THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

II. 2. Bankim Chandra Chatterji81rate riot which has killed one or two of our second-rate talents,but it cannot quite be said that he never oversteppedthe limits or always observed the principle of “nothing in excess”,which is the only sure rule for a man's conduct. Somewould like to see in this sensuous exuberance the secret ofhis early decay. It may be so; but speculation on this subjectwill remain a solemn farce, until it is taken up in a disinterestedspirit. At present all our wise disquisitions proceed fromunchastened sentiment. Dr. Bhandarkar is a violent social reformerand wants to throw odium upon Hindu society; Mr.Ranade's hobby is a Conservative Radicalism and the spirit moveshim to churn the ocean of statistics in a sense more agreeableto his own turn of mind; a third authority, prejudiced againstWestern Culture, traces all premature deaths to pleasure andwine-bibbing. Each starts from his own sensations, each buildshis web of argument in the spirit of a sophist. To this Dr.Bhandarkar brings his moral ardour and grave eloquence, Mr.Ranade his trained reason and distinguished talent, the religionisthis prejudices and cold precepts. Widely as they differ, theyhave this in common that they have not for their aim to speakusefully: they are simply trying to find reasons for their own likesand dislikes. Dealing with subjects of scientific interest in a spiritof this sort is only to invite confusion and exclude light. We inBengal with our tendency to the sins of the blood are perhapsmore apt than others to call to our aid the gloomy moralities ofthe Puritan; in censuring Bankim we are secretly fortifying ourselvesagainst ourselves; but in this instance it is a false caution.The cultured Bengali begins life with a physical temperamentalready delicate and high-strung. He has the literary constitutionwith its femineity and acute nervousness. Subject this to a cruelstrain when it is tenderest and needs the most careful rearing, tothe wicked and wantonly cruel strain of instruction through aforeign tongue; put it under the very worst system of training;add enormous academical labour, immense official drudgery inan unhealthy climate and constant mental application; crown allwith the nervous expense of thought and fever of compositionplus the unfailing exhaustion that comes after; and we need notgo to the momentary excesses of a generous blood to find the