SAMUEL BAILEY It might tell us something when we discover that Thoreau had checked out a volume from the Harvard Library not just once, but twice — but we cannot be confident what that might tell us. It might also tell us something when we discover that Thoreau had registered no comments whatever on that book’s heavy philosophical musings, and had copied no words whatever from it into his commonplace books, either the first time he took a look into it, or the second time around — and can we not be confident what that additional datapoint tells us? Does the fact that our guy neglected to copy from it either time he looked it over not inform us that this material actually is of diddly-squat real interest to anyone who had a life? (I’m just asking.) –But this picture above, the lovely image of bucolic Sheffield in England, is it not such a photograph as to make us marvel how anyone could reside in such an earthly paradise, and not become just unutterably benign? “Samuel Bailey (1791-1870), British philosopher and author, was born at Sheffield in 1791. He was among the first of those Sheffield merchants who went to the United States to establish trade connections. After a few years in his father's business, he retired with an ample fortune from all business concerns, with the exception of the Sheffield Banking Company, of which he was chairman for many years. Although an ardent liberal, he took little part in political affairs. On two occasions he stood for Sheffield as a “philosophic radical,” but without success. His life is for the most part a history of his numerous and varied publications. His books, if not of first-rate importance, are marked by lucidity, elegance of style and originality of treatment. He died suddenly on January 18 1870, leaving over £80,000 to the town of Sheffield. His first work, ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS, published HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY anonymously in 1821 (2nd ed., 1826; 3rd ed., 1837), attracted more attention than any of his other writings. A sequel to it appeared in 1829, ESSAYS ON THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH (2nd ed., 1844). Between these two were QUESTIONS IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICS, MORALS, &C. (1823), and a CRITICAL DISSERTATION ON THE NATURE, MEASURE, AND CAUSES OF VALUE (1825), directed against the opinions of Ricardo and his school. His next publications also were on economic or political subjects, RATIONALE OF POLITICAL REPRES ENTATION (1835), and MONEY AND ITS VICISSITUDES (1837), now practically forgotten; about the same time also appeared some of his pamphlets, DISCUSSION OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, RIGHT OF PRIMOGENITURE EXAMINED, DEFENCE OF JOINT-STOCK BANKS. In 1842 appeared his REVIEW OF BERKELEY'S THEORY OF VISION, an able work which called forth rejoinders from JS Mill in the Westminster Review (reprinted in DISSERTATIONS), and from Ferrier in Blackwood (reprinted in LECTURES AND REMAINS, ii). Bailey replied to his critics in a LETTER TO A PHILOSOPHER (1843), &c. In 1851 he published THEORY OF R EASONING (2nd ed.,1852), a discussion of the nature of inference, and an able criticism of the functions and value of the syllogism. In 1852 he published DISCOURSES ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS; and finally summed up his philosophic views in the LETTERS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN MIND (three series, 1855, 1858,1863). In 1845 he published MARO A POEM IN FOUR CANTOES (85 pp., Longmans), containing a description of a young poet who printed 1000 copies of his first poem, of which only 10 were sold. He was a diligent student of Shakespeare, and his last literary work was ON THE RECEIVED TEXT OF SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMATIC WRITINGS AND ITS IMPROVEMENT (1862). Many of the emendations suggested are more fantastic than felicitous. The LETTERS contain a discussion of many of the principal problems in psychology and ethics. Bailey can hardly be classed as belonging either to the strictly empirical or to the idealist school, but his general tendency is towards the former. In regard to method, he founds psychology entirely on introspection. He thus, to a certain extent, agrees with the Scottish school, but he differs from them in rejecting altogether the doctrine of mental faculties. What have been designated faculties are, upon his view, merely classified...” “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Samuel Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1791 July 5, Tuesday: Samuel Bailey was born in Sheffield, England, a son of the merchant Joseph Bailey with Mary Eadon Bailey. After education at the Free Writing School and the Moravian Settlement in Fulneck, Samuel would join his father’s business but soon would have accumulated enough wealth to be able to retire from most business activities, retaining only his involvement in the Sheffield Banking Company for which he would serve long-term as chairman. NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT Samuel Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1821 Samuel Bailey’s ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS was published anonymously and was well received. LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Samuel Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1823 Samuel Bailey’s QUESTIONS IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICS, MORALS, METAPHYSICS, &C. THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Samuel Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1825 Samuel Bailey’s A CRITICAL DISSERTATION ON THE NATURE, MEASURE AND CAUSES OF VALUE; CHIEFLY IN REFERENCE TO THE WRITINGS OF MR. RICARDO AND HIS FOLLOWERS BY THE AUTHOR OF ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS, &C. &C. (London, Printed for R. Hunter, St Paul’s Churchyard). BAILEY’S DISSERTATION THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Samuel Bailey HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1826 Samuel Bailey, who had helped found the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, became its President. He prepared an expanded 2d edition of his successful ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS (this is the edition that David Henry Thoreau would check out of the Harvard Library on September 16, 1834 and again on January 9, 1837). BAILEY’S OPINIONS He created a pamphlet of more than a hundred pages, entitled A LETTER TO A POLITICAL ECONOMIST. WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF Samuel Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1828 Samuel Bailey was elected a Town Trustee of Sheffield, England, an earnest decent town in which there’s seldom a cow out of place. DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD. Samuel Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1829 Samuel Bailey’s ESSAYS ON THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH, a sequel to his 1821 publication ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS. CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT Samuel Bailey “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1830 Samuel Bailey served again as the President of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society. HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1831 Samuel Bailey helped found the Sheffield Banking Society. An American edition of his revised ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS and his ESSAYS ON THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH was published in Philadelphia. He created a pamphlet of 55 pages, entitled DISCUSSION OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1832 Samuel Bailey was an unsuccessful “philosophical radical” candidate in the first election held in Sheffield, England. He would try one more time, and would again not win election, after which he would lose interest in politics. (In explanation of these losses at the polls, some have pointed to the general reputation of the Bailey family in Sheffield. The family name was associated by townspeople, perhaps due to the business practices of Samuel’s father Joseph and perhaps to do with the business practices of Samuel himself, with a form of barter system then termed “stuffing,” a barter system in accordance with which a common worker might often at the end of the workday find himself holding onto only the shitty end of the economic stick, having nothing to take home that evening with which to sustain his children — without, as President George W. Bush would express it, any “food to put on h is family.”) HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY 1834 September 16, Tuesday: David Henry Thoreau checked out, from Harvard Library, Samuel Bailey’s ESSAYS ON THE FORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF OPINIONS in its 2d edition of 1826 (he would check this volume out again). BAILEY’S OPINIONS HDT WHAT? INDEX SAMUEL BAILEY SAMUEL BAILEY Our guy also checked out the 1820 edition of Gasparo Grimani’s NEW AND IMPROVED GRAMMAR OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE, WITH COPIOUS EXERCISES, UNDER EVERY RULE AND OBSERVATION.1 (To which grammar was he going to pay more attention, the grammar of Italian or the grammar of Philosophy? We will find out whether this philosophy baked any bread.) 1. The record of the books Thoreau checked out from the Harvard Library during his Sophomore (1834-1835) and Junior (1835- 1836) school years is of particular interest to us, because Charging Book “D” of the “Institute of 1770”, the book which contained the record of Thoreau’s borrowings from that student club’s library, is missing.