Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/456

 and particularly Buckle. With his friends he discussed history and philosophy, took part in debates in the College Historical Society, and won the gold medal for oratory in 1859. In the same year he graduated B.A.

His first publication was a small volume entitled 'Friendship, and other Poems,' issued under the name 'Hibernicus' (1859), which attracted little attention. This he followed up by a volume of essays called 'The Religious Tendencies of the Age,' published anonymously in 1860. He had long had a leaning towards theological studies, and even contemplated taking orders. But the book was remarkable for its wide outlook and spirit of tolerance, and foreshadowed no adhesion to any particular church. Meanwhile his family had gone abroad; and his holidays were chiefly spent on the Continent, in Belgium, Switzerland, and elsewhere. He thus imbibed that love of travelling which distinguished him through life. Spain and Italy were afterwards his predilection, and few Englishmen can have known those countries better than he. He was in Rome early in 1861, and was enthusiastic for the cause of Italism unity. In July 1861 he published, also anonymously, his 'Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland.' The volume fell still-born from the press; and the later issues (1871 and 1903) were so radically altered as to form practically a new book. His first literary ventures had not been successful, and he passed through a period of uncertainty and discouragement. He gave up the idea of entering the church, but could not fix on any other profession. He hesitated between standing for parliament and adopting a literary career; but, though he believed he had failed as an author, literature eventually carried the day over politics. His next publication was to show the justice of this decision. He read widely in the history of the early Middle Ages, studied the lives of the saints and the development of the early church, and carried cargoes of books with him during his travels in Spain, the Pyrenees and Italy. In 1863 he proceeded M.A., and published an essay on 'The Declining Sense of the Miraculous,' which subsequently formed the first two chapters of his 'History of Rationalism,' published in two volumes in January 1865.

The book achieved great and immediate success, and at once raised Lecky, then only twenty-seven years old, into the front rank of contemporary authors. It is a striking combination of history and philosophy, of the essay and the narrative. It displays wide and often abstruse reading, with a great power of thought and generalisation; and it derives unity from the dominance of a central idea—the development of reason, and the decay of superstition as a power in human society. It traces this evolution from the days of the early church, through the 'Dark Ages,' down to the Reformation. After discussing the belief in magic and witchcraft and in miracles, the author examines the aesthetic, scientific, and moral developments of rationalism, pointing out the connection between artistic changes and the progress of physical science on the one hand, and the evolution of moral ideas on the other. This prepares the way for a long chapter on the history of religious persecution, which is traced to the doctrine of exclusive salvation, and on its gradual elimination by the spirit of tolerance, arising from the growth of reason and the decay of dogmatic religion. Finally, a similar evolution is traced in politics and industry, and illustrated by the coincidence between the growth of protestantism and that of political liberty, the abolition of slavery, and the like. The survey is very wide; the facts and illustrations cited are occasionally somewhat overwhelming; and there is some tendency to discursiveness. The book would probably have been the better for a more rigid compression and a clearer and more logical sequence of its parts. Nevertheless, it remains a remarkable contribution to the history of the human mind and of human society. It is written throughout in a polished and dignified style, which, though seldom brilliant, is always lucid, and occasionally rises into impassioned eloquence.

The defects and virtues of this work are characteristic of Lecky throughout, and are clearly to be seen in his next book. With one stride Lecky had become famous; his society was sought in the highest literary and political circles; he was elected to the Athenæum in 1867, and became intimate with Lord Russell, Sir Charles Lyell, Dean Milman, Carlyle, Henry Reeve, and other distinguished men. He now established himself in London (6 Albemarle St.), lectured at the Royal Institution on 'The Influence of the Imagination on History,' and paid much attention to politics. His letters show him a strong liberal, though not a radical (as he said himself) 'like Mr. Bright or Mr. Disraeli.' He condemned the tories for bringing in the reform bill of 1867, and supported the disestablishment