The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-15 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MAY 15, 1858. psychological conjectures. The change has been going on for a long time. Coleridge used to complain of it, and the " philosophical Radicals" never got so heavy a blow as when Messrs. Cobden and Bright, with their popular style and intelligible suns, took the wind out of the s ails of the Radicals who followed the school of Bentham, the elder Mill, and the old Westminster Review school of Radicals. We allude to this change because Mr. Spencer belongs decidedly to the school known as " phi losophical Radicals." He wishes to apply " first principles" and "scientific methods" to a vast num ber of questions which cannot be decided by pure philosophy. The English people are a great and a free people, and from an early period they have bad the habit of making up their minds on cer tain subjects, and stamping them well on the social customs of the nation. Mr. Spencer and all his school are opposed to " convention," and argue any subject from a view of " abstract right," forgetting that, after all, a great degree of "utility" may be found to support conven tional arrangement. The jurists tell us that " prescription " rests on utility ; and if there is to be no " convention " recognized in questions of manners and customs, there would be great danger of an anarchy of conduct that would seriously tend to deteriorate society. We are compelled to glance at these considera tions because throughout all these essays the mannerism of Mr. Spencer's school is exhibited. The volume contains eight long articles contri buted to the Edinburgh, Westminster, British Quarterly, and National Reviews, and to Fraser's Magazine and the " Portfolio" of the Leader. The :essays, unquestionably, are greatly inferior in intellectual power to the books produced by this able thinker. They lack the specialty of purpose, solidity of matter, and circumspective ness of treatment shown by the author in his single volumes; and we fear that some injustice may be done to Mr. Spencer's reputation from this republication of his reviews. Some literary men excel as writers of books, others as essayists. The popular manner of some enables them to rivet attention in short papers; others require both time and large space to produce their effects. Both classes have their special merits and faults. The essayists are prone to be too flippant ; the makers of books to be too ponderous. It is a fault, however, in an essayist if he overlooks his matter, and in a writer of books if he neglects his manner. The books of Mr. Spencer proved that he had both "scientific" and "speculative" talents, but his essays show that his " political" capacity (we follow the phraseology of his titlepage) is by no means equal to the meditative power of his mind. He wants the practical, plain, and intel ligible mode of thinking and writing which Eng lish popular politics demands, while some would doubt his sustained reflection for the higher de partments of purely abstract politics. But the rhetoric of his essays is infinitely worse than the logic. Readers will differ about the views in these various papers, but an overwhelming ma jority of critics would condemn the style as clum sily pedantic. Mr. Spencer seems to think that he grows both more powerful and profound in proportion as he attains the pedantic ; and we can see very clearly, criticizing him by these essays, that Mr. Spencer is apt to become the dupe of language. We shall proceed to illustrate, from examples, the faults which we find in his collected essays. In the first place, their pedantry of expression exceeds all bounds. An essayist should take great pains to make his thoughts effective, and the peculiar fault of 11Ir. Spencer's style may be Seen in citing the first sentences of his various PaPers. He has a propensity to mix up scientific terms with loose colloquial language, and he changes the key of his style so often that the effect is unpleasant to the reader. We shall take the opening passages of some of these essays, and the defects of his style will become plain to any reader : The current conception of progress is somewhat shifting and indefinite. Sometimes it comprehends little more than simple growth —as of • nation in the number of its members and the extent of territory over which it has sPread• Sometimes it has reference to quantity of mate rial products--as when the advance of agriculture and manufactures is the topic. Sometimes the superior ality of these products is contemplated, and sometimes abet, or improved appliance s by which they are pro ised. This is a careless style of expression, as if the writer looked not for the graces of composition. Four times he uses the word " sometimes" in a few lines, and his constant iteration of words is a fault to be found in all these essays. Thus the next essay, on " Railway Morals and Railway Policy," opens : Believers in the intrinsic virtues of political forms might draw an instructive lesson from the politics of our railways. If there needs a conclusive proof that the must carefully-framed constitutions are worthless unless they be embodiments of the popular character—if there needs • conclusive proof that governmental arrangements in advance of the time will inevitably lapse into congruity with the time—such proof may be found over ■nd over again repeated in the current history of joint-stock enter prizes. "If there needs" is repeated twice. We were treated to a " current conception " in the first sentence of the first essay, and in the opening of the next we are introduced to "current pro gress " ; and we need scarcely dwell on the clumsy form of words, " that governmental ar " rangements in advance of the time will inevi " tably lapse into congruity with the time ;" and we have the word " proof" three times repeated. There are occasions when repetition of phrase is legitimate, but Mr. Spencer abuses the privilege, and uses the same words constantly, even where it is not necessary to apply emphasis. He begins his essay on " The Genesis of Science" thus : There has ever prevailed among men a vague notion that scientific knowledge diff.. - Irs in nature from ordinary knowledge By the Greeks, with whom mathematics— literally things learnt—was alone considered as know- ledge proper, the distinction must have been strongly felt; and it has ever since maintained itself in the general mind. Though, considering the contrast between the achievements of science and those of daily unmethodic thinking, it is not surprising that such a distinction has been assumed; yet it needs but to rise a little above the common point of view to see that no such distinction can really exist, or that, at best, it is but a superficial distinction. Four times the word " distinction " is here used, three times "knowledge" occurs; and within the same space he Fives us " considered " and " con sidering.' His remarks on "Transcendental Physiology" open with the following sentences : In mathematics, the transcendental analysis is one which, passing beyond those particular relations of num• ben dealt with by arithmetic, an passing beyond those general numerical relaticns which form the subject matter of ordinary algebra, concerns itself with the still higher generalities underlying these general relations. The title, Transcendental Anatomy, is used to distin guish that division of biological science which treats, not of the structure of individual organisms, but of the general principles of structure common to vast and varied groups of organisms—the unity of plan discernible throughout multitudinous genera and orders which are widely dif ferent in appearance. - - " Generalities underlying general relations " " passing beyond " (twice)—" relations" (thrice) —and "general" (thrice), exclusive of "gene ralities," and all these repetitions in so short a space ! This fault, and it is a great one, occurs over and over in the body of his essays, and it passes into a formalism. Pedantic phrases, ses quipedalia verba, and ungrammatical construction meet us at every page, so much so that it would be not too severe to term the rhetoric of these essays as—stilted slipshod. With respect to their matter, Mr. Spencer too often puts us off with a pompous phraseolgy. He states his views at the beginning of an essay, and then says the same thing again at great length. lie demonstrates foregone conclusions with singular energy, and carries off the argu ment in a cloud of words. lie thus declaims against the tyranny of fashion : Go now and dress for some half past eight dinner, or some ten o'clock " at home," and present yourself in spotless attire, with every hair arranged to perfection. How great the difference! TLe enjoyment seems in the inverse ratio of the preparation. These figures, got up with such finish and precision, appear but half alive. They have frozen each other by their primness; and your faculties feel the numbing effects of the atmosphere the moment you enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and so apt awhile since, have disappeared—have sud denly acquired a preternatural power of eluding you. If you venture a remark to your neighbour, there comes a trite rejoinder, and there it ends. No subject you can hit upon ou'lives half a dozen sentences. Nothing that is said excites any real interest in yoa, and you feel that all you say is listened to with apathy. By some strange magic, things that usually give pleasure seem to have lost all charm. You have a taste for art. Weary of fri volous talk, you turn to the table, and find that the book of engravings and the portfolio of photographs are as fiat as the conversation. You are fond of music. Yet the singing, good as it is, you hear with otter indifference, and say " Thank you" with a sense of being a profound hypocrite. Wholly at ease though you could be, for your own part, you And that your sympathies will not let you. You see young gentlemen feeling whether their ties are properly adjusted, looking vacantly round, and considering what they shall do next. You see ladies sitting discon solately, waiting for some one to speak to them, and wishing they had the wherewith to occupy their fingers. You see the hostess standing about the doorway, keeping a fictitious smile on her free, and racking her Drain to find the requisite nothings with which to greet her guests as they enter. You see numberless traits of weariness and embarrassment, and, if you have any fellow•feeling, these cannot fail to produce a sense of discomfort. The dis order is catching, and, do what you will, you cannot resist the general infection. You struggle against it—you make spasmodic efforts to be lively—but none of your sallies or good stories do more than raise a simper or a forced laugh—intellect and feeling are alike asphyxiated. And when at length, yielding to your disgust, you rush away, how great is the relief when you get into the fresh air and see the stars ! How you " Thank God, that's over!" and half resolve ' avoid What, now, disappointment needless adjr forms, these and arranged Since Cowley vulgar and' complaint f able " duties, and the What says . standard comedy of The Way to Keep Him ? And the owner of them sits in the room with you, like a mere vegetable, for au hour together, till at last she is incited to the violent exertion of, "Yes, sir"—" I fancy not, ma'am," and then a matter of fact conversation! " Miss Beverly is ping to be married to Captain Shoulder knot—Mv Lord Mortgage has had another tumble at Hazard—Sir Harry Wilding has 1134 his election—They say short aprons are coming into fashion." Love. Oh ! a matter of fact conversation is insupport able. Mrs. BELL. But you meet with nothing else. All in great spirits about nothing, and not en idea among them. Go to ltanelagh, or to what public place you will, it is just the same. A lady comes up to you; " How charmingly you look'—Rut my dear M'em, did you hear what happened to us the other night?—We were going home from the Opera—you know my aunt Roly•Poly ; it was her coach. There was she and Lady Betty Fidget —What a sweet blonde ! How do you do my dear ? (curtsying as to another going by) My Lady Betty is quite recovered; we were all frightened about her ; but Doctor Snake-root was called in ; no, not Doctor Snake-root, Doctor Bolos ; and so he altered the course of the medicines, and so my LaJy Betty is purely now.—Well, there was she, and my aunt, and Sir George Bragwell—a pretty man Sir George— finest teeth in the world—Your Ladyship's most obedient (curtsying). We expected you last night, but you did not come —He ! he ! he !—and so there was Sir George and the rest of us ; and so turning the corner of Bond-street, the brute of a coachman—l humbly thank your Grace (curtsys)—tbe brute of a coachman overturned us, and so my aunt Roly-Poly was frightened oat of her wits ; and Lady Betty has had her nerves again. Only think ! such accidents !—I am glad to see you loll( so well; a Thor. near ; he ! he! he !" And then all the triviality of " fashion " and " manners" is laid bare, and the brilliant widow consoles herself, that " though dragged to those " places, one must go there to oblige and from " necessity." Mr. Spencer seems to think that nobody ever before argued against the tiresome ness of fashionable society. Now let us have the summing up of Mr. Spencer on " Manners and Fashion" : Meanwhile, let us glance at the conzlusions that have been reached. On the one side, Government, originally one, and afterwards subdivided for the better fulfilment of its function, must be considered as having ever been, in all its branches—political, religious, and ceremonial— beneficial, and indeed absolutely necessary. On the other side, Government, under all its forms, must be regarded as subserving a temporary office, made needful by the unfitness of aboriginal humanity for social life; and the successive diminutions of its coerciveness in State, in Church, and in Custom, must be looked upon as steps towards its final disappearance. To complete the conception, there requires to be borne in mind the third fact, that the gonesis, the maintenance, and the decline of all governments, however named. are alike brought about by the humanity to be controlled : from which may be drawn the inference that, on the average, restricticns of every kind cannot last much longer than they are wanted, and cannot be destroyed much faster than they ought to be. Society, in all its developments, undergoes the process' of ezuviation. These old forms which it successively throws off have all been once vitally united with it—have severally served as the protective envelopes within which a higher humanity was being evolved. They are cast aside only when they become hindrances—only when some inner and better envelope has been formed, and they bequeath to us all that there was in them of good. The periodical abolitions of tyran nical laws have left the administration of jostle* sat only uninjured, but purified. Dead and buried creeds have not carried with them the essential morality they con tained, which still exists, uncontaminated by the sloughs of superstition ; and all that there is of justice and kind ness and beauty embodied in our cumbrous forms of etiquette will live perennially *ben the forms" - hare been forgotten. e to avoid all such boredoM for the future! , is the secret of this perpetual miscarriage and rnent ? Does not the fault lie with all these djuncts—these elaborate dressings, these set a expensive preparations, these many devises pests& ements that imply trouble and raise ex ' 7, wley charmingly railed at " the ' rid the small," there has been the e t against the oppressiveness of "fashion- [ties, the insipidity of dinners and balls, wearisome frivolity of " amusements." , s the brilliant Widow Bellmour in the A