of which the following fundamental passage may stand for sufficient and permanent example of the existent, practical, and unsentimental English mind, being the most vile sentence which I have ever seen in the literature of any country or time: "As no one will deny that Man possesses carnivorous teeth, or that all animals that possess them are more or less predatory, it is unnecessary to argue, à priori, that a predatory instinct naturally follows from such organization. It is our intention here to show how this inevitable result operates on civilized existence by its being one of the conditions of Man's nature, and, consequently, of all arrangements of civilized society." The paper proceeds, and is entirely constructed, on the assumption that the predatory spirit is not only one of the conditions of man's nature, but the particular condition on which the arrangements of Society are to be founded. For "Reason would immediately suggest to one of superior strength, that however desirable it might be to take possession by violence, of what another had laboured to produce, he might be treated in the same way by one stronger than himself, to which he, of course, would have great objection. In order, therefore, to prevent or put a stop to a practice which each would object to in his own case,” etc., etc. And so the Social Science interpreter proceeds to sing the present non-sentimental Proverbs and Psalms of England, -with trumpets also and shawms1- and steam whistles. And there is concert of voices and instruments at the Hospital of the Incurabili, and Progress-indubitably—in Chariots of the Night.2 1 [Psalms xcviii. 7 (Prayer-book).] NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE CORRIERE DEI BAGNI 15. M'IMBARCAI su di un vaporetto; era elegante, era vasto, ma il suo contenuto era enormemente superiore al contenente; il vaporetto rigurgitava di uomini, di donne, e di ragazzi. Il commandante, un fiero giovanotto, gridava: Montate! Montate! e la calca si faceva sempre più fitta, ed appena si poteva respirare. Tutto ad un tratto un sensale di piazza si sentì venir male, e gridò; io soffoco! Il commandante si accorse che si soffocava davvero, ed ordino; basta! Il vapore allora si avv ò (sic) ed io rimasi stipato fra la folla per diciotto minuti, in capo ai quali ebbi la buona ventura di sbarcare incolume sul pontile dello stabilimento la Favorita-Il pontile è lunghissimo, ma elegante e coperto. Il sole per conseguenza non dà nessuna noia. Una strada che, fino a quando non sia migliorata, non consi glierei di percorrere a chi non abbia i piedi in perfetto stato, conduce al parco della Stabilimento Bagni del signor Delahant-E qui i miei occhi si aprirono per la meraviglia. E diffati, solo una rispettibile forza di volontà ed operosita potè riuscire a trasformare quel luogo, pochi mesi fa ancora deserto ed incolto, in un sito di delisie.-Lunghi viali, tappeti erbosi, montagnole, banchine, châlet, strade solitarie e misteriose, lumi, spalti, e poi un interminabile pergolato che conduce allo stabilimento bagni, ed in questo inservienti vestiti alla marinara, comodissima vasca, biancheria finissima, e servizio regolare e premuroso. Sorpreso e contento, mi tuffo allegramente nel mare. Dopo il bagno è prescritta una passeggiata. Ossequiente ai dettami dell' igiene, riprendo la via e lungo la piacevole spiaggia del mare ritorno alla Favorita. Un châlet, o piuttosto una sala immensa, addobbata con origi nalità e ricchezza, è divenuta una sala di concerto. Diffatti una eccellente orchestra sta eseguendo pezzi sceltissimi. Gli artisti indossana tutti la marsina e la cravatta bianca. Ascolto con delizia un potpourri del Faust e poi torno a girare per il vastissimo parco e visito il Restaurant. Concludeno, il Lido non ha più bisogno di diventare un luogo di delizie; esse lo è in verità diggià diventato, e fra breve i comodi bagni del Lido di Venezia saranno fra i più famosi d'Italia. Onore ai bravi che hanno operata la meravigliosa trasformazione! Il Rinnovamento, Gazetta del Popolo di Venezia (2nd July, 1872).1 16. This following part of a useful letter, dated 19th March, 1873, ought to have been printed before now: "SIR,-Will you permit me to respectfully call your attention to a certain circumstance which has, not unlikely, something to do with the failure (if failure it is) of your appeal for the St. George's Fund? "At page 22 of Fors Clavigera for May, 1871, your words were, 'Will any such give a tenth of what they have and of what they earn?' But in May of the following year, at page 8,3 the subject is referred to as the giving of the tenth of 1 [See above, § 5.] [Letter 5, § 19 of this edition (Vol. XXVII. p. 95).] [Letter 17, § 6 of this edition (ibid., p. 296).] what they have, or make.' The two passages are open to widely differing interpretations. Moreover, none of the sums received appear to have any relation to tenths' either of earnings or possessions. "Is it not probable that the majority of your readers understood you either to mean literally what you said, or to mean nothing but jest? They would naturally ask themselves, 'Must it be a tenth of both, or nothing?' 'A tenth of either?" Or, 'After all, only what we feel able to give?' Their perplexity would lead to the giving of nothing. As nobody who has a pecuniary title to ask for an explanation appears to have called your attention to the subject, I, who have no such title, do so now,-feeling impelled thereto by the hint in this month's Fors of the possible 'non-continuance of the work.' "May I presume to add one word more? Last Monday's Times (March 17th) gave a report of a Working Men's Meeting on the present political crisis. One of the speakers said 'he wanted every working man to be free.' And his idea of freedom he explained to be that all workmen should be at liberty to leave their work at a moment's notice.' This, as I have reason to know, is one of the things which working men have got into their heads, and which the newspapers 'get their living by asserting.' 17. Lastly, the present English notion of civilizing China by inches, may be worth keeping record of: "We have Philistines out here, and a Philistine out here is a perfect Goliath. When he imagines that anything is wrong, he says let it be a Coolie or an Emperor 'Give him a thrashing. The men of this class here propose their usual remedy: Let us have a war, and give the Chinese a good licking, and then we shall have the audience question2 granted, and everything else will follow.' This includes opening up the country for trade, and civilizing the people, which according to their theories can be best done by thrashing them.' The missionaries are working to civilize the people here in another way-that is, by the usual plan of tracts and preaching; but their system is not much in favour, for they make such very small progress among the 360,000,000, the conversion of which is their problem. The man of business wants the country opened up to trade, wants manufactures introduced, the mineral wealth to be used, and generally speaking the resources of the country to be developed, and that sort of thing, you knowthat's the real way to civilize them.' This, of course, implies a multitudinous breed of Mr. Ruskin's demons, or machinery, to accomplish all this. I am here giving the tone of the ideas I hear expressed around me. It was only the other day that I heard some of these various points talked over. We were sailing on the river in a steam launch, which was making the air impure with its smoke, snorting in a high-pressure way, and whistling as steam launches are wont to do. The scene was appropriate to the conversation, for we were among a forest of great junks-most quaint and picturesque they looked-so old-fashioned they seemed, that Noah's Ark, had it been there, would have had a much more modern look about it. My friend, to whom the launch belonged, and who is in the machinery line himself, gave his opinion. He began by giving a significant movement of his head in the direction of the uncouth-looking junks, and then pointing to his own craft with its engine, said 'he did not believe much in war, and the missionaries were not of much account. This is the thing to do it,' he added, pointing to the launch; let us get at them with this sort of article, and steam at sixty pounds on the square inch; that would soon do it that's the thing to civilize them-sixty pounds on the square inch.' 1 [The resignation of Mr. Gladstone on the defeat of the Irish University Bill, and Mr. Disraeli's refusal to take office; whereupon Mr. Gladstone returned to office, with a reconstructed Cabinet.] 2 [The question of the right of the representatives of foreign powers to claim audience of the Emperor. The right had been conceded on June 29, 1873.] LETTER 43 THE CHÂTEAU-ROUGE. FRENCH FREEDOM 1 ROME, Corpus-Domini, 1874. 1. I WROTE, for a preface to the index at the end of the second volume of Fors, part of an abstract of what had been then stated in the course of this work. Fate would not let me finish it; but what was done will be useful now, and shall begin my letter for this month. Completing three and a half volumes of Fors, it may contain a more definite statement of its purpose than any given hitherto; though I have no intention of explaining that purpose entirely, until it is in sufficient degree accomplished. I have a house to build; but none shall mock me by saying I was not able to finish it, nor be vexed by not finding in it the rooms they expected. But the current and continual purpose of Fors Clavigera is to explain the powers of Chance, or Fortune (Fors), as she offers to men the conditions of prosperity; and as these conditions are accepted or refused, nails down and fastens their fate for ever, being thus "Clavigera," "nail-bearing.” 3 The image is one familiar in mythology: my own conception of it was first got from Horace, and developed by steady effort to read history "3 1 [For the title, see the extract from Gaboriau in § 8. "The Message from Assisi" was a rejected title for this letter, and "Franchise was discarded in favour of "French Freedom."] 2 [See Luke xiv. 30.] 3 [See Letter 2, § 2 (Vol. XXVII. p. 28).] [See Odes, i. 35:— "Te semper anteit saeva Necessitas Clavos trabales et cuneos manu Uncus abest liquidumque plumbum." For a note on this passage, see the Introduction to Vol. XXVII. (p. xix.).] with impartiality, and to observe the lives of men around me with charity. "How you may make your fortune, or mar it," is the expansion of the title. Certain authoritative conditions of life, of its happiness, and its honour, are therefore stated, in this book, as far as they may be, conclusively and indisputably, at present known. I do not enter into any debates, nor advance any opinions.1 With what is debatable I am unconcerned ; and when I only have opinions about things, I do not talk about them. I attack only what cannot on any possible ground be defended; and state only what I know to be incontrovertibly true. You will find, as you read Fors more, that it differs curiously from most modern books in this. Modern fashion is, that the moment a man strikes some little lucifer match, or is hit by any form of fancy, he begins advertising his lucifer match, and fighting for his fancy, totally ignoring the existing sunshine, and the existing substances of things. But I have no matches to sell, no fancies to fight for. All that I have to say is that the day is in heaven, and rock and wood on earth, and that you must see by the one, and work with the other. You have heard as much before, perhaps. I hope you have; I should be ashamed if there were anything in Fors which had not been said before,and that a thousand times, and a thousand times of times, -there is nothing in it, nor ever will be in it, but common truths, as clear to honest mankind as their daily sunrise, as necessary as their daily bread; and which the fools who deny can only live, themselves, because other men know and obey. You will therefore find that whatever is set down in Fors for you is assuredly true,-inevitable,-trustworthy to the uttermost,-however strange.* Not because I have any * Observe, this is only asserted of its main principles; not of minor and accessory points. I may be entirely wrong in the explanation of a 1 [Compare Letter 6, §§ 2, 3 (Vol. XXVII. p. 99).] |