SELECT POETRY.

Southland Times, Issue 867, 18 December 1867, Page 3

SELECT POETRY.

» STUART MILL ON MIND AND MATTER. We take from the pages of Blackwood, the following sparkling poetical critique on a portion of Mr Mill's philosophy as developed by the brilliant M.P. for Lambeth, in his recent work on Sir William Hamilton's philosophy. Mr Mill's words are *.— " Matter, then, may be defined a Permanent Possibility of Sensation," p. 198. "The belief I entertain that my mind exists, when it is not feeling, nor thinking, nor conscious of its own Existence, resolves itself into the belief of a Permanent Possibility of these states. . . . The Permanent Possibility of feeling, which forms my notion of myself." — Pp. 205, 206. Stuart Mill, on Mind and Matter, All our old Beliefs would scatter ; Stuart Mill exerts his skill To make an end of Mind and Matter. The self-same tale I've surely heard, Employed before, our faith to batter : Has David Hume again appeared, To run a-muck at Mind and Matter. David Hume could Mind and Matter Ruthlessly assault and batter : Those who Hume would now exhume Must mean to end both Mind and Matter. Now mind, now Matter, to destroy Was oft proposed, at least the latter : But David was the daring boy Who fairly floored both Mind and Matter. David Hume both Mind and Matter, While he lived, would boldly batter t Hume to Mill bequeathed by Will His favorite fued with Mind and Matter. Men think they see the Things that be ; But truth is coy, we can't get at her ; For what we spy is all my eye, And isn't really Mind and Matter. Hume and Mill on Mind and Matter Swear that others merely smatter ; Sense reveals that Something feels, But tells no tale of Mind or Matter. Against a stone you kick your toe ; You feel 'tis sore, it makes a clatter ; But what you feel is all you know Of toe, or stone, or Mind, or Matter. Mill and Hume of Mind and Matter Wouldn't leave a rag or tatter ; What although we feel tbe blow ? That doesn't show there's Mind or Matter. We meet and mix with other men, With women, too, who sweetly chatter : But may 'nt we here be duped again, And take our thoughts for Mind and Matter ? Sights and sounds like Mind and Matter, . Fairy forms that seem to chatter, May be gleams in Fancy's dreams • Of men and women, Mind and Matter. Successive feelings on us seize (As thick as falling hailstones patter) , The Chance of some return of these, Is all we mean by Mind or Matter. Those who talk of Mind and Matter Just a senseless jargon patter ; What are We, or you, or he ? — Dissolving views, not Mind or Matter. We're but a train of visions vain, Of thoughts that cheat, and hopes that flatter : This hour's our own, the past is flown ; The rest unknown, like Mind and Matter. Then farewell to Mind and Matter : To the winds at once we scatter Time and Place, and Form and Space, And You and Me, and Mind and Matter. We banish hence Reid's Common sense ; We laugh at Dugald Stewart's flatter ; Sir Wilham too, and Mansel's Crew, We've done for You, and Mind and Matter. Speak no more of Mind and Matter * Mill with mud may else bespatter All your schools of silly fools, That dare beheve in Mind or Matter. But had I skill, like Stuart Mill, His own position I could shatter : The weight of Mill, I count as Nil — If Mill has neither Mind nor Matter. Mill when minus Mind and Matter, Though he make a kind of clatter, Must himself just mount the Shelf, And there be laid with Mind and Matter. I'd push my logic further still (Though this may have the look of satire) : I'd prove there's no such man as Mill — If Mill disproves both Mind and Matter. If there's neither Mind nor Matter, Mill's existence, too, we shatter: If you still beheve in Mill, Beheve as well in Mind and Matter.