1896.] on National Biography. 29 



Nelson or Parnell, Coleridge's indulgence in opium, Person's indul- 

 gence in drink, which vitally affected their careers, must be frankly 

 but judiciously and briefly described. Here, as at every point in his 

 work, the national biograj)her has to cultivate the judicial temper, for 

 he has not merely to record reputations but to adjust them. He 

 must not exalt Cromwell at Charles I.'s expense, nor Charles I. at 

 Cromwell's. Careers embittered by controversy must be treated with 

 due regard to all the interests involved. Many of these methods of 

 national biography might be adopted without disadvantage by the 

 individual biographer, who is often no expert in the biographic art ; 

 no limit is set to his diffuseness, to his indulgence in trivial details, to 

 his partisan tendencies ; with the result that the hero's really eminent 

 achievements and distinctive characteristics lie buried under the 

 dust and ashes of special pleading, commonplace gossip or helpless 

 eulogy. The national biographer aims at commemorating all who 

 have excited the commemorative instinct in any appreciable degree in 

 any dej^artment of national life ; but it is difficult to enunciate any 

 principle of exclusion that shall carry universal conviction. An 

 Aristotelian definition may apply ; and it may be suggested that 

 no man's life should be admitted that does not present at least one 

 action that is " serious, complete and of a certain magnitude." Official 

 dignities, except of the rarest and most dignified kind, give in them- 

 selves no claim to national commemoration. But national biography 

 must satisfy the commemorative instinct of all sections of the 

 population, and include representatives of varied political or religious 

 movements. The national biographer must, at times, too, correct 

 the working of the nation's commemorative instinct, by noticing 

 those who, having prepared the way for great inventions, have 

 been forgotten, while all the glory has gone to those who have reaped 

 the benefit of preceding efforts. It is obvious that of the aggregate 

 mass of mankind very few are taken. The lecturer's personal experi- 

 ence led him to estimate that from the year 1000 a. d. to the end of 

 the present century, 30,000 persons have achieved in this Kingdom 

 such measure of distinction as to claim the national biographer's 

 attention ; i.e. 1 in 5000 of the adult population. Up to the 

 end of the seventeenth century the ratio for adults seems to have 

 been 1 in 6250. Last century it rose almost impercej)tibly, viz. to 

 1 in 6000. In this century, when we include the English speaking 

 inhabitants of our colonies, but exclude the United States, the 

 ratio sensibly rises, viz. to one in 4000, and at the present moment 

 600 adults in the County of London are qualifying for admission to 

 a complete register of national biography, of whom twenty should be 

 women. The increase of the ratio of distinction in the present 

 century is largely due to the multiplication of intellectual callings, 

 the specialisation of science and art, and the improvement of educational 

 machinery. 



Ex'periments in 'National BiograjjJiy. — In conclusion the lecturer 

 briefly described the efforts previously made in this country in 



