TO R. B. LITCHFIELD, Esq.
Coniston, 23d August 1853.
I came here with Campbell of Trin.
Hall to meet his
brother and another
Oxford man called Christie. We are all in a house
just
above
the lake, recreating ourselves and reading a little. Pomeroy is off to
Ireland. I have seen a good deal of him, and we
have read
"at
the same time successively" Vestiges of Creation and
Maurice's
Theological Essays. Both have excited thought and talk. . . . I was
down
after the Mug with Tayler's uncle in Suffolk, and was taken
in
there.
I was there made acquainted with the peculiar constitution of a
well-regulated
family, consisting entirely of nephews and nieces, and educated
entirely
by the uncle and aunt. There was plenty of willing obedience,
but
little diligence: much mutual trust, and little self-reliance. They did
not strike out for themselves in different lines, according
to
age,
sex, and disposition, but each so excessively sympathised
(bonâ
fide, of course) with the rest, that one could not be surprised at
hearing
any one take part in criticising his own action.
In such a case some would
recommend "a
little
wholesome neglect." I
would suggest something, like the scheme of
self-emancipation
for slaves. Let each member of the family be allowed some little
province
of thought, work, or study, which is not to be too
much
enquired
into or sympathised with or encouraged by the rest, and let
the
limits
of this be enlarged till he has a wide, free field of independent
action,
which increases the resources of the family so much the more
as
it
is peculiarly his own.
I see daily more and more reason to
believe that the
study of the "dark
sciences" is one which will repay investigation. I think that
what
is called the proneness to superstition in the present day is much more
significant than some make it. The prevalence of a
misdirected
tendency
proves the misdirection of a prevalent tendency. It is the
nature
and object of this tendency that calls for examination.
