only with economics but with the study of government. In-
deed, there is much in the brilliant generalizations of Bagehot
which recalls the work of Sir Henry Maine jurisprudence.
In some important points the two men were much alike; each
had a wide range of vision, and each had an honest respect for
facts. Bagehot, however, was led into a more active and prac-
tical life, while his qualities also fitted him for the study of
theory and the principles underlying the modern complex
political and economic system. He also resembled Sir Henry
Maine in the nicety and justice of his historical sense. Few
men have equalled him in the power to grasp at the essentials
and to avoid the hindering details of institutions. With
Bagehot it was more than training; it was an inspiration.

A sound mind in a sound body, overflowing with super-
abundant spirits, distinctly powerful and original, buoyant,
vivacious, swift, he finely illustrated in a way his own evolu-
tionary doctrine. With a deep substratum of English con-
servatism and practical sense, powerfully affected by the
English "cake of custom," yet in his originality, his imagina-
tion, his dash, and intellectual fertility, he had the tendency to
variation which modified elemental qualities and produced a
very unusual type of the Anglo-Saxon. Steeped early in life in
theology, philosophy, and poetry, he was yet held in by his
English good judgment, his ability to see both sides of a matter,
and by a practical knowledge of men and of the actual world of
business. This sympathy, as Mr. Hutton expresses it, "with
the works of high imagination, and his clear insight into that
busy life which does not and cannot take note of works of
high imagination, and which would not do the work it does if
it could," was the secret of his great power as an economist.
This was apparent in other and small ways, as when he was
drawn by his liking for the discourse of Crabb Robinson to go
to his breakfasts, where absent-mindedness of the host led to
much omission of the elements of the meal, but which Bagehot
characteristically met by breakfasting before he started out.
A reserved man he was, yet with a saving grace of humor.
Slavery in early communities is almost justified by his remark
that "the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could not have
had the steady calm which marks them, if they had themselves
been teased and hurried about their flocks and herds." These,
according to Bagehot, should be tended by slaves. It was his

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