1874***


Transcribed from the 1875 Longmans, Green, and Co. edition by David
Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

                            LONDON: PRINTED BY
                 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
                          AND PARLIAMENT STREET





                                 LECTURES
                           DELIVERED IN AMERICA
                                 IN 1874


                                    BY
                     CHARLES KINGSLEY, F.L.S., F.G.S.

                 RECTOR OF EVERSLEY: CANON OF WESTMINSTER
        CHAPLAIN IN ORDINARY TO THE QUEEN AND THE PRINCE OF WALES

                                * * * * *

                                  LONDON
                         LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
                                   1875

                          _All rights reserved_




DEDICATION.


                                * * * * *

                                    TO
                       CYRUS FIELD, J. A. C. GRAY,
            AND ALL THOSE VALUED AMERICAN FRIENDS WHO WELCOMED
                    MY HUSBAND TO THEIR GREAT COUNTRY,
            AND THROUGH WHOSE GENEROUS KINDNESS HE WAS ENABLED
                       IN THE LAST YEAR OF HIS LIFE
                    TO REALISE THE DREAMS OF HIS YOUTH
         BY THE SIGHT, NOT ONLY OP THE EASTERN STATES AND CITIES,
                BUT OF THE FAR WEST, THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,
                        AND THE YO SEMITE VALLEY,
             I DEDICATE THESE LECTURES WITH DEEPEST GRATITUDE

                               In Memoriam.

                                                        FANNY E. KINGSLEY.

BYFLEET: _August_ 1875.




CONTENTS.

LECT.                                               PAGE
        I.  WESTMINSTER ABBEY                          1
       II.  THE STAGE AS IT WAS ONCE                  32
      III.  THE FIRST DISCOVERY OF AMERICA            65
       IV.  THE SERVANT OF THE LORD                   98
        V.  ANCIENT CIVILISATION                     125






LECTURE I.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.


Reverence for age, at least so it has long seemed to me, reverence for
age, I say, is a fair test of the vigour of youth; and, conversely,
insolence toward the old and the past, whether in individuals or in
nations, is a sign rather of weakness than of strength.  And the cause, I
think, is this.  The rich and strong young natures, which feel themselves
capable of original thought and work, have a corresponding respect for
those who, in the generations gone by, have thought and worked as they
hope to do hereafter.  And this temper, understand me, so far from being
servile, or even merely conservative, usually accompanies true
independence of spirit.  The young athlete, like the young race-horse,
does not despise, but emulate, his sire; even though the old victor be
long past his prime.  The young soldier admires the old general; the
young midshipman the old admiral, just in proportion as he himself is
likely to be a daring and able officer hereafter.  The son, when grown to
man's estate, may say to his father, I look on you still with all respect
and admiration.  I have learnt, and desire always, to learn from you.
But you must be to me now, not a dictator, but an example.  You became
what you are by following your own line; and you must let me rival you,
and do you honour, by following mine.

This, I believe, is true of nations as well as of individuals.  I do not
hesitate to say that, paradoxical as it may seem, the most original
races--those who have succeeded best and left their stamp most broadly
and permanently on the human race--have also been the most teachable,
provided they were allowed to learn in their own way and to adapt to
their own purposes any higher ancient civilisation with which they came
in contact.  What more striking instances of this truth--for truth it
is--than the reverence of the free Republican Greek for the old despotic
civilisation of Egypt? and of the free Norseman, our own ancestor, for
the old and equally despotic civilisation of Rome?

These--the two most originative and most progressive races of Europe--had
a faith in, an awe of, the supposed or real wisdom of the men of old
time, which was often exaggerated into a superstition; but never--thanks
to their own innate force--degenerated into a bondage.

Pardon me this somewhat dry prooemium; and pardon