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ifoBBUAB* 17, 1855.] TEE LEADBB, l$l
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Oritica are not the legislators, but the...
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Oxfobd, we know, is stirring with new li...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Ifobbuab* 17, 1855.] Tee Leadbb, L$L
ifoBBUAB * 17 , 1855 . ] TEE LEADBB , l $ l
"~ /--%•? ¦ * ¦ T ' ¦ ' ¦¦ ¦ J Ctbwitot. ¦ ¦
ICiterirfutt
Oritica Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Oritica are not the legislators , but the judges and , police of literature . They do not make laws—1 > ney interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . ,
Oxfobd, We Know, Is Stirring With New Li...
Oxfobd , we know , is stirring with new life . Mr . J . W . Pabkeb , whose relations ' with the intellectual classes in the Universities ( for even in the capitals of learning there are classes not intellectual ) are intimate and frequent , conceived the happy thought of convincing an incredulous outward world ' of the energy of this new vitality . Accordingly , he appealed , we may suppose , to the freshest and most vigorous of the new race of thinkers in O xford and C ambridge , to furnish a goodly volume of essays , without any studied " unity of thought" in the publication , and free from the advocacy " of any particular set of opinions , theological , social , or political . " Happy and liberal Mr . Pabkjsb : \ £ he trim his sails to an occasional heresy , he has
always a Bishop in tow , and the shifting ballast of " Broad Church , " to preserve an even keel withal . Nothing like a vigorously inconclusive eclecticism to carry a little faith and a great deal of prudence a long way in these latter days I We take up with some eagerness this volume of Oxford Essays , and we lay it down with increased thankfulness that the Oxford we knew is passing away- Assuredly these essays will not startle the slumbers of conservatism ; quite the reverse : they have not disturbed us : on the contrary , we are indebted to them for a sensation of repose . But , however esteemed the literature of sedatives and soporifics may be in Oxford , we are compelled to add that the unlearned masses are apt to prefer the literature of stimulants and tonics . If these essays are to be taken as the best
that resident Oxford can produce , we . do not apprehend that the poor London hacks will soon be superseded . We remember a venerable Master of a college ( peace be to him !) who was wont to convene the undergraduates to hear the reading of collegiate essays , "because he said the habit of English composition was equally advantageous to the senator" ( with a nod to an ingenuous scion of the governin" class ) " and to the vestryman , " with a benevolent glance at the rest of the audience . Andrthe Master was right : the "habit of English
composition , " as developed in these _ Oxford Essays , is equally capable of making / a heavy senator and a dull vestryman ; The Essays ( with exceptions which we shall proceed to name ) cannot be said to be written in English , but in a sort of bald translation of bad Latin ; the style is involved cumbrous , ^ diffusive ,- —anything rather than light , pdpular , or readable . No _ doub OxTordtlisdainsto be light and popular ; but she mi g ht condescend to be readable . Now what shall we say to such a passage as the following : it is selected from an essay by Mr . F . T . Palgbave , Fellow of Exeter College , on the works of Airbed de Musset , the French Catumjts—a subject light
arid readable enough , in all conscience . Hear Mr . F . T . Palgbave , Fellow of Exeter College , on the Classical and Romantic Schools : Taking Corneille as the highest' classic , and the Henriade as the strongest example of " classical" exaggeration , when operating on a genius brilliant as Voltaire ' s , — whilst we recognise everywhere each writer ' s individual peculiarities , with the inevitableihfluences-of hisrage and country , —we yet feel thatneither . has _ relied _ onhisown genius . Imitation , that weakness of all weaknesses the most fatal , - seems never absent ; present in the Cid in proportions so slight , as to encourage " romanticists" to range that great drama earliest on the ranks of their system , —penetrating so completely Voltaire's pseudo-epic , that " classicists" themselves refrain from citing its authority . This imitation , it " may be argued , is merely of ancient form ; and even this limited to the " machinery" of the poem . But every work of Art is solely' an expression of thought ; substance determined in and by form—the inward revealed in the outward . True " form" or " order" fto quote Victor Hugo ' s famous Preface to
the Odes , where we may remark , that by speaking of " forme exterieure" as a thing separable from substance or thought , ; the writer shows his own rhetorical incapacity to comprehend the definition he aims at)— " L ' ordre re * sulte du fond merae des choses , de la disposition intelligente des elements intimes d ' un sujet . " ( P . xxil . ) Every poem ,, as a Whole , presenting the thoughts of an individual mind , will consequently require its own form ; the ideas clothed and realised in their own words ; the words grouped into metrical expressions the most appropriate in their meaning ; the entire system of metre invested with the configuration that most fully embodies the entire idea of the poet . We would not assort that this process exdudea resemblance to previous works . On the contrary , what gives meaning and interest to human productions is that wonderful identity that underlies ceaseless difference . But this resemblance , by the very fact that it proceeds from the " maker's" internal and formative impulse , remains yet absolutely original ; like Michael Angelo ' s Adam Created , that all but took the exact outline of the Theseus , hidden then on its native pediment from European eyes not less impenetrably than the sculptures of Nineveh .
Literature also underwent Us revolution ; within twenty years frantic under the Convention , classically courtier-liko under JTapolcon , reactionary and tyrannical . under Chateaubriand . Nor were foreign invasions absent ; and Shakspeare and Schiller entered France with Bluchor and with Wellington . Yet French literature regained strength and nationality earlier than Franco ; and the last ten or twelve years of the Bourbons saw the now Fourth Estate definitely established . The tendencies foreshadowed in Rene" had been followed jn the Meditations , and carried out in Notre-Dame ,. had , inspired Lelia , and wore shortly to be hurried to destructive excess in Monte Christo , and Lea Mt / stdres de Parts , Bdmanticistn was triumphant .
. When , as among the Athenians , perfect taste coexists by natural gift with treasures of genius by no other race so largely inherited , the most complete freedom will be combined with the nfost ^ finished order and moderation . Where , again , these gifts combined are co-existent also -with the youth of a nation , unalloyed by foreign elements and recollections of a former world , the power , with the temptation , of dwelling pn foreign themes ia impossible . Thus tt was with Athens . Modern Trance , incredulous of the present , and hence porplexed by the past , a country further pre-eminently
passionate of excitement , with modern . Europe at large , has forfeited the balance of harmony . What in the name of the unlettered many who are not Fellows of a College does all this magnificent phraseology propound ? Surely Mr . PjUe gbave uses language to disguise his thoughts , or we should be disposed td sum up our impression of these passages in a single monosyllable of Persian extraction . In judging the style of these Essays , we have selected * h « worst for a sample , but others ia this volume are almost equally defective in form . Mr . Pattisok , Fellow of Lincoln College , contributes a paper on . Oxford Studies , as modified and enlarged by the recent Reform Act , did * tinguished by its largeness and clearness of view , by its close and careful examination of the subject in all its phases , and b y its generous , liberal , an < 3
hopeful spirit . But this excellent Mr . Pattison , who may be accepted as a representative of the resident thought and culture of Oxford , writes like a Schoolman in long clothes . Now , what has Oxford taught its teachers , jj riot the manipulation of words ? We pass over the . article on HegbIi ' s Philosophy of Might z it was impossible to make that readable ; the nalveti shown in the choice of such a topic is only surpassed by the evident sympathy for the unintelligible which the interpreter of the great German displays . " We believe , " says Mr . T . C . Sandabs , Fellow of Oriel College ^ in producing the Philosophy of Right to the public , " that no attempt has been made to familiarise the English public with its contents . * Mrj , Sanz > abs is doubtless unaware that the best History of Philosophy has not come from Oxford . > - ., ¦/; . >
Mr . John Phujups , the Deputy Reader on Geology , supplies a paper on the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Oxford , which has the merit of faithful and accurate knowledge , and of local affection . We believe Mr Phii-mfs to be a deservedly-popular professor : even the ladies in Oxford , , more learned than gentlemen out of Oxford , attend , his lectures , and share the privileges of University education . ' " £ Mr . Thomson , Fellow of Queen ' s College , writes on " Crime and it * Excuses , " in a straightforward and sensible manner ; the subject , however , is not novel , nor is the treatment thereof in this Oxford essay , ekcept for its characteristic appeals to Abistoti ^ m "" : . . . , '
A paper on Persian Literature , by Mr . Coweix , of J ^ ag dalen Hall , deserves to be noted for its fulness and variety- of iUustrationj as well a * for its bright and unpedantie style , but the subject is not unfamiliar to the readers of reviews of inferior pretensions . a ^ _ We have now to speak of the three best essays in this vorame--essaj ^ which would do honour to any parentage . But their superiority can hardly be ascribed , with justice , to Oxford influences . ^ ¦ " ¦ ¦" . ' ' ' The two essays in this volume most remaxkabie for the subject , the treatment , and the style , are by Ba-lliol men . We are glad ta find Balliot maintaining its supremacy in thought and scholarship ., In every , field <> f distinction this college is foremost ; in every ir iilllectual arena within tfcg University and without , Balliol carries off the palm . To have preserved this
distinction , not only must the tutors of the college be men of rare faculty and devotedness , not only must the prizes of the college be open to all merit ; there must be a vital sympathy between the teachers and the learners , arnoble emulation of tutor and pupU , Jan . ^ become a tradition of the Society , and which , if extended to all the colleges j would render Oxford independent of external reforms . Mr . Skixab ' sI Essay on Lucretius and the Poetic Characteristics of his Age , is simply admirable . It is of the very highest order of thought , feeling , and scholarship . ' The learning is vast , various , and profound , but it sits upon the essayist like ' an easy and graceful garment , and is never an ostentatious encumbrance , never an impediment , never a substitute for originality , always an ornament and an illustration . It ia at once perceived that the writer has *
thoroughly identified himself with his subject , entered into it with his whole heart and brain , assimilated the heart and brain of the author whom he interprets with so broad and deep a sympathy . The faculty of sympathy , it has been finely said , is also the faculty of creation , and this faculty Mr . Selx . ab possesses in a very eminent degree . The great poetphilosopher of Rome has never been made known to us before : thanks to Mr . Sbli-ab , we are permitted to know Lucbktius as he thought , suffered , dreamed , doubted , aspired , and lived . In this essay Mr . Sejulab appears in the triple quality of a poet , an historian , and a philosopher ; iu eaoh , he is abundant without diffusiveness , learned , without pedantry , tolerant without indifference . We shall hope to meet with so rare a critic again . The species ia rare .
Mr . Hbnby J . S . Smith , another Balliol man , discourses on a subject which may bo considered to belong . by right to the other University . But the appearance of a paper on the highest speculations of science ( not Arur totle ) in a volume of Oxford essays , is at once characteristic of the new movement in that University , and of the college to which the writer belongB . j This essay on the Plurality of Worlds , in which the writer passes in review , with sustained calmness of judgment and unfailing sobriety of temper , the ; rival " theologians , " Dr . Whewbli . and Sir David Bbewsteb , would do no . discredit to any signature , however mature in science . The enunen ^ thep logical disputants jn question would do well to stud y , at letet , , $ e attitude df thought preserved with equal grace and dignity by , # » eir young
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 17, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17021855/page/17/
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