June, 1868.

XIV. ATHENIAN AND AMERICAN LIFE.

IN a very interesting essay on British and Foreign Characteristics,
published a few years ago, Mr. W. R. Greg quotes the famous letter of
the Turkish cadi to Mr. Layard, with the comment that "it contains the
germ and element of a wisdom to which our busy and bustling existence is
a stranger"; and he uses it as a text for an instructive sermon on the
"gospel of leisure." He urges, with justice, that the too eager and
restless modern man, absorbed in problems of industrial development, may
learn a wholesome lesson from the contemplation of his Oriental brother,
who cares not to say, "Behold, this star spinneth round that star, and
this other star with a tail cometh and goeth in so many years"; who
aspires not after a "double stomach," nor hopes to attain to Paradise by
"seeking with his eyes." If any one may be thought to stand in need of
some such lesson, it is the American of to-day. Just as far as the Turk
carries his apathy to excess, does the American carry to excess his
restlessness. But just because the incurious idleness of the Turk is
excessive, so as to be detrimental to completeness of living, it
is unfit to supply us with the hints we need concerning the causes,
character, and effects of our over-activity. A sermon of leisure, if it
is to be of practical use to us, must not be a sermon of laziness. The
Oriental state of mind is incompatible with progressive improvement of
any sort, physical, intellectual, or moral. It is one of the phenomena
attendant upon the arrival of a community at a stationary condition
before it has acquired a complex civilization. And it appears
serviceable rather as a background upon which to exhibit in relief our
modern turmoil, than by reason of any lesson which it is itself
likely to convey. Let us in preference study one of the most eminently
progressive of all the communities that have existed. Let us take an
example quite different from any that can be drawn from Oriental
life, but almost equally contrasted with any that can be found among
ourselves; and let us, with the aid of it, examine the respective
effects of leisure and of hurry upon the culture of the community.

What do modern critics mean by the "healthy completeness" of ancient
life, which they are so fond of contrasting with the "heated,"
"discontented," or imperfect and one-sided existence of modern
communities? Is this a mere set of phrases, suited to some