No one will say that these were not actions of a living
agent, but the more normal, the healthier, and thus the more truly
living, the agent is, the less he will know or have known of his own
action. The part of our bodily life that enters into our consciousness
is very small as compared with that of which we have no consciousness.
What completer proof can we have that livingness consists in deed rather
than in consciousness of deed?
"The foregoing remarks are not intended to apply so much to vicarious
action in virtue, we will say, of a settlement, or testamentary
disposition that cannot be set aside. Such action is apt to be too
unintelligent, too far from variation and quick change to rank as true
vicarious action; indeed it is not rarely found to effect the very
opposite of what the person who made the settlement or will desired. They
are meant to apply to that more intelligent and versatile action
engendered by affectionate remembrance. Nevertheless, even the
compulsory vicarious action taken in consequence of a will, and indeed
the very name "will" itself, shews that though we cannot take either
flesh or money with us, we can leave our will-power behind us in very
efficient operation.
"This vicarious life (on which I have insisted, I fear at unnecessary
length, for it is so obvious that none can have failed to realise it) is
lived by every one of us before death as well as after it, and is little
less important to us than that of which we are to some extent conscious
in our own persons.
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