登陆注册
16113600000075

第75章 BENTHAM'S LIFE(19)

Another light of the Edinburgh Review,who at this time took Brougham at his own valuation,did an incidental service to Bentham.Upon the publication of the Book of Fallacies in 1825,Sydney Smith reviewed or rather condensed it in the Edinburgh Review,and gave the pith of the whole in his famous Noodle's Oration.The noodle utters all the commonplaces by which the stupid conservatives,with Eldon at their head,met the demands of reformers.Nothing could be wittier than Smith's brilliant summary.Whigs and Radicals for the time agreed in ridiculing blind prejudice.The day was to come when the Whigs at least would see that some principles might be worse than prejudice.All the fools,said Lord Melbourne,'were against Catholic Emancipation,and the worst of it is,the fools were in the right.'Sydney Smith was glad to be Bentham's mouthpiece for the moment:though,when Benthamism was applied to church reform,Smith began to perceive that Noodle was not so silly as he seemed.

One other ally of Bentham deserves notice.O'Connell had in 1828,in speaking of legal abuses,called himself 'an humble disciple of the immortal Bentham.'(143)Bentham wrote to acknowledge the compliment.He invited O'Connell to become an inmate of his hermitage at Queen's Square Place,and O'Connell responded warmly to the letters of his 'revered master.'Bentham's aversion to Catholicism was as strong as his objection to Catholic disqualifications,and he took some trouble to smooth down the difficulties which threatened an alliance between ardent believers and thorough-going sceptics.O'Connell had attacked some who were politically upon his side.'Dan,dear child,'says Bentham,'whom in imagination I am at this moment pressing to my fond bosom,put off,if it be possible,your intolerance.'(144)Their friendship,however,did not suffer from this discord,and their correspondence is in the same tone till the end.In one of Bentham's letters he speaks of a contemporary correspondence with another great man,whom he does not appear to have met personally.He was writing long letters,entreating the duke of Wellington to eclipse Cromwell by successfully attacking the lawyers.The duke wrote 'immediate answers in his own hand,'and took good-humouredly a remonstrance from Bentham upon the duel with Lord Winchilsea in 1829.(145)Bentham was ready to the end to seek allies in any quarter.When Lord Sidmouth took office in 1812,Bentham had an interview with him,and had some hopes of being employed to prepare a penal code.(146)Although experience had convinced him of the futility of expectations from the Sidmouths and Eldons,he was always on the look out for sympathy;and the venerable old man was naturally treated with respect by people who had little enough of real interest in his doctrines.

During the last ten years of his life,Bentham was cheered by symptoms of the triumph of his creed.The approach of the millennium seemed to be indicated by the gathering of the various forces which carried Roman Catholic Emancipation and the Reform Bill.Bentham still received testimonies of his fame abroad.In 1825he visited Paris to consult some physicians.He was received with the respect which the French can always pay to intellectual eminence.(147)All the lawyers in a court of justice rose to receive him,and he was placed at the president's right hand.On the revolution of 1830,he addressed some good advice to the country of which he had been made a citizen nearly forty years before.In 1832,Talleyrand,to whom he had talked about the Panopticon in 1792,dined with him alone in his hermitage.(148)When Bowring observed to the prince that Bentham's works had been plundered,the polite diplomatist replied,et pilléde tout le monde,il est toujours riche.Bentham was by this time failing.At eighty-two he was still,as he put it,'codifying like any dragon.'(149)On 18th May 1832he did his last bit of his life-long labour,upon the 'Constitutional Code.'The great reform agitation was reaching the land of promise,but Bentham was to die in the wilderness.He sank without a struggle on 6th June 1832,his head resting on Bowring's bosom.He left the characteristic direction that his body should be dissected for the benefit of science.An incision was formally made;and the old gentleman,in his clothes as he lived,his face covered by a wax mask,is still to be seen at University College in Gower Street.

Bentham,as we are told,had a strong personal resemblance to Benjamin Franklin.Sagacity,benevolence,and playfulness were expressed in both physiognomies.

Bentham,however,differed from the man whose intellect presents many points of likeness,in that he was not a man of the market-place or the office.

Bentham was in many respects a child through life:(150)a child in simplicity,good humour,and vivacity;his health was unbroken;he knew no great sorrow;and after emerging from the discouragement of his youth,he was placidly contemplating a continuous growth of fame and influence.He is said to have expressed the wis that he could awake once in a century to contemplate th prospect of a world gradually adopting his principles and so making steady progress in happiness and wisdom.

No man could lead a simpler life.His chief luxuries at table were fruit,bread,and tea.He had a 'sacred teapot'called Dick,with associations of its own,and carefully regulated its functions.He refrained from wine during the greatest part of his life,and was never guilty of a single act of intemperance.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 风极苍穹

    风极苍穹

    创生?毁灭?…………人族与兽族的混血少年,背负着两族的命运,修神诀,锻神体,掌创世!如果阻你的是整个世界呢?那么,便将这个世道改变了吧……这个世界,终究由我来创造!
  • 彩虹彼端的魔法王国

    彩虹彼端的魔法王国

    前言——千年轮回;星芒流转依旧是那道彩虹;人却四散八方“你会在彩虹的彼岸等待着我吗?”少女仰望着璀璨夺目的星空,眼角泛起点点泪花。穿越时空的友情;耀眼夺目的光辉见证了如同水晶般纯洁的友谊;那便是世界中最强大的魔法……
  • 银灰色的天空

    银灰色的天空

    经历了无数相思夜晚、还是不能停止一刻的惦念,思恋深邃无底,无法触碰,但却如同密友心心相系夜是回忆的开始,把整天的情愫,短暂沉浸在独享的时光,静静的安抚着内心的空虚。情有感而发,即痛却不舍,即乐虽短暂,痛并快乐却心灵相隔,虽然相知、相恋,但却难以相拥,相吻,唯有寄以梦境,完成一次爱的旅行。把你放在心里,却只能出现在梦里。白昼是记忆的开始,智能的把偷瞄的瞬间,和不完全属于自己的片段,归纳储存在心里,虽然见面仍却相思,思内心的碎念,望眼眸的闪烁,探内心的期盼,乐并楚怜却只能感应,虽然渴望表达如初,却克制坚守初心,唯寄后在梦成现实。双膝一生行迹双影。
  • 长庚记

    长庚记

    长庚星,即是太白金星,又叫做启明星。每当西方落日将尽,启明星就会冉冉升起,由此也开始了夜的轮回。那么,在这看似宁静的夜色之下,实际上隐藏着些什么?星空之上,无数的命运交织错落;星空之下,阴谋的气息已经四散而开。十六年前的那个夜晚,一位神秘老者在大湖边钓起一条隐世青龙;十六年后的某一天,绝世遗孤横空出世。他如何搅动满天风雨?又如何在风雨中踏歌前行?有朝一日,举世皆敌,他又如何一人独战这天下?
  • 百鬼踏青图

    百鬼踏青图

    少年郎交友情多,妖魔鬼怪狐黄蛇。红尘缘起追前世,梦回千古得宝图。
  • 《入梦魔种之大唐》

    《入梦魔种之大唐》

    看了太多大唐同人,找不到自己想要yy的感觉,只有自己写了。
  • 直播女神圣斗士

    直播女神圣斗士

    身带隐形直播系统,另附随身商店,可用赏金购买唯一属性道具,看我勇闯中古动漫界,直播圣斗士里泡女神,默示录里砍僵尸,物语系列里抓幽灵,新世纪福音里炮轰使徒……群:511077754,欢迎加入讨论
  • 超能想象

    超能想象

    “云然,你在哪儿?”“我在月球度假,正赏地呢!”“别开玩笑了,赶紧回来,天杀盟正被修真高手围攻!”“别慌,我一个想象,就让那些修真高手樯橹灰飞烟灭!”在超能想象的面前,都市修真就是一个渣,在吊丝云然的眼里,天下美女只有一个她。想象无限!想象无罪!想象万岁万岁万万岁!
  • 殇冢

    殇冢

    自盘古开天以来,世间万物就展现出了它们勃勃的生机。作为万物之灵,人类更展现了自己出众的一面。然而对一些不可抗拒的灾害却无法解释,于是鬼神之说就泛滥开来,也有一些人不甘屈服,自此占卜问卦,求仙炼道,猎魔伏妖之士便循着自己的想法欲与天地一较长短。虽不曾有人习得长生之术,但卜卦问道,飞天遁地之术却是有的,这个故事便是从道派巨擎碧霄阁而展开的......
  • 炉石王者

    炉石王者

    就算光明已不再庇护人族,就算黑暗吞噬亿万生命。当逆转的时空之轮悄然苏醒之际,当神魔陨落天地色变之时,当历史真相大白于天下之初,当古神的低语在万族中回荡的时候。吾定脚踏轮回,手掌炉石,破开那荆棘之路。“神档杀神,魔阻戮魔”成就无上王者,惊天霸业。(不种马,单男女主角,第一次写,不好之处希望谅解)