Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/162

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Martineau
148
Martineau

(1st ser. 1843, 12mo; 2nd ser. 1847, 12mo; often reprinted), unsurpassed for beauty and charin by his later writings, and realising his ideal that a sermon should be a ' lyric ' utterance. In a remarkable sermon, 'The Bible and the Child ' (July 1845, reprinted, Essays, ut sup. iv. 389), he first distinctly broke with the biblical conservatism of his denomination. Pending the removal of his congregation to a more modern structure, he was set free from 16 July 1848 till the opening (18 Oct. 1849) of the new church in Hope Street, his pastoral duties being undertaken by Joseph' Henry Hutton (1822-1899), elder brother of R. H. Hutton; one of the few occasions on which the latter occupied a pulpit was at Paradise Street during this interval.

Martineau spent the fifteen months with his family in Germany, taking a winter's study at Berlin. 11. H. Hutton, who had been his pupil in Manchester, read Plato and Hegel with him (Proceedings, ut snp. p. 38). His studies were mainly directed by Trendelenburg. He regarded this break as a ' second education,' and ' a new intellectual birth,' involving the complete ' surrender of determinism ' (Types, ut sup. p. xiii). His earlier standpoint had been determinist and utilitarian (cf. his five articles on Bentham's 'Deontology,' Christian Reformer, March-December, 1835, p. 185 sq.) He wrote for the 'London Review' (1835) and for the ' London and Westminster Review ' from the amalgamation (1836) till January 1851. From 1838 he wrote for the 'Christian Teacher,' then edited by J. H. Thorn, whom he joined, with John James Tayler [q.v.] and Charles Wicksteed (1810-1885), in editing the ' Prospective Review ' (1845-54), of which John Kentish [q. v.] said that its title must have been suggested by ' the Irish member of the firm,' while John Gooch Robberds [q. v.], alluding to its motto 'Respice, Aspice, Prospice,' described it as * a magazine of allspice.' To this quarterly, and to its successor the ' National Review ' (1855-1864), edited by Martineau, R, H. Hutton, and Walter Bagehot, he contributed some of his best critical work; later he wrote occasionally for the 'Theological Review,' edited by Charles Beard [q.v. Suppl.] His drastic treatment (' Mesmeric Atheism ' in Prospective, March 1851) of ' Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development' (January 1851), by Henry George Atkinson and Harriet Martineau (who edited the volume), was never forgiven by the latter. This masterpiece of satire, coming after a coolness of some years' standing, due to a refusal to destroy his sister's letters to himself, produced an alienation which Martineau made fruitless efforts to remove (cf. his letters in Daily News, 30 Dec. 1884, 2 and' 6 Jan. 1886).

For five years after the removal (1853) of Manchester New College to University Hall, Gordon Square, London, Martineau travelled up to town every week in the session to deliver his lectures, till in 1857 he left Liverpool to share with Tayler the theological teaching of the college, as professor of mental, moral, and religious philosophy. This arrangement was not effected without strenuous protest (led by Robert Brook Aspland [q. v.], who resigned the secretaryship, and joined by Martineau's brothers-in-law, Samuel Bache [q. v.] and Edward Higginson [q. v.]) against confining the teaching to one school of thought. He returned to the pulpit in 1859, becoming colleague (20 Feb.) with Tayler in the charge of Little Portland Street chapel, left vacant by the death of Edward Tagart [q v.] ; from 1860 he was in sole charge. Of his London ministry there are sketches by Frances Power Cobbe (Life, 1894, ii. 145 ; Inquirer, 20 Jan. 1900, p. 11). From 1858 to 1868 he was a trustee of Dr. Williams's foundations. In his letter (6 Aug. 1859) to Simon Frederick Macdonald (1822-1862) on 'the Unitarian position,' followed by a second letter ' Church-Life ? or Sect-Life ? ' (14 Oct. 1859), ' in reply to the critics of the first ' (both reprinted in Essays, ut sup. ii. 371), he pleaded for restricting Unitarian profession to individuals and societies, leaving congregations unpledged to distinctive doctrine.

At midsummer 1866 John Hoppus [q. v.] vacated the chair of mental philosophy and logic in University College, London. Martineau's candidature was unsuccessful, mainly through the opposition of George Grote [q. v.], who raised the anti-clerical cry. In protest against this limitation, Augustus de Morgan [q. v.] resigned the mathematical chair, and William Ballantyne Hodgson [q. v.] resigned his seat on the college council. Meanwhile Martineau was busy with denominational controversies, issuing in the formation of a 'Free Christian union,' which celebrated its first anniversary (1 June 1869) with sermons by Athanase Coquerel fils and Charles Kegan Paul, and lasted a couple of years. He was a member of the ' Metaphysical Society ' (2 June 1869-12 May 1880), which owed its inception to Tennyson. In 1869 he became principal of Manchester New College, and in 1872, under medical advice, he gave up preaching ; his friends presented him with inscribed plate and 5,800/. In the same year he received