T LITERATURE.

[A Paper read at the Annual Conference of the National
Secular Society, in the Co-operative Hall, Bury, June 5th,
1881.]

When I was invited to read a paper at this Conference, I thought
that, as editor of the Freethinker, I ought to say something about
Freethonght. And as the deliberations of this Conference are mostly on
practical matters, it occurred to me that I had better select a subject
of less immediate though not of insignificant interest. So I resolved to
address you on Freethonght in Current Literature.

I have said that this subject, if not practical and urgent, is assuredly
not unimportant. The power of literature over men's minds cannot be
estimated too highly. Science is a tremendous force, but its greatest
influence is exercised over the human mind when it quits the merely
practical task of ministering to our material desires, and seeks to
mould our moral and spiritual conceptions of our position and destiny
in the universe. To do this it must address us through the medium of
literature. Art also is a great force, more especially in countries
which have not been subjected, like ours, to the bondage of Puritanism.
But art has hitherto appealed to a restricted circle, although that
circle is rapidly widening in our own age. The greatest, most permanent,
and most universal force is literature. Raphael and Michael Angelo have
not influenced the world so profoundly as Shakespeare and Dante; while
so many artistic achievements of antiquity are lost or half decayed,
its literary masterpieces still survive with undiminished freshness and
charm; and while the most eminent works even of contemporary artists
are seen only occasionally by a few, the most eminent writings of
the world's master minds may and do become a household possession to
thousands who move in the humblest spheres of life.

In these cosmopolitan days the Freethinker and Humanitarian naturally
looks beyond his own country into the great world, which is at present
divided by national and other barriers, but which will in time become
the home of one all-embracing family. And I confess that I was strongly
tempted to trace the workings of the spirit of Freethought as far as
I could in the general literature of Europe. But I soon recognised the
necessity of limiting myself to the manifestations of that subtle and
pervasive spirit in the current literature of our English tongue.

When the present century commenced Euro