a star of the first magnitude went out of the firmament of original thought by the death of herbert spencer. his was the most distinctive personality that remained with us after the death of mr. gladstone. spencer was as great in the kingdom of science as mr. gladstone was in that of politics and ecclesiasticism. men have to go back to aristotle to find spencer's compeer in range of thought, and to gibbon for a parallel to his protracted persistence in accomplishing his great design of creating a philosophy of evolution. mr. spencer's distinction was that he laid down new landmarks of evolutionary guidance in all the dominions of human knowledge. gibbon lived to relinquish his pen in triumph at the end of years of devotion to his "history of the decline and fall of the roman empire "—mr. spencer planned the history of the rise and growth of a mightier, a more magnificent, and more beneficent empire—that of universal law—and for forty years he pursued his mighty story in every vicissitude of strength with unfaltering purpose, and lived to complete it amid the applause of the world and the gratitude of all who have the grand passion to understand nature, and advance the lofty destiny of humanity.
herbert spencer was born april 27, 1820, in the town of derby, and died in his eighty-fourth year, december 8, 1903, at 5, percival terrace, brighton, next door to his friend, sir james knowles, the editor of the nineteenth century. at the time of his birth, derby was emerging from the sleepy, dreamy, stagnant, obfuscated condition in which it had lain since the days of the romans.
it is difficult to write of spencer without wondering how a thinker of his quality should have been born in derby—a town which had a determined objection to individuality in ideas. it has a charter—its first act of enterprise in a thousand years—obtained by the solicitations of the inhabitants from richard i., which gave them the power of expelling every jew who resided in the town, or ever after should approach it. centuries later, in the reigns of queen anne and george i., not a roman catholic, an independent, a baptist, an israelite, nor even an un-molesting quaker could be found in derby.
there still remains one lineal descendant of the stagnant race which procured the charter of darkness from richard i.—mr. alderman w. winter, who opposed in the town council a resolution of honour in memory of spencer, who had given derby its great distinction, because his views contradicted the antediluvian scriptural account of the creation, when there was no man present to observe what took place, and no man of science existed capable of verifying the mosaic tradition. the only recorded instance of independency of opinion was that of a humble derby girl, who was born blind, yet could see, like others, into the nature of things. she doubted the real presence. what could it matter what the poor, helpless thing thought of that? but the town burned her alive. the brave, unchanging girl, whose convictions were torment-proof, was only twenty-two years old.
the only derby man of free thought who preceded herbert spencer was william hutton, a silk weaver, who became the historian of derby and birmingham. in sagacity, boldness and veracity he excelled. the wisdom of his opinions was a century in advance of his time (1770-1830).
there were no photographs in the time of mr. spencer's parents, and their lineaments are little known. mr. spencer's uncle i knew, the rev. thomas spencer, a clergyman of middle stature, slender, with a paternal evangelical expression. but his sympathies were with social reform, in which field he was an insurgent worker for projects then unregarded or derided.
when i first knew mr. herbert spencer, he was one of the writers on the leader newspaper. we dined at times at the whittington club, then recently founded by douglas jerrold. at this period mr. spencer had a half-rustic look. he was ruddy, and gave the impression of being a young country gentleman of the sporting farmer type, looking as unlike a philosopher as thomas henry buckle looked like a historian, as he appeared to me on my first interview with him. mr. spencer at that time would take part in discussions in a determined tone, and was persistent in definite statement in that he resembled william chambers, with whom i was present at a deputation to lord derby on the question of the paper duty. lord derby could not bow him out, nor bow him into silence, until he had stated his case.
in those days mr. spencer spoke with misgivings of his health. mr. edward pigott, chief proprietor of the leader (afterwards public examiner of plays) asked me to try to disabuse mr. spencer of his apprehensiveness, which was constitutional and never left his mind all his life, and i learned never to greet him in terms which implied that he was, or could be well. coleridge complained of ailments of which no physical sign was apparent, and he was thought, like mr. spencer, to be an imaginary invalid. but after his death coleridge was found to have a real cause of suffering, and the wonder was that he did not complain more.
there must be a distinct susceptibility of the nerves—which sir michael foster could explain—peculiar to some persons. i have had two or three friends of some literary distinction, whom i made it a rule never to accost, or even to know when i met them, until they had recovered from the inevitable shock of meeting some unexpected person, when they would spontaneously become genial.
mr. spencer's high spirit was shown in this. though he often had to abandon his thinking, he resumed it on his recovery. the continuity of his thought never ceased. one form of trouble was recurring depression, so difficult to sustain, which james thompson, who oft experienced it, described—when a man has to endure—
"the same old solid hills and leas;
the same old stupid, patient trees;
the same old ocean, blue and green;
the same sky, cloudy or serene;
the old two dozen hours to run
between the settings of the sun."
mr. spencer was first known to london thinkers by being found the associate of economists like bagot; philosophers with a turn for enterprise in the kingdom of speculation—as george henry lewes, darwin, huxley, tyndall; and of great novelists like george eliot. in those days the house of john chapman, the publisher, was the meeting ground of french, italian, german and other continental thinkers. there, also, congregated illustrious americans like ralph waldo emerson, and other unlicensed explorers in the new world of thought. there mr. spencer became known to men of mark in america, who made his fame before his countrymen recognised him. if it was england who "raised" mr. spencer, it was america that discovered him. mr. george lies, a distinguished american friend of mr. spencer, sends me information of the validity of american admiration of him, on the authority of the daily witness: "mr. spencer's income is mainly drawn from the sale of his books in america, his copyrights there having yielded him 4,730 dollars in the last six months. a firm of publishers have paid in the last six months royalties amounting nearly to ten thousand dollars to mr. herbert spencer and the heirs or executors of darwin, huxley and tyndall. the sales of spencer's and darwin's books lead those of huxley and tyndall."
during the earlier publication of his famous volumes, his expenditure in printing and in employing assistants in gathering facts for his arguments, exhausted all his means. lord stanley, of that day, was understood to have offered him an appointment, which included leisure for his investigations. but he declined the thoughtful offer, deeming the office to be of the nature of a sinecure. wordsworth accepted such an appointment, and repaid the state in song, as spencer would have repaid it in philosophy.
i had the honour to be mr. spencer's outdoor friend. he asked me to make known the publication of his work to persons whom i knew to be friendly to enterprise in thought. for years i assiduously sought to be of service in this way.
one day in 1885, being the guest, in preston, of the rev. william sharman, he showed me a passage in one of mr. spencer's volumes, published in 1874, which i had not seen, and which surprised me much, in which it appeared secularists were below christians in their sense of fiduciary integrity. mr. sharman said, "defective as we are supposed to be, you will see that secularists are one degree lower in morality than the clergy." mr. spencer had given instances which, in his opinion, "showed that the cultivation of the intellect does not advance morality." if that were so, it would follow that it was better to remain ignorant—if ignorance better develops the ethical sense. the instance mr. spencer gives occurs in the "study of sociology" (pp. 418-19), "written to show how little operative on conduct is mere teaching. let me give, says mr. spencer, a striking fact falling under my observation:
"some twelve years ago was commenced a serial publication, limited in its circulation to the well educated. it was issued to subscribers, from each of whom was due a small sum for every four numbers. the notification periodically made of another subscription due received from some prompt attention, from others an attention less tardy than before, and from others no attention at all. after a lapse of ten years, a digest was made of the original list, when it was found that those who finally declined paying for what they had year after year received, constituted, among others, the following percentages:
christian defaulters............. 31 per cent.
secularist defaulters............ 32 per cent."
i wrote to mr. spencer as follows:
"eastern lodge, brighton,
"december 1, 1885.
"my dear mr. spencer,—i am like the sailor who knocked down the jew, and when he was remonstrated with said, 'he did it because he had crucified his lord and saviour.' when told that that occurred 2,000 years ago he answered, 'but i only heard of it last night.'
"it was but a few days ago that your notice of secularist fraudulency, made in 1874, became known to me.
"from so dispassionate and analytic an authority as yourself, your reflection on the ethical insensibility of secularists justifies me in asking your attention to certain facts. by what test did you know that 32 per cent of defaulters were secularists? the names i gave you were of persons likely to take in your work if prospectuses were sent to them. but many of them were not secularists. some of them were ministers of religion, others churchmen, but having individually a taste for philosophical inquiry. you do not say that these persons sent in their names as subscribers. yet unless they did, they cannot be justly described 'as regardless of an equitable claim.' had you informed me of any whose names i gave you, who had not paid for the work, after undertaking to do so, i could have procured you the payment, for all whose names i gave i believe to be men of good faith.—with real regard,
"george jacob holyoake."
mr. spencer sent me the following reply:
"38, queen's gardens, bayswater, london, w.,
"november 16, 1885.
"dear mr. holyoake,—you ask how i happen to know of certain defaulters that they were secularists. i know them as such simply because their names came to me through you; for, as you may remember, you obtained for me, when the prospectus of the 'system of philosophy' was issued, sundry subscribers.
"but for my own part, i would rather you did not refer to the matter. at any rate, if you do, do not do so by name. you will observe, if you turn to the 'study of sociology,' where the matter is referred to, that i have spoken of the thing impersonally, and not in reference to myself. though those who knew something of the matter might suspect it referred to my own case, yet there is no proof that it did so; and i should be sorry to see myself identified by name with the matter.—truly yours,
"herbert spencer."
but mr. spencer had identified secularists as lacking ethical scrupulousness, and as i was the reputed founder of that form of freethought known as secularism, some notice became incumbent on my part. the brief article on "intellectual morality" in the present day, which i was editing in 1885, was my answer—the same as appears in my letter to mr. spencer, above quoted.
in 1879 the great recluse meditated going to america. as i was about to do the same myself, i volunteered to take a berth in the same vessel if i could be of any service to him on the voyage. he thought, however, that our sailing in the same ship might cause the constructive interviewers out there to confuse together the opinions we represented. yet my friends would not know his, nor would his friends know mine. but i respected his scruples, lest his views should become colourably identified with my own. i had myself a preference for keeping distinct things separate, and i sailed in another ship and never called at his hotel but once, when he was residing at the falls of niagara, which i thought was a curious spot (the noisiest in canada) to choose for one whose need was quietude. he would take an entire flat in a hotel that he might be undisturbed at night. in montreal, mr. george iles gave me the same splendid, spacious, secluded bedroom which he had assigned to mr. spencer when he was his host there. professor von denslow, who told me that he was the "champion non-sleeper of the united states," asked me to give a communication from him to mr. spencer. that was the reason of my single visit to him in canada. at the farewell banquet given to mr. spencer in new york, famous speakers took part; but henry ward beecher, in a speech shorter than any, excelled them all.
after his return to england, i had several communications from him on the subject of co-operation. like mr. gladstone, he usually made searching inquiries into the details of every question on which he wrote. one of his letters was as follows:—
"2, lewes crescent,
"brighton,
"january 6, 1897.
"dear mr. holyoake,—i should have called upon you before now had i not been so unwell. i have been kept indoors now for about three weeks. i write partly to say this and partly to enclose you something of interest as bearing upon my suggestion concerning piecework in co-operative combinations. the experience described by miss davenport-hill bears indirectly, if not directly, upon them, showing as it does the harmonising effect of piecework.—truly yours,
"herbert spencer."
busied as he was with the recondite application of great principles, he had practical discernment of the possibilities of co-operation, unthought of by those of us engaged in promoting co-partnership in the workshop. trades unions were mostly against piecework as giving more active workers an advantage over the others. mr. spencer pointed out that in a co-partnership workshop the fruitfulness of piece work was an advantage to all. the piece-workers increase the output and profits of the society. the profits, being equally divided upon wages, the least bright and active members receive benefit from the piece-workers' industry.
occasionally mr. spencer would come to my door and invite me to drive with him. another time when he had visitors—mrs. sidney webb and prof. masson, whom i wished to meet again—he would, if in the winter season, send me a card from "2, lewes crescent, jan. 24, 1897.—i will send the carriage for you to-morrow (sunday) at 12.40. with the hood up and the leather curtain down you will be quite warm.—h.s." he would occasionally send me grouse or pheasant for luncheon. very pleasant were the amenities of philosophy.
the first work of mr. spencer's which attracted public attention was "social statics." like mr. lewes' "biography of philosophy," it had a pristine charm which fascinated young thinkers. both authors restated their works, but left behind their charm. mr. gladstone's first address to the electors of newark contains the germs of his whole and entire career. "social statics" contains the element of that philosophy which gave spencer the first place among thinkers of all times. bishop colenso found the book in the library of the builder of his mission houses in south africa. mr. ryder, of bradford, yorkshire, procured it through me and took it out with him. it was a book of inspiration to him.
ten years before "social statics" appeared i was concerned with others in publishing, in the "oracle of reason," a theory of regular gradation. our motto, from boitard, was an explicit statement of evolution. five out of seven of us were soon in prison, which shows that we did not succeed in making evolution attractive. intellectual photography was then in an infantine state. our negatives lacked definition and our best impressions were indistinct. it was not until darwin and spencer arose that the art of developing the evolutionary plates came to be understood.
before the days of spencer the world of scientific thought was mostly without form and void. the orthodox voyagers who set out to sea steered by a compass which always veered to a jewish pole, and none who sailed with them knew where they were. rival theologians constructed dogmatic charts, increasing the confusion and peril. guided by the pole star of evolution, spencer sailed out alone on the ocean of speculation and discovered a new empire of law—founded without blood, or the suppression of liberty, or the waste of wealth—where any man may dwell without fear or shame.
the fascination of mr. spencer's pages to the pulpit-wearied inquirer was, that they took him straight to nature. mr. spencer seemed to write with a magnifying pen which revealed objects unnoticed by other observers. his vision, like a telescope, descried sails at sea invisible to those on shore. his pages, if not poems, gleamed with the poetry of facts. his facts were the handmaids always at hand which explained his principle. his repetitions do not tire, but are fresh assurances to the reader that he is following a continuous argument. a pedestrian passing down a long street is glad to meet the recurrence of its name, that he may know he is still upon the same road. in spencer's reasonings there are no byways left open, down which the sojourner may wander and lose himself. when cross-roads come in sight, fingerposts are set up telling him where they lead to, and directing him which to take. mr. spencer pursues a new thought, never loses sight of it, and takes care the reader does not. no statement goes before without the proof following closely after.
when the reception was given to me at south place institute, london, in april, 1903, on my eighty-sixth birthday, he had been confined to his house from the previous august, yet he took trouble to write some words of personal regard to myself beyond all my expectation. to the end of his days—save when the weather was inclement—i used to walk up the hill to his door to inquire as to his health, and when i could not do so, mr. troughton would write me word. mr. spencer's last letter to me was in answer to one i had sent him on his birthday. it was so characteristic as to deserve quoting:
"thanks for your congratulations; but i should have liked better your condolences on my longevity."
he wanted no twilight in his life. like the sun in america, his wish was to disappear at once below the horizon—having amply given his share of light in his day.
like huxley, mr. spencer would not have slept well in westminster abbey. he needed no consolation in death; and if he had, there was no one who knew enough to give it to him. his conscience was his consolation. his one choice was that his friend mr. john morley—than whom none were fitter—should speak at his death the last words over him. mr. morley being in sicily, this could not be. the next in friendship and power of estimate—the right hon. leonard courtney—spoke in his stead, at the hampstead crematorium. mr. spencer had a radium mind which gave forth, of its own spontaneity, light and heat. none who have died could more appropriately repeat the proud lines of sir edward dyer:—
"my mind to me a kingdom is;
such perfect joy therein i find
as far exceeds all earthly bliss
that god or nature hath assign'd."
