NATRORE 
481 
THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 1904. 
DIVERS MEN AND MATTERS. 
Essays and Addresses, 1900-1903. By the Right 
Hon. Lord Avebury, P.C. Pp. 296. (London : 
Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1903.) Price 7s. 6d. net. 
NCLUDED in this volume are short studies of 
the life and work of Huxley, Ruskin, Richard | 
Jefferies, and Macaulay; speeches on the institution 
of Bank Holidays, and the Early Closing Bill for 
Shop Assistants; three papers on trade and com- 
merce; three addresses on education; and three other 
papers. 
The first paper gains in interest from Lord Ave- 
bury’s personal acquaintance with Huxley. The 
author gives an appreciation of the man as well as 
of his work. They were associated in the foundation 
of the Anthropological Institute, on commissions on 
scientific instruction, in the Metaphysical Society, 
and as members of the X Club, which included also 
Hooker, Spencer and Tyndall. Lord Avebury deals 
with Huxley’s work in natural science, in education, 
and in metaphysics. Huxley was foremost in show- | 
ing the fascination of scientific study. As Sir Michael 
Foster says, ‘‘ Whatever bit of life Huxley touched— 
and there were few living things he did not touch—he 
shed light on it and left his mark.’’ As to education, 
Huxley was a member of the first London School 
Board, where he made valuable suggestions as to 
the moral, physical and domestic, as well as to the 
intellectual and scientific training of the young. His 
attitude is well illustrated by his saying, ‘‘ Teach a | 
child what is wise—that is morality; teach him what | 
is wise and beautiful—that is religion.’’ In the | 
Metaphysical Society, Huxley had difficulty in rank- | 
ing himself. ‘‘ Most of my colleagues were ‘ ists’ of 
one sort or another; and, however kind and friendly 
chey might be, I, the man without a rag to cover 
himself with, could not fail to have... . uneasy feel- 
ings. . So I took thought, and invented what I 
conceived to be the appropriate title of agnostic.’’ He 
described his position as being ‘‘ Not among fatalists, 
for I take the conception of necessity to have a logical, 
and not a physical, foundation; not among material- 
ists; for I am utterly incapable of conceiving the 
existence of matter if there is no mind in which to 
picture that existence; not among atheists, for the 
problem of the ultimate cause of existence is one which 
seems to me to be hopelessly out of reach of my poor 
powers.”’ 
It may not have been possible to deal fairly with 
the work and personality of so many-sided a genius 
as Ruskin in one short lecture, but it was surely un- 
necessary to have spent so much care in showing the 
inconsistencies and paradoxes with which Ruskin 
delighted to adorn his writings, to the exclusion of 
his positive and essential teaching; and Lord Avebury | 
himself asserts that the spirit of the critic, always | 
of more importance than the letter, is true and noble. | 
Fortunately, Ruskin’s attitude towards art is not | 
dealt with, but the paper is completed with some of 
NO. 1795, VOL. 69] 
‘ 
| and labour. 
/not get beyond the somewhat obvious remark that 
| advantages 
Ruskin’s exquisite descriptions of plants, animals, 
water and mountains. 
The paper on Richard Jefferies is appreciative and 
interesting, and it is a happy conjunction that he is 
placed after Huxley and Ruskin. While Huxley com- 
pelled Nature to yield her secrets to his analysis, and 
Ruskin depicted her with his marvellous skill as a 
word-painter, Jefferies approached her with the 
passionate rapture of a lover, and lived with her in 
intimate study of all her secret moods. 
But perhaps Lord: Avebury is more interesting in 
his capacity of social reformer than as literary critic. 
He gives the history of the initiation of Bank: Holi- 
days, and dwells on the advantage of the uniformity 
which allows members of one family scattered in 
different occupations a possibility of periodic reunion. 
The plea for legislation for early closing, which 
follows, is forcible and convincing; the general need 
and demand for shorter hours is evident, and so is 
the impossibility of any sufficient reform on voluntary 
lines. 
In the paper on British commerce, written before 
| the fiscal controversy became acute, Lord Avebury sup- 
| ports the optimistic view that we have made rapid 
progress, and that there is no ‘‘ reason for despondency 
or discouragement *’ as to the future, if we improve 
our national education, practise economy in national 
expenditure, and improve the relations between capital 
As regards the last, however, he does 
““Tn the interests alike of employers and employed it 
| will be well if wiser and more conciliatory counsels 
prevail in the future.’’ In dealing with fiscal policy, 
Lord Avebury has many telling illustrations of the 
of free trade, and gives some very 
important evidence as to the difficulties which Germany 
finds in the Kartell system; but his paper will not 
be in any way convincing to the advocates of an 
Imperial fiscal policy, for he does not come to close 
quarters with their ideas and arguments. The paper 
is loose both in style and logic; what are we to 
think of a writer who holds that Canada’s preference 
to us is a dominant cause of the migration from the 
United States to the North-West Provinces. ‘‘I am 
very pleased to see that Canada has herself benefited by 
the reduction. Our tradé has increased 3,000,0001. with 
Canada, and the result to Canada has been that her 
people have got an increased supply of cheap goods, 
her agriculture has benefited, farmers are flocking in 
from the United States.’’ 
The eleventh paper is an attack on municipal 
trading. It is not possible to deal with so highly 
controversial a subject in our present space. The 
most is made of the difficulties, risks, dangers and 
possible loss when municipalities undertake work 
| which private enterprise could do as well, and these 
will be admitted by most unprejudiced students; but 
no real help is given to the very real difficulty of 
laying down principles which should govern municipal 
action. Such a paragraph as follows hardly shows a 
scientific view of a complicated economic problem :— 
Yi 
