Dictionary of National Biography

“ The cosmopolitan temperament, the charm of manner, the social tact, fitted him admirably for the representative or symbolic function of his great station. A perfect command of the three languages, English, French, and German, in all of which he could speak in public on the inspiration of the moment with no less grace than facility, gave Him the ear of Europe. Probably no king won so effectually the good-will at once of foreign peoples and of his own subjects. He was a citizen of the world, gifted with abounding humanity which evoked a universal sym- pathy and regard. ”

“ Almost exclusively an historian of politics, he passes by much that most deeply concerns human progress. Within his own sphere he exhibits an extraordinary power of seeing the past as though he lived in it, for he was not a mere student, and his active interest in present politics and other practical affairs enabled him to invest the politics and men of past times with reality. ”

“ But he showed some signs of a desire to leave politics altogether, especially after he succeeded his father (1911) and had the management of a small landed estate on his hands. He took this duty very seriously, for he was an English tory in the best sense; his love of England, which was intense, was bound up with a belief in the monarchy, the church, and the landed gentry, as the best institutions for England. He was an imperialist, and he was not a believer in democracy. ”

“ Sometimes their career is quite distinct from that of the people, and to write it, as the national history, is as if one should number the accidents which befall a man's weapons and wardrobe, and call the list his biography. Nevertheless, a truly noble and wise nation necessarily has a noble and wise visible government, for its wisdom issues in that conclusively. ”

“ It was followed in 1855 by ‘The Military Forces and Institutions of Great Britain and Ireland: their Constitution, Administration, and Government, Military and Civil,’ in which he endeavoured to galvanise a huge mass of unused material from parliamentary bluebooks and similar materials, and in 1857 by ‘The Choice of a Profession: a concise Account and comparative Review of the English Professions.’ Both works are well written, and should be of value to the sociologist. ”

“ The final decision as to the soundness of his teaching will not yet be reached. But no historian of the social and political movement in his time can fail to note the extraordinary influence which he exercised for a generation ”

“ He had no pretensions to scholarship, and those who knew him best declare that, although possessing a fine library, he rarely opened a book. There is no evidence of the 'transcendent abilities' as a statesman which have been sometimes claimed for him. ”

“ His writings are marked by terse and lucid expression, and his theory of work is well illustrated by the noble words found in one of his notebooks, which have been adopted as a motto for the publications of the institution: ‘Every man is a valuable member of society who by his observations, researches, and experiments procures knowledge for men.’ Although he deeply felt the circumstances of his birth, he was proud of his descent, and once wrote: ‘The best blood of England flows in my veins. ”

“ He was a general who knew how to discipline men and to rouse their enthusiasm; a statesman, if we may trust indications few but pregnant, who, had more time been granted and better support given him by the nobles, might have restored a nation and created a state. ”

“ A younger son of a father of very straitened means, his career was of his own making. By sheer ability and force of character he had won for himself a place in English politics before he was forty, after being absent in the east for more than twenty years ”

“ From 1908 onwards he spoke at many centres in Great Britain; and his personal dignity, the moderation of his tone, and the magnanimity which was his best characteristic, contributed more than the work of all other men to change England's policy on this question. ”

“ A more honourable resource was the public spirit which led him to devote the most of his time and a large part of his fortune to the advancement of learning and the credit of his country in the republic of letters. ”

“ In France he was received into the best society, and was 'universally allowed an accomplished scholar and a man of great science.' He frequented especially the Scots and Irish colleges at Paris, and is even said to have served in the French army. ”

“ Rights and duties were clearly laid down. and in all his reforms there is conspicuous an extraordinary power of adapting 'means to ends.' Yet great as the benefits are which he conferred on the nation, he loved power and struggled for it, generally unsuccessfully, for the means of self-government that he organised and placed in the hands of the nation were turned against him, and were more than once sufficient to thwart his will. ”

“ If he had not felt, in connexion with that experience and responsibility, that the whole future of the Empire depended upon a readiness to review the past history, he would have left the subject, so far as if concerned the immediate interests of Great Britain, to younger men. But a constructive policy was essential, and during his long stay at the Colonial Office he had had more opportunities than most men to meet and consult with distinguished colonial statesmen, and he had found that this matter of closer union was much in their thoughts. ”

“ Had he chosen a political career it is doubtful whether he would have succeeded in it, for he lacked the three qualities—eloquence, personal charm, and strength of conviction—one at least of which is needed in a national leader. ”

“ As a statesman he may, at least for the last seven years of his reign, be credited with a judicious choice of ministers. It is true that he drained England of her treasure for objects in which she was not primarily interested ”

“ In this position he showed himself a strong and uncompromising official. He maintained the importance of continuing native customs and condemned attempts to hasten civilisation. His policy was on the whole successful, though it often provoked violent opposition. ”

“ Mid throws much light upon the social condition of America at the time. It is illustrated by lithographs from drawings by the author, and includes biographical notes on Jefferson, Adams, and other American statesman, in addition to a general statistical view of the country since the declaration of independence. ”

“ No sphere of activity has been consciously overlooked. Niches have been found for sportsmen and leaders of society who have commanded public attention. Malefactors whose crimes excite a permanent interest have received hardly less attention than benefactors. The principle upon which names have been admitted has been from all points of view generously interpreted; the epithet ‘national’ has not been held to exclude the early settlers in America, or natives of these islands who have gained distinction in foreign countries, or persons of foreign birth who have achieved eminence in this country. ”

“ From that time until his death he continued to take an active part in local politics, and wrote a large number of pamphlets and addresses in support of his opinions, which were those of an advanced radical. ”

“ With less than the ordinary advantages of education, he proved more than competent in youth for offices which usually tax the powers of mature age. His maturity fulfilled the promise of his prime, and his later career crowned the whole with unperishable lustre. The term of his chief-justiceship was, indeed, too brief and uneventful to afford him an occasion of displaying his qualities to full advantage, but during his prolonged tenure of the great seal they found such scope as had been allowed to none of his predecessors ”

“ He 'would rather live poor at home than gather riches abroad by change of religion or sinister employments,' and as he had matters of moment to impart to the king, he desired to return to England soon. In recompense for the many books written by him in defence of the church of England against the puritans, and towards finishing one on the king's genealogy, he solicited the gift of some lay prebend (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1631-3, p. 25) . ”

“ Wholly impervious to criticism, he had a passion and a rare capacity for leadership, together with unbounded courage and splendid self-confidence. In manner reserved and distant, he cherished many aristocratic sentiments, and the aspirations of democracy drew from him no genuine response. ”

“ He had also from an early period been interested in 'psychical research,' on the ground that some 'direct proof of continued individual existence' was important to morality. He was president of the society, founded in 1882, for the first three years, and again from 1888 to 1893. ”

“ His first legislature mustered only seven members all told, but he addressed himself vigorously to business, and to the passage of those measures which were required for the settlement of a new country, as to the capacity of which he was sanguine. Particularly he devoted himself to the agricultural development and military defence of the province. The country was surveyed and laid out for immigrants ”

“ Perspicuity, vivacity, and humour are there alike conspicuous; and the union of a philosophic temper with practical sagacity impart to them a ‘Baconian flavour.’ ‘Who among his contemporaries—how few among his successors—have grasped his central principle that forms of government are properly a natural product, the expression of national character, national circumstances ”

“ Other articles show his interest in French politics and the gradual development of his political theories, in which his old democratic zeal was tempered by a fear of the danger to individualism. His main practical purpose, however, was to stimulate the flagging energies of the ‘philosophical radicals.’ He tried to believe that they only required a leader ”

“ He did not neglect his educational duties, and wrote, after long years of cogitation, a suggestive ‘survey of education’ or ‘moral architecture,’ as he termed it, which he dedicated to the king (it was printed posthumously in his ‘Reliquiæ,’ ed. 1672, pp. 73–99) ; but he found the boys more interesting than their work. ”

“ He devoted himself to the amelioration of the condition of the coloured race and to the development of the resources of the colonies; but he resigned the government in 1848, owing to the action of the colonial office in reinstating the chief justice of St. ”

“ The remainder are destined to the most various careers: some will become members of Parliament or diplomatists, many will be civil servants, some will take Holy Orders, others will be journalists, literary men, business men, barristers, schoolmasters, and what not. To all such a sound general knowledge of history—with the elements of economic history, political science, political geography, constitutional history—will be invaluable. ”

“ In social life there is no artificial distinction of classes; all titles of nobility are forbidden; a few families descended from the chiefs in the War of Independence enjoy a certain pre-eminence, but wealth and, still more, political or literary notoriety constitute the principal claim to social consideration. ”

“ He was well read in modern literature, and was no mean classical scholar. His friend W. R., who prefixed a commendatory epistle to the 1620 edition of the 'Seneca,' is justified in his praise of his principle of translation, which prevented him, 'parrot-like,' from losing 'himself literally in a Latin Echo,' while it enabled him to express the 'meaning in our proper English elegancies and phrase.' In his 'Romances' his prose is very ornate, but its graces are of a languid order, and the modern reader finds it tedious. It is as a lyric poet that Lodge is best deserving of remembrance. ”

“ It brings to light the thread which unites each particular stage in the career of a people, or of mankind as a whole, with what went before, and with what came after.
NATIONS.—History has been called "the biography of a society." Biography has to do with the career of an individual. History is concerned with the successive actions and fortunes of a community; in its broadest extent, with the experiences of the human family. It is only when men are connected by the social bond, and remain so united for a greater or less period, that there is room for history. ”

“ Vain of the influence he exercised over most women, and misled by the personal attentions paid him by the queen, he sought to rule her and thus to vanquish his rivals. For a time she played with him, as though he were a jealous lover; but she despised his political advice. On foreign affairs he imbibed ideas from the Bacons; but he formulated no policy, except one of active aggression against Spain, and of offensive alliances with the protestant powers of Europe. Physically brave, even to recklessness, he was no military tactician, and could not support a general's responsibilities. ”

“ The tendency of historians nowadays is to neglect completely the study of the influences on State of Man's domestic, social, industrial, religious, and intellectual life, and of the diverse effects on human life and institutions of the working of the political machinery. ”

“ His third literary undertaking in the first year of his publishing career was of more permanent interest; it was Leigh Hunt's 'Imagination and Fancy.'
It was characteristic of Smith's whole life as a publisher that he was never content to maintain with authors merely formal business relations. From boyhood the personality of writers of repute deeply interested him, and that interest never diminished at any point of his career. In early manhood he was rarely happier than in the society of authors of all degrees of ability. ”