ABSTRACT
Sir John Lubbock's book, The Use of Life, was published in October 1894. It consciously built upon the themes developed in The Pleasures of Life, and attempted to respond to some of the criticisms of the earlier book. The Stoicism that Lubbock drew from the works of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius is less explicit as the basis of The Use of Life than it had been in The Pleasures but it is very much present in the background, in the emphasis on the Victorian conceptualization of manliness. Lubbock included chapters on Patriotism and Citizenship, which provide some insights into the philosophy that underpinned his attitudes to the Union and Empire. Lubbock's mental activity was leading him not only in the direction of new avenues of scientific enquiry but also to trying out new technologies in a practical sense. Lubbock's protestations, however, fell on deaf ears, and the bill passed into law.
