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criticism of the articles which three years ago I contributed to the Contemporary Review on certain points of Mr. Spencer’s philosophy, is of a kind which, though much averse to polemics, I can scarcely pass over in silence. It amounts to a prolonged charge of unfair dealing with those passages from Mr. Spencer’s ‘Psychology’ on which I commented. If the articles to which this charge relates had appeared recently, I might have presumed that the substance of them would still be in the mind of such persons as might read the charge, and have trusted to their candid judgment to take it for what it may be worth. But after so long an interval I must confess to having retained myself but a very slight recollection of what I had written, and my readers, if I had any, probably retained still less. Thus, when my eyes first fell on Mr. Hodgson’s pages, I experienced a good deal more than a bad quarter of an hour. For some little time I feared that I might have been guilty of some of the misrepresentations and misstatements ascribed to me. Only a careful reading of my articles, and of the chapters from Mr. Spencer to which they relate, reassured me to the contrary. If that was the effect of Mr. Hodgson’s accusation upon myself, I must expect a permanent suspicion of the same kind to remain with others who have no opportunity of reverting to my articles, unless I make some reply. I have, therefore, unwillingly asked leave to do so, which the editor of the Contemporary Review has kindly granted me.