EDITOR'S TABLE. 



547 



rank of the intellect of the world. His 

 greatness in this respect must in justice 

 be conceded." 



Mr. Ground in closing re-affirmed 

 his high opinion of the import of Spen- 

 cer's work as follows : " We may, how- 

 ever, allow that, if only he will keep 

 within his proper limits, very much of 

 what he has written will stand in lines 

 of unfading truth and beauty, and he will 

 have the honor of lifting the human 

 intellect to a higher plane of thought 

 and life. He is so great and many- 

 sided, and he has contributed such a 

 vast amount of intellectual force, that 

 no one who reverences the mind of 

 man as one of the greatest handiworks 

 of God can honestly refuse him hom- 

 age. He stands before us of the build 

 of the giants, perhaps of the immor- 

 tals, and his nature is not yet made up 

 so as to show us what will be his ulti- 

 mate place whether amid those who 

 shed kindly benefactions on the race, 

 or those who like evil angels leave be- 

 hind them a heritage of negation, unbe- 

 lief, and despair." 



Such talk was not at all palatable to 

 the members of the Victoria Institute, 

 who could not recognize much great- 

 ness in a man whom they had just 

 seen so effectually "crushed." The 

 chairman led by observing, " I would 

 rather not have seen so very much ad- 

 miration for Mr. Herbert Spencer com- 

 bined with the reasoning of the paper, 

 which proves so successfully that if 

 this 'writer' is indeed a 'gia t,' he is 

 but a giant stuffed with straw." The 

 Rev. Dr. Irons remarked, "I concur 

 fully with the chairman in saying that 

 the estimate formed of Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer was somewhat exaggerated,and 

 yet I have to acknowledge the great ad- 

 miration I entertain of Spencer's style 

 and acuteness and power of analysis, 

 and I do not think we gain anything 

 by depreciating our opponents." Others 

 followed in a similar strain, and only 

 Professor Griffiths accepted the esti- 

 mate of Spencer, and took exception to 



the general argument of the essay. In 

 reviewing and closing the discussion, 

 Mr. Ground admitted that he might have 

 been over-impressed by Spencer's gen- 

 ius, but that it was very easy to commit 

 the opposite mistake. He said : "I feel 

 sure, however, that some in this Insti- 

 tute greatly underrate Mr. Spencer a 

 mistake which in my judgment would, 

 if not corrected, bring disastrous conse- 

 quences, but it is possible that I may 

 have gone to the opposite extreme. In 

 reading his philosophy, I am distinctly 

 conscious that vaster thoughts are be- 

 fore me than when reading Shakespeare. 

 Shakespeare one can take up any time 

 as the companion of an idle hour, and 

 the amount of mental stimulation he 

 gives is relatively trifling. Not so is it 

 with Spencer. It is only when the eye 

 is keenest, the will strongest, the nerv- 

 ous force most abundant, that you can 

 be sure of following him. The first 

 (Shakespeare) carries you through the 

 gentle undulations of an English coun- 

 ty, and his highest elevations are hard- 

 ly so much as Snowdon or Helvellyn, 

 but Spencer carries you up the awful 

 Alpine ranges, where the spaces of 

 thought over which the eye roves are 

 incomparably vaster, and where the 

 exertion demanded is far greater. 

 Spencer has a certain Miltonic grand- 

 eur. I could name places in his phi- 

 losophy where views are given us of 

 creation, in which, if we add the spir- 

 itual conceptions of which I spoke, 

 the idea presented rises, to my mind, 

 in extent, sublimity, and overpowering 

 greatness above everything I have yet 

 met with in all uninspired literature. 

 To grasp his system is like standing in 

 the Sistine Chapel and bearing the full 

 weight of the conceptions of Michael 

 Angelo. While this fact explains the 

 fascination that Spencer exerts over 

 many, it also shows us the great dan- 

 ger either cf letting his system con- 

 tinue, as it no doubt is, the reigning 

 philosophy of the world, or of depre- 

 ciating it below its just value." 



