EDWARD LIVINGSTON YOUMANS. 15 



which I had found interesting, in spite of its having been 

 crammed down my throat by an old-fashioned memorizing teach- 

 er who, I am convinced, never really knew so much as the differ- 

 ence between oxygen and antimony. At first it was a matter of 

 breathless interest to talk with a man who had seen Herbert 

 Spencer. But one of the immediate results of this interview was 

 the beginning of my own correspondence with Mr. Spencer, which 

 led to manifold results. And from that time forth it always 

 seemed as if, whenever any of the good or lovely things of life 

 came to my lot, somehow or other Edward Youmans was either 

 the cause of it or at any rate intimately concerned with it. The 

 sphere of his unselfish goodness was so wide and its quality so 

 potent that one could not come into near relations with him 

 without becoming in all manner of unsuspected ways strengthened 

 and enriched. 



In the autumn of i860 we were dismayed by the announce- 

 ment that Mr. Spencer would no longer be able to go on issuing 

 his works. In London they were published at his own expense 

 and risk, and those books which now yield a handsome profit did 

 not then pay the cost of making them. By the summer of 1865 

 there was a balance of £1,100 against Mr. Spencer, and his prop- 

 erty was too small to admit of his going on and losing at such a 

 rate. As soon as this was known, John Stuart Mill begged to be 

 allowed to assume the entire pecuniary responsibility of continu- 

 ing the publication ; but this, Mr. Spencer, while deeply affected 

 by such noble sympathy, would not hear of. He consented, how- 

 ever, with great reluctance, to the attempt of Huxley and Lub- 

 bock, and other friends, to increase artificially the list of sub- 

 scribers by inducing people to take the work just in order to help 

 support it. But after several months the sudden death of Mr. 

 Spencer's father added something to his means of support, and he 

 thereupon withdrew his consent to this arrangement, and deter- 

 mined to go on publishing as before, and bearing the loss. 



But, as soon as the first evil tidings reached America, Mr. You- 

 mans made up his mind that 85,500 must be forthwith raised by 

 subscription, in order to make good the loss already incurred. It 

 is delightful to remember the vigor with which he took hold of 

 this work. The sum of 87,000 was raised and invested in American 

 securities in Mr. Spencer's name. If he did not see fit to accept 

 these securities, they would go without an owner. The best Wal- 

 tham watch that could be procured was presented to Mr. Spencer 

 by his American friends ; a letter, worded with rare delicacy and 

 tact, was written by the late Robert Minturn ; and Mr. Youmans 

 sailed for England to convey the letter and the watch to Mr. 

 Spencer. It was a charming scene on a summer day in an Eng- 

 lish garden when the great philosopher was apprised of what had 



