PART II. A foreign writer. Danger of these changes. which those who have no such wants can scarcely form a conception. A most distinguished foreign writer, of the female sex, has made a succession of domestic arrangements which, if generally imitated by others, would be subversive of any conceivable system of morality; and yet it is clear in this case that the temptation was chiefly, if not entirely, intellectual. The successive companions of this remarkable woman were all of them men of exceptional intellectual power, and her motive for changing them was an unbridled intellectual curiosity. This is the sort of immorality to which cultivated people are most exposed. It is dangerous to the wellbeing of a community because it destroys the sense of security on which the idea of the family is founded. If we are to leave our wives when their conversation ceases to be interesting, the foundations of the home will be unsafe. If they are to abandon us when we are dull, to go away with some livelier and more talkative companion, can we ever hope to retain them permanently? There is another danger which must be looked fairly in the face. When the lives of men are refined beyond the real needs of their organization, Nature is very apt Reaction to bring about the most extraordinary reactions. Thus refinement. the most exquisitely delicate artists in literature and from over painting have frequently had reactions of incredible coarseness. Within the Châteaubriand of Atala there existed an obscene Châteaubriand that would burst forth occasionally in talk that no biographer could repeat. I have heard the same thing of the sentimental Lamartine. We know that Turner, dreamer of enchanted landscapes, took the pleasures of a sailor on the spree. A friend said to me of one of the most exquisite living geniuses: "You can have no conception of the coarseness of his tastes; he associates with the very lowest women, and enjoys their rough brutality." These cases only prove, what I have always willingly admitted, that the intellectual life is not free from certain dangers if we lead it too exclusively. PART II. Excesses and reactions. favourable to morality. Intellectual excesses, by the excitement which they communicate to the whole system, have a direct tendency to drive men into other excesses, and a too great refinement in one direction may produce degrading reactions in another. Still the cultivation of the mind, reasonably pursued, is, Culture stili on the whole, decidedly favourable to morality; and we may easily understand that it should be so, when we remember that people have recourse to sensual indulgences simply from a desire for excitement, whilst intellectual pursuits supply excitement of a more innocent kind and in the utmost variety and abundance. If, instead of taking a few individual instances, you broadly observe whole classes, you will recognize the moral utility of culture. The most cultivated classes in our own country are also the most moral, and these classes have advanced in morality at the same time that they have advanced in culture. English gentlemen of the present day are superior to their forefathers whom Fielding described; they are better educated, and they read more; they are at the same time both more sober and more chaste. English gentlemen. morality. I may add that intellectual men have peculiar and most powerful reasons for avoiding the excesses of im- Reasons for morality, reasons which to anyone who has a noble ambition are quite enough to encourage him in self-control. Those excesses are the gradual self-destruction of the intellectual forces, for they weaken the spring of the mind, not leaving it will enough to face the drudgery that is inevitable in every career. Even in cases where LETTER IV. PART II. they do not immediately lead to visible imbecility, they make the man less efficient and less capable than he might have been; and all experienced wrestlers with fate and fortune know well that success has often, at the critical time, depended upon some very trifling Importance advantage which the slightest diminution of power would of small advantages. have lost to them. No one knows the full immensity of the difference between having power enough to make a little headway against obstacles, and just falling short of the power which is necessary at the time. In every great intellectual career there are situations like that of a steamer with a storm-wind directly against her and an iron-bound coast behind. If the engines are strong enough to gain an inch an hour she is safe, but if they lose there is no hope. Intellectual successes are so rewarding that they are worth any sacrifice of pleasure; the sense of defeat is so humiliating that fair Venus herself could not offer a consolation for it. An ambitious man will govern himself for the sake of his ambition, and withstand the seductions of the senses. Can he be ever strong enough, can his brain ever be lucid enough for the immensity of the task before him? Selfgovernment for ambition. Effects of immorality. "Le jeune homme," says M. Taine, "ignore qu'il n'y a pas de pire déperdition de forces, que de tels commerces abaissent le cœur, qu'après dix ans d'une vie pareille il aura perdu la moitié de sa volonté, que ses pensées auront un arrière-goût habituel d'amertume et de tristesse, que son ressort intérieur sera amolli ou faussé. Il s'excuse à ses propres yeux, en se disant qu'un homme doit tout toucher pour tout connaître. De fait, il apprend la vie, mais bien souvent aussi il perd l'énergie, la chaleur |d'âme, la capacité d'agir, et à trente ans il n'est plus bon qu'à faire un employé, un dilettante, ou un rentier." PART III. OF EDUCATION. LETTER I. ΤΟ A FRIEND WHO RECOMMENDED THE AUTHOR TO LEARN LETTER I. Lesson learned from a cook-The ingredients of knowledge-Impor- | PART III. tance of proportion in the ingredients-Case of an English author-Two landscape painters--The unity and charm of character often dependent upon the limitations of culture-The burden of knowledge may diminish the energy of actionDifficulty of suggesting a safe rule for the selection of our knowledge-Men qualified for their work by ignorance as well as by knowledge-Men remarkable for the extent of their studiesFranz Woepke-Goethe-Hebrew proverb. education. I HAPPENED one day to converse with an excellent French cook about the delicate art which he professed, Cockery and and he comprised the whole of it under two heads-the) knowledge of the mutual influences of ingredients, and the judicious management of heat. It struck me that there existed a very close analogy between cookery and education; and, on following out the subject in my own way, I found that what he told me suggested several considerations of the very highest importance in the! culture of the human intellect. PART III. LETTER 1. A French dish. Amongst the dishes for which my friend had a deserved reputation was a certain gâteau de foie which had a very exquisite flavour. The principal ingredient, not in quantity but in power, was the liver of a fowl; but there were several other ingredients also, and amongst these a leaf or two of parsley. He told me that the influence of the parsley was a good illustration of his theory about his art. If the parsley were omitted, the flavour he aimed at was not produced at all; but, on the other hand, if the quantity of parsley was in the least excessive, then the gâteau instead of being a delicacy for gourmets became an uneatable mess. Perceiving that I was really interested in the subject, he kindly promised a practical evidence of his doctrine, and the next How it was day intentionally spoiled his dish by a trifling addition of parsley. He had not exaggerated the consequences; the delicate flavour entirely departed, and left a nauseous bitterness in its place, like the remembrance of an illspent youth. spoiled. Mental chemistry. And so it is, I thought, with the different ingredients of knowledge which are so eagerly and indiscriminately recommended. We are told that we ought to learn this thing and that, as if every new ingredient did not affect the whole flavour of the mind. There is a sort of intellectual chemistry which is quite as marvellous as material chemistry, and a thousand times more difficult to observe. One general truth may, however, be relied upon as surely and permanently our own. It is true that everything we learn affects the whole character of the mind. Consider how incalculably important becomes the question of proportion in our knowledge, and how that which we are is dependent as much upon our ignorance |