Harriet Martineau
did not know _when_ she had seen such a gentleman"--which I think
very probable. They came to dinner at noon, and stayed till past
10 P.M. Think of spending those ten hours entirely in the two
kitchens, and having four meals, in the time! My nieces, _and
nephews were_ tired! So was I, though I had only the
consciousness of the occasion.... All this is so good for Jenny!
and she will like the quiet and leisure that will follow....
I am more alive and far less suffering than in the great heats of
autumn. Your slips and cuttings are very interesting, and I am
very thankful for them. More of them when (or if) my head is
worth more. Of course we shall hear when you get home. May it be
soon!
Yours ever, dear friend,
H. MARTINEAU.
AMBLESIDE, March 6, '71.
_We_ are in a queer state just now. Gladstone turns out _exactly_
as I expected. I once told some, who are his colleagues now, that
he would do some very fine deeds--give us some separate measures
of very great value, and would do it in an admirable manner; but
that he would show himself incapable of governing the country.
For two years he did the first thing; and now, this third year,
he is showing the expected incapacity. Were there ever such means
thrown away as we see this session? Probably you are out of the
way of hearing the whole truth of the situation, and I cannot go
into it here. Suffice it, that Gladstone totters (and three or
four more), and that several departments are in such a mess and
muddle that one hardly sees how they are to be brought straight
again; and all this without the least occasion! One matter, in
which I feel deep interest, and on which I have acted, is
prospering, and we have the Government at our disposal; so that
we hope they will remain in office till we have secured what we
want; but the more we have to do with Ministers, the weaker we
find them. And Gladstone is not only weak as a reasoner (with all
his hair-splitting), but ignorant in matters of political
principle.
The next letter is very characteristic and perfectly true to her
state of mind with regard to flatterers:
May 21, '71.
And now you will want to know how Miss ---- and we fared this day
week. We (she and I) were together only three-quarters of an
hour; and for part of that time I was too much exhausted to
benefit much. My impression is that she is not exactly the person
for the invalid room. But I may be utterly wrong in this. I might
be misled by the fatiguing sort of annoyance of overpraise--of
worship in fact. I don't want to be ungracious about what my
books were to her in her childhood and youth; I am quite ready to
believe her sincere in what she said. But not the less is it bad
taste. It must be bad taste to expatiate on that one topic which
it is most certain that the hearer cannot sympathize in. Also, I
have much doubt of her being accurate in her talk. There is a
random air about her statements, and she said two or three things
that certainly were mistakes, more or less. These things, and a
general smoothness in her talk, while she was harsh about some of
the ---- were what I did not quite like. As for the rest, she was
as kind as possible; and not only kind to me, but evidently with
a turn that way, and a habit of it in regard to children and
friends....
June 11, '71.
... Of all odd things, Dean Stanley and Lady Augusta have been,
by way of a trip, to Paris, from last Monday to Saturday. How
_can_ they! One would think nothing could take one there but some
strong call of duty. The least that one must read and hear is
enough to make one's heart ache, and to spoil one's sleep, and to
disfigure life till one does not wish to look at it any more. I
do long to have done with it. I believe it is the first occasion
in my life of my having felt hopeless of any destiny, individual
or national.... How badly our public affairs are going! Gladstone
& Co, are turning out exactly as many of us foresaw. The thing
nearest my heart (repeal of the acts above alluded to), and more
important than all other public questions, will do well. It is, I
believe, secure, in virtue of an amount of effort and devotedness
never surpassed. You know what I mean. I rest upon that
achievement--a vital aim with me and others for many years--with
satisfaction and entire hopefulness, but in all other directions
the prospect is simply dreary. In that one case, we, who shall
have achieved the object, have saved Ministers from themselves,
and from evil councillors. Wherever they have, this year, trusted
their own wisdom and resources, they have failed, or see that
they must fail. They would have been _out_ since early in April,
but for want of a leader on the Conservative side; and they still
make their party dwindle till there will be no heart or energy
left in the Liberal ranks--lately so strong and ardent! They may
be individually clever; but they cannot govern the country. This
is eminently the case with Gladstone; and it may serve as the
description of the group. I shall not dare to ask the Arnolds
about such matters--so thoroughly did they assume, when they went
away, that all must be right with "William" and Co. in the
Cabinet.
Nov. 5, '71.
... Mrs. Grote seems to like to open her feelings to me, as a
very old friend of hers and her husband's. Did I tell you that
she sent me--to put me in possession of her state--her private
diary, from the first day of her alarm about her husband's health
to the day she sent it? It was more interesting than I can say;
but it brought after it something more striking still. Some
half-century ago, Jeremy Bentham threw upon paper some thoughts
on the operation of natural religion on human welfare, or
_ill-fare_. His MSS. were left to Mrs. Grote (or portions of
them), and those papers were issued by the Grotes under the
title, "_Analysis of the Influence of Natural Religion_, etc.
etc., by Philip Beauchamp." It is a tract of 142 pp. It is the
boldest conceivable effort at fair play; and in this particular
effect, it is most striking. At the outset, all attempts to
divide the "abuses" of religion from other modes of operation are
repudiated at once; and the claim is so evidently sound that the
effect of the exposure is singular. Well! of course the tendency
of the exposition is to show that the absolute darkness of the
Unseen Life supposed must produce a demoralizing effect, and
destroy ease of mind. There is something almost appalling in the
unflinching representation of the mischief of the spirit of fear,
of its torment, and of its damaging effects in creating a habit
of adulation, in perverting the direction of our desires, in
corrupting our estimate of good and evil, in leaving us, in
short, no chance of living a healthy and natural life, but
rather, making cowards, liars, and selfish rascals of us all. I
can't go on, being tired; and you will be thinking, as you read,
that this is only the old story--of the mischiefs and miseries of
superstition. But there is something impressive in the cheerful
simplicity with which Bentham tells us his opinion of the sort of
person recommended to us for a master under the name of God, and
with which he warns us all of the impossibility of our being good
or happy under such a Supreme Being. In looking at the table of
contents, and seeing the catalogue he gives of evil effects of
belief in the barest scheme of Natural Religion, one becomes
aware, as if for the first time, of the atmosphere of falsehood
against which we ought to have recoiled all our lives since
becoming capable of thought.
Dec. 30, '71.
... I go off rapidly as a correspondent; there is no use blinking
the fact. I am so slow and write so badly! and leave off _too_
tired. Oddly enough, this very week one of the _Daily News_
authorities has been uttering a groaning longing for my pen in
the service of that paper, as of old. The occasion is a short
letter of mine in last Thursday's paper, which you may have
seen.[25] If so, you will see that I had no choice. W. E. Forster
was at Fox How; and I got Jenny to carry the volume of Brougham
(vol. iii. p. 302) to consult Forster and Arnolds about what I
should do, W. E. Forster being in the same line of business with
my father, and a public man--man of the world. He was clear: it
was impossible to leave my father under a false imputation of
having failed. And when my letter appeared, he was delighted with
it; so are those of my family that I have heard from; and, above
all, _Daily News_ editors. They hope and believe it will excite
due distrust of Brougham's representations, and encourage others
to expose his falsehoods. His suppressions are as wonderful as
his disclosures; _e.g._ the very important crisis in his career,
known by the name of the "Grey Banquet" at Edinburgh, he cuts
completely out of the history of the time--perverting Lord
Durham's story as well as his own. I can see how the false story
of me and mine got made; but enough of that--especially if you
have _not_ seen the letter in the _Daily News_. Forster is kindly
and quiet, but he is altered. He is now--the Courtier!--and odd
sort of one, with much Quaker innocence and prudence in it; but
of a sort which leaves me no hope of _his_ handling of his
Education measure. There will be such a fight! and the
Nonconformists are right, and know that they are. You will
probably see _that_ achieved--a real National Education
established, secular and compulsory.
[25] Refuting a statement made in Lord Brougham's
_Autobiography_ that her father had failed in business.
The Ambleside surgeon, who had undertaken, in acccordance with Harriet
Martineau's will, to prepare and transmit her skull and brain to Mr.
Atkinson, died in the year 1872. The following letter shows that the
progress of time had in no way diminished her willingness to leave her
head for scientific investigation:
AMBLESIDE, April 23, '72.
(Shakespere's birthday and Wordsworth's death-day.)
DEAR FRIEND,
I am not writing about poets to-day, nor about any "play" topic,
nor anything gay, or pretty, or amusing. I write on business only.
When you heard of Mr. Shepherd's death, you must, I should think,
have considered what was to be done in regard to fulfilling the
provision of my will about skull and brain. It is to inform you
of this that I write.
Mr. Shepherd's assistant and successor is _Mr. William Moore
King_, a young man who is considered very clever, and is
certainly very kind, gentlemanly, simple in mind and manners,
and married to a charming girl (grand-daughter of Martin, the
artist). Jenny has known them for two years, having called on
their arrival. I had seen him twice before this last week. I
wrote to him the other day, to ask him to give me half an hour
for confidential conversation; and he came when I was quite alone
for the morning.
I told him the whole matter of the provision in my will, and of
Mr. Shepherd's engagement, in case of his surviving me in
sufficient vigor to keep his word. Mr. King listened anxiously,
made himself master of the arrangement, and distinctly engaged to