reading

[2]The Rev. Whitwell Elwin, in his second volume of the works of Alexander Pope, at the end of his introduction to "An Essay on Man," p. 338, says: "M. Taine asserts that from the Restoration to the French Revolution, from Waller to Johnson, from Hobbes and Temple to Robertson and Hume, all our literature, both prose and verse, bears the impress of classic art. The mode, he says, culminated in the reign of Queen Anne, and Pope, he considers, was the extreme example of it.... Many of the most eminent authors who flourished between the English Restoration wrote in a style far removed from that which M. Taine calls classical... The verse differs like the prose, though in a less degree, and is not 'of a uniform make, as if fabricated by a machine.'... Neither is the substance of the prose and verse, from the Restoration to the French Revolution, an invariable common-sense mediocrity.... There is much truth in his (M. Taine's) view, that there was a growing tendency to cultivate style, and in some writers the art degenerated into the artificial."—Tr.

[3]R. Carruthers, "Life of Alexander Pope," 2d ed. 1857. ch. I. 33.

[4]It is very doubtful whether Pope was not older than sixteen when he wrote the Pastorals. See on this subject, Pope's Works, ed. Elwin, London, 1871, I. 230 et passim.—Tr.

[6]Pope's Works, ed. Elwin, I. 242.

[7]Johnson, "Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets." 3 vols. ed. Cunningham, 1854. A. Pope, III. 96.

[8]Johnson. "Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets"; A. Pope, III. 99.

[9]Boswell's "Life of Johnson," ch. LXXI. 670.

[10]Carruthers's "Life of Pope," ch. X. 377.

[11]Carruthers's "Life of Pope," ch. IV. 164.

[12]Johnson, "The Lives of the English Poets"; Alexander Pope, III. 114.

[15]Rev. W. Elwin, in his edition of Pope's Works, II. 224, says: "The authenticity of the Latin letters has usually been taken for granted, but I have a strong belief that they are a forgery.... It is far more likely that they are the fabrication of an unconcerned romancer, who speaks in the name of others with a latitude which people, not entirely degraded, would never adopt towards themselves. The suspicion is strengthened when the second party to the correspondence, the chief philosopher of his generation, exhibits the same exceptional depravity of taste."—Tr.

[17]Pope's Works, ed. Elwin; "Eloisa to Abelard," II. 245, lines 141-160.

[18]Ibid. II. 240, lines 51-58.
"Heav'n first taught letters for some
wretch's aid,
Some banished lover, or some captive
maid;
They live, they speak, they breathe
what love inspires,
Warm from the soul, and faithful to
its fires,
The virgin's wish without her fears
impart,
Excuse the blush, and pour out all
the heart,
Speed the soft intercourse from soul
to soul,
And waft a sigh from Indus to the
Pole."

[19]Ibid. II. 249, lines 207-222.

[20]Ibid. 255, line 317.

[21]"Eloisa to Abelard," II. 254, lines 297-302.

[22]M. Guillaume Guizot.

[23]Goethe sings:
"Liebe sei vor alien Dingen,
Unser Thema, wenn wir singen."

[24]See his "Epistle of the Characters of Women." According to Pope, this character is composed of love of pleasure and love of power.

[25]"Rape of the Lock," c. V. 181, line 141.

[26]Ibid. c. II. 153, lines 37-42.

[27]Ibid. c. IV. 169, line 52.

[28]Ibid. c. II. 156, line 107.

[29]Pope's Works, "The Dunciad," bk. I.

[31]"The Dunciad," bk. II.

[32]"The Dunciad," the end.

[33]Pope's Works, I. 352; "Windsor Forest," line 211.
"Oft in her glass the musing shepherd
spies
The headlong mountains and the
downward skies,
The wat'ry landscape of the pendant
woods,
And absent trees that tremble in the
floods."

[34]Ibid. I. 347; "Windsor Forest," lines 111-118.

[35]Ibid. II. 154; "The Rape of the Lock," c. 2, lines 47-68.

[36]Pope's Works, II. 160, "The Rape of the Lock," c. 3, 160, lines 37-44.

[37] "Peins-moi légèrement l'amant léger
de Flore,
Qu'un doux ruisseau murmure en
vers plus doux encore."

[38]A tale of J. J. Rousseau, in which he tries to depict a philosophical clergyman.—Tr.

[39]The "Théodicée" was written in French, and published in 1710.—Tr.

[40]These words are taken from the "Design of an Essay on Man."

[41]Pope's Works, II.; "An Essay on Man," Ep. II. 375, lines 1-18.

[42]Prior's Works, ed. Gilfillan, 1851: "In the remotest wood and lonely grot,
Certain to meet that worst of evils,
thought."

[43]"Alma," canto II. lines 937-978: "Your nicer Hottentots think meet
With guts and tripe to deck their feet;
With downcast looks on Totta's legs
The ogling youth most humbly begs,
She would not from his hopes remove
At once his breakfast and his
love....
Before you see you smell your toast,
And sweetest she who stinks the
most."

[44]The same duke who was afterwards nicknamed "the Butcher."

[45]"Poems on Several Occasions," by Mr. John Gay, 1745, 2 vols. II. 141.

[46]Ibid. The Poem to "The Shepherd's Week." I. 6.

[48]Gay's Poems, "The Shepherd's Week"; first pastoral, "The Squabble," p. 80.

[49]"Epistle to Mrs. Blount, on Her Leaving the Town."

[50]A French pastoral writer (1717-1803), who wrote, in imitation of Thomson, "Les Saisons."—Tr.

[51]Poetical Works of T. Thomson, ed. R. Bell, 1855, 2 vols.; II. "Spring," 18.

[55]Poetical Works of Thomson, "Liberty," part I. 102.

[56]Anthony Léonard Thomas (1732-1785) wrote memoirs and essays on the character of celebrated men in highly oratorical and pompous style.—Tr.

[57]See the paintings of David, called "Les Fêtes de la Révolution."

[58]Young's "Night Thoughts." Night the First: On Life, Death, and Immortality.

[59]Ibid. Night the Third: Narcissa.

[60]See Alison, "History of Europe"; Porter, "Progress of the Nation."

[61]In the "Fourth Estate," by F. Knight Hunt, 2 vols. 1840, it is said (I. 175) that the first daily and morning paper, "The Daily Courant," appeared in 1709.—Tr.

[62]To realize the contrast, compare Gil Blas and Ruy Blas, Marivaux's Paysan Parvenu and Stendhal's Julien Sorel (in "Rouge et Noir").

[63]The disciple of Faust.

[64]Goethe's "Faust," sc. 1.

[65]Most of these details are taken from the "Life and Works of Burns," by R. Chambers, 1851, 4 vols.

[67]My great constituent elements are pride and passion.

[68]Extract from Burns's commonplace-book; Chambers's "Life," I. 79.

[69]Ibid. I. 231. Burns had a right to think so; when he arrived at night in an inn, the very servants woke their fellow-laborers to come and hear him talk.

[71]"Man was made to Mourn," a dirge.

[72]"First Epistle to Davie, a brother poet."

[73]"Earnest Cry and Prayer to the Scotch Representatives."

[74]"The Creed of Poverty;" Chambers's "Life," IV. 86.

[75]"The Tree of Liberty."

[77]"The Holy Fair."

[78]"The Holy Fair."

[79]"Holy Willie's Prayer."

[80]"Epistle to the Rev. John M'math."

[81]"A Dedication to Gavin Hamilton."

[82]"Address to the Deil."

[83]He himself says: "I have been all along a miserable dupe to Love." His brother Gilbert said: "He was constantly the victim of some fair enslaver."

[84]Chambers's "Life of Burns," I. 12.

[85]Byron's Works, ed. Moore, 17 vols, II. 302, "Journal," Dec. 13, 1813.

[86]See a passage from Burns's commonplace-book in Chambers's "Life of Burns," I. 93.

[87]Chambers's "Life," I. 38.

[88]See "Tam o' Shanter. Address to the Deil, The Jolly Beggars, A Man's a Man for a' that, Green Grow the Rashes," etc.

[89]"O Clarinda, shall we not meet in a state, some yet unknown state of being, where the lavish hand of plenty shall minister to the highest wish of benevolence, and where the chill north-wind of prudence shall never blow over the flowery fields of enjoyment?"

[90]"Epistle to James Smith:"
"O Life, how pleasant is thy morning,
Young Fancy's rays the hills
adorning,
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson
spurning!"

[91]Chambers's "Life"; Letter to Mr. Js. Burnes, IV. 205.

[92]"The Speeches of William Pitt," 2d ed. 3 vols. 1808, II. 17, Jan. 21, 1794.

[93]"The Speeches of William Pitt," III. 152, Feb. 17, 1800.

[94]Macaulay's Works, VII.; "Life of William Pitt," 396.

[95]"The Works of W. Cowper," ed. Southey, 8 vols. 1843.

[99]"The Works of W. Cowper," I. 97.

[100]"The Works of W. Cowper," ed. Southey; Letter to the Rev. John Newton, July 12, 1780.

[101]Ibid. Letter to Rev. J. Newton, August 5, 1786.

[102]"The Task," IV; The Winter Evening.

[105]"The Task," IV; The Winter Evening.

[106]Crabbe may also be considered one of the masters and renovators of poetry, but his style is too classical, and he has been rightly nicknamed "a Pope in worsted stockings."

[107]"The Task," I; The Sofa.

[109]Wordsworth's Works, new edition, 1870, 6 vols.; "Descriptive Sketches during a Pedestrian Tour," I. 42.

[110]In English poetry as since modified, no one dreams of limiting the number of syllables, even in blank verse.—Tr.

[111]See "The Fudge Family."

[112]"The Epicurean."

[114]See also "The History of the Caliph Vathek," a fantastic but powerfully written tale, by W. Beckford, published first in French in 1784.

[115]See the notes of Southey, worse than those of Chateaubriand in the "Martyrs."

[116]"Edinburgh Review."

[117]Lockhart, "Life of Sir Walter Scott," 10 vols. 2d ed. 1839, II. ch. XXXVII. p. 170.

[118]Lockhart's "Life of Sir Walter Scott;" Autobiography, I. 62.

[119]Lockhart's "Life of Sir Walter Scott," Autobiography, I. 72.

[120]Ibid, VII; Abbotsford in 1825.

[121]If Constable's "Memorials" (3 vols. 1873) had been published when M. Taine wrote this portion of his work he perhaps would have seen reason to alter this opinion, because it is clear that, so far from Sir Walter's printer and publisher ruining him, they, if not ruined by Sir Walter, were only equal sharers with him in the imprudences that led to the disaster.—Tr.

[122]Lockhart's "Life," I. ch. VII. 269.

[123]Ibid. VI. ch. XLIX. 252.

[124]See the opening of "Ivanhoe": "Such being our chief scene, the date of our story refers to a period towards the end of the reign of Richard I., when his return from his long captivity had become an event rather wished than hoped for by his despairing subjects, who were in the meantime subjected to every species of subordinate oppression." It is impossible to write in a heavier style.

[125]Sir Walter Scott's Works, 48 vols., 1829; "The Antiquary," ch. VIII.

[126]Lockhart's "Life," X. 217.

[127]The Jansenists, the Puritans, and the Methodists are the extremes of this class.

[128]See the preface of his second edition of "Lyrical Ballads."

[129]"Feter Bell, The White Doe, The Kitten and Falling Leaves," etc.

[130] "This dull product of a scoffer's pen
Impure conceits discharging from a
heart
Hardened by impious pride!"

—Wordsworth's Works, 7 vols. 1849; "The Excursion," book 2; "The Solitary."

[131]Wordsworth's Works, 7 vols. 1849, VII; "The Excursion," Preface, 11.

[132]Wordsworth's Works, 7 vols. 1849, VII. book 9; "Discourse of the Wanderer," opening verses, 315.

[133]Ibid. VII; "The Excursion," book 4; "Despondency Corrected," 137.

[134]Ibid, VII; "The Excursion," book 4; "Despondency Corrected," 149.

[135]Ibid, last lines of book 5, "The Pastor," 20.

[136]See also the novels of Godwin, "Caleb Williams" and others.

[137]"Queen Mab," and notes. At Oxford Shelley issued a kind of thesis, calling it "On the Necessity of Atheism."

[138]Some time before his death, when he was twenty-nine, he said, "If I die now, I shall have lived as long as my father."

[139]See in Shelley's Works, 1853, "The Witch of Atlas, The Cloud, To a Sky-lark," the end of "The Revolt of Islam, Alastor," and the whole of "Prometheus."

[140]"The Cloud," c. III. 502.

[141]Ibid. c. IV. 503.

[142]Shelley's Works, 1853, "The Sensitive Plant," 490.

[143]"Our life is turned out of her course, whenever man is made an offering, a sacrifice, a tool, or implement, a passive thing employed as a brute mean."—Wordsworth, "The Excursion."

[144]Byron's Works, ed. Moore, 17 vols. 1832; "Life," I. 102.

[149]Byron's Works, "Life," I. 53.

[151]Ibid. III. 20, March 28, 1814.

[152]Ibid. IV. 81; Letter to Moore, Feb. 12, 1818.

[153]Byron's Works, "Life," V. 96, Feb. 2, 1821.

[154]Lockhart's "Life of Sir Walter Scott," VII. 323.

[155]"If I was born, as the nurses say, with a 'silver spoon in my mouth,' it has stuck in my throat, and spoiled my palate, so that nothing put into it is swallowed with much relish—unless it be cayenne.... I see no such horror in a dreamless sleep, and I have no conception of any existence which duration would not make tiresome."

[156]"I like Junius: he was a good hater. I don't understand yielding sensitiveness. What I feel is an immense rage for forty-eight hours."

[157]Byron's Works, "Life," I. 41.

[158]In "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."

[159]Lockhart's "Life of Sir Walter Scott," III. 389.

[161]Moore's "Life of Byron," III. 12, March 10, Thor's day. The last part of the sentence is a quotation from "Macbeth," V. 5.

[162]Ibid. IV. 169, note.

[163]Moore, Byron's Works; "Life," V. 67, Jan. 9, 1821.

[164]Ibid. V. 60, Jan. 6, 1821.

[165]Moore, Byron's Works; "Life," V. 97, February 2, 1821.

[168]Moore, Byron's Works; "Life," V. 33, Ravenna, Nov. 18, 1820.

[169]Moore, Byron's Works; "Life," V. 265.

[170]Ibid. V. 150, Ravenna, May 3, 1821.

[171]"All the styles of the day are bombastic. I don't except my own; no one has done more through negligence to corrupt the language."

[172]See his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers."

[173]Thirty thousand copies of "The Corsair" were sold in one day.

[174]Byron's Works, VIII; "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," c. I. 6.

[175]"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," c. I. 19.

[176]"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," c. III. 7-15.

[177]"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," c. IV. 1 and 2.

[178]"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," c. I. 39 and 40.

[179]Ibid. c. IV. 93 and 94.

[180]For example, "as weeping Beauty's cheek at Sorrow's tale."

[181]Here are verses like Pope, very beautiful and false:
"And havock loath so much the waste
of time,
She scarce had left an uncommitted
crime,
One hour beheld him since the tide
he stemm'd,
Disguised, discover'd, conquering,
ta'en condemn'd,
A chief on land, an outlaw on the
deep,
Destroying, saving, prison'd, and
asleep!"

[182]Moore's "Life," IV. 345.

[183]Byron's Works, X., "The Prisoner of Chillon," c. VII. 234.

[184]Byron's Works, X., "The Prisoner of Chillon," c. VIII. 236.

[185]Ibid, XI., "Mazeppa," c. XIII. 167.

[186]Byron's Works, X., "The Siege of Corinth," c. XI. 116.

[187]Byron's Works, X., "The Siege of Corinth," c. XVI. 123.

[188]Byron's Works, X; "Lara," c. 2, st. 17-20, 60.

[189]Byron's Works, X; "Darkness," 283.

[190]Byron's Works, IV. 320; Letter to Mr. Murray, Ravenna, June 7, 1820.

[191]The angel of holy loves, the angel of the ocean, the choirs of happy spirits. See this at length in the "Martyrs."

[192]"Magna peccatrix." S. Lucæ. VII. 36: "Mulier Samaritana." S. Johannis, IV; "Maria Ægyptiaca" (Acta Sanctorum), etc.

[193]Goethe's "Faust," translated by Theodore Martin. Prologue in Heaven.

[194]Goethe sings:
"Wer ruft das Einzelne zur allgemeinen Weihe
Wo es in herrlichen Accorden schlägt?"

[195]Byron's Works, XI; "Manfred," II. 2, 32.

[196]Ibid.; "Manfred," III. 1, 56.

[197]Ibid.; "Manfred," II. 2, 35.

[198]Byron's Works, XI; "Manfred," II. 4, 47.

[199]Byron's Works, XI; "Manfred," II. 4, 49.

[200]Ibid. III. 4. 70.

[201]Southey, Preface to "A Vision of Judgment."

[202]Byron's Works, XVII; "Don Juan," c. 11, st. LXVII.

[203]Ibid. VI. 18; Letter 512, April 5, 1823.

[204]Ibid. II. 303; Journal, December 17, 1813.

[205]Alfred de Musset.

[206]See his terrible satirical poem, "The Vision of Judgment," against Southey, George IV, and official pomp.

[207]Byron's Works, XVI. 131; Preface to "Don Juan," cantos VI., VII., and VIII.

[208]"Don Juan" is a satire on the abuses in the present state of society, and not a eulogy of vice.

[209]Stendhal, "Mémoires sur Lord Byron."

[210]Byron's Works, III. 333; Letter to Murray, Venice, January 2, 1817.

[211]Ibid. III. 363; Letter to Moore, Venice, March 25, 1817.

[212]Byron's Works, IV. 279; Letter to Murray. Ravenna, February 7, 1820.

[213]Ibid. XI; "Beppo," c. XLIII-XLV. 121.

[214]See Stendhal, "Vie de Giacomo Rossini," and Dean Stanley's "Life of Dr. Arnold." The contrast is complete. See also Mme. de Staël's "Corinne," where this opposition is very clearly grasped.

[215]Byron's Works, V. 127; Letter to Mr. Murray, Ravenna, February 16, 1821.

[216]Ibid. XVI; "Don Juan," c. VI. st. LXVI-LXVIII.

[217]Byron's Works, "Don Juan," c. VI. st. LX.

[218]Byron's Works, XV; "Don Juan," c. II. st. CLXXVII-CLXXXVIII.

[219]Ibid, XV; "Don Juan," c. II. st CXC.

[220]Ibid. c. II. st. CXCII.

[221]Byron says (V. October 12, 1820), "Don Juan is too true, and would. I suspect, live longer than Childe Harold. The women hate many things which strip off the tinsel of sentiment."

[222]"Don Juan," c. VII. st. 2. "I hope it is no crime to laugh at all things. For I wish to know what, after all, are all things—but a show?"

[223]Byron's Works, XV; "Don Juan," c. II. st. XIX-XXIII.

[224]Ibid. c. III. st. V.

[225]Ibid. c. III. st. XXIII.

[226]Ibid. c. II. st. CLXXVIII., CLXXIX.

[227]Byron's Works, XV; "Don Juan," c. II. st. LXXXI.

[228]Byron had before him a dozen authentic descriptions.

[229]Byron's Works, XVI; "Don Juan," c. VII. st. 7.

[230]See his "Vision of Judgment."

[231]See the "Travels of Madame d'Aulnay in Spain," at the end of the seventeenth century. Nothing is more striking than this revolution, if we compare it with the times before Ferdinand the Catholic, namely the reign of Henry IV, the great power of the nobles, and the independence of the towns. Read about this history, Buckle's "History of Civilization," 1867, 3 vols. II. ch. VIII.

[232]Buckle, "History of Civilization," I. ch. VII.

[233]Léonce de Lavergne, "Economie rurale en Angleterre," passim.

[234]De Foe was of the same opinion, and pretended that economy was not an English virtue, and that an Englishman can hardly live with twenty shillings a week, while a Dutchman with the same money becomes wealthy, and leaves his children very well off. An English laborer lives poor and wretchedly with nine shillings a week, whilst a Dutchman lives very comfortably with the same wages.

[235]In familiar language, the father is called in England the "governor"; in France "le banquier."

[236]Let the reader, amongst many others, peruse the sermons of Dr. Arnold, delivered in the school chapel at Rugby.

[237]"The Wide, Wide World," by Elizabeth Wetherell (an American book). See also the novels of Miss Yonge, and chiefly those of George Eliot.

[238]Taine was not wrong in thinking so. In the "Life of Charles Dickens" by J. Forster we find (vol. I. p. 8) the following words: "And here I may at once expressly mention, what already has been hinted, that even as Fielding described himself and his belongings in Captain Booth and Amelia, and protested always that he had writ in his books nothing more than he had seen in life, so it may be said of Dickens, in more especial relation to David Copperfield. Many guesses have been made since his death, connecting David's autobiography with his own. ... There is not only truth in all this, but it will very shortly be seen that the identity went deeper than any had supposed, and covered experiences not less startling in the reality than they appear to be in the fiction."—Tr.

[239]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. XLII. The translator has used the "Charles Dickens" edition, 1868, 18 vols.

[240]"It was small tyranny for a respectable wind to go wreaking its vengeance on such poor creatures as the fallen leaves; but this wind happening to come up with a great heap of them just after venting its humour on the insulted Dragon, did so disperse and scatter them that they fled away, pell-mell, some here, some there, rolling over each other, whirling round and round upon their thin edges, taking frantic flights into the air, and playing all manner of extraordinary gambols in the extremity of their distress. Nor was this enough for its malicious fury: for, not content with driving them abroad, it charged small parties of them and hunted them into the wheel-wright's saw-pit, and below the planks and timbers in the yard, and, scattering the sawdust in the air, it looked for them underneath, and when it did meet with any, whew! how it drove them on and followed at their heels!

"The scared leaves only flew the faster for all this, and a giddy chase it was: for they got into unfrequented places, where there was no outlet, and where their pursuer kept them eddying round and round at his pleasure; and they crept under the eaves of houses, and clung tightly to the sides of hayricks, like bats; and tore in at open chamber windows, and cowered close to hedges; and, in short, went anywhere for safety."—"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. II.

[241]"The Chimes," first quarter.

[242]"The Chimes," first quarter.

[243]"Martin Chuzzlewit." ch. XLV.

[244]"Dombey and Son," ch. IV.

[245]See ante, vol. I. note, page 393.

[246]"David Copperfield," ch. V.

[247]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. XXXVI.

[248]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. LI.

[249]Novels of George Sand.

[250]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. XXXVI.

[251]"Hard Times," bk. 3, ch. VI.

[253]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. VIII.

[255]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. XIX.

[256]"The Chimes," the first quarter.

[257]A living French author, whose dramas are all said to have a moral purpose.—Tr.

[258]"David Copperfield," ch. LXV; the scene between the doctor and his wife.

[259] "Et je verrais mourir frère, enfants,
mère, et femme
Que je m'en soucierais autant que
de cela."

These lines, said by Orgon to his brother-in-law Cléante, are from Molière's "Tartuffe," I. 6.

[260]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. II.

[261]"Martin Chuzzlewit," ch. VIII.

[262]"Hard Times," book I. ch. I.

[263]Ibid, book I. ch. II.

[264]"Vanity Fair." Unless the original octavo edition is mentioned, the translator has always used the collected edition of Thackeray's works in small octavo, 1855-1868, 14 vols.

[265]"Vanity Fair," ch. XIX.

[266]"Vanity Fair," ch. IX.

[267]Thackeray, in his "Book of Snobs," says: "Their usual English expression of intense gloom and subdued agony."

[268]"The Edinburgh Review."

[269]See the character of Amelia in "Vanity Fair," and of Colonel Newcome in the "Newcomes."

[270]"The Book of Snobs," ch. XVI; On Literary Snobs.

[271]Stendhal says: "L'esprit et le génie perdent vingt-cinq pour cent de leur valeur en abordant en Angleterre."

[272]These remarks are only to be found in the octavo edition of "Pendennis."—Tr.

[273]"The History of Samuel Titmarsh and the Great Hoggarty Diamond," ch. XI.

[275]"The Book of Snobs," ch. I., The Snob playfully dealt with.

[276]"Pendennis," ch. LIV.

[278]Ibid. ch. LIII.

[280]"Pendennis," ch. XXI. This passage is only found in the octavo edition.—Tr.

[282]Ibid. ch. XXI. These words are only found in the octavo edition.—Tr.

[284]See, for example, in the "Great Hoggarty Diamond," the death of the little child. The "Book of Snobs" ends thus: "Fun is good. Truth is still better, and Love best of all."

[285]"The Book of Snobs," last chapter.

[286]"Vanity Fair," ch. XLVIII. This passage is only found in the original octavo edition.—Tr.

[287]"Vanity Fair," ch. XLIX.

[288]"Pendennis," ch. LX.

[289]"The Book of Snobs," ch. VIII; Great City Snobs.

[290]"The Book of Snobs," ch. XXVI; On Some Country Snobs.

[291]"Vanity Fair," ch. IV.

[293]"Vanity Fair," ch. XXX.

[294]"The History of Henry Esmond," bk. I. ch. I.

[295]Ibid. bk. I. ch. VII.

[296]Ibid. bk. II. ch. I.

[297]"The History of Henry Esmond," bk. III. ch. II.

[298]"The History of Henry Esmond," bk. III. ch. XIII.

[299]Macaulay's Works, ed. Lady Trevelyan, 8 vols. 1866; "Essay on Bacon," VI. 222.

[300]Macaulay's Works; "Essay on Bacon," VI. 223.

[301]"Charles himself, and his creature Laud, while they abjured the innocent badges of Popery, retained all its worst vices—a complete subjection of reason to authority, a weak preference of form to substance, a childish passion for mummeries, an idolatrous veneration for the priestly character, and, above all, a merciless intolerance."—Macaulay, V. 24; Milton.

"It is difficult to relate without a pitying smile, that in the sacrifice of the mass, Loyola saw transubstantiation take place, and that, as he stood praying on the steps of the Church of St. Dominic, he saw the Trinity in Unity, and wept aloud with joy and wonder."—Macaulay, VI. 468; Ranke, "History of the Popes."

[302]Macaulay, VI. 39; An Essay on William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.

[303]Macaulay, V. 27; Milton.

[304]Macaulay, V. 35; Milton.

[305]Macaulay, VII. 109; "Life and Writings of Addison."

[306]See in his "Essay on the Life and Writings of Addison" (VII. 78) Macaulay's observations on the "Campaign."

[307]Macaulay, VI. 549; "Warren Hastings."

[309]Macaulay, VI. 555; "Warren Hastings."

[310]Ibid. VI. 619; "Warren Hastings."

[311]Béranger, "Chansons," 2 vols. 1853; Les Boxeurs, ou L'Anglomane.

[312]Macaulay, V. 333; "Southey's Colloquies on Society."

[313]Macaulay, V. 204; "Hallam's Constitutional History."

[314]Ibid. 587; "Burleigh and his Times."

[315]Macaulay, VI. 491; "Comic Dramatists of the Restoration."

[316]Ibid. V. 672; "Lord Mahon's War of the Succession in Spain."

[317]Macaulay, V. 31; "Milton."

[318]Ibid. 595; "Burleigh and his Times."

[319]Macaulay, VI. 628; "Warren Hastings."

[320]Macaulay, I. 2; "History of England before the Restoration," ch. I.

[321]Macaulay, II. 463, "History of England," ch. XI.

[322]Macaulay, II. 465, "History of England," ch. XI.

[323]Macaulay, III. 513, "History of England," ch. XVIII.

[324]Macaulay, III. 519, "History of England," ch. XVIII.

[325]Macaulay, III. 526, "History of England," ch. XVIII.

[326]Because the Kalmucks put written prayers into a calabash turned by the wind, which in their opinion produces a perpetual adoration. In the same way are the prayer-mills of Thibet used.

[327]The "Life of John Sterling," ch. V; "A Profession."

[328]"Sartor Resartus," 1868, bk. II. ch. VIII; Centre of Indifference.

[329]"History of the French Révolution," bk. I. ch. II; Realised Ideals.

[330]In the "Adoration of the Magi."

[331]"Latter-Day Pamphlets," 1850; Stump Orator, 35.

[332]"The French Revolution," I. bk. III. ch. VII; Internecine.

[333]"Cromwell's Letters and Speeches," III. X; the end.

[334]"Life of Sterling."

[335]"Sartor Resartus," bk. I. ch. X; Pure Reason.

[337]Ibid. bk. III. ch. I; Incident in Modern History.

[338]"Sailor Resartus," bk. III. ch. X; The Dandiacal Body.

[339]"Sailor Resartus," bk. III. ch. X; The Dandiacal Body.

[342]"Latter-Day Pamphlets," 1850; Jesuitism, 28.

[343]In "Past and Present," bk. II.

[344]Ibid. ch. I; Jocelin of Brakelond.

[345]Ibid. ch. II; St. Edmondsbury.

[346]"Lectures on Heroes," 1868.

[347]"Lectures on Heroes," I: The Hero as Divinity.

[348]"Sartor Resartus," bk. I, ch, VIII; The World out of Clothes.

[349]Goethe, the greatest of them all.

[351]In particular, Stanley and Jowett.

[352]"Sartor Resartus," bk. I. ch. XI; Prospective.

[353]Ibid. bk. I. ch. X; Pure Reason.

[355]Ibid. bk. I. ch. XI; Prospective.

[356]"Sartor Resartus," bk. III. ch. III; Symbols.

[357]Ibid. bk. III. ch. VIII; Natural Supernaturalism.

[360]"Sartor Resartus," bk. I. ch. X; Pure Reason.

[361]Ibid. bk. III. ch. VIII; Natural Supernaturalism.

[363]"Sartor Resartus," bk. I. ch. X; Pre Reason.

[364]Ibid. bk. III. ch. VIII; Natural Supernaturalism.

[366]"Sartor Resartus," bk. II. ch. VII; The Everlasting No.

[367]"Only this I know: If what thou namest Happiness be our true aim, then are we all astray. With Stupidity and sound Digestion man may front much. But what, in these dull, unimaginative days, are the terrors of Conscience to the diseases of the Liver! Not on Morality, but on Cookery, let us build our stronghold: there brandishing our frying-pan, as censer, let us offer sweet incense to the Devil, and live at ease on the fat things he has provided for his Elect!"—"Sartor Resartus," bk. II. ch. VII.

[368]"Lectures on Heroes."

[369]"Sartor Resartus," bk. II. ch. IX; The Everlasting Yea.

[370]Ibid. bk. III. ch. II; Church Clothes.

[371]"Lectures on Heroes," I; The Hero as Divinity.

[372]"Lectures on Heroes," I; The Hero as Divinity.

[373]Ibid, IV; The Hero as Priest.

[375]"Past and Present," bk. III. ch. XV; Morrison Again.

[376]Ibid. bk. III. ch. XII; Reward.

[377]"Lectures on Heroes;" Miscellanies, passim.

[378]"Life of Sterling."

[379]"Critical and Miscellaneous Essays," 4 vols.; II. Voltaire.

[380]See this double praise in "Wilhelm Meister."

[381]"Lectures on Heroes," I; The Hero as Divinity.

[382]Ibid. II; The Hero as Prophet.

[383]"Cromwell's Letters and Speeches," III. part X; Death of the Protector.

[384]"Lectures on Heroes," I; The Hero as Divinity.

[386]"Lectures on Heroes," I; The Hero as Divinity.

[387]Ibid. IV; The Hero as Priest.

[388]"Lectures on Heroes," VI; The Hero as King.

[390]"The French Revolution," I. bk. VI. ch. I; Make the Constitution.

[392]"Past and Present," bk. III. ch. I; Phenomena.

[393]"It is his effort and desire to teach this and the other thinking British man that said finale, the advent namely of actual open Anarchy, cannot be distant, now when virtual disguised Anarchy, long-continued, and waxing daily, has got to such a height; and that the one method of staving off the fatal consummation, and steering towards the Continents of the Future, lies not in the direction of reforming Parliament, but of what he calls reforming Downing Street; a thing infinitely urgent to be begun, and to be strenuously carried on. To find a Parliament more and more the express image of the People, could, unless the people chanced to be wise as well as miserable, give him no satisfaction. Not this at all; but to find some sort of King, made in the image of God, who could a little achieve for the People, if not their spoken wishes, yet their dumb wants, and what they would at last find to have been their instinctive will—which is a far different matter usually, in this babbling world of ours."—Parliaments, in "Latter-Day Pamphlets."

"A king or leader, then, in all bodies of men, there must be; be their work what it may, there is one man here who by character, faculty, position, is fittest of all to do it.

"He who is to be my ruler, whose will is to be higher than my will, was chosen for me in Heaven. Neither, except in such obedience to the Heaven-chosen, is freedom so much as conceivable."

[394]Official Report, 1842.

[395]"Latter-Day Pamphlets;" Parliaments.

[396]M. Taine has published this "Study on Mill" separately, and preceded it by the following note, as a preface:—"When this Study first appeared, Mr. Mill did me the honor to write to me that it would not be possible to give in a few pages a more exact and complete notion of the contents of his work, considered as a body of philosophical teaching. 'But,' he added, 'I think you are wrong in regarding the views I adopt as especially English. They were so in the first half of the eighteenth century, from the time of Locke to that of the reaction against Hume. This reaction, beginning in Scotland, assumed long ago the German form, find ended by prevailing universally. When I wrote my book, I stood almost alone in my opinions; and though they have met with a degree of sympathy which I by no means expected, we may still count in England twenty à priori and spiritualist philosophers for every partisan of the doctrine of Experience.'

"This remark is very true. I myself could have made it, having been brought up in the doctrines of Scottish philosophy and the writings of Reid. I simply answer, that there are philosophers whom we do not count, and that all such, whether English or not, spiritualist or not, may be neglected without much harm. Once in a half-century, or perhaps in a century, or two centuries, some thinker appears; Bacon and Hume in England, Descartes and Condillac in France, Kant and Hegel in Germany. At other times the stage is unoccupied, or ordinary men come forward, and offer the public that which the public likes—Sensualists or Idealists, according to the tendency of the day, with sufficient instruction and skill to play leading parts, and enough capacity to reset old airs, well drilled in the works of their predecessors, but destitute of real invention—simple executant musicians, who stand in the place of composers. In Europe, at present, the stage is a blank. The Germans adapt and alter effete French materialism. The French listen from habit, but somewhat wearily and distractedly, to the scraps of melody and eloquent commonplace which their instructors have repeated to them for the last thirty years. In this deep silence, and from among these dull mediocrities, a master comes forward to speak. Nothing of the sort has been seen since Hegel."

[397]This law has been abrogated by an Act of Parliament.—Tr.

[398]"It is certain, then, that a part of our notion of a body consists of the notion of a number of sensations of our own, or of other sentient beings, habitually occurring simultaneously. My conception of the table at which I am writing is compounded of its visible form and size, which are complex sensations of sight; its tangible form and size, which are complex sensations of our organs of touch and of our muscles; its weight, which is also a sensation of touch and of the muscles; its colour, which is a sensation of sight; its hardness, which is a sensation of the muscles; its composition, which is another word for all the varieties of sensation which we receive, under various circumstances, from the wood of which it is made, and so forth. All, or most of these various sensations, frequently arc, and, as we learn by experience, always might be, experienced simultaneously, or in many different orders of succession, at our own choice: and hence the thought of any one of them makes us think of the others, and the whole becomes mentally amalgamated into one mixed state of consciousness, which, in the language of Locke and Hartley, is termed a Complex Idea."—Mill's "System of Logic," 4th ed. 2 vols. I. 62.

[399]Mill's "Logic," I. 68.

[400]"Every attribute of a mind consists either in being itself affected in a certain way, or affecting other minds in a certain way. Considered in itself, we can predicate nothing of it but the series of its own feelings. When we say of any mind, that it is devout, or superstitious, or meditative, or cheerful, we mean that the ideas, emotions, or volitions implied in those words, form a frequently recurring part of the series of feelings, or states of consciousness, which fill up the sentient existence of that mind.

"In addition, however, to those attributes of a mind which are grounded on its own states of feeling, attributes may also be ascribed to it, in the same manner as to a body, grounded on the feelings which it excites in other minds. A mind does not, indeed, like a body, excite sensations, but it may excite thoughts or emotions. The most important example of attributes ascribed on this ground, is the employment of terms expressive of approbation or blame. When, for example, we say of any character, or (in other words) of any mind, that it is admirable, we mean that the contemplation of it excites the sentiment of admiration; and, indeed, somewhat more, for the word implies that we not only feel admiration, but approve that sentiment in ourselves. In some cases, under the semblance of a single attribute, two are really predicated: one of them, a state of the mind itself; the other, a state with which other minds are affected by thinking of it. As when we say of anyone that he is generous. The word generosity expresses a certain state of mind, but being a term of praise, it also expresses that this state of mind excites in us another mental state, called approbation. The assertion made, therefore, is twofold, and of the following purport: Certain feelings form habitually a part of this person's sentient existence; and the idea of those feelings of his, excites the sentiment of approbation in ourselves or others."—Mill's "Logic," 80.

[401]Mill's "Logic," 110.

[402]"According to idealist logicians, this being is arrived at by examining our notion of it; and the idea, on analysis, reveals the essence. According to the classifying school, we arrive at the being by placing the object in its group, and the notion is defined by stating the genus and the difference. Both agree in believing that we are capable of grasping the essence."—Mill's "Logic," I. 127.

[403]"An essential proposition, then, is one which is purely verbal; which asserts of a thing under a particular name, only what is asserted of it in the fact of calling it by that name; and which, therefore, either gives no information, or gives it respecting the name, not the thing. Non-essential or accidental propositions, on the contrary, may be called Real Propositions, in opposition to Verbal. They predicate of a thing, some fact not involved in the signification of the name by which the proposition speaks of it; some attribute not connoted by that name."—Mill's "Logic," I. 127.

[404]Mill's "Logic," I. 162.

[405]"The definition above given of a triangle obviously comprises not one, but two propositions, perfectly distinguishable. The one is, 'There may exist a figure bounded by three straight lines the other. 'And this figure may be termed a triangle.' The former of these propositions is not a definition at all; the latter is a mere nominal definition, or explanation of the use and application of a term. The first is susceptible of truth or falsehoods, and may therefore be made the foundation of a train of reasoning. The latter can neither be true nor false; the only character it is susceptible of is that of conformity to the ordinary usage of language."—Mill's "Logic," I. 162.

[406]Mill's "Logic," I. 211.

[407]Mill's "Logic," I. 218.

[409]"For though, in order actually to see that two given lines never meet, it would be necessary to follow them to infinity; yet, without doing so, we may know that if they ever do meet, or if, after diverging from one another, they begin again to approach, this must take place not at an infinite, but at a finite distance. Supposing, therefore, such to be the case, we can transport ourselves thither in imagination, and can frame a mental image of the appearance which one or both of the lines must present at that point, which we may rely on as being precisely similar to the reality. Now, whether we fix our contemplation upon this imaginary picture, or call to mind the generalizations we have had occasion to make from former ocular observation, we learn by the evidence of experience, that a line which, after diverging from another straight line, begins to approach to it, produces the impression on our senses which we describe by the expression 'a bent line,' not by the expression 'a straight line.'"—Mill's "Logic," I. 364.

[410]Mill's "Logic," I. 315.

[411]"We must first observe, that there is a principle implied in the very statement of what Induction is; an assumption with regard to the course of nature and the order of the universe; namely, that there are such things in nature as parallel cases; that what happens once, will, under a sufficient degree of similarity of circumstances, happen again, and not only again, but as often as the same circumstances recur. This, I say, is an assumption, involved in every case of induction. And, if we consult the actual course of nature, we find that the assumption is warranted. The universe, so far as known to us, is so constituted, that whatever is true in any one case, is true in all cases of a certain description; the only difficulty is, to find what description."—Mill's "Logic," I. 337.

[412]Mill's "Logic," I. 351.

[413]Mill's "Logic," I. 359.

[416]Mill's "Logic," I. 372.

[417]"If we take fifty crucibles of molten matter and let them cool, and fifty solutions and let them evaporate, all will crystallize. Sulphur, sugar, alum, salt—substances, temperatures, circumstances—all are as different as they can be. We find one, and only one, common fact—the change from the liquid to the solid state—and conclude, therefore, that this change is the invariable antecedent of crystallization. Here we have an example of the Method of Agreement. Its canon is:—

"'I. If two or more instances of the phenomenon under investigation have only one circumstance in common, the circumstance in which alone all the instances agree, is the cause (or effect) of the given phenomenon.'"—Ibid. I. 422.

[418]"A bird in the air breathes; plunged into carbonic acid gas, it ceases to breathe. In other words, in the second case, suffocation ensues. In other respects the two cases are as similar as possible, since we have the same bird in both, and they take place in immediate succession. They differ only in the circumstance of immersion in carbonic acid gas being substituted for immersion in the atmosphere, and we conclude that this circumstance is invariably followed by suffocation. The Method of Difference is here employed. Its canon is:—

"'II. If an instance in which the phenomenon under investigation occurs, and an instance in which it does not occur, have every circumstance in common save one, that one occurring only in the former; the circumstance in which alone the two instances differ, is the effect, or the cause, or a necessary part of the cause, of the phenomenon.'"—Ibid. I. 423.

[419]("A combination of these methods is sometimes employed, and is termed the Indirect Method of Difference, or the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference. It is, in fact, a double employment of the Method of Agreement, first applying that method to instances in which the phenomenon in question occurs, and then to instances in which it does not occur. The following is its canon:—

"'III. If two or more instances in which the phenomenon occurs have only one circumstance in common, while two or more instances in which it does not occur have nothing in common, save the absence of that circumstance; the circumstance in which alone the two sets of instances differ, is the effect, or the cause, or a necessary part of the cause, of the phenomenon.'")—Mill's "Logic," I. 429.

"If we take two groups—one of antecedents and one of consequents—and can succeed in connecting by previous investigations all the antecedents but one to their respective consequents, and all the consequents but one to their respective antecedents, we conclude that the remaining antecedent is connected to the remaining consequent. For example, scientific men had calculated what ought to be the velocity of sound according to the laws of the propagation of sonorous waves, but found that a sound actually travelled quicker than their calculations had indicated. This surplus, or residue of speed, was a consequent for which an antecedent had to be found. Laplace discovered the antecedent in the heat developed by the condensation of each sonorous wave, and this new element, when introduced into the calculation, rendered it perfectly accurate. This is an example of the Method of Residues, the canon of which is as follows:—

"'IV. Subduct from any phenomenon such part as is known by previous inductions to be the effect of certain antecedents, and the residue of the phenomenon is the effect of the remaining antecedents.'"—Mill's "Logic," I. 431.

[420]"Let us take two facts—as the presence of the earth and the oscillation of the pendulum; or, again, the presence of the moon and the flow of the tide. To connect these phenomena directly, we should have to suppress the first of them, and see if this suppression would occasion the stoppage of the second. Now, in both instances, such suppression is impossible. So we employ an indirect means of connecting the phenomena. We observe that all the variations of the one correspond to certain variations of the other; that all the oscillations of the pendulum correspond to certain different positions of the earth; that all states of the tide correspond to positions of the moon. From this we conclude that the second fact is the antecedent of the first. These are examples of the Method of Concomitant Variations. Its canon is:—

"'V. Whatever phenomenon varies in any manner whenever another phenomenon varies in some particular manner, is either a cause or an effect of that phenomenon, or is connected with it through some fact of causation.'"—Mill's "Logic," I. 435.

[421]"The Method of Agreement," says Mill ("Logic," I. 4-14), "stands on the ground that whatever can be eliminated, is not connected with the phenomenon by any law. The Method of Difference has for its foundation, that whatever cannot be eliminated, is connected with the phenomenon by a law." The Method of Residues is a case of the Method of Differences. The Method of Concomitant Variations is another case of the same method; with this distinction, that it is applied, not to the phenomena, but to their variations.

[422]This quotation, and all the others in this paragraph, are taken from Mill's "Logic," I. 451-9. Mr. Mill quotes from Sir John Herschel's "Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy."

[423]Mill's "Logic," I. 526.

[424]See chapter 9, book VI. V. 2, 478, on The Physical or Concrete Deductive Method as applied to Sociology; and chapter 13, book III, for explanations, after Liebig, of Decomposition, Respiration, the Action of Poisons, etc. A whole book is devoted to the logic of the moral sciences; I know no better treatise on the subject.

[425]Mill's "Logic," II. 4.

[426]"There exists in nature a number of Permanent Causes, which have subsisted ever since the human race has been in existence, and for an indefinite and probably an enormous length of time previous. The sun, the earth, and planets, with their various constituents, air, water, and the other distinguishable substances, whether simple or compound, of which nature is made up, are such Permanent Causes. They have existed, and the effects or consequences which they were fitted to produce have taken place (as often as the other conditions of the production met), from the very beginning of our experience. But we can give no account of the origin of the Permanent Causes themselves."—Mill's "Logic," I. 378.

[427]"The resolution of the laws of the heavenly motions established the previously unknown ultimate property of a mutual attraction between all bodies: the resolution, so far as it has yet proceeded, of the laws of crystallization, or chemical composition, electricity, magnetism, etc., points to various polarities, ultimately inherent in the particles of which bodies are composed; the comparative atomic weights of different kinds of bodies were ascertained by resolving, into more general laws, the uniformities observed in the proportions in which substances combine with one another; and so forth. Thus, although every resolution of a complex uniformity into simpler and more elementary laws has an apparent tendency to diminish the number of the ultimate properties, and really does remove many properties from the list; yet (since the result of this simplifying process is to trace up an ever greater variety of different effects to the same agents), the further we advance in this direction, the greater number of distinct properties we are forced to recognize in one and the same object; the coexistences of which properties must accordingly be ranked among the ultimate generalities of nature."—Mill's "Logic," II. 108.

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