PART V.
AN ANSWER TO MR. HODGSON.
Mr. Hodgson’s criticism of the articles which three years
ago I contributed to the Contemporary Review on certain
points of Mr. Spencer’s philosophy, is of a kind which,
though much averse to polemics, I can scarcely pass over in
silence. It amounts to a prolonged charge of unfair dealing
with those passages from Mr. Spencer’s ‘Psychology’ on
which I commented. If the articles to which this charge
relates had appeared recently, I might have presumed that
the substance of them would still be in the mind of such
persons as might read the charge, and have trusted to their
candid judgment to take it for what it may be worth. But
after so long an interval I must confess to having retained
myself but a very slight recollection of what I had written,
and my readers, if I had any, probably retained still less.
Thus, when my eyes first fell on Mr. Hodgson’s pages, I
experienced a good deal more than a bad quarter of an hour. For
some little time I feared that I might have been guilty of
some of the misrepresentations and misstatements ascribed
to me. Only a careful reading of my articles, and of the
chapters from Mr. Spencer to which they relate, reassured
me to the contrary. If that was the effect of Mr. Hodgson’s
accusation upon myself, I must expect a permanent
suspicion of the same kind to remain with others who have
no opportunity of reverting to my articles, unless I make
some reply. I have, therefore, unwillingly asked leave to do
so, which the editor of the Contemporary Review has kindly
granted me.
