Ch II] CHARACTERISTICS. 51 



a law ought to be passed. A novel, according to my taste, 

 does not come into the first class unless it contains some 

 person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman 

 all the better. 



This curious and lamentable loss of the higher aesthetic 

 tastes is all the odder, as books on history, biographies, and 

 travels (independently of any scientific facts which they may 

 contain), and essays on all sorts of subjects interest me as much 

 as ever they did. My mind seems to have become a kind of 

 machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of 

 facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part 

 of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend. I cannot 

 conceive. A man with a mind nioro highly organised or better 

 constituted than mine, would not, I suppose, have thus suffered ; 

 and if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to 

 read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every 

 week ; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would 

 thus have been kept active through use. Tho loss of these 

 tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious t > 

 the intellect, and more probably to tho moral character, by t 

 enfeebling tho emotional part of our nature. 



My books have sold largely in England, have been translated 

 into many languages, and passed through several editions in 

 foreign countries. I have heard it said that the success of a 

 work abroad is the best test of its enduring value. I doubt 

 whether this is at all trustworthy ; but judged by this standard 

 my name ought to last for a few years. Therefore it may bo 

 worth while to try to analyse the mental qualities and the con- 

 ditions on which my success has depended ; though I am aware * 

 that no man can do this correctly. 



I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so 

 remarkable in some clever men, for instance, Huxley. I am 

 therefore a poor critic : a paper or book, when first read, gene- 

 rally excites my admiration, and it is only after considerable 

 reflection that I perceive the weak points. My power to follow 

 a long and purely abstract train of thought is very limited ; 

 and therefore I could never have succeeded with metaphysics or 

 mathematics. My memory is extensive, yet hazy : it suffices to 

 make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I have observed or 

 read something opposed to the conclusion which I am drawing, 

 or on the other hand in favour of it ; and after a time I can 

 generally recollect where to search for my authority. So poor 

 in one sense is my memory, that I have never been able to 

 remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of 

 poetry. 



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