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Ifo. 419, A pbil 8, 1858] THE I* E A DE ...
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< iPfh>1*fT'htri> 3LU£lUlUlX * «.
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rwics are not thelegialators, but the ju...
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ftf, Emile Montegtjt, whose able contrib...
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The edition of Bacon by Shedding, Ellis,...
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After reading the sixth number of the Vi...
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ESSAYS AND REMAINS OF ALFRED VAUGHAN. Es...
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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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Ifo. 419, A Pbil 8, 1858] The I* E A De ...
Ifo . 419 , A pbil 8 , 1858 ] THE I * E A DE R . 327
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Rwics Are Not Thelegialators, But The Ju...
rwics are not thelegialators , but the judges ana police of literature . They do not D makelaws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Bdxnburgh Review .
Ftf, Emile Montegtjt, Whose Able Contrib...
ftf , Emile Montegtjt , whose able contributions to the Revue des Deux Monies we have often had occasion to notice , has just republished from that journal one of its most striking papers , under the title of Du Genie Frangais . On its first appearance in the pages of the Revue a few months since , the article justly excited a good deal of attention , and many will be glad to possess it in a more permanent form . It is a thoroughly philosophical and complete analysis of a most difficult subject—the peculiar temper , the characteristic genius of the French people . M . Mont ^ gtjt does not disguise from himself the perplexing nature of the problem he undertakes to solve . After stating that there is no country jnore easily judged of in appearance , more difficult to judge of in reality , and that the various judgments pronounced upon it may be ranged under two main divisions—that is , monarchical and revolutionary—he adds : —
The truth i 3 that France is a country of contradictions , being at once a daring innovator and an obstinate conservative , at once revolutionary and traditional , Utopian and formalist . There is no country in which things perish more quickly , none in which the remembrance of them survives so long . The French are a people revolutionary and traditional : revolutionary , because the changes they have experienced are more numerous than those of any other people ; traditional , because under all these changes the same spirit lives and breathes . These revolutions and transformations have a double character , which renders them altogether enigmatical ; they manifest themselves in a form so rash and impetuous as to surprise the judgment and disconcert the reason , and at the same time they have an appearance of simplicity and heartiness so singular , that , the first moment of surprise being over , you are astonished at your not having foreseen them , and at having thought that they could possibly happen otherwise . Another fact , not less her conditions
Btriking , is the unenviable facility with -which France changes of existence and of thought ; without effort , with no strain or compulsion , with no gradual accumulation of forces , no previous calculation of the difficulties of the work to be accomplished , or of the strength of the resistance to be encountered . As a skilful artist , who runs over on his instrument with the same indifferent enthusiasm the whole gamut of human feelings , the French genius passes without transition from one order of ideas to another with an ease that , while it confounds the observer and excites his admiration , at the same time fills him with alarm if not with disgust . He admires the plastic intelligence of the people among whom such metamorphoses are possible ; he trembles for its conscience ; he is indignant at its facile forgetfulness" and apparent ingratitude . Amongst other peoples political and moral revolutions are the work of time- "We see them dawn , develop themselves slowly , ingraft themselves on the past , or gradually the of transition from fact idea to another
usurp its place ; we sf > iz ° point one or one fact or another idea . In France nothing of the kind takes place . We pass from Bossuet to Voltaire without preparation and without any marked transition ; chivalric , bourgeois , monarchical , Catholic , revolutionary , atheistic , industrial by turns , Prance wears each of these costumes with so much ease , that you might imagine she had never worn any other , and plays each of these parts with such perfect sincerity , that you are tempted to believe the last is the only one which really belongs to her . This may be called the spirit of superior scepticism , indifferent to all things because it comprehends all equally ; or of transcendent epicurianism , loving change for the sake of pleasure , and variety from the relish of contrasts ; or , again , it may be called an artistic spirit , which regards things as good and moral , according to the position they occupy and the emotions they excite . It is nothing of the kind , however ; and this French genius , if fitted to disconcert both its friends and its enemies , is raised far
above such interpretations . The explanation of these apparent contradictions oifered by M . Montkgut is that the French have , as a nation , a passionate love of abstractions , and a practical tendency to realize without let or hindrance their successive ideals . This thesis is admirably worked out in a brief but suggestive sketch of the history and lite . rature of the nation . The writer shows that , despite all appearances to the contrary , progress is the law of its political life ; the aim of each successive revolution , however imperfectly realized , being a nobler and broader one than the last . The treatise is republished in an expanded form , mainly for the purpose of inspiring with hope and confidence those earnest and patriotic minds which , on a superficial view of its present state , may be tempted to despair of their country . In ' this point of view the publication of such a thoughtful and noblc-spiritcd dissertation is most seasonable just now . It is appropriately dedicated "To Thomas Caklyle , as a token of admiration for his great talent , and profound esteem for his character . "
The Edition Of Bacon By Shedding, Ellis,...
The edition of Bacon by Shedding , Ellis , and Heath may truly bo considered as a national work , and worthy of the illustrious writer whoso speculations nro still the source to which thinking minds of all nations repair , Tho fourth volume of this magnificent edition has just appeared . It contains ftew translations of tho Novttm Organum and tho Do Augmentk . Although no ono to whom Latin is oven tolerably iumilmr will ho satisfied with a translation of those works , tho original being at hand , so thoroughly had Bacon impressed bis own genius for lolioitous expression on that language , yet to tho mass of readers a translation was on many accounts dosirablo , and all former translations luivo been both inaccurate and inelegant . Tho new
translations whiqh , hftvo been executed by _ and u ^ dor tho superintendence of Mr . ~ T 3 jp edding , do not profess to be lttcniTly accurate , ' CuTratlior nslrnnslfTtibrisfo " bo road by themselves , everywhere carefully reproducing tho meaning , but sometimes varying tho expression , when tho meaning could thus bo moro clearly rendered . Tho rosult is iv very Baconian stylo , and perhaps a moro roadablo translation ; yet wo havo many doubts as to tho propriety of alteringftnd in somo oases ovon greatly improving—tho lunguago of an author so illustrious . Fidelity sooms to us tho first virtue in a translation . Wo lmvo gone through this volume , seducod by the charm of groat thoughts and noblo
expressions , and should not , unless by actual comparison , have detected any variation from Bacoit * s own words , so entirely has the manner as well as the spirit of the original been reproduced ; but on reaching down the Latin , and comparing several passages , we perceive that Mr . Spedding has allowed himself latitude in , expression while adhering closely to the sense . The fifth volume , which is shortly to appear , will complete the Philosophical Works- *—and a conspicuous place should be found for them in every student's bookcase .
After Reading The Sixth Number Of The Vi...
After reading the sixth number of the Virginians , we are much , mistaken if this sequel to Esmond be not the most carefully studied and the most elaborately wrought of all the creations of our great Humorist . The taste of the vulgar novel-reader , vitiated by the conventional garbage of the Circulating Library , is no doubt ill adapted to enjoy the exquisite felicities of an art so consummate in its manifestation , so perfect in its mastery of the secrets of simplicity— -JinisJied simplicity—tnat it drives the herd of ready mimics to despair , or lures them to destruction— ut sibi quivia
Speret idem '; sudet multum , frustraque laboret Ansus idem , tantuxn series juncturaqne pollet . What Byron . said of e easy reading' true of every form of art ; and when we say of a page of Thackeray that its peculiar charm is like the charm of good company—refined without affectation , simple without sacrifice of supe riority , familiar without loss of dignity , easy itself , and putting everybody else at ease—we must not forget how many natural and how many acquired advantages are summed up in so perfect a result .
Essays And Remains Of Alfred Vaughan. Es...
ESSAYS AND REMAINS OF ALFRED VAUGHAN . Essays and Remains of the Rev . JR . Al fred Vaughan . Edited , with a Memoir , bj-tbe Rev . Robert Vaughan , D . D . 2 vols . J- W . Parker and Son These Essays and fragments are not only interesting aspersonal memorials , but valuable as contributions to literature . Alfred Vaughan was among the most , remarkable of the younger writers of his day , and his principal work , Hours with the Mystics , belongs to a class of books unhappily too rare , uniting philosophic criticism with erudite research , and lighting up the long dim aisles of mysticism into which so few students have successfully penetrated . Dr . Vaughan , in editing these minor writings and prefacing them by a Memoir , has performed a labour of love , and has collected , with a pride in which all can sympathize , unsolicited testimonies to the worth ana genius of his son . Barn in 1823 , Alfred Vaughan never enjoyed a robust constitution - but in early life his mind bore the fruit of a brilliant promise ,
, and although addicted to the more fanciful forms of composition , and inclined to slight the study of metaphysics , logic , and psychology , he became gradually fixed in his devotion to ecclesiastical history . When twenty-two years of age , he wrote in the British Quarterly Review a treatise which was particularly noticed , on the life and works of Origen . To this Sir James Stephen objected , on the ground that the subject was ill-chosen and the material imperfect ; but he described the essay as in all respects masterly , and invited young Vaughan to undertake the task of revivifying ' the dullest book ever written , ' Cave ' s Lives of the Fathers of the Fourth Century Talfourd said , " It is nobly done . " From what Dr . Vaughan quotes , it is evident that his son ' s religious opinions passed shortly afterwards under , a partial eclipse ; but nothing of this remained when , during his five years * residence at Birmingham , he commenced and nearly completed his really of
distinguished book , Hozirs with the Mystics , based upon an aggregate uncommon lore , and concentrating in itself the many-coloured rays from old German , Spanish , Dutch , Italian , French , and Latin authorities . Without tracing beyond this point the general outlines of his career as a Christian minister and as a student , we may describe Dr . Vaughan ' s Memoir as a most just and touching tribute to the memory of a young man who deserved all that has been written to his praise , even the noble epitaph here inscribed upon his grave by his father ' s hand . The Essays and Remains are on varied subjects , but one class of research predominates . Origen , Schleierraacher , Savonarola , the Religious Developments of Greece , and Kingsley ' s I / ypatia , suggest the tendencies of the critic , who was sometimes compelled , as Sir James Stephen said , to build upon vacuity , and to compensate himself for the scarcity of materials by of which tood the
creating vast imaginary restorations , in the centre s figures of his prophets , saints , and sages . Thus , the review of Origin ' s life and works opens upon an epicurean picture of ancient Alexandria , rich and bright , with a reflexion of Pharaonic splendour . " This beautiful city was the Venus that arose out of all that idle foam of conquest . " The style of the younger Vaughan was originally exuberant , although its exuberance arose , not from the poverty , but from the superfluity of nis idoas . Illustrations and analogies thronged upon him as he wrote , and he endeavoured to marshal them in processional pomp , emblazoning Eastern history in Eastern gurp le . This habit was Bpeedily abandoned ; tho diction of the essay on chleiermacher is sober in comparison with that devoted to Origen , and in tho pungent commentary upon Mackay ' s Progress of tho Intellect tho rhetorical otfort entirely disappears . If we were suggesting to young critics wnicu
a model , we would point to this masterly piece ot writing , tnorougmy searches a voluminous and formidable book . Nothing could be moro practical than tho remarks on the plenitude of Mr . Mackay ' references , doposited like the sediment of unblended studios at tho bottom of every page , tipping every sentence with lenrnod numerals , revolving like the spcara ot XsiHic ^ nWry " ™^ doubts while they actually show the way to refutation . These cIouUb ot erudite dust will rise for any ono who chooses to shake the shelves in a library ; but it is one thing to oito and another to criticise . 1 no mind ot Alfred Vaughan woa too independent and luminous to be daunted by voices chattering from scholastic folios , or shadows thrown from mountains ot brown calfskin and Russian leather ; a few clear enunciations silenced the Babel , and at the prick of a pon tho vast pile of historical nomenclature collapsed . The truth is , that what this admirable young writer attempted
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 3, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03041858/page/15/
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