tterness and headlong rage in you? That I guess is real slavery, to be
a slave to one's own stomach, one's pocket, one's own temper.' This is
hardly the tone of the agitator as known to us to-day. With his friends
Kingsley brought out a periodical, _Politics for the People_, in which
he wrote in the same tone. 'My only quarrel with the Charter is that it
does not go far enough in reform.... I think you have fallen into the
same mistake as the rich of whom you complain, I mean the mistake of
fancying that legislative reform is social reform, or that men's hearts
can be changed by Act of Parliament.' He did not limit himself to
denouncing such errors. He encouraged the working man to educate himself
and to find rational pleasures in life, contributing papers on the
National Gallery and bringing out the human interest of the pictures.
'Parson Lot', the _nom de guerre_ which Kingsley adopted, became widely
known for warm-hearted exhortations, for practical and sagacious
counsels.

Two years later he published _Alton Locke_, describing the life of a
young tailor whose mind and whose fortunes are profoundly influenced by
the Chartist movement. From a literary point of view it is far from
being his best work; and the critics agreed to belittle it at the time
and to pass it over with apology at his death. But it received a warm
welcome from others. While it roused the imagination of many young men
and set them thinking, the veteran Carlyle could speak of 'the snatches
of excellent poetical description, occasional sunbursts of noble
insight, everywhere a certain wild intensity which holds the reader fast
as by a spell'.

Should any one ask why a rector of a country parish mixed himself up in
London agitation, many answers could be given. His help was sought by
Maurice, who worked among the London poor. Many of the questions at
issue affected also the agricultural labourer. Only one who was giving
his life to serve the poor could effectively expose the mistakes of
their champions. The upper classes, squires and merchants and
politicians, had shut their eyes and missed their chances. So when the
ship is on fire, no one blames the chaplain or the ship's doctor for
lending a hand with the buckets.[32]

[Note 32: See Preface by T. Hughes prefixed to later editions of
_Alton Locke_.]

That his efforts in London met with success can be seen from many
sources besides the popularity of _Alton Locke_. He wrote a pamphlet
entitled 'Ch