IN THE MATURITY OF HER POWERS.
The book, published early in 1848, in which Harriet described her
Egyptian, Desert and Palestine travels, was entitled _Eastern Life,
Past and Present_. If I were required to give from some one only of
her works a series of extracts which should illustrate the special
powers of her mind and the finest features of her style, it would be
this book that I should choose. I do not mean to say that the most
eloquent and vivid passage that I might find in all her writings is
here; nor that her deepest and noblest qualities as a thinker are more
forcibly displayed here than elsewhere. But I mean that in _Eastern
Life, Past and Present_, all her best moral and intellectual
faculties were exerted, and their action becomes visible, at one page
or another, in reading the book from the first to the last chapters.
The keen observation, the active thought, the vigorous memory, the
power of deep and sustained study, the mastery of language, giving the
ability to depict in words and to arouse the reader's imagination to
mental vision--all these requisites for the writing of a good book of
travel she showed that she possessed. But there is even more than all
this in _Eastern Life_. There is the feeling for humanity in all
its circumstances, which can sympathize no less with the slave of the
harem at this moment alive in degradation, than with the highest
intelligences that ceased from existence unnumbered thousands of years
ago. The most interesting and characteristic feature distinguishing
this work is, however, the openness and freedom of its thought
combined with the profound reverence that it shows for all that is
venerable.
It was _Eastern Life_ which first declared to the world that Harriet
Martineau had ceased to have a theology. She had learned in travelling
through Egypt, how much of what Moses taught was derived from the
ancient mythology of Egypt. Passing afterwards through the lands where
the Hebrew, the Christian, and the Mohammedan faiths in turn arose,
observing, thinking, and studying, the conclusion at which she arrived
at last was, in brief, this: That men have ever constructed the image
of a Ruler of the Universe out of their own minds; that all successive
ideas about the Supreme Power have been originated from within, and
modified by the surrounding circumstances; and that all theologies,
therefore, are baseless productions of the human imagination, and have
no essential connection with those great religious ideas and emotions
by which men are constrained to live nobly, to do justly, and to love
what they see to be the true and the right.
Her conviction that the highest moral conduct, and the most unselfish
goodness, and the noblest aspirations, are in no degree connected with
any kind of creed, was aided and supported, no doubt, by her warm
personal affection for Mr. Atkinson, and some other of her friends of
his way of thinking, in whom she found aspirations as lofty and
feelings as admirable as ever she had enjoyed communion with, together
with a complete rejection, on scientific grounds, of all theology. Her
belief now was that--
The best state of mind was to be found, however it might be
accounted for, in those who were called philosophical atheists....
I knew several of that class--some avowed, and some not; and I had
for several years felt that they were among my most honored
acquaintances and friends; and now I knew them more deeply and
thoroughly, I must say that, for conscientiousness, sincerity,
integrity, seriousness, effective intellect, _and the true
religious spirit_, I knew nothing like them.
Her own "true religious" earnestness was unabated. _Eastern Life_
contains abundance of evidence that the spirit in which she now wrote
against all theological systems was exactly at one with that in which
she had twenty years before written _Addresses, Prayers and Hymns_.
Her intellectual range had become far wider; her knowledge of human
nature and of the history and conditions of mankind had vastly
increased; but her religious earnestness--that is to say, her devotion
to truth, and her emotional reverence for her highest conceptions of
goodness and duty--was as fervent as ever.
Notwithstanding the boldness and heterodoxy of _Eastern Life_, it did
not cause much outcry; and her two next books were amongst the most
successful of all her works. The first of these was _Household
Education_; the second, _A History of the Thirty Years' Peace_.
The former was partly written for periodical publication during 1847
in the _People's Journal_, for which magazine she wrote also a few
desultory articles.
The _History of the Peace_ was a voluminous work of the first order of
importance. Its execution is in most respects entirely admirable. Her
task of writing the history of the time in which she had herself lived
was one of extreme delicacy. Honest contemporary judgments about
still-living or lately-dead persons, and about actions which have been
observed with all the freshness of feeling of the passing moment, must
often seem unduly stern to those who look back through the softening
veil of the past, and to whom the actors have always been purely
historic personages. Moreover, I have before mentioned her tendency,
which seems to me to have arisen from her deafness, to give
insufficient _shading off_ in depicting character. But wonderfully
little allowance is, after all, required on such grounds from the
reader at the present day of Harriet Martineau's history of the years
between 1815 and 1845. The view taken by her of O'Connell, Brougham,
and some others is perhaps too stern; the picture has too many dark
shades, and not a due proportion of light tints; but it can scarcely
be questioned that the outline is accurate, and the whole drawing
substantially correct. The earnest endeavor after impartiality, and
the success with which the judicial attitude of the historian is on
the whole maintained, are very remarkable.
This appears so to one who looks upon the book with the eyes of the
present generation; but the recognition of the fact at the moment when
she wrote is perhaps more conclusive, and the following quotation may
serve to show the opinion of those who (with her) had lived through
the time of which she treats.
Miss Martineau has been able to discuss events which may almost be
called contemporary as calmly as if she were examining a remote
period of antiquity. She has written the history of a rather
undignified reign with a dignity that raises even the strifes of
forgotten and exploded parties into philosophic importance. She
exhibits warm sympathies for all that is noble, honorable, or
exalted--and a thorough disdain of every paltry contrivance
devised to serve a temporary purpose, or gain an unworthy end. The
principles which she enunciates are based on eternal truths, and
evolved with a logical precision that admits rhetorical ornament
without becoming obscure or confused. There are few living authors
who may be so implicitly trusted with the task of writing
contemporary history as Miss Martineau. She has spared no pains in
investigating the truth, and allowed no fears to prevent her from
stating it.[17]
[17] _Athenaeum_, March, 31st, 1849.
Though all her other books should die, and be buried utterly under the
dust of time, this one will never be entirely lost. It is as accurate
and as careful in its facts as the driest compendium, while yet its
pages glow with eloquence, and are instinct with political wisdom. She
really did here what she had designed to do in _Society in America_;
but here she did it in the right method, there in a wrong one. The
great growth of her mind in twelve years of maturity could not be
better gauged than by a comparison of these two works. Her political
principles did not change in the time; she was a true believer in
popular government all her life--her love of justice caused her to be
a hater of class rule, and of every kind of privilege; her sympathies
were boundless, and made her in earnest for the freedom and progress
of the democracy; her conscience was active so that she loved truth
for its own sake; and her sense of duty never failed to keep alive in
her large mind a feeling of personal concern in the progress of public
affairs. All this was true of her when she wrote her American book; it
was equally true when she treated the history of her own land and her
own times. But in the latter case, she writes on political philosophy
like a statesman--in the former there is much of the doctrinaire. In
the latter work, principles underlie the whole fabric; but the actions
of politicians are made the means of judging their own professed
creeds, the value of those creeds being easily appraised by the
results seen to follow on actions in conformity with them. In the
earlier work, as we saw, the theories were postulated first, and the
actions were measured against those self-derived standards of right
and wrong. For political sagacity, for nobility of public spirit, for
effective thought, for knowledge of facts, for clear presentation of
them, for accuracy in judging of their permanent importance, for
candor, and impartiality, for insight into character, and for vivid
and glowing eloquence, _The History of the Thirty Years' Peace_ stands
forth unmatched amongst books of its class. This, I take it, will be
the most enduring and valuable of all her works, and the one by which
chiefly posterity will learn what were her powers and how estimable
was her character.
In the two works last mentioned, _Eastern Life_ and _The Thirty
Years' Peace_, it seems to me that she touched the high-water mark
of her permanent achievements. We have nearly reached the end of the
long catalogue of her books, though by no means the end of her
writings. Very much more work she did in her life, as will presently
be told, but it was that kind of work which is (with the single
exception of oratory) the most powerful at the moment, but the most
evanescent--journalism. She was soon to begin to apply her ripe wisdom
and her life-long study of the theory of government to the concrete
problems of practical politics. The influence of an active and
powerful journalist cannot be measured; the work itself cannot be
adequately surveyed and criticized; and thus what is, perhaps, the
most useful, capable and important work which Harriet Martineau did,
eludes our detailed survey. We can best judge what was her power as a
leader-writer and review and magazine essayist by noting how
progressively her mind improved, and to what a high moral and
intellectual standpoint she had attained in her latest volumes, just
before she exchanged such sustained labors for the briefer though not
less arduous efforts of leading and teaching through the periodical
press.
_The History of the Peace_ was completed in 1850, and was so
immediately successful that the publisher asked Miss Martineau to
write an introductory volume on the history of the first fifteen years
of this century. While at work upon this "Introduction" she did also
some short articles on various subjects for Charles Dickens'
periodical, _Household Words_, and was likewise proceeding with the
preparation of another volume of a very different kind. This last was
published in January, 1851 (before the introductory volume of the
_History_), under the title of _Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature
and Development_, by Henry George Atkinson, F.G.S., and Harriet
Martineau.
The contents of the book were actual letters which had passed between
the friends. It will be remembered that Harriet did not meet Mr.
Atkinson during the progress of her mesmeric treatment and recovery
from illness under his written advice. But soon after she got better,
they were visiting together at the house of a cousin of hers, and
during the six years or so which had since then passed, they had often
met, and their correspondence had grown to be very frequent. Mr.
Atkinson had gradually become the friend dearest to Harriet Martineau
in all the world. He gained her affection (I use the word advisedly)
by entirely honorable roads--by the delight which she took in
observing his scientific knowledge, his originality of thought and his
elevated tone of mind. But I cannot doubt that long before this volume
of _Letters_ was published, he had become dear to her by virtue
of that personal attraction which is not altogether dependent upon
merit, but which enhances such merits as may be possessed by the
object of the attachment, and somewhat confuses the relationship on
the intellectual side. This condition of things is in no way
especially feminine; John Stuart Mill bowed down to Mrs. Taylor, and
Comte erected his admiration of Clotilde into a _culte_. Mr.
Atkinson was many years younger than his friend, and very likely she
never fully realized the depth of her own feelings towards him. But
still the attraction had its influence, though unacknowledged in
words, and unreciprocated in kind.
Miss Martineau was really taught by Mr. Atkinson much of science that
she had not previously studied; but yet it was an error, from every
point of view, for her to present to the world a book in which she
avowed herself his pupil. Her letters are mainly composed of
questions, upon which she seeks enlightenment. The answers cannot, in
the nature of the case, give forth a connected system of thought upon
"Man's Nature and Development." No one was more ready than she herself
to recognize that, as she says, "in literature, no mind can work well
upon the lines laid down by another"; yet this was what she required
Mr. Atkinson to do in replying to her questions and taking up her
points. The errors that one would expect are found in the results of
this mistaken form; the facts and the inferences are neither
sufficiently separated, nor properly connected; and the real value
which the book had as a contribution to science and philosophy is lost
sight of in the disorder. In fact, no form could be less suitable than
the epistolary for such work--either for the writers to arrange and
analyze what they were doing, or for the reader to see and understand
what they have done. Besides this, the public had long consented to
learn from Harriet Martineau; but Mr. Atkinson, though highly
respected by his own circle, was not known to the general public, and
it was therefore an error in policy for Miss Martineau to show herself
sitting as a pupil at his feet, and to call on those who believed in
her to believe in him as her teacher and guide. Her fine tact and long
experience must have led her to perceive all this in an ordinary case;
and only the personal reason of a desire to win for her friend the
recognition from the public which she herself had already given him so
fully in her own head and heart, could have led an experienced and
able woman of letters to so blunder in her selection of the literary
form of the book.
As to the substance of the _Letters_, but little need be said, because
the bulk of the volume is not her writing, but Mr. Atkinson's. The
ideas which she had then accepted, however, were those by which she
lived the rest of her life, and must have their due share of notice
for that reason.
The fundamental point in the book is its insistance on the Baconian,
or experiential, or scientific, method of inquiry being adopted in
studying man and his mental constitution, just as much as in studying
inanimate nature. A great First Cause of all things is not denied, but
declared unknown and unknowable, as necessarily beyond the
comprehension of the senses of man. Supernatural revelation is, of
course, entirely rejected; indeed, the very word supernatural is held
to involve a fallacy, for only natural things can be known. Mr.
Atkinson pointed out that the whole of the facts which are around us
can be observed, analyzed, and found to occur in an invariable
sequence of causes and effects, which form natural laws; and that the
mind of man is no exception to this general truth, that all events
spring from causes, and are themselves in turn causes of other
effects. It follows from these conclusions that the "First Cause"
(which, as Miss Martineau said, the constitution of the human mind
requires it to suppose) never intervenes in the world as an errant
influence, disturbing natural law; and all speculations about its
nature, character, and purposes are put aside as out of the field of
inquiry.
Passing on from method to results, Mr. Atkinson gave the first hints
of many doctrines now fully accepted: as that of unconscious
cerebration, or that of more senses than five, for instance; and many
others (based mainly on phrenology and mesmerism) not held, up to the
present time, even by the scientists of his own school. For the rest
the book has much that is interesting; it has much that is true; but
it has, also, much that might well have been put forward as
speculation, but should not have been stated so dogmatically as it was
on the evidence available.[18]
[18] It is right that I should say that I alone am
responsible for the above (necessarily imperfect) digest of
the contents of the book. I at first thought of asking Mr.
Atkinson to do me the favor of reading my account of his work
in proof; but I ultimately concluded that it would be better
that in this instance, as in the case of all Harriet
Martineau's other books, I myself should be wholly
responsible to the public for my own substantial accuracy
and fairness.
It was received in 1851 with a howl from the orthodox press which
would seem strange indeed in these days. But of competent criticism it
had very little. Miss Martineau's name, of course, secured attention
for it; and small though her share in the book was, it was quite
enough to make the fact perfectly clear that she was henceforth to be
looked upon as a "materialist" and a "philosophical atheist," and the
rest of the names by which it was customary to stigmatize any person
who rejected supernaturalism and revelation.
The motives with which this book was written and published could
hardly be misunderstood. There could be no idea of making money out of
a work on philosophy--even if either of the authors had been in the
habit of writing merely to make money; while as to fame and applause,
everyone is more or less acquainted with the history of the reception
given in all ages to those who have questioned the popular beliefs of
their time! The sole motive with which Harriet Martineau wrote and
issued this book was the same that impelled her to do all her
work--the desire to teach that which she believed to be true, and to
be valuable in its influence upon conduct. With regard to the latter
point, it seemed to her that one great cause for the slow advance of
civilization is the degree to which good men and women have occupied
themselves with supernatural concerns, neglecting for these the actual
world, its conditions, and its wants, and giving themselves over to
the guidance of a spiritual hierarchy instead of exercising all their
own powers in freedom. She struck at this error in publishing the
_Letters_. At the same time she felt doubtful if her future writings
would ever be read after her bold utterances, and even, as the
following letter shows, whether she might not find herself the
occupant of a felon's dock for the crime of which Socrates, and Jesus,
and Galileo were each in turn accused--blasphemy:
LETTER TO MR. ATKINSON.
[Extract.]
August 10, 1874.
One thing more is worth saying. Do you remember how, when we were
bringing out our "Letters," I directed your attention to our
Blasphemy Law, and the trial of Moxon, under that law, for
publishing Shelley's "Queen Mab" among his _Poems_? You ridiculed
my statement, and said Mr. Procter[19] denied there being such a
law, or Moxon having been tried, in the face of the fact that I
had corresponded with Moxon on the occasion, on the part of
certain personal friends. The fact appeared afterwards in the
_Annual Register_, but it seemed to produce no effect. Well, now
you can know the truth by looking at the _Life of Denman_, by Sir
Joseph Arnould. If you can lay your hands on the book, please look
at vol. ii. p. 129, where there is an account of the trial, Judge
Denman being the judge who tried the case. The narrative ends
thus:--"The verdict was for the Crown" (conviction for blasphemy),
"but Mr. Moxon was never called up for sentence." It is too late
for Mr. Procter to learn the truth, but it is surely always well
for us, while still engaged in the work of life, to be accurately
informed on such matters as the laws we live under, and our
consequent responsibilities. Is it not so?
[19] "Barry Cornwall."
It was, then, with the full anticipation, not only of social obloquy,
but also of legal penalty, that the brave thinker fulfilled (to quote
her own words in the preface to the _Letters_) "that great social
duty, to impart what we believe, and what we think we have learned.
Among the few things of which we can pronounce ourselves certain is
the obligation of inquirers after truth to communicate what they
obtain." The heroic soul fulfilled now, as before and afterwards, what
she held to be her duty, as simply and unwaveringly as ever a soldier
on the battlefield charged the cannon's mouth.
Five times in her life did Harriet Martineau write and publish that
which she believed would ruin her prospects, silence her voice for
ever, and close her career. Far from her was that common paltering
with the conscience by which so many men confuse their minds--the poor
pretence that truth must not be spoken for fear that the speaker's
influence for future worthy work may be injured by his boldness. This
is how the devil tempts, saying, "Fall down, and worship me, and I
will give thee all the kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them."
Harriet Martineau never worshipped evil even by silence, when silence
was sin, playing fast and loose with her conscience by a promise to
use the power so obtained for higher objects hereafter. The truth that
appeared to her mind she spoke frankly; the work that was placed for
her to do she did simply; and so the quagmire of the expedient never
engulfed her reputation, her self-respect and her usefulness, as it
has done that of so many who have been lured into it from the straight
path of right action and truthful speech in public life, by
will-o'-the-wisp hopes of greater power and glory for themselves in
the future--which they hope they may use for good when they shall be
smothered in cowardice and lies. She had much to suffer, and did
suffer. Martyrs are not honored because they are insensate, but
because they defy their natural human weaknesses in maintaining that
which they believe to be true. Probably the keenest grief which she
experienced on the occasion now before us came from the complete
separation which took place between her and the dearest friend of her
youth, her brother James. Dr. Martineau was, at that time, one of the
editors of the _Prospective Review_. Philosophy was his department,
and in the natural order the _Letters_ came to him for review. He
reviewed the book accordingly and in such terms that all intercourse
between him and his sister was thenceforward at an end. They had long
before drifted apart in thought; but this final separation was none
the less felt as a wrench. Dr. Martineau's attack was almost
exclusively aimed against Mr. Atkinson. But with Harriet's loyalty of
nature she was more impelled to resent what was said about her friend
and colleague than if it had been directed against herself. The
brother and sister never met or communicated with each other again.
The introductory volume of the _History of the Peace_ was published
soon after the Atkinson _Letters_. The next work which she undertook
was a great labor--the rendering into English of Comte's _Positive
Philosophy_.
What she accomplished with this book was not a mere translation, nor
could it be precisely described as a condensation; it was both these
and more. Comte had propounded his groundwork of philosophy and his
outline of all the sciences in six bulky volumes, full of repetitions,
and written in an imperfect French style. Harriet Martineau rendered
the whole substance of these six volumes into two of clear English,
orderly, consecutive, and scientific in method as in substance. So
well was her work accomplished that Comte himself adopted it for his
students' use, removing from his list of books for Positivists his own
edition of his course, and recommending instead the English version by
Miss Martineau. It thus by-and-bye came to pass that Comte's own work
fell entirely out of use, and his complete teachings became
inaccessible to the French people in their own tongue; so that twenty
years afterwards, when one of his disciples wished to call public
attention to the master's work as teaching the method of social
science by which the French nation must find its way back to
prosperity after the great war, he was constrained to ask Harriet
Martineau's permission to re-translate her version.
Comte wrote her the warmest expressions of his gratitude; but this he
owed her on another ground besides the one of the value of her labors
in popularizing his work so ably. While she was laboring at her task,
Mr. Lombe, then High Sheriff of Norfolk, sent her a cheque for L500,
which he begged her to accept, since she was doing a work which he had
long desired to see accomplished, but which he knew could not possibly
be remunerative to her. She accepted the money, but with her customary
generosity in pecuniary affairs, she employed more than half of it in
paying the whole expenses of publication, and arranged that the
proceeds of the sale, whatever they might be, should be shared with M.
Comte.
There was a considerable demand for the work on its first appearance;
and up to this present date a fair number of copies is annually
disposed of. It came out in November, 1853, having partly occupied her
time during the preceding two years. Only partly, however; for,
besides all the efforts for her neighborhood previously referred to
(the building society was in progress during those years, and gave her
much thought, as her business notes are in evidence), and besides her
farming, she was now writing largely for periodicals and newspapers.
These are the pulpits from which our modern preachers are most widely
and effectively heard, and the right tone of which is, therefore, of
the first consequence to society. For every hundred persons who listen
to the priest, the journalist (including in this term writers for all
periodicals) speaks to a thousand; and while the words of the one are
often heard merely as a formality, those of the other, dealing with
the matters at the moment most near and interesting to his audience,
may effectively influence the thoughts and consciences and actions of
thousands in the near future. Shallow, indeed, would be the mind which
undervalued the power of the journalist, or underrated the seriousness
of his vocation.
Harriet Martineau saw the scope which journalism afforded for the kind
of work which she had all her life been doing--the influencing of
conduct by considering practical affairs in the light of principle.
Her periodical writing being, according to our mistaken English
custom, anonymous, neither brought her any increase of fame nor
carried with it the influence which her personality as a teacher would
have contributed to the weight of what she wrote. Nevertheless, she
repeatedly in her letters, speaks of her journalism as the most
delightful work of her life, and that which she believed had been
perhaps the most useful of all her efforts.
Some stories with sanitary morals, which she now contributed to
_Household Words_, were admirably written. "The People of Bleaburn" is
the true story of what was done by a grand American woman, Mary Ware,
when she happened to go into an isolated village at the very time
that half its inhabitants were lying stricken down by an epidemic.
"Woodruffe, the Gardener," was a presentation of the evils of living
in low-lying damp countries. "The Marsh Fog and the Sea Breeze" is
perhaps the most interesting of all her stories since the Political
Economy tales, which it much resembles in lightness of touch and in
practical utility.
A series of slight stories under the general title of "Sketches from
Life," was also contributed at this time to the _Leader_; they
were all of them true tales and, like most real life stories,
extremely pathetic. The most touching is one called "The Old
Governess," describing the feelings with which an educated elderly
woman, past her work, and with an injured hand, sought refuge in the
workhouse; and how she conducted herself there. These stories were
republished in a volume in 1856.
A series of descriptive accounts of manufactures, some of which
contain most graphic writing, were also done in this time. These
papers, with others written between 1845-55, were re-published in a
volume in 1861.[20] There are some passages which I am greatly tempted
to quote, merely as specimens of the perfection to which her literary
style had at this time arrived. It is now a style of that clear
simplicity which seems so easy to the reader, but which is in reality
the highest triumph of the literary artist. The inexperienced reader
is apt to suppose that anybody could write thus, until perhaps he
gains some glimpse of the truth by finding the powerful effect which
it is producing upon his thoughts and imagination. The practiced
writer knows meanwhile that, simple though the vocabulary appears, he
could not change a word for the better; and easily though the
sentences swing, the rounding of their rhythm is an achievement to
admire. I may not pause to quote, but I may especially refer to the
paper on "The Life of a Salmon," in illustration of this eloquence of
style.
[20] _Health, Husbandry and Handicraft._
Early in 1852, Harriet Martineau received an invitation from the
_Daily News_ to send a "leader" occasionally. Busily engaged as she
was with Comte, and with work for other periodicals, she yet gladly
accepted this proposition; and thus began her connection with that
paper (then newly started) which was so valuable both to her and the
proprietors of the _Daily News_. During the early summer of 1852, she
wrote two "leaders" each week, and, before she had finished Comte, the
regular contributions to the newspaper had grown to three a week.
In the autumn of 1852 she made a two months' tour through Ireland; and
at the request of the editor she wrote thence a descriptive letter for
publication in the _Daily News_, almost every other day. The letters
described the state of Ireland at the moment, with observations such
as few were so well qualified as she to make upon the facts. She did
now what Daniel O'Connell had entreated her to do years before. In
1839 the Liberator begged her to travel through his country, and
without bias or favor represent calmly what really was the political
and social condition of Ireland.[21] The "Letters from Ireland"
attracted immediate attention as they appeared in the _Daily News_;
and before the end of the year they were re-published in a volume. At
the same time some of her "leaders" secured much attention, and the
editor pressed her to write even more frequently. During 1853 she
wrote on an average four articles a week, and shortly afterwards the
number rose to six--one in each day's paper.
[21] It may be mentioned that a similar plea was made to her
by the Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden, who desired her aid in
preparing his people for constitutional reform; and again, at
a later date, by Count Porro, of Milan, who begged that she
would let the world know what was the condition of Italy
under Austrian rule.
The tale of the journalistic work of these busy two years is not yet
complete. There is a long article of hers in the _Westminster Review_
for January, 1853; the subject is, "The Condition and Prospects of
Ireland."
All this journalism was done at the same time that the heavy sustained
task of the condensation of Comte's abstruse and bulky work was
proceeding. When to all this we add in our recollection her home
duties, and when the fact is borne in mind that it was her common
practice to take immense walks, not infrequently covering from twelve
to fifteen miles in the day, it will be seen that the mere industry
and energy that she showed were most extraordinary. But, besides this,
her work was of a high order of literary excellence, and full of
intellectual power.
Such incessant labor is not to be held up as altogether an example to
be imitated. There are some few whose duty it is to consciously
moderate the amount of labor to which their mental activity impels
them; and no one ought to allow the imperative brain to overtax the
rest of the system. During the Irish journey, Harriet began to be
aware of experiencing unusual fatigue. She gave herself no sufficient
pause, however, either then or afterwards, until she could not help
doing so.
After the publication of Comte she wrote a remarkable article for the
_Westminster Review_ (anonymous of course) on "England's Foreign
policy." This appeared in the number for January, 1854. It dealt
largely with the impending struggle between England and Russia. True
Liberal as Harriet Martineau was, she hated with all her soul, not the
Russian people, but the hideous despotism, the Asiatic and barbarian
and brutal government of that empire. She foresaw a probable great
struggle in the future between tyranny and freedom, in which Russia,
by virtue of all her circumstances, will be the power against which
the free peoples of the earth will have to fight. Not only, then, did
she fully recognize the necessity for the immediate resistance, which
the Crimean war was, to the encroachments on Europe of the Czar, but
her article also included a powerful plea for the abolition of that
system of secrecy of English diplomacy, by which it is rendered quite
possible for our ministry to covertly injure our liberties, and to
take action behind our backs in our names in opposition to our warmest
wishes. The article, as a whole, is one of her most powerful pieces of
writing, and had it been delivered as a speech in parliament, it would
undoubtedly have produced a great effect, and have placed her high
amongst the statesmen of that critical time.
In the April (1854) number of the same _Review_, there appeared an
article from her pen upon "The Census of 1851." This paper was not a
mere comment upon the census return, but an historical review of the
progress of the English people from barbarism to the civilization of
our century.
In the spring of this year she made a careful survey of the beautiful
district around her home, in order to write a _Complete Guide to the
Lakes_ for a local publisher. She was already thoroughly acquainted
with the neighborhood by means of her long and frequent pedestrian
excursions, and reminiscences of these abound in this "Guide." The
vivid description of a storm on Blake Fell, for instance, is a
faithful account of an occurrence during a visit which a niece and
nephew from Birmingham paid to her soon after her settlement at the
lakes. The word-paintings of the scenery, too, were drawn, not from
what she saw on one set visit only, but were the results of her many
and frequent pilgrimages to those beauties of nature which she so
highly appreciated. But still she would not write her "Guide" without
revisiting the whole of the district.
The most interesting point about this book is that it reveals one
feature of her character that all who knew her mention, but that very
rarely appears in her writings. This is, her keen sense of humor. She
dearly loved a good story, and could tell one herself with pith and
point. Her laugh is said to have been very hearty and ready. Even when
she was old and ill, she was always amusable, and her laughter at any
little bit of fun would even then ring through her house as gaily as
though the outburst had been that of a child's frank merriment. It is
surprising that this sense of and enjoyment in the ludicrous so rarely
appears in her writings. But I think it was because her authorship was
to her too serious a vocation for fun to come into it often. She felt
it almost as the exercise of a priestly function. It was earnest and
almost solemn work for her to write what might be multiplied through
the printing-press many thousand times over, and so uttered to all who
had ears to hear. She showed that this was so by the greater
deliberateness with which she expressed judgments of persons and
pronounced opinions of any kind in her writings than in conversation.
Similarly she showed it by the abeyance of her humor in writing; it
was no more possible for her to crack jokes when seated at her desk
than it would have been for a priestess when standing by her tripod.
But this particular book, this "Guide, written for neighborly
reasons," did not admit of the seriousness of her intellect being
called into action, and the result is that it is full of good stories
and lighted up with fun. Her enjoyment in such stories reveals that
sense of humor which, however strongly visible in daily intercourse,
rarely appears in her books in any other form than in her perfect
appreciation of the line between the sublime and the ludicrous.
This summer brought her much annoyance of a pecuniary kind. Her
generosity about money matters were repeatedly shown, from the time
when she left her "_Illustrations_" in the hands of Mr. C. Fox,
onwards; and she had now given what was for her means an extravagant
contribution to the maintenance of the _Westminster Review_, taking a
mortgage on the proprietorship for her only security. In the summer of
1854, Dr. Chapman, its publisher and editor, failed; and an attempt
was made to upset the mortgage. Harriet Martineau gave Chapman the
most kindly assistance and sympathy in his affairs at this juncture;
not only overlooking the probable loss to herself, but exerting
herself to write two long articles for the next number of the _Review_
(October, 1854).
One of these essays is on "Rajah Brooke;" a name that has half faded
out of the knowledge of the present generation, but which well
deserves memory from the heroic devotedness, and courage, and
governing faculty of the man. His qualities were those most congenial
to Harriet Martineau; and, finding his enemies active and potent, she
made a complete study of his case and represented it in full in an
article which (like her previous one on "Foreign Policy") was so
statesman-like and so wise, so calm and yet so eloquent, that it would
have made her famous amongst the politicians of the day had it been
delivered as a speech in the House, instead of being printed
anonymously in a review with too small a circulation to pay its way.
Nor did generous aid to Dr. Chapman end here. He was disappointed of
some expected contributions, and Miss Martineau wrote him a second
long article for the same number--the one on "The Crystal Palace,"
which concludes the _Westminster_ for October, 1854. Her two
contributions amounted to fifty-four pages of print--truly a generous
gift to an impecunious magazine editor.
It was now precisely ten years since her recovery from her long
illness. The work done in that time shows how complete the recovery
had been. Those ten happy years of vigor and of labor were, she was
wont to say, Mr. Atkinson's gift to her. Well had she used these last
years of her strength.