Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-03-05
ssENDOwMENT OF RESEARCH
Leisure Not the Most Inspiring TO Work.
ers I'm Science, Art, and Literature.

From the Pail Mall 0axette.
III you want good work done In science, or art,
or literature, you must endow people, II Is said,
with the means Of giving their whole time to Il.
There is q certain priori plsusbility about the
demand which often persuades an unthinking
mind OF its truth. But as q matter Of TACT H Ia
opposed to the lessons OF experience, and even
TO the laws Of human nature Indeed the EN-
dowment OF Research" would, we verify believe.
be the best possible way 70 insure the worst
possible results, both in quantity and quality
Inquantity, because the pressure ofother occppa-
tions 10 of itselfa spurto intellectual aetivity-so
much 90 that IL has come TO be almost provsrb
that the busiest men have always the most time
to spare. And In quality, because removal
from the trough and-t umble" Of the work-a-
day world distorts o mans Judgment and
narrows his vision so much 90 that
mankind at large always feels some
deserved contempt for the mere Armchair"
writer. On the other hand the history Of lltera-
ture is full Of examples which show the bracing
and the broadening effects OF their other work
upon authors who have been busy men Aras-
totle and Plato did not clamor like our modern
university dons to be relieved OF the "drudgery"
Of teaching; but rather found, like 90 MANY OF
the great German professors. their best stimu-
lus In their disciples Bacon (who even n he did
not write Shakespeare wrote quite enough on
his own accounD was buster than busting Lord
Halsbury. Cicero was Q political bsrrister.
Grote Was London banker. MIL like Charles
Lamb, was q clerk In the East India house-a
form OF slavery in no way inconsistent either
with the depths OF philosopy or the sparkle OF
bellies letters. The Greek traxedians were proud,
no doubt, OF their iambics, but even prouder
OF their generalshlp. Shakespeare was q
stage-manager and Goethe Geheimrsth. Even
In the domain OF the fine arts Il may be
doubted whether the greatest masters have
not been those who had most else TO do besides
painting. Certain IL Ia that Leonardo thought
lar more OF his skill as civil engineer than OF
his grace Is designer, that the Painter Rubens
amused himself as Ambassador" and that the
prince of goldsmiths, Benvenuto CellIni, spent
as much time In fighting and travelling a. in
beating gold Or moldng clay. And to skip now
to our own time, who is the first Of living eel
entistsi Why. Prot. Huxley, who has also been
one of the busiest OF men. Sir John Lubbock IL
another man who has combined high general
culture with original scientific research and
be Is q politician with hobbies and imam
cier with ideas! No better work has been
done In the domain OF pure Literature dur
Ing this generation than that which hat
thew Arnold did In the intervals OF his
daily tasks and common rounds as q echool IN
spector. His namesake, Sir Edwin Arnold, who
finds time to 60 out into the bywsys of foreign
literature, is working Journalist. Mr.. William
Morris, though In verse. the idle singer OF an
empty day" Is In his life the busy spender OF
very full days indeed. The omission Of the
greater poets Of the day from the list ID NOT 10
much an exception to the rule a. II looks. For
the spontaneity, which IL OF the essence OF great
poetry, makes the pressure Of any other spur
unnecessary. So again, Darwin. who was Q
man OF independent means, IL almost an ex-
ception that proves the rule; for his devotion to
scentinc research was altogether exceptional.
And rs for the evil effects OF q purely literary
ayocation, the open secret OF Cariysle's LIE" =
that be pined for political employment