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112 THE LEADER. [No. 858, Saturday ,
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¦ ¦ —-?"¦ — . • Critics are not the legi...
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¦ . ¦ . ¦ . ?— ¦ — It is amusing to watc...
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Sometime ago we had occasion to discuss ...
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NEW EDITION OF CARLYLE. The WorTcs of Th...
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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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112 The Leader. [No. 858, Saturday ,
112 THE LEADER . [ No . 858 , Saturday ,
/^? Jl. Vi - V I_ 4 . ≪ . Jlxlvlu-Iur?* R Do
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¦ ¦ —-?"¦ — . • Critics Are Not The Legi...
¦ ¦ — - ? " ¦ — . Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
¦ . ¦ . ¦ . ?— ¦ — It Is Amusing To Watc...
¦ . ¦ . ¦ . ?— ¦ — It is amusing to watch the war of epigrams in . France ; All free speech being interdicted , all discussion closed , nothing but epigram and allusion remains to express the national contempt . The flatterers of Louis Napoi » eon having used with effect the magical name of Cmsar , his antagonists have retorted with greater effect the contemptible name of the CLesabs ; not the empire in its palmy , but the Empire in its ignoble days , is the parallel they choose . In
tlie Bevue des Deux Mondes a series of admirable articles has appeared , signed by the -well-known name of Ampere , treating of " Roman History in Rome , " and sketching the portraits of the Emperors ? nor -while indulging thus in literary amenities , has M . Ampere lost the many opportunities afforded him of indirectly speaking bis mind about Prance and her rulers . The articles have made a sensation . ' Allusions have been read in them which have been , repeated and commented on -with delight . In the last number there are several stinging sentences . For example , M . Ampere begins by remarking on the singular abuse of language which styles the twelve absolute masters of Rome the " twelve Cjesars . " The truth being , as he says with terrible distinctness ,
that " ( lassab ( Napoleon ) did not found a dynasty , he had but one heir . " Tjcbere successeurdu petit-neveu de Cesar , rf ' a plus rien de son sang , . . Ciatjde , Caiaotla , Kekou , sont deja Us elus de la soldcctesque . Nay more , he adroitly remarks that the descendants of Augustus had . all of them something of that fine Caesar-like profile -which , by a strange caprice of fortune , the first ^ French Umperor exhibited after so many centuries . TSTho can help thinking of the grand physiognomy of Napoleon the Gee at , and the stolid , stupid profile of Napoleon the Iiittle ? With Gauba , we are slily told , a new series commences , empereurs d ^ aventure , qui n'ont plus line gouttedusang d'Augusfe ef dont les traits sont notcveaux comme Vorigine . In the same Revue there is au interesting criticism of Bossttet , Bouedalottb , and Massiilon , by Nisabd , and an article on Italy by M . C . Gotjraud .
Sometime Ago We Had Occasion To Discuss ...
Sometime ago we had occasion to discuss the " Argument from Design ;" otir positions were impugned by Dr . McCobmac in a letter which was unfit for insertion , as every one will see who takes the trouble to read it in : his pam - phlet " Two Letters to the Editor of the Leader ( in the Theory of Final Causes . " He was so little aware of the impropriety of his letter , that he sent it to an Irish newspaper , determined to see himself in type . Sincethenhe has written another letter , which however he did not send to us ; and both these extraordinary productions are printed in the pamphlet just named . Extraordinary they are , in the power of misapprehension they display . "We said , incidentally , that John Henby Newman , and Kant , both repudiated the teleological argument . Whereupon Dr . McCohjeac writes to Francis (!)
Newman , and quotes with great triumph his declaration that he , Francis , does not repudiate that argument . This may be Irish logic , but in England it has a droll effect . Dr . Cumming might imitate it , and inform the world that John Henry Newman does not believe in Papal infallibilty , for Francis Newman emphatically repudiates it . Something of the same felicitous inquiry is visible in his efforts to get at Kant ' s opinions . Since I had the pleasure of addressing you , I have devoted a little time , all too
little in truth , to Kant and his writings . "With this intent , I have looked over Meiklejohn ' s translation of the " Criticism of Pure Reason , and Cousin on the Philosophy of Kant ; " also , Vera ' s " Introduction a la Philosophic de Hegel" ( and incidentally that of Kant , Fichte , and Scrolling ) . —Ingram , 1856 . I have referred to Rosenkranz ' s edition , of the whole works of Kant ( Leipzig : Voss , 1838 ) , also Vera ' s Inquiry into Speculative and Experimental Science ,-with special reference to Mr . Calderwood and Professor Ferrier ' a publications , and to Hegel ' s doctrine ( London : Longmans , 1856 ) .
Surely Kant ' s own works were the proper sources ; but Dr . McCohmac tlunks Messrs . Vera , Fjsrrier , Calderwood , and Hegel may enlighten him respecting Kant as Francis enlightened him respecting John Henry ! The reader will be prepared to find that Dr . McCormac , when he takes these books in hand , doe 3 not know how to read them aright ; aud such is the case . He says :-r-I cannot veil imagine , nir , how you have contracted the impression that Kant was opposed to Final Causes , since of all writers , perhaps , no one , in tho main , has enlarged on the doctrine with no entire an approval as he has done . If Dr . McCormac cannot imagine how we " contracted the impression , " he maybe informed that it was from no more inysterious"kource than reading the sixth section
of Chap . III . of Kant ' s Transcendental Dialectic , which bears this title— "Of the impossibility of a Physico-Theological Proof ; " and again m tho succeeding section , where Kant proves that transcendental questions can admit only of transcendental answers , for " all ajnthetical principles of the understanding are valid only as immanent in experience ; while the cognition of a Supreme Being necessitates their being employed transccndcntally , and of this the understanding i 8 quite incapable . " In a word , no one at all conversant with Kant is unaware of his strongly expressed views on this point- and if Dr . McCormac had bestowed on Kant a little of the ' time he superfluously gave to Vera , Calwerwood , and Merrier , he would have saved himself from tlua blundering pamphlet . But ho has looked into Kant with cyca so Irish that he can say : — Th « second part of the « Criticism of Judgment" conatitutes tho " Criticism on tho
Judgment of Final Causes , " £ rittf bet Scleogifdjcn tttt ^ eitSfraft . Kant dilates on the subject of Final Causes with a fulness of illustration , and ajacundia , so to sneak peculiarly his own . ¦ ' 3 ? rom any one eke this passage would be surprising . We beg Dr . McCobmac to read that part of the " Critique of Judgment" which he cites so familiarly , and lie will find that it is expressly directed to establish the principle of final causes being incompetent to explain nature , although they furnish a useful point of view in our study of nature . To introduce this principle of final causes is to introduce a principle derived from our minds -which can hare no analogy with tilings in themselves . Kant does not reject the employment of Final Causes , as we do ; but he very decidedly protests against their heing used as philosophical proofs .
New Edition Of Carlyle. The Wortcs Of Th...
NEW EDITION OF CARLYLE . The WorTcs of Thomas Carlyle . Vol . I . —The French Revolution . Chapman and Hall . For many years thirsty souls -with thirsty purses have been clamouring for a cheap edition of the most remarkable-writer of our day ; and at length Messrs Chapman and Hall have answered these demands by the commencement of an edition in monthly volumes at six shillings each . For twelve shillings that -wondrous book , The French Revolution . a History , will now be attainable ; for eighteen shillings Oliver Cromwell ' s Letters and Speeches ; whereas hitherto the one has cost thirty-one shillings and sixpence , the other two guineas . Even this reduction m price will not reach the mass of readers for such works , but it will be very welcome indeed to a large public . Carlyle has passed through all the stages through which inevitably pass the great writers who sway the minds of their generation . He began bv
fanaticising the few , who were stirred and startled , and loudly proclaimed the advent of a prophet . He then became notorious , though not popular ; and had to toe affectionately discriminated from . Hichard Carlisle , also notorious . Reviewers attacked him . His " style" was singled out for reprobation by men who never deviated into a felicity not sanctioned by the most approved writers : it was not English , it vras not endurable . His iconoclastic onslaughts were "highly injudicious . " His opinions were evidently not of the " safe" kind . Thus the chorus of admirers awakened the chorus of antagonists , and in strophe and antistrophe the name of Carlyle ascended from all quarters . For some years past this has almost ceased . He has taken his place among the illustrious writers of England ; and as a certain proof thereof small journalists speak patronisingly of him , " regret" his " eccentricities , " and regard with suspicion any one who speaks , of him , with reverence . Swift says it is a sure sign of a genius
that all the blockheads are in league against him ; and as sure a sign is it of gigantic power when certain critics , who laud insignificant writers in terms fit only to be applied to the highest , adopt the lofty nil admirari tone which forces one to exclaim with "Voltaire , " Quel grand homme est le seigneur Pococurante / rien ne' petit hti plaire . " Meanwhile it is clear to all men of insight and knowledge of contemporary Literature , that Carlyle has profoundly influenced his generation , given an impulse and a direction to tbe thoughts of serious men , and opened the eyes of all to much that was hidden , and in many important respects changed the forms of Literature . Many have imitated his style and iterated his opinions ; this , however , is not the influence of which we speak , it is only tbe superficial result of that influence , and belongs to the mimetic tendency always active
in Literature ; for , as Goethe says , " in this world there are so few voices and so many echoes . " The influence to which we refer has been deeper , more fruitful ; affecting the minds of men , rather than their speech ; teaching them to see differently , rather than to express themselves differently . As a " model of style" in the vulgar sense , Carlyle is detestable ; and critics may well reprimand the imitators of that mode of utterance , which , although it suits his peculiar mode of thinking , must necessarily on that account be unsuited to ordinary thinking . Nevertheless , in a deeper sense , Carlyle is a model of style ; not an academy model to be diligently copied , but a living figure to be carefully studied . All great writers are models . All men who produce powerful effects on their generation produce them by means of powerful qualities ; and to separate these qualities from the faults—to analyze
the style and detect the causes of its influence—is the real study which succeeding writers should propose to themselves . Instead of this , the Majority of writers confound mere accidents and excrescences with what is vital and organic , imagining that the peculiarities and tricks of diction arc the sources of the new effects , and thus they vainly strive to produce similar effects by imitating the peculiarities . Because an orator who sways multitudes is in the habit of twiddling his watch key , and cannot be eloquent without twiddling , Jones pours forth platitudes , and hopes by means of a conspicuous watch-key , carefully twiddled , to make other multitudes hang suspended on his lips . If instead of fixing his attention on the watch-key , he had fixed it wholly on the oration , he might have ascertained what it really was that swayed the crowd .
Carlyle has several watch-keys . They are , however , for the most part , hindrances rather than aids ; and if they assist him as a writer , they diminish the effect produced on the reader . Analysis of his books will discover that their wonderful influence is by no moans attributable to the peculiarities of his style , except in so far as those peculiarities are tho expression of some more concrete picturesque mode of looking at things . It is felt on all hands that an imitation of his manner is intolerable ; but if the matter were imitated with equal success , then , indeed , we could forgive the manner . Let this " French Revolution" bo tnken as a model by any historical writer ; not a model to ho imitated in its obvious and superficial aspect , hut one to be studied . It is impossible to read this ¦ work without being deeply impressed witli the power and genius which everywhere flash through it : the humour alternating with passages of biblical grandeur , the fanciful and fantastic mode of representation everywhere based on the most scrupulous exactitude , the tone throughout impassioned , moral , generous . Laughter and tears , quick detection of sophisms , ludicrous ripping open of hollow solemnities , pathetic painting of tragic opieodoo , succeed each other in such
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31011857/page/16/
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