No More Learning

" When some of the bystanders received these
words with a smile, he replied: "I am not jesting; my speech
is serious; for I look on these little boys, not as they are now,
but with a view to the purpose of the Divine mind, on account
of which they are delivered to us for instruction. For assuredly
some such will come forth from among the number, although
there may be an intermixture of chaff among them as there is
among wheat. " Such was the animated address of this most
prudent man. But why should not we with equal confidence
declare, in respect of all children of Christian parents, those
glorious things which have been mentioned above? since Christ,
the promulgator of the eternal secrets of God, has pronounced
that "of such is the kingdom of Heaven. "
But if we consider only their present state, it will at once be
obvious why children are of inestimable value in the sight of
God, and ought to be so to their parents.
In the first place, they are valuable to God because, being
innocent with the sole exception of original sin, they are not yet
the defaced image of God by having polluted themselves with
actual guilt, and are "unable to discern between good and evil,
between the right hand and the left. " That God has respect to
this is abundantly manifest from the above words addressed to
John, and from other passages of the Sacred Writ.
Secondly, they are the pure and dearly purchased possession
of Christ; since Christ, who came to seek the lost, is said to be
the Savior of all, except those who by incredulity and impeni-
tence shut themselves out from being participators in his
merits. These are the purchased from among men, that they
may be the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb; having not yet
defiled themselves with the allurements of sin; but they follow
the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. And that they may continue


## p. 3920 (#286) ###########################################

3920
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
so to follow, they ought to be led as it were with the hand by
a pious education.
Finally, God so embraces children with abounding love that
they are a peculiar instrument of divine glory; as the Scriptures
testify, "From the lips of infants and sucklings thou hast per-
fected praise, because of mine enemies; that thou mayest destroy
the enemy and avenger. " How it comes to pass that God's
glory should receive increase from children, is certainly not at
once obvious to our understanding; but God, the discerner of all
things, knows and understands, and declares it to be so.
That children ought to be dearer and more precious to parents
than gold and silver, than pearls and gems, may be discovered
from a comparison between both of these gifts from God: for
first, gold, silver, and such other things, are inanimate, being
only somewhat harder and purer than the clay which we tread
beneath our feet; whereas children are the lively image of the
living God.
Secondly, gold and silver are rudimentary objects produced
by the command of God; whereas children are creatures in the
production of which the all-sacred Trinity instituted special coun-
cil, and formed them with his own fingers.
Thirdly, gold and silver are fleeting and transitory things;
children are an immortal inheritance. For although they yield
to death, yet they neither return to nothing, nor become extinct;
they only pass out of a mortal tabernacle into immortal regions.
Hence, when God restored to Job all his riches and possessions,
even to the double of what he had previously taken away, he
gave him no more children than he had before; namely, seven
sons and three daughters. This, however, was the precise double;
inasmuch as the former sons and daughters had not perished, but
had gone before to God.
Fourthly, gold and silver come forth from the earth, children
come from our own substance; being a part of ourselves, they
consequently deserve to be loved by us, certainly not less than
we love ourselves: therefore God has implanted in the nature of
all living things so strong an affection towards their young that
they occasionally prefer the safety of their offspring to their own.
If any one transfer such affections to gold or silver, he is, in
the judgment of God, condemned as guilty of idolatry.
Fifthly, gold and silver pass away from one to another as
though they were the property of none, but common to all:


## p. 3921 (#287) ###########################################

JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
3921
whereas children are a peculiar possession, divinely assigned to
their parents; so that there is not a man in the orld who can
deprive them of this right or dispossess them of this inheritance,
because it is a portion descended from heaven and not a trans-
ferable possession.
Sixthly, although gold and silver are gifts of God, yet they
are not such gifts as those to which he has promised an angelic
guardianship from heaven; nay, Satan mostly intermingles him-
self with gold and silver so as to use them as nets and snares to
entangle the unwary, drawing them as it were with thongs, to
avarice, haughtiness, and prodigality: whereas the care of little
children is always committed to angelic guardianship, as the
Lord himself testifies. Hence he who has children within his
house may be certain that he has therein the presence of angels;
he who takes little children in his arms may be assured that he
takes angels; whosoever, surrounded with midnight darkness,
rests beside an infant, may enjoy the certain consolation that
with it he is so protected that the spirit of darkness cannot have
access. How great the importance of these things!
Seventhly, gold, silver, and other external things do not pro-
cure for us the love of God, nor as children do, defend us from
his anger; for God so loved children that for their sake he
occasionally pardons parents; Nineveh affords an example: inas-
much as there were many children therein, God spared the
parents from being swallowed up by the threatened judgment.
Eighthly, human life does not consist in abundance of wealth,
as our Lord says, since without God's blessings neither food
nourishes, nor plaster heals, nor clothing warms; but his blessing
is always present with us for the sake of children, in order that
they may be sustained. For if God liberally bestows food on
the young ravens calling on him, how much more should he not
care for children, his own image? Therefore Luther has wisely.
said: "We do not nourish our children, but they nourish us;
for because of these innocents God supplies necessaries, and we
aged sinners partake of them. "
Finally, silver, gold, and gems afford us no further instruction
than other created things do, namely, in the wisdom, power, and
beneficence of God; whereas children are given to us as a mirror,
in which we may behold modesty, courteousness, benignity,
harmony, and other Christian virtues, the Lord himself declaring,
"Unless ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall
VII-246


## p. 3922 (#288) ###########################################

3922
JOHANN AMOS COMENIUS
not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. " Since then God has
willed that children should be unto us in the place of preceptors,
we judge that we owe to them the most diligent attention.
Thus at last this school would become a school of things
obvious to the senses, and an entrance to the school intellectual.
But enough. Let us come to the thing itself.
By permission of D. C. Heath & Co.


## p. 3923 (#289) ###########################################

3923
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
(1445-1510)
HE last in date among the great French chroniclers of the
Middle Ages was Philippe de Comines (also written Com-
mines or Comynes). He was the scion of an old and
wealthy family that attained to nobility by marrying into the house
of the barons of Comines, the privilege being a reward for faithful
allegiance in the times of trouble and warfare. The approximate
date of his birth is the year 1445; his birthplace is not known with
certainty, though it may be assumed to have been either on the
estate of Comines, near Lille in northern France, or at the Château de
Renescure, near Saint-Omer. He lost his mother in 1447, and his
father died in 1453, leaving an entangled inheritance that netted a
sum of about two thousand five hundred livres, which in those days
sufficed to defray the child's current expenses and provide for his
education. Under the guardianship of one of his relatives, Jean de
Comines, the young orphan was brought up in the true spirit of the
feudal times to which he belonged, and was taught the profession of
arms. Reading and writing he also acquired, but whatever intellect-
ual training he received beyond this point was owing altogether to
his own efforts and exertions.
It was a matter of sincere regret to him that his education never
included the study of Latin. He became skilled with the pen, but
used it for his own amusement, not with a thought of leaving any-
thing more than notes that might serve others as a basis for fuller
historical descriptions. His style is terse, and not devoid of charm;
for he was not lacking in imagination, and by quaint simile or other
rhetorical effect enlivened many a page of his Chronicles. His
vocabulary, without being very rich, is carefully selected, but his
syntactical constructions are often abstruse and obscure. On the
whole, however, this justice must be done to Philippe de Comines:
that what he may lose for want of natural ease of expression is
compensated for by his virility of speech and true eloquence. His
chief merit lies in his pithy remarks, replete with suggestion. But
literary pursuits were not his proper field. In his days such occupa-
tions were left almost exclusively to the clergy, in whom alone was
supposed to be vested the need and uses of book learning.
He sought, as he grew up, to remedy the shortcomings of his
training, and acquired through contact with the numerous foreigners


## p. 3924 (#290) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3924
he was in a position to meet, a fair knowledge of Italian, Spanish,
and German.
"On coming forth from childhood," he writes, "and being old
enough to ride horseback, I was led to Lille before Duke Charles of
Burgundy, then Count of Charolais, who took me in his service; and
this was in the year 1464. " Philippe de Comines was then in his
twentieth year, a youth polished in manners, refined in tastes, and
above all, a most acute observer,- and these qualities stamped him
as a coming diplomat of rare natural ability, in touch with his time,
and understanding himself and others sufficiently well to moralize
and philosophize about men and things, to reach many a sound con-
clusion, and to utter many a true and wise saying. He is among
the first thinking men of France who committed to paper the results
of his labors as a moral philosopher, as a statesman, and as a trusted
adviser to royalty.
For eight full years Philippe de Comines remained in the confi-
dential service of the Duke of Burgundy, by whom he was sent,
young as he was, on various diplomatic missions of the greatest im-
portance, first to London, then to Brittany, finally to Orange and
Castile. In the course of these expeditions he came in contact with
Louis XI. , King of France, and knew how to ingratiate himself into
his favor. Whatever the reasons for his rupture with the Duke of
Burgundy, whatever the special inducements offered by Louis XI. ,
the fact remains that he suddenly left his former master; and pos-
sessed of knowledge of the utmost political importance to the King
of France, he entered the royal service and remained there until the
King's death in August, 1483. His work was generously recognized
by Louis XI. , and even after his noble patron's death Comines
retained his court position for a time. He gradually fell away, how-
ever, from his allegiance to the royal cause, and threw himself heart
and soul into a movement, set on foot by a number of the feudal
lords and directed by the Duke of Orleans himself, against the person
of the young King Charles VIII. Arrested on a charge of conspiracy,
he spent over two years in various prisons (1486-1489), with ample
time to think over the vicissitudes of human happiness. A light
sentence was finally passed upon him, and having regained his lib-
erty he was so far restored to favor as to be sent on diplomatic
missions, first to Venice and then to Milan.
Though he lived in honor under Louis XII. , he retired shortly to
private life on his estate of Argenton, where he died in 1510.
It was in the solitude of his prison that Philippe de Comines be-
gan to write his reminiscences. The 'Chronique et Hystoire Faicte
et Composée par Messire Philippe de Comines' (Paris, 1524) was
written between the years 1488 and 1493. It deals with the history


## p. 3925 (#291) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3925
of France from 1464 (when Comines went to the court of Charles the
Bold) to the death of Louis XI. in 1483. The sequel, 'Chroniques
du Roy Charles Huytiesme' (Paris, 1528), written subsequently to
1497, relates the story of the famous expedition to Italy undertaken
by Charles VIII. In the pages of Quentin Durward,' where Walter
Scott has given a graphic portrayal of the great men of that turbu-
lent time, Philippe de Comines stands out beside the crafty and
superstitious Louis XI. and the martial Charles of Burgundy as one
of the most striking figures of a picturesque age.
THE VIRTUES AND VICES OF KING LOUIS XI.
From the Memoirs of Philippe de Comines'
HE chief reason that has induced me to enter upon this sub-
is because I have seen many deceptions in this world,
especially in servants toward their masters; and I have
always found that proud and stately princes who will hear but
few, are more liable to be imposed upon than those who are
open and accessible: but of all the princes that I ever knew, the
wisest and most dexterous to extricate himself out of any dan-
ger or difficulty in time of adversity was our master King
Louis XI. He was the humblest in his conversation and habit,
and the most painful and indefatigable to win over any man to
his side that he thought capable of doing him either mischief or
service: though he was often refused, he would never give over
a man that he wished to gain, but still pressed and continued
his insinuations, promising him largely, and presenting him with
such sums and honors as he knew would gratify his ambition;
and for such as he had discarded in time of peace and pros-
perity, he paid dear (when he had occasion for them) to recover
them again; but when he had once reconciled them, he retained
no enmity towards them for what had passed, but employed
them freely for the future. He was naturally kind and indul-
gent to persons of mean estate, and hostile to all great men
who had no need of him. Never prince was so conversable nor
so inquisitive as he, for his desire was to know everybody he
could; and indeed he knew all persons of any authority or
worth in England, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, in the territories
of the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne, and among his own.
subjects: and by those qualities he preserved the crown upon his


## p. 3926 (#292) ###########################################

3926
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
head, which was in much danger by the enemies he had created
to himself upon his accession to the throne.
But above all, his great bounty and liberality did him the
greatest service: and yet, as he behaved himself wisely in time
of distress, so when he thought himself a little out of danger,
though it were but by a truce, he would disoblige the servants
and officers of his court by mean and petty ways which were
little to his advantage; and as for peace, he could hardly endure
the thoughts of it. He spoke slightingly of most people, and
rather before their faces than behind their backs; unless he was
afraid of them, and of that sort there were a great many, for he
was naturally somewhat timorous. When he had done himself
any prejudice by his talk, or was apprehensive he should do so,
and wished to make amends, he would say to the person whom
he had disobliged, "I am sensible my tongue has done me a
good deal of mischief; but on the other hand, it has sometimes.
done me much good: however, it is but reason I should make
some reparation for the injury. " And he never used this kind
of apologies to any person but he granted some favor to the
person to whom he made it, and it was always of considerable
amount.
It is certainly a great blessing from God upon any prince to
have experienced adversity as well as prosperity, good as well as
evil, and especially if the good outweighs the evil, as it did in
the King our master. I am of opinion that the troubles he was
involved in in his youth, when he fled from his father and re-
sided six years together with Philip, Duke of Burgundy, were of
great service to him; for there he learned to be complaisant to
such as he had occasion to use, which was no slight advantage
of adversity. As soon as he found himself a powerful and
crowned king, his mind was wholly bent upon revenge; but he
quickly found the inconvenience of this, repented by degrees of
his indiscretion, and made sufficient reparation for his folly and
error by regaining those he had injured. Besides, I am very
confident that if his education had not been different from the
usual education of such nobles as I have seen in France, he
could not so easily have worked himself out of his troubles: for
they are brought up to nothing but to make themselves ridicu-
lous, both in their clothes and discourse; they have no knowl-
edge of letters; no wise man is suffered to come near them, to
improve their understandings; they have governors who manage


## p. 3927 (#293) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3927
their business, but they do nothing themselves: nay, there are
some nobles who though they have an income of thirteen livres,
will take pride to bid you "Go to my servants and let them
answer you, thinking by such speeches to imitate the state and
grandeur of a prince; and I have seen their servants take great
advantage of them, giving them to understand they were fools;
and if afterwards they came to apply their minds to business
and attempted to manage their own affairs, they began so late
they could make nothing of it. And it is certain that all those
who have performed any great or memorable action worthy to
be recorded in history, began always in their youth; and this is
to be attributed to the method of their education, or some par-
ticular blessing of God.
THE VIRTUES OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE
TIME OF HIS HOUSE'S PROSPERITY
I
SAW a seal-ring of his after his death at Milan, with his arms
cut curiously upon a sardonyx, that I have often seen him
wear in a riband at his breast; which was sold at Milan for
two ducats, and had been stolen from him by a varlet that waited
on him in his chamber. I have often seen the duke dressed and
undressed in great state and formality, and by very great per-
sons; but at his last hour all this pomp and magnificence ceased,
and both he and his family perished on the very spot where he
had delivered up the Constable not long before, out of a base and
avaricious motive. But may God forgive him! I have known
him a powerful and honorable prince, in as great esteem and as
much courted by his neighbors (when his affairs were in a pros-
perous condition) as any prince in Europe, and perhaps more
so; and I cannot conceive what should have provoked God
Almighty's displeasure so highly against him unless it was his
self-love and arrogance, in attributing all the success of his en-
terprises and all the renown he ever acquired to his own wis-
dom and conduct, without ascribing anything to God: yet, to
speak truth, he was endowed with many good qualities. No
prince ever had a greater desire to entertain young noblemen
than he, or was more careful of their education. His presents
and bounty were never profuse and extravagant, because he gave
to many, and wished everybody should taste of his generosity.


## p. 3928 (#294) ###########################################

3928
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
No prince was ever more easy of access to his servants and
subjects. Whilst I was in his service he was never cruel, but
a little before his death he became so, which was an infallible
sign of the shortness of his life. He was very splendid and
pompous in his dress and in everything else, and indeed a little
too much. He paid great honors to all ambassadors and for-
eigners, and entertained them nobly. His ambitious desire of
glory was insatiable, and it was that which more than any other
motive induced him to engage eternally in wars. He earnestly
desired to imitate the old kings and heroes of antiquity, who are
still so much talked of in the world, and his courage was equal
to that of any prince of his time.
I am partly of the opinion of those who maintain that God
gives princes, as he in his wisdom thinks fit, to punish or chas-
tise their subjects; and he disposes the affections of subjects to
their princes as he has determined to exalt or depress them.
Just so it has pleased him to deal with the house of Burgundy;
for after a long series of riches and prosperity, and sixscore
years' peace under three illustrious princes, predecessors to Duke
Charles (all of them of great prudence and discretion), it pleased
God to send this Duke Charles, who continually involved them
in bloody wars, winter as well as summer, to their great afflic-
tion and expense, in which most of their richest and stoutest
men were either killed or taken prisoners. Their misfortunes
began at the siege of Nuz, and continued for three or four bat-
tles successively, to the very hour of his death; so much so that
at the last the whole strength of the country was destroyed, and
all were killed or taken prisoners who had any zeal or affection
for the house of Burgundy, or power to defend the state and
dignity of that family; so that in a manner their losses equaled
if they did not overbalance their former prosperity: for as I
have seen these princes puissant, rich, and honorable, so it fared
with their subjects; for I think I have seen and known the
greatest part of Europe, yet I never knew any province of
country, though of a larger extent, so abounding in money, so
extravagantly fine in their furniture, so sumptuous in their
buildings, so profuse in their expenses, so luxurious in their
feasts and entertainments, and so prodigal in all respects, as the
subjects of these princes in my time; and if any think I have
exaggerated, others who lived in my time will be of opinion
that I have rather said too little.


## p. 3929 (#295) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3929
But it pleased God at one blow to subvert this great and
sumptuous edifice and ruin this powerful and illustrious family,
which had maintained and bred up so many brave men, and had
acquired such mighty honor and renown far and near, by so
many victories and successful enterprises as none of all its
neighboring States could pretend to boast of. A hundred and
twenty years it continued in this flourishing condition, by the
grace of God; all its neighbors having in the mean time been.
involved in troubles and commotions, and all of them applying
to it for succor or protection,- to wit, France, England, and
Spain, as you have seen by experience of our master the King
of France, who in his minority, and during the reign of Charles
VII. his father, retired to this court, where he lived six years
and was nobly entertained all that time by Duke Philip the
Good. Out of England I saw there also two of King Edward's
brothers, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester (the last of
whom was afterwards called King Richard III. ); and of the
house of Lancaster, the whole family or very near, with all their
party. In short, I have seen this family in all respects the
most flourishing and celebrated of any in Christendom; and then
in a short space of time it was quite ruined and turned upside
down, and left the most desolate and miserable of any house in
Europe, as regards both princes and subjects. Such changes
and revolutions of States and kingdoms, God in his providence
has wrought before we were born and will do again when we
are dead; for this is a certain maxim, that the prosperity or
adversity of princes depends wholly on his divine disposal.
-
THE LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XI.
THE
HE King towards the latter end of his days caused his
castle of Plessis-les-Tours to be encompassed with great
bars of iron in the form of thick grating, and at the four
corners of the house four sparrow-nests of iron, strong, massy,
and thick, were built. The grates were without the wall on
the other side of the ditch, and sank to the bottom. Several
spikes of iron were fastened into the wall, set as thick by one
another as was possible, and each furnished with three or four
points. He likewise placed ten bowmen in the ditches, to
shoot at any man that durst approach the castle before the


## p. 3930 (#296) ###########################################

3930
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
opening of the gates; and he ordered they should lie in the
ditches, but retire to the sparrow-nests upon occasion. He was
sensible enough that this fortification was too weak to keep out
an army or any great body of men, but he had no fear of
such an attack: his great apprehension was that some of the
nobility of his kingdom, having intelligence within, might
attempt to make themselves masters of the castle by night, and
having possessed themselves of it partly by favor and partly by
force, might deprive him of the regal authority and take upon
themselves the administration of public affairs; upon pretense
that he was incapable of business and no longer fit to govern.
The gate of the Plessis was never opened nor the draw.
bridge let down before eight o'clock in the morning, at which
time the officers were let in; and the captains ordered their
guards to their several posts, with pickets of archers in the
middle of the court, as in a town upon the frontiers that is
closely guarded; nor was any person admitted to enter except
by the wicket and with the King's knowledge, unless it were
the steward of his household, and such persons as were not
admitted into the royal presence.
Is it possible then to keep a prince (with any regard to his
quality) in a closer prison than he kept himself?
The cages
which were made for other people were about eight feet square;
and he (though so great a monarch) had but a small court of
the castle to walk in, and seldom made use of that, but gener-
ally kept himself in the gallery, out of which he went into
the chambers on his way to mass, but never passed through
the court. Who can deny that he was a sufferer as well as
his neighbors? considering how he was locked up and guarded,
afraid of his own children and relations, and changing every day
those very servants whom he had brought up and advanced; and
though they owed all their preferment to him, yet he durst not
trust any of them, but shut himself up in those strange chains
and inclosures. If the place where he confined himself was
larger than a common prison, he also was much greater than
common prisoners.
It may be urged that other princes have been more given
to suspicion than he, but it was not in our time; and perhaps
their wisdom was not so eminent, nor were their subjects so
good. They might too, probably, have been tyrants and bloody-
minded; but our King never did any person a mischief who had


## p. 3931 (#297) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3931
not offended him first, though I do not say all who offended him
deserved death. I have not recorded these things merely to
represent our master as a suspicious and mistrustful prince, but
to show that by the patience which he expressed in his suffer-
ings (like those which he inflicted on other people) they may be
looked upon, in my judgment, as a punishment which Our Lord
inflicted upon him in this world in order to deal more merci-
fully with him in the next; .
and likewise, that those
princes who may be his successors may learn by his example
to be more tender and indulgent to their subjects, and less
severe in their punishments than our master had been: although
I will not censure him, or say I ever saw a better prince;
for though he oppressed his subjects himself, he would never
see them injured by anybody else.
After so many fears, sorrows, and suspicions, God by a kind
of miracle restored him both in body and mind, as is his
divine method in such kind of wonders: for he took him out
of this miserable world in perfect health of mind and under-
standing and memory; after having received the sacraments
himself, discoursing without the least twinge or expression of
pain, and repeating his paternosters to the very last moment of
his life. He gave directions for his own burial, appointed who
should attend his corpse to the grave, and declared that he
desired to die on a Saturday of all days in the week; and
that he hoped Our Lady would procure him that favor, for in
her he had always placed great trust, and served her very
devoutly. And so it happened; for he died on Saturday, the
30th of August, 1433, at about eight in the evening, in the
castle of Plessis, where his illness seized him on the Monday
before. May Our Lord receive his soul, and admit it into his
kingdom of Paradise!
•


## p. 3932 (#298) ###########################################

3932
PHILIPPE DE COMINES
CHARACTER OF LOUIS XI.
SMA
MALL hopes and comfort ought poor and inferior people to
have in this world, considering what so great a king suf-
fered and underwent, and how he was at last forced to
leave all, and could not, with all his care and diligence, protract
his life one single hour. I knew him and was entertained in
his service in the flower of his age and at the height of his
prosperity, yet I never saw him free from labor and care. Of
all diversions he loved hunting and hawking in their seasons;
but his chief delight was in dogs.
In hunting, his
eagerness and pain were equal to his pleasure, for his chase was
the stag, which he always ran down. He rose very early in the
morning, rode sometimes a great distance, and would not leave
his sport, let the weather be never so bad; and when he came
home at night he was often very weary, and generally in a vio-
lent passion with some of his courtiers or huntsmen; for hunting
is a sport not always to be managed according to the master's
direction; yet in the opinion of most people, he understood it
as well as any prince of his time. He was continually at these
sports, lodging in the country villages to which his recreations
led him, till he was interrupted by business; for during the
most part of the summer there was constantly war between him
and Charles, Duke of Burgundy, and in the winter they made
truces;
so that he had but a little time during the
whole year to spend in pleasure, and even then the fatigues he
underwent were excessive. When his body was at rest his mind
was at work, for he had affairs in several places at once, and
would concern himself as much in those of his neighbors as in
his own; putting officers of his own over all the great families,
and endeavoring to divide their authority as much as possible.
When he was at war he labored for a peace or a truce, and
when he had obtained it he was impatient for war again. He
troubled himself with many trifles in his government which he
had better have left alone: but it was his temper, and he could
not help it; besides, he had a prodigious memory, and he forgot
nothing, but knew everybody, as well in other countries as in
his own.
And in truth he seemed better fitted to rule a world than
to govern a single kingdom. I speak not of his minority, for


## p. 3933 (#299) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3933
then I was not with him; but when he was eleven years he
was, by the advice of some of the nobility and others of his
kingdom, embroiled in a war with his father, Charles VII. ,
which lasted not long, and was called the Praguerie. When he
was arrived at man's estate he was married, much against his
inclination, to the King of Scotland's daughter; and he regretted
her existence during the whole course of her life. Afterwards,
by reason of the broils and factions in his father's court, he
retired into Dauphiny (which was his own), whither many per-
sons of quality followed him, and indeed more than he could
entertain. During his residence in Dauphiny he married the
Duke of Savoy's daughter, and not long after he had great dis-
putes with his father-in-law, and a terrible war was begun
between them. His father, King Charles VII. , seeing his son
attended by so many good officers and raising men at his
pleasure, resolved to go in person against him with a consider-
able body of forces, in order to disperse them. While he was
upon his march he put out proclamations, requiring them all as
his subjects, under great penalties, to repair to him; and many
obeyed, to the great displeasure of the Dauphin, who finding
his father incensed, though he was strong enough to resist,
resolved to retire and leave that country to him; and accord-
ingly he removed with but a slender retinue into Burgundy to
Duke Philip's court, who received him honorably, furnished him
nobly, and maintained him and his principal servants by way
of pensions; and to the rest he gave presents as he saw occasion
during the whole time of their residence there. However, the
Dauphin entertained. SO many at his own expense that his
money often failed, to his great disgust and mortification; for
he was forced to borrow, or his people would have forsaken
him; which is certainly a great affliction to a prince who was
utterly unaccustomed to those straits. So that during his resi-
dence at the court of Burgundy he had his anxieties, for he was
constrained to cajole the duke and his ministers, lest they should
think he was too burdensome and had laid too long upon their
hands; for he had been with them six years, and his father,
King Charles, was constantly pressing and soliciting the Duke
of Burgundy, by his ambassadors, either to deliver him up to
him or to banish him out of his dominions.
And this, you
may believe, gave the Dauphin some uneasy thoughts and
would not suffer him to be idle. In which season of his life,


## p. 3934 (#300) ###########################################

PHILIPPE DE COMINES
3934
then, was it that he may be said to have enjoyed himself? I
believe from his infancy and innocence to his death, his whole
life was nothing but one continued scene of troubles and
fatigues; and I am of opinion that if all the days of his life
were computed in which his joys and pleasures outweighed his
pain and trouble, they would be found so few that there would
be twenty mournful ones to one pleasant.


## p. 3935 (#301) ###########################################

3935
AUGUSTE COMTE
(1798-1857)
HE name of Auguste Comte is associated with two such utterly
conflicting systems, the "Positive Philosophy" and the
"Positive Polity," that the impression conveyed by his
name is apt to be a rather confused one. Littré, Comte's most
distinguished disciple, takes no notice of his later speculations, attrib-
uting them to a nervous malady complicated by a violent passion for
Madame de Vaux; while Carid, on the other hand, considers Comte's
return to metaphysical ideas the saving grace in his career. His
conception of human knowledge, as defined
in the Positive Philosophy, is in a measure
the general property of the age. He devel-
oped the germs latent in the works of
Turgot, Condorcet, and Kant, his immedi-
ate predecessors in the world of thought.
Universality was the essential characteristic
of his intellect, enabling him to penetrate
profoundly into the domain of abstract
science from mathematics to sociology.

AUGUSTE COMTE
Auguste Comte was born at Montpellier
on the 19th of January, 1798, and entered
college at the age of nine years. Before
attaining his fourteenth year he had already
felt the need of fundamental reconstruction in politics and philosophy.
This maturity is all the more remarkable that philosophical minds
mature slowly. In 1814 he entered the Polytechnic School. When
Louis XVIII. suppressed it, Comte, not having graduated, found him-
self without a career. At the age of twenty he came in contact
with Saint-Simon, whose devoted disciple he became. The attraction
mutually felt by them was due to their common conviction of the
need of a complete social reform, based on a widespread mental
renovation.
There was now no place in the national system of education for
free-thinkers, and Comte, cut off from all hope of employment in
that direction, turned to private instruction for support. At the age
of twenty-two, in a pamphlet entitled 'System of Positive Polity,'
he announced his discovery of the laws of sociology. The work
had no success, and Comte bent his energies during a meditation of


## p. 3936 (#302) ###########################################

3936
AUGUSTE COMTE
twenty-four hours to the conception of a system which would force
conviction on his readers. This he so far elaborated that in 1826
he published a plan of the work,-a plan requiring twelve years for
its execution.
As his ideas were being appropriated by other people, he now
began a dogmatic exposition of Positivism in a course of lectures
delivered in his own home. These lectures opened under encouraging
auspices, but after the third, Comte's mind gave way. The deter-
mining cause of this collapse lay in the excessive strain of his
method of work, aided by a bad digestion and mental irritability
growing out of the violent attacks made upon him by Saint-Simon's
followers. In 1827 he was sufficiently recovered to take up intel-
lectual work again, and the following year he resumed his lectures
at the point of their interruption. After the accession of Louis
Philippe, Comte was appointed assistant teacher of mathematics at
the Polytechnic, and later, examiner of candidates, while he taught
in a private school.
Unshakable firmness in philosophical matters and great disinter-
estedness were characteristic of this social critic, who cared nothing
for the money his books might bring.
His early sympathies were
with the Revolution; he defended the socialist Marrast, though his
position in a government school might have been compromised
thereby. When in 1830 the Committee of the Polytechnic undertook
to give free lectures to the people, he assumed the department of
astronomy and lectured on that subject weekly for sixteen years.
The second and great period of Comte's life extends from his
recovery in 1828 to the completion of his Positive Philosophy' in
1848; though what he calls his "second life" began after that. The
intense satisfaction which he felt on the completion of that work
became infatuation. He was no longer capable of judging his
position sanely, and by his attacks antagonized the scientists.
In 1842 John Stuart Mill gave his adherence to Positivism. When
Comte lost his tutorship in the Polytechnic, and shortly after, his
position as examiner, Mill raised a small sum for him in England.
Afterward Littré organized a subscription, and this formed hence-
forth Comte's sole resource. He now threw himself more completely
than before into the problems of social life, elucidating them in his
'Positive Polity,' whose really scientific elements are almost crowded
out of sight by a mass of extravagant theories.
The Positive Calendar, in which the names of great men replace
the saints of the Catholic Church, was adopted by Comte in his cor-
respondence. He consecrated an altar to his friend Madame de
Vaux, entitled himself High Priest of Humanity, married people,
called his letters his briefs, administered the sacraments of his cult


## p. 3937 (#303) ###########################################

AUGUSTE COMTE
3937
in commemoration of birth, the choice of a profession, marriage, etc.
He subordinated the intellect to the feelings, wished to suppress
independent thought, to center a dictatorship in a triumvirate of
bankers, and to concentrate the entire spiritual power of the world
in the hands of a single pontiff. He acquired a hatred of scientific
and purely literary pursuits, and considered that men reasoned more
than was good for them. Comte's absolute faith in himself passes
belief. He lauds the moral superiority of fetishism, pronounces the
æsthetic civilization of the Greeks inferior to the military civilization
of the Romans; is indifferent to proof, provided he attains theoretic
coherency; and pushes his spiritual dictatorship to the length of
selecting one hundred books to 'constitute the library of every Posi-
tivist, recommending the destruction of all other books, as also that
of all plants and animals useless to man. He associates science with
sentiment, endows the planets with feeling and will, calls the Earth
"le grand fétiche," includes all concrete existence in our adoration
along with "le grand fétiche," and names space "le grand milieu,»
endowing the latter with feeling as the representative of fatality in
general. Many of these conceits can be attributed to his ardor for
regulating things in accordance with his peculiar conception of
unity. He died in Paris at the age of fifty-nine years, on September
5th, 1857.
Throughout life, Comte's method of work was unprecedented. He
thought out his subject in its entirety before writing down a word,
proceeding from general facts to secondary matters, and thence to
details. The general and detailed sketch outlined, he considered the
work done. When he began to write, he took up his ideas in their
respective order. His memory was wonderful; he did all his read-
ing in his early youth, and the provision then amassed sufficed to
elaborate a work for which he had to bear in mind an unusual num-
ber of scientific and historical facts. In consequence of his absten-
tion from contemporary literature he became less and less in touch
with the age, and missed the corrective force of friction with other
minds.
The word "religion," when applied to Comte's later speculations,
must not be taken in its ordinary sense. His attitude towards the-
ology was and continued to be purely negative. The obligation of
duty was towards the human race as a continuous whole, to whose
providence we owe all the benefits conferred by previous generations.
If he has not succeeded in suppressing the Absolute, he has co-ordi-
nated all the abstract sciences into one consistent system. Some of
them he found ready to hand, and merely revised and rearranged in
their philosophical relation, eliminating all non-positive elements.
The first three volumes of the Positive Philosophy' are devoted to
VII-247


## p. 3938 (#304) ###########################################

3938
AUGUSTE COMTE
this task. The other three volumes, as well as the last two of the
'Positive Polity,' are dedicated to the solution of the problems of
sociology unattempted until then. While they may not have solved
these, they have a scientific value independent of any absolute
results.
The distinctive characteristic of Positivism is that it subjects all
phenomena to invariable laws. It does not pretend to know any-
thing about a future life, but believes that our ideas and intelligence
will go to swell the sum total of spirituality, just as our bodies go
to fertilize matter.
The complaint has been made that there has been very little seri-
ous criticism of the 'Positive Polity,' which Comte regarded as the
most original and important of his works. If the form in which he
reproduces metaphysics and theology has any value, it is because he
has come to see that they are based on perennial wants in man's
nature. In the 'Positive Philosophy' he excludes the Absolute; in
the 'Positive Polity' he substitutes Humanity in lieu thereof; but his
moral intention, however misguided at times, is passionately sincere,
and his conviction that his mission was to exalt humanity through
all time, sustained him during the course of a long life devoted to
a generous ideal, fraught with disappointment, saddened by want of
recognition and by persecution and neglect.
THE EVOLUTION OF BELIEF
From the Positive Philosophy>
E
ACH of our leading conceptions passes through three different
theoretical conditions: the Theological, or fictitious; the
Metaphysical, or abstract; and the Scientific, or positive.
Hence arise three philosophies, or general systems of conceptions
on the aggregate of phenomena, each of which excludes the
others. The first is the necessary point of departure of the
human understanding, and the third is its fixed and definite
The second is merely a state of transition.
state.
In the theological state, the human mind, seeking the essen-
tial nature of beings, the first and final causes of all effects,—
in short, absolute knowledge,- supposes all phenomena to be
produced by the immediate action of supernatural beings.
In the metaphysical state, which is only a modification of the
first, the mind supposes, instead of supernatural beings, abstract
forces, veritable entities (that is, personified abstractions) inherent


## p. 3939 (#305) ###########################################

AUGUSTE COMTE
3939
in all beings, and capable of producing all phenomena. What is
called the explanation of phenomena is, in this stage, a mere
reference of each to its proper entity.
In the final, the positive state, the mind has given over the
vain search after absolute notions, the origin and destination of
the universe, and the causes of phenomena, and applies itself
to the study of their laws,- that is, their invariable relations of
succession and resemblance. Reasoning and observation, duly
combined, are the means of this knowledge. What is now
understood when we speak of an explanation of facts, is simply
the establishment of a connection between single phenomena and
some general facts, the number of which continually diminishes
with the progress of science.
The Theological system arrived at the highest perfection of
which it is capable, when it substituted the providential action of
a single Being for the varied operations of numerous divinities
which had been before imagined. In the same way, in the last
stage of the Metaphysical system, men substitute one great
entity (Nature) as the cause of all phenomena, instead of the
multitude of entities at first supposed. In the same way, again,
the ultimate perfection of the Positive system would be (if such
perfection could be hoped for) to represent all phenomena as
particular aspects of a single general fact,—such as gravitation,
for instance.
There is no science which, having attained the positive stage,
does not bear marks of having passed through the others.
The progress of the individual mind is not only an illustra-
tion but an indirect evidence of that of the general mind. The
point of departure of the individual and of the race being the
same, the phases of the mind of a man correspond to the epochs
of the mind of the race. Now each of us is aware, if he looks
back upon his own history, that he was a theologian in his
childhood, a metaphysician in his youth, and a natural philoso-
pher in his manhood.


## p. 3940 (#306) ###########################################

3940
AUGUSTE COMTE
THE STUDY OF LAW SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF CAUSES
From the Positive Philosophy>
HE first characteristic of the Positive Philosophy is, that it
all as subjected
-
Laws. Our business is-seeing how vain is any research
into what are called Causes, whether first or final - to pursue an
accurate discovery of these Laws with a view to reducing them
to the smallest possible number. By speculating upon causes we
could solve no difficulty about origin and purpose. Our real
business is to analyze accurately the circumstances of phenomena,
and to connect them by their natural relations of succession and
resemblance. The best illustration of this is in the case of the
doctrine of Gravitation. We say that the general phenomena of
the universe are explained by it, because it connects under one
head the whole immense variety of astronomical facts; exhibiting
the constant tendency of atoms towards each other in direct pro-
portion to their masses, and in inverse proportion to the square
of their distances; whilst the general fact itself is but a mere
extension of one which is familiar to us, and which we therefore
say that we know -the weight of bodies on the surface of the
earth. As to what weight and attraction are, we have nothing to
do with that, for it is not a matter of knowledge at all. Theo-
logians and metaphysicians may imagine and refine about such
questions; but Positive Philosophy rejects them.
When any
attempt has been made to explain them, it has ended only in
saying that attraction is universal weight and that weight is
terrestrial attraction: that is, that the two orders of phenomena
are identical; which is the point from which the question set
out.
Before ascertaining the stage which the Positive Philosophy
has reached, we must bear in mind that the different kinds of
our knowledge have passed through the three stages of progress
at different rates, and have not therefore reached their goal at
the same time. Any kind of knowledge reaches the positive
stage early in proportion to its generality, simplicity, and inde-
pendence of other departments. Astronomical science, which is
above all made up of facts that are general, simple, and inde-
pendent of other sciences, arrived first; then terrestrial physics;
then chemistry; and at length physiology.


## p. 3941 (#307) ###########################################

AUGUSTE COMTE
3941
It is difficult to assign any precise date to this revolution in
science. It may be said, like everything else, to have been
always going on, and especially since the labors of Aristotle and
the school of Alexandria; and then from the introduction of nat-
ural science into the west of Europe by the Arabs.
But if we
must fix upon some marked period to serve as a rallying-point,
it must be that about two centuries ago, when the human
mind was astir under the precepts of Bacon, the conceptions of
Descartes, and the discoveries of Galileo. Then it was that the
spirit of the Positive Philosophy rose up, in opposition to that of
the superstitious and scholastic systems which had hitherto ob-
scured the true character of all science. Since that date, the
progress of the Positive Philosophy and the decline of the other
two have been so marked that no rational mind now doubts
that the revolution is destined to go on to its completion,-
every branch of knowledge being, sooner or later, within the
operation of Positive Philosophy.
―
SUBJECTION OF SELF-LOVE TO SOCIAL LOVE
From the Positive Polity
I'
T IS one of the first principles of Biology that organic life
always preponderates over animal life. By this principle the
sociologist explains the superior strength of the self-regard-
ing instincts, since these are all connected more or less closely
with the instinct of self-preservation. But although there is no
evading the fact, Sociology shows that it is compatible with the
existence of benevolent affections which Catholicism asserted
were altogether alien to our nature, and entirely dependent on
superhuman grace. The great problem, then, is to raise social
feeling by artificial effort to the position which in the natural
condition is held by selfish feeling. The solution is to be found
in another biological principle; viz. , that functions and organs
are developed by constant exercise and atrophied by long inac-
tion. Now the effect of the social state is, that while our sym-
pathetic instincts are constantly stimulated, the selfish propensities
are restricted; since if free play were given to them, human
intercourse would very soon become impossible. Both of the
tendencies naturally increase with the progress of humanity, and
their increase is the best measure of the degree of perfection


## p. 3942 (#308) ###########################################

AUGUSTE COMTE
3942
that we have attained. Their growth, however spontaneous, may
be materially hastened by organized intervention both of indi-
viduals and of society; the object being to increase all favorable
influences and to diminish unfavorable ones. This is the aim of
the science of Morals. Like every other science, it is restricted
within certain limits.
The first principle of Positive morality is the preponderance
of social sympathy. Full and free expansion of the benevolent
emotions is made the first condition of individual and social
well-being, since these emotions are at once the sweetest to
experience, and the only feelings which can find
find expression
simultaneously in all. This doctrine is as deep and pure as it
is simple and true. It is essentially characteristic of a philosophy
which by virtue of its attribute of reality subordinates all
scientific conceptions to the social point of view, as the sole
point from which they can be co-ordinated into a whole.
THE CULTUS OF HUMANITY
From the Positive Polity
HE cultus of Positivism is not addressed to an absolute,
Tisolated, incomprehensible Being whose existence cannot
be demonstrated or compared with reality. No mystery
surrounds this Supreme Being. It is composed of the continu-
ous succession of human generations.
Whereas the old God could not receive our homage without
degrading himself by a puerile vanity, the new God will only
accept praise which is deserved and which will improve him as
much as ourselves. This reciprocity of affection and influence
can belong only to the final cultus, modifiable and perfectible,
addressed to a relative being composed of its own adorers, and
better subjected than another to law which permits of foreseeing
its wishes and tendencies.
The superiority of demonstrated over revealed religion is
shown by the substitution of the love of Humanity for the love
of God. To love Humanity constitutes all healthy morality, when
we understand the character of such a love and the conditions
exacted by its habitual ascendency.
The universal reign of Humanity is to replace the provisory
reign of God. Demonstrated religion has its dogmas, its regimen,


## p. 3943 (#309) ###########################################

AUGUSTE COMTE
3943
and its cultus corresponding respectively to three fundamental
attributes; viz. , thoughts, acts, and sentiments.
The Religion of Humanity transforms the coarse idea of
objective immortality into the real objective immortality common
to the whole race. The first hypothesis is anti-social; the latter
constitutes real sociability.
THE DOMINATION OF THE DEAD
From the Positive Polity'
A
LWAYS and everywhere, the living are more and more domi-
nated by the dead. This irresistible domination represents
the unmodifiable element in all social existence, and regu-
lates the total human movement.
When the "Grand Être" shall occupy the whole planet, each
city will live more and more under the weight of preceding gen-
erations, not only of its defunct citizens but of the total sum of
terrestrial ancestors.
This ascendency was long ignored, and a dominating principle
was sought elsewhere, by transporting the human type to external
beings, first real, then fictitious. So long as the search for
Causes predominated over the study of Law, it was impossible
to recognize the true Providence of the race, owing to thus
diverting the attention to chimerical influences. At the same
time continuous conflicts and discordance made the conception of
a collective being impossible. When these fictitious struggles
exhausted themselves, Humanity, prepared during their domina-
tion, became aroused, and founded on peace and truth the advent
of the new religion.
THE WORSHIP OF WOMAN
From the Positive Polity
WOM
TOMAN'S function in society is determined by the constitution
of her nature. As the spontaneous organ of feeling, on
which the unity of human nature entirely depends, she
constitutes the purest and most natural element of the moderat-
ing power; which while avowing its own subordination to the
material forces of society, purposes to direct them to higher uses.


## p. 3944 (#310) ###########################################

3944
AUGUSTE COMTE
First as mother, afterwards as wife, it is her office to conduct
the moral education of Humanity.
Woman's mission is a striking illustration of the truth that
happiness consists in doing the work for which we are naturally
fitted. Their mission is always the same; it is summed up in
one word,- Love. It is the only work in which there can never
be too many workers; it grows by co-operation; it has nothing
to fear from competition. Women are charged with the educa-
tion of sympathy, the source of real human unity; and their
highest happiness is reached when they have the full conscious-
ness of their vocation and are free to follow it. It is the
admirable feature of their social mission, that it invites them to
cultivate qualities which are natural to them, to call into exercise
emotions which all allow to be the most pleasurable. All that is
required of them in a better organization of society is a better
adaptation of their circumstances to their vocation, and improve-
ments in their internal condition. They must be relieved from
outdoor labor, and other means must be taken to secure due
weight to their moral influence. Both objects are contemplated
in the material, intellectual, and moral ameliorations which
Positivism is destined to effect in the life of women. But
besides the pleasure inherent in their vocation, Positivism offers
a recompense for their services which Catholic Feudalism fore-
shadowed but could not realize. As men become more and
more grateful for the blessing of the moral influence of women,
they will give expression to this feeling in a systematic form.
In a word, the new doctrine will institute the Worship of Woman,
publicly and privately, in a far more perfect way than has ever
been possible. It is the first permanent step towards the wor-
ship of Humanity; which is the central principle of Positivism
viewed either as a philosophy or as a polity.


## p. 3945 (#311) ###########################################

3945
WILLIAM CONGREVE
(1670-1729)
ONGREVE was the most brilliant of all the English dramatists
of the later Stuart period. Born at Bardsley, near Leeds, in
1670, he passed his childhood and youth in Ireland, and was
sent to the University of Dublin, where he was highly educated; and
on finishing his classical studies he went to London to study law and
was entered at the Middle Temple. He had two ambitions, not alto-
gether reconcilable to shine in literature and to shine in society.
His good birth, polished manners, and witty conversation procured
him entrance to the best company; but the
desire for literary renown had the mastery
at the start. His first work was 'Incog-
nita,' a novel of no particular value, pub-
lished under the name of "Cleophil. " In
1693 he wrote The Old Bachelor,' a com-
edy; it was brought out with a phenomenal
cast. Under the supervision of Dryden,
who generously admired the author, it
achieved triumph; and Montagu, then Lord
of the Treasury, gave him a desirable
place (commissioner for licensing hackney-
coaches) and the reversion of another. The
plot is not interesting, but the play is cele-
brated for its witty and eloquent dialogue,
which even Sheridan did not surpass; it has a lightness which noth-
ing that preceded it had equaled. The characters are not very ori-
ginal, yet it has variety and diverting action.
Returning now to his rival ambition, that of achieving social suc-
cess, Congreve pretended that he had merely "scribbled a few scenes
for his own amusement," and had yielded unwillingly to his friends'
desire to try his fortune on the stage. But in 1694 he brought out
his second play, 'The Double Dealer. ' It was not a favorite, though
in it all the powers which made a success of 'The Old Bachelor'
were present, mellowed and improved by time. The dialogue is light
and natural; but the grim and offensive characters of Maskwell and
Lady Touchwood disgusted even an audience of the seventeenth cen-
tury. Dryden, however, wrote a most ingenious piece of commenda-
tory verse for the play; gradually the public came to his way of

WILLIAM CONGREVE


## p. 3946 (#312) ###########################################

3946
WILLIAM CONGREVE
thinking; and when, the next year, 'Love for Love' appeared, it was
said that "scarcely any comedy within the memory of the oldest man
had been equally successful. " This play was the triumph of his art;
and it won Congreve a share in the theatre in which it was played,
-the new theatre which Betterton and others had opened near Lin-
coln's Inn. Jeremy, the gentleman's gentleman, is delightfully witty,
- he has "the seeds of rhetoric and logic in his head,” — and Valen-
tine's mock madness is amusing; but as Sir Sampson remarks of him,
"Body o' me, he talks sensibly in his madness! has he no inter-
vals? " Jeremy replies, "Very short, sir. "
In about two years Congreve produced 'The Mourning Bride,' a
tragedy which was over-lauded, but stands high among the dramas
of the century. It ranks with Otway's Venice Preserved' and 'The
Fair Penitent. ' A noble passage describing the temple, in Act ii. ,
Scene 3, was extolled by Johnson. The play was successful, and is
more celebrated than some far better plays. But Congreve was
unequal to a really great flight of passion; tragedy was out of his
range; though he was now hailed, at the age of twenty-seven, as the
first tragic as well as the first comic dramatist of his time.
Now, however, a reformer arose who was destined to make his
mark on the English drama. The depravation of the national taste
which had made the success of Congreve, Wycherley, Farquhar, and
others, was the result of a reaction against the Puritan strictness
under the Commonwealth. Profligacy was the badge of a Cavalier,
and Congreve's heroes exactly reproduced the superficial fine gentle-
man of a time when to be a man of good breeding it was necessary
to make love to one's neighbor's wife, even without preference or
passion.
In the plays of this period nearly all the husbands are
prim, precise, and uncomfortable, while the lovers are without excep-
tion delightful fellows. The Puritan writers regarded an affair of
gallantry as a criminal offense; the poet of this period made it an
elegant distinction.
Jeremy Collier came to change all this. He was a clergyman and
a high-churchman, fanatical in the cause of decency. In 1698 he
published his 'Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the
English Stage,' and threw the whole literary world into convulsions.
He attacked Congreve, among others, somewhat injudiciously, not
only for his sins against decency but for some unreal transgressions;
and he had at his command all the weapons of ridicule and indigna-
tion. The country sided with the eloquent preacher, but waited for
some champion — Dryden presumably - to pick up the gauntlet.
Dryden however declined, acknowledging later that Collier was in the
right. Congreve stepped in "where angels feared to tread," and suc-
ceeded in putting himself entirely in the wrong. His reply was dull,


## p. 3947 (#313) ###########################################

WILLIAM CONGREVE
3947
and he was unwise enough to show anger. Collier's cause remained
in the ascendant, and with the younger race of poets who now came
forward a reform began.
In 1700 Congreve wrote one more play, 'The Way of the World,'
the most brilliant and thoughtful of his works. Lady Wishfort's
character is perhaps too repulsive for comedy, though the reader,
carried on by the ease and wit of the dialogue, will accept her.
Mirabell's brilliant chase and winning of Millamant; the diverting
character of Witwould, an incarnation of feeble repartee; and the
love scene in Act v. , Scene 5, in which both lady and gentleman are
anxious and willing to be free and tolerant, are original and amusing
studies. But whether it was the influence of his defeat by Collier
or not, this play, the best comedy written after the civil war, failed
on the stage.
Congreve produced nothing more of consequence, though he lived
for twenty-eight years in the most brilliant society that London
afforded; he suffered from gout and from failing eyesight, and by
way of consolation contracted a curious friendship with the Duchess
of Marlborough, widow of the great Marlborough, with whom he
passed a part of every day. In the summer of 1728 he met with an
accident while driving, and died from the effects of it in January,
1729. The Duchess buried him with pomp; he lay in state in the
Jerusalem Chamber, and was interred in Westminster Abbey.
Congreve was held in the highest esteem by his fellow writers,
and Pope dedicated to him his translation of the Iliad. Yet he
would not hear his literary works praised, and always declared that
they were trifles. When Voltaire during his visit to England
desired to see him, Congreve asked that he would "consider him
merely as a gentleman. " "If you were merely a gentleman," said
Voltaire, "I should not care to see you. "
Congreve was not a great poet, but he had more wit than any
English writer of the last two centuries except Sheridan; he had at
the same time great skill in character-drawing and in constructing
plots. The profligacy of his plays was the natural consequence of a
period of Puritanical austerity. While not free from the blame of
intentional indecency, he at least lacks the brutality and coarseness
of Wycherley, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar.


## p. 3948 (#314) ###########################################

3948
WILLIAM CONGREVE
MRS. FORESIGHT AND MRS. FRAIL COME TO AN UNDER-
STANDING
From 'Love for Love'
Scene:-A Room in the Foresight House. Enter Mrs. Foresight and Mrs.
Frail
RS. FRAIL
What have you to do to watch me? 'Slife, I'll
do what I please.
Mrs. Foresight - You will?
Mrs. Frail-Yes, marry, will I. A great piece of business,
to go to Covent Garden Square in a hackney-coach and take a
turn with one's friend!
M
--
Mrs. Foresight-Nay, two or three turns, I'll take my oath.
Mrs.