The pursuit of knowledge under difficulties [by G.L. Craik]. Continuation

THE

PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

GEORGE L. CRAIK, M.A.,

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST.

A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.

LONDON:

BELL AND DALDY, 6, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN,
AND 186, FLEET STREET.

PREFACE.

THIS book was originally published, in 1830, under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; and it was reproduced in another form, under my own care, in 1845. The revision which it underwent on that occasion, however, extended only to such statements as were affected by the lapse of time. Appearing now with the name of the writer, it is restored throughout more nearly to the state in which it first left my hands; and I have also taken the opportunity of introducing a few additional notices of eminent individuals, some of them still living, who have distinguished themselves by one form or another of what may be called the Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. Of that happy title, however, which has had the fortune to become a sort of proverbial phrase, or "household word," and to which the book, no doubt, owes much of whatever success it has had, I ought to say that I cannot claim the credit; it belongs, I have always understood, to Lord BROUGHAM, who, finding time for everything, honoured the little work by going over the proof-sheets, at least of the first volume, and some other touches of whose expressive pen, it may interest the reader to know, are elsewhere to be found in it; although I would not have his Lordship, or any one but myself, to be held responsible for either its statements as to matters of fact, or any indications of opinion on controverted questions; of which last, however, there are really none, I believe, that can give pain or offence to anybody.

G. L. C.

By the kind permission of Mr. CHARLES KNIGHT, we are enabled to print the following extract from his " Passages of a Working Life" (vol. ii., p. 133), giving a detailed account of the origin of this volume :—

It was not only in the meetings of our committees that I had the advantage for my editorial guidance of the opinions of men of accurate minds and sound information; but I was frequently also in correspondence with those who took a more than common interest in particular works. Such a work was that well-known contribution to the "Library of Entertaining Knowledge," which first established the reputation of Mr. George Lillie Craik as a sound thinker and an accomplished writer. To myself, individually, the recollection of that Autumn of 1828 is especially dear, for it was the commencement of an intimacy which ripened into the unbroken friendship of six and thirty years. In the preliminary stages of discussion on the objects and mode of treatment of a book such as this, which was to embrace a vast number of illustrative anecdotes of the love of knowledge overcoming the opposition of circumstances, there were necessarily different estimates of the value of scientific and literary studies, whether "for use," or "for delight," or "for ornament." The great distinction be

tween the love of knowledge for its own sake, and the love of knowledge as the means of worldly advancement, may be traced very distinctly in the two popular volumes of Mr Craik, and the equally popular "Self Help" of Mr. Smiles. Mr. Craik's views upon this cardinal point are very clearly expressed in a letter written to me by him in the Autumn of 1829, but having no date except the day of the week (a very perplexing custom for the historian or biographer). His views are so interesting that I make no apology for the length of the quotation :

"Our concern, it appears to me, is neither with individuals who have in any way been exalted from one region of society to another, nor even with such as have been chiefly the authors of their own exaltation; for the fact of their exaltation is not at all the one upon which we wish to fix attention, even although we should make it out to have been in every case the consequence of their abilities and attainments. What, then, is our subject? Not the triumphs of genius, nor of perseverance, nor even of perseverance in the pursuit of knowledge, because it is not the success of the effort, at least in a gross and worldly sense, we would point attention to; nor is it by any means what is called genius to which we are exclusively to confine ourselves, while we still less mean to include every species of perseverance. But we want a category which shall embrace, for example, the cases at once of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, of Franklin-of all, in short, who, whether in humble or high life, have pursued Knowledge with ardour, and distinctly evidenced, by the seductions they resisted, or the difficulties they encountered and overcame for her sake, that she was the first object of their affections: and that the pursuit of her, even without any reference to either the wealth, the power, or the distinction which she might bring them, was, in their estimation, its own sufficient reward. It appears to me, then, clearly that our title must be not anecdotes of self-taught genius at all, for that is greatly too limited, but Anecdotes of the Love of Knowledge—that being in truth the one distinction which we find common to all the examples we would embrace, as well as the disposition which we mean to excite and foster."

Mr. Craik had written a preliminary dissertation, in the sound views of which Mr. Brougham expressed himself to me as generally coinciding. But in a portion of a letter, dated from Westmoreland, in September, 1828 (and I judge, therefore, to have preceded by a month or two the letter from Mr. Craik which I have quoted), Mr. Brougham takes a different view of the range of such a work as that proposed. "His (Mr. Craik's) idea of the line to be drawn as to self-educated men in modern times is also quite correct; but we must, nevertheless, confine the examples to cases which are quite plainly those of men who have greatly altered their situation by force of merit-as Watt, Arkwright, Franklin, Burns, Bloomfield, Mendelsohn-making, the ground of division or classification, self-exaltation rather than selfeducation, though they often will coincide. This field is quite large enough for one book; but the work might be followed by another comprehending the rest of it, and including all self-taught genius in the larger sense. To give an example: I should certainly exclude Newton, though, like Pascal, he taught himself mathematics: also Granville Sharpe, though he raised himself by his merit to great fame; but he was grandson of the Archbishop of York, and could not be said to alter his station in life. I look forward to Mr. Craik's labours as of the greatest use to the Society, and to the good cause, having the greatest confidence in his sound principles, and a very high opinion of his talents."

This interesting discussion was continued between Mr. Brougham, Mr. Hill, Mr. Craik, and myself, till it was seen how the opposite views could be resolved into a general agreement. I have before me Mr. Brougham's proof of Mr. Craik's first volume. To Mr. Brougham is to be assigned the merit of giving to the book in this proof the title which has come to be one of the commonest forms of speech,

THE PURSUIT of Knowledge UNDER DIFFICULTIES. The title originally stood-
THE LOVE OF Knowledge ovERCOMING DIFFICULTIES IN ITS PURSUIT.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Classification of Difficulties.-Our natural Love of Knowledge.-The Philosophy that lies

in Common Things. Newton; Gravitation.-Galileo; the Pendulum.-Torricelli and

Pascal; the Barometer.-Prince Rupert; Mezzotinto.-Montgolfier; the Balloon.-

Self-Teaching

CHAPTER II.

Page

Strength of the Passion for Knowledge:-Pythagoras; Archimedes; Leibnitz; Galileo;

Heyne

CHAPTER III.