,,critical ,,miscellanies    ,,by       
,,john ,,morley     ,,vol4 ,,iii4       
,essay #a3 ,on ,popular ,culture        
,london   ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41      
,limited   ,,new ,,york3 ,,the          
,,macmillan ,,company   #aijd       ,,on
 ,,popular ,,culture                    
,,page    ,introduction                 
#a    ,importance of provincial centres 
#b    ,report of the ,midland ,institute
                                        
#d    ,success of the ,french classes   
#e    ,less success of ,english history 
#f    ,value of a short comprehensive   
course                                  
#h    ,dr4 ,arnold's saying about       
history 'traced backwards'              
#i    ,value of a short course of       
general history                         
#aj    ,value of a sound notion of      
,evidence                               
#af    ,text-books of scientific logic  
not adequate for popular objects        
#ba    ,a new instrument suggested      
#ba    ,an incidental advantage of it   

#bc    ,general knowledge not           
necessarily superficial                 
#be    ,popular culture and academic    
organisation                            
#be    ,some of the great commonplaces  
of study                                
#bi    ,conclusion                      
#cd       ,,on ,,popular ,,culture      
,,an ,,address ,,delivered ,,at ,,the   
,,town ,,hall1 ,,birmingham 7,,october  
#e1   #ahgf71 ,,by ,,the ,,writer1 ,,as 
,,president ,,of ,,the ,,midland        
,,institute4   ,the proceedings which   
have now been brought satisfactorily to 
an end are of a kind which nobody who   
has sensibility as well as sense can    
take a part in without some emotion4 ,an
 illustrious ,french philosopher who    
happened to be an examiner of candidates
 for admission to the ,polytechnic      
,school1 once confessed that1 when a    
youth came before him eager to do his   
best1 competently taught1 and of an apt 
intelligence1 he needed all his         
self-control to press back the tears    

from his eyes4 ,well1 when we think how 
much industry1 patience1 and intelligent
 discipline2 how many hard hours of     
self-denying toil2 how many temptations 
to worthless pleasures resisted2 how    
much steadfast feeling for things that  
are honest and true and of good         
report--are all represented by the young
 men and young women to whom ,i have had
 the honour of giving your prizes       
to-night1 we must all feel our hearts   
warmed and gladdened in generous        
sympathy with so much excellence1 so    
many good hopes1 and so honourable a    
display of those qualities which make   
life better worth having for ourselves1 
and are so likely to make the world     
better worth living in for those who are
 to come after us4  ,if a prize-giving  
is always an occasion of lively         
satisfaction1 my own satisfaction is all
 the greater at this moment1 because    
your ,institute1 which is doing such    
good work in the world1 and is in every 
respect so prosperous and so            

flourishing1 is the creation of the     
people of your own district1 without    
subsidy and without direction either    
from ,london1 or from ,oxford1 or from  
,cambridge1 or from any other centre    
whatever4 ,nobody in this town at any   
rate needs any argument of mine to      
persuade him that we can only be sure of
 advancing all kinds of knowledge1 and  
developing our national life in all its 
plenitude and variety1 on condition of  
multiplying these local centres both of 
secondary and higher education1 and     
encouraging each of them to fight its   
own battle1 and do its work in its own  
way4 ,for my own part ,i look with the  
utmost dismay at the concentration1 not 
only of population1 but of the treasures
 of instruction1 in our vast city on the
 banks of the ,thames4 ,at ,birmingham1 
as ,i am informed1 one has not far to   
look for an example of this4 ,one of the
 branches of your multifarious trades in
 this town is the manufacture of        
jewellery4 ,some of it is said commonly 

to be wanting in taste1 elegance1 skill2
 though some of it also--if ,i am not   
misinformed--is good enough to be passed
 off at ,rome and at ,paris1 even to    
connoisseurs1 as of ,roman or ,french   
production4 ,now the nation possesses a 
most superb collection of all that is   
excellent and beautiful in jewellers'   
work4 ,when ,i say that the nation      
possesses it1 ,i mean that ,london      
possesses it4 ,the ,university of       
,oxford1 by the way1 has also purchased 
a portion1 but that is not at present   
accessible4 ,if one of your craftsmen in
 that kind wants to profit by these     
admirable models1 he must go to ,london4
 ,what happens is that he goes to the   
capital and stays there4 ,its           
superficial attractions are too strong  
for him4 ,you lose a clever workman and 
a citizen1 and he adds one more atom to 
that huge1 overgrown1 and unwieldy      
community4 ,now1 why1 in the name of    
common sense1 should not a portion of   
the ,castellani collection pass six     

months of the year in ,birmingham1 the  
very place of all others where it is    
most likely to be of real service1 and  
to make an effective mark on the        
national taste8#a  ,to pass on to the   
more general remarks which you are      
accustomed to expect from the ,president
 of the ,institute on this occasion4    
,when ,i consulted one of your townsmen 
as to the subject which he thought would
 be most useful and most interesting to 
you1 he said3 ',pray talk about anything
 you please1 if it is only not          
,education4' ,there is a saying that    
there are two kinds of foolish people in
 the world1 those who give advice1 and  
those who do not take it4 ,my friend and
 ,i in this matter represent these two  
interesting divisions of the race1 for  
in spite of what he said1 it is upon    
,education after all that ,i propose to 
offer you some short observations4 ,you 
will believe it no affectation on my    
part1 when ,i say that ,i shall do so   
with the sincerest willingness to be    

corrected by those of wider practical   
experience in teaching4 ,i am well      
aware1 too1 that ,i have very little    
that is new to say1 but education is one
 of those matters on which much that has
 already been said will long bear saying
 over and over again4  ,i have been     
looking through the ,report of your     
classes1 and two things have rather     
struck me1 which ,i will mention4 ,one  
of them is the very large attendance in 
the ,french classes4 ,this appears a    
singularly satisfactory thing1 because  
you could scarcely do a hard-working man
 of whatever class a greater service    
than to give him easy access to ,french 
literature4 ,montesquieu used to say    
that he had never known a pain or a     
distress which he could not soothe by   
half an hour of a good book2 and perhaps
 it is no more of an exaggeration to say
 that a man who can read ,french with   
comfort need never have a dull hour4    
,our own literature has assuredly many a
 kingly name4 ,in boundless riches and  

infinite imaginative variety1 there is  
no rival to ,shakespeare in the world2  
in energy and height and majesty ,milton
 and ,burke have no masters4 ,but       
besides its great men of this loftier   
sort1 ,france has a long list of authors
 who have produced a literature whose   
chief mark is its agreeableness4 ,as has
 been so often said1 the genius of the  
,french language is its clearness1      
firmness1 and order2 to this clearness  
certain circumstances in the history of 
,french society have added the          
delightful qualities of liveliness in   
union with urbanity4 ,now as one of the 
most important parts of popular         
education is to put people in the way of
 amusing and refreshing themselves in a 
rational rather than an irrational      
manner1 it is a great gain to have given
 them the key to the most amusing and   
refreshing set of books in the world4   
,and here1 perhaps1 ,i may be permitted 
to remark that it seems a pity that     
,racine is so constantly used as a      

school-book1 instead of some of the     
moderns who are nearer to ourselves in  
ideas and manners4 ,racine is a great   
and admirable writer2 but what you want 
for ordinary readers who have not much  
time1 and whose faculties of attention  
are already largely exhausted by the    
more important industry of the day1 is a
 book which brings literature more close
 to actual life than such a poet as     
,racine does4 ,this is exactly one of   
the gifts and charms of modern ,french4 
,to put what ,i mean very shortly1 ,i   
would say1 by way of illustration1 that 
a man who could read the essays of ,ste4
 ,beuve with moderate comfort would have
 in his hands--of course ,i am now      
speaking of the active and busy part of 
the world1 not of bookmen and           
students--would1 ,i say1 have in his    
hands one of the very best instruments  
that ,i can think of2 such work is      
exquisite and instructive in itself1 it 
is a model of gracious writing1 it is   
full of ideas1 it breathes the happiest 

moods over us1 and it is the most       
suggestive of guides1 for those who have
 the capacity of extensive interests1 to
 all the greater spheres of thought and 
history4  ,this word brings me back to  
the second fact that has struck me in   
your ,report1 and it is this4 ,the      
subject of ,english history has         
apparently so little popularity1 that   
the class is as near being a failure as 
anything connected with the ,midland    
,institute can be4 ,on the whole1       
whatever may be the ability and the zeal
 of the teacher1 this is in my humble   
judgment neither very surprising nor    
particularly mortifying1 if we think    
what history in the established         
conception of it means4 ,how are we to  
expect workmen to make their way through
 constitutional antiquities1 through the
 labyrinthine shifts of party intrigue  
at home1 and through the entanglements  
of intricate diplomacy abroad--'shallow 
village tales1' as ,emerson calls them8 
,these studies are fit enough for       

professed students of the special       
subject1 but such exploration is for the
 ordinary run of men and women          
impossible1 and ,i do not know that it  
would lead them into very fruitful lands
 even if it were easy4 ,you know what   
the great ,duke of ,marlborough said3   
that he had learnt all the history he   
ever knew out of ,shakespeare's         
historical plays4 ,i have long thought  
that if we persuaded those classes who  
have to fight their own little ,battles 
of ,blenheim for bread every day1 to    
make such a beginning of history as is  
furnished by ,shakespeare's plays and   
,scott's novels1 we should have done    
more to imbue them with a real interest 
in the past of mankind1 than if we had  
taken them through a course of ,hume and
 ,smollett1 or ,hallam on the ,english  
,constitution1 or even the dazzling     
,macaulay4 ,what ,i for one should like 
to see in such an institution as this1  
would be an attempt to compress the     
whole history of ,england into a dozen  

or fifteen lectures--lectures of course 
accompanied by catechetical instruction4
 ,i am not so extravagant as to dream   
that a short general course of this kind
 would be enough to go over so many of  
the details as it is desirable for men  
to know1 but details in popular         
instruction1 though not in study of the 
writer or the university professor1 are 
only important after you have imparted  
the largest general truths4 ,it is the  
general truths that stir a life-like    
curiosity as to the particulars which   
they are the means of lighting up4 ,now 
this short course would be quite enough 
to present in a bold outline--and it    
need not be a whit the less true and    
real for being both bold and rapid--the 
great chains of events and the decisive 
movements that have made of ourselves   
and our institutions what we and what   
they are--the ,teutonic beginnings1 the 
,conquest1 the ,great ,charter1 the     
,hundred ,years' ,war1 the ,reformation1
 the ,civil ,wars and the ,revolution1  

the ,emancipation of the ,american      
,colonies from the ,monarchy4 ,if this  
course were framed and filled in with a 
true social intelligence--men would find
 that they had at the end of it a fair  
idea--an idea that might be of great    
value1 and at any rate an idea much to  
be preferred to that blank ignorance    
which is in so many cases practically   
the only alternative--of the large      
issues of our past1 of the antagonistic 
principles that strove with one another 
for mastery1 of the chief material      
forces and moral currents of successive 
ages1 and above all of those great men  
and our fathers that begat us--the      
,pyms1 the ,hampdens1 the ,cromwells1   
the ,chathams--yes1 and shall we not say
 the ,washingtons--to whose sagacity1   
bravery1 and unquenchable ardour for    
justice and order and equal laws all our
 ,english-speaking peoples owe a debt   
that can never be paid4  ,another point 
is worth thinking of1 besides the       
reduction of history for your purposes  

to a comprehensive body of rightly      
grouped generalities4 ,dr4 ,arnold says 
somewhere that he wishes the public     
might have a history of our present     
state of society traced backwards4 ,it  
is the present that really interests us2
 it is the present that we seek to      
understand and to explain4 ,i do not in 
the least want to know what happened in 
the past1 except as it enables me to see
 my way more clearly through what is    
happening to-day4 ,i want to know what  
men thought and did in the thirteenth   
century1 not out of any dilettante or   
idle antiquarian's curiosity1 but       
because the thirteenth century is at the
 root of what men think and do in the   
nineteenth4 ,well then1 it cannot be a  
bad educational rule to start from what 
is most interesting1 and to work from   
that outwards and backwards4 ,by        
beginning with the present we see more  
clearly what are the two things best    
worth attending to in history--not party
 intrigues nor battles nor dynastic     

affairs1 nor even many acts of          
parliament1 but the great movements of  
the economic forces of a society on the 
one hand1 and on the other the forms of 
religious opinion and ecclesiastical    
organisation4 ,all the rest are         
important1 but their importance is      
subsidiary4  ,allow me to make one more 
remark on this subject4 ,if a dozen or a
 score of wise lectures would suffice   
for a general picture of the various    
phases through which our own society has
 passed1 there ought to be added to the 
course of popular instruction as many   
lectures more1 which should trace the   
history1 not of ,england1 but of the    
world4 ,and the history of the world    
ought to go before the history of       
,england4 ,this is no paradox1 but the  
deliberate opinion of many of those who 
have thought most deeply about the      
far-reaching chain of human progress4   
,when ,i was on a visit to the ,united  
,states some years ago--things may have 
improved since then--,i could not help  

noticing that the history classes in    
their common schools all began their    
work with the year #aggf1 when the      
,american colonies formed themselves    
into an independent confederacy4 ,the   
teaching assumed that the creation of   
the universe occurred about that date4  
,what could be more absurd1 more narrow 
and narrowing1 more mischievously       
misleading as to the whole purport and  
significance of history8 ,as if the     
laws1 the representative institutions1  
the religious uses1 the scientific      
methods1 the moral ideas1 which give to 
an ,american citizen his character and  
mental habits and social surroundings1  
had not all their roots in the deeds and
 thoughts of wise and brave men1 who    
lived in centuries which are of course  
just as much the inheritance of the vast
 continent of the ,west as they are of  
the little island from whence its first 
colonisers sailed forth4  ,well1 there  
is something nearly as absurd1 if not   
quite1 in our common plan of taking for 

granted that people should begin their  
reading of history1 not in #aggf1 but in
 #ajff4 ,as if this could bring into our
 minds what is after all the greatest   
lesson of history1 namely1 the fact of  
its oneness2 of the interdependence of  
all the elements that have in the course
 of long ages made the ,european of     
to-day what we see him to be4 ,it is no 
doubt necessary for clear and definite  
comprehension to isolate your           
phenomenon1 and to follow the stream of 
our own history separately4 ,but that   
cannot be enough4 ,we must also see that
 this stream is the effluent of a far   
broader and mightier flood--whose       
springs and sources and great           
tributaries lay higher up in the history
 of mankind4  ',we are learning1' says  
,mr4 ,freeman1 whose little book on the 
,unity of ,history ,i cannot be wrong in
 warmly recommending even to the busiest
 among you1 'that ,european history1    
from its first glimmerings to our own   
day1 is one unbroken drama1 no part of  

which can be rightly understood without 
reference to the other parts which come 
before and after it4 ,we are learning   
that of this great drama ,rome is the   
centre1 the point to which all roads    
lead and from which all roads lead no   
less4 ,the world of independent ,greece 
stands on one side of it2 the world of  
modern ,europe stands on another4 ,but  
the history alike of the great centre   
itself1 and of its satellites on either 
side1 can never be fully grasped except 
from a point of view wide enough to take
 in the whole group1 and to mark the    
relations of each of its members to the 
centre and to one another4'  ,now the   
counsel which our learned historian thus
 urges upon the scholar and the leisured
 student equally represents the point of
 view which is proper for the more      
numerous classes of whom we are thinking
 to-night4 ,the scale will have to be   
reduced2 all save the very broadest     
aspects of things will have to be left  
out2 none save the highest ranges and   

the streams of most copious volume will 
find a place in that map4 ,small as is  
the scale and many as are its omissions1
 yet if a man has intelligently followed
 the very shortest course of universal  
history1 it will be the fault of his    
teacher if he has not acquired an       
impressive conception1 which will never 
be effaced1 of the destinies of man upon
 the earth2 of the mighty confluence of 
forces working on from age to age1 which
 have their meeting in every one of us  
here to-night2 of the order in which    
each state of society has followed its  
foregoer1 according to great and        
changeless laws 'embracing all things   
and all times2' of the thousand faithful
 hands that have one after another1 each
 in their several degrees1 orders1 and  
capacities1 trimmed the silver lamp of  
knowledge and kept its sacred flame     
bright from generation to generation and
 age to age1 now in one land and now in 
another1 from its early spark among     
far-off dim ,chaldeans down to ,goethe  

and ,faraday and ,darwin and all the    
other good workers of our own day4  ,the
 shortest course of universal history   
will let him see how he owes to the     
,greek civilisation1 on the shores of   
the ,mediterranean two thousand years   
back1 a debt extending from the         
architectural forms1 of this very ,town 
,hall to some of the most systematic    
operations of his own mind2 will let him
 see the forum of ,rome1 its roads and  
its gates--    ,what conflux issuing    
forth or entering in1   ,prtors1        
,proconsuls to their provinces          
,hasting or on return1 in robes of      
state--  all busily welding an empire   
together in a marvellous framework of   
citizenship1 manners1 and laws1 that    
laid assured foundations for a still    
higher civilisation that was to come    
after4 ,he will learn how when the      
,roman ,empire declined1 then at        
,damascus and ,bagdad and ,seville the  
,mahometan conquerors took up the torch 
of science and learning1 and handed it  

on to western ,europe when the new      
generations were ready4 ,he will learn  
how in the meantime1 during ages which  
we both wrongly and ungratefully call   
dark1 from ,rome again1 that other great
 organisation1 the medival ,church1 had 
arisen1 which amid many imperfections   
and some crimes did a work that no glory
 of physical science can equal1 and no  
instrument of physical science can      
compass1 in purifying men's appetites1  
in setting discipline and direction on  
their lives1 and in offering to humanity
 new types of moral obligation and      
fairer ideals of saintly perfection1    
whose light still shines like a star to 
guide our own poor voyages4 ,it is only 
by this contemplation of the life of our
 race as a whole that men see the       
beginnings and the ends of things2 learn
 not to be near-sighted in history1 but 
to look before and after2 see their own 
part and lot in the rising up and going 
down of empires and faiths since first  
recorded time began2 and what ,i am     

contending for is that even if you can  
take your young men and women no farther
 than the mere vestibule of this ancient
 and ever venerable ,temple of many     
marvels1 you will have opened to them   
the way to a kind of knowledge that not 
only enlightens the understanding1 but  
enriches the character--which is a      
higher thing than mere intellect--and   
makes it constantly alive with the      
spirit of beneficence4  ,i know it is   
said that such a view of collective     
history is true1 but that you will never
 get plain people to respond to it2 it  
is a thing for intellectual dilettanti  
and moralising virtuosi4 ,well1 we do   
not know1 because we have never yet     
honestly tried1 what the commonest      
people will or will not respond to4     
,when ,sir ,richard ,wallace's pictures 
were being exhibited at ,bethnal ,green1
 after people had said that the workers 
had no souls for art and would not      
appreciate its treasures1 a story is    
told of a female in very poor clothes   

gazing intently at a picture of the     
,infant ,jesus in the arms of his       
,mother1 and then exclaiming1 ',who     
would not try to be a good woman1 who   
had such a child as that8' ,we have     
never yet1 ,i say1 tried the height and 
pitch to which our people are capable of
 rising4  ,i have thought it well to    
take this opportunity of saying a word  
for history1 because ,i cannot help     
thinking that one of the most narrow1   
and what will eventually be one of the  
most impoverishing1 characteristics of  
our day is the excessive supremacy      
claimed for physical science4 ,this is  
partly due1 no doubt1 to a most         
wholesome reaction against the excessive
 supremacy that has hitherto been       
claimed for literature1 and held by     
literature1 in our schools and          
universities4 ,at the same time1 it is  
well to remember that the historic      
sciences are making strides not unworthy
 of being compared with those of the    
physical sciences1 and not only is there

 room for both1 but any system is       
radically wrong which excludes or       
depresses either to the advantage of the
 other4#b  ,and now there is another    
idea which ,i should like to throw out1 
if you will not think it too tedious and
 too special4 ,it is an old saying that1
 after all1 the great end and aim of the
 ,british ,constitution is to get twelve
 honest men into a box4 ,that is really 
a very sensible way of putting the      
theory1 that the first end of government
 is to give security to life and        
property1 and to make people keep their 
contracts4 ,but with this view it is not
 only important that you should get     
twelve honest men into a box3 the twelve
 honest men must have in their heads    
some notions as to what constitutes     
,evidence4 ,now it is surely a striking 
thing that while we are so careful to   
teach physical science and literature2  
while men want to be endowed in order to
 have leisure to explore our spinal     
cords1 and to observe the locomotor     

system of ,medus--and ,i have no        
objection against those who urge on all 
these studies--yet there is no          
systematic teaching1 very often no      
teaching at all1 in the principles of   
,evidence and ,reasoning1 even for the  
bulk of those who would be very much    
offended if we were to say that they are
 not educated4 ,of course ,i use the    
term evidence in a wider sense than the 
testimony in crimes and contracts1 and  
the other business of courts of law4    
,questions of evidence are rising at    
every hour of the day4 ,as ,bentham     
says1 it is a question of evidence with 
the cook whether the joint of meat is   
roasted enough4 ,it has been excellently
 said that the principal and most       
characteristic difference between one   
human intellect and another consists in 
their ability to judge correctly of     
evidence4 ,most of us1 ,mr4 ,mill says1 
are very unsafe hands at estimating     
evidence1 if appeal cannot be made to   
actual eyesight4 ,indeed1 if we think of

 some of the tales that have been lately
 diverting the ,british ,association1 we
 might perhaps go farther1 and describe 
many of us as very bad hands at         
estimating evidence1 even where appeal  
can be made to actual eyesight4         
,eyesight1 in fact1 is the least part of
 the matter4 ,the senses are as often   
the tools as the guides of reason4 ,one 
of the longest chapters in the history  
of vulgar error would contain the cases 
in which the eyes have only seen what   
old prepossessions inspired them to see1
 and were blind to all that would have  
been fatal to the prepossessions4 ',it  
is beyond all question or dispute1' says
 ,voltaire1 'that magic words and       
ceremonies are quite capable of most    
effectually destroying a whole flock of 
sheep1 if the words be accompanied by a 
sufficient quantity of arsenic4'        
,sorcery has no doubt been exploded--at 
least we assume that it has--but the    
temper that made men attribute all the  
efficacy to the magic words1 and        

entirely overlook the arsenic1 still    
prevails in a great host of moral and   
political affairs1 into which it is not 
convenient to enter here4 ,the stability
 of a government1 for instance1 is      
constantly set down to some ornamental  
part of it1 when in fact the ornamental 
part has no more to do with stability   
than the incantations of the soothsayer4
  ,you have heard1 again1 that for many 
generations the people of the ,isle of  
,st4 ,kilda believed that the arrival of
 a ship in the harbour inflicted on the 
islanders epidemic colds in the head1   
and many ingenious reasons were from    
time to time devised by clever men why  
the ship should cause colds among the   
population4 ,at last it occurred to     
somebody that the ship might not be the 
cause of the colds1 but that both might 
be the common effects of some other     
cause1 and it was then remembered that a
 ship could only enter the harbour when 
there was a strong north-east wind      
blowing4  ,however faithful the         

observation1 as soon as ever a man uses 
words he may begin at that moment to go 
wrong4 ',a village apothecary1' it has  
been said1 'and if possible in a still  
greater degree1 an experienced nurse1 is
 seldom able to describe the plainest   
case without employing a phraseology of 
which every word is a theory2 the       
simplest narrative of the most          
illiterate observer involves more or    
less of hypothesis2'--yet both by the   
observer himself and by most of those   
who listen to him1 each of these        
conjectural assumptions is treated as   
respectfully as if it were an           
established axiom4 ,we are supposed to  
deny the possibility of a circumstance1 
when in truth we only deny the evidence 
alleged for it4 ,we allow the excellence
 of reasoning from certain data to      
captivate our belief in the truth of the
 data themselves1 even when they are    
unproved and unprovable4 ,there is no   
end1 in short1 of the ways in which men 
habitually go wrong in their reasoning1 

tacit or expressed4 ,the greatest boon  
that any benefactor could confer on the 
human race would be to teach men--and   
especially women--to quantify their     
propositions4 ,it sometimes seems as if 
,swift were right when he said that     
,mankind were just as fit for flying as 
for thinking4  ,now it is quite true    
that mother-wit and the common          
experiences of life do often furnish    
people with a sort of shrewd and sound  
judgment that carries them very         
creditably through the world4 ,they come
 to good conclusions1 though perhaps    
they would give bad reasons for them1 if
 they were forced to find their reasons4
 ,but you cannot count upon mother-wit  
in everybody2 perhaps not even in a     
majority4 ,and then as for the          
experience of life1--there are a great  
many questions1 and those of the deepest
 ultimate importance to mankind1 in     
which the ordinary experience of life   
sheds no light1 until it has been       
interrogated and interpreted by men with

 trained minds4 ',it is far easier1' as 
has been said1 'to acquire facts than to
 judge what they prove4' ,what is done  
in our systems of training to teach     
people how to judge what facts prove8   
,there is ,mathematics1 no doubt2       
anybody who has done even no more than  
the first book of ,euclid's geometry1   
ought to have got into his head the     
notion of a demonstration1 of the       
rigorously close connection between a   
conclusion and its premisses1 of the    
necessity of being able to show how each
 link in the chain comes to be where it 
is1 and that it has a right to be there4
 ,this1 however1 is a long way from the 
facts of real life1 and a man might well
 be a great geometer1 and still be a    
thoroughly bad reasoner in practical    
questions4  ,again1 in other of your    
classes1 in ,chemistry1 in ,astronomy1  
in ,natural ,history1 besides acquiring 
groups of facts1 the student has a      
glimpse of the method by which they were
 discovered1 of the type of inference to

 which the discovery conforms1 so that  
the discovery of a new comet1 the       
detection of a new species1 the         
invention of a new chemical compound1   
each becomes a lesson of the most       
beautiful and impressive kind in the art
 of reasoning4 ,and it would be         
superfluous and impertinent for me here 
to point out how valuable such lessons  
are in the way of mental discipline1    
apart from the fruit they bear in other 
ways4 ,but here again the relation to   
the judgments we have to form in the    
moral1 political1 practical sphere1 is  
too remote and too indirect4 ,the       
judgments1 in this region1 of the most  
brilliant and successful explorers in   
physical science1 seem to be exactly as 
liable to every kind of fallacy as those
 of other people4 ,the application of   
scientific method and conception to     
society is yet in its infancy1 and the  
,novum ,organum or the ,principia of    
moral and social phenomena will perhaps 
not be wholly disclosed to any of us now

 alive4 ,in any case it is clear that   
for the purposes of such an institution 
as this1 if the rules of evidence and   
proof and all the other safeguards for  
making your propositions true and       
relevant1 are to be taught at all1 they 
must be taught not only in an elementary
 form1 but with illustrations that shall
 convey their own direct reference and  
application to practical life4 ,if      
everybody could find time to master     
,mill's ,logic or so instructive and    
interesting a book as ,professor        
,jevons's ,principles of ,science1 a    
certain number at any rate of the bad   
mental habits of people would be cured2 
and for those of you here who have      
leisure enough1 and want to find a      
worthy keystone of your culture1 it     
would be hard to find a better thing to 
do for the next six months than to work 
through one or both of the books ,i have
 just named--pen in hand4 ,the ordinary 
text-books of formal logic do not seem  
to meet the special aim which ,i am now 

trying to impress as desirable--namely1 
the habit of valuing1 not merely        
speculative nor scientific truth1 but   
the truth of practical life2 a          
practising of the intellect in forming  
and expressing the opinions and         
judgments that form the staple of our   
daily discourse4  ,it is now accepted   
that the most effective way of learning 
a foreign language is to begin by       
reading books written in it1 or by      
conversing in it--and then after a      
certain empirical familiarity with      
vocabulary and construction has been    
acquired1 one may proceed to master the 
grammar4 ,just in the same way it would 
seem to be the best plan to approach the
 art of practical reasoning in concrete 
examples1 in cases of actual occurrence 
and living interest2 and then after the 
processes of disentangling a complex    
group of propositions1 of dividing and  
shifting1 of scenting a fallacy1 have   
all become familiar1 it may be worth    
while to find names for them all1 and to

 set out rules for reasoning rightly1   
just as in the former illustration the  
rules of writing correctly follow a     
certain practice rather than precede it4
  ,now it has long seemed to me that the
 best way of teaching carefulness and   
precision in dealing with propositions  
might be found through the medium of the
 argumentation in the courts of justice4
 ,this is reasoning in real matter4     
,there is a famous book well known to   
legal students--,smith's ,leading       
,cases--which contains a selection of   
important decisions1 and sets forth the 
grounds on which the courts arrived at  
them4 ,i have often thought that a dozen
 or a score of cases might be collected 
from this book into a small volume1 that
 would make such a manual as no other   
matter could1 for opening plain men's   
eyes to the logical pitfalls among which
 they go stumbling and crashing1 when   
they think they are disputing like      
,socrates or reasoning like ,newton4    
,they would see how a proposition or an 

expression that looks straightforward   
and unmistakable1 is yet on examination 
found to be capable of bearing several  
distinct interpretations and meaning    
several distinct things2 how the same   
evidence may warrant different          
conclusions1 and what kinds of evidence 
carry with them what degrees of         
validity3 how certain sorts of facts can
 only be proved in one way1 and certain 
other sorts of facts in some other way3 
how necessary it is1 before you set out1
 to know exactly what it is you intend  
to show1 or what it is you intend to    
dispute2 how there may be many          
argumentative objections to a           
proposition1 yet the balance be in      
favour of its adoption4 ,it is from the 
generality of people having neglected to
 practise the attention on these and the
 like matters1 that interest and        
prejudice find so ready an instrument of
 sophistry in that very art of speech   
which ought to be the organ of reason   
and truth4 ,to bring the matter to a    

point1 then1 ,i submit that it might be 
worth while in this and all such        
institutions to have a class for the    
study of ,logic1 ,reasoning1 ,evidence1 
and that such a class might well find   
its best material in selections from    
,leading ,cases1 and from ,bentham's    
,rationale of ,judicial ,evidence1      
elucidated by those special sections in 
,mill's ,logic1 or smaller manuals such 
as those of ,mr4 ,fowler1 the ,oxford   
,professor of ,logic1 which treat of the
 department of ,fallacies4 ,perhaps     
,bentham's ,book of ,fallacies is too   
political for me to commend it to you   
here4 ,but if there happens to be any   
one in ,birmingham who is fond of       
meeting proposed changes by saying that 
they are ,utopian2 that they are good in
 theory1 but bad in practice2 that they 
are too good to be realised1 and so     
forth1 then ,i can promise him that he  
will in that book hear of something very
 much to his advantage4#c  ,an          
incidental advantage--which is worth    

mentioning--of making legal instances   
the medium of instruction in practical  
logic1 would be that people would--not  
learn law1 of course1 in the present    
state of our system1 but they would have
 their attention called in a direct and 
business-like way to the lawyer's point 
of view1 and those features of procedure
 in which every man and woman in the    
land has so immediate an interest4      
,perhaps if people interested themselves
 more seriously than is implied by      
reading famous cases in the newspapers1 
we should get rid1 for one thing1 of the
 rule which makes the accused person in 
a criminal case incompetent to testify2 
and1 for another1 of that infamous      
license of cross-examination to credit1 
which is not only barbarous to those who
 have to submit to it1 but leads to     
constant miscarriage of justice in the  
case of those who1 rather than submit to
 it1 will suffer wrong4  ,it will be    
said1 ,i daresay1 that overmuch scruple 
about our propositions and the evidence 

for them will reduce men1 especially the
 young1 to the intellectual condition of
 the great philosopher1 ,marphurius1 in 
,molire's comedy4 ,marphurius rebukes   
,sganarelle for saying he had come into 
the room2--',what you should say is1    
that it seems ,i am come into the room4'
 ,instead of the downright affirmations 
and burly negations so becoming to      
,britons1 he would bring down all our   
propositions to the attenuation of a    
possibility or a perhaps4 ,we need not  
fear such an end4 ,the exigencies of    
practical affairs will not allow this   
endless balancing4 ,they are always     
driving men to the other extreme1 making
 us like the new judge1 who first heard 
the counsel on one side and made up his 
mind on the merits of the case1 until   
the turn of the opposing counsel came1  
and then the new counsel filled the     
judge with so many doubts and           
perplexities1 that he suddenly vowed    
that nothing would induce him to pay any
 heed to evidence again as long as he   

lived4  ,i do not doubt that ,i shall be
 blamed in what ,i have said about      
,french1 and about history1 for         
encouraging a spirit of superficiality1 
and of contentment with worthless       
smatterings of things4 ,to this ,i      
should answer that1 as ,archbishop      
,whately pointed out long ago1 it is a  
fallacy to mistake general truths for   
superficial truths1 or a knowledge of   
the leading propositions of a subject   
for a superficial knowledge4 ',to have a
 general knowledge of a subject is to   
know only its leading truths1 but to    
know these thoroughly1 so as to have a  
true conception of the subject in its   
great features' 7,mill74 ,and ,i need   
not point out that instruction may be of
 the most general kind1 and still       
possess that most important quality of  
all instruction--namely1 being          
methodical4         99       99       99
       99       99  ,i think popular    
instruction has been made much more     
repulsive than it need have been1 and   

more repulsive than it ought to have    
been1 because those who have had the    
control of the movement for the last    
fifty years1 have been too anxious to   
make the type of popular instruction    
conform to the type of academic         
instruction proper to learned men4 ,the 
principles of instruction have been too 
rigorously ascetic and puritanical1 and 
instead of making the access to         
knowledge as easy as possible1 we have  
delighted in forcing every pilgrim to   
make his journey to the shrine of the   
,muses with a hair-shirt on his back and
 peas in his shoes4 ,nobody would say   
that ,macaulay had a superficial        
knowledge of the things best worth      
knowing in ancient literature1 yet we   
have his own confession that when he    
became a busy man--as you are all       
busy--then he read his classics1 not    
like a collegian1 but like a man of the 
world2 if he did not know a word1 he    
passed it over1 and if a passage refused
 to give up its meaning at the second   

reading1 then he let it alone4 ,now the 
aims of academic education and those of 
popular education are--it is obvious if 
you come to think of it--quite          
different4 ,the end of the one is rather
 to increase knowledge3 of the other to 
diffuse it1 and to increase men's       
interest in what is already known4 ,if1 
therefore1 ,i am for making certain     
kinds of instruction as general as they 
can possibly be made in these local     
centres1 ,i should give to the old seats
 of learning a very special function    
indeed4  ,it would be absurd to attempt 
to discuss academic organisation here1  
at this hour4 ,i only want to ask you as
 politicians whose representatives in   
parliament will ultimately settle the   
matter--to reflect whether the money now
 consumed in idle fellowships might not 
be more profitably employed in endowing 
inquirers4 ,the favourite argument of   
those who support prize fellowships is  
that they are the only means by which a 
child of the working-class can raise    

himself to the highest positions in the 
land4 ,my answer to this would be that1 
in the first place1 it is of            
questionable expediency to invite the   
cleverest members of any class to leave 
it--instead of making their abilities   
available in it1 and so raising the     
whole class along with1 and by means of1
 their own rise4 ,second1 these prize   
fellowships will continue1 and must     
continue1 to be carried off by those who
 can afford time and money to educate   
their sons for the competition4 ,third1 
,i doubt the expediency--and the history
 of ,oxford within the last twenty-five 
years strikingly confirms this doubt--of
 giving to a young man of any class what
 is practically a premium on indolence1 
and the removal of a motive to          
self-reliant and energetic spirit of    
enterprise4 ,the best thing that ,i can 
think of as happening to a young man is 
this3 that he should have been educated 
at a day-school in his own town2 that he
 should have opportunities of following 

also the higher education in his own    
town2 and that at the earliest          
convenient time he should be taught to  
earn his own living4  ,the ,universities
 might then be left to their proper     
business of study4 ,knowledge for its   
own sake is clearly an object which only
 a very small portion of society can be 
spared to pursue2 only a very few men in
 a generation have that devouring       
passion for knowing1 which is the true  
inspirer of fruitful study and          
exploration4 ,even if the passion were  
more common than it is1 the world could 
not afford on any very large scale that 
men should indulge in it3 the great     
business of the world has to be carried 
on4 ,one of the greatest of all         
hindrances to making things better is   
the habit of taking for granted that    
plans or ideas1 simply because they are 
different and approach the matter from  
different sides1 are therefore the      
rivals and enemies1 instead of being the
 friends and complements of one another4

 ,but a great and wealthy society like  
ours ought very well to be able to      
nourish one or two great seats for the  
augmentation of true learning1 and at   
the same time make sure that young      
men--and again ,i say1 especially young 
women--should have good education of the
 higher kind within reach of their own  
hearths4         99       99       99   
99       99  ,it is not necessary for me
 here1 ,i believe1 to dwell upon any of 
the great commonplaces which the        
follower of knowledge does well to keep 
always before his eyes1 and which       
represent the wisdom of many generations
 of studious experience4 ,you may have  
often heard from others1 or may have    
found out1 how good it is to have on    
your shelves1 however scantily furnished
 they may be1 three or four of those    
books to which it is well to give ten   
minutes every morning1 before going down
 into the battle and choking dust of the
 day4 ,men will name these books for    
themselves4 ,one will choose the ,bible1

 another ,goethe1 one the ,imitation of 
,christ1 another ,wordsworth4 ,perhaps  
it matters little what it be1 so long as
 your writer has cheerful seriousness1  
elevation1 calm1 and1 above all1 a sense
 of size and strength1 which shall open 
out the day before you and bestow gifts 
of fortitude and mastery4  ,then1 to    
turn to the intellectual side4 ,you know
 as well as ,i or any one can tell you1 
that knowledge is worth little until you
 have made it so perfectly your own1 as 
to be capable of reproducing it in      
precise and definite form4 ,goethe said 
that in the end we only retain of our   
studies1 after all1 what we practically 
employ of them4 ,and it is at least well
 that in our serious studies we should  
have the possibility of practically     
turning them to a definite destination  
clearly before our eyes4 ,nobody can be 
sure that he has got clear ideas on a   
subject1 unless he has tried to put them
 down on a piece of paper in independent
 words of his own4 ,it is an excellent  

plan1 too1 when you have read a good    
book1 to sit down and write a short     
abstract of what you can remember of it4
 ,it is a still better plan1 if you can 
make up your minds to a slight extra    
labour1 to do what ,lord ,strafford1 and
 ,gibbon1 and ,daniel ,webster did4     
,after glancing over the title1 subject1
 or design of a book1 these eminent men 
would take a pen and write roughly what 
questions they expected to find answered
 in it1 what difficulties solved1 what  
kind of information imparted4 ,such     
practices keep us from reading with the 
eye only1 gliding vaguely over the page2
 and they help us to place our new      
acquisitions in relation with what we   
knew before4 ,it is almost always worth 
while to read a thing twice over1 to    
make sure that nothing has been missed  
or dropped on the way1 or wrongly       
conceived or interpreted4 ,and if the   
subject be serious1 it is often well to 
let an interval elapse4 ,ideas1         
relations1 statements of fact1 are not  

to be taken by storm4 ,we have to steep 
them in the mind1 in the hope of thus   
extracting their inmost essence and     
significance4 ,if one lets an interval  
pass1 and then returns1 it is surprising
 how clear and ripe that has become1    
which1 when we left it1 seemed crude1   
obscure1 full of perplexity4  ,all this 
takes trouble1 no doubt1 but then it    
will not do to deal with ideas that we  
find in books or elsewhere as a certain 
bird does with its eggs--leave them in  
the sand for the sun to hatch and chance
 to rear4 ,people who follow this plan  
possess nothing better than ideas       
half-hatched1 and convictions reared by 
accident4 ,they are like a man who      
should pace up and down the world in the
 delusion that he is clad in sumptuous  
robes of purple and velvet1 when in     
truth he is only half-covered by the    
rags and tatters of other people's      
cast-off clothes4  ,apart from such     
mechanical devices as these ,i have     
mentioned1 there are habits and         

customary attitudes of mind which a     
conscientious reader will practise1 if  
he desires to get out of a book still   
greater benefits than the writer of it  
may have designed or thought of4 ,for   
example1 he should never be content with
 mere aggressive and negatory criticism 
of the page before him4 ,the page may be
 open to such criticism1 and in that    
case it is natural to indulge in it2 but
 the reader will often find an          
unexpected profit by asking             
himself--,what does this error teach me8
 ,how comes that fallacy to be here8    
,how came the writer to fall into this  
defect of taste8 ,to ask such questions 
gives a reader a far healthier tone of  
mind in the long run1 more seriousness1 
more depth1 more moderation of judgment1
 more insight into other men's ways of  
thinking as well as into his own1 than  
any amount of impatient condemnation and
 hasty denial1 even when both           
condemnation and denial may be in their 
place4  ,again1 let us not be too ready 

to detect an inconsistency in our       
author1 but rather let us teach         
ourselves to distinguish between        
inconsistency and having two sides to an
 opinion4 ',before ,i admit that two and
 two are four1' some one said1 ',i must 
first know to what use you are going to 
put the proposition4' ,that is to say1  
even the plainest proposition needs to  
be stated with a view to the drift of   
the discussion in hand1 or with a view  
to some special part of the discussion4 
,when the turn of some other part of the
 matter comes1 it will be convenient and
 often necessary to bring out into full 
light another side of your opinion1 not 
contradictory1 but complementary1 and   
the great distinction of a candid       
disputant or of a reader of good faith1 
is his willingness to take pains to see 
the points of reconciliation among      
different aspects and different         
expressions of what is substantially the
 same judgment4  ,then1 again1 nobody   
here needs to be reminded that the great

 successes of the world have been       
affairs of a second1 a third1 nay1 a    
fiftieth trial4 ,the history of         
literature1 of science1 of art1 of      
industrial achievements1 all testify to 
the truth that success is only the last 
term of what looked like a series of    
failures4 ,what is true of the great    
achievements of history1 is true also of
 the little achievements of the         
observant cultivator of his own         
understanding4 ,if a man is despondent  
about his work1 the best remedy that ,i 
can prescribe to him is to turn to a    
good biography2 there he will find that 
other men before him have known the     
dreary reaction that follows            
long-sustained effort1 and he will find 
that one of the differences between the 
first-rate man and the fifth-rate lies  
in the rigour with which the first-rate 
man recovers from this reaction1 and    
crushes it down1 and again flings       
himself once more upon the breach4 ,i   
remember the wisest and most virtuous   

man ,i have ever known1 or am ever      
likely to know--,mr4 ,mill--once saying 
to me that whenever he had written      
anything1 he always felt profoundly     
dissatisfied with it1 and it was only by
 reflecting that he had felt the same   
about other pieces of which the world   
had thought well1 that he could bring   
himself to send the new production to   
the printer4 ,the heroism of the scholar
 and the truth-seeker is not less       
admirable than the heroism of the       
man-at-arms4  ,finally1 you none of you 
need to be reminded of the most central 
and important of all the commonplaces of
 the student--that the stuff of which   
life is made is ,time2 that it is       
better1 as ,goethe said1 to do the most 
trifling thing in the world than to     
think half an hour a trifling thing4    
,nobody means by this that we are to    
have no pleasures4 ,where time is lost  
and wasted is where many people lose and
 waste their money--in things that are  
neither pleasure nor business--in those 

random and officious sociabilities1     
which neither refresh nor instruct nor  
invigorate1 but only fret and benumb and
 wear all edge off the mind4 ,all these 
things1 however1 you have all of you    
often thought about2 yet1 alas1 we are  
so ready to forget1 both in these       
matters and in other and weightier1 how 
irrevocable are our mistakes4    ,the   
moving ,finger writes1 and having writ1 
,moves on2 nor all your piety nor wit   
,can lure it back to cancel half a line1
   ,nor all your tears wipe out a word  
of it4   ,and now ,i think ,i cannot ask
 you to listen any longer4 ,i will only 
add that these ceremonial anniversaries1
 when they are over1 sometimes slightly 
tend to depress us1 unless we are on our
 guard4 ,when the prizes of the year are
 all distributed1 and the address is at 
an end1 we perhaps ask ourselves1 ,well1
 and what then8 ,it is not to be denied 
that the expectations of the first      
fervent promoters of popular instruction
 by such ,institutes as this--of men    

like ,lord ,brougham and others1 a      
generation ago--were not fulfilled4 ,the
 principal reason was that the          
elementary instruction of the country   
was not then sufficiently advanced to   
supply a population ready to take       
advantage of education in the higher    
subjects4 ,well1 we are in a fair way   
for removing that obstacle4 ,it is true 
that the old world moves tardily on its 
arduous way1 but even if the results of 
all our efforts in the cause of         
education were smaller than they are1   
there are still two considerations that 
ought to weigh with us and encourage us4
  ,for one thing1 you never know what   
child in rags and pitiful squalor that  
meets you in the street1 may have in him
 the germ of gifts that might add new   
treasures to the storehouse of beautiful
 things or noble acts4 ,in that great   
storm of terror which swept over ,france
 in #agic1 a certain man who was every  
hour expecting to be led off to the     
guillotine1 uttered this memorable      

sentiment4 ',even at this               
incomprehensible moment'--he said--'when
 morality1 enlightenment1 love of       
country1 all of them only make death at 
the prison-door or on the scaffold more 
certain--yes1 on the fatal tumbril      
itself1 with nothing free but my voice1 
,i could still cry ,take care1 to a     
child that should come too near the     
wheel2 perhaps ,i may save his life1    
perhaps he may one day save his         
country4' ,this is a generous and       
inspiring thought--one to which the     
roughest-handed man or woman in         
,birmingham may respond as honestly and 
heartily as the philosopher who wrote   
it4 ,it ought to shame the listlessness 
with which so many of us see the great  
phantasmagoria of life pass before us4  
,there is another thought to encourage  
us1 still more direct1 and still more   
positive4 ,the boisterous old notion of 
hero-worship1 which has been preached by
 so eloquent a voice in our age1 is     
after all now seen to be a half-truth1  

and to contain the less edifying and the
 less profitable half of the truth4 ,the
 world will never be able to spare its  
hero1 and the man with the rare and     
inexplicable gift of genius will always 
be as commanding a figure as he has ever
 been4 ,what we see every day with      
increasing clearness is that not only   
the wellbeing of the many1 but the      
chances of exceptional genius1 moral or 
intellectual1 in the gifted few1 are    
highest in a society where the average  
interest1 curiosity1 capacity1 are all  
highest4 ,the moral of this for you and 
for me is plain4 ,we cannot1 like       
,beethoven or ,handel1 lift the soul by 
the magic of divine melody into the     
seventh heaven of ineffable vision and  
hope incommensurable2 we cannot1 like   
,newton1 weigh the far-off stars in a   
balance1 and measure the heavings of the
 eternal flood2 we cannot1 like         
,voltaire1 scorch up what is cruel and  
false by a word as a flame1 nor1 like   
,milton or ,burke1 awaken men's hearts  

with the note of an organ-trumpet2 we   
cannot1 like the great saints of the    
churches and the great sages of the     
schools1 add to those acquisitions of   
spiritual beauty and intellectual       
mastery which have1 one by one1 and     
little by little1 raised man from being 
no higher than the brute to be only a   
little lower than the angels4 ,but what 
we can do--the humblest of us in this   
great hall--is by diligently using our  
own minds and diligently seeking to     
extend our own opportunities to others1 
to help to swell that common tide1 on   
the force and the set of whose currents 
depends the prosperous voyaging of      
humanity4 ,when our names are blotted   
out1 and our place knows us no more1 the
 energy of each social service will     
remain1 and so too1 let us not forget1  
will each social disservice remain1 like
 the unending stream of one of nature's 
forces4 ,the thought that this is so may
 well lighten the poor perplexities of  
our daily life1 and even soothe the pang

 of its calamities2 it lifts us from our
 feet as on wings1 opening a larger     
meaning to our private toil and a higher
 purpose to our public endeavour2 it    
makes the morning as we awake to it     
welcome1 and the evening like a soft    
garment as it wraps us about2 it nerves 
our arm with boldness against oppression
 and injustice1 and strengthens our     
voice with deeper accents against       
falsehood1 while we are yet in the full 
noon of our days--yes1 and perhaps it   
will shed some ray of consolation1 when 
our eyes are growing dim to it all1 and 
we go down into the ,valley of the ,dark
 ,shadow4   ,footnotes3  #a ,sir ,henry 
,cole1 ,c4,b41 writes to the ,times     
7,oct4 #ac7 on this suggestion as       
follows3--',in justice to the ,lords    
,president of the ,council on           
,education1 ,i hope you will allow me   
the opportunity of stating that from    
#ahee the ,science and ,art ,department 
has done its very utmost to induce      
schools of art to receive deposits of   

works of art for study and popular      
examination1 and to circulate its       
choicest objects useful to manufacturing
 industry4 ,in corroboration of this    
assertion1 please to turn to p4 #dce of 
the twenty-second ,report of the        
,department1 just issued4 ,you will     
there find that upwards of #bf1ijg      
objects of art1 besides #bc1iaa         
paintings and drawings1 have been       
circulated since #ahee1 and in some     
cases have been left for several months 
for exhibition in the localities4 ,they 
have been seen by more than #f1jjj1jjj  
of visitors1 besides having been copied 
by students1 etc41 and the localities   
have taken the great sum of #aaf1ahb for
 showing them4  ',the ,department       
besides has tried every efficient means 
to induce other public institutions1    
which are absolutely choked with        
superfluous specimens1 to concur in a   
general principle of circulating the    
nation's works of art1 but without      
success4  ',the chief of our national   

storehouses of works of art actually    
repudiates the idea that its objects are
 collected for purposes of education1   
and declares that they are only 'things 
rare and curious1' the very reverse of  
what common sense says they are4        
',further1 the ,department1 to tempt    
,schools of ,art to acquire objects     
permanently for art museums attached to 
them1 offered a grant in aid of #ej per 
cent of the cost price of the objects4' 
#b ,a very eminent physicist writes to  
me on this passage3 ',i cannot help     
smiling when ,i think of the place of   
physical science in the endowed         
schools1' etc4 ,my reference was to the 
great prevalence of such assertions as  
that human progress depends upon        
increase of our knowledge of the        
conditions of material phenomena 7,dr4  
,draper1 for instance1 lays this down as
 a fundamental axiom of history73 as if 
moral advance1 the progressive elevation
 of types of character and ethical      
ideals were not at least an equally     

important cause of improvement in       
civilisation4 ,the type of ,saint       
,vincent de ,paul is plainly as         
indispensable to progress as the type of
 ,newton4   #c ,this suggestion has     
fortunately found favour in a quarter   
where shrewd and critical common sense  
is never wanting4 ,the ,economist 7,oct4
 #ad7 writes3--',such a text-book       
commented on to a class by a man trained
 to estimate the value of evidence1     
would form a most valuable study1 and   
not1 we should imagine1 at all less     
fascinating than valuable4 ,of course   
the class suggested would not be a class
 in ,english law1 but in the principles 
on which evidence should be estimated1  
and the special errors to which1 in     
common life1 average minds are most     
liable4 ,we regard this suggestion as a 
most useful one1 and as one which would 
not only greatly contribute to the      
educational worth of an institute for   
adults1 but also to its popularity4'    
,transcriber's ,notes3   ,passages in   

italics indicated by underscore italics4
    ,additional spacing after poetic    
quote on page #cc is intentional to     
indicate both the end of the quote and  
the beginning of a new   paragraph as is
 in the original text4