| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 11 April 1893 |
ENGELS TO GEORGE WILLIAM LAMPLUGH
IN PORT ERIN (ISLE OF MAN)
London, 11th April 1893 122 Regent's Park Road, N. W.
My dear Lamplugh,
Thank you for dropping the formalities. I, as you see, do the same. We should have been very glad to see you and your wife and children here, but I know what London is to a man who visits it with his complete family and so we'll excuse you this time, but this is the last time we do excuse you.
I am glad your life as a surveyor suits you so very well. It must be a great relief to you after the boring work in the office and in the corn exchange of East Riding. I would like it for a short time too, but only for a short time. In the long run, I couldn't live without the hum of a big town. I have always lived in big cities. Nature is wonderful. I have always liked going back to her as a change from the movement of history, but History, after all, seems even more wonderful than Nature to me. It took Nature millions of years to produce conscious beings and now it takes these conscious beings thousands of years to act together consciously; conscious not only of their actions as individuals, but also of their actions as a mass; acting together, and effecting in common a common purpose, willed by them in advance. That end we are now on the point of attaining. And to watch this process, this approaching accomplishment of a thing never before attained in the history of our earth, seems to me a spectacle worth looking at, and for the whole of my past life I have been unable to turn my eyes away from it. However, it is tiring, especially if you believe you are called upon to co-operate in the process; and then the study of Nature comes in as a grand relief and remedy. For after all, Nature and History are the two components in which we live, move and have our being.
Kind remembrance from all friends here.
Ever yours
F. Engels