holy in thought, lovely in word and deed? Indeed it is, with some,

nay, with many, and the strength of England is in them, and the
hope; but we have to turn their courage from the toil of war to the

toil of mercy; and their intellect from dispute of words to
discernment of things; and their knighthood from the errantry of

adventure to the state and fidelity of a kingly power. And then,
indeed, shall abide, for them and for us, an incorruptible felicity,

and an infallible religion; shall abide for us Faith, no more to be
assailed by temptation, no more to be defended by wrath and by

fear;--shall abide with us Hope, no more to be quenched by the years
that overwhelm, or made ashamed by the shadows that betray:- shall

abide for us, and with us, the greatest of these; the abiding will,
the abiding name of our Father. For the greatest of these is

Charity.
Footnotes:

{1} The paragraph that begins "I think I can best tell you their
answer..."

{2} The paragraph that begins "Does a bird..."
{3} The paragraphs beginning:

79--"I believe, then, with this exception..."
75--"Yet, observe, with exquisite accuracy..."

19--"Now, in order to deal with words rightly,..."
79--"Then, in art, keep the finest models..."

{4} [Greek word which cannot be reproduced]
{5} Note this sentence carefully, and compare the 'Queen of the

Air,' paragraph "Nothing that I ever said is more ..."
{6} 2 Peter iii. 5-7.

{7} Compare the 13th Letter in 'Time and Tide.'
{8} Modern "Education" for the most part signifies giving people

the faculty of thinking wrong on every conceivable subject of
importance to them.

{9} Inf. xxiii. 125, 126; xix. 49. 50.
{10} Compare with paragraph "This, then, is what you have to do..."

{11} See note at end of lecture. I have put it in large type,
because the course of matters since it was written has made it

perhaps better worth attention.
{12} Respecting the increase of rent by the deaths of the poor, for

evidence of which see the preface to the Medical Officer's report to
the Privy Council, just published, there are suggestions in its

preface which will make some stir among us, I fancy, respecting
which let me note these points following:-

There are two theories on the subject of land now abroad, and in
contention; both false.

The first is that, by Heavenly law, there have always existed, and
must continue to exist, a certain number of hereditarily sacred

persons to whom the earth, air, and water of the world belong, as
personal property; of which earth, air, and water, these persons

may, at their pleasure, permit, or forbid, the rest of the human
race to eat, to breathe, or to drink. This theory is not for many

years longer tenable. The adverse theory is that a division of the
land of the world among the mob of the world would immediately

elevate the said mob into sacred personages; that houses would then
build themselves, and corn grow of itself; and that everybody would

be able to live, without doing any work for his living. This theory
would also be found highly untenable in practice.

It will, however, require some rough experiments and rougher
catastrophes, before the generality of persons will be convinced

that no law concerning anything--least of all concerning land, for
either holding or dividing it, or renting it high, or renting it

low--would be of the smallest ultimate use to the people, so long as
the general contest for life, and for the means of life, remains one

of mere brutalcompetition. That contest, in an unprincipled
nation, will take one deadly form or another, whatever laws you make

against it. For instance, it would be an entirely wholesome law for
England, if it could be carried, that maximum limits should be

assigned to incomes according to classes; and that every nobleman's
income should be paid to him as a fixed salary or pension by the

nation; and not squeezed by him in variable sums, at discretion, out
of the tenants of his land. But if you could get such a law passed

to-morrow, and if, which would be farther necessary, you could fix
the value of the assigned incomes by making a given weight of pure

bread for a given sum, a twelvemonth would not pass before another
currency would have been tacitly established, and the power of

accumulated wealth would have re-asserted itself in some other
article, or some other imaginary sign. There is only one cure for

public distress--and that is public education, directed to make men
thoughtful, merciful, and just. There are, indeed, many laws

conceivable which would gradually better and strengthen the national
temper; but, for the most part, they are such as the national temper

must be much bettered before it would bear. A nation in its youth
may be helped by laws, as a weak child by backboards, but when it is

old it cannot that way strengthen its crooked spine.
And besides; the problem of land, at its worst, is a bye one;

distribute the earth as you will, the principal question remains
inexorable,--Who is to dig it? Which of us, in brief word, is to do

the hard and dirty work for the rest, and for what pay? Who is to
do the pleasant and clean work, and for what pay? Who is do no

work, and for what pay? And there are curious moral and religious
questions connected with these. How far is it lawful to suck a

portion of the soul out of a great many persons, in order to put the
abstracted psychical quantities together and make one very beautiful

or ideal soul? If we had to deal with mere blood instead of spirit,
(and the thing might literally be done--as it has been done with

infants before now)--so that it were possible, by taking a certain
quantity of blood from the arms of a given number of the mob, and

putting it all into one person, to make a more azure-blooded
gentleman of him, the thing would of course be managed; but

secretly, I should conceive. But now, because it is brain and soul
that we abstract, not visible blood, it can be done quite openly,

and we live, we gentlemen, on delicatest prey, after the manner of
weasels; that is to say, we keep a certain number of clowns digging

and ditching, and generally stupefied, in order that we, being fed
gratis, may have all the thinking and feeling to ourselves. Yet

there is a great deal to be said for this. A highly-bred and
trained English, French, Austrian, or Italian gentleman (much more a

lady), is a great production,--a better production than most
statues; being beautifully coloured as well as shaped, and plus all

the brains; a glorious thing to look at, a wonderful thing to talk
to; and you cannot have it, any more than a pyramid or a church, but

by sacrifice of much contributed life. And it is, perhaps, better
to build a beautiful human creature than a beautiful dome or

steeple--and more delightful to look up reverently to a creature far
above us, than to a wall; only the beautiful human creature will

have some duties to do in return--duties of living belfry and
rampart--of which presently.

{13} Since this was written, the answer has become definitely--No;
we having surrendered the field of Arctic discovery to the

Continental nations, as being ourselves too poor to pay for ships.
{14} I state this fact without Professor Owen's permission: which

of course he could not with propriety have granted, had I asked it;
but I consider it so important that the public should be aware of

the fact, that I do what seems to me right, though rude.
{15} That was our real idea of "Free Trade"--"All the trade to

myself." You find now that by "competition" other people can manage
to sell something as well as you--and now we call for Protection

again. Wretches!
{16} I meant that the beautiful places of the world--Switzerland,

Italy, South Germany, and so on--are, indeed, the truest cathedrals-
-places to be reverent in, and to worship in; and that we only care

to drive through them: and to eat and drink at their most sacred
places.

{17} I was singularly struck, some years ago, by finding all the
river shore at Richmond, in Yorkshire, black in its earth, from the

mere drift of soot-laden air from places many miles away.
{18} One of the things which we must very resolutelyenforce, for

the good of all classes, in our future arrangements, must be that
they wear no "translated" articles of dress. See the preface.