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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. 

133 


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. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .    A 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


MAY 


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