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j^CT^^lBS^j tfBE 72s
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1Ciftnita£ ****?**• .
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rtritics are not the legislators, but th...
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Fhe Germans have at least this pre-emine...
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Ono ofton wishes that tho .Plutonic noti...
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THE FUTURE OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY. Gegenrr...
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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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J^Ct^^Lbs^J Tfbe 72s
j ^ CT ^^ lBS ^ j tfBE 72 s
1ciftnita£ ****?**• .
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Rtritics Are Not The Legislators, But Th...
rtritics are not the legislators , but tho ju < 3 ; . ; c 3 and police of literature . They do not make lawrs — they interpret and try to eaforce thoai . — £ ! din . burffb Review .
Fhe Germans Have At Least This Pre-Emine...
Fhe Germans have at least this pre-eminence over us—their attempts at fiti <» li Art are not a total failure . No one , we think , can have seen their inest efforts in this way without recognising in them a grandeur and affluence » f conception which are entirely wanting in the correspondent productions if English artists . Among the German painters who are most successful a this direction , in the noble , the grandiose , and the preternaturally terible , is Wixitelm vov KAir . nACH—that very Kaulbach whose humour is icher even than the humour of nations stored up in the wonderful Reineke ? uchs , which he has illustrated for us . The man who can shake us with elicious laughter at the mere back of Grimhart the Badger , clad in a shortipped coat and three-cornered hat , is the man whose figure of the German at is
la ^ a ( in the New Museum Berlin ) worthy to be placed beside frcHAEL Axgelo ' s Sybils ; none can create more real , chubby children iau Kaulbach—few can thrill us with more ideally awful spectres than iose in his great cartoon of the Hunnenschlacht ( Battle of the Huns ) , j not this combination of the humorous with the sublime , of an exquisite visibility to the human with a power of imagining the preterhuman , preisely what is wanted in an illustrator of Suakspeabe ? And Kaulbach is undertaken the task of illustrating him . Three engravings from & sketches for Macbeth are now ready for purchasers , at a price which will 3 thought moderate by those rich enough to indulge in pictures ; the im-• essions on tinted paper being fifteen thalers , and those on white paper
reive thalers . We can speak of the merit of these illustrations , not merely om our faith in Kaulbach , but from a sight of two ; and of one we were irmitted to see the original sketch , so as to be enabled to appreciate the ccellent rendering of the engraver . No . 1 of the series represents the eeting of Macbeth and Banquo with the three witches : the figures of the ? o warriors with their horses are admirable ; you see in Macbeth the irtled interest of a IlAZAEr . , whose evil ambition is ready to be kindled by e hellish prophecy ; in Banquo , the naive , eager curiosity of a soul free am criminal thoughts . The three witches satisGed us less completely ; ey are too nmch like a hideous nightmare , too Gorgon-like , and have none ' that sardonic enjoyment of evil which is a principal trait in the weird stcrs . KAULnAcn has made them hover a little way above the earth , and
i has certainly been very successful in the preternatural fire . which flits ider their feet . N " o . -2 represents Lady Macbeth -walking in her sleep ; it this we have not seen . No . 3 , of which we saw the original sketch , is ken from the third scene of the fifth act , where Macbeth is girding i his armour for the last desperate struggle , while he talks to the Doctor , ho brings him news of his wife ' s wretched condition . It is the same tacbeth as in the first engraving , with his face hardened and made haggard y Crime and despair—perhaps with a little too much of the fiend in his tpression . The drawing of this figure is admirable for the solidity of the mbs and the case of the posture ; indeed , actors would do well to take a int from this posture , which is quite different from the one ordinarily Kuraed in this scene . The left foot rests on a block ; the right hand holds
ie naked sword ; and the lof t hand presses the crown against the brow , eyton is kneeling to fasten on his master ' s spurs , and another attendant tands behind holding the helmet ; the Doctor , a finely-conceived figure , tands a little in front with his face partly turned towards Macbeth . The oitots which aro gnawing at the tyrant ' s conscience arc indicated by a roup of spirits—the spirits of those he has murdered—hovering above him . ntho centre is the venerable Duncan showing his wounds ; on one side of imis Lady MacdulV attempting to shield her two boys ; on the other , laflquo with his crowned grandchildren ; and in the background the xunken guards . The group of Banquo ' s grandchildren , one leaning on his
randfathor ' s kneo , looking tlown in chubby seronity on lib would-be Mitdorer , and two smaller ones cooing and kissing , is enough to make this licturo a treasure , even if it had no other meritorious element—and it has aariy . Besides tho direct interest of those illustrations , arising from thoir atrinsic excellence , they have an indirect interest , as presenting ns with a German ' s conception of Shalcspenrinn scenes and characters ; and although PQ English aro not inclinod to admit the assumption of the Germans that hoy understand Siiakspkaiu : bettor than we do , wo arc glad to have all U « ir ideas , since there- is much good to be obtainod by an intellectual , as Tell as by a physiological , crossing of races .
Ono Ofton Wishes That Tho .Plutonic Noti...
Ono ofton wishes that tho . Plutonic notion of marriage , as tho union of * W incothplcto soul with itd other half , could be realised m friendship for i ciontifio ends—that tho man who has the creative intellect of a Gkofprot * AUW Huuuaia , without tho power of exposition , could have n coadjutor [^ Messing tho literary talent of a Cuvncu . That , tho man of invoiiUvo *« ulty could have a fulus Achates at his elbow with all the patienco and aaotneus so rnroly given in company with brilliant conceptivo power . A Wise of this kind was aetually presented by Dulono and Tktjt , of whoso
labowts m demonstrating the laws of Static Heat ; fhere-ifl a rery interesting account in the Revue des Deux Mdndes . Educated together in , the Ecole Pblytechnique , they entered on their joint career of experiment—then ? scientific marriage—in 1815 , when they were both abou * twenty-five years of age . Their minds seemed to have dovetailed completely ; Petit having what may bo called scientific intuition and power of invention , with vivacity of intellect and ease' and grace of expression , while Dotcokg had the love of scientific exactness and of precise experiment , together with the power of combining experiments arid the patience to carry them out ta completeness . Petit was more of a mathematician , Dui / OUG more of an experimentalist ; Petit had more of brilliant facility , Dclong more of thoroughness and persistence : the one represented the imagination necessary for scientific achievement , the other the reason necessary to guide that imagination .
" L ' on peut dire , " says the writer in the Revue , " que de l ' efifort comrnun de ces deux esprits si sieve ' s , mais si diversement doues , applique a une meme etude , il sortait comme uae intelligence unique a laquelle les quality ' s les plus brilliantes et les plus solides auraient 6 te devolues . " Unhappily , Petit died of consumption in 1820 , when only twenty-nine , leaving Dclovg to pursue his investigations in widowhood . This is a beautiful bit of romance in the history of science , and is charmingly told by M . Jamin in the Revue des Deux Mondes , where also the reader will find an interesting paper on " Patelio , " dear to all students of Molieki , byM . Littbf , one of the many erudite physicians who grace the study of the great sciences by the cultivation of literature . St . Mabc Gib abdin . also continues his agreeable series of papers on Jeak Jacques Rousseau , this month touching on the education of women as treated in Emile , and by Ma » AME DE MaIMTBNOX
The Revue Coiitemporaine contains several good articles , but we have only space to notice in passing " Les Finances de l'Autriche depuis 1848 , " and a very interesting analysis of a very interesting book by Comte Roger Raczissky , " La Justice et la Monarchie Populaire , " which proposes a remodelling of the map of Europe . These two articles , both connected with the topics of the day , are worth looking out for .
The Future Of German Philosophy. Gegenrr...
THE FUTURE OF GERMAN PHILOSOPHY . Gegenrrart und ZuJcvnft der PJrilosophie in Deutschland . [ Present and Future of Philosophy in Germany . J Von O- * F . Gruppe . Berlin : George Reimer , 1855 . " The age of systems is passed . . . . System is the childhood of philosophy ; the manhood of philosophy is investigation . " So says Professor Gruppe in the work of which we have given the title above , and we quote this dictum at tlic outset in order to propitiate those readers "who might otherwise turn away with disgust from the mention of German philosophy , having registered a vow to trouble themselves no more with those spinners of elaborate cocoons —German system- mongers . Perhaps , however , there are some of our readers who would not require any such password from Professor Gruppe ; for although he is better known in England as a writer on classical literature than as a philosopher , still it
is Likely that many German scholars amongst us are acquainted with his two philosophical works , Antccus , published in 1831 , and JFendepunht der Philosophic im ncunzeliitten Jahrhioidert , published in 1834 . He is a man of very various accomplishments , and throws his active intellect with equal fervour and facility into many channels—into poetry and politics as well as into classical literature and philosophy . This versatility in authorship is rare among erudite Germans , and is held rather in suspicion by them , in spite of the fact that some of their greatest men—Lessing , Herder , Goethe , and Schillerwere productive in several departments . Those -who decry versatility—and there are many who do so in other countries besides Germany—seem to forget the immense service rendered by the suggestiveness ^ of versatile men , who come to a subject with fresh , unstrained minds . You have perhaps been spending much time and ingenuity in planning a house or m which to to account satisfactorilfor
spinning a theory seems you y many things : ° intelligent neighbour comes in , and you show him your plan , or explain to him your theory . He is not an accomplished architect , but he sees at once that you have put a door and a chimney in incompatible positions ; ho is not , perhaps , a profound thinker , but he makes an observation on your theory which directly shows you that it will not " hold water . " * Such is the service which the versatile man will ofton render to the patient , exclusive inquirer . To return to Professor Gruppo : he has vindicated his versatility by achieving more than an average success in more than one department ; his Ariadne is one of the best books , if not tho very best , we have on the Greek Drama . ; bis Cosmic Si / stan of the Greeks is an ingenious application of scholarship ; many of his lyrical poems have considerable merit ; and his WcndepunkC der Philosonhie is a striking philosophical work , showing much acumen and indelntenueu
pendent thought . In the work now before us , which was originally to bo a mere pamphlet , but which has swelled to a volume of nearly tnrco hundred pages , he rapidly ( and somewhat too allusively for tho £ ™» reader ) restates the views contained in his earlier p hilosophical works . no AnHcus and the Wendepunkt—views which twenty years of adiutiona stuay and considerable experience as a professor of Moral I hilosopny m University of Berlin have served to confirm and make clearer . . . Tho object towards which Herr G «> ppc clueflr directs his consideratoonw the Reformation of Logic , or tho rectification of tho " ^^ Z ^ trnl inquiry , which , as he justly insists , is tho ? 83 cnt ™\ $ ££ ™ iZ a I the progress . It is , ho says , simply to a reform in method that JJ ™^ ™ sptendicl achievements of modern natural science , « n « it * ° ™ °£ . ™ ° ex tension of that reform to every department ot philosophical inquiry tnat
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 28, 1855, page 723, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_28071855/page/15/
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