ஆரியர்கள் இந்தியர்களே அது பற்றி சில கருத்துக்கள்

ஆத்மசூரியன் · ஆத்மசூரியன் Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:06 pm

First topic message reminder :

ஆங்கிலேயர்களால் பிரித்தாள்வதற்காக தோற்றுவிக்கப்பட்ட ஆரியர்களின் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு கொள்கைகள் இன்றும் நம் பாடபுத்தகங்களை ஆக்கிரமித்துள்ளது.
ஆரியர்களின் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு கொள்கைகளுக்கு எதிரான வாதங்கள் சிலவற்றை பார்போம்.

1. வேதங்கள் ஆரியர் என்ற வார்த்தையை மனிதர்கள் பின்பற்றக்கூடிய உயரிய குணங்களை உடையவர் என்றே கூறுகிறது.

2. வேதங்களில் ஆரியர் எந்த வெளிநாட்டிலிருந்தும் வந்ததாக தெரிவிக்கவில்லை.

3. 1946 ல் அம்பேத்காரல் எழுதப்பட்ட " யார் சூத்திரர்கள்" என்ற நூலில் மேற்க்கத்தியர்களால் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட ஆரியர் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு கொள்கை பல விஷயங்களை விளக்க தவறி இருக்கிறது. இது முன்னமே உருவாக்கப்பட்டு அதற்கெற்றார் போல் சூழ்நிலைகள் உருவாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. என்று கூறியுள்ளார்.

4. சுவாமி விவேகானந்தர் அமெரிக்காவில் ஆற்றிய சொற்பொழிவில் பின்வருமாறு கூறியுள்ளார் "உங்களது ஐரோப்பிய பண்டிதர்கள் கூறுவது போல் ஆரியர்கள் வெளிநாட்டிலிருந்து வந்து இந்தியாவிலுள்ள ஆதி குடிமக்களை வென்று அதிகாரம் செலுத்தினர் என்பது முட்டாள் தனமான பேச்சாகும். இதில் வேடிக்கையானது என்னவென்றால் எங்கள் இந்திய பண்டிதர்களும் அவர்களுக்கு ஆமாம் போடுவது தான்" .

5. அரவிந்தர் அவரது வேதங்களின் ரகசியம் எனும் நூலில் " ஆரியர் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு கொள்கை அதன் தரத்தில் மிகவும் குறைவாகவும் அதன் முக்கியதுவத்தில் நிச்சயமற்றதாகவும் உள்ளது. அதை பற்றிய எந்த ஒரு உண்மையும் முழுமையாக விவரிக்கப்படவில்லை" என்று கூறியுள்ளார்.

6. ஹரப்பா மற்றும் மோகஞ்சதரோ வில் பல ஆயிரம் வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பே நாகரிகங்கள் இருந்ததாக கூறப்படுகிறது . இதை வைதத்து பார்க்கும் பொது ஆரியர்கள் வெளிநாட்டிலிருந்து வந்து இந்த நவீன நகரங்களையும் கலாசாரங்களையும் அழித்திருப்பார் என்று கூறமுடியாது.

7. மேலும் ஹரப்பா மற்றும் மோகஞ்ச்சாதரோவில் பசுபதி எனும் சிவனை வழிபட்டுள்ளனர். அங்கு கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்ட சின்னங்களும் இந்து சமயம் சார்ந்ததாகவே உள்ளது. 5000 வருடங்களுக்கு முனதாகவே அதாவது ஆரியர் வந்தனர் என கூறப்படும் காலத்திற்க்கு முன்னதாகவே இந்து சமயம் இந்தியாவில் இருந்தது. எனவே வெளிநாட்டவர் இந்தியா வந்தனர் இந்து சமயத்தை பரப்பினர் என்று கூற வாய்பேயில்லை.

அன்பு தளபதி · அன்பு தளபதி Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:10 pm

and went off. I heard Max, as
he left, say in German : “ Splendid, noble fellow “ ; and so he is, indeed. He
is far handsomer as a man of forty, and, as I said before, there is an
earnestness, depth, and grandeur in his face, whilst it has lost none of its
bright, genial expression. He is one’s ideal of a really noble man. The night
he arrived here, one of the hills was illuminated in his honour. It was a most
fairy-like scene. At a rocket signal every point in the high hill burst out in
bright sheets of Bengal fire, red, white, and green, so that every bush and
twig were visible from the base to the summit, and the figures of the men
feeding the lights looked like busy gnomes who had created the magical scene.’

Whilst at Ems Max Mliller
received a note from Dr., afterwards Sir John, Stainer, and later Professor of
Music at Oxford, wishing to dedicate his work on Harmony to him. The following letters are interesting as
showing Max Miiller’s continued love of music, though he had almost ceased to
perform himself, and only took up his playing again later to accompany his
children in their singing : —

To Dr. Stainer.

Ems, July 2.

‘ I hardly know what to say,
and whether I ought to accept the dedication of your work on Harmo7iy. I always
feel like a traitor among my musical friends, and quite unworthy of any
honourable mention. However, if you think otherwise, I can only say that I
shall consider it a great, though most undeserved, honour to have my name
connected with your work, and thus to keep a place in the musical annals of
Oxford. Some of my happiest recollections date from the years which I spent in
the musical atmosphere of Leipzig, when Mendelssohn was there in the full
vigour and enjoyment of his genius, and these recollections have often been
revived at Oxford when listening to your masterly playing in Magdalen Chapel.’

The dedication is as follows :
—

TO PROFESSOR MAX MttLLER

WHO, THOUGH UNABLE TO DEVOTE
HIMSELF

TO THE ART OF MUSIC

OWING TO THE CLAIMS MADE ON HIS
TIME

BY OTHER FIELDS OF LABOUR

FORGETS NOT TO ENCOURAGE BY HIS
SYMPATHY AND KINDNESS

THOSE WHO ARE PRESSING FORWARD
IN ITS PATHS.

424 Lectures on Language
stereotyped [ch. xvm

To THE Same.

October 6.

‘ On my return to Oxford I
found your book on my table, and I must thank you once more for your great
kindness. I feel ashamed and almost saddened when I read your dedication. There
was a time when I thought I should devote the whole of my life to music, and a
very happy time it was.

‘ But new interests carried me
away in quite a different direction, and though I tried for a time to keep up
my music, I soon found out that music was not a thing to play with, and that
one should make up one’s mind to be either its priest and minister, or a silent
worshipper.

‘ There is a story of a young
clergyman exclaiming, “ What is the use of the laity ? “ I am glad you do not
share that feeling with regard to music, but consider mere listeners like
myself (and par- ticularly silent listeners) an essential element of the
musical community.’

On his return to Oxford Max
MUlIer settled down to work, finishing the new edition of his Lectures on
Language^ which were now stereotyped, and getting on with the fifth volume of
the Rig-veda. His wife was away from home for some time, the mother-aunt being
very ill, and requiring some one constantly with her.

To HIS Wife.

Oxford, September 17, 1871.

‘ Sharing the happiness of
other people, entering into their feelings, living life over once more in them
and with them, that is all that remains to old people. I suppose it was meant
to be so, the principal object of life being the overcoming of self in every
sense of the word.

‘ In fact, as one gets older
death seems hardly to make so wide a gulf : a few years more or less, that is
all. Meantime, we know in whose hands we all are, that life is very beautiful ;
but death has its beauty too.’

In the November of this year
Max Miiller had the grati- fication of hearing from India that his Satiskrit
Grammar^ of which the second edition had appeared in 1870, was extensively used
there. A friend wrote from Benares, ‘ Your Grammar seems now very near
perfection. Your Hitopadesa (the first of the handbooks for the study of
Sanskrit) is used in the English department of our College, and is valued by
the boys, but not much bought — they are too poor.’

1871] Shakespeare’ s Sonnets
425

To F. Palgrave, Esq.

Parks End, December 26, 1871.

‘ My DEAR Palgrave, — As a
Christmas treat I have been reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets — as marvellous as
ever, but even more difficult ! Now can
you tell me (p. 81 of your edition), how do you construe “ Will bestow it “ ?
Is it will enrich it, endow it, viz. my wit ? Why did you leave out the sonnet
—

“ A woman’s face with nature’s
own hand painted “ ?

How do you construe p. 76 —

“I will not praise that purpose
not to sell”?

These are only a few queries,
and they refer to points where I believe I am simply stupid ; as to other
matters, one might go on asking for ever. On the whole I like Massey — he
leaves me freest. Best wishes to you and yours.’

CHAPTER XIX

1872

Memorial to Bishop Patteson.
Offer of Professorship at Strassburg.

Rig-veda, Vol. V. Death of
sister-in-law. Strassburg. Baden.
Munich. Life of Stockmar. Switzerland. Dr. Stanley Select Preacher,
Freiligrath’s poem.

From the moment that it was
settled that the University of Strassburg should be reorganized under German
auspices, Baron Roggenbach, who was entrusted with the arrangements,
endeavoured to attract to it many of the leading German Professors. The Baron
had discussed the subject with Max Miiller on his return from Ems in 187 1, and
through the winter the thought of possibly settling in Strassburg as Sanskrit
Pro- fessor was constantly before him. Max determined to come to no decision
before trying how life in Germany really suited him, and therefore only
undertook to give a course of lectures at Strassburg in the summer se7nester of
187a.

To HIS Mother.

Translation. January i, 1872.

‘ My dear good Mother, — The
first letter of the new year must be for you, and may God make it a pleasant
year to you — as pleasant as it can be at your age. I hope we shall have a
happy meeting this year. I have not yet made any plans for the summer, though I
have an idea, if I am well and strong enough, of giving a course of lectures at
Strassburg. I have had a very cordial invitation to do so, but I have not yet
accepted, for it will give me a good deal of work, and too much work does not
pay. It is possible the opening of the University may be postponed till the
autumn, and at that time I could not leave Oxford. Well, that is just an idea
for the new year. At all events I intend to make an early start from here, and
settle some- where for the summer in Germany with all my belongings. It is not
good for the children to travel about, and is also too expensive.

1872] Wobiirn Abbey

427

Where do you think we had best
go ? We had a quiet Christmas. The
Meyers sent us venison and a Marzipan, and Triibner sent a Stolle, so that we
had some German Christmas things. Have I told you that Klaus Groth is coming in
the spring to Oxford to give three lectures before the University on German
literature? He gets £50, and he and his wife will slay with us. I am going this
week for a couple of days to Woburn Abbey, the Duke of Bedford’s.’

From Woburn Abbey he wrote to
his wife : —

January 4.

·
Here I am in the grand old place. I had a
pleasant drive from the station, some seven miles — beautiful sunshine, and the
Park looked as green as in summer. Mr. Hastings Russell and his son received
rae very kindly. We walked about, saw the Park and the Sculpture Gallery and
the Chinese Dairy, &c. What an extraordinary nest for one human bird to
build himself for his passage through life ! When Bunsen was here he told the
late Duke, after admiring everything in the way in which he could admire, that
he was truly thankful he was not Duke of Bedford. Mr. Russell seemed quite to
understand what he meant. I try to keep up my reputation as a historian, but it
requires great presence of mind when you are told of every picture :

That was the famous Lord A.,
that was his beautiful daughter-in-law, the Duchess of B., and so it goes on —
enough to pluck a first-class man. My great difficulty is to find my room ^ I
wander and wander, till at last some kind person takes me in tow. Plowever,
here I am, landed safe in my room, and when the dinner bell rings I hope they
will send for me ! ‘

In February Max Miiller wrote a
letter to the Times advocating a memorial to his friend Bishop Patteson, whose
murder in one of the Melanesian Islands had been mentioned this year in the
Queen’s Speech. He received letters of thanks from many members of the Bishop’s
family. ‘To have known such a man,’ says Max Miiller, ‘ is one of life’s
greatest blessings. In his life of purity, unselfishness, and devotion to man
and faith in a higher world, those who have eyes to see may read the best, the
most real Imitatio Christi.

In his death, following so
closely on his prayer for forgiveness

for his enemies — “ for they know
not what they do “ — we have

witnessed once more a truly
Christ-like death.’ From this

^ Max Miiller had not the least
bump of locality.

428 Offer’s from Strassburg
[ch. xix

time onwards Max Muller felt an
interest in the Melanesian

Mission above any other.

To HIS Mother.

Translation. March 3, 1872.

·
I should have written sooner, but I have had so
much corre- spondence lately about Strassburg that I had time for nothing
else. They have made me all sorts of
offers, but I have come to no decision, though I am often drawn towards
returning to Germany, The Government offers me 4,000 thalers a year (£600), and
will keep the Professorship open for me till Easter, 1873. I have hit on this
plan:

I will leave this early in May
and give a course of lectures in Strass- burg, during the Summer Term, on “ The
Results of Comparative Philology.” This binds me in no way, and I can form an
idea as to whether I am suited for the work of a German Professor or not. Roggenbach writes I could live near
Baden-Baden and go in by train on lecture days. G. and the children will not
come till the end of June, so as not to interrupt the children’s classes. The
lectures end early in August, and I can then make further plans ; so as soon as
you feel up to it you can come to Strassburg and keep house for me. In the winter I shall in any case return to
Oxford, whatever I may ultimately decide on doing. You can fancy how all this
has occupied me. I think with an income of 10,000 thalers, of which we need not
lay by anything, we could lead a far pleasanter life than we can in England.
Naturally, the children are my chief thought, and whether their future would be
more successful in Germany than here. But all depends on whether I feel I can
be of use, and I can fairly judge that after a term. The weather is so mild
that the crocuses and violets are in flower in the garden.’

Hardly had this letter been
sent off than Max Muller was taken seriously ill, and for some days typhoid
fever was feared. The attack resolved
itself into violent neuralgia in the head, and he was for many days in bed,
unable to move. At the end of the time he wrote the following letter to his mother. After giving an account of his illness^ he
continues —

Translation.

‘ Then came the death of
Goldstiicker ^, which I felt very much —

we had worked together so long.
So one goes after the other, and

one becomes more and more lonely.
He really caused his own death :

would see no doctor, though
begged to do so, and died from the results

of a cold. I was better off, for
I had no want of careful nursing. So

^ Whom he knew in Paris and
London.

1872] French Attacks on M. M.
429

in Way I really am going to
Strassburg. The money they offer is a good deal for Germany. They tell me it is
the highest salary ever offered to a Professor. As I do not know the life at
all, it is pleasant to be able to try it before deciding.’

No sooner had the German papers
announced that ‘ Pro- fessor Max MUller will kindly give a course of lectures
during the Summer Term,’ than various attacks, some in anger, some in ridicule,
began to appear in the French papers. ‘ We suppose some advances were made to
M. Max Miiller, but it would have been too great a condescension on his part,
too heroic a sacrifice, to exchange the fat {sic) endowments of Oxford for
(from the English point of view) a very modest Stipendium,’ ‘ It will be a
great honour for the Prussians of Strassburg, and it is only bare politeness on
their part to announce that M. Max Miiller will kindly give a course of
lectures.’ ‘ Many people in France will be astonished that M. Max Miiller, a
Foreign Member of our Institute and pupil of Burnouf, should hasten, at the
first moment, to deliver German lectures on a soil that we can never cease to
consider French ! ‘ ‘ M. Max Miiller would have done well if out of regard to
France, where he has many friends and admirers, he had waited till the second
term, and not associated him- self with the inauguration of this University.’
The same paper, in mentioning Deutsche Liebe as published anonymously, says ‘
the author perhaps shrank from putting his name to a novelette, or probably was
afraid of arousing feelings of retrospective jealousy in the wife he had
married in England.’ Deiitsche Liebe came out in 1857, two and a half years
before he married. Finally, the article declares that M. Max Miiller is
determined to aid in the Germanizing of Alsace by the lectures he has kindly
consented to give at the German University.’ So sensitive did the French
continue, that it was only in the late autumn of 1H81 that Max Miiller, who was
elected in 1869, ventured to take his seat at the French Institute and make his
address of admission, which was con- stantly interrupted in the beginning by
the younger members with disagreeable and sneering remarks, till his friends
suc- ceeded at last in enforcing silence.

430 Fifth Volume of Rtg-veda
[ch. xix

To Dr. Kielhorn.

Translation. Parks End, April
6, 1872.

‘I did indeed hope that you
would make your return journey via England, and that I should be enabled to
congratulate you and your future wife in person. So I must do it now at least
by letter and in a great hurry. May you be as happy as you deserve to be, and
may the Indian years of exile be followed by a happy return to the German home.
Write to me soon, when you have arrived in Bombay or Poonah. I have been ill
over a month ; however, I am better now, and Volume V of the Rig-veda is
completed, with the exception of the last four pages. I must send it to you to
India, also a little keepsake from me for your wedding, which I hoped to have
given you in person.

‘ I have felt Goldstiicker’s
death much ; I had known him for such a long time, and small literary
differences disappear entirely when we stand at the grave of a dear old friend.
I hope to acquire his library for Strassburg. Your old countryman, ‘ M. M.’

The fifth volume of his great
work was now ready. The difficulties of restoring a correct text of Sayana’s
Commen- tary increased with each volume. The MSS. were more and more faulty,
probably because the last part had been less studied and used, and therefore
the MSS. were not corrected and kept up with the necessary care. No pains had
been spared in scouring all India,
even the Southern Provinces, for MSS., but in vain. Max MUller says in his
preface to Volume V : —

‘ There is not one doubtful or
difficult passage in the whole of this work where I have not myself carefully
weighed the evidence of the MSS. ; not one where I have not myself verified the
exact readings of the MSS., even in those portions which were copied and
collated for me by others, except where the originals were out of my reach. I ibelieve I have acknowledged, without
stint, whatever assistance I have received from other scholars during the
progress of my work.

They themselves have assured me
that I had said more than they

deserved or expected. But, as it
has been broadly hinted that for

certain portions of Sayana’s
Commentary I had parted with my editorial

responsibility, I take this
opportunity of stating, once for all, that there

is no page, no line, no word, no
letter, no accent, in the whole of the

Commentary for which I am not
personally responsible. Nothing

was ordered for press that I had
not myself carefully examined and

1872] Klaus Groth 431

revised, and though for certain
portions of my edition, as I stated in the preface to each volume, I was
relieved of much preliminary labour, the decision in all critical passages,
whether for good or evil, always rested with me.’

In this volume is published the
first part of the Index Verborum, which was made before Max Miiller began the
publication of the Rig-veda and Sayana’s Commentary, and it was by its help
only he was able to make his way through the difficulties of Sayana. Professor
Benfey, of Gottingen,
the veteran Sanskrit scholar, on seeing a few proof-sheets of this Index, wrote
: ‘ I see what extraordinary assistance the publica- tion of this Index
Verborum will afford to Vedic studies.

It will hardly be possible to
render you sufficient thanks for

it. I in particular expect to
derive the greatest help from it

for my Vedic Grammar/

To Canon, now Dean, Farrar.

Parks End, Api-il 14, 1S72.

‘ I quite know what it is to be
overworked, and how new thoughts

take possession of one’s brain,
and make us for a time forget every-

thing else. You must suffer more
than I do in that respect, though

I assure you just now, with three
books printing in English, and

proof-sheets of a French and of a
German translation, and lectures

every day, I sometimes feel quite
bewildered. I shall value the

dedication of your Lectures ^
very much, and it is very kind of you

to have thought of it. Do not
suppose that I am unable to value

researches which lead to
conclusions different from my own. I know

it is my own fault if you think
so, for I feel so conscious that I cannot

express a difference of opinion
without giving offence, that I have

given up all criticizing. Were
I to criticize ‘s book he would

never forgive me, so I leave it
alone. There are people who can criticize without offending, but I know I
cannot — why I cannot tell. Whenever you
print your Lectures I shall be very glad to receive the proof-sheets if you
like ; but, without having seen it, I shall always consider it an honour to
have my name connected with any one of your publications.’

In April the Platt-Deutsch poet
Klaus Groth and his wife,

with whom the Max MUllers had
formed an intimate friend-

ship in 1 869 in Kiel,
paid a visit to Oxford,
where he delivered

^ Lectures on the Families of
Speech.

432 Death of Sister-m-Law [ck.
xix

three lectures before the
University in German on Platt- Deutsch and its close affinity with English. The
genial poet and his charming wife stayed with the Max Mullers, and the visit
was keenly enjoyed by both hosts and guests.
It was the last time they were to meet. Frau Klaus Groth died a few
years later, and after her death the poet remained quietly at Kiel till his death. During their visit Max
Muller’s sister-in-law, his wife’s only sister, to whom Max Muller was warmly
attached, was taken alarmingly ill, and though there was a short rally, it was
but delusive, and she died May 12, leaving six young children.

To HIS Mother.

Trajislation. May 12, 1872.

‘My dear good Mother, — I have
just had a telegram from G. that her
sister died to-day at two. She had been ill for some time. I am going to London, where G. is, by the next train. One
of the boys is here and I must take him to London. It is a terrible sorrow.’

To the Same.

Translation. Bonn, May 19.

·
Only a line to tell you where I am. On Saturday
at noon was the funeral, in the same church at Bray where they were married. It
was a most affecting scene. That night I started by Dover
and Calais for Bonn. To-morrow Roggenbach will meet me
here. Wednesday I must give my first
lecture.’

His wife remained in England
till Max Miiller had found a place for her, the children, and his mother. A
very few days showed him that Strassburg was impossible for his family : no
houses were to be had, and he began looking for one in the neighbourhood. On
his way to Strassburg he had been threatened with a terrible misfortune. On
arriving at Bonn the large portmanteau containing all his notes and manu-
script books, representing the labour of his life, was missing.

It had been registered and plombe
for Bonn in London,

together with a smaller one
containing clothes. All inquiries

at first seemed in vain. The
Crown Prince heard of the

disaster, and caused a message to
be sent to all principal

stations (railways in Germany are
all Government possessions)

that the portmanteau must be
found. The right effect was

1872] Life in Strassburg 433

produced after a time, and the
portmanteau with its contents untouched was returned from somewhere near
Hamburg ; but no explanation was ever given. Max Muller was nearly ill with
anxiety, for the loss would have been irreparable, and really have wrecked his
life, as far as his work was concerned ; but he never told either his wife or
mother at the time all he was going through.

To HIS Mother.

Translatmi. Strassburg, May 22.

‘ Yes ! really in Strassburg —
raining, as everywhere. I have found a lodging, but a very small one — two
rooms and a very small bed- room. The want of rooms is terrible. Write and say
how you are, and whether and when you can come. It can be done, but I cannot
promise you much enjoyment till we have a house in the country.’

Max Muller soon found that the
life in Strassburg would not do, even for his mother alone, and postponed her
arrival. His time at Strassburg was a
thorough success, in spite of the discomforts. He found that he could lecture
in German without any of the physical fatigue that his English lectures always
gave him. He had fifty hearers, the largest class of all, and gave private
Sanskrit lessons as well. But what he most enjoyed was the constant intercourse
with men, each of whom was a distinguished representative of his own particular
line of studies. As there were no arrangements for food in their various
lodgings they formed a sort of club at an hotel, and met every day for early
dinner and supper. Max Muller made many acquaintances with the rising scholars
in Germany who had gathered at Strassburg, as the French papers said, ‘ to
Germanize the French inhabitants.’ On June i he writes to his wife : —

*No rooms fit for mother; every
one is complaining. We are mostly “grass widowers” or bachelors and don’t mind.
There are no servants. The lectures in themselves are a great pleasure to me,
and I see they are liked, but they take a great deal of time. I have to lecture
six times a week, and one is not accustomed to that in Oxford, where I only
give twenty-four lectures in the whole year !’

Max Muller’s inaugural lecture, ‘
On the Results of Com-

parative Philology,’ has been
translated and printed in Chips,

I F f

434 Dinner with German Empress
[ch. xix

Volume IV. It was published by
request as soon as delivered, and widely circulated in Germany.

To Professor Bernays.

Translation. Strassburg, 4
Regenbogengasse,

May 31, 1872.

‘ My dear Friend, — I should
have written before, but I had to wait a little to see how matters arranged
themselves. Up to the present time I like it very much, and I find it much
easier and much less of a strain to speak German than English. I have about
forty to fifty hearers for Comparative Philology, and ten to twelve for
Sanskrit Grammar. Whether this will continue I do not know. What is wanting
here is a guiding spirit. We seem to be like a carriage without a driver — it
can’t go on like this very long. There is an immense deal still to arrange, two
Roggenbachs are hardly sufficient for all there is to do. Lodgings are like
lake-dwellings {Pfahlhauten). I cannot
find a house for my family, but I feel quite well notwithstand- ing. Yes, after
four sleepless nights, my portmanteau arrived. It caused me real suffering. My
box of books is still on the road.’

To HIS Wife.

Strassburg, ^««^ 4, 1872.

‘ Why is there so much
suffering in this world ? I cannot think it improves us much, and yet it must
have its purpose. All these are questions far too high for us — we are like
children, and more than children when we come to think of them. All we know is
that when we catch a glimpse of God’s handiwork, either in the natural or moral
world, it is so wonderfully perfect, so beyond all our measures, that we feel
safe, as in a good ship, however rough the sea may be. Whatever we may believe or hope, or wish for,
will be far exceeded by that higher Will and Wisdom which supports all, even us
litde souls.’

Strassburg, y««^ 6, 1872.

‘ My work here answers well,
and the young men seem to like it. To me
it is no effort, and quite a new sensation. I had no idea that the effort of
lecturing in English was so great. What takes up my time here is preparing the
Lectures, particularly as I have few books, and have to hunt up things wherever
I can find them.’

On June 12 Max Muller was
commanded to Baden-Baden to dine with the German Empress. He had first seen the
Empress some years before at Coblentz, and always con- sidered her to be one of
the best educated women he knew.

1872] Baden-Baden 435

He thus describes the scene to
his wife : —

‘ I was really overwhelmed with
kindness. First the Empress made me a speech in the presence of the whole
Court, thanking me for all I had done for Germany in England, and which she
said had had more influence than I knew. Then she thanked me for the sacrifice
I had made in giving up my summer vacation and rest for the new University of
Strassburg, and hoped my example would lead others to do the same. Lastly, she
said she knew from her last stay in England what people felt there at the
thought of my going away. In fact I was quite overpowered. At dinner I sat
opposite to her, and she talked to me a great deal; and after dinner, when all
were going away, she called me to her, made me sit down, gave me her hand, and
again thanked me most heartily. I stayed half an hour, and we talked of many things.
It was very interesting to see and speak with the first German Empress thus
face to face.’

To Herr George von Bunsen.

Strassburg, ^«w 17, 1872.

‘ I am still quite alone here,
but my wife and children come from England, and my mother from Chemnitz in
about a week. I have taken a house in Baden-Baden ; I shall lecture here from
Tuesday to Friday, and Friday to Tuesday Hve in Baden-Baden. The lectures are a
delight to me. It is a real pleasure to speak without any effort. I cannot think of future plans. For one thing
Strassburg is not what it should be. We want not only one, but four Roggenbachs
(one for each Faculty, and one for the University) if we are to create some-
thing new and great.’

To Professor Bernays.

Translation. Strassburg, 4
Regenbogengasse,

July 4, 1872.

‘ My dear Friend, — It is
beautiful here, but it is impossible to get to know about anything, so I come
to you. I have found a quotation assigned to Aristotle to the following effect
: “ God, who is One, receives from us names according to the various visions
which we come to see.” Can you verify this quotation for me, and may it be
assigned to Aristotle ? Ever faithfully yours.’

The end of June Max Miiller’s
v^ife and children arrived

at Baden-Baden, and were joined
the next week by his old

mother. A pleasant summer was
spent in the pretty villa

he had secured there in the
Lichtcnthaler-Allee on the out-

F fa

436 Festivities at Munich [ch.
xix

skirts of the town, and when
the lectures were over at Strassburg, constant excursions were made by the
whole party to all the beautiful places in the neighbourhood. His kind old
friend Baroness Bunsen and two of her daughters were living at Carlsruhe, and
several visits were paid them there. The end of July, Max Miiller attended the
fourth centenary of the University at Munich as delegate from Oxford. On the
day of his arrival, after a long night’s journey from Baden, he found the place
already crowded ; more than 3,000 guests had arrived.

To HIS Wife,

Munich, August i.

‘ It is hard work here, but I
get through it very well. Yesterday was the reception of all the deputies. I
had to speak for England, Holland, and Sweden. It went off very well. In the
evening I saw Lohengrin, but after two acts the music was too much for me, and
I went home. I had telegraphed for my silk gown, hood, and cap, and they have
arrived; so to-day, in the public procession, Oxford will be grandly
represented. After the procession there will be speeches, dinner, &c.’

August 2.

‘ The amount of festivities one
has to go through is great, but I am still afloat. I suppose you see the
accounts in the newspapers. During the procession yesterday, my gown, hood, and
cap were much admired. We dined in the
Odeon, about 400 people. DoUinger presided ; on his right and left the two
Bavarian Princes, then the Prime Minister, and then I. I was surrounded with
stars ; I believe I was the only man of the 400 who had not some little star or
ribbon. Last night it poured, so I went home ; I don’t know whether there was a
torchlight procession. To-day again festivities from morning till evening.’

The festivities ended with a
great Commcrs, or evening gathering, of all the students in one of the Beer
Gardens, at which the Bavarian Princes were present, and to which all the delegates,
professors, &c., were invited. The total number of guests was 3,377. Dr.
Bollinger was then Rector Magnificus. At
the opening ceremony, as it was impossible that all the delegates should
deliver congratulatory speeches, the as- sembled delegates elected Professor
von Sybel to speak for the German, and Max MUller for the foreign Universities.

In his speech Max Miiller
reminded his hearers that when

1872] Life of Stockmar 437

he was a German student it was
highly criminal to believe in a United German Empire ; that day he stood before
them having just finished a course of lectures at Strassburg, the first
University of the United German Empire.

In his reply Dr. Dollinger
complimented Max MUller as nobly representing the bond which united the Munich University
with the Universities of the whole Teutonic race.

‘ By
education and culture, as by birth, you belong to Germany . . . the splendid task has fallen to you — and I
believe it is the first instance in the history of England — of acting as interpreter
of German science ... in that University in which the flower of the English
nation receives its education. We look up to Oxford as an elder sister, for she
existed centuries before us, and has had a glorious

அன்பு தளபதி · அன்பு தளபதி Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:11 pm

history, such as no German
University has had, and our wishes are that Oxford may for ever remain what she
has been for centuries, both to England and the world.’

To Dr. Moritz CARRikRE ^

Translation. Baden-Baden, Schillerstrasse,

August 4, 1872.

‘My dear Friend, — I have
returned well satisfied, but also very tired, to Baden-Baden this morning. Many thanks for all
your kind- ness, and for the great pleasure which you procured for me. I had
till now no idea of such a festival, and I must send a short description of it
to Oxford, to
the Vice-Chancellor. My words about Oxford
are easily reported, but not the words of warm sympathy which Dollinger uttered
in his reply. Do you think that they could be found in print anywhere ? I have
the gist of his speech clear in my mind, but the ipsissima verba would of
course produce a far greater impression in Oxford, and coming from Dollinger they are of
historical value, and deserve more than an ephemeral existence. . . . My kind
regards to Baron von Liebig. Ever yours.’

Early in this year Max Miiller
had made arrangements

with Messrs. Longmans to publish
a translation of the Life

of Baron Stockmar, the intimate
friend of King Leopold,

the Queen of England, and Prince Albert. It was written

by Stockmar’s son, and threw a
new light on many things

connected especially with the
life of King Leopold — his first

marriage, the death of Princess
Charlotte, the offer of the

^ Philosophical writer and
poet— a friend from Berlin
University days.

438 Gift to Strassburg from
Oxford [ch. xix

Greek throne, and the final
election to Belgium. Max Muller’s old friend Morier had been asked to find a
translator. The book appeared in the
autumn, and a large edition was sold. It had, of course, the advantage
throughout of Max Muller’s careful superintendence.

To R. B. D. Morier, Esq.
(Minister at Munich).

Baden-Baden, August 12, 1872.

‘ My dear Morier, — I was very
sorry when I was at Munich that you were not there. Everything else was quite
perfect, but it took me nearly a week to recover from the feast, both material
and intellectual. There were many
inquiries for you; I hope you are better by this time. There is nothing so good
after a bout of gout as Baden-Baden ; the neighbourhood here is most charming,
a real Paradise. Now I want to know when we may have the introduction to
Siockmar, We are getting on well with the translation, and Longman wants to
begin printing as soon as possible. Abeken’s death is a great loss. He was a
faithful friend, the only respectable element in the Pool of Varzin.’

To Herr George von Bunsen

(who was coming to the Black
Forest).

Baden, August 21.

‘ This is delightful — at
present we are still tied to this place. We intended going to Switzerland, but
our governess has fallen ill in Hanover, and so my wife cannot leave the
children. So I hope we shall be able to see much of you. It is so beautiful
here, and we three generations, grandmother, mother, and children, enjoy our
time here much. . . . Shall we meet at Gernsbach on Friday ? ‘

Early in September Max Miiller
presented to the Uni-

versity of Strassburg a
magnificent gift from the University of

Oxford, 650 volumes of the
publications of the Clarendon

Press, uniformly bound in calf,
every volume containing the

inscription —

presented to

the library of the university
of strassburg

by the university of oxford,

1872.

The books were all ranged in
order in one of the halls, where

a large company gathered to hear
Max Muller’s address, in

which he gave a sketch of the
constitution of the University

1872] Princess Alice 439

of Oxford^ so totally unlike
all foreign Universities, and of its principal institutions, buildings, &c.
Later in the month Max Muller and his wife made a short excursion in
Switzerland, visiting the Bernese Oberland for the first time. During the stay
at Baden Princess Hohenlohe, half-sister of our Queen, died, and Princess Alice
(Princess Louis of Hesse) came to Baden to attend the funeral ceremonies. Max
Muller had more than one long interview with the Princess. He was much struck
by the depth and earnestness of her mind, and her great dignity coupled with a
remarkable charm of manner. On his return to England the Princess sent Max
Muller the last work by Strauss, Der alte imd der neue Glaubc, as * Her Royal
Highness was persuaded that, quite apart from the question of argument with its
contents, either in whole or in part, he would read the work with great
interest.’

To HIS Wife.

Oxford, November 4.

‘ I had a letter from
Strassburg. There are more than 400 students, eighty more in the philosophical
faculty. I do not know how it is, but I cannot bring myself to write yet. I
wait for some hint, for something to happen, which will show me what I ought to
do. I have always found a finger-post on my way through the world ;

I cannot find one just now.’

To THE Dean of Westminster.

November 17, 1872.

‘ My dear Stanley, — What I
meant was that kings, like Ministers, like members of Parliament, Hke judges,
et hoc genus ovine, are men, and it is foolish to frame theories according to
which they are supposed to be anything else. We do not want friendless or
heartless sovereigns, and in a constitutional State the responsibility of the
Ministers ought to cover, not only the sovereign in the abstract, but the
sovereign as he is, surrounded by wife, children, friends, &c. After all,
the sovereign cannot act except through responsible Ministers, and would at
every crisis have to choose between his Ministers and his friends. The
absurdity of certain constitutional theories reached its acme when people
complained that Prince Albert acted as the friend and adviser of the Queen.
Stockmar is very strong on that point in his Me’moires, and I confess his
remarks seem to me full of political wisdom.
I should not at all be surprised if the book caused a commotion.

440 Dean Stanley as Select
Preacher [ch. xix

‘ We shall meet at dinner on
Saturday at Balliol — to meet Baron Rothschild.

‘ I have been reading Strauss’s
last book, and I should like to know what you think of it. I suppose it was
sent to you as it was sent to me.

‘ Stochmar will not be out
before the 30^th, but I hope to give you a copy next Saturday.’

To THE Right Hon. W. E.
Gladstone.

Parks End, November 23, 1872.

‘ I have asked my publisher to
send you one of the early copies of Baron Stockmar’s Mimoires. I feel certain
you will find the book interesting, and I only hope you may not think the
English too German. Though the two languages are so closely related, one hardly
ever finds a word in English that will completely render the purport of a
German word. Those words which are etymologically and historically the same in
German and English are the most treacherous, for they never mean exactly the
same in the two languages. One learns
here, too, the old lesson that those who differ little are far more apt to misunderstand
each other than those who differ toto coelo.
I have tried in my preface to smooth certain susceptibilities, which no
doubt are perfectly justified, but which I should regret to see discussed in
public any more than has been done already.’

It will perhaps be remembered
that Dean Stanley was this year nominated by Council as one of the Select
Preachers. A most determined opposition
was started by Mr. — afterwards Dean — Burgon and Dean Goulburn, aided by Mr.
Golightly, the champion of the Evangelical party in Oxford. The following
letter alludes to this : —

Parks End, Oxford, December 8,
1872.

‘ My dear Stanley, — We may
win, and that is good — we may be beaten, and perhaps that may be better, in
order to open people’s eyes to the intolerable intolerance to which Oxford has
to submit. Convo- catio delenda est ought henceforth to be the watchword of all
friends of the University.

‘ For the present we mean to act.
Edwin Palmer is very angry ;

Gathorne Hardy and Mowbray
disapprove ; Pusey and Liddon

abstain. Bernard attended our
meeting. Prince Leopold is quite

irate ! The great question is,
can the London lawyers come down to

vote ? Ever yours full of hope,
but very savage,

‘ Max MtfLLER.’

1872] Joyful Birthdays 441

The London lawyers, headed by
the venerable Sir Stephen Lushington, came down in numbers to vote. Max M
tiller, who had delivered a lecture at Liverpool the night before, returned to
record his vote, much to the dismay of the friends at whose house he was
staying, and who were having a large evening party in his honour. Broad Street
was nearly filled when the Balliol M.A.’s turned out to support one of the most
illustrious and well-loved of their scholars : the great public schools sent up
their masters, and the victory was a very complete one. As the numbers were
read out Mr. Burgon and Dean Goulburn were seen to wring each other’s hands in
the area, as if to say ‘ better luck next time.’ When Dean Stanley preached his
first sermon, and stood again in the University pulpit after nine years, St.
Mary’s was densely crowded, every inch of standing room being filled.

The following letter to his
mother gives a glimpse of Max Miiller with his children. The birthdays of the
father and mother were joyfully observed, and as the children grew older they
always had some little surprise ready for the day, besides their long-prepared
presents.

To HIS Mother.

Translation. December 12.

‘ I wish you had been here, and
especially in the evening, when the children acted for us very prettily. One
thing was really very good. You should
have seen Ada as Spring, when she recited Die Herzen auf, die Fe?tsier atif.
She did it with such spirit as quite surprised me. The whole poem prestissimo, and really so
well done, it could not have been better, and she had arranged and thought it
out quite alone. Then they came in
dressed up with wigs and coloured eyebrows, Beatrice as a Marquise, Wilhelm as
Schneewittchen, so that one could not recognize them. They sang several songs
in English and German — in fact the whole was a great success.’

To THE Right Hon. W. E.
Gladstone.

December 23, 1872.

‘ I have just been reading your
speech at Liverpool. There are

some notes in it which delighted
my German heart, though I am afraid

that much of what you say of the
simplicity of German life and love

442 Strauss [ch. xix

of knowledge for knowledge’s
sake applies to the past rather than to the present. The dangers of success and
prosperity are clearly dis- cernible there, particularly in the large towns,
and the two most im- portant elements in the political life of the nation, the
Schoolmasters and the Civil Servants (the much-abused but in Germany invaluable
Bureaucracy), find it almost impossible to hold their own, and to command the
respect which was formerly paid to them. I read with deep interest what you
said about Strauss’s new book. Not quite a fortnight ago I had wrestled with
Strauss before a Liverpool audience, though I did not mention his name. The
book in itself seems to me slight, but it acquires great importance as being
the last confession of a man such as Strauss. The only strong position in his
book is Darwinism, or Revolutionism, which counts as many believers in England
as in Germany, if not more. The problems started by Darwin, H. Spencer, Haeckel,
&c., are matters of life and death, and they must become the battlefield
for the next philosophical campaign. I
confess I have no reply to some of their arguments, and I should have liked
very much to hear from you with what weapons you think that the victorious
progress of their philosophy is to be stopped.
It is impossible to decline battle, though no doubt it is fraught with
dangers, nor do I see a chance of victory unless many positions which have
become untenable are freely surrendered. I am preparing some lectures on the
subject for the Royal Institution in March, but I feel far from confident. I am
afraid I shall not be able to avail myself of your kind invitation to Hawarden
Castle ; I have been a martyr to toothache lately, and there is such an
accumulation of work that I shall want all my time when I am able to work.
Allow me to send you two lectures of mine on German and English University
life. ‘ With the best wishes of the
season.’

At the close of this year there
was great suffering in North Germany owing to a terrible storm in the
Baltic. The sea rose to a fearful height
and devastated miles of coast, causing great loss of life and property,
especially in the island of RUgen. The poet Freiligrath wrote a beautiful poem,
which he called ‘Wilhelm Mliller, a Spirit Voice,’ in which he represented
Wilhelm Miiller, some of whose best poems had been written from Riigen, as
calling on his countrymen to aid the sufferers. The poet’s son saw the poem in
a paper, and it elicited not only substantial help, but the following letter to
the author.

1872] The Poet Freiligrath 443

To Herr Ferdinand Freiligrath.

Translation. Parks End, Oxford,
December 25, 1872.

‘ Dear Sir, — I have only lately
seen your beautiful poem in the

Augsburger Zeiiung of December 8,
and therefore my thanks come

very late. But I must give
utterance to what I, as the son of Wilhelm

IMiiller, felt in reading your
poem, and I thank you from my heart

that you have put in the mouth of
a poet, now half-forgotten by the

largest portion of the German
public, words which most poets would

have kept as their own utterance.
This has given great delight not

only to his son, but to his
widow, who is still living, and they both

send you their thanks. May the
recollection of the too early departed

poet, and the love of the German
people for the living poet, bring a

rich response to your appeal.
Fate has hitherto kept us from meeting

in England, and it is therefore
all the greater satisfaction to me to

shake you by the hand, if only in
spirit. With true respect,

‘ Your more than thirty years’
admirer,

‘ Max MtjLLER.’

On December 30 Max Muller
writes to his mother : —

Translation.

‘ Stockmar’s Ztyh came out on
November 30 and seems very much liked, and is selling well. The first week
1,900 of the 3,000 copies were sold, and 500 in America. We sent one to the
Queen. Prince Leopold complimented G. very prettily on her knowledge of
German. He is here as an undergraduate,
and came here one day to five o’clock tea. He does not dine out. He is so
simple and unaffected.’

Another large edition of the
Lectures on Langtiage (the seventh) was published this year.

CHAPTER XX

1873-1874

German University finances.
Strassburg Professorship declined. Schlie- inann. Lectures on Darwin’s
Philosophy of Language. Emerson.
Veddahs. Cromer. Lecture in Westminster Abbey. Order pour le Merita.
Member of Hungarian Academy. Prince and Princess of Roumania. Oriental
Congress. Last volume of Rig-veda. American attack on Max Miiller.

The New Year found Max Miiller
quietly at Oxford, working at the last volume of the Veda, and at his Lectures
on Religion, given in 1870, but never published, and preparing a short course
of lectures for the British Institution on Language as the barrier between man and
beast, which he called ‘ On Darwin’s Philosophy of Langiiage^ This was Prince
Leopold’s first year at Oxford as an undergraduate. Max Miiller saw him constantly, and ever
afterwards recalled their intercourse with genuine interest and affection, and
he always hoped that the Prince might do much for his country as an enlightened
patron of literature and art.

The following letter to Dr.
Althaus refers to the dedication

to Max Miiller of Bulwer’s Coming
Race. The work was

published anonymously, and it was
only in the obituary

notice in the Times that the
secret of its authorship was

disclosed.

OxFO^T), January 1, 1873.

‘ Many thanks for Bulwer. Only
think, I never knew him, never even saw him, and learnt first after his death,
who had written The Coming Race. One ought not to be proud of anything, but I
was very much delighted.’

To R. B. D. MoRiER, Esq.

0\70’KD, January 1, 1873.

‘ My dear old Fellow, — Best
wishes for the New Year. I don’t

know whether you see many Enghsh
papers ; old Stockmar has been

1873] Dean Farrar’s Families of
Speech 445

reviewed in most of them, and
it is very interesting to see how Johannes Bos has looked at him from different
points. There was one review in the Morning Post more or less official, or
Palmer- stonian. It might be a good subject for an article in the Atigsburger,
or some other Zeitung, to show how the book has been received and partly
digested in England.
I have had several private letters which show that the book has told in various
ways. I hope you observed Gladstone’s civilities
in his last Glasgow
speech (before he came to Strauss). Do you know of anybody who could write such
an ardcle ? Young Stockmar is not the
man to do it ; he is evidently put out by the critics, as if it was worth while
writing a book to which every- body is to say Amen. Ever yours.’

To Canon, now Dean, Farrar.

January 6, 1873.

‘ Allow me to thank you at once
for the copy of your Lectures on the Families of Speech, and for your very kind
dedication. You say much more than I deserve, and all I can do is to do my best
to deserve some part of your good opinion, by what I still hope to do for the
Science of Language. At present my hands and my thoughts are full of other
work. I am writing lectures on the “ Science of Religion,” and to know what to
say and what not to say in four introductory lectures is no easy matter. In
fact, I should gladly retire from my task, if I could, for I hardly feel up to
work, and I am not satisfied with what I have written. As soon as I see a
little daylight, and find leisure for other work, I shall read your lectures,
and after I have done so I hope to write to you again, or, still better, have a
talk with you on points on which we differ, and on points on which we agree. In
the meantime accept my hearty thanks.’

Mr. Gladstone had addressed
some inquiries to Max Miiller on the constitution of German Universities, to
which the following letter gives an answer ; —

Parks End, January 12, 1873.

‘ I have no book at hand where I
could find the exact sum allowed

to each University by Government,
but such books exist, and I have

asked George Bunsen at BerHn to
send me something like a Blue

Book on the subject. The
Universities derive their Avhole income

from Government. Even in cases
where there are ancient founda-

tions still preserved, the funds
or the land must be administered

under the cognizance of
Government, generally by a Government

446 German Universities [ch. xx

Commissioner. The only other
source of income consists in the fees paid by the students. These in the case
of the principal Professors, who lecture on Anatomy, Church History, or such
like indispensable subjects, are considerable. Savigny, being Professor of Law
at Berlin, decHned the Ministry of Justice, unless his income as Minister could
be raised to what his income was as Professor.

A class of 400 students would
yield a Professor during the two

semesters 1,600 louis d’or, and
some of the Professors in my time

used to give two courses of
lectures in each semester. The highest

salary now paid to a Professor is
only 4,000 thalers, or £600, yet

even that is more than the
average income of a Professor at Oxford,

with the exception of the
Theological Chairs. Considering the

general income of the country,
the sum expended by Government

on the Universities is high. The
number of Universities is large,

each independent Prince wished to
have a University, and I believe

they will be kept up even now,
for they have proved useful centres of

intellectual life in every part
of Germany. The difficulty to which

you allude of teachers examining
their own pupils is little felt. The

Professor, lecturing to a large
class, does not know many of the

students personally. The
examination is always conducted by a Com-

mission consisting of five or six
Professors. Besides, the University

degree does not confer any
tangible rights. In order to become

a lawyer, a clergyman, a
physician, a schoolmaster, every candidate

has to pass the Government
Examination, and with these the Pro-

fessors, qua Professors, have
nothing to do. It was to me a matter

of great interest to compare the
working of a German University,

such as Strassburg, with what I
knew of Oxford. Each country, no

doubt, fashions its own
Universities, and makes them to supply the

real wants of the people. Yet
there is much to be learnt from

a comparison of the two systems.
I shall be very glad to undergo

a cross-examination when you are
in London again. I beHeve the

time will come when something
will have to be done, not only for

Ireland, but for England too.
Oxford wants new life. Both teach-

ing and learning seem to me to be
regarded as a burden, which

ought not to be. I send you a few
papers which may partly answer

your purpose. In the little
calendar you will find the statistics of

the German Universities, as far
as their teaching staff and the

number of students are concerned.
In the plan of the lectures you

see what is done even by so small
a University as Strassburg. You

can see how almost every
Professor has a laboratory, seminary,

hospital, or institution,
supported by assistants, where he works with

his pupils apart from his
lectures. These institutions are the real

secret of the success achieved by
the German Universities. In

1873] Strassburg Plan abandoned
447

several cases the students who
are admitted to them receive, while they are at work, an exhibition or
fellowship. Anyhow, these institutions are the real workshop where the
tradition is handed down from generation to generation. The Colleges with their
fellowships might be made to answer some such purpose. There are many
Professors in Germany who would have spoken like Dollinger on Materialism. What
I like in the German Universities is the frankness with which everybody states
the convictions at which he has arrived. Strauss’s book has been very severely
treated in Germany. Yet there is a
crisis going on there as in England ; something is dying, whether we like it or
not. To my mind JNIansel’s Banipton Lectures and the reception they met with
were a sign of the times. They seemed to
me far more irreligious than Herbert Spencer.
They left religion as a mere cry of despair. Frederick Maurice saw the
tendency of that school of thought which erects an insurmount- able barrier
between the finite mind and the infinite, but he could not make himself
understood. Mansel and Herbert Spencer seem to me at the present moment to rule
at Oxford in the two opposite camps, and I do not wonder that they produce in
each much the same results. I spent some interesting hours with Dollinger at
IMunich. He is a man of great courage in thought and word ; but, though he is a
strong and vigorous old man, he shrinks from action. He is Erasmus over again ; a rougher nature
will be wanted to do the rougher work.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. Oxford, Jajiuary
i8, 1873.

‘ Siockmar is selling well. The
Queen has thanked me in the kindest manner for the preface. Prince Christian
wrote at the Queen’s desire, and she expressed herself kindly about the book
altogether. ... I had almost forgotten the Emperor (Napoleon). Let him rest in peace. One must not judge
him, but few men have caused so much misery in the world as he. He was always
liked in England, so his death has called out a good deal of sympathy. The last
years of his life must have been a hard penance.’

To THE Same.

Translation. February 16.

‘ The Strassburg uncertainty is
over. I wrote them word that

with all my private work I could
only lecture one term in the

year, and on account of the other
Professors they could not

arrange that. I am glad, for I
had done my duty, and should have

had to make a great pecuniary
sacrifice, and it would have taken up

448 Prize founded at Strasshurg
by M. M. [ch. xx

too much of my time, and I
could not with a good conscience have undertaken more than I offered. My chief
thought has been about the children, and whether it would not be better for
them to be brought up in Germany. That is often a weight on me, for the
arrangements here are very imperfect. One can manage for the girls, but how it
will be for Wilhelm, I do not yet see. But time will show. As yet he learns
nothing, but is healthy and merry. G. is
not very unhappy about Strassburg.’

To Dean Stanley.

Oxford, February 21, 1873.

‘ I now have lectures in London
and Birmingham. As soon as these are over the printing of Volume VI [of the
Rig-veda\ will begin, and then I shall go on with the translation. I found my
work so in arrears, that for the present, at least, I have given up a change to
Strassburg. I am very sorry, for the life in Strassburg was like a mental
sea-bath. I wrote last week to give it up.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. Oxford, February
25.

·
Yesterday I dined with Prince Leopold, and he
said the Queen had charged him to tell me how pleased she was that I had decided
to stay in England. I am writing to Strassburg to found a Stipendium in their
University with the 2,000 thalers they paid me last year, for the study of the
Veda. It will not hurt me, and I am glad not to take any money from them. The
people in Strassburg and BerUn have been very friendly over the whole matter ;
even Bismarck expressed his sorrow at my decision.’

And thus the uncertainty about
Strassburg which had hung over the family for above a year came to an end. The Prize founded by Max Miiller, and which
bears his name, is given every third year for the best dissertation on ‘ Vedic
Literature,’ and may be competed for not merely by present students at
Strassburg, but by those who have already taken their degree, provided they
studied for at least four terms at that University.

It was in this year that Max
Miiller made the acquaintance

of Dr. Schliemann, the famous
excavator, at first by corre-

spondence only. From the first,
Max Miiller took a great

interest in Dr. Schliemann’s work
; the disinterested character

of the discoverer appealed to
him, though he often found

1873] J^^^- Schliemann 449

himself unable to follow Dr.
Schliemann’s deductions, and to the last he used smilingly to say, ‘He
destroyed Troy for the last time.’ In 1875 Dr. Schliemann paid a visit to
Oxford, and stayed with Max Muller, who for several years was instrumental in
getting Schliemann’s papers and articles inserted in the leading newspapers and
periodicals. When Dr. Schliemann exhibited his Trojan treasures at the South
Kensington Museum, Max Muller spent some time in London helping him to arrange
the things — an arduous task, for, as is well known, though he had the scent of
a truffle dog for hidden treasures, he had little or no correct archaeological
knowledge, and Max Muller found the things from the four different strata which
Schliemann considered he had discovered at Troy in wild confusion — though he
maintained they were all carefully packed in different cases. One day when Max
Muller was busy over a case of the lowest stratum, he found a piece of pottery
from the highest. * Que voulez-vousP’said Schliemann, ‘ it has tumbled down ! ‘
Not long after, in a box of the highest stratum appeared a piece of the rough
pottery from the lowest, ‘Que voulez-vous ?’ said the imperturbable Doctor, ‘
it has tumbled up ! ‘ The friends met again at Maloja in 1885, Dr. Schliemann
had meantime finished his beautiful house in Athens, in which two bedrooms were
called after Max Muller, and many were the pressing invita- tions to occupy
them ; but when Max Muller visited Athens in 1893, his kind friend had passed
away. He gave Max Muller a good many things from Mycenae, which are now in the
Ashmolean Museum, and also a tiny bit of gold from Agamemnon’s grave. The
correspondence is of too technical a character to be given here ; interesting
letters from Max Muller on Athene Glaucopis and Hera Boopis, on the Hindu
Svastika, and on Jade tools are inserted in Schliemann’s Troja. Dr, Schliemann
also gave Max Muller the valuable Tanagra figures, which his friends will
remember in the drawing-room at 7, Norham Gardens.

Max Muller’s American friend
Mr. Conway was at this time preparing an Anthology culled from the religious
books of different sects and beliefs. Hence the following letter. In the
sentiments of the latter part most people will agree.

I Gg

450 Lectures on Darwin [ch. xx

To MoNCURE D. Conway, Esq.

Parks End, March 13, 1873.

‘ I can see no objection to
your printing a number of verses from the Dhammapada, but as the book is not my
own, 1 think it would be better if you communicated with the publisher, Mr.
Triibner. As to lectures, I am at present so overworked that I ought not to
make new engagements. I shall have to give three lectures at the Royal Insti-
tution, then at Birmingham, and I have my Oxford lectures going on at the same
time, so that this is as much as I can safely do. Lastly, a Mythological
Society sounds a somewhat ominous name ; yet I quite agree with you that it
might do good. However, what I should like to see would be a concentration of
the different Societies, and the constitution of a London Academy, divided into
Sections. So much work and money are now frittered away, and the Transactions
and Journals of the numerous Societies have become mere burial-grounds ; for
who can even cut open their pages ? I read with great interest the Index, where
I occasionally see your name. Does that paper tell in America ? and what is or
are the really powerful organs of thought in the United States.?’

The end of March the three
lectures on Mr. Darv^rin’s Philosophy of Language were given at the Royal
Institution. They were printed in
Frascrs Magazine, and also a very few copies for presentation, but were never
republished in a collected form.

The following letter alludes to
the completion this spring of Mr. Bellows’ excellent pocket French Dictionary,
a copy of which Max Miiller always took about with him, and he invariably
recommended it as the best type of dictionary he knew in any language : —

To Mr. Bellows.

Parks End, April 2, 1873.

‘ My dear Friend, — Many thanks
for your charming Dictionary, which I found here on my return from London. I am
too busy just now to do more than admire it, and congratulate you on its
successful termination. I know no other pocket Dictionary that could compete
with it. Your discoveries at Gloucester are very curious [Roman wall in his own
garden], and I hope I shall be able to inspect them some day or other. Just now
I am lecturing in London on “ Language as the Barrier between Man and Beast,”
and I have hardly any thought for anything else. In a few weeks I hope I shall
be more free again.’

t873] Emerson

451

The next letter refers to an
interesting article written by Dr. Althaus in one of the magazines on ‘ The
Germans in England,’ Max Muller’s is the last name in the article.

To Dr. Althaus.

Translation. Oxford, April 13.

‘ My
dear Doctor, — I do not know how to thank you. I have just read your essay, and
indeed I feel it would be superhuman if, after reading w-hat you say, I did not
feel as in a sort of champagne mood. I, of course, know best how much too much
you have said of me, but even reducing it by half, there remains so much
appreciation which I highly value. I have spent many happy and beautiful years
in England, and even the little disappointments do not disturb me, and they
cannot blur memory’s sunny pictures. The only things I long for are my old
friends. One feels more and more alone and

அன்பு தளபதி · அன்பு தளபதி Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:12 pm

solitary, and that feeling
draws me so often towards Germany with a great longing. I do not know whether
you feel the same. When I was young I did not know what Heimweh meant ; now it
increases with every new year.’

It was after the lectures in
London that Emerson, who was

paying his third and last visit
to England, came to Oxford with

his daughter as Max MUller’s
honoured guest. Max was one

of Emerson’s ardent admirers, and
had known and loved his

writings from his earliest days
in England. On the second

day of Mr. Emerson’s visit.
Prince Leopold lunched at ‘ Parks

End ‘ to meet the old man. It was
a brilliant May day, and

the whole party sat out in the
garden after luncheon, and the

hours slipped past in pleasant
converse, till Prince Leopold

proposed an adjournment to his
house, which was near at

hand, for five o’clock tea, when
he delighted Mr. Emerson

by showing him many private
photographs of the rooms

at Windsor, Osborne, and
Balmoral. The next day, after

attending Mr. Ruskin’s lecture,
the Max MUllers and

Emersons visited him in his rooms
at Corpus, where the

scene recorded in Auld Lang Syne
took place. Mr. Ruskin

wrote afterwards to Max Muller to
account for it, by saying,

·
It chanced that both you and Mr. Emerson
happened to say things from which I deeply and entirely dissented, and which
reduced me at once to silence.’

Gga

452 Letter from Mr. Darwin [ch.
xx

To Charles Darwin, Esq.

Parks End, Oxford, Jwie 29,
1873.

‘ Sir, — In taking the liberty
of forwarding to you a copy of my Lectures, I feel certain that you will accept
my remarks as what they were intended to be — an open statement of the
difficulties which a student of language feels when called upon to explain the
languages of man, such as he finds them, as the possible development of what
has been called the language of animals. The interjectional and mimetic
theories of the origin of language are no doubt very attractive and plausible,
but if they were more than that, one at least of the great authorities in the
science of language — Humboldt, Bopp, Grimm, Burnouf, Curtius, Schleicher, &c.
— would have adopted them. How- ever, it matters very little who is right and
who is wrong ; but it matters a great deal what is right and what is wrong, and
as an honest, though it may be unsuccessful, attempt at finding out what is
true with regard to the conditions under which human language is possible, I
venture to send you my three Lectures, trusting that, though I differ from some
of your conclusions, you will believe me to be one of your diligent readers and
sincere admirers.’

That the Lectures did not alter
Mr. Darwin’s cordial appreciation of Max Miiller is shown by the following
charming letter, inserted by permission : —

Down, Beckenham, Kent, _/?^/f
3, 1873.

‘Dear Sir, — I am much obliged
for your kind note and present of your Lectures. I am extremely glad to have
received them from you, and I had intended ordering them. I feel quite sure
from what I have read in your works that you would never say anything of an
honest adversary to which he would have any just right to object ; and as for
myself, you have often spoken highly of me, perhaps more highly than I deserve.

‘ As far as language is
concerned, I am not worthy to be your adversary, as I know extremely little
about it, and that little learnt from very few books. I should have been glad
to have avoided the whole subject, but was compelled to take it up as well as I
could. He who is fully convinced, as I am, that man is descended from some
lower animal, is almost forced to believe a priori that articulate language has
been developed from inarticulate cries ; and he is there- fore hardly a fair
judge of the arguments opposed to this belief.

‘ With cordial respect, I remain,
dear Sir,

‘ Yours very faithfully,

‘Charles Darwin.’

T^iui. j^i^-Oj. ifi^ ^’

1873] Visit to Germany 453

The Lectures were answered by
Mr, Darwin’s son, whose article was again rephed to by Max M tiller in the
Contem- porary Review, called, ‘ My reply to Mr. Darwin,’ which in its turn
provoked the violent attack by Professor Whitney on Max Mliller described in the
next chapter.

During this summer Max Mliller
sat to Mr. Bruce Joy for a medallion, and later on for a bust, in the Jiabit
brode of the French Institute, the clever artist being his guest whilst the
work was carried out. Several pleasant and refreshing visits were paid to the
Deanery, Westminster, which Lady Augusta Stanley made a second home to many of
her husband’s old Oxford friends. The Max Mullers also stayed at Sir William
Siemens’, for the Civil Engineers’ soin^e at the South Ken- sington Museum, an
evening long remembered with pleasure^ as spent almost entirely with Charles
Kingsley looking at the Vernon collection of pictures, which at that time still
hung there.

In July Max Mliller went to
Germany to bring his mother to England. She had been far from well for some
months, and he found her at first unwilling to travel, and thus was kept longer
in Germany than he expected.

To HIS Wife.

July, 1873.

‘ If we do a thing because we
think it is our duty, we generally fail ; that is the old law which makes
slaves of us. The real spring of our life and our work in life must be love —
true, deep love — not love of this or that person, or for this or that reason,
but deep human love, devotion of soul to soul, love of God realized where alone
it can be, in love of those whom He loves. Everything else is weak, and passes
away; that love alone supports us, makes life tolerable, binds the present
together with the past and future, and is, we may trust, imperishable.’

Whilst at Chemnitz with his
mother, Max Muller wrote to

tell Professor Benfey that his
Index Verborum of the Rig-veda

was printed. He had prepared it
himself before he brought

out his first volume of the
Rig-veda in 1849, and had lately

employed a young German to
arrange the Index for each one

of the six volumes as a whole. It
is still of great practical

value, as, the references being
to hymns and verses and lines,

454 Lectures on Science of
Religion [ch. xx

and not to pages, it can be
used with any edition of the Rig- I’eda. He also mentions that a new edition of
his Hitopadcsa was called for, and of his Sanskrit Grammar in English, ‘ and
yet,’ he says, ‘ I have my hands already quite full.’

The Lectures on the Science of
Religion, given in 1870, had been published just before Max Muller went to
Germany, and were dedicated to Emerson, ‘ in memory of his visit to Oxford, and
in acknowledgement of constant refreshment of head and heart derived from his
writings during the last twenty-five years.’

The volume was favourably
received, and called out less adverse criticism than it would have done three
years before.

‘ Professor Max Miiller/ says
one reviewer, ‘ properly calls the lectures in this volume “An Introduction.”
They break ground in the little-trodden path of Comparative Theology. He tells
us he is convinced that study here will ultimately produce as great a
revolution in our ideas of man’s past history, and in the relations and
character of the various religions of mankind, as study of natural science has
produced in our view of the Creation. Researches in the sphere of history, with
the help of Comparative Mythology, prove that there are elements in human
nature which must have been primal and original, which could never have been
developed, which must have been im- planted from the beginning — wherever we
place that. That man, as a religious being, possesses such an element or
disposition, we conceive Mr. Muller himself has gone far to prove. And the more
we find, by comparison of the rehgions of the world, the distinctness and indestructi-
bility, and yet the essential identity of this element under all varieties of
forms of development, the more shall we be compelled to accept the fact of the
Divine origin of mankind, and, even amid its worst corruptions, of the
community of human nature with the Divine, of the finite with the Infinite.’

So little is still known about
the Veddahs, that the follow- ing letter to Mr. Hartshorne may be of interest :
—

Oxford, /«/)/ 27, 1873.

‘ Dear Sir, — I have just
returned from Germany, and I am afraid

that my answer to your letter of
June 23 will hardly reach you in time,

before you start again on a new
visit to the Veddahs. So much has

been said about their
peculiarities in language, thought, and manners,

that a really trustworthy account
of them would certainly be most

valuable. How difficult such an
account is you must know best by

1873] The Veddahs 455

this time. In looking at your
list of Veddah words I was struck at

once by their Pali, i. e.
secondary Sanskrit character. The question

therefore, arises, are those Pali
or Sinhalese words later importations,

or is it possible to distinguish
between an earlier substratum of Veddah

speech and these clearly Aryan
words } Or, does the Veddah language

take its place simply as a
degraded Sinhalese dialect, and the Veddah

people as a degraded Sinhalese
race, instead of being, as generally

supposed, a remnant of a
primitive and savage race ? This question

can be solved scientifically by
linguistic evidence only. But the solu-

tion is most difficult. We must
know what corruptions are possible

between Veddah and Sinhalese,
between Sinhalese and Elu, between

Elu and Pali, between Pali and
Sanskrit. ... I have marked on your

list of Veddah words many that
are clearly of Sinhalese kinship, and

these are words which constitute
the most necessary portion of a

language; for instance, iht
pronouns, words for man, cow, flowers, to

cook, to go, &c. &c. Here
and there I see a trace of grammatical

structure, and you may be certain
that there is as much grammar in

the Veddah language as in
English. You may say, that would not be

much, but it presupposes much. No
doubt it would be difficult to

get an idea of English grammar
from a Welsh coal-miner, and your

Veddahs have evidently sunk much
lower ; but with great perseverance

something of the grammatical
articulation of the language might still

be discovered, and has to be
discovered, before we can say anything

about their origin. 1 never
believe that the Veddah language has no

word for two. There may be
Veddahs who do not count, or who, as

philosophers would say, form no
syntheses, but that a language which

has a word for I and thou, for
eye and ear, should have no sign for

the dual concept, I shall never
believe. More difficult even than the

grammar is the religion of a
people like the Veddahs. One occasionally

sees accounts in the papers of a
witness being sworn in an English

Court of Law, and if one took his
answers about the Deity, about life

and death, and right and wrong,
as materials on which to build a theory

of the Christian religion, one
would still be better off, I suppose, than

with the best of the Veddahs. And
yet these people have a religion,

if one only knows how to disinter
it. To call “ the propitiadon of the

spirits of deceased ancestors”
the most original form of religion is

utterly wrong. It takes thousands
of years before we arrive at such

ideas. The idea of an ancestor
involves the idea of relationship;

a belief in deceased, but not yet
extinct, ancestors implies the germs

of a belief in immortality. The
idea of a spirit, or of spirits of

deceased persons, belongs to the
tertiary age of thought, and as to

propitiation, that is a concept
not yet 3,000 years old. The time has

not come yet for a chronology of
religious beliefs ; what we want are

456 Cromer [ch. xx

accurate statements of all
manifestations which imply a conception of anything beyond what is given to man
by his sensuous experience. All this is
a work of very great difficulty, and it is because people do not see the
difficulty, that we get so much material which is amusing and may fill volumes
about Prehistoric Culture, and yet leaves us exactly where we were before. It
is difficult when we have to deal with one individual, to say what he is no
more, and what he is jioi yet ; to say the same of a family, a clan, a tribe, a
people, is much more difficult. And yet this is what we want to know about the
Veddahs, whom many people are so anxious to represent as monkeys and not yet
men, but who may be monkeys and men no longer.

‘ Excuse haste, and beheve me,

‘ Yours very truly,

‘ F. M. M.’

After Max Miiller’s return to
England with his mother, the whole family went to Cromer, which proved a time
of great interest to him, as bringing him into closer contact with many-
members of the Gurney and Buxton families, with some of whom he had been
associated years before through the marriages of his friends Ernest and George
von Bunsen. On his return home he devoted himself to work on the sixth and last
volume of the Rig-veda. He had during this year published the text of the
Rig-veda in two small octavo volumes, according to the Pada and Samhita
systems.

But his mind was ere long turned
to another subject. His

friend Dean Stanley had asked him
the year before to give

the evening address in
Westminster Abbey on Christian

Missions. Max Mliller had then
declined, but the Dean

again urged his request this
year. It was a bold step on

the Dean’s part, who had,
however, ascertained that it was

perfectly legal. He took the
opinion on this point of Lord

Coleridge, the Lord Chief Justice
of England, who replied,

‘ It is perfectly legal, but
whether it is expedient! ‘ I did not

ask your opinion on that point,’
rejoined the intrepid little

Dean. It needed no small courage
in Max Miiller to accept ;

but having ascertained from the
Dean that it was legal, he

now no longer hesitated, feeling
it would put him in a position

to say things that had long
weighed on him. Having once

made up his mind, he was perfectly
unmoved by the storm it

raised, and set about preparing
his discourse with his usual

1873] Lecture in Westminster
Abbey 457

tranquil self-possession and
power of detaching himself from public opinion.

To R. B. D. MoRiER, Esq.

November 3.

‘ My dear Morier, — We had our
orgie at All Souls last night, and I thought of you when I was presiding as
Sub-Warden (the Warden being ill), supported by two noble lords. Lord Devon and
Lord Bathurst, and proposing the different healths of the evening. I also
thought of Bellum’s and all that. Don’t you think it is time for me to leave,
having reached this exalted pinnacle ? ‘

On December 2 the Max MUllers
went to the Deanery at Westminster, and the next day the Lay Sermon was
delivered. Charles Kingsley, Theodore
Walrond, and Sir Charles Trevelyan dined and attended the service. It was very
nervous work, both for the lecturer and many of his hearers, but his voice was
clear and carried far, and his earnest, reverent manner impressed the vast
congregation from the first moment. To one who for long years had wished that
he could have an opportunity of uttering the great truths which were the
foundation of his own life, other than that afforded by the Royal Institution,
it was a unique moment, and a glance at his quiet, self-possessed face, showed
that he was equal to the great task, and stilled all feeling of anxiety.

The next day both the
congratulations and vituperations began ; the latter made little impression. On
his way home Max Muller met Dr. Liddon, who wrung his hand, saying, ‘ I rejoice
from my heart that you have been helping us.’ The author of The Childhood of
Religion wrote: —

‘ I must thank you for your
noble words in the Abbey last week, to which it was my delight to listen. I am
sure they will do great good in directing attention to the place each faith has
had in the order of this divinely-governed world.’

To THE Dean of Westminster.

Parks End, Oxford, December 11,
1873.

‘ My dear Stanley, — So the work
is done. I hope it may produce

some good effect ! I may tell you
now that I never felt so nervous in

my life before, but I had perfect
confidence in you, that you would

458 Strassbttrg [ch. xx

not have asked me unless you
felt it ought to be done, and could be done. All the people I see here seem to
acquiesce, but of course I have no opportunity of hearing their real opinion.
Ruskin was truly pleased, and I believe would like to lecture himself. I wish
the University Sermons could be opened to laymen — there seems to be no reason
why they should not. Are you aware that in the Greek Church it is by no means
unusual for laymen to occupy the pulpit ? I read your sermon to-day — I had
hardly heard it in the Abbey, I felt so excited. I like it very much. Did you
see the new ending to my lecture ? I felt there was something wanting to make
the ending less abrupt, and as I am not likely to have another opportunity
soon, I thought I might as well say all I had to say. Ever yours.

‘ I am truly grateful now that
you asked me, and glad that I did it.’

To Professor Klaus Groth.

Translation. Oxford, December
14, 1873.

‘ My dear Friend, — It is long
since I wrote. You have no idea how my time goes, and the letters I like to
write have to wait for those I 7nust write. I have written to Prince Christian
about the Platt- Deutsch Bible : the thing can be done, and I have told him not
to consult any one further, but to leave the arrangements entirely to you. One could begin with the New Testament — wait
how that succeeds, before the Old Testament is undertaken. Yes, how much has
happened again this year, and how litde really effected ! All has gone well
with us. I am often frightened at our happiness. Wife and children well, my
mother on a visit to us for the last six months, also far stronger than one
dare expect. I certainly was laid up in summer, but am now quite well. I have
said farewell to Strassburg with a heavy heart, but I hope wisely. It was not
quite what I expected. There was a want
of go, of iniuative. My idea was that the best powers of Germany would come to
this new Byzantium of literature, the Crown Prince at their head, that the
Alsatians might be forced to be proud of their country, and that a new mental
capital would be founded in Strassburg, as a make-weight to the military
metropolis ; but the reality, pleasant as it was, was different. Fritz Kraus ^
has thanked vie for a notice you wrote on his Southampton Sonnets. Greetings to all our Kiel friends. ... I hope
your Christmas will be one of undisturbed happiness. Your boys must be growing fast. Shall we soon meet ? It does not look like
it.’

^ A young Swiss, who made an
excellent translation of Shakespeare’s Sonnets into German. He was a great
invalid, and died of decline in 18S1.

1873] Westminster Lecture 459

To W. LoNGiMAN, Esq.

Oxford^ December 15.

‘”Why is there so much delay
about bringing out the Sermons?” the Dean writes to me from Windsor ; but it is not my fault. I ordered
my part for press on Wednesday. I look forward to three months’ imprisonment
with great pleasure. What an amount of work I shall be able to get through,
having no dinner-parties, calls, meetings, &c., to interrupt my work ! ‘

Some of the papers had
threatened Max Miiller with imprisonment for brawling in church, and an Oxford
trades- man who had heard of this ran out of his shop one day as he was
passing, and, seizing his hand, said, ‘ Well, sir, when they send you to
prison, count on a hot dinner from my table every week.’

To Herr George von Bunsen.

December 21.

‘ . . . The theological wasps
buzz around my ears. It was an

exertion indeed, but it was
worth while^fa/ experi??ientum in corpora

vili. There is no going to
prison just yet, however — Stanley
had

a legal opinion from the Lord
Chief Justice before he undertook the

matter.’

Perhaps the attack that amused
Max Miiller most was from Mr. Henry Reeve, the editor of the Edinburgh Revieiv,
who was presumably ignorant of Lord Coleridge’s legal opinion, and wrote, ‘By
the law of England, as I read it, an unordained person who preaches or lectures
in a church is guilty of a misdemeanour, punishable with three months’ prison,
and though Westminster Abbey is so peculiar that it is probable the law could
not reach you, I shall always deeply regret that you were induced ... to appear
there ! ‘

To Herr George von Bunsen.

Translation. Parks End,
December 25, 1873.

‘ Many thanks for your letter,
and for all the interesting enclosures

from friends. I have been very
busy lately. The English people

have so much time for writing
letters, and to explain oneself to three

or four different parties is no
easy matter. In spite of all, I am never-

theless glad to have followed
Stanley’s bidding. . . . Yes, indeed, I

thought of your father when I
stood in Westminster Abbey— how

often the unlikely becomes
reality! I send you my lecture, for first

460 Science of Religion [ch. xx

I had to omit some points when
I delivered it, and secondly the Times omitted some things in reporting it.

‘ We have had such a happy
Christmas ; everything was perfect — three generations together — but such
happiness fills one with anxiety.

‘ Alas, the lectures of Pauli ^
have come to nothing ; he was proposed primo loco, but it was impossible to get
a majority in his favour. Then we
succeeded in obtaining the votes for Goldwin Smith, who is now paying a visit
to Oxford ; he however, refused.

‘Yes, indeed, the letter from
Curtius is very depressing — for the future still more than for the present.
And yet it seems unavoidable in Berlin ! It is impossible to perform music in a
large manufactory. Therefore, I dreamt a
dream of Strassburg as a new capital for the new German spirit, but I soon
became aware that the wings were wanting, and that they were satisfied with
very little.

‘ Mommsen told me when I met
him in Munich that he was ready to leave Berlin at any moment on his own
account, and still more on that of his children. At Leipzig there is no Court
and all that belongs to Court life ; the merchant class in Leipzig is rich and
they are patricians, the Professors are poor but highly esteemed : life there
is very agreeable. I often feel drawn towards Leipzig — it might become a new
Weimar, only grander and of greater national popularity.’

On the last day of the year Max
Muller’s old friend, Professor Gelzer, the author of several theological works
in German, wrote to him from Basle : —

Translation.

‘ My son gave me at Christmas
the first part of your Introduction to the Science of Religion. I began to read
it the next evening, and could not stop till I had finished the second half next
morning. How I am longing for the continuation ! No work for a long time has so
electrified me, and edified my deepest soul. There are passages which flashed
on me like lightning, for they found an echo of sympa- thetic agreement in my
thoughts.’

The work of the year 1874 was
devoted to the sixth and

last volume of the Rig-veda. The
preparations for the Con-

gress of Orientalists held in
London in September, and writing

his opening address as President
of the Aryan Section, occu-

pied much of Max Mijller’s time.
His mother returned to

Germany in March, but throughout
the year the Max Miillers

■^ His friends wished him to
give a course of historical lectures at Oxford.

1874] Visit from Professor Cams
461

had innumerable guests, among
them the reigning Prince and Princess of Roumania.

To HIS Wife (staying near her
old home).

January 8.

‘ Our own life is such perfect
brightness that I cannot bear the slightest grumble about this or that not
being exactly as one likes it. It seems
to me so ungrateful to allow one moment to pass that is not full of joy and
happiness, and devotion to Him who gives us all this richly to enjoy. The
clouds will come, they must come, but they ought never to be of our own
making.’

January 12, 1874.

·
By a grave one learns what life really is — that
it is not here but elsewhere ; that this is the exile, and there is our home.
As we grow older the train of life goes faster and faster, those with whom we
travelled together step out from station to station, and our own station, too,
will soon be reached.’

To Edward Tylor, Esq.

January 14.

‘ If you have read Whitney’s
book, would you not write a review of it for the Academy P I know Whitney is an
opponent of mine, or, I should rather say, he hates me, but that does not
matter, and if you think that on any point he is right and I am wrong, I shall
not be angry if you say so.’

To HIS Wife.

April 13, 1874.

‘ The spirit of love and the
spirit of truth are the two life-springs of our whole being, or, what is the
same, of our whole religion, for whatever we are, or do, or feel, or think, is
nothing without the key- note of religion. If we lose that bond which holds us
and binds us to a higher world, our life becomes purposeless, joyless ; if it
holds us and supports us, life becomes perfect, all little cares vanish, and we
feel we are working out a great purpose as well as we can, a purpose not our
own, not selfish, not self-seeking, but in the truest sense of the word
God-serving and God-seeking.

‘ I shall have more time for my
children when the Veda is finished. I now always feel, and have felt for years,
that every hour when I could work was due to the Veda, but I shall feel that no
more.’

Max Miiller had a great
pleasure this spring in a visit to Oxford of his old friend Victor Carus, with
his wife and daughters. He was on his way to Edinburgh, where he had undertaken
a course of lectures.

h

462 Order pour le Merite [ch.
xx

To Professor Carus.

Translatio7i. April 28.

‘ ]My dear Victor, — Here
everything is light and sunny ; you

ought to have stayed quietly
here. It was Hke old days to have you

here. Life spins itself further
and further, but the old threads run on

through it. The death of
Phillips ^ has shocked us all terribly. I was

not there, and only heard of
the accident the next morning ; when

I got there he was already
dead. There was no suffering, but he died

without regaining
consciousness. I have just heard from Pauli from

Gottingen — always the same.
Hearty greetings from us to you all.’

A letter from his old friend
and master, Professor Brock- haus, v^^as a great pleasure to him this spring :
—

Translation. May, i874-

‘ I heard with great delight
that you have been working very hard to finish your Rig-veda. It is just thirty
years since you first announced your resolution to edit this gigantic work, and
now the whole is finished before us. With what delight you must look on the
past. You have achieved great things, and your services to this, the richest
product of the Indian mind, will gain ever increasing recognition and
admiration.’

It w^as in June of this year
that Max MUller received a wholly unexpected honour, the Order pour le Merite,
which may be called the Blue Ribbon of Literature. Soon after, when Max M
tiller was commanded to dine at Windsor, he wrote to Prince Leopold to ask if
he might wear his Order, and the wire came back, ‘ Not may, but must.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. June 7, 1874.

‘ Have you seen in the papers
that they have made me a Knight

of the Order pour le Merite ? I
cannot understand it. There are

but twenty for all Germany. The
Knights elect themselves, and the

King has only to confirm their
choice. Now the Berliners are by no

means my best friends ; on the
contrary, I have had from time to time

to disagree sharply with several
of their celebrities, and I never once

thought of their electing me.
Well, it is no ordinary Order, and

is the only one that a literary
man may wear with pleasure, and so

I am really pleased, though I
should have been quite happy without

any Order. I have not heard
direct, only what is in the papers, so

^ Professor of Geology. He died
from falling downstairs at All Souls.

1874] Order pour le Merite 463

it may not be true after all.
It is the one foreign Order I can wear at Court here without special leave.’

To Professor Carus (who was to
receive an honorary D.C.L. degree at Commemoration).

Trayislation.

‘ My dear Victor, — Come on
Tuesday, that you may not be tired but have time to rest. We are counting on
your coming to us.

Won’t you bring your wife or a
daughter with you ? Two rooms are

ready — you know that, and we are
rejoicing over this unexpected

meeting. As to the Order pour le
Merite, it passes my comprehen-

sion, I only know as yet what was
in the papers. No one in Berlin

has written about it. The
Berliners do not love me inordinately, and

the election is with the Knights.
Well, I shall hear more — till then

we must “ bear the inevitable
with resignation.” ‘

To Professor Lepsius.

Translatmi. Parks ‘Ekv, June
i8.

‘ My dear and honourable
Friend, — I have not yet got over my shock, but the astonishment gives way to
mere joy and gratitude. Never for a
moment did I think that this honour would be bestowed upon me after having been
away so long from the Fatherland ^ ; and I can never be grateful enough to
those who have not forgotten me on this occasion. I feel again strongly how my
heart is drawing me to Germany, and did I still possess such vitality as you
do, I should return there to-morrow. Well my slavery is to stop this year ; in
September, I hope my last volume of the Rig-veda will be finished, and who knows
what will happen then 1 I shake your hand most heartily to-day. Am I right to
send my official thanks to Ranke ? . . .
What do you think of another trial for a common alphabet at the Congress
} Our paths, as I told you before, do not lie far apart ; in short, I am
satisfied to express the fact of modification, you express the method of
modification. IMy system is the more incomplete, by no means, however,
excluding the more complete one. It only needs an understanding about the three
degrees of modification ; I am only afraid there will be no time for it.’

To THE Crown Prince.

Parks End, Oxford, /une 20,
1874.

Translation.

‘ Your Imperial and Royal
Highness, — I am almost afraid that

அன்பு தளபதி · அன்பு தளபதி Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:15 pm

I may appear obtrusive, when I
venture to express to your Royal

^ Max Miiller was elected one
of the twenty German Knights, not as a foreign Knight.

464 Letter to the Crown Prince
[ch. xx

Highness my joy and gratitude
at the distinction granted to me by His Majesty the Emperor. But the ardent
desire will not give way to conventional constraint, and the reverence which I
have had for your Royal Highness for so many years gives me confidence that
your Royal Highness will not be offended even should I offend against
etiquette.

‘ I really cannot imagine to
whom I owe my gratitude for the great and unexpected honour. His Majesty the
Emperor has given me repeated proofs of his gracious kindness, but this, it
seems to me, I can only ascribe to the kind intercession of others. It suddenly
occurred to me, that the thought of bestowing this distinction upon me might
have received its first impulse from your Royal Highness, and, whether I be
right or wrong, I could not rest till I had expressed how deeply grateful I
feel for this great distinction, and how it inspires me to new life and work.

‘ I do indeed realize just now,
how my heart clings with all its fibres to Germany. The work which brought me
to England firsc of all, and which has kept me incessantly occupied here for
twenty-five years, the publishing of the Veda^ will be finished this summer,
and I shall then feel a free man. If I could be of more use in Germany than
here, I should like to return to Germany, though I have grown old. I was very
happy at Strassburg; it was like an intellectual sea-bath. Only the task appointed
me did not seem far-reaching enough. The Alsatians ought to have been made to
feel proud of their new Strassburg in spite of themselves, and just one course
of lectures did not suffice for that. I had hoped that, as in former times for
Bonn, so now for Strassburg, Germany would send her best men, in order to
create there a new spiritual Byzantium, a capital of German art, science, and
learning. But this was not thought of.

Of course I do not mean to assert
that the slow and quiet development

of circumstances is not perhaps
the better one. I soon felt, however,

that under these conditions the
giving up of my work in England was

hardly justified. But now, having
finished the work which tied me to

England, the old thoughts of home
return, and especially the desire to

be one of those who fight under
the flag of your Royal Highness

on the battle-field of the mind.
There are sure to be such battles, in

fact there are such now, and I am
often astonished how little part

the people take in the great
religious and Church questions of the

present time ; how the Government
seems left to bear all the respon-

sibility, and this makes a
healthy and powerful solution of the matter

almost an impossibility. And
though in England also, material

interests absorb a great part of
the moral strength, yet in struggles, such

as have begun now in Germany, the
heart of the whole nation would beat

1874] Rig-veda finished 465

louder and stronger. What good
would it do to Germany, to win the whole world and to lose herself, to lose
that which has made her great, her earnestness of life, her joy in everything
that is truly beautiful, her courage in the search for truth, her faith in
something higher than this life? There is much to conquer still, though it may
not be Alsace and Lorraine. Great success is exhausting for a while, but it
seems time now to think of the future, which, though the past has been great,
ought to be still greater.

‘ With the best wishes for the
great future which awaits your Royal Highness, I remain, your Royal Highness’
obedient servant.’

On July I the following entry
stands in his wife’s Diary :

‘ To-day M. finished the MS. of
the Rig-veda’ The printing had already begun, and was going on apace.

To HIS Mother.

Translation. August 2.

‘ To-day I have been made an
Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy. I don’t know how it came about. I, of
course, never stirred in the matter, and yet the German literary men are so
angry about it. They cannot hide their displeasure, but it does not hurt. The nearer I come to the end of the Veda, the
more I find there is to do, but it must be ready for the Oriental Congress in
September.

‘ To-morrow is our wedding-day
: how fast the time goes, and how much sunshine these fifteen years have
brought us, even though the clouds have not been wholly wanting. God will help
us further.’

To HIS Wife (who was at the
death-bed of the mother-aunt).

August 19, 1874.

‘ The death of those we love is
the last lesson we receive in life — the rest we must learn for ourselves. To
me, the older I grow and the nearer I feel that to me too the end must be, the
more perfect and beautiful all seems to be ; one feels surrounded and supported
every- where by power, wisdom, and love, content to trust and wait, incapable
of murmuring, very helpless, very weak, yet strong in that very helplessness,
because it teaches us to trust to something not ourselves. Yet parting with those we love is hard — only
I fear there is nothing else that would have kept our eyes open to what is
beyond this life.’

To INI. Renan.

August 19.

‘ My dear Friend and illustrious
Colleague, — It is such a long

time since I had the pleasure of
hearing from you, that I cannot allow

I H h

466 Prince and Princess of
Roumama [ch. xx

an opportunity to pass which may
I hope bring us together again. You know
that from the fourteenth to the twenty-first of September there will be a large
gathering of Oriental scholars in London.
I always understood that you would be here at the time, if not for the
sake of the Congress, at least for a visit to England, which you had planned
last year and postponed to this. Now I hope it may be so, and that we may meet
not only in London, but also in Oxford. You know that a visit from you and
Madame Renan is a very old promise, and both I and my wife have always looked
forward to its fulfilment with great pleasure. We shall, of course, be in
London during the actual week of the Congress, but afterwards we return to
Oxford, and should be delighted to show you all that is interesting and
beautiful both here and in the neighbourhood. Please let me hear what your
plans are. If you could be persuaded to join the Congress we should of course
consider it a great honour, and you would find among the multitude some
scholars whom you would like to meet. My old teacher Brockhaus is coming, also
Stenzler, Weber, Windisch, Schrader, Lepsius, Brugsch, and many more ; even
Pundits from India. Now please consider all this, and let me know your
decision. I see that your great work on the Phoenician Expedition is finished,
and I con- gratulate you with all my heart. I can share your feelings, for I
have just ordered the last sheet of the Rig-vcda for press. Twenty-five years
of work, and I have now only to print the preface and various readings. The
last sheets were printed from copies I had made at Paris, IMay, 1846, during
the bright and happy days when Burnouf lectured at the College de France. My
wife presents her kind regards to you and Madame Renan, and hopes I shall
succeed in persuading }’0U to come. With old and unchanged sentiments of
sincere regard.’

In the beginning of September Max
MUller had the honour

of receiving the reigning Prince
and Princess of Roumania

under his roof. They wished to
see Oxford, and their only

free days coincided with some
meeting that filled every hotel

in Oxford. In a letter to his
mother Max MUller speaks of

the Princess as very clever, and
of the Prince as a man of

great courage and determination.
‘ They have both of them

a strong feeling for the duties
of their great station, and are

full of plans for the good of the
people committed to their

care.’ They met again in London,
and a feeling of true

esteem and friendship sprang up,
which was a source of deep

gratification to Max MUller to
the last. Only a few days

1874] Oriental Congress 467

before his death he received
the kindest message from the King of Roumania about a little service that he
had been able to render to His Majesty.

The Oriental Congress which met
in London towards the close of September was a time of great interest and
pleasure to Max Miiller, who afterwards welcomed to his house in Oxford many
old friends — Professor Lepsius and his eldest son, Professor Noldeke, Dr.
Stenzler, Dr. Spiegel, Dr. Gosche, M. Leon Feer, and various distinguished
Orientals. The Max MUllers stayed during the Congress with the Kingsleys in
their charming old house in the Cloisters at Westminster. Charles Kingsley was in bad health, not
having really re- covered from the severe illness he had had during his visit
to America in the summer. His wife was then perfectly well.

Max Miiller was President of
the Aryan Section, and in opening the section delivered a striking address on
the Impor- tance of Oriental Studies. The Prince of Roumania came up from
Hastings to attend it. At the conclusion of the address, Max Miiller presented
to the Congress the last sheet of the last volume of the Rig-veda, with the
Commentary of Sayana- chirya. His old teacher, Professor Brockhaus, was present
to witness the completion of his pupil’s great work. The address was published
in Chips, Volume IV. An appreciative article on his work had lately appeared in
one of the American papers.

·
Professor F. Max Miiller is just giving the last
touches to his final volume of the Rig-veda. The work was begun twenty-five
years ago, and was undertaken as a labour of love, for those who at that period
were interested in Oriental or Sanskrit studies were few indeed ; too few
certainly for the German scholar to have anticipated any reward for his labour,
except the gratitude of those few, and the consciousness of having given an
important contribution to learning. But
within that twenty-five years the interest in such studies has quadrupled at
least, and thousands now wish to study the Rig-veda. I believe there has been some disposition
among American students of Sanskrit to cridcize Max Miiller’s work in a
disparaging way, but the Hindoo scholars themselves declare that it is the best
rendering of their ancient hymns which exists, and such is the growing opinion
in England. And how much has he done beside ?

Those who have only read his
Chips from a German Workshop, his

Science of Religion, his
Lectures on Language, know but the half of

H h 2

468 Meets Darwin [ch. xx

his labours, which really have
embraced the preparation of a com- plete set of instrumentalities for the
prosecution of Sanskrit studies.
Everybody who is engaged in any work of that kind rushes to him, and
none are turned empty away. At the same time he has mingled in every important
discussion bearing on philology and mythology in both England and Germany, generally carrying the
verdict for his point, but always knowing how to yield gracefully to argument,
and, moreover, always prompt in recognizing discoveries made by others in directions
where he himself had looked without making them. In short, Max Miiller is among the most
truthful and industrious workers of Europe
just now, and he has built up a reputation which few possess.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. October 9.

‘ We have lately been very much
occupied, partly with the Oriental Congress, partly by visits to us and visits
we have paid. Happily I had finished my Veda, and have only a little to do to
the preface, index, &c., which must be finished this week, and then I shall
not grudge myself a little freedom. We had Lepsius, father and son, on a visit.
Then we went to stay with Mr. Grant Duff, formerly Under-Secretary for India, and with
Sir John Lubbock, where we met Darwin, Tyndall, Spencer, and the two Lepsius’.
Lectures will soon begin here, and though I have been here through the vacation
and worked hard, it has suited me very well. Perhaps I shall take a hoHday in
winter, if I need it, and a visit to Rome
has long been hoped for by us both. My principal work is finished, and I can at
last give myself a treat.’

This visit was the only time
Max Miiller and Darwin met. The
conversation turning on apes as the progenitors of man, Max Miiller asserted
that if speech were left out of considera- tion, there was a fatal flaw in the
line of facts. ‘ You are a dangerous man,’ said Darwin, laughingly.

It was in the November of this
year that Bishop Colenso visited Oxford as the
guest, first of Max Miiller, and then of the Master of Balliol, and was
forbidden to preach at Carfax, the City
Church, by the Bishop of
Oxford.

On November 27 Max Miiller
writes: —

To HIS Wife.

‘ I sent you a line this
afternoon after I had seen Colenso. It

seems an unwarrantable stretch of
authority on the part of the

1874] Bishop Colenso 469

Bishop, for there is no legal
censure of any kind against Colenso, He has simply spoken out and said what
every bishop knows or ought to know. I hear there is an attempt to prevent his
preaching in Balliol, but in that they will hardly succeed.’

November 29.

‘ Colenso preached an excellent
sermon in Balliol Chapel. He dwelt on the natural slowness of all progress in
nature, as well as in the world of spirit ; that we ought to learn to wait, and
not expect to see the kingdom of God on earth, but only to work for it. The
chapel was full — his two sons were there, and the whole scene was very
touching. The time will come when they will thank Colenso for having shown that
the Old Testament is a genuine old book, full of all the contradictions and
impossibilities which we have “a right to expect in old books, but which we
seldom see in books written on purpose. With those who hold that the Song of
Solomon was miraculously inspired one cannot agree — it is with them as with
those who defend the real material Presence, they have changed the highest
truth into most dangerous falsehood. However, let them fight it out ; they will
never prevail.’

On the same day Max was able to
write to his mother : —

TraJisIatmt.

·
The last volume of the Veda is in the
bookbinder’s hands — a long piece of work finished. I often hardly believed
that I should finish it, but now I feel I have a right to rejoice, and shall
often think of it with real delight.’

Many kind congratulations came
from old friends who had watched the progress of the work during many
years. The Master of Balliol wrote : —

‘ I heartily congratulate you
on the completion of your great work. I
only disagree with one thing in your preface, that you dare to speak of
yourself as an old man. We are none of us old until we think that we are.’

To Professor Althaus.

Translation. December 3.

‘ Many thanks for your letter.
Indeed, I had hardly thought it possible that I should be permitted to finish
this work, and now that it is finished, something seems to be wanting every day.
However, there is plenty of material left for work, and if my strength holds
out, the good will to work is never wanting.’

In December Max MUller received
the thanks of the

470 Preface to Volume VI of
Rig-veda [ch. xx

Secretary of State for India in
Council for the satisfactory manner in which he had carried out the important
work entrusted to him. In his reply to Sir Lewis Malet, Max Mliller expressed
his pleasure that the work was done, and his gratitude to Her Majesty’s
Government for having enabled him to finish a task which he thought was worth a
life, and for which he had received in France, Italy, and Germany the highest
honours which a literary man can aspire to.

‘ The Rig-veda, though for the
last 3,000 years it has formed the foundation of the religious life of India,
had never before been rendered accessible to the people at large, and its
publication will produce, nay, has already produced, in India an effect similar
to that which the first printing of the Bible produced on the mind of Europe. Beyond the frontiers of India also, the
first edition of the oldest book of the whole Aryan race has not been without
its effect, and as long as men value the history of their language, mythology,
and religion, I feel confident that this work will hold its place in the
permanent library of mankind.’

To Max Muller’s surprise and
gratification, he received about three months later a letter from Sir Lewis
Malet, in- forming him ‘ that the Secretary of State for India in Council has
sanctioned a grant of money to you, as a special recognition of your services
in connexion with the editing and printing of the Rig-vcda, in addition to the
sum received by you as an honorarium, according to the orginal agreement.’

Few but Sanskrit scholars will
have read the preface to this sixth and last volume of Max Muller’s great work,
and some passages are therefore given from it : —

‘When I had written the last
line of the Rig-veda and Sayana’s Commentary, and put down my pen, I felt as if
I had parted with an old, old friend. For thirty years scarcely a day has
passed on which my thoughts have not dwelt on this work, and for many a day,
and many a night too, the old poets of the Veda, and still more their orthodox
and painstaking expositor, have been my never-failing companions. I am happy,
no doubt, that the work is done, and after having seen so many called away in
the midst of their labours, I feel deeply grateful that I have been spared to
finish the work of my life. But habits established for so long a time are not
broken without a wrench, and even now I begin to miss my daily task; I begin to
long for some difficult and corrupt passages to

1874] Burnouf 471

grapple with, for some abrupt
quotation, or for some obscure allusion to Panini to trace back to its original
source.

‘It was in 1845, when attending
the lectures of Eugene Burnouf, that my thoughts became fixed on an edition of
the Rig-veda and its voluminous Commentary. I still see the eager faces of a
number of young scholars sitting round the table when Burnouf was lecturing
with a vivacity, a keenness, a flow of knowledge, which I have never seen
surpassed. ... I was the youngest of them all, and, though I had published a
translation of the Httopadesa, my ideas of Sanskrit literature did not reach
much beyond the Epic Poems and the Upanishads. Nothing, I thought, could in
beauty of thought or expression exceed the Upanishads; I had translated some of
them for Schelling. Well do I remember my surprise when I heard Burnouf speak
of them as works of small importance, compared with the older portions of the
Veda. Burnouf was lecturing then on the first book of the Rig-veda. He
possessed a complete copy of Sayana’s Commentary. After a time Burnouf lent me
some of his ]\ISS. and encouraged me to copy them. It was hard work at first .
. . and, but for his frank acknowledgement that he too could not always make
out Sayana, I should never have had the courage to persevere. . . . But I
worked on till a portion of the work was finished, and after obtaining the patronage
of the old East India Company, I was able to publish the first volume in 1849.

*We are now in 1874.
Twenty-five years are certainly a long time, and when I saw how some of my
friends clamoured at the delay ... I began to fear I might really be to blame.
I therefore made out an account of my stewardship, and the result was as
follows :

I found that since 1849 there
were three years in which I was prevented going on with my work — one year when
I was out of health, another when I had to wait for the renewal of the grant,
on the extinction of the East India Company, and a third when waiting for a MS.
from India,
which promised to be if not the original, yet much more ancient than any I had
used. During the last twenty-five years I have done other work also. ... I have
not thought that a man ought to live by Sanskrit alone. But after deducting the
three years when I could not print, I found to my own surprise that I had
published in my two editions of the Rig-veda, the large one with, and the small
one without Sayana’s Commentary, what amounted to an annual volume of nearly
600 pages octavo, during twenty-five consecutive years. If my friends will also
take into account that in that time I published two editions of my History 0/
Ancient Sanskrit Literature, two editions of my Sanskrit Grammar, the
Prdtisdkhya, text, translation and notes, and the first volume of

472 Attack on M. M. [ch. xx

my translation of the Rig-veda,
I think they will admit that I have not been altogether faithless to my first
love.’

If we add to this the Lectures
on the Science of Language, and innumerable lectures and essays on language,
mythology, and religion republished in the Chips, the total record of work done
is not a light one for a man not yet fifty-one !

Max M tiller concludes his
preface by a few lines in self- defence, which will find an echo in the hearts
of most authors :

‘I know I have sometimes been
blamed for not replying to my critics, but such blame was most unjust. The fact
is that I could not possibly do it. When books are reviewed as they now are,
not only in England, but in
every country in Europe, nay, even in America
and India,
what are we to do ? Many of these reviews never reach me at all, but even if I
attempted to read and notice those only which I happen to see, I should have
had no time left for anything else. It was not want of respect that made me
silent, but simply want of time. I venture to avail myself of this opportunity
to explain another apparent neglect on my part, for which I know I have been blamed,
if not in public, at least in private. During the last ten years, the number of
books sent me from all parts of the world has become so great that I had to
give up the attempt to acknowledge them all. When I was a young man it was
generally understood that no acknowledgement was expected when a book was sent
without a letter ; to that rule I have conformed both as a sender and receiver
of presentation copies. It is generally said that Humboldt acknowledged all
books and answered all letters. . . .

Humboldt died before the Penny
Post attained its full development

I feel sure that my friends
will forgive me if I do not always write, by return of post, that I am looking
forward with the greatest pleasure to reading their books. Nothing gives me
greater pleasure than reading books wTitten by men with whom I am personally
acquainted, but if a friend sends me a book on Comparative Mytho- logy while I
am in the midst of work on Sanskrit accentuation, I must put his work aside for
a time, and cannot express an opinion till I find leisure to read it carefully.
Soyez raisonnabks.’

Here it is necessary to revert
to an extraordinary statement published soon after Max MUller’s death in the
New York Nation, and repeated in other journals. The Nation says :

·
What Max MUller constantly proclaimed to be his
own great work, the edition of the Rig-veda, was in reality not his at all. ...
A German scholar did the work, and Muller appro-

1874] The ^ Nation ‘ answered
473

priated the credit for it. But
even in this case, though the

judgement be true, it is harsh.
The German scholar was

paid for his labour, and did the
best he could to circumvent

Miiller in getting out his editio
prima. The incident is not

altogether creditable to either
party.’ To those who have

read thus far in the Life of Max
Miiller, it will seem almost

impossible that a respectable
paper could publish so false

a statement. Burnouf, Brockhaus,
Cowell, and many other

Nestors of Sanskrit scholarship
watched from 1846 with deep

interest the progress of the
work, and knew from seeing it

how Max Miiller had spent years
in copying and collating

MSS. of the Rig-veda, and
searching out obscure references

in Sayana’s Commentary. The
German scholar alluded to is

Dr. Aufrecht, for many years
Professor of Sanskrit in Edin-

burgh, and then in Bonn. The
passage in the Nation is as

insulting to him as to Max
Miiller. Dr. Aufrecht would be

the first to acknowledge that the
first volume of the Rig-veda

(the most difficult of all, says
Mr. Macdonell, the present

excellent Professor of Sanskrit
at Oxford) had been published

three years before he and Max
Miiller ever met, and that

when he arrived in England to
work under Max Miiller the

second volume was already nearly
finished. In the prefaces

to the second, third, and fourth
volumes Max Miiller fully

acknowledges his indebtedness to
Dr. Aufrecht. For the

last two volumes he had the
assistance of other younger

scholars, and in the prefaces to
these volumes he mentions

this, and in Volume VI gives the
names of Dr. Eggeling,

now Professor of Sanskrit at
Edinburgh, and Dr. Thibaut,

Professor of Sanskrit at Benares,
as his helpers. Dr. Kiel-

horn, Professor of Sanskrit at
Gottingen, writes : ‘ While I was

in Oxford (from 1862-65) ... I
have often seen Max Muller

at work on the Rig-veda, and had
occasion to consult the

index to the text, which he had
compiled many years

before.’ Dr. Eggeling writes : ‘
From what I saw personally

of Max Mailer’s mode of working,
I may say that I always

admired the extremely careful and
scholarly way in which he

dealt with his manuscript
materials in constituting his final

text’ M. Barthe, writing in
April, 1874, says: ‘ M. Max

Muller is, and must always
remain, the first editor of the

474 Illness of Mrs. Kingsley

Rig-veda. He was the one man in
Europe who had courage

enough to enter on this path.
It was he who took up the

work as it fell from the
failing hands of Rosen, and who,

extending the design of Rosen,
conceived it as worthy to be

the principal work of his own
life.’ Professor Macdonell,

after a careful examination,
calculates that, if Professor

Aufrecht had worked absohitcly
alone at Volum.es III and IV,

and the end of Volume II,
collecting and collating all MSS.,

&c., he would have done but
little over one-third of the

work, of which all is ascribed
to him in the article imposed

(no doubt) on the Nation. Had
there been any truth in the

accusation its discovery would
not have been left to an

anonymous accuser in America,
nor its exposure reserved

until after Max Muller’s death.

A great anxiety fell on the Max
MUlIers towards the close

of the year. Mrs. Kingsley
became alarmingly ill, and no

hope was given that her life
would be spared. Max Miiller

wrote to his mother: — _,

Decejnber 12.

‘ I meant to write to you
to-morrow (Sunday), but a sad duty

calls us away. Mrs. Kingsley is
very ill, the doctors have given her

up, and as she wishes to see G.
once again, we shall start very early

to-morrow morning for Eversley,
and return in the evening. It is

a heart disease which has come
on suddenly. She herself considers

her state as hopeless, so do
her husband and children, yet they write

with a quiet resignation that
astonishes one. There has never been

a happier family life, and this
sudden end is terrible. It will be

a trying day, and I could not
let G. go alone. We have not been

there together since we spent
the first week of our honeymoon there.’

To THE Same. ^ ,

JJece^nber 27,

‘ We went to Eversley. Mrs.
Kingsley spoke quietly to G. about everything, and asked me to play something.
Her husband and children were so quiet and self-possessed. I have never seen
any- thing like it. She is a little better, but she might die at any
moment. They have had such a happy life
together, and it was heart-breaking to see it all.’

As they left Charles Kingsley
said to them, ‘ When I am left alone you will come to me.’ His wife lived on,
but in little more than a month the Max Mullers returned to Eversley for his
funeral.

CHAPTER XXI •

1875

Death of Charles Kingsley.
Visit to Italy. Windsor. Last visit of mother. Chips^ Volume IV. The Mumbles.
Manchester. Plans for return to Germany. Maximilian Order. Oxford Girls’ High
School.

From the moment that he had
written the last line of the last volume of the Rig-veda, Max Miiller’s
thoughts again turned longingly to his own country : though he fully realized
how hard it would be to break the ties of twenty-seven years that bound him to
Oxford, and he also found it very difficult to decide whether England or
Germany would offer the best opening for his son, who was then only eight years
old. Yet on account of his education it
was necessary to come soon to a decision. As he said in one of his letters at
this time, he ‘ waited for some intimation.’

To Professor Tiele of Leyden.

Translation. January 3, 1875.

‘Dear Friend, — I should have
liked to write to you ere this to thank you for your kind letter and for the
essays on the science of language, but my hands were so full that I put off
everything which was not absolutely necessary. Shortly after receiving your
essay, I got another from Darwin fih, inspired, however, by Darwin pere, which
had to be answered by return. It had to be written and printed in a week, an
excuse for the many printer’s mistakes. I sent you a copy to-day, in which I
refer to your essay. It was an oppor- tunity of bringing to Hght the affair of
Whitney & Co., though I detest this sort of thing. I had never before seen
the Whitney lectures, and I must confess my astonishment that such a work has
been pushed into the foreground by personal efforts. The man takes my lectures,
lectures on them and out of them, and then publishes them, and to prove his own
originality kicks me. Voila tout 1 I do not find one single thought in the whole
book which is original.

476 Letter to Darwin [ch. xxi

Well, I am little disturbed or
troubled by this sort of thing, and without Mr. George Darwin’s attack, I
should have taken no notice of the book at all. I read the other day that
Schiller, when he published the Horen, ordered and paid for twelve reviews in
the Jena Joiir7ial/ur Liiterahir. Can such things happen still ?

‘ The serious evil of the
tendency of Philosophy and Religion in the present day is that it so neglects
the historical side. All feeling for the past is gone, and we have to lend our
ear to things which Plato would not have ventured to make his adversaries
utter. The more rude, the more original, is everybody’s view now. And nothing
can be done ; we have to work for the few, not for the many ; in the end we
work best for ourselves alone, leaving the success to circum- stances. If we
only succeed in finding sufficient competent judges who take an interest in our
doings and strivings, we can rest satisfied.
I feel convinced that we shall live to see a change and a return to
thoroughness in work. I long for Italy, which I have never really seen. My
mother is still living at Chemnitz : she did not like Eng- land, her lively
spirit missed the social intercourse. I hope I may see her this summer.’

To Charles Darwin, Esq.

T KPi.ov^ , January 7.

‘ I hope in the course of the
year to be able to place my whole argument before you. Even if I cannot hope to
convince you, I trust at least to be able to show you that there are
difficulties connected with the origin of language which deserve careful
consideration, which possibly to me may seem greater than to you, but which, I
feel sure, you would be the last person to wish to ignore. I can assure you I
feel, as strongly as any mere layman in natural history can feel it, the
impulsive force of your arguments. If I hesitate in following you in your
explanation of the last animal metamorphosis, it is not because I am afraid,
but simply because I see certain elements in human nature which would remain
unexplained. To ordinary observers these elements may seem infinitesimally
small and hardly worth a thought ; but you know how the infinitesimally small
is, after all, what is really important in evolution. You know better than any-
body how infinitely great is the difference between man and animal : what I
want to know is the first small and hardly perceptible cause of that
difference, and I believe I find it in language and what is implied by
language.’

During the winter of 1874-5,
Prince Leopold had a severe attack of typhoid fever, which called forth the
following letter : —

1875] Death of Charles Kmgsley
477

To Robert Collins, Esq.

அன்பு தளபதி · அன்பு தளபதி Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:40 pm

Parks
“E^T), Jamiary 22, 1875.

‘ Many a time have I taken the
pen to write to you, and always put it down again, fearing that I was only
taking up your time, every minute of which must now be so precious. Yet I hope
it is not very selfish if I ask you to tell the Prince how deeply I feel for
him in his heavy trials, and how I hope and trust that he may soon recover his
health. I know how you must be suffering, seeing the Prince suffer so much, he
who with his brightness and kindness towards everybody might have enjoyed life
so much, and been a source of joy to all around him. I know your strong
feelings for the Prince, and I can fully understand them. It was often
difficult to remember that he was a young Prince, when one wished to show him
how much one appre- ciated his fine qualities, his power of endurance, his
frankness, his uprightness, his sympathy wdth all that was noble and good, how
one really admired him and loved him. Discouraging as the accounts are, it is
always right to hope, and I hope most earnestly that our worst fears may not
come true.

‘ I was with the Kingsleys a
few weeks ago to say good-bye. I am afraid, while I am writing, he has left us,
and she will follow soon. That bright
Vicarage of Eversley, where I spent my honeymoon and which I had not seen
since, looked very sad when I saw it last, yet what a blessing to be called
away together.’

The sad anticipations expressed
in the end of this letter to Mr. CoHins proved but too true with regard to
Charles Kingsley, and the Max Mlillers were among the crowd of mourners who
attended his funeral. Max Miiller has described that solemn and striking scene
in his preface to the new edition of Charles Kingsley ‘s Roman and Teuton.

To HIS Mother.

Translation. January 29, 1875.

‘ Yesterday I was at Eversley
for Kingsley ‘s funeral. It was a very trying day. G. stayed there to help her
aunt and the two daughters.

Kingsley’s was a loving, noble
nature, and the feeling for him is very

strong. The Queen wrote Mrs.
Kingsley a very beautiful autograph

letter ; the Prince of Wales was
represented by an equerry. Stanley

read the service. The poor wife
never saw her husband again. She is

herself very ill of heart
disease, and may die at any moment ! The

composure of the wife and
daughters astonishes one : I am only

afraid the worst is to come. He
is a great loss to me ; he has always

478 Death of Charles Kingsley
[ch. xxi

been a very true friend, and,
long as I have known him, we never had a misunderstanding.’

To HIS Wife (at Eversley).

Oxpo^n, January 30.

‘All one’s thoughts dwell on
that grave at Eversley, and on the desolate house near it. If we miss him, how
must they feel without his inspiriting presence, his constant care and love for
all around him ! One never thought of anything but life when one saw him and
talked to him, for even in his illness there was no diminution in his vigorous
activity. It is strange how little we all think of death as the condition of
all the happiness which we here enjoy. If we would but learn to value each hour
of life, to enjoy it fully, to use it fully, never to spoil a minute by
selfishness, then death would never come too soon; it is the wasted hours which
are like death in life, and which make life really so short. He was always
himself, his very best self. I never heard him say an unkind word, though I
have seen him provoked and worried. It is not too late even now to learn from
him, to try to be more humble, more forbearing, more courteous, or, what is at
the root of all, more loving, for that seemed to me the real secret of his
noble life. And how he conquered ! Those who would not be present at his
marriage were proud to be at his funeral.’

The death of Charles Kingsley
left a gap to Max Miiller and his w^ife which was never filled up. The mutual
affection had been strong and deep, and though their busy lives kept them from
meeting often, the feeling of warm affection never lessened. Max Miiller at
this time was so entirely overdone and overworked that his doctor ordered
complete change, and he resolved to go to Rome, which had been his dream from
boyhood.

To THE Duke of Argyll.

OxYOKD, January 29, 1875.

·
I should have answered your Grace’s letter
before, but my thoughts have been of late absorbed by Kingsley’s illness and
death. I went to his funeral yesterday: it was beautiful — ^just as he would
have wished it. All classes were represented — he knew no classes, and was
loved by all. There were his parishioners young and old, soldiers, gipsies,
huntsmen and the hounds, officers, deans, bishops, the representative of the
Prince of Wales, and many of his old friends.

His face in death was sublime :
I never saw such a change ; all the

struggle and worry of his face
were gone, and there one saw the

1875] Primeval Revelation 479

perfect, massive features as
nature had intended them. There is another light gone out — life darker and
poorer — and if one looks round, one sees no one to take his place.

‘I am glad to hear that you are
preparing for another battle. The
question of development must be argued out. I only wish it could be argued
without those constant appeals ad populum. I confess I am by no means clear in
my own mind. There seem to be de- velopment and degradation running side by
side wherever we touch the history of the world, and what seems improvement
from one point of view seems degradation from another. Thus polytheism is an
im- provement on monotheism, or, as I call it, Henotheism, as long as
monotheism represents only a behef in one god, not in the One God. The belief in one god which has not yet
passed through the negation of other gods, is as it were a behef in one
accidental god, and com- pared with it, polytheism, or a behef in many single
gods, is richer, fuller, more perfect, as enabling man to feel a Divine
presence in more and more manifestations, and at last, everywhere. From that
last stage the transition into real monotheism is natural, almost
inevitable. Now in one sense, Henotheism
may seem more perfect than polytheism, for it does not purposely exclude
monotheism — monotheism is con- tained in it, but the One God is not conceived
distinctly, till the idea of one god has passed through two negations.

‘ I look upon primeval
revelation as a figment of scholastic theo- logians, which falls to pieces as
soon as we try to grasp and define it.
The first suspicion of a something beyond what we see, was the first
revelation, and that revelation is continued to the present day, and, we trust,
growing more perfect. What I meant by saying that 3,000 years before Agamemnon
our forefathers worshipped a Heavenly Father, was this. The name Dyaus pita,
Ztvs Trarrip, Jupiter, Ti’u-s, occurs in four of the Aryan languages. Therefore
it must have existed before Sanskrit was Sanskrit and Greek Greek. The oldest
literary Sanskrit carries us back to 1,500 b. c, and it is then so difi”erent
from Greek that no Greek would have recognized any similarity between his
language and that of the Veda. I do not think 2,000 or 3,000 years too much to
explain that differentiation; the changes are far greater than those which have
taken place in 3,000 years between Vedic Sanskrit and Bengali. However, I
generally abstain from ex- pressing linguistic time in definite figures, and I
cannot recollect the passage where I said 3,000 before Agamemnon.

‘ I should not say that the
worship of Dyaus pita excluded poly- theism — the very idea of father led to
that of a mother, and so we find in the Veda, Prz’thivi INIala, Earth, the
Mother, and Agni, fire, the brother of man.

480 Monotheism [ch. xxi

‘ I know of no religious
expression among the Aryans older than

DyatiS pita^

To THE Same.

Oxford, February 4, 1875.

·
The earliest known religious form of the Aryan
race is, as nearly as possible, a pure monotheism — yes, that is perfectly
true. But it was an undoubting monotheism, in one sense perhaps the happiest
monotheism — yet not safe against doubts and negation. Doubt and negation
followed, it may be by necessity, and the unconscious, defenceless monotheism
gave way to polytheism. That religious form, however, contained within itself
the germs of future growth, and by a new negation the polytheistic form gave
way again to conscious, determined monotheism. Now, in one sense, the first
childlike mono- theism may seem more perfect than the second, and polytheism
may be treated as a mere degradation. But from another and, it seems to me, a
more historical point of view, polytheism makes an advance on unconscious
monotheism, because through it alone does man reach the higher monotheism which
definitely excludes a return to polytheism.

‘ Before the earliest
expression given by the Aryan nation to their belief in a Heaven-Father, there
is no doubt an endless vista of earlier stages. Such words as Dyaus pita are
like tertiary and meta- morphic rocks — we can read in them a long history;
but, however far back we may follow the history of linguistic and mental growth
among the Aryan nations, nowhere is there any trace, as far as I can see, of
what is vaguely called fetichism. It may have been there, but as yet there is
no trace of it.

‘ Among the Jews, I doubt
whether the Book of Job, as we have it, is older than the Pentateuch. The arguments
on either side are very weak, however. It is possible that the Assyrian
monuments may give us earlier phases of Semitic religious thought ; but I think
it is wise, for the present at least, to wait.

‘ In religion, as in language
and other intellectual manifestations, what is really important is the germ,
not the fruit. “ A suspicion of something beyond what is seen,” springing
naturally from a healthy mind, would be far more important in the early ages of
mankind than a ready-made catechism. Man has to gain not only his daily bread,
but, what is far more important, his thoughts, his words, his faith, in the
sweat of his brow. In that sense, I am a thorough Darwinian.

Where I differ from Darwin is
when he does not see that nothing

can become actual but what was
potential ; that mere environment

explains nothing, because what
surrounds and determines is as much

given as what is surrounded and
determined; that both presuppose

1875] Creation 481

each other and are meant for
each other. Now I take my stand against Darwin on language, because language is
the necessary con- dition of every other mental activity, religion not
excluded, and I am able to prove that this indispensable condition of all
mental growth is entirely absent in animals. This is my palpable argument.

‘There is, however, another
argument, based on the nature of all known languages, viz. that they presuppose
the faculty of numbering, an argument somewhat Pythagorean, but not therefore
the less true.

‘ Even if it could be proved
that man was the lineal descendant of an ape, that would not upset my argument.
The ape who could become the ancestor of man, would be a totally different
being from the ape that remained for ever the ancestor of apes. That ape would
be simply an embryonic man, and we have no ground to be very proud of our own
embryonic phases. Yet I quite agree that I ste no evidence whatever to force us
to admit as real and historical what Darwin has simply proved to be possible
and convenient. That man, under all circumstances, was a special creation, we
see with our eyes, for every day man is a special creation, different from all
other creatures. I grant also that in one sense man may, from the first, have
had an intuition or a recollection of the existence of his Maker — • but
potentia only — like every child that is born into this world, never actually,
till that intuition could be expressed in words, and such words as maker or
existence are very, very late. We ourselves are still satisfied with the word
father, as applied to the Deity, yet almost everything that is implied hy
father must be taken out, before the word is fit to convey what we wish it to
convey. We mean at least father, but we can say no more.

‘ I look upon the account of
Creation as given in Genesis as simply historical, as showing the highest
expression that could be given by the Jews at that early time to their
conception of the beginning of the world. We have learnt, certainly since Kant,
that the knowledge of beginnings is denied to us, that all we can do is to
grope back a little way, and then to trust. 1 think I have a right to accept a
special beginning of man, because I cannot account for what he is, if I look
upon him as the product of anything else known to me. I require no more a leap
for him than for any other creature ; I accept him at what I find him from the
first dawn of history to the present day. I have no feeling for or against
Darwinism, and I always try in approaching these problems to care for nothing
that I may care for in my heart.

I am certain that we are led ; I
am certain we ought to follow ; I am

certain that, even if we go
wrong, as long as we do it because we will

not resist the power of facts and
arguments, we are right. If Darwin’s

facts were irresistible, I should
accept the ape-theory without a murmur,

I li

482 Cartoon in Vanity Fair [ch.
xxi

because I should feel that we
were meant to accept it. But I feel with you that never was a theory of such
importance put forward with a smaller array of powerful arguments than by
Darwin. “ What is, is best : “ these were Kingsley’s last words, used no doubt
in a purely ethical sense, but applicable nevertheless to all pursuit of
truth.’

To Professor Lepstus.

Translation. Parks End,
February 13.

‘ . . . I think of going to
Rome with my wife on February 23. The
doctor prescribes warm air and rest, and so I intend to carry out a
long-cherished wish and to convince myself that Rome really exists. I hope the
Congress in London has made you feel none the worse ; it was too delightful to
meet again the dear old well-known faces. Here the whole thing has certainly
made a good impression. You will have
seen in the papers the death of Charles Kingsley — another cable snapped that
tied me here. I was with him a short time before his death. “ What is, is
best,” were his last words to me 1 And that is an English clergyman ! Why have
we, in spite of all the great learning, no such men in the Church in Germany?’

Before leaving home, Max MUller
was much amused at being asked by Pelllgrini to give him an interview, and
allow his cartoon to appear in Vanity Fair. The day was fixed, and the artist
arrived ; the conversation during and after luncheon was most brilliant,
Pelligrini apparently taking no notes, mental or otherwise, of his host. The next
week the admirable cartoon appeared, far less of a caricature than many of his
weekly victims, and Jehu Juniors notice was very amusing : —

‘ Never was there a man with so
many learned titles or with so good a claim to them as Max Miiller. He is a glorified
Dryasdust of the most successful kind. He is the one man who knows every- thing
about every language. He has written libraries, and in order to do so has
achieved work which would do credit to Universities. Most of his books are of that high order which
nobody will read and most people will never hear of; yet he is known to the
many, and indeed is one of the few of those who have trodden the higher and
more thorny paths of science whose names command respect even from the vulgar.’

‘&’

The following letter is not
only the first of a long cor-

respondence with Dr. Legge,
afterwards Professor of Chinese

1875] Sacred Books of the East
483

in Oxford, but contains the
first reference to Max Miiller’s scheme of translations of the Sacred Books of
the East, which was eventually carried out at the expense of the University of
Oxford and the Indian Government.

To Rev. Dr. Legge.

Oxford, February 13, 1875.

‘ It would be the greatest
pleasure to me to make your personal acquaintance. I have long wished for an
opportunity of being intro- duced to you, and being able to tell you how much I
admire your magnificent edition of the Chinese Classics.

‘ As to the soundness of your
work, I have, of course, no right to express an opinion, but I knew when I heard
my old friend Stanislas Julien speak of your work in the highest terms, that it
must, indeed, be of the highest order to extort such praise from a man not very
lavish of praise.

·
All I can say for myself is that I wish we had
such translations as yours of the other sacred writings of the world.

‘ I am trying very hard to get
a number of scholars together for a translation of these works, but the task is
no easy one.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. February 14.

‘ So I am really going to Rome
! In a week I shall give my last lecture, and then we shall start. Of course,
till then I have a good deal to do, and I can hardly realize that at my age I
shall really see Rome. We shall be away March and April, and, if all goes well,
it will be a delightful journey, full of enjoyment. I really want a change, for
I have worked very hard lately, and shall see how the dole e far niente suits
me. I have felt Kingsley’s death deeply. He was such a strong man, so full of
life, and so really attached to me ; and even in his last days he said that we
(that is, G. and I) were the dearest to him, after wife and children. So many
feel the great loss he is.’

To THE Same.

Translation. February 20.

‘ We want to see all quietly,
and the best of everything ; not all the galleries, just to say we have seen
them. We already have invitations in Italy from cardinals and dukes down to
Garibaldi, but shall not pay any visits of an evening, but rest quietly on the
sofa and sleep. A couple of days at
Albani and Frascati were better than statues in the Vatican. I am getting too
old for that, but never for beautiful nature.

Ii2

484 Visit to Italy [ch. xxi

‘ I have not yet presented the
Veda to the Queen, for she is still at

Osborne. It must wait now till
I return/

Unfortunately Max Miiller was
really too much over- worked when he left England to enjoy Italy as much as he
expected. The journey out by Pisa, Siena, and Orvieto, was full of delight, in
spite of the constant rain ; but hardly had he reached Rome, than he fell ill
and was in his room for several days. In spite of this, he managed to see a
good deal; but at the cost of great fatigue.

To HIS Mother.

Translation. Naples, March 13.

‘ We arrived here yesterday.
Rome was too much for me. I had no rest. The papers mentioned my name, and one
visit followed another. Then the multitude of things new and old to be
seen. I could get no sleep. At last the
University wanted to give me a banquet, so I settled to come here first for a
fortnight’s rest, and return to Rome after Easter. We have already seen a great
deal, and people were most kind, sending me cards to see things that are
generally closed. In the Chambers I made acquaintance with Bonghi, the Minister
of Public Instruction, and Sella, Minister of Finance. But I was longing for
rest, for my journey was to be a refreshment ; instead of that, it was a great
effort. Here we are settled at the Hotel d’Angleterre, in the centre of the
bay, with wonderful views over the sea. The camellias are in bloom in the open
air, and the leaves are coming out on the trees. The oranges hang on the
orange-trees wherever one looks ; the weather is mild, not too warm, just what
one wants for travelling. We have good accounts of the children, and all would
be perfect if we had more rest. One forms exaggerated expectations of Rome,
because one has read so much about it, and it is after all unique in its
interest. St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s outside the walls, Sta. Maria Maggiore,
impress one immensely ; then the old town, with its columns and triumphal arches,
just as it was 2,000 years ago. We left
the environs till our return, as the season is rather late. We think of staying
about here for a fortnight.’

To Professor Lepsius.

Translation. Naples, April i.

‘ ... In spite of disagreeable
interruptions through illness, we enjoy Italy to the full. For me it is all a
new world ; it comes just a little too late, it only remains pure enjoyment,
which it is impossible to make use of for anything any more. That makes me
think of something.

1875] Rome — Florence 485

The best collaborators for the
translation of the Sacred Writings of Mankind, which I have in view, are
Germans, so the translations would have to be translated into EngHsh. Would not
such a work —

German — be an undertaking
worthy of the Leibniz- Academy ? Do think it over : the funds would be of no
great importance, and it would sell. The English translation might in that case
follow the German original translation. The thought struck me the other day in
Sorrento, when I was ill in bed. I should like to hear from you what you think
of it; but, as I have already entered into communication with Longmans, I shall
have to take a definitive step on my return home.’

On Max Miiller’s return to
Rome, he seemed so much stronger that he fully hoped to be able to attend the
banquet which the University wished to give in his honour. But it had to be
given up, as he fell ill again. He received the greatest kindness in his
illness, the Ministers Bonghi and Sella sitting with him constantly, and a
German friend, Baron Hoffmann, owner of the lovely Villa Mattei, brought him
fruit and flowers daily. As soon as possible he moved on to Perugia, and thence
to Florence. In Florence another banquet was proposed, but gratefully declined.
But the students would not be defrauded of seeing the great Acharya, and so he
attended Count de Gubernatis’ Sanskrit lecture, when he tells his mother, ‘ as
I entered they all stood up and clapped till I felt quite confused.’ One
evening he was invited by Count and Countess de Gubernatis to their house. The staircase and entrance were lined by all
the students of the Oriental faculty, and he was presented with an album of
photographs of the leading Italian Orientalists, with a beautiful portrait of
Galileo on the cover, in water-colours.
The head student made a suitable speech, to which Max MuUer had to reply
in French on the spur of the moment.

To Professor Klaus Groth.

Translation. Florence, April
17, 1875.

‘ My dear old Friend, — How often
have I wanted to write to you,

first in England, then in Italy !
I am ashamed, and yet I am not

ashamed, for you are one of the
few whom I understand, even when

I am silent, and I know that you
mistrust my silence as little as

I should mistrust yours. In most
things we are just as we were, and

486 Italy [cH. XXI

there is not much news to tell
you. Last year I worked like a horse to finish my Veda, which I have done,
thank God, but not without mental and physical fatigue, which would not pass
off till my doctor ordered me change of air, which I understood as a journey to
Italy. We started the end of February,
went along the Corniche to Genoa, then to Pisa, Siena, and Orvieto — which are
beautiful. The poems that men can build with a few stones are even more
wonderful than the poems built of letters and words. Then we went to Rome. You
know how travellers exaggerate, and fill our heads with ideas which we then
finish painting. But the worst is that with Rome, in spite of all that, and in
spite of certain disillusions, the city amazes one, enchants one, and will not
let one go. Its age does not affect me. I am accustomed to greater antiquity in
India; the classics no longer make the impression they did thirty years ago ;
the glories of the Papacy and the Roman Church have no existence for me ; but,
in spite of all that, the historical reality that the eye sees in every corner
satisfies one — the real Forum, the real Arch of Constantine, the real Grave of
the Scipios, the real road by which St. Paul approached Rome : and so it goes
on, and it strengthens one. In Rome my misfortunes began. I was ill, had to leave, went to Naples — but
there I was worse, and to get better went to La Cava, Amalfi, Salerno, Sorrento
; it was exquisite, but the power of enjoyment was lacking. My wife took the
greatest care of me, and we found a good English doctor. When I was fully
recovered, we went again to Rome for a fortnight, and I was hardly three days
there before a gastric fever seized me, and 1 was a prisoner to my room nearly
all the time. What is Tantalus compared to this ? At last I got over it, and
when I had seen the most necessary things, we started home by Perugia, Assisi,
and Florence. I shall meet my old mother in Cologne, and take her to Oxford. We
have had good news of the children all the time, and shall rejoice when we are
with them again. What are your plans, and shall we not soon meet ? . . . I send
you some letters of Schiller’s, which will interest you. I have received some
more lately, and think of making them into a pamphlet. Unfortunately I could
not get the originals. I have begged to see the originals, and hope to get
them. For the rest, all goes on
quietly.’

To Professor Rolleston.

Florence, April 24, 1875.

‘ Oxford has been, and is
still, in a state of hibernation ; I expect

nothing for some years to come.
It will wake after a time, but I doubt

whether much is gained by
disturbing its slumbers for the present.

My only comfort at Oxford is
that one can work on quietly there.

1875] The Italians 487

without anybody taking the slightest
notice of one. In all other respects I feel that one is perfectly useless there
— in fact, that there is less of a real University and University life than
there was when I first came, twenty-five years ago. However, the pendulum will
swing back, and there is plenty of good material ready among the young men for
having again a real University at Oxford ; not simply a machine for shooting
the examinations, but a machine for getting the world on a step further. Italy
is hard at work both in primary and secondary education ; the difficulty is the
South, which has almost discouraged the North. Priestly rule has done fearful
mischief, and I do not know whether it has left more of ignorance and
superstition, or of downright recklessness and atheism. However, there is a
good leaven at work, and the bad will go down, I believe.

‘ We have enjoyed our journey,
except that I have lost much time by illness — gastric fever. I am better now,
and we hope to be back the first week in May.’

To Dean Stanley.

Oxford, May 13.

‘ Our happy flight to Italy is
over. I am decidedly better, and a good dose of quiet home-life will soon set
me up, I hope. I brought my old mother with me from Germany, so that our little
house is full. The last friend of yours
we saw was the Duke of Sermoneta. I could not see him at Rome, as I was not up
to paying visits, but we met at Florence, where he is staying, and soon to be
married to Miss Ellis. He is a
delightful man, all the more attractive on account of his helplessness. We also
met the Count and Countess of Lingen (Crown Prince and Princess) at Florence,
working hard from morning till night — a perfect pair of noble creatures. They
spoke much of you. I sat at dinner by
Madame Minghetti; do you know her? a most attractive grandmother. In spite of
my being confined to my room and unable to go out much, I saw much of the
Italians and of the leading statesmen, Sella being evidently their strongest
man. Italy is working hard ; one can hardly trust one’s eyes when one sees Rome
without monks and monkeries. They have learnt the German secret, and I expect
their schools in a little time will beat the German schools.

Soldiers who cannot read and
write have to serve four years ; those

who can, three years only.
Imagine how that tells on the village

schools ! The inheritance of
priestly rule is fearful : superstition and

open atheism divide the
population. Love of their country is their

chief ennobling power at present.
One feels hopeful about Italy ; the

North will strengthen the South,
the South soften the North. That

a nation could have lived through
such governments as the Papal, the

488 Rig-veda [ch. xxi

Neapolitan, and the Austrian,
shows what there is in it, and what it may grow into with fresh air and light.

‘ I was quite overwhelmed with
the reception they gave me in the different Universities — banquets,
deputations, presents from the students — only I was not up to any efforts of
speech-making and eating and drinking, and had to promise to come again. I
think one might exchange Oxford for Florence ; it combines all the charms of
Italy with the bracing air of England. Anyhow, as soon as I can, I shall go
there again.

‘ I wanted to ask your advice.
At the time of the extinction of the East India Company, the Queen accepted the
dedication of my edition of the Rig-veda. The work is now finished, and I
should like to present the last volume to the Queen. It is the work of a whole
Ufa, at least of thirty years, and I doubt whether there is much life left for
hard work now. Whom should I apply to ? I have a great dislike to Chamberlains
el hoc genus omne, and yet I should like the Queen to know that I have now
fulfilled the task which brought me to England in 1846! On my return to England
I found a letter that Lord Salisbury had proposed that a further grant should
be paid to me in recognition of my services in editing the Rig-veda. I had no
right to expect anything of the kind, and I was very much pleased, particularly
as it came from him.

‘ I have many things I want to
talk about with you ; when shall we meet? At present I am tunnelling through a
whole Mont Cenis of letters and books ; oh that my enemies only would write
books, and not my friends, who all expect an acknowledgement ! ‘

The following shows the feeling
with which the Rig-veda was received by enlightened Hindus : —

From the Secretary of the Am
Brahmo Somaj.

Calcutta, May 28, 1875.

‘ Sir,- — Allow me to convey to
you the best and most sincere thanks of the Committee of the Adi Brahmo Somaj
for your very kind present of your edition of the Rig-veda, the sixth volume of
which they received the other day. They cannot express to you their sense of
the value of your magnificent present.

‘ The
Committee further beg to offer you their hearty congratula- tions on the
completion of the gigantic task which has occupied you for the last quarter of
a century. By publishing the Rig-veda at

அன்பு தளபதி · அன்பு தளபதி Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:41 pm

a time when Vedic learning has,
by some sad fatality, become almost extinct in the land of its birth, you have
conferred a boon upon us Hindus, for which we cannot but be eternally
grateful.’

1875] Visit to Windsor 489

The following letter is an
acknowledgement of a curious old copy of Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the
Worlds from Charles Kingsley’s library : —

To Mrs. Kingsley.

Oxford, 7«w 25, 1875.

‘ My dearest Aunt, — Many
thanks for the books you sent me. I was
very glad to have them, for they are very curious, and then they will always
remind me of our dear friend. How often I think of him, though, and of you too.
But words break down, and tears are idle tears ; what can we do but be silent
and trust ? After all, life, even the longest, is but a short absence, and we
must all learn to wait. Yet I do miss him very much. I cannot brook his loss. I
can see no why and wherefore, and we always want something of the kind, whether
rightly or wrongly, to settle our mind. With all his illness he was so stout of
heart, so full of plans, so happy in his new position. I felt always happy when I thought of him,
and now, when my thoughts go their daily round, I often start and say to
myself, Ah, why is he gone? There is another cable cut which kept me to
England, and I often think I had better return to my own country, for nearly
all my old friends are gone. However, our home here is so bright and happy, one
shrinks from touching it. We are here three generations living together, my
mother, G., and the children — all well, all grateful for every day that comes.
You know what such a home is — a blessing that makes us tremble. I shall have
to go to W^indsor on Monday to see the Queen. I know of whom she will speak to
me, and I mean to tell her that she has inherited the royal gift of healing
wounds, not by a touch of her royal hand, but by a touch of her own royal
heart. I may say so, may I not ? ‘

On June 28 Max Miiller was
summoned to Windsor to dine and sleep, and present his last volume of the
Rig-veda to Her Majesty in person. It was on this occasion that he left his
luggage behind at Oxford, as described so amusingly in Auld Lang Syiie.

To HIS Wipe.

Windsor Castije, June 29.

‘ Nothing could be kinder than
the Queen. She spoke in German, and most beautifully. I had to tell her
something about the Veda.

Then she spoke with deep feeling
of Kingsley, and inquired about

her and the children. Then we had
some conversation about schools

and education in Germany and
England, and lastly about Tennyson’s

490 Charles Kingsley [ch. xxi

new play \ She had only read
the first act — I had read three — but we both agreed we were still waiting for
what was to come. Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Beatrice, and Prince
Leopold dined. I sat by the Duchess of
Roxburghe, a very pleasant and intelligent woman, and Lady Lansdowne. Prince
Christian has asked me to stay with him to-day, so I shall not be back before
to-morrow after- noon. I am to see the Queen again to-day at three, to give her
the book.’

Not long after the Queen,
through Prince Leopold, sent the Max Mullers the letter she had received from
Mrs. Kingsley on the death of her
husband, in answer to Her Majesty’s autograph letter. Mrs. Kingsley had the
gift of letter-writing, and this letter to her Sovereign was worthy of the
writer.

To H.R.H. Prince Leopold.

Translation. Oxfokvi, July 22,
1875.

‘ Your Royal Highness, — I beg
you to express to Her Majesty the Queen, in my name and the name of my wife,
our heartfelt gratitude for allowing us to see that beautiful and most touching
letter. Yes, so it was ! I knew the little paradise of earthly happiness at
Eversley, and the warm heart that beat there, a heart that was never closed to
the highest or the lowest. I owe much, much to him. He was a friend to me, such
as few have been in England. Our views were often far apart, but I never heard
an irritable or hard word fall from his lips.
One never felt any coldness in him. I saw him till nearly the end. I saw him when he believed that his wife, who
was his very life, might die at any moment ; saw him in his last illness, when
he said, “ The shot has gone home.” But all that he bore not merely with
resigna- tion, but with perfect calmness, with the feeling that it must be so,
and not otherwise, in a spirit of which I thought he was incapable. He never
knew fear, and as he had often leapt over a fence, he set himself as a brave
rider and knight to leap the last fence — Death. I can still hear how he said,
“ I have never whimpered “ ; but one saw whence his courage came, and how in
everything, great and small, he looked above, how his eyes soared above the
Httle Present to the wide Hereafter.

‘ His life had not been without
clouds and storms. No one knows

what demand he made on himself,
in mind and body, how many

years he had to labour for daily
bread. The days of rest came too

late, and it is very true what
his widow says, he owed the brightest,

^ Queen Mary.

1875] Prince of Wales’s Visit
to India 491

sunniest days in his life to
the kindness and the thoughtful care of his Queen. I saw Woolner’s bust a few
days ago ; I hope it will be successful, but it is almost impossible to
reproduce in marble so stormy a face as Kingsley’s. Ennobled by death, his face
was wonderfully reposeful and fine ; one saw the ideal of the man^ what he
should be, what he wished to be. The world knew him only as stammering,
helpless, breathless ; he lay before one, purified, ennobled, and at rest. We
must have not only a marble likeness of him, but a life of him. The description
of a life often produces more effect than the life itself. But who shall write
it ? To write a true life demands the sacrifice of another life. I often felt
that, in reading the life of your father. May I keep the letter a few days ? My
wife is at Taplow, and comes home on Saturday. She was very dear to Kingsley.
He often said to me, “ Next to my wife and children, I have loved no one so
dearly as your wife.” The prophecy, “ After the Commemoration, the Deluge,”
seems to be true in Oxford. All the meadows are under water, and as I write it
is all dark with thunder- clouds. Your Royal Highness must forgive me for
writing in German — German often seems to come more from my heart than English,
and I know how easily you speak and understand German.

‘ I am, with deep respect,

‘ Your Royal Highness’ obedient
servant,

‘ F. Max MtfLLER.’

It was in the early autumn of
this year that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (our present King) paid
his visit to India. Dean Stanley was most anxious that Max Mtiller should be
one of the suite, but, to the infinite relief of the Max Mullers, jealous John
Bull decreed that no ‘ foreign influence ‘ should accompany His Royal Highness.

To Dean Stanley.

Parks End, Oxford, August 13,
1875.

‘ I guessed from your last letter
what was going on. I wanted to

write to you at once, not to stir
in the matter, but I felt it was wrong

to interfere. If the offer had
been made, I believe I should have gone,

unless I could have declined on
the score of health. It would have

been the greatest sacrifice I
could have made at my time of life, giving

up half a year of what remains to
me of my happy life with my wife

and children, but I should have
looked upon it as sent, and meant for

some good, and I hope and trust I
should have done my duty. What

good I could have done I hardly
know ; but we hardly ever know

that — good comes from where we
least expect it. However, I am

492 Fourth Volume of Chips [ch.
xxi

grateful, truly grateful. My
curiosity to see India is not very great.

It is the inner life, not the
outward show I care for ; and I can see

more of the former from reading
books, newspapers, and letters, from

seeing the men who come to see me
here, than from fireworks and

Durbars. I know I could have done
nothing for the Prince in the

way of amusement or anything
else, but I believe in India my being

with the Prince would here and
there have produced a good impres-

sion. I can write no more to-day.
Many thanks for what you have

done. I never told my wife till
this morning. I need not tell you

what she felt, but she, too,
said, “ I should have let you go, if some

good could have come of it.” ‘

To THE Same.

Parks End, Oxford, August 22,
1875.

‘ I am printing at present a
volume of essays which is to form the fourth and concluding volume of my Chips
from a German Workshop. The first was
dedicated to Bunsen, the second to Bernays of Bonn, the third to Palgrave, and
now I come to ask you whether you would allow me to inscribe your name on the
last. It contains chiefly essays on the Science of Language, and also the
Westminster Lecture, and with it your Sermon, and a postscript which I should
like you to look at before it is struck off. You have been to me during my stay
in England semper idem, and I know how much I owe you for many kind words
spoken to me and of me. You trusted me even when I did not act as you wished,
and you made allowance for the difficulties which a foreigner has in always
recognizing the right line of action. But it is not only as a tribute of
personal friendship that I ask you to accept the dedication of my book, but as
a token of my sincere and warmest admiration for the noble fight you have been
fighting all your life, through good and evil report, giving heart to others to
follow, and securing to your country, after a thirty years’ war, an amount of
freedom of thought, and with it and through it, of sincerity of faith, such as
no one could have dreamt of when I first came to Oxford in 1848.

I think my time in England is
nearly up. I doubt whether I ought to

stay longer. I am only tolerated
at Oxford, allowed to help when

I am wanted, but never helped
myself when I want help. If I had

worked in Germany as I have
worked for twenty-five y^ears in England,

my position would be very
different. Here I am nobody in the

University ; and when I see how I
am treated, I really feel sometimes

ashamed of myself, not for my
own, but for my wife’s sake. However,

it is my own fault. I would not
give up a plan of life which I had

made before I knew what life was.
In order to carry out my edition

of the Rig-veda, I had to
expatriate myself — it was the only way of

1875] Dr. Schliemann 493

getting the work done. But now
it is done, and the question is whether I can still be of use in my own
country. I sometimes doubt it, but I think I ought to try. How different you
must feel after having worked for your country as you have, and seeing the
results of your work, and feeling certain of the gratitude of so many for whom
you have spent your life.’

To Dr. Rolleston.

August 22.

·
You Mezzofanti of all passages worth
remembering, where is the passage that “ the lightning of Jupiter strikes only
the highest peaks “ ? I don’t know what
to make of Schliemann. I believe he is only giddy. I saw Gladstone for a moment the other day. He
seemed hopeful about further diggings at Troy
under Schliemann’s auspices.’

To THE Same.

August 27.

‘ I have just read the poor
abstract of your address ^ in the Times, and I hope soon to see it and read it
in extenso. Your faith in skulls reminds me of my old friend Schwabe, at Dessau, whom I see men-
tioned honourably by one of your presidents. He was a very curious person, whose
life ought to be written. Imagine a small town in the central desert of Germany,
only discovered when they built a railroad to Leipzig. There he lived in a small house,
with a hole in the roof to make his observations. How they laughed at him for
registering the spots in the sun ! They just tolerated him because he was a
kind of wizard — could cure warts and that sort of thing — yet he was a most
perfect gentleman, extremely well read in literature, firstrate botanist,
&c. Well, now that he is dead, and he must have been past eighty, his
measurements begin to tell, and I hope it may be so when you are eighty, and
all that, but before humani aliquid has happened to you. By-the-by, you great Quotationist, you did not
quote Terence rightly. The true meaning
was given to that passage for the first time, as far as I know, by the Emperor
Max of Germany. In Terence, surely, it only means “I am a great busybody, and
every kind of gossip interests me “ ; but the Emperor gave a new meaning to it,
and in that meaning you used it. I mention this because a saturnalian reviewer
once abused me for having ascribed a passage from Terence to a German emperor !
‘

After his mother’s return to
Germany, Max Miiller took

his family to the Mumbles, the
spit of land which forms the

^ British Association.

494 Stay at Mumbles [ch. xxi

right horn of Swansea Bay, and
they thoroughly enjoyed the primitive life of the little bathing-place. Their
friends the Story-Maskelynes were staying at the adjoining bay, and many
pleasant rambles were undertaken together. Before leaving home, Max Miiller had
finished the fourth volume of Chips, dedicated to Dean Stanley, ‘ as a token of
gratitude and friendship from one who has for many years admired his loyalty to
truth, his singleness of purpose, his chivalrous courage, and his unchanging
devotion to his friends.’ Of this volume, one review says : —

‘ The first thing one wants to
know, in taking up one of Professor Max Miiller’s remarkable volumes, is how
much one can understand ; or rather — because his style is as limpid as his
brain is clear — how much will be interesting. That his Science of Language
will underlie the whol€, may be guessed, to begin with : that the
superstructure will in some places resemble a fortress, in others a fairy
structure of light and graceful design, and in others a great cathedral — all
this is well known before the book is opened. Whatever the fourth volume of
Chips from a German Workshop contains, it is sure to be brimming over with
great thoughts, lofty teaching, and the enthusiasm for things high and holy.
The learned Professor has pondered over the litera- ture of departed ages till
he breathes himself the spirit of wisdom which has actuated the world’s
greatest men since men began to think, and must needs, perforce, teach whenever
he opens his mouth to speak, or takes up his pen to write.’

The English head of one of the
native colleges in India wrote of the Chips : —

‘ These volumes, embracing the
minor works of Professor Miiller, now first collected, comprise the very
choicest of his writings. With few exceptions, they pertain directly to India.
Most of them are critical ; and their criticism is of a higher order than has
been even approached by any English scholar that has dealt with the subjects of
Hindu antiquity and literature.’

On returning to Oxford, the
usual flow of correspondence began again.

To Professor Lepsius.

Parks End, October 8.

‘. . . I have just finished
Eber’s Egyptian Princess. It is a most

remarkable book, as a work of art
as well as of history. It has quite

1875] Animals and Language 495

astonished me. Whether it will
do for England ? A mere ordinary translation would not do — it would just ruin
the book. It would have to be done by an expert hand, and here and there it
would have to be shortened. It is very excellent. Ever yours.’

To Charles Darwin, Esq.

Oxford, October 13.

‘ Allow me to present you my
defence against Professor Whitney’s attacks. I think you will see from what I
have stated, that Professor Whitney is not an ally whom either you or your son
would approve of. I should never have
noticed him, had not your son brought him so prominently before the English
public. However, even controversy helps sometimes, though not often, to clear
away error and bring out truth, and so I hope I have not simply wasted my time
in answering Professor Whitney’s charges.

‘ The point at issue between
you and me is a very simple one : is that which can pass a certain line in
nature the same as that which cannot? It may be, no doubt, and in that case the
highest animal would simply be a stunted man. But this seems to me a narrow
view of nature, particularly if we consider that everything organic is, after
all, much more truly that which it can be, than that which it is. In the higher
animals the potential traces of language are smaller than in some of the lower,
but even where the phonetic organs are most perfect, there has never been the
slightest attempt at language in the true sense of the word. Why should natural
science be unwilling to admit this ? Why should it not, at all events, leave
the question an open question, until some truly scientific evidence has been
brought forward, showing at least the potentiality of language in any known
animal ? “ More facts and fewer theories
“ is what w^e want, at least in the Science of Language, and it is a misfortune
if the collectors of facts are discouraged by being told that facts are useless
against theories. I have no prejudice
whatever against the faculty of language in animals, it would help to solve
many difficulties. All I say is, let us wait, let us look for facts, and let us
keep la carriere ouverte.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. Oxford, October 9.

‘ I hope you have used the money
I sent to give yourself a little

treat on your birthday. You could
give )^ourself and others many

happy hours, if you would, and if
instead of dwelling on your own

want of health, you thought of
the far greater suffering others have to

bear. Life must be as it is, and
it is for the best without doubt, if we

would only look upon it as such.
Your health would be much better

496 speech at Manchester [ch.
xxi

if you would not excite
yourself over trifles. Strong as I am, I should soon be ill if I lived in the
constant state of excitement in which you live. As one gets older, one learns
to bear many things more quietly, for one feels that life is drawing to its
close, and that there is much one cannot change. The lectures here begin soon,
and our delightful free time is nearly over, I have to go to Manchester to
distribute some prizes and make a speech. One can’t refuse everything. Now, my
dear mother, enjoy your birthday, and think of the many blessings you have had
in life, and remember that we should learn through sorrows, so that we may
leave this life without too much regret.’

Max Miiller had been invited to
present the Diplomas gained by the different schools in Lancashire at the
Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations. For this purpose he visited
Manchester, where he was the guest of the Dean, at the end of October. It was a
great distinction, and felt to be so by Max Miiller, his predecessors having
been Lord Derby, Lord Selborne, and other distinguished statesmen. The meeting
was held in the Free Trade Hall, the audience numbering over 5,000, The Bishop,
the Mayor, and the Members for Manchester were all present. In his address he
mentioned the first attempt at examinations inaugurated in 1857 by the late Sir
Thomas Acland, at which he had himself assisted. He described the efforts made
by his own great-grandfather, the pedagogue Basedow, for elementary and
middle-class education in Germany, and ended by advocating State-controlled
rather than voluntary schools. This part
of his speech called forth strong remonstrances from all Church papers, but it
was a point on which he never wavered, though he always felt the necessity of
religious, but unsectarian, teaching, such as he had himself been accustomed to
as a child.

Max Miiller had not long
returned from Manchester before he decided that the time had come when he
should do wisely to leave Oxford, and return to his own country.

To Dean Stanley.

Parks End, November 6.

‘ I send you a copy of my
preface to Kingsley’s Rojnan and Teuton, with some alterations here and there.

‘ I wish I could have seen you
and had a quiet talk with you, before

1875] Settles to leave England
497

deciding on a step which, as you
know, I have long contemplated.

I hope I have decided rightly,
though it was no easy matter to weigh

everything. I have now served the
University for exactly twenty-five

years, and I have at last
succeeded in gaining for the new Science of

Language a recognized position
among the subjects required or allowed

in the examinations, and in
leaving behind me a number of pupils, any

of whom could fill my Chair with
credit. As long as the University

seemed to approve and appreciate
my work, I was willing to stay and

work on ; and, for the sake of my
wife and her friends, I gave up the

Professorship offered me at
Strassburg, which from a pecuniary point

of view was as good as the one I
hold here. I mean to go next April,

and settle at first at Dresden. I
shall have to work hard, as for some

time I shall probably be without
any official income. But even my

wife agrees that I am right, and
that I could not stay longer. If life is

spared, I feel as if I could
still do some work in my quiet retreat in

Germany. When the time comes, no
doubt it will be a wrench, for

I leave many true friends behind,
and I feel the sacrifice my wife has

to make. I hope it will be for
the good of the children. Nos amis

les ennemi’s I have found a true
saying many a time before — may it be

so in this case also ! Ever yours
affectionately,

‘ F. Max Mijller.

‘ I wish you could stay with us
once more before we go. When shall we hear better news of Lady Augusta ? ‘

To Professor Lepsius.

Translation. Oxford, November
12.

‘. . . I remain here till
Easter, then I think of taking a house in Dresden, and the remaining years will
be entirely devoted to the Veda and to religious philosophy, I have still to
print seven volumes of the translation of the Veda, not to mention other
things, and the otium cum negotiis will do me much good. At all events, as
Bunsen said, the bird is free ! Do not yet mention it, however.’

Though Max MUller had not yet
sent in his formal letter of resignation, his ov^n friends and his wife’s
relatives knew of his determination, and letters of expostulation and regret
poured in on all sides. The following is inserted by permission, as
representing what all those whose friendship Max Miiller most valued, felt and
expressed at the time: —

From Rev. Edwin Palmer.

Jerusalem Chamber, November 12.

‘ I must thank you for your kind
letter, as I felt that I had been

I K k

498 Letter from Rev. E. Palmer
[ch. xxi

taking a considerable liberty
in speaking my mind to you so freely. I
can say nothing against a resolution to leave us based on considera- tions of
your own strength, and the time required to finish the main work of your life.
The loss to Oxford will be irremediable ; but after all that you have done for
us, we have certainly no right to complain.
To say nothing of the prestige which your residence among us and your
consent to be reckoned among our Professors has given us for so many years, I
cannot but feel that all of us who have made Philology in any sense a special
study, owe to you directly or indirectly all that they know, and indeed the
very conception of the Science of Language.

I will not attempt to speak of
the personal loss to myself. It is quite

true that there seemed to exist
between us grave diiferences on some

subjects connected with the
politics of religion (if I may use that

expression), perhaps differences
on subjects strictly theological ; but,

in spite of these, I have always
valued your friendship as highly as

I have prized your intellectual
gifts. Even now I cannot help cherishing

a hope that you may reconsider
your determination. The void which

your absence from Oxford would
make is too painful for me to

contemplate. Believe me ever,
yours affectionately,

‘ Edwin Palmer.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. Oxford, November 21.

‘ My speech at Manchester has
excited people a good deal. In England nearly all the national schools are in
the hands of the Church. That gives the clergy great influence over the
children, and also over the parents, and therefore they do not wish to give
them up. They naturally say it is so
arranged that the religious instruction may be properly given, but the real
reason is that they may maintain their political influence. If they could harm
me, or at least do something to injure me, they would do so gladly ; but I rejoice
in their maledictions, as it shows I have produced some effect. Have you found
a house for us, or shall I advertize for one ? I have long wished for more
leisure and quiet for work, and I cannot get it here, as I am so constantly
interrupted by all sorts of people. I am tired of the life here, and w-e have
enough to live independently without my taking any post.’

The following letter shows that
Chips, Volume IV, was as popular as its three predecessors : —

From Professor Huxley.

4, Marlborough Place, November
29.

‘ For a man who does not want to
escape paying his creditors, there

is a certain inconvenience in
having three addresses. I am but rarely

1875] Resigns Professorship 499

in Jermyn Street at this
season, but on going there on Saturday I found the volume of Chips which you
have been kind enough to send me.

Accept my best thanks for it. I
wish that the Enghsh workshops

turned out even a few shavings
of Hke character. Yours very truly,

‘ Thomas Huxley.’

On December i Max Miiller sent
his resignation to the Vice-Chancellor, the Warden of New College ; writing
also to his own Warden at All Souls to officially announce his determination,
as the resignation of his Professorship entailed the loss of his Fellowship. He
writes at this time to Dean Stanley : ‘ I am very tired myself, and hardly able
to do anything. It has been a hard struggle, and I only hope I have decided
right.’ To George von Bunsen he writes :

‘ Some things that kept me here
are more difficult to leave than I thought at first.’

To HIS Mother.

Translation. December 6, 1875.

‘ My dear, good Mother, — Only
a few lines to tell you I have re- ceived your two letters, the second to-day
for my birthday. Thank God, we are all well, and that is much at my age. Thanks
for all your good wishes. Next year will be an important one ; pray God that we
have decided rightly. It was impossible to put off the decision on account of
Wilhelm, who is still young enough to accustom himself to German life. I am
very glad that it has come to this. My position here had become often very
difficult, and the rest will do me good.
I have much work still to do, if my strength lasts, and for this reason
I desire to have what time may be left me for my special work. As to money, we
must certainly retrench a little, but the children are provided for, and our
whole interest is for them. Dresden seems to me the quietest place, and yet
with all the advantages of a large city. If we find it too dear there, we must
go to a smaller town ; but, as I say, we shall have plenty to eat. The
lamentations over our leaving are beginning. They have played me some shabby
tricks, but now all has changed ; but it is too late.’

To William Longman, Esq.

Oxford, December 8.

‘ I must tell you that I have
sent in my resignation of the Chair of

Comparative Philology, and that
next year I intend to settle in

Germany. I want to have all my
time to myself. I have still much

500 Letter to Duke of Albany
[ch. xxi

work in hand, which I wish if
possible to finish, and I could not do it if I stay here.

‘ I shall leave Oxford and
England with a heavy heart, but, as life grows shorter, I felt more and more
that I was wasting it in doing work which others could do as well, or even
better ; while I had to leave undone work which I could do, and ought to do. I
shall probably go in April; before that time I hope to have finished my book on
Language as the True Barrier between Man and Beast!

No sooner had the announcement
of Max MUller’s retire- ment appeared in the papers, than letters poured in
from every part of the world, whilst all the chief English papers had leading
articles on his work. He was by no means prepared for such an outburst of
genuine feeling on all sides, and was deeply touched by it. At the same time
letters came from Vienna and many German Universities, from Florence, and even
from Bucharest, trying to secure his services.

To H.R.H. THE Duke of Albany.

Parks End, Oxford, December 13,
1875.

‘ Sir, — I was able to say so
very little when your Royal Highness gave me that beautiful souvenir, that I
must try whether I cannot express my gratitude in better words. The happy hours
which I have been allowed to spend with your Royal Highness will always remain
among my most cherished recollections of dear old Oxford. I was often afraid that an old German
Professor could hardly be a pleasant companion to one so young, so bright, and
generally so happy as your Royal Highness. Still, I believe few people could
have watched your career at Oxford with deeper interest, and felt for you, both
in health and sickness, a truer sympathy than I have. I hope and trust that the dark clouds which
surrounded your youth may now have disappeared altogether, though I cannot say
that I wish your Royal Highness a perfectly cloudless sky ; for, after all, the
cloudy sky of England is more beautiful really than the cloudless sky of Italy,
and a life without dark shadows is generally a very shallow and useless life.
What I hope and wish for you is an active and useful career, and, before all,
that physical strength which alone is wanting to enable you to make that
excellent and unselfish use of your high position and talents which I know you
are determined to make of them, if you can.

‘ Fortes creantur fortibus et
bonis. . . .

‘ The last weeks, when I had
finally to decide on my leaving Oxford,

1875] Importance of Veda 501

have been full of trouble and
sorrow to me, and I cannot thank your Royal Highness enough for the unexpected
token of your kind feelings towards me : it was like a bright and warm ray of
light on a dreary day. No one knows how fond I am of Oxford, and what a
sacrifice I make in leaving it and leaving England. But the life of a scholar
has its duties, and I must not shrink from them. As Pro- fessor I have no
sphere of usefulness here. “ The young men do not belong to the Professor, nor
the Professor to the young men “ — that is what Mr. Bonamy Price says in his
last pamphlet, and what I have felt for years. As long as the edition of the
Veda kept me here, I had an excuse for staying at Oxford, though I felt often
depressed when I saw how I had to fritter away my time in trying to serve two
masters, Sanskrit and the Science of Language.

‘But now, when the edition of
the Veda is finished, and even the Chips gathered up, my desire to continue my
translation of the Veda^ and to work out some of the results to which my study
of the sacred writings of the ancient world had led me, became stronger and
stronger. Yet I felt that I could no longer work as I had done hitherto, and if
I had continued to discharge my duties as Professor of Comparative Philology, I
should have had to surrender my San- skrit studies altogether. Were I Professor
of Sanskrit at Oxford, nothing would have drawn me away from this, in many
respects, delightful place ; but, in order to concentrate my powers, and to do
something at least before it is too late, I see no choice but to give up my
pleasant position here, and retire to some quiet town in Germany. . . .

·
The dark cloud has been hanging over my head for
the last fifteen years, and as a man who stands under a waterfall is little
disturbed by a few rain-drops, the pudendae iniuriolae were nothing compared to
the weighty considerations which determined my course.

‘A rumour (and Oxford is famous
for its Common-roomers) says

that I have accepted a lucrative
position in Germany. It is simply

untrue. A lucrative position was
offered me in Germany, and I de-

clined it. No one seems able to
see that science, too, has its duties,

or to believe that a scholar can
make a sacrifice for the sake of his

work. Now, I believe that the
Veda is an extremely important book,

in fact the only book in Indian
literature which is important, not only

for India, but for the early
history of the whole Aryan race, including

Greeks, Romans, and ourselves. It
contains the first attempts at

expressing religious thought and
feeling, and it alone can help us

to solve many of the most
critical problems in the Science of

Religion. The Science of Religion
is, in fact, the history of all

religions, and when I saw, as
quite a young man, the gap in our

I Kk3

502 Reasons for leaving England
[ch. xxi

materials for studying the
origin and growth of religious ideas, because no one knew then or could know
what the Veda was, I determined to devote my life to collecting all the
manuscripts that could still be found, and thus to rescue the oldest book of
our race from that destruction which would have been inevitable, unless it had
been printed. This has now been done. People do not yet see the full importance
of the Veda in an historical study of religion, and yet I feel convinced that
the true solution of many of our theological difficulties — difficulties that
will become far more terrible than they are at present — is to be found in the
study of the history of all religions. We shall then see what is essential and
what is accidental, what is eternal and what is human handiwork ; among all the
possi- bilities displayed before us, we shall in the end discover the reality
of religion, just as a study of the movements oi all celestial bodies led in
the end to the discovery of a law that supported them all.

‘If I stayed at Oxford as
Professor of Comparative Philology, I could not hope to finish even my
translation of the Veda, much less to work out at least a few of the results of
thirty years’ study. That is why I leave
Oxford to settle in some quiet town in Germany, and there to devote myself to
the education of my children and to my Sanskrit studies. My friends think me
Quixotic, even reckless. I cannot help
it. All I can say is, and I know your Royal Highness will agree with me. Life
is precious, and we must try to make the best use of it we can.

‘ I have been proud for years
to call myself, while living and working in England, a loyal subject of Her
Majesty the Queen. I hope I shall be so
still, even when living and working in Germany.
While in England I have tried to make my English friends under- stand
and appreciate all that is good and noble in the German character ; when in
Germany I shall try to make my German friends understand and appreciate what is
good and noble in the English character.

‘ I have sometimes succeeded in
England — I hope I may succeed

in Germany, for the estrangement
between England and Germany is

deplorable, and fraught, I fear,
with serious danger. Again thanking

your Royal Highness for the many
proofs of your kindness,

·
I have the honour to remain, with sincere
gratitude,

‘ Your Royal Highness’s most
faithful servant,

‘F. Max Muller.’

In a letter to his mother of
December 19, Max MUller says

that he longs for rest, rest to
work at what really interests

him. He also tells her that he
has just received the Maxi-

1875] Maximilian Order 503

milian Order from Bavaria, and
that it is more showy than the Order pour le Merite, * but that is the best.’
He felt each day that, if freed from his Oxford lectures, he could yet do much
good work, for he was true to his first love Sanskrit, and what it had led to,
the study of ancient religions, but his lectures in addition were too much for
his strength.

To E. Freeman, Esq.

Oxford, December.

‘ As to politics, all I meant
to say was that it was dangerous to e^g the present Government on to any action
in the Eastern Question. Lord Derby is the same as he was at the time of the
Cretan insurrection — feelings of humanity are to him, as a politician, mere
sentimentality. That Cretan business is the most horrible chapter in modern
history. Did you ever read Stillman’s book?
I tried to review it in the Times, but nearly all the really damaging
passages were cut out. If Lord Derby thinks he has done some- thing and enough,
I believe that is the best thing that could happen just now.

‘ I look upon myself as a true
Anglian. My Sovereign, the reigning Duke of Anhalt, is Duke of Engern. See
Chips, III, p. 123.’

On December 23 he writes to Dr.
Pauli : ‘ I want at least a couple of years’ rest, for I feel rather shaken.’

To C. E. Mathews, Esq.

Oxford, December 15.

·
Yes, I am going. I feel more and more that I am
not wanted at Oxford, and at my time of life one does not like to feel that one
is on sufferance only. My old friends are nearly all gone, and the treatment I
receive here is not exactly what I like. I want rest in order to finish some
work before it is too late. I shall go in April to Germany to look out for a
house, and take my family over in June or July.’

Towards the close of the year
Max MUller brought out in Germany a little volume of the letters from Schiller
to the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. It was known that many letters had passed
between the poet and his generous patron, but it was believed they had been
destroyed. His Royal Highness Prince Christian succeeded in discovering part of
the corre- spondence, which he entrusted to Max M tiller for publication.

504 Girls’ High School, Oxford
[ch. xxi

To H.R.H. Prince Leopold.

Parks End, December 28, 1875.

‘Sir, — The little book
containing Schiller’s correspondence with the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (the
grandfather of H.R.H. Prince Christian) was only the small end, and as your
Royal Highness has accepted it so kindly, I venture to send to-day what indeed
will seem the wedge, four stout bundles of Chips. I do not ask you to read
them, in fact I always feel ashamed when I present any of my books, for it is
like asking one’s friends to listen for an hour or more to one’s uninterrupted
talk, it is making oneself a great bore. But what is a poor author to do who
wishes, if not to be read, at least to be shelved? Now all I really ask is a
place on the shelves of your library. I know I shall be in good company, and if
in some idle hour — and no life is tolerable without some idle hours — your
Royal Highness should open one of these volurnes, perhaps they will remind you
of one who, when returned to his native country, will always remember with
gratitude the happy years which he spent in the country of his choice, and who
has only to think of the great Idnd- ness which he received when he least
expected it, in order to forget the little unkindnesses which, after all, do one
can escape. My friends at Oxford are now doing all they can to keep me here,
but I believe I have decided rightly, and I owe it to my enemies that they have
helped me to a right decision.

‘ Florence was very tempting.
Vienna, too, held out very attractive offers, but I believe I shall remain
faithful to what the Germans somewhat conceitedly call Elb-Florenz, i. e.
Dresden. There is one attraction which I have little doubt will sooner or later
bring your Royal Highness to Dresden, that is Raphael’s Madonna, a picture
totally different from all other pictures, and quite worth a journey by itself.

‘ Your Royal Highness’s very
faithful servant,

‘F. Max Mijller.’

We cannot close the memories of
this year without adverting to an event in Oxford v^hich v^as of great interest
to the Max MUllers, the foundation and opening of the Girls’ Day School by the
Public Day School Company. All through this year Max MuUer did all he could to
promote the scheme, attending all the meetings and taking shares, he having
found by experience how unsatisfactory teaching at home by one governess
generally is.

His own three girls were among
the first twenty-five

1875] The Last Christmas 505

scholars with which the school
opened, and the other girls were almost all of them their intimate friends.
They soon became devoted to their school ; the eldest girl was the first
Prefect, and among the many reasons that made Max Muller’s children feel
intensely the idea of leaving Oxford and their loved home the loss of their
school was very prominent.

Christmas, the last, as was
thought, in the old home, was a sad one, though kept with the usual tree, to
which Max Miiller always invited all the Germans living in Oxford.

END OF VOL. I

OXFORD : HORACE HART

PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

WORKS

BY THE

RT. HON. FRIEDRICH MAX MULLER.

COLLECTED WORKS.

1 8 Vols. Crown Svo, 55. each.

Vol. I. NATURAL RELIGION: the
Gifford Lectures, 1888.

Vol. II. PHYSICAL RELIGION: the
Gifford Lectures, 1890.

Vol. III. ANTHROPOLOGICAL
RELIGION: the Gifford

Lectures, 1891.

Vol. IV. THEOSOPHY; or,
Psychological Religion: the

Gifford Lectures, 1892.

CHIPS FROM A GERMAN WORKSHOP.

Vol. V. RECENT ESSAYS AND
ADDRESSES.

Vol. VI. BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS.

Vol. VII. ESSAYS ON LANGUAGE
AND LITERA- TURE.

Vol. VIII. ESSAYS ON MYTHOLOGY
AND FOLK- LORE.

Vol. IX. THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH
OF RELIGION,

as Illustrated by the Religions
of India: the Hibbert Lectures, 1878.

Vol. X. BIOGRAPHIES OF WORDS,
AND THE HOME

OF THE ARYAS.

Vols. XI, XII. THE SCIENCE OF
LANGUAGE: Founded

on Lectures delivered at the
Royal Institution in 1861 and 1863. 2 vols.

10^.

Vol. XIII. INDIA: What can it
Teach Us?

Vol. XIV. INTRODUCTION TO THE
SCIENCE OF

RELIGION. Four Lectures, 1870.

Vol. XV. RAMAKi?/SHA^A: his Life
and Sayings.

Vol. XVI. THREE LECTURES ON THE
VEDANTA

PHILOSOPHY, 1894.

Vol. XVII. LAST ESSAYS. First
Series. Essays on

Language, Folk-lore, &c.

Vol. XVIII. LAST ESSAYS. Second
Series. Essays on

the Science of Religion.

LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY.

WORKS

BY THE

RT. HON. FRIEDRICH MAX MULLER.

THE SCIENCE OF THOUGHT. 8vo.
215.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SCIENCE OF
MYTHO- LOGY. 2 vols. 8vo. 3 2 J.

THE SIX SYSTEMS OF INDIAN
PHILOSOPHY. 8vo.

iSs.

AULD LANG SYNE. First Series.
8vo. [Out of print.

Contents. — Musical
Recollections — Literary Recollections — Recollections of Royalties — Beggars.

AULD LANG SYNE. Second Series.
My Indian Friends.

8vo. los. 6d.

DEUTSCHE LIEBE (GERMAN LOVE):
Fragments from

the Papers of an Alien.
Collected by F. Max Muller. Translated from the German by G. A. M. Crown 8vo.
5^.

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY. A Fragment.
With 6 Portraits.

SVO. 12S. f)d.

Contents. — Introductory —
Childhood at Dessau — School-days at Leipzig — University — Paris
— Arrival in England — Early
Days at Oxford — Early Friends at Oxford — A Confession.

HANDBOOKS FOR THE STUDY OF
SANSKRIT.

THE SANSKRIT TEXT OF THE FIRST
BOOK OF

THE HITOPADE^-A. zs.6d.

THE SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH
BOOKS OF

THE HITOPADEi’A ; containing
that Sanskrit Text, with Interlinear Trans- lation. 7^. 6d.

LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.

LONDON,
NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY.

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