In distributing on Wednesday the certificates and prizes obtained by
the workmen of the Woolwich Arsenal in the Art and Science classes held there, the Secretary of War, Mr. Gathorne Hardy, took occasion to remark that intellectual work is a relaxation from manual work, just as manual work is from intellectual. He quoted an anecdote of the Dean of Westminster's, of a Norwich shoemaker of large attainments and considerable intellectual force, who said that after a spell of study no relaxation was greater " than to turn out a good shoe ;" and so Mr. Hardy thought that to the workmen of the Arsenal the study of Art and Science must be a great relaxation, after turning out a good gun. Mr. Hardy may be right, and certainly it is a remark constantly made, that occupations different in kind from those
which form the business of life, furnish with the best relaxation. But the rule does not apply to everybody, and we ven- ture to think that in a large number of cases it will be found. that the greatest relaxation is gained in occupations similar in kind as to those of the working life, and different only in having a certain dramatic novelty and freshness of aspect. Thus the statesman who is weary of the House of Commons seems posi- tively to enjoy making speeches in answer to city corporations who present him with an honorary burgess-ship. So, the artist delights in arranging tableaus vivants; and the diplomatist in a little desperate gambling. Again, the calcidating mind takes its delight in chess, and the sportsman in lawn tennis or cricket. In fact there is a good deal more uniformity between a man's business and his pleasures, than the theorists on amusement will usually admit.
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