songS oF innocencE & experiencE: Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volume I

Day 88: 5/11/19

Yep, I decided that I wasn't ready to exit The Buckle Universe just yet. So after spending 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Special Olympics Regional Track and Field meet...and another couple of hours taking the kids out for some Mother's Day shopping...and 3 1/2 hours watching the first four episodes of Netflix's version of Lucifer...I picked up my Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volume I and read until I hit page xx.

And it was good stuff. I'm still in the introductory portion (hence the Roman number), so no actual Buckle writing, but there was some biographical information that was interesting and at times touching.

Should have about a hundred days or so before I finish all three volumes of this one.
🌶𒁮!

Day 89: 5/12/19

One of the things that was interesting about yesterday's reading, btw, was that it had a couple of excerpts from Buckle's diaries. It was mostly a summary of what he was reading--and it looks like he read a lot, like three hundred or more pages per day--but it also showed that he took two walks per day, a thirty minute morning walk and a ninety minute late afternoon walk. Pretty impressive.

Today's reading showed that he had a really close relationship with his mom--in fact, that they were really only apart for a couple of months when he took a trip to Germany. From what I can discern, he didn't really have too many other relationships in his life. Hell, how could he? He was reading and walking most of his waking hours! He also was not very healthy, so I'm sure that limited him quite a bit. Also revealed was that for fun he would play chess, and would sometimes indulge in seven hours of straight up playing. And if I remember correctly, he was really good--like could beat international champions good.

Still in the introduction, so no new Buckle writings yet. I think I'm going to take my reading down to ten pages a day, though, as these pages have a lot more words than History of Civilization in England did. (My ten pages today took me around 25 minutes, so that's enough for a daily devotional, I think. Subject to change, of course.)

xxx

Day 90: 5/13/19

Day 91: 5/14/19

I've found my readings in Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works interesting from the get-go, but today upped the ante considerably...primarily because the emphasis shifted from narration about Buckle to some excerpts from Buckle's letters. There were some very touching references to his love for his mother, for instance, which showed how vital her presence was to him:

Confessing that he saw himself as standing "alone in the world" and without a future without his mother is really poignant for me.

His thoughts about his mother also led, surprisingly, to his acknowledgement in his belief in an afterlife:

Those are much stronger statements than anything he said in any of the volumes of History of Civilization in England. Speaking of which, I also learned that no publisher was interested in his book at first, so he had to put the money up for its publication himself, but that once it was published it was a big hit, which comforts me. He didn't live very long after that publication (five years), and it's good to know that he knew that his work had been appreciated before he died.

Day 92: 5/15/19

I couldn't stand it any more more, so when I finished the Introduction (and my ten pages for the day), I kept right on going into the first Buckle essay..."The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge." This was one of only three essays Buckle published during his lifetime, and was apparently the text for the only public lecture he ever gave. I still have a ways to go in it, but it is pretty impressive in terms of Buckle's prescience.

Oh, also there's a bit of high praise for Shakespeare (Shakspeare) thrown in. Buckle was writing about Newton ("the greatest natural philosopher the world has yet seen"), but felt the need to compare that great mind to Shak(e)speare's:

I like that in a man.

Day 93: 5/16/19

Finished the first Buckle essay in the book--"The Influence of Women on the Progress of Knowledge"--and it was a humdinger, for sure. Buckle was WAY ahead of the curve with respect to his thoughts on women, for sure. In fact, I think he's still way ahead of where most people (especially of the male persuasion) are today. He also seems way ahead of where the science of the 19th century was...but that's conjecture on my part, of course, since I don't have intimate knowledge of the scientific discourse of that time period. But check this out:

"...we do not even know if matter, in the ordinary sense of the word, can be said to exist; we have as yet only broken the first ground, we have but touched the crust and surface of things."

I mean, really?

Here are some other bits I especially liked.

More Shakespeare love:

More Literature love:

And a little What the Bleep Do We Know? thrown in for good measure.

Yeah, man, this Buckle is alright.

Day 94: 5/17/19

More Shake-speare love:

Day 95: 5/18/19

Still reading the second Buckle essay in this collection, "Mill on Liberty." It's got some moments, for sure...see below...but on the whole it is just not up to the standard of Buckle's other works. For one thing, it's kind of bo-ring. For another, he goes off on a tirade about how writers should not be supported by "charity," and that if they can't earn their own damn way they should go do something else. Which is just kind of ironic, ennit? I mean, Buckle spent the majority of his life not earning any money, living off the largesse of his deceased dad...so I don't think he has much room to throw stones here.

But here are some good bits.

"While statesman confine themselves to questions of detail, and to short views of immediate expediency, their judgment should be listened to with respect. But beyond this, they are rarely to be heeded. It constantly, and indeed usually happens, that statesmen and legislators who pass their whole life in public affairs, know nothing of their own age, except what lies on the surface, and are therefore unable to calculate, even approximately, remote and general consequences."

Published in May 1859, still valid today. I mean...can you say Global Warming?

And here's a bit of a footnote that I liked a lot, especially for the phrasing of the last sentence.

"Whoever upon any subject...sets up a fixed and prospective limit, gives the surest proof that he has not investigated that subject even as far as the existing resources allow; for he proves that he has not reached that point where certainty ends, and where the dim outline, gradually growing fainter, but always indefinite, teaches us that there is something beyond, and that we have no right to pledge ourselves respecting that undetermined tract. On the other hand, those who stop before they have reached this shadowy outline, see everything clearly because they have not advanced to the place where darkness begins."

Day 96: 5/19/19

Um...I'm more than a little uncomfortable with this:

I mean...of all the possible examples Buckle could have used here, why this one? And as if that wasn't enough, still there is more:

It's not exACTly racist...but it sure does seem unnecessary.

On the other hand, here's some fine advice via Mill which the anti-abortion rights guys should consider:

Day 97: 5/20/19

Much better reading experience today. Not only no wooly hair, but some actual good stuff, like this:

"Experience alone has never improved either mankind or individuals. Experience, before it can be available, must be sifted and tested. This is done by discussion, which brings out the meaning of experience, and enables us to apply the observations that have been made, and turn them to account."

And this:

"The more...that the majority discourage the opinions of the minority, the smaller is the chance of the majority holding accurate views. But if, instead of discouraging the opinions, they should suppress them, even that small chance is taken away, and society can have no option but to go on from bad to worse, its blunders becoming more inveterate and more mischievous, in proportion as that liberty of discussion which might have rectified them has been the longer withheld."

There was also some excellent stuff on why religions are at their best when they are being assaulted by society, but I'll leave it at that.

Day 98: 5/21/19

Day 99: 5/22/19

Today's Daily Devotional included the third "essay" in Volume I, "A Letter to a Gentleman Respecting Pooley's Case"...which is particularly significant in that these three essays, along with the three volumes of History of Civilization in England, represent the total of Buckle's works published during his lifetime. So that's a little sad. On the happier side, I still have a couple of thousand pages's worth of posthumously published works, which should keep me in Buckle Land for two or three hundred more days. So there's that.

This letter was quite excellent en toto, but here's a bit which I found particularly interesting:

In fact, I think that I'm going to pop over to Google Docs and put this in as a Chapter Quotation for then there is no mountain...the novel I was working on before I lost my way. (There's something about an NDE which takes the fight out of a guy. Or maybe it's just me, but hey...I'm stuck with me, so I've just got to figure it out from there.) Maybe even squeeze out a few minutes of work on a scene for said novel which has been nipping at my heels for the past few days....

ANYway...I read a few "extra" pages after I finished The Letter, so my journey into The Posthumous Buckle has already begun.

Day 100: 5/23/19

Can you say Anti-Abortion Legislators? Buckle can:

Day 101: 5/24/19

100

Also, when I looked to see how many pages were in this Volume I, I saw this on the endpaper:

So that was quite a markdown. I checked to see if this was what I'd actually paid, and it looks like it more or less was--

So there you have it.

P.S. Lack of other commentary is indicative of a shitty heart and a shittier state of mind, not any dissatisfaction with my ten pages of Buckle.

Day 102: 5/25/19

While I read, Jet finds a comfortable spot:

A little passage which bounced my perception of Buckle's thoughts on religion around yet again:

"Poetry, painting, architecture, nay, even music itself, were employed by her as engines to exalt the senses and subjugate the reason of mankind."

I mean...the ornateness of the Catholic church...the incense...the cathedral organ...the beautiful singing...those are the things that bring me INTO the realm of the Christian universe. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

110

Day 103: 5/26/19

In order to illustrate how stupid and uneducated some of the Protestant preachers were, Buckle tells this story:

("Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani is Aramaic for "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")

120

Day 104: 5/27/19

Sorry, Mr. Buckle, it's not you: you are as fascinating as ever. I am just in no shape to comment on your work. But here's a cute picture of my cat sitting on Volume I: