202 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 

 1874. 



THE world has been frequently informed of late that 

 I have raised up against myself a host of enemies ; 

 and considering, with few exceptions, the deliverances of 

 the Press, and more particularly of the religious Press, I 

 am forced to admit that the statement is only too true. 

 I derive some comfort, nevertheless, from the reflection 

 of Diogenes, transmitted to us by Plutarch, that ' he 

 who would be saved must have gocd friends or violent 

 enemies ; and that he is best off who possesses both.' 

 This ' best ' condition, I have reason to believe, is mine. 

 Reflecting on the fraction I have read of recent 

 remonstrances, appeals, menaces, and judgments cover- 

 ing not only the world that now is, but that which is 

 to come I have noticed with mournful interest how 

 trivially men seem to be influenced by what they call 

 their religion, and how potently by that 'nature ' which 

 it is the alleged province of religion to eradicate or 

 subdue. From fair and manly argument, from the ten- 

 derest and holiest sympathy on the part of those who 

 desire my eternal good, I pass by many gradations, 

 through deliberate unfairness, to a spirit of bitterness, 

 which desires with a fervour inexpressible in words my 

 eternal ill. Now, were religion the potent factor, we 

 might expect a homogeneous utterance from those pro- 



