126 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ciety, and which he subsequently print- 

 ed in " Macmillan's Magazine." 



The London "Times" also, the or- 

 gan and oracle of British opinion, has 

 illustrated its idea of fair-play by never 

 criticising or noticing any of Spencer's 

 volumes. These volumes were being 

 widely read; they were molding the 

 opinions of thinkers; they were be- 

 coming influential in the universities ; 

 they were elaborately criticised in the 

 reviews; they were replied to in nu- 

 merous pamphlets and books; they 

 were translated into all the Continen- 

 tal languages ; they were guiding scien- 

 tific investigation, and familiarizing the 

 cultivated mind of the age with a new 

 order of ideas, but they were never 

 recognized by the London "Times" 

 any more than if they were non-exist- 

 ent. George Henry Lewes said of 

 Spencer that he alone of all British 

 thinkers had organized a philosophy; 

 but the " Times " had no information 

 about it. The meanness of its course 

 is the more palpable, as it never had 

 any principles of its own to maintain, 

 and said what it pleased on any sub- 

 ject ; while Spencer was engaged upon 

 a most formidable undertaking, with 

 immense odds against him. But the 

 " Times " has given in at last. Now 

 that the world's verdict has been deci- 

 sively rendered, it pluckily determines 

 that this author's work must have at- 

 tention. 



And so it breaks the long silence by 

 an elaborate review of " Ceremonial In- 

 stitutions." There is nothing notewor- 

 thy about the article except the signifi- 

 cance of its appearance in the " Times's " 

 columns, and the ludicroug perplexity of 

 the writer's position. He writes as if he 

 thought his readers were asking, after 

 twenty years' reticence, Why are you 

 moved to speak now ? The book he re- 

 views is part of a series of works which 

 can not be critically understood with- 

 out reference to the previous volumes. 

 But there is no reference to them no 

 intimation as to how Spencer was led 



to deal with the subject. It is, of 

 course, easy in this way to make such 

 a work appear very deficient, but the 

 critic could do it no justice without 

 convicting the journal in which he 

 wrote of former inexcusable neglect. 

 However, the "Times" has found it 

 desirable to change its tactics, and it 

 will no doubt do better next time. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



England: Her People, Polity, and Pur- 

 suits. By T. H. S. Escott. New York : 

 Henry Holt & Co. 1880. Pp. 593. 

 Price, $4. 



In these pages Mr. Escott has endeavored 

 to make a survey of modern England, pre- 

 senting all the salient features of English 

 social, political, literary, and industrial life 

 in such a way as to give a correct picture. 

 Of course, so large a subject can only be 

 given in outline in this compass, but by 

 a judicious use of materials a very large 

 mass of information has been introduced 

 and the subjects treated in approximately 

 their relative proportions. The life and 

 characteristics of the English village; the 

 position and duties of the great landhold- 

 ers; rural administration and municipal 

 government ; the law-courts, the legislature, 

 the crown, as well as the official system, 

 all receive more or less attention. Hotel 

 and traveling facilities and popular amuse- 

 ments receive such notice as their im- 

 portance warrants. Considerable space is 

 given to the condition and prospects of 

 the working-classes, the relations they hold 

 to the other classes of English society and 

 to the state, and the conditions and some 

 of the causes of poverty among them, and 

 the means employed to alleviate it. Edu- 

 cational systems and measures, the struc- 

 ture of society, the relations of society to 

 politics, commercial and financial features, 

 are treated more or less fully, while a large 

 place is given to the intellectual life, reli- 

 gious, scientific and literary. One of the 

 most noticeable chapters in the book is that 

 devoted to British philosophic thought. It 

 is contributed by Mr. W. L. Courtney, of 

 Oxford, and is an able and appreciative re- 

 view of the subject. He recognizes fully 



