entire forgetfulness of persons, in the
application of the whole power of the mind to things, and phenomena, and
ideas. Not to mind whether the speaker is of noble or humble birth, rich
or poor; this indeed is much, but we ought to attain a like indifference
to the authority of the most splendid reputation. "Every great advance
in natural knowledge," says Professor Huxley, "has involved the absolute
rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the
annihilation of the spirit of blind faith; and the most ardent votary of
science holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most
venerates hold them, not because their verity is testified by portents
and wonders, but because his experience teaches him that whenever he
chooses to bring these convictions into contact with their primary
source, Nature--whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to
experiment and to observation--Nature will confirm them."

FOOTNOTES:

[8] I think it right to inform the reader that there is no fiction in
this letter.

[9] The association between the two is this. If you believe that you
are descended from a distinguished ancestor, you are simple enough to
believe in his wife's fidelity.

PART IX.

_SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE._

LETTER I.

TO A LADY WHO DOUBTED THE REALITY OF INTELLECTUAL FRIENDSHIPS.

That intellectual friendships are in their nature temporary, when
there is no basis of feeling to support them--Their freshness soon
disappears--Danger of satiety--Temporary acquaintances--Succession in
friendships--Free communication of intellectual results--Friendships
between ripe and immature men--Rembrandt and Hoogstraten--Tradition
transmitted through these friendships.

I heartily agree with you so far as this, that intellectual relations
will not sustain friendship for very long, unless there is also some
basis of feeling to sustain it. And still there is a certain reality in
the friendships of the intellect whilst they last, and they are
remembered gratefully for their profit when in the course of nature they
have ceased. We may wisely contract them, and blamelessly dissolve them
when the occasion that created them has gone by. They are like business
partnerships, contracted from motives of interest, and requiring
integrity above all things, with mutual respect and consideration, yet
not necessarily either affection or the semblance of it. Since the
motive of the