Chapter 11

[FAC-SIMILE OF LETTER.][FAC-SIMILE OF LETTER.]This curious league of the brothers was due to many causes. From childhood they had been steadily trained up in it by their parents. They had long lived all together under the same roof. The eldest son, who left home at an earlier age than any of the rest, did not finally quit it till he was six-and-twenty. Each had a thorough knowledge of the character of all the rest, and this knowledge resulted in thorough trust. They had all come to have a remarkable agreement on most points—not only ofprinciple, but also of practice. The habits of one, with but few exceptions, were the habits of all. He who had ascertained what one brother thought on any question would not have been likely to go wrong, had he acted on the supposition that he knew what was thought by all. They were all full of high aims—all bent on “the accomplishment of things permanently great and good.” There was no room in their minds for the petty thoughts of jealous spirits. Each had that breadth of view which enables a man to rise above all selfish considerations. Each had been brought up to consider the good of his family rather than his own peculiar good, and to look upon the good of mankind as still higher than the good of his family. Each was deeply convinced of the great truth which Priestley had discovered, and Bentham had advocated—that the object of all government, and of all social institutions, should be the greatest happiness of the greatest number for the greatest length of time. In their youth their aims were often visionary; but they were always high and noble. If they were daring enough to attempt to improve mankind, they were, at all events, wise enough to begin their task by setting about to improve themselves. One of the brothers had by nature a hot temper. He was, as a boy, “jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel.” He was the first of them “deliberately and seriously to adopt the maxim which treats all anger as folly.... Having arrived at a principle, and that while yet a youth, he strove earnestly, and with great success, to reduce it to practice.” Certainly his latter years were all placidity. Another brother had convinced himself “that men become what they are, not of themselves, but by birth, education, fellowship, andother such influences; and, therefore, he regarded the slightest approach to vindictive feeling as both wrong and foolish.” Whatever wrongs he has suffered through life—and he has had his share—he has never suffered the pure benevolence of his soul to be for one moment clouded over by resentment. In truth, they all, at all times, with set purpose, aimed at placing themselves under the guidance of reason.They had all been trained by their father from their earliest years to reason, and to reason not for victory but for truth. As the family day by day gathered for its meals—meals of the most frugal kind, where, for many years, nothing stronger than water was drunk—there was often held a debate on—“Labour and the changing mart,And all the framework of the land.”In this debate all, parents and children alike, were on an equality. Age was never put forward as a substitute for argument. There had been little timidity in any of them in their early days, and little fear of pushing any principle to its extreme consequences. “Keble,” writes Dr. Newman,[67]“was a man who guided himself and formed his judgments, not by processes of reason, by inquiry, or by argument, but, to use the word in a broad sense, by authority.” Rowland Hill, and the other members of his family, were the exact opposite of Keble. They cared nothing for authority in the sense in which Dr. Newman uses the word. On reason, inquiry, and argument, and on them alone, were their judgments formed.Into such questions as these the elder of the twosisters entered with scarcely less eagerness than her brothers. She had the same “hereditary detestation of tyranny and injustice,” and the same “ardent zeal in the cause of civil and religious freedom.” She was as thorough-going a reformer as any of them—“yet a Woman too.” She had her brother Rowland’s high courage and his quiet fortitude also. At the time of the fire at Hazelwood she was but a girl: yet so great were the efforts that she then made that she injured her spine. A year and a-half she was forced to spend on the couch. “Her household motions, light and free” as they had hitherto been, were suddenly checked. “Nevertheless, throughout this long period,” says one, who spent much of the time with her, “no murmur was ever heard.” We, who knew her only in her latter years, let our memory dwell, with a pleasure and a consolation that never fail, on her wonderful equanimity, her gentle disposition, and her comprehensive love. The few who can remember her girlhood say that it showed the woman “as morning shows the day.” She married early, but she married the warm friend of all her brothers—the upright son of the upright schoolmaster who, for conscience sake, had braved the violence of a furious mob.[68]Her new home was close to Hazelwood, and so by her marriage the family circle was rather widened than narrowed. The younger sister was an invalid from her infancy. Her disposition was gentle and loving, but throughout her short life she was one who was much more called upon to bear than to do.“An awful blank” was made in the family group by the death of Howard, the youngest son. He bore thename of the great and good man whose friendship to his father’s uncle was the boast of his family. Had he been granted a long life even that high name might have received from him fresh honour. He was but five-and-twenty years old when he was cut off by consumption. Like many another who has suffered under that malady, he was happily buoyed up by hope nearly to the end. Almost up to his last day the light of a bright vision, on which he had for some time dwelt, had not faded away from his sky. “He was bent on showing the world an example of a community living together on principles strictly social.” He had saved some money, and all that he had, and himself too, he was ready to sacrifice for the good of his community. Much time he purposed to spend in travelling on foot gathering information, and still more time was to be spent in acquiring the power of enduring bodily toil. He hoped that others would contribute towards the furtherance of his scheme, but he would accept, he said, no contribution as a loan. His colony he meant to settle with foundling children of the age of two years.“Whether I should begin with one or ten infants, or any intermediate number, would chiefly depend on the amount of contributions raised. I would not take more than ten for the first year, and should afterwards increase according to my power, aiming to about twenty-five of each sex. These children I should endeavour to instruct to maintain and enjoy life by co-operative exertions.”His utilitarianism was of no narrow kind. His aim was the highest development of his pupils, both morally and intellectually. He was eager to begin at once, but if his brothers could for awhile but ill spare his services he was willing to wait. “It must, however, be remembered,” he wrote, “that as the success of the experiment much depends on my power ofconforming to a new mode of life, every delay by which my present necessarily expensive and insincere habits are continually strengthened greatly increases the difficulty of the proposed undertaking.” He would have, he well knew, to face the judgment of the world, which is always hard on those founders of new republics or novel communities who venture to lay their foundations outside Utopia or below the sky.“I am almost careless of the opinion of others, and am labouring to make myself quite insensible to any expression of either praise or blame. Further, I propose to seclude myself andprotegésas far as is practicable for about fifteen years.”He died at an age when the growth of the mind in all who strive after knowledge is very rapid. Had he lived a few years longer, he would have seen that the world, as a whole, is wiser than any one man in it, and that total seclusion from it is the worst of all trainings for the young. But death swept him away, and there is nothing left of him save “a fragment from his dream of human life.” The world never knew his great worth, and his brothers never forgot it. “Time, and the ordinary current of events,” wrote one of them to his father, “have had their ordinary effect of deadening the acuteness of our feelings, but at present the world wears but a dreary aspect to me.” “Believe me, my beloved son,” wrote the bereaved father a few weeks later, “that whenever troubles assail us we mechanically turn to thoughts of our children for comfort.... That you and all our offspring may be as fortunate as we respecting this first of parental rewards, the prudence and integrity of children, is our most earnest prayer. Greater good luck it were useless to hope for, almost impious to desire.”The vision that another brother raised was of a very different kind. “He had read Adam Smith’s great work as if it had been an attractive novel.” Political economy became his favourite study. Huskisson had just entered upon his reforms of our fiscal system, and the youth longed to play his part in the great work of improvement that seemed at length to have fairly begun. For him the school was too small a stage. “He longed for a wider scope, and, above all, a greater power of doing good.” Huskisson must surely stand in need, he thought, of more enlightened assistants than he had at present. Was not his progress along the path of reform timid and slow, and was not that owing to the fact that, in the offices of Government, there were few to be found but men of routine and mummery? He asked his eldest brother whether it would not be practicable to put him under Huskisson’s wing. He was reminded of the boy who wished to go apprentice to a bishop.Such dreams as these were not unnatural in young men who had lived so much to themselves. It was not till they were grown up that they began at all to mix in the world. When Rowland Hill was twenty, he mentions in his Journal two young men as “almost the only persons excepting our own family with whom I am in habits of intimacy. Indeed, I enjoy so much the society we have at home,” he says, “that I do not feel the want of a very extensive circle of friends.” “They had a little ideal world of their own,” said one who knew them well in those days. Such a world, however noble it may be, has its own dangers. The high purpose, the fixed mind, the unconquerable will, the courage never to submit or yield, may well be nourished there; but it is on a wider stage that a man best learns to measure life.They who do not master this lesson betimes find it a hard thing to master it at all; for soon custom lies upon them with a weight—“Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life.”From them no small part of the world is likely to remain hidden. To not a little that men have thought and felt they remain insensible. They can form a right judgment of those who differ from them only in opinion, but they find it hard to understand any who go further than this, and differ from them also in sentiment. Lord Macaulay had this defect in a striking degree, and yet he had been brought up in a wider circle than the life of a provincial town, and his mind ranged within no narrow bounds.[69]“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”Some of the greatest benefactors of mankind would have held that, however true this might be of Horatio, it could not rightfully be addressed to themselves.When all that is needed is an appeal to reason and not to sentiment, then in such men prejudices may quickly fall away. Like many another ardent and honest reformer of those days, Rowland Hill had in his youth formed a harsh judgment of the ruling classes. His father had belonged to a small political club, which met once a week at the houses of the members. “The conversation,” writes one of the brothers, “very commonly took a political turn, the opinions on all sides savouring of the extreme, so that my father was, by comparison, a moderate. It isnotorious that men, very remote from power, with its duties and responsibilities, are apt to be extravagant in expectations and demands; and so it certainly was here. ‘I would do thus,’ or ‘I would have this,’ were put forth in full ignorance of what was practicable, sometimes of what was even desirable. Such discourse could not but assist the bias already in our minds, so that we grievously underrated the great actual advantages and high comparative freedom which our country enjoyed.”When Rowland Hill, on one of his early visits to London, first saw Guildhall, he wrote in his Journal: “Much to the disgrace of the City of London, the monument of Pitt remains there still.” In some later year he placed opposite the worddisgracea mark of interrogation. Such feelings as these, which had been nursed in the worst days of Tory rule, began to die out with the dawn of happier times. With the passing of the great Reform Bill, all bitterness passed away from him and his brothers. Nay even, into such good heart had they been put by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, Roman Catholic Emancipation, and the Battle of Navarino, that, though the King was George IV., yet at a small supper-party at Hazelwood one of them struck up, “The King: God bless him,” and all joined heartily in the refrain. Their enthusiasm was partly due to some spirited political verses composed and recited by Sheridan Knowles, who happened to be one of the guests. “It was not without considerable feeling,” wrote one of the brothers, “that we afterwards learnt that, while this loyal effusion was pouring forth, the poor King was dying.”The removal to the neighbourhood of London at once opened to Rowland Hill a wider world:—“In November, 1826 [he wrote], I assisted in founding the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, which, commencing public operation in the following year, took so active and important a part in the creation of cheap literature. Though as a member of the committee[70]I took some share in the duty, I fear, upon reflection, that such aid as I was enabled to give was scarcely equivalent to the benefit which I derived from association with the able and eminent men with whom I was thus brought in contact.”His residence at Bruce Castle he but briefly described in the Prefatory Memoir to “The History of Penny Postage.” It was, to a great extent, the life of a schoolmaster; and that life in the earlier part of the narrative had been set forth at considerable length. The following is the account he gave of these years:—“During a portion of 1829, and throughout the two following years, I occupied part of my leisure hours in devising means of measuring time, in connection with astronomical observations, more minutely than had hitherto been done. With this view I tried many experiments, and succeeded in carrying accuracy of measurement first to one-tenth, and by a subsequent improvement, to one-hundredth of a second. In June, 1832, I addressed a letter to the Council of the Astronomical Society, of which I had been a member for about seven years, showing the principle of my device, which is in some measure indicated by the name I gave it, viz., the ‘Vernier pendulum,’[71]and applying for the loan of one of the Society’s clocks, with a view to further experiment. This being granted, I continued my investigation for some time, when it was brought to a close by a circumstance which, combined with others, changed my whole course of life. I shall, therefore, only further remark that as the letter just mentioned records a piece of work to which I gave much time and thought, and of which I felt then, and perhaps feel still, alittle proud, I have given it in Appendix D. My invention, I must add, never came into use, being superseded by an adaptation of electricity to the same purpose, which, while equal in accuracy, had the advantage of much readier use.“My health, which had already twice broken down under the weight of my work, now began to show signs of permanent injury; and I was becoming sensible of the necessity for some change, though to obtain this was no easy matter. Simple rest I feared would not answer the purpose, as my mind was likely, by mere force of habit, to revert to my suspended duties, and moreover to busy itself with anxiety about the little family now depending upon me. Change of occupation was, therefore, what I sought, and this was one motive to the astronomical investigations previously referred to. I found, however, that so long as I remained at my post, there was small hope of substantial benefit, and I began to consider the means of release. In 1831 I had prepared for Lord Brougham a paper which I entitled ‘Home Colonies: Sketch of a Plan for the Gradual Extinction of Pauperism and for the Diminution of Crime;’ and this, with Lord Brougham’s consent, was published in 1832.[72]My hope in writing it, beyond that of doing good, had been that it might lead to my temporary employment by Government in examination of the Home Colonies of Holland, which were at that time attracting much public attention, and seemed to afford valuable suggestions for the improvement of our own Poor Law Administration, then, as is well known, in a lamentable state. One great object of the plan, as set forth in my pamphlet, was the education of the pauper colonists. The pamphlet excited a certain amount of interest, as well among working-men as those higher in society: but I had yet to learn how strongly the doors of every Government office are barred against all intruders, and how loud and general must be the knocking before they will open. I must in fairness add that I had also to be made aware how much official doors are beset by schemers, and how naturally groundless projects raise a prejudice against all proposals whatever. Any one curious on the subject may find some notice of the plan in the ‘Penny Magazine,’ Vol.I., p. 42. However, I scarcely need add that no result followed, either to the public or to myself, the evils which I had sought to mitigate being otherwise grappled with in the Poor Law Reform of 1834.“Meantime my malady increased, and it was at length determined that the school at Hazelwood should be disposed of, and the removalto Bruce Castle made complete, the middle of 1833 being fixed upon as the time for the change. My intention was to employ the whole of the midsummer holidays, and as much more time as I could profitably so spend, in a tour on the Continent, leaving the question of my return to be decided by the state of my health and other circumstances. I had begun to feel unsettled in my occupation. In addition to its wearing effect upon my health, I had begun to doubt the expediency of my continuing in a profession into which I had entered rather from necessity than from choice, though I had subsequently laboured in it, like other members of my family, with zeal and even enthusiasm, and in which the very progress made by the school in public estimation made my position on some important points increasingly uncomfortable. This pressed the more after the untimely death of one of the two brothers associated with me at Bruce Castle, the youngest of our family, who, having enjoyed many of those advantages in education which were denied to me, had been as it were my complement. It is true, indeed, that the accession of my brother Arthur from Hazelwood brought present relief, but this also facilitated my withdrawal, giving me as a successor one whose heart I knew to be fully and fixedly engaged in his work.[73]My ambition had grown with our success, or rather, indeed, far outrun it; and I was now thoroughly convinced—partly, I must admit, by a check in our tide of success—that in my present career, unless I could add to my other qualifications those classical acquirements which rank so high in general estimation, it could have no sufficient scope. I think, indeed, I was perfectly honest in saying, as I did at the time, that neither wealth nor power was my main object, though I was not insensible to the allurements of either, but that it was indispensable to my desires to do, or at least to attempt, something which would make the world manifestly the better for my having lived in it. What that was to be I could by no means tell, further than that it must be some work of organization, which I knew to be my forte; but that point secured, I still felt, notwithstanding my impaired health, my old unlimited confidence as to achievement. All this may have been very rash, and even foolish; I merely mention it as a fact, and look upon it as turning out fortunate, since it was essential to the sequel.“Although, however, I separated myself from duties in which I had been earnestly engaged for three-and-twenty years, I have neverlost interest in the school, nor ever failed to render it such assistance as lay in my power. I gladly hailed the early return of its prosperity; and at the end of thirty-six years from my withdrawal I rejoice to see it still flourishing.”[74]“The check in the tide of success” was in great measure due to the failure in Rowland Hill’s health. There were other causes, however, at work. On some of these I have already touched, while others I could not at present with any propriety describe. The description is the less needful as with them he was only remotely connected. It was not wonderful that his health began, as he said, to show signs of permanent injury. Less than two years after he had been warned that he must abandon any plan that should demand unusual energy, he had, in defiance of his doctor, opened his new school. In December, 1829, in June, 1832, and in December, 1832, I find the state of his health made the subject of anxious discussion in the Family Council. His work as a schoolmaster was becoming distasteful to him, and he was beginning to long for a change. He longed still more eagerly for that freedom of thought, speech, and action, which even at the present day a schoolmaster can but very imperfectly command. It was in change of occupation that his active mind for many a long year always found its best repose. Besides the matters that he has recorded in the extract that I have just given, he seems, at this time of his life, to have turned over in his mind many other schemes. The following I havefound jotted down in a memorandum, dated December, 1832:—Pendulous Mechanism applied to Steam-Engines.Propelling Steamboats by a Screw.Improvement in Bramah’s Press.Plan for Checking the Speed of Stage-Coaches.Weighing Letters.Assorting Letters in Coach.Telegraphs: by Pressure of Air, &c.Gas: for Distant Places Compressed along Small Pipes.Road-making by Machinery.To one scheme he must have given not a little thought, though I cannot find that he ever brought it before the world. It is curious as containing, as he says, the germs, and something more than the germs, of the Parcels Delivery Company, the General Omnibus Company, and the District Post. In 1873, he thus docketed the paper in which it is described: “I have no recollection as regards this scheme; but I presume that it was one of my several projects to obtain a living after I had withdrawn from the school.”[75]All his brothers but one had become still more eager than himself to give up school keeping. One alone was happy in his work. He throughout life loved his school as much as his scholars loved him. Rowland Hill was not singular in his family in his desire “to do, or at least to attempt, something which would make the world manifestly the better for my having lived in it.” I find recorded in the handwriting of another of the brothers at this date that “his favourite objects are connected with improvements in the art and science of national government; and the happiest position in which he can hope or desire to be placedis one in which he is pursuing such objects, in conjunction with the other members of the family.” To carry out their objects they required comparative leisure and complete freedom of action. Some of them had more than once turned their eyes towards the community of New Harmony, which Robert Owen had lately established in Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash. In a letter, dated February 8th, 1827, Rowland Hill tells one of his brothers that he has just met with a friend who had lately returned from New Harmony:—“He gives excellent accounts of Harmony, though Owen has met with the difficulties we expected on account of his indiscriminate admissions. Several of the members of the Society of Natural History of New York, with the president at their head, have joined the community.... Here is a specimen of the advantages of the system. The naturalists having made the children acquainted with their wants, the little creatures swarm over the woods, and bring in such an abundance of specimens that they are forming several immense collections, some of which they will present to new communities, and others will be exchanged for collections in other quarters of the world. W—— says by these means vast numbers of insects have been discovered, of the existence of which the world was previously in ignorance. What think you of selling Bruce Castle again, and going off?”In a paper that he drew up a few years ago he has left a brief record of his acquaintance with Mr. Owen:—“My visit to New Lanark was the first decided step towards an intimacy with the Owen family, which continued for many years. From the commencement I saw much to admire in Mr. Owen’s views; but I invariably urged him to be satisfied with their gradual introduction, and above all not to attempt to apply them in their complete form to persons of all ages taken indiscriminately, and without previous training, from society at large. Mr. Owen always evinced a most friendly, I might say affectionate, feeling towardsmyself, my wife, and other members of the family. His opinions regarding myself were shown, among other ways, by his urging me to undertake, on terms advantageous to myself, the management of one of his communities; but, for the reasons indicated above, I declined the offer.”Not long after the removal to Bruce Castle, some of the brothers carefully prepared a scheme for establishing a “Social Community.” The first mention that I find of the plan is the following:—“Sketch out a plan detailing—first, the objects in which union can take place with little danger of violence to our present habits; as, united purchases of food, clothing, coals; library; news-room; use of each other’s knowledge and connections; cooking; rooms and apparatus for receiving friends, parties, &c. (persons not to go to each other’s houses unless invited. If one wants society, he must go to the public rooms); pleasure grounds; baths; cab or omnibus.“Economy of having men of various professions united, as a medical man, a lawyer, architect, schoolmaster; house-warmer; telegraph for own use and for hired use.”From the scheme, when completed, I make the following extracts:—“Plan Proposed.“Object.—The union of the family and the formation of a small community of persons, in addition to the family, thinking and feeling as we do.“The Community to be established near London, for the sake of access to the world at large, and to be located on a farm for the sake of economy, and as a means of providing profitable and healthy employment for the members during part of each day.“Plans either for public good or private emolument to be matured in the Community, and then either prosecuted at the Community’s establishment or carried into effect in the world at large by members liberated for a time for that purpose.* * * * *“Preparatory Steps.“Find a case in which an intelligent man has left other pursuits for farming, and has succeeded.“Find an intelligent person familiar with farming pursuits, and proper as a member of the Community.* * * * *“Draw up a statement showing the probable yearly income and expenditure in conducting a farm of —— acres at —— near London. Also the probable amount of the produce of such farm—the kinds of produce which it is best to grow—the amount of assistance required—of superintendence—of risk—the principal sources of pleasure or annoyance in farming occupations—how far they are conducive to health—especially as regards the members of our own family.* * * * *“Check among ourselves, in every possible way consistent with our present position, expensive habits of every kind, and even desires for costly gratifications. Encourage habits of simplicity and economy, and in every way prepare for entering into a state of comparative seclusion and frugality.* * * * *“Advantages Expected.“Release from many unpleasant restrictions as to the free expression of opinion, to dress, to absurd customs.“Economy in houses, clothes, food, fire, artificial light, and matters of appearance generally.“Superior education for our children.“Superior opportunities of obtaining knowledge ourselves by observations, experiments, &c.“Release from perplexing and harassing responsibilities.“Release from the necessity of compelling the observance, on the part of others, of matters often really opposed to wisdom and sound morality, and very frequently of merely conventional value.“Society. Enjoyment of that of most of the members of our own family, and that of persons of similar views, who might be willing to join in the plan.“Probable power of appearing before the world advantageously by means of discoveries mechanical, scientific, agricultural, or otherwise.“Increased security from infectious disorders, anarchy, injury by change in the national prosperity; also the security which arises from the cultivation of economical habits.“Mitigation of the evils consequent upon the employment of servants.“Improvement of habits by the influence of numbers upon the individual character of members of the Community.“Great advantages of the close union of a variety of talent by the collection of a number of persons, and their intimate organization and knowledge of each other.“Facility for bringing the whole strength of the Community to bear upon one point when needful.“Increased opportunities of producing extensive good.“(Improvements in machinery, farming, &c., may be introduced without producing even temporary distress, if the Community can execute its own labour.)”The “great advantages of the close union of a variety of talent” were seen by a man who had been trained in a widely different school. In the year 1836, Rowland Hill received the following letter from his friend Mr. John Lefevre.[76]“My dear Mr. Hill,—It has frequently occurred to me that if eight or ten individuals of average intellect were to direct their attention simultaneously and in concert on any specific object which it might be desirable to invent, or any particular subject which it might be useful to explain, their joint efforts might produce a more satisfactory result than the unaided powers of a single person, although such person might be considerably superior to any one of the parties to the combination. I am anxious to try this experiment, and it would give me great pleasure if you would join me in it.“I would propose that you and Coode[77]and I should each choose two associates, to be approved of by us all, and that the nine associates should meet once a month about seven in the evening.“Each should furnish two questions for the consideration of the association, and out of these we would fix on two or three for the subject of each meeting.“One of us should in turn act as thereporterof the meeting,i.e., he should be responsible for a statement of the result.“The subjects should, in the first instance, be as simple as possible, and should be such as to be matters of scientific amusement rather than of importance I say this because by adoptingthis course, if the whole thing fails, we shall only have been amused without having been disappointed.“Let me know at your leisure what you think of this, and do not mention it to any one until you have made up your own mind on itsprimâ faciepracticability.“Yours ever,“J. Lefevre.”“I heartily concurred in the suggestion,” Sir Rowland Hill has recorded, “and the first meeting was, I think, held at my house. My nominees were Mr. Wheatstone and my brother Edwin.[78]Among the earliest subjects of conversation were Wheatstone’s Telegraph—not then in practical use—and my printing machine.... I brought under the consideration of my friends a question which I had long had in mind, as to whether steamships could not use as fuel the hydrogen of the sea-water; but Coode, who was a remarkably well-informed and clear-headed man, succeeded in showing that the heat which would be lost in extracting the hydrogen would be equal to that gained by its combustion. Consequently that what I aimed at was really, though in a disguised form, nothing else than a perpetual motion. So far as my memory serves, this was anterior to the announcement of the doctrine of the correlation of forces.”Shortly after I had lighted on a copy of the scheme of a Social Community, I called on Sir Rowland Hill. The following is my note of the conversation that passed:—“I talked to him about the scheme of a Social Community. He said that it was mainly the project of some of his brothers, but that he quite approved of it. Their chief aims were to escape from work that was too severe, and to get complete freedom of speech. He had no doubt that they should have made it answer. They were resolved to be very frugal. I said that to most men of business the scheme would seem that of madmen. He answered that at that time there were many such projects supported by men of great weight. Owen’s plan was more or less approved of by Broughamand others. He (Sir R. Hill) and his brothers saw great merits in it, though they also saw great faults.”The following letter, which he wrote to one of his brothers in defence of the scheme before it had as yet in any way taken shape, throws much light on the objects that they had in view:—“I am very sorry, and not a little surprised, that our plan should have been so far misunderstood as to cause so much alarm on the part of mother and yourself, and I hasten to remove your fears by simply telling you what the plan is. The only plan to which I have given my consent is this:—To ascertain, in the most satisfactory manner, by enquiry and even by experiment, what is the smallest sum on which we can live with economy but comfort, avoiding all such expenses as are at present incurred, not because they are conducive to happiness, but because we are expected by others to meet them; yet at the same time indulging in some gratifications which we are at present denied. In determining this sum to allow nothing whatever for the produce of our labour, letting that stand as security against the ill-effects of any error in our calculation. Having determined this amount, to ascertain next, how much capital, secured in the fullest manner, as by mortgage on ample freehold landed property, would afford the required income, and then to continue our present undertaking till such a capital is raised.... I think you will now see that our views are by no means very dissimilar. Your wish is, I believe, to save money with the intention of retiring and living on your savings at some future time. You perhaps would wait, till you can maintain without labour the same rank you now hold, still continuing to mix with the world and to conform with the world’s notions of propriety and happiness. We are for separating from society so far as may be necessary to enable us to regulate our mode of living solely with a reference toour ownconceptions of comfort. We conceive that our plan promises these advantages over yours, that it will enable us to put it into execution earlier, and that we shall be more happy when it is executed than if we adopted your plan.“The very common plan of working very hard during the best years of your life, in order that you may heap up security for future comfort, is, I think we are all agreed, a very mistaken one. It is much wiser to be satisfied with a less amount of security, and enjoy your ease while your spirits and health remain unimpaired, andbefore your habits are so far fixed as to render any change undesirable. Still there is an amount of security which is necessary to prevent care and anxiety; but that necessary amount will, of course, be proportionate to the scale of living you may adopt.“To me it appears to be of very little consequence whether we are consistent or not, but it is very important to be right.“If we have been right hitherto, we should make no change because we have been right; if we have been wrong, it would be unwise to continue so for the sake of being consistent. I know that right and wrong are here comparative; and that it may be wise to continue in a path which you have already trodden, though it may not be the most direct, or the least rugged, rather than encounter the hedges and ditches which may lie between you and the straight and even road. But if you can satisfy yourself that the advantages of the direct road will, in all probability, more than balance the labour and risk of getting into it, you would be foolish not to make the change. I am not begging the question by assuming that the proposed course is the best; I only wish to show on what grounds the propriety of a change ought to be discussed.“Though I disregard a character for consistency, which is a virtue or a vice according to circumstances (which is it in Lord Eldon?) yet I am desirous to show that I have not made so many mistakes, nor so decidedly changed my views as you imagine. I conceive that we have been already remunerated for the additional outlay in building at Hazelwood. With the views I now advocate, the propriety of purchasing Bruce Castle may be questioned; but I do not see that the step was manifestly improper. The buildings and grounds would, in all probability, sell for more than they cost us.... My views have certainly changed inasmuch as I am now inclined to abandon the hope of establishing the College, or collection of schools of which I used to talk; but the change has been caused by circumstances as unexpected by others as they were by myself. I allude to the great reduction in numbers at Hazelwood, and to the present prospects there and here (we expect barely to maintain our late number), showing, I fear, diminished confidence in the public—to the vexations arising from the fact of our being obliged to teach so much which we consider as nearly useless, and, in some cases, very mischievous—from the unreasonable expectations of the friends of our pupils, and from the still-continuing caprices of the parents, as manifested constantly by the removal of boys with whom we have been most successful.... I think too that we are all wearing ourselves out very fast, and that the time is not veryfar distant when some of us will be obliged to stop, without perhaps health and spirits sufficient to enjoy any mode of living. As to my anxiety to do good, it is as strong now as ever, and I think that the proposed change, by allowing us to educate our children for a better state of society, will enable us through their means to do good much more effectually, and even speedily, than we could on any other plan.... As regards myself, even if you were all the warmest advocates of the plan, it is very possible that I might never share its advantages. I have not as yet said anything to my wife on the subject. It is true that she often talks of retirement as a desirable thing, but even if she should be inclined to join in this very economical plan of retirement, I think the persuasions of her friends would very likely influence her against it, and without her consent I shall not join in it myself.”Rowland Hill was, indeed, a man, to use Gibbon’s words, “whom nature had designed to think as he pleased, and to speak as he thought.” Such freedom as this is only enjoyed in its fullest extent by those who have secured “independence, that first earthly blessing.” But independence, if it is chiefly enjoyed by men of ample means, is, nevertheless, within the reach of those who have but simple wants. Yet after all there was not a little truth in what their old father wrote on hearing of this scheme of his sons: “My dear son Rowland. You and your brothers are the last men to make monks of.”Such a scheme as this has a strong outward resemblance to the Pantisocracy of Southey and Coleridge; but the differences between the two schemes are far greater than the resemblances. The two poets were as young as they were unversed in the ways of the world, when the delightful prospect of happiness opened before their view to live with their friends in the most agreeable and most honourable employment, to eat the fruits they had raised, and see every face happy around them.[79]The bandof friends whom they had gathered round them were, perhaps, not more experienced than themselves. But the planners of the other scheme were men who had spent many years in hard work, and in habits of strict economy. They did not, like the two poets, look upon money as a huge evil with which, happily, they should not long have to contend. They had learnt its value. They knew how to buy and how to sell. They had a certain amount of capital at their command. Two of them, moreover, were skilful in the use of tools, and fertile in mechanical inventions. They had long tried in their family union the plan of a Social Community, and were entering upon their undertaking with a clear insight into the difficulties which awaited them. They were fully alive, moreover, to the dangers that Owen had brought upon himself by his indiscriminate admission of all comers. They only proposed to invite men to join them with whose characters they had first become thoroughly acquainted. In a list of “members apparently qualified,” I find the names of Dr. Southwood Smith and Mr. Roebuck. “I formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr. Roebuck,” Sir Rowland Hill has recorded, “about the year 1830. In 1832 (I think) my wife nursed him through a long illness at Bruce Castle.” TheirSocial Communitywas not so much an end in itself as a means towards other and far higher ends. They had schemes for moving the earth; but they wanted a fulcrum. They had no leisure. What Rowland Hill could do when he was free from his school, he showed in the next four years of his life. In the spare time that a man could command who was Secretary to a new and active Commission, he invented, as will be seen, a printing-press, and devised his greatscheme of Postal Reform. In like manner his youngest surviving brother, who, a year or two after the Social Community was planned, was made the First Inspector of Prisons in Scotland, had in no long time thoroughly reformed them, and made them a model for the whole kingdom.No steps were taken to carry through their scheme. It had scarcely been completed on paper before Rowland Hill obtained, what he had long wanted, “a work of organisation.” Within no long time all the other brothers were happily engaged in occupations that suited their powers and their tastes. “When I was a young man,” said Sir Rowland Hill one day to me, “there were very few careers open. I never even dreamed of the possibility of getting into the Civil Service.” A new career, however, was at length opening for him, and the long, though broken, course of his public services was on the point of beginning. To this point I have traced his life, and here I shall bring the first part of my task to an end. His history for the next thirty years will be given in his own narrative. I shall take up my pen again at the date of his retirement, and do my best to describe the closing years of his long and honourable life. My task will be no easy one, for

[FAC-SIMILE OF LETTER.]

This curious league of the brothers was due to many causes. From childhood they had been steadily trained up in it by their parents. They had long lived all together under the same roof. The eldest son, who left home at an earlier age than any of the rest, did not finally quit it till he was six-and-twenty. Each had a thorough knowledge of the character of all the rest, and this knowledge resulted in thorough trust. They had all come to have a remarkable agreement on most points—not only ofprinciple, but also of practice. The habits of one, with but few exceptions, were the habits of all. He who had ascertained what one brother thought on any question would not have been likely to go wrong, had he acted on the supposition that he knew what was thought by all. They were all full of high aims—all bent on “the accomplishment of things permanently great and good.” There was no room in their minds for the petty thoughts of jealous spirits. Each had that breadth of view which enables a man to rise above all selfish considerations. Each had been brought up to consider the good of his family rather than his own peculiar good, and to look upon the good of mankind as still higher than the good of his family. Each was deeply convinced of the great truth which Priestley had discovered, and Bentham had advocated—that the object of all government, and of all social institutions, should be the greatest happiness of the greatest number for the greatest length of time. In their youth their aims were often visionary; but they were always high and noble. If they were daring enough to attempt to improve mankind, they were, at all events, wise enough to begin their task by setting about to improve themselves. One of the brothers had by nature a hot temper. He was, as a boy, “jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel.” He was the first of them “deliberately and seriously to adopt the maxim which treats all anger as folly.... Having arrived at a principle, and that while yet a youth, he strove earnestly, and with great success, to reduce it to practice.” Certainly his latter years were all placidity. Another brother had convinced himself “that men become what they are, not of themselves, but by birth, education, fellowship, andother such influences; and, therefore, he regarded the slightest approach to vindictive feeling as both wrong and foolish.” Whatever wrongs he has suffered through life—and he has had his share—he has never suffered the pure benevolence of his soul to be for one moment clouded over by resentment. In truth, they all, at all times, with set purpose, aimed at placing themselves under the guidance of reason.

They had all been trained by their father from their earliest years to reason, and to reason not for victory but for truth. As the family day by day gathered for its meals—meals of the most frugal kind, where, for many years, nothing stronger than water was drunk—there was often held a debate on—

“Labour and the changing mart,And all the framework of the land.”

“Labour and the changing mart,

And all the framework of the land.”

In this debate all, parents and children alike, were on an equality. Age was never put forward as a substitute for argument. There had been little timidity in any of them in their early days, and little fear of pushing any principle to its extreme consequences. “Keble,” writes Dr. Newman,[67]“was a man who guided himself and formed his judgments, not by processes of reason, by inquiry, or by argument, but, to use the word in a broad sense, by authority.” Rowland Hill, and the other members of his family, were the exact opposite of Keble. They cared nothing for authority in the sense in which Dr. Newman uses the word. On reason, inquiry, and argument, and on them alone, were their judgments formed.

Into such questions as these the elder of the twosisters entered with scarcely less eagerness than her brothers. She had the same “hereditary detestation of tyranny and injustice,” and the same “ardent zeal in the cause of civil and religious freedom.” She was as thorough-going a reformer as any of them—“yet a Woman too.” She had her brother Rowland’s high courage and his quiet fortitude also. At the time of the fire at Hazelwood she was but a girl: yet so great were the efforts that she then made that she injured her spine. A year and a-half she was forced to spend on the couch. “Her household motions, light and free” as they had hitherto been, were suddenly checked. “Nevertheless, throughout this long period,” says one, who spent much of the time with her, “no murmur was ever heard.” We, who knew her only in her latter years, let our memory dwell, with a pleasure and a consolation that never fail, on her wonderful equanimity, her gentle disposition, and her comprehensive love. The few who can remember her girlhood say that it showed the woman “as morning shows the day.” She married early, but she married the warm friend of all her brothers—the upright son of the upright schoolmaster who, for conscience sake, had braved the violence of a furious mob.[68]Her new home was close to Hazelwood, and so by her marriage the family circle was rather widened than narrowed. The younger sister was an invalid from her infancy. Her disposition was gentle and loving, but throughout her short life she was one who was much more called upon to bear than to do.

“An awful blank” was made in the family group by the death of Howard, the youngest son. He bore thename of the great and good man whose friendship to his father’s uncle was the boast of his family. Had he been granted a long life even that high name might have received from him fresh honour. He was but five-and-twenty years old when he was cut off by consumption. Like many another who has suffered under that malady, he was happily buoyed up by hope nearly to the end. Almost up to his last day the light of a bright vision, on which he had for some time dwelt, had not faded away from his sky. “He was bent on showing the world an example of a community living together on principles strictly social.” He had saved some money, and all that he had, and himself too, he was ready to sacrifice for the good of his community. Much time he purposed to spend in travelling on foot gathering information, and still more time was to be spent in acquiring the power of enduring bodily toil. He hoped that others would contribute towards the furtherance of his scheme, but he would accept, he said, no contribution as a loan. His colony he meant to settle with foundling children of the age of two years.

“Whether I should begin with one or ten infants, or any intermediate number, would chiefly depend on the amount of contributions raised. I would not take more than ten for the first year, and should afterwards increase according to my power, aiming to about twenty-five of each sex. These children I should endeavour to instruct to maintain and enjoy life by co-operative exertions.”

His utilitarianism was of no narrow kind. His aim was the highest development of his pupils, both morally and intellectually. He was eager to begin at once, but if his brothers could for awhile but ill spare his services he was willing to wait. “It must, however, be remembered,” he wrote, “that as the success of the experiment much depends on my power ofconforming to a new mode of life, every delay by which my present necessarily expensive and insincere habits are continually strengthened greatly increases the difficulty of the proposed undertaking.” He would have, he well knew, to face the judgment of the world, which is always hard on those founders of new republics or novel communities who venture to lay their foundations outside Utopia or below the sky.

“I am almost careless of the opinion of others, and am labouring to make myself quite insensible to any expression of either praise or blame. Further, I propose to seclude myself andprotegésas far as is practicable for about fifteen years.”

He died at an age when the growth of the mind in all who strive after knowledge is very rapid. Had he lived a few years longer, he would have seen that the world, as a whole, is wiser than any one man in it, and that total seclusion from it is the worst of all trainings for the young. But death swept him away, and there is nothing left of him save “a fragment from his dream of human life.” The world never knew his great worth, and his brothers never forgot it. “Time, and the ordinary current of events,” wrote one of them to his father, “have had their ordinary effect of deadening the acuteness of our feelings, but at present the world wears but a dreary aspect to me.” “Believe me, my beloved son,” wrote the bereaved father a few weeks later, “that whenever troubles assail us we mechanically turn to thoughts of our children for comfort.... That you and all our offspring may be as fortunate as we respecting this first of parental rewards, the prudence and integrity of children, is our most earnest prayer. Greater good luck it were useless to hope for, almost impious to desire.”

The vision that another brother raised was of a very different kind. “He had read Adam Smith’s great work as if it had been an attractive novel.” Political economy became his favourite study. Huskisson had just entered upon his reforms of our fiscal system, and the youth longed to play his part in the great work of improvement that seemed at length to have fairly begun. For him the school was too small a stage. “He longed for a wider scope, and, above all, a greater power of doing good.” Huskisson must surely stand in need, he thought, of more enlightened assistants than he had at present. Was not his progress along the path of reform timid and slow, and was not that owing to the fact that, in the offices of Government, there were few to be found but men of routine and mummery? He asked his eldest brother whether it would not be practicable to put him under Huskisson’s wing. He was reminded of the boy who wished to go apprentice to a bishop.

Such dreams as these were not unnatural in young men who had lived so much to themselves. It was not till they were grown up that they began at all to mix in the world. When Rowland Hill was twenty, he mentions in his Journal two young men as “almost the only persons excepting our own family with whom I am in habits of intimacy. Indeed, I enjoy so much the society we have at home,” he says, “that I do not feel the want of a very extensive circle of friends.” “They had a little ideal world of their own,” said one who knew them well in those days. Such a world, however noble it may be, has its own dangers. The high purpose, the fixed mind, the unconquerable will, the courage never to submit or yield, may well be nourished there; but it is on a wider stage that a man best learns to measure life.They who do not master this lesson betimes find it a hard thing to master it at all; for soon custom lies upon them with a weight—

“Heavy as frost, and deep almost as life.”

From them no small part of the world is likely to remain hidden. To not a little that men have thought and felt they remain insensible. They can form a right judgment of those who differ from them only in opinion, but they find it hard to understand any who go further than this, and differ from them also in sentiment. Lord Macaulay had this defect in a striking degree, and yet he had been brought up in a wider circle than the life of a provincial town, and his mind ranged within no narrow bounds.[69]

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Some of the greatest benefactors of mankind would have held that, however true this might be of Horatio, it could not rightfully be addressed to themselves.

When all that is needed is an appeal to reason and not to sentiment, then in such men prejudices may quickly fall away. Like many another ardent and honest reformer of those days, Rowland Hill had in his youth formed a harsh judgment of the ruling classes. His father had belonged to a small political club, which met once a week at the houses of the members. “The conversation,” writes one of the brothers, “very commonly took a political turn, the opinions on all sides savouring of the extreme, so that my father was, by comparison, a moderate. It isnotorious that men, very remote from power, with its duties and responsibilities, are apt to be extravagant in expectations and demands; and so it certainly was here. ‘I would do thus,’ or ‘I would have this,’ were put forth in full ignorance of what was practicable, sometimes of what was even desirable. Such discourse could not but assist the bias already in our minds, so that we grievously underrated the great actual advantages and high comparative freedom which our country enjoyed.”

When Rowland Hill, on one of his early visits to London, first saw Guildhall, he wrote in his Journal: “Much to the disgrace of the City of London, the monument of Pitt remains there still.” In some later year he placed opposite the worddisgracea mark of interrogation. Such feelings as these, which had been nursed in the worst days of Tory rule, began to die out with the dawn of happier times. With the passing of the great Reform Bill, all bitterness passed away from him and his brothers. Nay even, into such good heart had they been put by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, Roman Catholic Emancipation, and the Battle of Navarino, that, though the King was George IV., yet at a small supper-party at Hazelwood one of them struck up, “The King: God bless him,” and all joined heartily in the refrain. Their enthusiasm was partly due to some spirited political verses composed and recited by Sheridan Knowles, who happened to be one of the guests. “It was not without considerable feeling,” wrote one of the brothers, “that we afterwards learnt that, while this loyal effusion was pouring forth, the poor King was dying.”

The removal to the neighbourhood of London at once opened to Rowland Hill a wider world:—

“In November, 1826 [he wrote], I assisted in founding the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, which, commencing public operation in the following year, took so active and important a part in the creation of cheap literature. Though as a member of the committee[70]I took some share in the duty, I fear, upon reflection, that such aid as I was enabled to give was scarcely equivalent to the benefit which I derived from association with the able and eminent men with whom I was thus brought in contact.”

His residence at Bruce Castle he but briefly described in the Prefatory Memoir to “The History of Penny Postage.” It was, to a great extent, the life of a schoolmaster; and that life in the earlier part of the narrative had been set forth at considerable length. The following is the account he gave of these years:—

“During a portion of 1829, and throughout the two following years, I occupied part of my leisure hours in devising means of measuring time, in connection with astronomical observations, more minutely than had hitherto been done. With this view I tried many experiments, and succeeded in carrying accuracy of measurement first to one-tenth, and by a subsequent improvement, to one-hundredth of a second. In June, 1832, I addressed a letter to the Council of the Astronomical Society, of which I had been a member for about seven years, showing the principle of my device, which is in some measure indicated by the name I gave it, viz., the ‘Vernier pendulum,’[71]and applying for the loan of one of the Society’s clocks, with a view to further experiment. This being granted, I continued my investigation for some time, when it was brought to a close by a circumstance which, combined with others, changed my whole course of life. I shall, therefore, only further remark that as the letter just mentioned records a piece of work to which I gave much time and thought, and of which I felt then, and perhaps feel still, alittle proud, I have given it in Appendix D. My invention, I must add, never came into use, being superseded by an adaptation of electricity to the same purpose, which, while equal in accuracy, had the advantage of much readier use.“My health, which had already twice broken down under the weight of my work, now began to show signs of permanent injury; and I was becoming sensible of the necessity for some change, though to obtain this was no easy matter. Simple rest I feared would not answer the purpose, as my mind was likely, by mere force of habit, to revert to my suspended duties, and moreover to busy itself with anxiety about the little family now depending upon me. Change of occupation was, therefore, what I sought, and this was one motive to the astronomical investigations previously referred to. I found, however, that so long as I remained at my post, there was small hope of substantial benefit, and I began to consider the means of release. In 1831 I had prepared for Lord Brougham a paper which I entitled ‘Home Colonies: Sketch of a Plan for the Gradual Extinction of Pauperism and for the Diminution of Crime;’ and this, with Lord Brougham’s consent, was published in 1832.[72]My hope in writing it, beyond that of doing good, had been that it might lead to my temporary employment by Government in examination of the Home Colonies of Holland, which were at that time attracting much public attention, and seemed to afford valuable suggestions for the improvement of our own Poor Law Administration, then, as is well known, in a lamentable state. One great object of the plan, as set forth in my pamphlet, was the education of the pauper colonists. The pamphlet excited a certain amount of interest, as well among working-men as those higher in society: but I had yet to learn how strongly the doors of every Government office are barred against all intruders, and how loud and general must be the knocking before they will open. I must in fairness add that I had also to be made aware how much official doors are beset by schemers, and how naturally groundless projects raise a prejudice against all proposals whatever. Any one curious on the subject may find some notice of the plan in the ‘Penny Magazine,’ Vol.I., p. 42. However, I scarcely need add that no result followed, either to the public or to myself, the evils which I had sought to mitigate being otherwise grappled with in the Poor Law Reform of 1834.“Meantime my malady increased, and it was at length determined that the school at Hazelwood should be disposed of, and the removalto Bruce Castle made complete, the middle of 1833 being fixed upon as the time for the change. My intention was to employ the whole of the midsummer holidays, and as much more time as I could profitably so spend, in a tour on the Continent, leaving the question of my return to be decided by the state of my health and other circumstances. I had begun to feel unsettled in my occupation. In addition to its wearing effect upon my health, I had begun to doubt the expediency of my continuing in a profession into which I had entered rather from necessity than from choice, though I had subsequently laboured in it, like other members of my family, with zeal and even enthusiasm, and in which the very progress made by the school in public estimation made my position on some important points increasingly uncomfortable. This pressed the more after the untimely death of one of the two brothers associated with me at Bruce Castle, the youngest of our family, who, having enjoyed many of those advantages in education which were denied to me, had been as it were my complement. It is true, indeed, that the accession of my brother Arthur from Hazelwood brought present relief, but this also facilitated my withdrawal, giving me as a successor one whose heart I knew to be fully and fixedly engaged in his work.[73]My ambition had grown with our success, or rather, indeed, far outrun it; and I was now thoroughly convinced—partly, I must admit, by a check in our tide of success—that in my present career, unless I could add to my other qualifications those classical acquirements which rank so high in general estimation, it could have no sufficient scope. I think, indeed, I was perfectly honest in saying, as I did at the time, that neither wealth nor power was my main object, though I was not insensible to the allurements of either, but that it was indispensable to my desires to do, or at least to attempt, something which would make the world manifestly the better for my having lived in it. What that was to be I could by no means tell, further than that it must be some work of organization, which I knew to be my forte; but that point secured, I still felt, notwithstanding my impaired health, my old unlimited confidence as to achievement. All this may have been very rash, and even foolish; I merely mention it as a fact, and look upon it as turning out fortunate, since it was essential to the sequel.“Although, however, I separated myself from duties in which I had been earnestly engaged for three-and-twenty years, I have neverlost interest in the school, nor ever failed to render it such assistance as lay in my power. I gladly hailed the early return of its prosperity; and at the end of thirty-six years from my withdrawal I rejoice to see it still flourishing.”[74]

“My health, which had already twice broken down under the weight of my work, now began to show signs of permanent injury; and I was becoming sensible of the necessity for some change, though to obtain this was no easy matter. Simple rest I feared would not answer the purpose, as my mind was likely, by mere force of habit, to revert to my suspended duties, and moreover to busy itself with anxiety about the little family now depending upon me. Change of occupation was, therefore, what I sought, and this was one motive to the astronomical investigations previously referred to. I found, however, that so long as I remained at my post, there was small hope of substantial benefit, and I began to consider the means of release. In 1831 I had prepared for Lord Brougham a paper which I entitled ‘Home Colonies: Sketch of a Plan for the Gradual Extinction of Pauperism and for the Diminution of Crime;’ and this, with Lord Brougham’s consent, was published in 1832.[72]My hope in writing it, beyond that of doing good, had been that it might lead to my temporary employment by Government in examination of the Home Colonies of Holland, which were at that time attracting much public attention, and seemed to afford valuable suggestions for the improvement of our own Poor Law Administration, then, as is well known, in a lamentable state. One great object of the plan, as set forth in my pamphlet, was the education of the pauper colonists. The pamphlet excited a certain amount of interest, as well among working-men as those higher in society: but I had yet to learn how strongly the doors of every Government office are barred against all intruders, and how loud and general must be the knocking before they will open. I must in fairness add that I had also to be made aware how much official doors are beset by schemers, and how naturally groundless projects raise a prejudice against all proposals whatever. Any one curious on the subject may find some notice of the plan in the ‘Penny Magazine,’ Vol.I., p. 42. However, I scarcely need add that no result followed, either to the public or to myself, the evils which I had sought to mitigate being otherwise grappled with in the Poor Law Reform of 1834.

“Meantime my malady increased, and it was at length determined that the school at Hazelwood should be disposed of, and the removalto Bruce Castle made complete, the middle of 1833 being fixed upon as the time for the change. My intention was to employ the whole of the midsummer holidays, and as much more time as I could profitably so spend, in a tour on the Continent, leaving the question of my return to be decided by the state of my health and other circumstances. I had begun to feel unsettled in my occupation. In addition to its wearing effect upon my health, I had begun to doubt the expediency of my continuing in a profession into which I had entered rather from necessity than from choice, though I had subsequently laboured in it, like other members of my family, with zeal and even enthusiasm, and in which the very progress made by the school in public estimation made my position on some important points increasingly uncomfortable. This pressed the more after the untimely death of one of the two brothers associated with me at Bruce Castle, the youngest of our family, who, having enjoyed many of those advantages in education which were denied to me, had been as it were my complement. It is true, indeed, that the accession of my brother Arthur from Hazelwood brought present relief, but this also facilitated my withdrawal, giving me as a successor one whose heart I knew to be fully and fixedly engaged in his work.[73]My ambition had grown with our success, or rather, indeed, far outrun it; and I was now thoroughly convinced—partly, I must admit, by a check in our tide of success—that in my present career, unless I could add to my other qualifications those classical acquirements which rank so high in general estimation, it could have no sufficient scope. I think, indeed, I was perfectly honest in saying, as I did at the time, that neither wealth nor power was my main object, though I was not insensible to the allurements of either, but that it was indispensable to my desires to do, or at least to attempt, something which would make the world manifestly the better for my having lived in it. What that was to be I could by no means tell, further than that it must be some work of organization, which I knew to be my forte; but that point secured, I still felt, notwithstanding my impaired health, my old unlimited confidence as to achievement. All this may have been very rash, and even foolish; I merely mention it as a fact, and look upon it as turning out fortunate, since it was essential to the sequel.

“Although, however, I separated myself from duties in which I had been earnestly engaged for three-and-twenty years, I have neverlost interest in the school, nor ever failed to render it such assistance as lay in my power. I gladly hailed the early return of its prosperity; and at the end of thirty-six years from my withdrawal I rejoice to see it still flourishing.”[74]

“The check in the tide of success” was in great measure due to the failure in Rowland Hill’s health. There were other causes, however, at work. On some of these I have already touched, while others I could not at present with any propriety describe. The description is the less needful as with them he was only remotely connected. It was not wonderful that his health began, as he said, to show signs of permanent injury. Less than two years after he had been warned that he must abandon any plan that should demand unusual energy, he had, in defiance of his doctor, opened his new school. In December, 1829, in June, 1832, and in December, 1832, I find the state of his health made the subject of anxious discussion in the Family Council. His work as a schoolmaster was becoming distasteful to him, and he was beginning to long for a change. He longed still more eagerly for that freedom of thought, speech, and action, which even at the present day a schoolmaster can but very imperfectly command. It was in change of occupation that his active mind for many a long year always found its best repose. Besides the matters that he has recorded in the extract that I have just given, he seems, at this time of his life, to have turned over in his mind many other schemes. The following I havefound jotted down in a memorandum, dated December, 1832:—

To one scheme he must have given not a little thought, though I cannot find that he ever brought it before the world. It is curious as containing, as he says, the germs, and something more than the germs, of the Parcels Delivery Company, the General Omnibus Company, and the District Post. In 1873, he thus docketed the paper in which it is described: “I have no recollection as regards this scheme; but I presume that it was one of my several projects to obtain a living after I had withdrawn from the school.”[75]

All his brothers but one had become still more eager than himself to give up school keeping. One alone was happy in his work. He throughout life loved his school as much as his scholars loved him. Rowland Hill was not singular in his family in his desire “to do, or at least to attempt, something which would make the world manifestly the better for my having lived in it.” I find recorded in the handwriting of another of the brothers at this date that “his favourite objects are connected with improvements in the art and science of national government; and the happiest position in which he can hope or desire to be placedis one in which he is pursuing such objects, in conjunction with the other members of the family.” To carry out their objects they required comparative leisure and complete freedom of action. Some of them had more than once turned their eyes towards the community of New Harmony, which Robert Owen had lately established in Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash. In a letter, dated February 8th, 1827, Rowland Hill tells one of his brothers that he has just met with a friend who had lately returned from New Harmony:—

“He gives excellent accounts of Harmony, though Owen has met with the difficulties we expected on account of his indiscriminate admissions. Several of the members of the Society of Natural History of New York, with the president at their head, have joined the community.... Here is a specimen of the advantages of the system. The naturalists having made the children acquainted with their wants, the little creatures swarm over the woods, and bring in such an abundance of specimens that they are forming several immense collections, some of which they will present to new communities, and others will be exchanged for collections in other quarters of the world. W—— says by these means vast numbers of insects have been discovered, of the existence of which the world was previously in ignorance. What think you of selling Bruce Castle again, and going off?”

In a paper that he drew up a few years ago he has left a brief record of his acquaintance with Mr. Owen:—

“My visit to New Lanark was the first decided step towards an intimacy with the Owen family, which continued for many years. From the commencement I saw much to admire in Mr. Owen’s views; but I invariably urged him to be satisfied with their gradual introduction, and above all not to attempt to apply them in their complete form to persons of all ages taken indiscriminately, and without previous training, from society at large. Mr. Owen always evinced a most friendly, I might say affectionate, feeling towardsmyself, my wife, and other members of the family. His opinions regarding myself were shown, among other ways, by his urging me to undertake, on terms advantageous to myself, the management of one of his communities; but, for the reasons indicated above, I declined the offer.”

Not long after the removal to Bruce Castle, some of the brothers carefully prepared a scheme for establishing a “Social Community.” The first mention that I find of the plan is the following:—

“Sketch out a plan detailing—first, the objects in which union can take place with little danger of violence to our present habits; as, united purchases of food, clothing, coals; library; news-room; use of each other’s knowledge and connections; cooking; rooms and apparatus for receiving friends, parties, &c. (persons not to go to each other’s houses unless invited. If one wants society, he must go to the public rooms); pleasure grounds; baths; cab or omnibus.“Economy of having men of various professions united, as a medical man, a lawyer, architect, schoolmaster; house-warmer; telegraph for own use and for hired use.”

“Economy of having men of various professions united, as a medical man, a lawyer, architect, schoolmaster; house-warmer; telegraph for own use and for hired use.”

From the scheme, when completed, I make the following extracts:—

“Plan Proposed.“Object.—The union of the family and the formation of a small community of persons, in addition to the family, thinking and feeling as we do.“The Community to be established near London, for the sake of access to the world at large, and to be located on a farm for the sake of economy, and as a means of providing profitable and healthy employment for the members during part of each day.“Plans either for public good or private emolument to be matured in the Community, and then either prosecuted at the Community’s establishment or carried into effect in the world at large by members liberated for a time for that purpose.* * * * *“Preparatory Steps.“Find a case in which an intelligent man has left other pursuits for farming, and has succeeded.“Find an intelligent person familiar with farming pursuits, and proper as a member of the Community.* * * * *“Draw up a statement showing the probable yearly income and expenditure in conducting a farm of —— acres at —— near London. Also the probable amount of the produce of such farm—the kinds of produce which it is best to grow—the amount of assistance required—of superintendence—of risk—the principal sources of pleasure or annoyance in farming occupations—how far they are conducive to health—especially as regards the members of our own family.* * * * *“Check among ourselves, in every possible way consistent with our present position, expensive habits of every kind, and even desires for costly gratifications. Encourage habits of simplicity and economy, and in every way prepare for entering into a state of comparative seclusion and frugality.* * * * *“Advantages Expected.“Release from many unpleasant restrictions as to the free expression of opinion, to dress, to absurd customs.“Economy in houses, clothes, food, fire, artificial light, and matters of appearance generally.“Superior education for our children.“Superior opportunities of obtaining knowledge ourselves by observations, experiments, &c.“Release from perplexing and harassing responsibilities.“Release from the necessity of compelling the observance, on the part of others, of matters often really opposed to wisdom and sound morality, and very frequently of merely conventional value.“Society. Enjoyment of that of most of the members of our own family, and that of persons of similar views, who might be willing to join in the plan.“Probable power of appearing before the world advantageously by means of discoveries mechanical, scientific, agricultural, or otherwise.“Increased security from infectious disorders, anarchy, injury by change in the national prosperity; also the security which arises from the cultivation of economical habits.“Mitigation of the evils consequent upon the employment of servants.“Improvement of habits by the influence of numbers upon the individual character of members of the Community.“Great advantages of the close union of a variety of talent by the collection of a number of persons, and their intimate organization and knowledge of each other.“Facility for bringing the whole strength of the Community to bear upon one point when needful.“Increased opportunities of producing extensive good.“(Improvements in machinery, farming, &c., may be introduced without producing even temporary distress, if the Community can execute its own labour.)”

“Plan Proposed.

“Object.—The union of the family and the formation of a small community of persons, in addition to the family, thinking and feeling as we do.

“The Community to be established near London, for the sake of access to the world at large, and to be located on a farm for the sake of economy, and as a means of providing profitable and healthy employment for the members during part of each day.

“Plans either for public good or private emolument to be matured in the Community, and then either prosecuted at the Community’s establishment or carried into effect in the world at large by members liberated for a time for that purpose.

* * * * *

“Preparatory Steps.

“Find a case in which an intelligent man has left other pursuits for farming, and has succeeded.

“Find an intelligent person familiar with farming pursuits, and proper as a member of the Community.

* * * * *

“Draw up a statement showing the probable yearly income and expenditure in conducting a farm of —— acres at —— near London. Also the probable amount of the produce of such farm—the kinds of produce which it is best to grow—the amount of assistance required—of superintendence—of risk—the principal sources of pleasure or annoyance in farming occupations—how far they are conducive to health—especially as regards the members of our own family.

* * * * *

“Check among ourselves, in every possible way consistent with our present position, expensive habits of every kind, and even desires for costly gratifications. Encourage habits of simplicity and economy, and in every way prepare for entering into a state of comparative seclusion and frugality.

* * * * *

“Advantages Expected.

“Release from many unpleasant restrictions as to the free expression of opinion, to dress, to absurd customs.

“Economy in houses, clothes, food, fire, artificial light, and matters of appearance generally.

“Superior education for our children.

“Superior opportunities of obtaining knowledge ourselves by observations, experiments, &c.

“Release from perplexing and harassing responsibilities.

“Release from the necessity of compelling the observance, on the part of others, of matters often really opposed to wisdom and sound morality, and very frequently of merely conventional value.

“Society. Enjoyment of that of most of the members of our own family, and that of persons of similar views, who might be willing to join in the plan.

“Probable power of appearing before the world advantageously by means of discoveries mechanical, scientific, agricultural, or otherwise.

“Increased security from infectious disorders, anarchy, injury by change in the national prosperity; also the security which arises from the cultivation of economical habits.

“Mitigation of the evils consequent upon the employment of servants.

“Improvement of habits by the influence of numbers upon the individual character of members of the Community.

“Great advantages of the close union of a variety of talent by the collection of a number of persons, and their intimate organization and knowledge of each other.

“Facility for bringing the whole strength of the Community to bear upon one point when needful.

“Increased opportunities of producing extensive good.

“(Improvements in machinery, farming, &c., may be introduced without producing even temporary distress, if the Community can execute its own labour.)”

The “great advantages of the close union of a variety of talent” were seen by a man who had been trained in a widely different school. In the year 1836, Rowland Hill received the following letter from his friend Mr. John Lefevre.[76]

“My dear Mr. Hill,—It has frequently occurred to me that if eight or ten individuals of average intellect were to direct their attention simultaneously and in concert on any specific object which it might be desirable to invent, or any particular subject which it might be useful to explain, their joint efforts might produce a more satisfactory result than the unaided powers of a single person, although such person might be considerably superior to any one of the parties to the combination. I am anxious to try this experiment, and it would give me great pleasure if you would join me in it.“I would propose that you and Coode[77]and I should each choose two associates, to be approved of by us all, and that the nine associates should meet once a month about seven in the evening.“Each should furnish two questions for the consideration of the association, and out of these we would fix on two or three for the subject of each meeting.“One of us should in turn act as thereporterof the meeting,i.e., he should be responsible for a statement of the result.“The subjects should, in the first instance, be as simple as possible, and should be such as to be matters of scientific amusement rather than of importance I say this because by adoptingthis course, if the whole thing fails, we shall only have been amused without having been disappointed.“Let me know at your leisure what you think of this, and do not mention it to any one until you have made up your own mind on itsprimâ faciepracticability.“Yours ever,“J. Lefevre.”“I heartily concurred in the suggestion,” Sir Rowland Hill has recorded, “and the first meeting was, I think, held at my house. My nominees were Mr. Wheatstone and my brother Edwin.[78]Among the earliest subjects of conversation were Wheatstone’s Telegraph—not then in practical use—and my printing machine.... I brought under the consideration of my friends a question which I had long had in mind, as to whether steamships could not use as fuel the hydrogen of the sea-water; but Coode, who was a remarkably well-informed and clear-headed man, succeeded in showing that the heat which would be lost in extracting the hydrogen would be equal to that gained by its combustion. Consequently that what I aimed at was really, though in a disguised form, nothing else than a perpetual motion. So far as my memory serves, this was anterior to the announcement of the doctrine of the correlation of forces.”

“I would propose that you and Coode[77]and I should each choose two associates, to be approved of by us all, and that the nine associates should meet once a month about seven in the evening.

“Each should furnish two questions for the consideration of the association, and out of these we would fix on two or three for the subject of each meeting.

“One of us should in turn act as thereporterof the meeting,i.e., he should be responsible for a statement of the result.

“The subjects should, in the first instance, be as simple as possible, and should be such as to be matters of scientific amusement rather than of importance I say this because by adoptingthis course, if the whole thing fails, we shall only have been amused without having been disappointed.

“Let me know at your leisure what you think of this, and do not mention it to any one until you have made up your own mind on itsprimâ faciepracticability.

“Yours ever,

“J. Lefevre.”

“I heartily concurred in the suggestion,” Sir Rowland Hill has recorded, “and the first meeting was, I think, held at my house. My nominees were Mr. Wheatstone and my brother Edwin.[78]Among the earliest subjects of conversation were Wheatstone’s Telegraph—not then in practical use—and my printing machine.... I brought under the consideration of my friends a question which I had long had in mind, as to whether steamships could not use as fuel the hydrogen of the sea-water; but Coode, who was a remarkably well-informed and clear-headed man, succeeded in showing that the heat which would be lost in extracting the hydrogen would be equal to that gained by its combustion. Consequently that what I aimed at was really, though in a disguised form, nothing else than a perpetual motion. So far as my memory serves, this was anterior to the announcement of the doctrine of the correlation of forces.”

Shortly after I had lighted on a copy of the scheme of a Social Community, I called on Sir Rowland Hill. The following is my note of the conversation that passed:—

“I talked to him about the scheme of a Social Community. He said that it was mainly the project of some of his brothers, but that he quite approved of it. Their chief aims were to escape from work that was too severe, and to get complete freedom of speech. He had no doubt that they should have made it answer. They were resolved to be very frugal. I said that to most men of business the scheme would seem that of madmen. He answered that at that time there were many such projects supported by men of great weight. Owen’s plan was more or less approved of by Broughamand others. He (Sir R. Hill) and his brothers saw great merits in it, though they also saw great faults.”

The following letter, which he wrote to one of his brothers in defence of the scheme before it had as yet in any way taken shape, throws much light on the objects that they had in view:—

“I am very sorry, and not a little surprised, that our plan should have been so far misunderstood as to cause so much alarm on the part of mother and yourself, and I hasten to remove your fears by simply telling you what the plan is. The only plan to which I have given my consent is this:—To ascertain, in the most satisfactory manner, by enquiry and even by experiment, what is the smallest sum on which we can live with economy but comfort, avoiding all such expenses as are at present incurred, not because they are conducive to happiness, but because we are expected by others to meet them; yet at the same time indulging in some gratifications which we are at present denied. In determining this sum to allow nothing whatever for the produce of our labour, letting that stand as security against the ill-effects of any error in our calculation. Having determined this amount, to ascertain next, how much capital, secured in the fullest manner, as by mortgage on ample freehold landed property, would afford the required income, and then to continue our present undertaking till such a capital is raised.... I think you will now see that our views are by no means very dissimilar. Your wish is, I believe, to save money with the intention of retiring and living on your savings at some future time. You perhaps would wait, till you can maintain without labour the same rank you now hold, still continuing to mix with the world and to conform with the world’s notions of propriety and happiness. We are for separating from society so far as may be necessary to enable us to regulate our mode of living solely with a reference toour ownconceptions of comfort. We conceive that our plan promises these advantages over yours, that it will enable us to put it into execution earlier, and that we shall be more happy when it is executed than if we adopted your plan.“The very common plan of working very hard during the best years of your life, in order that you may heap up security for future comfort, is, I think we are all agreed, a very mistaken one. It is much wiser to be satisfied with a less amount of security, and enjoy your ease while your spirits and health remain unimpaired, andbefore your habits are so far fixed as to render any change undesirable. Still there is an amount of security which is necessary to prevent care and anxiety; but that necessary amount will, of course, be proportionate to the scale of living you may adopt.“To me it appears to be of very little consequence whether we are consistent or not, but it is very important to be right.“If we have been right hitherto, we should make no change because we have been right; if we have been wrong, it would be unwise to continue so for the sake of being consistent. I know that right and wrong are here comparative; and that it may be wise to continue in a path which you have already trodden, though it may not be the most direct, or the least rugged, rather than encounter the hedges and ditches which may lie between you and the straight and even road. But if you can satisfy yourself that the advantages of the direct road will, in all probability, more than balance the labour and risk of getting into it, you would be foolish not to make the change. I am not begging the question by assuming that the proposed course is the best; I only wish to show on what grounds the propriety of a change ought to be discussed.“Though I disregard a character for consistency, which is a virtue or a vice according to circumstances (which is it in Lord Eldon?) yet I am desirous to show that I have not made so many mistakes, nor so decidedly changed my views as you imagine. I conceive that we have been already remunerated for the additional outlay in building at Hazelwood. With the views I now advocate, the propriety of purchasing Bruce Castle may be questioned; but I do not see that the step was manifestly improper. The buildings and grounds would, in all probability, sell for more than they cost us.... My views have certainly changed inasmuch as I am now inclined to abandon the hope of establishing the College, or collection of schools of which I used to talk; but the change has been caused by circumstances as unexpected by others as they were by myself. I allude to the great reduction in numbers at Hazelwood, and to the present prospects there and here (we expect barely to maintain our late number), showing, I fear, diminished confidence in the public—to the vexations arising from the fact of our being obliged to teach so much which we consider as nearly useless, and, in some cases, very mischievous—from the unreasonable expectations of the friends of our pupils, and from the still-continuing caprices of the parents, as manifested constantly by the removal of boys with whom we have been most successful.... I think too that we are all wearing ourselves out very fast, and that the time is not veryfar distant when some of us will be obliged to stop, without perhaps health and spirits sufficient to enjoy any mode of living. As to my anxiety to do good, it is as strong now as ever, and I think that the proposed change, by allowing us to educate our children for a better state of society, will enable us through their means to do good much more effectually, and even speedily, than we could on any other plan.... As regards myself, even if you were all the warmest advocates of the plan, it is very possible that I might never share its advantages. I have not as yet said anything to my wife on the subject. It is true that she often talks of retirement as a desirable thing, but even if she should be inclined to join in this very economical plan of retirement, I think the persuasions of her friends would very likely influence her against it, and without her consent I shall not join in it myself.”

“The very common plan of working very hard during the best years of your life, in order that you may heap up security for future comfort, is, I think we are all agreed, a very mistaken one. It is much wiser to be satisfied with a less amount of security, and enjoy your ease while your spirits and health remain unimpaired, andbefore your habits are so far fixed as to render any change undesirable. Still there is an amount of security which is necessary to prevent care and anxiety; but that necessary amount will, of course, be proportionate to the scale of living you may adopt.

“To me it appears to be of very little consequence whether we are consistent or not, but it is very important to be right.

“If we have been right hitherto, we should make no change because we have been right; if we have been wrong, it would be unwise to continue so for the sake of being consistent. I know that right and wrong are here comparative; and that it may be wise to continue in a path which you have already trodden, though it may not be the most direct, or the least rugged, rather than encounter the hedges and ditches which may lie between you and the straight and even road. But if you can satisfy yourself that the advantages of the direct road will, in all probability, more than balance the labour and risk of getting into it, you would be foolish not to make the change. I am not begging the question by assuming that the proposed course is the best; I only wish to show on what grounds the propriety of a change ought to be discussed.

“Though I disregard a character for consistency, which is a virtue or a vice according to circumstances (which is it in Lord Eldon?) yet I am desirous to show that I have not made so many mistakes, nor so decidedly changed my views as you imagine. I conceive that we have been already remunerated for the additional outlay in building at Hazelwood. With the views I now advocate, the propriety of purchasing Bruce Castle may be questioned; but I do not see that the step was manifestly improper. The buildings and grounds would, in all probability, sell for more than they cost us.... My views have certainly changed inasmuch as I am now inclined to abandon the hope of establishing the College, or collection of schools of which I used to talk; but the change has been caused by circumstances as unexpected by others as they were by myself. I allude to the great reduction in numbers at Hazelwood, and to the present prospects there and here (we expect barely to maintain our late number), showing, I fear, diminished confidence in the public—to the vexations arising from the fact of our being obliged to teach so much which we consider as nearly useless, and, in some cases, very mischievous—from the unreasonable expectations of the friends of our pupils, and from the still-continuing caprices of the parents, as manifested constantly by the removal of boys with whom we have been most successful.... I think too that we are all wearing ourselves out very fast, and that the time is not veryfar distant when some of us will be obliged to stop, without perhaps health and spirits sufficient to enjoy any mode of living. As to my anxiety to do good, it is as strong now as ever, and I think that the proposed change, by allowing us to educate our children for a better state of society, will enable us through their means to do good much more effectually, and even speedily, than we could on any other plan.... As regards myself, even if you were all the warmest advocates of the plan, it is very possible that I might never share its advantages. I have not as yet said anything to my wife on the subject. It is true that she often talks of retirement as a desirable thing, but even if she should be inclined to join in this very economical plan of retirement, I think the persuasions of her friends would very likely influence her against it, and without her consent I shall not join in it myself.”

Rowland Hill was, indeed, a man, to use Gibbon’s words, “whom nature had designed to think as he pleased, and to speak as he thought.” Such freedom as this is only enjoyed in its fullest extent by those who have secured “independence, that first earthly blessing.” But independence, if it is chiefly enjoyed by men of ample means, is, nevertheless, within the reach of those who have but simple wants. Yet after all there was not a little truth in what their old father wrote on hearing of this scheme of his sons: “My dear son Rowland. You and your brothers are the last men to make monks of.”

Such a scheme as this has a strong outward resemblance to the Pantisocracy of Southey and Coleridge; but the differences between the two schemes are far greater than the resemblances. The two poets were as young as they were unversed in the ways of the world, when the delightful prospect of happiness opened before their view to live with their friends in the most agreeable and most honourable employment, to eat the fruits they had raised, and see every face happy around them.[79]The bandof friends whom they had gathered round them were, perhaps, not more experienced than themselves. But the planners of the other scheme were men who had spent many years in hard work, and in habits of strict economy. They did not, like the two poets, look upon money as a huge evil with which, happily, they should not long have to contend. They had learnt its value. They knew how to buy and how to sell. They had a certain amount of capital at their command. Two of them, moreover, were skilful in the use of tools, and fertile in mechanical inventions. They had long tried in their family union the plan of a Social Community, and were entering upon their undertaking with a clear insight into the difficulties which awaited them. They were fully alive, moreover, to the dangers that Owen had brought upon himself by his indiscriminate admission of all comers. They only proposed to invite men to join them with whose characters they had first become thoroughly acquainted. In a list of “members apparently qualified,” I find the names of Dr. Southwood Smith and Mr. Roebuck. “I formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr. Roebuck,” Sir Rowland Hill has recorded, “about the year 1830. In 1832 (I think) my wife nursed him through a long illness at Bruce Castle.” TheirSocial Communitywas not so much an end in itself as a means towards other and far higher ends. They had schemes for moving the earth; but they wanted a fulcrum. They had no leisure. What Rowland Hill could do when he was free from his school, he showed in the next four years of his life. In the spare time that a man could command who was Secretary to a new and active Commission, he invented, as will be seen, a printing-press, and devised his greatscheme of Postal Reform. In like manner his youngest surviving brother, who, a year or two after the Social Community was planned, was made the First Inspector of Prisons in Scotland, had in no long time thoroughly reformed them, and made them a model for the whole kingdom.

No steps were taken to carry through their scheme. It had scarcely been completed on paper before Rowland Hill obtained, what he had long wanted, “a work of organisation.” Within no long time all the other brothers were happily engaged in occupations that suited their powers and their tastes. “When I was a young man,” said Sir Rowland Hill one day to me, “there were very few careers open. I never even dreamed of the possibility of getting into the Civil Service.” A new career, however, was at length opening for him, and the long, though broken, course of his public services was on the point of beginning. To this point I have traced his life, and here I shall bring the first part of my task to an end. His history for the next thirty years will be given in his own narrative. I shall take up my pen again at the date of his retirement, and do my best to describe the closing years of his long and honourable life. My task will be no easy one, for

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