438 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was drawn up in 1859, and distributed in the March of the fol- 

 lowing year. 



The history of the man from this time on is almost entirely 

 merged in the history of his work ; the dates of importance for 

 the outside world being those marked by the publication of Iho 

 various portions and volumes of the promised series. Of Mr. 

 Spencer himself, through all this long period during which the 

 rare qualities of his genius have been more and more fully recog- 

 nized, and the power of his thought has shown a steady growth, 

 the public at large has known less perhaps than of any of his 

 notable contemporaries. He has lived, rather by necessity than 

 by choice, a very quiet and secluded life, saving all his available 

 strength for the task he had set himself to accomplish; while, 

 hating as he does the nauseating personalities of modern jour- 

 nalism, he has not only never courted notoriety, but has firmly 

 resisted attempts frequently made to thrust notoriety upon 

 him. This does not mean, and must not be taken to imply, that 

 there is anything in him of the ascetic or recluse. He is by 

 nature what Johnson described as a thoroughly " clubable " man 

 enjoying so far as health would permit the menus propos of 

 the dinner table, and social intercourse with congenial spirits. 

 Himself a delightful conversationist and capital story-teller, 

 fond of his joke, and with a ready laugh for the good sayings of 

 others, he certainly does not remind those who are privileged t o 

 know him well of the dry, abstracted, unemotional philos pher 

 of vulgar tradition, though doubtless a stranger would pronounce 

 him cold and reserved. Before his nervous trouble assumed its 

 more serious form a few years since, he took much pleasure in 

 fishing, quoits, and especially billiards, and was a regular ha- 

 hitue of the Athenaeum Club. But for a long time past these and 

 similar amusements have been out of the question, and, being a 

 rather impatient reader of general literature, he has derived his 

 greatest solace from music, of which he has always been passion- 

 ately fond. Without intruding, as I have no wish to do, upon the 

 sanctities of private life, I feel that I am justified in saying this 

 much, and in adding that in my own familiar relations with Mr. 

 Spencer there is nothing that has impressed me more strongly 

 than his lofty idea of rectitude, his fine sense of justice, and the 

 transparency and charming simplicity of his character. Kind 

 and considerate to those about him, despite the strain of insomnia 

 and constant ill health, if he makes large demands upon the 

 rationality and integrity of others, as he undoubtedly does, he 

 claims no more from them than for his own part he is always 

 ready to give. His standard of individual conduct is an extreme- 

 ly high one, but, unlike many theorists, he applies it to his own 

 life as severely as he does to the lives of other people. 



