132 LAY SERMONS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS. [vm. 



character of grandeur about it ; &quot; and he uses some very strong 

 language because I show no sign of veneration for his idol. I 

 confess I do not care to occupy myself with the denigration of a 

 man who, on the whole, deserves to be spoken of with respect. 

 Therefore, I shall enter into no statement of the reasons which 

 lead me unhesitatingly to accept Mr. Congreve s challenge, and 

 to refuse to recognize anything which deserves the name of 

 grandeur of character in M. Comte, unless it be his arrogance, 

 which is undoubtedly sublime. All I have to observe is, that if 

 Mr. Congreve is justified in saying that I speak with a tinge of 

 contempt for his spiritual father, the reason for such colouring of 

 my language is to be found in the fact, that, when I wrote, I 

 had but just arisen from the perusal of a work with which he is 

 doubtless well acquainted, M. Littre s &quot;Augusta Comte et la 

 Philosophic Positive.&quot; 



Though there are tolerably fixed standards of right and 

 wrong, and even of generosity and meanness, it may be said that 

 the beauty, or grandeur, of a life is more or less a matter of 

 taste ; and Mr. Congreve s notions of literary excellence are so 

 different from mine that, it may be, we should diverge as widely 

 in our judgment of moral beauty or ugliness. Therefore, while 

 retaining my own notions, I do not presume to quarrel with his. 

 But when Mr. Congreve devotes a great deal of laboriously 

 guarded insinuation to the endeavour to lead the public to 

 believe that I have been guilty of the dishonesty of having 

 criticised Comte without having read him, I must be permitted 

 to remind him that he has neglected the well-known maxim of 

 a diplomatic sage, &quot; If you want to damage a man, you should 

 say what is probable as well as what is true.&quot; 



And when Mr. Congreve speaks of my having an advantage 

 over him in my introduction of &quot; Christianity &quot; into the phrase 

 that &quot; M. Comte s philosophy, in practice, might be described as 

 Catholicism minus Christianity ; &quot; intending thereby to suggest 

 that I have, by so doing, desired to profit by an appeal to the 

 odium theologicum, he lays himself open to a very unpleasant 

 retort. 



