Part 27

It is impossible to say what analogy exists between the race and the individual, and attempts to explain the history of the one by the stages which mark the life of the other are at best more ingenious than satisfactory; but almost every fact with which we are acquainted seems to suggest that some such analogy exists, though its particulars are altogether unknown, and though we cannot even say whether mankind ought to be compared to one individual or to several. It may, however, be allowable, in dealing with a subject which, after all, appeals rather to the feelings and to the imagination than to the reason, to point out the fact that the cessation of human society would present a striking analogy to the death of individuals; and that there would be the same contradictory mixture of completeness and incompleteness about a society eternally renewed, as there would be about a human being who never died. That the life of a man forms a moral whole, is a conviction which is so thoroughly worked into our minds and our very language, that no one doubts it. That it is a mysterious and utterly contradictory thing at its best estate, is the experience of every person who has even ordinary powers of reflection. It is hard to imagine the degree in which these mysteries and contradictions would be heightened if man were immortal. If, after arriving at that average degree of prudence and self-restraint which almost every one attains comparatively early in life, people lived on and on for centuries and millenniums, carrying on the same sort of transactions, settling the same difficulties, enjoying the same pleasures, and suffering from the same vexations, the question why they ever were sent into the world at all (which is even now sufficiently perplexing) would become altogether overwhelming; and the faith which people at present maintain in the Divine government of the world would have to be based on entirely different grounds, if it survived at all. It is perhaps not merely fanciful to suggest that a somewhat similar difficulty would exist if human society, after a long and laborious education, were to attain to a stationary state, and were then to go on indefinitely enjoying itself. Such a heaven on earth would be at best a sort of high life below stairs.

The celebration of the triumphs of civilisation, which is at present in full bloom, produces on many minds an effect not unlike that which Robespierre’s feasts to the Supreme Being produced on his colleagues. “You and your nineteenth century are beginning to be a bore,” is the salutation which many a philosopher would receive in these days from a sincere audience. Weigh and measure and classify as we will, we are but poor creatures, when all is said and done. It would be a relief to think that a day was coming when the world, whether more comfortable or not, would at least see and know itself as it is, and when the real gist and bearing of all the work, good and evil, that is done under the sun, should at last be made plain. Till then, knowledge, science, and power are, after all, little more than shadows in a troubled dream—a dream which will soon pass away from each of us, if it does not pass away at once from all.[132]

Footnote 132:

_Saturday Review._

THE GOOD MAN’s LIFE.

Some are called _at age_ at fourteen, some at one-and-twenty, some never; but all men late enough, for the life of a man comes upon him slowly and insensibly. But as when the sun approaching towards the gates of the morning, he first opens a little the eye of heaven, and sends away the spirits of darkness, and gives light to a cock, and calls up the lark to matins, and by and by gilds the fringes of a cloud, and peeps over the eastern hills, thrusting out his golden horns, like those which decked the brows of Moses when he was forced to wear a veil, because himself had seen the face of God; and still while a man tells the story, the sun gets up higher, till he shows a fair face and a full light, and then he shines one whole day, under a cloud often, and sometimes weeping great and little showers, and sets quickly: so is man’s reason and his life. He first begins to perceive himself to see or taste, making little reflections upon his actions of sense, and can discourse of flies and dogs, shells and play, horses and liberty; but when he is strong enough to enter into arts and little institutions, he is at first entertained with trifles and impertinent things, not because he needs them, but because his understanding is no bigger, and little images of things are laid before him, like a cockboat to a whale, only to play withal: but before a man comes to be wise, he is half-dead with gouts and consumption, with catarrhs and aches, with sore eyes and a worn-out body. So that if we must not reckon the life of a man but by the amounts of his reason, he is long before his soul be dressed; and he is not to be called a man without a wise and an adorned soul, a soul at least furnished with what is necessary towards his well-being: but by that time his soul is thus furnished, his body is decayed; and then you can hardly reckon him to be alive, when his body is possessed by so many degrees of death.

* * * * *

But if I shall describe a living man, a man that hath that life which distinguishes him from a fool or a bird, that which gives him a capacity next to angels, we shall find that even a good man lives not long; because it is long before he is born to this life, and longer yet before he hath a man’s growth. “He that can look upon death, and see its face with the same countenance with which he hears its story; he that can endure all the labours of his life with his soul supporting his body; that can equally despise riches when he hath them, and when he hath them not; that is not sadder if they lie in his neighbour’s trunks, nor more brag if they shine round about his own walls; he that is neither moved with good fortune coming to him, nor going from him; that can look upon another man’s lands evenly and pleasantly as if they were his own, and yet look upon his own, and use them too, just as if they were another man’s; that neither spends his goods prodigally and like a fool, nor yet keeps them avariciously and like a wretch; that weighs not benefits by weight and number, but by the mind and circumstances of him that gives them; that never thinks his charity expensive if a worthy person be the receiver; he that does nothing for opinion sake, but every thing for conscience, being as curious of his thoughts as of his actings in markets and theatres, and is as much in awe of himself as of a whole assembly; he that knows God looks on, and contrives his secret affairs as if in the presence of God and his holy angels; that eats and drinks because he needs it, not that he may serve a lust or load his belly; he that is bountiful and cheerful to his friends, and charitable and apt to forgive his enemies; that loves his country, and obeys his prince, and desires and endeavours nothing more than that they may do honour to God:”[133] this person may reckon his life to be the life of a man, and compute his months not by the course of the sun, but the zodiac and circle of his virtues; because these are such things which fools and children and birds and beasts cannot have; these are therefore the actions of life, because they are the seeds of immortality. That day in which we have done some excellent thing, we may as truly reckon to be added to our life, as were the fifteen years to the days of Hezekiah.[134]

Footnote 133:

Seneca, _De Vita Beata_.

Footnote 134:

Jeremy Taylor’s _Holy Dying_.

PREDICTIONS OF FLOWERS.

To what excellent account have our thoughtful old writers turned these prophetic indications of changeful flowers! Bishop Hall, in his _Occasional Meditations_, has the following “On the Light of Tulips, and Marigolds, &c. in his Garden:” “These flowers are the true clients of the sun; how observant they are of his motion and influence! At even, they shut up, as mourning for his departure, without whom they neither can see nor flourish; in the morning, they welcome his rising with a cheerful openness; and at noon, are fully displayed in a free acknowledgment of his bounty.

“Thus doth the good heart turn unto God. ‘_When thou turnedst away thy face, I was troubled_,’ saith the man after God’s own heart. ‘_In thy presence is life; yea, the fulness of joy._’ Thus doth the carnal heart to the world: when that withdraws its favours, he is dejected; and revives with a smile. All is in our choice. Whatsoever is our sun will thus carry us.

“O God, be Thou to me such as Thou art in Thyself: Thou shalt be merciful in drawing me; I shall be happy in following thee.”

The use of Perfumes in the last century exceeded that in the present day. Possibly the old notion that they were employed to mask the exhalations from diseased persons may have driven perfumes out of fashion in our day; we recollect _musk_ to have been specially so considered. Bishop Hall, in his _Occasional Meditations_, adverts to this use of perfumes in a meditation illustrative of a custom which is associated with the symbolic character of “flowers and redolent plants, just emblems of the life of man, which has been compared in Holy Scriptures to those fading beauties, whose roots, being buried in dishonour, rise again in glory.”[135] The Bishop’s meditation is “On the Sight of a Coffin stuck with Flowers:”

“Too fair in appearance is never free from just suspicion. While there was nothing but wood, no flower was to be seen here; now that this wood is lined with an unsavoury corpse, it is adorned with this sweet variety. The fir, whereof that coffin is made, yields a natural redolence alone; now that it is stuffed thus noisomely, all helps are too little to countervail that scent of corruption.[136]

Footnote 135:

Evelyn.

Footnote 136:

See “Flowers on Graves,” in _Mysteries of Life, Death, and Futurity_.

THE WORLD’S CYCLES.

There is a Revolution of History as of Knowledge: who does not remember how often the same succession of events has happened in his memory! Dr. Newman has well expressed this truth in a poem in the _Lyra Apostolica_, entitled “Faith against Sight,” with the motto, “As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man:”

The World has Cycles in its course, when all That once has been, is acted o’er again: Not by some fatal law which need appal Our faith, or binds our deeds as with a chain; But by men’s separate sins, which blended still The same bad round fulfil.

DEATH ALL-ELOQUENT.

Death and I have met in full, close contact; And parted, knowing we should meet again; Therefore, come when he may, we’ve looked upon Each other far too narrowly for me To fear the hour when we shall be so join’d, That all eternity shall never sever us.—_F. Kemble._

What solemnity is there in the following passage, with which Sir Walter Raleigh concludes his _Marrow of Historie!_ “O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none have dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world have flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised: thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, HIC JACET.”

Finis.

APPENDIX.

_Generations (page 71)._

MR. HATSELL TO LORD AUCKLAND.

Morden Park, Sunday, Nov. 23, 1813.

MY DEAR LORD,—I must correct the conclusion of your last letter, "and so the world goes on," to "and so the world goes off." In the same Marlborough family I have lived to see eight[137] generations:

1. Sarah Duchess of Marlborough. 2. Lady Sunderland. 3. Jack Spencer. 4. The first Lord Spencer. 5. The present Lord Spencer. 6. The Duchess of Devonshire. 7. Lady Morpeth. 8. Her children (the present Lord Carlisle and Duchess of Sutherland).

I saw Sarah in Lincoln’s-inn consulting Mr. Fazakerly, who stood close to her Grace’s chair; so, you see, I beat history out and out.[138]...—From the _Auckland Correspondence_, vol. iv. p. 401.

Footnote 137:

Only seven; the name of the second Lord Spencer ought to be omitted.

Footnote 138:

Mr. Hatsell died 1820.

_Memory_ (_page_ 75).

Professor Faraday, at the close of a Lecture on Gas Glass-house Furnaces, delivered at the Royal Institution in 1862, alluded, in an affecting manner, to his increasing loss of memory. There was a time, he observed, when he inclined to think that Memory was a faculty of secondary order; but he now feels its great importance; and the deficiency of that power, he said, would prevent him from again bringing before them any thing that was new; for he was often unable to recollect even his own precious researches, and he could no longer trust himself to lecture without notes.

_Great Ages_ (_page_ 114).

An old woman who died in 1858 in St. Patrick-street, Dublin, at the age of 110 years, distinctly remembered and described the appearance of Dean Swift, and added, that he never went outside the Deanery-house that he was not attended through the streets by a vast crowd of washed and unwashed admirers.

Mrs. Keith, of Newnham, Gloucestershire, who died in 1772, aged 133, left three daughters, aged 111, 110, and 100.

In 1862, a lady residing at Cheltenham received a second donation of 5_l._ from her Majesty the Queen, for an old man of 107 years of age, named William Purser, a native of Redmarley, but living in Cheltenham.—_Worcestershire Chronicle._

In 1862, a curious fact occurred at Downton, showing how few individuals are required to connect distant periods of history with the present time. A man was buried in this parish whose father was born in the reign of William III., and that father lived in three centuries, having been born in 1698 and died in 1801.—_Salisbury Journal._

In 1853, the Irish newspapers announced the death of Mrs. Mary Power, aunt of the celebrated Mr. Shiel, at the Ursuline Convent, Cork, at the age of 116 years; but this statement lacks legal evidence to prove it.

The obituary of the _Times_ of January 21, 1863, records the decease of persons who had attained the following advanced ages, viz.: 92, 90, 82, 82, 82, 80, 78, 78, 76, 74, 72, 72, 72, and 70 years respectively.

Dr. Mead, grandfather of the celebrated physician and antiquary, died at Ware, in Hertfordshire, 1652, aged 148.

In Scawen’s _Dissertation on the Cornish Tongue_, written in the reign of Charles II., is mentioned a woman recently deceased, who was "164 years old, of good memory, and healthful at her age; living in the parish of Gwithian. She married a second husband after she was 80, and buried him after he was 80 years of age."

A Philadelphia Correspondent of _Notes and Queries_, No. 213, 1853, records the death of "Aunt Polly" (Mary Simondson), near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, at the age of 126 years.

Among the legacies bequeathed to the Middlesex Hospital in 1863, was one which is deserving of special notice, inasmuch as the donor, Mr. Cropper, exhibited a singular instance of rigid economy in his personal expenditure, combined with a bountiful and almost princely benevolence towards the poor. Mr. Cropper, who was 90 years old when he died, had, it appears, survived all his relations. He was a barrister-at-law, and lived in the most frugal manner in his chambers at Gray’s-inn. The amount of his property at the time of his decease is estimated at about 4000_l._ per annum, and 10,000_l._ in money, the whole of which he has bestowed on London charities, selecting Middlesex Hospital as his residuary legatee.

In the _Express_ of February 11, 1863, it is recorded: Two octogenarians, named Joseph and John Fitzwalter, brothers, lived together with their sister in a house in Parliament street for a great number of years. The brothers had been brought up to the business of lace-designing, and the sister had acted in the capacity of housekeeper. Joseph, the elder one, was a short time ago attacked with bronchitis, under which he lingered for some time in much pain. On Wednesday last (February 4), however, he died, at the ripe old age of 84 years. The brother and sister of the deceased were much affected by his death, the brother showing excessive signs of grief. His grieving, however, was not long, for he expired in one hour after his brother. The death of two brothers, to whom she was devoutly attached, was a shock which the sister was unable to withstand; and on the morning fixed for their interment she also expired, at the age of 88 years.

_Baron Maseres_ (_page_ 149).

Baron Maseres long resided at Reigate, in a fine old brick mansion, about midway between the church and town. His remains rest in a vault in the churchyard towards the north-east; upon the tomb over which Dr. Fellowes has inscribed an epitaph in elegant Latinity, terminating thus: "Vale, vir optime! amice, vale, carissime; et siqua rerum humanarum tibi sit adhuc conscientia, monimentum, quod in tui memoriam, tui etiam in mortuis observantissimus Robertus Fellowes ponendum curavit, solitâ benevolentiâ tuearis."

On Sundays the Baron, bent with age, might be seen advancing up the nave of Reigate church; for he was a sound churchman, and testified his sincerity by making an Endowment for an Afternoon Sermon to be preached on Sundays, with this proviso, that, in case of non-observance of the bequest, the endowment should be given in bread to the poor. The chancels, with their faded pomp of effigied monuments, hatchments, and armorial glass, have little attraction compared with this interesting memorial of practical piety.

INDEX.

Adam, Death before, 117. Advice to the Student, 138. Age, our Unimaginative, 239. Ages, great, 81, 82. Airy, Prof., 241. Alarum, ancient, 14. Albert, Prince Consort, Death of, 228. Albert, Prince Consort, on the Progress of Knowledge, 227. Alderson, Baron, on Education, 138. Alfred’s Time-Candles, 13. Antiquaries, long-lived, 111. Aphorisms on Time, 2. Archbishop Sancroft, 104. Architects, aged, 113. Argument, What is it? 144. Aristotle’s Philosophy, 134. Artists, aged, 112, 113. Authors and Artists, Working, 204. Average of Life, 71.

Babbage, Mr., on Life Assurance, 71. Bacon, Francis, on Longevity, 80. Bailey’s _Records of Longevity_, 96. Baily, Francis, 208. Banks, Sir Edward, 182. Barrow, Sir John, 164. Beckford, William, 189. "Begin at the Beginning," 246. Bentham, Jeremy, Age of, 109, 110. Bentinck, Lord George, 217. Berry, the Misses, 92. Bidder, George, the engineer, 186. Birch, Alderman, 200. Blake, Captain, 174. Books for the Young, 141. Booth, David, 205. Brassey, Thomas, 185. Britton, John, Rise of, 207, 208. Brodie, Sir Benjamin, _note_, 59, 60. Brougham, Lord, 214, 215, 216. Brougham, Lord, on Oratory, 170. Bruce, John, on Longevity, 83. Brunel, I. K., 182, 183. Brunel, Sir I. M., 181. Buckingham Family, the, 193, 194. Buffon, on growing Old, 77. Burke, Oratory of, 169. BUSINESS-LIFE, 152-217. Business, Men of, 174. Byron, Lord, 206.

Carlyle’s Signs of the Times, 11. Centenarians in 1800, 101. Chambers, Robt., on Old Age, 99. Chantrey the Sculptor, 209. Character the best Security, 176. Chatham, Lord, 170. Cheyne, Dr., on Old Age, 109. Childhood’s Pastimes, 72. Children, Young, Teaching, 120. Circumstances and Genius, 238. Civic Hospitalities, 203. Civic Worthies, 199. Clark, "King of Exeter ’Change," 189. Clark, Chamberlain, 95, 208. Classics, Dr. Arnold on, 124. Clergy, Great ages of, 104, 105. CLOCKS AND WATCHES: Anne Boleyn’s Clock, 35; Cannon Clock, 37; Chronometers, 37; Clocks striking twice, 32; Electric Clocks, 39; Harrison’s improvements, 36; Horologe, 29; Horse-Guards Clock, 31; Kensington-palace, 36; Minute-Jacks, 33; Pendulum Experiments, 38; Rabelais on, 29; St. Dunstan’s Clock, 32, 33; St. James’s-palace Clock, 31; St. Magnus Clock, 32; St. Paul’s Cathedral Clock, 31, 35; St. Paul’s, Covent-garden, Clock, 31; Scott and Shakspeare on, 30; Watch, to choose, 39; Watch, Lord Herbert to his, 40; Watch-face at Somerset-house, 36; Water-clocks, 30; Westminster-palace Clock, 30, 35. Colburn, Henry, 197. Coleridge, _note_, 62. Coleridge, Sir John, on Education, 130, 140. CONCLUSION, 250-256. Consolation in growing Old, 76. Cooper, Durrant, on great ages in Yorkshire, 97. Cornaro, Great age of, 92. Court letter, Model, 165. Courtesies, Small, 221. "Cramming," 132. Cubitt, Thomas and William, 185, 186. Cunningham, Allan, 210. Cuvier on Life, 65.

Davy, Sir H., on Time, 8, 9. Day and Martin’s Blacking, 194. Death before Adam, 116. Death, Eloquent, 256. Death, Preparatory to, 115. Debating Society, 169. Demosthenes’ Oratory, 166, 167. Denisons, the, 196. Desmond, Old Countess of, 88. Dials: see Sun-Dials. Dickens, Charles, and Yorkshire Schools, 141. Diplomatic Handwriting, 166. Discipline, Practical, 132. Disraeli, Isaac and Benjamin, 211, 212. Distance reckoned by Time, 16.

Early Rising: Albert, Prince Consort, 51; Burgess, Bishop, 47; Burghley, Lord, 41; Cambridge University, 41; Chatham, Lord, 47; Cobbett, William, 48, 49, 50; Coke, Sir Edward, 42; Cooper, Sir Astley, 47; Doddridge, 45; Eton College, 41; Gibbon, 46; Kant, 46; Ken, Bishop, 42, 43; Rubens, 44; Thomson, the poet, 46; Webster, Daniel, 50; Wesley, John, 44, 45. Earthly existence, Future of the Human Race, 117. Ease of Mind, 250. Education Alarmists, 140.

Education, the best, 137. Education, Business of, 123. Education at Home, 121. Education, Liberal, 126. Education, Unsound, 128. Education, What is it? 119. Educations, Two, 131. Energy, Worth of, 154. Engineers, aged, 112. Engineers and Mechanicians, eminent, 177. English Character, the, 153.

Family Portraits, 219. Farming, Scientific, 187. Fate, Waywardness of, 246. Flood, Mr., Oratory of, 170. Flourens, M., on Longevity, 79. Floyer, Sir John, his age, 108. Fontenelle, on growing Old, 78, 103. Fortunes, Large, 188. Fox, C. J., 249. Fox, C. J., Oratory of, 167. Friends, How to Keep, 220. Friendships, Lasting, 221.

Garrick’s Talent predicted, 248. Generations, Passing, 68-71. Geology in Education, 135. Gibson, Sidney, on Longevity, 82. Good Man’s Life, the, 253. Grace, Dr. Whately on, 121. Greatness, Test of, 156. Grief and old Age, 108. Growing to the spot, 103. Grub-street and Criticism, 110.

Haller on Age, 79. Handwriting, Character in, 145. Hardwicke, Dowager Countess of, 91. Hard workers long livers, 106. Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 90. Herschel, Sir John, 240. Hill, Thomas, 205. Historians, long-lived, 111. Historic Traditions through few Links, 82. History and Geography, Teaching at Home, 121. Home, Love of, 218. Home Thoughts, 225. HOME TRAITS, 218-226. Hook, Theodore, 247. Hooke’s Magnetic Watch, 14. Hour-glass, the, 27, 28, 29. How, Hon. Chas., on Life, 68. Hudson, "the Railway King," 196. Humanity to Animals, 123. Humility and Self-Improvement, 244.

Journalists, Ages of, 111.