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¦ 'NY*. 427, May 29,1858.] TEE LEA1)ER,....
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rind academic character of the leading E...
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DOCTOR THORiNE. Doctor Thome: a Novel. B...
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.
¦ 'Ny*. 427, May 29,1858.] Tee Lea1)Er,....
¦ ' NY * . 427 , May 29 , 1858 . ] TEE LEA 1 ) ER ,. 519
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¦ ' . ' ' :. ¦ ¦ - ——•> 7 - ' . •/ ' ¦ ' . ' ' ¦ Critics are notthelegislatora . but the judges and police of literature . They do not makelaws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — ¦ EdinbvrohRnyieto .
Rind Academic Character Of The Leading E...
rind academic character of the leading Essays of the series may probably , however , in . part at least , be ascribed to design . University " Essays , it may be thought ,-ought to smack of their birthplace , and carry -with them a grave and learned aim , so that the authors and the public may judge according to a different standard . It seems , indeed , not even yet , in the fourth year of their existence , quite decided in -what light these volumes of "University Essnys should be regarded—whether as reviews , dispensing viih the formality of a text , and shorn of the editorial "we , " or as academic dissertations on special subjects of scarcely sufficient general interest for an ordinary review . Those who incline to the latter view might , perhaps , complain of some of the papers as too slight , while those who adopt tlic former may certainly object to many that they arc too heavy and scholastic both in subject and treatment . The volumes arc plainly designed to he what they really arc—if not exactly tentative reviews , yet collections of papers having very much the character of our ordinary reviews , only animated with a more direct personality , and . admitting-a more liberal selection of strictly academic subjects .
- ^ r- - The new volume of Oxford Essays sustains the reputation for sound scholarship and research , independent thought and criticism , wliich the series has acquired . Throughout , the substance of the Essays is solid , the only deficiency being , as in the previous volumes , in . the direction of style . This is , probably , in i > nvt a reaction against the straining after pointed and effective writing which vitiates a good deal of our periodical literature . But there is no need to injure a protest good in itself by carrying it to excess ; and , notwithstanding the serious homilies of a popularly written weekly contemporary against popular ¦ wri ting , ' we believe that it is quite possible to put the results of the soundest scholarship and the most original research into an attractive form . The sober
In the matter of style , however , the present volume is an improvement 011 some of its predecessors . The first essay , for example , on "The Poetry of Pope , " by Mi . Conixgt . o > , is written in a clear and attractive style . But the subject is not of overpowering interest , and the criticism , notwithstanding its excellence , is often too detailed and minute for general interest . The elaborate essay of Sir Ai / exandeb Grakt on " The A . ncient Stoics , " gives a connected and philosophical view of tlie . sect which reflects the liighest reach of Pagan thought and life in the direction of ethics and practical spirituality . The presence of a stoical element in modern religious sects is traced in the following passage :-=- ;
"While Stoicism passed away the Stoical spirit has continued , and still continues to reproduce itself iu the world . This spirit , in its extremist form , animates the various religious ascetics—Fakirs , Trappists , and the like . The Society of Jesxis , like the school of the Stoics , was founded by those the intensity of / whoso moral will was move prominent than the fineness of their intellect . The parallel presented by Calvinism m its external gloom and its liigh nccessarianism , to the Stoical system , has been already Irinted at , nml might-be followed out at Icngtii . The Puritans stood to the Cavaliers much as the Stoics to the Kpicurauis . "We might say tliut changing sides , the same spirit manifested itself in the recurring : austerities of the High-Church party , only liere the attention to ceremonial slio . wed a susceptibility to what ip external alien from the Stoical tendency . Stoicism is essentially abstract ; hence it is ungenial to tlic imagination and unfavourable to poetry . While the Epicurean school could boast
oi Lucretius as their poet , the ancient Stoics had only the crabbed satires of Tersius , and the rhetorical verses of Lucnn to set against him . In modern times two great works of tlio imagination have been claimed for the Stoical side , that is , for the Puritans ; namely , Umiyan ' s l ^ tgrcm ' s Prdt / res . i , and Milton ' s l \ irailise Latf . These works coining from such si source must be said to be exceptional ; though in the last resort no form of our religion is to be treated as if absolutely like Stoicism , or absolutely wanting in the objective element . However , in each of the works in question , traces of tlic spirit to -which we refer can be readily trnccd : in Uimynn the basis of the whole conception is abstract , it is a detailed picture or history of an inner life ; in iMilton , silpo , the imaginativeness is sublime , but cold and unearthly , and the inspiration is drawn rather from a rich loarnirg tliam from vivid impressions of external
life . Stoicism , while deficient in that sensuous impressiveness which is necessary for poetry , is , on the other hand , extremely suitable lor rlictoric , for splendid didactic preaching , for patriotic invocations , for historical tableaux . To this cause wo may attribute the partiality maniCi'sU'd by the French , that nation with such perfect rhetoric and so little poetry , fur ( lie ancient Stoics and all belonging to them . In fact , the works of Seneca road lik < i a fine luciich . sermon , and Cato junl Tlirasca -were a model U > the Girondists . On quite other grounds we in fly say that there is a Stoical lin ^ o al $ o in the English character . It mijdit be enough to allege that Puritanism is KngliKh ; but independently of religious feeling , the tendency " to shun delights and live laborious days , " to sncviliec life to an idea of success , this is Stoical because 11 is -abstract : ;
In the fifth essay , entitled "The Norsemen in Icrhmil , " Mr . JXvsent returns to liis early and familiar study , the language and lil crnfiiro of 1 hc North . English students of Scandinavian lilentlure arc already indehlcd to Mv . Das : enx for an excellent translation , of Ha . siJs j \ u , \ w ( inu ' / mutr , and I ho present lii . storical sketch of ( he dnring and riclily-giftcil race , vim ^ lob ; t lint nohlo Iniifrimgo will increase tlic obligation . He ' is evidently qviitc at home in Iceland , mid ( rents the sitlijoct , con amove throughout , the paper being , from its knowledge , enthusiusin , mul general vigour , the most interesting in the volume . llio i » ict . « nj of the old Norsemen , their home and way of life , ' their character and conquests , is broad , graphic , and picturesque . The i ' ollowing short , passage , touching what they did and how they did it , will illustrate I he spirit ol the nnper : — . trn / r " < ( ' Wns tllQ b 0 St tatr < tcuiction . lo bo tho son of a cMcf , but that in''' . "" ^ ' 7- «>•<* accident < if birth only rendered tho . dcmnnd of Micietv more cauwtin / j , A chief ' s ton thoulil be a chief liimself . Tell us what you can " , mul
-what 3 'ou . have done . ' It would have leen as good as no answer at all to say * " Well ! I have done nothing as yet , in fact I am not sure that I shall ever do anything at all , but my great-grandfather once did something . He was a great usurer , or general , or statesman , or lawyer . " But then that was a savage age . And so these " savages" spread themselves over the world to prove their natural nobility . In Byzantium they are the leaders of the Greek emperor ' s body-guard , and the main support of his tottering throne . From France , led by Rollo , they tear away her fairest province , and found a long line of kings . In Saxon England they are the bosom friends of suc h kings as Athelstane , and the sworn foes of Ethelred the Unready . In Danish . Eng land they are foremost among the thanes of Gaaute , Sweyn , and Hardicanute , and keep down the native population with an iron heel . In Norman England the most serious opposition the Conqueror meets with is from the colonists of his own ,. o settled in Northumbria . He wastes their lands with fire and sword , and drives
them across the border , where we still find their energy , their perseverance , and their speec h existing in ihc lowland Scotch . In Norway they dive into the river with Kin" - Olof Tryggvason , the best and strongest champion of his age , and "hold him down beneath the wave so long that the bystanders wonder whether either king or Icelan d ^ "will ever reappear on the surface . Some follow St . Olof in his crusades a gainst the old faith . Some are his obstinate foes , and assist at his' martyrdom . Manv follow Harold the Stern to England , when he goe 3 to get his " seven feet" of English earth , and almost to a man they get their portion of the same soil , while their names glow bright in song and story . From Iceland , as a base , they push on to Greenland and colonize it ; nay , they discover America in those lialf-decked barks . All this they do in the iirm faith that the eyes of the gods are upon them ; that the heroes who have . go » e before , Helgi and Sigurd and Eagnar , -will welcome them in Valhalla , and Brynliilda and the Valkyries greet them with bright looks , and hand them the mead-cup as Odin ' s chosen champions .
The last paper in the volume / by Mr . GotD-wjN Smith , is a lucid and instructive account of the / University reform movement at Oxford , its . growth , progress , and results , witli sagacious hints as to the directions in . which the movement must be still further developed in order to bring the University into working harmony with , the educational requirements of the day .
Doctor Thorine. Doctor Thome: A Novel. B...
DOCTOR THORiNE . Doctor Thome : a Novel . By Anthony Trollope , Author of " The Three Clerks , " " Barchester Towers , " & c . 3 vols . Chapman and Hall . A critic who in the due exercise of his function as " tiaster" for the unliterary world is engaged to give an opinion of all the cooked and spurious fermented , liquors daily imposed upon the ' public palate in the form of novels * fulfils a singularly ungrateful and unenviable office ; and one in the conscientious discharge of which the miseries endured by his own jaded lips and palled tongue are appreciated with almost equal injustice by the sensitive author and the facile reader of the customary three volumes . How
seldom , amidst all the golden Marsalas labelled " Sherry , " and the bee ' swinged logwood ticketed " Old Port , " do we get a taste of the real Port St . llary ' s and the veritable Oporto ? How seldom does the sour decoction confidently entitled ( in our ignorance of the French language ) Claret , resemble ever so faintly any growth whatsoever of the true Me'doc ? And yet , to judge by the conventional eulogies so liberally dispensed and so freely quoted , how common is the talent for writing fictions , " admirable , " " brilliant , " - " life-like , " " inimitable , " and we know not what besides ! Are there
critics so cold and so churlish as to deny to all but some half a dozen writers in a generation the possession of those faculties which in various degrees of combination may be supposed to be necessary to the production of a classic work of fiction ; in other words , of a work which , while it is eagerl y gulped down by the circulating library , shall be sipped with exquisite enjoyment by the discerning epicurean , and , after rending and re-reading , committed to a choice but not remote niche on the familiar shelf , as a dear and precious friend to cheer , console , animate , and refresh him in moments snatched from the outer world of'disenchanted dulness and trivial vulgarities ?
For our own part , we frankly feel and freely express our gratitude to these very few rarely gifted men ( or women ) whose names we can count off on our fingers ., and to whom we owe the most real , although it he fictitious and artificial , enjoyment of which our nineteenth century life ia susceptible . We bow tho knee with cordial recognition in the presence of Invention , Imagination , Description , Characterization , Incident , Interest , DeYioument , and all the other marvellous components of an original fiction worthy to become a classic in the land of Swift smd Sterne , of Fielding and Goldsmith ; we speak only of the Immortals , not of the illustrious living . Only think , ladies of the ready quill ( we appeal to liuly novelists in tlie first place
as outnumbering the gentlemen jackals of the circulating library much in tho same proportion as the stronger ( minded ) is wont to outnumber the wonltor ( wittcd ) sox nt ' fashionable watering-places)—only think for a moment , how rare that one faculty of Invention is among so-culled novelist . ' ' , not to speak of perception of character , constructive art , in th-e exposition , the collision , tlie evolution , the crisis , tho tlcnoument of all the ingenious knots and difficulties that have been suffocating us with impatience nnd emotion for nearly a thousand pages I Is this single faculty of Invention ( not to speak of all tho rest ) quite so common as . the genial writers of thoso obliging " notices" would luwe a debonair circulating library public believe ? Docs it "run the streets ? " as our lively neighbours would say .
Alas ! a retentive memory is something ditVcrent irom an inventive nnnginntion ; a ready pen , nibbed never so finely , inked never so bluekly , may be the tool of a tedious and barren phrase-maker ; mimicry is not art , nor arc /( tnlcccini ilesh nnd blood comedians ; feelings too . strong for grammatical utterance and rising above orthography are not always poetry or eloquence ; in short , to write a good fiction demands a little genius nnd not a little art . Let us not be misinterpreted . We do not presume to arrests fa J *( irlin / if . on the deluge of novels by a bint at the necessary qualifications for a npvelisfc ; avc simply draw the line between tho novels that ; demand criticism and novels that demand a " notice , " Wo av « heartily disposed to p lace the author of Doctor Thorite among the extremely select i'uvt who shine out liko a constellation among the unnumbered lesser luminaries oi' tho " circaluting" firinninont . HihUmmI , wo nre prepared to notno him among tlio illustrious living writers of fiction whom we « vo able to count oil upon our
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29051858/page/15/
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