The great strides that have been made in
civilization, have been made in the brief intervals



AND GENERAL CULTURE. 29

of peace which the world has enjoyed. Now,
I do not look upon this as having been caused
solely, or chiefly, by the material comfort which
belongs to a state of peace ; but from the time
and the thought that have been devoted by
individual men to the highest and noblest arts
of peace. Come, now ; I will bring home to you
what I mean, by taking particular instances.
Would you like to have had some of the best
years of Faraday's life directed to military
training ? Or of Wheatstone's, or Sir James
Simpson's, or Dickens's, or Thackeray's, or
scores more, whom I could mention ?

Ellesmere. I could drag on existence if all
the eminent men who ever lived had done a little
less than they have done.
Milverton. Yes ; but, perhaps, they would
have done nothing at all, if you had diverted
their minds, at a critical period of their lives, from
those pursuits which were especially suited to
those minds. However, on reflection, I think
that it was, perhaps, weak in me to take these
particular instances. Do you know, Ellesmere,
that agriculture is a thing requiring the whole
devotion of a man's mind ? You innocently
suppose, I dare say, that you could get up agri-



30 CONVERSATIONS ON WAR

culture ; — and so you could, as far as enabling you
to hold a brief in some case concerning it ; but,
I venture to say, that you have not an idea of
the close and unremitting observation of nature,
which is needful for practical success in agriculture.
