upon it as on a kind father or mother, and to sport with it, and hold light and merry talk with it, as with a loved brother or sister; and to fondle it, and play with it, as with a child? No otherwise did Socrates and Plato commune with Truth; no otherwise Cervantes and Shakespeare. This playfulness of Truth is beautifully represented by Landor, in the conversation between. Marcus Cicero and his brother, in an allegory which has the voice. and the spirit of Plato. On the other hand, the outcries of those who exclaim against every sound more lively than a bray or a bleat, as derogatory to truth, are often prompted, not so much by their deep feeling of the dignity of the truth in question, as of the dignity of the person by whom that truth is maintained. It is our vanity, our self-conceit, that makes us so sore and irritable. To a grave argument we may reply gravely, and fancy that we have the best of it; but he who is too dull or too angry to smile cannot answer a smile, except by fretting and fuming. Olivia lets us into the secret of Malvolio's distaste for the Clown.

For the full expansion of the intellect, moreover, to preserve it from that narrowness and partial warp which our proneness to give ourselves up to the sway of the moment is apt to produce, its various faculties, however opposite, should grow and be trained up side by side-should twine their arms together, and strengthen each other by love wrestles. Thus will it be best fitted for discerning and acting upon the multiplicity of things which the world sets before it. Thus, too, will something like a balance and order be upheld, and our minds preserved from that exaggeration on the one side, and depreciation on the other side, which are the sure results of exclusiveness. A poet, for instance, should have much of the philosopher in him; not, indeed, thrusting itself forward at the surface- this would only make a monster of his work, like the Siamese twins, neither one thing nor two-but latent within; the spindle should be out of sight, but the web should be spun by the Fates. A philosopher, on the other hand, should have much of the poet in him. A historian cannot be great without combining the elements of the two minds. A statesman ought to unite those of all the three. A great religious teacher, such as Socrates, Bernard, Luther, Schleiermacher, needs the statesman's practical power of dealing with men and things, as well as the historian's insight into their growth and purpose. He needs the philosopher's ideas, impregnated and impersonated by the imagination of the poet. In like manner, our

graver faculties and thoughts are much chastened and bettered by a blending and interfusion of the lighter, so that "the sable cloud" may "turn her silver lining on the night"; while our lighter thoughts require the graver to substantiate them and keep them from evaporating. Thus Socrates is said, in Plato's "Banquet," to have maintained that a great tragic poet ought likewise to be a great comic poet-an observation the more remarkable, because the tendency of the Greek mind, as at once manifested in their Polytheism, and fostered by it, was to insulate all their ideas; and, as it were, to split up the intellectual world into a cluster of Cyclades, leading to confusion, is the characteristic of modern times. The combination, however, was realized in himself, and in his great pupil; and may, perhaps, have been so to a certain extent in Eschylus, if we may judge from the fame of his satiric dramas. At all events the assertion, as has been remarked more than once-for instance by Coleridge ("Remains," ii. 12),—is a wonderful prophetical intuition, which has received its fulfillment in Shakespeare. No heart would have been strong enough to hold the woe of Lear and Othello, except that which had the unquenchable elasticity of Falstaff and the "Midsummer Night's Dream." He, too, is an example that the perception of the ridiculous does not necessarily imply bitterness and scorn. Along with his intense humor, and his equally intense piercing insight into the darkest, most fearful depths of human nature, there is still a spirit of universal kindness, as well as universal justice, pervading his works; and Ben Jonson has left us a precious memorial of him, where he calls him "My gentle Shakespeare." This one epithet sheds a beautiful light on his character; its truth is attested by his wisdom, which could never have been so perfect unless it had been harmonized by the gentleness of the dove. A similar union of the graver and lighter powers is found in several of Shakespeare's contemporaries, and in many others among the greatest poets of the modern world: in Boccaccio, in Cervantes, in Chaucer, in Goethe, in Tieck; so was it in Walter Scott.

Complete. From "Guesses at Truth.»

JAMES HARRINGTON

(1611-1677)

HE COMMONWEALTH OF OCEANA," by James Harrington, has been called the most curious book in existence, but without attempting to contest its claims to uniqueness, the discriminating reader will remember that Swedenborg and Fourier have written, each in his own way, on the same subjects with which "Oceana » deals. It embodies Harrington's ideas of how model men would live in a model commonwealth. Many of the essays on morals and government in it are in the form of speeches supposed to be delivered in the political discussions of "Oceana." The most distinctive and practical feature of the work is the "Rotation in Office," on which Harrington insists for all executive officers. The attempt at "Rotation in the United States was made, undoubtedly, as a result of this suggestion.

Harrington was born in Northamptonshire, England, in January, 1611. At Oxford, he had Chillingworth for a tutor, and while still a young man enjoyed the friendship of the Prince of Orange and the Queen of Bohemia. His strong Republican ideas did not lose him the confidence of Charles I., and he was one of the friends who accompanied the deposed king to the scaffold. "Oceana" displeased Cromwell, and he ordered its suppression while it was in the printer's hands; but Harrington won him over, and when the book appeared in 1656 it was with a dedication to the Lord Protector, who then, if not always, was as far removed from Republican ideas as Charles I. himself. Under Charles II., Harrington was imprisoned until his health was broken and his intellectual powers impaired. He died September 11th, 1677.

I'

OF A FREE STATE

F THE liberty of a man consists in the empire of his reason, the absence whereof would betray him to the bondage of his passions, then the liberty of a commonwealth consists in the empire of her laws, the absence whereof would betray her to the lust of tyrants. And these I conceive to be the principles upon

which Aristotle and Livy (injuriously accused by Leviathan for not writing out of nature) have grounded their assertion that a commonwealth is an empire of laws, and not of men. But they must not carry it so. For, says he, the liberty, whereof there is so frequent and honorable mention in the history and philosophy of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the writings and discourses of those that from them have received all their learning in the politics, is not the liberty of particular men, but the liberty of the commonwealth. He might as well have said that the estates of particular men in a commonwealth are not the riches of particular men, but the riches of the commonwealth; for equality of estates causes equality of power, and equality of power is the liberty not only of the commonwealth, but of every man. But sure a man would never be thus irreverent with the greatest authors, and positive against all antiquity, without some certain demonstration of truth; and, what is it? Why, there is written on the turrets of the city of Lucca in great characters at this day the word Libertas; yet no man can thence infer that a particular man has more liberty or immunity from the service of the commonwealth there than in Constantinople. Whether a commonwealth be monarchical or popular, the freedom is the same. The mountain has brought forth, and we have a little equivocation! for to say that a Lucchese has no more liberty or immunity from the laws of Lucca than a Turk has from those of Constantinople; and to say that a Lucchese has no more liberty or immunity by the laws of Lucca than a Turk has by those of Constantinople, are pretty different speeches. The first may be said of all governments alike; the second scarce of any two; much less of these, seeing it is known that whereas the greatest Basha is a tenant, as well of his head as of his estate, at the will of his lord, the meanest Lucchese that has land is a freeholder of both, and not to be controlled but by the law, and that framed by every private man to no other end (or they may thank themselves) than to protect the liberty of every private man, which by that means comes to be the liberty of the commonwealth.

But seeing they that make the laws of the commonwealth are but men, the main question seems to be, how a commonwealth comes to be an empire of laws and not of men, or how the debate or result of a commonwealth is so sure to be according to

reason; seeing they who debate, and they who resolve, be but men. And as often as reason is against a man, so often will a man be against reason.

From "Oceana.»

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT

LL government is founded upon overbalance, in propriety, power, or ownership.

If one man hold the overbalance unto the whole people in propriety, his propriety causeth absolute monarchy.

If the few hold the overbalance unto the whole people in propriety, their propriety causeth aristocracy, or mixed monarchy.

If the whole people be neither overbalanced by the propriety of one, nor of a few, the propriety of the people or of the many causeth democracy, or popular government.

The government of one against the balance is tyranny.

The government of a few against the balance is oligarchy. The government of the many (or attempt of the people to govern) against the balance is rebellion or anarchy.

Where the balance of propriety is equal, it causeth a state of war.

To hold that government may be founded upon community is to hold that there may be a black swan, or a castle in the air, or that what thing soever is as imaginable, as what hath been in practice, must be as practicable as what hath been in practice. If the overbalance of propriety be in one man, it necessitateth the form of government to be like that of Turkey.

If the overbalance of propriety be in the few, it necessitateth the form of government to be like that of king, lords, and

commons.

If the people be not overbalanced by one or a few, they are not capable of any other form of government than that of a senate and a popular assembly.

From "Oceana.»