt, Stephenson, and Arkwright, have
usually to defend their reputation and their rights
as practical and successful inventors.
Richard Arkwright, like most of our great
mechanicians, sprang from the ranks. He was
born in Preston in 1732. His parents were very
poor, and he was the youngest of thirteen children.
He was never at school : the only education he
received he gave to himself; and to the last he
was only able to write with difficulty. When a
boy, he was apprenticed to a barber, and after
learning the business, he set up for himself in
Bolton, where he occupied an underground cellar,
over which he put up the sign, " Come to the
subterraneous barber he shaves for a penny."
The other barbers found their customers leaving
them, and reduced their prices to his standard,
when Arkwright, determined to push his trade,
announced his determination to give "a clean
shave for a halfpenny." After a few years he
quitted his cellar, and became an itinerant dealer
in hair. At that time wigs were worn, and wig-
making formed an important branch of the barber-
ing business. Arkwright went about buying hair
for the wigs. He was accustomed to attend the
hiring fairs throughout Lancashire resorted to by
40 R. ARKWRIGHT INVENTOR [CHAP. II
young women, for the purpose of securing their
long tresses ; and it is said that in negotiations of
this sort he was very successful. He also dealt in
a chemical hair dye, which he used adroitly, and
thereby secured a considerable trade. But he does
not seem, notwithstanding his pushing character,
to have done more than earn a bare living.
The fashion of wig-wearing having undergone
a change, distress fell upon the wig-makers ; and
Arkwright, being of a mechanical turn, was con-
sequently induced to turn machine inventor or
"conjurer," as the pursuit was then popularly
termed. Many attempts were made about that
time to invent a spinning-machine, and our barber
determined to launch his little bark on the sea of
invention with the rest. Like other self-taught men
of the same bias, he had already been devoting
his spare time to the invention of a perpetual-
motion machine ; and from that the transition to
a spinning-machine was easy. He followed his
experiments so assiduously that he neglected his
business, lost the little money he had saved, and
was reduced to great poverty. His wife for he
had by this time married was impatient at what
she conceived to be a wanton waste of time and
money, and in a moment of sudden wrath she
seized upon and destroyed his models, hoping
thus to remove the cause of the family privations.
Arkwright was a stubborn and enthusiastic man,
and he was provoked beyond measure by this
conduct of his wife, from whom he immediately
separated.
In travelling about the country, Arkwright had
become acquainted with a person named Kay, a
clockmaker at Warrington, who assisted him in
CHAP, n] R. ARKWRIGHT INVENTOR 41
constructing some of the parts of his perpetual-
motion machinery. It is supposed that he was
informed by Kay of the principle of spinning by
rollers ; but it is also said that the idea was first
suggested to him by accidentally observing a red-
hot piece of iron become elongated by passing
between iron rollers. However this may be, the
idea at once took firm possession of his mind, and
he proceeded to devise the process by which it was
to be accomplished, Kay being able to tell him
nothing on this point. Arkwright now abandoned
his business of hair collecting, and devoted himself
to the perfecting of his machine, a model of which,
constructed by Kay under his directions, he set
up in the parlour of the Free Grammar School at
Preston. Being a burgess of the town, he voted
at the contested election at which General Burgoyne
was returned ; but such was his poverty, and such
the tattered state of his dress, that a number of
persons subscribed a sum sufficient to have him put
in a state fit to appear in the poll-room. The exhi-
bition of his machine in a town where so many
workpeople lived by the exercise of manual labour
proved a dangerous experiment ; ominous growlings
were heard outside the school-room from time to
time, and Arkwright remembering the fate of
Kay, who was mobbed and compelled to fly from
Lancashire because of his invention of the fly-
shuttle, and of poor Hargreaves, whose spinning-
jenny had been pulled to pieces only a short time
before by a Blackburn mob wisely determined
on packing up his model and removing to a
less dangerous locality. He went accordingly to
Nottingham, where he applied to some of the local
bankers for pecuniary assistance ; and the Messrs.
42 R. ARKWRIGHT INVENTOR [CHAP. II
Wright consented to advance him a sum of money
on condition of sharing in the profits of the inven-
tion. The machine, however, not being perfected
so soon as they had anticipated, the bankers recom-
mended Arkwright to apply to Messrs. Strutt &
Need, the former of whom was the ingenious in-
ventor and patentee of the stocking-frame. Mr.
Strutt at once appreciated the merits of the in-
vention, and a partnership was entered into with
Arkwright, whose road to fortune was now clear.
The patent was secured in the name of " Richard
Arkwright, of Nottingham, clockmaker," and it is a
circumstance worthy of note, that it was taken out
in 1769, the same year in which Watt secured the
patent for his steam-engine. A cotton-mill was
first erected at Nottingham, driven by horses ; and
another was shortly after built, on a much larger
scale, at Cromford, in Derbyshire, turned by a
water-wheel, from which circumstance the spinning-
machine came to be called the water-frame.
Arkwright's labours, however, were, compara-
tively speaking, only begun. He had still to perfect
all the working details of his machine. It was in
his hands the subject of constant modification and
improvement, until eventually it was rendered
practicable and profitable in an eminent degree.
But success was only secured by long and patient
labour : for some years, indeed, the speculation
was disheartening and unprofitable, swallowing up
a very large amount of capital without any result.
When success began to appear more certain, then
the Lancashire manufacturers fell upon Ark-
wright's patent to pull it in pieces, as the Cornish
miners fell upon Boulton and Watt to rob them
of the profits of their steam-engine. Arkwright
CHAP. ii] R. ARKWRIGHT MANUFACTURER 43
was even denounced as the enemy of the working
people ; and a mill which he built near Chorley
was destroyed by a mob in the presence of a strong
force of police and military. The Lancashire men
refused to buy his materials, though they were
confessedly the best in the market. Then they
refused to pay patent-right for the use of his
machines, and combined to crush him in the courts
of law. To the disgust of right-minded people,
Arkwright's patent was upset. After the trial,
when passing the hotel at which his opponents
were staying, one of them said, loud enough to be
heard by him, " Well, we've done the old shaver at
last " ; to which he coolly replied, " Never mind,
I've a razor left that will shave you all." He
established new mills in Lancashire, Derbyshire,
and at New Lanark, in Scotland. The mills at
Cromford also came into his hands at the expiry of
his partnership with Strutt, and the amount and the
excellence of his products were such, that in a short
time he obtained so complete a control of the trade,
that the prices were fixed by him, and he governed
the main operations of the other cotton-spinners.
Arkwright was a man of great force of character,
indomitable courage, much worldly shrewdness,
with a business faculty almost amounting to genius.
At one period his time was engrossed by severe
and continuous labour, occasioned by the organizing
and conducting of his numerous manufactories,
sometimes from four in the morning till nine at
night. At fifty years of age he set to work to learn
English grammar, and improve himself in writing
and orthography. After overcoming every obstacle,
he had the satisfaction of reaping the reward
of his enterprise. Eighteen years after he had
44 THE PEEL FAMILY [CHAP, n
constructed his first machine, he rose to such esti-
mation in Derbyshire that he was appointed High
Sheriff of the county, and shortly after George III.
conferred upon him the honour of knighthood.
He died in 1792. Be it for good or for evil, Ark-
wright was the founder in England of the modern
factory system, a branch of industry which has
unquestionably proved a source of immense wealth
to individuals and to the nation.
All the other great branches of industry in
Britain furnish like examples of energetic men of
business, the source of much benefit to the neigh-
bourhoods in which they have laboured, and of
increased power and wealth to the community at
large. Amongst such might be cited the Strutts of
Belper ; the Tennants of Glasgow ; the Marshalls
and Gotts of Leeds; the Peels, Ashworths, Birleys,
Fieldens, Ashtons, Heywoods, and Ainsworths of
South Lancashire, some of whose descendants have
since become distinguished in connexion with the
political history of England. Such pre-eminently
were the Peels of South Lancashire.
The founder of the Peel family, about the
middle of last century, was a small yeoman, occu-
pying the Hole House Farm, near Blackburn, from
which he afterwards removed to a house situated
in Fish Lane in that town. Robert Peel, as he
advanced in life, saw a large family of sons and
daughters growing up about him ; but the land
about Blackburn being somewhat barren, it did
not appear to him that agricultural pursuits offered
a very encouraging prospect for their industry.
The place had, however, long been the seat of a
domestic manufacture the fabric called " Black-
burn greys," consisting of linen weft and cotton
CHAP, n] THE FIRST ROBERT PEEL 45
warp, being chiefly made in that town and its
neighbourhood. It was then customary previous
to the introduction of the factory system for in-
dustrious yeomen with families to employ the
time not occupied in the fields in weaving at home ;
and Robert Peel accordingly began the domestic
trade of calico-making. He was honest, and made
an honest article ; thrifty and hardworking, and
his trade prospered. He was also enterprising,
and was one of the first to adopt the carding
cylinder, then recently invented.
But Robert Peel's attention was principally
directed to the printing of calico, then a compara-
tively unknown art, and for some time he carried
on a series of experiments with the object ot
printing by machinery. The experiments were
secretly conducted in his own house, the cloth
being ironed for the purpose by one of the women
of the family. It was then customary, in such
houses as the Peels', to use pewter plates for
dinner. Having sketched a figure or pattern on
one of the plates, the thought struck him that an
impression might be got from it in reverse, and
printed on calico with colour. In a cottage at the
end of the farm-house lived a woman who kept a
calendering machine, and going into her cottage,
he put the plate with colour rubbed into the
figured part and some calico over it, through the
machine, when it was found to leave a satisfactory
impression. Such is said to have been the origin
of roller-printing on calico. Robert Peel shortly
perfected his process, and the first pattern he
brought out was a parsley leaf; hence he is spoken
of in the neighbourhood of Blackburn to this day
as " Parsley Peel." The process of calico-printing
46 THE FIRST SIR ROBERT PEEL [CHAP. II
by what is called the mule machine that is, by
means of a wooden cylinder in relief, with an
engraved copper cylinder was afterwards brought
to perfection by one of his sons, the head of the
firm of Messrs. Peel & Co., of Church. Stimu-
lated by his success, Robert Peel shortly gave up
farming, and removing to Brookside, a village
about two miles from Blackburn, he devoted him-
self exclusively to the printing business. There,
with the aid of his sons, who were as energetic
as himself, he successfully carried on the trade for
several years ; and as the young men grew up
towards manhood, the concern branched out into
various firms of Peels, each of which became a
centre of industrial activity and a source of
remunerative employment to large numbers of
people.
From what can now be learnt of the character
of the original and untitled Robert Peel, he must
have been a remarkable man shrewd, sagacious,
and far-seeing. But little is known of him except-
ing from tradition, and the sons of those who knew
him are fast passing away. His son, Sir Robert, thus
modestly spoke of him : " My father may be truly
said to have been the founder of our family; and
he so accurately appreciated the importance of
commercial wealth in a national point of view,
that he was often heard to say that the gains to
individuals were small compared with the national
gains arising from trade."
Sir Robert Peel, the first baronet and the second
manufacturer of the name, inherited all his father's
enterprise, ability, and industry. His position, at
starting in life, was little above that of an ordinary
working man; for his father, though laying the
CHAP, ii] YATES, PEEL & CO. 47
foundations of future prosperity, was still strug-
gling with the difficulties arising from insufficient
capital. When Robert was only twenty years of
age, he determined to begin the business of cotton-
printing, which he had by this time learnt from his
father, on his own account. His uncle, James
Haworth, and William Yates of Blackburn, joined
him in his enterprise ; the whole capital which
they could raise amongst them amounting to only
about 5oo/., the principal part of which was sup-
plied by William Yates. The father of the latter
was a householder in Blackburn, where he was
well known and much respected ; and having
saved money by his business, he was willing to
advance sufficient to give his son a start in the
lucrative trade of cotton-printing, then in its
infancy. Robert Peel, though comparatively a
mere youth, supplied the practical knowledge of
the business ; but it was said of him, and proved
true, that he " carried an old head on young
shoulders." A ruined corn-mill, with its adjoin-
ing fields, was purchased for a comparatively small
sum, near the then insignificant town of Bury,
where the works long after continued to be known
as "The Ground " ; and a few wooden sheds having
been run up, the firm commenced their cotton-
printing business in a very humble way in the
year 1770, adding to it that of cotton-spinning a
few years later. The frugal style in which the
partners lived may be inferred from the following
incident in their early career. William Yates,
being a married man with a family, commenced
housekeeping on a small scale, and, to oblige Peel,
who was single, he agreed to take him as a lodger.
The sum which the latter first paid for board and
48 LADY PEEL [CHAP. H
lodging was only 8s. a week ; but Yates, consider-
ing this too little, insisted on the weekly pay-
ment being increased a shilling, to which Peel
at first demurred, and a difference between the
partners took place, which was eventually com-
promised by the lodger paying an advance of
sixpence a week. William Yates's eldest child
was a girl named Ellen, and she very soon became
an especial favourite with the young lodger. On
returning from his hard day's work at " The
Ground," he would take the little girl upon his
knee, and say to her, " Nelly, thou bonny little
dear, wilt be my wife?" to which the child
would readily answer " Yes," as any child would
do. " Then I'll wait for thee, Nelly ; I'll wed thee,
and none else." And Robert Peel did wait. As
the girl grew in beauty towards womanhood, his
determination to wait for her was strengthened ;
and after the lapse of ten years years of close
application to business and rapidly increasing
prosperity Robert Peel married Ellen Yates when
she had completed her seventeenth year ; and the
pretty child, whom her mother's lodger and father's
partner had nursed upon his knee, became Mrs.
Peel, and eventually Lady Peel, the mother of the
future Prime Minister of England. Lady Peel was
a noble and beautiful woman, fitted to grace any
station in life. She possessed rare powers of mind,
and was, on every emergency, the high-souled and
faithful counsellor of her husband. For many years
after their marriage she acted as his amanuensis,
conducting the principal part of his business corre-
spondence, for Mr. Peel himself was an indifferent
and almost unintelligible writer. She died in 1803,
only three years after the Baronetcy had been con-
CHAP. II] PEEL'S MERCANTILE ABILITIES 49
ferred upon her husband. It is said that London
fashionable life so unlike what she had been
accustomed to at home proved injurious to her
health ; and old Mr. Yates afterwards used to say,
"If Robert hadn't made our Nelly a 'Lady,' she
might ha' been living yet."
The career of Yates, Peel & Co was throughout
one of great and uninterrupted prosperity. Sir
Robert Peel himself was the soul of the firm ; to
great energy and application uniting much practical
sagacity, and first-rate mercantile abilities qualities
in which many of the early cotton-spinners were
exceedingly deficient. He was a man of iron mind
and frame, and toiled unceasingly. In short, he
was to cotton-printing what Arkwright was to
cotton-spinning, and his success was equally great.
The excellence of the articles produced by the firm
secured the command of the market, and the char-
acter of the firm stood pre-eminent in Lancashire.
Besides greatly benefiting Bury, the partnership
planted similar extensive works in the neighbour-
hood, on the Irwell and the Roch ; and it was cited
to their honour, that, while they sought to raise
to the highest perfection the quality of their
manufactures, they also endeavoured, in all ways,
to promote the well-being and comfort of their
workpeople ; for whom they contrived to provide
remunerative employment even in the least pros-
perous times.
Sir Robert Peel readily appreciated the value of
all new processes and inventions ; in illustration of
which we may allude to his adoption of the process
for producing what is called resist work in calico-
printing. This is accomplished by the use of a paste,
or resist, on such parts of the cloth as were intended
4
50 WILLIAM LEE [CHAP, n
to remain white. The person who discovered the
paste was a traveller for a London house, who sold
it to Mr. Peel for an inconsiderable sum. It re-
quired the experience of a year or two to perfect
the system and make it practically useful; but
the beauty of its effect, and the extreme pre-
cision of outline in the pattern produced, at once
placed the Bury establishment at the head of all
the factories for calico-printing in the country.
Other firms, conducted with like spirit, were
established by members of the same family at
Burnley, Foxhill Bank, and Altham, in Lancashire ;
Salley Abbey, in Yorkshire ; and afterwards at
Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire ; these various
establishments, whilst they brought wealth to
their proprietors, setting an example to the whole
cotton trade, and training up many of the
most successful printers and manufacturers in
Lancashire.
Among other distinguished founders of industry,
the Rev. William Lee, inventor of the stocking-
frame, and John Heathcoat, inventor of the bobbin-
net machine, are worthy of notice, as men of great
mechanical skill and perseverance, through whose
labours a vast amount of remunerative employment
has been provided for the labouring population of
Nottingham and the adjacent districts. The ac-
counts which have been preserved of the circum-
stances connected with the invention of the stocking-
frame are very confused, and in many respects
contradictory, though there is no doubt as to the
name of the inventor. This was William Lee, born
at Woodborough, a village some seven miles from
Nottingham, about the year 1563. According to
some accounts, he was the heir to a small freehold,
CHAP, n] ORIGIN OF STOCKING-LOOM 51
while according to others he was a poor scholar,*
and had to struggle with poverty from his earliest
years. He entered as a sizar at Christ College,
Cambridge, in May, 1579, and subsequently re-
moved to St. John's, taking his degree of B.A.
in 1582-3. It is believed that he commenced M.A.
in 1586; but on this point there appears to be
some confusion in the records of the University.
The statement usually made that he was expelled
for marrying contrary to the statutes, is incorrect, as
he was never a Fellow of the University, and there-
fore could not be prejudiced by taking such a step.
At the time when Lee invented the stocking-
frame he was officiating as curate of Calverton,
near Nottingham ; and it is alleged by some
writers that the invention had its origin in dis-
appointed affection. The curate is said to have
fallen deeply in love with a young lady of the
village, who failed to reciprocate his affections ; and
when he visited her, she was accustomed to pay
much more attention to the process of knitting
stockings and instructing her pupils in the art,
than to the addresses of her admirer. This slight
is said to have created in his mind such an aversion
to knitting by hand, that he formed the determina-
tion to invent a machine that should supersede it
and render it a gainless employment. For three
years he devoted himself to the prosecution of the
* The following entry, which occurs in the account of monies
disbursed by the burgesses of Sheffield in 1573 [?], is supposed by
some to refer to the inventor of the stocking frame : " Item gyven
to Will Lee, a poore scholler in Sheafield, towards the settyng
him to the Universitie of Chambrydge, and buying him bookes and
other furnyture [which money was afterwards returned] xiii iiii
^. 4</.]." Hunter, ' History of Hallamshire,' 141.
52 WILLIAM LEE [CHAP. II
invention, sacrificing everything to his new idea.
As the prospect of success opened before him, he
abandoned his curacy, and devoted himself to the
art of stocking-making by machinery. This is
the version of the story given by Henson * on the
authority of an old stocking-maker, who died in
Collins's Hospital, Nottingham, aged ninety-two,
and was apprenticed in the town during the reign
of Queen Anne. It is also given by Deering and
Blackner as the traditional account in the neigh-
bourhood, and it is in some measure borne out
by the arms of the London Company of Frame-
Work Knitters, which consists of a stocking-frame
without the wood-work, with a clergyman on one
side and a woman on the other as supporters.!
Whatever may have been the actual facts as
to the origin of the invention of the stocking-
loom, there can be no doubt as to the extra-
* ' History of the Framework Knitters.'
t There are, however, other and different accounts. One is to
the effect that Lee set about studying the contrivance of the stock-
ing-loom for the purpose of lessening the labour of a young country-
girl to whom he was attached, whose occupation was knitting ;
another, that being married and poor, his wife was under the ne-
cessity of contributing to their joint support by knitting ; and that
Lee, while watching the motion of his wife's fingers, conceived the
idea of imitating their movements by a machine. The latter story
seems to have been invented by Aaron Hill, Esq., in his 'Account
of the Rise and Progress of the Beech Oil Manufacture,' London,
1715 ; but his statement is altogether unreliable. Thus he makes
Lee to have been a Fellow of a college at Oxford, from which he
was expelled for marrying an innkeeper's daughter ; whilst Lee
neither studied at Oxford, nor married there, nor was a Fellow of
any college ; and he concludes by alleging that the result of his
invention was to "make Lee and his family happy " ; whereas the
invention brought him only a heritage of misery, and he died
abroad destitute.
CHAP, n] INVENTION OF STOCKING-LOOM 53
ordinary mechanical genius displayed by its in-
ventor. That a clergyman living in a remote
village, whose life had for the most part been spent
with books, should contrive a machine of such
delicate and complicated movements, and at once
advance the art of knitting from the tedious pro-
cess of linking threads in a chain of loops by three
skewers in the fingers of a woman, to the beautiful
and rapid process of weaving by the stocking-
frame, was indeed an astonishing achievement,
which may be pronounced almost unequalled in
the history of mechanical invention. Lee's merit
was all the greater, as the handicraft arts were
then in their infancy, and little attention had as
yet been given to the contrivance of machinery for
the purposes of manufacture. He was under the
necessity of extemporizing the parts of his machine
as he best could, and adopting various expedients
to overcome difficulties as they arose. His tools
were imperfect, and his materials imperfect; and
he had no skilled workmen to assist him. Ac-
cording to tradition, the first frame he made was
a twelve gauge, without lead sinkers, and it was
almost wholly of wood ; the needles being also
stuck in bits of wood. One of Lee's principal
difficulties consisted in the formation of the stitch,
for want of needle eyes ; but this he eventually
overcame by forming eyes to the needles with a
three-square file.* At length, one difficulty after
* Blackner, ' History of Nottingham.' The author adds, " We
have information, handed down in direct succession from father to
son, that it was not till late in the seventeenth century that one man
could manage the working of a frame. The man who was con-
sidered the workman employed a labourer, who stood behind the
frame to work the slur and pressing motions ; but the application of
traddles and of the feet eventually rendered the labour unnecessary."
54 WILLIAM LEE [CHAP. II
another was successfully overcome, and after three
years' labour the machine was sufficiently complete
to be fit for use. The quondam curate, full of enthu-
siasm for his art, now began stocking-weaving in the
village of Calverton, and he continued to work there
for several years, instructing his brother James and
several of his relations in the practice of the art.
Having brought his frame to a considerable de-
gree of perfection, and being desirous of securing
the patronage of Queen Elizabeth, whose partiality
for knitted silk stockings was well known, Lee
proceeded to London to exhibit the loom before
her Majesty. He first showed it to several
members of the court, among others to Sir William
(afterwards Lord) Hunsdon, whom he taught to
work it with success ; and Lee was, through their
instrumentality, at length admitted to an interview
with the Queen, and worked the machine in her
presence. Elizabeth, however, did not give him
the encouragement that he had expected ; and she
is said to have opposed the invention on the ground
that it was calculated to deprive a large number
of poor people of their employment of hand
knitting. Lee was no more successful in finding
other patrons, and considering himself and his
invention treated with contempt, he embraced the
offer made to him by Sully, the sagacious minister
of Henry IV., to proceed to Rouen and instruct the
operatives of that town then one of the most
important manufacturing centres of France in the
construction and use of the stocking-frame. Lee
accordingly transferred himself and his machines
to France, in 1605, taking with him his brother and
seven workmen. He met with a cordial reception
at Rouen, and was proceeding with the manufacture
CHAP, n] JAMES LEE 55
of stockings on a large scale having nine of his
frames in full work, when unhappily ill fortune
again overtook him. Henry IV., his protector, on
whom he had relied for the rewards, honours, and
promised grant of privileges, which had induced
Lee to settle in France, was murdered by the
fanatic Ravaillac ; and the encouragement and
protection which had heretofore been extended to
him were at once withdrawn. To press his claims
at court, Lee proceeded to Paris; but being a
Protestant as well as a foreigner, his representations
were treated with neglect ; and worn out with
vexation and grief, this distinguished inventor
shortly after died at Paris, in a state of extreme
poverty and distress.
Lee's brother, with seven of the workmen,
succeeded in escaping from France with their
frames, leaving two behind. On James Lee's
return to Nottinghamshire, he was joined by one
Ashton, a miller of Thoroton, who had been in-
structed in the art of frame-work knitting by the
inventor himself before he left England. These
two, with the workmen and their frames, began
the stocking-manufacture at Thoroton, and carried
it on with considerable success. The place was
favourably situated for the purpose, as the sheep
pastured in the neighbouring district of Sherwood
yielded a kind of wool of the longest staple.
Ashton is said to have introduced the method
of making the frames with lead sinkers, which
was a great improvement. The number of
looms employed in different parts of England
gradually increased ; and the machine manufacture
of stockings eventually became an important branch
of the national industry,
56 JOHN HEATHCOAT [CHAP. II
One of the most important modifications in the
stocking-frame was that which enabled it to be
applied to the manufacture of lace on a large
scale. In 1777, two workmen, Frost and Holmes,
were both engaged in making point-net by means
of the modifications they had introduced in the
stocking-frame ; and in the course of about thirty
years, so rapid was the growth of this branch of
production that 1500 point-net frames were at
work, giving employment to upwards of 15,000
people. Owing, however, to the war, to change
of fashion, and to other circumstances, the
Nottingham lace-manufacture rapidly fell off; and
it continued in a decaying state until the invention
of the bobbin-net machine by John Heathcoat,
late M.P. for Tiverton, which had the effect of
at once re-establishing the manufacture on solid
foundations.
John Heathcoat was the youngest son of a
respectable small farmer at Duffield, Derbyshire,
where he was born in 1783. When at school he
made steady and rapid progress, but was early
removed from it to be apprenticed to a frame-smith
near Loughborough. The boy soon learnt to handle
tools with dexterity, and he acquired a minute
knowledge of the parts of which the stocking-frame
was composed, as well as of the more intricate
warp-machine. At his leisure he studied how to
introduce improvements in them, and his friend,
Mr. Bazley, M.P., states that as early as the age of
sixteen, he conceived the idea of inventing a
machine by which lace might be made similar
to Buckingham or French lace, then all made by
hand. The first practical improvement he succeeded
in introducing was in the warp-frame, when, by
CHAP, n] JOHN HEATHCOAT 57
means of an ingenious apparatus, he succeeded in
producing " mitts " of a lacy appearance, and it
was this success which determined him to pursue
the study of mechanical lace-making. The stocking
frame had already, in a modified form, been applied
to the manufacture of point-net lace, in which the
mesh was looped as in a stocking, but the work
was slight and frail, and therefore unsatisfactory.
Many ingenious Nottingham mechanics had, during
a long succession of years, been labouring at the
problem of inventing a machine by which the
mesh of threads should be twisted round each other
on the formation of the net. Some of these men
died in poverty, some were driven insane, and all
alike failed in the object of their search. The old
warp-machine held its ground.
When a little over twenty-one years of age,
Heathcoat went to Nottingham, where he readily
found employment, for which he soon received the
highest remuneration, as a setter-up of hosiery and
warp-frames, and was much respected for his talent
for invention, general intelligence, and the sound
and sober principles that governed his conduct
He also continued to pursue the subject on which
his mind had before been occupied, and laboured
to compass the contrivance of a twist traverse-net
machine. He first studied the art of making the
Buckingham or pillow-lace by hand, with the
object of effecting the same motions by mechanical
means. It was a long and laborious task, requiring
the exercise of great perseverance and ingenuity.
His master, Elliot, described him at that time as
inventive, patient, self-denying, and taciturn,
undaunted by failures and mistakes, full of resources
and expedients, and entertaining the most perfect
58 THE BOBBIN-NET MACHINE [CHAP. II
confidence that his application of mechanical
principles would eventually be crowned with
success.
It is difficult to describe in words an invention
so complicated as the bobbin-net machine. It
was, indeed, a mechanical pillow for making lace,
imitating in an ingenious manner the motions of
the lace-maker's fingers in intersecting or tying
the meshes of the lace upon her pillow. On
analysing the component parts of a piece of hand-
made lace, Heathcote was enabled to classify the
threads into longitudinal and diagonal. He began
his experiments by fixing common pack-threads
lengthwise on a sort of frame for the warp, and
then passing the weft threads between them by
common plyers, delivering them to other plyers on
the opposite side ; then, after giving them a side-
ways motion and twist, the threads were repassed
back between the next adjoining cords, the meshes
being thus tied in the same way as upon pillows
by hand. He had then to contrive a mechanism
that should accomplish all these nice and delicate
movements, and to do this cost him no small
amount of mental toil. Long after he said, " The
single difficulty of getting the diagonal threads to
twist in the allotted space was so great that if it
had now to be done, I should probably not attempt
its accomplishment." His next step was to provide
thin metallic discs, to be used as bobbins for
conducting the threads backwards and forwards
through the warp. These discs, being arranged
in carrier-frames placed on each side of the warp,
were moved by suitable machinery so as to conduct
the threads from side to side in forming the lace.
He eventually succeeded in working out his
CHAP, n] PATENT DISPUTED 59
principle with extraordinary skill and success ; and,
at the age of twenty-four, he was enabled to secure
his invention by a patent.
During this time his wife was kept in almost as
great anxiety as himself, for she well knew of his
trials and difficulties while he was striving to
perfect his invention. Many years after they had
been successfully overcome, the conversation which
took place one eventful evening was vividly
remembered. " Well," said the anxious wife,
"will it work?" "No," was the sad answer; "I
have had to take it all to pieces again." Though he
could still speak hopefully and cheerfully, his poor
wife could restrain her feelings no longer, but sat
down and cried bitterly. She had, however, only
a few more weeks to wait, for success, long laboured
for and richly deserved, came at last, and a proud
and happy man was John Heathcoat when he
brought home the first narrow strip of bobbin-net
made by his machine, and placed it in the hands of
his wife.
As in the case of nearly all inventions which
have proved productive, Heathcoat's right as a
patentee were disputed, and his claims as an
inventor called in question. On the supposed
invalidity of the patent, the lace-makers boldly
adopted the bobbin-net machine, and set the
inventor at defiance. But other patents were
taken out for alleged improvements and adaptations ;
and it was only when these new patentees fell out
and went to law with each other that Heathcoat's
rights became established. One lace-manufacturer
having brought an action against another for an
alleged infringement of his patent, the jury brought
in a verdict for the defendant, in which the judge
60 DEFENDED BY [CHAP, n
concurred, on the ground that both the machines
in question were infringements of Heathcoat's
patent. It was on the occasion of this trial,
" Boville v. Moore," that Sir John Copley (after-
wards Lord Lyndhurst), who was retained for the
defence in the interest of Mr. Heathcoat, learnt to
work the bobbin-net machine in order that he
might master the details of the invention. On
reading over his brief, he confessed that he did
not quite understand the merits of the case; but
as it seemed to him to be one of great importance,
he offered to go down into the country forthwith
and study the machine until he understood it ;
"and then," said he, "I will defend you to the
best of my ability." He accordingly put himself
into that night's mail, and went down to Nottingham
to get up his case as perhaps counsel never got
it up before. Next morning the learned sergeant
placed himself in a lace-loom, and he did not leave
it until he could deftly make a piece of bobbin-net
with his own hands, and thoroughly understood the
principle as well as the details of the machine.
When the case came on for trial, the learned
sergeant was enabled to work the model on the
table with such ease and skill, and to explain
the precise nature of the invention with such
felicitous clearness, as to astonish alike judge,
jury, and spectators; and the thorough conscien-
tiousness and mastery with which he handled the
case had no doubt its influence upon the decision
of the court.
After the trial was over, Mr. Heathcoat, on
inquiry, found about six hundred machines at work
after his patent, and he proceeded to levy royalty
upon the owners of them, which amounted to a
CHAP, n] SIR JOHN COPLEY 61
large sum. But the profits realized by the manu-
facturers of lace were very great, and the use of
the machines rapidly extended ; while the price
of the article was reduced from five pounds the
square yard to about five pence in the course of
twenty-five years. During the same period the
average annual returns of the lace-trade have been
at least four millions sterling, and it gives re-
munerative employment to about 150,000 work-
people.
To return to the personal history of Mr. Heath-
coat. In 1809 we find him established as a lace-
manufacturer at Loughborough, in Leicestershire.
There he carried on a prosperous business for
several years, giving employment to a large number
of operatives, at wages varying from 5/. to io/.
a week. Notwithstanding the great increase in
the number of hands employed in lace-making
through the introduction of the new machines,
it began to be whispered about among the work-
people that they were superseding labour, and
an extensive conspiracy was formed for the purpose
of destroying them wherever found. As early as
the year 1811 disputes arose between the masters
and men engaged in the stocking and lace trades
in the south-western parts of Nottinghamshire and
the adjacent parts of Derbyshire and Leicestershire,
the result of which was the assembly of a mob
at Sutton, in Ashfield, who proceeded in open
day to break the stocking- and lace-frames of the
manufacturers. Some of the ringleaders having
been seized and punished, the disaffected learnt
caution ; but the destruction of the machines was
nevertheless carried on secretly wherever a safe
opportunity presented itself. As the machines
62 DESTRUCTION OF MACHINES [CHAP, n
were of so delicate a construction that a single
blow of a hammer rendered them useless, and as
the manufacture was carried on for the most part
in detached buildings, often in private dwellings
remote from towns, the opportunities of destroying
them were unusually easy. In the neighbourhood
of Nottingham, which was the focus of turbulence,
the machine-breakers organized themselves in
regular bodies, and held nocturnal meetings at
which their plans were arranged. Probably with
the view of inspiring confidence, they gave out
that they were under the command of a leader
named Ned Ludd, or General Ludd, and hence
their designation of Luddites. Under this organiza-
tion machine-breaking was carried on with great
vigour during the winter of 1811, occasioning
great distress, and throwing large numbers of
workpeople out of employment. Meanwhile, the
owners of the frames proceeded to remove them
from the villages and lone dwellings in the country,
and brought them into warehouses in the towns
for their better protection.
The Luddites seem to have been encouraged by
the lenity of the sentences pronounced on such
of their confederates as had been apprehended and
tried; and, shortly after, the mania broke out
afresh, and rapidly extended over the northern and
midland manufacturing districts. The organization
became more secret ; an oath was administered
to the members binding them to obedience to the
orders issued by the heads of the confederacy;
and the betrayal of their designs was decreed to
be death. All machines were doomed by them
to destruction, whether employed in the manu-
facture of cloth, calico, or lace; and a reign of
CHAP. 11] BY THE LUDDITES 63
terror began which lasted for years. In York-
shire and Lancashire mills were boldly attacked
by armed rioters, and in many cases they were
wrecked or burnt ; so that it became necessary
to guard them by soldiers and yeomanry. The
masters themselves were doomed to death ; many
of them were assaulted, and some were murdered.
At length the law was vigorously set in motion;
numbers of the misguided Luddites were appre-
hended ; some were executed ; and after several
years' violent commotion from this cause, the
machine-breaking riots were at length quelled.
Among the numerous manufacturers whose
works were attacked by the Luddites, was the
inventor of the bobbin-net machine himself. One
bright sunny day, in the summer of 1816, a body
of rioters entered his factory at Loughborough
with torches, and set fire to it, destroying thirty-
seven lace-machines, and above io,ooo/. worth of
property. Ten of the men were apprehended for
the felony, and eight of them were executed. Mr.
Heathcoat made a claim upon the county for
compensation, and it was resisted ; but the Court
of King's Bench decided in his favour, and decreed
that the county must make good his loss of io,ooo/.
The magistrates sought to couple with the pay-
ment of the damage the condition that Mr.
Heathcoat should expend the money in the county
of Leicester; but to this he would not assent,
having already resolved on removing his manu-
facture elsewhere. At Tiverton, in Devonshire,
he found a large building which had been formerly
used as a woollen manufactory; but the Tiverton
cloth trade having fallen into decay, the building
remained unoccupied, and the town itself was
64 HEATHCOAT AT TIVERTON [CHAP. II
generally in a very poverty-stricken condition.
Mr. Heathcoat bought the old mill, renovated and
enlarged it, and there recommenced the manu-
facture of lace upon a larger scale than before;
keeping in full work as many as three hundred
machines, and employing a large number of
artisans at good wages. Not only did he carry on
the manufacture of lace, but the various branches
of business connected with it yarn-doubling, silk-
spinning, net-making, and finishing. He also
established at Tiverton an iron-foundry and works
for the manufacture of agricultural implements,
which proved of great convenience to the district.
It was a favourite idea of his that steam power
was capable of being applied to perform all the
heavy drudgery of life, and he laboured for a long
time at the invention of a steam-plough. In 1832
he so far completed his invention as to be enabled
to take out a patent for it ; and Heathcoat's steam-
plough, though it has since been superseded by
Fowler's, was considered the best machine of the
kind that had up to that time been invented.
Mr. Heathcoat was a man of great natural gifts.
He possessed a sound understanding, quick per-
ception, and a genius for business of the highest
order. With these he combined uprightness,
honesty, and integrity qualities which are the
true glory of human character. Himself a diligent
self-educator, he gave ready encouragement to
deserving youths in his employment, stimulating
their talents and fostering their energies. During
his own busy life, he contrived to save time to
master French and Italian, of which he acquired
an accurate and grammatical knowledge. His
mind was largely stored with the results of a
CHAP, n] HEATHCOAT 65
careful study of the best literature, and there were
few subjects on which he had not formed for
himself shrewd and accurate views. The two
thousand workpeople in his employment regarded
him almost as a father, aid he carefully provided
for their comfort and improvement. Prosperity did
not spoil him, as it does so many; nor close his
heart against the claims of the poor and struggling,
who were always sure of his sympathy and help.
To provide for the education of the children of his
workpeople, he built schools for them at a cost of
about 6ooo/. He was also a man of singularly
cheerful and buoyant disposition, a favourite with
men of all classes, and most admired and beloved
by those who knew him best.
In 1831 the electors of Tiverton, of which town
Mr. Heathcoat had proved himself so genuine a
benefactor, returned him to represent them in
Parliament, and he continued their member for
nearly thirty years. During a great part of that
time he had Lord Palmerston for his colleague,
and the noble lord, on more than one public
occasion, expressed the high regard which he
entertained for his venerable friend. On retiring
from the representation in 1859, owing to advancing
age and increasing infirmities, thirteen hundred
of his workmen presented him with a silver ink-
stand and gold pen, in token of their esteem.
He enjoyed his leisure for only two more years,
dying in January, 1861, at the age of seventy-seven,
and leaving behind him a character for probity,
virtue, manliness, and mechanical genius, of which
his descendants may well be proud.
We next turn to a career of a very different kind,
that of the illustrious but unfortunate Jacquard
5
66 JACQUARD [CHAP, li
whose life also illustrates in a remarkable manner
the influence which ingenious men, even of the
humblest rank, may exercise upon the industry
of a nation. Jacquard was the son of a hardworking
couple of Lyons, his father being a weaver, and
his mother a pattern reader. They were too poor
to give him any but the most meagre education.
When he was of age to learn a trade, his father
placed him with a bookbinder. An old clerk, who
made up the master's accounts, gave Jacquard some
lessons in mathematics. He very shortly began
to display a remarkable turn for mechanics, and
some of his contrivances quite astonished the
old clerk, who advised Jacquard's father to put
him to some other trade, in which his peculiar
abilities might have better scope than in book-
binding. He was accordingly put apprentice to
a cutler ; but was so badly treated by his master,
that he shortly afterwards left his employment,
on which he was placed with a type-founder.
His parents dying, Jacquard found himself in
a measure compelled to take to his father's two
looms, and carry on the trade of a weaver. He
immediately proceeded to improve the looms, and
became so engrossed with his inventions that he
forgot his work, and very soon found himself at
the end of his means. He then sold the looms
to pay his debts, at the same time that he took
upon himself the burden of supporting a wife.
He became still poorer, and to satisfy his creditors,
he next sold his cottage. He tried to find employ-
ment, but in vain, people believing him to be
an idler, occupied with mere dreams about his
inventions. At length he obtained employment
with a line-maker of Bresse, whither he went, his
CHAP, n] THE DRAWLOOM 67
wife remaining at Lyons, earning a precarious
living by making straw bonnets.
We hear nothing further of Jacquard for some
years, but in the interval he seems to have prose-
cuted his improvement in the drawloom for the
better manufacture of figured fabrics ; for, in 1790,
he brought out his contrivance for selecting the
warp threads, which, when added to the loom,
superseded the services of a drawboy. The
adoption of this machine was slow but steady,
and in ten years after its introduction, 4000 of them
were found at work in Lyons. Jacquard's pursuits
were rudely interrupted by the Revolution, and,
in 1792, we find him fighting in the ranks of the
Lyonnaise Volunteers against the Army of the
Convention under the command of Dubois Crance.
The city was taken ; Jacquard fled and joined the
Army of the Rhine, where he rose to the rank of
sergeant. He might have remained a soldier, but
that, his only son having been shot dead at his
side, he deserted and returned to Lyons to recover
his wife. He found her in a garret, still employed
at her old trade of straw-bonnet making. While
living in concealment with her, his mind reverted
to the inventions over which he had so long
brooded in former years; but he had no means
wherewith to prosecute them. Jacquard found it
necessary, however, to emerge from his hiding-
place and try to find some employment. He
succeeded in obtaining it with an intelligent manu-
facturer, and while working by day he went on
inventing by night. It had occurred to him that
great improvements might still be introduced in
looms for figured goods, and he incidentally men-
tioned the subject one day to his master, regretting
68 JACQUARD'S OTHER INVENTIONS [CHAP.il
at the same time that his limited means prevented
him from carrying out his ideas. Happily his
master appreciated the value of the suggestions,
and with laudable generosity placed a sum of money
at his disposal, that he might prosecute the proposed
improvements at his leisure.
In three months Jacquard had invented a loom
to substitute mechanical action for the irksome and
toilsome labour of the workman. The loom was
exhibited at the Exposition of National Industry
at Paris in 1801, and obtained a bronze medal.
Jacquard was further honoured by a visit at Lyons
from the Minister Carnot, who desired to con-
gratulate him in person on the success of his
invention. In the following year the Society of
Arts in London offered a prize for the invention
of a machine for manufacturing fishing-nets and
boarding-netting for ships. Jacquard heard of this,
and while walking one day in the fields according
to his custom, he turned the subject over in his
mind, and contrived the plan of a machine for the
purpose. His friend, the manufacturer, again
furnished him with the means of carrying out
his idea, and in three weeks Jacquard had completed
his invention.
Jacquard's achievement having come to the
knowledge of the Prefect of the Department, he
was summoned before that functionary, and, on
his explanation of the working of the machine,
a report on the subject was forwarded to the
Emperor. The inventor was forthwith summoned
to Paris with his machine, and brought into the
presence of the Emperor, who received him with
the consideration due to his genius. The interview
lasted two hours, during which Jacquard, placed
CHAP, n] VAUCANSON 69
at his ease by the Emperor's affability, explained
to him the improvements which he proposed to
make in the looms for weaving figured goods.
The result was, that he was provided with apart-
ments in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers,
where he had the use of the workshop during his
stay, and was provided with a suitable allowance
for his maintenance.
Installed in the Conservatoire, Jacquard pro-
ceeded to complete the details of his improved loom.
He had the advantage of minutely inspecting the
various exquisite pieces of mechanism contained in
that great treasury of human ingenuity. Among
the machines which more particularly attracted his
attention, and eventually set him upon the track
of his discovery, was a loom for weaving flowered
silk, made by Vaucanson the celebrated automaton-
maker.
Vaucanson was a man of the highest order oi
constructive genius. The inventive faculty was so
strong in him that it may almost be said to have
amounted to a passion, and could not be restrained.
The saying that the poet is born, not made, applies
with equal force to the inventor, who, though
indebted, like the other, to culture and improved
opportunities, nevertheless contrives and constructs
new combinations of machinery mainly to gratify
his own instinct. This was peculiarly the case
with Vaucanson ; for his most elaborate works
were not so much distinguished for their utility
as for the curious ingenuity which they displayed.
While a mere boy attending Sunday conversations
with his mother, he amused himself by watching,
through the chinks of a partition wall, part of the
movements of a clock in the adjoining apartment,
70 VAUCANSON'S AUTOMATA [CHAP, n
He endeavoured to understand them, and by
brooding over the subject, after several months
he discovered the principle of the escapement.
From that time the subject of mechanical in-
vention took complete possession of him. With
some rude tools which he contrived, he made a
wooden clock that marked the hours with remark-
able exactness ; while he made for a miniature
chapel the figures of some angels which waved
their wings, and some priests that made several
ecclesiastical movements. With the view of exe-
cuting some other automata he had designed, he
proceeded to study anatomy, music, and mechanics,
which occupied him for several years. The sight
of the Flute-player in the Gardens of the Tuileries
inspired him with the resolution to invent a similar
figure that should play, and after several years'
study and labour, though struggling with illness,
he succeeded in accomplishing his object. He next
produced a Flageolet-player, which was succeeded
by a Duck, the most ingenious of his contrivances,
which swam, dabbled, drank, and quacked like a
real duck. He next invented an asp, employed in
the tragedy of ' Cleopatre,' which hissed and darted
at the bosom of the actress.
Vaucanson, however, did not confine himself
merely to the making of automata. By reason of
his ingenuity, Cardinal de Fleury appointed him
inspector of the silk manufactories of France ; and
he was no sooner in office, than with his usual
irrepressible instinct to invent, he proceeded to
introduce improvements in silk machinery. One
of these was his mill for thrown silk, which so
excited the anger of the Lyons operatives, who
feared the loss of employment through its means.
CHAP, n] JACQUARD HIS LOOM 71
that they pelted him with stones and had nearly
killed him. He nevertheless went on inventing,
and next produced a machine for weaving flowered
silks, with a contrivance for giving a dressing to
the thread, so as to render that of each bobbin or
skein of an equal thickness.
When Vaucanson died in 1782, after a long
illness, he bequeathed his collection of machines to
the Queen, who seems to have set but small value
on them, and they were shortly after dispersed.
But his machine for weaving flowered silks was
happily preserved in the Conservatoire des Arts et
Metiers, and there Jacquard found it among the
many curious and interesting articles in the collec-
tion. It proved of the utmost value to him, for it
immediately set him on the track of the principal
modification which he introduced in his improved
loom.
One of the chief features of Vaucanson's machine
was a pierced cylinder which, according to the
holes it presented when revolved, regulated the
movement of certain needles, and caused the threads
of the warp to deviate in such a manner as to
produce a given design, though only of a simple
character. Jacquard seized upon the suggestion
with avidity, and, with the genius of the true
inventor, at once proceeded to improve upon it.
At the end of a month his weaving-machine was
completed. To the cylinder of Vaucanson, he
added an endless piece of pasteboard pierced with
a number of holes, through which the threads of
the warp were presented to the weaver; while
another piece of mechanism indicated to the work-
man the colour of the shuttle which he ought to
throw. Thus the drawboy and the reader of
72 THE JACQUARD LOOM [CHAP, n
designs were both at once superseded. The first
use Jacquard made of his new loom was to weave
with it several yards of rich stuff which he presented
to the Empress Josephine. Napoleon was highly
gratified with the result of the inventor's labours,
and ordered a number of the looms to be con-
structed by the best workmen, after Jacquard's
model, and presented to him ; after which he
returned to Lyons.
There he experienced the frequent fate of
inventors. He was regarded by his townsmen as
an enemy, and treated by them as Kay, Hargreaves,
and Arkwright had been in Lancashire. The
workmen looked upon the new loom as fatal to
their trade, and feared lest it should at once take
the bread from their mouths. A tumultuous
meeting was held on the Place des Terreaux, when
it was determined to destroy the machines. This
was however prevented by the military. But
Jacquard was denounced and hanged in effigy.
The ' Conseil des prud'hommes ' in vain en-
deavoured to allay the excitement, and they were
themselves denounced. At length, carried away
by the popular impulse, the prud'hommes, most of
whom had been workmen and sympathized with
the class, had one of Jacquard's looms carried off
and publicly broken in pieces. Riots followed, in
one of which Jacquard was dragged along the quay
by an infuriated mob intending to drown him, but
he was rescued.
The great value of the Jacquard loom, however,
could not be denied, and its success was only a
question of time. Jacquard was urged by some
English silk manufacturers to pass over into
England and settle there. But notwithstanding
CHAP, n] JACQUARD'S DEATH 73
the harsh and cruel treatment he had received at
the hands of his townspeople, his patriotism was
too strong to permit him to accept their offer.
The English manufacturers, however, adopted his
loom. Then it was, and only then, that Lyons,
threatened to be beaten out of the field, adopted it
with eagerness ; and before long the Jacquard
machine was employed in nearly all kinds of
weaving. The result proved that the fears of the
workpeople had been entirely unfounded. Instead
of diminishing employment, the Jacquard loom
increased it at least tenfold. The number of persons
occupied in the manufacture of figured goods in
Lyons, was stated by M. Leon Faucher to have been
60,000 in 1833; and that number has since been
considerably increased.
As for Jacquard himself, the rest of his life
passed peacefully, excepting that the workpeople
who dragged him along the quay to drown him
were shortly after found eager to bear him in
triumph along the same route in celebration of his
birthday. But his modesty would not permit him
to take part in such a demonstration. The Muni-
cipal Council of Lyons proposed to him that he
should devote himself to improving his machine
for the benefit of the local industry, to which
Jacquard agreed in consideration of a moderate
pension, the amount of which was fixed by himself.
After perfecting his invention accordingly, he
retired at sixty to end his days at Oullins, his
father's native place. It was there that he received,
in 1820, the decoration of the Legion of Honour ;
and it was there that he died and was buried in
1834. A statue was erected to his memory, but
his relatives remained in poverty ; and twenty
74 JOSHUA HEILMANN [CHAP. II
years after his death, his two nieces were under
the necessity of selling for a few hundred francs
the gold medal bestowed upon their uncle by
Louis XVIII. "Such," says a French writer, "was
the gratitude of the manufacturing interests of
Lyons to the man to whom it owes so large a
portion of its splendour."
It would be easy to extend the martyrology of
inventors, and to cite the names of other equally
distinguished men who have, without any corre-
sponding advantage to themselves, contributed to
the industrial progress of the age, for it has too
often happened that genius has planted the tree, of
which patient dulness has gathered the fruit; but
we will confine ourselves for the present to a brief
account of an inventor of comparatively recent date,
by way of illustration of the difficulties and priva-
tions which it is so frequently the lot of mechanical
genius to surmount. We allude to Joshua Heil-
mann, the inventor of the combing-machine.
Heilmann was born in 1796 at Mulhouse, the
principal seat of the Alsace cotton manufacture.
His father was engaged in that business; and
Joshua entered his office at fifteen. He remained
there for two years, employing his spare time in
mechanical drawing. He afterwards spent two
years in his uncle's banking-house in Paris, prose-
cuting the study of mathematics in the evenings.
Some of his relatives having established a small
cotton-spinning factory at Mulhouse, young Heil-
mann was placed with Messrs. Tissot & Rey,
at Paris, to learn the practice of that firm. At the
same time he became a student at the Conservatoire
des Arts et Metiers, where he attended the lectures,
and studied the machines in the museum. He also
CHAP, n] THE EMBROIDERING-MACHINE 75
took practical lessons in turning from a toymaker.
After some time, thus diligently occupied, he re-
turned to Alsace, to superintend the construction of
the machinery for the new factory at Vieux-Thann,
which was shortly finished and set to work. The
operations of the manufactory were, however,
seriously affected by a commercial crisis which
occurred, and it passed into other hands, on which
Heilmann returned to his family at Mulhouse.
He had in the mean time been occupying much
of his leisure with inventions, more particularly
in connexion with the weaving of cotton and the
preparation of the staple for spinning. One of
his earliest contrivances was an embroidering-
machine, in which twenty needles were employed,
working simultaneously ; and he succeeded in
accomplishing his object after about six months'
labour. For this invention, which he exhibited
at the Exposition of 1834, he received a gold medal,
and was decorated with the Legion of Honour.
Other inventions quickly followed an improved
loom, a machine for measuring and folding fabrics,
an improvement of the " bobbin- and fly-frames " of
the English spinners, and a weft winding-machine,
with various improvements in the machinery for
preparing, spinning, and weaving silk and cotton.
One of his most ingenious contrivances was his
loom for weaving simultaneously two pieces of
velvet or other piled fabric, united by the pile
common to both, with a knife and traversing
apparatus for separating the two fabrics when
woven. But by far the most beautiful and ingenious
of his inventions was the combing-machine, the
history of which we now proceed shortly to
describe,
76 JOSHUA HEILMANN [CHAP, n
Heilmann had for some years been diligently
studying the contrivance of a machine for combing
long-stapled cotton, the ordinary carding-machine
being found ineffective in preparing the raw material
for spinning, especially the finer sort of yarn,
besides causing considerable waste. To avoid
these imperfections, the cotton-spinners of Alsace
offered a prize of 5000 francs for an improved
combing-machine, and Heilmann immediately pro-
ceeded to compete for the reward. He was not
stimulated by the desire of gain, for he was com-
paratively rich, having acquired a considerable
fortune by his wife. It was a saying of his that
"one will never accomplish great things who is
constantly asking himself, how much gain will this
bring me?" What mainly impelled him was the
irrepressible instinct of the inventor, who no sooner
has a mechanical problem set before him than he
feels impelled to undertake its solution. The problem
in this case was, however, much more difficult
than he had anticipated. The close study of the
subject occupied him for several years, and the
expenses in which he became involved in con-
nexion with it were so great, that his wife's
fortune was shortly swallowed up, and he was
reduced to poverty, without being able to bring
his machine to perfection. From that time he was
under the necessity of relying mainly on the help
of his friends to enable him to prosecute the
invention.
While still struggling with poverty and diffi-
culties, Heilmann's wife died, believing her husband
ruined ; and shortly after he proceeded to England
and settled for a time at Manchester, still labouring
at his machine. He had a model made for him by
CHAP, n] THE COMBING-MACHINE 77
the eminent machine-makers, Sharpe, Roberts
& Company; but still he could not make it work
satisfactorily, and he was at length brought almost
to the verge of despair. He returned to France
to visit his family, still pursuing his idea, which
had obtained complete possession of his mind.
While sitting by his hearth one evening, meditating
upon the hard fate of inventors and the misfortunes
in which their families so often become involved, he
found himself almost unconsciously watching his
daughters combing their long hair and drawing it out
at full length between their fingers. The thought
suddenly struck him that if he could successfully
imitate in a machine the process of combing out
the longest hair and forcing back the short by
reversing the action of the comb, it might serve
to extricate him from his difficulty. It may be re-
membered that this incident in the life of Heilmann
has been made the subject of a beautiful picture
by Mr. Elmore, R.A., which was exhibited at the
Royal Academy Exhibition of 1862.
Upon this idea he proceeded, introduced the
apparently simple but really most intricate process
of machine-combing, and after great labour he suc-
ceeded in perfecting the invention. The singular
beauty of the process can only be appreciated by
those who have witnessed the machine at work,
when the similarity of its movements to that of
combing the hair, which suggested the invention,
is at once apparent. The machine has been de-
scribed as " acting with almost the delicacy of touch
of the human fingers." It combs the lock of cotton
at both ends, places the fibres exactly parallel with
each other, separates the long from the short, and
unites the long fibres in one sliver and the short
78 HEILMANN'S DEATH [CHAP. II
ones in another. In fine, the machine not only
acts with the delicate accuracy of the human fingers,
but apparently with the delicate intelligence of the
human mind.
The chief commercial value of the invention
consisted in its rendering the commoner sorts of
cotton available for fine spinning. The manu-
facturers were thereby enabled to select the most
suitable fibres for high-priced fabrics, and to pro-
duce the finer sorts of yarn in much larger
quantities. It became possible by its means to
make thread so fine that a length of 334 miles
might be spun from a single pound weight of
the prepared cotton, and, worked up into the finer
sorts of lace, the original shilling's worth of cotton-
wool, before it passed into the hands of the con-
sumer, might thus be increased to the value of
between 30O/. and 4OO/. sterling.
The beauty and utility of Heilmann's invention
were at once appreciated by the English cotton-
spinners. Six Lancashire firms united and pur-
chased the patent for cotton-spinning for England
for the sum of 3O,ooo/. ; the wool-spinners paid the
same sum for the privilege of applying the process
to wool; and the Messrs. Marshall, of Leeds,
2o,ooo/. for the privilege of applying it to flax. Thus
wealth suddenly flowed in upon poor Heilmann
at last. But he did not live to enjoy it. Scarcely
had his long labours been crowned by success than
he died, and his son, who had shared in his pri-
vations, shortly followed him.
It is at the price of lives such as these that
the wonders of civilization are achieved.
CHAPTER III
THE GREAT POTTERS PALISSY, BOTTGHER,
WEDGWOOD
" Patience is the finest and worthiest part of fortitude, and the rarest too.
. . Patience lies at the root of all pleasures, as well as of all powers. Hope
herself ceases to be happiness when Impatience companions \\er."JoAn
Ruskin.
" II y a vingt et cinq ans passez qu'il ne me fut monstre" une coupe de
terre, tournee et esmaillee d'une telle beaute que . . . deslors, sans avoir
esgard que je n'avois nulle connoissance des terres argileuses, je me mis
a chercher les e"maux, comme un homme qui taste en tenebres." Bernard
Palissy.
IT so happens that the history of Pottery furnishes
some of the most remarkable instances of
patient perseverance to be found in the whole
range of biography. Of these we select three of
the most striking, as exhibited in the lives of
Bernard Palissy, the Frenchman ; Johann Friedrich
BcHtgher, the German ; and Josiah Wedgwood, the
Englishman.
Though the art of making common vessels of
clay was known to most of the ancient nations,
that of manufacturing enamelled earthenware was
much less common. It was, however, practised by
the ancient Etruscans, specimens of whose ware
are still to be found in antiquarian collections.
But it became a lost art, and was only recovered
79
8o LUCA DELLA ROBBIA [CHAP, m
at a comparatively recent date. The Etruscan
ware was very valuable in ancient times, a vase
being worth its weight in gold in the time of
Augustus. The Moors seem to have preserved
amongst them a knowledge of the art, which they
were found practising in the island of Majorca
when it was taken by the Pisans in 1115. Among
the spoil carried away were many plates of
Moorish earthenware, which, in token of triumph,
were embedded in the walls of several of the
ancient churches of Pisa, where they are to be
seen to this day. About two centuries later the
Italians began to make an imitation enamelled
ware, which they named Majolica, after the Moorish
place of manufacture.
The reviver or re-discoverer of the art of
enamelling in Italy was Luca della Robbia, a
Florentine sculptor. Vasari describes him as a
man of indefatigable perseverance, working with
his chisel all day and practising drawing during
the greater part of the night. He pursued the
latter art with so much assiduity, that when
working late, to prevent his feet from freezing
with the cold, he was accustomed to provide
himself with a basket of shavings, in which he
placed them to keep himself warm and enable him
to proceed with his drawings. " Nor," says Vasari,
" am I in the least astonished at this, since no man
ever becomes distinguished in any art whatsoever
who does not early begin to acquire the power
of supporting heat, cold, hunger, thirst, and other
discomforts ; whereas those persons deceive them-
selves altogether who suppose that when taking
their ease and surrounded by all the enjoyments
of the world they may still attain to honourable
CHAP, in] THE ART OF ENAMELLING 81
distinction, for it is not by sleeping, but by
waking, watching, and labouring continually, that
proficiency is attained and reputation acquired.
But Luca, notwithstanding all his application
and industry, did not succeed in earning enough
money by sculpture to enable him to live by the
art, and the idea occurred to him that he might
nevertheless be able to pursue his modelling in
some material more facile and less dear than
marble. Hence it was that he began to make his
models in clay, and to endeavour by experiment
so to coat and bake the clay as to render those
models durable. After many trials he at length
discovered a method of covering the clay with a
material, which, when exposed to the intense heat
of a furnace, became converted into an almost
imperishable enamel. He afterwards made the
further discovery of a method of imparting colour
to the enamel, thus greatly adding to its beauty.
The fame of Luca's work extended throughout
Europe, and specimens of his art became widely
diffused. Many of them were sent into France and
Spain, where they were greatly prized. At that
time coarse brown jars and pipkins were almost
the only articles of earthenware produced in
France ; and this continued to be the case, with
comparatively small improvement, until the time
of Palissy a man who toiled and fought against
stupendous difficulties with a heroism that sheds
a glow almost of romance over the events of his
chequered life.
Bernard Palissy is supposed to have been born
in the south of France, in the diocese of Agen,
about the year 1510. His father was probably a
worker in glass, to which trade Bernard was
6
$2 BERNARD PALISSY [CHAP. Ill
brought up. His parents were poor people too
poor to give him the benefit of any school education.
" I had no other books," said he afterwards, " than
heaven and earth, which are open to all." He
learnt, however, the art of glass-painting, to which
he added that of drawing, and afterwards reading
and writing.
When about eighteen years old, the glass trade
becoming decayed, Palissy left his father's house,
with his wallet on his back, and went out into the
world to search whether there was any place in
it for him. He first travelled towards Gascony,
working at his trade where he could find employ-
ment, and occasionally occupying part of his time
in land-measuring. Then he travelled northwards,
sojourning for various periods at different places in
France, Flanders, and Lower Germany.
Thus Palissy occupied about ten more years
of his life, after which he married, and ceased from
his wanderings, settling down to practise glass-
painting and land-measuring at the small town of
Saintes, in the Lower Charente. There children
were born to him ; and not only his responsibilities
but his expenses increased, while, do what he
could, his earnings remained too small for his needs.
It was therefore necessary for him to bestir himself.
Probably he felt capable of better things than
drudging in an employment so precarious as glass-
painting; and hence he was induced to turn his
attention to the kindred art of painting and
enamelling earthenware. Yet on this subject he
was wholly ignorant ; for he had never seen earth
baked before he began his operations. He had
therefore everything to learn by himself, without
any helper. But he was full of hope, eager to
CHAP, m] SEARCH FOR THE ENAMEL 83
learn, of unbounded perseverance and inexhaustible
patience.
It was the sight of an elegant cup of Italian
manufacture most probably one of Luca della
Robbia's make which first set Palissy a-thinking
about the new art. A circumstance so apparently
insignificant would have produced no effect upon
an ordinary mind, or even upon Palissy himself
at an ordinary time ; but occuring as it did when
he was meditating a change of calling, he at once
became inflamed with the desire of imitating it.
The sight of this cup disturbed his whole existence ;
and the determination to discover the enamel with
which it was glazed thenceforward possessed him
like a passion. Had he been a single man he
might have travelled into Italy in search of the
secret ; but he was bound to his wife and his child-
ren, and could not leave them ; so he remained
by their side groping in the dark in the hope of
finding out the process of making and enamelling
earthenware.
At first he could merely guess the materials of
which the enamel was composed ; and he proceeded
to try all manner of experiments to ascertain what
they really were. He pounded all the substances
which he supposed were likely to produce it. Then
he bought common earthen pots, broke them into
pieces, and, spreading his compounds over them,
subjected them to the heat of a furnace which
he erected for the purpose of baking them. His
experiments failed ; and the results were broken
pots and a waste of fuel, drugs, time, and labour.
Women do not readily sympathize with experiments
whose only tangible effect is to dissipate the means
of buying clothes and food for their children ; and
S 4 BERNARD PALISSY [CHAP, in
Palissy's wife, however dutiful in other respects,
could not be reconciled to the purchase of more
earthen pots, which seemed to her to be bought
only to be broken. Yet she must needs submit ;
for Palissy had become thoroughly possessed by
the determination to master the secret of the enamel,
and would not leave it alone.
For many successive months and years Palissy
pursued his experiments. The first furnace having
proved a failure, he proceeded to erect another
out of doors. There he burnt more wood, spoiled
more drugs and pots, and lost more time, until
poverty stared him and his family in the face.
" Thus," said he, " I fooled away several years,
with sorrow and sighs, because I could not at all
arrive at my intention." In the intervals of his
experiments he occasionally worked at his former
callings, painting on glass, drawing portraits, and
measuring land ; but his earnings from these
sources were very small. At length he was no
longer able to carry on his experiments in his own
furnace because of the heavy cost of fuel ; but he
bought more potsherds, broke them up as before
into three or four hundred pieces, and, covering
them with chemicals, carried them to a tile-work
a league and a half distant from Saintes, there to
be baked in an ordinary furnace. After the opera-
tion he went to see the pieces taken out ; and, to
his dismay, the whole of the experiments were
failures. But though disappointed, he was not yet
defeated ; for he determined on the very spot to
"begin afresh."
His business as a land-measurer called him away
for a brief season from the pursuit of his experi-
ments. In conformity with an edict of the State,
CHAP, in] "IN THE TRACK OF ENAMELS" 85
it became necessary to survey the salt-marshes in
the neighbourhood of Saintes for the purpose of
levying the land-tax. Palissy was employed to
make this survey, and prepare the requisite map.
The work occupied him some time, and he was
doubtless well paid for it ; but no sooner was it
completed than he proceeded, with redoubled zeal,
to follow up his old investigations " in the track
of the enamels." He began by breaking three
dozen new earthen pots, the pieces of which he
covered with different materials which he had
compounded, and then took them to a neighbouring
glass-furnace to be baked. The results gave him
a glimmer of hope. The greater heat of the glass-
furnace had melted some of the compounds ; but
though Palissy searched diligently for the white
enamel he could find none.
For two more years he went on experimenting
without any satisfactory result, until the proceeds
of his survey of the salt-marshes having become
nearly spent, he was reduced to poverty again.
But he resolved to make a last great effort ; and
he began by breaking more pots than ever. More
than three hundred pieces of pottery covered with
his compounds were sent to the glass-furnace ; and
thither he himself went to watch the results of the
baking. Four hours passed, during which he
watched ; and then the furnace was opened. The
material on one only of the three hundred pieces
of potsherd had melted, and it was taken out to
cool. As it hardened, it grew white white and
polished ! The piece of potsherd was covered with
white enamel, described by Palissy as " singularly
beautiful ! " And beautiful it must no doubt have
been in his eyes after all his weary waiting. He
86 BERNARD PALISSY [CHAP, in
ran home with it to his wife, feeling himself, as he
expressed it, quite a new creature. But the prize
was not yet won far from it. The partial success
of this intended last effort merely had the effect
of luring him on to a succession of further experi-
ments and failures.
In order that he might complete the invention,
which he now believed to be at hand, he resolved
to build for himself a glass-furnace near his dwelling,
where he might carry on his operations in secret.
He proceeded to build the furnace with his own
hands, carrying the bricks from the brick-field upon
his back. He was bricklayer, labourer, and all.
From seven to eight more months passed. At last
the furnace was built and ready for use. Palissy
had in the mean time fashioned a number of vessels
of clay in readiness for the laying on of the enamel.
After being subjected to a preliminary process of
baking, they were covered with the enamel com-
pound, and again placed in the furnace for the
grand crucial experiment. Although his means
were nearly exhausted, Palissy had been for some
time accumulating a great store of fuel for the final
effort; and he thought it was enough. At last
the fire was lit, and the operation proceeded. All
day he sat by the furnace, feeding it with fuel. He
sat there watching and feeding all through the long
night. But the enamel did not melt. The sun rose
upon his labours. His wife brought him a portion
of the scanty morning meal, for he would not stir
from the furnace, into which he continued from
time to time to heave more fuel. The second day
passed, and still the enamel did not melt. The sun
set, and another night passed. The pale, haggard,
unshorn, baffled yet not beaten Palissy sat by his
CHAP, in] DESPERATE DETERMINATION 87
furnace eagerly looking for the melting of the
enamel. A third day and night passed a fourth, a
fifth, and even a sixth, yes, for six long days and
nights did the unconquerable Palissy watch and
toil, fighting against hope; and still the enamel
would not melt.
It then occurred to him that there might be some
defect in the materials for the enamel perhaps
something wanting in the flux ; so he set to work
to pound and compound fresh materials for a new
experiment. Thus two or three more weeks passed.
But how to buy more pots? for those which he
had made with his own hands for the purposes of
the first experiment were by long baking irretriev-
ably spoilt for the purposes of a second. His money
was now all spent ; but he could borrow. His
character was still good, though his wife and the
neighbours thought him foolishly wasting his means
in futile experiments. Nevertheless he succeeded.
He borrowed sufficient from a friend to enable him
to buy more fuel and more pots, and he was again
ready for a further experiment. The pots were
covered with the new compound, placed in the
furnace, and the fire was again lit.
It was the last and most desperate experiment of
the whole. The fire blazed up ; the heat became
intense ; but still the enamel did not melt. The
fuel began to run short ! How to keep up the fire ?
There were the garden palings : these would burn.
They must be sacrificed rather than that the great
experiment should fail. The garden palings were
pulled up and cast into the furnace. They were
burnt in vain ! The enamel had not yet melted.
Ten minutes more heat might do it. Fuel must be
had at whatever cost. There remained the house-
88 BERNARD PALISSY [CHAP. Ill
hold furniture and shelving. A crashing noise was
heard in the house ; and amidst the screams of his
wife and children, who now feared Palissy's reason
was giving way, the tables were seized, broken up,
and heaved into the furnace. The enamel had not
melted yet ! There remained the shelving. -Another
noise of the wrenching of timber was heard within
the house ; and the shelves were torn down and
hurled after the furniture into the fire. Wife and
children then rushed from the house, and went
frantically through the town, calling out that poor
Palissy had gone mad, and was breaking up his
very furniture for firewood ! *
For an entire month his shirt had not been
off his back, and he was utterly worn out wasted
with toil, anxiety, watching, and want of food.
He was in debt, and seemed on the verge of ruin.
But he had at length mastered the secret ; for the
* Palissy's own words are : " Le bois m'ayant failli, je fus
contraint brusler les estapes (e*taies) qui soustenoyent les tailles de
mon jardin, lesquelles estant bruslees, je fus contraint brusler les
tables et plancher de la maison, afin de faire fondre la seconde
composition. J'estois en une telle angoisse que je ne sc.aurois
dire : car j'estois tout tari et deseche k cause du labeur et de la
chaleur du fourneau ; il y avoit plus d'un mois que ma chemise
n'avoit seiche sur moy, encores pour me consoler on se moquoit de
moy, et mesme ceux qui me devoient secourir alloient crier par la
ville que je faisois brusler le plancher : et par tel moyen 1'on me
faisoit perdre mon credit et m'estimoit-on estre fol. Les autres
disoient que je cherchois a faire la fausse monnoye, qui estoit un
mal qui me faisoit seicher sur les pieds ; et m'en allois par les rues
tout baisse* comme un homme honteux : . . . personne ne me
secouroit : Mais au contraire ils se mocquoyent de moy^en disant :
II luy appartient bien de mourir de faim, par ce qu'il delaisse son
mestier. Toutes ces nouvelles venoyent a mes aureilles quand je
passois par la rue." ' CEuvres Completes de Palissy. Paris,
1844' ; De 1'Art de Terre, p. 315.
CHAP, in] DISCOVERS THE ENAMEL 89
last great burst of heat had melted the enamel.
The common brown household jars, when taken
out of the furnace after it had become cool, were
found covered with a white glaze ! For this he
could endure reproach, contumely, and scorn,
and wait patiently for the opportunity of putting
his discovery into practice as better days came
round.
Palissy next hired a potter to make some earthen
vessels after designs which he furnished ; while
he himself proceeded to model some medallions
in clay for the purpose of enamelling them. But
how to maintain himself and his family until the
wares were made and ready for sale ? Fortunately
there remained one man in Saintes who still believed
in the integrity, if not in the judgment, of Palissy
an inn-keeper, who agreed to feed and lodge
him for six months, while he went on with his
manufacture. As for the working potter whom
he had hired, Palissy soon found that he could
not pay him the stipulated wages. Having already
stripped his dwelling, he could but strip himself;
and he accordingly parted with some of his clothes
to the potter, in part payment of the wages which
he owed him.
Palissy next erected an improved furnace, but
he was so unfortunate as to build part of the inside
with flints. When it was heated, these flints
cracked and burst, and the spiculae were scattered
over the pieces of pottery, sticking to them. Though
the enamel came out right, the work was irretriev-
ably spoilt, and thus six more months' labour was
lost. Persons were found willing to buy the
articles at a low price, notwithstanding the injury
they had sustained ; but Palissy would not sell
90 BERNARD PALISSY [CHAP. Ill
them, considering that to have done so would be
to " decry and abase his honour " ; and so he broke
in pieces the entire batch. " Nevertheless," says
he, " hope continued to inspire me, and I held on
manfully ; sometimes, when visitors called, I enter-
tained them with pleasantry, while I was really
sad at heart. . . . Worst of all the sufferings I had
to endure, were the mockeries and persecutions
of those of my own household, who were so un-
reasonable as to expect me to execute work without
the means of doing so. For years my furnaces were
without any covering or protection, and while at-
tending them I have been for nights at the mercy of
the wind and the rain, without help or consolation,
save it might be the wailing of cats on the one
side and the howling of dogs on the other. Some-
times the tempest would beat so furiously against
the furnaces that I was compelled to leave them
and seek shelter within doors. Drenched by rain,
and in no better plight than if I had been dragged
through mire, I have gone to lie down at midnight
or at daybreak, stumbling into the house without
a light, and reeling from one side to another as
if I had been drunken, but really weary with
watching and filled with sorrow at the loss of my
labour after such long toiling. But alas ! my home
proved no refuge ; for, drenched and besmeared
as I was, I found in my chamber a second perse-
cution worse than the first, which makes me even
now marvel that I was not utterly consumed by
my many sorrows."
At this stage of his affairs, Palissy became
melancholy and almost hopeless, and seems to have
all but broken down. He wandered gloomily
about the fields near Saintes, his clothes hanging
CHAP, in] PERFECTS THE ENAMEL 91
in tatters, and himself worn to a skeleton. In a
curious passage in his writings he describes how
that the calves of his legs had disappeared and
were no longer able with the help of garters to
hold up his stockings, which fell about his heels
when he walked.* The family continued to re-
proach him for his recklessness, and his neighbours
cried shame upon him for his obstinate folly. So
he returned for a time to his former calling ; and
after about a year's diligent labour, during which
he earned bread for his household and somewhat
recovered his character among his neighbours,
he again resumed his darling enterprise. But
though he had already spent about ten years in the
search for the enamel, it cost him nearly eight
more years of experimental plodding before he
perfected his invention. He gradually learnt dex-
terity and certainty of result by experience,
gathering practical knowledge out of many failures.
Every mishap was a fresh lesson to him, teaching
him something new about the nature of enamels,
the qualities of argillaceous earths, the tempering
of clays, and the construction and management
of furnaces.
At last, after about sixteen years' labour, Palissy
took heart and called himself Potter. These sixteen
* "Toutes ces fautes m'ont cause" un tel lasseur et tristesse
d'esprit, qu'auparavant que j'aye rendu mes emaux fusible a un
mesme degre de feu, j'ay cuide entrer jusques a la porte du
sepulchre : aussi en me travaillant a tels affaires je me suis trouve
1'espace de plus se dix ans si fort escoule en ma personne, qu'il n'y
avoit aucune forme ny apparence de bosse aux bras ny aux jambes :
ains estoyent mes dites jambes toutes d'une venue : de sorte que
les liens de quoy j'attachois mes bas de chausses estoyent, soudain
que je cheminois, sur les talons avec le residu de mes chaussees."
' CEuvres,' 319-20.
92 BERNARD PALISSY [CHAP. Ill
years had been his term of apprenticeship to the
art ; during which he had wholly to teach himself,
beginning at the very beginning. He was now
able to sell his wares and thereby maintain his
family in comfort. But he never rested satisfied
with what he had accomplished. He proceeded
from one step of improvement to another ; always
aiming at the greatest perfection possible. He
studied natural objects for patterns, and with such
success that the great Buffon spoke of him as
" so great a naturalist as Nature only can produce."
His ornamental pieces are now regarded as rare
gems in the cabinets of virtuosi, and sell at almost
fabulous prices.* The ornaments on them are
for the most part accurate models from life, of
wild animals, lizards, and plants, found in the
fields about Saintes, and tastefully combined as
ornaments into the texture of a plate or vase.
When Palissy had reached the height of his art
he styled himself " Ouvrier de Terre et Inventeur
des Rustics Figulines."
We have not, however, come to an end of the
sufferings of Palissy, respecting which a few words
remain to be said. Being a Protestant, at a time
when religious persecution waxed hot in the south
of France, and expressing his views without fear,
he was regarded as a dangerous heretic. His
enemies having informed against him, his house
at Saintes was entered by the officers of "justice,"
and his workshop was thrown open to the rabble,
who entered and smashed his pottery, while he
himself was hurried off by night and cast into a
* At the sale of Mr. Bernal's articles of vertu in London a few
years since, one of Palissy's small dishes, 12 inches in diameter,
with a lizard in the centre, sold for i62/.
CHAP, m] CONDEMNED TO BE BURNT 93
dungeon at Bordeaux, to wait his turn at the stake
or the scaffold. He was condemned to be burnt ;
but a powerful noble, the Constable de Mont-
morency, interposed to save his life not because
he had any special regard for Palissy or his
religion, but because no other artist could be
found capable of executing the enamelled pave-
ment for his magnificent chateau then in course
of erection at Ecouen, about four leagues from
Paris. By his influence an edict was issued
appointing Palissy Inventor of Rustic Figulines
to the King and to the Constable, which had
the effect of immediately removing him from the
jurisdiction of Bourdeaux. He was accordingly
liberated, and returned to his home at Saintes only
to find it devastated and broken up. His workshop
was open to the sky, and his works lay in ruins.
Shaking the dust of Saintes from his feet he left
the place never to return to it, and removed to
Paris to carry on the works ordered of him by
the Constable and the Queen Mother, being
lodged in the Tuileries* while so occupied.
Besides carrying on the manufacture of pottery,
with the aid of his two sons, Palissy, during the
latter part of his life, wrote and published several
books on the potter's art, with a view to the
instruction of his countrymen, and in order that
they might avoid the many mistakes which he
himself had made. He also wrote on agriculture,
* Within the last few months, Mr. Charles Read, a gentleman
curious in matters of Protestant antiquarianism in France, has dis-
covered one of the ovens in which Palissy baked his chefs-d'oeuvre.
Several moulds of faces, plants, animals, &c., were dug up in a
good state of preservation, bearing his well-known stamp. It is
situated under the gallery of the Louvre, in the Place du Carrousel.
94 PALISSY'S DEATH [CHAP. Ill
on fortification, and natural history, on which latter
subject he even delivered lectures to a limited
number of persons. He waged war against astro-
logy, alchemy, witchcraft, and like impostures.
This stirred up against him many enemies, who
pointed the finger at him as a heretic, and he
was again arrested for his religion and imprisoned
in the Bastille. He was now an old man of seventy-
eight, trembling on the verge of the grave, but
his spirit was as brave as ever. He was threat-
ened with death unless he recanted ; but he was
as obstinate in holding to his religion as he had
been in hunting out the secret of the enamel. The
king, Henry III., even went to see him in prison
to induce him to abjure his faith. " My good
man," said the King, "you have now served my
mother and myself for forty-five years. We have
put up with your adhering to your religion
amidst fires and massacres : now I am so pressed
by the Guise party as well as by my own people
that I am constrained to leave you in the hands ot
your enemies, and to-morrow you will be burnt
unless you become converted." "Sire," answered
the unconquerable old man, " I am ready to give
my life for the glory of God. You have said many
times that you have pity on me ; and now I have
pity on you, who have pronounced the words / am
constrained I It is not spoken like a king, sire ; it
is what you, and those who constrain you, the
Guisards and all your people, can never effect upon
me, for I know how to die." * Palissy did indeed
* D'Aubigne, 'Histoire Universelle.' The historian adds,
" Voyez Pimpudence de ce bilistre ! vous diriez qu'il auroit lu ce
vers de Seneque : ' On ne peut contraindre celui qui sait mourir :
Qfti mori srit, cogi nescit."'
CHAP, in] j. F. BOTTGHER 95
die shortly after, a martyr, though not at the stake.
He died in the Bastille, after enduring about a
year's imprisonment, there peacefully terminating
a life distinguished for heroic labour, extraordinary
endurance, inflexible rectitude, and the exhibition
of many rare and noble virtues.*
The life of John Frederick Bottgher, the in-
ventor of hard porcelain, presents a remarkable
contrast to that of Palissy ; though it also contains
many points of singular and almost romantic in-
terest. Bottgher was born at Schleiz, in the
Voightland, in 1685, and at twelve years of age was
placed apprentice with an apothecary at Berlin.
He seems to have been early fascinated by
chemistry, and occupied most of his leisure in
making experiments. These for the most part
tended in one direction the art of converting
common metals into gold. At the end of several
years, Bottgher pretended to have discovered the
universal solvent of the alchemists, and professed
that he had made gold by its means. He exhibited
its powers before his master, the apothecary ZOrn,
and by some trick or other succeeded in making
him and several other witnesses believe that he
had actually converted copper into gold.
The news spread abroad that the apothecary's
apprentice had discovered the grand secret, and
crowds collected about the shop to get a sight of
the wonderful young " gold-cook." The king him-
self expressed a wish to see and converse with him,
* The subject of Palissy's life and labours has been ably and
elaborately treated by Professor Morley in his well-known work.
In the above brief narrative we have for the most part followed
Palissy's own account of his experiments as given in his ' Art de
Terre.'
96 J. F. BOTTGHER [CHAP, in
and when Frederick I. was presented with a piece
of the gold pretended to have been converted from
copper, he was so dazzled with the prospect of
securing an infinite quantity of it Prussia being
then in great straits for money that he determined
to secure Bottgher and employ him to make gold
for him within the strong fortress of Spandau. But
the young apothecary, suspecting the king's inten-
tion, and probably fearing detection, at once re-
solved on flight, and he succeeded in getting across
the frontier into Saxony.
A reward of a thousand thalers was offered for
Bottgher's apprehension, but in vain. He arrived
at Wittenberg, and appealed for protection to the
Elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus I. (King of
Poland), surnamed " the Strong." Frederick was
himself very much in want of money at the time,
and he was overjoyed at the prospect of obtaining
gold in any quantity by the aid of the young al-
chemist. Bottgher was accordingly conveyed in
secret to Dresden, accompanied by a royal escort.
He had scarcely left Wittenberg when a battalion
of Prussian grenadiers appeared before the gates
demanding the gold-maker's extradition. But it
was too late : Bottgher had already arrived in
Dresden,where he was lodged in the Golden House,
and treated with every consideration, though strictly
watched and kept under guard.
The Elector, however, must needs leave him
there for a time, having to depart forthwith to
Poland, then almost in a state of anarchy. But,
impatient for gold, he wrote Bottgher from Warsaw,
urging him to communicate the secret, so that he
himself might practise the art of commutation. The
young " gold-cook," thus pressed, forwarded to
CHAP, in] HIS GOLDEN SECRET 97
Frederick a small phial containing " a reddish fluid,"
which, it was asserted, changed all metals, when in
a molten state, into gold. This important phial
was taken in charge by the Prince Fiirst von Fiirsten-
burg, who, accompanied by a regiment of Guards,
hurried with it to Warsaw. Arrived there, it was
determined to make immediate trial of the process.
The King and the Prince locked themselves up in
a secret chamber of the palace, girt themselves
about with leather aprons, and like true " gold-
cooks " set to work melting copper in a crucible
and afterwards applying to it the red fluid of
Bottgher. But the result was unsatisfactory ; for
notwithstanding all that they could do, the copper
obstinately remained copper. On referring to the
alchemist's instructions, however, the King found
that, to succeed with the process, it was necessary
that the fluid should be used " in great purity of
heart " ; and as his Majesty was conscious of having
spent the evening in very bad company he attri-
buted the failure of the experiment to that cause. A
second trial was followed by no better results, and
then the King became furious ; for he had confessed
and received absolution before beginning the second
experiment.
Frederick Augustus now resolved on forcing
Bottgher to disclose the golden secret, as the only
means of relief from his urgent pecuniary difficulties.
The alchemist, hearing of the royal intention, again
determined to fly. He succeeded in escaping his
guard, and, after three days' travel, arrived at Ens
in Austria, where he thought himself safe. The
agents of the Elector were, however, at his heels ;
they had tracked him to the " Golden Stag," which
they surrounded, and seizing him in his bed,
7
98 J. F. BOTTGHER [CHAP. Ill
notwithstanding his resistance and appeals to the
Austrian authorities for help, they carried him by
force to Dresden. From this time he was more
strictly watched than ever, and he was shortly after
transferred to the strong fortress of Koningstein.
It was communicated to him that the royal exchequer
was completely empty, and that ten regiments of
Poles in arrears of pay were waiting for his gold.
The King himself visited him, and told him in a
severe tone that if he did not at once proceed to
make gold, he would be hung ! (" Thu mir zurecht,
Bottgher, sonst lass ich dich hangen."}
Years passed, and still Bottgher made no gold ;
but he was not hung. It was reserved for him
to make a far more important discovery than
the conversion of copper into gold, namely, the
conversion of clay into porcelain. Some rare
specimens of this ware had been brought by the
Portuguese from China, which were sold for more
than their weight in gold. Bottgher was first
induced to turn his attention to the subject by
Walter von Tschirnhaus, a maker of optical instru-
ments, also an alchemist. Tschirnhaus was a man
of education and distinction, and was held in much
esteem by Prince Fiirstenburg as well as by the
Elector. He very sensibly said to Bottgher, still in
fear of the gallows " If you can't make gold, try
and do something else ; make porcelain."
The alchemist acted on the hint, and began his
experiments, working night and day. He prosecuted
his investigations for a long time with great assidu-
ity, but without success. At length some red clay,
brought to him for the purpose of making his
crucibles, set him on the right track. He found
that this clay, when submitted to a high temperature,
CHAP, in] MAKES RED PORCELAIN 99
became vitrified and retained its shape ; and that
its texture resembled that of porcelain, excepting in
colour and opacity. He had in fact accidentally
discovered red porcelain, and he proceeded to
manufacture it and sell it as porcelain.
Bottgher was, however, well aware that the
white colour was an essential property of true
porcelain ; and he therefore prosecuted his experi-
ments in the hope of discovering the secret. Several
years thus passed, but without success ; until again
accident stood his friend, and helped him to a know-
ledge of the art of making white porcelain. One
day, in the year 1707, he found his perruque un-
usually heavy, and asked of his valet the reason.
The answer was, that it was owing to the powder
with which the wig was dressed, which consisted of
a kind of earth then much used for hair powder.
Bottgher's quick imagination immediately seized
upon the idea. This white earthy powder might
possibly be the very earth of which he was in
search at all events the opportunity must not be
let slip of ascertaining what it really was. He was
rewarded for his painstaking care and watchful-
ness ; for he found, on experiment, that the principal
ingredient of the hair-powder consisted of kaolin,
the want of which had so long formed an insuper-
able difficulty in the way of his inquiries.
The discovery, in Bottgher's intelligent hands,
led to great results, and proved of far greater im-
portance than the discovery of the philosopher's
stone would have been. In October, 1707, he
presented his first piece of porcelain to the Elector,
who was greatly pleased with it; and it was
resolved that Bottgher should be furnished with
the means necessary for perfecting his invention.
100 J. F. BOTTGHER [CHAP. Ill
Having obtained a skilled workman from Delft, he
began to turn porcelain with great success. He now
entirely abandoned alchemy for pottery, and in-
scribed over the door of his workshop this distich :
" Es machte Gott, der grosse Schopfer,
Aus einem Goldmacher einen Tofifer." *
Bottgher, however, was still under strict sur-
veillance, for fear lest he should communicate his
secret to others or escape the Elector's control.
The new workshops and furnaces which were
erected for him, were guarded by troops night and
day, and six superior officers were made respons-
ible for the personal security of the potter.
Bottgher's further experiments with his new
furnaces proving very successful, and the porcelain
which he manufactured being found to fetch large
prices, it was next determined to establish a Royal
Manufactory of porcelain. The manufacture of
delft ware was known to have greatly enriched
Holland. Why should not the manufacture of
porcelain equally enrich the Elector ? Accordingly,
a decree went forth, dated the 23rd of January, 1710,
for the establishment of " a large manufactory of
porcelain " at the Albrechtsburg in Meissen. In this
decree, which was translated into Latin, French,
and Dutch, and distributed by the Ambassadors
of the Elector at all the European Courts, Frederick
Augustus set forth that to promote the welfare
of Saxony, which had suffered much through the
Swedish invasion, he had " directed his attention
to the subterranean treasures (imterirdischen
Schatze}" of the country, and having employed
* "Almighty God, the great Creator,
Has changed a goldmaker to a potter."
CHAP, m] MAKES WHITE PORCELAIN 101
some able persons in the investigation, they had
succeeded in manufacturing "a sort of red vessels
(eine Art rother Gefasse) far superior to the Indian
terra sigillata " ; * as also " coloured ware and
plates (buntes Geschirr und Tafelri) which may be
cut, ground, and polished, and are quite equal to
Indian vessels," and finally that " specimens of
white porcelain (Proben von weissem Porzellan) "
had already been obtained, and it was hoped that
this quality, too, would soon be manufactured in
considerable quantities. The royal decree con-
cluded by inviting " foreign artists and handicrafts-
men " to come to Saxony and engage as assistants
in the new factory, at high wages, and under the
patronage of the King. This royal edict probably
gives the best account of the actual state of
Bottgher's invention at the time.
It has been stated in German publications that
Bottgher, for the great services rendered by him
to the Elector and to Saxony, was made Manager
of the Royal Porcelain Works, and further pro-
moted to the dignity of Baron. Doubtless he
deserved these honours ; but his treatment was
of an altogether different character, for it was
shabby, cruel, and inhuman. Two royal officials,
named Matthieu and Nehmitz, were put over his
head as directors of the factory, while he himself
only held the position of foreman of potters, and
at the same time was detained the King's prisoner.
During the erection of the factory at Meissen,
while his assistance was still indispensable, he was
* The whole of the Chinese and Japanese porcelain was formerly
known as Indian porcelain probably because it was first brought
by the Portuguese from India to Europe, after the discovery of the
Cape of Good Hope by Vasco da Gama.
<02 J. F. BOTTGHER [CHAP, m
conducted by soldiers to and from Dresden; and
even after the works were finished, he was locked
up nightly in his room. All this preyed upon his
mind, and in repeated letters to the King he sought
to obtain mitigation of his fate. Some of these
letters are very touching. " I will devote my
whole soul to the art of making porcelain," he
writes on one occasion, " I will do more than any
inventor ever did before; only give me liberty,
liberty!"
To these appeals, the King turned a deaf ear.
He was ready to spend money and grant favours ;
but liberty he would not give. He regarded
Bottgher as his slave. In this position the per-
secuted man kept on working for some time, till,
at the end of a year or two, he grew negligent.
Disgusted with the world and with himself, he
took to drinking. Such is the force of example,
that it no sooner became known that Bottgher
had betaken himself to this vice, than the greater
number of the workmen at the Meissen factory
became drunkards too. Quarrels and fightings
without end were the consequence, so that the
troops were frequently called upon to interfere and
keep peace among the " Porzellanern," as they
were nicknamed. After a while, the whole of them,
more than three hundred, were shut up in the
Albrechtsburg, and treated as prisoners of state.
Bottgher at last fell seriously ill, and in May,
1713, his dissolution was hourly expected. The
King, alarmed at losing so valuable a slave, now
gave him permission to take carriage exercise
under a guard ; and, having somewhat recovered,
he was allowed occasionally to go to Dresden.
In a letter written by the King in April, 1714,
CHAP, in] HIS UNHAPPY END 103
Bottgher was promised his full liberty; but the
offer came too late. Broken in body and mind,
alternately working and drinking, though with
occasional gleams of nobler intention, and suffering
under constant ill-health, the result of his enforced
confinement, Bottgher lingered on for a few years
more, until death freed him from his sufferings
on the isth of March, 1719, in the thirty-fifth year
of his age. He was buried at night as if he had
been a dog in the Johannis Cemetery of Meissen.
Such was the treatment, and such the unhappy
end, of one of Saxony's greatest benefactors.
The porcelain manufacture immediately opened
up an important source of public revenue, and it
became so productive to the Elector of Saxony,
that his example was shortly after followed by
most European monarchs. Although soft porcelain
had been made at St. Cloud fourteen years before
B5ttgher's discovery, the superiority of the hard
porcelain soon became generally recognized. Its
manufacture was begun at Sevres in 1770, and it
has since almost entirely superseded the softer
material. This is now one of the most thriving
branches of French industry, of which the high
quality of the articles produced is certainly indis-
putable.
The career of Josiah Wedgwood, the English
potter, was less chequered and more prosperous than
that of either Palissy or Bdttgher, and his lot was
cast in happier times. Down to the middle of the
eighteenth century England was behind most other
nations of the first order in Europe in respect of
skilled industry. Although there were many
potters in Staffordshire and Wedgwood himself
belonged to a numerous clan of potters of the same
104 JOSIAH WEDGWOOD [CHAP, in
name their productions were of the rudest kind,
for the most part only plain brown ware, with the
pattern scratched in while the clay was wet. The
principal supply of the better articles of earthen-
ware came from Delft in Holland, and of drinking
stone pots from Cologne. Two foreign potters,
the brothers Elers from Nuremberg, settled for a
time in Staffordshire, and introduced an improved
manufacture, but they shortly after removed to
Chelsea, where they confined themselves to the
manufacture of ornamental pieces. No porcelain
capable of resisting a scratch with a hard point
had yet been made in England ; and for a long
time the " white ware " made in Staffordshire was
not white, but of a dirty cream colour. Such, in
a few words, was the condition of the pottery
manufacture when Josiah Wedgwood was born at
Burslem in 1730. By the time that he died, sixty-
four years later, it had become completely changed.
By his energy, skill, and genius, he established the
trade upon a new and solid foundation ; and, in
the words of his epitaph, " converted a rude and
inconsiderable manufacture into an elegant art and
an important branch of national commerce."
Josiah Wedgwood was one of those indefatigable
men who from time to time spring from the ranks
of the common people, and by their energetic
character not only practically educate the working
population in habits of industry, but by the ex-
ample of diligence and perseverance which they
set before them, largely influence the public activity
in all directions, and contribute in a great degree
to form the national character. He was, like Ark-
wright, the youngest of a family of thirteen children.
His grandfather and granduncle were both potters,
CHAP, in] LEARNS POTTERY TRADE 105
as was also his father, who died when he was a
mere boy, leaving him a patrimony of twenty
pounds. He had learned to read and write at the
village school; but on the death of his father he
was taken from it and set to work as a " thrower "
in a small pottery carried on by his elder brother.
There he began life, his working life, to use his
own words, "at the lowest round of the ladder,"
when only eleven years old. He was shortly after
seized by an attack of virulent smallpox, from the
effects of which he suffered during the rest of his
life, for it was followed by a disease in the right
knee, which recurred at frequent intervals, and
was only got rid of by the amputation of the
limb many years later. Mr. Gladstone, in his
eloquent Eloge on Wedgwood recently delivered
at Burslem, well observed that the disease from
which he suffered was not improbably the occasion
of his subsequent excellence. " It prevented him
from growing up to be the active, vigorous English
workman, possessed of all his limbs, and knowing
right well the use of them ; but it put him upon
considering whether, as he could not be that, he
might not be something else, and something
greater. It sent his mind inwards ; it drove him to
meditate upon the laws and secrets of his art. The
result was, that he arrived at a perception and a
grasp of them which might, perhaps, have been
envied, certainly have been owned, by an Athenian
potter. " *
When he had completed his apprenticeship with
his brother, Josiah joined partnership with another
workman, and carried on a small business in
* ' Wedgwood : an Address delivered at Burslem, Oct. 26th.
1863.' By the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.
io6 JOSIAH WEDGWOOD [CHAP, in
making knife-hafts, boxes, and sundry articles for
domestic use. Another partnership followed, when
he proceeded to make melon table plates, green
pickle leaves, candlesticks, snuff boxes, and such
like articles ; but he made ' comparatively little
progress until he began business on his own
account at Burslem in the year 1759. There he dili-
gently pursued his calling, introducing new articles
to the trade, and gradually extending his business.
What he chiefly aimed at was to manufacture
cream-coloured ware of a better quality than was
then produced in Staffordshire as regarded shape,
colour, glaze, and durability. To understand the
subject thoroughly, he devoted his leisure to the
study of chemistry ; and he made numerous ex-
periments on fluxes, glazes, and various sorts of
clay. Being a close inquirer and accurate observer,
he noticed that a certain earth containing silica,
which was black before calcination, became white
after exposure to the heat of a furnace. This fact,
observed and pondered on, led to the idea of
mixing silica with the red powder of the potteries,
and to the discovery that the mixture becomes
white when calcined. He had but to cover this
material with a vitrification of transparent glaze, to
obtain one of the most important products of fictile
art that which, under the name of English
earthenware, was to attain the greatest commercial
value and become of the most extensive utility.
Wedgwood was for some time much troubled
by his furnaces, though nothing like to the same
extent that Palissy was ; and he overcame his
difficulties in the same way by repeated ex-
periments and unfaltering perseverance. His first
attempts at making porcelain for table use was a
CHAP, in] THE BARBERINI VASE 107
succession of disastrous failures, the labours of
months being often destroyed in a day. It was
only after a long series of trials, in the course of
which he lost time, money, and labour, that he
arrived at the proper sort of glaze to be used ; but
he would not be denied, and at last he conquered
success through patience. The improvement of
pottery became his passion, and was never lost
sight of for a moment. Even when he had mastered
his difficulties, and become a prosperous man,
manufacturing white stone ware and cream-coloured
ware in large quantities,for home and foreign use,
he went forward perfecting his manufactures, until,
his example extending in all directions, the action
of the entire district was stimulated, and a great
branch of British industry was eventually estab-
lished on firm foundations. He aimed throughout
at the highest excellence, declaring his determina-
tion " to give over manufacturing any article, what-
soever it might be, rather than to degrade it."
Wedgwood was cordially helped by many
persons of rank and influence ; for, working in the
truest spirit, he readily commanded the help and
encouragement of other true workers. He made
for Queen Charlotte the first royal table-service of
English manufacture, of the kind afterwards called
" Queen's-ware," and was appointed Royal Potter ;
a title which he prized more than if he had been
made a baron. Valuable sets of porcelain were
entrusted to him for imitation, in which he suc-
ceeded to admiration. Sir William Hamilton lent
him specimens of ancient art from Herculaneum, of
which he produced accurate and beautiful copies.
The Duchess of Portland outbid him for the Bar-
berini Vase when that article was offered for sale.
io8 JOSIAH WEDGWOOD [CHAP, in
He bid as high as seventeen hundred guineas for
it : her grace secured it for eighteen hundred ; but
when she learnt Wedgwood's object she at once
generously lent him the vase to copy. He pro-
duced fifty copies at a cost of about 25oo/., and his
expenses were not covered by their sale ; but he
gained his object, which was to show that whatever
had been done, that English skill and energy could
and would accomplish.
Wedgwood called to his aid the crucible of the
chemist, the knowledge of the antiquary, and the
skill of the artist. He found out Flaxman when a
youth, and while he liberally nurtured his genius
drew from him a large number of beautiful designs
for his pottery and porcelain ; converting them by
his manufacture into objects of taste and excellence,
and thus making them instrumental in the diffusion
of classical art amongst the people. By careful
experiment and study he was even enabled to
rediscover the art of painting on porcelain or
earthenware vases and similar articles an art
practised by the ancient Etruscans, but which had
been lost since the time of Pliny. He distinguished
himself by his own contributions to science, and his
name is still identified with the Pyrometer which
he invented. He was an indefatigable supporter
of all measures of public utility ; and the con-
struction of the Trent and Mersey Canal, which
completed the navigable communication between
the eastern and western sides of the island, was
mainly due to his public-spirited exertions, allied
to the engineering skill of Brindley. The road
accommodation of the district being of an execrable
character, he planned and executed a turnpike-road
through the Potteries, ten miles in length. The
JOHN FLAXMAN, R.A.
By Henry Howard, R.A.
[To face p. 108
CHAP, m] POTTERY MANUFACTURE 109
reputation he achieved was such that his works at
Burslem, and subsequently those at Etruria, which
he founded and built, became a point of attraction
to distinguished visitors from all parts of Europe.
The result of Wedgwood's labours was, that the
manufacture of pottery, which he found in the very
lowest condition, became one of the staples of
England ; and instead of importing what we needed
for home use from abroad, we became large ex-
porters to other countries, supplying them with
earthenware even in the face of enormous pro-
hibitory duties on articles of British produce.
Wedgwood gave evidence as to his manufactures
before Parliament in 1785, only some thirty years
after he had begun his operations ; from which it
appeared, that instead of providing only casual
employment to a small number of inefficient and
badly remunerated workmen, about 20,000 persons
then derived their bread directly from the manu-
facture of earthenware, without taking into account
the increased numbers to which it gave employ-
ment in coal-mines, and in the carrying trade by
land and sea, and the stimulus which it gave to
employment in many ways in various parts of the
country. Yet, important as had been the advances
made in his time, Mr. Wedgwood was of opinion
that the manufacture was but in its infancy, and
that the improvements which he had effected were
of but small account compared with those to
which the art was capable of attaining, through the
continued industry and growing intelligence of
the manufacturers, and the natural facilities and
political advantages enjoyed by Great Britain; an
opinion which has been fully borne out by the
progress which has since been affected in this
no JOSIAH WEDGWOOD [CHAP, in
important branch of industry. In 1852 not fewer
than 84,000,000 pieces of pottery were exported
from England to other countries, besides what
were made for home use. But it is not merely the
quantity and value of the produce that is entitled
to consideration, but the improvement of the con-
dition of the population by whom this great branch
of industry is conducted. When Wedgwood began
his labours, the Staffordshire district was only in
a half-civilized state. The people were poor, un-
cultivated, and few in number. When Wedgwood's
manufacture was firmly established, there was
found ample employment at good wages for three
times the number of population ; while their moral
advancement had kept pace with their material
improvement.
Men such as these are fairly entitled to take
rank as the Industrial Heroes of the civilized world.
Their patient self-reliance amidst trials and diffi-
culties, their courage and perseverance in the
pursuit of worthy objects, are not less heroic of
their kind than the bravery and devotion of the
soldier and the sailor, whose duty and pride it is
heroically to defend what these valiant leaders of
industry have so heroically achieved.
CHAPTER IV
APPLICATION AND PERSEVERANCE
" Rich are the diligent, who can command
Time, nature's stock ! and could his hour-glass fall,
Would, as for seed of stars, stoop for the sand,
And, by incessant labour, gather all." D 'Avenant.
" Allez en avant, et la foi vous viendra. " D'AUmberi.
THE greatest results in life are usually attained
by simple means, and the exercise of ordi-
nary qualities. The common life of every
day, with its cares, necessities, and duties, affords
ample opportunity for acquiring experience of the
best kind ; and its most beaten paths provide
the true worker with abundant scope for effort
and room for self-improvement. The road of
human welfare lies along the old highway of
steadfast well-doing; and they who are the most
persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will usually
be the most successful.
Fortune has often been blamed for her blind-
ness ; but fortune is not so blind as men are.
Those who look into practical life will find that
fortune is usually on the side of the industrious,
as the winds and waves are on the side of the
best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest
branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities
112 SIR ISAAC NEWTON [CHAP, iv
are found the most useful such as common sense,
attention, application, and perseverance. Genius
may not be necessary, though even genius of the
highest sort does not disdain the use of these
ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have
been among the least believers in the power of
genius, and as worldly wise and persevering as
successful men of the commoner sort. Some have
even defined genius to be only common sense
intensified. A distinguished teacher and president
of a college spoke of it as the power of making-
efforts. John Foster held it to be the power of
lighting one's own fire. Buffon said of genius " it
is patience."
Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the
very highest order, and yet, when asked by what
means he had worked out his extraordinary dis-
coveries, he modestly answered, " By always
thinking unto them." At another time he thus
expressed his method of study : " I keep the sub-
ject continually before me, and wait till the first
dawnings open slowly by little and little into a
full and clear light." It was in Newton's case, as
in every other, only by diligent application and
perseverance that his great reputation was achieved.
Even his recreation consisted in change of study,
laying down one subject to take up another. To
Dr. Bentley he said : " If 1 have done the public
any service, it is due to nothing but industry
and patient thought." So Kepler, another great
philosopher, speaking of his studies and his pro-
gress, said : " As in Virgil, ' Fama mobilitate viget,
vires acquirit eundo,' so it was with me, that the
diligent thought on these things was the occasion
of still further thinking; until at last I brooded
CHAP, iv] INDUSTRY AND PERSEVERANCE 113
with the whole energy of my mind upon the
subject.
The extraordinary results effected by dint of
sheer industry and perseverance, have led many dis-
tinguished men to doubt whether the gift of genius
be so exceptional an endowment as it is usually
supposed to be. Thus Voltaire held that it is only
a very slight line of separation that divides the
man of genius from the man of ordinary mould.
Beccaria was even of opinion that all men might
be poets and orators, and Reynolds that they might
be painters and sculptors. If this were really so,
that stolid Englishman might not have been so
very far wrong after all, who, on Canova's death,
inquired of his brother whether it was " his intention
to carry on the business " ! Locke, Helvetius, and
Diderot believed that all men have an equal aptitude
for genius, and that what some are able to effect,
under the laws which regulate the operations of
the intellect, must also be within the reach of others
who, under like circumstances, apply themselves
to like pursuits. But while admitting to the fullest
extent the wonderful achievements of labour, and
recognizing the fact that men of the most distin-
guished genius have invariably been found the
most indefatigable workers, it must nevertheless
be sufficiently obvious that, without the original
endowment of heart and brain, no amount of labour,
however well applied, could have produced a
Shakespeare, a Newton, a Beethoven, or a Michael
Angelo.
Dalton, the chemist, repudiated the notion of
his being " a genius," attributing everything which
he had accomplished to simple industry and
accumulation. John Hunter said of himself, " My
8
H4 DISRAELI THE ELDER [CHAP, iv
mind is like a beehive ; but full as it is of buzz
and apparent confusion, it is yet full of order and
regularity, and food collected with incessant industry
from the choicest stores of nature." We have,
indeed, but to glance at the biographies of great
men to find that the most distinguished inventors,
artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, owe
their success, in a great measure, to their inde-
fatigable industry and application. They were men
who turned all things to gold even time itself.
Disraeli the elder held that the secret of success
consisted in being master of your subject, such
mastery being attainable only through continuous
application and study. Hence it happens that the
men who have most moved the world, have not
been so much men of genius, strictly so called,
as men of intense mediocre abilities, and untiring
perseverance ; not so often the gifted, of naturally
bright and shining qualities, as those who have
applied themselves diligently to their work, in
whatsoever line that might lie. "Alas!" said a
widow, speaking of her brilliant but careless son,
" he has not the gift of continuance." Wanting in
perseverance, such volatile natures are outstripped
in the race of life by the diligent and even the dull.
" Che va piano, va longano, e va lontano," says the
Italian proverb : " Who goes slowly, goes long, and
goes far."
Hence, a great point to be aimed at is to get
the working quality well trained. When that is
done, the race will be found comparatively easy.
We must repeat and again repeat ; facility will
come with labour. Not even the simplest art can
be accomplished without it ; and what difficulties it
is found capable of achieving! It was by early
CHAP, iv] ANECDOTE OF SIR R. PEEL 115
discipline and repetition that the late Sir Robert
Peel cultivated those remarkable, though still
mediocre powers, which rendered him so illus-
trious an ornament of the British Senate. When a
boy at Drayton Manor, his father was accustomed
to set him up at table to practise speaking ex-
tempore ; and he early accustomed him to repeat
as much of the Sunday's sermon as he could
remember. Little progress was made at first, but
by steady perseverance the habit of attention
became powerful, and the sermon was at length
repeated almost verbatim. When afterwards re-
plying in succession to the arguments of his
parliamentary opponents an art in which he was
perhaps unrivalled it was little surmised that the
extraordinary power of accurate remembrance
which he displayed on such occasions had been
originally trained under the discipline of his father
in the parish church of Drayton.
It is indeed marvellous what continuous appli-
cation will effect in the commonest of things. It
may seem a simple affair to play upon a violin ; yet
what a long and laborious practice it requires !
Giardini said to a youth who asked him how long
it would take to learn it, " Twelve hours a day for
twenty years together." Industry, it is said, fait
lours danser. The poor figurante must devote years
of incessant toil to her profitless task before she
can shine in it. When Taglioni was preparing
herself for her evening exhibition, she would, after
a severe two hours' lesson from her father, fall
down exhausted, and had to be undressed, sponged,
and resuscitated, totally unconscious. The agility
and bounds of the evening were insured only at a
price like this.
n6 CHEERFULNESS [CHAP, iv
Progress, however, of the best kind, is com-
paratively slow. Great results cannot be achieved
at once ; and we must be satisfied to advance in life
as we walk, step by step. De Maistre says that
" to know how to wait is the great secret of success."
We must sow before we can reap, and often have
to wait long, content meanwhile to look patiently
forward in hope ; the fruit best worth waiting for
often ripening the slowest. But " time and patience,"
says the Eastern proverb, "change the mulberry
leaf to satin."
To wait patiently, however, men must work
cheerfully. Cheerfulness is an excellent working
quality, imparting great elasticity to the character.
As a bishop has said, "Temper is nine-tenths of
Christianity ; " so are cheerfulness and diligence
nine-tenths of practical wisdom. They are the life
and soul of success, as well as of happiness ;
perhaps the very highest pleasure in life consisting
in clear, brisk, conscious working ; energy, con-
fidence, and every other good quality mainly
depending upon it. Sydney Smith, when labouring
as a parish priest at Foston-le-Clay, in Yorkshire,
though he did not feel himself to be in his proper
element, went cheerfully to work in the firm
determination to do his best. " I am resolved," he
said, " to like it, and reconcile myself to it, which is
more manly than to feign myself above it, and to
send up complaints by the post of being thrown
away, and being desolate, and such like trash." So
Dr. Hook, when leaving Leeds for a new sphere
of labour, said, "Wherever I may be, I shall, by
God's blessing, do with my might what my hand
findeth to do; and if I do not find work, I shall
make it."
CHAP, iv] HOPE WILLIAM CAREY 117
Labourers for the public good especially, have to
work long and patiently, often uncheered by the
prospect of immediate recompense or result. The
seeds they sow sometimes lie hidden under the
winter's snow, and before the spring comes the hus-
bandman may have gone to his rest. It is not every
public worker who, like Rowland Hill, sees his great
idea bring forth fruit in his life-time. Adam Smith
sowed the seeds of a great social amelioration in
that dingy old University of Glasgow where he
so long laboured, and laid the foundations of his
' Wealth of Nations ' ; but seventy years passed
before his work bore substantial fruits, nor indeed
are they all gathered in yet.
Nothing can compensate for the loss of hope in
a man : it entirely changes the character. " How
can I work how can I be happy," said a great but
miserable thinker, "when I have lost all hope?"
One of the most cheerful and courageous, because
one of the most hopeful of workers, was Carey, the
missionary. When in India, it was no uncommon
thing for him to weary out three pundits, who
officiated as his clerks, in one day, he himself taking
rest only in change of employment. Carey, the son
of a shoemaker, was supported in his labours by
Ward, the son of a carpenter, and Marsham, the son
of a weaver. By their labours, a magnificent college
was erected at Serampore ; sixteen flourishing
stations were established ; the Bible was translated
into sixteen languages, and the seeds were sown
of a beneficent moral revolution in British India.
Carey was never ashamed of the humbleness of his
origin. On one occasion, when at the Governor-
General's table he overheard an officer opposite
him asking another, loud enough to be heard,
ii8 DR. YOUNG [CHAP, iv
whether Carey had not once been a shoemaker:
" No, sir," exclaimed Carey immediately ; " only a
cobbler." An eminently characteristic anecdote has
been told of his perseverance as a boy. When
climbing a tree one day, his foot slipped, and he fell
to the ground, breaking his leg by the fall. He was
confined to his bed for weeks, but when he re-
covered and was able to walk without support, the
very first thing he did was to go and climb that
tree. Carey had need of this sort of dauntless
courage for the great missionary work of his life,
and nobly and resolutely he did it.
It was a maxim of Dr. Young, the philosopher,
that " Any man can do what any other man has
done"; and it is unquestionable that he himself
never recoiled from any trials to which he deter-
mined to subject himself. It is related of him, that
the first time he mounted a horse, he was in
company with the grandson of Mr. Barclay of Ury,
the well-known sportsman ; when the horseman
who preceded them leapt a high fence. Young
wished to imitate him, but fell off his horse in the
attempt. Without saying a word, he remounted,
made a second effort, and was again unsuccessful,
but this time he was not thrown further than on to
the horse's neck, to which he clung. At the third
trial, he succeeded, and cleared the fence.
The story of Timour the Tartar learning a
lesson of perseverance under adversity from the
spider is well known. Not less interesting is the
anecdote of Audubon, the American ornithologist,
as related by himself: "An accident," he says,
"which happened to two hundred of my original
drawings, nearly put a stop to my researches in
ornithology. I shall relate it, merely to show how
CHAP, iv] AUDUBON 119
far enthusiasm for by no other name can I call my
perseverance may enable the preserver of nature
to surmount the most disheartening difficulties. I
left the village of Henderson, in Kentucky, situated
on the banks of the Ohio, where I resided for
several years, to proceed to Philadelphia on busi-
ness. I looked to my drawings before my de-
parture, placed them carefully in a wooden box,
and gave them in charge of a relative, with in-
junctions to see that no injury should happen to
them. My absence was of several months ; and
when I returned, after having enjoyed the pleasures
of home for a few days, I inquired after my box,
and what I was pleased to call my treasure. The
box was produced and opened ; but reader, feel for
me a pair of Norway rats had taken possession of
the whole, and reared a young family among the
gnawed bits of paper, which, but a month previous,
represented nearly a thousand inhabitants of air !
The burning heat which instantly rushed through
my brain was too great to be endured without
affecting my whole nervous system. I slept for
several nights, and the days passed like days of
oblivion until the animal powers being recalled
into action through the strength of my constitution,
I took up my gun, my notebook, and my pencils,
and went forth to the woods as gaily as if nothing
had happened. I felt pleased that I might now
make better drawings than before ; and, ere a
period not exceeding three years had elapsed, my
portfolio was again filled."
The accidental destruction of Sir Isaac Newton's
papers, by his little dog ' Diamond ' upsetting a
lighted taper upon his desk, by which the elaborate
calculations of many years were in a moment
120 CARLYLE STEPHENSON [CHAP, iv
destroyed, is a well-known anecdote, and need not
be repeated : it is said that the loss caused the
philosopher such profound grief that it seriously
injured his health, and impaired his understanding.
An accident of a somewhat similar kind happened
to the MS. of Mr. Carlyle's first volume of his
1 French Revolution.' He had lent the MS. to a
literary neighbour to peruse. By some mischance,
it had been left lying on the parlour floor, and
become forgotten. Weeks ran on, and the historian
sent for his work, the printers being loud for
" copy." Inquiries were made, and it was found
that the maid-of-all-work, finding what she con-
ceived to be a bundle of waste paper on the floor,
had used it to light the kitchen and parlour fires
with ! Such was the answer returned to Mr.
Carlyle ; and his feelings may be imagined. There
was, however, no help for him but to set resolutely
to work to re-write the book ; and he turned to
and did it. He had no draft, and was compelled
to rake up from his memory facts, ideas, and
expressions, which had been long since dismissed.
The composition of the book in the first instance
had been a work of 'pleasure; the re-writing of it
a second time was one of pain and anguish almost
beyond belief. That he persevered and finished
the volume under such circumstances, affords an
instance of determination of purpose which has
seldom been surpassed.
The lives of eminent inventors are eminently
illustrative ot the same quality of perseverance.
George Stephenson, when addressing young men,
was accustomed to sum up his best advice to them
in the words, " Do as I have done persevere."
He had worked at the improvement of his loco-
CHAP, iv] WATT RAWLINSON 121
motive for some fifteen years before achieving his
decisive victory at Rainhill ; and Watt was engaged
for some thirty years upon the condensing-engine
before he brought it to perfection. But there are
equally striking illustrations of perseverance to be
found in every other branch of science, art, and
industry. Perhaps one of the most interesting is
that connected with the disentombment of the
Nineveh marbles, and the discovery of the long-lost
cuneiform or arrow-headed character in which the
inscriptions on them are written a kind of writing
which had been lost to the world since the period of
the Macedonian conquest of Persia.
An intelligent cadet of the East India Company,
stationed at Kermanshah, in Persia, had observed
the curious cuneiform inscriptions on the old
monuments in the neighbourhood so old that all
historical traces of them had been lost, and
amongst the inscriptions which he copied was that
on the celebrated rock of Behistun a perpendicu-
lar rock rising abruptly some 1700 feet from the
plain, the lower part bearing inscriptions for the
space of about 300 feet in three languages
Persian, Scythian, and Assyrian. Comparison of the
known with the unknown, of the language which
survived with the language that had been lost,
enabled this cadet to acquire some knowledge of
the cuneiform character, and even to form an alpha-
bet. Mr. (afterwards Sir Henry) Rawlinson sent
his tracings home for examination. No professors
in colleges as yet knew anything of the cuneiform
character; but there was a ci-devant clerk of the
East India House a modest unknown man of the
name of Norris who had made this little-understood
subject his study, to whom the tracings were
122 AUSTEN LAYARD [CHAP, iv
submitted ; and so accurate was his knowledge,
that, though he had never seen the Behistun rock,
he pronounced that the cadet had not copied the
puzzling inscription with proper exactness. Raw-
linson, who was still in the neighbourhood of
the rock, compared his copy with the original, and
found that Norris was right ; and by further com-
parison and careful study the knowledge of the
cuneiform writing was thus greatly advanced.
But to make the learning of these two self-
taught men of avail, a third labourer was necessary
in order to supply them with material for the exer-
cise of their skill. Such a labourer presented him-
self in the person of Austen Layard, originally an
articled clerk in the office of a London solicitor.
One would scarcely have expected to find in these
three men, a cadet, an India House clerk, and a
lawyer's clerk, the discoverers of a forgotten
language, and of the buried history of Babylon ;
yet it was so. Layard was a youth of only twenty-
two, travelling in the East, when he was possessed
with a desire to penetrate the regions beyond the
Euphrates. Accompanied by a single companion,
trusting to his arms for protection, and, what was
better, to his cheerfulness, politeness, and chivalrous
bearing, he passed safely amidst tribes at deadly
war with each other ; and, after the lapse of many
years, with comparatively slender means at his
command, but aided by application and persever-
ance, resolute will and purpose, and almost sublime
patience borne up throughout by his passionate
enthusiasm for discovery and research he suc-
ceeded in laying bare and digging up an amount
of historical treasures, the like of which has
probably never before been collected by the in-
CHAP, iv] BUFFON IS PATIENCE 123
dustry of any one man. Not less than two miles
of bas-reliefs were thus brought to light by
Mr. Layard. The selection of these valuable anti-
quities, now placed in the British Museum, was
found so curiously corroborative of the scriptural
records of events which occurred some three
thousand years ago, that they burst upon the world
almost like a new revelation. And the story of the
disentombment of these remarkable works, as told
by Mr. Layard himself in his ' Monuments of
Nineveh/ will always be regarded as one of the
most charming and unaffected records which we
possess of individual enterprise, industry, and
energy.
The career of the Comte de Buffon presents
another remarkable illustration of the power of
patient industry, as well as of his own saying,
that " Genius is patience." Notwithstanding the
great results achieved by him in natural history,
Buffon, when a youth, was regarded as of mediocre
talents. His mind was slow in forming itself, and
slow in reproducing what it had acquired. He was
also constitutionally indolent ; and being born to
good estate, it might be supposed that he would
indulge his liking for ease and luxury. Instead of
which, he early formed the resolution of denying
himself pleasure, and devoting himself to study
and self-culture. Regarding time as a treasure that
was limited, and finding that he was losing many
hours by lying a-bed in the morning, he determined
to break himself of the habit. He struggled hard
against it for some time, but failed in being able
to rise at the hour he had fixed. He then called
his servant, Joseph, to his help, and promised him
the reward of a crown every time that he succeeded
124 BUFFON [CHAP, iv
in getting him up before six. At first, when called,
Buffon declined to rise pleaded that he was ill,
or pretended anger at being disturbed ; and on the
Count at length getting up, Joseph found that he
had earned nothing but reproaches for having
permitted his master to lie a-bed contrary to his
express orders. At length the valet determined
to earn his crown ; and again and again he forced
Buffon to rise, notwithstanding his entreaties, ex-
postulations, and threats of immediate discharge from
his service. One morning Buffon was unusually
obstinate, and Joseph found it necessary to resort
to the extreme measure of dashing a basin of ice-
cold water under the bed-clothes, the effect of which
was instantaneous. By the persistent use of such
means, Buffon at length conquered his habit ; and
he was accustomed to say that he owed to Joseph
three or four volumes of his Natural History.
For forty years of his life, Buffon worked every
morning at his desk from nine till two, and again
in the evening from five till nine. His diligence
was so continuous and so regular that it became
habitual. His biographer has said of him, " Work
was his necessity ; his studies were the charm of
his life ; and towards the last term of his glorious
career he frequently said that he still hoped to
be able to consecrate to them a few more years."
He was a most conscientious worker, always study-
ing to give the reader his best thoughts, expressed
in the very best manner. He was never wearied
with touching and retouching his compositions, so
that his style may be pronounced almost perfect.
He wrote the ' Epoques de la Nature ' not fewer
than eleven times before he was satisfied with it ;
although he had thought over the work about fifty
CHAP, iv] A CONSCIENTIOUS WORKER 125
years. He was a thorough man of business, most
orderly in everything; and he was accustomed to
say that genius without order lost three-fourths of
its power. His great success as a writer was the
result mainly of his painstaking labour and diligent
application. " Buffon," observed Madame Necker,
" strongly persuaded that genius is the result of a
profound attention directed to a particular subject,
said that he was thoroughly wearied out when
composing his first writings, but compelled himself
to return to them and go over them carefully again,
even when he thought he had already brought
them to a certain degree of perfection ; and that at
length he found pleasure instead of weariness in
this long and elaborate correction." It ought also
to be added that Buffon wrote and published all
his great works while afflicted by one of the most
painful diseases to which the human frame is subject.
Literary life affords abundant illustrations of the
same power of perseverance ; and perhaps no career
is more instructive, viewed in this light, than that
of Sir Walter Scott. His admirable working
qualities were trained in a lawyer's office, where
he pursued for many years a sort of drudgery
scarcely above that of a copying clerk. His daily
dull routine made his evenings, which were his
own, all the more sweet ; and he generally devoted
them to reading and study. He himself attributed
to his prosaic office discipline that habit of steady,
sober diligence, in which mere literary men are so
often found wanting. As a copying clerk he was
allowed ^d. for every page containing a certain
number of words ; and he sometimes, by extra
work, was able to copy as many as 120 pages in
twenty-four hours, thus earning some 305. ; out
126 SIR WALTER SCOTT [CHAP. IV
of which he would occasionally purchase an odd
volume, otherwise beyond his means.
During his after-life Scott was wont to pride
himself upon being a man of business, and he
averred, in contradiction to what he called the cant
of sonneteers, that there was no necessary con-
nexion between genius and an aversion or contempt
for the common duties of life. On the contrary, he
was of opinion that to spend some fair portion of
every day in any matter-of-fact occupation was
good for the higher faculties themselves in the up-
shot. While afterwards acting as clerk to the
Court of Session in Edinburgh, he performed his
literary work chiefly before breakfast, attending
the court during the day, where he authenticated
registered deeds and writings of various kinds.
On the whole, says Lockhart, " it forms one of
the most remarkable features in his history, that
throughout the most active period of his literary
career, he must have devoted a large proportion
of his hours, during half at least of every year, to
the conscientious discharge of professional duties."
It was a principle of action which he laid down
for himself, that he must earn his living by busi-
ness, and not by literature. On one occasion he
said, " I determined that literature should be my
staff, not my crutch, and that the profits of my
literary labour, however convenient otherwise,
should not, if I could help it, become necessary
to my ordinary expenses."
His punctuality was one ot the most carefully
cultivated of his habits, otherwise it had not been
possible for him to get through so enormous an
amount of literary labour. He made it a rule to
answer every letter received by him on the same
CHAP, iv] HIS DILIGENCE AND INDUSTRY 127
day, except where inquiry and deliberation were
requisite. Nothing else could have enabled him
to keep abreast with the flood of communications
that poured in upon him and sometimes put his
good nature to the severest test. It was his practice
to rise by five o'clock, and light his own fire. He
shaved and dressed with deliberation, and was seated
at his desk by six o'clock, with his papers arranged
before him in the most accurate order, his works
of reference marshalled round him on the floor,
while at least one favourite dog lay watching his
eye, outside the line of books. Thus by the time
the family assembled for breakfast, between nine
and ten, he had done enough to use his own words
to break the neck of the day's work. But with
all his diligent and indefatigable industry, and his
immense knowledge, the result of many years' patient
labour, Scott always spoke with the greatest diffi-
dence of his own powers. On one occasion he
said, " Throughout every part of my career I have
felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance."
Such is true wisdom and humility ; for the more
a man really knows, the less conceited he will be.
The student at Trinity College who went up to
his professor to take leave of him because he had
"finished his education," was wisely rebuked by
the professor's reply, " Indeed ! I am only beginning
mine." The superficial person who has obtained
a smattering of many things, but knows nothing
well, may pride himself upon his gifts ; but the
sage humbly confesses that " all he knows is, that
he knows nothing," or like Newton, that he has
been only engaged in picking shells by the sea
shore, while the great ocean of truth lies all unex-
plored before him.
128 JOHN BRITTON [CHAP, iv
The lives of second-rate literary men furnish
equally remarkable illustrations of the powers of
perseverance. The late John Britton, author of
' The Beauties of England and Wales,' and of many
valuable architectural works, was born in a miser-
able cot in Kingston, Wiltshire. His father had
been a baker and maltster, but was ruined in trade
and became insane while Britton was yet a child.
The boy received very little schooling, but a great
deal of bad example, which happily did not corrupt
him. He was early in life set to labour with an
uncle, a tavern-keeper in Clerkenwell, under whom
he bottled, corked, and binned wine for more than
five years. His health failing him, his uncle turned
him adrift in the world, with only two guineas,
the fruits of his five years' service, in his pocket.
During the next seven years of his life he endured
many vicissitudes and hardships. Yet he says,
in his autobiography, " in my poor and obscure
lodgings, at eighteenpence a week, I indulged in
study, and often read in bed during the winter
evenings, because I could not afford a fire." Travel-
ling on foot to Bath, he there obtained an engage-
ment as a cellarman, but shortly after we find him
back in the metropolis again almost penniless,
shoeless, and shirtless. He succeeded, however,
in obtaining employment as a cellarman at the
London Tavern, where it was his duty to be in
the cellar from seven in the morning until eleven
at night. His health broke down under this con-
finement in the dark, added to the heavy work;
and he then engaged himself, at fifteen shillings
a week, to an attorney, for he had been diligently
cultivating the art of writing during the few spare
minutes that he could call his own. While in this
CHAP, iv] LOUDON 129
employment, he devoted his leisure principally
to perambulating the book-stalls, where he read
books by snatches which he could not buy, and thus
picked up a good deal of odd knowledge. Then
he shifted to another office, at the advanced wages
of twenty shillings a week, still reading and study-
ing. At twenty-eight he was able to write a book,
which he published under the title of 'The Enter-
prising Adventures of Pizarro' ; and from that time
until his death, during a period of about fifty-five
years, Britton was occupied in laborious literary
occupation. The number of his published works
is not fewer than eighty-seven ; the most important
being ' The Cathedral Antiquities of England/ in
fourteen volumes, a truly magnificent work; itself
the best monument of John Britton's indefatigable
industry.
Loudon, the landscape gardener, was a man of
somewhat similar character, possessed of an extra-
ordinary working power. The son of a farmer
near Edinburgh, he was early inured to work. His
skill in drawing plans and making sketches of
scenery induced his father to train him for a land-
scape gardener. During his apprenticeship he sat
up two whole nights every week to study ; yet he
worked harder during the day than any labourer.
In the course of his night studies he learnt French,
and before he was eighteen he translated a life of
Abelard for an Encyclopaedia. He was so eager to
make progress in life, that when only twenty, while
working as a gardener in England, he wrote down
in his note-book, " I am now twenty years of age,
and perhaps a third part of my life has passed
away, and yet what have I done to benefit my
fellow men ? " an unusual reflection for a youth of
9
SAMUEL DREW [CHAP, iv
only twenty. From French he proceeded to learn
German, and rapidly mastered that language.
Having taken a large farm, for the purpose of
introducing Scotch improvements in the art of
agriculture, he shortly succeeded in realizing a
considerable income. The continent being thrown
open at the end of the war, he travelled abroad for
the purpose of inquiring into the system of garden-
ing and agriculture in other countries. He twice
repeated his journeys, and the results were pub-
lished in his Encyclopaedias, which are among the
most remarkable works of their kind, distinguished
for the immense mass of useful matter which they
contain, collected by an amount of industry and
labour which has rarely been equalled.
The career of Samuel Drew is not less remark-
able than any of those which we have cited. His
father was a hard-working labourer of the parish
of St. Austell, in Cornwall. Though poor, he con-
trived to send his two sons to a penny-a-week
school in the neighbourhood. Jabez, the elder,
took delight in learning, and made great progress
in his lessons; but Samuel, the younger, was a
dunce, notoriously given to mischief and playing
truant. When about eight years old he was put
to manual labour, earning three-halfpence a day
as a buddle-boy at a tin mine. At ten he was
apprenticed to a shoemaker, and while in this
employment he endured much hardship, living,
as he used to say, "like a toad under a harrow."
He often thought of running away and becoming
a pirate, or something of the sort, and he seems
to have grown in recklessness as he grew in years.
In robbing orchards he was usually a leader ; and,
as he grew older, he delighted to take part in any
CHAP, iv] A SMUGGLING ADVENTURE 131
poaching or smuggling adventure. When about
seventeen, before his apprenticeship was out, he
ran away, intending to enter on board a man-of-
war; but sleeping in a hay-field at night cooled
him a little, and he returned to his trade.
Drew next removed to the neighbourhood of
Plymouth to work at his shoemaking business,
and while at Cawsand he won a prize for cudgel-
playing, in which he seems to have been an
adept. While living there, he had nearly lost
his life in a smuggling exploit which he had
joined, partly induced by the love of adventure,
and partly by the love of gain, for his regular
wages were not more than eight shillings a week.
One night, notice was given throughout Crafthole,
that a smuggler was off the coast, ready to land
her cargo ; on which the male population of the
place nearly all smugglers made for the shore.
One party remained on the rocks to make signals
and dispose of the goods as they were landed;
and another manned the boats, Drew being of
the latter party. The night was intensely dark,
and very little of the cargo had been landed, when
the wind rose, with a heavy sea. The men in the
boats, however, determined to persevere, and
several trips were made between the smuggler,
now standing farther out to sea, and the shore.
One of the men in the boat in which Drew was,
had his hat blown off by the wind, and in
attempting to recover it, the boat was upset.
Three of the men were immediately drowned ;
the others clung to the boat for a time, but finding
it drifting out to sea, they took to swimming.
They were two miles from land, and the night
was intensely dark. After being about three hours
132 SAMUEL DREW [CHAP, iv
in the water, Drew reached a rock near the shore,
with one or two others, where he remained be-
numbed with cold till morning, when he and his
companions were discovered and taken off, more
dead than alive. A keg of brandy from the cargo
just landed was brought, the head knocked in
with a hatchet, and a bowlful of the liquid pre-
sented to the survivors ; and, shortly after, Drew
was able to walk two miles through deep snow,
to his lodgings.
This was a very unpromising beginning of a
life ; and yet this same Drew, scapegrace, orchard-
robber, shoemaker, cudgel-player, and smuggler,
outlived the recklessness of his youth, and became
distinguished as a minister of the Gospel and
a writer of good books. Happily, before it was
too late, the energy which characterized him was
turned into a more healthy direction, and rendered
him as eminent in usefulness as he had before
been in wickedness. His father again took him
back to St. Austell, and found employment for
him as a journeyman shoemaker. Perhaps his
recent escape from death had tended to make the
young man serious, as we shortly find him attracted
by the forcible preaching of Dr. Adam Clarke, a
minister of the Wesleyan Methodists. His brother
having died about the same time, the impression
of seriousness was deepened ; and thenceforward
he was an altered man. He began anew the work
of education, for he had almost forgotten how
to read and write; and even after several years'
practice, a friend compared his writing to the
traces of a spider dipped in ink set to crawl upon
paper. Speaking of himself, about that time, Drew
afterwards said, "The more I read, the more I
CHAP, iv] STUDENT 133
felt my own ignorance ; and the more I felt my
ignorance, the more invincible became my energy
to surmount it. Every leisure moment was now
employed in reading one thing or another. Having
to support myself by manual labour, my time
for reading was but little, and to overcome this
disadvantage, my usual method was to place a
book before me while at meat, and at every repast
I read five or six pages." The perusal of Locke's
' Essay on the Understanding ' gave the first
metaphysical turn to his mind. " It awakened
me from my stupor," said he, "and induced me
to form a resolution to abandon the grovelling
views which I had been accustomed to entertain.'
Drew began business on his own account, with a
capital of a few shillings ; but his character for
steadiness was such that a neighbouring miller
offered him a loan, which was accepted, and, success
attending his industry, the debt was repaid at the
end of a year. He started with a determination to
"owe no man anything," and he held to it in the'
midst of many privations. Often he went to bed
supperless, to avoid rising in debt. His ambition
was to achieve independence by industry and
economy, and in this he gradually succeeded. In
the midst of incessant labour, he sedulously strove
to improve his mind, studying astronomy, history,
and metaphysics. He was induced to pursue the
latter study chiefly because it required fewer books
to consult than either of the others. " It appeared
to be a thorny path," he said, " but I determined,
nevertheless, to enter, and accordingly began to
tread it."
Added to his labours in shoemaking and
metaphysics, Drew became a local preacher and a
134 SAMUEL DREW [CHAP. IV
class leader. He took an eager interest in politics,
and his shop became a favourite resort with the
village politicians. And when they did not come
to him, he went to them to talk over public affairs.
This so encroached upon his time that he found
it necessary sometimes to work until midnight to
make up for the hours lost during the day. His
political fervour became the talk of the village.
While busy one night hammering away at a shoe-
sole, a little boy, seeing a light in the shop, put his
mouth to the keyhole of the door, and called out in
a shrill pipe, " Shoemaker ! shoemaker ! work by
night and run about by day ! " A friend, to whom
Drew afterwards told the story, asked, " And did
not you run after the boy, and strap him ?" " No,
no," was the reply ; " had a pistol been fired off at
my ear, I could not have been more dismayed or
confounded. I dropped my work, and said to
myself, ' True, true ! but you shall never have that
to say of me again.' To me that cry was as the
voice of God, and it has been a word in season
throughout my life. I learnt from it not to leave till
to-morrow the work of to-day, or to idle when I
ought to be working."
From that moment Drew dropped politics, and
stuck to his work, reading and studying in his
spare hours : but he never allowed the latter
pursuit to interfere with his business, though it
frequently broke in upon his rest. He married, and
thought of emigrating to America ; but he remained
working on. His literary taste first took the direc-
tion of poetical composition ; and from some of the
fragments which have been preserved, it appears
that his speculations as to the immateriality and
immortality of the soul had their origin in these
CHAP, iv] METAPHYSICIAN 135
poetical musings. His study was the kitchen, where
his wife's bellows served him for a desk ; and he
wrote amidst the cries and cradlings of his children.
Paine's ' Age of Reason ' having appeared about
this time and excited much interest, he composed
a pamphlet in refutation of its arguments, which
was published. He used afterwards to say that it
was the 'Age of Reason' that made him an author.
Various pamphlets from his pen shortly appeared
in rapid succession, and a few years later, while
still working at shoemaking, he wrote and published
his admirable ' Essay on the Immateriality and
Immortality of the Human Soul,' which he sold for
twenty pounds, a great sum in his estimation at the
time. The book went through many editions, and
is still prized.
Drew was in no wise puffed up by his success,
as many young authors are, but, long after he had
become celebrated as a writer, used to be seen
sweeping the street before his door, or helping his
apprentices to carry in the winter's coals. Nor
could he, for some time, bring himself to regard
literature as a profession to live by. His first care
was to secure an honest livelihood by his business,
and to put into the " lottery of literary success," as
he termed it, only the surplus of his time. At
length, however, he devoted himself wholly to
literature, more particularly in connexion with
the Wesleyan body ; editing one of their magazines,
and superintending the publication of several of
their denominational works. He also wrote in
the ' Eclectic Review,' and compiled and published
a valuable history of his native county, Cornwall,
with numerous other works. Towards the close
of his career, he said of himself, " Raised from
136 JOSEPH HUME-SURGEON [CHAP, iv
one of the lowest stations in society, I have en-
deavoured through life to bring my family into
a state of respectability, by honest industry,
frugality, and a high regard for my moral char-
acter. Divine providence has smiled on my
exertions, and crowned my wishes with success."
The late Joseph Hume pursued a very different
career, but worked in an equally persevering spirit.
He was a man of moderate parts, but of great
industry and unimpeachable honesty of purpose.
The motto of his life was "Perseverance," and
well he acted up to it. His father dying while
he was a mere child, his mother opened a small
shop in Montrose, and toiled hard to maintain
her family and bring them up respectably. Joseph
she put apprentice to a surgeon, and educated
for the medical profession. Having got his
diploma, he made several voyages to India as
ship's surgeon,* and afterwards obtained a cadet-
ship in the Company's service. None worked
harder, or lived more temperately, than he did ;
and, securing the confidence of his superiors, who
found him a capable man in the performance of
* It was characteristic of Mr. Hume, that, during his pro-
fessional voyages between England and India, he should diligently
apply his spare time to the study of navigation and seamanship ;
and many years after, it proved of use to him in a remarkable
manner. In 1825, when on his passage from London to Leith by
a sailing smack, the vessel had scarcely cleared the mouth of the
Thames when a sudden storm came on, she was driven out of
her course, and, in the darkness of the night, she struck on the
Goodwin Sands. The captain, losing his presence of mind, seemed
incapable of giving coherent orders, and it is probable that the
vessel would have become a total wreck, had not one of the
passengers suddenly taken the command and directed the working
of the ship, himself taking the helm while the danger lasted. The
vessel was saved, and the stranger was Mr. Hume.
CHAP, iv] HUME IN PARLIAMENT 137
his duty, they gradually promoted him to higher
offices. In 1803 he was with the division of the
army under General Powell, in the Mahratta war ;
and the interpreter having died, Hume, who had
meanwhile studied and mastered the native lan-
guages, was appointed in his stead. He was next
made chief of the medical staff. But as if this
were not enough to occupy his full working
power, he undertook in addition the offices of
paymaster and postmaster, and filled them satis-
factorily. He also contracted to supply the com-
missariat, which he did with advantage to the
army and profit to himself. After about ten years'
unremitting labour, he returned to England with
a competency ; and one of his first acts was to
make provision for the poorer members of his
family.
But Joseph Hume was not a man to enjoy the
fruits of his industry in idleness. Work and
occupation had become necessary for his comfort
and happiness. To make himself fully acquainted
with the actual state of his own country, and the
condition of the people, he visited every town in
the kingdom which then enjoyed any degree of
manufacturing celebrity. He afterwards travelled
abroad for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge
of foreign states. Returned to England, he entered
Parliament in 1812, and continued a member of
that assembly, with a short interruption, for a
period of about thirty-four years. His first re-
corded speech was on the subject of public
education, and throughout his long and honourable
career he took an active and earnest interest in
that and all other questions calculated to elevate
and improve the condition of the people criminal
138 HUME HIS PERSEVERANCE [CHAP, iv
reform, savings-banks, free trade, economy and
retrenchment, extended representation, and such
like measures, all of which he indefatigably pro-
moted. Whatever subject he undertook, he worked
at with all his might. He was not a good speaker,
but what he said was believed to proceed from
the lips of an honest, single-minded, accurate man.
If ridicule, as Shaftesbury says, be the test of truth,
Joseph Hume stood the test well. No man was
more laughed at, but there he stood perpetually,
and literally, "at his post." He was usually beaten
on a division, but the influence which he exercised
was nevertheless felt, and many important financial
improvements were effected by him even with
the vote directly against him. The amount of hard
work which he contrived to get through was some-
thing extraordinary. He rose at six, wrote letters
and arranged his papers for parliament ; then, after
breakfast, he received persons on business, some-
times as many as twenty in a morning. The House
rarely assembled without him, and though the
debate might be prolonged to two or three o'clock
in the morning, his name was seldom found absent
from the division. In short, to perform the work
which he did, extending over so long a period,
in the face of so many Administrations, week after
week, year after year, to be outvoted, beaten,
laughed at, standing on many occasions almost
alone, to persevere in the face of every dis-
couragement, preserving his temper unruffled,
never relaxing in his energy or his hope, and living
to see the greater number of his measures adopted
with acclamation, must be regarded as one of the
most remarkable illustrations of the power of
human perseverance that biography can exhibit.
CHAPTER V
HELPS AND OPPORTUNITIES SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS
" Neither the naked hand, nor the understanding, left to itself, can
do much ; the work is accomplished, by instruments and helps, of which
the need is not less for the understanding than the hand." Bacon.
" Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald ; if you seize her
by her forelock you may hold her, but, if suffered to escape, not Jupiter
himself can catch her again." From the Latin.
ACCIDENT does very little towards the pro-
duction of any great result in life. Though
sometimes what is called " a happy hit " may
be made by a bold venture, the common highway of
steady industry and application is the only safe road
to travel. It is said of the landscape painter Wilson,
that when he had nearly finished a picture in a
tame, correct manner, he would step back from
it, his pencil fixed at the end of a long stick, and
after gazing earnestly on the work, he would
suddenly walk up and by a few bold touches give
a brilliant finish to the painting. But it will not
do for every one who would produce an effect,
to throw his brush at the canvas in the hope
of producing a picture. The capability of putting
in these last vital touches is acquired only by
the labour of a life ; and the probability is, that
the artist who has not carefully trained himself
139
140 DISCOVERIES NOT ACCIDENTAL [CHAP, v
beforehand, in attempting to produce a brilliant
effect at a dash, will only produce a blotch.
Sedulous attention and painstaking industry
always mark the true worker. The greatest men
are not those who "despise the day of small
things," but those who improve them the most
carefully. Michael Angelo was one day explaining
to a visitor at his studio, what he had been doing
at a statue since his previous visit. " I have
retouched this part polished that softened this
feature brought out that muscle given some ex-
pression to this lip, and more energy to that limb."
" But these are trifles," remarked the visitor. " It
may be so," replied the sculptor, "but recollect
that trifles make perfection, and perfection is no
trifle." So it was said of Nicholas Poussin, the
painter, that the rule of his conduct was, that
" whatever was worth doing at all was worth doing
well"; and when asked, late in life, by his friend
Vigneul de Marville, by what means he had gained
so high a reputation among the painters of Italy,
Poussin emphatically answered, " Because I have
neglected nothing."
Although there are discoveries which are said
to have been made by accident, if carefully inquired
into, it will be found that there has really been
very little that was accidental about them. For
the most part, these so-called accidents have only
been opportunities, carefully improved by genius.
The fall of the apple at Newton's feet has often
been quoted in proof of the accidental character
of some discoveries. But Newton's whole mind
had already been devoted for years to the laborious
and patient investigation of the subject of gravita-
tion ; and the circumstance of the apple falling
CHAP, v] INTELLIGENT OBSERVATION 141
before his eyes was suddenly apprehended only
as genius could apprehend it, and served to flash
upon him the brilliant discovery then opening to
his sight. In like manner, the brilliantly-coloured
soap-bubbles blown from a common tobacco pipe
though "trifles light as air" in most eyes
suggested to Dr. Young his beautiful theory of
"interferences," and led to his discovery relating
to the diffraction of light. Although great men
are popularly supposed only to deal with great
things, men such as Newton and Young were
ready to detect the significance of the most familiar
and simple facts ; their greatness consisting mainly
in their wise interpretation of them.
The difference between men consists, in a great
measure, in the intelligence of their observation.
The Russian proverb says of the non-observant
man, " He goes through the forest and sees no
firewood." " The wise man's eyes are in his head,"
says Solomon, " but the fool walketh in darkness."
"Sir," said Johnson, on one occasion, to a fine
gentleman just returned from Italy, "some men
will learn more in the Hampstead stage than others
in the tour of Europe." It is the mind that sees
as well as the eye. Where unthinking gazers
observe nothing, men of intelligent vision penetrate
into the very fibre of the phenomena presented to
them, attentively noting differences, making com-
parisons, and recognizing their underlying idea.
Many before Galileo had seen a suspended weight
swing before their eyes with a measured beat;
but he was the first to detect the value of the
fact. One of the vergers in the cathedral at Pisa,
after replenishing with oil a lamp which hung
from the roof, left it swinging to and fro; and
142 GALILEO BROWN WATT [CHAP, v
Galileo, then a youth of only eighteen, noting it
attentively, conceived the idea of applying it to
the measurement of time. Fifty years of study
and labour, however, elapsed before he completed
the invention of his pendulum, the importance of
which, in the measurement of time and in astro-
nomical calculations, can scarcely be overrated.
In like manner, Galileo, having casually heard
that one Lippershey, a Dutch spectacle-maker, had
presented to Count Maurice of Nassau an instru-
ment by means of which distant objects appeared
nearer to the beholder, addressed himself to the
cause of such a phenomenon, which led to the
invention of the telescope, and proved the beginning
of the modern science of astronomy. Discoveries
such as these could never have been made by a
negligent observer, or by a mere passive listener.
While Captain (afterwards Sir Samuel) Brown
was occupied in studying the construction of
bridges, with the view of contriving one of a cheap
description to be thrown across the Tweed, near
which he lived, he was walking in his garden one
dewy autumn morning, when he saw a tiny spider's
net suspended across his path. The idea im-
mediately occurred to him, that a bridge of iron
ropes or chains might be constructed in like
manner, and the result was the invention of his
suspension bridge. So James Watt, when con-
sulted about the mode of carrying water by pipes
under the Clyde, along the unequal bed of the
river, turned his attention one day to the shell of a
lobster presented at table ; and from that model
he invented an iron tube, which, when laid down,
was found effectually to answer the purpose. Sir
Isambard Brunei took his first lessons in forming
SIR ISAMBARD BRUNEL.
By James Norihcote, R.A.
[To face p. 142. J
CHAP, v] BRUNEL COLUMBUS 143
the Thames Tunnel from the tiny shipworm : he
saw how the little creature perforated the wood
with its well-armed head, first in one direction and
then in another, till the archway was complete, and
then daubed over the roof and sides with a kind
of varnish; and by copying this work exactly on
a large scale, Brunei was at length enabled to
construct his shield and accomplish his great
engineering work.
It is the intelligent eye of the careful observer
which gives these apparently trivial phenomena
their value. So trifling a matter as the sight of
seaweed floating past his ship, enabled Columbus to
quell the mutiny which arose amongst his sailors
at not discovering land, and to assure them that the
eagerly sought New World was not far off. There
is nothing so small that it should remain forgotten ;
and no fact, however trivial, but may prove useful
in some way or other if carefully interpreted. Who
could have imagined that the famous " chalk cliffs
of Albion " had been built up by tiny insects
detected only by the help of the microscope of
the same order of creatures that have gemmed the
sea with islands of coral ! And who that contem-
plates such extraordinary results, arising from
infinitely minute operations, will venture to question
the power of little things ?
It is the close observation of little things which
is the secret of success in business, in art, in
science, and in every pursuit in life. Human know-
ledge is but an accumulation of small facts, made
by successive generations of men, the little bits of
knowledge and experience carefully treasured up
by them growing at length into a mighty pyramid.
Though many of these facts and observations
144 MIGHT IN LITTLE THINGS [CHAP, v
seemed in the first instance to have but slight
significance, they are all found to have their
eventual uses, and to fit into their proper places.
Even many speculations seemingly remote, turn
out to be the basis of results the most obviously
practical. In the case of the conic sections dis-
covered by Apollonius Pergaeus, twenty centuries
elapsed before they were made the basis of
astronomy a science which enables the modern
navigator to steer his way through unknown seas,
and traces for him in the heavens an unerring path
to his appointed haven. And had not mathema-
ticians toiled for so long, and, to uninstructed ob-
servers, apparently so fruitlessly, over the abstract
relations of lines and surfaces, it is probable that
but few of our mechanical inventions would have
seen the light.
When Franklin made his discovery of the
identity of lightning and electricity, it was sneered
at, and people asked, " Of what use is it ? " To
which his reply was, " What is the use of a child ?
It may become a man ! " When Galvani discovered
that a frog's leg twitched when placed in contact
with different metals, it could scarcely have been
imagined that so apparently insignificant a fact
could have led to important results. Yet therein
lay the germ of the electric telegraph, which
binds the intelligence of continents together, and,
probably before many years have elapsed, will " put
a girdle round the globe." So too, little bits of
stone and fossil, dug out of the earth, intelligently
interpreted, have issued in the science of geology
and the practical operations of mining, in which
large capitals are invested and vast numbers of
persons profitably employed.
CHAP, v] SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES 145
The gigantic machinery employed in pumping
our mines, working our mills and manufactures,
and driving our steam-ships and locomotives, in
like manner depends for its supply of power
upon so slight an agency as little drops of water
expanded by heat, that familiar agency called
steam, which we see issuing from that common
tea-kettle spout, but which, when put up within
an ingeniously contrived mechanism, displays a
force equal to that of millions of horses, and
contains a power to rebuke the waves and set
even the hurricane at defiance. The same power
at work within the bowels of the earth has been
the cause of those volcanoes and earthquakes which
have played so mighty a part in the history of
the globe.
It is said that the Marquis of Worcester's
attention was first accidentally directed to the
subject of steam power by the tight cover of a
vessel containing hot water having been blown
off before his eyes, when confined a prisoner in
the Tower. He published the result of his obser-
vations in his ' Century of Inventions,' which
formed a sort of text-book for inquirers into the
powers of steam for a time, until Savary, New-
comen, and others, applying it to practical purposes,
brought the steam-engine to the state in which
Watt found it when called upon to repair a model
of Newcomen's engine, which belonged to the
University of Glasgow. This accidental circum-
stance was an opportunity for Watt, which he was
not slow to improve ; and it was the labour of
his life to bring the steam-engine to perfection.
This art of seizing opportunities and turning
even accidents to account, bending them to some
10
146 RUDE SCIENTIFIC APPARATUS [CHAP, v
purpose, is a great secret of success. Dr. Johnson
has defined genius to be " a mind of large general
powers accidentally determined in some particular
direction." Men who are resolved to find a way
for themselves will always find opportunities
enough ; and if they do not lie ready to their
hand, they will make them. It is not those who
have enjoyed the advantages of colleges, museums,
and public galleries that have accomplished the
most for science and art ; nor have the greatest
mechanics and inventors been trained in mechanics'
institutes. Necessity, oftener than facility, has been
the mother of invention ; and the most prolific
school of all has been the school of difficulty.
Some of the very best workmen have had the
most indifferent tools to work with. But it is
not tools that make the workman, but the trained
skill and perseverance of the man himself. Indeed
it is proverbial that the bad workman never yet
had a good tool. Some one asked Opie by what
wonderful process he mixed his colours. " I mix
them with my brains, sir," was his reply. It is
the same with every workman who would excel.
Ferguson made marvellous things such as his
wooden clock, that accurately measured the hours
by means of a common penknife, a tool in
everybody's hand ; but then everybody is not a
Ferguson. A pan of water and two thermometers
were the tools by which Dr. Black discovered
latent heat; and a prism, a lens, and a sheet of
pasteboard enabled Newton to unfold the com-
position of light and the origin of colours. An
eminent foreign savant once called upon Dr.
Wollaston, and requested to be shown over his
laboratories in which science had been enriched
CHAP, v] FERGUSON LEE 147
by so many important discoveries, when the doctor
took him into a little study, and, pointing to an
old tea-tray on the table, containing a few watch-
glasses, test papers, a small balance, and a blow-
pipe, said, " There is all the laboratory that I
have ! "
Stothard learnt the art of combining colours
by closely studying butterflies' wings : he would
often say that no one knew what he owed to these
tiny insects. A burnt stick and a barn door served
Wilkie in lieu of pencil and canvas. Bewick first
practised drawing on the cottage walls of his
native village, which he covered with his sketches
in chalk ; and Benjamin West made his first
brushes out of the cat's tail. Ferguson laid him-
self down in the fields at night in a blanket, and
made a map of the heavenly bodies by means of
a thread with small beads on it stretched between
his eye and the stars. Franklin first robbed the
thundercloud of its lightning by means of a kite
made with two cross sticks and a silk handker-
chief. Watt made his first model of the con-
densing steam-engine out of an old anatomist's
syringe, used to inject the arteries previous to
dissection. Gifford worked his first problems in
mathematics, when a cobbler's apprentice, upon
small scraps of leather, which he beat smooth for
the purpose ; whilst Rittenhouse, the astronomer,
first calculated eclipses on his plough handle.
The most ordinary occasions will furnish a
man with opportunities or suggestions for im-
provement, if he be but prompt to take advantage
of them. Professor Lee was attracted to the
study of Hebrew by finding a Bible in that
tongue in a synagogue, while working as a
148 SCOTT PRIESTLEY [HAP. v
common carpenter at the repairs of the benches.
He became possessed with a desire to read the
book in the original, and, buying a cheap second-
hand copy of a Hebrew grammar, he set to work
and learnt the language for himself. As Edmund
Stone said to the Duke of Argyle, in answer to
his grace's inquiry how he, a poor gardener's boy,
had contrived to be able to read Newton's Principia
in Latin, "One needs only to know the twenty-
four letters of the alphabet in order to learn
everything else that one wishes." Application and
perseverance, and the diligent improvement of
opportunities, will do the rest.
Sir Walter Scott found opportunities for self-
improvement in every pursuit, and turned even
accidents to account. Thus it was in the discharge
of his functions as a writer's apprentice that he
first visited the Highlands, and formed those
friendships among the surviving heroes of 1745
which served to lay the foundation of a large
class of his works. Later in life, when employed
as quartermaster of the Edinburgh Light Cavalry,
he was accidentally disabled by the kick of a
horse, and confined for some time to his house;
but Scott was a sworn enemy to idleness, and
he forthwith set his mind to work. In three
days he had composed the first canto of ' The Lay
of the Last Minstrel,' which he shortly after
finished, his first great original work.
The attention ol Dr. Priestley, the discoverer
ot so many gases, was accidentally drawn to
the subject of chemistry through his living in the
neighbourhood of a brewery. When visiting the
place one day, he noted the peculiar appearances
attending the extinction of lighted chips in the
CHAP, v] DAVY FARADAY 149
gas floating over the fermented liquor. He was
forty years old at the time, and knew nothing
of chemistry. He consulted books to ascertain
the cause, but they told him little, for as yet
nothing was known on the subject. Then he
began to experiment, with some rude apparatus
of his own contrivance. The curious results of
his first experiments led to others, which in his
hands shortly became the science of pneumatic
chemistry. About the same time Scheele was
obscurely working in the same direction in a
remote Swedish village ; and he discovered several
new gases, with no more effective apparatus at
his command than a few apothecaries' phials and
pigs' bladders.
Sir Humphry Davy, when an apothecary's
apprentice, performed his first experiments with
instruments of the rudest description. He ex-
temporized the greater part of them himself, out
of the motley materials which chance threw in
his way, the pots and pans of the kitchen, and
the phials and vessels of his master's surgery.
It happened that a French ship was wrecked off
the Land's End, and the surgeon escaped, bearing
with him his case of instruments, amongst which
was an old-fashioned glyster apparatus ; this article
he presented to Davy, with whom he had become
acquainted. The apothecary's apprentice received
it with great exultation, and forthwith employed
it as a part of a pneumatic apparatus which he
contrived, afterwards using it to perform the duties
of an air-pump in one of his experiments on the
nature and scources of heat.
In like manner Professor Faraday, Sir Humphry
Davy's scientific successor, made his first experi-
ISO DAVY FARADAY [CHAP, v
ments in electricity by means of an old bottle, while
he was still a working bookbinder. And it is a
curious fact that Faraday was first attracted to the
study of chemistry by hearing one of Sir Humphry
Davy's lectures on the subject at the Royal Insti-
tution. A gentleman, who was a member, calling
one day at the shop where Faraday was employed
in binding books, found him poring over the article
4 Electricity ' in an encyclopaedia placed in his
hands to bind. The gentleman, having made in-
quiries, found that the young bookbinder was
curious about such subjects, and gave him an order
of admission to the Royal Institution, where he
attended a course of four lectures delivered by
Sir Humphry. He took notes of them, which he
showed to the lecturer, who acknowledged their
scientific accuracy, and was surprised when informed
of the humble position of the reporter. Faraday
then expressed his desire to devote himself to the
prosecution of chemical studies, from which Sir
Humphry at first endeavoured to dissuade him :
but the }^oung man persisting, he was at length
taken into the Royal Institution as an assistant;
and eventually the mantle of the brilliant apothecary's
boy fell upon the worthy shoulders of the equally
brilliant bookbinder's apprentice.
The words which Davy entered in his note-book,
when about twenty years of age, working in Dr.
Beddoes' laboratory at Bristol, were eminently
characteristic of him : " I have neither riches, nor
power, nor birth to recommend me ; yet if I live,
I trust I shall not be of less service to mankind
and my friends, than if I had been born with all
these advantages." Davy possessed the capability,
as Faraday does, of devoting the whole power of
CHAP, v] DAVY CUVIER 151
his mind to the practical and experimental investi-
gation of a subject in all its bearings ; and such a
mind will rarely fail, by dint of mere industry and
patient thinking, in producing results of the highest
order. Coleridge said of Davy, " There is an energy
and elasticity in his mind, which enables him to
seize on and analyse all questions, pushing them to
their legitimate consequences. Every subject in
Davy's mind has the principle of vitality. Living
thoughts spring up like turf under his feet." Davy,
on his part, said of Coleridge, whose abilities he
greatly admired, "With the most exalted genius,
enlarged views, sensitive heart, and enlightened
mind, he will be the victim of a want of order,
precision, and regularity."
The great Cuvier was a singularly accurate,
careful, and industrious observer. When a boy, he
was attracted to the subject of natural history by
the sight of a volume of Buffon which accidentally
fell in his way. He at once proceeded to copy
the drawings, and to colour them after the des-
criptions given in the text. While still at school,
one of his teachers made him a present of Linnaeus's
' System of Nature ' ; and for more than ten years
this constituted his library of natural history. At
eighteen he was offered the situation of tutor in
a family residing near Fecamp, in Normandy.
Living close to the sea-shore, he was brought face
to face with the wonders of marine life. Strolling
along the sands one day, he observed a stranded
cuttle-fish. He was attracted by the curious object,
took it home to dissect, and thus began the study
of the molluscae, in the pursuit of which he achieved
so distinguished a reputation. He had no books
to refer to, excepting only the great book of Nature
i$2 CUVIER WATT [CHAP, v
which lay open before him. The study of the
novel and interesting objects which it daily presented
to his eyes made a much deeper impression on his
mind than any written or engraved description
could possibly have done. Three years thus passed,
during which he compared the living species of
marine animals with the fossil remains found in
the neighbourhood, dissected the specimens of
marine life that came under his notice, and, by
careful observation, prepared the way for a com-
plete reform in the classification of the animal
kingdom. About this time Cuvier became known
to the learned Abbe Teissier, who wrote to Jussieu
and other friends in Paris on the subject of the
young naturalist's inquiries, in terms of such high
commendation, that Cuvier was requested to send
some of his papers to the Society of Natural
History ; and he was shortly after appointed
assistant-superintendent at the Jardin des Plantes.
In the letter written by Teissier to Jussieu,
introducing the young naturalist to his notice, he
said, "You remember that it was I who gave
Delambre to the Academy in another branch of
science : this also will be a Delambre." We need
scarcely add that the prediction of Teissier was
more than fulfilled.
It is not accident, then, that helps a man in the
world so much as purpose and persistent industry.
To the feeble, the sluggish and purposeless, the
happiest accidents avail nothing, they pass them
by, seeing no meaning in them. But it is astonish-
ing how much can be accomplished if we are
prompt to seize and improve the opportunities for
action and effort which are constantly presenting
themselves. Watt taught himself chemistry and
CHAP, v] STEPHENSON DALTON 153
mechanics while working at his trade of a mathe-
matical-instrument maker, at the same time that
he was learning German from a Swiss dyer.
Stephenson taught himself arithmetic and mensura-
tion while working as an engineman during the
night shifts ; and when he could snatch a few
moments in the intervals allowed for meals during
the day, he worked his sums with a bit of chalk
upon the sides of the colliery waggons. Dalton's
industry was the habit of his life. He began from
his boyhood, for he taught a little village-school
when he was only about twelve years old, keeping
the school in winter, and'working upon his father's
farm in summer. He would sometimes urge him-
self and companions to study by the stimulus of
a bet, though bred a Quaker ; and on one occasion,
by his satisfactory solution of a problem, he won
as much as enabled him to buy a winter's store
of candles. He continued his meteorological ob-
servations until a day or two before he died,
having made and recorded upwards of 200,000 in
the course of his life.
With perseverance, the very odds and ends of
time may be worked up into results of the greatest
value. An hour in every day withdrawn from
frivolous pursuits would, if profitably employed,
enable a person of ordinary capacity to go far
towards mastering a science. It would make an
ignorant man a well-informed one in less than
ten years. Time should not be allowed to pass
without yielding fruits, in the form of something
learnt worthy of being known, some good principle
cultivated, or some good habit strengthened. Dr.
Mason Good translated Lucretius while riding in
his carriage in the streets of London, going the
154 THE VALUE OF TIME [CHAP, v
round of his patients. Dr. Darwin composed
nearly all his works in the same way while driving
about in his "sulky" from house to house in the
country, writing down his thoughts on little scraps
of paper, which he carried about with him for
the purpose. Hale wrote his ' Contemplations '
while travelling on circuit. Dr. Burney learnt
French and Italian while travelling on horseback
from one musical pupil to another in the course
of his profession. Kirke White learnt Greek while
walking to and from a lawyer's office; and we
personally know a man of eminent position who
learnt Latin and French while going messages
as an errand-boy in the streets of Manchester.
Daguesseau, one of the great Chancellors of
France, by carefully working up his odd bits of
time, wrote a bulky and able volume in the
successive intervals of waiting for dinner, and
Madame de Genlis composed several of her charm-
ing volumes while waiting for the princess to
whom she gave her daily lessons. Elihu Burritt
attributed his first success in self-improvement, not
to genius, which he disclaimed, but simply to the
careful employment of those invaluable fragments
of time called "odd moments." While working
and earning his living as a blacksmith, he mastered
some eighteen ancient and modern languages, and
twenty-two European dialects.
What a solemn and striking admonition to youth
is that inscribed on the dial at All Souls, Oxford
" Pereunt et imputantur " the hours perish, and
are laid to our charge. Time is the only little
fragment of Eternity that belongs to man ; and,
like life, it can never be recalled. " In the dissipa-
tion of worldly treasure," says Jackson of Exeter,
CHAP, v] COLLECTANEA 155
"the frugality of the future may balance the ex-
travagance of the past ; but who can say, ' I will
take from minutes to-morrow to compensate for
those I have lost to-day ' ? " Melancthon noted
down the time lost by him, that he might thereby
reanimate his industry, and not lose an hour. An
Italian scholar put over his door an inscription
intimating that whosoever remained there should
join in his labours. " We are afraid," said some
visitors to Baxter, " that we break in upon your
time." " To be sure you do," replied the disturbed
and blunt divine. Time was the estate out of which
these great workers, and all other workers, formed
that rich treasury of thoughts and deeds which they
have left to their successors.
The mere drudgery undergone by some men
in carrying on their undertakings has been some-
thing extraordinary, but the drudgery they regarded
as the price of success. Addison amassed as much
as three folios of manuscript materials before he
began his ' Spectator.' Newton wrote his ' Chrono-
logy ' fifteen times over before he was satisfied with
it; and Gibbon wrote out his 'Memoir' nine times.
Hale studied for many years at the rate of six-
teen hours a day, and when wearied with the study
of the law he would recreate himself with philo-
sophy and the study of the mathematics. Hume
wrote thirteen hours a day while preparing his
1 History of England.' Montesquieu, speaking of
one part of his writings, said to a friend, " You
will read it in a few hours ; but I assure you it has
cost me so much labour that it has whitened my
hair."
The practice of writing down thoughts and facts
for the purpose of holding them fast and preventing
156 JOHN HUNTER [CHAP, v
their escape into the dim region of forgetfulness,
has been much resorted to by thoughtful and
studious men. Lord Bacon left behind him many
manuscripts entitled ' Sudden thoughts set down for
use.' Erskine made great extracts from Burke ;
and Eldon copied Coke upon Littleton twice over
with his own hand, so that the book became, as it
were, part of his own mind. The late Dr. Pye
Smith, when apprenticed to his father as a book-
binder, was accustomed to make copious memoranda
of all the books he read, with extracts and criticisms.
This indomitable industry in collecting materials
distinguished him through life, his biographer de-
scribing him as " always at work, always in advance,
always accumulating." These note-books after-
wards proved, like Richter's " quarries," the great
storehouse from which he drew his illustrations.
The same practice characterized the eminent
John Hunter, who adopted it for the purpose of
supplying the defects of memory ; and he was accus-
tomed thus to illustrate the advantages which one
derives from putting one's thoughts in writing :
" It resembles," he said, " a tradesman taking stock,
without which he never knows either what he
possesses or in what he is deficient." John Hunter
whose observation was so keen that Abernethy
was accustomed to speak of him as " the Argus-
eyed" furnished an illustrious example of the
power of patient industry. He received little or
no education till he was about twenty years of
age, and it was with difficulty that he acquired
the arts of reading and writing. He worked for
some years as a common carpenter at Glasgow,
after which he joined his brother William, who
had settled in London as a lecturer and anatomical
CHAP, v] HIS PATIENT APPLICATION 157
demonstrator. John entered his dissecting-room
as an assistant, but soon shot ahead of his brother,
partly by virtue of his great natural ability, but
mainly by reason of his patient application and
indefatigable industry. He was one of the first
in this country to devote himself assiduously to
the study of comparative anatomy, and the objects
he dissected and collected took the eminent
Professor Owen no less than ten years to arrange.
The collection contains some twenty thousand
specimens, and is the most precious treasure of
the kind that has ever been accumulated by the
industry of one man. Hunter used to spend every
morning from sunrise until eight o'clock in his
museum ; and throughout the day he carried on
his extensive private practice, performed his
laborious duties as surgeon to St. George's
Hospital and deputy surgeon-general to the army,
delivered lectures to students, and superintended
a school of practical anatomy at his own house,
finding leisure, amidst all, for elaborate experi-
ments on the animal economy, and the composition
of various works of great scientific importance.
To find time for this gigantic amount of work,
he allowed himself only four hours of sleep at
night, and an hour after dinner. When once
asked what method he had adopted to insure
success in his undertakings, he replied, " My rule
is, deliberately to consider, before I commence,
whether the thing be practicable. If it be not
practicable, I do not attempt it. If it be practicable,
I can accomplish it if I give sufficient pains to
it ; and having begun, I never stop till the thing
is done. To this rule I owe all my success."
Hunter occupied a great deal of his time in
158 AMBROSE PARE [CHAP, v
collecting definite facts respecting matters which,
before his day, were regarded as exceedingly
trivial. Thus it was supposed by many of his
contemporaries that he was only wasting his time
and thought in studying so carefully as he did
the growth of a deer's horn. But Hunter was
impressed with the conviction that no accurate
knowledge of scientific facts is without its value.
By the study referred to, he learnt how arteries
accommodate themselves to circumstances, and
enlarge as occasion requires ; and the knowledge
thus acquired emboldened him, in a case of
aneurism in a branch artery, to tie the main trunk
where no surgeon before him had dared to tie it,
and the life of his patient was saved. Like many
original men, he worked for a long time as it were
underground, digging and laying foundations. He
was a solitary and self-reliant genius, holding on
his course without the solace of sympathy or
approbation, for but few of his contemporaries
perceived the ultimate object of his pursuits. But,
like all true workers, he did not fail in securing
his best reward that which depends less upon
others than upon one's self the approval of con-
science, which in a right-minded man invariably
follows the honest and energetic performance of
duty.
Ambrose Pare, the great French surgeon, was
another illustrious instance of close observation,
patient application, and indefatigable perseverance.
He was the son of a barber at Laval, in Maine,
where he was born in 1509. His parents were
too poor to send him to school, but they placed
him as foot-boy with the cure of the village,
hoping that under that learned man he might pick
CHAP, v] HIS ORIGINAL MIND 159
up an education for himself. But the cure kept
him so busily employed in grooming his mule and
in other menial offices that the boy found no time
for learning. While in his service, it happened
that the celebrated lithotomist, Cotot, came to
Laval to operate on one of the cure's ecclesiastical
brethren. Pare was present at the operation, and
was so much interested by it that he is said to
have from that time formed the determination of
devoting himself to the art of surgery.
Leaving the cure's household service, Pare
apprenticed himself to a barber-surgeon named
Vialot, under whom he learnt to let blood, draw
teeth, and perform the minor operations. After
four years' experience of this kind, he went to
Paris to study at the school of anatomy and surgery,
meanwhile maintaining himself by his trade of a
barber. He afterwards succeeded in obtaining an
appointment as assistant at the Hotel Dieu, where
his conduct was so exemplary, and his progress
so marked, that the chief surgeon, Goupil, entrusted
him with the charge of the patients whom he could
not himself attend to. After the usual course of
instruction, Pare was admitted a master barber-
surgeon, and shortly after was appointed to a charge
with the French army under Montmorenci in Pied-
mont. Pare was not a man to follow in the ordinary
ruts of his profession, but brought the resources of
an ardent and original mind to bear upon his daily
work, diligently thinking out for himself the rationale
of diseases and their befitting remedies. Before his
time the wounded suffered much more at the hands
of their surgeons than they did at those of their
enemies. To stop bleeding from gunshot wounds,
the barbarous expedient was resorted to of dressing
160 AMBROSE PARE [CHAP, v
them with boiling oil. Haemorrhage was also
stopped by searing the wounds with a red-hot iron ;
and when amputation was necessary, it was per-
formed with a red-hot knife. At first Pare treated
wounds according to the approved methods ; but,
fortunately, on one occasion, running short of boiling-
oil, he substituted a mild and emollient application.
He was in great fear all night lest he should have
done wrong in adopting this treatment ; but was
greatly relieved next morning on finding his patients
comparatively comfortable, while those whose wounds
had been treated in the usual way were writhing
in torment. Such was the casual origin of one of
Fare's greatest improvements in the treatment of
gunshot wounds ; and he proceeded to adopt the
emollient treatment in all future cases. Another
still more important improvement was his employ-
ment of the ligature in tying arteries to stop
haemorrhage, instead of the actual cautery. Pare,
however, met with the usual fate of innovators and
reformers. His practice was denounced by his
surgical brethren as dangerous, unprofessional, and
empirical ; and the older surgeons banded themselves
together to resist its adoption. They reproached
him for his want of education, more especially for
his ignorance of Latin and Greek ; and they assailed
him with quotations from ancient writers, which he
was unable either to verify or refute. But the best
answer to his assailants was the success of his
practice. The wounded soldiers called out every-
where for Pare, and he was always at their service :
he tended them carefully and affectionately ; and he
usually took leave of them with the words, " I have
dressed you ; may God cure you."
After three years' active service as army-surgeon,
CHAP, v] HIS REFORMS IN SURGERY 161
Par6 returned to Paris with such a reputation that
he was at once appointed surgeon in ordinary to
the King. When Metz was besieged by the Spanish
army, under Charles V., the garrison suffered heavy
loss, and the number of wounded was very great.
The surgeons were few and incompetent, and
probably slew more by their bad treatment than the
Spaniards did by the sword. The Duke of Guise,
who commanded the garrison, wrote to the King
imploring him to send Pare to his help. The
courageous surgeon at once set out, and, after
braving many dangers (to use his own words,
" d'estre pendu, estrangle ou mis en pieces "), he
succeeded in passing the enemy's lines, and entered
Metz in safety. The Duke, the generals, and the
captains gave him an affectionate welcome ; while
the soldiers, when they heard of his arrival, cried,
" We no longer fear dying of our wounds ; our
friend is among us." In the following year Pare
was in like manner with the besieged in the town
of Hesdin, which shortly fell before the Duke of
Savoy, and he was taken prisoner. But having
succeeded in curing one of the enemy's chief officers
of a serious wound, he was discharged without
ransom, and returned in safety to Paris.
The rest of his life was occupied in study, in
self-improvement, in piety, and in good deeds.
Urged by some of the most learned among his
contemporaries, he placed on record the results
of his surgical experience in twenty-eight books,
which were published by him at different times.
His writings are valuable and remarkable chiefly
on account of the great number of facts and cases
contained in them, and the care with which he
avoids giving any directions resting merely upon
ii
162 WILLIAM HARVEY [CHAP, v
theory unsupported by observation. Par6 con-
tinued, though a Protestant, to hold the office
of surgeon in ordinary to the King; and during
the massacre of St. Bartholomew he owed his life
to the personal friendship of Charles IX., whom
he had on one occasion saved from the dangerous
effects of a wound inflicted by a clumsy surgeon
in performing the operation of venesection. Bran-
tOme, in his ' Memoires,' thus speaks of the King's
rescue of Par on the night of Saint Bartholomew
" He sent to fetch him, and to remain during
the night in his chamber and wardrobe-room,
commanding him not to stir, and saying that it
was not reasonable that a man who had preserved
the lives of so many people should himself be
massacred." Thus Pare escaped the horrors of
that fearful night, which he survived for many
years, and was permitted to die in peace, full of
age and honours.
Harvey was as indefatigable a labourer as any
we have named. He spent not less than eight
long years of investigation and research before he
published his views of the circulation of the blood.
He repeated and verified his experiments again
and again, probably anticipating the opposition
he would have to encounter from the profession
on making known his discovery. The tract in
which he at length announced his views was a
most modest one, but simple, perspicuous, and
conclusive. It was nevertheless received with
ridicule, as the utterance of a crack-brained im-
postor. For some time he did not make a single
convert, and gained nothing but contumely and
abuse. He had called in question the revered
authority of the ancients ; and it was even averred
WILLIAM HARVEY, M.D., 1578-1657.
[To face p. 162.
CHAP, v] DR. JENNER VACCINATION 163
that his views were calculated to subvert the
authority of the Scriptures and undermine the very
foundations of morality and religion. His little
practice fell away, and he was left almost without
a friend. This lasted for some years, until the
great truth, held fast by Harvey amidst all his
adversity, and which had dropped into many
thoughtful minds, gradually ripened by further
observation, and after a period of about twenty-
five years, it became generally recognized as an
established scientific truth.
The difficulties encountered by Dr. Jenner in
promulgating and establishing his discovery of
vaccination as a preventive of small-pox were even
greater than those of Harvey. Many, before him,
had witnessed the cow-pox, and had heard of the
report current among the milkmaids in Gloucester-
shire, that whoever had taken that disease was
secure against small-pox. It was a trifling, vulgar
rumour, supposed to have no significance whatever ;
and no one had thought it worthy of investigation,
until it was accidentally brought under the notice
of Jenner. He was a youth, pursuing his studies
at Sodbury, when his attention was arrested by
the casual observation made by a country girl
who came to his master's shop for advice. The
small-pox was mentioned, when the girl said, "I
can't take that disease, for I have had cow-pox."
The observation immediately riveted Jenner's
attention, and he forthwith set about inquiring and
making observations on the subject. His pro-
fessional friends, to whom he mentioned his views
as to the prophylactic virtues of cow-pox, laughed
at him, and even threatened to expel him from their
society, if he persisted in harassing them with the
164 DR. JENNER VACCINATION [CHAP, v
subject. In London he was so fortunate as to
study under John Hunter, to whom he communi-
cated his views. The advice of the anatomist was
thoroughly characteristic : " Don't think, but try ;
be patient, be accurate." Jenner's courage was
supported by the advice, which conveyed to him
the true art of philosophical investigation. He
went back to the country to practise his profession
and make observations and experiments, which he
continued to pursue for a period of twenty years.
His faith in his discovery was so implicit that he
vaccinated his own son on three several occasions.
At length he published his views in a quarto of
about seventy pages, in which he gave the details
of twenty-three cases of successful vaccination of
individuals, to whom it was found afterwards
impossible to communicate the small-pox either by
contagion or inoculation. It was in 1798 that this
treatise was published ; though he had been working
out his ideas since the year 1775, when they had
begun to assume a definite form.
How was the discovery received ? First with
indifference, then with active hostility. Jenner
proceeded to London to exhibit to the profession
the process of vaccination and its results ; but not
a single medical man could be induced to make
trial of it, and after fruitlessly waiting for nearly
three months, he returned to his native village.
He was even caricatured and abused for his attempt
to "bestialize" his species by the introduction
into their systems of diseased matter from the
cow's udder. Vaccination was denounced from
the pulpit as "diabolical." It was averred that
vaccinated children became " ox-faced," that
abscesses broke out to " indicate sprouting horns,"
CHAP, v] DR. JENNER VACCINATION 165
and that the countenance was gradually "trans-
muted into the visage of a cow, the voice into the
bellowing of bulls." Vaccination, however, was
a truth, and notwithstanding the violence of
the opposition, belief in it spread slowly. In one
village, where a gentleman tried to introduce the
practice, the first persons who permitted them-
selves to be vaccinated were absolutely pelted and
driven into their houses if they appeared out of
doors. Two ladies of title Lady Ducie and the
Countess of Berkeley to their honour be it
remembered had the courage to vaccinate their
children ; and the prejudices of the day were at
once broken through. The medical profession
gradually came round, and there were several who
even sought to rob Dr. Jenner of the merit of
the discovery, when its importance came to be
recognized. Jenner's cause at last triumphed, and
he was publicly honoured and rewarded. In his
prosperity he was as modest as he had been in
his obscurity. He was invited to settle in London,
and told that he might command a practice of
io,ooo/. a year. But his answer was, " No ! In the
morning of my days I have sought the sequestered
and lowly paths of life the valley, and not the
mountain, and now, in the evening of my days,
it is not meet for me to hold myself up as an object
for fortune and for fame." During Jenner's own
lifetime the practice of vaccination became adopted
all over the civilized world ; and when he died,
his title as a benefactor of his kind was recognized
far and wide. Cuvier has said, " If vaccine were
the only discovery of the epoch, it would serve
to render it illustrious for ever ; yet it knocked
twenty times in vain at the doors of the Academies."
166 SIR CHARLES BELL [CHAP, v
Not less patient, resolute, and persevering was Sir
Charles Bell in the prosecution of his discoveries
relating to the nervous system. Previous to his
time, the most confused notions prevailed as to
the functions of the nerves, and this branch of
study was little more advanced than it had been
in the times of Democritus and Anaxagoras three
thousand years before. Sir Charles Bell, in the
valuable series of papers the publication of which
was commenced in 1821, took an entirely original
view of the subject, based upon a long series
of careful, accurate, and oft-repeated experiments.
Elaborately tracing the development of the nervous
system up from the lowest order of animated being,
to man the lord of the animal kingdom, he dis-
played it, to use his own words, " as plainly as
if it were written in our mother-tongue." His
discovery consisted in the fact, that the spinal
nerves are double in their function, and arise by
double roots from the spinal marrow, volition
being conveyed by that part of the nerves spring-
ing from the one root, and sensation by the other.
The subject occupied the mind of Sir Charles Bell
for a period of forty years, when, in 1840, he laid
his last paper before the Royal Society. As in
the cases of Harvey and Jenner, when he had lived
down the ridicule and opposition with which his
views were first received, and their truth came
to be recognized, numerous claims for priority
in making the discovery were set up at home and
abroad. Like them, too, he lost practice by the
publication of his papers ; and he left it on record
that, after every step in his discovery, he was
obliged to work harder than ever to preserve his
reputation as a practitioner. The great merits of
CHAP, v] DR. MARSHALL HALL 167
Sir Charles Bell were, however, at length fully
recognized ; and Cuvier himself, when on his
death-bed, finding his face distorted and drawn
to one side, pointed out the symptom to his
attendants as a proof of the correctness of Sir
Charles Bell's theory.
AJI equally devoted pursuer of the same branch
of science was the late Dr. Marshall Hall, whose
name posterity will rank with those of Harvey,
Hunter, Jenner, and Bell. During the whole
course of his long and useful life he was a most
careful and minute observer ; and no fact, how-
ever apparently insignificant, escaped his attention.
His important discovery of the diastaltic nervous
system, by which his name will long be known
amongst scientific men, originated in an exceed-
ingly simple circumstance. When investigating
the pneumonic circulation in the triton, the de-
capitated object lay upon the table; and on
separating the tail and accidentally pricking the
external integument, he observed that it moved
with energy, and became contorted into various
forms. He had not touched a muscle or a muscular
nerve ; what then was the nature of these move-
ments ? The same phenomena had probably been
often observed before, but Dr. Hall was the first
to apply himself perseveringly to the investigation
of their causes ; and he exclaimed on the occasion,
" I will never rest satisfied until I have found
all this out, and made it clear." His attention
to the subject was almost incessant; and it is
estimated that in the course of his life he devoted
not less than 25,000 hours to its experimental and
chemical investigation. He was at the same time
carrying on an extensive private practice, and
168 SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL [CHAP, v
officiating as lecturer at St. Thomas's Hospital and
other medical schools. It will scarcely be credited
that the paper in which he embodied his discovery
was rejected by the Royal Society, and was only
accepted after the lapse of seventeen years, when
the truth of his views had become acknowledged
by scientific men both at home and abroad.
The life of Sir William Herschel affords another
remarkable illustration of the force of perseverance
in another branch of science. His father was a
poor German musician, who brought up his four
sons to the same calling. William came over to
England to seek his fortune, and he joined the
band of the Durham Militia, in which he played
the oboe. The regiment was lying at Doncaster,
where Dr. Miller first became acquainted with
Herschel, having heard him perform a solo on the
violin in a surprising manner. The doctor entered
into conversation with the youth, and was so
pleased with him, that he urged him to leave the
militia and take up his residence at his house for
a time. Herschel did so, and while at Doncaster
was principally occupied in violin-playing at
concerts, availing himself of the advantages of Dr.
Miller's library to study in his leisure hours. A
new organ having been built for the parish church
of Halifax, an organist was advertised for, on which
Herschel applied for the office, and was selected.
Leading the wandering life of an artist, he was
next attracted to Bath, where he played in the
Pump-room band, and also officiated as organist in
the Octagon chapel. Some recent discoveries in
astronomy having arrested his mind, and awakened
in him a powerful spirit of curiosity, he sought
and obtained from a friend the loan of a two-foot
CHAP, v] DISCOVERS GEORGIUM SIDUS 169
Gregorian telescope. So fascinated was the poor
musician by the science, that he even thought of
purchasing a telescope, but the price asked by the
London optician was so alarming, that he determined
to make one. Those who know what a reflecting
telescope is, and the skill which is required to
prepare the concave metallic speculum which forms
the most important part of the apparatus, will be
able to form some idea of the difficulty of this
undertaking. Nevertheless, Herschel succeeded,
after long and painful labour, in completing a five-
foot reflector, with which he had the gratification
of observing the ring and satellites of Saturn.
Not satisfied with his triumph, he proceeded to
make other instruments in succession, of seven,
ten, and even twenty feet. In constructing the
seven-foot reflector, he finished no fewer than two
hundred specula before he produced one that
would bear any power that was applied to it,
a striking instance of the persevering laboriousness
of the man. While gauging the heavens with his
instruments, he continued patiently to earn his
bread by piping to the fashionable frequenters of
the Pump-room. So eager was he in his astro-
nomical observations, that he would steal away
from the room during an interval of the performance,
give a little turn at his telescope, and contentedly
return to his oboe. Thus working away, Herschel
discovered the Georgium Sidus, the orbit and rate
of motion of which he carefully calculated, and
sent the result to the Royal Society; when the
humble oboe player found himself at once elevated
from obscurity to fame. He was shortly after
appointed Astronomer Royal, and by the kindness
of George III. was placed in a position of honourable
170 WILLIAM SMITH, GEOLOGIST [CHAP, v
competency for life. He bore his honours with
the same meekness and humility which had dis-
tinguished him in the days of his obscurity. So
gentle and patient, and withal so distinguished
and successful a follower of science under diffi-
culties, perhaps cannot be found in the entire
history of biography.
The career of William Smith, the father of
English geology, though perhaps less known, is not
less interesting and instructive as an example of
patient and laborious effort, and the diligent
cultivation of opportunities. He was born in 1769,
the son of a yeoman farmer at Churchill, in Oxford-
shire. His father dying when he was but a child,
he received a very sparing education at the village
school, and even that was to a considerable extent
interfered with by his wandering and somewhat
idle habits as a boy. His mother having married
a second time, he was taken in charge by an uncle,
also a farmer, by whom he was brought up.
Though the uncle was by no means pleased with
the boy's love of wandering about, collecting
" poundstones," " pundips," and other stony curiosi-
ties which lay scattered about the adjoining land,
he yet enabled him to purchase a few of the neces-
sary books wherewith to instruct himself in the
rudiments of geometry and surveying; for the
boy was already destined for the business of a
land-surveyor. One of his marked characteristics,
even as a youth, was the accuracy and keenness
of his observation ; and what he once clearly saw
he never forgot. He began to draw, attempted to
colour, and practised the arts of mensuration and
surveying, all without regular instruction ; and by
his efforts in self-culture, he shortly became so
CHAP, v] HIS NEW THEORY 171
proficient that he was taken on as assistant to a
local surveyor of ability in the neighbourhood.
In carrying on his business he was constantly
under the necessity of traversing Oxfordshire and
the adjoining counties. One of the first things
he seriously pondered over was the position of
the various soils and strata that came under his
notice on the lands which he surveyed or travelled
over; more especially the position of the red earth
in regard to the lias and superincumbent rocks.
The surveys of numerous collieries which he
was called upon to make gave him further ex-
perience ; and already, when only twenty-three
years of age, he contemplated making a model of
the strata of the earth.
While engaged in levelling for a proposed canal
in Gloucestershire, the idea of a general law occurred
to him relating to the strata of that district. He
conceived that the strata lying above the coal were
not laid horizontally, but inclined, and in one
direction, towards the east ; resembling, on a large
scale, " the ordinary appearance of superposed slices
of bread and butter." The correctness of this theory
he shortly after confirmed by observations of the
strata in two parallel valleys, the " red ground,"
"lias," and "freestone" or "oolite," being found to
come down in an eastern direction, and to sink
below the level, yielding place to the next in
succession. He was shortly enabled to verify the
truth of his views on a larger scale, having been
appointed to examine personally into the manage-
ment of canals in England and Wales. During his
journeys, which extended from Bath to Newcastle-
on-Tyne, returning by Shropshire and Wales, his
keen eyes were never idle for a moment. He
r;2 WILLIAM SMITH, GEOLOGIST [CHAP, v
rapidly noted the aspect and structure of the country
through which he passed with his companions,
treasuring up his observations for future use. His
geologic vision was so acute, that, though the road
along which he passed from York to Newcastle in
the post chaise was from five to fifteen miles distant
from the hills of chalk and oolite on the east,
he was satisfied as to their nature, by their contours
and relative position, and their ranges on the
surface in relation to the lias and " red ground "
occasionally seen on the road.
The general results of his observation seem to
have been these. He noted that the rocky masses
of country in the western parts of England generally
inclined to the east and south-east ; that the red
sandstones and marls above the coal measures
passed beneath the lias, clay, and limestone; that
these again passed beneath the sands, yellow
limestones and clays, forming the table-land of
the Cotswold Hills, while these in turn passed
beneath the great chalk deposits occupying the
eastern parts of England. He further observed,
that each layer of clay, sand, and limestone held
its own peculiar classes of fossils ; and pondering
much on these things, he at length came to the
then unheard-of conclusion, that each distinct de-
posit of marine animals, in these several strata,
indicated a distinct sea-bottom, and that each layer
of clay, sand, chalk, and stone marked a distinct
epoch of time in the history of the earth.
This idea took firm possession of his mind, and
he could talk and think of nothing else. At canal
boards, at sheep-shearings, at county meetings, and
at agricultural associations, ' Strata Smith,' as he
came to be called, was always running over with
CHAP, v] HIS KNOWLEDGE OF STRATA 173
the subject that possessed him. He had indeed
made a great discovery, though he was as yet
a man utterly unknown in the scientific world. He
proceeded to project a map of the stratification
of England ; but was for some time deterred from
proceeding with it, being fully occupied in carrying
out the works of the Somersetshire coal canal,
which engaged him for a period of about six years.
He continued, nevertheless, to be unremitting in his
observation of facts ; and he became so expert in
apprehending the internal structure of a district and
detecting the lie of the strata from its external con-
figuration, that he was often consulted respecting
the drainage of extensive tracts of land, in which,
guided by his geological knowledge, he proved
remarkably successful, and acquired an extensive
reputation.
One day, when looking over the cabinet collec-
tion of fossils belonging to the Rev. Samuel
Richardson, at Bath, Smith astonished his friend by
suddenly disarranging his classification, and re-
arranging the fossils in their stratigraphical order,
saying " These came from the blue lias, these from
the over-lying sand and freestone, these from the
fuller's earth, and these from the Bath building-
stone." A new light flashed upon Mr. Richardson's
mind, and he shortly became a convert to and
believer in William Smith's doctrine. The geologists
of the day were not, however, so easily convinced ;
and it was scarcely to be tolerated that an unknown
land-surveyor should pretend to teach them the
science of geology. But William Smith had an
eye and mind to penetrate deep beneath the skin of
the earth ; he saw its very fibre and skeleton, and,
as it were, divined its organization. His knowledge
174 WILLIAM SMITH, GEOLOGIST [CHAP, v
of the strata in the neighbourhood of Bath was so
accurate, that one evening, when dining at the
house of the Rev. Joseph Townsend, he dictated to
Mr. Richardson the different strata according to
their order of succession in descending order,
twenty-three in number, commencing with the
chalk and descending in continuous series down
to the coal, below which the strata were not then
sufficiently determined. To this was added a list
of the more remarkable fossils which had been
gathered in the several layers of rock. This was
printed and extensively circulated in 1801.
He next determined to trace out the strata
through districts as remote from Bath as his means
would enable him to reach. For years he journeyed
to and fro, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horse-
back, riding on the tops of stage coaches, often
making up by night-travelling the time he had lost
by day, so as not to fail in his ordinary business
engagements. When he was professionally called
away to any distance from home as, for instance,
when travelling from Bath to Holkham, in Norfolk,
to direct the irrigation and drainage of Mr. Coke's
land in that county he rode on horseback, making
frequent detours from the road to note the geo-
logical features of the country which he traversed.
For several years he was thus engaged in his
journeys to distant quarters in England and Ireland,
to the extent of upwards of ten thousand miles
yearly; and it was amidst this incessant and
laborious travelling that he contrived to commit
to paper his fast-growing generalizations on what
he rightly regarded as a new science. No ob-
servation, howsoever trivial it might appear, was
neglected, and no opportunity of collecting fresh
CHAP, v] HIS HABIT OF OBSERVATION 175
facts was overlooked. Whenever he could, he
possessed himself of records of borings, natural and
artificial sections, drew them to a constant scale
of eight yards to the inch, and coloured them up.
Of his keenness of observation take the following
illustration. When making one of his geological
excursions about the country near Woburn, as he
was drawing near to the foot of the Dunstable
chalk hills, he observed to his companion, " If there
be any broken ground about the foot of these hills,
we may find sharks' teeth " ; and they had not pro-
ceeded far before they picked up six from the white
bank of a new fence-ditch. As he afterwards said
of himself, " The habit of observation crept on me,
gained a settlement in my mind, became a constant
associate of my life, and started up in activity at
the first thought of a journey ; so that I generally
went off well prepared with maps, and sometimes
with contemplations on its objects, or on those on
the road, reduced to writing before it commenced.
My mind was, therefore, like the canvas of a painter,
well prepared for the first and best impressions."
Notwithstanding his courageous and indefatig-
able industry, many circumstances contributed to
prevent the promised publication of William Smith's
' Map of the Strata of England and Wales,' and it
was not until 1814 that he was enabled, by the
assistance of some friends, to give to the world the
fruits of his twenty years' incessant labour. To
prosecute his inquiries, and collect the extensive
series of facts and observations requisite for his
purpose, he had to expend the whole of the profits
of his professional labours during that period ;
and he even sold off his small property to provide
the means of visiting remoter parts of the island.
i;6 WILLIAM SMITH, GEOLOGIST [CHAP. V
Meanwhile he had entered on a quarrying specula-
tion near Bath, which proved unsuccessful, and
he was under the necessity of selling his geological
collection (which was purchased by the British
Museum), his furniture and library, reserving only
his papers, maps, and sections, which were useless
save to himself. He bore his losses and misfortunes
with exemplary fortitude ; and, amidst all, he went
on working with cheerful courage and untiring
patience. He died at Northampton, in August,
1839, while on his way to attend the meeting of
the British Association at Birmingham.
It is difficult to speak in terms of too high praise
of the first geological map of England, which we
owe to the industry of this courageous man of
science. An accomplished writer says of it, " It
was a work so masterly in conception, and so
correct in general outline, that in principle it served
as a basis not only for the production of later maps
of the British Islands, but for geological maps of
all other parts of the world, wherever they have
been undertaken. In the apartments of the
Geological Society Smith's map may yet be seen
a great historical document, old and worn, calling
for the renewal of its faded tints. Let any one
conversant with the subject compare it with later
works on a similar scale, and he will find that in
all essential features it will not suffer by the
comparison the intricate anatomy of the Silurian
rocks of Wales and the North of England by
Murchison and Sedgwick being the chief additions
made to his great generalizations." * The genius
of the Oxfordshire surveyor did not fail to be duly
recognized and honoured by men of science during
* 'Saturday Review,' July 3rd, 1858.
CHAP, v] HUGH MILLER 177
his lifetime. In 1831 the Geological Society of
London awarded him the Wollaston medal, "in
consideration of his being a great original dis-
coverer in English geology, and especially for his
being the first in this country to discover and to
teach the identification of strata, and to determine
their succession by means of their imbedded
fossils." William Smith, in his simple, earnest
way, gained for himself a name as lasting as the
science he loved so well. To use the words of the
writer above quoted, "Till the manner as well
as the fact of the first appearance of successive
forms of life shall be solved, it is not easy to
surmise how any discovery can be made in geology
equal in value to that which we owe to the genius
of William Smith."
Hugh Miller was a man of like observant
faculties, who studied literature as well as science
with zeal and success. The book in which he has
told the story of his life, ' My Schools and School-
masters,' is extremely interesting, and calculated
to be eminently useful. It is the history of the
formation of a truly noble character in the humblest
condition of life, and inculcates most powerfully
the lessons of self-help, self-respect, and self-
dependence. While Hugh was but a child, his
father, who was a sailor, was drowned at sea, and
he was brought up by his widowed mother. He
had a school training after a sort, but his best
teachers were the boys with whom he played,
the men amongst whom he worked, the friends
and relatives with whom he lived. He read much
and miscellaneously, and picked up odd sorts of
knowledge from many quarters, from workmen,
carpenters, fishermen and sailors, and, above all,
12
i 7 8 HUGH MILLER [CHAP, v
from the old boulders strewed along the shores
of the Cromarty Frith. With a big hammer which
had belonged to his great-grandfather, an old
buccaneer, the boy went about chipping the stones,
and accumulating specimens of mica, porphyry,
garnet, and such like. Sometimes he had a day
in the woods, and there, too, the boy's attention
was excited by the peculiar geological curiosities
which came in his way. While searching among
the rocks on the beach, he was sometimes asked,
in irony, by the farm servants who came to load
their carts with sea-weed, whether he "was gettin'
siller in the stanes/' but was so unlucky as never
to be able to answer in the affirmative. When of
a suitable age he was apprenticed to the trade
of his choice that of a working stonemason ; and
he began his labouring career in a quarry looking
out upon the Cromarty Frith. This quarry proved
one of his best schools. The remarkable geologi-
cal formations which it displayed awakened his
curiosity. The bar of deep-red stone beneath, and
the bar of pale-red clay above, were noted by the
young quarryman, who even in such unpromising
subjects found matter for observation and reflec-
tion. Where other men saw nothing, he detected
analogies, differences, and peculiarities, which set
him a-thinking. He simply kept his eyes and his
mind open ; was sober, diligent, and persevering ;
and this was the secret of his intellectual growth.
His curiosity was excited and kept alive by the
curious organic remains, principally of old and
extinct species of fishes, ferns, and ammonites,
which were revealed along the coast by the wash-
ings of the waves, or were exposed by the stroke
of his mason's hammer. He never lost sight of
CHAP, v] JOHN BROWN 179
the subject ; but went on accumulating observa-
tions and comparing formations, until at length,
many years afterwards, when no longer a working
mason, he gave to the world his highly interesting
work on the Old Red Sandstone, which at once
established his reputation as a scientific geologist.
But this work was the fruit of long years of patient
observation and research. As he modestly states
in his autobiography, " The only merit to which
I lay claim in the case is that of patient research
a merit in which whoever wills may rival or
surpass me ; and this humble faculty of patience,
when rightly developed, may lead to more ex-
traordinary developments of idea than even genius
itself.
The late John Brown, the eminent English
geologist, was, like Miller, a stonemason in his
early life, serving an apprenticeship to the trade
at Colchester, and afterwards working as a journey-
man mason at Norwich. He began business as
a builder on his own account at Colchester, where
by frugality and industry he secured a competency.
It was while working at his trade that his attention
was first drawn to the study of fossils and shells ;
and he proceeded to make a collection of them,
which afterwards grew into one of the finest in
England. His researches along the coasts of
Essex, Kent, and Sussex brought to light some
magnificent remains of the elephant and rhinoceros,
the most valuable of which were presented by him
to the British Museum. During the last few years
of his life he devoted considerable attention to
the study of the Foraminifera in chalk, respecting
which he made several interesting discoveries.
His life was useful, happy, and honoured; and
i8o ROBERT DICK [CHAP. V
he died at Stanway, in Essex, in November 1859,
at the ripe age of eighty years.
Not long ago Sir Roderick Murchison discovered
at Thurso, in the far North of Scotland, a profound
geologist, in the person of a baker there, named
Robert Dick. When Sir Roderick called upon
him at the bakehouse in which he baked and
earned his bread, Robert Dick delineated to him,
by means of flour upon the board, the geographical
features and geological phenomena of his native
county, pointing out the imperfections in the
existing maps, which he had ascertained by travel-
ling over the country in his leisure hours. On
further inquiry, Sir Roderick ascertained that the
humble individual before him was not only a capital
baker and geologist, but a first-rate botanist. " I
found," said the President of the Geographical
Society, "to my great humiliation that the baker
knew infinitely more of botanical science, ay, ten
times more, than I did, and that there were only
some twenty or thirty specimens of flowers which
he had not collected. Some he had obtained as
presents, some he had purchased, but the greater
portion had been accumulated by his industry, in
his native county of Caithness ; and the specimens
were all arranged in the most beautiful order, with
their scientific names affixed."
Sir Roderick Murchison himself is an illustrious
follower of these and kindred branches of science.
A writer in the 4 Quarterly Review ' cites him as a
"singular instance of a man who, having passed
the early part of his life as a soldier, never having
had the advantage, or disadvantage as the case
might have been, of a scientific training, instead of
remaining a fox-hunting country gentleman, has
CHAP, v] SIR RODERICK MURCHISON 181
succeeded by his own native vigour and sagacity,
untiring industry and zeal, in making for himself a
scientific reputation that is as wide as it is likely to
be lasting. He took first of all an unexplored and
difficult district at home, and, by the labour of many
years, examined its rock-formations, classed them
in natural groups, assigned to each its characteristic
assemblage of fossils, and was the first to decipher
two great chapters in the world's geological history,
which must always henceforth carry his name on
their title-page. Not only so, but he applied the
knowledge thus acquired to the dissection of large
districts, both at home and abroad, so as to become
the geological discoverer of great countries which
had formerly been 'terrae incognitae.'" But Sir
Roderick Murchison is not merely a geologist. His
indefatigable labours in many branches of know-
ledge have contributed to render him among the
most accomplished and complete of scientific men.
CHAPTER VI
WORKERS IN ART
" If what shone afar so grand,
Turn to nothing in thy hand,
On again ; the virtue lies
In the struggle, not the prize." K, M. Milnes.
" Excelle, et tu vivras." Joubcrt,
EXCELLENCE in art, as in everything else,
can only be achieved by dint of painstaking
labour. There is nothing less accidental
than the painting of a fine picture or the chiselling
of a noble statue. Every skilled touch of the artist's
brush or chisel, though guided by genius, is the
product of unremitting study.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was such a believer in the
force of industry, that he held that artistic excel-
lence, "however expressed by genius, taste, or the
gift of heaven, may be acquired." Writing to Barry
he said, " Whoever is resolved to excel in painting,
or indeed any other art, must bring all his mind to
bear upon that one object from the moment that he
rises till he goes to bed." And on another occasion
he said, " Those who are resolved to excel must go
to their work, willing or unwilling, morning, noon,
and night : they will find it no play, but very hard
labour." But although diligent application is no
183
CHAP, vi] FORCE OF INDUSTRY IN ART 183
doubt absolutely necessary for the achievement of
the highest distinction in art, it is equally true
that without the inborn genius no amount of mere
industry, however well applied, will make an artist.
The gift comes by nature, but it is perfected by
self-culture, which is of more avail than all the
imparted education of the schools.
Some of the greatest artists have had to force
their way upward in the face of poverty and mani-
fold obstructions. Illustrious instances will at once
flash upon the reader's mind. Claude Lorraine,
the pastrycook ; Tintoretto, the dyer ; the two Cara-
vaggios, the one a colour-grinder, the other a
mortar-carrier at the Vatican ; Salvator Rosa, the
associate of bandits ; Giotto, the peasant boy ;
Zingaro, the gipsy ; Cavedone, turned out of doors
to beg by his father ; Canova, the stone-cutter ;
these, and many other well-known artists, succeeded
in achieving distinction by severe study and labour,
under circumstances the most adverse.
Nor have the most distinguished artists of our
own country been born in a position of life more
than ordinarily favourable to the culture of artistic
genius. Gainsborough and Bacon were the sons
of cloth-workers ; Barry was an Irish sailor boy,
and Maclise a banker's apprentice at Cork ; Opie
and Romney, like Inigo Jones, were carpenters ;
West was the son of a small Quaker farmer in
Pennsylvania ; Northcote was a watchmaker, Jack-
son a tailor, and Etty a printer ; Reynolds, Wilson,
and Wilkie were the sons of clergymen ; Lawrence
was the son of a publican, and Turner of a barber.
Several of our painters, it is true, originally had
some connexion with art, though in a very humble
way, such as Flaxman, whose father sold plaster
184 MICHAEL ANGELO [CHAP, vi
casts; Bird, who ornamented tea-trays; Martin,
who was a coach-painter ; Wright and Gilpin, who
were ship-painters; Chantrey, who was a carver
and gilder; and David Cox, Stanfield, and Roberts,
who were scene-painters.
It was not by luck or accident that these men
achieved distinction, but by sheer industry and
hard work. Though some achieved wealth, yet this
was rarely, if ever, the ruling motive. Indeed, no
mere love of money could sustain the efforts of
the artist in his early career of self-denial and
-X application. The pleasure of the pursuit has always
been its best reward ; the wealth which followed
but an accident. Many noble-minded artists have
preferred following the bent of their genius to
chaffering with the public for terms. Spagnoletto
verified in his life the beautiful fiction of Xenophon,
and after he had acquired the means of luxury, pre-
ferred withdrawing himself from their influence, and
voluntarily returned to poverty and labour. When
Michael Angelo was asked his opinion respecting
a work which a painter had taken great pains to
exhibit for profit, he said, " I think that he will
be a poor fellow so long as he shows such an
extreme eagerness to become rich."
Like Sir Joshua Reynolds, Michael Angelo was a
great believer in the force of labour; and he held
that there was nothing which the imagination con-
ceived, that could not be embodied in marble, if
the hand were made vigorously to obey the mind.
He was himself one of the most indefatigable of
workers ; and he attributed his power of studying
for a greater number of hours than most of his con-
temporaries to his spare habits of living. A little
bread and wine was all he required for the chief
CHAP, vi] TITIAN CALLCOTT 185
part of the day when employed at his work ; and
very frequently he rose in the middle of the night
to resume his labours. On these occasions, it was
his practice to fix the candle, by the light of which
he chiselled, on the summit of a paste-board cap
which he wore. Sometimes he was too wearied to
undress, and he slept in his clothes, ready to spring
to his work so soon as refreshed by sleep. He had
a favourite device of an old man in a go-cart, with
an hour-glass upon it bearing the inscription,
Ancora imparo ! Still I am learning.
Titian, also, was an indefatigable worker. His
celebrated ' Pietro Martire' was eight years in
hand, and his 'Last Supper' seven. In his letter
to Charles V. he said, " I send your Majesty the
'Last Supper' after working at it almost daily
for seven years dopo sette anni lavorandovi quasi
continnamente" Few think of the patient labour
and long training involved in the greatest works
of the artist. They seem easy and quickly
accomplished, yet with how great difficulty has
this ease been acquired. " You charge me fifty
sequins," said the Venetian nobleman to the
sculptor, " for a bust that cost you only ten days'
labour." "You forget," said the artist, "that I
have been thirty years learning to make that bust
in ten days." Once when Domenichino was blamed
for his slowness in finishing a picture which was be-
spoken, he made answer, " I am continually painting
it within myself." It was eminently characteristic
of the industry of the late Sir Augustus Callcott,
that he made not fewer than forty separate sketches
in the composition of his famous picture of ' Ro-
chester.' This constant repetition is one of the
main conditions of success in art, as in life itself.
186 WEST WILSON REYNOLDS [CHAP, vi
No matter how generous nature has been in
bestowing the gift of genius, the pursuit of art is
nevertheless a long and continuous labour. Many
artists have been precocious, but without diligence
their precocity would have come to nothing. The
anecdote related of West is well known. When
only seven years old, struck with the beauty of
the sleeping infant of his eldest sister whilst
watching by its cradle, he ran to seek some paper
and forthwith drew its portrait in red and black
ink. The little incident revealed the artist in him,
and it was found impossible to draw him from his
bent. West might have been a greater painter,
had he not been injured by too early success : his
fame, though great, was not purchased by study,
trials, and difficulties, and it has not been enduring.
Richard Wilson, when a mere child, indulged
himself with tracing figures of men and animals
on the walls of his father's house, with a burnt
stick. He first directed his attention to portrait
painting; but when in Italy, calling one day at
the house of Zucarelli, and growing weary with
waiting, he began painting the scene on which
his friend's chamber window looked. When
Zucarelli arrived, he was so charmed with the
picture, that he asked if Wilson had not studied
landscape, to which he replied that he had not.
" Then, I advise you," said the other, " to try ; for
you are sure of great success." Wilson adopted
the advice, studied and worked hard, and became
our first great English landscape painter.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, when a boy, forgot his
lessons, and took pleasure only in drawing, for
which his father was accustomed to rebuke him.
The boy was destined for the profession of physic,
CHAP, vi] HOGARTH 187
but his strong instinct for art could not be repressed,
and he became a painter. Gainsborough went
sketching, when a schoolboy, in the woods of
Sudbury ; and at twelve he was a confirmed artist :
he was a keen observer and a hard worker, no
picturesque feature of any scene he had once looked
upon escaping his diligent pencil. William Blake,
a hosier's son, employed himself in drawing designs
on the backs of his father's shop-bills, and making
sketches on the counter. Edward Bird, when a
child only three or four years old, would mount
a chair and draw figures on the walls, which he
called French and English soldiers. A box of
colours was purchased for him, and his father,
desirous of turning his love of art to account, put
him apprentice to a maker of tea-trays! Out of
this trade he gradually raised himself, by study
and labour, to the rank of a Royal Academician.
Hogarth, though a very dull boy at his lessons,
took pleasure in making drawings of the letters
of the alphabet, and his school exercises were more
remarkable for the ornaments with which he
embellished them than for the matter of the
exercises themselves. In the latter respect he was
beaten by all the blockheads of the school, but in
his adornments he stood alone. His father put him
apprentice to a silversmith, where he learnt to
draw, and also to engrave spoons and forks with
crests and ciphers. From silver-chasing, he went
on to teach himself engraving on copper, principally
griffins and monsters of heraldry, in the course
of which practice he became ambitious to delineate
the varieties of human character. The singular
excellence which he reached in this art was mainly
the result of careful observation and study. He
1 88 HOGARTH [HAP. vi
had the gift, which he sedulously cultivated, of
committing to memory the precise features of any
remarkable face, and afterwards reproducing them
on paper; but if any singularly fantastic form or
outre face came in his way, he would make a sketch
of it on the spot, upon his thumb-nail, and carry
it home to expand at his leisure. Everything
fantastical and original had a powerful attraction
for him, and he wandered into many out-of-the-way
places for the purpose of meeting with character.
By this careful storing of his mind, he was after-
wards enabled to crowd an immense amount of
thought and treasured observation into his works.
Hence it is that Hogarth's pictures are so truthful
a memorial of the character, the manners, and even
the very thoughts of the times in which he lived.
True painting, he himself observed, can only be
learnt in one school, and that is kept by Nature.
But he was not a highly cultivated man, except in
his own walk. His school education had been of
the slenderest kind, scarcely even perfecting him
in the art of spelling; his self-culture did the rest.
For a long time he was in very straitened circum-
stances, but nevertheless worked on with a cheer-
ful heart. Poor though he was, he contrived to
live within his small means, and he boasted, with
becoming pride, that he was " a punctual pay-
master." When he had conquered all his difficulties
and become a famous and thriving man, he loved to
dwell upon his early labours and privations, and
to fight over again the battle which ended so
honourably to him as a man and so gloriously
as an artist. " I remember the time," said he on
one occasion, "when I have gone moping into the
city with scarce a shilling, but as soon as I have
CHAP, vi] BANKS MULRE AD Y 189
received ten guineas there for a plate, I have re-
turned home, put on my sword, and sallied out
with all the confidence of a man who had thousands
in his pockets."
" Industry and perseverance " was the motto
of the sculptor Banks, which he acted on himself,
and strongly recommended to others. His well-
known kindness induced many aspiring youths to
call upon him and ask for his advice and assistance ;
and it is related that one day a boy called at his
door to see him with this object, but the servant,
angry at the loud knock he had given, scolded him,
and was about sending him away, when Banks,
overhearing her, himself went out. The little boy
stood at the door with some drawings in his hand.
" What do you want with me ? " asked the sculptor.
" I want, sir, if you please, to be admitted to draw
at the Academy." Banks explained that he himself
could not procure his admission, but he asked to
look at the boy's drawings. Examining them, he
said, "Time enough for the Academy, my little
man ! go home mind your schooling try to make
a better drawing of the Apollo and in a month
come again and let me see it." The boy went
home sketched and worked with redoubled dili-
gence and, at the end of the month, called again
on the sculptor. The drawing was better; but
again Banks sent him back, with good advice, to
work and study. In a week the boy was again
at his door, his drawing much improved; and
Banks bid him be of good cheer, for if spared he
would distinguish himself. The boy was Mulready ;
and the sculptor's augury was amply fulfilled.
The fame of Claude Lorraine is partly explained
by his indefatigable industry. Born at Champagne,
CLAUDE LORRAINE [CHAP, vi
in Lorraine, of poor parents, he was first appren-
ticed to a pastry-cook. His brother, who was a
wood-carver, afterwards took him into his shop to
learn that trade. Having there shown indications
of artistic skill, a travelling dealer persuaded the
brother to allow Claude to accompany him to Italy.
He assented, and the young man reached Rome,
where he was shortly after engaged by Agostino
Tassi, the landscape painter, as his house-servant.
In that capacity Claude first learnt landscape paint-
ing, and in course of time he began to produce
pictures. We next find him making the tour of
Italy, France, and Germany, occasionally resting
by the way to paint landscapes, and thereby re-
plenish his purse. On returning to Rome he found
an increasing demand for his works, and his repu-
tation at length became European. He was un-
wearied in the study of nature in her various
aspects. It was his practice to spend a great part
of his time in closely copying buildings, bits of
ground, trees, leaves, and such like, which he
finished in detail, keeping the drawings by him
in store for the purpose of introducing them in his
studied landscapes. He also gave close attention
to the sky, watching it for whole days from morning
till night, and noting the various changes occa-
sioned by the passing clouds and the increasing
and waning light. By this constant practice he
acquired, although it is said very slowly, such a
mastery of hand and eye as eventually secured for
him the first rank among landscape painters.
Turner, who has been styled " the English
Claude," pursued a career of like laborious industry.
He was destined by his father for his own trade of
a barber, which he carried on in London, until one
CHAP, vi] TURNER 191
day the sketch which the boy had made of a coat of
arms on a silver salver having attracted the notice
of a customer whom his father was shaving, the
latter was urged to allow his son to follow his bias,
and he was eventually permitted to follow art as a
profession. Like all young artists, Turner had
many difficulties to encounter, and they were all
the greater that his circumstances were so strait-
ened. But he was always willing to work, and to
take pains with his work, no matter how humble
it might be. He was glad to hire himself out at
half-a-crown a night to wash in skies in Indian
ink upon other people's drawings, getting his supper
into the bargain. Thus he earned money and ac-
quired expertness. Then he took to illustrating
guide-books, almanacs, and any sort of books that
wanted cheap frontispieces. " What could I have
done better?" said he afterwards; "it was first-rate
practice." He did everything carefully and con-
scientiously, never slurring over his work because
he was ill-remunerated for it. He aimed at learning
as well as living ; always doing his best, and never
leaving a drawing without having made a step
in advance upon his previous work. A man who
thus laboured was sure to do much; and his
growth in power and grasp of thought was, to use
Ruskin's words, " as steady as the increasing light
of sunrise." But Turner's genius needs no pane-
gyric ; his best monument is the noble gallery of
pictures bequeathed by him to the nation, which
will ever be the most lasting memorial of his fame.
To reach Rome, the capital of the fine arts, is
usually the highest ambition of the art student.
But the journey to Rome is costly, and the student
is often poor. With a will resolute to overcome
192 FRANCOIS PERKIER [CHAP, vi
difficulties, Rome may, however, at last be reached.
Thus Francois Perrier, an early French painter, in
his eager desire to visit the Eternal City, consented
to act as guide to a blind vagrant. After long
wanderings he reached the Vatican, studied and
became famous. Not less enthusiasm was dis-
played by Jacques Callot in his determination to
visit Rome. Though opposed by his father in his
wish to be an artist, the boy would not be baulked,
but fled from home to make his way to Italy.
Having set out without means, he was soon
reduced to great straits ; but falling in with a band
of gipsies, he joined their company, and wandered
about with them from one fair to another, sharing
in their numerous adventures. During this remark-
able journey Callot picked up much of that extra-
ordinary knowledge of figure, feature, and character
which he afterwards reproduced, sometimes in such
exaggerated forms, in his wonderful engravings.
When Callot at length reached Florence, a
gentleman, pleased with his ingenious ardour,
placed him with an artist to study; but he was
not satisfied to stop short of Rome, and we find
him shortly on his way thither. At Rome he
made the acquaintance of Porigi and Thomassin,
who, on seeing his crayon sketches, predicted for
him a brilliant career as an artist. But a friend
of Callot's family having accidentally encountered
him, took steps to compel the fugitive to return
home. By this time he had acquired such a love
of wandering that he could not rest; so he ran
away a second time, and a second time he was
brought back by his elder brother, who caught
him at Turin. At last the father, seeing resistance
was in vain, gave his reluctant consent to Callot's
CHAP, vi] JACQUES CALLOT 193
prosecuting his studies at Rome. Thither he went
accordingly ; and this time he remained, diligently
studying design and engraving for several years,
under competent masters. On his way back to
France, he was encouraged by Cosmo II. to remain
at Florence, where he studied and worked for
several years more. On the death of his patron
he returned to his family at Nancy, where, by the
use of his burin and needle, he shortly acquired
both wealth and fame. When Nancy was taken
by siege during the civil war, Callot was requested
by Richelieu to make a design and engraving of
the event, but the artist would not commemorate
the disaster which had befallen his native place,
and he refused point-blank. Richelieu could not
shake his resolution, and threw him into prison.
There Callot met with some of his old friends
the gipsies, who had relieved his wants on his
first journey to Rome. When Louis XIII. heard
of his imprisonment, he not only released him,
but offered to grant him any favour he might ask.
Callot immediately requested that his old com-
panions, the gipsies, might be set free and per-
mitted to beg in Paris without molestation. This
odd request was granted on condition that Callot
should engrave their portraits, and hence his
curious book of engravings entitled ' The Beggars.'
Louis is said to have offered Callot a pension of
3,000 livres provided he would not leave Paris ;
but the artist was now too much of a Bohemian,
and prized his liberty too highly to permit him
to accept it; and he returned to Nancy, where he
worked till his death. His industry may be inferred
from the number of his engravings and etchings,
of which he left not fewer than 1,600. He was
13
194 BENVENUTO CELLINI [CHAP, vi
especially fond of grotesque subjects, which he
treated with great skill ; his free etchings, touched
with the graver, being executed with especial
delicacy and wonderful minuteness.
Still more romantic and adventurous was the
career of Benvenuto Cellini, the marvellous gold-
worker, painter, sculptor, engraver, engineer, and
author. His life, as told by himself, is one of the
most extraordinary autobiographies ever written.
Giovanni Cellini, his father, was one of the Court
musicians to Lorenzo de Medici at Florence; and
his highest ambition concerning his son Benvenuto
was that he should become an expert player on
the flute. But Giovanni, having lost his appoint-
ment, found it necessary to send his son to learn
some trade, and he was apprenticed to a goldsmith.
The boy had already displayed a love of drawing
and of art; and, applying himself to his business,
he soon became a dexterous workman. Having
got mixed up in a quarrel with some of the towns-
people, he was banished for six months, during
which period he worked with a goldsmith at Sienna,
gaining further experience in jewellery and gold-
working.
His father still insisting on his becoming a
flute-player, Benvenuto continued to practise on
the instrument, though he detested it. His chief
pleasure was in art, which he pursued with
enthusiasm. Returning to Florence, he carefully
studied the designs of Leonardo da Vinci and
Michael Angelo; and, still further to improve
himself in gold-working, he went on foot to Rome,
where he met with a variety of adventures. He
returned to Florence with the reputation of being
a most expert worker in the precious metals, and
CHAP. vi] HIS INDEFATIGABLE ACTIVITY 195
his skill was soon in great request. But being
of an irascible temper, he was constantly getting
into scrapes, and was frequently under the necessity
of flying for his life. Thus he fled from Florence
in the disguise of a friar, again taking refuge at
Sienna, and afterwards at Rome.
During his second residence in Rome, Cellini
met with extensive patronage, and he was taken
into the Pope's service in the double capacity of
goldsmith and musician. He was constantly study-
ing and improving himself by acquaintance with
the works of the best masters. He mounted jewels,
finished enamels, engraved seals, and designed and
executed works in gold, silver, and bronze, in such
a style as to excel all other artists. Whenever he
heard of a goldsmith who was famous in any
particular branch, he immediately determined to
surpass him. Thus it was that he rivalled the
medals of one, the enamels of another, and the
jewellery of a third ; in fact, there was not a branch
of his business that he did not feel impelled to
excel in.
Working in this spirit, it is not so wonderful
that Cellini should have been able to accomplish
so much. He was a man of indefatigable activity,
and was constantly on the move. At one time
we find him at Florence, at another at Rome ; then
he is at Mantua, at Rome, at Naples, and back
to Florence again ; then at Venice, and in Paris,
making all his long journeys on horseback. He
could not carry much luggage with him ; so,
wherever he went, he usually began by making
his own tools. He not only designed his works,
but executed them himself, hammered and carved,
and cast and shaped them with his own hands.
196 BENVENUTO CELLINI [CHAP, vi
Indeed, his works have the impress of genius so
clearly stamped upon them, that they could never
have been designed by one person and executed
by another. The humblest article a buckle for a
lady's girdle, a seal, a locket, a brooch, a ring, or
a button became in his hands a beautiful work
of art.
Cellini was remarkable for his readiness and
dexterity in handicraft. One day a surgeon entered
the shop of Raffaello del Moro, the goldsmith, to
perform an operation on his daughter's hand. On
looking at the surgeon's instruments, Cellini, who
was present, found them rude and clumsy, as they
usually were in those days, and he asked the
surgeon to proceed no further with the operation
for a quarter of an hour. He then ran to his shop,
and taking a piece of the finest steel, wrought
out of it a beautifully finished knife, with which
the operation was successfully performed.
Among the statues executed by Cellini, the
most important are the silver figure of Jupiter,
executed at Paris for Francis I., and the Perseus,
executed in bronze for the Grand Duke Cosmo
of Florence. He also executed statues in marble of
Apollo, Hyacinthus, Narcissus, and Neptune. The
extraordinary incidents connected with the casting
of the Perseus were peculiarly illustrative of the
remarkable character of the man.
The Grand Duke having expressed a decided
opinion that the model, when shown to him in wax,
could not possibly be cast in bronze, Cellini was
immediately stimulated by the predicted impossi-
bility, not only to attempt, but to do it. He first
made the clay model, baked it, and covered it with
wax, which he shaped into the perfect form of a
CHAP, vi] HIS STATUE OF PERSEUS 197
statue. Then coating the wax with a sort of earth,
he baked the second covering, during which the
wax dissolved and escaped, leaving the space
between the two layers for the reception of the
metal. To avoid disturbance, the latter process
was conducted in a pit dug immediately under
the furnace, from which the liquid metal was to
be introduced by pipes and apertures into the
mould prepared for it.
Cellini had purchased and laid in several loads
of pine-wood, in anticipation of the process of cast-
ing, which now began. The furnace was filled with
pieces of brass and bronze, and the fire was lit.
The resinous pine-wood was soon in such a furious
blaze, that the shop took fire, and part of the roof
was burnt ; while at the same time the wind blow-
ing and the rain falling on the furnace kept down
the heat, and prevented the metals from melting.
For hours Cellini struggled to keep up the heat,
continually throwing in more wood, until at length
he became so exhausted and ill, that he feared
he should die before the statue could be cast. He
was forced to leave to his assistants the pouring
in of the metal when melted, and betook himself
to his bed. While those about him were condoling
with him in his distress, a workman suddenly
entered the room, lamenting that " poor Ben-
venuto's work was irretrievably spoiled!" On
hearing this, Cellini immediately sprang from his
bed and rushed to the workshop, where he found
the fire so much gone down that the meta! had
again become hard.
Sending across to a neighbour for a load of
young oak which had been more than a year in
drying, he soon had the fire blazing again and
NICOLAS POUSSIN [CHAP, vi
the metal melting and glittering. The wind was,
however, still blowing with fury, and the rain fall-
ing heavily; so, to protect himself, Cellini had
some tables with pieces of tapestry and old clothes
brought to him, behind which he went on hurling
the wood into the furnace. A mass of pewter was
thrown in upon the other metal, and by stirring,
sometimes with iron and sometimes with long
poles, the whole soon became completely melted
At this juncture, when the trying moment was
close at hand, a terrible noise as of a thunderbolt
was heard, and a glittering of fire flashed before
Cellini's eyes. The cover of the furnace had
burst, and the metal began to flow ! Finding that
it did not run with the proper velocity, Cellini
rushed into the kitchen, bore away every piece
of copper and pewter that it contained some two
hundred porringers, dishes, and kettles of different
kinds and threw them into the furnace. Then
at length the metal flowed freely, and thus the
splendid statue of Perseus was cast.
The divine fury of genius in which Cellini
rushed to his kitchen and stripped it of its utensils
for the purposes of his furnace will remind the
reader of the like act of Palissy in breaking up
his furniture for the purpose of baking his earthen-
ware. Excepting, however, in their enthusiasm, no
two men could be less alike in character. Cellini
was an Ishmael against whom, according to his
own account, every man's hand was turned. But
about his extraordinary skill as a workman, and
his genius as an artist, there cannot be two
opinions.
Much less turbulent was the career of Nicolas
Poussin, a man as pure and elevated in his ideas
CHAP, vi] SETS OUT FOR PARIS 199
of art as he was in his daily life, and distinguished
alike for his vigour of intellect, his rectitude of
character, and his noble simplicity. He was born
in a very humble station, at Andeleys, near Rouen,
where his father kept a small school. The boy had
the benefit of his parent's instruction, such as it
was, but of that he is said to have been somewhat
negligent, preferring to spend his time in covering
his lesson-books and his slate with drawings. A
country painter, much pleased with his sketches,
besought his parents not to thwart him in his
tastes. The painter agreed to give Poussin lessons,
and he soon made such progress that his master
had nothing more to teach him. Becoming restless,
and desirous of further improving himself, Poussin,
at the age of eighteen, set out for Paris, painting
sign-boards on his way for a maintenance.
At Paris a new world of art opened before him,
exciting his wonder and stimulating his emulation.
He worked diligently in many studios, drawing,
copying, and painting pictures. After a time he
resolved, if possible, to visit Rome, and set out
on his journey ; but he only succeeded in getting
as far as Florence, and again returned to Paris.
A second attempt which he made to reach Rome
was even less successful; for this time he only
got as far as Lyons. He was, nevertheless, careful
to take advantage of all opportunities for improve-
ment which came in his way, and continued as
sedulous as before in studying and working.
Thus twelve years passed, years of obscurity
and toil, of failures and disappointments, and
probably of privations. At length Poussin suc-
ceeded in reaching Rome. There he diligently
studied the old masters, and especially the ancient
200 POUSSIN AND DUQUESNOI [CHAP, vi
statues, with whose perfection he was greatly
impressed. For some time he lived with the
sculptor Duquesnoi, as poor as himself, and assisted
him in modelling figures after the antique. With
him he carefully measured some of the most cele-
brated statues in Rome, more particularly the
1 Antinous ' : and it is supposed that this practice
exercised considerable influence on the formation
of his future style. At the same time he studied
anatomy, practised drawing from the life, and made
a great store of sketches of postures and attitudes
of people whom he met, carefully reading at his
leisure such standard books on art as he could
borrow from his friends.
During all this time he remained very poor,
satisfied to be continually improving himself. He
was glad to sell his pictures for whatever they
would bring. One, of a prophet, he sold for eight
livres ; and another, the ' Plague of the Philistines,'
he sold for 60 crowns a picture afterwards bought
by Cardinal de Richelieu for a thousand. To add
to his troubles, he was stricken by a cruel malady,
during the helplessness occasioned by which the
Chevalier del Posso assisted him with money. For
this gentleman Poussin afterwards painted the
' Rest in the Desert,' a fine picture, which far
more than repaid the advances made during his
illness.
The brave man went on toiling and learning
through suffering. Still aiming at higher things,
he went to Florence and Venice, enlarging the
range of his studies. The fruits of his conscientious
labour at length appeared in the series of great
pictures which he now began to produce, his
1 Death of Germanicus,' followed by ' Extreme
CHAP, vi] POUSSIN RETURNS TO PARIS 201
Unction,' the ' Testament of Eudamidas/ the
'Manna/ and the 'Abduction of the Sabines.'
The reputation of Poussin, however, grew but
slowly. He was of a retiring disposition and
shunned society. People gave him credit for being
a thinker much more than a painter. When not
actually employed in painting, he took long solitary
walks in the country, meditating the designs of
future pictures. One of his few friends while at
Rome was Claude Lorraine, with whom he spent
many hours at a time on the terrace of La Trinite-
du-Mont, conversing about art and antiquarianism.
The monotony and the quiet of Rome were suited
to his taste, and, provided he could earn a moderate
living by his brush, he had no wish to leave it.
But his fame now extended beyond Rome, and
repeated invitations were sent him to return to
Paris. He was offered the appointment of principal
painter to the King. At first he hesitated ; quoted
the Italian proverb, Chi sta bene non si muove ; said
he had lived fifteen years in Rome, married a
wife there, and looked forward to dying and being
buried there. Urged again, he consented, and re-
turned to Paris. But his appearance there awakened
much professional jealousy, and he soon wished
himself back in Rome again. While in Paris he
painted some of his greatest works his 'Saint
Xavier,' the ' Baptism/ and the ' Last Supper.' He
was kept constantly at work. At first he did what-
ever he was asked to do, such as designing frontis-
pieces for the royal books, more particularly a
Bible and a Virgil, cartoons for the Louvre, and
designs for tapestry; but at length he expostu-
lated : " It is impossible for me," he said to
M. de Chanteloup, " to work at the same time at
202 ARY SCHEFFER [CHAP, vi
frontispieces for books, at a Virgin, at a picture
of the Congregation of St. Louis, at the various
designs for the gallery, and, finally, at designs for
the royal tapestry. I have only one pair of hands
and a feeble head, and can neither be helped nor
can my labours be lightened by another."
Annoyed by the enemies his success had
provoked and whom he was unable to conciliate,
he determined, at the end of less than two years'
labour in Paris, to return to Rome. Again settled
there in his humble dwelling on Mont Pincio, he
employed himself diligently in the practice of his
art during the remaining years of his life, living
in great simplicity and privacy. Though suffering
much from the disease which afflicted him, he
solaced himself by study, always striving after
excellence. " In growing old," he said, " I feel
myself becoming more and more inflamed with the
desire of surpassing myself and reaching the highest
degree of perfection." Thus toiling, struggling,
and suffering, Poussin spent his later years. He
had no children ; his wife died before him ; all his
friends were gone : so that in his old age he was
left absolutely alone in Rome, so full of tombs, and
died there in 1665, bequeathing to his relatives at
Andeleys the savings of his life, amounting to
about 1,000 crowns; and leaving behind him, as a
legacy to his race, the great works of his genius.
The career of Ary Scheffer furnishes one of the
best examples in modern times of a like high-minded
devotion to art. Born at Dordrecht, the son of
a German artist, he early manifested an aptitude
for drawing and painting, which his parents en-
couraged. His father dying while he was still
young, his mother resolved, though her means
CHAP, vi] HIS DEVOTION TO ART 203
were but small, to remove the family to Paris, in
order that her son might obtain the best oppor-
tunities for instruction. There young Scheffer was
placed with Guerin the painter. But his mother's
means were too limited to permit him to devote
himself exclusively to study. She had sold the
few jewels she possessed, and refused herself every
indulgence, in order to forward the instruction of
her other children. Under such circumstances, it
was natural that Ary should wish to help her ; and
by the time he was eighteen years of age he began
to paint small pictures of simple subjects, which
met with a ready sale at moderate prices. He also
practised portrait painting, at the same time gather-
ing experience and earning honest money. He
gradually improved in drawing, colouring, and
composition. The ' Baptism ' marked a new epoch
in his career, and from that point he went on ad-
vancing, until his fame culminated in his pictures
illustrative of ' Faust,' his ' Francesca da Rimini,'
'Christ the Consoler,' the 'Holy Women,' 'St.
Monica and St. Augustin,' and many other noble
works.
" The amount of labour, thought, and attention,"
says Mrs. Grote, "which Scheffer brought to the
production of the ' Francesca,' must have been
enormous. In truth, his technical education having
been so imperfect, he was forced to climb the steep
of art by drawing upon his own resources, and
thus, whilst his hand was at work, his mind was
engaged in meditation. He had to try various
processes of handling, and experiments in colour-
ing; to paint and repaint, with tedious and un-
remitting assiduity. But Nature had endowed him
with that which proved in some sort an equivalent
204 JOHN FLAXMAN [CHAP, vi
for shortcomings of a professional kind. His own
elevation of character, and his profound sensibility,
aided him in acting upon the feelings of others
through the medium of the pencil." *
One of the artists whom Scheffer most admired
was Flaxman ; and he once said to a friend, " If I
have unconsciously borrowed from any one in the
design of the ' Francesca,' it must have been from
something I had seen among Flaxman's drawings."
John Flaxman was the son of a humble seller of
plaster casts in New Street, Covent Garden.
When a child, he was such an invalid that it was
his custom to sit behind his father's shop counter
propped by pillows, amusing himself with drawing
and reading. A benevolent clergyman, the Rev.
Mr. Matthews, calling at the shop one day, saw
the boy trying to read a book, and, on inquiring
what it was, found it to be a Cornelius Nepos,
which his father had picked up for a few pence at
a bookstall. The gentleman, after some conversa-
tion with the boy, said that was not the proper
book for him to read, but that he would bring him
one. The next day he called with translations of
Homer and 'Don Quixote,' which the boy pro-
ceeded to read with great avidity. His mind was
soon filled with the heroism which breathed
through the pages of the former, and, with the
stucco Ajaxes and Achilleses about him, ranged
along the shop shelves, the ambition took pos-
session of him, that he too would design and
embody in poetic forms those majestic heroes.
Like all youthful efforts, his first designs were
crude. The proud father one day showed some of
them to Roubilliac the sculptor, who turned from
* Mrs. Grote's ' Memoir of the Life of Ary Scheffer,' p. 67.
CHAP, vi] HIS FIRST COMMISSION 205
them with a contemptuous " pshaw ! " But the boy
had the right stuff in him ; he had industry and
patience ; and he continued to labour incessantly
at his books and drawings. He then tried his
young powers in modelling figures in plaster of
Paris, wax, and clay. Some of these early works
are still preserved, not because of their merit, but
because they are curious as the first healthy efforts
of patient genius. It was long before the boy
could walk, and he only learnt to do so by hobbling
along upon crutches. At length he became strong
enough to walk without them.
The kind Mr. Matthews invited him to his house,
where his wife explained Homer and Milton to
him. They helped him also in his self-culture
giving him lessons in Greek and Latin, the study
of whkh he prosecuted at home. By dint of
patience and perseverance, his drawing improved
so much that he obtained a commission from a
lady to execute six original drawings in black
chalk of subjects in Homer. His first commission !
What an event in the artist's life ! A surgeon's
first fee, a lawyer's first retainer, a legislator's first
speech, a singer's first appearance behind the foot-
lights, an author's first book, are not any of them
more full of interest to the aspirant for fame than
the artist's first commission. The boy at once
proceeded to execute the order, and he was both
well praised and well paid for his work.
At fifteen Flaxman entered a pupil at the Royal
Academy. Notwithstanding his retiring disposi-
tion, he soon became known among the students,
and great things were expected of him. Nor were
their expectations disappointed : in his fifteenth
year he gained the silver prize, and next year he
206 JOHN FLAXMAN [CHAP. VI
became a candidate for the gold one. Everybody
prophesied that he would carry off the medal, for
there was none who surpassed him in ability and
industry. Yet he lost it, and the gold medal was
adjudged to a pupil who was not afterwards heard
of. This failure on the part of the youth was
really of service to him ; for defeats do not long
cast down the resolute-hearted, but only serve to
call forth their real powers. " Give me time," said
he to his father, " and I will yet produce works
that the Academy will be proud to recognize." He
redoubled his efforts, spared no pains, designed and
modelled incessantly, and made steady if not rapid
progress. But meanwhile poverty threatened his
father's household ; the plaster-cast trade yielded
a very bare living ; and young Flaxman, with reso-
lute self-denial, curtailed his hours of study, and
devoted himself to helping his father in the humble
details of his business. He laid aside his Homer
to take up the plaster-trowel. He was willing to
work in the humblest department of the trade so
that his father's family might be supported, and the
wolf kept from the door. To this drudgery of his
art he served a long apprenticeship ; but it did him
good. It familiarized him with steady work, and
cultivated in him the spirit of patience. The dis-
cipline may have been hard, but it was wholesome.
Happily, young Flaxman's skill in design had
reached the knowledge of Josiah Wedgwood, who
sought him out for the purpose of employing him
to design improved patterns of china and earthen-
ware. It may seem a humble department of art
for such a genius as Flaxman to work in ; but it
really was not so. An artist may be labouring
truly in his vocation while designing a common
CHAP, vi] EMPLOYED BY WEDGWOOD 207
teapot or water-jug. Articles in daily use amongst
the people, which are before their eyes at every
meal, may be made the vehicles of education to
all, and minister to their highest culture. The
most ambitious artist may thus confer a greater
practical benefit on his countrymen than by exe-
cuting an elaborate work which he may sell for
thousands of pounds to be placed in some wealthy
man's gallery, where it is hidden away from public
sight. Before Wedgwood's time the designs which
figured upon our china and stoneware were hideous
both in drawing and execution, and he determined
to improve both. Flaxman did his best to carry
out the manufacturer's views. He supplied him
from time to time with models and designs of
various pieces of earthenware, the subjects of
which were principally from ancient verse and
history. Many of them are still in existence, and
some are equal in beauty and simplicity to his
after designs for marble. The celebrated Etruscan
vases, specimens of which were to be found in
public museums and in the cabinets of the curious,
furnished him with the best examples of form,
and these he embellished with his own elegant
device. Stuart's ' Athens,' then recently published,
furnished him with specimens of the purest-shaped
Greek utensils; of these he adopted the best,
and worked them into shapes of elegance and
beauty. Flaxman then saw that he was labouring
in a great work no less than the promotion of
popular education ; and he was proud, in after
life, to allude to his early labours in this walk,
by which he was enabled at the same time to
cultivate his love of the beautiful, to diffuse a
taste, for art among the people, and to replenish
208 FLAXMAN'S MARRIAGE [CHAP, vi
his own purse, while he promoted the prosperity
of his friend and benefactor.
At length, in the year 1782, when twenty-seven
years of age, he quitted his father's roof and rented
a small house and studio in Wardour Street, Soho ;
and what was more, he married Ann Denman was
the name of his wife and a cheerful, bright-souled,
noble woman she was. He believed that in marry-
ing her he should be able to work with an intenser
spirit ; for, like him, she had a taste for poetry and
art; and besides was an enthusiastic admirer
of her husband's genius. Yet when Sir Joshua
Reynolds himself a bachelor met Flaxman shortly
after his marriage, he said to him, " So, Flaxman, I
am told you are married ; if so, sir, I tell you you
are ruined for an artist." Flaxman went straight
home, sat down beside his wife, took her hand in
his, and said, "Ann, I am ruined for an artist."
" How so, John ? How has it happened ? and who
has done it?" "It happened," he replied, "in the
church, and Ann Denman has done it." He then
told her of Sir Joshua's remark whose opinion
was well known, and had often been expressed,
that if students would excel they must bring the
whole powers of their mind to bear upon their
art, from the moment they rose until they went
to bed ; and also, that no man could be a great
artist unless he studied the grand works of RafTaelle,
Michael Angelo, and others, at Rome and Florence.
" And I," said Flaxman, drawing up his little figure
to its full height, "/would be a great artist." " And
a great artist you shall be," said his wife, "and
visit Rome too, if that be really necessary to make
you great." " But how ? " asked Flaxman. " Work
and economize" rejoined the brave wife ; " I will
CHAP, vi] FLAXMAN AND HIS WIFE 209
never have it said that Ann Denman ruined John
Flaxman for an artist." And so it was determined
by the pair that the journey to Rome was to be
made when their means would admit. " I will
go to Rome," said Flaxman, " and show the President
that wedlock is for a man's good rather than his
harm ; and you, Ann, shall accompany me."
Patiently and happily the affectionate couple
plodded on during five years in their humble little
home in Wardour Street, always with the long
journey to Rome before them. It was never lost
sight of for a moment, and not a penny was
uselessly spent that could be saved towards the
necessary expenses. They said no word to any one
about their project ; solicited no aid from the
Academy, but trusted only to their own patient
labour and love to pursue and achieve their object.
During this time Flaxman exhibited very few works.
He could not afford marble to experiment in
original designs ; but he obtained frequent com-
missions for monuments, by the profits of which
he maintained himself. He still worked for
Wedgwood, who was a prompt paymaster ; and,
on the whole, he was thriving, happy, and hopeful.
His local respectability was even such as to bring
local honours and local work upon him ; for he
was elected by the ratepayers to collect the watch-
rate for the Parish of St. Anne, when he might
be seen going about with an ink-bottle suspended
from his button-hole, collecting the money.
At length Flaxman and his wife, having accumu-
lated a sufficient store of savings, set out for Rome.
Arrived there, he applied himself diligently to
study, maintaining himself, like other poor artists,
by making copies from the antique. English visitors
14
2io FLAXMAN AT ROME [CHAP, vi
sought his studio, and gave him commissions ; and
it was then that he composed his beautiful designs
illustrative of Homer, ^schylus, and Dante. The
price paid for them was moderate only fifteen
shillings a-piece ; but Flaxman worked for art as
well as money ; and the beauty of the designs
brought him other friends and patrons. He executed
'Cupid and Aurora' for the munificent Thomas Hope,
and the ' Fury of Athamas ' for the Earl of Bristol.
He then prepared to return to England, his taste
improved and cultivated by careful study; but
before he left Italy the Academies of Florence
and Carrara recognized his merit by electing him
a member.
His fame preceded him to London, where he
soon found abundant employment. While at Rome
he had been commissioned to execute his famous
monument in memory of Lord Mansfield, and it
was erected in the north transept of Westminster
Abbey shortly after his return. It stands there
in majestic grandeur, a monument to the genius
of Flaxman himself calm, simple, and severe. No
wonder that Banks, the sculptor, then in the heyday
of his fame, exclaimed when he saw it, " This little
man cuts us all out ! "
When the members of the Royal Academy
heard of Flaxman's return, and especially when
they had an opportunity of seeing and admiring
his portrait-statue of Mansfield, they were eager
to have him enrolled among their number. He
allowed his name to be proposed in the candidates'
list of associates, and was immediately elected.
Shortly after, he appeared in an entirely new
character. The little boy who had begun his
studies behind the plaster-cast-seller's shop-counter
CHAP, vi] FRANCIS CHANTREY 211
in New Street, Covent Garden, was now a man
of high intellect and recognized supremacy in art,
to instruct students, in the character of Professor
of Sculpture to the Royal Academy ! And no man
better deserved to fill that distinguished office ;
for none is so able to instruct others as he who,
for himself and by his own efforts, has learnt to
grapple with and overcome difficulties.
After a long, peaceful, and happy life, Flaxman
found himself growing old. The loss which he
sustained by the death of his affectionate wife Ann
was a severe shock to him ; but he survived her
several years, during which he executed his cele-
brated 'Shield of Achilles,' and his noble 'Arch-
angel Michael vanquishing Satan,' perhaps his
two greatest works.
Chantrey was a more robust man ; somewhat
rough, but hearty in his demeanour ; proud of his
successful struggle with the difficulties which beset
him in early life ; and, above all, proud of his
independence. He was born a poor man's child,
at Norton, near Sheffield. His father dying when
he was a mere boy, his mother married again.
Young Chantrey used to drive an ass laden with
milk-cans across its back into the neighbouring
town of Sheffield, and there serve his mother's
customers with milk. Such was the humble be-
ginning of his industrial career ; and it was by
his own strength that he rose from that position,
and achieved the highest eminence as an artist.
Not taking kindly to his step-father, the boy was
sent to trade, and was first placed with a grocer
in Sheffield. The business was very distasteful
to him ; but, passing a carver's shop window one
day, his eye was attracted by the glittering articles
212 FRANCIS CHANTREY [CHAP. VI
it contained, and, charmed with the idea of being
a carver, he begged to be released from the grocery
business with that object. His friends consented,
and he was bound apprentice to the carver and
gilder for seven years. His new master, besides
being a carver in wood, was also a dealer in prints
and plaster models ; and Chantrey at once set
about imitating both, studying with great industry
and energy. All his spare hours were devoted to
drawing, modelling, and self-improvement, and he
often carried his labours far into the night. Before
his apprenticeship was out at the age of twenty-
one he paid over to his master the whole wealth
which he was able to muster a sum of $o/. to
cancel his indentures, determined to devote himself
to the career of an artist. He then made the best
of his way to London, and with characteristic
good sense sought employment as an assistant
carver, studying painting and modelling at his bye-
hours. Among the jobs on which he was first em-
ployed as a journeyman carver was the decoration
of the dining-room of Mr. Rogers, the poet a room
in which he was in after years a welcome visitor ;
and he usually took pleasure in pointing out his
early handiwork to the guests whom he met at
his friend's table.
Returning to Sheffield on a professional visit,
he advertised himself in the local papers as a
painter of portraits in crayons and miniatures, and
also in oil. For his first crayon portrait he was
paid a guinea by a cutler ; and for a portrait in
oil a confectioner paid him as much as 5/. and a
pair of top boots ! Chantrey was soon in London
again to study at the Royal Academy; and next
time he returned to Sheffield he advertised himself
CHAP, vi] CARVER AND SCULPTOR 213
as ready to model plaster busts of his townsmen,
as well as paint portraits of them. He was even
selected to design a monument to a deceased vicar
of the town, and executed it to the general satis-
faction. When in London he used a room over
a stable as a studio, and there he modelled his
first original work for exhibition. It was a gigantic
head of Satan. Towards the close of Chantrey's
life, a friend passing through his studio was struck
by this model lying in a corner. " That head,"
said the sculptor, "was the first thing that I did
after I came to London. I worked at it in a garret
with a paper cap on my head ; and as I could then
afford only one candle, I stuck that one in my cap
that it might move along with me, and give me
light whichever way I turned." Flaxman saw and
admired this head at the Academy Exhibition, and
recommended Chantrey for the execution of the
busts of four admirals, required for the Naval
Asylum at Greenwich. This commission led to
others, and painting was given up. But for eight
years before he had not earned 5/. by his model-
ling. His famous head of Home Tooke was such
a success that, according to his own account, it
brought him commissions amounting to i2,ooo/.
Chantrey had now succeeded, but he had worked
hard, and fairly earned his good fortune. He
was selected from amongst sixteen competitors to
execute the statue of George III. for the city of
London. A few years later he produced the ex-
quisite monument of the ' Sleeping Children,' now
in Lichfield Cathedral, a work of great tenderness
and beauty ; and thenceforward his career was one
of increasing honour, fame, and prosperity. His
patience, industry, and steady perseverance were
2i 4 DAVID WILKIE [CHAP, vi
the means by which he achieved his greatness.
Nature endowed him with genius, and his sound
sense enabled him to employ the precious gift as
a blessing. He was prudent and shrewd, like the
men amongst whom he was born ; the pocket-book
which accompanied him on his Italian tour contain-
ing mingled notes on art, records of daily expenses,
and the current prices of marble. His tastes were
simple, and he made his finest subjects great by
the mere force of simplicity. His statue of Watt,
in Handsworth church, seems to us the very con-
summation of art ; yet it is perfectly artless and
simple. His generosity to brother artists in need
was splendid, but quiet and unostentatious. He
left the principal part of his fortune to the Royal
Academy for the promotion of British art.
The same honest and persistent industry was
throughout distinctive of the career of David
Wilkie. The son of a Scotch minister, he gave
early indications of an artistic turn ; and though
he was a negligent and inapt scholar, he was a
sedulous drawer of faces and figures. A silent boy,
he already displayed that quiet, concentrated energy
of character which distinguished him through life.
He was always on the look-out for an opportunity
to draw, and the walls of the manse, or the smooth
sand by the river side, were alike convenient for
his purpose. Any sort of tool would serve him ;
like Giotto, he found a pencil in a burnt stick,
a prepared canvas in any smooth stone, and the
subject for a picture in every ragged mendicant he
met. When he visited a house, he generally left
his mark on the walls as an indication of his
presence, sometimes to the disgust of cleanly house-
wives. In short, notwithstanding the aversion
CHAP, vi] HIS INDUSTRY 215
of his father, the minister, to the "sinful" pro-
fession of painting, Wilkie's strong propensity was
not to be thwarted, and he became an artist, work-
ing his way manfully up the steep of difficulty.
Though rejected on his first application as a
candidate for admission to the Scottish Academy,
at Edinburgh, on account of the rudeness and in-
accuracy of his introductory specimens, he per-
severed in producing better, until he was admitted.
But his progress was slow. He applied himself
diligently to the drawing of the human figure, and
held on with the determination to succeed, as if
with a resolute confidence in the result. He dis-
played none of the eccentric humour and fitful
application of many youths who conceive them-
selves geniuses, but kept up the routine of steady
application to such an extent that he himself was
afterwards accustomed to attribute his success to
his dogged perseverance rather than to any higher
innate power. " The single element," he said, " in
all the progressive movements of my pencil was
persevering industry." At Edinburgh he gained
a few premiums, thought of turning his attention
to portrait painting, with a view to its higher and
more certain remuneration, but eventually went
boldly into the line in which he earned his fame,
and painted his ' Pitlessie Fair.' What was
bolder still, he determined to proceed to London,
on account of its presenting so much wider a
field for study and work; and the poor Scotch
lad arrived in town, and painted his ' Village
Politicians ' while living in a humble lodging on
eighteen shillings a week.
Notwithstanding the success of this picture, and
the commissions which followed it, Wilkie long
216 DAVID WILKIE [CHAP, vi
continued poor. The prices which his works
realized were not great, for he bestowed upon them
so much time and labour that his earnings con-
tinued comparatively small for many years. Every
picture was carefully studied and elaborated before-
hand ; nothing was struck off at a heat ; many
occupied him for years touching, retouching, and
improving them until they finally passed out of
his hands. As with Reynolds, his motto was
" Work ! work ! work ! " and, like him, he expressed
great dislike for talking artists. Talkers may sow,
but the silent reap. " Let us be doing something,"
was his oblique mode of rebuking the loquacious
and admonishing the idle. He once related to his
friend Constable that when he studied at the
Scottish Academy, Graham, the master of it, was
accustomed to say to the students, in the words of
Reynolds, " If you have genius, industry will im-
prove it; if you have none, industry will supply
its place." " So," said Wilkie, " I was determined
to be very industrious, for I knew I had no genius."
He also told Constable that when Linnell and
Burnett, his fellow-students in London, were talking
about art, he always contrived to get as close to
them as he could to hear all they said, " for," said
he, " they know a great deal, and I know very
little." This was said with perfect sincerity, for
Wilkie was habitually modest. One of the first
things that he did with the sum of thirty pounds
which he obtained from Lord Mansfield for his
1 Village Politicians ' was to buy a present of
bonnets, shawls, and dresses for his mother and
sister at home, though but little able to afford it
at the time. Wilkie's early poverty had trained him
in habits of strict economy, which were, however,
CHAP, vi] WILLIAM ETTY 217
consistent with a noble liberality, as appears from
sundry passages in the 'Autobiography of Abraham
Raimbach,' the engraver.
William Etty was another notable instance of
unflagging industry and indomitable perseverance
in art. His father was a gingerbread and spice-
maker at York, and his mother a woman of con-
siderable force and originality of character was
the daughter of a ropemaker. The boy early dis-
played a love of drawing, covering walls, floors,
and tables with specimens of his skill ; his first
crayon being a farthing's worth of chalk, and this
giving place to a piece of coal or a bit of charred
stick. His mother knowing nothing of art, put
the boy apprentice to a trade that of a printer.
But in his leisure hours he went on with the
practice of drawing; and when his time was out
he determined to follow his bent he would be a
painter and nothing else. Fortunately his uncle
and elder brother were able and willing to help
him in his new career, and they provided him with
the means of entering as pupil at the Royal
Academy. We observe, from Leslie's Autobio-
graphy, that Etty was looked upon by his fellow-
students as a worthy but dull, plodding person,
who would never distinguish himself. But he had
in him the divine faculty of work, and diligently
plodded his way upward to eminence in the highest
walks of art.
Many artists have had to encounter privations
which have tried their courage and endurance to
the uttermost before they succeeded. What number
may have sunk under them we can never know.
Martin encountered difficulties in the course of his
career such as perhaps fall to the lot of few. More
2i8 MARTIN PUGIN [CHAP, vi
than once he found himself on the verge of starva-
tion while engaged on his first great picture. It
is related of him that on one occasion he found
himself reduced to his last shilling a bright shilling
which he had kept because of its very brightness,
but at length he found it necessary to exchange
it for bread. He went to a baker's shop, bought
a loaf, and was taking it away, when the baker
snatched it from him, and tossed back the shilling
to the starving painter. The bright shilling had
failed him in his hour of need it was a bad
one ! Returning to his lodgings, he rummaged
his trunk for some remaining crust to satisfy
his hunger. Upheld throughout by the victorious
power of enthusiasm, he pursued his design with
unsubdued energy. He had the courage to work
on and to wait; and when, a few days after, he
found an opportunity to exhibit his picture, he was
from that time famous. Like many other great
artists, his life proves that, in despite of outward
circumstances, genius, aided by industry, will be its
own protector, and that fame, though she comes
late, will never ultimately refuse her favour to real
merit.
The most careful discipline and training after
academic methods will fail in making an artist,
unless he himself take an active part in the work.
Like every highly cultivated man, he must be
mainly self-educated. When Pugin, who was
brought up in his father's office, had learnt all
that he could learn of architecture according to
the usual formulas, he still found that he had
learned but little ; and that he must begin at
the beginning, and pass through the discipline of
labour. Young Pugin accordingly hired himself
CHAP, vi] GEORGE KEMP 219
out as a common carpenter at Covent Garden
Theatre first working under the stage, then behind
the flys, then upon the stage itself. He thus ac-
quired a familiarity with work, and cultivated an
architectural taste, to which the diversity of the
mechanical employment about a large operatic
establishment is peculiarly favourable. When the
theatre closed for the season, he worked a sailing-
ship between London and some French ports,
carrying on at the same time a profitable trade.
At every opportunity he would land and make
drawings of any old building, and especially of any
ecclesiastical structure which fell in his way. After-
wards he would make special journeys to the
Continent for the same purpose, and return
home laden with drawings. Thus he plodded
and laboured on, making sure of the excellence
and distinction which he eventually achieved.
A similar illustration of plodding industry in the
same walk is presented in the career of George
Kemp, the architect of the beautiful Scott Monu-
ment at Edinburgh. He was the son of a poor
shepherd, who pursued his calling on the southern
slope of the Pentland Hills. Amidst that pastoral
solitude the boy had no opportunity of enjoying
the contemplation of works of art. It happened,
however, that in his tenth year he was sent on
a message to Roslin, by the farmer for whom his
father herded sheep, and the sight of the beautiful
castle and chapel there seems to have made a vivid
and enduring impression on his mind. Probably
to enable him to indulge his love of architectural
construction, the boy besought his father to let
him be a joiner ; and he was accordingly put
apprentice to a neighbouring village carpenter.
220 GEORGE KEMP [CHAP, vi
Having served his time, he went to Galashiels to
seek work. As he was plodding along the valley
of the Tweed with his tools upon his back, a
carriage overtook him near Elibank Tower; and
the coachman, doubtless at the suggestion of his
master, who was seated inside, having asked the
youth how far he had to walk, and learning that
he was on his way to Galashiels, invited him to
mount the box beside him, and thus to ride thither.
It turned out that the kindly gentleman inside was
no other than Sir Walter Scott, then travelling on
his official duty as Sheriff of Selkirkshire. Whilst
working at Galashiels, Kemp had frequent oppor-
tunities of visiting Melrose, Dryburgh, and Jedburgh
Abbeys, which he studied carefully. Inspired by
his love of architecture, he worked his way as a
carpenter over the greater part of the North of
England, never omitting an opportunity of in-
specting and making sketches of any fine Gothic
building. On one occasion, when working in
Lancashire, he walked fifty miles to York, spent
a week in carefully examining the Minster, and
returned in like manner on foot. We next find
him in Glasgow, where he remained four years,
studying the fine cathedral there during his spare
time. He returned to England again, this time
working his way farther south ; studying Canter-
bury, Winchester, Tintern, and other well-known
structures. In 1824 he formed the design of
travelling over Europe with the same object, sup-
porting himself by his trade. Reaching Boulogne,
he proceeded by Abbeville and Beauvais to Paris,
spending a few weeks making drawings and
studies at each place. His skill as a mechanic, and
especially his knowledge of mill-work, readily
CHAP. VI] HIS UNTIMELY DEATH 221
secured him employment wherever he went ; and
he usually chose the site of his employment in the
neighbourhood of some fine old Gothic structure,
in studying which he occupied his leisure. After
a year's working, travel, and study abroad, he re-
turned to Scotland. He continued his studies, and
became a proficient in drawing and perspective :
Melrose was his favourite ruin, and he produced
several elaborate drawings of the building, one of
which, exhibiting it in a " restored " state, was
afterwards engraved. He also obtained employ-
ment as a modeller of architectural designs, and
made drawings for a work begun by an Edinburgh
engraver, after the plan of Britton's ' Cathedral
Antiquities.' This was a task congenial to his
tastes, and he laboured at it with an enthusiasm
which ensured its rapid advance ; walking on foot
for the purpose over half Scotland, and living as
an ordinary mechanic, whilst executing drawings
which would have done credit to the best masters
in the art. The projector of the work having died
suddenly, the publication was however stopped,
and Kemp sought other employment. Few knew
of the genius of this man for he was exceedingly
taciturn and habitually modest when the com-
mittee of the Scott Monument offered a prize for
the best design. The competitors were numerous
including some of the greatest names in classical
architecture ; but the design unanimously selected
was that of George Kemp, who was working at
Kilwinning Abbey in Ayrshire, many miles off,
when the letter reached him intimating the decision
of the committee. Poor Kemp ! Shortly after this
event he met an untimely death, and did not live
to see the first result of his indefatigable industry
222 GIBSON THORBURN [CHAP, vi
and self-culture embodied in stone, one of the
most beautiful and appropriate memorials ever
erected to literary genius.
John Gibson was another artist full of a genuine
enthusiasm and love for his art, which placed him
high above those sordid temptations which urge
meaner natures to make time the measure of profit.
He was born at Gyffn, near Conway, in North
Wales the son of a gardener. He early showed
indications of his talent by the carvings in wood
which he made by means of a common pocket
knife; and his father, noting the direction of his
talent, sent him to Liverpool and bound him
apprentice to a cabinet-maker and wood-carver.
He rapidly improved at his trade, and some of his
carvings were much admired. He was thus
naturally led to sculpture, and when eighteen years
old he modelled a small figure of Time in wax,
which attracted considerable notice. The Messrs.
Franceys, sculptors, of Liverpool, having purchased
the boy's indentures, took him as their apprentice
for six years, during which his genius displayed
itself in many original works. From thence he
proceeded to London, and afterwards to Rome ;
and his fame became European.
Robert Thorburn, the Royal Academician, like
John Gibson, was born of poor parents. His
father was a shoemaker at Dumfries. Besides
Robert there were two other sons ; one of whom
is a skilful carver in wood. One day a lady called
at the shoemaker's and found Robert, then a mere
boy, engaged in drawing upon a stool which served
him for a table. She examined his work, and,
observing -his abilities, interested herself in ob-
taining for him some employment in drawing, and
CHAP, vi] NOEL PATON 223
enlisted in his behalf the services of others who
could assist him in prosecuting the study of art.
The boy was diligent, painstaking, staid, and silent,
mixing little with his companions, and forming
but few intimacies. About the year 1830, some
gentlemen of the town provided him with the
means of proceeding to Edinburgh, where he was
admitted a student at the Scottish Academy. There
he had the advantage of studying under competent
masters, and the progress which he made was rapid.
From Edinburgh he removed to London, where,
we understand, he had the advantage of being in-
troduced to notice under the patronage of the Duke
of Buccleuch. We need scarcely say, however,
that of whatever use patronage may have been to
Thorburn in giving him an introduction to the
best circles, patronage of no kind could have made
him the great artist that he unquestionably is,
without native genius and diligent application.
Noel Paton, the well-known painter, began
his artistic career at Dunfermline and Paisley, as
a drawer of patterns for table-cloths and muslin
embroidered by hand : meanwhile working dili-
gently at higher subjects, including the drawing
of the human figure. He was, like Turner, ready
to turn his hand to any kind of work, and in 1840,
when a mere youth, we find him engaged, among
his other labours, in illustrating the ' Renfrewshire
Annual.' He worked his way step by step, slowly
yet surely; but he remained unknown until the
exhibition of the prize cartoons painted for the
houses of Parliament, when his picture of the
1 Spirit of Religion ' (for which he obtained one of
the first prizes) revealed him to the world as a
genuine artist ; and the works which he has since
224 JAMES SHARPLES [CHAP, vi
exhibited such as the ' Reconciliation of Oberon
and Titania,' 'Home,' and 'The Bluidy Tryste*
have shown a steady advance in artistic power
and culture.
Another striking exemplification of perseverance
and industry in the cultivation of art in humble life
is presented in the career of James Sharpies, a
working blacksmith at Blackburn. He was born
at Wakefield in Yorkshire, in 1825, one of a family
of thirteen children. His father was a working
ironfounder, and removed to Bury to follow his
business. The boys received no school education,
but were all sent to work as soon as they were
able; and at about ten James was placed in a
foundry, where he was employed for about two
years as smithy-boy. After that he was sent into
the engine-shop where his father worked as engine-
smith. The boy's employment was to heat and
carry rivets for the boiler-makers. Though his
hours of labour were very long often from six
in the morning until eight at night his father
contrived to give him some little teaching after
working hours ; and it was thus that he partially
learned his letters. An incident occurred in the
course of his employment among the boiler-makers
which first awakened in him the desire to learn
drawing. He had occasionally been employed by
the foreman to hold the chalked line with which he
made the designs of boilers upon the floor of the
workshop ; and on such occasions the foreman was
accustomed to hold the line, and direct the boy
to make the necessary dimensions. James soon
became so expert at this as to be of considerable
service to the foreman ; and in his leisure hours
at home his great delight was to practise drawing
CHAP, vi] PRACTISES DRAWING 225
designs of boilers upon his mother's floor. On
one occasion, when a female relative was expected
from Manchester to pay the family a visit, and
the house had been made as decent as possible for
her reception, the boy, on coming in from the
foundry in the evening, began his usual operations
upon the floor. He had proceeded some way with
his design of a large boiler in chalk, when his
mother arrived with the visitor, and to her dismay
found the boy unwashed and the floor chalked all
over. The relative, however, professed to be
pleased with the boy's industry, praised his design,
and recommended his mother to provide " the little
sweep," as she called him, with paper and pencils.
Encouraged by his elder brother, he began to
practise figure and landscape drawing, making
copies of lithographs, but as yet without any know-
ledge of the rules of perspective and the principles
of light and shade. He worked on, however, and
gradually acquired expertness in copying. At
sixteen he entered the Bury Mechanics' Institution
in order to attend the drawing class, taught by an
amateur who followed the trade of a barber.
There he had a lesson a week during three months.
The teacher recommended him to obtain from the
library Burnet's ' Practical Treatise on Painting ' ;
but as he could not yet read with ease, he was
under the necessity of getting his mother, and
sometimes his elder brother, to read passages from
the book for him while he sat by and listened.
Feeling hampered by his ignorance of the art of
reading, and eager to master the contents of
Burnet's book, he ceased attending the drawing
class at the Institute after the first quarter, and
devoted himself to learning reading and writing
226 JAMES SHARPLES [CHAP, vi
at home. In this he soon succeeded ; and when
he again entered the Institute and took out
1 Burnet ' a second time, he was not only able to
read it, but to make written extracts for further
use. So ardently did he study the volume, that he
used to rise at four o'clock in the morning to read
it and copy out passages ; after which he went to
the foundry at six, worked until six and sometimes
eight in the evening, and returned home to enter
with fresh zest upon the study of Burnet, which he
continued often until a late hour. Parts of his
nights were also occupied in drawing and making
copies of drawings. On one of these a copy of
Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper' he spent an
entire night. He went to bed indeed, but his mind
was so engrossed with the subject that he could
not sleep, and rose again to resume his pencil.
He next proceeded to try his hand at painting
in oil, for which purpose he procured some canvas
from a draper, stretched it on a frame, coated it
over with white lead, and began painting on it with
colours bought from a house-painter. But his
work proved a total failure ; for the canvas was
rough and knotty, and the paint would not dry.
In his extremity he applied to his old teacher, the
barber, from whom he first learnt that prepared
canvas was to be had, and that there were colours
and varnishes made for the special purpose of oil-
painting. As soon, therefore, as his means would
allow, he bought a small stock of the necessary
articles and began afresh, his amateur master
showing him how to paint ; and the pupil succeeded
so well that he excelled the master's copy. His
first picture was a copy from an engraving called
' Sheep-shearing,' and was afterwards sold by him
CHAP, vi] HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 227
for half-a-crown. Aided by a shilling ' Guide to Oil-
painting,' he went on working in his leisure hours,
and gradually acquired a better knowledge of his
materials. He made his own easel and palette,
palette-knife, and paint-chest ; he bought his paint,
brushes, and canvas, as he could raise the money
by working over-time. This was the slender fund
which his parents consented to allow him for the
purpose ; the burden of supporting a very large
family precluding them from doing more. Often he
would walk to Manchester and back in the evenings
to buy two or three shillings' worth of paint and
canvas, returning almost at midnight, after his
eighteen miles' walk, sometimes wet through and
completely exhausted, but borne up throughout by
his inexhaustible hope and invincible determination.
The further progress of the self-taught artist is best
narrated in his own words, as communicated by
him in a letter to the author:
"The next pictures I painted," he says, "were
a ' Landscape by Moonlight,' a ' Fruitpiece,' and one
or two others ; after which I conceived the idea of
painting ' The Forge.' I had for some time thought
about it, but had not attempted to embody the con-
ception in a drawing. I now, however, made a
sketch of the subject upon paper, and then pro-
ceeded to paint it on canvas. The picture simply
represents the interior of a large workshop such
as I have been accustomed to work in, although
not of any particular shop. It is, therefore, to this
extent, an original conception. Having made an
outline of the subject, I found that, before I could
proceed with it successfully, a knowledge of
anatomy was indispensable to enable me accurately
to delineate the muscles of the figures. My brother
228 JAMES SHARPLES [CHAP, vi
Peter came to my assistance at this juncture, and
kindly purchased for me Flaxman's 'Anatomical
Studies,' a work altogether beyond my means at the
time, for it cost twenty-four shillings. This book I
looked upon as a great treasure, and I studied it
laboriously, rising at three o'clock in the morning
to draw after it, and occasionally getting my
brother Peter to stand for me as a model at that
untimely hour. Although I gradually improved
myself by this practice, it was some time before I
felt sufficient confidence to go on with my picture.
I also felt hampered by my want of knowledge of
perspective, which I endeavoured to remedy by
carefully studying Brook Taylor's ' Principles ' ;
and shortly after I resumed my painting. While
engaged in the study of perspective at home, I used
to apply for and obtain leave to work at the heavier
kinds of smith work at the foundry, and for this
reason the time required for heating the heaviest
iron work is so much longer than that required
for heating the lighter, that it enabled me to secure
a number of spare minutes in the course of the day,
which I carefully employed in making diagrams in
perspective upon the sheet iron casing in front of
the hearth at which I worked."
Thus assiduously working and studying, James
Sharpies steadily advanced in his knowledge of the
principles of art, and acquired greater facility in its
practice. Some eighteen months after the expiry
of his apprenticeship he painted a portrait of his
father, which attracted considerable notice in the
town ; as also did the picture of ' The Forge, 1 which
he finished soon after. His success in portrait-
painting obtained for him a commission from the
foreman of the shop to paint a family group, and
CHAP, vi] LEARNS ENGRAVING 229
Sharpies executed it so well that the foreman not
only paid him the agreed price of eighteen pounds,
but thirty shillings to boot. While engaged on
this group, he ceased to work at the foundry, and
he had thoughts of giving up his trade altogether
and devoting himself exclusively to painting. He
proceeded to paint several pictures, amongst others
a head of Christ, an original conception, life-size,
and a view of Bury ; but not obtaining sufficient
employment at portraits to occupy his time, or
give him the prospect of a steady income, he had
the good sense to resume his leather apron, and go
on working at his honest trade of a blacksmith ;
employing his leisure hours in engraving his
picture of 'The Forge/ since published. He was
induced to commence the engraving by the follow-
ing circumstance. A Manchester picture-dealer, to
whom he showed the painting, let drop the ob-
servation, that in the hands of a skilful engraver it
would make a very good print. Sharpies imme-
diately conceived the idea of engraving it himself,
though altogether ignorant of the art. The diffi-
culties which he encountered and successfully over-
came in carrying out his project are thus described
by himself:
" I had seen an advertisement of a Sheffield
steel-plate maker, giving a list of the prices at
which he supplied plates of various sizes, and,
fixing upon one of suitable dimensions, I remitted
the amount, together with a small additional sum
for which I requested him to send me a few en-
graving tools. I could not specify the articles
wanted, for I did not then know anything about
the process of engraving. However, there duly
arrived with the plate three or four gravers and
230 JAMES SHARPLES [CHAP. YI
an etching needle ; the latter I spoiled before I
knew its use. While working at the plate, the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers offered a
premium for the best design for an emblematical
picture, for which I determined to compete, and
I was so fortunate as to win the prize. Shortly
after this I removed to Blackburn, where I obtained
employment at Messrs. Yates', engineers, as an
engine-smith ; and continued to employ my leisure
time in drawing, painting, and engraving, as before
With the engraving I made but very slow progress,
owing to the difficulties I experienced from not
possessing proper tools. I then determined to try
to make some that would suit my purpose, and
after several failures I succeeded in making many
that I have used in the course of my engraving.
I was also greatly at a loss for want of a proper
magnifying glass, and part of the plate was executed
with no other assistance of this sort than what my
father's spectacles afforded, though I afterwards
succeeded in obtaining a proper magnifier, which
was of the utmost use to me. An incident occurred
while I was engraving the plate which had almost
caused me to abandon it altogether. It sometimes
happened that I was obliged to lay it aside for a
considerable time, when other work pressed; and
in order to guard it against rust, I was accustomed
to rub over the graven parts with oil. But on
examining the plate after one of such intervals,
I found that the oil had become a dark sticky sub-
stance extremely difficult to get out. I tried to
pick it out with a needle, but found that it would
almost take as much time as to engrave the parts
afresh. I was in great despair at this, but at length
hit upon the expedient of boiling it in water con-
CHAP, vi] HIS DOMESTIC LIFE 231
taining soda, and afterwards rubbing the engraved
parts with a tooth-brush ; and to my delight found
the plan succeeded perfectly. My greatest diffi-
culties now over, patience and perseverance were
all that were needed to bring my labours to a
successful issue. I had neither advice nor as-
sistance from any one in finishing the plate. If,
therefore, the work possess any merit, I can claim
it as my own ; and if in its accomplishment I have
contributed to show what can be done by persever-
ing industry and determination, it is all the honour
I wish to lay claim to."
It would be beside our purpose to enter upon
any criticism of 'The Forge' as an engraving,
its merits having been already fully recognized by
the art journals. The execution of the work occu-
pied Sharples's leisure evening hours during a
period of five years; and it was only when he
took the plate to the printer that he for the first
time saw an engraved plate produced by any other
man. To this unvarnished picture of industry and
genius we add one other trait, and it is a domestic
one. " I have been married seven years," says he,
" and during that time my greatest pleasure, after
I had finished my daily labour at the foundry, has
been to resume my pencil or graver, frequently
until a late hour in the evening, my wife mean-
while sitting by my side and reading to me from
some interesting book," a simple but beautiful
testimony to the thorough common sense as well
as the genuine right-heartedness of this most inter-
esting and deserving workman.
The same industry and application which we
have found to be necessary in order to acquire
excellence in painting and sculpture are equally
232 INDUSTRY OF MUSICIANS [CHAP, vi
required in the sister art of music the one being
the poetry of form and colour, the other of the
sounds of nature. Handel was an indefatigable
and constant worker ; he was never cast down by
defeat, but his energy seemed to increase the more
that adversity struck him. When a prey to his
mortifications as an insolvent debtor, he did not
give way for a moment, but in one year produced
his ' Saul,' ' Israel,' the music for Dryden's ' Ode,'
his 'Twelve Grand Concertos,' and the opera of
'Jupiter in Argos,' among the finest of his works.
As his biographer says of him, " He braved every-
thing, and, by his unaided self, accomplished the
work of twelve men."
Haydn, speaking of his art, said, " It consists in
taking up a subject and pursuing it." " Work,"
said Mozart, " is my chief pleasure." Beethoven's
favourite maxim was, " The barriers are not erected
which can say to aspiring talents and industry,
'Thus far and no farther.'" When Moscheles
submitted his score of ' Fidelio ' for the pianoforte
to Beethoven, the latter found written at the bottom
of the last page, " Finis, with God's help." Beet-
hoven immediately wrote underneath, " O man !
help thyself!" This was the motto of his artistic
life. John Sebastian Bach said of himself, " I was
industrious ; whoever is equally sedulous, will be
equally successful." But there is no doubt that
Bach was born with a passion for music, which
formed the mainspring of his industry, and was the
true secret of his success. When a mere youth, his
elder brother, wishing to turn his abilities in an-
other direction, destroyed a collection of studies
which the young Sebastian, being denied candles,
had copied by moonlight ; proving the strong
CHAP, vi] THOMAS ARNE 233
natural bent of the boy's genius. Of Meyerbeer,
Bayle thus wrote from Milan in 1820: "He is a
man of some talent, but no genius ; he lives solitary,
working fifteen hours a day at music." Years
passed, and Meyerbeer's hard work fully brought
out his genius, as displayed in his ' Roberto,'
4 Huguenots,' ' Prophete,' and other works, con-
fessedly amongst the greatest operas which have
been produced in modern times.
Although musical composition is not an art in
which Englishmen have as yet greatly distinguished
themselves, their energies having for the most part
taken other and more practical directions, we are
not without native illustrations of the power of
perseverance in this special pursuit. Arne was an
upholsterer's son, intended by his father for the legal
profession ; but his love of music was so great,
that he could not be withheld from pursuing it.
While engaged in an attorney's office, his means
were very limited, but, to gratify his tastes, he was
accustomed to borrow a livery and go into the
gallery of the Opera, then appropriated to domestics.
Unknown to his father he made great progress with
the violin, and the first knowledge his father had
of the circumstance was when accidentally calling
at the house of a neighbouring gentleman, to his
surprise and consternation he found his son playing
the leading instrument with a party of musicians.
This incident decided the fate of Arne. His father
offered no further opposition to his wishes ; and
the world thereby lost a lawyer, but gained a
musician of much taste and delicacy of feeling, who
added many valuable works to our stores of
English music.
The career of the late William Jackson, author
234 WILLIAM JACKSON [CHAP, vi
of 'The Deliverance of Israel/ an oratorio which
has been successfully performed in the principal
towns of his native county of York, furnishes an
interesting illustration of the triumph of per-
severance over difficulties in the pursuit of musical
science. He was the son of a miller at Masham, a
little town situated in the valley of the Yore, in the
north-west corner of Yorkshire. Musical taste
seems to have been hereditary in the family, for
his father played the fife in the band of the Masham
Volunteers, and was a singer in the parish choir.
His grandfather also was leading singer and ringer
at Masham Church ; and one of the boy's earliest
musical treats was to be present at the bell-pealing
on Sunday mornings. During the service, his
wonder was still more excited by the organist's
performance on the barrel-organ, the doors of
which were thrown open behind to let the sound
fully into the church, by which the stops, pipes,
barrels, staples, keyboard, and jacks were fully
exposed, to the wonderment of the little boys sitting
in the gallery behind, and to none more than our
young musician. At eight years of age he began
to play upon his father's old fife, which, however,
would not sound D ; but his mother remedied the
difficulty by buying for him a one-keyed flute ; and
shortly after a gentleman presented him with a
flute with four silver keys. As the boy made no
progress with his " book learning," being fonder of
cricket, fives, and boxing than of his school lessons
the village schoolmaster giving him up as " a bad
job" his parents sent him off to a school at Pateley
Bridge. While there he found congenial society
in a club of village choral singers at Brighouse
Gate, and with them he learnt the sol-faing gamut
CHAP, vi] A VILLAGE MUSICIAN 235
on the old English plan. He was thus well drilled
in the reading of music, in which he soon became
a proficient. His progress astonished the club, and
he returned home full of musical ambition. He
now learnt to play upon his father's old piano, but
with little melodious result ; and he became eager
to possess a finger-organ, but had no means of
procuring one. About this time a neighbouring
parish clerk had purchased, for an insignificant
sum, a small disabled barrel-organ, which had gone
the circuit of the northern counties with a show.
The clerk tried to revive the tones of the instrument,
but failed ; at last he bethought him that he would
try the skill of young Jackson, who had succeeded
in making some alterations and improvements in
the hand-organ of the parish church. He accordingly
brought it to the lad's house in a donkey cart, and
in a short time the instrument was repaired, and
played over its old tunes again, greatly to the
owner's satisfaction.
The thought now haunted the youth that he
could make a barrel-organ, and he determined to
do so. His father and he set to work, and though
without practice in carpentering, yet, by dint of
hard labour and after many failures, they at last
succeeded ; and an organ was constructed which
played ten tunes very decently, and the instrument
was generally regarded as a marvel in the neigh-
bourhood. Young Jackson was now frequently sent
for to repair old church organs, and to put new
music upon the barrels which he added to them.
All this he accomplished to the satisfaction of his
employers, after which he proceeded with the con-
struction of a four-stop finger-organ, adapting to it
the keys of an old harpsichord. This he learnt
236 WILLIAM JACKSON [CHAP, vi
to play upon, studying ' Callcott's Thorough Bass '
in the evening, and working at his trade of a miller
during the day; occasionally also tramping about
the country as a " cadger," with an ass and a cart.
During summer he worked in the fields, at turnip-
time, hay-time, and harvest, but was never without
the solace of music in his leisure evening hours.
He next tried his hand at musical composition,
and twelve of his anthems were shown to the late
Mr. Camidge, of York, as " the production of a
miller's lad of fourteen." Mr. Camidge was pleased
with them, marked the objectionable passages, and
returned them with the encouraging remark, that
they did the youth great credit, and that he must
" go on writing."
A village band having been set on foot at Masham,
young Jackson joined it, and was ultimately ap-
pointed leader. He played all the instruments by
turns, and thus acquired a considerable practical
knowledge of his art : he also composed numerous
tunes for the band. A new finger-organ having
been presented to the parish church he was ap-
pointed the organist. He now gave up his em-
ployment as a journeyman miller, and commenced
tallow-chandling, still employing his spare hours
in the study of music. In 1839 ne published his
first anthem ' For joy let fertile valleys sing ' ; and
in the following year he gained the first prize from
the Huddersfield Glee Club, for his ' Sisters of the
Lea.' His other anthem, 'God be merciful to us,'
and the io3rd Psalm, written for a double chorus
and orchestra, are well known. In the midst of
these minor works, Jackson proceeded with the
composition of his oratorio, 'The Deliverance of
Israel from Babylon.' His practice was, to jot
CHAP, vi] A SELF-TAUGHT MUSICIAN 237
down a sketch of the ideas as they presented them-
selves to his mind, and to write them out in score
in the evenings, after he had left his work in the
candle-shop. His oratorio was published in parts
in the course of 1844-5, an ^ he published the last
chorus on his twenty-ninth birthday. The work
was exceedingly well received, and has been
frequently performed with much success in the
northern towns. Mr. Jackson eventually settled
as a professor of music at Bradford, where he con-
tributed in no small degree to the cultivation of
the musical taste of that town and its neighbour-
hood. Some years since he had the honour of
leading his fine company of Bradford choral singers
before Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace ; on
which occasion, as well as at the Crystal Palace,
some choral pieces of his composition were per-
formed with great effect*
Such is a brief outline of the career of a self-
taught musician, whose life affords but another
illustration of the power of self-help, and the force
of courage and industry in enabling a man to
surmount and overcome early difficulties and
obstructions of no ordinary kind.
* While the sheets of this revised edition are passing through
the press, the announcement appears in the local papers of the
death of Mr. Jackson at the age of fifty. His last work, completed
shortly before his death, was a cantata, entitled 'The Praise of
Music.' The above particulars of his early life were communicated
by himself to the author several years since, while he was still
carrying on his business of a tallow-chandler at Masham.
CHAPTER VII
INDUSTRY AND THE PEERAGE
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
To gain or lose it all." Marquis of Montrose.
"He hath put down the mighty from their seats; and exalted them
of low degree." St. Luke.
WE have already referred to some illustrious
Commoners raised from humble to elevated
positions by the power of application and
industry ; and we might point to even the Peerage
itself as affording equally instructive examples.
One reason why the Peerage of England has suc-
ceeded so well in holding its own arises from
the fact that, unlike the peerages of other countries,
it has been fed, from time to time, by the best
industrial blood of the country the very "liver,
heart, and brain of Britain." Like the fabled
Antaeus, it has been invigorated and refreshed by
touching its mother earth, and mingling with that
most ancient order of nobility the working order.
The blood of all men flows from equally remote
sources ; and though some are unable to trace their
line directly beyond their grandfathers, all are
nevertheless justified in placing at the head of their
pedigree the great progenitors of the race, as Lord
238
CHAP, vii] FALL OF OLD FAMILIES 239
Chesterfield did when he wrote, " ADAM de Stanhope
EVE de Stanhope!' No class is ever long sta-
tionary. The mighty fall, and the humble are
exalted. New families take the place of the old,
who disappear among the ranks of the common
people. Burke's ' Vicissitudes of Families ' strikingly
exhibits this rise and fall of families, and shows that
the misfortunes which overtake the rich and noble
are greater in proportion than those which over-
whelm the poor. This author points out that of
the twenty-five barons selected to enforce the ob-
servance of Magna Charta, there is not now in the
House of Peers a single male descendant. Civil
wars and rebellions ruined many of the old nobility
and dispersed their families. Yet their descendants
in many cases survive, and are to be found among
the ranks of the people. Fuller wrote in his
' Worthies,' that " some who justly hold the sur-
names of Bohuns, Mortimers, and Plantagenets, are
hid in the heap of common men." Thus Burke
shows Jthat two of the lineal descendants of the
Earl of Kent, sixth son of Edward L, were dis-
covered in a butcher and a toll-gatherer ; that the
great grandson of Margaret Plantagenet, daughter
of the Duke of Clarence, sank to the condition of a
cobbler at Newport, in Shropshire ; and that among
the lineal descendants of the Duke of Gloucester,
son of Edward III., was the late sexton of St.
George's, Hanover Square. It is understood that
the lineal descendant of Simon de Montfort,
England's premier baron, is a saddler in Tooley
Street. One of the descendants of the " Proud
Percys," a claimant of the title of Duke of North-
umberland, was a Dublin trunk-maker; and not
many years since one of the claimants for the title
240 FROM TRADE TO PEERAGE [CHAP, vn
of Earl of Perth presented himself in the person
of a labourer in a Northumberland coal-pit. Hugh
Miller, when working as a stone-mason near
Edinburgh, was served by a hodman who was one
of the numerous claimants for the earldom of
Crauford all that was wanted to establish his
claim being a missing marriage certificate; and
while the work was going on, the cry resounded
from the walls many times in the day of " John,
Yearl Crauford, bring us anither hod o' lime."
One of Oliver Cromwell's great grandsons was a
grocer on Snow Hill, and others of his descendants
died in great poverty. Many barons of proud
names and titles have perished, like the sloth, upon
their family tree, after eating up all the leaves;
while others have been overtaken by adversities
which they have been unable to retrieve, and sunk
at last into poverty and obscurity Such are the
mutabilities of rank and fortune.
The great bulk of our peerage is comparatively
modern, so far as the titles go ; but it is not the less
noble that it has been recruited to so large an
extent from the ranks of honourable industry. In
olden times, the wealth and commerce of London,
conducted as it was by energetic and enterprising
men, was a prolific source of peerages. Thus, the
earldom of Cornwallis was founded by Thomas
Cornwallis, the Cheapside merchant ; that of Essex
by William Capel, the draper ; and that of Craven
by William Craven, the merchant tailor. The
modern Earl of Warwick is not descended from
the " King-maker," but from William Greville, the
woolstapler; whilst the modern dukes of North-
umberland find their head, not in the Percys,
but in Hugh Smithson, a respectable London
CHAP, vii] RICHARD FOLEY NAILMAKER 241
apothecary. The founders of the families of Dart-
mouth, Radnor, Ducie, and Pomfret were respec-
tively a skinner, a silk manufacturer, a merchant
tailor, and a Calais merchant ; whilst the founders of
the peerages of Tankerville, Dormer, and Coventry
were mercers. The ancestors of Earl Romney, and
Lord Dudley and Ward, were goldsmiths and
jewellers ; and Lord Dacre's was a banker in the
reign of Charles I., as Lord Overstone is in that
of Queen Victoria. Edward Osborne, the founder
of the Dukedom of Leeds, was apprentice to
William Hewet, a rich clothworker on London
Bridge, whose only daughter he courageously
rescued from drowning, by leaping into the Thames
after her, and eventually married. Among other
peerages founded by trade are those of Fitzwilliam,
Leigh, Petre, Cowper, Darnley, Hill, and Carrington.
The founders of the houses of Foley and Normanby
were remarkable men in many respects, and, as
furnishing striking examples of energy of character,
the story of their lives is worthy of preservation.
The father of Richard Foley, the founder of the
family, was a small yeoman living in the neighbour-
hood of Stourbridge in the time of Charles I. That
place was then the centre of the iron manufacture
of the Midland districts, and Richard was brought
up to work at one of the branches of the trade
that of nail-making. He was thus a daily observer
of the great labour and loss of time caused by
the clumsy process then adopted for dividing the
rods of iron in the manufacture of nails. It appeared
that the Stourbridge nailers were gradually losing
their trade in consequence of the importation of
nails from Sweden, by which they were undersold
in the market. It became known that the Swedes
16
242 RICHARD FOLEY [CHAP, vii
were enabled to make their nails so much cheaper
by the use of splitting mills and machinery, which
had completely superseded the laborious process
of preparing the rods for nail-making then practised
in England.
Richard Foley, having ascertained this much,
determined to make himself master of the process.
He suddenly disappeared from the neighbourhood
of Stourbridge, and was not heard of for several
years. No one knew whither he had gone, not even
his own family ; for he had not informed them
of his intention, lest he should fail. He had little
or no money in his pocket, but contrived to get
to Hull, where he engaged himself on board a ship
bound for a Swedish port, and worked his passage
there. The only article of property which he
possessed was his fiddle, and on landing in Sweden
he begged and fiddled his way to the Dannemora
mines, near Upsala. He was a capital musician,
as well as a pleasant fellow, and soon ingratiated
himself with the iron-workers. He was received
into the works, to every part of which he had access ;
and he seized the opportunity thus afforded him of
storing his mind with observations, and mastering,
as he thought, the mechanism of iron splitting.
After a continued stay for this purpose, he suddenly
disappeared from amongst his kind friends the
miners no one knew whither.
Returned to England, he communicated the
results of his voyage to Mr. Knight and another
person at Stourbridge, who had sufficient confidence
in him to advance the requisite funds for the purpose
of erecting buildings and machinery for splitting
iron by the new process. But when set to work,
to the great vexation and disappointment of all, and
CHAP, vn] THE NAILMAKER 243
especially of Richard Foley, it was found that the
machinery would not act at all events, it would
not split the bars of iron. Again Foley disappeared.
It was thought that shame and mortification at his
failure had driven him away for ever. Not so !
Foley had determined to master this secret of iron-
splitting, and he would yet do it. He had again
set out for Sweden, accompanied by his fiddle as
before, and found his way to the iron works, where
he was joyfully welcomed by the miners ; and, to
make sure of their fiddler, they this time lodged him
in the very splitting-mill itself. There was such an
apparent absence of intelligence about the man,
except in fiddle-playing, that the miners entertained
no suspicions as to the object of their minstrel,
whom they thus enabled to attain the very end
and aim of his life. He now carefully examined
the works, and soon discovered the cause of his
failure. He made drawings or tracings of the
machinery as well as he could, though this was a
branch of art quite new to him ; and after remaining
at the place long enough to enable him to verify
his observations, and to impress the mechanical
arrangements clearly and vividly on his mind, he
again left the miners, reached a Swedish port, and
took ship for England. A man of such purpose
could not but succeed. Arrived amongst his sur-
prised friends, he now completed his arrangements,
and the results were entirely successful. By his
skill and his industry he soon laid the foundations
of a large fortune, at the same time that he restored
the business of an extensive district. He himself
continued, during his life, to carry on his trade,
aiding and encouraging all works of benevolence
in his neighbourhood. He founded and endowed a
244 THE FOLEY PEERAGE [CHAP, vn
school at Stourbridge ; and his son Thomas (a
great benefactor of Kidderminster), who was High
Sheriff of Worcestershire in the time of " The
Rump," founded and endowed an hospital, still in
existence, for the free education of children at Old
Swinford. All the early Foleys were Puritans.
Richard Baxter seems to have been on familiar and
intimate terms with various members of the family,
and makes frequent mention of them in his * Life
and Times.' Thomas Foley, when appointed High
Sheriff of the county, requested Baxter to preach
the customary sermon before him ; and Baxter in
his ' Life ' speaks of him as " of so just and blame-
less dealing, that all men he ever had to do with
magnified his great integrity and honesty, which
were questioned by none." The family was en-
nobled in the reign of Charles the Second.
William Phipps, the founder of the Mulgrave or
Normanby family, was a man quite as remarkable
in his way as Richard Foley. His father was a
gunsmith a robust Englishman settled at Wool-
wich, in Maine, then forming part of our English
colonies in America. He was born in 1651, one of
a family of not fewer than twenty-six children (of
whom twenty-one were sons), whose only fortune
lay in their stout hearts and strong arms. William
seems to have had a dash of the Danish sea-blood
in his veins, and did not take kindly to the quiet
life of a shepherd in which he spent his early years.
By nature bold and adventurous, he longed to
become a sailor and roam through the world. He
sought to join some ship ; but not being able to find
one, he apprenticed himself to a shipbuilder, with
whom he thoroughly learnt his trade, acquiring
the arts of reading and writing during his leisure
CHAf. vii] WILLIAM PHIPPS 245
hours. Having completed his apprenticeship and
removed to Boston, he wooed and married a widow
of some means, after which he set up a little ship-
building yard of his own, built a ship, and, putting
to sea in her, he engaged in the lumber trade,
which he carried on in a plodding and laborious
way for the space of about ten years.
It happened that one day, whilst passing through
the crooked streets of old Boston, he overheard
some sailors talking to each other of a wreck which
had just taken place off the Bahamas ; that of a
Spanish ship, supposed to have much money on
board. His adventurous spirit was at once kindled,
and getting together a likely crew without loss of
time, he set sail for the Bahamas. The wreck
being well in-shore, he easily found it, and suc-
ceeded in recovering a great deal of its cargo, but
very little money; and the result was, that he
barely defrayed his expenses. His success had
been such, however, as to stimulate his enterprising
spirit ; and when he was told of another and far
more richly laden vessel which had been wrecked
near Port de la Plata more than half a century
before, he forthwith formed the resolution of raising
the wreck, or at all events of fishing up the
treasure.
Being too poor, however, to undertake such an
enterprise without powerful help, he set sail for
England in the hope that he might there obtain
it. The fame of his success in raising the wreck
off the Bahamas had already preceded him. He
applied direct to the Government. By his urgent
enthusiasm, he succeeded in overcoming the usual
inertia of official minds ; and Charles II. eventually
placed at his disposal the ' Rose Algier,' a ship of
246 PHIPPS'S TREASURE-SEEKING [CHAP, vn
eighteen guns and ninety-five men, appointing him
to the chief command.
Phipps then set sail to find the Spanish ship and
fish up the treasure. He reached the coast of
Hispaniola in safety; but how to find the sunken
ship was the great difficulty. The fact of the
wreck was more than fifty years old ; and Phipps
had only the traditionary rumours of the event
to work upon. There was a wide coast to explore,
and an outspread ocean without any trace whatever
of the argosy which lay somewhere at its bottom.
But the man was stout in heart and full of hope.
He set his seamen to work to drag along the coast,
and for weeks they went on fishing up sea-weed,
shingle, and bits of rock. No occupation could be
more trying to seamen, and they began to grumble
one to another, and to whisper that the man in
command had brought them on a fool's errand.
At length the murmurers gained head, and the
men broke into open mutiny. A body of them
rushed one day on to the quarter-deck, and de-
manded that the voyage should be relinquished.
Phipps, however, was not a man to be intimidated ;
he seized the ringleaders, and sent the others back
to their duty. It became necessary to bring the
ship to anchor close to a small island for the
purpose of repairs ; and, to lighten her, the chief
part of the stores was landed. Discontent still
increasing amongst the crew, a new plot was laid
amongst the men on shore to seize the ship, throw
Phipps overboard, and start on a piratical cruise
against the Spaniards in the South Seas. But it
was necessary to secure the services of the chief
ship carpenter, who was consequently made privy
to the plot. This man proved faithful, and at once
CHAP, vii] HE QUELLS A MUTINY 247
told the captain of his danger. Summoning about
him those whom he knew to be loyal, Phipps had
the ship's guns loaded which commanded the shore,
and ordered the bridge communicating with the
vessel to be drawn up. When the mutineers made
their appearance, the captain hailed them, and told
the men he would fire upon them if they approached
the stores (still on land), when they drew back;
on which Phipps had the stores reshipped under
cover of his guns. The mutineers, fearful of being
left upon the barren island, threw down their arms
and implored to be permitted to return to their
duty. The request was granted, and suitable
precautions were taken against future mischief.
Phipps, however, took the first opportunity of
landing the mutinous part of the crew, and en-
gaging other men in their places ; but, by the time
that he could again proceed actively with his ex-
plorations, he found it absolutely necessary to
proceed to England for the purpose of repairing
the ship. He had now, however, gained more
precise information as to the spot where the Spanisfi
treasure ship had sunk ; and, though as yet baffled,
he was more confident than ever of the eventual
success of his enterprise.
Returned to London, Phipps reported the result
of his voyage to the Admiralty, who professed to
be pleased with his exertions ; but he had been
unsuccessful, and they would not entrust him with
another king's ship. James II. was now on the
throne, and the Government was in trouble; so
Phipps and his golden project appealed to them
in vain. He next tried to raise the requisite means
by a public subscription. At first he was laughed
at; but his ceaseless importunity at length prevailed,
248 WILLIAM PHIPPS [CHAP, vn
and after four years' dinning of his project into
the ears of the great and influential during which
time he lived in poverty he at length succeeded.
A company was formed in twenty shares, the
Duke of Albemarle, son of General Monk, taking
the chief interest in it, and subscribing the principal
part of the necessary fund for the prosecution of
the enterprise.
Like Foley, Phipps proved more fortunate in his
second voyage than in his first. The ship arrived
without accident at Port de la Plata, in the neigh-
bourhood of the reef of rocks supposed to have
been the scene of the wreck. His first object was
to build a stout boat capable of carrying eight
or ten oars, in constructing which Phipps used the
adze himself. It is also said that he constructed a
machine for the purpose of exploring the bottom
of the sea similar to what is now known as the
diving bell. Such a machine was found referred
to in books, but Phipps knew little of books, and
may be said to have re-invented the apparatus
for his own use. He also engaged Indian divers,
whose feats of diving for pearls, and in submarine
operations, were very remarkable. The tender and
boat having been taken to the reef, the men were
set to work, the diving bell was sunk, and the
various modes of dragging the bottom of the sea
were employed continuously for many weeks, but
without any prospect of success. Phipps, however,
held on valiantly, hoping almost against hope. At
length, one day, a sailor, looking over the boat's
side down into the clear water, observed a curious
sea-plant growing in what appeared to be a crevice
of the rock; and he called upon an Indian diver to go
down and fetch it for him. On the red man coming
CHAP, vii] HIS SUCCESS 249
up with the weed, he reported that a number of
ship's guns were lying in the same place. The
intelligence was at first received with incredulity,
but on further investigation it proved to be correct.
Search was made, and presently a diver came up
with a solid bar of silver in his arms. When
Phipps was shown it, he exclaimed, "Thanks be
to God ! we are all made men." Diving bell and
divers now went to work with a will, and in a
few days treasure was brought up to the value
of about 300,000, with which Phipps set sail for
England. On his arrival, it was urged upon the
king that he should seize the ship and its cargo,
under the pretence that Phipps, when soliciting
his Majesty's permission, had not given accurate
information respecting the business. But the king
replied, that he knew Phipps to be an honest man,
and that he and his friends should divide the whole
treasure amongst them, even though he had re-
turned with double the value. Phipps's share was
about 20,000, and the king, to show his approval
of his energy and honesty in conducting the enter-
prise, conferred upon him the honour of knighthood.
He was also made High Sheriff of New England ;
and during the time he held the office, he did
valiant service for the mother country and the
colonists against the French, by expeditions against
Port Royal and Quebec. He also held the post
of Governor of Massachusetts, from which he
returned to England, and died in London in 1695.
Phipps, throughout the latter part of his career,
was not ashamed to allude to the lowness of his
origin, and it was matter of honest pride to him
that he had risen from the condition of common
ship carpenter to the honours of knighthood and
250 SIR WILLIAM PETTY [CHAP. VH
the government of a province. When perplexed
with public business, he would often declare that
it would be easier for him to go back to his broad
axe again. He left behind him a character for
probity, honesty, patriotism, and courage, which
is certainly not the least noble inheritance of the
house of Normanby.
William Petty, the founder of the house of
Lansdowne, was a man of like energy and public
usefulness in his day. He was the son of a clothier
in humble circumstances, at Romsey, in Hampshire,
where he was born in 1623. In his boyhood he
obtained a tolerable education at the grammar
school of his native town ; after which he determined
to improve himself by study at the University of
Caen, in Normandy. Whilst there he contrived
to support himself unassisted by his father, carrying
on a sort of small pedler's trade with " a little
stock of merchandise." Returning to England, he
had himself bound apprentice to a sea captain, who
"drubbed him with a rope's end" for the badness
of his sight. He left the navy in disgust, taking to
the study of medicine. When at Paris he engaged
in dissection, during which time he also drew
diagrams for Hobbes, who was then writing his
treatise on Optics. He was reduced to such poverty
that he subsisted for two or three weeks entirely
on walnuts. But again he began to trade in a
small way, turning an honest penny, and he was
enabled shortly to return to England with money
in his pocket. Being of an ingenious mechanical
turn, we find him taking out a patent for a letter-
copying machine. He began to write upon the
arts and sciences, and practised chemistry and
physic with such success that his reputation shortly
CHAP, vii] HIS INVENTIONS 251
became considerable. Associating with men of
science, the project of forming a Society for its
prosecution was discussed, and the first meetings
of the infant Royal Society were held at his
lodgings. At Oxford he acted for a time as deputy
to the anatomical professor there, who had a great
repugnance to dissection. In 1652 his industry was
rewarded by the appointment of physician to the
army in Ireland, whither he went; and whilst there
he was the medical attendant of three successive
lords-lieutenant, Lambert, Fleetwood, and Henry
Cromwell. Large grants of forfeited land having
been awarded to the Puritan soldiery, Petty ob-
served that the lands were very inaccurately
measured ; and in the midst of his many avocations
he undertook to do the work himself. His ap-
pointments became so numerous and lucrative that
he was charged by the envious with corruption,
and removed from them all ; but he was again
taken into favour at the Restoration.
Petty was a most indefatigable contriver, in-
ventor, and organizer of industry. One of his
inventions was a double-bottomed ship, to sail
against wind and tide. He published treatises on
dyeing, on naval philosophy, on woollen cloth
manufacture, on political arithmetic, and many
other subjects. He founded iron works, opened
lead mines, and commenced a pilchard fishery and
a timber trade ; in the midst of which he found
time to take part in the discussions of the Royal
Society, to which he largely contributed. He left
an ample fortune to his sons, the eldest of whom
was created Baron Shelburne. His will was a
curious document, singularly illustrative of his
character ; containing a detail of the principal
252 JEDEDIAH STRUTT [CHAP, vn
events of his life, and the gradual advancement of
his fortune. His sentiments on pauperism are
characteristic : " As for legacies for the poor," said
he, " I am at a stand ; as for beggars by trade and
election, I give them nothing ; as for impotents by
the hand of God, the public ought to maintain
them; as for those who have been bred to no
calling nor estate, they should be put upon their
kindred ; . . . wherefore I am contented that I
have assisted all my poor relations, and put many
into a way of getting their own bread ; have
laboured in public works ; and by inventions have
sought out real objects of charity ; and I do hereby
conjure all who partake of my estate, from time to
time, to do the same at their peril. Nevertheless
to answer custom, and to take the surer side, I
give 20/. to the most wanting of the parish wherein
I die." He was interred in the fine old Norman
church of Romsey the town wherein he was born
a poor man's son and on the south side of the
choir is still to be seen a plain slab, with the in-
scription, cut by an illiterate workman, " Here
Layes Sir William Petty."
Another family, ennobled by invention and
trade in our own day, is that of Strutt of Helper.
Their patent of nobility was virtually secured by
Jedediah Strutt in 1758, when he invented his
machine for making ribbed stockings, and thereby
laid the foundations of a fortune which the subse-
quent bearers of the name have largely increased
and nobly employed. The father of Jedediah was
a farmer and maltster, who did but little for the
education of his children ; yet they all prospered.
Jedediah was the second son, and when a boy as-
sisted his father in the work of the farm. At an
CHAP, vii] WILLIAM STRUTT 253
early age he exhibited a taste for mechanics, and
introduced several improvements in the rude
agricultural implements of the period. On the
death of his uncle he succeeded to a farm at Black-
wall, near Normanton, long in the tenancy of the
family, and shortly after he married Miss Wollatt,
the daughter of a Derby hosier. Having learned
from his wife's brother that various unsuccessful
attempts had been made to manufacture ribbed
stockings, he proceeded to study the subject with a
view to effect what others had failed in accomplish-
ing. He accordingly obtained a stocking-frame,
and after mastering its construction and mode of
action, he proceeded to introduce new combinations,
by means of which he succeeded in effecting a
variation in the plain looped-work of the frame, and
was thereby enabled to turn out " ribbed " hosiery.
Having secured a patent for the improved machine,
he removed to Derby, and there entered largely
on the manufacture of ribbed stockings, in which
he was very successful. He afterwards joined
Arkwright, of the merits of whose invention he
fully satisfied himself, and found the means of
securing his patent, as well as erecting a large
cotton-mill at Cranford, in Derbyshire. After the
expiry of the partnership with Arkwright, the
Strutts erected extensive cotton-mills at Milford,
near Belper, which worthily gives its title to the
present head of the family. The sons of the
founder were, like their father, distinguished for
their mechanical ability. Thus William Strutt, the
eldest, is said to have invented a self-acting mule,
the success of which was only prevented by the
mechanical skill of that day being unequal to its
manufacture. Edward, the son of William, was a
254 JOSEPH STRUTT [CHAP, vn
man of eminent mechanical genius, having early
discovered the principle of suspension-wheels for
carriages : he had a wheelbarrow and two carts
made on the principle, which were used on his
farm near Helper. It may be added that the Strutts
have throughout been distinguished for their noble
employment of the wealth which their industry and
skill have brought them ; that they have sought in
all ways to improve the moral and social condition
of the work-people in their employment ; and that
they have been liberal donors in every good cause
of which the presentation, by Mr. Joseph Strutt,
of the beautiful park or Arboretum at Derby, as
a gift to the townspeople for ever, affords only
one of many illustrations. The concluding words
of the short address which he delivered on pre-
senting this valuable gift are worthy of being
quoted and remembered: "As the sun has shone
brightly on me through life, it would be ungrateful
in me not to employ a portion of the fortune I
possess in promoting the welfare of those amongst
whom I live, and by whose industry I have been
aided in its organization."
No less industry and energy have been displayed
by the many brave men, both in present and past
times, who have earned the peerage by their valour
on land and at sea. Not to mention the older
feudal lords, whose tenure depended upon military
service, and who so often led the van of the English
armies in great national encounters, we may point
to Nelson, St. Vincent, and Lyons to Wellington,
Hill, Hardinge, Clyde, and many more in recent
times, who have nobly earned their rank by their
distinguished services. But plodding industry has
far oftener worked its way to the peerage by the
CHAP, vn] LAWYER PEERS 255
honourable pursuit of the legal profession than by
any other. No fewer than seventy British peerages,
including two dukedoms, have been founded by
successful lawyers. Mansfield and Erskine were,
it is true, of noble family; but the latter used to
thank God that out of his own family he did not
know a lord.* The others were, for the most part,
the sons of attorneys, grocers, clergymen, mer-
chants, and hardworking members of the middle
class. Out of this profession have sprung the
peerages of Howard and Cavendish, the first peers
of both families having been judges ; those of
Aylesford, Ellenborough, Guildford, Shaftesbury,
Hardwicke, Cardigan, Clarendon, Camden, Elles-
mere, Rosslyn; and others nearer our own day,
such as Tenterden, Eldon, Brougham, Denman,
Truro, Lyndhurst, St. Leonards, Cranworth, Camp-
bell, and Chelmsford.
Lord Lyndhurst's father was a portrait painter,
and that of St. Leonards a perfumer and hair-
dresser in Burlington Street. Young Edward
Sugden was originally an errand-boy in the office
of the late Mr. Groom, of Henrietta Street,
Cavendish Square, a certificated conveyancer ; and
it was there that the future Lord Chancellor of
Ireland obtained his first notions of law. The
origin of the late Lord Tenterden was perhaps the
* Mansfield owed nothing to his noble relations, who were poor
and uninfluential. His success was the legitimate and logical result
of the means which he sedulously employed to secure it. When a
boy he rode up from Scotland to London on a pony taking two
months to make the journey. After a course of school and college,
he entered upon the profession of the law, and he closed a career
of patient and ceaseless labour as Lord Chief Justice of England
the functions of which he is universally admitted to have performed
with unsurpassed ability, justice, and honour.
256 LORD TENTERDEN [CHAP, vn
humblest of all, nor was he ashamed of it ; for he
felt that the industry, study, and application, by
means of which he achieved his eminent position,
were entirely due to himself. It is related of him,
that on one occasion he took his son Charles to a
little shed, then standing opposite the western front
of Canterbury Cathedral, and, pointing it out to
him, said, " Charles, you see this little shop ; I
have brought you here on purpose to show it you.
In that shop your grandfather used to shave for a
penny : that is the proudest reflection of my life."
When a boy, Lord Tenterden was a singer in the
Cathedral, and it is a curious circumstance that his
destination in life was changed by a disappoint-
ment. When he and Mr. Justice Richards were
going the Home Circuit together, they went to
service in the Cathedral ; and on Richards com-
mending the voice of a singing man in the choir,
Lord Tenterden said, " Ah ! that is the only man
I ever envied ! When at school in this town, we
were candidates for a chorister's place, and he
obtained it."
Not less remarkable was the rise, to the same
distinguished office of Lord Chief Justice, of the
rugged Kenyon and the robust Ellenborough ; nor
was he a less notable man who recently held the
same office the astute Lord Campbell, late Lord
Chancellor of England, son of a parish minister in
Fifeshire. For many years he worked hard as a
reporter for the press, while diligently preparing
himself for the practice of his profession. It is said
of him, that at the beginning of his career he was
accustomed to walk from county town to county
town when on circuit, being as yet too poor to
afford the luxury of posting. But step by step he
CHAP, vn] LORD ELDON 257
rose slowly but surely to that eminence and dis-
tinction which ever follow a career of industry
honourably and energetically pursued, in the legal,
as in every other profession.
There have been other illustrious instances of
Lords Chancellors who have plodded up the steep
of fame and honour with equal energy and success.
The career of the late Lord Eldon is perhaps one
of the most remarkable examples. He was the son
of a Newcastle coal-fitter ; a mischievous rather
than a studious boy ; a great scapegrace at school,
and the subject of many terrible thrashings, for
orchard-robbing was one of the favourite exploits
of the future Lord Chancellor. His father first
thought of putting him apprentice to a grocer, and
afterwards had almost made up his mind to bring
him up to his own trade of a coal-fitter. But by
this time his eldest son William (afterwards Lord
Stowell), who had gained a scholarship at Oxford,
wrote to his father, " Send Jack up to me, I can do
better for him." John was sent up to Oxford
accordingly, where, by his brother's influence and
his own application, he succeeded in obtaining a
fellowship. But when at home during the vacation,
he was so unfortunate or rather so fortunate, as
the issue proved as to fall in love ; and running
across the Border with his eloped bride, he
married, and, as his friends thought, ruined himself
for life. He had neither house nor home when he
married, and had not yet earned a penny. He lost
his fellowship, and at the same time shut himself
out from preferment in the Church, for which he
had been destined. He accordingly turned his
attention to the study of the law. To a friend
he wrote, " I have married rashly ; but it is my
17
258 JOHN SCOTT [CHAP, vn
determination to work hard to provide for the
woman I love."
John Scott came up to London, and took a small
house in Cursitor Lane, where he settled down to
the study of the law. He worked with great dili-
gence and resolution ; rising at four every morning
and studying till late at night, binding a wet towel
round his head to keep himself awake. Too poor
to study under a special pleader, he copied out
three folio volumes from a manuscript collection
of precedents. Long after, when Lord Chancellor,
passing down Cursitor Lane one day, he said to his
secretary, " Here was my first perch : many a time
do I recollect coming down this street with six-
pence in my hand to buy sprats for supper." When
at length called to the bar, he waited long for
employment. His first year's earnings amounted
to only nine shillings. For four years he assidu-
ously attended the London Courts and the Northern
Circuit, with little better success. Even in his
native town, he seldom had other than pauper cases
to defend. The results were indeed so discouraging,
that he had almost determined to relinquish his
chance of London business, and settle down in
some provincial town as a country barrister. His
brother William wrote home, " Business is dull
with poor Jack, very dull indeed ! " But as he
had escaped being a grocer, a coal-fitter, and a
country parson, so did he also escape being a
country lawyer.
An opportunity at length occurred which en-
abled John Scott to exhibit the large legal know-
ledge which he had so laboriously acquired. In
a case in which he was engaged, he urged a legal
point against the wishes both of the attorney and
CHAP, vn] LORD LANGDALE 259
client who employed him. The Master of the Rolls
decided against him, but on an appeal to the House
of Lords, Lord Thurlow reversed the decision on
the very point that Scott had urged. On leaving
the House that day, a solicitor tapped him on the
shoulder and said, "Young man, your bread and
butter's cut for life." And the prophecy proved
a true one. Lord Mansfield used to say that he
knew no interval between no business and 3ooo/.
a-year, and Scott might have told the same story;
for so rapid was his progress, that in 1783, when
only thirty-two, he was appointed King's Counsel,
was at the head of the Northern Circuit, and sat
in Parliament for the borough of Weobley. It was
in the dull but unflinching drudgery of the early
part of his career that he laid the foundation of
his future success. He won his spurs by persever-
ance, knowledge, and ability, diligently cultivated.
He was successively appointed to the offices of
solicitor and attorney-general, and rose steadily
upwards to the highest office that the Crown had
to bestow that of Lord Chancellor of England,
which he held for a quarter of a century.
Henry Bickersteth was the son of a surgeon at
Kirkby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland, and was him-
self educated to that profession. As a student at
Edinburgh, he distinguished himself by the steadi-
ness with which he worked, and the application
which he devoted to the science of medicine.
Returned to Kirkby Lonsdale, he took an active
part in his father's practice ; but he had no liking
for the profession, and grew discontented with the
obscurity of a country town. He went on, neverthe-
less, diligently improving himself, and engaged on
speculations in the higher branches of physiology.
260 LORD LANGDALE [CHAP, vn
In conformity with his own wish, his father con-
sented to send him to Cambridge, where it was
his intention to take a medical degree with the
view of practising in the metropolis. Close appli-
cation to his studies, however, threw him out of
health, and, with a view to re-establishing his
strength, he accepted the appointment of travelling
physician to Lord Oxford. While abroad he
mastered Italian, and acquired a great admiration
for Italian literature, but no greater liking for
medicine than before. On the contrary, he deter-
mined to abandon it ; but returning to Cambridge,
he took his degree ; and that he worked hard may
be inferred from the fact that he was senior wrangler
of his year. Disappointed in his desire to enter the
army, he turned to the bar, and entered a student
of the Inner Temple. He worked as hard at law as
he had done at medicine. Writing to his father, he
said, " Everybody says to me, ' You are certain of
success in the end only persevere ' ; and though I
don't well understand how this is to happen, I try
to believe it as much as I can, and I shall not fail to
do everything in my power." At twenty-eight he
was called to the bar, and had every step in life yet
to make. His means were straitened, and he lived
upon the contributions of his friends. For years he
studied and waited. Still no business came. He
stinted himself in recreation, in clothes, and even in
the necessaries of life ; struggling on indefatigably
through all. Writing home, he " confessed that he
hardly knew how he should be able to struggle on
till he had fair time and opportunity to establish
himself." After three years' waiting, still without
success, he wrote to his friends that rather than
be a burden upon them longer, he was willing to
CHAP, vii] REWARD OF PERSEVERANCE 261
give the matter up and return to Cambridge,
" where he was sure of support and some profit."
The friends at home sent him another small
remittance, and he persevered. Business gradually
came in. Acquitting himself creditably in small
matters, he was at length entrusted with cases of
greater importance. He was a man who never
missed an opportunity, nor allowed a legitimate
chance of improvement to escape him. His un-
flinching industry soon began to tell upon his
fortunes ; a few more years and he was not only
enabled to do without assistance from home, but he
was in a position to pay back with interest the
debts which he had incurred. The clouds had dis-
persed, and the after career of Henry Bickersteth
was one of honour, of emolument, and of dis-
tinguished fame. He ended his career as Master of
the Rolls, sitting in the House of Peers as Baron
Langdale. His life affords only another illustration
of the power of patience, perseverance, and con-
scientious working, in elevating the character of
the individual, and crowning his labours with the
most complete success.
Such are a few of the distinguished men who
have honourably worked their way to the highest
position, and won the richest rewards of their pro-
fession, by the diligent exercise of qualities in
many respects of an ordinary character, but made
potent by the force of application and industry.
CHAPTER VIII
ENERGY AND COURAGE
" A coeur vaillant rien d'impossible." -Jacques Cceur.
" Den Muthigen gehort die Welt." German Proverb.
" In every work that he began ... he did it with all his heart,
and prospered." //. Chron. xxxi. 21.
THERE is a famous speech recorded of an old
Norseman, thoroughly characteristic of the
Teuton. " I believe neither in idols nor
demons," said he, " I put my sole trust in my own
strength of body and soul." The ancient crest of
a pickaxe with the motto of " Either I will find
a way or make one," was an expression of the same
sturdy independence which to this day distin-
guishes the descendants of the Northmen. Indeed,
nothing could be more characteristic of the Scan-
dinavian mythology than that it had a god with
a hammer. A man's character is seen in small
matters ; and from even so slight a test as the mode
in which a man wields a hammer, his energy may
in some measure be inferred. Thus an eminent
Frenchman hit off in a single phrase the character-
istic quality of the inhabitants of a particular
district, in which a friend of his proposed to settle
and buy land. " Beware," said he, " of making a
purchase there ; I know the men of that department ;
262
CHAP, vm] FORCE OF PURPOSE 263
the pupils who come from it to our veterinary
school at Paris do not strike hard upon the anvil \
they want energy ; and you will not get a satis-
factory return on any capital you may invest there."
A fine and just appreciation of character, indicating
the thoughtful observer ; and strikingly illustrative
of the fact that it is the energy of the individual
men that gives strength to a State, and confers a
value even upon the very soil which they cultivate.
As the French proverb has it : " Tant vaut 1'homme,
tant vaut sa terre."
The cultivation of this quality is of the greatest
importance ; resolute determination in the pursuit
of worthy objects being the foundation of all true
greatness of character. Energy enables a man
to force his way through irksome drudgery and
dry details, and carries him onward and upward
in every station in life. It accomplishes more than
genius, with not one-half the disappointment and
peril. It is not eminent talent that is required to
ensure success in any pursuit, so much as purpose,
not merely the power to achieve, but the will
to labour energetically and perseveringly. Hence
energy of will may be defined to be the very
central power of character in a man in a word,
it is the Man himself. It gives impulse to his
every action, and soul to every effort. True hope
is based on it, and it is hope that gives the real
perfume to life. There is a fine heraldic motto
on a broken helmet in Battle Abbey, " L'espoir est
ma force," which might be the motto of every man's
life. "Woe unto him that is faint-hearted," says
the son of Sirach. There is, indeed, no blessing
equal to the possession of a stout heart. Even if
a man fail in his efforts, it will be a satisfaction
264 ACTS AND DEEDS [CHAP, vm
to him to enjoy the consciousness of having done
his best. In humble life nothing can be more
cheering and beautiful than to see a man combating
suffering by patience, triumphing in his integrity,
and who, when his feet are bleeding and his limbs
failing him, still walks upon his courage.
Mere wishes and desires but engender a sort
of green sickness in young minds, unless they are
promptly embodied in act and deed. It will not
avail merely to wait, as so many do, " until Blucher
comes up," but they must struggle on and persevere
in the meantime, as Wellington did. The good
purpose once formed must be carried out with
alacrity and without swerving. In most conditions
of life, drudgery and toil are to be cheerfully
endured as the best and most wholesome discipline.
"In life," said Ary Scheffer, "nothing bears fruit
except by labour of mind or body. To strive and
still strive such is life ; and in this respect mine is
fulfilled ; but I dare to say, with just pride, that
nothing has ever shaken my courage. With a
strong soul, and a noble aim, one can do what one
wills, morally speaking."
Hugh Miller said the only school in which he
was properly taught was " that world-wide school
in which toil and hardship are the severe but noble
teachers." He who allows his application to falter,
or shirks his work on frivolous pretexts, is on the
sure road to ultimate failure. Let any task be
undertaken as a thing not possible to be evaded
and it will soon come to be performed with alacrity
and cheerfulness. Charles IX. of Sweden was a
firm believer in the power of will, even in youth.
Laying his hand on the head of his youngest son
when engaged on a difficult task, he exclaimed, " He
CHAP, vm] COURAGEOUS WORKING 265
shall do it ! he shall do it ! " The habit of applica-
tion becomes easy in time, like every other habit.
Thus persons with comparatively moderate powers
will accomplish much, if they apply themselves
wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.
Fowell Buxton placed his confidence in ordinary
means and extraordinary application ; realizing the
scriptural injunction, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, do it with all thy might " ; and he attributed
his own success in life to his practice of " being a
whole man to one thing at a time."
Nothing that is of real worth can be achieved
without courageous working. Man owes his growth
chiefly to that active striving of the will, that
encounter with difficulty, which we call effort ; and
it is astonishing to find how often results apparently
impracticable are thus made possible. An intense
anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality ;
our desires being often but the precursors of the
things which we are capable of performing. On
the contrary, the timid and hesitating find every-
thing impossible, chiefly because it seems so. It is
related of a young French officer, that he used to
walk about his apartment exclaiming, "I will be
Marshal of France and a great general." His ardent
desire was the presentiment of his success; for
the young officer did become a distinguished
commander, and he died a Marshal of France.
Mr. Walker, author of the ' Original,' had so
great a faith in the power of will, that he says on
one occasion he determined to be well, and he was
so. This may answer once ; but, though safer to
follow than many prescriptions, it will not always
succeed. The power of mind over body is no
doubt great, but it may be strained until the
266 DETERMINED EFFORT [CHAP, vm
physical power breaks down altogether. It is related
of Muley Moluc, the Moorish leader, that, when
lying ill, almost worn out by an incurable disease,
a battle took place between his troops and the
Portuguese ; when, starting from his litter at the
great crisis of the fight, he rallied his army, led
them to victory, and instantly afterwards sank
exhausted and expired.
It is will force of purpose that enables a
man to do or be whatever he sets his mind on
being or doing. A holy man was accustomed to
say, " Whatever you wish, that you are : for such
is the force of our will, joined to the Divine, that
whatever we wish to be, seriously, and with a true
intention, that we become. No one ardently
wishes to be submissive, patient, modest, or liberal,
who does not become what he wishes." The story
is told of a working carpenter, who was observed
one day planing a magistrate's bench, which he was
repairing, with more than usual carefulness; and
when asked the reason, he replied, " Because I wish
to make it easy against the time when I come to
sit upon it myself." And, singularly enough, the
man actually lived to sit upon that very bench
as a magistrate.
Whatever theoretical conclusions logicians may
have formed as to the freedom of the will, each
individual feels that practically he is free to choose
between good and evil that he is not as a mere
straw thrown upon the water to mark the direction
of the current, but that he has within him the
power of a strong swimmer, and is capable of
striking out for himself, of buffeting with the waves,
and directing to a great extent his own independent
course. There is no absolute constraint upon our
CHAP, vm] THE POWER OF WILL 267
volitions, and we feel and know that we are not
bound, as by a spell, with reference to our actions.
It would paralyse all desire of excellence were we
to think otherwise. The entire business and con-
duct of life, with its domestic rules, its social
arrangements, and its public institutions, proceed
upon the practical conviction that the will is
free. Without this where would be responsibility ?
and what the advantage of teaching, advising,
preaching, reproof, and correction ? What were
the use of laws, were it not the universal belief,
as it is the universal fact, that men obey them or
not very much as they individually determine?
In every moment of our life, conscience is pro-
claiming that our will is free. It is the only thing
that is wholly ours, and it rests solely with ourselves
individually whether we give it the right or the
wrong direction. Our habits or our temptations are
not our masters, but we of them. Even in yielding,
conscience tells us we might resist ; and that were
we determined to master them, there would not
be required for that purpose a stronger resolution
than we know ourselves to be capable of exercising.
" You are now at the age," said Lamennais once,
addressing a gay youth, " at which a decision must
be formed by you ; a little later, and you may have
to groan within the tomb which you yourself have
dug, without the power of rolling away the stone.
That which the easiest becomes a habit in us is the
will. Learn then to will strongly and decisively;
thus fix your floating life, and leave it no longer
to be carried hither and thither, like a withered
leaf, by every wind that blows."
Buxton held the conviction that a young man
might be very much what he pleased, provided
268 POWELL BUXTON [CHAP, vm
he formed a strong resolution and held to it.
Writing to one of his sons, he said to him, "You
are now at that period of life in which you must
make a turn to the right or the left. You must
now give proofs of principle, determination, and
strength of mind ; or you must sink into idleness,
and acquire the habits and character of a desultory,
ineffective young man ; and if once you fall to that
point, you will find it no easy matter to rise again.
I am sure that a young man may be very much
what he pleases. In my own case it was so. ...
Much of my happiness, and all my prosperity in
life, have resulted from the change I made at your
age. If you seriously resolve to be energetic and
industrious, depend upon it that you will for your
whole life have reason to rejoice that you were
wise enough to form and to act upon that deter-
mination." As will, considered without regard to
direction, is simply constancy, firmness, persever-
ance, it will be obvious that everything depends
upon right direction and motives. Directed towards
the enjoyment of the senses, the strong will may
be a demon, and the intellect merely its debased
slave ; but directed towards good, the strong will
is a king, and the intellect the minister of man's
highest well-being.
" Where there is a will there is a way," is an
old and true saying. He who resolves upon doing
a thing, by that very resolution often scales the
barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To
think we are able, is almost to be so to determine
upon attainment is frequently attainment itself.
Thus, earnest resolution has often seemed to have
about it almost a savour of omnipotence. The
strength of Suwarrow's character lay in his power of
CHAP, vm] NAPOLEON 269
willing, and, like most resolute persons, he preached
it up as a system. "You can only half will," he
would say to people who failed. Like Richelieu and
Napoleon, he would have the word "impossible"
banished from the dictionary. " I don't know,"
" I can't," and " impossible," were words which he
detested above all others. " Learn ! Do ! Try ! "
he would exclaim. His biographer has said of him,
that he furnished a remarkable illustration of what
may be effected by the energetic development and
exercise of faculties, the germs of which at least are
in every human heart.
One of Napoleon's favourite maxims was, " The
truest wisdom is a resolute determination." His
life, beyond most others, vividly showed what a
powerful and unscrupulous will could accomplish.
He threw his whole force of body and mind direct
upon his work. Imbecile rulers and the nations
they governed went down before him in succession.
He was told that the Alps stood in the way of his
armies " There shall be no Alps," he said, and the
road across the Simplon was constructed, through a
district formerly almost inaccessible. " Impossible,"
said he, " is a word only to be found in the
dictionary of fools." He was a man who toiled
terribly; sometimes employing and exhausting
four secretaries at a time. He spared no one,
not even himself. His influence inspired other
men, and put a new life into them. " I made my
generals out of mud," he said. But all was of no
avail; for Napoleon's intense selfishness was his
ruin, and the ruin of France, which he left a prey
to anarchy. His life taught the lesson that power,
however energetically wielded, without beneficence,
is fatal to its possessor and its subjects ; and that
2;o WELLINGTON [CHAP, vin
knowledge, or knowingness, without goodness, is
but the incarnate principle of Evil.
Our own Wellington was a far greater man.
Not less resolute, firm, and persistent, but more
self-denying, conscientious, and truly patriotic.
Napoleon's aim was " Glory " ; Wellington's watch-
word, like Nelson's, was " Duty." The former word,
it is said, does not once occur in his despatches ;
the latter often, but never accompanied by any
high-sounding professions. The greatest difficulties
could neither embarrass nor intimidate Wellington ;
his energy invariably rising in proportion to the
obstacles to be surmounted. The patience, the
firmness, the resolution, with which he bore
through the maddening vexations and gigantic
difficulties of the Peninsular campaigns, is, perhaps,
one of the sublimest things to be found in history.
In Spain, Wellington not only exhibited the genius
of the general, but the comprehensive wisdom of
the statesman. Though his natural temper was
irritable in the extreme, his high sense of duty
enabled him to restrain it ; and to those about him
his patience seemed absolutely inexhaustible. His
great character stands untarnished by ambition, by
avarice, or any low passion. Though a man of
powerful individuality, he yet displayed a great
variety of endowment. The equal of Napoleon in
generalship, he was as prompt, vigorous, and
daring as Clive ; as wise a statesman as Cromwell ;
and as pure and high-minded as Washington. The
great Wellington left behind him an enduring
reputation, founded on toilsome campaigns won by
skilful combination, by fortitude which nothing
could exhaust, by sublime daring, and perhaps by
still sublimer patience.
CHAP, vni] PROMPTITUDE AND DECISION 271
Energy usually displays itself in promptitude
and decision. When Ledyard the traveller was
asked by the African Association when he would be
ready to set out for Africa, he immediately answered,
" To-morrow morning." Blucher's promptitude ob-
tained for him the cognomen of " Marshal Forwards "
throughout the Prussian army. When John Jervis,
afterwards Earl St. Vincent, was asked when he
would be ready to join his ship, he replied,
" Directly." And when Sir Colin Campbell, ap-
pointed to the command of the Indian army, was
asked when he could set out, his answer was,
"To-morrow," an earnest of his subsequent success.
For it is rapid decision, and a similar promptitude
in action, such as taking instant advantage of an
enemy's mistakes, that so often win battles.
" At Arcola," said Napoleon, " I won the battle
with twenty-five horsemen. I seized a moment of
lassitude, gave every man a trumpet, and gained
the day with this handful. Two armies are two
bodies which meet and endeavour to frighten each
other : a moment of panic occurs, and that moment
must be turned to advantage." " Every moment
lost," said he at another time, " gives an opportunity
for misfortune " ; and he declared that he beat
the Austrians because they never knew the value
of time : while they dawdled, he overthrew
them.
India has, during the last century, been a great
field for the display of British energy. From Clive
to Havelock and Clyde there is a long and honour-
able roll of distinguished names in Indian legislation
and warfare, such as Wellesley, Metcalfe, Outram,
Edwardes, and the Lawrences. Another great but
sullied name is that of Warren Hastings a man
272 WARREN HASTINGS [CHAP, vm
of dauntless will and indefatigable industry. His
family was ancient and illustrious ; but their vicis-
situdes of fortune and ill-requited loyalty in the cause
of the Stuarts brought them to poverty, and the
family estate at Daylesford, of which they had been
lords of the manor for hundreds of years, at length
passed from their hands. The last Hastings of
Daylesford had, however, presented the parish
living to his second son ; and it was in his house,
many years later, that Warren Hastings, his
grandson, was born. The boy learnt his letters
at the village school, on the same bench with the
children of the peasantry. He played in the fields
which his fathers had owned ; and what the loyal
and brave Hastings of Daylesford had been, was
ever in the boy's thoughts. His young ambition
was fired, and it is said that one summer's day,
when only seven years old, as he laid him down
on the bank of the stream which flowed through
the domain, he formed in his mind the resolution
that he would yet recover possession of the family
lands. It was the romantic vision of a boy; yet
he lived to realize it. The dream became a passion,
rooted in his very life ; and he pursued his deter-
mination through youth up to manhood, with that
calm but indomitable force of will which was the
most striking peculiarity of his character. The
orphan boy became one of the most powerful men
of his time ; he retrieved the fortunes of his line ;
bought back the old estate, and rebuilt the family
mansion. " When, under a tropical sun," says
Macaulay, " he ruled fifty millions of Asiatics, his
hopes, amidst all the cares of war, finance, and
legislation, still pointed to Daylesford. And when
his long public life, so singularly chequered with
CHAP, vm] SIR CHARLES NAPIER 273
good and evil, with glory and obloquy, had at
length closed for ever, it was to Daylesford that he
retired to die."
Sir Charles Napier was another Indian leader
of extraordinary courage and determination. He
once said of the difficulties with which he was
surrounded in one of his campaigns, "They only
make my feet go deeper into the ground." His
battle of Meeanee was one of the most extraordinary
feats in history. With 2000 men, of whom only
400 were Europeans, he encountered an army of
35,000 hardy and well-armed Beloochees. It was
an act, apparently, of the most daring temerity,
but the general had faith in himself and in his
men. He charged the Belooch centre up a high
bank which formed their rampart in front, and for
three mortal hours the battle raged. Each man of
that small force, inspired by the chief, became for
the time a hero. The Beloochees, though twenty
to one, were driven back, but with their faces to
the foe. It is this sort of pluck, tenacity, and
determined perseverance which wins soldiers'
battles, and, indeed, every battle. It is the one
neck nearer that wins the race and shows the
blood; it is the one march more that wins the
campaign ; the five minutes' more persistent courage
that wins the fight. Though your force be less
than another's, you equal and outmaster your
opponent if you continue it longer and concentrate
it more. The reply of the Spartan farmer, who
said to his son, when complaining that his sword
was too short, " Add a step to it," is applicable to
everything in life.
Napier took the right method of inspiring his
men with his own heroic spirit. He worked as
18
274 THE INDIAN SWORDSMAN [CHAP, vm
hard as any private in the ranks. " The great art
of commanding," he said, " is to take a fair share of
the work. The man who leads an army cannot
succeed unless his whole mind is thrown into his
work. The more trouble, the more labour must be
given ; the more danger, the more pluck must be
shown, till all is overpowered." A young officer
who accompanied him in his campaign in the
Cutchee Hills, once said, "When I see that old
man incessantly on his horse, how can I be idle
who am young and strong? I would go into a
loaded cannon's mouth if he ordered me." This
remark, when repeated to Napier, he said was
ample reward for his toils. The anecdote of his
interview with the Indian juggler strikingly illus-
trates his cool courage as well as his remarkable
simplicity and honesty of character. On one
occasion, after the Indian battles, a famous juggler
visited the camp and performed his feats before the
General, his family, and staff. Among other per-
formances, this man cut in two with a stroke of
his sword a lime or lemon placed in the hand of his
assistant. Napier thought there was some collusion
between the juggler and his retainer. To divide by
a sweep of the sword on a man's hand so small an
object without touching the flesh he believed to be
impossible, though a similar incident is related by
Scott in his romance of the ' Talisman.' To deter-
mine the point, the General offered his own hand
for the experiment, and he stretched out his right
arm. The juggler looked attentively at the hand,
and said he would not make the trial. " I thought
I would find you out ! " exclaimed Napier. " But
stop," added the other, " let me see your left hand."
The left hand was submitted, and the man then
CHAP, vm] BRITISH ENERGY IN INDIA 275
said firmly, " If you will hold your arm steady I
will perform the feat" " But why the left hand and
not the right?" " Because the right hand is hollow
in the centre, and there is a risk of cutting off the
thumb; the left is high, and the danger will be
less." Napier was startled. " I got frightened,"
he said ; " I saw it was an actual feat of delicate
swordsmanship, and if I had not abused the man
as I did before my staff, and challenged him to the
trial, I honestly acknowledge I would have retired
from the encounter. However, I put the lime on
my hand, and held out my arm steadily. The
juggler balanced himself, and, with a swift stroke,
cut the lime in two pieces. I felt the edge of the
sword on my hand as if a cold thread had been
drawn across it. So much (he added) for the brave
swordsmen of India, whom our fine fellows defeated
at Meeanee/'
The recent terrible struggle in India has served
to bring out, perhaps more prominently than any
previous event in our history, the determined
energy and self-reliance of the national char-
acter. Although English officialism may often drift
stupidly into gigantic blunders, the men of the
nation generally contrive to work their way out
of them with a heroism almost approaching the
sublime. In May, 1857, when the revolt burst
upon India like a thunder-clap, the British forces
had been allowed to dwindle to their extreme
minimum, and were scattered over a wide extent of
country, many of them in remote cantonments.
The Bengal regiments, one after another, rose
against their officers, broke away, and rushed to
Delhi. Province after province was lapped in
mutiny and rebellion ; and the cry for help rose
276 THE INDIAN REBELLION [CHAP, vm
from east to west. Everywhere the English stood
at bay in small detachments, beleaguered and sur-
rounded, apparently incapable of resistance. Their
discomfiture seemed so complete, and the utter ruin
of the British cause in India so certain, that it
might be said of them then, as it had been said
before, " These English never know when they are
beaten." According to rule, they ought then and
there to have succumbed to inevitable fate.
While the issue of the mutiny still appeared
uncertain, Holkar, one of the native princes, con-
sulted his astrologer for information. The reply
was, " If all the Europeans save one are slain, that
one will remain to fight and reconquer." In their
very darkest moment even where, as at Lucknow,
a mere handful of British soldiers, civilians, and
women, held out amidst a city and province in arms
against them there was no word of despair, no
thought of surrender. Though cut off from all
communication with their friends for months, and
not knowing whether India was lost or held, they
never ceased to have perfect faith in the courage
and devotedness of their countrymen. They knew
that while a body of men of English race held
together in India they would not be left unheeded
to perish. They never dreamt of any other issue
but retrieval of their misfortune and ultimate
triumph ; and if the worst came to the worst, they
could but fall at their post, and die in the perform-
ance of their duty. Need we remind the reader
of the names of Havelock, Inglis, Neill, and Outram
men of truly heroic mould of each of whom
it might with truth be said that he had the heart
of a chevalier, the soul of a believer, and the
temperament of a martyr ? Montalembert has said
CHAP, vm] THE LAWRENCES 277
of them that " they do honour to the human race."
But throughout that terrible trial almost all proved
equally great women, civilians and soldiers from
the general down through all grades to the private
and bugleman. The men were not picked : they
belonged to the same ordinary people whom we
daily meet at home in the streets, in workshops,
in the fields, at clubs; yet when sudden disaster
fell upon them, each and all displayed a wealth of
personal resources and energy, and became as it
were individually heroic. " Not one of them," says
Montalembert, " shrank or trembled all, military
and civilians, young and old, generals and soldiers,
resisted, fought, and perished with a coolness and
intrepidity which never faltered. It is in this
circumstance that shines out the immense value of
public education, which invites the Englishman
from his youth to make use of his strength and his
liberty, to associate, resist, fear nothing, to be
astonished at nothing, and to save himself, by his
own sole exertions, from every sore strait in
life."
It has been said that Delhi was taken and India
saved by the personal character of Sir John
Lawrence. The very name of " Lawrence " repre-
sented power in the North-West Provinces. His
standard of duty, zeal, and personal effort was of
the highest ; and every man who served under him
seemed to be inspired by his spirit. It was declared
of him that his character alone was worth an army.
The same might be said of his brother Sir Henry,
who organized the Punjaub force that took so
prominent a part in the capture of Delhi. Both
brothers inspired those who were about them with
perfect love and confidence. Both possessed that
278 THE LAWRENCES [CHAP, vm
quality of tenderness which is one of the true
elements of the heroic character. Both lived
amongst the people, and powerfully influenced
them for good. Above all, as Col. Edwardes says,
" they drew models on young fellows' minds, which
they went forth and copied in their several ad-
ministrations : they sketched a faith, and begot a
school, which are both living things at this day."
Sir John Lawrence had by his side such men as
Montgomery, Nicholson, Cotton, and Edwardes, as
prompt, decisive, and high-souled as himself. John
Nicholson was one of the finest, manliest, and
noblest of men " every inch a hakim," the natives
said of him "a tower of strength," as he was
characterized by Lord Dalhousie. In whatever
capacity he acted he was great, because he acted
with his whole strength and soul. A brotherhood
of fakeers borne away by their enthusiastic admira-
tion of the man even began the worship of Nikkil
Seyn : he had some of them punished for their
folly, but they continued their worship neverthe-
less. Of his sustained energy and persistency an
illustration may be cited in his pursuit of the 5 5th
Sepoy mutineers, when he was in the saddle for
twenty consecutive hours, and travelled more than
seventy miles. When the enemy set up their
standard at Delhi, Lawrence and Montgomery,
relying on the support of the people of the Punjaub,
and compelling their admiration and confidence,
strained every nerve to keep their own province
in perfect order, whilst they hurled every available
soldier, European and Sikh, against that city. Sir
John wrote to the commander-in-chief to "hang
on to the rebels' noses before Delhi," while the
troops pressed on by forced marches under
CHAP, vm] THE SIEGE OF DELHI 279
Nicholson, "the tramp of whose war-horse might
be heard miles off," as was afterwards said of him
by a rough Sikh who wept over his grave.
The siege and storming of Delhi was the most
illustrious event which occurred in the course of
that gigantic struggle, although the leaguer of
Lucknow, during which the merest skeleton of a
British regiment the 32nd held out, under the
heroic Inglis, for six months against two hundred
thousand armed enemies, has perhaps excited more
intense interest. At Delhi, too, the British were
really the besieged, though ostensibly the be-
siegers ; they were a mere handful of men " in the
open" not more than 3,700 bayonets, European
and native and they were assailed from day to
day by an army of rebels numbering at one time
as many as 75,000 men, trained to European dis-
cipline by English officers, and supplied with all
but exhaustless munitions of war. The heroic little
band sat down before the city under the burning
rays of a tropical sun. Death, wounds, and fever
failed to turn them from their purpose. Thirty
times they were attacked by overwhelming numbers,
and thirty times did they drive back the enemy
behind their defences. As Captain Hodson him-
self one of the bravest there has said, " I venture
to aver that no other nation in the world would
have remained here, or avoided defeat if they had
attempted to do so." Never for an instant did
these heroes falter at their work ; with sublime
endurance they held on, fought on, and never
relaxed until, dashing through the "imminent
deadly breach," the place was won, and the British
flag was again unfurled on the walls of Delhi.
All were great privates, officers, and generals.
280 MISSIONARY LABOURERS [CHAP, vm
Common soldiers who had been inured to a life
of hardship, and young officers who had been
nursed in luxurious homes, alike proved their
manhood, and emerged from that terrible trial with
equal honour. The native strength and soundness
of the English race, and of manly English training
and discipline, were never more powerfully ex-
hibited ; and it was there emphatically proved that
the Men of England are, after all, its greatest
products. A terrible price was paid for this great
chapter in our history, but if those who survive,
and those who come after, profit by the lesson and
example, it may not have been purchased at too
great a cost.
But not less energy and courage have been dis-
played in India and the East by men of various
nations, in other lines of action more peaceful and
beneficent than that of war. And while the heroes
of the sword are remembered, the heroes of the
gospel ought not to be forgotten. From Xavier
to Martyn and Williams, there has been a succes-
sion of illustrious missionary labourers, working
in a spirit of sublime self-sacrifice, without any
thought of worldly honour, inspired solely by the
hope of seeking out and rescuing the lost and fallen
of their race. Borne up by invincible courage and
never-failing patience, these men have endured
privations, braved dangers, walked through pesti-
lence, and borne all toils, fatigues, and sufferings,
yet held on their way rejoicing, glorying even
in martyrdom itself. Of these one of the first and
most illustrious was Francis Xavier. Born of noble
lineage, and with pleasure, power, and honour
within his reach, he proved by his life that there
are higher objects in the world than rank, and
CHAP, vm] FRANCIS XAVIER 281
nobler aspirations than the accumulation of wealth.
He was a true gentleman in manners and senti-
ment ; brave, honourable, generous ; easily led, yet
capable of leading; easily persuaded, yet himself
persuasive; a most patient, resolute and energetic
man. At the age of twenty-two he was earning
his living as a public teacher of philosophy at the
University of Paris. There Xavier became the
intimate friend and associate of Loyola, and shortly
afterwards he conducted the pilgrimage of the first
little band of proselytes to Rome.
When John III. of Portugal resolved to plant
Christianity in the Indian territories subject to
his influence, Bobadilla was first selected as his
missionary ; but being disabled by illness, it was
found necessary to make another selection, and
Xavier was chosen. Repairing his tattered cassock,
and with no other baggage than his breviary, he
at once started for Lisbon and embarked for the
East. The ship in which he set sail for Goa had
the Governor on board, with a reinforcement of
a thousand men for the garrison of the place.
Though a cabin was placed at his disposal, Xavier
slept on deck throughout the voyage with his head
on a coil of ropes, messing with the sailors. By
ministering to their wants, inventing innocent
sports for their amusement, and attending them
in their sickness, he wholly won their hearts, and
they regarded him with veneration.
Arrived at Goa, Xavier was shocked at the
depravity of the people, settlers as well as natives ;
for the former had imported the vices without the
restraints of civilization, and the latter had only
been too apt to imitate their bad example. Passing
along the streets of the city, sounding his handbell
282 XAVIER'S LABOURS [CHAP, vm
as he went, he implored the people to send him
their children to be instructed. He shortly suc-
ceeded in collecting a large number of scholars,
whom he carefully taught day by day, at the same
time visiting the sick, the lepers, and the wretched
of all classes, with the object of assuaging their
miseries, and bringing them to the Truth. No cry
of human suffering which reached him was dis-
regarded. Hearing of the degradation and misery
of the pearl-fishers of Manaar, he set out to visit
them, and his bell again rang out the invitation
of mercy. He baptized and he taught, but the
latter he could only do through interpreters. His
most eloquent teaching was his ministration to
the wants and the sufferings of the wretched.
On he went, his handbell sounding along the
coast of Comorin, among the towns and villages,
the temples and the bazaars, summoning the natives
to gather about him and be instructed. He had
translations made of the Catechism, the Apostles'
Creed, the Commandments, the Lord's Prayer,
and some of the devotional offices of the Church.
Committing these to memory in their own tongue
he recited them to the children, until they had
them by heart; after which he sent them forth to
teach the words to their parents and neighbours.
At Cape Comorin he appointed thirty teachers,
who, under himself, presided over thirty Christian
Churches, though the Churches were but humble,
in most cases consisting only of a cottage sur-
mounted by a cross. Thence he passed to Travan-
core, sounding his way from village to village,
baptizing until his hands dropped with weariness,
and repeating his formulas until his voice became
almost inaudible. According to his own account,
CHAP, vm] JOHN WILLIAMS 283
the success of his mission surpassed his highest
expectations. His pure, earnest, and beautiful life,
and the irresistible eloquence of his deeds, made
converts wherever he went ; and by sheer force
of sympathy, those who saw him and listened to
him insensibly caught a portion of his ardour.
Burdened with the thought that "the harvest
is great and the labourers are few," Xavier next
sailed to Malacca and Japan, where he found him-
self amongst entirely new races speaking other
tongues. The most that he could do here was to
weep and pray, to smooth the pillow and watch by
the sick-bed, sometimes soaking the sleeve of his
surplice in water, from which to squeeze out a few
drops and baptize the dying. Hoping all things,
and fearing nothing, this valiant soldier of the
truth was borne onward throughout by faith and
energy. " Whatever form of death or torture," said
he, " awaits me, I am ready to suffer it ten thou-
sand times for the salvation of a single soul." He
battled with hunger, thirst, privations and dangers
of all kinds, still pursuing his mission of love, un-
resting and unwearying. At length, after eleven
years' labour, this great good man, while striving
to find a way into China, was stricken with fever
in the Island of Sanchian, and there received his
crown of glory. A hero of nobler mould, more
pure, self-denying, and courageous, has probably
never trod this earth.
Other missionaries have followed Xavier in the
same field of work, such as Schwartz, Carey, and
Marshman in India; Gutzlaff and Morrison in
China ; Williams in the South Seas ; Campbell,
Moffatt, and Livingstone in Africa. John Williams,
the martyr of Erromanga, was originally apprenticed
284 DR. LIVINGSTONE [CHAP, vm
to a furnishing ironmonger. Though considered
a dull boy, he was handy at his trade, in which
he acquired so much skill that his master usually
entrusted him with any blacksmith's work that
required the exercise of more than ordinary care.
He was also fond of bell-hanging and other em-
ployments which took him away from the shop.
A casual sermon which he heard gave his mind
a serious bias, and he became a Sunday-school
teacher. The cause of missions having been
brought under his notice at some of his society's
meetings, he determined to devote himself to this
work. His services were accepted by the London
Missionary Society; and his master allowed him
to leave the ironmonger's shop before the expiry of
his indentures. The islands of the Pacific Ocean
were the principal scene of his labours more par-
ticularly Huahine in Tahiti, Raiatea, and Rarotonga.
Like the Apostles, he worked with his hands,
at blacksmith work, gardening, shipbuilding ; and
he endeavoured to teach the islanders the art of
civilized life, at the same time that he instructed
them in the truths of religion. It was in the course
of his indefatigable labours that he was massacred
by savages on the shore of Erromanga none
worthier than he to wear the martyr's crown.
The career of Dr. Livingstone is one of the
most interesting of all. He has told the story of
his life in that modest and unassuming manner
which is so characteristic of the man himself. His
ancestors were poor but honest Highlanders, and
it is related of one of them, renowned in his district
for wisdom and prudence, that when on his death-
bed he called his children round him and left them
these words, the only legacy he had to bequeath
CHAP, vm] HIS STUDIES 285
" In my lifetime," said he, " I have searched most
carefully through all the traditions I could find of
our family, and I never could discover that there
was a dishonest man among our forefathers : if,
therefore, any of you or any of your children
should take to dishonest ways, it will not be be-
cause it runs in our blood ; it does not belong to
you : I leave this precept with you Be honest."
At the age of ten Livingstone was sent to work
in a cotton factory near Glasgow as a " piecer."
With part of his first week's wages he bought a
Latin grammar, and began to learn that language,
pursuing the study for years at a night school. He
would sit up conning his lessons till twelve or
later, when not sent to bed by his mother, for he
had to be up and at work in the factory every
morning by six. In this way he plodded through
Virgil and Horace, also reading extensively all
books, excepting novels, that came in his way,
but more especially scientific works and books of
travels. He occupied his spare hours, which were but
few, in the pursuit of botany, scouring the neigh-
bourhood to collect plants. He even carried on his
reading amidst the roar of the factory machinery,
so placing the book upon the spinning jenny which
he worked that he could catch sentence after
sentence as he passed it. In this way the per-
severing youth acquired much useful knowledge;
and as he grew older, the desire possessed him of
becoming a missionary to the heathen. With this
object he set himself to obtain a medical education,
in order the better to be qualified for the work.
He accordingly economized his earnings, and saved
as much money as enabled him to support himself
while attending the medical and Greek classes,
286 DR. LIVINGSTONE [CHAP, vm
as well as the Divinity Lectures, at Glasgow, for
several winters, working as a cotton spinner during
the remainder of each year. He thus supported
himself, during his college career, entirely by his
own earnings as a factory workman, never having
received a farthing of help from any other source.
" Looking back now," he honestly says, " at that
life of toil, I cannot but feel thankful that it formed
such a material part of my early education; and,
were it possible, I should like to begin life over
again in the same lowly style, and to pass through
the same hardy training." At length he finished
his medical curriculum, wrote his Latin thesis,
passed his examinations, and was admitted a
licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Sur-
geons. At first he thought of going to China, but
the war then waging with that country prevented
his following out the idea; and having offered his
services to the London Missionary Society, he was
by them sent out to Africa, which he reached in
1840. He had intended to proceed to China by
his own efforts ; and he says the only pang he had
in going to Africa at the charge of the London
Missionary Society was, because " it was not quite
agreeable to one accustomed to work his own way
to become, in a manner, dependent upon others."
Arrived in Africa he set to work with great zeal.
He could not brook the idea of merely entering
upon the labours of others, but cut out a large
sphere of independent work, preparing himself for
it by undertaking manual labour in building and
other handicraft employment, in addition to teach-
ing, which, he says, " made me generally as much
exhausted and unfit for study in the evenings as
ever I had been when a cotton-spinner." Whilst
CHAP, vm] JOHN HOWARD 287
labouring amongst the Bechuanas, he dug canals,
built houses, cultivated fields, reared cattle, and
taught the natives to work as well as worship.
When he first started with a party of them on foot
upon a long journey, he overheard their observa-
tions upon his appearance and powers " He is not
strong," said they ; " he is quite slim, and only
appears stout because he puts himself into those
bags (trousers): he will soon knock up." This
caused the missionary's Highland blood to rise, and
made him despise the fatigue of keeping them all
at the top of their speed for days together, until he
heard them expressing proper opinions of his
pedestrian powers. What he did in Africa, and
how he worked, may be learnt from his own
' Missionary Travels,' one of the most fascinating
books of its kind that has ever been given to the
public. One of his last known acts is thoroughly
characteristic of the man. The ' Birkenhead ' steam
launch, which he took out with him to Africa,
having proved a failure, he sent home orders for
the construction of another vessel at an estimated
cost of 2ooo/. This sum he proposed to defray out
of the means which he had set aside for his children
arising from the profits of his books of travels.
"The children must make it up themselves," was
in effect his expression in sending home the order
for the appropriation of the money.
The career of John Howard was throughout a
striking illustration of the same power of patient
purpose. His sublime life proved that even phy-
sical weakness could remove the mountains in the
pursuit of an end recommended by duty. The idea
of ameliorating the condition of prisoners engrossed
his whole thoughts and possessed him like a
288 JONAS HANWAY [CHAP, vm
passion ; and no toil, nor danger, nor bodily suffer-
ing could turn him from that great object of his
life. Though a man of no genius and but moderate
talent, his heart was pure and his will was strong.
Even in his own time he achieved a remarkable
degree of success; and his influence did not die
with him, for it has continued powerfully to affect
not only the legislation of England, but of all
civilized nations, down to the present hour.
Jonas Hanway was another of the many patient
and persevering men who have made England
what it is content simply to do with energy the
work they have been appointed to do, and go to
their rest thankfully when it is done
"Leaving no memorial but a world
Made better by their lives."
He was born in 1712, at Portsmouth, where his
father, a storekeeper in the dockyard, being killed
by an accident, he was left an orphan at an early age.
His mother removed with her children to London,
where she had them put to school, and struggled
hard to bring them up respectably. At seventeen
Jonas was sent to Lisbon to be apprenticed to
a merchant, where his close attention to business,
his punctuality, and his strict honour and integrity
gained for him the respect and esteem of all who
knew him. Returning to London in 1743, he ac-
cepted the offer of a partnership in an English
mercantile house at St. Petersburg engaged in
the Caspian trade, then in its infancy. Hanway
went to Russia for the purpose of extending the
business ; and shortly after his arrival at the capital
he set out for Persia, with a caravan of English
bales of cloth making twenty carriage loads. At
CHAP. VIH] "NEVER DESPAIR" 289
Astracan he sailed for Astrabad, on the south-
eastern shore of the Caspian ; but he had scarcely
landed his bales, when an insurrection broke out,
his goods were seized, and though he afterwards
recovered the principal part of them, the fruits
of his enterprise were in a great measure lost.
A plot was set on foot to seize himself and his
party; so he took to sea and, after encountering
great perils, reached Ghilan in safety. His escape
on this occasion gave him the first idea of the
words which he afterwards adopted as the motto
of his life " Never Despair" He afterwards re-
sided in St. Petersburg for five years, carrying
on a prosperous business. But a relative having
left him some property, and his own means being
considerable, he left Russia, and arrived in his
native country in 1750. His object in returning
to England was, as he himself expressed it, "to
consult his own health (which was extremely
delicate), and do as much good to himself and
others as he was able." The rest of his life was
spent in deeds of active benevolence and usefulness
to his fellow men. He lived in a quiet style, in
order that he might employ a larger share of his
income in works of benevolence. One of the first
public improvements to which he devoted himself
was that of the highways of the metropolis, in
which he succeeded to a large extent. The rumour
of a French invasion being prevalent in 1755, Mr.
Hanway turned his attention to the best mode
of keeping up the supply of seamen. He summoned
a meeting of merchants and shipowners at the
Royal Exchange, and there proposed to them to
form themselves into a society for fitting out lands-
men volunteers and boys, to serve on board the
19
290 JONAS HANWAY [CHAP, vm
king's ships. The proposal was received with
enthusiasm : a society was formed, and officers
were appointed, Mr. Hanway directing its entire
operations. The result was the establishment in
1756 of The Marine Society, an institution which
has proved of much national advantage, and is to
this day of great and substantial utility. Within
six years from its formation, 5451 boys and 4787
landsmen volunteers had been trained and fitted
out by the society and added to the navy, and to
this day it is in active operation, about 600 poor
boys, after a careful education, being annually
apprenticed as sailors, principally in the merchant
service.
Mr. Hanway devoted the other portions of his
spare time to improving or establishing important
public institutions in the metropolis. From an
early period he took an active interest in the
Foundling Hospital, which had been started by
Thomas Coram many years before, but which, by
encouraging parents to abandon their children to
the charge of a charity, was threatening to do
more harm than good. He determined to take
steps to stem the evil, entering upon the work in
the face of the fashionable philanthropy of the
time ; but by holding to his purpose he eventually
succeeded in bringing the charity back to its
proper objects ; and time and experience have
proved that he was right. The Magdalen Hospital
was also established in a great measure through
Mr. Hanway's exertions. But his most laborious
and persevering efforts were in behalf of the infant
parish poor. The misery and neglect amidst which
the children of the parish poor then grew up, and
the mortality which prevailed amongst them, were
CHAP, vni] HIS PHILANTHROPIC LABOURS 291
frightful; but there was no fashionable movement
on foot to abate the suffering, as in the case of the
foundlings. So Jonas Hanway summoned his
energies to the task. Alone and unassisted he first
ascertained by personal inquiry the extent of the
evil. He explored the dwellings of the poorest
classes in London, and visited the poorhouse sick
wards, by which he ascertained the management
in detail of every workhouse in and near the
metropolis. He next made a journey into France
and through Holland, visiting the houses for the
reception of the poor, and noting whatever he
thought might be adopted at home with advantage.
He was thus employed for five years ; and on his
return to England he published the results of his
observations. The consequence was that many of
the workhouses were reformed and improved. In
1761 he obtained an Act obliging every London
parish to keep an annual register of all the infants
received, discharged, and dead ; and he took care
that the Act should work, for he himself superin-
tended its working with indefatigable watchfulness.
He went about from workhouse to workhouse in the
morning, and from one member of parliament to
another in the afternoon, for day after day, and for
year after year, enduring every rebuff, answering
every objection, and accommodating himself to
every humour. At length, after a perseverance
hardly to be equalled, and after nearly ten years'
labour, he obtained another Act, at his sole expense
(7 Geo. III. c. 39), directing that all parish infants
belonging to the parishes within the bills of
mortality should not be nursed in the workhouses,
but be sent to nurse a certain number of miles out
of town until they were six years old, under the
292 JONAS HANWAY [CHAP, vi it
care of guardians to be elected triennially. The
poor people called this " the Act for keeping
children alive " ; and the registers for the years
which followed its passing, as compared with those
which preceded it, showed that thousands of lives
had been preserved through the judicious inter-
ference of this good and sensible man.
Wherever a philanthropic work was to be done
in London, be sure that Jonas Hanway's hand was
in it. One of the first Acts for the protection of
chimney-sweepers' boys was obtained through his
influence. A destructive fire at Montreal, and
another at Bridgetown, Barbadoes, afforded him
the opportunity for raising a timely subscription
for the relief of the sufferers. His name appeared
in every list, and his disinterestedness and sincerity
were universally recognized. But he was not
suffered to waste his little fortune entirely in the
service of others. Five leading citizens of London,
headed by Mr. Hoare, the banker, without Mr.
Hanway's knowledge, waited on Lord Bute, then
Prime Minister, in a body, and in the names of
their fellow-citizens requested that some notice
might be taken of this good man's disinterested
services to his country. The result was, his
appointment shortly after as one of the commis-
sioners for victualling the navy.
Towards the close of his life Mr. Hanway's
health became very feeble, and although he found
it necessary to resign his office at the Victualling-
Board, he could not be idle; but laboured at the
establishment of Sunday Schools, a movement
then in its infancy, or in relieving poor blacks,
many of whom wandered destitute about the streets
of the metropolis, or in alleviating the sufferings
CHAP, vm] HIS PURITY OF CHARACTER 293
of some neglected and destitute class of society.
Notwithstanding his familiarity with misery in all
its shapes, he was one of the most cheerful of
beings ; and but for his cheerfulness! he could
never, with so delicate a frame, have got through
so vast an amount of self-imposed work. He
dreaded nothing so much as inactivity. Though
fragile, he was bold and indefatigable ; and his
moral courage was of the first order. It may be
regarded as a trivial matter to mention that he was
the first who ventured to walk the streets of London
with an umbrella over his head. But let any
modern London merchant venture to walk along
Cornhill in a peaked Chinese hat, and he will find
it takes some degree of moral courage to persevere
in it. After carrying an umbrella for thirty years,
Mr. Hanway saw the article at length come into
general use.
Hanway was a man of strict honour, truthfulness,
and integrity; and every word he said might be
relied upon. He had so great a respect, amounting
almost to a reverence, for the character of the
honest merchant, that it was the only subject upon
which he was ever seduced into a eulogium. He
strictly practised what he professed, and both as
a merchant, and afterwards as a commissioner for
victualling the navy, his conduct was without stain.
He would not accept the slightest favour of any
sort from a contractor ; and when any present was
sent to him whilst at the Victualling Office, he
would politely return it, with the intimation that
" he had made it a rule not to accept anything from
any person engaged with the office." When he
found his powers failing, he prepared for death
with as much cheerfulness as he would have
294 GRANVILLE SHARP [CHAP, vm
prepared himself for a journey into the country.
He sent round and paid all his tradesmen, took leave
of his friends, arranged his affairs, had his person
neatly disposed of, and parted with life serenely
and peacefully in his 74th year. The property
which he left did not amount to two thousand
pounds, and, as he had no relatives who wanted it,
he divided it amongst sundry orphans and poor
persons whom he had befriended during his life-
time. Such, in brief, was the beautiful life of Jonas
Hanway, as honest, energetic, hard-working, and
true-hearted a man as ever lived.
The life of Granville Sharp is another striking
example of the same power of individual energy
a power which was afterwards transfused into the
noble band of workers in the cause of Slavery
Abolition, prominent among whom were Clarkson,
Wilberforce, Buxton, and Brougham. But, giants
though these men were in this cause, Granville
Sharp was the first, and perhaps the greatest of
them all, in point of perseverance, energy, and in-
trepidity. He began life as apprentice to a linen-
draper on Tower-hill ; but, leaving that business
after his apprenticeship was out, he next entered as
a clerk in the Ordnance Office ; and it was while
engaged in that humble occupation that he carried
on in his spare hours the work of Negro Emanci-
pation. He was always, even when an apprentice,
ready to undertake any amount of volunteer labour
where a useful purpose was to be served. Thus,
while learning the linen-drapery business, a fellow
apprentice who lodged in the same house, and was
a Unitarian, led him into frequent discussions on
religious subjects. The Unitarian youth insisted
that Granville's Trinitarian misconception of certain
CHAP, vin] CASE OF JONATHAN STRONG 295
passages of Scripture arose from his want of ac-
quaintance with the Greek tongue ; on which he
immediately set to work in his evening hours,
and shortly acquired an intimate knowledge of
Greek. A similar controversy with another
fellow-apprentice, a Jew, as to the interpreta-
tion of the prophecies, led him in like manner
to undertake and overcome the difficulties of
Hebrew.
But the circumstance which gave the bias and
direction to the main labours of his life originated
in his generosity and benevolence. His brother
William, a surgeon in Mincing Lane, gave gratuit-
ous service to the poor, and amongst the numerous
applicants for relief at his surgery was a poor
African named Jonathan Strong. It appeared that
the negro had been brutally treated by his master,
a Barbadoes lawyer then in London, and became
lame, almost blind, and unable to work ; on which
his owner, regarding him as of no further value
as a chattel, cruelly turned him adrift into the
streets to starve. This poor man, a mass of disease,
supported himself by begging for a time, until he
found his way to William Sharp, who gave him
some medicine, and shortly after got him admitted
to St. Bartholomew's hospital, where he was
cured. On coming out of the hospital, the two
brothers supported the negro in order to keep
him off the streets, but they had not the least
suspicion at the time that any one had a claim
upon his person. They even succeeded in obtaining
a situation for Strong with an apothecary, in whose
service he remained for two years ; and it was
while he was attending his mistress behind a hack-
ney coach, that his former owner, the Barbadoes
296 GRANV1LLE SHARP [CHAP, vin
lawyer, recognized him, and determined to recover
possession of the slave, again rendered valuable
by the restoration of his health. The lawyer
employed two of the Lord Mayor's officers to
apprehend Strong, and he was lodged in the
Compter, until he could be shipped off to the West
Indies. The negro, bethinking him in his captivity
of the kind services which Granville Sharp had
rendered him in his great distress some years
before, despatched a letter to him requesting his
help. Sharp had forgotten the name of Strong,
but he sent a messenger to make inquiries, who
returned saying that the keepers denied having
any such person in their charge. His suspicions
were roused, and he went forthwith to the prison,
and insisted upon seeing Jonathan Strong. He
was admitted, and recognized the poor negro, now
in custody as a recaptured slave. Mr. Sharp
charged the master of the prison at his own peril
not to deliver up Strong to any person whatever,
until he had been carried before the Lord Mayor,
to whom Sharp immediately went, and obtained
a summons against those persons who had seized
and imprisoned Strong without a warrant. The
parties appeared before the Lord Mayor accordingly,
and it appeared from the proceedings that Strong's
former master had already sold him to a new one,
who produced the bill of sale and claimed the
negro as his property. As no charge of offence
was made against Strong, and as the Lord Mayor
was incompetent to deal with the legal question
of Strong's liberty or otherwise, he discharged him,
and the slave followed his benefactor out of court,
no one daring to touch him. The man's owner
immediately gave Sharp notice of an action to
CHAP, vni] SLAVES IN ENGLAND 297
recover possession of his negro slave, of whom he
declared he had been robbed.
About that time (1767) the personal liberty of
the Englishman, though cherished as a theory, was
subject to grievous infringements, and was almost
daily violated. The impressment of men for the
sea service was constantly practised, and, besides
the press-gangs, there were regular bands of kid-
nappers employed in London and all the large
towns of the kingdom, to seize men for the East
India Company's service. And when the men
were not wanted for India, they were shipped off
to the planters in the American colonies. Negro
slaves were openly advertised for sale in the
London and Liverpool newspapers. Rewards were
offered for recovering and securing fugitive slaves,
and conveying them down to certain specified ships
in the river.
The position of the reputed slave in England
was undefined and doubtful. The judgments which
had been given in the courts of law were fluctuating
and various, resting on no settled principle. Al-
though it was a popular belief that no slave could
breathe in England, there were legal men of
eminence who expressed a directly contrary opinion.
The lawyers to whom Mr. Sharp resorted for
advice, in defending himself in the action raised
against him in the case of Jonathan Strong, generally
concurred in this view, and he was further told
by Jonathan Strong's owner, that the eminent Lord
Chief Justice Mansfield, and all the leading counsel,
were decidedly of opinion that the slave, by coming
into England, did not become free, but might legally
be compelled to return again to the plantations.
Such information would have caused despair in
298 GRANVILLE SHARP [CHAP, vm
a mind less courageous and earnest than that of
Granville Sharp; but it only served to stimulate
his resolution to fight the battle of the negroes'
freedom, at least in England. " Forsaken/' he said,
"by my professional defenders, I was compelled,
through the want of regular legal assistance, to
make a hopeless attempt at self-defence, though
I was totally unacquainted either with the practice
of the law or the foundations of it, having never
opened a law book (except the Bible) in my life,
until that time, when I most reluctantly undertook
to search the indexes of a law library, which my
bookseller had lately purchased."
The whole of his time during the day was occu-
pied with the business of the Ordnance Department,
where he held the most laborious post in the office ;
he was therefore under the necessity of conducting
his new studies late at night or early in the
morning. He confessed that he was himself be-
coming a sort of slave. Writing to a clerical friend
to excuse himself for delay in replying to a letter,
he said, "I profess myself entirely incapable of
holding a literary correspondence. What little
time I have been able to save from sleep at night,
and early in the morning, has been necessarily
employed in the examination of some points of
law, which admitted of no delay, and yet required
the most diligent researches and examination in
my study."
Mr. Sharp gave up every leisure moment that
he could command during the next two years to
the close study of the laws of England affecting
personal liberty, wading through an immense
mass of dry and repulsive literature, and making
extracts of all the most important Acts of Parlia-
CHAP, vni] KIDNAPPING NEGROES 299
ment, decisions of the courts, and opinions of
eminent lawyers as he went along. In. this tedious
and protracted inquiry he had no instructor, nor
assistant, nor adviser. He could not find a single
lawyer whose opinion was favourable to his under-
taking. The results of his inquiries were, however,
as gratifying to himself as they were surprising
to the gentlemen of the law. "God be thanked,"
he wrote, "there is nothing in any English law
or statute at least that I am able to find out
that can justify the enslaving of others." He had
planted his foot firm, and now he doubted nothing.
He drew up the result of his studies in a summary
form ; it was a plain, clear, and manly statement,
entitled, 'On the Injustice of Tolerating Slavery
in England ' ; and numerous copies, made by him-
self, were circulated by him amongst the most
eminent lawyers of the time. Strong's owner,
finding the sort of man he had to deal with, invented
various pretexts for deferring the suit against
Sharp, and at length offered a compromise, which
was rejected. Granville went on circulating his
manuscript tract among the lawyers, until at length
those employed against Jonathan Strong were de-
terred from proceeding further, and the result was,
that the plaintiff was compelled to pay treble costs
for not bringing forward his action. The tract
was then printed in 1769.
In the meantime other cases occurred of the
kidnapping of negroes in London, and their ship-
ment to the West Indies for sale. Wherever
Sharp could lay hold of any such case, he at once
took proceedings to rescue the negro. Thus the
wife of one Hylas, an African, was seized, and
despatched to Barbadoes ; on which Sharp, in the
300 GRANVILLE SHARP [CHAP, vin
name of Hylas, instituted legal proceedings against
the aggressor, obtained a verdict with damages,
and Hylas's wife was brought back to England
free.
Another forcible capture of a negro, attended
with great cruelty, having occurred in 1770, he
immediately set himself on the track of the
aggressors. An African, named Lewis, was seized
one dark night by two watermen employed by the
person who claimed the negro as his property,
dragged into the water, hoisted into a boat, where
he was gagged and his limbs were tied ; and then,
rowing down river, they put him on board a ship
bound for Jamaica, where he was to be sold for a
slave upon his arrival in the island. The cries of
the poor negro had, however, attracted the attention
of some neighbours, one of whom proceeded direct
to Mr. Granville Sharp, now known as the negro's
friend, and informed him of the outrage. Sharp
immediately got a warrant to bring back Lewis,
and he proceeded to Gravesend, but on arrival
there the ship had sailed for the Downs. A
writ of Habeas Corpus was obtained, sent down
to Spitfiead, and before the ship could leave the
shores of England the writ was served. The
slave was found chained to the main-mast, bathed
in tears, casting mournful looks on the land from
which he was about to be torn. He was imme-
diately liberated, brought back to London, and a
warrant was issued against the author of the
outrage. The promptitude of head, heart, and
hand displayed by Mr. Sharp in this transaction
could scarcely have been surpassed, and yet he
accused himself of slowness. The case was tried
before Lord Mansfield whose opinion, it will be
CHAP, vm] CASE OF JAMES SOMERSET 301
remembered, had already been expressed as de-
cidedly opposed to that entertained by Granville
Sharp. The judge, however, avoided bringing the
question to an issue, or offering any opinion on the
legal question as to the slave's personal liberty
or otherwise, but discharged the negro because the
defendant could bring no evidence that Lewis was
even nominally his property.
The question of the personal liberty of the
negro in England was therefore still undecided ;
but in the meantime Mr. Sharp continued steadily
in his benevolent course, and by his indefatigable
exertions and promptitude of action many more
were added to the list of the rescued. At length
the important case of James Somerset occurred ; a
case which is said to have been selected, at the
mutual desire of Lord Mansfield and Mr. Sharp,
in order to bring the great question involved to a
clear legal issue. Somerset had been brought to
England by his master, and left there. Afterwards
his master sought to apprehend him and send him
off to Jamaica for sale. Mr. Sharp, as usual, at
once took the negro's case in hand, and employed
counsel to defend him. Lord Mansfield intimated
that the case was of such general concern, that he
should take the opinion of all the judges upon it.
Mr. Sharp now felt that he would have to contend
with all the force that could be brought against him,
but his resolution was in no wise shaken. Fortu-
nately for him, in this severe struggle, his exertions
had already begun to tell ; increasing interest was
taken in the question, and many eminent legal
gentlemen openly declared themselves to be upon
his side.
The cause of personal liberty, now at stake, was
302 GRANVILLE SHARP [CHAP, vm
fairly tried before Lord Mansfield, assisted by the
three justices and tried on the broad principle
of the essential and constitutional right of every
man in England to the liberty of his person, unless
forfeited by the law. It is unnecessary here to
enter into any account of this great trial ; the
arguments extended to a great length, the cause
being carried over to another term, when it was
adjourned and re-adjourned, but at length judg-
ment was given by Lord Mansfield, in whose
powerful mind so gradual a change had been
worked by the arguments of counsel, based mainly
on Granville Sharp's tract, that he now declared
the court to be so clearly of one opinion, that there
was no necessity for referring the case to the
twelve judges. He then declared that the claim
of slavery never can be supported ; that the power
claimed never was in use in England, nor acknow-
ledged by the law; therefore the man James
Somerset must be discharged. By securing this
judgment Granville Sharp effectually abolished the
slave trade until then carried on openly in the
streets of Liverpool and London. But he also
firmly established the glorious axiom, that as soon
as any slave sets his foot on English ground, that
moment he becomes free; and there can be no
doubt that this great decision of Lord Mansfield
was mainly owing to Mr. Sharp's firm, resolute,
and intrepid prosecution of the cause from the
beginning to the end.
It is unnecessary further to follow the career
of Granville Sharp. He continued to labour inde-
fatigably in all good works. He was instrumental
in founding the colony of Sierra Leone as an
asylum for rescued negroes. He laboured to
CHAP, vm] THOMAS CLARKSON 303
ameliorate the condition of the native Indians in
the American colonies. He agitated the enlarge-
ment and extension of the political rights of the
English people ; and he endeavoured to effect the
abolition of the impressment of seamen. Granville
held that the British seaman, as well as the African
negro, was entitled to the protection of the law ;
and that the fact of his choosing a seafaring life did
not in any way cancel his rights and privileges as
an Englishman first amongst which he ranked
personal freedom. Mr. Sharp also laboured, but
ineffectually, to restore amity between England and
her colonies in America ; and when the fratricidal
war of the American Revolution was entered on,
his sense of integrity was so scrupulous that,
resolving not in any way to be concerned in so
unnatural a business, he resigned his situation at
the Ordnance Office.
To the last he held to the great object of his
life the abolition of slavery. To carry on this
work, and organize the efforts of the growing
friends of the cause, the Society for the Abolition
of Slavery was founded, and new men, inspired by
Sharp's example and zeal, sprang forward to help
him. His energy became theirs, and the self-
sacrificing zeal in which he had so long laboured
single-handed became at length transfused into the
nation itself. His mantle fell upon Clarkson, upon
Wilberforce, upon Brougham, and upon Buxton,
who laboured as he had done, with like energy and
steadfastness of purpose, until at length slavery was
abolished throughout the British Dominions. But
though the names last mentioned may be more
frequently identified with the triumph of this great
cause, the chief merit unquestionably belongs to
304 THOMAS CLARKSON [CHAP, vm
Granville Sharp. He was encouraged by none of
the world's huzzas when he entered upon his work.
He stood alone, opposed to the opinion of the
ablest lawyers and the most rooted prejudices of
the times ; and alone he fought out, by his single
exertions, and at his individual expense, the most
memorable battle for the constitution of this
country and the liberties of British subjects of
which modern times afford a record. What
followed was mainly the consequence of his
indefatigable constancy. He lighted the torch
which kindled other minds, and it was handed on
until the illumination became complete.
Before the death of Granville Sharp, Clarkson
had already turned his attention to the question
of negro slavery. He had even selected it for
the subject of a college essay ; and his mind
became so possessed by it that he could not shake
it off. The spot is pointed out near Wade's Mill, in
Hertfordshire, where, alighting from his horse one
day, he sat down disconsolate on the turf by the
road side, and, after long thinking, determined to
devote himself wholly to the work. He translated
his essay from Latin into English, added fresh illus-
trations, and published it. Then fellow labourers
gathered around him. The Society for Abolishing
the Slave Trade, unknown to him, had already
been formed, and when he heard of it he joined it.
He sacrificed all his prospects in life to prosecute
this cause. Wilberforce was selected to lead in
Parliament ; but upon Clarkson chiefly devolved
the labour of collecting and arranging the immense
mass of evidence offered in support of the aboli-
tion. A remarkable instance of Clarkson's sleuth-
hound sort of perseverance may be mentioned.
CHAP, vm] HIS IMMENSE LABOURS 305
The abettors of slavery, in the course of their
defence of the system, maintained that only such
negroes as were captured in battle were sold as
slaves, and, if not so sold, then they were reserved
for a still more frightful doom in their own country.
Clarkson knew of the slave-hunts conducted by
the slave-traders, but had no witnesses to prove
it. Where was one to be found? Accidentally,
a gentleman whom he met on one of his journeys
informed him of a young sailor, in whose company
he had been about a year before, who had been
actually engaged in one of such slave-hunting expe-
ditions. The gentleman did not know his name,
and could but indefinitely describe his person,
He did not know where he was, further than that
he belonged to a ship of war in ordinary, but at
what port he could not tell. With this mere
glimmering of information, Clarkson determined to
produce this man as a witness. He visited per-
sonally all the seaport towns where ships in ordinary
lay ; boarded and examined every ship without
success, until he came to the very last port, and
found the young man, his prize, in the very last
ship that remained to be visited. The young man
proved to be one of his most valuable and effective
witnesses.
During several years Clarkson conducted a
correspondence with upwards of four hundred
persons, travelling more than thirty-five thousand
miles during the same time in search of evidence.
He was at length disabled and exhausted by illness,
brought on by his continuous exertions : but he was
not borne from the field until his zeal had fully
awakened the public mind, and excited the ardent
sympathies of all good men on behalf of the slave.
20
306 POWELL BUXTON [CHAP, vill
After years of protracted struggle, the slave
trade was abolished. But still another great
achievement remained to be accomplished the
abolition of slavery itself throughout the British
dominions. And here again determined energy
won the day. Of the leaders in the cause, none
was more distinguished than Fowell Buxton, who
took the position formerly occupied by Wilberforce
in the House of Commons. Buxton was a dull,
heavy boy, distinguished for his strong self-will,
which first exhibited itself in violent, domineering,
and headstrong obstinacy. His father died when
he was a child ; but fortunately he had a wise
mother, who trained his will with great care, con-
straining him to obey, but encouraging the habit
of deciding and acting for himself in matters which
might safely be left to him. His mother believed
that a strong will, directed upon worthy objects,
was a valuable manly quality if properly guided,
and she acted accordingly When others about
her commented on the boy's self-will, she would
merely say, " Never mind he is self-willed now
you will see it will turn out well in the end."
Fowell learnt very little at school, and was regarded
as a dunce and an idler. He got other boys to
do his exercises for him, while he romped and
scrambled about. He returned home at fifteen,
a great, growing, awkward lad, fond only of boating,
shooting, riding, and field sports spending his
time principally with the gamekeeper, a man pos-
sessed of a good heart an intelligent observer
of life and nature, though he could neither read
nor write. Buxton had excellent raw material in
him, but he wanted culture, training, and develop-
ment. At this juncture of his life, when his habits
CHAP, vm] HIS ENERGY OF CHARACTER 307
were being formed for good or evil, he was happily
thrown into the society of the Gurney family,
distinguished for their fine social qualities not less
than for their intellectual culture and public-spirited
philanthropy. This intercourse with the Gurneys,
he used afterwards to say, gave the colouring to his
life. They encouraged his efforts at self-culture;
and when he went to the University of Dublin
and gained high honours there, the animating
passion in his mind, he said, "was to carry back
to them the prizes which they prompted and enabled
me to win." He married one of the daughters
of the family, and started in life, commencing as a
clerk to his uncles Hanbury, the London brewers.
His power of will, which made him so difficult
to deal with as a boy, now formed the backbone
of his character, and made him most indefatigable
and energetic in whatever he undertook. He
threw his whole strength and bulk right down
upon his work ; and the great giant " Elephant
Buxton" they called him, for he stood some six
feet four in height became one of the most
vigorous and practical of men. "I could brew,"
he said, "one hour, do mathematics the next,
and shoot the next, and each with my whole
soul." There was invincible energy and deter-
mination in whatever he did. Admitted a partner,
he became the active manager of the concern ;
and the vast business which he conducted felt his
influence through every fibre, and prospered far
beyond its previous success. Nor did he allow
his mind to lie fallow, for he gave his evenings
diligently to self-culture, studying and digesting
Blackstone, Montesquieu, and solid commentaries
on English law. His maxims in reading 1 were,
308 POWELL BUXTON [CHAP, vm
"never to begin a book without finishing it";
"never to consider a book finished until it is
mastered"; and "to study everything with the
whole mind."
When only thirty-two, Buxton entered Parlia-
ment, and at once assumed that position of influence
there of which every honest, earnest, well-informed
man is secure who enters that assembly of the
first gentlemen in the world. The principal question
to which he devoted himself was complete emanci-
pation of the slaves in the British colonies. He
himself used to attribute the interest which he early
felt in this question to the influence of Priscilla
Gurney, one of the Earlham family a woman of a
fine intellect and warm heart, abounding in illus-
trious virtues. When on her deathbed, in 1821,
she repeatedly sent for Buxton, and urged him
"to make the cause of the slaves the great object
of his life." Her last act was to attempt to reiterate
the solemn charge, and she expired in the in-
effectual effort. Buxton never forgot her counsel;
he named one of his daughters after her; and
on the day on which she was married from his
house, on the ist of August, 1834 the day of
negro emancipation after his Priscilla had been
manumitted from her filial service, and left her
father's home in the company of her husband,
Buxton sat down and thus wrote to a friend :
"The bride is just gone; everything has passed
off to admiration; and there is not a slave in the
British colonies f "
Buxton was no genius not a great intellectual
leader nor discoverer, but mainly an earnest,
straightforward, resolute, energetic man. Indeed,
his whole character is most forcibly expressed in
CHAP, vm] HIS DETERMINATION 309
his own words, which every young man might
well stamp upon his soul: "The longer I live,"
said he, "the more I am certain that the great
difference between men, between the feeble and the
powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy
invincible determination a purpose once fixed,
and then death or victory ! That quality will do
anything that can be done in this world ; and no
talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, will
make a two-legged creature a Man without it."
CHAPTER IX
MEN OF BUSINESS
" Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before
kings." Proverbs of Solomon.
" That man is but of the lower part of the world that is not brought
up to business affairs." Owen Felt ham.
HAZLITT, in one of his clever essays, repre-
sents the man of business as a mean sort
of person put in a go-cart, yoked to a trade
or profession ; alleging that all he has to do is,
not to go out of the beaten track, but merely to
let his affairs take their own course. " The great
requisite," he says, " for the prosperous manage-
ment of ordinary business is the want of imagination,
or of any ideas but those of custom and interest
on the narrowest scale." * But nothing could be
more one-sided, and in effect untrue, than such
a definition. Of course, there are narrow-minded
men of business, as there are narrow-minded
scientific men, literary men, and legislators ; but
there are also business men of large and com-
prehensive minds, capable of action on the very
largest scale. As Burke said in his speech on the
India Bill, he knew statesmen who were peddlers,
and merchants who acted in the spirit of statesmen.
* On ' Thought and Action.'
310
CHAP, ix] GENIUS AND BUSINESS 311
If we take into account the qualities necessary
for the successful conduct of any important under-
taking, that it requires special aptitude, prompti-
tude of action on emergencies, capacity for
organizing the labours often of large numbers of
men, great tact and knowledge of human nature,
constant self-culture, and growing experience in
the practical affairs of life, it must, we think,
be obvious that the school of business is by no
means so narrow as some writers would have us
believe. Mr. Helps has gone much nearer the
truth when he said that consummate men of
business are as rare almost as great poets rarer,
perhaps, than veritable saints and martyrs. In-
deed, of no other pursuit can it so emphatically
be said, as of this, that " Business makes men."
It has, however, been a favourite fallacy with
dunces in all times, that men of genius are unfitted
for business, as well as that business occupations
unfit men for the pursuits of genius. The unhappy
youth who committed suicide a few years since
because he had been " born to be a man and
condemned to be a grocer," proved by the act that
his soul was not equal even to the dignity of
grocery. For it is not the calling that degrades
the man, but the man that degrades the calling.
All work that brings honest gain is honourable,
whether it be of hand or mind. The fingers may
be soiled, yet the heart remain pure ; for it is not
material so much as moral dirt that defiles greed
far more than grime, and vice than verdigris.
The greatest have not disdained to labour
honestly and usefully for a living, though at the
same time aiming after higher things. Thales, the
first of the seven sages, Solon, the second founder
312 GREAT MEN OF BUSINESS [CHAP, ix
of Athens, and Hyperates, the mathematician, were
all traders. Plato, called the Divine by reason of
the excellence of his wisdom, defrayed his travelling
expenses in Egypt by the profits derived from the
oil which he sold during his journey. Spinoza
maintained himself by polishing glasses while he
pursued his philosophical investigations. Linnaeus,
the great botanist, prosecuted his studies while
hammering leather and making shoes. Shakespeare
was a successful manager of a theatre perhaps
priding himself more upon his practical qualities
in that capacity than on his writing of plays and
poetry. Pope was of opinion that Shakespeare's
principal object in cultivating literature was to
secure an honest independence. Indeed, he seems
to have been altogether indifferent to literary
reputation. It is not known that he superintended
the publication of a single play, or even sanctioned
the printing of one; and the chronology of his
writings is still a mystery. It is certain, however,
that he prospered in his business, and realized
sufficient to enable him to retire upon a competency
to his native town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Chaucer was in early life a soldier, and after-
wards an effective Commissioner of Customs, and
Inspector of Woods and Crown Lands. Spencer
was Secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, was
afterwards Sheriff of Cork, and is said to have been
shrewd and attentive in matters of business.
Milton, originally a schoolmaster, was elevated to
the post of Secretary to the Council of State during
the Commonwealth; and the extant Order-book
of the Council, as well as many of Milton's letters
which are preserved, give abundant evidence of
his activity and usefulness in that office. Sir Isaac
CHAP, ix] SUCCESS IN BUSINESS 313
Newton proved himself an efficient Master of the
Mint ; the new coinage of 1694 having been carried
on under his immediate personal superintendence.
Cowper prided himself upon his business punctu-
ality, though he confessed that he " never knew a
poet, except himself, who was punctual in anything."
But against this we may set the lives of Words-
worth and Scott the former a distributor of
stamps, the latter a clerk to the Court of Session,
both of whom, though great poets, were emi-
nently punctual and practical men of business.
David Ricardo, amidst the occupations of his daily
business as a London stock-jobber, in conducting
which he acquired an ample fortune, was able
to concentrate his mind upon his favourite subject
on which he was enabled to throw great light
the principles of political economy ; for he united
in himself the sagacious commercial man and the
profound philosopher. Baily, the eminent as-
tronomer, was another stockbroker ; and Allen,
the chemist, was a silk manufacturer.
We have abundant illustrations, in our own day,
of the fact that the highest intellectual power is not
incompatible with the active and efficient perform-
ance of routine duties. Grote, the great historian
of Greece, was a London banker. And it is not
long since John Stuart Mill, one of our greatest
living thinkers, retired from the examiner's depart-
ment of the East India Company, carrying with him
the admiration and esteem of his fellow officers,
not on account of his high views of philosophy,
but because of the high standard of efficiency which
he had established in his office, and the thoroughly
satisfactory manner in which he had conducted
the business of his department.
314 LABOUR AND APPLICATION [CHAP, ix
The path of success in business is usually the
path of common sense. Patient labour and appli-
cation are as necessary here as in the acquisition
of knowledge or the pursuit of science. The old
Greeks said, " to become an able man in any
profession, three things are necessary nature,
study, and practice." In business, practice, wisely
and diligently improved, is the great secret of
success. Some may make what are called "lucky
hits," but, like money earned by gambling, such
" hits " may only serve to lure one to ruin. Bacon
was accustomed to say that it was in business as in
ways the nearest way was commonly the foulest,
and that if a man would go the fairest way he must
go somewhat about. The journey may occupy a
longer time, but the pleasure of the labour involved
by it, and the enjoyment of the results produced,
will be more genuine and unalloyed. To have a
daily appointed task of even common drudgery to
do makes the rest of life feel all the sweeter.
The fable of the labours of Hercules is the type
of all human doing and success. Every youth
should be made to feel that his happiness and well-
doing in life must necessarily rely mainly on him-
self and the exercise of his. own energies, rather
than upon the help and patronage of others. The
late Lord Melbourne embodied a piece of useful
advice in a letter which he wrote to Lord John
Russell, in reply to an application for a provision
for one of Moore the poet's sons : " My dear John,"
he said, " I return you Moore's letter. I shall be
ready to do what you like about it when we have
the means. I think whatever is done should be
done for Moore himself. This is more distinct,
direct, and intelligible. Making a small provision
CHAP, ix] PRACTICAL INDUSTRY 315
for young men is hardly justifiable ; and it is
of all things the most prejudicial to themselves.
They think what they have much larger than it
really is ; and they make no exertion. The young
should never hear any language but this : ' You
have your own way to make, and it depends upon
your own exertions whether you starve or not.'
Believe me, &c., MELBOURNE."
Practical industry, wisely and vigorously ap-
plied, always produces its due effects. It carries
a man onward, brings out his individual character,
and stimulates the action of others. All may not
rise equally, yet each, on the whole, very much
according to his deserts. " Though all cannot live
on the piazza," as the Tuscan proverb has it,
"every one may feel the sun."
On the whole, it is not good that human nature
should have the road of life made too easy. Better
to be under the necessity of working hard and
faring meanly, than to have everything done ready
to our hand and a pillow of down to repose upon.
Indeed, to start in life with comparatively small
means seems so necessary as a stimulus to work,
that it may almost be set down as one of the con-
ditions essential to success in life. Hence, an
eminent judge, when asked what contributed most
to success at the bar, replied, "Some succeed
by great talent, some by high connexions, some
by miracle, but the majority by commencing with-
out a shilling."
We have heard of an architect of considerable
accomplishments a man who had improved him-
self by long study, and travel in the classical lands
of the East who came home to commence the
practice of his profession. He determined to begin
316 THE NECESSITY OF LABOUR [CHAP. IX
anywhere, provided he could be employed; and
he accordingly undertook a business connected
with dilapidations, one of the lowest and least
remunerative departments of the architect's calling.
But he had the good sense not to be above his
trade, and he had the resolution to work his way
upward, so that he only got a fair start. One hot
day in July a friend found him sitting astride of
a house roof occupied with his dilapidation busi-
ness. Drawing his hand across his perspiring
countenance, he exclaimed, " Here's a pretty busi-
ness for a man who has been all over Greece!"
However, he did his work, such as it was, thoroughly
and well; he persevered until he advanced by
degrees to more remunerative branches of employ-
ment, and eventually he rose to the highest walks
of his profession.
The necessity of labour may, indeed, be regarded
as the main root and spring of all that we call
progress in individuals, and civilization in nations ;
and it is doubtful whether any heavier curse could
be imposed on man than the complete gratification
of all his wishes without effort on his part, leaving
nothing [for his hopes, desires or struggles. The
feeling that life is destitute of any motive or
necessity for action must be of all others the most
distressing and insupportable to a rational being.
The Marquis de Spinola asking Sir Horace Vere
what his brother died of, Sir Horace replied, " He
died, sir, of having nothing to do." "Alas!" said
Spinola, " that is enough to kill any general of us
all."
Those who fail in life are, however, very apt
to assume a tone of injured innocence, and conclude
too hastily that everybody excepting themselves
CHAP, ix] MISFORTUNE AND ILL-LUCK 317
has had a hand in their personal misfortunes. An
eminent writer lately published a book in which
he described his numerous failures in business,
naively admitting, at the same time, that he was
ignorant of the multiplication table ; and he came
to the conclusion that the real cause of his ill-
success in life was the money-worshipping spirit
of the age. Lamartine also did not hesitate to
profess his contempt for arithmetic ; but, had it
been less, probably we should not have witnessed
the unseemly spectacle of the admirers of that
distinguished personage engaged in collecting sub-
scriptions for his support in his old age.
Again, some consider themselves born to ill
luck, and make up their minds that the world in-
variably goes against them without any fault on
their own part. We have heard of a person of
this sort, who went so far as to declare his belief
that if he had been a hatter people would have been
born without heads ! There is, however, a Russian
proverb which says that Misfortune is next door
to Stupidity ; and it will often be found that men
who are constantly lamenting their luck are in
some way or other reaping the consequences of
their own neglect, mismanagement, improvidence,
or want of application. Dr. Johnson, who came up
to London with a single guinea in his pocket,
and who once accurately described himself in his
signature to a letter addressed to a noble lord as
Impransus, or Dinnerless, has honestly said, "All
the complaints which are made of the world are
unjust ; I never knew a man of merit neglected ;
it was generally by his own fault that he failed
of success."
Washington Irving, the American author, held
318 ACTION IN DETAIL [CHAP, ix
like views. "As for the talk," said he, "about
modest merit being neglected, it is too often a cant,
by which indolent and irresolute men seek to lay
their want of success at the door of the public.
Modest merit is, however, too apt to be inactive,
or negligent, or uninstructed merit. Well matured
and well disciplined talent is always sure of a
market, provided it exerts itself; but it must not
cower at home and expect to be sought for. There
is a good deal of cant, too, about the success of
forward and impudent men, while men of retiring
worth are passed over with neglect. But it usually
happens that those forward men have that valuable
quality of promptness and activity without which
worth is a mere inoperative property. A barking
dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion."
Attention, application, accuracy, method, punctu-
ality, and despatch are the principal qualities
required for the efficient conduct of business of
any sort. These, at first sight, may appear to be
small matters; and yet they are of essential im-
portance to human happiness, well-being, and use-
fulness. They are little things, it is true; but
human life is made up of comparative trifles. It
is the repetition of little acts which constitute not
only the sum of human character, but which
determine the character of nations. And where
men or nations have broken down, it will almost
invariably be found that neglect of little things was
the rock on which they split. Every human being
has duties to be performed, and, therefore, has need
of cultivating the capacity for doing them ; whether
the sphere of action be the management of a house-
hold, the conduct of a trade or profession, or the
government of a nation.
CHAP, ix] ACCURACY IN BUSINESS 319
The examples we have already given of great
workers in various branches of industry, art, and
science render it unnecessary further to enforce
the importance of persevering application in any
department of life. It is the result of every-day
experience that steady attention to matters of
detail lies at the root of human progress ; and that
diligence, above all, is the mother of good luck.
Accuracy is also of much importance, and an in-
variable mark of good training in a man. Accuracy
in observation, accuracy in speech, accuracy in the
transaction of affairs. What is done in business
must be done well ; for it is better to accomplish
perfectly a small amount of work than to half-do
ten times as much. A wise man used to say, " Stay
a little, that we may make an end the sooner."
Too little attention, however, is paid to this
highly important quality of accuracy. As a man
eminent in practical science lately observed to us,
" It is astonishing how few people I have met
with in the course of my experience who can
define a fact accurately." Yet, in business affairs, it
is the manner in which even small matters are
transacted that often decides men for or against
you. With virtue, capacity, and good conduct in
other respects, the person who is habitually inac-
curate cannot be trusted ; his work has to be gone
over again; and he thus causes an infinity of
annoyance, vexation, and trouble.
It was one of the characteristic qualities of
Charles James Fox, that he was thoroughly pains-
taking in all that he did. When appointed Secretary
of State, being piqued at some observation as to
his bad writing, he actually took a writing-master,
and wrote copies like a schoolboy until he had
320 METHOD IN BUSINESS [CHAP, ix
sufficiently improved himself. Though a corpulent
man, he was wonderfully active at picking up cut
tennis balls, and when asked how he contrived to
do so, he playfully replied, " Because I am a very
pains-taking man." The same accuracy in trifling-
matters was displayed by him in things of greater
importance; and he acquired his reputation, like
the painter, by "neglecting nothing."
Method is essential, and enables a larger amount
of work to be got through with satisfaction.
" Method," said the Reverend Richard Cecil, " is
like packing things in a box ; a good packer will
get in half as much again as a bad one." Cecil's
despatch of business was extraordinary, his maxim
being, "The shortest way to do many things is
to do only one thing at once " ; and he never left
a thing undone with a view of recurring to it at a
period of more leisure. When business pressed,
he rather chose to encroach on his hours of meals
and rest than omit any part of his work. De Witt's
maxim was like Cecil's : " One thing at' a time."
" If," said he, " I have any necessary despatches to
make, I think of nothing else till they are finished ;
if any domestic affairs require my attention, I give
myself wholly up to them till they are set in order."
A French minister, who was alike remarkable
for his despatch of business and his constant at-
tendance at places of amusement, being asked how
he contrived to combine both objects, replied,
11 Simply by never postponing till to-morrow what
should be done to-day." Lord Brougham has said
that a certain English statesman reversed the pro-
cess, and that his maxim was, never to transact
to-day what could be postponed till to-morrow.
Unhappily, such is the practice of many besides
CHAP, ix] NO DAWDLING 321
that minister, already almost forgotten ; the practice
is that of the indolent and the unsuccessful. Such
men, too, are apt to rely upon agents, who are
not always to be relied upon. Important affairs
must be attended to in person. " If you want your
business done," says the proverb, " go and do it ;
if you don't want it done, send some one else."
An indolent country gentleman had a freehold
estate producing about five hundred a-year. Be-
coming involved in debt, he sold half the estate,
and let the remainder to an industrious farmer
for twenty years. About the end of the term the
farmer called to pay his rent, and asked the owner
whether he would sell the farm. "Will you buy
it ? " asked the owner, surprised. " Yes, if we can
agree about the price." " That is exceedingly
strange," observed the gentleman ; " pray, tell me
how it happens that, while I could not live upon
twice as much land for which I paid no rent, you
are regularly paying me two hundred a-year for
your farm, and are able, in a few years, to pur-
chase it." " The reason is plain," was the reply ;
you sat still and said Go, I got up and said Come;
you lay in bed and enjoyed your estate, I rose
in the morning and minded my business."
Sir Walter Scott, writing to a youth who had
obtained a situation and asked for his advice, gave
him in reply this sound counsel : " Beware of
stumbling over a propensity which easily besets
you from not having your time fully employed
I mean what the women call dawdling. Your
motto must be, Hoc age. Do instantly whatever
is to be done, and take the hours of recreation
after business, never before it. When a regiment
is under march, the rear is often thrown into
21
322 PROMPTITUDE [CHAP, ix
confusion because the front do not move steadily
and without interruption. It is the same with busi-
ness. If that which is first in hand is not instantly,
steadily, and regularly despatched, other things
accumulate behind, till affairs begin to press all at
once, and no human brain can stand the confusion."
Promptitude in action may be stimulated by a
due consideration of the value of time. An Italian
philosopher was accustomed to call time his estate :
an estate which produces nothing of value with-
out cultivation, but, duly improved, never fails
to recompense the labours of the diligent worker.
Allowed to lie waste, the product will be only
noxious weeds and vicious growths of all kinds.
One of the minor uses of steady employment is,
that it keeps one out of mischief, for truly an
idle brain is the devil's workshop, and a lazy man
the devil's bolster. To be occupied is to be pos-
sessed as by a tenant, whereas to be idle is to
be empty; and when the doors of the imagination
are opened, temptation finds a ready access, and
evil thoughts come trooping in. It is observed at
sea, that men are never so much disposed to
grumble and mutiny as when least employed.
Hence an old captain, when there was nothing
else to do, would issue the order to " scour the
anchor ! "
Men of business are accustomed to quote the
maxim that Time is money; but it is more; the
proper improvement of it is self-culture, self-im-
provement, and growth of character. An hour
wasted daily on trifles or in indolence would, if
devoted to self-improvement, make an ignorant man
wise in a few years, and employed in good works
would make his life fruitful, and death a harvest
CHAP, ix] THE VALUE OF TIME 323
of worthy deeds. Fifteen minutes a day devoted
to self-improvement will be felt at the end of the
year. Good thoughts and carefully gathered ex-
perience take up no room, and may be carried
about as our companions everywhere, without cost
or incumbrance. An economical use of time is the
true mode of securing leisure : it enables us to get
through business and carry it forward, instead of
being driven by it. On the other hand, the mis-
calculation of time involes us in perpetual hurry,
confusion, and difficulties ; and life becomes a mere
shuffle of expedients, usually followed by disaster.
Nelson once said, " I owe all my success in life
to having been always a quarter of an hour before
my time."
Some take no thought of the value of money
until they have come to an end of it, and many do
the same with their time. The hours are allowed
to flow by unemployed, and then, when life is
fast waning, they bethink themselves of the duty
of making a wiser use of it. But the habit of list-
lessness and idleness may already have become
confirmed, and they are unable to break the bonds
with which they have permitted themselves to
become bound. Lost wealth may be replaced
by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health
by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone
for ever.
A proper consideration of the value of time
will also inspire habits of punctuality. " Punctu-
ality," said Louis XIV., "is the politeness of kings."
It is also the duty of gentlemen, and the necessity
of men of business. Nothing begets confidence in
a man sooner than the practice of this virtue, and
nothing shakes confidence sooner than the want of
324 PUNCTUALITY [CHAP. IX
it. He who holds to his appointment, and does not
keep you waiting for him, shows that he has regard
for your time as well as for his own. Thus
punctuality is one of the modes by which we testify
our personal respect for those whom we are called
upon to meet in the business of life. It is also
conscientiousness in a measure ; for an appoint-
ment is a contract, express or implied, and he who
does not keep it breaks faith, as well as dishonestly
uses other people's time, and thus inevitably loses
character. We naturally come to the conclusion
that the person who is careless about time will be
careless about business, and that he is not the one
to be trusted with the transaction of matters of
importance. When Washington's secretary excused
himself for the lateness of his attendance and laid
the blame upon his watch, his master quietly said,
"Then you must get another watch, or I another
secretary."
The person who is negligent of time and its
employment is usually found to be a general dis-
turber of others' peace and serenity. It was wittily
said by Lord Chesterfield of the old Duke of New-
castle " His Grace loses an hour in the morning,
and is looking for it all the rest of the day."
Everybody with whom the unpunctual man has to
do is thrown from time to time into a state of
fever : he is systematically late ; regular only in
his irregularity. He conducts his dawdling as if
upon system ; arrives at his appointment after time ;
gets to the railway station after the train has
started ; posts his letter when the box has closed.
Thus business is thrown into confusion, and every-
body concerned is put out of temper. It will
generally be found that the men who are thus
LORD NELSON.
By Lemuel Francis Abbot.
[To face p. 324.
CHAP, ix] TACT 325
habitually behind time are as habitually behind
success ; and the world generally casts them aside
to swell the ranks of the grumblers and the railers
against fortune.
In addition to the ordinary working qualities the
business man of the highest class requires quick
perception and firmness in the execution of his
plans. Tact is also important ; and though this is
partly the gift of nature, it is yet capable of being
cultivated and developed by observation and ex-
perience. Men of this quality are quick to see the
right mode of action, and if they have decision of
purpose, are prompt to carry out their undertakings
to a successful issue. These qualities are especially
valuable, and indeed indispensable, in those who
direct the action of other men on a large scale, as,
for instance, in the case of the commander of an
army in the field. It is not merely necessary that
the general should be great as a warrior, but also
as a man of business. He must possess great tact,
much knowledge of character, and ability to
organize the movements of a large mass of men,
whom he has to feed, clothe, and furnish with
whatever may be necessary in order that they may
keep the field and win battles. In these respects
Napoleon and Wellington were both first-rate men
of business.
Though Napoleon had an immense love for
details, he had also a vivid power of imagination,
which enabled him to look along extended lines of
action, and deal with those details on a large scale,
with judgment and rapidity. He possessed such
knowledge of character as enabled him to select,
almost unerringly, the best agents for the execution
of his designs. But he trusted as little as possible
326 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE [CHAP, ix
to agents in matters of great moment, on which
important results depended. This feature in his
character is illustrated in a remarkable degree by
the 'Napoleon Correspondence/ now in course of
publication, and particularly by the contents of the
1 5th volume,* which include the letters, orders,
and despatches, written by the Emperor at Finken-
stein, a little chateau on the frontier of Poland in
the year 1807, shortly after the victory of Eylau.
The French army was then lying encamped
along the river Passarge with the Russians before
them, the Austrians on their right flank, and the
conquered Prussians in their rear. A long line
of communications had to be maintained with
France, through a hostile country ; but so carefully
and with such foresight was this provided for,
that it is said Napoleon never missed a post. The
movements of armies, the bringing up of reinforce-
ments from remote points in France, Spain, Italy,
and Germany, the opening of canals and the
levelling of roads to enable the produce of Poland
and Prussia to be readily transported to his en-
campments, had his unceasing attention, down to
the minutest details. We find him directing where
horses were to be obtained, making arrangements
for an adequate supply of saddles, ordering shoes
for the soldiers, and specifying the number of
rations of bread, biscuit, and spirits that were
to be brought to camp, or stored in magazines
for the use of the troops. At the same time we
find him writing to Paris giving directions for
the reorganization of the French College, devising
a scheme of public education, dictating bulletins
* ' Correspondance de Napoleon I ",' publiee par ordre de
1'Empereur Napoleon III. Paris. 1864.
CHAP. IX] NAPOLEON CORRESPONDENCE 327
and articles for the ' Moniteur,' revising the details
of the budgets, giving instructions to architects
as to alterations to be made at the Tuileries
and the Church of the Madeleine, throwing an
occasional sarcasm at Madame de Stae"! and the
Parisian journals, interfering to put down a squabble
at the Grand Opera, carrying on a correspondence
with the Sultan of Turkey and the Shah of Persia,
so that, while his body was at Finkenstein, his
mind seemed to be working at a hundred different
places in Paris, in Europe, and throughout the
world.
We find him in one letter asking Ney if he
has duly received the muskets which have been
sent him ; in another he gives directions to Prince
Jerome as to the shirts, great-coats, clothes, shoes,
shakos, and arms to be served out to the Wurtem-
burg regiments ; again he presses Cambaceres to
forward to the army a double stock of corn
"The ifs and the buts" said he, "are at present
out of season, and above all it must be done with
speed." Then he informs Daru that the army
want shirts, and that they don't come to hand. To
Massena he writes, "Let me know if your biscuit
and bread arrangements are yet completed." To
the Grand Due de Berg he gives directions as
to the accoutrements of the cuirassiers " They
complain that the men want sabres ; send an officer
to obtain them at Posen. It is also said they want
helmets ; order that they be made at Ebling. . . .
It is not by sleeping that one can accomplish any-
thing." Thus no point of detail was neglected,
and the energies of all were stimulated into action
with extraordinary power. Though many of the
Emperor's days were occupied by inspection of
328 WELLINGTON [CHAP. IX
his troops, in the course of which he sometimes
rode from thirty to forty leagues a day, and by
reviews, receptions, and affairs of state, leaving
but little time for business matters, he neglected
nothing on that account; but devoted the greater
parts of his nights, when necessary, to examining
budgets, dictating despatches, and attending to the
thousand matters of detail in the organization and
working of the Imperial Government ; the machinery
of which was for the most part concentrated in
his own head.
Like Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington was
a first-rate man of business ; and it is not perhaps
saying too much to aver that it was in no small
degree because of his possession of a business
faculty amounting to genius that the Duke never
lost a battle.
While a subaltern, he became dissatisfied with
the slowness of his promotion, and having passed
from the infantry to the cavalry twice, and back
again, without advancement, he applied to Lord
Camden, then Viceroy of Ireland, for employment
in the Revenue or Treasury Board. Had he suc-
ceeded, no doubt he would have made a first-rate
head of a department, as he would have made a first-
rate merchant or manufacturer. But his application
failed, and he remained with the army to become
the greatest of British generals.
The Duke began his active military career under
the Duke of York and General Walmoden, in
Flanders and Holland, where he learnt, amidst
misfortunes and defeats, how bad business arrange-
ments and bad generalship serve to ruin the morale
of an army. Ten years after entering the army
we find him a colonel in India, reported by his
CHAP, ix] BATTLE OF ASSAYE 329
superiors as an officer of indefatigable energy and
application. He entered into the minutest details
of the service, and sought to raise the discipline of
his men to the highest standard. " The regiment
of Colonel Wellesley," wrote General Harris in
1799, " is a model regiment ; on the score of soldierly
bearing, discipline, instruction, and orderly be-
haviour it is above all praise." Thus qualifying
himself for posts of greater confidence, he was
shortly after nominated governor of the capital of
Mysore. In the war with the Mahrattas he was
first called upon to try his hand at generalship ;
and at thirty-four he won the memorable battle of
Assaye, with an army composed of 1500 British
and 5000 sepoys, over 20,000 Mahratta infantry and
30,000 cavalry. But so brilliant a victory did not
in the least disturb his equanimity, or affect the
perfect honesty of his character.
Shortly after this event the opportunity occurred
for exhibiting his admirable practical qualities as
an administrator. Placed in command of an im-
portant district immediately after the capture of
Seringapatam, his first object was to establish rigid
order and discipline among his own men. Flushed
with victory, the troops were found riotous and
disorderly. "Send me the provost marshal," said
he, " and put him under my orders : till some of
the marauders are hung, it is impossible to expect
order or safety." This rigid severity of Wellington
in the field, though it was the dread, proved the
salvation of his troops in many campaigns. His
next step was to re-establish the markets and re-
open the sources of supply. General Harris wrote
to the Governor-General, strongly commending
Colonel Wellesley for the perfect discipline he had
330 WELLINGTON IN INDIA [CHAP, ix
established, and for his "judicious and masterly
arrangements in respect to supplies, which opened
an abundant free market, and inspired confidence
into dealers of every description." The same close
attention to and mastery of details characterized
him throughout his Indian career ; and it is remark-
able that one of his ablest despatches to Lord Clive,
full of practical information as to the conduct of
the campaign, was written whilst the column he
commanded was crossing the Toombuddra, in the
face of the vastly superior army of Dhoondiah,
posted on the opposite bank, and while a thousand
matters of the deepest interest were pressing upon
the commander's mind. But it was one of his most
remarkable characteristics, thus to be able to with-
draw himself temporarily from the business im-
mediately in hand, and to bend his full powers
upon the consideration of matters totally distinct ;
even the most difficult circumstances on such
occasions failing to embarrass or intimidate him.
Returned to England with a reputation for
generalship, Sir Arthur Wellesley met with im-
mediate employment. In 1808 a corps of 10,000
men destined to liberate Portugal was placed under
his charge. He landed, fought, and won two battles,
and signed the Convention of Cintra. After the
death of Sir John Moore he was entrusted with
the command of a new expedition to Portugal.
But Wellington was fearfully overmatched through-
out his Peninsular campaigns. From 1809 to 1813
he never had more than 30,000 British troops
under his command, at a time when there stood
opposed to him in the Peninsula some 350,000
French, mostly veterans, led by some of Napoleon's
ablest generals. How was he to contend against
CHAP, ix] IN THE PENINSULA 331
such immense forces with any fair prospect of
success ? His clear discernment and strong common
sense soon taught him that he must adopt a different
policy from that of the Spanish generals, who
were invariably beaten and dispersed whenever
they ventured to offer battle in the open plains.
He perceived he had yet to create the army that
was to contend against the French with any reason-
able chance of success. Accordingly, after the
battle of Talavera in 1809, when he found himself
encompassed on all sides by superior forces of
French, he retired into Portugal, there to carry
out the settled policy on which he had by this
time determined. It was, to organize a Portuguese
army under British officers, and teach them to act
in combination with his own troops, in the mean-
time avoiding the peril of a defeat by declining
all engagements. He would thus, he conceived,
destroy the morale of the French, who could
not exist without victories; and when his army
was ripe for action, and the enemy demoralized, he
would then fall upon them with all his might
The extraordinary qualities displayed by Lord
Wellington throughout these immortal campaigns
can only be appreciated after a perusal of his
despatches, which contain the unvarnished tale of
the manifold ways and means by which he laid
the foundations of his success. Never was man
more tried by difficulty and opposition, arising not
less from the imbecility, falsehoods, and intrigues
of the British Government of the day, than from
the selfishness, cowardice, and vanity of the people
he went to save. It may, indeed, be said of him,
that he sustained the war in Spain by his individual
firmness and self-reliance, which never failed him
332 WELLINGTON'S FIRMNESS [CHAP, ix
even in the midst of his great discouragements.
He had not only to fight Napoleon's veterans,
but also to hold in check the Spanish juntas and
the Portuguese regency. He had the utmost
difficulty in obtaining provisions and clothing for
his troops; and it will scarcely be credited that
while engaged with the enemy in the battle of
Talavera, the Spaniards, who ran away, fell upon
the baggage of the British army, and the ruffians
actually plundered it ! These and other vexations
the Duke bore with a sublime patience and self-
control, and held on his course, in the face of
ingratitude, treachery, and opposition, with in-
domitable firmness. He neglected nothing, and
attended to every important detail of business him-
self. When he found that food for his troops was
not to be obtained from England, and that he must
rely upon his own resources for feeding them, he
forthwith commenced business as a corn merchant
on a large scale, in copartnery with the British
Minister at Lisbon. Commissariat bills were created,
with which grain was bought in the ports of the
Mediterranean and in South America. When he
had thus filled his magazines, the overplus was
sold to the Portuguese, who were greatly in want
of provisions. He left nothing whatever to chance,
but provided for every contingency. He gave his
attention to the minutest details of the service;
and was accustomed to concentrate his whole
energies, from time to time, on such apparently
ignominious matters as soldiers' shoes, camp-
kettles, biscuits and horse fodder. His magnificent
business qualities were everywhere felt, and there
can be no doubt that, by the care with which he
provided for every contingency, and the personal
CHAP, ix] HIS HONESTY 333
attention which he gave to every detail, he laid
the foundations of his great success.* By such
means he transformed an army of raw levies into
the best soldiers in Europe, with whom he declared
it to be possible to go anywhere and do anything.
We have already referred to his remarkable
power of abstracting himself from the work, no
matter how engrossing, immediately in hand, and
concentrating his energies upon the details of some
entirely different business. Thus Napier relates
that it was while he was preparing to fight the battle
of Salamanca that he had to expose to the Ministers
at home the futility of relying upon a loan ; it was
on the heights of San Cristoval, on the field of
battle itself, that he demonstrated the absurdity
of attempting to establish a Portuguese bank; it
was in the trenches of Burgos that he dissected
Funchal's scheme of finance, and exposed the folly
of attempting the sale of church property ; and on
each occasion he showed himself as well acquainted
with these subjects as with the minutest detail in
the mechanism of armies.
Another feature in his character, showing the
upright man of business, was his thorough honesty.
Whilst Soult ransacked and carried away with
him from Spain numerous pictures of great value,
Wellington did not appropriate to himself a single
farthing's worth of property. Everywhere he paid
his way, even when in the enemy's country. When
he had crossed the French frontier, followed by
* The recently published correspondence of Napoleon with his
brother Joseph, and the Memoirs of the Duke of Ragusa, abundantly
confirm this view. The Duke overthrew Napoleon's generals by
the superiority of his routine. He used to say that, if he knew
anything at all, he knew how to feed an army.
334 HONESTY THE BEST POLICY [CHAP. IX
40,000 Spaniards, who sought to "make fortunes"
by pillage and plunder, he first rebuked their
officers, and then, finding his efforts to restrain
them unavailing, he sent them back into their
own country. It is a remarkable fact, that, even
in France, the peasantry fled from their own
countrymen, and carried their valuables within
the protection of the British lines ! At the very
same time Wellington was writing home to the
British Ministry, " We are overwhelmed with debts,
and I can scarcely stir out of my house on account
of public creditors waiting to demand payment of
what is due to them." Jules Maurel, in his estimate
of the Duke's character, says, " Nothing can be
grander or more nobly original than this admission.
This old soldier, after thirty years' service, this
iron man and victorious general, established in an
enemy's country at the head of an immense army,
is afraid of his creditors ! This is a kind of fear
that has seldom troubled the mind of conquerors
and invaders ; and I doubt if the annals of war
could present anything comparable to this sublime
simplicity." But the Duke himself, had the matter
been put to him, would most probably have dis-
claimed any intention of acting even grandly or
nobly in the matter ; merely regarding the punctual
payment of his debts as the best and most honour-
able mode of conducting his business.
The truth of the good old maxim, that " Honesty
is the best policy," is upheld by the daily experi-
ence of life ; uprightness and integrity being found
as successful in business as in everything else. As
Hugh Miller's worthy uncle used to advise him,
" In all your dealings give your neighbour the cast
of the bauk ' good measure, heaped up, and running
CHAP, ix] UPRIGHTNESS IN BUSINESS 335
over ' and you will not lose by it in the end." A
well-known brewer of beer attributed his success
to the liberality with which he used his malt.
Going up to the vat and tasting it, he would say,
" Still rather poor, my lads ; give it another cast
of the malt." The brewer put his character into
his beer, and it proved generous accordingly,
obtaining a reputation in England, India, and the
colonies, which laid the foundation of a large
fortune. Integrity of word and deed ought to be
the very corner-stone of all business transactions.
To the tradesman, the merchant, and manufacturer
it should be what honour is to the soldier, and
charity to the Christian. In the humblest calling
there will always be found scope for the exercise
of this uprightness of character. Hugh Miller
speaks of the mason with whom he served his
apprenticeship as one who "put his conscience into
every stone that he laid" So the true mechanic will
pride himself upon the thoroughness and solidity
of his work, and the high-minded contractor upon
the honesty of performance of his contract in every
particular. The upright manufacturer will find not
only honour and reputation, but substantial success,
in the genuineness of the article which he produces,
and the merchant in the honesty of what he sells,
and that it really is what it seems to be. Baron
Dupin, speaking of the general probity of English-
men, which he held to be a principal cause of their
success, observed, " We may succeed for a time by
fraud, by surprise, by violence ; but we can succeed
permanently only by means directly opposite. It
is not alone the courage, the intelligence, the activity,
of the merchant and manufacturer which maintain
the superiority of their productions and the character
336 BUSINESS CONFIDENCE [CHAP. IX
of their country ; it is far more their wisdom, their
economy, and, above all, their probity. If ever in
the British Islands the useful citizen should lose
these virtues, we may be sure that, for England, as
for every other country, the vessels of a degenerate
commerce, repulsed from every shore, would
speedily disappear from those seas whose surface
they now cover with the treasures of the universe,
bartered for the treasures of the industry of the
three kingdoms."
It must be admitted, that Trade tries character
perhaps more severely than an}' other pursuit in
life. It puts to the severest tests honesty, self-
denial, justice, and truthfulness; and men of
business who pass through such trials unstained
are perhaps worthy of as great honour as soldiers
who prove their courage amidst the fire and perils
of battle. And, to the credit of the multitudes of
men engaged in the various departments of trade,
we think it must be admitted that on the whole
they pass through their trials nobly. If we reflect
but for a moment on the vast amount of wealth
daily entrusted even to subordinate persons, who
themselves probably earn but a bare competency
the loose cash which is constantly passing through
the hands of shopmen, agents, brokers, and clerks
in banking houses and note how comparatively few
are the breaches of trust which occur amidst all
this temptation, it will probably be admitted that
this steady daily honesty of conduct is most
honourable to human nature, if it do not even
tempt us to be proud of it. The same trust and
confidence reposed by men of business in each
other, as implied by the system of Credit, which is
mainly based upon the principle of honour, would
CHAP, ix] DISHONEST GAINS 337
be surprising if it were not so much a matter of
ordinary practice in business transactions. Dr.
Chalmers has well said, that the implicit trust
with which merchants are accustomed to confide
in distant agents, separated from them perhaps by
half the globe often consigning vast wealth to
persons, recommended only by their character,
whom perhaps they have never seen is probably
the finest act of homage which men can render to
one another.
Although common honesty is still happily in
the ascendant amongst common people, and the
general business community of England is still sound
at heart, putting their honest character into their
respective callings, there are, unhappily, as there
have been in all times, but too many instances of
flagrant dishonesty and fraud, exhibited by the
unscrupulous, the over-speculative, and the in-
tensely selfish in their haste to be rich. There are
tradesmen who adulterate, contractors who " scamp,"
manufacturers who give us shoddy instead of wool,
" dressing " instead of cotton, cast-iron tools instead
of steel, needles without eyes, razors made only
"to sell," and swindled fabrics in many shapes.
But these we must hold to be the exceptional cases,
of low-minded and grasping men, who, though
they may gain wealth which they probably cannot
enjoy, will never gain an honest character, nor
secure that without which wealth is nothing a
heart at peace. "The rogue cozened not me, but
his own conscience," said Bishop Latimer of a
cutler who made him pay twopence for a knife not
worth a penny. Money earned by screwing,
cheating, and over-reaching may for a time dazzle
the eyes of the unthinking; but the bubbles blown
22
338 DAVID BARCLAY [CHAP. IX
by unscrupulous rogues, when full-blown, usually
glitter only to burst. The Sadleirs, Dean Pauls,
and Redpaths, for the most part, come to a sad end
even in this world ; and though the successful
swindles of others may not be "found out," and the
gains of their roguery may remain with them, it
will be as a curse and not as a blessing.
It is possible that the scrupulously honest man
may not grow rich so fast as the unscrupulous and
dishonest one ; but the success will be of a truer
kind, earned without fraud or injustice. And even
though a man should for a time be unsuccessful,
still he must be honest : better lose all and save
character. For character is itself a fortune ; and if
the high-principled man will but hold on his way
courageously, success will surely come, nor will
the highest reward of all be withheld from him.
Wordsworth well describes the " Happy Warrior,"
as he
"Who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim ;
And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honour, or for worldly state ;
Whom they must follow, on whose head must fall,
Like showers of manna, if they come at all."
As an example of the high-minded mercantile
man trained in upright habits of business, and dis-
tinguished for justice, truthfulness, and honesty of
dealing in all things, the career of the well-known
David Barclay, grandson of Robert Barclay, ot
Ury, the author of the celebrated ' Apology for the
Quakers,' may be briefly referred to. For many
years he was the head of an extensive house in
Cheapside, chiefly engaged in the American trade ;
but, like Granville Sharp, he entertained so strong
CHAP, ix] DAVID BARCLAY
an opinion against the war with our American
colonies, that he determined to retire altogether
from the trade. Whilst a merchant, he was as
much distinguished for his talents, knowledge, in-
tegrity, and power as he afterwards was for his
patriotism and munificent philanthropy. He was
a mirror of truthfulness and honesty ; and, as be-
came the good Christian and true gentleman, his
word was always held to be as good as his bond.
His position and his high character induced the
Ministers of the day on many occasions to seek his
advice; and, when examined before the House of
Commons on the subject of the American dispute,
his views were so clearly expressed, and his advice
was so strongly justified by the reasons stated by
him, that Lord North publicly acknowledged that
he had derived more information from David
Barclay than from all others east of Temple Bar.
On retiring from business, it was not to rest in
luxurious ease, but to enter upon new labours of
usefulness for others. With ample means, he felt
that he still owed to society the duty of a good ex-
ample. He founded a house of industry near his
residence at Walthamstow, which he supported at
a heavy outlay for several years, until at length he
succeeded in rendering it a source of comfort as
well as independence to the well-disposed families
of the poor in that neighbourhood. When an
estate in Jamaica fell to him, he determined, though
at a cost of some io,ooo/., at once to give liberty to
the whole of the slaves on the property. He sent
out an agent, who hired a ship, and he had the
little slave community transported to one of the
free American States, where they settled down and
prospered. Mr. Barclay had been assured that the
340 DAVID BARCLAY [CHAP. IX
negroes were too ignorant and too barbarous for
freedom, and it was thus that he determined practi-
cally to demonstrate the fallacy of the assertion.
In dealing with his accumulated savings, he made
himself the executor of his own will, and instead
of leaving a large fortune to be divided among his
relatives at his death, he extended to them his
munificent aid during his life, watched and aided
them in their respective careers, and thus not only
laid the foundation, but lived to see the maturity of
some of the largest and most prosperous business
concerns in the metropolis. We believe that to
this day some of our most eminent merchants
such as the Gurneys, Hanburys, and Buxtons
are proud to acknowledge with gratitude the
obligations they owe to David Barclay for the
means of their first introduction to life, and for
the benefits of his counsel and countenance in the
early stages of their career. Such a man stands
as a mark of the mercantile honesty and integrity
of his country, and is a model and example for men
of business in all time to come.
CHAPTER X
MONEY ITS USE AND ABUSE.
"Not for to hide it in a hedge,
Nor for a train attendant,
But for the glorious privilege
Of being independent." Burns.
" Neither a borrower nor a lender be :
For loan oft loses both itself and friend ;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." Shakespeare,
"Never treat money affairs with levity Money is character."
Sir E. L. Bulwer-Lytton.
HOW a man uses money makes it, saves it,
and spends it is perhaps one of the best
tests of practical wisdom. Although money
ought by no means to be regarded as a chief end
of man's life, neither is it a trifling matter, to be
held in philosophic contempt, representing as it
does to so large an extent the means of physical
comfort and social well-being. Indeed, some of the
finest qualities of human nature are intimately
related to the right use of money; such as
generosity, honesty, justice, and self-sacrifice; as
well as the practical virtues of economy and
providence. On the other hand, there are their
counterparts of avarice, fraud, injustice, and selfish-
ness, as displayed by the inordinate lovers of gain ;
and the vices of thriftlessness, extravagance, and
341
342 SELF-DENIAL [CHAP, x
improvidence, on the part of those who misuse and
abuse the means entrusted to them. " So that,"
as is wisely observed by Henry Taylor in his
thoughtful ' Notes from Life,' " a right measure
and manner in getting, saving, spending, giving,
taking, lending, borrowing, and bequeathing would
almost argue a perfect man."
Comfort in worldly circumstances is a condition
which every man is justified in striving to attain
by all worthy means. It secures that physical
satisfaction which is necessary for the culture of
the better part of his nature ; and enables him to
provide for those of his own household, without
which, says the Apostle, a man is "worse than an
infidel." Nor ought the duty to be any the less
indifferent to us, that the respect which our fellow-
men entertain for us in no slight degree depends
upon the manner in which we exercise the oppor-
tunities which present themselves for our honourable
advancement in life. The very effort required to
be made to succeed in life with this object is of
itself an education ; stimulating a man's sense of
self-respect, bringing out his practical qualities, and
disciplining him in the exercise of patience, per-
severance, and such like virtues. The provident
and careful man must necessarily be a thoughtful
man, for he lives not merely for the present, but
with provident forecast makes arrangements for the
future. He must also be a temperate man, and
exercise the virtue of self-denial, than which nothing
is so much calculated to give strength to the
character. John Sterling says truly, that "the
worst education which teaches self-denial is better
than the best which teaches everything else, and
not that." The Romans rightly employed the same
CHAP, x] SELF-DENIAL 343
word (virtus) to designate courage, which is in a
physical sense what the other is in a moral; the
highest virtue of all being victory over ourselves.
Hence the lesson of self-denial the sacrificing
of a present gratification for a future good is one
of the last that is learnt. Those classes which work
the hardest might naturally be expected to value the
most the money which they earn. Yet the readiness
with which so many are accustomed to eat up and
drink up their earnings as they go renders them
to a great extent helpless and dependent upon the
frugal. There are large numbers of persons among
us who, though enjoying sufficient means of comfort
and independence, are often found to be barely a
day's march ahead of actual want when a time of
pressure occurs ; and hence a great cause of social
helplessness and suffering. On one occasion a
deputation waited on Lord John Russell, respecting
the taxation levied on the working classes of the
country ,when the noble lord took the opportunity
of remarking, " You may rely upon it that the
Government of this country durst not tax the
working classes to anything like the extent to which
they tax themselves in their expenditure upon
intoxicating drinks alone ! " Of all great public
questions, there is perhaps none more important
than this, no great work of reform calling more
loudly for labourers. But it must be admitted that
" self-denial and self-help " would make a poor rally-
ing cry for the hustings ; and it is to be feared that
the patriotism of this day has but little regard for
such common things as individual economy and
providence, although it is by the practice of such
virtues only that the genuine independence of the
industrial classes is to be secured. " Prudence,
344 MONEY [CHAP, x
frugality, and good management," said Samuel Drew,
the philosophical shoemaker, " are excellent artists
for mending bad times : they occupy but little room
in any dwelling, but would furnish a more effectual
remedy for the evils of life than any Reform Bill
that ever passed the Houses of Parliament." Socrates
said, " Let him that would move the world move
first himself." Or, as the old rhyme runs
" If every one would see
To his own reformation,
How very easily
You might reform a nation."
It is, however, generally felt to be a far easier thing
to reform the Church and the State than to reform
the least of our own bad habits ; and in such
matters it is usually found more agreeable to our
tastes, as it certainly is the common practice, to
begin with our neighbours rather than with our-
selves.
Any class of men that lives from hand to mouth
will ever be an inferior class. They will necessarily
remain impotent and helpless, hanging on to the
skirts of society, the sport of times and seasons.
Having no respect for themselves, they will fail in
securing the respect of others. In commercial crises
such men must inevitably go to the wall. Wanting
that husbanded power which a store of savings, no
matter how small, invariably gives them, they will
be at every man's mercy, and, if possessed of right
feelings, they cannot but regard with fear and
trembling the future possible fate of their wives
and children. " The world," once said Mr. Cobden
to the working men of Huddersfield, " has always
been divided into two classes, those who have
CHAP, x] ITS USE AND ABUSE 345
saved, and those who have spent the thrifty and
the extravagant. The building of all the houses,
the mills, the bridges, and the ships, and the ac-
complishment of all other great works which have
rendered man civilized and happy, has been done
by the savers, the thrifty; and those who have
wasted their resources have always been their
slaves. It has been the law of nature and of
Providence that this should be so ; and I were an
impostor if I promised any class that they would
advance themselves if they were improvident,
thoughtless, and idle."
Equally sound was the advice given by Mr.
Bright to an assembly of working men at Rochdale,
in 1847, when, after expressing his belief that, "so
far as honesty was concerned, it was to be found in
pretty equal amount among all classes," he used
the following words : " There is only one way
that is safe for any man, or any number of men, by
which they can maintain their present position if
it be a good one, or raise themselves above it if it
be a bad one that is, by the practice of the virtues
of industry, frugality, temperance, and honesty.
There is no royal road by which men can raise
themselves from a position which they feel to be
uncomfortable and unsatisfactory, as regards their
mental or physical condition, except by the practice
of those virtues by which they find numbers
amongst them are continually advancing and
bettering themselves."
There is no reason why the condition of the
average workman should not be a useful, honour-
able, respectable, and happy one. The whole body
of the working classes might (with few exceptions)
be as frugal, virtuous, well-informed, and well-
346 MONEY [CHAP, x
conditioned as many individuals of the same class
have already made themselves. What some men
are, all without difficulty might be. Employ the
same means, and the same results will follow.
That there should be a class of men who live by
their daily labour in every state is the ordinance
of God, and doubtless is a wise and righteous one ;
but that this class should be otherwise than frugal,
contented, intelligent, and happy is not the design
of Providence, but springs solely from the weak-
ness, self-indulgence, and perverseness of man
himself. The healthy spirit of self-help created
amongst working people would more than any
other measure serve to raise them as a class, and
this, not by pulling down others, but by levelling
them up to a higher and still advancing standard
of religion, intelligence, and virtue. "All moral
philosophy," says Montaigne, "is as applicable to
a common and private life as to the most splendid.
Every man carries the entire form of the human
condition within him."
When a man casts his glance forward, he will
find that the three chief temporal contingencies for
which he has to provide are want of employment,
sickness, and death. The first two he may escape,
but the last is inevitable. It is, however, the duty
of the prudent man so to live, and so to arrange,
that the pressure of suffering, in event of either
contingency occurring, shall be mitigated to as
great an extent as possible, not only to himself,
but also to those who are dependent upon him
for their comfort and subsistence. Viewed in this
light the honest earning and the frugal use of
money are of the greatest importance. Rightly
earned, it is the representative of patient industry
CHAP, x] ITS USE AND ABUSE 347
and untiring effort, of temptation resisted and
hope rewarded ; and, rightly used, it affords in-
dications of prudence, fore-thought and self-denial
the true basis of manly character. Though
money represents a crowd of objects without any
real worth or utility, it also represents many
things of great value ; not only food, clothing,
and household satisfaction, but personal self-respect
and independence. Thus a store of savings is
to the working man as a barricade against want ;
it secures him a footing, and enables him to wait,
it may be in cheerfulness and hope, until better
days come round. The very endeavour to gain
a firmer position in the world has a certain
dignity in it, and tends to make a man stronger
and better. At all events, it gives him greater
freedom of action, and enables him to husband his
strength for future effort.
But the man who is always hovering on the
verge of want is in a state not far removed from
that of slavery. He is in no sense his own master,
but is in constant peril of falling under the bondage
of others, and accepting the terms which they
dictate to him. He cannot help being, in a measure,
servile, for he dares not look the world boldly in
the face ; and in adverse times he must look either
to alms or the poor's rates. If work fails him alto-
gether, he has not the means of moving to another
field of employment; he is fixed to his parish
like a limpet to its rock, and can neither migrate
nor emigrate.
To secure independence, the practice of simple
economy is all that is necessary. Economy requires
neither superior courage nor eminent virtue; it is
satisfied with ordinary energy, and the capacity of
348 NECESSITY OF ECONOMY [CHAP, x
average minds. Economy, at bottom, is but the
spirit of order applied in the administration of
domestic affairs : it means management, regularity,
prudence, and the avoidance of waste. The spirit
of economy was expressed by our Divine Master
in the words ' Gather up the fragments that remain,
so that nothing may be lost." His omnipotence
did not disdain the small things of life ; and even
while revealing His infinite power to the multitude,
He taught the pregnant lesson of carefulness of
which all stand so much in need.
Economy also means the power of resisting
present gratification for the purpose of securing a
future good, and in this light it represents the as-
cendency of reason over the animal instincts. It is
altogether different from penuriousness : for it is
economy that can always best afford to be generous.
It does not make money an idol, but regards it as
a useful agent. As Dean Swift observes, " we must
carry money in the head, not in the heart."
Economy may be styled the daughter of Prudence,
the sister of Temperance, and the mother of
Liberty. It is evidently conservative conservative
of character, of domestic happiness, and social well-
being. It is, in short, the exhibition of self-help in
one of its best forms.
Francis Horner's father gave him" this advice on
entering life : " Whilst I wish you to be comfort-
able in every respect, I cannot too strongly inculcate
economy. It is a necessary virtue to all ; and how-
ever the shallow part of mankind may despise it,
it certainly leads to independence, which is a grand
object to every man of a high spirit." Burns' lines,
quoted at the head of this chapter, contain the
right idea ; but, unhappily, his strain of song was
CHAP, x] GETTINGS AND SAVINGS 349
higher than his practice; his ideal better than his
habit. When laid on his death-bed he wrote to
a friend, " Alas ! Clarke, I begin to feel the worst.
Burns' poor widow, and half a dozen of his dear
little ones helpless orphans ; there I am weak
as a woman's tear. Enough of this ; 'tis half my
disease."
Every man ought so to contrive as to live within
his means. This practice is of the very essence
of honesty. For if a man do not manage honestly
to live within his own means, he must necessarily
be living dishonestly upon the means of somebody
else. Those who are careless about personal ex-
penditure, and consider merely their own grati-
fication, without regard for the comfort of others,
generally find out the real uses of money when
it is too late. Though by nature generous, these
thriftless persons are often driven in the end to
do very shabby things. They waste their money
as they do their time ; draw bills upon the future ;
anticipate their earnings ; and are thus under the
necessity of dragging after them a load of debts
and obligations which seriously affect their action
as free and independent men.
It was a maxim of Lord Bacon, that when it
was necessary to economize, it was better to look
after petty savings than to descend to petty
gettings. The loose cash which many persons
throw away uselessly, and worse, would often form
a basis of fortune and independence for life. These
wasters are their own worst enemies, though
generally found amongst the ranks of those who
rail at the injustice of " the world." But if a man
will not be his own friend, how can he expect that
others will ? Orderly men of moderate means have
350 DANGER OF BORROWING [CHAP, x
always something left in their pockets to help
others ; whereas your prodigal and careless fellows
who spend all never find an opportunity for helping
anybody. It is poor economy, however, to be a
scrub. Narrow-mindedness in living and in dealing
is generally short-sighted, and leads to failure.
The penny soul, it is said, never came to twopence.
Generosity and liberality, like honesty, prove the
best policy after all. Though Jenkinson, in the
' Vicar of Wakefield,' cheated his kind-hearted
neighbour Flamborough in one way or another
every year, " Flamborough," said he, " has been
regularly growing in riches, while I have come
to poverty and a gaol." And practical life abounds
in cases of brilliant results from a course of gener-
ous and honest policy.
The proverb says that " an empty bag cannot
stand upright " ; neither can a man who is in debt.
It is also difficult for a man who is in debt to be
truthful ; hence it is said that lying rides on debt's
back. The debtor has to frame excuses to his
creditor for postponing payment of the money he
owes him; and probably also to contrive false-
hoods. It is easy enough for a man who will
exercise a healthy resolution to avoid incurring
the first obligation ; but the facility with which
that has been incurred often becomes a temptation
to a second ; and very soon the unfortunate
borrower becomes so entangled that no late exer-
tion of industry can set him free. The first step
in debt is like the first step in falsehood ; almost
involving the necessity of proceeding in the same
course, debt following debt, as lie follows lie.
Haydon, the painter, dated his decline from the
day on which he first borrowed money. He
CHAP, x] AVOID DEBT 351
realized the truth of the proverb, " Who goes a-
borrowing, goes a-sorrowing." The significant
entry in his diary is : " Here began debt and
obligation, out of which I have never been and
never shall be extricated as long as I live." His
Autobiography shows but too painfully how em-
barrassment in money matters produces poignant
distress of mind, utter incapacity for work, and
constantly recurring humiliations. The written
advice which he gave to a youth when entering
the navy was as follows : " Never purchase any
enjoyment if it cannot be procured without borrow-
ing of others. Never borrow money: it is de-
grading. I do not say never lend, but never lend
if by lending you render yourself unable to pay
what you owe ; but under any circumstances never
borrow." Fichte, the poor student, refused to
accept even presents from his still poorer parents.
Dr. Johnson held that early debt is ruin. His
words on the subject are weighty, and worthy of
being held in remembrance. " Do not," said he,
" accustom yourself to consider debt only as an
inconvenience ; you will find it a calamity. Poverty
takes away so many means of doing good, and
produces so much inability to resist evil, both
natural and moral, that it is by all virtuous means
to be avoided. . . . Let it be your first care, then,
not to be in any man's debt. Resolve not to be
poor ; whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is
a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly
destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues im-
practicable and others extremely difficult. Frugality
is not only the basis of quiet, but of beneficence.
No man can help others that wants help himself;
we must have enough before we have to spare."
352 LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS [CHAP, x
It is the bounden duty of every man to look his
affairs in the face, and to keep an account of his
incomings and outgoings in money matters. The
exercise of a little simple arithmetic in this way
will be found of great value. Prudence requires
that we shall pitch our scale of living a degree
below our means, rather than up to them ; but this
can only be done by carrying out faithfully a plan
of living by which both ends may be made to meet.
John Locke strongly advised this course: "Nothing,"
said he, " is likelier to keep a man within compass
than having constantly before his eyes the state
of his affairs in a regular course of account." The
Duke of Wellington kept an accurate detailed
account of all the moneys received and expended
by him. " I make a point," said he to Mr. Gleig,
" of paying my own bills, and I advise every one
to do the same ; formerly I used to trust a con-
fidential servant to pay them, but I was cured of
that folly by receiving one morning, to my great
surprise, duns of a year or two's standing. The
fellow had speculated with my money, and left my
bills unpaid." Talking of debt, his remark was,
" It makes a slave of a man. I have often known
what it was to be in want of money, but I never
got into debt." Washington was as particular as
Wellington was, in matters of business detail ; and
it is a remarkable fact that he did not disdain
to scrutinize the outgoings of his household deter-
mined as he was to live honestly within his means
even while holding the high office of President
of the American Union.
Admiral Jervis, Earl St. Vincent, has told the
story of his early struggles, and, amongst other
things, of his determination to keep out of debt.
CHAP, x] STRUGGLES OF JOHN JERVIS 353
" My father had a very large family," said he, " with
limited means. He gave me twenty pounds at
starting, and that was all he ever gave me. After
I had been a considerable time at the station [at
sea], I drew for twenty more, but the bill came
back protested. I was mortified at this rebuke, and
made a promise, which I have ever kept, that I
would never draw another bill without a certainty
of its being paid. I immediately changed my mode
of living, quitted my mess, lived alone, and took up
the ship's allowance, which I found quite sufficient ;
washed and mended my own clothes ; made a pair
of trousers out of the ticking of my bed ; and having
by these means saved as much money as would
redeem my honour, I took up my bill, and from
that time to this I have taken care to keep within
my means." Jervis for six years endured pinching
privation, but preserved his integrity, studied his
profession with success, and gradually and steadily
rose by merit and bravery to the highest rank.
Mr. Hume hit the mark when he once stated in
the House of Commons though his words were
followed by "laughter" that the tone of living in
England is altogether too high. Middle-class people
are too apt to live up to their incomes, if not beyond
them : affecting a degree of " style " which is most
unhealthy in its effects upon society at large.
There is an ambition to bring up boys as gentle-
men, or rather "genteel" men; though the result
frequently is only to make them gents. They
acquire a taste for dress, style, luxuries, and amuse-
ments which can never form any solid foundation
for manly or gentlemanly character ; and the
result is, that we have a vast number of ginger-
bread young gentry thrown upon the world, who
23
354 LIVING TOO HIGH [CHAP, x
remind one of the abandoned hulls sometimes
picked up at sea, with only a monkey on board.
There is a dreadful ambition abroad for being
"genteel." We keep up appearances, too often
at the expense of honesty ; and, though we may
not be rich, yet we must seem to be so. We must
be "respectable," though only in the meanest
sense in mere vulgar outward show. We have
not the courage to go patiently onward in the
condition of life in which it has pleased God to
call us ; but must needs live in some fashionable
state to which we ridiculously please to call our-
selves, and all to gratify the vanity of that unsub-
stantial genteel world of which we form a part.
There is a constant struggle and pressure for front
seats in the social amphitheatre ; in the midst
of which all noble self-denying resolve is trodden
down, and many fine natures are inevitably crushed
to death. What waste, what misery, what bank-
ruptcy, come from all this ambition to dazzle others
with the glare of apparent worldly success we
need not describe. The mischievous results show
themselves in a thousand ways in the rank
frauds committed by men who dare to be dishonest,
but do not dare to seem poor ; and in the desperate
dashes at fortune, in which the pity is not so much
for those who fail as for the hundreds of innocent
families who are so often involved in their ruin.
The late Sir Charles Napier, in taking leave
of his command in India, did a bold and honest
thing in publishing his strong protest, embodied
in his last General Order to the officers of the
Indian army, against the "fast" life led by so
many young officers in that service, involving
them in ignominious obligations. Sir Charles
CHAP, x] SIR C. NAPIER ON DEBT 355
strongly urged, in that famous document what
had almost been lost sight of that " honesty is
inseparable from the character of a thoroughbred
gentleman"; and that "to drink unpaid-for cham-
pagne and unpaid-for beer, and to ride unpaid-for
horses, is to be a cheat, and not a gentleman." Men
who lived beyond their means and were summoned,
often by their own servants, before Courts of
Requests for debts contracted in extravagant
living, might be officers by virtue of their com-
missions, but they were not gentlemen. The
habit of being constantly in debt, the Commander-
in-Chief held, made men grow callous to the proper
feelings of a gentleman. It was not enough that
an officer should be able to fight : that any bull-
dog could do. But did he hold his word inviolate ?
did he pay his debts? These were among the
points of honour which, he insisted, illuminated
the true gentleman's and soldier's career. As
Bayard was of old, so would Sir Charles Napier
have all British officers to be. He knew them to
be "without fear," but he would also have them
"without reproach." There are, however, many
gallant young fellows, both in India and at home,
capable of mounting a breach on an emergency
amidst belching fire, and of performing the most
desperate deeds of valour, who nevertheless cannot
or will not exercise the moral courage necessary
to enable them to resist a petty temptation pre-
sented to their senses. They cannot utter their
valiant " No," or " I can't afford it," to the invita-
tions of pleasure and self-enjoyment ; and they
are found ready to brave death rather than the
ridicule of their companions.
The young man, as he passes through life,
356 RESISTANCE TO TEMPTATION [CHAP, x
advances through a long line of tempters ranged
on either side of him ; and the inevitable effect
of yielding is degradation in a greater or a less
degree. Contact with them tends insensibly to
draw away from him some portion of the divine
electric element with which his nature is charged ;
and his only mode of resisting them is to utter
and to act out his "no" manfully and resolutely.
He must decide at once, not waiting to deliberate
and balance reasons ; for the youth, like " the
woman who deliberates, is lost." Many deliberate,
without deciding ; but " not to resolve, is to resolve."
A perfect knowledge of man is in the prayer,
" Lead us not into temptation." But temptation will
come to try the young man's strength ; and once
yielded to, the power to resist grows weaker and
weaker. Yield once, and a portion of virtue has
gone. Resist manfully, and the first decision
will give strength for life ; repeated, it will become
a habit. It is in the outworks of the habits formed
in early life that the real strength of the defence
must lie ; for it has been wisely ordained, that the
machinery of moral existence should be carried on
principally through the medium of the habits, so
as to save the wear and tear of the great principles
within. It is good habits, which insinuate them-
selves into the thousand inconsiderable acts of life,
that really constitute by far the greater part of
man's moral conduct.
Hugh Miller has told how, by an act of youthful
decision, he saved himself from one of the strong
temptations so peculiar to a life of toil. When
employed as a mason, it was usual for his fellow-
workmen to have an occasional treat of drink, and
one day two glasses of whisky fell to his share,
CHAP, x] A HIGH STANDARD 357
which he swallowed. When he reached home, he
found, on opening his favourite book ' Bacon's
Essays ' that the letters danced before his eyes,
and that he could no longer master the sense.
" The condition," he says, " into which I had
brought myself was, I felt, one of degradation. I
had sunk, by my own act, for the time, to a lower
level of intelligence than that on which it was my
privilege to be placed ; and though the state could
have been no very favourable one for forming a
resolution, I in that hour determined that I should
never again sacrifice my capacity of intellectual
enjoyment to a drinking usage ; and, with God's
help, I was enabled to hold by the determination."
It is such decisions as this that often form the
turning-points in a man's life, and furnish the
foundation of his future character. And this rock,
on which Hugh Miller might have been wrecked,
if he had not at the right moment put forth his
moral strength to strike away from it, is one that
youth and manhood alike need to be constantly
on their guard against. It is about one of the
worst and most deadly, as well as extravagant,
temptations which lie in the way of youth. Sir
Walter Scott used to say that " of all vices drinking
is the most incompatible with greatness." Not only
so, but it is incompatible with economy, decency,
health, and honest living. When a youth cannot
restrain, he must abstain. Dr. Johnson's case is
the case of many. He said, referring to his own
habits, " Sir, I can abstain ; but I can't be moderate."
But to wrestle vigorously and successfully with
any vicious habit, we must not merely be satisfied
with contending on the low ground of worldly
prudence, though that is of use, but take stand
358 PROVERBS ON MONEY-MAKING [CHAP, x
upon a higher moral elevation. Mechanical aids,
such as pledges, may be of service to some, but
the great thing is to set up a high standard of
thinking and acting, and endeavour to strengthen
and purify the principles as well as to reform the
habits. For this purpose a youth must study
himself, watch his steps, and compare his thoughts
and acts with his rule. The more knowledge of
himself he gains, the more humble will he be, and
perhaps the less confident in his own strength.
But the discipline will be always found most valu-
able which is acquired by resisting small present
gratifications to secure a prospective greater and
higher one. It is the noblest work in self-education
for
" Real glory
Springs from the silent conquest of ourselves,
And without that the conqueror is nought
But the first slave."
Many popular books have been written for the
purpose of communicating to the public the "grand
secret of making money. But there is no secret
whatever about it, as the proverbs of every nation
abundantly testify. " Take care of the pennies and
the pounds will take care of themselves." " Dili-
gence is the mother of good luck." " No pains, no
gains." " No sweat, no sweet." " Work and thou
shalt have." " The world is his who has patience
and industry." " Better go to bed supperless than
rise in debt." Such are specimens of the proverbial
philosophy, embodying the hoarded experience of
many generations, as to the best means of thriving
in the world. They were current in people's
mouths long before books were invented ; and, like
other popular proverbs, they were the first codes of
CHAP, x] INDUSTRY HONOURABLE 359
popular morals. Moreover, they have stood the test
of time, and the experience of every day still bears
witness to their accuracy, force, and soundness.
The Proverbs of Solomon are full of wisdom as to
the force of industry, and the use and abuse of
money : " He that is slothful in work is brother
to him that is a great waster." " Go to the ant,
thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be wise."
Poverty, says the preacher, shall come upon the
idler, " as one that travelleth, and want as an armed
man " ; but of the industrious and upright, " the
hand of the diligent maketh rich." " The drunkard
and the glutton shall come to poverty ; and drowsi-
ness shall clothe a man with rags." " Seest thou a
man diligent in his business ? he shall stand before
kings." But, above all, " It is better to get wisdom
than gold ; for wisdom is better than rubies, and
all the things that may be desired are not to be
compared to it."
Simple industry and thrift will go far towards
making any person of ordinary working faculty
comparatively independent in his means. Even a
working man may be so, provided he will carefully
husband his resources, and watch the little outlets
of useless expenditure. A penny is a very small
matter, yet the comfort of thousands of families
depends upon the proper spending and saving of
pennies. If a man allows the little pennies, the
results of his hard work, to slip out of his fingers
some to the beershop, some this way and some that
he will find that his life is little raised above one
of mere animal drudgery. On the other hand, if he
take care of the pennies putting some weekly into
a benefit society or an insurance fund, others into
a savings bank, and confiding the rest to his wife
360 THOMAS WRIGHT [CHAP, x
to be carefully laid out, with a view to the comfort-
able maintenance and education of his family he
will soon find that this attention to small matters
will abundantly repay him, in increasing means,
growing comfort at home, and a mind comparatively
free from fears as to the future. And if a working
man have high ambition and possess richness in
spirit a kind of wealth which far transcends all
mere worldly possessions he may not only help
himself, but be a profitable helper of others in his
path through life. That this is no impossible thing
even for a common labourer in a workshop may be
illustrated by the remarkable career of Thomas
Wright of Manchester, who not only attempted, but
succeeded in, the reclamation of many criminals
while working for weekly wages in a foundry.
Accident first directed Thomas Wright's atten-
tion to the difficulty encountered by liberated
convicts in returning to habits of honest industry.
His mind was shortly possessed by the subject ;
and to remedy the evil became the purpose of his
life. Though he worked from six in the morning
till six at night, still there were leisure minutes
that he could call his own more especially his
Sundays and these he employed in the service
of convicted criminals ; a class then far more
neglected than they are now. But a few minutes
a day, well employed, can effect a great deal ; and
it will scarcely be credited, that in ten years this
working man, by steadfastly holding to his purpose,
succeeded in rescuing not fewer than three hundred
felons from continuance in a life of villainy! He
came to be regarded as the moral physician of the
Manchester Old Bailey ; and where the Chaplain
and all others failed, Thomas Wright often
CHAP, x] HIS PHILANTHROPY 361
succeeded. Children he thus restored reformed to
their parents ; sons and daughters, otherwise lost,
to their homes ; and many a returned convict did he
contrive to settle down to honest and industrious
pursuits. The task was by no means easy. It
required money, time, energy, prudence, and above
all, character, and the confidence which character
invariably inspires. The most remarkable circum-
stance was that Wright relieved many of these
poor outcasts out of the comparatively small wages
earned by him at foundry work. He did all this
on an income which did not average, during his
working career, ioo/. per annum; and yet, while
he was able to bestow substantial aid on criminals,
to whom he owed no more than the service of
kindness which every human being owes to
another, he also maintained his family in comfort,
and was, by frugality and carefulness, enabled to
lay by a store of savings against his approaching
old age. Every week he apportioned his income
with deliberate care ; so much for the indispensable
necessaries of food and clothing, so much for the
landlord, so much for the schoolmaster, so much
for the poor and needy ; and the lines of distribu-
tion were resolutely observed. By such means
did this humble workman pursue his great work,
with the results we have so briefly described.
Indeed, his career affords one of the most remark-
able and striking illustrations of the force of
purpose in a man, of the might of small means
carefully and sedulously applied, and, above all,
of the power which an energetic and upright
character invariably exercises upon the lives and
conduct of others.
There is no discredit, but honour, in every right
362 ENERGY IN MONEY-MAKING [CHAP, x
walk of industry, whether it be in tilling the
ground, making tools, weaving fabrics, or selling
the products behind a counter. A youth may
handle a yard-stick, or measure a piece of ribbon ;
and there will be no discredit in doing so, unless
he allows his mind to have no higher range than
the stick and ribbon ; to be as short as the one,
and as narrow as the other. " Let not those blush
who have" said Fuller, " but those who have not
a lawful calling." And Bishop Hall said, " Sweet
is the destiny of all trades, whether of the brow
or of the mind." Men who have raised themselves
from a humble calling need not be ashamed, but
rather ought to be proud of the difficulties they
have surmounted. An American President, when
asked what was his coat-of-arms, remembering that
he had been a hewer of wood in his youth, replied,
"A pair of shirt sleeves." A French doctor once
taunted Flechier, Bishop of Nismes, who had been
a tallow-chandler in his youth, with the meanness
of his origin, to which Flechier replied, " If you
had been born in the same condition that I was,
you would still have been but a maker of candles."
Nothing is more common than energy in money-
making, quite independent of any higher object
than its accumulation. A man who devotes himself
to this pursuit, body and soul, can scarcely fail to
become rich. Very little brains will do ; spend
less than you earn; add guinea to guinea; scrape
and save ; and the pile of gold will gradually rise.
Osterwald, the Parisian banker, began life a poor
man. He was accustomed every evening to drink
a pint of beer for supper at a tavern which he
visited, during which he collected and pocketed
all the corks that he could lay his hands on. In
CHAP, x] MERE MONEY-MAKING 363
eight years he had collected as many corks as sold
for eight louis d'ors. With that sum he laid the
foundations of his fortune gained mostly by stock-
jobbing; leaving at his death some three millions
of francs. John Foster has cited a striking illustra-
tion of what this kind of determination will do in
money-making. A young man who ran through
his patrimony, spending it in profligacy, was at
length reduced to utter want and despair. He
rushed out of his house intending to put an end
to his life, and stopped on arriving at an eminence
overlooking what were once his estates. He sat
down, ruminated for a time, and rose with the
determination that he would recover them. He
returned to the streets, saw a load of coals which
had been shot out of a cart on to the pavement
before a house, offered to carry them in, and was
employed. He thus earned a few pence, requested
some meat and drink as a gratuity, which was
given him, and the pennies were laid by. Pursuing
this menial labour, he earned and saved more
pennies; accumulated sufficient to enable him to
purchase some cattle, the value of which he under-
stood, and these he sold to advantage. He pro-
ceeded by degrees to undertake larger transactions,
until at length he became rich. The result was,
that he more than recovered his possessions, and
died an inveterate miser. When he was buried,
mere earth went to earth. With a nobler spirit,
the same determination might have enabled such
a man to be a benefactor to others as well as to
himself. But the life and its end in this case were
alike sordid.
To provide for others and for our own comfort
and independence in old age, is honourable, and
364 THE POWER OF MONEY [CHAP, x
greatly to be commended; but to hoard for mere
wealth's sake is the characteristic of the narrow-
souled and the miserly. It is against the growth
of this habit of inordinate saving that the wise man
needs most carefully to guard himself: else, what
in youth was simple economy may in old age grow
into avarice, and what was a duty in the one case
may become a vice in the other. It is the love of
money not money itself which is "the root of
evil," a love which narrows and contracts the soul,
and closes it against generous life and action. Hence,
Sir Walter Scott makes one of his characters declare
that " the penny siller slew more souls than the
naked sword slew bodies." It is one of the defects
of business too exclusively followed, that it in-
sensibly tends to a mechanism of character. The
business man gets into a rut, and often does not
look beyond it. If he lives for himself only, he
becomes apt to regard other human beings only
in so far as they minister to his ends. Take a
leaf from such men's ledger and you have their life.
Worldly success, measured by the accumulation
of money, is no doubt a very dazzling thing ; and
all men are naturally more or less the admirers
of worldly success. But though men of persevering,
sharp, dexterous, and unscrupulous habits, ever
on the watch to push opportunities, may and do
" get on " in the world, yet it is quite possible that
they may not possess the slightest elevation of
character, nor a particle of real goodness. He who
recognizes no higher logic than that of the shilling,
may become a very rich man, and yet remain all
the while an exceedingly poor creature. For riches
are no proof whatever of moral worth ; and their
glitter often serves only to draw attention to the
CHAP, x] RICHES NO PROOF OF WORTH 365
worthlessness of their possessor, as the light of
the glow-worm reveals the grub.
The manner in which many allow themselves
to be sacrificed to their love of wealth reminds
one of the cupidity of the monkey that caricature
of our species. In Algiers, the Kabyle peasant
attaches a gourd, well fixed, to a tree, and places
within it some rice. The gourd has an opening
merely sufficient to admit the monkey's paw. The
creature comes to the tree by night, inserts his
paw, and grasps his booty. He tries to draw it
back, but it is clenched, and he has not the wisdom
to unclench it. So there he stands till morning,
when he is caught, looking as foolish as may be,
though with the prize in his grasp. The moral of
this little story is capable of a very extensive
application in life.
The power of money is on the whole over-
estimated. The greatest things which have been
done for the world have not been accomplished by
rich men, nor by subscription lists, but by men
generally of small pecuniary means. Christianity
was propagated over half the world by men of the
poorest class ; and the greatest thinkers, discoverers,
inventors, and artists have been men of moderate
wealth, many of them little raised above the con-
dition of manual labourers in point of worldly
circumstances. And it will always be so. Riches
are oftener an impediment than a stimulus to action ;
and in many cases they are quite as much a mis-
fortune as a blessing. The youth who inherits
wealth is apt to have life made too easy for him,
and he soon grows sated with it, because he has
nothing left to desire. Having no special object
to struggle for, he finds time hang heavy on his
366 JOSEPH BROTHERTON [CHAP. X
hands ; he remains morally and spiritually asleep ;
and his position in society is often no higher than
that of a polypus over which the tide floats.
"His only labour is to kill the time,
And labour dire it is, and weary woe."
Yet the rich man, inspired by a right spirit will
spurn idleness as unmanly ; and if he bethink him-
self of the responsibilities which attach to the
possession of wealth and property he will feel even
a higher call to work than men of humbler lot.
This, however, must be admitted to be by no means
the practice of life. The golden mean of Agur's
perfect prayer is, perhaps, the best lot of all, did
we but know it : " Give me neither poverty nor
riches ; feed me with food convenient for me." The
late Joseph Brotherton, M.P., left a fine motto to
be recorded upon his monument in the Peel Park
at Manchester, the declaration in his case being
strictly true : " My richness consisted not in the
greatness of my possessions, but in the smallness
of my wants." He rose from the humblest station,
that of a factory boy, to an eminent position of use-
fulness, by the simple exercise of homely honesty,
industry, punctuality, and self-denial. Down to the
close of his life, when not attending Parliament, he
did duty as minister in a small chapel in Manchester
to which he was attached; and in all things he
made it appear, to those who knew him in private
life, that the glory he sought was not " to be seen
of men," or to excite their praise, but to earn the
consciousness of discharging the every-day duties
of life, down to the smallest and humblest of them,
in an honest, upright, truthful, and loving spirit.
" Respectability," in its best sense, is good. The
CHAP, x] TRUE RESPECTABILITY 367
respectable man is one worthy of regard, literally
worth turning to look at. But the respectability
that consists in merely keeping up appearances is
not worth looking at in any sense. Far better and
more respectable is the good poor man than the
bad rich one better the humble silent man than
the agreeable well appointed rogue who keeps his
gig. A well balanced and well stored mind, a
life full of useful purpose, whatever the position
occupied in it may be, is of far greater importance
than average worldly respectability. The highest
object of life we take to be to form a manly
character, and to work out the best development
possible, of body and spirit of mind, conscience,
heart, and soul. This is the end : all else ought to
be regarded but as the means. Accordingly, that
is not the most successful life in which a man gets
the most pleasure, the most money, the most power
or place, honour or fame ; but that in which a man
gets the most manhood, and performs the greatest
amount of useful work and of human duty. Money
is power after its sort, it is true ; but intelligence,
public spirit, and moral virtue, are powers too, and
far nobler ones. " Let others plead for pensions,"
wrote Lord Collingwood to a friend ; " I can be
rich without money, by endeavouring to be superior
to everything poor. I would have my services to
my country unstained by any interested motive;
and old Scott * and I can go on in our cabbage-
* His old gardener. Collingwood's favourite amusement was
gardening. Shortly after the battle of Trafalgar a brother
admiral called upon him, and, after searching for his lordship
all over the garden, he at last discovered him, with old Scott,
in the bottom of a deep trench which they were busily employed
in digging.
368 REAL MEN OF MARK [CHAP, x
garden without much greater expense than formerly."
On another occasion he said, " I have motives for
my conduct which I would not give in exchange
for a hundred pensions."
The making of a fortune may no doubt enable
some people to " enter society," as it is called ;
but to be esteemed there, they must possess
qualities of mind, manners, or heart, else they are
merely rich people, nothing more. There are
men " in society " now, as rich as Croesus, who
have no consideration extended towards them, and
elicit no respect. For why? They are but as
money-bags : their only power is in their till. The
men of mark in society the guides and rulers of
opinion the really successful and useful men
are not necessarily rich men ; but men of sterling
character, of disciplined experience, and of moral
excellence. Even the poor man, like Thomas
Wright, though he possess but little of this world's
goods, may, in the enjoyment of a cultivated nature,
of opportunities used and not abused, of a life spent
to the best of his means and ability, look down,
without the slightest feeling of envy, upon the
person of mere worldly success, the man of money-
bags and acres.
CHAPTER XI
SELF-CULTURE FACILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES
" Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others,
and one, more important, which he gives to himself." Gibbon.
"Is there one whom difficulties dishearten who bends to the storm?
He will do little. Is there one who will conquer ? That kind of man
never fails." -John Hunter.
" The wise and active conquer difficulties,
By daring to attempt them : sloth and folly
Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and danger,
And make the impossibility they fear." Rome.
THE best part of every man's education," said
Sir Walter Scott, " is that which he gives to
himself." The late Sir Benjamin Brodie de-
lighted to remember this saying, and he used to
congratulate himself on the fact that professionally
he was self-taught. But this is necessarily the
case with all men who have acquired distinction
in letters, science, or art. The education received
at school or college is but a beginning, and is
valuable mainly inasmuch as it trains the mind and
habituates it to continuous application and study.
That which is put into us by others is always far
less ours than that which we acquire by our own
diligent and persevering effort. Knowledge con-
quered by labour becomes a possession a property
entirely our own. A greater vividness and per-
369 24
370 SELF-CULTURE IMPORTANT [CHAP, xi
manency of impression is secured ; and facts thus
acquired become registered in the mind in a way that
mere imparted information can never effect. This
kind of self-culture also calls forth power and
cultivates strength. The solution of one problem
helps the mastery of another ; and thus knowledge
is carried into faculty. Our own active effort is
the essential thing; and no facilities, no books,
no teachers, no amount of lessons learnt by rote
will enable us to dispense with it.
The best teachers have been the readiest to
recognize the importance of self-culture, and of
stimulating the student to acquire knowledge by
the active exercise of his own faculties. They have
relied more upon training than upon telling, and
sought to make their pupils themselves active
parties to the work in which they were engaged;
thus making teaching something far higher than
the mere passive reception of the scraps and details
of knowledge. This was the spirit in which the
great Dr. Arnold worked ; he strove to teach his
pupils to rely upon themselves, and develop their
powers by their own active efforts, himself merely
guiding, directing, stimulating, and encouraging
them. " I would far rather," he said, " send a boy
to Van Diemen's Land, where he must work for
his bread, than send him to Oxford to live in luxury,
without any desire in his mind to avail himself of
his advantages." " If there be one thing on earth,"
he observed on another occasion, "which is truly
admirable, it is to see God's wisdom blessing an
inferiority of natural powers, when they have been
honestly, truly, and zealously cultivated." Speak-
ing of a pupil of this character, he said, " I would
stand to that man hat in hand." Once at Laleham,
CHAP, xi] WORK EDUCATES THE BODY 371
when teaching a rather dull boy, Arnold spoke
somewhat sharply to him, on which the pupil
looked up in his face and said, " Why do you speak
angrily, sir ? indeed, I am doing the best I can."
Years afterwards, Arnold used to tell the story
to his children, and added, " I never felt so much
in my life that look and that speech I have never
forgotten."
From the numerous instances already cited of
men of humble station who have risen to distinction
in science and literature, it will be obvious that
labour is by no means incompatible with the
highest intellectual culture. Work in moderation
is healthy, as well as agreeable to the human
constitution. Work educates the body, as study
educates the mind; and that is the best state of
society in which there is some work for every man's
leisure, and some leisure for every man's work.
Even the leisure classes are in a measure compelled
to work, sometimes as a relief from ennui, but in
most cases to gratify an instinct which they cannot
resist. Some go fox-hunting in the English
counties, others grouse-shooting on the Scotch
hills, while many wander away every summer to
climb mountains in Switzerland. Hence the boat-
ing, running, cricketing, and athletic sports of the
public schools, in which our young men at the
same time so healthfully cultivate their strength
both of mind and body. It is said that the Duke
of Wellington, when once looking on at the boys
engaged in their sports in the play-ground at Eton,
where he had spent many of his own younger days,
made the remark, " It was there that the battle of
Waterloo was won ! "
Daniel Malthus urged his son when at college
372 PHYSICAL HEALTH IMPORTANT [CHAP.XI
to be most diligent in the cultivation of knowledge,
but he also enjoined him to pursue manly sports
as the best means of keeping up the full working
power of his mind, as well as of enjoying the
pleasures of intellect. " Every kind of knowledge,"
said he, "every acquaintance with nature and art,
will amuse and strengthen your mind, and I am
perfectly pleased that cricket should do the same
by your arms and legs; I love to see you excel
in exercises of the body, and I think myself that
the better half, and much the most agreeable part,
of the pleasures of the mind is best enjoyed while
one is upon one's legs." But a still more important
use of active employment is that referred to by
the great divine, Jeremy Taylor. " Avoid idleness,"
he says, " and fill up all the spaces of thy time
with severe and useful employment ; for lust easily
creeps in at those emptinesses where the soul is
unemployed and the body is at ease ; for no easy,
healthful, idle person was ever chaste if he could
be tempted ; but of all employments bodily labour
is the most useful, and of the greatest benefit for
driving away the devil."
Practical success in life depends more upon
physical health than is generally imagined. Hodson,
of Hodson's Horse, writing home to a friend in
England, said, " I believe, if I get on well in India,
it will be owing, physically speaking, to a sound
digestion." The capacity for continuous working
in any calling must necessarily depend in a great
measure upon this ; and hence the necessity for
attending to health, even as a means of intellectual
labour. It is perhaps to the neglect of physical
exercise that we find amongst students so frequent
a tendency towards discontent, unhappiness, in-
CHAP, xi] EDUCATION IN MECHANICS 373
action, and reverie, displaying itself in contempt
for real life and disgust at the beaten tracks of
men, a tendency which in England has been
called Byronism, and in Germany Wertherism.
Dr. Channing noted the same growth in America,
which led him to make the remark, that "too many
of our young men grow up in a school of despair."
The only remedy for this green-sickness in youth
is physical exercise action, work, and bodily
occupation.
The use of early labour in self-imposed mechani-
cal employments may be illustrated by the boyhood
of Sir Isaac Newton. Though a comparatively
dull scholar, he was very assiduous in the use of
his saw, hammer, and hatchet " knocking and
hammering in his lodging-room " making models
of windmills, carriages, and machines of all sorts ;
and as he grew older, he took delight in making
little tables and cupboards for his friends. Smeaton,
Watt, and Stephenson were equally handy with
tools when mere boys; and but for such kind of
self-culture in their youth it is doubtful whether
they would have accomplished so much in their
manhood. Such was also the early training of the
great inventors and mechanics described in the
preceding pages, whose contrivance and intelligence
were practically trained by the constant use of their
hands in early life. Even where men belonging
to the manual labour class have risen above it, and
become more purely intellectual labourers, they
have found the advantages of their early training
in their later pursuits. Elihu Burritt says he found
hard labour necessary to enable him to study with
effect; and more than once he gave up school-
teaching and study, and, taking to his leather apron
374 TRAINING OF YOUNG MEN [CHAP, xi
again, went back to his blacksmith's forge and
anvil for his health of body and mind's sake.
The training of young men in the use of tools
would, at the same time that it educated them in
" common things," teach them the use of their
hands and arms, familiarize them with healthy work,
exercise their faculties upon things tangible and
actual, give them some practical acquaintance with
mechanics, impart to them the ability of being
useful, and implant in them the habit of persevering
physical effort. This is an advantage which the
working classes, strictly so called, certainly possess
over the leisure classes, that they are in early
life under the necessity of applying themselves
laboriously to some mechanical pursuit or other,
thus acquiring manual dexterity and the use of
their physical powers. The chief disadvantage
attached to the calling of the laborious classes is,
not that they are employed in physical work, but
that they are too exclusively so employed, often to
the neglect of their moral and intellectual faculties.
While the youths of the leisure classes, having
been taught to associate labour with servility, have
shunned it, and been allowed to grow up practically
ignorant, the poorer classes, confining themselves
within the circle of their laborious callings, have
been allowed to grow up in a large proportion of
cases absolutely illiterate. It seems possible, how-
ever, to avoid both these evils by combining physical
training or physical work with intellectual culture :
and there are various signs abroad which seem
to mark the gradual adoption of this healthier
system of education.
The success of even professional men depends in
no slight degree on their physical health ; and a
CHAP, xi] HEALTHINESS OF GREAT MEN 375
public writer has gone so far as to say that "the
greatness of our great men is quite as much a bodily
affair as a mental one." * A healthy breathing ap-
paratus is as indispensable to the successful lawyer
or politician as a well-cultured intellect. The
thorough ae'ration of the blood, by free exposure to a
large breathing surface in the lungs, is necessary to
maintain that full vital power on which the vigorous
working of the brain in so large a measure depends.
The lawyer has to climb the heights of his pro-
fession through close and heated courts, and the
political leader has to bear the fatigue and excite-
ment of long and anxious debates in a crowded
House. Hence the lawyer in full practice and
the parliamentary leader in full work are called
upon to display powers of physical endurance and
activity even more extraordinary than those of the
intellect, such powers as have been exhibited in
so remarkable a degree by Brougham, Lyndhurst,
and Campbell ; by Peel, Graham, and Palmerston
all full-chested men.
Though Sir Walter Scott, when at Edinburgh
College, went by the name of " The Greek Block-
head," he was, notwithstanding his lameness, a
remarkably healthy youth : he could spear a salmon
with the best fisher on the Tweed, and ride a wild
horse with any hunter in Yarrow. When devoting
himself in after life to literary pursuits, Sir Walter
never lost his taste for field sports; but while
writing 'Waverley' in the morning, he would in
the afternoon course hares. Professor Wilson was
a very athlete, as great at throwing the hammer
as in his flights of eloquence and poetry; and
Burns, when a youth, was remarkable chiefly for
* Article in the ' Times.'
376 SUSTAINED APPLICATION [CHAP, xi
his leaping, putting, and wrestling. Some of our
greatest divines were distinguished in their youth
for their physical energies. Isaac Barrow, when
at the Charterhouse School, was notorious for his
pugilistic encounters, in which he got many a
bloody nose ; Andrew Fuller, when working as
a farmer's lad at Soham, was chiefly famous for
his skill in boxing ; and Adam Clarke, when a boy,
was only remarkable for the strength displayed
by him in " rolling large stones about," the secret,
possibly, of some of the power which he subse-
quently displayed in rolling forth large thoughts
in his manhood.
While it is necessary, then, in the first place
to secure this solid foundation of physical health,
it must also be observed that the cultivation of the
habit of mental application is quite indispensable
for the education of the student. The maxim that
" Labour conquers all things " holds especially true
in the case of the conquest of knowledge. The
road into learning is alike free to all who will give
the labour and the study requisite to gather it ;
nor are there any difficulties so great that the
student of resolute purpose may not surmount and
overcome them. It was one of the characteristic
expressions of Chatterton, that God had sent His
creatures into the world with arms long enough
to reach anything if they chose to be at the trouble.
In study, as in business, energy is the great thing.
There must be the fervet opus : we must not
only strike the iron while it is hot, but strike it
till it is made hot. It is astonishing how much
may be accomplished in self-culture by the energetic
and the persevering, who are careful to avail them-
selves of opportunities, and use up the fragments
CHAP, xi] WELL-DIRECTED LABOUR 377
of spare time which the idle permit to run to waste.
Thus Ferguson learnt astronomy from the heavens,
while wrapt in a sheep-skin on the highland hills ;
thus Stone learnt mathematics while working as
a journeyman gardener; thus Drew studied the
highest philosophy in the intervals of cobbling
shoes; and thus Miller taught himself geology
while working as a day labourer in a quarry.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, as we have already ob-
served, was so earnest a believer in the force of
industry that he held that all men might achieve
excellence if they would but exercise the power of
assiduous and patient working. He held that
drudgery lay on the road to genius, and that there
was no limit to the proficiency of an artist except
the limit of his own painstaking. He would not
believe in what is called inspiration, but only in
study and labour. " Excellence," he said, " is never
granted to man but as the reward of labour." " If
you have great talents, industry will improve them ;
if you have but moderate abilities, industry will
supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied to well-
directed labour; nothing is to be obtained without
it." Sir Fowell Buxton was an equal believer in
the power of study; and he entertained the modest
idea that he could do as well as other men if he
devoted to the pursuit double the time and labour
that they did. He placed his great confidence in
ordinary means and extraordinary application.
" I have known several men in my life," says Dr.
Ross, " who may be recognized in days to come as
men of genius, and they were all plodders, hard-
working, intent men. Genius is known by its
works ; genius without works is a blind faith, a
dumb oracle. But meritorious works are the result
378 THOROUGHNESS IN STUDY [CHAP, xi
of time and labour, and cannot be accomplished by
intention or by a wish. . . . Every great work is
the result of vast preparatory training. Facility
comes by labour. Nothing seems easy, not even
walking, that was not difficult at first. The orator
whose eye flashes instantaneous fire, and whose
lips pour out a flood of noble thoughts, startling by
their unexpectedness, and elevating by their wisdom
and truth, has learned his secret by patient repeti-
tion, and after many bitter disappointments."*
Thoroughness and accuracy are two principal
points to be aimed at in study. Francis Horner, in
laying down rules for the cultivation of his mind,
placed great stress upon the habit of continuous
application to one subject for the sake of mastering
it thoroughly ; he confined himself, with this object,
to only a few books, and resisted with the greatest
firmness " every approach to a habit of desultory
reading." The value of knowledge to any man
consists not in its quantity, but mainly in the good
uses to which he can apply it. Hence a little
knowledge, of an exact and perfect character, is
always found more valuable for practical purposes
than any extent of superficial learning.
One of Ignatius Loyola's maxims was, " He who
does well one work at a time, does more than all."
By spreading our efforts over too large a surface
we inevitably weaken our force, hinder our pro-
gress, and acquire a habit of fitfulness and ineffective
working. Lord St. Leonards once communicated
* ' Self-Development : an Address to Students,' by George
Ross, M.D., pp. 1-20, reprinted from the ' Medical Circular.' This
address, to which we acknowledge our obligations, contains many
admirable thoughts on self-culture, is thoroughly healthy in its
tone, and well deserves republication in an enlarged form,
CHAP, xi] A DEFINITE AIM AND OBJECT 379
to Sir Fowell Buxton the mode in which he had
conducted his studies, and thus explained the secret
of his success. " I resolved," said he, " when be-
ginning to read law, to make everything I acquired
perfectly my own, and never to go to a second
thing till I had entirely accomplished the first.
Many of my competitors read as much in a day as
I read in a week ; but, at the end of twelve months,
my knowledge was as fresh as the day it was
acquired, while theirs had glided away from
recollection."
It is not the quantity of study that one gets
through, or the amount of reading, that makes a
wise man ; but the appositeness of the study to the
purpose for which it is pursued ; the concentration
of the mind for the time being on the subject under
consideration ; and the habitual discipline by which
the whole system of mental application is regulated.
Abernethy was even of opinion that there was a
point of saturation in his own mind, and that if
he took into it something more than it could bold,
it only had the effect of pushing something else
out. Speaking of the study of medicine, he said,
" If a man has a clear idea of what he desires to do,
he will seldom fail in selecting the proper means
of accomplishing it."
The most profitable study is that which is
conducted with a definite aim and object. By
thoroughly mastering any given branch of know-
ledge we render it more available for use at any
moment. Hence it is not enough merely to have
books, or to know where to read for information
as we want it. Practical wisdom, for the purposes
of life, must be carried about with us, and be ready
for use at call. It is not sufficient that we have a
380 DECISION AND PROMPTITUDE [CHAP. XI
fund laid up at home, but not a farthing in the
pocket: we must carry about with us a store of
the current coin of knowledge ready for exchange
on all occasions, else we are comparatively helpless
when the opportunity for using it occurs.
Decision and promptitude are as requisite in
self-culture as in business. The growth of these
qualities may be encouraged by accustoming young
people to rely upon their own resources, leaving
them to enjoy as much freedom of action in early
life as is practicable. Too much guidance and
restraint hinder the formation of habits of self-
help. They are like bladders tied under the arms
of one who has not taught himself to swim. Want
of confidence is perhaps a greater obstacle to im-
provement than is generally imagined. It has
been said that half the failures in life arise from
pulling in one's horse while he is leaping. Dr.
Johnson was accustomed to attribute his success
to confidence in his own powers. True modesty
is quite compatible with a due estimate of one's
own merits, and does not demand the abnegation
of all merit. Though there are those who deceive
themselves by putting a false figure before their
ciphers, the want of confidence, the want of faith
in one's self, and consequently the want of prompti-
tude in action, is a defect of character which is
found to stand very much in the way of individual
progress ; and the reason why so little is done, is
generally because so little is attempted.
There is usually no want of desire on the part
of most persons to arrive at the results of self-
culture, but there is a great aversion to pay the
inevitable price for it, of hard work. Dr. Johnson
held that "impatience of study was the mental
CHAP, xi] KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT STUDY 381
disease of the present generation;" and the re-
mark is still applicable. We may not believe that
there is a royal road to learning, but we seem
to believe very firmly in a "popular" one. In
education, we invent labour-saving processes, seek
short cuts to science, learn French and Latin "in
twelve lessons," or "without a master." We re-
semble the lady of fashion, who engaged a master
to teach her on condition that he did not plague
her with verbs and participles. We get our
smattering of science in the same way; we learn
chemistry by listening to a short course of lectures
enlivened by experiments, and when we have in-
haled laughing gas, seen green water turned to
red, and phosphorus burnt in oxygen, we have
got our smattering, of which the most that can
be said is, that though it may be better than
nothing, it is yet good for nothing. Thus we often
imagine we are being educated while we are only
being amused.
The facility with which young people are thus
induced to acquire knowledge, without study and
labour, is not education. It occupies but does not
enrich the mind. It imparts a stimulus for the
time, and produces a sort of intellectual keenness
and cleyerness ; but, without an implanted purpose
and a higher object than mere pleasure, it will
bring with it no solid advantage. In such cases
knowledge produces but a passing impression ; a
sensation, but no more ; it is, in fact, the merest
epicurism of intelligence sensuous, but certainly
not intellectual. Thus the best qualities of many
minds, those which are evoked by vigorous effort
and independent action, sleep a deep sleep, and are
often never called to life, except by the rough
382 INTELLECTUAL DISSIPATION [CHAP, xi
awakening of sudden calamity or suffering, which,
in such cases, comes as a blessing, if it serves to
rouse up a courageous spirit that, but for it, would
have slept on.
Accustomed to acquire information under the
guise of amusement, young people will soon reject
that which is presented to them under the aspect of
study and labour. Learning their knowledge and
science in sport, they will be too apt to make sport
of both ; while the habit of intellectual dissipation,
thus engendered, cannot fail, in course of time, to
produce a thoroughly emasculating effect both upon
their mind and character. " Multifarious reading,"
said Robertson of Brighton, "weakens the mind
like smoking, and is an excuse for its lying dormant.
It is the idlest of all idlenesses, and leaves more of
impotency than any other."
The evil is a growing one, and operates in
various ways. Its least mischief is shallowness;
its greatest, the aversion to steady labour which it
induces, and the low and feeble tone of mind which
it encourages. If we would be really wise, we
must diligently apply ourselves, and confront the
same continuous application which our forefathers
did ; for labour is still, and ever will be, the inevi-
table price set upon everything which is valuable.
We must be satisfied to work with a purpose, and
wait the results with patience. All progress, of
the best kind, is slow ; but to him who works faith-
fully and zealously the reward will, doubtless, be
vouchsafed in good time. The spirit of industry,
embodied in a man's daily life, will gradually lead
him to exercise his powers on objects outside him-
self, of greater dignity and more extended useful-
ness. And still we must labour on ; for the work
CHAP, xi] RIGHT USE OF KNOWLEDGE 383
of self-culture is never finished. " To be employed,"
said the poet Gray, " is to be happy." " It is better
to wear out than rust out," said Bishop Cumberland.
"Have we not all eternity to rest in?" exclaimed
Arnauld. " Repos ailleurs " was the motto of
Marnix de St. Aldegonde, the energetic and ever-
working friend of William the Silent.
It is the use we make of the powers entrusted
to us which constitutes our only just claim to re-
spect. He who employs his one talent aright is as
much to be honoured as he to whom ten talents
have been given. There is really no more personal
merit attaching to the possession of superior in-
tellectual powers than there is in the succession to
a large estate. How are those powers used how
is that estate employed ? The mind may accumu-
late large stores of knowledge without any useful
purpose; but the knowledge must be allied to
goodness and wisdom, and embodied in upright
character, else it is naught. Pestalozzi even held
intellectual training by itself to be pernicious ; in-
sisting that the roots of all knowledge must strike
and feed in the soil of the rightly governed will.
The acquisition of knowledge may, it is true, pro-
tect a man against the meaner felonies of life ; but
not in any degree against its selfish vices, unless
fortified by sound principles and habits. Hence do
we find in daily life so many instances of men who
are well informed in intellect, but utterly deformed
in character ; filled with the learning of the sch ols,
yet possessing little practical wisdom, and offering
examples for warning rather than imitation. An
often quoted expression at this day is that " Know-
ledge is power"; but so also are fanaticism,
despotism, and ambition. Knowledge of itself,
384 THE ROAD OF OBSERVATION [CHAP, xi
unless wisely directed, might merely make bad men
more dangerous, and the society in which it was
regarded as the highest good little better than a
pandemonium.
It is possible that at this day we may even
exaggerate the importance of literary culture. We
are apt to imagine that, because we possess many
libraries, institutes, and museums, we are making
great progress. But such facilities may as often
be a hindrance as a help to individual self-culture
of the highest kind. The possession of a library,
or the free use of it, no more constitutes learning,
than the possession of wealth constitutes generosity.
Though we undoubtedly possess great facilities it
is nevertheless true, as of old, that wisdom and
understanding can only become the possession
of individual men by travelling the old road of
observation, attention, perseverance, and industry.
The possession of the mere materials of knowledge
is something very different from wisdom and under-
standing, which are reached through a higher
kind of discipline than that of reading, which is
often but a mere passive reception of other men's
thoughts ; there being little or no active effort
of mind in the transaction. Then how much of
our reading is but the indulgence of a sort of
intellectual dram-drinking, imparting a grateful
excitement for the moment, without the slightest
effect in improving and enriching the mind or
building up the character. Thus many indulge
themselves in the conceit that they are cultivating
their minds, when they are only employed in the
humbler occupation of killing time, of which per-
haps the best that can be said is that it keeps them
from doing worse things.
CHAP, xi] LEARNING AND WISDOM 385
It is also to be borne in mind that the experi-
ence gathered from books, though often valuable,
is but of the nature of learning; whereas the ex-
perience gained from actual life is of the nature
of wisdom ; and a small store of the latter is worth
vastly more than any stock of the former. Lord
Bolingbroke truly said that, " Whatever study tends
neither directly nor indirectly to make us better
men and citizens is at best but a specious and
ingenious sort of idleness, and the knowledge we
acquire by it only a creditable kind of ignorance
nothing more."
Useful and instructive though good reading may
be, it is yet only one mode of cultivating the mind ;
and is much less influential than practical experi-
ence and good example in the formation of character.
There were wise, valiant, and true-hearted men
bred in England long before the existence of a
reading public. Magna Charta was secured by
men who signed the deed with their marks.
Though altogether unskilled in the art of decipher-
ing the literary signs by which principles were
denominated upon paper, they yet understood and
appreciated, and boldly contended for, the things
themselves. Thus the foundations of English
liberty were laid by men who, though illiterate,
were nevertheless of the very highest stamp of
character. And it must be admitted that the chief
object of culture is, not merely to fill the mind
with other men's thoughts, and to be the passive
recipient of their impressions of things, but to
enlarge our individual intelligence, and render us
more useful and efficient workers in the sphere
of life to which we may be called. Many of our
most energetic and useful workers have been but
25
386 LEARNING AND CHARACTER [CHAP. XI
sparing readers. Brindley and Stephenson did not
learn to read and write until they reached manhood
and yet they did great works and lived manly,
lives ; John Hunter could barely read or write
when he was twenty years old, though he could
make tables and chairs with any carpenter in the
trade. " I never read," said the great physiologist
when lecturing before his class ; " this " pointing
to some part of the subject before him " this is the
work that you must study if you wish to become
eminent in your profession." When told that one
of his contemporaries had charged him with being
ignorant of the dead languages, he said, " I would
undertake to teach him that on the dead body
which he never knew in any language, dead or
living."
It is not, then, how much a man may know that
is of importance, but the end and purpose for which
he knows it. The object of knowledge should
be to mature wisdom and improve character, to
render us better, happier, and more useful ; more
benevolent, more energetic, and more efficient in
the pursuit of every high purpose in life. " When
people once fall into the habit of admiring and
encouraging ability as such, without reference to
moral character and religious and political opinions
are the concrete form of moral character they are
on the highway to all sorts of degradation." * We
must ourselves be and do, and not rest satisfied
merely with reading and meditating over what
other men have been and done. Our best light
must be made life, and our best thought action.
At least we ought to be able to say, as Richter did,
" I have made as much out of myself as could be
* ' Saturday Review.
CHAP, xi] SELF-RESPECT 387
made of the stuff, and no man should require more " ;
for it is every man's duty to discipline and guide
himself, with God's help, according to his responsi-
bilities and the faculties with which he has been
endowed.
Self-discipline and self-control are the beginnings
of practical wisdom ; and these must have their
root in self-respect. Hope springs from it hope,
which is the companion of power, and the mother
of success ; for whoso hopes strongly has within
him the gift of miracles. The humblest may say,
" To respect myself, to develop myself this is my
true duty in life. An integral and responsible part
of the great system of society, I owe it to society
and to its Author not to degrade or destroy either
my body, mind, or instincts. On the contrary, I
am bound to the best of my power to give to those
parts of my constitution the highest degree of
perfection possible. I am not only to suppress the
evil, but to evoke the good elements in my nature.
And as I respect myself, so am I equally bound to
respect others, as they on their part are bound
to respect me." Hence mutual respect, justice,
and order, of which law becomes the written record
and guarantee.
Self-respect is the noblest garment with which
a man may clothe himself the most elevating
feeling with which the mind can be inspired. One
of Pythagoras's wisest maxims, in his ' Golden
Verses,' is that with which he enjoins the pupil to
,' reverence himself." Borne up by this high idea,
he will not defile his body by sensuality, nor his
mind by servile thoughts. This sentiment, carried
into daily life, will be found at the root of all the
virtues cleanliness, sobriety, chastity, morality,
$88 "GETTING ON" [CHAP. XI
and religion. " The pious and just honouring of
ourselves," said Milton, "may be thought the
radical moisture and fountain-head from whence
every laudable and worthy enterprise issues forth."
To think meanly of one's self is to sink in one's
own estimation, as well as in the estimation of
others. And as the thoughts are, so will the acts
be. Man cannot aspire if he look down ; if he will
rise, he must look up. The very humblest may
be sustained by the proper indulgence of this
feeling. Poverty itself may be lifted and lighted
up by self-respect ; and it is truly a noble sight
to see a poor man hold himself upright amidst
his temptations, and refuse to demean himself by
low actions.
One way in which self-culture may be degraded
is by regarding it too exclusively as a means of
"getting on." Viewed in this light, it is un-
questionable that education is one of the best
investments of time and labour. In any line of
life, intelligence will enable a man to adapt himself
more readily to circumstances, suggest improved
methods of working, and render him more apt,
skilled and effective in all respects. He who works
with his head as well as his hands will come to
look at his business with a clearer eye; and he
will become conscious of increasing power perhaps
the most cheering consciousness the human mind
can cherish. The power of self-help will gradually
grow; and in proportion to a man's self-respect,
will he be armed against the temptation of low
indulgences. Society and its action will be regarded
with quite a new interest, his sympathies will
widen and enlarge, and he will thus be attracted
to work for others as well as for himself.
CHAP, xi] SELF-CULTURE 389
Self-culture may not, however, end in eminence,
as in the numerous instances above cited. The
great majority of men, in all times, however en-
lightened, must necessarily be engaged in the
ordinary avocations of industry ; and no degree of
culture which can be conferred upon the community
at large will ever enable them even were it
desirable, which it is not to get rid of the daily
work of society, which must be done. But this,
we think, may also be accomplished. We can
elevate the condition of labour by allying it to
noble thoughts, which confer a grace upon the
lowliest as well as the highest rank. For no matter
how poor or humble a man may be, the great
thinker of this and other days may come in and sit
down with him, and be his companion for the time,
though his dwelling be the meanest hut. It is thus
that the habit of well-directed reading may become
a source of the greatest pleasure and self-improve-
ment, and exercise a gentle coercion, with the most
beneficial results, over the whole tenour of a man's
character and conduct. And even though self-
culture may not bring wealth, it will at all events
give one the companionship of elevated thoughts.
A nobleman once contemptuously asked of a sage,
" What have you got by all your philosophy ? "
"At least I have got society in myself," was the
wise man's reply.
But many are apt to feel despondent, and become
discouraged in the work of self-culture, because they
do not " get on " in the world so fast as they think
they deserve to do. Having planted their acorn,
they expect to see it grow into an oak at once.
They have perhaps looked upon knowledge in
the light of a marketable commodity, and are
390 LOW VIEW OF SELF-CULTURE [CHAP.XI
consequently mortified because it does not sell as
they expected it would do. Mr. Tremenheere, in one
of his ' Education Reports ' (for 1840-1), states that
a schoolmaster in Norfolk, finding his school rapidly
falling off, made inquiry into the cause, and ascer-
tained that the reason given by the majority of the
parents for withdrawing their children was, that
they had expected "education was to make them
better off than they were before," but that having
found it had " done them no good," they had taken
their children from school, and would give them-
selves no further trouble about education !
The same low idea of self-culture is but too
prevalent in other classes, and is encouraged by the
false views of life which are always more or less
current in society. But to regard self-culture either
as a means of getting past others in the world or
of intellectual dissipation and amusement, rather
than as a power to elevate the character and expand
the spiritual nature, is to place it on a very low
level. To use the words of Bacon, " Knowledge
is not a shop for profit or sale, but a rich storehouse
for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man's
estate." It is doubtless most honourable for a man
to labour to elevate himself, and to better his con-
dition in society, but this is not to be done at the
sacrifice of himself. To make the mind the mere
drudge of the body is putting it to a very servile
use ; and to go about whining and bemoaning our
pitiful lot because we fail in achieving that success
in life which, after all, depends rather upon habits of
industry and attention to business details than upon
knowledge, is the mark of a small, and often of a
sour mind. Such a temper cannot better be re-
proved than in the words of Robert Southey, who
CHAP, xi] OUR POPULAR LITERATURE 391
thus wrote to a friend who sought his counsel :
" I would give you advice if it could be of use ;
but there is no curing those who choose to be
diseased. A good man and a wise man may at
times be angry with the world, at times grieved for
it ; but be sure no man was ever discontented with
the world if he did his duty in it. If a man of
education, who has health, eyes, hands, and leisure,
wants an object, it is only because God Almighty
has bestowed all those blessings upon a man who
does not deserve them."
Another way in which education may be pros-
tituted is by employing it as a mere means of
intellectual dissipation and amusement. Many are
the ministers to this taste in our time. There is
almost a mania for frivolity and excitement, which
exhibits itself in many forms in our popular
literature. To meet the public taste, our books and
periodicals must now be highly spiced, amusing,
and comic, not disdaining slang, and illustrative of
breaches of all laws, human and divine. Douglas
Jerrold once observed of this tendency, " I am con-
vinced the world will get tired (at least, I hope so)
of this eternal guffaw about all things. After all,
life has something serious in it. It cannot be all a
comic history of humanity. Some men would, I
believe, write a Comic Sermon on the Mount.
Think of a Comic History of England, the drollery
of Alfred, the fun of Sir Thomas More, the farce of
his daughter begging the dead head and clasping
it in her coffin on her bosom. Surely the world
will be sick of this blasphemy." John Sterling, in
a like spirit, said : " Periodicals and novels are to
all in this generation, but more especially to those
whose minds are still unformed and in the process
392 LITERATARY GARBAGE [CHAP. XI
of formation, a new and more effectual substitute
for the plagues of Egypt, vermin that corrupt the
wholesome waters and infest our chambers."
As a rest from toil and a relaxation from graver
pursuits, the perusal of a well-written story, by a
writer of genius, is a high intellectual pleasure ;
and it is a description of literature to which all
classes of readers, old and young, are attracted as
by a powerful instinct ; nor would we have any of
them debarred from its enjoyment in a reasonable
degree. But to make it the exclusive literary diet,
as some do, to devour the garbage with which the
shelves of circulating libraries are filled, and to
occupy the greater portion of the leisure hours in
studying the preposterous pictures of human life
which so many of them present, is worse than
waste of time : it is positively pernicious. The
habitual novel-reader indulges in fictitious feelings
so much, that there is great risk of sound and
healthy feeling becoming perverted or benumbed.
" I never go to hear a tragedy," said a gay man
once to the Archbishop of York, " it wears my
heart out." The literary pity evoked by fiction
leads to no corresponding action ; the suscepti-
bilities which it excites involve neither incon-
venience nor self-sacrifice ; so that the heart that
is touched too often by the fiction may at length
become insensible to the reality. The steel is
gradually rubbed out of the character, and it in-
sensibly loses its vital spring. " Drawing fine
pictures of virtue in one's mind," said Bishop Butler,
" is so far from necessarily or certainly conducive
to form a habit of it in him who thus employs him-
self, that it may even harden the mind in a contrary
course, and render it gradually more insensible."
CHAP, xi] PURSUIT OF PLEASURE 393
Amusement in moderation is wholesome, and to
be commended; but amusement in excess vitiates
the whole nature, and is a thing to be carefully
guarded against. The maxim is often quoted of
" All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy " ;
but all play and no work makes him something
greatly worse. Nothing can be more hurtful to a
youth than to have his soul sodden with pleasure.
The best qualities of his mind are impaired ;
common enjoyments become tasteless ; his appetite
for the higher kind of pleasures is vitiated ; and
when he comes to face the work and the duties of
life, the result is usually aversion and disgust.
" Fast " men waste and exhaust the powers of life,
and dry up the sources of true happiness. Having
forestalled their spring, they can produce no healthy
growth of either character or intellect. A child
without simplicity, a maiden without innocence, a
boy without truthfulness, are not more piteous
sights than the man who has wasted and thrown
away his youth in self-indulgence. Mirabeau said
of himself, " My early years have already in a
great measure disinherited the succeeding ones,
and dissipated a great part of my vital powers."
As the wrong done to another to-day returns upon
ourselves to-morrow, so the sins of our youth rise
up in our age to scourge us. When Lord Bacon
says that "strength of nature in youth passeth
over many excesses which are owing a man until
he is old," he exposes a physical as well as a moral
fact which cannot be too well weighed in the con-
duct of life. " I assure you," wrote Giusti the
Italian to a friend, " I pay a heavy price for exist-
ence. It is true that our lives are not at our own
disposal. Nature pretends to give them gratis at
394 BENJAMIN CONSTANT [CHAP. XI
the beginning, and then sends in her account"
The worst of youthful indiscretions is, not that they
destroy health, so much as that they sully manhood.
The dissipated youth becomes a tainted man ; and
often he cannot be pure, even if he would. If cure
there be, it is only to be found in inoculating the
mind with a fervent spirit of duty, and in energetic
application to useful work.
One of the most gifted of Frenchmen, in point
of great intellectual endowments, was Benjamin
Constant ; but blase at twenty, his life was only
a prolonged wail, instead of a harvest of the great
deeds which he was capable of accomplishing with
ordinary diligence and self-control. He resolved
upon doing so many things which he never did
that people came to speak of him as Constant the
Inconstant. He was a fluent and brilliant writer,
and cherished the ambition of writing works,
"which the world would not willingly let die."
But whilst Constant affected the highest thinking,
unhappily he practised the lowest living ; nor did
the transcendentalism of his books atone for the
meanness of his life. He frequented the gaming-
tables while engaged in preparing his work upon
religion, and carried on a disreputable intrigue
while writing his 'Adolphe.' With all his powers
of intellect, he was powerless, because he had no
faith in virtue. " Bah !" said he, " what are honour
and dignity? The longer I live, the more clearly
I see there is nothing in them." It was the howl
of a miserable man. He described himself as but
" ashes and dust." " I pass," said he, " like a
shadow over the earth, accompanied by misery and
ennui." He wished for Voltaire's energy, which
he would rather have possessed than his genius,
CHAP, xi] AUGUSTIN THIERRY 395
But he had no strength of purpose nothing but
wishes : his life, prematurely exhausted, had become
but a heap of broken links. He spoke of himself
as a person with one foot in the air. He admitted
that he had no principles, and no more consistency.
Hence, with his splendid talents, he contrived to
do nothing ; and after living many years miserable,
he died worn out and wretched.
The career of Augustin Thierry, the author
of the ' History of the Norman Conquest,' affords
an admirable contrast to that of Constant. His
entire life presented a striking example of persever-
ance, diligence, self-culture, and untiring devotion
to knowledge. In the pursuit he lost his eyesight,
lost his health, but never lost his love of truth.
When so feeble that he was carried from room
to room, like a helpless infant, in the arms of a
nurse, his brave spirit never failed him ; and, blind
and helpless though he was, he concluded his
literary career in the following noble words : " If,
as I think, the interest of science is counted in the
number of great national interests, I have given
my country all that the soldier, mutilated on the
field of battle, gives her. Whatever may be the
fate of my labours, this example, I hope, will not
be lost. I would wish it to serve to combat the
species of moral weakness which is the disease of
our present generation ; to bring back into the
straight road of life some of those enervated souls
that complain of wanting faith, that know not what
to do, and seek everywhere, without finding it,
an object of worship and admiration. Why say,
with so much bitterness, that in the world, con-
stituted as it is, there is no air for all lungs no
employment for all minds ? Js not calm and
396 COLERIDGE AND SOUTHEY [CHAP. XI
serious study there ? and is not that a refuge, a
hope, a field within the reach of all of us ? With
it, evil days are passed over without their weight
being felt. Every one can make his own destiny
every one employ his life nobly. This is what I
have done, and would do again if I had to re-
commence my career ; I would choose that which
has brought me where I am. Blind, and suffering
without hope, and almost without intermission, I
may give this testimony, which from me will not
appear suspicious. There is something in the
world better than sensual enjoyments, better than
fortune, better than health itself it is devotion to
knowledge."
Coleridge, in many respects, resembled Constant.
He possessed equally brilliant powers, but was
similarly infirm of purpose. With all his great
intellectual gifts, he wanted the gift of industry,
and was averse to continuous labour. He wanted
also the sense of independence, and thought it no
degradation to leave his wife and children to be
maintained by the brain-work of the noble Southey,
while he himself retired to Highgate Grove to
discourse transcendentalism to his disciples, looking
down contemptuously upon the honest work going
forward beneath him amidst the din and smoke of
London. With remunerative employment at his
command he stooped to accept the charity of
friends ; and notwithstanding his lofty ideas of
philosophy, he condescended to humiliations from
which many a day-labourer would have shrunk.
How different in spirit was Southey ! labouring
not merely at work of his own choice, and at task-
work often tedious and distasteful, but also unre-
mittingly and with the utmost eagerness seeking
CHAP, xi] ROBERT NICOLL 397
and storing knowledge purely for the love of it.
Every day, every hour had its allotted employment :
engagements to publishers requiring punctual ful-
filment ; the current expenses of a large household
duty to provide for : Southey had no crop growing
while his pen was idle. "My ways," he used to
say, "are as broad as the king's high-road, and
my means lie in an inkstand."
Robert Nicoll wrote to a friend, after reading
the ' Recollections of Coleridge,' " What a mighty
intellect was lost in that man for want of a little
energy a little determination ! " Nicoll himself
was a true and brave spirit, who died young, but
not before he had encountered and overcome great
difficulties in life. At his outset, while carrying on
a small business as a bookseller, he found himself
weighed down with a debt of only twenty pounds,
which he said he felt "weighing like a millstone
round his neck," and that, " if he had it paid he
never would borrow again from mortal man."
Writing to his mother at the time he said, " Fear
not for me, dear mother, for I feel myself daily
growing firmer and more hopeful in spirit. The
more I think and reflect and thinking, not reading,
is now my occupation I feel that, whether I be
growing richer or not, I am growing a wiser man,
which is far better. Pain, poverty, and all the other
wild beasts of life which so affrighten others, I am
so bold as to think I could look in the face with-
out shrinking, without losing respect for myself,
faith in man's high destinies, or trust in God.
There is a point which it costs much mental toil
and struggling to gain, but which, when once
gained, a man can look down from, as a traveller
from a lofty mountain, on storms raging below,
398 WISDOM LEARNT [CHAP. XI
while he is walking in sunshine. That I have yet
gained this point in life I will not say, but I feel
myself daily nearer to it."
It is not ease, but effort not facility, but diffi-
culty, that makes men. There is, perhaps, no
station in life in which difficulties have not to be
encountered and overcome before any decided
measure of success can be achieved. Those diffi-
culties are, however, our best instructors, as our
mistakes often form our best experience. Charles
James Fox was accustomed to say that he hoped
more from a man who failed, and yet went on in
spite of his failure, than from the buoyant career
of the successful. " It is all very well," said he,
" to tell me that a young man has distinguished
himself by a brilliant first speech. He may go on,
or he may be satisfied with his first triumph ; but
show me a young man who has not succeeded at
first, and nevertheless has gone on, and I will back
that young man to do better than most of those
who have succeeded at the first trial."
We learn wisdom from failure much more than
from success. We often discover what will do, by
finding out what will not do ; and probably he who
never made a mistake never made a discovery. It
was the failure in the attempt to make a sucking-
pump act, when the working bucket was more than
thirty-three feet above the surface of the water
to be raised, that led observant men to study the
law of atmospheric pressure, and opened a new
field of research to the genius of Galileo, Torrecelli,
and Boyle. John Hunter used to remark that the
art of surgery would not advance until professional
men had the courage to publish their failures as
well as their successes. Watt the engineer said,
CHAP, xi] FROM FAILURE 399
of all things most wanted in mechanical engineering
was a history of failures : " We want," he said,
"a book of blots." When Sir Humphry Davy
was once shown a dexterously manipulated experi-
ment, he said " I thank God I was not made a
dexterous manipulator, for the most important of
my discoveries have been suggested to me by
failures." Another distinguished investigator in
physical science has left it on record that, whenever
in the course of his researches he encountered an
apparently insuperable obstacle, he generally found
himself on the brink of some discovery. The very
greatest things great thoughts, discoveries, inven-
tions have usually been nurtured in hardship,
often pondered over in sorrow, and at length
established with difficulty.
Beethoven said of Rossini, that he had in him
the stuff to have made a good musician if he had
only, when a boy, been well flogged ; but that he
had been spoilt by the facility with which he pro-
duced. Men who feel their strength within them
need not fear to encounter adverse opinions; they
have far greater reason to fear undue praise and
too friendly criticism. When Mendelssohn was
about to enter the orchestra at Birmingham, on
the first performance of his ' Elijah,' he said laugh-
ingly to one of his friends and critics, " Stick your
claws into me ! Don't tell me what you like, but
what you don't like ! "
It has been said, and truly, that it is the defeat
that tries the general more than the victory.
Washington lost more battles than he gained ; but
he succeeded in the end. The Romans, in their
most victorious campaigns, almost invariably began
with defeats. Moreau used to be compared by his
400 USES OF DIFFICULTY [CHAP, xi
companions to a drum, which nobody hears of
except it be beaten. Wellington's military genius
was perfected by encounter with difficulties of
apparently the most overwhelming character, but
which only served to nerve his resolution, and
bring out more prominently his great qualities as
a man and a general. So the skilful mariner obtains
his best experience amidst storms and tempest,
which train him to self-reliance, courage, and the
highest discipline ; and we probably owe to rough
seas and wintry nights the best training of our
race of British seamen, who are, certainly, not sur-
passed by any in the world.
Necessity may be a hard schoolmistress, but
she is generally found the best. Though the or-
deal of adversity is one from which we naturally
shrink, yet, when it comes, we must bravely and
manfully encounter it. Burns says truly,
" Though losses and crosses
Be lessons right severe,
There's wit there, you'll get there,
You'll find no other where."
" Sweet indeed are the uses of adversity." They
reveal to us our powers, and call forth our energies.
If there be real worth in the character, like sweet
herbs, it will give forth its finest fragrance when
pressed. " Crosses," says the old proverb, " are
the ladders that lead to heaven." "What is even
poverty itself," asks Richter, " that a man should
murmur under it ? It is but as the pain of piercing
a maiden's ear, and you hang precious jewels in the
wound." In the experience of life it is found that
the wholesome discipline of adversity in strong
natures usually carries with it a self-preserving
CHAP, xi] ADVERSITY AND PROSPERITY 401
influence. Many are found capable of bravely
bearing up under privations, and cheerfully en-
countering obstructions, who are afterwards found
unable to withstand the more dangerous influences
of prosperity. It is only a weak man whom the
wind deprives of his cloak : a man of average
strength is more in danger of losing it when assailed
by the beams of a too genial sun. Thus it often
needs a higher discipline and a stronger character
to bear up under good fortune than under adverse.
Some generous natures kindle and warm with pro-
sperity, but there are many on whom wealth has
no such influence. Base hearts it only hardens,
making those who were mean and servile, mean
and proud. But while prosperity is apt to harden
the heart to pride, adversity in a man of resolution
will serve to ripen it into fortitude. To use the
words of Burke, " Difficulty is a severe instructor,
set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental
Guardian and Instructor, who knows us better than
we know ourselves, as He loves us better too. He
that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and
sharpens our skill : our antagonist is thus our
helper." Without the necessity of encountering
difficulty, life might be easier, but men would be
worth less. For trials, wisely improved, train the
character, and teach self-help ; thus hardship itself
may often prove the wholesomest discipline for us,
though we recognize it not. When the gallant
young Hodson, unjustly removed from his Indian
command, felt himself sore pressed down by un-
merited calumny and reproach, he yet preserved
the courage to say to a friend, " I strive to look the
worst boldly in the face, as I would an enemy in
the field, and to do my appointed work resolutely
26
402 THE SCHOOL OF DIFFICULTY [CHAP, xi
and to the best of my ability, satisfied that there is
a reason for all ; and that even irksome duties well
done bring their own reward, and that, if not, still
they are duties."
The battle of life is, in most cases, fought up-
hill ; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps
to win it without honour. If there were no diffi-
culties there would be no success; if there were
nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to
be achieved. Difficulties may intimidate the weak,
but they act only as a wholesome stimulus to men
of resolution and valour. All experience of life
indeed serves to prove that the impediments thrown
in the way of human advancement may for the most
part be overcome by steady good conduct, honest
zeal, activity, perseverance, and above all by a
determined resolution to surmount difficulties, and
stand up manfully against misfortune.
The school of Difficulty is the best school of
moral discipline, for nations as for individuals.
Indeed, the history of difficulty would be but a
history of all the great and good things that have
yet been accomplished by men. It is hard to say
how much northern nations owe to their encounter
with a comparatively rude and changeable climate
and an originally sterile soil, which is one of the
necessities of their condition, involving a perennial
struggle with difficulties such as the natives of
sunnier climes know nothing of. And thus it may
be, that, though our finest products are exotic, the
skill and industry which have been necessary to
rear them have issued in the production of a native
growth of men not surpassed on the globe.
Wherever there is difficulty, the individual man
must come out for better, for worse. Encounter with
CHAP, xi] THE BEST SCHOOL 403
it will train his strength, and discipline his skill;
heartening him for future effort, as the racer, by
being trained to run against the hill, at length
courses with facility. The road to success may be
steep to climb, and it puts to the proof the energies
of him who would reach the summit. But by
experience a man soon learns that obstacles are
to be overcome by grappling with them, that the
nettle feels as soft as silk when it is boldly grasped,
and that the most effective help towards realizing
the object proposed is the moral conviction that we
can and will accomplish it. Thus difficulties often
all away of themselves before the determination to
overcome them.
Much will be done if we do but try. Nobody
knows what he can do till he has tried ; and few
try their best till they have been forced to do it.
"7/1 could do such and such a thing," sighs the
desponding youth. But nothing will be done if he
only wishes. The desire must ripen into purpose
and effort; and one energetic attempt is worth a
thousand aspirations. It is these thorny " ifs "
the mutterings of impotence and despair which so
often hedge round the field of possibility, and
prevent anything being done or even attempted.
"A difficulty," said Lord Lyndhurst, " is a thing to
be overcome " ; grapple with it at once ; facility will
come with practice, and strength and fortitude with
repeated effort. Thus the mind and character may
be trained to an almost perfect discipline, and
enabled to act with a grace, spirit, and liberty
almost incomprehensible to those who have not
passed through a similar experience.
Everything that we learn is the mastery of a
difficulty; and the mastery of one helps to the
404 DIFFICULTY AND SUCCESS [CHAP. XI
mastery of others. Things which may at first sight
appear comparatively valueless in education such
as the study of the dead languages, and the relations
of lines and surfaces which we call mathematics
are really of the greatest practical value, not so
much because of the information which they yield,
as because of the development which they compel.
The mastery of these studies evokes effort, and
cultivates powers of application, which otherwise
might have lain dormant. Thus one thing leads to
another, and so the work goes on through life
encounter with difficulty ending only when life and
culture end. But indulging in the feeling of dis-
couragement never helped any one over a difficulty,
and never will. D'Alembert's advice to the student
who complained to him about his want of success
in mastering the first elements of mathematics was
the right one " Go on, sir, and faith and strength
will come to you."
The danseuse who turns a pirouette, the violinist
who plays a sonata, have acquired their dexterity
by patient repetition and after many failures.
Carissimi, when praised for the ease and grace of
his melodies, exclaimed, " Ah ! you little know with
what difficulty this ease has been acquired." Sir
Joshua Reynolds, when once asked how long it had
taken him to paint a certain picture, replied, " All
my life." Henry Clay, the American orator, when
giving advice to young men, thus described to them
the secret of his success in the cultivation of his
art : " I owe my success in life," said he, " chiefly to
one circumstance that at the age of twenty-seven I
commenced, and continued for years, the process
of daily reading and speaking upon the contents of
some historical or scientific book. These off-hand
CHAP, xi] CURRAN 405
efforts were made, sometimes in a corn-field, at
others in the forest, and not unfrequently in some
distant barn, with the horse and the ox for my
auditors. It is to this early practice of the art of all
arts that I am indebted for the primary and leading
impulses that stimulated me onward and have
shaped and moulded my whole subsequent
destiny."
Curran, the Irish orator, when a youth, had a
strong defect in his articulation, and at school he
was known as "stuttering Jack Curran." While
he was engaged in the study of the law, and still
struggling to overcome his defect, he was stung
into eloquence by the sarcasms of a member of a
debating club, who characterized him as " Orator
Mum"; for, like Cowper, when he stood up to
speak on a similar occasion, Curran had not been
able to utter a word. The taunt stung him and
he replied in a triumphant speech. This accidental
discovery in himself of the gift of eloquence
encouraged him to proceed in his studies with
renewed energy. He corrected his enunciation by
reading aloud, emphatically and distinctly, the best
passages in literature, for several hours every day,
studying his features before a mirror, and adopting
a method of gesticulation suited to his rather
awkward and ungraceful figure. He also proposed
cases to himself, which he argued with as much
care as if he had been addressing a jury. Curran
began business with the qualification which Lord
Eldon stated to be the first requisite for distinction,
that is, "to be not worth a shilling." While
working his way laboriously at the bar, still
oppressed by the diffidence which had overcome
him in his debating club, he was on one occasion
406 STRUGGLES WITH POVERTY [CHAP. XI
provoked by the Judge (Robinson) into making a
very severe retort. In the case under discussion,
Curran observed " that he had never met the law
as laid down by his lordship in any book in his
library." "That may be, sir," said the judge, in
a contemptuous tone, " but I suspect that your
library is very small." His lordship was notoriously
a furious political partisan, the author of several
anonymous pamphlets characterised by unusual
violence and dogmatism. Curran, roused by the
allusion to his straitened circumstances, replied
thus : " It is very true, my lord, that I am poor,
and the circumstance has certainly curtailed my
library; my books are not numerous, but they
are select, and I hope they have been perused with
proper dispositions. I have prepared myself for
this high profession by the study of a few good
works, rather than by the composition of a great
many bad ones. I am not ashamed of my poverty ;
but I should be ashamed of my wealth, could I
have stooped to acquire it by servility and corrup-
tion. If I rise not to rank, I shall at least be
honest; and should I ever cease to be so, many
an example shows me that an ill-gained elevation,
by making me the more conspicuous, would only
make me the more universally and the more
notoriously contemptible."
The extremest poverty has been no obstacle in
the way of men devoted to the duty of self-culture.
Professor Alexander Murray, the linguist, learnt
to write by scribbling his letters on an old wool-
card with the end of a burnt heather stem. The
only book which his father, who was a poor shep-
herd, possessed was a penny Shorter Catechism ;
but that, being thought too valuable for common
CHAP, xi] WILLIAM CHAMBERS 407
use, was carefully preserved in a cupboard for the
Sunday catechizings. Professor Moor, when a
young man, being too poor to purchase Newton's
'Principia,' borrowed the book, and copied the
whole of it with his own hand. Many poor
students, while labouring daily for their living,
have only been able to snatch an atom of know-
ledge here and there at intervals, as birds do their
food in winter time when the fields are covered
with snow. They have struggled on, and faith and
hope have come to them. A well-known author and
publisher, William Chambers, of Edinburgh,
speaking before an assemblage of young men in
that city, thus briefly described to them his humble
beginnings, for their encouragement : " I stand
before you," he said, a self-educated man. My
education was that which is supplied at the humble
parish schools of Scotland ; and it was only when
I went to Edinburgh, a poor boy, that I devoted
my evenings, after the labours of the day, to the
cultivation of that intellect which the Almighty
has given me. From seven or eight in the morning
till nine or ten at night was I at my business as
a bookseller's apprentice, and it was only during
hours after these, stolen from sleep, that I could
devote myself to study. I did not read novels :
my attention was devoted to physical science, and
other useful matters. I also taught myself French.
I look back to those times with great pleasure, and
am almost sorry I have not to go through the same
experience again ; for I reaped more pleasure when
I had not a sixpence in my pocket, studying in a
garret in Edinburgh, than I now find when sitting
amidst all the elegances and comforts of a parlour."
William Cobbett's account of how he learnt
408 WILLIAM COBBETT [CHAP, xi
English Grammar is full of interest and instruction
for all students labouring under difficulties. " I
learned grammar," said he, " when I was a private
soldier on the pay of sixpence a day. The edge
of my berth, or that of my guard-bed, was my seat
to study in ; my knapsack was my book-case ; a
bit of board lying on my lap was my writing-table ;
and the task did not demand anything like a year
of my life. I had no money to purchase candle or
oil; in winter time it was rarely that I could get
any evening light but that of the fire, and only
my turn even of that. And if I, under such circum-
stances, and without parent or friend to advise or
encourage me, accomplished this undertaking, what
excuse can there be for any youth, however poor,
however pressed with business, or however cir-
cumstanced as to room or other conveniences?
To buy a pen or a sheet of paper I was compelled
to forego some portion of food, though in a state
of half-starvation : I had no moment of time that
I could call my own; and I had to read and
to write amidst the talking, laughing, singing,
whistling, and brawling of at least half a score of
the most thoughtless of men, and that, too, in the
hours of their freedom from all control. Think
not lightly of the farthing that I had to give, now
and then, for ink, pen, or paper! That farthing
was, alas ! a great sum to me ! I was as tall as
I am now ; I had great health and great exercise.
The whole of the money, not expended for us at
market, was twopence a week for each man. I
remember, and well I may! that on one occasion
I, after all necessary expenses, had, on a Friday,
made shifts to have a halfpenny in reserve, which
I had destined for the purchase of a red herring in
CHAP, xi] THE FRENCH EXILE 409
the morning; but, when I pulled off my clothes
at night, so hungry then as to be hardly able to
endure life, I found that I had lost my halfpenny !
I buried my head under the miserable sheet and
rug, and cried like a child! And again I say, if
I, under circumstances like these, could encounter
and overcome this task, is there, can there be, in
the whole world, a youth to find an excuse for the
non-performance ? "
We have been informed of an equally striking
instance of perseverance and application in learning
on the part of a French political exile in London.
His original occupation was that of a stonemason,
at which he found employment for some time ; but
work becoming slack, he lost his place, and poverty
stared him in the face. In his dilemma he called
upon a fellow exile, profitably engaged in teaching
French, and consulted him what he ought to do
to earn a living. The answer was, " Become a
professor!" "A professor?" answered the mason
" I, who am only a workman, speaking but a
patois! Surely you are jesting?" "On the con-
trary, I am quite serious," said the other, " and
again I advise you become a professor ; place
yourself under me, and I will undertake to teach
you how to teach others." "No, no!" replied the
mason, "it is impossible; I am too old to learn;
I am too little of a scholar ; I cannot be a professor."
He went away, and again he tried to obtain employ-
ment at his trade. From London he went into the
provinces, and travelled several hundred miles in
vain ; he could not find a master. Returning to
London, he went direct to his former adviser, and
said, " I have tried everywhere for work, and failed ;
I will now try to be a professor ! " He immediately
4io SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY [CHAP, xi
placed himself under instruction ; and being a man
of close application, of quick apprehension, and
vigorous intelligence, he speedily mastered the
elements of grammar, the rules of construction
and composition, and (what he had still in a great
measure to learn) the correct pronunciation of
classical French. When his friend and instructor
thought him sufficiently competent to undertake
the teaching of others, an appointment, advertised
as vacant, was applied for and obtained ; and
behold our artisan at length become professor ! It
so happened, that the seminary to which he was
appointed was situated in a suburb of London
where he had formerly worked as a stonemason ;
and every morning the first thing which met his
eyes on looking out of his dressing-room window
was a stack of cottage chimneys which he had
himself built ! He feared for a time lest he should
be recognized in the village as the quondam
workman, and thus bring discredit on his seminary,
which was of high standing. But he need have
been under no such apprehension, as he proved
a most efficient teacher, and his pupils were on
more than one occasion publicly complimented for
their knowledge of French. Meanwhile, he secured
the respect and friendship of all who knew him
fellow professors as well as pupils ; and when
the story of his struggles, his difficulties, and his
past history became known to them, they admired
him more than ever.
Sir Samuel Romilly was not less indefatigable as
a self-cultivator. The son of a jeweller, descended
from a French refugee, he received little education
in his early years, but overcame all his dis-
advantages by unwearied application, and by
CHAP, xi] JOHN LEYDEN 411
efforts constantly directed towards the same end.
" I determined," he says, in his autobiography,
"when I was between fifteen and sixteen years
of age, to apply myself seriously to learning
Latin, of which I, at that time, knew little more
than some of the most familiar rules of grammar.
In the course of three or four years, during which
I thus applied myself, I had read almost every
prose writer of the age of pure Latinity, except
those who have treated merely of technical subjects,
such as Varro, Columella, and Celsus. I had gone
three times through the whole of Livy, Sallust,
and Tacitus. I had studied the most celebrated
orations of Cicero, and translated a great deal of
Homer. Terence, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Juvenal
I had read over and over again." He also studied
geography, natural history, and natural philosophy,
and obtained a considerable acquaintance with
general knowledge. At sixteen he was articled
to a clerk in Chancery ; worked hard ; was admitted
to the bar ; and his industry and perseverance
ensured success. He became Solicitor-General
under the Fox administration in 1806, and steadily
worked his way to the highest celebrity in his
profession. Yet he was always haunted by a
painful and almost oppressive sense of his own
disqualifications, and never ceased labouring to
remedy them. His autobiography is a lesson of
instructive facts, worth volumes of sentiment, and
well deserves a careful perusal.
Sir Walter Scott was accustomed to cite the
case of his young friend John Leyden as one of
the most remarkable illustrations of the power
of perseverance which he had ever known. The
son of a shepherd in one of the wildest valleys
412 JOHN LEYDEN [CHAP, xi
of Roxburghshire, he was almost entirely self-
educated. Like many Scotch shepherds' sons
like Hogg, who taught himself to write by copying
the letters of a printed book as he lay watching
his flock on the hillside like Cairns, who, from
tending sheep on the Lammermoors, raised himself
by dint of application and industry to the pro-
fessor's chair which he now so worthily holds
like Murray, Ferguson, and many more Leyden
was early inspired by a thirst for knowledge.
When a poor barefooted boy, he walked six or
eight miles across the moors daily to learn reading
at the little village schoolhouse of Kirkton ; and
this was all the education he received, the rest he
acquired for himself. He found his way to
Edinburgh to attend the college there, setting the
extremest penury at defiance. He was first dis-
covered as a frequenter of a small bookseller's
shop kept by Archibald Constable, afterwards so
well known as a publisher. He would pass hour
after hour perched on a ladder in mid-air, with
some great folio in his hand, forgetful of the scanty
meal of bread and water which awaited him at
his miserable lodging. Access to books and lectures
comprised all within the bounds of his wishes.
Thus he toiled and battled at the gates of science
until his unconquerable perseverance carried every-
thing before it. Before he had attained his
nineteenth year he had astonished all the professors
in Edinburgh by his profound knowledge of Greek
and Latin, and the general mass of information
he had acquired. Having turned his views to
India, ne sought employment in the civil service,
out failed. He was, however, informed that a
surgeon's assistant's commission was open to him.
CHAP, xi] PROFESSOR LEE 413
But he was no surgeon, and knew no more of the
profession than a child. He could, however, learn.
Then he was told that he must be ready to pass
in six months ! Nothing daunted, he set to work,
to acquire in six months what usually required
three years. At the end of six months he took
his degree with honour. Scott and a few friends
helped to fit him out ; and he sailed for India, after
publishing his beautiful poem, 'The Scenes of
Infancy.' In India he promised to become one
of the greatest of Oriental scholars, but was un-
happily cut off by fever, caught by exposure, and
died at an early age.
The life of the late Dr. Lee, Professor of Hebrew
at Cambridge, furnishes one of the most remarkable
instances in modern times of the power of patient
perseverance and resolute purpose in working out
an honourable career in literature. He received
his education at a charity school at Lognor, near
Shrewsbury, but so little distinguished himself
there, that his master pronounced him one of the
dullest boys that ever passed through his hands.
He was put apprentice to a carpenter, and worked
at that trade until he arrived at manhood. To
occupy his leisure hours he took to reading ; and,
some of the books containing Latin quotations, he
became desirous of ascertaining what they meant.
He bought a Latin grammar, and proceeded to
learn Latin. As Stone, the Duke of Argyle's
gardener, said, long before, " Does one need to
know anything more than the twenty-four letters
in order to learn everything else that one wishes ?"
Lee rose early and sat up late, and he succeeded
in mastering the Latin before his apprenticeship
was out. Whilst working one day in some place
414 PROFESSOR LEE [CHAP. XI
of worship, a copy of a Greek Testament fell in
his way, and he was immediately filled with the
desire to learn that language. He accordingly sold
some of his Latin books, and purchased a Greek
grammar and lexicon. Taking pleasure in learning,
he soon mastered the language. Then he sold
his Greek books, and bought Hebrew ones, and
learnt that language, unassisted by any instructor,
without any hope of fame or reward, but simply
following the bent of his genius. He next proceeded
to learn the Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan dialects.
But his studies began to tell upon his health, and
brought on disease in his eyes through his long
night watchings with his books. Having laid them
aside for a time and recovered his health, he went
on with his daily work. His character as a trades-
man being excellent, his business improved, and
his means enabled him to marry, which he did
when twenty-eight years old. He determined now
to devote himself to the maintenance of his family,
and to renounce the luxury of literature ; accordingly
he sold all his books. He might have continued
a working carpenter all his life, had not the chest
of tools upon which he depended for subsistence
been destroyed by fire, and destitution stared him
in the face. He was too poor to buy new tools,
so he bethought him of teaching children their
letters, a profession requiring the least possible
capital. But though he had mastered many lan-
guages, he was so defective in the common
branches of knowledge, that at first he could not
teach them. Resolute of purpose, however, he
assiduously set to work, and taught himself arith-
metic and writing to such a degree as to be able
to impart the knowledge of these branches to
CHAP, xi] PROFESSOR LEE 415
little children. His unaffected, simple, and beauti-
ful character gradually attracted friends, and the
acquirements of the "learned carpenter" became
bruited abroad. Dr. Scott, a neighbouring clergy-
man, obtained for him the appointment of master
of a charity school in Shrewsbury, and introduced
him to a distinguished Oriental scholar. These
friends supplied him with books, and Lee succes-
sively mastered Arabic, Persic, and Hindostanee.
He continued to pursue his studies while on duty
as a private in the local militia of the county;
gradually acquiring greater proficiency in lan-
guages. At length his kind patron, Dr. Scott,
enabled Lee to enter Queen's College, Cambridge;
and after a course of study, in which he distin-
guished himself by his mathematical acquirements,
a vacancy occurring in the professorship of Arabic
and Hebrew, he was worthily elected to fill the
honourable office. Besides ably performing his
duties as a professor, he voluntarily gave much
of his time to the instruction of missionaries going
forth to preach the Gospel to eastern tribes in
their own tongue. He also made translations of
the Bible into several Asiatic dialects ; and having
mastered the New Zealand language, he arranged
a grammar and vocabulary for two New Zealand
chiefs who were then in England, which books
are now in daily use in the New Zealand
schools. Such, in brief, is the remarkable history
of Dr. Samuel Lee ; and it is but the counterpart
of numerous similarly instructive examples of the
power of perseverance in self-culture, as displayed
in the lives of many of the most distinguished
of our literary and scientific men.
There are many other illustrious names which
416 LATE LEARNERS [CHAP. XI
might be cited to prove the truth of the common
saying that "it is never too late to learn." Even
at advanced years men can do much, if they will
determine on making a beginning. Sir Henry
Spelman did not begin the study of science until
he was between fifty and sixty years of age.
Franklin was fifty before he fully entered upon
the study of natural philosophy. Dryden and
Scott were not known as authors until each was
in his fortieth year. Boccaccio was thirty-five
when he commenced his literary career, and Alfieri
was forty-six when he began the study of Greek.
Dr. Arnold learnt German at an advanced age,
for the purpose of reading Niebuhr in the original ;
and in like manner James Watt, when about forty,
while working at his trade of an instrument maker
in Glasgow, learnt French, German, and Italian,
to enable himself to peruse the valuable works
on mechanical philosophy which existed in those
languages. Thomas Scott was fifty-six before
he began to learn Hebrew. Robert Hall was once
found lying upon the floor, racked by pain, learning
Italian in his old age, to enable him to judge of
the parallel drawn by Macaulay between Milton
and Dante. Handel was forty-eight before he
published any of his great works. Indeed, hundreds
of instances might be given of men who struck
out an entirely new path, and successfully entered
on new studies, at a comparatively advanced time
of life. None but the frivolous or the indolent
will say, " I am too old to learn." *
And here we would repeat what we have said
before, that it is not men of genius who move
* See the admirable and well-known book, 'The Pursuit of
Knowledge under Difficulties.'
CHAP, xi] ILLUSTRIOUS DUNCES 417
the world and take the lead in it, so much as men
of steadfastness, purpose, and indefatigable in-
dustry. Notwithstanding the many undeniable
instances of the precocity of men of genius, it is
nevertheless true that early cleverness gives no
indication of the height to which the grown man
will reach. Precocity is sometimes a symptom
of disease rather than of intellectual vigour. What
becomes of all the " remarkably clever children " ?
Where are the duxes and prize boys ? Trace them
through life, and it will frequently be found that
the dull boys, who were beaten at school, have
shot ahead of them. The clever boys are rewarded,
but the prizes which they gain by their greater
quickness and facility do not always prove of use
to them. What ought rather to be rewarded is
the endeavour, the struggle, and the obedience ;
for it is the youth who does his best, though
endowed with an inferiority of natural powers, that
ought above all others to be encouraged.
An interesting chapter might be written on the
subject of illustrious dunces dull boys, but brilliant
men. We have room, however, for only a few
instances. Pietro di Cortona, the painter, was
thought so stupid that he was nicknamed "Ass's
Head " when a boy ; and Tomaso Guidi was gene-
rally known as " Heavy Tom " (Massaccio Toma-
saccio), though by diligence he afterwards raised
himself to the highest eminence. Newton, when
at school, stood at the bottom of the lowest form
but one. The boy above Newton having kicked
him, the dunce showed his pluck by challenging
him to fight, and beat him. Then he set to work
with a will, and determined also to vanquish his
antagonist as a scholar, which he did, rising to
27
4i8 SHERIDAN [CHAP. XI
the top of his class. Many of our greatest divines
have been anything but precocious. Isaac Barrow,
when a boy at the Charterhouse School, was
notorious chiefly for his strong temper, pugnacious
habits, and proverbial idleness as a scholar; and
he caused such grief to his parents that his father
used to say that, if it pleased God to take from
him any of his children, he hoped it might be
Isaac, the least promising of them all. Adam
Clarke, when a boy, was proclaimed by his father
to be "a grievous dunce"; though he could roll
large stones about. Dean Swift was " plucked "
at Dublin University, and only obtained his re-
commendation to Oxford "speciali gratia." The
well-known Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Cook * were
boys together at the parish school of St. Andrews ;
and they were found so stupid and mischievous,
that the master, irritated beyond measure, dismissed
them both as incorrigible dunces.
The brilliant Sheridan showed so little capacity
as a boy, that he was presented to a tutor by
his mother with the complimentary accompaniment
that he was an incorrigible dunce. Walter Scott
was all but a dunce when a boy, always much
readier for a " bicker " than apt at his lessons. At
the Edinburgh University, Professor Dalzell pro-
nounced upon him the sentence that " Dunce he
was, and dunce he would remain." Chatterton was
returned on his mother's hands as " a fool, of whom
nothing could be made." Burns was a dull boy,
good only at athletic exercises. Goldsmith spoke
of himself as a plant that flowered late. Alfieri
left college no wiser than he entered it, and did
not begin the studies by which he distinguished
* Late Professor of Moral Philosophy at St. Andrews.
CHAP, xi] CLIVE GRANT JACKSON 419
himself until he had run half over Europe. Robert
Clive was a dunce, if not a reprobate, when a youth ;
but always full of energy, even in badness. His
family, glad to get rid of him, shipped him off to
Madras ; and he lived to lay the foundations of the
British power in India. Napoleon and Wellington
were both dull boys, not distinguishing themselves
in any way at school.* Of the former the Duchess
d'Abrantes says, "he had good health, but was
in other respects like other boys."
Ulysses Grant, the Commander-in-Chief of the
United States, was called " Useless Grant " by his
mother he was so dull and unhandy when a boy ;
and Stonewall Jackson, Lee's greatest lieutenant,
was, in his youth, chiefly noted for his slowness.
While a pupil at West Point Military Academy
he was, however, equally remarkable for his in-
defatigable application and perseverance. When
a task was set him, he never left it until he had
mastered it ; nor did he ever feign to possess know-
ledge which he had not entirely acquired. " Again
and again," wrote one who knew him, "when called
upon to answer questions in the recitation of the
day, he would reply, ' I have not yet looked at it ; I
have been engaged in mastering the recitation of
yesterday or the day before.' The result was that
he graduated seventeenth in a class of seventy.
* A writer in the ' Edinburgh Review ' (July, 1859) observes that
"the Duke's talents seem never to have developed themselves
until some active and practical field for their display was placed
immediately before him. He was long described by his Spartan
mother, who thought him a dunce, as only ' food for powder.' He
gained no sort of distinction, either at Eton or at the French
Military College of Angers." It is not improbable that a com-
petitive examination, at this day, might have excluded him from
the army.
420 SIR HUMPHRY DAVY [CHAP, xi
There was probably in the whole class not a boy
to whom Jackson at the outset was not inferior
in knowledge and attainments; but at the end of
the race he had only sixteen before him, and had
outstripped no fewer than fifty-three. It used to
be said of him by his contemporaries, that, if the
course had been for ten years instead of four, Jack-
son would have graduated at the head of his
class." *
John Howard, the philanthropist, was another
illustrious dunce, learning next to nothing during
the seven years that he was at school. Stephenson,
as a youth, was distinguished chiefly for his skill
at putting and wrestling, and attention to his
work. The brilliant Sir Humphry Davy was no
cleverer than other boys : his teacher, Dr. Cardew,
once said of him, " While he was with me I could
not discern the faculties by which he was so much
distinguished." Indeed, Davy himself in after life
considered it fortunate that he had been left to
" enjoy so much idleness " at school. Watt was
a dull scholar, notwithstanding the stories told
about his precocity; but he was, what was better,
patient and perseverant, and it was by such
qualities, and by his carefully cultivated inventive-
ness, that he was enabled to perfect his steam-
engine.
What Dr. Arnold said of boys is equally true
of men that the difference between one boy and
another consists not so much in talent as in energy.
Given perseverance and energy soon becomes
habitual. Provided the dunce has persistency and
application he will inevitably head the cleverer
fellow without those qualities. Slow but sure wins
* Correspondent of 4 The Times,' nth June, 1863.
CHAP, xi] STORY OF A DUNCE 421
the race. It is perseverance that explains how the
position of boys at school is so often reversed in
real life ; and it is curious to note how some who
were then so clever have since become so common-
place; whilst others, dull boys, of whom nothing
was expected, slow in their faculties but sure in
their pace, have assumed the position of leaders
of men. The author of this book, when a boy,
stood in the same class with one of the greatest
of dunces. One teacher after another had tried his
skill upon him and failed. Corporal punishment,
the fool's cap, coaxing, and earnest entreaty proved
alike fruitless. Sometimes the experiment was
tried of putting him at the top of his class, and
it was curious to note the rapidity with which he
gravitated to the inevitable bottom. The youth
was given up by his teachers as an incorrigible
dunce one of them pronouncing him to be a " stu-
pendous booby." Yet, slow though he was, this
dunce had a sort of dull energy of purpose in him,
which grew with his muscles and his manhood;
and, strange to say, when he at length came to
take part in the practical business of life, he was
found heading most of his school companions, and
eventually left the greater number of them far be-
hind. The last time the author heard of him, he
was chief magistrate of his native town.
The tortoise in the right road will beat a racer
in the wrong. It matters not though a youth be
slow, if he be but diligent. Quickness of parts
may even prove a defect, inasmuch as the boy who
learns readily will often forget as readily ; and
also because he finds no need of cultivating that
quality of application and perseverance which the
slower youth is compelled to exercise, and which
422 PERSEVERE AND SUCCEED [CHAP. XI
proves so valuable an element in the formation of
every character. Davy said, "What I am I have
made myself" ; and the same holds true universally.
To conclude : the best culture is not obtained
from teachers when at school or college, so much
as by our own diligent self-education when we have
become men. Hence parents need not be in too
great haste to see their children's talents forced
into bloom. Let them watch and wait patiently,
letting good example and quiet training do their
work, and leave the rest to Providence. Let them
see to it that the youth is provided, by free
exercise of his bodily powers, with a full stock of
physical health ; set him fairly on the road of self-
culture; carefully train his habits of application
and perseverance ; and as he grows older, if the
right stuff be in him, he will be enabled vigorously
and effectively to cultivate himself.
CHAPTER XII
EXAMPLE MODELS
" Ever their phantoms rise before us,
Our loftier brothers, but one in blood ;
By bed and table they lord it o'er us,
With looks of beauty and words of good." -John Sterling,
" Children may be strangled, but Deeds never ; they have an
indestructible life, both in and out of our consciousness." George Eliot.
"There is no action of man in this life, which is not the beginning
of so long a chain of consequences, as that no human providence
is high enough to give us a prospect to the end." Thomas of
Malmesbury.
EXAMPLE is one of the most potent of instructors,
though it teaches without a tongue. It is
the practical school of mankind, working by
action, which is always more forcible than words.
Precept may point to us the way, but it is silent
continuous example, conveyed to us by habits, and
living with us in fact, that carries us along. Good
advice has its weight : but without the accompani-
ment of a good example it is of comparatively small
influence ; and it will be found that the common
saying of " Do as I say, not as I do," is usually
reversed in the actual experience of life.
All persons are more or less apt to learn through
the eye rather than the ear ; and, whatever is seen in
fact, makes a far deeper impression than anything
433
424 HOME INFLUENCE [CHAP, xil
that is merely read or heard. This is especially
the case in early youth, when the eye is the chief
inlet of knowledge. Whatever children see they
unconsciously imitate. They insensibly come to
resemble those who are about them as insects
take the colour of the leaves they feed on. Hence
the vast importance of domestic training. For
whatever may be the efficiency of schools, the
examples set in our Homes must always be of
vastly greater influence in forming the characters
of our future men and women. The Home is the
crystal of society the nucleus of national character ;
and from that source, be it pure or tainted, issue
the habits, principles, and maxims which govern
public as well as private life. The nation comes
from the nursery. Public opinion itself is for the
most part the outgrowth of the home ; and the
best philanthropy comes from the fireside. "To
love the little platoon we belong to in society," says
Burke, " is the gem of all public affections." From
this little central spot the human sympathies may
extend in an ever widening circle, until the world
is embraced ; for, though true philanthropy, like
charity, begins at home, assuredly it does not end
there.
Example in conduct, therefore, even in appar-
ently trivial matters, is of no light moment, inas-
much as it is constantly becoming inwoven with
the lives of others, and contributing to form their
natures for better or for worse. The characters
of parents are thus constantly repeated in their
children ; and the acts of affection, discipline, in-
dustry, and self-control, which they daily exemplify,
live and act when all else which may have been
learned through the ear has long been forgotten.
CHAP, xn] PARENTAL EXAMPLE 425
Hence a wise man was accustomed to speak of
his children as his " future state." Even the mute
action and unconscious look of a parent may give
a stamp to the character which is never effaced ;
and who can tell how much evil act has been stayed
by the thought of some good parents, whose
memory their children may not sully by the com-
mission of an unworthy deed, or the indulgence
of an impure thought ? The veriest trifles thus
become of importance in influencing the characters
of men. " A kiss from my mother," said West,
" made me a painter." It is on the direction of
such seeming trifles when children that the future
happiness and success of men mainly depend.
Fowell Buxton, when occupying an eminent and
influential station in life, wrote to his mother, " I
constantly feel, especially in action and exertion
for others, the effects of principles early implanted
by you in my mind." Buxton was also accustomed
to remember with gratitude the obligations which
he owed to an illiterate man, a gamekeeper, named
Abraham Plastow, with whom he played, and rode,
and sported a man who could neither read nor
write, but was full of natural good sense and
mother-wit " What made him particularly valu-
able," says Buxton, " were his principles of integrity
and honour. He never said or did a thing in the
absence of my mother of which she would have
disapproved. He always held up the highest
standard of integrity, and filled our youthful minds
with sentiments as pure and as generous as could
be found in the writings of Seneca or Cicero. Such
was my first instructor, and, I must add, my best."
Lord Langdale, looking back upon the admirable
example set him by his mother, declared, " If the
426 ACTS AND CONSEQUENCES [CHAP, xn
whole world were put into one scale, and my
mother into the other, the world would kick the
beam." Mrs. Schimmel Penninck, in her old age,
was accustomed to call to mind the personal in-
fluence exercised by her mother upon the society
amidst which she moved. When she entered a
room it had the effect of immediately raising the
tone of the conversation, and as if purifying the
moral atmosphere all seeming to breathe more
freely, and stand more erectly. " In her presence,"
says the daughter, " I became for the time trans-
formed into another person." So much does the
moral health depend upon the moral atmosphere
that is breathed, and so great is the influence daily
exercised by parents over their children by living
a life before their eyes, that perhaps the best
system of parental instruction might be summed up
in these two words, " Improve thyself."
There is something solemn and awful in the
thought that there is not an act done or a word
uttered by a human being but carries with it a
train of consequences, the end of which we may
never trace. Not one but, to a certain extent, gives
a colour to our life, and insensibly influences the
lives of those about us. The good deed or word
will live, even though we may not see it fructify, but
so will the bad ; and no person is so insignificant
as to be sure that his example will not do good
on the one hand, or evil on the other. The spirits
of men do not die : they still live and walk abroad
among us. It was a fine and a true thought uttered
by Mr. Disraeli in the House of Commons on the
death of Richard Cobden, that "he was one of
those men who, though not present, were still
members of that House, who were independent of
CHAP, xii] IMMORTALITY OF DEEDS 427
dissolutions, of the caprices of constituencies, and
even of the course of time."
There is, indeed, an essence of immortality in
the life of man, even in this world. No individual
in the universe stands alone; he is a component
part of a system of mutual dependencies ; and by
his several acts he either increases or diminishes
the sum of human good now and for ever. As the
present is rooted in the past, and the lives and
examples of our forefathers still to a great extent
influence us, so are we by our daily acts contri-
buting to form the condition and character of the
future. Man is a fruit formed and ripened by the
culture of all the foregoing centuries ; and the
living generation continues the magnetic current
of action and example destined to bind the remotest
past with the most distant future. No man's acts
die utterly ; and though his body may resolve into
dust and air, his good or his bad deeds will still
be bringing forth fruit after their kind, and in-
fluencing future generations for all time to come.
It is in this momentous and solemn fact that
the great peril and responsibility of human existence
lies.
Mr. Babbage has so powerfully expressed this
idea in a noble passage in one of his writings that
we here venture to quote his words : " Every atom,"
he says, "impressed with good or ill, retains at
once the motions which philosophers and sages
have imparted to it, mixed and combined in ten
thousand ways with all that is worthless and base ;
the air itself is one vast library, on whose pages
are written for ever all that man has ever said or
whispered. There, in their immutable but unerring
characters, mixed with the earliest as well as the
428 IMMORTALITY OF DEEDS [CHAP, xn
latest sighs of mortality, stand for ever recorded
vows unredeemed, promises unfulfilled; perpetuat-
ing, in the united movements of each particle,
the testimony of man's changeful will. But, if
the air we breathe is the never-failing historian of
the sentiments we have uttered, earth, air, and
ocean are, in like manner, the eternal witnesses of
the acts we have done ; the same principle of the
equality of action and reaction applies to them.
No motion impressed by natural causes, or by
human agency, is ever obliterated. ... If the
Almighty stamped on the brow of the first murderer
the indelible and visible mark of his guilt, He
has also established laws by which every succeed-
ing criminal is not less irrevocably chained to
the testimony of his crime ; for every atom of his
mortal frame, through whatever changes its severed
particles may migrate, will still retain adhering
to it, through every combination, some movement
derived from that very muscular effort by which
the crime itself was perpetrated."
Thus, every act we do or word we utter, as
well as every act we witness or word we hear,
carries with it an influence which extends over,
and gives a colour, not only to the whole of our
future life, but makes itself felt upon the whole
frame of society. We may not, and indeed cannot,
possibly trace the influence working itself into
action in its various ramifications amongst our
children, our friends, or associates ; yet there it
is assuredly, working on for ever. And herein
lies the great significance of setting forth a good
example, a silent teaching which even the poorest
and least significant person can practise in his
daily life. There is no one so humble but that
CHAP. XH] MRS. CHISHOLM 429
he owes to others this simple but priceless instruc-
tion. Even the meanest condition may thus be
made useful ; for the light set in a low place shines
as faithfully as that set upon a hill. Everywhere,
and under almost all circumstances, however
externally adverse in moorland shielings, in
cottage hamlets, in the close alleys of great towns
the true man may grow. He who tills a space
of earth scarce bigger than is needed for his grave,
may work as faithfully, and to as good purpose, as
the heir to thousands. The commonest workshop
may thus be a school of industry, science, and good
morals, on the one hand ; or of idleness, folly, and
depravity, on the other. It all depends on the
individual men, and the use they make of the
opportunities for good which offer themselves.
A life well spent, a character uprightly sustained,
is no slight legacy to leave to one's children, and
to the world ; for it is the most eloquent lesson of
virtue and the severest reproof of vice, while it
continues an enduring source of the best kind of
riches. Well for those who can say, as Pope did,
in rejoinder to the sarcasm of Lord Hervey, "I
think it enough that my parents, such as they were,
never cost me a blush, and that their son, such as
he is, never cost them a tear."
It is not enough to tell others what they are
to do, but to exhibit the actual example of doing.
What Mrs. Chisholm described to Mrs. Stowe as
the secret of her success, applies to all life. " I
found," she said, " that if we want anything done,
we must go to work and do : it is of no use merely
to talk none whatever." It is poor eloquence
that only shows how a person can talk. Had Mrs.
Chisholm rested satisfied with lecturing, her project,
430 DR. GUTHRIE [CHAP, xil
she was persuaded, would never have got beyond
the region of talk ; but when people saw what she
was doing and had actually accomplished, they fell
in with her views and came forward to help her.
Hence the most beneficent worker is not he who
says the most eloquent things, or even who thinks
the most loftily, but he who does the most eloquent
acts.
True-hearted persons, even in the humblest
station in life, who are energetic doers, may thus
give an impulse to good works out of all proportion,
apparently, to their actual station in society.
Thomas Wright might have talked about the re-
clamation of criminals, and John Pounds about the
necessity for Ragged Schools, and yet done
nothing ; instead of which they simply set to work
without any other idea in their minds than that
of doing, not talking. And how the example of
even the poorest man may tell upon society, hear
what Dr. Guthrie, the apostle of the Ragged School
movement, says of the influence which the example
of John Pounds, the humble Portsmouth cobbler,
exercised upon his own working career :
" The interest I have been led to take in this
cause is an example of how, in Providence, a man's
destiny his course of life, like that of a river
may be determined and affected by very trivial
circumstances. It is rather curious at least it is
interesting to me to remember that it was by
a picture I was first led to take an interest in
ragged schools by a picture in an old, obscure,
decaying burgh that stands on the shores of the
Frith of Forth, the birthplace of Thomas Chalmers.
I went to see this place many years ago ; and,
going into an inn for refreshment, I found the
CHAP, xii] JOHN POUNDS 431
room covered with pictures of shepherdesses with
their crooks, and sailors in holiday attire, not
particularly interesting. But above the chimney-
piece there was a large print, more respectable
than its neighbours, which represented a cobbler's
room. The cobbler was there himself, spectacles
on nose, an old shoe between his knees the
massive forehead and firm mouth indicating great
determination of character, and, beneath his bushy
eyebrows, benevolence gleamed out on a number
of poor ragged boys and girls who stood at their
lessons round the busy cobbler. My curiosity was
awakened ; and in the inscription I read how this
man, John Pounds, a cobbler in Portsmouth, taking
pity on the multitude of poor ragged children left
by ministers and magistrates, and ladies and gentle-
men, to go to ruin on the streets how, like a good
shepherd, he gathered in these wretched outcasts
how he had trained them to God and to the world
and how, while earning his daily bread by the
sweat of his brow, he had rescued from misery
and saved to society not less than five hundred of
these children. I felt ashamed of myself. I felt
reproved for the little I had done. My feelings
were touched. I was astonished at this man's
achievements ; and I well remember, in the
enthusiasm of the moment, saying to my companion
(and I have seen in my cooler and calmer moments
no reason for unsaying the saying) ' That man is
an honour to humanity, and deserves the tallest
monument ever raised within the shores of
Britain.' I took up that man's history, and I found
it animated by the spirit of Him who ' had com-
passion on the multitude.' John Pounds was a
clever man besides ; and, like Paul, if he could not
432 GOOD MODELS OF CHARACTER [CHAP, xn
win a poor boy any other way, he won him by art.
He would be seen chasing a ragged boy along the
quays, and compelling him to come to school,
not by the power of a policeman, but by the
power of a hot potato. He knew the love an
Irishman had for a potato ; and John Pounds
might be seen running holding under the boy's
nose a potato, like an Irishman, very hot, and with
a coat as ragged as himself. When the day comes
when honour will be done to whom honour is due,
I can fancy the crowd of those whose fame poets
have sung, and to whose memory monuments have
been raised, dividing like the wave, and, passing
the great, and the noble, and the mighty of the
land, this poor, obscure old man stepping forward
and receiving the especial notice of Him who said
' Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these,
ye did it also to Me.' "
The education of character is very much a
question of models ; we mould ourselves so un-
consciously after the characters, manners, habits,
and opinions of those who are about us. Good
rules may do much, but good models far more ; for
in the latter we have instruction in action wisdom
at work. Good admonition and bad example only
build with one hand to pull down with the other.
Hence the vast importance of exercising great care
in the selection of companions, especially in youth.
There is a magnetic affinity in young persons
which insensibly tends to assimilate them to each
other's likeness. Mr. Edgeworth was so strongly
convinced that from sympathy they involuntarily
imitated or caught the tone of the company they
frequented, that he held it to be of the most
essential importance that they should be taught to
CHAP, xn] PERSONAL INFLUENCE 433
select the very best models. " No company, or
good company," was his motto. Lord Collingwood,
writing to a young friend, said, " Hold it as a
maxim that you had better be alone than in mean
company. Let your companions be such as your-
self, or superior ; for the worth of a man will
always be ruled by that of his company." It was
a remark of the famous Dr. Sydenham that every-
body some time or other would be the better or
the worse for having but spoken to a good or a
bad man. As Sir Peter Lely made it a rule never
to look at a bad picture if he could help it, believing
that whenever he did so his pencil caught a taint
from it, so, whoever chooses to gaze often upon a
debased specimen of humanity and to frequent his
society, cannot help gradually assimilating himself
to that sort of model.
It is therefore advisable for young men to seek
the fellowship of the good, and always to aim at a
higher standard than themselves. Francis Homer,
speaking of the advantages to himself of direct
personal intercourse with high-minded, intelligent
men, said, " I cannot hesitate to decide that I have
derived more intellectual improvement from them
than from all the books I have turned over." Lord
Shelburne (afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne),
when a young man, paid a visit to the venerable
Malesherbes, and was so much impressed by it,
that he said " I have travelled much, but I have
never been so influenced by personal contact with
any man ; and if I ever accomplish any good in
the course of my life, I am certain that the recol-
lection of M. de Malesherbes will animate my
soul." So Fowell Buxton was always ready to
acknowledge the powerful influence exercised upon
28
434 JOHN STERLING [CHAP, xil
the formation of his character in early life by the
example of the Gurney family: "It has given a
colour to my life," he used to say. Speaking of
his success at the Dublin University, he confessed,
" I can ascribe it to nothing but my Earlham
visits." It was from the Gurneys he " caught the
infection " of self-improvement.
Contact with the good never fails to impart
good, and we carry away with us some of the
blessing, as travellers' garments retain the odour
of the flowers and shrubs through which they
have passed. Those who knew the late John
Sterling intimately have spoken of the beneficial
influence which he exercised on all with whom
he came into personal contact. Many owed to
him their first awakening to a higher being ; from
him they learnt what they were, and what they
ought to be. Mr. Trench says of him : " It was
impossible to come in contact with his noble nature
without feeling one's self in some measure ennobled
and lifted up, as I ever felt when I left him, into
a higher region of objects and aims than that in
which one is tempted habitually to dwell." It is
thus that the noble character always acts ; we
become insensibly elevated by him, and cannot help
feeling as he does and acquiring the habit of looking
at things in the same light. Such is the magical
action and reaction of minds upon each other.
Artists, also, feel themselves elevated by con-
tact with artists greater than themselves. Thus
Haydn's genius was first fired by Handel. Hearing
him play, Haydn's ardour for musical composition
was at once excited, and but for this circumstance,
he himself believed that he would never have
written the ' Creation.' Speaking of Handel, he
CHAP, xii] EXAMPLE OF THE BRAVE 435
said, "When he chooses, he strikes like the thunder-
bolt " ; and at another time, " There is not a note
of him but draws blood." Scarlatti was another
of Handel's ardent admirers, following him all over
Italy ; afterwards, when speaking of the great
master, he would cross himself in token of admira-
tion. True artists never fail generously to recog-
nize each other's greatness. Thus Beethoven's
admiration for Cherubini was regal : and he
ardently hailed the genius of Schubert : " Truly,"
said he, "in Schubert dwells a divine fire." When
Northcote was a mere youth he had such an
admiration for Reynolds that, when the great
painter was once attending a public meeting down
in Devonshire, the boy pushed through the crowd,
and got so near Reynolds as to touch the skirt
of his coat, " which I did," says Northcote, " with
great satisfaction to my mind," a true touch of
youthful enthusiasm in its admiration of genius.
The example of the brave is an inspiration to
the timid, their presence thrilling through every
fibre. Hence the miracles of valour so often per-
formed by ordinary men under the leadership of
the heroic. The very recollection of the deeds
of the valiant stirs men's blood like the sound of
a trumpet. Ziska bequeathed his skin to be used
as a drum to inspire the valour of the Bohemians.
When Scanderbeg, prince of Epirus, was dead, the
Turks wished to possess his bones, that each might
wear a piece next to his heart, hoping thus to
secure some portion of the courage he had dis-
played while living, and which they had so often
experienced in battle. When the gallant Douglas,
bearing the heart of Bruce to the Holy Land, saw
one of his knights surrounded and sorely pressed
43^ USE OF BIOGRAPHY [CHAP, xil
by the Saracens, he took from his neck the silver
case containing the hero's bequest, and throwing
it amidst the thickest press of his foes, cried, " Pass
first in fight, as thou wert wont to do, and Douglas
will follow thee, or die" ; and so saying, he rushed for-
ward to the place where it fell, and was there slain.
The chief use of biography consists in the noble
models of character in which it abounds. Our great
forefathers still live among us in the records of
their lives, as well as in the acts they have done,
which live also : still sit by us at table, and hold
us by the hand ; furnishing examples for our bene-
fit, which we may still study, admire and imitate.
Indeed, whoever has left behind him the record
of a noble life, has bequeathed to posterity an
enduring source of good, for it serves as a model
for others to form themselves by in all time to
come ; still breathing fresh life into men, helping
them to reproduce his life anew, and to illustrate
his character in other forms. Hence a book con-
taining the life of a true man is full of precious
seed. It is a still living voice ; it is an intellect.
To use Milton's words, " It is the precious life-blood
of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up
on purpose to a life beyond life." Such a book
never ceases to exercise an elevating and ennobling
influence. But, above all, there is the Book con-
taining the very highest Example set before us
to shape our lives by in this world the most
suitable for all the necessities of our mind and
heart an example which we can only follow afar
off and feel after,
" Like plants or vines which never saw the sun,
But dream of him and guess where he may be,
And do their best to climb and get to him."
CHAP, xn] INFLUENCED BY BIOGRAPHY 437
Again, no young man can rise from the perusal
of such lives as those of Buxton and Arnold, with-
out feeling his mind and heart made better, and
his best resolves invigorated. Such biographies
increase a man's self-reliance by demonstrating
what men can be, and what they can do ; fortifying
his hopes and elevating his aims in life. Some-
times a young man discovers himself in a biography,
as Correggio felt within him the risings of genius
on contemplating the works of Michael Angelo :
"And I, too, am a painter," he exclaimed. Sir
Samuel Romilly, in his autobiography, confessed
himself to have been powerfully influenced by the
life of the great and noble-minded French Chan-
cellor Daguesseau : " The works of Thomas," says
he, "had fallen into my hands, and I had read
with admiration his ' Eloge of Daguesseau ' ; and
the career of honour which he represented that
illustrious magistrate to have run, excited to a
great degree my ardour and ambition, and opened
to my imagination new paths of glory."
Franklin was accustomed to attribute his useful-
ness and eminence to his having early read Cotton
Mather's ' Essays to do Good ' a book which grew
out of Mather's own life. And see how good
example draws other men after it, and propagates
itself through future generations in all lands. For
Samuel Drew avers that he framed his own life,
and especially his business habits, after the model
left on record by Benjamin Franklin. Thus it
is impossible to say where a good example may
not reach, or where it will end, if indeed it have
an end. Hence the advantage, in literature as
in life, of keeping the best society, reading the
best books, and wisely admiring and imitating 1
438 INSPIRING BOOKS [CHAP, xn
the best things we find in them. " In literature,"
said Lord Dudley, " I am fond of confining myself
to the best company, which consists chiefly of
my old acquaintance, with whom I am desirous
of becoming more intimate ; and I suspect that
nine times out of ten it is more profitable, if not
more agreeable, to read an old book over again
than to read a new one for the first time."
Sometimes a book containing a noble exemplar
of life, taken up at random, merely with the object
of reading it as a pastime, has been known to
call forth energies whose existence had not before
been suspected. Alfieri was first drawn with
passion to literature by reading ' Plutarch's Lives.'
Loyola, when a soldier serving at the siege of
Pampeluna, and laid up by a dangerous wound in
his leg, asked for a book to divert his thoughts :
the 'Lives of the Saints' was brought to him,
and its perusal so inflamed his mind, that he deter-
mined thenceforth to devote himself to the founding
of a religious order. Luther, in like manner, was
inspired to undertake the great labours of his life
by a perusal of the ' Life and Writings of John
Huss.' Dr. Wolff was stimulated to enter upon
his missionary career by reading the 4 Life of
Francis Xavier'; and the book fired his youthful
bosom with a passion the most sincere and ardent
to devote himself to the enterprise of his life.
William Carey, also, got the first idea of entering
upon his sublime labours as a missionary from
a perusal of the Voyages of Captain Cook.
Francis Horner was accustomed to note in his
diary and letters the books by which he was most
improved and influenced. Amongst these were
Condorcet's ' Eloge of Haller/ Sir Joshua Reynolds'
CHAP, xii] INSPIRING BOOKS 439
' Discourses/ the writings of Bacon, and ' Burnet's
Account of Sir Matthew Hale.' The perusal of
the last-mentioned book the portrait of a prodigy
of labour Horner says, filled him with enthusiasm.
Of Condorcet's ' Eloge of Haller,' he said : " I never
rise from the account of such men without a sort
of thrilling palpitation about me, which I know
not whether I should call admiration, ambition,
or despair." And speaking of the ' Discourses ' of
Sir Joshua Reynolds, he said : " Next to the
writings of Bacon, there is no book which has
more powerfully impelled me to self-culture. He
is one of the first men of genius who has con-
descended to inform the world of the steps by
which greatness is attained. The confidence with
which he asserts the omnipotence of human labour
has the effect of familiarizing his reader with the
idea that genius is an acquisition rather than a
gift ; whilst with all there is blended so naturally
and eloquently the most elevated and passionate
admiration of excellence, that upon the whole there
is no book of a more inflammatory effect." It is
remarkable that Reynolds himself attributed his
first passionate impulse towards the study of art
to reading Richardson's account of a great painter ;
and Haydon was in like manner afterwards in-
flamed to follow the same pursuit by reading of
the career of Reynolds. Thus the brave and
aspiring life of one man lights a flame in the minds
of others of like faculties and impulse ; and where
there is equally vigorous effort, like distinction and
success will almost surely follow. Thus the chain of
example is carried down through time in an endless
succession of links admiration exciting imitation,
and perpetuating the true aristocracy of genius.
440 CHEERFULNESS [CHAP, xil
One of the most valuable, and one of the most
infectious examples which can be set before the
young, is that of cheerful working. Cheerfulness
gives elasticity to the spirit. Spectres fly before
it ; difficulties cause no despair, for they are en-
countered with hope, and the mind acquires that
happy disposition to improve opportunities which
rarely fails of success. The fervent spirit is always
a healthy and happy spirit; working cheerfully
itself, and stimulating others to work. It confers
a dignity on even the most ordinary occupations.
The most effective work, also, is usually the full-
hearted work that which passes through the hands
or the head of him whose heart is glad. Hume
was accustomed to say that he would rather possess
a cheerful disposition inclined always to look at
the bright side of things than with a gloomy mind
to be the master of an estate often thousand a year.
Granville Sharp, amidst his indefatigable labours
on behalf of the slave, solaced himself in the evening
by taking part in glees and instrumental concerts
at his brother's house, singing, or playing on the
flute, the clarionet or the oboe ; and, at the Sunday
evening oratorios, when Handel was played, he
beat the kettle-drums. He also indulged, though
sparingly, in caricature drawing. Fowell Buxton
also was an eminently cheerful man ; taking special
pleasure in field sports, in riding about the country
with his children, and in mixing in all their
domestic amusements.
In another sphere of action, Dr. Arnold was
a noble and a cheerful worker, throwing himself
into the great business of his life, the training and
teaching of young men, with his whole heart and
soul. It is stated in his admirable biography, that
CHAP. XH] DR. ARNOLD 441
" the most remarkable thing in the Laleham circle
was the wonderful healthiness of tone which pre-
vailed there. It was a place where a new-comer
at once felt that a great and earnest work was
going forward. Every pupil was made to feel that
there was a work for him to do ; that his happiness,
as well as his duty, lay in doing that work well.
Hence an indescribable zest was communicated
to a young man's feeling about life ; a strange joy
came over him on discerning that he had the means
of being useful, and thus of being happy; and a
deep respect and ardent attachment sprang up
towards him who had taught him thus to value
life and his own self, and his work and mission
in the world. All this was founded on the breadth
and comprehensiveness of Arnold's character, as
well as its striking truth and reality ; on the un-
feigned regard he had for work of all kinds, and
the sense he had of its value, both for the complex
aggregate of society and the growth and protection
of the individual. In all this there was no ex-
citement; no predilection for one class of work
above another ; no enthusiasm for any one-sided
object : but a humble, profound, and most religious
consciousness that work is the appointed calling
of man on earth ; the end for which his various
faculties were given ; the element in which his
nature is ordained to develop itself, and in which
his progressive advance towards heaven is to lie."
Among the many valuable men trained for public
life and usefulness by Arnold, was the gallant
Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, who, writing home
from India, many years after, thus spoke of his
revered master: "The influence he produced has
been most lasting and striking in its effects.
442 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR [CHAP, xii
It is felt even in India ; I cannot say more than
thatr
The useful influence which a right-hearted man
of energy and industry may exercise amongst his
neighbours and dependants, and accomplish for his
country, cannot, perhaps, be better illustrated than
by the career of Sir John Sinclair; characterized
by the Abbe Gregoire as "the most indefatigable
man in Europe." He was originally a country
laird, born to a considerable estate situated near
John o' Groat's House, almost beyond the beat
of civilization, in a bare wild country fronting the
stormy North Sea. His father dying while he was
a youth of sixteen, the management of the family
property thus early devolved upon him ; and at
eighteen he began a course of vigorous improve-
ment in the county of Caithness, which eventually
spread all over Scotland. Agriculture then was
in a most backward state ; the fields were unen-
closed, the lands undrained ; the small farmers of
Caithness were so poor that they could scarcely
afford to keep a horse or shelty ; the hard work
was chiefly done, and the burdens borne, by the
women ; and if a cottier lost a horse it was not
unusual for him to marry a wife as the cheapest
substitute. The country was without roads or
bridges ; and drovers driving their cattle south
had to swim the rivers along with their beasts.
The chief track leading into Caithness lay along
a high shelf on a mountain side, the road being
some hundred feet of clear perpendicular height
above the sea which dashed below. Sir John,
though a mere youth, determined to make a new
road over the hill of Ben Cheilt, the old let-alone
proprietors, however, regarding his scheme with
CHAP.XII] IMPROVEMENTS IN CAITHNESS 443
incredulity and derision. But he himself laid out
the road, assembled some twelve hundred workmen
early one summer's morning, set them simulta-
neously to work, superintending their labours, and
stimulating them by his presence and example;
and before night, what had been a dangerous sheep
track, six miles in length, hardly passable for led
horses, was made practicable for wheel-carriages
as if by the power of magic. It was an admirable
example of energy and well-directed labour, which
could not fail to have a most salutary influence
upon the surrounding population. He then pro-
ceeded to make more roads, to erect mills, to build
bridges, and to enclose and cultivate the waste
lands. He introduced improved methods of culture,
and regular rotation of crops, distributing small
premiums to encourage industry ; and he thus soon
quickened the whole frame of society within reach
of his influence, and infused an entirely new spirit
into the cultivators of the soil. From being one
of the most inaccessible districts of the North the
very ultima Thule of civilization Caithness became
a pattern county for its roads, its agriculture, and
its fisheries. In Sinclair's youth, the post was
carried by a runner only once a week, and the
young baronet then declared that he would never
rest till a coach drove daily to Thurso. The
people of the neighbourhood could not believe
in any such thing, and it became a proverb in the
county to say of an utterly impossible scheme,
" Ou, ay, that will come to pass when Sir John
sees the daily mail at Thurso ! " But Sir John
lived to see his dream realized, and the daily mail
established to Thurso.
The circle of his benevolent operation gradually
444 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR [CHAP, xn
widened. Observing the serious deterioration which
had taken place in the quality of British wool, one
of the staple commodities of the country, he forth-
with, though but a private and little-known country
gentleman, devoted himself to its improvement.
By his personal exertions he established the British
Wool Society for the purpose, and himself led the
way to practical improvement by importing 800
sheep from all countries, at his own expense. The
result was, the introduction into Scotland of the
celebrated Cheviot breed. Sheep farmers scouted
the idea of South country flocks being able to thrive
in the far North. But Sir John persevered ; and
in a few years there were not fewer than 300,000
Cheviots diffused over the four northern counties
alone. The value of all grazing land was thus
enormously increased ; and Scotch estates, which
before were comparatively worthless, began to
yield large rentals.
Returned by Caithness to Parliament, in which
he remained for thirty years, rarely missing a
division, his position gave him further opportunities
of usefulness, which he did not neglect to employ.
Mr. Pitt, observing his persevering energy in all
useful public projects, sent for him to Downing
Street, and voluntarily proposed his assistance
in any object he might have in view. Another
man might have thought of himself and his own
promotion ; but Sir John characteristically replied,
that he desired no favour for himself, but intimated
that the reward most gratifying to his feelings
would be Mr. Pitt's assistance in the establishment
of a National Board of Agriculture. Arthur Young
laid a bet with the baronet that his scheme would
never be established, adding, "Your Board of
CHAP, xii] HIS ENERGY 445
Agriculture will be in the moon !" But vigorously
setting to work, he roused public attention to the
subject, enlisted a majority of Parliament on his
side, and eventually established the Board, of
which he was appointed President. The result
of its action need not be described, but the stimulus
which it gave to agriculture and stock-raising
was shortly felt throughout the whole United
Kingdom, and tens of thousands of acres were
redeemed from barrenness by its operation. He
was equally indefatigable in encouraging the estab-
lishment of fisheries ; and the successful founding
of these great branches of British industry at Thurso
and Wick was mainly due to his exertions. He
urged for long years, and at length succeeded in
obtaining the enclosure of a harbour for the latter
place, which is perhaps the greatest and most
prosperous fishing town in the world.
Sir John threw his personal energy into every
work in which he engaged, rousing the inert,
stimulating the idle, encouraging the hopeful, and
working with all. When a French invasion was
threatened, he offered to Mr. Pitt to raise a
regiment on his own estate, and he was as good
as his word. He went down to the North, and
raised a battalion of 600 men, afterwards increased
to 1,000; and it was admitted to be one of the finest
volunteer regiments evej raised, inspired through-
out by his own noble and patriotic spirit. While
commanding officer of the camp at Aberdeen he
held the offices of a Director of the Bank of Scot-
land, Chairman of the British Wool Society, Provost
of Wick, Director of the British Fishery Society,
Commissioner for issuing Exchequer Bills, Member
of Parliament for Caithness, and President of the
446 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR [CHAP. XII
Board of Agriculture. Amidst all this multifarious
and self-imposed work, he even found time to write
books, enough of themselves to establish a reputa-
tion. When Mr. Rush, the American Ambassador,
arrived in England, he relates that he inquired of
Mr. Coke, of Holkham, what was the best work
on Agriculture, and was referred to Sir John
Sinclair's ; and when he further asked of Mr.
Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was
the best work on British Finance, he was again
referred to a work by Sir John Sinclair, his
1 History of the Public Revenue.' But the great
monument of his indefatigable industry, a work
that would have appalled other men, but only
served to rouse and sustain his energy, was his
'Statistical Account of Scotland,' in twenty-one
volumes, one of the most valuable practical works
ever published in any age or country. Amid a
host of other pursuits it occupied him nearly eight
years of hard labour, during which he received,
and attended to, upwards of 20,000 letters on the
subject. It was a thoroughly patriotic undertaking,
from which he derived no personal advantage what-
ever, beyond the honour of having completed it.
The whole of the profits were assigned by him to
the Society for the Sons of the Clergy in Scotland.
The publication of the book led to great public
improvements ; it was followed by the immediate
abolition of several oppressive feudal rights, to
which it called attention : the salaries of school-
masters and clergymen in many parishes were
increased ; and an increased stimulus was given
to agriculture throughout Scotland. Sir John then
publicly offered to undertake the much greater
labour of collecting and publishing a similar
CHAP, xii] HIS ENERGETIC PROMPTITUDE 447
Statistical Account of England ; but unhappily the
then Archbishop of Canterbury refused to sanction
it, lest it should interfere with the tithes of the
clergy, and the idea was abandoned.
A remarkable illustration of his energetic prompti-
tude was the manner in which he once provided,
on a great emergency, for the relief of the manu-
facturing districts. In 1793 the stagnation pro-
duced by the war led to an unusual number of
bankruptcies, and many of the first houses in
Manchester and Glasgow were tottering, not so
much from want of property, but because the
usual sources of trade and credit were for the time
closed up. A period of intense distress amongst
the labouring classes seemed imminent, when Sir
John urged, in Parliament, that Exchequer notes
to the amount of five millions should be issued
immediately as a loan to such merchants as could
give security. This suggestion was adopted, and
his offer to carry out his plan, in conjunction with
certain members named by him, was also accepted.
The vote was passed late at night, and early next
morning Sir John, anticipating the delays of
officialism and red tape, proceeded to bankers
in the city, and borrowed of them, on his own
personal security, the sum of 7o,ooo/., which he
despatched the same evening to those merchants
who were in the most urgent need of assistance.
Pitt meeting Sir John in the House, expressed his
great regret that the pressing wants of Manchester
and Glasgow could not be supplied so soon as
was desirable, adding, " The money cannot be raised
for some days." " It is already gone ! it left London
by to-night's mail ! " was Sir John's triumphant
reply; and in afterwards relating the anecdote he
448 SIR JOHN SINCLAIR [CHAP. XII
added, with a smile of pleasure, " Pitt was as much
startled as if I had stabbed him." To the last this
great, good man worked on usefully and cheerfully,
setting a great example for his family and for his
country. In so laboriously seeking others' good,
it might be said that he found his own not wealth,
for his generosity seriously impaired his private
fortune, but happiness, and self-satisfaction, and the
peace that passes knowledge. A great patriot, with
magnificent powers of work, he nobly did his duty
to his country; yet he was not neglectful of his
own household and home. His sons and daughters
grew up to honour and usefulness ; and it was one
of the proudest things Sir John could say, when
verging on his eightieth year, that he had lived
to see seven sons grown up, not one of whom
had incurred a debt he could not pay, or caused
him a sorrow that could have been avoided.
CHAPTER XIII
CHARACTER THE TRUE GENTLEMAN
"For who can always act? but he,
To whom a thousand memories call,
Not being less but more than all
The gentleness he seemed to be,
" But seemed the thing he was, and joined
Each office of the social hour
To noble manners, as the flower
And native growth of noble mind ;
"And thus he bore without abuse
The grand old name of Gentleman." Tennyson.
"Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt." Goethe.
"That which raises a country, that which strengthens a country, and that
which dignifies a country that which spreads her power, creates her
moral influence, and makes her respected and submitted to, bends the
heart of millions, and bows down the pride of nations to her the
instrument of obedience, the fountain of supremacy, the true throne,
crown, and sceptre of a nation ; this aristocracy is not an aristocracy
of blood, not an aristocracy of fashion, not an aristocracy of talent
only ; it is an aristocracy of Character. That is the true heraldry of
man." The Times.
THE crown and glory of life is Character. It
y is the noblest possession of a man, constituting
a rank in itself, and an estate in the general
goodwill ; dignifying every station, and exalting
every position in society. It exercises a greater
power than wealth, and secures all the honour
449 29
4So CANNING [CHAP, xni
without the jealousies of fame. It carries with it
an influence which always tells ; for it is the result
of proved honour, rectitude, and consistency
qualities which, perhaps more than any other,
command the general confidence and respect of
mankind.
Character is human nature in its best form. It is
moral order embodied in the individual. Men of
character are not only the conscience of society, but
in every well-governed State they are its best motive
power ; for it is moral qualities in the main which
rule the world. Even in war, Napoleon said the
moral is to the physical as ten to one. The strength,
the industry, and the civilization of nations all
depend upon individual character; and the very
foundations of civil security rest upon it. Laws
and institutions are but its outgrowth. In the
just balance of nature, individuals, nations, and
races, will obtain just so much as they deserve, and
no more. And as effect finds its cause, so surely
does quality of character amongst a people produce
its befitting results.
Though a man have comparatively little culture,
slender abilities, and but small wealth, yet, if his
character be of sterling worth, he will always
command an influence, whether it be in the work-
shop, the counting-house, the mart, or the senate.
Canning wisely wrote in 1801, " My road must be
through Character to power; I will try no other
course ; and I am sanguine enough to believe that
this course, though not perhaps the quickest, is
the surest." You may admire men of intellect ;
but something more is necessary before you will
trust them. Hence Lord John Russell once ob-
served in a sentence full of truth, " It is the nature
CHAP, xni] FRANCIS HORNER 451
of party in England to ask the assistance of men
of genius, but to follow the guidance of men of
character." This was strikingly illustrated in the
career of the late Francis Horner a man of whom
Sydney Smith said that the Ten Commandments
were stamped upon His countenance. " The
valuable and peculiar light," says Lord Cockburn,
" in which his history is calculated to inspire every
right-minded youth, is this. He died at the age
of thirty-eight ; possessed of greater public influence
than any other private man ; and admired, beloved,
trusted, and deplored by all, except the heartless
or the base. No greater homage was ever paid
in Parliament to any deceased member. Now let
every young man ask how was this attained ?
By rank? He was the son of an Edinburgh
merchant. By wealth ? Neither he, nor any of
his relations, ever had a superfluous sixpence. By
office ? He held but one, and only for a few years,
of no influence, and with very little pay. By
talents ? His were not splendid, and he had no
genius. Cautious and slow, his only ambition was
to be right. By eloquence ? He spoke in calm, good
taste, without any of the oratory that either terrifies
or seduces. By any fascination of manner? His
was only correct and agreeable. By what, then,
was it ? Merely by sense, industry, good principles,
and a good heart qualities which no well-con-
stituted mind need ever despair of attaining. It
was the force of his character that raised him ;
and this character not impressed upon him by
nature, but formed, out of no peculiarly fine elements,
by himself. There were many in the House of
Commons of far greater ability and eloquence. But
no one surpassed him in the combination of an
452 FRANKLIN [CHAP, xm
adequate portion of these with moral worth.
Horner was born to show what moderate powers,
nnaided by anything whatever except culture and
goodness, may achieve, even when these powers
are displayed amidst the competition and jealousy
of public life."
Franklin, also, attributed his success as a public
man, not to his talents or his powers of speaking
for these were but moderate but to his known
integrity of character. Hence it was, he says,
" that I had so much weight with my fellow citizens.
I was but a bad speaker, never eloquent, subject
to much hesitation in my choice of words, hardly
correct in language, and yet I generally carried
my point." Character creates confidence in men
of high station as well as in humble life. It was
said of the first Emperor Alexander of Russia,
that his personal character was equivalent to a
constitution. During the wars of the Fronde,
Montaigne was the only man amongst the French
gentry who kept his castle gates unbarred; and
it was said of him, that his personal character
was a better protection for him than a regiment
of horse would have been.
That character is power, is true in a much higher
sense than that knowledge is power. Mind with-
out heart, intelligence without conduct, cleverness
without goodness, are powers in their way, but
they may be powers only for mischief. We may
be instructed or amused by them ; but it is some-
times as difficult to admire them as it would be
to admire the dexterity of a pickpocket or the
horsemanship of a highwayman.
Truthfulness, integrity, and goodness qualities
that hang not on any man's breath form the
CHAP, xin] CHARACTER IS POWER 453
essence of manly character, or, as one of our old
writers has it, "that inbred loyalty unto Virtue
which can serve her without a livery." He who
possesses these qualities, united with strength of
purpose, carries with him a power which is irre-
sistible. He is strong to do good, strong to re-
sist evil, and strong to bear up under difficulty
and misfortune. When Stephen of Colonna fell
into the hands of his base assailants, and they
asked him in derision, "Where is now your for-
tress?" "Here," was his bold reply, placing his
hand upon his heart. It is in misfortune that
the character of the upright man shines forth
with the greatest lustre; and when all else fails,
he takes stand upon his integrity and his courage.
The rules of conduct followed by Lord Erskine
a man of sterling independence of principle and
scrupulous adherence to truth are worthy of being
engraven on every young man's heart. " It was
a first command and counsel of my earliest youth,"
he said, "always to do what my conscience told
me to be a duty, and to leave the consequence to
God. I shall carry with me the memory, and I
trust the practice, of this parental lesson to the
grave. I have hitherto followed it, and I have
no reason to complain that my obedience to it
has been a temporal sacrifice. I have found it,
on the contrary, the road to prosperity and wealth,
and I shall point out the same path to my children
for their pursuit."
Every man is bound to aim at the possession
of a good character as one of the highest objects
of life. The very effort to secure it by worthy
means will furnish him with a motive for exertion ;
and his idea of manhood, in proportion as it is
454 VALUE OF A GOOD NAME [CHAP, xm
elevated, will steady and animate his motive. It
is well to have a high standard of life, even though
we may not be able altogether to realize it. " The
youth," says Mr. Disraeli, "who does not look up
will look down ; and the spirit that does not soar
is destined perhaps to grovel." George Herbert
wisely writes :
"Pitch thy behaviour low, thy projects high,
So shalt thou humble and magnanimous be.
Sink not in spirit ; who aimeth at the sky
Shoots higher much than he that means a tree.*
He who has a high standard of living and thinking
will certainly do better than he who has none at
all. " Pluck at a gown of gold," says the Scotch
proverb, " and you may get a sleeve o't." Whoever
tries for the highest results cannot fail to reach a
point far in advance of that from which he started ;
and though the end attained may fall short of that
proposed, still, the very effort to rise, of itself
cannot fail to prove permanently beneficial.
There are many counterfeits of character, but the
genuine article is difficult to be mistaken. Some,
knowing its money value, would assume its disguise
for the purpose of imposing upon the unwary.
Colonel Charteris said to a man distinguished for
his honesty, " I would give a thousand pounds for
your good name." "Why?" "Because I could
make ten thousand by it," was the knave's reply.
Integrity in word and deed is the backbone of
character ; and loyal adherence to veracity its most
prominent characteristic. One of the finest testi-
monies to the character of the late Sir Robert
Peel was that borne by the Duke of Wellington in
the House of Lords, a few days after the great
CHAP, xm] BE WHAT YOU SEEM 455
statesman's death. " Your lordships," he said,
"must all feel the high and honourable character
of the late Sir Robert Peel. I was long connected
with him in public life. We were both in the
councils of our Sovereign together, and I had long
the honour to enjoy his private friendship. In all
the course of my acquaintance with him I never
knew a man in whose truth and justice I had
greater confidence, or in whom I saw a more
invariable desire to promote the public service. In
the whole course of my communication with him,
I never knew an instance in which he did not
show the strongest attachment to truth ; and I never
saw in the whole course of my life the smallest
reason for suspecting that he stated anything which
he did not firmly believe to be the fact." And this
high-minded truthfulness of the statesman was no
doubt the secret of no small part of his influence
and power.
There is a truthfulness in action as well as in
words, which is essential to uprightness of character.
A man must really be what he seems or purposes
to be. When an American gentleman wrote to
Granville Sharp, that from respect for his great
virtues he had named one of his sons after him,
Sharp replied : " I must request you to teach him
a favourite maxim of the family whose name you
have given him Always endeavour to be really what
you would wish to appear. This maxim, as my father
informed me, was carefully and humbly practised
by his father, whose sincerity, as a plain and honest
man, thereby became the principal feature of his
character, both in public and private life." Every
man who respects himself, and values the respect
of others, will carry out the maxim in act doing
456 CONSCIENCE AND CHARACTER [CHAP.XIII
honestly what he proposes to do putting the
highest character into his work, scamping nothing,
but priding himself upon his integrity and con-
scientiousness. Once Cromwell said to Bernard
a clever but somewhat unscrupulous lawyer " I
understand that you have lately been vastly wary
in your conduct ; do not be too confident of this ;
subtlety may deceive you, integrity never will."
Men whose acts are at direct variance with their
words command no respect, and what they
say has but little weight ; even truths, when
uttered by them, seem to come blasted from their
lips.
The true character acts rightly, whether in
secret or in the sight of men. That boy was well
trained who, when asked why he did not pocket
some pears, for nobody was there to see, replied,
"Yes, there was : I was there to see myself; and
I don't intend ever to see myself do a dishonest
thing." This is a simple but not inappropriate
illustration of principle, or conscience, dominating
in the character, and exercising a noble protectorate
over it; not merely a passive influence, but an
active power regulating the life. Such a principle
goes on moulding the character hourly and daily,
growing with a force that operates every moment.
Without this dominating influence, character has
no protection, but is constantly liable to fall away
before temptation ; and every such temptation suc-
cumbed to, every act of meanness or dishonesty,
however slight, causes self-degradation. It matters
not whether the act be successful or not, discovered
or concealed; the culprit is no longer the same,
but another person ; and he is pursued by a secret
uneasiness, by self-reproach, or the workings of
CHAP, xin] IMPORTANCE OF GOOD HABITS 457
what we call conscience, which is the inevitable
doom of the guilty.
And here it may be observed how greatly the
character may be strengthened and supported by
the cultivation of good habits. Man, it has been
said, is a bundle of habits ; and habit is second
nature. Metastasio entertained so strong an
opinion as to the power of repetition in act and
thought, that he said, " All is habit in mankind,
even virtue itself." Butler, in his 'Analogy/ im-
presses the importance of careful self-discipline and
firm resistance to temptation, as tending to make
virtue habitual, so that at length it may become
more easy to be good than to give way to sin.
"As habits belonging to the body," he says, "are
produced by external acts, so habits of the mind
are produced by the execution of inward practical
purposes, i.e. carrying them into act, or acting
upon them the principles of obedience, veracity,
justice, and charity." And again, Lord Brougham
says, when enforcing the immense importance of
training and example in youth, " I trust everything
under God to habit, on which, in all ages, the law-
giver, as well as the schoolmaster, has mainly placed
his reliance ; habit, which makes everything easy,
and casts the difficulties upon the deviation from
a wonted course." Thus, make sobriety a habit,
and intemperance will be hateful ; make prudence a
habit, and reckless profligacy will become revolting
to every principle of conduct which regulates the
life of the individual. Hence the necessity for the
greatest care and watchfulness against the inroad
of any evil habit ; for the character is always
weakest at that point at which it has once given
way ; and it is long before a principle restored can
458 VIRTUOUS HABITS [CHAP, xm
become so firm as one that has never been moved.
It is a fine remark of a Russian writer, that " Habits
are a necklace of pearls : untie the knot, and the
whole unthreads."
Wherever formed, habit acts involuntarily, and
without effort ; and it is only when you oppose it
that you find how powerful it has become. What
is done once and again, soon gives facility and
proneness. The habit at first may seem to have
no more strength than a spider's web; but, once
formed, it binds as with a chain of iron. The small
events of life, taken singly, may seem exceedingly
unimportant, like snow that falls silently, flake by
flake ; yet accumulated, these snow-flakes form the
avalanche.
Self-respect, self-help, application, industry, in-
tegrity all are of the nature of habits, not beliefs.
Principles, in fact, are but the names which we
assign to habits ; for the principles are words,
but the habits are the things themselves : bene-
factors or tyrants, according as they are good or
evil. It thus happens that as we grow older a
portion of our free activity and individuality
becomes suspended in habit ; our actions become
of the nature of fate ; and we are bound by the
chains which we have woven around ourselves.
It is indeed scarcely possible to over-estimate
the importance of training the young to virtuous
habits. In them they are the easiest formed, and
when formed they last for life ; like letters cut on
the bark of a tree, they grow and widen with age.
" Train up a child in the way he should go, and
when he is old he will not depart from it." The
beginning holds within it the end ; the first
start on the road of life determines the direction
CHAP, xni] THE WISEST HABIT 459
and the destination of the journey; ce riest que le
premier pas qui coute. " Remember," said Lord
Collingwood to a young man whom he loved,
" before you are five-and-twenty you must establish
a character that will serve you all your life." As
habit strengthens with age, and character becomes
formed, any turning into a new path becomes more
and more difficult. Hence, it is often harder to
unlearn than to learn ; and for this reason the
Grecian flute-player was justified who charged
double fees to those pupils who had been taught
by an inferior master. To uproot an old habit is
sometimes a more painful thing, and vastly more
difficult, than to wrench out a tooth. Try and
reform a habitually indolent, or improvident, or
drunken person, and in a large majority of cases
you will fail. For the habit in each case has wound
itself in and through the life until it has become
an integral part of it, and cannot be uprooted.
Hence, as Mr. Lynch observes, "the wisest habit
of all is the habit of care in the formation of good
habits."
Even happiness itself may become habitual.
There is a habit of looking at the bright side of
things, and also of looking at the dark side. Dr.
Johnson has said that the habit of looking at the
best side of a thing is worth more to a man
than a thousand pounds a year. And we possess
the power, to a great extent, of so exercising the
will as to direct the thoughts upon objects cal-
culated to yield happiness and improvement rather
than their opposites. In this way the habit of
happy thought may be made to spring up like any
other habit. And to bring up men or women with
a genial nature of this sort, a good temper, and
460 MANNERS AND MORALS [CHAP, xm
a happy frame of mind, is perhaps of even more
importance, in many cases, than to perfect them
in much knowledge and many accomplishments.
As daylight can be seen through very small
holes, so little things will illustrate a person's
character. Indeed, character consists in little acts,
well and honourably performed ; daily life being
the quarry from which we build it up, and rough-
hew the habits which form it. One of the most
marked tests of character is the manner in which
we conduct ourselves towards others. A graceful
behaviour towards superiors, inferiors, and equals
is a constant source of pleasure. It pleases others
because it indicates respect for their personality ;
but it gives tenfold more pleasure to ourselves.
Every man may to a large extent be a self-educator
in good behaviour, as in everything else ; he can
be civil and kind, if he will, though he have not
a penny in his purse. Gentleness in society is like
the silent influence of light, which gives colour
to all nature ; it is far more powerful than loud-
ness or force, and far more fruitful. It pushes its
way quietly and persistently, like the tiniest
daffodil in spring, which raises the clod and thrusts
it aside by the simple persistency of growing.
Even a kind look will give pleasure and confer
happiness. In one of Robertson of Brighton's
letters, he tells of a lady who related to him "the
delight, the tears of gratitude, which she had
witnessed in a poor girl to whom, in passing, I
gave a kind look on going out of church on Sunday.
What a lesson ! How cheaply happiness can be
given ! What opportunities we miss of doing an
angel's work! I remember doing it, full of sad
feelings, passing on, and thinking no more about
CHAP, xm] CIVILITY AND KINDNESS 461
it ; and it gave an hour's sunshine to a human life,
and lightened the load of life to a human heart for
a time ! " *
Morals and manners, which give colour to life,
are of much greater importance than laws, which
are but their manifestations. The law touches us
here and there, but manners are about us every-
where, pervading society like the air we breathe.
Good manners, as we call them, are neither more
nor less than good behaviour ; consisting of
courtesy and kindness ; benevolence being the
preponderating element in all kinds of mutually
beneficial and pleasant intercourse amongst human
beings. " Civility," said Lady Montague, " costs
nothing and buys everything." The cheapest of
all things is kindness, its exercise requiring the
least possible trouble and self-sacrifice. " Win
hearts," said Burleigh to Queen Elizabeth, " and
you have all men's hearts and purses." If we would
only let nature act kindly, free from affectation and
artifice, the results on social good humour and
happiness would be incalculable. The little
courtesies which form the small change of life may
separately appear of little intrinsic value, but they
acquire their importance from repetition and ac-
cumulation. They are like the spare minutes, or
the groat a day, which proverbially produce such
momentous results in the course of a twelvemonth,
or in a lifetime.
Manners are the ornament of action ; and there
is a way of speaking a kind word, or of doing a
kind thing, which greatly enhances their value.
What seems to be done with a grudge, or as an
act of condescension, is scarcely accepted as a
* Robertson's 'Life and Letters,' i. 258.
462 ANECDOTE OF ABERNETHY [CHAP, xm
favour. Yet there are men who pride themselves
upon their gruffness ; and though they may possess
virtue and capacity, their manner is often such as
to render them almost insupportable. It is difficult
to like a man who, though he may not pull your
nose, habitually wounds your self-respect, and takes
a pride in saying disagreeable things to you.
There are others who are dreadfully condescending,
and cannot avoid seizing upon every small oppor-
tunity of making their greatness felt. When
Abernethy was canvassing for the office of surgeon
to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he called upon such
a person a rich grocer, one of the governors.
The great man behind the counter, seeing the great
surgeon enter, immediately assumed the grand air
towards the supposed suppliant for his vote. " I
presume, sir, you want my vote and interest at
this momentous epoch of your life ? " Abernethy,
who hated humbugs, and felt nettled at the tone,
replied : " No, I don't : I want a pennyworth of
figs ; come, look sharp and wrap them up ; I want
to be off!"
The cultivation of manner though in excess
it is foppish and foolish is highly necessary in a
person who has occasion to negotiate with others
in matters of business. Affability and good breed-
ing may even be regarded as essential to the success
of a man in any eminent station and enlarged sphere
of life ; for the want of it has not unfrequently been
found in a great measure to neutralize the results
of much industry, integrity, and honesty of character.
There are, no doubt, a few strong, tolerant minds
which can bear with defects and angularities of
manner, and look only to the more genuine qualities ;
but the world at large is not so forbearant, and
CHAP, xni] RIGHT-HEARTEDNESS 463
cannot help forming its judgments and likings
mainly according to outward conduct.
Another mode of displaying true politeness is
consideration for the opinions of others. It has
been said of dogmatism, that it is only puppyism
come to its full growth ; and certainly the worst
form this quality can assume is that of opinionative-
ness and arrogance. Let men agree to differ, and
when they do differ, bear and forbear. Principles
and opinions may be maintained with perfect
suavity, without coming to blows or uttering hard
words ; and there are circumstances in which words
are blows, and inflict wounds far less easy to heal.
As bearing upon this point, we quote an instructive
little parable spoken some time since by an
itinerant preacher of the Evangelical Alliance on
the borders of Wales : " As I was going to the
hills," said he, " early one misty morning, I saw
something moving on a mountain side, so strange
looking that I took it for a monster. When I
came nearer to it I found it was a man. When I
came up to him I found he was my brother."
The inbred politeness which springs from right-
heartedness and kindly feelings is of no exclusive
rank or station. The mechanic who works at the
bench may possess it, as well as the clergyman
or the peer. It is by no means a necessary con-
dition of labour that it should, in any respect, be
either rough or coarse. The politeness and refine-
ment which distinguish all classes of the people
in many continental countries show that those
qualities might become ours too as doubtless they
will become with increased culture and more
general social intercourse without sacrificing any
of our more genuine qualities as men. From the
464 WILLIAM AND [CHAP, xm
highest to the lowest, the richest to the poorest,
to no rank or condition in life has nature denied
her highest boon the great heart. There never
yet existed a gentleman but was lord of a great
heart. And this may exhibit itself under the hodden
grey of the peasant as well as under the laced
coat of the noble. Robert Burns was once taken
to task by a young Edinburgh blood, with whom
he was walking, for recognizing an honest farmer
in the open street. " Why you fantastic gomeral,"
exclaimed Burns, "it was not the great-coat, the
scone bonnet, and the saunders-boot hose that I
spoke to, but the man that was in them ; and the
man, sir, for true worth, would weigh down you
and me, and ten more such, any day." There may
be a homeliness in externals, which may seem
vulgar to those who cannot discern the heart
beneath; but, to the right-minded, character will
always have its clear insignia.
William and Charles Grant were the sons of a
farmer in Inverness-shire, whom a sudden flood
stripped of everything, even to the very soil which
he tilled. The farmer and his sons, with the world
before them where to choose, made their way
southward in search of employment until they
arrived in the neighbourhood of Bury ,in Lancashire.
From the crown of the hill near Walmersley they
surveyed the wide extent of country which lay
before them, the river Irwell making its circuitous
course through the valley. They were utter
strangers in the neighbourhood, and knew not
which way to turn. To decide their course they
put up a stick, and agreed to pursue the direction
in which it fell. Thus their decision was made,
and they journeyed on accordingly until they
CHAP, xin] CHARLES GRANT 465
reached the village of Ramsbotham, not far distant.
They found employment in a print-work, in which
William served his apprenticeship ; and they com-
mended themselves to their employers by their
diligence, sobriety, and strict integrity. They
plodded on, rising from one station to another,
until at length the two men themselves became
employers, and after many long years of industry,
enterprise, and benevolence, they became rich,
honoured, and respected by all who knew them.
Their cotton-mills and print-works gave employment
to a large population. Their well-directed diligence
made the valley teem with activity, joy, health,
and opulence. Out of their abundant wealth they
gave liberally to all worthy objects, erecting
churches, founding schools, and in all ways pro-
moting the well-being of the class of working-men
from which they had sprung. They afterwards
erected, on the top of the hill above Walmersley,
a lofty tower in commemoration of the early event
in their history which had determined the place of
their settlement. The brothers Grant became widely
celebrated for their benevolence and their various
goodness, and it is said that Mr. Dickens had them
in his mind's eye when delineating the character
of the brothers Cheeryble.
One amongst many anecdotes of a similar kind
may be cited to show that the character was by
no means exaggerated. A Manchester ware-
houseman published an exceedingly scurrilous
pamphlet against the firm of Grant Brothers,
holding up the elder partner to ridicule as
" Billy Button." William was informed by some
one of the nature of the pamphlet, and his obser-
vation was that the man would live to repent of
30
466 WILLIAM GRANT [CHAP, xin
it. ' Oh ! " said the libeller, when informed of the
remark, " he thinks that some time or other I
shall be in his debt ; but I will take good care
of that." It happens, however, that men in business
do not always foresee who shall be their creditor,
and it so turned out that the Grants' libeller became
a bankrupt, and could not complete his certificate
and begin business again without obtaining their
signature. It seemed to him a hopeless case to
call upon that firm for any favour, but the pressing
claims of his family forced him to make the applica-
tion. He appeared before the man whom he had
ridiculed as " Billy Button " accordingly. He told
his tale and produced his certificate. " You wrote
a pamphlet against us once ? " said Mr. Grant.
The supplicant expected to see his document thrown
into the fire ; instead of which Grant signed the
name of the firm, and thus completed the necessary
certificate. " We make it a rule," said he, handing
it back, " never to refuse signing the certificate
of an honest tradesman, and we have never heard
that you were anything else." The tears started
into the man's eyes. "Ah," continued Mr. Grant,
" you see my saying was true, that you would live
to repent writing that pamphlet. I did not mean it
as a threat I only meant that some day you would
know us better, and repent having tried to injure
us." " I do, I do, indeed, repent it." " Well, well,
you know us now. But how do you get on what
are you going to do ?" The poor man stated that
he had friends who would assist him when his
certificate was obtained. "But how are you off
in the meantime ? " The answer was, that, having
given up every farthing to his creditors, he had
been compelled to stint his family in even the
CHAP, xm] THE TRUE GENTLEMAN 467
common necessaries of life, that he might be
enabled to pay for his certificate. " My good fellow,
this will never do ; your wife and family must not
suffer in this way; be kind enough to take this
ten-pound note to your wife from me : there, there,
now don't cry, it will be all well with you yet;
keep up your spirits, set to work like a man, and
you will raise your head among the best of us yet."
The overpowered man endeavoured with choking
utterance to express his gratitude, but in vain ; and
putting his hand to his face, he went out of the
room sobbing like a child.
The True Gentleman is one whose nature has
been fashioned after the highest models. It is
a grand old name, that of Gentleman, and has been
recognized as a rank and power in all stages of
society. " The Gentleman is always the Gentle-
man," said the old French General to his regiment
of Scottish gentry at Rousillon, " and invariably
proves himself such in need and in danger." To
possess this character is a dignity of itself, com-
manding the instinctive homage of every generous
mind, and those who will not bow to titular rank
will yet do homage to the gentleman. His qualities
depend not upon fashion or manners, but upon
moral worth not on personal possessions, but
on personal qualities. The Psalmist briefly de-
scribes him as one " that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth
in his heart."
The gentleman is eminently distinguished for
his self-respect. He values his character, not so
much of it only as can be seen of others, but as
he sees it himself; having regard for the approval
of his inward monitor. And, as he respects
468 GENTLEMAN'S RECTITUDE [CHAP, xm
himself, so, by the same law, does he respect others.
Humanity is sacred in his eyes : and thence pro-
ceed politeness and forbearance, kindness and
charity. It is related of Lord Edward Fitzgerald
that, while travelling in Canada, in company with
the Indians, he was shocked by the sight of a
poor squaw trudging along laden with her hus-
band's trappings, while the chief himself walked
on unencumbered. Lord Edward at once relieved
the squaw of her pack by placing it upon his own
shoulders, a beautiful instance of what the French
call politesse de cceur the inbred politeness of the
true gentleman.
The true gentleman has a keen sense of honour,
scrupulously avoiding mean actions. His standard
2)f probity in word and action is high. He does
not shuffle or prevaricate, dodge or skulk; but is
honest, upright, and straightforward. His law is
rectitude action in right lines. When he saysjy^s,
it is a law : and he dares to say the valiant no at
the fitting season. The gentleman will not be
bribed ; only the low-minded and unprincipled will
sell themselves to those who are interested in
buying them. When the upright Jonas Hanway
officiated as commissioner in the victualling depart-
ment, he declined to receive a present of any kind
from a contractor ; refusing thus to be biassed
in the performance of his public duty. A fine trait
of the same kind is to be noted in the life of the
Duke of Wellington. Shortly after the battle
of Assaye, one morning the Prime Minister of the
Court of Hyderabad waited upon him for the pur-
pose of privately ascertaining what territory and
what advantages had been reserved for his master
in the treaty of peace between the Mahratta princes
CHAP. XHI] WELLINGTON WELLESLEY 469
and the Nizam. To obtain this information the
minister offered the general a very large sum
considerably above ioo,ooo/. Looking at him
quietly for a few seconds, Sir Arthur said, " It
appears, then, that you are capable of keeping a
secret ? " " Yes, certainly," replied the minister.
" Then so am I" said the English general, smiling,
and bowed the minister out. It was to Wellington's
great honour, that though uniformly successful in
India, and with the power of earning in such modes
as this enormous wealth, he did not add a farthing
to his fortune, and returned to England a com-
paratively poor man.
A similar sensitiveness and high-mindedness
characterized his noble relative, the Marquis of
Wellesley, who, on one occasion, positively refused
a present of ioo,ooo/. proposed to be given him by
the directors of the East India Company on the
conquest of Mysore. " It is not necessary," said
he, "for me to allude to the independence of my
character, and the proper dignity attaching to my
office ; other reasons besides these important con-
siderations lead me to decline this testimony, which
is not suitable to me. / think of nothing but our
army. I should be much distressed to curtail
the share of those brave soldiers." And the
Marquis's resolution to refuse the present remained
unalterable.
Sir Charles Napier exhibited the same noble
self-denial in the course of his Indian career. He
rejected all the costly gifts which barbaric princes
were ready to lay at his feet, and said with truth,
"Certainly I could have got 3O,ooo/. since my
coming to Scinde, but my hands do not want
washing yet. Our dear father's sword, which I
470 A NOBLE PEASANT [CHAP, xm
wore in both battles (Meanee and Hyderabad), is
unstained."
Riches and rank have no necessary connexion
with genuine gentlemanly qualities. The poor man
may be a true gentleman in spirit and in daily
life. He may be honest, truthful, upright, polite,
temperate, courageous, self-respecting, and self-
helping that is, be a true gentleman. The poor
man with a rich spirit is in all ways superior to
the rich man with a poor spirit. To borrow St.
Paul's words, the former is as " having nothing, yet
possessing all things," while the other, though pos-
sessing all things, has nothing. The former hopes
everything, and fears nothing; the latter hopes
nothing, and fears everything. Only the poor in
spirit are really poor. He who has lost all, but
retains his courage, cheerfulness, hope, virtue, and
self-respect, is still rich. For such a man the world
is, as it were, held in trust ; his spirit dominating
over its grosser cares, he can still walk erect, a true
gentleman.
Occasionally, the brave and gentle character
may be found under the humblest garb. Here is
an old illustration, but a fine one. Once on a time,
when the Adige suddenly overflowed its banks, the
bridge of Verona was carried away, with the ex-
ception of the centre arch, on which stood a house,
whose inhabitants supplicated help from the
windows, while the foundations were visibly giving
way. "I will give a hundred French louis," said
the Count Spolverini, who stood by, " to any person
who will venture to deliver these unfortunate
people." A young peasant came forth from the
crowd, seized a boat, and pushed into the stream.
He gained the pier, received the whole family into
CHAP, xm] DEAL BOATMEN 471
the boat, and made for the shore, where he landed
them in safety. " Here is your money, my brave
young fellow," said the Count. "No," was the
answer of the young man, " I do not sell my life ;
give the money to this poor family, who have
need of it." Here spoke the true spirit of the
gentleman, though he was but in the garb of a
peasant.
Not less touching was the heroic conduct of
a party of Deal boatmen in rescuing the crew of a
collier-brig in the Downs but a short time ago.*
A sudden storm which set in from the north-east
drove several ships from their anchors, and it
being low water, one of them struck the ground
at a considerable distance from the shore, when
the sea made a clean breach over her. There was
not a vestige of hope for the vessel, such was the
fury of the wind and the violence of the waves.
There was nothing to tempt the boatmen on shore
to risk their lives in saving either ship or crew,
for not a farthing of salvage was to be looked for.
But the daring intrepidity of the Deal boatmen was
not wanting at this critical moment. No sooner
had the brig grounded than Simon Pritchard, one
of the many persons assembled along the beach,
threw off his coat and called out, " Who will come
with me and try to save that crew ? " Instantly
twenty men sprang forward, with " I will," " and I."
But seven only were wanted; and running down
a galley punt into the surf, they leaped in and
dashed through the breakers, amidst the cheers
of those on shore. How the boat lived in such
a sea seemed a miracle ; but in a few minutes,
impelled by the strong arms of these gallant men,
* On the nth January, 1866.
472 THE EMPEROR FRANCIS [CHAP, xm
she flew on and reached the stranded ship, " catching
her on the top of a wave " ; and in less than a
quarter of an hour from the time the boat left the
shore, the six men who composed the crew of the
collier were landed safe on Walmer Beach. A
nobler instance of indomitable courage and dis-
interested heroism on the part of the Deal boat-
men brave though they are always known to be
perhaps cannot be cited ; and we have pleasure in
here placing it on record.
Mr. Turnbull, in his work on 'Austria,' relates
an anecdote of the late Emperor Francis, in illustra-
tion of the manner in which the Government of
that country has been indebted, for its hold upon
the people, to the personal qualities of its princes.
"At the time when the cholera was raging at
Vienna, the emperor, with an aide-de-camp, was
strolling about the streets of the city and suburbs,
when a corpse was dragged past on a litter unac-
companied by a single mourner. The unusual
circumstance attracted his attention, and he learnt,
on inquiry, that the deceased was a poor person
who had died of cholera, and that the relatives
had not ventured on what was then considered
the very dangerous office of attending the body
to the grave. ' Then,' said Francis, ' we will
supply their place, for none of my poor people
should go to the grave without that last mark
of respect ' ; and he followed the body to the
distant place of interment, and, bare-headed, stood
to see every rite and observance respectfully
performed."
Fine though this illustration may be of the
qualities of the gentleman, we can match it by
another equally good, of two English navvies in
CHAP, xm] TWO ENGLISH NAVVIES 473
Paris, as related in a morning paper a few years
ago. " One day a hearse was observed ascending
the steep Rue de Clichy on its way to Montmartre,
bearing a coffin of poplar wood with its cold
corpse. Not a soul followed not even the living
dog of the dead man, if he had one. The day was
rainy and dismal ; passers by lifted the hat as is
usual when a funeral passes, and that was all.
At length it passed two English navvies, who
found themselves in Paris on their way from Spain.
A right feeling spoke from beneath their serge
jackets. ' Poor wretch ! ' said the one to the other,
no one follows him ; let us two follow ! ' And
the two took off their hats, and walked bare-headed
after the corpse of a stranger to the cemetery of
Montmartre."
Above all, the gentleman is truthful. He feels
that truth is the " summit of being," and the soul
of rectitude in human affairs. Lord Chesterfield
declared that Truth made the success of a gentle-
man. The Duke of Wellington, writing to Keller-
man, on the subject of prisoners on parole, when
opposed to that general in the Peninsula, told him
that if there was one thing on which an English
officer prided himself more than another, excepting
his courage, it was his truthfulness. " When
English officers," said he, " have given their parole
of honour not to escape, be sure they will not break
it. Believe me trust to their word ; the word of
an English officer is a surer guarantee than the
vigilance of sentinels."
True courage and gentleness go hand in hand.
The brave man is generous and forbearant, never
unforgiving and cruel. It was finely said of Sir
John Franklin by his friend Parry, that "he was
474 GENEROUS ACT OF NEY [CHAP, xm
a man who never turned his back upon a danger,
yet of that tenderness that he would not brush
away a mosquito." A fine trait of character truly
gentle, and worthy of the spirit of Bayard was
displayed by a French officer in the cavalry combat
of El Bodon, in Spain. He had raised his sword
to strike Sir Felton Harvey, but perceiving his
antagonist had only one arm, he instantly stopped,
brought down his sword before Sir Felton in the
usual salute and rode past. To this may be added
a noble and gentle deed of Ney during the same
Peninsular War. Charles Napier was taken prisoner
at Corunna, desperately wounded ; and his friends
did not know whether he was alive or dead. A
special messenger was sent out from England with
a frigate to ascertain his fate. Baron Clouet re-
ceived the flag, and informed Ney of the arrival.
" Let the prisoner see his friends," said Ney, " and
tell them he is well, and well treated." Clouet
lingered, and Ney asked, smiling, "what more he
wanted " ? " He has an old mother, a widow, and
blind." " Has he ? then let him go himself and tell
her he is alive." As the exchange of prisoners
between the countries was not then allowed, Ney
knew that he risked the displeasure of the Emperor
by setting the young officer at liberty ; but Napoleon
approved the generous act.
Notwithstanding the wail which we occasionally
hear for the chivalry that is gone, our own age
has witnessed deeds of bravery and gentleness of
heroic self-denial and manly tenderness which are
unsurpassed in history. The events of the last
few years have shown that our countrymen are
as yet an undegenerate race. On the bleak plateau
of Sebastopol, in the dripping perilous trenches
CHAP, xm] ENGLISHMEN IN INDIA 475
of that twelvemonth's leaguer, men of all classes
proved themselves worthy of the noble inheritance
of character which their forefathers have bequeathed
to them. But it was in the hour of the great trial
in India that the qualities of our countrymen shone
forth the brightest. The march of Neill on Cawn-
pore, of Havelock on Lucknow officers and men
alike urged on by the hope of rescuing the women
and children are events which the whole history
of chivalry cannot equal. Outram's conduct to
Havelock, in resigning to him, though his inferior
officer, the honour of leading the attack on Lucknow,
was a trait worthy of Sydney, and alone justifies
the title which has been awarded to him of "the
Bayard of India." The death of Henry Lawrence
that brave and gentle spirit his last words before
dying, " Let there be no fuss about me ; let me
be buried with the men" the anxious solicitude of
Sir Colin Campbell to rescue the beleaguered of
Lucknow, and to conduct his long train of women
and children by night from thence to Cawnpore,
which he reached amidst the all but overpowering
assault of the enemy, the care with which he led
them across the perilous bridge, never ceasing his
charge over them until he had seen the precious
convoy safe on the road to Allahabad, and then
burst upon the Gwalior contingent like a thunder-
clap ; such things make us feel proud of our
countrymen and inspire the conviction that the
best and purest glow of chivalry is not dead, but
vigorously lives among us yet.
Even the common soldiers proved themselves
gentlemen under their trials. At Agra, where so
many poor fellows had been scorched and wounded
in their encounter with the enemy, they were
476 WRECK OF THE BIRKENHEAD [CHAP, xm
brought into the fort, and tenderly nursed by the
ladies; and the rough, gallant fellows proved
gentle as any children. During the weeks that the
ladies watched over their charge, never a word was
said by any soldier that could shock the ear of
the gentlest. And when all was over when the
mortally wounded had died, and the sick and
maimed who survived were able to demonstrate
their gratitude they invited their nurses and the
chief people of Agra to an entertainment in the
beautiful gardens of the Taj, where, amidst flowers
and music, the rough veterans, all scarred and
mutilated as they were, stood up to thank their
gentle countrywomen who had clothed and fed
them, and ministered to their wants during their
time of sore distress. In the hospitals at Scutari,
too, many wounded and sick blessed the kind
English ladies who nursed them ; and nothing can
be finer than the thought of the poor sufferers,
unable to rest through pain, blessing the shadow
of Florence Nightingale as it fell upon their pillow
in the night watches.
The wreck of the Birkenhead off the coast of
Africa on February 2/th, 1852, affords another
memorable illustration of the chivalrous spirit of
common men acting in this nineteenth century, of
which any age might be proud. The vessel was
steaming along the African coast with 472 men and
1 66 women and children on board. The men be-
longed to several regiments then serving at the
Cape, and consisted principally of recruits who had
been only a short time in the service. At two
o'clock in the morning, while all were asleep below,
the ship struck with violence upon a hidden rock
which penetrated her bottom ; and it was at once
CHAP, xm] PERSONAL POWER 477
felt that she must go down. The roll of the drums
called the soldiers to arms on the upper deck, and
the men mustered as if on parade. The word was
passed to save the women and children; and the
helpless creatures were brought from below, mostly
undressed, and handed silently into the boats.
When they had all left the ship's side, the com-
mander of the vessel thoughtlessly called out, "All
those that can swim, jump overboard and make for
the boats." But Captain Wright, of the pist High-
landers said, " No ! if you do that, the boats with the
women must be swamped 11 ; and the brave men stood
motionless. There was no boat remaining, and no
hope of safety ; but not a heart quailed ; no one
flinched from his duty in that trying moment.
" There was not a murmur nor a cry amongst
them," said Captain Wright, a survivor, " until the
vessel made her final plunge." Down went the
ship, and down went the heroic band, firing a feu
de joie as they sank beneath the waves. Glory and
honour to the gentle and the brave The examples
of such men can never die, but, like their memories,
are immortal.
There are many tests by which a gentleman
may be known ; but there is one that never fails
How does he exercise power over those subordinate
to him? How does he conduct himself towards
women and children ? How does the officer treat
his men, the employer his servants, the master his
pupils, and man in every station those who are
weaker than himself ? The discretion, forbearance,
and kindliness with which power in such cases is
used may indeed be regarded as the crucial test of
gentlemanly character. When La Motte was one
day passing through a crowd, he accidentally trod
478 GENTLENESS [CHAP, xm
upon the foot of a young fellow, who forthwith
struck him on the face: "Ah, sir," said La Motte,
" you will surely be sorry for what you have done,
when you know that / am blind." He who bullies
those who are not in a position to resist may
be a snob, but cannot be a gentleman. He
who tyrannizes over the weak and helpless
may be a coward, but no true man. The tyrant,
it has been said, is but a slave turned inside
out. Strength, and the consciousness of strength,
in a right-hearted man imparts a nobleness to his
character; but he will be most careful how he
uses it ; for
"It is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant."
Gentleness is indeed the best test of gentle-
manliness. A consideration for the feelings of
others, for his inferiors and dependants as well
as his equals, and respect for their self-respect,
will pervade the true gentleman's whole conduct.
He will rather himself suffer a small injury, than
by an uncharitable construction of another's be-
haviour incur the risk of committing a great wrong.
He will be forbearant of the weaknesses, the
failings, and the errors of those whose advantages
in life have not been equal to his own. He will
be merciful even to his beast. He will not boast
of his wealth, or his strength, or his gifts. He
will not be puffed up by success, or unduly
depressed by failure. He will not obtrude his
views on others, 'but speak his mind freely when
occasion calls for it. He will not confer favours
with a patronizing air. Sir Walter Scott once
CHAP, xin] SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY 479
said of Lord Lothian, " He is a man from whom
one may receive a favour, and that's saying a
great deal in these days."
Lord Chatham has said that the gentleman is
characterized by his sacrifice of self and preference
of others to himself in the little daily occurrences
of life. In illustration of this ruling spirit of con-
siderateness in a noble character, we may cite
the anecdote of the gallant Sir Ralph Abercromby,
of whom it is related, that when mortally wounded
in the battle of Aboukir, he was carried in a
litter on board the Foudrqyant; and, to ease
his pain, a soldier's blanket was placed under his
head, from which he experienced considerable
relief. He asked what it was. " It's only a soldier's
blanket," was the reply. " Whose blanket is it ? "
said he, half lifting himself up. "Only one of the
men's." " I wish to know the name of the man
whose blanket this is." " It is Duncan Roy's, of
the 42nd, Sir Ralph." " Then see that Duncan Roy
gets his blanket this very night."* Even to ease
his dying agony the general would not deprive
the private soldier of his blanket for one night.
The incident is as good in its way as that of the
dying Sydney handing his cup of water to the
private soldier on the field of Zutphen.
The quaint old Fuller sums up in a few words
the character of the true gentleman and man of
action in describing that of the great admiral,
Sir Francis Drake : " Chaste in his life, just in his
dealings, true of his word; merciful to those that
were under him, and hating nothing so much as
idlenesse ; in matters especially of moment, he was
never wont to rely on other men's care, how trusty
* Brown's ' Horae Subsecivae.'
480 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE [CHAP, xm
or skilful soever they might seem to be, but, always
contemning danger, and refusing no toyl, he was
wont himself to be one (whoever was a second)
at every turn, where courage, skill, or industry,
was to be employed."
INDEX
ABERCROMBY, Sir Ralph,
anecdote of, 479
Abernethy, surgeon, anecdote
of, 462
Accuracy, 319
Activity, examples of, 195
Acts and consequences, 349,
427
Addison, 13, 155
Adrian VI., 14
Adversity, uses of, 349
Akenside, poet, II
Alfieri, in youth, 418
Angelo, Michael, 140, 184,
437
Application and persever-
ance, in, 115. 4 I 7' 22
Arkwright, Sir R., 38-44
Arne, Dr., musician, 233
Arnold, Dr., on self-educa-
tion, 370, 437 ; a cheerful
worker, 441
Attention, habit of, 38, 115
Audubon, ornithologist, his
perseverance, 118
Austria, Emperor of, anec-
dote of, 472
BABBAGE, on acts and conse-
quences, 427
Bach, John Sebastian, 232
Bacon, Lord, 7, 23, 183, 314 ;
his notes, 156; on economy,
349 ; on knowledge, 390
Banks, sculptor, 189
Barberini vase, the, and
Wedgwood, 107
Barbers, eminent, 39
Barclay, David, merchant,
his character and work,
238
Barrow, Isaac, 376 ; as a boy,
418
Baxter, Richard, on time, 155
Beethoven, 232, 399, 435
Bell, Sir Charles, 166
Bewick, wood-engraver, 147
Biography, its uses, 7, 436
Bird, artist, 184, 187
Birkenhead, wreck of the, 476
Blackstone, Sir William, 13
Bottgher, J. F., the potter,
79 ; his early life, 95 ; his
boyish trick in alchemy, 95;
his troubles, 96-103 ; makes
red porcelain, 98 ; makes
white porcelain, 101 ; his
death, 103
Books, inspiration from,
437-8
Borrowing, danger of, 350
Boulton and Watt, 42
Bright, John, on frugality, 345
Brindley, engineer, 9, 386
4 8i
482
INDEX
Britton, John, his early life,
difficulties surmounted, 128
Brotherton, Joseph, M.P., 18,
366
Brougham, Lord, 25, 457
Brown, John, geologist, 179
Brown, Sir S., 142
Brunei, Sir I., a thoughtful
observer, 142-3
Buffon, Comte de, as student,
123-5
Burney, Dr., 154
Burns, Robert, in boyhood,
418 ; his improvidence,
348 ; on worth, 349
Burritt, Elihu, 154, 373
Business men, 310-14
Business qualities of great
men, 325-34
Buxton, Sir Powell, philan-
thropist, 306-9 ; on will,
268-9, 306. 377 ; on
mother's influence, 425 ;
on good company, 433,
437 ; his cheerfulness, 440
, fallacy of, 4
Callcott, Sir A., 185
Callot, Jacques, artist, 192-3
Campbell, Lord, 13, 256
Canning, on character, 450
Carey, William, missionary,
10, 117, 283
Carlyle, Thomas, his de-
stroyed MS., 1 20
Cavendish, philosopher, 23
Cecil, on method, 320
Cellini, Benvenuto, his origin,
194 ; his career, 194-5 >
statue of Perseus, 196-8
Chalmers, Rev. Dr., on hon-
esty. 337 ; in boyhood, 418
Chambers, William, pub-
lisher, 407
Chantrey, Sir Francis, 12,
184 ; character and works,
211-4
Character is power, 385, 449,
452
Charteris, Colonel, 454
Chatterton, poet, 376, 418
Chaucer, Geof., as a man of
business, 312
Cheerfulness, 116, 440
Cheeryble Brothers, 465
Chisholm, Mrs., on work and
success, 429
Civility and kindness, 461
Clarke, Adam, 376
Clarkson, Thomas, philan-
thropist, 303-4 ; his im-
mense labours, 304-5
Clay, Henry, orator, 404
Clergymen's sons, 13
Clive, Robert, 419
Clyde, Lord, 254, 271
Cobbett, William, author, 408
Cobden, Richard, 17 ; on
thrift, 344
Cockburn, Lord, on character,
45i
Coleridge, S. T., poet, 13, 396
Collingwood, Lord, on honest
poverty, 367 ; on mean
company, 433 ; on char-
acter, 459
Columbus, a careful observer,
143
Comic literature, 391
Constant, Benjamin, 394
Courageous working, 265
Cromwell, Oliver, on integrity
456
Cuneiform inscriptions, 121
Curran, J. P., 405
Cuvier, Baron, 151-2, 165
D
DAGUESSEAU, Chancellor of
France, 154, 437
INDEX
483
D'Alembert, 12, 404
Dalton, John, 113, 153
Dargan, William, on inde-
pendence, 5
Darwin, Dr., author, 154
Davy, Sir H., 12, 14, 149-50,
399, 422 ; on Coleridge,
151; in boyhood, 420
Deal boatmen, intrepidity of,
471
Decision, 380
Details, importance of, 352
Dick, Robert, geologist, 180
Difficulty, uses of, 400-6
Diligence indispensable, 21
Discoveries not accidental,
139
Dishonest gains, 337-8
Disraeli, Benjamin, 24, 27 ;
on Cobden's influence, 426
Douglas, anecdote of the,
435-6
Drake, Sir F., Admiral, 13 ;
character of, 479
Drew, Samuel, shoemaker and
metaphysician, 1 30 ; his
origin, 1 30 ; his career,
131-2; his studies, 132-3;
his writings, 135 ; on fru-
gality, 344-5. 377, 437
Drinking, vice of, 357
Dunces, illustrious, 306, 373,
417-22
ECONOMY and independence,
347-50
Edgeworth, Mr., 35, 432
Edwardes, Colonel, 13, 278
Edwards, Thomas, Banff,
10
Eldon, Lord, his career, 257
Erskine, Lord, his notes, 156 ;
on conduct, 453
Etruscan pottery, 79
Etty, William, 183 ; as a
worker, 217
Example, power of, 423-4,
429, 435
FARADAY, Professor, 12, 150
Ferguson, astronomer, 147,
377
Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, 468
Flaxman, John, sculptor, 108,
183 ; his life and works,
204-5 5 his wife, 208 ; his
' Anatomical Studies, 1 228
Foley Peerage, the founder
of, 241
Foster, John, 10, 112
Fox, C. J., 19 ; his pains-
taking, 319, 398
Francis, Emperor, 472
Franklin, Benjamin, and elec-
tricity, 144, 437 ; his in-
tegrity, 452
Franklin, Sir John, his tender-
ness, 473
French generals risen from
the ranks, 16
Fuller, Andrew, 376
GAINSBOROUGH, painter, 183,
187
Galileo's observing faculty,
142
Galvani and electricity, 144
Genius, definition of, 112,
146
Genteel life, 354
Gentleman, the true, 449,
467, 473
Gentleness, influence of, 460,
478
Geology, discoveries in, 171-
81
484
INDEX
Gesner, naturalist, 14
" Getting on," 388
Gibson, John, artist, 9, 222
Gifford, Wm., 10, 147
Good, Dr. Mason, 153
Government and individual
action, 2-3
Grant, Ulysses, in boyhood,
419
Grant, William and Charles,
464
Grote, Mr., historian, 313
Guthrie, Rev. Dr., and John
Pounds, 430
H
HABITS, importance of good,
457-8
Hale, Sir Matthew, as a stu-
dent, 155
Hall, Dr. Marshall, his dis-
coveries, 167
Handel, musician, 434-5
Hanway, Jonas, philanthro-
pist, 288-93
Hardinge, Lord, 13, 254
Harvey, and the circulation
of the blood, 162
Hastings, Warren, 13, 271-2
Hawkswood, Sir John, 10
Haydn, musician, 14, 434
Hay don, on debt, 351-2
Hazlitt, on business, 310
Health of great men, 374-6
Heathcoat, John, M.P., in-
ventor of bobbin-net ma-
chine, 50, 56-65
Heilmann, Joshua, invention
of the combing machine,
and its value, 74-8
Heroism, true, 474-7
Herschell, astronomer, n ;
his discoveries, 168
Hobson, Admiral, 10
Hoche, General, 16
Hodson of Hodson's Horse,
279, 441 ; on health, 372
Hogarth, Wm., painter, 187-8
Home influence, 424
! Honesty the best policy, 333-
36
Honour, the gentleman's
sense of, 468
Hook, Rev. Dr., on work, 116
Hope a helper, 117, 440
Horner, Francis, his father's
advice, 348 ; on good com-
pany, 433, 451
j Howard, John, 287, 420
Humbert, General, 16
Hume, Joseph, his work and
perseverance, 136 ; on high
living, 353
Hunter, John, anatomist, 9,
14, 113-4; his patient
industry, early life, and
career, 156-8, 386, 398
Hunter, William, anatomist,
157
I
IMMORTALITY in this world,
427
Impatience, 380-1
Independence, how secured,
347
India, Englishmen in, 475
Indian rebellion, 275-7
Indian swordsman, 274
Individualism and freedom,
1-4 ; its influence, 7
Industry, results of, 113 ;
industry and success, 183-5;
industry and the peerage,.
238 ; industry honourable,
359-62
Integrity, importance of, 452
Inventors, benefits to society,
34
Irving, Washington, on de-
serts, 318-9
INDEX
485
JACKSON, Stonewall, in boy-
hood, 419
Jackson, Wm., self-taught
musician, 233-7
Jackson, W., Birkenhead, 20
Jacquard, inventor, 65-9
Jenner, Dr., discoverer of
vaccination, 163
Jerrold, Douglas, on comic
literature, 391
Jervis, Admiral, on debt,
353-4
Johnson, Andrew, President
of the United States, 1 1
Johnson, Dr., on observation,
141 ; on genius, 146 ; on
impatience, 380 ; on look-
ing at the bright side, 459
Jones, Inigo, 9, 183
Jonson, Ben, 9
K
KEMP, George, architect, 219
Kepler, 12, 112
Knowledge and goodness, 383
LABOUR a blessing, 33
Labourers' sons, distin-
guished, 9
Lammenais" opinion on will,
267
Langdale, Lord, 259-61 ; on
mother's influence, 426-7
Lansdowne, Marquis of, on
Malesherbes, 433
Lansdowne peerage, the, 250
Late learners, 416
Lawrences, the, in India, 277
Layard, Austen, his persever-
ance, 13, 122
Learning and wisdom, 385
Lee, Professor, linguist, 9,
147 ; his perseverance, 413
Lee, Rev. Wm., inventor of
stocking-loom, 50-5
Ley den, John, his persever-
ance, 411-2
Lindsay, W. S., 19
Linnaeus, naturalist, 312
Literary culture, 384
Livingstone, Dr., missionary,
10, 284-7
Locke, John, on debt, 352
Loom, the Jacquard, 72
Lorraine, Claude, painter,
189-90
Loudon, landscape-gardener,
129
Loyola, Ignatius, 378, 438
Luddites, the, machine-
breakers, 62
Lyndhurst, Lord, defence of
Heathcoat's patent, 60 ;
on difficulty, 403
Lyons silk industry, 73
Lytton, Sir E. Bulwer, 26
M
MALESHERBES, M. de, 433
Malthus, D., on exercise, 371-2
Manners, their influence, 461-2
Mansfield, Lord, lawyer, 255,
302
Martin, John, artist, 184,
217-8
Massena, Marshal, 17
Mather, Cotton, his essays,
437
Melbourne, Lord, and Moore's
son, 314
Mendelssohn on criticism, 399
Method, 320
Meyerbeer, musician, 233
Mill, John Stuart, 4, 313
Miller, Hugh, geologist, his
origin, 22 ; on work as a
teacher, 33, 177, 240, 264 ;
on drink, 356
485
INDEX
Milton, John, 13 ; a man of
business, 312
Misfortune and stupidity, 317
Models of character, 434
Money, its use and abuse,
341 ; making and saving,
358-68
Montalembert on the Indian
rebellion, 277
Moreau, General, greatest in
defeat, 399
Mother's influence, 426
Motte, La, anecdote of, 477
Mulready, artist, 189
Murat, Marshal, 17
Murchison, Sir Roderick, 180
Murray, Professor Alexander,
406
Musicians, industry of, 232
N
NAPIER, Sir Charles, 273 ; on
debt, 354-5 ; on rectitude,
469
Napoleon and Jacquard, 72 ;
his character, and on will,
269 ; as a business man,
attentive to details, 325-8 ;
as a boy, 419
Navvies, anecdote of two
English, 472
Negroes and Granville Sharp,
295
Nelson, Admiral, 13 ; his
punctuality, 323
Newton, Sir I., sayings of,
112, 119, 140, 146; his
labour, 155 ; as a man of
business, 313, 373; a dull
boy, 417
Ney, Marshal, 17 ; generous
conduct, 474
Nicoll, Robert, poet, 397
Northcote, painter, 183, 435
Note-making, 155-6
OBSERVATION, intelligent, 141,
151. 175
Opie, painter, 9, 146, 183
Order, importance of, 151
Owen, Richard, naturalist, 14,
157
PALISSY, the potter, 79, 81-95
Pare, Ambrose, surgeon, 158-
62
Parental example, 425
Patient labour, its results, 5,
112, 116, 123, 404
Paton, Noel, artist, 223
Peasant, a noble, 470
Peel family, the, 44, 50
Peel, Sir Robert, statesman,
his cultivation of memory,
115 ; his truthfulness, 455
Peerages founded by trades-
men, 240 ; by lawyers, 255
Pergaeus and conic sections,
144
Perseverance, its value and
results, 83-92, 113, 118-26,
136, 152, 261, 318, 411-5 ;
commands success, 421
Perrier, Fran$ois, artist, 192
- Perseus,' casting of, 196-8
Petty, Sir William, and the
Lansdowne peerage, 250
Phipps, William, founder of
the Normanby peerage,
244-50
Physical health and educa-
tion, 372
Pleasure, pursuit of, 393
Politeness, 461-4
Pope, Alexander, 13, 429
Porcelain, invention of, 98
Potters, illustrious, 79
Pottery manufacture, 109, 206
Pounds, John, and Ragged
Schools, 430
INDEX
487
Poussin, Nicolas, artist, 140,
198-202
Priestley, Dr., 148
Promptitude, importance of,
321, 380, 447
Pugin, architect, 218
Punctuality, importance of,
126, 323
Purpose, force of, 263
R
RAMUS, Pierre, 1 5
Randon, Marshal, 18
Rawlinson, Sir Henry, his
perseverance, 121
Reading to bad purpose, 382
Rectitude of the gentleman,
468
Respectability, true, 366
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 13,
183-6, 208, 377, 403
Ricardo, David, 313
Riches and worth a tempta-
tion to ease, 23, 365, 368
Robbia, Lucca della, sculptor,
80
Robertson of Brighton, on
reading, 382 ; on kindness,
460
Robinson, Judge, and Curran,
406
Romilly, Sir Samuel, 25, 410,
437
Rosa, Salvator, 183
Ross, Dr., on intent men, 377
Rosse, Lord, 23
Russell, Earl, 24 ; on char-
acter, 450-1
ST. VINCENT, Lord, 254
Saxony, Elector of, and Bott-
gher, 96
Scheffer, Ary, artist, 202-4
Scott, John (Lord Eldon), 257
Scott, Sir Walter, 13; a
patient worker, 125-7, J 48,
313 ; on self-education, 369 ;
his athletic sports, 375 ; his
boyhood, 418
Self-culture, 369-70, 389
Self-denial, 343, 479
Self-help, spirit of, 1-6
Self-respect, 387
Shakespeare, 9, 312
Sharp, Granville, philanthro-
pist, 294-304 ; a cheerful
man, 440 ; on character, 455
Sharpies, James, artist and
blacksmith, 224-31
Sheridan, H. B., 418
Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, 10, 1 1
Sinclair, Sir John, his public
usefulness, his energy, his
works, 442-48
Slaves in England, 297
Smeaton, James, engineer,
I3 3S 373
Smith, Dr. Pye, 156
Smith, William, geologist, his
knowledge, 170-7
Soult, Marshal, risen from
the ranks, 17 ; loot in
Spain, 333
Southey, Robert, 13 ; on
abused powers, 391 ; his
industry, 396
Spencer, poet, as man of
business, 312
Spinoza, 312
Steam-engine, invention of, 35
Stephen of Colonna, saying
of, 453
Stephenson, George, 11 ; per-
severance, 1 20, 153, 373,
386 ; his play, 420
Sterling, J., 442
Stone, Edmund, 148, 377
Stothard, painter, 147
Stowell, Lord, 257
Strutts of Derby, 43, 252
488
INDEX
Sugden, Sir E., 255
Suwarrow on will, 269-70
Sydenham, saying of, 433
TAGLIONI, labours of, 115
Tailors, distinguished, 10
Taylor, Jeremy, 8 ; on idle-
ness, 372
Tempters of youth, 356-7
Tenterden, Lord, 8, 256-7
Thierry, Augustin, his noble
character, 395
Thrift, 343-6
Thornburn, R., artist, 222
Thoroughness, 378
Time, value of, 154, 321, 324
Titian, his industry, 185
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 29-30
Tools, education in use of,
373-4
Trifles, attention to, 140, 143,
318, 325, 425
Truthfulness, 455
Turner, artist, 8, 183, 190-1
VAUCANSON, inventor, 69-71
Vauquelin, chemist, 15
Vicissitudes of families, 239
Victor, Marshal, 17
Vincent, Earl St., on debt,
353-4
W
WALKER, author of { Ori-
ginal,' on will, 265
Washington, George, 399
Watt, James, 1 1 , 3 5-8 ; his per-
severance,"! 21 ; a thought-
ful observer, 142 ; 373
Weavers' sons, illustrious, 10
Wedgwood, Josiah, 79 ; char-
acter and reputation, 103-
10, 207
Wellesley, Marquis of, his
rectitude, 469
Wellington, Duke of, 254,
270, 400 ; a business man,
his honesty, 325, 328-34 ;
on accounts, 352 ; as a
boy, 419 ; on Sir R. Peel,
455 ; his rectitude, 468
West, Benjamin, painter, 147,
183, 186
Wilkie, Sir David, 13, 147,
183 ; his industry, 214
Will, power of, 266-70
Williams, John, missionary,
283
Wilson, Professor, 13, 375
Wilson, Richard, artist, 13,
183, 186
Wisdom, 385
Wolff, Dr., inspired by Xavier,
438
Wollaston, Dr., 13, 146
Worcester, Marquis of, and
steam-power, 23, 145
Wordsworth, Wm., poet, 13;
on self-reliance, 28, 313
Work, a necessity, 123, 216,
393
Wright, Captain, 9ist High-
landers, 477
Wright, Thomas, philan-
thropist, 360, 368
X
XAVIER, Francis, missionary,
280-3
YATES, PEEL & Co., 46-50
Young, Dr., philosopher, 13,
118, 141
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