Item 19 - Letter from Henry Sidgwick to Mary "Minnie" Benson, with list of five questions on a political theme

2 docs

Refers to some enclosed questions [see below], some of which he believes were discussed by Bagehot, and some are 'one or two points [which] he does not allude to.' Suggests that if she does not feel inclined to make any remarks on 'Bagehot', the most stimulating thing she can do is to read Mill's Representative Government with 'Bagehot' in her head, and notice the difference between their views, 'and try to adopt a judicial frame of mind between them.' Also suggest that she read the Times, the Saturday Review, etc., 'to notice where any of the questions [which] Bagehot discusses is brought up, and try and catch the reviewers point of view and estimate the value of his arguments.' Declares that the advantage of politics or jurisprudence as a study 'is that there are so many cases continually turning up in every day talk and contemporary journalism for applying any principles that one may have taken in...'

Reports that he has been spending many pleasant days in London and in Dorsetshire since the Monday of two weeks previously; says he so many friends in London that its attraction is growing on him. Reports that he has been exploring Clifton, referring to Combe Valley and Leigh woods, and to a poem which mentions the latter [by William Leigh Bowles?]. Informs her that his friend Roden Noel has just brought out a second volume of poems, [Beatrice and other poems] which he judges to be very good. Expresses his regret at hearing her account of their aunt Henrietta, who, he believes, 'ought to be violently incited to cultivate her Art.' Sends his love to Edward.

On a separate sheet: list of five questions on a political theme, with references to the English constitution, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, the functions of a constitutional monarchy, and the [probable] effect of Republicanism in Spain, Italy and France.

Part transcription in Sidgwick, Arthur, and Sidgwick, E. M, 'Henry Sidgwick'. London: Macmillan, 1906, p 188