THE LAST WORK OF A GREAT PHILOSOPHER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12418, 30 July 1902, Page 8

THE LAST WORK OF A GREAT PHILOSOPHER.

Among thp recent additions to the Athenanim Library is .a work entitled " Facta and Comments,"-from.the yon of Mr Herbert Spencer; It consists of a collection Ot sliort essays written during the past two years, ami not a little interest attaches' to thfl publication of the work, inasmuch as Mr Spencer intimates in the brief prc-face to the book that it will certainly be his last. Hut apart from any eucli consideration, the' essays will no doubt bo read with pleasure by admirers of tho great philosopher, as-in them he frequently strikes a personal note and gives glimpses of his private life and character such as arc not revealed .in any of his previous writings, One of the essavs makes it olcmv th:\t Mr Spcnccr is a great lover of Nature, and has an abhorrence of some of tho aspects of modern progress. l!or instance, in one essay he says: "Often when among Hie Scotch mountains I have pleased mywlf with the thought .that their stilus car. never be )>raug)it •under . the plough i hero- at least, Nature -roust remain ever unsubdued. Though subordination to human wants is sometimes suggested by the faint tiiiklings of distant sheep-bells, or by some deer on tho Sky-line, yet theso.do not dcdUct' from, but rather -add to, Use poetry of the scenc. In such .places one mtyforgot. for a.While the prosaic aspects of civilisation. I detest that conception •of social progress which presents as> its f.im lncrowo of population, growth of wealth, Kpreaa-ox commerce. In the politico-economic ideal' of human existence there'' is contemplated quantity only and not quality. Instead of an immense amount of ;life of low typo I would far sooner see half tho amount of life of a, high type. A prosperity which is exhibited in Board-of-Tradc tables year by year increasing their totals is to a large extent not a prosperity but an adversity Increase in tho swarms of- people whose existence is subordinated to material development is rather to be lamented than to be rejoiced oyor. We assume that our form of social life under which, spooking gonftVally, men toH to-day that they ipay gain the .means of toiling to-morrow, is a. satisfactory form, and profess ourselves anxious to spread it all over the world; while* we speak with reprobation of the relatively easy and contented lives passed bv many of the peoples we call uncivilised. But the ideal we cherish is a tranpitorv on"—appropriate, perhaps, to a phase of human development during which the passing generat ions are sacrificed .in the process of making easier the lives of future generations. Intrinsically, a f?tn+« in which our advance is measured by spread of manufactures and a concomitant production. of sueli regions as the 'Black Country,' looking as-though it had lately, been invaded by pn army of ch'mney sweeps, is a stats to be emerged from as quickly as may be. It is a state which, in sundry respects, compares ill with the past, and is far -from that which we may hopo will be attained in tho future." No less than five of the in the book are devoted to music, and ono has only to read these to be convinced that- Mr >..pencer must bo a cultured musician who understands more shout tho theory of music, at anyrate, than many of those who make the teaching of it the 'bu«inr?s of their, lifo. He. holds that the primary purpose of music is neither instruction nor culture, but pleasure, and that this is an all-sufficient purpose.

Mr Spencer is one of the most lucid of philosophical writers, in on cs?av oil Style" he makes rofor?nce to his own literary work. "It never oecurrrd to mo," lis says, "to take any author as r, mode\ Indeed, the thought of moulding my sty?.c upon tho stylo of anvonc else ifi utterly incongruous with my'constitutional disregard of authority. Nor lave lat any time examined the Writing of this or that author with the view ot observing ils peculiarities. . . . . My observation' of style has been limited to recognition of conspicuous traits wbieh I liko or dislike. I have been repelled by tho ponderous, involved structure of Milton's prose; while, on the other hand, I have alivavs been Attracted by the finished naturalness of Thackeray. "And from the applause of Rutin's style I have dissented on the ground that it is too «\lfconseioue—implies" too much thought of effect. In literary art, as in the art of the architect, tho painter, the nnwician, signs that the artist is thinking '.of hid own aehisvomont more than of his subject. always offend me. Ilere. perhaps, I may fitly say of my own style that from the beginning it has been unprepiedita.ted. The thought.of Btyle, considered as an end in itself, has raroly. if ever, been presnnt; tho cole pur')>eing to express ideao as clearly as fiossiblo and, when the occasion cAlled for

it, with as much force as might be. L?t mo add that Fomo difference has been made fly tho praotico of dictation.. Up tn 1860 my books and review articles were .written. Since, then they have all been diotated. Thcro is a prevailing belief that dictation is apt to cause diffuseness, and I think the belief is we'.l founded."

Tho concshiding essay deals with "Ultimate Questions." In it there is a tonohing reference to the great philosopher's own approaching end. "Old people," he says, " must have many reflections in common, Doubtless ono which I have now. in my mind is wry familiar. For years past, when watching the unfolding .lmds in the spring there has arisen the thought. Shall I ever again sec tho buds unfold? Shall I ever again be awakened at dawn by tho song of the thrush? Now that the end is not likely to be long postponed, Ihsre results an increasing' tendency to meditate upon ultimate, questions. It is commonly supposed thai those who have relinquished the creed of Christendom occupy themselves exclusively with material interests and- material activities—thinking nothing of tho How and the Why, of tho Whcnce and the Whither, It may be so with some of tho uncultured, but it certainly is not so with many of the cultured. In the minds of those intimately known to mo, tho 1 riddle of existence' fills spaces far larger than the current concep,/|t\tOUi)3 ut nout jo Bpuim eqj hi s[jtj uoh

These briof extracts from "Facts and Comments " only servo to giro 6omo idoa of thoße portions of the book in which the writer strikes the' personal note, hut t-fie ossays oovor a wide and interesting range of iuljjeois, and furnish additional evidence of tho'-wonderful extent of Mr Spenoor'a knowledge,