WW was disappointed at not seeing HJR in London. He was to have gone with Charles Babbage to Sir Joseph Banks on Sunday but was unwell. WW has been trying to improve his philology by studying Welsh: 'It is not a language wh. there is much temptation to learn'. WW does not believe that we owe much to our Celtic ancestors, and that the most valuable aspects of our manners and constitutions is derived from our gothic past. It has been a long time since WW has read Butler [Joseph Butler]: 'It is a book of negatives. Its object is not to prove, but to remove the presumptions against, natural & revealed religion...he claims the ground and then leaves revelation & other arguments to reset the building.' Did HJR see Jeremy Bentham? WW notes that his 'Church of Englandism' has come out again.
The Abbey House, Bristol. Is fundraising for the Bishop Butler Tower, and asks for the remainder of the money; complains of his inexplicable Dean (Gilbert Elliot), and shares an epigram about him by the Archdeacon of Taunton (George Denison).
Norris, John Pilkington (1823-1891), Church of England clergyman and inspector of schoolsWrites on philosophy in Cambridge. States that the correspondence of Hare and Whewell gives him the impression 'that there was very little mental philosophy read at Cambridge in their younger days'. Whewell's lectures were very well attended in the early years after he was appointed professor, but the numbers attending declined after he began to develop his new system. Refers to the paper set on philosophy for the Trinity Fellowships, and to Trinity lecturers Thompson and Cope. Refers to his own undergraduate days from 1844 to 1848, and mentions the works on philosophy which were influential at that time: an article of ancient philosophy by [Maurice], and Lewes' Biographical History of Philosophy. Believes that Lewes led him and many of his contemporaries to read J.S. Mill.
States that in St. John's College in his time 'a meagre abridgement of Locke used to be read in the first year, which 'finally disappeared under Roby's zealous efforts to reform [the students].' In relation to mental philosophy in those days, remarks that there 'must have been persons who were fond of [it]', and reports that he say a copy of the French translation of some of Sir W. Hamilton's essays in the private room of the mathematical tutor Mr Hopkins. Relates that Herschel's [Preliminary Discourse on [the Study of] Natural Philosophy 'was a book much read at Cambridge'. Mentions the absence of any account of the Greek Philosophy in Thirlwall's History [of Greece], and the political activity in England consequent on the Reform Bill and its results, as possible causes of the lack of interest in [mental philosophy].
Refers to a perceived 'taste for philosophy' arising in the previous thirty years at Cambridge, and cites theological influences as the possible cause, e.g., Butler's Analogy [of Religion], the sermons of Harvey Goodwin, and Dr Mill's contact with Hare and his Christian Advocate publications. Relates having, with others, admired the Sermons of Archer Butler, and having encouraged Macmillan to buy Butler's manuscripts, and publish the Lectures on Ancient Philosophy. Thinks that they appeared in 1856. Refers to Sir W. Hamilton, who 'became first known to most Cambridge men for his attacks on mathematics and on the Universities', and to W. Walton 'of Trinity Hall formerly of Trin. Coll.'. Adds that in 1834 'Sterling and J.C. Hare and others wanted to found a prize for Essays on the Philosophy of Christianity in honour of Coleridge', but the H[eads] would not allow it. Announces that he shall publish two letters from Whewell to Hare on the subject.
Todhunter, Isaac (1820-1884), mathematician and historian of mathematicsTrinity College - WW 'cannot get on very well without lecturing in Butler's [Joseph Butler] sermons which is carrying me into the whole business of moral principle with reference to Hobbes [Thomas Hobbes], Mackintosh [James Mackintosh] and all the squad of speculators on such matters. This will rather interfere with my prescribed course of writing about induction, but still I hope to manage in such a way as not to lose by it. I shall expect to manage so that what I do will come into its place at some time or other: for the beauty of my induction is that it is like the Devonshire man's pie, into which he puts every thing which he catches'. WW is pleased Mrs Jones saw enough of Cambridge to like it.
90 Eaton Square - Thanks WW 'for the little gift of the sermon of that one of your divines, whose works I read much in my youth, so that I almost know his Analogy by heart' [WW, 'Butler's Three Sermons on Human Nature', 1848]. Longfellow [Henry Longfellow] was delighted with WW's Evangeline ['Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie', Fraser's Magazine 37, 1848].
Contains notes from Joseph Some Problems of Ethics (cont), Osborne Philosophy of Value, Laird Study in Moral Theory, Harrod Utilitarianism Revised, Ross Foundations of Ethics, The Philosophy of G E Moore, Jackson Butler's Refutation of Psychological Hedonism and Practical Reason, Huxley Evolutionary Ethics, Joseph Lectures on Plato's Republic and Purposive Action, Ross Aristotle's Ethics
Contains notes from works by A M�ller, Butler, J von Kries, R Avenarius and Raab