THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JOHN FISKE
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II
THE
LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JOHN FISKE
BY
JOHN SPENCER CLARK
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME II
Discs ut semper victurus, vive ut eras moriturus
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
ffitor^ibe prrgtf
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY ABBY M. FISKE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published December iqrj
TO
ABBY MORGAN FISKE
THE WIFE OF JOHN FISKE AND THE INS PI RE R
OF MUCH THAT IS FINEST IN HIS WRITINGS
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED
CONTENTS
XX. PUBLICATION OF " COSMIC PHILOSOPHY" — CRISIS IN
PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHT — ADVANCES IN SCIENCE —
NEW DEMANDS ON PHILOSOPHY — SPENCER PRO-
POUNDS THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION — FISKE'S
INTERPRETATION OF THE DOCTRINE — MAKES AN IM-
PORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO IT — ADDS FOUR IMPOR-
TANT COROLLARIES (1874)
XXL
EFFECT OF THE DISCUSSION UPON THE MIND OF FISKE
— LEADS TO GREAT COMPOSURE OF THOUGHT IN VIEW-
ING HUMAN LIFE IN ITS SOCIOLOGICAL, POLITICAL, AND
RELIGIOUS ASPECTS — How THE " COSMIC PHILOS-
OPHY" WAS RECEIVED — HOSTILE CRITICISMS — LET-
TERS FROM SPENCER AND DARWIN (1874) ....
XXII.
XXIV. BEGINS HIS HISTORIC WORK — GIVES Six LECTURES
ON AMERICAN HISTORY IN OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOS-
TON — MARKED SUCCESS — To REPEAT LECTURES
IN LONDON — GREETINGS ON REACHING LONDON —
GREAT SUCCESS WITH HIS LECTURES — NOTABLE SO-
CIAL COURTESIES — EXCURSIONS WITH SPENCER AND
vii
49
GROWING REPUTATION — RESUMES WORK IN HAR-
VARD LIBRARY — RECONSTRUCTION OF LIBRARY
BUILDING — PRACTICAL PROBLEMS — CATALOGUE OF
SUMNER'S LIBRARY — HIGHLY COMPLIMENTED — OUT
OF PLACE IN THE LIBRARY — AMERICAN HISTORY A
SUBJECT FOR EXPOSITION — CONSULTS FRIENDS — RE-
SIGNS FROM HARVARD LIBRARY (1874-1879) ... 62
XXIII. DEATH OF FISKE'S GRANDMOTHER — DOMESTIC LIFE
— DEATH OF MRS. MARTHA BROOKS — NEW HOME,
22 BERKELEY STREET, CAMBRIDGE — MUSICAL PRAC-
TICE— VISIT OF PROFESSOR AND MRS. HUXLEY —
PETERSHAM IN WINTER — MR. AND MRS. STOUGHTON
AT ST. PETERSBURG — DEATH OF Two FRIENDS —
Two NOTABLE ESSAYS (1874-1879) ....
74
Contents
HOLT — PLANS COURSE OF LECTURES FOR ROYAL
INSTITUTION — GIVES A NOTABLE PUNCH PARTY —
ELECTED OVERSEER AT HARVARD COLLEGE (1879) . 105
XXV. FIRST LECTURE PROGRAMME — PERSONAL APPEAR-
ANCE — LECTURE CAMPAIGN IN MAINE — SYLLABUS
FOR LECTURES AT ROYAL INSTITUTION — LECTURES
DURING SEASON OF 1879-1880— INVITATION FROM
ROYAL INSTITUTION — PREPARES HIS LECTURES —
SAILS WITH MRS. FISKE FOR ENGLAND — LETTER TO
REV. E. B. WlLLSON GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THIS
REMARKABLE JOURNEY — RETURNED HOME JULY
27, 1880 (1879-1880)
XXVI . DOMESTIC LIFE IN PETERSHAM — CONTROVERSY WITH
DR. WILLIAM JAMES — ESSAYS — LECTURING EX-
PERIENCES — VISITS ST. Louis, MILWAUKEE, IN-
DIANAPOLIS, CORNELL UNIVERSITY — RECEIVED
WITH GREAT INTEREST — SPECIAL HISTORICAL LEC-
TURES AT OLD SOUTH CHURCH — PREPARES THREE
ARTICLES ON GREAT BRITAIN FOR CYCLOPAEDIA OF
POLITICAL SCIENCE — SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN
PEOPLE DAWNING IN HIS MIND — AGREES TO PRE-
PARE A SHORT HISTORY FOR HARPER AND BROTHERS
(1880-1881)
155
190
XXVII. DEATH OF EDWIN W. STOUGHTON — THE STOUGH-
TON HOME IN NEW YORK — CAPTAIN JOHN ERICS-
SON AND THE GOLD MODEL OF THE MONITOR — GEN-
ERAL SHERIDAN AND HIS HISTORIC FLAG — DEATH
OF DARWIN — SPENCER'S VISIT TO AMERICA — VIS-
ITS FISKE — SPENCER'S PERSONALITY — VISITS THE
HOME AND THE GRAVE OF EMERSON — THE SPEN-
CER DINNER IN NEW YORK (1882) ....
XXVIII. FOURTH VISIT TO LONDON — FALLS ILL AND CON-
SULTS SPENCER'S DOCTOR — WALKS ABOUT DICK-
ENS'S LONDON — AT HIS OLD QUARTERS, 67 GREAT
RUSSELL STREET — FACILITIES AT BRITISH MUSEUM
— COURTESIES BY SIME, HUXLEY, AND SPENCER —
SEVERE ILLNESS AT TRUBNER'S — DINES WITH RAL-
STON AT BILLINGSGATE FISH MARKET — SAILS FOR
HOME — RESUMES WORK ON HIS HISTORY — HAR-
228
via
Contents
YARD COLLEGE AND THE DEGREE OF LL.D. FOR GOV-
ERNOR BUTLER — PUBLICATION OF "EXCURSIONS OF
AN EVOLUTIONIST" (1883-1884) 266
XXIX. THE Two CONCORD ADDRESSES — "THE DESTINY
OF MAN" — "THE IDEA OF GOD" (1884-1885) . . 307
XXX. PUBLICATION OF LECTURES ON AMERICAN POLITICAL
IDEAS — SCOPE OF FISKE'S HISTORY GREATLY EN-
LARGED— PUBLIC INTEREST IN HIS LECTURES
GREAT HELP IN THEIR COMPOSITION — A LECTURE
CAMPAIGN — LECTURES ON CRITICAL PERIOD — MIL-
ITARY CAMPAIGNS OF CIVIL WAR — PHYSICAL
BREAKDOWN — ASSISTANT EDITOR OF APPLETON'S
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY (1885-1886) . . . 337
XXXI. HISTORIC REFLECTIONS — VARIOUS LECTURES —
VISITS PACIFIC COAST — WONDERFUL RIDE ACROSS
THE PLAINS AND OVER THE MOUNTAINS — COLUM-
BIA RIVER — IMPRESSIONS OF OREGON — LECTURES
AT PORTLAND — RIDE TO SAN FRANCISCO — GEN-
ERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON — YOSEMITE AND MARI-
POSA GROVE — SALT LAKE CITY — IMPRESSIONS OF
PACIFIC COAST VISIT (1887) 354
XXXII. CONCEPTION OF NATIONALITY OF UNITED STATES
GREATLY ENLARGED — IMPORTANCE OF ABORIGINAL
AMERICA — VARIOUS LECTURES AND ADDRESSES —
CORRESPONDENCE WITH HORACE HOWARD FURNESS
— BACON AND SHAKESPEARE FOLLY — JAMES MAR-
TINEAU — MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS OF THE BOS-
TON MASSACRE — PUBLICATION OF VOLUME ON
CRITICAL PERIOD — PERPLEXITIES OVER HIS GREAT
TASK — RELIEVED BY HIS PUBLISHERS (1887-1888) 378
XXXIII. NEW CONDITIONS AND THEIR EFFECT — ACTIVITIES
OF A THREEFOLD NATURE — PUBLICATION OF "THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION" AND "THE BEGINNINGS
OF NEW ENGLAND" — LETTERS FROM FREEMAN —
"CiviL GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES" —
COMPOSITION OF "THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA"
— SALIENT FEATURES OF THE WORK — ITS PUBLI-
CATION AND RECEPTION (1889-1891) .... 399
ix
Contents
XXXIV. LIFE OF YOUMANS — CENTENNIAL OF THE DIS-
COVERY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER — CELEBRATION
AT ASTORIA — VISIT TO ALASKA — CELEBRATION OF
FOUR HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISCOVERY
OF AMERICA — CRITICAL ARTICLES ON FREEMAN AND
PARKMANAS HISTORIANS — HONORS FROM UNIVER-
SITY OF PENNSYLVANIA AND FROM HARVARD —
SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES — * MES-
SAGE FROM TENNYSON (1892-1894) . . . . 438
XXXV. RESUMES WORK ON HISTORIC SCHEME — COMPRE-
HENSIVE NATURE OF SCHEME — PHILOSOPHIC UNITY
UNDERLYING IT — SEQUENTIAL ORDER OF ITS PARTS
— CIVIL WAR LECTURES — REFLECTIONS ON UNITED
STATES HISTORY — FISKE'S TRIBUTE TO PARKMAN
APPLIED TO HIMSELF (1895) 455
XXXVI. INCIDENTAL LITERARY WORK: "A CENTURY OF
SCIENCE AND OTHER ESSAYS" — "ESSAYS, HIS-
TORICAL AND LITERARY" — "THE STORY OF A NEW
ENGLAND TOWN" — PHILOSOPHICO-RELIGIOUS ES-
SAYS— EMERSON, FISKE, SPENCER, DARWIN (1895-
1900) 469
XXXVII. LECTURES AT LOWELL INSTITUTE — PREPARING
NEW HOME ON BRATTLE STREET — PLANNING
DETAILS OF UNITED STATES SECTION OF HIS HIS-
TORIC SCHEME — To TAKE PART IN THE KING
ALFRED CELEBRATION AT WINCHESTER, ENGLAND
— OUTLINE OF PROPOSED ADDRESS — TRIP TO
GLOUCESTER FOR FRESH SEA AIR — DEATH AT
GLOUCESTER — BURIAL AT PETERSHAM (1901) . . 484
INDEX 507
ILLUSTRATIONS
JOHN FISKE Photogravure Frontispiece
From a photograph taken in 1897
"PROFESSOR JOHN FISKE FLIES THE EVOLUTION KITE IN
AMERICA" 56
From a cartoon in the New York Daily Graphic for September 12, 1874
GORE HALL, HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY .... 64
JAMES W. BROOKS 76
22 BERKELEY STREET 80
JOHN KNOWLES PAINE 84
SKETCH BY HUXLEY IN THE PETERSHAM GUEST-BOOK,
AUGUST, 1876 90
THE LIBRARY AT 22 BERKELEY STREET 94
FACSIMILE OF CRANCH'S SONNETS "!N A LIBRARY" . . 96
MRS. FISKE IN 1880 172
YORK MINSTER 184
THE FOUR SONS OF JOHN FISKE 246
90 BRATTLE STREET 266
THE BROOKS HOUSE, PETERSHAM 308
The birthplace of Mrs. John Fiske, the daughter of Aaron Brooks, Jr., an
eminent lawyer and one of the leading citizens of Petersham, Massachusetts.
For three generations the town of Petersham owed much of its prosperity to
members of the Brooks family, who were extensive landowners and public-
spirited men. Approximately two thousand acres of the estate of the late
James W. Brooks now constitute the outdoor laboratory of the Harvard
School of Forestry. The illustration shows the homestead in its latter-day
dress.
VIEW FROM THE REAR PlAZZA OF THE BROOKS HOUSE . 308
THE APPLE-TREE MENTIONED IN THE DEDICATION TO "THE
IDEA OF GOD" 334
MAUD FISKE (MRS. GROVER FLINT) 406
ETHEL FISKE (MRS. OTIS D. FISK) 406
THE LIBRARY AT 90 BRATTLE STREET 486
THE JOHN FISKE MONUMENT, PETERSHAM 506
The illustrations for this book were selected
under the supervision of Mrs. John Fiske
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
JOHN FISKE
CHAPTER XX
THE PUBLICATION OF " COSMIC PHILOSOPHY " —
ADVANCES IN SCIENCE — NEW DEMANDS ON PHIL-
OSOPHY - - HERBERT SPENCER PROPOUNDS THE
DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION — FISKF/S INTERPRETA-
TION OF THE DOCTRINE — MAKES AN IMPORTANT
CONTRIBUTION TO THE DOCTRINE — ADDS FOUR IM-
PORTANT COROLLARIES TO SPENCER'S ARGUMENT
1874
FISKE'S home-coming to Cambridge and the greet-
ing of his children were cheering to his heart. Again
united with his family, his joy was unconfined ; and
in this moment of gratulation the incidents of his
memorable journey were quite obliterated from his
mind. But he was soon at his work in the Harvard
Library.
In September a duplicate set of the plates of his
work was received from England by his Ameri-
can publishers, James R. Osgood&Co., and in Octo-
ber the work was published simultaneously in the
United States and in England under the title of
"Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, based on the Doc-
trine of Evolution, with Criticisms of the Positive
Philosophy."
i
John Fiske
The work bore the following felicitous and alto-
gether appropriate dedication: —
TO
GEORGE LITCH ROBERTS, M.A.
IN REMEMBRANCE OF
THE GOLDEN DAYS WHEN, WITH GENEROUS AIMS IN COMMON,
WE STUDIED PHILOSOPHY TOGETHER,
AND IN CONSECRATION OF THE LIFE-LONG FRIENDSHIP
WHICH HAS BEEN
AN UNFAILING SOURCE OF JOY AND STRENGTH
TO US BOTH,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.
It should be said that the book made no claim
to be the presentation of a system of philosophy
devised by Fiske: rather it was presented as an ap-
preciation or an interpretation of the philosophic
system outlined and partially worked out by Her-
bert Spencer, to which Fiske had made some impor-
tant contributions in the way of showing the rela-
tionship of Spencer's system to other systems, as
well as in strengthening its applications to man's
social well-being and his religious faith. In other
words, the work was a fuller presentation of the
social and religious implications of the doctrine of
Evolution, than had hitherto been made.
A philosophic work, produced under such auspices
as we have seen attending this, must perforce trav-
erse, in the light of the scientific advances of the
middle period of the nineteenth century, the three
fundamental problems of all philosophy : the Cosmic
Universe, its origin, sustentation, and meaning;
Man, his origin, his possession of intellectual, moral,
and religious consciousness and his destiny; and the
"Cosmic Philosophy" Published
Inscrutable Power that lies back of, or is enshrouded
in, the phenomena of the physical cosmos and of
human life as their ultimate cause or reality — prob-
lems of three distinct yet interrelated orders of co-
existences, which it has been the aim of philosophic
thinkers of all ages to bring into order and unity:
into harmony, within the compass of the human
mind.
And now the question arises, What were the dis-
tinguishing points regarding these three funda-
mental problems in the philosophic system offered
by Spencer, and which were given an appreciative
interpretation by Fiske in his " Cosmic Philosophy."
Before attempting a definite answer to this ques-
tion, it is essential that we get clearly before us the
nature of the philosophic crisis that then existed
by reason of the impinging upon the system of theo-
logico-philosophic thought which then prevailed,
of three lines of cosmic truth relating to the phys-
ical universe, to the organic life of the terrestrial
world, and to psychologic and sociologic man which
had been established through science ; together with
the results of a century of profound and reverent
critical study of the Bible as a Divine revelation to
man.
Speaking broadly, it can be said that down to the
middle period of the last century, Christian theol-
ogy formed largely the intellectual framework or
background for pretty much all the philosophico-
religious thinking throughout Christendom, on the
3
John Fiske
three fundamental problems of philosophy, notwith-
standing the various sects, or creeds, or churches
into which believers in the Christian religion were
divided.
Christian theology, in its distinctly orthodox, dog-
matic form, we had under consideration when deal-
ing with Fiske's change of religious views in 1859.
A reexamination of this theologic scheme,1 for the
purpose of abstracting its philosophic content,
shows that it claimed to give a definite and positive
answer to the three fundamental problems of phil-
osophy, in a series of related Divine truths trans-
cending experiential knowledge: truths which had
been divinely revealed to man by the Creator of
the universe and of man, and which must be ac-
cepted as ultimate answers to all questions of phil-
osophy.
Such being its claims, we have first to ask what
of the truth of this theologico-philosophic system
itself — its origin and verification?
Candor compels the admission that it had its
origin and development into a related and appar-
ently consistent body of thought under conditions
of intellectual, moral, and spiritual culture widely
different from what prevailed during the nineteenth
century. In fact, the statement will not be ques-
tioned that all its affirmations regarding the per-
sonality of a Divine Creator, the origin of the cosmic
universe and its sustentation, as well as in regard
1 See ante, vol. i, p. 109.
4
A Philosophic Crisis
to man, his origin, his endowment with rational con-
sciousness, his fall, his redemption, and his destiny,
were all formulated when the human mind was
obsessed by beliefs in supernatural agencies and
occurrences; and long before anything like a criti-
cal or scientific observation or study of cosmic phe-
nomena or of human life existed.
And if .we inquire more particularly, and limit
our inquiries to modern times, we see, during the
fifteenth century, the emergence of this theologico-
philosophic system from a long period of Euro-
pean ignorance and superstition, with its positive,
dogmatic affirmations regarding God, the cosmic
universe, and man, substantially as they existed
in the orthodox theologic creeds of half a century
ago.
Pursuing our inquiries still further, we find that
during the intervening centuries this system has
been constantly on the defensive against the steady
advances of science — man's rational inquiry into
the nature of his cosmic environment and of his
own existence — and that it has been enabled to
maintain itself against these advances only by slight
concessions here and there ; and on vital points ap-
pealing to implicit faith in its unverified dogmas
as against reason in science; affirming, with ever-
increasing emphasis, that ultimate truth regarding
the cosmic universe and man was to be found in its
divinely revealed message from God the Creator,
rather than in man's experiential cosmic knowledge.
5
John Fiske
And this controversy remained substantially of
this import down to the middle period of the last
century, when the advances in the astronomical,
the physical, the biological, and the sociological
sciences, with their positive verifications, not only
upset some of the fundamental dogmas of theology,
but also yielded immensely enlarged conceptions of
the cosmic universe and man's place in it, as well
as nobler conceptions of the Divine Creator, the
Source and Sustainer of all things, than were given
by theology.
Let us consider the presentation of ultimate truths
regarding the cosmic universe, man with his rational
mind and the inscrutable Power that lies back of
all cosmic phenomena as Source and Sustainer, by
the two respective sides to this controversy.
And first, as to the cosmic universe as presented
by theology. Here its creation, structure, duration
in time, and method of sustentation were all pre-
sented in the most positive manner. It was fiatis-
tically created in a few days by a personal Creator
and within a period of time comparatively recent.1
In structure it was given a geocentric character;
1 Cowper in his poem The Task, naively reflected, in the following
lines, the theologico-philosophic view of creation and its date, as well
as the general contempt for geologic science: —
"Some drill and bore
The solid earth, and from the strata there
Extract a register, by which we learn
That He who made it and revealed its date
To Moses, was mistaken in its age."
I have before me a recent Oxford edition of the Bible specially
6
Advances in Science
that is, the earth was made the centre of all things
and around it the sun, the moon, and the stars
were made to revolve as tributary thereto. And
then all the activities, the ever-changing phenom-
ena of this circumscribed geocentric universe were
presented as the direct personal acts of its Creator
and as evidences of His persistent watchful care
over it. In truth, the daily sustentation of this fiat-
istically created universe was presented as without
established principles of order and of law, and as
dependent upon the personal superintendence and
good- will of its Creator.
If, now, we turn to the series of related cosmic
truths revealed by science, we have the verified
evidence of the existence of a cosmic universe
widely different in character from that presented
by theology. In the first place, there was revealed
the existence of a distinctly knowable solar sys-
tem, heliocentric, instead of geocentric, in structure,
and in which the earth held a very subordinate
place. Then, beyond this solar system, extending
through space inconceivable in its vastness, there
was revealed the existence of millions upon millions
of giant stars, great blazing suns, many larger than
our own sun, and each presumably the centre of a
solar system like that to which our earth belongs;
together with the fact that our solar system, as well
prepared for Sunday-School teachers, in which the date of the crea-
tion of the earth and heaven and man is given as 4004 years before
Christ.
John Fiske
as these millions of blazing suns, had existed for a
period of time inconceivable in its duration. And
further, there was revealed a still more sublime
truth: the fact that these millions of blazing suns
with their attendant planets were all interrelated,
were ever in motion through space, ever in a proc-
ess of development from a simpler to a more com-
plex or higher form of phenomenal existence; and
that in all their movements and transformations
they were held in order and unity by the operation
of immutable cosmic law.
And thus, in the middle period of the last cen-
tury, there stood revealed through science a uni-
verse which, in its structure, its duration, its mode
of sustentation, presented to the human mind vir-
tually a new heavens and a new earth — a universe
of variety, order, and unity so far transcending in
vastness and sublimity the crude, childish universe
of theology as to leave no comparison between
them.1
And then, as to man. Theology affirmed that
1 One has only to survey the steady development of the astro-
nomic, the geologic, the physical, the chemical sciences from the
period of Copernicus and Galileo in the sixteenth century, when the
stellar universe was opened to man's experiential inquiry, down to
the middle period of the last century, to note the steady progress of
the human mind in bringing the physical phenomena of the cosmic
universe into order and unity under the operation of immutable
law. And three great discoveries stand out conspicuously in this pro-
gressive development of cosmic knowledge. First, the discovery by
Newton, in 1685, of the law of gravitation; the cosmic truth that
every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle,
with a force proportionate directly to their masses, and inversely to
their distances apart. Second, the discovery by Lavoisier, in 1789, of
8
Theology and Science
man — the human race — originated with Adam
and Eve, two human beings who were fiatistically
created by the Divine Creator, contemporaneously
with the creation of the geocentric universe, some
six thousand years ago; and that in their creation
they were endowed with full intellectual, moral,
and spiritual consciousness- It also affirmed that
the Divine Creator prepared for them a garden
wherein to dwell, and in which He revealed Him-
self to them and conversed with them; that in this
garden He planted a certain tree, the fruit whereof
He forbade them to eat. Theology further affirmed
as Divine truth that Adam and Eve disobeyed this
command, and did eat of the fruit of this tree;
whereupon the Divine Creator was very wroth ; and
He changed, debased, their natures, and expelled
them from the garden, and condemned them and
their posterity to an earthly life of toil, sin, sorrow,
the indestructibility of matter; the cosmic truth that while the mat-
ter composing the material universe is ever in a process of change or
transformation, no atom is ever lost or destroyed. Third, the dis-
covery, in the period between 1840 and 1860, by a group of German
and English physicists, of the conservation of energy; the cosmic
truth that the amount of energy in the cosmic universe is a fixed
quantity, which is never increased or diminished; that this energy
is convertible into various forms of force, which forces are convertible
into one another, and that in these transformations there is no loss
or increase of the primal energy itself. Thus it was seen that the
cosmic universe was composed of two limited and indestructible ele-
ments, matter and energy, and that these two elements were inter-
related in a persistent process of cosmic development.
It is upon the immutable character of these three discoveries in
cosmic phenomena that the physical and chemical sciences, with
their constant additions to the enlargement and ennoblement of
human life, have their impregnable foundation.
John Fiske
suffering, and death ; and to a still greater punish-
ment in an eternal life beyond. Thus, as Divine
truth, theology affirmed the fall of man: that
through the primal disobedience of Adam and Eve
did want and sin and suffering and a fearful eternal
doom befall the human race.
As against this terrible punishment for inherited
sin, theology brought a partial relief: it affirmed
that the Divine Creator, in His great mercy for man,
had provided a means of escape through a scheme
of atonement or redemption by the sacrifice of His
son, Jesus Christ; which sacrifice had been carried
out, and which served as a perfect release from
condemnation for the original sin of Adam and Eve
to all who would accept it: that is, to all who would
accept Christ as their Saviour and Redeemer, and
would follow his teachings in their conduct to-
wards the Divine Creator and towards their brother
men.
The details of this scheme of atonement we have
already seen.1 As a means of relief to man it came
as complementary to the affirmation of his fall
and his condemnation. How powerfully these two
affirmations — man's fall and Christ's atoning sac-
rifice — have affected the human mind for the past
nineteen centuries is reflected in the arts, the
sciences, the institutions, the religions, and the
philosophies of Christendom. Christian literature
abounds with able and ingenious expositions, de-
1 See ante, vol. I, p. 91.
10
Theology and Science
fences, and attempts to verify this vital humanistic
portion of Christian theology; and although these
efforts have fared badly in the court of reason, as
against the cosmic truths regarding man verified
by science, they could not be thoroughly discred-
ited until some other and more rational manner
for the causal origin of man and his endowment
with intellectual, moral, and spiritual conscious-
ness had been established.
If, now, regarding the origin of man with his
rational mind, we turn to the revelations of science
down to the middle period of the last century, we
find a very different story from that told by theol-
ogy. As we acquaint ourselves with the researches
of the palaeontologic, biologic, psychologic, and
sociologic sciences, we see the accumulation of a
vast body of harmonious evidence, all affirming the
development through vast expanses of time of
man's physical organism from an animal ancestry;
while in regard to his rational mind, the evidence
was equally clear that it had been developed out of
the egoistic and nascent socialistic feelings or pro-
pensities of his animal progenitors; and that in the
struggle for existence against environing conditions
during the progress from brute to primitive man,
these inherited animal feelings or propensities had
been developed into psychical powers of a more or
less rational, and with a tinge of moral, character.
From primitive man to civilized man, the develop-
ment of intellectual, moral, and spiritual conscious-
ii
John Fiske
ness, pari passu with the development of the human
physical organism through contact with environing
cosmic conditions, was clearly shown by archaeologic
remains, by historic records, and by contemporary
anthropologic researches.1
Thus civilized man, with his physiologic, his
psychologic, and his sociologic characteristics all in
harmony, stood revealed as possessing a rightful
heritage in the new heavens and the new earth of
science, their fitting inhabitant. More important
still, in the court of reason, he was forever freed
from the awful doom of theology, and given a pro-
gressive development in intellectual, moral, and
spiritual consciousness, the full import of which the
human mind could not conceive, much less measure.
And now, as to the Ultimate Cause, the Power
back of all cosmic phenomena and of human con-
sciousness, which must be posited as a causal basis
1 These wide and varied researches culminated in 1859 in the pro-
found discovery by Charles Darwin of the cosmic truth that by a
process of natural selection — that is, through the interrelated work-
ing of the cosmic elements during vast periods of time — there had
been differentiated and developed from some simple form of life the
infinite variety of organic life with which the terrestrial world had
been filled; and it was seen that this cosmic truth applied to the
origin and development of man as well as to all other forms of life.
In fact, the great antiquity of primitive man was distinctly affirmed
by palaeontologic and palaeolithic discoveries. Also, the geologic, the
biologic, the psychologic sciences all affirmed that, as compared with
the animals immediately below him in the organic scale, primitive
man was identical with them in the physical processes of his ori-
gin, in his embryonic development, in his mode of nutrition before
and after birth; while in his adult state he exhibited a marvellous
likeness to them in his physical organization, as well as in his psychi-
cal powers.
12
Theology and Science
for rational thinking on these profound questions.
Here, theology, basing its affirmations wholly on
the Bible as comprising a body of divinely revealed
truth, positively affirmed the existence of a Divine
Creator, to whom was given distinctly human char-
acteristics or limitations. He was presented as the
prototype of man — man being created in His image
and His manner of creating the universe and man
was after man's ways of willing and doing things.
And then, His work was so imperfect in its nature
as to need His constant personal supervision, with
much mending or adjusting to keep it in order. In
short, the God of Christian theology was presented
as a distinctly anthropomorphic Being; and the
work of His hand — the geocentric universe and
fallen man — reflected, in its limitations, its want
of order, unity, and harmony, His anthropomorphic
character.
On the other hand, science, or organized human
experience, confessing the subjective origin and con-
ditioned development of the human mind, frankly
admitted its impotence to affirm anything positive
transcending experience. It saw in the phenomena
of the cosmic universe —
"Boundless inward toward the atom,
Boundless outward toward the stars," —
the exhibition of Infinite intelligence, wisdom, and
power, the ultimate sources and nature of which it
could not comprehend. It saw, in the phenomena of
mind, ranging through the whole animal kingdom
13
John Fiske
and finding its culmination in man's arts, sciences,
institutions, conduct, and ideals, a vast display of
consciousness the ultimate source and nature of
which were alike incomprehensible. And of these
two orders of phenomena it could only affirm that
they appeared to be persistent, to be harmoniously
interrelated, and to be forever developing into more
complex and higher forms of phenomenal manifes-
tation, in conformity to immutable cosmic law.
In the presence of this vast, orderly display of per-
sistent, interrelated physical and psychical phenom-
mena, science could only reverently postulate, as
Source and Sustainer of it all, an Infinite Eternal
Power from which all things proceed: an Omnis-
cient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent Reality, transcend-
ing, in the nature of its existence, the comprehen-
sion of the conditioned, finite, human mind.
And one point more. Contemporaneously with
the establishment through science of the funda-
mental cosmic truths we have been considering,
there came the result of a century of reverent in-
quiry into the truth of the theologic affirmation
that the Bible was a special Divine revelation from
the Divine Creator to man, and hence that it was
the embodiment of ultimate truth regarding the
cosmic universe and man ; and as such transcended
all other knowledge — all knowledge derived from
experience.
In this inquiry the various books of the Bible
were subjected to the ripest critical learning of the
14
Biblical Criticism
time: as to their authorship and dates of com-
position; the accuracy of their texts and transla-
tions ; their mythical and philological characteristics
and relationships ; their cosmological, biological, and
physical affirmations ; their diversities and their uni-
ties, and how they had been preserved, selected, and
collated so as to form a body of ultimate Divine
truth.
This was, of course, subjecting the Bible to the
same kind of impartial criticism that was given to
the sacred books of all other religions as well as to
all the literary remains of antiquity. Much con-
trariety of opinion was brought forth on various
points by the inquiry. The rational conclusion de-
rived from it was adverse to the affirmations of the-
ology. This conclusion was to the effect that the
Bible was no special revelation from the Divine
Creator to man; rather, that it was simply a collec-
tion of sociologico-religious literature which re-
flected with great clearness the life of a primitive,
tribal people, surrounded by powerful and more
cultured enemies from whom they learned much ; a
people, ignorant and superstitious, yet gifted with
an exceptional degree of ethical and religious feeling,
who, in their struggles against their physical and
their political environments through an indefinite
period of time, slowly advanced along a normal
line of intellectual, moral, and spiritual develop-
ment, which had its culmination in the ethical and
religious teachings of Christ and his apostles. In
15
John Fiske
short, that the Bible was but one among several
collections of sacred writings, all encrusted with
error and superstition, and all attesting to the in-
herence in the human mind of ethical and religious
ideas which had their development in conformity
to environing physical and political conditions.1
With this invalidation of the theologic dogma
that the Bible was a special Divine revelation, and,
as such, was the basis of all ultimate truth, the
theologic dogmas of the existence of a personal, an-
thropomorphic God, of His method of creating and
sustaining a geocentric universe, of His creation of
man and man's fall, condemnation, and redemp-
tion, were all left without any verifiable founda-
tion — were, in fact, also invalidated.
And thus, in the middle period of the last century,
there came a profound crisis in human thinking;
a crisis wherein, on the one side, it appeared that
the claims of theology for the ultimate truth of its
1 As evidence on this point we have only to refer to the memorable
contests that followed the publication, in 1860, of " Essays and
Reviews," a work written by seven distinguished English church-
men, holding influential positions in the English universities and pub-
lic schools; and the publication in 1862 of a work by Bishop Colenso
on "The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua critically examined."
Both these works were written in a reverent spirit, and were very
moderate in their claims for a rational interpretation of the Bible in
the light of modern knowledge. Both were violently attacked by the
theologians as undermining all religious truth. The wide discussion
that followed brought under review the whole question of dogma
vs. the verified cosmic truths of science, and revealed the inherent
weakness of theology in claiming for the Bible a special Divine in-
spiration and for its affirmations, regarding the cosmic universe and
man, ultimate truths transcending all other knowledge.
16
New Demands on Philosophy
fundamental dogmas were without verifiable foun-
dations. While on the other side there was presented
a series of cosmic truths fully verified in human
' experience — truths which yielded conceptions of
the cosmic universe, its origin, its vastness, its sus-
tentation; of man, his origin, his conscious endow-
ment, his destiny, as well as of the Infinite Eternal
Power from whom all things proceed — far nobler
than was presented by Christian theology, or any
philosophy based on that theology.
Hence, in 1860, following the publication of Dar-
win's " Origin of Species," there came a demand for
a new philosophy, one which should recognize the
verified truths of modern science as transcend-
ing the affirmations of dogmatic theology; which
should endeavor to bring the ever-developing phys-
ical phenomena of the cosmic universe into har-
mony with the ever-developing psychical phenom-
ena of conscious mind ; and which should present
both orders of phenomena as interrelated and as
reflecting, in their interrelated ness, the existence
of an underlying Reality or Ground as the Source
from which all things proceed — in short, a phil-
osophy which should present as its fundamental
truth an objective Divine Reality, which in the
form of its existence transcends the comprehension
of the subjective human mind.
To Herbert Spencer this demand for a philosophy
of the cosmic universe based upon the verified rev-
elations of science — a philosophy which should
17
John Fiske
bring the whole universe with man's place in it
into order and unity with its source and sustaining
power — made a strong appeal.
Spencer possessed an unsurpassed knowledge of
the acquisitions of science, and he was one of the
profoundest thinkers of his time. Then, too, he was
singularly independent in his thought. He would
not accept any important proposition without due
verification. His fundamental conception of the
cosmic universe was that of a unity held in order
by immutable law. Much brooding over cosmic
phenomena had led him to question the universal
belief that these phenomena were special creations.
At the same time there was generated in his mind
the conviction that the cosmic universe in all its
parts was the outcome of a process of development,
and that this process was still going on.
Notwithstanding that science was daily bringing
forth facts discrediting the theory of special crea-
tions and confirming the theory of development,
Spencer was baffled in applying the theory to the
phenomena of organic life. In this department of
science — biology — the theory of special creations
was thoroughly entrenched with the support of phil-
osophy and religion. While Spencer had collected
a mass of evidence tending to support the theory of
development throughout the organic world, he was
yet without a natural vera causa which would answer
for a positive scientific explanation of the origin of
the infinite varieties of species in the floral and
18
The Doctrine of Evolution
faunal kingdoms and their geographical distribu-
tion. He was mulling over this profound subject
in 1859, when Darwin brought forth his immortal
work on "The Origin of Species by Natural Selec-
tion/* This work gave Spencer just the help he
needed to round out his theory of development, or
of Evolution, to the whole of cosmic phenomena.
How influential Darwin's work was in bringing
Spencer's evolutionary thought to focus we cannot
say. We know that he welcomed Darwin's views as
most significant and as giving him important data
for the application of his theory of Evolution to
the organic world; and that four months after the
publication of the " Origin of Species" -March,
1860 — Spencer announced his purpose of engaging
in the preparation of a system of philosophy based
on the doctrine of Evolution, the scope and aim of
which he set forth with much detail.
This announcement was publicly welcomed by
over fifty of the leading scientists and philosophic
thinkers of Great Britain, among whom were John
Stuart Mill, George Grote, Charles Darwin, Charles
Kingsley, Thomas Huxley, Sir Charles Lyell, Sir
J. D. Hooker, G. H. Lewes, John Tyndall, W. B.
Carpenter, Augustus De Morgan, J. D. Morell,
R. W. Mackay, David Masson, Alexander Bain,
Thomas Graham, Sir John Herschel.
Thus we are brought directly to the consideration
of Spencer's doctrine of Evolution which has had
such a mighty influence upon all subsequent think-
19
John Fiske
ing, and to the interpretation of which, in its bear-
ing upon the spiritual well-being of man, Fiske gave
the better portion of his life.
And now, what were the distinctive character-
istics of Spencer's projected philosophic undertak-
ing so significantly encouraged by representatives
of the highest scientific and philosophic thought of
the time?
Briefly summarized, its chief points were as
follows : —
I. An Infinite Unknowable.
Spencer postulated the existence of an Infinite
Unknowable Power as the Source and Sustainer of
all things, the nature and form of whose existence
transcends the comprehension of the human mind.
The existence of 'such an Infinite Power he found
an inexpugnable dictum of consciousness, without
which there could be no causal basis for rational
thinking, for the human mind cannot rest its fun-
damentals of thought upon a negation.
II. The cosmic universe a revelation of an Infinite
Unknowable Power.
Spencer accepted the cosmic universe, with its
multiform phenomena — including man with his
rational mind — as a positive revelation of an In-
finite Power from whom all things proceed, a revela-
tion which it is the highest duty of man reverentially
to study in the light of his experiential knowledge
arxd his rational consciousness. The greater man's
knowledge of the nature, unity, and relativity of
cosmic phenomena, pari passu the higher his con-
ception of the Infinite Power, the Source and Sus-
20
The Doctrine of Evolution
tainer of the cosmic universe, as well as his concep-
tion of the meaning and purpose of human life.
III. The knowledge of the cosmic universe that had
been established through science.
Through the investigations of science the phe-
mena of the cosmic universe had been mapped out
into five divisions of phenomenal manifestations
more or less interrelated : —
1. Astronomy: the phenomena of the stellar
and planetary systems.
2. Geology: the phenomena of the terrestrial
world.
3. Biology: the phenomena of living organisms.
4. Psychology : the phenomena of adjusting
organic life to environing conditions.
5. Sociology : the phenomena arising from so-
cial aggregation.
Scientific analyses of the varied phenomena of
these five divisions revealed certain cosmic truths as
well as some profound mysteries : that notwithstand-
ing the infinite variety of forms in which these phe-
nomenal manifestations appear, they all had their
base in, and were conditioned by, matter and mo-
tion; that through the constant redistribution and
integration of matter and motion they were ever
in a process of transformation into more complex
forms of phenomenal manifestations, many of which
are wholly inexplicable. It was also revealed that
matter was indestructible ; that motion was contin-
uous; and that the intrinsic natures of both were
unknown ; while there was brought to light a truth
of still greater significance: that matter and motion
21
John Fiske
in all their redistributions and integrations were
conditioned by an underlying unknown force or
energy which eternally persists throughout the cos-
mos, and is never increased or diminished.
Thus Spencer found that the human mind, in
its searchings of the phenomena of the cosmic uni-
verse for their ultimate reality, was brought face
to face with several insoluble mysteries for which
it could find no solution whatsoever: a condition
of things which confirmed the inexpugnable dictum
of rational consciousness, that the cosmic universe
was in its totality and its sustentation a revelation
of an order of Being transcending the comprehen-
sion of the human mind.
IV. The truths of the cosmic universe yielded by
science implied the existence of a further truth
of great importance to man.
From his wide survey of cosmic phenomena as
presented by science, Spencer felt that man was far
from possessing all that is to be known of the mani-
festations of the Infinite Unknowable in the phe-
nomena of the cosmic universe. He saw that man's
present knowledge of these phenomena was greatly
limited — was principally confined to them in their
disparateness. But in his mind there was shaping
the idea that the cosmic universe was a related
unity, and that these five divisions of its phenom-
ena were its components. Hence he was feeling
his way to the logical conclusion, that underlying
all the varied phenomena of these components there
must be some common dynamic principle which
was holding them all in order and unity as a con-
sistently rounded whole, while each was undergo-
22
The Doctrine of Evolution
ing a ceaseless change or development. The dis-
covery of this principle appeared to Spencer as
the highest quest of scientific research, and its es-
tablishment could not fail to throw much needed
light upon the problems which exist in the relations
between inorganic and organic phenomena, as well
as in the relations between organic phenomena and
psychical phenomena. In short, in Spencer's mind,
to have positive knowledge of a cosmic principle
underlying all cosmic phenomena, and which uni-
fies them into a cosmic universe as an interrelated
whole, would not only add immensely to man's
knowledge of the cosmic universe and his own place
in it, but would also greatly heighten his concep-
tion of the Infinite Unknowable Power, the Source
and Sustainer of it all.
V. Spencer propounded a law of universal cosmic
evolution which he set out to verify in the five
divisions of cosmic phenomena.
In the widest survey of cosmic phenomena as
revealed by analytic science, Spencer found two
knowable factors common to them all, and with-
out which none of the phenomena of the cosmos as
we know them could exist: these were matter and
motion. Having found, further, "that absolute
rest and permanence do not exist within the cosmic
universe, that every object, no less than the aggre-
gate of all objects, undergoes from instant to instant
some alteration of state, that gradually or quickly
it is receiving motion or losing motion, while some
or all of its parts are simultaneously changing their
relations to one another, " he was led to the conclu-
sion that the principle he was seeking, a princi-
John Fiske
pie which would express the truth regarding these
universal, ever-changing phenomenal activities and
relations, must be found in the continuous redis-
tribution and integration of matter and motion.
Accordingly Spencer hypothesized the existence
of a dynamic law of cosmic evolution answering
to these conditions, and this law he formulated in
the following very abstract terms: —
" Evolution is an integration of matter and con-
comitant dissipation of motion during which the
matter passes from a relatively indefinite, incoher-
ent homogeneity to a relatively definite, coherent
heterogeneity, and during which the retained mo-
tion undergoes a parallel transformation."
It was to the task of seeking a verification of this
abstract law in the concrete sciences of biology,
psychology, and sociology that Spencer gave him-
self in 1860, in the announcement above referred to.
This is not the place to discuss Spencer and his
philosophy. We are too near him to appreciate the
full significance of his life-work. His conception of
the cosmic universe as a unity, with its phenomena
ever in a process of development or transformation
into more complex or higher forms of phenome-
nal existences, — the whole a manifestation of an
Infinite Unknowable Power whose form of exist-
ence transcended the comprehension of the human
mind, — was too sublime a conception to be read-
ily grasped by the mind untrained in science. While
his hypothesis of a law of Evolution, whereby all the
24
Spencer's Work Completed
varied phenomena of the cosmic universe were held
in order and unity while undergoing their ceaseless
transformations, was so opposed to the universally
accepted doctrine of special Divine creations as to
be regarded, even in some scientific quarters, as the
height of speculative absurdity. Nevertheless, as
he proceeded in the development of his thought
through his analyses of the phenomena of the or-
ganic sciences, it became evident that a thinker of
no ordinary capacity had come ; a thinker who was
finding the sources of truth not so much in the
Bibles and dogmas of primitive peoples, as in the
reverent study of the cosmic universe with man's
place in it, in the light of modern knowledge.
Spencer lived to see the completion of his great
undertaking substantially as planned. It was com-
pleted in I896.1 In the psychological and sociolog-
ical sciences particularly the influence of Spencer's
Evolutionary thought has been immense. Whether
his formula of the law of Evolution is complete,
whether or not it expresses all the truths involved,
particularly in regard to psychical phenomena, may
be open to question ; but that there is a law of Evo-
lution at the bottom of things, a law which holds
the varied phenomena of the cosmic universe in
order and unity, while ever in a process of devel-
1 See the congratulatory letter sent to Spencer on the com-
pletion of his philosophy and asking him to sit for his portrait, signed
by over eighty of the most distinguished scientists and thinkers of
Great Britain. (David Duncan, LL.D., Life and Letters of Herbert
Spencer, p. 383.)
25
John Fiske
opment into higher forms of manifestation, is no
longer questioned by cultivated minds. And the
whole tendency of modern science is towards the rev-
elation of further truth in this direction. Indeed,
science is every day affirming, with ever-increasing
emphasis, that the cosmos cannot be at war with
itself. The day for belief in special creations has
gone by; and that Herbert Spencer was the first to
grasp a clear comprehension of the existence of an
Evolutionary law universal throughout the cosmos,
and that he gave the greater portion of his life
to seeking its verification and to pointing out its
significance in the interpretation of psychological
and sociological phenomena, constitute his title to
honor, and give him place among the few great
thinkers of all time.1
From this survey of the rise of the great Evolu-
tionary movement in philosophy during the middle
period of the last century, a survey which seemed
necessary in order to get a clear conception of the
seething condition of philosophic thought in the
intellectual environment which surrounded Fiske
during the years of his early manhood, and which,
1 It can be said that during the past half-century the deepest
discussions in science, philosophy, religion, ethics, and sociology
have centred around the twin propositions of cosmic unity and cos-
mic evolution, first coherently presented by Spencer in 1860-62.
We are by no means at the end of these discussions — indeed, we
are in the midst of them to-day. And this fact is clearly apparent:
that the acceptance of these twin propositions as fundamental
cosmic truths is entering in very widely as a condition precedent to
any rational study of cosmic phenomena in its inorganic, its organic,
or its psychical divisions.
26
Broadening of His Thought
as we have seen, profoundly affected his developing
thought on the fundamental problems of philosophy,
we return to our narrative: the consideration of the
essential points in his " Cosmic Philosophy/' his
contribution to the great discussion then fully under
way.
First, however, let us note the direct connection
of events in the life of Fiske between the issuing
by Spencer of his programme of his philosophic
undertaking in 1860 and the publication by Fiske
of his "Cosmic Philosophy" in 1874.
It was Fiske's falling-in by chance with a copy
of Spencer's programme in the Old Corner Book-
Store of Ticknor & Fields, in Boston, in June, 1860,
that roused his interest in Spencer and the latter's
great undertaking. How deeply Fiske was stirred,
we have already seen in his letters of this period
to his friend Roberts and to his mother.1 We have
also seen how his interest, flowing from the strong
impulse thus started, deepened as Spencer went on
unfolding his theory of Cosmic Evolution; how the
acceptance of this theory broadened Fiske's thought
in every direction; how, as an undergraduate, he was
threatened with expulsion from Harvard College
if found disseminating his Evolutionary views —
misnamed Positivism — among the students ; how
he opened an interesting correspondence with Spen-
cer; how, a few years later, under a new administra-
tion at Harvard, he was called by President Eliot
1 Cf. ante, pp. 138, 139.
27
John Fiske
to expound the theory of Evolution under the aus-
pices of the college; how in response to this call he
delivered in Holden Chapel two memorable courses
of lectures setting forth the fundamental principles
of this theory with their philosophic implications;
finally, we have seen him five months in London,
revising these lectures for publication, the while in
conference with Spencer, Darwin, Huxley,Tyndall,
Clifford, Lockyer, Lewes, and other leaders in the
rapidly developing scientific thought of the time.
Thus we have the history of the development of
Fiske's "Cosmic Philosophy/* While treating of
Evolution, it was itself a product of Evolution. That
it was based on Spencer's theory of Evolution as
then outlined in his various essays and in his " First
Principles/' and partially elaborated in his " Biol-
ogy" and in his "Psychology," is without ques-
tion. The high esteem in which Fiske held Spencer,
and the significance that he attached to Spencer's
ideas, are indicated by the following extract taken
from the chapter in which he defines the law of
Evolution : —
" In an essay published thirteen years ago, youth-
ful enthusiasm led me to speak of Mr. Spencer's
labours as comparable to those of Newton both in
scope and importance. More mature reflection has
confirmed this view, and suggests a further com-
parison between the mental qualities of the two
thinkers; resembling each other as they do, alike
in the audacity of speculation which propounds
far-reaching hypotheses, and in the scientific so-
28
Interpreter of Evolution
berness which patiently verifies them; while the
astonishing mathematical genius peculiar to the one
is paralleled by the equally unique power of psy-
chologic analysis displayed by the other. As in
grandeur of conception and relative thoroughness
of elaboration, so also in the vastness of its conse-
quences — in the extent of the revolution which it
is destined to effect in men's modes of thinking, and
in their views of the universe — Mr. Spencer's dis-
covery is on a par with Newton's. Indeed, by the
time this treatise is concluded, we may perhaps see
reasons for regarding it as in the latter respect, the
superior of the two."
But the work was far more than a re- presenta-
tion of Spencer's argument. In the development
of his system Spencer had paid but little attention
to preceding systems of philosophy. While in its
comprehensiveness and its unity it transcended
other systems, the light we have regarding its pro-
duction shows that it came from a wholly inde-
pendent line of investigation, accompanied with
an indifference to the thought of others without a
parallel in the history of philosophical thinking.
Being based largely on the revelations of science,
it was alleged by superficial critics to be but an
offshoot from the philosophic vagaries of Auguste
Comte; while by theologians it was regarded as
the embodiment of atheistico-materialistic ideas,
inasmuch as it did not recognize, as a sufficient
Source and Sustainer of all things, the anthropo-
morphic God of Christian theology. Further than
29
John Fiske
this, it was under the condemnation of the idealistic
thinkers, to whom the positive revelations of sci-
ence as to the reality of the cosmic universe were
of less significance than the results of unverified
ontological speculation.
Fiske set out with the very definite purpose,
not only of presenting in clear light the funda-
mental points in Spencer's philosophy, but also of
showing Spencer's independence of, and opposition
to, Comte; his emphatic repudiation of all atheis-
tico-materialistic ideas; and how in opposition to
theologians and idealists he had presented the cos-
mic universe as an ever-developing, unified reality
governed by immutable law, the knowable mani-
festation of an Infinite Power transcending, in the
nature of His existence, the comprehension of the
human mind. This portion of his task accom-
plished, Fiske went on to consider, in certain corol-
laries, what must be the influence of this Evolution-
ary philosophy upon the intellectual, moral, and
spiritual development of the future.
It should not be overlooked here that in his ex-
position of the evolution of humanity, Fiske made
an important contribution to the general Evolution
doctrine, by pointing out the significance of the part
played by infancy in the progress from brute to
man. He was the first to call attention to infancy
as a prime factor in bridging the great gulf which,
on a superficial view, seemed to divide humanity
irrevocably from the brute world; and Spencer, as
30
An Important Contribution
we have seen, gave a ready acknowledgment of
the importance of the contribution.1
His corollaries were four in number and they
carried the Evolutionary argument into the higher
realms of human thinking. They may be stated
thus: —
I. Theism; or the nature of Deity.
II. Matter and spirit; or materialism vs. spirit-
ualism.
III. Religion as affected by the doctrine of Evolu-
tion. *
IV. The philosophic implications of the doctrine
of Evolution.
The reverent spirit in which Fiske entered upon
this phase of the discussion is indicated by the
following passage from the Prophet Isaiah which
prefaced this portion of his work: —
" For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts."
Only a brief exposition can here be given of the
Evolutionary argument as developed in these corol-
laries. It has had great weight in shaping subse-
quent thought; and it underlies in one form or an-
other pretty much all current philosophic thinking.
We will consider these corollaries in their order,
and first: —
1 Cf. ante, vol. I, p. 471; also Cosmic Philosophy, vol. n, p. 360.
31
John Fiske
Theism; or the nature of Deity. Fiske regarded
the problem of theism as the central or fundamen-
tal one in philosophy, inasmuch as the conclusions
reached regarding the Ultimate Cause of all phe-
nomena must vitally affect the conclusions regard-
ing all other problems.
Now, the doctrine of Evolution, as presented by
Spencer and accepted by Fiske, distinctly affirmed
the existence of Deity — of an Infinite Power of
which the cosmic universe, with its multiform phe-
nomena ever in a process of transformation in con-
formity to immutable law, is a positive manifesta-
tion. The doctrine further affirmed that, owing to
the subjective, conditioned nature of the human
mind, it was limited in knowledge to its experience
with cosmic phenomena, and could never rise to
a knowledge of what transcends phenomena — in
other words, to a positive knowledge of the Infinite
Power from which all things proceed.
Fiske found this conception of Deity vigorously
opposed by an anthropomorphic conception which
affirmed a knowable, personal God who was en-
dowed with human characteristics; and who, in
creating and sustaining the cosmic universe, worked
after man's ways of willing and doing things. The
question before him for exposition, therefore, was
not as to the existence of an Infinite Power, the
Source and Sustainer of all things, for the exist-
ence of this Power was granted. But it became an
inquiry which took this alternative form: Is this
32
The Nature of Deity
Infinite Power a limited, personal God possessed of
a quasi-human consciousness, from whose quasi-
human volitions have originated the laws of the
cosmic universe, and to whose quasi-human con-
trivances are due the manifold harmonies ob-
served in the universe? Or, Is this Infinite Power a
Being, transcending in the nature of His existence
the comprehension of the human mind, and of
whom the phenomena of the cosmic universe con-
stitute a knowable revelation?
Fiske discussed the issue at much length under
the titles of " Anthropomorphic Theism " and
" Cosmic Theism/' The discussion was carried on
in fine philosophic temper and is marked by several
passages of rare beauty of literary form: indeed, in
his presentation of the higher truths involved in
his theme, his style of setting forth the truth be-
comes truly grand.
After a wide survey of the bases of anthropo-
morphic theism on the one hand, and an analysis
of the positive truths derived from cosmic phe-
nomena in behalf of cosmic theism on the other
hand, he reached a conclusion in favor of the latter,
a conclusion he formulated in the following terms :
" There exists a Power, to which no limit in time or
space is conceivable, of which all phenomena, as pre-
sented in consciousness, are manifestations, but which
we can know only through these manifestations"
Thus, from a wide survey of our knowledge of
cosmic phenomena, Fiske came to the conclusion
33
John Fiske
that the theistic implications of the doctrine of
Evolution yielded far higher and purer conceptions
of Deity than obtains in any other philosophic or
religious system of thought. As between anthropo-
morphic theism and cosmic theism, he stated the
issue in the following form : —
1 Theologically phrased, the question is whether
the creature is to be taken as a measure of the
Creator. Scientifically phrased, the question is
whether the highest form of Being as yet suggested
to one petty race of creatures by its ephemeral ex-
perience of what is going on in one tiny corner of the
universe, is necessarily to be taken as the equiv-
alent of that absolutely highest form of Being in
which all the possibilities of existence are alike
comprehended . ' '
Matter and spirit. Fiske approached the consid-
eration of these twin subjects by passing in review
the arguments of the materialist thinkers who main-
tain that psychical phenomena are but products
of antecedent physical phenomena. From this in-
quiry he reached the following as the conclusions
of science: —
"The most that psychology, working with the
aid of physiology, has thus far achieved, has been
to show that within the limits of our experience,
there is invariable concomitance between psychical
phenomena and the phenomena of nervous action;
and this, as we have seen, is but the elaborate ana-
lytic statement of a plain truth, which is asserted
alike by philosophers of every school, and by the
34
Matter and Spirit
common-sense of every human being, — namely,
that from birth until death there is no manifestation
of Mind except in association with Body. But be-
yond this it is quite clear that objective psychology
can never go. ... The latest results of scientific in-
quiry, whether in the region of objective psychology
or in that of molecular physics, leave the gulf be-
tween mind and matter quite as wide as it was
judged to be in the time of Descartes. It still re-
mains as true as then, that between that of which
the differential attribute is Thought and that of
which the differential attribute is Extension, there
can be nothing like identity or similarity."
How, then, from the viewpoint of Evolution is
the great gulf between physical and psychical phe-
nomena, between matter and mind, to be bridged
so as to yield a unified cosmic universe?
Spencer's discussion of this vital point has been
vigorously attacked, and it must be admitted that
regarding it he has left himself in doubt. It is true
that in many places in his writings he strongly
emphasizes the distinction and incompatibility be-
tween the two orders of phenomena; yet, in the
last edition of his "First Principles," published
in 1900, in Section 71, on the " Transformation of
Forces," he reviews the whole question and closes
the discussion thus : —
"Though the facts oblige us to say that physical
and psychical actions are correlated, and in a cer-
tain indirect way quantitatively correlated so as
to suggest transformation, yet how the material
35
John Fiske
affects the mental and how the mental affects the
material are mysteries which it is impossible to
fathom. But they are not profounder mysteries
than the transformation of the physical forces into
one another. They are not more completely beyond
our comprehension than the natures of mind and
matter. They have simply the same insolubility
as all other ultimate questions. We can learn noth-
ing more than that here is one of the uniformities
in the order of phenomena/1
In 1876 Professor Harald Hoffding, of Copen-
hagen, called Spencer's attention to certain incon-
sistencies in his treatment of the metamorphosis
which holds between the physical and mental forces
in his ''First Principles" and in his " Psychology. "
Spencer acknowledged the inconsistencies, and then
attempted an elaborate explanation of how the
metamorphosis might take place — an explanation
which Professor Hoffding admits he did not find
"quite clear."1
Fiske's procedure on coming to this vital point
was quite different. He saw very clearly the anti-
thetical natures of the two orders of phenomena and
their harmonious parallelism or union in the hu-
man organism, and that this union did not involve
any interchange of their intrinsic properties: that
the psychical phenomena, while concomitant with
physical phenomena, and in many respects condi-
tioned by the latter, always remained entirely dis-
1 David Duncan, LL.D., Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer,
p. 178.
36
Matter and Spirit
tinct from the latter. He also found that science
had no explanation for this harmonious interplay
between these two antithetical orders of phenom-
ena; at best it could only suggest the possibility
that in some unknown way psychical phenomena
might be potential in physical phenomena.
Fiske, however, was not content to leave the
question in this nebulous state. Here was a vast
volume of psychical phenomena with its culmina-
tion in the human mind, without any kinship,
without any causative principle back of it in the
cosmic universe. He felt that there must be some
rational explanation of this apparent disharmony
in the phenomena of the cosmic universe. Accord-
ingly, he resolutely pushed his thought to the out-
ermost verge of admissible speculation, in an in-
quiry into the nature of that inscrutable existence
of which the universe of phenomena is the multi-
form expression, and found that its intimate essence
might conceivably be identifiable with the intimate
essence of what we know as mind; thus giving to
psychical phenomena a causal basis in the cosmic
universe coextensive with physical phenomena, as
well as an order of development through conscious
feeling, with its culmination in rational mind ; which
give to its phenomena a qualitative character widely
different from, as well as far superior to, physical phe-
nomena.
And so, from his consideration of matter and
spirit as manifested in physical and psychical
37
John Fiske
phenomena, Fiske was led to the conclusion that
upon no imaginable hypothesis of Evolution could
mind be regarded as a product of matter, and that
the existence of psychical energy distinct from phys-
ical energy implies as its antecedent source some-
thing quasi-psychical in the constitution of things ;
in other words, that there exists : —
" A form of Being which can neither be assimilated
to humanity, nor to any lower type of existence.
We have no alternative, therefore, but to regard it
as higher than humanity 'even as the heavens are
higher than the earth/ The time is surely coming
when the slowness of men in accepting such a con-
clusion will be marvelled at, and when the very in-
adequacy of human language to express Divinity
will be regarded as a reason for deeper faith and
more solemn adoration/'
In the years to come, we are to see Fiske inter-
preting the highest phases of psychical phenomena
in the light of the doctrine of Evolution based upon
the conception of an Infinite quasi-psychical Power
from whom all things proceed.
Religion as affected by the doctrine of Evolution.
In his exposition of ''Cosmic Philosophy based on
the Doctrine of Evolution," Fiske could not let
pass the consideration of its effect upon religion:
that is, upon man's religious faith and conduct.
Naturally this question arose : Does the enlargement
of the conception of Deity, as implied in cosmic
theism, involve any lowering of character in the
38
Religion and Evolution
elements of religious faith ; or any radical alteration
of the fundamental principles of ethical conduct
in which religion viewed practically consists? In
other words, what concerns us to know is, whether
the substitution of scientific for theologic symbols
involves any lowering of values in the grand equa-
tion between religious beliefs and ethical conduct.
Fiske asserts that no such change is involved in
the substitution : that cosmic theism implies higher
religious and ethical ideals than were given by
theology. And he maintained, in a chapter entitled
" Religion as Adjustment," that although the Evo-
lutionist might and does throw overboard much of
the semi-barbaric mythology in which Christianity
has been symbolized, he nevertheless holds firmly
to the religious and ethical elements for which
Christianity is chiefly valued even by those who
retain all its mythological features.
As against the allegation that cosmic theism
with its Unknowable Deity gave no tangible basis
for religious faith he says : —
"At this stage of our exposition, it is enough to
suggest the fallaciousness of such argumentation,
without characterizing it in detail. It is enough to
remind the reader that Deity is unknowable just
in so far as it is not manifested to consciousness
through the phenomenal world, — knowable just
in so far as it is thus manifested ; unknowable in
so far as infinite and absolute, — knowable in the
order of its phenomenal manifestations ; knowable,
in a symbolic way, as the Power which is disclosed
39
John Fiske
in every throb of the mighty rhythmic life of the
universe; knowable as the eternal source of a moral
law which is implicated with each action of our
lives, and in obedience to which lies our only guar-
anty of the happiness which is incorruptible, and
which neither inevitable misfortune, nor unmerited
obloquy can take away. Thus, though we may not
by searching find out God, though we may not
compass infinitude or attain to absolute knowl-
edge, we may at least know all that it concerns us to
know as intelligent and responsible beings. They
who seek to know more than this, to transcend the
conditions under which alone is knowledge possible,
are, in Goethe's profound language, as wise as little
children who, when they have looked into a mirror,
turn it around to see what is behind it."
As to the ethical bearings of the new doctrine,
Fiske was no less emphatic in claiming for it the
highest ideals of righteous conduct. He says: —
"The seeking after righteousness is characteristic
of the modern follower of science quite as much as
it was characteristic of the mediaeval saint; save
that while the latter symbolized his yearning as a
desire to become like his highest concrete concep-
tion of human excellence, ideally embodied in Christ,
the former no longer employs any such anthropo-
morphic symbol, but formulates his feeling in scien-
tific phrase as the persistent desire to live rightly or
in entire conformity to the requirements of nature —
as Goethe expresses it : —
"'Im Ganzen, Guten, Wahren, resolut zu leben.'"
In the doctrine of Evolution, therefore, Fiske found
the theistic and ethical elements characteristic of all
40
Philosophic Implications
religions not only blended, but also given a rational
origin, and a vastly more rational interpretation
than obtains in any particular religious system.
The philosophic implications of the Doctrine of
Evolution. And now, having given an outline sketch
of a system of Cosmic Philosophy based on the
affirmation of the existence of an Infinite Power
transcending the comprehension of the human mind
as the Source and Sustainer of all things, and of
whom the cosmic universe is an ever-developing
manifestation, Fiske, in closing, turned to the con-
sideration of what must be the critical attitude of
this order of philosophic thinking upon past and
present religious beliefs and social institutions. In
other words, whether the critical temper of this
evolutionary form of philosophic thinking tends to-
wards the subversion, or towards the conservation
and further development of that complex aggregate
of beliefs and ordinances which make up civiliza-
tion: the social order amid which we live.
In entering upon this phase of the discussion, he
drew attention to the philosophic contrasts that
naturally flow from what he termed the "statical"
and the " dynamical " habits of thinking. A statical
view of things he defined as one which is adjusted
solely or chiefly to relations existing in the imme-
diate environment of the thinker. He says: —
"The fundamental doctrine of the philosophy
which is determined by this statical habit of in-
terpreting phenomena is the Doctrine of Creation.
John Fiske
The world is supposed to have been suddenly
brought into existence at some assignable epoch,
since which time it has remained substantially un-
altered. Existing races of sentient creatures are
held to have been created by a miraculous fiat in
accordance with sundry types which, as representing
unchangeable ideas in the Divine Mind, can never
be altered by physical circumstances. The social
institutions also, amid which the particular statical
theory originates are either referred back to the
foundation of the world, as is the case in early and
barbaric mythologies; or else, as is the case with
modern uneducated Christians, they are supposed to
have been introduced by miracle at a definite era of
history. In similar wise the existing order of things
is legitimately to endure until abruptly terminated
by the direct intervention of an extra-cosmic Power
endowed with the anthropomorphic attributes of
cherishing intentions and of acting out its good
pleasure. . . . Likewise the social institutions and
the religious beliefs now existing by express divine
sanction, must remain essentially unaltered under
penalty of divine wrath as manifested in the in-
fliction upon society of the evils of atheism and an-
archy. Hence, as the Doctrine of Creation is itself
held to be one of these divinely sanctioned reli-
gious beliefs, the scientific tendency to supersede
this doctrine by the conception of God as mani-
fested not in spasmodic acts of miracle, but in the
orderly evolution of things, is stigmatized as an
atheistical tendency, and the upholders of the new
view are naturally enough accredited with a desire
to subvert the foundations of religion and of good
conduct."
Philosophic Implications
In opposition to this statical or fixed way of view-
ing things, an order of thought inherited from a
primitive period of culture, Fiske placed what he
termed a higher, a dynamical viewpoint, one fur-
nished by looking at the cosmic universe as a unity,
with all its multiform phenomena ever in a process
of development, in a definite and irreversible order
of sequence, and all, the manifestation of an Infin-
ite Power transcending the comprehension of the
human mind.
That this dynamical or evolutionary way of
viewing things should not have been acquired, save
by two or three prescient minds, previous to the
last century, was not surprising to Fiske, inasmuch
as not until the middle period of the last century
was scientific knowledge of the interrelatedness of
cosmic forces sufficiently developed to yield a con-
ception of the existence of a persistent energy which
held the phenomena of the whole universe in sub-
jection to immutable law. With the establishment
of the conservation of energy, however, as an ulti-
mate cosmic truth, — with its necessary corollary,
that all existing phenomena are the direct products
of preceding phenomena, — a new era was opened
in human thinking. It became evident that the
whole statical theory of special creations, with their
permanence of character, — especially as applied
to human history, — was invalidated, and must in-
evitably be swept away by advancing knowledge
of cosmic phenomena; which, with every advance,
43
John Fiske
confirmed with ever-increasing emphasis the truth
of the dynamical or evolutionary theory of things.
Thus, to Fiske's mind, this evolutionary theory of
the origin of things, in its universality and its im-
mutability as revealed by science, appeared as a
process whereby the existence of Deity was ever
being unveiled to the human mind.
The acceptance of this evolutionary view of
things, Fiske believed would in the future, with the
spread of scientific knowledge, become common
among men, leading to higher ideals of ethical
conduct on the one hand, and to purer and nobler
conceptions of Deity on the other hand. Thus would
there always be a place for religion : for the inculca-
tion of the ethical principles in conduct which make
for the fulness of life here and now, and for the
direction of men's thoughts reverently to that form
of existence which, in the nature of things, must
transcend cosmic existence — of which cosmic ex-
istence is but an adumbration.
This evolutionary way of viewing things, more-
over, tended to the utmost catholicity of thought,
to the evident tolerance of opposing opinions on the
subject of politics, religion, science, or philosophy.
According to the doctrine of Evolution every
theory regarding fundamental questions of thought
or conduct was the result of antecedent causes,
was the outgrowth of preexisting conditions, and
was to be set aside or superseded only by the sub-
stitution of something better: that is, something
44
Cosmic Philosophy and Religion
better adapted to the conditions. Hence, believing
that all institutions and orders of thought stood
each for some phase of psychical development,
some truth in the evolution of civilized humanity,
Fiske would not have Cosmic Philosophy assume
an iconoclastic attitude towards any established
institution or order of thought ; rather, that its atti-
tude should be one of rational toleration, accom-
panied by well-directed efforts clearly to set forth
the conceptions of ultimate truths embodied in this
philosophy, — truths having a direct bearing upon
the well-being of mankind, — leaving these truths
to make their way in the minds and in the conduct
of men. Thus, in Fiske's mind Cosmic Philosophy
was emphatically divorced from all forms of athe-
ism on the one hand, and from all forms of Jacobin-
ism or anarchy on the other hand.
Animated with this broad spirit of toleration,
Fiske took much pains, in closing, to set forth the
attitude of Cosmic Philosophy towards the Chris-
tian religion. In the two fundamental theorems
underlying both Christianity and Cosmic Philoso-
phy, — their theistic and their ethical theorems, —
he found much in common. In their ethical codes,
particularly, he found thfe ethical principles en-
joined by each for the conduct or fulness of life
identical in character, although expressed by dif-
ferent verbal symbols; while in their theistic af-
firmations, the difference between them consisted
mainly in their presentation of the character of
45
John Fiske
Deity: Christianity presenting Deity as of a limited,
knowable, anthropomorphic character — a charac-
ter born of ancient mythology; while Cosmic Philos-
ophy presented Deity as a form of Being transcend-
ing the comprehension of the human mind, and
knowable only through the manifestations of its
existence in cosmic phenomena. Regarding this dif-
ference between the two in their theistic theorems,
Cosmic Philosophy could affirm that as science ex-
tended the boundaries of positive knowledge of the
cosmic universe and man's place in it, pari passu
was the conception of Deity presented by Chris-
tianity ever in a process of purification, whereby its
anthropomorphic character was being sloughed off,
and whereby the conception itself was being trans-
formed into the recognition of a form of Being
transcending all materiality.
Thus, with the progress of scientific knowledge,
Fiske believed, would the theistic theorems of the
two orders of thought be brought into complete har-
mony, through the recognition by each as ultimate
truth the existence of a form of Being not measur-
able by human standards; and to which all cosmic
phenomena, including man with his rational mind,
are relative. In this union science will ever have
its vocation in describing phenomena in their in-
ter-relatedness, their coexistences, their sequences ;
while religion will ever have its place in interpreting
these phenomena in their order, their unity, their
persistence, as relative to, and as adumbrations of,
46
Cosmic Philosophy and Religion
the unknown Reality or Infinite Power which tran-
scends them all.
Fiske closed his work with the following tolerant
and reverent line of thought : —
"The iconoclast, who has the welfare of man-
kind nearest his heart, will probably blame us as
too conservative, — as lacking in robust and whole-
some aggressiveness. And he will perhaps find fault
with us for respecting prejudices which he thinks
ought to be shocked. Our reply must be that it is
not by wounding prejudices that the cause of truth
is most efficiently served. Men do not give up their
false or inadequate beliefs by hearing them scoffed at
or harshly criticised : they give them up only when
they have been taught truths with which the false
or inadequate beliefs are incompatible. The object
of the scientific philosopher, therefore, will be to or-
ganize science and extend the boundaries of knowl-
edge. ... It is not for us, creatures of a day that
we are, and seeing but a little way into a limited
portion of nature, to say dictatorially, before patient
examination, that we will not have this or that doc-
trine as part of our philosophic creed. We must
feel our way as best we can, gather with unremitting
toil what facts lie within our reach, and gratefully
accept such conclusions as can honestly and by due
process of inference and verification be obtained for
our guidance. We are not the autocrats, but the
servants and interpreters of Nature; and we must
interpret her as she is, — not as we would like her
to be. That harmony which we hope eventually to
see established between our knowledge and our as-
pirations, is not to be realized by the timidity which
47
John Fiske
shrinks from logically following out either of two
apparently conflicting lines of thought — as in
the question of matter and spirit — but by the
fearlessness which pushes each to its inevitable
conclusion. Only when this is recognized will the
long and mistaken warfare between Science and
Religion be exchanged for an intelligent and en-
during alliance. Only then will the two knights of
the fable finally throw down their weapons, on dis-
covering that the causes for which they have so long
been waging battle are in reality one and the same
eternal cause, — the cause of truth, of goodness and
of beauty; ' the glory of God and the relief of man's
estate/ "
CHAPTER XXI
EFFECT OF THE DISCUSSION UPON THE MIND OF
FISKE — LEADS TO GREAT COMPOSURE OF THOUGHT
IN VIEWING HUMAN LIFE IN ITS SOCIOLOGICAL,
POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS ASPECTS — HOW THE
1 i COSMIC PHILOSOPHY ' ' WAS RECEIVED — HOS-
TILE CRITICISMS — LETTERS FROM SPENCER AND
DARWIN
1874
THE rounding-out of the doctrine of Evolution into
a philosophic system with its transcendental impli-
cations had a very salutary effect upon the mind of
Fiske. By this philosophic generalization the phe-
nomena of the whole cosmic universe were' brought
into order and unity as a manifestation of an In-
finite Unknowable Power which was working out,
through a universal dynamic principle underlying
all objective and subjective phenomena, a mighty
teleological purpose, a purpose more ennobling
than anything born of dogmatic theology or ideal-
istic philosophy. This conclusion brought Fiske
great composure of mind as he looked out upon
the ever-seething phenomena of human life in its
sociological, its political, and its religious aspects.
In sociology, viewed in its broad relations, he
saw the persistence of a fundamental ethical prin-
ciple^-"the continuous weakening of selfishness
and the strengthening of sympathy ": in other
49
John Fiske
words, the " gradual supplanting of egoism by al-
truism." Politically he saw the ethical principle
in sociology slowly but surely making itself mani-
fest in the steady growth of remedial legislation, of
equity jurisprudence, and in international comity.
In religion, amidst all the animosities of antagonis-
tic beliefs, the bigotry and strife of creeds, he saw a
steady growth of toleration, if not progress towards
ultimate cooperation in the promulgation of reli-
gious truth — this religious liberalism arising from
two factors, a higher conception of the Infinite
Power, the Source and Sustainer of all things, flow-
ing from the revelations of science; a clearer con-
ception of the brotherhood of man, attested as it
was by the economical results of ethical relations.
Fiske contemplated with great hopefulness the ef-
fect of the Evolutionary Philosophy upon the Chris-
tian religion — the religion which he regarded as
the highest organized expression yet given of the
religious nature of man. This religion, while "sick-
lied o'er" in his mind with much of man's anthro-
pomorphic mythology, embodied in its two funda-
mental doctrines, the Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of man, two great interrelated cosmic
truths — the existence of righteousness as an active
principle in the Infinite Power or Reality back of the
cosmos, and its correlative manifestation in the al-
truistic consciousness of man. He conceded that on
these two fundamental theorems a form of existence
transcending present known existence might be as-
50
Evolution and Religion
serted rationally as a matter of religious faith, as a
correlative to present existence.
It was Fiske's conclusion from his survey of mod-
ern religious thought that the Christian religion
was steadily undergoing a purification through sci-
, entific criticism whereby it would ultimately be
stripped of its anthropomorphic and much of its
ecclesiastical accretions, and brought down to the
simple yet comprehensive formula of its Founder:
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;
and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self."
Compliance with this injunction he regarded as an
essential condition for the enjoyment of the fulness
of life. At the same time he found an authority for
it higher than that of the " Law and the Prophets,"
an authority far exceeding that of Christ; he found
it a command writ in all the objective phenom-
ena of the cosmic universe, with its spirit persist-
ently welling up in the ever- widening consciousness
of man.
At this period Fiske's mind was full of these
great themes, and he talked freely concerning
them. As I recall our many conversations regard-
ing the effect of the doctrine of Evolution on cur-
rent methods of scientific and religious thinking,
there comes back to me the remembrance of his
serenely optimistic belief, that as the new doctrine
spread, atheism and materialism would be wholly
discredited, while Christianity would inevitably
John Fiske
be metamorphosed into a more rational form of
religious faith. With this remembrance there comes
also the distinct recollection of a remarkably im-
pressive close that he gave to a Sunday discourse
delivered, I think, before the Free Religious Associa-
tion, in Boston. He had been speaking — mainly
extempore — on Evolution with its philosophic im-
plications, and he closed substantially as follows : —
"If the foregoing presentation of the doctrine
of Evolution be accepted, atheism and material-
ism are forever discredited ; while certain dogmas of
the Christian religion, such as a personal triune
God, special miraculous creations, the fall of man,
and his redemption through Christ, a materialistic
Heaven and Hell, the plenary inspiration of the
Scriptures, fall away, and become to the philo-
sophic thinker outgrown symbols of thought, mark-
ing man's religious progress, through his ever-ad-
vancing knowledge of cosmic phenomena, from a
grossly anthropomorphic conception of a personal
Creator working after man's ways, to the concep-
tion of the Evolutionary Theist, who, in the pres-
ence of the profound cosmic mystery that sur-
rounds him, acknowledges an Infinite and Eternal
Power as the Source and Sustainer of it all; and
who, however much he may stumble in his saying
of it, reverently affirms that the everlasting Source
of all cosmic phenomena can be none other than an
Infinite Power that makes for righteousness; that
finite man cannot by searching find out this Infinite
Power, yet should he put his trust in Him, holding
fast to the belief that this Infinite Power will not
leave him to be confounded at the end."
52
Evolution and Religion
The reception given to Fiske's "Outlines of Cos-
mic Philosophy" marks the seething condition of
the philosophico-religious mind on the great prob-
lems of existence forty years ago. A philosophy
which presented the cosmic universe as a multiform
complex of phenomena, inconceivable in its vast-
ness, and ever in a process of orderly development
into higher forms of phenomenal manifestation in
conformity to immutable law; a philosophy which
presented conscious man, with his civilizations, as
an evolutionary outcome of this ceaseless cosmic
activity; a philosophy which affirmed that this
vast cosmic universe must have had an antece-
dent Cause transcending itself, a Cause which must
ever, in the nature of its existence, be beyond the
comprehension of the conditioned cosmic mind of
man; a philosophy which further affirmed that
this Ultimate Cause could be known only as it is
revealed in the ever-developing phenomena of the
cosmic universe, was so radically opposed to the
metaphysico-theologic and to the atheistico-ma-
terialistic methods of philosophizing, that its fa-
vorable consideration could not be expected from
critics belonging to either the metaphysical or the
atheistical orders of thought.
By the metaphysico-theologic critics, the work
was summarily condemned in toto. The doctrine
of Evolution was alleged by them to be only a fresh
form of scientific infidelity, only another attempt to
substitute, for the ultimate truths assured by Divine
53
John Fiske
revelation, some vague speculations regarding the
cosmic universe — including man, his origin and
destiny — derived from man's cosmic experience.
The irrational and virulent character of this criti-
cism was to be expected. Christian thinkers, who,
through all their intellectual development, had ac-
cepted the metaphysical dogmas as the embodi-
ment of all ultimate truth, could not look upon the
new doctrine with any favor. In fact, they could
only regard the work as a direct attack upon the
very foundations of revealed truth; and the more
conclusively its general propositions were sustained,
the more emphatically should the whole work be
condemned.
It should also be noted that the years between
1870 and 1880 comprised the period of an intensely
active discussion over the origin of man with his
rational mind which flowed from the publication
of Darwin's " Origin of Species" as well as from a
number of palaeontological discoveries which at-
tested the great antiquity of primitive man with
positive simian characteristics. These discover-
ies were very impartially set forth by Sir Charles
Lyell in his great work on the " Antiquity of Man,"
and by Darwin in his still more important work on
the "Descent of Man" from an animal ancestry.
To these works should be added the results of the
researches of a group of scientific sociologists —
Sir Henry Sumner Maine, Edward B. Tylor, John F.
McLennan, Sir John Lubbock, Lewis H. Morgan,
54
Hostile Criticism
and others — into the origins of civilized society,
researches by which it was conclusively shown that
the occupations, the customs, the institutions of
civilized life had all been developed through experi-
ence out of the life or habits of primitive man. In
this discussion the theologians had no positive sci-
entific verifications whatsoever in support of their
dogmatic affirmations of man's special creation and
his fall. Consequently, as against a philosophic
system which gave to man a verified evolutionary
origin through an ascent from an animal ancestry,
they could only oppose an appeal to ignorance and
prejudice by claiming a divinely revealed knowl-
edge of his special creation and his fall, and by ridic-
ulous presentations of his descent from a monkey.
It is not worth while now to give much attention
to such criticism. It has already been largely out-
grown. Two examples of it will suffice. The first is
from "The New Englander," one of the leading
organs of theologico-philosophic thought in Amer-
ica. In a strongly condemnatory review of Fiske's
"Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy/' we find the fol-
lowing contemptuous characterization of it, which
was evidently intended as a bit of superior sarcasm,
but which is in reality an attempted burlesque
of some of the profoundest truths of the cosmic
universe:-—
"In the continuous redistribution of matter and
motion there has at last been evolved, by integra-
tion of the homogeneous, the American apostle of the
55
John Fiske
truth hitherto hidden from the eyes of men. A se-
ries of states of consciousness (plus a something),
resident in Cambridge, has worked over a certain
amount of sunshine, and has communicated it to
other possibly existing series of states of conscious-
ness in the shape of a book entitled 'Outlines of
Cosmic Philosophy/*'
The second example is from "The Congrega-
tionalist," the organ of the American Congrega-
tionalists. Under the title of " Great is Dynamis,
and John Fiske is its Prophet," this journal gave a
sneering sort of summary of some of the points in
Fiske's work. The general tone of the article is in-
dicated by the closing paragraph : —
" It is to be regretted that Mr. Fiske cannot elim-
inate from his writings the anthropomorphism of
abuse and sneers and contempt for theologians and
penny-a-liners and all others who do not worship
' this Wondrous Dynamis/ His criticism of Dr.
Biichner is not wholly inapplicable to himself — ' a
writer whose pages are too often deformed with
brutalities of expression for which no atonement is
made in the shape of original or valuable thought/ "
Rarely has a philosophic work been issued so
free from disparaging epithets applied to oppo-
nents as is Fiske's "Cosmic Philosophy."
The next example is a graphic illustration of the
prevailing theologic thought of the time regarding
the doctrine of Evolution. The "New York Daily
Graphic," in its issue of September 12, 1874,
56
"PROFESSOR JOHN FISKE FLIES THE EVOLUTION KITE IN AMERICA"
(Cartoon in the New York Daily Graphic, September 12, 1874)
Hostile Criticism
lished a full-page cartoon of which the illustration
opposite the preceding page is a photographic repro-
duction.1
There has been a marked advance in the appre-
ciation of the intellectual, moral, and religious
truths involved in the doctrine of Evolution since
the time, some forty years ago, when such a car-
toon as this, wherein Spencer and Darwin are de-
picted as still enveloped in their simian ancestry,
could be regarded by intelligent people as a clever
burlesque of a manifest absurdity.
But from independent critics in the United
States and Great Britain, critics accustomed to
philosophic thinking, the work received much con-
siderate attention as an important setting-forth of
the philosophic implications arising from the recent
truths of science, with their bearing upon the reli-
gious faith, and also upon the political and social
well-being of mankind; and the work has had a
wide influence in shaping subsequent thought upon
philosophic, religious, and social questions.
Among the many personal encomiums Fiske re-
ceived for the work, two were indeed memorable
1 Fiske was greatly impressed by this cartoon, and he had it
framed and gave it a conspicuous place in his library. It remains
with his library still. To his friends, who objected to its vulgarity
in so degrading Spencer and Darwin, Fiske's ready response was:
"Yes, but remember it is a faithful presentation of the attitude of
the religious mind generally towards the doctrine of Evolution in
1874-1875. I like to keep this design before me as a sort of theo-
logical barometer — objections to it show how rapidly the religious
mind is moving towards the great truths of Cosmic Evolution."
57
John Fiske
and should be given a place here: one was from
Herbert Spencer, and the other was from Charles
Darwin. Spencer wrote as follows: -
38 QUEEN'S GARDENS,
BAYS WATER, W. LONDON,
II December, 1874.
My dear Fiske: —
Enclosed I send the only two reviews1 of your
work which have appeared — or which I have yet
seen. On the whole, they are I think very favor-
able; containing, indeed, along with their applause,
not more in the way of fault-finding than every
critic feels bound to utter. I will send you further
notices from time to time as I meet with them.
As yet, I have myself read but parts of the first
volume. I am so continually hindered by multitu-
dinous distractions and my small reading power
proves so inadequate for getting up the matter
bearing on my immediate work, that I have an in-
creasing difficulty in getting any knowledge of the
books I receive; even when they concern me very
nearly, critically or otherwise.
What I have read, however, which has been
chiefly in the new parts, has pleased me greatly.
I am very glad you have so fully and clearly con-
trasted a system which constitutes an organon,
with a system which constitutes a cosmology. The
distinction, deep as it is, is one which those who are
prepossessed by the philosophy of Comte seem to
1 Reviews in the London Daily News and in the London Exam-
iner; the latter written by James Sully, the eminent psychologist.
Frederick Pollock, author of a Life of Spinoza and a writer on phil-
osophic subjects, gave a very appreciative review of the work in the
Fortnightly Review.
58
Letter from Spencer
have great difficulty in recognizing. Lewes, for ex-
ample, failed entirely to perceive it, at the time we
had a polemic on the matter. Hence, I rejoice that
you have brought out the contrast so distinctly.
I suppose I shall find matter of much interest to
me in the sociological division. But comments on
this must stand over till some future letter.
The progress of things is amazingly rapid. The
public mind is everywhere being ploughed up by
all kinds of disturbing forces and prepared for the
reception of rational ideas. Indeed, the process of
sowing needs to be pushed on actively, lest a crop of
weeds should take possession of the soil left vacant
after the rooting-up of superstitions.
I shall be glad to hear from you: learning how
you are after settling down to your work again and
what reception your book meets with in the United
States.
Very sincerely yours,
HERBERT SPENCER.
This letter, while exceedingly friendly in charac-
ter and highly appreciative of Fiske's work, shows
Spencer's adroit avoidance of committing himself
directly to the spiritual and religious implications
of Fiske's Evolutionary argument. We have previ-
ously had occasion to note a similar avoidance on
this point,1 and we shall have occasion to note
another later on.
But Darwin's tribute was without any reserva-
tion whatever; and it was given in such a simple,
modest way as to reflect its entire sincerity. Fiske
1 See ante, vol. i, p. 388.
59
John Fiske
found Darwin's judgment of his work alone enough
to cheer his mind against all adverse criticism. It
was as follows : —
DOWN, December 8, 1874.
My dear Sir: —
You must allow me to thank you for the very
great interest with which I have at last slowly read
the whole of your work. I have long wished to know
something about the views of the many great men
whose doctrines you give. With the exception of
special points, I did not even understand H.
Spencer's general doctrine, for his style is too hard
work for me. I never in my life read so lucid an
expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are; and
I think that I understand nearly the whole — per-
haps less clearly about Cosmic Theism and Causa-
tion than other parts. It is hopeless to attempt out
of so much to specify what has interested me most,
and probably you would not care to hear. I wish
some chemist would attempt to ascertain the result
of the cooling of heated gases of the proper kinds
in relation to your hypothesis of the origin of living
matter. It pleased me to find that here and there
I had arrived from my own crude thoughts at some
of the same conclusions with you; though I could
seldom or never have given my reasons for such con-
clusions. I find that my mind is so fixed by the in-
ductive method that I cannot appreciate deductive
reasoning: I must begin with a good body of facts
and not from a principle (in which I always suspect
some fallacy) and then as much deduction as you
please.
This may be very narrow-minded ; but the result
is that such parts of H. Spencer as I have read with
60
Letter from Darwin
care impress my mind with the idea of his inex-
haustible wealth of suggestion, but never convince
me; and so I find it with some others. I believe the
cause to lie in the frequency with which I have
found first-formed theories to be erroneous.
I thank you for the honourable mention which
you make of my works. Parts of the "Descent
of Man" must have appeared laughably weak to
you ; nevertheless, I have sent you a new edition just
published.
Thanking you for the profound interest, and
profit, with which I have read your work,
I remain, my dear sir,
Yours very faithfully,
CH. DARWIN.
JOHN FISKE, Esgr-,
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U.S.A.
CHAPTER XXII
GROWING REPUTATION — RESUMES WORK IN HAR-
VARD LIBRARY — RECONSTRUCTION OF LIBRARY
BUILDING — PRACTICAL PROBLEMS — CATALOGUE
OF SUMNER'S LIBRARY — HIGHLY COMPLIMENTED
— OUT OF PLACE IN THE LIBRARY — AMERICAN
HISTORY A SUBJECT FOR EXPOSITION — CONSULTS
FRIENDS — RESIGNS FROM HARVARD LIBRARY
1874-1879
RETURNING to our narrative of the life of Fiske
after his return from Europe in June, 1874, we find
that the publication of his "Outlines of Cosmic
Philosophy" greatly heightened his reputation in
the United States as a philosophic thinker, while in
England it gave him a recognized position, not only
as an expositor of, but also as a contributor to, the
doctrine of Evolution. In fact, he was very generally
credited not only with having completely cleared the
doctrine of all affiliations with the Positive Philos-
ophy of Comte; but also with having set forth its
ethical and religious implications, something which
Spencer had not yet done. This at least can be said :
that in America, while Spencer was substantially
credited with the authorship of the theory of Evolu-
tion, Fiske was credited with having given an inter-
pretation to the theory more in consonance with the
religious convictions of the Christian world than
Spencer had done — more than Spencer, by the gen-
62
Growing Reputation
eral attitude of his thought, seemed inclined to
admit. From this time on, therefore, we are to see
Fiske credited as being the chief representative in
America of the Evolution doctrine. In the years to
come we shall see him, as occasions arise, drawing
out from the armory of his " Cosmic Philosophy"
several philosophic arguments with which to do
effective battle for an "Unseen World" transcend-
ing this world of physical phenomena; for a
" Destiny of Man" transcending his finite exist-
ence; for an "Idea of God" transcending the
affirmations of Christian theology, and for "The
Everlasting Reality of Religion" as a Divine truth
writ in the very consciousness of man himself, and
not derived from the religious experience of any
particular race or people.
After his return from Europe, however, Fiske
found himself obliged to give the subject of philoso-
phy a place of secondary importance in his practi-
cal life. His position in the Harvard Library was
no sinecure. He was in full charge, and on his return
the subject classification and cataloguing of books
and pamphlets was resumed, the supervision of
which, together with the oversight of the regular
routine work of the library, left him but very little
time for philosophic thinking or for literary work of
any kind. This fact is clearly apparent. He was
never idle. The nature of his mind involved its
constant activity on some theme or other — practi-
cal or speculative. He was in the library nearly
63
John Fiske
seven years, some of the best years of his life for
literary production, — and yet he produced dur-
ing this period only about a dozen magazine arti-
cles and lectures; and these were written mostly
during his vacations.
With all his scholarly tendencies and tastes, there
was an element in his intellectual make-up which
enabled him to focus his mind upon problems of
practical life with great effectiveness, and the
library presented a succession of such problems.
One instance of this nature in his library experi-
ence is particularly worthy of note. In 1876 the
college was reconstructing its library building, —
Gore Hall, — and it was of vital importance that
the library should be kept in efficient working order
while the reconstruction was going on. How this
could be done was a problem of a very serious
nature. Fiske's statement of the problem and his
solution of it are given in a letter to his mother un-
der date of June 2, 1876: —
"Our new Library transept is rising from the
ground. By July ist our old east transept is to be
torn down to make way for the new huge transept.
Said east transept contains forty thousand volumes
which of course must be moved. There is no room
for anything in the body of the building. Some
twenty thousand volumes can be accommodated
in a room in Boylston Hall ; the other twenty thou-
sand must be stored, deuce knows how, in our pres-
ent building. But now ! these forty thousand volumes
in the transept are among our most valuable books,
64
Reconstruction of Library
which it won't do to risk in Boylston Hall, which
is 'Joby CookeV chemical building, and by no
means fireproof. Therefore twenty thousand other
volumes less valuable must go to Boylston Hall, and
these more valuable volumes must take their places.
So at least sixty thousand volumes have got to be
shifted in four weeks. Again, this confusion is to
last for more than a year, until our huge new tran-
sept is ready for occupancy. The public want their
books, and we don't want to have a third of the
Library useless. But the catalogues indicate the
places where the books stand to-day, and to re-
mark it would be a fearful job. It would take a
third of my cataloguing force, and they could n't
do it in less than six months. And all this labor
would be unprofitably spent, because when the
building is finished there will be a general change
of plans, and then re-marking will have to be done
in earnest. Therefore, the problem is no less than
this: to shift sixty thousand volumes in four weeks
without impairing the efficiency of the existing
numbers, which are to send one to the new place of
the book just as readily as to the old place; to keep
the whole Library available to the public all the
while; and carry only poor books away to Boyl-
ston Hall, while keeping the valuable ones in the
Library building. And all this must be done with-
out altering a single shelf-mark on the catalogue,
or calling off any of my assistants who are cat-
aloguing.
" What do you say to that for a practical prob-
lem? It has worried me for a good while vaguely,
and for a week definitely ; and to-day, I have solved
the whole thing triumphantly ! It can be done, and
65
John Fiske
is to be done. All these books are to be shifted by
July ist without closing the Library, or interfering
with the taking-out of books for one day, and
without hampering the cataloguers in any way.
And besides this, two hundred thousand pam-
phlets are to be moved with like placidity. I feel
very grand at this issue of things. By the time I
had got the plan three fourths unfolded, President
Eliot said, ' Mr. Fiske, I have no more to say; go on,
if you please, and carry out the work entirely at
your own discretion/ I have plenary power to hire
my workmen, and order everything; and am only
too willing to be held responsible for a thing I
have thought out so completely. Is n't it splendid?
I think even outsiders, who don't begin to know
what library-work is in all its countless details, will
appreciate and admire the entire absence of annoy-
ance which will characterize this revolution in the
Library. I think the professors all look forward
with dread to what they think must be a frightful
muddle. I am in hopes that not one of 'em will be
made to feel there is any muddle at all."
And a few days later, June 19, he writes: —
"The book-moving goes on with beautiful quiet
and regularity. It begins to seem so simple that
any jackass might have done it. We have carried
about nineteen thousand five hundred volumes over
to Boylston Hall, and filled all the shelf -room there,
and have moved some fifteen thousand within the
Library itself, besides shifting the entire stock of
nearly two hundred thousand pamphlets. There
has been no disturbance beyond the sound of the
carpenters' hammers. Books have been taken
66
Catalogue of Sumner Collection
from, and returned to, the migratory divisions
without perplexity. By July 1st, I think we shall
be in equilibrium for the coming year."
The shifting of the books was done in less than a
month. It was completed June 30, 1876.
Another incident connected with his library ex-
perience and outside his routine labors is worth
noting. The Honorable Charles Sumner, at his
death in 1874, left the library a collection of about
3750 books, among which were many rare and
valuable ones in various languages, together with
an exceedingly valuable collection of autographs.
A catalogue of this collection was greatly desired,
and Fiske, with two of his assistants, undertook the
task. It was one which involved much laborious
research on Fiske's part, and the result is another
illustration of the facility with which he could bring
his wide knowledge into practical service. The
bibliographic knowledge shown in this catalogue
is so extensive that I sought the opinion of Mr.
Charles K. Bolton, the accomplished Librarian of
the Boston Athenaeum, as to its character. Mr.
Bolton reports thus: — *
"Mr. Fiske's catalogue of the Sumner Collection
of books, in the Harvard Library, is a test of learn-
ing that few librarians are called to meet. It shows
his familiarity with early calligraphy, with the art
and history of printing, with binding and illustra-
tion. It covers also the difficulties involved in cata-
loguing and annotating rare books, and indirectly
67
John Fiske
proves that Mr. Fiske loved the text as well as the
dress. The bibliographical notes, by their discrimi-
nation, variety, and detail, show both erudition and
clarity of mind such as we now associate with
German scholarship. "
In a letter of Fiske to his mother describing his
library duties, I find a paragraph of a personal na-
ture which shows his deep filial affection for her, in
that he wishes her to share in any honors that came
to him. It is also of interest because of the glimpse
it gives us of two distinguished mathematicians.
He writes: —
"Mousing in the galleries the other day to find
some book, I stumbled on old Ben Peirce, in com-
pany with Dr. Sylvester, the greatest mathema-
tician in the world, who has just been enticed over
from London to the Johns Hopkins University at
Baltimore. Old Ben looked beaming, and said: "I
want to make you acquainted with Mr. J. F., our
Assistant Librarian — one of our greatest philo-
sophical thinkers. He has a gift of straightening
things out, and without any special study of astron-
omy, has done more for the nebular hypothesis than
either you or I could have done/ I generally take
such things with equanimity, but this time my
cheeks felt a little warm; and such an unexpected
remark from an old veteran in science, who doesn't
usually say much, and on whom I used to look with
profound reverence, was rather overwhelming. We
had a pleasant little chat. Sylvester is a stout
Englishman of about sixty, with rosy cheeks, and
long grey hair. The man whose 'Theory of In-
68
Out of Place in the Library
variants' is the greatest step taken in mathematics
since Lagrange's ' Calculus of Variations/ and who,
according to Herbert Spencer, deserves to rank just
below Newton and Leibnitz as a mathematician —
it seems odd to have him here in the flesh in Cam-
bridge, and boarding at Miss Upham's! I am sorry
to say that his achievements are all Greek to me,
and I must take them on trust. I know precious
little of post-Newtonian mathematics. If good old
Ben had only had some gift of straightening things
out (when I was in college) I might have known
more."
But no one at this time appears to have regarded
Fiske 's position in the Harvard Library as his
proper place, or as his destined field of work at the
college. He did not himself so regard it; and in a
letter to his mother of July, 1877, he writes that he
hears "it is intended to put me into the History
Department next summer when the term expires of
the two young instructors who were appointed for a
year on Adams's [Professor Henry Adams] resigna-
tion." And further, on the resignation of Dr. John
Langdon Sibley, the nominal Librarian in the
summer of 1877, Fiske saw the propriety of the
appointment of Justin Winsor, the most eminent
librarian in the country, to the position, although
the appointment of Mr. Winsor superseded Fiske in
the management of the library.
From the viewpoint of the rightful fitness of
things, notwithstanding Fiske's varied and valu-
able services in the library when we consider his
69
John Fiske
exceptional endowments for philosophic thinking
and for fine literary production, he was sadly out of
place as a mere custodian of books in the service of
others. Fiske never regarded the library as his
proper place. He accepted the position there, and
continued cheerfully in it for the time being, hop-
ing that faithful service in this important but not
wholly congenial field would bring him more favor-
ing fortune in the way of an advancement to a full
professorship at the college.
Fiske had many influential friends who wished to
see him installed in the chair of History and who
were active to this end. But neither Fiske himself
nor his friends fully realized the strength of the
opposition, in the government of the college, to his
occupancy of any position of instruction whatever,
an opposition which sprang from a strong dislike of
his philosophical and religious views.
Thus, cheerfully accepting the order of work that
fell to his hand, and patiently biding his time when
the opposition to his advancement at the college
should be allayed, Fiske's years of service in the
Harvard Library slipped away, until, in the sum-
mer of 1878, he was brought to a distinct realiza-
tion of the fact that his modest salary as Assist-
ant Librarian was no adequate income for his
support; and that his advancement to a professor's
chair at the college was still a matter of much un-
certainty; and that he was sadly misapplying the
most productive years of his life.
70
Turns to American History
It was while reflecting upon these conditions, in
the summer of 1878, that a proposition came to
him to give a course of six lectures upon American
history, the following spring, in the Old South
Church in Boston, in aid of the project of saving
this old church building, with its rich historic as-
sociations, from the ruthless hands of commercial
philistinism. He accepted the call with great readi-
ness, for it fell in with a cherished line of thought
that was slumbering in his own mind.
In the preface to his subsequent work, "The
American Revolution," he wrote thus: —
" In the course of my work as Assistant Librarian
of Harvard University in 1872 and the next few
years, I had occasion to overhaul what was called
the 'American Room,' and to superintend, or re-
vise, the cataloguing of some twenty thousand vol-
umes and pamphlets relating to America. In the
course of this work my attention was called more
and more to sundry problems and speculations con-
nected with the transplantation of European com-
munities to American soil, their development under
new conditions, and the effect of all this upon the
general progress of civilization. The study of abo-
riginal America itself had already presented to me
many other interesting problems in connection with
primitive culture."
This cataloguing experience gave rise to much
serious thought as to American history being a
fruitful field for the illustration on a broad scale
of the doctrine of Evolution in its application to
John Fiske
human history. This call for a course of lectures
on American history at the Old South Church fell
in, therefore, with a line of thought which for some
time had been mulling in his mind.
During the summer and autumn of 1878, Fiske
utilized his vacation and spare time in preparing his
lectures. As he progressed in his work, he found
himself profoundly interested in his subject, so
much so that the conviction steadily deepened in
his mind, that in the presentation and interpreta-
tion of American history he could find a broad field
for permanent and fruitful work of a congenial na-
ture, where he could utilize, in the interpretation
of a great historic movement, his wide philosophic
and historic knowledge.
I find that Fiske consulted Professors Gurney and
Norton, and also Francis Parkman, the eminent
historian, and that they thought well of the project
and hoped he might find a way to undertake it.
Parkman wrote him: —
"As to the 'Short History of the American
People/ I strongly advise you to go into it. If you
are able to give it the necessary time and attention,
I am sure they will be well invested in all senses. I
believe that you could do the work better than any-
body else."
He also took counsel with some of his friends in
New York, all of whom favored his project, if he
could see his way clear to get his undertaking well
launched. As he rounded to their completion his
72
Resigns from Harvard Library
forth-coming lectures at the Old South Church, his
faith in his subject and his confidence in his method
of treating his subject were such that he decided to
make the venture. Accordingly, in February, 1879,
he resigned his position of Assistant Librarian in
the Harvard Library.
Fiske's resignation of his position in the Harvard
Library and his entering upon the task of giving a
history of the discovery of America and its coloni-
zation by Europeans, with an account of the politi-
cal and social development of some of these colo-
nies into the national political organization of the
United States, opens an entirely new chapter in his
intellectual and domestic life. Before entering upon
the consideration of these new phases of his life,
however, it is well to turn back for a brief review of
his domestic life during his years of service in the
Harvard Library subsequent to his return from
Europe, that is, from July, 1874, to February, 1879;
for as we have already seen, Fiske was so essen-
tially a domestic man in all his tastes and feelings
that it is impossible to get a just view of his life as a
whole, during any period, without seeing how his
domestic tastes, his love of nature, music, and art
were blended in his intellectual make-up and per-
meated all his activities. In this review we shall
also be able to take note of his literary productions
during this period.
CHAPTER XXIII
DEATH OF FISKE'S GRANDMOTHER — DOMESTIC
LIFE — DEATH OF MRS. MARTHA BROOKS — NEW
HOME, 22 BERKELEY STREET, CAMBRIDGE — MUSI-
CAL PRACTICE — VISIT OF PROFESSOR AND MRS.
HUXLEY — PETERSHAM IN WINTER — MR. AND
MRS. STOUGHTON AT ST. PETERSBURG — DEATH
OF TWO FRIENDS — TWO NOTABLE ESSAYS
1874-1879
BEFORE entering on this review, however, we have
to note the first serious bereavement in Fiske's life,
the death of his grandmother, Mrs. Mary Fisk
Lewis, who died shortly after his return from
Europe, in July, 1874. That Fiske was deeply
attached to his grandmother the foregoing pages
abundantly show. During the later years of her
life she spent several weeks of each year in his
family; and her visits, by reason of deep affections,
her cheerfulness, and her overflowing kindness of
heart, were occasions of joy to the whole household.
Fiske felt her death most keenly. He had come in
his imagination to regard her as somewhat tran-
scending mere sense personality; in short, as being
a sort of beneficent fairy who had presided over his
early years, and had left his mind free to expand
in a natural, healthy way. Certainly, in her death,
he felt that the last family tie which connected
74
Domestic and Social Life
him with Middletown, the home of his boyhood
and youth, was broken.
Coming now to the review referred to, this can
best be made by taking the main incidents of his
domestic and social life as revealed in his letters,
and grouping them around his home; for to his
home all his activities were related as to a common
centre.
We have seen that his return from Europe in
June, 1874, was to his home, No. 4 Berkeley Street,
Cambridge. It was a commodious house owned
by his brother-in-law, James W. Brooks; and the
household consisted of the Fiske family with Mrs.
Martha A. Brooks, Mrs. Fiske's mother; James
Brooks, and Miss Martha Brooks, Mrs. Fiske's
brother and sister. It was, indeed, a happy family,
with the interests of all the adults largely centred
around the Fiske children. The summers of the
whole household were spent at the Brooks home-
stead at Petersham.
The glimpses we get in the letters of the family life,
both in Cambridge and in Petersham, are delight-
ful. The family appears to have been pervaded by
the sweet, benign influence of Mrs. Martha Brooks,
the mother and grandmother of the whole family
except Fiske himself. She was a woman of rare
personal qualities, and her thought was always for
the interests of others. Fiske's affection for her was
hardly second to his affection for his own mother
and grandmother. James and Martha Brooks, too,
75
John Fiske
were important factors in that they gave them-
selves largely to ministering to the interests of the
Fiske children.
James Brooks, particularly, was unceasing in his
considerate helpfulness. When Fiske's European
trip was proposed in 1873, he at once came for-
ward and assumed oversight of the family dur-
ing Fiske's absence. And the same thoughtful-
ness was continued after Fiske's return. With the
children "Uncle James " came to be regarded as
a sort of godfather to whom they could safely
appeal in their perplexities. And it appears that
they were never beyond the reach of his sym-
pathy. Being a broad-minded man with high
ideals of social service, and being also a firm be-
liever in Fiske's philosophic and religious views,
James Brooks felt it a pleasure throughout his life
to aid in the development and promulgation of
Fiske's ideas. In the family life of the years to come,
and particularly at Petersham, we are to see his
continued devotion.
As an illustration of the fine feeling which per-
vaded this family life, and also as a further revela-
tion of the considerate kindness, the deep poetic
sensibility, and the profound reverential feeling
which were constituent elements in Fiske's nature,
I take the following extracts from a letter of
Fiske to his lifelong friend, Mrs. William Wilcox,
of Middletown, in which, under date of Novem-
ber 25, 1875, he gives an account of the illness of
76
JAMES VV. BROOKS
Death of Mrs. Brooks
Mrs. Martha Brooks, her death, which occurred Oc-
tober 20, 1875, and what followed. He writes: —
" Mother Brooks had not been well since Feb-
ruary, but we had not been really alarmed about
her. In July she seemed better. The day before she
went to Petersham, her last day in this house, in
passing her door I heard her say to Sister Martha,
'How I should like a bit of fine steak!* The maids
having left, I turned chef, went down cellar, chopped
my wood, built a good coal fire, went to market,
selected a prime steak and some mealy potatoes,
baked the latter and broiled the former, toasted
some brown bread, made tea, and served them to
Mother Brooks, who said she never enjoyed a
luncheon more in her life. I think I enjoyed getting
it even more than partaking of it.
"At Petersham we had our usual fun with croquet
and music, walking in the woods, and driving over
the hills, ftot thinking Grandma very ill, though I
used to take her from her bed and carry her down
to her lounge under the trees and carry her back
again. Early in September she grew rapidly worse,
and the noise of the children disturbed her very
much, especially as we had nine at the house — my
five, John Brooks's two, and two others of a musical
friend of ours. So we devised a plan for keeping the
children away. Our house in Petersham is kept by
a farmer with his wife and daughter; and they have
a farmhouse on a lofty hill — a grand and romantic
spot — about two miles from the village. Here
Mr. Howe (our farmer) would sleep nights and
come jogging up to the village in the morning with
milk, ears of luscious green corn and other vege-
77
John Fiske
tables for dinner. To this lonely place, amid its
sublime hills, we decided to go with the babies to
spend our days, so as to leave the house in the vil-
lage quiet. The first day there we were hilarious,
for we thought there was some hope of grandma's
recovery, and we thought we were doing something
to help her; and the sweetness of the century-old
farmhouse, and the glory of the landscape, and the
brisk mountain air, and the rich scent of the roast-
ing corn, and the sight of our little curly-heads
playing under the apple trees — all this made us
feel very happy. As we learned that Grandma en-
joyed the quiet we returned there day after day;
and finally, when things grew worse, I decided to
stay there nights with Maud, Harold, and Clarence.
Mr. Howe used to get breakfast, though one morn-
ing Maud did it, and one morning I did, coming out
very strong on corn-fritters. Mr. Howe's daughter
used to come down and get our dinners. If I were
to live a thousand years I should never forget the
strange, dreamy life we led, my children and I, in
that wild place for ten days. The driving the cows
to pasture, the sunrise, purple and gold, over the
magnificent hills, the bleak spires of the village on
the horizon, the tall, frowning pines on the hillside
with the music of their boughs, the soft cloud-
shadows on distant blue mountains, the delicious
air, the sad thoughts that contrasted with the
merry laughter of the little curly-pates — all this
sank deep into my heart and made me meditate
more than ever on the dread mystery and solemnity
of it all."
Mrs. Brooks regained her strength somewhat,
and the Fiske family returned to Cambridge. On
78
Death of Mrs. Brooks
October 15 she had a relapse and on the 20th she
died. Fiske writes: —
"October 22d I went up to Petersham in the
morning, and the funeral was in the afternoon. We
had no ghastly accompaniments of undertaker and
hearse, but we carried her ourselves to the church, -
and of the six men who carried her, I was the only
one she had not once carried in her arms. At the
church, her brother Edmund Willson (the same who
married Abby and me) made the prayer, and I im-
provised on the organ. There was nothing else. We
carried her to the graVe, the whole village following
on foot, and we laid her there, in a spot so lovely
that the thought that I shall by and by lie there
myself is of itself enough to lend a pleasant seeming
to death. None outside the family had anything to
do with these last services to our dear, good, kind
mother/'
As the children grew, and as the requirements of
Fiske' s literary and social life broadened, the house
at No. 4 Berkeley Street became less and less
adapted to his comfort and his needs. It also failed
to give James Brooks the conveniences he needed.
Then, too, in view of Fiske's future prospects at
Harvard College, Mr. and Mrs. Stoughton wished
to see him well established in a home of his own,
with full provision for his family, and with the
necessary conveniences for intellectual work. And
such a home they wished to provide for him. Much
time was consumed in weighing the matter, and in
examining various Cambridge properties. No house
79
John Fiske
was found, however, suited to his particular needs,
and finally his mother decided to have a house built
for him — one especially designed to meet his re-
quirements. Accordingly, in May, 1877, the lot of
land, No. 22 Berkeley Street, was purchased; and
under date of May 24, 1877, we have a letter to his
mother of twelve letter-sheet pages in which he sets
forth for the architect the distinctive features of the
house he desires. These features may be summar-
ized thus: A capacious library and study opening
into a music-room at one end ; a large family din-
ing-room with conservatory, kitchen, and store-
room connections; a spacious hall and stairway,
with lavatory and clothes-room connections ; a cosy
reception-room — a large reception-room or parlor ;
conveniently arranged sleeping-rooms for the fam-
ily household, with suitable provisions for guests;
a nursery and sewing-room; and also a store-room
and a play-room for the boys. With these specific
features he asked for several fireplaces and an abun-
dance of closet-room.
Fiske's general lay-out for his house was sub-
stantially carried out under his general ©versight;
and in its design and construction we have another
instance of the facility with which he could bring
his philosophic mind to grapple with the affairs of
everyday life. It took nearly a year to get the house
into condition for occupancy, and it was much over
a year before it was completely furnished. When
the furnishing was complete, Fiske wrote his
80
New Home in Cambridge
mother, under date of September 18, 1878, giving
her a graphic description of all the rooms, with the
furniture, pictures, and ornaments in each. He
even included a plan and descriptive sketch of the
basement store-closet with its huge refrigerator —
a sort of cold-storage plant which he had designed
himself, in order to get food supplies for his good-
sized family in quantities. His furniture appears
to have been made up largely of heirlooms from
the Brooks and Fiske family homesteads.
The letter in which these particulars are given
is, indeed, a delightful letter, one in which are re-
vealed not only Fiske's keen appreciations of na-
ture, literature, music, and art, but also, how these
appreciations were blended with his domestic tastes
and requirements. I regret that limited space re-
stricts me to but a single extract from this deeply
interesting letter.
It appears in an addendum to the main letter,
and it reveals Fiske's keen appreciation of, and
sympathy with, boyhood nature. He writes: —
"I should have said, in my description of the
house, that the three* boys have the room over the
guest chamber for a ' raise- the-devil-room.' They
raise the d 1 there a good deal, and it saves the
rest of the 'hipe.' The furniture consists of a large
kitchen table and five or six kitchen chairs, to-
gether with several tons of rubbish — pails, nails,
hooks, tenpins, bits of wood, marbles, mosses, bats,
paint-brushes, pots of flour-paste, pebbles — deuce
81
John Fiske
knows what not. A museum, too, with sixty or
eighty kinds of moths and butterflies; a fine assort-
ment of birds' eggs, wasps' nests, birds' skulls,
postage-stamps, coins, one Indian stone spear-
head, etc., etc. The walls are rapidly getting cov-
ered with pictures cut out of newspapers and
colored toy-books, etc. It is a jolly room."
Of Fiske's happy domestic life the letters bear
abundant witness. His children were his unfailing
delight, and the individuality of each one is clearly
set forth. He takes careful note of their varied men-
tal development, and he tries to keep in touch with
them in their tastes as he sees their minds unfold.
He particularly interests himself in their musical
tastes and in their love of nature.
It was during this period that his fourth son,
Herbert Huxley Fiske, was born (August 20, 1877).
That this son should be christened with the names
of two of Fiske's dearest friends was quite a matter
of course.
Fiske's musical practice during these years was
fairly continuous. We have previously seen that
in his periods of intellectual strain he found a great
measure of relief and relaxation in music. Usually
he took what he called a sort of "musical siesta"
after luncheon or dinner. I give some extracts from
the letters of 1875: —
" As for me, I am trying a whole sonata in three
movements ( Op. 14, No. 2), one of the loveliest of
Beethoven's earlier works, and I think I can master
82
Musical Practice
it. Hitherto I have never tried anything but the
slow movements of the sonatas.
" I have mastered the difficult E Major nocturne
of Chopin, that I murdered for you, and can now
make it sing. I shall have another hard one to play
for you in F major, when you get home — a superb
one: and I am just beginning a splendid movement
from one of Schubert's sonatas. I find I can tackle
things now that I could n't look at a year ago.
My work last winter on Beethoven and Chopin has
limbered my fingers and improved my fingering."
It does not appear that during this period Fiske
did anything to speak of in the way of musical com-
position. His Mass, upon which we saw him so
earnestly engaged during his philosophic period,
does not appear to have received any attention. In
fact, this Mass was never finished : it remained one
of the tasks he was always hoping for a fitting op-
portunity to complete.
Musical evenings with his friends Professor John
K. Paine and the eminent singer and teacher,
George L. Osgood, were frequent, and they were
occasions of rare enjoyment. Sometimes these mu-
sical evenings were made "social occasions" for
gathering in his closest friends/ Outside his home
he appears to have found his chief musical enjoy-
ment in the Symphony Concerts in Boston. And
here is a fine bit of musical criticism I find in one of
his letters: —
"I have heard Von Billow again and don't like
him so well as Rubinstein or Miss Mehlig. They
83
John Fiske
say he never strikes a false note; but I heard him
strike two in the third movement of Beethoven
Op. 31, No. 3. But they all do that — his execu-
tion is wonderful."
Professor Paine has left us his judgment of
Fiske's musical gifts and attainments derived from
their long and close intimacy; and the opinion of
this most competent of critics is in place -here: —
"He [Fiske] was not allowed to take music
lessons in his boyhood, yet in spite of this, he
taught himself as a young man to play the piano
and to sing. Certainly it was a remarkable proof
of his genuine talent, that he was able to acquire
sufficient skill to play from memory certain sonatas
of Beethoven, nocturnes of Chopin, and piano-
pieces of Schubert, etc. He played with true ex-
pression and conception. He also gained a knowl-
edge of Harmony and Counterpoint by reading
text-books. He had a sonorous bass voice of wide
compass; and it was a pleasure to hear him sing
songs of Schubert and Franz, for he sang them with
feeling and enthusiasm. He showed a deep appre-
ciation of the music of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert
and all the great masters, but did not care much for
recent ' Programme* music. In brief, music was his
great passion. Next to his love for his family was
his love for music and nothing gave him more happi-
ness. In speaking of a future life he always asso-
ciated it with music."
But it was the summer home in the Brooks
homestead at Petersham to which Fiske and the
whole family looked forward with the keenest zest
84
JOHN KNOWLES PAINE
Visit of the Huxleys
all the rest of the year. And every year seemed to
bring fresh delights with the increasing years of his
children. The letters of this period overflow with
charming descriptions of rides, walks, and saunter-
ings with his children in this enchanting region. He
dearly loved to botanize with them.
It was at Petersham that he and Mrs. Fiske
and James Brooks entertained Professor and Mrs.
Huxley during their memorable visit to the United
States in the summer of 1876. Huxley had heard so
much about the beauties of Petersham from Fiske
that as soon as he had decided upon his American
trip, he wrote Fiske of his proposed visit and of his
determination to observe Fiske in his Petersham
" fastness/' The letter in which Huxley advises
Fiske of his proposed visit is so characteristic — is
so redolent of Huxley's abounding geniality — that
I give it entire : —
4 MARLBOROUGH PLACE,
LONDON, N.W., April 23, 1876.
My dear Fiske : —
I have a great mind to tell you that the reason
why I did not answer your letter of the 1st of
January, '75, was that there was a Mister stuck be-
fore my proper name — which is a liberty I don't
permit my friends. Unfortunately any such state-
ment would be a lie — pressure of things always to
be done, and a confounded habit of corresponden-
tial procrastination is at the bottom of it. But as
you confess your own sins, I forgive you on condi-
tion of the abolition of the "Mr." hereafter.
85
John Fiske
After a world of deliberation and balancing of
possibilities and impossibilities, I have made up my
mind that the impossible shall be, and my wife and
I embark for the States at the end of July, or be-
ginning of August, returning the last of September.
The wife is terribly torn between me and the chil-
dren, but I mean to bring her.
Many thanks for your most kind offer of hospi-
tality. Of course we shall look you up somehow;
but at present all my plans are in nubibus, and I
must wait until I get quietly stowed away in Edin-
burgh, whither I betake myself next week, to de-
termine what I shall do. Nothing we should like
better than to have a quiet day or two with you in
your country fastness.
The book of Essays has arrived.1 You have made
a deal more of the " Unseen Universe "2 than I could.
If I had had time I should have had some fun out
of it as gross materialism. I know the writers and
there is not a grain of speculative power in either.
My eyes have been wide open for your friend
Professor Gurney, but he has as yet not been visi-
ble above the horizon, and I fear I may be away
before he arrives.
My wife sends her kindest regards. The elder girls
and the two boys are away in the country, but I
gave Madge your message and she was greatly set
up thereby. Her voice is growing grandly.
Ever yours very sincerely,
T. H. HUXLEY.
1 Fiske's Unseen World and Other Essays, then recently published.
2 A reference to the Unseen Universe, a work by Professors Bal-
four Stewart and P. G. Tait. It was this work that called out Fiske's
essay on the Unseen World. See supra, p. 101.
86
Visit of the Huxleys
Fiske wrote expressing his delight, not only that
Huxley was coming, but also that Mrs. Huxley was
coming with him, and he cordially invited them to
visit himself and his family at their summer home
in Petersham. To this letter Huxley replied : —
EDINBURGH, June 27, 1876.
My dear Fiske: —
Your letter reached me this evening and I sit
down to reply just before midnight. Count it unto
me for righteousness.
We shall arrive just about the time you are leav-
ing for Petersham, and the greatest pleasure you
could give us would be to have us for a few days at
that sylvan Dilkooshah, as soon as I have done
exploring Marsh's fossils at New Haven, which
task will, I suppose, take up more or less of the first
week of the seven which I have to dispose of.
You know what manner of people we are, and I
hope you have reported faithfully of us to Mrs.
Fiske as folk who love peace and quietness; and
that when we are left to ourselves we live in the
plainest of plain ways. We must find our way to
Agassiz's at Newport some time before the Associa-
tion meets. Then we go to Buffalo, and take our
time at Niagara. Then South as far as Nashville,
and back by way of Baltimore and Philadelphia.
But my great desire is to go my own way quietly
and keep out of all sorts of fuss.
I am hard worked here, and shall be right glad
when the 27th of July arrives, and we are steaming
Westward.
Ever yours very sincerely,
T. H. HUXLEY.
87
John Fiske
The Huxleys reached New York early in August,
and Huxley himself went at once to New Haven,
where, under date of August 9, he wrote Fiske as
follows: —
My dear Fiske: —
I have just been reading "your last letter, which
reached me just as I was in the midst of prepara-
tions for leaving England, and I do perceive that
having failed to obey orders I shall come in for ex-
communications sundry and strong. But I thought
it was of no use to write to you, until I could say
something definite about my movements, and there
has been no possibility of saying that something till
this afternoon.
I have left my wife with the Appletons at New
York. I believe they are all going gallivanting to
Saratoga, while I am here as Marsh's guest, deep in
birds with teeth, and reptiles without 'em, to say
nothing of other palseontological winders which to
a confirmed Evolutionist are worth all the journey
across the Atlantic.
One way or another I shall not have done here
till this day week. Then we go to Agassiz's at New-
port for two or three days, and for a day take a
look at Boston. Anyhow, I do not see why we
should not make our way to Petersham on the 2Oth,
if that will suit you. The American Association
meets at Buffalo on the 23d, and as I have promised
to go there, I must, in decency, show myself by the
24th or thereabouts.
Petersham is, I am sorry to say, ignored on all the
maps I can get at; but there is such a network of
railways somewhere about the spot that I assume
88
Visit of the Huxleys
there is no difficulty in getting thence to Buffalo.
But you are by no means to come to Boston to
escort us. We shall find our way to you beautifully.
Let me have a reply here, written in a placable
spirit, just to say if we may come on the 2Oth. And
with all good wishes to Mrs. Fiske and yourself
believe me,
Ever yours very sincerely,
T. H. HUXLEY.
The examination of Professor Marsh's palseonto-
logical collection was a notable event in Huxley's
life, and one of the direct outcomes of it was a com-
plete change of view in regard to the genealogy of
the horse, and the admission that here for the first
time was gathered the indubitable evidence which
demonstrated the direct line of descent of an exist-
ing animal. Huxley's letters show how deeply he
was impressed by his study of this collection ; indeed,
so deeply was he impressed that he recast a great
part of a lecture on Evolution which he had pre-
pared fof delivery in New York.
Professor and Mrs. Huxley found their way to
Petersham August 21, 1876, and they had a cordial
welcome from Mr. and Mrs. Fiske, James Brooks,
Miss Martha Brooks, and the Fiske children. Fiske's
joy was unconfined. It was a great pleasure to him
to take his guests, both lovers of nature, over some
of the Petersham places which had come to stand in
his mind as types of nature's supreme beauties and
have their approval of his aesthetic judgment. It
89
John Fiske
was a still greater pleasure to resume with his dear
friends, in his own home in America, and with his
children, the musical diversions and social ameni-
ties he had so greatly enjoyed in their charming
home with their children in London. And then, in
the midst of these delightful surroundings, occasion
was found for the exchange of views between Hux-
ley and Fiske regarding some of the ultimate ques-
tions of Evolution which had so often engaged
their thought in Huxley's cosy library.
Of course, Huxley had much to tell of the work
of their Evolutionary friends in England since
Fiske's visit of three years before; how rapidly the
doctrine of Evolution was spreading among the
leaders in science; how it was coming to be recog-
nized as a universal cosmic principle underlying all
classes of phenomena; and how the doctrine had
been greatly strengthened by Professor Marsh's
wonderful palaeontological collection at New Haven.
Huxley's abounding humor could not be entirely
suppressed by the consideration of even these great
themes ; for, as appears in the Petersham guest-book,
he left a sketch of what he called a true history of
Adam and Eve as suggested by the palaeontologic
remains in Professor Marsh's wonderful collection.
This sketch is reproduced on the opposite page.
The two evenings of the visit were given to free
social intercourse between the guests, the Fiske and
Brooks families, and a few invited friends. Among
the latter was one of Longfellow's daughters and
90
SKETCH BY HUXLEY IN THE PETERSHAM GUEST-BOOK, AUGUST, 1876
Visit of the Huxleys
also one of Hawthorne's, together with Professor
John K. Paine, the eminent musical composer, and
Christopher Cranch, the poet. There was much
music and a great amount of jollity on these occa-
sions. Huxley was in fine spirits and by his exuberant
nature, his keen observations, and his genial wit, he
captured all hearts. He said that when Fiske was in
London he had so much to say about the beauties
of Petersham that he — Huxley — was inclined to
set Fiske down as a romancer. But now that he
had himself seen Petersham, he must confess that
its charms had not been fully told him.
Huxley appeared as the really great man with the
engaging personality so graphically set forth by
Fiske in his letters from London three years before.
This visit of the Huxleys to Petersham was,
indeed, a memorable one; and Fiske in a letter, a
few days after to his mother, sums it up in one brief
sentence: "The Huxleys staid from Monday noon,
August 2ist, to Wednesday noon, August 23d, and
we had a glorious time, and everybody great and
small fell in love with 'em both."
And this should be said, that this memorable
visit was greatly enhanced to all who shared in its
pleasures by the ever-thoughtful consideration of
James Brooks, who knew so well how to present
the glories of Petersham at their best, and whose
estimate of Huxley, both as a scientist and a philo-
sophic thinker, was from this visit greatly height-
ened.
John Fiske
The further extension of the American visit of
the Huxleys kept them almost constantly on the
move. It embraced a trip to Niagara and to
Buffalo, where the American Association for the
Advancement of Science was holding its annual
meeting, and where they met the leading scientists
of America; thence to Nashville, Tennessee, where
they visited Huxley's sister — the beloved sister of
his boyhood, whom he had not seen for many years;
thence to Baltimore, where Huxley delivered the
address accompanying the opening of Johns Hop-
kins University; thence to New York, where he
delivered three lectures on Evolution, in which he
presented the fresh light thrown upon the new
doctrine by Professor Marsh's palaeontological col-
lection at New Haven. Everywhere he was re-
ceived with conspicuous honor. In the face of his
great learning, his honesty of purpose, and his in-
spiring personality, theological bigotry was silent.
With his engagements all fulfilled, on September
23, 1876, he and Mrs. Huxley sailed from New
York for Liverpool, leaving behind them in the
minds of their friends nothing but the pleasantest
memories.
Shortly after their return home, Huxley wrote
Fiske, telling him that, aside from the visit with
Professor Marsh and with his sister, their visit to
Petersham was the most delightful of their Ameri-
can experiences, and that in this opinion Mrs.
Huxley fully agreed.
92
Petersham in Winter
Petersham had charms for Fiske at all seasons of
the year; so much so that at times, when mentally
weary, he would make an excursion up there for a
day or two, out of season, just for mental relaxa-
tion. And he has given such a graphic sketch of one
of his mid-winter excursions and his entertainment
by his good neighbor, Mr. Mudge, — a sketch which
shows such a keen appreciation of Nature in her
sterner aspects, and also so redolent of his physical
enjoyment of plain country life, that it well deserves
a place here. Under date of January 21, 1878, he
writes his mother thus : —
"And what do you suppose I was up to last
Saturday ! Got up after a stiff week's work feeling
very tired and nervous. For the first time I had a
cruel sense of what nerves are. While dressing, I
said to Abby, 'By Jove! I'll go up to Petersham,
and breathe in new boyhood and new zest.' Off I
went, and found it 22° below zero, and snow over
the tops of the fences. Went to good Mr. Mudge's
— and such sausages, and squash pies, and cider!
Went to the old village church, Sunday morning,
and everybody was so surprised and so glad to see
me. In the afternoon it being 18° below zero, with
a brisk breeze, I muffled up a yard deep in shawls
and furs, and took a magnificent sleigh-ride with
Mr. Mudge among the pine woods, right over stone
walls, across lots, wherever we liked. O what happi-
ness! Then went down to Mrs. Spooner's (where
you sat and held the horse last summer, while I went
in and made a call after our Tom Swamp ride), and
had such a dear good countrified time. Then home
93
John Fiske
to bed fearfully sleepy at 8 o'clock, in a room where
my breath froze into icicles on my mustache, with
a hot soapstone at my feet. Up at 7 in the morning,
after a sweet sleep, to a delicious breakfast of pork
steak and apple-sauce. Then over to Athol with
Mr. Mudge — a hot soapstone in the sleigh and lots
of robes over us; mercury 12° below zero — and such
a lovely ride over that beautiful road. Got back to
the Library soon after Monday noon — had an ex-
perience I shall never forget!"
In January, 1878, Mr. and Mrs. Stoughton sailed
for Europe, Mr. Stoughton to enter upon his duties
as Minister of the United States to Russia. They
remained in Russia until May, 1879, when Mr.
Stoughton was compelled to resign his position
on account of ill health. He died, as we shall see,
not long after. While Fiske's letters to his mother
were continued during her residence at the Imperial
Court at St. Petersburg, nothing of special import
is revealed in them beyond the record of his library
experiences, his limited literary wrork, and his happy
domestic life! Mrs. Stough ton's letters do not ap-
pear to have called out from him any noteworthy
expressions of opinion regarding Russian or Euro-
pean affairs. One act of his mother's while in St.
Petersburg pleased him greatly. Being very skilful
with her brush, she made for him a fine copy of the
portrait of John Locke, the eminent English phil-
osopher,— to whom as we have seen Fiske was
distantly related, — which is one of the notable
94
Poem by C. P. Cranch
treasures in The Hermitage, the famous Art Gal-
lery at St. Petersburg. This copy of the portrait
has a conspicuous place in the Fiske library at
Cambridge.
And now we come to an incident in the social life
of Fiske which has left an interesting memorial
behind it. Among his neighbors in Cambridge was
Christopher Pearse Cranch: preacher, painter, and
poet. Cranch was a man of fine culture, and was
one of the small circle of Transcendentalists who
made so much stir in the intellectual life of New
England between 1830 and 1850. His many en-
gaging qualities brought him into close personal
relations with the most eminent literary and artistic
persons of his time: particularly with Emerson,
Story the sculptor, James Russell Lowell, and
George William Curtis.
One day in February, 1879, Cranch called upon
Fiske at his house, 22 Berkeley Street, Cambridge.
Fiske was not at home; and, while waiting in the
library for Mrs. Fiske to come down, Cranch's
poetic feelings were deeply stirred by the embodi-
ments of human thought with which he was sur-
rounded. Two days after, he brought to Fiske the
thoughts which came to him while in Fiske's li-
brary, expressed in the following lines: —
In my friend's library I sit alone,
Hemmed in by books. The dead and living there,
Shrined in a thousand volumes rich and rare,
Tower in long rows, with names to me unknown.
A dim half-curtained light o'er all is thrown,
95
John Fiske
A shadowed Dante looks with stony stare
Out from his dusky niche. The very air
Seems hushed before some intellectual throne.
What ranks of grand philosophers, what choice
And gay romancers, what historians sage,
What wits, what poets, on those crowded shelves!
All dumb forever, till the mind gives voice
To each dead letter of each senseless page,
And adds a soul they own not of themselves.
A miracle — that man should learn to fill
These little vessels with his boundless soul;
Should through these arbitrary signs control
The world, and scatter broadcast at his will
His unseen thought, in endless transcript still
Fast multiplied o'er lands from pole to pole
By magic art; and, as the ages roll,
Still fresh as streamlets from the Muses' hill.
Yet in these alcoves tranced, the lords of thought
Stand bound as by enchantment — signs or words
Have none to break the silence. None but they
Their mute proud lips unlock, who here have brought
The key. Them as their masters they obey.
For them they talk and sing like uncaged birds.
During this period Fiske lost two personal friends
who were very dear to him — Professor John R.
Dennett, of Harvard, who died in December, 1874;
and Chauncey Wright, who died in September,
1875. Disagreeing with these acute critics and
thinkers as he did on many points, Fiske was at one
with them in their high literary and philosophical
ideals. His tribute to the latter, in his volume,
"Darwinism and Other Essays," is a masterpiece
of philosophic criticism and character appreciation.
His intellectual companionship with these two
96
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Literary Work
brilliant thinkers had a strong stimulating effect
upon his own mind.
The record of Fiske's literary productions during
this period is a very brief one. When considered in
relation to his powers of intellectual production, it
yields conclusive evidence that he was sadly out of
place in the Harvard Library. During this period of
four and a half years, he produced nine essays and
four lectures, which, while of a very high order of
thought, are yet somewhat circumscribed in their
range; and, with two or three exceptions, they ap-
pear as an overflow from his previous philosophic
and historic studies. The principal exception is his
essay on "The Unseen World." Here he advances
his philosophic and religious thought to the con-
sideration of what may lie in the phenomenal
Cosmos beyond the apprehension of the finite
mind — beyond the reach of science.
The following is a list of these essays, with their
times and places of publication : —
"Mythology" and "Positivism"; two articles or
essays prepared for Johnson's Cyclopaedia.
"The Unseen World" ; an essay published in the
"Atlantic Monthly" in February and March, 1876;
subsequently published in a volume under the same
title, with other essays.
"A Librarian's Work" ; an account of the routine
work in the Harvard Library, an essay published in
the "Atlantic Monthly" for October, 1876.
"The Triumph of Darwinism"; an essay pub-
97
John Fiske
lished in the " North American Review " for Jan-
uary, 1877.
"The Races of the Danube " ; l an essay published
in the "Atlantic Monthly" for April, 1877.
"A Crumb for the Modern Symposium"; an
essay published in the "North American Review"
for January, 1878.
"Chauncey Wright: a Personal Tribute"; pub-
lished in the " Radical Review" for February, 1878.
"What is Inspiration?" A contribution to a
symposium in the "North American Review" for
September, 1878.
The last six essays were subsequently published
in a volume under the title of "Darwinism and
Other Essays."
The four lectures referred to were on "The Early
Aryans: their Myths and their Folk-Lore"; and
they were prepared for, and were delivered at, the
Peabody Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, in Feb-
ruary, 1877. The substance of these lectures was
subsequently utilized by Fiske in various essays;
e.g., "Who are the Aryans?" "What we Learn
from Old Aryan Words," " Koshchei the Deathless,"
etc. His work on " Primitive Aryan Culture," con-
cerning which he wrote Spencer, — a work which
was near his heart, — he never was able to complete.
Let us note, in passing, that in the invitation for
his lectures at the Peabody Institute, it was cour-
1 Fiske writes his mother in January, 1877, that "this essay
was written because of your desire to get some clear notions on the
subject."
Two Notable Essays
teously intimated to him that it would be well to
avoid the subject of Evolution.
Two of the foregoing essays, "What is Inspira-
tion?" and "The Unseen World," are deserving of
special consideration here. The former was a con-
tribution to a symposium in the " North American
Review," where, in the definition and exposition of
the doctrine of Inspiration, Fiske was associated
with the Reverend F. H. Hedge, a Unitarian; the
Reverend E. A. Washburn, a Congregationalist ;
the Reverend Chauncey Giles, a Swedenborgian ;
the Reverend J. P. Newman, an Episcopalian;
and the Most Reverend J. Gibbons, Archbishop of
Baltimore. This symposium may be said to have
consisted of two broad divisions — a theological
division, wherein the five clerical disputants each
presented his views from his particular theological
viewpoint ; and a philosophic division, wherein Fiske
alone presented views from the viewpoint of philo-
sophic rationalism. This discussion, in which one
of the fundamental tenets of Christian theology
was involved, can be heartily commended to the
earnest seeker of truth, by reason of its complete
freedom from sectarian bitterness and intolerance.
Fiske's contribution has all the characteristics of
his reverent thought, as well as all the marks of his
simple, lucid style. As the whole discussion centred
around the dogma of the special Divine inspira-
tion of the Bible, the last paragraph in Fiske's con-
tribution reveals his own thought on this point: —
99
John Fiske
"A sad incumbrance [a belief in the special In-
spiration of the Bible] it certainly is, to any one
who truly loves and reveres the Bible. To make a
fetich of the best of books does not, after all, seem to
be the most reverent way of treating it. Take away
the discredited hypothesis of infallibility, and the
errors of statement and crudities of doctrine at once
become of no consequence and cease to occupy the
attention. It no longer seems worth while to write
puerile essays to show that the Elohist was versed
in all the conclusions of modern geology, or that
the books of Kings and Chronicles tell the same
story. The spiritual import of this wonderful col-
lection of writings becomes its most prominent
aspect; and, freed from the exigencies of a crude
philosophy and an inane criticism, the Bible be-
comes once more the book of mankind."
I have referred to the essay, "The Unseen
World," as showing a clear development of Fiske's
thought beyond the limits of mere experiential
knowledge — beyond the realm of science. This
essay is, indeed, a remarkable one, and it has never
received the attention it deserves. I know of no
other article or essay in which the ultimate ques-
tions of science and religion, and their philosophic
interrelatedness, are more distinctly set forth than
in this. It marks the culminating period in the
development of Fiske's philosophic thought; and
hence, hereafter, we are to see him placing an ever-
increasing emphasis upon the spiritual aspects of
human life.
100
The Unseen World
This essay was called forth by the publication
of "The Unseen Universe," a work which was the
joint production of two eminent physicists, Pro-
fessors Balfour Stewart and P. G. Tait — a work
which, as we have seen, Huxley characterized as
" gross materialism"; and in which an attempt was
made to establish, in the light of the nebular hy-
pothesis and the Helmholtz and Thomson vortex-
atom theory of matter, the doctrine or theory of
man's spiritual immortality as an outcome from
pure physical materialism. Fiske reviewed in a
masterly way the whole argument; and, while ad-
mitting that man's physical existence was wholly
conditioned by his physical environment, he con-
tended that his psychical experience or life was not
so conditioned. While emphatically denying the
proposition that a spiritual existence could in any
way be a product of physical phenomena, he ad-
vanced the idea that man's immortal spiritual
existence might be an unknown evolution of his
cosmic psychical experience, freed from its physical
environment.
He then propounded this question, Can there not
be* within the cosmos a spiritual world or a spirit-
ual form of existence transcending the physical
phenomena of the cosmos as we know the latter?
He answered this question with the distinct affirma-
tions of science, that while man's knowledge of
cosmic phenomena gives no evidence of the exist-
ence of psychical or spiritual existence independent
101
John Fiske
of physical phenomena, man's knowledge of cosmic
phenomena is so very limited that it can be no
measure of the possibilities within the cosmos, much
less of the resources of the Infinite Unknowable
Power which created and sustains it.
Such being the affirmations of science, Fiske then
propounded this further question, Does the failure
to establish within the limits of our cosmic experi-
ence a form of spiritual life, transcending our physi-
cal cosmic existence, raise the slightest presumption
against the validity of such a form of spiritual exist-
ence? His answer was most emphatic that it does
not ; that in a case of such transcendent importance
"the entire absence of testimony does not raise a
negative presumption except in cases where testi-
mony is accessible" — in short, that the burden of
proof lies on the negative side. With these affirma-
tions he then enforces his argument for man's spirit-
ual immortality with great skill, by presenting the
cosmic universe as a vast theatre wherein is dis-
played a mighty teleological purpose, and one which
has a profound meaning for the ever-expanding
mind of man. He closes this most significant essay
with the following inspiring expression of his own
reverent feeling and his sublime faith : -
"There could be no better illustration of how we
are hemmed in (in this cosmic existence) than the
very inadequacy of the words with which we try to
discuss this subject. Such words have all gained
their meanings from human experience, and hence
1 02
The Unseen World
of necessity carry anthropomorphic, implications.
But we cannot help this. We must think with the
symbols with which experience has furnished us;
and when we so think, there does seem to be little
that is even intellectually satisfying in the awful
picture which science shows us, of giant worlds con-
centrating out of nebulous vapour, developing with
prodigious waste of energy into theatres of all that is
grand and sacred in spiritual endeavour, clashing
and exploding again into dead vapour-balls, only
to renew the same toilful process without end — a
senseless bubble-play of Titan forces, with life, love,
and aspiration brought forth only to be extinguished.
The human mind , however ' scientific ' its training,
must often recoil from the conclusion that this is all ;
and there are moments when one passionately feels
that this cannot be all. On warm June mornings, in
green country lanes, with sweet pine odours wafted
in the breeze which sighs through the branches, and
cloud-shadows flitting over far-off blue mountains,
while little birds sing their love-songs and golden-
haired children weave garlands of wild roses ; 1 or
when in the solemn twilight we listen to wondrous
harmonies of Beethoven and Chopin that stir the
heart like voices from an unseen world; at such
1 In a letter from Fiske to his mother of June 19, 1876, he makes
reference to this wonderfully beautiful passage in a way which iden-
tifies it with a personal experience with two of his children in Peters-
ham on an anniversary of his mother's birthday; and this reference
is accompanied by an expression of filial affection akin to the occa-
sion. Rewrites: —
"To-morrow will be your birthday, and the anniversary of the
heavenly Sunday morning with Harold and Ethel in Sunset Lane,
Petersham, to which I allude on page 56 of The Unseen World, In
the language of little Ethel may the 'woad ' never be ' wutty ' for you
from this time."
103
John Fiske
times one feels that the profoundest answer which
science can give to our questioning is but a super-
ficial answer after all. At these moments, when
the world seems fullest of beauty, one feels most
strongly that it is but the harbinger of something
else — that the ceaseless play of phenomena is no
mere sport of Titans, but an orderly scene, with its
reason for existing in
"'One far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves.'"
With this declaration of the foundations of his
religious faith, we now pass to an entirely new
chapter in the life of Fiske. Henceforth we are to
see him engaged in presenting and interpreting the
facts of American history. While engaged in this
great work, we shall see him, as special occasions
arise, turning from his particular work in hand to
set forth, in essays remarkable for their clearness,
beauty, and force, his more mature conceptions of
nature, man, and God, as the philosophy of Evolu-
tion ripened in his mind.
CHAPTER XXIV
BEGINS HISTORIC WORK — LECTURES AT OLD SOUTH
CHURCH -- ARRANGES TO REPEAT LECTURES IN
LONDON — GREETINGS ON REACHING LONDON —
GREAT SUCCESS WITH HIS LECTURES - - SOCIAL
COURTESIES - - MEMORABLE EXCURSIONS AND
CONVERSATIONS — PLANS WITH HUXLEY COURSE
OF LECTURES FOR ROYAL INSTITUTION — GIVES
A PUNCH PARTY — ELECTED OVERSEER AT HAR-
VARD COLLEGE
1879
THE entrance of Fiske upon his career as an Ameri-
can historian was marked by a brilliant literary and
oratorical success. His course of six lectures on
" America's Place in History" was opened at the
Old South Church in Boston on the loth of March,
1879, where he was met by as fine an audience as
was ever assembled in Boston, an audience which
entirely filled the church, and which greeted him
with an unmistakable expression of appreciative
good- will. The title of the lecture was "The Era of
Maritime Discovery," and it covered sketches of
the voyages of the Northmen; of the attempts to
reach India by sea; of Henry the Navigator; and of
the voyages of Columbus, Da Gama, Vespucci,
Magellan, and Cook. The theme, the place, and the
audience were inspiring.
105
John Fiske
Fiske was himself in fine form. He was in perfect
health, and at the full maturity of his powers. In
his personal appearance and bearing he was the
personification of a rare combination of physical
and intellectual power, with an entire absence of
egoistic self-consciousness. Feeling a deep interest
in the occasion I took a seat where I could observe
critically both the speaker and the audience. After
rising, Fiske paused a moment to survey his audi-
ence; and when he had attention at full focus he
said, in clear tones, and in a simple, conversational
way: "The voyage of Columbus was in many re-
spects the most important event in human history
since the birth of Christ." He then paused a bit.
The momentary effect upon the audience — the
attempt to grasp its significance - - was clearly
perceptible. Observe the immense connotative sug-
gestiveness of this simple sentence. Brief, senten-
tious as it was, it threw a momentary searchlight
over the whole period of Christian history, and was
a clear intimation that a master mind had come
to give a philosophic interpretation to the events
which had flowed from the memorable voyage of
Columbus from the port of Palos on the 3d of
August, 1492.
This bold challenge, as it were, to much historic
opinion at once drew every eye intently to the
speaker. Then, as the story of the Northmen, with
their visits to Greenland and Massachusetts, and
their failure to make any impression upon the
1 06
Lectures on American History
European mind of their time by their adventures,
was briefly sketched, followed by a luminous sur-
vey of European civilization from the tenth to the
fifteenth centuries, with the contests with the Sara-
cens, the crusades, and the spirit of romantic adven-
ture as shown in attempts to reach India by sea —
all culminating in the voyages of Columbus and his
followers, it was clearly apparent, from the eager,
interested faces of the audience, that Fiske's hear-
ers were yielding themselves without reserve to the
wonderful story, the story of a great historic move-
ment embellished with such historic and philosophi-
cal side-lights as gave to the movement itself a clear
meaning and purpose in the development of hu-
manity. In fact, it was clearly perceived in this first
lecture that American history was to be presented,
not as an unrelated historic incident, but rather as a
legitimate development out of antecedent history,
with immense significance to the future develop-
ment of man's social and political institutions.
Fiske's bearing throughout the lecture was a
model of effective simplicity. There was not the
slightest indication of conscious oratorical effort.
He simply read from his manuscript with distinct
enunciation and with perfect ease, and with such
modulations of voice as the theme or flow of
thought required. Thus anything like a monoto-
nous tone was avoided. He made no gestures of
any kind whatever; in short, his delivery was that
of simple, unaffected reading, so free from all self-
107
John Fiske
consciousness that his hearers took in the full sig-
nificance of his thought without the slightest con-
sideration of his manner of expressing it — the
highest effect of eloquence.
When the lecture was over, he received such ex-
pressions of approval from his audience as to re-
move all doubts as to his ability to interest the
American people in the subect of their own history.
Writing the next day to his mother with reference
to the lecture he says : —
"The audience was the very cream of Boston,
the enthusiasm prodigious, the success complete.
Everybody says I went miles ahead of anything I
had ever done before. The people were enthusiastic
to a great degree/'
The second lecture was given March 17, 1879;
and, as Fiske gave his mother the same day a
graphic account of the circumstances attending its
delivery, together with a frank statement of his
feelings during its delivery, the following extract
from his letter is of psychologic as well as of general
interest : —
"My second lecture to-day was on the 'Spanish
and French Explorers and Colonists in America':
the Huguenot colony in Florida, and its horrible
destruction by the Spaniards in 1565; Samuel de
Champlain and the discovery of the great lakes
and the founding of Canada ; La Salle and his heroic
adventures and the founding of Louisiana and the
discovery of the Great West — a splendid and glow-
ing theme.
108
Marked Success
"This was the worst of nasty March days —
pelting snow, slush up to yoirt* knees, dark as
Egypt — a day when ordinarily nothing would
have tempted me to leave the house. But the Old
South Church was packed full of the very best of
Boston, in spite of the weather. I felt every pulse
quickened by this fact, and they say I was so elo-
quent as to seem almost like a new man. The
applause was great. I felt the sense of having the
people drinking in every word and tone with
hushed breath and keen relish. Half unconsciously
I deepened and intensified my voice and began to
lose myself in the theme, with which I was greatly
fascinated myself. I had a sort of sense that I was
fascinating the people and it was delicious beyond
expression. They who first engaged me to give this
course of lectures are emphatic in their delight. One
old white-haired gentleman came up and warmly
grasped my hand, and said he must thank me for
'an enchanted hour which he should never forget.'
"This thing takes the people, you see: they un-
derstand and feel it all, as they can't when I lecture
on abstract things. The fame of it is going about
briskly ; and I believe I shall get full houses all over
the country. The Centennial has started itr and
I have started in at the right time."
The subsequent lectures were: "The struggle
between France and England"; "The Thirteen
English^Colonies "; " Causes of the American Rev-
olution"; "The Manifest Destiny of the English
Race."
Public interest in these lectures deepened to the
very end. The last one particularly, in the summing-
109
John Fiske
up of the whole argument and in the presentation of
the Anglo-American ideas of local self-government
combined with federation, as destined to be domi-
nant factors in the future development of the politi-
cal organizations of the world, was not only a master-
piece of historic generalization ; it was also a logical
application of the doctrine of Evolution to the de-
veloping interests of humanity. Never before had
America's place in universal history been pre-
sented from such a comprehensive viewpoint, or
with such a wealth of historic knowledge combined
with philosophic insight. In very truth, these lec-
tures not only gave a new valuation to American
history ; they were also a delightful prelude to what
was yet to come through Fiske's detailed presenta-
tion of the leading features of this great historic
movement of the nations to the western world.
The success of the lectures in Boston was so com-
plete that applications for their delivery in other
places were numerous ; but, as the lecture season in
America was fairly over, while the season for lectur-
ing in London was just on, Fiske was strongly ad-
vised to repeat the lectures at once in London if
suitable arrangements for their delivery there could
be made. An urgent adviser of the London project
was Mrs. Mary Hemenway, whose foresight and
liberal public spirit had saved the Old South Church
from commercial vandalism and had made it a not-
able centre for instruction in American history and
in good citizenship. Mrs. Hemenway had taken an
no
To Repeat Lectures in London
active part in procuring the lectures, and she was
so greatly pleased with the outcome that she
wanted the course delivered throughout the coun-
try. To this end, feeling confident that the lectures
would be warmly received in England, she urged
their delivery there as a substantial aid in stimulat-
ing a widespread demand for their delivery in the
United States; and she was ready to contribute lib-
erally to the venture.
Accordingly, Fiske wrote to his friends Huxley,
Moncure Conway, and James Sime, giving them a
synopsis of the course and an account of its great
success in Boston, and telling them that if a suitable
place for the delivery of the course could be had
in London, with the probability of a good audience
during the coming month of June, he would come
over and give the lectures there. He asked them
to take counsel together and, if they were in agree-
ment that the scheme was practicable and wise,
simply to cable him "Come."
There was no delay. These friends at once took
counsel, and they were agreed that a good audi-
ence could be secured ; whereupon Huxley said that
one of the theatres or lecture halls of University
College could be had for the lectures. This settled
the matter, and Fiske therefore had not long to
wait beyond the arrival of his letters in London be-
fore he received a cablegram, "Come," signed by
his three friends.
Fiske hastily made preparations for a two
in
John Fiske
months' absence, and on the 24th of May, 1879,
he set sail for Liverpool in the Cunard steamer
Samaria.
Fiske was eleven days at sea — the Samaria was
then regarded as a good boat — and during this time
he wrote a letter of eight letter-sheet pages to Mrs.
Fiske, which is such a revealer of his innermost hu-
man nature, his abounding enjoyment of physical
existence, his keen appreciation of the sublime beau-
ties of the sea, his comradely in adapting him-
self agreeably to all sorts and conditions of people,
and above all his intense affection for his wife and
his children, that I wish there was space for the
whole letter. But in view of what is directly before
us in the way of his epistolary productions, space
can be given to but a few extracts.
The haste with which he had prepared himself
for his trip had taxed his strength to the utmost,
so that when he found himself aboard ship he gave
up the first three or four days principally to sleep-
ing. From this period he came forth wholly re-
freshed, and we have the following graphic account
of his sensible experiences : —
"Tell you what, when Hezzy goes in for sleep he
can do it up brown! Dr. Means thinks I must have
a mighty clear conscience ! ! ! Consequence is I feel
exactly like a youthful hart or roe a-scamperin' over
the hills where spices grow, only I hope those hills
don't smell like this Araby-blest of a ship. If it
was n't for the bilge-water and the machine-oil and
112
Keen Enjoyment of the Sea
the cooking of the fish, perhaps a ship's odors
would n't be so wondrously composite. The ' saloon '
or mess-room, bress de Lor', is, however, tolerably
sweet, having large windows each side so we can eat
in comfort."
And here is a relishing description of a dish for a
Sunday dinner: —
" These old Englishmen know how to set a liberal
table. The Cap'n is a mighty jolly old bird — face
as red as a biled lobster and as fat as Mr. Weller
senior. To-day he offered us an old English dish,
not aristocratic now-a-days, but suthin' like Boston
pork-and-beans — a good Sunday dish. To- wit:
' Corned leg of pork and pease pudding' ! It did n't
sound particularly inviting, but when it came on
table the sight of it would have whetted the appe-
tite of even the sourest dyspeptic. It looked like a
superb Deerfoot ham of colossal proportions, in the
midst of a puree of something awfully savory and
good. In short, it was a giant ham just pickled, or
corned a little, without any smoking; covered with
crumbs and delightfully singed ; and the bed it re-
posed in was made of dried peas cooked in such
manner as much to resemble a mess of baked beans,
only far more delicate. The whole thing was crisped
over most beautifully; and, garnished with a few
herbs it looked like a very poem of a Sunday dish —
as indeed it was. You can't imagine how delicious
it was; or, rather, I hope you can imagine it after
the above pellucid description."
And then he could be companionable in various
ways : —
John Fiske
"The first day (Saturday) at dinner, Hezzy took
occasion to make a neat little speech a propos of the
Queen's birthday and to propose her health —
which seemed to please the officers considerably —
(the captain, doctor, and three other officers were
at the table) and the doctor ordered up an excellent
bottle of port and passed it around. At, an early
stage in the voyage Hezekiah, being known as the
author of 'Myths and Mythmakers,' was called on
for a fairy-tale and he had to give forth the ' In-
vincible Pounder/ the * Useless Waggoner/ the ' Sol-
dier and the Warlock/ and Lord knows how much
other stuff, including ' Old Misery and her Pear-
tree/ '
Of his keen enjoyment of the sea he writes: —
11 Yesterday no overcoat at all was needed. To-
day it has been somewhat colder: — 58° this after-
noon with gorgeous sunshine and sea of azure
sprinkled with diamonds. I don't see how people
can call the sea monotonous, I could sit and watch
its changing moods forever and be happy, — and
it is always changing, always full of life and joy.
Even when the black black waves toss up their
snowy crests with savage laugh, I feel something
within me that responds to the demon in them, and
all my veins tingle as the blood flows faster. O, I
love the sea!"
But supreme over all his shipboard experiences
— in fact, permeating them all as a delightful fla-
vor— are his remembrances of his wife and his
children. And he gives expression to his feelings
thus : —
114
Welcomed to England Again
"Six years ago to-day — Sunday, June i, 1873 —
I went to Spy Pond with Tick (Maud) and Barl
(Harold) and Lacry (Clarence); and we went out
in a boat, but it was too windy to row comfortably
and so we adjourned to the grove to swing. Ask
them all if they " Mer ember it." Bless their dear lit-
tle hearts! Papa is awfully homesick to see them
already. Don't you be slow in sending me the
"pickerwows," -of yourself and of each of the
little ones; that is to say three of every one of
you; and send them awful quick — just as soon as
possible. Hezzy can't stand it without 'em."
And on Tuesday, June 3, 1879, he closes his letter
thus: -
"The lovely coast of ould Ireland is before us in
all its soft beauty, with cloud-shadows on its purple
hills and velvet green fields — all in the glory of a
perfect summer day. O, how beautiful!
"VOTRE BELZY."
Fiske reached Liverpool at ten o'clock the even-
ing of June 4, 1879, and ne went directly to the
Adelphi Hotel, where he found letters from Huxley
and Sime, in which they gave him a cordial welcome
to England again, and also advised him of the ar-
rangements that had been made for the delivery of
his lectures in London. He was perfectly satisfied
with the arrangements, and his state of mind and
his movements are given in a letter he wrote Mrs.
Fiske the next morning: —
" Am perfectly MAD with joy at setting foot again
on the shores of old England: it seems like Para-
John Fiske
dise. Was just sitting down to a delicious supper
of broiled kidneys, crisp bacon, hot toast and bitter
beer about n P.M. last evening, when in walked
Henry Holt."
The unexpected meeting between the two friends
was a most cordial one, and although Fiske had
already planned his trip up to London via Chester
and Oxford, he gladly put his own plan aside to
join Holt and his friend, William Henry Fuller,
on a side-excursion they had planned to Coven-
try, Kenilworth, Warwick, and Stratford-on-Avon.
From Fiske's account of this excursion, written
at Oxford, June 6, 1879, the following extracts are
taken : —
"After dinner at 8 P.M. (Coventry, June 5th,
1879) we started on the most ravishingly beautiful
walk on the globe — we started afoot for Kenil-
worth, sending our bags by a deliciously green
rustic with his old wheelbarrow — it is a five-mile
road, and sublimity would be no name for it. The
road is as smooth as a floor, under giant elms
and sycamores overarching the whole way, with
mediaeval houses loaded with ivy every now and
then. But that does n't tell the road to you, and
you'll have to wait till you and I do it together. In
this ravishingly soft air I believe even you could
walk five miles. It was a scene worthy of Eden. At
10 — twilight, you know — we turned in among
the quaint mediaeval streets of Kenilworth, and
after some groping found our deliciously green
rustic at the King's Arms with all our luggage safe
and sound.
116
Kenilworth and Stratford
"Got up this morning at 8 and found it raining,
which disconcerted my two boys, who were inclined
to quit all and go to London. However, I got 'em
to go out and see Kenilworth Castle;1 and then I
tugged 'em on to Stratford and we did the whole
thing and dined at the Red Horse. I was glad to see
the dear old town again, and at the church I found
the organist — a warm friend of my old fellow-
traveller in Italy — John Adkins — and I gave him
a syllabus of my lectures with my card and com-
pliments to Mr. Adkins. The organist was very
pleasant, and said Mr. Adkins had a fine estate in
the neighborhood and would show me real old
English hospitality if I would look in. Perhaps I
may, on my way to visit Derbyshire which I'm
bound to see."
Fiske's engagements necessitated his being in
London the next day, Saturday, June 7. Accord-
ingly, after dining with his friends Holt and Fuller
at the Red Horse Inn, Stratford, he was obliged to
leave them to jog their leisurely way up to London,
while he pushed on to Oxford for the night in order
to catch an early morning train.
From this time on, Fiske has given in his letters
to Mrs. Fiske such a detailed account of his experi-
ences during this memorable visit to London, that
anything interrupting their genial flow would be
of the nature of impertinent supererogation. He
1 As a great lover of Scott, the ruins of Kenilworth Castle had a
deep interest for Fiske. He got several photographs of the ruins, and
the absence of any expression of sentimental feeling in his letter
is accounted for by his haste.
117
John Fiske
is left, therefore, to tell his story in his own way,
with a note here and there in the way of explana-
tion.
As these letters, in connection with the letters
giving an account of his previous visit, will doubt-
less receive much attention, not only as revelations
of the many-sidedness of Fiske's intellectual make-
up, but also as valuable contributions to the bi-
ographical literature of the time through the
glimpses they give of a number of eminent per-
sonages, one point should be borne in mind in the
reading of them — they were written without
thought of publication, and that fact gives them
their charm. We have frequently had occasion
to observe how completely his whole intellectual
life was permeated with his domestic affections.
In these letters this trait in his character comes
out in a little more emphatic way than we have
had occasion to observe it before: particularly in
his descriptions of his own performances and their
effect upon his audience. In the very graphic de-
scriptions he gives of his own feelings and of the
honors bestowed upon him, it should be considered
that in his own mind these honors and tributes were
not wholly his, were things to be shared with his
family, — particularly with his wife and mother, —
and hence we have throughout the letters that tone
of generous self-revealing frankness which is so de-
lightful, and which is the farthest possible remove
from selfish egoism.
118
Second Visit to London
On reaching London, Fiske sent postal cards every
few days, in which he announced his arrival and
gave his general movements. June 23d he took up,
in a sort of diaristic form, the story of his visit from
the time of his leaving Oxford.
9 BEDFORD PLACE, BLOOMSBURY,
LONDON, June 23, 1879.
I was so tired when I got to Oxford that I slept
over the first train, and did n't start till 12.25, but
we reached London (63 miles) at 1.50. At West-
bourne Park there is a junction with the "under-
ground," so I changed cars and whizzed through
the bowels of the earth to Marlborough Road, left
my bag at the station and walked with strange emo-
tions through the well known streets leading to
Marlborough Place. As I approached the gate a
hansom stopped at it, and out got Mrs. Huxley and
Madge! They looked with surprise at the sudden
apparition, and then there was a very warm greet-
ing: told 'em I couldn't wait and so had come
straight from the cars, which seemed to gratify 'em.
Went in and had a delightful lunch with them and
Jessie's husband, but was too happy to eat. I could
only sit and look at them, and did n't care to say
much either. They were both amused and pleased
at my beatific state of mind, and Madge gave me a
great shake of the hand/and said she could n't tell
how glad she was to see me; and added "O, I am
going to be married, you know!" She showed me
a bushel of drawings, etchings, water-colors &c. -
you know she draws and paints beautifully — and
we had a lovely two hours. The others were not at
home.
119
John Fiske
Took a cab, got my bag, and went to Bowles's.
Came on to rain pitchforks, and I must get lodgings
before night so as to make a good toilet for Sunday.
Cudgelled my brains a spell, but could n't seem to
make any part of London seem like home so much
as Bloomsbury: — happy thought, — get my old
rooms at 67 Great Russell Street. Hezzy is a real
cat, you know, when it comes to the garret-ques-
tion. Alas! vicissitudes do occur even in conserva-
tive London. My pretty landlady and her silly
" Alfred" had vanished, clean gone, busted, bank-
rupted, and moved "down into the country some-
where." In their place was a horrid old beldame
who said I could have the rooms by July 1st, but
not before. I looked across at the majestic British
Museum, heaved a sigh and came around the corner
to i Bedford Place, where I had roomed in May,
1874. All full, but could warmly recommend No. 9.
Ancient maiden lady, very kindly, rather proud,
and fond of literary people; knows Ralston, and
several opera singers! Her papa, an old doctor,
deaf as an adder; tries now and then to make a little
conversation, but gives it up; pats me on the back
and nods approvingly, to show that he thinks I 'm
fair-to-middlin'. Dogmatic semi-gentlemanly gent,
with long auburn beard, and terremenjuously fat
wife covered with furbelows, who laughs all the
time, misplaces her h's, knows Ruskin, and says
stupid things, invariably getting condign punish-
ment in the shape of a sarcastic comment from the
dogmatic semi-gentlemanly gent. Homely and very
gentle old maid, dark complexioned and wears aw-
fully unbecoming blue ribbons, extremely refined in
manners, plays Mozart's and Beethoven's sonatas
1 20
Second Visit to London
all day long — and plays 'em very well indeed, on a
diabolical old piano.
Such, my dear, are the inhabitants of this abode of
faded gentility. Terms : For one front room up three
flights with boots, candles, attendance, and break-
fasts twenty nine shillings a week = $6.96 or say
one dollar a day ! All right : I liked the room and the
terms and the inmates, as far as described, and
concluded the bargain and by seven P.M. was in-
stalled, trunk, bag, and all. Felt very faint and
tired ; walked to the Horse-Shoe, and got a steak and
some lentils. This tavern now professes to concoct
" American drinks" and I enclose the printed list,
which I think will amuse you: it shows how J. Bull
exaggerates an American-ism when he once gets
hold of it.1 Feeling now revived I cabbed it five
miles to Sime's, and did n't I get a good hearty
Scotch reception! They could n't shake my hands
enough. Sime's brother was there with his wife, so
there were a jolly party of us. At 10 o'clock we had
supper — veal-and-ham pie, " garden sass" of some
kind, cheese and biscuits, Scotch ale and old sherry;
and pipes afterwards. Staid till 12.30 and was al-
most too happy to live.
Next day (Sunday) went to Conway's at Ham-
mersmith — a pretty villa surrounded by a beau-
tiful garden — to two o'clock dinner. A young
painter was there named Bloomer — a Calif ornian.
I like his work. Also Mr. and Mrs. Ernestine L.
Rose, and Miss Sara Hennell. Miss Hennell is an
old lady about seventy, of most angelic beauty and
loveliness: she has the face of a saint: her hair is
snow-white and soft as silk: she is a perfect " vision
1 I regret that this list has disappeared.
121
John Fiske
of loveliness "; her features are purely Greek and
exquisite in every outline; eyes deep violet blue
with long lashes, — O, isn't she a beauty! Mrs.
Rose is a handsome old lady too. Miss Hennell
knew my books well and professed herself delighted
to see me.1 At six I took the underground to
Huxley's and found the good old fellow himself and
all the babies. Babies! Good Lord! Nettie and
Rachel are as tall as Seringapatam, and Leonard
is as tall as I am! The celebrated painter Alma-
Tadema and his wife were there. We had a glorious
time, and a good "tall tea"; but Hezzy was too
happy to eat. Hezzy played piano to the crowd.
At ten Huxley took me into his study, and we had
a cozy smoke and talk till 12, when I hansomed
home — about three miles and a half.
Monday: June 9: Huxley gave me a letter to the
principal draughtsman of the Geological Survey,
requesting him to get my map for my lectures
mounted with all possible speed; and so Monday
morning I visited the Royal Concern in Jermyn
St. and they took the matter in hand (and had it
ready in time). Lunched on a small steak and
cucumber-salad at the Vienna Beer Hall. Called at
Trubner's shop, but he had gone to Worthing.
Took the underground at Blackfriars, and flew to
Bayswater and picked up Sime and we cabbed to
Conway's where we found a lot of pretty girls and
Baron Ernst de Bunsen, son of Bunsen's Egypt, you
know. An immensely learned and amiable old fel-
low, like his papa. He found out that I knew some-
1 Miss Hennell was the author of a work significant of the time,
entitled Present Religion. Fiske made a notable extract from this
work in summing up his argument in his Outlines of Cosmic Philoso-
phy (vol. II, p. 503).
122
Social Courtesies
thing about the Assyrian language and held me so
that I had n't time to talk to any of the pretty girls,
which Sime had 'em all to himself, which I envied
him and mused upon the unequal way in which
Providence distributes its good things.
Entr'act. [Two o'clock to-day, June 23: out for
a little walk: went behind Great Russell St. and
looked at old Bloomsbury clock, which I used to
hear in bed years ago and wonder if I ever should
get back to my dear ones. Recollected that the ale
at the Pied Bull used to seem superior to anything
else in London; wondered if it would seem as
delicious now, and stepped in. It was just as good;
but there was nothing fit to eat but a pork-pie, so I
strolled on past where the Cock-a-doodle-doo used
to wake me mornings here in the very heart of
London. Dear old roosters, they're all dead and
gone! — been "served" with sausage and bread-
sauce, no doubt. Kept on to the Horse-Shoe and
ate a small steak smothered with lentils and now
return refreshed to my egotisti-graphical essay.]
To continue, Monday, June 9. Sime and I staid
to dinner at Conway's and at 9 o'clock went to
Macmillan's in Covent Garden. He used to live
over his shop when he was young, and now has
large parlours there, where he gives receptions in
the " Season." It is more convenient than to have
people go out to his "Castle" at Upper Tooting.
It was truly a stupendous affair. I went quite un-
invited, knowing that I would be welcome. There
were at least 400 people there I should think. What
did the bonny old boy do but throw his arms about
my neck and hug me like a grizzly bear (!!!) and
then step off a bit and hold me at arms-length, and
123
John Fiske
scan me from head to foot, and then exclaim with a
broad grin, "And was't na a naughta bay, 't wad
coom awver all the way to England, and wadna
wrait me a lun ta tell me that a was coomin?"
I began to apologize on account of the sudden-
ness, etc. ; but the old fellow hit me an awful thump
between my shoulder-blades and said, "De'il take
it, mon: I shall have ta forgie ye, for ye 're sach a
gude bay." Then he introduced me to a lot of ce-
lebrities; Dr. Crich ton-Browne, Dr. Lauder-Brun-
ton, Maudesley, Charlton-Bastian, Edmund About,
and a lot of others. They had all read " Cosmic
Philosophy" and all flocked around me and said
the prettiest things you could ever imagine ! I said
aside to Sime that I was surprised to find all these
people knowing me so well. "My dear boy," said
Sime, "your ' Cosmic Philosophy' at once gave you
a place in England among the greatest thinkers
and writers of the age, and you must expect to
be treated accordingly while you are here." Dr.
Lauder-Brunton said he felt that he owed more to
me than to any other man living, and said a lot of
other pretty things, and enlarged upon my "beau-
tiful style," etc. "Yes," said Dr. Fothergill, "he
is as great a poet as philosopher," - and forth-
with he recited a whole page from memory verbatim
from "Cosmic Philosophy" to prove his point —
which showed that at any rate, he must have been
sincere. By Jove, how they did pile it on !
About this time Macmillan came up and said:
"Fiske, here's Glaadstane a-askin' ta be antradooced
ta ye," and so I turned around and had a very
pleasant chat with Gladstone, chiefly about Rus-
sia. I told him I was Mrs. Stoughton's son, and he
124
Social Courtesies
recollected my mother very well ancftold me how
charming she was, and was surprised that she had
such an elephant of a boy — though he did n't use
just that expression. Well, we had a high old P.M.
Tuesday, loth June, 1879. Loafed about Covent
Garden and lunched at Evans's — celebrated by
Thackeray — on a chop and ale. Walked through
Mayfair till tired and took cab to Queen's Gar-
dens, Bayswater, but Spencer was out of town.
Had been wondering every day where "Fiske"
was and why he did n't turn up! Had tried to keep
a room in the house for me, but I did n't come and
somebody else did and finally Miss Sheckel let it.
Sat down and had a pleasant chat with the Misses
Sheckel, told 'em I would come Saturday to lunch
at I, and strolled off through Kensington Gardens.
The day was perfect, — sunny and clear, with a
cool, fresh breeze. Giant elms and beeches, velvet
grass, herds of sheep, nurses with baby-carriages,
the beautiful Serpentine River gleaming between
the trees, hawthorns pink and white, in full blos-
som, yellow laburnums, purple wisteria, moun-
tains of rhododendrons — as soft and exquisite a
scene of beauty as ever fell upon human eye. O
how I wished I had you, and Maudie, and Barl,
and Lacry, and Waffle, and Offel and 'ittle 'erbert
'uxley!
Dined at Vienna Beer Hall and cabbed to Alfred
Place; wound up the stone stairs and through the
dusky passage, opened the door, and there in his
dingy den, buried up among tons of books and
papers was my good old Ralston! Another happy
meeting and furious handshaking : pipes were lighted
and our tongues ran hard till midnight.
125
John Fiske
Wednesday, June n, 1879. Anniversary of the
day when I first met you, my angel, on the veran-
dah at Miss Upham's,1 and instantly made up my
mind to marry you if you would consent. First
lecture at University College. The room or theatre
had been granted at once on Huxley's request.
Too late for Royal Institution. Sir Frederick
Pollock, Vice President of the Royal Institution,
said he was mighty sorry he had not known of
my lectures earlier, he would then have had them
there. Huxley then decided for the University Col-
lege, as the next best place to the Royal Institution.
Huxley says we will try to make some plan for the
Royal Institution next year and this will open the
door to all the other lecture places in Great Britain.
We are hatching a plan in which YOU are included ;
and if you come you can't imagine what a lovely
greeting you'll get.
There are two " theatres" at the London Uni-
versity College. Huxley chose the smaller one,
seating about 400, for he said that would be a large
audience for London any way. J. Bull is not such a
lecture-going animal as the Yankee. Huxley did n't
think I would get a room full no matter how good
the lectures might be. Conway was sanguine enough
to predict at least 200. All agreed that to fill the
room, at such short notice, would be enough of a
success to produce famous results, — much more
than one could reasonably expect.
Well, my dear, you may believe I was nervous
beyond my wont. I felt sick all Wednesday fore-
noon, and all unstrung with anxiety. I feared there
would n't be 50 people. If there had been a small
1 See ante, vol. I, p. 244.
126
Great Success of Lectures
audience I should have been disheartened, and
should have made a poor appearance. At 10 A.M.
the sky grew black and all London was dark: a
gloomier day I never saw. At 1 1 down came the
rain in torrents, pouring like an American rain of
the most determined kind. The streets ran in riv-
ulets: you needed an India-rubber overcoat and
overshoes; I never saw it rain so hard before in
London; and at 2.30, when I got to the lecture
room, it was still pouring in bucketfuls, and I was
so unhappy I could hardly keep from tears. Two
young American girls were in the room — not
another soul till 2.50. O dear, thought I, what if
I should have no audience but these two young
girls !
All at once came a rattle of hansom cabs and
in poured the people ! Within five minutes in came
two hundred ; and did n't my heart beat with glad-
ness! Then entered Huxley, and the two hundred
applauded! Then Sime, and Conway, and Ral-
ston, and Baron Bunsen, and so on till by 3.05 the
room was full — a good four hundred, I should say:
hardly any space left. My spirits rose to the boil-
ing-point. When I got up I was greeted with loud
applause, and I forgot there ever was any such anir.
mal as John Fiske, and went to work with a gusto.
I must have outdone myself entirely; I was inter-
rupted every few minutes with applause, at re-
marks which we should n't notice in America; but
which seemed to hit them here most forcibly. When
I got through they applauded so long, I had to get
up and make a bow; and then they went at it again,
till I had to get up again and say that I was very
much pleased and gratified by their kind sympathy ;
127
John Fiske
and then I had a third long round of applause with
cheers and "Bravos."
Up came Huxley and squeezed my hand and said,
"My dear Fiske, you have gone beyond anything
you could have expected: do you know you have
had the very cream of London to hear you!" Sime
came up and said, "My dear boy, I can't tell you
how delighted I am: you have entranced us all."
Baron Bunsen said, "I am happy to have de
honour of hear so beautiful discourse: accept my
most warm congratulashon'. You do please dese
London people most extremely." Ralston said,
"Fiske, I wish you could bite some of our public
speakers and infect them with some of your elo-
quence!" Henry Holt was there and he said,
"Fact is, John, you have conquered your audience
this time. I am glad I was here; these things don't
come to a man often." Henry Stevens, the anti-
quarian, said, "I say, young man, you can give
these lectures in every town in England and Scot-
land, — did you know it?"
Well, my dear, I felt quite jubilant, naturally
enough — and so to keep the blessed anniversary of
the day when first we two did meet, I sent you my
brief telegram, "Glorious," which I thought you
would understand in the main, and immediately
transmit to my mother and my fairy godmother.1
Then we — that is, Holt and I — went to Kettner' s
for a grand skylark of a dinner. I led the way
through the quaint dingy streets. When we got
there I observed "Therese Kettner" over the door,
and — sure enough — good old Kettner, most gen-
ial and learned of cooks, is dead, and it is now his
1 Mrs. Hemenway.
128
Great Success of Lectures
widow who keeps up the place. As for the "Book of
the Table/' all of the learning and most of the fun
was really Kettner's own, but he did not write the
English. Dallas — the author of the ' ' Gay Science,"
which you will probably find in the left-hand or
street side of my bay-window alcove — wrote the
book from Kettner's dictation and clothed Kett-
ner's thoughts in his own English. But all the
thought was Kettner's own.
We had a delicious dinner: — Mulligatawny
soup, soles au vin blanc, fillet aux truffles, petits pois,
a dainty vol-au-vent, pigeons, a wonderful salade de
legumes, omelette sucree, fromage de Brie and cafe;
with some chablis and champagne, winding up with
cigars — quite an especial treat, you know, for this
grand occasion. How was this for the eighteenth
anniversary, my dear?
Friday, June 13, 1879. Second lecture: fine day,
and room packed; at least 80 or a 100 standing up
in the aisles; huge applause. Huxley told me he
thought I was making a really "tremendous hit"
(those were his words, — "tremendous hit"), and
that a great deal would come of it hereafter. " For
my own part, my dear Fiske," he added, "I will
frankly say that I have never before been so en-
chanted in all my life. Henceforth I shall tell all my
friends that there is no subject so interesting as
the early history of America." Those were Huxley's
words. After the lecture I dined at the Arts Club
with Sime, and we had a most delightful evening.
Saturday, June 14, 1879. Called at Spencer's,
expecting to find him at lunch. But he had reached
home the night before, and had got off for the day,
without getting my message from Miss Scheckel.
129
John Fiske
I then went off to Hennessy's — the painter — and
he invited me most cordially to come and make
him a visit at his chdteau in Normandy — near
Honfleur — and the temptation is great. I don't
quite know yet whether I shall do it or not. Then
I went to Simpson's Divan to dine: and there was
my same old head-waiter to call out in nasal tones
"Saddle o' mutton 15"; and the same old gray-
headed servant wheeled up the little table with the
saddle o' mutton on it and asked me if I was very
hungry to-night. I said yes, awfully faint and
ravenously hungry. "Well, sir, God bless ye, we '11
feed ye accordingly " — and so he dealed me out
two " terremenjuous" slices of the richest mutton
with summer cabbage (" 'Aha/ said Mr. Jobling,
'you are there, are you? Thank you, Guppy, I
really don't know but what I will take summer
cabbage'."1) I got a heap of enjoyment out of
that dinner and I don't think that even Delmonico
could have produced the peer of that Southdown
mutton !
Sunday, June 15, 1879. Dined: no, I must begin
still earlier. I intended spending the morning
writing to you, and mother and Mrs. Hemenway;
but just as I got about ready to work Herbert
Spencer called, and that broke up my whole A.M.
Spencer was extremely jolly and friendly, and we
had a most delightful and inspiriting talk of more
than two hours. Then I had to go to dine at two
o'clock with Henry Stevens the eccentric anti-
quary. He says I am to be invited to dine with the
"citizens of Noviomagas" at the Star and Garter
inn at Richmond early in July and shall be expected
1 See Dickens's Bleak House, chap. xx.
130
Notable Social Courtesies
to make a big speech on account of my lectures now.
O Lord! but I send you one of their droll pro-
grammes. Perhaps I may go and "sass" the Lord
High as I did before, you know. Had a most jolly
dinner with Stevens, who is very learned, and by no
means a fool : and then we went to the Zoological
Gardens together.
"Tall tea" at the 'orrid 'uxleys. Mr. and Mrs.
Lecky were there. I sat next Mrs. Lecky at table:
she is delightful. Lord Arthur Russell was there
with his wife. I soon made friends with Lady
Russell, who is a sweet and lovely lady, and we had
a jolly chat. Lord Arthur said I must come to the
Cosmopolitan club and see all the "folks/') Yes,
my dear, the brother of the Duke of Bedford said
" folks." Did n't I always tell you that " folks " was
the best of English? In the course of conversation
it turned out that Macmillan had forgotten to send
Lord Arthur a copy of "Cosmic Philosophy"; but
Lord Arthur said he should feel it a great honour to
receive a copy even now, with my autograph if not
too late. So I sent him a copy the next day and en-
close you his reply. At 10 P.M. the Huxley affair
terminated, and Lord and Lady Arthur Russell
took me homeward in a four-wheeled cab. Reach-
ing their home Lady Russell got out and went in,
saying that she hoped I would come and see her
that we "might prolong this delightful talk."
Lord Arthur continued with me to the Cosmopol-
itan Club. As we entered arm in arm, a most ele-
gant and beautiful old gentleman got up, with the
loveliest smile, and took me by the hand. I did n't
know him, but of course responded amiably, — as
why should n't I, for I was perfectly bewitched with
131
John Fiske
his grace of manner, surpassing anything I had
ever before seen in this world. In all my life I had
never seen any human being so completely clothed
with gracefulness as this superb old gentleman. Be-
fore it had time to come to words, Lord Hough ton
rushed up, saying, "My dear Mr. Fiske, we are all
delighted to see you again. " Ditto Tom Hughes,
and Lord Enfield, — and somebody else got hold
of the delightful old gentleman and he went away.
The delightful old gentleman was Earl Granville.
I was afterwards introduced to him. Lord Enfield
gave me a written request to come to the club while
in London. Went home awfully homesick for my
wife and little ones.
Monday, June 16, 1879. Went to Spencer's, as of
old, to lunch, and walked with him through Ken-
sington Gardens and Hyde Park. Dined at Kettner's
with Holt and came home to bed at 9 o'clock. By
this time Holt's friend Fuller had gone to Paris, and
Holt being reduced to me, for comradeship, came
up and took a room in this very house.
Tuesday, June 17, 1879. Called at Macmillan's
shop and proposed to him my new book of essays
("Darwinism and Other Essays"). He said if I
would bring him the essays the next day he would
look them over and let me know. Got on top of an
omnibus with Holt, and traversed miles and miles
of streets even to the Seven Sisters Road, near
Finsbury Park. Returning lunched at the Angel at
Islington, and "trammed" via City Road to Lud-
gate Hill, where we were most cordially greeted by
Trubner. Mrs. Triibner's father, M. Octave Dele-
pierre, is fatally ill, — will not live more than two
or three months — but Mrs. Trubner had told her
132
Notable Social Courtesies
husband that I must any way come to dinner infor-
mally; and so we arranged for the next Tuesday —
Holt to come also. Dined alone at Kettner's,
and went out to Sime's, and had a most happy
evening.
Wednesday, June 18, 1879. Carried my essays
to Macmillan and found he had already decided to
publish the book. He has not yet fully reimbursed
himself on the "Cosmic Philosophy/' but expects
to, for he says my fame is growing all the time and
he thinks people will be more "up to" the "Cos.
Phil." ten years hence than now. Third lecture to-
day. It was as successful as the others. Spencer was
there, and congratulated me warmly.
After lecture went down by cars to Orpington
in Kent and found Darwin's carriage awaiting me
at the station.1 Drove four miles through exquisite
1 In his dally record Fiske appears to have omitted to mention
the fact that soon after his arrival in London he sought an interview
with Darwin, who responded with the following cordial invitation to
visit him at his home at Down.
DOWN, June 10, 1879.
My dear Mr. Fiske: —
Would it suit you best to come here on the i8th either to luncheon,
or to dinner, returning after breakfast next morning — for we are not
likely to be in London for some time? Pray do whichever suits your
arrangements best. If you come for luncheon you must leave
Charing Cross by the 11.25 train; if for dinner by the 4.12 train.
If we can (but our house will be very full on most days for the next
month) we will send to Orpington Station to meet you ; but if we
cannot send a carriage you must take a bus — distance four miles.
I hope what I propose will be convenient to you and that we may
have the pleasure of seeing you here.
I remain Yours faithfully,
CH. DARWIN.
I have not been very well of late and am up to but small exertion
of any kind. An artist, Mr. Richard, is coming here on the evening
of the 1 8th, as he is making a portrait, but he is a pleasant man and
I do not think you will dislike meeting him.
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John Fiske
English lanes (the air heavily scented with blos-
soms) to Darwin's house. Jolly place with lots of
garden. George and Horace were there, and Mrs.
Litchfield, and two or three Wedgwoods. The old
man was as lovely as lovely could be. Nice dinner
and smoke on verandah, and Miss Carrie Wedg-
wood played considerable Bach, Scarlatti, Schu-
mann, and Schubert on the grand piano. After-
wards grandpa and Hezzy got into a very abstruse
discussion, and when the clock said ten, up came
Mrs. Darwin and pointed with warning finger to the
clock, and so grandpa said he must obey orders and
trotted off to bed. I staid up till eleven and smoked
another cigar with the boys. Breakfast at eight
next morning. At ten Darwin was to sit for his por-
trait in his red Doc tor-of- Laws gown, for the Uni-
versity of Cambridge. He put the gown on after
breakfast, to the great glee of the little grandchil-
dren, and the merriment of all, as he stepped up on
a chair to get a full view of himself in the mirror.
At 9.30 George Darwin drove me to the station
and went up to London with me, as he was to
be made an F.R.S. that evening for some mathe-
matical discoveries. Met Holt and Spencer at the
Athenaeum Club at eleven, and we went out by
train to Richmond. Perfect summer day, bright
sunlight, broken with flitting clouds, delightful cool
breeze. I know where Adam and Eve lived before
the Fall. It was on the Thames about a mile and
three quarters above Richmond. Of course it was;
for no other spot on earth smiles with such deli-
cious and entrancing beauty. We strolled up as far
as Twickenham on one bank, and then were fer-
ried across in a fairy-boat (pardon the pun : every-
134
A Delightful Excursion
thing was fairy that day), and walked back on the
other side. O, I thought, if I DON'T bring you here
some day ! ! ! Being hungry we stopped at the
Castle inn for lunch, and sat down at a cool table in
an oriel window overhanging the beautiful river. Ex-
cellent chops, salad of cresses, cheese, and ale.
Spencer insisted on paying the score and would n't
let us: so we silently vowed REVENGE ! ! ! Walked
up to the Park, and an itinerant photographer
wanted to "take" us in a group. You can believe I
should have liked to bring home such a souvenir;
but Spencer gave signs of not wishing to be bored
by itinerant business-chaps, and I did n't venture
to propose a sitting. We roamed till seven P.M.
through the lovely Park, (Richmond Park) now and
then lounging under great beeches and oaks, telling
stories, making jokes, philosophizing &c. All day
long we listened to Spencer's rich bass voice and his
rich brogue, with his heavy trill of the r quite equal to
a Frenchman's, while he poured out infinite store of
wit and wisdom, and amazed us with his stupen-
dous knowledge and his wonderful keenness. He
felt perfectly well and was in high spirits; I was in
my highest feather. Holt carries a pedometer, and
so we know that we walked 19 miles that heavenly
day. As we came down a beautiful hill about 7 P.M.
approaching some quaint houses under overarch-
ing elms and cedars of Lebanon, I asked what was
this lovely place? "O, now," said Spencer, quite
unconsciously, "now we're just in Petersham!"
It came over me oddly, and somehow made the
chokes come, and for several minutes I could think
of nothing but my darlings.
Fancy such a day, my dear; try to fancy such
135
John Fiske
a day! — such a long, long, sunny, happy, sweet,
delightful day. From the vision of red-gowned,
white-haired Darwin, with his capering grand-
children in the morning, down to the vision of
Spencer, Holt, and myself among the grand cedars
at Petersham, in the evening, it seemed a full
month, — so much life had I lived on that day of
ecstatic bliss! Holt said he would cross the Atlantic
at any time, and feel far more than repaid for the
time and expense, for one such day as this. But the
vague shadow on his face told that he had no dear
sympathising one to tell the story to.
Spencer had paid for our spree at the inn and we
were bent on fell revenge. When we parted at 8.30
in Trafalgar Square, Holt invited Spencer to dine
with us at any time or place he might like. Spencer
said he did n't care much for dinners just now, and
would rather have another day in the country. So
we left it in that way, internally resolving to do well
by him when the time should come. At 9 Holt and
I took a chop at the Horse-Shoe, and then I swallow-
tailed and went to a grand reception at University
College and was very much lionized there.
Friday, June 20, 1879. Fourth lecture: audience
increasing and more enthusiastic than ever. Spencer
said after the lecture, that he was surprised at the
tremendous grasp I had on the whole field of history;
and the art with which I used such a wealth of
materials. Said I had given him new ideas of Soci-
ology, and that if I would stick to history I could go
beyond anything ever yet done. Said still more: in
fact he was quite as enthusiastic as Mrs. Hemen-
way. I never saw Spencer warm up so. I said I
did n't really dream when writing about American
136
Social Courtesies
history that there could be anything so new about
it. "Well," said Spencer, "it is new anyway: you
are opening a new world of reflections to me, and I
shall come to the rest of the lectures to be taught!'1
Went then to a garden-party at Conway's, and
saw a lot of folks — among 'em Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe. Got back to dinner at eight o'clock at
the Reform Club, with Henry James. Turgenieff
was the hero of the occasion, and he is splendid, —
not unlike Longfellow in appearance. James Bryce,
the great historian, was also there, and my ever-
delightful old Ralston. Magnificent dinner, and
brilliant chinwag. Ralston walked home with me
at midnight.
Saturday, June 21, 1879. Spent most of the day
at the printers' — my same good old printers Clay
and Taylor. Whizzed through the bowels of the
earth to South Kensington, and climbed about
1,000,000 stone stairs, and burst in on Huxley who
was buried in his new work on Crayfish — and a
charming book I think it will be, from what he
read me. He said he was tired out with writing,
wiped his pen and began joking and laughing. Took
me home in a cab to dinner — Jessie was there and
is just twice as lovely, now she is married. She is
my old pet is Jessie, and we did have a good eve-
ning and lots of music.
Sunday, June 21, 1879. Out to Macmillan's
"castle" at Upper Tooting, with Holt to early
dinner. Delicious summer day. About a dozen
people, good dinner, and very much piano by Hezzy .
Miss Pignatel, of my previous visit — is over
at Boulogne and not very well. Did I tell you
that Mrs. Macmillan and Miss Pignatel are pure
137
John Fiske
Italians? The name is Pignatelli. They never
talked anything but Italian till they were twelve
years old or more. They came from Leghorn. They
talk English without any accent. Mrs. Macmillan
is very charming, as I have told you before — I
gave her my "Unseen World."
Got back to "town" at 10 and wound up at the
Cosmopolitan Club with Earl Granville, his brother
Mr. Leveson-Gower, Tom Hughes, Lord Kimberley,
Lord Barrington, Mallock the author of "New
Republic," Lord Arthur Russell, and Count Teff, a
most agreeable Dutchman. Lord Kimberley is at
present the head of University College, and of
course was the one who at Huxley's request gave
me the room to lecture in.
Monday, June 23, 1879. Wrote to you on this
letter most of the day, and dined at Kettner's with
Holt.
Tuesday, June 24, 1879. Called at Macmillan's
and printers' and loafed about town. Dined with
Holt at Triibner's. Warm welcome from Mrs.
Triibner. I always told you that no one could get
up a dinner like Triibner, and that a sip of his wine
gave one a new conception of the heights to which
civilization can attain. Found it just so this time, —
and so did Holt. Mrs. Triibner sat through the
dinner and then went to look after her papa: her
papa, you know, Octave Delepierre, is the author
of the famous book on "Historical Difficulties,"
a propos of which I wrote my essay in October,
1868, when your mother said one day at the dinner-
table at Oxford Street, "Why, John, if you keep on
working this way you'll get rich, only you can't
keep on so." [N.B. We had a boiled Indian pud-
138
End of Lecture Course
ding that day; it was in the halcyon days of Mary
and Maria, about the time when Maudie " storned "
the base imputation.]
Wednesday, June 25, 1879. Fifth lecture and
everything good as usual. Nothing new. Dined
with Holt at Vienna Beer Hall.
Thursday, June 26, 1879. All day on new book
of essays and went to printers'. Devil calls daily
now. Called at Huxley's and had an hour's pleas-
ant chat with Jessie. Dined at Frederick Mac-
millan's with Holt and had a pleasant evening.
Friday, June 27, 1879. A great day! At n A.M.
strolled through Great Russell Street, — looked at
No. 67, of course, — saw a notice in the window, —
called, and found my same old suite of rooms vacant
and ready for me! II Horrid beldame became at
once, in my softened vision, a most amiable and
unctuous female. In short, I engaged the rooms
at once and am to move in there Wednesday,
July 2d ! ! ! Same old rooms, as where Spencer
used to come to see me, and where Hezzy used to
write " tezzletelts" to you — my heart jumped with
gladness !
Went out to Spencer's and lunched with him and
we went together to my last lecture. Room jammed :
every seat full, extra benches full, people crowding
up on the platform where I stood, all the aisles
packed full of people standing, people perched up on
the ledges of the windows, and a crowd at each door
extending several yards out into the entry ways!!!
I never had such a sensation of " filling a house"
before, though I had numerically larger audiences
at Baltimore. Now here is one of the unforeseen
ways in which you make a "hit" when you talk
139
John Fiske
to a somewhat foreign audience. I wrote about
Africa quietly and philosophically, foretelling what
must happen there, as any one can, of course, fore-
see. I told it simply, and my Boston audience did
not single it out for special notice, as why should
they? But I was now addressing a British audience,
and these are the days when England is in mourning
for husbands, brothers, sons, slain in horrid warfare
with the Zulus, and all England is as tender about
Africa as we were fifteen years ago about the
South. When I began to speak of the future of the
English race in Africa, I became aware of an im-
mense silence, a kind of breathlessness, all over the
room — although it had been extremely quiet
before. After three or four more sentences, I heard
some deep breathings and murmurs, and " hushes."
All at once, when I came to round the parallel of the
English career in America and Africa, there came
up one stupendous SHOUT, — not a common dem-
onstration of approval, but a deafening SHOUT of
exultation. Don't you wish you had been there,
darling? — it would have been the proudest mo-
ment of your life!
At the end of the lecture they fairly howled
applause. Gentlemen stood up on the benches and
waved their hats; ladies stood up on the benches
and fluttered their handkerchiefs; and they kept it
up until I had to make a pretty little speech. Then
they clamoured again, and one old white-haired
man made a speech of thanks; and then another
gentleman got up and seconded the other with an-
other pretty little speech, winding up by propos-
ing three cheers for me; and they gave three rous-
ing cheers so that I had to bow and smile and thank
140
A Day in the Country
'em once more. Then about a hundred or more
came up to shake hands and say pleasant things.
Spencer kept his bright eyes fastened on me all
through the lecture and after all was over he said :
"Well, my boy, you have earned your success: it
was the most glorious lecture I ever listened to in
my life.*' Ditto or similarly Ralston and Sime. The
'orrid 'Uxley was not there that day — too busy.
Loafed around after the lecture with Sime and
dined at Kettner's with Sime and Holt.
Saturday, June 28, 1879. Took revenge on
Spencer by treating him to "a day in the country"
at our expense; that is, Holt's and mine. Day of
ineffable happiness. Went to Windsor Castle,
ascended the round tower and had a wonderful
view; walked over to Eton College and saw a fine
cricket-match, lots of pretty girls and happy stu-
dents; strolled through some "English lanes"; lis-
tened to the carol of the lark and the delicious
notes of a great chorus of nightingales; drank in all
the sweetness of an English summer day; went back
to Windsor, ravenous, and made a mighty lunch at
the White Hart, — royal cold mutton, cold ham,
salad of endives and lettuce, pigeon pie, superb
bread and butter, new Stilton cheese, and miracu-
lous beer. Even the abstemious Spencer drank a
quart of ale, — a thing which he said he had hardly
ever done before. Took a carriage and drove
through the Park to Virginia Water, and walked
the rest of the way. Spencer fairly boiled over with
"animal spirits"; he is a different man from what
he was five years ago. Fascinating is no name for
it; he was absolutely a magician this day with
sparkling wit and his wonderful flashes of wisdom.
141
John Fiske
I only wish I could remember it all. We walked
sixteen miles by Holt's pedometer. O, what a won-
derful day!!
Sunday, June 29, 1879. Dined with Holt at
Conway's and had a pleasant afternoon. Cosmo-
politan in the evening and had another jolly chat
with Tom Hughes, Dr. Hamilton and Count Teff.
Earl Granville came in about 11.30 and imme-
diately "fastened on to" Hezzy and said no end of
pleasant things. Said he thought I was doing a
great work by giving these lectures here and was
only sorry that I had n't an audience of five thou-
sand instead of five hundred. Hoped I would come
again and give some more lectures.
And here I bring Fiske's epistolary diary to a close
and will summarize his record of the rest of his visit.
Monday, May 30, was the day of Miss Madge
Huxley's wedding to the Hon. John Collier, and
Fiske was an honored guest both at the church
service and at the wedding breakfast which fol-
lowed. He gave Mrs. Fiske quite a detailed account
of both functions, but as these details would lead
us somewhat aside from our legitimate story it is
sufficient to say that it was a delightful occasion,
that the bride "was extremely happy and viva-
cious," that "Huxley looked perfectly splendid,"
and among the many speeches that were made at the
breakfast "his was by far the funniest and best."
His lectures over, Fiske found that in revising
his forthcoming volume of essays, "Darwinism and
Other Essays," he had work in hand that would
142
Social Courtesies
detain him some two or three weeks longer in Lon-
don. Accordingly, on July 2, he settled himself in
his old lodgings at 67 Great Russell Street, in as
complacent a state of mind as he could enjoy in any
place away from his home in Cambridge. But he
was not destined to any isolation while in London.
His " Cosmic Philosophy " and the great interest in
his lectures had made him widely known in the
scientifico-literary set in London, while his social
reputation had been greatly heightened by his
modest, engaging personality. In addition, there-
fore, to his social intimacies at the homes of his
friends Huxley, Spencer, Sime, Conway, Mac-
millan, and Trlibner, together with the cordiality
with which he was received at the Cosmopolitan
Club, Fiske also received many dinner invitations
which he was obliged to forego. He did, however,
accept an invitation from Sir Joseph and Lady
Hooker, to meet Sir John Lubbock, whose works
on " Primitive Man," and on "Plant and Insect
Life " were very familiar to him; and also an invi-
tation from a young author, Mr. S. G. C. Middle-
more, where he met " several young chaps, some
of whom, " he says, "will perhaps be better known
ten years hence. " He particularly enjoyed this
dinner, and he speaks of it thus: "Middlemore I
like extremely. I was the grey-haired patriarch of
the occasion; and I begin to realize that another
generation is coming along. "
But notwithstanding the many courtesies that
143
John Fiske
were bestowed upon him during this visit, Fiske
greatly missed the fine intellectual companionship
of his friend Professor William K. Clifford, to whom,
as we have seen, he became warmly attached dur-
ing his previous visit. Professor Clifford, although
quite a young man, had won recognition as one of
the keenest intellects of his time; and his too early
death had left the cause of rational, independent
thinking bereft of a valiant champion. Fiske, back
in his old quarters, could but recall his dear friend,
and wish him back, that they might, with hospita-
ble surroundings, discuss the theory of "a universe
of mind stuff " which his friend had bequeathed as
a contribution to current philosophic thinking.
Soon after he was settled in his old quarters he
had the great pleasure of welcoming there his dear
Cambridge friends, Professor and Mrs. John K.
Paine, who had just arrived in London. He took
great pleasure in introducing these good friends to
his London friends as representative Americans.
He became their guide and companion to the
London and the Thames country he had come to
know so well and to love so much. The Paines
being direct from Cambridge brought him not only
personal information regarding his family, but also
the information that at the Harvard Commence-
ment in June he had been elected a member of the
Board of Overseers of the college — an honor which
was wholly unexpected, and which was particularly
gratifying to him.
144
Elected Overseer of Harvard
The further things worthy of particular note dur-
ing this visit are: a dinner at the Arts Club with
Spencer, Huxley, and Sime; an excursion to Epp-
ing Forest with Mr. and Mrs. Sime and their
daughter Georgiana; a day with Holt, Haven
Putnam, and Sime at Weybridge, Chertsey, and
Hampton; a social gathering of a few friends at his
rooms in Great Russell Street; his final visit at the
Huxleys, and with Spencer.
On Friday, July 4, after an excursion to Rich-
mond with some American friends he got back to
London early in the evening for a dinner with
Spencer, Huxley, and Sime. Of this occasion he
writes : —
"An evening of unrivalled glory and bliss. A
philosophic discussion of richness and profound-
ness worth a whole year of ordinary study; —
mainly on the proper method of treating questions
of causation in history. I never learned so much
in one evening before. I have since heard from
Huxley and Spencer that they two would look back
on this as one of the happiest evenings of their
lives."
Brief as is the record of this evening's talk the
deep feeling expressed as existing at once rouses the
imagination, and any one familiar with the general
line of thought of Spencer, Huxley, and Fiske can,
in a way, perhaps, conceive what was the general
tenor of the discussion. It is safe to say that from
the respective viewpoints of the Evolutionary phil-
145
John Fiske
osopher, the acute and broadminded scientist, and
the philosophic historian, causation in history must
have been considered as something far nobler and
higher than blind, sportive chance, or than the re-
sult of anthropomorphic, lawless will.
Fiske's enjoyment of nature — and especially of
nature blended with human life — was so keen, and
he gives expression to his feelings in such graphic
language, that I do not like to pass all his records
of his country rambles during these remaining days
of his visit : and so I give the record of the day —
July 5 — spent with his dear friends, Mr. and Mrs.
Sime and their daughter Georgiana (aged eleven),
wandering in Epping Forest : —
11 Delicious day of fitful showers, and wondrous
atmospheric effects. Groves of stupendous beeches,
1000 years old, gnarled and contorted beyond
Dore's wildest conceptions, leaves so thick that we
could sit on a stump and hear the rain pattering
overhead as on a shed-roof and still not feel a drop
wetting us — a weird and fairy-like scene. We ate
sandwiches and boiled eggs, and took a drop of
' mountain-dew ' from Sime's flask and were happy,
though all sighed for my dear one and said it
would be quite heaven if she were with us. We
must have walked eight or ten miles, and saw many
grand views. At one time we were caught in a
pelting shower, and had to run into a quaint old inn
— some two centuries old — where a lot of rustics
were wrangling and the indignant landlord kicked
one of 'em out, — a jolly scene for Dickens, if he had
been there. Went to another jolly old country inn
146
Country Rambles
(one of the few that did n't get drowned in Noah's
little six weeks' drizzle, and still survives: the ale
there, I doubt not, is the same that Adam drank)
and had a tolerably poor dinner there. Got home
wearied and happy."
And one more of his "wonderful and happy
days," Friday, July n, — a day with his friends
Sime, Holt, and Haven Putnam, of New York.
He writes thus : —
"Gorgeous sunny day with fresh breeze, ther-
mometer about 70°. No showers. Sime came and
breakfasted with me on mutton chops at my rooms
at 8.30. Cab to Waterloo Station over Waterloo
Bridge, and fine view of the giant city quite clear
of fog. Rendezvoused at station with Holt and
Haven Putnam. Went to Weybridge and walked
to top of St. George's Hill. O, if you had only been
there! View of indescribable beauty: foreground of
yellow pines, like North Carolina pines, amid which
we stood, on a carpet of needles through which
sprouted the ferns, as in Petersham. Larches the
like of which you never saw, cedars of Lebanon,
araucaria, gnarled beeches, elms, oaks, banks of
wild rhododendrons loaded with blossoms, great
trees of holly, white flowering alders, a wilderness
of ivy all growing wild and tangled just as in an
American forest ! Before us miles and miles of ex-
quisite undulating country, waving fields of grain,
acres of velvet green pasturage with quiet crowds
of sheep and deer, lovely hedgerows sprinkled
in with scarlet poppies ; — on the horizon blue
hills with flitting cloud-shadows, the lordly turrets
of Windsor Castle about 12 miles distant, rising
147
John Fiske
above all surroundings and as conspicuous as Wa-
chusett from Petersham, farm houses with red-
tiled roofs nestled among the trees; little silvery
brooklets winding here and there; arched cause-
ways with distant train sending out long sinuous
trail of white smoke; village of Weybridge with
Gothic spire; chimes of noontide bells stealing
through the soft air, while the branches over our
heads were vocal with nightingales and thrushes,
and ever and anon lazy cock-crows answered each
other in the distance; O what a scene!
"After we had feasted awhile on this loveliness,
we walked down the hill by a narrow path, having
to push aside the rhododendrons to force our way
through, got back to the rail-road and proceeded
5 miles to Chertsey, — a quaint old town which
no one knows how old it is, for it was here when
the' Romans invaded Britain about half a century
before Christ! Here it was that the burglary was
committed in 'Oliver Twist'1 (I believe), and I
pointed out to my companions a window which I
thought would answer for the one where Monks
and the Jew looked in on Oliver asleep. We walked
quite through the town to the banks of the Thames
to a very quaint inn — which we were all raven-
ous. We made a capital lunch of cold corn-beef,
bread and butter and homebrewed ale — and mighty
fine ale it was, too. Then we got a large row-boat
and a waterman to row us, and we were rowed about
15 miles down the Thames to Hampton, which we
reached at 5.30 P.M. I had never seen this part of
the Thames before, and it is quite different from
the section about Richmond; but if you ask me
1 See Dickens's Oliver Twist, chapters xxn and xxxiv.
148
Plans for Future Lectures
which part is the more beautiful, I give it up! We
were all almost too happy to speak. At Hampton
we took train back to London."
In the evening Fiske went to the Huxleys' for a
farewell visit, as Mrs. Huxley was to leave town
the next day for several weeks. After a cordial
welcome Huxley took Fiske into his study for
the consideration of a plan for future lectures in
England.
It was Huxley's opinion that the present course
of lectures had been such an unqualified success,
that there would not be the slightest difficulty in
getting for Fiske an invitation to deliver the fol-
lowing year a course of three or four lectures before
the Royal Institution — an invitation that would
open for him invitations for their repetition in as
many places in England as he could accept, and all
on a paying basis. Huxley felt so much interest
in the matter that he suggested that Fiske take
for his subject the "Genesis of American Political
Ideas," treated according to the law of Evolution
and traced back to the early Aryans; and he said,
further, that if Fiske could send him, in the course
of the next few months, a full syllabus for the
proposed lectures, with the number of engagements
he could accept, he would undertake to put the
whole scheme through.
After arranging these details, the two friends fell
into the consideration of some of the profound ulti-
mate questions with which each in the course of
149
John Fiske
his investigations frequently found himself face
to face. In language full of the deepest reverence
Fiske expresses himself thus: —
"Then Huxley and I got into a solemn talk about
God and the soul, and he unburdened himself to me
of some of his innermost thoughts, — poor creatures
both of us, trying to compass thoughts too great for
the human mind.1 At last about 12.30 I took my
leave. And how many months of ordinary life does
such a day as this represent, my dear?"
Fiske had received so many social courtesies dur-
ing this London visit that he[desired in some simple
way to make what might be termed a social re-
joinder. Soon after getting settled in his old quar-
ters he bethought himself in thiswise: "Why not
bring this visit to a close by having a social gather-
ing of my English and American friends who have
done so much to make this visit both a profes-
sional success and a delightful personal experience
— and why not have this gathering here in my
present quarters? " As he reflected upon the matter
the eminent fitness of such a parting courtesy
grew in his mind; and he took counsel with his
friend Triibner, the prince of social entertainers.
Triibner at once fell in with the idea, and suggested
1 The tenor of this conversation can be readily imagined by any
one acquainted with the thought of Huxley and of Fiske on these
subjects at this time. Huxley's thought was expressed in his letter
to Charles Kingsley in September, 1860 (Huxley's Life and Letters,
vol. I, p. 233), and in his discussion with Frederic Harrison in the
Nineteenth Century for 1877. Fiske's thought was expressed in his
essay on The Unseen World, already alluded to.
150
Gives a Punch Party
as an appropriate "function" a "Social Punch
Party " in Fiske's rooms in Great Russell Street —
at the same time offering his services in aid of
the project. Triibner's suggestion was accepted by
Fiske, and accordingly he sent out invitations for
the evening of July 14 to the following persons: —
Ten Englishmen: Lord Arthur Russell, M.P.;
Thomas Hughes, M.P.; Thomas Huxley; James
Bryce; Herbert Spencer; W. R. S. Ralston; James
Sime; Nicholas Triibner; Frederick Macmillan;
W. Fraser Rae.
Eight Americans: John K. Paine; Henry Adams;
J. W. White; Moncure D. Conway; Henry James;
Henry Holt; Haven Putnam; Willard Brown.
All accepted excepting James Bryce, Frederick
Macmillan, J. W. White, and Henry James. Owing
to urgent Parliamentary duties, sprung upon them
that evening, both Lord Arthur Russell and Mr.
Tom Hughes were unable to come, and Mr. Spen-
cer entirely forgot the engagement. The next day
Fiske gave Mrs. Fiske a brief and hastily written
account of the affair: —
" ' Terremenjuous ' spree last evening ! The punch
(which Hezzy carefully concocted out of lemons,
oranges, pineapples, strawberries, rum, brandy,
claret, and apollinaris water) was unanimously pro-
nounced an unparalleled work of art, and they all
drank it just as though they liked it. The connois-
seur Triibner was here before any one else, as I had
dined with him; and he saw me put in the finish-
ing touches; and when he tasted it, he said he had
John Fiske
never tasted a more delicious punch. I had a moun-
tain of ice in a big bowl and it was cooling unto the
palate. Bro. Paine, who staid with me all night,
says he does n't feel the slightest trace of headache
this morning, though he drank freely; and if he's
all right, I 'spect they all are. I know I am.
"We had a truly glorious time, and kept it up till
one o'clock. Thanks to Triibner, I had some very
good cigars to offer 'em which I don't know how
to buy in London myself. All sympathized with
Hezzy's scheme for next year's lectures. Huxley
was the great wit of the evening.
" Bro. Paine and I are now waiting for breakfast."
Just as Fiske was closing the above letter he re-
ceived the following note from Spencer: —
Tuesday.
Dear Fiske: —
Last night at a quarter to eleven, just as I was
leaving the Club to come home, I exclaimed to my-
self— "Good Heavens! I ought to have gone to
Fiske's!"
I had duly made all my arrangements for join-
ing you, and then, after dinner, forgot all about it.
Pray forgive me.
I shall look for you to-morrow at one, and I shall
be at liberty till three, when I have an engagement.
Truly yours,
HERBERT SPENCER.
One incident more: Fiske's farewell visit with
Spencer. We have just seen from Spencer's note
that Fiske was under engagement for luncheon
with him the next day, July 16. This engagement
152
Farewell Visit with Spencer
Fiske was prompt in fulfilling, as he desired some
counsel with Spencer regarding the course of lec-
tures he had planned with Huxley to deliver in
London the next year. Fiske gave Spencer a general
idea of the scheme of the lectures as it had become
roughly shaped in his mind — the analysis of Anglo-
American political ideas into their fundamental
bases or elements; and then to show, on the one
hand, that these bases are evolutionary products
developed out of primitive Aryan civilization; while
on the other hand, their further development among
the nations of the earth must be a powerful in-
fluence making for universal peace.
Spencer responded warmly to the whole project,
and felicitated Fiske upon his entrance into the
historic field with such broad philosophic views.
He cautioned Fiske, however, against being misled
by some of the current theories regarding primitive
culture, and particularly primitive Aryan culture
and its evolutionary development; and he enjoined
upon him the broadest comparative study possible
of primitive man as his starting-point. His closing
words to Fiske were: "Go ahead, my dear fellow!
You have the right conception of history, and you
possess a remarkable power in the art of putting
things!"
In referring to this interview many years after,
Fiske said : —
"I was amazed at the profound knowledge
Spencer had of history — not knowledge of the
153
John Fiske
pedantic sort, but knowledge derived from much
reflection upon the underlying causes in history.
While I have met many men who greatly surpassed
him in a knowledge of historic details, I never found
his equal in the power of historic generalization.
His acquaintance with the fundamental facts of his-
tory was, indeed, remarkable ; but what was more
remarkable, was his keen insight into the meaning
of these facts, and the manner in which they were
related and interrelated in his mind."
And now the noteworthy incidents of this memor-
able London visit were at an end. The two remain-
ing days were given to making parting calls and to
finishing the proofs of his forthcoming volume
of essays. Saturday, July 19, 1879, saw him well
aboard the Cunard steamer Gallia, steaming west-
ward from Liverpool, with his thoughts centred
about the inmates of his Cambridge home whose
affectionate greeting he was soon to experience.
His homeward voyage was uneventful. During its
continuance, however, he had reason for much grat-
ulation in that the favorable judgment of his his-
toric lectures given by his Boston audience had
been fully confirmed by one of the most critical of
London audiences; while his historic undertaking
itself had received the heartiest commendation from
some of the most distinguished leaders in the liter-
ary, scientific, and philosophic thought of the time.
CHAPTER XXV
FIRST LECTURE PROGRAMME — PERSONAL APPEAR-
ANCE— LECTURE CAMPAIGN IN MAINE — SYLLA-
BUS FOR LECTURES AT ROYAL INSTITUTION —
LECTURES DURING SEASON OF 1879-1880 — IN-
VITATION FROM ROYAL INSTITUTION — PREPARES
HIS LECTURES — SAILS WITH MRS. FISKE FOR
ENGLAND — LETTER TO REV. E. B. WILLSON GIV-
ING AN ACCOUNT OF THIS REMARKABLE JOURNEY
— RETURNED HOME JULY 27, l88o
1879-1880
UPON his return from London in July, 1879, Fiske
entered upon an entirely new line of thought, and
upon a wholly new order of work from that in which
he had heretofore been engaged. His London expe-
rience had confirmed him in the opinion that Amer-
ican history, in its relation to universal history,
presented a rich field for exploration in the light of
the doctrine of Evolution. It also gave emphatic
confirmation of the fact that his manner of pre-
senting this great chapter in human history would
make the subject one of deep interest to the general
public.
His signal triumph in London had been reflected
at home, and this favoring fortune in connection
with his great success in Boston, had created a wide-
spread interest in his lectures. Hence on his return
he found applications for their repetition, in whole
155
John Fiske
or in part, in many cities and towns throughout the
country; as well as applications from the leading
magazines for popular historical articles.
Fiske, therefore, found two lines of work ready
for his hand : the planning and arranging of a lecture
programme for the ensuing autumn and winter, and
the preparation of quite a full syllabus of his pro-
posed lectures for the Royal Institution the follow-
ing spring.
His friend George P. Lathrop, a young man of
considerable literary reputation at this period, has
given a graphic sketch of Fiske's personal appear-
ance at this time which is in place here: —
4 'His figure is a familiar one on the Cambridge
streets as that of a tall, large-framed man, with
thick beard and dark auburn, curling hair, a pale
face, and wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, which,
added to his preoccupied air, gives him the stamp
of a professedly studious person. His step is long,
deliberate, and firm, seeming to indicate sureness
and regularity of progress in physical matters, as
his facial expression does in matters intellectual.
The heavy walking-stick which he carries and
strikes solidly upon the ground in front of him at
every pace, contributes still further to the system-
atic manner of his advance. Altogether, he presents
a very forcible and characteristic appearance.1'
Soon after Fiske's return he went with his family
to Petersham, and during the next few weeks we
have glimpses of him enjoying with his children his
delightful surroundings and pegging away at his
156
Personal Appearance
tasks. He undertook the management of his lecture
engagements himself, and soon found it no easy
matter to adjust his practical convenience to many
of the conditions which surrounded some of the
most desirable of such engagements. By dint of
much planning and correspondence, he managed to
work out a programme which, during the season,
yielded him seventy-five engagements and a vast
amount of personal experience. His first practical
experience in his new order of work — his first
campaign with his historical lectures — was in the
State of Maine. His engagements were for course
lectures in Lewiston, Portland, and Brunswick, three
neighboring towns; his programme calling for a
lecture every week-day evening for over a fort-
night, beginning October 21, 1879. Portland being
the principal town in the State, Fiske very natu-
rally regarded it as the most promising place for
both appreciative and financial returns; while from
Brunswick, being a small college town, — the
seat of Bowdoin College, — he counted mainly on
appreciation, with perhaps an audience of from
fifty to sixty persons. Lewiston, being a manu-
facturing town, was a wholly unknown quantity;
and the only light he had upon the situation was
the information that a short time previous " a blear-
eyed scare-crow gave a lecture on 'How to Shoot
your Grandfather's Ghost/ and had an audience
of eight hundred." The prospect here he did not
regard as flattering!
157
John Fiske
His programme for this campaign called for the
delivery of the opening lecture at Lewiston. Judge
what must have been his momentary feelings
when he found himself facing an audience of but
eighteen people. The situation — the great contrast
between the deep interest taken in his lectures in
Boston, in London, and elsewhere, and the apparent
apathy here — was enough to daunt any heart not
sustained by an implicit faith in the intelligence of
the people and their readiness to appreciate what is
fine in thought when it is simply and clearly put
before them. Fiske, however, was nothing daunted.
If he felt the contrast between his previous audi-
ences and the one now before him, he did not show
it. Writing the next morning he says: " I gave my
lecture at Lewiston last evening with as much gusto
as if I had a big audience; was bound I would n't
flinch anyway. My little audience of eighteen were
greatly pleased ; and woefully disgusted at the pros-
pect of the course being given up."
The first thought was that the course in Lewis-
ton must be given up; but the few who heard the
opening lecture were so greatly interested that they
vigorously bestirred themselves and soon had prom-
ise of better results. Fiske was induced to give
his second lecture, when he was greeted by an
audience of two hundred and fifty; and to this en-
larged audience he not only gave the remainder of
the course, but also a repetition of the first lecture.
At little Brunswick his success was all he could
158
Lectures in Maine
expect. He had a very appreciative and enthusiastic
audience of seventy-five, and he was very hospitably
entertained by two of the college professors. Port-
land, where he had expended much, and where he
confidently expected the largest interest and the
greatest returns, proved disappointing — his audi-
ence, notwithstanding the enthusiasm of those who
heard him and the cordial commendations of the
press, not much exceeding seventy-five.
Brief as was this first lecture campaign, it yielded
rich experience, in that Fiske saw that the measure
of his success with his lectures was largely dependent
upon his getting the nature of his subject clearly
before the people. One incident is worthy of special
note. It was while struggling with the various ad-
verse conditions in which we have seen him engaged
that he utilized his spare time in preparing the syl-
labus for his lectures on " American Political Ideas,"
to be delivered at the Royal Institution in London
the ensuing spring. This syllabus was finished while
he was facing the untoward conditions at Lewiston.
The table of contents in his published volume,
" American Political Ideas," is substantially a re-
print of this syllabus, which was prepared before
any portion of the lectures had been written. We
have in this incident a striking example of the
orderly way in which he had his wide historic
knowledge arranged in his mind: that it was so
arranged as to be at ready command, thereby
enabling him to sketch out without references —
159
John Fiske
directly out of hand, as it were — a series of lec-
tures, of such profound significance as his dis-
course on "American Political Ideas " proved to be.
Fiske's next appearance was on November 12,
1879, m Brooklyn, New York. Here he gave a
course of four lectures. He had found that in some
places, while arrangements could not be made for
his full course, they could be made for one, two,
or four lectures; and he had adapted his material
to meet these varying conditions. In Brooklyn he
was greeted by a fine and enthusiastic audience.
Mr. and Mrs. Stoughton were present. This was
the first time they had heard him lecture on his-
torical subjects, and they "were astonished and
delighted" at his style and bearing, and also by
his reception.
In arranging for this course he was greatly aided
by the generous assistance of four of his class-
mates, — Benjamin Thompson Frothingham, Wil-
liam Augustus White, Frederick Cromwell, and
Francis Alexander Marden, of whom he speaks in
a letter to Mrs. Fiske thus: —
" Don't you love my dear old Ben and Gus and
Fred? — three of the dearest boys that ever were!
And did n't you think that Marden's letter was
hearty and lovely? These college friendships, after
all, are just the next best things to family ties. I
remember, on my own class-day, when Ben
Frothingham gave his lovely oration, Mother said,
' Can it be that these boys have come to love each
other so much?' But now — I don't speak of Ben,
1 60
Lectures in Brooklyn
who is so dear and so good that one need n't be his
classmate to love him — but I speak of Marden
who was simply my classmate and fellow O.K. —
don't you see how warmly he responds? These are
some of the sweet things in this world, these college
brotherhoods. We don't see or hear of each other
for years, but the moment a little favor is desired
you have only to suggest it, and it's 'Come, my
dear old fellow, and we'll do what we can for
you.' "
The Brooklyn course was in every way a marked
success.
In December, Fiske was back again in Boston
where he gave two repetitions of his course of six
lectures — one a public course in Hawthorne Hall,
and the other before a club of ladies. Both courses
were given to deeply interested audiences.
Here we may interrupt the narrative of his first
lecture campaign to make two or three extracts
from his Christmas (1879) letter to his mother, in
which is reflected somewhat his fine feeling, his
happy domestic life, and his growing reputation : —
CAMBRIDGE, December 25, 1879.
Merry Christmas, darling Mother,
and Many Happy New Years!!!
Just a midnight minute to say your magnificent
Xmas present is received, and not all the resources
of the most copious language of the dominant race
of the world, would begin to suffice to express our
gratitude or our sense of your kindness. . . .
Herbert Huxley has developed into the most
161
John Fiske
frightful and horrible maker of mischief that ever
was known, quite putting into the shade the whilom
renown of Lacry, as princeps scamporum. He has
discovered perpetual motion, and exemplifies it
from minute to minute, and woe to the " thing " —
whatever it may happen to be — that gets within
reach of his all-grasping and all-smashing finger-
lets. Such a restless, such a despotic, such a ruth-
lessly bland and amiable angelic imp, I never before
saw. . . .
An elegant work is now being published in
London — "Portraits of the 100 Greatest Men in
History" --classified in eight volumes — one vol-
ume of Poets, one of Philosophers, and so on. The
introduction to the whole work is written by
an American, R. W. Emerson. The special intro-
ductions to the several volumes are by Matthew
Arnold, Froude, Dean Stanley, Taine, Helmholtz,
Max Miiller, and Renan, Alexander Bain (I be-
lieve), which makes seven volumes. I have just
been invited, in a lovely letter from London, to
write the introduction to the eighth volume, and
have accepted. So you see your boy is in very good
company.
My volume has the portraits and lives of Co-
lumbus, Magellan, Arkwright, Watt, Stephenson,
Gutenberg, etc., — the great discoverers and in-
ventors, — representatives of the industrial life of
modern society, just the part that, in my present
mood, I would have been glad to choose. . . .
This is a world in which people have an odd way
of turning up. At my last lecture in Lowell, I met
a man (of about sixty, I should say) named Bement,
who said he knew my father, and you, and John
162
Lectures in Philadelphia
Bound, very well; and was present at your wedding
with my father, and remembered Grandpa Fisk very
well as the"jolliest of old fellows, "and thought
my father the handsomest, and most brilliant man
he had ever met. Is n't it sort of odd — to meet
this man in Lowell?
The year 1880 opened for Fiske with some thirty
lecture engagements in New York, New Jersey,
Philadelphia, Washington, Buffalo, and Ohio. The
fulfilling of his engagements was marked by alter-
nate success and failure in getting satisfactory au-
diences. In New York and in New Jersey he had
good and responsive audiences, but in Philadelphia
and Washington, where he had counted on a gener-
ous reception by reason of the prominent persons in-
terested in his lectures, he was sadly disappointed.
In Philadelphia, particularly, partly from the many
expressions of interest in his undertaking that he
had received from prominent citizens, and partly
from the general interest in matters pertaining to
American history flowing from the Centennial Ex-
position of four years previous, he had looked
forward with much confidence to good audiences.
And yet, although he gave the lectures with his
usual charm of manner, and while his hearers were
as enthusiastic as were his hearers in Boston,
London, and Brooklyn, he had meagre audiences.
This fact becoming known, a few public-spirited
citizens, not wishing the stigma of non-apprecia-
tion of such lectures to rest upon the citizens of
163
John Fiske
Philadelphia as a whole, made up a purse for Fiske,
and sent it to him with an expression of their ap-
preciation of the important work he was doing in
arousing an interest in the significance of American
history, and of their personal regard.
It was in Fiske's nature, as we have already seen,
to extract some good from even rather forbidding
conditions, and there was an incident connected
with his experiences in Philadelphia at this time
which made a strong impression upon his mind —
an incident he often referred to in after years. At
the close of his second lecture he attended a recep-
tion, where he met a notable historic personage of
whom he writes: —
"I met General Robert Patterson (the Grouchy
of Bull-Run), aged eighty-eight, the youngest man
in the crowd. He was on Scott's staff at Lundy's
Lane, in 1814, and was an intimate friend of Hull,
Bainbridge, Stewart, Lawrence, and Decatur! You
can imagine what a good talk we had. He took me
to my hotel in his carriage — a most wonderfully
charming old fellow!"
Alternately with his Philadelphia lectures he gave
a course of four lectures at Chickering Hall,
New York, and here he found ample compensation
in large and enthusiastic audiences for his disap-
pointment in Philadelphia. His success was as
marked as it had been in Boston and in London.
Indeed, it was so marked, that before the course was
concluded he received a letter signed by twenty-
164
Lectures in Washington
one ladies prominent in the intellectual and social
life of New York, asking for a repetition of the lec-
tures in a morning course at Chickering Hall, a re-
quest he complied with a little later, when he was
met with another series of large and highly enthu-
siastic audiences.
The fame of Fiske's lectures in London had
reached official Washington, and a letter was sent
to Fiske, under date of January 30, 1880, signed by
President Hayes, the chief members of his Cabinet,
Chief Justice Waite, Senators Hoar and Dawes of
Massachusetts, General W. T. Sherman, George
Bancroft, the historian, Simon Newcomb, the emi-
nent astronomer, and other distinguished persons,
asking for a repetition of the lectures in Washing-
ton, at his early convenience.
President Hayes, in signing this document, said
that it gave him much pleasure to be at the head
of such an invitation; that he had heard much of
Mr. Fiske's success with these lectures in London;
and he expressed a desire, if Mr. Fiske came to
Washington, to have an interview with him.
In accepting this invitation Fiske appointed the
evenings of February 13, 14, 18, and 21 for the lec-
tures, and they were given in the Congregational
Church. He had a very distinguished audience com-
prising members of the Cabinet with their families,
members of the Supreme Court, attaches of the for-
eign legations, some Senators, and a few Congress-
men. Simon Newcomb presided, and in his intro-
165
John Fiske
cluctory remarks he said that, during a recent visit
to England, he found among the scientific think-
ers there that Fiske was regarded as the deepest
thinker America had yet produced.
Fiske's Washington audiences, though not large,
were of fine quality, and as usual with such audi-
ences he roused them to great enthusiasm.
Financially the Washington lectures were not
a success, but through them Fiske's reputation as
the interpreter of American history was widely ex-
tended and he made many friends. While in Wash-
ington, he received many social courtesies, and
his accounts of an evening en famille with Carl
Schurz, then Secretary of the Interior in the Cab-
inet of President Hayes, and of his reception by
President Hayes, are of interest.
As Secretary Schurz had taken a leading part in
getting up the invitation for the lectures, Fiske called
upon him immediately upon his arrival in Washing-
ton, to get the particulars of the arrangements, and
what followed is best given in Fiske's own words : —
"Got here to breakfast, Wednesday morning,
and saw Schurz, who is lovely and very jolly, and
who invited me to his house sans dress-suit in the
evening. Went around at 8 P.M. and found Schurz
and two fine daughters — about twenty-two and
eighteen, I should say — and a profoundly medita-
tive old German chap who beamed on us all the
evening and vouchsafed three ' Ja's' as his contribu-
tion to the conversation, except that he once asked
what 'snicker' meant. Carl and I soon got on to
1 66
An Evening with Carl Schurz
music; he made me play. I was in my most can-
labile mood, very happy and ready to play all night.
Schurz has a magnificent Steinway grand, every tone
of which entranced me. I played my best. Then
Schurz extemporized. He has a wonderful gift for
improvising. He played one very delightful noc-
turne, making it up as he went, but could n't play
it over again. Most such things are trash: but
Schurz's playing is not trash. Then he played a
sonata of Chopin's with great fire and expression.
His touch is beyond measure delightful. Staid till
1.30 A.M. and the girls sat up. Truly we had a
magnificent time."
During the evening Secretary Schurz told Fiske
that the President would like to see him, and ad-
vised him as to the best hour for calling. Of his
interview with the President Fiske writes : —
"Friday morning I called on President Hayes at
the White House. He received me very warmly and
said he felt very proud of my going over to England
to speak to John Bull about America, and of my
reception there. When I thought it time to go, the
President urged me to stay as long as I could ; and
he treated me with very marked deference. He
kept me more than an hour, till all the Cabinet
came in for a Cabinet-meeting. The President then
introduced me to all the members I did n't know,
and we had a jolly talk for fifteen minutes before
'biz,' when I left."
The untoward financial result of his visit to
Washington, while not wholly unexpected, yet, fol-
167
John Fiske
lowing so closely upon his experience in Philadel-
phia, — this strong manifestation of consideration
and appreciation on the one hand, unsupported
by adequate financial returns on the other hand,
— raised, for the moment, a questioning in Fiske's
mind as to the outcome of his historical undertak-
ing, which had expression- in one of his Washington
letters. The feeling was but temporary, however;
for, as he saw his subject ever broadening in its
scope and character, he also saw that wherever
he could get an audience, he evoked such an in-
terest and enthusiasm in his subject as to be con-
clusive evidence that he had only to bide his time
for getting American history, and his method of
dealing with it as but one phase of universal his-
tory, clearly before the American people, to reap
a satisfactory reward.
Immediately after finishing his Washington
course, Fiske returned to New York to fulfil his en-
gagement with the ladies of New York for a morn-
ing course at Chickering Hall ; and also an engage-
ment for an afternoon course with a private school.
While these two day courses were going on he gave
an evening course of three lectures at Plainfield,
New Jersey.
While giving these lectures in New York, and
vicinity, he made his home with his mother, Mrs.
Stoughton ; and I find in a note from Mrs. Stough-
ton to Mrs. Fiske the following passage which is of
interest : —
1 68
Invited to Lecture Abroad
"John sat at home much of the day to-day, and
said it was good to get off his boots and frock-coat
and sit at ease and read. This afternoon he went
with me to a Monday ' at home ' at John C. Hamil-
ton's, son of Alexander Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton is
eighty- two years old, and remembers, when he was
a lad, his father said to him one day, -- his mother
being away, I think, — - ' My son, you will sleep with
me to-night/ And then, when he got into bed, his
father clasped him close to his heart, and, kissing
him over and over, said/ My boy, we will say the
Lord's Prayer together.'
"That was the last he knew of his father alive.
The next morning he went out at daybreak to meet
Burr, and was killed, as you know. Think what he
must have felt when he prayed with that child,
knowing it was probably the last night, for he
meant to fire in the air, and he knew Burr meant to
have his life, and he was a sure shot."
These three engagements fulfilled, Fiske had a
three days' respite, and he returned to Cambridge.
Here he found a letter from Huxley, enclosing an
invitation from the Royal Institution of London
for his three projected lectures on "American
Political Ideas," to begin May 18 following; and
also a letter from his good friend, Dr. Muir, of
Edinburgh, asking for four of his American his-
torical lectures before the Edinburgh Philosophical
Institute.
With pleasing anticipations of another visit to
London and to Edinburgh he set out on March 2,
1880, to fulfil his remaining lecture engagements
169
John Fiske
for the season, the first at Buffalo, New York. Here
he was to give a course of three lectures, and he
was most cordially received by large and enthusi-
astic audiences — the largest he had yet had at
any of his lectures, and the most remunerative as
well.
Of the other lectures of this trip but little is to
be said. At Cincinnati all arrangements had been
made by Fiske's friend, Judge J. B. Stallo, well
known to philosophic thinkers by his essays on the
"General Principles of the Philosophy of Nature"
and on the "Concepts and Theories of Modern
Physics." Judge Stallo was to have entertained
Fiske during his stay in Cincinnati, and to this
visit with such a profound thinker as Judge Stallo,
Fiske looked forward with the pleasantest anticipa-
tion. Just before his arrival, however, Judge Stallo
met with a severe domestic affliction which took
him from his home, and although he turned over
Fiske's interests into other and willing hands, his
own deep personal interest and his cordial, influ-
ential support could not be made good. While
Fiske had fair audiences in Cincinnati, with much
enthusiasm expressed, he greatly missed his longed-
for converse with Judge Stallo.
At Cleveland and at Dayton, his lectures were
disappointing. At Cleveland his audience was only
thirty-five; yet, small as it was in numbers, Fiske
took it by storm and paved the way for future suc-
cesses when his fame should be firmly established.
170
Lectures in Ohio Cities
After a little over a fortnight of lecturing at
Buffalo, and in Ohio, he set his face homeward,
cheered by the conviction that soon in London and
Edinburgh he would be received with distinguished
consideration, the while actively shaping in his
mind his lectures for the Royal Institution in
London.
Thus his first real lecture season in America came
to a close. The result led him to the conviction that
there was no want of interest in his subject as
he presented it, but that his ultimate success de-
pended upon his getting his purpose and his method
of treating American history more distinctly before
the American people. To this end, in his judgment
and in that of his friends, the development of an
interest in American history in England, through
the avenues that were open to him there, would be
productive of a strong reflective influence in his
favor in America.
Fiske reached his home in Cambridge the middle
of March and immediately set about preparing for
his third visit to England. It was decided that Mrs.
Fiske was to accompany him, and his letters of this
period overflow with expressions of delight that she
was to share in his forthcoming experiences and
honors. He engaged their passage to Liverpool by
the Cunard steamer Atlas, sailing May I, thus giv-
ing him six weeks for the necessary preparations
for a three months' absence, and for the writing of
his three proposed lectures. It was, indeed, a busy
171
John Fiske
six weeks, and no better evidence could be given of
the orderly way in which he held his historic knowl-
edge at command and his methodical way of work-
ing, than the record he has left of the composition
of these lectures. Beginning March 30, 1880, his
thirty-eighth birthday, he spent twenty-three days
in the preparation of them, the last four days of
which were spent in Huxley's library in London.
It has been very generally conceded that these
lectures embody one of the most lucid and power-
ful peace arguments that has ever been made, in
that they so clearly predicate universal industrial
peace as the politico-sociological result to which
the forces of modern civilization are irresistibly
tending. This argument is supported by such a
wealth of historic knowledge and enforced by such
a sound philosophy that it has produced a profound
impression during the past thirty years upon the
public mind of all English-speaking peoples. Then,
again, the style of the lectures is one of their marked
characteristics. English literature has no finer ex-
ample of a great, ennobling theme presented in a
thoroughly adequate style. There are many pass-
ages which deserve a place among the finest exam-
ples of English prose.
I have already considered these points in an In-
troduction to a recent edition of the lectures. Here
we are interested only in their generation, and in
the rich personal experiences which attended their
first delivery in London.
172
MRS. FISKE IN 1880
Royal Institution Lectures
As Mrs. Fiske was to accompany him, it was one
of his chief desires that during their stay in London
she should have the pleasure of meeting Darwin.
Accordingly, in the midst of his preparations he
sent to Darwin the following letter: —
CAMBRIDGE, April 20, 1880.
My dear Mr. Darwin : —
I am about to sail for England to give some lec-
tures at the Royal Institution, and shall be in
London from May i6th until June 1st. I am going
to bring my wife with me this time, for after fifteen
years with the children I think she should have a
vacation. While we are in London, I hope to get a
chance to look at you again for a moment and shake
hands.
After finishing in London, I go to Edinburgh to
give some lectures at the Philosophical Institution
and shall be coming home again early in July.
I hope you are still well and prospering in your
great work. I am unable to follow you in detail
quite so closely as I used to, for year by year I find
myself studying more and more nothing but history.
But Huxley told me last year that he thought I
could do more for the "Doctrine of Evolution" in
history than in any other line. To say that all my
studies to-day owe their life to you, would be to
utter a superfluous compliment; for now it goes
without saying that the discovery of "Natural
Selection" has put the whole future thought of
mankind on a new basis. When I see you I shall
feel a youthful pleasure in telling you what I would
like to do, if I can.
I shall stay at Professor Huxley's while in London
173
John Fiske
(4 Marlborough Place, Abbey Road, N.W.), and
any word from you will reach me there.
Ever, my dear Mr. Darwin,
Most sincerely yours,
JOHN FISKE.
Of this visit with Mrs. Fiske to London, Edin-
burgh, and Paris, in connection with these lectures,
Fiske has given quite a detailed account in his
letters to his mother, his children, and to the Rev-
erend E. B. Willson, an uncle of Mrs. Fiske — the
clergyman who married them and for whom Fiske
always held an affectionate regard. As the letter
to Mr. Willson was written during the homeward
passage, and as it is a narrative of their experiences
in a consecutive form, I take this letter as an en-
closing sort of matrix, and weave into it, here and
there, details from his other letters in order to save
repetitions, and also for the purpose of presenting a
full record of this memorable journey in Fiske's own
words: —
ATLANTIC OCEAN,
735 MILES FROM NEW YORK,
July 24, 1880.
My dear Uncle: —
Your very welcome letter of May 24th, which we
received in Edinburgh, is before me. The I4th of
June, while Abby and I were going on top of a
coach through the Trossachs, we made a plan to
send you a huge letter (such as I call "one of my
old peelers ") and give you a more or less detailed ac-
count of all the goings-on since the May-day when
174
Visits Europe with Mrs. Fiske
we steamed down Boston Harbour without your
Benedicite. We did n't get a chance to write any
long letters, though, — and not many short ones,
— until we got on to the steamer last Saturday,
since which I have had to contend with my natural
slothfulness of disposition.
Having floored the latter enemy, I now seize the
thread of events at May-day, and would observe, by
way of prelude, that as the hawser was cast, and the
crank began to turn, nothing was quite so vivid in
my mind as surprise at actually having got Abby
with me on such a wedding journey, with all the
babies left behind.
I managed the thing with some astuteness, by
having company come to the house toward the last
minute, and so kept things in such a general rush
that Abby did n't have a moment free to stop and
reflect on what she was about till she was really off.
None of the babies cried, though I saw Harold's
mouth twitch. They knew enough to understand
the danger of an explosion at such a critical mo-
ment, and their six little noddles were tolerably
level.
The Atlas is a mean, contracted, uncomfortable
old tub, with the concentrated perfumes of twenty
years of service; and although we did n't have a
single day rough enough to put racks on the table
we did n't get into Liverpool till the morning of the
1 3th. Abby did n't suffer much from seasickness,
but she is n't in any danger of becoming a mermaid
from choice!
Glad as we were to set foot in Liverpool, we
did n't stay there a bit, but drove straight to
the station and started for Chester. Reached the
175
John Fiske
Grosvenor Hotel, Chester, about noon, had a
delicious lunch, and then walked all around the
walls — one of the loveliest walks I know of — and
admired the river Dee and Grosvenor Bridge and
the thin veil of haze over the sunlit landscape. Then
we took a little rest at the hotel, and started out to
see the Rows, walking down through Bridge and
Watergate Streets to "God's Providence House,"
and went to the Cathedral and heard vespers there.
Abby enthuses over the same things that I do, and
thought the day about the happiest day of her life
up to date.
The next morning we transferred ourselves to
Rowsley, and put up at the Peacock, which, after
a pretty extensive experience, I call the pearl of all
English country inns. We did Haddon Hall that
afternoon and Chatsworth next morning, and
Abby was so charmed with the Peacock that she
bought of the old landlady the tea-pot in which we
had tea and brought it away as a memento.
N.B. It was rather a pretty tea-pot.
By Saturday evening (May 16) we had got to
London and to Huxley's, where the welcome was
warm, and we immediately began to feel as if we
had always lived there. The next evening — Sun-
day— the Huxleys had a reception for us — one of
their "tall-teas." But I am not going to particu-
larize all of our three weeks in London chronolog-
ically. A digest must suffice. To wit: as regards
these "receptions," we had three while at the
Huxleys'; and Abby thus met Herbert Spencer,
Browning, Frederic Harrison, Frederick Pollock,
John Green, the historian, Leslie Stephen, Sir Fitz
James Stephen, Lecky, Romanes, Mark Pattison,
Warmly Welcomed in London
Dr. Burdon Sanderson, Alma-Tadema, Lieutenant-
General Strachey, my dear friend Ralston, Clif-
ford's widow, beside several lords and ladies and
others whom I can't think of.
The Huxleys had also a dinner-party just before
we left, at which were present Herbert Spencer,
Lord and Lady Arthur Russell, Sir James and
Lady Stephen, Leslie Stephen and wife, Matthew
Arnold, and others. We also went to a musical
party at Alma-Tadema's, at which the piano was
mellifluously clawed by Charles Halle and by
Wagner's friend Richter. We went to a garden-
party at Sir Joseph Hooker's at Kew Gardens; and
in this way Abby saw many noted people. We
took tea with Mrs. Tyndall, but did n't see Tyn-
dall. We had a lunch at the countess of Airlie's,
where we met Robert Lowe; and we went to a
soiree of the Royal Society.
By a curious chance I lunched (without Abby) in
company with "dynamite Hartmann," the cheerful
youth who tried to .blow up the Czar, near Moscow,
the fellow that the French Government would n't
surrender. He makes no secret of his wickedness,
but glories in it, and means to try it on again if he
ever gets a chance ! I felt an odd smell of brimstone
clinging about me for the next two days !
N.B. The above Hartmann is in outward mien
and appearance the mildest of milk-and-water phil-
anthropists.
Then Darwin sent me a lovely letter inviting me
to come down to his house in Kent to dine and pass
the night, and to bring Abby, so the 2ist of May
we went down there and had a delightful visit.
Darwin treated Abby so sweetly, giving her beau-
177
John Fiske
tiful flowers from his garden, which I have care-
fully pressed; she nearly shed tears when we came
away.1
As for Spencer he seemed to take a great fancy
to Abby, though he seldom pays much attention
to ladies anyway, and invited us to come and take
lunch with him at his lodgings. So we went and
had lunch in his private parlour and David Masson
made the fourth one at the table, and we had most
uproarious fun. After our return from Scotland,
toward the end of June, Spencer invited us again to
lunch and so we did it over again.
Spencer is in better health than he has known for
years and is one of the j oiliest companions I have
ever taken a glass of beer with. Abby was very
much charmed with him, and they got on together
beautifully. I never met a man in my life who
1 Darwin wrote Fiske as follows: —
DOWN, May 14, 1880.
My dear Mr. Fiske: —
I suppose that you have reached London. I did not write before
because we have had a succession of visitors and I absolutely require
a day or two of rest after any one has been here. Some persons now
in the house leave to-morrow evening, and others are coming on
Tuesday morning.
If you and Mrs. Fiske happen to be disengaged on Friday evening
(2 ist), would you come down to dinner and to sleep? There is a good
train which leaves Charing Cross at 4.12 P.M.
On Monday, the 24th, we leave home for a fortnight for me to
rest.
If it would be more convenient to you to come here after June 8th
or thereabouts, it would suit us equally well and we should be very
glad to see you and Mrs. Fiske then.
In haste to catch the post,
Yours sincerely,
CH. DARWIN.
Very many thanks for all the kind expressions in your note.
178
Royal Institution Lectures
for brilliant conversation could be compared with
him: and then, his voice is so rich and musical you
could never get tired of hearing it.
We also dined at Conway's and at my friends the
Macmillans', and the Triibners'. At the M acmillans'
we also had a fine musical evening. As for the
Simes — my most intimate friends of all — we went
to Richmond together, rowed up the Thames past
Twickenham to Teddington, and drove to Bushy
Park while the horse-chestnuts were in full glory;
and we did chin-wag together even until Sime ac-
companied us to Euston Square Station and saw
us start for Liverpool.
We also saw pretty much all the "sights" of
London, from Westminster Abbey, down to Mrs.
Jarley's Wax- Works. We went once to the opera,
to hear Lohengrin, and once to the theatre to see
Henry Irving; and we did one stylish drive at 3 P.M.
in Hyde Park; and Abby got into the House of
Commons and heard Gladstone and others blow
off steam. As for me, more through ignorance than
malice-aforethought, I got in on the floor of the
House instead of the strangers' gallery, and passed
for some time as a new member (it being a new
House), until finally my non-identity becoming ap-
parent, I was respectfully shown to the gallery.
The lectures at the Royal Institution went off
with great success. There was a grand audience —
lords and ladies, Members of Parliament and sav-
ants ; very swell in quality. Huxley says they are
the very best lectures he has ever heard at the
Royal Institution. He says he had no fears about
my " filling the bill" when he had me invited there,
but I have utterly gone beyond his expectations.
179
John Fiske
Spencer thinks the last lecture simply "wonder-
ful." The audience was very enthusiastic, con-
tinually stopping me with applause. James Russell
Lowell, our Ambassador, was there at the last
one and much pleased. Dowager Lady Stanley of
Alderly (cousin to Lord Derby) was there and wild
with delight. She blew my trumpet to Gladstone
that day at dinner. Next evening we went to a
party at her house, where Abby was introduced to
Gladstone, Tom Hughes, Matthew Arnold, and
others. Lady Stanley kept introducing right and
left with as much enthusiasm as if she had been
Mrs. Hemenway, of whom she slightly reminded
me. Gladstone remembered me from last year and
came up to me, so that I introduced Abby. Lady
Henniker had me to lunch Tuesday before lecture ;
her whole family were warm over the lectures.
Lord Granville's brother, Mr. Leveson-Gower, was
at the last lecture and I saw him vigorously clap-
ping his hands.
The foregoing made altogether a tolerably in-
dustrious three weeks' time in London. Mighty
little grass grew under our feet in spite of the
propitious showers.
On the 3d of June we left the Huxleys in London,
and went to Ipswich and put up at The Great White
Horse of Pickwickian renown, a place where I had
stopped before and lost my way to boot, though
without any such romantic consequences as en-
sued in the case of my immortal predecessor. Our
object in going to Ipswich was to visit the home of
my Fiske ancestors at Laxfield. I knew the name
of the manor, and thought there might still be a
potato-patch on the old spot and bearing the old
1 80
Visits Home of Ancestors
name, though if Abby had n't insisted on my go-
ing, I should probably have been too lazy to go. It
turned out to be the most romantic experience we
had in our whole journey and marked out Friday,
June 4th, as a red-letter day in our calendar.
We started from Ipswich by train at 7 A.M. for
Framlingham, about twenty-five miles distant.
There we got a young man with a dog-cart, which
I call rather an awkward vehicle for a heavy fellow
like me, and he drove us eight miles to Laxfield.
Framlingham is a small market town with a col-
lege and ruined castle. Two or three Fiskes live
there now. My own direct ancestors came over
from Framlingham to Wenham, Massachusetts;
but the headquarters of the family from at least
1400 to about 1640 was Stadhaugh Manor at Lax-
field. Laxfield is a village about the size of Peters-
ham. Arriving near the village, after a beautiful
drive through delicious rural scenery, we began to
inquire for Stadhaugh, but nobody seemed to know
it, and I began to think it possible that the place
might have vanished. But in England things don't
vanish easily. By and by we stopped and asked at
a wheelwright's shop. The man said he paid quit-
rent for a bit of land held from Stadhaugh Manor,
and paid it to a Mr. Aldrich. We drove to Mr.
Aldrich's house, a very quaint old place, and him-
self a quaint old man of eighty. He remembered
that there used to be Fiskes at Stadhaugh. In 1718
the place was owned by a John Smith, who left it to
the town, and the town leased it to a Mr. Read. By
Smith's will the rents were to be applied to keeping
up a charity-school for twenty boys. The house,
with 112 acres of land surrounding, have been
181
John Fiske
leased and occupied by six generations of Reads —
at present byThomas Read, Esqr. We drove to the
house, about half-a-mile from the village; and it is
a fine, comfortable house, though not grand ; but in-
comparably the finest place in the neighbourhood.
As we drove up, Mr. Read came out to meet us —
a most stalwart, ruddy, and cordial country squire,
full of laugh.
He was greatly interested in our errand, took
us into the dining-room (a fine old room with low
ceiling, and huge beams across it, a book-case, a
piano, sideboard, and tall Dutch clock), sat us
down before the fire, and gave us some port wine
and cake, and began to talk over antiquities. This
is the very identical house where my ancestors lived;
the house which the Reverend John Fiske, of
Cotton Mather's "Magnalia," left in 1637 to come
to Cambridge, thence to Salem (where I believe
he taught the first grammar school), thence to
Chelmsford. He was n't my direct ancestor; but
his grandfather Robert (in Elizabeth's time) was,
and must have lived in this very house, for the
house goes back to that time. It was a good deal
altered in 1602, being then a very old house.
Mr. Read was extremely courteous, and after
about an hour's talk we started for the parsonage,
Mr. Read going with us. The vicar has a bright boy
of eleven who collects birds' eggs, like Clarence.
Old Mr. Aldrich told me that I would find the
Fiske graves in the pavement of the church. So we
all went to the church — an immensely old place,
one of the oldest churches I have seen, and un-
affected by "restorations." I think it must date
from the ante-Norman times, though the vicar
182
Visits Home of Ancestors
did n't know. The stone floor was covered with
matting and carpets which the sexton lifted and
swept under till we had taken up seven or eight
bucketfuls of dust; but nary a Fiske. The search
was not exhaustive, however. There were spots
from which it was difficult to raise the carpeting;
and besides, our time was limited. Moreover, as I
knew the family history down to the departure
from England, at least as well as gravestones could
tell it, I did n't look for the graves for information,
but only for sentiment, and so did not press the
matter. Mr. Aldrich said he had seen the graves,
and I presume we should have found them if we
had hunted long enough.
I saw the grave of John Smith, of Stadhaugh
(died 1718), in the church: the inscription was in
Latin, and he was described as "Armiger." I also
saw the grave of John Borrett, of Stadhaugh
Manor, and his wife Mary (died 1691 and 1699).
Now I know that Stadhaugh was owned by Nicho-
las Fiske in the time of Charles II (1660-1685),
from a grant in the " Heraldic Journal" referring to
the crest on the Fiske coat-of-arms. I now know all
but one point — how did Stadhaugh Manor pass
from Fiske to Borrett and to Smith?
There are no Fiskes now in Laxfield ; and my im-
pression is that pretty nearly the whole lot cleared
out and went to Massachusetts. There were many
such cases of wholesale migration. The vicar's boy
knew all about the burning of John Noyes in 1557
by order of Bloody Mary and told me of the exact
spot. John Noyes was brother-in-law to Nicholas
Fiske, of Dennington, a lovely village four miles
from Laxfield, through which we passed on our
183
John Fiske
dog-cart drive. This Nicholas Fiske (mentioned
in Foxe's "Book of Martyrs ") was son of Robert
and Sybil.
Well, what was this for a romantic day? In the
morning I did n't know that the old Fiske place had
survived. Now I know beyond perad venture that it
does survive and that in the very room where my
forefathers ate I actually drank a glass of wine —
and a lovely room it was too! And to have had
Abby with me to see it all ! ! ! I have had some
photographs of the house made to bring home.
We got back to the Great White Horse, Ipswich,
about 4 P.M. and our room, for aught I know, may
have been the very one in which Mr. Pickwick met
the middle-aged lady in yellow curl-papers. While
waiting for our dinner I read to Abby the Ipswich
part of "Pickwick Papers" and we enjoyed it
hugely!
From Ipswich we went to Cambridge, Ely,
Lincoln, and York — all places which I knew well
already, and was glad to see again with Abby. I
have never seen a grander cathedral than York,
though I have seen the finest ones on the Continent.
Then we got to Edinburgh, where I gave four
historical lectures at the Philosophical Institute.
The audience was very large — something like 800
— and very enthusiastic, and the whole affair went
off splendidly. In the intervals between lectures the
first week we devoted ourselves to seeing Edin-
burgh, to dining and lunching with W. W. Hunter
(who wrote the Annals of Rural Bengal, and a dozen
other books) and David Masson, and my good
friend Dr. Muir, as well as to miscellaneous fun.
Among other things — Abby having been dressed
184
YORK MINSTER
Lectures in Edinburgh
in long skirts for a luncheon — we drove with Mr.
and Mrs. Hunter around Arthur's Seat, and it
being proposed we should make the ascent, we
ascended, which as we got to a very steep place
near the top, Abby holding up her train, and I
pushing her along and using mine umbrella as a
third leg unto myself; lo! the sky darkened, and
the windows of heaven were opened, and the
floods came down ; whereat the undersigned raising
aloft the umbrella to protect his better ^, did
thereby deprive himself of the third leg needful for
propelling his weighty earthly tabernacle up the
steep declivity, and thus we did remain to consti-
tute an impressive tableau for about five or eight
minutes, until aid did arrive from the summit of
the mount in the person of Hunter with another
umbrella. Which we did n't see anything after we
got to the top, and so descended and explored
Craig-Miller Castle.
And the next week we took two Highland trips
between lectures. The first trip was the one "they
all take" — to wit: the Trossachs, Loch Katrine,
and Loch Lomond, and Abby thought she never
knew what scenery was before. The second, how-
ever, outdid it: it was a big excursion to be made
in two days, but as I knew what the Pass of Glen-
coe was I was bound Abby should see it to make
up for not being able to go to Switzerland. And this
is the way we did it. We started on Wednesday
morning early from Edinburgh, took the train four
hours to Tyndrum and were thence taken ten miles
by dog-cart to Inveroran. As I doubt if you have
ever seen the road, I will make bold to say it is one
of the most sublime on the earth : if you have seen
185
John Fiske
it you will agree with me. Huge mountains rise
from 2000 to 3000 feet each side of the road, al-
most perpendicularly, covered with heather. Not
a tree, not a house, not a sign of life. Inveroran is
a charming place consisting of a lake, a grove of
Scotch firs, and a pretty inn, where we did eat. And
the undersigned not liking the jerk of the dog-cart
we then did take a wagonette for the next twenty-
six miles which took us through the Pass of Glencoe,
to Ballachulish on Lake Leven. It was 9 P.M. when
we reached the inn at Ballachulish, and at 10 we
saw the sun set over the beautiful lake. The drive
through Glencoe filled us with a feeling of awe
which we were long in getting over.
The mountains are little more than three thou-
sand to thirty-five hundred feet high ; but they rise
sheer from the road so that you see their full
height, and their tops overhang you against the
sky. There is no vegetation on them and the
enormous rocks are piled above each other with a
grandeur that is absolutely terrific. At the bot-
tom of the glen is the little oasis where the Mac-
donalds were massacred.
The next morning we got up at five and took
steamer down Loch Linnhe, by the land of Ossian,
through most magnificent scenery twenty-six miles
to Oban. We breakfasted at Oban, and got on top
of a stage and did the road by Dunstaffnage Castle
and Ben Cruachan, through the Pass of Brander,
and past Loch Awe to Dalmally, whence we took
train five hours to Edinburgh.
Total, four hours train, thirty-six miles of private
carriage, twenty-six of steamboat, twenty-six of
stage-coach, and five hours train — that is my idea
186
In France
of a good deep draught at the cup of pleasure, and
Abby, this time at any rate, quite agreed with me.
I had seen every bit of the road before and hope
I shall see it again. Then too, the Lord was on
our side and gave us such superb weather as one
does n't often see in Scotland.
June 19 we departed from Auld Reekie, and went
400 miles at one dash to Oxford, where we spent
a delightful Sunday and dined at the rooms of a
friend. Next day we did Stratford-on-Avon and
went on to London where we put up in lodgings for
a few days to give Abby a taste of my old-fashioned
kind of life there. I had been asked to repeat my
three Royal Institution lectures at South Place
Institute (Conway's place), and did so the even-
ings of June 22d, 24th, and 25th, spending the in-
tervening time in mousing about London with
Abby. The 2Qth we went to the Isle of Wight, and
used up the 3Oth in driving by the Undercliff Road
from Ventnor to Carisbrooke Castle and Cowes.
That night we crossed from Southampton to Havre,
and thence next day to Honfleur, and drove five
miles of charming wooded road to the Chateau of
Pennedepie. My old friend Hennessy the painter
has lived there for some years and I now carried out
an old project of visiting him.
We staid a day and a half there and wished we
could stay forever. It was more like Petersham than
anything else I have ever seen in Europe, although
with the lovely hills and the walks in the pine
woods there is also to be seen at Pennedepie the
deep-blue sea. Indeed, the great watering-place,
Trouville, is but five miles distant and we included
that in an afternoon drive.
187
John Fiske
Then we pegged along to Rouen and spent half-a-
day there viewing the Cathedral and went on to
Paris and staid there eleven days. Our very best,
number one, jolly day in Paris, was spent, not in
Paris, but in Versailles. To my mind there is
nothing in Europe more interesting than the Pal-
ace of Versailles — it is so crammed with history.
Westminster Abbey is nothing to it, in point of
quantity, at any rate.
As for Paris, we wished it would smell a little
sweeter. (I tell Abby I don't know what she would
say if she were once to get a good square whiff of
Naples, but Paris is enough for a warm day.) On
the whole, we don't belong to the sect of good
Americans who go to Paris when they die. I never
did like Paris much, and Abby does n't like it. She
likes some dresses, and a love-of-a-bonnet or two,
though. We do bow down to the superiority of
French millinery — and cooking, too, to some ex-
tent, though Abby could n't for her life get a de-
cent cup of tea with cream, or a glass of real lem-
onade even, in this headquarters of y6 gourmets.
It had been suggested that I should give two or
three lectures in Paris, and Taine and Renan were
interested in. the scheme; but it was out of the
question to scare up an audience in July, and the
scheme stands postponed. I have had a letter
from Emile de Laveleye, the author of " Primitive
Property," who lives at Liege, and it is proposed
that the next time I come over I shall give some
lectures at Liege. I have been invited to lecture at
the London Institution, at the Birmingham Mid-
land Institute, and again at Edinburgh. All this
might be done next spring, but I have got tired of
1 88
Returns to America
being away from home so much and don't think I
shall cross again for eighteen months or two years.
From Paris we crossed via Calais- Dover to Lon-
don on Wednesday, July Hth, and had just time
to drop the parting tear with our friends, and get
off to Liverpool for the Gallia.
Doxology: The Gallia stopped six hours at
Queenstown, and we went ashore and took a lovely
drive of ten miles or so on a jaunting car, just to
give Abby a taste of "ould Ireland/'
And all together, it was a very good notion of a
three months' skylark.
Deo volente we shall reach Cambridge, and the
babies, Tuesday, the 27th, and go to Petersham
Saturday, the 3ist, to remain till about the 8th of
September. Abby and I hold that all Europe has no
more attractive place than Petersham. They may
have better places over there, but if they have they
keep them out of sight.
And so I have given you quite an "old peeler" of
a letter, though I can't decorate the envelope with a
British stamp — and am, with very much love to
you all, in which Abby joins, affectionately yours,
JOHN FISKE.
The Gallia reached New York July 26, 1880, and
thus Fiske's second lecture excursion to England,
with Mrs. Fiske, is shown by his own record to
have been a veritable "wedding journey," and one
of rare experiences.
CHAPTER XXVI
DOMESTIC LIFE IN PETERSHAM — CONTROVERSY
WITH DR. WILLIAM JAMES — ESSAYS — LECTUR-
ING EXPERIENCES — VISITS ST. LOUIS, MILWAU-
KEE, INDIANAPOLIS, CORNELL UNIVERSITY —
RECEIVED WITH GREAT INTEREST — SPECIAL HIS-
TORICAL LECTURES AT OLD SOUTH CHURCH -
PREPARES THREE ARTICLES ON GREAT BRITAIN
FOR CYCLOPEDIA OF POLITICAL SCIENCE — SHORT
HISTORY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE DAWNING IN HIS
MIND — AGREES TO PREPARE A SHORT HISTORY
FOR HARPER AND BROTHERS
I880-I88I
ON the return of Mr. and Mrs. Fiske from England
they joined their children in Petersham, and there
the family remained until the middle of September.
From the letters we get glimpses of an idyllic
country life amidst the pleasantest surroundings:
of picnic excursions galore, one of which has special
mention in a letter to Mrs. Stoughton: —
"On Monday (September 6th), being the six-
teenth anniversary of our wedding day, we had a
picnic at Tom Howe's farm — Abby, our six babies,
and six friends. We built a fire and the boys
roasted corn and broiled slices of pork on the end of
a stick; and we had sandwiches, and baked beans,
and potato salad and coffee : and there was a sort of
wedding-cake. We had a jolly time and staid till
dark."
190
Domestic Life in Petersham
Of Fiske's musical diversions we get this
glimpse: —
" We have a fine piano and a young lady who is
able and willing to play difficult accompaniments
by the hour and I am singing a lot of most beautiful
songs of Schubert/'
Fiske's marked success in England, which had
been widely noticed by the American press, greatly
increased the demand for his lectures in the home
market. His repertoire now consisted of nine lec-
tures, out of which could be chosen a single lecture,
or a course of three, four, or six lectures, and he
was able to adjust his "discourse" so as to meet
the great variety of local conditions. On his re-
turn, therefore, he found many applications for
his lectures awaiting him. By the opening of the
lecture season, in November, Fiske had secured en-
gagements for nearly his whole available time till
the close of the season in the following April, 1881.
His lecture engagements extended over a wide
range of territory, within the bounds, one might
say, of Boston, New York, Baltimore, St. Louis,
and Milwaukee, the fulfilling of which involved al-
most incessant travelling.
Before entering on his lecturing campaign — in
fact, while he was arranging his campaign — Fiske
wrote two magazine articles, " Sociology and Hero-
Worship" for the "Atlantic Monthly," and "The
Causes of Persecution" for the "North American
191
John Fiske
Review/' and also a brief article on " Heroes of
Industry."
The first of these articles is worthy of serious
consideration by every one who wishes to see the
application of the doctrine of Evolution to social
development clearly presented, and who also wishes
to get light upon Fiske's historical method. In the
" Atlantic Monthly" for October, 1880, William
James, of Harvard, the well-known psychologist,
published an article entitled "Great Men, Great
Thoughts, and the Environment." In this article
James rambled quite discursively over much phil-
osophic, historic, and scientific ground, with no
little incisiveness and brilliancy of phrase. The
main point of the article was an attack upon the
doctrine of Evolution in its application to indi-
vidual and social life, and this attack bristled with
sharp thrusts at " Mr. Herbert Spencer and his dis-
ciples." James stated his thesis thus: —
"Our problem is, What are the causes that make
communities change from generation to generation
— that make the England of Queen Anne so differ-
ent from the England of Elizabeth, the Harvard
College of to-day so different from that of thirty
years ago? I shall reply to this problem. The differ-
ence is due to the accumulated influences of in-
dividuals, of their examples, their initiations and
their decisions . . . The mutations of societies then
from generation to generation are in the main due
directly or indirectly to the acts or the example of
individuals whose genius was so adapted to the
192
Reply to William James
receptivities of the moment, or whose accidental
position of authority was so critical that they be-
came ferments, initiators of movement, setters of
precedent or fashion, centres of corruption, or
destroyers of other persons, whose gifts, had they
had free play, would have led society in another
direction/*
James admitted there was some kind of evolution
at work in human society, for he says : —
"Thus social evolution is a resultant of the inter-
action of two wholly distinct factors : the individual,
deriving his peculiar gifts from the play of physi-
ological and infra-social forces, but bearing all the
power of initiative and origination in his hands ; and
second the social environment, with its power of
adopting or rejecting both him and his gifts. Both
factors are essential to change. The community
stagnates without the impulse of the individual.
The impulse dies away without the sympathy of
the community."
Good Spencerian, Darwinian, Fiske Evolution-
ary doctrine, this, as far as it goes. But it gives no
hint of the play of the physiographic forces in the
environment, or any distinct recognition of the so-
cial institutions by which organized society is held
together — institutions which in their development
conserve and generate an intellectual and social
atmosphere without which, from the viewpoint of
social science, your " Great Man" could not exist.
Fiske read James's article with mingled feelings
of regret and surprise: regret that a psychologic
193
John Fiske
thinker like James, who made so much in his teach-
ing of the play of environing conditions, physio-
logical, physical, and social, in his interpretation
of psychical phenomena, could so far forget his
indebtedness to Spencer for blazing the way to a
rational method of psychologic study as to charge
Spencer with " impudence'* in his argument, and
to characterize his theory of social progress as
an " obsolete anachronism/' And he was greatly
surprised to observe that with all his sociologic
and historic study, James had failed to note that
Evolutionary ideas, of which Spencer -was the
greatest living exponent, were permeating as with
new life all modern thought; and that, while bitterly
condemning Spencer in toto, he was in many re-
spects following closely in Spencer's footsteps him-
self.
Regarding some of the points in James's article
as directed against himself, he being a disciple of
Spencer's, Fiske felt that he was challenged for a
reply. And he lost no time in making it: one
in which there is an entire absence of a desire to
make brilliant points; rather one which consists of
a lucid presentation of the facts involved with the
logical overwhelming conclusion to which they lead.
In the first place, Fiske is at pains to show the
points wherein James and the Spencerian Evolu-
tionists are agreed, and then turns with perfect
fairness to the charge which James brings against
the Spencerians of neglecting the function of great
194
Reply to William James
men in their theories of social evolution. He shows
conclusively, from Spencer's writings and his own,
that there has not been any such neglect — indeed,
the evidence leads to quite the contrary conclusion.
He sums up his argument at this point with this
keen, incisive statement: —
" If Mr. Herbert Spencer and his disciples main-
tain any such astonishing proposition as this [the
denial of the function of great men in social evolu-
tion] it must be difficult to acquit them of the charge
of over-hasty theorizing to say the least : if they do
not hold any such view, it will be difficult to avoid
the conclusion that somebody has been guilty of
over-hasty assertion. "
Having thus turned James's polemic batteries,
which were aimed at "Mr. Spencer and his dis-
ciples," back upon James himself, Fiske proceeds to
the discussion of the real question involved — that
of sociology as a science and how its development
is affected by great men, a discussion wherein the
views of James, reflecting Carlyle's doctrine of
hero-worship, seem sadly out of place. Defining
sociology as the science of social phenomena, he
pointed out that the truths with which sociology is
primarily concerned are general truths relating to
the structure of man's various social organizations,
and the functions of their various parts; truths re-
vealed by a comparative and analytical study of the
actions of great masses of men when considered
on a scale where all matters of individual idiosyn-
J95
John Fiske
crasy are averaged, and, for the purposes of the
enquiry, are eliminated.
As a pertinent illustration of this fact Fiske cites
the representative assembly common to all govern-
ments making any pretence to a consideration of
the interests: of their people. This assembly is a
direct outgrowth from the primary meeting of in-
dividual citizens, and has been developed through
social changes among the people themselves. This
is a fact established by a wide historic induction;
and its implications, when once fully unfolded, go
farther toward explaining the differences between
Greek and Roman political history on the one hand,
and English political history on the other, than
do the biographies of all the Greek and Roman
and English statesmen from Lycurgus and Servius
Tullius, to Gladstone.
Then, too, this scientific study of social phe-
nomena, as illustrated by the investigations of
Maine, Stubbs, Coulanges, Maurer, Tylor, and
others, is not only bringing new interpretations to
history, but also juster valuations of the services of
" Great Men/' Carlyle's method of dealing with
history, making it a mere series of prose epics, has
many merits, but it is nevertheless inadequate. It
does not at all explain the course of events ; it leaves
them a jumble. History is something more than
biography, else we are thrown back upon "special
causes" and have nothing stable wherewith to in-
terpret the past or to predicate the future. And it
196
Reply to William James
is here that sociology comes in as a science, and
affirms the relativity of all social phenomena to
"One far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves."
Fiske closes his article with three very pertinent
illustrations of the effect of the scientific study of
social phenomena in the interpretation of history,
and also in the valuation of great men, which are
overwhelming in their support of his contention.
He says: -
"As an example I may refer to the way in which
the life of Caesar has been treated respectively by
Froude and by Mommsen. To both these writers
Caesar is the greatest hero that has ever lived and
both do their best to illustrate his career. Both,
too, have done their work well. But Mr. Froude
has profited very little by the modern scientific
study of social phenomena, and his method is in
the main the method of Carlyle. Mommsen, on
the other hand, is saturated in every fibre with
'science,' with, 'sociology,' with the 'comparative
method,' with the 'study of institutions.' As a
result of this difference, we find that Mr. Froude
quite fails to do justice to the very greatest part of
all Caesar's work, namely, the reconstructive meas-
ures of the last years of his life, which Mommsen
has so admirably characterized in his profound
chapter on the 'Old Republic and the New
Monarchy.' Or, if a still more striking proof be
needed that the scientific study of the evolution of
society is not incompatible with the highest possi-
ble estimate of the value of individual initiative, I
197
John Fiske
may cite the illustrious example of Mr. Freeman.
Of all the historians now living Mr. Freeman is
the most thoroughly filled with the scientific spirit,
and he has done more than any other to raise the
study of history on to a higher level than it has
ever before occupied. His writings in great part
read like an elaborate commentary on the doctrine
of Evolution — a commentary the more valuable
in one sense, in that Mr. Freeman owns no especial
allegiance to Mr. Spencer, or to any general evolu-
tionary philosophy. Yet this great historian, whose
opinions are determined everywhere by the socio-
logical study of institutions, turns out to be at the
same time as ardent a hero-worshipper as Carlyle
himself, and vastly more intelligent."
To sum up in a word Fiske's conception of the
" Great Man," it was that of servant, — servant in
the service of humanity; and the really great serv-
ants of humanity stood in his mind, to use his own
words, "as the Memnon Colossi of the human race.
No matter in what century or among what people
their feet may be placed, around their brows the mu-
sic of morning and of evening is forever playing."
James and Fiske were the best of friends, and
James was prompt in acknowledging the force of
Fiske's criticism, as appears by the following
note: —
CAMBRIDGE, December 19, 1880.
My dear Fiske: —
I have received your spanking, and I should n't
mind having some more from the same rod. I kiss
the rod that chastises me! It is pleasant to find one
198
Essays
who so perfectly endorses all I have to say about
the facts and laws of sociology; and reading your
last pages has made me more than ever regret that
you are not teaching history in college.
As for the Spencer question, perhaps I laid it too
strong on the individual's share in my polemic
passage, as he on the " Conditions" in his polemic
passage.
Always yours faithfully,
WM. JAMES.
In the second article referred to as written at
this time — "The Causes of Persecution " - Fiske
showed how this terrible infliction on the human
race was the outcome of expanding social ideas in
conflict with established social conditions, a conflict
which enabled egoistic great men, when uncurbed
by adequate social forces, to resort to the most dire
persecutions for opinion's sake. He pointed out
also how, with the growth of more rational views of
social well-being, — the outcome of increasing tol-
erance, — society is steadily sloughing off the con-
ditions which made it possible for great men, as
persecutors or as arbiters of public opinion, to exist*
His article on the "Heroes of Industry," written
at this time, was prepared as an introduction to the
eighth volume of the work entitled "The Hundred
Greatest Men." This volume comprised biogra-
phies of inventors and discoverers, and Fiske's intro-
ductory article illustrates some of the points made
in his reply to James.
Fiske's lecture experiences during his season of
199
John Fiske
1 880-8 1, so far as success with his audiences was
concerned, were much more satisfactory than dur-
ing the previous season. His new course on " Amer-
ican Political Ideas" was received with greater
favor, if that were possible, than his course on
American history. Never before had the peace
movement been given such a comprehensive and
philosophic basis as was given to it in this presen-
tation of American political ideas. What is more,
these lectures are to-day the best interpretation we
have of the underlying principles of our Federal
Union.
t During this season's campaign, he had some per-
sonal experiences which are of interest, not only as
reflections of his own individuality, but as typical
illustrations of the social and intellectual culture of
the American people.
The season was opened in Boston with his three
lectures on " American Political Ideas," and the
lectures were received with as deep an interest and
with as marked an enthusiasm as had been bestowed
upon them in London.
Here is a glimpse of his experiences, in January,
1881, among the Quakers at Haverford College,
near Philadelphia. Fiske gave here his six lectures
on "America's Place in History," and the last lec-
ture in his course on " American Political Ideas,"
alternating their delivery with two shorter courses
in Baltimore, and in Plainfield, New Jersey. He
writes : —
200
Lecturing Experiences
" I have got a most enthusiastic audience here of
students with prof.s and prof.s' wives; and several
people who heard my lectures last winter in Phila-
delphia, and who come out here to hear me now.
It is the same old story; the lectures are voted a
success of the first water. President Chase is a true
scholar, and a man of broad views and great heart
- an ideal college president. His wife and children
are also very interesting. They are all Quakers and
say ' thee and thou * and their family life is a new ex-
perience for Beelzie. It is awfully countrified here,
quite like Petersham. We walk to the lectures under
pine trees, and pick our way among the snowdrifts.
Quite an Acadia. . . . The last lecture, ' Manifest
Destiny/ was a tremendous success (as every-
where) and especially pleased the Quakers, who be-
lieve in peace, you know. They say Hezzy is a boss
Quaker himself! I said good-bye regretfully to the
Chases, who are lovely people."
In his extensive railway travelling Fiske occa-
sionally met with incidents of much personal inter-
est. Whenever he met with an experience that was
in any way an attestation to the value of his work
in the world of thought, he took great pleasure in
passing it on to his wife or to his mother, as he so
truly regarded them as joint sharers in whatever of
appreciation or honor might come to him. Imme-
diately after the close of his Haverford lectures he
started for St. Louis; and on his way, via the Penn-
sylvania Railroad, he fell in with some "chance
acquaintances" who relieved the monotony of the
journey, and also paved the way for a lecture
201
John Fiske
engagement at Indianapolis; which, as we shall
see, proved an event of great interest and pleasure
to himself and to the good people of Indianapolis.
The delightfully simple and frank way in which
Fiske tells Mrs. Fiske of his experiences with these
"chance acquaintances*' needs no comment. In
his account of his trip to St. Louis, under date of
February 2, 1881, he wrote her thus: —
"Saturday after lunch I went into a little smok-
ing-room and found a very bright-looking young
man of thirty there, who lighted my pipe. We got
talking on railroad travel and its recent improve-
ments, and he proved to be one of the principal
mechanical engineers of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company, the inventor of the best kind of car
wheel. His name is Barr. From car- wheel making
we got on to contraction and expansion, molecu-
lar motion, vortex-atoms, the nebular hypothesis,
matter and spirit, etc., and I took great pleasure in
the keenness and precision with which the young
man talked and the extent of his scientific knowl-
edge.
"After a while he said, 'These materialists are
getting some heavy blows lately, and soon will
learn that they have n't exhausted the sphere of
knowledge. These matters have been beautifully
treated in a little book called " The Unseen World,"
by John Fiske — ever see it? Tell you what, sir,
that man 's by all odds the greatest thinker of our
day — sees farther than Spencer himself in many
points. In my opinion nothing has ever been done
that equals the argument in the "Unseen World."
I 'd give a heap to see that man ! ! ! ' '
202
Lecturing Experiences
"Here I thought it best to interfere at once and
not sit and let him go on in that vein. I explained
that the individual here alluded to was identical
with the 'gent here present/ Whereat he got up in
great excitement and seized my hand, and told me
that words could n't begin to tell the good I had
done him with my writings, and he considered this
one of the greatest days of his life!
"This young man lives in Altoona, in the Alle-
ghanies. At Harrisburgh, we were joined by an-
other Altoona man named Duffield, an orthodox
minister, enormously fond of all sorts of literature
and especially of folk-lore. He recognized me, and
said he had met me in Central Park, with Henry
Holt, as we were returning from Bob Weeks's. I
remember the time. It was in February, 1877, the
last time I ever saw dear Bob. We entered into a
'terremenjuous' triangular chin-wag till 10 P.M.,
when we reached Altoona, and my two friends got
out.
"Next morning, as I was taking my after-break-
fast smoke, a young man (of twenty-five or so)
came up and introduced himself as F. C. Eaton, of
Indianapolis, a graduate of Williams. Mr. Duffield
had told him I was on my way to St. Louis to give
some lectures, and he wanted to know if I could n't
put in two or three at Indianapolis. I told him
I could give three lectures there and named my
terms. He thought there was no doubt it could be
arranged and is to let me know next week."
As we shall see, Fiske gave his three lectures on
"American Political Ideas " in Indianapolis during
the following April.
203
John Fiske
At St. Louis his engagement was for three lec-
tures on "American Political Ideas " under the
auspices of Washington University. He was most
cordially received by Dr. Eliot, the President of
the University, and by Professor Snow, the Pro-
fessor of History. The latter was an undergradu-
ate at Harvard with Fiske, but in the class of '65.
Fiske also received many social courtesies from
President Eliot, the University Club, Judge Gantt,
Colonel Hitchcock, formerly of General Sherman's
staff-- "a capital fellow, native of Alabama, but
very Northern in feeling and highly cultivated";
and several others. In short, the St. Louis people
took him warmly to their hearts, and he established
personal friendships that in years to come were
enduring.
His lectures were received in the most flattering
manner, with unstinted applause, and with ex-
pressions of personal appreciation that were most
gratifying. President Eliot said to him, "You are
throwing a new light on the whole of American
history, and you are a benefactor to your country-
men." On the strength of his great success Presi-
dent Eliot made a definite engagement with him for
a course of five lectures under the auspices of the
university the next winter. In one of his letters to
Mrs. Fiske, from St. Louis, telling of his great
success, Fiske remarks parenthetically: "By the
way, my dear, these Royal Institution lectures
('American Political Ideas') are the ones to give
204
Lectures in St. Louis
whenever the audience is cultivated enough — they
are grander than the historical series."
A little incident occurred during this St. Louis
visit, worth relating as showing the wide range and
accuracy of Fiske's knowledge. Judge Gantt, who
was a well-informed man of some sixty-five years,
had taken a great fancy to Fiske and he seemed to
take a delight in probing Fiske's knowledge. One
day he sought to feaze Fiske with a historico-legal
question or puzzle, and here is Fiske's account of
the incident : —
" Judge Gantt thought he would stick me and so
propounded to me the barbarous law-Latin puzzle
propounded by Sir Thomas More to a learned
jurist at Amsterdam, 'whether a plough taken in
withernam can be replevied?' Did n't stick Heze-
kiah — not much. I gave him a minute account of
the ancient process of distraining and impounding
and of the action of replevin, — considerably to my
own amusement and his astonishment."
Fiske left St. Louis greatly cheered by the hearty
Western appreciation that had been shown to-
wards his work, as well as by the warm personal
friendships he had established. Henceforth we are
to see St. Louis stand forth in his regard as one of
his intellectual homes. From St. Louis he went to
Milwaukee. He spent a month in Wisconsin giv-
ing lectures in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, and
Waukesha. In these places he was received with
the same enthusiastic appreciation given to him
205
John Fiske
elsewhere. He writes: " Wisconsin has certainly
waked up to Hezzy ! They 're lively folks out here ;
want to hear all the new notions. At Madison I had
the Governor and several members of the Legisla-
ture present, and they were profuse in their ex-
pressions of delight. " He encountered some snow
blockades which interfered with a few of his en-
gagements. He took the interruptions philosoph-
ically, however, contenting himself with an exple-
tive now and then, such as this: "The snow in
Madison lies in mountains. Great Scott, what a
sight!"
While in Wisconsin Fiske made his headquarters
in Milwaukee; and of course he at once resumed
personal relations with his dear friends Professor
Peckham and his family, and the Reverend Mr.
Dudley, of whom the reader has doubtless retained
pleasant recollections, from the account which was
given in previous pages of Fiske's first visit to
Milwaukee with his philosophical lectures in 1872.
He had a tender regard for these dear friends who
sought by many delicate attentions to make his so-
journ among them agreeable to his aesthetic tastes*
He was entertained by the Peckhams during the
whole period, and here is just a glimpse he gives
Mrs. Fiske of his pleasant home-like surround-
ings:—
"It is a divinely beautiful Sabbath morning,
quiet as Petersham, snow three feet deep and bright
sun. George [Professor Peckham] is reading my
206
In Milwaukee Again
Pollock's 'Spinoza,' now and then exclaiming with
delight or reading a sentence aloud ; his little dear
of a wife is looking over the newspaper, and his
white-haired mother is dozing in a big rocking-
chair before the fire. So I will grasp the occasion to
write a line to my dear home circle, eleven hundred
miles away.
"George is going to give a 'tremenjuous' break-
fast-party for me here next Sunday morning, at
10 o'clock; so you can imagine Hezzy in great
feather and in good company."
He had many "chin-wags" with his ever-delight-
ful old Middletown friend and adviser Dudley, to
whom, with his intimates, he gave the sobriquet of
"Black John" by reason of Dudley's swarthy com-
plexion, -- hence remarks like these: —
"Friday, nth. Lunched with Black John, and
chin-wagged till 4 P.M.
"Saturday, I2th. Stormy. Lunched and chin-
wagged all day with Black John and his wife, and
played on their Stein way piano. Dear old Black
John — how I do love him! He's awful good."
We can easily imagine the nature of their "chin-
wags": their Middletown reminiscences; Fiske's
youthful inquiries and their profound significance;
and the great development of thought the inter-
vening years had brought to both. The Misses
Hathaway were by no means overlooked. In a
letter to Mrs. Fiske he gives an account of an eve-
ning in their hospitable home, which is, one may
well say, self-revealing on both sides. He writes : —
207
John Fiske
"Saturday, I2th. At 8 P.M. went to the Hatha-
way's, with Peckham, and found the three girls,
their brother Andrew, and their Uncle John. Car-
ried my Schubert songs and sang nearly all of them
to Mary's accompaniment on the Steinway grand.
Hezzy was in his very best voice. Then we all went
up to the uncle's den at the top of the ' hipe.' He is a
jolly old bird, fat, black-eyed, handsome and good-
natured. His room is half the attic, with low eight
foot ceiling; a compound of bedroom and study,
with lots of books, rugs, and easy-chairs, and a side-
board to boot. It is just awfully cosy. Here in this
delightful nest, with a bright fire, a glass of ' some-
thing hot,' a rich cigar, the beaming old uncle, the
ever philosophic George, the three charming sisters,
and the wind howling outside for a background to
enhance the brightness of it all, Hezzy for the time
being, dropped the gnawing homesickness which
he generally carries around in his thorax just next
his heart. It was midnight when we reached home.
I wish you had been there, — you would enjoy the
Hathaway s; and the den was just the kind to make
Maudie flap her wings."
As I turn over these Milwaukee letters of Feb-
ruary, 1 88 1, I am struck by the following coin-
'cidence which could not possibly be owing to any
premeditation: I find a note from Mr. Howells,
then editor of the " Atlantic Monthly," asking
Fiske for a paper, critical and reminiscent, on
George Eliot; and close beside this note I find a
letter of Fiske, which contains this injunction to
Mrs. Fiske: —
208
In Milwaukee Again
" Read the ' Undiscovered Country ' at once. It is
by far the best thing Howells has yet done. It is
simply magnificent. It made the tears come."
While in Milwaukee, Fiske had the good news
that his dear friend Huxley had received from the
English Government a sinecure appointment -
Inspector of Salmon Fisheries — which doubled his
income without increasing his work. This greatly
delighted Fiske, inasmuch as he well knew how this
honor would ease Huxley's declining years. He also
received a letter at this time from his dear Scotch
friend, James Sime, of London, who, in the follow-
ing extract, not only gave expression to his deep
personal regard, but also voiced the grief of Eng-
land at the departure of one of the most striking
and influential personalities of the Victorian era.
Sime writes under date of February 7, 1881 : —
"As I write we are all mourning the loss of our
great old hero Carlyle. I do not think any of us
knew how much we loved him until now. He said
many wild things about your country, as indeed he
did about most subjects: yet how much we all owe
to him! It seems somehow as if life must be less*
ideal now that his grand picturesque figure is gone.
With all his extravagances he had some of the very
qualities which we appear to need most in these
materialistic times. Spencer's influence is any-
thing but materialistic but we want so much more
glow and fervour than a writer of his stamp can
give us. If only the mighty poet for whom the
whole creation is groaning would come! Nature
209
John Fiske
seems to find it very hard to give birth to those
radiant spirits who, without exactly adding to our
knowledge give a new meaning and glory to the
world, and bring us nearer to the very heart of
things.
" I am so pleased to think that you are resolved
to visit the old country again as soon as you can.
Next time I hope nothing will prevent us from
having some happy days together in the country,
or, still better perhaps, on the continent. What
say you to our planning a trip from Coblentz to
Treves, such as Mrs. Fiske and you thought of? It
would be all the more delightful if she were of the
party. We should have quite a world of happy
memories."
Thus, greeted by enthusiastic audiences, and
cheered by warm personal friendships, — some ex-
tending over the greater portion of his life, — and
all in the midst of Wisconsin's terrific snows, there
came to Fiske this sympathetic note from Sime as a
sweet message from his friends beyond the sea, and
at the same time a delicate attestation to his own
place in the world of thought. His state of mind is
'reflected in this passage in one of his Milwaukee
letters: "Hezzy is well, bright, and clear all the
time nowadays, things look so bright to him."
While in Milwaukee Fiske received an urgent
request from Mrs. Mary Hemenway, for two
lectures to be given in the Old South Church in
Boston: one in support of the proposition to make
this historic building a centre for the teaching of
210
The Old South Church
American history, and the principles of good citi-
zenship; and the other upon Samuel Adams as a
type of eminent citizenship. He was glad to comply
with this request as a patriotic duty; and getting
a postponement of his lecture engagements at In-
dianapolis for a month, he went directly from Mil-
waukee to his home in Cambridge, where he arrived
March 13, and at once set about the preparation
of the two lectures, to be delivered April 4 and
April 6.
In the first lecture he gave a summary of the
principal events in New England history, and par-
ticularly an account of the notable incidents which
identified the Old South building with the War of
Independence. He had a fine audience, and in a
letter to his mother he gave quite a graphic account
of the occasion : —
"I gave my new lecture on the Old South
Church to-day, on the site of the pulpit where Sam
Adams and Warren once roused the people to resist
the encroachments of George III. There were 400
or more present. I wound up with a grand appeal
to save the building and convert it into a place for
teaching American history. Every one says it is the
most eloquent thing I ever did. Mrs. Hemenway is
overjoyed. I know myself that I never held an
audience so breathless with interest before. I got
excited myself, and Abby says she never before
saw me so animated in manner. My audience was
the cream of Boston. More than all, I believe I
have started a fresh impulse toward saving the
211
John Fiske
building; and if so, it will be well. O, this has been
a sweet and happy day! Harold and Ralph were
there, and took it all in with enthusiasm. How funny
it seems to have children old enough to do so!"
The Samuel Adams lecture, which came two
days later, was also one of great interest, and gave
Fiske a fine opportunity to show his appreciation of
the function of great men in the development of
social and political well-being, and also an oppor-
tunity to display his power of individual character-
ization — the first opportunity he had had to treat
a really great historic personality by itself. He first
sketched the social and political life of New Eng-
land, based on its town meetings and its represent-
ative assemblies, as forming the general social con-
ditions into which Samuel Adams was born; and
which furnished him, in the maturity of his powers,
with the instrumentalities for doing his great work
for, and with, his countrymen. And thus by the play
of outward and inward forces Samuel Adams be-
came the type of New England citizen-statesman-
ship at the opening of the Revolutionary period.
Then by way of complementary contrast, Fiske
briefly sketched the social and political development
of ^Virginia, and pointed out how this development
tended to the production of leaders in thought and
action, so that Washington became as distinctly and
legitimately the type of Virginia citizen-statesman-
ship as Samuel Adams was of that of New England.
Having thus sketched a general background for
212
Lecture on Samuel Adams
his portrait, he presents his hero, not only as the
first of citizens, but also as the statesman around
whom the civil history of the Revolutionary period
centres, as its military history centres around
Washington.
Thus, cheered by a patriotic duty well performed,
and by a short visit with his family, Fiske promptly
set his face westward to fulfil his two remaining
lecture engagements of the season — the one at
Indianapolis and the other at Cornell University,
Ithaca.
There is a free, autobiographic frankness of ex-
pression in the letters immediately following, the
aim being throughout to present Fiske as he was,
especially to give due prominence to his robust
enjoyment of life, his profound sympathy with his
fellows, and his great pleasure in service, in giving
joy to others.
He knew Dickens by heart and Dickens's char-
acters were his constant companions. Hence he
looked out upon life as abounding in charity and
humor, and he was ever ready "to lend a hand."
Then, too, these letters were written under cir-
cumstances where he had only to reveal himself, —
his impressions, his feelings, his thoughts, — and
it will be noted that his revelations all relate to
worthy things.
His trip to Indianapolis was by way of New York
and thence over the Pennsylvania Railroad. Of his
journey under date of April 15, he writes thus: —
213
John Fiske
"I had a most delightful ride hither from Phila-
delphia over the mountains. The day was wonder-
fully beautiful — all the loveliness of spring. I
read Lecky all day with intense delight and the car
was so well lighted that I was able to read com-
fortably till 10 P.M. By the time I got here I had
nearly finished the first volume. Eaton met me
at the Station and brought me here — the New
Denison Hotel. It is one of the most comfortable
hotels I have ever stopped at; clean beds, pleasant
rooms, good food. I have made a great hit with the
lectures, the last of which I give to-night. Wednes-
day afternoon half a dozen young ladies assembled
at Mrs. Eaton's, and Hezzy sang a lot of songs and
some of the ladies sang, and then we adjourned to
the church, and Hezzy played on the organ. After
the lecture the Literary Club gave me a grand re-
ception. Yesterday Mrs. Eaton gathered 38 ladies
in her parlour, and Hezzy read 'em his paper on a
Common Origin of Languages, and then answered
about 500 questions about everything, and told 'em
about George Eliot, and sang 'Wohin,' and 'Am
Meer,' and 'Bid me to live,' in which Mrs. Vinton,
Judge Stallo's daughter, accompanied me. This
afternoon the Vintons take me to drive and to tea.
After the lecture to-night there is to be a great
pow-wow here at the hotel, including a supper and
speeches and songs. I was asked to make a speech,
but resolutely refused. Then I was asked to sing
some songs, which I said que oui, and am to sing,
possibly, a bouquet consisting of
"i. Wohin.
"2. Am Meer.
"3. Auf dem Wasser zu Singen.
214
Lectures in Indianapolis
"They are bound to have me here next winter
they say. Indianapolis is a very pretty city — a
sort of immense New England village with wide,
shady streets; but not to be compared with Mil-
waukee for beauty."
After the evening's "pow-wow" he writes as
follows : —
"Grand shindy came off this evening. Supper of
300 people. Speeches, stories, and fun. Toasts
were given me. When called up, I waived speech
and gave 'Rauschen' with a good accompanist
on a grand piano. Never before did Hezzy's voice
ring out so loud and clear. It was all utterly bran-
new to these Indianopolitans! By Jove — the
applause was uproarious, absolutely deafening,
and prolonged till encore was a necessity. Then I
sang 'Auf dem Wasser zu Singen'; and I never
sang so before in my life. It went off beautifully.
So did Hezzy's lecture to-night. Everything is
working well. I think I have conquered Indiana.
The whole Legislature heard me sing to-night ; and
I held a levee afterward, shaking hands with 'em all.
And now every town in Indiana wants to 'have
the honor ' of entertaining me with a lecture course
next winter. My two songs were worth two lectures
to me. If all else fails, I'll go a-singing with Thomas's
Orchestra!!"
Fiske spent another day in the friendly atmos-
phere of Indianapolis, and then set out for Ithaca
by way of Buffalo. From Ithaca, under date of
April 20, 1 88 1, he resumes the record of his experi-
ences. Writing to Mrs. Fiske he says: —
215
John Fiske
"Well, my dear, what do you suppose Hezzy did
the next morning after he sang songs to 300 people?
Lindley Vinton came with his two prancing nags in
a light buggy and we scampered, you may believe.
Drove away out into the woods, where it was so
beautiful that we got down, hitched our team, and
went into the woods and lay an hour on the dry
leaves looking up into the sky. I enclose some of
the leaves. Then we went to the Bates House and
had a festive dinner of wild ducks, etc. Then
Hezzy packed and went over to Mrs. Eaton's, and
sang a lot of songs in which Miss Helen Wright
accompanied me. Then took tea and left at once to
get the 7.30 train for Buffalo (got a horrible break-
fast next morning at Cleveland), and reached
Buffalo at 1.15, reading Lecky all the A.M. with
great delight! Henry Richmond was there to meet
me with carriage, and took me bag and baggage
up to his 'hipe,' and regaled me with some fried
oysters, broiled spring chicken, delicious French
rolls, and heavenly beer. Two nice young Harvard
graduates were there. Then Richmond took me a
long, beautiful drive in an open buggy --it was
chilly. At 7 we had dinner, to which came Fred
Wheeler and five others, so that we sat eight at
table. Great tall chairs like those in the 'Old
Curiosity Shop'; rich tapestries hanging over the
doors; rare paintings on the walls, and portfolios,
prints, giant red volumes, etc., scattered about in
confusion; low ceiling of solid oak; orchestrion
discoursing sweet music; — jolly place, my dear!
We had a clear soup, fresh shad, porter-house
steak and potato croquettes, wild duck, lobster
salad, Charlotte russe, ice-cream and coffee; with
216
At Cornell University
claret and champagne. Broke up at 10.30, and
went around to Wheeler's house for an hour — then
came back and bunked in. Had a truly magnif-
icent time, and the boys all treated me as if they
were glad to see me.
"Got off Monday morning on the 8.20 train,
read Lecky all day, and reached Ithaca at 5.20 P.M.
I was immediately brought up here to Sage Col-
lege, which is the building especially devoted to
the young women ; and so here is Hezzy , in a great
building full of 'sweet-girl-undergraduates.' None
but ministers, I am told, are allowed this privilege;
so I suppose I am a minister. I have a lovely pair
of rooms — parlour and bed-room — on the second
floor. There is a great commons hall downstairs,
where I take meals with the 60 or 80 'sweet girl
undergraduates,' though here two male instructors
do likewise, besides the husband of the matron.
"As a rule the girls are not extremely pretty, and
their general style is more or less annexy! Does n't
Hezzy put up in all sorts of places? There's a
monstrous parlour with a good Steinway concert-
grand, and this morning I struck out an outline of a
1 Dona Nobis' for my Mass, which seems good, and
if I really adopt it and fill it out, that will finish
the Mass, you know. — These girls are mighty
well-mannered. There's very little discipline, but
there 's never been an atom of trouble or scandal of
any sort, though you see the girls strolling about
the yard with the young men, to and from lectures,
etc. They do get married, though; it is a common
thing for engagements to take place here, resulting
in marriage soon after graduation. They say the
boys work a great deal harder for having the girls
217
John Fiske
to hear and see what they do. Every one, without
exception, approves of the system unreservedly,
which I found to be the case also at Madison.
"A great deal has been said of the beauty of this
place but no description can begin to come up to
the reality. In the first place, there is Cayuga
Lake, forty miles long and averaging four miles in
width: that goes winding away among the hills,
almost as lovely as a Scotch lake. At the head of
the lake, on a flat plain, stands the village of
Ithaca, about twice as large as Athol, with wide
shady streets, and many handsome houses. There
are several millionnaires living in the village!
From the village up to the college-yard the ascent
is quite as steep as the ascent to Tom Howe's farm
— steeper in fact, for a road straight up would be
impossible. The road winds up turning corners as
sharp as those which scared you, as we approached
Loch Lomond. As I sit here, I see village and lake
400 feet below. Beyond them rise the opposite
hills, with mountains in the distance, where snow
still lies. Great gorges, two and three hundred feet
in depth cut through the yard, and are crossed
by elegant stone bridges. At the bottom of these
gorges are roaring streams and waterfalls. One of
these falls, which is over 150 feet high is worth a
journey to see. The gorges are thickly covered with
pine-trees.
' The college-buildings are very large and elegant,
and are not crowded together. The houses of many
of the professors stand about the edges of the yard.
Before my window, on the edge of the steep descent,
stand five or six, all many gabled and picturesque.
It is simply a wonderfully beautiful place. There
218
At Cornell University
are not many large trees about the yard but they
are not needed. Here and there are clumps of huge
pines. They say it is terribly cold here in winter,
which I readily believe.
11 My lectures are in a large hall down in the vil-
lage, and we go down in an omnibus with brakes.
The hall, which seats about 1000 people, was packed
full the first night, and the lecture was voted a suc-
cess as usual. To-night I give the second lecture.
'The food at the feminine commons is very
good : something like what we get at Mrs. Moore's
in Petersham — and a great plenty of it. Most
of the girls look fresh and rosy and healthy. It
is profoundly quiet, but now and then I hear 'em
laughing as they go along the hall. Lots of feminine
head-gear and worsted shawls and sich hang around
by the foot of the stairs, and altogether the whole
sense of being installed here for ten days is sort of
odd.
" O, my dear, I am awfully homesick! I am read-
ing and studying as hard as I can to keep down my
feelings. I do think it is wicked that I have to be
away from home so much. It is all as wrong as it
can be. I have finished Lecky and am now reading
Gardiner's 'Thirty Years' War.' "
From Cornell, Ithaca, under date of April 28,
1 88 1, he writes: —
"They tell me that there have never been any
lectures here, since the University was founded, so
successful as mine. The hall is packed every time
and there are many standing up. I seem to have
won the heart of everybody and can count on Cor-
nell in future as often as I have anything to give.
219
John Fiske
To-night by general request I gave ' Common Ori-
gin of Languages ' here in the lecture-room of Sage
College. The room was packed. At least 300 peo-
ple toiled up the fearful hill from the village to hear
me. After getting through my manuscript the spirit
moved me to make some extempore remarks, which
I interspersed with some puns and odd stories, and
it was a great success every way. To-morrow eve-
ning I give ' Manifest Destiny ' and wind up Satur-
day at 9 A.M. I then 'quit these diggin's,' shall take
sleeping-car at Utica and reach Boston about 9 A.M.
Sunday, May ist."
Thus Fiske's third lecture season came to its
close, and he was only too glad to get an easement
from his peripatetic work. But he could not remain
idle. His experience in presenting some of the gen-
eral aspects of American history to popular audi-
ences, the universal favor with which his lectures
had been received, the widely expressed opinion of
eminent critics that he was giving not only a fresh
interpretation, but also a new philosophic valida-
tion to "American history, were definite evidences
that he had undertaken a greatly needed work, and
that his broad, philosophic method of treating his
subject — presenting American history as a chap-
ter in the social evolution of mankind — would be
readily appreciated by his countrymen.
While engaged with his lectures, his mind was
much engaged with thoughts of a concise history
of the American people, from the discovery of the
continent by Columbus, down to the close of the
220
Plans New American History
Civil War in 1865; this history to be comprised in
three volumes. He took as a typical model John
Richard Green's " Short History of the English
People."
While brooding on this subject during the spring
of 1 88 1, he received a letter from Messrs. Harper
& Brothers, publishers, in which they asked if he
was open to negotiations for a work on American
history. The letters show that after a few days'
rest with his family, Fiske was in conference with
the Messrs. Harper in New York, and that he was
not long in coming to an agreement with them for
the publication of such a history as he had in
mind.
Having now a very definite literary task before
him, Fiske set about its execution in the same care-
ful, deliberate way we have had occasion to note as
customary with him when undertaking any impor-
tant literary work. In the first place, he laid out
a tentative plan for the proposed work, showing
within the prescribed limits its main features in
their logical order. This plan is an interesting docu-
ment, not only as an exhibition of Fiske's orderly
way of working, but also as showing what consti-
tuted the main features of American history as this
history had at this time shaped itself in his mind.
One who reads it cannot fail to be impressed by the
arrangement of the main features in a series of topi-
cal chapters presenting a logical flow of events from
the beginning to the very end. As we run through
221
John Fiske
the scheme and observe the steady evolution of
social and political conditions that constitute, as
it were, its framework; and then consider that this
scheme is cast as a scenic background for the por-
trayal of the services of great men as their lives
come and go — as they function in the flow of the
events in which their lives are cast — - we recognize
one of the principal factors in Fiske's lucid style,
his careful attention to the logical arrangement of
the subject-matter of his thought.
Henceforth, however much he may be called
aside for special work, Fiske's main line of thought
is to be given to the presentation of American his-
tory, as indicated in this first tentative plan. The
subject, however, is to expand greatly under his
hand. We are to see him in the next few years sub-
stantially completing a history as here sketched
out, and then putting the work aside as inadequate,
as having been undertaken under too circumscribed
conditions — three volumes — which necessitated
too condensed a treatment of many essential points.
In short, we are to see him come to the point of
regarding what he had done on the foregoing plan
as but a skeleton framework for the history he
wanted to write. We are then to see him begin the
work all over again with a much broader purpose:
the presentation of American history from the
philosophic viewpoint, from its relation to pre-
Columbian history, from its relation to antecedent
and contemporaneous European history, and also
222
Laylor's Cyclopaedia
as involving within itself the development of certain
social and political principles of vast significance
to the future well-being of civilized society. All
this will appear as our narrative unfolds.
The ensuing summer was spent by Fiske alter-
nately in Cambridge and Petersham. He had a lit-
erary task in hand which kept him busy the whole
summer — the preparation of three articles for
Laylor's "Cyclopaedia of Political Science": one on
Great Britain, one on the House of Commons, and
one on the House of Lords. It is interesting to note,
a propos of his controversy with William James,
that his article on Great Britain consists of a suc-
cinct account of the origins of the people of the
United Kingdom, and the historic evolution of
their government, their institutions, their indus-
tries, and their commerce. It is essentially a brief
history of the English people, and in no sense a
biography of great men. In truth, the article may
be characterized as presenting the environing phys-
ical and social conditions which have made the
development of the great men of the English race
possible.
As he was finishing these articles for Laylor's
"Cyclopaedia," Fiske received an invitation from
an association of Unitarian ministers to give a pa-
per on some philosophic subject agreeable to him-
self at a meeting of the association at Princeton,
Massachusetts, on October 4 following. He gladly
accepted the invitation and prepared a paper, to
223
John Fiske
which he gave the title "The True Lesson of Prot-
estantism." It was a paper replete with a knowl-
edge of modern philosophic and religious thought,
and in its fair-mindedness, it appealed to the ad-
vanced thinkers of the Unitarian faith no less than
to all serious-minded persons who were observant
of the steady, unmistakable disintegration going on
in all the orthodox religious creeds.
Briefly stated, the thesis was this: since the day
when Martin Luther posted his audacious heresies
on the church door at Wittenberg, a great change
has come over men's minds, the full significance of
which is even yet but rarely comprehended. The
immediate effect of Luther's revolt was the forma-
tion of a great number of little churches, each with
its creed as clean-cut and as thoroughly dried as
the creed of the great Church from which they had
separated. At the present day it is not the forma-
tion of new sects, but the decomposition of the old
ones that is the conspicuous phenomenon inviting
attention. The latter half of the nineteenth cen-
tury will be known to the future historian as es-
pecially the era of the decomposition of orthodoxies.
People, as a rule, do not now pass over from one
church into another, but they remain in their own
churches while modifying their theological opin-
ions, and in this way the orthodoxy of every church
is gradually but surely losing its consistency.
In view of this decomposition, which is going on
before our eyes, it is not strange if we are sometimes
224
The Lesson of Protestantism
led to ask, What is to be the final outcome of this
disintegrating movement? Will the present decom-
position of religious beliefs be succeeded by a
period of reconstruction in which the teaching of
some church shall be accepted as authoritative in
all matters pertaining to religious belief; or will the
decomposition go on until, through the develop-
ments of science, the last vestige of religious faith
shall have vanished, and all educated men shall
have become atheistic materialists? Fiske repudi-
ates any such implications as being involved in the
rational thought of the time, and says: —
"It is my object on this occasion to show that
no such alternative really confronts us; that the
very propounding of such a question involves
grave philosophical and historical errors; that
neither materialism on the one hand, nor any spe-
cies of ecclesiastical orthodoxy on the other hand,
is likely to become prevalent in the future ; and that
the maintenance of an essentially religious atti-
tude of mind is compatible with absolute freedom
of speculation on all subjects, whether scientific or
metaphysical."
He then goes on to show with much fulness of
illustration, how the deeper scientifico-philosophic
thought of the time is leading away from material-
ism and to ever-increasing problems of a transcen-
dental nature, so that the time may come when
men shall be as profoundly interested in questions
of a transcendental or ontological character as were
225
John Fiske
Aquinas and the other great mediaeval thinkers;
only that the conceptions of the Infinite Eternal
Power, the Source and Sustainer of all things, by
the thinkers of the future, will not be hedged in by
the personalities with which the mediaeval thinkers
invested their conceptions of a Divine Creator.
The true lesson of Protestantism Fiske finds to
be this : —
" Religious belief is something which in no way
concerns society, but which concerns only the in-
dividual. In all other relations the individual is
more or less responsible to society; but for his reli-
gious belief and his religious life, these are matters
which lie wholly between himself and his God."
He closes with the following fine thought: —
"When this lesson shall have been duly compre-
hended and taken to heart, I make no doubt that
religious speculation will continue to go on; but
such words as 'infidelity' and 'heresy/ the present
currency of which serves only to show how the rem-
nants of primitive barbaric thought still cling to us
and hamper our progress — such words will have
become obsolete and perhaps unintelligible save
to the philosophic student of history. ... To feel
that the last word has been said on any subject is
not a desideratum with the true philosopher, who
knows full well that the truth he announces to-day
will open half-a-dozen questions where it settles
one, and will presently be variously qualified, and
at last absorbed in some deeper and wider truth.
When all this shall have been realized, and shall
have been made part and parcel of the daily mental
226
Yorktown Anniversary
habit of men, then our human treatment of reli-
gion will no longer be what it has too often been in
the past — a wretched squabble, fit only for the
demons of Malebolge, — but it will have come to
be like the sweet discourse of saints in Dante's
'Paradiso."
The I Qth of October, 1881, being the centennial
anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis at York-
town, Mrs. Hemenway desired to have this his-
toric event commemorated by some appropriate
exercises in the Old South Church. Accordingly
she asked Fiske to deliver an address on the occa-
sion. He was glad to comply with the request. He
had the story of the remarkable campaign which
brought the War of Independence to a close so well
in hand, that in a few days he produced a very lucid
and interesting account of the combined move-
ments of Greene in the Carolinas, of Lafayette in
Virginia, of Washington's wonderful march from
the Hudson, with the operations of the French
fleet under Count de Grasse, all culminating in
such a complete investment of Cornwallis at York-
town that he had no possible alternative but an
unconditional surrender.
CHAPTER XXVII
DEATH OF EDWIN W. STOUGHTON — THE STOUGH-
TON HOME IN NEW YORK — GENERAL SHERIDAN
AND HIS HISTORIC FLAG — SPENCER'S VISIT TO
AMERICA — THE SPENCER DINNER IN NEW YORK
1882
THE year 1882 opened with a sad bereavement to
Fiske's mother, in the death of her husband, the
Honorable Edwin W. Stoughton, which occurred
on the 7th of January. Mr. Stoughton was a lineal
descendant of the brother of William Stoughton,
who was Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts
Bay Colony, the first Chief Justice of that Province
under the last royal charter, and who presided at
the famous witchcraft trials at Salem. He had
passed a life of great activity at the bar, and by his
abilities and force of character he had achieved a
foremost position among the eminent lawyers of
the country. In the memorable controversy which
arose as to the choice of President in the Presiden-
tial election of 1876, whether Hayes or Tilden, and
in the establishment of the Electoral Commission
to which the issue was confided, Mr. Stoughton
took an active part in behalf of the Republicans,
and was of counsel to argue the claim of Hayes
before the Commission.
228
Death of Mr. Stoughton
For his services in behalf of the Republican
Party in this memorable contest, President Hayes
appointed him, in the autumn of 1877, Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to
Russia. The climate of Russia did not agree with
him, and after less than two years he returned, with
his health seriously impaired. Several months be-
fore his death a movement had been started among
his professional brethren in favor of his appoint-
ment as Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States. Had he lived and his health permitted, he
undoubtedly would have received an appointment
to this high office.
The Stoughton home at 93 Fifth Avenue, New
York City, was also the home of Fiske and his fam-
ily when in New York, and it was a most hospitable
one. Here one was sure to meet those eminent
in the various walks of life, for Mrs. Stoughton
had developed social entertaining into a fine art.
Among the many visitors to this hospitable home
of whom we get glimpses through Fiske's eyes, no
single individuality stands out with greater dis-
tinctness than that of Captain John Ericsson, of
Monitor fame. Mr. Stoughton was counsel for
Captain Ericsson during the greater part of his
inventive career, and particularly during the Mon-
itor period, and the intimacy between counsel and
client was of the closest kind, the Captain being a
welcome guest in the Stoughton home whenever he
felt like dropping in.
229
John Fiske
When the Builders of Iron Ships and Marine
Engines presented Captain Ericsson with a gold
model of the Monitor as a tribute to his inventive
genius, he asked Mrs. Stoughton to take charge of
the gift for him; and for a long time it was one of
the attractions in her home — an attraction that
appealed to Fiske with ever-increasing significance.
Here he had a concrete symbol of the dominance
of mind over matter, consisting simply in a new
adjustment of materials and forces, an invention
which impelled an immediate reconstruction of the
naval architecture of the world.
Fiske found Captain Ericsson a wonderfully in-
teresting man, not only on account of his great in-
ventive powers, but also by reason of the play of
his mind in conversation, as he grappled with the
various problems arising from the applications of
the broadening truths of science to man's social
well-being.
As I turn over the Stoughton papers which have
been placed in my hands I find among them many
mementos of the fine social life characteristic of the
Stoughton home, and among these I find certain
facts relating to a social entertainment given by
Mr. and Mrs. Stoughton in the early spring of 1873,
which, from an incident that flowed from it, is
of much historic interest. The entertainment was
given in behalf of some event connected with our
Civil War, — for in the decorations, the opening
and the close of the war were symbolized: the one
230
Gold Model of the Monitor
by the presence of the flag borne by the Star of the
West, the vessel sent by President Buchanan in
January, 1861, to relieve the garrison at Fort Sum-
ter, and which was fired upon by the rebel batteries ;
and the other by a floral arrangement representing
the words "Five Forks," where the success of the
Union forces under General Sheridan led to the
surrender of General Lee at Appomattox. The de-
sign was a most significant one, and upon General
Sheridan, who was one of the guests, it made a
strong impression, so great that he said to Mrs.
Stoughton: "To fully complete your design you
should have the flag which is the complement to
the flag of the Star of the West!"
" And what may that be?" she asked.
"The flag my troops carried in the final charge
on Lee's forces at Five Forks and which compelled
Lee's surrender."
"That would be a fitting complement, indeed!"
said Mrs. Stoughton.
General Sheridan responded: "I have the flag
still in my possession and it will give me great
pleasure to present it to you, Mrs. Stoughton."
Shortly after Mrs. Stoughton received the flag
from General Sheridan, accompanied by the fol-
lowing letter, which gives the flag, historically, a
priceless value.1
1 The original letter of General Sheridan is in the possession of
William K. Bixby, Esq., of St. Louis.
231
John Fiske
CHICAGO, March 23, 1873.
My dear Mrs. Stougkton : -
When last in your house in New York, enjoy-
ing your hospitality, I saw the flag of the Star of
the West draped with evergreens and under its
" Union" the words, " Five Forks," written in beau-
tiful flowers. I cannot express to you, Madame,
the emotions, and many thoughts, crowding each
other which this delicate representation of inter-
esting national events created.
I thought, perhaps, that it would not be inap-
propriate to let you replace the flowers, which fade,
by the battle-flag of "Five Forks," and then you
could drape together the first and last flags fired
upon in the great struggle for our national exist-
ence.
My proposition was most gratefully accepted,
and I send you by express to-day the flag. It has
always been very dear to me; but this only serves
to increase the pleasure I have in giving it to
you.
The flag was new when I left Winchester in the
Shenandoah Valley, February 27, 1864, and from
that date commenced its active service. It took the
place of its old and faded comrade of Opequan,
Fisher's Hill, and Cedar Creek. At Waynesboro
the remnant of General Early's Army of the Shen-
andoah surrendered to it. At the crossing of the
James River by my command on the 25th of
March, 1865, it was lowered to Mr. Lincoln as
he passed through the bridge over which we were
crossing. When General Grant passed through the
gate to Mr. McLean's house to receive the surren-
der of General Lee at Appomattox Court House,
232
General Sheridan's Flag
it was lowered to him: it has never been lowered,
in salute or otherwise, to any one else.
At Five Forks, when it was necessary that we
should win, I took it from the color-bearer and it
led the troops to victory. The bullet hole in the
white was received there. At Jetersville it stood
in front of Lee's army to oppose its further prog-
ress until the arrival of the Army of the Potomac.
At Sailor's Creek, Ewell and his corps surrendered
to it.
On the morning of the Qth of April, 1865, it stood
opposite the white flag which the Army of North-
ern Virginia raised in token of surrender; and
while I was advancing to meet the envoys repre-
senting the enemies' flag, it was fired upon by a
brigade of South Carolina troops receiving the last
shot from the Army of Northern Virginia.1
I am, dear Madame,
Very respectfully,
Your ob'd't. Servant,
P. H. SHERIDAN,
Lt. General.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Stoughton
had no desire to live in New York. In her loneli-
ness, its social attractions were in no way compar-
able to the joy of living in close relations with her
children and her grandchildren. Accordingly, she
disposed of her Fifth Avenue residence, and pur-
chased a vacant lot in Cambridge, near the Fiske
1 At the death of Mrs. Stoughton this flag descended to Mrs.
Fiske. As she thought so priceless an historic object rightfully be-
longed to the family of General Sheridan, she returned it to Mrs
Sheridan.
233
John Fiske
home; and while plans for a suitable home for her-
self were being worked out she took a journey to
Europe.
Fiske's labors for the year 1882 were of a some-
what different character from those of previous
years. In the first place, his mother's bereavement,
her removal to Cambridge, and the condition of
her affairs generally brought a fresh weight of care
upon him. Then, too, his history, now well in hand,
needed his closest attention in order to bring it to
completion in conformity to his agreement with
his publishers. Lecturing was, therefore, greatly
curtailed.
Of magazine articles he published in the " At-
lantic Monthly" two of a scientifico-evolutionary
character relating to the arrival of man in Europe,
articles which for some time had been lying in his
desk; and also a memorial tribute to Charles Dar-
win, who died April 19, 1882. To "Harper's Maga-
zine" he contributed four articles on subjects taken
from his history. But the events of the year of
greatest significance in the life of Fiske, as well
as to the cause of Evolution, were the death of
Darwin and the visit to America of Herbert
Spencer.
Most of Fiske's days, therefore, were spent with
his family, and while we have delightful glimpses
of him in his home at Cambridge, and at Peters-
ham engaged in his literary work, at play with his
children, and enjoying his musical diversions, these
234
Tribute to Darwin
glimpses are very similar in character to what we
have seen in previous years and they do not call
for any particular mention. I, therefore, pass them
by, and will ask the attention of the reader to these
points: Fiske's fine discriminating tribute to Dar-
win, and Herbert Spencer's visit to America and
Fiske's identification therewith.
Fiske's appreciation of Darwin was charged with
a feeling of personal affection, which had expres-
sion in such fine literary form that the opening
and closing paragraphs of his article are in place
here : —
u To-day, while all that was mortal of Charles
Darwin is borne to its last resting-place in West-
minster Abbey, by the side of Sir Isaac Newton,
it seems a fitting occasion to utter a few words of
tribute to the memory of the beautiful life that
has just passed away from us. Though Mr. Dar-
win had more than completed his threescore and
ten years, and though his life had been rich in
achievement and crowned with success such as is
but seldom vouchsafed to man, yet the news of his
death has none the less impressed us with a sense
of sudden and premature bereavement. For on the
one hand the time would never have come when
those of us who had learned the inestimable worth
of such a teacher and friend could have felt ready
to part with him; and on the other hand Mr. Dar-
win was one whom the gods, for love of him, had
endowed with perpetual youth, so that his death
could never seem otherwise than premature. As
Mr. Gal ton has well said, the period of physical
235
John Fiske
youth — say from the fifteenth to the twenty-
second year — is, with most men the only avail-
able period for acquiring intellectual habits and
amassing the stores of knowledge that are to form
their equipment for the work of a life-time; but in
the case of men of the highest order this period is
simply a period of seven years, neither more nor
less valuable than any other seven years. There is,
now and then, a mind — perhaps one in four or
five millions' — which in early youth thinks the
thoughts of mature manhood, and which in old
age retains the flexibility, the receptiveness, the
keen appetite for new impressions, that are charac-
teristic of the fresh season of youth. Such a mind
as this was Mr. Darwin's. To the last he was eager
for new facts and suggestions, to the last he held
his judgments in readiness for revision; and to this
unfailing freshness of spirit was joined a sagacity
which, naturally great, had been refined and
strengthened by half a century most fruitful in
experiences, till it had come to be almost super-
human.
"When we remember how Alexander von Hum-
boldt began at the age of seventy-five to write
his 'Kosmos/ and how he lived to turn off in his
ninetieth year the fifth bulky volume of that pro-
digiously learned book, — when we remember this,
and consider the great scientific value of the mono-
graphs which Mr. Darwin has lately been publish-
ing almost every year, we must feel that it is in a
measure right to speak of his death as premature.
" It is fitting that in the great Abbey, where rest
the ashes of England's noblest heroes, the place of
236
Tribute to Darwin
the discoverer of natural selection should be near
that of Sir Isaac Newton. Since the publication
of the immortal ' Principia ' no single scientific book
has so widened the mental horizon of mankind as
the 'Origin of Species.' Mr. Darwin, like Newton,
was a very young man when his great discovery
suggested itself to him. Like Newton, he waited
many years before publishing it to the world. Like
Newton, he lived to see it become part and parcel
of the mental equipment of all men of science. The
theological objection urged against the Newtonian
theory by Leibnitz, that it substituted natural
causes for the immediate action of the Deity, was
also urged against the Darwinian theory by Agas-
siz; and the same objection will doubtless con-
tinue to be urged against scientific explanations of
natural phenomena so long as there are men who
fail to comprehend the profoundly theistic and re-
ligious truth that the action of natural causes is
in itself the immediate action of the Deity. It is
interesting, however, to see that, as theologians
are no longer frightened by the doctrine of gravi-
tation, so they are beginning to outgrow their
dread of the doctrine of natural selection. On the
Sunday following Mr. Darwin's death, Canon Lid-
don, at St. Paul's Cathedral, and Canons Barry
and Prothero, at Westminster Abbey, agreed in
referring to the Darwinian theory as 'not neces-
sarily hostile to the fundamental truths of reli-
gion.' The effect of Mr. Darwin's work has been,
however, to remodel the theological conceptions
of the origin and destiny of man which were cur-
rent in former times. In this respect it has wrought
a revolution as great as that which Copernicus in-
237
John Fiske
augurated and Newton completed, and of very
much the same kind. Again has man been rudely
unseated from his imaginary throne in the centre
of the universe, but only that he may learn to see
in the universe, and in human life, a richer and
deeper meaning than he had before suspected.
Truly, he who unfolds to us the way in which God
works through the world of phenomena may well
be called the best of religious teachers. In the
study of the organic world, no less than in the
study of the starry heavens, is it true that 'day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night
showeth knowledge/ '
As Fiske penned these closing lines, so full of
deep religious feeling, it can be readily imagined
that there flashed through his mind the recollec-
tion of his own bitter experiences in championing
Darwin's views. And what an instance it is of
the mutability of opinion in matters theological:
the bitter condemnation of Darwin in 1860-62,
because, as a man of science, he had found that
the truths of nature ran counter to the dogmas of
theology; and twenty years after, the placing of
his remains, with theological acquiescence and with
conspicuous honor, among the immortals of the
English race.
We pass now to the visit of Herbert Spencer to
America in this year 1882. For some years the
thought of visiting America had been floating in
Spencer's mind, and the idea was eagerly encour-
aged by Dr. Youmans, who was always on the look-
238
Spencer's Visit to America
out for whatever would tend to direct public at-
tention to Spencer and the cardinal points in his
philosophy. Then, too, Spencer had strong rea-
sons of his own for making personal observations
of the political and social forces at work in the
United States, for he was at this time in the midst
of the sociological section of his great philosophi-
cal undertaking. A personal glance, therefore, at
society in the "Great Republic'1 was a great
desideratum. As in all important matters, he
made preparations for the visit well beforehand.
We find that early in September, 1881, he had
definitely planned to make the visit in the autumn
of the ensuing year, and that he then informed
Dr. Youmans of his purpose. In January, 1882,
he advised Fiske of his intended visit.
Fiske replied, telling Spencer that his own visit
to England was postponed for a year, and express-
ing his great pleasure at knowing that within a few
months Spencer would take a trip to America.
Fiske gave him a cordial invitation to visit him
at his home in Cambridge.
Spencer arrived in New York August 21, 1882.
He was accompanied by his lifelong friend, Edward
Lott. Mr. Lott came not only as a companion,
but also as a " buffer " or protector to guard Spen-
cer, in his unstable health, against undue excite-
ment or exertion arising from the public interest
that would undoubtedly be called forth by the
visit. The "reporters" were awaiting them on
239
John Fiske
their arrival, all desirous of an interview. By the
dexterous management of Dr. Youmans, however,
this ordeal was eluded, and the two travellers were
soon quietly resting at the Windsor Hotel. The
"reporters" were not long in finding the travellers'
retreat, but they were skilfully kept at bay by
Mr. Lott, who pleaded Spencer's enfeebled condi-
tion as a bar to the desired "interview." The
failure to get at Spencer did not prevent, however,
the concoction of several ingenious "interviews"
on the part of the ready-witted reporters, some
of whom, in professing to express the opinions of
Spencer on men and things, were widely amiss of
the truth. The travellers remained but two days
in New York, and then went to the Kaaterskill
Hotel, in the Catskills on the Hudson, a hotel
selected by Dr. Youmans as a choice resting-place
after the fatigue of the sea voyage. Here they
remained in undisturbed quiet, as "Mr. Edward
Lott and friend," for five days, during which time
Spencer was for the first time made acquainted,
among other things, with a portion of a virgin
forest. He says: —
"I was shown how erroneous was my precon-
ception. In common, I dare say, with the pre-
conceptions of most others, mine had been based on
experiences of woods at home ; and I had failed to
imagine an important trait of which we see noth-
ing in England — the cumbering of the ground on
every side with decaying, moss-covered trunks of
240
Spencer's Visit to America
past generations of trees, lying prone, or leaning
one upon another at various angles, and in all
stages of decay."
From the Catskills the travellers went to Sara-
toga, where they spent two uninterested days, and
from thence they journeyed on to Montreal. But
Canada, as seen about Montreal, brought no pleas-
ant thoughts to either of them. After a brief de-
scription of the city and its environs, Spencer
says : 1
"To many travellers these would, I dare say,
have given more pleasure than they gave to me;
for I failed to exclude the thought of certain ante-
cedents not in harmony with a feeling of admira-
tion. For a generation or more Canadians have
been coming to England for capital to make their
great lines of railway; and have put before Eng-
lish investors statements of costs and profits so
favorable, that they have obtained the required
sums. These statements have proved far more
wide of the truth than such statements usually
prove — so wide of it that the undertakings have
been extremely disastrous to investors: impoverish-
ing great numbers and ruining not a few (my poor
friend Lott becoming, eventually, one of these last,
and dying prematurely in consequence). But while,
to open up these communications which have been
so immensely beneficial to their commerce and
industries, the Canadians have, by exaggerated
representations, got from the mother-country re-
sources which they were unable to furnish them-
1 Autobiography, vol. II, p. 463.
241
John Fiske
selves, they have yet been able to build imposing
cities full of magnificent mansions, and at Mon-
treal an hotel far exceeding in grandeur anything
the mother-country could, at that time, show."
Spencer has been charged in philosophical mat-
ters with unduly basing his conclusions upon
a-priori considerations. I apprehend that the citi-
zens of Montreal feel that they are entitled to a
more appreciative social valuation from an Eng-
lish philosopher than is given in this distinctly
a-priori verdict.
From Montreal the travellers set out for Niag-
ara Falls by way of Kingston, Toronto, and Buf-
falo. One observation of Spencer's during this
journey shows his freedom from national bias in
his judgment of his own countrymen. Their boat
stopped some little time at Kingston, and the trav-
ellers rambled about the town, and found, to their
astonishment and shame, that this town of only
ten or twelve thousand people had the telephone
in use all over the place; while at that time it was
scarcely in use in London, and was unknown in
the great provincial English towns. Commenting
on this state of things Spencer says: l —
"I have sometimes puzzled myself over the
anomaly that while in some ways, the English are
extremely enterprising, they are, in other ways,
extremely unenterprising. While there exist a se-
lect few among us who are full of ideas, the great
1 Autobiography, vol. n, p. 465.
242
Spencer's Visit to America
masses of our people appear to be without ideas.
Or, to state the case otherwise, it seems as if the
English nature (I say English, because I do not
assert it of either Scotch or Irish) exhibits a wider
range than any other nation between its heights
of intelligence and its depths of stupidity."
Spencer found the Falls much what he expected
- they neither came short of his expectations, nor
much exceeded them. The effect of a closer ac-
quaintance with them was to deepen the impres-
sion of grandeur. The travellers had intended to
go as far west as Chicago, but on reaching Cleve-
land, they decided that they had had enough of
Western travel, and to return to New York by
way of Pittsburgh, Washington, Baltimore, and
Philadelphia, and close their visit with an excur-
sion to New Haven, Newport, and Boston. On
reaching Baltimore they were met by Dr. You-
mans, all intent that on the eve of his departure
Spencer should be the guest of a public dinner at
Delmonico's, which should be an expression of the
feeling of an influential portion of the American
public towards Spencer and his great work. Spen-
cer was reluctant to allow himself to be set up as
a target for post-prandial eulogies, and pleaded
his physical infirmities as unable to withstand the
ordeal. But Dr. Youmans's persistence prevailed,
and with Spencer's assent, he immediately re-
turned to New York and preparations for the
dinner went on apace.
243
John Fiske
On reaching New York a few days later, Spen-
cer suggested that, inasmuch as many opinions
had been attributed to him since his arrival which
were wholly untrue, it might be well to give the
press a formal interview, and thus make sure of
having his views correctly stated. Dr. Youmans
readily agreed, and between the two an "author-
ized interview " was prepared and distributed to
the press. This "interview," while consisting
mainly of adverse criticism of American political
life, was yet so imbued with a just appreciation
of the really important features of the social and
political life that were being worked out here, and
the inherent difficulties attending their develop-
ment, that these criticisms were seen to be those
of a friend anxious for American welfare, rather
than those of an enemy hostile to our institutions.
Accordingly, the " interview " was well received
and greatly heightened the interest in the forth-
coming public dinner.
On Saturday, October 28, 1882, Spencer and
Mr. Lott arrived in Boston and attended a din-
ner of the Saturday Club at which Dr. Oliver Wen-
dell Holmes presided. This was a select dining-
club, no less famous in America than was the X
Club1 in England. In speaking of the occasion Spen-
cer says: —
"The 'Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table1 proved
himself a very genial head of the dinner- table. It
1 See ante, vol. I, p. 469.
244
Spencer's Personality
was pleasant to meet, in company with others less
known, one whose writings had given me so much
pleasure, and some copies of whose best known
book I had given to friends as a book to be read
and re-read." l
The next forenoon the travellers made their
way to Fiske's home, 22 Berkeley Street, Cam-
bridge, and remained to luncheon with Mr. and.
Mrs. Fiske and their six children, a luncheon
strictly en famille. As Spencer here comes in pro-
pria persona directly within the circle of interests
it has been a purpose in the foregoing pages to
weave around Fiske and his family home, it is
eminently fitting that we endeavor to get before
us, as vividly as possible, a picture or a concep-
tion of his remarkable personality.
Spencer was now sixty- two years old. He was
five feet ten inches in height, but his long limbs
and his slender figure gave him an appearance of
greater height. His weight was about one hundred
and fifty pounds. He wore side whiskers, thus
leaving the features of his face fully exposed. He
was quite bald, with light locks of gray hair flow-
ing over his ears and mingling with his side whis-
kers. His physiognomy was a noticeable one, by
reason of its massive, overarching brow, its some-
what prominent, slightly aquiline, nose, its pro-
nounced upper lip, its well-shaped mouth indicat-
ing both firmness and tenderness, and its positive
1 Autobiography, vol. n, p. 477.
245
John Fiske
chin. And these features were so related to a pair
of keen, deep-seated, penetrating blue eyes that
the whole countenance could be made to glow
with deep interest or benignant kindness; could
be made expressive of profound meditation or
indignant scorn — yea, could oftentimes give vent
to uncontrolled, petulant feeling, according as the
soul behind the face was stirred to action by its
environing conditions. His voice was rich and
harmonious in its tones, and was modulated in
strict accord with his feelings. His conversational
powers, when in the mood for conversation, were
of the rarest order. He had an easy flow of lan-
guage, and had his wide and varied knowledge at
such ready command that he was able to illumine
all subjects in which he felt an interest with much
lucid thought and pertinent illustration. He was
easy and graceful in his movements, although his
bearing and manner clearly indicated his physi-
cal invalidism. As, in 1873, Fiske described his
appearance as that "of a strong man tired," so
now, in 1882, his tired appearance was somewhat
accentuated.
It was a great pleasure to Spencer, after his
many weeks' travelling, to find himself in such a
quiet, scholarly home as this of Fiske's. In the
library, seated in a comfortable easy-chair before
an open wood fire and surrounded by books on
books, he seemed for a time to forget his physical
ailments and his discomforting journeyings in the
246
HAROLD
^jjj&j^^
ffl
-»
CLARENCE
RALPH HERBERT
THE FOUR SONS OF JOHN FISKE
Visited by Spencer
presence of so much quiet restfulness. He was
also delighted to see Fiske's whole family together,
especially his six children; and after taking in the
whole family surroundings he remarked most gra-
ciously, but with just a tinge of personal loss:
"Well, Fiske, you certainly have a happy home
here. I can now understand your homesickness
when away from it."
Fiske had in his library a cuckoo clock, which
promptly opened its little door and in musical
tones announced the hour and half-hour as the
time glided by. Spencer's attention was early
attracted to this faithful little monitor. At last
he said: "Doesn't it disturb you, Fiske, to have
so many books and things all about you, and this
little monitor to remind you of the passing time?
Why, I could n't work at all under such condi-
tions!"
Fiske assured him that these surroundings had
quite the contrary effect upon himself; that his
thought never flowed quite so freely when away
from them; and at times they were a positive in-
spiration to him.1
1 In the Life and Letters of Herbert Spencer, by David Duncan
(vol. ii, p. 117), I find, in a letter of Spencer to F. Howard Collins,
the following reference to the necessity of his relieving his mind from
all possible distractions: "I am desirous in all cases to exclude
superfluities from my environment. Multiplication of books, and
magazines, and papers which I do not need continually annoys me.
As you may perhaps remember, I shut out the presence of books by
curtains, that I may be free from the sense of complexity which they
yield."
247
John Fiske
Of course, there was much talk regarding mutual
friends in England, the recent death of Darwin and
the significant opinions regarding his life-work
that had been expressed in influential quarters,
and also regarding the increasing attention that was
being paid to the subject of sociology now that
Spencer had brought the subject under fresh con-
sideration, by treating it as an important branch
of science and as one of the structural divisions of
his doctrine of Evolution.
Two or three points came out in the conversa-
tion, as reported to me by Fiske shortly after, which
are of interest as reflecting Spencer's thought
while in America. He frankly admitted that his
visit had greatly broadened his comprehension of
the political and social problems that were being
worked out here. In the first place, he had had no
adequate conception of the physical environment
which so largely conditions the sociological devel-
opment of the people. Then, statistics of immigra-
tion had given him no realizing sense of the socio-
logical problems that were rising here through the
mixing of races in various stages of social and
political culture. While the people of London pre-
sented various phases of social aggregation, from
the most degraded to the most highly cultured,
the great mass were members of the English race
with their racial characteristics. In New York,
on the other hand, Spencer found a great, imperial
city, made up of various nationalities or races,
248
Spencer's Observations
some of which in their new urban aggregation re-
tained many of the social ideas and customs to
which they were born. In fact, he found, on one
side in New York, a great German city, and on an-
other a great Italian city; and scattered here and
there, were sections made up of lesser nationali-
ties; while he had not failed to observe that the
shop signs throughout the city bore witness to the
fact that the distributions of food and industrial
commodities was by no means in the hands of peo-
ple of the English race. These observations could
not fail to start trains of thought in regard to the
effect of this mixing of races under a democratic
form of government upon the future of the Ameri-
can people, and, through them, upon the people
of the world at large. He saw that the immediate
effect of this mixing of races, in various stages of
social and political culture, under a democratic po-
litical organization, was the lowering of the stand-
ard of intelligence, of virtue, in the electorate. As
to this fact there could be no question. Political
bossism and civic corruption were too apparent.
Fiske then pointed out that, while the immedi-
ate effect of this great foreign immigration was
political and social deterioration, it had a healthy
evolutionary tendency in two directions: it tended
to an ever-increasing differentiation in the inter-
ests and the employments of the people, coupled
with an ever-increasing development of integrating
power on the part of the Government, both State
249
John Fiske
and Federal. This increase of integrating power
was particularly noticeable in the provisions for
public education, sanitation, and transportation;
and for the protection of the public from unjust
demands of capitalistic combinations and labor
organizations, as well as the protection of the
natural resources of the country from individual
or capitalistic exploitation.
Spencer was quick to see the point, that while
this great tide of foreign immigration had a nat-
ural tendency, if left to itself, to weaken the in-
tellectual and moral stamina of the people who
founded the Republic and who had thus far sus-
tained it, this deteriorating influence was met by
a much stronger counteracting force, that of social
and political integration, whereby the interests of
the people as a whole were made paramount to
the interests of individuals, classes, or sections.
Hence, the ever-increasing provisions for public
education, sanitation, and the public welfare gen-
erally. He also saw that this was an order of social
and political development somewhat at variance
with his preconceived ideas of what the order of
such development should be. He saw, in fact, that
in placing himself, as he had done in England, in
strong opposition to provisions for public educa-
tion, sanitation, etc., he had logically put himself
out of sympathy with the great integrating social
and political forces at work in America.
Fiske suggested that the structural difference in
250
Spencer's Observations
the social and political organizations of the two
peoples called for different methods of integration
while in the process of social and political evolu-
tion. For instance, in England the fundamental
social and political idea in practice is, that govern-
ment is for the people, by privileged classes, and
primarily for the benefit of the privileged, classes.
Hence all governmental acts affecting public in-
terests are more or less tainted with special bene-
fits to the privileged classes — at best, they tend
to develop a spirit of dependence, rather than of
independence, among the people. In the United
States, on the other hand, the fundamental idea
of government is, that it is of the people, by the
people, and for the people. Hence the public in-
terest is put forward as the integrating, control-
ling interest; and consequently questions affecting
the welfare of the people as a whole become ques-
tions of legitimate practical importance.
Spencer admitted the justice of the distinction,
between the conditions obtaining in England and
in the United States, and he said that his visit
had given him a fresh light on some of the prob-
lems attending the social and political develop-
ment of the future. He enjoined Fiske to keep an
observant eye upon the development of these inte-
grating forces, particularly in American industrial
and political life. He believed that the great in-
crease of wealth, so manifest on every side, and
coming upon a generation so unprepared for its
251
John Fiske
use, would make its baleful influence felt through
political corruption, in its efforts to obtain special
privileges. To guard against the insidious advance
of special privileges in the rapidly developing life
here, seemed to him the imperative duty of the
American citizen.1
At the luncheon, Spencer quite forgot the phi-
losopher and did his best to make himself one with
the children. He could be most interesting when
he passed out of the "homogeneity" of his own
thoughts and feelings into the "heterogeneity"
of the thoughts and feelings of others. On this
occasion he pleasantly sought the various interests
of the children, and then made their interests his
own and deftly enforced his points of view by per-
tinent, happy anecdotes. He was in an inquiring
mood and he created no little merriment among the
young people by asking, quite unphilosophically,
when a plate of raised biscuits was passed to him :
"Fiske, do tell me, are these buckwheat cakes?"
After a most -agreeable hour at the luncheon-
table, Spencer said he had the impression that
music had been much cultivated in this pleasant
home, and if so, he would like a taste of it, that he
might take away with him a remembrance of the
1 As stated in the text, Fiske gave me, shortly after Spencer's visit,
the substance of their conversation. In after years, as we met fre-
quently and had occasion to discuss the steady advance of the
demand for special privileges in nearly all the departments of our
industrial life, the remembrance of Spencer's remarks came back to
us, and I have found no difficulty in recalling them for insertion
here.
252
Spencer in the Fiske Home
Fiske family home as a whole. Accordingly, Miss
Maud, who for some seventeen years has occasion-
ally appeared in these pages, cheerfully complied
with his request, and sang two songs from the
beloved Schubert, "Fruhlingslaube" and "Du Bist
die Ruh," with such grace and expression as to
give Spencer unfeigned delight.
Mr. Lott had known, ever since they set out on
their journey, how much Spencer had looked for-
ward to this meeting with Fiske and his family.
He therefore remained a quiet observer, aiding in
the conversation when necessary.
But Fiske could not let his friends depart from
Boston without their having a glimpse at Harvard
College and at some of the suburbs of Boston.
Accordingly, he arranged for the next day a visit
to Harvard and to the suburbs of Brookline and
Jamaica Plain, on the condition that there should
be no calls on officers or professors or any intro-
ductions. In their visit to Harvard, Fiske took his
friends to the house on the corner of Kirkland and
Oxford streets, and pointed out the room where in
1860, as a Sophomore, he first became acquainted
with Spencer's thought by reading " Social Statics."
He also showed them the University Building with
its faculty room, where in 1861 he was threatened
with expulsion from college if caught disseminating
Evolutionary ideas among students. He then took
them to the little Holden Chapel, where eight years
afterwards he was called to expound, under auspices
253
John Fiske
of the college, the fundamental principles of the Evo-
lutionary philosophy to undergraduates and to all
who would choose to hear. Gore Hall, the Library,
was also visited, and here Fiske was able to show
his friends where he had spent the best six years of
his life in the service of the College as its librarian,
the custodian of its literary treasures. It is to be
presumed that they visited the Agassiz Museum,
although there is no mention of a visit there.
After the inspection of the principal buildings of
the college, Fiske took his friends to drive in the
suburbs of Brookline and Jamaica Plain. Spencer
was in exceedingly good spirits during the whole
excursion; and at parting he was very gracious,
and with much feeling he said: " Fiske, it has
been a great pleasure to me to see you in your
home and in your surroundings. These two days
have been the pleasantest days I have had in
America."
Both knew they were to meet again at the fare-
well dinner to Spencer in New York, and so they
bade each other good-bye for a few days.
During this visit to Boston, Spencer and his
friend made an excursion to Concord, a reference
to which is not out of place here. In his " Autobi-
ography/' Spencer makes record of this Concord
excursion thus : —
"Our chief purpose was, of course, to visit Emer-
son's house; and here a pleasant hour was spent in
company with his widow, son, and daughter. We
254
Spencer and Emerson
were then taken to the cemetery. Not many
months had passed since Emerson's death, and
the grave-heap was undistinguished by any monu-
ment. 'Sleepy Hollow' is so beautiful and poeti-
cal a spot as to make one almost wish to die in
Concord for the purpose of being buried there."
But why this special interest in Emerson on
the part of Spencer, leading to a special pilgrimage
to Emerson's house and grave? There is no record
of Spencer's paying a similar mark of respect to
any other thinker. What can be the meaning of
this act when it is well known that Emerson was
not a reader of Spencer? l The answer is, that
Spencer was a penetrating reader of Emerson, and
found, in his pithy, oracular phrases, which the
religious mind of half a century ago regarded as
the quintessence of mystic infidelity, deep in-
sights, both poetic and philosophic, into the pro-
1 I have a bit of testimony on this point. In 1860, when Spencer
published a prospectus of his proposed philosophical undertaking,
we had, in the " Old-Corner Bookstore" of Ticknor & Fields, a number
of copies for distribution. We have seen that it was from this
prospectus that Fiske got his first knowledge of Spencer's under-
taking. (See vol. I, p. 138.) I had become interested in Spencer
through reading his essays in the Westminster Review and his Social
Statics. Emerson was a frequent visitor to the store, and one day I
saw him attentively reading Spencer's prospectus. When he had
finished I asked him if he could tell me anything about Spencer. His
reply was: " I cannot, but I hear much about him. I have not read
him at all, and from what I hear I am not impressed with his philoso-
phy. Mr. Alger or Mr. Silsbee can tell you about him." I referred to
the very remarkable list of subscribers to Spencer's undertaking and
Emerson said: " Yes, he is undoubtedly a man of great intellectual
power, and if he completes the work here outlined it will be a great
achievement."
255
John Fiske
found mysteries of the cosmos. He also saw that
Emerson's idea of God was purified from the Cal-
vinistic anthropomorphism of the time. Let us
look at a little evidence on these points. Away
back in 1833 we find Emerson reading with critical
insight the speculations of Lamarck, the precursor
of Darwin, in regard to the origin and distribution
of the organic life of the globe; and in a lecture,
delivered in December, 1833, on "The Relation of
Man to the Globe," he speaks of this relationship
and man's development under it, thus: —
"The most surprising, I may say the most sub-
lime, (fact, is) that man is no upstart .in creation,
but has been prophesied in nature for a thousand
ages before he appeared; that from times incalcu-
lably remote, there has been a progressive prep-
aration for him, an effort to produce him; the
meaner creatures containing the elements of his
structure and pointing to it from every side. . . .
His limbs are only a more exquisite organization —
say rather the finish — of the rudimental forms
that have been already sweeping the sea and creep-
ing in the mud: the brother of his hand is even
now cleaving the Arctic Sea in the fin of the whale,
and innumerable ages since was pawing the marsh
in the flipper of the saurian." l
And again, in the essay on "Fate," we have a
similar passage: —
"The book of Nature is the book of Fate. She
turns the gigantic pages — leaf after leaf — never
1 James Elliot Cabot, Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. I,
p. 20.
256
Emerson and Evolution
returning one. One leaf she lays down, a floor of
granite; then a thousand ages and a bed of slate;
a thousand ages, and a measure of coal ; a thousand
ages, and a layer of marl and mud : vegetable forms
appear; her first misshapen animals. Zoophite,
trilobium, fish; then saurians, — rude forms in
which she has only blocked her future statue, con-
cealing under these unwieldy monsters the fine
type of her coming king. The face of the planet
cools and dries, the races meliorate and man is
born. But when a race has lived its term, it comes
no more again.'* 1
These extracts — and many more of similar im-
port might be given — clearly show that years be-
fore Spencer and Darwin had laid the scientific
foundations for the doctrine of Evolution, Emer-
son had come, by pure insight, into a conception
of Divine action regarding the cosmos which re-
lated man to the organic world as its crowning
evolutionary product; and this, at a time when
religious orthodoxy was scoffing at science and af-
firming the fall of man as an ultimate Divine truth,
transcending all the positive evidences of nature
in regard to man's origin and development.
In regard to Emerson's conception of the Deity,
his writings speak for him from beginning to end.
His conception may be said to have been a conver-
sion of Spencer's affirmation of an " Infinite Eter-
nal Energy from which all things proceed" into a
positive, uncognizable Spirit stripped of all an-
1 Emerson's Conduct of Life (Riverside Edition), p. 20.
257
John Fiske
thropomorphic connotations. Hence it was a con-
ception that defies analysis. In a far deeper sense
than did Spinoza, he saw God, and the goodness of
God, in everything. In his own words: "The world
is a temple whose walls are covered with the em-
blems, pictures, and commandments of the Deity/'
"Ineffable is the union of man and God in the
soul." " If a man have not found his home in God,
his manners, his forms of speech, the turn of his
sentences, the build, shall I say, of all his opinions,
will involuntarily confess it, let him brave it out
how he will."
Then, too, his insights into man's social evolution
of the future were no less remarkable than his in-
sights into man's origin and development, and they
were permeated with the highest optimism, and
were given forth before Spencer had begun his pro-
found sociological observations. In evidence let
us take an extract from his essay on "Culture,"
written between 1850 and 1860:-
"The fossil strata show us that Nature began
with rudimental forms and rose to the more com-
plex as fast as the earth was fit for their dwelling-
place, and that the lower perish as the higher ap-
pear. Very few of our race can be said to be yet
finished men. We still carry sticking to us some
remains of the preceding inferior quadruped organ-
izations. We call these millions men ; but they are
not yet men. Half-engaged in the soil, pawing to
get free, man needs all the music that can be brought
to disengage him. If Love, red love with tears and
258
Emerson and Evolution
joy; if Want with his scourge; if War with his can-
nonade; if Christianity with its charity; if Trade
with its money ; if Art with its portfolios ; if Science
with her telegraphs through the deeps of space and
time can set his dull nerves throbbing, and by
loud .taps on the tough chrysalis can break its walls
and let the new creature emerge erect and free, —
make way and sing paean ! The age of the quadru-
ped is to go out, and the age of the brain, and the
heart is to come in. The time will come when the
evil forms we have known can no more be organ-
ized. Man's culture can spare nothing, he wants
all the material. He is to convert all impediments
into instruments, all enemies into power. The for-
midable mischief will only make the more useful
slave. And if one shall read the future of the race
hinted in the organic effort of Nature to mount
and meliorate, and the corresponding impulse to
the Better in the human being, we shall dare affirm
that there is nothing he will not overcome and
convert, until at last culture shall absorb chaos and
gehenna. He will convert the Furies into Muses,
and the hells into benefits."
Thus we see that Spencer, with his frigid intel-
lectual nature, was by sympathy drawn to Emer-
son as the intuitive poet of the oncoming doctrine
of Evolution, and hence his visit to Concord was
quite in the natural order of things. This being the
case, the setting-forth of their intellectual kinship
in the promulgation of Evolutionary views in the
past is of rightful place here, inasmuch as in the
portion of our narrative which follows, we are to
259
John Fiske
see the poetic, religious insight of Emerson blended
with the profound philosophic generalizations of
Spencer, as Fiske, in language of great force and
beauty, sets forth that ethical conduct has its
genesis in the cosmic nature of man, and that its
development has been pari passu with the purifi-
cation of men's conceptions of the Infinite Being,
the Source and Sustainer of the cosmic universe,
and that the recognition of these truths is among
the first principles of the doctrine of Evolution.
While Spencer was visiting New England the
preparations for the farewell dinner in his honor
in New York were going on apace. Dr. Youmans
had a keen appreciation of the weight of public
opinion when massed on any important question,
and he determined, therefore, that the proposed
honor to Spencer should at the same time be an
occasion for a fresh setting-forth of the doctrine
of Evolution in its relation to all the higher in-
terests of humanity. The dinner was served at Del-
monico's on the evening of November 9, 1882.
About two hundred persons, representative of the
best interests and thought of the country, were
present in person or by letter. The Honorable
William M. Evarts, formerly Secretary of State,
and at that time America's leading statesman, pre-
sided. In the course of his remarks introducing
Spencer, Evarts said : —
" We are glad to see you, for we recognize in the
breadth of your knowledge, such knowledge as is
260
Farewell Dinner to Spencer
useful to your race, a greater comprehension than
any living man has presented to our generation.
We are glad to see you because in our judgment
you have brought to the analysis and distribution
of this vast knowledge a more penetrating intelli-
gence and a more thorough insight than any living
man has brought even to the minor topics of his
special knowledge. In theology, in psychology, in
natural science, in the knowledge of individual man
and his exposition, and in the knowledge of the
world, in the proper sense of society which makes
up the world, the world worth knowing, the world
worth speaking of, the world worth planning for,
the world worth working for — we acknowledge
your labors as surpassing those of any of our
kind."
Spencer, who was in bad form physically, re-
sponded, as was his wont, with criticism — good-
natured criticism — of our American " Gospel of
Work," and made an earnest plea for more con-
sideration of the " Gospel of Relaxation" and a
higher ideal of life than he had seen about him.
Spencer was followed by Professor W. G. Sum-
ner, of Yale University, who spoke warmly of
Spencer's great services in bringing the new science
of sociology into recognition as an important de-
partment of Science. Next the Honorable Carl
Schurz responded to the toast, "The Progress of
Science tends to International Harmony." Then
came Professor O. C. Marsh, of Yale University,
Acting President of the National Academy of Sci-
ences, who responded to the toast, " Evolution -
261
John Fiske
once an Hypothesis, now the Established Doc-
trine of the scientific world. " After Professor
Marsh, Fiske was called to respond to the toast,
"The Doctrine of Evolution and Religion." Fol-
lowing him came Henry Ward Beecher, who spoke
for the liberal orthodox clergy, and who testified
to the trouble Spencer had given to the ministers,
who found they could not get along with Calvin
and Spencer both. He closed his stirring address
with the following reverent tribute to Spencer: —
"May He who holds the storm in His hand be
gracious to you, sir; may your voyage across the
sea be prosperous and speedy; may you find on
the other side all those conditions of health and of
comfort which shall enable you to complete the
great work, greater than any other man in this
age has ever attempted ; may you live to hear from
this continent and that other an unbroken testi-
mony to the service which you have done to hu-
manity; and thus, if you are not outwardly crowned,
you wear an invisible crown in your heart that will
carry comfort to death — and I will greet you be-
yond."
There were other tributes ready for expression,
particularly one by Youmans, while cordial letters
had been received from Andrew D. White, Presi-
dent of Cornell University, and from Oliver Wen-
dell Holmes, and others. But at the close of Beech-
er's address, it was felt that the fitting words had
been spoken, and as Spencer appeared fatigued, on
the motion of Evarts, the company rose and ex-
262
Farewell Dinner to Spencer
tended to him a heartfelt ban voyage, thus bringing
to a close an evening forever memorable in the
lives of those present, as well as forming an occa-
sion of much significance in the appraisement of
the doctrine of Evolution.
All of the addresses were of a high order, and
it will be noted that the doctrine of Evolution and
Spencer's labors were approached from various
viewpoints. To Fiske was allotted the task of set-
ting forth the philosophic relation of the doctrine
of Evolution to religion, to the very highest in-
terests of the human mind. His address was so
compact and clean-cut in thought, so lucid in state-
ment, and so fine in literary form, that it greatly
impressed his hearers, and gave a special satisfac-
tion to Spencer. At its conclusion, Spencer, who
sat near Fiske, partly rose from his chair and said,
taking his hand: "Fiske, should you develop to
the fullest the ideas you have expressed here this
evening, I should regard it as a fitting supplement
to my life-work. " This was not the expression of
a passing feeling on the part of Spencer. He wrote
Fiske shortly after getting home, expressing his
mature conviction regarding the address: —
38 QUEEN'S GARDENS,
BAYSWATER, London, W.
November 24, 1882.
My dear Fiske: —
I regretted very much that I did not return to
the Windsor in time to see you the day before sail-
ing, but there were so many imperative matters to
263
John Fiske
be settled that I found it impossible to get back
in time. Had it not been that Youmans gave me
the impression that I should again see you before
starting, I should, notwithstanding my state of
fatigue, have written you a letter on the Saturday
morning.
I wanted to say how successful and how impor-
tant I thought was your presentation of the dual
aspect, theological and ethical, of the Evolution
doctrine. It is above all things needful that the
people should be impressed with the truth that
the philosophy offered to them does not necessi-
tate a divorce from their inherited conceptions
concerning religion and morality, but merely a
purification and exaltation of them. It was a great
point to enunciate this view on an occasion en-
suring wide distribution through the press; and if
Youmans effects, as he hopes through the medium
of a pamphlet reporting the proceedings, a still
wider distribution, much will be gained for the
cause. Thank you for the aid thus given.
Very truly yours,
HERBERT SPENCER.
As this Spencer-dinner address of Fiske's ex-
presses in a brief and lucid form the relation of the
doctrine of Evolution to religion and ethics, and as
the views expressed therein had the emphatic en-
dorsement of Spencer, it can be said that it marks
a definite stage in the development of the Evolu-
tion doctrine — a stage when the two leading pro-
tagonists of the doctrine were ready to grapple with
all the religious and ethical questions involved in
264
Address at Spencer Dinner
it. Viewed in this light this address may well be
considered as a key-note to the religious and ethi-
cal implications of the doctrine as held by Spencer
and by Fiske. In the religious essays of Fiske,
those we have already considered and those which
are to follow, it will be noted that the rational phi-
Iqsophy of this Spencer-dinner address pervades
them all, while it permeates his "Cosmic Philos-
ophy" as a deep refrain. l
1 The address is published in full in the volume of Fiske's essays,
Excursions of an Evolutionist, p. 294.
CHAPTER XXVIII
FOURTH VISIT TO LONDON — AT HIS OLD QUARTERS
67 GREAT RUSSELL STREET — COURTESIES BY
SIME, HUXLEY, AND SPENCER — SEVERE ILLNESS
AT TRUBNER'S -- SAILS FOR HOME -- RESUMES
WORK ON HIS HISTORY — HARVARD COLLEGE ANb
THE DEGREE OF LL.D. AND GOVERNOR BUTLER
1883-1884
MRS. STOUGHTON returned from Europe in No-
vember, 1882, and was welcomed to the Fiske
family home while her own house was being built
a short distance away on Brattle Street, Cam-
bridge — a very commodious house which she
planned with special reference to its becoming
later "the homestead of the Fiske family." But
the building of the new home and the settlement
of Mrs. Stoughton's affairs brought many perplexi-
ties which found their way to Fiske's study, seri-
ously interfering with his literary work, — • his his-
tory of the American people, to the prosecution of
which all other interests were subordinate. The
plan that seemed practicable under the conditions
was expatriation to London, for a season, provided
he could find in the British Museum the necessary
books of reference on American history. To settle
this point he wrote to his friend Henry Stevens,
of London, the eminent antiquarian scholar, in-
quiring as to the Americana resources of the Brit-
266
Letter from Henry Stevens
ish Museum. He received in reply the following
characteristic and very satisfactory letter from
Mr. Stevens: —
4 TRAFALGAR SQUARE, W.C.,
LONDON, January ix, 1883.
JOHN FISKE, ESQR.,
XXII Berkeley St., Cambridge, in N.E.
My dear Sir: —
I think you will find the Library of the British
Museum a little better place for study on early
American history, as well as late, than even Har-
vard College Library and the Boston Public Ditto
thrown in, though it may be hard to convince any
Massachusetts man of this fact, until he has seen
something outside the hub and its surroundings.
The Museum library does contain the New York
Nation about which you inquire as to materials
for modern history, and, moreover, possesses part
of the "Youth's Companion," "Niles's Register,"
and Puffer Hopkins, on " International Copy-
right." But what is still better, the Trustees will
at once purchase any book illustrating the history
of the American people that you, from your experi-
ence, will point out to them as a desideratum. Do
pray come over and do your work here, where roast
beef, American cheese, and strong beer may be
had and taken ad libitum.
The Museum is rich in American local history
and genealogy. It has not much about the Miss-
issippi Valley prior to Father Marquette's voyage,
but possesses almost everything since. Jefferson's
purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon, when he
was hard up, is pretty well sifted in the early
Congress papers and in the French memoirs — all of
267
John Fiske
which may be found in the B.M.; and as to Mary-
land, you will probably find a fuller bibliography,
from L. Baltimore to Scharfe, than you will find
in any other one library.
You will also in the Museum find material con-
cerning Mathew Lyon from the time he landed at
Newbury Port, from the North of Ireland, and was
sold to Mr. Leffinquile afterwards, of Vermont,
for a yolke of bulls, until the famous contest on
the floor of Congress wherein he broke his wooden
sword with Master Griswold; and every other im-
portant subject illustrative of the rise and prog-
ress of the American People, not omitting the re-
markable case of Timothy Dexter, the author of
"A Pickle for the Knowing Ones."
The Tree of Knowledge grows now in the Centre
of the Reading Room of the British Museum in a
huge pot. You have only to shake it and down the
ripe fruit drops. There is still room in London, prob-
ably at your old quarters, for another American.
So pray take an affectionate leave of your large
family, pack up your ideas, leave your sins behind,
and embark for Bloomsbury, with your American
gold-pen, and your Yankee energy. Forget that
there is not an international copyright and picca-
roon right and left until you have boiled down and
simmered the great subject.
All this in answer to your racy and offhand notes
of the 28th December to be answered instanter.
Dine with us at Noviomagus 2ist February. En-
closed find a late programme.
Yours truly,
HENRY STEVENS,
G.M.B.
268
Fourth Visit to London
This letter of Mr. Stevens was sufficiently assur-
ing, and accordingly Fiske arranged for at least a
six months' absence and engaged his passage on
the Cunard steamer Bothnia, sailing from New
York to Liverpool January 31, 1883. He then ad-
vised his friends Spencer, Huxley, Sime, and Ral-
ston of his sailing.
He had a rough passage over and he found the
Bothnia to be a great pitcher and roller, so much
so that they were " either on one side or on one
beam-end all the way over/' Just before reaching
Queenstown he wrote Mrs. Fiske, giving the fol-
lowing racy account of the voyage: —
"The coast of ould Ireland is freninst me, but it
is all wrapped in mist, and the rolling is so bad
as to forbid anything like extensive letter- writing.
If there ever was an old tub that could beat this
Bothnia, for rolling, I should like to see it. The
portmanteaus have kept up a wild demon-dance
in the state-room, and the number of tumblers I
have seen smashed would do credit to the Jo Bun-
kerest Paddy girl that you ever saw. Coffee and
beer have been liberally poured on the table cloth ;
fried eggs have hopped around like mature chick-
ens, with their heads cut off; and those have had
cause to be truly thankful who, by dint of quick
wit and extreme agility, have succeeded in keeping
their 'wittles' from landing in their laps/'
On his way from Liverpool to London, he stopped
overnight at Lichfield to see the cathedral ; and he
writes : —
269
John Fiske
" It is a grand Cathedral, not equal to York, but
unlike any other, and especially beautiful in its
three tapering spires. Its length is gigantic, and
the effect inside is not broken by the organ inter-
posing between nave and choir."
Fiske reached London Sunday, February 10,
and was met by Sime, who took him home until
suitable quarters near the British Museum could
be found for a permanent abode and the prosecu-
tion of his work. Above all places in London he
desired his old rooms at 67 Great Russell Street,
but on inquiry he learned that these rooms would
not be vacant for a week or more. Feeling that no
other rooms in London would seem like home to
him, he engaged them, and meantime he took
rooms at 7 South Crescent, Tottenham Court
Road. Having arranged his settlement, he be-
gan to look up his other friends, although he was
far from feeling well — his rough voyage having
greatly shaken him up.
He was cordially welcomed by Henry Stevens,
by Ralston, by the Huxleys, by Triibner, by the
younger Macmillans, — the senior Macmillan hav-
ing gone to Mentone to look after John Green, the
historian, who was very ill, — and he found a very
courteous recognition at Kettner's famous dining-
rooms. But his experiences should be told by him-
self. Writing Mrs. Fiske under date of Tuesday,
February 20, he says: —
" I had a dreadful time last week because every-
270
Cordially Welcomed
thing reminded me of you, and for the first time
London seemed a great lonely place and as if I
must take the first steamer back to America.
"After writing you Friday, I went up to Kett-
ner's, and little Mademoiselle, behind the desk,
bowed recognition as if but a week had elapsed
since I had dined there. Do you remember the
burly, smooth-faced, bustling head -waiter who used
to say, 'Thank you sir!* with so much energy? He
showed me to a seat, inquired very politely as to
how I had been, and hoped I left 'Madame' quite
well. I wished 'Madame' was there so much that
it half spoiled my delicious dinner. On coming out
I met Fred Macmillan and his wife, who had also
dined at Kettner's. I went home with them and
staid till 1 1 , and there I met a queer old Dickens
character named Bain, a well-known bookseller,
and a very learned old chap. Fred Macmillan is a
really good fellow and his wife is very nice, and
while with them I had been quite jolly. But all
this did n't prevent my breaking down when I got
to my rooms. I went to bed and fell asleep from
mere exhaustion in bemoaning my loneliness.
"Saturday morning, I got up feeling weak and
mean, and at noon I went by omnibus to Bays-
water, but found that Spencer had gone down to
Derbyshire to spend a week with Mr. Lott. He
is not feeling very well. Miss Scheckel brought me
a glass of Sherry and a biscuit, and I sat two hours
chatting with her. She seemed to cherish an affec-
tionate remembrance of you, and sent her love to
you. I told her I felt low-spirited and out-of-sorts ;
and she said Spencer's doctor was a great man-
of-science and very reasonable in his charges, that
271
John Fiske
Spencer thought there was nobody like him, and
that I had better consult him. She gave me his
address — ' Dr. Bruce, 42 Kensington Gardens
Square, Bayswater, W.'
" After leaving Miss Scheckel I returned, via
New Bond Street, and being near the Royal Insti-
tution I thought I would look in and see if I should
find Tyndall. Sent up my card and was presently
shown up to the top of the hipe, to the famous
rooms once occupied by 'ngSir ngHumphry
ngDavy.' l Had a most cordial greeting from Tyn-
dall and his wife. It was about 5 P.M. and presently
Mrs. Tyndall's father, Lord Claude Hamilton, came
in and the tea-tray was brought and we had a good
cup of tea with some very thin slices of bread
and butter. Lord Claude is a great, bluff, honest,
hearty fellow. He has an enormous admiration
for Spencer, and he appeared to take an immedi-
ate fancy to 'Hezekiah.' Mrs. Tyndall was lovely
and Tyndall himself was perfectly delightful. We
had a fine talk. Mrs. Tyndall said she should think
it would be more than I could bear to be separated
from my family — such a family as she had seen
portraits of at the Huxley's. There was a real ten-
derness toward me on the part of all three which
went deep into my heart. Tyndall said he thought
the History would be well received in England and
1 Fiske often quoted with great glee the opening sentences of
one of Professor Josiah P. Cooke's chemical lectures delivered dur-
ing Fiske's undergraduate days. The Professor had a nasal twang
in his utterance which was very pronounced when he attempted to
emphasize a phrase. The quotation was as follows: "In a room
lined with blue litmus paper sat a philosopher. Who was that philos-
opher? SIR HUMPHRY DAVY!" The name thus stressed Fiske en-
deavored to represent on paper as " ngSir ngHumphry ngDavy."
272
Cordially Welcomed
Lord Claude said it was just what they needed
above everything; they were shamefully ignorant
about America, and eager for an interesting his-
tory of it. Tyndall said there were a great many
rare books and documents on America, right there
in the Royal Institution and I might come there
as much as I liked, and have a room all to myself to
study and write in ! They all three said my speech
at the Spencer dinner was magnifique!
"Well, my dear, after a delightful hour-and-a-
half I left them and went to Kettner's where I had
a delicious dinner, but I did n't enjoy it! Some-
how I seemed to miss you terribly at Kettner's.
Came to my rooms, lighted pipe and read in Abel's
1 Linguistic Essays ' - - a charming book that Triib-
ner gave me on Friday. Felt a little chilly, and
went to bed, desperately lonesome, about eleven
o'clock. When I waked at 9 Sunday morning, it
was a black fog. I felt empty and weak, but not
hungry; feet a little cold; no assignable cause for
all this fuss. Concluded to resign myself, and call
Dr. Bruce. The doctor came at eleven o'clock;
fine, hearty fellow with long side whiskers — a very
pleasant fellow. Knew all about me and treated
me very courteously. First made me tell how I feel
naturally, when I am well, then how I had felt for
two or three months past, all about leaving home,
the voyage, etc. ; asked especially after my appetite
for the past month; felt of both pulses; in short, he
gave me such an overhauling as I never had before.
Then he began some general conversation, while I
suppose he turned things over in his mind. Said he
thought my history would have a great sale in
England, and he was glad to know that I was the
273
John Fiske
chap that was writing it. Said he had read my
speech at the Spencer dinner again and again, and
thought it was wonderful, and if I could write a
book like that, I might do something toward lead-
ing this age out of its materialism; that I spoke
like a man who had gone through and through the
thought of this age, and was beginning to utter the
ideas which the next generation would realize bet-
ter than this. Said he had also had this feeling
when he read my Princeton address on the 'True
Lesson of Protestantism/ which many in England
praised, but few (he thought) really understood.
"Well, was n't it nice, my dear, to find such a
sympathizer? After a while, he said I was a strong,
active fellow, without a flaw physically as far as
he could see; heart and lungs seemed in splendid
condition; said he was glad I was made so strong
to do the work I was born to do. Said I had done
well to take advice, for I was just where a good
square chill might come in with savage effect.
"Yesterday (Monday) Dr. Bruce came at ten,
looked me over more or less and said I might get
up and have — sole for breakfast ; and might have
- broiled chicken for dinner, might smoke a pipe
if I liked, but no cigars; and mustn't go out of
doors. So I sat all day before the fire and read
Abel's 'Essays' and finished them; and Sime came
in at four P.M. and staid till six, and we had a
pleasant chat. I began to feel keen, sharp pangs
of hunger, and when my little broiled chicken came
up I ate every scrap of it. This, with a slice of toast
and cup of tea, constituted my repast. I then
smoked a pipe and thought of home more peace-
fully than I had done; and at nine P.M. went to bed
274
Consults Spencer's Doctor
and slept soundly till nine this morning, — just
twelve hours! To-morrow he says I may go out,
rain or shine, and may go to dine with the 'Citi-
zens of Noviomagus,' only I must choose the sim-
pler dishes and keep to red or white wine. He will
call on Thursday, by which time he thinks I can
resume beer and take care of myself generally.
He says I did wisely to call for aid, for I might
have fussed and bothered for six weeks and got
discouraged about my work and then have had
to call a doctor after all ; whereas now I am rea-
sonably sure of being in glorious condition by
the end of this week. His medicine has wrought
a profound effect I can see. The mulligrubs
have all blown away and I begin to think only of
the History and of success sure to come, and
of earning the right to keep my dear home, and
stay in it.
"Dr. Bruce says if I will get up at nine, write
from ten till five (but not without a solid break-
fast, and some lunch), walk never less than three
and generally five miles, dine heartily at seven, write
or study two hours in the evening if I like, never or
VERY rarely eat a late bite, go to bed at twelve ; —
if I'll do this he'll warrant I'll write my twenty-
five weeks with a blithe heart, and feel better at
the end than if I had n't worked at all. That is not
the programme he would cut out for a weak man;
but he thinks it right for me, and you see it allows
me nearly nine hours a day for work. I think all
the doctor's ideas very good.
"Well, my dear, have n't I made a regular bore
of myself with all this rigmarole! But I thought
you would like to know what the doctor has to say.
275
John Fiske
I could n't help thinking how you would like to talk
with, him, he is such a jolly fellow, and so extremely
elegant, and courteous.
"Friday I am to dine with the Tyndalls. Spen-
cer is expected back on Thursday, and I may meet
him at the Tyndalls'. I shall move into 67 Great
Russell Street Saturday afternoon, and spend Sun-
day arranging things. All my friends know how
busy I am to be, and they all promise to let me
alone."
In a letter two days later, February 22, we have
a glimpse of him at his work: —
"I have been studying these two days back, on
local self government in Illinois, where the Virgin-
ian and New England systems came into collision,
and the New England system proved the stronger.
I have also, at last, got a flood of light through
John Rope's suggestion about the Scotch- Irish ele-
ment in the South. It is n't quite as he conceives
it, but it is better still. I shall set forth the his-
toric meaning of the whiskey rebellion in Penn-
sylvania in a new light. Ideas are coming to me
thick and fast."
And he has begun his London peregrinations: —
"I started out at four o'clock for my walk, and
I have been on my legs just two hours and twenty
minutes, so that I can't have done less than five or
six miles, though I have walked slowly, pondering
my book, but keeping my eyes open. From Tot-
tenham Court Road I kept down High Holborn
to Chancery Lane, and down that till 'Cursitor
Street ' caught my eye, and I struck into that until
276
Walks about London
I found ' look's Court ' and went through it. You
remember in ' Bleak House/ Mr. Snagsby's house
was in ' Cook's court, Cursitor Street.' Then I ex-
plored Church Passage till I found a place vile
enough for the graveyard in Tom-all-alones; but
I am sure it is not the place. I shall find that some
day, as also the Sol's Arms. Then I turned up
Carey Street and wound through a labyrinth of
passages into New Square, thence into Lincoln's
Inn Fields, thence Southwestward through a still
more tangled labyrinth into Blackmoor Street,
thence into Drury Lane, coming out into the civil-
ized world at St. Mary-le-Strand, — rather tired
and mighty hungry. So I call my first walk a suc-
cess. Such creatures as I have seen! And some
very, very ancient houses, as funny as any in
Chester. One can easily walk five miles in London
without going very far; and one is a goose to stick
to the thoroughfares. The side alleys and courts
are the picturesquest of all."
The next day he took a five-mile walk and dined
with the Tyndalls. He says: -
"Had a charming dinner with Tyndall and his
wife in their upstairs den. After dinner we went
downstairs and heard Walter Pollock's lecture on
Sir Francis Drake, and it was pretty good. After
the lecture the Pollock family and Sir John Mow-
bray came upstairs and we had some bisquit and
mulled claret. I had a long talk with Sir Frederick
Pollock."
Before going to the Tyndalls' Fiske received the
following note from Spencer: —
277
John Fiske
BAYSWATER, February 23, 1883.
My dear Fiske : —
Welcome to England ! I shall be glad to see you
on Saturday at one.
Please apologize on my behalf to the Tyndalls
for not joining them with you to-night. I have not
dined out once since my return from America; and
at present dare not do so.
Would you like to be invited to the Athenaeum
Club, or to the Saville Club, or to both? The Sa-
ville would suit you very well in the respect of hav-
ing a good and not expensive table d 'hote. It has
also a magnificent smoking room which you would
appreciate; and its present position in Piccadilly
is a very pleasant one. But the Athenaeum would
also be desirable for you as bringing you into con-
tact with friends.
Ever yours,
HERBERT SPENCER.
On Saturday, February 24, Fiske called on
Spencer and took luncheon with him. Spencer re-
ceived him most cordially, and they had a "won-
derful talk and walked about four miles together."
He adds: "The weather is lovely, the buds are
starting, the birds are singing, and the grass is ever
so green." He found that Spencer was also to be-
gin work the next week in earnest; that since his
return from America he had done but little. On re-
turning from Spencer's he gathered his traps to-
gether and took possession of his old rooms at 67
Great Russell Street; and three days after he writes
Mrs. Fiske : —
278
In his Old Quarters
February 27, 1883.
My darling Wife : —
At length Hezzy is himself again. I think I have
really been very much upset, but now I am wooden.
I am all arranged in apple-pie order in my dear
old rooms. The rooms have been newly papered,
Brussels-carpeted and curtained. There is a new
iron bedstead, with new hair mattress and canopy
over the head. All the chairs have been newly cov-
ered with olive green plush, and olive green is the
prevailing color all over. The pictures, too, are in
good taste — all engravings. The rooms are now
really elegant, and with my books and things about,
you can't tell how cheerful it looks. I shall not be
ashamed to receive a call here from Gladstone him-
self!
The quiet here is profound, except the vague
rumble of the streets which does n't annoy me.
When I ring in "mornin' air," my cannel coal fire
is made to burn brightly, my little round table is
covered with a clean white cloth, and a gigantic
mutton chop is served, with a loaf of bread and a
pot of blazing hot tea. When I get through, I ring,
and the maid, Alice, comes with the morning paper
and "Mrs. Coldrey's compliments, sir, and 'opes
you are quite well to-day. " Then Hezzy smokes
and looks over the paper for a few minutes while
the little table is cleared, and then goes to work.
My dear, I wish you would come over and take
breakfast with me!
I have drawn a diagram of the rooms with
the furniture so that you can, with your recollec-
tions of the rooms, picture Hezzy to yourself quite
completely. I don't think it would be possible
279
John Fiske
in all London to find anything more cosy and
cheerful.
Mrs. Coldrey is not a widow. Her 'usband has
business in the City. A newspaper writer and wife
are over me; and a bachelor London merchant is
under me, on the ground floor. They might as well
be 100 miles away, for all I ever hear or see of them.
This was a fine house a century ago. The walls are
tremendously thick, and very little sound passes
from floor to floor. I can vaguely hear the piano
overhead, but it is a distant sound that I hardly
notice. I am absolutely undisturbed. If I want a
bite of lunch, it is only to touch the bell and Alice
brings cheese and biscuit and a tankard of splen-
did ale fresh from the tavern around the corner;
- 1 do not need to stir. Nothing could be more
perfect.
The London gas is so poor that I have bought a
lamp for $3.86 — a very powerful triplex burner.
Have bought a special pair of scissors for it! First
thing after breakfast, I take it out into the octagon,
spread a thick piece of paper on a chair, fill the
lamp on it, trim the three wicks accurately, wipe
chimney and globe quite clean, rub it dry with a
piece of old flannel, bring it back and stand it on
the centre-table, burn up the paper, onto which
drops of oil have fallen, and carefully put away
the piece of flannel in the octagon corner-cupboard.
It is no trouble, and I won't entrust it to Alice.
Is n't this correct housekeeping?
I have got a pedometer, and shall henceforth
know 'just how much I walk every day and shall
enter it in my diary.
After all, though these are not the rooms in
280
In his Old Quarters
which I finished "Cosmic Philosophy," the asso-
ciations with them are almost as strong. I occu-
pied these rooms when I first came to the house in
October, 1873. It was here that Spencer first came
to see me. I moved upstairs in November. Then
in 1879 I occupied these rooms again, and it was
here that I received brother and sister Paine. It
was here that I had my famous punch party and
brother Paine slept in the octagon which then had
a small bed in it. Who knows but in future the
guide-books may point out this old house as the
place where Hezzykiah did so much work?
Only I wish I had you here, my dear! ! ! If I had
known how great the strain was going to be, I don't
think I should have had the courage to face it.
It is dreadful to be so homesick! But this deep
quiet is going to make the book grow with great
speed.
The lady overhead is now playing divinely. It
sounds very distant, but O, so sweet!
Yesterday I tried a new dodge — for dinner.
Went to the famous Angel at Islington. Found it
splendid and shall go there again. It will be a fairly
good walk — say three miles to the Angel, and I can
get home on top of a 'bus for 4 cents.
By the way, I think the top of a 'bus even beats a
hansom cab for jolly; you can sit so high, and see so
much; and it costs about a penny, where cab costs
a shilling.
O, London is a delightful place! But I wish I
had you and the little ones here!
To his mother, under date of March 2, 1883,
Fiske writes : —
281
John Fiske
11 1 have been too much absorbed in the treasures
of the British Museum to make a great show of
pages this week but I am going to work Sunday,
and next week I expect to report a great pile. I
should have been a fool not to have come over here.
What do you think? I can actually go in to the
shelves and mouse for what I want!!! Splendid,
is n't it? The one thing I feared, was the red tape.
It used to bother me in 1873. Now Richard Gar-
nett, son of the great philologist, is director of the
reading room and generally all-powerful in the
library. He has always liked me because I was one
of the first to see the value of his father's very ab-
struse researches, and praised him enthusiastically in
the ' North American Review' as long ago as 1869.
I don't know whether this had anything to do with
it, but as soon as I had walked in and shaken hands
with Garnett, and told him what I had come to
England for, the bars were all thrown down at
once. No red tape for me. If I want to find any-
thing, there are ninety thousand volumes on Ameri-
can history just across the street entirely at my
disposal !
"Garnett showed me the sheets of some of the
new printed catalogue of the whole Museum Li-
brary!! They are going to print it all, and it will
fill about six hundred royal octavo volumes!! How
is that for a big library?
"O, this is the capital of the world! You can
have no idea of the endless treasures of Americana
across the way. My coming over here was the
wisest thing I could possibly have done.
" I just now met Lecky, on Great Russell Street,
and we talked twenty minutes, standing in the
282
The British Museum
street, about the* Scotch- Irish element in the popu-
lation of the Alleghany region. I told Lecky I had
got some bones to pick with him, and he said some
evening we will fight it out over a pipe.
"I have had some absolutely horrible turns of
homesickness this week, though my rooms are
really delightful, and I have every comfort that
heart could wish, and everybody treats me with the
greatest cordiality — almost tenderness ; and I am
highly excited over my work. But if there ever
was a chap that loved his home, it 's me.
"Have n't I been concentrated on my work this
week? Profound, almost awful quiet, all day long.
Not a human being except landlady, maid, and offi-
cials, did I speak to from Monday morning till
yesterday — Thursday — afternoon, when I ran in
before dinner to chat fifteen minutes with Ral-
ston. I felt as if I must scream for somebody to
speak to. To-night Sime is coming — will be here'
soon — we shall dine at Kettner's, and come back
to smoke before the fire. Gradually I shall get used
to the silence, and I see already that the amount I
can do in a day is prodigious.
"The Huxleys have a dinner-party for me on
the 1 4th of March. In her invitation Mrs. Hux-
ley asked me if I was * glooming into the Man-
uscripts of the British Museum to good pur-
pose?'
On March 9, he writes: —
"It is Friday, and I hadn't exchanged words
with a soul all this week — except Alice — when
Spencer came and made me a lovely call. He has
had me admitted to the Athenaeum Club and hopes
283
John Fiske
I will dine there with him often. He says I am shut-
ting myself up too closely. Last Saturday after-
noon I heard a divine concert at St. James's Hall.
Just think, Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata by Miss
Krebs and Joachim; also songs of Handel and
Mendelssohn by Santley. Santley's voice has not
the wondrous ring it had in his prime, but O, the
pathos and sweetness of it! It made me shed hot
tears. He is a singer straight from Heaven.
" Whenever the American letters come, Mrs.
Coldrey sends them up by Alice, with 'The Missus's
compliments, sir, and 'opes Mrs. Fiske and the
childrens are quite well.' I have a delightful home
here, and it is a pity you can't all have some memo-
ries of it to carry along through life with me."
But this was written on the verge of a much more
serious collapse than he had yet experienced. A
little later he writes : —
"Sunday, March n, I waked up finding that I
had an awful chill which I could n't account for,
except that the weather was excessively raw and
my bedroom felt damp. I had n't hitherto thought
it worth while to keep a fire in my bedroom, which
I see was an error. Spencer says because I lived
and flourished here one winter in defiance of all
precautions, I mustn't think I can do so always;
and it is just as well to know that when England
makes up its mind to chill you, you have got to
look out. I don't need any more lessons, for I have
got the creed at my tongue's end. The way that
chill seized me and knocked all the strength out of
me began to scare me towards evening. But I
walked down to the Criterion, got a little dinner,
284
Severe Illness at Triibner's
felt dreadfully weak and wretched, with my feet
like icicles, and longed for a kind word, and would
have given $1000 never to have left home. Where
should I go for a word of bright cheer? A little
chat with Triibner, I thought would do me good,
and I beckoned a cab. It began to snow and a north-
west gale blew hard. Cabby could hardly hear me,
and I found my voice going. A three-mile drive
brought me to Upper Hamilton Terrace, quaking
and teeth chattering, and legs frozen to the knees.
Paid cabby, went in, and went to the dining-room,
where Triibner was dozing in his easy-chair before
the fire. He jumped up and said, 'O, my friend,
it gladdens my heart to see you ! ' I tried to speak,
but could only faintly whisper, and felt everything
whizzing about my ears. 'O, my friend,' said he,
'what voice is this I hear? Good God, you are
ill! Your face is very pale.' He led me to a big
chair by the fire, went out, and in a minute came
back with a huge pair of German felt boots that
came halfway up to my knees, kneeled down and
unlaced and took off my . shoes and put on these
warm things, and did n't they feel good? Then he
went out again and presently came back with Mrs.
Triibner and Lina and Jacobina (or 'Binnchin' as
they call her) the sister. You remember them all,
no doubt. Lina came up and kissed me. Mrs.
Triibner said, 'Why, my dear Mr. Fiske, how is it
that you have come to be so ill? We shall not let
you go home to-night.' '
How the Triibners kept him and tenderly nursed
him for four days, and got him in condition for the
dinner at Huxley's, where he was the guest of
285
John Fiske
honor, is delightfully and gratefully told. He closes
his account thus: —
"Triibner is a noble fellow, a great scholar, a
generous publisher, a charming host, and his hon-
est German heart is as full of tenderness as a hu-
man heart can be! I believe they saved me from a
dangerous illness; and if I were to live a thousand
years I could never forget their kindness. I shall
always carry it with me as a sweet memory. It was
almost worth while to be sick, to find out what
dear friends I had got there."
In getting back to his quarters in Great Russell
Street Fiske felt fully recovered, and plunged into
his work with better spirit and great energy tem-
pered by a sense of moderation in his application -
he took more relaxation. Sime was a frequent visi-
tor, was very sympathetic, and quite enthusiastic
over Fiske's "significant grasp of facts." The let-
ters contain extracts from his growing manuscript
that Mrs. Fiske might see the style in which he
was doing his work. At the Huxley dinner he met
a fine company; and Spencer gave him a dinner at
the Athenaeum Club where he met Hirst and the
Honorable George Broderick, Warden of Merton
College, Oxford. He spent an evening with James
Martineau -- "a dear old man" - and also dined
and spent an evening with William Sime, a brother
of James Sime, where they had much music. He
found William Sime possessed of a fine knowledge
of French literature, and that he had a great rever-
286
Billingsgate Fish Market
ence for Voltaire. He writes: "William Sime
opened up to me new lights about Voltaire."
And in the afternoon of "Good Friday," his
friend Ralston came in, "blue with the cold,"
ready for a trip down to Billingsgate Fish Market
for dinner. Here is Fiske's account of his experi-
ence : -
" Put on my big ulster, and we walked down Hoi-
born and Newgate Street into the old City, and
through its noble quaint streets to Billingsgate
Fish Market. The Three Tuns Tavern is in the
market, on the edge, just overhanging the Thames
below London Bridge — a forest of masts just out-
side the windows. At 4 P.M. daily they have a fish
table d'hote dinner. Ralston said the last time he
had been there was about twenty years ago. Gee-
rusalem, what a place! but lovely, for a blazing sun
lit up the river, and, when in out of the wind, it was
warm. The head-waiter had just come out of
Dickens. The diners were mostly queer coves, and
doubtless thought us queer coves. The head-waiter
stood at the end of the table, and when all were
seated rapped loudly on the table with his knife-
handle, and then said grace! And this was the din-
ner: -
1. Boiled salmon with anchovy sauce.
2. Boiled cod with oyster sauce.
3. Fried cod with piquante sauce.
4. Fried eels.
5. Whitebait with brown bread.
6. Roast beef, with potatoes and greens.
7. Cheese.
Beer, Coffee, and Cigar.
287
John Fiske
" The bill was 3/2 = 76 cents for each of us. I en-
joyed it! The fish was fresh, delicious, and su-
perbly cooked. We walked home again, making
about seven miles for the day's walk. I got
back to work again about 7 o'clock and wrote till
12.45, making eight of the best pages of the book
so far. I don't dawdle or waste a minute of time
here."
The letters show that for a fortnight after his
illness at the Triibners', by sheer force of will, by
steady work on his history, and various diversions,
he managed to keep his homesick feelings under.
But as his birthday came around (March 30), bring-
ing him letters from home in which he seemed to
hear the voices of all his family, — his mother, his
wife, his children, — the effect was overpowering,
and he could not endure the thought of a much
longer isolation from them. Writing Mrs. Fiske,
March 31, he says: —
" I really think I had better come home soon.
I am making good progress, but no better than I
could make at home. I go on nicely, for a few days,
and then I get to thinking of my home, and it com-
pletely upsets me for a day or two. The fact is the
day has gone by when I could do such a thing as
I once did --be absent from my family for ten
months. Being away from you amounts in itself
to a serious illness. The agonies I have suffered
since I landed in England are such as no words
can ever describe, and it goes far to offset the good
effects of my seclusion. Nay, rather, let me come
288
Depressed by Homesickness
home and work as in the old days. I fear that
this awful homesickness will break down my
strength.
"More than all, I am cured of Europe. I shall
never come over again except with you or some
of the children for a short summer glorification.
Never! I am disenchanted. I crave nothing but
my home, my wife, and my children. London is
splendid, and I find myself famous here, and I shall
have got great good from coming over. My book
is making fine progress, and everybody is tenderly
kind to me, and Sime is the sweetest fellow that
ever lived, but I cannot be happy without my dear
ones."
Fiske struggled bravely against his depression.
The quiet attractiveness of his rooms, so favor-
able for composition, began to pall upon him the
moment he released his mind from his work, for he
had none of his family to share his pleasant sur-
roundings with him. His unselfish nature was in
revolt against the conditions which gave him
pleasures he could not share with his dear ones;
and then, in his intellectual work hitherto, he had
had Mrs. Fiske at hand, with her appreciative
sympathy with what was best in his writings, to
cheer him on; while now, even in his pleasant sur-
roundings, he was isolated from all that was dear-
est to his heart — the very attractiveness of his
London home only intensified his loneliness in it.
From the extracts from his manuscript copy of
his history which he sends Mrs. Fiske as examples
289
John Fiske
of his style, it is readily seen how much he craved
her appreciative sympathy.
In his moments of depression the thought oc-
curred to him to have Mrs. Fiske come over to
^ London for a while — that her presence and her
sympathy for a few weeks would serve to break his
long exile, and thus prove the best prescription for
his diseased mind. Accordingly, we have in his
letters to Mrs. Fiske early in April earnest plead-
ings for her to come to him, and picturing how
their days might be spent — he at his work and
she aiding him by her presence and her ready sym-
pathy, and cheering him in his hours of relaxation;
in short, he pictured how, with her, his London life
would be perfect, while his history would grow
apace. But it could not be. It was impossible for
Mrs. Fiske to leave her family for the many weeks
necessary to make her visit to London of benefit
to him, and she cabled him to this effect.
Fiske was disappointed; but he struggled on, his
days alternating between those of depression and
those of determination to carry his project through.
But his work suffered, not so much in quality as
in quantity — there were days he could do no
work. His friends were most considerate for him.
The Huxleys, the Triibners, the Macmillans, and
the Simes were unremitting in their kind courte-
sies. Spencer invited him to dinner to meet the
Japanese Minister and a few friends, and after-
wards took him down to Brighton for a few days.
290
Returns to America
But the weight on his mind could not be lifted.
He consulted his friend, Dr. Lauder Brunton, and
asked him if he could minister to a mind diseased.
Dr. Brunton advised him to send for his wife. He
again consulted Dr. Bruce, and Dr. Bruce advised
his returning home as the only sure remedy in his
case. This advice was conclusive, and accordingly
he took passage on the Cunard steamer Servia
which sailed from Liverpool April 21, and he ar-
rived in New York April 29, 1883, thus bringing to
a close his last visit to England, a visit which was
undertaken with anticipations of much pleasure,
and with expectations of great profit to his work.
The visit, however, was not a failure. Notwith-
standing his great personal discomforts, he did a
good body of solid work. Among the rich treasures
in the British Museum he found much of great
value to him relating to the discovery of America,
and particularly relating to English politics and
English thought regarding America during the
period of world-activity from 1753 to the estab-
lishment of constitutional government under Wash-
ington in 1789. At this time Fiske was writing the
story of the revolt of the colonies and of the Revo-
lutionary War.
Fiske's* return to his home brought his cure.
With his family about him the pressure on his
heart — his real ailment and one no medication
could reach : — was relieved, and he soon settled
down to steady work at his, task. In the Harvard
291
John Fiske
Library and in the Boston Public Library he found
the necessary books of reference, although not so
convenient for his use as were those in the Brit-
ish Museum. His working hours were carefully
guarded by Mrs. Fiske, and thus, for the remain-
der of the year, his days in Cambridge and Peters-
ham, with but few interruptions, sped along with
great serenity and with steady accretions to his
history.
Among the incidents of this period, perhaps the
most notable, and the one that most deeply stirred
his feelings, was his action as a member of the Board
of Overseers of Harvard University in opposition to
conferring the degree of LL.D. upon General Ben-
jamin F. Butler, then Governor of Massachusetts.
It had been customary to confer this degree upon
the Governors of the Commonwealth, although
the university was under no obligation to do so;
in fact, the conferring of the degree was simply
an act of courtesy on the part of the university.
Massachusetts had been fortunate in a line of Gov-
ernors who had nobly served the Commonwealth
and who were worthy of the honors of her chief
university. Consequently the propriety of the cus-
tomary bestowal of this high honor upon the chief
magistrate of the Commonwealth had not hereto-
fore been questioned. But Governor Butler, by
his personal character and by his derisive floutings
of some of the cherished opinions of the New Eng-
land mind, in short, by his gross vulgarity, and
292
Harvard and Governor Butler
contempt for Harvard's ideals of citizenship, had
roused a strong opposition to bestowing upon him
the university's highest honor. This opposition was
met by the somewhat plausible but weak argument
that the bestowal of the honor was not upon the
man, — the incumbent of the office, — but upon
the office itself.
On his return from England Fiske found that the
discussion of the propriety of conferring this degree
was rife in the various departments of Harvard
University and also under general discussion by
the Boston press. The President and Fellows of
the university had unanimously voted to confer the
degree, and although none thought the act con-
sistent with the character or the services of the
Governor, it was generally regarded as politically
unwise to withhold from him the customary honor.
Even those most urgent for conferring it were em-
phatic in condemning the unprincipled character
of the Governor. Fiske, as we have seen, was one
of the Overseers of the university, and the vote
of the President and Fellows proposing the con-
ferring of the degree had to be confirmed by the
Board of Overseers in order to become operative.
Fiske promptly took a decided stand against de-
basing Harvard's honors by a bestowal of her chief
honor upon one who for thirty years had lost no
opportunity of publicly testifying his contempt
for the university and all its belongings; and who,
by the testimony of his neighbors, had been pro-
293
John Fiske
nounced untruthful, tricky, and dishonest, both
professionally and politically. He ridiculed the
idea of Harvard, with its motto of " Veritas," find-
ing in the life of such a man anything worthy of
honor; and pointed out the absurdity of attempt-
ing to make a distinction between the office and
its incumbent in order to save the credit of the
university in its act.
He found ready sympathy among his fellow
members of the Board of Overseers, particularly
the Reverend James Freeman Clarke, who, when
the matter came before the Board for final action,
made a vigorous plea for moral consistency in their
action. The recommendation to confer the degree
was defeated by the decisive vote of eleven to
fifteen.
As Fiske was now at home, and as his mother was
living with him while her house near by was being
built, there are no self-revealing letters from him
giving the details of his life during this period such
as we have had in previous years. His papers and
memoranda give glimpses of him as steadily at
work on his history, as taking pleasure in reading
certain passages of it to Mrs. Fiske and his mother,
and as taking great pleasure in diversions with his
children. Among his papers I find a letter from his
friend James Sime, written in July of this year, —
1883, — which so clearly reflects the fine friendship
between the two men, as well as somewhat of their
294
Letter from James Sime
personal characteristics, that I make place for the
following extract. Sime writes : —
"Your happiness in getting home was, I am sure,
as deep as the Atlantic. Your visit to England will
now seem like a dream, but not a bad dream, I
hope; for after all, you had some happy hours. To
me you brought, as usual, much joy of the kind
that can only be feebly expressed in words. All the
same, however, both my wife and myself were very
anxious about you from the first day of your visit
until nearly the last; and while regretting to lose
you, we knew that it was best for you to get back
to those who would give you new life and energy.
How thoroughly miserable you seemed to be at
times ! as if all the lights of the world had been sud-
denly quenched! But that is all passed now, and
when you come again your mood will always be as
bright and as elastic as it often was even when you
were ill and homesick; for of course your wife will
be with you, and I do not think you could despond
in her presence however much you might try!
"Looking back on the times we had together, I
think I enjoy most the recollection of that perfect
day at Rochester, and of your last long evening
here, when we talked of Goethe, Heine, Omar
Khayyam, and I know not what besides. The
Rochester day was a gem of purest ray — one of
those days in which one's nature and the world
seem to be in absolute harmony, and when one
feels sure that the last word does not belong to the
pessimists. I could not help thinking of the strange
influences which had brought you and me together
there — united in idea and affection although
trained in such diverse circumstances — near us
295
John Fiske
the monuments of a far-off age in which even
America has its roots, and all around, the earth so
gracious and so young, as if the crowd of bishops
and warriors had never been! I wonder whether
six centuries hence, our descendants will find a
touch of romance in us ? I cannot doubt that they
will ; for there must be deep poetry in all this stir-
ring of mighty forces, that are going to bring forth
a new world.
"So you are making good progress with your
History? I congratulate you, for I feel confident
that it is to be a great book. The more I think of
America, and know about her, the more I believe
in her. She is one of the supreme sources of hope for
mankind and it is a satisfaction to know that in
you, she is to have a worthy historian."
Now that Fiske had a very complete envisage-
ment of American history, he was whenever prac-
ticable ready to lend a helping hand in bringing
the significant features of this history home to the
people. And Mrs. Hemenway, whose efforts to
make the Old South Church in Boston a centre
for the propagation of a knowledge of American
history as well as for the dissemination of the
principles of good citizenship have already been
noted, was ever active in her beneficent work.
During the school vacation for the summer of this
year she provided a course of lectures in the historic
old church on topics in American history of interest
to young people. Fiske was very glad to cooperate
in this good work, and accordingly, on the after-
296
Lectures to Young People
noon of September 12, 1883, he gave to a large and
interested audience, mostly of young people, a
simple, lucid story of our Revolutionary struggle
— its causes, its main incidents, its results. He
made the story interesting by keeping in the narra-
tion the causes more prominent than the incidents,
so that the latter were seen to flow naturally from
the former. For instance, he briefly sketched, in
the first place, the nature of the political differences
which had arisen between the mother country and
the colonies, and pointed out why the estrangement
was stronger in the New England colonies, on the
one hand, and in Virginia and the Southern colo-
nies, on the other hand, than it was in the middle
colonies of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl-
vania. He then called attention to the geographi-
cal situation of the colonies from the military or
strategic viewpoint — the New England colonies
being separated from the others by the Hudson
River, thereby leaving the confederacy open to
attack from the seaboard at New York and from
Canada by Lake Champlain — attacks which if
united and successful would sever the New Eng-
land colonies from the confederacy, thus enabling
the British forces to subjugate the colonies in de-
tail. Having made these points clear, he showed
that the English Cabinet adopted as its plan of
military operations three lines of converging forces:
the first consisting of a strong force, under General
Burgoyne, to descend through Lake Champlain and
297
John Fiske
Lake George; the second, a smaller force, under
Colonel St. Leger, to come by way of Lake Ontario,
Oswego, and the Mohawk Valley, these two forces
to come together in the vicinity of Albany, where
they were to be joined by a strong force from New
York, under Lord Howe, which was to move up
the Hudson River. By these combined movements
it was expected that the colonial confederacy would
be effectively dismembered. Success depended upon
these three lines of operations being conducted
under a complete understanding by the three com-
manders of the general plan of the campaign. Ow-
ing, however, to the stupid neglect of Lord George
Germain, the British Cabinet officer having charge
of the colonies, the definite instructions prepared
for Lord Howe in New York defining the impor-
tant part he was to play in the general movement
were never sent. So General Burgoyne and Colo-
nel St. Leger, deprived of his assistance, were left
to their respective fates: the former surrendered
his army at Saratoga, while the latter was com-
pletely routed at Fort Stanwix and fled for his
life.
These signal victories in the year 1777, completely
•; upsetting the British plan for dismembering the
colonies, in connection with Washington's bril-
liant campaigns in New Jersey, Fiske showed,
formed the turning-point in the Revolutionary
struggle. The British ministry were signally de-
feated in their main efforts to subdue the colonists,
298
On the Revolutionary War
and France now came to their open assistance with
her army and her fleet. What followed during the
next five years was succinctly and graphically told :
the great public privations and distresses, Ar-
nold's treason, the efforts of the British generals
to win back the Southern colonies, the brilliant
campaign of General Greene in Georgia and the
Carolinas, ending with the cooping-up of Lord
Cornwallis at Yorktown, the descent of Wash-
ington with his army from the Hudson, the co-
operation of the French fleet, the surrender of Corn-
wallis, the close of the war, and the treaty of
independence and peace between England and the
United States in the autumn of 1782.
Fiske was so familiar with his subject that he
had but little occasion to refer to his notes. The
lecture therefore partook of the nature of an ex-
tempore talk on a subject in which he took a deep
interest. He was also interested in his audience,
and he spoke with great ease and fluency. I took
a seat where I could observe the audience. It was,
indeed, an inspiring sight — so many bright young
faces animated by "a desire to know," and as the
theme was unfolded it was pleasant to see their
growing interest. When the story of Arnold was
told, his base treason, in contrast with his previous
brilliant services, and the effect of the treason
upon Washington, the interest of the audience was
profound. Every eye was riveted on the speaker,
and in the rapt attention it could be seen that feel-
299
John Fiske
ings of pity were mingled with feelings of indig-
nant patriotism at such dastardly conduct.
Another incident of the lecture I recall. The
story of the investment and surrender of Corn-
wallis was followed with close attention. When
Fiske told, in a highly pleased and animated way,
how the news of the surrender, flying northward,
reached Philadelphia on a dark morning in the
fourth week of October, 1781, and was announced
to the citizens by an old German night-watchman
in his broken English — "Basht dree o'glock und
Gornvallis ish dakendt" — the deep feeling of the
audience found relief in an impromptu round of
applause, which showed the keen, sympathetic
interest with which the whole story had been fol-
lowed.
This lecture was so successful, it showed so
clearly that the Revolutionary struggle had, when
properly presented, so many points of a deep and
general interest which bore directly upon the ele-
ments of good citizenship, that Mrs. Hemenway
desired to have a succinct history of the American
Revolutionary War in its various relations and as-
pects given in a course of popular lectures at the
Old South Church. This course was not only to
set forth, with much fulness of detail, the historic
events of the great struggle, but also to bring into
clear light the many types of personal character
— of citizens — that were developed during the
struggle.
300
Old South Lectures
As Fiske, in his " History of the American Peo-
ple " which he had in hand, had already treated the
Revolutionary period in much the way Mrs. Hem-
enway desired, it was not a difficult task for him
to prepare from his manuscript copy a course of
twelve lectures for delivery at the Old South
Church. And this he did. Beginning on Satur-
day, November 17, 1883, he gave twelve weekly
lectures (omitting Christmas week) under the fol-
lowing titles: —
I. The First Misunderstandings. 1761-67.
II. War Clouds Gathering. 1767-74.
III. Coming on of the Storm. 1774-75.
IV. Independence declared. 1775-76.
V. The Times that tried Men's Souls. 1776.
VI. Struggle for the Centre. 1777.
VII. Beginning of the End. 1778.
VIII. Spreading of the War. 1778-80.
IX. The Final Struggle. 1779-81.
X. Independence achieved. 1781-83.
XI. The League of Friendship. 1781-87.
XII. Order out of Chaos. 1787-89.
These lectures were given at noon, and they
were attended by large and enthusiastic audiences.
So great was the interest taken in them that be-
fore the course was finished Fiske was asked by the
Governor, the Honorable George D. Robinson; by
the Superintendent of Schools, Edwin P. Seaver;
by the Secretary of the State Board of Education,
J. W. Dickinson; by Francis Parkman, the emi-
301
John Fiske
nent historian; by the 'Reverend Edward Everett
Hale, and other prominent citizens, to repeat the
course at an hour more convenient to the general
public. Fiske was greatly pleased to comply with
this request, and he repeated the lectures in an
evening course, also at the Old South Church, be-
ginning February I, 1884.
In the lectures of the latter half of this course he
made some changes, by leaving out of considera-
tion the seven years' League of Friendship under
the Continental Congress and confining himself
strictly to the war period with greater fulness of
detail. He felt that in the original course he did
not do full justice to the closing years of the great
struggle, while a calm review of his presentation
of the important events that occurred during the
League of Friendship, out of which grew the Con-
stitution of the United States, led him to the deci-
sion to give to these events a fuller treatment in
another and a particular course of lectures. How
these lectures were received was well expressed by
the " Boston Advertiser," then the leading critical
journal in Boston, in passing upon them the fol-
lowing judgment: —
"The delivery of these lectures has been a liter-
ary event of the first magnitude. It is not easy to
explain the secret of the orator's wonderful charm.
The fervid manner and varied grace of gesture of
Everett, and the tragic air and pathetic tones of
Choate, together with the devices of rhetoric which
302
Lectures in St. Louis
both employed, might explain theirs, as did the
audacity and edge of Phillips's speech account in
a good measure for his. Mr. Fiske makes no ges-
tures, and indulges in no high-flown rhetoric; but
his manner is extremely easy and graceful, and
his dramatic method of presentation brings us face
to face with persons and events as if we had
seen and known them. The character of George
Washington has never before been so impressively
depicted in so few words. Part of the effect, no
doubt, is due to the surpassing beauty of his
language. "
k Before finishing his lectures in Boston, Fiske was
asked to repeat the course in St. Louis during the
spring term, under the auspices of Washington Uni-
versity. He was glad to comply with this request,
and so from the last of March till the early part of
May of this year he was in St. Louis. And his lec-
tures evoked as great an interest as they did in Bos-
ton. He had large audiences and the interest deep-
ened to the very close. General Sherman was an
attentive listener, and he commended very highly
Fiske's lucid presentation of the military opera-
tions of the war on both sides.
The impression given by the lectures in St. Louis
was well summed up by the leading journal, the
"St. Louis Globe-Democrat/' in the following par-
agraph : —
"For picturesqueness, and dramatic power, the
description of the Boston Tea-Party, the battle in
the ravine at Oriskany, the awful fight between
303
John Fiske
the Serapis and Bon Homme Richard and the
splendid march of Washington upon Cornwallis
have never been surpassed in historical literature.
The character drawing was no less remarkable. Al-
most side by side, in the same lecture, the jovial,
irascible, learned, and energetic German tactician
Steuben, and the strangely majestic figure of the
great Mohawk preacher and war-chief, Brant, are
so vividly portrayed as to haunt one's memory
forever. Mr. Fiske's command of the English lan-
guage is unrivalled. The success of the lectures has
been simply astonishing."
Before passing from Fiske's activities of the
winter of 1883-84, mention should be made of his
publication of "Excursions of an Evolutionist," a
duodecimo volume in which he brought together
his various essays, etc., printed during the previous
three or four years. In it was included his speech
at the Spencer dinner. This volume bore the fol-
lowing felicitous dedication to an old friend whose
name has several times appeared in previous pages :
To REV. JOHN LANGDON DUDLEY
Dear and Honoured Friend: —
Quarter of a century has passed since I used to listen with
delight to your preaching and come to you for sympathy and
counsel in my studies. In these later days while we meet too
Seldom, my memory of that wise and cordial sympathy
grows ever brighter and sweeter; and to-day, in writing upon
my title-page the words of the great German seer,1 my
1 Willst du ins Unendliche schreiten
Geh nur im Endlichen nach alien Seiten.
Goethe.
304
Excursions of an Evolutionist
thoughts naturally revert to you. For I know of no one who
understands more thoroughly or feels more keenly how it is
that if we would fain learn something of the Infinite, we must
not sit idly repeating the formulas of other men and other
days, but must gird up our loins anew, and diligently explore
on every side that finite realm through which still shines the
glory of an ever-present God for those that have eyes to see
and ears to hear. Pray accept this little book from one
who is Ever gratefully yours, »
JOHN FISKE.
Mr. Dudley acknowledged the compliment by
the following grateful note : —
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 12, 1883.
My good Friend : —
Your admirable book reached me after several
stages, — being forwarded from Milwaukee.
But you have crowned me with laurel : you have
set me up with honor. If from all the gods in the
kingdom of letters I might have chosen one to braid
a chaplet for me you would have been named first,
and only. So you must know that when I read your
generous tribute it touched me tenderly. For five
and twenty years I have watched your career with
interest and rejoiced in its triumph from stage to
stage, until at last you have scored your name
among the constellated few that shall have light
for the pathseekers of to-morrow.
Dear friend, if from my advance bloom any
pollen may have fallen upon the blossoms in the
garden of your spring-time, who shall deny that
the glory of the harvest comes more from the soil
than the seed.
In the abiding youth of the Avida veteris flammae
I shall continue yours,
J. L. DUDLEY.
305
John Fiske
This volume was very cordially received by
Fiske's growing audience of readers; and the wide
catholicity of his thought, the absence of all ap-
peals to prejudice, the disposition to find some
good in all phases of human development, com-
bined with his ready command of his encyclopaedic
knowledge and his wonderful power of lucid expo-
sition, commended him to an ever-increasing con-
stituency of rational minds.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE TWO CONCORD ADDRESSES — "THE DESTINY
OF MAN" — "THE IDEA OF GOD"
1884-1885
WE now come to two interruptions in Fiske's his-
torical work resulting in the production of two re-
ligious addresses which have had a marked influ-
ence upon the religious thought of the time : his two
addresses before the Concord School of Philosophy
at the two sessions of the School in 1884 and 1885.
The Concord School of Philosophy had its be-
ginning in 1879, at Concord, Massachusetts, as a
sort of gathering-place where those who felt dis-
turbed over the apparent materialistic tendency of
the current scientific thought could meet, and, by
free converse on the deeper questions of the theo-
logico-idealistic philosophy, emphasize the impor-
tance of keeping the mind fixed on the Divine per-
sonality of God, on the direct relationship between
God and man through man's conscious powers,
as the necessary conditions for sound philosophic
thinking regarding the principles of right conduct
in human life itself.
The Directors and the active workers in the
School were: A. Bronson Alcott, Transcendentalist ;
Dr. Hiram A. Jones, Platonist; Dr. William T.
307
John Fiske
Harris, Hegelian; Frank- B. Sanborn, literary and
social critic.
The real founder of the School was Mr. Alcott, in
whose mind the possibility of such a school, where
men interested in the problems of the transcenden-
tal philosophy could meet in freest converse, had for
years floated as a sort of Platonic dream. Emer-
son encouraged the founding of the school, and
appeared at its first two sessions. He took no
active part, however, in its conduct. His health
was failing. An examination of the papers pre-
sented during the first five sessions of the School,
1879-83, shows that the prevailing order of phil-
osophic thought was decidedly metaphysical in
character, with the implication that only by this
order of philosophizing could the truths regarding
God, nature, man — the ultimates of all philosophy
— be ascertained: Along with these presentations
of metaphysico-philosophic doctrine, there was
much dwelling upon the contributions thereto by
Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Kant, Fichte, and Hegel.
For the session of the School in 1884 the Faculty
chose, as one of the leading subjects for discussion,
" Man's Immortality "; and in a laudable desire to
give the discussion a wide range, Fiske was asked
to give a paper on the general subject. I gather
that he was expected to speak as a materialist.
Fiske accepted the invitation with much pleasure,
as the occasion would enable him to set forth, under
conditions of special significance, his views as an
308
THE BROOKS HOUSE, PETERSHAM
VIEW FROM REAR PIAZZA OF THE BROOKS HOUSE
Concord School of Philosophy
Evolutionist on this vital question of religious be-
lief.
Fiske's address was written in Petersham amid
the pleasantest surroundings and at intervals while
he was deeply engaged in his historical work. It was
delivered at Concord on the evening of July 31,
1884, and in the very simple chapel which had been
specially built upon the estate of Mr. Alcott for the
purposes of the School. All the surroundings were
in keeping with great simplicity of life and high
thinking on great themes. A larger audience than
usual was gathered, drawn doubtless by a desire
to hear what the leading Evolutionist in America
had to say on one of the fundamental doctrines of
the Christian religion. It was, therefore, an au-
dience of an unusually select character.
The address was characterized by all the marks
of Fiske's careful, orderly preparation. He took
the question of man's immortality entirely out of
the realm of me taphysico- theological speculation,
and brought it under consideration in the light of
man's evolutionary origin and his ever-developing,
intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature as revealed
by positive science. He opened with a brief refer-
ence to the conception of the cosmic universe as
held by theologico-philosophic thinkers previous
to the Copernican era, when, as set forth in the
"Divine Comedy" of Dante, — "that wonderful
book wherein all the knowledge and speculation,
all the sorrows and yearnings of the far-off Middle
309
John Fiske
Ages are enshrined in the glory of imperishable
verse, — the earth, the fair home of man, was
placed in the centre of a universe wherein all
things were ordained for his sole behoof: the sun to
give him light and warmth, the stars in their courses
to preside over his strangely checkered destinies,
the winds to blow, the floods to rise, or the fiend of
pestilence to stalk abroad over the land — all for
the blessing, or the warning, or the chiding of the
chief among God's creatures, man."
Upon such a cosmological theory as this — the
whole universe ministering to the present and fu-
ture well-being of man as its ultimate goal — was
founded an imposing theological system crowned
with man's immortality, an eternal life to be spent
in the joys of Heaven or in the torments of Hell
according as individual life here on earth had been
spent well or ill.
Naturally the impinging of the Copernican as-
tronomy upon such a body of established theo-
logico-cosmological doctrine as this could not but
be revolutionary in the extreme. Commenting
upon what took place Fiske says: —
"In our day it is hard to realize the startling
effect of the discovery that man does not dwell at
the centre of things, but is the denizen of an ob-
scure and tiny speck of cosmical matter quite in-
visible amid the innumerable throng of blazing
suns that make up our galaxy. To the contempora-
ries of Copernicus, the new theory seemed to strike
310
Address on Immortality
at the very foundations of Christian theology. In
a universe where so much had been made without
discernible reference to man, what became of that
elaborate scheme of salvation which seemed to rest
upon the assumption that the career of Humanity
was the sole object of God's creative forethought
and fostering care? When we bear this in mind i
we see how natural and inevitable it was that the
Church should persecute such men as Galileo and
Bruno."
But while the establishment of the truth of
the Copernican astronomy by Kepler and Newton
completely discredited the theologico-cosmological
scheme which preceded it, this astronomical scheme
gave no explanation of the cosmic universe itself,
or of man's place in it. It simply affirmed the exist-
ence of a vast universe of stellar phenomena in
which the earth had a very subordinate place, a
universe held in order and unity by some Divine
Power. Consequently man was dethroned from his
position of primacy in the universe, and relegated
to a very conditioned form of existence on the sur-
face of the earth. Theology, grappling with this
astronomical truth, which it was forced to accept,
gradually shifted its ground as to ultimate truth
regarding man and his place in the universe. It
finally centred its affirmations around man's spe-
cial creation as an inhabitant of the earth, and his
endowment with consciousness and immortal life,
as part of the acts of the Divine Creator in the
John Fiske
creation of the universe by fiat, some six thousand
years ago.
This theologico-cosmological scheme was sup-
ported with much affirmation of its being ultimate
Divine truth, down to the middle period of ..the
nineteenth century. Then the geological researches
of Lyell and his followers, the palseontologic re-
searches of a number of men, the biological re-
searches of Darwin and his followers, the sociologi-
cal researches of Spencer and his followers, together
with the discoveries in the chemical and physical
sciences relating to the properties of matter and
energy, completely swept away the foundations of
this amended scheme. It left in its place the con-
ception of a universe of phenomena immeasurable
in its vastness, its variety, its duration; a universe
of order and unity ever in a process of develop-
ment into more complex and higher forms of
phenomenal existences in conformity to immutable
law; a universe in which man appears as an inter-
related crowning product of organic life, the whole
an attestation to the existence, as the source and
Sustainer of it all, of an Infinite Eternal Power,
transcending, in the nature of its existence, the com-
prehension of the human mind.
Coming now to the direct question of man's im-
mortality, Fiske frankly admitted that science could
not as yet either affirm its truth or assert its denial,
with any positive evidence whatsoever. This being
the case it becomes us reverently to study the na-
312
Man's Place in Nature
ture of man's present existence and the conditions
under which it is given to see whether his present
life, so developmental in character, is legitimately
terminal in itself; or whether its very terminal cos-
mic conditions do not imply a conscious existence
in another form of life beyond as its necessary ful-
filment.
He then proceeded to bring under review man's
place in nature as established by biological science.
Accepting the truth of man's genesis, through his
evolution from lower forms of animal life, he could
not but note the psychical aspects of this evolution,
wherein is shown man's ever-increasing mastery
over nature's materials and forces, ever bringing
them more and more into his service through the
development of his psychical powers. From this
fact he found the conclusion irresistible that man
is the highest manifestation of the Divine Creator's
power, the culmination of His handiwork as thus
far manifested, and that further cosmic develop-
ment or revelation of the Divine Creator lies in the
perfection of humanity in its moral and spiritual
aspects.
Believing this to be the truth regarding man's
place in nature, a place of far greater significance
for his moral and spiritual well-being than had been
assigned him in any scheme of things born of an-
cient mythology, Fiske turned, in contemplating
man's destiny, to these revelations of science re-
garding the conditions under which his present cos-
313
John Fiske
mic existence is given, as pointing unmistakably
to some far-off Divine result of which his ever-
developing cosmic experiences are adumbrations.
And among these revelations of science he found
a group of facts relating to the origin and develop-
ment of man's psychical powers of special signifi-
cance, attesting that the enhancement by all the
forces of nature of man's moral and spiritual well-
being here on earth, over and beyond his physical
well-being, was a distinct tendency in the nature of
things.
These facts Fiske presented in the order of their
development. In the first place, accepting the ani-
mal ancestry of man as established truth, man's
distinct differentiation from his animal progenitors
may be said to have had its beginning when in the
struggle for existence the utilization of the psy-
chical powers had become of greater service than
the physical powers, yielding ever more and more
the element of self-consciousness, thus opening an
entirely new chapter in the organic life of the world.
Indeed, in the far-off ages of the past, as now so
clearly revealed by palseontologic science, we are
enabled to conceive primitive man as he emerged
from his animal condition, giving evidence, by his
nascent powers of cognition, by his incipient lan-
guage, and his crude arts, that a higher form than
that of mere physical or animal existence, was
making its way, was being developed in this uni-
verse of things.
3H
Development of Humanity
Fiske then pointed out that this progress in psy-
chical development has been continuous, and he
gave himself to tracing out the ever-increasing pre-
dominance of psychical life manifested in the de-
velopment of humanity. He particularly empha-
sized the lengthening of infancy 1 and its giving
rise to feelings and actions on the part of parents
not purely self-regarding, leading to the develop-
ment of the family with its altruistic feelings, the
unit of human society. He then pointed out how,
following this advance in the development of primi-
tive man, there came the beginnings of social life
and the origin of social organizations and of moral
conduct: manifestations of the actions of psychi-
cal forces which in their development are slowly
ridding man of his egoistic animal nature and re-
placing it with a nature dominated by psychical
forces having a spiritual and moral content. A
point of profound significance in this connection
is the physiological fact that, pari passu with the
development of man's spiritual and moral nature,
there has gone on a corresponding development of
his cerebral organization.
Here Fiske found a mass of scientific evidence,
the truth of which could not be gainsaid, which
was clear indication that the life of civilized man,
as shown by his origin and his progressive devel-
opment towards spiritual and ethical ideals, was
the highest manifestation of the Divine Creator's
1 His original contribution to the doctrine of Evolution.
315
John Fiske
power and purpose in this universe of things. Fur-
ther, it was in evidence that this conscious psychi-
cal life of man had had a course of development
parallel with, and in strict conformity to, the de-
velopment of the physical universe which formed
its environment, a universe which is ever in a proc-
ess of transformation into more and more complex
forms of phenomenal manifestation without any
loss or destruction of material, or energy, what-
ever.
Then came the vital question, — vital to science,
vital to religion — Does the psychical life of man
end with death? Does this marvellous form of
conscious existence, the crowning manifestation of
Divine power in this developing universe of phe-
nomena, where nothing is ever lost or destroyed,
cease to exist? Is it a mere chance occurrence in
cosmic phenomena, ephemeral in its nature and
without definite meaning or purpose in the cosmic
universe?
Fiske could not so believe. In his mind the ascent
of man from an animal ancestry, emerging from
his brute inheritance, and the development in its
stead of religious feelings and altruistic conduct
born of spiritual, moral, and intellectual ideals,
was a truth of such sublime grandeur and signifi-
cance, as to be without a parallel in the whole uni-
verse of things. Yet, he admitted that it is not
likely that we shall ever succeed in making the
immortality of the soul a matter ^of scientific dem-
Science and Immortality
onstration, for we lack the requisite data: it must
ever remain an affair of religion, rather than of
science. At the same time he asserted with much
emphasis : —
"The materialistic assumption that the life of
the soul ends with the life of the body is perhaps
the most colossal instance of baseless assumption
that is known to the history of philosophy. No
evidence for it can be alleged beyond the familiar
fact that during the present life we know Soul only
in its association with Body, and therefore cannot
discover disembodied soul without dying ourselves.
This fact must always prevent us from obtaining
direct evidence for the belief in the soul's survival.
But a negative presumption is not created by the
absence of proof in cases where, in the nature of
things, proof is inaccessible. With his illegitimate
hypothesis of annihilation, the materialist trans-
gresses the bounds of experience quite as widely as
the poet who sings of the New Jerusalem with its
river of life and its streets of gold. Scientifically
speaking, there is not a particle of evidence for
either view." l
1 This positive statement in regard to our ignorance of man's
spiritual existence after death will be more seriously questioned now
than at the time when Fiske wrote. The many able investigators
engaged in probing scientifically the mysteries of psychical phe-
nomena, attacking the problem at both ends, — the beginnings of
consciousness and the continuance of conscious existence after death,
— are bringing forth a mess of evidence which goes to show that in
their investigations they are more or less in the presence of a form of
existence which transcends mere physical existence; the nature of
which and the conditions under which it is given are not verifiable in
terms of man's experiential knowledge. Indeed, it can be said that
science, religion, and philosophy are now facing the problem of a
form of existence transcending this material cosmic existence, more
317
John Fiske
Fiske closed his address with the following em-
phatic confession of faith : —
"For my own part I believe in the immortality
of the soul, not in the sense in which I accept the
demonstrable truths of science, but as a supreme
act of faith in the reasonableness of God's work.
Such a belief, relating to regions quite inaccessible
to experience, cannot of course be clothed in terms
of definite and tangible meaning. For the experi-
ence which alone can give us such terms we must
await that solemn day which is to overtake us all.
The belief can be most quickly defined as the re-
fusal to believe that this world is all. The mate-
rialist holds that when you have described the
whole universe of phenomena of which we can be-
come cognizant under the conditions of the present
life, then the whole story is told. It seems to me,
on the contrary, that the whole story is not thus
told. I feel the omnipresence of mystery in such
wise as to make it far easier for me to adopt the
view of Euripides, that what we call death may be
but the dawning of true knowledge and of true life.
The greatest philosopher of modern times, the mas-
ter and teacher of all who shall study the process
ef Evolution for many a day to come, holds that
the conscious soul is not the product of a colloca-
directly and more intelligently than at any previous period in the
history of human thinking. In fact, each of these orders of thought
confesses its impotence to explain the simplest cosmic phenomena;
while the scientific investigation of psychical phenomena is daily
bringing to light evidence that these phenomena are by no means
wholly subject to physical conditions: in truth, that man's progress
in civilization, is taking decidedly the character of bringing the
materials and forces of nature in subjection to his ever-devdoping
psychical powers.
318
A Confession of Faith
tion of material particles, but is in the deepest
sense a divine effluence. According to Mr. Spen-
cer, the divine energy which is manifested through-
out the knowable universe is the same energy that
wells up in us as consciousness. Speaking for myself,
I can see no insuperable difficulty in the notion that
at some period in the evolution of Humanity this
divine spark may have acquired sufficient concen-
tration and steadiness to survive the wreck of ma-
terial forms and endure forever. Such a crowning
wonder seems to me no more than the fit climax
to a creative work that has been ineffably beautiful
and marvellous in all its myriad stages.
"Only on some such view can the reasonable-
ness of the universe, which still remains far above
our finite power of comprehension, maintain its
ground. There are some minds inaccessible to the
class of considerations here alleged, and perhaps
there always will be. But on such grounds, if on
no other, the faith in immortality is likely to be
shared by all who look upon the genesis of the
highest spiritual qualities in man as the. goal of
nature's creative work. This view has survived
the Copernican revolution in science, and it has
survived the Darwinian revolution. Nay, if the
foregoing exposition be sound, it is Darwinism
which has placed Humanity upon a higher pin-
nacle than ever. The future is lighted for us with
the radiant colors of hope. Strife and sorrow shall
disappear. Peace and love shall reign supreme.
The dream of poets, the lesson of priest and
prophet, the inspiration of the great musician, is
confirmed in the light of modern knowledge ; and as
we gird ourselves up for the work of life we may
319
John Fiske
look forward to the time when in the truest sense
the kingdoms of this world shall become the king-
dom of Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever,
king of kings and lord of lords."
Fiske was nearly two hours in delivering the
address, yet so lucid was the flow of thought owing
to the logical arrangement of the wide and varied
knowledge embodied in the argument, so rational
and inspiring was the thought of man's immortal-
ity as the fitting complement, the culmination to
his progressive moral and spiritual evolution here
on earth, and so attractive was the style in which
the whole argument was presented, rising at times
to passages of supreme eloquence, that these fea-
tures, combined as they were with an easy, un-
affected delivery, held the audience in rapt atten-
tion from the beginning to the end.
The address was soon published in a dainty vol-
ume and with the following dedication : —
To
MY CHILDREN
MAUD, HAROLD, CLARENCE, RALPH
ETHEL, AND HERBERT
THIS ESSAY
IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED
The publication of the address attracted wide
attention, not only by reason of the circumstances
which called it forth, but also and more particularly
by reason of its treatment of the question of man's
immortality in the light of recent discoveries in
320
The Destiny of Man
biological science regarding his animal ancestry
and the evolution of his civilization. The little
book was cordially welcomed by the advocates
of liberal thought, on the one hand, while it was
emphatically condemned by the strenuous up-
holders of Christian theology, on the other. Upon
the minds of people who desired to know what the
testimony of science is as to the ultimate destiny
of man, and to what extent the question of a future
existence must be a matter of faith or belief, the
little book made a deep impression.
And Fiske had the great satisfaction of learning,
through private letters from persons in various
walks of life, that his essay had been the means of
bringing rest and comfort to minds sorely per-
plexed with the problems of existence as presented
by Christian theology. Some of these letters are
before me, and they are pathetic in their revela-
tions of the mental distress which not unfrequently
accompanies the acceptance of the Christian dog-
mas by minds finely organized spiritually. At the
same time they attest the fact that a goodly por-
tion of cultivated minds are ready to welcome the
spiritual truths written in the phenomena of the
cosmic universe when these truths are presented
in all their grandeur, with fulness of knowledge,
with beauty, and with power.
From Spencer Fiske received the following let-
ter in regard to the little book, which is of in-
terest as showing that Spencer was in doubt as to
321
John Fiske
the immortality of man — a doubt he never over-
came with a positive conviction. Biographical
literature presents no parallel instance of a great
mind going to its rest under circumstances of such
profound sadness as accompanied the closing life
of Spencer. Having himself rendered an inesti-
mable service to humanity by pointing out man's
place in the phenomena of the cosmic universe, he
was yet unable to reach any positive conclusion
as to the destiny of man; at the same time wish-
ing some solution of the mystery might be found.
37 QUEEN'S GARDENS,
BAYSWATER, October 24, 1884.
My dear Fiske: —
I was glad to get your little volume serving to
remind me of your still continued philosophical
activity — showing that you have not wholly
merged the philosopher in the historian.
My state of brain, though improved somewhat
recently, has long debarred me from any appre-
ciable amount of reading. Such little as I can do
being by necessity limited to that bearing upon
my immediate work. The only part of your little
volume which I have looked at, is the closing part,
and in this, so far as I gather its drift, you ap-
proach more nearly to a positive conclusion than
I feel inclined to do. Have you ever looked into
W. R. Greg's later essays? In one of these he, in
a very interesting way, discusses the question of
immortality; implying that in his own case, the
desire for continued life wanes as age advances,
and the desire becomes rather that for absolute rest.
322
Letter from Spencer
You see that I have been dreadfully bothered
with controversies of late. Now, however, I have
done. With an article which appears in the " Nine-
teenth Century " on the first of next month, I shall
have done with the question of agnosticism and the
Religion of Humanity, and I hope now, after a
long desistance, to make some way with my per-
manent work. Partly from these distractions, and
partly from my disturbed health (which has never
yet reached its ordinary low level), I have lost an
amount of time which is dreadful to look back
upon.
With kind regards to Mrs. Fiske, believe me,
Ever yours sincerely,
HERBERT SPENCER.
The controversy to which Spencer refers in this
letter was his memorable debate with Frederic
Harrison in the "Nineteenth Century Review"
for 1884 on the "Nature and Reality of Reli-
gion, " in which the implications of Mr. Spencer's
term "The Unknowable" and Comte's "Religion
of Humanity" were very forcefully argued. It is
apparent that this debate was of influence in shap-
ing Fiske's thought in these two Concord addresses.
So wide and deep was the interest awakened
by Fiske's address on "The Destiny of Man" that
the Directors of the Concord School invited him
to give at the session of the School the follow-
ing summer, 1885, another address on some philo-
sophic subject agreeable to himself. He gladly ac-
323
John Fiske
cepted this second invitation, as affording a proper
occasion for saying certain things he had for some
time had in mind in regard to theism. He chose
for the subject of his discourse, therefore, "The
Idea of God as affected by Modern Knowledge,"
for the purpose of introducing the discussion of the
question whether pantheism is the legitimate out-
come of modern science. With this object in view
it seemed to him that his purpose would be best
attained by passing in review the various modifi-
cations the idea of God has undergone in the past,
and pointing out the shape in which it is likely to
survive the rapid growth of modern knowledge;
and especially the establishment of the doctrine
of Evolution, which is fast obliging us to revise
our opinions on all subjects whatsoever. Fiske
approached the discussion, as he tells us, with the
following theistic belief : —
"We may hold that the world of phenomena is
intelligible only when regarded as the multiform
manifestation of an Omnipresent Energy that is
in some way — albeit in a way quite above our
finite comprehension — anthropomorphic or quasi-
personal. There is a true objective reasonableness
in the universe; its events have an orderly progres-
sion, and, so far as those events are brought suffi-
ciently within our ken for us to generalize them
exhaustively, their progression is toward a goal
that is recognizable by human intelligence; 'the
process of Evolution is itself the working out of a
mighty Teleology of which our finite understandings
324
The Idea of God
can fathom but the scantiest rudiments'; it is in-
deed but imperfectly that we can describe the dra-
matic tendency in the succession of events, but we
can see enough to assure us of the fundamental
fact that there is such a tendency; and this tend-
ency is the objective aspect of that which, when
regarded on its subjective side, we call Purpose.
Such a theory of things is Theism. It recognizes
an Omnipresent Energy, which is none other than
the living God/'1
The attentive reader of Fiske's religious addresses
cannot fail to notice the characteristic manner of
their openings — in each case the presentation of a
significant thought derived from some department
of knowledge opposite to the subject under discus-
sion. In "The Destiny of Man," as we have seen,
he opened his discourse with a graceful reference
to the sorrows and yearnings of the far-off Mid-
dle Ages as enshrined in the imperishable verse
of Dante. Now, having to speak on a still greater
theme, the greatest that can engage the human
mind, he turns for a text for his discourse to
" Faust," Goethe's immortal poem. He finds —
in the incident of Faust's walking with Margaret
at eventide in the garden, and Margaret's enquiry
of her lover if he believes in God, and Faust's per-
plexity, having delved in the deepest mines of phi-
losophy, to make answer which shall be truthful
and at the same time intelligible to the simple-
minded girl that walks by his side — an incident
1 Preface to The Idea of God, p. xi.
325
John Fiske
suitable to his purpose, as depicted by one of the
profoundest thinkers of modern times.
The opening paragraph, in which Fiske sets forth
Faust's efforts to explain to Margaret his idea of
God, and her difficulty in apprehending an idea so
far beyond any concrete symbol of the Divine Crea-
tor with which she was acquainted — so far be-
yond what had been presented to her by the priest
at the confessional or the altar — is not only a
passage of rare literary eloquence, but is also one
of the finest renderings of the thought of Goethe
regarding Deity, as expressed by Faust, that we
have in English.
Focussing attention by reference to this inci-
dent in Goethe's great poem, Fiske then pointed
out that the difficulty with which Margaret was
beset is the same difficulty which besets every mind
when confronted with the thought of the great
thinkers — the outcome of their endeavors to
fathom the hidden life of the universe and inter-
pret its meaning. He then goes on to say that most
people content themselves through life with a set
of concrete formulas or symbols concerning Deity,
and vituperate as atheistic all conceptions which
refuse to be compressed within the limits of their
creed. For the great mass of mankind the idea of
God is overlaid and obscured by symbolic rites and
doctrines that have grown up in the long historic
development of religion. All such rites and doc-
trines once had a positive meaning beautiful and
326
The Idea of God
inspiring, or forbidding and terrible; and such con-
crete symbols have in all ages been fought for as
the essentials of religion, until decrees of coun-
cils, and articles of faith, have usurped in men's
minds, in a great measure, the place of the living
God.
Fiske then showed, with great clearness of state-
ment, how inevitable it is in the nature of things
that this should be so: that to the half-educated
mind a theory of Divine action, in which God is
depicted as a distinct person, and as entertaining
human purposes and swayed by human passions,
is not only intelligible, but is also impressive, and in
some cases may be made inspiring. However myth-
ical the form in which the theory is presented, it
seems to uncritical minds profoundly real and sub-
stantial. Just in so far as it is crudely concrete,
just in so far as its terms can be vividly realized,
does such a theory seem rational and true. On the
other hand, a theory of Divine action, which, dis-
regarding as far as possible the aid of concrete
symbols, attempts to include within its range the
endlessly complex operations that are forever go-
ing on throughout the universe, is to the ordinary
mind unintelligible. It awakens no emotion be-
cause it is not understood. For these reasons all
attempts to study God as revealed in the workings
of the visible universe, all attempts to character-
ize the divine activity in terms derived from such
study, have met with persistent opposition and
327
John Fiske
obloquy as attempts to fritter away the true idea
of God, or at best to reduce it to a mere abstraction.
Fiske closes this very lucid summary of the per-
petual conflict between man's mythically derived
ideas of God and the idea of a Divine Creator de-
rived from man's ever-advancing knowledge of the
cosmic universe, which formed his introduction,
with this exceptionally fine paragraph : —
"Thus through age after age has it fared with
men's discoveries in science, and with their thoughts
about God and the soul. It was so in the days of
Galileo and Newton, and we have found it to be
so in the days of Darwin and Spencer. The theolo-
gian exclaims, If planets are held in place by gravi-
tation and tangential momentum, and if the high-
est forms of life have been developed by natural
selection and direct adaptation, then the universe
is swayed by blind forces and nothing is left for
God to do: how impious and terrible the thought!
Even so, echoes the favorite atheist, the Lamet-
trie or Biichner of the day; the universe, it seems,
has always got on without a God, and accordingly
there is none : how noble and cheering the thought !
And as thus age after age they wrangle, with their
eyes turned away from the light, the world goes
on to larger and larger knowledge in spite of them,
and does not lose its faith, for all these darkeners
of counsel may say. As in the roaring loom of Time
the endless web of events is woven, each strand
shall make more and more clearly visible the liv-
ing garment of God."
Turning now to his direct argument, he finds
328
The Idea of God
that at no time since men have dwelt upon the
earth have their notions about the universe and
the conditions which govern human life undergone
such great changes as have taken place during the
nineteenth century; that never before has knowl-
edge increased so rapidly, or philosophic speculation
been so active, or their results so widely diffused as
during this period. In support of this affirmation
he makes a concise summary of the great advances
in knowledge regarding the cosmic universe and
man's place in it which this century had witnessed,
and he adds : —
"As the inevitable result of the thronging dis-
coveries just enumerated, we find ourselves in the
midst of a mighty revolution in human thought.
Time-honored creeds are losing their hold upon
men; ancient symbols are shorn of their value;
everything is called in question. The controver-
sies of the day are not like those of former times.
It is no longer a question of hermeneutics, no longer
a struggle between abstruse dogmas of rival
churches. Religion itself is called upon to show
why it should any longer claim our allegiance.
There are those who deny the existence of God.
There are those who would explain away the hu-
man soul as a mere group of fleeting phenomena
attendant upon the collocation of sundry particles
of matter. And there are many others who, with-
out committing themselves to these positions of
the atheist and the materialist, have nevertheless
come to regard religion as practically ruled out
from human affairs. No religious creed that man
329
John Fiske
has ever devised can be made to harmonize in all
its features with modern knowledge. All such
creeds were constructed with reference to theories
of the universe which are now utterly and hope-
lessly discredited. How, then, it is asked, amid
the general wreck of old beliefs, can we hope that
the religious attitude in which from time imme-
morial we have been wont to contemplate the uni-
verse can any longer be maintained? Is not the
belief in God perhaps a dream of the childhood of
our race, like the belief in elves and bogarts which
once was no less universal? and is not modern
science fast destroying the one as it has already
destroyed the other?
"Such are the questions which we daily hear*
asked, sometimes with flippant eagerness, but
oftener with anxious dread. In view of them it is
well worth while to examine the idea of God, as it
has been entertained by mankind from the earliest
ages, and as it is affected by the knowledge of the
universe which we have acquired in recent times.
If we find in that idea, as conceived by untaught
thinkers in the twilight of antiquity, an element
that still survives the widest and deepest generali-
zations of modern times, we have the strongest pos-
sible reason for believing that the idea is permanent
and answers to an Eternal Reality. It was to be
expected that conceptions of Deity handed down
from primitive men should undergo serious modifi-
cation. If it can be shown that the essential element
in these conceptions must survive the enormous ad-
ditions to our knowledge which have distinguished
the present age above all others since man became
man, then we may believe that it will endure so
330
The Idea of God
long as man endures for it is not likely that it can
ever be called upon to pass a severer ordeal."
With his purpose thus outlined and his method
of approach thus indicated, Fiske's exposition took
the form of an enquiry into the following subjects of
knowledge with conclusions based thereon : —
I. Sources of the Theistic Idea.
II. Development of Monotheism.
III. The Idea of God as immanent in the World.
IV. The Idea of God as remote from the World.
V. Conflict between the Two Ideas, commonly
misunderstood as a Conflict between Reli-
gion and Science.
VI. Anthropomorphic Conceptions of God.
VII. The Argument from Design.
VIII. Simile of the Watch replaced by Simile of the
Flower.
IX. The Craving for a Final Cause.
X. Symbolic Conceptions.
XI. The Eternal Source of Phenomena.
XII. The Power that makes for Righteousness.
These subjects were treated with such a fulness
of knowledge, such a finely tolerant spirit, and
with such a profoundly reverent faith, that no ab-
stract could do them justice. Space, therefore, can
be found only for the closing paragraph of the dis-
course, in which is reflected, in language of unsur-
passed beauty, Fiske's belief in Deity — a Power
which transcends the comprehension of the human
mind. Fiske's words are: —
33i
John Fiske
"As to the conception of Deity, in the shape
impressed upon us by our modern knowledge, I
believe I have now said enough to show that it
is no empty formula or metaphysical abstraction
which we would seek to substitute for the living
God. The Infinite and Eternal Power that is mani-
fested in every pulsation of the universe is none
other than the living God. We may exhaust the
resources of metaphysics in debating how far his
nature may fitly be expressed in terms applicable
to the psychical nature of man; such vain attempts
will only serve to show how we are dealing with a
theme that must ever transcend our finite powers
of conception. But of some things we may feel
sure. Humanity is not a mere local incident in an
endless and aimless series of cosmical changes. The
events of the universe are not the work of chance,
neither are they the outcome of a blind necessity.
Practically there is a purpose in the world whereof
it is our highest duty to learn the lesson, however
well or ill we may fare in rendering a scientific
account of it. When from the dawn of life we see
all things working together toward the evolution
of the highest spiritual attributes of man, we know,
however the words may stumble in which we try
to say it, that God is in the deepest sense a moral
Being. The everlasting source of phenomena is
none other than the Infinite Power that makes for
righteousness. Thou canst not by searching find
Him out; yet put thy trust in Him and against
thee the gates of hell shall not prevail; for there
is neither wisdom nor understanding nor counsel
against the Eternal."
The address was given in the little chapel at
332
The Idea of God
Concord on the evening of July 29, 1885. A much
larger audience than usual was gathered; and al-
though, as on the previous occasion, Fiske was
nearly two hours in the delivery, he held the rapt
attention of his audience to the close. In the au-
tumn the address was published in a dainty little
volume as a companion to the previous address,
"The Destiny of Man," with a preface, in which
the relation of the two Concord addresses to the
views presented in "Cosmic Philosophy," pub-
lished ten years before, was set forth.
To this little volume he gave the following felici-
tous dedication: —
To
MY WIFE
IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE SWEET SUNDAY MORNING
UNDER THE APPLE-TREE ON THE HILLSIDE
WHEN WE TWO SAT LOOKING DOWN INTO FAIRY WOODLAND PATHS
AND TALKED OF THE THINGS
SINCE WRITTEN IN THIS LITTLE BOOK
I NOW DEDICATE IT
"Apyvpioc Kail \pv<riov OVY vwapxei
fioi* 8 Se exw, TOVTO <roi Si5a>/m.i.J
There is a bit of personality connected with the
writing of this little book and this dedication that
is of interest. In July, 1885, the Fiske family were
at the summer home in Petersham, and one bril-
liant Sunday morning Fiske said to Mrs. Fiske,
with some insistence of manner, "Come, I wish
you to go down with me to the apple tree. I have
something in mind I want to talk over with you."
1 Translation: " Silver and gold have I none; what I have I give to
thee."
333
John Fiske
They went down to the apple tree and there they
talked over the things since written in "The Idea
of God." I have before me as I write Fiske's notes
of this conversation, with the outlines of his ar-
gument substantially as it appears in the printed
volume. He was fourteen days in writing out the
address.
Reference has been made to Fiske's happy man-
ner of opening his discourses with some pregnant,
related thought. This was an artistic point of
which he was ever mindful. In this instance I find
that the first two days of his composition were
given to shaping the first paragraph, wherein he
focusses attention to his great theme by depicting,
in language of unsurpassed eloquence, the inter-
view between Faust and Margaret in the garden,
as set forth by Goethe.
When published, the address received marked
attention by the press. Save by the strictly ortho-
dox religious journals, it was very generally wel-
comed as an important contribution to the reli-
gious discussion raised by the recent advancements
of science and the promulgation of the doctrine
of Evolution. Fiske received many letters from
persons in various walks of life — and notably
from clergymen — expressing gratitude for the
great help the two Concord addresses had been in
giving peace to minds sadly ill at ease over the
great problems of existence in the light of modern
knowledge.
334
The Idea of God
It can be said that the two Concord addresses
indicate the high-water mark in the exposition of
the Evolutionary philosophy in its bearing upon
man's religious faith and his moral conduct. They
interrelate these two elements in the life of man
with his destiny, and give him a physical genesis,
a heritage in the very constitution of the universe,
which must be conceived as a harmonious unity,
else there is an uncontrolled diabolism as an active
force at the very centre of things. The existence
of diabolism is denied, and the affirmation is made
that there exists an Infinite Eternal Power which
makes for righteousness, of whom the cosmic uni-
verse is a revelation, but whose ultimate nature no
searching can find out.
"But hold!" cries the Christian theologian;
"what have you done with the vital elements of
the Christian's creed: the divinely revealed Scrip-
tures, the special creation of man, his fall and con-
demnation, his redemption through Christ, Christ's
sacrificial atonement, a future Heaven and Hell?
What you give us is rank infidelity!"
"Not so hot, my Christian friend," would Fiske
reply, in his calm philosophic way. uThe creedal
points to which you attach so much importance
are in no sense vital to the profoundly deep reli-
gious truth which they enshroud. It is true men
have fought for centuries over these creedal points,
but only to their own destruction. Advancing
knowledge is making it more and more evident
335
John Fiske
that these creedal points are largely the accretions
with which ignorance and superstition have in-
vested the developing religious instinct of man-
kind. As a teacher of religion, I urge you calmly to
consider these creedal points as belonging to the
religious childhood of the race and as having been
outgrown. In their place let me ask you to lift your
mind to the contemplation of this universe, with
man's place in it, as science is now revealing it, to
our intelligence; for here I believe you will see as
in a new light the destiny of man; and that, 'as in
the roaring loom of Time the endless web of events
is woven, each strand is making more and more
clearly visible the living garment of God.' "
CHAPTER XXX
PUBLICATION OF LECTURES ON AMERICAN POLITI-
CAL IDEAS — SCOPE OF FISKE'S HISTORY GREATLY
ENLARGED — PUBLIC INTEREST IN HIS LECTURES
GREAT HELP IN THEIR COMPOSITION — MILITARY
CAMPAIGNS OF CIVIL WAR — ASSISTANT EDITOR
OF APPLETON'S CYCLOPAEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
1885-1886
IN the spring of 1885 Fiske published in book form
his three lectures on " American Political Ideas/'
which he had delivered before the Royal Institu-
tion of Great Britain in 1880, and subsequently
in various parts of the United States. Wherever
delivered these lectures were received with great
interest and enthusiasm, and on their publication
in book form they were received by the general
public with no less appreciation. In their published
form the lectures have had a wide circulation; and
they have produced a deep impression on the pub-
lic mind, inasmuch as here for the first time was
shown the peaceful character of the fundamental
political ideas upon which the government of the
United States was founded, with their genesis in
antecedent history, and their manifest destiny in
the future political organizations of the world.
No work of Fiske's shows more clearly than this
his wide and accurate knowledge, his deep philo-
337
John Fiske
sophic insight, his clarity of mind, and his great
generalizing power. Without any invocation of
the philosophy of Evolution, as applied to human
history, this philosophy is implied in the general
argument from the beginning to the end, as is seen
by the way in which political society is treated:
its rude genesis with primitive man, its irregular
development in the historic past, its progressive
development in the present, and its undoubted,
steady, progressive development in the future.
And now, after six years7 experience in dealing
with American history as a subject of public en-
lightenment to which his energies should be de-
voted as to a life-work, Fiske found that he must
change the whole nature of his undertaking. He
found that he had not only greatly underestimated
the magnitude of the task when considered from
the viewpoint of universal history, but that he had
also greatly erred in his conception of the literary
form in which his work should go before the public.
We have seen that in 1881 he entered into an agree-
ment with Messrs. Harper & Brothers for the
preparation and publication of a " History of the
American People from the Discovery of America to
the Inauguration of President Gar field," the gen-
eral style of the work to be after the manner of
Green's "Short History of the English People," and
to be comprised in two or three good-sized volumes.
He regarded this work as a sort of core to his
whole undertaking; that here would be presented
338
Scope of his History
in their sequential order the essential points in
American history with but little comment, thus
leaving the salient features of American history for
fuller treatment by lectures and essays.
But now, having gone over the whole ground and
having practically completed his "History of the
American People," as planned, he was thoroughly
dissatisfied with the result. The compression neces-
sitated by the plan had so squeezed the vitality out
of his work that what he intended as a history ap-
peared to him as but little more than a group of
statistics. It certainly did not present American
history in its relations to antecedent history or to
the world history of the present and the future,
at all as he would have it presented. Accordingly
he explained the situation to the Messrs. Harper,
assuring them that under no conditions could he
consent to the publication of such a history as
he had prepared. The Messrs. Harper declined to
entertain any proposition for a history other than
was provided for in the existing agreement, and it
was therefore amicably annulled. It was quite in
the order of rational development that the dignity
and importance of his task should become greatly
enlarged in his mind, during the five or six years in
which Fiske was meditating the broad, germinal
ideas regarding political organizations as set forth
in his lectures as "American Political Ideas," and
finding at every step in his historical work so much
that had never been satisfactorily presented.
339
John Fiske
Freed from a publishing agreement which had
greatly obstructed his literary productiveness for
several years, Fiske's mind expanded broadly with
his great theme. A new conception of a "History
of the American People " began to take shape in his
mind : one not limited to two or three volumes, but
that would fill several volumes. In this work he
would be enabled to give a philosophic as well as an
historic presentation of the genesis of the people of
the United States. He would also show their de-
velopment, through a rich colonial experience, into
a compact political organization or nation, the like
of which the world had never before seen, of vast
significance to the future well-being of humanity.
This history would be, in fact, the embodiment of
his life thought and labor.
Fiske's success, both as a public speaker and as
an essayist, had given him two pulpits, as it were, -
the lecture platform, and the literary journals, —
and he had the command of both these great means
of public enlightenment to such an extent that he
received far more applications for lectures and essay
articles than he could comply with after reserving
the necessary amount of time for study and com-
position. The lecture platform, which was extended
to schools, became the greater means for reaching
the public mind, and steadily his parish broadened,
until it could be said that it extended from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, and that it comprised
the finest audiences in this great realm.
340
History of American People
Much misconception in regard to Fiske's histori-
cal work has arisen from the shallow criticism that,
because he lectured so entertainingly on subjects
which most people find dry and uninteresting, he
sacrificed historic truth to popular applause. Noth-
ing could be further from the truth. From what
we have already seen and from what we shall
further see as our narrative unfolds, it can be said
that no one has approached the interpretation of
American history with so wide and varied a knowl-
edge bearing on the aspects of the subject, with a
mind so free from political and religious preju-
dice, with so keen a philosophic insight into "the
thoughts that move mankind," as are shown in
the historical writings of Fiske taken as a whole.
He had this great advantage — which he duly
appreciated, although the involved travelling was
very irksome to him — that through his lectures he
could take the people into his confidence, as it were,
as the main points of his history took shape in his
mind.
Then, too, his subject, when duly considered,
was one of supreme interest, was full of stirring
incidents on land and sea, of heroic adventure into
the great unknown of the world's surface, with
much to teach in regard to the organization of
political society and state-building when freed
from the ancestral laws which conditioned Euro-
pean society. Withal it was a phase of human his-
tory in the development of which all the better
34i
John Fiske
elements of human nature were freely displayed
by personalities of commanding virtue and power,
on the one hand; while on the other hand, all the
baser elements were displayed by characters which
reflected the weakness, the brutality of man. In
short, his subject was one possessing so many points
of deep human interest that he could measure his
success in its treatment by the degree of interest
it awakened in the minds of his hearers. And there
are instances where his first sketch of events or of
characters did not awaken quite the interest on the
part of his hearers that he anticipated, and of his
critically going over his sketch to find its defi-
ciency.
A case in point was his first sketch of Washing-
ton's masterly campaign in and about New York,
Although this first sketch was full of stirring inci-
dents, it fell short with his first audience. He then
took his manuscript in hand, and found that by
some little additions he could greatly improve the
order and clarity of the narrative, and by empha-
sizing more strongly some of the personal incidents
in the campaign, he would appeal to a deeper per-
sonal interest on the part of his hearers. His repe-
tition of the lecture showed the wisdom of the
changes.
Macaulay, in the exordium to his "History of
England," says: "I shall cheerfully bear the re-
proach of having descended below the dignity of
history, if I can succeed in placing before the Eng-
342
Sir Henry Irving
lish of the nineteenth century a true picture of the
lives of their ancestors." Fiske was imbued with
a still loftier purpose than that which animated
Macaulay. It was not alone "a true picture of the
lives of their ancestors" that he would give to his
countrymen. It was all this and much more. He
would have them acquainted with the genesis and
development of the social and political institutions
which had descended to them, and in the further
development of which they were to bear an im-
portant part. Indeed, he would have them under-
stand that American citizenship was by no means
a condition of social or political passivity: rather
that it was a form of sociologico-political organi-
zation which involved serious personal responsi-
bilities and duties on the part of individuals. To
this end we have seen him working for several years.
With increased ardor and with a broader compre-
hension of purpose, we are to see him working in
the years to come through bringing his work to the
service of public education.
It was while engaged in carrying out the lecture
programme for the season of 1884-85 that he had
the remarkable experience so vividly portrayed in
the following letter to Mrs. Fiske: -
NEW YORK, April i, 1885.
My dear: —
I saw Irving in " Hamlet" the other night, and
never before did I rise to the full understanding of
the stupendous sublimity of Shakespeare's genius.
343
John Fiske
I have been in a state of awe ever since and I shall
carry it with me through life. The scene between
Hamlet and his mother surpassed anything I ever
saw on the stage.
Miss Terry as Ophelia was heavenly. Next night
I saw " Much Ado." O, my dear, it was wicked for
you not to have staid and seen that. Such per-
fection of acting was never seen before. Miss Terry
as Beatrice would have set you wild. O, how great,
how mighty, how ethereal, does Shakespeare be-
come when he gets such interpreters ! I could fancy
that sweetest of souls and brightest of minds that
ever lived on this ball looking down from heaven
with a smile.
The friendship between Fiske and Sir Henry Irv-
ing was a very warm one, and it will not be thought
out of place to introduce here the expression of grief
Sir Henry felt when he learned of Fiske's death.
Writing to Mrs. Fiske Sir Henry said: —
"To know him was a charm, and to talk with
him an enlightenment. In all the twenty years of
our friendship it was to me a pleasure to look for-
ward to meeting him and a regret that we had to
part.
11 The news of his death, just at the time when we
of England were looking forward to hear him at
Winchester on the King Alfred Millenary, — a sub-
ject so close to his heart, — came with the shock
of a bitter loss.
" He was a great philosopher and a great historian.
The world was and is richer for his work, and he
has left a blank never to be filled in the hearts of
his friends."
344
The Critical Period
We have seen that in the winter of 1883-84 Fiske
produced his course of lectures on "The American
Revolution, " which was received by many em-
phatic expressions of public approval. Encouraged
by this success he prepared during 1884 another
course of eight lectures on the period immediately
following the Revolutionary War, the seven years
from 1782 to 1789, during which the necessity of
a constitutional Federal Government transcend-
ing the powers of the several States was slowly
taking shape in the minds of the whole people.
Fiske called this period "The Critical Period of
American History," and his treatment of it bore
the marks of a wide knowledge of all the facts in-
volved as well as remarkable powers of lucid, fair-
minded historic exposition. These lectures were
first delivered at the Old South Church in Boston,
and then at Washington University, St. Louis, dur-
ing the winter and spring of 1885, and they were
received with no less applause than had been given
his previous lectures.
Fiske had now accomplished two substantial
pieces of work, upon which he could count for rea-
sonable returns wherever he could get good audi-
ences, and he was so familiar with American his-
tory in general that he could speak extempore, if
necessary, upon any important phase of this his-
tory. His reputation, too, had grown apace, until
there had come a quite general recognition in the
public mind that through his ministrations he was
345
John Fiske
awakening the American people to a higher con-
ception than had hitherto prevailed of the nature
and meaning of the political organization under
which they live, and their duties as citizens in pro-
tecting and developing this organization.
Henry Ward Beecher heard one of these " Criti-
cal Period" lectures, and was so greatly impressed
by Fiske's grasp of his subject, his lucid style, and
the great charm of his easy delivery, that he came
at once to Fiske to express his great satisfaction
and to enquire how he managed his lectures. When
Fiske told him that he managed his lectures him-
self, Beecher said: "That's all wrong. Such lec-
tures as you are giving should be heard through-
out the country, and you need a good manager to
make engagements for you. Let me send you my
manager, Major J. B. Pond, and you will find that
what he does n't know about managing is n't worth
knowing."
Major Pond came to see Fiske and he quickly
took in the situation. He saw that while Fiske's
lectures were well adapted to the larger cities and
university towns where cultivated audiences could
usually be found, to gain good-sized audiences in
other places, another and more popular course of
historical lectures was necessary: that is, neces-
sary to secure such a return as Major Pond thought
desirable and possible for a lecturer with Fiske's
reputation. Fiske saw the point in Major Pond's
suggestion and was soon ready with a scheme to
346
Campaigns of the Civil War
meet it. He felt that he possessed exceptional pow-
ers for the lucid description of military operations.
In his lectures on the Revolutionary War he had
found that his description of the military move-
ments never failed to hold the deep interest of his
audiences. During our Civil War, and when in col-
lege, he had taken, as we have seen, great interest
in the battles, and particularly in the strategy dis-
played by the opposing forces. In his historical
work he had gone over the Civil War period, briefly,
but with sufficient thoroughness to make himself
acquainted with the underlying strategical prin-
ciples upon which the great campaigns were con-
ducted. Then, too, in this phase of his work he had
the cordial assistance of John Codman Ropes, a
profound student of military history, whose criti-
cisms of the military operations of our Civil War
are among the fairest and best that have appeared.
Accordingly, the preparation of a course of four or
six lectures on the great campaigns of our Civil
War took shape in Fiske's mind as fully meeting
Major Pond's suggestion.
Major Pond was delighted with the idea. With
a manager's instinct he saw the particular appro-
priateness of such a course of popular lectures at
that time. The twenty years which had passed
since the close of the war had removed much of the
bitterness of feeling which accompanied it, so that
the great events and the actions of the leaders on
both sides might be considered with fairness; while
347
John Fiske
the sufferings of General Grant, now nearing his
end, had so aroused the sympathies of the whole
nation in his behalf, that a fresh portrayal by
Fiske of his great military achievements could not
fail of a wide popular appreciation.
To begin with, a course of four lectures was
planned to give a narrative of the military events
which brought about the overthrow of the South-
ern Confederacy by turning its left flank and open-
ing the Mississippi River, and it was intended that
they should especially illustrate the early military
career of General Grant. The titles of the several
lectures were to be : —
I. From Carthage to Shiloh.
II. From New Orleans to Stone River.
III. The Siege of Vicksburg.
IV. Chattanooga.
They were to be illustrated with maps, diagrams,
views of towns and fortresses, landscapes, and por-
traits, with the aid of the stereopticon, and each
lecture to be so arranged as to be a distinct enter-
tainment in itself.
Fiske had no difficulty in coming to an agree-
ment with Major Pond for the management of the
proposed course of Civil War lectures as well as of
all his lectures.
Accordingly, Fiske entered upon the preparation
of the course with great ardor, and the letters of
the summer and autumn of 1885 from Petersham
represent him as surrounded by the official reports
348
Campaigns of the Civil War
and by the works of various Northern and South-
ern writers on the Civil War struggle, endeavoring
to extract, as far as possible from the conflicting
testimony, the substantial truth in regard to the
great movement covered by his programme. He
found innumerable perplexities, owing to the great
amount of conflicting details, in getting at clear
conceptions of the vital points in the great battles
so as to present them intelligently to popular au-
diences. It was evident that each battle repre-
gjented two hostile military plans or purposes, and
that to give an intelligent account of the conflict
it was necessary to have a clear conception of the
strategical elements which formed the basis of the
battle-plans of the commanding generals on the
respective sides, as well as of the topographical
features of the region of country over which the
conflict raged.
Fiske gave himself to the study of these two
points with great thoroughness and perfect fair-
ness of mind. Seizing the main features of each
battle and dropping unessential details, he ar-
ranged these features in simple topographical dia-
grams in such orderly relations that the decisive
tactical movements in the progress of the battle
were brought clearly before the mind.
One or more diagrams accompanied each battle,
and all were constructed by Fiske. He received
many commendations from officers who partici-
pated in the battles both on the Union and the
349
John Fiske
Confederate sides, for their simplicity and their
graphic presentation of the vital points in these
memorable contests. General Sherman particu-
larly commended the tactical as well as the stra-
tegical knowledge embodied in them.
The lectures were produced at Tremont Tem-
ple, Boston, during November ar^ December,
1885, and they were enthusiastically received by
the public. The illustrations had been chosen with
such good judgment that they added greatly to
the interest of the narrative. They served at the
same time to give a graphic presentation of the
great difficulties encountered by General Grant
and Admiral Farragut in opening the Mississippi
and in turning the left flank of the Rebellion at
Chattanooga.
Applications for the lectures came "fast and
furious" from various sections of the country -
even from as far west as Denver. There was no diffi-
culty, therefore, in arranging a season's programme
of lectures extending to the following May, the
lectures to be given in selected cities east of Chi-
cago and St. Louis, and to consist of the Civil War
course, or selections from his other courses as
might be desired. Everything seemed bright and
prosperous, and Fiske entered upon his new phase
of lecturing with great cheer. His first engagements
were in the New England section and they extended
over about eight weeks. They involved incessant
travelling, sometimes two lectures a day, to which
350
Gives up Popular Lecturing
were added all the discomforts of second- and third-
class hotels. Six weeks of this kind of living brought
him to the realization of the fact that he was har-
nessed to an undertaking that not only took him
from his home and subjected him to all manner
of personal discomforts, but which also deprived
him of social intercourse with kindred minds
— an experience he greatly valued — as well as
of all opportunities for productive work on the
great historic themes which were gestating in his
mind.
It was while his new lecture experiences were
thus starting lines of thought which impinged upon
the wisdom of his giving himself so completely to
the lecture platform that he took a severe cold
which deprived him of his voice and brought on
an attack of pneumonia, upsetting all his engage-
ments. During his weeks of convalescence he care-
fully reviewed his new lecture scheme in the light
of his recent experience, and he came to the con-
clusion that the carrying-out of this scheme as
arranged by Major Pond not only involved serious
apprehensions as to his health, but also made it
impossible for him to go on with his legitimate his-
torical work. He decided, therefore, to give up the
Pond plan of universal lecturing, and to return to
his regular historical work with such lecture en-
gagements as he could consistently make, having
regard to the demands of his historical work. He
added the Civil War lectures to his platform reper-
John Fiske
toire for such places or occasions as demanded lec-
tures primarily of an entertaining character.
During the following spring of 1886, on his an-
nual visit to Washington University, St. Louis,
he received a call for these lectures from the Grant
Monument Association of St. Louis, which he ac-
cepted with great pleasure, as General Sherman
was President of the Association and would pre-
side at each lecture. The lectures roused much
local discussion, and it was at their close that Gen-
eral Sherman complimented Fiske so highly upon
his knowledge of military strategy and tactics, to
which reference has been made.
Later in 1886, he became assistant editor of
Appleton's " Cyclopaedia of Biography." This posi-
tion, however, did not entail persistent editorial
labors away from home. Rather it called for sug-
gestions in regard to the general character of
the work, the naming of the fittest representatives
of the great questions which were engaging the
public mind and who could best set forth the facts
of their lives, together with revising manuscripts,
combined with efforts to secure eminent literary
men to contribute special sketches to the work
as well as to make contributions himself. In the
responses to his applications for special articles, I
find two that are of significance. Dr. Oliver Wen-
dell Holmes wrote : —
"I should be very glad if I could oblige a gen-
tleman for whom I have so high a regard as I have
352
Cyclopaedia of Biography
for yourself. But / have sold my standing grass —
that is I have promised, for a large consideration,
all that I write to my present publishers. I have,
therefore, no choice."
John G. Whittier, in declining, expresses the fol-
lowing appreciation of Fiske's writings: —
"I am glad of this opportunity to express my
sincere thanks for the interest and pleasure with
which I have read all thy published works."
Fiske himself contributed the following twenty-
four biographical articles to the "Cyclopaedia": —
Samuel, John, Abigail, John Quincy, and Charles
Francis Adams, Benedict Arnold, Lord Chatham,
Rufus Choate, Sir Henry Clinton, William Cob-
bett, Lord Cornwallis, the Fairfax Family, Ben-
jamin Franklin, Horatio Gates, Nathanael Greene,
Thomas Hutchinson, Andrew Jackson, Lafayette,
Charles Lee, the Lee Family of Virginia, James Mad-
ison, Francis Marion, Daniel Morgan, James Otis.
During 1886 he contributed the following articles
to the "Atlantic Monthly": —
January, "The Surrender of Cornwallis and its
Consequences." March, "The United States after
the Revolutionary War." May, "The Weakness
of Government under the Confederation." July,
"Failure of Credit after the Revolutionary War."
September, "The Paper Money Craze, 1786."
November, "Germs of National Sovereignty."
Fiske gave but one new lecture this year — a
description of the battle of Bunker Hill. This was
given at the Old South Church in Boston, in August.
CHAPTER XXXI
HISTORIC REFLECTIONS — VARIOUS LECTURES — VIS-
ITS PACIFIC COAST — WONDERFUL RIDE ACROSS
THE PLAINS AND OVER THE MOUNTAINS — IM-
PRESSIONS OF OREGON — RIDE TO SAN FRAN-
CISCO — GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON — IM-
PRESSIONS OF PACIFIC COAST VISIT ,
1887
THE year 1887 reveals Fiske steadily at work on
his history, imbued with the larger conception of
his task which is now taking quite definite shape
in his mind. Having spent several years on the
project of a condensed history, he had made him-
self so familiar with the main features of his sub-
ject that he could present them independently,
and out of their consecutive order. At the same
time he could give them such an interrelated rela-
tivity that when all were completed each would
readily fall into its sequential place as a part of the
general whole.
This plan enabled him to appeal to the public
first with the most interesting phases of his sub-
ject. Hence we have the lectures and magazine
articles on the " Revolutionary War'* and the
"Critical Period'1 prior to the organization of the
Federal Government, which brought the narrative
down to the inauguration of Washington. This
354
The Beginnings of New England
much accomplished, he now turns back to bring
forward the various features of the colonial period
as well as of the period of the discovery of America,
in their bearings upon the ultimate development
of a great nation with a republican form of gov-
ernment, which secured to its citizens a greater de-
gree of civil liberty than any nation had hitherto
enjoyed. This required a wide excursion into
universal history. Accordingly, we find that the
year 1887 opened with Fiske's mind grappling
with the disturbed, seething condition of the polit-
ical society of Europe during the sixteenth, seven-
teenth, and eighteenth centuries, and noting how
European society was affected by the discovery
of America — of a new world — and how, in turn,
the colonization and settlement of this new world
reflected the social and political conditions and
ideals of the European peoples. It was this great
philosophico-historic conception of European so-
ciety, from which American colonization drew its
life-blood, as it were, that formed in no small meas-
ure the background to his thought as he entered
upon the colonial phase of the historic development
of the people of the United States.
The first instalment of his presentation of the
colonial phase of his subject was embodied in a
course of five lectures on "The Beginnings of New
England," Which he prepared during the winter of
this year and which he gave at Washington Uni-
versity, St. Louis, during April and May. These
355
John Fiske
lectures were opened with an historico-political
presentation of the three methods of nation-mak-
ing among civilized peoples: the Oriental method,
of conquest without incorporation; the Roman
method, of conquest with incorporation, but with-
out representation; the English method, of incor-
poration with representation. Then followed a suc-
cinct account of the steady progress of the Eng-
lish method over the other two in modern Europe,
and its acceptance as the basic idea of political
organization in the settlement of New England —
it may be said, of all the English colonies. This
lecture on nation-making forms the opening chap-
ter in the volume of Fiske's works entitled "The
Beginnings of New England/' and nowhere else in
his writings do his powers of philosophic insight
into the underlying forces which are impelling
human society with its unmistakable progressive
trend, appear to better advantage than in this
essay. It may well be classed as one of the fin-
est examples of historico-political generalization in
English literature.
These lectures were received in St. Louis with
as much interest and enthusiasm as had been be-
stowed upon his previous courses; and on their
completion Fiske had every reason to think that
a third instalment of his great work had been as
satisfactorily done as were the first two sections,
"The American Revolution" and "The Critical
Period."
, 356
Visits the Pacific Coast
And now, at the close of his lectures in St. Louis,
Fiske had an experience which overtopped in in-
terest all other experiences of this period. As he
has given so graphic an account of it in his own
charming style, I shall allow him, in his own words,
to set it forth in as much space as can here be given.
This experience was a trip across the plains and
the mountains to the Pacific — a visit to Oregon
and California. He left St. Louis May 26, 1887,
for Portland, Oregon, where he had engagements
for several lectures. From Portland, under date of
June 3, he wrote Mrs. Fiske a letter of sixteen let-
ter-sheet pages in his beautiful chirography, in
which he sets forth the main incidents of his jour-
ney. This letter may well be called an epistolary
classic by virtue of the vivid descriptions it gives
of nature as displayed in the grandeur of plains
and of mountains, as well as by the record it makes
of the fine emotive feelings called forth in the pres-
ence of so much physical omnipotence. Then, too,
the style is so simple and easy-flowing that his
thought seems to have come from his pen with
perfect unconsciousness as to form, and yet in per-
fect form — one of the highest qualities of good
style. The whole sixteen pages contain but two or
three erasures of single words, with two slight inter-
lineations.
His route was from St. Louis by way of Omaha,
Cheyenne, Green River, Pocatello, and The Dalles.
He begins his letter with this confession: —
357
John Fiske
PORTLAND, OREGON, June 3, 1887.
My darling Wife : —
Here I am, with eyes and head almost tired out
with looking, and trying to take in all the wonders
of this wonderful country.
He then gives some particulars of his ride from
St. Louis to Council Bluffs and Omaha. At Coun-
cil Bluffs he found his sleeping-car, in which he
was to live for the rest of the journey, awaiting
him — "an extremely luxurious car with an awfully
jolly colored porter in attendance." He left Coun-
cil Bluffs at 7.50 P.M. Friday, May 27, on a train
of seventeen cars with two stout locomotives. He
continues: —
"The car behind mine was filled with emigrants,
mostly German and Scandinavian, — a very nice,
cosy, well-behaved, respectable crowd they were.
At stations I chatted with some of 'em from the
rear platform. Before going to bed I could see by
the dim light that we were getting into boundless
solitudes and that we were steadily rising. Next
morning I got an excellent breakfast at North
Platte, more than 3700 feet above the sea. . . .
"What a day that Saturday was! Everlasting
plains, with unbroken horizon, like the sea. Grassy
plains, over which you ride for fifty miles without
seeing a house, or a tree, or even a bush. Utter
loneliness, save now and then a few horses or cows
grazing. Sometimes a little undulation, but gen-
erally flat as a floor. Railroad track straight as
a ruler mile after mile without a curve. After a
couple of hundred miles this begins to work upon
358
A Wonderful Ride
one's mind powerfully. I began to have an awe-
struck feeling, as if I was coming into contact with
Infinity. I had taken Tolstoy's 'War and Peace*
to read, and it is one of the most powerful stories
I ever read, and on about as gigantic a scale as ' Les
Mis6rables.' Somehow the story fitted the land-
scape, and both worked upon me at once.
"We dined at Sidney, and supped at Cheyenne,
a pretty town of 8000 inhabitants. We had been
rising almost imperceptibly through the forenoon
and quite perceptibly through the afternoon and
were now more than 6000 feet above the sea — an
altitude below which we were not to go for the
next 700 miles! But now at Cheyenne it was no
longer a boundless moor. Great blue mountains
were coming up in the horizon on all sides except
east. During the next thirty miles we climbed rap-
idly and could look out through the grey twilight
over distances far below, that seemed to have no
end. On the other side the savage and treeless but
still grassy mountain-side reared itself high against
the sky. There was a rushing breeze. Large drops
came pattering on the window-pane, far up the
slope was a lonely house, and toward it was has-
tening a cart, with man and woman, drawn by
two stalwart horses galloping through the undulat-
ing sea of grass. Anything so bleak and desolate
I never saw and I never can forget that picture.
So I went to bed that Saturday night, with my
soul all stirred profoundly; but what I had seen
was nothing to what Sunday had in store.
"At Green River, I had a delicious breakfast.
At Granger the huge train divided, and my sec-
tion of seven cars took the branch called the Ore-
359
John Fiske
gon Short Line to Pocatello. The town of Granger
comprises three log houses, a railway station, and
a rum-shop standing in the midst of a desert. And
such a desert! I can't say what we may have come
through during the night; but all that Sunday fore-
noon, from Green River to Cokeville, we were pass-
ing through 114 miles of frightful desert. Not a
tree, not a blade of grass; mountains rearing their
heads on every side, wild and savage mountains
parched with thirst; stupendous rocks lying all
over their sides in grim fantastic disorder as if
hurled about in some crazy riot of Titans; out of
the everlasting red sand sprouted everywhere lux-
uriantly a weird, unearthly little bush, about the
size of Scotch heather and known as the 'sage-
brush.' Sometimes I could see for an enormous dis-
tance down some glen, but everywhere the glaring
sand and the uncanny, goblin-like sage-brush. A
land of utter desolation, a land where no man could
live! It struck me as being like the moon, yes,
these terrible mountains, casting their sharp black
shadows across the blazing sunshine are the very
mountains I have seen through the telescope in
the moon!
"As we entered Idaho the landscape began to
change. We struck into the beautiful valley of
Bear River, and passed through broad meadows,
with long grass instead of the weird sage-brush.
Stupendous vistas opened here and there between
the mountains, showing far off snow-clad peaks
like the Matterhorn. The nearer mountains were
more like those of Scotland, soft and brown with
rounded tops; and Great Scott! were so many
mountains ever seen before in this world? The
360
A Wonderful Ride
beautiful meadow stretched one hundred and
twenty-two miles, a broad open space between two
parallel chains of mountains, and our track ran
along the middle of the meadow, the height of
which was about sixty- two hundred feet. Above
this level rose the mountains some two thousand
feet more, so that you see the effect was something
like that we saw in our famous journey to Glencoe.
But here was more than a hundred miles of it and
the effect of this prolonging of the impression is
wonderful. At the beginning of this intervale we
passed through a little Mormon village ; then there
was n't another house for more than a hundred
miles: nothing but mountains. How mighty and
how grotesque they sometimes looked ! Do you re-
member in the Glencoe drive, how tremendous is
the effect of the mountain behind, as it comes sud-
denly into view peering down upon you over the
mountain in front, at which you have so long been
straining your eyes? Many, many times that after-
noon did I get this overwhelming effect. And then
the strangeness of it all was greatly increased by
the astonishing transparency of the air. The effect
of this must be felt, it cannot be described. The
width of the grassy meadow was probably fifteen
or twenty miles, but nothing could persuade the
eye that it was more than two or three. Those
majestic mountains on the right are surely not
more than a mile distant, says the eye ; but we keep
gliding along, a-co-she-lunk-she-lunk, a-co-she-lunk-
she-lunk, a-co-she-lunk-she-lunk, gliding along, glid-
ing swiftly along, and still we do not pass those
mountains! Here for half an hour is a peak right
opposite and there it stays and won't fall behind,
361
John Fiske
though we keep gliding on, a-co-she-lunk-she-lunk,
a-co-she-lunk-she-lunk. In spite of all this the eye
will not admit that the peak, which is really a
dozen miles distant, is more than a mile off. The
effect upon me was to give me a more wonderful
sense of the Infinite than I had ever felt before. It
seemed as if the meadow were a thousand miles
long instead of a hundred and twenty-two, and as
if I had lived ages in that one afternoon.
"Toward nightfall, as we approached Pocatello,
a new sight was to be seen in the shape of long
cliffs of lava, like palisades, two hundred or three
hundred feet high, running along in front of the
foot of the mountains, and lending a strange depth
to the scene behind. I never knew anything so un-
earthly or so exciting as this whole day was. Poca-
tello is a mean village of some five hundred inhab-
itants, situated on an Indian reservation; and here
for the first time I saw wild Indians. At the station
I saw a noble savage, with his squaw and two small
sons taking nourishment out of a swill-box! A few
' braves ' came capering around on their small horses
armed with bows and arrows, and scowled upon us.
Anything in human shape so nasty, villainous, and
vile must be seen, in order to be believed. You
would n't suppose such hideous and nauseous brutes
could be.
"At Pocatello the mountains dwindled away,
and the grassy meadow expanded into an enormous
plain, densely covered with that weird sage-brush.
Presently a streak of silver caught my eye. It was
the Snake River which I do not remember having
heard of before. It is bigger than the Connecti-
cut. Presently my friend the porter came for me.
362
A Wonderful Ride
He knew my name to be Fiske, but in the excite-
ment he made a slip of the tongue (what the late
Richard Grant White would call a heterophemy) :
'Come, Mr. Stokes' [!!!] cried the amiable Sambo,
— ' Come and see the great falls of the Snake River ! '
I went out to the rear platform, and, oh, what a
stupendous sight ! ! ! Around on every side the
illimitable plain of sage-brush growing vague in
the gathering twilight. Down below, the gorge
with perpendicular sides and filled with the mighty
waters, raging and foaming like the rapids of
Niagara at the Three Sisters, — a wild, seething
waste of angry waters rushing with the violence of
a hurricane. And Hezzy on the rear end of the
train on the slender bridge far, far above, like a
tiny thread in mid-air, looking awe-struck upon the
vast, sombre plain and this awful, watery pande-
monium beneath. I shall never forget it. It was
the only thing that could have put a fitting climax
upon this wonderful Sunday, in which I seemed
to have lived for ages. I can never hear of Idaho
again, or see it on the map, without a quickened
pulse.
"On Monday we began to get back to earth
again, but there was no falling off of the interest.
We entered Oregon at daybreak, and had a full
hour for breakfast at Huntington, where I sent a
telegram to mother. I then blissfully smoked a
cigar, standing in the sunshine and talking about
the geology of these wonderful mountains with a
scientific German chap who had seen the Ural
Mountains and the Himalayas, and pretty much
everything.
"The scenery now began to be Alpine in charac-
363
John Fiske
ter. We had got away from the Rocky Mountains,
and into the coast ranges, which are higher while
the valleys are deeper. Average elevation of track
was about thirty-four hundred feet, instead of
six thousand, while the mountain-tops ascended
to ten thousand, and now and then to twelve thou-
sand feet. All at once we got among trees again,
and it seemed strange to see them. Superb pines and
firs one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in
height, glorious soft green vegetation everywhere,
snow-capped peaks above, and on every hand cas-
cades and brooks, and the sweet music of rushing
waters. The track curved at every minute around
the steep sides of the mountains. In going through
the Blue Mountain Range we twice climbed to
five thousand feet and then descended again to
three thousand, and at last, toward sunset, to about
twenty-two hundred. These descents brought out
superb effects of huge amphitheatres with smiling
valleys below in which nestled lovely villages of
this new New England of the Pacific.
"Where is this going to help my History, do you
ask? Why, when I describe the great exploring
expedition of Lewis and Clarke, who in Jefferson's
time discovered this country and won it for the
United States. Won't I put some poetry into my
account of it when I get to it? I will make it one
of the features of my History. Nobody has begun
to do justice to that wonderful expedition, and
most people know nothing about it. The brave
men who did this on foot deserve to be immortal-
ized. I'll give them their due. I feel it all now;
and that alone would be worth the trip.
"On Tuesday morning I got up at four o'clock
364
Impressions of Oregon
in order to see the scenery of the Columbia River.
At 4.30 we passed 'The Dalles' a town eighty-
seven miles from Portland. 'The Dalles' is a word
which is equivalent in meaning to ' Grand Rapids' ;
what language it belongs to I don't know.
"I have never read or heard much about the
Columbia River. I knew it must have fine scen-
ery, because it is a great river flowing between
lofty mountains. I vaguely thought of it as per-
haps something like the Hudson. But oh, my dear,
this was the climax to the whole journey! The
Hudson has often been compared to the Rhine.
Compared with the Columbia River, the Hudson
and the Rhine are simply
NOWHERE!!!!!!
Yes, simply nowhere. If you could multiply the
Hudson by four, and make the Catskills pretty
nearly as big as the Alps, you would begin to get
something like the Columbia. But I have got
where words fail me. I can only say that for stu-
pendous grandeur combined with ravishing beau-
ty, I have never seen anything even in Switzer-
land, that quite comes up to the Columbia River.
No, never. That Tuesday morning was the cli-
max of the most wonderful and soul-filling jour-
ney I ever took in my life. Just to think that it
is only a week to-day since I wrote to you from
Omaha. It seems as if I had lived a century since
then and had entered into a new stage of existence."
And later he writes: —
"I am quite daft, having gone raving mad over
the Oregon scenery. Why, it is the garden of the
world! The City of Portland is one huge bower of
roses — Jacqueminots, and mosmets and a hun-
365
John Fiske
dred other kinds, some as gigantic as rhododen-
drons. At first I thought— Well, Portland is
lovely in June; but Great Scott! they say it is just
like this the whole year round."
With Portland and its people Fiske was delighted.
The town had many of the characteristics of a dis-
tinctly New England town enlarged and improved;
while the people, in their intelligence and social
comfort, reflected many of the fine qualities asso-
ciated with the home-life of the typical New Eng-
land " f oiks "; this home-life, however, being height-
ened by a broader outlook upon life and its duties
than is common even with the better class of New
England "folks."
Fiske was three weeks in Portland, during which
time he gave twenty-two lectures — thirteen on
"The American Revolution/' five on "The Be-
ginnings of New England/' and four on "The
Western Campaigns of the Civil War." He had
large audiences and he writes of his experiences
thus : —
" I am sort of like the circus, or the Italian opera,
or the Greek play; folks are just making a business
of coming to hear me during the Fiske season, so
to speak. The audiences are as enthusiastic here as
elsewhere."
And he adds: — •
"I read my essay on 'The Meaning of Infancy*
this morning to an audience of about one hundred
school-teachers. On Sunday, the iQth, I am to
366
Ride to San Francisco
preach in the Unitarian Church! My text will be
from Genesis, where 'Ye become as gods knowing
the good and the evil ' : — I intend to make it work
into my third little book." l
June 21, Fiske left Portland for San Francisco,
leaving behind him many warm friends who ex-
pressed a strong desire for another "Fiske" season
at no distant day. He took with him, as a particu-
larly sweet remembrance, the home of the Reverend
T. L. Eliot with his accomplished daughters, where
in the intervals between his lectures he had enjoyed
several hours of rare intellectual converse, mingled
with delightful music.
Fiske first planned to make the journey from
Portland to San Francisco by boat, but on hearing
of the remarkable views to be obtained of Mount
Shasta and of the Great Canon of the Sacramento
from the trip by rail, he decided to take the latter
route. It was a memorable ride, indeed! His de-
scriptions of Mount Shasta with its great glaciers as
the mighty locomotive of a hundred and forty tons
wheezing and panting like a thing of life, tugged the
train slowly around its three sides — a huge moun-
tain bigger than Mont Blanc and almost as high;
of the descent of the train into the great Dore-like
abyss of the Canon of the Sacramento, were no
less vivid than his descriptions of the scenery be-
tween Omaha and Portland.
1 This was the first delivery of his essay on "The Mystery of
Evil," published in 1899 in his little volume, Through Nature to God.
367
John Fiske
He reached Oakland on Thursday, June 23,
and, on taking the ferry-boat which plies across the
beautiful bay to San Francisco, he writes: "I took
my fill of sweet sea-breeze as we crossed to beauti-
ful San Francisco, with which I fell in love at the
first sight."
He went directly to the Palace Hotel, where he
was soon met by his classmate, Auguste Comte, a
relative of the great philosopher of that name.
Fiske writes : —
" Immediately on my arrival, dear little Comte
appeared, and our voices trembled a little as we
shook hands after twenty-four years. Just the same
quiet, modest, refined, manly, humorous little
Frenchman as in college days — not changed a
mite. Dear little Comte ! After much chin-wag, as
5.30 o'clock came he took me to a dainty French
restaurant, all mirror, lace-curtains, and spotless
linen; for, ' I say, John, after two days of Pullman-
car grub, you need a nice little snack to brace you
up for your lecture!"
Fiske was in San Francisco six days. He gave two
lectures in Starr King's Church — "Nation-Mak-
ing" and " Benedict Arnold"; and at Oakland he
repeated the first lecture and preached his sermon
on "The Mystery of Evil." He had large and re-
sponsive audiences in both places.
He met many friends and many courtesies were
extended to him. Three of his classmates living
in San Francisco — Edward G. Stetson, Dr. John
D. Hall, Auguste Comte — gave him a dinner at
368
In San Francisco
the Union Club; he was taken to Palo Alto, to see
the grounds of the new Leland Stanford University
that was then rising ; to the Golden Gate Park and
to the Cliff House, whereof he writes, "O, such a
dreamy, delicious afternoon on the hotel piazza, gaz-
ing on the Pacific Ocean." He was also taken to
Chinatown, where for the first time he was brought
into contact with the "heathen Chinee" in his own,
his legitimate, forms of social aggregation. This
visit to Chinatown made a great impression upon
Fiske's mind, as we shall see later; here he says of
his visit: " It was like one of the chapters in ' Pick-
wick/ too full of adventure to be briefly described."
Fiske had one experience in San Francisco of
much historic interest which must be set forth
in his own words. Among the dearest friends of
Judge Gantt, Fiske's hospitable friend in St. Louis,
was the rebel general Joseph E. Johnston, the
Blucher of the first battle of Bull Run.1 Judge
Gantt had spoken so warmly of Fiske to General
Johnston and of General Johnston to Fiske, that
each was very desirous of meeting the other.
Fiske was advised by Judge Gantt that General
Johnston was stopping at the Palace Hotel, and
accordingly Fiske set out to find him. Finding that
the General was then taking his solitary dinner
in the restaurant, Fiske asked to be shown to his
table. Fiske then says: —
1 See Fiske's account of his meeting with General Patterson, the
Grouchy of the Battle of Bull Run, ante, p. 164.
369
John Fiske
"At that table I saw a most kingly old gentle-
man, with white hair and beard, almost enough like
Gantt in bearing to be his brother, — a man worth
all this journey to see, — and I knew him at once.
I said, 'General Johnston, I am so happy to have
found you; my name is John Fiske/ He rose
exactly as Gantt rises before a lady, gave me a
warm grasp of the hand, and said, 'My dear Mr.
Fiske, there is no man in this country that I have
wanted to see so much as yourself/ Well, I guess
the ice was pretty well broken by this first hit; and
so we had a nice chin-wag. Was there ever, my
dear, anything equal to the elegance and grandeur
of manner of these old Southerners? And such in-
telligence and vivacity. He is nearly eighty years
old, but as sharp and hawk-eyed, as kindly and
royal, as Gantt. O, how good it is to see such men.
My thoughts went back to the day when I sat in
the little house in Hanover Street in Middletown,
that used to be Grandfather Fiske's barn, and had
been revamped into a house. It was July 21, 1861,
— a day long to be remembered. I was reading out
of Buckle's second volume to Sallie Browning, about
3 P.M., when we heard the bells ringing joyfully. I
threw down the book and rushed up street. Every-
body was jubilant. Rebellion crushed! I came
back to tell it to the two grandmas and poor sick
Mr. Lewis. I was wild with pleasure, and ran back
to Main Street and observed that the bells had
stopped ringing. About the door of Henry Board-
man's drug-shop men were talking gloomily. What
is this, all this? O, it is all false. We are badly de-
feated! Can this be true? Presently I met Judge
Culver and he said, 'Yes, just when we were carry-
370
General Joseph E. Johnston
ing all before us Johnston came up and we were de-
feated with the loss of 5000 men. The rebels will
take Washington. It's all up with Uncle Sam.'
My blood boiled. O, damnable Johnston! And
now, after twenty-six years, I look lovingly upon
that terrible man and chat with him and admire his
fine, honest face!"
Fiske left San Francisco for the Yosemite Valley
and the Mariposa Grove June 29. His impressions
of San Francisco were favorable: —
"Not at all half-baked or ' Western ' — solid m
stone and marble and supremely clean. Delicious
climate — noon heat about 60° all the year round
— no snow or frost in winter, no mud in spring, no
thunderstorms in summer. The air is full of the re-
freshing smell of cold salt water, while the glorious
Italian sunshine keeps off all sense of chill. The
iodine and ozone of the sea-breeze make it tonic and
invigorating. I have never seen a climate so much
to my taste as this."
As Fiske was now hurrying home, he had no op-
portunity of giving his impressions of the Yosemite
Valley and the Mariposa Grove while the impres-
sions were fresh in his mind. This is to be regretted,
for, with his keen powers of observation combined
with his remarkable powers of lucid description, we
should have had appeals to the imagination through
pen-pictures, of these sublime examples of nature's
physical and organic phenomena which would have
been of great service in bringing the more important
features of these phenomena within the apprehen-
John Fiske
sion of the common mind. In a brief note written
on his arrival at Salt Lake City he says : —
"This is only a line to say that the Yosemite
Valley is beyond the power of human speech to de-
scribe, and Mariposa Grove is the most sublime
temple of God upon this earth. What I have seen
is almost too much for the mind to take in; it is
simply staggering/'
He stopped at Salt Lake City from a sense of
duty. As a historian dealing with the evolution of
human society, he could not wisely let pass an oppor-
tunity to observe the Mormon in his home. After
his drive about the town and while waiting for his
train, he gave his impressions of the place to Mrs.
Fiske in the following letter, which is of interest
here, not because it gives any fresh information re-
garding the Mormon people, perhaps, but because
his free and easy accounts of what he saw reveal
that he was observing this "peculiar people" as a
social abnormality or excrescence, thrown off by
modern society in its process of progressive social
evolution. He writes: —
SALT LAKE CITY, July 6, 1887.
My Dear: —
Since I wrote you this morning, I have had a
lovely drive all the afternoon in an open buggy with
a fool of a mare that squinted at everything we
passed, and a most delicious Irish driver who hates
Mormons like pison and had lots to tell me about
every blasted house and fence and tree in town.
I have visited the Tabernacle, which seats over
372
Salt Lake City
10,000 people, and has an organ almost as big as the
one that used to be in the Boston Music Hall. Have
seen the Temple, Brigham Young's houses, and
all the sights. More than all, I have seen that the
sage-brush desert is only a desert in outward ap-
pearance. The sage-brush soil is really very rich,
and it is only for want of H2O that nothing but
sage-brush will grow on it. The valley in which this
pretty city stands is a plain as flat as a floor, walled
in on all sides by great mountains, some of which
have snow on their summits all the year round.
This valley looks almost as if you could walk around
it in a day; in reality it is one hundred and fifty-
two miles long by over a hundred in width — as
big as Massachusetts! The effect of this transpar-
ent air upon the sense of sight is simply amazing.
Yonder is the Great Salt Lake at the foot of the
mountains, a beautiful deep bright-blue like the
Mediterranean. Yet the lake is eighteen miles from
the city. The mountains are mostly very red, except
where the sage-brush covers them with a velvety
sage-green, or where the snow glistens in the sun-
light. The effect of all this coloring is superb, and
amid it all, the valley floor is as green and smooth
as an English lawn. The only elevation in the valley
is a most convenient little hill about one hundred
feet high near the city; my jolly Paddy drove me to
the top, and I assure you it was a scene of fairy-like
beauty.
Now when Brigham Young led the Mormons
here forty years ago, and they emerged through a
long deep mountain defile into this valley, it was
a desert covered with sage-brush. Not a tree or a
blade of grass in it! But it seemed so shut out
373
John Fiske
from the world, this valley in the mountains
more than fifteen hundred miles beyond the Mis-
sissippi, that the Mormons decided to settle here
and reclaim it. All of Brigham's notions of farm-
ing and building show him to have been a man of
intelligence. He brought melted snow-water down
from the mountains in sluices and irrigated the
desert till he made it a garden. On each side of
every street in the city, between the curbstones and
the roadway, runs a little artificial brook of clear
cold water, from two to three feet in width ; and you
see the same thing on all the country roads. Every
garden, every lawn, every farmer's field, taps these
sluices, turning the water on or off at pleasure;
while in every direction you see wonderful lawn
sprinklers throwing spray to great distances. The
consequence is that drought is unknown here: the
crops never fail, and what crops! I never saw such
cornfields, potato-fields, barley, oats, wheat, bean-
poles so heavy with beans, or apple and peach trees
so full of fruit. And a whole acre of yellow mustard
is a pretty sight, too! The sun is intensely hot here,
and things grow with mad luxuriance. It was 98°
in the shade this noon, but the valley is forty- two
hundred feet above the sea, the air is mountain
air and the nights are always cool. The streets of
the town are all one hundred and twenty feet wide
and lined with fine trees — poplars that grow as
finely as in France, honey locusts, common locusts,
ash, beech, and maple.
On the lawns you also see evergreens and all sorts
of flowers. It is an extremely pretty town. Popu-
lation, about thirty thousand, two- thirds Mormons,
one-third "Gentile." Comparatively few Mormons
374
Salt Lake City
have more than one wife, and there is a strong
party of them now opposed to polygamy, which
people here seem to think is doomed soon to dis-
appear. The United States Government is now in-
dicting people and putting them in jail for having
more than one wife. The leading Mormon news-
paper had an article this morning advocating the
abolition of polygamy.
In crossing the state of Nevada I saw nothing
but sage-brush all day except at Humboldt, where
I dined. There irrigation, lately begun, had already
made a beautiful luxuriant oasis. Thermometer
there yesterday noon was 118° in the shade, but
no sultriness: less uncomfortable than 85° on a
Cambridge dog-day.
I should have been a fool, indeed, if I had n't
stopped at Salt Lake City!
HEZZY.
Fiske left Salt Lake City July 7, via the Denver
and Rio Grande Railroad, and arrived at Colorado
Springs the evening of July 8. July 9, he drove to
Manitou, Monument Park, and the Garden of the
Gods, and reached Denver in the evening. The
next day, Sunday, July 10, he spent in Denver,
leaving there in the evening direct for home, and
arrived in Boston the evening of July 13, thus bring-
ing to a close a memorable experience. In one of his
letters he speaks of this journey thus: "Altogether
it has been the most memorable experience I have
had since my first journey to Europe. Nothing else
that could have happened to me would have increased
my power so much in working on the great History.19
375
John Fiske
We have seen that Fiske, after working seven
years on his "History of the American People" for
Harper & Brothers, found that he could not do the
subject justice within the publishing limits pre-
scribed for that work and that he amicably secured
an annulment of his publishing agreement with
them.
But the literary material he had prepared was
not without value, — indeed, he could not put his
pen to any historical subject without greatly en-
riching it, — and as the Lea Brothers & Co., pub-
lishers, of Philadelphia, were engaged in prepar-
ing their great historic work, a " History of All
Nations," a work to be comprised in twenty-four
volumes and to be sold by subscription, Fiske found
no difficulty in disposing of the materials he had
prepared for the Harper work with some modifica-
tions and additions to them.
In this work of Lea Brothers, Fiske's contribu-
tion was to form an important section under the
respective sub- titles of "The Colonization of the
New World," "The Independence of the New
World," "The Modern Development of the New
World." The proper presentation of these subjects
in the Lea work called for a broad, outline method
of treatment for which the work produced by Fiske
under the Harper agreement was in substantial
accord.
This work of Lea Brothers was not published
until 1905, four years after Fiske's death; and his
376
History of All Nations
contribution thereto, by virtue of its manner of
preparation and its mode of publication, formed
no part of his definitely planned historic scheme
subsequently prepared for Hough ton Mifflin Com-
pany, although it covers in outline some of the
ground included in the later scheme.
CHAPTER XXXII
CONCEPTION OF NATIONALITY OF UNITED STATES
GREATLY ENLARGED — IMPORTANCE OF ABORIG-
INAL AMERICA — VARIOUS LECTURES AND AD-
DRESSES — PUBLICATION OF VOLUME ON CRIT-
ICAL PERIOD — PERPLEXITIES OVER HIS GREAT
TASK — RELIEVED BY HIS PUBLISHERS
1887-1888
FISKE returned from his trip to the Pacific Coast
with a greatly enlarged conception of the United
States as a nation, and its place in the international
world. Hitherto his personal knowledge of its
physical features and of its people had been con-
fined to the section of country east of the Missis-
sippi River. By this trip he was brought to a
vivid realization that not one half of its territory
or of its natural resources, and but little of its
scenic beauty, had been revealed to him. The de-
velopment in his own day of a high degree of social
and political order — of States with republican
constitutions — out of the rapid influx of emi-
grants into the new territory, of various races,
nationalities, and languages, a commingling of peo-
ples to such an extent as to bring the Oriental and
the Occidental civilizations face to face, could not
but give a fresh impulse to his desire fully to set
forth the fundamental principles underlying this
378
Aboriginal America
marvellous evolution of a great nation with its ac-
companying political and social phenomena, as
well as to trace out the genesis and development
of these principles: "to set forth and illustrate
some of the chief causes which have shifted the
world's political centre of gravity from the Medi-
terranean and the Rhine to the Atlantic and the
Pacific: from the men who spoke Latin to the men
who speak English/'
Then, too, he was impressed as never before
with the importance to his theme of setting forth
the results of ethnologic researches regarding abo-
riginal, prehistoric society in America, as a back-
ground to the presentation of the introduction of
European civilization into America. In his early
conceptions of a " History of the American People/'
it does not appear that any consideration was to
be given to prehistoric society in America. After
his return from this visit to the Pacific Coast,
however, this subject becomes a prominent feature
in the broader historic scheme that is shaping in
his mind — a feature, which, as we shall see a little
later, he presented in its full philosophico-historic
significance.
It thus appears that the historic theme which
was now taking quite definite shape in his mind
was composed of three interrelated parts: (i) the
sifting of the nations for the germs of a new order
of political organization based upon the inalien-
able rights of man; (2) the planting of these germs
379
John Fiske
in the new world of America, and their political
integration; (3) their fruitage in the Federal Gov-
ernment of the United States.
Immediately on his return Fiske took his family
to the summer home at Petersham, where he was
soon at work writing a new course of five lectures
on "Scenes and Characters in American History,"
the several titles of which were : "The Revolution
of 1689 in New England"; "Thomas Hutchin-
son, Last Royal Governor of Massachusetts";
"Charles Lee, the Soldier of Fortune"; "Andrew
Jackson, Frontiersman and Soldier"; "Andrew
Jackson and American Democracy Sixty Years
Ago." Fiske's reputation was now so well estab-
lished that applications for his lectures were more
numerous than he could fill, and it took some care-
ful planning to have his engagements centre about
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and
Chicago respectively. Private schools were be-
ginning to see the great value of his lectures in
stimulating young minds to an interest in Ameri-
can history, and Fiske particularly enjoyed minis-
tering to such a demand. When it became known
that his interest in music was hardly less than his
interest in history, that his knowledge of the theory
of music was in its thoroughness very rare, while
he had a cultivated voice of exceptional range and
power, the demands from the schools for lectures
on both history and music became much greater
than he could meet.
380
Limits of Artistic License
An incident occurred during this period which is
of no little literary as well as musical interest. It
appears that Fiske's classmate and friend, James
Herbert Morse, had written a poem under the title
of "Come, Silence, Thou Sweet Reasoner," the
words of which Fiske had set to music for a chorus
of men's voices. The words of the poem contained
the following line : —
"The cricket tunes his slender throat."
Professor Paine objected to the line as a basis of
musical expression, inasmuch as it was entomologi-
cally incorrect. This led to a lively discussion of
the limits of artistic license in poetical and musical
composition. Fiske maintained that the poet or
musical composer was not wholly confined to the
literal facts of nature in his composition. As the
discussion broadened to the practice of Shakespeare
in this respect, — did he adhere strictly to the
truth of Nature? — Fiske claimed that he did not,
and proposed that the question at issue be referred
to his friend, the eminent Shakespearean scholar
and fine literary critic, Horace Howard Furness.
It was so referred by Fiske in a most humorous,
characteristic letter, which unfortunately has not
been preserved. When asked for it to use in this
connection, Mr. Furness replied: "I find to my ex-
ceeding regret that I have preserved none of Dr.
Fiske's letters to me. Had I at the time known the
gift of God I would have preserved every scratch
John Fiske
of his pen." His letter, however, brought forth the
following illuminating reply : —
My dear Fiske, —
Will you ever forgive me for letting slip by the
two weeks of your stay in New York without an-
swering yours of 24th March? I fully grasped the
heinousness of my conduct only this minute, and
have turned as red as a lobster from head to foot,
and from shame and mortification am screaming
hard all the time I write. But I swear it was not
intentional. You have asked me a devilish hard
question, — nothing less than to furnish you with
a citation which shall prove the divine William to
have been zoologically wrong, — when my motto
is, that under all circumstances Shakespeare is
always right. However, the cause for which you ask
is so good that for its sake and for your own sweet
sake I have been cudgelling my brain to recall a
passage to serve your turn. Let me premise by say-
ing that I reecho every word you say about the
weakness of any objection to the tunefulness of the
cricket's throat — you might just as well urge that
no throat is tuneful, only the vocal cords which are
in the throat. The first thing that occurred to me
is that Shakespeare talks of the cricket's singing,
and singing implies a throat. You remember lachi-
mo's first words, when he creeps out of the chest in
Imogen's bedchamber, are, " The crickets sing and
man's o'erlabored sense repairs itself by rest," etc.
If you need justification I think you have really
sufficient here. Tennyson, too, will countenance
you — in his "Marianna in the South" he says,
11 At eve a dry cicada sung,11 etc. But if you will
force me to recall a phrase in Shakespeare where
382
Letter from H. H. Furness
a literal, prosaic interpretation involves an error,
why, then take Titania's command to her fairies, —
and be darned to you. She tells them to
"take from the bees their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes."
Now, we all know that, as Dr. Johnson remarked, a
glow-worm's light is not in its eyes, but in its tail.
But I 'd like to examine the bumps of a man who
would change the phrase to entomological cor-
rectness. — "Her eyes the glow-worm lend thee,"
says Herrick to Julia, and the glow-worm ought to
jump at the chance. — When Hamlet's father says,
"The glow-worm 'gins to pale his ineffectual fire,"
Brother Paine would say, " 'T ain't fire at all.
There's no oxygen combustion about it!" Indeed,
I think literature must be full of allusions to the
song of the crickets, and if a song, then there
must be a throat. — Lady Macbeth says," I heard
the owl scream and the crickets cry" — and Paine
would substitute fiddle. Have I given you any help?
If I have I '11 praise Heaven. Let me know that this
reaches you — and that you still hold me to be
Yours cordially,
HORACE HOWARD FURNESS.
6th April, 1890.
I like "The cricket tunes his tiny throat" better
than "slender." My Anglo-Saxon instinct likes al-
literation, but "slender" is pretty, it must be con-
fessed*
Fiske had a keen appreciation of humor, as is
seen in his great love of Dickens and in the occa-
sional use in his serious writings of a humorous al-
lusion or phrase to clinch his argument. While he
383
John Fiske
was engaged in preparing for, and planning the
details of, his coming season's lecture campaign,
at a time when he says, "My noddle is just now
stuffed pretty full of Andrew Jackson and his 999
quarrels," he received from the editor of the "New
York World" a request for a telegram giving his
opinion regarding Ignatius Donnelly's theories
about Shakespeare and Bacon as set forth in Don-
nelly's work "The Great Cryptogram: Francis
Bacon's Cypher in the so-called Shakespere Plays."
Fiske's reply expressed the subtile thought of
the philosopher and the humorist.
It was as follows: —
PETERSHAM, September 3, 1887.
To the Editor of The World,
New York.
As regards Mr. Donnelly's theories about Shake-
speare, I have only to say that if a man really likes
to amuse himself with such stuff, I can see no ob-
jection. It keeps him busy, and is far less danger-
ous than if he were to meddle with questions about
labour and capital.
Years later Fiske wrote an article entitled "Forty
Years of Bacon-Shakespeare Folly," in which,
with his ripe knowledge and his invincible logic,
he completely swept away the pretensions of those
who would find in the genius of Shakespeare only
a corruptly minded Bacon.
During this year Fiske contributed the follow-
ing articles to the "Atlantic Monthly": —
384
New Course of Lectures
February, "The Federal Constitution."
June, "Concluding Work of the Federal Con-
vention.'*
November, "The Adoption of the Constitution."
December, "Paul Jones and Armed Neutrality."
The year 1888 was a memorable one to Fiske,
inasmuch as its close brought a complete change
in his conditions of working, with the assurance of
financial support sufficient to enable him to work
out his historic scheme as it had now shaped it-
self in his mind. We will follow the incidents of
the year in their order.
The year opened with a very active lecture cam-
paign arranged for the winter and spring in and
about New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and
Chicago. His new course on "Scenes and Charac-
ters in American History" was given only in St.
Louis, where the several lectures were received
with the usual enthusiasm. In his naive way he
tells Mrs. Fiske that "the folks out here seem to
like everything I do." In Philadelphia he gave his
full course on "The American Revolution," to
large and enthusiastic audiences; and calling to
mind the reception he received in Philadelphia a
few years before, he could not but mark the con-
trast. Playfully he writes, "The Filadelfy folks are
now wild over my lectures." Fiske's frequent use
of the word "folks" is notable. It is a good old
English word that he greatly liked.
While thus engaged with his lectures, Fiske
385
John Fiske
chanced to fall in with James Martineau's recently
published work, "A Study of Religion." In this
work the author, while disagreeing with Fiske on
many points, had spoken very sympathetically of
Fiske's two Concord addresses. Fiske had met
Martineau in London, and esteemed him highly
as one of the deepest philosophico-religious think-
ers of England ; and it was a great delight to him to
find that their views on some of the great questions
which were now under discussion coincided at
many points. Accordingly Fiske wrote Martineau
expressing the great pleasure with which he had
read the latter's book. Martineau replied with the
following letter which Fiske highly prized by rea-
son of the fine liberal spirit it displays: —
35 GORDON SQUARE, LONDON, W.C.
April 2, 1888.
My dear Mr. Fiske: -
Your kindly and forbearing way of receiving
my volumes, and their free, though sympathetic
expressions of dissent from you gratifies me much.
I do not venture to hope that you can accord to
the book any large measure of approval. If it only
helps a little, here and there, towards the modus
vivendi of which you also are in quest between the
scientific and religious theory of the world I shall
be content and grateful. I am delighted to hear
that, in that view, you are at work upon the lines
of moral law and tendency.
It is good news — for others at all events and
for me if I am still a lingerer here, — that you con-
template another visit to Europe, at no distant
386
Letter from James Martineau
date. If I check myself in forming plans for the fu-
ture, it is not that the present alters with me much,
but simply from the reckoning of A.D.
I remain, dear Mr. Fiske,
Yours very sincerely,
JAMES MARTINEAU.
The summer of 1888 was spent almost wholly in
Cambridge, and in persistent work. His main task
was the preparation of five new lectures for the
ensuing season. He chose for his subjects, "Alex-
ander Hamilton, his theory of government, and its
influence upon American history"; "Thomas Jef-
ferson, his political career, his theory of govern-
ment, and its influence upon American history";
"James Madison, his services in framing the Fed-
eral Constitution, his Presidency, and his place in
American history"; "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too,"
an account of the origin of the Whig Party and
the political complications which followed; "Daniel
Webster and the sentiment of Union."
November 14, 1888, the Commonwealth of Mas-
sachusetts dedicated, with fitting ceremonies on
Boston Common, a memorial to Crispus Attucks,
Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, Samuel Gray,
and Patrick Carr, victims of the "Massacre"
which took place in Boston March 5, 1770, when
British soldiers, illegally quartered in Boston,
fired upon unarmed citizens, and thus, by wholly
illegal action, opened the conflict which resulted
in the American Revolutionary War.
387
John Fiske
Fiske delivered the address on the occasion, in
which he sketched the illegal forcing by the British
Government of British troops upon the people of
Boston, the indignation of the people at this at-
tack upon their liberties, and the incidents which
led up to the firing of these troops upon an un-
armed body of protesting citizens and the killing of
the five persons named in the memorial. The address
had all the characteristics of his free-flowing, lucid
style, and it closed with this fine peroration: —
"The moral lessons of the story are such as
ought never to be forgotten. Adams and Warren,
and their patriot friends, were right in deciding that
the fatal 5th of March should be solemnly com-
memorated each year by an oration to be deliv-
ered in the Old South Meeting-house, and this
custom was kept up until the recognition of Amer-
ican independence in 1783, when the day for the
oration was changed to the 4th of July. At the
very first annual March meeting after the massa-
cre, it was proposed to erect a monument to com-
memorate it. The form of the proposal shows that
the character of the event was understood by town-
people at that time as I have endeavoured to set
it forth to-day. In dedicating this memorial on
Boston Common after the lapse of more than a
century, we are but performing an act of justice
too long delayed. There let it stand for future
generations to contemplate as a monument of the
wickedness and folly of all attempts to employ brute
force in compelling the obedience of the people to
laws which they have had no voice in making/'
388
The Critical Period
The very favorable reception given to his lec-
tures on "The Critical Period of American His-
tory," and to their publication in the "Atlantic
Monthly/' induced Fiske to take up the considera-
tion of this critical period — the six years between
1783 and 1789 — and present it in book form as a
distinct feature, a memorable chapter in American
history. This he found he could do to signal ad-
vantage by presenting the political events of this
period by themselves, apart from the war struggle
which went before, and the domestic political strug-
gles which came after. In addition, he found that
he could so treat the subject that the volume would
have a legitimate place in his contemplated history
as the connecting link between his account of the
overthrow of the colonial governments and the
establishment of the Federal Government under
Washington. Then, too, the publication in book
form of an essay on the most memorable period
in our national history would be, in a certain sense,
an appeal to the public interest in behalf of the
great historic scheme he had in mind : a test of his
powers to present satisfactorily to the highest form
of literary criticism a great historic undertaking.
Accordingly, during the latter half of the year
1887, and the first half of 1888, all his spare time
was given to preparing his collected material for
the press. In one of his letters he says: —
" I am having a busy and happy time. My little
book is going to be a fine affair, that 's clear, whether
389
John Fiske
it is exactly what was intended or not. It is grow-
ing finer every day."
The book was published in the early autumn
of 1888 — the centennial of the work of the Con-
vention which framed the Constitution of the
United States. In this volume Fiske set out with the
proposition that the period under review was the
most critical period in the history of the American
people. The main features of the work comprised
a clear setting-forth of the political dangers, exter-
nal and internal, that then confronted the new
nation, an impartial presentation of the issues in-
volved, accompanied by a rare exhibition of his-
toric justice shown in the personal sketches given
and the judgments passed upon the leaders in the
Constitutional Convention. These were combined
with a fine, discriminating analysis of the consid-
erations which governed the several States in their
acceptance of the Constitution, with a graphic
presentation of the crowning of the work in the in-
auguration of Washington as President of a strong
and united nation. These features were presented
with such a full and accurate knowledge of the facts
involved, with such a firm grasp of, and sympathy
with, the fundamental principles of republicanism
which were the impelling forces underlying the
whole movement, and in such a free, lucid style,
that the work could hardly fail to awaken the in-
terest of the reader in the subject and carry a con-
viction of the truth of the main proposition.
390
The Critical Period
The book was received with great applause. The
leading critical journals were unanimous in com-
mending it. It was readily seen that Fiske had
found an important period in our national life that
had been sadly neglected; that with his keen his-
toric insight he had seen the necessity of bringing
a knowledge of this neglected period into the full
light of day, in order rightly to understand the
genesis and full significance of the Federal Govern-
ment of the United States. It was further seen that
in his deeply interesting narrative of this "storm
and stress" period of our nation's birth, the per-
sonal characteristics of the leaders in this great
movement-- Washington, Franklin, Samuel and
John Adams, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and
their compeers — came out with a fresh interest
as they were sympathetically yet impartially por-
trayed grappling with the great problems before
them. The work was reviewed at length by the
" Atlantic Monthly" and the "Nation," and their
judgments are here given. The "Atlantic Monthly"
summed up its criticism thus : —
" Mr. Fiske justifies his title to his work. By his
masterly grouping of events, his projection of the
period upon a large scale, and his comprehensive
study of the movements which determined the
course of affairs, he has set the whole subject in the
clearest light, and by so doing has made a contribu-
tion to our literature of no mean order."
The judgment of the " Nation " was as follows: —
39i
John Fiske
" If the reader misses in the present treatise the
comprehensive generalizations which gave such
a fascination to the author's work on 'American
Political Ideas/ he will find his recompense in the
solid facts of history pertaining to the formative
period in our annals, and can here see those facts
placed in a historical perspective which reveals at
once their national grandeur, and their world-his-
torical significance."
Of personal commendations of the work from
literary critics, from historic students, and from
men in public life there were many. Two are here
presented as representative of the general tone of
the whole. The first is from John Morley (now
Lord Morley), the prince of literary and historic
critics. In the " Nineteenth Century" for August,
1889, Morley, in a signed article, reviewed the work
at some length, in which, after setting forth the
conditions that prevailed after the establishment of
peace with Great Britain, he says: —
"The author of the present short volume starts
from the proposition that the most trying time of
all [for the new nation] was just beginning. [Quot-
ing Fiske : ] ' It is not too much to say that the period
of five years following the peace of 1783 was the
most critical moment in all the history of the
American people. The dangers from which we were
saved in 1788 were even greater than the dangers
from which we were saved in 1865.' This proposi-
tion, Mr. Fiske makes abundantly good and he has
turned it into a text for one of the most interesting
chapters of history that has been written for many
392
The Critical Period
a day. . . . Mr. Fiske is a most competent guide!
He is a trained thinker in more fields than one;
he knows how to tell a story in a free, clear and
lively style, and he has not the terrible defect of
insisting on telling us everything, or telling us more
than we want to know."
The second is from the Honorable John Jay, a
grandson of John Jay, one of the American Com-
missioners who negotiated the treaty of peace be-
tween Great Britain and the United States in 1783,
and himself an eminent publicist. Mr. Jay wrote
Fiske as follows : -
NEW YORK, November 30, 1888.
Dear Mr. Fiske: —
I thank you for your new volume, "The Critical
Period of American History," with its kind inscrip-
tion. I have delayed acknowledging it until I could
read it. I have read it with instruction, and great
satisfaction; and with no little admiration for the
rare and happy power with which you re-present
with new face the familiar phases of our history
and make clear and impressive the philosophic les-
sons that they teach.
The book I regard as of especial value, as ena-
bling not simply our countrymen at large, but the
most thoughtful of our students of American his-
tory, to appreciate more than ever the dangers
that threatened our Union at the close of the war,
and the formidable difficulties involved in the
framing and adoption of the Constitution.
It is a matter that concerns not simply the
record of the past, but the national policy of the
393
John Fiske
future, that Americans should have the clear and
compact idea which your narrative presents of the
marvellous wisdom, patience, tact, and skill with
which that task was accomplished.
Let me thank you also for your approval of my
sketch of the Peace Negotiations, your view of
which I regard as settling the question for future
historians.
With sincere regard,
Always faithfully yours,
JOHN JAY.
JOHN FISKE, ESQR.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
Notwithstanding this widespread interest in his
undertaking and the high praise he was receiving
on every hand for his work both as lecturer and as
essayist, Fiske had moments of great perplexity.
I saw him frequently at this period, and the diffi-
culties under which he was laboring were subjects
of much talk between us. The most perplexing
difficulty was that in the working-out of his scheme
he could not take hold of his subject in the proper
manner; that is, by bringing forward its features
in logical sequential order through laying first a
proper foundation for the historic superstructure he
desired to build. In what he had published he had
treated of events which were developments out of
conditions which had a genesis in a common, under-
lying ground. The more he studied his subject the
more imperative became the need of laying the
foundations of a satisfactory history of the Ameri-
394
Perplexity over his Task
can people in the world-events connected with the
discovery of America and what this discovery sig-
nified to the European peoples of the fifteenth, six-
teenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. But
to treat the discovery of America in the light of its
world-significance, with reference to the past and
the future, was a task requiring years of careful
research, with a free mind.
As we have seen, Fiske's undertaking had de-
veloped into a demand upon himself which in-
volved from five to six months* almost continuous
lecturing, with the necessity of preparing each year
a new course of from four to six lectures, with all
the details of arranging the lecture engagements
in addition. It is evident that conditions did
not exist which would admit of his engaging in the
research-study so essential to the scheme that
had now become firmly fixed in his mind.
Naturally, this untoward condition in the de-
velopment of his task made him somewhat dis-
couraged, for without a presentation of the Discov-
ery Epoch, with its full significance, his historic
scheme would be without suitable foundations.
But ample and wholly unexpected relief was at
hand.
Mr. Henry O. Houghton, the head of the pub-
lishing firm of Houghton, Mifflin & Company, was
not only a broad-minded man of great business
sagacity; he also took great pride in his publishing
business and ever sought to make it a support to
395
John Fiske
good literature. In the passing of the publishing
firm of Ticknor & Fields, which, under the direc-
tion of the eminent publisher, James T. Fields, and
by its ownership of the "Atlantic Monthly/' had
long held a prominent place in the publishing world,
Mr. Hough ton secured for his firm not only the
ownership of the "Atlantic Monthly," but also the
publishing agreements with leading authors held
by Ticknor & Fields, thus placing Houghton,
Mifflin & Company in the front rank of publishing
houses in America.
Mr. Houghton was a good appraiser of literary
values. He had observed Fiske's growing reputa-
tion as an interpreter of American history, and had
noted particularly the very favorable manner in
which his first distinctly historic work, "The
Critical Period," had been received. Presuming
that Fiske contemplated publishing something fur-
ther on American history, he sought an interview
to learn what, if anything, Fiske had in mind.
Fiske frankly outlined to Mr. Houghton his his-
toric scheme in its five divisions: the Epoch of
American Discovery; the Period of Colonization;
the Revolutionary War; the Critical Period; the
Establishment of the Federal Government of the
United States and its development. He pointed
out that he had the third and fourth divisions, and
a part of the second, substantially completed. He
also frankly stated the difficulties under which he
was laboring, owing to his inability to go forward
396
Relieved by his Publishers
with the persistent research-study necessary for the
proper treatment of the Discovery Epoch, which
must form the foundation of the work, on account
of his dependence financially upon his lectures.
Mr. Houghton, with his business insight, grasped
the whole situation with great perspicacity. He
was much impressed by the high character of the
scheme, and also by the logical order and clearness
with which Fiske had its several features related in
his mind; and he could see what a valuable and
fresh contribution to historic literature such a work
would be. On the other hand, he saw very clearly
that, as a publishing undertaking, it was one that
would require a large investment of capital for its
preparation, and that it would be several years be-
fore it would yield remunerative returns even if it
met with a cordial public reception. He was, how-
ever, so favorably impressed by the scheme, and
with Fiske's mastery of it, that he said he would
seriously consider undertaking its publication.
Mr. Houghton saw Fiske shortly after, and made
him a definite proposition to this effect: that he
would advance the money necessary to enable Fiske
to produce the foundational works required in the
scheme, leaving the question of copyright on the
whole scheme subject to future agreement: this
proposed agreement to be terminable by either
party, at any time, if found inequitable in its work-
ing. In short, it was a proposition whereby the two
were to combine their forces, each trusting the
397
John Fiske
other, until a definite literary property had been
created as a basis for a copyright agreement. As
it was desirable that the scheme should be kept
before the public, Fiske was to have the privilege
of lecturing three months in the year on his own
account. The immediate effect of the acceptance
by Fiske of the proposition would be, that he would
be placed at ease for the preparation of the funda-
mental works of his scheme, which required some
years of patient research-study.
Fiske did not hold the proposition long under
consideration. He accepted it, with a due apprecia-
tion of Mr. Hough ton's business sagacity in being
willing to undertake on such liberal terms the pro-
motion of a literary venture of such a personal
character, and one requiring a large investment of
capital.
The year 1888 closed with Fiske's giving his
course of six lectures on " Scenes and Characters
in American History" at the Old South Church in
Boston; and with his coming to an agreement with'
his publishers, Houghton, Mifflin & Company, for
the further prosecution and publication of his
historic scheme.
CHAPTER XXXIII
NEW CONDITIONS AND THEIR EFFECT — ACTIVITIES
OF A THREEFOLD NATURE — PUBLICATION OF
"THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION" AND "THE BE-
GINNINGS OF NEW ENGLAND" — "CIVIL GOVERN-
MENT IN THE UNITED STATES" — COMPOSITION
OF "THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA" — ITS PUB-
LICATION AND RECEPTION
1889-1891
FISKE'S agreement with his publishers for the pro-
duction and publication of his historic scheme went
into effect January i, 1889, and now was opened
an entirely new chapter in his domestic and intel-
lectual life. For several years he had been obliged
to make all his activities subordinate to the de-
mands of his lecture campaigns, in the preparation
of new lectures each year as well as in the delivery
of them. Now, his lectures were to be a subordinate
feature in his life, thus giving his mind much greater
freedom to grapple with his great theme. He did
not, however, entirely relinquish his lecturing, for
he had become so familiar with his general subject
and had acquired such proficiency in extempore
speaking that he was enabled, without any special
preparation, to present to his audiences the more
important features of his great subject, as well as
sketches of the historic characters embodied in it,
399
John Fiske
with much interest and impressiveness. Thus,
aside from the annoyances of travelling and the
interruption of his home life, his lecturing greatly
widened his influence and brought him many di-
versions.
For some time there had been gestating in his
mind the preparation of a small volume on "Civil
Government in the United States/' which might be
useful as a textbook in schools, and at the same time
be serviceable to the general reader interested in
American history. As the project took shape in his
mind, he found that he could treat it after the
modern method of historic exposition: that is to
say, by pointing out the origins of the fundamental
features of our political organization, and indicating
some of the processes through which they have ac-
quired their present form, thus keeping before the
mind of the student the important fact that gov-
ernment is perpetually undergoing modifications in
adapting itself to new conditions, is ever in a proc-
ess of evolution. Fiske's publishers were much in-
terested in this work, foreseeing its value in gen-
eral education, and they encouraged him to carry
along its preparation as a side product of his gen-
eral scheme.
Then, too, Fiske was so familiar with the events
of the War of Independence that he had on several
occasions given impromptu talks to schools, in
which in the time of a single discourse he had
broadly sketched, as an interesting story, the main
400
Volume on Civil Government
incidents of this memorable struggle. This infor-
mal talk was so well received by his youthful audi-
ences that his publishers induced him to write it
out for publication.
Now that he was relieved from the necessity of
preparing a new course of lectures each season, he
found himself ready to prepare for publication,
without much labor, the two sections of his his-
toric scheme already written and which had formed
the basis of two of his courses of lectures — "The
Beginnings of New England" and "The Ameri-
can Revolution."
These, however, were but side issues. Above and
beyond them all his study and his thought were
concentrated during the ensuing three years upon
the production of "The Discovery of America,"
the work which was to be the foundational feature
of his magnum opus — "The History of the Ameri-
can People."
These three years, 1889-91, were therefore years
of varied and ceaseless activities. But there are no
self-revealing letters to his wife or to his mother,
such as we have had in previous years. He was
more at home. But his diaries are faithful records
of his activities. Not a single day was passed with-
out its record; and these records, when classified
and brought into relativity with the high purposes
which we know were animating him, as well as
with the results produced, are the evidences of the
workings of his mind engaged upon the task of
401
John Fiske
interpreting to his countrymen the profound sig-
nificance of their national history.
I shall not enter into the full details of this cul-
minating period of Fiske's life as revealed in his
diaries, as I wish to present as fully as possible the
character of the literary results produced. It is
well, however, in passing to note briefly the chief
divisions of his activities, for in their grouping they
reflect unmistakably his personality and his great
purpose.
His activities may be grouped into three interre-
lated classes: his social life, his personal diversions,
his literary work and lecturing.
In regard to the first, it is readily understood
that with his wide circle of friends and his promi-
nence as a philosophic thinker and historian, the
social demands upon him should be very great.
He dearly loved his friends, and no man enjoyed
social intercourse more than he. In social converse
he was not in the slightest degree disputatious or
arrogant. He was a good listener. Indeed, he pos-
sessed his great knowledge with singular modesty.
He could receive the fine thought of another and
give it even a higher significance than was in-
tended, in the expression of his appreciation. What
he had to say on any subject was so replete with
understanding that it was well worth listening to.
Then, too, he had a keen appreciation of humor,
and he seemed to have at command all the witty
sayings of the race, ready to cap with delightful
402
Three Classes of Activities
appositeness any bit of human experience. Over
all his fine social qualities was his great love for
music. Hence it will be readily seen that the social
demands upon him, especially on his lecture ex-
cursions, were very great. A popular lecturer, with
great musical powers and a fine personality, was
not likely to be socially neglected.
In regard to the second division of his activities
— his personal diversions — there is a very full
record, and they appear to have been governed by
the demands of his social life on the one hand, and
the requirements of his intellectual work on the
other. He was President of the Boylston Club — a
musical club — for seven years, and when at home
he was a faithful attendant at its meetings. His
main diversions centred around his home, or good-
fellowship with his friends while lecturing. His
home diversions consisted largely in attendance at
musical entertainments with his wife or children,
of picnicking with them when in Petersham, and
of gatherings of his musical and literary friends
around his own board. Now and then he records
a day given to fiction reading, with occasionally a
day spent simply in " loafing. " On his lecture ex-
cursions he received many social courtesies which
were pleasant reliefs from the discomforts of much
irregular travelling. Indeed, many of these occa-
sions gave him great enjoyment, especially where
music was made a feature of the entertainment,
in which he was asked to take an active part.
403
John Fiske
These diversions are very interesting when con-
sidered in relation to the overpowering purpose
which we know was dominating his mind. Nat-
urally, his children had a foremost place in his
thought, for they had reached stages of develop-
ment where reciprocity in thinking between him-
self and them had begun to manifest itself. In his
fiction reading, Dickens comes in for the major
portion, as might well be supposed. At the same
time he drops a little into Bulwer and George
Eliot. His association with Professor Paine on
musical matters was a constant inspiration. This
but emphasizes what we have seen all along: that
music was an essential part of his being. His rec-
ord of days spent in " loafing " will be appreciated
by any one accustomed to severe mental labor,
and who has had experience of days when the
mind has no resilience, when it refuses to work,
and the whole bodily system demands a change.
These days were not frequent, however: they fol-
lowed periods of excessive labor.
Most significant are the days recorded as "put-
tering with my plants." His writings show that he
was sufficiently acquainted with the fundamental
principles of botanical science to be an intelligent
observer of nature's processes in the phenomena
of the floral world. His plants, therefore, were a
never-ceasing source of interest and suggestion to
him. With even the tiniest of them, in their germi-
nation, their progressive development, their in-
404
His Personal Diversions
florescence, and their methods of propagation,
he felt himself on the border-line between the
known and the unknown, between science and the
great mystery that surrounds us on every side -
in the very presence of Infinity. Much that is
finest in his religious thought had its inspiration in
his conservatory.
Here I may properly give, perhaps, the result of
a personal interview with him. I remember call-
ing upon him on one occasion, and finding him in
his conservatory with his microscope. His mind
was full from his recent observations, and natu-
rally the conversation turned to the deeper ques-
tions underlying botanical science, and his thought
as then expressed was substantially as follows : —
"Often when weary with my studies, I find great
rest by going into my conservatory and puttering
with my plants. They are far from being inani-
mate substances to me. Indeed, when in their pres-
ence I equip my imagination with microscopic
power and peer into their simple mechanism,
which through root, and stem, and leaf, and flow-
er, is using the same soil, and heat, and air, and
light, to body forth into the world of phenomena
a hundred different manifestations of life, I con-
fess to a peculiar sense of nearness to the pro-
found mystery of existence which surrounds us on
every side. And when, in contemplation of this
quiet orderly working of immaterial forces, moving
without haste or resting to certain predestined
ends, I ask, 'whence this marvellous display of
4°5
John Fiske
power and purpose?' I feel the answer welling
up in the innermost parts of my own being,
'Account for yourself and you have accounted for
all.1 "
Under date of Sunday, February, 1890, he makes
this record: "A day of delicious loaf in Conserva-
tory."
Fiske's interest in all phases of plant life was,
indeed, a profound one, and it was manifested in
all his home surroundings. Here is an instance
where he wished to have his library bay-window,
within which he wrote, "glorified" by being cur-
tained with some choice selections of foliage. In
a letter to his daughter Maud at this period he gives
the following directions : —
"Perhaps you can do something for me. Your
mention of spring and garden and blossoms sug-
gests it. Year after year goes by and I never can
get any vines started because I am always away
at planting-time. Now I want either Japanese ivy
or Virginia creeper to grow all over my library
bay-window as thick as ever it can (for the shears
can always thin it if too luxuriant). I don't care
so much about the front, and where the rosebush
is, but all the side, and also the end window, where
mamma sits, I want covered, embowered, festooned,
draped, and glorified ! ! ! —
"Japanese ivy is the thing if it will cling to the
wooden wall, and I rather think it will because the
wall is rough. But if that won't work, then Vir-
ginia creeper will do very well."
406
ETHEL FISKE
(.MRS. OTIS D. FISK)
MAUD FISKE
(MRS. GROVER FLINT)
His Lecturing
And here is an extract from his essay on "The
Everlasting Reality of Religion": —
" I often think, when working over my plants,
of what Linnaeus once said of the unfolding of a
blossom : ' I saw God in His glory passing near me,
and bowed my head in worship."' 1
We come now to the last division of his activi-
ties during this period, his lecturing, his historic
researches, his literary composition. While there
is much that is of interest from a purely personal
viewpoint in these activities, we must be content
with noting only such as have a distinct bearing
upon his great purpose, the setting-forth of the
historic evolution of the political and social life of
the people of the United States. The ten years of
study and thought which he had given to the sub-
ject had but deepened his conviction that it was in
its entirety one of the greatest of historic themes.
Now that he was so placed, by his publishers, as
to ways and means of working, that he could pro-
ceed with the unfolding of his scheme in its logical
order, he was supremely happy, and he set about
arranging his work so that its threefold character
could be carried on harmoniously.
His lecturing was limited to the first five months
of the year — January to May. While during this
period its demands were supreme, he so arranged
his engagements in and around Cambridge, New
1 Through Nature to God, p. 177.
407
John Fiske
York, Chicago, and St. Louis that these cities
became centres of radiation to which he could
speedily return for the intervening days between
his lectures. As he always took with him on his
visits to New York and Chicago and St. Louis a
good quantity of literary material relating to the
particular work he had in hand, he was enabled
to utilize his spare time to good advantage. In
New York he established very pleasant working
quarters on Irving Place; while in Chicago he was
so fortunate as to have, in Franklin H. Head, a
genial friend, who opened to him his hospitable
home, where he had the privacy essential to
literary work, mingled with most agreeable social
life.
During the three years he gave three hundred
and eighteen lectures. The first year these were
mainly repetitions of those relating to the Eng-
lish colonization of America, the American Revo-
lution, and incidents and characters in American
history which we have already noted. In 1890, the
result of his fresh studies of the period of the dis-
covery of America, and the Spanish conquests that
followed, gave him new themes with which to meet
his old audiences, and at the same time lay foun-
dations for future discourses.
Here we have to note a lecture engagement of
some related interest. We have seen that in 1872 l
when Fiske was delivering a course of philosophi-
1 See ante, vol. I, p. 395.
408
Lectures at Lowell Institute
cal lectures at Harvard College, President Eliot
interested himself to have Fiske invited to give a
course of lectures before the Lowell Institute of
Boston, and that the invitation was refused by rea-
son of the fact that Fiske was not a believer in the
special Divine inspiration of the Scriptures. Now,
however, opinion at the Institute had so far
changed in regard to Fiske that the year 1890
opened with his giving a course of twelve lectures,
under the auspices of the Institute, on "The Dis-
covery, Conquest, and Colonization of America. "
While this Lowell Institute course covered much
ground that he had been over in his first course of
historical lectures in 1879 on "America's Place in
History," he introduced much new matter, partic-
ularly in regard to pre-Columbian America, the
search for the Indies, and the Spanish conquests of
Mexico and Peru.
The lectures were outline sketches of the great
historic work that was soon to follow, and were
received with great favor by large and critical audi-
ences. Fiske was greatly encouraged, for he saw
more clearly than before how through his lectures
he could interest the public in the scope and charac-
ter of his great undertaking as its various instal-
ments came from his hand.
Despite all the discomforts and annoyances at-
tending these periods of lecturing, there were some
satisfactions attending them. Had he produced his
historic work in the quiet retirement of his library,
409
John Fiske
we should have had unquestionably a fine, schol-
arly performance; but would it possibly have been
wanting in those strong, humanistic characteris-
tics which pervade all his historic writing, - - the
evidence that during the whole period of his his-
toric composition he was in close touch with the
common people, the evolution of whose political
and social institutions it was his chief desire to
make clear to them.
Then, too, he derived much pleasure and in-
spiration from being brought into direct contact
with masses of his countrymen through the lecture
platform. He was a true democrat of the Jefferson
and Lincoln stamp, and thoroughly believed in the
good sense of the people as a whole. With his lit-
erary skill he was enabled to invest his historic
themes with such universal human interests as to
awaken at once the confidence and good-will of
his hearers; and being an effective public speaker
he could sway with rare power the minds of his
audiences. This implied the reciprocal action of
both giving and receiving pleasure, and his letters
are abundant evidence that he did enjoy speaking
to responsive audiences. In his diary, where he
mentions giving a new lecture or appearing before
a new audience, he records the result thus: "The
usual eclat.1'
But no social courtesies, no applause from his
audiences, could take the place of his domestic
enjoyments; and so, on his return from lecturing
410
Visits the Betts Academy
pilgrimages, we find frequent expressions like this:
"O, my sweet home!**
Among the letters of this period I find one in
which, under date of March 22, 1889, he gives to
Mrs. Fiske an account of a lecture at Stamford,
Connecticut, and of a visit to the Betts Academy,
where, as we have seen, some two years of his edu-
cational life were spent. His visit to the academy
brought back to him so vividly the days of his
youth when, within its walls, he was an earnest
seeker after knowledge, that his account of the
visit is of special interest. He writes: —
"I dined up at Betts's School to-day, and had a
delicious time. My heart was touched. Things
generally change and are so disappointing. But
there is the same old 'hipe,' same schoolroom, same
everything, almost as I left it thirty-two years ago,
in all the glory of having written and delivered an
oration which everybody said was the beginning of
a great career!
" I looked over the old marking-books and saw
my record, which I have copied for you! and it was
rather fine, no doubt. I went up to my old bedroom
where I used to have my cosy little bookcase, and
things; and went to prayers in the same old sitting
room, and the past came over me so that the tears
stood in my eyes.
"Willie Betts, the principal, is a charming fel-
low, always laughing and beaming with kindliness
- such a contrast to his father! When I was there
he was a little Traddles. Now, you, my dear, are
to see it all next week. You are to see the last thing
411
John Fiske
still remaining unspoiled, that goes back to my boy-
hood, before I had ever seen George Roberts."
Coming now to Fiske's creative literary work
for this period, we find it consisted, first, in prepar-
ing for publication in book form his lectures on
"The Beginnings of New England/' and also his
lectures on "The American Revolution"; and
secondly of the composition of two new works ; the
one, "Civil Government in the United States," in
one volume; the other, "The Discovery of Amer-
ica," in two volumes. He also prepared a brief
story of the Revolutionary War in a small volume
for young people.
"The Beginnings of New England" was pub-
lished in one volume in the spring of 1889, and con-
tained as its opening chapter Fiske's fine lecture
on "The Roman Idea and the English Idea of
Nation-Making," one of the most suggestive phil-
osophico-political essays of modern times, suffi-
cient of itself to establish his reputation as a pro-
found thinker on historic subjects. In 1891 he
published his lectures on "The American Revo-
lution," in two volumes; thus, with the volume
on "The Critical Period of American History,"
published in 1888, and the volume on "The Be-
ginnings of New England," published as above,
completing three sections of his historic scheme.
How these last two works were received by the
general public, we will not stop to consider in any
detail. Suffice it to say that, although the critics
412
The Beginnings of New England
could not see the great historic purpose of which
they formed a part, and that they were ultimately
to form sections in a completely unified historic
whole, they were not slow in recognizing the great
merits of the works as valuable contributions to a
right understanding of two important periods of
American history. The wide and accurate knowl-
edge displayed throughout the two works, the
philosophic insight into the underlying causes im-
pelling human action during the two periods, the
keen appreciation of character as developed by
the sequence of events, the judicial fairness exhib-
ited in weighing evidence and passing judgment
on disputed points, with the easy-flowing, lucid
style conspicuous on every page, were convincing
proofs that a historian of the first rank was now
grappling with American history, and was giving
to the established facts of this history a new set-
ting and significance.
Here is a fitting place to present two letters from
the eminent historian, Edward A. Freeman, whose
historical writings Fiske regarded as of the highest
character: —
SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, SOMERSET,
August 9, 1889.
JOHN FISKE, ESQR.,
My dear Sir: -
I suppose it is yourself that I have to thank
for your two books on American History. The one
on the "New England Settlement" I have read,
the one on the " Critical Period" I am reading.
John Fiske
Let me tell you plainly that I have read very few
things for a long time that have given me more in-
tense pleasure than some parts of both. I have sel-
dom, if ever, seen any part of English history, that
part of it which happened on American soil,
treated so thoroughly as part of the history of the
one English people. It is so strangely hard to get
people on either side of Ocean to take in the simple
fact that Englishmen on both sides of Ocean are
one people.
'T is only the other day I saw a British paper
that fancies itself Liberal babbling about the cir-
clet of the Cross — or some such humbug — join-
ing all the members of the English race. So I sup-
pose the people of Massachusetts and Virginia are
no part of the English race, and the barbarics of
India are. That is the kind of thing one has to fight
against. To me, with my Greek, and specially my
Sicilian work, the whole thing seems so obvious.
I never think of Sicily without America, or of
America without Sicily; and the twin colonies of
Corinth: Syracuse, Korkyra. Why should not
Middle and New England have been as Corinth
and Syracuse?
If anything should bring you to Middle Eng-
land, remember you will be welcome either here,
or at Oxford, according to the time of year.
Believe me, yours faithfully,
EDWARD A. FREEMAN.
In acknowledging this letter, Fiske sent Free-
man a copy of his volume, "American Political
Ideas." This brought from Freeman the following
response : —
414
Letters from E. A. Freeman
16 ST. GILES, OXFORD,
November 10, 1889.
Dear Mr. Fiske: —
I have to thank you for your letter and also for
your book " American Political Ideas." This I see
does come straight from yourself. I have not been
very long back, and I have barely looked at it; but
I see you are on the right track, at least on the track
which I am bound to look upon as the right one.
Truly you preach exactly the same doctrine that I
do, which is a recommendation at least to me.
I shall have a chance of saying a word or two
again on that text (the unity of the English peoples)
next Thursday, when I have a lecture on the Car-
tularies of 1889, in which I shall suggest that here
in Middle England we have been talking too much
about 1789 at Versailles, and not enough about
1789 at New York; and further, that 1689 at Bos-
ton should not be wholly forgotten.
Along with your book came what I certainly did
not expect. My picture of the Landesgemeinde of
Uri, quoted and commented on in a sermon at
Hartford.
Believe me very truly yours,
EDWARD A. FREEMAN.
Finally, we come to the two works which were
written and published during this period — the vol-
ume on "Civil Government, " and the two volumes
on "The Discovery of America." As we have quite
full particulars of the composition of these two
important works, it is of interest to observe Fiske's
method of working.
415
John Fiske
It appears that during the summer of 1889 the
volume on "Civil Government" was mulling in his
mind. Preparatory to beginning composition upon
it, he read with great care Bryce's "American Com-
monwealth," Howard's "Local Constitutional His-
tory of the United States," Roosevelt's "Winning
of the West," "The State," by Woodrow Wilson,
"Economic Interpretation of History," by Thorold
Rogers, and Hannis Taylor's "Origin and Growth
of the English Constitution," all very suggestive
as well as directly helpful works for the purpose
Fiske had in view.
On September 1 8, 1889, he tried to make a start
at the composition of his contemplated book, "but
could n't get up steam," with the resultant feeling
that perhaps he had better turn his thought in some
other direction. Finally, on October n, he refo-
cussed his mind on the " Civil Government" project
and vigorously set about its composition, writing on
the first day four pages. There was now no longer
any doubt or hesitancy in his mind, and his thought
flowed with the utmost directness and clearness and
with such freedom that he finished his task in forty-
three days — on December 30, 1889. This, consid-
ering the nature of the subject and the wide and
varied knowledge required for its mastery, was an
almost incredible performance; yet it appears to
have been easily performed at the rate of about
five pages a day; showing that it was the product
of a full, well-ordered mind. The bibliographic
416
Volume on Civil Government
notes scattered through the volume are abundant
evidence of the thoroughness with which he had
made himself master of the literature on the sub-
ject. The work itself was a confirmation of one of
the suggestive observations of Sir Henry Sumner
Maine: —
"Wherever the primitive condition of an Aryan
race reveals itself either through historical records
or through the survival of its ancient institutions,
the organ, which in the elementary group corre-
sponds to what we call the legislature, is every-
where discernible. It is the Village Council. . . .
From this embryo have sprung all the most famous
legislatures of the world. "
The volume was published in the autumn of
1890, with some "Suggestive Questions and Di-
rections" after each chapter, prepared by Mr. F.
A. Hill, Head Master of the Cambridge English
High School, and given to facilitate the use of the
work in schools.
The work was very cordially welcomed by the
leading educators of the country as a most impor-
tant aid in the study of the fundamental principles
underlying our republican form of government.
With the composition of this work off his hands,
Fiske opened the year 1890 with great elation of
mind, inasmuch as he could now take up the prep-
aration of what was to be the foundation of his
historic scheme, and which had long lain near his
heart, "The Discovery of America," with its sig-
417
John Fiske
nificance to the civilization of the modern world.
We have seen that in opening his historic lectures
in 1879 he took for his theme "America's Place in
History, " and that his opening sentence was, "The
voyage of Columbus was in many respects the most
important event in human history since the birth
of Christ.'* Ten years' study of the discovery of
America and its relations to all subsequent history
had but deepened his conviction of the truth of his
statement in regard to the world-significance of the
voyage of Columbus. Now that he could put in
permanent literary form, as the basis of a great
historic scheme, his conclusions regarding this im-
mortal voyage and what flowed from it, with their
verifications, he was supremely happy. He entered
upon his task with as lofty a purpose as that which
animated Gibbon and Macaulay in entering upon
their immortal histories.
With fine historic insight, Fiske saw the task be-
fore him as one which involved the blending of two
themes, very different in character, yet so closely
related that the one is needful for an adequate com-
prehension of the other. He says truly in regard to
the first: —
"In order to view in their true perspective the
series of events comprised in the Discovery of
America, one needs to form a mental picture of that
strange world of savagery and barbarism to which
civilized Europeans were for the first time intro-
duced in the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth
418
The Discovery of America
centuries in their voyages along the African coast,
into the Indian and Pacific oceans, and across the
Atlantic. Nothing that Europeans discovered dur-
ing that stirring period was so remarkable as these
antique phases of human society, the mere existence
of which had scarcely been suspected, and the char-
acter of which it has been left for the present gen-
eration to begin to understand. Nowhere was this
ancient society so full of instructive lessons as in
aboriginal America, which had pursued its own
course of development, cut off and isolated from
the Old World for probably more than fifty thou-
sand years. The imperishable interest of those epi-
sodes in the Discovery of America known as the con-
quests of Mexico and Peru, consists chiefly in the
glimpses they afford us of this primitive world. It
was not an uninhabited continent that the Span-
iards found, and in order to comprehend the course
of events it is necessary to know something about
those social features that formed a large part of the
burden of the letters of Columbus and Vespucius,
and excited even more intense and general interest
in Europe than the purely geographical questions
suggested by the voyages of those great sailors.
The descriptions of Ancient America, therefore,
which form a kind of background to the present
work, need no apology."
In regard to the second theme, the discovery of
this unknown Western World, Fiske found some-
thing solemn and impressive in the fact of human
life thus going on for countless ages in the eastern
and western portions of our planet, each unknown
to, and uninfluenced by, the other. In asserting
419
John Fiske
that the contact between the two worlds practically
began in 1492, he did not mean to imply that occa-
sional visitors may not have come and had not
come from the old world to the new before that mem-
orable year. On the contrary, he was inclined to
believe that there may have been more of such oc-
casional visits than we have been wont to suppose.
For the most part, however, he found such visits
shrouded in the mists of obscure narrative and fan-
tastic conjecture, and without satisfactory proofs.
When he came, however, to the claims of the
Northmen, based on their voyages in the tenth and
eleventh centuries, he found quite a different state
of things, in the dealing with which he was for the
most part on firm historic ground. He says: —
"The colonization of Greenland by the North-
men in the tenth century is as well established as
any event that occurred in the Middle Ages. For
four hundred years the fortunes of the Greenland
colony formed a part, albeit a very humble part of
European history/'
So much being established, he reviewed the pre-
Columbian voyages of the Northmen and pre-
sented their achievements with great fulness of
knowledge and rare candor of mind. His conclu-
sions were as follows : —
"Nothing had been accomplished by those voy-
ages which could properly be called a contribution
to geographical knowledge. To speak of them as
constituting in any legitimate use of the phrase a
420
Pre-Columbian Voyages
Discovery of America, is simply absurd. Except for
Greenland, which was supposed to be a part of the
European world, America remained as much un-
discovered after the eleventh century as before. In
the midsummer of 1492, it needed to be discovered
as much as if Leif Ericson or the whole race of
Northmen had never existed.
"As these pre-Columbian voyages produced no
effect in the Eastern hemisphere except to leave in
Icelandic literature a scanty but interesting record,
so in the Western hemisphere they seem to have
produced no effect beyond cutting down a few trees
and killing a few Indians. In the outlying world of
Greenland, it is not improbable that the blood of
the Eskimos may have received some slight Scan-
dinavian infusion. But upon the aboriginal world
of the red men, from Davis Strait to Cape Horn,
it is not likely that any impression of any sort was
ever made. It is in the highest degree probable that
Leif Ericson and his friends made a few voyages to
what we now know to have been the coast of America ;
but it is an abuse of language to say that they ' dis-
covered' America. In no sense was any real con-
tact established between the eastern and western
halves of our planet until the great voyage of Co-
lumbus in 1492."
With the discoveries of the Northmen disposed
of, Fiske paused in his narrative to consider the
condition of European society during the closing
half of the fifteenth and the opening of the sixteenth
century, when the spirit of Renaissance enquiry was
impelling the human mind to seek in every direc-
tion for the truths relating to human existence.
421
John Fiske
At this period the configuration of the earth's sur-
face, man's place of abode, only partially revealed
in the very limited geographical knowledge of the
time, was a practical question of supreme impor-
tance by reason of the serious interruption to the
intercourse between Europe and Asia, owing to
the ruthless depredations of the Ottomans upon the
inter-continental commerce of the Mediterranean.
In a chapter entitled " Europe and Cathay," re-
plete with well-digested learning, Fiske sketched
in broad outlines the nature and extent of this Eu-
ropean-Asiatic intercourse from classic times down
to its serious interruption by the Ottoman power in
the latter half of the fifteenth century. The chap-
ter contains a fine appreciation of Marco Polo's
account of his wonderful journey to Asia in the
thirteenth century: — •
"One of the most famous and important books
of the Middle Ages. It contributed more new facts
toward a knowledge of the earth's surface than any
book that had ever been written. Its author was
the first traveller to trace a route across the whole
longitude of Asia, the first to describe China in its
vastness with its immense cities, its manufactures
and wealth, and to tell, whether from personal ex-
perience, or direct hearsay, of Thibet and Burmah,
of Siam and Cochin China, of the Indian Archipel-
ago with its islands of spices, of Java and Sumatra
and the savages of Andaman."
The chapter closes with the following summing-
up of the geographical problem then presented: —
422
Europe and Cathay
"Could there be such a thing as an 'outside
route' to that land of promise? A more startling
question has seldom been propounded; for it in-
volved a radical departure from the grooves in which
the human mind had been running ever since the
days of Solomon. Two generations of men lived and
died while this question was taking shape, and all
that time Cathay and India and the islands of spices
were objects of increasing desire, clothed by eager
fancy with all manner of charms and riches. The
more effectually the eastern Mediterranean was
closed, the stronger grew the impulse to venture
upon unknown paths in order to realize the vague
but glorious hopes that began to cluster about those
remote countries. Such an era of romantic enter-
prise as was thus ushered in, the world has never
seen before or since. It was equally remarkable as
an era of discipline in scientific thinking. In the
maritime ventures of unparalleled boldness then
undertaken the human mind was groping toward
the era of enormous extensions of knowledge in
space and time represented by the names of New-
ton and Darwin. It was learning the right way of
putting its trust in the Unseen."
Fiske gives an account of prehistoric America,
and shows that its existence was wholly unknown to
the peoples of Europe before the closing years of
the fifteenth century. He then also tells of the
long-continued intercourse between Europe and
Asia over inland routes and the interruptions to this
intercourse by the increasing depredations of the
Ottoman power in the Mediterranean, accompanied
423
John Fiske
by speculations regarding a sea route from Europe
to Asia. Then, discarding present knowledge of
the sphericity of the earth and ideas derived from
the modern map, he sought to put himself back
into the latter half of the fifteenth century and the
opening of the sixteenth, when European society
was struggling with the problem of an outside or
sea route to India and the islands of spices. This
gave a proper vantage-ground from which to trace in
the sequence of events the unfolding of the mighty
drama which yielded a new world of far greater
import to the well-being of mankind than was in-
volved in the discovery of any new route to India.
Placing himself thus, he found widely prevalent
speculative ideas regarding the rotundity of the
earth derived from the ancient Greek and Latin
writers, and the profound practical question, "How
to outwit the wily Saracen in his depredations upon
Christian Commerce in the Mediterranean/' If
the rotundity of the earth was a geographical truth,
there must be, it was argued, a sea route to India
either by skirting the Atlantic coast of Africa or
plunging boldly westward across the Atlantic —
perhaps by both.
Fiske makes it clear how completely ideas of a
sea route to India possessed the minds of the bold
navigators of Italy, Spain, and Portugal at this
time, and how limited was their knowledge of the
Atlantic, or "Sea of Darkness," as it was called. He
also shows how ill-equipped these navigators were
424
A Sea Route to India
for the necessary voyages into the great unknown,
with their small vessels, limited supplies of food,
imperfect instruments of navigation, the preva-
lence of scurvy, and superstitious, mutinous crews.
First he directed attention to the eastern route, •
and sketched the voyages of the Portuguese along
the African coast, from the time of Prince Hen-
ry's navigators in 1425, to the memorable voyage
of Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486-87, by which, al-
though unknown at the time, the southern point of
Africa was turned and the way to the Indian Ocean
was opened. On this voyage Diaz had for shipmate
an enthusiastic Italian mariner, Bartholomew Co-
lumbus, the younger brother of Christopher Colum-
bus. Fiske next gave attention to the proposed
western route directly across the Atlantic, a route
which had its embodiment in the life of Columbus,
and the exploitation of which was undertaken under
the auspices of Spain.
I need not dwell upon Fiske's treatment of the
well-known story of the life of Columbus, his cor-
respondence with the eminent astronomer and cos-
mographer, Toscanelli, of Florence, his bearing the
burden of his great idea for years in spite of all ob-
stacles, his several voyages, the honors and the in-
sults he received, and at his death passing away
without the slightest conception of the great service
he had done mankind. Fiske's sketch of Columbus
is a fine example of historic portraiture, presenting
a man with a high-tempered soul animated with
425
John Fiske
a purpose that no obstacles could daunt; intrin-
sically honest, and imbued, in behalf of the Church,
with the missionary spirit of the time; and at the
same time reflecting the sordid environment that
surrounded Columbus, and which could not appre-
ciate the nature or the magnitude of his services to
the Spanish Crown. After giving the narrative of
the first voyage, Fiske well says : —
"Nobody had the faintest suspicion of what had
been done. In the famous letter [from Columbus]
to Santangel there is of course not a word about
a New World. The grandeur of the achievement
was quite beyond the ken of the generation that
witnessed it. For we have since come to learn that
in 1492 the contact between the eastern and western
halves of our planet was first really begun, and the
two streams of human life which had flowed on for
countless ages apart were thenceforth to mingle
together. The first voyage of Columbus is thus a
unique event in the history of mankind. Nothing
like it was ever done before, and nothing like it can
ever be done again. No worlds are left for a future
Columbus to conquer. The era of which this great
Italian mariner was the most illustrious representa-
tive has closed forever."
Columbus died without knowing what he had
accomplished. Although bewildered by the strange
coasts and the still stranger inhabitants he had
found, he firmly believed that he had discovered a
new route to the Indies. The fact that he had dis-
covered a new world wholly unknown to the Euro-
426
Americus Vespucius
pean mind was as little understood by the con-
temporaries of Columbus as by Columbus himself.
One of the most interesting chapters in Fiske's
work is the one entitled " Novus Mundus," wherein
he brings out with great clearness the fact that the
discovery of America, of a new world, was a growth
of two centuries, the outcome of ever-widening
knowledge of the earth's surface.
This chapter has also two other particularly
noteworthy features: the vindication by Fiske of
Americus Vespucius, and the graphic account of
the wonderful voyage of Magellan in circumnavi-
gating the world — the greatest feat of navigation
that has ever been performed, and nothing could be
imagined that would surpass it except a journey to
some other planet. Americus Vespucius, Fiske found
under severe condemnation in several quarters. So
careful a writer as Emerson speaks of him thus: —
" Strange, . . . that broad America must wear
the name of a thief. Amerigo Vespucci, the pickle-
dealer at Seville, who went out, in 1499, a subal-
tern with Hojeda, and whose highest naval rank
was boatswain's mate in an expedition that never
sailed, managed in this lying world to supplant
Columbus and baptize half the earth with his own
dishonest name." 1
Fiske carefully reviewed all the evidence bearing
upon Vespucius, his character, his voyages, and his
letters, and completely vindicated him as a man of
1 English Traits (Riverside Edition), p. 148.
427
John Fiske
honor, as one of the most skilful navigators of the
time, and as wholly free from any attempt to foist
his name upon the newly discovered lands. In fact,
Fiske made it clear that by placing one's self back
in this stirring time of world -exploration and trac-
ing the sequence of events, as they appeared to
participators and contemporaries, it was evident
that the naming of the newly discovered lands
"America" was not the work of any one person,
but was in itself a process of development.
In the chapters given to the conquests of Mexico
and Peru, we have the story of these memorable
episodes in the discovery of the new world impar-
tially retold, by a skilful narrator deeply inter-
ested in the phases of human life developed by the
earliest contact of peoples representing the highest
civilizations of the two hemispheres, each hitherto
ignorant of the other, and each marvellously
affected by the other. It is not likely that the
Spaniards, when they first set foot upon the soil
of Mexico and Peru, had ever imagined anything
stranger than the things they found there. It is
evident, moreover, that the native inhabitants
were greatly overawed by the appearance of the
newcomers, with their ships, their animals, and
their weapons of warfare. The three chapters in
which the main features of these conquests are set
forth are full of interest, and at the same time re-
plete with evidences of much study into the prob-
lems of man's varying civilizations, with deep
428
Appreciation of Las Casas
thinking thereupon. One thing is particularly no-
ticeable and adds to the historic value of these
chapters: they are not written from the moral stand-
ard or viewpoint of to-day, but from that of the
first half of the sixteenth century, when all Span-
ish explorers were imbued with the idea that above
all other considerations they were missionaries of
the Cross to the heathen, the bearers of the news of
salvation — were in fact extending the dominion
of the Church of Christ.
In a chapter given to Las Casas, Fiske turned a
little aside from his general theme to do an act of
historic justice to the noblest character that bore
a prominent hand in this great epoch of discovery
and advancing civilization. It is not necessary to
recount the great services of Las Casas in opposi-
tion to slavery and in behalf of human liberty as
well as in the promotion of ethical conduct among
men. His life forms a part of the imperishable
record of the time; and in no other chapter that
Fiske has written do the qualities of his own mind,
his tolerance and his appreciation of uprightness of
character, show to better advantage than in this.
Himself a scientific theist and a vigorous opponent
of Catholic dogma and intolerance, his mind was
so broad, and his insight so keen, that underneath
all the ecclesiastical wrappings that enshrouded the
mind of Las Casas, Fiske saw the noble soul within
and sought to do it justice. The chapter closes
with the following fine appreciation: —
429
John Fiske
1 'In contemplating such a life as that of Las
Casas, all words of eulogy seem weak and frivolous.
The historian can only bow in reverent awe before
a figure which is in some respects the most beauti-
ful and sublime in the annals of Christianity, since
the Apostolic age. When now and then in the
course of the centuries God's providence brings
such a life into this world, the memory of it must
be cherished by mankind as one of its most pre-
cious and sacred possessions. For the thoughts,
the words, the deeds of such a man there is no
death. The sphere of their influence goes on wid-
ening for ever. They bud, they blossom, they bear
fruit from age to age."
Phillips Brooks, after reading this chapter on
Las Casas expressed the following opinion: "The
chapter on Las Casas in Fiske's 'Discovery of
America' is the finest piece of historical narrative
in the English language."
The sixteenth century opened upon this great
epoch of maritime exploration, with Columbus
and his followers and successors skirting among
what we now know as the West Indies and along
the eastern coast of Central and South America,
endeavoring to reconcile their discoveries with their
preconceived ideas of India, China, and Japan. With
the voyage of Magellan and the conquests of Mex-
ico and Peru, the vast continent of South Amer-
ica had, by 1540, been quite distinctly delimited,
although it had not yet been detached in men's
minds from the continent of Asia, which was con-
430
Maritime Exploration
ceived as extending over vast regions to the west
and the northwest. The maps constructed during
this period are an interesting record of the steady
growth of geographical knowledge, mingled with
the quaint conceits of their makers. Indeed, the
discovery of the continent of North America had
yet to be made before the true import of the voy-
age of Columbus in 1492 could be perceived. This
discovery of the North American continent, with
its final delimitation from the continent of Asia,
was the work of two centuries. It may be said to
have begun with the expeditions of Ponce de Leon
to Florida, in 1513-21, and to have ended with the
expedition of Vitus Bering in 1728, the last an ex-
pedition which yielded a positive knowledge of the
narrow strait which separates the two continents,
and which bears the name of its discoverer. Thus
was broken the last link connecting in men's minds
the old world with the new.
Fiske devotes the closing chapter of his work to
a survey of the discoveries during these two cen-
turies, with France and England engaged in the
work. He brings out with great clearness how dur-
ing this period maritime supremacy and the lead
in colonial enterprise had been transferred from
Spain and Portugal to France and England. He
truly says : —
"Our story impresses upon us quite forcibly the
fact that the work of discovery has been a gradual
and orderly development. Such must necessarily
John Fiske
be the case. The Discovery of America may be
regarded in one sense as a unique event, but it must
also be regarded as a long and multifarious proc-
ess. The unique event was the Crossing of the Sea
of Darkness in 1491. It established a true and per-
manent contact between the eastern and western
halves of our planet, and brought together the two
streams of human life that had flowed in separate
channels ever since the Glacial period. No inge-
nuity of argument can take from Columbus the
glory of an achievement which has, and can have
no parallel in the whole career of mankind. It was
a thing that could be done but once."
At the close of this period of external discovery
France appears as the dominating power in North
America by virtue of her interior possessions ex-
tending from the St. Lawrence through the Great
Lakes and down the Mississippi River to the Gulf
of Mexico. But this dominance was soon to pass
into the hands of Great Britain, by the crowning
victory of Wolfe at Quebec — the turning-point
in modern history. Fiske closed his work with the
following tribute to the colonizing and nation-mak-
ing power of the English race, whose achievements
in these directions are to be presented in the suc-
ceeding volumes of this history: —
"Wherever, in any of the regions open to colo-
nization, this race has come into competition with
other European races, it has either vanquished or
absorbed them, always proving its superior capac-
ity. Sometimes the contest has assumed the form
of strife between a civilization based upon whole-
432
Dedication to E. A. Freeman
some private enterprise and a civilization based
upon government patronage. Such was the form
of the seventy years' conflict that came to a final
decision upon the Heights of Abraham, and not the
least interesting circumstance connected with the
discovery of this broad continent is the fact that
the struggle for the possession of it has revealed
the superior vitality of institutions and methods
that first came to maturity in England, and now
seem destined to shape the future of the world. "
Fiske was nearly two years writing "The Dis-
covery of America/' He finished his manuscript
November 14, 1891, and we have the record of his
researches and the steady progress of his composi-
tion from the beginning to the end. He made care-
ful studies of original documents and authorities
on all disputed points. There was very little re-
modelling of the text as it flowed from his pen. In
fact, the printers were close on his heels all the
way through, which is evidence that he started
with a very definite plan in his mind.
The work was published in the spring of 1892,
and its publication was a fitting commemoration
of the four hundredth anniversary of the voyage
of Columbus. It bore the following dedication to
England's great historian: —
TO
EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN
A SCHOLAR WHO INHERITS THE GIFT OF MIDAS, AND
TURNS INTO GOLD WHATEVER SUBJECT HE
TOUCHES, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK, WITH
GRATITUDE FOR ALL THAT HE
HAS TAUGHT ME
433
John Fiske
And how was the work received? There can be
no doubt on this point: it was received with great
applause. The wide and accurate learning con-
spicuous on every page, the rational consideration
given to disputed points in the narrative, and the
judicial fairness with which judgment was ren-
dered regarding them, above all, the fine historic
insight and ripe scholarship displayed in uniting
the discovery of America with the other world-
movements of the time, could not but impress in-
telligent readers with the fact that a historic work
of the first importance had been produced in
America itself.
Among the many appreciations the work re-
ceived, I find two which may be regarded as rep-
resentative of the highest critical judgment be-
stowed upon it. The one is a lengthy review of the
work in the "New York Sun," written by Mayo
W. Hazeltine, a literary critic who possessed an
exceptionally fine knowledge of Spanish literature,
and who was especially well versed in the facts of
Spanish-American history. The following extracts
from Mr. Hazel tine's article give his judgment upon
the general character and value of the work: —
" What will invest this book with a strange charm
for the general reader is the fact that there is not
one of its twelve chapters in which the author,
though he evinces no proclivities to paradox, does
not arrive at conclusions more or less divergent
from the commonly received opinions, so that the
434
Value of the Work
work gains from its treatment something of the
same fascination of novelty which the subject had
for the contemporaries of Columbus. Where the
statements and deductions made by preceding his-
torians are reaffirmed, it is always plain that the
evidence has been subjected to independent scru-
tiny, and often confirmatory testimony is added.
"When we bear in mind the scope of this narra-
tive and the multitude of details which the author
is led to touch, the accuracy exhibited is surprising,
not to say amazing! We have scrutinized the book
from the first page to the last, and with the delib-
erate purpose of detecting mistakes if we could -
especially in references to the history of Spain
with which we happen to be somewhat conversant,
we supposed that a slip might be discernible. We
have been unable to discover a single inadvertence,
much less a distinct misstatement of facts. A
dozen minor errors, had they been disclosed, would
not have availed to efface or even cloud the general
impression of exactitude. Homer sometimes nods,
but in this instance, so far as we can see, there is
no deduction to be made on the score of momen-
tary negligence.
"We do not hesitate to pronounce this book —
and we speak with a distinct recognition of our in-
debtedness to Bancroft and Prescott — the most
valuable contribution to history that has been
made by an American. It is a book of which the
author's countrymen may well be proud, whether
they consider the range and variety of the topics
discussed, or the patience, sagacity, and thorough-
ness with which each branch of enquiry is pursued,
or the clearness and soundness of the judgments
435
John Fiske
ultimately reached. Viewed as it should be, with
due heed to all that went before and after, the dis-
covery of America is a theme which might well
tax the attainments and the energies of a score of
collaborators, each working in his special province.
That the whole of its vast significance should have
been brought out by one man with scientific accu-
racy and with artistic vividness seems to us a very
great achievement."
The other appreciation mentioned is from Charles
Eliot Norton, who, by his wide learning and his
rare independence of thought, held a foremost place
among the critical writers of the last half-century.
Norton's appreciation was expressed in the follow-
ing note: —
SHADY HILL, 6 April, 1892.
My dear Mr. Fiske: —
You have given me a great pleasure in sending
me a copy of your volumes on "The Discovery of
America," and I thank you for it. I should value
any gift from you as a token of regard and re-
membrance, but I value this book also for its own
sake. I am reading it with great interest, instruc-
tion, and admiration. It takes rank at once as the
best book on the subject, and it seems likely to
hold this place permanently. For breadth of view,
for intelligent marshalling of the facts, and vivid
presentation of them, for abundance of learning
easily held in hand — for mastery, in fine, the
book is without a rival in the field !
It reminds me pleasantly of the days, so long
ago, when I sought your aid to make the "North
436
Letter from C. E. Norton
American " better than it had been; when I went
to see you (at Miss Upham's) recovering from ill-
ness. How much you have done since then to jus-
tify my prognostications!
I heartily congratulate you, and remain, with
renewed thanks,
Sincerely yours,
C. E. NORTON.
JOHN FISKE, ESQR.
CHAPTER XXXIV
CENTENNIAL OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE COLUMBIA
RIVER — VISIT TO ALASKA — CELEBRATION OF
FOUR HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF DISCOVERY
OF AMERICA — HONORS FROM UNIVERSITY OF
PENNSYLVANIA AND FROM HARVARD — SCHOOL
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES — MESSAGE
FROM TENNYSON
1892-1894
FISKE was now subjected to an interruption of
three years, 1892-94, in the working-out of his
historic scheme. This interruption was occasioned
by the demands upon him arising from a previous
engagement to write the life of his friend Dr. Ed-
ward L. Youmans, his co-worker in promoting the
doctrine of Evolution, from the request of his pub-
lishers to prepare a "History of the United States
for Schools," and from a greatly increased call for
his historic lectures and for memorial addresses as
well as critical tributes to some of his co-workers
in the historic field.
Edward L. Youmans, whose great interest in the
spread of scientific education and in the propaga-
tion of the doctrine of Evolution we have seen,
died in January, 1887. He had expressed the wish
that in case a record of his life should be prepared,
it should be written by Fiske, and Fiske had agreed
438
Columbia River Centennial
to undertake the task provided the materials could
all be gathered and arranged ready to his hand.
The work of gathering the materials was done by
Youmans's sister, Miss Eliza A. Youmans.
To this work Fiske gave a good portion of his
spare time during the years 1892 and 1893. It was
a task he carried about with him on his lecture
campaigns, and his diaries reveal many a day in-
tervening between lecture engagements given to
setting forth .the many and great services of his
friend in behalf of public enlightenment on the
great questions of man's social and political well-
being and depicting the many fine characteristics
which made up his rare, inspiring personality.
The centennial anniversary of the discovery and
naming of the Columbia River would occur May
n, 1892, and it was proposed by the people of
Oregon to hold on this anniversary, at Astoria, a
celebration commemorative of the event. Fiske's
" Disco very of America " marked him as preemi-
nently the orator for the occasion. Accordingly, he
received a cordial invitation to deliver "the spoken
word." There was much in this invitation that ap-
pealed to him. He was familiar with the history of
the discovery of the great river and the vast terri-
tory it drained, and its discovery stood out in his
mind as the last of those great achievements, which,
beginning with the voyage of Columbus in 1492,
had, during three centuries of maritime adventure
and internal exploration which followed, yielded
439
John Fiske
substantially an accurate geographical knowledge of
the continent of North America. The occasion was,
therefore, of great historic interest to him. And
there were other interests beside. We have already
seen how profoundly he had been impressed by
the scenic beauties of the region of the Columbia,
and that from his own observations he was cogni-
zant of the fact that during the period of his own
life the whole territory had been transformed, from
a wilderness inhabited by savages, into a region
filled with thriving cities and happy homesteads —
into the seat of three imperial Commonwealths.
He longed, therefore, to look into the faces of the
pioneers, the men and women who in their own
lives had wrought so much for humanity ; he longed
to take part in a celebration not only commemora-
tive of a great historic event, but which was also
illustrative of the signal social and political progress
going on right about us in our own day.
But could he arrange his lecture engagements
so as to admit an acceptance of the Astoria invita-
tion? This came as a practical question immediately
his " Discovery of America" was off his hands. He
found but little difficulty in arranging a series of
engagements directly helpful to the end in view.
First, he arranged a series of engagements which,
beginning at Albany, ran consecutively westward
through Buffalo, Toledo, Chicago, St. Paul, Minne-
apolis, Omaha, to Denver. From thence he struck
directly for the Pacific Coast and found the people
440
Celebration at Astoria
of San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Portland,
Salem, Tacoma, Olympia, Seattle, and other towns,
only too happy to have him with them again; and
they gladly took all the lectures he could give.
Fiske set out on this trip February 15, 1892, and
met with his usual successes in the Eastern cities.
He reached San Francisco April 6, and was as de-
lighted with the general aspect of nature on the
Pacific Coast, and with the people, as during his
previous visit of 1887. His lectures kept him pretty
busy, yet he received many social courtesies, where
he gave as well as received pleasure through his
ever ready willingness to sing whenever he could
have a good accompanist. In San Francisco he
gave an afternoon talk on Schubert which he illus-
trated by singing several of Schubert's songs. He
was made at home in the families of the Reverend
Dr. Stebbins, of San Francisco, and the Reverend
Dr. Eliot, of Portland, and for each of these clergy-
men he preached his religious sermon on the " Mys-
tery of Evil."
The celebration at Astoria was a memorable
event. Representatives of the three States of Ore-
gon, Washington, and Idaho participated, and spe-
cial honors were bestowed upon the Oregon pioneers
of fifty years before. The exercises lasted three days.
Fiske was received with conspicuous honor. As he
rose to speak he saw before him many white heads
whose active lives measured the period of trans-
formation of this vast region of the Columbia from
441
John Fiske
a wilderness to populous States representing the
finest types of citizenship surrounded with all the
amenities of modern civilization. His address was
in his best style. He sketched in broad outlines the
early explorations of the Spanish, Russian, and
English navigators along the Pacific Coast of our
continent, seeking safe harbors or passages to the
Atlantic, down to the voyage of the American sea-
man, Captain Robert Gray, of Boston, who in 1792,
in the good ship Columbia, appeared on this coast;
and, braving the great turmoil of waters that had
frightened away all other mariners, passed for the
first time into what proved to be the mouth of a
great river, a river which he named the Columbia,
thus establishing the American title to the territory
by external discovery.
Fiske then turned to the events which led to the
discovery of the territory from the interior — the
Louisiana Purchase from France by Jefferson in
1803, which carried the title of the United States to
the territory lying between the Mississippi River
and the crest of the Rocky Mountains; followed by
the Lewis and Clarke exploring expedition, which,
starting from St. Louis in 1806, struck the upper
waters of the Snake River, which were traced to
their junction with the Columbia, and then the
Columbia was traced to its mouth — thus add-
ing internal to external discovery in behalf of the
United States.
But, as the title of this vast northwest territory
442
His Address at Astoria
was by the logic of events^being settled in favor of
the United States, there came the War of 1812
with Great Britain, which at its close left the title
to all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains
in dispute between the two governments. This
complication was greatly aggravated by the claims
of the Hudson's Bay Company, a powerful British
corporation, which held a monopoly of the fur trade .
in all the region of the Northwest subject to Great
Britain. The outcome was a temporary agree-
ment for a joint occupation of the territory open
to the citizens of both Governments. Under this
agreement the immigration from the States greatly
predominated; and, after the great immigration of
1843-46 title to the territory by occupation as well
as by discovery had clearly passed to the United
States. Accordingly, when, by the treaty of 1846
between the two Governments, the great territory
was amicably divided, there was no difficulty in se-
curing for the United States the region drained by
the Columbia, which has yielded the goodly States
of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as the
section which rounds out the contour of Mon-
tana.
The presentation of these points in their sequen-
tial order was a fine example of historic narration.
The great migration into the territory of 1843 was
graphically told ; while the diplomatic negotiations
between the United States and Great Britain, with
reference to the boundary line between the Oregon
443
John Fiske
territory and Canada, which were terminated by
the treaty of 1846, were very lucidly set forth.
The address closed with this fine peroration: —
"Perhaps no one who has not visited this glo-
rious country can adequately feel the significance
of these beginnings of its history. When one has
spent some little time in this climate unsurpassed in
all America, and looked with loving eyes upon scen-
ery rivalling that of Italy and Switzerland; when
one has sufficiently admired the purple mountain
ranges, the snow-clad peaks, the green and smiling
valleys, the giant forests; when one has marvelled
at the multifarious and boundless economic re-
sources, and realizes how all this has been made
a part of our common heritage as Americans, one
feels that this latest chapter in the discovery and
occupation of our continent is by no means the least
important. All honor to the sagacious mariner who
first sailed upon these waters a century ago! and
all honor to the brave pioneers whose labors and
sufferings crowned the work! Through long ages to
come theirs shall be a sweet and shining memory/1
This visit to the Pacific coast roused a strong
desire in Fiske's mind to visit Alaska and get a
glimpse at our new territorial possessions as well
as at the incipient social and political order there
developing. He found that he could make the
round trip of about three weeks from Tacoma to
Juneau and Glacier Bay, thence back to Vancouver,
where he could take the train home via the Cana-
dian Pacific Railroad. Feeling the need of some
444
Trip to Alaska
absolute mental rest after a steady pull of five
months' lecturing, he decided to make the excur-
sion. He had a few more lectures to give in Port-
land, Tacoma, and Seattle, after his Astoria address.
These were soon off his hands, and on May 26, 1892,
he set sail from Tacoma on the steamer City of
Topeka for Alaska.
As he had no means of sending letters during this
trip he wrote none. His notes in his diaries are con-
fined to brief mentions of the wonderful scenery
and the forbidding aspects of much of the social life
that he saw, and to some mishaps he encountered
on his way through Canada. He brought back to
Mrs. Fiske a large collection of photographs which
he said must be his memorial of a region possessing
great potentialities for future development.
He reached his home in Cambridge June 22, 1892,
— as he records, with only one cent in his pocket, —
after an absence of a little over four months, during
which period he had lectured seventy-five times on
historic themes, had given two addresses on the
doctrine of Evolution, had given two Schubert en-
tertainments illustrating the development of mod-
ern song, and had preached from six pulpits his
philosophico-religious sermon, "The Mystery of
Evil." As all his utterances were inspired by the
highest ideals, and as in all instances his appear-
ance called forth large and enthusiastic audiences
followed by much public discussion by the press, it
will be readily seen from this lecture campaign alone
445
John Fiske
that he was a great influence in setting forth to his
countrymen the nature of Anglo-American civili-
zation and its import to the well-being of mankind.
For the ensuing two and a half years Fiske's work
was of a varied character. His lecturing took up
the greater part of the time from November to May
of each year, leaving but irregular intervals for
literary composition. Then, too, the calls upon him
for memorial addresses and for review articles were
far beyond what he could respond to. During this
period, however, there were some calls that he could
not well refuse. On the four hundredth anniversary
of the Discovery of America — October 21, 1892 —
the City of Boston held an elaborate order of exer-
cises commemorative of the event. Fiske was the
orator of the occasion, and gave a very lucid ac-
count of the historic events which led to the voyage
of Columbus, of the voyage itself, how Columbus
died not knowing what he had discovered, and how
the new world he had found came to be named
America.
During this period he wrote two critical articles
of very exceptional merit; one on Edward A. Free-
man, the eminent English historian, and the other
on Francis Parkman, the historian of the French
domination in America. These two articles are
among the best of Fiske's critical essays. Not only
is fine appreciation meted out to these Iwo eminent
historians of his own day, but the reader is also led
to see the principles which should govern in historic
446
Invited to Lecture in Oxford
narration, principles which are well illustrated in his
own work, — indeed, in his judicious praise of Park-
man, the attentive reader feels that similar praise
can be bestowed upon his own work.
Among the many calls upon him during this
period for special lectures, he received one from the
Department of University Extension of the Univer-
sity of Oxford, which was indeed flattering in its
nature. It was as follows: —
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DELEGACY,
EXAMINATION SCHOOLS,
OXFORD, March 20, 1894.
Dear Sir: —
At the next summer meeting of University Exten-
sion students, which will be held in Oxford during
next August, the chief series of lectures will be upon
the history of the seventeenth century. Among
other lectures, we are specially anxious to have a
short course of three or four on the Pilgrim Fathers,
and The Making of New England. The members
of the University Extension Delegacy desire me to
convey to you a very cordial invitation to deliver
this course, if it is possible for you to be in England
during the first three weeks in August. They feel
that there is no one in the world, whom our English
students would so much like to hear on this subject
as yourself. If you could possibly come it would
be the greatest delight to them, and to us.
Your presence would also further that desire for
the strengthening of the inter-national side of Uni-
versity life which has been gaining ground in recent
years in Oxford and Cambridge. We are specially
anxious that there should be more intimacy be-
447
John Fiske
tween the American and English Universities, and
your presence at our summer meeting, which is at-
tended by a thousand students from all parts of
the country, would carry with it a significance
which would have a great effect. Should you happily
be able to accede to the request of the Delegacy,
they would desire to have you entirely free in point
of subject, and would gladly consult your con-
venience as to the day and hour of the lecture.
But, failing other preference on your part, the
evenings of August I7th, i8th, and 2Oth (Friday,
Saturday, and Monday) or, the mornings of August
I3th, I4th, and I5th, would be the most suitable.
The last named dates would fall within the period
of the British Association meeting at Oxford, when
a great number of scientific men will be in residence.
It would be very pleasant if your visit were to co-
incide with theirs.
Believe me,
Faithfully yours,
MICHAEL E. SADLER.
DR. JOHN FISKE,
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
It was with profound regret that Fiske was
obliged to decline this invitation.
The year 1894 brought him signal collegiate
honors. The University of Pennsylvania, at its Com-
mencement, June 5, bestowed [upon him the de-
grees of M.A., LL.B., and Litt.D., while Harvard
University, at its Commencement, June 27 follow-
ing, conferred upon him the degrees of Litt.D. and
LL.D. To be thus honored, and especially by his
448
Collegiate Honors
Alma Mater, was particularly gratifying to him.
He was present at both Universities, when the
honors were bestowed, and the marked expressions
of approval, from the two bodies of alumni when
the honors were announced, were quite overwhelm-
ing.
With all his multifarious activities connected with
his social life, his lecturing, his essay writing, etc.,
during these two and a half years, Fiske had two
pieces of solid literary work, ever ready to his hand,
and demanding every available moment of his time:
his "Life" of his friend Youmans, and a short
school history of the United States.
His work on the former extended over the years
1892-93. He was somewhat delayed in finishing it
owing to the desirability of having the approval of
Herbert Spencer on certain points. The work was
published early in 1894, with the following appro-
priate dedication : —
TO HERBERT SPENCER
My dear Spencer: —
It was thirty years ago this month that our personal
acquaintance began in so far as the exchange of letters could
make such a beginning. It was at the time of my first visit
to Voumans, in this very street, and within a stone's throw
from where I now sit writing; and as the last of this memorial
volume goes hence to the press, recollections of days that
can never come again crowd thickly upon me. Our friend
expressed a wish that if his biography were to be written I
should be the one to do it; no sign from him is needed to
assure me that he would have been glad to have me dedi-
cate it to you. Pray accept the book, my dear Spencer, with
449
John Fiske
all its imperfections, in token of the long friendship we have
shared with each other, and with him, who has gone from us ;
and believe me, as always,
Faithfully yours,
JOHN FISKE.
IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK,
February 12, 1894.
A natural outcome of Fiske's lectures, his maga-
zine articles, and his published volumes was a wide-
spread interest in American history. His way of
looking at human history as a process of evolution-
ary development, the outcome of causes having
their origin in the conditions of human life, com-
bined with his great power of individual characteri-
zation and his simple, easy-flowing style of narra-
tion, made a great impression upon educators, and
there came a persistent call upon his publishers for
a short history of the United States written by him
and adapted to pupils in the upper grades of the
grammar schools.
Fiske gave the project of a school history much
consideration on his lecture excursions during the
year 1892. His railway travelling gave him frequent
opportunities for what he called " framing his
thought" for literary projects as well as for direct
literary composition. His knowledge was so thor-
oughly organized in his mind and his memory was
so tenacious of details that he could easily think
out a literary proposition in all its elements before
putting pen to paper. In the matter of composition,
he was so accustomed to think without paper that
450
Short History for Schools
some of the finest passages in his writings were
fully composed while he was being whirled physi-
cally over the country.
Illustrative of his habit of mental projection I
remember once taking a train from Rochester to
Buffalo, and finding him at one end of the car appar-
ently dozing. Upon being gently touched, he roused
quickly, and to my enquiry if he was resting, he
said: "Oh, no, I was at work on an article for the
'Atlantic Monthly'!" Not observing any writing
materials, I said: "But you don't seem to have
made much progress!" "Oh, yes, I have!" he re-
plied. Then he added: " I can compose my thought
as well here as anywhere else; and when I reach
Brother Head's, at Chicago, all I '11 have to do will
be to spin out my thought on paper."
The preparation of a history of the United States
which should present in one small volume the story
of the discovery of America, the colonization of
North America, the Revolutionary War, and the
establishment of our Federal Union, a story which
should be written in a style to interest young
people and at the same time be adapted for use as
a textbook in schools, was certainly a literary task
very different from anything Fiske had hitherto
undertaken. It presented many serious difficulties.
In the first place, there was the great difficulty of
attempting to squeeze the narrative of four centu-
ries of stirring events within the prescribed limits
without making the story dull. Then, again, so
45i
John Fiske
much compression would require the wisest selec-
tion of details and their proper grouping in order
to bring out clearly in the narrative the true rela-
tions of cause and effect, so that young minds might
experience the charm that is felt in seeing an event
emerge naturally from its causes. Mature consid-
eration of these difficulties, coupled with the fact
that he was familiar with the whole story, led Fiske
to the conclusion that they could be surmounted,
provided the text could be supplemented by sug-
gestions to teachers as to proper methods of arous-
ing the interest of pupils in historic subjects. To
do this adequately, however, would require a defi-
nite knowledge of school conditions which he did
not possess.
This obstacle was overcome by his publishers'
engaging Dr. Frank A. Hill, an educator of wide
experience in practical teaching and in school ad-
ministration, and whose educational ideas were in
harmony with Fiske's, to assist in preparing the
work for efficient use in the schools. Some time was
taken in planning the distinctly educational fea-
tures of the work. By January, 1893, the general
plan was completed, and Fiske settled down to the
composition of the work as his most serious literary
task for the time being. This took much the greater
part of his time not given to lecturing during the
years 1893-94. He found it the most exacting
literary task he had ever attempted. It was, how-
ever, a piece of literary and educational work well
452
Message from Tennyson
done; and it has had, and is still having, a great
influence in public education.
In January of this year, Fiske received a message
from Tennyson that was most gratifying to him. In
Tennyson's poetry, Fiske found much that appealed
to his highest aspirations. "In Memoriam," and
"The Two Voices," particularly, with their sweetly
solemn music, and their complete impregnation with
the spiritual implications of the doctrine of Evo-
lution, were ever in his mind, not only as master-
pieces of literature, but also as harbingers of that
awakening, through the revelations of science, to
the immense spiritual realities of human life that
the coming years would bring.
This message from Tennyson came in a very
happy, personal way. Sir Henry Irving began an
engagement in Boston at this time, and, as was his
custom, he sent tickets to Fiske and his family for
the opening night. On reaching the theatre, Fiske
was met by Mr. Bram Stoker, Sir Henry's manager,
a gentleman of fine literary and artistic culture, who
said : —
"Fiske, I have a special message for you from
Lord Tennyson. I was visiting him in 1892 at Far-
ringford, Isle of Wight. Whilst we were talking
after dinner I happened to mention something in
your volume on 'American Political Ideas.' Tenny-
son then enquired in a very interested way: 'Do
you know John Fiske?'
"I answered that you were an old and dear
friend of mine. He then said: 'When you see John
453
John Fiske
Fiske, will you tell him, from me, that I thank him
most heartily and truly for all the pleasure and
profit his books have been to me? '
" I then said, ' I shall write to him to-morrow, and
tell him what you have said, and I know it will be
a great delight to him/
"He answered quickly: 'No! Don't write. Wait
till you see him and then tell him direct from me,
through you, how much I feel indebted to him/"
Fiske was, of course, delighted, and immediately
went after his wife and daughters who had gone
forward into the theatre, and brought them back to
have Mr. Stoker repeat the message. In the time
between the giving of the message and its delivery,
Lord Tennyson had died, so that it came to Fiske,
as it were, from the grave.
CHAPTER XXXV
RESUMES WORK ON HISTORIC SCHEME — COMPRE-
HENSIVE NATURE OF SCHEME — PHILOSOPHIC
UNITY UNDERLYING IT — SEQUENTIAL ORDER OF
ITS PARTS — CIVIL WAR LECTURES — REFLEC-
TIONS ON UNITED STATES HISTORY — FISKE'S
TRIBUTE TO PARKMAN APPLIED TO HIMSELF
1895
WITH the school history off his hands, Fiske was
enabled to return (with unencumbered mind) to his
great historic undertaking. His lecturing contin-
ued, but for lecturing on historic subjects it was not
necessary for him to prepare any new lectures; he
was now so familiar with all the important events
and characters in American history that he could
speak extempore upon any subject in this history
that might be desired. As has been noted already,
he greatly enjoyed extempore speaking. There was
a freedom about it that he greatly liked, and when
he came before appreciative and responsive audi-
ences he frequently let his discourse run beyond the
customary lecture hour.
His working out of his school history, notwith-
standing all the perplexities of adapting it to par-
ticular conditions, was of great service to him, in
that he was compelled to traverse his whole historic
scheme and bring its various features into their
455
John Fiske
sequential order, so that they might appear in their
interrelatedness and at the same time as forming
a related chapter in the world's civilization.
Inasmuch as he was not permitted to complete
his great historic undertaking, — as, in fact, he left
its culminating feature untouched, — it is worth
while here to pause a little and from this school his-
tory as a sort of ground plan to gather up in their
structural unity the several features of the greater
undertaking upon which he was engaged, which was
nothing less than presenting to his countrymen the
drama of American civilization, of which the politi-
cal organization of the United States was the crown-
ing feature, as an evolutionary development from
antecedent causes and of great significance to the
future civilization of the world. With a compre-
hension of his purpose in its entirety we shall the
better be enabled to appreciate the nature of his his-
toric labors already recorded as well as of those still
to be set forth.
His definitive purpose may be stated as an at-
tempt to establish the unity or interrelated char-
acter pervading the following five lines of historic
development during the last five centuries: —
I. That the expansion of European thought dur-
ing the latter half of the fifteenth century in re-
gard to the nature and extent of the earth's surface,
coupled with the desire to bring the products of its
various divisions within easy access for the needs
of mankind, together with the desire for empire, led
456
Comprehensive Historic Scheme
in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth cen-
turies to maritime explorations which resulted in
the discovery and delimitation of the better part of
a new world, the world of America.
II. That the social and political disturbances
in Europe during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth centuries together with the desire for
individual betterment, — for civil and religious
liberty, caused the migration of great numbers of
people to North America that they might begin life
anew under entirely new conditions of livelihood,
and with much readjustment of social, religious,
and political relations.
III. That in the struggle for world-empire be-
tween Spain, France, England, and Holland, dur-
ing the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries, England was the most successful, and
became possessed, by colonization and by conquest,
of much the more important part of North Amer-
ica, a vast territorial empire, the colonization of
which went rapidly forward mainly by people of
the English race; that when, in the middle period of
the eighteenth century, England's colonial empire
in America was fully established, she attempted,
during a period of political regression, to subject
her colonists to forms of colonial vassalage repug-
nant to their ideas of civil liberty as well as to the
fundamental principles of English liberty and Eng-
lish law: whereupon thirteen of her colonies vigor-
ously protested against her unjust and illegal acts.
IV. That in the latter half of the eighteenth
century the people of thirteen of her American
colonies, English by nature, revolted against her
unjust encroachments upon their rights and liber-
457
John Fiske
ties and succeeded in dispossessing her of all rights
in the territory occupied by them, and in establish-
ing an independent federated government of their
own, "a government of the people, by the people,
for the people" — the present federated constitu-
tional government of the United States.
V. That this federated form of constitutional
government was the direct outgrowth of English
ideas of civil and religious liberty developed through
centuries of violent struggles against political and
religious oppression in England, ideas which, in
the rich experiences of colonial life, had ripened to
complete fruition; that during the century of its
existence this federated form of constitutional gov-
ernment had acquired great accessions of territory
until it reached from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; that
it had so far proved itself the most successful form
of political organization yet devised for the well-
being of human society; that people from all na-
tions were flocking to it for citizenship, while at the
same time it was exerting a powerful regenerative
influence upon all forms of government throughout
the world.
Here we have the evidence of a great purpose,
one much broader than that of giving a faithful
record of certain historic events of much interest
in themselves, or of treating certain periods of
American history as unrelated. We have, rather,
the evidence of a purpose to present as a sequential
narrative the causes which led to the discovery of
America and the transplanting to it of the better
elements of European civilization, where under en-
458
Breadth of View
tirely new conditions these elements had had a
fresh development to the great betterment of man-
kind — the whole forming a distinctly related chap-
ter in the history of the world's civilization.
Viewed in this light, Fiske's theme had a distinct
connection with the great uprising of the European
mind in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when,
weary of its long bondage to priestly intolerance,
ignorance, and superstition, it began to assert itself
against political and religious tyranny in demands
for nobler interpretations of human life, its duties
and its meaning — all tending to the betterment of
man's social and political condition here on earth,
as "that to which the whole creation moves." His
theme, therefore, was a branch of the great Re-
naissance movement, and what particularly distin-
guishes his treatment of it from that of other his-
torians is the breadth of view in which the theme
is conceived, a conception which, with rare historic
insight, enabled him to trace both cause and effect
in interpreting this great chapter in modern his-
tory.
So much for Fiske's general theme and its struc-
tural features as these stood related at this time
— 1895 — in his mind. The opening of this year
reveals him busy on the second and third divi-
sions of his theme — the colonial period. As this
period comprised the establishment under widely
different conditions of fourteen separate colonies,
which differed more or less in their forms of govern-
459
John Fiske
ment and varied greatly in their industrial pur-
suits, he grouped them for clearness in presenting
their interrelatedness and their respective features
into four divisions: (i) the Southern colonies, Vir-
ginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia; (2) the
New England colonies, Massachusetts, New Hamp-
shire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; (3) the
Dutch and Quaker colonies, New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Delaware, and New Jersey; (4) the French
colony, New France or Canada.
The following six years, 1895 to *9Oi, — the close
of his life, — • were given by Fiske to completing
his history of these colonies, and he lived to finish
substantially this section of his task, thus complet-
ing the first four divisions of his great theme,
thereby connecting, by the narrative of a rich colo-
nial experience, which reflected much of contem-
poraneous European history, the historic sequence
between the discovery of America and the inaugu-
ration of Washington as President of the United
States, an event which signalled the entrance of a
new nation with essentially a new form of govern-
ment upon the stage of the world's international
activities.
The following is the order in which the several
volumes of Fiske's historical writings should be
taken in order to get the sequential flow of the
narrative : —
"The Discovery of America."
"Old Virginia and her Neighbours."
460
Order of Historical Writings
"The Beginnings of New England.'*
"The Dutch and Quaker Colonies/'
"New France and New England. "
"The American Revolution."
"The Critical Period of American History."
During the period under review — 1895 to 1901
- the following three portions of the above works
were published: "Old Virginia and her Neigh-
bours/' in 1897, "The Dutch and Quaker Colonies,"
in 1899, and "New France and New England," in
1901.
With what thoroughness of research, candid
weighing of evidence, and profound sympathy, the
principles of democracy that were here slowly
evolving were set forth, the volumes are them-
selves abundant evidence. Their merits have been
so generally conceded, it is not necessary to con-
sider them in detail.
Here should be mentioned the publication, in
1900, of a course of lectures which were quite inci-
dental to Fiske's general historic scheme. We have
seen that in 1886 he prepared a course of lectures,
illustrated with the aid of the stereopticon, on the
military campaign in the Mississippi Valley during
the Civil War down to the battle of Chattanooga.
These lectures were very popular, and were given
in many cities from Lewiston, Maine, to Portland,
Oregon. Now, in 1900, no longer desiring to use
the material as lectures, he added a graphic ac-
count of the battle of Nashville, giving due honor
461
John Fiske
to General Thomas, and published the whole in one
volume under the title of "The Mississippi Valley
in the Civil War/' Nowhere in Fiske's writings do
his remarkable powers of lucid description, com-
bined with keenness of insight and orderly arrange-
ment of subject-matter, appear to better advantage
than in this work. In preparing his lectures he had
the assistance of distinguished officers in the con-
tending armies and his work has had the cordial
approval of the best military critics.
The non-sequential order in which the historic
volumes were published, and the long intervals
between some of them, have given rise to the opinion
that they did not present a continuous narrative
during the period covered ; that with all their charm
of style they were detached essays on various
periods of American history, more or less interre-
lated, it is true, but without a distinct historic con-
tinuity running through them.
This is a great mistake. We have already seen
that from the beginning Fiske had a very definite
plan for his undertaking considered as an interre-
lated whole; but, being enabled to prepare certain
portions of his narrative out of their sequential
order in his scheme, he was induced to publish them
from time to time, knowing full well that, while
they would answer to a temporary interest in them-
selves, they would fall into their proper places,
their sequences, as he brought his undertaking to
completion. And the reader, taking his historic
462
Order of Historical Writings
volumes in the above order, finds no loss of conti-
nuity in a narrative running back to the Renais-
sance period, and in which is reflected much of the
finest thought of modern times in its process of de-
velopment.
Indeed, the reader of these volumes has his in-
terest first called to the existence of a vast conti-
nent or a new world, inhabited by races of men in
various stages of barbarism and semi-civilization,
a new world wholly unknown to the European
world of the fifteenth century. He then has told
him the story of the chance discovery of this new
world and its exploration by the European peoples
during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries. He is made acquainted with the inci-
dents connected with the transplanting to this
great wilderness of the elements of European civili-
zation and the rise of distinct colonies with strong
European affiliations. He has traced out for him,
with fine philosophic insight, the development of
a high degree of social and political order based on
the principles of personal liberty and local self-gov-
ernment -- the outcome largely of these new con-
ditions of colonial life. He has presented to him
with great fulness of knowledge the external condi-
tions which impelled these colonies to find protec-
tion against common dangers by combining their
forces — in fact, how they grew together and formed
a League of Friendship to which they yielded a
stronger allegiance than to the European powers
463
John Fiske
from which they sprang. He has set before him
a graphic account of how, under this League of
Friendship, the colonies rebelled against the un-
just exactions of Great Britain, and through a great
war achieved their political independence among
the nations of the earth. He has pointed out to him
with rare insight the inherent weakness of the
League of Friendship as a means of defence against
internal and external dangers and the various ef-
forts to remedy these defects. In the last volume
he finds such a vivid, impartial account of the
immortal Constitutional Convention of 1787 that
he is fairly enabled to see Washington, Franklin,
Madison, Hamilton, James Wilson, and their asso-
ciates at work welding with profound wisdom these
distinctly separate colonies into a powerful national
unity. Finally, as the reader comes to the last
pages of this volume wherein is a brief but impres-
sive account of the inauguration of Washington as
the first President of the United States, he sees
that this event is the direct outcome of antece-
dent causes, and that Fiske is the historian who
has most distinctly set it forth in its full historic
development and in its profound significance to the
political well-being of mankind.
As the reader closes the concluding volume of
this series with Washington taking the oath of
office as President of the new Republic, he experi-
ences a profound regret that he is not to have, in
the interpretation of the political career of the new
464
Scheme never Completed
nation during the first century of its existence, the
guiding hand of the historian who has, with such
fulness of knowledge, such freedom from bias,
such keen, philosophic insight into "the thoughts
that move mankind,'* given us the story of its
political genesis. This is a regret that all students
of historic science fully share, for in this branch
of science Fiske is a recognized master; and it was
well known that to this portion of his theme he
had given particular attention, inasmuch as the
United States illustrates, more instructively than
any other political experience or unit, the inter-
play of the two primal factors in nation-making
— militancy and industrialism. Broadly speaking,
in national life political parties arise directly or
indirectly out of the conflict between these two
antagonistic factors: the former ever tending to
the integration of the social forces into a more
coherent, centralized political organization, curb-
ing individual freedom and local self-government;
the latter, ever tending to the differentiation of
the social forces, thereby securing expansion of the
political organization accompanied by greater per-
sonal freedom and increased local self-government.
Fiske accepted as one of the facts of historic sci-
ence, as well as one of the truths of Evolution, that
with advancing civilization the militant type of
political organization was declining; and that all
the provisions for social well-being born of mili-
tancy were giving way before a type of political
465
John Fiske
organization based on industrialism; that militancy
had done its work in bringing human society into
conditions where industrialism could prevail, and
that further social progress must come through
making the industrial type of political organization
evermore paramount in the structure of national
life. The inauguration of Washington was the em-
phatic announcement to the political world that a
new nation had come with its militant forces in
complete subjection to its industrial forces in its
political organization.
Fiske during his later years gave much thought
to the history of the United States during the first
century of its existence, considered in the light of
its evolutionary development. He saw here, un-
derneath the strife of political parties, and even
the issues of the great Civil War, the persistent
struggle between the two types of antagonistic
political forces — militant and industrial -- which
were duly recognized in the form of government
established for this union; and it was his purpose,
in succeeding volumes, so to set forth the order of
events that they could be clearly seen in their rela-
tion to, as well as the outcome of, the struggle for
mastery between these two types of antagonistic
forces. To this end he was making, at the time of
his death, a careful study of the decisions of the
United States Supreme Court, wherein he found
much light thrown upon the development of na-
tionality, on the one hand, through emphasis of
466
Tribute to Parkman
the militant power of the Constitution ; and on the
other hand, to the curbing of executive power
through emphasis of the industrial rights and liber-
ties of the people guaranteed by this same politi-
cal charter.
I cannot better close this account of Fiske's his-
torical labors than by applying to him as a his-
torian the very words he applied to his compeer,
Francis Parkman. In his tribute to Parkman he
said : —
"Nowhere can we find a description of despotic
government more careful and thoughtful, or more
graphic and lifelike, than Parkman has given us in
his volume on 'The Old Regime in Canada.' Sel-
dom, too, will one find a book fuller of political
wisdom. The author never preaches like Carlyle,
nor does he hurl huge generalizations at our heads
like Buckle; he simply describes a state of society
that has been. But I hardly need say that his de-
scription is not — like the Dryasdust descriptions
we are sometimes asked to accept as history — a
mere mass of pigments flung at random upon a
canvas. It is a picture painted with consummate
art; and in this instance the art consists in so
handling the relations of cause and effect as to make
them speak for themselves. These pages are alive
with political philosophy, and teem with object les-
sons of extraordinary value. It would be hard to
point to any book where History more fully dis-
charges her high function of gathering friendly les-
sons of caution from the errors of the past.
"Great in his natural powers and great in the
467
John Fiske
use he made of them, Parkman was no less great
in his occasion and in his theme. Of all American
historians he is the most deeply and peculiarly
American, yet he is at the same time the broadest
and most cosmopolitan. The book which depicts
at once the social life of the Stone Age, and the
victory of the English political ideal over the ideal
which France inherited from imperial Rome, is a
book for all mankind, and for all time. The more
adequately men's historic perspective gets ad-
justed, the greater it will seem. Strong in its in-
dividuality, and like to nothing else, it clearly
belongs, I think, among the world's few master-
pieces of the highest rank, along with the works of
Herodotus, Thucydides, and Gibbon."
Fiske's theme was a far greater one than that
which engaged the life labors of Parkman, impor-
tant as that theme was. As we have seen, Fiske's
theme was nothing less than tracing the antece-
dents of this great American Republic back to the
period of the Renaissance, in whose genesis was
reflected the persistent struggle between the mili-
tant and industrial forces of civilized society dur-
ing the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; to-
gether with setting forth the conditions of its birth,
and what it stands for politically by virtue of its
national existence of over a century. Certainly
this is one of the greatest of historic themes; and
in view of his conception of it and his labors to set
his conception forth, the appraisement of Fiske as
a historian is yet to be made.
CHAPTER XXXVI
INCIDENTAL LITERARY WORK: "A CENTURY OF
SCIENCE AND OTHER ESSAYS " —"ESSAYS, HIS-
TORICAL AND LITERARY*' — "THE STORY OF A
NEW ENGLAND TOWN " — PHILOSOPHICO-RELI-
GIOUS ESSAYS — EMERSON, FISKE, SPENCER,
DARWIN
1895-1900
BUSY as Fiske was during these six years, 1895 to
1900, with his general historic lectures and with
completing the colonial period of his history, he
had many calls upon him for special articles and
memorial addresses. Then, too, his active mind
was ever seeing, in the evolving world about him,
subjects calling for the expression of his thought.
Some of these calls he took pleasure in responding
to, and so we have a number of very delightful
essays on a variety of subjects overflowing with
his wide and varied knowledge, his tolerant spirit,
his fine appreciation of sterling character com-
bined with intellectual power, and his keen, pene-
trating insight into all forms of literary shams.
These productions have been gathered into three
volumes and published under the titles of "A Cen-
tury of Science and Other Essays," in one vol-
ume, and "Essays Historical and Literary," in two
volumes.
469
John Fiske
While all these products of his pen are full of
pregnant thoughts, the overflow of a richly laden
mind, some of them are of particular interest and
value. The two on "Evolution; Its Scope and Pur-
port ," and "Its Relation to the Present Age/' are
specially noteworthy as showing how this philo-
sophic conception of the phenomenal universe is
entering into all forms of scientific investigation,
and how it is affecting present philosophic and re-
ligious thought. The one on "Old and New Ways
of treating History " is replete with a thorough
knowledge of the great histories of the world and
their "points of view," and is full of wise sugges-
tions as to the study of history. The three essays
on Parkman, Tyndall, and Huxley are admirable
tributes to men who have enriched human knowl-
edge greatly in three directions — men whom he
knew intimately, and with whose works he was
familiar ; while the seven essays on American states-
men from Hamilton to Webster are so full of the
political history of the United States for the first
half-century of its existence, and of general politi-
cal philosophy, that they are clear indications of
the impartial, philosophic, yet interesting manner
in which United States history as a whole was to
be treated in the volumes to be given to this por-
tion of his great theme.
Then, too, in the "Century of Science" volume,
there are three essays which well illustrate how
overwhelming Fiske could be in his criticism of
470
Incidental Literary Work
literary shams, or of " Eccentric Literature." These
essays bear the following titles and they have had
a wide reading: "Guessing at Half and Multiplying
by Two"; "Forty Years of Bacon-Shakespeare
Folly"; "Some Cranks and their Crotchets."
One memorable historic address of this period is
not included in these volumes, "The Story of a
New England Town" -an address delivered by
Fiske at Middletown, Connecticut, October 19,
1900, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of the settlement of the town. This address was the
last of his historic productions, and was published
in the "Atlantic Monthly" for December, 1900,
and subsequently in 1911 in the second edition of
his volume on "American Political Ideas."
This address, while given mainly to matters of
local interest, contains some touches of a personal
nature reminiscent of Fiske's boyhood experiences
in the old town. It was an occasion of much signifi-
cance to him. The conspicuous honors bestowed
upon him on this festal occasion brought distinctly
before him the conditions under which he had left
the town forty years before and the feelings of pro-
found sadness that were then surging through his
mind.
What eventful intellectual experiences had been
his since then! And what a change in the public
mind on religious matters had taken place in the
old town that would admit the honors bestowed
upon him on such an occasion as this!
47i
John Fiske
Fiske, as we have seen, was a firm believer in the
purifying, ennobling effect that science was hav-
ing, and was destined still more to have, upon the
religious faith of mankind. He was greatly strength-
ened in this belief by the many cordial expressions
of approval of his philosophico-religious writings
which came to him from people in all parts of the
country when on his lecture tours. Indeed, when
on his lecture trips he was cast over Sunday in a
town blessed with a liberal church, the occasion sel-
dom passed without his being asked to occupy the
pulpit. These applications became so numerous
and so urgent that he was induced to prepare three
addresses adapted to pulpit utterances, their titles
being "The Mystery of Evil/' "The Cosmic Roots
of Love and Self-Sacrifice, " "The Everlasting Re-
ality of Religion. " All were intended as illustra-
tions of the higher phases of the Evolutionary
doctrine.
The first was designed to supply some consid-
erations which he was obliged to omit in his Con-
cord address on "The Idea of God." The second
is, with a few slight changes, his Phi Beta Kappa
Oration delivered at Harvard University in June,
1895. This was intended, in the first place, as a
reply to Huxley's famous Romanes lecture on
"Evolution and Ethics," given at the University
of Oxford in 1893. In this lecture Huxley main-
tained that the ethical progress of society is op-
posed to the cosmic process of evolution. The
472
Through Nature to God
third was intended to show that that inward con-
viction, the craving for a Final Cause, the theistic
assumption which is the basis of the religious idea,
is one of the master facts of the universe, and as
much entitled to respect as any fact in physical
nature can possibly be.
These addresses were repeated many times, and
never did they fail to bring forth expressions of
deeply aroused thought. On one occasion, after
the delivery of the one on "The Everlasting Real-
ity of Religion,'* an elderly lady came to him, with
much emotion, and said, "All my life I have been
an ardent Presbyterian, but I thank God you were
'evolved.' "
These addresses were published in 1899 in a
volume by themselves. Fiske was perplexed for
a fitting title. Finally he struck out "Through
Nature to God," saying, "That is a title which ex-
presses my religious faith and at the same time
fitly caps the titles to my two Concord addresses."
The volume has had a wide circulation, and it
has brought great religious hope and comfort to
many minds. I have before me many letters from
persons wholly unknown to Fiske, in which are ex-
pressed feelings of profound gratitude for the great
help the volume has been to them in enabling them
to see that the doctrine of Evolution calls for a
higher conception of God, a nobler conception of
man and his place in the cosmic universe, than
is presented by current theologies. The number of
473
John Fiske
clergymen of various denominations who person-
ally expressed to him their substantial agreement
with him in his interpretation of Evolution was
so great that at times he was inclined to think
'he must be preaching an old-fashioned doctrine.
iThen we have, at the close of this period, another
memorable religious address. Harvard University
has an endowed lectureship known as the "Inger-
soll Lectureship." The provisions of this endow
ment require that under the auspices of the Uni-
versity there shall be delivered each year a lecture
on the "Immortality of Man." Fiske was invited
to deliver this lecture for the year 1900. He took
great pleasure in complying, and on the evening
of December 19, 1900, he gave in Sanders Theatre
— the public hall of the University — an address
under the title of "Life Everlasting."
This was, indeed, a memorable address. Fiske
brought before his hearers various views of immor-
tality held by peoples in the early stages of civili-
zation, and pointed out how they had given way
before advancing knowledge. He also presented
the views of some modern scientists denying the
possibility of the continuance of life after death,
and he brought into clear light the grounds for
the wide prevalence of rational doubt on the sub-
ject owing to the unverifiable assumptions of dog-
matic theology. After giving the scientist the
fullest warrant for his conclusions owing to the ab-
sence of experiential knowledge, he went straight
474
Life Everlasting
to the central point in the modern issue over im-
mortality, in declaring that the absence of verifi-
able evidence of the continuance of conscious life
after death was no presumption against its truth
so long as our knowledge of phenomena is limited
by the conditions of this terrestrial life; conditions
which disqualify the mind for making negative
assertions as to the existence of conscious mind
under other conditions.
He then passed to the consideration of the dis-
tinctive differences between materialism and con-
sciousness, and affirmed that there could be no
such thing as the transformation of the one into
the other; that they were entirely disparate in their
natures; that conscious life forms no part of the
closed circle of physical phenomena, but stands
entirely outside of it, concentric with the segment
which belongs to the nervous system.
His conclusions were that the implications of the
doctrine of Evolution, confirmed by the revela-
tions of science, did not at all favor the material-
istic doctrine that death ends all; rather that the
cosmic process indicated that the production and
perfection of the higher spiritual attributes of hu-
manity was a dramatic tendency in human life
which was aimed at at the beginning, and which
had been persistently followed through all the
stages of human development. This involved the
eternal reality of the human soul; and it was his
belief that a further, deeper study of Evolution
475
John Fiske
would supply a basis for a natural theology more
comprehensive, more profound, and more hopeful
for man than has yet been conceived.
This address was Fiske's last public utterance
on philosophic or religious subjects. It was alto-
gether fitting that it should have been made under
the auspices of his alma mater.
Among my visits to Fiske at this period one
stands out in my memory with much distinct-
ness by reason of the subject of our conversation.
I found him deeply immersed in Emerson, he hav-
ing just been reading Cabot's "Memoir of Ralph
Waldo Emerson." He began by saying that he
liked to dip into Emerson now and then because
he found him so impregnated with the evolutionary
idea; that his insights, fragmentary and illogical
though many of them were, oftentimes gave much
food for thought, — in fact, were very tonic to the
thinking mind. In reading Cabot's "Memoir"
of Emerson he was struck by the fact that at the
beginning of his literary career, in his essay on
"Nature," published in 1836, Emerson gave un-
mistakable evidence of an evolutionary tendency
in his line of thought. Fiske pointed out how com-
pletely the whole essay was saturated with the evo-
lutionary idea of life — "the continuous adjust-
ment of internal relations to external relations";
and also how this idea was distinctly adumbrated
in the invocatory lines: —
476
Emerson's Evolutionary Ideas
"A subtle chain of countless rings
The next unto the farthest brings;
The eye reads omens where it goes,
And speaks all languages the rose;
And striving to be man, the worm
Mounts through all the spires of form."
On my expressing much interest in the evidences
of an evolutionary tendency in Emerson's line of
thought, Fiske brought out several instances in
Emerson's works, and particularly in his lecture
on "The Relation of Man to the Globe " and in
the introduction to his essay on " Poetry and
Imagination," where the doctrine of Evolution is
distinctly implied, not only as the divine method of
creation, but also as a key to the right understand-
ing of the phenomena of the cosmic universe, in-
cluding organic life with conscious man as its
crowning feature.1 Then, too, he dwelt upon the
fact that Emerson was well acquainted with the
nascent evolutionary thought of the first half of
1 In the latter, Emerson's insight into the process of Evolution
was so emphatic as to be in place here: —
"The electric word pronounced by John Hunter a hundred years
ago, arrested and progressive development, indicating the way upward
from the invisible protoplasm to the highest organisms gave the
poetic key to natural science, of which the theories of Geoffroy St.
Hilaire, of Oken, of Goethe, of Agassiz, Owen and Darwin in Zoology
and botany, are the fruits, — a hint whose power is not yet ex-
hausted, showing unity and perfect order in physics. . . . Natural
objects, if individually described and out of connection, are not yet
known, since they are really parts of a symmetrical universe like the
words of a sentence; and if their true order is found, the poet can
read their divine significance orderly as in a Bible. Each animal
or vegetable form remembers the next inferior and predicts the next
higher."
477
John Fiske
the last century, particularly with the thought of
Goethe and Lamarck in regard to the development
of organic life; as well as with the geological re-
searches of Lyell and his followers, with the import
of these researches upon the doctrine of special
divine creations. Fiske found much evidence that
Emerson dipped penetratingly into the physical and
chemical sciences of his early time; and he ac-
counted in a measure for the vague unrelated char-
acter of Emerson's evolutionary ideas by the fact
that until Spencer and Darwin came in 1860, with
their verifying evidences, positive science could
not give any distinct affirmation to the evolu-
tionary theory.
Fiske dwelt upon the fact that the really produc-
tive portion of Emerson 's life came at the opening
of a period of readjustment in human thinking on
all ultimate questions, a period when science was
steadily freeing the human mind from its bondage to
the idea of personal fiatistic creations in the origin
of things, and was pointing the way to a nobler con-
ception of the vera causa of the cosmic universe with
man's place in it than had hitherto prevailed; and
he credited Emerson with marvellous insights, not
only into this evolutionary process of creation
which science was revealing, but also into the
bearing of this order of creation upon all the vari-
ous phases of cosmic phenomena, including the life
of man.
I suggested that one phase of the opposition to
478
Emerson's Evolutionary Ideas
Emerson was owing to the fact that his idea of
God was much too impersonal, much too abstract
to satisfy the demand of the time for a personal
God, for a Divine Creator distinctly knowable
through human experience.
Fiske readily assented, and then went on to say
that Emerson's first step in his departure from his
Unitarian brethren consisted in his denial of the
orthodox conception of God as a personality in
terms of the human mind. He held that Deity
represented an order of Being so far transcending
everything in human experience that the human
mind could not possibly form any adequate con-
ception of the reality. In proof of this fact Fiske
read from Cabot's "Memoir" of Emerson the fol-
lowing passage taken from Emerson's diary in 1838,
the year of the famous Divinity School address,
which, by its denial of a personal God so startled
the whole Unitarian denomination from its condi-
tion of religious complacency: —
"March, 1838. What shall I answer to these
friendly youths who ask of me an account of theism
and think the views I have expressed of the im-
personality of God desolating and ghastly? I say
that I cannot find, when I explore my own con-
sciousness, any truth in saying that God is a per-
son, but the reverse. I feel that there is some pro-
fanation in saying he is personal. To represent him
as an individual is to shut him out of my conscious-
ness. He is then but a great man, such as the crowd
worship. The natural motions of the soul are so
479
John Fiske
much better than the voluntary ones that you will
never do yourself justice in dispute. The thought
is not then taken hold of ' by the right handle ' ; does
not show itself proportioned and in its true bear-
ings. It bears extorted, hoarse, and half witness. I
have been led, yesterday, into a rambling exculpa-
tory talk on theism. I say that here we feel at once
that we have no language; that words are only
auxiliary and not adequate, are suggestions and
not copies of our cogitation. I deny personality to
God, because it is too little, not too much — Life,
personal life, is faint and cold to the energy of
God." l
I then asked if this was not the idea of God im-
plied in Spencer's " Unknowable," and precisely
the idea of God that Fiske had himself endeavored
to set forth in all his writings?
"Certainly," was Fiske's reply; and he also
stated that because science cannot in any way
positively affirm the characteristics of a personal
God in terms of human understanding, it is re-
garded by many religious people as wholly athe-
istic and materialistic in character.
I then enquired how Fiske accounted for the fact
that Emerson, with his idea of Deity and his evo-
lutionary insight, was so insensible to the doctrine of
Evolution when it was brought forward with such
supporting evidence in 1860 by Spencer and Dar-
win? I remarked that the concluding chapter in
Darwin's " Origin of Species" alone ought to have
1 Cabot's Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. I, p. 341.
480
Emerson's Evolutionary Ideas
brought joy to Emerson's heart: yet it does not
appear that he ever read it.
In reply, Fiske said that Emerson's mind, with
all its fine ennobling characteristics, was in many
respects individual and illogical, and we must take
it as we find it. In no sense was Emerson a persist-
ent student of cosmic phenomena in any scientific
way. For the truth of a proposition he relied upon
his impression regarding it, upon how he happened
to feel, rather than upon a rational consideration
of the facts upon which the proposition was based.
This is shown in one of his most emphatic utter-
ances. In his essay on "Inspiration" he says: "I
believe that nothing great and lasting can be done
except by inspiration, by leaning on the secret au-
gury." Now, in the promulgation of the doctrine
of Evolution by Spencer and Darwin there was no
assertion of " inspiration," no leaning upon a "secret
augury," but a direct appeal to human reason with a
proposition based upon a mass of well-verified facts.
For some reason that appeal did not strike Emer-
son favorably.
Fiske further said, it might be alleged, in explana-
tion of Emerson's silence regarding the doctrine of
Evolution with an idea of Deity so closely resem-
bling his own, that Emerson's years of intellectual
productivity had passed — he was nearly sixty years
old. Cabot tells us that his decline began about this
time. Certainly it is remarkable that during the
twenty years between 1860 and 1880, a period when
481
John Fiske
the whole scientific world was adjusting itself to the
doctrine of Evolution as the rational process of
cosmic creation, bringing vital changes in philo-
sophic, religious, and practical thinking; and when
Spencer and Darwin were being widely hailed as
the harbingers of a new era in the development of
humanity, not a word of recognition of their signal
services came from Emerson, he, who, with true
poetic insight, had seen their coming from afar.
In Chapter XXVII we have seen that Spencer
had an evident appreciation of the evolutionary
as well as the theistic insights of Emerson. In view
of this fact the foregoing conversation is given as
evidence that while Emerson never gave any indi-
cation that the doctrine of Evolution with its the-
istic basis as propounded by Spencer had ever
been considered by him, Fiske's line of philosophico-
religious thought set forth in these pages, consists
of a happy blending of the ' poetic philosophico-
religious insights of Emerson with the profound
scientific cosmic truths established by Spencer
and by Darwin.
In closing this philosophico-religious portion of
Fiske's life, mention should be made of a subject
to which he had given much thought, and regard-
ing which he was awaiting a fitting occasion to
express himself. The subject was the ^economic
value in social well-being of spiritual, ethical, and
aesthetic ideas. As an illustration he referred to
the immense economic value that had come from
482
Economic Values
the Christmas Idea: the large capital invested, and
the great number of people employed in producing
and distributing articles whose main purpose is
to enable people, on one day in the year to give
expressions of affectionate regard and remem-
brance one to another. This Christmas Idea arises
from a universal spiritual and ethical feeling which
is entirely distinct from the practical, economic
questions of daily life. Again, he dwelt upon the
fact that while the producing and consuming pow-
ers of a nation or a people of the articles neces-
sary for physical existence could be approximately
determined, it was utterly impossible to put a
limit upon the powers of production and consump-
tion of the human mind along the lines of man's
spiritual, ethical, and aesthetic interests. Indeed,
every embodiment of spiritual and ethical truth
in material form but demanded others, so that
when war shall cease and the nations shall give
themselves over to the arts of peace, the cultivat-
ing of, and the ministering to, the needs of man's
spiritual nature, over and above the needs of his
physical nature, will be seen to be an economic
factor of the first importance in the political and
social well-being of humanity.
CHAPTER XXXVII
LECTURES AT LOWELL INSTITUTE — PREPARING
NEW HOME ON BRATTLE STREET — TO TAKE
PART IN THE KING ALFRED CELEBRATION AT
WINCHESTER, ENGLAND — OUTLINE OF PRO-
POSED ADDRESS — TRIP TO GLOUCESTER FOR
FRESH SEA AIR — DEATH AT GLOUCESTER —
BURIAL AT PETERSHAM
1901
THE remainder of our narrative can be briefly told.
It is the record of the closing days of a rich, event-
ful life which had rendered conspicuous service in
the development of human thought on the pro-
foundest themes which can engage the human
mind, and which was contemplating many years
of continued service in setting forth the signifi-
cance of the doctrine of Evolution in the interpre-
tation of man's social and political institutions, as
well as his highest religious and philosophic ideals
— a life which in its ripe maturity was brought
to a sudden and untimely close.
The year 1901 opened with Fiske engaged in
completing the missing link in the continuity of the
first portion of his historic scheme, the section re-
lating to the colonization of New France, or Canada
under the domination of France, and its transfer
to Great Britain, and the colonial history of New
484
New France and New England
England between 1689 and 1765, as affected largely
by her proximity to her troublesome French neigh-
bor. This task he substantially completed during
the winter of 1900-01, thus consecutively round-
ing out his scheme down to the inauguration of
Washington as President of the United States in
1789.
The substance of this portion of his history, to
which he gave the title "New France and New
England/* he utilized in a course of twelve evening
lectures before the Lowell Institute in Boston dur-
ing February and March of this year.
The manner in which these lectures were received
was an attestation to the great hold Fiske had
acquired upon the public mind, not only as a his-
torian, but also as an interpreter of the underlying
principles which impel to human organizations
both socially and politically. The mere announce-
ment of the lectures at once brought a demand for
course tickets far exceeding the seating capacity of
the Institute's large hall. An afternoon repetition
of the course was then announced which met with
a response equally emphatic.
It was particularly gratifying to Fiske to be met
with such responsive audiences in his own home, as
it were. It was the best of evidence that religious
prejudices had been largely outgrown, and that he
had gained in no small measure the ear of the
American public for the history of the great nation
he now proposed to give — a nation whose genesis
485
John Fiske
in the unfolding of the modern world he had en-
deavored clearly and philosophically to set forth.
With the completion of his Lowell Institute lec-
tures in March, 1901, Fiske's lecturing for the sea-
son came to a close. During the remainder of the
spring his chief occupation was preparing for the
press his lectures on "New France and New Eng-
land," and in superintending the remodelling of
his mother's house at 90 Brattle Street, Cam-
bridge, that it might possess certain features nec-
essary as the future home of himself and his family,
together with suitable conveniences for the de-
clining years of his mother. We have seen that
Mrs. Stoughton, in building her house in 1883,
had distinctly in mind the idea of its ultimately
becoming the Fiske homestead; and now that ad-
vanced years had brought the necessity of relief
from domestic cares and responsibilities — brought
in fact the need of much consideration for herself
on the part of others — she became very desirous
that her long-contemplated project of having her
home become the Fiske homestead should be car-
ried into effect. This involved many changes, not
only to give Mrs. Stoughton her needed conven-
iences, but also to provide Fiske with three fea-
tures essential to the proper working of his mind
in the prosecution of his literary work. These fea-
tures were: library space, sufficient for his large
collection of books, and so retired as to answer for
a work-room; a good-sized conservatory to hold
486
Preparing a New Home
his choice collection of plants; and a music-room,
wherein, by himself, or with his family, or with
his friends, he could find diversions in the world's
great music.
The remodelling of Mrs. Stoughton's house was
begun in the winter of this year and was contin-
ued during the spring, and Fiske watched the prog-
ress of the work on the "newhipe," as he called it,
with great interest; and as the spacious library and
the attractive music-room came into being in con-
formity to his desires, his mind ran out in pleasant
contemplation of the utilization of the former, not
only for its legitimate purpose as a library, but
also as a choice gathering-place for the free discus-
sion with his friends and neighbors of the vital
questions in philosophy, history, science, and social
well-being which were daily coming forward for
consideration; and also to the utilization of the
latter for the interpretation, by Professor Paine,
himself, and others, of the masterpieces of the
great musical composers.
The demands of his lecturing had made it im-
possible in the past for him to utilize his home for
social intercourse in these two ways save to rather
a limited extent. Now that his lecturing was to be
greatly diminished, and his home facilities greatly
enlarged, he looked forward, in addition to in-
creased social enjoyments, to many years of fruit-
ful literary work, not only in the completion of
his " History of the American People," but also in
487
John Fiske
being able to bring out the work which had long
lain near his heart — a history of the first five cen-
turies of the Christian era.
While thus engaged during the spring of 1901 in
preparing for the press his volume on " New France
and New England" and in seeing his new home
come into being, Fiske realized that the most im-
portant part of his historic task was yet before him.
With the story of the genesis of the new nation of
the United States fully told, and its political organ-
ization as a republic under a constitutional form
of government clearly set forth, he realized that
he had now to present the historic development of
this new nationality, with its complex and untried
internal features and its very complicated external
or international relations, into one of the most
powerful political organizations of the earth: and
all this during the first century of its existence.
The spring of this year, therefore, was given to
much pondering over the main events of the first
century of the United States history in the endeavor
to trace out in their causes the working of certain
underlying evolutionary principles common to all
forms of civilized society.
What particularly interested Fiske as he con-
templated the task before him was not alone the
fact that he had to give an account of the working
of a form of political organization now established
for the government of the United States which
had been described by the eminent French critic
488
Planning Details of his Work
Tocqueville as based on "a wholly novel theory,*'
and which might "be considered as a great dis-
covery in modern political science/' Rather, he
was impressed by the fact that while this new form
of government possessed many unique features,
it was in its genesis a distinct product of Evolu-
tion; and that in its two most striking character-
istics, — its provisions for local self-government
and for the exercise of the power of the people as
a whole, as a nation, — it was the embodiment in
a political organization of the two fundamental
principles of the doctrine of Evolution itself: dif-
ferentiation and integration. Differentiation was
recognized in the widest possible provisions for
individual liberty and local self-government, while
integration, or the combination of the power of the
people as a whole, was recognized in provisions for
federated action in all matters pertaining to na-
tional well-being.
These two series of provisions for differentiation,
or for protecting individual liberty, on the one
hand, and for integration or concentrating the
power of the people as a whole, on the other hand,
were distinctly set forth in a written Constitution
which had been accepted by the people of the thir-
teen United States as expressive of their sovereignty
and the manner of its exercise; and thus for the
first time in history was instituted a well-rounded
government of the people, by the people, for the
people.
489
John Fiske
I saw him frequently during this period and
found him planning his remaining volumes in the
light of the Evolutionary philosophy, which he
applied to all history. Not that this philosophy
assumed that there were certain definitely estab-
lished laws for the social and political development
of all peoples to which their history had to con-
form. Rather, it was a philosophy derived from a
wide study of man's social and political institutions,
which had established the fact that all governments,
all forms of political organizations were growths,
were developments, out of racial characteristics,
social needs, and environing conditions, and were
always changing; and that the progress of every
nation was owing to the manner or degree in which
its political organization secured national protec-
tion to all its citizens combined with provisions for
the utmost personal liberty in their thought, their
speech, and their industrial activities.
Fiske's conversation relative to the work he had
in hand was profoundly interesting. He had the
chief events of United States history so clearly in
mind and so distinctly related that they seemed
the incidents in a well-rounded tale; and his re-
marks were embellished with such pregnant obser-
vations regarding the actors in these events as to
show not only his freedom from bias, but also his
capacity of putting himself in the actors' places
and giving a rational interpretation to their activ-
ities.
490
Hamilton and Jefferson
Two topics particularly he was fond of dwelling
upon which I distinctly recall. These were: the
personalities of Hamilton and Jefferson, and the
opposing political principles they represented; also
Chief Justice Marshall and his great services in
interpreting the Constitution. Fiske was a great
admirer of Jefferson. He regarded him as the
deepest thinker and the most far-seeing states-
man among those who had a part in the formation
and establishment of our Government. In his mind
Jefferson stood as the representative of the liber-
ties of the people, of local self-government against
unduly centralized power. But this admiration for
Jefferson did not blind Fiske in the least to the
great abilities of Hamilton as a constructive states-
man, as shown in his efforts to secure, under the
exigency of the times, a strong government and
yet one republican in character.
Fiske pointed out how inevitable it was that in
the formation of our Federal Government these
two strong men should be at odds; and he dwelt
upon the significance of the fact that the party
divisions in the subsequent political history of the
United States had turned primarily upon the polit-
ical principles enunciated by Hamilton and Jeffer-
son. What was more remarkable still was the fact
that the Democratic Party which claims Jefferson
as its founder has not been slow to advocate a
strong centralized government when in matters
of national concern it became politically expedient
491
John Fiske
to champion the supremacy of the Federal Gov-
ernment over local or sectional interests.
Fiske had the highest appreciation of Chief Jus-
tice Marshall and his services in construing and
interpreting the Constitution of the United States
during the period 1801 to 1835. In Marshall's
decisions he saw individual liberty and local in-
terests so wisely adjusted to social well-being and
to national interests that they clearly presented a
new form of political organization in its process
of development or evolution. Here he saw the po-
litical theories of the monarchist and the repub-
lican, of Hamilton and of Jefferson, brought up for
judicial determination through legal issues growing
out of experiences in the daily lives of the people.
And in these decisions he found the vital points
in the political theories of Hamilton and of Jeffer-
son duly weighed, and so adjudicated under the
Constitution that they have become blended as
vital factors in the ever-developing political life
of the American people. In other words, Marshall
in his interpretation of our Constitution gave a
stability and flexibility to our Government which
admit the steady growth and development of the
people in all that pertains to their social and politi-
cal well-being.
In Fiske's mind the services of Chief Justice
Marshall in construing and interpreting the Con-
stitution during the formative period of our na-
tional life, though different in character, were not
492
King Alfred Celebration
inferior in value, to those of Washington, in giving
birth to the nation itself.
Thus it is seen that Fiske was richly prepared to
enter upon his task of giving a history of the first
century of the United States, not only with a mind
strongly imbued with a philosophy based on the
existence of certain underlying forces which are
impelling human society in its various forms of
social and political organization to some end or
purpose ; but also with a mind richly stocked with a
knowledge of the experiences of the race in its en-
deavors, on the one hand, to establish forms of gov-
ernment based upon political power integrated in
the hands of a privileged few; and, on the other
hand, forms of government based upon individual
rights and liberties of the people, but without any
adequate, well-defined, integrating sovereign power
over the people as a whole.
He was planning his history of the first century
of the United States to be comprised in eight vol-
umes.
While engaged in planning the details of the re-
maining portion of his history, he received from the
committee having charge of the millennial celebra-
tion in honor of King Alfred, to be held at Win-
chester, England, in September, 1901, an urgent
invitation to be present on the occasion as a rep-
resentative of the Western world and to deliver an
address. His lectures before the Royal Institution
of Great Britain in 1880, on "American Political
493
John Fiske
Ideas viewed from the Standpoint of Universal
History," especially the one on " The Manifest Des-
tiny of the English Race," had made him so well
known to the historic scholars of Great Britain that
he was unanimously chosen as the historian best
qualified to speak for the Western world on an
occasion of such historic importance.
He accepted the invitation as one of conspicu-
ous honor; and, desiring on such an occasion di-
rectly to identify America with Alfred's England,
he gave as a title for his proposed address, " The Be-
ginnings of Federalism in New England, as related
to the Expansion of Alfred's World."
During the spring of 1901 Fiske meditated much
upon this Winchester celebration, its historic sig-
nificance, and upon his line of thought as the rep-
resentative of America on so memorable an oc-
casion. As he meditated the character of his theme
steadily broadened in his mind, until it became not
simply a setting-forth of the political principle of
federation as developed by a few English people
in New England and as related to the expansion of
Alfred's world: it assumed the character of a pres-
entation of some verifications in English history
since King Alfred of the doctrine of Evolution as
a scheme of things ever at work in the development
of human society. At the same time the celebra-
tion seemed a fitting occasion for the presentation
of some historic generalizations regarding the
English people, their political ideas, and their
494
Proposed Winchester Address
place in the modern world, generalizations of the
utmost significance to the future political organi-
zations of the world.
I was to accompany him, with members of his
family, on this visit to England, and on the evening
of June 23, 1901, I dined with him for the purpose
of completing plans for the trip. In the course
of the evening the conversation turned to the ad-
dress he was to deliver at Winchester, and he ap-
peared well satisfied with the order of thought as
he had worked it out in his mind, according to his
usual custom, before putting pen to paper. He
outlined to me quite fully his general line of argu-
ment. This was so lucid in character, was so in har-
mony with his general line of evolutionary thought,
and flowed so logically from his evolutionary pre-
mises, that I have had no difficulty in holding its
main points distinctly in mind. Imperfect as may
be my recollection of his argument, it is the only
record we have of what he was prepared to say on
this memorable occasion. As an aid, therefore, to
glimpsing the profound line of thought which was
engaging Fiske's mind at the very close, I will en-
deavor to give the substance of his proposed Win-
chester address without attempting to give the
language in which his thought was to be expressed.
In the first place, as an introduction he proposed
to make a concise statement of the nature and
functions of differentiation and integration as fac-
tors in social and political development, and then
495
John Fiske
to consider the main landmarks in English history,
particularly since the reign of King Alfred, as il-
lustrative, by their sequential order, of the inter-
related play of these two factors in the social and
political life of the English people, thus giving to
their history a meaning and purpose.
In the order of his line of thought attention was
to be directed to the deplorable condition of the
English people during the middle period of the
ninth century, when, torn by internecine warfare
between the various tribes or Teutonic nations
that then inhabited England, no effective oppo-
sition could be made to the incursions of the pirat-
ical Danes who ravaged their coasts and plundered
their towns. Social and political differentiation
and disintegration reigned supreme. At this junc-
ture — the last quarter of the ninth century — Al-
fred appears as King of the West Saxons, one of
the English tribes or nations, and by his skill as a
warrior, his wisdom as a civil ruler, his promotion
of literature, religion, education, and the arts, he
set in train, during his thirty years' reign, the social
and political forces which, during the half-century
that followed, culminated in the political integra-
tion of all the people of England into a common
nationality, under a single sovereign or king. Thus,
by the middle of the tenth century, the Kingdom
of England was distinctly formed; and Alfred's con-
tribution to this integration of the Teutonic people
inhabiting England into a distinctly English na-
496
Proposed Winchester Address
tionality, with a common language, a common re-
ligion, a common literature, and a common law,
will never pass from the grateful remembrance of
the English people.
In this early stage of the political integration of
the English people, Fiske proposed to emphasize
the persistence with which the ideas of civil liberty
common to their Teutonic ancestors in Germany
had survived four centuries of transplantation to
England, and now appeared, in the political organ-
izations of Alfred and his immediate successors,
more distinctly defined than under any previous
political arrangement.
Fiske next proposed to point out that, with the
establishment of the English monarchy in the mid-
dle period of the tenth century, the evolutionary
forces at work in the social and political life of the
English people began to take on a new character,
that of an internal struggle between the sovereign
rulers, who arrogated to themselves certain pre-
scriptive rights or privileges in the political organ-
ism or state, on the one hand, and the great body
of the English people, who were persistent in as-
serting their inalienable rights, as freemen, on the
other hand. At the beginning of this struggle the
sovereign rulers had the upper hand, but during
the seven centuries that followed a constant dif-
ferentiation went forward in the social and political
lives of the English people, a differentiation which
was marked by a steady disintegration of the power
497
John Fiske
of the sovereign rulers, and by a steady increase
and integration of power into the hands of the com-
mon people, until in the closing period of the seven-
teenth century the power of the people became
supreme; and by the acceptance of the crown by
William and Mary in 1689, with its famous Bill
of Rights, political sovereignty passed completely
into the hands of the English people — England
became a Republic in all except the name.
While Fiske proposed to set forth the main his-
toric events connected with this social and politi-
cal evolution of the English people from the tenth
to the seventeenth century — particularly the
Norman conquest, the wresting of Magna Charta
from King John, Mountfort's Parliament, the
struggles with the headstrong Tudors and the per-
fidious Stuarts, the Cromwellian insurrection, and
the Great Revolution of 1688 — • as having a clearly
defined sequential relation to one another; and as
evidencing that the evolutionary process going on
in the social and political development of the Eng-
lish people in their own home was steadily in favor
of their civil and religious liberty under a consti-
tutional government; he also proposed to empha-
size the important historic fact that during the
latter stages of this development the English peo-
ple were brought to take a conspicuous part in two
external, world- wide movements which have af-
fected profoundly all their subsequent history —
the Reformation and the Discovery of America —
498
Proposed Winchester Address
two mighty impelling forces which awakened their
enterprising minds to interests outside their island
home, interests which prompted to political ex-
pansion and led to schemes of colonization and
conquest which during the eighteenth century made
the English people the dominant political power
in the world.
This expansion of the English people, which be-
gan in the seventeenth century, Fiske proposed to
consider as the opening of a new era in their politi-
cal development and one of much greater signifi-
cance than any portion of their past history. In fact,
he regarded their island history down to the Great
Revolution of 1689, whereby the sovereignty of the
people under a constitutional form of government
was firmly established, as but a process of inte-
gration into a compact nationality; as but a prep-
aration for the prominent part the English people
were to play in the future political development of
the world.
To this end he proposed succinctly to trace out
the stages of colonization and conquest by which
during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries the political power of the English people
has been expanded over the globe, until now they
greatly exceed in numbers the population of any
other European nationality and hold points of
vantage in the five continents, as well as posses-
sion of the world 's political and commercial gate-
ways. For the purposes of his argument he pro-
499
John Fiske
posed to leave out of consideration the severance
of political relationship between England and her
American colonies, and to regard the people of the
United States as still English in character and as
forming an important part of the great body of
English people located throughout the world, en-
gaged in working out the problem of man's indus-
trial, moral, and spiritual well-being through polit-
ical organizations based upon international peace
and the widest recognition of man's civil and reli-
gious liberty.
Thus he proposed to present the differentiation,
the expansion of the English people throughout
the world, with their language, their literature,
their arts and sciences, their forms of political or-
ganization, as constituting a dominating influence
in world affairs at the present time — an influence
which makes steadily for civil and religious liberty,
and for the promotion of international peace.
Having reached this point in his exposition, he
was led to enquire as to the possibility of conditions
arising which would obstruct the continued expan-
sion of the English people and check their peaceful
influence upon world affairs. Here he found two
world-questions which, at the opening of the twen-
tieth century, were engaging the attention of the
students of politico-economic history, and which
were of particular import to the English people
and their place in the modern world. The one
was the awakening of China, in which is involved
500
Proposed Winchester Address
the balance of political power in Asia; the other
was the rise of militant Germany, in which is in-
volved the balance of political power in Europe.
England has vital interests to maintain in both
Europe and Asia, and it is not at all improbable that
in the near future she may be forced into a war in
defence of her interests in one or both continents.
If with a strong naval power the conflict would ex-
tend to all her colonies; in fact, it would extend
throughout the world, and the people of the United
States could not remain disinterested spectators in
such a conflict. Their political sympathies and
their politico-economic interests would all be on
the side of England, as the champion of personal
liberty and of the utmost freedom in international
intercourse.
It was Fiske's firm belief that the early years of
the twentieth century would see all the English
peoples of the world moving for a much stronger
political integration than had hitherto existed,
not only for their own protection against militant
aggression, but also as a powerful move in further-
ance of international comity, of universal peace
among the nations. And he found in the scheme
of government worked out by the English people
of the United States a form of political federation
which was suggestive, at least, of how a much
broader political integration or federation of all the
English people might be brought about.
Therefore, on this occasion of a millennial com-
501
John Fiske
memoration to King Alfred, and speaking for the
Western world, it was Fiske's purpose to show that
the English people whose representative Alfred
was, and whose nationality he did so much to es-
tablish a thousand years ago, had not only since
had an eventful history in their own English home,
but that they had also expanded broadly to other
lands, where under new conditions they had polit-
ically organized themselves in conformity to their
own principles of constitutional liberty, and had
become the founders of mighty Commonwealths
devoted to the cultivation of the peaceful arts,
Commonwealths which only awaited the develop-
ment of a practicable form of political integration
to become the dominant political power in the
world in behalf of civil liberty and international
peace.
It was, indeed, a noble theme, and my very im-
perfect outline sketch can at best but serve to sug-
gest what the written address would have been
when enriched with his ripe knowledge and clothed
in his incomparable style. Imperfect, therefore, as
is the record of what he was prepared to say at
Winchester, what is here given may perhaps serve
to show that, down to the very last, he saw with
sublime faith the forces of Evolution as the mani-
festations of a Divine Power ever at work in the
elevation of human society; and, as twenty years
before in his lectures before the Royal Institution,
London, his mind was still filled with pictures of a
502
Federation of English Peoples
future " world covered with cheerful homesteads,
and blessed with a Sabbath of perpetual peace." 1
The evening I spent with him he seemed in his
usual health, and he was much gratified at having
received notice from President Hadley, of Yale
College, that in October following, Yale proposed
to honor him with the degree of LL.D. There was,
however, a tone of sadness in his reference to the
great changes he expected to meet with in his forth-
coming visit to London. His dearest friends, Hux-
ley, Darwin, Lewes, Tyndall, Sime, Lord Arthur
Russell, Macmillan, all were gone. Only Spencer
remained, and in a very enfeebled condition. At
1 While this expression of Fiske's thought, in 1901, in regard to
the political future of the English race, is passing through the press
(April, 1917), there is sitting in London an " Imperial War Confer-
ence," called for the consideration of a plan of readjustment of the
political relations between the component parts of the British Em-
pire: a readjustment or federation, "based on a full recognition of
the Dominions as autonomous nations of an Imperial Common-
wealth, and India a part of the same, with an adequate voice in
foreign policy and foreign relations upon all important matters of
common Imperial concern": a conference called for a more com-
plete integration of the British Empire. That such an integration
or federation of the English peoples, now dispersed over the five con-
tinents must immediately follow the close of the present war is a
self-evident proposition. It will be the direct outgrowth of the
federative principle established by the people of the United States,
and it is impossible to exaggerate its significance to the future of
the world's political organizations. By such political action on the
part of the English peoples, by far the larger portion of the indus-
tries of the world will take on permanently a peaceful character.
Fiske saw this point clearly, and with rare prescience he forecast
that the federated integration of the English peoples would be the
stepping-stone to the peaceful federation of the world ; and this was
to have been the gist of his message to the English people at
Winchester in 1901.
503
John Fiske
best he could but picture his London visit as one
of delightful memories.
He complained of feeling tired. The rearrange-
ment of his mother's house to meet his needs had
called for his constant supervision, and this had
been quite a tax upon his physical strength. Dur-
ing the previous few weeks, particularly, he had
been deeply engrossed in preparing his large library
and his many art and literary treasures for trans-
fer to the new home he had prepared for them with
much thoughtful care. We can well understand
the flood of memories that came over him, as, for
a new placement, he handled tenderly, as was his
wont, these treasures, many of which were identi-
fied with the deepest experiences of his life. This
handling of his literary treasures was his last work.
All was ready for the final transfer from the
Berkeley Street home to the Brattle Street home,
when, during the last week of June, there came a
succession of exceptionally hot, muggy days that
were very enervating to people with the most
robust constitutions. Fiske was fairly prostrated
by this depressing atmospheric condition. The
early days of July brought no relief, and his phy-
sician advised his getting out to sea — a trip to
Bar Harbor. This not being practicable, on the
afternoon of July 3 a trip by boat to Gloucester
was arranged. He was accompanied by his son,
Herbert Fiske. His son-in-law, Grover Flint, fol-
lowed immediately on hearing of his illness.
504
Death and Burial
The two hours* sail to Gloucester brought no
relief. He was taken to the Hawthorne Inn, East
Gloucester, where he could get the fresh sea-breeze
from the broad Atlantic. During the evening he
seemed to be failing, losing grasp of himself. At
midnight he passed into a state of coma, and a
little later semi-consciousness returned, and. he
seemed to see a mighty, irresistible wave rolling
towards him, when summoning all his energies he
distinctly pronounced the name of his wife, and
of each of his children, and his spirit peacefully
passed to the Great Unknown.
On the 7th of July, 1901, with a simple service,
his body was laid at rest in the churchyard at
Petersham — the Petersham he loved so well.
THE END
MEMORIAL TO JOHN FISKE
THERE has been placed over the grave of John
Fiske a memorial symbolizing the evolution of the
spiritual idea in man.
It consists of a huge mass of rough granite, sym-
bolizing the universe of inorganic phenomena. Out
of this mass emerges a sphere, the symbol of motion,
of life in its development through all organic forms
from plant to conscious mind in man. This mind,
with its languages, its arts, its sciences, its philoso-
phies, is still further symbolized by a quadrate
torchlight, which, held in a human hand, — a sym-
bol of conscious power, — becomes a divine illumi-
nation to man in his pathway to the realm of the
Great Unknown.
THE JOHN FISKE MONUMENT, PETERSHAM
INDEX
INDEX
Abbot, Ezra, Assistant Librarian at
Harvard, I, 398 n., 403, 448, 454.
Adams, Prof. Henry, 2, 69.
Adams, Samuel, Fiske's lecture on,
2, 211-13.
Adkins, John, I, 508-10; 2, 117.
Agassiz, Alexander, I, 492.
Agassiz, Louis, I, 144, 160; his Es-
say on the Classification of the A ni-
mal Kingdom, 179, 182; cham-
pion of special Divine creations,
182, 183, 197, 308; Fiske. criti-
cises, 410, 411.
Alcott, A. Bronson, 2, 307, 308.
Alfred, King, millennial celebration
in honor of, 2, 493, 494.
Alger, William R., I, 374 n.
Alma-Tadema, Laurence, 2, 122.
American Political Ideas, Fiske pre-
pares syllabus of, 2, 159; a power-
ful peace argument, 172, 200;
lectures favorably received, 200;
published, 337.
American Revolution, The, pub-
lished, 2, 412.
Angelo, Michael, Fiske's criticism
of, I, 507,508.
Appleton, William, gives a dinner
for Fiske, I, 397.
Appleton1 s Journal, articles by
Fiske in, I, 346.
Arago, Dominique Frangois, anec-
dote of, I, 144.
Astoria, Oregon, celebration at, 2,
439~44-
Atlantic Monthly, publishes Asa
Gray's articles on the" Darwinian
theory, 1 , 1 80 n. ; articles by Fiske
in, I, 298, 324, 378, 405; 2, 97,
98, 191,234,353,384,389.
Atonement, the, I, 91; 2, 10, n.
Attucks, Crispus, memorial to, 2,
387, 388.
Baldwin, Hannah, I, 10.
Barnes, Rev. Jonathan Ebenezer,
has religious controversy with
Fiske, I, 122-25.
Barnum's Circus, I, 419.
Beecher, Henry Ward, 2, 262, 346.
Beggars, Italian, I, 511, 512.
Beginnings of New England, The,
2, 355..3S6; published, 412.
Bern, Switzerland, I, 521.
Betts Academy, the, Fiske at, I,
57-70; revisited (in 1889), 2,
411.
Bible, the, criticism of, 2, 14-16.
Bichat, Marie Francois Xavier, I,
213 and n.
Billingsgate Fish Market, 2, 287.
Bixby, William K., 2, 231 n.
Blackstone's Commentaries, Fiske
enraptured with, I, 271.
Blarney Castle, I, 424.
Body and Mind, 2, 34-38.
Bolton, Charles K., 2, 67.
Bound family, the, I, 12, 13.
Bound, Mary Fisk, see Green, Mrs.
Edmund Brewster.
Bowen, Prof. Francis, in charge of
Department of Philosophy at
Harvard, I, 161, 162; favors
suspending Fiske for a year, 233 ;
commends Fiske's scholarship,
261.
Bradford, J. G., I, 129.
Bradshaw, Henry, I, 454, 455.
British Museum, The, 2, 267, 268,
282.
Brooks, Abby Morgan, I, 242; a
student at Prof. Agassiz's school,
243; social relations with Prof.
Child, 244; first meeting with
John Fiske, 244; visited by him
at Petersham, 245-48; the ac-
quaintance ripens, 250, 251;
becomes engaged, 256; married
in Appleton Chapel, 299. Let-
ters to, I, 252-57, 271, 272, 286,
288-91. See also, Fiske, Mrs.
John.
Brooks, James W., I, 29 «., 243,
247; 2, 85, 91; Vice-Consul at
Paris with John Bigelow, I, 250;
his home in Cambridge, 2, 75,
509
Index
79; helpfulness during Fiske's
absence, 76.
Brooks, John, I, 245, 249, 250.
Brooks, Miss Martha, x, 431, 432;
2, 75-
Brooks, Mrs. Martha A., 2, 75;
illness and death of, 76-79.
Brooks, Phillips, quoted, 2, 430.
Bruce, Dr., Spencer's physician, 2,
272-75, 291.
Bruges, May festival in, I, 527,
528.
Brunton, Dr. Lauder, 2, 291.
Bryce, James, his Holy Roman Em-
pire, I, 326; Fiske meets, 2, 137.
Buckle, Thomas, History of Civili-
zation, I, 113, 114, 214; Emer-
son's estimate of, 213; Fiske's
criticism of, 215, 293, 294.
Bunsen, Baron, 2, 127, 128.
Bushnell, Horace, I, 112, 113.
Butler, Gov. Benjamin F., refused
degree by Harvard Overseers,
2, 292-94-
Buzby, Ann, I, 2.
Byron, Lord, quoted, I, 290, 291.
Cabot, James Elliot, Memoir of
Ralph Waldo Emerson, quoted,
2, 256, 476, 479, 480.
Caledonian Canal, the, I, 444-46.
Canterbury, England, I, 528.
Carlyle, Thomas, anecdote of, I,
213; method of dealing with his-
tory, 2, 196; death, 209.
Catacombs of Rome, I, 507, 508.
Cathedrals, English, I, 451, 452.
Causes of Persecution, The, 2, 191,
199.
Century of Science and Other Es-
says, A, 2, 469-71-
Certosa, La, monastery of, I, 504,
505.
Channing, William Ellery, I, 172,
177.
Chase, Daniel H., teacher of Fiske,
i, 37-39-
Chase, Pres. Thomas, 2, 201.
Chester, England, I, 428, 429; 2,
176.
Child, Prof. Francis J., I, 155, 156,
196; anecdote of, 244.
Christian dogmas, I, 89-99, 227;
their usefulness, 97.
Christian Examiner, articles by
Fiske in, I, 303.
Christmas Idea, economic value
of the, 2, 482, 483.
Civil Government in the United
States, 2, 400, 416, 417.
Civil War, the, I, 187-92; its effect
on Fiske, 235-42.
Clarke, James Freeman, I, 374;
2, 294.
Clay, Henry, I, 6.
Clifford, Hon. John H., I, 354 n.
Clifford, Prof. W. K., I, 460, 483;
2, 144.
Coeducation, 2, 217, 218.
Colenso, Bishop, 2, 16 n.
Collier, Hon. John, 2, 142.
Cologne Cathedral, I, 525, 526.
Colton, Rev. Henry M., one of
Fiske's teachers, I, 71-80.
Columbia River, 2, 365 ; centennial
of discovery of, 439-44.
Columbus, Christopher, Fiske's
sketch of, 2, 425-27.
Comte, Auguste, Positive Philos-
ophy of, I, 137, 138, 217, 348,
357, 367-69; 2, 29.
Comte, Auguste, classmate of
Fiske, 2, 368.
Concord School of Philosophy, the,
2, 307, 308; Fiske addresses,
309-20.
Cone, Olive, I, 12, 25.;
Confucius, Fiske's opinion of, I,
140, 141.
Congregationalist, The, criticises
Cosmic Philosophy, 2, 56.
Con way, Rev. Moncure D., I, 463,
491, 492; encourages Fiske to
lecture in London, 2, in.
Cooke, Prof. Josiah P., I, 158, 159,
233; anecdote of, 2, 272 n.
Copernican astronomy, the, 2, 310,
3ii.
Cornell University, Fiske offered
non-resident professorship at, I,
397, 398; lectures at, 2, 217-
20.
Cosmic Philosophy, Outlines of, Eng-
lish publication arranged for, I,
457 ; finished, 466, 467 ; published,
2, i ; dedicated to Roberts, 2; de-
velopment of, 27, 28; quoted, 28,
29, 34» 35, 38, 39, 40, 42, 47; re-
ception of, 53, 54; hostile criti-
cism, 55-57-
Cosmic Roots of Lov* and Self-
Sacrifice, The, 2, 472.
510
Index
Cosmic universe, the, 2, 5-8; phi-
losophy of, 17-24.
Cotton, Eliza, I, 28-30.
Cowper, William, quoted, 2, 6 n.
Cranch, Christopher Pearse, 2, 91;
poem by, 95, 96.
Critical Period of American History,
The, published, 2, 390; favor-
ably received, 391; commended
by John Morley, 392; and by
John Jay, 393.
Cromwell, Frederick, 2, 160.
Curtin, Jeremiah, classmate of
Fiske, I, 401, 457.
Curtis, Judge Benjamin R., con-
sulted by Fiske, I, 130, 131, 133;
discusses theology with Fiske,
143; opposes Pres. Lincoln, 190,
191; supports Horatio Seymour,
240; letter to Mr. Stoughton
about Fiske, 267; on bar exam-
ination, 282, 283.
Curtis, George Ticknor, I, 130.
Dante, Divine Comedy, 2, 309, 310.
Darwin, Charles, I, 460; 2, 12 n.,
54; his Origin of Species, I, 179,
184, 185, 186, 2, 17, 19; personal
sketch of, I, 476-79; caricatured,
2, 57; entertains Fiske, 133, 134,
177, 178; Fiske's tribute to, 235-
38. Letters to, I, 389, 476, 2,
173; letters from, I, 391, 477, 2,
60, 178.
Darwin, George, 2, 134, 135.
Darwinism, I, 179-86; in Harvard
College, 1 80. a
Darwinism and other Essays, 1, 404;
2, 98; accepted by Macmillan,
132, 133-
Delepierre, Octave, 2, 132, 138.
Dennett, Prof. John R., I, 362,
396; death of, 2, 96.
Desert, an American, 2, 360.
Destiny of Man, The, address at
Concord School of Philosophy,
2, 308-20; published, 320.
Diaz, Bartholomew, 2, 425.
Dickens, Charles, Fiske's enjoy-
ment of, I, 83, 2, 213; his pub-
lic readings, I, 336, 337; Bleak
House quoted, 2, 130; Oliver
Twist cited, 148.
Differentiation and integration,
two fundamental principles of
doctrine of Evolution, 2, 489.
Discovery of America, The, 2, 418-
33; dedicated to Edward A. Free-
man, 433; received with great
applause, 434~37-
Dogmas of Christian theology, I,
89-99, 227; 2, 4-16.
Donaldson, John W., his Varroni-
anus, I, 225.
Donnelly, Ignatius, his Great
Cryptogram, 2, 384.
Draper, Prof. John W., I, 274.
Dudley, Rev. John Langdon, a
broad-minded orthodox clergy-
man, I, no, 115; Fiske meets
again in Milwaukee, 401 ; 2, 206,
207 ; Excursions of an Evolution-
ist dedicated to, 304, 305.
Duncan, David, Life and Letters of
Herbert Spencer, cited, 2, 25, 36,
247 w.
Eaton, Frank C., 2, 203, 214.
Edinburgh, I, 434-38, 447-49.
Edwards, Mrs. M. A., aids Fiske's
journey to England, I, 406, 407.
Eliot, Charles William, I, 159 n.,
343, 344; chosen president of
Harvard, 345; invites Emerson
and Fiske to lecture on philos-
ophy, 346-48; his inaugural ad-
dress, 353-55; appoints Fiske
Acting Professor of History, 373;
letter about Lowell Institute,
395, 396; appoints Fiske Assist-
ant Librarian, 398, 399.
Eliot, George, personal sketch of,
1, 482-85.
Eliot, Rev. T. L., of Portland, Ore-
gon, 2, 367, 441.
Eliot, Pres. William G., 2, 204.
Ellis, Joseph Whitcomb, I, in.
Ely Cathedral, I, 452.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, I, 174,
176; some affirmations of, 177,
178; Fiske's first meeting with,
211-14; lectures at Harvard,
347; not a reader of Spencer, 2,
254; and Evolution, 256-59,
2, 476-82; his conception of the
Deity, I, 257, 258, 2, 479, 480;
characterization of, Americus
Vespucius, 427.
Enfield, Lord, 2, 132.
Ericson, Leif, 2, 421.
Ericsson, Capt. John, one of Mr.
Stoughton's clients, 2, 229, 230;
Index
receives gold model of Monitor,
230.
Essays and Reviews, I, 227; 2, 16 n.
Essays Historical and Literary, 2,
469, 470.
Eucken, Rudolf, quoted, I, 95.
Evarts, William M., presides at
Spencer dinner, 2, 260, 261.
Everlasting Reality of Religion, The,
2,472,473.
Evolution, the doctrine of, I, 179,
1 80, 217, 307, 308; Darwin's con-
tribution to, 1 80, 184, 185; ef-
fects of, 186, 218; Spencer's phi-
losophy based on, 2, 19; his law
of, 24-26; and the nature of
Deity, 32-34; and religion, 38-
41, 50-54; philosophic implica-
tions of, 41-46; two fundamental
principles of, 489.
Evolution of Language, The, I,
219-21.
Evolutionary philosophy, I, 358,
359, 365, 458, 4595 and religious
faith, 2, 335.
Excursions of an Evolutionist, 2,
265, 304-06.
Fall of man, the, I, 91; 2, 9, 10.
Felton, Cornelius Conway, presi-
dent of Harvard College, I, 148,
196, 204; his Greek scholarship
226; threatens Fiske with expul-
sion, 233, 234.
Ferney, I, 519, 520.
Fields, James T., I, 323 and n.;
2, 396.
Fisk, Polly (Mrs. John Bound),
Fiske 's maternal grandmother,
I, 12. See also Lewis, Mrs. Elias.
Fiske family, in England, I, 8, 9;
in America, 9-12.
Fiske, Bezaleel, I, n.
Fiske, Clarence Stoughton, born,
I, 345, 346.
Fiske, Ethel, born, I, 400.
Fiske, Harold Brooks, born, I, 329.
Fiske, Herbert Huxley, I, 50 n.',
born, 2, 82; with his father at
the end, 504.
Fiske, Rev. John (of Cotton
Mather's Magnolia), 2, 182.
Fiske, John (born in England), I,
9, 10.
Fiske, Dr. John (1654),!, 10.
Fiske, Capt. John (1693), I, 10.
Fiske, John, birth, I, I, 4; his origi-
nal name (Edmund Fisk Green),
i ; paternal ancestry, 1-7 ; ma-
ternal ancestry, 8-13; boyhood,
26-37; teaches himself to read,
26, 27; learns to sew, 30; person-
ates the minister, 30; early con-
ception of God, 30, 31; some
early traits, 32, 69; first school,
33; his reading in childhood, 34;
placed in Mr. Chase's school, 37;
persecuted by schoolmates, 39;
fits up a workshop, 39, 40; his
economical tendencies, 43, 44,
50, 56; studies without instruc-
tors, 45, 49, 105; his library, 46,
135, 193, 244; enters Mr. Brew-
er's school, 46; translates Caesar
into Greek, 48; reproduces an
illustrated poster, 50, 51;
changes name to John Fisk, 55;
at Betts Academy, 57-70; reli-
gious stirrings, 65; joins Ortho-
dox church, 66; a pupil of Henry
M. Colton, 71-80, 85; his inter-
est in comparative philology, 76,
80; learns to play a piano, 79;
composes music, 79, 84; his wide
reading, 81-83; active in reli-
gious work, 84, 85; passes Yale
freshman examinations, 86; de-
cides to go to Harvard, 87; reli-
gious questionings, 87, 88, 100-
03, no; includes a scientific
course, 106, 107, 125; reads an-
cient history, 107, 108, 109, 125;
influence of Humboldt, 108, 109;
studies the defences of ortho-
doxy, 112; effect of reading
Buckle, 113, 114; abandons dog-
matic Christianity, 115; called
an infidel, 118; relations with his
pastor, 120, 12 1 ; controversy
with Dr. Barnes, 122-25; socially
ostracized, 127; engages rooms
in Cambridge, 131; gets a tutor,
132; makes acquaintance of
George Ticknor, 133; mousing
among Boston book-shops, 135,
136, 138; interested in Positivism,
137; enthusiastic over Spencer,
138, 229; progress in foreign lan-
guages, 140-42, 153, 195, 254; on
Confucius, 140, 141; contem-
plates a history of early Christi-
anity, 142, 143; passes Harvard
512
Index
freshman and sophomore en-
trance examinations, 145, 147.
Begins his college life, 194; his
collegiate work, 195; personal re-
lations with members of faculty,
196, 197, 206; among his class-
mates, 198-200, 203, 204; asso-
ciate editor of Harvard Magazine,
205, 221, 222; friendship with
Prof. John K. Paine, 206, 299;
method of reading and study,
207; college expenses, 208; suf-
fers in reputation, 209, 231 ; book
purchases, 210, 21 1 ; visits Emer-
son, 211-14; publishes review of
Buckle, 215-17; publishes the
Evolution of Language, 219-21,
269; his philological studies, 223-
25; on Goethe's Faust, 224; hos-
tility to dogmatic Christianity,
227-29; on Spencer, 229, 230;
receives a "public admonition,"
231-35; threatened with expul-
sion, 234; at first indifferent to
the Civil War, 236; soon aroused,
237, 238, 241, 242; studies war
strategy, 239, 240; meets Miss
Brooks, 244; visits her at Peters-
ham, 245-47 ; presses his suit,
248-56; estimate of the German
language, 253; becomes engaged,
256; graduates from Harvard,
259; college rank, 259, 260; con-
siders choice of a profession, 261 ;
tries for position as teacher, 262-
65; personanon grata at Harvard,
264; gets photograph of Spencer,
265, 292; turns to the law, 266;
enters Harvard Law School, 268;
his plan of study, 270; in love
with the law, 271; called on by
E. L. Youmans, 273, 277, 278;
Norton asks him to write for
North American Review, 274;
visits Norton, 278, 279; com-
pletes his legal studies in nine
months, 280-82; admitted to
Boston Bar, 283; his side study,
284, 285, 298; reads Maine's An-
cient Law, 286, 287; and the
Koran, 288, 289; orderliness of his
mind, 289, 290; correspondence
with Spencer, 293-97, 313-18,
338, 354-57, 366, 383-88, 408; his
marriage, 299; begins practice of
law and gets degree of LL. B . , 300 ;
continues wide general reading,
301; does not like Hawthorne,
301 ; compares Motley and Pres-
cott as historians, 302; writes
Problems in Language and My-
thology and Conflict of Reason with
Bigotry and Superstition, 303,
304; birth of his daughter Maud,
304-
Gives up the law for literature,
305; inventories his intellectual
property, 306, 307; champion in
America of Evolution, 308, 314;
writes Laws of History, 309, 310;
writes on University Reform, for
the Atlantic, 323-25; settles in
Cambridge, 328; birth of his son
Harold, 329; review writing, 331 ,
332, 334, 346, 378; elected a
member of the American Orien-
tal Society, 332; his Cambridge
neighbors, 332; domestic life,
333; wide reading, 333, 334; crit-
icises Parton's Smoking and
Drinking, 334-36; writes article
for the Nation on Harvard presi-
dency, 342, 343; birth of his
second son, 345, 346; called to
lecture at Harvard, 346-50;
writes Genesis of Language, 352 ;
lectures on Evolutionary philos-
ophy, 359-62, 364, 365; Acting
Professor of History at Harvard,
373» 374? his work in teaching
history, 375; on the Franco-
Prussian War, 379; third son
born, 379; second course of Har-
vard lectures, 380-82; objects to
Spencer's title, "Synthetic Phi-
losophy," 388; corresponds with
Darwin, 389—93; lectures on
Evolution, in Boston, 393, 406;
not permitted to speak before
Lowell Institute, 395; lectures in
New York, 396; called to Cornell
University, 397; appointed As-
sistant Librarian at Harvard,
398; settles at 4 Berkeley St.,
400; second daughter born, 400;
lectures in Milwaukee, 400-02;
his duties as librarian, 404, 405,
2, 63-69; gets leave of absence
for European trip, 407; arti-
cle on Agassiz, 410, 41 1 ; sails for
England, 41 1 ; passion for music,
412-17, 442; composes part of a
513
Index
mass, 414-16, a, 83, 217; a do-
mestic man, I, 417-22; trip
through Ireland, 423-28; at
Chester, 428, 429; impressions of
England, 429-31; in London,
432, 456-68; in the Lake District,
433, 434; in Edinburgh, 434-38,
447-49; first impressions of the
Scotch people, 434, 435; trip to
the Scotch Highlands, 439-46;
through some cathedral towns,
450-52; at Ipswich and Cam-
bridge, 453-55; arranges for
English publication of Cosmic
Philosophy, 457; cordially re-
ceived by English Evolutionists,
459, 460, 469; aided by many
distinguished men, 460-64; occu-
pies M. D. Conway's pulpit, 463;
conferences with Spencer, 463-
66; finishes Cosmic Philosophy,
466, 467; personal sketches of
Spencer, Darwin, Lewes, George
Eliot, Huxley, and Sir Charles
Lyell, 471-92; journey on the
Continent, 493-526; admiration
for Gothic art and indifference to
Renaissance, 496-98, 500; im-
pressions of Paris, 498-500;
hasty run through France, 501,
502; in Florence, 502-06, 515,
516; in Rome, 507, 508, 515; in
Naples and vicinity, 508-14; in
Venice, 517; trip into Switzer-
land, 519-24; down the Rhine,
525, 526; back to London, 527-
29; social courtesies there,
530-33-
Returns home, 2, i; publishes
Cosmic Philosophy, I, 2; history
of its development, 27, 28; Fiske
and Spencer, 28, 30, 31; four
corollaries to Spencer's argu-
ment, 31-46; on the nature of
Deity, 32-34; on matter and
spirit, 34-38; on evolution and
religion, 38-41; on the philo-
sophic implications of evolution,
41-46; effect of the discussion on
his mind, 49-52 ; frames cartoon
of Spencer and Darwin, 57 ; grow-
ing reputation as a philosophic
thinker, 62; leading evolutionist
in America, 63; work jn Harvard
Library, 63-69; catalogue of
Sumner Collection, 67; never re-
garded library as his proper
place, 69, 70; lectures on Ameri-
can history in Old South Church,
71, 72, 105-10; resigns from Har-
vard Library, 73; domestic and
social life, 75-85; new home at
22 Berkeley St., 80-82; musical
practice, 82, 83; his musical
gifts, 84; visited by the Huxley s,
85-91; mid-winter excursion to
Petersham, 93, 94; literary work,
97, 98; What is Inspiration, 98-
100; The Unseen World, 97, 100—
04; lectures at Peabody Insti-
tute, Baltimore, 98; foundations
of his religious faith, 102-04.
Voyage to England, 112-15;
excursion to Kenilworth and
Stratford, 116, 117; second visit
to London, 119; London lodg-
ings, 120; social courtesies, 121-
25, 129-39, 143; lectures at Uni-
versity College, 126-28, 129, 133,
136, 139-41; arranges with Mac-
millan for publication of Darwin-
ism and other Essays, 132, 133;
visits Darwin, 133, 134; excur-
sions with Holt and Spencer,
134-36, 141, 142; elected to
Board of Overseers of Harvard,
144; dinner at Arts Club, 145;
excursions to Epping Forest and
other country rambles, 146—49;
farewell visits to Huxley and
Spencer, 149, 150, 152-54; gives
a social punch party, 151, 152;
sails for home, 154; personal ap-
pearance, 156; lectures in Maine,
1 57-59 5 prepares syllabus of
American Political Ideas, 159;
lectures in Brooklyn, 160, 161 ; in
Philadelphia, 163, 164; in Chick-
ering Hall, New York, 164, 168;
in Washington, 165, 166; an eve-
ning with Carl Schurz, 166, 167;
invited to White House by Presi-
dent Hayes, 167; invited to lec-
ture in London and Edinburgh,
169; lectures in Buffalo and in
Ohio cities, 170, 171; accom-
panied to Europe by Mrs. Fiske,
I7i> I73» W; three weeks in
London, 176-80; lectures at
Royal Institution, 179, 180;
visits home of Fiske ancestors,
180-84; lectures at Philosophical
Index
Institute, Edinburgh, 184; takes
two Highland trips with Mrs.
Fiske, 185, 1 86; lectures at
South Place Institute, London,
187; goes to France, 187; eleven
days in Paris, 188; returns to
America, 189; controversy with
William James, 192-99; some
lecture experiences, 199-203;
lectures at Haverford College,
200, 20 1 ; at Washington Univer-
sity, 204; spends a month in Wis-
consin, lecturing, 205-08; lec-
tures in Old South Church, 211-
13; in Indianapolis, 214; sings in
public, 214, 215; lectures at Cor-
nell University, 219, 220; agrees
to write history of American peo-
ple for Harper & Brothers, 22 1 ;
enlarges his plan, 222; The True
Lesson of Protestantism, 224-27;
more magazine articles, 234;
tribute to Darwin, 235-38; en-
tertains Spencer, 245-54; ad-
dress at Spencer dinner, 262-65;
fourth visit to London, 269; calls
on Tyndall, 272; ill, 273-76, 284,
285; dines at Tyndall's, 277; at
his old quarters, 279; dines at
Billingsgate Fish Market, 287;
homesick, 288—91; returns to
America, 291.
Opposes granting degree to
Gov. Butler, 292-94; lectures in
Old South Church, to young peo-
ple, 297-300; course of lectures
on Revolutionary War, 300-03;
repeated in St. Louis, 303, 304;
publishes Excursions of an Evolu-
tionist, 304-06; lectures at Con-
cord School of Philosophy, on
Man's Immortality, 308-20; and
on the Idea of God, 323-36; pub-
lishes The Destiny of Man, 320;
dedicates The Idea of God to Mrs.
Fiske, 333; publishes American
Political Ideas, 337; agreement
with Messrs. Harper amicably
annulled, 339; misconception of
his historical work, 340, 341,
462; lectures on the Critical
Period of American History, 345,
346, 389; Major Pond becomes
his lecture manager, 346-48;
lectures on Civil War, 347-50,
461 ; has pneumonia, 351 ; assist-
ant editor of Cyclopcedia of Biog-
raphy, 352, 353; lectures on the
Beginnings of New England, 355,
356; trip to the Pacific, 357-66;
lectures in Portland, Oregon,
366; and in San Francisco, 368;
meets Gen. Johnston, 369-71;
stops at Salt Lake City, 372-75;
lectures on Scenes and Characters
in American History, 380, 385,
398; on the Bacon-Shakespeare
controversy, 384; delivers ad-
dress at dedication of Boston
Massacre memorial, 387, 388;
publishes Critical Period, 389-
94; perplexed over his great his-
torical task, 394; relieved by his
publishers, 395-98; at work on
Civil Government in the United
States, 400, 416; publishes War of
Independence, 400, 401; personal
diversions, 403-07; puttering
with his plants, 404-07; lectures
at Lowell Institute, 409, 485; re-
visits Betts Academy, 411; pub-
lishes Beginnings of New England^
412; publishes Civil Government,
417; The Discovery of Amer-
ica, 417-37; writes Life of You-
mans, 438, 439, 449; delivers ad-
dress at centennial of discovery
of ^ Columbia River, 439-44;
visits Alaska, 444, 445; orator at
four hundredth anniversary of
discovery of America, 446; in-
vited to lecture before Depart-
ment of University Extension at
Oxford, 447; receives degrees
from Harvard and University of
Pennsylvania, 448; writes school
history, 450-52; message from
Tennyson, 453; enjoyed ex-
tempore speaking, 455; ground
plan of his great historical under-
taking, 456-59 ; order of volumes,
460- 64; publishes Mississippi
Valley in the Civil War, 462;
largeness of his scheme, 465-68;
publishes A Century of Science
and Essays Historical and Liter-
ary, 469-71; gives historical ad-
dress at two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of Middletown, 471 ;
publishes Through Nature to God,
472, 473; and Life Everlasting,
474-76; interest in Emerson,
515
Index
476-^82 ; on the economic value of
spiritual, ethical, and aesthetic
ideas, 482, 483; prepares New
France and New England for
press, 486, 488; superintends
remodelling of his mother's
house, 486, 487, 504; estimates
of Jefferson, Hamilton, and
Marshall, 491, 492; invited to
speak at millennial celebration in
honor of King Alfred, 493; sub-
stance of his proposed address,
495-502; Yale proposes to give
him degree of LL.D., 503; pros-
trated by hot weather, 504;
taken to East Gloucester, 504;
death and burial, 505.
Fiske, Mrs. John, accompanies
Fiske to England, 2, 171, 174-
89; returns Five Forks flag to
Mrs. Sheridan, 233 ; The Idea of
God dedicated to, 333 ; letter from
Sir Henry Irving, 344. See also
Brooks, Abby Morgan. Letters
to, I, 400-02, 424, 425, 433, 435-
46, 448-55, 465, 471-75, 478-88,
491,497-515, 519-33; 2, 112, 1 16,
119-42, 146, 151, 160, 2OI, 202,
208, 214-20, 269, 270, 279, 288,
343,358,370,372,4II-
Fiske, John, Jr. (1718), I, n.
Fiske, John, great-grandfather of
John Fiske, I, 12, 22-24; his
books, 25, 26; death, 31.
Fiske, Maud, I, 333; born, 304;
learning to talk, 330, 331; sings
for Spencer, 2, 253; letter to, 406.
Fiske, Nicholas (time of Charles
ID, 2, 183.
Fiske, Nicholas, of Dennington, 2,
183, 184.
Fiske, Ralph Browning, born, 1 , 379.
Fiske, Robert (in Elizabeth's time),
2, 182.
Flint, Grover, 2, 504.
Fortnightly Review, articles by
Fiske in, I, 309, 339, 340.
Franco-Prussian War, the, I, 379.
Free Religious Association, the, 2,
52.
Freeman, Edward A., letters from,
2, 413, 415; Discovery of America
dedicated to, 433 ; critical article
on, 446.
Frothingham, Benjamin T., I, 396,
2, 160.
Froude, J. A., contrasted with
Mommsen, 2, 197.
Fuller, William Henry, 2, 116, 117.
Furness Abbey, I, 434.
Furness, Horace Howard, letter
from, 2, 381-83.
Galton, Francis, 2, 235, 236.
Gantt, Judge, 2, 204; quizzes
Fiske, 205; and General John-
ston, 369, 370.
Gardner, Francis, I, 263.
Garnett, Richard, I, 225, 2, 282.
Garrison, Wendell Phillips, I, 396.
Gibbons, Most Reverend James,
2,99.
Giles, Rev. Chauncey, 2, 99.
Gladstone, William E., his Juven-
tus Mundi reviewed by Fiske, I,
378, 379J meeting with, 2, 124,
125.
God, the idea of, 2, 13, 14, 46, 323-
36; the nature of, 32-34.
Godkin, E. L., I, 342, 362.
Goethe's Faust, 2, 325, 326.
Goodwin, Prof. William W., I, 150.
Gothic architecture and art, I,
496-98, 500.
Grant, Gen. U.S., 2, 348.
Granville, Earl, 2, 132, 142.
Graphic, The New York Daily, cari-
catures Spencer and Darwin,
2, 56, 57-
Gray, Prof. Asa, I, 160; a sup-
porter of Darwin's views, 180,
184.
Gray, Capt. Robert, explores Co-
lumbia River, 2, 442.
Great White Horse Inn, The, I,
453; 2, 1 80, 184.
Green, Edmund Brewster, father
of John Fiske, I, I, 2, 24, 36, 42;
sent to Wesleyan University, 3;
a journalist, 3-5; marries Mary
Fisk Bound, 4; secretary to
Henry Clay, 6; goes to Panama,
7; death, 8.
Green, Mrs. Edmund Brewster
(Mary Fisk Bound), first mar-
riage, 1,4, 12,24, 26; a teacher, 5,
13, 34; marries Mr. Stoughton,
52-54. See also Stoughton, Mrs.
Edwin W.
Green, Edmund Fisk, original
name of John Fiske. See Fiske,
John.
516
Index
Green, Humphrey, I, 1-3.
Green, Mrs. Humphrey (Hannah
Heaton), 1,2; letter to, 36.
Greg, W. R., 2, 322.
Grindelwald glacier, the, I, 522,
Grote, George, first impression of
Fiske, I, 312.
Grove, Sir William Robert, I, 225,
226.
Gurney, Prof. Ephraim W., I, 152;
Fiske 's friendship with, 197, 215,
219, 264, 398; candidate for
presidency of Harvard, 342;
elected Dean of the Faculty,
373; consulted by Fiske about
historical work, 2, 72.
Hale, Edward Everett, I, 374.
Hall, Dr. John D., classmate of
Fiske, 2, 368.
Hamilton, Alexander, 2, 491.
Hamilton, John C., 2, 169.
Hamilton, Lord Claude, 2, 272.
Hammond, Dr. William A., I,
Harper & Brothers, contract wit
Fiske for a work on American
history, 2, 221; amicably annul
the agreement, 339.
Harris, Dr. William T., 2, 308.
Harrison, Frederic, debate with
Spencer, 2, 323.
Harvard College, in 1860-1863, I,
147-92; the faculty and courses
of study, 148-63; orders and
regulations, i63-j-66; penalties
for neglect of religious services,
163-65; morning prayers, 166,
244; the dormitories, 167, 168,
*93J professional schools, 169,
268; Unitarianism in, 169-72,
174, 178; Darwinism in, 180;
controversy over war powers of
President Lincoln, 187, 191, 192;
athletics, 201, 202; influence of
the Civil War, 235, 236; new
era at, 319; Board of Overseers,
320, 32 1 ; Overseers elected by
alumni, 327; Pres. Hill resigns,
341; Pres. Eliot elected, 345;
his inaugural address, 353-55;
and Gov. Butler, 2, 292-94;
confers degrees on Fiske, 448.
Harvard Law School, course of
study in 1863, I, 268.
Harvard Magazine, The, Fiske as-
sociate editor of, I, 205; his con-
tributions to, 221, 222.
Haverford College, Pennsylvania,
2, 200, 201.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, his writ-
ings not liked by Fiske, I, 301.
Hay, John, gives a dinner for Fiske,
I» 397-
Hayes, President Rutherford B.,
receives Fiske at White House,
2, 167.
Hazeltine, Mayo W., on The Dis-
covery of America, 2, 434-36.
Head, Franklin H., opens his Chi-
cago home to Fiske for work, 2,
408, 451.
Heaton, Hannah, I, 2.
Hedge, Rev. Frederick H., 2, 99;
criticises Harvard College, I,
167, 321, 322.
Hemenway, Mrs. Mary, 2, 1 10, 1 1 1,
128; asks Fiske to lecture in Old
South Church, 210, 211; asks
him to lecture on Cornwallis's
surrender, 227; provides lectures
for young people, 296, 297.
Hennell, Sara, 2, 121, 122.
Hill, Dr. Frank A., aids Fiske on
school history, 2, 452.
Hill, Thomas, president of Har-
vard College, I, 149; dissatis-
faction with, 327; resigns, 341.
Hodges, Edward F., I, 300.
Hoffding, Prof. Harald, 2, 36.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, quoted, I,
154, 160; presides at dinner to
Spencer, 2, 244; note from, 352.
Holt, Henry, publishes Fiske's
Tobacco and Alcohol, I, 335, 336;
with Fiske in England, 2, 116,
117, 128, 132; excursions with
Fiske, 134-36, 141, 142, 147.
Hooker, Sir Joseph D., I, 184; 2,
143-
Houghton, Henry O., head of
Houghton, Mifflin& Co., 2, 395;
makes favorable proposal to
Fiske, 396-98.
Houghton, Lord, 2, 132.
Howells, William Dean, I, 378;
Myths and Myth-Makers dedi-
cated to, 406; his Italian Jour-
neys cited, 509, 513, 515; asks
Fiske for paper on George Eliot,
2, 208; The Undiscovered Coun-
try, 209.
517
Index
Hughes, Thomas, 2, 132.
Humboldt, Alexander von, his
Cosmos, I, 83, 84, 108, 109; Fiske
reads German edition, 140, 141.
Hundred Greatest Men, The, 2, 199.
Hunter, W. W., 2, 184, 185.
Huntington, Rev. Frederick D.,
abandons Unitarianism, I, 170—
72, 177-
Hutton, Laurence, I, 429, 431,
432.
Huxley, Madge, married, 2, 142.
Huxley, Thomas Henry, letters
from, I, 461, 489, 2, 85, 87, 88;
consulted by Fiske, I, 463, 465;
personal sketch of, 486-90; visits
Fiske, 2, 85-91; encourages him
to lecture in London, in; se-
cures a room for the lectures,
126; congratulates him on his
success, 128, 129; Fiske's fare-
well visit to, 149, 150; entertains
Mr. and Mrs. Fiske, 176, 177;
made Inspector of Salmon Fish-
eries, 209.
Idea of God, The, quoted, I, 31 ; de-
livered as a lecture, 2, 323-36;
dedicated to Mrs. Fiske, 333; re-
ception by press and public, 334.
Immortality, Man's, address on, 2,
308-20.
India, sea route to, 2, 423-25.
Indians, wild, 2, 362.
Industrialism and militancy, 2,
465-67.
Infancy, prolongation of, deter-
mined the transition from ani-
mality to humanity, I, 383, 390,
471; Fiske's original contribu-
tion to the doctrine of Evolution,
2, 30, 31, 315.
Ingersoll Lectureship, at Harvard,
2, 474-
Innesf alien, I, 426-28.
Interlaken, I, 522, 523.
Ipswich, England, I, 453; 2, 180,
184.
Irving, Sir Henry, friendship with
Fiske, 2, 344, 453.
Ithaca, New York, 2, 218.
James, Henry, 2, 137.
James, William, Fiske's criticism
of, 2, 192-99.
Janauschek, Madame, I, 336, 337.
Jay, John, writes Fiske in praise of
the Critical Period, 2, 393.
Jefferson, Thomas, greatly ad-
mired by Fiske, 2, 491.
Johnston, Gen. Joseph E., Fiske's
meeting with, 2, 369-71.
Jones, Dr. Hiram A., 2, 307.
Kenilworth, 2, 116, 117.
Kensington Gardens, 2, 125.
Killarney, the Lakes of, I, 425-27.
Kimball, David P., I, 300.
Lake District, the, I, 433, 434.
Lane, Prof. George M., I, 151, 152.
Las Casas, Bartholomew, historic
justice to, 2, 429, 430.
Lathrop, George P., 2, 156.
Laveleye, £mile de, 2, 188.
Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 2, 8 «.
Laxfield, 2, 181-83.
Laylor's Cyclopaedia of Political
Science. 2, 223.
Lea Brothers & Co., publishers, 2,
376.
Les Char met tes, I, 519, 521.
Lewes, George Henry, editor of
Fortnightly Review, I, 309; per-
sonal sketch of, 479-82; a droll
man, 532.
Lewis, Elias, I, 28, 46.
Lewis, Mrs. Elias, Fiske's mater-
nal grandmother, I, 28; her
confidence in him, 119, 121, 122;
death of, 2, 74; letter to, I, 58.
Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, I,
290.
Lewis and Clarke Expedition, 2,
364, 442.
Lichfield Cathedral, 2, 269, 270.
Life Everlasting, 2, 474-76.
Lincoln, Abraham, his Emancipa-
tion Proclamation, I, 187, 189,
239 ; suspension of habeas corpus,
189, 190; remark on Judge Cur-
tis, 191 w.
Linnaeus, Carolus, a remark of, 2,
407.
Little, Brown & Co., I, 136.
Locke, John, portrait of, 2, 94, 95.
Lockyer, Norman, I, 460.
Lott, Edward, companion of Spen-
cer in America, 2, 239-44, 253-
Levering, Prof. Joseph, I, 157, 158.
Lowell, James Russell, professor in
Harvard College, I, 156, 157;
518
Index
quoted, 175, 237, 419; becomes
an editor of North American Re-
view, 274.
Lowell Institute, Fiske not per-
mitted to speak before, in 1872,
I> 395; lectures at, 2, 409, 485.
Lubbock, Sir John, 2, 54, 143.
Luther, Martin, 2, 224.
Lyell, Sir Charles, I, 184; 2, 54;
personal sketch of, I, 490-92.
Macaulay, T. B., quoted, 2, 342,
343-
Mackenzie, Mrs. Alexander, I,
413-
Macmillan, Alexander, 2, 123, 124;
accepts Darwinism and other Es-
says, 132, 133.
Maine, Sir Henry Sumner, 2, 54;
his Ancient Law, I, 286, 287;
quoted, 2, 417.
Marble, Manton, editor of the New
York World, I, 338, 362; gener-
ous to Fiske, 384.
Marden, Francis A., 2, 160.
Marsh, Prof. O. C., palaeontologist,
2, 88, 89, 90; at Spencer dinner,
261.
Marshall, Chief Justice John, 2,
491, 492.
Martin, Homer, I, 396.
Martineau, James, Fiske spends
an evening with, 2, 286; letter
from, 386, 387.
Masson, David, 2, 178, 184.
Matter and spirit, 2, 34-38.
McCarthy, Edward Dorr, I, 212.
McClellan, Gen. George B., I, 238,
241.
McLennan, John F., 2, 54.
Mead, Larkin G., I, 506, 517.
Merrill, Polly, I, 12.
Middlemore, S. G. C., 2, 143.
Middletown, Connecticut, 1 , 14-22 ;
Fiske's boyhood home, 24-128;
he delivers address at two hun-
dred and fiftieth anniversary, 2,
471.
Militancy and industrialism, 2,
465-67.
Mill, John Stuart, I, 386; The
Contest in America, 240.
Milwaukee, Fiske's first impres-
sions of, I, 400, 401; lectures
there again, 2, 206-08.
Mind and body, 2, 34-38.
Mississippi Valley in the Civil War,
The, 2, 461, 462.
Mommsen, Theodor, contrasted
with Froude, 2, 197.
Morgan, Lewis H., 2, 54.
Morley, John, I, 521; commends
the Critical Period, 2, 392.
Morse, James Herbert, classmate
of Fiske, 2, 381.
Motley, John Lothrop, Fiske's
opinion of, I, 301, 302.
Mount Shasta, 2, 367.
Muckross Abbey, I, 426, 434.
Muir, Dr. John, the Sanskrit
scholar, I, 352, 436, 448, 449; 2,
169.
Mystery of Evil, The, 2, 367 n., 368,
441, 445, 472.
Myths and Myth- Makers, I, 378,
400; dedicated to Howells, 406.
Nation, The, articles by Fiske in, I,
342.
National Quarterly Review, articles
by Fiske in, I, 293, 309.
New Englander, The, criticises
Cosmic Philosophy, 2, 55, 56.
New France and New England, 2,
485, 486.
New York World, articles by Fiske
in. I, 334, 346, 360-62, 378, 382.
Newcomb, Prof. Simon, 2, 165, 166.
Newman, Rev. J. P., 2, 99.
Newton, Sir Isaac, his telescope, I,
454; discoverer of law of gravita-
tion, 2, 8 n.
Nismes, France, I, 501, 502.
North American Review, The, ar-
ticles by Fiske in, I, 269, 291,
293, 334, 346, 352, 410; 2, 98,
191 ; Norton and Lowell become
editors, I, 274, 278.
Northmen in America, the, 2, 420,
421.
Norton, Charles Eliot, asks Fiske
to write for North American Re-
view, I, 274, 278; visited by
Fiske, 278, 279; death of, 279 «.;
declines Fiske's review of You-
mans's Chemistry, 291, 292; asks
Fiske to make changes in an-
other essay, 302, 303; consulted
by Fiske about historical work,
2, 72; on The Discovery of Amer-
ica, 436, 437.
Noyes, Prof. George R., 1, 152, 153.
519
Index
Old South Church, Boston, 2, 71,
105, 1 10 ; lectures in, 2 1 1-13, 297-
300, 345, 353-
Osgood, George L., 2, 83.
Osgood, James R. & Co., publish-
ers, 2, I.
Paine, Prof. John K., I, 206, 415,
419, 2, 83; plays the organ at
Fiske's wedding, I, 299; judg-
ment of Fiske's musical gifts, 2,
84; with Fiske in London, 144.
Paris, Fiske's visits to, I, 498-500;
2, 188.
Parker, Prof. Joel, assails President
Lincoln, I, 187, 191.
Parker, Theodore, I, 174, 176, 178;
and Carlyle, 213; grave of, 505.
Parkman, Francis, a kinsman of
Fiske, 1, 13; advises him to write
History of the American People,
2, 72; critical article on, 446,
447; tribute to, 467, 468.
Parsons, Prof. Theophilus, sustains
President Lincoln, I, 187, 188.
Parton, James, Smoking and Drink-
ing, I, 335-
Patterson, Gen. Robert, 2, 164.
Peabody, Prof. Andrew P., I, 162,
163; befriends Fiske, 233; assists
at Fiske's marriage, 299; act-
ing President of Harvard, 341,
342.
Peckham, George William, City
Librarian, Milwaukee, I, 402,
403; 2, 206-08.
Peirce, Prof. Benjamin, I, 153, 154,
196; praises Fiske, 2, 68.
Peirce, Prof. James M., I, 196.
Petersham, Massachusetts, Fiske's
first visit to, I, 246, 421; Hux-
ley's enjoyment of, 2, 91 ; in win-
ter, 93; Fiske buried at, 505.
Philbrick, J. D., I, 263.
Phillips, Wendell, I, 78.
Phrenology, Fiske's early interest
in, I, 82.
Plummer, Caroline, I, 170.
Pollock, Sir Frederick, I, 488, 2,
58 n., 126, 277.
Pollock, Walter, 2, 277.
Polo, Marco, 2, 422.
Pompeii, I, 509.
Pond, Major J. B., Fiske's lecture
manager, 2, 346-48, 35* •
Popular Science Monthly, Fiske's
article on Agassiz published in,
1, 410, 411.
Portland, Oregon, lectures in, 2,
366.
Positivism, see Comte.
Prescott, William Hickling, Fiske's
opinion of, I, 301, 302.
Putnam, George Haven, 2, 147,
148.
Railroad travel in England, I, 453.
Ralston, William, assistant libra-
rian at the British Museum, I,
456, 457, 483; Fiske's friendship
with, 2, 125, 128, 137, 287.
Religion, and the doctrine of evo-
lution, 2, 38-41; and Cosmic
Philosophy, 45, 46, 50-54; and
science, 46, 47.
Renaissance architecture and
painting, I, 496, 497.
Rhine, the, I, 525.
Richmond, Henry, 2, 216.
Rigi, ascent of the, I, 524, 525.
Roberts, George Litch, lifelong
friend of Fiske, I, 78, 84, 85, no,
115, 118; decides to study law,
133; shares Fiske's philosophical
studies, 134; letter from Fiske
about Spencer, 139; proposes to
Fiske an edition of the Apoc-
rypha, 143; chides him for in-
difference to Civil WTar issues,
236, 237; sympathy with Fiske,
257, 258. Letters to, 139, 140, 142,
144, 226, 228, 257, 326; letter
from, 258.
Ropes, John Codman, 2, 347.
Rose, Mr. and Mrs. E. L., 2, 121,
122.
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, I, 519,
521.
Rubens, Peter Paul, I, 527.
Russell, Lord Arthur, 1, 533; 2, 131.
Sacconi, Carlo, painting by, I, 504,
505.
Sadler, Michael E., invites Fiske
to lecture at Oxford, 2, 447.
Sage College, Cornell University,
2, 216, 219.
Salt Lake City, Fiske's impres-
sions of, 2, 372-75.
Sanborn, Frank B., 2, 308.
San Francisco, Fiske's impressions
of, 2, 369, 371.
520
Index
Saturday Club, Boston, 2, 244.
Schurz, Carl, entertains Fiske, 2,
1 66, 167; at Spencer dinner, 261.
Science, and theology, I, 98-103;
2, 4-16; and religion, 46.
Scotch Highlands, the, I, 439-46.
Scott, Sir Walter, Fiske 's enjoy-
ment of, I, 264.
Serapis, Temple of, I, 510.
Seymour, Horatio, I, 240, 241.
Sheridan, Gen. Philip H., gives
Mrs. Fiske historic flag, 2, 231-
33-
Sherman, Gen. W. T., commends
Fiske 's knowledge of military
tactics, 350, 352.
Shipman, Judge William D., I, 23.
Sibley, John Langdon, Harvard
e librarian, I, 141, 398 n., 2, 69.
Sime, James, 2, 121, 122, 124; en-
courages Fiske to lecture in Lon-
don, in, 128; dinner with Fiske,
Huxley, and Spencer, 145; takes
Fiske to Epping Forest, 146;
a day's ramble with Fiske, 147-
49; writes Fiske about Carlyle's
death, 209; letter from, 295.
Sime, William, 2, 286.
Snake River, falls of, 2, 363.
Sociology and Hero-Worship, 2,
191, 194-98.
Sociology as a science, 2, 195, 196.
Sophocles, Prof. Evangelinus A.,
1, 150, 151.
Spencer, Herbert, Fiske 's early
enthusiasm over, I, 138, 139,
229, 230, 257; and Evolution,
218; Fiske secures a photograph
of, 265, 292; Youmans describes
to Fiske, 275; aided by Ameri-
can friends, 319 ».; Fiske writes
about the evolution of language,
354-57; indifferent toward the
Christian religion, 371; dislikes
Fiske's title, "Cosmic Philos-
ophy," 387; Fiske's relations
with, in London, 457, 463-66;
2, 130, 132, 136, 145; personal
sketch of, I, 471-76; qualifica-
tions for his work, 2, 18; Dar-
win's influence on, 19; chief
points of his philosophy, 20-24;
his great undertaking completed,
25; its influence, 25,26; mutual
regard of Spencer and Fiske, 28,
30, 31 ; on the relation of matter
and mind, 35, 36; caricatured,
57; excursions with Fiske and
Henry Holt, 134-36, 141, 142;
forgets social engagement with
Fiske, 151, 152; Fiske's farewell
visit to, 152-54; entertains Mr.
and Mrs. Fiske, 178; visits
America, 238-65; Autobiography
quoted, 241, 242, 244, 254; in-
terviewed, 244; dinner at Sat-
urday Club, 244; personality,
245, 246; on American political
and social problems, 248-52;
sees Harvard College and some
Boston suburbs, 253, 254; goes
to Concord, 254; interest in Em-
erson, 255, 256, 259; farewell
dinner at Delmonico's, 260-62;
doubted immortality of man,
321, 322; debate with Frederic
Harrison, 323; Life of Youmans
dedicated to, 449, 450. Letters
to, I, 293, 313, 338, 383, 408; let-
ters from, I, 295, 316, 356, 366,
385; 2, 58, 152, 263, 278, 322.
St. Louis, Missouri, Fiske's lec-
tures in, 2, 204, 303; one of his
intellectual homes, 205.
Stadhaugh Manor, 2, 181.
Stallo, Judge J. B., 2, 170.
Stanley, Dowager Lady, of Al-
derly, 2, 180.
Star of the West, flag of the, 2, 231.
Stetson, Edward G., classmate of
Fiske, 2, 368.
Stevens, Henry, antiquarian, 2,
128, 130, 131; letter from, 267.
Stewart, Prof.
101.
Balfour, 2, 86 «.,
Stirling Castle, I, 439, 440.
Stoker, Bram, brings message from
Tennyson, 2, 453.
Story of a New England Town, The,
2, 471.
Stoughton, Edwin Wallace, Fiske's
step-father, I, 52-54; supports
Horatio Seymour, 240; encour-
ages Fiske to study law, 267,
268; assents to his concentrat-
ing on a literary life, 305; with
Mrs. Stoughton ^ establishes
Fiske in a home of his own, 2, 79;
Minister to Russia, 94; death of,
228, 229.
Stoughton, Mrs. Edwin W., mar-
riage, I, 52-55; disturbed over
521
Index
John's change of religious views,
115, 1 16; thinks him extravagant
in buying books, 210, 211; letter
from Pres. Felton, 234; critical of
Lincoln, 240, 241; assents to
Fiske's giving up the law, 305;
builds him a house in Cambridge,
2, 79-82; goes to St. Petersburg,
94 ; copies portrait of John Locke
for Fiske, 94; letter to Mrs. Fiske,
169; her home in New York, 229,
230; receives historic flag from
Gen. Sheridan, 231 ; builds house
in Cambridge for herself, 266, 294 ;
remodels it, 486, 487. Letters to,
1, 35, 39, 41, 44- 47, 57, 62, 64, 68,
72, 75, 81, 86, 130, 136, 139, 200,
204, 212, 223, 241, 264-67, 269-
71, 273, 283, 292, 329-32, 349,
353, 375, 379, 394, 413-16, 418,
420, 467, 473, 479, 482, 488, 516,
532; 2, 64, 68, 81, 93, 108, 161,
190, 211, 282.
Strasburg, I, 524.
Stratford-on-Avon, 2, 117.
Sully, James, 2, 58 n.
Sumner, Charles, leaves books to
Harvard Library, 2, 67.
Sumner, Prof. William G., 2, 261.
Sylvester, Prof. James J., 2, 68.
Tailoring, peripatetic, I, 28, 29
and n.
Tait, Prof. P. G., 2, 86 n., 101.
Taylor, Rev. Jeremiah, Fiske's pas-
tor in Middletown, I, 112, 117,
119, 120.
Tennyson, Alfred, sends message
to Fiske, 2, 453, 454.
Terry, Ellen, 2, 344.
Theism, 2, 32-34, 323.
Theming, Fiske's appreciation of
value of, I, 80, 8 1.
Theology, Christian, dogmas of, I,
89-99, 227; and science, I, 98-
103, 2, 4-16.
Through Nature to God, 2, 473.
Ticknor, George, I, 133, 134.
Ticknor & Fields, publishers, I,
138; 2, 27, 255, 396.
Tolstoy, Leo, his War and Peace, 2,
359-
Torrey, Prof. Henry W., I, 154,
155-
Tremont Temple, lectures in, 2,
350.
Triibner, Nicholas, 2, 132, 133,
138; helps Fiske pay a social
debt, 150-52 ; cares for him when
ill, 285, 286.
True Lesson of Protestantism, The,
2, 224-27
Turgemeff, Ivan, 2, 137.
Tylor, Edward B., 2, 54.
Tyndall, John, cordiality to Fiske,
2, 272, 273, 277.
Unitarian, an opprobrious name, I,
121.
Unitarianism, and Harvard Col-
lege, I, 169-71, 174, 178; rise of,
172-74; soon develops heretics,
174, 175-
Unseen Universe, The, by Stewart
and Tait, 2, 86, 101.
Unseen World, The, 2, 97, 100-
04.
Upham, Catherine, I, 193, 243.
Vespucius, Americus, vindication
of, 2, 427.
Vestiges of Creation, I, 181.
Vico, Giovanni Battista, his Scien-
zaNuova, I, 285.
Vinton, Lindley, 2, 216.
Voltaire, Francois, I, 520, 521.
War of Independence, The, 2, 400,
412.
Washburn, Rev. E. A., 2, 99.
Washington University, St. Louis,
lectures at, 2, 204, 303, 345, 352.
Waverley Novels, Fiske's delight
in, I, 264, 271.
Wesleyan University, I, 3, 22.
What is Inspiration? 2, 98-100.
White, Andrew D., offers Fiske a
non-resident professorship at
Cornell University, I, 397, 398.
White, Judge George, I, 283.
White, William A., 2, 160.
Whittier, John G., 2, 35^3.
Wilcox, Mrs. William, letter to, 2,
76-78.
Willson, Rev. Edmund B., 2, 79;
officiates at Fiske's marriage, I,
299; letter to, 2, 174.
Winchester, England, King Alfred
celebration at, 2, 493, 494:
Fiske's proposed address, 494-
502.
Winsor, Justin, 2, 69.
522
Index
Wright, Chauncey, I, 333 «., 410;
death of, 2. 96.
Wyman, Prof. Jeffries, I, 160.
York Cathedral, I, 451; 2, 184.
Youmans, Edward L., I, 217, 221,
396; calls on Fiske, 273, 293;
his own life struggle, 276; makes
acquaintance of English scien-
tists, 277; becomes warm per-
sonal friend of Fiske, 277, 278;
arranges for publishing Fiske's
lectures, 360, 362; encourages
Spencer to come to America, 2,
238; guards him from reporters,
240; arranges public dinner for
him, 243, 260-62; Fiske's life of,
438, 449, 450.
Youmans, Eliza A., 2, 439.
Young, Brigham, 2, 373, 374.
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