'^CUI BONO? 



" Surely, my friends, plenty of bacon is good and indispensable : bnt, I doubt, you ■\vi!l never get even 

 bacon by aiming only at that. You are men, not animals of prey." — Thomas Co-rliile. 



'¥'1"TE English 2)eople have the credit of 

 » » being one of the most utilitarian 

 nations under the sun ; yet, amongst our- 

 selves, as though we believed it not, we 

 call the yn-esent a utilitarian age, and flat- 

 ter ourselves that during this nineteenth 

 century Ave have become more practical. 

 ISro\v-a-da,ys we are too utilitarian to erect 

 liandsome structures or do handsome things 

 without first inquiring, What good will come 

 of it ? Ifj after a long sum in compound addi- 

 tion and subtraction, there appears a good 

 balance in favour of the project, " Cui bono" 

 kicks the beam, and the thing is done. Can 

 we be surprised, then, after having worshipped 

 this idol all the day, at having it flung at our 

 heads at night ? Shall we bend before it in 

 our counting-houses, make the Ledger our 

 prayer-book, and Contracts our homilies, and 

 go home without expecting to see the shadow 

 of the idol there ? No ! by the manes of 

 " Porter's Progress," let's be true and faithful 

 worshippers, even though we cast ourselves 

 beneath the wheels, so that the car of Jugger- 

 nath may pass over us ! 



Try the experiment with our youthful 

 population. Pick up a little weed from the 

 wayside in their presence; gaze at it earnestly, 

 blow back the petals of the flowei", take out a 

 pocket lens, examine yet more closely, turn 

 over the leaves, thoughtfully, but carefully, 

 inspect it thoroughly, -minutely ; place it 

 erect within the lining of your hat ; return 

 that undignified cylinder to its place of honour 

 on the top of your bead, and move on. Think 

 you that this operation can be brought to a 

 conclusion before you are assailed with the 

 inquiry, " What are you going to do with it, 

 what good is it ? " Yain hope, for should 



you perchance escape it there, it will be at 

 home waiting your return, and no sooner will 

 you take the innocent little weed from its 

 resting-place, than you will have to give an 

 account of all the pleasui'es and profits, uses 

 and benefits that you are ever likely to derive 

 from px'eserving such rubbish between cleaii 

 sheets of papei\ How vain is it, under such 

 circumstances, to attempt to convey to the 

 mind of the inquirer any conviction unasso- 

 ciated with money value or domestic economy ! 

 If it can be proved that your little plant of 

 knotgrass, or pimpernel, or harebell is a cer- 

 tain cure for croup, or will flavour a stew like 

 parsley or tarragon, then it would be admitted 

 that it really is of use ; or that a handful 

 would realizs a shilling in Govent Garden 

 Market, in that case they v/ould even turn 

 botanists themselves ; but, not to be worth a 

 farthing in hard cash, or furnish food for a 

 canary, is sufiieient to prove them worthy of 

 wholesale condemnation as rubbish, and the 

 collector little better than a fool. 



Mrs. Partington, with the encroaching sea 

 at the end of her mop, could not have trun- 

 dled more fruitlessly than those kind friends 

 who by their efforts would stay the pro- 

 gress of inquiry and investigation in the young 

 student of nature, by throwing a Cui Bono at 

 his head, provided he has acquired just sufii- 

 eient knowledge to dii'ect his investigations 

 into a right channel. If man could live by 

 bread alone ; if his sole mission were to eat, 

 sleep, and die ; if he were content to measure 

 his happiness by twopences, and his ecstacies 

 by biscuits, then it would be legitimate to in- 

 quire of every pursuit that did not end in 

 twopences or biscuits, " ^Yhat good is it?" 

 But inasmuch as there is a higher aim in life, 



