49 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



His first political work, a new edition of which was recently re- 

 viewed in The Popular Science Monthly, is an analysis and expla- 

 nation of that elaborate piece of mechanism or rather, of that com- 

 plex organism "The English Constitution." He dispels many illu- 

 sions and corrects many misconceptions concerning constitutions 

 generally, and demonstrates the impossibility of framing a written 

 document that will fulfill the functions discharged by the unwritten 

 Constitution of England the inevitable defects and weaknesses of 

 made-to-order instruments being illustrated by examples drawn from 

 the workings of our own much-vaunted ordinances, and the more re- 



O J 



cent instrument under which France is now governed. 



In "Physics and Politics," Mr. Bagehot's first American book, the 

 the growth of societies and states is treated according to the method 

 of the evolution philosophy ; it is a book which could only have been 

 written by a man having a thorough knowledge of practical affairs, 

 and' a firm hold upon the theories of Spencer and Darwin. It is pro- 

 nounced " clever " by the critics who do not accept those theories, 

 but it is much more. 



" Lombard Street," as its name indicates, deals with that abstruse 

 and wayward subject, the "money-market," and is one of the best 

 sources from which to learn the differences which exist between the 

 realities of the "street" and the hypotheses of economists. 



At the time of his death, March 24, 1877, he was engaged upon a 

 book, some of the earlier chapters of which were published in the 

 Fortnightly Review (February and May, 1876) under the title of "The 

 Postulates of Political Economy ; " they were able and timely, and it 

 is to be hoped that the surmise that other of the chapters were so far 

 forwarded as to warrant publication is correct. 



Since his death his articles in the Economist upon the silver ques- 

 tion have been reprinted, making a thin octavo volume ; they lack 

 completeness and finish, but are still the most valuable contribution 

 to the subject, for he was the first to seek out and correctly correlate 

 the causes that led to the decline and fluctuations in the price of silver. 



This brief list comprises all that will be remembered as his 

 " works," for, though a busy writer, his labor was mostly given to 

 the leading articles in his paper. It is as a journalist that he will be 

 chiefly missed. Though dealing with abstruse and technical topics, 

 he never failed to make himself understood by men of ordinary cul- 

 tivation and intelligence. His knowledge was so accurate and his 

 grasp so strong as to command the respect of specialists, and yet his 

 articles had the attention and interest of men whose only concern in 

 or knowledge of the subjects was that obtained from Mr. Bagehot 

 himself. In the abstract science with which he dealt he had the rare 

 combination of a conversancy with the abstractions and a knowledge 

 of the facts. He had the guessing faculty and the solid judgment of 

 the man of business, and the trained reasoning power with which to 

 test his guesses and value his conclusions. 



