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CritiCB 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 .
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Oxford , we know , is stirring with new life . Mr . J . W . Parker , 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 Ox ford and Cambridge , to furnish a goodly volume of essays , without any studied " unity of thought " in the publication , and frea from the advocacy •* of any particular set of opinions , theological , social , or political . " Happy and liberal Mr . Pabkeb : if 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 ! 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 o conservatism ; q uite 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to be taken as the best that resident Oxford can produce , we do not apprehend that the poor London hacks will soon be superseded .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 goyernin " class ) ' . * and to the vestryman , " with a benevolent glance at the rest of the audience . And the Master was right : the "_ h _ abit _ o £ English composition , " sis developed in these Oxford Essjiys ^ is equally capable of making a heavy senator and a dull vestryman . The Essays ( with exceptions which
we shall proceed tqjiame ) cannot be said to be written m English , but m a sort ^> f bald translation of bad Latin ; the style is involved cumbrous , diffusive , — -anything rather than light , popular , or " readable . No doub Oxford disdains to be light and popular ; but she might ^ 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 . Palgbaye , Fellow of Exeter College , on the works of Alfred de Mussbt , the French Catum-os—a subject light and readable enough , in all conscience . Hear Mr . F . T . Palgbavb , 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 inevitable influences ofhis age andcountry , ^ -r we . y . et , feel ^^ Jthat neither has relied on his own genius . Imitation , that weakness of all-weaknesses the" most Tatal ^" 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 ia and by form—the inwaTd revealed in the outward . True " form" " order" ( to quote Victor Hugo ' s famous Preface to the Odes , where we may remark , that by speaking of " forme exterieare" as a thing rhetorical
separable from substance or thought , the writer shows his own incapacity to comprehend the definition he aims at)— " L ' ordre re " sulte du fond meme des choses , de la disposition intelligcnte des elements intimes d ' un sujet . " ( P . xxii . ) Every poem , as a Whole presenting the thoughts of an individual mind , will consequently requirc its own form ; the ideas clothed and realised in their own words ; the words grouped into metrical -expressions tho 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 assert that this process excludos 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 tho " maker ' s" internal and formative impulse , remainsyot absolutely original ; like Michael Angelo ' s Adam Created , that all but took the oxaot outline of tho Theseus , hidden then on its native pediment from European eyes not less impenetrably than the sculptures of Nineveh .
Litcraturo also underwent its revolution ; within twenty years frantic under the Convention , classically oourtior-liko under Napoleon , reactionary and tyrannical under Chateaubriand . Nor were foreign invasions absent ; and Shakapeare and Schiller entered Franco with Blucher and with Wellington . Yot French literature regained strength and nationality earlier than France ; and the last ten or twelve years of tho Bourbons saw the now Fourth Estate definitely established . The tendencies foreshadowed in Jtcne had boon followed in the Meditations , and carried out in Notre-JDame , had inspired Lelia } and were shortly to be hurried to destructive excess in Monto ChrUtO ) and Let Mystdres de Paris . Romanticism was triumphant .
When , as among the Athenians , perfect taste coexists by natural gift with treasures of genius by no otUor race so largely inherited , the most complete freedom will be combined with the most 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 , tho power , with the temptation , of dwelling On foreign themes ia impossible . Thus it was with Athens . Modern France , incredulous of the present , and hence perplexed by tho 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 . Paj > gravk uses language to disguise his thoughts , or we should be disposed to sum up our impression of these passages in a single monosyllable of Persian extraction . In judging the style of these Essays , we have selected the worst for a sample , but others in this volume are almost equally defective in form . Mr . Pattison , Fellow of Lincoln College , contributes a paper on Oxford Studies , as modified and enlarged by the recent Reform Act , distinguished by its largeness and clearness of view , by its dose and careful
examination of the subject in all its phases , and by its generous , liberal , and 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 , if not the manipulation of words ? We pass over the article on Hegel's Philosophy of Right : it was impossible to make that readable ; the naivete 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 . Sandars , 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 . " Mr . Sandars is doubtless unaware that the best History of Philosophy has not
come from Oxford . Mr . John Phixxips , the Deputy Reader on Geology , supplies a paper on the Geology o the Neighbourhood of Oxford , which has the merit of faithful and accurate knowledge , and of local affection . We believe Mr . Philups 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 . Thomsojst , Fellow of Queen ' s College , writes on " Crime and its Excuses , * ' in a straightforward and sensible manner ; the subject , however , is not novel , nor is the treatment thereof in this Oxford essay , except for its characteristic appeals to Aristotxb . .
A paper on Persian Literature , by Mr . Cowbll , of Magdalen Hall , deserves to be noted for its fulness and variety of illustration , as well as for its bright and unpedantic style , but the subject is not unfamiliar to the readers of reviews of inferior pretensions . We have now to speak of the ^ three best essays In this volume—essays which would do honour to any parentage . 13 ut their superiority can hardly be ascribed , with justice , to Oxford influences . The two essays in this volume most remarkable for the subject , the treatment , and the style , are by Balliol men . We are glad to find Balliol maintaining its supremacy in thought and scholarship . In every fi eld of distinction this college id foremost ; in every intellectual arena within the
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 , r a noble emulation ofLtutor ^ ^ and pupil , an ^ es ^ rtf de c orps which has become a tradition of the Society , and which , ifextendedto ^ airthe collegesv would render Oxford independent of external reforms . Mr . Selcar ' s Essay on Lucretiw and the Poetic Characteristics of his Age , is simply admirable . It is of the very highest order of thought , feeling , anjj . scholarship . The learning is vast ; , various , and pr ofound , 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 is at once perceived that the writer has thoroughly identified himsel f 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 . Sbixar possesses in a very eminent degree . The great poetphilosopher of . Rome has never been made known to us before : thanks to Mr . Skixar , we are permitted to know Lucretius as he thought , suffered , dreamed , doubted , aspired , and lived . In this essay Mr . Sbixab appears in the triple quality of a poet , an historian , and a philosopher ; in each ho is abundant without diffusiveness , learned without pedantry , tolerant
without indifference . We shall hope to meet with so rare a critic again . The species is rare . Mr . Henry J . S . Smith , another Balliol man , discourses on a subject which may be considered to belong by right to the other University . But the appearance of a paper on tho highest speculations of science ( not Aristotle ) in a volume of Oxford essays , is at onco characteristic of tho new movement in that University , and of the college to which the writer belongs . This essay on the Plurality of Worlds , in which the writer passes in review , with sustained calmness of judgment and unfailing aobriety of temper , the rival " theologians , " Dr . Wiibwjblx . and Sir David Brrwster , would do no discredit to any signature , henvever mature in science . The eminent theological disputants in question would do well to study , at least , the attitude of thought preserved with equal grace and dignity by their young
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February 17 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . ^ Xgfc
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 17, 1855, page 161, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2078/page/17/
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