This is a revised edition of a book which has already been
received with considerable favour at home and abroad. It has
been reprinted in various forms in America; translations have
appeared in Dutch and French, and others are about to appear in
German and Danish. The book has, doubtless, proved attractive
to readers in different countries by reason of the variety of
anecdotal illustrations of life and character which it contains,
and the interest which all more or less feel in the labours, the
trials, the struggles, and the achievements of others. No one
can be better aware than the author, of its fragmentary character,
arising from the manner in which it was for the most part
originally composed,—having been put together principally from
jottings made during many years,—intended as readings for young
men, and without any view to publication. The appearance of
this edition has furnished an opportunity for pruning the volume of
some superfluous matter, and introducing various new illustrations,
which will probably be found of general interest.
In one respect the title of the book, which it is now too
late to alter, has proved unfortunate, as it has led some, who have
judged it merely by the title, to suppose that it consists of a
eulogy of selfishness: the very opposite of what it really is,—or
at least of what the author intended it to be. Although its
chief object unquestionably is to stimulate youths to apply
themselves diligently to right pursuits,—sparing neither labour,
pains, nor self-denial in prosecuting them,—and to rely upon their
own efforts in life, rather than depend upon the help or patronage
of others, it will also be found, from the examples given of
literary and scientific men, artists, inventors, educators,
philanthropists, missionaries, and martyrs, that the duty of
helping one’s self in the highest sense involves the helping of
one’s neighbours.
It has also been objected to the book that too much notice is
taken in it of men who have succeeded in life by helping
themselves, and too little of the multitude of men who have
failed. “Why should not Failure,” it has been asked, “have
its Plutarch as well as Success?” There is, indeed, no reason
why Failure should not have its Plutarch, except that a record of
mere failure would probably be found excessively depressing as well
as uninstructive reading. It is, however, shown in the
following pages that Failure is the best discipline of the true
worker, by stimulating him to renewed efforts, evoking his best
powers, and carrying him onward in self-culture, self-control, and
growth in knowledge and wisdom. Viewed in this light,
Failure, conquered by Perseverance, is always full of interest and
instruction, and this we have endeavoured to illustrate by many
examples.
As for Failure per se ,
although it may be well to find consolations for it at the close of
life, there is reason to doubt whether it is an object that ought
to be set before youth at the beginning of it. Indeed,
“how not to do it” is of all
things the easiest learnt: it needs neither teaching, effort,
self-denial, industry, patience, perseverance, nor judgment.
Besides, readers do not care to know about the general who lost his
battles, the engineer whose engines blew up, the architect who
designed only deformities, the painter who never got beyond daubs,
the schemer who did not invent his machine, the merchant who could
not keep out of the Gazette. It is true, the best of men may
fail, in the best of causes. But even these best of men did
not try to fail, or regard their failure as meritorious; on the
contrary, they tried to succeed, and looked upon failure as
misfortune. Failure in any good cause is, however,
honourable, whilst success in any bad cause is merely
infamous. At the same time success in the good cause is
unquestionably better than failure. But it is not the result
in any case that is to be regarded so much as the aim and the
effort, the patience, the courage, and the endeavour with which
desirable and worthy objects are pursued;—
“’Tis not in mortals to command success;
We will do more—deserve it.”
The object of the book briefly is, to re-inculcate these
old-fashioned but wholesome lessons—which perhaps cannot be too
often urged,—that youth must work in order to enjoy,—that nothing
creditable can be accomplished without application and
diligence,—that the student must not be daunted by difficulties,
but conquer them by patience and perseverance,—and that, above all,
he must seek elevation of character, without which capacity is
worthless and worldly success is naught. If the author has
not succeeded in illustrating these lessons, he can only say that
he has failed in his object.
Among the new passages introduced in the present edition, may
be mentioned the following:—Illustrious Foreigners of humble origin
(pp. 10–12), French Generals and Marshals risen from the ranks
(14), De Tocqueville and Mutual Help (24), William Lee, M.A., and
the Stocking-loom (42), John Heathcoat, M.P., and the Bobbin-net
machine (47), Jacquard and his Loom (55), Vaucanson (58), Joshua
Heilmann and the Combing-machine (62), Bernard Palissy and his
struggles (69), Böttgher, discoverer of Hard Porcelain (80), Count
de Buffon as Student (104), Cuvier (128), Ambrose Paré (134), Claud
Lorraine (160), Jacques Callot (162), Benvenuto Cellini (164),
Nicholas Poussin (168), Ary Scheffer (171), the Strutts of Belper
(214), Francis Xavier (238), Napoleon as a man of business (276),
Intrepidity of Deal Boatmen (400), besides numerous other passages
which it is unnecessary to specify.
The origin of this book may be briefly told.
Some fifteen years since, the author was requested to deliver
an address before the members of some evening classes, which had
been formed in a northern town for mutual improvement, under the
following circumstances:—
Two or three young men of the humblest rank resolved to meet
in the winter evenings, for the purpose of improving themselves by
exchanging knowledge with each other. Their first meetings
were held in the room of a cottage in which one of the members
lived; and, as others shortly joined them, the place soon became
inconveniently filled. When summer set in, they adjourned to
the cottage garden outside; and the classes were then held in the
open air, round a little boarded hut used as a garden-house, in
which those who officiated as teachers set the sums, and gave forth
the lessons of the evening. When the weather was fine, the
youths might be seen, until a late hour, hanging round the door of
the hut like a cluster of bees; but sometimes a sudden shower of
rain would dash the sums from their slates, and disperse them for
the evening unsatisfied.
Winter, with its cold nights, was drawing near, and what were
they to do for shelter? Their numbers had by this time so
increased, that no room of an ordinary cottage could accommodate
them. Though they were for the most part young men earning
comparatively small weekly wages, they resolved to incur the risk
of hiring a room; and, on making inquiry, they found a large dingy
apartment to let, which had been used as a temporary Cholera
Hospital. No tenant could be found for the place, which was
avoided as if the plague still clung to it. But the mutual
improvement youths, nothing daunted, hired the cholera room at so
much a week, lit it up, placed a few benches and a deal table in
it, and began their winter classes. The place soon presented
a busy and cheerful appearance in the evenings. The teaching
may have been, as no doubt it was, of a very rude and imperfect
sort; but it was done with a will. Those who knew a little
taught those who knew less—improving themselves while they improved
the others; and, at all events, setting before them a good working
example. Thus these youths—and there were also grown men
amongst them—proceeded to teach themselves and each other, reading
and writing, arithmetic and geography; and even mathematics,
chemistry, and some of the modern languages.
About a hundred young men had thus come together, when,
growing ambitious, they desired to have lectures delivered to them;
and then it was that the author became acquainted with their
proceedings. A party of them waited on him, for the purpose
of inviting him to deliver an introductory address, or, as they
expressed it, “to talk to them a bit;” prefacing the request by a
modest statement of what they had done and what they were
doing. He could not fail to be touched by the admirable
self-helping spirit which they had displayed; and, though
entertaining but slight faith in popular lecturing, he felt that a
few words of encouragement, honestly and sincerely uttered, might
not be without some good effect. And in this spirit he
addressed them on more than one occasion, citing examples of what
other men had done, as illustrations of what each might, in a
greater or less degree, do for himself; and pointing out that their
happiness and well-being as individuals in after life, must
necessarily depend mainly upon themselves—upon their own diligent
self-culture, self-discipline, and self-control—and, above all, on
that honest and upright performance of individual duty, which is
the glory of manly character.
There was nothing in the slightest degree new or original in
this counsel, which was as old as the Proverbs of Solomon, and
possibly quite as familiar. But old-fashioned though the
advice may have been, it was welcomed. The youths went
forward in their course; worked on with energy and resolution; and,
reaching manhood, they went forth in various directions into the
world, where many of them now occupy positions of trust and
usefulness. Several years after the incidents referred to,
the subject was unexpectedly recalled to the author’s recollection
by an evening visit from a young man—apparently fresh from the work
of a foundry—who explained that he was now an employer of labour
and a thriving man; and he was pleased to remember with gratitude
the words spoken in all honesty to him and to his fellow-pupils
years before, and even to attribute some measure of his success in
life to the endeavours which he had made to work up to their
spirit.
The author’s personal interest having in this way been
attracted to the subject of Self-Help, he was accustomed to add to
the memoranda from which he had addressed these young men; and to
note down occasionally in his leisure evening moments, after the
hours of business, the results of such reading, observation, and
experience of life, as he conceived to bear upon it. One of
the most prominent illustrations cited in his earlier addresses,
was that of George Stephenson, the engineer; and the original
interest of the subject, as well as the special facilities and
opportunities which the author possessed for illustrating Mr.
Stephenson’s life and career, induced him to prosecute it at his
leisure, and eventually to publish his biography. The present
volume is written in a similar spirit, as it has been similar in
its origin. The illustrative sketches of character
introduced, are, however, necessarily less elaborately
treated—being busts rather than full-length portraits, and, in many
of the cases, only some striking feature has been noted; the lives
of individuals, as indeed of nations, often concentrating their
lustre and interest in a few passages. Such as the book is,
the author now leaves it in the hands of the reader; in the hope
that the lessons of industry, perseverance, and self-culture, which
it contains, will be found useful and instructive, as well as
generally interesting.