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June 14, 1851.] Wfrt ft * &'* * *« 561
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BAILEY'S TIIKOKY OK UIIASONING. The Theo...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mrs. Ditowninf. H Nkw I'Okm. Casa <7ui<L...
Of consecrated heroes of the south ' s Bright rosary ? The pitcher at the fount , The gif t of gods , being broken , —why , one loathes To let the ground-leaves of the place confer A natural bowl . And thus , she chose to seem No nation , but the poet ' s pensioner , "With alms from every land of song and dream ; W hile her own pipers sweetly piped of her , Until their proper breaths , in that extreme Of sighing , split the reed on which they played Of which , no more : but never say ' no more ' To Italy ! Her memories undismayed , Say rather ' evermore '—her graves implore Her future ; to be strong and not afraid—Her very statues send their looks before ! "
The least sensitive of critics must , we think , appreciate the power of expression manifest in that passage . She does not , however , follow in the dilettante error of keeping her admiration fixed upon the past , and the illustrious dead who should stimulate to rivalry , not overshadow and oppress by their greatness : — The dead upon their awful vantage ground—The sun not in their faces—shall abstract No more our strength . Respect for them ! but respect also for the living forces which in their turn will take rank among the dead : — 'Tie true that when the dust of death has choked
A great man s voice , the common words he said Turn oracles . But we are not to grow supine , and live like modern nobles on the achievements of our forefathers : — " The emphasis of death makes manifest The eloquence of action in our flesh ; And men who , living , were but dimly guessed , " When once free from their life ' s entangled mesh , Show their full length in graves , or even indeed Exaggerate their stature , in the flat , To noble admirations which exceed Nobly , nor sin in such excess . For that
Is wise and righteous . We , who are the seed Of buried creatures , if we turned and spate "Upon our antecedents , we were vile . Bring violets rather ! If these had not walked Their furlong , could we hope to walk our mile ? Therefore bring violets ! Yet if we , self-baulked , Stand still a-strewing violets all the while , These had as well not moved , ourselves not talked Of these . So rise up with a cheerful smile , And , having strewn the violets , reap the corn , And , having reaped and garnered , bring the plough And draw new furrows ' neath the healthy morn , And plant the great Hereafter in this Now . "
Noble writing , some of this ; but the whole of the first part is inferior , we think , to the second , written three years afterwards , in 1851 , when all the hopes of Italy had been frustrated , when it seemed as if Italy did— Only sing of beauty As little children take up a high strain , With unintentioned voices , nnd break off , To sleep upon their mothers' knees again . What a charming image ! how tender in its scorn ! Something less delicate but not less forcible , is in this passage of sarcasm painting the braggadocio spirit : —¦
' How grown men raged at Austria s wickedness , And smoked , —while fifty striplings in a row Marched straight to Piedmont for the wrong's redress Who says we failed in duty , we who wore Black velvet like Italian democrats , Who slashed our sleeves like patriots , nor forswore The true republic in the form of hats i We chased the archbishop from the duomo door—We chalked the walla with bloody caveatn Against all tyrants . If we did not fight Kxactly , we fired muskets up the void To show that victory was ours of right . Wo met , discussed in every place , self-buoyed
Kxeept , perhaps , i' the chambers , day and night We proved that ull the poor should be employed , And yet the rich not worked for anywise , — Payers certified , yet payers abrogated , Full work secured , yet liabilities To over-work excluded , — not one bated Of all our holidays , that still , at twice Or thrice a-week , are moderately rated . We . proved that Austria was dislodged , or would Or should be , and that Tuscany in arms Should , would , dislodge , her , in hii / h hardihood ! And yet , to leave our piazzas , shops , and farms , For the bare sake of fighting , was not good . We proved that also— ' Did we carry charms
Against being killed ourselves , that we should rush On killing others ? What , desert herewith Our wives and mothers !—was that duty ? Tush ! At which we shook the sword within the sheath , Like heroes—only louder 1 and the flush Kan up our cheek to meet the victor ' s wreath . Nay , what we proved , wo shouted—how we Hho \ it « ' * l
( Especially the little boys did ) planting That tree of liberty whose fruit is doubted Because the roots are not of nature ' s granting—A tree of good and evil!—none , without it , Grow gods !—alas , and , with it , men were wanting . " Is not that glorious writing , the indignation tempered by wit turning the rude iron into bright steel ? And in another strain how fine is this outburst upon that penny trade sophism—spawned by the Manchester School upon a real though misguided philanthropy—the Peace Agitation : — " A cry is up in England , which doth ring The hollow world through , that for ends of trade And virtue , and God ' s better worshipping ,
We henceforth should exalt the name of Peace , And leave those rusty wars that eat the soul—( Besides their clippings at our golden fleece ) . I , too , have loved peace , and from bole to bole Of immemorial , undeciduous trees , Would write , as lovers use , upon a scroll The holy name of Peace , and set it high Where none should pluck it down . On trees , I say , Not upon gibbets !—With the greenery Of dewy branches and the flowery May , Sweet mediation ' twixt the earth and sky , Providing , for the shepherd ' s holiday !
Not upon gibbets!—though the vulture leaves Some quiet to the bones he first picked bare . Not upon dungeons ! though the wretch who grieves And groans within , stirs not the outer air As much as little field-mice stir the sheaves . Not upon chain-bolts ! though the slave ' s despair Has dulled his helpless , miserable brain , And left him blank beneath the freeman ' s whip , To sing and laugh out idiocies of pain . Nor yet on starving homes ! where many a lip Has sobbed itself asleep through curses vain ! I love no peace which is not fellowship , And which includes not mercy . I would have , Rather , the raking of the guns across
The world , and shrieks against Heaven s architrave . Rather , the struggle in the slippery fosse , Of dying men and horses , and the wave Blood-bubbling . . . . Enough said!—By Christ ' s own
cross , And by the faint heart of my womanhood , Such things are better than a Peace which sits Beside the hearth in self-com mended mood , And takes no thought how wind and rain by fits Are howling out of doors against the good Of the poor wanderer . What ! your peace admits Of outside anguish while it sits at home ? I loathe to take its name upon my
tongue—It is no peace . 'Tis treason , stiff with doom , — 'Tis gagged despair , and inarticulate wrong , Annihilated Poland , stifled Rome , Dazed Naples , Hung . try fainting 'neath the thong , And Austria wearing a smooth olive-leaf On her brute forehead , while her hoofs outpress The life from these Italian souls , in brief . O Lord of Peace , who art Lord of Righteousness , Constrain the anguished worlds from sin and grief , Pierce them with conscience , purge them with redress , And give us peace which is no counterfeit ! "
We must tear ourselves away from this record of hopes , shared with all the generous , to be afterwards so cruelly disappointed by the turn of events . It is a noble poem : full of sustained impassioned music and delicate imagery , with abundant faults for the querulous to crow over , but so lofty in sentiment , and so thoroughly poetical in execution , that criticism runs into eulogy .
June 14, 1851.] Wfrt Ft * &'* * *« 561
June 14 , 1851 . ] Wfrt ft * & ' * * *« 561
Bailey's Tiikoky Ok Uiiasoning. The Theo...
BAILEY ' S TIIKOKY OK UIIASONING . The Theory of Reasoning . Hy Samuel Dailey . Longman nnd Co . The problem of our intellectual constitution , of the laws of thought and reasoning , and the foundations of human certainty , is one of such essential interest , tluit even tho dry formalism of the scholastic logic has not been able altogether to repel inquirers from its study . Of this fact wo have evidence in the increasing number of treatises on the Theory or the Art of Reasoning , which the last few yeans have produced . Among such we arc disposed to tfive an honourable place to the work
before us . It is manifestly tho production of an original mind . Ita object is not the exhibition of technical forma and canons , but of those general principles of which all special forms of inference are exemplifications . In endeavouring to accomplish this design the author has displayed much sound judgment and discrimination . lie has also , as it appears to us , met a popular and really fell , want . There are many minds , not unversed in general literature and science , which have been deterred by the apparently forbidding aspect of this class of ( studies from engaging in their pursuit , and yet feel that they possess hi ^ li claims . To such we can with confidence recommend the present
treatise . It contains , we think , not the whole truth of the matter , but much of what is most important , presented in an agreeable form , and aptly illustrated from sources of unquestionable general interest . The fate of logic has , indeed , been ' remarkable . Before the physical sciences were heard of , it sprang up to what , even now , is almost universally considered its full stature . Its nomenclature , its forms , its technical rules and distinctions , were fixed mainly upon the authority of a single mind at a period when astronomy was but a collection of
rude observations and still ruder conjectures . How different has been the progress of the two sciences If the intellectual efforts which have been expended on each are compared , it may be doubted whether the balance would not incline to the side of logic . More than two thousand writers on this subject , from the days of Aristotle to the present time , are said to be recorded , not to mention those whose names and memories have utterly perished . Yet while the career of astronomy , since its emancipation from the trammels of the schools has been one
of increasing light and power , the other seems to have been destined to move ever in the same narrow round of iteration . Of the evils resulting from the abuse of authority , or from an excessive attachment to ancient systems , there are far more striking examples than are presented in the history of logic . Against these Mr . Bailey ' s work is an admirable protest . It could scarcely happen that one set of the forms of reasoning should prevail for many ages , serving as types to which no inconsiderable body of writers have endeavoured to conform in their practice
without its at length being believed that these forms were universal . Such a claim has , indeed , always been maintained for them by the vast majority of logicians ; and , perhaps , they have no more strenuous , certainly no more ingenious or learned advocate than the Archbishop of Dublin . According to this theory all reasoning is reducible to the syllogism in form , to Aristotle ' s famous dictum de omni et nullo in principle . The mind , in every process of demonstrative inference , is solely occupied in applying this one axiom—" Whatever is affirmed or denied of all the members of a class A , in which class an individual B is formed , is affirmed or denied of the individual B . " These
exclusive claims Mr . Bailey unequivocally rejects Much that he has said upon this subject is in agreement with the views of Stewart , Mill , and others , We will , however , exhibit the many points of his doctrine , using for the most part his own words . Mr . Bailey defines reasoning as a " determination of the mind to the belief of something beyond its actual perception or knowledge . " He resolves it into two species , viz ., demonstrative and contingent , the latter term being used in the sense of what is more commonly termed moral or probable reasoning . The grounds of objection to the latter terms are thus stated : —
" To the term moral there is the objection that it is already used in several acceptations ; and , further , that the reasoning so designated frequently relates to purely physical or material subjects . To the term . probable there is the objection that it is usually employed in the sense of likely , and is qualified by epithets expressive of degrees . Cases might easily be imngined in which these two senses would clashe . g ., it might happen that we should have to prove by probable reasoning that an event was exceedingly improbable . "
To the term contingent we think it might , on the other hand , be objected that it is liable to be confounded with hypothetical or conditional , which have already a definite and understood application , in certain forms of demonstrative syllogism . Nor do we perceive that there is much real weight in the objection against the word probable . If probable reasoning is sometimes used to show that an event ; is improbable , equally often is demonstrative reasoning used to show that a proposition is false .
It is , in fact , impossible to prove the probability of a given event without proving the improbability ol its non-occurrence , just , as it , is impossible to prove the truth of a given proposition without proving the falsehood of its contrary . Sonic clashing between the popular and tho . scientific use of the word probable can scarcely be avoided , but the student is in less danger of being nnslcd by it than in almost any other of tins innumerable cases in which philosophy has had to borrow it , s language from common discourse .
Mr Hailey ' . s theory of Contingent Reasoning ia briefly an follows . — " I am walking on the seashore , and perceiving ft quantity of seaweed lying <>•> « he bench , while tho water ia at the moment a < iuurtt : r of u mile from it , I
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 14, 1851, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14061851/page/13/
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