On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (5)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
. . _ ~y*i ^ ±- • ILlT^rilltirJ" ,w«+t«WH» -¦ ' ' — '
-
Untitled Article
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.
Untitled Article
¦ -. ' . ¦ ¦ .-, , - . ¦ ——»¦ ¦¦ . ¦ . . . - ¦¦ ¦ It has long seemed ; to us that the education of mankind would be more effectual ! / accomplished by the establishment in all schools and colleges of a thorough instruction in the principles of Evidence , than by any course of study . We have indeed a Chair of Logic in every college , and Evidence is supposed to form one chapter of Logic . Bat instead of treating Evidence as one chapter of a course , it should be made the subject of a < sourse of lectures , and carried iato minute detail . You cannot teach man how to reason ; you cannot endow them with greater ratiocinative power than they
have received from nature ; but you can instruct them in the principles of Evidence , you can make them alert to the demands made by Evidence , you can teach them not to accept as Evidence facts and statements winch , have no validity , Noone even superficially acquainted with , science , philosophy , history , or political ecoaomy , will deny , that the errors which incessantly arise on these subjects are less frequently traceable to imperfect reasoning than to imperfect data ; and in any vexed question we are sure to find the disputants disagreeing because they cannot satisfactorily settle for themselves what is Evidence and what is not .
, The history of Bacon is just such as we should have drawn of Shakspeare if w hadbeen required to depict him from the internal evidence of his works . ' His daily walk , letters , and conversation , constitute the beau ideal of such a man as we might suppose the author of these plays to have been , and the very absence ^ those letters , of all allusion to Shafcspeare ' s plays , is some , though slight , corrobora tion of his connexion with them . Now we venture to say that had this Ingenious gentleman been early instructed ia .: the , nature and principles of Evidence , he would never have wasted his -time and Ingenuity in such an investigation a 3 this ; and still less would the many cultivated and intelligeat persons -who have been so deplorably duped by Spirit Rapper 3 and Mediums , have permitted themselves to ¦
draw philosophical and religious deductions from the ' facts' furnished by Turning Tables and Writing Mediums . Our second illustration i 3 . suggested by an article of great independence and ability in the Revue de Paris on the "Mystical School , " a propos of a French translation of the wort of Goerbes . From this article , we learn that Spirit Rapping was eagerly accepted by one portion of the French clergy as an ' additional argument in favour of the truth of supernatural agencies in general , and of miracles in particular . But when Spirit Rapping and Table Turning were experimentally proved to be delusions or impositions , a great blow was given to the whole doctrine of supernatural agency , in as far as it relied upon human testimony ; since , if the testimony of hundreds of honourable and educated men could thus be proved to have no value whatever , it became clear that the reliance
on historical testimony in support of miracles must also cease to coerce the convictions of men . Nay , so clearly was this seen , that a well-known writer of the Evangelical school , the Count Agskob se Gaspabin , published a book to show that with respect to supernatural things human testimony was radically incompetent . The Bible carried its own evidence . All the bulwark of historical testimony was thrown down . Curiously enough this book was accepted by the whole party ! But we have not to deal with that question here , our purpose is to point out the wretched want of philosophical culture , in the direction of Evidence , which the whole dispute implies . The subject of philosophic culture naturally leads us to Professor Ferrieu ' s pamphlet , Scottish Philosophy the Old and the UTew . ia which with
great spirit he defends himself against his adversaries . Taking for his motto a passage In Sobhocjles ( which , we may render " If you think my doctrines madness , I will not suffer you to think ms mad" ) , he complains of having been shut oufc from the Edinburgh Chair because his doctrines were novel . We have throughout abstained from interfering in this question , but we must call attention to Professor Fjbrrier's explanations .
We must not write aa essay here ; indeed no space at our disposal would suffice : but we will take two illustrations offered by the literature of the week , to show how this neglect of a proper appreciation of Evidence opens the door to absurdity . Our first illustration is a pamphlet which has been sent to us bearing this title : •—"Was Lord Bacon the Author of SHAKSPEAJiB ' s Plays ?" X"he pamphlet is printed for il private circulation only , " yet , inasmuch as it has been forwarded to this journal , we presume the author means us to give it publicity . As a compromise we respect the author ' s desire of privacy , and suppress lis name . We do not notice the pamphlet from any belief that it will convince a single human being , but simply from a desire to show the sort of Evidence which can satisfy a man of culture and talentj like the author ; in that respect it is worthy of attention .
The doubt respecting Shakspeare ' s authorship is by no means novel , although it is no more justified than would be the doubt whether Drtden wrote Abiolqm andAchitopelyovBsbon Chiide Harold , It is true we know little of Sh : &kspb abb ' s life , but we-have Evidence , as satisfactory as Evidence of this kind can be , respecting his authorship . We have the Evidence of his contemporaries , friends , and rivals , and of his editors , fellow actors , who knew his dramatic ability , and knew his handwriting . If Ben Jonson and Hemmings and Conjdeix . could be so imposed upon , that the one should believe him capable oi writing the works to which he only lent his name , as a screen , * and the others should believe that the handwriting front which they printed was'his , it being Bacon ' s all the while , there is a chanpe for some future critic to discover that Macaux-ay wrote the Pickwick Papers , and that Bradbury and Evans were dupes when they believed in the handwriting of Dickens . ¦
It is quite possible that ShakspJeare was merely the ostensible author ; but we require some evidence -to make that possibility a proba-bility . The writer of the pamphlet under notice thinks he has such evidence . He sketches briefly the facts' of Shakspeare ' s history :- ~ Such being the circumstances connected with , the parentage of William Shakspoare , the information we possess respecting his early years is ovon more scanty . There is neither record nor rumour of his having exhibited , any precocity of talent . It is only known that , at the age of eighteen , he contracted or was inveigled into a marriage with a woman eight years older than himself ; and it is believed ttat , somewhere about the time at which , his fathoc was deprived of his alderman's gown , he left hia wife and family at Stratfiprd-upon-Avon , and tvent to seek his fortune in the metropolis .
Now , up to the titao of Shakapoare ' s arrival in London , there is no suggestion or tradition of his having manifested any superior attainments . The hypothesis connecting h . lm with the stage is , that he may have formed aa acquaintance , at Stratford , with Burbidge's company , during their visits to that town , and , being unable to procure a livelihood in his native town , have been encouraged in the desperate resolution of going to London by tho hope of employment by him . The absence of . rumours and traditions ( which by the way ia more than questionable ) is considered a 3 evidence of Siiakspearb ' s having no remarkable talent , and that , too , in the face of the direct evidence of Ben Jonson ' s intense appreciation of his talent ! The writer further says : —
From these varied circumstances it would appear that William Shakspoaro was essentially tho man « f business of tho thoatro ; that to Mua was entrusted providing the wardrobe , properties , and playa ; and that in negotiating for tho purchaso of any or * U o < these matters , ho exhibited that shrewdness , skill , caution , and sngacity \ iii *** S * ahod him in every transaction of his life , and from tho exorcise of which the . company ho was connected with derived no small benefit , whilst he , in torwarding their interests , was by no moans unmindful of his own . » eeln # , then , that William Shakspoaro was a man of limited education , careless of iame , intent npon money-getting , and aotively ongagod in the management of a wioaire , ueve , from tho almplo circumstance of his nama being associated with tUoqq plays , to believe , At once , that he was tho author of them ?
No , aot from thus " Bimplo circumstance of his name being associated Vtth the plays , " but from quite other . circumstances . But having- satisfied liiruaelf that Shaksmarb did not write tho plays , this writer- is afc no difficulty » n proving that Bacon was their author :-, ¦ *
. 1 "
Untitled Article
EMEKSON OK , ENGLAND - English Traits . By K . W . Emerson . G . Routledge and . Co . Emebsoin has twice visited England , at intervals of fourteen years , and lie has allowed the classic nine years to elapse before publishing the reflections suggested "by his last visit . It is evident , then , that in English ^ Traits we have the matured results of a matured and original mind reflecting on the aspects of English Life which came under its observation ; and if these results sometimes appear incomplete , sometimes too complimentary , and sometimes not sufficiently appreciating , every serious reader will make allowances for the difficulty , if not impossibility , of adequately describing phenomena so complex as those of national life . Certain -we are that only the incorrigible coxcombs will treat this work with disrespect . Small reviewers may ' patronize' a man like Emerson , may ridicule him , and ' set him right . But tlie serious minds of England will , while differing from him , recognize in him a man of great culture , of essential veracity , of original power , and
of noble , simple nature . Those—and we are of tho number—who object strongly to muoh both of manner and matter in hisformer works , will find nothing obscure or fantastical in English Traits . They may differ from his judgments , but at any rate they will have no hesitation as to his meaning . They may think he paints England and the English too much en beatt i but they will admit that he really sees the prominent characteristics . Many wise and excellent observations are scattered through these pages , but their great attraction is the glimpse they give us of the man himself . It is _ interesting to watch this meditative solitary American contemplating the gigantic organism of English life with calm yet curious eye , not satirical , not polemical , having no party to flatter , no cause to uphoLd , no theory to support . As we want all our space for extracts , we shall content ourselves with this brief indication of the quality of the work . It opens with sketches of Lanuori Coleridge , Carlyle , and Wordsworth , as they presented themselves to the young American in 183 S . Tlicac sketches . are very graphic , done with a few touches ;—
liAtTOtfR . Groonough brought me , through a common friend , an invitation from Mr . Landor , who lived at San Domenica di Fiesole . On the 15 th May I dined with Mr . Landor . I found him noble and courteous , living in a cloud of pictures at his Villa Glierardeaca , a fine house commanding a beautiful landscape . I had inferred from his hooks , or magnified from some anecdotes , an impression of Achillean wrath—an untamable petulance . I do not know whether the Imputation were just or not , but certainly on this May day his courtesy veiled that haughty mind , and he was the most patient and gentle of hoats . Ho praised tho beautiful cyclamen which grows all about Floroucehe
; admired Washington ; tallccd of Wordsworth , Byron , Massingor , Beaumont , and Fletcher . To he sure , ho is decided in hia opinions , likea to surprise , and is vroU content to impress , if possible , hia English whim upon tho immutable past . No groat man over had a great son , if Philip and Alexander be not an exception ; fiud Philip ho calls the greater man . In art , he loves the Greeks , and in sculpture , thorn only . He profors tlio Venua to everything else , and , after that , the head of Aloxandor , in tho gallery hero . Ho prefers John of Bologna to Michael Angolo ; in painting , RafFaollo ; and shares tho growing taste for Porugino and tho early masters . The Grook histories he thought tUo only good ; and after them Voltaire ' s . I could not mak © him praise ^ agkintosb , nor my rporo recon $ friends } Montaigne very cotdialty
Untitled Article
880 j THE LEIdee ; psro . 3 S& ,-Saturday ,
. . _ ~Y*I ^ ±- • Illt^Rilltirj" ,W«+T«Wh» -¦ ' ' — '
- % titn \ mt :
Untitled Article
Critic 3 are no t the legislators , but the judges ana police of literature . Th _ ey do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Bevww .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 13, 1856, page 880, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2158/page/16/
-