第76章 BENTHAM'S LIFE(20)

In later life he took a daily half-glass of Madeira.He was scrupulously neat in person，and wore a Quaker-like brown coat，brown cassimere breeches，white worsted stockings and a straw hat.He walked or 'rather trotted'with his stick Dapple，and took his 'ante-prandial'and other 'circumgyrations'with absolute punctuality.He loved pets；he had a series of attached cats；and cherished the memory of a 'beautiful pig'at Hendon，and of a donkey at Ford Abbey.He encouraged mice to play in his study --a taste which involved some trouble with his cats，and suggests problems as to the greatest happiness of the greatest number.Kindness to animals was an essential point of his moral creed.'I love everything，'he said，'that has four legs.'He had a passion for flowers，and tried to introduce useful plants.He loved music --especially Handel --and had an organ in his house.He cared nothing for poetry：'Prose，'he said，(151)'is when all the lines except the last go on to the margin.Poetry is when some of them fall short of it.'He was courteous and attentive to his guests，though occasionally irritable when his favourite crotchets were transgressed，or especially if his fixed hours of work were deranged.

His regularity in literary work was absolute.He lived by a time-table，working in the morning and turning out from ten to fifteen folio pages daily.

He read the newspapers regularly，but few books，and cared nothing for criticisms on his own writings.His only substantial meal was a dinner at six or half-past，to which he occasionally admitted a few friends as a high privilege.He liked to discuss the topics of which his mind was full，and made notes beforehand of particular points to be introduced in conversation.He was invariably inaccessible to visitors，even famous ones，likely to distract his thoughts.

'Tell Mr Bentham that Mr Richard Lovell Edgeworth desires to see him.''Tell Mr Richard Lovell Edgeworth that Mr Bentham does not desire to see him'was the reply.When Mme.de Stael came to England，she said to Dumont：'Tell Bentham I shall see nobody till I have seen him.''I am sorry for it，'said Bentham，'for then she will never see anybody.'And he summed up his opinion of the famous author of Corinne by calling her 'a trumpery magpie.'(152)There is a simplicity and vivacity about some of the sayings reported by Bowring，which prove that Bentham could talk well，and increase our regret for the absence of a more efficient Boswell.At ten Bentham had his tea，at eleven his nightcap，and by twelve all his guests were ignominiously expelled.

He was left to sleep on a hard bed.His sleep was light，and much disturbed by dreams.

Bentham was certainly amiable.The 'surest way to gain men，'he said，'is to appear to love them，and the surest way to appear to love them is to love them in reality.'The least pleasing part of his character，however，is the apparent levity of his attachments.He was，as we have seen，partly alienated from Dumont，though some friendly communications are recorded in later years，and Dumont spoke warmly of Bentham only a few days before his death in 1829.(153)He not only cooled towards James Mill，but，if Bowring is to be trusted，spoke of him with great harshness.(154)Bowring was not a judicious reporter，indeed，and capable of taking hasty phrases too seriously.

What Bentham's remarks upon these and other friends suggest is not malice or resentment，but the flippant utterance of a man whose feelings are wanting in depth rather than kindliness.It is noticeable that，after his early visit at Bowood，no woman seems to have counted for anything in Bentham's life.

He was not only never in love，but it looks as if he never even talked to any woman except his cook or housemaid.

The one conclusion that I need draw concerns a question not，I think，hard to be solved.It would be easy to make a paradox by calling Bentham at once the most practical and most unpractical of men.This is to point out the one-sided nature of Bentham's development.Bentham's habits remind us in some ways of Kant；and the thought may be suggested that he would have been more in his element as a German professor of philosophies.In such a position he might have devoted himself to the delight of classifying and co-ordinating theories，and have found sufficient enjoyment in purely intellectual activity.After a fashion that was the actual result.How far，indeed，Bentham could have achieved much in the sphere of pure philosophy，and what kind of philosophy he would have turned out，must be left to conjecture.The circumstances of his time and country，and possibly his own temperament generally，turned his thoughts to problems of legislation and politics，that is to say，of direct practical interest.He was therefore always dealing with concrete facts，and a great part of his writings may be considered as raw material for acts of parliament.Bentham remained，however，unpractical，in the sense that he had not that knowledge which we ascribe either to the Poet or to the man of the world.He had neither the passion nor the sympathetic imagination.

The springs of active conduct which Byron knew from experience were to Bentham nothing more than names in a careful classification.Any shrewd attorney or Bow Street runner would have been a better judge of the management of convicts；and here were dozens of party politicians，such as Rigby and Barréwho could have explained to him beforehand those mysteries in the working of the political machinery，which it took him half a lifetime to discover.

In this sense Bentham was unpractical in the highest degree，for at eighty he had not found out of what men are really made.And yet by his extraordinary intellectual activity and the concentration of all his faculties upon certain problems，he succeeded in preserving an example，and though not a unique yet an almost unsurpassable example，of the power which belongs to the man of one idea.