r of our time, the body-guard of the
sovereign Intellect and Will.

LETTER III.

TO A STUDENT IN GREAT POVERTY.

Poverty really a great obstacle--Difference between a thousand rich
men and a thousand poor men taken from persons of average natural
gifts--The Houses of Parliament--The English recognize the natural
connection between wealth and culture--Connection between ignorance
and parsimony in expenditure--What may be honestly said for the
encouragement of a very poor student.

As it seems to me that to make light of the difficulties which lie in
the path of another is not to show true sympathy for him, even though it
is done sometimes out of a sort of awkward kindness and for his
encouragement, I will not begin by pretending that poverty is not a
great obstacle to the perfection of the intellectual life. It _is_ a
great obstacle; it is one of the very greatest of all obstacles. Only
observe how riches and poverty operate upon mankind in the mass. Here
and there no doubt a very poor man attains intellectual distinction when
he has exceptional strength of will, and health enough to bear a great
strain of extra labor that he imposes upon himself, and natural gifts so
brilliant that he can learn in an hour what common men learn in a day.
But consider mankind in the mass. Look, for instance, at our two Houses
of Parliament. They are composed of men taken from the average run of
Englishmen with very little reference to ability, but almost all of them
are rich men; not one of them is poor, as you are poor; not one of them
has to contend against the stern realities of poverty. Then consider the
very high general level of intellectual attainment which distinguishes
those two assemblies, and ask yourself candidly whether a thousand men
taken from the beggars in the streets, or even from the far superior
class of our manufacturing operatives, would be likely to understand, as
the two Houses of Parliament understand, the many complicated questions
of legislation and of policy which are continually brought before them.
We all know that the poor are too limited in knowledge and experience,
from the want of the necessary opportunities, and too little accustomed
to exercise their minds in the tranquil investigations of great
questions, to be competent for the work of Parliament. It is scarcely
necessary to insist upon this fact to an Englishman, because the English
have always recognized the natural connection betw