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THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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into the infinities and sincerities nstildo
nn urn dash or nn exclamation point. And
now your horsomttnihip is put to the test.
For If you can ride tlic imimiil, you arc
bettering on the author, for lie lias uppnr
cntiy tlowu away on his transcendental
ism. Tliure is a touch of quackery about
it when lie attempts philosophy. Too
many incantations before you are dropped
into tliu boiling pot of moral indignation.
But they have a sort of enchantment about
them; full "jewels Mve-words-long, that on
the stretched fore-linger of all Time sparkle
forever." Hut they are so unquotable. Jt
seems wc have come to measure an author
by his quotability. Shukspoare quotes
from first to last, on all tongues. ForPla
to, he makes quotations of us all. Like a
gross bargain, wo lump everything; Plato
will dwell on the qualities of each article,
and never tire, lie will give it into our
hands for trial, and still keep it new. lie
makes substantialities of all questions, so
that wo can grasp them (irmly and say,
kitoto it. lUit Mr. Cailylc assumes more
the province of a seer, and sins it is so,
and ornaments it beautifully for you. lie
cannot by any means be compared to Finer,
son for moral depth of mind, from whom I
"learnt more in a Hash than if 1113' brain
pan were an empty hull, and every muse
tumbled a science in " lie has licit that
same quotability of which I spoke. There
is a code in tli.U sentence of Emerson's,
"Credit increases in the ratio of morality,"
for every man to luaru. And such as those
arc the products of our Concord suge con
tinually, lint we lind none of this in Car.
lylo. He cannot honestly dissect asubjec!
but works it out by metaphor, hyperbole,
and simile. See again, Tennyson's drama,
"Queen Mary." Our metropolitan press
"pulled" it to a dizzy height when issued,
comparing it favorably even to Slinks
peare. Hut there were not a do.cn quota
ble lines in the entile play, for any practi
cable purpose. It was tlery, sweet, even
untamable in some passages, but always
inferior because it lacks the moral quality.
Hut it is poetical. Well, this Briton of a
Carlyle is of like quality, only loftier.
Having his till of the moral sentiment,
but too little of the poacolul coma on talk
of Goethe and of Socrates. He lms a cer
tain fierceness in attacking insincerities,
and will not utter a harsh word about a
devout, sincere man. He can tell you by
glimpses how sincere a man is. And he
is not easily cajoled. Hut he cuts too
briskly. Has no timo apparently to array
circumstances. (I speak of him continu
ally as he is in this volume) His acute
ncss in the iw of italics gives him a sli v
of much subicty
the author who m
would be the grandest epical poet of some
ages. Theie is something in th.it Joke of
the newspapers on Mr. Fmeison. They
have him inspecting the Sphinx. He
gazed tit that everlasting monument un.
ti redly. He gazed, the Sphinx gazed, but
the latter was unmoved, apparently dead.
Hut at last the stone blurted out, "you 'ic
another!" The stream of three hundred
cenluiies courses through him, and he
can wait as long if possible, for recogni
tion, but Mr. Carlyle must blazon and
startle. lie is nevertheless sincere in his
teachings, and is grounded very strongly
in the matter of tiuthfulncss; though we
must take him more as a poet than a phil
osopher. I cannot think litis volume so
good as his "Sator "Hcsarlus," with all the
lultot's grotcsqueness. Hut mine honest
reviewer grows narrow. Wo bury our
selves in a volume until our head is hot.
scan hastily the t-ty le of composition as
compared with other writers, and straight
way communicate this surface-work to
nn est promise, though long kept from her
patrimony, has the potentiality to produce
such a history.
Do wo not even hereon the threshold of
this inquiry catch a faint glimpse of the
ram possibilities in her destiny ? The de
velopinent of Fiction, as a whole, has
been very ulow. What depends upon Na
ture's gifts and innate talent matures
quickly. Hence Epic Poetry, Painting
and Sculpture ripened and came to perfec
tion many centuries before the Natural
Sciences and the Mechanic Arts escaped
from the trappings and swaddling-clothes
of infancy. Hut is not Poetry Motion?
Yes, but not all of it. It is not the high
est type of Mellon in point of real value.
It has too much of the objective about it.
Homer and Virgil lake you away from
home out of everyday experience. They
lend 011 among graces, lutes, and furies,
and reveal It) you shades and portents,
El) shun and Fiebus. Herodotus, Thuey
ditlesand Llvy speak of the" saute things
the newspaper or our neighbor. Tis a j as the poets, similar indeed, dlllering on-
nleasant sort of irossin. Hut we must e-, l.v in the accident ol reality- ror the
1 - - 1 - -
amine deeper for the true worth of an an-
crash of arms at Mniaihon, Salamis. Ther-
thor. Thut"W thy tongue but for one , mopylac, and Caiiac deals lit lor the
day, and see how thy resolution stiength- j g ds roll and lesound ihiough their son
ens," as found in "Suitor Hcsarlus," is oroits periods. Dante mid Milton siim
worth three courses in Greek mnininur to ' like Humor and Virgil. The one issti led
It strikes upon his nerves;
his self-reliance. It is in this after.t Meet
we should judge more properly of Car
lyle's worth, lie buttons up your heart
to a stoical stamina. Weaves thunderbolt
after thunderbolt that shall hammer into
perfect form your good resolutions. Hut
he winds the strain a little too high. His
sympathy is not loo largely with society.
One must not allow Carlyle to run away
with him. Hut lie is a wonderful tonic to
di&ordcicd functions of tliu mind.
K A HUB.
The .ovcl as u Fine Art
Nloml Science.
unci
Life is a two-fold drama. One phase
with its many shitting scenes its strug
gles, failures, triumphs is played on the
physical woild as a stage, and all men ap
pear before the curtain, at once, as actors.
The other, with Its intertwining impulses,
mysterious and occult, is played in the bli
the "Christian Honier;' the other the
"Christian Virgil." Thus Poetry and His
tory have much in common. Holh speak
ol objects, events, things external. How
ever be tutiful and grand, is tills all Fic
tion can do? I luteal it hieus much of it.
It was icscrved for a later day to show her
her true iiiissii.ii to give her a work to
do worthy of her a history to write pecu
liarly her own.
More titan thirty centuries after the Mrst
vestiges of all literature were traced by
the hand of Moses ai.d the Hindoo patri
archs, and twenty-two centuries alter Her
odotus, Fiction brought forth her young
est ollapring destined to lie her most il
lustrious the Novki.. This child, born
in humble circumstances, modest and un
pretentious, in her infancy gave Utile earn
est of her woiuierlul tlcstiny. At her birth,
no council of the Fates read her horo
scope. She pi-ollercd no solemn invoca
tion to tliu gods, nor heralded her own
mission in sounding strains "I sing ol
amis and a hero" like her haughty sister
man breast, and the dcsiictt, passions, h.sU
anil aspirations are themselves the plniers. j "f he Kplc Heed. She bieathed not the
Would licit a record of the scenes of the ethereal atmosphere, nor spoko of super
Mrst phase of the drama the lisc and fall natural deeds, and superhuiuiiii passions,
of empiies, the renting and overthiowiug ' o familiar to her stylish mid dreamy sis.
of palaces, temples, and cities, the crash lor, Honnnieo. No. She prattled of the
of ai mies, the march of knowledge, ihe I 'Mlc things of private life of the loves
conquests of Intclh et, he intensely inter-' "'id ha'icds and emotions of coiuvio-t men.
ImW-d, I ciniiot tell oling and valuable to tliu mec? Such a No condition was too lowly for her mod
ore formidably nri.us i-i-cmd. History at least the fulurc histo- est but scHichingsei utiny. She even chat
ted ol domestic alfaiis mid domestic nf-
thesc battle-axes ot the pen thin he. Hut r of 1 ,ciliz itiou will nccoinplisli
this is trickery. Ii seeim he ret I careful Hu' what of the hcmi siugs.lc, ihe pso feotb n. Luilc did she herself realize
ly the inscription, "In bold, be bold," and Vioii-c uilests, the eonlliei oj feeling mid then sin- ducniiot lully realize now --ihe
"ever iuok' lie b hl," hut vaulted quickly emotions which throb in "lie (.'nut limit of splendor of her uiip.ir.illcled c.irocr- -the
over the third, "bo not too bold," and had 1 the invisible woild- behind the curtail) grindcur of herd, siiicy . In an incicdibl
become wrapped up In eri or of 1111 stici-111 of sense? The cunts of inner lite dclir boit lime only about one IiuiiiIimI and
loo deep I'm either him or us to undo. A mine those of the outer, and shape the iwuii Ihe winv the Nowl hits t ikon the
wonderful descriptive p w r he li.is, smtl a Sioiul d Miuy of man' Sh.dl th n in iiu w Id by stoiui. .Site his 1 iHcd eu-i ,
territiciiisiirht into tin general truth of 1 unrecorded What a history would that clime, and leal nod eury longuc. She has
things. He quiekeiH our resolution, takes be! All the nistcncsof' life and Hi in-. ' 1111 honorable place in eury Illicitly; in-
the blunt off our intei'ect. Hut there is a would be theie! Hu! what ln.nd isso cm. dadtlo number of loluntes ot Noxel lit-
touch of IJyiouism in it all. Something jning, what spirit so daring, as to uttempt culture will ne.uly equal all the books on
burns. JUr. J'.inersou s iniiisceii.lentalisiii a picture of things so subih to m down all subj-ei conihineii, published bcfoi
- L 11 l-i I! 1 1 tr -. '. .. ... . i
is ot the philosophical-moral, Mr. Car
lyle's of the poetical-moral. Mr. Carlyle
is undoubtedly a tremendous worker, and
brilliantly grand and epical in descrip
tion; but he does not write the bebt sort
of a biography, when ho attempts its as
slmilation witli philosophy. If he hud
the rhyme and rythin, as Lowell says, he
Ihu throbbing and qum rings ol the deli- or since its advent. The Nel is a we
':ate springs, the invisible motois of hu- come guest in marly cey family circle,
man aciion? Happily we have a key , and has made 'iseil loved by million,
which can unlock even this licli thesau Samuel Kichuidsou is stj led ihe f..ihcr ol
rus; a power most bencricent gilt of ; the iSoiel j he is raiber the agent the cor-
lletwun Imagination,' gvim of Imiiior
tality." Such a History is Ficiltious Lit
emoiiiiil priest hh iresidal over tliu
rites of its birth. It wns the result of the
erature; or rather, Fiction, cie.ituie of dcveWipnu nt of the mind ol the race. It
was conceived deep In the necessities of
human nature.
This naturally leads us to an iinpuitunt
tnquiiy. What is the reason for the gieai
popularity of Ihe Novel? Why litis it Ink
en so Mini a hold on Ihu hearts of the neo
pleV What Is there in a novel width
makes it so fascinating V In short, what
is the essential element, Ihe central llguie,
the pillar upon which it rests I Allow me
to refer to the theory of the letuiied Dr.
Swing. Hu has treated the Novel as a Hue
art merely as a line art, with Woman is its
central tlguru. lie has represented Ihe
sentiment of Love, and physical ft minim
beauty as tliu essential element. Is not
this analysis clearly superficial? One
would naturally suspect that the Doctor
had artfully concealed the irulh, and loin
led Ihe conception which the I roe exercise
of his high older of genius would un
doubtedly have given him, for the sake of
populari.y with the gentler sex. Such
poptilatity, we admit, is not to he dc
spiscd, but the Doctor's plan is ht.idh the
best way to gain it. It lacks lite one thing
needful it is not complimentary to lite la
dies. What is the characteristic of a fine art?
What distinguishes it as a species of the
genus art ? It must be essentially tu stint
ic. It aims to idealize, delineate and cm.
body the Beautiful. Hut even in Sculpture,
Painting, and Poetry, physical beauty is
not all it is one constituent only He
sides this, there is the expression, the
idea, the thought embodied and projected.
Hut oven in Ihe important clement lor it
is but an element of physical beauty
and the human form is (lie perfection of it
Woman is not all. Man has jut reason
to be jealous, and resist such a claim. Dr
Swing made woman the essence of art, ex
cluding man entirely, and enforced his
statement with moie facetioiistiess than
logic, by asking if any one would ever
suppose Dial an artist would request him
tosil. Did he not slur the tiulh again,
and fall below the Into dignity of a scho.
ally critic, for Ihu sakeof raising a laugh?
Do not for a moment suppose that we are
less modest than the Doctor, or that he
was too modest. Hy no means. Like him
we never expect to sit as a model for an
Apollo, a Jupilor 01 11 pi us, or even a Cu
pid; nor will wo allect Caiiiuede, Cup
bearer of the gods, iw 11 knowing that the
homeliest lit lie would speedily supersede
us. Hut Art has found place for Apollo
nud .Jupilcrs even Cupid, the Hlind (oul
of Low, was a boy. Phidias has giui us
the OlMiipian .love as well as Athciui.
Clcomcues has given usllic Venus d" Med
ids; hut Parihasitis, the Theseus and Her
cules. Raphael cieated the Virgin Ma
donna, Inn Leomud't da Vinci, the ( In i-l-Forgot
not that .Jesus was a man. H nee,
it requires both masculine slit ngth and
' lemale lowliness lo realize Ihu peifttiutl
of human beauty. Hut both combii'eil
tlo not constitute the essence of Ait.
Tin te is someihiiig deeper.
These pi inciplcs apply equally lo the
1 Now!. Kwry heroine has hci hern.
j Love and aih.'Ctiou play a prominent pail,
bei.tiisc lhe are piouiineiil in human ua.
ture. The picluics winch the noiclit
paints at t- surpassing! lovely. The imu-
I yes chiseled ty- his hand are infinitely su
perior to statuary. by ? llecuiise hill
uuage can depict feelipjj and express the
stibtlciies of passion better than colors;
j because the hand of the Imagination i
more delicate and cunning than the chUel
of the sculptor. The ci futures of this art
1 have vitality. They live and breathe and
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