vin NATURAL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS 365 



come by the " right to himself" ? I have paid a 

 good deal of attention to those branches of natural 

 history which treat more especially of man, but 

 never yet have I come across even the smallest 

 grounds for believing that a man has ever been 

 known to make himself, or to endow himself by 

 his own labour with the powers he exerts. I 

 have heard often enough of men who were said to 

 be self-made. Indeed, I have known some cases 

 in which the fact was alleged in justification of 

 the ways of Providence, and for the purpose of 

 shifting the responsibility for the existence of 

 some people on to the right shoulders. But I 

 have always taken this phrase about " self- 

 making " to be a metaphor, and a very foolish 

 one, inasmuch as the men said to be self-made 

 are usually those whom nature has especially 

 favoured with costly gifts and exceptional oppor- 

 tunities. No doubt it may be said, with justice, 

 that a man who learns diligently and strives hard 

 to do right, really bestows labour on himself, and 

 does so far fulfil the necessary conditions of self- 

 ownership laid down in " Progress and Poverty." 

 But, on the other hand, might not his teachers, on 

 the very same ground, claim possession of the 

 fruits of their labours in him? Might not the 

 mother, who not only bore him, but bore with 

 him, day and night, for half-a-dozen years, fed 

 him, clothed him, nursed him in sickness, taught 

 him the rudiments of civilisation might not she 



