Three Americans and Three Englishmen; Lectures Read Before the Students of Trinity College, Hartford - Softcover

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886. Excerpt: ... COLERIDGE. "Men act upon the world by what they say and by what they do." This is substantially what the logicians call an identical proposition, for, since writing and talking are acts, it is equivalent to saying, " Men act upon the world by acting." Let us put ourselves more nearly in accord with the modern positive spirit and say: "Men act on their fellows through the medium of language which conveys ideas, and by muscular contractions which put matter in motion, or arrest its motion." Even in this there is not the strict definiteness required by the disciple of Spencer, for one could object, "When a man speaks he puts matter in motion, the air vibrates, and the drum of the auditor's ear vibrates." Despairing of scientific accuracy, let us again say simply, in the old vague manner, "Men act on the world by what they do and by what they say," for we wish to speak of a man who influenced his own generation widely, by what he said; and, further, the thought of Samuel Coleridge is on an entirely different plane from the thought of the modern physico-psychological school, which is trying to pick the lock of the universe on the principle that one key opens all locks, and that all locks hide the same secret. We will confine ourselves to Coleridge as a writer and talker, for though men act on the world by a subtle influence of character, sometimes more than by written and spoken words--Shelley's personality, for instance, counts for more than his poetry--the character of Coleridge, as evinced in the ordinary relations of life, was not one which of itself would refine, elevate, or strengthen. To those who knew him intimately, there were, doubtless, qualities of self-abnegation, of reverence, of spiritual mindedness, in addition to the intellectual power devoted...

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