Year: 1873

I y


medium in which inteligences float


and move as yachts do In sea-water.


and for which they ought not to be


held individually y responsible. The talk


of society answers its purpose if ii


simply permits many different people to


come together without clashing, and


the purpose of its conventions Is the


avoidance Of collision. In England the


sniall-talk is heavy like water; in


France it is light as air; in both ooun-


tries it Is medium and no more.


Society talks, by preference, about


amusement; it does so because when


people meet for recreation they wish to


relieve their minds from serious cares,


and also for the practical reason that


society must talk about what its mem


bers have in common, and their amuse-


ments are more in common than their


work As NJ. Thiers recommended the
republican form of government in France


on the ground that It was the form


which divided his countrymen least, so


polite and highiy-civilized society
chooses for the subject of general con-
vsrsation the topic which is least likely
to separate the different people who are
present. It almost always happens that
the best topic having tlis recommen-
dation is some species Of amusement /;
since amusements are easily learnt out
side the business of life, and we are all
initiated into them in youth.


For these reasons I think that we
ought to be extremely tolerant of the
dullness or frivolity which may seem to
prevail in any numerous company, and
not to conclude too hastily that the
members of it are in any degree more
dull or frivolous than ourselves. 1t is
unfortunate. certainly that the art of
general conversation is not so success
fully cultivated as it might ke. and
there are reasons for belieyiRg that our
posterity VIII surpass as in this respect,
because as culture increases. the spirit
of toleration increases with it, so that
the great questions of politics and re-
igion, in which all are interested, may
be discussed more safely than they
could be ct the present day, by persons
of different ways of thinking. But
even the sort of general conversation
we have now, poor as it may seem, still
sufficiently serves as medium for hui
man intercourse, and permits us tomeet
on common ground where we may Sc
lect at leisure the agreeable or instruc-
tive friends that our higher intellect
needs, and without whom the intellect
ual life is one of the ghastliest Of .soli-
tudes.


And now permit me to add a few OBJ
servations on another aspect of this sub
jeat, which Is not without its impor-
tance. Let us suppose that every one
of rather more than ordinary capacity
and culture were to act as you yourself
are acting, and withdraw entirely from
general society. Let us leave out of
consideration for the present the loss to
their private culture which would be the
consequence of missing every opportu-
nifty for forming new intellectual friend
ships. Let us consider, this time, what
would be the cons quence osociety itself.
If all the cultivated men were Withdrawn
from it, the general tone of society
would inevitably descend much lower
even than it is at present; it would sink
so low that the whole national intellect
would undergo a sure and inevitable de-
terioration. It is plainly the duty of
men situated as yoti are, who have been
endowed by nature With superior fscul-
ties, and. who have enlarged them by
the acquisition of knowledge, to pre-
serve society by their presence from an
evil so surely prolific of bad conse-
quenees. If society is less narrow, and
selfish, and intolerant, and apathetic
than it used to be, it is because they
who are the salt of the earth have not
disdained to mix with its grosser and
earthier elements. All the improve
ment in public sentiment, and the ad-
vancement in general knowledge which
have marked the.course of recent gen
erations are to be attributed to the
wholesome influence of men who could
think and feel, and who steadily exer-
eised, often quite obscurely, yet not the /
less usefully in their time and place,
the subtle but powerful attraction of
the greater mind over the less. Instead
of complaining that people are ignor-
ant and frivolous, we ought to go
amongst them and lead them to the
higher life. 81 know not how it is"
said one in dull circle to a more gifted
friend who entered it occasionally;
when we are left to ourselves we are
all lamentably stupid, but whenever
you are kind enough to come amongst
us we all talk very much better, and of
things that are we'll worth talking
about" The gifted man is always vel
come, if only he viii stoop to conquer,
and forget himself, to give light and
heat to others. The low Philistinism
of many a provincial town is due main
ly to the shy reserve Of the one or two
men, who fancy that they can
not amalgamate with the common intel
lect of the place.