Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_; boldface text is enclosed in =equals signs=. RIVERSIDE ESSAYS EDITED BY ADA L. F. SNELL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE Riverside Essays Edited by Ada L. F. Snell =THE AMERICAN MIND AND AMERICAN IDEALISM.= By Bliss Perry. 35 cents. =UNIVERSITY SUBJECTS.= By John Henry Newman. 35 cents. =STUDIES IN NATURE AND LITERATURE.= By John Burroughs. 35 cents. =PROMOTING GOOD CITIZENSHIP.= By James Bryce. 35 cents. _Prices are net, postpaid_ _Other titles in preparation_ HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO The Riverside Literature Series PROMOTING GOOD CITIZENSHIP BY JAMES BRYCE [Illustration] BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY ADA L. F. SNELL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED R. L. S. 227 The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A CONTENTS INTRODUCTION vii INDOLENCE 1 HOW TO OVERCOME THE OBSTACLES TO GOOD CITIZENSHIP 26 The two essays by Mr. James Bryce included in this volume are reprinted by permission of Yale University from Mr. Bryce’s lectures on the Dodge Foundation, published in book form by the Yale University Press under the title of _The Hindrances to Good Citizenship_. INTRODUCTION Mr. Bryce has for a long time been a man of international prominence. His wide influence is undoubtedly due to many causes, but it may, in general, be traced to two characteristics: Mr. Bryce is a humanist who sympathetically watches the progress of nations and the guiding of governments; he is also a historian. In his biographical study of John Richard Green he has skillfully analyzed the aptitudes of the historian, and in so doing has pointedly, if unwittingly, described himself. Accuracy, he says,--a desire for the exact truth,--keen observation, sound judgment, imagination, and, following inevitably from these, command of literary exposition, are the powers which a historian needs. Each of these qualities Mr. Bryce himself possesses in large measure. It is his historical power, enabling him to observe and record the significant phases and events of human life, plus his sympathetic interest in its present-day manifestations which explain, in some degree, his singularly eminent position as an authority on matters pertaining to human institutions in various countries.