24 



The Review of Reviews. 



which has no name older than Ciutcnbeig and 

 Columbus, and includes three names that I never 

 heard of. I hope that Homer, Aristotle, Charle- 

 magne, and Dante are not excluded from the 

 Carnegie Libraries. And if we once begin to insert 

 the authors of niodern mechanical inventions, where 

 shall we stop ? and where do automobiles and aero- 

 planes come in, or Marconigrams and kinemato- 

 graphs, nay, even fountain pens, gramophones, 

 antipon, and pink pills — and all the damnable dodges 

 invented to make us all go faster, work harder, 

 and worry each other worse than man was ever 

 worried before ? 



We must start witii Moses, Homer, Aristotle, and 

 Archimedes, i.e., the obvious types of early priestly 

 civilisation, ancient poetry, ancient philosophy, 

 science, logic, and sociology, ancient geometry, and 

 mechanics. The effect of these four founders lives 

 and works still. From the point of view of European 

 civilisation, Moses is thejiatural representative of 

 theocratic socielies. Even if Lord Rosebery and 

 Mr. Gosse were to succeed in burnuigthe Pentateuch, 

 copies would still turn up, and no one can deny that 

 the ideas and the races represented in the Old 

 Testament are not quite obsolete. Nor is Homer 

 obsolete — or why all this pother at Cxford about 

 Greek ? If Ruskin and some clergymen prefer Plato 

 to Aristotle, men of a scientific and general culture 

 still honour Aristotle as " the master of those who 

 know," as Dante hails him. No trained mind doubts 

 how indispensable to all scientific jirogress was Greek 

 geometry, or that Archimedes was its most astounding 

 genius. 



The most creative spirit of the ancient world, the 

 founder of the mighty Empire of Rome, out of wliich 

 all media;val civilisation rose, was Julius Cajsar; and 

 so Charles the Great was the primeval founder of 

 modern Europe. As Jesus Christ is obviously /lors 

 coficours, St. Paul is the true founder of Christianity 

 as a doclrine. And as truly Dante is the founder of 

 European literature. Why Mr. Carnegie ignores the 

 Gospel, and prefers Burns to Dante and Milton, we 

 cannot understand. 'J'he next two names, Gutenberg 

 and Shakespeare, are in his list, and, of course, in 

 everybody else's list. 



Here are ten names (half the whole), and I 

 challenge any competent historian to show that they 

 must not be counted in the twenty "greatest." You 

 may say, Wiiy, these are Comtc's "Saints!" Yes! 

 they are the first ten names in the Positivist Calendar. 

 Does anyone supjiose that I am going to talk about 

 great men without reference to our " Calendar of 

 558 Worthies," on which I spent some good years of 

 my life ? 15ut Comte's list was drawn up seventy or 

 eighty years ago, and was expressly designed " for the 

 nineteenth century " alone. I am not at all a slave 

 to it, and it obviously cannot serve for the futuie 

 So I have no hesitation in using my free judgment lor 

 die remaining ten names. 



Columbus must stand for the beginning of the vast 



American New World. William the Silent, Richelieu, 

 and I'rederic the Great represent the creators of 

 three nations. Cromwell was as great a man, but he 

 was a revolutionist rather than a founder, and I v/iil 

 not insert our own hero. Newton will be everywhere 

 accepted as the type of all modern physical science, 

 and Franklin is perhaps the earliest and best knovi'n 

 name in the enormous range of electrical invention. 

 And Watt is obviously the natural representa- 

 tive of steam power with all its consequences. 

 With about one-seventh of our twenty names 

 already devoted to modern mechanical inventions, 

 I am not prepared to follow our multi-millionaire 

 Iron-Lord in adding more inventors. Modern 

 mechanical improvements are made up of a series of 

 gradual development of known forces, and there are 

 now before us some scores of nearly equal merit and 

 of possible utility. For myself I am far from clear 

 that gas, telephones, motors, rotary engines, wood- 

 pulp, and aeroplanes have added at all to human 

 happiness or to our moral education. Washington, 

 of course, is founder of U.S.A. For modern 

 science I select Darwin as having revolutionised 

 modern biology ; and for modern philosophy I 

 naturally insist on claiming Auguste Comte — [" King 

 Charles' Head " be—]. 



Here is my List of Twenty. 



Frederic Harrison. 



Mr. Frederic Harrison's Li.st. 



1. Moses, early theocratic civilisation. 



2. Homer, ancient poetry. 



3. Aristotle, ancient philosophy. 



4. Archimedes, ancient science. 



5. Julius CcCSar, the Roman Empire. 



6. St. Paul, Apostle of Christianity. 



7. Charlemagne, founder of European State 



System. 



8. Dante, father of modern poetry. 



9. Gutenberg, inventor of typography. 



10. Shakespeare, greatest of modern poets. 



11. Columbus, discoverer of the American world. 



12. William the Silent, founder of Holland. 



13. Richelieu, founder of modem France. 



14. Frederic the Great, founder of Prussian 



State. 



15. Newton, founder of modern astronomy and 



physics. 



16. Franklin, discoverer of electric forces. 



17. Watt, inventor of steam-power machines. 



18. Washington, founder of the United States. 



19. Darwin, founder of new science. 



20. Comte, founder of the Positive Philosophy. 



Eari, Grev. 



Earl Grey writes : — 



" You ask me for my opinion on Mr. .Andrew 

 Carnegie's and Mr. Frederic Harrison's lists of the 

 twenty greatest men. 



" I am not prepared at a moment's notice to send 

 you a final selection of the men who appear to me to 



