4 Herbert Spencer. 



will be a natural, not a supernatural, greatness. Those be- 

 low will be raised up, and the model man of the future will 

 be he who walks modestly among his fellows, claiming 

 nothing and needing to claim nothing, because his intellect, 

 his character, his deeds shine in their true light, neither ob- 

 scured nor artificially heightened. And of such there will 

 be many. 



It is still hard for merit to obtain recognition ; but if a 

 man does good work, and chances to live in one of the most 

 enlightened countries of the world, he will probably be 

 found out before he dies. Mr. Spencer had a long struggle 

 before much attention was paid to him, but at length his 

 reAvard came. One great difficulty in his case was the lack 

 of a thorough academical education. By no means the 

 least of the advantages of a collegiate or university course 

 is that the student is admitted into a society of scholars, 

 who will form the intellectual aristocracy of their genera- 

 tion. He who joins them becomes known to the others, is 

 established as a member of the guild, and wears his badge 

 to the end of life. Both recognition and honor come to him 

 more easily, by virtue of his membership, to say nothing of 

 the advantages of the courses of study and discipline in 

 themselves. At the age of thirteen Herbert Spencer went 

 to live with his uncle, the Be v. Thomas Spencer, Bector of 

 Hinton, who was a graduate of Cambridge. The uncle 

 wished Herbert to prepare for the university, but the latter 

 was obstinate and refused. Prof. Youmans remarks that 

 the uncle lived to acknowledge that Herbert probably took 

 the right view of the matter. I do not think he did. Mr. 

 Spencer's thoughts and writings seem to me to show their 

 main deficiency in precisely those things which a university 

 training would have supplied. Many of his friends, how- 

 ever, — it is fair to state, — believe that a university train- 

 ing was incompatible with the traits on which the develop- 

 ment of his philosophy depended. 



Herbert Spencer was born in Derby, April 27, 1820. His 

 father and grandfather were teachers, and Herbert, at three 

 years of age, was the only surviving child. He did not 

 learn to read until seven. He was delicate in health, and 

 was not pressed. When he did go to school, he was not 

 brilliant. Prof. Youmans says of him that '^ he was charac- 

 terized as backward in things requiring memory and recita- 

 tion, but as in advance of the rest in intelligence." He 



