I 



JOHN FISKE. 675 



but there was some underlying sentiment expressed by the composer 

 which was conveyed to his mind. " When I look upon Parkman's 

 noble life," he says, " I think of Mendelssohn's Chorus, ' He that shall 

 endure to the end,' with its chaste and severely beautiful melody, and 

 the calm, invincible faith which it expresses." Were it not that one 

 cannot conceive how he found time to do it, it would occasion no sur- 

 prise to learn that he composed a mass as well as several songs. 



Mr. Fiske was a large man, and at the time of his death he was very 

 corpulent. He enjoyed good health, borrowed no troubles, and was 

 the type of a vigorous, happy human being, full of affection for his 

 family and of good-will towards his fellow-men. He was absolutely 

 independent and unconventional in his habits, both mentally and phys- 

 ically. The humorous description which he gave of his mode of life 

 thoroughly illustrates this. "I always sit in a draught when I find 

 one," he said, " wear the thinnest clothes 1 can find, winter and sum- 

 mer ; catch cold once in three or four years, but not severely ; and 

 prefer to work in a cold room 55 to 60 degrees. Work the larger 

 part of each twenty-four hours, and by day or night indifferently. 

 Scarcely ever change a word once written ; eat when hungry ; rarely 

 taste coffee or wine or smoke a cigar, but drink two or three quarts of 

 beer a day and smoke a pipe all the time when at work ; never experi- 

 enced the feelins: of disinclination for work and therefore never had 

 to force work." The indifference which he expresses to night or day 

 he brings forth in his essay on Chauncey Wright. " At two o'clock 

 in the morning," he says, " he [Wright] would perhaps take his hat 

 and saunter homeward with me by way of finishing the subject ; but 

 on reaching my gate a new suggestion would turn us back, — and so 

 we would alternately escort each other home, perhaps a dozen times, 

 until tired Nature asserted her rights, and the newly opened vistas of 

 discussion were regretfully left unexplored." This quotation from 

 Fiske's own works brings him before us as a willing disputant. It 

 must, however, be taken with a grain of salt. If he discussed questions 

 orally with persons from whom he differed in opinion, he selected his 

 opponent. He could not under ordinary circumstances be dragged into 

 an oral discussion. 



As a lecturer, his manner of delivery was described as " simple, direct, 

 sincere, and in a way appealing. He talked to his audience in a man- 

 ner to make them feel that he was talking with them. He had a 

 certain eloquence, which was engaging rather than stirring." 



His reviewers concur iu saying that his Cosmic Philosophy was 



