,,how ,,to ,,observe4 ----- ,,morals ,,and ,,manners4 ,,by ,,harriet ,,martineau4 ,hlas6 o donc chercher1 o trouver le bonheur8 ----,nulle part tout entier1 partout avec mesure4 ,,voltaire4 ,opening my journal-book1 and dipping my pen in my ink-horn1 ,i determined1 as far as ,i could1 to justify myself and my countrymen in wandering over the face of the earth4 ,,rogers4 ,,london3 ,,charles ,,knight ,,and ,,co4 #bb1 ,,ludgate ,,street4 #ahch4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,,samuel ,,bentley1 ,dorset ,street1 ,fleet ,street4 ,,advertisement4 ,the best mode of exciting the love of observation is by teaching ',how to ,observe4' ,with this end it was originally intended to produce1 in one or two volumes1 a series of hints for travellers and students1 calling their attention to the points necessary for inquiry or observation in the different branches of ,geology1 ,natural ,history1 ,agriculture1 the ,fine ,arts1 ,general ,statistics1 and ,social ,manners4 ,on consideration1 however1 it was determined somewhat to extend the plan1 and to separate the great divisions of the field of observation1 so that those whose tastes led them to one particular branch of inquiry might not be encumbered with other parts in which they do not feel an equal interest4 ,the preceding passage is contained in the notice accompanying the first work in this series--,geology1 by ,mr4 ,de la ,bche1 published in #ahce4 ,thus1 the second work in the series is in continuation of the plan above announced4 ,,contents4 ,,part ,i4 ,,requisites ,,for ,,observation4 ,page ,,introduction #a ,,chap4 ,i4 ,philosophical ,requisites4 ,section ,i4 #aa ,section ,,ii4 #ad ,section ,,iii4 #ba ,section ,,iv4 #bg ,,chap4 ,,ii4 ,moral ,requisites #dj ,,chap4 ,,iii4 ,mechanical ,requisites #ea ,,part ,,ii4 ,,what ,,to ,,observe #fa ,,chap4 ,i4 ,religion #fh ,churches #hj ,clergy #hd ,superstitions #ij ,suicide #id ,,chap4 ,,ii4 ,general ,moral ,notions #aja ,epitaphs #ajh ,love of ,kindred and ,birth-place #aaa ,talk of ,aged and ,children #aac ,character of prevalent ,pride #aad ,character of popular ,idols #aah ,epochs of ,society #abb ,treatment of the ,guilty #abd ,testimony of ,criminals #abi ,popular ,songs #acb ,literature and ,philosophy #acg ,,chap4 ,,iii4 ,domestic ,state #add ,soil and ,aspect of the ,country #aec ,markets #aed ,agricultural ,class #aee ,manufacturing ,class #aeg ,commercial ,class #aeh ,health #afa ,marriage and ,woman #afg ,children #aha ,,chap4 ,,iv4 ,idea of ,liberty #ahc ,police #ahd ,legislation #ahh ,classes in ,society #aij ,servants #aib ,imitation of the ,metropolis #aif ,newspapers #aig ,schools #aih ,objects and ,form of ,persecution #bjc ,,chap4 ,v4 ,progress #bjf ,conditions of ,progress #bji ,charity #bac ,arts and ,inventions #baf ,multiplicity of ,objects #bah ,,chap4 ,,vi4 ,discourse #bba ,,part ,,iii4 ,,mechanical ,,methods #bca ,,how ,,to ,,observe4 ,,morals ,,and ,,manners4 ,,part ,i4 ,,requisites ,,for ,,observation4 ,,introduction4 ,inest sua gratia parvis4 ,les petites choses n'ont de valeur que de la part de ceux qui peuvent s'lever aux grandes4--,,de ,,jouy4 ,there is no department of inquiry in which it is not full as easy to miss truth as to find it1 even when the materials from which truth is to be drawn are actually present to our senses4 ,a child does not catch a gold fish in water at the first trial1 however good his eyes may be1 and however clear the water2 knowledge and method are necessary to enable him to take what is actually before his eyes and under his hand4 ,so it is with all who fish in a strange element for the truth which is living and moving there3 the powers of observation must be trained1 and habits of method in arranging the materials presented to the eye must be acquired before the student possesses the requisites for understanding what he contemplates4 ,the observer of ,men and ,manners stands as much in need of intellectual preparation as any other student4 ,this is not1 indeed1 generally supposed1 and a multitude of travellers act as if it were not true4 ,of the large number of tourists who annually sail from our ports1 there is probably not one who would dream of pretending to make observations on any subject of physical inquiry1 of which he did not understand even the principles4 ,if1 on his return from the ,mediterranean1 the unprepared traveller was questioned about the geology of ,corsica1 or the public buildings of ,palermo1 he would reply1 ,oh1 ,i can tell you nothing about that--,i never studied geology2 ,i know nothing about architecture4 ,but few1 or none1 make the same avowal about the morals and manners of a nation4 ,every man seems to imagine that he can understand men at a glance2 he supposes that it is enough to be among them to know what they are doing2 he thinks that eyes1 ears1 and memory are enough for morals1 though they would not qualify him for botanical or statistical observation2 he pronounces confidently upon the merits and social condition of the nations among whom he has travelled2 no misgiving ever prompts him to say1 ,i can give you little general information about the people ,i have been seeing2 ,i have not studied the principles of morals2 ,i am no judge of national manners4 ,there would be nothing to be ashamed of in such an avowal4 ,no wise man blushes at being ignorant of any science which it has not suited his purposes to study1 or which it has not been in his power to attain4 ,no linguist wrings his hands when astronomical discoveries are talked of in his presence2 no political economist covers his face when shown a shell or a plant which he cannot class2 still less should the artist1 the natural philosopher1 the commercial traveller1 or the classical scholar1 be ashamed to own himself unacquainted with the science which1 of all the sciences which have yet opened upon men1 is1 perhaps1 the least cultivated1 the least definite1 the least ascertained in itself1 and the most difficult in its application4 ,in this last characteristic of the science of ,morals lies the excuse of as many travellers as may decline pronouncing on the social condition of any people4 ,even if the generality of travellers were as enlightened as they are at present ignorant about the principles of ,morals1 the difficulty of putting those principles to interpretative uses would deter the wise from making the hasty decisions1 and uttering the large judgments1 in which travellers have hitherto been wont to indulge4 ,in proportion as men become sensible how infinite are the diversities in man1 how incalculable the varieties and influences of circumstances1 rashness of pretension and decision will abate1 and the great work of classifying the moral manifestations of society will be confided to the philosophers1 who bear the same relation to the science of society as ,herschel does to astronomy1 and ,beaufort to hydrography4 ,of all the tourists who utter their decisions upon foreigners1 how many have begun their researches at home8 ,which of them would venture upon giving an account of the morals and manners of ,london1 though he may have lived in it all his life8 ,would any one of them escape errors as gross as those of the ,frenchman who published it as a general fact that people in ,london always have1 at dinner parties1 soup on each side1 and fish at four corners8 ,which of us would undertake to classify the morals and manners of any hamlet in ,england1 after spending the summer in it8 ,what sensible man seriously generalizes upon the manners of a street1 even though it be ,houndsditch or ,cranbourn-,alley8 ,who pretends to explain all the proceedings of his next-door neighbour8 ,who is able to account for all that is said and done by the dweller in the same house1--by parent1 child1 brother1 or domestic8 ,if such judgments were attempted1 would they not be as various as those who make them8 ,and would they not1 after all1 if closely looked into1 reveal more of the mind of the observer than of the observed8 ,if it be thus with us at home1 amidst all the general resemblances1 the prevalent influences which furnish an interpretation to a large number of facts1 what hope of a trustworthy judgment remains for the foreign tourist1 however good may be his method of travelling1 and however long his absence from home8 ,he looks at all the people along his line of road1 and converses with a few individuals from among them4 ,if he diverges1 from time to time1 from the high road1--if he winds about among villages1 and crosses mountains1 to dip into the hamlets of the valleys1--he still pursues only a line1 and does not command the expanse2 he is furnished1 at best1 with no more than a sample of the people2 and whether they be indeed a sample1 must remain a conjecture which he has no means of verifying4 ,he converses1 more or less1 with1 perhaps1 one man in ten thousand of those he sees2 and of the few with whom he converses1 no two are alike in powers and in training1 or perfectly agree in their views on any one of the great subjects which the traveller professes to observe2 the information afforded by one is contradicted by another2 the fact of one day is proved error by the next2 the wearied mind soon finds itself overwhelmed by the multitude of unconnected or contradictory particulars1 and lies passive to be run over by the crowd4 ,the tourist is no more likely to learn1 in this way1 the social state of a nation1 than his valet would be qualified to speak of the meteorology of the country from the number of times the umbrellas were wanted in the course of two months4 ,his children might as well undertake to exhibit the geological formation of the country from the pebbles they picked up in a day's ride4 ,i remember some striking words addressed to me1 before ,i set out on my travels1 by a wise man1 since dead4 ,you are going to spend two years in the ,united ,states1 said he4 ,now just tell me1--do you expect to understand the ,americans by the time you come back8 ,you do not3 that is well4 ,i lived five-and-twenty years in ,scotland1 and ,i fancied ,i understood the ,scotch2 then ,i came to ,england1 and supposed ,i should soon understand the ,english4 ,i have now lived five-and-twenty years here1 and ,i begin to think ,i understand neither the ,scotch nor the ,english4 ,what is to be done8 ,let us first settle what is not to be done4 ,the traveller must deny himself all indulgence of peremptory decision1 not only in public on his return1 but in his journal1 and in his most superficial thoughts4 ,the experienced and conscientious traveller would word the condition differently4 ,finding peremptory decision more trying to his conscience than agreeable to his laziness1 he would call it not indulgence1 but anxiety2 he enjoys the employment of collecting materials1 but would shrink from the responsibility of judging a community4 ,the traveller must not generalize on the spot1 however true may be his apprehension--however firm his grasp1 of one or more facts4 ,a raw ,english traveller in ,china was entertained by a host who was intoxicated1 and a hostess who was red-haired2 he immediately made a note of the fact that all the men in ,china were drunkards1 and all the women red-haired4 ,a raw ,chinese traveller in ,england was landed by a ,thames waterman who had a wooden leg4 ,the stranger saw that the wooden leg was used to stand in the water with1 while the other was high and dry4 ,the apparent economy of the fact struck the ,chinese2 he saw in it strong evidence of design1 and wrote home that in ,england one-legged men are kept for watermen1 to the saving of all injury to health1 shoe1 and stocking1 from standing in the river4 ,these anecdotes exhibit but a slight exaggeration of the generalizing tendencies of many modern travellers4 ,they are not so much worse than some recent tourists' tales1 as they are better than the old narratives of men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders4 ,natural philosophers do not dream of generalizing with any such speed as that used by the observers of men2 yet they might do it with more safety1 at the risk of an incalculably smaller mischief4 ,the geologist and the chemist make a large collection of particular appearances1 before they commit themselves to propound a principle drawn from them1 though their subject matter is far less diversified than the human subject1 and nothing of so much importance as human emotions1--love and dislike1 reverence and contempt1 depends upon their judgment4 ,if a student in natural philosophy is in too great haste to classify and interpret1 he misleads1 for a while1 his fellow-students 7not a very large class72 he vitiates the observations of a few successors2 his error is discovered and exposed2 he is mortified1 and his too docile followers are ridiculed1 and there is an end2 but if a traveller gives any quality which he may have observed in a few individuals as a characteristic of a nation1 the evil is not speedily or easily remediable4 ,abject thinkers1 passive readers1 adopt his words2 parents repeat them to their children2 and townspeople spread the judgment into the villages and hamlets--the strongholds of prejudice2 future travellers see according to the prepossessions given them1 and add their testimony to the error1 till it becomes the work of a century to reverse a hasty generalization4 ,it was a great mistake of a geologist to assign a wrong level to the ,caspian ,sea2 and it is vexatious that much time and energy should have been devoted to account for an appearance which1 after all1 does not exist4 ,it is provoking to geologists that they should have wasted a great deal of ingenuity in finding reasons for these waters being at a different level from what it is now found that they have2 but the evil is over2 the pish6 and the pshaw6 are said2 the explanatory and apologetical notes are duly inserted in new editions of geological works1 and nothing more can come of the mistake4 ,but it is difficult to foresee when the ,british public will believe that the ,americans are a mirthful nation1 or even that the ,french are not almost all cooks or dancing-masters4 ,a century hence1 probably1 the ,americans will continue to believe that all the ,english make a regular study of the art of conversation2 and the lower orders of ,french will be still telling their children that half the people in ,england hang or drown themselves every ,november4 ,as long as travellers generalize on morals and manners as hastily as they do1 it will probably be impossible to establish a general conviction that no civilized nation is ascertainably better or worse than any other on this side barbarism1 the whole field of morals being taken into the view4 ,as long as travellers continue to neglect the safe means of generalization which are within the reach of all1 and build theories upon the manifestations of individual minds1 there is little hope of inspiring men with that spirit of impartiality1 mutual deference1 and love1 which are the best enlighteners of the eyes and rectifiers of the understanding4 ,above all things1 the traveller must not despair of good results from his observations4 ,because he cannot establish true conclusions by imperfect means1 he is not to desist from doing anything at all4 ,because he cannot safely generalize in one way1 it does not follow that there is no other way4 ,there are methods of safe generalization of which ,i shall speak by-and-by4 ,but1 if there were not such within his reach1 if his only materials were the discourse1 the opinions1 the feelings1 the way of life1 the looks1 dress1 and manners of individuals1 he might still afford important contributions to science by his observations on as wide a variety of these as he can bring within his mental grasp4 ,the experience of a large number of observers would in time yield materials from which a cautious philosopher might draw conclusions4 ,it is a safe rule1 in morals as in physics1 that no fact is without its use4 ,every observer and recorder is fulfilling a function2 and no one observer or recorder ought to feel discouragement1 as long as he desires to be useful rather than shining2 to be the servant rather than the lord of science1 and a friend to the home-stayers rather than their dictator4 ,one of the wisest men living writes to me1 ,no books are so little to be trusted as travels4 ,all travellers do and must generalize too rapidly4 ,most1 if not all1 take a fact for a principle1 or the exception for the rule1 more or less2 and the quickest minds1 which love to reason and explain more than to observe with patience1 go most astray4 ,my faith in travels received a mortal wound when ,i travelled4 ,i read1 as ,i went along1 the books of those who had preceded me1 and found that we did not see with the same eyes4 ,even descriptions of nature proved false4 ,the traveller had viewed the prospect at a different season1 or in a different light1 and substituted the transient for the fixed4 ,still ,i think travels useful4 ,different accounts give means of approximation to truth2 and by-and-by what is fixed and essential in a people will be brought out4 ,it ought to be an animating thought to a traveller that1 even if it be not in his power to settle any one point respecting the morals and manners of an empire1 he can infallibly aid in supplying means of approximation to truth1 and of bringing out what is fixed and essential in a people4 ,this should be sufficient to stimulate his exertions and satisfy his ambition4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,philosophical ,,requisites4 ,only ,i believe that this is not a bow for every man to shoot in that counts himself a teacher1 but will require sinews almost equal to those which ,homer gave ,ulysses2 yet ,i am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the essay than it now seems at a distance4--,,milton4 ,there are two parties to the work of observation on ,morals and ,manners--the observer and the observed4 ,this is an important fact which the traveller seldom dwells upon as he ought2 yet a moment's consideration shows that the mind of the observer--the instrument by which the work is done1 is as essential as the material to be wrought4 ,if the instrument be in bad order1 it will furnish a bad product1 be the material what it may4 ,in this chapter ,i shall point out what requisites the traveller ought to make sure that he is possessed of before he undertakes to offer observations on the ,morals and ,manners of a people4 ,,section ,i4 ,he must have made up his mind as to what it is that he wants to know4 ,in physical science1 great results may be obtained by hap-hazard experiments2 but this is not the case in ,morals4 ,a chemist can hardly fail of learning something by putting any substances together1 under new circumstances1 and seeing what will arise out of the combination2 and some striking discoveries happened in this way1 in the infancy of the science2 though no one doubts that more knowledge may be gained by the chemist who has an aim in his mind1 and who conducts his experiment on some principle4 ,in ,morals1 the latter method is the only one which promises any useful results4 ,in the workings of the social system1 all the agents are known in the gross--all are determined4 ,it is not their nature1 but the proportions in which they are combined1 which have to be ascertained4 ,what does the traveller want to know8 ,he is aware that1 wherever he goes1 he will find men1 women1 and children2 strong men and weak men2 just men and selfish men4 ,he knows that he will everywhere find a necessity for food1 clothing1 and shelter2 and everywhere some mode of general agreement how to live together4 ,he knows that he will everywhere find birth1 marriage1 and death2 and therefore domestic affections4 ,what results from all these elements of social life does he mean to look for8 ,for want of settling this question1 one traveller sees nothing truly1 because the state of things is not consistent with his speculations as to how human beings ought to live together2 another views the whole with prejudice1 because it is not like what he has been accustomed to see at home2 yet each of these would shrink from the recognition of his folly1 if it were fully placed before him4 ,the first would be ashamed of having tried any existing community by an arbitrary standard of his own--an act much like going forth into the wilderness to see kings' houses full of men in soft raiment2 and the other would perceive that different nations may go on judging one another by themselves till doomsday1 without in any way improving the chance of self-advancement and mutual understanding4 ,going out with the disadvantage of a habit of mind uncounteracted by an intellectual aim1 will never do4 ,the traveller may as well stay at home1 for anything he will gain in the way of social knowledge4 ,the two considerations just mentioned must be subordinated to the grand one1--the only general one1--of the relative amount of human happiness4 ,every element of social life derives its importance from this great consideration4 ,the external conveniences of men1 their internal emotions and affections1 their social arrangements1 graduate in importance precisely in proportion as they affect the general happiness of the section of the race among whom they exist4 ,here then is the wise traveller's aim1--to be kept in view to the exclusion of prejudice1 both philosophical and national4 ,he must not allow himself to be perplexed or disgusted by seeing the great ends of human association pursued by means which he could never have devised1 and to the practice of which he could not reconcile himself4 ,he is not to conclude unfavourably about the diet of the multitude because he sees them swallowing blubber1 or scooping out water-melons1 instead of regaling themselves with beef and beer4 ,he is not to suppose their social meetings a failure because they eat with their fingers instead of with silver forks1 or touch foreheads instead of making a bow4 ,he is not to conclude against domestic morals1 on account of a diversity of methods of entering upon marriage4 ,he might as well judge of the minute transactions of manners all over the world by what he sees in his native village4 ,there1 to leave the door open or to shut it bears no relation to morals1 and but little to manners2 whereas1 to shut the door is as cruel an act in a ,hindoo hut as to leave it open in a ,greenland cabin4 ,in short1 he is to prepare himself to bring whatever he may observe to the test of some high and broad principle1 and not to that of a low comparative practice4 ,to test one people by another1 is to argue within a very small segment of a circle2 and the observer can only pass backwards and forwards at an equal distance from the point of truth4 ,to test the morals and manners of a nation by a reference to the essentials of human happiness1 is to strike at once to the centre1 and to see things as they are4 ,,section ,,ii4 ,being provided with a conviction of what it is that he wants to know1 the traveller must be furthermore furnished with the means of gaining the knowledge he wants4 ,when he was a child1 he was probably taught that eyes1 ears1 and understanding are all-sufficient to gain for him as much knowledge as he will have time to acquire2 but his self-education has been a poor one1 if he has not become convinced that something more is needful--the enlightenment and discipline of the understanding1 as well as its immediate use4 ,it is not enough for a traveller to have an active understanding1 equal to an accurate perception of individual facts in themselves2 he must also be in possession of principles which may serve as a rallying point for his observations1 and without which he cannot determine their bearings1 or be secure of putting a right interpretation upon them4 ,a traveller may do better without eyes1 or without ears1 than without such principles1 as there is evidence to prove4 ,holman1 the blind traveller1 gains a wonderful amount of information1 though he is shut out from the evidence yielded by the human countenance1 by way-side groups1 by the aspect of cities1 and the varying phenomena of country regions4 ,in his motto1 he indicates something of his method4 ,sightless to see1 and judge thro' judgment's eyes1 ,to make four senses do the work of five1 ,to arm the mind for hopeful enterprise1 ,are lights to him who doth in darkness live4 ,in order to judge through judgment's eyes1 those eyes must be made strong and clear2 and a traveller may gain more without the bodily organ than with an untrained understanding4 ,the case of the ,deaf ,traveller,a leads us to say the same about the other great avenue of knowledge4 ,his writings prove1 to all who are acquainted with them1 that1 though to a great degree deprived of that inestimable commentary upon perceived facts--human discourse--the ,deaf ,traveller is able to furnish us with more knowledge of foreign people than ,fine-,ear himself could have done without the accompaniments of analytical power and concentrative thought4 ,all senses1 and intellectual powers1 and good habits1 may be considered essential to a perfect observation of morals and manners2 but almost any one might be better spared than a provision of principles which may serve as a rallying point and a test of facts4 ,the blind and the deaf travellers must suffer under a deprivation or deficiency of certain classes of facts4 ,the condition of the unphilosophical traveller is much worse4 ,it is a chance whether he puts a right interpretation on any of the facts he perceives4 ,many may object that ,i am making much too serious a matter of the department of the business of travelling under present notice4 ,they do not pretend to be moral philosophers2--they do not desire to be oracles2--they attempt nothing more than to give a simple report of what has come under their notice4 ,but what work on earth is more serious than this of giving an account of the most grave and important things which are transacted on this globe8 ,every true report is a great good2 every untrue report is a great mischief4 ,therefore1 let there be none given but by persons in some good degree qualified4 ,such travellers as will not take pains to provide themselves with the requisite thought and study should abstain from reporting at all4 ,it is a mistake1 however1 to suppose that the study shown to be requisite is vast and deep4 ,some knowledge of the principles of ,morals and the rule of ,manners is required1 as in the case of other sciences to be brought into use on a similar occasion2 but the principles are few and simple1 and the rule easy of application4 ,the universal summary notions of ,morals may serve a common traveller in his judgments as to whether he would like to live in any foreign country1 and as to whether the people there are as agreeable to him as his own nation4 ,for such an one it may be sufficient to bear about the general notions that lying1 thieving1 idleness1 and licentiousness are bad2 and that truth1 honesty1 industry1 and sobriety are good2 and for common purposes1 such an one may be trusted to pronounce what is industry and what idleness2 what is licentiousness and what sobriety4 ,but vague notions1 home prepossessions1 even on these great points of morals1 are not sufficient1 in the eyes of an enlightened traveller1 to warrant decisions on the moral state of nations who are reared under a wide diversity of circumstances4 ,the true liberality which alone is worthy to contemplate all the nations of the earth1 does not draw a broad line through the midst of human conduct1 declaring all that falls on the one side vice1 and all on the other virtue2 such a liberality knows that actions and habits do not always carry their moral impress visibly to all eyes1 and that the character of very many must be determined by a cautious application of a few deep principles4 ,is the ,shaker of ,new ,england a good judge of the morals and manners of the ,arab of the ,desert8 ,what sort of a verdict would the shrewdest gipsy pass upon the monk of ,la ,trappe8 ,what would the ,scotch peasant think of the magical practices of ,egypt8 or the ,russian soldier of a meeting of electors in the ,united ,states8 ,the ideas of right and wrong in the minds of these people are not of the enlarged kind which would enable them to judge persons in situations the most opposite to their own4 ,the true philosopher1 the worthy observer1 first contemplates in imagination the area of humanity1 and then ascertains what principles of morals are applicable to them all1 and judges by these4 ,the enlightened traveller1 if he explore only one country1 carries in his mind the image of all2 for1 only in its relation to the whole of the race can any one people be judged4 ,almost without exaggeration1 he may be said to see what the rhapsodist in ,volney saw4 ,there1 from above the atmosphere1 looking down upon the earth ,i had quitted1 ,i beheld a scene entirely new4 ,under my feet1 floating in empty space1 a globe similar to that of the moon1 but less luminous1 presented to me one of its faces4444 ',what6' exclaimed ,i1 'is that the earth which is inhabited by human beings8',b ,the differences are1 that1 instead of one of its faces1 the moralist would see the whole of the earth in one contemplation2 and that1 instead of a nebulous expanse here1 and a brown or grey speck there1--continents1 seas1 or volcanoes1--he would look into the homes and social assemblies of all lands4 ,in the extreme ,north1 there is the snow-hut of the ,esquimaux1 shining with the fire within1 like an alabaster lamp left burning in a wide waste2 within1 the beardless father is mending his weapons made of fishbones1 while the dwarfed mother swathes her infant in skins1 and feeds it with oil and fat4 ,in the extreme ,east1 there is the ,chinese family in their garden1 treading its paved walks1 or seated under the shade of its artificial rocks2 the master displaying the claws of his left hand as he smokes his pipe1 and his wife tottering on her deformed feet as she follows her child1--exulting over it if it be a boy2 grave and full of sighs if heaven have sent her none but girls4 ,in the extreme ,south1 there is the ,colonist of the ,cape1 lazily basking before his door1 while he sends his labourer abroad with his bullock-waggon1 devolves the business of the farm upon the women1 and scares from his door any poor ,hottentot who may have wandered hither over the plain4 ,in the extreme ,west1 there is the gathering together on the shores of the ,pacific of the hunters laden with furs4 ,the men are trading1 or cleaning their arms1 or sleeping2 the squaws are cooking1 or dyeing with vegetable juices the quills of the porcupine or the hair of the moose-deer4 ,in the intervals between these extremities1 there is a world of morals and manners1 as diverse as the surface of the lands on which they are exhibited4 ,here is the ,russian nobleman on his estate1 the lord of the fate of his serfs1 but hard pressed by the enmity of rival nobles1 and silenced by the despotism of his prince2 his wife leads a languid life among her spinning maidens2 and his young sons talk of the wars in which they shall serve their emperor in time to come4 ,there is the ,frankfort trader1 dwelling among equals1 fixing his pride upon having wronged no man1 or upon having a son distinguished at the university1 or a daughter skilled in domestic accomplishments2 while his wife emulates her neighbours in supporting the comfort and respectability of the household4 ,here is the ,french peasant returning from the field in total ignorance of what has taken place in the capital of late2 and there is the ,english artizan discussing with his brother-workman the politics of the town1 or carrying home to his wife some fresh hopes of the interference of parliament about labour and wages4 ,here is a conclave of ,cardinals1 consulting upon the interests of the ,holy ,see2 there a company of ,brahmins setting an offering of rice before their idol4 ,in one direction1 there is a handful of citizens building a new town in the midst of a forest2 in another1 there is a troop of horsemen hovering on the horizon1 while a caravan is traversing the ,desert4 ,under the twinkling shadows of a ,german vineyard1 national songs are sung2 from the steep places of the ,swiss mountains the ,alp-horn resounds2 in the coffee-house at ,cairo1 listeners hang upon the voice of the romance reciter2 the churches of ,italy echo with solemn hymns2 and the soft tones of the child are heard1 in the ,new ,england parlour1 as the young scholar reads the ,bible to parent or aged grandfather4 ,all these1 and more1 will a traveller of the most enlightened order revolve before his mind's eye as he notes the groups which are presented to his senses4 ,of such travellers there are but too few2 and vague and general1 or merely traditional1 notions of right and wrong must serve the purpose of the greater number4 ,the chief evil of moral notions being vague or traditional is1 that they are irreconcileable with liberality of judgment2 and the great benefit of an ascertainment of the primary principles of morals is1 that such an investigation dissolves prejudice1 and casts a full light upon many things which cease to be fearful and painful when they are no longer obscure4 ,we all know how different a ,sunday in ,paris appears to a sectarian1 to whom the word of his priest is law2 and to a philosopher1 in whom religion is indigenous1 who understands the narrowness of sects1 and sees how much smaller even ,christendom itself is than ,humanity4 ,we all know how offensive the prayers of ,mahomedans at the corners of streets1 and the pomp of catholic processions1 are to those who know no other way than entering into their closet1 and shutting the door when they pray2 but how felt the deep thinker who wrote the ,religio ,medici8 ,he was an orderly member of a ,protestant church1 yet he uncovered his head at the sight of a crucifix2 he could not laugh at pilgrims walking with peas in their shoes1 or despise a begging friar2 he could not hear an ,ave ,maria bell without an elevation2 and it is probable that even the ,teraphim of the ,arabs would not have been wholly absurd1 or the car of ,juggernaut itself altogether odious in his eyes4 ,such is the contrast between the sectary and the philosopher4 ,,section ,,iii4 ,as an instance of the advantage which a philosophical traveller has over an unprepared one1 look at the difference which will enter into a man's judgment of nations1 according as he carries about with him the vague popular notion of a ,moral ,sense1 or has investigated the laws under which feelings of right and wrong grow up in all men4 ,it is worth while to dwell a little on this important point4 ,most persons who take no great pains to think for themselves1 have a notion that every human being has feelings1 or a conscience1 born with him1 by which he knows1 if he will only attend to it1 exactly what is right and wrong2 and that1 as right and wrong are fixed and immutable1 all ought to agree as to what is sin and virtue in every case4 ,now1 mankind are1 and always have been1 so far from agreeing as to right and wrong1 that it is necessary to account in some manner for the wide differences in various ages1 and among various nations4 ,a great diversity of doctrines has been put forth for the purpose of lessening the difficulty2 but they all leave certain portions of the race under the condemnation or compassion of the rest for their error1 blindness1 or sin4 ,moreover1 no doctrines yet invented have accounted for some total revolutions in the ideas of right and wrong1 which have occurred in the course of ages4 ,a person who takes for granted that there is an universal ,moral ,sense among men1 as unchanging as he who bestowed it1 cannot reasonably explain how it was that those men were once esteemed the most virtuous who killed the most enemies in battle1 while now it is considered far more noble to save life than to destroy it4 ,they cannot but wonder how it was that it was once thought a great shame to live in misery1 and an honour to commit suicide2 while now the wisest and best men think exactly the reverse4 ,and1 with regard to the present age1 it must puzzle men who suppose that all ought to think alike on moral subjects1 that there are parts of the world where mothers believe it a duty to drown their children1 and that eastern potentates openly deride the king of ,england for having only one wife instead of one hundred4 ,there is no avoiding illiberality1 under this belief1--as the philosopher understands illiberality4 ,there is no avoiding the conclusion that the people who practice infanticide and polygamy are desperately wicked2 and that minor differences of conduct are1 abroad as at home1 so many sins4 ,the observer who sets out with a more philosophical belief1 not only escapes the affliction of seeing sin wherever he sees difference1 and avoids the suffering of contempt and alienation from his species1 but1 by being prepared for what he witnesses1 and aware of the causes1 is free from the agitation of being shocked and alarmed1 preserves his calmness1 his hope1 his sympathy2 and is thus far better fitted to perceive1 understand1 and report upon the morals and manners of the people he visits4 ,his more philosophical belief1 derived from all fair evidence and just reflexion1 is1 that every man's feelings of right and wrong1 instead of being born with him1 grow up in him from the influences to which he is subjected4 ,we see that in other cases1--with regard to science1 to art1 and to the appearances of nature1--feelings grow out of knowledge and experience2 and there is every evidence that it is so with regard to morals4 ,the feelings begin very early2 and this is the reason why they are supposed to be born with men2 but they are few and imperfect in childhood1 and1 in the case of those who are strongly exercised in morals1 they go on enlarging and strengthening and refining through life4 ,see the effect upon the traveller's observations of his holding this belief about conscience6 ,knowing that some influences act upon the minds of all people in all countries1 he looks everywhere for certain feelings of right and wrong which are as sure to be in all men's minds as if they were born with them4 ,for instance1 to torment another without any reason1 real or imaginary1 is considered wrong all over the world4 ,in the same manner1 to make others happy is universally considered right4 ,at the same time1 the traveller is prepared to find an infinite variety of differences in smaller matters1 and is relieved from the necessity of pronouncing each to be a vice in one party or another4 ,his own moral education having been a more elevated and advanced one than that of some of the people he contemplates1 he cannot but feel sorrow and disgust at various things that he witnesses2 but it is ignorance and barbarism that he mourns1 and not vice4 ,when he sees the ,arab or ,american ,indian offer daughter or wife to the stranger1 as a part of the hospitality which is1 in the host's mind1 the first of duties1 the observer regards the fact as he regards the mode of education in old ,sparta1 where physical hardihood and moral slavery constituted a man most honourable4 ,if he sees an ,american student spend the whole of his small fortune1 on leaving college1 in travelling in ,europe1 he will not blame him as he would blame a young ,englishman for doing the same thing4 ,the ,englishman would be a spendthrift2 the ,american is wise3 and the reason is1 that their circumstances1 prospects1 and therefore their views of duty1 are different4 ,the ,american1 being sure of obtaining an independent maintenance1 may make the enlargement of his mind1 and the cultivation of his tastes by travel1 his first object2 while the conscientious ,englishman must fulfil the hard conditions of independence before he can travel4 ,capital is to him one of the chief requisites of honest independence2 while to the ,american it is in the outset no requisite at all4 ,to go without clothing was1 till lately1 perfectly innocent in the ,south ,sea ,islands2 but now that civilization has been fairly established by the missionaries1 it has become a sin4 ,to let an enemy escape with his life is a disgrace in some countries of the world2 while in others it is held more honourable to forgive than to punish him4 ,instances of such varieties and oppositions of conscience might be multiplied till they filled a volume1 to the perplexity and grief of the unphilosophical1 and the serene instruction of the philosophical observer4 ,the general influences under which universal ideas and feelings of right and wrong are formed1 are dispensed by the ,providence under which all are educated4 ,that man should be happy is so evidently the intention of his ,creator1 the contrivances to that end are so multitudinous and so striking1 that the perception of the aim may be called universal4 ,whatever tends to make men happy1 becomes a fulfilment of the will of ,god4 ,whatever tends to make them miserable1 becomes opposition to his will4 ,there are1 and must be1 a host of obstacles to the express recognition of1 and practical obedience to1 these great principles2 but they may be discovered as the root of religion and morals in all countries4 ,there are impediments from ignorance1 and consequent error1 selfishness1 and passion3 the most infantile men mistake the means of human happiness1 and the wisest have but a dim and fluctuating perception of them3 but yet all men entertain one common conviction1 that what makes people happy is good and right1 and that what makes them miserable is evil and wrong4 ,this conviction is at the bottom of practices which seem the most inconsistent with it4 ,when the ,ashantee offers a human sacrifice1 it is in order to secure blessings from his gods4 ,when the ,hindoo exposes his sick parent in the ,ganges1 he thinks he is putting him out of pain by a charmed death4 ,when ,sand stabbed ,kotzebue1 he believed he was punishing and getting rid of an enemy and an obstacle to the welfare of his nation4 ,when the ,georgian planter buys and sells slaves1 he goes on the supposition that he is preserving the order and due subordination of society4 ,all these notions are shown by philosophy to be narrow1 superficial1 and mistaken4 ,they have been outgrown by many1 and are doubtless destined to be outgrown by all2 but1 acted upon by the ignorant and deluded1 they are very different from the wickedness which is perpetrated against better knowledge4 ,but these things would be wickedness1 perpetrated against better knowledge1 if the supposition of a universal1 infallible ,moral ,sense were true4 ,the traveller who should consistently adhere to the notion of a ,moral ,sense1 must pronounce the ,ashantee worshipper as guilty as ,greenacre3 the ,hindoo son a parricide1 not only in fact1 but in the most revolting sense of the term3 ,sand1 a ,thurtell3 and the ,georgian planter such a monster of tyranny as a ,sussex farmer would be if he set up a whipping-post for his labourers1 and sold their little ones to gipsies4 ,such judgments would be cruelly illiberal4 ,the traveller who is furnished with the more accurate philosophy of ,conscience would arrive at conclusions1 not only more correct1 but far less painful2 and1 without any laxity of principle1 far more charitable4 ,so much for one instance of the advantage to the traveller of being provided with definite principles1 to be used as a rallying point and test of his observations1 instead of mere vague moral notions and general prepossessions1 which can serve only as a false medium1 by which much that he sees must necessarily be perverted or obscured4 ,,section ,,iv4 ,the traveller having satisfied himself that there are some universal feelings about right and wrong1 and that in consequence some parts of human conduct are guided by general rules1 must next give his attention to modes of conduct1 which seem to him good or bad1 prevalent in a nation1 or district1 or society of smaller limits4 ,his first general principle is1 that the law of nature is the only one by which mankind at large can be judged4 ,his second must be1 that every prevalent virtue or vice is the result of the particular circumstances amidst which the society exists4 ,the circumstances in which a prevalent virtue or vice originates1 may or may not be traceable by a traveller4 ,if traceable1 he should spare no pains to make himself acquainted with the whole case4 ,if obscure1 he must beware of imputing disgraces to individuals1 as if those individuals were living under the influences which have made himself what he is4 ,he will not blame a deficiency of moral independence in a citizen of ,philadelphia so severely as in a citizen of ,london2 seeing1 as he must do1 that the want of moral independence is a prevalent fault in the ,united ,states1 and that there must be some reason for it4 ,again1 he will not look to the ,polish peasant for the political intelligence1 activity1 and principle which delight him in the log-house of the ,american farmer4 ,he sees that ,polish peasants are generally supine1 and ,american farmers usually interested about politics2 and that there must be reasons for the difference4 ,in a majority of cases such reasons are1 to a great extent1 ascertainable4 ,in ,spain1 for instance1 there is a large class of wretched and irretrievable beggars2 and their idleness1 dirt1 and lying trouble the very soul of the traveller4 ,what is the reason of the prevalence of this degraded class and of its vices8 ,a ,court ,lady,c wrote1 in ancient days1 piteous complaints of the poverty of the sovereign1 the nobility1 the army1 and the destitute ladies who waited upon the queen4 ,the sovereign could not give his attendants their dinners2 the nobility melted down their plate and sold their jewels2 the soldiers were famishing in garrison1 so that the young deserted1 and the aged and invalids wasted away1 actually starved to death4 ,the lady mentions with surprise1 that a particularly large amount of gold and silver had arrived from the foreign possessions of ,spain that year1 and tries to account for the universal misery by saying that a great proportion of these riches was appropriated by merchants who supplied the ,spaniards with the necessaries of life from abroad2 and she speaks of this as an evil4 ,she is an example of an unphilosophical observer1--one who could not be trusted to report--much less to account for--the morals and manners of the people before her eyes4 ,what says a philosophical observer8,d ,spain and ,portugal1 the countries which possess the mines1 are1 after ,poland1 perhaps the two most beggarly countries in ,europe4--,their trade to their colonies is carried on in their own ships1 and is much greater 7than their foreign commerce17 on account of the great riches and extent of those colonies4 ,but it has never introduced any considerable manufactures for distant sale into either of those countries1 and the greater part of both remains uncultivated4--,the proportion of gold and silver to the annual produce of the land and labour of ,spain is said to be very considerable1 and that you frequently find there a profusion of plate in houses where there is nothing else which would in other countries be thought suitable or correspondent to this sort of magnificence4 ,the cheapness of gold and silver1 or1 what is the same thing1 the dearness of all commodities1 which is the necessary effect of this redundance of the precious metals1 discourages both the agriculture and manufactures of ,spain and ,portugal1 and enables foreign nations to supply them with many sorts of rude1 and with almost all sorts of manufactured produce1 for a smaller quantity of gold and silver than what they themselves can either raise or make them for at home4--,when it is considered that in ,spain gold and silver are called wealth1 and that there is little other2 that manufactures and commerce scarcely exist2 that agriculture is discouraged1 and that therefore there is a lack of occupation for the lower classes1 it may be fairly concluded that the idle upper orders will be found lazy1 proud1 and poor2 the idle lower classes in a state of beggary2 and that the most virtuous and happy part of the population will be those who are engaged in tilling the soil1 and in the occupations which are absolutely necessary in towns4 ,one may see with the mind's eye the groups of intriguing grandees1 who have no business on their estates to occupy their time and thoughts2 or the crowd of hungry beggars1 thronging round the door of a convent1 to receive the daily alms2 or the hospitable and courteous peasants1 of whom a traveller,e says1 ,there is a civility to strangers1 and an easy style of behaviour familiar to this class of ,spanish society1 which is very remote from the churlish and awkward manners of the ,english and ,german peasantry4 ,their sobriety and endurance of fatigue are very remarkable2 and there is a constant cheerfulness in their demeanour which strongly prepossesses a stranger in their favour4--,i should be glad if ,i could1 with justice1 give as favourable a picture of the higher orders of society in this country2 but1 perhaps1 when we consider their wretched education1 and their early habits of indolence and dissipation1 we ought not to wonder at the state of contempt and degradation to which they are reduced4 ,i am not speaking the language of prejudice1 but the result of the observations ,i have made1 in which every accurate observer among our countrymen has concurred with me1 in saying that the figures and countenances of the higher orders are as much inferior to those of the peasants1 as their moral qualities are in the view ,i have given of them4--,all this might be foreseen to be unavoidable in a country where the means of living are passively derived from abroad1 and where the honour and rewards of successful industry are confined to a class of the community4 ,the mines should bear the blame of the prevalent faults of the saucy beggars and beggarly grandees of ,spain4 ,to any one who has at all considered at home the bearings of a social system which is grounded upon physical force1 or those of the opposite arrangements which rely upon moral power1 it can be no mystery abroad that there should be prevalent moral characteristics among the subjects of such systems2 and the vices which exist under them will be1 however mourned1 leniently judged4 ,take the ,feudal ,system as an instance1 first1 and then its opposite4 ,a little thought makes it clear what virtues and vices will be almost certain to subsist under the influences of each4 ,the baron lives in his castle1 on a rock or some other eminence1 whence he can overlook his domains1 or where his ancestor reared his abode for purposes of safety4 ,during this stage of society there is little domestic refinement and comfort4 ,the furniture is coarse2 the library is not tempting2 and the luxurious ease of cities is out of the question4 ,the pleasures of the owner lie abroad4 ,there he devotes himself to rough sports1 and enjoys his darling luxury1--the exercise of power4 ,within the dwelling the wife and her attendants spend their lives in handiworks1 in playing with the children and keeping them in order1 in endless conversation on the few events which come under their notice1 and in obedience to and companionship with the priest4 ,while the master is hunting1 or gathering together his retainers for the feast1 the women are spinning or sewing1 gossiping1 confessing1 or doing penance2 while the priest studies in his apartment1 shares in the mirth1 or soothes the troubles of the household1 and rules the mind of the noble by securing the confidence of his wife4 ,out of doors1 there are the retainers1 by whatever name they may be called4 ,their poor dwellings are crowded round the castle of the lord2 their patches of arable land lie nearest1 and the pastures beyond2 that1 at least1 the supply of human food may be secured from any enemy4 ,these portions of land are held on a tenure of service2 and1 as the retainers have no property in them1 and no interest in their improvement1 and are1 moreover1 liable to be called away from their tillage at any moment1 to perform military or other service1 the soil yields sorry harvests1 and the lean cattle are not very ornamental to the pastures4 ,the wives of the peasantry are often left1 at an hour's warning1 in the unprotected charge of their half-clothed and untaught children1 as well as of the cattle and the field4--,the festivals of the people are on holy days1 and on the return of the chief from war1 or from a pre-eminent chase4 ,now1 what must be the morals of such a district as this8 and1 it may be added1 of the whole country of which it forms a part8 for1 if there be one feudal settlement of the kind1 there must be more2 and the society is in fact made up of a certain number of complete sets of persons1--of establishments like this4--,there is no need to go back some centuries for an original to the picture3 it exists in more than one country in ,europe now4 ,this kind of society is composed of two classes only2 those who have something1 and those who have nothing4 ,the chief has property1 some knowledge1 and great power4 ,with individual differences1 the chiefs may be expected to be imperious1 from their liberty and indulgence of will2 brave1 from their exposure to toil and danger2 contemptuous of men1 from their own supremacy2 superstitious1 from the influence of the priest in the household2 lavish1 from the permanency of their property2 vain of rank and personal distinction1 from the absence of pursuits unconnected with self2 and hospitable1 partly from the same cause1 and partly from their own hospitality being the only means of gratifying their social dispositions4 ,the clergy will be politic1 subservient1 studious1 or indolent1 kind-hearted1 effeminate1 with a strong tendency to spiritual pride1 and love of spiritual dominion4 ,it will be surprising1 too1 if they are not driven into infidelity by the credulity of their pupils4 ,the women will be ignorant and superstitious1 for want of varied instruction2 brave1 from the frequent presence or promise of danger2 efficient1 from the small division of labour which is practicable in the superintendence of such a family2 given to gossip and uncertainty of temper1 from the sameness of their lives2 devoted to their husbands and children1 from the absence of all other important objects2 and vain of such accomplishments as they have1 from an ignorance of what remains to be achieved4 ,the retainers must be ignorant1--physically strong and imposing1 perhaps1 but infants in mind1 and slaves in morals4 ,their worship is idolatry--of their chief4 ,the virtues permitted to them are fidelity1 industry1 domestic attachment1 and sobriety4 ,it is difficult to see what others are possible4 ,their faults are all comprehended in the word barbarism4 ,these characteristics may be extended to the divisions of the nation corresponding to those of the household3 for the sovereign is only a higher feudal chief3 his nobles are a more exalted sort of serfs2 and those who are masters at home become slaves at court4 ,under this system1 who would be so hardy as to treat brutality in a serf1 cunning in a priest1 prejudice in a lady1 and imperiousness in a lord1 as any thing but the results--inevitable as mournful--of the state of society8 ,feudalism is founded upon physical force1 and therefore bears a relation to the past alone4 ,right begins in might1 and all the social relations of men have originated in physical superiority4 ,the most prevalent ideas of the feudal period arise out of the past2 what has been longest honoured is held most honourable2 and the understanding of men1 unexercised by learning1 and undisciplined by society and political action1 falls back upon precedent1 and reposes there4 ,the tastes1 and even the passions1 of the feudal period bear a relation to antiquity4 ,ambition1 prospective as it is in its very nature1 has1 in this case1 a strong retrospective character4 ,the glory that the descendant derives from his fathers1 he burns to transmit4 ,the past is everything3 the future1 except in as far as it may resemble the past1 is nothing4 ,such1 with modifications1 have been the prevalent ideas1 tastes1 and passions of the civilized world1 till lately4 ,the opposite state of society1 which has begun to be realized1 occasions prevalent ideas1 and therefore prevalent virtues and vices1 of an opposite character4 ,as commerce enlarges1 as other professions besides the clerical arise1 as trades become profitable1 as cities swell in importance1 as communication improves1 raising villages into towns1 and hamlets into villages1 and the affairs of central communities become spread through the circumference1 the lower classes rise1 the chiefs lose much of their importance1 the value of men for their intrinsic qualifications is discovered1 and such men take the lead in managing the affairs of associated citizens4 ,instead of all being done by orders issued from a central power1--commands carrying forth an imperious will1 and bringing back undoubting obedience1--social affairs begin to be managed by the heads and hands of the parties immediately interested4 ,self-government in municipal affairs takes place2 and1 having taken place in any one set of circumstances1 it appears likely to be employed within a wider and a wider range1 till all the government of the community is of that character4 ,the ,united ,states are the most remarkable examples now before the world of the reverse of the feudal system1--its principles1 its methods1 its virtues and vices4 ,in as far as the ,americans revert1 in ideas and tastes1 to the past1 this may be attributed to the transition being not yet perfected1--to the generation which organized the republic having been educated amidst the remains of feudalism4 ,there are still ,americans who boast of ancestors high in the order of birth rather than of merit2 who in talking of rank have ideas of birth in their minds1 and whose tastes lie in the past4 ,but such will be the case while the literature of the world breathes the spirit of former ages1 and softens the transition to an opposite social state4 ,a new literature1 new modes of thought1 are daily arising1 which point more and more towards the future4 ,we have already records of the immediate state of the minds and fortunes of men and of communities1 and not a few speculations which stretch far forward into the future4 ,every year is the admission more extensively entered into that moral power is nobler than physical force2 there is more earnestness in the conferences of nations1 and less proneness to war4 ,the highest creations of literature itself1 however long ago produced1 are now discovered to bear as close a relation to the future as the past4 ,they are for all time1 through all its changes4 ,while pillars of light in the dim regions of antiquity1 they pass over in the dawn1 and are still before us1 casting their shadows to our feet as guides into the dazzling future4 ,pre-eminent among them is the ,book which never had any retrospective character in it4 ,it never sanctioned physical force1 pride of ancestry1 of valour1 of influence1 or any other pride4 ,it never sanctioned arbitrary division of ranks4 ,it never lauded the virtues of feudalism in their disconnection with other virtues2 it never spared the faults of feudalism1 on the ground of their being the necessary product of feudal circumstances2 neither does it now laud and tolerate the virtues and vices developed by democracy4 ,this guide has never yet taken up its rest4 ,it is in advance of all existing democracies1 as it ever was of all despotisms4 ,the fact is1 that1 while all manifestations of eminent intellectual and moral force have an imperishable quality1 this supreme book has not only an immortal freshness1 but bears no relation to time3--to it one day is as a thousand years1 and a thousand years as one day4 ,what are the prevalent virtues and faults which are to be looked for in the future1--or in those countries which represent somewhat of the future1 as others afford a weakened image of the past8 ,what allowance is the traveller in ,america to make8 ,almost precisely the reverse of what he would make in ,russia4 ,in-door luxury has succeeded to out-door sports3 the mechanical arts flourish from the elevation of the lower classes1 and prowess is gone out of fashion4 ,the consequence of this is that the traveller sees ostentation of personal luxury instead of retinue4 ,in the course of transition to the time when merit will constitute the highest claim to rank1 wealth succeeds to birth3 but even already1 the claims of wealth give way before those of intellect4 ,the popular author has more observance than the millionaire in the ,united ,states4 ,this is honourable1 and yields promise of a still better graduation of ranks4 ,where moral force is recognized as the moving power of society1 it seems to follow that the condition of ,woman must be elevated2 that new pursuits will be opened to her1 and a wider and stronger discipline be afforded to her powers4 ,it is not so in ,america2 but this is owing to the interference of other circumstances with the full operation of democratic principles4 ,the absence of an aristocratic or a sovereign will impels men to find some other will on which to repose their individual weakness1 and with which to employ their human veneration4 ,the will of the majority becomes their refuge and unwritten law4 ,the few free-minded resist this will1 when it is in opposition to their own1 and the slavish many submit4 ,this is accordingly found to be the most conspicuous fault of the ,americans4 ,their cautious subservience to public opinion1--their deficiency of moral independence1--is the crying sin of their society4 ,again1 the social equality by which the whole of life is laid open to all in a democratic republic1 in which every man who has power in him may attain all to which that power is a requisite1 cannot but enhance the importance of each in the eyes of all2 and the consequence is a mutual respect and deference1 and also a mutual helpfulness1 which are in themselves virtues of a high order1 and preparatives for others4 ,in these the ,americans are exercised and accomplished to a degree never generally attained in any other country4 ,this class of virtues constitutes their distinguishing honour1 their crowning grace in the company of nations4--,activity and ingenuity are a matter of course where every man's lot is in his own hands4 ,unostentatious hospitality and charity might1 in some democracies1 be likely to languish2 but the ,americans have the wealth of a young country1 and the warmth of a young national existence1 as stimulus and warrant for pecuniary liberality of every kind4--,popular vanity1 and the subservience of political representatives1 are the chief dangers which remain to be alluded to2 and there will probably be no republic for ages where these will not be found in the form of prevalent vices4--,if1 under a feudal system1 there is a wholesome exercise of reverence in the worship of ancestry1 there is1 under the opposite system1 a no less salutary and perpetual impulse to generosity in the care for posterity4 ,the one has been1 doubtless1 a benignant influence1 tempering the ruggedness and violence of despotism2 the other will prove an elevating force1 lifting men above the personal selfishness and mutual subservience which are the besetting perils of equals who unite to govern by their common will4 ,whatever may be his philosophy of individual character1 the reflective observer cannot travel1 with his mind awake1 without admitting that there can be no question but that national character is formed1 or largely influenced1 by the gigantic circumstances which1 being the product of no individual mind1 are directly attributable to the great ,moral ,governor of the human race4 ,every successive act of research or travel will impress him more and more deeply with this truth1 which1 for the sake of his own peace and liberality1 it would be well that he should carry about with him from the outset4 ,he will not visit individuals with any bitterness of censure for participating in prevalent faults4 ,he will regard social virtues and graces as shedding honour on all whom they overshadow1 from the loftiest to the lowliest2 while he is not disposed to indulge contempt1 or anything but a mild compassion1 for any social depravity or deformity which1 being the clear result of circumstances1 and itself a circumstance1 may be considered as surely destined to be remedied1 as the wisdom of associated1 like that of individual man1 grows with his growth1 and strengthens with his strength4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,moral ,,requisites4 ,i respect knowledge2 but ,i do not despise ignorance4 ,they think only as their fathers thought1 worship as they worshipped4 ,they do no more4--,,rogers4 ,he was alive ,to all that was enjoyed where'er he went1 ,and all that was endured4 ,,wordsworth4 ,the traveller1 being furnished with the philosophical requisites for the observation of morals and manners1 #astly4 ,with a certainty of what it is that he wants to know1-- #bndly4 ,with principles which may serve as a rallying point and test of his observations1-- #crdly4 ,with1 for instance1 a philosophical and definite1 instead of a popular and vague1 notion about the origin of human feelings of right and wrong1-- #dthly4 ,and with a settled conviction that prevalent virtues and vices are the result of gigantic general influences1--is yet not fitted for his object if certain moral requisites be wanting in him4 ,an observer1 to be perfectly accurate1 should be himself perfect4 ,every prejudice1 every moral perversion1 dims or distorts whatever the eye looks upon4 ,but as we do not wait to be perfect before we travel1 we must content ourselves with discovering1 in order to avoidance1 what would make our task hopeless1 and how we may put ourselves in a state to learn at least something truly4 ,we cannot suddenly make ourselves a great deal better than we have been1 for such an object as observing ,morals and ,manners2 but1 by clearly ascertaining what it is that the most commonly1 or the most grossly1 vitiates foreign observation1 we may put a check upon our spirit of prejudice1 and carry with us restoratives of temper and spirits which may be of essential service to us in our task4 ,the observer must have sympathy2 and his sympathy must be untrammelled and unreserved4 ,if a traveller be a geological inquirer1 he may have a heart as hard as the rocks he shivers1 and yet succeed in his immediate objects3 if he be a student of the fine arts1 he may be as silent as a picture1 and yet gain his ends3 if he be a statistical investigator1 he may be as abstract as a column of figures1 and yet learn what he wants to know3 but an observer of morals and manners will be liable to deception at every turn1 if he does not find his way to hearts and minds4 ,nothing was ever more true than that as face answers to face in water1 so is the heart of man4 ,to the traveller there are two meanings in this wise saying1 both worthy of his best attention4 ,it means that the action of the heart will meet a corresponding action1 and that the nature of the heart will meet a corresponding nature4 ,openness and warmth of heart will be greeted with openness and warmth3--this is one truth4 ,hearts1 generous or selfish1 pure or gross1 gay or sad1 will understand1 and therefore be likely to report of1 only their like3--this is another truth4 ,there is the same human heart everywhere1--the universal growth of mind and life1--ready to open to the sunshine of sympathy1 flourishing in the enclosures of cities1 and blossoming wherever dropped in the wilderness2 but folding up when touched by chill1 and drooping in gloom4 ,as well might the ,erl-king go and play the florist in the groves and plains of the tropics1 as an unsympathizing man render an account of society4 ,it will all turn to stubble and sapless rigidity before his eyes4 ,there is the same human heart everywhere2 and1 if the traveller has a good one himself1 he will presently find this out1 whatever may have been his fears at home of checks to his sympathy from difference of education1 objects in life1 c4 ,there is no place where people do not suffer and enjoy2 where love is not the high festival of life2 where birth and death are not occasions of emotion2 where parents are not proud of their boy-children2 where thoughtful minds do not speculate upon the two eternities2 where1 in short1 there is not broad ground on which any two human beings may meet and clasp hands1 if they have but unsophisticated hearts4 ,if a man have not sympathy1 there is no point of the universe--none so wide even as the ,mahomedan bridge over the bottomless pit--where he can meet with his fellow4 ,such an one is indeed floundering in the bottomless pit1 with only the shadows of men ever flitting about him4 ,i have mentioned elsewhere1 what will well bear repetition1--that an ,american merchant1 who had made several voyages to ,china1 dropped a remark by his own fire-side on the narrowness which causes us to conclude1 avowedly or silently1 that1 however well men may use the light they have1 they cannot be more than nominally our brethren1 unless they have our religion1 our philosophy1 and our methods of attaining both4 ,he said he often recurred1 with delight1 to the conversations he had enjoyed with his ,chinese friends on some of the highest speculative1 and some of the deepest and widest practical subjects1 which his fellow-citizens of ,new ,england were apt to think could be the business only of ,protestant ,christians4 ,this ,american merchant's observations on oriental morals and manners had an incalculable weight after he had said this2 for it was known that he had seen into hearts1 as well as met faces1 and discovered what people's minds were busy about1 as their hands were pursuing the universal employment of earning their subsistence4 ,unless a traveller interprets by his sympathies what he sees1 he cannot but misunderstand the greater part of that which comes under his observation4 ,he will not be admitted with freedom into the retirements of domestic life2 the instructive commentary on all the facts of life1--discourse1--will be of a slight and superficial character4 ,people will talk to him of the things they care least about1 instead of seeking his sympathy about the affairs which are deepest in their hearts4 ,he will be amused with public spectacles1 and informed of historical and chronological facts2 but he will not be invited to weddings and christenings2 he will hear no love-tales2 domestic sorrows will be kept as secrets from him2 the old folks will not pour out their stories to him1 nor the children bring him their prattle4 ,such a traveller will be no more fitted to report on morals and manners than he would be to give an account of the silver mines of ,siberia by walking over the surface1 and seeing the entrance and the product4 ,human conduct1 says a philosopher1 is guided by rules4 ,without these rules1 men could not live together1 and they are also necessary to the repose of individual minds4 ,robinson ,crusoe could not have endured his life for a month without rules to live by4 ,a life without purpose is uncomfortable enough2 but a life without rules would be a wretchedness which1 happily1 man is not constituted to bear4 ,the rules by which men live are chiefly drawn from the universal convictions about right and wrong which ,i have mentioned as being formed everywhere1 under strong general influences4 ,when sentiment is connected with these rules1 they become religion2 and this religion is the animating spirit of all that is said and done4 ,if the stranger cannot sympathize in the sentiment1 he cannot understand the religion2 and without understanding the religion1 he cannot appreciate the spirit of words and acts4 ,a stranger who has never felt any strong political interest1 and cannot sympathize with ,american sentiment about the majesty of social equality1 and the beauty of mutual government1 can never understand the political religion of the ,united ,states2 and the sayings of the citizens by their own fire-sides1 the perorations of orators in town-halls1 the installations of public servants1 and the process of election1 will all be empty sound and grimace to him4 ,he will be tempted to laugh1--to call the world about him mad1--like one who1 without hearing the music1 sees a room-full of people begin to dance4 ,the case is the same with certain ,americans who have no antiquarian sympathies1 and who think our sovereigns mad for riding to ,st4 ,stephen's in the royal state-coach1 with eight horses covered with trappings1 and a tribe of grotesque footmen4 ,i have found it an effort of condescension to inform such observers that we should not think of inventing such a coach and appurtenances at the present day1 any more than we should the dress of the ,christ-,hospital boys4 ,if an unsympathizing stranger is so perplexed by a mere matter of external arrangement1--a royal procession1 or a popular election1--what can he be expected to make of that which is far more important1 more intricate1 more mysterious1--neighbourly and domestic life8 ,if he knows and feels nothing of the religion of these1 he could learn but little about them1 even if the roofs of all the houses of a city were made transparent to him1 and he could watch all that is done in every parlour1 kitchen1 and nursery in a circuit of five miles4 ,what strange scenes and transactions must such an one think that there are in the world6 ,what would he have thought of the spectacle one day seen in ,hayti1 when ,toussaint ,l',ouverture ranged his negro forces before him1 called out thirteen men from the ranks by name1 and ordered them to repair to a certain spot to be immediately shot8 ,what would he have thought of these thirteen men for crossing their arms upon their breasts1 bowing their heads submissively1 and yielding instant obedience8 ,he might have pronounced ,toussaint a ferocious despot1 and the thirteen so many craven fools3 while the facts wear a very different aspect to one who knows the minds of the men4 ,it was necessary to the good-will of a society but lately organized out of chaos1 to make no distinction between negro and other insurgents2 and these thirteen men were ringleaders in a revolt1 ,toussaint's nephew being one of them4 ,this accounts for the general's share in the transaction4 ,as for the negroes1 the ,general was also the ,deliverer1--an object of worship to people of his colour4 ,obedience to him was a rule1 exalted by every sentiment of gratitude1 awe1 admiration1 pride1 and love1 into a religion2 and a ,haytian of that day would no more have thought of resisting a command of ,toussaint1 than of disputing a thunder-stroke or an earthquake4--,what would an unsympathizing observer make of the ,paschal supper1 as celebrated in the houses of ,hebrews throughout the world1--of the care not to break a bone of the lamb1--of the company all standing1 the men girded and shod as for a journey1 and the youngest child of the household invariably asking what this is all for8 ,what would the observer call it but mummery1 if he had no feeling for the awful traditional and religious emotion involved in the symbol8--,what would such an one think of the terrified flight of two ,spanish nobles from the wrath of their sovereign1 incurred by their having saved his beloved queen from being killed by a fall from her horse8 ,what a puzzle is here1--even when all the facts of the case are known2--that the king was looking from a balcony to see his queen mount her ,andalusian horse3 that the horse reared1 plunged1 and bolted1 throwing the queen1 whose foot was entangled in the stirrup3 that she was surrounded with gentlemen who stood aloof1 because by the law of ,spain it was death to any but her little pages to touch the person1 and especially the foot of the queen1 and her pages were too young to rescue her2 that these two gentlemen devoted themselves to save her2 and having caught the horse1 and extricated the royal foot1 fled for their lives from the legal wrath of the king6 ,whence such a law8 ,from the rule that the queen of ,spain has no legs4 ,whence such a rule8 ,from the meaning that the queen of ,spain is a being too lofty to touch the earth4 ,here we come at last to the sentiment of loyal admiration and veneration which sanctifies the law and the rule1 and interprets the incident4 ,to a heartless stranger the whole appears a mere solemn absurdity1 fit only to be set aside1 as it was apparently by pardon from the king being obtained by the instant intercession of the queen4 ,but in the eyes of every ,spaniard the transaction was1 in all its parts1 as far from absurdity as the danger of the two nobles was real and pressing4--,again1 what can a heartless observer understand by the practice1 almost universal in the world1 of celebrating the naming of children8 ,the ,christian parent employs a form by which the infant is admitted as a lamb of ,christ's flock3 the ,chinese father calls his kindred together to witness the conferring first of the surname1 and then of the milk-name1--some endearing diminutive1 to cease with infancy3 the ,moslem consults an astrologer before giving a name to his child3 and the savage selects a name-sake for his infant from among the beasts or birds1 with whose characteristic quality he would fain endow his offspring4 ,what a general rule is here1 exalted by a universal sentiment into an act of religion6 ,the ceremonial observed in each case is widely different in its aspect to one who sees in it merely a cumbrous way of transacting a matter of convenience1 and to another who perceives in it the initiation of a new member into the family of mankind1 and a looking forward to1--an attempt to make provision for1 the future destiny of an unconscious and helpless being4 ,thus it will be through the whole range of the traveller's observation4 ,if he be full of sympathy1 every thing he sees will be instructive1 and the most important matters will be the most clearly revealed4 ,if he be unsympathizing1 the most important things will be hidden from him1 and symbols 7in which every society abounds7 will be only absurd or trivial forms4 ,the stranger will be wise to conclude1 when he sees anything seriously done which appears to him insignificant or ludicrous1 that there is more in it than he perceives1 from some deficiency of knowledge or feeling of his own4 ,the other way in which heart is found to answer to heart is too obvious to require to be long dwelt upon4 ,men not only see according to the light they shed from their own breasts1--whether it be the sunshine of generosity or the hell-flames of bad passions1--but they attract to themselves spirits like their own4 ,the very same persons appear very differently to a traveller who calls into exercise all their best qualities1 and to one who has an affinity with their worst3 but it is a yet more important consideration that actually different elements of society will range themselves round the observer according to the scepticism or faith of his temper1 the purity or depravity of his tastes1 and the elevation or insignificance of his objects4 ,the ,americans1 somewhat nettled with the injustice of ,english travellers' reports of their country1 have jokingly proposed to take lodgings in ,wapping for some thorough-bred ,american vixen1 of low tastes and coarse manners1 and employ her to write an account of ,english morals and manners from what she might see in a year's abode in the choice locality selected for her4 ,this would be no great exaggeration of the process of observation of foreigners which is perpetually going on4 ,what should gamesters know of the philanthropists of the society they pass through8 or the profligate1 of the real state of domestic life8 ,what can the moral sceptic report of religious or philosophical confessorship in any nation8 or the sordid trader1 of the higher kinds of intellectual cultivation8 or the dandy1 of the extent and administration of charity8 ,it may be said that neither can the philanthropic traveller--the missionary--see otherwise than partially for want of knowledge of the world2 that persons of sober habits can learn nothing that is going on in the moral depths of society2 and the good are actually scoffed at for their absence from many scenes of human life1 and their supposed ignorance of many things in human nature4 ,but it is certain that the best part of every man's mind is far more a specimen of himself than the worst2 and that the characteristics of a society1 in like manner1 are to be traced in the wisest and most genial of its pervading ideas and common transactions1 instead of those disgraceful ones which are common to all4 ,swindlers1 drunkards1 people of low tastes and bad passions1 are found in every country1 and nowhere characterise a nation2 while the reverence of man in ,america1 the pursuit of speculative truth in ,germany1 philanthropic enterprise in ,france1 love of freedom in ,switzerland1 popular education in ,china1 domestic purity in ,norway1--each of these great moral beauties is a star on the forehead of a nation4 ,goodness and simplicity are indissolubly united4 ,the bad are the most sophisticated1 all the world over2 and the good the least4 ,it may be taken as a rule that the best qualities of a people1 as of an individual1 are the most characteristic--7what is really best being tested1 not by prejudice1 but principle74 ,he has the best chance of ascertaining these best qualities who has them in himself2 and he who has them not may as well pretend to give a picture of a metropolitan city by showing a map of its drainage1 as report of a nation after an intercourse with its knaves and its profligates4 ,to stand on the highest pinnacle is the best way of obtaining an accurate general view1 in contemplating a society as well as a city4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,mechanical ,,requisites4 ,he travels and expatiates1 as the bee ,from flower to flower1 so he from land to land3 ,the manners1 customs1 policy1 of all ,pay contribution to the stores he gleans4--,the ,task4 ,thy speaking of my tongue1 and ,i thine1 most truly falsely1 must needs be granted to be much at one4--,king ,henry ,v4 ,no philosophical or moral fitness will qualify a traveller to observe a people if he does not select a mode of travelling which will enable him to see and converse with a great number and variety of persons4 ,an ambassador has no chance of learning much of the people he visits anywhere but in a new country like ,america4 ,while he is en route1 he is too stately in appearance to allow of any familiarity on the part of the people by the road-side4 ,his carriages might almost as well roll through a city of the dead1 for anything he will learn from intercourse with the living4 ,the case is not much better when a family or a party of friends travel together on the ,continent1 committing the business of the expedition to servants1 and shrinking from intercourse1 on all social occasions1 with ,english shyness or pride4 ,the behaviour of the ,english on the ,continent has become a matter of very serious consequence to the best informed and best mannered of their countrymen1 as it has long been to the natives into whose society they may happen to fall4 ,i have heard gentlemen say that they lose half their pleasure in going abroad1 from the coldness and shyness with which the ,english are treated2 a coldness and shyness which they think fully warranted by the conduct of their predecessors in travel4 ,i have heard ladies say that they find great difficulty in becoming acquainted with their neighbours at the tables-d'hte2 and that1 when they have succeeded1 an apology for the reluctance to converse has been offered1 in the form of explanation that ,english travellers generally appear to dislike being spoken to so much as to render it a matter of civility to leave them alone4 ,the travelling arrangements of the ,english seem designed to cut them off from companionship with the people they go to see2 and they preclude the possibility of studying morals and manners in a way which is perfectly ludicrous to persons of a more social temperament and habits4 ,a good deal may be learned on board steam-boats1 and in such vehicles as the ,american stages2 and when accommodations of the kind become common1 it will be difficult for the sulkiest ,englishman to avoid admitting some ideas into his mind from the conversation and actions of the groups around him4 ,when steam-boats ply familiarly on the ,indus1 and we have the rail-road to ,calcutta which people are joking about1 and another across the ,pampas1--when we make trips to ,new ,zealand1 and think little of a run down the west coast of ,africa1--places where we shall go for fashion's sake1 and cannot go boxed up in a carriage of ,long ,acre origin1--our countrymen will1 perforce1 exchange conversation with the persons they meet1 and may chance to get rid of the unsociability for which they are notorious1 and by which they cast a veil over hearts and faces1 and a shadow over their own path1 wherever they go4 ,meantime1 the wisest and happiest traveller is the pedestrian4 ,if gentlemen and ladies want to see pictures1 let them post to ,florence1 and be satisfied with learning what they can from the windows by the way4 ,but if they want to see either scenery or people1 let all who have strength and courage go on foot4 ,i prefer this even to horseback4 ,a horse is an anxiety and a trouble4 ,something is sure to ail it2 and one is more anxious about its accommodation than about one's own4 ,the pedestrian traveller is wholly free from care4 ,there is no such freeman on earth as he is for the time4 ,his amount of toil is usually within his own choice1--in any civilized region4 ,he can go on and stop when he likes3 if a fit of indolence overtakes him1 he can linger for a day or a week in any spot that pleases him4 ,he is not whirled past a beautiful view almost before he has seen it4 ,he is not tantalized by the idea that from this or that point he could see something still finer1 if he could but reach it4 ,he can reach almost every point his wishes wander to4 ,the pleasure is indescribable of saying to one's self1 ,i will go there1--,i will rest yonder1--and forthwith accomplishing it4 ,he can sit on a rock in the midst of a rushing stream as often in a day as he likes4 ,he can hunt a waterfall by its sound2 a sound which the carriage-wheels prevent other travellers from hearing4 ,he can follow out any tempting glade in any wood4 ,there is no cushion of moss at the foot of an old tree that he may not sit down on if he pleases4 ,he can read for an hour without fear of passing by something unnoticed while his eyes are fixed upon his book4 ,his food is welcome1 be its quality what it may1 while he eats it under the alders in some recess of a brook4 ,he is secure of his sleep1 be his chamber ever so sordid2 and when his waking eyes rest upon his knapsack1 his heart leaps with pleasure as he remembers where he is1 and what a day is before him4 ,even the weather seems to be of less consequence to the pedestrian than to other travellers4 ,a pedestrian journey presupposes abundance of time1 so that the traveller can rest in villages on rainy days1 and in the shade of a wood during the hours when the sun is too powerful4 ,and if he prefers not waiting for the rain1 it is not the evil to him that it would be in cities and in the pursuit of business4 ,the only evil of rain that ,i know of1 to healthy persons in exercise1 is that it spoils the clothes2 and the clothes of a pedestrian traveller are not usually of a spoilable quality4 ,rain does not deform the face of things everywhere as it does in a city4 ,it adds a new aspect of beauty occasionally to a wood1 to mountains1 to lake and ocean scenery4 ,i remember a hale1 cheerful pedestrian tourist whom we met frequently among the ,white ,mountains of ,new ,hampshire1 and whom we remarked as being always the briskest of the company at the hotel table in the evening1 and the merriest at breakfast4 ,he had the best of it one day1 when we passed him in ,franconia ,defile1 after a heavy rain had set in4 ,we were packed in a waggon which seemed likely to fill with water before we got to our destination2 and miserable enough we looked1 drenched and cold4 ,the traveller was marching on over the rocky road1 his book safe in its oil-skin cover1 and his clothes-bag similarly protected2 his face bright and glowing with exercise1 and his summer jacket of linen feeling1 as he told us1 all the pleasanter for being wet through4 ,as he passed each recess of the defile1 he looked up perpetually to see the rain come smoking out of the fissures of the rocks2 and when he reached the opening by which he was to descend to the plain1 he stood still1 to watch the bar of dewy yellow light which lay along the western sky where the sun had just set4 ,he looked just as happy on other days4 ,sometimes we passed him lying along on a hill side2 sometimes talking with a family at the door of a log-house2 sometimes reading as he walked under the shade of the forest4 ,i1 for one1 often longed to dismiss our waggon or barouche1 and to follow his example4 ,one peculiar advantage of pedestrian travelling is the pleasure of a gradual approach to celebrated or beautiful places4 ,every turn of the road gains in interest2 every object that meets the eye seems to have some initiative meaning2 and when the object itself at last appears1 nothing can surpass the delight of flinging one's self on the ground to rest upon the first impression1 and to interpose a delicious pause before the final attainment4 ,it is not the same thing to desire your driver to stop when you come to the point of view4 ,the first time that ,i felt this was on a pedestrian tour in ,scotland1 when ,i was at length to see mountains4 ,the imagination of myself and my companion had fixed strongly on ,dunkeld1 as being a scene of great beauty1 and our first resting-place among the mountains4 ,the sensation had been growing all the morning4 ,men1 houses1 and trees had seemed to be growing diminutive1--an irresistible impression to the novice in mountain scenery3 the road began to follow the windings of the ,tay1 a sign that the plain was contracting into a pass4 ,beside a cistern1 on a green bank of this pass1 we had dined2 a tract of heath next lay before us1 and we traversed it so freshly and merrily as to be quite unaware that we were getting towards the end of our seventeen miles1 though still conscious that the spirit of the mountains was upon us4 ,we were deeply engaged in talk1 when a winding of the road brought us in full view of the lovely scene which is known to all who have approached ,dunkeld by the ,perth road4 ,we could scarcely believe that this was it1 so soon4 ,we turned to our map and guide-book1 and found that we were standing on the site of ,birnam wood2 that ,dunsinane hill was in sight1 and that it was indeed the old cathedral tower of ,dunkeld that rose so grandly among the beeches behind the bridge4 ,we took such a long and fond gaze as ,i never enjoyed from a carriage window4 ,if it was thus with an object of no more importance or difficulty of attainment than ,dunkeld1 what must it be to catch the first view of the mysterious temples that ,stand between the mountains and the sea2 ,awful memorials1 but of whom we know not6 or to survey from a height1 at sunrise1 the brook ,kedron and the valley of ,jehoshaphat6 ,what is most to our present purpose1 however1 is the consideration of the facilities afforded by pedestrian travelling for obtaining a knowledge of the people4 ,we all remember ,goldsmith's travels with his flute1 his sympathies1 his cordiality of heart and manner1 and his reliance on the hospitality of the country people4 ,such an one as he is not bound to take up with such specimens as he may meet with by the side of the high road2 he can penetrate into the recesses of the country1 and drop into the hamlet among the hills1 and the homesteads down the lanes1 and now and then spend a day with the shepherd in his fold on the downs2 he can stop where there is a festival1 and solve many a perplexity by carrying over the conversation of one day into the intercourse of the next1 with a fresh set of people2 he can obtain access to almost every class of persons1 and learn their own views of their own affairs4 ,his opportunities are inestimable4 ,if it were a question which could learn most of ,morals and ,manners by travel1--the gentleman accomplished in philosophy and learning1 proceeding in his carriage1 with a courier1--or a simple pedestrian tourist1 furnished only with the language1 and with an open heart and frank manners1--,i should have no doubt that the pedestrian would return more familiar with his subject than the other4 ,if the wealthy scholar and philosopher could make himself a citizen of the world for the time1 and go forth on foot1 careless of luxury1 patient of fatigue1 and fearless of solitude1 he would be not only of the highest order of tourists1 but a benefactor to the highest kind of science2 and he would become familiarized with what few are acquainted with1--the best pleasures1 transient and permanent1 of travel4 ,those who cannot pursue this method will achieve most by laying aside state1 conversing with the people they fall in with1 and diverging from the high road as much as possible4 ,nothing need be said on a matter so obvious as the necessity of understanding the language of the people visited4 ,some familiarity with it must be attained before anything else can be done4 ,it seems to be unquestioned1 however1 that a good deal of the unsociability of the ,english abroad is owing not so much to contempt of their neighbours1 as to the natural pride which makes them shrink from attempting what they cannot do well4 ,i am confident that we say much less than we feel about the awkwardness and constraint of our first self-committals to a foreign language4 ,it is impossible but that every one must feel the weight of the penalty of making himself ridiculous at every step1 and of presenting a kind of false appearance of himself to every one with whom he converses4 ,a ,german gentleman in ,america1 who has exactly that right degree of self-respect which enabled him to set strenuously about learning ,english1 of which he did not understand a word1 and who mastered it so completely as to lecture in faultless ,english at the end of two years1 astonished a party of friends one day1 persuaded as they were that they perfectly knew him1 and that the smooth and deliberate flow of his beautiful language was a consequence of the calmness of his temper1 and the philosophical character of his mind4 ,a ,german woman with children came begging to the house while the party were at their dessert4 ,the professor caught her tones when the door of the dining-room was open2 he rushed into the hall1 presently returned for a dish or two1 and emptied the gingerbread1 and other material of the dessert1 into her lap4 ,the company went out to see1 and found the professor transformed2 he was talking with a rapidity and vehemence which they had never supposed him capable of2 and one of the party told me how sorry she felt1 and has felt ever since1 to think of the state of involuntary disguise in which he is living among those who would know him best4 ,difference of language is undeniably a cause of great suffering and difficulty1 magnificent and incalculable as are its uses4 ,it is no exception to the general rule that every great good involves some evil4 ,happily1 however1 the difficulty may be presently so far surmounted as not to interfere with the object of observing ,morals and ,manners4 ,impossible as it may be to attain to an adequate expression of one's self in a foreign tongue1 it is easy to most persons to learn to understand it perfectly when spoken by others4 ,during this process1 a common and almost unavoidable mistake is to suppose a too solemn and weighty meaning in what is expressed in an unfamiliar language4 ,this arises partly from our having become first acquainted with the language in books2 and partly from the meaning having been attained with effort1 and seeming1 by natural association1 worth the pains4 ,the first ,french dialogues which a child learns1 seem more emphatic in their meanings than the same material would in ,english2 and the student of ,german finds a grandeur in lines of ,schiller1 and in clauses of ,herder's and ,krummacher's ,parables1 which he looks for in vain when he is practised in the language4 ,it is well to bear this in mind on a first entrance into a foreign society1 or the traveller may chance to detect himself treasuring up nonsense1 and making much of mere trivialities1 because they reached him clothed in the mystery of a strange language4 ,he will be like lame ,jervas1 when he first came up from the mine in which he was born1 caressing the weeds he had gathered by the road side1 and refusing till the last moment to throw away such wonderful and beautiful things4 ,the raw traveller not only sees something mysterious1 picturesque1 or classical in every object that meets his eye after passing the frontier1 from the children's toys to palaces and general festivals1 but is apt to discern wisdom and solemnity in everything that is said to him1 from the greeting of the landlord to the speculations of the politician4 ,if not guarded against1 this natural tendency will more or less vitiate the observer's first impressions1 and introduce something of the ludicrous into his record of them4 ,from the consideration of the requisites for observation in the traveller himself1 we now proceed to indicate what he is to observe1 in order to inform himself of foreign ,morals and ,manners4 ,,part ,,ii4 ,,what ,,to ,,observe4 ,nous nous en tiendrons aux moeurs1 aux habitudes extrieures dont se forme1 pour les differentes classes de la socit1 une sorte de physionomie morale1 o se retracent les moeurs prives4 ,,de ,,jouy4 ,it is a perpetual wonder to an inexperienced person that the students of particular classes of facts can learn so much as they do from a single branch of inquiry4 ,tell an uninformed man of the daily results of the study of ,fossil ,remains1 and he will ask how the student can possibly know what was done in the world ages before man was created4 ,it will astonish a thoughtless man to hear the statements about the condition of the ,english nation which are warranted by the single study of the administration of the ,poor ,laws1 since their origin4 ,some physiognomists fix their attention on a single feature of the human face1 and can pretty accurately interpret the general character of the mind from it3 and ,i believe every portrait painter trusts mainly to one feature for the fidelity of his likenesses1 and bestows more study and care on that one than on any other4 ,a good many features compose the physiognomy of a nation2 and scarcely any traveller is qualified to study them all4 ,the same man is rarely enlightened enough to make investigation at once into the religion of a people1 into its general moral notions1 its domestic and economical state1 its political condition1 and the facts of its progress2--all which are necessary to a full understanding of its morals and manners4 ,few have even attempted an inquiry of this extent4 ,the worst of it is that few dream of undertaking the study of any one feature of society at all4 ,we should by this time have been rich in the knowledge of nations if each intelligent traveller had endeavoured to report of any one department of moral inquiry1 however narrow2 but1 instead of this1 the observations offered to us are almost purely desultory4 ,the traveller hears and notes what this and that and the other person says4 ,if three or four agree in their statements on any point1 he remains unaware of a doubt1 and the matter is settled4 ,if they differ1 he is perplexed1 does not know whom to believe1 and decides1 probably1 in accordance with prepossessions of his own4 ,the case is almost equally bad1 either way4 ,he will hear only one side of every question if he sees only one class of persons1--like the ,english in ,america1 for instance1 who go commonly with letters of introduction from merchants at home to merchants in the maritime cities1 and hear nothing but federal politics1 and see nothing but aristocratic manners4 ,they come home with notions which they suppose to be indisputable about the great ,bank question1 the state of parties1 and the relations of the ,general and ,state governments2 and with words in their mouths of whose objectionable character they are unaware1--about the common people1 mob government1 the encroachment of the poor upon the rich1 and so on4 ,such partial intercourse is fatal to the observations of a traveller2 but it is less perplexing and painful at the time than the better process of going from one set of people to another1 and hearing what all have to say4 ,no traveller in the ,united ,states can learn much of the country without conversing equally with farmers and merchants1 with artizans and statesmen1 with villagers and planters2 but1 while discharging this duty1 he will be so bewildered with the contrariety of statements and convictions1 that he will often shut his note-book in a state of scepticism as to whether there be any truth at all shining steadily behind all this tempest of opinions4 ,thus it is with the stranger who traverses the streets of ,warsaw1 and is trusted with the groans of some of the outraged mourners who linger in its dwellings2 and then goes to ,st4 ,petersburg1 and is presented with evidences of the enlightenment of the ,czar1 of his humanity1 his paternal affection for his subjects1 and his general superiority to his age4 ,at ,warsaw the traveller called him a miscreant2 at ,petersburg he is required to pronounce him a philanthropist4 ,such must be the uncertainty of judgment when it is based upon the testimony of individuals4 ,to arrive at the facts of the condition of a people through the discourse of individuals1 is a hopeless enterprise4 ,the plain truth is--it is beginning at the wrong end4 ,the grand secret of wise inquiry into ,morals and ,manners is to begin with the study of ,,things1 using the ,,discourse ,,of ,,persons as a commentary upon them4 ,though the facts sought by travellers relate to ,persons1 they may most readily be learned from ,things4 ,the eloquence of ,institutions and ,records1 in which the action of the nation is embodied and perpetuated1 is more comprehensive and more faithful than that of any variety of individual voices4 ,the voice of a whole people goes up in the silent workings of an institution2 the condition of the masses is reflected from the surface of a record4 ,the ,institutions of a nation1--political1 religious1 or social1--put evidence into the observer's hands as to its capabilities and wants which the study of individuals could not yield in the course of a lifetime4 ,the ,records of any society1 be they what they may1 whether architectural remains1 epitaphs1 civic registers1 national music1 or any other of the thousand manifestations of the common mind which may be found among every people1 afford more information on ,morals in a day than converse with individuals in a year4 ,thus also must ,manners be judged of1 since there never was a society yet1 not even a nunnery or a ,moravian settlement1 which did not include a variety of manners4 ,general indications must be looked for1 instead of generalizations being framed from the manners of individuals4 ,in cities1 do social meetings abound8 and what are their purposes and character8 ,are they most religious1 political1 or festive8 ,if religious1 have they more the character of ,passion ,week at ,rome1 or of a camp-meeting in ,ohio8 ,if political1 do the people meet on wide plains to worship the ,sun of the ,celestial ,empire1 as in ,china2 or in town-halls1 to remonstrate with their representatives1 as in ,england2 or in secret places1 to spring mines under the thrones of their rulers1 as in ,spain8 ,if festive1 are they most like an ,italian carnival1 where everybody laughs2 or an ,egyptian holiday1 when all eyes are solemnly fixed on the whirling ,dervishes8 ,are women there8 ,in what proportions1 and under what law of liberty8 ,what are the public amusements8 ,there is an intelligible difference between the opera at ,milan1 and the theatre at ,paris1 and a bull-fight at ,madrid1 and a fair at ,leipzig1 and a review at ,st4 ,petersburg4--,in country towns1 how is the imitation of the metropolis carried on8 ,do the provincials emulate most in show1 in science1 or in the fine arts8--,in the villages1 what are the popular amusements8 ,do the people meet to drink or to read1 to discuss1 or play games1 or dance8 ,what are the public houses like8 ,do the people eat fruit and tell stories8 or drink ale and talk politics or call for tea and saunter about8 or coffee and play dominoes8 or lemonade and laugh at ,punch8 ,do they crowd within four walls1 or gather under the elm1 or spread themselves abroad over the cricket-field or the yellow sands8--,there is as wide a difference among the humbler classes of various countries as among their superiors in rank4 ,a ,scotch burial is wholly unlike the ceremonies of the funeral pile among the ,cingalese2 and an interment in the ,greek church little resembles either4 ,a conclave of ,white ,boys in ,mayo1 assembled in a mud hovel on a heath1 to pledge one another to their dreadful oath1 is widely different from a similar conclave of ,swiss insurgents1 met in a pine wood on a steep1 on the same kind of errand3 and both are as little like as may be to the heroes of the last revolution in ,paris1 or to the companies of ,covenanters that were wont to meet1 under a similar pressure of circumstances1 in the defiles of the ,scottish mountains4--,in the manners of all classes1 from the highest to the lowest1 are forms of manners enforced in action1 or dismissed in words8 ,is there barbarous freedom in the lower1 while there is formality in the higher ranks1 as in newly settled countries8 or have all grown up together to that period of refined civilization when ease has superseded alike the freedom of the ,australian peasantry1 and the etiquette of the court of ,ava8--,what are the manners of professional men of the society1 from the eminent lawyer or physician of the metropolis down to the village barber8 ,the manners of the great body of the professional men must indicate much of the requisitions of the society they serve4--,so1 also1 must every circumstance connected with the service of society3 its character1 whether slavish or free1 abject or prosperous1 comprehensive or narrow in its uses1 must testify to the desires and habits1 and therefore to the manners of a community1 better than the conversation or deportment of any individual in the society can do4 ,a traveller who bears all this in mind can hardly go wrong4 ,every thing that he looks upon will instruct him1 from an aqueduct to a punch-bowl1 from a penitentiary to an aviary1 from the apparatus of a university to the furniture of an alehouse or a nursery4 ,when it was found that the chiefs of the ,red men could not be impressed with any notion of the civilization of the ,whites by all that many white men could say1 they were brought into the cities of the ,whites4 ,the exhibition of a ship was enough for some4 ,the warriors of the prairies were too proud to utter their astonishment1--too noble to hint1 even to one another1 their fear2 but the perspiration stood on their brows as they dumbly gazed1 and no word of war passed their lips from that hour4 ,another1 who could listen with calmness to the tales of boastful traders in the wilderness1 was moved from his apathy by seeing a workman in a glasshouse put a handle upon a pitcher4 ,he was transported out of his silence and reserve3 he seized and grasped the hand of the workman1 crying out that it was now plain that he had had intercourse with the ,great ,spirit4 ,by the evidence of things these ,indians had learned more of the manners of the ,whites than had ever been taught them by speech4--,which of us would not learn more of the manners of the ,pompeians by a morning's walk among the relics of their abodes and public halls than by many a nightly conference with certain of their ghosts8 ,the usual scholastic division of ,morals is into personal1 domestic1 and social or political morals4 ,the three kinds are1 however1 so apt to run into one another1--so practically inseparable1--that the traveller will find the distinction less useful to him than some others which he can either originate or adopt4 ,it appears to me that the ,morals and ,manners of a nation may be included in the following departments of inquiry--the ,religion of the people2 their prevalent ,moral ,notions2 their ,domestic ,state2 their ,idea of ,liberty2 and their ,progress1 actual or in prospect4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,religion4 ,dieu nous a dit1 ,peuples1 je vous attends4 ,,de ,,beranger4 ,of religion1 in its widest sense1 7the sense in which the traveller must recognize it17 there are three kinds2 not in all cases minutely distinguishable1 but bearing different general impress2 viz4 the ,licentious1 the ,ascetic1 and the ,moderate4 ,these kinds are not divided from each other by the boundaries of sects4 ,we cannot say that pagan religions come under one head1 and ,mahomedanism under another1 and ,christianity under a third4 ,the difference lies not in creeds1 but in spirit4 ,many pagans have been as moderate as any ,christians2 many ,christians as licentious as any pagans2 many ,mahomedans as licentious1 and many as ascetic1 as any pagans or ,christians4 ,the truer distinction seems to be that the licentious religions of the world worship unspiritualized nature1--material objects and their movements1 and the primitive passions of man3 that the ascetic despises nature1 and worships its artificial restraints3 and that the moderate worships spiritualized nature1--,god in his works1 both in the material universe and in the disciplined human mind1 with its regulated affections4 ,the ,licentious religion is always a ritual one4 ,its gods are natural phenomena and human passions personified2 and1 when once the power of doing good or harm is attributed to them1 the idea of propitiation enters1 and a ritual worship begins4 ,earthquakes1 inundations1 the chase1 love1 revenge1--all these agents of evil and good are to be propitiated1 and sacrifices and prayers are to be offered to them2 in these rites alone religious acts are supposed to be performed4 ,this1 however modified1 is a low state of religious sentiment4 ,it may show itself among the ,hindoos dipping in the ,ganges1 or among ,christians who accept absolution in its grossest sense4 ,in either case its tendency is to render the worshipper satisfied with a low moral state1 and to perpetuate his taste for selfish indulgence4 ,the ,ascetic religions are ritual also4 ,the ,pharisees of old need but be cited to show why2 and there is a set of people in the ,society ,islands now who seem to be spiritually descended from the ascetic priests of ,judaism4 ,the inhabitants of the ,society ,islands are excluded from many innocent privileges and natural pleasures by the ,tabu2 and the ,pharisees in just the same manner laid burdens upon men's shoulders too heavy to be borne1 ordaining irksome ceremonies to be proofs of holiness1 and extravagant self-denial to be required by devotion4 ,spiritual licence has always kept pace with this extravagance of self-denial4 ,spiritual vices1--pride1 vanity1 and hypocrisy1--are as fatal to high morals under this state of religious sentiment as sensual indulgence under the other3 and it does not matter much to the moral welfare of the people sunk in it1 whether they exist under a profession of ,christianity1 or of ,mahomedanism1 or of paganism4 ,the morals of those people are low who engage themselves to serve ,god by a slothful life in monastic celibacy1 no less than those of the ,fakrs1 who let their nails grow through the backs of their hands1 or those of the wretched mothers in the islands of the ,pacific1 who strangle their infants1 and cast them at the feet of their grinning idol4 ,the ,moderate is the least of a ritual religion of the three1 and drops such rites as it has in proportion to its advance towards purity4 ,religion in its purity is not a pursuit1 but a temper2 and its expression is not by sacrifices1 by prayers in the corners of the streets1 by fasts or public exhibitions4 ,the highest manifestations of this order of religion are found in ,christian countries2 though in others there are individuals1 and even orders of men1 who understand that the orderly enjoyment of all blessings that ,providence has bestowed1 and the regulated workings of all human affections1 are the truest homage to the ,maker of all4 ,as there are ,christians whose reliance is upon their ritual worship1 and who enter upon a monastic life1 so there are ,mahomedans and pagans whose high religious aim is self-perfection1 sought through the free but disciplined exercise of their whole nature4 ,the dependence of morals upon the character of the religion is clear4 ,it is clear that among a people whose gods are supposed to be licentious1 whose priests are licentious1 and where worship is associated with the indulgence of the passions1 political and domestic morals must be very low4 ,what purity can be expected of a people whose women are demanded in turn for the obscene service of the ,buddhist temple2 and what humanity from the inhabitants of districts whose dwellings are necessarily closed against the multitudes flocking to the festivals of ,juggernaut1--multitudes from amidst which thousands annually drop down dead1 so that their skeletons strew the road to the abominable temple8--,where asceticism is the character of the religion1 the natural and irrepressible exercise of human affections becomes licentiousness1 so called2 and1 of consequence1 it soon becomes licentiousness in fact1 according to the general rule that a bad name changes that to which it is affixed into a bad quality4--,hannah and ,philip grew up in a ,moravian settlement2 and1 ,moravians as they were1 they loved4 ,the days came when the destiny of each was decided by lot4 ,it was scarcely possible that they should draw a lot to marry each other2 yet both secretly hoped to the last4 ,philip drew a missionary lot1 and ,hannah another husband4 ,they were allowed to shake hands once before parting4 ,good-bye1 ,hannah6 ,good-bye1 ,philip6 was all that was said4 ,if ,hannah had gone off with ,philip1 it would have been called a profligate act2 and1 if they were sound ,moravians1 it would in fact have been so3 whereas1 in a community of really high morals1 the profligacy would have been seen to lie in ,hannah's marrying a man she did not love4 ,to proceed with the dependence of the morals on the character of the religion1--it is clear that in proportion as any religion encourages licentiousness1 either positively or negatively1--encourages1 that is to say1 the excess of the passions1 might will have the victory over right2 the weak will succumb to the strong2 and thus the condition of the poorer classes depends on the character of the religion of their country4 ,in proportion as the religion tends to licentiousness1 will the poorer classes be liable to slavery4 ,in proportion as the religion tends to asceticism1 will be the amount 7other things being equal7 of the hardship and want which they must sustain4 ,in proportion as the religion approximates to the moderate1 7the use without the abuse of means of enjoyment17 will the poorer classes rise to a condition of freedom and comfort4 ,the character of the religion serves1 in like manner1 as an index to that of the government4 ,a licentious religion cannot be adopted by a people who are so moderate in their passions as to be able to govern themselves4 ,one would not look for a display of meats offered to idols in the ,capitol of the ,american ,congress4 ,an ascetic religion1 too1 inflicts personal and mutual wrongs which could never be endured among a people who agree to govern one another4 ,there is no power which could induce such to submit to privations and sufferings which can be tolerable to none but devotees1--a small fraction of every society4 ,absolutism is commonly the character of the government of any country where either of these religions prevails2--a despotism more or less tempered by a variety of influences4 ,it is the observer's business to bring the religion and the government into comparison1 and to see how the latter is modified by the coexistence of the former4 ,the friendly1 no less than the domestic and political relations of society1 are dependent upon the prevailing religion4 ,under the licentious1 the manners will be made up of the conventional and the gross4 ,a ,burmese minister was sitting on the poop of a steam-vessel when a squall came on4 ,i suggested to his ,excellency1 says ,mr4 ,crawford1 the convenience of going below1 which he long resisted1 under the apprehension of committing his dignity by placing himself in a situation where persons might tread over his head2 for this singular antipathy is common both to the ,burmese and ,siamese4 ,the prejudice is more especially directed against the fair sex1--a pretty conclusive proof of the estimation in which they are held4 ,his ,excellency seriously demanded to know whether any woman had ever trod upon the poop2 and1 being assured in the negative1 he consented at length to enter the cabin4 ,the house fixed for the residence of an ,american missionary was not allowed to be fitted up1 as it stood on ground which was higher than the king's barge as it lay in the river2 and such a spectacle would not become the king's dignity4 ,the prime minister of this same king was one day1 for absence from his post at a fire1 spread out in the hot sun4 ,he was extended on his back in the public road for some hours in the most sultry part of the day1 with a heavy weight upon his chest1--the public executioners being employed to administer the punishment4 ,nor is the king alone authorized to perpetrate such barbarisms4 ,a creditor is permitted to seize the wife1 children1 and slaves of a debtor1 and bind them at his door to broil in the sun of ,ava4 ,here we see in perfection the union of the conventional and the gross in manners2 and such manners cannot be conceived to coexist with any religion of a higher character than ,buddhism4 ,under ascetic forms1 what grossness there is will be partially concealed2 but there will be no nearer an approach to simplicity than under the licentious4 ,the religion being made still to consist much in observances1 the society becomes formal in proportion as it believes itself growing pure4 ,we must again take an extreme case for an example4 ,the ,shakers of ,america are as sophisticated a set of persons as can be found2 with their minds1 and even their public discourses1 full of the one subject of their celibacy1 and their intercourse with each other graduated according to strict rules of etiquette4 ,so extreme an asceticism can never now spread in any nation to such an extent as to bear a relation to its general government3 but it is observable that such societies of ascetics live under a despotism2--one of their own appointment1 if the general will has not furnished them with one4 ,under the moderate aspect of religion is an approximation towards simplicity of social manners alone to be found4 ,there is as yet only a remote anticipation of it in any country in the world2 only a remote anticipation of that ease of social manners which must exist there alone where the enjoyments of life are freely used without abuse4 ,it matters not that the licentious and the ascetic parties each boast of having attained this consummation1--the one under the name of ease1 and the other of simplicity4 ,there is too much pain attendant upon grossness to justify the boast of ease2 and too much effort in asceticism to admit of the grace of simplicity4 ,it is the observer's business to mark1 wherever he goes1 the degree in which the one is chastened and the other relaxed1 giving place to the higher form of the moderate1 which1 if society learns from experience1 as the individual does1 must finally prevail4 ,when many individuals of a society attain that self-forgetfulness which is promoted by a high and free religious sentiment1 but which is incompatible with either licentious or ascetic tendencies1 the tone of manners in that society will be much raised4 ,when1 free from the grossness of self-indulgence1 and from the constraint of self-denial1 every one spontaneously thinks more of his neighbour than of himself1 the world will witness1 at last1 the perfection of manners4 ,it is clear that the high morals of which such refined manners will be the expression1 must greatly depend on the exaltation of the religious sentiment from which they emanate4 ,the traveller may possibly object the difficulty of classing societies by their religious tendencies1 and ask whether minds of every sort are not to be found in all numerous assemblages of persons4 ,this is true3 but yet there is a prevailing religious sentiment in all communities4 ,religious1 like other sentiment1 is modified by the strong general influences under which each society lives2 and in it1 as in other kinds1 there will be general resemblance1 with particular differences under it4 ,it is well known that even sects1 exclusive in their opinions and straitened by forms1 differ in different countries almost as much as if there were no common bond4 ,not only is episcopacy not the same religion among born ,east ,indians as in ,england1 but the ,quakers of the ,united ,states1 though like the ,english in doctrine and in manners1 are easily distinguishable from them in religious sentiment3 and even the ,jews1 who might be expected to be the same all over the world1 differ in ,russia1 ,persia1 and ,great ,britain as much as if a spirit of division had been sent among them4 ,they not only appear here in furs1 there in cotton or silk1 and elsewhere in broadcloth2 but the hearts they bear beneath the garments1 the thoughts that stir under the cap1 the turban1 and the hat1 are modified in their action as the skies under which they move are in aspect4 ,they are strongly tinctured with the national sentiment of ,russia1 ,persia1 and ,england2 and if the fond dream of some of them 7in which1 by the way1 large numbers of their body have ceased to sympathize17 could come true1 and they should ever be brought together within their ancient borders1 they would find that their religion1 so unique in its fixedness1 though one in word1 is many in spirit4--,much more easy is the assimilation between different forms of ,christianity1 and between ,christianity and an elevated natural religion3 and the search can never therefore be in vain for a pervading religious sentiment among the various religious institutions of any and every people4 ,it is1 of course1 more difficult to discover this religious sentiment among a nation enlightened enough to be divided in theological matters1 than among a rude people who regulate their devotions by the bidding of a single order of priests4 ,the ,african traveller1 passing up the ,niger1 sees at a glance what all the worshippers on the banks feel1 and must feel1 towards the deities to whom their temples are erected4 ,a rude shed1 with a doll1--an image of deformity1--perched on a stand1 and supposed to be enjoying the fumes of the cooking going on before his face2--a place of worship like this1 in its character of the habitation of a deity1 and of a sensual deity1 leaves no doubt as to what the religious sentiment of a country must be where there is no dissent from such a worship4 ,in such a society there are absolutely none to feel that their deep palm groves are a nobler temple than human hands can rear4 ,there are none who see that it is by a large divine benignity that all the living creatures of that region are made happy in their rank seclusion4 ,there is no feeling of gratitude in the minds of those who see the myriads of gay butterflies that flit in the glare of noon1 and the river-horse which bathes in the shady places of the mysterious great stream4 ,there a god is seen only in his temple1 and there is nothing known of any works of his4 ,that he is great1 is learned only through the word of his priests1 who say that yams are too common a food for him1 and that nothing less than hippopotamus' flesh must be cooked beneath his shrine4 ,that he is good is an idea which has not yet entered any mind4--,in other places1 the religious sentiment is almost equally unquestionable2 as when every man in ,cairo is seen in his turn to put on the dress of pilgrimage1 and direct his steps to ,mount ,arafat4 ,here the sentiment is of a higher order1 but equally evident and uniform4--,a further advance1 with somewhat less uniformity of sentiment1 is found among the followers of the ,greek church in a ,russian province4 ,the peasants there make a great point of having time for their devotions2 and those who have the wherewithal to offer some showy present at a shrine are complacent4 ,they make the sign of the cross1 and have therein done their whole duty3 and if some speculative worshipper of the ,virgin with ,three ,hands is not satisfied about the way in which his patroness came by her third hand1 he keeps his doubts to himself when he tells his sins to his confessor4--,a still further advance1 with an increased diversity1 may be met with among the simple ,vaudois1 the general characteristics of whose faith are alike1 but who entertain it1 some more in the spirit of fear1 others more in the spirit of love4 ,the prevailing sentiment among them is of the ascetic character1 as the stranger may perceive1 who sees the peasantry marching in serene gravity to their plain places of worship on the mountain pinnacle1 or under the shelter yielded by a clump of black pines amidst a waste of snow3 but here the clergy are more guides than dictators2 and not a few may be found who doubt their opinions1 and find matter for thoughtless delight1 rather than religious awe1 when they follow the echoes from steep to steep1 and watch for the gleams of the summer lightning playing among the defiles4--,the diversity grows more striking as civilization advances2 but it has not yet become perplexing in the most enlightened nations in the world4 ,in ,england1 in ,france1 in ,america1 there is a distinct religious sentiment3 in ,england1 where there is every variety of dissent from the established faith2 in ,america1 where there is every variety of opinion1 and no establishment at all2 and in ,france1 now in that state which most baffles observation1--a state of transition from an exaggerated superstition to a religious faith which is being groped for1 but is not yet found4 ,even in this uncertain state1 no one can confound the religious sentiment of ,new ,england and of ,france2 and an observation of their places of worship will indicate their differences4 ,in ,new ,england1 the populous towns have their churches in the midst1 spacious and conspicuous1--not exhibiting any of the signs of antique origin which are impressed on those of ,europe1 and to be accounted for only by the immediate religious tastes of the people4 ,in new settlements1 the church rises side by side with the house of entertainment1 and is obviously considered one of the necessaries of social life4 ,the first thing to be learned about a fresh inhabitant is1 how he stands disposed towards the church1 whatever may be its denomination4 ,in ,france1 such of the old churches as are still used for their ancient purpose1 bespeak a ritual religion1 and therefore a religion light and gay in its spirit2 all religions being so which cast responsibility into outward observances1 especially where the outward observances are not of a very burdensome character4 ,if nuns in their cloister1 and ,jews in their synagogues1 have been characterized by the lightness of their religious spirit1 well may the ,catholics of an enlightened country be so1 discarding the grossest and most burdensome of their rites1 and retaining the ritual principle4 ,the searchers after a new faith in ,france must increase by millions before they can change the character of the religious sentiment of the country2 and perhaps before that which is now gross can be elevated into what is genial1 and before a mixture of levity and fear can be changed into the cheerful earnestness of a moderate or truly catholic religious conviction1 the ancient churches of ,france may be standing in ruins1--objects for the research of the antiquary4 ,the rule of examining things before persons must be observed in ascertaining the religious sentiment of any country4 ,a stranger in ,england might interrogate everybody he saw1 and be little wiser at the end of a year4 ,he might meet a fanatic one day1 an indifferent person the next1 and a calmly convinced one the third3 he might go from a ,churchman to a ,jew2 from a ,jew to a ,quaker2 from a ,quaker to a ,catholic2 and every day be farther from understanding the prevailing religious sentiment of the country4 ,a much shorter and surer method is1 to examine the ,places of ,worship1 the condition of the ,clergy1 the ,popular ,superstitions1 the observance of ,holy ,days1 and some other particulars of the kind4 99 99 99 99 99 ,first1 for the ,churches4 ,there is that about all places of worship which may tell nearly as plain a tale as the carved idols1 with messes of rice before them1 in ,hindoo temples2 or as the human bones hung round the hut of an ,african god4 ,the proportion and resemblance of modern places of worship to those which were built in dark times of superstition2 the suitability or incongruity of all that is of late introduction into their furniture and worship with what had its origin in those dim ages2--such circumstances as these cannot but indicate whether the common religious sentiment is as nearly as possible the same as in centuries past1 or whether it is approximating1 slowly or rapidly1 towards the ascetic or the moderate4 ,there is evidence in the very forms of churches4 ,the early ,christian churches were in the basilica form1--bearing a resemblance to the ,roman courts of justice4 ,this is supposed to have arisen from the churches being1 in fact1 the courts of spiritual justice1 where penance was awarded by the priest to the guilty1 and absolution granted to the penitent4 ,from imitation1 the ,christian churches of all ,europe for centuries bore this form2 and even some built since the ,reformation preserve it4 ,but they have something of their own which serves as a record of their own times4 ,the history of the ,crusades does not present a more vivid picture of feudal society than shines out from the nooks of our own cathedrals4 ,the spirit of monachism is as distinguishable as if the cowled ghosts of the victims were actually seen flitting along the aisles4 ,what say the chantries ranged along the sides8 ,there perpetual prayers were to be kept up for the prosperity of a wealthy family and its retainers in life1 and for their welfare after death4 ,what says the chapter-house8 ,there the powerful members of the church hierarchy were wont to assemble1 to use and confirm their rule4 ,what say the cloisters8 ,under their shelter did the monks go to and fro in life2 and in the plot of ground enclosed by these sombre passages were they laid in death4 ,what says the ,ladye chapel8 ,what say the niches with their stone basins8 ,they tell of the intercessory character of the sentiment1 and of the ritual character of the worship of the times when they were set up4 ,the handful of worshippers here collected from among the tens of thousands of a cathedral town also testify to the fact that such establishments could not be originated now1 and are no longer in harmony with the spirit of the multitude4--,the contrast of the most modern sacred buildings tells as plain a tale3--the red-brick meeting-house of the ,friends2 the stone chapel of the less rigid dissenters1 standing back from the noise of the busy street2 the aristocratic chapel nestling amidst the shades of the nobleman's park2 and the village church in the meadow1 with its neighbouring parsonage4 ,these all tell of a diversity of opinion2 but also of something else4 ,the more ancient buildings are scantily attended2 the more modern are thronged2--and indeed1 if they had not been wanted by numbers1 they would not have been built4 ,this speaks the decline of a ritual religion1 and the preference of one which is more exclusively spiritual in its action4 ,in ,scotland the kirks look exactly suitable to the population which throngs towards them1 with sober dress and gait1 and countenances of solemnity4 ,these edifices stand in severe simplicity1 whether on the green shore of a lake1 or in the narrow street of a town2 and asceticism is marked on every stone of the walls1 and every article of their decorations4 ,no one who has travelled in ,ireland can forget the aspect of its places of worship1--the lowly ,catholic chapels1 with their beggarly ornaments of lace and crucifixes1 placed in the midst of villages1 the whole of whose inhabitants crowd within those four walls2 and a little way off1 in a field1 or on an eminence by the road side1 the ,protestant church1 one end in ruins1 and with ample harbourage for the owl1 while the rest is encompassed with nettles and thorns1 and the mossy grave-stones are half hidden by rank grass4 ,in a country where the sun rises upon contrasts like these1 it is clear in what direction the religious sentiment of the people is indulged4 ,what the stranger may thus learn in our own country1 we may learn in his1 whatever it be4 ,the large plain churches of ,massachusetts1 their democratic benches 7in the absence of aristocratic pews7 silently filled for long hours of a ,sabbath1 as still as a summer noon1 by hundreds and thousands who restore the tones of their pilgrim ancestors in their hymn-singing1 and seem to carry about their likeness in their faces1 cannot fail to instruct the observer4--,then there is the mosque at ,cairo1 with its great tank or fountain of ablution in the midst2 and its broad pavement spread out for men of every degree to kneel on together2 its doors standing wide from sunrise to sunset1 for the admission of all but women and strangers2 its outside galleries1 from which the summons to prayer is sounded2--these things testify to the ritual character of the worship1 and to the low type of the morals of a faith which despises women and strangers1 giving privileges to the strong from which the weak are excluded4--,then there is the ,buddhist temple1 rearing its tapering form in a recess of the hills1 with its colossal stone figures guarding the entrance1 and others sanctifying the interior1--all eloquently explaining that physical force is worshipped here3 its images of saints show that the intercessory superstition exists2 and the drum and gong1 employed to awaken the attention of the gods1 can leave little danger of misapprehension to the observer4 ,there are lanterns continually burning1 and consecrated water1 sanctified to the cure of diseased eyes4--,such places of worship tell a very plain tale2 while there is not perhaps a church on earth which does not convey one that is far from obscure4 ,the traveller must diligently visit the temples of nations2 he must mark their locality1 whether placed among men's dwellings or apart from them2 their number1 whether multiplied by diversity of theological opinion2 and their aspect1 whether they are designed for the service of a ritual or a spiritual religion4 ,thus he may1 at the same time1 ascertain the character of the most prominent form of religion1 and that of the dissent from it2 which must always illustrate each other4 99 99 99 99 99 ,next to the ,churches comes the consideration of the ,clergy4 ,the clergy are usually the secondary potentates of a young country4 ,in a young country1 physical force1 and that which comes to represent it1 is the first great power2 and knowledge is the next4 ,the clergy are the first learned men of every nation2 and when the streams of knowledge are only just issuing from the fountain1 and the key is in the hands of the clergy1 they enjoy1 rightly and unavoidably1 a high degree of consequence4 ,knowledge spreads abroad2 and it is as impossible for man to dam it up as for the fool to stop the ,danube by filling the narrow channel at its source with his great boots1--crying out the while1 ,how the people will wonder when the ,danube does not come6 ,as knowledge becomes diffused1 the consequence of the clergy declines4 ,if that consequence is to be preserved1 it must be by their attaining the same superiority in morals which they once held in intellect4 ,where the clergy are now a cherished class1 it is1 in fact1 on the supposition of this moral superiority1--a claim for whose justification it would be unreasonable to look1 and for the forfeiture of which the clergy should be less blamed than those who expect that1 in virtue of a profession1 any class of men should be better than others4 ,moral excellence has no regard to classes and professions2 and religion1 being not a pursuit but a temper1 cannot1 in fact1 be professionally cultivated with personal advantage4 ,it will be for the traveller to note whether this is more or less understood where he travels2 whether the clergy are viewed with indifference as mere professional men2 or whether they are reverenced for their supposed holiness2 or for their real superiority in learning2 or whether the case wears the lowest aspect of all--when the clergy are merely the jugglers and puppet-masters of the multitude4 ,a patient consideration of this will lead to a pretty safe conclusion as to the progress the people have made in knowledge1 and the spiritual freedom which it brings2--a freedom which is at once a virtue and a cause of virtue4 ,the observer must note what the clergy themselves consider their function to be2--whether to guide individual minds2 or to cultivate theological and other studies1 in order to place their results at the disposal of the minds with which they have to deal2 or to express in worship the feelings of those minds2 or to influence the social institutions by which the minds of the people are modified2 or to do any other of the many things which the priests of different countries1 and ages1 and faiths1 have in turn included in their function4 ,he will note whether they are most like the tyrannical ,brahmins1 who at one stroke--by declaring the institution of ,caste to be of divine authority--obtained boundless control over a thousand generations1 subjecting all intellects and all hands to a routine which could be easily superintended by the forty thousand of the favoured priestly race2 or whether they are like the ,christian clergy of the dark ages1 a part of whose duty it was to learn the deepest secrets of the proudest and lowliest1--thus obtaining the means of bringing to pass what events they wished1 both in public and private life2--or whether they are like such students as have been known in the theological world1--men who have not crossed the threshold of their libraries for eighteen years1 and who are satisfied with their lives1 if they have been able to elevate ,biblical science1 and to throw any new light on sacred history2--or whether they are like the ,american clergy of the present day1 whose exertions are directed towards the art of preaching2--or whether they are like the ministers of the ,established ,church in ,england1 who are politically represented1 and large numbers of whom employ their influence for political purposes4 ,each of these kinds of clergy must be yielded by a particular state of society1 and could not belong to any other4 ,the ,hindoos must be in a low degree of civilization1 and sunk in a deadly superstition1 or they would tolerate no ,brahmins4 ,the people of four centuries ago must have depended solely upon their priests for knowledge and direction1 or they would not have submitted to their inquisitorial practices4 ,germany must have advanced far in her appreciation of philosophical and critical research in theology1 or she would not have such devoted students as she can boast of4 ,the ,americans cannot have attained to any high practice of spiritual liberty1 or they could not follow preaching so zealously as they do4 ,the ,english cannot have fully understood1 or taken to heart the principles of the ,reformation1 which have so long been their theme of eulogy1 or they would not foster a political hierarchy within the bosom of their church4 ,as the studies of the clergy lie in the past1 as the days of their strongest influence are behind1 and as the religious feelings of men have hitherto reposed on the antique1 and are but just beginning to point towards the future1 it is natural1 it is unavoidable1 that the clergy should retard rather than aid the progress of society4 ,a disposition to assist in the improvement of institutions is what ought not to be looked for from any priestly class2 and1 if looked for1 it will not be found4 ,such a mode of operation must appear to them suicidal4 ,but much may be learned by comparing the degree of clerical resistance to progression with the proportion of favour in which the clergy are held by the people4 ,where that resistance is greatest1 and a clerical life is one of peculiar worldly ease1 the state of morals and manners must be low4 ,where that resistance is least1 where any social improvement whatever is found to originate with the clergy1 and where they bear a just share of toil1 the condition of morals and manners cannot be very much depressed4 ,where there is an undue partition of labour and its rewards among the clergy themselves1--where some do the work and others reap the recompence1--the fair inference is that morals and manners are in a state of transition4 ,such a position of affairs cannot be a permanent one2 and the observer may be assured that the morals and manners of the people are about to be better than they have been4--,the characteristics of the clergy will indicate1 or at least direct attention to1 the characteristics of dissent3 and any extensive form of dissent is no other than the most recent exposition of the latest condition of morals among a large1 active1 and influential portion of the people4 ,a foreign traveller in ,germany1 in ,luther's time1 could learn but little of the moral state of that empire1 if he shut his eyes to the philosophy and the deeds of the reformers4 ,if he saw nothing in the train of nuns winding down into the valleys from their now unconsecrated convent on the steep2 if the tidings of the marriage of ,catherine de ,boria came to him like any other wedding news2 if he did not mark the subdued triumph in family faces when the ,book--,luther's ,bible--was brought out for the daily lecture2 if the decrees of ,worms seemed to him like the common orders of the church1 and the levelling of altars and unroofing of crypts was in his eyes but masons' work1 he was not qualified to observe the people of ,germany1 and had no more title to report of them than if he had never left home4 ,thus it is now1 in less extreme cases4 ,the traveller in ,spain knows little of the ,spaniards unless he is aware of the theological studies1 and the worship without forms1 which are carried on in private by those who are keeping alive the fires of liberty in that priest and tyrant-ridden country4 ,the foreigner in ,england will carry away but a partial knowledge of the religious sentiment of the people if he enters only the cathedrals of cities and the steepled churches in the villages1 passing by the square meeting-houses in the manufacturing towns1 and hearing nothing of the conferences1 the assemblies1 and the missionary enterprises of the dissenters4 ,the same may be said of observation in every country enlightened enough to have shaken off its subservience to an unquestioned and irresponsible priesthood3 that is1 of every country advanced enough to maintain dissent4 ,the expressions of established forms of prayer convey more information as to the state of the clergy than of the people2 since these expressions are furnished by the clergy1 and continue to be prompted by them1 while the people have no means of dismissing or changing the words of their framed prayers for long after the words may have ceased to represent the feeling4 ,the traveller will receive such objectionable expressions as he may hear1 not as indications of the then present sentiments of the crowd of worshippers1 but rather as evidencing the disinclination of the clergy to change4 ,it would be hard1 for instance1 to impute to ,moslem worshippers in general the formation of such desires as are uttered by the school-boys of ,cairo at the close of their daily attendance4 ,o ,god6 destroy the infidels and polytheists1 thine enemies1 the enemies of the religion6 ,o ,god6 make their children orphans1 and defile their abodes1 and cause their feet to slip1 and give them and their families1 and their households1 and their women1 and their children1 and their relations by marriage1 and their brothers1 and their friends1 and their possessions1 and their race1 and their wealth1 and their lands1 as booty to the ,moslems6 ,o ,lord of all creatures6--,it would be unjust to impute a horror of sudden death to all who use the words of prayer against it which are found in the ,litany of the ,church of ,england4 ,sudden death deserved to be classed among the most deadly evils when the ,litany was framed1--in the days of the viaticum2 but now it would be unjust to a multitude of worshippers who use the ,litany to suppose that they are afraid to commit themselves to the hands of their ,father without a passport from a priest2 and that they are not willing to die in the way which pleases ,god1--some rather preferring1 probably1 a mode which will save those who are nearest and dearest to them the anguish of suspense1 or of witnessing hopeless decline4 ,in all antique forms of devotion there must be expressions which are inconsistent with the philosophy and the tastes of the time2 and these are to be regarded therefore as no indications of such philosophy and taste1 but as an evidence1 more or less distinct1 of the condition of the clergy in enlightenment and temper4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the splendid topic of human ,superstitions can be only just touched upon here4 ,in this boundless field1 strewn with all the blossoms of all philosophy1 the human observer may wander for ever4 ,he can never have done culling the evidence that it presents1 or enjoying the promise which it yields4 ,all that we can now do is just to suggest that as the superstitions of all nations are the embodiment of their idealized convictions1 the state of religious sentiment may be learned from them almost without danger of mistake4 ,no society is without its superstitions1 any more than it is without its convictions and its imaginations4 ,even under the moderate form of religion1 there is room for superstition2 and the ascetic1 which glories in having put away the superstitions of the licentious forms1 has superstitions of its own4--,the followers of an ascetic religion have more or less belief in judgments1--in retributive evils1 arbitrarily inflicted4 ,among them may be gathered a harvest of tales of divine interference1--from the bee stinging the tip of the swearer's tongue to the sudden death of false witnesses4 ,among them do superstitions about times and seasons flourish1 even to the forgetfulness that the ,sabbath is made for man1 and not man for the ,sabbath4 ,some ascetics have faith in the lot1--like the ,moravians in ordering marriage1 or ,wesley in opening his ,bible to light upon texts4 ,others believe in warnings of evil2 and most dread the commission of ritual fully as much as of moral sins4 ,to play even a hymn tune on the piano on ,sundays is an offence in the ,highlands of ,scotland2 and to miss prayers is a matter of penance in a convent4 ,the superstitions of the ascetic are scarcely fewer or more moderate than those of the licentious form of religion2 the chief difference between the two lies in the spirit from which they emanate4 ,the superstitions of the ascetic arise from the spirit of fear2 those of the heathen arise perhaps equally from the spirit of love and the spirit of fear4 ,it seems as if the portents which present themselves to ascetic minds must necessarily be of evil1 since the only good which their imaginations admit is supposed to be secured by grace1 and by acts of service or self-denial4 ,to the ,fakr1 to the ,shaker1 to the nun1 no good remains over and above what has been long claimed1 while punishment may follow any breach of observance4 ,on the other hand1 before one who makes himself gods of the movements of inanimate nature and human passions1 the two worlds of evil and good lie open1 and he is perpetually on the watch for messengers from both4 ,the poor pagan looks for tokens of his gods being pleased or angry2 of their intentions of giving him a good or a bad harvest2 or of their sending him a rich present or afflicting him with a bereavement4 ,whatever he wants to know1 he seeks for in portents2--whether he shall live again1--whether his departed friends think of him1--whether his child shall be fortunate or wretched1--whether his enemy or he shall prevail4 ,it is open to the traveller's observation whether these superstitions are of a generous or selfish kind1--whether they elevate the mind with hope1 or depress it with fear1--whether they nourish the faith of the spirit1 or extort merely the service of the lip and hand4 ,the ,swiss herdsmen believe that the three deliverers 7the founders of the ,helvetic ,confederacy7 sleep calmly in a cave near the ,lake of ,lucerne2 and that1 whenever their country is in her utmost need1 they will come forth in their antique garb1 and assuredly save her4 ,this is a superstition full of veneration and hope4--,when the ,arabs see a falling star1 they believe it to be a dart thrown by ,god at a wanderer of the race of the genii1 and they exclaim1 ,may ,god transfix the enemy of the faith6 ,here we find in brief the spirit of their religion4--,in ,brazil1 a bird which sings plaintively at night is listened to with intent emotion1 from its being supposed to be sent with tidings from the dead to the living4 ,the choice of a bird with a mournful instead of a lively note speaks volumes4--,the three angels in white that come to give presents to good children in ,germany at ,christmas1 come in a good spirit4--,there is a superstition in ,china which has a world of tenderness in it4 ,a father collects a hundred copper coins from a hundred families1 and makes the metal into a lock which he hangs1 as a charm1 round his child's neck1 believing that he locks his child to life by this connection with a hundred persons in full vigour4--,but1 as is natural1 death is the region of the ,unseen to which the larger number of portents relates4 ,the belief of the return of the dead has been held almost universally among the nations2 and their unseen life is the grand theme of speculation wherever there are men to speculate4 ,the ,norwegians lay the warrior's horse1 and armour1 and weapons1 beside him4 ,the ,hindoos burn the widow4 ,the ,malabar ,indians release caged birds on the newly-made grave1 to sanction the flight of the soul4 ,the ,buccaneers 7according to ,penrose7 concealed any large booty that fell into their hands1 till they should have leisure to remove it1--murdering and burying near it any helpless wretch whom they might be able to capture1 in order that his spirit might watch over the treasure1 and drive from the spot all but the parties who had signed their names in a round-robin1 in claim of proprietorship4 ,the professors of many faiths resemble each other in practices of propitiation or atonement laboriously executed on behalf of the departed4 ,some classes of mourners act towards their dead friends in a spirit of awe2 some in fear2 but very many in love4 ,the trust in the immortality of the affections is the most general feature in superstitions of this class2 and it is a fact eloquent to the mind of the observer4--,an only child of two poor savages died4 ,the parents appeared inconsolable2 and the father soon sank under his grief4 ,from the moment of his death1 the mother was cheerful4 ,on being asked what had cheered her1 she said she had mourned for her child's loneliness in the world of spirits3 now he had his father with him1 and she was happy for them both4 ,what a divine spirit of self-sacrifice is here6 but there is scarcely a superstition sincerely entertained which does not tell as plain a tale4 ,those which express fear indicate moral abasement1 greater or less4 ,those which express trust and love indicate greater or less moral elevation and purity4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the practice of ,suicide is worth the contemplation of a traveller1 as affording some clear indications as to religious sentiment4 ,suicide in the largest sense is here intended1--the voluntary surrender of life from any cause4 ,there has been a stage in the moral advancement of every nation when suicide1 in one form or another1 has been considered a duty2 and it is impossible to foresee the time when it will cease to be so considered4 ,it was a necessary result from the idea of honour once prevalent in the most civilized societies1 when men and women destroyed themselves to avoid disgrace4 ,the defeated warrior1 the baffled statesman1 the injured woman1 destroyed themselves when the hope of honour was gone4 ,in the same age1 as in every succeeding one1 there have been suicides who have devoted themselves for others1 presenting a series of tales which may almost redeem the disgraces which darken the annals of the race4--,the most illustrious of the ,christian ,fathers1 immersed in the superstitions about the transcendent excellence of the virtue of chastity which have extinguished so many other virtues1 and injured the morals of society to this day1 by sacrificing other principles to fanaticism on this1 permitted women to kill themselves to escape from violence which left the mind in its purity1 and the will in its rectitude4--,martyrdom for the truth existed also before the venerating eyes of men1--the noblest kind of suicide3 it attracted glory to itself from the faithful heart of the race2 and1 from its thus attracting glory1 it became a means of gaining glory1 and sank from being martyrdom to be a mere fanatical self-seeking4 ,while the spirit of persecution was roaming abroad1 seeking whom it might devour1 there were ,st4 ,theresas roaming abroad1 seeking to be devoured1 from a spirit of cupidity after the crown of martyrdom4--,soldiers1 in all times and circumstances1 pledge themselves to the possible duty of suicide by the very act of becoming soldiers4 ,they engage to make the first charge1 and to mount a breach if called upon4 ,and there have been found soldiers for every perilous service that has been required1 throughout all wars4 ,there have been volunteers to mount the breach1 solitary men or small bands to hold narrow bridges and passes1 from the first incursion of tribe upon tribe in barbarous conflict1 up to the suicide of ,van ,speyk1 whose monument is still fresh from the chisel in the ,nieuw ,kerk of ,amsterdam4 ,van ,speyk commanded a gun-boat which was stranded in a heavy gale1 and boarded by the ,belgians1--the foe4 ,van ,speyk had sworn never to surrender his boat1 and his suicide was a point of military honour4 ,he seems to have considered the matter thus2 for he prayed for pardon of his crime of self-destruction after laying his lighted cigar on the open barrel of powder which blew up the boat4 ,the remaining suicides 7except1 of course1 the insane17 are justified by none4 ,persons who shrink from suffering so far as to withdraw from their duties1 and to forsake those to whom their exertions are due1 are objects of contemptuous compassion in the present day1 when1 moral having succeeded to physical force in men's esteem1 it is seen to be nobler to endure evils than to hide one's spirit from them4 ,every society has its suicides1 and much may be learned from their character and number1 both as to the notions on morals which prevail1 and the religious sentiment which animates to or controls the act4 ,it is with the last that we now have to do4--,the act of laying down life is one thing among a people who have dim and mournful anticipations of a future life1 like the ancient ,greeks2 and quite another among those who1 like the first ,christians1 have a clear vision of bliss and triumph in the world on which they rush4 ,suicide is one thing to a man who is certain of entering immediately upon purgatory2 and to another whose first step is to be upon the necks of his enemies2 and to a third who believes that he is to lie conscious in his grave for some thousands of years2 and to a fourth who has no idea that he shall survive or revive at all4 ,when ,curtius leaped into the gulf1 he probably leaped into utter darkness1 other than physical2 but when ,guyon of ,marseilles sunned himself for the last time in the balcony of the house where he was shut up with the plague-spotted body which he was to die in dissecting1 he had faith that he should step out of a waxing and waning sunlight into a region which had no need of the sun1 neither of the moon1 to shine in it1 the glory of ,god being the light of it4 ,the sick ,moslem who1 falling behind his troop1 and fearing to lie unburied1 scoops his grave and lies down in it1 wrapped in his grave-clothes1 and covers himself up1 except the face1 leaving it to the winds to heap sand upon it1 trembles the while at the thought of the two examining angels1 who are this night to prove and perhaps torture him4 ,the ,english lady who took laudanum on learning that she had a fatal disease1 from fear of becoming loathsome to a husband for whom she had lived1 had before her the prominent idea of reunion with him2 so that life in one world presented as much of hope as in the other of despair4--,nations share in differences like these1 according to the prevalent religious sentiment2 and from this species of act may the sentiment be more or less correctly inferred4 ,suicide is very common among a race of ,africans who prefer it to slavery4 ,they believe in a life of tropical ease and freedom after death1 and rush into it so eagerly on being reduced to slavery1 that the planters of ,cuba refuse them in the market1 knowing that after a few hours1 or days1 in spite of all precautions1 nothing but their dead bodies will remain in the hands of their masters4 ,the ,french have1 of late years1 abounded in suicides1 while there are few or none in ,ireland4 ,the most vain and the most sympathetic part of the ,french multitude were found to be the classes which yielded the victims4 ,if a young lady and her lover shot one another with pistols tied with pink ribbons1 two or three suicides amidst blue and green ribbons were sure to follow the announcement of the first in the newspaper1 till a sensible physician suggested that suicides should not be noticed in newspapers1 or should be treated with ridicule3 the advice was acted upon1 and proved by the result to be sound4 ,this profusion of self-murders could not have taken place amidst a serious belief of an immediate entrance upon purgatory1 such as is held by the majority of the ,irish4 ,only in a state of vague speculation as to another life could the future have operated as so slight a check upon the rash impulses of the present4 ,the ,irish1 an impetuous race1 like the ,french1 and with a good share of vanity1 of sympathy1 and of sentiment1 are probably deterred from throwing away life by those religious convictions and sentiments which the ,french once held in an equal degree1 but from which they are now passing over into another state4 ,a single act of suicide is often indicative1 negatively or positively1 of a state of prevalent sentiment4 ,a single instance of the ,suttee testifies to the power of ,brahmins1 and the condition of ,hindoo worshippers1 in a way which cannot be mistaken4 ,an ,american child of six years old accidentally witnessed in ,india such a spectacle4 ,on returning home1 she told her mother she had seen hell1 and was whipped for saying so1--not knowing why1 for she spoke in all earnestness1 and1 as it seems to us1 with eloquent truth4--,the somewhat recent self-destruction of an estimable ,english officer1 on the eve of a court-martial1 might fully instruct a stranger on the subject of military honour in this country4 ,this officer fell in the collision of universal and professional principles4 ,his justice and humanity had led him to offer a kindly bearing towards an irresolute mob of rioters1 in the absence of authority to act otherwise than as he did1 and of all co-operation from the civil power2 his military honour was placed in jeopardy1 and the innocent man preferred self-destruction to meeting the risk2 thus testifying that numbers here sustain an idea of honour which is at variance with that which they expect to prevail elsewhere and hereafter4--,every act of self-devotion for others1 extending to death1 testifies to the existence of philanthropy1 and to its being regarded as an honour and a good4 ,every voluntary martyrdom tells a national tale as plain as that written in blood and spirit by ,arnold ,von ,winkelried1 in #achf4 ,when the ,swiss met their oppressors at the battle of ,sempach1 it appeared impossible for the ,swiss to charge with effect1 so thick was the hedge of ,austrian lances4 ,arnold ,von ,winkelried cried1 ,i will make a lane for you6 ,dear companions1 remember my family6 ,he clasped an armful of the enemy's lances1 and made a sheaf of them in his body4 ,his comrades entered the breach1 and won the battle4 ,they remembered his family1 and their descendants commemorate the sacrifice to this day2 thus bearing testimony to the act being a trait of the national spirit4 ,by observations such as these1 may the religious sentiment of a people be ascertained4 ,while making them1 or struggling with the difficulties of opposing evidence1 the observer has to bear in mind1--first1 that the religious sentiment does everywhere exist1 however low its tone1 and however uncouth its expression2 secondly1 that personal morals must greatly depend on the low or high character of the religious sentiment2 and1 thirdly1 that the philosophy and morals of government accord with both1--despotism of some sort being the natural rule where licentious and ascetic religions prevail2 and democratic government being possible only under a moderate form of religion1 where the use without the abuse of all blessings is the spirit of the religion of the majority4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,general ,,moral ,,notions4 ,une diffrente coutume donnera d'autres principes naturels4 ,cela se voit par exprience2 et s'il y en a d'ineffaables la coutume1 il y en a aussi de la coutume ineffaables la nature4--,,pascal4 ,next to the religion of a people1 it is necessary to learn what are their ,ideas of ,morals4 ,in speaking of the popular notion of a ,moral ,sense1 it was mentioned that1 so far from there being a general agreement on the practice of morals1 some things which are considered eminently right in one age or country are considered eminently wrong in another2 while the people of each age or country1 having grown up under common influences1 think and feel sufficiently alike to live together in a general agreement as to right and wrong4 ,it is the business of the traveller to ascertain what this general agreement is in the society he visits4 ,in one society1 spiritual attainments will be the most highly honoured1 as in most religious communities4 ,in another1 the qualities attendant upon intellectual eminence will be worshipped1--as now in countries which are the most advanced in preparation for political freedom1--,france1 ,germany1 and the ,united ,states4 ,in others1 the moral qualities allied to physical or extrinsic power are chiefly venerated1--as in all uncivilized countries1 and all which lie under feudal institutions4 ,the lower moral qualities which belong to the last class have been characteristics of nations4 ,the valour of the ,spartans1 the love of glory of the ,romans and the ,french1 the pride of the ,spaniards1--these infantile moral qualities have belonged to a people as distinctly as to an individual4--,those which are in alliance with intellectual eminence are not so strikingly characteristic of entire nations2 though we praise the ,athenians for their love of letters and honour of philosophy2 the ,italians for their liberality towards art1 and their worship of it while a meaner glory was the fashion of the world2 the ,germans for their speculative enterprise1 and patience of research2 and the ,americans for their reverence for intellect above military fame and the splendour of wealth4--,no high spiritual qualities have ever yet characterized a nation1 or even--in spite of much profession--any considerable community4 ,hospitality and beneficence have distinguished some religious societies3 the non-resistance of ,quakers1 the industry of ,moravians1 and of several kinds of people united on the principle of community of property1 may be cited3 but this seems to be all4 ,the enforced temperance1 piety1 and chastity of monastic societies go for nothing in this view2 because1 being enforced1 they indicate nothing of the sentiment subsequent to the taking of the vow4 ,the people of the ,united ,states have come the nearest to being characterized by lofty spiritual qualities4 ,the profession with which they set out was high1--a circumstance greatly to their honour1 though 7as might have been expected7 they have not kept up to it4 ,they are still actuated by ambition of territory1 and have not faith enough in moral force to rely upon it1 as they profess to do4 ,the ,swiss1 in their unshaken and singularly devoted love of freedom1 seem to be spiritually distinguished above other nations3 but they have no other strong characteristic of this highest class4 ,the truth is that1 whatever may be the moral state of nations when the human world emerges hereafter from its infancy1 high spiritual qualities are now matters of individual concern1 as those of the intellectual class were once2 and their general prevalence is a matter of prospective vision alone4 ,time was when the swampy earth resounded with the tramp and splash of monstrous creatures1 whom there was no reason present to classify1 and no language to name4 ,then1 after a certain number of ages1 the earth grew drier2 palm-groves and tropical thickets flourished where ,paris now stands2 and the waters were collected into lakes in the regions where the armies of ,napoleon were of late encamped4 ,then came the time when savage1 animal man appeared1 using his physical force like the lower animals1 and taught by the experience of its deficiency that he was in possession of another kind of force4 ,still1 for ages1 the use he made of reason was to overcome the physical force of others1 and to render available his own portion4 ,on this principle1 and for this object1 variously modified1 and more or less refined1 have societies been formed to this day2 though1 as morals are the fruit of which intellect is the blossom1 spiritualism--faith in moral power--has existed in individuals ever since the first free exercise of reason4 ,while all nations were ravaging one another as they had opportunity1 there were always parents who did not abuse their physical power over their children4 ,in the midst of a general worship of power1 birth1 and wealth1 the affections have wrought out in individual minds a preference of obscurity and poverty for the sake of spiritual objects4 ,amidst the supremacy of the worship of honour and social ease1 there have always been confessors who could endure disgrace for the truth1 and martyrs who could die for it4--,such individual cases have never been wanting3 and1 in necessary connexion with this fact1 there has always been a sympathy in this pure moral taste1--an appreciation which could not but help its diffusion4 ,thence arose the formation of communities for the fostering of holiness1--projects which1 however mistaken in their methods and injurious in their consequences1 have always commanded1 and do still command1 sympathy1 from the venerableness of their origin4 ,not all the stories of the abuses of monastic institutions can destroy the respect of every ingenuous mind for the spiritual preferences out of which they arose4 ,the ,crusades are still holy1 notwithstanding all their defilements of vain-glory1 superstition1 and barbarism of various kinds4 ,the retreat of the ,pilgrim ,fathers to the forests of the ,new ,world silences the ridicule of the thoughtless about the extravagances of ,puritanism in ,england4 ,thus far has the race advanced2 and1 having thus advanced1 there is reason to anticipate that the age may come when the individual worship of spiritual supremacy may expand into national2 when a people may agree to govern one another with the smallest possible application of physical force2 when goodness shall come to be naturally more honoured than birth1 wealth1 or even intellect2 when ambition of territory shall be given up2 when all thought of war shall be over2 when the pursuit of the necessaries and luxuries of external life shall be regarded as means to an end2 and when the common aim of exertion shall be self and mutual perfection4 ,it does not seem to be rash to anticipate such a state of human affairs as this1 when an aspiration like the following has been received with sympathy by thousands of republicans united under a constitution of ideas4 ,talent and worth are the only eternal grounds of distinction4 ,to these the ,almighty has affixed his everlasting patent of nobility2 and these it is which make the bright1 'the immortal names1' to which our children may aspire1 as well as others4 ,it will be our own fault if1 in our land1 society as well as government is not organized on a new foundation4--,knowledge and goodness1--these make degrees in heaven1 and they must be the graduating scale of a true democracy4,f ,meantime1 it is the traveller's business to learn what is the species of ,moral ,sentiment which lies deepest in the hearts of the majority of the people4 99 99 99 99 99 ,he will find no better place of study than the ,cemetery1--no more instructive teaching than ,monumental ,inscriptions4 ,the brief language of the dead will teach him more than the longest discourses of the living4 ,he will learn what are the prevalent views of death2 and when he knows what is the common view of death1 he knows also what is the aspect of life to no small number2--that is1 he will have penetrated into the interior of their morals4--,if it should ever be fully determined that the pyramids of ,egypt were designed solely as places of sepulture1 they will cease to be the mute witness they have been for ages4 ,they will tell at least that death was not regarded as the great leveller1--that kings and peasants were not to sleep side by side in death1 any more than in life4 ,how they contrast with the ,moravian burial-grounds1 where all are laid in rows as they happen to be brought to the grave1 and where memorial is forbidden6--,the dead of ,constantinople are cast out from among the living in waste1 stillness1 and solitude4 ,the cemeteries lie beyond the walls1 where no hum from the city is heard1 and where the dark cypresses overhanging the white marble tombs give an air of mourning and desolation to the scene4 ,in contrast with these are the church-yards of ,english cities1 whose dead thus lie in full view of the living2 the school-boy trundles his hoop among them1 and the news of the day is discussed above their place of rest4 ,this fact of where the dead are laid is an important one4 ,if out of sight1 death and religion may or may not be connected in the general sentiment2 if within or near the places of worship1 they certainly are so connected4 ,in the cemeteries of ,persia1 the ashes of the dead are ranged in niches of the walls3 in ,egypt we have the most striking example of affection to the body1 shown in the extraordinary care to preserve it2 while some half-civilized people seem to be satisfied with putting their dead out of sight1 by summarily sinking them in water1 or hiding them in the sand2 and the ,caffres throw their dead to the hyenas1--impelled to this1 however1 not so much by disregard of the dead1 as by a superstitious fear of death taking place in their habitations1 which causes them to remove the dying1 and expose them in this state to beasts of prey4 ,the burial of the dead by the road-side by some of the ancients1 seems to have brought death into the closest relation with life2 and when the place chosen is taken in connexion with the inscriptions on the tombs1--words addressed to the wayfarer as from him who lies within1--from the pilgrim now at rest to the pilgrim still on his way1 they give plain indications of the views of death and life entertained by those who placed them4 ,much may be learned from the monumental inscriptions of all nations4 ,the first epitaph is supposed to be traced back to the year of the world #bgjj1 when the scholars of ,linus1 the ,theban poet1 bewailed their master in verses which were inscribed upon his tomb4 ,from that day to this1 wherever there have been letters1 there have been epitaphs2 and1 where letters have been wanting1 there have been symbols4 ,mysterious symbolic arrangements are traced in the monumental mounds in the interior of the ,american continent1 where a race of whom we know nothing else flourished before the ,red man opened his eyes upon the light4 ,one common rule1 drawn from a universal sentiment1 has presided at the framing of all epitaphs for some thousands of years4 ,de mortuis nil nisi bonum is the universal agreement of mourners4,g ,it follows that epitaphs must everywhere indicate what is there considered good4 ,the observer must give his attention to this4 ,among a people whose merchants are princes1 the praise of the departed will be in a different strain from that which will be found among a warlike nation1 or a community of agriculturists4 ,here one may find monumental homage to public spirit1 in the form of active citizenship2 there to domestic virtue as the highest honour4 ,the glory of eminent station1 of ancient family1 of warlike deeds1 and of courtly privileges may be conspicuously exhibited in one district2 while in another the dead are honoured in proportion to their contempt of human greatness1 even when won by achievements2 to their having lived with a sole regard to things unseen and eternal4 ,an inscription which breathes the pride of a noble family in telling that all the sons were brave1 and all the daughters chaste1 presents a summary of the morals of the age and class to which it belongs4 ,it tells that the supreme honour of men was to be brave1 and of women to be chaste2 excluding the supposition of each sharing the virtue of the other3 whereas1 when courage and purity shall be understood in their full signification1 it will have become essential to the honour of a noble family that all the sons should be also pure1 and all the daughters brave4 ,then bravery will signify moral rather than physical courage1 and purity of mind will be considered no attribute of sex4 ,even the nature of the public services commemorated1 where public service is considered the highest praise1 may indicate much4 ,it is a fact of no small significance whether a man is honoured after death for having made a road1 or for having founded a monastery1 or endowed a school2 whether he introduced a new commodity1 or erected a church2 whether he marched adventurously in the pursuit of conquest1 or fought bravely among his native mountains to guard the homes of his countrymen from aggression4 ,the ,german1 the ,french1 the ,swiss monuments of the present century all tell the common tale that men have lived and died3 but with what various objects did they live6 and in what a variety of hope and heroism did they die6 ,all were proud of their respective differences while they lived2 and1 now that their contests are at an end1 they afford materials of speculation to the stranger who ponders upon their tombs4 ,a variety1 perhaps a contrariety of praise1 may be found in the epitaphs of a country1 a city1 or a single cemetery4 ,where this diversity is found1 it testifies to the diversity of views held1 and therefore to the freedom of the prevailing religious sentiment4 ,everywhere1 however1 there is an affection and esteem for certain virtues4 ,disinterestedness1 fidelity1 and love are themes of praise everywhere4 ,some may have no sympathy for the deeds of the warrior1 and others for the discoveries of the philosopher and the adventurer2 but the honoured parent1 the devoted child1 the philanthropic citizen1 are sure of their tribute from all hearts4 ,even if there were a variety of praise proportioned to the diversity of hearts and minds that utter it1 the inscriptions of a cemetery cannot but breathe a spirit which must animate1 more or less1 the morals of the society4 ,for instance1 the cemetery of ,pre la ,chaise utters1 from end to end1 one wail4 ,it is all mourning1 and no hope4 ,every expression of grief1 from tender regret to blank despair1 is to be found there2 but not a hint of consolation1 except from memory4 ,all is over1 and the future is vacant4 ,a remarkable contrast to this is seen in the cemetery of ,mount ,auburn1 ,massachusetts4 ,the religious spirit of ,new ,england is that which has hope for one of its largest elements1 and which was believed by the ,puritan fathers to forbid the expression of sorrow4 ,one of those fathers made an entry in his journal1 in the early days of the colony1 that it had pleased ,god to take from him by an accident his beloved son ,henry1 whom he committed to the ,lord's mercy2--and this was all4 ,in a similar spirit are the epitaphs at ,mount ,auburn framed4 ,there is a religious silence about the sorrows of the living1 and every expression of joy1 thanksgiving1 and hope for the dead4 ,one who had never heard of death1 might take this for the seed-field of life2 for the oratory of the happy2 for the heaven of the hopeful4 ,parents invite their children from the grave to follow them4 ,children remind their parents that the term of separation will be short2 and all repose their hopes together on an authority which is to them as stable and comprehensive as the blue sky which is over all4--,what a contrast is here6 and how eloquent as to the moral views of the respective nations6 ,there is not a domestic attachment or social relation which is not necessarily modified1 elevated1 or depressed by the conviction of its being transient or immortal1--an end or means to a higher end4 ,though human hearts are so far alike as that there must be a hope of reunion1 more or less defined and assured1 in all who love1 and a practical falling below the elevation of this hope in those even who enjoy the strongest assurance1--yet the moral notions of any society must be very different where the ground of hope is taken for granted1 and where it is kept wholly out of sight4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the observer may obtain further light upon the moral ideas of a people by noting the degree of their ,attachment to ,kindred and ,birth-place4 ,this species of attachment is so natural1 that none are absolutely without it2 but it varies in degree1 according as the moral taste of the people goes to enhance or to subdue it4 ,the ,swiss and the ,american parent both send their children abroad2 but with what different feelings and views6 ,the ,swiss father dismisses his daughter to teach in a school at ,paris or ,london1 and his sons to commerce or war4 ,he resigns himself to a hard necessity1 and supports them with suggestions of the honour of virtuous independence1 and of the delight of returning when it is achieved4 ,they1 in their exile1 can never see a purple shade upon a mountain side1 a gleaming sheet of water1 or a nestling village1 without a throb of the heart1 and a sickening longing for home4--,the ,new ,england mother1 with her tribe of children around her on her hill-side farm1 nourishes them with tales of the noble extent of their country1--how its boundary is ever shifting westwards1 and what a wild life it is there in the forest1 with the ,red men for neighbours1 and inexhaustible wealth in the soil1 ready for the hand which shall have enterprise to work for it4 ,she tells of one and another1 but lately boys like her children1 who are now judges and legislators1--founders of towns1 or having counties named after them4 ,as her young people grow up1 they part off eagerly from the old farm1--one into a southern city1 another into the western forest1 a third to a prairie in a new territory2 and the daughters marry1 and go over the mountains too4 ,the mother may have sighs to conceal1 but she does conceal them2 and the sons1 so far from lingering1--are impatient till they are gone4 ,their idea of national honour1--both their patriotic and their personal ambition1--is concerned2 and they welcome the hour of dispersion as the first step towards the great objects of their life4 ,some return to the old neighbourhood to take a wife2 but they do not think of passing their second childhood where they spent their first1--any more than the ,greek colonists who swarmed from their narrow native districts4 ,the settlers of the west go there1 not to obtain a certain amount of personal property1 but land1 station1 and power4--,how different again are the ,scotch--the people of the strongest family attachments6 ,in the modified and elevated feudalism of clanship1 pride and love of kindred constitute the animating social principle4 ,their clan-music is to them what the ,ranz de ,vaches is to the ,swiss3 the one echoing the harmonics of social intercourses1 as the other revives the melodies of mountain life4 ,through the love of kindred1 the love of birth-place flourishes among the ,scotch4 ,the ,highland emigrants in ,canada not only clasp hands when they hear played the march of their clan1 but wept when they found that heather would not grow in their newly-adopted soil4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the traveller must talk with ,old ,people1 and see what is the character of the garrulity of age4 ,he must talk with ,children1 and mark the character of the aspirations of childhood4 ,he will thus learn what is good in the eyes of those who have passed through the society he studies1 and in the hopes of those who have yet to enter upon it4 ,is it the aged mother's pride that her sons are all unstained in honour1 and her daughters safe in happy homes8 or does she boast that one is a priest1 and another a peeress8 ,does the grandmother relate that all her descendants who are of age are received church-members8 or that her favourite grandchild has been noticed by the emperor8 ,do the old men prose of a single happy love1 or of exploits of gallantry8 or of commercial success1 or of political failure8 ,what is the section of life to which the greatest number of ancient memories cling8 ,is it to struggles for a prince in disguise1 or to a revolutionary conflict8 ,is it to the removal of a social oppression1 or to a season of domestic trial1 or to an accession of personal consequence8 ,is it the having acquired an office or a title8 or the having assisted in the abolition of slavery8 or the having conversed with a great author8 or the having received a nod from a prince1 or a curtsey from a queen8 or have you to listen to details of the year of the scarcity1 or the season of the plague8--,what are the children's minds full of8 ,the little ,west ,indian will not talk of choosing a profession1 any more than the infant ,portuguese will ask for books4 ,one nation of children will tell of the last saint's day1 and another will refer every thing to the emperor4 ,elsewhere you will be treated with legends without end2 or you will be instructed about bargains and wages2 or the boys will ask you why a king's son should be king whether the people like him or not2 and the girls will whisper something to you about their brother being ,president some day4 ,as the minds of the young are formed1 generally speaking1 to an adaptation to the objects presented to them1 their preference of warlike to commercial1 or literary to political honour1 is an eloquent circumstance3 and so of their sense of greatness in any direction1--whether it be of the physical order1 or the intellectual1 or the spiritual4 99 99 99 99 99 ,from this1 the transition is natural to the study of the character of the ,pride of each nation4 ,learn what people glory in1 and you learn much of both the theory and practice of their morals4 ,all nations1 like all individuals1 have pride1 sooner or later1 in one thing or another4 ,it is a stage through which they have to pass in their moral progression1 and out of which the most civilized have not yet advanced1 nor discerned that they will have to advance1 though the passion becomes moderated at each remove from barbarism4 ,it is by no means clear that the essential absurdity of each is relieved by its dilution4 ,hereafter1 the most modern pride of the most civilized people may appear as ridiculous in its nature as the grossest conceit of utter barbarians now appears to us2 but1 still1 the direction taken by the general pride must show what class of objects is held in most esteem4 ,the ,chinese have no doubt that all other countries are created for the benefit of theirs2 they call their own the central empire1 as certain philosophers once called our earth the centre round which everything else was to revolve4 ,they call it the ,celestial ,empire1 of which their ruler is the ,sun3 they profess to rule barbarians by misrule1 like beasts1 and not like native subjects4 ,here we have the extreme of national pride1 which must involve various moral qualities2--all the bad ones which are the consequence of ignorance1 subservience to domestic despotism1 and contempt of the race of man2 and the good ones which are the consequence of national seclusion1--cheerful industry1 social complacency1 quietness1 and order4--,the ,arab pride bears a resemblance to the ,chinese1 but is somewhat refined and spiritualized4 ,the ,arabs believe that the earth1 spread out like a bed1 and upheld by a gigantic angel 7the angel standing upon a rock1 and the rock upon a bull1 and the bull upon a fish1 and the fish floating upon water1 and the water upon darkness17--that the earth1 thus upheld1 is surrounded by the ,circumambient ,ocean2 that the inhabited part of the earth is to the rest but as a tent in the desert2 and that in the very centre of this inhabited part is--,mecca4 ,their exclusive faith makes a part of their nationality1 and their insolence shows itself eminently in their devotions4 ,their spiritual supremacy is their strong point2 and they can afford to be somewhat less outwardly contemptuous to the race at large1 from the certainty they have that all will be made plain and indisputable at last1 when the followers of the ,prophet alone will be admitted to bliss1 and the punishments of the future world will be eternal to all but wicked ,mahomedans4 ,there will be found among the ,arabs1 in accordance with this pride1 a strong mutual fidelity2 and1 among the best class of believers1 a real devotion and a kindly compassion towards outcasts2 while1 among lower orders of minds1 we may expect to witness the extreme exasperation of vindictiveness1 insult1 and rapacity4--,we may pass over the pride of caste in ,india1 of royal race in ,africa1 and the wild notions of ,caribbean and ,esquimaux dignity1 which are almost as painful to contemplate as the freaks of pride in ,bedlam4 ,there is quite enough to look upon in the most civilized parts of the earth4--,the whole national character of the ,spaniards might be inferred from their particularly notorious pride2 the quarterings of ,german barons are a popular joke2 the ,french pride of military glory is an index to the national morals of ,france2 while1 in the ,united ,states1 the pride of ,washington and of territory is oddly combined and contrasted4 ,nothing can be more indicative of the true moral state of the ,americans2 they hang between the past and the future1 with many of the feudal prepossessions of the past1 mingled with the democratic aspirations which relate to the future4 ,the ambition and pride of territory belong to the first1 and their pride in the leader of their revolution to the last3 he is their personification of that moral power to which they profess allegiance4 ,the consequences of this arbitrary union of two kinds of national pride may be foreseen4 ,the ,americans unite some of the low qualities of feudalism with some of the highest of a more equal social organization4 ,without the first1 slavery1 cupidity1 and ostentation could not exist to any great extent2 without the others1 there could not be the splendid moral conflict which we now see going on in opposition to slavery1 nor the reverence for man which is the loveliest feature of ,american morals and manners4 ,from the aristocratic pride of the ,english the stranger might draw inferences no less correct4 ,if it is found that there is scarcely a gamekeeper or a tradesman among us who is not stiffened with prejudices about rank2 that gossips can tell what noblemen pay1 and which do not pay1 their tradesmen's bills2 that persons who have never seen a lord can furnish all information about the genealogy and intermarriages of noble families2 that every class is emulating the manners of the one above it2 and that democratic principles are held chiefly in the manufacturing districts1 or1 if in country regions1 among the tenantry of landlords of liberal politics2--the moral condition of such a people lies1 as it were1 mapped out beneath the eye of the observer4 ,they must be orderly1 eminently industrious1 munificent in their grants to rulers1 and mechanically oppressive to the lowest class of the ruled2 nationally complacent1 while wanting in individual self-respect2 reverentially inclined towards the lofty minority1 and contemptuously disposed towards the lowly majority of their race2 a generous devotion being advantageously mingled1 however1 with the select reverence1 and a kindly spirit of protection with the gross contempt4 ,such1 to the eye of an observer1 are the qualities involved in ,english pride4 ,upon this moral material1 everywhere diffused1 should the traveller observe and reflect4 99 99 99 99 99 ,man-worship is as universal a practice as that of the higher sort of religion4 ,as men everywhere adore some supposed agents of unseen things1 they are1 in like manner1 disposed to do homage to what is venerable when it is presented to their eyes in the actions of a living man4 ,this man-worship is one of the most honourable and one of the most hopeful circumstances in the mind of the race4 ,an individual here and there may scoff at the credulity of others1 and profess unbelief in human virtue2 but no society has ever yet wanted faith in man4 ,every community has its saints1 its heroes1 its sages1--whose tombs are visited1 whose deeds are celebrated1 whose words have become the rules by which men live4 ,now1 the moral taste of a people is nowhere more clearly shown than in its choice of idols4 ,of these idols there are two kinds2--those whose divinity is confirmed by the lapse of time1 like ,gustavus ,adolphus among the ,swedes1 ,tell in ,switzerland1 ,henri ,,iv4 among the ,french1 and ,washington among the ,americans2 and those who are still living1 and upon whose daily doings a multitude of eyes are fixed4 ,those of the first class reign singly2 their uncontested sway is over national character1 as well as the affections of individual minds2 and from their character may that of the whole people be1 in certain respects1 inferred4 ,who supposes that the ,swiss would have been the same as they are1 if ,tell's character and deeds could have been hidden in oblivion from the moment those deeds were done8 ,what would the ,americans have been now if every impression of ,washington could have been effaced from their minds fifty years ago8 ,this is not the place in which to enlarge on the power--the greatest power we know of--which man exercises over men through their affections2 but it is a fact which the observer should keep ever in view4 ,the existence of a great man is one of those gigantic circumstances1--one of those national influences1--which have before been mentioned as modifying the conscience--the feelings about right and wrong--in a whole people4 ,the pursuits of a nation for ever may be determined by the fact of the great man of five centuries being a poet1 a warrior1 a statesman1 or a maritime adventurer4 ,the morals of a nation are influenced to all eternity by the great man's being ambitious or moderate1 passionate or philosophical1 licentious or self-governed4 ,certain lofty qualities he must have1 or he could not have attained greatness1--energy1 perseverance1 faith1 and consequently earnestness4 ,these are essential to his immortality2 upon the others depends the quality of his influence2 and upon these must the observer of the present generation reflect4 ,it is not by dogmas that ,christianity has permanently influenced the mind of ,christendom4 ,no creeds are answerable for the moral revolution by which physical has been made to succumb to moral force2 by which unfortunates are cherished by virtue of their misfortunes2 by which the pursuit of speculative truth has become an object worthy of self-sacrifice4 ,it is the character of ,jesus of ,nazareth which has wrought to these purposes4 ,notwithstanding all the obscuration and defilement which that character has sustained from superstition and other corruption1 it has availed to these purposes1 and must prevail more and more now that it is no longer possible to misrepresent his sayings and conceal his deeds1 as was done in the dark ages4 ,in all advancing time1 as corruption is surmounted1 there are more and more who vividly feel that life does not consist in the abundance that a man possesses1 but in energy of spirit1 and in a power and habit of self-sacrifice3 there are perpetually more and more who discern and live by the persuasion that the pursuit of worldly power and ease is a matter totally apart from the function of ,christianity2 and this persuasion has not been wrought into activity by declarations of doctrine in any form1 but by the spectacle1 vivid before the eye of the mind1 of the ,holy ,one who declined the sword and the crown1 lived without property1 and devoted himself to die by violence1 in an unparalleled simplicity of duty4 ,the being himself is the mover here2 and every great man is1 in a similar manner1 however inferior may be the degree1 a spring by which spirits are moved4 ,by the study of them may much of the consequent movement be understood4 ,the observer of ,british morals should gather up the names of their idols2 he will hear of ,hampden1 ,bacon1 ,shakspeare1 ,newton1 ,howard1 and ,wesley4 ,in ,scotland1 he will hear of ,bruce and ,knox4 ,what a flood of light do these names shed on our morale6 ,it is the same with the ,englishman abroad when his attention is referred in ,france to ,henri ,,iv1 ,richelieu1 ,turenne1 and ,napoleon1 to ,bossuet and ,fenelon1 to ,voltaire1 and their glorious list of natural philosophers3 in ,italy1 to ,lorenzo de' ,medici1 ,galileo1 and their constellations of poets and artists3 in ,germany1 to ,charles ,v1 ,luther1 ,schwartz1 ,gthe1 ,copernicus1 ,handel1 and ,mozart4 ,there is in every nation a succession of throned gods1 each of whom is the creator of some region of the national mind1 and has formed men into more or less of his own likeness4 ,the other kind of idols are those who are still living1 and whose influence upon morals and manners is strong1 but may or may not be distinguishably permanent4 ,these afford a less faithful evidence1--but yet an evidence which is not to be neglected4 ,the spirit of the times is seen in the character of the idols of the day1 however the nation may be divided in its choice of idols1 and however many sects there may be in the man-worship of the generation4 ,in our own day1 for instance1 how plainly is the movement of society discerned1 from the fact of the eminence of philanthropists in many countries6 ,whether they presently sink1 or continue to rise1 they testify to a prevailing feeling in society4 ,pre ,enfantin in ,france1 ,wilberforce in ,england1 ,garrison in ,america1--these are watchmen set on a pinnacle 7whoever may object to their being there7 who can tell us what of the night1 and how a new morning is breaking4 ,whether they may be most cause or effect1 whether they have more or less decidedly originated the interest of which they are the head1 it is clear that there is a certain adaptation between themselves and the general mind1 without which they could not have risen to be what they are4--,every society has always its idols4 ,if there are none by merit1 at any moment1 station is received as a qualification4 ,large numbers are always worshipping the heads of the aristocracy1 of whatever kind they may be2 and there is rarely a long interval in which there is not some warrior1 some poet1 artist1 or philanthropist on whom the multitude are flinging crowns and incense4 ,the popularity of ,byron testified to the existence of a gloomy discontent in a multitude of minds1 as the adoration of ,de ,branger discloses the political feelings of the ,french4 ,statesmen rarely command an overwhelming majority of worshippers1 because interest enters much more than sentiment into politics3 but every author1 or other artist who can reach the general mind1--every preacher1 philanthropist1 soldier1 or discoverer1 who has risen into an atmosphere of worship in pursuit of a purpose1 is a fresh ,peter the ,hermit1 meeting and stimulating the spirit of his time1 and exhibiting its temper to the observer1--foreign as to either clime or century4 ,the physical observer of a new region might as well shut his eyes to the mountains1 and omit to note which way the streams run1 as the moral observer pass by the idols of a nation with a heedless gaze4 99 99 99 99 99 ,side by side with this lies the inquiry into the great ,epochs of the society visited4 ,find out what individuals and nations date from1 and you discover what events are most interesting to them4 ,a child reckons from his first journey1 or his entrance upon school3 a man from his marriage1 his beginning practice in his profession1 or forming a fresh partnership in trade2 if he be a farmer1 from the year of a good or bad crop2 if he be a merchant1 from the season of a currency pressure2 if he be an operative1 from the winter of the ,strike3 a matron dates from the birth of her children2 her nursemaid from her change of place4 ,nations1 too1 date from what interests them most4 ,it is important to learn what this is4 ,the major date of ,american citizens is the ,revolution2 their minor dates are elections1 and new admissions into the ,union4 ,the people at ,amsterdam date from the completion of the ,stadt ,huis2 the ,spaniards from the achievement of ,columbus2 the ,germans from the deed of ,luther2 the ,haytians from the abduction of ,toussaint ,l',ouverture2 the ,cherokees from treaties with the ,whites2 the people of ,pitcairn's ,island from the mutiny of the ,bounty2 the ,turks1 at present1 from the massacre of the ,janissaries2 the ,russians from the founding of ,st4 ,petersburgh and the deaths of its monarchs2 the ,irish 7for nearer times than the battle of the ,boyne7 by the year of the fever1 the year of the rebellion1 the year of the famine4 ,there is a world of instruction in this kind of fact2 and if a new species of epoch1 of which there is a promise1 should arise1--if the highest works of men should come to be looked upon as the clearest operations of ,providence1--if ,germany or ,europe should date from ,gthe as the civilized world does from ,columbus1--this sole test might reveal almost the entire moral state of society4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the treatment of the ,guilty is all-important as an index to the moral notions of a society4 ,this class of facts will hereafter yield infallible inferences as to the principles and views of governments and people upon vice1 its causes and remedies4 ,at present1 such facts must be used with great caution1 because the societies of civilized countries are in a state of transition from the old vindictiveness to a purer moral philosophy4 ,the ancient methods1 utterly disgraceful as they are1 must subsist till society has fully agreed upon and prepared for better ones2 and it would be harsh to pronounce upon the humanity of the ,english from their prisons1 or the justice of the ,french from their galley system4 ,the degrees of reliance upon brute force and upon public opinion are yet by no means proportioned to the civilization of respective societies1 as at first sight might be expected1 and as must be before punishments and prisons can be taken as indications of morals and manners4 ,the treatment of the guilty in savage lands1 and also in countries under a despotism1 indicates the morals of rulers only1--except in so far as it points out the political subservience of the people4 ,it is true that the ,burmese must needs be in a deplorable social state1 if their king can spread out his prime minister in the sun1 as formerly described3 but the mercy or cruelty of his subjects can be inferred only from the liberty they may have and may use to treat one another in the same manner4 ,in their case1 we see that such a power is possessed and put to use4 ,the creditor exposes his debtor's wife1 children1 and slaves1 to the same noon-day sun which broils the prime minister4 ,in ,austria1 it would be harsh to suppose that subjects have any desire to treat one another as the ,emperor and his minister treat political offenders within the walls of the castle of ,spielburg4 ,the ,russians at large are not to be made answerable for the transportation of coffles of nobles and gentlemen to the silver mines of ,siberia1 and the regiments on the frontier4 ,it is only under a representative government that prisons1 and the treatment of criminals under the law1 can be fairly considered a test of the feelings of the majority4 ,it is too true1 however1 that punishments are almost everywhere vindictive in their character2 and have more relation to some supposed principle of not letting vice go unpunished1 than either to the security of society1 or the reformation of the offender4 ,the few exceptions that exist are a far more conclusive testimony to an advancing state of morals than the old methods are to the vindictiveness of the mind of the society which they corrupt and deform4 ,the ,philadelphia penitentiary is a proof of the thoughtful and laborious humanity of those who instituted it2 but ,newgate cannot be regarded as the expressed decision of the ,english people as to how criminals should be guarded4 ,such a prison would not now be instituted by any civilized nation4 ,its existence is to be interpreted1 not as a token of the cruelty and profligacy of the mind of society1 but of its ignorance of the case1 or of its bigoted adherence to ancient methods1 or of its apathy in regard to improvements to which there is no peremptory call of self-interest4 ,any one of these is enough1 ,heaven knows1 for any society to have to answer for2 enough to yield1 by contrast1 surpassing honour to the philanthropy which has pulled down the pillory1 and is labouring to supersede the hangman1 and to convert every prison in the civilized world into an hospital for the cure of moral disease4 ,but the reform has begun2 the spirit of ,howard is on its pilgrimage2 and barbarous as is still our treatment of the guilty1 better days are in prospect4 ,what the traveller has to observe then is1 first1 whether there has been any amelioration of the treatment of criminals in countries where the people have a voice upon it3 and1 in countries despotically ruled1 whether public sentiment is moved about the condition of state criminals1 and whether men treat one another vindictively in their appeals to the laws of citizenship3 whether there is a ,burmese cruelty in the exercise of the legal rights of the creditor2 whether there is a reluctance to plunge others into the woes of legal penalties2 or whether offenders are considered as beyond the pale of sympathy4 ,it may thus appear whether the people entertain the pernicious notion that there is a line drawn for human conduct1 on one side of which all is virtue1 and on the other all vice2 or whether they are approximating to the more philosophical and genial belief that all wickedness is weakness and woe1 and that therefore the guilty need more care and tenderness in the arrangement of the circumstances under which they live than those who enjoy greater strength against temptation1 and an ease of mind which criminals can never know4 ,in some parts of the ,united ,states this general persuasion is remarkably evident1 and is an incontestable proof of the advanced state of morals there4 ,in some prisons of the ,united ,states1 as much care is bestowed on the arrangements by which the guilty are preserved from contaminating one another1 are exposed to good influences and precluded from bad1 as in any infirmary on the ventilation of the wards1 and the diet and nursing of the sick4 ,in such a region1 vindictiveness in social punishments must be going out1 and ,christ-like views of human guilt and infirmity beginning to prevail4 ,the same conclusions may be drawn from an observation of the methods of legal punishment4 ,recklessness of human life is one of the surest symptoms of barbarism1 whether life is taken by law or by assassination4 ,as men grow civilized1 and learn to rate the spiritual higher and higher above the physical life1 human life grows sacred4 ,the ,turk orders off the head of a slave almost without a serious thought4 ,the ,new ,zealanders have murdered men by scores1 to supply their dried and grinning heads to ,english purchasers1 who little imagined the cost at which they were obtained4 ,this is the way in which life is squandered in savage societies4 ,up to a comparatively high point of civilization1 the law makes free with life1 long after the private expenditure of it has been checked or has ceased4 ,duels1 brawls1 assassinations1 have nearly been discontinued1 and even war in some measure discountenanced1 before the law duly recognises the sacredness of human life4 ,but the time comes4 ,one generation after another grows up with a still improving sense of the majesty of life1--of the mystery of the existence of such a being as man1--of the infinity of ideas and emotions in the mind of each1 and of the boundlessness of his social relations4 ,these recognitions may not be express2 but they are sufficiently real to hold back the hand from quenching life4 ,the reluctance to destroy such a creation is found to be on the increase4 ,men prefer suffering wrong to being accessary to so fearful an act as what now appears a judicial murder3 the law is left unused1--is evaded1--and it becomes necessary to alter it4 ,capital punishments are restricted1--are further restricted1--are abolished4 ,such is the process4 ,it is now all but completed in the ,united ,states3 it is advancing rapidly in ,england4 ,during its progress further light is thrown on the moral notions of a represented people by a change in the character of other 7called inferior7 punishments4 ,bodily torments and disfigurements go out4 ,torture and mutilation are discontinued1 and after a while the grosser mental inflictions4 ,the pillory 7as mere ignominious exposure7 was a great advance upon the maiming with which it was once connected2 but it is now discontinued as barbarous4 ,all ignominious exposure will ere long be considered equally barbarous1--including capital punishment1 of which such exposure is the recommendatory principle4 ,to refer once more to the ,pennsylvania case1--these notions of ignominious exposure are there so far outgrown1 that avoidance of it is the main principle of the management4 ,seclusion1 under the guardianship of the law1 is there the method1--on the principle of consideration to the weak1 and of supreme regard to the feeling of self-respect in the offender1--the feeling in which he is necessarily most deficient4 ,when we consider the brutalizing methods of punishment in use in former times1 and now in some foreign countries1 in contrast with the latest instituted and most successful1 we cannot avoid perceiving that such are indications of the moral notions of those at whose will they exist1 be they a council of despots1 or an association of nations4 ,we cannot avoid perceiving from them what barbarism is held to be justice in some ages and countries2 and how that which would then and there be condemned as culpable leniency1 comes elsewhere to be considered less than justice4 ,the treatment of the guilty is one of the strongest evidences as to the general moral notions of society1 when it is evidence at all2 that is1 when the guilty are in the hands of society4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there is another species of evidence of which travellers are not in the habit of making use1 but which is well worth their attention1--the ,conversation of convicted ,criminals4 ,there are not many places in the world where it is possible to obtain this1 without a greater sacrifice of comfort than the ordinary tourist is disposed to make4 ,there is little temptation to enter prisons where squalid wretches are crowded together in dirt1 noise1 and utter profligacy2 where no one of them could speak seriously for fear of the ridicule of his comrades2 where the father sees his young son corrupted before his eyes1 and the mother utters cruel jests upon the frightened child that hides its face in her apron4 ,in scenes like these1 there is nothing for the stranger to do and to learn4 ,the whole is one great falsehood1 where the people are acting falsely under false circumstances4 ,it affords an enterprise for the philanthropist1 but no real knowledge for the observer4 ,he may pass by such places1 knowing that they are pretty much alike in all countries where they exist4 ,criminals herded together in virtue of their criminality1 and outraged into a diabolical hardihood1 must present one uniform aspect of disgust4 ,what variety should there be in them8 ,about as much as in the leper settlements in the wildernesses of the world two thousand years ago4 ,the traveller will not be permitted to see the state prisoners of any despotic government2 but wherever the subject of prison reform has been entertained1 7and ,howard's spirit is at work in many countries of the world17 there will probably be opportunity to converse with offenders in a better way than by singling them out from the crowd1 in a spirit of condescension1 and asking them a few questions1 in the answers to which you can place no confidence4 ,if you can converse face to face with a convict1 as man with man1 you can hardly fail to be instructed4 ,if he has been long deprived of equal conversation1 his heart will be full2 his disposition will be to trust you2 his impulse will be to confide to you his offence1 and all the details connected with it4 ,by thus conversing with a variety of offenders1 you will be put in possession of the causes of crime1 of the views of society upon the relative gravity of offences1 and of the condition of hope or despair in which those are left who have broken the laws1 and are delivered over to shame4 ,much light will also be thrown upon the seat of the disorders of society4 ,putting political offences aside1 as varying in number in proportion to the nature of the government1 almost all the rest are offences against property4 ,nine out of ten convicts1 perhaps1 are punished for taking the money or money's worth of another4 ,here is a hint as to the respects in which society is most mistaken in its principles1 and weakest in its organization4 ,of the offences against the person1 some are occasioned by the bad habits which attend the practice of depredation on property2 thieves are drunkards1 and drunkards are brawlers3--but the greater number arise out of domestic miseries4 ,where there are fewest assaults occasioned by conjugal injuries and domestic troubles1 the state of morals is the purest4 ,where they abound1 it is clear that the course of love does not run smooth2 and that1 from the workings of some bad principles1 domestic morals are in a low state4 ,in ,austria and ,prussia1 state criminals abound2 while in ,america such a thing is rarely heard of4 ,in ,america1 a youthful and thriving country1 offences against property for the most part arise out of bad personal habits1 which again are occasioned by domestic misery of some kind2 this domestic misery1 however1 being itself less common than in an older state of society4 ,in ,england almost all the offences are against property1 and are so multitudinous as to warrant a stranger's conclusion that the distribution of property among us must be extremely faulty1 the oppression of certain classes by others very severe1 and our political morals very low2 in short1 that the aristocratic spirit rules in ,england4 ,from the tales of convicts1--how they were reared1 what was the nature of the snares into which they fell1 what opportunity of retrieving themselves remained1 and what was the character of the influences which sank them into misery1--much cannot but be learned of the moral atmosphere in which they were reared4 ,from their present state of mind1--whether they revert in affection to their homes1 or to the society from which they have been snatched1--whether they look forward with hope or fear1 or are incapable of looking forward at all1--it will appear whether the justice and benevolence of the community have secured the commonest blessings of moral life to these its lowest members1 or whether they have been utterly crushed by the selfishness of the society into which they were born4 ,to have criminals at all may in time come to be a disgrace to a community2 meantime1 their number and quality are an evidence as to its prevalent moral notions1 which the intelligent observer will not disregard4 99 99 99 99 99 ,h,the ,,songs of every nation must always be the most familiar and truly popular part of its poetry4 ,they are uniformly the first fruits of the fancy and feeling of rude societies2 and1 even in the most civilized times1 are the only poetry of the great body of the people4 ,their influence1 therefore1 upon the character of a country has been universally felt and acknowledged4 ,among rude tribes1 it is evident that their songs must1 at first1 take their tone from the prevailing character of the people4 ,but1 even among them1 it is to be observed that1 though generally expressive of the fiercest passions1 they yet represent them with some tincture of generosity and good feeling1 and may be regarded as the first lessons and memorials of savage virtue4 ,an ,indian warrior1 at the stake of torture1 exults1 in wild numbers1 over the enemies who have fallen by his tomahawk1 and rejoices in the anticipated vengeance of his tribe4 ,but it is chiefly by giving expression to the loftiest sentiments of invincible courage and fortitude1 that he seeks to support himself in the midst of his torments4 ',i am brave and intrepid6' he exclaims1--',i do not fear death nor any kind of torture6 ,he who fears them is a coward--he is less than a woman4 ,death is nothing to him who has courage6' ,as it is thus the very best parts of their actual character that are dwelt upon even in the barbarous songs of savages1 these songs must contribute essentially to the progress of refinement1 by fostering and cherishing every germ of good feeling that is successively developed during the advancement of society4 ,when selfishness begins to give way to generosity1--when mere animal courage is in some degree ennobled by feelings of patriotic self-devotion1--and1 above all1 when sensual appetite begins to be purified into love1--it is then that the popular songs1 by acquiring a higher character themselves1 come to produce a still more powerful reaction upon the character of the people4 ,these songs1 produced by the most highly-gifted of the tribe1--by those who feel most strongly1 and express their feelings most happily1--convey ideas of greater elevation and refinement than are as yet familiar2 but not so far removed from the ordinary habits of thinking as to be unintelligible4 ,the hero who devotes himself to death for the safety of his country1 with a firmness as yet almost without example in the actual history of the race1--and the lover1 who follows his mistress through every danger1 and perhaps dies for her sake1--become objects on which every one delights to dwell1 and models which the braver and nobler spirits are thus incited to emulate4 ,the songs of rude nations1 accordingly1 and those in which they take most pleasure1 are filled with the most romantic instances of courage1 fidelity1 and generosity2 and it cannot be supposed that such delightful and elevating pictures of human nature can be constantly before the eyes of any people1 without producing a great effect on their character4 ,the same considerations are applicable to the effects of popular ballads upon the most numerous classes of society1 even in civilized nations4 ,it appears that popular songs are both the cause and effect of general morals3 that they are first formed1 and then react4 ,in both points of view they serve as an index of popular morals4 ,the ballads of a people present us1 not only with vivid pictures of the common objects which are before their eyes1--given with more familiarity than would suit any other style of composition1--but they present also the most prevalent feelings on subjects of the highest popular interest4 ,if it were not so1 they would not have been popular songs4 ,the traveller cannot be wrong in concluding that he sees a faithful reflection of the mind of a people in their ballads4 ,when he possesses the popular songs of former centuries1 he holds the means of transporting himself back to the scenes of the ancient world1 and finds himself a spectator of its most active proceedings4 ,wars are waged beneath his eye1 and the events of the chase grow to a grandeur which is not dreamed of now4 ,love1 the passion of all times1 and the staple of all songs1 varies in its expression among every people and in every age1 and appears still another and yet the same4 ,the lady of ballads is always worthy of love and song2 but there are instructive differences in the treatment she receives4 ,sometimes she is oppressed by a harsh parent2 sometimes wrongfully accused by a wicked servant1 or a false knight2 sometimes her soft nature is exasperated into revenge2 sometimes she is represented as fallen1 but always1 in that case1 as enduring retribution4 ,upon the whole1 the testimony is strong in favour of bravery in men1 and purity in women1 and constancy in both2--and this in the whole range of popular poetry1 from ancient ,arabic effusions1 through centuries of ,european song1 up to the ,indian chants which may yet be heard on the shores of the wide western lakes4 ,the distinguishing attributes of great men bear a strong resemblance1 from the days when all ,greece rang with the musical celebration of ,harmodius and ,aristogiton1 through the age of ,charlemagne1 up to the triumphs of ,bolivar3 and women have been adored for the same qualities1 however variously set forth1 from the virgin with gazelle eyes of three thousand years ago1 to the dames who witnessed the conflicts of the ,holy ,land1 and onwards to the squaw who calls upon her husband not to forget her in the world of spirits1 and to our ,burns' ,highland ,mary4 ,what the traveller has to look to is1 that he does not take one aspect of the popular mind for the whole1 or a temporary state of the popular mind for a permanent one1--though1 from the powerful action of national song1 this temporary state is likely to become a permanent one by its means4 ,as an instance of the first1 the observer would be mistaken in judging of more than a class of ,english from some of the best songs they have1--,dibdin's sea songs4 ,they are too fair a representation of the single class to which they pertain1 though they have done much to foster and extend the spirit of generosity1 simplicity1 activity1 gaiety1 and constant love1 which they breathe4 ,they have undoubtedly raised the character of the ,british navy1 and are to a great degree indicative of the naval spirit with us3 but they present only one aspect of the national mind4 ,in ,spain1 again1 the songs with which the mountains are ringing1 and whose origin is too remote to be traced1 are no picture of the conventional mind of the aristocratic classes4 ,as an instance of the false conclusions which might be drawn from the popular songs of a brief period1 we may look to the revolutionary poetry of ,france4 ,it would be unfair to judge of the ,french people by their a ira or the ,carmagnole1 however true an expression such songs may be of the spirit of the hour4 ,the nation had lived before under une monarchie absolue tempre par des chansons2 the absolutism grew too galling2 and then the songs took the tone of fury which protracted oppression had bred4 ,it was not long before the tone was again changed4 ,napoleon was harassed on his imperial throne by tokens of a secret understanding1 unfriendly to his interests3 those tokens were songs ambiguously worded1 or set to airs which were used as signs2 and treason1 which he could not reach1 was perpetually spoken and acted within ear-shot and before his eyes4 ,when the royal family returned1 the songs of ,de ,branger passed in like manner from lip to lip1 and the restored throne trembled to the echo4 ,in ,france1 morals have for many years found their chief expression in politics2 and from the songs of ,paris may the traveller learn the political feelings of the time4 ,under representative governments1 where politics are the chief expression of morals1 the songs of the people cannot but be an instructive study to the observer2 and scarcely less so in countries where1 politics being forbidden1 the domestic and friendly relations must be the topics through which the most general ideas and feelings will flow out4 ,the rudest and the most advanced nations abound in songs4 ,they are heard under the plantain throughout ,africa1 as in the streets of ,paris4 ,the boatmen on the ,nile1 and the children of ,cairo on their way to school1 cheer the time with chants2 as do the ,germans in their vineyards1 and in the leisure hours of the university4 ,the ,negro sings of what he sees and feels1--the storm coming over the woods1 the smile of his wife1 and the coolness of the drink she gives him4 ,the ,frenchman sings the woes of the state prisoner1 and the shrewd self-cautionings of the citizen4 ,the songs of the ,egyptian are amatory1 and of the ,german varied as the accomplishments of the nation1--but in their moral tone earnest and pure4 ,the more this mode of expression is looked into1 the more serviceable it will be found to the traveller's purposes of observation4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the subject of the ,literature of nations1 as a means of becoming familiar with their moral ideas1 is too vast to be enlarged on here4 ,the considerations connected with it are so obvious1 too1 that the traveller to whom they would not occur can be but little qualified for the work of observing4 ,it is clear that we cannot know the mind of a nation1 any more than of an individual1 by merely looking at it1 without hearing any speech4 ,national literature is national speech4 ,by this are its prevalent ideas and feelings uttered4 ,it is necessarily so2 for books which do not meet sympathy from numbers die immediately1 and books which strike upon the sympathies of all never die4 ,between the two extremes1 of books which command the sympathies of a class1 and those which are the delight of all1 there is an extensive gradation1 from which the careful observer may almost frame for himself a scale of popular morals and manners4 ,i mean1 of course1 in countries where there is a copious classical1 or a growing modern literature4 ,a people which happens to be without a literature1--the ,americans1 for instance1--must be judged of1 as cautiously as may be1 by such other means of utterance as they may have1--the political institutions which the present generation has formed or assented to1--their preferences in selection from the literature of other countries2 and so on4 ,but there is a far greater danger of their being misunderstood than there can ever be with regard to a nation which speaks for itself through books4 ,a country which has no national literature1 writes a student of man1 or a literature too insignificant to force its way abroad1 must always be to its neighbours1 at least in every important spiritual respect1 an unknown and misestimated country4 ,its towns may figure on our maps2 its revenues1 population1 manufactures1 political connexions1 may be recorded in statistical books3 but the character of the people has no symbol and no voice2 we cannot know them by speech and discourse1 but only by mere sight and outward observation of their habits and procedure4,i ,the very fact of there being no literature in a nation may1 however1 yield inferences as to its mental and moral state4 ,there is a very limited set of reasons why a people is without speech4 ,they are barbarous1 or they are politically oppressed2 or the nation is young1 and busy in providing and securing the means of national existence2 or it has the same language with another people1 and therefore the full advantage of its literature1 as if it were not foreign4 ,these seem to be nearly all the reasons for national silence2 and any one of them affords some means of insight into the morals and manners of the dumb people4 ,as for those which have utterance1 they either speak freshly from day to day1 or they show their principles and temper by the choice they make from among their own classics4 ,whatever is most accordant with their sympathies1 they dwell upon2 so that the selection is a sure indication of what the popular sympathies are4 ,the same may be said of the comparative popularity of modern books2 but they may reveal only a temporary state of feeling1 and the traveller has to separate this species of evidence from the more important kind which testifies to the permanent affections and convictions of a people4 ,the revelling of the ,french in ,voltaire1 of the ,germans in ,werter1 and of the ,english in ,byron1 was1 in each case1 a highly important revelation of popular feeling2 but it is not a circumstance from which to judge of the fixed national character of any of the three4 ,it was a sign of the times1 and not signs of nations4 ,voltaire pulled down certain erections which could not stand any longer1 and was worshipped as a denier of untruths1--the popular mind being then ripe for the exploding of errors4 ,but here ended the vocation of ,voltaire4 ,the ,french are now busy1 to the extent of their energy1 in doing what ought to follow upon the exposure of errors2--they are searching after truth4 ,pretences having been destroyed1 they are now propounding and trying principles2 and works which propose new and sounder erections find favour in preference to such as only expose and ridicule old sins and mistakes4--,werter was popular because it expressed the universal restlessness and discontent under which not only ,germany1 but ,europe was suffering4 ,multitudes found their uncomfortable feelings uttered for them2 and ,werter was1 in fact1 the groan of a continent4 ,old superstitions1 tyrannies1 and ignorance were becoming intolerable1 and no way was seen out of them2 and the voice of complaint was hailed with universal sympathy4 ,so it was with the poetry of ,byron1 adopted and echoed as it was1 and will for some time continue to be1 by the sufferers under an aristocratic constitution of society1 whether they be oppressed by force from without1 or by weariness1 satiety1 and disgust from within4 ,the permanent state of the ,english mind is not represented in ,byron1 and could not be guessed at from his writings1 except by inference from the woes of a particular order of minds3 but his popularity was an admirable sign of the times1 for such observers as were capable of interpreting it4 ,probably1 in all ages since the pen and the press began their work1 literature has been the expression of the popular mind2 but it seems to have become peculiarly forcible1 as a general utterance1 of late4 ,whatever truth there may be in speculations about the growing infrequency of immortal works1--about the age being past for the production of books which shall become classics1--it appears that literature is assuming more and more the character of letters written to those whom their subjects may concern1 and becoming more and more a familiar utterance of the general mind of the day4 ,in the popular modern works of ,germany there is deep and warm religious sentiment1 while the most unflinching examination into the philosophy and fact of revelation is widely encouraged4 ,in ,england1 there is a growing taste for works which exhibit the life of the lower orders of society1 though all aristocratic prepossessions appear in practice as strong as ever4 ,this seems to indicate that our philosophy has a democratic tendency under which a general opinion will be formed1 which will1 in time1 be expressed in practice4 ,the ,french1 again1 are devouring1 at the rate of two new volumes every three days1 novels which are1 in fact1 letters to those whom they may concern on the condition and prospects of men and women in society4 ,the pictures are something more than mere delineations4 ,they carry with them principles by which the position of the members of the community is to be tested4 ,the social position of ,woman is a prominent topic4 ,the first principles of social organization are involved in the groundwork of the simplest stories3 and the universal reception of this product of literature shows that those whom it concerns are all4 ,what an enormous loss of knowledge must the traveller sustain who omits to observe and reflect upon the spirit of the fresh literature of a people1 or of its preferences among the literature of the past6 ,he must note whether a people has recent dramatic productions3 if not1 whether and why the times are unfavourable to that kind of literature2 and if there is dramatic production1 what are the pictures of life that it presents4 ,he must obtain at least some general idea of what the mental philosophy of the society is1--not so much because mental philosophy affects the national mind1 as because it emanates from it4 ,is it a gross material1 or a refined analytical1 or a massy mystical philosophy8 ,the first is usually found in the sceptical stage of the mind of a nation2 the last in its healthy infancy2 while the other is rarely to be found at all1 except as the product of an individual mind of a high order4 ,few travellers will have occasion to give much attention to this part of their task of observation2 as1 among all the nations of the earth1 there is not one in ten that has any mental philosophy at all4 ,all have ,fiction 7other than dramatic72 and this must be one of the observer's high points of view4 ,there is no need to spend words upon this proposition4 ,it requires no proof that the popular fictions of a people1 representing them in their daily doings and common feelings1 must be a mirror of their moral sentiments and convictions1 and of their social habits and manners4 ,the saying this is almost like offering an identical proposition4 ,the traveller should stock his carriage with the most popular fictions1 whether of the present day1 or of a recent or ancient time4 ,he should fill up his leisure with them4 ,he should separate what they have that is congenial with his own habit of mind1 from that with which he can least sympathize1 and search into the origin of the latter4 ,this will be something of a guide to him as to what is permanent and universal in the sentiments and convictions of the people1 and what is to be regarded as a distinctive feature of the particular society or time4 ,it is impossible but that1 by the diligent use of these means1 the observer must learn much of the general moral notions of the people he studies1--of what they approve and disapprove1--what they eschew and what they seek1--what they love and hate1 desire and fear2--of what1 in short1 yields them most internal trouble or peace4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,domestic ,,state4 ,how lived1 how loved1 how died they8 ,,byron4 ,geologists tell us that they can answer for the modes of life of the people of any extensive district by looking at the geological map of the region4 ,put a geological map of ,england before one who understands it1 and he will tell you that the inhabitants of the western parts1 from ,cornwall1 through ,wales1 and up through ,cumberland into ,scotland1 are miners and mountaineers2 here living in clusters round the shaft of a mine1 and there sprinkled over the hills1 and secluded in the valleys4 ,he will tell you that1 on the middle portion of the surface1 from ,devonshire1 up through ,leicestershire1 to the ,yorkshire coast1 the wide pastures are covered with flocks1 while the people are collected into large manufacturing towns2 an ordinary map showing1 at the same time1 that ,kidderminster1 ,birmingham1 ,coventry1 ,leicester1 and ,nottingham1 ,sheffield1 ,huddersfield1 and ,leeds1 with many others1 lie in this district4 ,he will tell you that the third range1 comprehending the eastern part of the island1 is studded with farms1 and that tillage is the great occupation and interest of the inhabitants4 ,the moralist might follow up the observations of the geologist with an account of the general characteristics of societies engaged in these occupations4 ,he knows that a distinct intellectual and moral character belongs to miners1 to artisans1 and to agriculturists2 he knows that miners are prone to superstition1 and to speculation in business1 from the incalculable nature of their pursuits1 the hap-hazard character of their enterprises2 he knows that an artisan population is active-minded1 communicative1 capable and fond of concert2 that among them is found the greatest proportion of religious dissent and political sagacity1 of knowledge and its results in action4 ,he knows that an agricultural people are less of a society than the others2 that they are as mentally sluggish in comparison with operatives1 as they are physically superior to them2 that they make far less use of speech2 are more attached to what is habitual and ancient1 and have less enterprise and desire of change4 ,they are1 in fact1 the representatives of the past1--of feudal times2 while an artisan population is a prophecy of the future1 and the beginning of the fulfilment4 ,the ideas of equal rights1 of representation of person as well as property1 and all other democratic notions1 originate in towns1 and chiefly in manufacturing towns4 ,loyalty to the person rather than the function of rulers1 pride in land and love of it as the blessing of blessings1 and jealousy of every other interest1 are found wherever corn springs up in the furrows1 and there are farm-houses to be miniature representations of the old feudal establishments4 ,such are the general tendencies1 modified according to circumstances4 ,there are influences which make certain artisans in ,england tories1 and certain landlords and tenants liberals2 and there may be times and places where whole societies may have their characteristics modified2 but there is rarely or never a complete departure from the general rule4 ,landlords and their posse of tenants1 called liberal1 soon find a point beyond which they cannot go1 and from which they tend back into the politics of their order2 and there is often but a single step for tory artisans into ultra-radicalism2 it turns out to be a spurious toryism4 ,so it is possible that there might have been here and there a democrat in ,la ,vende in #agic1 and a sprinkling of royalists in ,lyons in #ahag4 ,yet ,la ,vende and ,linois may be taken as representatives of the two kinds of society4 ,the weaving population of ,lyons are1 like that of manufacturing towns generally1 disposed to irritability by physical uneasiness1 nourishing their ideas and feelings by communication1 suffering from the consequences of partial knowledge1 having glimpses of a better social state1 and laying the blame of their adversities on a deficiency of protection by the government2 enterprising and nicely skilled in the improvement of their articles of manufacture1 and ever full of aspiration4 ,the inhabitants of ,la ,vende are so diametrically opposite in their social circumstances and characteristics1 that their bias in politics is a matter of course4 ,here is a description of the face of the district at the time that ,lyons was as intensely republican as ,la ,vende was royalist3-- ,only two great roads traversed this sequestered region1 running nearly parallel1 at a distance of more than seventy miles from each other4 ,the country1 though rather thickly peopled1 contained1 as may be supposed1 few large towns2 and the inhabitants1 devoted almost entirely to rural occupations1 enjoyed a great deal of leisure4 ,the noblesse or gentry of the country were very generally resident on their estates1 where they lived in a style of simplicity and homeliness which had long disappeared from every other part of the kingdom4 ,no grand parks1 fine gardens1 or ornamented villas2 but spacious clumsy chateaux1 surrounded with farm offices1 and cottages for the labourers4 ,their manners and way of life1 too1 partook of the same primitive rusticity4 ,there was great cordiality1 and even much familiarity1 in the intercourse of the seigneurs with their dependants3 they were followed by large trains of them in their hunting expeditions1 which occupied so great a part of their time4 ,every man had his fowling-piece1 and was a marksman of fame or pretensions4 ,the peasants resorted familiarly to their landlords for advice1 both legal and medical2 and they repaid the visits in their daily rambles1 and entered with interest into all the details of their agricultural operations4 ,from all this there resulted a certain innocence and kindliness of character1 joined with great hardihood and gaiety4 ,though not very well educated1 the population were exceedingly devout2 though theirs was a kind of superstitious and traditional devotion1 it must be owned1 rather than an enlightened or rational faith4 ,they had the greatest veneration for crucifixes and images of their saints1 and had no idea of any duty more imperious than that of attending on all the solemnities of religion4 ,they were singularly attached also to their curs1 who were almost all born and bred in the country1 spoke their patois1 and shared in all their pastimes and occupations4 ,when a hunting-match was to take place1 the clergyman announced it from the pulpit after prayers1 and then took his fowling-piece and accompanied his congregation to the thicket4,j ,the chief contrasting features of these two kinds of society may be recognized in all parts of the civilized world4 ,the most intensely loyal of the loyal ,chinese will be found irrigating the terraces of the mountains1 or busy in the ploughing-matches of the plains2 and the least contented will be found at the loom4 ,spain is removed from a capacity for social freedom just in proportion to the discouragement of manufactures4 ,the vine-growing districts of ,germany are the most1 and the commercial towns the least1 acquiescent in the rule under which they are living4 ,russia will be despotically governed as long as she has no manufactures2 and ,england and the ,united ,states are rescued1 by the full establishment of their manufactures1 from all danger of a retrogradation towards feudalism4 ,the way in which these considerations concern us in this place is1 that public and private morals1 no less than manners1 depend on the degree of feudalism which is left in the community4 ,we have spoken before of the morals of the feudal and democratic states of society2 and what we are now pointing out is1 that these states1 with their attendant morals and manners1 may be discerned from the face of the country1 and the consequent occupations of its inhabitants4 ,it appears as if a geological map might be a useful guide to the researches of the moralist1--an idea which would have appeared insanely ridiculous half a century ago1 but now reasonable enough4 ,if the traveller be no geologist1 so that he cannot1 by his own observation1 determine the nature of the soil1 and thence infer1 for his general guidance1 the employments and mental and moral state of the people1 he must observe the face of the country along the road he travels4 ,he will do better still by mounting any eminences which may be within reach1 whether they be churches1 pillars1 pyramids1 pagodas1 baronial castles on rocks1 or peaks of mountains2 thence he should look abroad1 from point to point1 through the whole region1 and mark out what he sees spread beneath him4 ,are there pastures extended to the horizon1 with herdsmen and flocks sprinkled over them1 and in the midst a cloud of smoke overhanging a town1 from which roads part off in many directions8 ,or is it a scene of shadowy mountains1 with streams leaping from their fissures1 and no signs of human habitation but the machinery of a mine1 with rows of dwellings near heaps of piled rubbish8 ,or is the whole intersected with fences1 and here dark with fallows1 there yellow with corn1 while farmsteads terminate the lanes1 and the dwellings and grounds of rich proprietors are seen at intervals1 with each a hamlet resting against its boundaries8 ,is this the kind of scene1 whether the great house be called mansion1 or chateau1 or villa1 or schloss2 whether the produce be corn1 or grapes1 or tea1 or cotton8 ,a person gifted with a precocity of science in the twelfth century might have prophesied what is now happening from the picture stretched beneath him as he gazed from an eminence on the banks of the ,don or the ,calder4 ,he might see1 with the bodily eye1 only ,meadows trim with daisies pied1 ,shallow brooks and rivers wide1 with clusters of houses in the far distance1 and ,robin ,hood with his merry men lurking in the thickets of the forest1 or basking under the oaks3 but with the prophetic eye of science he might discern the multitudes that were1 in course of time1 to be living in ,sheffield or ,huddersfield2 the stimulus that would be given to enterprise1 the thronging of merchants to this region1 the physical sufferings1 the moral pressure1 that must come2 the awakening of intelligence1 and the arousing of ambition4 ,in the real scene1 a cloud-shadow might be passing over a meadow2 in the ideal1 a smoke-cloud would be resting upon a hundred thousand human beings4 ,in the real scene1 a warbling lark might be springing from the grass2 in the ideal1 a singer,k of a higher order might appear remonstrating with feudalism from amidst the roar of the furnace-blast and the din of the anvil2 and then1 when his complaint of social oppression is done1 starting forwards to the end of all1 and singing the requiem of the world itself4 ,whose trade is poaching4 ,honest ,jem works not1 ,begs not2 but thrives by plundering beggars here4 ,wise as a lord1 and quite as good a shot1 ,he1 like his betters1 lives in hate and fear1 ,and feeds on partridge because bread is dear4 ,sire of six sons apprenticed to the jail1 ,he prowls in arms1 the ,tory of the night2 ,with them he shares his battles and his ale2 ,with him they feel the majesty of might4 ,he reads not1 writes not1 thinks not2 scarcely feels3 ,steals all he gets2 serves ,hell with all he steals4 99 99 99 99 99 ,yes1 and the sail-less worlds which navigate ,th' unutterable deep that hath no shore1 ,will lose their starry splendour soon or late1 ,like tapers quenched by ,him whose will is fate6 ,yes1 and the angel of ,eternity1 ,who numbers worlds and writes their names in light1 ,one day1 ,o ,earth1 will look in vain for thee1 ,and start1 and stop in his unerring flight2 ,and with his wings of sorrow and affright ,veil his impassioned brow and heavenly tears6 ,somewhat in the same way as such a supposed philosophic observer might be imagined to foresee that democratic strains of remonstrance would here succeed to foresters' and freebooters' songs1 may a well-qualified observer of the present day discern the interior mechanism and the remote issues of what lies beneath his eyes4 ,while surveying the vast prairies on the banks of the deep rivers of the ,western world1 he may safely anticipate the time when self-governing communities will swarm where now a settler's log-house and enclosure are the only break in the wide surface of verdure4 ,while looking down upon the harvests of ,volhynia1 or watching the processions of wagons laden with corn1 and slowly wending their way down to ,odessa1 he may securely conclude that no vivacious artisan population will enliven this region for a long time to come2 that the inhabitants will continue attached to the despotism under which they live2 and that the morals of a despotism--the morals which coexist with gross ignorance and social subservience--may be looked for and found for at least an age4 ,some preparation may thus be made by a glance over the face of the country4 ,much depends on whether it is flat or mountainous1 pasture or arable land4 ,it appears from fact1 too1 that much depends on minor circumstances1--even on whether it is damp or dry4 ,it is amusing to the traveller in ,holland to observe how new points of morals spring up out of its swamps1 as in the ,east from the dryness of the deserts4 ,to injure the piles on which the city is built1 is at ,amsterdam a capital offence2 and no inhabitant could outgrow the shame of tampering with the vegetation by which the soil of the dykes is held together4 ,while ,irish children are meritoriously employed in gathering rushes to make candles1 and sedges for thatch1 the veriest child in ,holland would resent as an injury any suspicion that she had rooted up a sedge or a rush1 which had been planted to strengthen the embankments4,l ,such are certain points of morals in a country where water is the great enemy4 ,in the ,east1 where drought is the chief foe1 it is a crime to defile or stop up a well1 and the greatest of social glories is to have made water flow where all before was dry4 ,in ,holland1 a malignant enemy cuts the dyke1 as the last act of malice3 in ,arabia1 he fills up the wells4 ,in ,holland1 a distinct sort of moral feeling seems to have grown up about intemperance in drink4 ,the humidity of the climate1 and the scarcity of clear1 wholesome water1 obliges the inhabitants to drink much of other liquids4 ,if moderation in them were not made a point of conscience of the first importance1 the consequences of their prevalent use would be dreadful4 ,the success of this particular moral effort is great4 ,drunkenness is almost as rare in ,holland as carelessness in keeping accounts1 and tampering with the dykes4 ,there is no country in the world whose morals have more clearly grown out of its circumstances than ,holland4 ,on the theory of an infallible ,moral ,sense1 it would be as difficult to account for a ,dutchman's tenderness of conscience on any of the above three heads1 as for a soldier's agony at the imputation of sleeping upon guard1 or an ,alabama planter's resentment at being charged with putting the alphabet in the way of a mulatto4 99 99 99 99 99 ,having noted the aspect of the country1 the observer's next business is to ascertain the condition of the inhabitants as to the supply of the ,necessaries of life4 ,he knows that nothing remains to be learned of the domestic morals of people who are plunged in hopeless poverty4 ,there is no foundation for good morals among such4 ,they herd together1 desperate or depressed2 they have no prospect2 their self-respect is prostrated2 they have nothing to lose1 there is nothing for them to gain by any effort that they can make4--,but it is needless to speak of this4 ,when we treat of the domestic morals of any class1 it is always presupposed that they are not in circumstances which render total immorality almost inevitable4 ,in agricultural districts1 the condition of the inhabitants may be learned by observation of the markets4 ,an observing traveller has said1 ,to judge at once of a nation1 we have only to throw our eyes on the markets and the fields4 ,if the markets are well supplied1 the fields well cultivated1 all is right4 ,if otherwise1 we may say1 and say truly1 these people are barbarous and oppressed4,m ,this1 though a rather sweeping judgment1 is founded in truth1 and is well worthy of being borne in mind in travelling4 ,it so happens that the negroes of ,hayti are abundantly supplied with the necessaries1 and with many of the comforts of life2 that they are by no means barbarous1 and far from being oppressed2 and yet they have few roads1 and scarcely any markets4 ,they grow up in the midst of plenty2 but1 when a countryman is about to kill a hog1 he sends his son round among his neighbours on horseback1 to give notice to any who wish for pork1 to send for it on a certain day4 ,their wretched1 barbarous1 oppressed countrymen in ,south ,carolina1 meanwhile1 have excellent markets4 ,the ,saturday night's market at ,charleston might beguile a careless foreigner into the belief that those who throng it are a free and prosperous people4 ,thus the rule above quoted does not always hold4 ,yet it is true that the existence and good quality of markets testify to the existence and good quality of other desirable things4 ,where markets are abundantly and variously supplied1 it is clear that there must be a large demand for the comforts of life1 and a diversity of domestic wants4 ,it is clear that there must be industry to meet this demand1 and competence to justify it4 ,there must be social security1 or the industry and competence would not be put to so hazardous a use4 ,it may happen1 as at ,charleston1 that the capital is the masters' 7whose the profits may also be1 at any moment72 that the industry is called forth by a delusive hope2 and that the briskness of the transactions at market is ascribable to the pleasure slaves have in social meetings2 but better things may usually be inferred from a well-supplied and well-conducted market4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the traveller's other researches in agricultural regions will be into the ,tenure of lands1--whether they are held in small separate properties2--whether such properties are held by individuals1 or shared with any kind of partners2--whether portions are rented from landlords2 and1 if so1 whether any order of middlemen are concerned in the business2--whether the land is chiefly held by large owners2 and1 if so1 whether the labourers are attached to the soil under feudal arrangements1 or whether they are free labourers working for wages4 ,the homes of the agricultural population will be found to vary in aspect as any one of these systems prevails4 ,in young and prosperous countries1 the system of small separate properties is found to conduce to independence and the virtues which result from it1 though it is not favourable to knowledge and enlightenment4 ,families live much to themselves2 and thus1 while forming strong domestic attachments1 they lose sight of what is going on in the world4 ,they become unused to the light of society1 and get to dislike and fear it4 ,the labourers1 in such case1 usually live with the family1 whether they be brothers1 as often happens in ,switzerland2 sons1 as in many a farm-house of the ,united ,states2 or hired servants1 as in former times in ,england1--and still in some retired parts4 ,in each case the picture is easily filled in by the imagination4 ,all are engaged1 throughout the year1 in the business of living4 ,the work is never ending1 still beginning2 or1 if it has intervals1 they are dull and weary1 from the absence of interests wherewith to occupy them4 ,the employments of life are innocent1 and the principle of association is harmless2 but if there be ignorance and prejudice in the region1 in these farm-houses will they be found2 and in company with them morals of a high order are not to be looked for4 ,if small properties are held in partnership1 poverty is present or threatening4 ,the condition of affairs cannot be lasting2 and this may be well2 for narrow means and partnership in a property which requires to be managed by skill are more favourable to discontent and disagreement than to a kindly social state4 ,the middleman system is favourable or unfavourable to morals1 just in proportion as it is so to prosperity4 ,every one knows the wretchedness of it in ,ireland1 and that there are numerous instances in ,italy of the complete success of the mtayer plan4 ,where the land is the property of large owners1 and is tilled by labourers1 there must be more or less of the feudal temper and manners remaining4 ,where the labourers are attached to the soil1 there must necessarily exist whatever good arises from the certainty of the means of subsistence1 coupled with the evils of subservience to the will of the lord1 mental sluggishness1 and ignorance4 ,where they are not irremovably attached to the soil1 habit and helplessness have usually much of the same effect4 ,the son hedges1 ditches1 or ploughs where his father hedged1 ditched1 or ploughed2 he takes his beer1 or cider1 or thin wine1 7according to the country he lives in17 at the same house of entertainment1 and gossips about the doings of the lord and his family1 much as labourers were wont to gossip two hundred years ago4 ,it is the business of the traveller to note which mode of agricultural life prevails1 and how the morals which pertain to it are modified by particular circumstances4 99 99 99 99 99 ,he must make the same kind of observations on the ,manufacturing and ,commercial ,classes of the country he visits4 ,here again the chief differences in morals and manners arise out of the comparative prosperity or adversity of the class4 ,take the cotton manufacture4 ,passing by the ,chinese operative plying his shuttle as he sits under his bamboo shed1 and the ,hindoo drawing out his fine thread under the shade of the palm1 what differences there are among artisans of the same race1--,europeans and of ,european extraction6 ,in ,massachusetts there are villages of artisans1 where whole streets of houses are their property2 the church on the green in the midst is theirs2 the ,lyceum1 with its library and apparatus1 is theirs4 ,there are rows of neat frame-dwellings1 painted white or yellow1 with piazzas before and behind1 and ,venetian blinds to every window1--all growing up out of the earnings of girls1 who bring their widowed mothers to preside over their establishments4 ,others are paying off the mortgages on their fathers' farms4 ,others are procuring for their brothers a learned education in a college4 ,in the cotton settlements of ,europe what a contrast6 ,at the best1 operatives can only provide for their wants1 and the placing out of their children1 by a life of strenuous toil4 ,at the worst1 they herd together1 many families in one house1--often in one room2 decency is discarded2 recklessness succeeds1 to such a degree that1 in certain sections of the society1 there is scarcely a man of thirty-five who is not a grandfather4 ,among such there is a barbarism as savage as among the most vicious aristocracy of the worst feudal times4 ,the lowest artisan population of the present day may vie in corruption with the noblesse of ,france on the eve of the first revolution4 ,it is for the traveller to observe what grade in the wide interval between the operatives of ,massachusetts1 and those of ,lyons and ,stockport1 is occupied by the artisans of the places he visits4 99 99 99 99 99 ,upon the extent of the ,commerce of a country depends much of the character of its morals4 ,old virtues and vices dwindle away1 and new ones appear4 ,the old members of a rising commercial society complain of the loss of simplicity of manners1 of the introduction of new wants1 of the relaxation of morals1 of the prevalence of new habits4 ,the young members of the same society rejoice that prudery is going out of fashion1 that gossip is likely to be replaced by the higher kind of intercourse which is introduced by strangers1 and by an extension of knowledge and interests3 they even decide that domestic morals are purer from the general enlargement and occupation of mind which has succeeded to the ennui and selfishness in which licentiousness often originates4 ,a highly remarkable picture of the two conditions of the same place may be obtained by comparing ,mrs4 ,grant's account of the town of ,albany1 ,new ,york1 in her young days1,n with the present state of the city4 ,she tells us of the plays of the children on the green slope which is now ,state ,street2 of the tea-drinkings and working parties1 of the gossip1 bickerings1 and virulent petty enmities of the young society1 with its general regularity and occasional back-sliding2 with the gentle despotism of its opulent members1 and the more or less restive or servile obedience of the subordinate personages4 ,in place of all this1 the stranger now sees a city with magnificent public buildings1 and private houses filled with the products of all the countries of the world4 ,the inhabitants are too busy to be given to gossip1 too unrestrained in their intercourse with numbers to retain much prudery3 social despotism and subservience have become impossible3 there is a generous spirit of enterprise1 an enlargement of knowledge1 an amelioration of opinion4 ,there is1 on the other hand1 perhaps a decrease of kindly neighbourly regard1 and certainly a great increase of the low vices which are the plague of commercial cities4 ,such is the transformation wrought by commerce4 ,an observer who can also speculate1--one who looks before and after1--will conclude that1 amidst some evil1 the change is advantageous2 and that good must1 on the whole1 arise from enlarged intercourses between men and societies4 ,seeing in commerce the instrument by which all the inhabitants of the earth are in time to be brought into common possession of all true ideas1 and sympathy in all good feelings1 he will mark the progress made by the society he visits towards this end4 ,he will mark whether its merchants as a body have a spirit of generous enterprise or of sordid self-interest2 whether they entertain a respect for learning and a taste for art1--bringing the one from abroad1 and cherishing the other at home2--whether1 in short1 the merchants are the princes or the money-grubbers of the community4 ,the spirit of this class will determine that of their subordinates4 ,if the masters of commerce are liberal and enlightened1 their servants will be thriving1 and will have the virtues which wait upon self-respect3 if the contrary1 they will be debased4 ,a ,jewish money-lender is no more like a merchant of ,salem or ,bourdeaux than ,malay porters at ,macao are like the clerk class of ,amsterdam4 ,in the mercantile orders of society may be found the extremes of honour1 generosity1 diligence1 and accuracy1--and of treachery1 meanness1 and selfish carelessness4 ,it is the traveller's business to note the tendencies to the one or the other1--from the vexatious hog and yam traffic of the islands of the ,south ,sea1 to the magnificent transactions of the traders of ,hamburgh4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,health of a community is an almost unfailing index of its morals4 ,no one can wonder at this who considers how physical suffering irritates the temper1 depresses energy1 deadens hope1 induces recklessness1 and1 in short1 poisons life4 ,the domestic affections1 too1 are apt to languish through disappointment in countries where the average of death is very high4 ,there is least marriage in unhealthy countries1 and most in healthy ones1--other circumstances being equal4 ,the same kind of spirit 7however largely diluted7 prevails in sickly regions as in societies which are visited by a pestilence4 ,study the tempers of the people who are subject to gotres1 of those who live in marshes1 of those who encounter an annual tropical fever2 and contrast it with that of dwellers on mountains1 and in dry prairies1 and in well-ventilated towns4 ,what selfishness1 apathy1 and discontent in the one class6 and what kindliness1 briskness1 and cheerfulness in the other6 ,in the ,united ,states1 wide spreading as the country is1 and comprehending every variety of people1 and almost of climate1 the common deficiency of health produces moral effects which must strike the most careless traveller4 ,the epicurean temper of the south1 and the puritanic mood of the north1 are alike stimulated by this4 ,in the south1 the overseers1 whose business it is to encounter the fever1 seem to be always practically saying1 ,let us eat and drink1 for to-morrow we die4 ,there is a recklessness among the trading classes there1 a heathen levity and grossness1 which are doubtless in a great degree owing to the presence of slavery1 but also in part to the certainty of a very large annual mortality4 ,not the purest ,christianity itself could preserve a people so placed from a more or less modified fatalism4 ,the richer members of society leave their homes for some months of every year1 and go northwards2 and this perpetual unsettling of their families has a bad effect upon the habits of the young people and the comfort of their parents4 ,it operates against domestic diligence1 tranquillity1 and satisfaction with home pleasures4 ,in the north1 there is a perpetual preaching about death1 enforced by the never-ceasing recurrence of it2 but it has not the effect of making people less worldly-minded than others4 ,it serves only to shade life with apprehension1 uncertainty1 and bereavement2 and1 it is to be feared1 to give to the vanity of many minds the direction of false heroism about meeting death4 ,this seems too serious a subject for the exercise of human vanity2 yet that purpose it has served1 perhaps1 in all societies2 and in none more than in ,new ,england4 ,the greater number of very young people1 everywhere1 who cannot be aware of the importance of life1 and of the simplicity of death as its close1 have romantic thoughts about dying early2 and1 in a country where an unusual proportion do die early1 this species of vain-glory is likely to flourish4 ,the pain felt everywhere by really enlarged and religious minds on seeing a false resignation exhibited1 and hearing shallow sentimentalities given out on the brink of the grave1 is peculiarly felt in a region where mourning mothers may be seen who have lost eight1 twelve1 or fifteen children1 and where scarcely an enterprise of any extent can be undertaken which is not almost sure to be interrupted or baffled by sickness or death4--,when these considerations are dwelt upon1 and when it is remembered what the consequences of a low state of health must be to each future generation1 it seems scarcely extravagant to say that the best influence upon the morals of the ,american nation would be such as might improve their health4 ,good and bad health are both cause and effect of good and bad morals4 ,no proof of this is needed1 nor any further dwelling upon the proposition4 ,the fact1 however1 points out to the observer the duty of obtaining a correct general estimate of the health of the community he visits4 ,there are two principal methods by which he may obtain the knowledge he wants1--by examining civic registers1 and by visiting burial-grounds4 ,a faithful register of births1 marriages1 and deaths1 is wished for by enlightened philanthropists of all advanced countries1 far more as a test of national morals and the national welfare1 than as a matter of the highest social convenience4 ,for this the physiologist waits as the means of determining the physical condition of the nation2 as a guide to him in suggesting and prescribing the methods by which the national health may be improved1 and the average of life prolonged4--,for this the legislator waits as the means of determining the comparative proneness of the people to certain kinds of social offences1 and the causes of that proneness2 that the law may be framed so as to include 7as all wise laws should include7 the largest preventive influence with the greatest certainty of retribution4--,for this the philanthropist waits as a guide to him in forming his scheme of universal education2 and without this1--without knowing how many need education altogether1--how many under one set of circumstances1 and how many under another1--he can proceed only in darkness1 or amidst the delusions of false lights4 ,he is only perplexed by the partial knowledge1 which is all that his utmost efforts enable him to obtain4 ,if he goes into every house of every town and village in his district1 he is no nearer to an understanding of the intellectual and moral condition of the nation than he was before3 for other districts have a different soil and different occupations2 the employments of the people1 their diseases and their resources1 are unlike2 and1 under these diverse influences1 their physical1 and therefore moral and intellectual condition1 must vary4 ,the reports of ,philanthropic ,societies do little more for him1 drawn up as they are with partial objects and under exclusive influences3 parliamentary disclosures are of little more use4 ,vague statements about the increase of drunkenness1 resistance to one kind of law or another1 alarm and distress him2 but such statements again are partial1 and so often brought forward for a particular object1 that they afford no safe guide to him who would form a general preventive or remedy4 ,thus it is under all partial methods of observation2 but when the philanthropist shall gain access to a register of the national births1 marriages1 and deaths1 he will have under his hand all the materials he requires1 as completely as if he were hovering over the kingdom1 comprehending all its districts in one view1 and glancing at will into all its habitations4 ,the comparative ages of the dead will indicate to him not only the amount of health1 but the comparative force of various species of disease2 and from the character of its diseases1 and the amount of its health1 much of the moral state of a people may be safely pronounced upon4 ,the proportion of marriages to births and deaths is always an indication of the degree of comfort enjoyed1 and of the consequent purity of morals2 and1 therefore1 of the degree in which education is present or needed4 ,a large number of children1 and a large proportion of marriages1 indicate physical and moral welfare1 and therefore a comparative prevalence of education4 ,a large number of births1 and a small proportion of marriages1 indicate the reverse4 ,when these circumstances are taken in connexion with the prevailing occupations of the district to which they relate1 the philanthropist has arrived at a sufficient certainty as to the means of education required1 and the method in which they are to be applied4 ,there is1 unfortunately1 in all countries1 an insufficiency of records framed for the purpose of induction1 and subsequent practical use4 ,the chief of a tribe1 proud in proportion to his barbarian insignificance1 may from time to time indulge himself by numbering the people whom he considers as his property2 and an ambitious and warlike emperor may organize a conscription2 and these records may remain to fulfil hereafter far more exalted purposes than those for which they were designed3 but these instances are few2 and in the art of constructing tables1 and ascertaining averages1 the most civilized people are still1 for want of practice1 in a state of unskilfulness4 ,but1 in the absence of that which would spare observers the task of ascertaining results for themselves1 they must take the best they can get4 ,a traveller must inquire for any public registers which may exist in all districts1 and note and reflect upon the facts he finds there4 ,in case of there being none such1 it is possible that the physicians of the district may be able to afford information from private documents of the same nature4 ,if not1 there remain the cemeteries4 ,the calculators of longevity believe that they may now1 by taking down the dates from the first thirty tombstones in the cemeteries of the districts they pass through1 learn the comparative healthiness and length of life of the inhabitants of the country4 ,however this may be1 there is no doubt that a large variety and extent of information may be thus obtained4 ,the observer can ascertain where the fatal diseases of infancy most prevail1--which is the same thing as knowing that the physical and moral condition of the people is low2 as a large proportion 7not mere number7 of deaths in infancy is a most unfavourable symptom of society4 ,he can ascertain where consumption prevails1 where fever1 and where the largest proportion attains to length of days4 ,it is much to know what character disease and death wear in any district4 ,one character of ,morals and ,manners prevails where the greater number die young1 and another where they die old2 one where they are cut off by hardship2 another where they waste away under a lingering disease2 and yet another where they abide their full time1 and then come to their graves like a shock of corn in its season4 ,the grave-yards on the heights of the ,alleghanies will tell a different tale of ,morals and ,manners from the ,new ,orleans' cemetery1 glaring in the midst of the swamp2 and so would the burial-places in the suburbs of ,irish cities1 if their contents were known1 from those of the hardy ,waldenses1 or of the decent and thriving colonists of ,frederick's-oord4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,marriage compact is the most important feature of the domestic state on which the observer can fix his attention4 ,if he be a thinker1 he will not be surprised at finding much imperfection in the marriage state wherever he goes4 ,by no arrangements yet attempted have purity of morals1 constancy of affection1 and domestic peace been secured to any extensive degree in society4 ,almost every variety of method is still in use1 in one part of the world or another4 ,the primitive custom of brothers marrying sisters still subsists in some ,eastern regions4 ,polygamy is very common there1 as every one knows4 ,in countries which are too far advanced for this1 every restraint of law1 all sanction of opinion1 has been tried to render the natural method1--the restriction of one husband to one wife1--successful1 and therefore universal and permanent4 ,law and opinion have1 however1 never availed to anything like complete success4 ,even in thriving young countries1 where no considerations of want1 and few of ambition1 can interfere with domestic peace1--where the numbers are equal1 where love has the promise of a free and even course1 and where religious sentiment is directed full upon the sanctity of the marriage state1--it is found to be far from pure4 ,in almost all countries1 the corruption of society in this department is so deep and wide-spreading1 as to vitiate both moral sentiment and practice in an almost hopeless degree4 ,it neutralizes almost all attempts to ameliorate and elevate the condition of the race4--,there must be something fearfully wrong where the general result is so unfortunate as this4 ,as in most other cases of social suffering1 the wrong will be found to lie less in the methods ordained and put in practice1 than in the prevalent sentiment of society1 out of which all methods arise4 ,it is necessary to make mention 7however briefly7 of the kinds of false sentiment from which the evil of conjugal unhappiness appears to spring4--,the sentiment by which courage is made the chief ground of honour in men1 and chastity in women1 coupled with the inferiority in which women have ever been sunk1 was sure to induce profligacy4 ,as long as men were brave nothing more was required to make them honourable in the eyes of society3 while the inferior condition of women has ever exposed those of them who were not protected by birth and wealth to the profligacy of men4--,the shallowness of the sentiment of honour is another great evil4 ,in its origin1 honour includes self-respect and the respect of others4 ,in time1 from its intimate connexion with what is personal in interest and feeling1 it is greatly exposed to degenerate into a false and misguiding sentiment4 ,connecting itself with the notions of character which prevail by chance in the community1 rather than with the rule of right and of ,god1 it has erected a false standard of estimate4 ,the requisitions of honour come to be viewed as regarding only equals1 or those who are hedged about with honour1 and they are neglected with regard to the helpless4 ,men of honour use treachery with women1--with those to whom they promise marriage1 and with those to whom1 in marrying1 they promised fidelity1 love1 and care2 and yet their honour is1 in the eyes of society1 unstained4--,feudal ambition is another sentiment fraught with evil to marriage4 ,in a society where pride and ostentation prevail1 where rank and wealth are regarded as prime objects of pursuit1 marriage comes to be regarded as a means of obtaining these4 ,wives are selected for their connexions and their fortune1 and the love is placed elsewhere4--,any one of these corrupt species of sentiment1 and of some others which exist1 must ruin domestic peace1 if the laws of each country were as wise as they are now1 for the most part1 faulty1 and as powerful as they are now ineffectual4--,if the traveller will bear these things in mind1 he will gain light upon the moral sentiment of the society by the condition of domestic life in it2 and again1 what he knows of the prevalent moral sentiment of the society will cast light upon the domestic condition of its members4 ,another thing to be carefully remembered is1 that asceticism and licentiousness universally coexist4 ,all experience proves this2 and every principle of human nature might prophesy the proof4 ,passions and emotions cannot be extinguished by general rules4 ,self-mortification can spring only out of a home-felt principle1 and not from the will of another1 or of any number of others4 ,the exhibition only can be restrained1 and the visible conduct ordered by rule4 ,in consequence1 it is found that no greater impurity of mind exists than among associated ascetics2 and nowhere are crimes of the licentious class so gross1 other circumstances being equal1 as in communities which have the puritanic spirit4 ,any one well-informed on the subject is aware that there is much coarseness in the manners of the ,quakers2 and their regard for the pleasures of the table is open to the observation of all4 ,nowhere are drunkenness and infanticide more disgusting and horrible1 when they do occur1 than in ,calvinistic ,scotland4 ,the bottomless corruption of ,vienna is notorious2 and much of it is traceable to a species of political asceticism1--to artificial restrictions other than religious1 but producing similar effects4 ,politics are a forbidden topic of conversation4 ,under this rule1 literature is a forbidden topic too2 for literary and philosophical necessarily induces political communication4 ,in ,vienna may be seen the singular spectacle of an assembled multitude who read1 not one of whom opens his lips upon books1 or their subject matter4 ,what then remains8 ,gallantry4 ,the intellect being silenced1 the passions run riot2 and the excessive corruption of the society1--a corruption which is notorious over the civilized world1--is the natural consequence4 ,it may safely be assumed that wherever artificial restraints are imposed on the passions1 or on the intellects and pursuits of men1 there must be licentiousness1 precisely proportioned to the severity of the restraint4 ,celibacy of the clergy1 or of any other class of men1 involves polygamy1 virtual if not avowed1 in some other class4 ,to this the relaxation of domestic morals in the higher orders of all ,catholic societies bears testimony as strongly as the existence of allowed polygamy in ,india4 ,it is everywhere professed that ,christianity puts an end to polygamy2 and so it does1 as ,christianity is understood in ,protestant countries2 but a glance at the state of morals in countries where celibacy is the religion of the clergy1--among the higher ranks in ,italy1 in ,france1 in ,spain1--shows that1 while the name of polygamy is disclaimed1 the thing is held in no great abhorrence4 ,this is mentioned here simply as matter of fact1 necessary to our inquiry as to how to observe morals and manners4 ,it is notorious that1 wherever celibacy is extensively professed1 there is not only1 as a consequence1 a frequent breach of profession1 but a much larger indulgence extended to other classes1 in consequence of the restrictions on one4 ,the methods of marriage in ,italy and ,france1--the disposing of the woman at an early age1 and before she is capable of giving an enlightened consent1--often even without the form of asking her consent1--on the understanding1 tacit or avowed1 that she may hereafter place her affections elsewhere1--these proceedings could have been adopted1 could now be persevered in1 only in countries where partial asceticism had induced a corresponding licentiousness4--,the same fact1--the invariable proportion of asceticism and licentiousness1--exists where by some it would be least looked for1--in societies which have the reputation of being eminently pure2 and this consideration is sufficient to extinguish all boasting1 all assumption of unquestionable moral superiority in one people over another4 ,it is not only that each nation likes its own notions of morals better than those of its neighbours2 but that the very same things which are avowed among those who are called the grossest1 happen with that which considers itself the most pure4 ,such superiority as there is is owing1 perhaps1 in no case to severity of religious sentiment and discipline1 but rather to the worldly ease which blesses a young and thinly peopled country1 and to the high cultivation of a society which furnishes its members with an extraordinary diversity of interests and pursuits4 ,marriage exists everywhere1 to be studied by the moral observer4 ,he must watch the character of courtships wherever he goes2--whether the young lady is negociated for and promised by her guardians1 without having seen her intended2 like the poor girl who1 when she asked her mother to point out her future husband from among a number of gentlemen1 was silenced with the rebuke1 ,what is that to you8--or whether they are left free to exchange their faith by flowing stream1 through wood1 or craggy wild1 as in the ,united ,states2--or whether there is a medium between these two extremes1 as in ,england4 ,he must observe how fate is defied by lovers in various countries4 ,we have seen what was the acquiescence of ,philip and ,hannah in their eternal separation4 ,none but ,moravians1 perhaps1 would have so parted for ever4 ,scotch lovers agree to come together after so many years spent in providing the plenishing4 ,irish lovers conclude the business1 in case of difficulty1 by appearing before the priest the next morning4 ,there is recourse to a balcony and rope-ladder in one country2 a steam-boat and back-settlement in another2 trust and patience in a third2 and intermediate flirtations1 to pass the time1 in a fourth4 ,he must note the degree of worldly ambition which attends marriages1 and which may therefore be supposed to stimulate them1--how much space the house with two rooms in humble life1 and the country-seat and carriages in higher life1 occupy in the mind of bride or bridegroom4--,he must observe whether conjugal infidelity excites horror and rage1 or whether it is so much a matter of course as that no jealousy interferes to mar the arrangements of mutual convenience4--,he must mark whether women are made absolutely the property of their husbands1 in mind and in estate2 or whether the wife is treated more or less professedly as an equal party in the agreement4--,he must observe whether there is an excluded class1 victims to their own superstition or to a false social obligation1 wandering about to disturb by their jealousy or licentiousness those whose lot is happier4--,he must observe whether there are domestic arrangements for home enjoyments1 or whether all is planned on the supposition of pleasure lying abroad2 whether the reliance is on books1 gardens1 and play with children1 or on the opera1 parties1 the ale-house1 or dances on the green4--,he must mark whether the ladies are occupied with their household cares in the morning1 and the society of their husbands in the evening1 or with embroidery and looking out of balconies2 with receiving company all day1 or gadding abroad2 with the library or the nursery2 with lovers or with children4--,in each country1 called civilized1 he will meet with almost all these varieties3 but in each there is such a prevailing character in the aspect of domestic life1 that intelligent observation will enable him to decide1 without much danger of mistake1 as to whether marriage is merely an arrangement of convenience1 in accordance with low morals1 or a sacred institution1 commanding the reverence and affection of a virtuous people4 ,no high degree of this sanctity can be looked for till that moderation is attained which1 during the prevalence of asceticism and its opposite1 is reached only by a few4 ,that it yet exists nowhere as the characteristic of any society1--that all the blessings of domestic life are not yet open to all1 so as to preclude the danger of any one encroaching on his neighbour1--is but too evident to the travelled observer4 ,he can only mark the degree of approximation to this state of high morals wherever he goes4 ,the traveller everywhere finds woman treated as the inferior party in a compact in which both parties have an equal interest4 ,any agreement thus formed is imperfect1 and is liable to disturbance2 and the danger is great in proportion to the degradation of the supposed weaker party4 ,the degree of the degradation of woman is as good a test as the moralist can adopt for ascertaining the state of domestic morals in any country4 ,the ,indian squaw carries the household burdens1 trudging in the dust1 while her husband on horseback paces before her1 unencumbered but by his own gay trappings4 ,she carries the wallet with food1 the matting for the lodge1 the merchandize 7if they possess any71 and her infant4 ,there is no exemption from labour for the squaw of the most vaunted chief4 ,in other countries the wife may be found drawing the plough1 hewing wood and carrying water2 the men of the family standing idle to witness her toils4 ,here the observer may feel pretty sure of his case4 ,from a condition of slavery like this1 women are found rising to the highest condition in which they are at present seen1 in ,france1 ,england1 and the ,united ,states1--where they are less than half-educated1 precluded from earning a subsistence1 except in a very few ill-paid employments1 and prohibited from giving or withholding their assent to laws which they are yet bound by penalties to obey4 ,in ,france1 owing to the great destruction of men in the wars of ,napoleon1 women are engaged1 and successfully engaged1 in a variety of occupations which have been elsewhere supposed unsuitable to the sex4 ,yet there remains so large a number who cannot1 by the most strenuous labour in feminine employments1 command the necessaries of life1 while its luxuries may be earned by infamy1 that the morals of the society are naturally bad4 ,great attention has of late been given to this subject in ,france3 the social condition of women is matter of thought and discussion to a degree which promises some considerable amelioration4 ,already1 women can do more in ,france than anywhere else2 they can attempt more without ridicule or arbitrary hinderance3 and the women of ,france are probably destined to lead the way in the advance which the sex must hereafter make4 ,at present1 society is undergoing a transition from a feudal state to one of mutual government2 and women1 gaining in some ways1 suffer in others during the process4 ,they have1 happily for themselves1 lost much of the peculiar kind of observance which was the most remarkable feature of the chivalrous age2 and it has been impossible to prevent their sharing in the benefits of the improvement and diffusion of knowledge4 ,all cultivation of their powers has secured to them the use of new power2 so that their condition is far superior to what it was in any former age4 ,but new difficulties about securing a maintenance have arisen4 ,marriage is less general2 and the husbands of the greater number of women are not secure of a maintenance from the lords of the soil1 any more than women are from being married4 ,the charge of their own maintenance is thrown upon large numbers of women1 without the requisite variety of employments having been opened to them1 or the needful education imparted4 ,a natural consequence of this is1 that women are educated to consider marriage the one object in life1 and therefore to be extremely impatient to secure it4 ,the unfavourable influence of these results upon the happiness of domestic life may be seen at a glance4 ,this may be considered the sum and substance of female education in ,england2 and the case is scarcely better in ,france1 though the independence and practical efficiency of women there are greater than in any other country4 ,the women in the ,united ,states are in a lower condition than either1 though there is less striving after marriage1 from its greater frequency1 and little restriction is imposed upon the book-learning which women may obtain4 ,but the old feudal notions about the sex flourish there1 while they are going out in the more advanced countries of ,europe2 and these notions1 in reality1 regulate the condition of women4 ,american women generally are treated in no degree as equals1 but with a kind of superstitious outward observance1 which1 as they have done nothing to earn it1 is false and hurtful4 ,coexisting with this1 there is an extreme difficulty in a woman's obtaining a maintenance1 except by the exercise of some rare powers4 ,in a country where women are brought up to be indulged wives1 there is no hope1 help1 or prospect for such as have not money and are not married4 ,in ,america1 women can earn a maintenance only by teaching1 sewing1 employment in factories1 keeping boarding-houses1 and domestic service4 ,some governesses are tolerably well paid1--comparing their earnings with those of men4 ,employment in factories1 and domestic service1 are well paid4 ,sewing is so wretched an occupation everywhere1 that it is to be hoped that machinery will soon supersede the use of human fingers in a labour so unprofitable4 ,in ,boston1 ,massachusetts1 a woman is paid ninepence 7sixpence ,english7 for making a shirt4--,in ,england1 besides these occupations1 others are opening2 and1 what is of yet greater consequence1 the public mind is awakening to the necessity of enlarging the sphere of female industry4 ,some of the inferior branches of the fine arts have lately offered profitable employment to many women4 ,the commercial adversity to which the country has been exposed from time to time1 has been of service to the sex1 by throwing hundreds and thousands of them upon their own resources1 and thus impelling them to urge claims and show powers which are more respected every day4--,in ,france this is yet more conspicuously the case4 ,there1 women are shopkeepers1 merchants1 professional accountants1 editors of newspapers1 and employed in many other ways1 unexampled elsewhere1 but natural and respectable enough on the spot4 ,domestic morals are affected in two principal respects by these differences4 ,where feminine occupations of a profitable nature are few1 and therefore overstocked1 and therefore yielding a scanty maintenance with difficulty1 there is the strongest temptation to prefer luxury with infamy to hardship with unrecognized honour4 ,hence arises much of the corruption of cities1--less in the ,united ,states than in ,europe1 from the prevalence of marriage1--but awful in extent everywhere4 ,where vice is made to appear the interest of large classes of women1 the observer may be quite sure that domestic morals will be found impure4 ,if he can meet with any society where the objects of life are as various and as freely open to women as to men1 there he may be sure of finding the greatest amount of domestic purity and peace2 for1 if women were not helpless1 men would find it far less easy to be vicious4 ,the other way in which domestic morals are affected by the scope which is allowed to the powers of women1 is through the views of marriage which are induced4 ,marriage is debased by being considered the one worldly object in life1--that on which maintenance1 consequence1 and power depend4 ,where the husband marries for connexion1 fortune1 or an heir to his estate1 and the wife for an establishment1 for consequence1 or influence1 there is no foundation for high domestic morals and lasting peace2 and in a country where marriage is made the single aim of all women1 there is no security against the influence of some of these motives even in the simplest and purest cases of attachment4 ,the sordidness is infused from the earliest years2 the taint is in the mind before the attachment begins1 before the objects meet2 and the evil effects upon the marriage state are incalculable4 ,all this--the sentiment of society with regard to ,woman and to ,marriage1 the social condition of ,woman1 and the consequent tendency and aim of her education1--the traveller must carefully observe4 ,each civilized society claims for itself the superiority in its treatment of woman4 ,in one1 she is indulged with religious shows1 and with masquerades1 or ,punch1 as an occasional variety4 ,in another1 she is left in honourable and undisputed possession of the housekeeping department4 ,in a third1 she is allowed to meddle1 behind the scenes1 with the business which is confided to her husband's management4 ,in a fourth1 she is satisfied in being the cherished domestic companion1 unaware of the injury of being doomed to the narrowness of mind which is the portion of those who are always confined to the domestic circle4 ,in a fifth1 she is flattered at being guarded and indulged as a being requiring incessant fostering1 and too feeble to take care of herself4 ,in a sixth society1 there may be found expanding means of independent occupation1 of responsible employment for women2 and here1 other circumstances being equal1 is the best promise of domestic fidelity and enjoyment4 ,it is a matter of course that women who are furnished with but one object1--marriage1--must be as unfit for anything when their aim is accomplished as if they had never had any object at all4 ,they are no more equal to the task of education than to that of governing the state2 and1 if any unexpected turn of adversity befals them1 they have no resource but a convent1 or some other charitable provision4 ,where1 on the other hand1 women are brought up capable of maintaining an independent existence1 other objects remain when the grand one is accomplished4 ,their independence of mind places them beyond the reach of the spoiler2 and their cultivated faculty of reason renders them worthy guardians of the rational beings whose weal or woe is lodged in their hands4 ,there is yet1 as may be seen by a mere glance over society1 only a very imperfect provision made anywhere for doing justice to the next generation by qualifying their mothers2 but the observer of morals may profit by marking the degrees in which this imperfection approaches to barbarism4 ,where he finds that girls are committed to convents for education1 and have no alternative in life but marriage1 in which their will has no share1 and a return to their convent1 he may safely conclude that there a plurality of lovers is a matter of course1 and domestic enjoyments of the highest kind undesired and unknown4 ,he may conclude that as are the parents1 so will be the children2 and that1 for one more generation at least1 there will be little or no improvement4 ,but where he finds a variety of occupations open to women2 where he perceives them not only pursuing the lighter mechanic arts1 dispensing charity and organizing schools for the poor1 but occupied in education1 and in the study of science and the practice of the fine arts1 he may conclude that here resides the highest domestic enjoyment which has yet been attained1 and the strongest hope of a further advance4 99 99 99 99 99 ,children in all countries are1 as ,mrs4 ,grant of ,laggan says1 first vegetables1 and then they are animals1 and then they come to be people2 but their way of growing out of one stage into another is as different1 in different societies1 as their states of mind when they are grown up4 ,they all have limbs1 senses1 and intellects2 but their growth of heart and mind depends incalculably upon the spirit of the society amidst which they are reared4 ,the traveller must study them wherever he meets them4 ,in one country1 multitudes of them lie about in the streets1 basking in the sun1 and killing vermin2 while the children of the very poorest persons of another country are decently clothed1 and either busily occupied with such domestic employments as they are capable of1 or at school1 or playing among the rocks1 or climbing trees1 or crawling about the wooden bridges1 without fear or danger4 ,from this one symptom1 the observer might learn the poverty and idleness of the lower classes of ,spain1 and the comfort and industry of those of the ,united ,states4 ,as to the children of the richer classes1 there is the widest difference in the world between those who are the idols of their mothers1 7as in societies where the heart's love is lavished on the children which has not been engaged by the husband17 and those who are early steeped in corruption1 7as in slave countries17 and those who are reared philosophers and saints1 and those to whom home is a sunny paradise hedged round with love and care1 and those who are little men and women of the world from the time they can walk alone4 ,all these kinds of children exist1--sure breathings of the moral atmosphere of their homes4 ,the traveller must watch them1 talk with them1 and learn from their bearing towards their parents1 and the bent of their affections1 what is the spirit of the families of the land4 ,from observation on these classes of facts1--the ,occupation of the people1 the respective ,characters of the occupied classes1 the ,health of the population1 the state of ,marriage and of ,women1 and the character of ,childhood1--the moralist may learn more of the private life of a community than from the conversation of any number of the individuals who compose it4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,idea ,,of ,,liberty4 ,he who taught man to vanquish whatsoever ,can be between the cradle and the grave1 ,crowned him the ,king of ,life4 ,o vain endeavour1 ,if on his own high will1 a willing slave1 ,he has enthroned the oppression and the oppressor6 ,what if earth can clothe and feed ,amplest millions at their need1 ,and power in thought be as the tree within the seed8 ,or what if ,art1 an ardent intercessor1 ,diving on fiery wings to ,nature's throne1 ,checks the great mother stooping to caress her1 ,and cries1 ,give me1 thy child1 dominion ,over all height and depth8 ,if ,life can breed ,new wants1 and wealth from those who toil and groan ,rend of thy gifts and her's a thousandfold for one4 ,shelley4 ,the same rule--of observing ,things in preference to relying upon the ,discourse of persons--holds good in the task of ascertaining the ,idea of ,liberty entertained and realized by any society4 ,the ,things to be observed for this purpose are those which follow4 ,the most obvious consideration of all is the amount of feudal arrangements which remain1--so obvious as to require only a bare mention4 ,if people are satisfied to obey the will of a lord of the soil1 to go out to hunt or to fight at his bidding1 to require his consent to marriages among his dependants1 and to hold whatever they have at his permission1 their case is clear4 ,they are destitute of any idea of liberty1 and can be considered at best only half-civilized4--,it matters little whether all this subservience is yielded to the owner of an estate1 or the sovereign of the country1 represented by his police or soldiery4 ,blind1 ignorant obedience to any ruling power which the subjects had no hand in constituting1 on the one part1 and the enforcement of that obedience on the other1 is the feudal temper4 ,a sleek ,austrian of the middle ranks stood1 of late1 smoking at his door4 ,a practical joker1 who had a mind to see how far the man's deference for the police would carry him1 drew towards him1 and whispered in his ear1 ,you must dance4 ,the ,austrian stared4 ,dance1 ,i say6 repeated the stranger1 with an air of authority4 ,why must ,i dance8 asked the ,austrian1 when he had removed the pipe from his mouth4 ,because ,i1 an agent of the police1 insist upon it4 ,the ,austrian instantly began capering1 and continued his exercise till desired to stand still1 assured that he had satisfied the police4--,in the ,united ,states1 the contrast is amusing4 ,on occasions of public assembly1 the appeal is made to the democratic sentiment of the people to preserve order4 ,if an orator is to hold forth on an anniversary1 the soldiers 7most citizen-like militia7 may be seen putting their arms round the necks of newly arrived listeners1 in supplication that they will leave seats vacant for the band4 ,if a piece of plate is to be presented to a statesman1 and twice as many people throng to the theatre as the building will hold1 harangues may be heard from the neighbouring balconies1--appeals to the gallantry and kindliness of the crowd1--which are found quite as effectual in controlling the movements of the assemblage as any number of bayonets or constables' staves could be4 ,this leads to the mention of the ,police of a country as a sure sign of the idea of liberty existing within it4 ,where the soldiery are the guards of social order1 it makes all the difference whether they are royal troops1--a destructive machinery organized against the people1--or a ,national ,guard1 springing up when needed from among the people1 for the people's sake1--or a militia1 like the ,american1 mentioned above1--virtually stewards of the meeting1 and nothing more4 ,whatever may be thought of the comparative ease of proceeding1 on any given occasion1 between a police like that of ,paris1 and a constabulary like that of the ,american cities1 7a mockery to ,european rulers17 it is a striking fact that order has been generally preserved for half a century1 in a country where public meetings are a hundred times as numerous as in any kingdom in ,europe1 by means which would in ,europe be no means at all4 ,it is clear that the idea of liberty must be elevated1 and the love of social order intelligent and strong1 where the peace has been kept through unanimity of will4 ,with the exception of outrages growing out of the institution of slavery1 7which require a deeper treatment than any species of constabulary can practise17 the ,united ,states1 with opportunities of disturbance which have been as a hundred to one1 have exhibited fewer instances of a breach of public order than any other country in the same space of time2 and this order has been preserved by the popular will1 in the full knowledge on all hands that no power existed to control this will4 ,this is a fact which speaks volumes in favour of the principles1 if not the policy1 of the ,american people4 ,in the ,united ,states1 the traveller may proceed a thousand miles in any direction1 or live ten years in one place1 without the idea of control1 beyond that of social convenience1 being once presented to his mind4 ,paul ,louis ,courier gives us the experience of an acquaintance of his4 ,un homme que j'ai vu arrive d',amrique4 ,il y est rest trois ans sans entendre parler de ce que nous appelons ici l'autorit4 ,il a vcu trois ans sans tre gouvern1 s'ennuyant prir4--,in ,france1 he cannot go in search of the site of the ,bastille without finding himself surrounded by watchers before he has stood five minutes4--,in ,italy1 his trunks are opened to examine the books he carries1 and compare them with the list of proscribed works4--,in ,spain1 he can say nothing in public that is not likely to be known to the authorities before the day is out2 or in private that is not in possession of some priest after the next period of confession4--,in ,switzerland1 he finds that he is free to do any thing but make inquiries about the condition of the country4 ,if he asks1 as the ,emperor ,joseph did before him1 ,quels sont les revenues de votre rpublique8 he may receive the same answer1 ,ils excedent nos dpenses4--,in ,germany1 his case is like that of the inhabitants of the cities2--his course is open and agreeable as long as he pursues inferior objects1 but it is made extremely inconvenient to him to gratify his interest in politics4--,in ,poland1 evidences of authority will meet his observation in every direction1 while he will rarely hear the name of its head4--,in ,russia1 he will find the people speaking of their despot as their father1 and will perceive that it is more offensive to allude to the mortality of emperors than to talk lightly to children of the death of their parents4 ,a gentleman in the suite of an ,english ambassador inquired1 after having been conducted over the imperial palace at ,st4 ,petersburgh1 which of the rooms he had seen was that in which the ,emperor ,paul was killed4 ,no answer was returned to his question1 nor to his repetition of it4 ,he imprudently persisted till some reply was necessary4 ,his guide whispered1 with white lips1 ,paul was not killed4 ,emperors do not die2 they transpire out of life4 ,such are some of the relations of the people to authority which will strike the observation of the traveller in the most civilized of foreign countries4 ,these will be further illustrated by the smallest circumstances which meet his eye that can in any way indicate what are the functions of the police1 and where it has most or least authority4 ,the ,emperor ,paul issued an ukase about shoestrings1 which it was highly penal to disobey4 ,his son has lately ordained the precise measurement of whiskers1 and cut of the hair behind1 to be observed by the officers of the army4 ,in some regions1 all men go armed3 in others1 it is penal to wear arms3 in others1 people may do as they please4 ,in some countries1 there are costumes of classes enforced by law3 in others1 by opinion3 while fashion is the only dictator in a third4 ,in some societies citizens must obtain leave from the authorities to move from place to place3 in others1 strangers alone are plagued with passports3 in others1 there is perfect freedom of locomotion for all4--,in his observation of the workings of authority1 as embodied in a police1 his own experience of restraint or liberty will afford him ample material for thought1 and ground of inference4 ,such restraint as exists derives its character chiefly from its origin4 ,it makes a wide difference whether the police are the creatures of a despotic sovereign who treats his subjects as property2 or whether they are the agents of a representative government1 appointed by responsible rulers for the public good2 or whether they are the servants of a self-governing people1 chosen by those among whom their work lies4 ,it makes a wide difference whether they are in the secret pay of an irresponsible individual1 or appointed by command of a parliament1 or elected by a concourse of citizens4 ,in any case1 their existence and their function testify to the absence or presence of a general idea of liberty among the people2 and to its nature1 if present4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is taken for granted that the traveller is informed1 before he sets out1 respecting the form of ,government and general course of ,legislation of the nation he studies4 ,he will watch both1 attending upon the administration as well as the formation of laws1--visiting1 where it is allowed1 the courts of justice as well as the halls of parliament4 ,but he must remember that neither the composition of the government1 nor the body of the laws1 nor the administration of them1 is an evidence of what the idea of liberty at present is among the people1 except in a democratic republic1 where the acts of the government are the result of the last expression of the national will4 ,every other representative system is too partial for its legislative acts to be more than the expression of the will of a party2 and the great body of laws is everywhere1 except in ,america1 the work of preceding ages4 ,though1 therefore1 the observer will allow no great legislative and administrative acts to pass without his notice1 he will apply himself to other sets of circumstances to ascertain what is the existing idea of liberty prevalent among the people4 ,he will observe1 from certain facts of their position1 what this idea must be2 and1 from certain classes of their own deeds1 what it actually is4 ,one of the most important circumstances is1 whether the population is thinly sprinkled over the face of the country1 or whether it is collected into neighbourly societies4 ,this all-important condition has been alluded to so often already that it is only necessary to remind the observer never to lose sight of it4 ,plus un peuple nombreux se rapproche1 says ,rousseau1 moins le gouvernement peut usurper sur le souverain4 ,l'avantage d'un gouvernement tyrannique est donc en ceci1 d'agir grandes distances4 ,a l'aide des points d'appui qu'il se donne1 sa force augmente au loin1 comme celle des lviers4 ,celle du peuple1 au contraire1 n'agit que concentre3 elle s'vapore et se perd en s'tendant1 comme l'effet de la poudre parse terre1 et qui ne prend feu que grain grain4 ,les pays les moins peupls sont ainsi les plus propres la tyrannie4 ,les btes froces ne rgnent que dans les dserts4 ,it is obvious enough that the ,idea of ,liberty1 which can originate only in the intercourse of many minds1 as the liberty itself can be wrought out only by the labours of many united hands1 is not to be looked for where the people live apart1 and are destitute of any knowledge of the interests and desires of the community at large4 99 99 99 99 99 ,whether the society is divided into ,two ,classes1 or whether there is a ,gradation1 is another important consideration4 ,where there are only two1 proprietors and labourers1 the ,idea of ,liberty is deficient or absent4 ,the proprietory class can have no other desires on the subject than to repress the encroachments of the sovereign above them1 or of the servile class below them3 and in the servile class the conception of liberty is yet unformed4 ,only in barbarous countries1 in countries where slavery subsists1 and in some few strongholds of feudalism1 is this decided division of society into two classes now to be found4 ,everywhere else there is more or less gradation2 and in the most advanced countries the classes are least distinguishable4 ,below those members who1 in ,european societies1 are distinguished by birth1 there is class beneath class of capitalists1 though it is usual to comprehend them all1 for convenience of speech1 under the name of the middle class4 ,thus society in ,great ,britain1 ,france1 and ,germany is commonly spoken of as consisting of three classes2 while the divisions of the middle class are1 in fact1 very numerous4 ,the small shopkeeper is not of the same class with the landowner1 or wealthy banker1 or professional man2 while their views of life1 their political principles1 and their social aspirations1 are as different as those of the peer and the mechanic4 ,there are two pledges of the advancement of the idea of liberty in a community3--the one is the mingling of the functions of proprietor and labourer throughout the whole of a society ruled by a representative government2 the other is the graduation of ranks by some other principle than hereditary succession4 ,in ancient times most men were proprietors and labourers too2 but under despotic rule4 ,societies which have once come under the representative principle are not likely to retrograde to this state2 while there are influences ever at work to exalt the function of labour1 and to extend that of proprietorship4 ,wherever this mixture of functions has gone the furthest1--wherever the mechanic classes are becoming capitalists1 and proprietors are liable to sink down from their ancient honour1 unless they can secure respect by personal qualifications1 the idea of liberty is1 to a considerable degree1 confirmed and elevated4 ,in such a case1 it is clear that both the power and the desire of encroachment on the part of the upper class must be lessened1 and that of resistance on the part of the lower increased4--,the other improvement follows upon this4 ,proprietorship1 with its feudal influences1 having lost caste 7though it has gained in true dignity71 some other ground of distinction must succeed4 ,if we may judge by what is before our eyes in the ,western world1 talent is likely to be the next successor4 ,it is to be hoped that talent will1 in its turn1 give way to moral worth1--the higher degrees of which imply1 however1 superiority of mental power4 ,the preference of personal qualifications to those of external endowment has already begun in the world1 and is fast making its way4 ,such distinction of ranks as there is in ,america originates in mental qualifications4 ,statesmen1 who rise by their own power1 rank highest2 and then authors4 ,the wealthiest capitalist gives place1 in the estimation of all1 to a popular orator1 a successful author1 or an eminent clergyman4--,in ,france1 the honours of the peerage and the offices of the state are given to men of science1 philosophy1 and literature4 ,the same is the case in some parts of ,germany3 and1 even in aristocratic ,england1 the younger members of her ,upper ,house are unsatisfied with being merely peers1 and are anxious to push their way in literature1 as well as in politics4--,the traveller must give earnest heed to symptoms like these1 knowing that as the barriers of ranks are thrown down1 and personal obtain the ascendant over hereditary qualifications1 social coercion must be relaxed1 and the sentiment of liberty exalted4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in close connexion with this1 he must observe the condition of ,servants4 ,the treatment and conduct of domestics depend on causes which lie far deeper than the principles and tempers of particular servants and masters1 as may be seen by a glance at domestic service in ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,ireland4 ,in ,england1 the old ,saxon and ,norman feud smoulders1 7however unconscious the parties may be of the fact17 in the relation of master and servant4 ,domestics who never heard of either ,norman or ,saxon entertain a deep-rooted conviction of their masters' interests and their own being directly opposed1 and are subject to a strong sense of injury4 ,masters who never bestow a thought on the transactions of the twelfth century1 complain of a doggedness1 selfishness1 and case-hardened indifference in the class of domestics1 which kindness cannot penetrate1 or penetrates only to pervert4 ,the relation is therefore a painful one in ,england4 ,there is little satisfaction to be obtained between the extremes of servility and defiance1 by which the conduct of servants is almost as distinctly marked now as when the nation was younger by seven centuries4 ,the ,english housewives complain that confidence only makes their maid servants conceited1 and that indulgence spoils them4--,in ,ireland1 the case is of the same nature1 but much aggravated4 ,the injury of having an aristocracy of foreigners forced on the country1 to whom the natives are to render service1 is more recent1 and the impression more consciously retained4 ,the servants are ill-treated1 and they yield bad service in return4 ,it is mournful to see the arrangement of ,dublin houses4 ,the drawing-rooms are palace-like1 while the servants' apartments are dark and damp dungeons4 ,it is wearisome to hear the complaints of the dirt1 falsehood1 and faithlessness of ,irish servants1--complaints which their mistresses have ever ready for the ear of the stranger2 and it is disgusting to witness the effects in the household4 ,it is equally sad and ludicrous to see the mistress of some families enter the breakfast room1 with a loaf of bread under her arm1 the butter-plate in one hand1 and a bunch of keys in the other2--to see her cut from the loaf the number of slices required1 and send them down to be toasted1--explaining that she is obliged to lock up the very bread from the thievery of her servants1 and informing against them as if she expected them to be worthy of trust1 while she daily insults them with the refusal of all trust1--even to the care of the bread-pan4 ,in ,scotland1 the case is widely different4 ,servitude and clanship are there connected1 instead of servitude and conquest4 ,the service is willing in proportion2 and the faults of domestics are not those common to the oppressed1 but rather those proceeding from pride and self-will4 ,the ,scotch domestic has still the pride in the chief of the name which cherishes the self-respect of every member of a clan2 and in the service of the chief there is scarcely any exertion which the humblest of his name would not make4 ,the results are obvious4 ,there is a better understanding between the two classes than in the other divisions of the kingdom3 and ,scotch masters and mistresses obtain a satisfaction from their domestics which no degree of justice and kindness in ,english and ,irish housekeepers can secure4 ,the dregs of an oppression of centuries cannot be purged away by the action of individual tempers1 be they of the best4 ,the causes of misunderstanding1 as we have said1 lie deep4 ,the principles which regulate the condition of domestic servants in every country form thus a deep and wide subject for the traveller's inquiries4 ,in ,america1 he will hear frequent complaints from the ladies of the pride of their maid servants1 and of the difficulty of settling them1 while he sees that some are the most intimate friends of the families they serve2 and that not a few collect books1 and attend courses of scientific lectures4 ,the fact is that1 in ,america1 a conflict is going on between opposite principles1 and the consequences of the struggle show themselves chiefly in the relation between master and servant4 ,the old ,european notions of the degradation of servitude survive in the minds of their ,american descendants1 and are nourished by the presence of slavery on the same continent1 and by the importation of labourers from ,europe which is perpetually going on4 ,in conflict with these notions are the democratic ideas of the honourableness of voluntary service by contract4 ,it is found difficult1 at first1 to settle the bounds of the contract2 and masters are liable to sin1 from long habit1 on the side of imperiousness1 and the servants on that of captiousness and jealousy of their own rights4 ,such are the inconveniences of a transition state2--a state1 however1 upon which it should be remembered that other societies have yet to enter4 ,in an ,irish country-house1 the guest sometimes finds himself desired to keep his wardrobe locked up4--,in ,england1 he perceives a restraint in the address of each class to the class above it4--,in ,france1 a washerwoman speaks with as much ease to a duchess as a duchess to a washerwoman4--,in ,holland1 the domestics have chambers as scrupulously neat as their masters'4--,in ,ireland1 they sleep in underground closets4--,in ,new ,york1 they can command their own accommodation4--,in ,cuba they sleep1 like dogs1 in the passages of the family dwellings4 ,these are some of the facts from which the observer is to draw his inferences1 rather than from the manners of some individuals of the class whom he may meet4 ,in his conclusions from such facts he can hardly be wrong1 though he may chance to become acquainted with a footman of the true heroic order in ,dublin1 and a master in ,cuba who respects his own servants1 and a cringing lackey in ,new ,york4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a point of some importance is whether the provincial inhabitants depend upon the management and imitate the modes of life of the metropolis1 or have principles and manners of their own4 ,where there is least freedom and the least desire of it1 everything centres in the metropolis4 ,where there is most freedom1 each city1 town1 and vill1 thinks and acts for itself4 ,in despotic countries1 the principle of centralization actuates everything4 ,orders are issued from the central authorities1 and the minds of the provinces are saved all trouble of thinking for themselves4 ,where self-government is permitted to each assemblage of citizens1 they are stimulated to improve their idea and practice of liberty1 and are almost independent of metropolitan usages4 ,the traveller will find that ,paris is ,france1 as everybody has heard1 and that the government of ,france is carried on in half-a-dozen apartments in the capital1 with little reference to the unrepresented thousands who are living some hundreds of miles off3 while1 if he casts a glance over ,norway1 he may see the people on the shores of the fiords1 or in the valleys between the pine-steeps1 quietly making their arrangements for controlling the central authority1 even abolishing the institution of hereditary nobility in opposition to the will of the king2 but legally1 peaceably1 and in all the simplicity of determined independence1--the result of a matured idea of liberty4 ,the observer will note whether the pursuits and amusements of the provincial inhabitants originate in the circumstances of the locality1 or whether they are copies from those of the metropolis2 whether the great city be spoken of with reverence1 scorn1 or indifference1 or not spoken of at all3 whether1 as in a ,pennsylvanian village1 the society could go on if the capital were swallowed up by an earthquake2 or whether1 as in ,prussia1 the favour of the central power is as the breath of the nostrils of the people4 99 99 99 99 99 ,newspapers are a strong evidence of the political ideas of a people2--not individual newspapers2 for no two1 perhaps1 fully agree in principles and sentiment1 and it is to be feared that none are positively honest4 ,not by individual newspapers must the traveller form his judgment1 but by the freedom of discussion which he may find to be permitted1 or the restraints upon discussion imposed4 ,the idea of liberty must be low and feeble among a people who permit the government to maintain a severe censorship2 and it must be powerful and effectual in a society which can make all its complaints through a newspaper1--be the reports of the newspapers upon the state of social affairs as dismal as they may4 ,whatever revilings of a tyrannical president1 or of a servile congress1 a traveller may meet with in any number of ,american journals1 he may fairly conclude that both the one and the other must be nearly harmless if they are discussed in a newspaper4 ,the very existence of the newspapers he sees testifies to the prevalence of a habit of reading1 and consequently of education--to the wide diffusion of political power--and to the probable safety and permanence of a government which is founded on so broad a basis1 and can afford to indulge so large a licence4 ,whatever he may be told of the patriotism of a sovereign1 let him give it to the winds if he finds a space in a newspaper made blank by the pen of a censor4 ,the tameness of the ,austrian journals tells as plain a tale as if no censor had ever suppressed a syllable2--as much so as the small size of a ,new ,orleans paper compared with one of ,new ,york1 or as the fiercest bluster of a ,cincinnati ,daily or ,weekly1 on the eve of the election of a president4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in countries where there is any ,free ,education1 the traveller must observe its nature2 and especially whether the subjects of it are distinguished by any sort of badge4 ,the practice of badging1 otherwise than by mutual consent1 is usually bad3 it is always suspicious4 ,the traveller will note whether free education is conferred by charitable bequest1 7a practice originating in times when the doctrine of expiation was prevalent1 and continued to this day by its union with charity17 or whether it is framed at the will of the sovereign1 that his young subjects may be trained to his own purposes1--as in the case of the ,emperor of ,russia and his young ,polish victims2 or whether it arises from the union of such a desire with a more enlightened object1--as may be witnessed in ,prussia2 or whether it is provided by the sovereign people1--by universal consent1 as the right of every individual born into the community1 and as the necessary qualification for the enjoyment of social privileges1--as in the ,united ,states4 ,the ,english ,christ ,hospital boys are badged3 ,napoleon's ,polytechnic pupils were badged2 so are the ,czar's orphan charge4 ,wherever the meddling or ostentatious charity of antique times is in existence1--times when the idea of liberty was low and confined1--this badging is to be looked for2 and also wherever it is necessary to the purposes of the potentate to keep a register of the young subjects who may become his instruments or his foes3--but where education is absolutely universal1 where any citizen has a right to put every child1 not otherwise educated1 into the school-house of his township1 and where the rising generation are destined to take care of themselves1 and legislate after their own will1 no badging will be found4 ,this apparently trifling fact is worth the attention of the observer4 ,the extent of popular education is a fact of the deepest significance4 ,under despotisms there will be the smallest amount of it2 and in proportion to the national idea of the dignity and importance of man1--idea of liberty1 in short1--will be its extent1 both in regard to the number it comprehends1 and to the enlargement of their studies4 ,the universality of education is inseparably connected with a lofty idea of liberty2 and till the idea is realized in a constantly expanding system of national education1 the observer may profitably note for reflection the facts whether he is surrounded on a frontier by a crowd of whining young beggars1 or whether he sees a parade of charity scholars1--these all in blue caps and yellow stockings1 and those all in white tippets and green aprons2 or whether he falls in with an annual or quarterly assembly of teachers1 met to confer on the best principles and methods of carrying on an education which is itself a matter of course4 ,in countries where there is any popular ,idea of ,liberty1 the universities are considered its stronghold1 from their being the places where the young1 active1 hopeful1 and aspiring meet1--the youths who are soon to be citizens1 and who have here the means of daily communication of their ideas1 for many years together4 ,it would be an interesting inquiry how many revolutions1 warlike or bloodless1 have issued from seats of learning2 and yet more1 how many have been planned for which the existing powers1 or the habits of society1 have been too strong4 ,if the universities are not so constituted as to admit of this fostering of free principles1 they are pretty sure to retain the antique notions in accordance with which they were instituted1 and to fall into the rear of society in morals and manners4 ,it is the traveller's business to observe the characteristics of these institutions1 and to reflect whether they are likely to aid or to retard the progress of the nation in which they stand4 ,there are universities in almost every country2 but they are as little like one another as the costumes that are found in ,switzerland and ,india2 and the one speak as plainly of morals and manners as the other of climate4 ,it is needless to point out that countries which contain only aristocratic halls of learning1 or schools otherwise devoid of an elastic principle1 must be in a state of comparative barbarism2 because1 in such a case1 learning 7so called there7 must be confined to a few1 and probably to the few who can make the least practical use of it4 ,where the universities are on such a plan as that1 preserving their primary form1 they can admit increasing numbers1 the state of intellect is likely to be a more advanced one4 ,but a more favourable symptom is where seats of learning are multiplied as society enlarges1 modified in their principles as new departments of knowledge open1 and as new classes arise who wish to learn4 ,that country is in a state of transition--of progression--where the ancient universities are honoured for as much as they can give1 while new schools arise to supply their deficiencies1 and ,mechanics' ,institutes1 or some kindred establishments1 flourish by the side of both4 ,this state of things1 this variety in the pursuit of knowledge1 can exist only where there is a freedom of thought1 and consequent diversity of opinion1 which argues a vigorous idea of liberty4 ,the observer must not1 however1 rest satisfied with ascertaining the proportion of the means of education to the people who have to be educated4 ,he must mark the objects for which learning is pursued4 ,the two most strongly contrasted cases which can be found are probably those of ,germany and 7once more7 the ,united ,states4 ,in the ,united ,states1 it is well known1 a provision of university education is made as ample as that of schools for an earlier stage2 yet no one pretends that a highly finished education is to be looked for in that country4 ,the cause is obvious4 ,in a young nation1 the great common objects of life are entered upon earlier1 and every preparatory process is gone through in a more superficial manner4 ,seats of learning are numerous and fully attended1 both in ,germany and ,america1 and they testify in each to a pervading desire of knowledge4 ,here the agreement ends4 ,the ,german student may1 without being singular1 remain within the walls of his college till time silvers his hairs2 or he has even been known to pass eighteen years among his books1 without once crossing the threshold of his study4 ,the young ,american1 meanwhile1 satisfied at the end of three years that he knows as much as his neighbours1 settles in a home1 engages in farming or commerce1 and plunges into what alone he considers the business of life4 ,each of these pursues his appropriate objects3 each is right in his own way3 but the difference of pursuit indicates a wider difference of sentiment between the two countries than the abundance of the means of learning in each indicates a resemblance4 ,the observer must therefore mark1 not only what and how many are the seats of learning1 but who frequent them2 whether there are many1 past the season of youth1 who make study the business of their lives2 or whether all are of that class who regard study merely as a part of the preparation which they are ordained to make for the accomplishment of the commonest aims of life4 ,he can scarcely take his evening walk in the precincts of a university without observing a difference so wide as this4 ,the great importance of the fact lies in this1--that increase of knowledge is necessary to the secure enlargement of freedom4 ,germany may not1 it is true1 require learning in her youth for political purposes1 but because learning has become the taste1 the characteristic honour of the nation2 but this knowledge will infallibly work out1 sooner or later1 her political regeneration4 ,america requires knowledge in her sons because her political existence itself depends upon their mental competency4 ,the two countries will probably approximate gradually towards a sympathy which is at present out of the question4 ,as ,america becomes more fully peopled1 a literature will grow up within her1 and study will assume its place among the chief objects of life4 ,the great ideas which are the employment of the best minds of ,germany must work their way out into action2 and new and immediately practical kinds of knowledge will mingle themselves1 more and more largely1 with those to which she has been1 in times past1 devoted4 ,the two countries may thus fall into a sympathetic correspondence on the mighty subjects of human government and human learning1 and the grand idea of liberty may be made more manifest in the one1 and disciplined and enriched in the other4 99 99 99 99 99 ,one great subject of observation and speculation remains--the objects and form of ,persecution for ,opinion in each country4 ,persecution for opinion is always going on among a people enlightened enough to entertain any opinions at all4 ,there must always be1 in such a nation1 some who have gone further in research than others1 and who1 in making such an advance1 have overstepped the boundaries of popular sympathy4 ,the existence and sufferings of such are not to be denied because there are no fires at the stake1 and no organized and authorized ,inquisition1 and because formal excommunication is gone out of fashion4 ,persecution puts on other forms as ages elapse2 but it is not extinct4 ,it can be inflicted out of the province of law1 as well as through it2 by a neighbourhood as well as from the ,vatican4 ,a wise and honest man may be wounded through his social affections1 and in his domestic relations1 as effectually as by flames1 fetters1 and public ignominy4 ,there are wise and good persons in every civilized country1 who are undergoing persecution in one form or another every day4 ,is it for precocity in science8 or for certain opinions in politics8 or for a peculiar mode of belief in the ,christian religion1 or unbelief of it8 or for championship of an oppressed class8 or for new views in morals8 or1 for fresh inventions in the arts1 apparently interfering with old-established interests8 or for bold philosophical speculation8 ,who suffers arbitrary infliction1 in short1 and how1 for any mode of thinking1 and of faithful action upon thought8 ,an observer would reject whatever he might be told of the paternal government of a prince1 if he saw upon a height a fortress in which men were suffering carcere duro for political opinions4 ,in like manner1 whatever a nation may tell him of its love of liberty should go for little if he sees a virtuous man's children taken from him on the ground of his holding an unusual religious belief2 or citizens mobbed for asserting the rights of negroes2 or moralists treated with public scorn for carrying out allowed principles to their ultimate issues2 or scholars oppressed for throwing new light into the sacred text2 or philosophers denounced for bringing fresh facts to the surface of human knowledge1 whether they seem to agree or not with long-established suppositions4 ,the kind and degree of infliction for opinion which is possible1 and is practised in the time and place1 will indicate to the observer the degree of imperfection in the popular idea of liberty4 ,this is a kind of fact easy to ascertain1 and worthy of all attention4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,progress4 ',tis the sublime of man1 ,our noontide majesty1 to know ourselves ,parts and proportions of one wondrous whole6 ,this fraternizes man1 this constitutes ,our charities and bearings4 ,,coleridge4 ,then let us pray that come it may1 ,as come it will for a' that1 ,that sense and worth1 o'er a' the earth1 ,may bear the gree1 and a' that4 ,for a' that1 and a' that1 ,it's coming yet1 for a' that1 ,that man to man1 the warld o'er1 ,shall brothers be for a' that4 ,,burns4 ,however widely men may differ as to the way to social perfection1 all whose minds have turned in that direction agree as to the end4 ,all agree that if the whole race could live as brethren1 society would be in the most advanced state that can be conceived of4 ,it is also agreed that the spirit of fraternity is to be attained1 if at all1 by men discerning their mutual relation1 as parts and proportions of one wondrous whole4 ,the disputes which arise are about how these proportions are to be arranged1 and what those qualifications should be by which some shall have an ascendancy over others4 ,this cluster of questions is not yet settled with regard to the inhabitants of any one country4 ,the most advanced nations are now in a condition of internal conflict upon them4 ,as for the larger idea1--that nations as well as individuals are parts and proportions of one wondrous whole1 it has hardly yet passed the lips or pen of any but religious men and poets4 ,its time will come when men have made greater progress1 and are more at ease about the domestic arrangements of nations4 ,as long as there are1 in every country of the world1 multitudes who cannot by any exertion of their own redeem themselves from hardship1 and their children from ignorance1 there is quite enough for justice and charity to do at home4 ,while this is doing1--while the ,english are striving to raise the indigent classes of their society1 the ,french speculating to elevate the condition of woman1 and to open the career of life to all rational beings1 the ,germans waiting to throw off the despotism of absolute rulers1 and the ,americans struggling to free the negroes1--the fraternal sentiment will be growing1 in preparation for yet higher results4 ,the principle1 acted upon at home1 will be gaining strength for exercise abroad2 and the more any society becomes like a band of brothers1 the more powerful must be the sympathy which it will have to offer to other such bands4 ,far off as may be the realization of such a prospect1 it is a prospect4 ,for many ages poets and philosophers have entertained the idea of a general spirit of fraternity among men4 ,it is the one great principle of the greatest religion which has ever nourished the morals of mankind4 ,it is the loftiest hope on which the wisest speculators have lived4 ,poets are the prophets1 and philosophers the analysers of the fate of men1 and religion is the promise and pledge of unseen powers to those who believe in them4 ,that cannot be unworthy of attention1 of hope1 of expectation1 which the poets and the analysers of the race1 have reposed upon1 and on which the best religion of the world 7and that which comprehends all others7 is based4 ,that which has never1 for all its splendour1 been deemed absurd by the wisest of the race is now beginning to be realized4 ,we have now something more to show for our hope than what was before enough for the highest minds4 ,the fraternal spirit has begun to manifest itself by its workings in society4 ,the helpless are now aided expressly on the ground of their helplessness1--not from the emotions of compassion excited by the spectacle of suffering in particular cases1 but in a nobler and more abstract way4 ,classes1 crowds1 nations of sufferers are aided and protected by strangers1 powerful and at ease1 who never saw an individual of the suffering thousands1 and who have none but a spiritual interest in their welfare4 ,since missions to barbarous countries1 action against slavery1 and the care of the blind1 deaf and dumb1 and paupers1 have become labours of society1 the fraternity of men has ceased to be a mere aspiration1 or even prophecy and promise4 ,it is not only that the high-placed watchmen of the world have announced that the day is coming1--it has dawned2 and there is every reason to expect that it will brighten into noon4 ,the traveller must be strangely careless who1 in observing upon the morals of a people1 omits to mark the manifestations of this principle2--to learn what is its present strength1 and what the promise of its growth4 ,by fixing his observation on this he may learn1 and no otherwise can he learn1 whether the country he studies is advancing in wisdom and happiness1 or whether it is stationary1 or whether it is going back4 ,the probabilities of its progress are wholly dependent upon this4--,it will not take long to point out what are the signs of progression which he must study4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is of great consequence whether the nation is insular or continental1 independent or colonial4 ,though the time seems to be come when the sea is to be made a highway1 as easy of passage as the land1 such has not been the case till now4 ,even in the case of ,great ,britain1--the most accessible of islands1 and the most tempting to access1--before the last series of wars1 a much smaller number of strangers visited her than could have been supposed to come if they had only to pass land frontiers4 ,during the wars1 she was almost excluded from continental society4 ,the progress that her people have made in liberality and humanity since communication has been rendered easy1 is so striking that it is impossible to avoid supposing the enlarged commerce of mind which has taken place to be one of the chief causes of the improvement4 ,it is probable that the advancement of the nation would have been still greater if the old geological state of junction with the continent had been restored for the last twenty years4 ,she would then have been almost such a centre of influx as ,france has been1 and by which ,france has so far profited that the ,french are now1 it is believed1 the most active-minded and morally progressive nation in the world4 ,much of the vigour and progression of ,france is doubtless owing to other causes2 but much also to her rapid and extensive intercourse with the minds of many nations4 ,the condition of the inhabitants of other islands is likely to be less favourable to progression than that of the ,british1 in proportion as they have less intercourse4 ,they are likely to have even more than the ,english proportion of self-satisfaction1 dislike of foreigners1 and reserve4 ,generally speaking1 the inhabitants of islands are found to be to those of continental countries as villagers to citizens3 they have good qualities of their own1 but are behind the world4 ,malta has not the chance that she would have if we could annex her to the ,south of ,france2 nor will the ,west ,india islands advance as they would do if we could throw them all into one1 and intersect the whole with roads leading on either side from the great ,european and ,american cities4 ,malta and the ,west ,india islands have1 however1 the additional disadvantage of being colonies4 ,the moral progression of a people can scarcely begin till they are independent4 ,their morals are overruled by the mother-country1--by the government and legislation she imposes1 by the rulers she sends out1 by the nature of the advantages she grants and the tribute she requires1 by the population she pours in from home1 and by her own example4 ,accordingly1 the colonies of a powerful country exhibit an exaggeration of the national faults1 with only infant virtues of their own1 which wait for freedom to grow to maturity1 and among which an enlarged sympathy with the race is seldom found4 ,this is a temper uncongenial with a confined1 dependent1 and imitative society2 and the first strong symptoms of it are usually found in the persons of those whose mission it is to lead the colony out of its minority into independence4 ,these are conditions of a people which may guide the traveller's observations by showing him what to expect4 ,remembering these conditions1 he will mark the greater or less enlargement and generosity of the spirit of society1 and learn from these the fact or promise of progression1 or whether it is too soon to look for either4 ,there is another important condition which can hardly escape his notice3 whether the people are homogeneous or composed of various races4 ,the inhabitants of ,new ,england are a remarkable specimen of the first1 as the inhabitants of the middle states of ,america will be of the last1 two or three generations hence4 ,almost all the nations of ,europe are mongrel2 and those which can trace their descent from the greatest variety of ancestors have1 other circumstances remaining the same1 the best chance of progression4 ,among a homogeneous people1 ancestral virtues flourish2 but these carry with them ancestral faults as their shadow2 and there is a liability of a new fault being added1--resistance to the spirit of improvement4 ,if the chances of severity of ancient virtue are lessened in the case of a mongrel people1 there is a counterbalancing advantage in the greater diversity of interests1 enlargement of sympathy1 and vigour of enterprise introduced by the close union of the descendants of different races4 ,the people of ,new ,england1 almost to a man descended from the pilgrim fathers1 have the strong religious principle and feeling1 the uprightness1 the domestic attachment1 and the principled worldly prudence of their ancestors1 with much of their asceticism 7and necessarily attendant cant7 and bigotry4 ,their neighbours in the middle states are composed of contributions from all countries of the civilized world1 and have1 as yet1 no distinctive character2 but it is probable that a very valuable one will be formed1 in course of time1 from such elements as the genial gaiety of the cavaliers1 the patient industry of the ,germans and ,dutch1 the vivacity of the ,french1 the sobriety of the ,scotch1 the enterprise of the ,irish1 and the domestic tastes of the ,swiss1--all of which1 with their attendant drawbacks1 go to compose the future ,american character4 ,the chief pride of the ,new ,englanders is in their unmixed descent2--a virtuous pride1 but not the most favourable to a progression which must antiquate some of the qualities to which they are most attached4 ,the ,european components of the other population cherish some of the feudal prejudices and the territorial pride which they imported with them1 and this is their peculiar drawback3 but it appears that the enlarged liberality which they enjoy from being intermingled more than countervails the religious spirit of ,new ,england in opening the general heart and mind to the interests of the race at large4 ,the progression of the middle states seems likely to be more rapid than that of ,new ,england1 though the inhabitants of the northern states have hitherto taken and kept the lead4 ,it is the traveller's business to enter upon this course of observation wherever he goes4 ,when he has ascertained the conditions under which the national character is forming1--whether its situation is insular or continental1 colonial or independent1 and whether it is descended from one race or more1 he will proceed to observe the facts which indicate progress or the reverse4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the most obvious of these facts is the character of charity4 ,charity is everywhere4 ,the human heart is always tender1 always touched by visible suffering1 under one form or another4 ,the form which this charity takes is the great question4 ,in young and rude countries1 an open-handed charity pervades the land4 ,everyone who comes in want to a dwelling has his immediate want relieved4 ,the ,arab gives from his mess to the hungerer who appears at the entrance of his tent4 ,the negro brings rice and milk to the traveller who lies fainting under the palm4 ,the poor are fed round convent-doors1 morning and evening1 where there are convents4 ,in ,ireland1 it is a common practice to beg1 in order to rise in the world1--a clear testimony to the practice of charity there4 ,in all societies1 the poor help the poorer2 the depressed class aids the destitute4 ,the existence of the charity may be considered a certainty4 ,the inquiry is about its direction4 ,the lowest order of charity is that which is satisfied with relieving the immediate pressure of distress in individual cases4 ,a higher is that which makes provision on a large scale for the relief of such distress2 as when a nation passes on from common alms-giving to a general provision for the destitute4 ,a higher still is when such provision is made in the way of anticipation1 or for distant objects2 as when the civilization of savages1 the freeing of slaves1 the treatment of the insane1 or the education of the blind and deaf mutes is undertaken4 ,the highest charity of all is that which aims at the prevention rather than the alleviation of evil4 ,when any considerable number of a society are engaged in this work1 the spirit of fraternity is busy there1 and the progression of the society is ascertained4 ,in such a community1 it is allowed that though it is good to relieve the hungry1 it is better to take care that all who work shall eat1 as a matter of right3 that though it is good to provide for the comfort and reformation of the guilty1 it is better to obviate guilt3 that though it is good to teach the ignorant who come in one's way1 it is better to provide the means of knowledge1 as of food1 for all4 ,in short1 it is a nobler charity to prevent destitution1 crime1 and ignorance1 than to relieve individuals who never ought to have been made destitute1 criminal1 and ignorant4 ,this war against the evils themselves1 in preference to1 but accompanied by1 relief of the victims1 has begun in many countries2 and those which are the most busily occupied in the work must be considered the most advanced1 and the most certain to advance4 ,the observer must note the state of the work everywhere4 ,in one country he will see the poor fed and clothed by charity1 without any effort being made to relieve them from the pressure by which they are sunk in destitution4 ,the spirit of brotherhood is not there2 and such charity has nothing of the spirit of hope and progress in it4 ,in another country1 he will see the independent insisting on the right of the destitute to relief1 and providing by law or custom for such relief4 ,this is a great step1 inasmuch as the interests of the helpless are taken up by the powerful1--a movement which must have something of the fraternal spirit for its impulse4 ,in a third1 he hears of prison discipline societies1 missionary societies1 temperance societies1 and societies for the abolition of slavery4 ,this is better still4 ,it is looking wide1--so wide as that the spirit of charity acts as seeing the invisible1--the pagan trembling under the tabu1 the negro outraged in his best affections1 and the criminal hidden in the foul retreat of the common jail4 ,it is also a training for looking deep2 for these methods of charity all go to prevent the woes of future heathen generations1 future slaves1 drunkards1 and criminals1 as well as to soften the lot of those who exist4 ,if1 in a fourth society1 the observer finds that the charity has gone deep as well as spread wide1 and that the benevolent are tugging at the roots of indigence and crime1 he may place this society above all the rest as to the brightness of its prospects4 ,such a movement can proceed only from the spirit of fraternity1--from the movers feeling it their own concern that any are depressed and endangered as they would themselves refuse to be4 ,the elevation of the depressed classes in such a society1 and the consequent progression of the whole1 may be considered certain2 for sooner will the mother forget her sucking child than the friends of their race forsake those for whom they have cared and laboured with disinterested love and toil4 ,criminals will never be plunged back into their former state in ,america1 nor women in ,france1 nor negroes in the colonies of ,england4 ,the spirit of justice 7which is ultimately one with charity7 has gone forth1 not only conquering1 but still to conquer4 ,to the prospects of the sufferers of society let the observer look2 and he will discern the prospects of the society itself4 99 99 99 99 99 ,useful arts and inventions spread so rapidly in these days of improving communication1 that they are no longer the decisive marks of enlightenment in a people that they were when each nation had the benefit of its own discoveries1 and little more4 ,yet it is worthy of remark what kinds of improvement are the most generally adopted2 whether those which enhance the luxury of the rich1 or such as benefit the whole society4 ,it is worthy of remark whether the newest delight is in splendid club-houses1 where gentlemen may command the rarest luxuries at a smaller expense than would have been possible without the aid of the principle of economy of association1 or in the groups of mechanics' dwellings1 where the same principle is applied in ,france to furnishing numbers with advantages of warmth1 light1 cookery1 and cleanliness1 which they could no otherwise have enjoyed4 ,it is worth observing whether there are most mechanical inventions dedicated to the selfishness of the rich1 or committed to the custom of the working classes4 ,if the rich compose the great body of purchasers who are to be considered by inventors1 the working classes are probably depressed4 ,if there are most purchasers among the most numerous classes1 the working order is rising1 and the state of things is hopeful4--,how speed the great discoveries and achievements which cannot1 by any management1 be confined to the few8 ,how prospers the steam-engine1 the rail-road1--strong hands which cannot be held back1 by which a multitude of the comforts of life are extended to the poor1 who could not reach up to them before8 ,do men glory most in the activity of these1 or in the invention of a new pleasure for the satiated8 ,in the finer arts1 for whom are heads and hands employed8 ,the study of the ruins of all old countries tells the antiquary of the lives of the rich alone4 ,there are churches which record the living piety or the dying penitence of the rich2 priories and convents which speak of monkish idleness1 and the gross luxuries which have cloaked themselves in asceticism2 there are palaces of kings1 castles of nobles1 and villas of opulent commoners2 but nowhere1 except in countries recently desolated by war1 are the relics of the abodes of the poor the study of the traveller4 ,if he now finds skill bestowed on the buildings which are the exclusive resort of the labouring classes1 and taste employed in their embellishment1 it is clear that the order is rising4 ,the record of each upward heave will remain for the observation of the future traveller1 in the buildings to which they resort2--a record as indisputable as a mountain fissure presents to the geologist4 ,time was when the dwellings of the opulent were ornamented with costly and beautiful works of art1 while the eye of the peasant and the artisan found no other beauty to rest on than the face of his beloved1 and the forms of his children4 ,at this day1 there are countries in ,europe where the working man aspires to nothing more than to stick up an image of the ,virgin1 gay with coloured paper1 in a corner of his dwelling4 ,but there are other lands where a higher taste for beauty is gratified4 ,there are good prints provided cheap1 to hang in the place of the ancient sampler or daub4 ,casts from all the finest works of the statuary1 ancient and modern1 are hawked about the streets1 and may be seen in the windows where green parrots and brown cats in plaster used to annoy the eye4 ,in societies where the working class is thus worked for1 in the gratification of its finer tastes1 the class must be rising4 ,it is rising into the region of intellectual luxury1 and must have been borne up thither by the expansion of the fraternal spirit4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the great means of progress1 for individuals1 for nations1 and for the race at large1 is the multiplication of ,objects of interest4 ,the indulgence of the passions is the characteristic of men and societies who have but one occupation and a single interest2 while the passions cause comparatively little trouble where the intellect is active1 and the life diversified with objects4 ,pride takes a safe direction1 jealousy is diverted from its purposes of revenge1 and anger combats with circumstances1 instead of with human foes4 ,the need of mutual aid1 the habit of co-operation caused by interest in social objects1 has a good effect upon men's feelings and manners towards each other2 and out of this grows the mutual regard which naturally strengthens into the fraternal spirit4 ,the ,russian boor1 imprisoned in his serfhood1 cannot comprehend what it is to care for any but the few individuals who are before his eyes1 and the ,grand ,lama has probably no great sympathy with the race2 but in a town within whose compass almost all occupations are going forward1 and where each feels more or less interest in what engages his neighbour1 nothing of importance to the race can become known without producing more or less emotion4 ,a famine in ,india1 an earthquake in ,syria1 causes sorrow4 ,the inhabitants meet to petition against the wrongs inflicted on people whom they have never seen1 and give of the fruits of their labour to sufferers who have never heard of them1 and from whom they can receive no return of acknowledgment4 ,it is found that the more pursuits and aims are multiplied1 the more does the appreciation of human happiness expand1 till it becomes the interest which predominates over all the rest4 ,this is an interest which works out its own gratification1 more surely than any other4 ,wherever1 therefore1 the greatest variety of pursuits is met with1 it is fair to conclude that the fraternal spirit of society is the most vigorous1 and the society itself the most progressive4 ,this is as far as any nation has as yet attained1--to a warmer than common sympathy among its own members1 and compassion for distant sufferers4 ,when the time comes for nations to care for one another1 and co-operate as individuals1 such a people will be the first to hold out the right hand4 99 99 99 99 99 ,manners have not been treated of separately from ,morals in any of the preceding divisions of the objects of the traveller's observation4 ,the reason is1 that manners are inseparable from morals1 or1 at least1 cease to have meaning when separated4 ,except as manifestations of morals1 they have no interest1 and can have no permanent existence4 ,a traveller who should report of them exclusively is not only no philosopher1 but does not merit the name of an observer2 for he can have no insight into the matter which he professes to convey an account of4 ,his interpretation of what is before his eyes is more likely to be wrong than correct1 like that of the primitive star-gazers1 who reported that the planets went backwards and forwards in the sky4 ,to him1 and to him only1 who has studied the principles of morals1 and thus possessed himself of a key to the mysteries of all social weal and woe1 will manners be an index answering as faithfully to the internal movements1 harmonious or discordant1 of society1 as the human countenance to the workings of the human heart4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,discourse4 ,he that questioneth much shall learn much1 and content much2 but especially if he apply his questions to the skill of the persons whom he asketh2 for he shall give them occasion to please themselves in speaking1 and himself shall continually gather knowledge4 ,bacon4 ,the ,discourse of individuals is an indispensable commentary upon the classes of national facts which the traveller has observed4 ,to begin the work of observation with registering this private discourse1 is1 as has been said1 useless1 from the diversity that there is in men's minds1 and from the narrowness of the mental vision of each as he stands in a crowd4 ,the testimony of no two would be found to agree2 and1 if the traveller depended upon them for his general facts1 he could never furnish a record which could be trusted4 ,but1 the facts being once obtained by stronger evidence than individual testimony1--certain fixed points being provided round which testimony may gather1--the discourse of individuals assumes its proper value1 and becomes illustrative where before it would have been only bewildering4 ,the traveller must obtain all that he can of it4 ,he must seek intercourse with all classes of the society he visits1--not only the rich and the poor1 but those who may be classed by profession1 pursuit1 habits of mind1 and turn of manners4 ,he must converse with young men and maidens1 old men and children1 beggars and savans1 postillions and potentates4 ,he must study little ones at their mothers' knees1 and flirtations in ball-rooms1 and dealings in the market-place4 ,he must overhear the mirth of revellers1 and the grief of mourners4 ,wherever there is speech1 he must devote himself to hear4 ,one way in which discourse serves as a commentary upon the things he has observed is in the exhibition of certain general characters of its own1 which are accordant with the general facts he has registered4 ,the conversation of almost every nation has its characteristics1 like that of smaller societies4 ,the style of discourse in an ,english village is unlike that of a populous town2 and the people of a town which is no thoroughfare talk differently from the inhabitants of one which is4 ,in the same way is the general discourse of a whole people modified4 ,in one country less regard is paid to truth in particulars1 to circumstantial accuracy1 than in another4 ,one nation has more sincerity2 another more kindliness in speech4 ,one proses2 another is light and sportive4 ,one is frank2 another reserved4 ,one flatters the stranger2 another is careless of him3 and the discourse of the one is designed to produce a certain effect upon him2 while that of the other flows out spontaneously1 or is restrained1 according to the traveller's own apparent humour4 ,such characteristics of the general discourse may be noted as a corroboration of suppositions drawn from other facts4 ,they may be taken as evidence of the respective societies being catholic or puritanic in spirit2 crude or accomplished2 free and simple1 or restrained and cautious2 self-satisfied1 or deficient in self-respect4 ,the observer must be very careful not to generalize too hastily upon the discourse addressed to him2 but there are everywhere large conclusions which he cannot help making4 ,however wide the variety of individuals with whom he may converse1 it is scarcely likely that he will meet in ,spain with any number who will prose like the ,americans2 or in ,germany with many who will treat him with the light jests of the ,french4 ,such general tendencies of any society as he may have been informed of by the study of things1 he will find evidenced also by the general character of its discourse4 ,another way in which discourse serves as a commentary1 is by showing what interests the people most4 ,if the observer goes with a free mind and an open heart1 not full of notions and feelings of his own1 but ready to resign himself to those of the people he visits1--if he commits himself to his sympathies1 and makes himself one with those about him1 he cannot but presently discover and appreciate what interests them most4 ,a high ,tory in ,america will be more misled than enlightened by what is said to him1 and so will a bigoted ,republican in ,england4 ,a prim ,quaker will not understand the ,french from half a year of ,parisian conversation1 any more than a mere dandy would feel at home at ,jena or ,heidelberg4 ,but a traveller free from gross prejudice and selfishness can hardly be many days in a new society without learning what are its chief interests4 ,even savages would speak to him of the figure-head of their canoe2 and others would go through1 in time1 each its own range of topics1 till the ,german had poured out to him his philosophical views1 and the ,frenchman his solicitudes for the amelioration of society1 and the ,american his patriotic aspirations1 and the ,swiss his domestic sentiment4 ,whatever may be the restrictions imposed by rulers upon discourse1 whatever may be the penalties imposed upon particular kinds of communication1 all are unavailing in the presence of sympathy4 ,at its touch the abundance of the heart will gush out at the lips4 ,men are so made that they cannot but speak of what interests them most to those who most share the interest4 ,this is a decree of nature by which the decrees of despots are annulled4 ,the power of a ruler may avail to keep an observer on his own side the frontier2 but1 if he has once passed it1 it is his own fault if he does not become as well acquainted with the prevailing sentiment of the inhabitants1 amidst the deadest public silence1 as if it were shouted out to the four winds4 ,if he carries a simple mind and an open heart1 there is no mine in ,siberia so deep but the voice of complaint will come up to him from it1 and no home so watched by priests but that he will know what is concealed from the confessor4 ,all this would do little more than mislead him by means of his sympathies1 if such confidence were his only means of knowledge2 but1 coming in corroboration of what he has learned in the large elsewhere1 it becomes unquestionable evidence of what it is that interests the people most4 ,he must bear in mind that there are a few universal interests which everywhere stand first1 and that it is the modification of these by local influences which he has to observe2 and also what comes next in order to these4 ,for instance1 the domestic are the primary interests among all human beings4 ,it is so where the ,new ,england father dismisses his sons to the ,west1--and where the ,hindoo mother deserts her infants to seek the shade of her husband through the fire1--and where the ,spanish parent consigns her youngest to the convent1--as truly as where the ,norwegian peasant enlarges his roof to admit another and another family of his descendants4 ,it is for the traveller to trust the words and tones of parental love which meet his ear in every home of every land2 and to mark by what it is that this prime and universal interest is modified1 so as to produce such sacrifice of itself4 ,taking the affection for granted1 which the private discourse of parents and children compels him to do1 what light does he find cast upon the influence of the priests here1 and pride of territory there2--upon the superstition which is the weakness of one people1 and the social ambition in the midst of poverty which is the curse of another6 ,he must also find out from the conversation of the people he visits what is their particular interest1 from observing what ranks next to those which are universal4 ,in one country1 parents love their families first1 and wealth next2 in another1 their families first1 and glory next2 in a third1 their families first1 and liberty next2 and so on1 through the whole range of objects of human desire4 ,once having discerned the mode1 he will find it easy to take the suffrage without much danger of mistake4 ,the chief reason why the discourse of individuals1 apart from the observation of classes of facts1 is almost purely deceptive as to morals1 is that the traveller can see no more than one in fifty thousand of the people1 and has no security that those he meets are a sample of the whole4 ,this difficulty does not interfere with one very important advantage which he may obtain from conversation1--knowledge of and light upon particular questions4 ,a stranger might wish to learn the state of ,christianity in ,england4 ,if he came to ,london1 and began with conversation1 he might meet a ,church-of-,england-man one day1 a ,catholic the next1 a ,presbyterian the third1 a ,quaker the fourth1 a ,methodist the fifth1 and so on1 till the result was pure bewilderment4 ,but if he conversed with intelligent persons1 he would find that questions were pending respecting the church and dissent1--involving the very principles of the administration of religion4 ,the opinions he hears upon these questions may be as various as the persons he converses with4 ,he may be unable to learn the true characters of the statesmen and religious leaders concerned in their management3 but he gains something of more value4 ,light is thrown upon the state of things from which alone these questions could have arisen4 ,from free newspapers he might have learned the nature of the controversy2 but in social intercourse much more is presented to him4 ,he sees the array of opinions marshalled on each side1 or on all the sides of the question2 and receives an infinite number of suggestions and illustrations which could never have reached him but from the conflict of intellects1 and the diversity of views and statements with which he is entertained in discourse4 ,the traveller in every country should thus welcome the discussion of questions in which the inhabitants are interested1 taking strenuous care to hear the statements of every party4 ,from the intimate connexion of certain modes of opinion with all great questions1 he will gain light upon the whole condition of opinion from its exhibition in one case4 ,new subjects of research will be brought within his reach2 new paths of inquiry will be opened2 new trains of ideas will be awakened1 and fresh minds brought into communication with his own4 ,if he can secure the good fortune of conversing with the leaders on both sides of great questions1--with the men who have made it a pursuit to collect all the facts of the case1 and to follow out its principles1--there is no estimating his advantage4 ,there is1 perhaps1 scarcely one great subject of national controversy which1 thus opened to him1 would not afford him glimpses into all the other general affairs of the day2 and each time that his mind grasps a definite opposition of popular opinion1 he has accomplished a stage in his pilgrimage of inquiry into the tendencies of a national mind4 ,he will therefore be anxious to engage all he meets in full and free conversation on prevailing topics1 leaving it to them to open their minds in their own way1 and only taking care of his own1--that he preserves his impartiality1 and does no injustice to question or persons by bias of his own4 ,in arranging his plans for conversing with all kinds of people1 the observer will not omit to cultivate especially the acquaintance of persons who themselves see the most of society4 ,the value of their testimony on particular points must depend much on that of their minds and characters2 but1 from the very fact of their having transactions with a large portion of society1 they cannot avoid affording many lights to a stranger which he could obtain by no other means4 ,the conversation of lawyers in a free country1 of physicians1 of merchants and manufacturers in central trading situations1 of innkeepers and of barbers everywhere1 must yield him much which he could not have collected for himself4 ,the minds of a great variety of people are daily acting upon the thoughts of such1 and the facts of a great variety of lives upon their experience2 and whether they be more or less wise in the use of their opportunities1 they must be unlike what they would have been in a state of seclusion4 ,if the stranger listens to what they are most willing to tell1 he may learn much of popular modes of thinking and feeling1 of modes of living1 acting1 and transacting1 which will confirm and illustrate impressions and ideas which he had previously gained from other sources4 ,the result of the whole of what he hears will probably be to the traveller of the same kind with that which the journey of life yields to the wisest of its pilgrims4 ,as he proceeds1 he will learn to condemn less1 and to admire1 not less1 but differently4 ,he will find no intellect infallible1 no judgment free from prejudice1 and therefore no affections without their bias2 but1 on the other hand1 he will find no error which does not branch out of some truth2 no wrath which has not some reason in it2 nothing wrong which is not the perversion of something right2 no wickedness that is not weakness4 ,if he is compelled to give up the adoration of individuals1 the man-worship which is the religion of young days1 he surrenders with it the spirit of contempt which ought also to be proper to youth4 ,to a healthy mind it is impossible to mix largely with men1 under a variety of circumstances1 and wholly to despise either societies or individuals2 so magnificent is the intellect of men in combination1 so universal are their most privately nourished affections4 ,he must deny himself the repose of implicit faith in the intellect of any one2 but he cannot refuse the luxury of trust in the moral power of the whole4 ,instead of the complete set of dogmas with which he was perhaps once furnished1 on the authority of a few individuals1 he brings home a store of learning on the great subject of human prejudices3 but he cannot have watched the vast effects of a community of sentiment1--he cannot have observed multitudes tranquillized into social order1 stimulated to social duty1 and even impelled to philanthropic self-sacrifice1 without being convinced that men were made to live in a bond of brotherhood4 ,he cannot have sat in conversation under the village elm1 or in sunny vineyards1 or by the embers of the midnight fire1 without knowing how spirit is formed to unfold itself to spirit2 and how1 when the solitary is set in families1 his sympathies bind him to them by such a chain as selfish interest never yet wove4 ,he cannot have travelled wisely and well without being convinced that moral power is the force which lifts man to be not only lord of the earth1 but scarcely below the angels2 and that the higher species of moral power1 which are likely to come more and more into use1 clothe him in a kind of divinity to which angels themselves might bow4--,no one will doubt this who has been admitted into that range of sanctuaries1 the homes of nations2 and who has witnessed the godlike achievements of the servants1 sages1 and martyrs1 who have existed wherever man has been4 ,,part ,,iii4 ,,mechanical ,,methods4 ,in sea-voyages1 where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea1 men make diaries2 but in land-travel1 wherein so much is to be observed1 they omit it4--,,bacon4 ,stick to your journal course2 the breach of custom ,is breach of all4--,cymbeline4 ,travellers cannot be always on the alert1 any more than other men4 ,their hours of weariness and of capricious idleness come1 as at home2 and there is no security against their occurring at inconvenient times1--just when some characteristic spectacle is to be witnessed1 or some long-desired information is in waiting4 ,by a little forethought1 the observer may guard against some of the effects of seizures of apathy4 ,if he would rather sleep in the carriage than get out to see a waterfall1 he can only feel ashamed1 and rouse himself to do his duty3 but1 by precaution1 he may guard himself from passing by some things less beautiful than waterfalls1 and to have seen which is less necessary to his reputation as a traveller2 but which yet he will be more sorry eventually to have lost4 ,to keep himself up to his business1 and stimulate his flagging attention1 he should provide himself1 before setting out1 with a set of queries1 so prepared as to include every great class of facts connected with the condition of a people1 and so divided and arranged as that he can turn to the right set at the fitting moment4--,these queries are not designed to be thrust into the hand of any one who may have information to give4 ,they should not even be allowed to catch his eye4 ,the traveller who has the air of taking notes in the midst of conversation1 is in danger of bringing away information imperfect as far as it goes1 and much restricted in quantity in comparison with what it would be if he allowed it to be forgotten that he was a foreigner seeking information4 ,if he permits the conversation to flow on naturally1 without checking it by the production of the pencil and tablets1 he will1 even if his memory be not of the best1 have more to set down at night than if he noted on the spot1 as evidence1 what a companion might be saying to him4 ,but a glance in the morning at his list of queries may suggest inquiries which he might not otherwise remember to make2 and they will help him afterwards to arrange the knowledge he has gained4 ,he can be constantly adding to them as he goes along1 and as new subjects arise1 till he is in possession of a catechism on the facts which indicate morals and manners2 which must prevent his researches being so capricious1 and his information so vague as his moods and his idleness would otherwise occasionally make them4 ,the character of these queries must1 of course1 depend much on where the traveller means to go4 ,a set which would suit one nation would not completely apply to any other4 ,the observer will do wisely to employ his utmost skill in framing them4 ,his cares will be better bestowed on this than even on his travelling appointments1 important as these are to his comfort4 ,when he has done his best in the preparation of his lists1 he must still keep on the watch to enlarge them1 as occasion arises4 ,some travellers unite in one the functions of the query list and the journal3 having the diary headed and arranged for the reception of classified information4 ,but this seems to be debasing the function of a journal1 whose object ought to be to reflect the mind of a traveller1 and give back to him hereafter the image of what he thought and felt day by day4 ,this is its primary function2--a most useful one1 as every traveller knows who has kept one during a year's wandering in a foreign country4 ,on his return1 he laughs at the crudity of the information1 and the childishness of the impressions1 set down in the opening pages2 and traces1 with as much wonder as interest1 the gradual expansion of his knowledge1 education of his perceptions1 and maturing of his judgments as to what is before him1 as week succeeds to week1 and each month mellows the experience of the last4 ,the subordinate purpose of the journal is to record facts2 and the way in which this is done ought not to depend on the stationer's rule1 but on the nature of the traveller's mind4 ,no man can write down daily all that he learns in a day's travel4 ,it ought to be a matter of serious consideration with him what he will insert1 and what trust to his memory4 ,the simplest method seems to be to set down what is most likely to be let slip1 and to trust to the memory what the affections and tastes of the traveller will not allow him to forget4 ,one who especially enjoys intimate domestic intercourse will write1 not fireside conversations1 but the opinions of statesmen1 and the doctrine of parties on great social questions4 ,one whose tastes are religious will note less on the subject of public worship and private religious discourse1 than dates1 numbers1 and facts on subjects of subordinate interest4 ,all should record anecdotes and sayings which illustrate character4 ,these are disjointed1 and will escape almost any memory1 if not secured in writing4 ,those who do not draw should also note scenery4 ,a very few descriptive touches will bring back a landscape1 with all its human interest1 after a lapse of years3 while perhaps there is no memory in the world which will present unaided the distinctive character of a succession of scenes4 ,the returned traveller is ashamed to see the extent of his record of his personal feelings4 ,his changes of mood1 his sufferings from heat or cold1 from hunger or weariness1 are the most interesting things to him at the moment2 and down they go1 in the place of things much better worth recording1 and he pays the penalty in many a blush hereafter4 ,his best method will be to record as little as possible about himself2 and1 of other things1 most of what he is pretty sure to forget1 and least of what he can hardly help remembering4 ,generally speaking1 he will find it desirable to defer the work of generalization till he gets home4 ,in the earlier stages of his journey1 at least1 he will restrict his pen to the record of facts and impressions2 or1 if his mind should have an unconquerable theorizing tendency1 he will be so far cautious as to put down his inferences conjecturally4 ,it is easy to do this2 and it may make an eternal difference to the observer's love of truth1 and attainment of it1 whether he preserves his philosophic thoughts in the form of dogmas or of queries4 ,though it is commonly spoken of as a settled thing that the journal should be written at night1 there are many who do not agree to this4 ,there are some whose memory fails when the body is tired1 and who find themselves clear-headed about many things in the morning which were but imperfectly remembered before they had the refreshment of sleep4 ,the early morning is probably the best time for the greater number2 but it is a safe general rule that the journal should be written in the interval when the task is pleasantest4 ,whether the regularity be pleasant or not1 7and to the most conscientious travellers it is the most agreeable17 the entries ought to be made daily1 if possible4 ,the loss incurred by delay is manifest to any one who has tried4 ,the shortest entries are always those which have been deferred4 ,the delay of a single day is found to reduce the matter unaccountably4 ,in the midst of his weariness and unwillingness to take out his pen1 the traveller may comfort himself by remembering that he will reap the reward of diligence in satisfaction when he gets home4 ,he may assure himself that no lines that he can write can ever be more valuable than those in which he hives his treasures of travel4 ,if he turns away from the task1 he will have uneasy feelings connected with his journey as often as he looks back upon it2--feelings of remorse for his idleness1 and of regret for irretrievable loss4 ,if1 on the other hand1 he perseveres in the daily duty1 he will go forward each morning with a disburthened mind1 and will find1 in future years1 that he loves the very blots and weather-stains on the pages which are so many remembrancers of his satisfactory labours and profitable pleasures4 ,besides the journal1 the traveller should have a note-book1--always at hand1--not to be pulled out before people's eyes1 for the entry of facts related1 but to be used for securing the transient appearances which1 though revealing so much to an observing mind1 cannot be recalled with entire precision4 ,in all the countries of the world1 groups by the wayside are the most eloquent of pictures4 ,the traveller who lets himself be whirled past them1 unobservant or unrecording1 loses more than any devices of inquiry at his inn can repair4 ,if he can sketch1 he should rarely allow a characteristic group of persons1 or nook of scenery1 to escape his pencil4 ,if he cannot use the pencil1 a few written words will do4 ,two lines may preserve for him an exemplification which may be of great future value4--,the farmers' wives of ,new ,england1 talking over the snake-fence at sunset1 are in themselves an illustration of many things3 so is the stern ,indian in his blanket-cloak1 standing on a mound on the prairie2 so is the chamois hunter on his pinnacle1 and the pedestrian student in the valleys of the ,hartz1 and the pine-cutters on the steeps of ,norway1 and the travelling merchant on the dyke in ,holland1 and the vine-dressers in ,alsace1 and the beggars in the streets of ,spanish cities1 and all the children of all countries at their play4 ,the traveller does not dream of passing unnoticed the cross in the wilderness1 beneath which some brother pilgrim lies murdered2 or the group of brigands seen in the shadow of the wood2 or a company of ,sisters of ,charity1 going forth to their deeds of mercy2 or a pair of inquisitors1 busy on the errands of the ,holy ,office2 or anything else which strongly appeals to his imagination or his personal feelings4 ,these pictures1 thus engraved in his memory1 he may safely leave to be entered in his journal1 night or morning3 but groups and scenes which ought to be quite as interesting1 because they reveal the thoughts and ways of men1 7the more familiarly the more faithfully17 should be as earnestly observed2 and1 to give them a chance of equal preservation1 they should be noted on the instant4 ,if a foreigner opens his eyes after a nap in travelling an ,irish road1 would it not be wise to note at once what he sees that he could not see elsewhere8 ,he perceives that the green lanes which branch off from the road are more crowded with foliage1 and less definite in their windings1 than any other green lanes he has seen near high roads4 ,the road itself is sui generis1 with its border of rank grass1 with tufts of straggling briers1 and its rough stone walls1 fringed with weeds1 and gay with wild flowers4 ,a beggarly wretch is astride on the top1 singing the ,doxology to the tune of ,paudeen ,o',rafferty1 and keeping time with his heels3 and1 some way off1 an old man crouches in the grass1 playing cards1--the right hand against the left1--reviling the winner1 and tenderly consoling the loser4 ,presently the stranger passes a roofless hut1 where he sees1 either a party of boys and girls throwing turf for a handful of meal1 or a beggar-woman and her children resting in the shade of the walls to eat their cold potatoes4 ,such scenes could be beheld nowhere but in ,ireland3 but there is no country in the world where groups and pictures as characteristic do not present themselves to the observing eye1 and in such quick succession that they are liable to be confused and lost1 if not secured at the moment by brief touches of pencil or pen4 ,the note-book should be the repository of such4 ,mechanical methods are nothing but in proportion to the power which uses them2 as the intellectual accomplishments of the traveller avail him little1 and may even bring him back less wise than he went out1--a wanderer from truth1 as well as from home1--unless he sees by a light from his heart shining through the eyes of his mind4 ,he may see1 and hear1 and record1 and infer1 and conclude for ever2 and he will still not understand if his heart be idle1--if he have not sympathy4 ,sympathy by itself may do much3 with fit intellectual and mechanical aids1 it cannot but make the traveller a wise man4 ,his journey may be but for a brief year1 or even month2 but if1 by his own sympathy1 he grasps and brings home to himself the life of a fresh portion of his race1 he gains a wisdom for which he will be the better for ever4 ,,footnotes3 ,a ,penny ,magazine1 vol4 ii4 p4 #cji4 ,b ,volney's ,survey of the ,revolutions of ,empires1 pp4 #be1 #bf4 ,c ,mme4 ,d',aunoy4 ,d ,adam ,smith1 ,wealth of ,nations4 ,e ,jacob1 ,travels in the ,south of ,spain4 ,f ,,home1 by ,miss ,sedgwick1 pp4 #cg1 #ci4 ,g ,an exception to this may meet the eye of a traveller once in a lifetime4 ,there is a village church-yard in ,england where the following inscription is to be seen4 ,after the name and date occurs the following3 ,he was a ,bad ,son1 ,a ,bad ,husband1 ,a ,bad ,father4 ,the wicked shall be turned into ,hell4 ,h ,edinburgh ,review1 vol4 xxxix4 p4 #fg4 ,i ,edinburgh ,review1 vol4 xlvi4 p4 #cji4 ,j ,edinburgh ,review1 vol4 xxvi4 pp4 #g1 #h4 ,k ,corn ,law ,rhymer4 ,elliott of ,sheffield4 ,l ,travels of ,minna and ,godfrey in ,many ,lands1 p4 #ec4 ,m ,rogers's ,italy1 p4 #agb4 ,n ,memoirs of an ,american ,lady4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,,samuel ,,bentley1 ,dorset ,street1 ,fleet ,street4 ,,industrial ,,library1 ,,for ,,schools ,,and ,,families4 ,,results ,,of ,,machinery4 #as4 sewed1 #as4 #c;d4 cloth4 ,,capital ,,and ,,labour4 ,by the ,author of the ,results of ,machinery4 #as4 sewed1 #as4 #c;d4 cloth4 ,,cottage ,,evenings4 #as4 sewed1 #as4 #c;d4 cloth4 ,the ,,physician4 #as4 sewed1 #as4 #c;d4 cloth4 ,,working ,,man',s ,,companion1 ,,for #ahce1 #f1 #g1 and #h1 #i;d4 each4 ,,household ,,year-,,book1 ,,for #ahce1 #f1 and #g4 #as4 each4 99499 ,the above works are under the superintendence of the ,society for the ,diffusion of ,useful ,knowledge4 ,,sketches ,,of ,,popular ,,tumults2 illustrative of the ,evils of ,social ,ignorance4 ,second ,edition4 #es4 cloth4 ,,industrial ,,guide-,,books4 ,to supply a manifest deficiency in the books already published for the education of the industrial classes1 the ,publishers have undertaken a series of works1 7which will be brought out at the cheapest rate17 whose chief object is to prepare young persons for the choice of an occupation1 by instructing them in the peculiar duties1 and1 as far as requisite1 in the technical details of the various departments of ,,service ,,or ,,trade in which they are likely to be engaged as they advance in life4 ,it is1 of course1 not contemplated herein to teach every thing that should be known in a ,trade1 or to point out the whole details of a ,service1--but to give such a general knowledge of the occupations which the mass of the people are called upon to follow1 as may prepare the young for the proper discharge of their duties1 and systematize much of the practical information which the adult has now in most cases1 to learn without a ,guide4 ,these works will1 collectively1 contain a mass of authentic and amusing information on the various departments of industry in this country1 which will be useful and interesting to all readers4 ,they will be illustrated with numerous explanatory wood cuts4 ,the subjects to be embraced will1 for the most part1 be as follows3-- ,i--,,the ,,guide ,,to ,,service4 #a4 ,farm ,service4 ,labourer ,cowherd ,shepherd ,carter ,ploughman ,bailiff ,dairywoman4 #b4 ,house ,service ,gardener ,groom ,coachman ,footman ,butler ,servant of all ,work ,kitchen ,maid ,cook ,house ,maid ,nurse ,maid ,lady's ,maid4 #c4 ,commercial ,service4 ,errand ,boy ,apprentice ,porter and ,carman ,warehouseman ,shopman ,clerk ,servants of ,public ,conveyances4 #d4 ,public ,service4 ,soldier ,sailor ,excise ,officer ,custom-house ,officer ,post-office ,servants and ,turnpikemen ,officers of ,local ,administration4 ,,ii--,,the ,,guide ,,to ,,trade4 #a4 ,producers of ,food and ,raw ,materials4 ,farmer and ,grazier ,market-,gardener ,fisherman ,miner4 #b4 ,manufacturers4 ,iron ,founder ,lead ,founder1 or ,worker ,brass ,founder ,coppersmith ,cutler ,machine ,maker ,brick ,maker ,potter ,glass ,worker ,spinners and ,weavers ,cotton ,linen ,woollen ,silk ,bleacher1 ,dyer1 and ,calico ,printer ,tanner and ,currier ,rope ,maker ,miller and ,baker ,soap ,boiler and ,tallow ,chandler ,sugar ,refiner ,brewer and ,distiller ,hatter ,paper ,maker4 #c4 ,handicraftsmen4 ,shipwright ,bricklayer ,mason ,carpenter ,plumber1 ,painter1 and ,glazier ,cabinet ,maker and ,upholsterer ,smith ,cooper1 ,brush ,maker1 ,basket ,maker ,brazier and ,tinman ,carver and ,gilder ,wheelwright and ,coachmaker ,watchmaker ,goldsmith and ,jeweller ,printer ,bookbinder ,engraver ,tailor ,milliner ,shoemaker ,saddler ,hairdresser4 #d4 ,retailers4 ,butcher ,grocer1 ,cheesemonger1 ,oilman1 ,tobacconist ,fishmonger and ,poulterer ,pastrycook and ,confectioner ,greengrocer and ,seedsman ,victualler ,coal and ,corn ,dealer ,ironmonger and ,hardwareman ,stationer and ,bookseller ,chemist and ,druggist ,hawker and ,pedlar ,broker4 99499 ,the ,series will not be published at stated periods1 but it will be endeavoured to bring out one ,tract in each ,class monthly4 ,in ,july will be published ,,the ,,maid ,,of ,,all ,,work1 ,price ,eightpence4 ,,the ,,printer1 ,price ,one ,shilling4 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,archaic and unexpected spelling and hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original publication1 including recompence1 negociated1 hinderance1 befals1 proprietory1 tabu and savans4 ,the following changes to the original publication have been made3 ,page #dc will not pour out their stores changed to will not pour out their stories ,page #bci the occupations which the mass o the occupations which the mass of