The Project Gutenberg eBook, Essays on Life, Art and Science, by Samuel
Butler, Edited by R. A. Streatfeild

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Title: Essays on Life, Art and Science

Author: Samuel Butler

Editor: R. A. Streatfeild

Release Date: December 27, 2007 [eBook #3461]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS ON LIFE, ART AND SCIENCE***

Transcribed from the 1908 A. C. Fifield edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

ESSAYS ON LIFE
ART AND SCIENCE

BY
SAMUEL BUTLER

AUTHOR OF "EREWHON," "EREWHON RE-VISITED,"
"THE WAY OF ALL FLESH," ETC.

EDITED BY
R. A. STREATFEILD

LONDON
A. C. FIFIELD
1908

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh.

Contents:

Introduction
Quis Desiderio?
Ramblings in Cheapside
The Aunt, The Nieces, and the Dog
How to make the best of life
The Sanctuary of Montrigone
A Medieval Girl School
Art in the Valley of Saas
Thought and Language
The Deadlock in Darwinism

INTRODUCTION

It is hardly necessary to apologise for the miscellaneous character of
the following collection of essays. Samuel Butler was a man of such
unusual versatility, and his interests were so many and so various that
his literary remains were bound to cover a wide field. Nevertheless it
will be found that several of the subjects to which he devoted much time
and labour are not represented in these pages. I have not thought it
necessary to reprint any of the numerous pamphlets and articles which he
wrote upon the Iliad and Odyssey, since these were all merged in "The
Authoress of the Odyssey," which gives his matured views upon everything
relating to the Homeric poems. For a similar reason I have not included
an essay on the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which he
printed in 1865 for private circulation, since he subsequently made
extensive use of it in "The Fair Haven."

Two of the essays in this collection were originally delivered as
lectures; the remainder were published in _The Universal Review_ during
1888, 1889, and 1890.

I should perhaps explain why two other essays of his, which also appeared
in _The Univ