On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (6)
-
738 THE LEADER. |Sa^pq >^
-
. ¦¦ tiitnUtt.
-
Critics are not the legislators, but the...
-
Dr. Macvicar, whose Enquiry into Human N...
-
French literature seems more and more re...
-
BROWNE'S HISTORY OF LATIN LITERATTRE. A ...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
738 The Leader. |Sa^Pq >^
738 THE LEADER . | Sa ^ pq >^
. ¦¦ Tiitnutt.
. ¦¦ tiitnUtt .
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not makelaws—they interpret and try to enfoxcethem . —Edinburgh Revttto .
Dr. Macvicar, Whose Enquiry Into Human N...
Dr . Macvicar , whose Enquiry into Human Nature was briefly noticed , in a recent article on English Philosophy , in these columns , has written a very temperate and courteous remonstrance to us , on our " misrepresentation" of his views . We must confess to being as unaccustomet do such a remonstrance , as to the courteous tone in which it is conveyed . We have received very many intemperate letters from indignant authors whom it has been our infirmity not sufficiently to admire ; but this is the first time , if memory serve us , we have had to bear the charge of misrepresentation . With whatever faults of judgment or of taste , we may have been chargeable , we think our readers will bear us out in claiming , at least , sincerity in the execution of a delicate , difficult , and thankless office . Adequately to represent the opinions of a book in the few paragraphs of a review , is scarcely possible ; but misrepresentation , either from carelessness or malevolence , is inexcusable . We print Dr . Macvicar ' s letter ,
therefore , as a matter of justice . "Sir , —I am sorry tbat . it was not till to-day that I have observed a notice in the Leader of a work lately published by me , for had I been fortunate enough to have seen it a week ago , and to have addressed you on the subject at a time when your remarks upon it may have possessed some interest to yourself , I am persuaded that I should not have urged upon you in vain to do my views somewhat more justice , at least in your statement to your readers , of what they are . It is true that I advocate a philosophy with which you appear to have * no sympathies ; but from a reviewer who is capable of writing the paragraph beginning with the word ' consider , ' and setting forth what is regarded by him as ' the capital distinction between inorganic and organic matter , ' I feel that I have a right to expect justice in the statement of my views , if my work is noticed at all .
" Wow , you represent me to your readers as rioting among entities , as believing iii will as a distinct entity superadded to mind , and also in inertia as an entity I am quite at a loss to understand how such hasty statements respecting my views could be allowed to escape you . Par from rioting among entities , as you charge me , it will be difficult to show that I advocate the existence of more than one kind of finite entity altogether , or two at the most ( see p . 32 etseq . ) . My views are equally simple with your own . They are , in fact , exactly the converse . You regard the phenomena of thought , and feeling , and conscious liberty , as products of a certain complex structure of material atoms . I regard inertia , chemical affinity , and the phenomena of matter generally , as products of a certain complex structure in elements , atoms , or monads , to which , when existing free and uncombined ,
thought , and feeling , and liberty , are more kindred ; and which , when they possess a certain quantity of being , do actually possess these faculties . You insinuate that I am too ignorant of physiology to venture on what I have undertaken . I should be happy to know what you refer to . In Chapter VI . I have ventured some remarks on the Organization , its structure and functions ; but I cannot help thinking that they are entitled to a different notice from the editor of the Leader than a mere insinuation of ignorance in the author . You also affirm that the reader slightly versed in such speculations , will recognise all my ideas as '
familiar faces . ' I am persuaded , however , that the analysis of the emotional system with the law laid down in page 120 , and the whole of the synthetic part of the work , which begins at Chapter IX ., are of such a nature , that it was only in haste that you characterized them as old and familiar , however much you may , on perusal , be still disposed to regard them as erroneous . To a total repudiation of them on your part I should cheerfully consent , if they were but stated fairly . And I cannot help thinking that a statement , by one of your talents and knowledge of the history of thought , of the philosophy laid down in the beginning of Chapter IX ., would not bo without interest to your philosophical readers .
" That I had not much worth saying by way of argument in favour of liberty , I will freely grant ( fov I have admitted it to be necessarily undemonstrnble ) , and I could only have wished that , if you wore disposed to allow ro much apace in eo talented a periodical as the Leader to an extract from my volume , you had chosen some fresher part , —such as those I have referred to in these remarks . But perhaps I am expecting too much in supposing that you will refer to the subject again . I cannot see , however , why tho doctrine of toleration should not bo extended to
philosophical ns well as to religious tliflerences . " If Dr . Macvicar were a reader of this journal he would scarcely have reminded us of the necessity for toleration . To go no farther than the articles in which bis work was mentioned , he may see Mr . Morell ., in spite of the widest differences , both of spirit and detail , receiving emphatic and unstinted commendation from us . If , therefore , it is not " philosophic intolerance' * which has made us unjust to Dr . Macvicar , what is it ? or have we really been unjust ?
On receiving his letter we were pained to think that very possibly we had done him the injustice of which he complains . For we remembered that the notice of his work was written long after the reading of it , and that , subsequent to the reading , we had been greatly and incessantly occupied in very different directions , so that , while a general impression of his work remained , many of the details bad necessarily been forgotten . Our notice was of that general kind . On recurring to , his . work , after receipt pf the letter , we do find that the analysis of the emotional system , to which he refers , is new , and , therefore , our sentence should hnve been modified from " the reader slightly versed in such speculations , will recognise them all as old familiar faces , " into " will recognise most of them . " Although not an ncccptable analysis we willingly rectify our statement , and declare it original ; but Dr . Macvicar , it seems to us , strangely dcccivca himself , in claiming , as original , the " grand law , " laid down at p . 120 .
" Tlmfc every Being in the univom : which in truly individualised , while in virtue of its conatitution it maintains its own specific form and characters , shall carry out this action to tho limits of the uphoro within which it can manifest itself ; and
therefore , first , in maintaining itself as an individual , shall tend to liken all ofchern to itself , more or less , according as they are originally more or less kindred a ^ analogous ; and secondly , shall of course tend itself also to be likened to them un . der the same law , by their influence upon it . This grand law can be here Onk announced . But let the reader study it for himself , he will find that all physic and philosophy is but a continued illustration of it , almost all the ascertained laws of nature but particular cases of it . In this place we have to consider it only ^ its bearing on the moral economy and sensibility of man . Andwhat is thisP Plainly , when viewed as operating upon a man from Without ; it is to the effect that all beings and things which manifest themselves to him , shall , at all events '
impress him with their likeness ; and possibly not merely impress their likeness on him , but move his feelings also in harmony with their own , more , or less , according as they are more or less congenial , or he more or less capable of a responsive move , ment . But to be thus impressed , what is it ? In the lowest degrees of the affection , i . e ., in reference to such objects as are most dissimilar to our own natures , is it not to obtain a concept , image , or representation of objects ? And , in referen co to those that are kindred to us , is it not to love them also ? Not alarm , therefore nor anger , is in the right order of emotive nature , but only love . Anger in the subject , to which alarm is the normal response in the object , is but the guardian and protector of love . "
That Like tends to Like philosophy has asserted from the time of Anaxagoras and Democritus , ( with their homceomerice , ) downwards ; but Like also tends to Unlike , as acids to bases , man to woman , nervous to lymphatic temperaments , & c . ; and an attempt to ground the emotions of alarm , anger , or love , upon such a " law , " would be as fruitless as to explain chemical combinations , on the principles of Democritus . The law is neither new nor true . Further , we are said to have charged Dr . Macvicar with believing in Inertia and Will as entities . He denies the charge , and we are bound to accept his own statement of his own opinions ; nevertheless , we cannot reconcile it with his printed declarations , pp . 35 , 139-40 , 41 , where both are as emphatically treated like entities as in any modern metaphysical work we could name . If we have misunderstood him , all that can be said
is , that on suck evidence we should do so again . Finally , as to our having tc insinuated ignorance . " This is a misapprehension of our words . f 'He endeavours to rescue Psychology , " we wrote , " from its threatened absorption into Physiology ; but > before he could hope to succeed in the . attempt , he must learn more of Physiology than he has at present mastered . " What is the insinuation there ? Before so delicate a problem can be even partially solved , a profound and comprehensive mastery of cerebral physiology is indispensable , just as a profound knowledge of Chemistry is necessary to the Biologist who would rescue Physiology from its threatened absorption into chemistry ; but it is no " insinuation of ignorance , " to assert that Dr . Macvicar has to learn more than he has at present learned , ( judging from this work , ) before he can hope to solve that problem .
We have devoted unusual space to this subject , but no reader can object to an injustice being rectified , and it is clear , from our admissions , that we were unjust to Dr . Macvicar , although not to the extent he supposed .
French Literature Seems More And More Re...
French literature seems more and more relying on republications , but , as these are issued in a cheap form , and generally unite widely scattered material into compact volumes , we in England have no cause to complain . Prosper Merim ^ e , for example , one of the few writers at once solid and sparkling , has republished his admirable Etudes sur VHistoire Romaine , on the Social War and the Conspiracy of Catiline , and a volume of Dramatic Episodes , Les Deux Heritages , in which will be found an animated reproduction of his historical work Demetrius the Impostor , in a dramatic form . Madame Emile Girardin has also collected her Nouvelles , among them La Canne de M . de Balzac , which made so much noise in its day ; and Paul Feval , the follower of Eugene Sue , without his Socialism , has given us , via Brussels , a new novel , ha Fore s t Noire .
Of a very different order is the Notions G 4 n 4 rales de Chimie , which the two celebrated chemists , Pelouze and Fremy , have compiled , for popular reading . It is an elementary work , addressed to all the world , and is noticeable as one among the many modern indications , of a democratisation of Science , which would make churches tremble , if churches were farsighted . Popular works of Science have been too often left in the hands of superficial and incompetent writers , not to make the appearance of authoritative writers in this field a cause of congratulation . We have only glanced at the work of Fremy and Pelouze , but have seen enough to recommend it as an excellent introduction to the study of chemistry .
Browne's History Of Latin Literattre. A ...
BROWNE'S HISTORY OF LATIN LITERATTRE . A History of Roman Classical literature . By R . W . Browne , M . A ., Professor of Classical Literature in King ' s College . Bontloy . Professor Browne has given a lucid , compendious , and useful , but not a critical , not a p hilosophical History of lloman Literature . Asa compilation it is carefully executed , and without ostentation ; but tho critics' 113 are too vnguo and general to bo of much service to the student , and too traditional to afford any interest to tho scholar . Thoso who desire a ch . rowork
nologicol survey of Roman Literature , in one volume , will find this worth putting on their shelves , tho moro bo because our literature is lamentably deficient in works of the kind . But the reader desirous ot gaining some insight into the historical questions raised by such a subject , the influonce of national life and character on the forms and spirit ol tno literature , tho consideration of litoruturo as " tho oxprossion of society ; or into tho nesthetical questions clustering round each of tho remark * 1 "' 0 names , the reader , wo say , desirous of insight in those directions will bo disappointed with Professor Browne ' s work . " In ovory work regard tho writer ' h end . " If tho end of this " History of Eomam Literature" bo simply to fumi *
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30071853/page/18/
-