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The new volume of Oxford -Essays sustains the reputation for sound- scholarship and research , independent thought and criticism , which the series lias acquired . Throughout , the substance of the Essays is solid , the only deficiency bciwj ; , as in the previous volumes , in the direction of style . This is , probably ,, in--part a reaction against the straining after pointed and effective writing which vitiates a good deal of our periodical literature . But there is no need to injure a protest " good in itself by carrying it to excess ; and , not w ithstanding the serious homilies of a popularly written weekly contemporary against popular ¦ ¦ writing , we believe that it is-quite possible to put the results of the soundest scholarship and the most original research into an attractive form . The sober and academic character of the leading Essays of the scries may probably ,
however , in pfafc at least , be ascribed to design .. University Essays , it may be thought , ought to smack of their birthplace , and cany with them a grave and learned aim " so that the authors and the public may judge according to a different stand iml . It seems , indeed , not even yet , in the fourth year of their existence , ¦ . quite decided in what light , tliesc volumes of University Essays should be regarded—whether as reviews , dispensing with the formality of a text , and shorn of the editorial " we , " or as academic dissertations on . special subjects of scarcely sufficient ; general interest for an ordinary review . Those who bicline to . ( lie . latter view might , perhaps , coinplain of some of the papers as too slight , while those who adopt the former may certainly object to many that they are too heavy and scholastic both in subject aiid treatment . The volumes arc plainly designed to he what 1 hey reallv are—if not exactly tentative reviews , yet collections of p apers liaving very lmich tbc character of our ordinary reviews , only ¦' . animated with a more direct personality , and admitting a more liberal selection . ; of strictly academic subjects . ¦ ¦
In ' the matter of style , however , the present volume ; is an improvement on some of its predecessors . The first . ' essay ., for example , on . - " The Poetry of Pope / ' by Mr , ' Coxisgton , iswiittcnin a clear and attractive style . But the subject is not of overpowering interest , and the criticism , notwithstanding its excellence , is often too detailed and minute for general interest . The . elaborate essay of Sir Alexander Grant on "The Ancient Stoics , " gives a connected and philosophical view of the sect which reflects the highest reach of Pagan thought and life in . the direction of ethics and practical spirituality . The presence of a stoical element in modern Jcligious sects is traced in the following passage : — . _
" While Stoicism passed away the Stoical spirit has coniiiuiecl , and still continues to reproduce itself in the ' world . This spirit , in its extremest form , animates the various religious ascetics—Fakirs , Trappists , and the like . The-Society of Jesus , like the school of the Stoics , was founded ¦ 'by those the Intensity of whociG moral will was more prominent than the fineness of their intellect . The parallel presented liy Calvinism in its external gloom and its high necessarianism , to the Stoical system , lias been already hinted at , and might be followed out at lengtli . The Puritans stood to the Cavaliers much as the Stoics to the Epicureans . AVe might say tliat changing sides , the same spirit manifested itself in the recurring austerities of the High-Clnuch party , only here the attention to ceremonial showed a susceptibility to what is external alien from the Stoical tendency . Stoicism is essentially abstract ; hence it is ungcninl to the imagination and \ uifavour : ible to poetry . While the Epicurean school could boast
of Lucretius as their poet , the ancient Stoics had only the crabbed satires of Persius ,. and the rhetorical verses of Lucan to set against him . In modern times two great works of the imagination have l > ecn claimed for the Stoical side , that is , for tho Puritans ; namely , lUinyan ' s Mfyrtm's Proi / rts . * , Milton's Paradise Lnt > t . These works coming from . such a source must be said to be exceptional ; though in the last resort no form of our religion is to be treated as if absolutely like Stoicism , or absolutely wanting in the objective cU ' vhcnt . However , in each of the works in question , traces of the spirit to which , we refer can be readily traced : in Hunyan the basis of the whole conception is abstract , it is a detailed picture or history of an inner life ; in Milton , also , the imaginativeness is sublime , l ) ut cold and unearthly , and the inspiration is drawn rather from a rich learnirfc tlian from -vivid impressions of external ¦ L
life . Slciici .- 'in , while deficient hi that sensuous iinpressiveness which is necessary for poetry , iri , on the other hand , extremely suitable lor rhetoric , for splendid didactic preachhig , for patriotic invocations , for historical Uibk-avx . To this cause we . may attribute the , partiality manifested by the French , tliat nation with such perfect rhetoric and so little poetry , for the ancient Stoics and all belonging to tlu-in . In fact , the works of Seneca road like a fine French sermon , and Onto and Thrasea were a model to the Girondists . On <| iiitc other grounds -we may say that there is a Stoical lingo also in the Knglish character . It might be enough to allege , that Puritanism is English ; but independently cif religions feeling , tliu tendency " to shun delights and live laborious days , " to sacrifice life to im idea of siicecs . - ' , this is Stoical btvauso i t is abstract . ' - ' * 1 j s o
In the iifth essay , entitled "The I ^ oi-scnien in Jcebml , " Mr . D . asknt returns io his early and familiar stiulv , the language and litcrtiiurc of 1 lie North . English studonis of Scaudiim \ iim lit endure are already iiulel > ted to Mr . Dasknt for an excellent , truncation of IUsk ' s JVow Urontwui ' , ami the present Jiitslorical sketch oL" the during and richly-gifted race , who spokx thai nohle ljinn-un ^ o will incroasn Ihc obl igation . Tie is evidently q uite at lionie in leel : ind , mid ( reals the sithjrcl , cnv rtmorc Uiroiifjlioul , tliennpcr brinp :, 1 ' roin its knowledge , eiitlmsiasni , and general vigcuii-, Ilic most interest iut ^ in the -volume . The picture , oft lie old Norsemen , their home anil way of life , their cliaraetei and conijiu-MH , is broad , graphic :, ami picturesque . Tlui following short passage , touching what they did ami how they did it , will illustrate I lie spirit of tho paper : — r 0 c t u , ' 1 it
Of course it was tho best introduction to be tho pon of a chief , but that introduction over , tho accident of birth only rendered tho demand of society more exacting , " A diid ' . s ton tliould be a eliicf himself . Tell uh > vliat von can do , and i _ re id
¦ what you have done . " It would have been as good as no answer say , " Well ! I have done nothing as yet , in . fact I am not sure that I shall ever do anything at all , but my great-grandfather once did something . He was a great -usurer , or general , or statesman , or lawyer . " But then that was a savage age . And so these " savages" spread themselves over the world to prove their natural nobility . In Byzantium they are the leaders of the Greek emperor's body-guard , aud the main support of his tottering throne . From France , led by Bollo , they tear away her fairest province , and found a long line of kings . In Saxon England they are tlie bosom friends of sue lx kings as Athelstane , and the sworn foes of Ethelred the Unready . In Danish Eng land they are foremost among the thanes of Canute , Sweyn , and Hardican ute , an ) j keep down the native population with an iron heel . In Norman England the most serious opposition the Conqueror meets with , is from the colonists of his own race settled in Northumbria . He wastes their lands with fire and . sword , and drives them across the border , where we still find their energy , their perseverance , and their speec h existing in tlie- lowland . Scotch . In Norway they dive into the river with Kin" - ° i ° Tryggvason , the best and strongest champion of his age , and hold him down beneath the ware so long that the bystanders wonder whether either king or Icelan der will ever reappear on the surface . Some follow St . Olof in his crusades zie-ains t the old faith . Some are his obstinate foes , and assist at his ma-rtyrdora . Manv follow Harold the Stern to England , when he goes to get his " sevenfeet of English earth and almost to a man they get their portion of the same soil , while their ' names - clow bright in song and story . From Iceland , as a base , they push on to ¦ Greenland and colonize it ; nay , they discover America in those half-decked barks . All this thev do in the firm faith that the eyes of the gods are upon them ; that the heroes who have gone before , Helgi and Sigurd and 14 agnar , will welcome them in Valhalla , and Brynhilda and the Valkyries greet them with bright looks , and hand them the ' mead-cup as Odin ' s chosen champions . The last paper in the volume , by Mr . Goldavin Smith , is a lucid aud instructive ' account of the University reform movement at . Oxford , its growth , progress , and results , with sagacious hints as to the directions in which the movement must be still further developed in order to bring- the University into working harmony with the educational requirements of tke day .
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DOCTOR THORITE . Doctor Thome : a Rovel . By Anthony Trollope , Author of . « The Three Clerks , " "Barchester Towers , " &c . 3 vols . Chapman and Hall . A CRiTTc who in the due exercise of his function as " taster" for the unhterary world is engaged to give an opinion of all the cooked and spurious fermented liquors daily imposed upon the public paLate in the form of novels , fulfils a singularly ungrateful and unenviable office ; and one in the conscie ntious discharge of which the miseries endured by his own jaded lips and palled tongue are appreciated with almost equal injustice by tlie sensitive author and tlie facile reader of the customary three volumes . How seldom , amidst all the golden Marsalas labelled " Sherry , " and the bee ' swinged logwood ticketed " Old Port , " do we get a taste of the real Port St . Mary ' s and ihe veritable Oporto ? How seldom does the sour decoction confidently entitled ( in our ignorance of the French language ) Claret , resemble ever so faintly any growth whatsoever of the true Medoc ? And yet , to judge by the conventional eulogies so liberally dispensed and so freelyquoted , how common is the talent for writing fictions , admirable , " "brilliant , " " life-like / ' " inimitable , " and we know not what besides I Are there critics so cold and so churlish , as to deny to all but some half a dozen writers in a generation the possession of those faculties which in various degrees of combination maybe supposed to be necessary to the production of a classic work of fiction ; " in other words , of a work which , while it is eagerly gulped down by the circulating library , shall be sipped with exquisite enjoyment by the discerning epicurean , and , after rending and le-rending , committed to a choice but not . remote niche on the familiar shelf , as a dear and precious friend to cheer , console , animate , and refresh him in moments snatched from the outer world of disenchanted dulncss and trivial vulgarities ? For our own part , we frankly feel and freely express our gratitude to these very few rarely gifted men ( or women ) whose names we can count off on our fingers , and to whom we owe the most real , although it be fictitious and artificial , enjoyment of which our nineteenth century life is susceptible . We bow the knee with cordial recognition in the presence of Invention , Imagination , description , Characterization , Incident , Interest , Denoument , ' and all the other marvellous components of an original fiction worthy to I become a classic in the land of Swift and Sterne , of Fielding and Goldsmith ; we speak only of the Immortals , not of the illustrious living . Only ! think , Indies of the ready quill ( we appeal to lady novelists in the first place jis outnumbering the gentlemen jackals of the circulating library much in , the same proportion as the stronger ( minded ) is wont to outnumber the ; weaker ( witted ) sex at fashionable watering-places)—only think for a moment , how rare that one faculty of Jvcotlion is among so-called novelists , jnot to speak of perception of character , constructive art , in the exposition , the collision , the evolution , the crisis , the denoument of all . the ingenious knots and difficulties that have been suffocating us with impatience and emotion for nearly a thousand pages I Is this single faculty of Invenfioti ( not to speak of all thereat ) quite so common as the genial writers of those obliging " notices" would have a debonair circulating libi'ary public believe ? Does it " run the streets ? " as our lively neighbours would say . Alas ! a retentive memory is something dilVercnt from an inventive imagination ; a ready pen , nibbed never ho finely , inked never so blackly , may be the tool of a tedious and barren phrase-maker , mimicry is not art , nor are I ' aiiiocdni flesh and blood comedians ; feelings too strong for grammatical utterance and rising above orthography nro not always poetry or eloquence ; in short , to write a good fiction demands a little genius and not . a little art . t , Let us not be misinterpreted . "Wo do not presume to arrest ri fa Purlii / fjtoit the deluge of novels by a hint at the necessary qualifications lor a novelist ; wo simply draw the line between tho novels ihnt demand crilicisin and novels that demand a " notice . " Wo ' uvu heartily disposed to plane the author of Doctor Tliurno among tho extremely aeh : « t few who shine out hko a constellation among tho unnumbered lesser huninurieN of the " cirouhumg" firmament . Indeed , we are prepsired to iiarno him fimong tho . lllus-Uious living writers of fiction whom we arc able to count oil upon our
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rriUc = are notthelegislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not makehws-they interpret and try to enfor ce them—J ? dMi 6 « r // 7 « Review . ¦ ' ^ Ai --. ¦ ¦
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at all to W THE IiEADIR . ____„ 519
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Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1858, page 519, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2244/page/15/
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