,,the ,,unseen ,,world ,,and ,,other ,,essays ,by ,john ,fiske ,transcriber's ,note3 ,this reviews ,draper's ,science and ,religion and contrasts two ,dante translations4 ,,to ,,james ,,sime4 ,,my ,,dear ,,sime3 ,life has now and then some supreme moments of pure happiness1 which in reminiscence give to single days the value of months or years4 ,two or three such moments it has been my good fortune to enjoy with you1 in talking over the mysteries which forever fascinate while they forever baffle us4 ,it was our midnight talks in ,great ,russell ,street and the ,addison ,road1 and our bright ,may holiday on the ,thames1 that led me to write this scanty essay on the ,unseen ,world1 and to whom could ,i so heartily dedicate it as to you8 ,i only wish it were more worthy of its origin4 ,as for the dozen papers which ,i have appended to it1 by way of clearing out my workshop1 ,i hope you will read them indulgently1 and believe me ,ever faithfully yours1 ,,john ,,fiske4 ,,harvard ,,university1 ,february #c1 #ahgf4 ,,contents4 ,i4 ,,the ,,unseen ,,world ,,ii4 ,,the ,,to-,,morrow ,,of ,,death ,,iii4 ,,the ,,jesus ,,of ,,history ,,iv4 ,,the ,,christ ,,of ,,dogma ,v4 ,a ,,word ,,about ,,miracles ,,vi4 ,,draper ,,on ,,science ,,and ,,religion ,,vii4 ,,nathan ,,the ,,wise ,,viii4 ,,historical ,,difficulties ,,ix4 ,,the ,,famine ,,of #aggj ,,in ,,bengal ,x4 ,,spain ,,and ,,the ,,netherlands ,,xi4 ,,longfellow',s ,,dante ,,xii4 ,,paine',s ,,st4 ,,peter ,,xiii4 ,a ,,philosophy ,,of ,,art ,,xiv4 ,,athenian ,,and ,,american ,,life ,,essays4 ,i4 ,,the ,,unseen ,,world4 ,,part ,,first4 ,what are you1 where did you come from1 and whither are you bound8--the question which from ,homer's days has been put to the wayfarer in strange lands--is likewise the all-absorbing question which man is ever asking of the universe of which he is himself so tiny yet so wondrous a part4 ,from the earliest times the ultimate purpose of all scientific research has been to elicit fragmentary or partial responses to this question1 and philosophy has ever busied itself in piecing together these several bits of information according to the best methods at its disposal1 in order to make up something like a satisfactory answer4 ,in old times the best methods which philosophy had at its disposal for this purpose were such as now seem very crude1 and accordingly ancient philosophers bungled considerably in their task1 though now and then they came surprisingly near what would to-day be called the truth4 ,it was natural that their methods should be crude1 for scientific inquiry had as yet supplied but scanty materials for them to work with1 and it was only after a very long course of speculation and criticism that men could find out what ways of going to work are likely to prove successful and what are not4 ,the earliest thinkers1 indeed1 were further hindered from accomplishing much by the imperfections of the language by the aid of which their thinking was done2 for science and philosophy have had to make a serviceable terminology by dint of long and arduous trial and practice1 and linguistic processes fit for expressing general or abstract notions accurately grew up only through numberless failures and at the expense of much inaccurate thinking and loose talking4 ,as in most of nature's processes1 there was a great waste of energy before a good result could be secured4 ,accordingly primitive men were very wide of the mark in their views of nature4 ,to them the world was a sort of enchanted ground1 peopled with sprites and goblins2 the quaint notions with which we now amuse our children in fairy tales represent a style of thinking which once was current among grown men and women1 and which is still current wherever men remain in a savage condition4 ,the theories of the world wrought out by early priest-philosophers were in great part made up of such grotesque notions2 and having become variously implicated with ethical opinions as to the nature and consequences of right and wrong behaviour1 they acquired a kind of sanctity1 so that any thinker who in the light of a wider experience ventured to alter or amend the primitive theory was likely to be vituperated as an irreligious man or atheist4 ,this sort of inference has not yet been wholly abandoned1 even in civilized communities4 ,even to-day books are written about the conflict between religion and science1 and other books are written with intent to reconcile the two presumed antagonists4 ,but when we look beneath the surface of things1 we see that in reality there has never been any conflict between religion and science1 nor is any reconciliation called for where harmony has always existed4 ,the real historical conflict1 which has been thus curiously misnamed1 has been the conflict between the more-crude opinions belonging to the science of an earlier age and the less-crude opinions belonging to the science of a later age4 ,in the course of this contest the more-crude opinions have usually been defended in the name of religion1 and the less-crude opinions have invariably won the victory2 but religion itself1 which is not concerned with opinion1 but with the aspiration which leads us to strive after a purer and holier life1 has seldom or never been attacked4 ,on the contrary1 the scientific men who have conducted the battle on behalf of the less-crude opinions have generally been influenced by this religious aspiration quite as strongly as the apologists of the more-crude opinions1 and so far from religious feeling having been weakened by their perennial series of victories1 it has apparently been growing deeper and stronger all the time4 ,the religious sense is as yet too feebly developed in most of us2 but certainly in no preceding age have men taken up the work of life with more earnestness or with more real faith in the unseen than at the present day1 when so much of what was once deemed all-important knowledge has been consigned to the limbo of mythology4 ,the more-crude theories of early times are to be chiefly distinguished from the less-crude theories of to-day as being largely the products of random guesswork4 ,hypothesis1 or guesswork1 indeed1 lies at the foundation of all scientific knowledge4 ,the riddle of the universe1 like less important riddles1 is unravelled only by approximative trials1 and the most brilliant discoverers have usually been the bravest guessers4 ,kepler's laws were the result of indefatigable guessing1 and so1 in a somewhat different sense1 was the wave-theory of light4 ,but the guesswork of scientific inquirers is very different now from what it was in older times4 ,in the first place1 we have slowly learned that a guess must be verified before it can be accepted as a sound theory2 and1 secondly1 so many truths have been established beyond contravention1 that the latitude for hypothesis is much less than it once was4 ,nine tenths of the guesses which might have occurred to a mediaeval philosopher would now be ruled out as inadmissible1 because they would not harmonize with the knowledge which has been acquired since the ,middle ,ages4 ,there is one direction especially in which this continuous limitation of guesswork by ever-accumulating experience has manifested itself4 ,from first to last1 all our speculative successes and failures have agreed in teaching us that the most general principles of action which prevail to-day1 and in our own corner of the universe1 have always prevailed throughout as much of the universe as is accessible to our research4 ,they have taught us that for the deciphering of the past and the predicting of the future1 no hypotheses are admissible which are not based upon the actual behaviour of things in the present4 ,once there was unlimited facility for guessing as to how the solar system might have come into existence2 now the origin of the sun and planets is adequately explained when we have unfolded all that is implied in the processes which are still going on in the solar system4 ,formerly appeals were made to all manner of violent agencies to account for the changes which the earth's surface has undergone since our planet began its independent career2 now it is seen that the same slow working of rain and tide1 of wind and wave and frost1 of secular contraction and of earthquake pulse1 which is visible to-day1 will account for the whole4 ,it is not long since it was supposed that a species of animals or plants could be swept away only by some unusual catastrophe1 while for the origination of new species something called an act of special creation was necessary2 and as to the nature of such extraordinary events there was endless room for guesswork2 but the discovery of natural selection was the discovery of a process1 going on perpetually under our very eyes1 which must inevitably of itself extinguish some species and bring new ones into being4 ,in these and countless other ways we have learned that all the rich variety of nature is pervaded by unity of action1 such as we might expect to find if nature is the manifestation of an infinite ,god who is without variableness or shadow of turning1 but quite incompatible with the fitful behaviour of the anthropomorphic deities of the old mythologies4 ,by thus abstaining from all appeal to agencies that are extra-cosmic1 or not involved in the orderly system of events that we see occurring around us1 we have at last succeeded in eliminating from philosophic speculation the character of random guesswork which at first of necessity belonged to it4 ,modern scientific hypothesis is so far from being a haphazard mental proceeding that it is perhaps hardly fair to classify it with guesses4 ,it is lifted out of the plane of guesswork1 in so far as it has acquired the character of inevitable inference from that which now is to that which has been or will be4 ,instead of the innumerable particular assumptions which were once admitted into cosmic philosophy1 we are now reduced to the one universal assumption which has been variously described as the principle of continuity1 the uniformity of nature1 the persistence of force1 or the law of causation1 and which has been variously explained as a necessary datum for scientific thinking or as a net result of all induction4 ,i am not unwilling1 however1 to adopt the language of a book which has furnished the occasion for the present discussion1 and to say that this grand assumption is a supreme act of faith1 the definite expression of a trust that the infinite ,sustainer of the universe will not put us to permanent intellectual confusion4 ,for in this mode of statement the harmony between the scientific and the religious points of view is well brought out4 ,it is as affording the only outlet from permanent intellectual confusion that inquirers have been driven to appeal to the principle of continuity2 and it is by unswerving reliance upon this principle that we have obtained such insight into the past1 present1 and future of the world as we now possess4 ,the work just mentioned #a is especially interesting as an attempt to bring the probable destiny of the human soul into connection with the modern theories which explain the past and future career of the physical universe in accordance with the principle of continuity4 ,its authorship is as yet unknown1 but it is believed to be the joint production of two of the most eminent physicists in ,great ,britain1 and certainly the accurate knowledge and the ingenuity and subtlety of thought displayed in it are such as to lend great probability to this conjecture4 ,some account of the argument it contains may well precede the suggestions presently to be set forth concerning the ,unseen ,world2 and we shall find it most convenient to begin1 like our authors1 with a brief statement of what the principle of continuity teaches as to the proximate beginning and end of the visible universe4 ,i shall in the main set down only results1 having elsewhere #b given a simple exposition of the arguments upon which these results are founded4 #a ,the ,unseen ,universe2 or1 ,physical ,speculations on a ,future ,state4 ,attributed to ,professors ,,tait and ,,balfour ,,stewart4 ,new ,york3 ,macmillan ,co4 #ahge4 #hvo4 pp4 #bab4 #b ,outlines of ,cosmic ,philosophy1 based on the ,doctrine of ,evolution4 ,boston3 ,j4 ,r4 ,osgood ,co4 #ahge4 #b vols4 #hvo4 ,the first great cosmological speculation which has been raised quite above the plane of guesswork by making no other assumption than that of the uniformity of nature1 is the well-known ,nebular ,hypothesis4 ,every astronomer knows that the earth1 like all other cosmical bodies which are flattened at the poles1 was formerly a mass of fluid1 and consequently filled a much larger space than at present4 ,it is further agreed1 on all hands1 that the sun is a contracting body1 since there is no other possible way of accounting for the enormous quantity of heat which he generates4 ,the so-called primeval nebula follows as a necessary inference from these facts4 ,there was once a time when the earth was distended on all sides away out to the moon and beyond it1 so that the matter now contained in the moon was then a part of our equatorial zone4 ,and at a still remoter date in the past1 the mass of the sun was diffused in every direction beyond the orbit of ,neptune1 and no planet had an individual existence1 for all were indistinguishable parts of the solar mass4 ,when the great mass of the sun1 increased by the relatively small mass of all the planets put together1 was spread out in this way1 it was a rare vapour or gas4 ,at the period where the question is taken up in ,laplace's treatment of the nebular theory1 the shape of this mass is regarded as spheroidal2 but at an earlier period its shape may well have been as irregular as that of any of the nebulae which we now see in distant parts of the heavens1 for1 whatever its primitive shape1 the equalization of its rotation would in time make it spheroidal4 ,that the ,,quantity of rotation was the same then as now is unquestionable2 for no system of particles1 great or small1 can acquire or lose rotation by any action going on within itself1 any more than a man could pick himself up by his waistband and lift himself over a stone wale ,so that the primitive rotating spheroidal solar nebula is not a matter of assumption1 but is just what must once have existed1 provided there has been no breach of continuity in nature's operations4 ,now proceeding to reason back from the past to the present1 it has been shown that the abandonment of successive equatorial belts by the contracting solar mass must have ensued in accordance with known mechanical laws2 and in similar wise1 under ordinary circumstances each belt must have parted into fragments1 and the fragments chasing each other around the same orbit1 must have at last coalesced into a spheroidal planet4 ,not only this1 but it has also been shown that as the result of such a process the relative sizes of the planets would be likely to take the order which they now follow2 that the ring immediately succeeding that of ,jupiter would be likely to abort and produce a great number of tiny planets instead of one good-sized one2 that the outer planets would be likely to have many moons1 and that ,saturn1 besides having the greatest number of moons1 would be likely to retain some of his inner rings unbroken2 that the earth would be likely to have a long day and ,jupiter a short one2 that the extreme outer planets would be not unlikely to rotate in a retrograde direction2 and so on1 through a long list of interesting and striking details4 ,not only1 therefore1 are we driven to the inference that our solar system was once a vaporous nebula1 but we find that the mere contraction of such a nebula1 under the influence of the enormous mutual gravitation of its particles1 carries with it the explanation of both the more general and the more particular features of the present system4 ,so that we may fairly regard this stupendous process as veritable matter of history1 while we proceed to study it under some further aspects and to consider what consequences are likely to follow4 ,our attention should first be directed to the enormous waste of energy which has accompanied this contraction of the solar nebula4 ,the first result of such a contraction is the generation of a great quantity of heat1 and when the heat thus generated has been lost by radiation into surrounding space it becomes possible for the contraction to continue4 ,thus1 as concentration goes on1 heat is incessantly generated and incessantly dissipated4 ,how long this process is to endure depends chiefly on the size of the contracting mass1 as small bodies radiate heat much faster than large ones4 ,the moon seems to be already thoroughly refrigerated1 while ,jupiter and ,saturn are very much hotter than the earth1 as is shown by the tremendous atmospheric phenomena which occur on their surfaces4 ,the sun1 again1 generates heat so rapidly1 owing to his great energy of contraction1 and loses it so slowly1 owing to his great size1 that his surface is always kept in a state of incandescence4 ,his surface-temperature is estimated at some three million degrees of ,fahrenheit1 and a diminution of his diameter far too small to be detected by the finest existing instruments would suffice to maintain the present supply of heat for more than fifty centuries4 ,these facts point to a very long future during which the sun will continue to warm the earth and its companion planets1 but at the same time they carry on their face the story of inevitable ultimate doom4 ,if things continue to go on as they have all along gone on1 the sun must by and by grow black and cold1 and all life whatever throughout the solar system must come to an end4 ,long before this consummation1 however1 life will probably have become extinct through the refrigeration of each of the planets into a state like the present state of the moon1 in which the atmosphere and oceans have disappeared from the surface4 ,no doubt the sun will continue to give out heat a long time after heat has ceased to be needed for the support of living organisms4 ,for the final refrigeration of the sun will long be postponed by the fate of the planets themselves4 ,the separation of the planets from their parent solar mass seems to be after all but a temporary separation4 ,so nicely balanced are they now in their orbits that they may well seem capable of rolling on in their present courses forever4 ,but this is not the case4 ,two sets of circumstances are all the while striving1 the one to drive the planets farther away from the sun1 the other to draw them all into it4 ,on the one hand1 every body in our system which contains fluid matter has tides raised upon its surface by the attraction of neighbouring bodies4 ,all the planets raise tides upon the surface of the sun and the periodicity of sun-spots 7or solar cyclones7 depends upon this fact4 ,these tidal waves act as a drag or brake upon the rotation of the sun1 somewhat diminishing its rapidity4 ,but1 in conformity with a principle of mechanics well known to astronomers1 though not familiar to the general reader1 all the motion of rotation thus lost by the sun is added to the planets in the shape of annual motion of revolution1 and thus their orbits all tend to enlarge1--they all tend to recede somewhat from the sun4 ,but this state of things1 though long-enduring enough1 is after all only temporary1 and will at any rate come to an end when the sun and planets have become solid4 ,meanwhile another set of circumstances is all the time tending to bring the planets nearer to the sun1 and in the long run must gain the mastery4 ,the space through which the planets move is filled with a kind of matter which serves as a medium for the transmission of heat and light1 and this kind of matter1 though different in some respects from ordinary ponderable matter1 is yet like it in exerting friction4 ,this friction is almost infinitely little1 yet it has a wellnigh infinite length of time to work in1 and during all this wellnigh infinite length of time it is slowly eating up the momentum of the planets and diminishing their ability to maintain their distances from the sun4 ,hence in course of time the planets will all fall into the sun1 one after another1 so that the solar system will end1 as it began1 by consisting of a single mass of matter4 ,but this is by no means the end of the story4 ,when two bodies rush together1 each parts with some of its energy of motion1 and this lost energy of motion reappears as heat4 ,in the concussion of two cosmical bodies1 like the sun and the earth1 an enormous quantity of motion is thus converted into heat4 ,now heat1 when not allowed to radiate1 or when generated faster than it can be radiated1 is transformed into motion of expansion4 ,hence the shock of sun and planet would at once result in the vaporization of both bodies2 and there can be no doubt that by the time the sun has absorbed the outermost of his attendant planets1 he will have resumed something like his original nebulous condition4 ,he will have been dilated into a huge mass of vapour1 and will have become fit for a new process of contraction and for a new production of life-bearing planets4 ,we are now1 however1 confronted by an interesting but difficult question4 ,throughout all this grand past and future career of the solar system which we have just briefly traced1 we have been witnessing a most prodigal dissipation of energy in the shape of radiant heat4 ,at the outset we had an enormous quantity of what is called energy of position1 that is1 the outer parts of our primitive nebula had a very long distance through which to travel towards one another in the slow process of concentration2 and this distance was the measure of the quantity of work possible to our system4 ,as the particles of our nebula drew nearer and nearer together1 the energy of position continually lost reappeared continually as heat1 of which the greater part was radiated off1 but of which a certain amount was retained4 ,all the gigantic amount of work achieved in the geologic development of our earth and its companion planets1 and in the development of life wherever life may exist in our system1 has been the product of this retained heat4 ,at the present day the same wasteful process is going on4 ,each moment the sun's particles are losing energy of position as they draw closer and closer together1 and the heat into which this lost energy is metamorphosed is poured out most prodigally in every direction4 ,let us consider for a moment how little of it gets used in our system4 ,the earth's orbit is a nearly circular figure more than five hundred million miles in circumference1 while only eight thousand miles of this path are at any one time occupied by the earth's mass4 ,through these eight thousand miles the sun's radiated energy is doing work1 but through the remainder of the five hundred million it is idle and wasted4 ,but the case is far more striking when we reflect that it is not in the plane of the earth's orbit only that the sun's radiance is being poured out4 ,it is not an affair of a circle1 but of a sphere4 ,in order to utilize all the solar rays1 we should need to have an immense number of earths arranged so as to touch each other1 forming a hollow sphere around the sun1 with the present radius of the earth's orbit4 ,we may well believe ,professor ,tyndall1 therefore1 when he tells us that all the solar radiance we receive is less than a two-billionth part of what is sent flying through the desert regions of space4 ,some of the immense residue of course hits other planets stationed in the way of it1 and is utilized upon their surfaces2 but the planets1 all put together1 stop so little of the total quantity that our startling illustration is not materially altered by taking them into the account4 ,now this two-billionth part of the solar radiance poured out from moment to moment suffices to blow every wind1 to raise every cloud1 to drive every engine1 to build up the tissue of every plant1 to sustain the activity of every animal1 including man1 upon the surface of our vast and stately globe4 ,considering the wondrous richness and variety of the terrestrial life wrought out by the few sunbeams which we catch in our career through space1 we may well pause overwhelmed and stupefied at the thought of the incalculable possibilities of existence which are thrown away with the potent actinism that darts unceasingly into the unfathomed abysms of immensity4 ,where it goes to or what becomes of it1 no one of us can surmise4 ,now when1 in the remote future1 our sun is reduced to vapour by the impact of the several planets upon his surface1 the resulting nebulous mass must be a very insignificant affair compared with the nebulous mass with which we started4 ,in order to make a second nebula equal in size and potential energy to the first one1 all the energy of position at first existing should have been retained in some form or other4 ,but nearly all of it has been lost1 and only an insignificant fraction remains with which to endow a new system4 ,in order to reproduce1 in future ages1 anything like that cosmical development which is now going on in the solar system1 aid must be sought from without4 ,we must endeavour to frame some valid hypothesis as to the relation of our solar system to other systems4 ,thus far our view has been confined to the career of a single star1--our sun1--with the tiny1 easily-cooling balls which it has cast off in the course of its development4 ,thus far1 too1 our inferences have been very secure1 for we have been dealing with a circumscribed group of phenomena1 the beginning and end of which have been brought pretty well within the compass of our imagination4 ,it is quite another thing to deal with the actual or probable career of the stars in general1 inasmuch as we do not even know how many stars there are1 which form parts of a common system1 or what are their precise dynamic relations to one another4 ,nevertheless we have knowledge of a few facts which may support some cautious inferences4 ,all the stars which we can see are undoubtedly bound together by relations of gravitation4 ,no doubt our sun attracts all the other stars within our ken1 and is reciprocally attracted by them4 ,the stars1 too1 lie mostly in or around one great plane1 as is the case with the members of the solar system4 ,moreover1 the stars are shown by the spectroscope to consist of chemical elements identical with those which are found in the solar system4 ,such facts as these make it probable that the career of other stars1 when adequately inquired into1 would be found to be like that of our own sun4 ,observation daily enhances this probability1 for our study of the sidereal universe is continually showing us stars in all stages of development4 ,we find irregular nebulae1 for example2 we find spiral and spheroidal nebulae2 we find stars which have got beyond the nebulous stage1 but are still at a whiter heat than our sun2 and we also find many stars which yield the same sort of spectrum as our sun4 ,the inference seems forced upon us that the same process of concentration which has gone on in the case of our solar nebula has been going on in the case of other nebulae4 ,the history of the sun is but a type of the history of stars in general4 ,and when we consider that all other visible stars and nebulae are cooling and contracting bodies1 like our sun1 to what other conclusion could we very well come8 ,when we look at ,sirius1 for instance1 we do not see him surrounded by planets1 for at such a distance no planet could be visible1 even ,sirius himself1 though fourteen times larger than our sun1 appearing only as a twinkling little star4 ,but a comparative survey of the heavens assures us that ,sirius can hardly have arrived at his present stage of concentration without detaching1 planet-forming rings1 for there is no reason for supposing that mechanical laws out there are at all different from what they are in our own system4 ,and the same kind of inference must apply to all the matured stars which we see in the heavens4 ,when we duly take all these things into the account1 the case of our solar system will appear as only one of a thousand cases of evolution and dissolution with which the heavens furnish us4 ,other stars1 like our sun1 have undoubtedly started as vaporous masses1 and have thrown off planets in contracting4 ,the inference may seem a bold one1 but it after all involves no other assumption than that of the continuity of natural phenomena4 ,it is not likely1 therefore1 that the solar system will forever be left to itself4 ,stars which strongly gravitate toward each other1 while moving through a perennially resisting medium1 must in time be drawn together4 ,the collision of our extinct sun with one of the ,pleiades1 after this manner1 would very likely suffice to generate even a grander nebula than the one with which we started4 ,possibly the entire galactic system may1 in an inconceivably remote future1 remodel itself in this way2 and possibly the nebula from which our own group of planets has been formed may have owed its origin to the disintegration of systems which had accomplished their career in the depths of the bygone eternity4 ,when the problem is extended to these huge dimensions1 the prospect of an ultimate cessation of cosmical work is indefinitely postponed1 but at the same time it becomes impossible for us to deal very securely with the questions we have raised4 ,the magnitudes and periods we have introduced are so nearly infinite as to baffle speculation itself3 ,one point1 however1 we seem dimly to discern4 ,supposing the stellar universe not to be absolutely infinite in extent1 we may hold that the day of doom1 so often postponed1 must come at last4 ,the concentration of matter and dissipation of energy1 so often checked1 must in the end prevail1 so that1 as the final outcome of things1 the entire universe will be reduced to a single enormous ball1 dead and frozen1 solid and black1 its potential energy of motion having been all transformed into heat and radiated away4 ,such a conclusion has been suggested by ,sir ,william ,thomson1 and it is quite forcibly stated by the authors of ,the ,unseen ,universe4 ,they remind us that if there be any one form of energy less readily or less completely transformable than the others1 and if transformations constantly go on1 more and more of the whole energy of the universe will inevitably sink into this lower grade as time advances4 ,now radiant heat1 as we have seen1 is such a lower grade of energy4 ,at each transformation of heat-energy into work1 a large portion is degraded1 while only a small portion is transformed into work4 ,so that while it is very easy to change all of our mechanical or useful energy into heat1 it is only possible to transform a portion of this heat-energy back again into work4 ,after each change1 too1 the heat becomes more and more dissipated or degraded1 and less and less available for any future transformation4 ,in other words1 our authors continue1 the tendency of heat is towards equalization2 heat is par excellence the communist of our universe1 and it will no doubt ultimately bring the system to an end44444 ,it is absolutely certain that life1 so far as it is physical1 depends essentially upon transformations of energy2 it is also absolutely certain that age after age the possibility of such transformations is becoming less and less2 and1 so far as we yet know1 the final state of the present universe must be an aggregation 7into one mass7 of all the matter it contains1 i4 e4 the potential energy gone1 and a practically useless state of kinetic energy1 i4 e4 uniform temperature throughout that mass4 ,thus our authors conclude that the visible universe began in time and will in time come to an end2 and they add that under the physical conditions of such a universe immortality is impossible4 ,concerning the latter inference we shall by and by have something to say4 ,meanwhile this whole speculation as to the final cessation of cosmical work seems to me--as it does to my friend1 ,professor ,clifford #c--;by no means trustworthy4 ,the conditions of the problem so far transcend our grasp that any such speculation must remain an unverifiable guess4 ,i do not go with ,professor ,clifford in doubting whether the laws of mechanics are absolutely the same throughout eternity2 ,i cannot quite reconcile such a doubt with faith in the principle of continuity4 ,but it does seem to me needful1 before we conclude that radiated energy is absolutely and forever wasted1 that we should find out what becomes of it4 ,what we call radiant heat is simply transverse wave-motion1 propagated with enormous velocity through an ocean of subtle ethereal matter which bathes the atoms of all visible or palpable bodies and fills the whole of space1 extending beyond the remotest star which the telescope can reach4 ,whether there are any bounds at all to this ethereal ocean1 or whether it is as infinite as space itself1 we cannot surmise4 ,if it be limited1 the possible dispersion of radiant energy is limited by its extent4 ,heat and light cannot travel through emptiness4 ,if the ether is bounded by surrounding emptiness1 then a ray of heat1 on arriving at this limiting emptiness1 would be reflected back as surely as a ball is sent back when thrown against a solid wall4 ,if this be the case1 it will not affect our conclusions concerning such a tiny region of space as is occupied by the solar system1 but it will seriously modify ,sir ,william ,thomson's suggestion as to the fate of the universe as a whole4 ,the radiance thrown away by the sun is indeed lost so far as the future of our system is concerned1 but not a single unit of it is lost from the universe4 ,sooner or later1 reflected back in all directions1 it must do work in one quarter or another1 so that ultimate stagnation be comes impossible4 ,it is true that no such return of radiant energy has been detected in our corner of the world2 but we have not yet so far disentangled all the force-relations of the universe that we are entitled to regard such a return as impossible4 ,this is one way of escape from the consummation of things depicted by our authors4 ,another way of escape is equally available1 if we suppose that while the ether is without bounds the stellar universe also extends to infinity4 ,for in this case the reproduction of nebulous masses fit for generating new systems of worlds must go on through space that is endless1 and consequently the process can never come to an end and can never have had a beginning4 ,we have1 therefore1 three alternatives3 either the visible universe is finite1 while the ether is infinite2 or both are finite2 or both are infinite4 ,only on the first supposition1 ,i think1 do we get a universe which began in time and must end in time4 ,between such stupendous alternatives we have no grounds for choosing4 ,but it would seem that the third1 whether strictly true or not1 best represents the state of the case relatively to our feeble capacity of comprehension4 ,whether absolutely infinite or not1 the dimensions of the universe must be taken as practically infinite1 so far as human thought is concerned4 ,they immeasurably transcend the capabilities of any gauge we can bring to bear on them4 ,accordingly all that we are really entitled to hold1 as the outcome of sound speculation1 is the conception of innumerable systems of worlds concentrating out of nebulous masses1 and then rushing together and dissolving into similar masses1 as bubbles unite and break up--now here1 now there--in their play on the surface of a pool1 and to this tremendous series of events we can assign neither a beginning nor an end4 #c ,fortnightly ,review1 ,april1 #ahge4 ,we must now make some more explicit mention of the ether which carries through space the rays of heat and light4 ,in closest connection with the visible stellar universe1 the vicissitudes of which we have briefly traced1 the all-pervading ether constitutes a sort of unseen world remarkable enough from any point of view1 but to which the theory of our authors ascribes capacities hitherto unsuspected by science4 ,the very existence of an ocean of ether enveloping the molecules of material bodies has been doubted or denied by many eminent physicists1 though of course none have called in question the necessity for some interstellar medium for the transmission of thermal and luminous vibrations4 ,this scepticism has been1 ,i think1 partially justified by the many difficulties encompassing the conception1 into which1 however1 we need not here enter4 ,that light and heat cannot be conveyed by any of the ordinary sensible forms of matter is unquestionable4 ,none of the forms of sensible matter can be imagined sufficiently elastic to propagate wave-motion at the rate of one hundred and eighty-eight thousand miles per second4 ,yet a ray of light is a series of waves1 and implies some substance in which the waves occur4 ,the substance required is one which seems to possess strangely contradictory properties4 ,it is commonly regarded as an ether or infinitely rare substance2 but1 as ,professor ,jevons observes1 we might as well regard it as an infinitely solid adamant4 ,sir ,john ,herschel has calculated the amount of force which may be supposed1 according to the undulatory theory of light1 to be exerted at each point in space1 and finds it to be #a1adh1jjj1jjj1jjj times the elastic force of ordinary air at the earth's surface1 so that the pressure of the ether upon a square inch of surface must be about #ag1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1 or seventeen billions of pounds4 #d ,yet at the same time the resistance offered by the ether to the planetary motions is too minute to be appreciable4 ,all our ordinary notions1 says ,professor ,jevons1 must be laid aside in contemplating such an hypothesis2 yet it is no more than the observed phenomena of light and heat force us to accept4 ,we cannot deny even the strange suggestion of ,dr4 ,young1 that there may be independent worlds1 some possibly existing in different parts of space1 but others perhaps pervading each other1 unseen and unknown1 in the same space4 ,for if we are bound to admit the conception of this adamantine firmament1 it is equally easy to admit a plurality of such4 #d ,jevons's ,principles of ,science1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #ade4 ,the figures1 which in the ,english system of numeration read as seventeen billions1 would in the ,american system read as seventeen trillions4 ,the ether1 therefore1 is unlike any of the forms of matter which we can weigh and measure4 ,in some respects it resembles a fluid1 in some respects a solid4 ,it is both hard and elastic to an almost inconceivable degree4 ,it fills all material bodies like a sea in which the atoms of the material bodies are as islands1 and it occupies the whole of what we call empty space4 ,it is so sensitive that a disturbance in any part of it causes a tremour which is felt on the surface of countless worlds4 ,our old experiences of matter give us no account of any substance like this2 yet the undulatory theory of light obliges us to admit such a substance1 and that theory is as well established as the theory of gravitation4 ,obviously we have here an enlargement of our experience of matter4 ,the analysis of the phenomena of light and radiant heat has brought us into mental relations with matter in a different state from any in which we previously knew it4 ,for the supposition that the ether may be something essentially different from matter is contradicted by all the terms we have used in describing it4 ,strange and contradictory as its properties may seem1 are they any more strange than the properties of a gas would seem if we were for the first time to discover a gas after heretofore knowing nothing but solids and liquids8 ,i think not2 and the conclusion implied by our authors seems to me eminently probable1 that in the so-called ether we have simply a state of matter more primitive than what we know as the gaseous state4 ,indeed1 the conceptions of matter now current1 and inherited from barbarous ages1 are likely enough to be crude in the extreme4 ,it is not strange that the study of such subtle agencies as heat and light should oblige us to modify them2 and it will not be strange if the study of electricity should entail still further revision of our ideas4 ,we are now brought to one of the profoundest speculations of modern times1 the vortex-atom theory of ,helmholtz and ,thomson1 in which the evolution of ordinary matter from ether is plainly indicated4 ,the reader first needs to know what vortex-motion is2 and this has been so beautifully explained by ,professor ,clifford1 that ,i quote his description entire3 ,imagine a ring of india-rubber1 made by joining together the ends of a cylindrical piece 7like a lead-pencil before it is cut71 to be put upon a round stick which it will just fit with a little stretching4 ,let the stick be now pulled through the ring while the latter is kept in its place by being pulled the other way on the outside4 ,the india-rubber has then what is called vortex-motion4 ,before the ends were joined together1 while it was straight1 it might have been made to turn around without changing position1 by rolling it between the hands4 ,just the same motion of rotation it has on the stick1 only that the ends are now joined together4 ,all the inside surface of the ring is going one way1 namely1 the way the stick is pulled2 and all the outside is going the other way4 ,such a vortex-ring is made by the smoker who purses his lips into a round hole and sends out a puff of smoke4 ,the outside of the ring is kept back by the friction of his lips while the inside is going forwards2 thus a rotation is set up all round the smoke-ring as it travels out into the air4 ,in these cases1 and in others as we commonly find it1 vortex-motion owes its origin to friction and is after a while brought to an end by friction4 ,but in #aheh the equations of motion of an incompressible frictionless fluid were first successfully solved by ,helmholtz1 and among other things he proved that1 though vortex-motion could not be originated in such a fluid1 yet supposing it once to exist1 it would exist to all eternity and could not be diminished by any mechanical action whatever4 ,a vortex-ring1 for example1 in such a fluid1 would forever preserve its own rotation1 and would thus forever retain its peculiar individuality1 being1 as it were1 marked off from its neighbour vortex-rings4 ,upon this mechanical truth ,sir ,william ,thomson based his wonderfully suggestive theory of the constitution of matter4 ,that which is permanent or indestructible in matter is the ultimate homogeneous atom2 and this is probably all that is permanent1 since chemists now almost unanimously hold that so-called elementary molecules are not really simple1 but owe their sensible differences to the various groupings of an ultimate atom which is alike for all4 ,relatively to our powers of comprehension the atom endures eternally2 that is1 it retains forever unalterable its definite mass and its definite rate of vibration4 ,now this is just what a vortex-ring would do in an incompressible frictionless fluid4 ,thus the startling question is suggested1 ,why may not the ultimate atoms of matter be vortex-rings forever existing in such a frictionless fluid filling the whole of space8 ,such a hypothesis is not less brilliant than ,huyghens's conjectural identification of light with undulatory motion2 and it is moreover a legitimate hypothesis1 since it can be brought to the test of verification4 ,sir ,william ,thomson has shown that it explains a great many of the physical properties of matter3 it remains to be seen whether it can explain them all4 ,of course the ether which conveys thermal and luminous undulations is not the frictionless fluid postulated by ,sir ,william ,thomson4 ,the most conspicuous property of the ether is its enormous elasticity1 a property which we should not find in a frictionless fluid4 ,to account for such elasticity1 says ,professor ,clifford 7whose exposition of the subject is still more lucid than that of our authors71 it has to be supposed that even where there are no material molecules the universal fluid is full of vortex-motion1 but that the vortices are smaller and more closely packed than those of ordinary matter1 forming altogether a more finely grained structure4 ,so that the difference between matter and ether is reduced to a mere difference in the size and arrangement of the component vortex-rings4 ,now1 whatever may turn out to be the ultimate nature of the ether and of molecules1 we know that to some extent at least they obey the same dynamic laws1 and that they act upon one another in accordance with these laws4 ,until1 therefore1 it is absolutely disproved1 it must remain the simplest and most probable assumption that they are finally made of the same stuff1 that the material molecule is some kind of knot or coagulation of ether4 #e #e ,fortnightly ,review1 ,june1 #ahge1 p4 #ghd4 ,another interesting consequence of ,sir ,william ,thomson's pregnant hypothesis is that the absolute hardness which has been attributed to material atoms from the time of ,lucretius downward may be dispensed with4 ,somewhat in the same way that a loosely suspended chain becomes rigid with rapid rotation1 the hardness and elasticity of the vortex-atom are explained as due to the swift rotary motion of a soft and yielding fluid4 ,so that the vortex-atom is really indivisible1 not by reason of its hardness or solidity1 but by reason of the indestructibleness of its motion4 ,supposing1 now1 that we adopt provisionally the vortex theory1--the great power of which is well shown by the consideration just mentioned1--we must not forget that it is absolutely essential to the indestructibleness of the material atom that the universal fluid in which it has an existence as a vortex-ring should be entirely destitute of friction4 ,once admit even the most infinitesimal amount of friction1 while retaining the conception of vortex-motion in a universal fluid1 and the whole case is so far altered that the material atom can no longer be regarded as absolutely indestructible1 but only as indefinitely enduring4 ,it may have been generated1 in bygone eternity1 by a natural process of evolution1 and in future eternity may come to an end4 ,relatively to our powers of comprehension the practical difference is perhaps not great4 ,scientifically speaking1 ,helmholtz and ,thomson are as well entitled to reason upon the assumption of a perfectly frictionless fluid as geometers in general are entitled to assume perfect lines without breadth and perfect surfaces without thickness4 ,perfect lines and surfaces do not exist within the region of our experience2 yet the conclusions of geometry are none the less true ideally1 though in any particular concrete instance they are only approximately realized4 ,just so with the conception of a frictionless fluid4 ,so far as experience goes1 such a thing has no more real existence than a line without breadth2 and hence an atomic theory based upon such an assumption may be as true ideally as any of the theorems of ,euclid1 but it can give only an approximatively true account of the actual universe4 ,these considerations do not at all affect the scientific value of the theory2 but they will modify the tenour of such transcendental inferences as may be drawn from it regarding1 the probable origin and destiny of the universe4 ,the conclusions reached in the first part of this paper1 while we were dealing only with gross visible matter1 may have seemed bold enough2 but they are far surpassed by the inference which our authors draw from the vortex theory as they interpret it4 ,our authors exhibit various reasons1 more or less sound1 for attributing to the primordial fluid some slight amount of friction2 and in support of this view they adduce ,le ,sage's explanation of gravitation as a differential result of pressure1 and ,struve's theory of the partial absorption of light-rays by the ether1--questions with which our present purpose does not require us to meddle4 ,apart from such questions it is every way probable that the primary assumption of ,helmholtz and ,thomson is only an approximation to the truth4 ,but if we accredit the primordial fluid with even an infinitesimal amount of friction1 then we are required to conceive of the visible universe as developed from the invisible and as destined to return into the invisible4 ,the vortex-atom1 produced by infinitesimal friction operating through wellnigh infinite time1 is to be ultimately abolished by the agency which produced it4 ,in the words of our authors1 ,if the visible universe be developed from an invisible which is not a perfect fluid1 then the argument deduced by ,sir ,william ,thomson in favour of the eternity of ordinary matter disappears1 since this eternity depends upon the perfect fluidity of the invisible4 ,in fine1 if we suppose the material universe to be composed of a series of vortex-rings developed from an invisible universe which is not a perfect fluid1 it will be ephemeral1 just as the smoke-ring which we develop from air1 or that which we develop from water1 is ephemeral1 the only difference being in duration1 these lasting only for a few seconds1 and the others it may be for billions of years4 ,thus1 as our authors suppose that the available energy of the visible universe will ultimately be appropriated by the invisible1 they go on to imagine1 at least as a possibility1 that the separate existence of the visible universe will share the same fate1 so that we shall have no huge1 useless1 inert mass existing in after ages to remind the passer-by of a form of energy and a species of matter that is long since out of date and functionally effete4 ,why should not the universe bury its dead out of sight8 ,in one respect perhaps no more stupendous subject of contemplation than this has ever been offered to the mind of man4 ,in comparison with the length of time thus required to efface the tiny individual atom1 the entire cosmical career of our solar system1 or even that of the whole starry galaxy1 shrinks into utter nothingness4 ,whether we shall adopt the conclusion suggested must depend on the extent of our speculative audacity4 ,we have seen wherein its probability consists1 but in reasoning upon such a scale we may fitly be cautious and modest in accepting inferences1 and our authors1 we may be sure1 would be the first to recommend such modesty and caution4 ,even at the dimensions to which our theorizing has here grown1 we may for instance discern the possible alternative of a simultaneous or rhythmically successive generation and destruction of vortex-atoms which would go far to modify the conclusion just suggested4 ,but here we must pause for a moment1 reserving for a second paper the weightier thoughts as to futurity which our authors have sought to enwrap in these sublime physical speculations4 ,,part ,,second4 ,,up to this point1 however remote from ordinary every-day thoughts may be the region of speculation which we have been called upon to traverse1 we have still kept within the limits of legitimate scientific hypothesis4 ,though we have ventured for a goodly distance into the unknown1 we have not yet been required to abandon our base of operations in the known4 ,of the views presented in the preceding paper1 some are wellnigh certainly established1 some are probable1 some have a sort of plausibility1 others--to which we have refrained from giving assent--may possibly be true2 but none are irretrievably beyond the jurisdiction of scientific tests4 ,no suggestion has so far been broached which a very little further increase of our scientific knowledge may not show to be either eminently probable or eminently improbable4 ,we have kept pretty clear of mere subjective guesses1 such as men may wrangle about forever without coming to any conclusion4 ,the theory of the nebular origin of our planetary system has come to command the assent of all persons qualified to appreciate the evidence on which it is based2 and the more immediate conclusions which we have drawn from that theory are only such as are commonly drawn by astronomers and physicists4 ,the doctrine of an intermolecular and interstellar ether is wrapped up in the well-established undulatory theory of light4 ,such is by no means the case with ,sir ,william ,thomson's vortex-atom theory1 which to-day is in somewhat the same condition as the undulatory theory of ,huyghens two centuries ago4 ,this1 however1 is none the less a hypothesis truly scientific in conception1 and in the speculations to which it leads us we are still sure of dealing with views that admit at least of definite expression and treatment4 ,in other words1 though our study of the visible universe has led us to the recognition of a kind of unseen world underlying the world of things that are seen1 yet concerning the economy of this unseen world we have not been led to entertain any hypothesis that has not its possible justification in our experiences of visible phenomena4 ,we are now called upon1 following in the wake of our esteemed authors1 to venture on a different sort of exploration1 in which we must cut loose altogether from our moorings in the world of which we have definite experience4 ,we are invited to entertain suggestions concerning the peculiar economy of the invisible portion of the universe which we have no means of subjecting to any sort of test of probability1 either experimental or deductive4 ,these suggestions are1 therefore1 not to be regarded as properly scientific2 but1 with this word of caution1 we may proceed to show what they are4 ,compared with the life and death of cosmical systems which we have heretofore contemplated1 the life and death of individuals of the human race may perhaps seem a small matter2 yet because we are ourselves the men who live and die1 the small event is of vastly greater interest to us than the grand series of events of which it is part and parcel4 ,it is natural that we should be more interested in the ultimate fate of humanity than in the fate of a world which is of no account to us save as our present dwelling-place4 ,whether the human soul is to come to an end or not is to us a more important question than whether the visible universe1 with its matter and energy1 is to be absorbed in an invisible ether4 ,it is indeed only because we are interested in the former question that we are so curious about the latter4 ,if we could dissociate ourselves from the material universe1 our habitat1 we should probably speculate much less about its past and future4 ,we care very little what becomes of the black ball of the earth1 after all life has vanished from its surface2 or1 if we care at all about it1 it is only because our thoughts about the career of the earth are necessarily mixed up with our thoughts about life4 ,hence in considering the probable ultimate destiny of the physical universe1 our innermost purpose must be to know what is to become of all this rich and wonderful life of which the physical universe is the theatre4 ,has it all been developed1 apparently at almost infinite waste of effort1 only to be abolished again before it has attained to completeness1 or does it contain or shelter some indestructible element which having drawn sustenance for a while from the senseless turmoil of physical phenomena shall still survive their final decay8 ,this question is closely connected with the time-honoured question of the meaning1 purpose1 or tendency of the world4 ,in the career of the world is life an end1 or a means toward an end1 or only an incidental phenomenon in which we can discover no meaning8 ,contemporary theologians seem generally to believe that one necessary result of modern scientific inquiry must be the destruction of the belief in immortal life1 since against every thoroughgoing expounder of scientific knowledge they seek to hurl the charge of materialism4 ,their doubts1 however1 are not shared by our authors1 thorough men of science as they are1 though their mode of dealing with the question may not be such as we can well adopt4 ,while upholding the doctrine of evolution1 and all the so-called materialistic views of modern science1 they not only regard the hypothesis of a future life as admissible1 but they even go so far as to propound a physical theory as to the nature of existence after death4 ,let us see what this physical theory is4 ,as far as the visible universe is concerned1 we do not find in it any evidence of immortality or of permanence of any sort1 unless it be in the sum of potential and kinetic energies on the persistency of which depends our principle of continuity4 ,in ordinary language the stars in their courses serve as symbols of permanence1 yet we have found reason to regard them as but temporary phenomena4 ,so1 in the language of our authors1 if we take the individual man1 we find that he lives his short tale of years1 and that then the visible machinery which connects him with the past1 as well as that which enables him to act in the present1 falls into ruin and is brought to an end4 ,if any germ or potentiality remains1 it is certainly not connected with the visible order of things4 ,in like manner our race is pretty sure to come to an end long before the destruction of the planet from which it now gets its sustenance4 ,and in our authors opinion even the universe will by and by become old and effete1 no less truly than the individual3 it is a glorious garment this visible universe1 but not an immortal one2 we must look elsewhere if we are to be clothed with immortality as with a garment4 ,it is at this point that our authors call attention to the apparently wasteful character of the arrangements of the visible universe4 ,the fact is one which we have already sufficiently described1 but we shall do well to quote the words in which our authors recur to it3 ,all but a very small portion of the sun's heat goes day by day into what we call empty space1 and it is only this very small remainder that is made use of by the various planets for purposes of their own4 ,can anything be more perplexing than this seemingly frightful expenditure of the very life and essence of the system8 ,that this vast store of high-class energy should be doing nothing but travelling outwards in space at the rate of #ahh1jjj miles per second is hardly conceivable1 especially when the result of it is the inevitable destruction of the visible universe4 ,pursuing this teleological argument1 it is suggested that perhaps this apparent waste of energy is only an arrangement in virtue of which our universe keeps up a memory of the past at the expense of the present1 inasmuch as all memory consists in an investiture of present resources in order to keep a hold upon the past4 ,recourse is had to the ingenious argument in which ,mr4 ,babbage showed that if we had power to follow and detect the minutest effects of any disturbance1 each particle of existing matter must be a register of all that has happened4 ,the track of every canoe1 of every vessel that has yet disturbed the surface of the ocean1 whether impelled by manual force or elemental power1 remains forever registered in the future movement of all succeeding particles which may occupy its place4 ,the furrow which is left is1 indeed1 instantly filled up by the closing waters2 but they draw after them other and larger portions of the surrounding element1 and these again1 once moved1 communicate motion to others in endless succession4 ,in like manner1 the air itself is one vast library1 on whose pages are forever written all that man has ever said or even whispered4 ,there in their mutable but unerring characters1 mixed with the earliest as well as the latest sighs of mortality1 stand forever recorded vows unredeemed1 promises unfulfilled1 perpetuating in the united movements of each particle the testimony of man's changeful will4 #f ,in some such way as this1 records of every movement that takes place in the world are each moment transmitted1 with the speed of light1 through the invisible ocean of ether with which the world is surrounded4 ,even the molecular displacements which occur in our brains when we feel and think are thus propagated in their effects into the unseen world4 ,the world of ether is thus regarded by our authors as in some sort the obverse or complement of the world of sensible matter1 so that whatever energy is dissipated in the one is by the same act accumulated in the other4 ,it is like the negative plate in photography1 where light answers to shadow and shadow to light4 ,or1 still better1 it is like the case of an equation in which whatever quantity you take from one side is added to the other with a contrary sign1 while the relation of equality remains undisturbed4 ,thus1 it will be noticed1 from the ingenious and subtle1 but quite defensible suggestion of ,mr4 ,babbage1 a leap is made to an assumption which cannot be defended scientifically1 but only teleologically4 ,it is one thing to say that every movement in the visible world transmits a record of itself to the surrounding ether1 in such a way that from the undulation of the ether a sufficiently powerful intelligence might infer the character of the generating movement in the visible world4 ,it is quite another thing to say that the ether is organized in such a complex and delicate way as to be like a negative image or counterpart of the world of sensible matter4 ,the latter view is no doubt ingenious1 but it is gratuitous4 ,it is sustained not by scientific analogy1 but by the desire to find some assignable use for the energy which is constantly escaping from visible matter into invisible ether4 ,the moment we ask how do we know that this energy is not really wasted1 or that it is not put to some use wholly undiscoverable by human intelligence1 this assumption of an organized ether is at once seen to be groundless4 ,it belongs not to the region of science1 but to that of pure mythology4 #f ,babbage1 ,ninth ,bridgewater ,treatise1 p4 #aae2 ,jevons1 ,principles of ,science1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 p4 #dee4 ,in justice to our authors1 however1 it should be remembered that this assumption is put forth not as something scientifically probable1 but as something which for aught we know to the contrary may possibly be true4 ,this1 to be sure1 we need not deny2 nor if we once allow this prodigious leap of inference1 shall we find much difficulty in reaching the famous conclusion that thought conceived to affect the matter of another universe simultaneously with this may explain a future state4 ,this proposition1 quaintly couched in an anagram1 like the discoveries of old astronomers1 was published last year in ,nature1 as containing the gist of the forthcoming book4 ,on the negative-image hypothesis it is not hard to see how thought is conceived to affect the seen and the unseen worlds simultaneously4 ,every act of consciousness is accompanied by molecular displacements in the brain1 and these are of course responded to by movements in the ethereal world4 ,thus as a series of conscious states build up a continuous memory in strict accordance with physical laws of motion1 #g so a correlative memory is simultaneously built up in the ethereal world out of the ethereal correlatives of the molecular displacements which go on in our brains4 ,and as there is a continual transfer of energy from the visible world to the ether1 the extinction of vital energy which we call death must coincide in some way with the awakening of vital energy in the correlative world2 so that the darkening of consciousness here is coincident with its dawning there4 ,in this way death is for the individual but a transfer from one physical state of existence to another2 and so1 on the largest scale1 the death or final loss of energy by the whole visible universe has its counterpart in the acquirement of a maximum of life by the correlative unseen world4 ,there seems to be a certain sort of rigorous logical consistency in this daring speculation2 but really the propositions of which it consists are so far from answering to anything within the domain of human experience that we are unable to tell whether any one of them logically follows from its predecessor or not4 ,it is evident that we are quite out of the region of scientific tests1 and to whatever view our authors may urge we can only languidly assent that it is out of our power to disprove it4 #g ,see my ,outlines of ,cosmic ,philosophy1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 pp4 #adb-adh4 ,the essential weakness of such a theory as this lies in the fact that it is thoroughly materialistic in character4 ,it is currently assumed that the doctrine of a life after death cannot be defended on materialistic grounds1 but this is altogether too hasty an assumption4 ,our authors1 indeed1 are not philosophical materialists1 like ,dr4 ,priestley1--who nevertheless believed in a future life1--but one of the primary doctrines of materialism lies at the bottom of their argument4 ,materialism holds for one thing that consciousness is a product of a peculiar organization of matter1 and for another thing that consciousness cannot survive the disorganization of the material body with which it is associated4 ,as held by philosophical materialists1 like ,buchner and ,moleschott1 these two opinions are strictly consistent with each other2 nay1 the latter seems to be the inevitable inference from the former1 though ,priestley did not so regard it4 ,now our authors very properly refuse to commit themselves to the opinion that mind is the product of matter1 but their argument nevertheless implies that some sort of material vehicle is necessary for the continuance of mind in a future state of existence4 ,this material vehicle they seek to supply in the theory which connects by invisible bonds of transmitted energy the perishable material body with its counterpart in the world of ether4 ,the materialism of the argument is indeed partly veiled by the terminology in which this counterpart is called a spiritual body1 but in this novel use or abuse of scriptural language there seems to me to be a strange confusion of ideas4 ,bear in mind that the invisible universe into which energy is constantly passing is simply the luminiferous ether1 which our authors1 to suit the requirements of their hypothesis1 have gratuitously endowed with a complexity and variety of structure analogous to that of the visible world of matter4 ,their language is not always quite so precise as one could desire1 for while they sometimes speak of the ether itself as the unseen universe1 they sometimes allude to a primordial medium yet subtler in constitution and presumably more immaterial4 ,herein lies the confusion4 ,why should the luminiferous ether1 or any primordial medium in which it may have been generated1 be regarded as in any way spiritual8 ,great physicists1 like less trained thinkers1 are sometimes liable to be unconsciously influenced by old associations of ideas which1 ostensibly repudiated1 still lurk under cover of the words we use4 ,i fear that the old associations which led the ancients to describe the soul as a breath or a shadow1 and which account for the etymologies of such words as ghost and spirit1 have had something to do with this spiritualization of the interstellar ether4 ,some share may also have been contributed by the ,platonic notion of the grossness or bruteness of tangible matter1--a notion which has survived in ,christian theology1 and which educated men of the present day have by no means universally outgrown4 ,save for some such old associations as these1 why should it be supposed that matter becomes spriritualized as it diminishes in apparent substantiality8 ,why should matter be pronounced respectable in the inverse ratio of its density or ponderability8 ,why is a diamond any more chargeable with grossness than a cubic centimetre of hydrogen8 ,obviously such fancies are purely of mythologic parentage4 ,now the luminiferous ether1 upon which our authors make such extensive demands1 may be physically ethereal enough1 in spite of the enormous elasticity which leads ,professor ,jevons to characterize it as adamantine2 but most assuredly we have not the slightest reason for speaking of it as immaterial or spiritual4 ,though we are unable to weigh it in the balance1 we at least know it as a transmitter of undulatory movements1 the size and shape of which we can accurately measure4 ,its force-relations with ponderable matter are not only universally and incessantly maintained1 but they have that precisely quantitative character which implies an essential identity between the innermost natures of the two substances4 ,we have seen reason for thinking it probable that ether and ordinary matter are alike composed of vortex-rings in a quasi-frictionless fluid2 but whatever be the fate of this subtle hypothesis1 we may be sure that no theory will ever be entertained in which the analysis of ether shall require different symbols from that of ordinary matter4 ,in our authors' theory1 therefore1 the putting on of immortality is in no wise the passage from a material to a spiritual state4 ,it is the passage from one kind of materially conditioned state to another4 ,the theory thus appeals directly to our experiences of the behaviour of matter2 and in deriving so little support as it does from these experiences1 it remains an essentially weak speculation1 whatever we may think of its ingenuity4 ,for so long as we are asked to accept conclusions drawn from our experiences of the material world1 we are justified in demanding something more than mere unconditioned possibility4 ,we require some positive evidence1 be it ever so little in amount2 and no theory which cannot furnish such positive evidence is likely to carry to our minds much practical conviction4 ,this is what ,i meant by saying that the great weakness of the hypothesis here criticized lies in its materialistic character4 ,in contrast with this we shall presently see that the assertion of a future life which is not materially conditioned1 though unsupported by any item of experience whatever1 may nevertheless be an impregnable assertion4 ,but first ,i would conclude the foregoing criticism by ruling out altogether the sense in which our authors use the expression ,unseen ,universe4 ,scientific inference1 however remote1 is connected by such insensible gradations with ordinary perception1 that one may well question the propriety of applying the term unseen to that which is presented to the mind's eye as inevitable matter of inference4 ,it is true that we cannot see the ocean of ether in which visible matter floats2 but there are many other invisible things which yet we do not regard as part of the unseen world4 ,i do not see the air which ,i am now breathing within the four walls of my study1 yet its existence is sufficiently a matter of sense-perception as it fills my lungs and fans my cheek4 ,the atoms which compose a drop of water are not only invisible1 but cannot in any way be made the objects of sense-perception2 yet by proper inferences from their behaviour we can single them out for measurement1 so that ,sir ,william ,thomson can tell us that if the drop of water were magnified to the size of the earth1 the constituent atoms would be larger than peas1 but not so large as billiard-balls4 ,if we do not see such atoms with our eyes1 we have one adequate reason in their tiny dimensions1 though there are further reasons than this4 ,it would be hard to say why the luminiferous ether should be relegated to the unseen world any more than the material atom4 ,whatever we know as possessing resistance and extension1 whatever we can subject to mathematical processes of measurement1 we also conceive as existing in such shape that1 with appropriate eyes and under proper visual conditions1 we ,,might see it1 and we are not entitled to draw any line of demarcation between such an object of inference and others which may be made objects of sense-perception4 ,to set apart the ether as constituting an unseen universe is therefore illegitimate and confusing4 ,it introduces a distinction where there is none1 and obscures the fact that both invisible ether and visible matter form but one grand universe in which the sum of energy remains constant1 though the order of its distribution endlessly varies4 ,very different would be the logical position of a theory which should assume the existence of an ,unseen ,world entirely spiritual in constitution1 and in which material conditions like those of the visible world should have neither place nor meaning4 ,such a world would not consist of ethers or gases or ghosts1 but of purely psychical relations akin to such as constitute thoughts and feelings when our minds are least solicited by sense-perceptions4 ,in thus marking off the ,unseen ,world from the objective universe of which we have knowledge1 our line of demarcation would at least be drawn in the right place4 ,the distinction between psychical and material phenomena is a distinction of a different order from all other distinctions known to philosophy1 and it immeasurably transcends all others4 ,the progress of modern discovery has in no respect weakened the force of ,descartes's remark1 that between that of which the differential attribute is ,thought and that of which the differential attribute is ,extension1 there can be no similarity1 no community of nature whatever4 ,by no scientific cunning of experiment or deduction can ,thought be weighed or measured or in any way assimilated to such things as may be made the actual or possible objects of sense-perception4 ,modern discovery1 so far from bridging over the chasm between ,mind and ,matter1 tends rather to exhibit the distinction between them as absolute4 ,it has1 indeed1 been rendered highly probable that every act of consciousness is accompanied by a molecular motion in the cells and fibres of the brain2 and materialists have found great comfort in this fact1 while theologians and persons of little faith have been very much frightened by it4 ,but since no one ever pretended that thought can go on1 under the conditions of the present life1 without a brain1 one finds it rather hard to sympathize either with the self-congratulations of ,dr4 ,buchner's disciples #h or with the terrors of their opponents4 ,but what has been less commonly remarked is the fact that when the thought and the molecular movement thus occur simultaneously1 in no scientific sense is the thought the product of the molecular movement4 ,the sun-derived energy of motion latent in the food we eat is variously transformed within the organism1 until some of it appears as the motion of the molecules of a little globule of nerve-matter in the brain4 ,in a rough way we might thus say that the chemical energy of the food indirectly produces the motion of these little nerve-molecules4 ,but does this motion of nerve-molecules now produce a thought or state of consciousness8 ,by no means4 ,it simply produces some other motion of nerve-molecules1 and this in turn produces motion of contraction or expansion in some muscle1 or becomes transformed into the chemical energy of some secreting gland4 ,at no point in the whole circuit does a unit of motion disappear as motion to reappear as a unit of consciousness4 ,the physical process is complete in itself1 and the thought does not enter into it4 ,all that we can say is1 that the occurrence of the thought is simultaneous with that part of the physical process which consists of a molecular movement in the brain4 #i ,to be sure1 the thought is always there when summoned1 but it stands outside the dynamic circuit1 as something utterly alien from and incomparable with the events which summon it4 ,no doubt1 as ,professor ,tyndall observes1 if we knew exhaustively the physical state of the brain1 the corresponding thought or feeling might be inferred2 or1 given the thought or feeling1 the corresponding state of the brain might be inferred4 ,but how inferred8 ,it would be at bottom not a case of logical inference at all1 but of empirical association4 ,you may reply that many of the inferences of science are of this character2 the inference1 for example1 that an electric current of a given direction will deflect a magnetic needle in a definite way2 but the cases differ in this1 that the passage from the current to the needle1 if not demonstrable1 is thinkable1 and that we entertain no doubt as to the final mechanical solution of the problem4 ,but the passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding facts of consciousness is unthinkable4 ,granted that a definite thought and a definite molecular action in the brain occur simultaneously2 we do not possess the intellectual organ1 nor apparently any rudiment of the organ1 which would enable us to pass by a process of reasoning from the one to the other4 ,they appear together1 but we do not know why4 #aj #h ,the ,nation once wittily described these people as people who believe that they are going to die like the beasts1 and who congratulate themselves that they are going to die like the beasts4 #i ,for a fuller exposition of this point1 see my ,outlines of ,cosmic ,philosophy1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 pp4 #dcf-dde4 #aj ,fragments of ,science1 p4 #aai4 ,an unseen world consisting of purely psychical or spiritual phenomena would accordingly be demarcated by an absolute gulf from what we call the material universe1 but would not necessarily be discontinuous with the psychical phenomena which we find manifested in connection with the world of matter4 ,the transfer of matter1 or physical energy1 or anything else that is quantitatively measurable1 into such an unseen world1 may be set down as impossible1 by reason of the very definition of such a world4 ,any hypothesis which should assume such a transfer would involve a contradiction in terms4 ,but the hypothesis of a survival of present psychical phenomena in such a world1 after being denuded of material conditions1 is not in itself absurd or self-contradictory1 though it may be impossible to support it by any arguments drawn from the domain of human experience4 ,such is the shape which it seems to me that1 in the present state of philosophy1 the hypothesis of a future life must assume4 ,we have nothing to say to gross materialistic notions of ghosts and bogies1 and spirits that upset tables and whisper to ignorant vulgar women the wonderful information that you once had an aunt ,susan4 ,the unseen world imagined in our hypothesis is not connected with the present material universe by any such invisible bonds as would allow ,bacon and ,addison to come to ,boston and write the silliest twaddle in the most ungrammatical ,english before a roomful of people who have never learned how to test what they are pleased to call the evidence of their senses4 ,our hypothesis is expressly framed so as to exclude all intercourse whatever between the unseen world of spirit unconditioned by matter and the present world of spirit conditioned by matter in which all our experiences have been gathered4 ,the hypothesis being framed in such a way1 the question is1 ,what has philosophy to say to it8 ,can we1 by searching our experiences1 find any reason for adopting such an hypothesis8 ,or1 on the other hand1 supposing we can find no such reason1 would the total failure of experimental evidence justify us in rejecting it8 ,the question is so important that ,i will restate it4 ,i have imagined a world made up of psychical phenomena1 freed from the material conditions under which alone we know such phenomena4 ,can we adduce any proof of the possibility of such a world8 ,or if we cannot1 does our failure raise the slightest presumption that such a world is impossible8 ,the reply to the first clause of the question is sufficiently obvious4 ,we have no experience whatever of psychical phenomena save as manifested in connection with material phenomena4 ,we know of ,mind only as a group of activities which are never exhibited to us except through the medium of motions of matter4 ,in all our experience we have never encountered such activities save in connection with certain very complicated groupings of highly mobile material particles into aggregates which we call living organisms4 ,and we have never found them manifested to a very conspicuous extent save in connection with some of those specially organized aggregates which have vertebrate skeletons and mammary glands4 ,nay1 more1 when we survey the net results of our experience up to the present time1 we find indisputable evidence that in the past history of the visible universe psychical phenomena have only begun to be manifested in connection with certain complex aggregates of material phenomena4 ,as these material aggregates have age by age become more complex in structure1 more complex psychical phenomena have been exhibited4 ,the development of ,mind has from the outset been associated with the development of ,matter4 ,and to-day1 though none of us has any knowledge of the end of psychical phenomena in his own case1 yet from all the marks by which we recognize such phenomena in our fellow-creatures1 whether brute or human1 we are taught that when certain material processes have been gradually or suddenly brought to an end1 psychical phenomena are no longer manifested4 ,from first to last1 therefore1 our appeal to experience gets but one response4 ,we have not the faintest shadow of evidence wherewith to make it seem probable that ,mind can exist except in connection with a material body4 ,viewed from this standpoint of terrestrial experience1 there is no more reason for supposing that consciousness survives the dissolution of the brain than for supposing that the pungent flavour of table-salt survives its decomposition into metallic sodium and gaseous chlorine4 ,our answer from this side is thus unequivocal enough4 ,indeed1 so uniform has been the teaching of experience in this respect that even in their attempts to depict a life after death1 men have always found themselves obliged to have recourse to materialistic symbols4 ,to the mind of a savage the future world is a mere reproduction of the present1 with its everlasting huntings and fightings4 ,the early ,christians looked forward to a renovation of the earth and the bodily resurrection from ,sheol of the righteous4 ,the pictures of hell and purgatory1 and even of paradise1 in ,dante's great poem1 are so intensely materialistic as to seem grotesque in this more spiritual age4 ,but even to-day the popular conceptions of heaven are by no means freed from the notion of matter2 and persons of high culture1 who realize the inadequacy of these popular conceptions1 are wont to avoid the difficulty by refraining from putting their hopes and beliefs into any definite or describable form4 ,not unfrequently one sees a smile raised at the assumption of knowledge or insight by preachers who describe in eloquent terms the joys of a future state2 yet the smile does not necessarily imply any scepticism as to the abstract probability of the soul's survival4 ,the scepticism is aimed at the character of the description rather than at the reality of the thing described4 ,it implies a tacit agreement1 among cultivated people1 that the unseen world must be purely spiritual in constitution4 ,the agreement is not habitually expressed in definite formulas1 for the reason that no mental image of a purely spiritual world can be formed4 ,much stress is commonly laid upon the recognition of friends in a future life2 and however deep a meaning may be given to the phrase the love of ,god1 one does not easily realize that a heavenly existence could be worth the longing that is felt for it1 if it were to afford no further scope for the pure and tender household affections which give to the present life its powerful though indefinable charm4 ,yet the recognition of friends in a purely spiritual world is something of which we can frame no conception whatever4 ,we may look with unspeakable reverence on the features of wife or child1 less because of their physical beauty than because of the beauty of soul to which they give expression1 but to imagine the perception of soul by soul apart from the material structure and activities in which soul is manifested1 is something utterly beyond our power4 ,nay1 even when we try to represent to ourselves the psychical activity of any single soul by itself as continuing without the aid of the physical machinery of sensation1 we get into unmanageable difficulties4 ,a great part of the contents of our minds consists of sensuous 7chiefly visual7 images1 and though we may imagine reflection to go on without further images supplied by vision or hearing1 touch or taste or smell1 yet we cannot well see how fresh experiences could be gained in such a state4 ,the reader1 if he require further illustrations1 can easily follow out this line of thought4 ,enough has no doubt been said to convince him that our hypothesis of the survival of conscious activity apart from material conditions is not only utterly unsupported by any evidence that can be gathered from the world of which we have experience1 but is utterly and hopelessly inconceivable4 ,it is inconceivable ,,because it is entirely without foundation in experience4 ,our powers of conception are closely determined by the limits of our experience4 ,when a proposition1 or combination of ideas1 is suggested1 for which there has never been any precedent in human experience1 we find it to be ,,unthinkable1--the ideas will not combine4 ,the proposition remains one which we may utter and defend1 and perhaps vituperate our neighbours for not accepting1 but it remains none the less an unthinkable proposition4 ,it takes terms which severally have meanings and puts them together into a phrase which has no meaning4 #aa ,now when we try to combine the idea of the continuance of conscious activity with the idea of the entire cessation of material conditions1 and thereby to assert the existence of a purely spiritual world1 we find that we have made an unthinkable proposition4 ,we may defend our hypothesis as passionately as we like1 but when we strive coolly to realize it in thought we find ourselves baulked at every step4 #aa ,see my ,outlines of ,cosmic ,philosophy1 ,vol4 ,i4 pp4 #fd-fg4 ,but now we have to ask1 ,how much does this inconceivability signify8 ,in most cases1 when we say that a statement is inconceivable1 we practically declare it to be untrue2 when we say that a statement is without warrant in experience1 we plainly indicate that we consider it unworthy of our acceptance4 ,this is legitimate in the majority of cases with which we have to deal in the course of life1 because experience1 and the capacities of thought called out and limited by experience1 are our only guides in the conduct of life4 ,but every one will admit that our experience is not infinite1 and that our capacity of conception is not coextensive with the possibilities of existence4 ,it is not only possible1 but in the very highest degree probable1 that there are many things in heaven1 if not on earth1 which are undreamed of in our philosophy4 ,since our ability to conceive anything is limited by the extent of our experience1 and since human experience is very far from being infinite1 it follows that there may be1 and in all probability is1 an immense region of existence in every way as real as the region which we know1 yet concerning which we cannot form the faintest rudiment of a conception4 ,any hypothesis relating to such a region of existence is not only not disproved by the total failure of evidence in its favour1 but the total failure of evidence does not raise even the slightest prima facie presumption against its validity4 ,these considerations apply with great force to the hypothesis of an unseen world in which psychical phenomena persist in the absence of material conditions4 ,it is true1 on the one hand1 that we can bring up no scientific evidence in support of such an hypothesis4 ,but on the other hand it is equally true that in the very nature of things no such evidence could be expected to be forthcoming3 even were there such evidence in abundance1 it could not be accessible to us4 ,the existence of a single soul1 or congeries of psychical phenomena1 unaccompanied by a material body1 would be evidence sufficient to demonstrate the hypothesis4 ,but in the nature of things1 even were there a million such souls round about us1 we could not become aware of the existence of one of them1 for we have no organ or faculty for the perception of soul apart from the material structure and activities in which it has been manifested throughout the whole course of our experience4 ,even our own self-consciousness involves the consciousness of ourselves as partly material bodies4 ,these considerations show that our hypothesis is very different from the ordinary hypotheses with which science deals4 ,the entire absence of testimony does not raise a negative presumption except in cases where testimony is accessible4 ,in the hypotheses with which scientific men are occupied1 testimony is always accessible2 and if we do not find any1 the presumption is raised that there is none4 ,when ,dr4 ,bastian tells us that he has found living organisms to be generated in sealed flasks from which all living germs had been excluded1 we demand the evidence for his assertion4 ,the testimony of facts is in this case hard to elicit1 and only skilful reasoners can properly estimate its worth4 ,but still it is all accessible4 ,with more or less labour it can be got at2 and if we find that ,dr4 ,bastian has produced no evidence save such as may equally well receive a different interpretation from that which he has given it1 we rightly feel that a strong presumption has been raised against his hypothesis4 ,it is a case in which we are entitled to expect to find the favouring facts if there are any1 and so long as we do not find such1 we are justified in doubting their existence4 ,so when our authors propound the hypothesis of an unseen universe consisting of phenomena which occur in the interstellar ether1 or even in some primordial fluid with which the ether has physical relations1 we are entitled to demand their proofs4 ,it is not enough to tell us that we cannot disprove such a theory4 ,the burden of proof lies with them4 ,the interstellar ether is something concerning the physical properties of which we have some knowledge2 and surely1 if all the things are going on which they suppose in a medium so closely related to ordinary matter1 there ought to be some traceable indications of the fact4 ,at least1 until the contrary can be shown1 we must refuse to believe that all the testimony in a case like this is utterly inaccessible2 and accordingly1 so long as none is found1 especially so long as none is even alleged1 we feel that a presumption is raised against their theory4 ,these illustrations will show1 by sheer contrast1 how different it is with the hypothesis of an unseen world that is purely spiritual4 ,the testimony in such a case must1 under the conditions of the present life1 be forever inaccessible4 ,it lies wholly outside the range of experience4 ,however abundant it may be1 we cannot expect to meet with it4 ,and accordingly our failure to produce it does not raise even the slightest presumption against our theory4 ,when conceived in this way1 the belief in a future life is without scientific support2 but at the same time it is placed beyond the need of scientific support and beyond the range of scientific criticism4 ,it is a belief which no imaginable future advance in physical discovery can in any way impugn4 ,it is a belief which is in no sense irrational1 and which may be logically entertained without in the least affecting our scientific habit of mind or influencing our scientific conclusions4 ,to take a brief illustration3 we have alluded to the fact that in the history of our present world the development of mental phenomena has gone on hand in hand with the development of organic life1 while at the same time we have found it impossible to explain mental phenomena as in any sense the product of material phenomena4 ,now there is another side to all this4 ,the great lesson which ,berkeley taught mankind was that what we call material phenomena are really the products of consciousness co-operating with some ,unknown ,power 7not material7 existing beyond consciousness4 ,we do very well to speak of matter in common parlance1 but all that the word really means is a group of qualities which have no existence apart from our minds4 ,modern philosophers have quite generally accepted this conclusion1 and every attempt to overturn ,berkeley's reasoning has hitherto resulted in complete and disastrous failure4 ,in admitting this1 we do not admit the conclusion of ,absolute ,idealism1 that nothing exists outside of consciousness4 ,what we admit as existing independently of our own consciousness is the ,power that causes in us those conscious states which we call the perception of material qualities4 ,we have no reason for regarding this ,power as in itself material3 indeed1 we cannot do so1 since by the theory material qualities have no existence apart from our minds4 ,i have elsewhere sought to show that less difficulty is involved in regarding this ,power outside of us as quasi-psychical1 or in some measure similar to the mental part of ourselves2 and ,i have gone on to conclude that this ,power may be identical with what men have1 in all times and by the aid of various imperfect symbols1 endeavoured to apprehend as ,deity4 #ab ,we are thus led to a view of things not very unlike the views entertained by ,spinoza and ,berkeley4 ,we are led to the inference that what we call the material universe is but the manifestation of infinite ,deity to our finite minds4 ,obviously1 on this view1 ,matter--the only thing to which materialists concede real existence--is simply an orderly phantasmagoria2 and ,god and the ,soul--which materialists regard as mere fictions of the imagination--are the only conceptions that answer to real existences4 #ab ,see my ,outlines of ,cosmic ,philosophy1 ,part ,i4 ,chap4 ,,iv42 ,part ,,iii4 ,chaps4 ,,iii41 ,,iv4 ,in the foregoing paragraph ,i have been setting down opinions with which ,i am prepared to agree1 and which are not in conflict with anything that our study of the development of the objective world has taught us4 ,in so far as that study may be supposed to bear on the question of a future life1 two conclusions are open to us4 ,first we may say that since the phenomena of mind appear and run their course along with certain specialized groups of material phenomena1 so1 too1 they must disappear when these specialized groups are broken up4 ,or1 in other words1 we may say that every living person is an organized whole2 consciousness is something which pertains to this organized whole1 as music belongs to the harp that is entire2 but when the harp is broken it is silent1 and when the organized whole of personality falls to pieces consciousness ceases forever4 ,to many well-disciplined minds this conclusion seems irresistible2 and doubtless it would be a sound one--a good ,baconian conclusion--if we were to admit1 with the materialists1 that the possibilities of existence are limited by our tiny and ephemeral experience4 ,but now1 supposing some ,platonic speculator were to come along and insist upon our leaving room for an alternative conclusion2 suppose he were to urge upon us that all this process of material development1 with the discovery of which our patient study has been rewarded1 may be but the temporary manifestation of relations otherwise unknown between ourselves and the infinite ,deity2 suppose he were to argue that psychical qualities may be inherent in a spiritual substance which under certain conditions becomes incarnated in matter1 to wear it as a perishable garment for a brief season1 but presently to cast it off and enter upon the freedom of a larger existence2--what reply should we be bound to make1 bearing in mind that the possibilities of existence are in no wise limited by our experience8 ,obviously we should be bound to admit that in sound philosophy this conclusion is just as likely to be true as the other4 ,we should1 indeed1 warn him not to call on us to help him to establish it by scientific arguments2 and we should remind him that he must not make illicit use of his extra-experiential hypotheses by bringing them into the treatment of scientific questions that lie within the range of experience4 ,in science1 for example1 we make no use of the conception of a spiritual substance 7or of a material substance either71 because we can get along sufficiently well by dealing solely with qualities4 ,but with this general understanding we should feel bound to concede the impregnableness of his main position4 ,i have supposed this theory only as an illustration1 not as a theory which ,i am prepared to adopt4 ,my present purpose is not to treat as an advocate the question of a future life1 but to endeavour to point out what conditions should be observed in treating the question philosophically4 ,it seems to me that a great deal is gained when we have distinctly set before us what are the peculiar conditions of proof in the case of such transcendental questions4 ,we have gained a great deal when we have learned how thoroughly impotent1 how truly irrelevant1 is physical investigation in the presence of such a question4 ,if we get not much positive satisfaction for our unquiet yearnings1 we occupy at any rate a sounder philosophic position when we recognize the limits within which our conclusions1 whether positive or negative1 are valid4 ,it seems not improbable that ,mr4 ,mill may have had in mind something like the foregoing considerations when he suggested that there is no reason why one should not entertain the belief in a future life if the belief be necessary to one's spiritual comfort4 ,perhaps no suggestion in ,mr4 ,mill's richly suggestive posthumous work has been more generally condemned as unphilosophical1 on the ground that in matters of belief we must be guided1 not by our likes and dislikes1 but by the evidence that is accessible4 ,the objection is certainly a sound one so far as it relates to scientific questions where evidence is accessible4 ,to hesitate to adopt a well-supported theory because of some vague preference for a different view is in scientific matters the one unpardonable sin1--a sin which has been only too often committed4 ,even in matters which lie beyond the range of experience1 where evidence is inaccessible1 desire is not to be regarded as by itself an adequate basis for belief4 ,but it seems to me that ,mr4 ,mill showed a deeper knowledge of the limitations of scientific method than his critics1 when he thus hinted at the possibility of entertaining a belief not amenable to scientific tests4 ,the hypothesis of a purely spiritual unseen world1 as above described1 is entirely removed from the jurisdiction of physical inquiry1 and can only be judged on general considerations of what has been called moral probability2 and considerations of this sort are likely1 in the future as in the past1 to possess different values for different minds4 ,he who1 on such considerations1 entertains a belief in a future life may not demand that his sceptical neighbour shall be convinced by the same considerations2 but his neighbour is at the same time estopped from stigmatizing his belief as unphilosophical4 ,the consideration which must influence most minds in their attitude toward this question1 is the craving1 almost universally felt1 for some teleological solution to the problem of existence4 ,why we are here now is a question of even profounder interest than whether we are to live hereafter4 ,unfortunately its solution carries us no less completely beyond the range of experience6 ,the belief that all things are working together for some good end is the most essential expression of religious faith3 of all intellectual propositions it is the one most closely related to that emotional yearning for a higher and better life which is the sum and substance of religion4 ,yet all the treatises on natural theology that have ever been written have barely succeeded in establishing a low degree of scientific probability for this belief4 ,in spite of the eight ,bridgewater ,treatises1 and the ,ninth beside1 dysteleology still holds full half the field as against teleology4 ,most of this difficulty1 however1 results from the crude anthropomorphic views which theologians have held concerning ,god4 ,once admitting that the ,divine attributes may be 7as they must be7 incommensurably greater than human attributes1 our faith that all things are working together for good may remain unimpugned4 ,to many minds such a faith will seem incompatible with belief in the ultimate destruction of sentiency amid the general doom of the material universe4 ,a good end can have no meaning to us save in relation to consciousness that distinguishes and knows the good from the evil4 ,there could be no better illustration of how we are hemmed in than the very inadequacy of the words with which we try to discuss this subject4 ,such words have all gained their meanings from human experience1 and hence of necessity carry anthropomorphic implications4 ,but we cannot help this4 ,we must think with the symbols with which experience has furnished us2 and when we so think1 there does seem to be little that is even intellectually satisfying in the awful picture which science shows us1 of giant worlds concentrating out of nebulous vapour1 developing with prodigious waste of energy into theatres of all that is grand and sacred in spiritual endeavour1 clashing and exploding again into dead vapour-balls1 only to renew the same toilful process without end1--a senseless bubble-play of ,titan forces1 with life1 love1 and aspiration brought forth only to be extinguished4 ,the human mind1 however scientific its training1 must often recoil from the conclusion that this is all2 and there are moments when one passionately feels that this cannot be all4 ,on warm ,june mornings in green country lanes1 with sweet pine-odours wafted in the breeze which sighs through the branches1 and cloud-shadows flitting over far-off blue mountains1 while little birds sing their love-songs1 and golden-haired children weave garlands of wild roses2 or when in the solemn twilight we listen to wondrous harmonies of ,beethoven and ,chopin that stir the heart like voices from an unseen world2 at such times one feels that the profoundest answer which science can give to our questionings is but a superficial answer after all4 ,at these moments1 when the world seems fullest of beauty1 one feels most strongly that it is but the harbinger of something else1--that the ceaseless play of phenomena is no mere sport of ,titans1 but an orderly scene1 with its reason for existing1 its ,one divine far-off event ,to which the whole creation moves4 ,difficult as it is to disentangle the elements of reasoning that enter into these complex groups of feeling1 one may still see1 ,i think1 that it is speculative interest in the world1 rather than anxious interest in self1 that predominates4 ,the desire for immortality in its lowest phase is merely the outcome of the repugnance we feel toward thinking of the final cessation of vigorous vital activity4 ,such a feeling is naturally strong with healthy people4 ,but in the mood which ,i have above tried to depict1 this feeling1 or any other which is merely self-regarding1 is lost sight of in the feeling which associates a future life with some solution of the burdensome problem of existence4 ,had we but faith enough to lighten the burden of this problem1 the inferior question would perhaps be less absorbing4 ,could we but know that our present lives are working together toward some good end1 even an end in no wise anthropomorphic1 it would be of less consequence whether we were individually to endure4 ,to the dog under the knife of the experimenter1 the world is a world of pure evil2 yet could the poor beast but understand the alleviation of human suffering to which he is contributing1 he would be forced to own that this is not quite true2 and if he were also a heroic or ,christian dog1 the thought would perhaps take away from death its sting4 ,the analogy may be a crude one2 but the reasonableness of the universe is at least as far above our comprehension as the purposes of man surpass the understanding of the dog4 ,believing1 however1 though as a simple act of trust1 that the end will crown the work1 we may rise superior to the question which has here concerned us1 and exclaim1 in the supreme language of faith1 ,though ,he slay me1 yet will ,i trust in ,him6 ,july1 #ahge4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,to-,,morrow ,,of ,,death4 ,few of those who find pleasure in frequenting bookstores can have failed to come across one or more of the profusely illustrated volumes in which ,m4 ,louis ,figuier has sought to render dry science entertaining to the multitude4 ,and of those who may have casually turned over their pages1 there are probably none1 competent to form an opinion1 who have not speedily perceived that these pretentious books belong to the class of pests and unmitigated nuisances in literature4 ,antiquated views1 utter lack of comprehension of the subjects treated1 and shameless unscrupulousness as to accuracy of statement1 are faults but ill atoned for by sensational pictures of the dragons of the prime that tare each other in their slime1 or of the ,newton-like brow and silken curls of that primitive man in contrast with whom the said dragons have been likened to mellow music4 ,nevertheless1 the sort of scientific reputation which these discreditable performances have gained for ,m4 ,figuier among an uncritical public is such as to justify us in devoting a few paragraphs to a book #ac which1 on its own merits1 is unworthy of any notice whatever4 ,the ,to-morrow of ,death--if one were to put his trust in the translator's prefatory note--discusses a grave question upon purely scientific methods4 ,we are glad to see this remark1 because it shows what notions may be entertained by persons of average intelligence with reference to scientific methods4 ,those--and they are many--who vaguely think that science is something different from common-sense1 and that any book is scientific which talks about perihelia and asymptotes and cetacea1 will find their vague notions here well corroborated4 ,quite different will be the impression made upon those--and they are yet too few--who have learned that the method of science is the common-sense method of cautiously weighing evidence and withholding judgment where evidence is not forthcoming4 ,if talking about remote and difficult subjects suffice to make one scientific1 then is ,m4 ,figuier scientific to a quite terrible degree4 ,he writes about the starry heavens as if he had been present at the hour of creation1 or had at least accompanied the ,arabian prophet on his famous night-journey4 ,nor is his knowledge of physiology and other abstruse sciences at all less remarkable4 ,but these things will cease to surprise us when we learn the sources1 hitherto suspected only in mythology1 from which favoured mortals can obtain a knowledge of what is going on outside of our planet4 #ac ,the ,to-morrow of ,death2 or1 ,the ,future ,life according to ,science4 ,by ,louis ,figuier4 ,translated from the ,french by ,s4 ,r4 ,crocker4 ,boston3 ,roberts ,brothers4 #ahgb4 ,the four inner planets being nearly alike in size 787 and in length of day1 ,m4 ,figuier infers1 by strictly scientific methods1 that whatever is true of one of them1 as our earth1 will be true of the others 7p4 #cd74 ,hence1 they are all inhabited by human beings4 ,it is true that human beings must find ,venus rather warm1 and are not unlikely to be seriously incommoded by the tropical climate of ,mercury4 ,but we must remember that the men of ,venus and ,mercury are made by nature to resist heat1 as those of ,jupiter and ,saturn are made to endure cold1 and those of the ,earth and ,mars to live in a mean temperature3 ,,otherwise ,,they ,,could ,,not ,,exist 7p4 #gb74 ,in view of this charming specimen of a truly scientific inference1 it is almost too bad to call attention to the fact that ,m4 ,figuier is quite behind the age in his statement of facts4 ,so far from ,jupiter and ,saturn being cold1 observation plainly indicates that they are prodigiously hot1 if not even incandescent and partly self-luminous2 the explanation being that1 by reason of their huge bulk1 they still retain much of the primitive heat which smaller planets have more quickly radiated away4 ,as for ,m4 ,figuier's statement1 that polar snows have been witnessed on these planets1 it is simply untrue2 no such thing has ever been seen there4 ,mars1 on the other hand1 has been observed to resemble in many important respects its near neighbour1 the ,earth2 whence our author declares that if an aeronaut were to shoot clear of terrestrial gravitation and land upon ,mars1 he would unquestionably suppose himself to be still upon the earth4 ,for aerolites1 it seems1 are somehow fired down upon our planet both from ,mars and from ,venus2 and aerolites sometimes contain vegetable matter 7874 ,therefore1 ,mars has a vegetation1 and very likely its red colour is caused by its luxuriant autumnal foliage6 7p4 #dg47 ,to return to ,jupiter3 this planet1 indeed1 has inconveniently short days4 ,in his ',picture of the ,heavens1' the ,german astronomer1 ,littrow 7these ,germans think of nothing but gormandizing71 asks how the people of ,jupiter order their meals in the short interval of five hours4 ,nevertheless1 says our author1 the great planet is compensated for this inconvenience by its equable and delicious climate4 ,in view1 however1 of our author's more striking and original disclosures1 one would suppose that all this discussion of the physical conditions of existence on the various planets might have been passed over without detriment to the argument4 ,after these efforts at proving 7for ,m4 ,figuier presumably regards this rigmarole as proof7 that all the members of our solar system are habitable1 the interplanetary ether is forthwith peopled thickly with souls1 without any resort to argument4 ,this1 we suppose1 is one of those scientific truths which as ,m4 ,figuier tells us1 precede and underlie demonstration4 ,upon this impregnable basis is reared the scientific theory of a future life4 ,when we die our soul passes into some other terrestrial body1 unless we have been very good1 in which case we at once soar aloft and join the noble fraternity of the ether-folk4 ,bad men and young children1 on dying1 must undergo renewed probation here below1 but ultimately all pass away into the interplanetary ether4 ,the dweller in ether is chiefly distinguished from the mundane mortal by his acute senses and his ability to subsist without food4 ,he can see as if through a telescope and microscope combined4 ,his intelligence is so great that in comparison an ,aristotle would seem idiotic4 ,it should not be forgotten1 too1 that he possesses eighty-five per cent of soul to fifteen per cent of body1 whereas in terrestrial man the two elements are mixed in equal proportions4 ,there is no sex among the ether-folk1 their numbers being kept up by the influx of souls from the various planets4 ,alimentation1 that necessity which tyrannizes over men and animals1 is not imposed upon the inhabitants of ether4 ,their bodies must be repaired and sustained by the simple respiration of the fluid in which they are immersed1 that is1 of ether4 ,most likely1 continues our scientific author1 the physiological functions of the ether-folk are confined to respiration1 and that it is possible to breathe without numerous organs is proved by the fact that in all of a whole class of animals--the batrachians--the mere bare skin constitutes the whole machinery of respiration 7p4 #ie74 ,allowing for the unfortunate slip of the pen by which batrachians are substituted for fresh-water polyps1 how can we fail to admire the severity of the scientific method employed in reaching these interesting conclusions8 ,but the ,king of ,serendib must die1 nor will the relentless scythe of ,time spare our ,etherians1 with all their exalted attributes4 ,they will die repeatedly2 and after having through sundry periods of probation attained spiritual perfection1 they will all pour into the sun4 ,since it is the sun which originates life and feeling and thought upon the surface of our earth1 why may we not declare that the rays transmitted by the sun to the earth and the other planets are nothing more nor less than the emanations of these souls8 ,and now we may begin to form an adequate conception1 of the rigorously scientific character of our author's method4 ,there have been many hypotheses by which to account for the supply of solar radiance4 ,one of the most ingenious and probable of these hypotheses is that of ,helmholtz1 according to which the solar radiance is due to the arrested motion of the sun's constituent particles toward their common centre of gravity4 ,but this is too fanciful to satisfy ,m4 ,figuier4 ,the speculations of ,helmholtz have the disadvantage of resting on the idea of the sun's nebulosity1--an hypothesis which would need to be more closely examined before serving as a basis for so important a deduction4 ,accordingly1 ,m4 ,figuier propounds an explanation which possesses the signal advantage that there is nothing hypothetical in it4 ,in our opinion1 the solar radiation is sustained by the continual influx of souls into the sun4 ,this1 as the reader will perceive1 is the well-known theory of ,mayer1 that the solar heat is due to a perennial bombardment of the sun by meteors1 save that1 in place of gross materialistic meteors1 ,m4 ,figuier puts ethereal souls4 ,the ether-folk are daily raining into the solar orb in untold millions1 and to the unceasing concussion is due the radiation which maintains life in the planets1 and thus the circle is complete4 ,in spite of their exalted position1 the ether-folk do not disdain to mingle with the affairs of terrestrial mortals4 ,they give us counsel in dreams1 and it is from this source1 we presume1 that our author has derived his rigid notions as to scientific method4 ,in evidence of this dream-theory we have the usual array of cases1 a celebrated journalist1 ,m4 ,r----1 ,m4 ,l----1 a lawyer1 etc41 etc41 as in most books of this kind4 ,m4 ,figuier is not a ,darwinian3 the derivation of our bodies from the bodies of apes is a conception too grossly materialistic for him4 ,our souls1 however1 he is quite willing to derive from the souls of lower animals4 ,obviously we have pre-existed2 how are we to account for ,mozart's precocity save by supposing his pre-existence8 ,he brought with him the musical skill acquired in a previous life4 ,in general1 the souls of musical children come from nightingales1 while the souls of great architects have passed into them from beavers 7p4 #bdg74 ,we do not remember these past existences1 it is true2 but when we become ether-folk1 we shall be able to look back in recollection over the whole series4 ,amid these sublime inquiries1 ,m4 ,figuier is sometimes notably oblivious of humbler truths1 as might indeed be expected4 ,thus he repeatedly alludes to ,locke as the author of the doctrine of innate ideas 76671 #ad and he informs us that ,kepler never quitted ,protestant ,england 7p4 #ccf71 though we believe that the nearest ,kepler ever came to living in ,england was the refusing of ,sir ,henry ,wotton's request that he should move thither4 #ad ,pages #bea1 #beb1 #bhg4 ,so in the twenty-first century some avatar of ,m4 ,figuier will perhaps describe the late professor ,agassiz as the author of the ,darwinian theory4 ,and lastly1 we are treated to a real dialogue1 with quite a dramatic mise en scene4 ,the author's imaginary friend1 ,theophilus1 enters1 seats himself in a comfortable chair1 places an ottoman under his feet1 a book under his elbow to support it1 and a cigarette of ,turkish tobacco between his lips1 and sets himself to the task of listening with a grave air of collectedness1 relieved by a certain touch of suspicious severity1 as becomes the arbiter in a literary and philosophic matter4 ,and so1 begins our author1 you wish to know1 my dear ,theophilus1 ,,where ,i ,,locate ,,god8 ,i locate him in the centre of the universe1 or1 in better phrase1 at the central focus1 which must exist somewhere1 of all the stars that make the universe1 and which1 borne onward in a common movement1 gravitate together around this focus4 ,much more1 of an equally scientific character1 follows2 but in fairness to the reader1 who is already blaming us for wasting the precious moments over such sorry trash1 we may as well conclude our sketch of this new line of speculation4 ,may1 #ahgb4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,jesus ,,of ,,history4 #ae #ae ,the ,jesus of ,history4 ,anonymous4 #hvo4 pp4 #dbf4 ,london3 ,williams ,norgate1 #ahfi4 ,vie de ,jesus1 par ,ernest ,renan4 ,paris1 #ahfg4 7,thirteenth edition1 revised and partly rewritten47 ,in republishing this and the following article on ,the ,christ of ,dogma1 ,i am aware that they do but scanty justice to their very interesting subjects4 ,so much ground is covered that it would be impossible to treat it satisfactorily in a pair of review-articles2 and in particular the views adopted with regard to the ,new ,testament literature are rather indicated than justified4 ,these defects ,i hope to remedy in a future work on ,jesus of ,nazareth1 and the ,founding of ,christianity1 for which the present articles must be regarded as furnishing only a few introductory hints4 ,this work has been for several years on my mind1 but as it may still be long before ,i can find the leisure needful for writing it out1 it seemed best to republish these preliminary sketches which have been some time out of print4 ,the projected work1 however1 while covering all the points here treated1 will have a much wider scope1 dealing on the one hand with the natural genesis of the complex aggregate of beliefs and aspirations known as ,christianity1 and on the other hand with the metamorphoses which are being wrought in this aggregate by modern knowledge and modern theories of the world4 ,the views adopted in the present essay as to the date of the ,synoptic ,gospels may seem over-conservative to those who accept the ably-argued conclusions of ,supernatural ,religion4 ,quite possibly in a more detailed discussion these briefly-indicated data may require revision2 but for the present it seems best to let the article stand as it was written4 ,the author of ,supernatural ,religion would no doubt admit that1 even if the synoptic gospels had not assumed their present form before the end of the second century1 nevertheless the body of tradition contained in them had been committed to writing very early in that century4 ,so much appears to be proved by the very variations of text upon which his argument relies4 ,and if this be granted1 the value of the synoptics as ,,historical evidence is not materially altered4 ,with their value as testimony to so-called ,,supernatural events1 the present essay is in no way concerned4 ,of all the great founders of religions1 ,jesus is at once the best known and the least known to the modern scholar4 ,from the dogmatic point of view he is the best known1 from the historic point of view he is the least known4 ,the ,christ of dogma is in every lineament familiar to us from early childhood2 but concerning the ,jesus of history we possess but few facts resting upon trustworthy evidence1 and in order to form a picture of him at once consistent1 probable1 and distinct in its outlines1 it is necessary to enter upon a long and difficult investigation1 in the course of which some of the most delicate apparatus of modern criticism is required4 ,this circumstance is sufficiently singular to require especial explanation4 ,the case of ,sakyamuni1 the founder of ,buddhism1 which may perhaps be cited as parallel1 is in reality wholly different4 ,not only did ,sakyamuni live five centuries earlier than ,jesus1 among a people that have at no time possessed the art of insuring authenticity in their records of events1 and at an era which is at best but dimly discerned through the mists of fable and legend1 but the work which he achieved lies wholly out of the course of ,european history1 and it is only in recent times that his career has presented itself to us as a problem needing to be solved4 ,jesus1 on the other hand1 appeared in an age which is familiarly and in many respects minutely known to us1 and among a people whose fortunes we can trace with historic certainty for at least seven centuries previous to his birth2 while his life and achievements have probably had a larger share in directing the entire subsequent intellectual and moral development of ,europe than those of any other man who has ever lived4 ,nevertheless1 the details of his personal career are shrouded in an obscurity almost as dense as that which envelops the life of the remote founder of ,buddhism4 ,this phenomenon1 however1 appears less strange and paradoxical when we come to examine it more closely4 ,a little reflection will disclose to us several good reasons why the historical records of the life of ,jesus should be so scanty as they are4 ,in the first place1 the activity of ,jesus was private rather than public4 ,confined within exceedingly narrow limits1 both of space and of duration1 it made no impression whatever upon the politics or the literature of the time4 ,his name does not occur in the pages of any contemporary writer1 ,roman1 ,greek1 or ,jewish4 ,doubtless the case would have been wholly different1 had he1 like ,mohammed1 lived to a ripe age1 and had the exigencies of his peculiar position as the ,messiah of the ,jewish people brought him into relations with the ,empire2 though whether1 in such case1 the success of his grand undertaking would have been as complete as it has actually been1 may well be doubted4 ,secondly1 ,jesus did not1 like ,mohammed and ,paul1 leave behind him authentic writings which might serve to throw light upon his mental development as well as upon the external facts of his career4 ,without the ,koran and the four genuine ,epistles of ,paul1 we should be nearly as much in the dark concerning these great men as we now are concerning the historical ,jesus4 ,we should be compelled to rely1 in the one case1 upon the untrustworthy gossip of ,mussulman chroniclers1 and in the other case upon the garbled statements of the ,acts of the ,apostles1 a book written with a distinct dogmatic purpose1 sixty or seventy years after the occurrence of the events which it professes to record4 ,it is true1 many of the words of ,jesus1 preserved by hearsay tradition through the generation immediately succeeding his death1 have come down to us1 probably with little alteration1 in the pages of the three earlier evangelists4 ,these are priceless data1 since1 as we shall see1 they are almost the only materials at our command for forming even a partial conception of the character of ,jesus' work4 ,nevertheless1 even here the cautious inquirer has only too often to pause in face of the difficulty of distinguishing the authentic utterances of the great teacher from the later interpolations suggested by the dogmatic necessities of the narrators4 ,bitterly must the historian regret that ,jesus had no philosophic disciple1 like ,xenophon1 to record his ,memorabilia4 ,of the various writings included in the ,new ,testament1 the ,apocalypse alone 7and possibly the ,epistle of ,jude7 is from the pen of a personal acquaintance of ,jesus2 and besides this1 the four epistles of ,paul1 to the ,galatians1 ,corinthians1 and ,romans1 make up the sum of the writings from which we may expect contemporary testimony4 ,yet from these we obtain absolutely nothing of that for which we are seeking4 ,the brief writings of ,paul are occupied exclusively with the internal significance of ,jesus' work4 ,the epistle of ,jude--if it be really written by ,jesus' brother of that name1 which is doubtful--is solely a polemic directed against the innovations of ,paul4 ,and the ,apocalypse1 the work of the fiery and imaginative disciple ,john1 is confined to a prophetic description of the ,messiah's anticipated return1 and tells us nothing concerning the deeds of that ,messiah while on the earth4 ,here we touch upon our third consideration1--the consideration which best enables us to see why the historic notices of ,jesus are so meagre4 ,rightly considered1 the statement with which we opened this article is its own explanation4 ,the ,jesus of history is so little known just because the ,christ of dogma is so well known4 #af ,other teachers--,paul1 ,mohammed1 ,sakyamuni--have come merely as preachers of righteousness1 speaking in the name of general principles with which their own personalities were not directly implicated4 ,but ,jesus1 as we shall see1 before the close of his life1 proclaimed himself to be something more than a preacher of righteousness4 ,he announced himself--and justly1 from his own point of view--as the long-expected ,messiah sent by ,jehovah to liberate the ,jewish race4 ,thus the success of his religious teachings became at once implicated with the question of his personal nature and character4 ,after the sudden and violent termination of his career1 it immediately became all-important with his followers to prove that he was really the ,messiah1 and to insist upon the certainty of his speedy return to the earth4 ,thus the first generation of disciples dogmatized about him1 instead of narrating his life1--a task which to them would have seemed of little profit4 ,for them the all-absorbing object of contemplation was the immediate future rather than the immediate past4 ,as all the earlier ,christian literature informs us1 for nearly a century after the death of ,jesus1 his followers lived in daily anticipation of his triumphant return to the earth4 ,the end of all things being so near at hand1 no attempt was made to insure accurate and complete memoirs for the use of a posterity which was destined1 in ,christian imagination1 never to arrive4 ,the first ,christians wrote but little2 even ,papias1 at the end of a century1 preferring second-hand or third-hand oral tradition to the written gospels which were then beginning to come into circulation4 #ag ,memoirs of the life and teachings of ,jesus were called forth by the necessity of having a written standard of doctrine to which to appeal amid the growing differences of opinion which disturbed the ,church4 ,thus the earlier gospels exhibit1 though in different degrees1 the indications of a modifying1 sometimes of an overruling dogmatic purpose4 ,there is1 indeed1 no conscious violation of historic truth1 but from the varied mass of material supplied by tradition1 such incidents are selected as are fit to support the views of the writers concerning the personality of ,jesus4 ,accordingly1 while the early gospels throw a strong light upon the state of ,christian opinion at the dates when they were successively composed1 the information which they give concerning ,jesus himself is1 for that very reason1 often vague1 uncritical1 and contradictory4 ,still more is this true of the fourth gospel1 written late in the second century1 in which historic tradition is moulded in the interests of dogma until it becomes no longer recognizable1 and in the place of the human ,messiah of the earlier accounts1 we have a semi-divine ,logos or ,aeon1 detached from ,god1 and incarnate for a brief season in the likeness of man4 #af ,wer einmal vergottert worden ist1 der hat seine ,mensetheit unwiederbringlich eingebusst4--,strauss1 ,der alte und der neue ,glaube1 p4 #gf4 #ag ,roger was the attendant of ,thomas ,becket during his sojourn at ,pontigny4 ,we might have expected him to be very full on that part of his history2 but1 writing doubtless mainly for the monks of ,pontigny1 he says that ,,he ,,will ,,not ,,enlarge ,,upon ,,what ,,every ,,one ,,knows1 and cuts that part very short4--,freeman1 ,historical ,essays1 #ast series1 p4 #ij4 ,not only was history subordinated to dogma by the writers of the gospel-narratives1 but in the minds of the ,fathers of the ,church who assisted in determining what writings should be considered canonical1 dogmatic prepossession went very much further than critical acumen4 ,nor is this strange when we reflect that critical discrimination in questions of literary authenticity is one of the latest acquisitions of the cultivated human mind4 ,in the early ages of the ,church the evidence of the genuineness of any literary production was never weighed critically2 writings containing doctrines acceptable to the majority of ,christians were quoted as authoritative while writings which supplied no dogmatic want were overlooked1 or perhaps condemned as apocryphal4 ,a striking instance of this is furnished by the fortunes of the ,apocalypse4 ,although perhaps the best authenticated work in the ,new ,testament collection1 its millenarian doctrines caused it to become unpopular as the ,church gradually ceased to look for the speedy return of the ,messiah1 and1 accordingly1 as the canon assumed a definite shape1 it was placed among the ,antilegomena1 or doubtful books1 and continued to hold a precarious position until after the time of the ,protestant ,reformation4 ,on the other hand1 the fourth gospel1 which was quite unknown and probably did not exist at the time of the ,quartodeciman controversy 7,a4 ,d4 #afh71 was accepted with little hesitation1 and at the beginning of the third century is mentioned by ,irenaeus1 ,clement1 and ,tertullian1 as the work of the ,apostle ,john4 ,to this uncritical spirit1 leading to the neglect of such books as failed to answer the dogmatic requirements of the ,church1 may probably be attributed the loss of so many of the earlier gospels4 ,it is doubtless for this reason that we do not possess the ,aramaean original of the ,logia of ,matthew1 or the ,memorabilia of ,mark1 the companion of ,peter1--two works to which ,papias 7,a4 ,d4 #abj7 alludes as containing authentic reports of the utterances of ,jesus4 ,these considerations will1 we believe1 sufficiently explain the curious circumstance that1 while we know the ,christ of dogma so intimately1 we know the ,jesus of history so slightly4 ,the literature of early ,christianity enables us to trace with tolerable completeness the progress of opinion concerning the nature of ,jesus1 from the time of ,paul's early missions to the time of the ,nicene ,council2 but upon the actual words and deeds of ,jesus it throws a very unsteady light4 ,the dogmatic purpose everywhere obscures the historic basis4 ,this same dogmatic prepossession which has rendered the data for a biography of ,jesus so scanty and untrustworthy1 has also until comparatively recent times prevented any unbiassed critical examination of such data as we actually possess4 ,previous to the eighteenth century any attempt to deal with the life of ,jesus upon purely historical methods would have been not only contemned as irrational1 but stigmatized as impious4 ,and even in the eighteenth century1 those writers who had become wholly emancipated from ecclesiastic tradition were so destitute of all historic sympathy and so unskilled in scientific methods of criticism1 that they utterly failed to comprehend the requirements of the problem4 ,their aims were in the main polemic1 not historical4 ,they thought more of overthrowing current dogmas than of impartially examining the earliest ,christian literature with a view of eliciting its historic contents2 and1 accordingly1 they accomplished but little4 ,two brilliant exceptions must1 however1 be noticed4 ,spinoza1 in the seventeenth century1 and ,lessing1 in the eighteenth1 were men far in advance of their age4 ,they are the fathers of modern historical criticism2 and to ,lessing in particular1 with his enormous erudition and incomparable sagacity1 belongs the honour of initiating that method of inquiry which1 in the hands of the so-called ,tubingen ,school1 has led to such striking and valuable conclusions concerning1 the age and character of all the ,new ,testament literature4 ,but it was long before any one could be found fit to bend the bow which ,lessing and ,spinoza had wielded4 ,a succession of able scholars--,semler1 ,eichhorn1 ,paulus1 ,schleiermacher ,bretschneider1 and ,de ,wette--were required to examine1 with ,german patience and accuracy1 the details of the subject1 and to propound various untenable hypotheses1 before such a work could be performed as that of ,strauss4 ,the ,life of ,jesus1 published by ,strauss when only twenty-six years of age1 is one of the monumental works of the nineteenth century1 worthy to rank1 as a historical effort1 along with such books as ,niebuhr's ,history of ,rome1 ,wolf's ,prolegomena1 or ,bentley's ,dissertations on ,phalaris4 ,it instantly superseded and rendered antiquated everything which had preceded it2 nor has any work on early ,christianity been written in ,germany for the past thirty years which has not been dominated by the recollection of that marvellous book4 ,nevertheless1 the labours of another generation of scholars have carried our knowledge of the ,new ,testament literature far beyond the point which it had reached when ,strauss first wrote4 ,at that time the dates of but few of the ,new ,testament writings had been fixed with any approach to certainty2 the age and character of the fourth gospel1 the genuineness of the ,pauline epistles1 even the mutual relations of the three synoptics1 were still undetermined2 and1 as a natural result of this uncertainty1 the progress of dogma during the first century was ill understood4 ,at the present day it is impossible to read the early work of ,strauss without being impressed with the necessity of obtaining positive data as to the origin and dogmatic character of the ,new ,testament writings1 before attempting to reach any conclusions as to the probable career of ,jesus4 ,these positive data we owe to the genius and diligence of the ,tubingen ,school1 and1 above all1 to its founder1 ,ferdinand ,christian ,baur4 ,beginning with the epistles of ,paul1 of which he distinguished four as genuine1 ,baur gradually worked his way through the entire ,new ,testament collection1 detecting--with that inspired insight which only unflinching diligence can impart to original genius--the age at which each book was written1 and the circumstances which called it forth4 ,to give any account of ,baur's detailed conclusions1 or of the method by which he reached them1 would require a volume4 ,they are very scantily presented in ,mr4 ,mackay's work on the ,tubingen ,school and its ,antecedents1 to which we may refer the reader desirous of further information4 ,we can here merely say that twenty years of energetic controversy have only served to establish most of ,baur's leading conclusions more firmly than ever4 ,the priority of the so-called gospel of ,matthew1 the ,pauline purpose of ,luke1 the second in date of our gospels1 the derivative and second-hand character of ,mark1 and the unapostolic origin of the fourth gospel1 are points which may for the future be regarded as wellnigh established by circumstantial evidence4 ,so with respect to the pseudo-,pauline epistles1 ,baur's work was done so thoroughly that the only question still left open for much discussion is that concerning the date and authorship of the first and second ,thessalonians1--a point of quite inferior importance1 so far as our present subject is concerned4 ,seldom have such vast results been achieved by the labour of a single scholar4 ,seldom has any historical critic possessed such a combination of analytic and of co-ordinating powers as ,baur4 ,his keen criticism and his wonderful flashes of insight exercise upon the reader a truly poetic effect like that which is felt in contemplating the marvels of physical discovery4 ,the comprehensive labours of ,baur were followed up by ,zeller's able work on the ,acts of the ,apostles1 in which that book was shown to have been partly founded upon documents written by ,luke1 or some other companion of ,paul1 and expanded and modified by a much later writer with the purpose of covering up the traces of the early schism between the ,pauline and the ,petrine sections of the ,church4 ,along with this1 ,schwegler's work on the ,post-,apostolic ,times deserves mention as clearing up many obscure points relating to the early development of dogma4 ,finally1 the ,new ,life of ,jesus1 by ,strauss1 adopting and utilizing the principal discoveries of ,baur and his followers1 and combining all into one grand historical picture1 worthily completes the task which the earlier work of the same author had inaugurated4 ,the reader will have noticed that1 with the exception of ,spinoza1 every one of the names above cited in connection with the literary analysis and criticism of the ,new ,testament is the name of a ,german4 ,until within the last decade1 ,germany has indeed possessed almost an absolute monopoly of the science of ,biblical criticism2 other countries having remained not only unfamiliar with its methods1 but even grossly ignorant of its conspicuous results1 save when some ,german treatise of more than ordinary popularity has now and then been translated4 ,but during the past ten years ,france has entered the lists2 and the writings of ,reville1 ,reuss1 ,nicolas1 ,d',eichthal1 ,scherer1 and ,colani testify to the rapidity with which the ,german seed has fructified upon her soil4 #ah #ah ,but now1 in annexing ,alsace1 ,germany has annexed pretty much the whole of this department of ,french scholarship1--a curious incidental consequence of the late war4 ,none of these books1 however1 has achieved such wide-spread celebrity1 or done so much toward interesting the general public in this class of historical inquiries1 as the ,life of ,jesus1 by ,renan4 ,this pre-eminence of fame is partly1 but not wholly1 deserved4 ,from a purely literary point of view1 ,renan's work doubtless merits all the celebrity it has gained4 ,its author writes a style such as is perhaps surpassed by that of no other living ,frenchman4 ,it is by far the most readable book which has ever been written concerning the life of ,jesus4 ,and no doubt some of its popularity is due to its very faults1 which1 from a critical point of view1 are neither few nor small4 ,for ,renan is certainly very faulty1 as a historical critic1 when he practically ignores the extreme meagreness of our positive knowledge of the career of ,jesus1 and describes scene after scene in his life as minutely and with as much confidence as if he had himself been present to witness it all4 ,again and again the critical reader feels prompted to ask1 ,how do you know all this8 or why1 out of two or three conflicting accounts1 do you quietly adopt some particular one1 as if its superior authority were self-evident8 ,but in the eye of the uncritical reader1 these defects are excellences2 for it is unpleasant to be kept in ignorance when we are seeking after definite knowledge1 and it is disheartening to read page after page of an elaborate discussion which ends in convincing us that definite knowledge cannot be gained4 ,in the thirteenth edition of the ,vie de ,jesus1 ,renan has corrected some of the most striking errors of the original work1 and in particular has1 with praiseworthy candour1 abandoned his untenable position with regard to the age and character of the fourth gospel4 ,as is well known1 ,renan1 in his earlier editions1 ascribed to this gospel a historical value superior to that of the synoptics1 believing it to have been written by an eyewitness of the events which it relates2 and from this source1 accordingly1 he drew the larger share of his materials4 ,now1 if there is any one conclusion concerning the ,new ,testament literature which must be regarded as incontrovertibly established by the labours of a whole generation of scholars1 it is this1 that the fourth gospel was utterly unknown until about ,a4 ,d4 #agj1 that it was written by some one who possessed very little direct knowledge of ,palestine1 that its purpose was rather to expound a dogma than to give an accurate record of events1 and that as a guide to the comprehension of the career of ,jesus it is of far less value than the three synoptic gospels4 ,it is impossible1 in a brief review like the present1 to epitomize the evidence upon which this conclusion rests1 which may more profitably be sought in the ,rev4 ,j4 ,j4 ,tayler's work on ,the ,fourth ,gospel1 or in ,davidson's ,introduction to the ,new ,testament4 ,it must suffice to mention that this gospel is not cited by ,papias2 that ,justin1 ,marcion1 and ,valentinus make no allusion to it1 though1 since it furnishes so much that is germane to their views1 they would gladly have appealed to it1 had it been in existence1 when those views were as yet under discussion2 and that1 finally1 in the great ,quartodeciman controversy1 ,a4 ,d4 #afh1 the gospel is not only not mentioned1 but the authority of ,john is cited by ,polycarp in flat contradiction of the view afterwards taken by this evangelist4 ,still more1 the assumption of ,renan led at once into complicated difficulties with reference to the ,apocalypse4 ,the fourth gospel1 if it does not unmistakably announce itself as the work of ,john1 at least professes to be ,johannine2 and it cannot for a moment be supposed that such a book1 making such claims1 could have gained currency during ,john's lifetime without calling forth his indignant protest4 ,for1 in reality1 no book in the ,new ,testament collection would so completely have shocked the prejudices of the ,johannine party4 ,john's own views are well known to us from the ,apocalypse4 ,john was the most enthusiastic of millenarians and the most narrow and rigid of ,judaizers4 ,in his antagonism to the ,pauline innovations he went farther than ,peter himself4 ,intense hatred of ,paul and his followers appears in several passages of the ,apocalypse1 where they are stigmatized as ,nicolaitans1 deceivers of the people1 those who say they are apostles and are not1 eaters of meat offered to idols1 fornicators1 pretended ,jews1 liars1 synagogue of ,satan1 etc4 7,chap4 ,,ii474 ,on the other hand1 the fourth gospel contains nothing millenarian or ,judaical2 it carries ,pauline universalism to a far greater extent than ,paul himself ventured to carry it1 even condemning the ,jews as children of darkness1 and by implication contrasting them unfavourably with the ,gentiles2 and it contains a theory of the nature of ,jesus which the ,ebionitish ,christians1 to whom ,john belonged1 rejected to the last4 ,in his present edition ,renan admits the insuperable force of these objections1 and abandons his theory of the apostolic origin of the fourth gospel4 ,and as this has necessitated the omission or alteration of all such passages as rested upon the authority of that gospel1 the book is to a considerable extent rewritten1 and the changes are such as greatly to increase its value as a history of ,jesus4 ,nevertheless1 the author has so long been in the habit of shaping his conceptions of the career of ,jesus by the aid of the fourth gospel1 that it has become very difficult for him to pass freely to another point of view4 ,he still clings to the hypothesis that there is an element of historic tradition contained in the book1 drawn from memorial writings which had perhaps been handed down from ,john1 and which were inaccessible to the synoptists4 ,in a very interesting appendix1 he collects the evidence in favour of this hypothesis1 which indeed is not without plausibility1 since there is every reason for supposing that the gospel was written at ,ephesus1 which a century before had been ,john's place of residence4 ,but even granting most of ,renan's assumptions1 it must still follow that the authority of this gospel is far inferior to that of the synoptics1 and can in no case be very confidently appealed to4 ,the question is one of the first importance to the historian of early ,christianity4 ,in inquiring into the life of ,jesus1 the very first thing to do is to establish firmly in the mind the true relations of the fourth gospel to the first three4 ,until this has been done1 no one is competent to write on the subject2 and it is because he has done this so imperfectly1 that ,renan's work is1 from a critical point of view1 so imperfectly successful4 ,the anonymous work entitled ,the ,jesus of ,history1 which we have placed at the head of this article1 is in every respect noteworthy as the first systematic attempt made in ,england to follow in the footsteps of ,german criticism in writing a life of ,jesus4 ,we know of no good reason why the book should be published anonymously2 for as a historical essay it possesses extraordinary merit1 and does great credit not only to its author1 but to ,english scholarship and acumen4 #ai ,it is not1 indeed1 a book calculated to captivate the imagination of the reading public4 ,though written in a clear1 forcible1 and often elegant style1 it possesses no such wonderful rhetorical charm as the work of ,renan2 and it will probably never find half a dozen readers where the ,vie de ,jesus has found a hundred4 ,but the success of a book of this sort is not to be measured by its rhetorical excellence1 or by its adaptation to the literary tastes of an uncritical and uninstructed public1 but rather by the amount of critical sagacity which it brings to bear upon the elucidation of the many difficult and disputed points in the subject of which it treats4 ,measured by this standard1 ,the ,jesus of ,history must rank very high indeed4 ,to say that it throws more light upon the career of ,jesus than any work which has ever before been written in ,english would be very inadequate praise1 since the ,english language has been singularly deficient in this branch of historical literature4 ,we shall convey a more just idea of its merits if we say that it will bear comparison with anything which even ,germany has produced1 save only the works of ,strauss1 ,baur1 and ,zeller4 #ai ,the ,jesus of ,history is now known to have been written by ,sir ,richard ,hanson1 ,chief ,justice of ,south ,australia4 ,the fitness of our author for the task which he has undertaken is shown at the outset by his choice of materials4 ,in basing his conclusions almost exclusively upon the statements contained in the first gospel1 he is upheld by every sound principle of criticism4 ,the times and places at which our three synoptic gospels were written have been1 through the labours of the ,tubingen critics1 determined almost to a certainty4 ,of the three1 ,mark is unquestionably the latest2 with the exception of about twenty verses1 it is entirely made up from ,matthew and ,luke1 the diverse ,petrine and ,pauline tendencies of which it strives to neutralize in conformity to the conciliatory disposition of the ,church at ,rome1 at the epoch at which this gospel was written1 about ,a4 ,d4 #acj4 ,the third gospel was also written at ,rome1 some fifteen years earlier4 ,in the preface1 its author describes it as a compilation from previously existing written materials4 ,among these materials was certainly the first gospel1 several passages of which are adopted word for word by the author of ,luke4 ,yet the narrative varies materially from that of the first gospel in many essential points4 ,the arrangement of events is less natural1 and1 as in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 by the same author1 there is apparent throughout the design of suppressing the old discord between ,paul and the ,judaizing disciples1 and of representing ,christianity as essentially ,pauline from the outset4 ,how far ,paul was correct in his interpretation of the teachings of ,jesus1 it is difficult to decide4 ,it is1 no doubt1 possible that the first gospel may have lent to the words of ,jesus an ,ebionite colouring in some instances1 and that now and then the third gospel may present us with a truer account4 ,to this supremely important point we shall by and by return4 ,for the present it must suffice to observe that the evidences of an overruling dogmatic purpose are generally much more conspicuous in the third synoptist than in the first2 and that the very loose manner in which this writer has handled his materials in the ,acts is not calculated to inspire us with confidence in the historical accuracy of his gospel4 ,the writer who1 in spite of the direct testimony of ,paul himself could represent the apostle to the ,gentiles as acting under the direction of the disciples at ,jerusalem1 and who puts ,pauline sentiments into the mouth of ,peter1 would certainly have been capable of unwarrantably giving a ,pauline turn to the teachings of ,jesus himself4 ,we are therefore1 as a last resort1 brought back to the first gospel1 which we find to possess1 as a historical narrative1 far stronger claims upon our attention than the second and third4 ,in all probability it had assumed nearly its present shape before ,a4 ,d4 #ajj1 its origin is unmistakably ,palestinian2 it betrays comparatively few indications of dogmatic purpose2 and there are strong reasons for believing that the speeches of ,jesus recorded in it are in substance taken from the genuine ,logia of ,matthew mentioned by ,papias1 which must have been written as early as ,a4 ,d4 #fj-gj1 before the destruction of ,jerusalem4 ,indeed1 we are inclined to agree with our author that the gospel1 even in its present shape 7save only a few interpolated passages71 may have existed as early as ,a4 ,d4 #hj1 since it places the time of ,jesus' second coming immediately after the destruction of ,jerusalem2 whereas the third evangelist1 who wrote forty-five years after that event1 is careful to tell us1 ,the end is ,,not immediately4 ,moreover1 it must have been written while the ,paulo-,petrine controversy was still raging1 as is shown by the parable of the enemy who sowed the tares1 which manifestly refers to ,paul1 and also by the allusions to false prophets 7vii4 #ae71 to those who say ,lord1 ,lord1 and who cast out demons in the name of the ,lord 7vii4 #ba-bc71 teaching men to break the commandments 7v4 #ag-bj74 ,there is1 therefore1 good reason for believing that we have here a narrative written not much more than fifty years after the death of ,jesus1 based partly upon the written memorials of an apostle1 and in the main trustworthy1 save where it relates occurrences of a marvellous and legendary character4 ,such is our author's conclusion1 and in describing the career of the ,jesus of history1 he relies almost exclusively upon the statements contained in the first gospel4 ,let us now after this long but inadequate introduction1 give a brief sketch of the life of ,jesus1 as it is to be found in our author4 ,concerning the time and place of the birth of ,jesus1 we know next to nothing4 ,according to uniform tradition1 based upon a statement of the third gospel1 he was about thirty years of age at the time when he began teaching4 ,the same gospel states1 with elaborate precision1 that the public career of ,john the ,baptist began in the fifteenth year of ,tiberius1 or ,a4 ,d4 #bh4 ,in the winter of ,a4 ,d4 #ce-cf1 ,pontius ,pilate was recalled from ,judaea1 so that the crucifixion could not have taken place later than in the spring of #ce4 ,thus we have a period of about six years during which the ministry of ,jesus must have begun and ended2 and if the tradition with respect to his age be trustworthy1 we shall not be far out of the way in supposing him to have been born somewhere between ,b4 ,c4 #e and ,a4 ,d4 #e4 ,he is everywhere alluded to in the gospels as ,jesus of ,nazareth in ,galilee1 where lived also his father1 mother brothers and sisters1 and where very likely he was born4 ,his parents' names are said to have been ,joseph and ,mary4 ,his own name is a ,hellenized form of ,joshua1 a name very common among the ,jews4 ,according to the first gospel 7xiii4 #ee71 he had four brothers1--,joseph and ,simon2 ,james1 who was afterwards one of the heads of the church at ,jerusalem1 and the most formidable enemy of ,paul2 and ,judas or ,jude1 who is perhaps the author of the anti-,pauline epistle commonly ascribed to him4 ,of the early youth of ,jesus1 and of the circumstances which guided his intellectual development1 we know absolutely nothing1 nor have we the data requisite for forming any plausible hypothesis4 ,he first appears in history about ,a4 ,d4 #bi or #cj1 in connection with a very remarkable person whom the third evangelist describes as his cousin1 and who seems1 from his mode of life1 to have been in some way connected with or influenced by the ,hellenizing sect of ,essenes4 ,here we obtain our first clew to guide us in forming a consecutive theory of the development of ,jesus' opinions4 ,the sect of ,essenes took its rise in the time of the ,maccabees1 about ,b4 ,c4 #agj4 ,upon the fundamental doctrines of ,judaism it had engrafted many ,pythagorean notions1 and was doubtless in the time of ,jesus instrumental in spreading ,greek ideas among the people of ,galilee1 where ,judaism was far from being so narrow and rigid as at ,jerusalem4 ,the ,essenes attached but little importance to the ,messianic expectations of the ,pharisees1 and mingled scarcely at all in national politics4 ,they lived for the most part a strictly ascetic life1 being indeed the legitimate predecessors of the early ,christian hermits and monks4 ,but while pre-eminent for sanctity of life1 they heaped ridicule upon the entire sacrificial service of the ,temple1 despised the ,pharisees as hypocrites1 and insisted upon charity toward all men instead of the old ,jewish exclusiveness4 ,it was once a favourite theory that both ,john the ,baptist and ,jesus were members of the ,essenian brotherhood2 but that theory is now generally abandoned4 ,whatever may have been the case with ,john1 who is said to have lived like an anchorite in the desert1 there seems to have been but little practical ,essenism in ,jesus1 who is almost uniformly represented as cheerful and social in demeanour1 and against whom it was expressly urged that he came eating and drinking1 making no presence of puritanical holiness4 ,he was neither a puritan1 like the ,essenes1 nor a ritualist1 like the ,pharisees4 ,besides which1 both ,john and ,jesus seem to have begun their careers by preaching the un-,essene doctrine of the speedy advent of the kingdom of heaven1 by which is meant the reign of the ,messiah upon the earth4 ,nevertheless1 though we cannot regard ,jesus as actually a member of the ,essenian community or sect1 we can hardly avoid the conclusion that he1 as well as ,john the ,baptist1 had been at some time strongly influenced by ,essenian doctrines4 ,the spiritualized conception of the kingdom of heaven proclaimed by him was just what would naturally and logically arise from a remodelling of the ,messianic theories of the ,pharisees in conformity to advanced ,essenian notions4 ,it seems highly probable that some such refined conception of the functions of the ,messiah was reached by ,john1 who1 stigmatizing the ,pharisees and ,sadducees as a generation of vipers1 called aloud to the people to repent of their sins1 in view of the speedy advent of the ,messiah1 and to testify to their repentance by submitting to the ,essenian rite of baptism4 ,there is no positive evidence that ,jesus was ever a disciple of ,john2 yet the account of the baptism1 in spite of the legendary character of its details1 seems to rest upon a historical basis2 and perhaps the most plausible hypothesis which can be framed is1 that ,jesus received baptism at ,john's hands1 became for a while his disciple1 and acquired from him a knowledge of ,essenian doctrines4 ,the career of ,john seems to have been very brief4 ,his stern puritanism brought him soon into disgrace with the government of ,galilee4 ,he was seized by ,herod1 thrown into prison1 and beheaded4 ,after the brief hints given as to the intercourse between ,jesus and ,john1 we next hear of ,jesus alone in the desert1 where1 like ,sakyamuni and ,mohammed1 he may have brooded in solitude over his great project4 ,yet we do not find that he had as yet formed any distinct conception of his own ,messiahship4 ,the total neglect of chronology by our authorities #bj renders it impossible to trace the development of his thoughts step by step2 but for some time after ,john's catastrophe we find him calling upon the people to repent1 in view of the speedy approach of the ,messiah1 speaking with great and commanding personal authority1 but using no language which would indicate that he was striving to do more than worthily fill the place and add to the good work of his late master4 ,the ,sermon on the ,mount1 which the first gospel inserts in this place1 was perhaps never spoken as a continuous discourse2 but it no doubt for the most part contains the very words of ,jesus1 and represents the general spirit of his teaching during this earlier portion of his career4 ,in this is contained nearly all that has made ,christianity so powerful in the domain of ethics4 ,if all the rest of the gospel were taken away1 or destroyed in the night of some future barbarian invasion1 we should still here possess the secret of the wonderful impression which ,jesus made upon those who heard him speak4 ,added to the ,essenian scorn of ,pharisaic formalism1 and the spiritualized conception of the ,messianic kingdom1 which ,jesus may probably have shared with ,john the ,baptist1 we have here for the first time the distinctively ,christian conception of the fatherhood of ,god and the brotherhood of men1 which ultimately insured the success of the new religion4 ,the special point of originality in ,jesus was his conception of ,deity4 ,as ,strauss well says1 ,he conceived of ,god1 in a moral point of view1 as being identical in character with himself in the most exalted moments of his religious life1 and strengthened in turn his own religious life by this ideal4 ,but the most exalted religious tendency in his own consciousness was exactly that comprehensive love1 overpowering the evil only by the good1 which he therefore transferred to ,god as the fundamental tendency of ,his nature4 ,from this conception of ,god1 observes ,zeller1 flowed naturally all the moral teaching of ,jesus1 the insistence upon spiritual righteousness instead of the mere mechanical observance of ,mosaic precepts1 the call to be perfect even as the ,father is perfect1 the principle of the spiritual equality of men before ,god1 and the equal duties of all men toward each other4 #bj ,the biographers of ,becket are commonly rather careless as to the order of time4 ,each4444 recorded what struck him most or what he best knew1 one set down one event and another2 and none of them paid much regard to the order of details4--,freeman1 ,historical ,essays1 #ast series1 p4 #id4 ,how far1 in addition to these vitally important lessons1 ,jesus may have taught doctrines of an ephemeral or visionary character1 it is very difficult to decide4 ,we are inclined to regard the third gospel as of some importance in settling this point4 ,the author of that gospel represents ,jesus as decidedly hostile to the rich4 ,where ,matthew has ,blessed are the poor in spirit1 ,luke has ,blessed are ye poor4 ,in the first gospel we read1 ,blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness1 for they will be filled2 but in the third gospel we find1 ,blessed are ye that hunger now1 for ye will be filled2 and this assurance is immediately followed by the denunciation1 ,woe to you that are rich1 for ye have received your consolation6 ,woe to you that are full now1 for ye will hunger4 ,the parable of ,dives and ,lazarus illustrates concretely this view of the case1 which is still further corroborated by the account1 given in both the first and the third gospels1 of the young man who came to seek everlasting life4 ,jesus here maintains that righteousness is insufficient unless voluntary poverty be superadded4 ,though the young man has strictly fulfilled the greatest of the commandments1--to love his neighbour as himself1--he is required1 as a needful proof of his sincerity1 to distribute all his vast possessions among the poor4 ,and when he naturally manifests a reluctance to perform so superfluous a sacrifice1 ,jesus observes that it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to share in the glories of the anticipated ,messianic kingdom4 ,it is difficult to escape the conclusion that we have here a very primitive and probably authentic tradition2 and when we remember the importance which1 according to the ,acts1 the earliest disciples attached to the principle of communism1 as illustrated in the legend of ,ananias and ,sapphira1 we must admit strong reasons for believing that ,jesus himself held views which tended toward the abolition of private property4 ,on this point1 the testimony of the third evangelist singly is of considerable weight2 since at the time when he wrote1 the communistic theories of the first generation of ,christians had been generally abandoned1 and in the absence of any dogmatic motives1 he could only have inserted these particular traditions because he believed them to possess historical value4 ,but we are not dependent on the third gospel alone4 ,the story just cited is attested by both our authorities1 and is in perfect keeping with the general views of ,jesus as reported by the first evangelist4 ,thus his disciples are enjoined to leave all1 and follow him2 to take no thought for the morrow2 to think no more of laying up treasures on the earth1 for in the ,messianic kingdom they shall have treasures in abundance1 which can neither be wasted nor stolen4 ,on making their journeys1 they are to provide neither money1 nor clothes1 nor food1 but are to live at the expense of those whom they visit2 and if any town refuse to harbour them1 the ,messiah1 on his arrival1 will deal with that town more severely than ,jehovah dealt with the cities of the plain4 ,indeed1 since the end of the world was to come before the end of the generation then living 7,matt4 xxiv4 #cd2 #a ,cor4 xv4 #ea-ef1 vii4 #bi71 there could be no need for acquiring property or making arrangements for the future2 even marriage became unnecessary4 ,these teachings of ,jesus have a marked ,essenian character1 as well as his declaration that in the ,messianic kingdom there was to be no more marriage1 perhaps no distinction of sex 7,matt4 xxii4 #cj74 ,the sect of ,ebionites1 who represented the earliest doctrine and practice of ,christianity before it had been modified by ,paul1 differed from the ,essenes in no essential respect save in the acknowledgment of ,jesus as the ,messiah1 and the expectation of his speedy return to the earth4 ,how long1 or with what success1 ,jesus continued to preach the coming of the ,messiah in ,galilee1 it is impossible to conjecture4 ,his fellow-townsmen of ,nazareth appear to have ridiculed him in his prophetical capacity2 or1 if we may trust the third evangelist1 to have arisen against him with indignation1 and made an attempt upon his life4 ,to them he was but a carpenter1 the son of a carpenter 7,matt4 xiii4 #ee2 ,mark vi4 #c71 who told them disagreeable truths4 ,our author represents his teaching in ,galilee to have produced but little result1 but the gospel narratives afford no definite data for deciding this point4 ,we believe the most probable conclusion to be that ,jesus did attract many followers1 and became famous throughout ,galilee2 for ,herod is said to have regarded him as ,john the ,baptist risen from the grave4 ,to escape the malice of ,herod1 ,jesus then retired to ,syro-,phoenicia1 and during this eventful journey the consciousness of his own ,messiahship seems for the first time to have distinctly dawned upon him 7,matt4 xiv4 #a1 #ac2 xv4 #ba2 xvi4 #ac-bj74 ,already1 it appears1 speculations were rife as to the character of this wonderful preacher4 ,some thought he was ,john the ,baptist1 or perhaps one of the prophets of the ,assyrian period returned to the earth4 ,some1 in accordance with a generally-received tradition1 supposed him to be ,elijah1 who had never seen death1 and had now at last returned from the regions above the firmament to announce the coming of the ,messiah in the clouds4 ,it was generally admitted1 among enthusiastic hearers1 that he who spake as never man spake before must have some divine commission to execute4 ,these speculations1 coming to the ears of ,jesus during his preaching in ,galilee1 could not fail to excite in him a train of self-conscious reflections4 ,to him also must have been presented the query as to his own proper character and functions2 and1 as our author acutely demonstrates1 his only choice lay between a profitless life of exile in ,syro-,phoenicia1 and a bold return to ,jewish territory in some pronounced character4 ,the problem being thus propounded1 there could hardly be a doubt as to what that character should be4 ,jesus knew well that he was not ,john the ,baptist2 nor1 however completely he may have been dominated by his sublime enthusiasm1 was it likely that he could mistake himself for an ancient prophet arisen from the lower world of shades1 or for ,elijah descended from the sky4 ,but the ,messiah himself he might well be4 ,such indeed was the almost inevitable corollary from his own conception of ,messiahship4 ,we have seen that he had1 probably from the very outset1 discarded the traditional notion of a political ,messiah1 and recognized the truth that the happiness of a people lies not so much in political autonomy as in the love of ,god and the sincere practice of righteousness4 ,the people were to be freed from the bondage of sin1 of meaningless formalism1 of consecrated hypocrisy1--a bondage more degrading than the payment of tribute to the emperor4 ,the true business of the ,messiah1 then1 was to deliver his people from the former bondage2 it might be left to ,jehovah1 in his own good time1 to deliver them from the latter4 ,holding these views1 it was hardly possible that it should not sooner or later occur to ,jesus that he himself was the person destined to discharge this glorious function1 to liberate his countrymen from the thraldom of ,pharisaic ritualism1 and to inaugurate the real ,messianic kingdom of spiritual righteousness4 ,had he not already preached the advent of this spiritual kingdom1 and been instrumental in raising many to loftier conceptions of duty1 and to a higher and purer life8 ,and might he not now1 by a grand attack upon ,pharisaism in its central stronghold1 destroy its prestige in the eyes of the people1 and cause ,israel to adopt a nobler religious and ethical doctrine8 ,the temerity of such a purpose detracts nothing from its sublimity4 ,and if that purpose should be accomplished1 ,jesus would really have performed the legitimate work of the ,messiah4 ,thus1 from his own point of view1 ,jesus was thoroughly consistent and rational in announcing himself as the expected ,deliverer2 and in the eyes of the impartial historian his course is fully justified4 ,from that time1 says the first evangelist1 ,jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to ,jerusalem1 and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes1 and be put to death1 and rise again on the third day4 ,here we have1 obviously1 the knowledge of the writer1 after the event1 reflected back and attributed to ,jesus4 ,it is of course impossible that ,jesus should have predicted with such definiteness his approaching death2 nor is it very likely that he entertained any hope of being raised from the grave on the third day4 ,to a man in that age and country1 the conception of a return from the lower world of shades was not a difficult one to frame2 and it may well be that ,jesus' sense of his own exalted position was sufficiently great to inspire him with the confidence that1 even in case of temporary failure1 ,jehovah would rescue him from the grave and send him back with larger powers to carry out the purpose of his mission4 ,but the difficulty of distinguishing between his own words and the interpretation put upon them by his disciples becomes here insuperable2 and there will always be room for the hypothesis that ,jesus had in view no posthumous career of his own1 but only expressed his unshaken confidence in the success of his enterprise1 even after and in spite of his death4 ,at all events1 the possibility of his death must now have been often in his mind4 ,he was undertaking a wellnigh desperate task1--to overthrow the ,pharisees in ,jerusalem itself4 ,no other alternative was left him4 ,and here we believe ,mr4 ,f4 ,w4 ,newman to be singularly at fault in pronouncing this attempt of ,jesus upon ,jerusalem a foolhardy attempt4 ,according to ,mr4 ,newman1 no man has any business to rush upon certain death1 and it is only a crazy fanatic who will do so4 #ba ,but such glittering generalizations will here help us but little4 ,the historic data show that to go to ,jerusalem1 even at the risk of death1 was absolutely necessary to the realization of ,jesus' ,messianic project4 ,mr4 ,newman certainly would not have had him drag out an inglorious and baffled existence in ,syro-,phoenicia4 ,if the ,messianic kingdom was to be fairly inaugurated1 there was work to be done in ,jerusalem1 and ,jesus must go there as one in authority1 cost what it might4 ,we believe him to have gone there in a spirit of grand and careless bravery1 yet seriously and soberly1 and under the influence of no fanatical delusion4 ,he knew the risks1 but deliberately chose to incur them1 that the will of ,jehovah might be accomplished4 ,we next hear of ,jesus travelling down to ,jerusalem by way of ,jericho1 and entering the sacred city in his character of ,messiah1 attended by a great multitude4 ,it was near the time of the ,passover1 when people from all parts of ,galilee and ,judaea were sure to be at ,jerusalem1 and the nature of his reception seems to indicate that he had already secured a considerable number of followers upon whose assistance he might hope to rely1 though it nowhere appears that he intended to use other than purely moral weapons to insure a favourable reception4 ,we must remember that for half a century many of the ,jewish people had been constantly looking for the arrival of the ,messiah1 and there can be little doubt that the entry of ,jesus riding upon an ass in literal fulfilment of prophecy must have wrought powerfully upon the imagination of the multitude4 ,that the believers in him were very numerous must be inferred from the cautious1 not to say timid1 behaviour of the rulers at ,jerusalem1 who are represented as desiring to arrest him1 but as deterred from taking active steps through fear of the people4 ,we are led to the same conclusion by his driving the money-changers out of the ,temple2 an act upon which he could hardly have ventured1 had not the popular enthusiasm in his favour been for the moment overwhelming4 ,but the enthusiasm of a mob is short-lived1 and needs to be fed upon the excitement of brilliant and dramatically arranged events4 ,the calm preacher of righteousness1 or even the fiery denouncer of the scribes and ,pharisees1 could not hope to retain undiminished authority save by the display of extraordinary powers to which1 so far as we know1 ,jesus 7like ,mohammed7 made no presence 7,matt4 xvi4 #a-d74 ,the ignorant and materialistic populace could not understand the exalted conception of ,messiahship which had been formed by ,jesus1 and as day after day elapsed without the appearance of any marvellous sign from ,jehovah1 their enthusiasm must naturally have cooled down4 ,then the ,pharisees appear cautiously endeavouring to entrap him into admissions which might render him obnoxious to the ,roman governor4 ,he saw through their design1 however1 and foiled them by the magnificent repartee1 ,render unto ,caesar the things that are ,caesar's1 and unto ,god the things that are ,god's4 ,nothing could more forcibly illustrate the completely non-political character of his ,messianic doctrines4 ,nevertheless1 we are told that1 failing in this attempt1 the chief priests suborned false witnesses to testify against him3 this ,sabbath-breaker1 this derider of ,mosaic formalism1 who with his ,messianic pretensions excited the people against their hereditary teachers1 must at all events be put out of the way4 ,jesus must suffer the fate which society has too often had in store for the reformer2 the fate which ,sokrates and ,savonarola1 ,vanini and ,bruno1 have suffered for being wiser than their own generation4 ,messianic adventurers had already given much trouble to the ,roman authorities1 who were not likely to scrutinize critically the peculiar claims of ,jesus4 ,and when the chief priests accused him before ,pilate of professing to be ,king of the ,jews1 this claim could in ,roman apprehension bear but one interpretation4 ,the offence was treason1 punishable1 save in the case of ,roman citizens1 by crucifixion4 #ba ,phases of ,faith1 pp4 #aeh-afd4 ,such in its main outlines is the historic career of ,jesus1 as constructed by our author from data furnished chiefly by the first gospel4 ,connected with the narrative there are many interesting topics of discussion1 of which our rapidly diminishing space will allow us to select only one for comment4 ,that one is perhaps the most important of all1 namely1 the question as to how far ,jesus anticipated the views of ,paul in admitting ,gentiles to share in the privileges of the ,messianic kingdom4 ,our author argues1 with much force1 that the designs of ,jesus were entirely confined to the ,jewish people1 and that it was ,paul who first1 by admitting ,gentiles to the ,christian fold without requiring them to live like ,jews1 gave to ,christianity the character of a universal religion4 ,our author reminds us that the third gospel is not to be depended upon in determining this point1 since it manifestly puts ,pauline sentiments into the mouth of ,jesus1 and in particular attributes to ,jesus an acquaintance with heretical ,samaria which the first gospel disclaims4 ,he argues that the apostles were in every respect ,jews1 save in their belief that ,jesus was the ,messiah2 and he pertinently asks1 if ,james1 who was the brother of ,jesus1 and ,peter and ,john1 who were his nearest friends1 unanimously opposed ,paul and stigmatized him as a liar and heretic1 is it at all likely that ,jesus had ever distinctly sanctioned such views as ,paul maintained8 ,in the course of many years' reflection upon this point1 we have several times been inclined to accept the narrow interpretation of ,jesus' teaching here indicated2 yet1 on the whole1 we do not believe it can ever be conclusively established4 ,in the first place it must be remembered that if the third gospel throws a ,pauline colouring over the events which it describes1 the first gospel also shows a decidedly anti-,pauline bias1 and the one party was as likely as the other to attribute its own views to ,jesus himself4 ,one striking instance of this tendency has been pointed out by ,strauss1 who has shown that the verses ,matt4 v4 #ag-bj are an interpolation4 ,the person who teaches men to break the commandments is undoubtedly ,paul1 and in order to furnish a text against ,paul's followers1 the ,nicolaitans1 ,jesus is made to declare that he came not to destroy one tittle of the law1 but to fulfil the whole in every particular4 ,such an utterance is in manifest contradiction to the spirit of ,jesus' teaching1 as shown in the very same chapter1 and throughout a great part of the same gospel4 ,he who taught in his own name and not as the scribes1 who proclaimed himself ,lord over the ,sabbath1 and who manifested from first to last a more than ,essenian contempt for rites and ceremonies1 did not come to fulfil the law of ,mosaism1 but to supersede it4 ,nor can any inference adverse to this conclusion be drawn from the injunction to the disciples 7,matt4 x4 #e-g7 not to preach to ,gentiles and ,samaritans1 but only to the lost sheep of the house of ,israel2 for this remark is placed before the beginning of ,jesus' ,messianic career1 and the reason assigned for the restriction is merely that the disciples will not have time even to preach to all the ,jews before the coming of the ,messiah1 whose approach ,jesus was announcing 7,matt4 x4 #bc7 ,these examples show that we must use caution in weighing the testimony even of the first gospel1 and must not too hastily cite it as proof that ,jesus supposed his mission to be restricted to the ,jews4 ,when we come to consider what happened a few years after the death of ,jesus1 we shall be still less ready to insist upon the view defended by our anonymous author4 ,paul1 according to his own confession1 persecuted the ,christians unto death4 ,now what1 in the theories or in the practice of the ,jewish disciples of ,jesus1 could have moved ,paul to such fanatic behaviour8 ,certainly not their spiritual interpretation of ,mosaism1 for ,paul himself belonged to the liberal school of ,gamaliel1 to the views of which the teachings and practices of ,peter1 ,james1 and ,john might easily be accommodated4 ,probably not their belief in ,jesus as the ,messiah1 for at the riot in which ,stephen was murdered and all the ,hellenist disciples driven from ,jerusalem1 the ,jewish disciples were allowed to remain in the city unmolested4 7,see ,acts viii4 #a1 #ad47 ,this marked difference of treatment indicates that ,paul regarded ,stephen and his friends as decidedly more heretical and obnoxious than ,peter1 ,james1 and ,john1 whom1 indeed1 ,paul's own master ,gamaliel had recently 7,acts v4 #cd7 defended before the council4 ,and this inference is fully confirmed by the account of ,stephen's death1 where his murderers charge him with maintaining that ,jesus had founded a new religion which was destined entirely to supersede and replace ,judaism 7,acts vi4 #ad74 ,the ,petrine disciples never held this view of the mission of ,jesus2 and to this difference it is undoubtedly owing that ,paul and his companions forbore to disturb them4 ,it would thus appear that even previous to ,paul's conversion1 within five or six years after the death of ,jesus1 there was a prominent party among the disciples which held that the new religion was not a modification but an abrogation of ,judaism2 and their name ,hellenists sufficiently shows either that there were ,gentiles among them or that they held fellowship with ,gentiles4 ,it was this which aroused ,paul to persecution1 and upon his sudden conversion it was with these ,hellenistic doctrines that he fraternized1 taking little heed of the ,petrine disciples 7,galatians i4 #ag71 who were hardly more than a ,jewish sect4 ,now the existence of these ,hellenists at ,jerusalem so soon after the death of ,jesus is clear proof that he had never distinctly and irrevocably pronounced against the admission of ,gentiles to the ,messianic kingdom1 and it makes it very probable that the downfall of ,mosaism as a result of his preaching was by no means unpremeditated4 ,while1 on the other hand1 the obstinacy of the ,petrine party in adhering to ,jewish customs shows equally that ,jesus could not have unequivocally committed himself in favour of a new gospel for the ,gentiles4 ,probably ,jesus was seldom brought into direct contact with others than ,jews1 so that the questions concerning the admission of ,gentile converts did not come up during his lifetime2 and thus the way was left open for the controversy which soon broke out between the ,petrine party and ,paul4 ,nevertheless1 though ,jesus may never have definitely pronounced upon this point1 it will hardly be denied that his teaching1 even as reported in the first gospel1 is in its utter condemnation of formalism far more closely allied to the ,pauline than to the ,petrine doctrines4 ,in his hands ,mosaism became spiritualized until it really lost its identity1 and was transformed into a code fit for the whole ,roman world4 ,and we do not doubt that if any one had asked ,jesus whether circumcision were an essential prerequisite for admission to the ,messianic kingdom1 he would have given the same answer which ,paul afterwards gave4 ,we agree with ,zeller and ,strauss that1 as ,luther was a more liberal spirit than the ,lutheran divines of the succeeding generation1 and ,sokrates a more profound thinker than ,xenophon or ,antisthenes1 so also ,jesus must be credited with having raised himself far higher above the narrow prejudices of his nation than those of his disciples who could scarcely understand the spread of ,christianity among the heathen when it had become an accomplished fact4 ,january1 #ahgj4 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,christ ,,of ,,dogma4 #bb #bb ,saint-,paul1 par ,ernest ,renan4 ,paris1 #ahfi4 ,histoire du ,dogme de la ,divinite de ,jesus-,christ1 par ,albert ,reville4 ,paris1 #ahfi4 ,the ,end of the ,world and the ,day of ,judgment4 ,two ,discourses by the ,rev4 ,w4 ,r4 ,alger4 ,boston3 ,roberts ,brothers1 #ahgj4 ,the meagreness of our information concerning the historic career of ,jesus stands in striking contrast with the mass of information which lies within our reach concerning the primitive character of ,christologic speculation4 ,first we have the four epistles of ,paul1 written from twenty to thirty years after the crucifixion1 which1 although they tell us next to nothing about what ,jesus did1 nevertheless give us very plain information as to the impression which he made4 ,then we have the ,apocalypse1 written by ,john1 ,a4 ,d4 #fh1 which exhibits the ,messianic theory entertained by the earliest disciples4 ,next we have the epistles to the ,hebrews1 ,philippians1 ,colossians1 and ,ephesians1 besides the four gospels1 constituting altogether a connected chain of testimony to the progress of ,christian doctrine from the destruction of ,jerusalem to the time of the ,quartodeciman controversy 7,a4 ,d4 #gj-agj74 ,finally1 there is the vast collection of apocryphal1 heretical1 and patristic literature1 from the writings of ,justin ,martyr1 the pseudo-,clement1 and the pseudo-,ignatius1 down to the time of the ,council of ,nikaia1 when the official theories of ,christ's person assumed very nearly the shape which they have retained1 within the orthodox churches of ,christendom1 down to the present day4 ,as we pointed out in the foregoing essay1 while all this voluminous literature throws but an uncertain light upon the life and teachings of the founder of ,christianity1 it nevertheless furnishes nearly all the data which we could desire for knowing what the early ,christians thought of the master of their faith4 ,having given a brief account of the historic career of ,jesus1 so far as it can now be determined1 we propose here to sketch the rise and progress of ,christologic doctrine1 in its most striking features1 during the first three centuries4 ,beginning with the apostolic view of the human ,messiah sent to deliver ,judaism from its spiritual torpor1 and prepare it for the millennial kingdom1 we shall briefly trace the progressive metamorphosis of this conception until it completely loses its identity in the ,athanasian theory1 according to which ,jesus was ,god himself1 the ,creator of the universe1 incarnate in human flesh4 ,the earliest dogma held by the apostles concerning ,jesus was that of his resurrection from the grave after death4 ,it was not only the earliest1 but the most essential to the success of the new religion4 ,christianity might have overspread the ,roman ,empire1 and maintained its hold upon men's faith until to-day1 without the dogmas of the incarnation and the ,trinity2 but without the dogma of the resurrection it would probably have failed at the very outset4 ,its lofty morality would not alone have sufficed to insure its success4 ,for what men needed then1 as indeed they still need1 and will always need1 was not merely a rule of life and a mirror to the heart1 but also a comprehensive and satisfactory theory of things1 a philosophy or theosophy4 ,the times demanded intellectual as well as moral consolation2 and the disintegration of ancient theologies needed to be repaired1 that the new ethical impulse imparted by ,christianity might rest upon a plausible speculative basis4 ,the doctrine of the resurrection was but the beginning of a series of speculative innovations which prepared the way for the new religion to emancipate itself from ,judaism1 and achieve the conquest of the ,empire4 ,even the faith of the apostles in the speedy return of their master the ,messiah must have somewhat lost ground1 had it not been supported by their belief in his resurrection from the grave and his consequent transfer from ,sheol1 the gloomy land of shadows1 to the regions above the sky4 ,the origin of the dogma of the resurrection cannot be determined with certainty4 ,the question has1 during the past century1 been the subject of much discussion1 upon which it is not necessary for us here to comment4 ,such apparent evidence as there is in favour of the old theory of ,jesus' natural recovery from the effects of the crucifixion may be found in ,salvador's ,jesus-,christ et sa ,doctrine2 but1 as ,zeller has shown1 the theory is utterly unsatisfactory4 ,the natural return of ,jesus to his disciples never could have given rise to the notion of his resurrection1 since the natural explanation would have been the more obvious one2 besides which1 if we were to adopt this hypothesis1 we should be obliged to account for the fact that the historic career of ,jesus ends with the crucifixion4 ,the most probable explanation1 on the whole1 is the one suggested by the accounts in the gospels1 that the dogma of the resurrection is due originally to the excited imagination of ,mary of ,magdala4 #bc ,the testimony of ,paul may also be cited in favour of this view1 since he always alludes to earlier ,christophanies in just the same language which he uses in describing his own vision on the road to ,damascus4 #bc ,see ,taine1 ,de l',intelligence1 ,,ii4 #aib4 ,but the question as to how the belief in the resurrection of ,jesus originated is of less importance than the question as to how it should have produced the effect that it did4 ,the dogma of the resurrection has1 until recent times1 been so rarely treated from the historical point of view1 that the student of history at first finds some difficulty in thoroughly realizing its import to the minds of those who first proclaimed it4 ,we cannot hope to understand it without bearing in mind the theories of the ,jews and early ,christians concerning the structure of the world and the cosmic location of departed souls4 ,since the time of ,copernicus modern ,christians no longer attempt to locate heaven and hell2 they are conceived merely as mysterious places remote from the earth4 ,the theological universe no longer corresponds to that which physical science presents for our contemplation4 ,it was quite different with the ,jew4 ,his conception of the abode of ,jehovah and the angels1 and of departed souls1 was exceedingly simple and definite4 ,in the ,jewish theory the universe is like a sort of three-story house4 ,the flat earth rests upon the waters1 and under the earth's surface is the land of graves1 called ,sheol1 where after death the souls of all men go1 the righteous as well as the wicked1 for the ,jew had not arrived at the doctrine of heaven and hell4 ,the ,hebrew ,sheol corresponds strictly to the ,greek ,hades1 before the notions of ,elysium and ,tartarus were added to it1--a land peopled with flitting shadows1 suffering no torment1 but experiencing no pleasure1 like those whom ,dante met in one of the upper circles of his ,inferno4 ,sheol is the first story of the cosmic house2 the earth is the second4 ,above the earth is the firmament or sky1 which1 according to the book of ,genesis 7chap4 i4 v4 #f1 ,hebrew text71 is a vast plate hammered out by the gods1 and supports a great ocean like that upon which the earth rests4 ,rain is caused by the opening of little windows or trap-doors in the firmament1 through which pours the water of this upper ocean4 ,upon this water rests the land of heaven1 where ,jehovah reigns1 surrounded by hosts of angels4 ,to this blessed land two only of the human race had ever been admitted1--,enoch and ,elijah1 the latter of whom had ascended in a chariot of fire1 and was destined to return to earth as the herald and forerunner of the ,messiah4 ,heaven forms the third story of the cosmic house4 ,between the firmament and the earth is the air1 which is the habitation of evil demons ruled by ,satan1 the prince of the powers of the air4 ,such was the cosmology of the ancient ,jew2 and his theology was equally simple4 ,sheol was the destined abode of all men after death1 and no theory of moral retribution was attached to the conception4 ,the rewards and punishments known to the authors of the ,pentateuch and the early ,psalms are all earthly rewards and punishments4 ,but in course of time the prosperity of the wicked and the misfortunes of the good man furnished a troublesome problem for the ,jewish thinker2 and after the ,babylonish ,captivity1 we find the doctrine of a resurrection from ,sheol devised in order to meet this case4 ,according to this doctrine--which was borrowed from the ,zarathustrian theology of ,persia--the ,messiah on his arrival was to free from ,sheol all the souls of the righteous1 causing them to ascend reinvested in their bodies to a renewed and beautiful earth1 while on the other hand the wicked were to be punished with tortures like those of the valley of ,hinnom1 or were to be immersed in liquid brimstone1 like that which had rained upon ,sodom and ,gomorrah4 ,here we get the first announcement of a future state of retribution4 ,the doctrine was peculiarly ,pharisaic1 and the ,sadducees1 who were strict adherents to the letter of ,mosaism1 rejected it to the last4 ,by degrees this doctrine became coupled with the ,messianic theories of the ,pharisees4 ,the loss of ,jewish independence under the dominion of ,persians1 ,macedonians1 and ,romans1 caused the people to look ever more earnestly toward the expected time when the ,messiah should appear in ,jerusalem to deliver them from their oppressors4 ,the moral doctrines of the ,psalms and earlier prophets assumed an increasingly political aspect4 ,the ,jews were the righteous under a cloud1 whose sufferings were symbolically depicted by the younger ,isaiah as the afflictions of the servant of ,jehovah2 while on the other hand1 the wicked were the ,gentile oppressors of the holy people4 ,accordingly the ,messiah1 on his arrival1 was to sit in judgment in the valley of ,jehoshaphat1 rectifying the wrongs of his chosen ones1 condemning the ,gentile tyrants to the torments of ,gehenna1 and raising from ,sheol all those ,jews who had lived and died during the evil times before his coming4 ,these were to find in the ,messianic kingdom the compensation for the ills which they had suffered in their first earthly existence4 ,such are the main outlines of the theory found in the ,book of ,enoch1 written about ,b4 ,c4 #ajj1 and it is adopted in the ,johannine ,apocalypse1 with little variation1 save in the recognition of ,jesus as the ,messiah1 and in the transferrence to his second coming of all these wonderful proceedings4 ,the manner of the ,messiah's coming had been variously imagined4 ,according to an earlier view1 he was to enter ,jerusalem as a ,king of the house of ,david1 and therefore of human lineage4 ,according to a later view1 presented in the ,book of ,daniel1 he was to descend from the sky1 and appear among the clouds4 ,both these views were adopted by the disciples of ,jesus1 who harmonized them by referring the one to his first and the other to his second appearance4 ,now to the imaginations of these earliest disciples the belief in the resurrection of ,jesus presented itself as a needful guarantee of his ,messiahship4 ,their faith1 which must have been shaken by his execution and descent into ,sheol1 received welcome confirmation by the springing up of the belief that he had been again seen upon the face of the earth4 ,applying the imagery of ,daniel1 it became a logical conclusion that he must have ascended into the sky1 whence he might shortly be expected to make his appearance1 to enact the scenes foretold in prophecy4 ,that such was the actual process of inference is shown by the legend of the ,ascension in the first chapter of the ,acts1 and especially by the words1 ,this ,jesus who hath been taken up from you into heaven1 will come in the same manner in which ye beheld him going into heaven4 ,in the ,apocalypse1 written ,a4 ,d4 #fh1 just after the death of ,nero1 this second coming is described as something immediately to happen1 and the colours in which it is depicted show how closely allied were the ,johannine notions to those of the ,pharisees4 ,the glories of the ,new ,jerusalem are to be reserved for ,jews1 while for the ,roman tyrants of ,judaea is reserved a fearful retribution4 ,they are to be trodden underfoot by the ,messiah1 like grapes in a wine-press1 until the gushing blood shall rise to the height of the horse's bridle4 ,in the writings of ,paul the dogma of the resurrection assumes a very different aspect4 ,though ,paul1 like the older apostles1 held that ,jesus1 as the ,messiah1 was to return to the earth within a few years1 yet to his catholic mind this anticipated event had become divested of its narrow ,jewish significance4 ,in the eyes of ,paul1 the religion preached by ,jesus was an abrogation of ,mosaism1 and the truths contained in it were a free gift to the ,gentile as well as to the ,jewish world4 ,according to ,paul1 death came into the world as a punishment for the sin of ,adam4 ,by this he meant that1 had it not been for the original transgression1 all men escaping death would either have remained upon earth or have been conveyed to heaven1 like ,enoch and ,elijah1 in incorruptible bodies4 ,but in reality as a penance for disobedience1 all men1 with these two exceptions1 had suffered death1 and been exiled to the gloomy caverns of ,sheol4 ,the ,mosaic ritual was powerless to free men from this repulsive doom1 but it had nevertheless served a good purpose in keeping men's minds directed toward holiness1 preparing them1 as a schoolmaster would prepare his pupils1 to receive the vitalizing truths of ,christ4 ,now1 at last1 the ,messiah or ,christ had come as a second ,adam1 and being without sin had been raised by ,jehovah out of ,sheol and taken up into heaven1 as testimony to men that the power of sin and death was at last defeated4 ,the way henceforth to avoid death and escape the exile to ,sheol was to live spiritually like ,jesus1 and with him to be dead to sensual requirements4 ,faith1 in ,paul's apprehension1 was not an intellectual assent to definitely prescribed dogmas1 but1 as ,matthew ,arnold has well pointed out1 it was an emotional striving after righteousness1 a developing consciousness of ,god in the soul1 such as ,jesus had possessed1 or1 in ,paul's phraseology1 a subjugation of the flesh by the spirit4 ,all those who should thus seek spiritual perfection should escape the original curse4 ,the ,messiah was destined to return to the earth to establish the reign of spiritual holiness1 probably during ,paul's own lifetime 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #ea74 ,then the true followers of ,jesus should be clothed in ethereal bodies1 free from the imperfections of the flesh1 and should ascend to heaven without suffering death1 while the righteous dead should at the same time be released from ,sheol1 even as ,jesus himself had been released4 ,to the doctrine of the resurrection1 in which ethical and speculative elements are thus happily blended by ,paul1 the new religion doubtless owed in great part its rapid success4 ,into an account of the causes which favoured the spreading of ,christianity1 it is not our purpose to enter at present4 ,but we may note that the local religions of the ancient pagan world had partly destroyed each other by mutual intermingling1 and had lost their hold upon people from the circumstance that their ethical teaching no longer corresponded to the advanced ethical feeling of the age4 ,polytheism1 in short1 was outgrown4 ,it was outgrown both intellectually and morally4 ,people were ceasing to believe in its doctrines1 and were ceasing to respect its precepts4 ,the learned were taking refuge in philosophy1 the ignorant in mystical superstitions imported from ,asia4 ,the commanding ethical motive of ancient republican times had been patriotism1--devotion to the interests of the community4 ,but ,roman dominion had destroyed patriotism as a guiding principle of life1 and thus in every way the minds of men were left in a sceptical1 unsatisfied state1--craving after a new theory of life1 and craving after a new stimulus to right action4 ,obviously the only theology which could now be satisfactory to philosophy or to common-sense was some form of monotheism2--some system of doctrines which should represent all men as spiritually subjected to the will of a single ,god1 just as they were subjected to the temporal authority of the ,emperor4 ,and similarly the only system of ethics which could have a chance of prevailing must be some system which should clearly prescribe the mutual duties of all men without distinction of race or locality4 ,thus the spiritual morality of ,jesus1 and his conception of ,god as a father and of all men as brothers1 appeared at once to meet the ethical and speculative demands of the time4 ,yet whatever effect these teachings might have produced1 if unaided by further doctrinal elaboration1 was enhanced myriadfold by the elaboration which they received at the hands of ,paul4 ,philosophic ,stoics and ,epicureans had arrived at the conception of the brotherhood of men1 and the ,greek hymn of ,kleanthes had exhibited a deep spiritual sense of the fatherhood of ,god4 ,the originality of ,christianity lay not so much in its enunciation of new ethical precepts as in the fact that it furnished a new ethical sanction1--a commanding incentive to holiness of living4 ,that it might accomplish this result1 it was absolutely necessary that it should begin by discarding both the ritualism and the narrow theories of ,judaism4 ,the mere desire for a monotheistic creed had led many pagans1 in ,paul's time1 to embrace ,judaism1 in spite of its requirements1 which to ,romans and ,greeks were meaningless1 and often disgusting2 but such conversions could never have been numerous4 ,judaism could never have conquered the ,roman world2 nor is it likely that the ,judaical ,christianity of ,peter1 ,james1 and ,john would have been any more successful4 ,the doctrine of the resurrection1 in particular1 was not likely to prove attractive when accompanied by the picture of the ,messiah treading the ,gentiles in the wine-press of his righteous indignation4 ,but here ,paul showed his profound originality ,the condemnation of ,jewish formalism which ,jesus had pronounced1 ,paul turned against the older apostles1 who insisted upon circumcision4 ,with marvellous flexibility of mind1 ,paul placed circumcision and the ,mosaic injunctions about meats upon a level with the ritual observances of pagan nations1 allowing each feeble brother to perform such works as might tickle his fancy1 but bidding all take heed that salvation was not to be obtained after any such mechanical method1 but only by devoting the whole soul to righteousness1 after the example of ,jesus4 ,this was the negative part of ,paul's work4 ,this was the knocking down of the barriers which had kept men1 and would always have kept them1 from entering into the kingdom of heaven4 ,but the positive part of ,paul's work is contained in his theory of the salvation of men from death through the second ,adam1 whom ,jehovah rescued from ,sheol for his sinlessness4 ,the resurrection of ,jesus was the visible token of the escape from death which might be achieved by all men who1 with ,god's aid1 should succeed in freeing themselves from the burden of sin which had encumbered all the children of ,adam4 ,the end of the world was at hand1 and they who would live with ,christ must figuratively die with ,christ1 must become dead to sin4 ,thus to the pure and spiritual ethics contained in the teachings of ,jesus1 ,paul added an incalculably powerful incentive to right action1 and a theory of life calculated to satisfy the speculative necessities of the pagan or ,gentile world4 ,to the educated and sceptical ,athenian1 as to the critical scholar of modern times1 the physical resurrection of ,jesus from the grave1 and his ascent through the vaulted floor of heaven1 might seem foolishness or naivete4 ,but to the average ,greek or ,roman the conception presented no serious difficulty4 ,the cosmical theories upon which the conception was founded were essentially the same among ,jews and ,gentiles1 and indeed were but little modified until the establishment of the ,copernican astronomy4 ,the doctrine of the ,messiah's second coming was also received without opposition1 and for about a century men lived in continual anticipation of that event1 until hope long deferred produced its usual results2 the writings in which that event was predicted were gradually explained away1 ignored1 or stigmatized as uncanonical2 and the ,church ended by condemning as a heresy the very doctrine which ,paul and the ,judaizing apostles1 who agreed in little else1 had alike made the basis of their speculative teachings4 ,nevertheless1 by the dint of allegorical interpretation1 the belief has maintained an obscure existence even down to the present time2 the ,antiochus of the ,book of ,daniel and the ,nero of the ,apocalypse having given place to the ,roman ,pontiff or to the ,emperor of the ,french4 ,but as the millenarism of the primitive ,church gradually died out during the second century1 the essential principles involved in it lost none of their hold on men's minds4 ,as the generation contemporary with ,paul died away and was gathered into ,sheol1 it became apparent that the original theory must be somewhat modified1 and to this question the author of the second epistle to the ,thessalonians addresses himself4 ,instead of literal preservation from death1 the doctrine of a resurrection from the grave was gradually extended to the case of the new believers1 who were to share in the same glorious revival with the righteous of ancient times4 ,and thus by slow degrees the victory over death1 of which the resurrection of ,jesus was a symbol and a witness1 became metamorphosed into the comparatively modern doctrine of the rest of the saints in heaven1 while the banishment of the unrighteous to ,sheol was made still more dreadful by coupling with the vague conception of a gloomy subterranean cavern the horrible imagery of the lake of fire and brimstone borrowed from the apocalyptic descriptions of ,gehenna4 ,but in this modification of the original theory1 the fundamental idea of a future state of retribution was only the more distinctly emphasized2 although1 in course of time1 the original incentive to righteousness supplied by ,paul was more and more subordinated to the comparatively degrading incentive involved in the fear of damnation4 ,there can hardly be a doubt that the definiteness and vividness of the ,pauline theory of a future life contributed very largely to the rapid spread of the ,christian religion2 nor can it be doubted that to the desire to be holy like ,jesus1 in order to escape death and live with ,jesus1 is due the elevating ethical influence which1 even in the worst times of ecclesiastic degeneracy1 ,christianity has never failed to exert4 ,doubtless1 as ,lessing long1 ago observed1 the notion of future reward and punishment needs to be eliminated in order that the incentive to holiness may be a perfectly pure one4 ,the highest virtue is that which takes no thought of reward or punishment2 but for a conception of this sort the mind of antiquity was not ready1 nor is the average mind of to-day yet ready2 and the sudden or premature dissolution of the ,christian theory--which is fortunately impossible--might perhaps entail a moral retrogradation4 ,the above is by no means intended as a complete outline of the religious philosophy of ,paul4 ,we have aimed only at a clear definition of the character and scope of the doctrine of the resurrection of ,jesus1 at the time when it was first elaborated4 ,we have now to notice the influence of that doctrine upon the development of ,christologic speculation4 ,in neither or the four genuine epistles of ,paul is ,jesus described as superhuman1 or as differing in nature from other men1 save in his freedom from sin4 ,as ,baur has shown1 the proper nature of the ,pauline ,christ is human4 ,he is a man1 but a spiritual man1 one in whom spirit or pneuma was the essential principle1 so that he was spirit as well as man4 ,the principle of an ideal humanity existed before ,christ in the bright form of a typical man1 but was manifested to mankind in the person of ,christ4 ,such1 according to ,baur1 is ,paul's interpretation of the ,messianic idea4 ,paul knows nothing of the miracles1 of the supernatural conception1 of the incarnation1 or of the ,logos4 ,the ,christ whom he preaches is the man ,jesus1 the founder of a new and spiritual order of humanity1 as ,adam was the father of humanity after the flesh4 ,the resurrection is uniformly described by him as a manifestation of the power of ,jehovah1 not of ,jesus himself4 ,the later conception of ,christ bursting the barred gates of ,sheol1 and arising by his own might to heaven1 finds no warrant in the expressions of ,paul4 ,indeed1 it was essential to ,paul's theory of the ,messiah as a new ,adam1 that he should be human and not divine2 for the escape of a divine being from ,sheol could afford no precedent and furnish no assurance of the future escape of human beings4 ,it was expressly because the man ,jesus had been rescued from the grave because of his spirituality1 that other men might hope1 by becoming spiritual like him1 to be rescued also4 ,accordingly ,paul is careful to state that since through man came death1 through man came also the resurrection of the dead 7#a ,cor4 xv4 #ba72 a passage which would look like an express denial of ,christ's superhuman character1 were it probable that any of ,paul's contemporaries had ever conceived of ,jesus as other than essentially human4 ,but though ,paul's ,christology remained in this primitive stage1 it contained the germs of a more advanced theory4 ,for even ,paul conceived of ,jesus as a man wholly exceptional in spiritual character2 or1 in the phraseology of the time1 as consisting to a larger extent of pneuma than any man who had lived before him4 ,the question was sure to arise1 ,whence came this pneuma or spiritual quality8 ,whether the question ever distinctly presented itself to ,paul's mind cannot be determined4 ,probably it did not4 ,in those writings of his which have come down to us1 he shows himself careless of metaphysical considerations4 ,he is mainly concerned with exhibiting the unsatisfactory character of ,jewish ,christianity1 and with inculcating a spiritual morality1 to which the doctrine of ,christ's resurrection is made to supply a surpassingly powerful sanction4 ,but attempts to solve the problem were not long in coming4 ,according to a very early tradition1 of which the obscured traces remain in the synoptic gospels1 ,jesus received the pneuma at the time of his baptism1 when the ,holy ,spirit1 or visible manifestation of the essence of ,jehovah1 descended upon him and became incarnate in him4 ,this theory1 however1 was exposed to the objection that it implied a sudden and entire transformation of an ordinary man into a person inspired or possessed by the ,deity4 ,though long maintained by the ,ebionites or primitive ,christians1 it was very soon rejected by the great body of the ,church1 which asserted instead that ,jesus had been inspired by the ,holy ,spirit from the moment of his conception4 ,from this it was but a step to the theory that ,jesus was actually begotten by or of the ,holy ,spirit2 a notion which the ,hellenic mind1 accustomed to the myths of ,leda1 ,anchises1 and others1 found no difficulty in entertaining4 ,according to the ,gospel of the ,hebrews1 as cited by ,origen1 the ,holy ,spirit was the mother of ,jesus1 and ,joseph was his father4 ,but according to the prevailing opinion1 as represented in the first and third synoptists1 the relationship was just the other way4 ,with greater apparent plausibility1 the divine aeon was substituted for the human father1 and a myth sprang up1 of which the materialistic details furnished to the opponents of the new religion an opportunity for making the most gross and exasperating insinuations4 ,the dominance of this theory marks the era at which our first and third synoptic gospels were composed1--from sixty to ninety years after the death of ,jesus4 ,in the luxuriant mythologic growth there exhibited1 we may yet trace the various successive phases of ,christologic speculation but imperfectly blended4 ,in ,matthew and ,luke we find the original ,messianic theory exemplified in the genealogies of ,jesus1 in which1 contrary to historic probability 7cf4 ,matt4 xxii4 #da-df71 but in accordance with a time-honoured tradition1 his pedigree is traced back to ,david2 ,matthew referring him to the royal line of ,judah1 while ,luke more cautiously has recourse to an assumed younger branch4 ,superposed upon this primitive mythologic stratum1 we find1 in the same narratives1 the account of the descent of the pneuma at the time of the baptism2 and crowning the whole1 there are the two accounts of the nativity which1 though conflicting in nearly all their details1 agree in representing the divine pneuma as the father of ,jesus4 ,of these three stages of ,christology1 the last becomes entirely irreconcilable with the first2 and nothing can better illustrate the uncritical character of the synoptists than the fact that the assumed descent of ,jesus from ,david through his father ,joseph is allowed to stand side by side with the account of the miraculous conception which completely negatives it4 ,of this difficulty ,matthew is quite unconscious1 and ,luke1 while vaguely noticing it 7iii4 #bc71 proposes no solution1 and appears undisturbed by the contradiction4 ,thus far the ,christology with which we have been dealing is predominantly ,jewish1 though to some extent influenced by ,hellenic conceptions4 ,none of the successive doctrines presented in ,paul1 ,matthew1 and ,luke assert or imply the pre-existence of ,jesus4 ,at this early period he was regarded as a human being raised to participation in certain attributes of divinity2 and this was as far as the dogma could be carried by the ,jewish metaphysics4 ,but soon after the date of our third gospel1 a ,hellenic system of ,christology arose into prominence1 in which the problem was reversed1 and ,jesus was regarded as a semi-divine being temporarily lowered to participation in certain attributes of humanity4 ,for such a doctrine ,jewish mythology supplied no precedents2 but the ,indo-,european mind was familiar with the conception of deity incarnate in human form1 as in the avatars of ,vishnu1 or even suffering ,,iii the interests of humanity1 as in the noble myth of ,prometheus4 ,the elements of ,christology pre-existing in the religious conceptions of ,greece1 ,india1 and ,persia1 are too rich and numerous to be discussed here4 ,a very full account of them is given in ,mr4 ,r4 ,w4 ,mackay's acute and learned treatise on the ,religious ,development of the ,greeks and ,hebrews4 ,it was in ,alexandria1 where ,jewish theology first came into contact with ,hellenic and ,oriental ideas1 that the way was prepared for the dogma of ,christ's pre-existence4 ,the attempt to rationalize the conception of deity as embodied in the ,jehovah of the ,old ,testament gave rise to the class of opinions described as ,gnosis1 or ,gnosticism4 ,the signification of ,gnosis is simply rationalism1--the endeavour to harmonize the materialistic statements of an old mythology with the more advanced spiritualistic philosophy of the time4 ,the ,gnostics rejected the conception of an anthropomorphic deity who had appeared visibly and audibly to the patriarchs2 and they were the authors of the doctrine1 very widely spread during the second and third centuries1 that ,god could not in person have been the creator of the world4 ,according to them1 ,god1 as pure spirit1 could not act directly upon vile and gross matter4 ,the difficulty which troubled them was curiously analogous to that which disturbed the ,cartesians and the followers of ,leibnitz in the seventeenth century2 how was spirit to act upon matter1 without ceasing1 pro tanto1 to be spirit8 ,to evade this difficulty1 the ,gnostics postulated a series of emanations from ,god1 becoming successively less and less spiritual and more and more material1 until at the lowest end of the scale was reached the ,demiurgus or ,jehovah of the ,old ,testament1 who created the world and appeared1 clothed in material form1 to the patriarchs4 ,according to some of the ,gnostics this lowest aeon or emanation was identical with the ,jewish ,satan1 or the ,ahriman of the ,persians1 who is called the prince of this world1 and the creation of the world was an essentially evil act4 ,but all did not share in these extreme opinions4 ,in the prevailing1 theory1 this last of the divine emanations was identified with the ,sophia1 or personified ,wisdom1 of the ,book of ,proverbs 7viii4 #bb-cj71 who is described as present with ,god before the foundation of the world4 ,the totality of these aeons constituted the pleroma1 or fulness of ,god 7,coloss4 i4 #bj2 ,eph4 i4 #bc71 and in a corollary which bears unmistakable marks of ,buddhist influence1 it was argued that1 in the final consummation of things1 matter should be eliminated and all spirit reunited with ,god1 from whom it had primarily flowed4 ,it was impossible that such views as these should not soon be taken up and applied to the fluctuating ,christology of the time4 ,according to the ,shepherd of ,hermas1 an apocalyptic writing nearly contemporary with the gospel of ,mark1 the aeon or son of ,god who existed previous to the creation was not the ,christ1 or the ,sophia1 but the ,pneuma or ,holy ,spirit1 represented in the ,old ,testament as the angel of ,jehovah4 ,jesus1 in reward for his perfect goodness1 was admitted to a share in the privileges of this ,pneuma 7,reville1 p4 #ci74 ,here1 as ,m4 ,reville observes1 though a ,gnostic idea is adopted1 ,jesus is nevertheless viewed as ascending humanity1 and not as descending divinity4 ,the author of the ,clementine ,homilies advances a step farther1 and clearly assumes the pre-existence of ,jesus1 who1 in his opinion1 was the pure1 primitive man1 successively incarnate in ,adam1 ,enoch1 ,noah1 ,abraham1 ,isaac1 ,jacob1 ,moses1 and finally in the ,messiah or ,christ4 ,the author protests1 in vehement language1 against those ,hellenists who1 misled by their polytheistic associations1 would elevate ,jesus into a god4 ,nevertheless1 his own hypothesis of pre-existence supplied at once the requisite fulcrum for those ,gnostics who wished to reconcile a strict monotheism with the ascription of divine attributes to ,jesus4 ,combining with this notion of pre-existence the pneumatic or spiritual quality attributed to ,jesus in the writings of ,paul1 the ,gnosticizing ,christians maintained that ,christ was an aeon or emanation from ,god1 redeeming men from the consequences entailed by their imprisonment in matter4 ,at this stage of ,christologic speculation appeared the anonymous epistle to the ,hebrews1 and the pseudo-,pauline epistles to the ,colossians1 ,ephesians1 and ,philippians 7,a4 ,d4 #acj74 ,in these epistles1 which originated among the ,pauline ,christians1 the ,gnostic theosophy is skilfully applied to the ,pauline conception of the scope and purposes of ,christianity4 ,jesus is described as the creator of the world 7,coloss4 i4 #af71 the visible image of the invisible ,god1 the chief and ruler of the throues1 dominions1 principalities1 and powers1 into which1 in ,gnostic phraseology1 the emanations of ,god were classified4 ,or1 according to ,colossians and ,philippians1 all the aeons are summed up in him1 in whom dwells the pleroma1 or fulness of ,god4 ,thus ,jesus is elevated quite above ordinary humanity1 and a close approach is made to ditheism1 although he is still emphatically subordinated to ,god by being made the creator of the world1--an office then regarded as incompatible with absolute divine perfection4 ,in the celebrated passage1 ,philippians ii4 #f-aa1 the aeon ,jesus is described as being the form or visible manifestation of ,god1 yet as humbling himself by taking on the form or semblance of humanity1 and suffering death1 in return for which he is to be exalted even above the archangels4 ,a similar view is taken in ,hebrews2 and it is probable that to the growing favour with which these doctrines were received1 we owe the omission of the miraculous conception from the gospel of ,mark1--a circumstance which has misled some critics into assigning to that gospel an earlier date than to ,matthew and ,luke4 ,yet the fact that in this gospel ,jesus is implicitly ranked above the angels 7,mark xiii4 #cb71 reveals a later stage of ,christologic doctrine than that reached by the first and third synoptists2 and it is altogether probable that1 in accordance with the noticeable conciliatory disposition of this evangelist1 the supernatural conception is omitted out of deference to the ,gnosticizing theories of ,colossians and ,philippians1 in which this materialistic doctrine seems to have had no assignable place4 ,in ,philippians especially1 many expressions seem to verge upon ,docetism1 the extreme form of ,gnosticism1 according to which the human body of ,jesus was only a phantom4 ,valentinus1 who was contemporary with the ,pauline writers of the second century1 maintained that ,jesus was not born of ,mary by any process of conception1 but merely passed through her1 as light traverses a translucent substance4 ,and finally ,marcion 7,a4 ,d4 #adj7 carried the theory to its extreme limits by declaring that ,jesus was the pure ,pneuma or ,spirit1 who contained nothing in common with carnal humanity4 ,the pseudo-,pauline writers steered clear of this extravagant doctrine1 which erred by breaking entirely with historic tradition1 and was consequently soon condemned as heretical4 ,their language1 though unmistakably ,gnostic1 was sufficiently neutral and indefinite to allow of their combination with earlier and later expositions of dogma1 and they were therefore eventually received into the canon1 where they exhibit a stage of opinion midway between that of ,paul and that of the fourth gospel4 ,for the construction of a durable system of ,christology1 still further elaboration was necessary4 ,the pre-existence of ,jesus1 as an emanation from ,god1 in whom were summed up the attributes of the pleroma or full scale of ,gnostic aeons1 was now generally conceded4 ,but the relation of this pleroqma to the ,godhead of which it was the visible manifestation1 needed to be more accurately defined4 ,and here recourse was had to the conception of the ,logos1--a notion which ,philo had borrowed from ,plato1 lending to it a theosophic significance4 ,in the ,platonic metaphysics objective existence was attributed to general terms1 the signs of general notions4 ,besides each particular man1 horse1 or tree1 and besides all men1 horses1 and trees1 in the aggregate1 there was supposed to exist an ideal ,man1 ,horse1 and ,tree4 ,each particular man1 horse1 or tree consisted of abstract existence plus a portion of the ideal man1 horse1 or tree4 ,sokrates1 for instance1 consisted of ,existence1 plus ,animality1 plus ,humanity1 plus ,sokraticity4 ,the visible world of particulars thus existed only by virtue of its participation in the attributes of the ideal world of universals4 ,god created the world by encumbering each idea with an envelopment or clothing of visible matter2 and since matter is vile or imperfect1 all things are more or less perfect as they partake more or less fully of the idea4 ,the pure unencumbered idea1 the ,idea of ideas1 is the ,logos1 or divine ,reason1 which represents the sum-total of the activities which sustain the world1 and serves as a mediator between the absolutely ideal ,god and the absolutely non-ideal matter4 ,here we arrive at a ,gnostic conception1 which the ,philonists of ,alexandria were not slow to appropriate4 ,the ,logos1 or divine ,reason1 was identified with the ,sophia1 or divine ,wisdom of the ,jewish ,gnostics1 which had dwelt with ,god before the creation of the world4 ,by a subtle play upon the double meaning of the ,greek term 7logos reason or word71 a distinction was drawn between the divine ,reason and the divine ,word4 ,the former was the archctypal idea or thought of ,god1 existing from all eternity2 the latter was the external manifestation or realization of that idea which occurred at the moment of creation1 when1 according to ,genesis1 ,god ,,spoke1 and the world was4 ,in the middle of the second century1 this ,philonian theory was the one thing needful to add metaphysical precision to the ,gnostic and ,pauline speculations concerning the nature of ,jesus4 ,in the writings of ,justin ,martyr 7,a4 ,d4 #aej-aff71 ,jesus is for the first time identified with the ,philonian ,logos or ,word of ,god4 ,according to ,justin1 an impassable abyss exists between the ,infinite ,deity and the ,finite ,world2 the one cannot act upon the other2 pure spirit cannot contaminate itself by contact with impure matter4 ,to meet this difficulty1 ,god evolves from himself a secondary ,god1 the ,logos1--yet without diminishing himself any more than a flame is diminished when it gives birth to a second flame4 ,thus generated1 like light begotten of light 7lumen de lumine71 the ,logos creates the world1 inspires the ancient prophets with their divine revelations1 and finally reveals himself to mankind in the person of ,christ4 ,yet ,justin sedulously guards himself against ditheism1 insisting frequently and emphatically upon the immeasurable inferiority of the ,logos as compared with the actual ,god 7gr o ontws qeos74 ,we have here reached very nearly the ultimate phase of ,new ,testament speculation concerning ,jesus4 ,the doctrines enunciated by ,justin became eventually1 with slight modification1 the official doctrines of the ,church2 yet before they could thus be received1 some further elaboration was needed4 ,the pre-existing ,logos-,christ of ,justin was no longer the human ,messiah of the first and third gospels1 born of a woman1 inspired by the divine ,pneuma1 and tempted by the ,devil4 ,there was danger that ,christologic speculation might break quite loose from historic tradition1 and pass into the metaphysical extreme of ,docetism4 ,had this come to pass1 there might perhaps have been a fatal schism in the ,church4 ,tradition still remained ,ebionitish2 dogma had become decidedly ,gnostic2 how were the two to be moulded into harmony with each other8 ,such was the problem which presented itself to the author of the fourth gospel 7,a4 ,d4 #agj-ahj74 ,as ,m4 ,reville observes1 if the doctrine of the ,logos were really to be applied to the person of ,jesus1 it was necessary to remodel the evangelical history4 ,tradition must be moulded so as to fit the dogma1 but the dogma must be restrained by tradition from running into ,docetic extravagance4 ,it must be shown historically how the ,word became flesh and dwelt on earth 7,john i4 #ad71 how the deeds of ,jesus of ,nazareth were the deeds of the incarnate ,logos1 in whom was exhibited the pleroma or fulness of the divine attributes4 ,the author of the fourth gospel is1 like ,justin1 a ,philonian ,gnostic2 but he differs from ,justin in his bold and skilful treatment of the traditional materials supplied by the earlier gospels4 ,the process of development in the theories and purposes of ,jesus1 which can be traced throughout the ,messianic descriptions of the first gospel1 is entirely obliterated in the fourth4 ,here ,jesus appears at the outset as the creator of the world1 descended from his glory1 but destined soon to be reinstated4 ,the title ,son of ,man has lost its original significance1 and become synonymous with ,son of ,god4 ,the temptation1 the transfiguration1 the scene in ,gethsemane1 are omitted1 and for the latter is substituted a ,philonian prayer4 ,nevertheless1 the author carefully avoids the extremes of ,docetism or ditheism4 ,not only does he represent the human life of ,jesus as real1 and his death as a truly physical death1 but he distinctly asserts the inferiority of the ,son to the ,father 7,john xiv4 #bh74 ,indeed1 as ,m4 ,reville well observes1 it is part of the very notion of the ,logos that it should be imperfect relatively to the absolute ,god2 since it is only its relative imperfection which allows it to sustain relations to the world and to men which are incompatible with absolute perfection1 from the ,philonian point of view4 ,the ,athanasian doctrine of the ,trinity finds no support in the fourth gospel1 any more than in the earlier books collected in the ,new ,testament4 ,the fourth gospel completes the speculative revolution by which the conception of a divine being lowered to humanity was substituted for that of a human being raised to divinity4 ,we have here travelled a long distance from the risen ,messiah of the genuine ,pauline epistles1 or the preacher of righteousness in the first gospel4 ,yet it does not seem probable that the ,church of the third century was thoroughly aware of the discrepancy4 ,the authors of the later ,christology did not regard themselves as adding new truths to ,christianity1 but merely as giving a fuller and more consistent interpretation to what must have been known from the outset4 ,they were so completely destitute of the historic sense1 and so strictly confined to the dogmatic point of view1 that they projected their own theories back into the past1 and vituperated as heretics those who adhered to tradition in its earlier and simpler form4 ,examples from more recent times are not wanting1 which show that we are dealing here with an inveterate tendency of the human mind4 ,new facts and new theories are at first condemned as heretical or ridiculous2 but when once firmly established1 it is immediately maintained that every one knew them before4 ,after the ,copernican astronomy had won the day1 it was tacitly assumed that the ancient ,hebrew astronomy was ,copernican1 and the ,biblical conception of the universe as a kind of three-story house was ignored1 and has been1 except by scholars1 quite forgotten4 ,when the geologic evidence of the earth's immense antiquity could no longer be gainsaid1 it was suddenly ascertained that the ,bible had from the outset asserted that antiquity2 and in our own day we have seen an elegant popular writer perverting the testimony of the rocks and distorting the ,elohistic cosmogony of the ,pentateuch1 until the twain have been made to furnish what ,bacon long ago described as a heretical religion and a false philosophy4 ,now just as in the popular thought of the present day the ancient ,elohist is accredited with a knowledge of modern geology and astronomy1 so in the opinion of the fourth evangelist and his contemporaries the doctrine of the ,logos-,christ was implicitly contained in the ,old ,testament and in the early traditions concerning ,jesus1 and needed only to be brought into prominence by a fresh interpretation4 ,hence arose the fourth gospel1 which was no more a conscious violation of historic data than ,hugh ,miller's imaginative description of the ,mosaic ,vision of ,creation4 ,its metaphysical discourses were readily accepted as equally authentic with the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,its ,philonian doctrines were imputed to ,paul and the apostles1 the pseudo-,pauline epistles furnishing the needful texts4 ,the ,ebionites--who were simply ,judaizing ,christians1 holding in nearly its original form the doctrine of ,peter1 ,james1 and ,john--were ejected from the ,church as the most pernicious of heretics2 and so completely was their historic position misunderstood and forgotten1 that1 in order to account for their existence1 it became necessary to invent an eponymous heresiarch1 ,ebion1 who was supposed to have led them astray from the true faith6 ,the ,christology of the fourth gospel is substantially the same as that which was held in the next two centuries by ,tertullian1 ,clement of ,alexandria1 ,origen1 and ,arius4 ,when the doctrine of the ,trinity was first announced by ,sabellius 7,a4 ,d4 #bej-bfj71 it was formally condemned as heretical1 the ,church being not yet quite prepared to receive it4 ,in #bfi the ,council of ,antioch solemnly declared that the ,son was ,,not consubstantial with the ,father1--a declaration which1 within sixty years1 the ,council of ,nikaia was destined as solemnly to contradict4 ,the ,trinitarian ,christology struggled long for acceptance1 and did not finally win the victory until the end of the fourth century4 ,yet from the outset its ultimate victory was hardly doubtful4 ,the peculiar doctrines of the fourth gospel could retain their integrity only so long as ,gnostic ideas were prevalent4 ,when ,gnosticism declined in importance1 and its theories faded out of recollection1 its peculiar phraseology received of necessity a new interpretation4 ,the doctrine that ,god could not act directly upon the world sank gradually into oblivion as the ,church grew more and more hostile to the ,neo-,platonic philosophy4 ,and when this theory was once forgotten1 it was inevitable that the ,logos1 as the creator of the world1 should be raised to an equality or identity with ,god himself4 ,in the view of the fourth evangelist1 the ,creator was necessarily inferior to ,god2 in the view of later ages1 the ,creator could be none other than ,god4 ,and so the very phrases which had most emphatically asserted the subordination of the ,son were afterward interpreted as asserting his absolute divinity4 ,to the ,gnostic formula1 lumen de lumine1 was added the ,athanasian scholium1 ,deum verum de ,deo vero2 and the ,trinitarian dogma of the union of persons in a single ,godhead became thus the only available logical device for preserving the purity of monotheism4 ,february1 #ahgj4 ,v4 ,a ,,word ,,about ,,miracles4 #bd #bd ,these comments on ,mr4 ,henry ,rogers's review of ,m4 ,renan's ,les ,apotres1 contained in a letter to ,mr4 ,lewes1 were shortly afterwards published by him in the ,fortnightly ,review1 ,september #ae1 #ahff4 ,it is the lot of every book which attempts to treat the origin and progress of ,christianity in a sober and scientific spirit1 to meet with unsparing attacks4 ,critics in plenty are always to be found1 who1 possessed with the idea that the entire significance and value of the ,christian religion are demolished unless we regard it as a sort of historical monstrosity1 are only too eager to subject the offending work to a scathing scrutiny1 displaying withal a modicum of righteous indignation at the unblushing heresy of the author1 not unmixed with a little scornful pity at his inability to believe very preposterous stories upon very meagre evidence4 ,conservative polemics of this sort have doubtless their function4 ,they serve to purge scientific literature of the awkward and careless statements too often made by writers not sufficiently instructed or cautious1 which in the absence of hostile criticism might get accepted by the unthinking reader along with the truths which they accompany4 ,most scientific and philosophical works have their defects2 and it is fortunate that there is such a thing as dogmatic ardour in the world1 ever sharpening its wits to the utmost1 that it may spy each lurking inaccuracy and ruthlessly drag it to light4 ,but this useful spirit is wont to lead those who are inspired by it to shoot beyond the mark1 and after pointing out the errors of others1 to commit fresh mistakes of their own4 ,in the skilful criticism of ,m4 ,renan's work on the ,apostles1 in ,no4 #bi of the ,fortnightly ,review there is now and then a vulnerable spot through which a controversial shaft may perhaps be made to pierce4 ,it may be true that ,lord ,lyttelton's tract on the ,conversion of ,st4 ,paul1 as ,dr4 ,johnson and ,dr4 ,rogers have said1 has never yet been refuted2 but if ,i may judge from my own recollection of the work1 ,i should say that this must be because no competent writer ever thought it worth his pains to criticize it4 ,its argument contains about as much solid consistency as a distended balloon1 and collapses as readily at the first puncture4 ,it attempts to prove1 first1 that the conversion of ,st4 ,paul cannot be made intelligible except on the assumption that there was a miracle in the case2 and secondly1 that if ,paul was converted by a miracle1 the truth of ,christianity is impregnable4 ,now1 if the first of these points be established1 the demonstration is not yet complete1 for the second point must be proved independently4 ,but if the first point be overthrown1 the second loses its prop1 and falls likewise4 ,great efforts are therefore made to show that no natural influences could have intervened to bring about a change in the feelings of ,paul4 ,he was violent1 thorough1 unaffected by pity or remorse2 and accordingly he could not have been so completely altered as he was1 had he not actually beheld the risen ,christ3 such is the argument which ,mr4 ,rogers deems so conclusive4 ,i do not know that from any of ,paul's own assertions we are entitled to affirm that no shade of remorse had ever crossed his mind previous to the vision near ,damascus4 ,but waiving this point1 ,i do maintain that1 granting ,paul's feelings to have been as ,mr4 ,rogers thinks they were1 his conversion is inexplicable1 even on the hypothesis of a miracle4 ,he that is determined not to believe1 will not believe1 though one should rise from the dead4 ,to make ,paul a believer1 it was not enough that he should meet his ,lord face to face he must have been already prepared to believe4 ,otherwise he would have easily found means of explaining the miracle from his own point of view4 ,he would certainly have attributed it to the wiles of the demon1 even as the ,pharisees are said to have done with regard to the miraculous cures performed by ,jesus4 ,a miraculous occurrence in those days did not astonish as it would at present4 ,miracles were rather the order of the day1 and in fact were lavished with such extreme bounty on all hands1 that their convincing power was very slight4 ,neither side ever thought of disputing the reality of the miracles supposed to be performed on the other2 but each side considered the miracles of its antagonist to be the work of diabolic agencies4 ,such being the case1 it is useless to suppose that ,paul could have distinguished between a true and a false miracle1 or that a real miracle could of itself have had any effect in inducing him to depart from his habitual course of belief and action4 ,as far as ,paul's mental operations were concerned1 it could have made no difference whether he met with his future ,master in person1 or merely encountered him in a vision4 ,the sole point to be considered is whether or not he ,,believed in the ,divine character and authority of the event which had happened4 ,what the event might have really been was of no practical consequence to him or to any one else4 ,what he believed it to be was of the first importance4 ,and since he did believe that he had been divinely summoned to cease persecuting1 and commence preaching the new faith1 it follows that his state of mind must have been more or less affected by circumstances other than the mere vision4 ,had he not been ripe for change1 neither shadow nor substance could have changed him4 ,this view of the case is by no means so extravagant as ,mr4 ,rogers would have us suppose4 ,there is no reason for believing that ,paul's character was essentially different afterwards from what it had been before4 ,the very fervour which caused him1 as a ,pharisee1 to exclude all but orthodox ,jews from the hope of salvation1 would lead him1 as a ,christian1 to carry the ,christian idea to its extreme development1 and admit all persons whatever to the privileges of the ,church4 ,the same zeal for the truth which had urged him to persecute the ,christians unto the death afterwards led him to spare no toil and shun no danger which might bring about the triumph of their cause4 ,it must not be forgotten that the persecutor and the martyr are but one and the same man under different circumstances4 ,he who is ready to die for his own faith will sometimes think it fair to make other men die for theirs4 ,men of a vehement and fiery temperament1 moreover1--such as ,paul always was1--never change their opinions slowly1 never rest in philosophic doubt1 never take a middle course4 ,if they leave one extreme for an instant1 they are drawn irresistibly to the other2 and usually very little is needed to work the change4 ,the conversion of ,omar is a striking instance in point1 and has been cited by ,m4 ,renan himself4 ,the character of ,omar bears a strong likeness to that of ,paul4 ,previous to his conversion1 he was a conscientious and virulent persecutor of ,mohammedanism4 #be ,after his conversion1 he was ,mohammed's most efficient disciple1 and it may be safely asserted that for disinterestedness and self-abnegation he was not inferior to the ,apostle of the ,gentiles4 ,the change in his case was1 moreover1 quite as sudden and unexpected as it was with ,paul2 it was neither more nor less incomprehensible2 and if ,paul's conversion needs a miracle to explain it1 ,omar's must need one likewise4 ,but in truth1 there is no difficulty in the case1 save that which stupid dogmatism has created4 ,the conversions of ,paul and ,omar are paralleled by innumerable events which occur in every period of religious or political excitement4 ,far from being extraordinary1 or inexplicable on natural grounds1 such phenomena are just what might occasionally be looked for4 #be ,saint-,hilaire3 ,mahomet et le ,coran1 p4 #aji4 ,but1 says ,mr4 ,rogers1 is it possible for a moment to imagine the doting and dreaming victim of hallucinations 7which ,m4 ,renan's theory represents ,paul7 to be the man whose masculine sense1 strong logic1 practical prudence1 and high administrative talent appear in the achievements of his life1 and in the ,epistles he has left behind him8 ,m4 ,renan's theory does not1 however1 represent ,paul as the victim of hallucinations to a greater degree than ,mohammed4 ,the latter1 as every one knows1 laboured during much of his life under almost constant hallucination2 yet masculine sense1 strong logic1 etc41 were qualities quite as conspicuous in him as in ,st4 ,paul4 ,here1 as throughout his essay1 ,mr4 ,rogers shows himself totally unable to comprehend the mental condition of men in past ages4 ,if an ,apostle has a dream or sees a vision1 and interprets it according to the ideas of his time and country1 instead of according to the ideas of scientific ,england in the nineteenth century ,mr4 ,rogers thinks he must needs be mad3 and when according to the well-known law that mental excitement is contagious1 #bf several persons are said to have concurred in interpreting some phenomenon supernaturally1 ,mr4 ,rogers cannot see why so many people should all go mad at once6 ,to go mad1 in fact is his favourite designation for a mental act1 which nearly all the human race have habitually performed in all ages2 the act of mistaking subjective impressions for outward realities4 ,the disposition to regard all strange phenomena as manifestations of supernatural power was universally prevalent in the first century of ,christianity1 and long after4 ,neither greatness of intellect nor thoroughness of scepticism gave exemption4 ,even ,julius ,caesar1 the greatest practical genius that ever lived1 was somewhat superstitious1 despite his atheism and his ,vigorous common-sense4 ,it is too often argued that the prevalence of scepticism in the ,roman ,empire must have made men scrupulous about accepting miracles4 ,by no means4 ,nothing but physical science ever drives out miracles3 mere doctrinal scepticism is powerless to do it4 ,in the age of the ,apostles1 little if any radical distinction was drawn between a miracle and an ordinary occurrence4 ,no one supposed a miracle to be an infraction of the laws of nature1 for no one had a clear idea that there were such things as laws of nature4 ,a miracle was simply an extraordinary act1 exhibiting the power of the person who performed it4 ,blank1 indeed1 would the evangelists have looked1 had any one told them what an enormous theory of systematic meddling with nature was destined to grow out of their beautiful and artless narratives4 #bf ,hecker's ,epidemics of the ,middle ,ages1 pp4 #hg-aeb4 ,the incapacity to appreciate this frame of mind renders the current arguments in behalf of miracles utterly worthless4 ,from the fact that ,celsus and others never denied the reality of the ,christian miracles1 it is commonly inferred that those miracles must have actually happened4 ,the same argument would1 however1 equally apply to the miracles of ,apollonius and ,simon ,magus1 for the ,christians never denied the reality of these4 ,what these facts really prove is that the state of human intelligence was as ,i have just described it3 and the inference to be drawn from them is that no miraculous account emanating from an author of such a period is worthy of serious attention4 ,when ,mr4 ,rogers supposes that if the miracles had not really happened they would have been challenged1 he is assuming that a state of mind existed in which it was possible for miracles to be challenged2 and thus commits an anachronism as monstrous as if he had attributed the knowledge of some modern invention1 such as steamboats1 to those early ages4 ,mr4 ,rogers seems to complain of ,m4 ,renan for quietly assuming that miracles are invariably to be rejected4 ,certainly a historian of the present day who should not make such an assumption would betray his lack of the proper qualifications for his profession4 ,it is not considered necessary for every writer to begin his work by setting out to prove the first principles of historical criticism4 ,they are taken for granted4 ,and1 as ,m4 ,renan justly says1 a miracle is one of those things which must be disbelieved until it is proved4 ,the onus probandi lies on the assertor of a fact which conflicts with universal experience4 ,nevertheless1 the great number of intelligent persons who1 even now1 from dogmatic reasons1 accept the ,new ,testament miracles1 forbids that they should be passed over in silence like similar phenomena elsewhere narrated4 ,but1 in the present state of historical science1 the arguing against miracles is1 as ,colet remarked of his friend ,erasmus's warfare against the ,thomists and ,scotists of ,cambridge1 a contest more necessary than glorious or difficult4 ,to be satisfactorily established1 a miracle needs at least to be recorded by an eyewitness2 and the mental attainments of the witness need to be thoroughly known besides4 ,unless he has a clear conception of the difference between the natural and the unnatural order of events1 his testimony1 however unimpeachable on the score of honesty1 is still worthless4 ,to say that this condition was fulfilled by those who described the ,new ,testament miracles1 would be absurd4 ,and in the face of what ,german criticism has done for the early ,christian documents1 it would be an excess of temerity to assert that any one of the supernatural accounts contained in them rests on contemporary authority4 ,of all history1 the miraculous part should be attested by the strongest testimony1 whereas it is invariably attested by the weakest4 ,and the paucity of miracles wherever we have contemporary records1 as in the case of primitive ,islamism1 is a most significant fact4 ,in attempting to defend his principle of never accepting a miracle1 ,m4 ,renan has indeed got into a sorry plight1 and ,mr4 ,rogers1 in controverting him1 has not greatly helped the matter4 ,by stirring ,m4 ,renan's bemuddled pool1 ,mr4 ,rogers has only bemuddled it the more4 ,neither of these excellent writers seems to suspect that transmutation of species1 the geologic development of the earth1 and other like phenomena do not present features conflicting with ordinary experience4 ,sir ,charles ,lyell and ,mr4 ,darwin would be greatly astonished to be told that their theories of inorganic and organic evolution involved any agencies not known to exist in the present course of nature4 ,the great achievement of these writers has been to show that all past changes of the earth and its inhabitants are to be explained as resulting from the continuous action of causes like those now in operation1 and that throughout there has been nothing even faintly resembling a miracle4 ,m4 ,renan may feel perfectly safe in extending his principle back to the beginning of things2 and ,mr4 ,rogers's argument1 even if valid against ,m4 ,renan1 does not help his own case in the least4 ,on some points1 indeed1 ,m4 ,renan has laid himself open to severe criticism1 and on other points he has furnished good handles for his orthodox opponents4 ,his views in regard to the authorship of the ,fourth ,gospel and the ,acts are not likely to be endorsed by many scholars2 and his revival of the rationalistic absurdities of ,paulus merits in most instances all that ,mr4 ,rogers has said about it4 ,as was said at the outset1 orthodox criticisms upon heterodox books are always welcome4 ,they do excellent service4 ,and with the feeling which impels their authors to defend their favourite dogmas with every available weapon of controversy ,i for one can heartily sympathize4 ,their zeal in upholding what they consider the truth is greatly to be respected and admired4 ,but so much cannot always be said for the mode of argumentation they adopt1 which too often justifies ,m4 ,renan's description1 when he says1 ,raisonnements triomphants sur des choses que l'adversaire n'a pas dites1 cris de victoire sur des erreurs qu'il n'a pas commises1 rien ne parait deloyal a celui qui croft tenir en main les interets de la verite absolue4 ,august1 #ahff4 ,,vi4 ,,draper ,,on ,,science ,,and ,,religion4 #bg #bg ,history of the ,conflict between ,religion and ,science1 by ,john ,william ,draper1 ,m4 ,d41 ,,ll4 ,d4 ,fourth edition4 ,new ,york3 ,d4 ,appleton ,co4 #ahge4 #abmo1 pp4 xxii41 #cgc4 7,international ,scientific ,series1 ,,xii47 ,some twelve years ago1 ,dr4 ,draper published a bulky volume entitled ,a ,history of the ,intellectual ,development of ,europe1 in which his professed purpose was to show that nations or races pass through certain definable epochs of development1 analogous to the periods of infancy1 childhood1 youth1 manhood1 and old age in individuals4 ,but while announced with due formality1 the carrying out of the argument was left for the most part to the headings and running-titles of the several chapters1 while in the text the author peacefully meandered along down the stream of time1 giving us a succession of pleasant though somewhat threadbare anecdotes1 as well as a superabundance of detached and fragmentary opinions on divers historical events1 having apparently quite forgotten that he had started with a thesis to prove4 ,in the arrangement of his running heads1 some points were sufficiently curious to require a word of explanation1 as1 for example1 when the early ages of ,christianity were at one time labelled as an epoch of progress and at another time as an epoch of decrepitude4 ,but the argument and the contents never got so far en rapport with each other as to clear up such points as this4 ,on the contrary1 each kept on the even tenour of its way without much regard to the other4 ,from the titles of the chapters one was led to expect some comprehensive theory of ,european civilization continuously expounded4 ,but the text merely showed a great quantity of superficial and second-hand information1 serving to illustrate the mental idiosyncrasies of the author4 ,among these idiosyncrasies might be noted a very inadequate understanding of the part played by ,rome in the work of civilization1 a singular lack of appreciation of the political and philosophical achievements of ,greece under ,athenian leadership1 a strong hostility to the ,catholic ,church1 a curious disposition to overrate semi-barbarous1 or abortive civilizations1 such as those of the old ,asiatic and native ,american communities1 at the expense of ,europe1 and1 above all1 an undiscriminating admiration for everything1 great or small1 that has ever worn the garb of ,islam or been associated with the career of the ,saracens4 ,the discovery that in some respects the ,mussulmans of the ,middle ,ages were more highly cultivated than their ,christian contemporaries1 has made such an impression on ,dr4 ,draper's mind that it seems to be as hard for him to get rid of it as it was for ,mr4 ,dick to keep the execution of ,charles ,i4 out of his ,memorial4 ,even in an essay on the ,civil ,policy of ,america1 the turbaned sage figures quite prominently2 and it is needless to add that he reappears1 as large as life1 when the subject of discussion is the attitude of science toward religion4 ,speaking briefly with regard to this matter1 we may freely admit that the work done by the ,arabs1 in scientific inquiry as well as in the making of events1 was very considerable4 ,it was a work1 too1 the value of which is not commonly appreciated in the accounts of ,european history written for the general reader1 and we have no disposition to find fault with ,dr4 ,draper for describing it with enthusiasm4 ,the philosophers of ,bagdad and ,cordova did excellent service in keeping alive the traditions of ,greek physical inquiry at a time when ,christian thinkers were too exclusively occupied with transcendental speculations in theology and logic4 ,in some departments1 as in chemistry and astronomy1 they made original discoveries of considerable value2 and if we turn from abstract knowledge to the arts of life1 it cannot be denied that the mediaeval ,mussulmans had reached a higher plane of material comfort than their ,christian contemporaries4 ,in short1 the work of all kinds done by these people would furnish the judicious advocate of the claims of the ,semitic race with materials for a pleasing and instructive picture4 ,dr4 ,draper1 however1 errs1 though no doubt unintentionally1 by so presenting the case as to leave upon the reader's mind the impression that all this scientific and practical achievement was the work of ,islamism1 and that the ,mohammedan civilization was of a higher type than the ,christian4 ,it is with an apparent feeling of regret that he looks upon the ousting of the ,moors from dominion in ,spain2 but this is a mistaken view4 ,as regards the first point1 it is a patent fact that scientific inquiry was conducted at the cost of as much theological obloquy in the ,mohammedan as in the ,christian world4 ,it is true there was more actual tolerance of heresy on the part of ,moslem governments than was customary in ,europe in those days2 but this is a superficial fact1 which does not indicate any superiority in ,moslem popular sentiment4 ,the caliphate or emirate was a truly absolute despotism1 such as the ,papacy has never been1 and the conduct of a sceptical emir in encouraging scientific inquiry goes but little way toward proving anything like a general prevalence of tolerance or of free-thinking4 ,and this brings us to the second point1--that ,mohammedan civilization was1 on the whole1 rather a skin-deep affair4 ,it was superficial because of that extreme severance between government and people which has never existed in ,european nations within historic times1 but which has always existed among the principal races that have professed ,moslemism4 ,nowhere in the ,mohammedan world has there ever been what we call a national life1 and nowhere do we find in its records any trace of such an intellectual impulse1 thrilling through every fibre of the people and begetting prodigious achievements in art1 poetry1 and philosophy1 as was awakened in ,europe in the thirteenth century and again in the fifteenth4 ,under the peculiar form of unlimited material and spiritual despotism exemplified in the caliphate1 a few men may discover gases or comment on ,aristotle1 but no general movement toward political progress or philosophical inquiry is possible4 ,such a society is rigid and inorganic at bottom1 whatever scanty signs of flexibility and life it may show at the surface4 ,there is no better illustration of this1 when well considered1 than the fact that ,moorish civilization remained1 politically and intellectually1 a mere excrescence in ,spain1 after having been fastened down over half the country for nearly eight centuries4 ,but we are in danger of forgetting our main theme1 as ,dr4 ,draper seems to do1 while we linger with him over these interesting wayside topics4 ,we may perhaps be excused1 however1 if we have not yet made any very explicit allusion to the ,conflict between ,religion and ,science1 because this work seems to be in the main a repetition en petit of the ,intellectual ,development of ,europe1 and what we have said will apply as well to one as to the other4 ,in the little book1 as in the big one1 we hear a great deal about the ,arabs1 and something about ,columbus and ,galileo1 who made men accept sundry truths in the teeth of clerical opposition2 and1 as before1 we float gently down the current of history without being over well-informed as to the precise didactic purpose of our voyage4 ,here1 indeed1 even our headings and running-titles do not materially help us1 for though we are supposed to be witnessing1 or mayhap assisting in1 a perennial conflict between science and religion1 we are nowhere enlightened as to what the cause or character of this conflict is1 nor are we enabled to get a good look at either of the parties to the strife4 ,with regard to it religion especially are we left in the dark4 ,what this dreadful thing is towards which science is always playing the part of ,herakles towards the ,lernaean ,hydra1 we are left to gather from the course of the narrative4 ,yet1 in a book with any valid claim to clearsightedness1 one would think such a point as this ought to receive very explicit preliminary treatment4 ,the course of the narrative1 however1 leaves us in little doubt as to what ,dr4 ,draper means by a conflict between science and religion4 ,when he enlarges on the trite story of ,galileo1 and alludes to the more modern quarrel between the ,church and the geologists1 and does this in the belief that he is thereby illustrating an antagonism between religion and science1 it is obvious that he identifies the cause of the anti-geologists and the persecutors of ,galileo with the cause of religion4 ,the word religion is to him a symbol which stands for unenlightened bigotry or narrow-minded unwillingness to look facts in the face4 ,such a conception of religion is common enough1 and unhappily a great deal has been done to strengthen it by the very persons to whom the interests of religion are presumed to be a professional care4 ,it is nevertheless a very superficial conception1 and no book which is vitiated by it can have much philosophic value4 ,it is simply the crude impression which1 in minds unaccustomed to analysis1 is left by the fact that theologians and other persons interested in religion are usually alarmed at new scientific truths1 and resist them with emotions so highly wrought that they are not only incapable of estimating evidence1 but often also have their moral sense impaired1 and fight with foul means when fair ones fail4 ,if we reflect carefully on this class of phenomena1 we shall see that something besides mere pride of opinion is involved in the struggle4 ,at the bottom of changing theological beliefs there lies something which men perennially value1 and for the sake of which they cling to the beliefs as long as possible4 ,that which they value is not itself a matter of belief1 but it is a matter of conduct2 it is the searching after goodness1--after a higher life than the mere satisfaction of individual desires4 ,all animals seek for fulness of life2 but in civilized man this craving has acquired a moral significance1 and has become a spiritual aspiration2 and this emotional tendency1 more or less strong in the human race1 we call religious feeling or religion4 ,viewed in this light1 religion is not only something that mankind is never likely to get rid of1 but it is incomparably the most noble as well as the most useful attribute of humanity4 ,now1 this emotional prompting toward completeness of life requires1 of course1 that conduct should be guided1 as far as possible1 in accordance with a true theory of the relations of man to the world in which he lives4 ,hence1 at any given era the religious feeling will always be found enlisted in behalf of some theory of the universe4 ,at any time1 whatever may be their shortcomings in practice1 religious men will aim at doing right according to their conceptions of the order of the world4 ,if men's conceptions of the order of nature remained constant1 no apparent conflict between their religious feelings and their knowledge need ever arise4 ,but with the first advance in our knowledge of nature the case is altered4 ,new and strange theories are naturally regarded with fear and dislike by persons who have always been accustomed to find the sanction and justification of their emotional prompting toward righteousness in old familiar theories which the new ones are seeking to supplant4 ,such persons oppose the new doctrine because their engrained mental habits compel them to believe that its establishment will in some way lower men's standard of life1 and make them less careful of their spiritual welfare4 ,this is the case1 at all events1 when theologians oppose scientific conclusions on religious grounds1 and not simply from mental dulness or rigidity4 ,and1 in so far as it is religious feeling which thus prompts resistance to scientific innovation1 it may be said1 with some appearance of truth1 that there is a conflict between religion and science4 ,but there must always be two parties to a quarrel1 and our statement has to be modified as soon as we consider what the scientific innovator impugns4 ,it is not the emotional prompting toward righteousness1 it is not the yearning to live im ,guten1 ,ganzen1 ,wahren1 that he seeks to weaken2 quite likely he has all this as much at heart as the theologian who vituperates him4 ,nor is it true that his discoveries1 in spite of him1 tend to destroy this all-important mental attitude4 ,it would be ridiculous to say that the fate of religious feeling is really involved in the fate of grotesque cosmogonies and theosophies framed in the infancy of men's knowledge of nature2 for history shows us quite the contrary4 ,religious feeling has survived the heliocentric theory and the discoveries of geologists2 and it will be none the worse for the establishment of ,darwinism4 ,it is the merest truism to say that religion strikes its roots deeper down into human nature than speculative opinion1 and is accordingly independent of any particular set of beliefs4 ,since1 then1 the scientific innovator does not1 either voluntarily or involuntarily1 attack religion1 it follows that there can be no such conflict as that of which ,dr4 ,draper has undertaken to write the history4 ,the real contest is between one phase of science and another2 between the more-crude knowledge of yesterday and the less-crude knowledge of to-day4 ,the contest1 indeed1 as presented in history1 is simply the measure of the difficulty which men find in exchanging old views for new ones4 ,all along1 the practical question has been1 whether we should passively acquiesce in the crude generalizations of our ancestors or venture actively to revise them4 ,but as for the religious sentiment1 the perennial struggle in which it has been engaged has not been with scientific inquiry1 but with the selfish propensities whose tendency is to make men lead the lives of brutes4 ,the time is at hand when the interests of religion can no longer be supposed to be subserved by obstinate adherence to crude speculations bequeathed to us from pre-scientific antiquity4 ,one good result of the doctrine of evolution1 which is now gaining sway in all departments of thought1 is the lesson that all our opinions must be held subject to continual revision1 and that with none of them can our religious interests be regarded as irretrievably implicated4 ,to any one who has once learned this lesson1 a book like ,dr4 ,draper's can be neither interesting nor useful4 ,he who has not learned it can derive little benefit from a work which in its very title keeps open an old and baneful source of error and confusion4 ,november4 #ahge4 ,,vii4 ,,nathan ,,the ,,wise4 #bh #bh ,nathan the ,wise3 ,a ,dramatic ,poem1 by ,gotthold ,ephraim ,lessing4 ,translated by ,ellen ,frothingham4 ,preceded by a brief account of the poet and his works1 and followed by an essay on the poem by ,kuno ,fischer4 ,second edition4 ,new ,york3 ,leypoldt ,holt4 #ahfh4 ,le ,christianisme ,moderne1 etude sur ,lessing4 ,par ,ernest ,fontanes4 ,paris3 ,bailliere4 #ahfg4 ,the fame of ,lessing is steadily growing4 ,year by year he is valued more highly1 and valued by a greater number of people4 ,and he is destined1 like his master and forerunner ,spinoza1 to receive a yet larger share of men's reverence and gratitude when the philosophic spirit which he lived to illustrate shall have become in some measure the general possession of the civilized part of mankind4 ,in his own day1 ,lessing1 though widely known and greatly admired1 was little understood or appreciated4 ,he was known to be a learned antiquarian1 a terrible controversialist1 and an incomparable writer4 ,he was regarded as a brilliant ornament to ,germany2 and a paltry ,duke of ,brunswick thought a few hundred thalers well spent in securing the glory of having such a man to reside at his provincial court4 ,but the majority of ,lessing's contemporaries understood him as little perhaps as did the ,duke of ,brunswick4 ,if anything were needed to prove this1 it would be the uproar which was made over the publication of the ,wolfenbuttel ,fragments1 and the curious exegesis which was applied to the poem of ,nathan on its first appearance4 ,in order to understand the true character of this great poem1 and of ,lessing's religious opinions as embodied in it1 it will be necessary first to consider the memorable theological controversy which preceded it4 ,during ,lessing's residence at ,hamburg1 he had come into possession of a most important manuscript1 written by ,hermann ,samuel ,reimarus1 a professor of ,oriental languages1 and bearing the title of an ,apology for the ,rational ,worshippers of ,god4 ,struck with the rigorous logic displayed in its arguments1 and with the quiet dignity of its style1 while yet unable to accept its most general conclusions1 ,lessing resolved to publish the manuscript1 accompanying it with his own comments and strictures4 ,accordingly in #aggd1 availing himself of the freedom from censorship enjoyed by publications drawn from manuscripts deposited in the ,ducal ,library at ,wolfenbuttel1 of which he was librarian1 ,lessing published the first portion of this work1 under the title of ,fragments drawn from the ,papers of an ,anonymous ,writer4 ,this first ,fragment1 on the ,toleration of ,deists1 awakened but little opposition2 for the eighteenth century1 though intolerant enough1 did not parade its bigotry1 but rather saw fit to disclaim it4 ,a hundred years before1 ,rutherford1 in his ,free ,disputation1 had declared toleration of alle religions to bee not farre removed from blasphemie4 ,intolerance was then a thing to be proud of1 but in ,lessing's time some progress had been achieved1 and men began to think it a good thing to seem tolerant4 ,the succeeding ,fragments were to test this liberality and reveal the flimsiness of the stuff of which it was made4 ,when the unknown disputant began to declare the impossibility of a revelation upon which all men can rest a solid faith1 and when he began to criticize the evidences of ,christ's resurrection1 such a storm burst out in the theological world of ,germany as had not been witnessed since the time of ,luther4 ,the recent ,colenso controversy in ,england was but a gentle breeze compared to it4 ,press and pulpit swarmed with refutations1 in which weakness of argument and scantiness of erudition were compensated by strength of acrimony and unscrupulousness of slander4 ,pamphlets and sermons1 says ,m4 ,fontanes1 were multiplied1 to denounce the impious blasphemer1 who1 destitute alike of shame and of courage1 had sheltered himself behind a paltry fiction1 in order to let loose upon society an evil spirit of unbelief4 ,but ,lessing's artifice had been intended to screen the memory of ,reimarus1 rather than his own reputation4 ,he was not the man to quail before any amount of human opposition2 and it was when the tempest of invective was just at its height that he published the last and boldest ,fragment of all1--on the ,designs of ,jesus and his ,disciples4 ,the publication of these ,fragments led to a mighty controversy4 ,the most eminent1 both for uncompromising zeal and for worldly position1 of those who had attacked ,lessing1 was ,melchior ,goetze1 pastor primarius at the ,hamburg ,cathedral4 ,though his name is now remembered only because of his connection with ,lessing1 ,goetze was not destitute of learning and ability4 ,he was a collector of rare books1 an amateur in numismatics1 and an antiquarian of the narrow-minded sort4 ,lessing had known him while at ,hamburg1 and had visited him so constantly as to draw forth from his friends malicious insinuations as to the excellence of the pastor's white wine4 ,doubtless ,lessing1 as a wise man1 was not insensible to the attractions of good ,moselle2 but that which he chiefly liked in this theologian was his logical and rigorously consistent turn of mind4 ,he always1 says ,m4 ,fontanes1 cherished a holy horror of loose1 inconsequent thinkers2 and the man of the past1 the inexorable guardian of tradition1 appeared to him far more worthy of respect than the heterodox innovator who stops in mid-course1 and is faithful neither to reason nor to faith4 ,but when ,lessing published these unhallowed ,fragments1 the hour of conflict had sounded1 and ,goetze cast himself into the arena with a boldness and impetuosity which ,lessing1 in his artistic capacity1 could not fail to admire4 ,he spared no possible means of reducing his enemy to submission4 ,he aroused against him all the constituted authorities1 the consistories1 and even the ,aulic ,council of the ,empire1 and he even succeeded in drawing along with him the chief of contemporary rationalists1 ,semler1 who so far forgot himself as to declare that ,lessing1 for what he had done1 deserved to be sent to the madhouse4 ,but with all ,goetze's orthodox valour1 he was no match for the antagonist whom he had excited to activity4 ,the great critic replied with pamphlet after pamphlet1 invincible in logic and erudition1 sparkling with wit1 and irritating in their utter coolness4 ,such pamphlets had not been seen since ,pascal published the ,provincial ,letters4 ,goetze found that he had taken up arms against a master in the arts of controversy1 and before long he became well aware that he was worsted4 ,having brought the case before the ,aulic ,council1 which consisted in great part of ,catholics1 the stout pastor1 forgetting that judgment had not yet been rendered1 allowed himself to proclaim that all who do not recognize the ,bible as the only source of ,christianity are not fit to be called ,christians at all4 ,lessing was not slow to profit by this unlucky declaration4 ,questioned1 with all manner of ferocious vituperation1 by ,goetze1 as to what sort of ,christianity might have existed prior to and independently of the ,new ,testament canon1 ,lessing imperturbably answered3 ,by the ,christian religion ,i mean all the confessions of faith contained in the collection of creeds of the first four centuries of the ,christian ,church1 including1 if you wish it1 the so-called creed of the apostles1 as well as the creed of ,athanasius4 ,the content of these confessions is called by the earlier ,fathers the regula fidei1 or rule of faith4 ,this rule of faith is not drawn from the writings of the ,new ,testament4 ,it existed before any of the books in the ,new ,testament were written4 ,it sufficed not only for the first ,christians of the age of the apostles1 but for their descendants during four centuries4 ,and it is1 therefore1 the veritable foundation upon which the ,church of ,christ is built2 a foundation not based upon ,scripture4 ,thus1 by a master-stroke1 ,lessing secured the adherence of the ,catholics constituting a majority of the ,aulic ,council of the ,empire4 ,like ,paul before him1 he divided the ,sanhedrim4 ,so that ,goetze1 foiled in his attempts at using violence1 and disconcerted by the patristic learning of one whom he had taken to be a mere connoisseur in art and writer of plays for the theatre1 concluded that discretion was the surest kind of valour1 and desisted from further attacks4 ,lessing's triumph came opportunely2 for already the ministry of ,brunswick had not only confiscated the ,fragments1 but had prohibited him from publishing anything more on the subject without first obtaining express authority to do so4 ,his last replies to ,goetze were published at ,hamburg2 and as he held himself in readiness to depart from ,wolfenbuttel1 he wrote to several friends that he had conceived the design of a drama1 with which he would tear the theologians in pieces more than with a dozen ,fragments4 ,i will try and see1 said he1 if they will let me preach in peace from my old pulpit1 the theatre4 ,in this way originated ,nathan the ,wise4 ,but it in no way answered to the expectations either of ,lessing's friends or of his enemies4 ,both the one and the other expected to see the controversy with ,goetze carried on1 developed1 and generalized in the poem4 ,they looked for a satirical comedy1 in which orthodoxy should be held up for scathing ridicule1 or at least for a direful tragedy1 the moral of which1 like that of the great poem of ,lucretius1 should be ,tantum religio potuit suadere malorum4 ,had ,lessing produced such a poem1 he would doubtless have gratified his free-thinking friends and wreaked due literary vengeance upon his theological persecutors4 ,he would1 perhaps1 have given articulate expression to the radicalism of his own time1 and1 like ,voltaire1 might have constituted himself the leader of the age1 the incarnation of its most conspicuous tendencies4 ,but ,lessing did nothing of the kind2 and the expectations formed of him by friends and enemies alike show how little he was understood by either4 ,nathan the ,wise was1 as we shall see1 in the eighteenth century an entirely new phenomenon2 and its author was the pioneer of a quite new religious philosophy4 ,reimarus1 the able author of the ,fragments1 in his attack upon the evidences of revealed religion1 had taken the same ground as ,voltaire and the old ,english deists4 ,and when we have said this1 we have sufficiently defined his position1 for the tenets of the deists are at the present day pretty well known1 and are1 moreover1 of very little vital importance1 having long since been supplanted by a more just and comprehensive philosophy4 ,reimarus accepted neither miracles nor revelation2 but in accordance with the rudimentary state of criticism in his time1 he admitted the historical character of the earliest ,christian records1 and was thus driven to the conclusion that those writings must have been fraudulently composed4 ,how such a set of impostors as the apostles must on this hypothesis have been1 should have succeeded in inspiring large numbers of their contemporaries with higher and grander religious notions than had ever before been conceived2 how they should have laid the foundations of a theological system destined to hold together the most enlightened and progressive portion of human society for seventeen or eighteen centuries1--does not seem to have entered his mind4 ,against such attacks as this1 orthodoxy was comparatively safe2 for whatever doubt might be thrown upon some of its leading dogmas1 the system as a whole was more consistent and rational than any of the theories which were endeavouring to supplant it4 ,and the fact that nearly all the great thinkers of the eighteenth century adopted this deistic hypothesis1 shows1 more than anything else1 the crudeness of their psychological knowledge1 and their utter lack of what is called the historical sense4 ,lessing at once saw the weak point in ,reimarus's argument1 but his method of disposing of it differed signally from that adopted by his orthodox contemporaries4 ,the more advanced ,german theologians of that day1 while accepting the ,new ,testament records as literally historical1 were disposed to rationalize the accounts of miracles contained in them1 in such a way as to get rid of any presumed infractions of the laws of nature4 ,this method of exegesis1 which reached its perfection in ,paulus1 is too well known to need describing4 ,its unsatisfactory character was clearly shown1 thirty years ago1 by ,strauss1 and it is now generally abandoned1 though some traces of it may still be seen in the recent works of ,renan4 ,lessing steadily avoided this method of interpretation4 ,he had studied ,spinoza to some purpose1 and the outlines of ,biblical criticism laid down by that remarkable thinker ,lessing developed into a system wonderfully like that now adopted by the ,tubingen school4 ,the cardinal results which ,baur has reached within the past generation were nearly all hinted at by ,lessing1 in his commentaries on the ,fragments4 ,the distinction between the first three1 or synoptic gospels1 and the fourth1 the later age of the fourth1 and the method of composition of the first three1 from earlier documents and from oral tradition1 are all clearly laid down by him4 ,the distinct points of view from which the four accounts were composed1 are also indicated1--the ,judaizing disposition of ,matthew1 the ,pauline sympathies of ,luke1 the compromising or ,petrine tendencies of ,mark1 and the advanced ,hellenic character of ,john4 ,those best acquainted with the results of modern criticism in ,germany will perhaps be most surprised at finding such speculations in a book written many years before either ,strauss or ,baur were born4 ,but such results1 as might have been expected1 did not satisfy the pastor ,goetze or the public which sympathized with him4 ,the valiant pastor unhesitatingly declared that he read the objections which ,lessing opposed to the ,fragmentist with more horror and disgust than the ,fragments themselves2 and in the teeth of the printed comments he declared that the editor was craftily upholding his author in his deistical assault upon ,christian theology4 ,the accusation was unjust1 because untrue4 ,there could be no genuine cooperation between a mere iconoclast like ,reimarus1 and a constructive critic like ,lessing4 ,but the confusion was not an unnatural one on ,goetze's part1 and ,i cannot agree with ,m4 ,fontanes in taking it as convincing proof of the pastor's wrong-headed perversity4 ,it appears to me that ,goetze interpreted ,lessing's position quite as accurately as ,m4 ,fontanes4 ,the latter writer thinks that ,lessing was a ,christian of the liberal school since represented by ,theodore ,parker in this country and by ,m4 ,reville in ,france2 that his real object was to defend and strengthen the ,christian religion by relieving it of those peculiar doctrines which to the freethinkers of his time were a stumbling-block and an offence4 ,and1 in spite of ,lessing's own declarations1 he endeavours to show that he was an ordinary theist1--a follower of ,leibnitz rather than of ,spinoza4 ,but ,i do not think he has made out his case4 ,lessing's own confession to ,jacobi is unequivocal enough1 and cannot well be argued away4 ,in that remarkable conversation1 held toward the close of his life1 he indicates clearly enough that his faith was neither that of the ordinary theist1 the atheist1 nor the pantheist1 but that his religious theory of the universe was identical with that suggested by ,spinoza1 adopted by ,goethe1 and recently elaborated in the first part of the ,first ,principles of ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer4 ,moreover1 while ,lessing cannot be considered an antagonist of ,christianity1 neither did he assume the attitude of a defender4 ,he remained outside the theological arena2 looking at theological questions from the point of view of a layman1 or rather1 as ,m4 ,cherbuliez has happily expressed it1 of a ,pagan4 ,his mind was of decidedly antique structure4 ,he had the virtues of paganism3 its sanity1 its calmness1 and its probity2 but of the tenderness of ,christianity1 and its quenchless aspirations after an indefinable ideal1 of that feeling which has incarnated itself in ,gothic cathedrals1 masses and oratorios1 he exhibited but scanty traces4 ,his intellect was above all things self-consistent and incorruptible4 ,he had that imperial good-sense which might have formed the ideal alike of ,horace and of ,epictetus4 ,no clandestine preference for certain conclusions could make his reason swerve from the straight paths of logic4 ,and he examined and rejected the conclusions of ,reimarus in the same imperturbable spirit with which he examined and rejected the current theories of the ,french classic drama4 ,such a man can have had but little in common with a preacher like ,theodore ,parker1 or with a writer like ,m4 ,fontanes1 whose whole book is a noble specimen of lofty ,christian eloquence4 ,his attribute was light1 not warmth4 ,he scrutinized1 but did not attack or defend4 ,he recognized the transcendent merits of the ,christian faith1 but made no attempt to reinstate it where it had seemed to suffer shock4 ,it was therefore with the surest of instincts1 with that same instinct of self-preservation which had once led the ,church to anathematize ,galileo1 that ,goetze4 proclaimed ,lessing a more dangerous foe to orthodoxy than the deists who had preceded him4 ,controversy1 he doubtless thought1 may be kept up indefinitely1 and blows given and returned forever2 but before the steady gaze of that scrutinizing eye which one of us shall find himself able to stand erect8 ,it has become fashionable to heap blame and ridicule upon those who violently defend an antiquated order of things2 and ,goetze has received at the hands of posterity his full share of abuse4 ,his wrath contrasted unfavourably with ,lessing's calmness2 and it was his misfortune to have taken up arms against an opponent who always knew how to keep the laugh upon his own side4 ,for my own part ,i am constrained to admire the militant pastor1 as ,lessing himself admired him4 ,from an artistic point of view he is not an uninteresting figure to contemplate4 ,and although his attempts to awaken persecution were reprehensible1 yet his ardour in defending what he believed to be vital truth is none the less to be respected4 ,he had the acuteness to see that ,lessing's refutation of deism did not make him a ,christian1 while the new views proposed as a substitute for those of ,reimarus were such as ,goetze and his age could in no wise comprehend4 ,lessing's own views of dogmatic religion are to be found in his work entitled1 ,the ,education of the ,human ,race4 ,these views have since so far become the veriest commonplaces of criticism1 that one can hardly realize that1 only ninety years ago1 they should have been regarded as dangerous paradoxes4 ,they may be summed up in the statement that all great religions are good in their time and place2 that1 as there is a soul of goodness in things evil1 so also there is a soul of truth in things erroneous4 ,according to ,lessing1 the successive phases of religious belief constitute epochs in the mental evolution of the human race4 ,so that the crudest forms of theology1 even fetishism1 now to all appearance so utterly revolting1 and polytheism1 so completely inadequate1 have once been the best1 the natural and inevitable results of man's reasoning powers and appliances for attaining truth4 ,the mere fact that a system of religious thought has received the willing allegiance of large masses of men shows that it must have supplied some consciously felt want1 some moral or intellectual craving4 ,and the mere fact that knowledge and morality are progressive implies that each successive system may in due course of time be essentially modified or finally supplanted4 ,the absence of any reference to a future state of retribution1 in the ,pentateuch and generally in the sacred writings of the ,jews1 and the continual appeal to hopes and fears of a worldly character1 have been pronounced by deists an irremediable defect in the ,jewish religion4 ,it is precisely this1 however1 says ,lessing1 which constitutes one of its signal excellences4 ,that thy days may be long in the land which ,jehovah thy ,god giveth thee1 was an appeal which the uncivilized ,jew could understand1 and which could arouse him to action2 while the need of a future world1 to rectify the injustices of this1 not yet being felt1 the doctrine would have been of but little service4 ,but in later ,hebrew literature1 many magnificent passages revealed the despair felt by prophet and thinker over the insoluble problem presented by the evil fate of the good and the triumphant success of the wicked2 and a solution was sought in the doctrine of a ,messianic kingdom1 until ,christianity with its proclamation of a future life set the question entirely aside4 ,by its appeal to what has been aptly termed other-worldliness1 ,christianity immeasurably intensified human responsibility1 besides rendering clearer its nature and limits4 ,but according to ,lessing1 yet another step remains to be taken2 and here we come upon the gulf which separates him from men of the stamp of ,theodore ,parker4 ,for1 says ,lessing1 the appeal to unearthly rewards and punishments is after all an appeal to our lower feelings2 other-worldliness is but a refined selfishness2 and we are to cherish virtue for its own sake not because it will lead us to heaven4 ,here is the grand principle of ,stoicism4 ,lessing believed1 with ,mr4 ,mill1 that the less we think about getting rewarded either on earth or in heaven the better4 ,he was cast in the same heroic mould as ,muhamad ,efendi1 who when led to the stake exclaimed3 ,though ,i have no hope of recompense hereafter1 yet the love of truth constraineth me to die in its defence6 ,with the truth or completeness of these views of ,lessing we are not here concerned2 our business being not to expound our own opinions1 but to indicate as clearly as possible ,lessing's position4 ,those who are familiar with the general philosophical spirit of the present age1 as represented by writers otherwise so different as ,littre and ,sainte-,beuve1 will best appreciate the power and originality of these speculations4 ,coming in the last century1 amid the crudities of deism1 they made a well-defined epoch4 ,they inaugurated the historical method of criticism1 and they robbed the spirit of intolerance of its only philosophical excuse for existing4 ,hitherto the orthodox had been intolerant toward the philosophers because they considered them heretics2 and the philosophers had been intolerant toward the orthodox because they considered them fools4 ,to ,voltaire it naturally seemed that a man who could believe in the reality of miracles must be what in ,french is expressively termed a sot4 ,but henceforth1 to the disciple of ,lessing1 men of all shade of opinion were but the representatives and exponents of different phases in the general evolution of human intelligence1 not necessarily to be disliked or despised if they did not happen to represent the maturest phase4 ,religion1 therefore1 from this point of view1 becomes clearly demarcated from theology4 ,it consists no longer in the mental assent to certain prescribed formulas1 but in the moral obedience to the great rule of life2 the great commandment laid down and illustrated by the ,founder of the ,christian religion1 and concerning which the profoundest modern philosophy informs us that the extent to which a society has learned to conform to it is the test and gauge of the progress in civilization which that society has achieved4 ,the command to love one another1 to check the barbarous impulses inherited from the pre-social state1 while giving free play to the beneficent impulses needful for the ultimate attainment of social equilibrium1--or as ,tennyson phrases it1 to move upward1 working out the beast1 and letting the ape and tiger die1--was1 in ,lessing's view1 the task set before us by religion4 ,the true religious feeling was thus1 in his opinion1 what the author of ,ecce ,homo has finely termed the enthusiasm of humanity4 ,and we shall find no better language than that of the writer just mentioned1 in which to describe ,lessing's conception of faith3-- ,he who1 when goodness is impressively put before him1 exhibits an instinctive loyalty to it1 starts forward to take its side1 trusts himself to it1 such a man has faith1 and the root of the matter is in such a man4 ,he may have habits of vice1 but the loyal and faithful instinct in him will place him above many that practice virtue4 ,he may be rude in thought and character1 but he will unconsciously gravitate toward what is right4 ,other virtues can scarcely thrive without a fine natural organization and a happy training4 ,but the most neglected and ungifted of men may make a beginning with faith4 ,other virtues want civilization1 a certain amount of knowledge1 a few books2 but in half-brutal countenances faith will light up a glimmer of nobleness4 ,the savage1 who can do little else1 can wonder and worship and enthusiastically obey4 ,he who cannot know what is right can know that some one else knows2 he who has no law may still have a master2 he who is incapable of justice may be capable of fidelity2 he who understands little may have his sins forgiven because he loves much4 ,such was ,lessing's religion1 so far as it can be ascertained from the fragmentary writings which he has left on the subject4 ,undoubtedly it lacked completeness4 ,the opinions which we have here set down1 though constituting something more than a mere theory of morality1 certainly do not constitute a complete theory of religion4 ,our valiant knight has examined but one side of the shield1--the bright side1 turned toward us1 whose marvellous inscriptions the human reason can by dint of unwearied effort decipher4 ,but the dark side1 looking out upon infinity1 and covered with hieroglyphics the meaning of which we can never know1 he has quite forgotten to consider4 ,yet it is this side which genuine religious feeling ever seeks to contemplate4 ,it is the consciousness that there is about us an omnipresent ,power1 in which we live and move and have our being1 eternally manifesting itself throughout the whole range of natural phenomena1 which has ever disposed men to be religious1 and lured them on in the vain effort to construct adequate theological systems4 ,we may1 getting rid of the last traces of fetishism1 eliminate arbitrary volition as much as we will or can4 ,but there still remains the consciousness of a divine ,life in the universe1 of a ,power which is beyond and above our comprehension1 whose goings out and comings in no man can follow4 ,the more we know1 the more we reach out for that which we cannot know4 ,and who can realize this so vividly as the scientific philosopher8 ,for our knowledge being1 according to the familiar comparison1 like a brilliant sphere1 the more we increase it the greater becomes the number of peripheral points at which we are confronted by the impenetrable darkness beyond4 ,i believe that this restless yearning1--vague enough in the description1 yet recognizable by all who1 communing with themselves or with nature1 have felt it1--this constant seeking for what cannot be found1 this persistent knocking at gates which1 when opened1 but reveal others yet to be passed1 constitutes an element which no adequate theory of religion can overlook4 ,but of this we find nothing in ,lessing4 ,with him all is sunny1 serene1 and pagan4 ,not the dim aisle of a vast cathedral1 but the symmetrical portico of an antique temple1 is the worshipping-place into which he would lead us4 ,but if ,lessing's theology must be considered imperfect1 it is none the less admirable as far as it goes4 ,with its peculiar doctrines of love and faith1 it teaches a morality far higher than any that ,puritanism ever dreamed of4 ,and with its theory of development it cuts away every possible logical basis for intolerance4 ,it is this theology to which ,lessing has given concrete expression in his immortal poem of ,nathan4 ,the central idea of ,nathan was suggested to ,lessing by ,boccaccio's story of ,the ,three ,rings1 which is supposed to have had a ,jewish origin4 ,saladin1 pretending to be inspired by a sudden1 imperious whim1 such as is not unbecoming in a ,sultan1 demands that ,nathan shall answer him on the spur of the moment which of the three great religions then known--,judaism1 ,mohammedanism1 ,christianity--is adjudged by reason to be the true one4 ,for a moment the philosopher is in a quandary4 ,if he does not pronounce in favour of his own religion1 ,judaism1 he stultifies himself2 but if he does not award the precedence to ,mohammedanism1 he will apparently insult his sovereign4 ,with true ,oriental tact he escapes from the dilemma by means of a parable4 ,there was once a man1 says ,nathan1 who possessed a ring of inestimable value4 ,not only was the stone which it contained incomparably fine1 but it possessed the marvellous property of rendering its owner agreeable both to ,god and to men4 ,the old man bequeathed this ring to that one of his sons whom he loved the most2 and the son1 in turn1 made a similar disposition of it4 ,so that1 passing from hand to hand1 the ring finally came into the possession of a father who loved his three sons equally well4 ,unto which one should he leave it8 ,to get rid of the perplexity1 he had two other rings made by a jeweller1 exactly like the original1 and to each of his three sons he bequeathed one4 ,each then thinking that he had obtained the true talisman1 they began violently to quarrel1 and after long contention agreed to carry their dispute before the judge4 ,but the judge said3 ,quarrelsome fellows6 ,you are all three of you cheated cheats4 ,your three rings are alike counterfeit4 ,for the genuine ring is lost1 and to conceal the loss1 your father had made these three substitutes4 ,at this unexpected denouement the ,sultan breaks out in exclamations of delight2 and it is interesting to learn that when the play was brought upon the stage at ,constantinople a few years ago1 the ,turkish audience was similarly affected4 ,there is in the story that quiet1 stealthy humour which is characteristic of many mediaeval apologues1 and in which ,lessing himself loved to deal4 ,it is humour of the kind which hits the mark1 and reveals the truth4 ,in a note upon this passage1 ,lessing himself said3 ,the opinion of ,nathan upon all positive religions has for a long time been my own4 ,let him who has the genuine ring show it by making himself loved of ,god and man4 ,this is the central idea of the poem4 ,it is wholly unlike the iconoclasm of the deists1 and1 coming in the eighteenth century1 it was like a veritable evangel4 ,nathan was not brought out until three years after ,lessing's death1 and it kept possession of the stage for but a short time4 ,in a dramatic point of view1 it has hardly any merits4 ,whatever plot there is in it is weak and improbable4 ,the decisive incidents seem to be brought in like the deus ex machina of the later ,greek drama4 ,there is no movement1 no action1 no development4 ,the characters are poetically but not dramatically conceived4 ,considered as a tragedy1 ,nathan would be weak2 considered as a comedy1 it would be heavy4 ,with full knowledge of these circumstances1 ,lessing called it not a drama1 but a dramatic poem2 and he might have called it still more accurately a didactic poem1 for the only feature which it has in common with the drama is that the personages use the oratio directa4 ,nathan is a didactic poem3 it is not a mere philosophic treatise written in verse1 like the fragments of ,xenophanes4 ,its lessons are conveyed concretely and not abstractly2 and its characters are not mere lay figures1 but living poetical conceptions4 ,considered as a poem among classic ,german poems1 it must rank next to1 though immeasurably below1 ,goethe's ,faust4 ,there are two contrasted kinds of genius1 the poetical and the philosophical2 or1 to speak yet more generally1 the artistic and the critical4 ,the former is distinguished by a concrete1 the latter by an abstract1 imagination4 ,the former sees things synthetically1 in all their natural complexity2 the latter pulls things to pieces analytically1 and scrutinizes their relations4 ,the former sees a tree in all its glory1 where the latter sees an exogen with a pair of cotyledons4 ,the former sees wholes1 where the latter sees aggregates4 ,corresponding with these two kinds of genius there are two classes of artistic productions4 ,when the critical genius writes a poem or a novel1 he constructs his plot and his characters in conformity to some prearranged theory1 or with a view to illustrate some favourite doctrine4 ,when he paints a picture1 he first thinks how certain persons would look under certain given circumstances1 and paints them accordingly4 ,when he writes a piece of music1 he first decides that this phrase expresses joy1 and that phrase disappointment1 and the other phrase disgust1 and he composes accordingly4 ,we therefore say ordinarily that he does not create1 but only constructs and combines4 ,it is far different with the artistic genius1 who1 without stopping to think1 sees the picture and hears the symphony with the eyes and ears of imagination1 and paints and plays merely what he has seen and heard4 ,when ,dante1 in imagination1 arrived at the lowest circle of hell1 where traitors like ,judas and ,brutus are punished1 he came upon a terrible frozen lake1 which1 he says1-- ,ever makes me shudder at the sight of frozen pools4 ,i have always considered this line a marvellous instance of the intensity of ,dante's imagination4 ,it shows1 too1 how ,dante composed his poem4 ,he did not take counsel of himself and say3 ,go to1 let us describe the traitors frozen up to their necks in a dismal lake1 for that will be most terrible4 ,but the picture of the lake1 in all its iciness1 with the haggard faces staring out from its glassy crust1 came unbidden before his mind with such intense reality that1 for the rest of his life1 he could not look at a frozen pool without a shudder of horror4 ,he described it exactly as he saw it2 and his description makes us shudder who read it after all the centuries that have intervened4 ,so ,michael ,angelo1 a kindred genius1 did not keep cutting and chipping away1 thinking how ,moses ought to look1 and what sort of a nose he ought to have1 and in what position his head might best rest upon his shoulders4 ,but1 he looked at the rectangular block of ,carrara marble1 and beholding ,moses grand and lifelike within it1 knocked away the environing stone1 that others also might see the mighty figure4 ,and so ,beethoven1 an artist of the same colossal order1 wrote out for us those mysterious harmonies which his ear had for the first time heard2 and which1 in his mournful old age1 it heard none the less plainly because of its complete physical deafness4 ,and in this way ,shakespeare wrote his ,othello2 spinning out no abstract thoughts about jealousy and its fearful effects upon a proud and ardent nature1 but revealing to us the living concrete man1 as his imperial imagination had spontaneously fashioned him4 ,modern psychology has demonstrated that this is the way in which the creative artistic imagination proceeds4 ,it has proved that a vast portion of all our thinking goes on unconsciously2 and that the results may arise into consciousness piecemeal and gradually1 checking each other as they come2 or that they may come all at once1 with all the completeness and definiteness of perceptions presented from without4 ,the former is the case with the critical1 and the latter with the artistic intellect4 ,and this we recognize imperfectly when we talk of a genius being inspired4 ,all of us probably have these two kinds of imagination to a certain extent4 ,it is only given to a few supremely endowed persons like ,goethe to possess them both to an eminent degree4 ,perhaps of no other man can it be said that he was a poet of the first order1 and as great a critic as poet4 ,it is therefore apt to be a barren criticism which studies the works of creative geniuses in order to ascertain what theory lies beneath them4 ,how many systems of philosophy1 how many subtle speculations1 have we not seen fathered upon ,dante1 ,cervantes1 ,shakespeare1 and ,goethe6 ,yet their works are1 in a certain sense1 greater than any systems4 ,they partake of the infinite complexity and variety of nature1 and no more than nature itself can they be narrowed down to the limits of a precise formula4 ,lessing was wont to disclaim the title of poet2 but1 as ,goethe said1 his immortal works refute him4 ,he had not only poetical1 but dramatic genius2 and his ,emilia ,galotti has kept the stage until to-day4 ,nevertheless1 he knew well what he meant when he said that he was more of a critic than a poet4 ,his genius was mainly of the critical order2 and his great work1 ,nathan the ,wise1 was certainly constructed rather than created4 ,it was intended to convey a doctrine1 and was carefully shaped for the purpose4 ,and when we have pronounced it the greatest of all poems that have been written for a set purpose1 and admit of being expressed in a definite formula1 we have classified it with sufficient accuracy4 ,for an analysis of the characters in the poem1 nothing can be better than the essay by ,kuno ,fischer1 appended to the present volume4 ,the work of translation has been admirably done2 and thanks are due to ,miss ,frothingham for her reproduction of this beautiful poem4 ,june1 #ahfh4 ,,viii4 ,,historical ,,difficulties4 #bi #bi ,historical ,difficulties and ,contested ,events4 ,by ,octave ,delepierre1 ,,ll4 ,d41 ,f4 ,s4 ,a41 ,secretary of ,legation to the ,king of the ,belgians4 #hvo4 ,london3 ,murray4 #ahfh4 ,history1 says ,sainte-,beuve1 is in great part a set of fables which people agree to believe in4 ,and1 on reading books like the present1 one certainly needs a good deal of that discipline acquired by long familiarity with vexed historical questions1 in order to check the disposition to accept the great critic's ironical remark in sober earnest4 ,much of what is currently accredited as authentic history is in fact a mixture of flattery and calumny1 myth and fable4 ,yet in this set of fables1 whatever may have been the case in past times1 people will no longer agree to believe4 ,during the present century the criticism of recorded events has gone far toward assuming the developed and systematized aspect of a science1 and canons of belief have been established1 which it is not safe to disregard4 ,great occurrences1 such as the ,trojan ,war and the ,siege of ,thebes1 not long ago faithfully described by all historians of ,greece1 have been found to be part of the common mythical heritage of the ,aryan nations4 ,achilleus and ,helena1 ,oidipous and ,iokasta1 ,oinone and ,paris1 have been discovered in ,india and again in ,scandinavia1 and so on1 until their nonentity has become the legitimate inference from their very ubiquity4 ,legislators like ,romulus and ,numa1 inventors like ,kadmos1 have evaporated into etymologies4 ,whole legions of heroes1 dynasties of kings1 and adulteresses as many as ,dante saw borne on the whirlwind1 have vanished from the face of history1 and terrible has been the havoc in the opening pages of our chronological tables4 ,nor is it primitive history alone which has been thus metamorphosed4 ,characters unduly exalted or defamed by party spirit are daily being set before us in their true1 or at least in a truer1 light4 ,what ,mr4 ,froude has done for ,henry ,,viii4 we know2 and he might have done more if he had not tried to do so much4 ,humpbacked ,richard turns out to have been one of the handsomest kings that ever sat on the throne of ,england4 ,edward ,i41 in his dealings with ,scotland1 is seen to have been scrupulously just2 while the dignity of the patriot hero ,wallace has been somewhat impaired4 ,elizabeth is proved to have befriended the false ,mary ,stuart much longer than was consistent with her personal safety4 ,eloquent ,cicero has been held up as an object of contempt2 and even weighty ,tacitus has been said to owe much of his reputation to his ability to give false testimony with a grave face4 ,it has lately been suspected that gloomy ,tiberius1 apart from his gloominess1 may have been rather a good fellow2 not so licentious as puritanical1 not cruel so much as exceptionally merciful1--a rare general1 a sagacious statesman1 and popular to boot with all his subjects save the malignant oligarchy which he consistently snubbed1 and which took revenge on him by writing his life4 ,and1 to crown all1 even ,catiline1 abuser of our patience1 seducer of vestal nuns1 and drinker of children's blood1--whose very name suggests murder1 incest1 and robbery1--even ,catiline has found an able defender in ,professor ,beesly4 ,it is claimed that ,catiline was a man of great abilities and average good character1 a well-calumniated leader of the ,marian party which ,caesar afterwards led to victory1 and that his famous plot for burning ,rome never existed save in the unscrupulous ,ciceronian fancy4 ,and those who think it easy to refute these conclusions of ,professor ,beesly had better set to work and try it4 ,such are a few of the surprising questions opened by recent historical research2 and in the face of them the public is quite excusable if it declares itself at a loss what to believe4 ,these1 however1 are cases in which criticism has at least made some show of ascertaining the truth and detecting the causes of the prevalent misconception4 ,that men like ,catiline and ,tiberius should have had their characters blackened is quite easily explicable4 ,president ,johnson would have little better chance of obtaining justice at the hands of posterity1 if the most widely read history of his administration should happen to be written by a radical member of the ,rump ,congress4 ,but the cases which ,mr4 ,delepierre invites us to contemplate are of a different character4 ,they come neither under the head of myths nor under that of misrepresentations4 ,some of them are truly vexed questions which it may perhaps always be impossible satisfactorily to solve4 ,others may be dealt with more easily1 but afford no clew to the origin of the popularly received error4 ,let us briefly examine a few of ,mr4 ,delepierre's difficulties4 ,and first1 because simplest1 we will take the case of the ,alexandrian ,library4 ,every one has heard how ,amrou1 after his conquest of ,egypt1 sent to ,caliph ,omar to know what should be done with the ,alexandrian ,library4 ,if the books agree with the ,koran1 said the ,caliph1 they are superfluous2 if they contradict it1 they are damnable2 in either case1 destroy them4 ,so the books were taken and used to light the fires which heated water for the baths2 and so vast was the number that1 used in this way1 they lasted six months6 ,all this happened because ,john the ,grammarian was over-anxious enough to request that the books might be preserved1 and thus drew ,amrou's attention to them4 ,great has been the obloquy poured upon ,omar for this piece of vandalism1 and loud has been the mourning over the treasures of ancient science and literature supposed to have been irrecoverably lost in this ignominious conflagration ,theologians1 ,catholic and ,protestant1 have been fond of quoting it as an instance of the hostility of ,mahometanism to knowledge1 and we have even heard an edifying sermon preached about it4 ,on seeing the story put to such uses1 one feels sometimes like using the ad hominem argument1 and quoting the wholesale destruction of pagan libraries under ,valens1 the burning of books by the ,latin stormers of ,constantinople1 the alleged annihilation of #ajj1jjj volumes by ,genoese crusaders at ,tripoli1 the book-burning exploits of ,torquemada1 the bonfire of #hj1jjj valuable ,arabic manuscripts1 lighted up in the square of ,granada by order of ,cardinal ,ximenes1 and the irreparable cremation of ,aztec writings by the first ,christian bishops of ,mexico4 ,these examples1 with perhaps others which do not now occur to us1 might be applied in just though ungentle retort by ,mahometan doctors4 ,yet the most direct rejoinder would probably not occur to them3 the ,alexandrian ,library was ,,not destroyed by the orders of ,omar1 and the whole story is a figment6 ,the very pithiness of it1 so characteristic of the excellent but bigoted ,omar1 is enough to cast suspicion upon it4 ,de ,quincey tells us that if a saying has a proverbial fame1 the probability is that it was never said4 ,how many amusing stories stand a chance of going down to posterity as the inventions of ,president ,lincoln1 of which1 nevertheless1 he is doubtless wholly innocent6 ,how characteristic was ,caesar's reply to the frightened pilot6 ,yet in all probability ,caesar never made it4 ,now for the evidence4 ,alexandria was captured by ,armrou in #fdj4 ,the story of the burning of the library occurs for the first time in the works of ,abulpharagius1 who flourished in #abfd4 ,six hundred years had elapsed4 ,it is as if a story about the crusades of ,louis ,,ix4 were to be found for the first time in the writings of ,mr4 ,bancroft4 ,the ,byzantine historians were furiously angry with the ,saracens2 why did they1 one and all1 neglect to mention such an outrageous piece of vandalism8 ,their silence must be considered quite conclusive4 ,moreover we know that the caliphs had forbidden under severe penalties the destruction of ,jewish and ,christian books1 a circumstance wholly inconsistent with this famous story4 ,and finally1 what a mediaeval recklessness of dates is shown in lugging into the story ,john the ,grammarian1 who was dead and in his grave when ,alexandria was taken by ,amrou6 ,but the chief item of proof remains to be mentioned4 ,the ,saracens did not burn the library1 because there was no library there for them to burn6 ,it had been destroyed just two hundred and fifty years before by a rabble of monks1 incited by the patriarch ,theophilus1 who saw in such a vast collection of pagan literature a perpetual insult and menace to religion4 ,in the year #cij this turbulent bigot sacked the temple of ,serapis1 where the books were kept1 and drove out the philosophers who lodged there4 ,of this violent deed we have contemporary evidence1 for ,orosius tells us that less than fifteen years afterwards1 while passing through ,alexandria1 he saw the empty shelves4 ,this fact disposes of the story4 ,passing from ,egypt to ,france1 and from the seventh century to the fifteenth1 we meet with a much more difficult problem4 ,that ,jeanne d',arc was burnt at the stake1 at ,rouen1 on the #cjth of ,may1 #adca1 and her bones and ashes thrown into the ,seine1 is generally supposed to be as indisputable as any event in modern history4 ,such is1 however1 hardly the case4 ,plausible evidence has been brought to prove that ,jeanne d',arc was never burnt at the stake1 but lived to a ripe age1 and was even happily married to a nobleman of high rank and reputation4 ,we shall abridge ,mr4 ,delepierre's statement of this curious case4 ,in the archives of ,metz1 ,father ,vignier discovered the following remarkable entry3 ,in the year #adcf1 ,messire ,phlin ,marcou was ,sheriff of ,metz1 and on the #bjth day of ,may of the aforesaid year came the maid ,jeanne1 who had been in ,france1 to ,la ,grange of ,ormes1 near ,st4 ,prive1 and was taken there to confer with any one of the sieurs of ,metz1 and she called herself ,claude2 and on the same day there came to see her there her two brothers1 one of whom was a knight1 and was called ,messire ,pierre1 and the other 'petit ,jehan1' a squire1 and they thought that she had been burnt1 but as soon as they saw her they recognized her and she them4 ,and on ,monday1 the #bast day of the said month1 they took their sister with them to ,boquelon1 and the sieur ,nicole1 being a knight1 gave her a stout stallion of the value of thirty francs1 and a pair of saddle-cloths2 the sieur ,aubert ,boulle1 a riding-hood1 the sieur ,nicole ,groguet1 a sword2 and the said maiden mounted the said horse nimbly1 and said several things to the sieur ,nicole by which he well understood that it was she who had been in ,france2 and she was recognized by many tokens to be the maid ,jeanne of ,france who escorted ,king ,charles to ,rheims1 and several declared that she had been burnt in ,normandy1 and she spoke mostly in parables4 ,she afterwards returned to the town of ,marnelle for the feast of ,pentecost1 and remained there about three weeks1 and then set off to go to ,notre ,dame d',alliance4 ,and when she wished to leave1 several of ,metz went to see her at the said ,marnelle and gave her several jewels1 and they knew well that she was the maid ,jeanne of ,france2 and she then went to ,erlon1 in the ,duchy of ,luxembourg1 where she was thronged14444 and there was solemnized the marriage of ,monsieur de ,hermoise1 knight1 and the said maid ,jeanne1 and afterwards the said sieur ,hermoise1 with his wife1 the ,maid1 came to live at ,metz1 in the house the said sieur had1 opposite ,st4 ,seglenne1 and remained there until it pleased them to depart4 ,this is surprising enough2 but more remains behind4 ,dining shortly afterwards with ,m4 des ,armoises1 member of one of the oldest families in ,lorraine1 ,father ,vignier was invited to look over the family archives1 that he might satisfy his curiosity regarding certain ancestors of his host4 ,and on looking over the family register1 what was his astonishment at finding a contract of marriage between ,robert des ,armoises1 ,knight1 and ,jeanne d',arcy1 the so-called ,maid of ,orleans6 ,in #agdj1 some time after these occurrences1 there was found1 in the town hall of ,orleans1 a bill of one ,jacques l',argentier1 of the year #adcf1 in which mention is made of a small sum paid for refreshments furnished to a messenger who had brought letters from the ,maid of ,orleans1 and of twelve livres given to ,jean du ,lis1 brother of ,jeanne d',arc1 to help him pay the expenses of his journey back to his sister4 ,then come two charges which we shall translate literally4 ,to the sieur de ,lis1 #ahth ,october1 #adcf1 for a journey which he made through the said city while on his way to the ,maid1 who was then at ,erlon in ,luxembourg1 and for carrying letters from ,jeanne the ,maid to the ,king at ,loicher1 where he was then staying1 six livres4 ,and again3 ,to ,renard ,brune1 #beth ,july1 #adce1 at evening1 for paying the hire of a messenger who was carrying letters from ,jeanne the ,maid1 and was on his way to ,william ,beliers1 bailiff of ,troyes1 two livres4 ,as no doubt has been thrown upon the genuineness of these documents1 it must be considered established that in #adcf1 five years after the public execution at ,rouen1 a young woman1 believed to be the real ,jeanne d',arc1 was alive in ,lorraine and was married to a ,m4 ,hermoises or ,armoises4 ,she may1 of course1 have been an impostor2 but in this case it is difficult to believe that her brothers1 ,jean and ,pierre1 and the people of ,lorraine1 where she was well known1 would not have detected the imposture at once4 ,and that ,jean du ,lis1 during a familiar intercourse of at least several months1 as indicated in the above extracts1 should have continued to mistake a stranger for his own sister1 with whom he had lived from childhood1 seems a very absurd supposition4 ,nor is it likely that an impostor would have exposed herself to such a formidable test4 ,if it had been a bold charlatan who1 taking advantage of the quite general belief1 to which we have ample testimony1 that there was something more in the execution at ,rouen than was allowed to come to the surface1 had resolved to usurp for herself the honours due to the woman who had saved ,france1 she would hardly have gone at the outset to a part of the country where the real ,maid had spent nearly all her life4 ,her instant detection and exposure1 perhaps a disgraceful punishment1 would have been inevitable4 ,but if this person were the real ,jeanne1 escaped from prison or returning from an exile dictated by prudence1 what should she have done but go straightway to the haunts of her childhood1 where she might meet once more her own friends and family8 ,but the account does not end here4 ,m4 ,wallon1 in his elaborate history of ,jeanne d',arc1 states that in #adcf the supposed ,maid visited ,france1 and appears to have met some of the men-at-arms with whom she had fought4 ,in #adci she came to ,orleans1 for in the accounts of the town we read1 ,july #bh1 for ten pints of wine presented to ,jeanne des ,armoises1 #ad sous4 ,and on the day of her departure1 the citizens of ,orleans1 by a special decree of the town-council1 presented her with #baj livres1 for the services which she had rendered to the said city during the siege4 ,at the same time the annual ceremonies for the repose of her soul were1 quite naturally1 suppressed4 ,now we may ask if it is at all probable that the people of ,orleans1 who1 ten years before1 during the siege1 must have seen the ,maid day after day1 and to whom her whole appearance must have been perfectly familiar1 would have been likely to show such attentions as these to an impostor8 ,in #addj1 says ,mr4 ,delepierre1 the people so firmly believed that ,jeanne d',arc was still alive1 and that another had been sacrificed in her place1 that an adventuress who endeavoured to pass herself off as the ,maid of ,orleans was ordered by the government to be exposed before the public on the marble stone of the palace hall1 in order to prove that she was an impostor4 ,why were not such measures taken against the real ,maid of ,orleans1 who is mentioned in so many public documents1 and who took no pains to hide herself8 ,there is yet another document bearing on this case1 drawn from the accounts of the auditor of the ,orleans estate1 in the year #addd1 which we will here translate4 ,an island on the ,river ,loire is restored to ,pierre du ,lis1 knight1 'on account of the supplication of the said ,pierre1 alleging that for the acquittal of his debt of loyalty toward our ,lord the ,king and ,m4 the ,duke of ,orleans1 he left his country to come to the service of the ,king and ,m4 the ,duke1 accompanied by his sister1 ,jeanne the ,maid1 with whom1 down to the time of her departure1 and since1 unto the present time1 he has exposed his body and goods in the said service1 and in the ,king's wars1 both in resisting the former enemies of the kingdom who were besieging the town of ,orleans1 and since then in divers enterprises1' c41 c4 ,upon this ,mr4 ,delepierre justly remarks that the brother might have presented his claims in a much stronger light1 if in #addd1 instead of saying 'up to the time of her departure1' he had brought forward the martyrdom of his sister1 as having been the means of saving ,france from the yoke of ,england4 ,the expression here cited and italicized in the above translation1 may indeed be held to refer delicately to her death1 but the particular ,french phrase employed1 jusques a son absentement1 apparently excludes such an interpretation4 ,the expression1 on the other hand1 might well refer to ,jeanne's departure for ,lorraine1 and her marriage1 after which there is no evidence that she returned to ,france1 except for brief visits4 ,thus a notable amount of evidence goes to show that ,jeanne was not put to death in #adca1 as usually supposed1 but was alive1 married1 and flourishing in #addd4 ,upon this supposition1 certain alleged difficulties in the traditional account are easily disposed of4 ,mr4 ,delepierre urges upon the testimony of ,perceval de ,cagny1 that at the execution in ,rouen the victim's face was covered when walking to the stake1 while at the same time a spot had been chosen for the execution that permitted the populace to have a good view4 ,why this contradiction8 ,a place is chosen to enable the people to see everything1 but the victim is carefully hidden from their sight4 ,whether otherwise explicable or not1 this fact is certainly consistent with the hypothesis that some other victim was secretly substituted for ,jeanne by the ,english authorities4 ,we have thus far contented ourselves with presenting and re-enforcing ,mr4 ,delepierre's statement of the case4 ,it is now time to interpose a little criticism4 ,we must examine our data somewhat more closely1 for vagueness of conception allows a latitude to belief which accuracy of conception considerably restricts4 ,on the hypothesis of her survival1 where was ,jeanne1 and what was she doing all the time from her capture before ,compiegne1 ,may #bd1 #adcj1 until her appearance at ,metz1 ,may #bj1 #adcf8 ,mr4 ,delepierre reminds us that the ,duke of ,bedford1 regent of ,france for the ,english king1 died in #adce1 and that most probably ,jeanne d',arc was released from prison after this event4 ,now this supposition lands us in a fatally absurd conclusion4 ,we are1 in fact1 asked to believe that the ,english1 while holding ,jeanne fast in their clutches1 gratuitously went through the horrid farce of burning some one else in her stead2 and that1 after having thus inexplicably behaved1 they further stultified themselves by letting her go scot-free1 that their foolishness might be duly exposed and confuted4 ,such a theory is childish4 ,if ,jeanne d',arc ever survived the #cjth ,may1 #adca1 it was because she escaped from prison and succeeded in hiding herself until safer times4 ,when could she have done this8 ,in a sortie from ,compiegne1 ,may #bd1 #adcj1 she was thrown from her horse by a ,picard archer and taken prisoner by the ,bastard of ,vendome1 who sold her to ,john of ,luxembourg4 ,john kept her in close custody at ,beaulieu until ,august4 ,while there1 she made two attempts to escape2 first1 apparently1 by running out through a door1 when she was at once caught by the guards2 secondly1 by jumping from a high window1 when the shock of the fall was so great that she lay insensible on the ground until discovered4 ,she was then removed to ,beaurevoir1 where she remained until the beginning of ,november4 ,by this time1 ,philip the ,good1 ,duke of ,burgundy1 had made up his mind to sell her to the ,english for #aj1jjj francs2 and ,jeanne was accordingly taken to ,arras1 and thence to ,cotoy1 where she was delivered to the ,english by ,philip's officers4 ,so far1 all is clear2 but here it may be asked1 ,,was she really delivered to the ,english1 or did ,philip1 pocketing his #aj1jjj francs1 cheat and defraud his allies with a counterfeit ,jeanne8 ,such crooked dealing would have been in perfect keeping with his character4 ,though a far more agreeable and gentlemanly person1 he was almost as consummate and artistic a rascal as his great-great-great-grandson and namesake1 ,philip ,,ii4 of ,spain4 ,his duplicity was so unfathomable and his policy so obscure1 that it would be hardly safe to affirm a priori that he might not1 for reasons best known to himself1 have played a double game with his friend the ,duke of ,bedford4 ,on this hypothesis1 he would of course keep ,jeanne in close custody so long as there was any reason for keeping his treachery secret4 ,but in #adcf1 after the death of ,bedford and the final expulsion of the ,english from ,france1 no harm could come from setting her at liberty4 ,but as soon as we cease to reason a priori1 this is seen to be1 after all1 a lame hypothesis4 ,no one can read the trial of ,jeanne at ,rouen1 the questions that were put to her and the answers which she made1 without being convinced that we are here dealing with the genuine ,maid and not with a substitute4 ,the first step of a counterfeit ,jeanne would have naturally been to save herself from the flames by revealing her true character4 ,moreover1 among the multitudes who saw her during her cruel trial1 it is not likely that none were acquainted with the true ,jeanne's voice and features4 ,we must therefore conclude that ,jeanne d',arc was really consigned to the tender mercies of the ,english4 ,about the #bast of ,november she was taken on horseback1 strongly guarded1 from ,cotoy to ,rouen1 where the trial began ,january #i1 #adca4 ,on the #bast of ,february she appeared before the court2 on the #acth of ,march she was examined in the prison by an inquisitor2 and on ,may #bd1 the ,thursday after ,pentecost1 upon a scaffold conspicuously placed in the ,cemetery of ,st4 ,ouen1 she publicly recanted1 abjuring her heresies and asking the ,church's pardon for her witchcraft4 ,we may be sure that the ,church dignitaries would not knowingly have made such public display of a counterfeit ,jeanne2 nor could they well have been deceived themselves under such circumstances4 ,it may indeed be said1 to exhaust all possible suppositions1 that a young girl wonderfully similar in feature and voice to ,jeanne d',arc was palmed off upon the ,english by ,duke ,philip1 and afterwards1 on her trial1 comported herself like the ,maid1 trusting in this recantation to effect her release4 ,but we consider such an hypothesis extremely far-fetched1 nor does it accord with the events which immediately followed4 ,it seems hardly questionable that it was the real ,jeanne who publicly recanted on the #bdth of ,may4 ,this was only six days before the execution4 ,four days after1 on ,monday the #bhth1 it was reported that ,jeanne had relapsed1 that she had1 in defiance of the ,church's prohibition1 clothed herself in male attire1 which had been left in a convenient place by the authorities1 expressly to test her sincerity4 ,on the next day but one1 the woman purporting to be the ,maid of ,orleans was led out1 with her face carefully covered1 and burnt at the stake4 ,here is the first combination of circumstances which bears a suspicious look4 ,it disposes of our ,burgundy hypothesis1 for a false ,jeanne1 after recanting to secure her safety1 would never have stultified herself by such a barefaced relapse4 ,but the true ,jeanne1 after recanting1 might certainly have escaped4 ,some compassionate guard1 who before would have scrupled to assist her while under the ban of the ,church1 might have deemed himself excusable for lending her his aid after she had been absolved4 ,postulating1 then1 that ,jeanne escaped from ,rouen between the #bdth and the #bhth1 how shall we explain what happened immediately afterward8 ,the ,english feared ,jeanne d',arc as much as they hated her4 ,she had1 by her mere presence at the head of the ,french army1 turned their apparent triumph into ignominious defeat4 ,in those days the true psychological explanation of such an event was by no means obvious4 ,while the ,french attributed the result to celestial interposition in their behalf1 the ,english1 equally ready to admit its supernatural character1 considered the powers of hell rather than those of heaven to have been the prime instigators4 ,in their eyes ,jeanne was a witch1 and it was at least their cue to exhibit her as such4 ,they might have put her to death when she first reached ,rouen4 ,some persons1 indeed1 went so far as to advise that she should be sewed up in a sack and thrown at once into the ,seine2 but this was not what the authorities wanted4 ,the whole elaborate trial1 and the extorted recantation1 were devised for the purpose of demonstrating her to be a witch1 and thus destroying her credit with the common people4 ,that they intended afterwards to burn her cannot for an instant be doubted2 that was the only fit consummation for their evil work4 ,now when1 at the end of the week after ,pentecost1 the bishops and inquisitors at ,rouen learned1 to their dismay1 that their victim had escaped1 what were they to do8 ,confess that they had been foiled1 and create a panic in the army by the news that their dreaded enemy was at liberty8 ,or boldly carry out their purposes by a fictitious execution1 trusting in the authority which official statements always carry1 and shrewdly foreseeing that1 after her recantation1 the disgraced ,maid would no more venture to claim for herself the leadership of the ,french forces8 ,clearly1 the latter would have been the wiser course4 ,we may assume1 then1 that1 by the afternoon of the #bhth1 the story of the relapse was promulgated1 as a suitable preparation for what was to come2 and that on the #cjth the poor creature who had been hastily chosen to figure as the condemned ,maid was led out1 with face closely veiled1 to perish by a slow fire in the old market-place4 ,meanwhile the true ,jeanne would have made her way1 doubtless1 in what to her was the effectual disguise of a woman's apparel1 to some obscure place of safety1 outside of doubtful ,france and treacherous ,burgundy1 perhaps in ,alsace or the ,vosges4 ,here she would remain1 until the final expulsion of the ,english and the conclusion of a treaty of peace in #adcf made it safe for her to show herself2 when she would naturally return to ,lorraine to seek her family4 ,the comparative obscurity in which she must have remained for the rest of her life1 otherwise quite inexplicable on any hypothesis of her survival1 is in harmony with the above-given explanation4 ,the ingratitude of ,king ,charles towards the heroine who had won him his crown is the subject of common historical remark4 ,m4 ,wallon insists upon the circumstance that1 after her capture at ,compiegne1 no attempts were made by the ,french ,court to ransom her or to liberate her by a bold coup de main4 ,and when1 at ,rouen1 she appealed in the name of the ,church to the ,pope to grant her a fair trial1 not a single letter was written by the ,archbishop of ,rheims1 ,high ,chancellor of ,france1 to his suffragan1 the ,bishop of ,beauvais1 demanding cognizance of the proceedings4 ,nor did the ,king make any appeal to the ,pope1 to prevent the consummation of the judicial murder4 ,the ,maid was deliberately left to her fate4 ,it is upon her enemies at court1 ,la ,tremouille and ,regnault de ,chartres1 that we must lay part of the blame for this wicked negligence4 ,but it is also probable that the ,king1 and especially his clerical advisers1 were at times almost disposed to acquiesce in the theory of ,jeanne's witchcraft4 ,admire her as they might1 they could not help feeling that in her whole behaviour there was something uncanny2 and1 after having reaped the benefits of her assistance1 they were content to let her shift for herself4 ,this affords the clew to the ,king's inconsistencies4 ,it may be thought sufficient to explain the fact that ,jeanne is said to have received public testimonials at ,orleans1 while we have no reason to suppose that she visited ,paris4 ,it may help to dispose of the objection that she virtually disappears from history after the date of the tragedy at ,rouen4 ,nevertheless1 this last objection is a weighty one1 and cannot easily be got rid of4 ,it appears to me utterly incredible that1 if ,jeanne d',arc had really survived1 we should find no further mention of her than such as haply occurs in one or two town-records and dilapidated account-books4 ,if she was alive in #adcf1 and corresponding with the ,king1 some of her friends at court must have got an inkling of the true state of things4 ,why did they not parade their knowledge1 to the manifest discomfiture of ,la ,tremouille and his company8 ,or why did not ,pierre du ,lis cause it to be proclaimed that the ,english were liars1 his sister being safely housed in ,metz8 ,in the mere interests of historical criticism1 we have said all that we could in behalf of ,mr4 ,delepierre's hypothesis4 ,but as to the facts upon which it rests1 we may remark1 in the first place1 that the surname ,arc or ,bow was not uncommon in those days1 while the ,christian name ,jeanne was and now is the very commonest of ,french names4 ,there might have been a hundred ,jeanne d',arcs1 all definable as pucelle or maid1 just as we say spinster3 we even read of one in the time of the ,revolution4 ,we have1 therefore1 no doubt that ,robert des ,hermoises married a ,jeanne d',arc1 who may also have been a maid of ,orleans2 but this does not prove her to have been the historic ,jeanne4 ,secondly1 as to the covering of the face1 we may mention the fact1 hitherto withheld1 that it was by no means an uncommon circumstance3 the victims of the ,spanish ,inquisition were usually led to the stake with veiled faces4 ,thirdly1 the phrase jusques a son absentement is hopelessly ambiguous1 and may as well refer to ,pierre du ,lis himself as to his sister4 ,these brief considerations seem to knock away all the main props of ,mr4 ,delepierre's hypothesis1 save that furnished by the apparent testimony of ,jeanne's brothers1 given at second hand in the ,metz archives4 ,and those who are familiar with the phenomena of mediaeval delusions will be unwilling to draw too hasty an inference from this alone4 ,from the ,emperor ,nero to ,don ,sebastian of ,portugal1 there have been many instances of the supposed reappearance of persons generally believed to be dead4 ,for my own part1 therefore1 ,i am by no means inclined to adopt the hypothesis of ,jeanne's survival1 although ,i have endeavoured to give it tangible shape and plausible consistency4 ,but the fact that so much can be said in behalf of a theory running counter not only to universal tradition1 but also to such a vast body of contemporaneous testimony1 should teach us to be circumspect in holding our opinions1 and charitable in our treatment of those who dissent from them4 ,for those who can discover in the historian ,renan and the critic ,strauss nothing but the malevolence of incredulity1 the case of ,jeanne d',arc1 duly contemplated1 may serve as a wholesome lesson4 ,we have devoted so much space to this problem1 by far the most considerable of those treated in ,mr4 ,delepierre's book1 that we have hardly room for any of the others4 ,but a false legend concerning ,solomon de ,caus1 the supposed original inventor of the steam-engine1 is so instructive that we must give a brief account of it4 ,in #ahcd there appeared in the ,musee des ,familles a letter from the celebrated ,marion ,delorme1 supposed to have been written on the #c;d ,february1 #afda1 to her lover ,cinq-,mars4 ,in this letter it is stated that ,de ,caus came four years ago #afcg from ,normandy1 to inform the ,king concerning a marvellous invention which he had made1 being nothing less than the application of steam to the propulsion of carriages4 ,the ,cardinal ,richelieu dismissed this fool without giving him a hearing4 ,but ,de ,caus1 nowise discouraged1 followed close upon the autocrat's heels wherever he went1 and so teased him1 that the ,cardinal1 out of patience1 sent him off to a madhouse1 where he passed the remainder of his days behind a grated window1 proclaiming his invention to the passengers in the street1 and calling upon them to release him4 ,marion gives a graphic account of her visit1 accompanied by the famous ,lord ,worcester1 to the asylum at ,bicetre1 where they saw ,de ,caus at his window2 and ,worcester1 in whose mind the conception of the steam-engine was already taking shape1 informed her that the raving prisoner was not a madman1 but a genius4 ,a great stir was made by this letter4 ,the anecdote was copied into standard works1 and represented in engravings4 ,yet it was a complete hoax4 ,de ,caus was not only never confined in a madhouse1 but he was architect to ,louis ,,xiii4 up to the time of his death1 in #afcj1 just eleven years ,,before ,marion ,delorme was said to have seen him at his grated window6 ,on tracing this hoax to its source1 says ,mr4 ,delepierre1 we find that ,m4 ,henri ,berthoud1 a literary man of some repute1 and a constant contributor to the ,musee des ,familles1 confesses that the letter attributed to ,marion was in fact written by himself4 ,the editor of this journal had requested ,gavarni to furnish him with a drawing for a tale in which a madman was introduced looking through the bars of his cell4 ,the drawing was executed and engraved1 but arrived too late2 and the tale1 which could not wait1 appeared without the illustration4 ,however1 as the wood-engraving was effective1 and1 moreover1 was paid for1 the editor was unwilling that it should be useless4 ,berthoud was1 therefore1 commissioned to look for a subject and to invent a story to which the engraving might be applied4 ,strangely enough1 the world refused to believe in ,m4 ,berthoud's confession1 so great a hold had the anecdote taken on the public mind2 and a ,paris newspaper went so far even as to declare that the original autograph of this letter was to be seen in a library in ,normandy6 ,m4 ,berthoud wrote again1 denying its existence1 and offered a million francs to any one who would produce the said letter4 ,from this we may learn two lessons1 the first being that utterly baseless but plausible stories may arise in queer ways4 ,in the above case1 the most far-fetched hypothesis to account for the origin of the legend could hardly have been as apparently improbable as the reality4 ,secondly1 we may learn that if a myth once gets into the popular mind1 it is next to impossible to get it out again4 ,in the ,castle of ,heidelberg there is a portrait of ,de ,caus1 and a folio volume of his works1 accompanied by a note1 in which this letter of ,marion ,delorme is unsuspectingly cited as genuine4 ,and only three years ago1 at a public banquet at ,limoges1 a well-known ,french ,senator and man of letters made a speech1 in which he retailed the story of the madhouse for the edification of his hearers4 ,truly a popular error has as many lives as a cat2 it comes walking in long after you have imagined it effectually strangled4 ,in conclusion1 we may remark that ,mr4 ,delepierre does very scant justice to many of the interesting questions which he discusses4 ,it is to be regretted that he has not thought it worth while to argue his points more thoroughly1 and that he has not been more careful in making statements of fact4 ,he sometimes makes strange blunders1 the worst of which1 perhaps1 is contained in his article on ,petrarch and ,laura4 ,he thinks ,laura was merely a poetical allegory1 and such was the case1 he goes on to say1 with ,dante himself1 whose ,beatrice was a child who died at nine years of age4 ,dante's ,beatrice died on the #ith of ,june1 #abij1 at the age of twenty-four1 having been the wife of ,simone dei ,bardi rather more than three years4 ,october1 #ahfh4 ,,ix4 ,,the ,,famine ,,of #aggj ,,in ,,bengal4 #cj #cj ,the ,annals of ,rural ,bengal4 ,by ,w4 ,w4 ,hunter4 ,vol4 ,i4 ,the ,ethnical ,frontier of ,lower ,bengal1 with the ,ancient ,principalities of ,beerbhoom and ,bishenpore4 ,second ,edition4 ,new ,york3 ,leypoldt and ,holt4 #ahfh4 #hvo41 pp4 xvi41 #dge4 ,no intelligent reader can advance fifty pages in this volume without becoming aware that he has got hold of a very remarkable book4 ,mr4 ,hunter's style1 to begin with1 is such as is written only by men of large calibre and high culture4 ,no words are wasted4 ,the narrative flows calmly and powerfully along1 like a geometrical demonstration1 omitting nothing which is significant1 admitting nothing which is irrelevant1 glowing with all the warmth of rich imagination and sympathetic genius1 yet never allowing any overt manifestation of feeling1 ever concealing the author's personality beneath the unswerving exposition of the subject-matter4 ,that highest art1 which conceals art1 ,mr4 ,hunter appears to have learned well4 ,with him1 the curtain is the picture4 ,such a style as this would suffice to make any book interesting1 in spite of the remoteness of the subject4 ,but the ,annals of ,rural ,bengal do not concern us so remotely as one might at first imagine4 ,the phenomena of the moral and industrial growth or stagnation of a highly-endowed people must ever possess the interest of fascination for those who take heed of the maxim that history is philosophy teaching by example4 ,national prosperity depends upon circumstances sufficiently general to make the experience of one country of great value to another1 though ignorant ,bourbon dynasties and ,rump ,congresses refuse to learn the lesson4 ,it is of the intimate every-day life of rural ,bengal that ,mr4 ,hunter treats4 ,he does not1 like old historians1 try our patience with a bead-roll of names that have earned no just title to remembrance1 or dazzle us with a bountiful display of barbaric pearls and gold1 or lead us in the gondolas of ,buddhist kings down sacred rivers1 amid a summer fanned with spice2 but he describes the labours and the sufferings1 the mishaps and the good fortune1 of thirty millions of people1 who1 however dusky may be their hue1 tanned by the tropical suns of fifty centuries1 are nevertheless members of the imperial ,aryan race1 descended from the cool highlands eastward of the ,caspian1 where1 long before the beginning of recorded history1 their ancestors and those of the ,anglo-,american were indistinguishably united in the same primitive community4 ,the narrative portion of the present volume is concerned mainly with the social and economical disorganization wrought by the great famine of #aggj1 and with the attempts of the ,english government to remedy the same4 ,the remainder of the book is occupied with inquiries into the ethnic character of the population of ,bengal1 and particularly with an exposition of the peculiarities of the language1 religion1 customs1 and institutions of the ,santals1 or hill-tribes of ,beerbhoom4 ,a few remarks on the first of these topics may not be uninteresting4 ,throughout the entire course of recorded ,european history1 from the remote times of which the ,homeric poems preserve the dim tradition down to the present moment1 there has occurred no calamity at once so sudden and of such appalling magnitude as the famine which in the spring and summer of #aggj nearly exterminated the ancient civilization of ,bengal4 ,it presents that aspect of preternatural vastness which characterizes the continent of ,asia and all that concerns it4 ,the ,black ,death of the fourteenth century was1 perhaps1 the most fearful visitation which has ever afflicted the ,western world4 ,but in the concentrated misery which it occasioned the ,bengal famine surpassed it1 even as the ,himalayas dwarf by comparison the highest peaks of ,switzerland4 ,it is1 moreover1 the key to the history of ,bengal during the next forty years2 and as such1 merits1 from an economical point of view1 closer attention than it has hitherto received4 ,lower ,bengal gathers in three harvests each year2 in the spring1 in the early autumn1 and in ,december1 the last being the great rice-crop1 the harvest on which the sustenance of the people depends4 ,through the year #agfi there was great scarcity1 owing to the partial failure of the crops of #agfh1 but the spring rains appeared to promise relief1 and in spite of the warning appeals of provincial officers1 the government was slow to take alarm1 and continued rigorously to enforce the land-tax4 ,but in ,september the rains suddenly ceased4 ,throughout the autumn there ruled a parching drought2 and the rice-fields1 according to the description of a native superintendent of ,bishenpore1 became like fields of dried straw4 ,nevertheless1 the government at ,calcutta made--with one lamentable exception1 hereafter to be noticed--no legislative attempt to meet the consequences of this dangerous condition of things4 ,the administration of local affairs was still1 at that date1 intrusted to native officials4 ,the whole internal regulation was in the hands of the famous ,muhamad ,reza ,ehan4 ,hindu or ,mussulman assessors pried into every barn and shrewdly estimated the probable dimensions of the crops on every field2 and the courts1 as well as the police1 were still in native hands4 ,these men1 says our author1 knew the country1 its capabilities1 its average yield1 and its average requirements1 with an accuracy that the most painstaking ,english official can seldom hope to attain to4 ,they had a strong interest in representing things to be worse than they were2 for the more intense the scarcity1 the greater the merit in collecting the land-tax4 ,every consultation is filled with their apprehensions and highly-coloured accounts of the public distress2 but it does not appear that the conviction entered the minds of the ,council during the previous winter months1 that the question was not so much one of revenue as of depopulation4 ,in fact1 the local officers had cried ,wolf6 too often4 ,government was slow to believe them1 and announced that nothing better could be expected than the adoption of a generous policy toward those landholders whom the loss of harvest had rendered unable to pay their land-tax4 ,but very few indulgences were granted1 and the tax was not diminished1 but on the contrary was1 in the month of ,april1 #aggj1 increased by ten per cent for the following year4 ,the character of the ,bengali people must also be taken into the account in explaining this strange action on the part of the government4 ,from the first appearance of ,lower ,bengal in history1 its inhabitants have been reticent1 self-contained1 distrustful of foreign observation1 in a degree without parallel among other equally civilized nations4 ,the cause of this taciturnity will afterwards be clearly explained2 but no one who is acquainted either with the past experiences or the present condition of the people can be ignorant of its results4 ,local officials may write alarming reports1 but their apprehensions seem to be contradicted by the apparent quiet that prevails4 ,outward1 palpable proofs of suffering are often wholly wanting2 and even when1 as in #aggj1 such proofs abound1 there is generally no lack of evidence on the other side4 ,the ,bengali bears existence with a composure that neither accident nor chance can ruffle4 ,he becomes silently rich or uncomplainingly poor4 ,the emotional part of his nature is in strict subjection1 his resentment enduring but unspoken1 his gratitude of the sort that silently descends from generation to generation4 ,the passion for privacy reaches its climax in the domestic relations4 ,an outer apartment1 in even the humblest households1 is set apart for strangers and the transaction of business1 but everything behind it is a mystery4 ,the most intimate friend does not venture to make those commonplace kindly inquiries about a neighbour's wife or daughter which ,european courtesy demands from mere acquaintances4 ,this family privacy is maintained at any price4 ,during the famine of #ahff it was found impossible to render public charity available to the female members of the respectable classes1 and many a rural household starved slowly to death without uttering a complaint or making a sign4 ,all through the stifling summer of #aggj the people went on dying4 ,the husbandmen sold their cattle2 they sold their implements of agriculture2 they devoured their seed-grain2 they sold their sons and daughters1 till at length no buyer of children could be found2 they ate the leaves of trees and the grass of the field2 and in ,june1 #aggj1 the ,resident at the ,durbar affirmed that the living were feeding on the dead4 ,day and night a torrent of famished and disease-stricken wretches poured into the great cities4 ,at an early period of the year pestilence had broken out4 ,in ,march we find small-pox at ,moorshedabad1 where it glided through the vice-regal mutes1 and cut off the ,prince ,syfut in his palace4 ,the streets were blocked up with promiscuous heaps of the dying and dead4 ,interment could not do its work quick enough2 even the dogs and jackals1 the public scavengers of the ,east1 became unable to accomplish their revolting work1 and the multitude of mangled and festering corpses at length threatened the existence of the citizens44444 ,in #aggj1 the rainy season brought relief1 and before the end of ,september the province reaped an abundant harvest4 ,but the relief came too late to avert depopulation4 ,starving and shelterless crowds crawled despairingly from one deserted village to another in a vain search for food1 or a resting-place in which to hide themselves from the rain4 ,the epidemics incident to the season were thus spread over the whole country2 and1 until the close of the year1 disease continued so prevalent as to form a subject of communication from the government in ,bengal to the ,court of ,directors4 ,millions of famished wretches died in the struggle to live through the few intervening weeks that separated them from the harvest1 their last gaze being probably fixed on the densely-covered fields that would ripen only a little too late for them44444 ,three months later1 another bountiful harvest1 the great rice-crop of the year1 was gathered in4 ,abundance returned to ,bengal as suddenly as famine had swooped down upon it1 and in reading some of the manuscript records of ,december it is difficult to realize that the scenes of the preceding ten months have not been hideous phantasmagoria or a long1 troubled dream4 ,on ,christmas eve1 the ,council in ,calcutta wrote home to the ,court of ,directors that the scarcity had entirely ceased1 and1 incredible as it may seem1 that unusual plenty had returned44444 ,so generous had been the harvest that the government proposed at once to lay in its military stores for the ensuing year1 and expected to obtain them at a very cheap rate4 ,such sudden transitions from the depths of misery to the most exuberant plenty are by no means rare in the history of ,asia1 where the various centres of civilization are1 in an economical sense1 so isolated from each other that the welfare of the population is nearly always absolutely dependent on the irregular3 and apparently capricious bounty of nature4 ,for the three years following the dreadful misery above described1 harvests of unprecedented abundance were gathered in4 ,yet how inadequate they were to repair the fearful damage wrought by six months of starvation1 the history of the next quarter of a century too plainly reveals4 ,plenty had indeed returned1 says our annalist1 but it had returned to a silent and deserted province4 ,the extent of the depopulation is to our ,western imaginations almost incredible4 ,during those six months of horror1 more than ,,ten ,,millions of people had perished6 ,it was as if the entire population of our three or four largest ,states--man1 woman1 and child--were to be utterly swept away between now and next ,august1 leaving the region between the ,hudson and ,lake ,michigan as quiet and deathlike as the buried streets of ,pompeii4 ,yet the estimate is based upon most accurate and trustworthy official returns2 and ,mr4 ,hunter may well say that it represents an aggregate of individual suffering which no ,european nation has been called upon to contemplate within historic times4 ,this unparalleled calamity struck down impartially the rich and the poor4 ,the old1 aristocratic families of ,lower ,bengal were irretrievably ruined4 ,the ,rajah of ,burdwan1 whose possessions were so vast that1 travel as far as he would1 he always slept under a roof of his own and within his own jurisdiction1 died in such indigence that his son had to melt down the family plate and beg a loan from the government in order to discharge his father's funeral expenses4 ,and our author gives other similar instances4 ,the wealthy natives who were appointed to assess and collect the internal revenue1 being unable to raise the sums required by the government1 were in many cases imprisoned1 or their estates were confiscated and re-let in order to discharge the debt4 ,for fifteen years the depopulation went on increasing4 ,the children in a community1 requiring most nourishment to sustain their activity1 are those who soonest succumb to famine4 ,until #aghe1 says our author1 the old died off without there being any rising generation to step into their places4 ,from lack of cultivators1 one third of the surface of ,bengal fell out of tillage and became waste land4 ,the landed proprietors began each to entice away the tenants of his neighbour1 by offering protection against judicial proceedings1 and farms at very low rents4 ,the disputes and deadly feuds which arose from this practice were1 perhaps1 the least fatal of the evil results which flowed from it4 ,for the competition went on until1 the tenants obtaining their holdings at half-rates1 the resident cultivators--who had once been the wealthiest farmers in the country--were no longer able to complete on such terms4 ,they began to sell1 lease1 or desert their property1 migrating to less afflicted regions1 or flying to the hills on the frontier to adopt a savage life4 ,but1 in a climate like that of ,northeastern ,india1 it takes but little time to transform a tract of untilled land into formidable wilderness4 ,when the functions of society are impeded1 nature is swift to assert its claims4 ,and accordingly1 in #aghi1 ,lord ,cornwallis after three years' vigilant inquiry1 pronounced one third of the company's territories in ,bengal to be a jungle1 inhabited only by wild beasts4 ,on the ,western frontier of ,beerbhoom the state of affairs was1 perhaps1 most calamitous4 ,in #aggf1 four acres out of every seven remained untilled4 ,though in earlier times this district had been a favourite highway for armies1 by the year #aghj it had become an almost impassable jungle4 ,a small company of ,sepoys1 which in that year by heroic exertions forced its way through1 was obliged to traverse #abj miles of trackless forest1 swarming with tigers and black shaggy bears4 ,in #aghi this jungle continued so dense as to shut off all communication between the two most important towns1 and to cause the mails to be carried by a circuit of fifty miles through another district4 ,such a state of things it is difficult for us to realize2 but the monotonous tale of disaster and suffering is not yet complete4 ,beerbhoom was1 to all intents and purposes1 given over to tigers4 ,a belt of jungle1 filled with wild beasts1 formed round each village4 ,at nightfall the hungry animals made their dreaded incursions carrying away cattle1 and even women and children1 and devouring them4 ,the official records frequently speak of the mail-bag being carried off by wild beasts4 ,so great was the damage done by these depredations1 that the company offered a reward for each tiger's head1 sufficient to maintain a peasant's family in comfort for three months2 an item of expenditure it deemed so necessary1 that1 when under extraordinary pressure it had to suspend all payments1 the tiger-money and diet allowance for prisoners were the sole exceptions to the rule4 ,still more formidable foes were found in the herds of wild elephants1 which came trooping along in the rear of the devastation caused by the famine4 ,in the course of a few years fifty-six villages were reported as destroyed by elephants1 and as having lapsed into jungle in consequence2 and an official return states that forty market-towns throughout the district had been deserted from the same cause4 ,in many parts of the country the peasantry did not dare to sleep in their houses1 lest they should be buried beneath them during the night4 ,these terrible beasts continued to infest the province as late as #ahaj4 ,but society during these dark days had even worse enemies than tigers and elephants4 ,the barbarous highlanders1 of a lower type of mankind1 nourishing for forty centuries a hatred of their ,hindu supplanters1 like that which the ,apache bears against the white frontiersman1 seized the occasion to renew their inroads upon the lowland country4 ,year by year they descended from their mountain fastnesses1 plundering and burning4 ,many noble ,hindu families1 ousted by the tax-collectors from their estates1 began to seek subsistence from robbery4 ,others1 consulting their selfish interests amid the general distress1 found it more profitable to shelter banditti on their estates1 levying blackmail from the surrounding villages as the price of immunity from depredation1 and sharing in the plunder of such as would not come to terms4 ,their country houses were robber strongholds1 and the early ,english administrators of ,bengal have left it on record that a gang-robbery never occurred without a landed proprietor being at the bottom of it4 ,the peasants were not slow to follow suit1 and those who were robbed of their winter's store had no alternative left but to become robbers themselves4 ,the thieveries of the ,fakeers1 or religious mendicants1 and the bold1 though stealthy attacks of ,thugs and ,dacoits--members of ,masonic brotherhoods1 which at all times have lived by robbery and assassination--added to the general turmoil4 ,in the cold weather of #aggb the province was ravaged far and wide by bands of armed freebooters1 fifty thousand strong2 and to such a pass did things arrive that the regular forces sent by ,warren ,hastings to preserve order were twice disastrously routed2 while1 in ,mr4 ,hunter's graphic language1 villages high up the ,ganges lived by housebreaking in ,calcutta4 ,in ,english mansions it was the invariable practice for the porter to shut the outer door at the commencement of each meal1 and not to open it till the butler brought him word that the plate was safely locked up4 ,and for a long time nearly all traffic ceased upon the imperial roads4 ,this state of things1 which amounted to chronic civil war1 induced ,lord ,cornwallis in #aghh to place the province under the direct military control of an ,english officer4 ,the administration of ,mr4 ,keating--the first hardy gentleman to whom this arduous office was assigned--is minutely described by our author4 ,for our present purpose it is enough to note that two years of severe campaigning1 attended and followed by relentless punishment of all transgressors1 was required to put an end to the disorders4 ,such was the appalling misery1 throughout a community of thirty million persons1 occasioned by the failure of the winter rice-crop in #agfi4 ,in abridging ,mr4 ,hunter's account we have adhered as closely to our original as possible1 but he who would obtain adequate knowledge of this tale of woe must seek it in the ever memorable description of the historian himself4 ,the first question which naturally occurs to the reader--though1 as ,mr4 ,hunter observes1 it would have been one of the last to occur to the ,oriental mind--is1 ,who was to blame8 ,to what culpable negligence was it due that such a dire calamity was not foreseen1 and at least partially warded off8 ,we shall find reason to believe that it could not have been adequately foreseen1 and that no legislative measures could in that state of society have entirely prevented it4 ,yet it will appear that the government1 with the best of intentions1 did all in its power to make matters worse2 and that to its blundering ignorance the distress which followed is largely due4 ,the first duty incumbent upon the government in a case like that of the failure of the winter rice-crop of #agfi1 was to do away with all hindrance to the importation of food into the province4 ,one chief cause of the far-reaching distress wrought by great ,asiatic famines has been the almost complete commercial isolation of ,asiatic communities4 ,in the ,middle ,ages the ,european communities were also1 though to a far less extent1 isolated from each other1 and in those days periods of famine were comparatively frequent and severe4 ,and one of the chief causes which now render the occurrence of a famine on a great scale almost impossible in any part of the civilized world is the increased commercial solidarity of civilized nations4 ,increased facility of distribution has operated no less effectively than improved methods of production4 ,now1 in #aggj the province of ,lower ,bengal was in a state of almost complete commercial isolation from other communities4 ,importation of food on an adequate scale was hardly possible4 ,a single fact speaks volumes as to the isolation of each district4 ,an abundant harvest1 we are repeatedly told1 was as disastrous to the revenues as a bad one2 for1 when a large quantity of grain had to be carried to market1 the cost of carriage swallowed up the price obtained4 ,indeed1 even if the means of intercommunication and transport had rendered importation practicable1 the province had at that time no money to give in exchange for food4 ,not only had its various divisions a separate currency which would pass nowhere else except at a ruinous exchange1 but in that unfortunate year ,bengal seems to have been utterly drained of its specie44444 ,the absence of the means of importation was the more to be deplored1 as the neighbouring districts could easily have supplied grain4 ,in the southeast a fair harvest had been reaped1 except1 in circumscribed spots2 and we are assured that1 during the famine1 this part of ,bengal was enabled to export without having to complain of any deficiency in consequence44444 ,,indeed1 ,,no ,,matter ,,how ,,local ,a ,,famine ,,might ,,be ,,in ,,the ,,last ,,century1 ,,the ,,effects ,,were ,,equally ,,disastrous4 ,sylhet1 a district in the northeast of ,bengal1 had reaped unusually plentiful harvests in #aghj and #agha1 but the next crop was destroyed by a local inundation1 and1 notwithstanding the facilities for importation afforded by water-carriage1 one third of the people died4 ,here we have a vivid representation of the economic condition of a society which1 however highly civilized in many important respects1 still retained1 at the epoch treated of1 its aboriginal type of organization4 ,here we see each community brought face to face with the impossible task of supplying1 unaided1 the deficiencies of nature4 ,we see one petty district a prey to the most frightful destitution1 even while profuse plenty reigns in the districts round about it4 ,we find an almost complete absence of the commercial machinery which1 by enabling the starving region to be fed out of the surplus of more favoured localities1 has in the most advanced countries rendered a great famine practically impossible4 ,now this state of things the government of #aggj was indeed powerless to remedy4 ,legislative power and wisdom could not anticipate the invention of railroads2 nor could it introduce throughout the length and breadth of ,bengal a system of coaches1 canals1 and caravans2 nor could it all at once do away with the time-honoured brigandage1 which increased the cost of transport by decreasing the security of it2 nor could it in a trice remove the curse of a heterogeneous coinage4 ,none1 save those uninstructed agitators who believe that governments can make water run up-hill1 would be disposed to find fault with the authorities in ,bengal for failing to cope with these difficulties4 ,but what we are to blame them for--though it was an error of the judgment and not of the intentions--is their mischievous interference with the natural course of trade1 by which1 instead of helping matters1 they but added another to the many powerful causes which were conspiring to bring about the economic ruin of ,bengal4 ,we refer to the act which in #aggj prohibited under penalties all speculation in rice4 ,this disastrous piece of legislation was due to the universal prevalence of a prejudice from which so-called enlightened communities are not yet wholly free4 ,it is even now customary to heap abuse upon those persons who in a season of scarcity1 when prices are rapidly rising1 buy up the necessaries of life1 thereby still increasing for a time the cost of living4 ,such persons are commonly assailed with specious generalities to the effect that they are enemies of society4 ,people whose only ideas are moral ideas regard them as heartless sharpers who fatten upon the misery of their fellow-creatures4 ,and it is sometimes hinted that such practices ought to be stopped by legislation4 ,now1 so far is this prejudice1 which is a very old one1 from being justified by facts1 that1 instead of being an evil1 speculation in breadstuffs and other necessaries is one of the chief agencies by which in modern times and civilized countries a real famine is rendered almost impossible4 ,this natural monopoly operates in two ways4 ,in the first place1 by raising prices1 it checks consumption1 putting every one on shorter allowance until the season of scarcity is over1 and thus prevents the scarcity from growing into famine4 ,in the second place1 by raising prices1 it stimulates importation from those localities where abundance reigns and prices are low4 ,it thus in the long run does much to equalize the pressure of a time of dearth and diminish those extreme oscillations of prices which interfere with the even1 healthy course of trade4 ,a government which1 in a season of high prices1 does anything to check such speculation1 acts about as sagely as the skipper of a wrecked vessel who should refuse to put his crew upon half rations4 ,the turning-point of the great ,dutch ,revolution1 so far as it concerned the provinces which now constitute ,belgium1 was the famous siege and capture of ,antwerp by ,alexander ,farnese1 ,duke of ,parma4 ,the siege was a long one1 and the resistance obstinate1 and the city would probably not have been captured if famine had not come to the assistance of the besiegers4 ,it is interesting1 therefore1 to inquire what steps the civic authorities had taken to prevent such a calamity4 ,they knew that the struggle before them was likely to be the life-and-death struggle of the ,southern ,netherlands2 they knew that there was risk of their being surrounded so that relief from without would be impossible2 they knew that their assailant was one of the most astute and unconquerable of men1 by far the greatest general of the sixteenth century4 ,therefore they proceeded to do just what our ,republican ,congress1 under such circumstances1 would probably have done1 and just what the ,new ,york ,tribune1 if it had existed in those days1 would have advised them to do4 ,finding that sundry speculators were accumulating and hoarding up provisions in anticipation of a season of high prices1 they hastily decided1 first of all to put a stop to such selfish iniquity4 ,in their eyes the great thing to be done was to make things cheap4 ,they therefore affixed a very low maximum price to everything which could be eaten1 and prescribed severe penalties for all who should attempt to take more than the sum by law decreed4 ,if a baker refused to sell his bread for a price which would have been adequate only in a time of great plenty1 his shop was to be broken open1 and his loaves distributed among the populace4 ,the consequences of this idiotic policy were twofold4 ,in the first place1 the enforced lowness of prices prevented any breadstuffs or other provisions from being brought into the city4 ,it was a long time before ,farnese succeeded in so blockading the ,scheldt as to prevent ships laden with eatables from coming in below4 ,corn and preserved meats might have been hurried by thousands of tons into the beleaguered city4 ,friendly ,dutch vessels1 freighted with abundance1 were waiting at the mouth of the river4 ,but all to no purpose4 ,no merchant would expose his valuable ship1 with its cargo1 to the risk of being sunk by ,farnese's batteries1 merely for the sake of finding a market no better than a hundred others which could be entered without incurring danger4 ,no doubt if the merchants of ,holland had followed out the maxim ,vivre pour autrui1 they would have braved ruin and destruction rather than behold their neighbours of ,antwerp enslaved4 ,no doubt if they could have risen to a broad philosophic view of the future interests of the ,netherlands1 they would have seen that ,antwerp must be saved1 no matter if some of them were to lose money by it4 ,but men do not yet sacrifice themselves for their fellows1 nor do they as a rule look far beyond the present moment and its emergencies4 ,and the business of government is to legislate for men as they are1 not as it is supposed they ought to be4 ,if provisions had brought a high price in ,antwerp1 they would have been carried thither4 ,as it was1 the city1 by its own stupidity1 blockaded itself far more effectually than ,farnese could have done it4 ,in the second place1 the enforced lowness of prices prevented any general retrenchment on the part of the citizens4 ,nobody felt it necessary to economize4 ,every one bought as much bread1 and ate it as freely1 as if the government by insuring its cheapness had insured its abundance4 ,so the city lived in high spirits and in gleeful defiance of its besiegers1 until all at once provisions gave out1 and the government had to step in again to palliate the distress which it had wrought4 ,it constituted itself quartermaster-general to the community1 and doled out stinted rations alike to rich and poor1 with that stern democratic impartiality peculiar to times of mortal peril4 ,but this served only1 like most artificial palliatives1 to lengthen out the misery4 ,at the time of the surrender1 not a loaf of bread could be obtained for love or money4 ,in this way a bungling act of legislation helped to decide for the worse a campaign which involved the territorial integrity and future welfare of what might have become a great nation performing a valuable function in the system of ,european communities4 ,the striking character of this instructive example must be our excuse for presenting it at such length4 ,at the beginning of the famine in ,bengal the authorities legislated in very much the same spirit as the burghers who had to defend ,antwerp against ,parma4 ,by interdicting what it was pleased to term the monopoly of grain1 it prevented prices from rising at once to their natural rates4 ,the ,province had a certain amount of food in it1 and this food had to last about nine months4 ,private enterprise if left to itself would have stored up the general supply at the harvest1 with a view to realizing a larger profit at a later period in the scarcity4 ,prices would in consequence have immediately risen1 compelling the population to reduce their consumption from the very beginning of the dearth4 ,the general stock would thus have been husbanded1 and the pressure equally spread over the whole nine months1 instead of being concentrated upon the last six4 ,the price of grain1 in place of promptly rising to three half-pence a pound as in #ahfe-ff1 continued at three farthings during the earlier months of the famine4 ,during the latter ones it advanced to twopence1 and in certain localities reached fourpence4 ,the course taken by the great famine of #ahff well illustrates the above views4 ,this famine1 also1 was caused by the total failure of the ,december rice-crop1 and it was brought to a close by an abundant harvest in the succeeding year4 ,even as regards the maximum price reached1 the analogy holds good1 in each case rice having risen in general to nearly twopence1 and in particular places to fourpence1 a pound2 and in each the quoted rates being for a brief period in several isolated localities merely nominal1 no food existing in the market1 and money altogether losing its interchangeable value4 ,in both the people endured silently to the end1 with a fortitude that casual observers of a different temperament and widely dissimilar race may easily mistake for apathy1 but which those who lived among the sufferers are unable to distinguish from qualities that generally pass under a more honourable name4 ,during #ahff1 when the famine was severest1 ,i superintended public instruction throughout the southwestern division of ,lower ,bengal1 including ,orissa4 ,the subordinate native officers1 about eight hundred in number1 behaved with a steadiness1 and when called upon1 with a self-abnegation1 beyond praise4 ,many of them ruined their health4 ,the touching scenes of self-sacrifice and humble heroism which ,i witnessed among the poor villagers on my tours of inspection will remain in my memory till my latest day4 ,but to meet the famine of #ahff ,bengal was equipped with railroads and canals1 and better than all1 with an intelligent government4 ,far from trying to check speculation1 as in #aggj1 the government did all in its power to stimulate it4 ,in the earlier famine one could hardly engage in the grain trade without becoming amenable to the law4 ,in #ahff respectable men in vast numbers went into the trade2 for government1 by publishing weekly returns of the rates in every district1 rendered the traffic both easy and safe4 ,every one knew where to buy grain cheapest1 and where to sell it dearest1 and food was accordingly brought from the districts that could best spare it1 and carried to those which most urgently needed it4 ,not only were prices equalized so far as possible throughout the stricken parts1 but the publicity given to the high rates in ,lower ,bengal induced large shipments from the upper provinces1 and the chief seat of the trade became unable to afford accommodation for landing the vast stores of grain brought down the river4 ,rice poured into the affected districts from all parts1--railways1 canals1 and roads vigorously doing their duty4 ,the result of this wise policy was that scarcity was heightened into famine only in one remote corner of ,bengal4 ,orissa was commercially isolated in #ahff1 as the whole country had been in #aggj4 ,as far back as the records extend1 ,orissa has produced more grain than it can use4 ,it is an exporting1 not an importing province1 sending away its surplus grain by sea1 and neither requiring nor seeking any communication with ,lower ,bengal by land4 ,long after the rest of the province had begun to prepare for a year of famine1 ,orissa kept on exporting4 ,in ,march1 when the alarm was first raised1 the southwest monsoon had set in1 rendering the harbours inaccessible4 ,thus the district was isolated4 ,it was no longer possible to apply the wholesome policy which was operating throughout the rest of the country4 ,the doomed population of ,orissa1 like passengers in a ship without provisions1 were called upon to suffer the extremities of famine2 and in the course of the spring and summer of #ahff1 some seven hundred thousand people perished4 ,january1 #ahfi4 ,x4 ,,spain ,,and ,,the ,,netherlands4 #ca #ca ,history of the ,united ,netherlands3 from the ,death of ,william the ,silent to the ,twelve ,years' ,truce1 #afji4 ,by ,john ,lothrop ,motley1 ,d4 ,c4 ,l4 ,in four volumes4 ,vols4 ,,iii4 and ,,iv4 ,new ,york4 #ahfh4 ,tandem fit surculus arbor3 the twig which ,mr4 ,motley in his earlier volumes has described as slowly putting forth its leaves and rootless1 while painfully struggling for existence in a hostile soil1 has at last grown into a mighty tree of liberty1 drawing sustenance from all lands1 and protecting all civilized peoples with its pleasant shade4 ,we congratulate ,mr4 ,motley upon the successful completion of the second portion of his great work2 and we think that the ,netherlanders of our time have reason to be grateful to the writer who has so faithfully and eloquently told the story of their country's fearful struggle against civil and ecclesiastical tyranny1 and its manifold contributions to the advancement of ,european civilization4 ,mr4 ,motley has been fortunate in his selection of a subject upon which to write4 ,probably no century of modern times lends itself to the purposes of the descriptive historian so well as the sixteenth4 ,while on the one hand the problems which it presents are sufficiently near for us to understand them without too great an effort of the imagination1 on the other hand they are sufficiently remote for us to study them without passionate and warping prejudice4 ,the contest between ,catholicism and the reformed religion--between ecclesiastical autocracy and the right of private investigation--has become a thing of the past1 and constitutes a closed chapter in human history4 ,the epoch which begins where ,mr4 ,motley's history is designed to close--at the peace of ,westphalia--is far more complicated4 ,since the middle of the seventeenth century a double movement has been going on in religion and philosophy1 society and politics1--a movement of destruction typified by ,voltaire and ,rousseau1 and a constructive movement represented by ,diderot and ,lessing4 ,we are still living in the midst of this great epoch3 the questions which it presents are liable to disturb our prejudices as well as to stimulate our reason2 the results to which it must sooner or later attain can now be only partially foreseen2 and even its present tendencies are generally misunderstood1 and in many quarters wholly ignored4 ,with the sixteenth century1 as we have said1 the case is far different4 ,the historical problem is far less complex4 ,the issues at stake are comparatively simple1 and the historian has before him a straightforward story4 ,from the dramatic1 or rather from the epic1 point of view1 the sixteenth century is pre-eminent4 ,the essentially transitional character of modern history since the breaking up of the papal and feudal systems is at no period more distinctly marked4 ,in traversing the sixteenth century we realize that we have fairly got out of one state of things and into another4 ,at the outset1 events like the challenge of ,barletta may make us doubt whether we have yet quite left behind the ,middle ,ages4 ,the belief in the central position of the earth is still universal1 and the belief in its rotundity not yet1 until the voyage of ,magellan1 generally accepted4 ,we find ,england--owing partly to the introduction of gunpowder and the consequent disuse of archery1 partly to the results of the recent integration of ,france under ,louis ,,xi4--fallen back from the high relative position which it had occupied under the rule of the ,plantagenets2 and its policy still directed in accordance with reminiscences of ,agincourt1 and garnet1 and ,burgundian alliances4 ,we find ,france just beginning her ill-fated career of intervention in the affairs of ,italy2 and ,spain1 with her ,moors finally vanquished and a new world beyond the ocean just added to her domain1 rapidly developing into the greatest empire which had been seen since the days of the first ,caesars4 ,but at the close of the century we find feudal life in castles changed into modern life in towns2 chivalric defiances exchanged for over-subtle diplomacy2 ,maurices instead of ,bayards2 a ,henry ,,iv4 instead of a ,gaston de ,foix4 ,we find the old theory of man's central position in the universe--the foundation of the doctrine of final causes and of the whole theological method of interpreting nature--finally overthrown by ,copernicus4 ,instead of the circumnavigability of the earth1 the discovery of a ,northwest passage--as instanced by the heroic voyage of ,barendz1 so nobly described by ,mr4 ,motley--is now the chief geographical problem4 ,east ,india ,companies1 in place of petty guilds of weavers and bakers1 bear witness to the vast commercial progress4 ,we find ,england1 fresh from her stupendous victory over the whole power of ,spain1 again in the front rank of nations2 ,france1 under the most astute of modern sovereigns1 taking her place for a time as the political leader of the civilized world2 ,spain1 with her evil schemes baffled in every quarter1 sinking into that terrible death-like lethargy1 from which she has hardly yet awakened1 and which must needs call forth our pity1 though it is but the deserved retribution for her past behaviour4 ,while the little realm of the ,netherlands1 filched and cozened from the unfortunate ,jacqueline by the good ,duke of ,burgundy1 carried over to ,austria as the marriage-portion of ,lady ,mary1 sent down to ,spain as the personal inheritance of the prudent ,philip1 and by him intolerably tormented with an ,inquisition1 a ,blood-,council1 and a ,duke of ,alva1 has after a forty years' war of independence taken its position for a time as the greatest of commercial nations1 with the most formidable navy and one of the best disciplined armies yet seen upon the earth4 ,but the central phenomenon of the sixteenth century is the culmination of the ,protestant movement in its decisive proclamation by ,luther4 ,for nearly three hundred years already the power of the ,church had been declining1 and its function as a civilizing agency had been growing more and more obsolete4 ,the first great blow at its supremacy had been directed with partial success in the thirteenth century by the ,emperor ,frederick ,,ii4 ,coincident with this attack from without1 we find a reformation begun within1 as exemplified in the ,dominican and ,franciscan movements4 ,the second great blow was aimed by ,philip ,,iv4 of ,france1 and this time it struck with terrible force4 ,the removal of the ,papacy to ,avignon1 in #acje1 was the virtual though unrecognized abdication of its beneficent supremacy4 ,bereft of its dignity and independence1 from that time forth it ceased to be the defender of national unity against baronial anarchy1 of popular rights against monarchical usurpation1 and became a formidable instrument of despotism and oppression4 ,through the vicissitudes of the great schism in the fourteenth century1 and the refractory councils in the fifteenth1 its position became rapidly more and more retrograde and demoralized4 ,and when1 in #aecj1 it joined its forces with those of ,charles ,v41 in crushing the liberties of the worthiest of mediaeval republics1 it became evident that the cause of freedom and progress must henceforth be intrusted to some more faithful champion4 ,the revolt of ,northern ,europe1 led by ,luther and ,henry ,,viii4 was but the articulate announcement of this altered state of affairs4 ,so long as the ,roman ,church had been felt to be the enemy of tyrannical monarchs and the steadfast friend of the people1 its encroachments1 as represented by men like ,dunstan and ,becket1 were regarded with popular favour4 ,the strength of the ,church lay ever in its democratic instincts2 and when these were found to have abandoned it1 the indignant protest of ,luther sufficed to tear away half of ,europe from its allegiance4 ,by the end of the sixteenth century1 we find the territorial struggle between the ,church and the reformed religion substantially decided4 ,protestantism and ,catholicism occupied then the same respective areas which they now occupy4 ,since #afjj there has been no instance of a nation passing from one form of worship to the other2 and in all probability there never will be4 ,since the wholesale dissolution of religious beliefs wrought in the last century1 the whole issue between ,romanism and ,protestantism1 regarded as dogmatic systems1 is practically dead4 ,m4 ,renan is giving expression to an almost self-evident truth1 when he says that religious development is no longer to proceed by way of sectarian proselytism1 but by way of harmonious internal development4 ,the contest is no longer between one theology and another1 but it is between the theological and the scientific methods of interpreting natural phenomena4 ,the sixteenth century has to us therefore the interest belonging to a rounded and completed tale4 ,it contains within itself substantially the entire history of the final stage of the theological reformation4 ,this great period falls naturally into two divisions1 the first corresponding very nearly with the reigns of ,charles ,v4 and ,henry ,,viii41 and the second with the age of ,philip ,,ii4 and ,elizabeth4 ,the first of these periods was filled with the skirmishes which were to open the great battle of the ,reformation4 ,at first the strength and extent of the new revolution were not altogether apparent4 ,while the ,inquisition was vigorously crushing out the first symptoms of disaffection in ,spain1 it at one time seemed as if the ,reformers were about to gain the whole of the ,empire1 besides acquiring an excellent foothold in ,france4 ,again1 while ,england was wavering between the old and the new faith1 the last hopes of the ,reform in ,germany seemed likely to be destroyed by the military genius of ,charles4 ,but in ,maurice1 the red-bearded hero of ,saxony1 ,charles found more than his match4 ,the picture of the rapid and desperate march of ,maurice upon ,innspruck1 and of the great ,emperor flying for his life at the very hour of his imagined triumph1 has still for us an intenser interest than almost any other scene of that age2 for it was the event which proved that ,protestantism was not a mere local insurrection which a monarch like ,charles could easily put down1 but a gigantic revolution against which all the powers in the world might well strive in vain4 ,with the abdication of ,charles in #aeef the new period may be said to begin1 and it is here that ,mr4 ,motley's history commences4 ,events crowded thick and fast4 ,in #aeef ,philip ,,ii41 a prince bred and educated for the distinct purpose of suppressing heresy1 succeeded to the rule of the most powerful empire which had been seen since the days of the ,antonines4 ,in the previous year a new era had begun at the court of ,rome4 ,the old race of pagan pontiffs1 the ,borgias1 the ,farneses1 and the ,medicis1 had come to an end1 and the papal throne was occupied by the puritanical ,caraffa1 as violent a fanatic as ,robespierre1 and a foe of freedom as uncompromising as ,philip ,,ii4 himself4 ,under his auspices took place the great reform in the ,church signalized by the rise of the ,jesuits1 as the reform in the thirteenth century had been attended by the rise of the ,cordeliers and ,dominicans4 ,his name should not be forgotten1 for it is mainly owing to the policy inaugurated by him that ,catholicism was enabled to hold its ground as well as it did4 ,in #aeeg the next year1 the strength of ,france was broken at ,st4 ,quentin1 and ,spain was left with her hands free to deal with the ,protestant powers4 ,in #aeeh1 by the accession of ,elizabeth1 ,england became committed to the cause of ,reform4 ,in #aeei the stormy administration of ,margaret began in the ,netherlands4 ,in #aefj the ,scotch nobles achieved the destruction of ,catholicism in ,north ,britain4 ,by this time every nation except ,france1 had taken sides in the conflict which was to last1 with hardly any cessation1 during two generations4 ,mr4 ,motley1 therefore1 in describing the rise and progress of the united republic of the ,netherlands1 is writing not ,dutch but ,european history4 ,on his pages ,france1 ,spain1 and ,england make almost as large a figure as ,holland itself4 ,he is writing the history of the ,reformation during its concluding epoch1 and he chooses the ,netherlands as his main subject1 because during that period the ,netherlands were the centre of the movement4 ,they constituted the great bulwark of freedom1 and upon the success or failure of their cause the future prospect of ,europe and of mankind depended4 ,spain and the ,netherlands1 ,philip ,,ii4 and ,william the ,silent1 were the two leading antagonists and were felt to be such by the other nations and rulers that came to mingle in the strife4 ,it is therefore a stupid criticism which we have seen made upon ,mr4 ,motley1 that1 having brought his narrative down to the truce of #afji1 he ought1 instead of describing the ,thirty ,years' ,war1 to keep on with ,dutch history1 and pourtray the wars against ,cromwell and ,charles ,,ii41 and the struggle of the second ,william of ,orange against ,louis ,,xiv4 ,by so doing he would only violate the unity of his narrative4 ,the wars of the ,dutch against ,england and ,france belong to an entirely different epoch in ,european history1--a modern epoch1 in which political and commercial interests were of prime importance1 and theological interests distinctly subsidiary4 ,the natural terminus of ,mr4 ,motley's work is the ,peace of ,westphalia4 ,after bringing down his history to the time when the independence of the ,netherlands was virtually acknowledged1 after describing the principal stages of the struggle against ,catholicism and universal monarchy1 as carried on in the first generation by ,elizabeth and ,william1 and in the second by ,maurice and ,henry1 he will naturally go on to treat of the epilogue as conducted by ,richelieu and ,gustavus1 ending in the final cessation of religious wars throughout ,europe4 ,the conflict in the ,netherlands was indeed far more than a mere religious struggle4 ,in its course was distinctly brought into prominence the fact which we have above signalized1 that since the ,roman ,church had abandoned the liberties of the people they had found a new defender in the reformed religion4 ,the ,dutch rebellion is peculiarly interesting1 because it was a revolt not merely against the ,inquisition1 but also against the temporal sovereignty of ,philip4 ,besides changing their religion1 the sturdy ,netherlanders saw fit to throw off the sway of their legitimate ruler1 and to proclaim the thrice heretical doctrine of the sovereignty of the people4 ,in this one respect their views were decidedly more modern than those of ,elizabeth and ,henry ,,iv4 ,these great monarchs apparently neither understood nor relished the republican theories of the ,hollanders2 though it is hardly necessary for ,mr4 ,motley to sneer at them quite so often because they were not to an impossible degree in advance of their age4 ,the proclamation of a republic in the ,netherlands marked of itself the beginning of a new era1--an era when flourishing communities of men were no longer to be bought and sold1 transferred and bequeathed like real estate and chattels1 but were to have and maintain the right of choosing with whom and under whom they should transact their affairs4 ,the interminable negotiations for a truce1 which fill nearly one third of ,mr4 ,motley's concluding volume1 exhibit with striking distinctness the difference between the old and new points of view4 ,here again we think ,mr4 ,motley errs slightly1 in calling too much attention to the prevaricating diplomacy of the ,spanish court1 and too little to its manifest inability to comprehend the demands of the ,netherlanders4 ,how should statesmen brought up under ,philip ,,ii4 and kept under the eye of the ,inquisition be expected to understand a claim for liberty originating in the rights of the common people and not in the gracious benevolence or intelligent policy of the ,king8 ,the very idea must have been practically inconceivable by them4 ,accordingly1 they strove by every available device of chicanery to wheedle the ,netherlanders into accepting their independence as a gift from the ,king of ,spain4 ,but to such a piece of self-stultification the clear-sighted ,dutchmen could by no persuasion be brought to consent4 ,their independence1 they argued1 was not the ,king's to give4 ,they had won it from him and his father1 in a war of forty years1 during which they had suffered atrocious miseries1 and all that the ,king of ,spain could do was to acknowledge it as their right1 and cease to molest them in future4 ,over this point1 so simple to us but knotty enough in those days1 the commissioners wrangled for nearly two years4 ,and when the ,spanish government1 unable to carry on the war any longer without risk of utter bankruptcy1 and daily crippled in its resources by the attacks of the ,dutch navy1 grudgingly a reed to a truce upon the ,netherlanders' terms1 it virtually acknowledged its own defeat and the downfall of the principles for which it had so obstinately fought4 ,by the truce of #afji the republican principle was admitted by the most despotic of governments4 ,here was the first great triumph of republicanism over monarchy2 and it was not long in bearing fruits4 ,for the ,dutch revolution1 the settlement of ,america by ,english ,puritans1 the great rebellion of the ,commons1 the ,revolution of #afhh1 the revolt of the ,american ,colonies1 and the general overthrow of feudalism in #aghi1 are but successive acts in the same drama ,william the ,silent was the worthy forerunner of ,cromwell and ,washington2 and but for the victory which he won1 during his life and after his untimely death1 the subsequent triumphs of civil liberty might have been long1 postponed4 ,over the sublime figure of ,william--saevis tranquillus in undis--we should be glad to dwell1 but we are not reviewing the ,rise of the ,dutch ,republic1 and in ,mr4 ,motley's present volumes the hero of toleration appears no longer4 ,his antagonist1 however1--the ,philip whom ,god for some inscrutable purpose permitted to afflict ,europe during a reign of forty-two years1--accompanies us nearly to the end of the present work1 dying just in time for the historian to sum up the case against him1 and pronounce final judgment4 ,for the memory of ,philip ,,ii4 ,mr4 ,motley cherishes no weak pity4 ,he rarely alludes to him without commenting upon his total depravity1 and he dismisses him with the remark that if there are vices--as possibly there are--from which he was exempt1 it is because it is not permitted to human nature to attain perfection in evil4 ,the verdict is none the less just because of its conciseness4 ,if there ever was a strife between ,hercules and ,cacus1 between ,ormuzd and ,ahriman1 between the ,power of ,light and the ,power of ,darkness1 it was certainly the strife between the ,prince of ,orange and the ,spanish ,monarch4 ,they are contrasted like the light and shade in one of ,dore's pictures4 ,and yet it is perhaps unnecessary for ,mr4 ,motley to say that if ,philip had been alive when ,spinola won for him the great victory of ,ostend1 he would have felt it his duty to make immediate arrangements for poisoning him4 ,doubtless the imputation is sufficiently justified by what we know of ,philip2 but it is uncalled for4 ,we do not care to hear about what the despot might have done4 ,we know what he did do1 and the record is sufficiently damning4 ,there is no harm in our giving the ,devil his due1 or as ,llorente wittily says1 ,il ne faut pas calomnier meme l',inquisition4 ,philip inherited all his father's bad qualities1 without any of his good ones2 and so it is much easier to judge him than his father4 ,charles1 indeed1 is one of those characters whom one hardly knows whether to love or hate1 to admire or despise4 ,he had much bad blood in him4 ,charles the ,bold and ,ferdinand of ,aragon were not grandparents to be proud of4 ,yet with all this he inherited from his grandmother ,isabella much that one can like1 and his face1 as preserved by ,titian1 in spite of its frowning brow and thick ,burgundian lip1 is rather prepossessing1 while the face of ,philip is simply odious4 ,in intellect he must probably be called great1 though his policy often betrayed the pettiness of selfishness4 ,if1 in comparison with the mediaeval emperor whose fame he envied1 he may justly be called ,charles the ,little1 he may still1 when compared to a more modern emulator of ,charlemagne1--the first of the ,bonapartes1--be considered great and enlightened4 ,if he could lie and cheat more consummately than any contemporary monarch1 not excepting his rival1 ,francis1 he could still be grandly magnanimous1 while the generosity of ,francis flowed only from the shallow surface of a maudlin good-nature4 ,he spoke many languages and had the tastes of a scholar1 while his son had only the inclinations of an unfeeling pedagogue4 ,he had an inkling of urbanity1 and could in a measure become all things to all men1 while ,philip could never show himself except as a gloomy1 impracticable bigot4 ,it is for some such reasons as these1 ,i suppose1 that ,mr4 ,buckle--no friend to despots--speaks well of ,charles1 and that ,mr4 ,froude is moved to tell the following anecdote3 ,while standing by the grave of ,luther1 and musing over the strange career of the giant monk whose teachings had gone so far to wreck his most cherished schemes and render his life a failure1 some fanatical bystander advised the ,emperor to have the body taken up and burned in the market-place4 ,there was nothing1 says ,mr4 ,froude1 unusual in the proposal2 it was the common practice of the ,catholic ,church with the remains of heretics1 who were held unworthy to be left in repose in hallowed ground4 ,there was scarcely1 perhaps another ,catholic prince who would have hesitated to comply4 ,but ,charles was one of nature's gentlemen4 ,he answered1 ',i war not with the dead4' ,mr4 ,motley takes a less charitable view of the great ,emperor4 ,his generous indignation against all persecutors makes him severe2 and in one of his earlier volumes1 while speaking of the famous edicts for the suppression of heresy in the ,netherlands1 he somewhere uses the word murder4 ,without attempting to palliate the crime of persecution1 ,i doubt if it is quite fair to ,charles to call him a murderer4 ,we must not forget that persecution1 now rightly deemed an atrocious crime1 was once really considered by some people a sacred duty2 that it was none other than the compassionate ,isabella who established the ,spanish ,inquisition2 and that the bloody ,mary ,tudor was a woman who would not wilfully have done wrong4 ,with the progress of civilization the time will doubtless come when warfare1 having ceased to be necessary1 will be thought highly criminal2 yet it will not then be fair to hold ,marlborough or ,wellington accountable for the lives lost in their great battles4 ,we still live in an age when war is1 to the imagination of some persons1 surrounded with false glories2 and the greatest of modern generals #cb has still many undiscriminating admirers4 ,yet the day is no less certainly at hand when the edicts of ,charles ,v4 will be deemed a more pardonable offence against humanity than the wanton march to ,moscow4 #cb ,this was written before the deeds of ,moltke had eclipsed those of ,napoleon4 ,philip ,,ii4 was different from his father in capacity as a drudging clerk1 like ,boutwell1 is different from a brilliant financier like ,gladstone4 ,in organization he differed from him as a boor differs from a gentleman4 ,he seemed made of a coarser clay4 ,the difference between them is well indicated by their tastes at the table4 ,both were terrible gluttons1 a fact which puritanic criticism might set down as equally to the discredit of each of them4 ,but even in intemperance there are degrees of refinement1 and the impartial critic of life and manners will no doubt say that if one must get drunk1 let it be on ,chateau ,margaux rather than on commissary whiskey4 ,pickled partridges1 plump capons1 syrups of fruits1 delicate pastry1 and rare fish went to make up the diet of ,charles in his last days at ,yuste4 ,but the beastly ,philip would make himself sick with a surfeit of underdone pork4 ,whatever may be said of the father1 we can hardly go far wrong in ascribing the instincts of a murderer to the son4 ,he not only burned heretics1 but he burned them with an air of enjoyment and self-complacency4 ,his nuptials with ,elizabeth of ,france were celebrated by a vast auto-da-fe4 ,he studied murder as a fine art1 and was as skilful in private assassinations as ,cellini was in engraving on gems4 ,the secret execution of ,montigny1 never brought to light until the present century1 was a veritable chef d'oeuvre of this sort4 ,the cases of ,escobedo and ,antonio ,perez may also be cited in point4 ,dark suspicions hung around the premature death of ,don ,john of ,austria1 his too brilliant and popular half-brother4 ,he planned the murder of ,william the ,silent1 and rewarded the assassin with an annuity furnished by the revenues of the victim's confiscated estates4 ,he kept a staff of ruffians constantly in service for the purpose of taking off ,elizabeth1 ,henry ,,iv41 ,prince ,maurice1 ,olden-,barneveldt1 and ,st4 ,aldegonde4 ,he instructed ,alva to execute sentence of death upon the whole population of the ,netherlands4 ,he is partly responsible for the martyrdoms of ,ridley and ,latimer1 and the judicial murder of ,cranmer4 ,he first conceived the idea of the wholesale massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew1 many years before ,catharine de' ,medici carried it into operation4 ,his ingratitude was as dangerous as his revengeful fanaticism4 ,those who had best served his interests were the least likely to escape the consequences of his jealousy4 ,he destroyed ,egmont1 who had won for him the splendid victories of ,st4 ,quentin and ,gravelines2 and with minute and artistic treachery he plotted the disgrace and ruin of ,farnese1 the man who was his near blood-relation1 and who had served him most faithfully from earliest youth4 ,contemporary opinion even held him accountable for the obscure deaths of his wife ,elizabeth and his son ,carlos2 but ,m4 ,gachard has shown that this suspicion is unfounded4 ,philip appears perhaps to better advantage in his domestic than in his political relations4 ,yet he was addicted to vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence2 toward the close of his life he seriously contemplated marrying his own daughter ,isabella2 and he ended by taking for his fourth wife his niece1 ,anne of ,austria1 who became the mother of his half-idiotic son and successor4 ,we know of no royal family1 unless it may be the ,claudians of ,rome1 in which the transmission of moral and intellectual qualities is more thoroughly illustrated than in this ,burgundian race which for two centuries held the sceptre of ,spain4 ,the son ,philip and the grandmother ,isabella are both needful in order to comprehend the strange mixture of good and evil in ,charles4 ,but the descendants of ,philip--two generations of idiocy1 and a third of utter impotence--are a sufficient commentary upon the organization and character of their progenitor4 ,such was the man who for two generations had been considered the bulwark of the ,catholic ,church2 who1 having been at the bottom of nearly all the villany that had been wrought in ,europe for half a century1 was yet able to declare upon his death-bed that in all his life he had never consciously done wrong to any one4 ,at a ripe old age he died of a fearful disease4 ,under the influence of a typhus fever1 supervening upon gout1 he had begun to decompose while yet alive4 ,his sufferings1 says ,mr4 ,motley1 were horrible1 but no saint could have manifested in them more gentle resignation or angelic patience4 ,he moralized on the condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by the hand of ,god1 and bade the ,prince observe well his father's present condition1 in order that when he too should be laid thus low1 he might likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence4 ,what more is needed to complete the disgusting picture8 ,philip was fanatical up to the point where fanaticism borders upon hypocrisy4 ,he was possessed with a great moral idea1 the idea of making ,catholicism the ruler of the world1 that he might be the ruler of ,catholicism4 ,why1 it may be said1 shall the charge of fanaticism be allowed to absolve ,isabella and extenuate the guilt of ,charles1 while it only strengthens the case against ,philip8 ,because ,isabella persecuted heretics in order to save their souls from a worse fate1 while ,philip burnt them in order to get them out of his way4 ,isabella would perhaps have gone to the stake herself1 if thereby she might have put an end to heresy4 ,philip would have seen every soul in ,europe consigned to eternal perdition before he would have yielded up an iota of his claims to universal dominion4 ,he could send ,alva to browbeat the ,pope1 as well as to oppress the ,netherlanders4 ,he could compass the destruction of the orthodox ,egmont and ,farnese1 as well as of the heretical ,william4 ,his unctuous piety only adds to the abhorrence with which we regard him2 and his humility in face of death is neither better nor worse than the assumed humility which had become second nature to ,uriah ,heep4 ,in short1 take him for all in all1 he was probably the most loathsome character in all ,european history4 ,he has frequently been called1 by ,protestant historians1 an incarnate devil2 but we do not think that ,mephistopheles would acknowledge him4 ,he should rather be classed among those creatures described by ,dante as a ,dio spiacenti ed ai nemici sui4 ,the abdication of ,charles ,v4 left ,philip ruler over wider dominions than had ever before been brought together under the sway of one man4 ,in his own right ,philip was master not only of ,spain1 but of the ,netherlands1 ,franche ,comte1 ,lombardy1 ,naples1 and ,sicily1 with the whole of ,north and ,south ,america2 besides which he was married to the ,queen of ,england4 ,in the course of his reign he became possessed of ,portugal1 with all its vast domains in the ,east ,indies4 ,his revenues were greater than those of any other contemporary monarch2 his navy was considered invincible1 and his army was the best disciplined in ,europe4 ,all these great advantages he was destined to throw to the winds4 ,in the strife for universal monarchy1 in the mad endeavour to subject ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,france to his own dominion and the tyranny of the ,inquisition1 besides re-conquering the ,netherlands1 all his vast resources were wasted4 ,the ,dutch war alone1 like a bottomless pit1 absorbed all that he could pour into it4 ,long before the war was over1 or showed signs of drawing to an end1 his revenues were wasted1 and his troops in ,flanders were mutinous for want of pay4 ,he had to rely upon energetic viceroys like ,farnese and the ,spinolas to furnish funds out of their own pockets4 ,finally1 he was obliged to repudiate all his debts2 and when he died the ,spanish empire was in such a beggarly condition that it quaked at every approach of a hostile ,dutch fleet4 ,such a result is not evidence of a statesmanlike ability2 but ,philip's fanatical selfishness was incompatible with statesmanship4 ,he never could be made to believe that his projects had suffered defeat4 ,no sooner had the ,invincible ,armada been sent to the bottom by the guns of the ,english fleet and the gales of the ,german ,ocean1 than he sent orders to ,farnese to invade ,england at once with the land force under his command6 ,he thought to obtain ,scotland1 when1 after the death of ,mary1 it had passed under the undisputed control of the ,protestant noblemen4 ,he dreamed of securing for his family the crown of ,france1 even after ,henry1 with free consent of the ,pope1 had made his triumphal entry into ,paris4 ,he asserted complete and entire sovereignty over the ,netherlands1 even after ,prince ,maurice had won back from him the last square foot of ,dutch territory4 ,such obstinacy as this can only be called fatuity4 ,if ,philip had lived in ,pagan times1 he would doubtless1 like ,caligula1 have demanded recognition of his own divinity4 ,the miserable condition of the ,spanish people under this terrible reign1 and the causes of their subsequent degeneracy1 have been well treated by ,mr4 ,motley4 ,the causes of the failure of ,spanish civilization are partly social and partly economical2 and they had been operating for eight hundred years when ,philip succeeded to the throne4 ,the ,moorish conquest in #gaa had practically isolated ,spain from the rest of ,europe4 ,in the ,crusades she took no part1 and reaped none of the signal advantages resulting from that great movement4 ,her whole energies were directed toward throwing off the yoke of her civilized but unbelieving oppressors4 ,for a longer time than has now elapsed since the ,norman ,conquest of ,england1 the entire ,gothic population of ,spain was engaged in unceasing religious and patriotic warfare4 ,the unlimited power thus acquired by an unscrupulous clergy1 and the spirit of uncompromising bigotry thus imparted to the whole nation1 are in this way readily accounted for4 ,but in spite of this1 the affairs of ,spain at the accession of ,charles ,v4 were not in an unpromising condition4 ,the ,spanish ,visigoths had been the least barbarous of the ,teutonic settlers within the limits of the ,empire2 their civil institutions were excellent2 their cities had obtained municipal liberties at an earlier date than those of ,england2 and their ,parliaments indulged in a liberty of speech which would have seemed extravagant even to ,de ,montfort4 ,so late as the time of ,ferdinand1 the ,spaniards were still justly proud of their freedom2 and the chivalrous ambition which inspired the marvellous expedition of ,cortes to ,mexico1 and covered the soil of ,italy with ,spanish armies1 was probably in the main a healthy one4 ,but the forces of ,spanish freedom were united at too late an epoch2 in #adib1 the power of despotism was already in the ascendant4 ,in ,england the case was different4 ,the barons were enabled to combine and wrest permanent privileges from the crown1 at a time when feudalism was strong4 ,but the ,spanish communes waited for combined action until feudalism had become weak1 and modern despotism1 with its standing armies and its control of the spiritual power1 was arrayed in the ranks against them4 ,the ,war of the ,communes1 early in the reign of ,charles ,v41 irrevocably decided the case in favour of despotism1 and from that date the internal decline of ,spain may be said to have begun4 ,but the triumphant consolidation of the spiritual and temporal powers of despotism1 and the abnormal development of loyalty and bigotry1 were not the only evil results of the chronic struggle in which ,spain had been engaged4 ,for many centuries1 while ,christian ,spain had been but a fringe of debatable border-land on the skirts of the ,moorish kingdom1 perpetual guerilla warfare had rendered consecutive labour difficult or impracticable2 and the physical configuration of the country contributed in bringing about this result4 ,to plunder the ,moors across the border was easier than to till the ground at home4 ,then as the ,spaniards1 exemplifying the military superiority of the feudal over the sultanic form of social organization1 proceeded steadily to recover dominion over the land1 the industrious ,moors1 instead of migrating backward before the advance of their conquerors1 remained at home and submitted to them4 ,thus ,spanish society became compounded of two distinct castes1--the ,moorish ,spaniards1 who were skilled labourers1 and the ,gothic ,spaniards1 by whom all labour1 crude or skilful1 was deemed the stigma of a conquered race1 and unworthy the attention of respectable people4 ,as ,mr4 ,motley concisely says3-- ,the highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited upon ,spanish territory was that of ,moors and ,jews4 ,when in the course of time those races had been subjugated1 massacred1 or driven into exile1 not only was ,spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its most productive labour1 but intelligence1 science1 and industry were accounted degrading1 because the mark of inferior and detested peoples4 ,this is the key to the whole subsequent history of ,spain4 ,bigotry1 loyalty1 and consecrated idleness are the three factors which have made that great country what it is to-day1--the most backward region in ,europe4 ,in view of the circumstances just narrated1 it is not surprising to learn that in ,philip ,,ii4's time a vast portion of the real estate of the country was held by the ,church in mortmain2 that forty-nine noble families owned all the rest2 that all great estates were held in tail2 and that the property of the aristocracy and the clergy was completely exempt from taxation4 ,thus the accumulation and the diffusion of capital were alike prevented2 and the few possessors of property wasted it in unproductive expenditure4 ,hence the fundamental error of ,spanish political economy1 that wealth is represented solely by the precious metals2 an error which well enough explains the total failure1 in spite of her magnificent opportunities1 of ,spain's attempts to colonize the ,new ,world4 ,such was the frightful condition of ,spanish society under ,philip ,,ii42 and as if this state of things were not bad enough1 the next king1 ,philip ,,iii41 at the instigation of the clergy1 decided to drive into banishment the only class of productive labourers yet remaining in the country4 ,in #afaj1 this stupendous crime and blunder--unparalleled even in ,spanish history--was perpetrated4 ,the entire ,moorish population were expelled from their homes and driven into the deserts of ,africa4 ,for the awful consequences of this mad action no remedy was possible4 ,no system of native industry could be created on demand1 to take the place of that which had been thus wantonly crushed forever4 ,from this epoch dates the social ruin of ,spain4 ,in less than a century her people were riotous with famine2 and every sequestered glen and mountain pathway throughout the country had become a lurking-place for robbers4 ,whoever would duly realize to what a lamentable condition this beautiful peninsula had in the seventeenth century been reduced1 let him study the immortal pages of ,lesage4 ,he will learn afresh the lesson1 not yet sufficiently regarded in the discussion of social problems1 that the laws of nature cannot be violated without entailing a penalty fearful in proportion to the extent of the violation4 ,but let him carefully remember also that the ,spaniards are not and never have been a despicable people4 ,if ,spain has produced one of the lowest characters in history1 she has also produced one of the highest4 ,that man was every inch a ,spaniard who1 maimed1 diseased1 and poor1 broken down by long captivity1 and harassed by malignant persecution1 lived nevertheless a life of grandeur and beauty fit to be a pattern for coming generations1--the author of a book which has had a wider fame than any other in the whole range of secular literature1 and which for delicate humour1 exquisite pathos1 and deep ethical sentiment1 remains to-day without a peer or a rival4 ,if ,philip ,,ii4 was a ,spaniard1 so1 too1 was ,cervantes4 ,spain could not be free1 for she violated every condition by which freedom is secured to a people4 ,acuteness of intellect1 wealth of imagination1 heroic qualities of heart and hand and brain1 rarely surpassed in any race and manifested on a thousand battle-fields1 and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most original literature1 had not been able to save a whole nation from the disasters and the degradation which the mere words ,philip ,,ii4 and the ,holy ,inquisition suggest to every educated mind4 ,nor could ,spain possibly become rich1 for1 as ,mr4 ,motley continues1 nearly every law1 according to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive1 was habitually violated4 ,on turning to the ,netherlands we find the most complete contrast1 both in historical conditions and in social results2 and the success of the ,netherlands in their long struggle becomes easily intelligible4 ,the ,dutch and ,flemish provinces had formed a part of the renovated ,roman ,empire of ,charles the ,great and the ,othos4 ,taking advantage of the perennial contest for supremacy between the popes and the ,roman emperors1 the constituent baronies and municipalities of the ,empire succeeded in acquiring and maintaining a practical though unrecognized independence2 and this is the original reason why ,italy and ,germany1 unlike the three western ,european communities1 have remained fragmentary until our own time4 ,by reason of the practical freedom of action thus secured1 the ,italian civic republics1 the ,hanse towns1 and the cities of ,holland and ,flanders1 were enabled gradually to develop a vast commerce4 ,the outlying position of the ,netherlands1 remote from the imperial authorities1 and on the direct line of commerce between ,italy and ,england1 was another and a peculiar advantage4 ,throughout the ,middle ,ages the ,flemish and ,dutch cities were of considerable political importance1 and in the fifteenth century the ,netherland provinces were the most highly civilized portion of ,europe north of the ,alps4 ,for several generations they had enjoyed1 and had known how to maintain1 civic liberties1 and when ,charles and ,philip attempted to fasten upon them their peculiar institution1 the ,spanish ,inquisition1 they were ripe for political as well as theological revolt4 ,natural laws were found to operate on the ,rhine as well as on the ,tagus1 and at the end of the great war of independence1 ,holland was not only better equipped than ,spain for a ,european conflict1 but was rapidly ousting her from the ,east ,indian countries which she had in vain attempted to colonize4 ,but if we were to take up all the interesting and instructive themes suggested by ,mr4 ,motley's work1 we should never come to an end4 ,we must pass over the exciting events narrated in these last volumes2 the victory of ,nieuport1 the siege of ,ostend1 the marvellous career of ,maurice1 the surprising exploits of ,spinola4 ,we have attempted not so much to describe ,mr4 ,motley's book as to indulge in sundry reflections suggested by the perusal of it4 ,but we cannot close without some remarks upon a great man1 whose character ,mr4 ,motley seems to have somewhat misconceived4 ,if ,mr4 ,motley exhibits any serious fault1 it is perhaps the natural tendency to ,,take ,,sides in the events which he is describing1 which sometimes operates as a drawback to complete and thoroughgoing criticism4 ,with every intention to do justice to the ,catholics1 ,mr4 ,motley still writes as a ,protestant1 viewing all questions from the ,protestant side4 ,he praises and condemns like a very fair-minded ,huguenot1 but still like a ,huguenot4 ,it is for this reason that he fails to interpret correctly the very complex character of ,henry ,,iv41 regarding him as a sort of selfish renegade whom he cannot quite forgive for accepting the crown of ,france at the hands of the ,pope4 ,now this very action of ,henry1 in the eye of an impartial criticism1 must seem to be one of his chief claims to the admiration and gratitude of posterity4 ,henry was more than a mere ,huguenot3 he was a far-seeing statesman4 ,he saw clearly what no ruler before him1 save ,william the ,silent1 had even dimly discerned1 that not ,catholicism and not ,protestantism1 but absolute spiritual freedom was the true end to be aimed at by a righteous leader of opinion4 ,it was as a ,catholic sovereign that he could be most useful even to his ,huguenot subjects2 and he shaped his course accordingly4 ,it was as an orthodox sovereign1 holding his position by the general consent of ,europe1 that he could best subserve the interests of universal toleration4 ,this principle he embodied in his admirable edict of ,nantes4 ,what a ,huguenot prince might have done1 may be seen from the shameful way in which the ,french ,calvinists abused the favour which ,henry--and ,richelieu afterwards--accorded to them4 ,remembering how ,calvin himself dragooned ,geneva1 let us be thankful for the fortune which1 in one of the most critical periods of history1 raised to the highest position in ,christendom a man who was something more than a sectarian4 ,with this brief criticism1 we must regretfully take leave of ,mr4 ,motley's work4 ,much more remains to be said about a historical treatise which is1 on the whole1 the most valuable and important one yet produced by an ,american2 but we have already exceeded our limits4 ,we trust that our author will be as successful in the future as he has been in the past2 and that we shall soon have an opportunity of welcoming the first instalment of his ,history of the ,thirty ,years' ,war4 ,march1 #ahfh4 ,,xi4 ,,longfellow',s ,,dante4 #cc #cc ,the ,divine ,comedy of ,dante ,alighieri4 ,translated by ,henry ,wadsworth ,longfellow4 #c vols4 ,boston3 ,ticknor ,fields1 #ahfg4 ,,the task of a translator is a thankless one at best4 ,be he never so skilful and accurate1 be he never so amply endowed with the divine qualifications of the poet1 it is still questionable if he can ever succeed in saying satisfactorily with new words that which has once been inimitably said--said for all time--with the old words4 ,psychologically1 there is perhaps nothing more complex than an elaborate poem4 ,the sources of its effect upon our minds may be likened to a system of forces which is in the highest degree unstable2 and the slightest displacement of phrases1 by disturbing the delicate rhythmical equilibrium of the whole1 must inevitably awaken a jarring sensation4 ,matthew ,arnold has given us an excellent series of lectures upon translating ,homer1 in which he doubtless succeeds in showing that some methods of translation are preferable to others1 but in which he proves nothing so forcibly as that the simplicity and grace1 the rapidity1 dignity1 and fire1 of ,homer are quite incommunicable1 save by the very words in which they first found expression4 ,and what is thus said of ,homer will apply to ,dante with perhaps even greater force4 ,with nearly all of ,homer's grandeur and rapidity1 though not with nearly all his simplicity1 the poem of ,dante manifests a peculiar intensity of subjective feeling which was foreign to the age of ,homer1 as indeed to all pre-,christian antiquity4 ,but concerning this we need not dilate1 as it has often been duly remarked upon1 and notably by ,carlyle1 in his ,lectures on ,hero-,worship4 ,who that has once heard the wail of unutterable despair sounding in the line ,ahi1 dura terra1 perche non t' apristi8 can rest satisfied with the interpretation ,ah1 obdurate earth1 wherefore didst thou not open8 yet this rendering is literally exact4 ,a second obstacle1 hardly less formidable1 hardly less fatal to a satisfactory translation1 is presented by the highly complicated system of triple rhyme upon which ,dante's poem is constructed4 ,this1 which must ever be a stumbling-block to the translator1 seems rarely to interfere with the free and graceful movement of the original work4 ,the mighty thought of the master felt no impediment from the elaborate artistic panoply which must needs obstruct and harass the interpretation of the disciple4 ,dante's terza rima is a bow of ,odysseus which weaker mortals cannot bend with any amount of tugging1 and which ,mr4 ,longfellow has judiciously refrained from trying to bend4 ,yet no one can fail to remark the prodigious loss entailed by this necessary sacrifice of one of the most striking characteristics of the original poem4 ,let any one who has duly reflected upon the strange and subtle effect produced on him by the peculiar rhyme of ,tennyson's ,in ,memoriam1 endeavour to realize the very different effect which would be produced if the verses were to be alternated or coupled in successive pairs1 or if rhyme were to be abandoned for blank verse4 ,the exquisite melody of the poem would be silenced4 ,the rhyme-system of the ,divine ,comedy refuses equally to be tampered with or ignored4 ,its effect upon the ear and the mind is quite as remarkable as that of the rhyme-system of ,in ,memoriam2 and the impossibility of reproducing it is one good reason why ,dante must always suffer even more from translation than most poets4 ,something1 too1 must be said of the difficulties inevitably arising from the diverse structure and genius of the ,italian and ,english languages4 ,none will deny that many of them are insurmountable4 ,take the third line of the first canto1-- ,che la diritta via era smarrita1 which ,mr4 ,longfellow translates ,for the straightforward pathway had been lost4 ,perhaps there is no better word than lost by which to translate smarrita in this place2 yet the two words are far from equivalent in force4 ,about the word smarrita there is thrown a wide penumbra of meaning which does not belong to the word lost4 #ce ,by its diffuse connotations the word smarrita calls up in our minds an adequate picture of the bewilderment and perplexity of one who is lost in a trackless forest4 ,the high-road with out1 beaten hard by incessant overpassing of men and beasts and wheeled vehicles1 gradually becomes metamorphosed into the shady lane1 where grass sprouts up rankly between the ruts1 where bushes encroach upon the roadside1 where fallen trunks now and then intercept the traveller2 and this in turn is lost in crooked by-ways1 amid brambles and underbrush and tangled vines1 growing fantastically athwart the path1 shooting up on all sides of the bewildered wanderer1 and rendering advance and retreat alike hopeless4 ,no one who in childhood has wandered alone in the woods can help feeling all this suggested by the word smarrita in this passage4 ,how bald in comparison is the word lost1 which might equally be applied to a pathway1 a reputation1 and a pocket-book6 #cf ,the ,english is no doubt the most copious and variously expressive of all living languages1 yet ,i doubt if it can furnish any word capable by itself of calling up the complex images here suggested by smarrita4 #cg ,and this is but one example1 out of many that might be cited1 in which the lack of exact parallelism between the two languages employed causes every translation to suffer4 #ce ,see ,diez1 ,romance ,dictionary1 s4 v4 ,marrir4 #cf ,on literally retranslating lost into ,italian1 we should get the quite different word perduta4 #cg ,the more flexible method of ,dr4 ,parsons leads to a more satisfactory but still inadequate result3-- ,half-way on our life's ,journey1 in a wood1 ,from the right path ,i found myself astray4 ,all these1 however1 are difficulties which lie in the nature of things1--difficulties for which the translator is not responsible2 of which he must try to make the best that can be made1 but which he can never expect wholly to surmount4 ,we have now to inquire whether there are not other difficulties1 avoidable by one method of translation1 though not by another2 and in criticizing ,mr4 ,longfellow1 we have chiefly to ask whether he has chosen the best method of translation1--that which most surely and readily awakens in the reader's mind the ideas and feelings awakened by the original4 ,the translator of a poem may proceed upon either of two distinct principles4 ,in the first case1 he may render the text of his original into ,english1 line for line and word for word1 preserving as far as possible its exact verbal sequences1 and translating each individual word into an ,english word as nearly as possible equivalent in its etymological force4 ,in the second case1 disregarding mere syntactic and etymologic equivalence1 his aim will be to reproduce the inner meaning and power of the original1 so far as the constitutional difference of the two languages will permit him4 ,it is the first of these methods that ,mr4 ,longfellow has followed in his translation of ,dante4 ,fidelity to the text of the original has been his guiding principle2 and every one must admit that1 in carrying out that principle1 he has achieved a degree of success alike delightful and surprising4 ,the method of literal translation is not likely to receive any more splendid illustration4 ,it is indeed put to the test in such a way that the shortcomings now to be noticed bear not upon ,mr4 ,longfellow's own style of work so much as upon the method itself with which they are necessarily implicated4 ,these defects are1 first1 the too frequent use of syntactic inversion1 and secondly1 the too manifest preference extended to words of ,romanic over words of ,saxon origin4 ,to illustrate the first point1 let me give a few examples4 ,in ,canto ,i4 we have3-- ,so bitter is it1 death is little more2 ,but of the good to treat which there ,i found1 ,speak will ,i of the other things ,i saw there2 which is thus rendered by ,mr4 ,cary1-- ,which to remember only1 my dismay ,renews1 in bitterness not far from death4 ,yet to discourse of what there good befell1 ,all else will ,i relate discovered there2 and by ,dr4 ,parsons1-- ,its very thought is almost death to me2 ,yet1 having found some good there1 ,i will tell ,of other things which there ,i chanced to see4 #ch #ch ,tanto e amara1 che poco e piu morte3 ,ma per trattar del teen ch' i' vi trovai1 ,diro dell' altre ,bose1 ch' io v' ho scorte4 ,inferno1 ,i4 #g-aj4 ,again in ,canto ,x4 we find3-- ,their cemetery have upon this side ,with ,epicurus all his followers1 ,who with the body mortal make the soul2-- an inversion which is perhaps not more unidiomatic than ,mr4 ,cary's1-- ,the cemetery on this part obtain ,with ,epicurus all his followers1 ,who with the body make the spirit die2 but which is advantageously avoided by ,mr4 ,wright1-- ,here ,epicurus hath his fiery tomb1 ,and with him all his followers1 who maintain ,that soul and body share one common doom2 and is still better rendered by ,dr4 ,parsons1-- ,here in their cemetery on this side1 ,with his whole sect1 is ,epicurus pent1 ,who thought the spirit with its body died4 #ci #ci ,suo cimitero da questa parte hanno ,con ,epieuro tutti i suoi seguaci1 ,che l'anima col corpo morta fanno4 ,inferno1 ,x4 #ac-ae4 ,and here my eyes1 reverting to the end of ,canto ,,ix41 fall upon a similar contrast between ,mr4 ,longfellow's lines1-- ,for flames between the sepulchres were scattered1 ,by which they so intensely heated were1 ,that iron more so asks not any art1-- and those of ,dr4 ,parsons1-- ,for here mid sepulchres were sprinkled fires1 ,wherewith the enkindled tombs all-burning gleamed2 ,metal more fiercely hot no art requires4 #dj #dj ,che tra gli avelli flamme erano sparte1 ,per le quali eran si del tutto accesi1 ,che ferro piu non chiede verun' arte4 ,inferno1 ,,ix4 #aah-abj4 ,does it not seem that in all these cases ,mr4 ,longfellow1 and to a slightly less extent ,mr4 ,cary1 by their strict adherence to the letter1 transgress the ordinary rules of ,english construction2 and that ,dr4 ,parsons1 by his comparative freedom of movement1 produces better poetry as well as better ,english8 ,in the last example especially1 ,mr4 ,longfellow's inversions are so violent that to a reader ignorant of the original ,italian1 his sentence might be hardly intelligible4 ,in ,italian such inversions are permissible2 in ,english they are not2 and ,mr4 ,longfellow1 by transplanting them into ,english1 sacrifices the spirit to the letter1 and creates an obscurity in the translation where all is lucidity in the original4 ,does not this show that the theory of absolute literality1 in the case of two languages so widely different as ,english and ,italian1 is not the true one8 ,secondly1 ,mr4 ,longfellow's theory of translation leads him in most cases to choose words of ,romanic origin in preference to those of ,saxon descent1 and in many cases to choose an unfamiliar instead of a familiar ,romanic word1 because the former happens to be etymologically identical with the word in the original4 ,let me cite as an example the opening of ,canto ,,iii43-- ,per me si va nella eitti dolente1 ,per me si va nell' eterno dolore1 ,per me si va tra la perduta gente4 ,here are three lines which1 in their matchless simplicity and grandeur1 might well excite despair in the breast of any translator4 ,let us contrast ,mr4 ,longfellow's version4-- ,through me the way is to the city dolent2 ,through me the way is to eternal dole2 ,through me the way among the people lost1-- with that of ,dr4 ,parsons1--1 ,through me you reach the city of despair2 ,through me eternal wretchedness ye find2 ,through me among perdition's race ye fare4 ,i do not think any one will deny that ,dr4 ,parsons's version1 while far more remote than ,mr4 ,longfellow's from the diction of the original1 is somewhat nearer its spirit4 ,it remains to seek the explanation of this phenomenon4 ,it remains to be seen why words the exact counterpart of ,dante's are unfit to call up in our minds the feelings which ,dante's own words call up in the mind of an ,italian4 ,and this inquiry leads to some general considerations respecting the relation of ,english to other ,european languages4 ,every one is aware that ,french poetry1 as compared with ,german poetry1 seems to the ,english reader very tame and insipid2 but the cause of this fact is by no means so apparent as the fact itself4 ,that the poetry of ,germany is actually and intrinsically superior to that of ,france1 may readily be admitted2 but this is not enough to account for all the circumstances of the case4 ,it does not explain why some of the very passages in ,corneille and ,racine1 which to us appear dull and prosaic1 are to the ,frenchman's apprehension instinct with poetic fervour4 ,it does not explain the undoubted fact that we1 who speak ,english1 are prone to underrate ,french poetry1 while we are equally disposed to render to ,german poetry even more than its due share of merit4 ,the reason is to be sought in the verbal associations established in our minds by the peculiar composition of the ,english language4 ,our vocabulary is chiefly made up on the one hand of indigenous ,saxon words1 and on the other hand of words derived from ,latin or ,french4 ,it is mostly words of the first class that we learn in childhood1 and that are associated with our homeliest and deepest emotions2 while words of the second class--usually acquired somewhat later in life and employed in sedate abstract discourse--have an intellectual rather than an emotional function to fulfil4 ,their original significations1 the physical metaphors involved in them1 which are perhaps still somewhat apparent to the ,frenchman1 are to us wholly non-existent4 ,nothing but the derivative or metaphysical signification remains4 ,no physical image of a man stepping over a boundary is presented to our minds by the word transgress1 nor in using the word comprehension do we picture to ourselves any manual act of grasping4 ,it is to this double structure of the ,english language that it owes its superiority over every other tongue1 ancient or modern1 for philosophical and scientific purposes4 ,albeit there are numerous exceptions1 it may still be safely said1 in a general way1 that we possess and habitually use two kinds of language1--one that is physical1 for our ordinary purposes1 and one that is metaphysical1 for purposes of abstract reasoning and discussion4 ,we do not say like the ,germans1 that we begripe 7begreifen7 an idea1 but we say that we conceive it4 ,we use a word which once had the very same material meaning as begreifen1 but which has in our language utterly lost it4 ,we are accordingly able to carry on philosophical inquiries by means of words which are nearly or quite free from those shadows of original concrete meaning which1 in ,german1 too often obscure the acquired abstract signification4 ,whoever has dealt in ,english and ,german metaphysics will not fail to recognize the prodigious superiority of ,english in force and perspicuity1 arising mainly from the causes here stated4 ,but while this homogeneity of structure in ,german injures it for philosophical purposes1 it is the very thing which makes it so excellent as an organ for poetical expression1 in the opinion of those who speak ,english4 ,german being nearly allied to ,anglo-,saxon1 not only do its simple words strike us with all the force of our own homely ,saxon terms1 but its compounds also1 preserving their physical significations almost unimpaired1 call up in our minds concrete images of the greatest definiteness and liveliness4 ,it is thus that ,german seems to us pre-eminently a poetical language1 and it is thus that we are naturally inclined to overrate rather than to depreciate the poetry that is written in it4 ,with regard to ,french1 the case is just the reverse4 ,the ,frenchman has no ,saxon words1 but he has1 on the other hand1 an indigenous stock of ,latin words1 which he learns in early childhood1 which give outlet to his most intimate feelings1 and which retain to some extent their primitive concrete picturesqueness4 ,they are to him just as good as our ,saxon words are to us4 ,though cold and merely intellectual to us1 they are to him warm with emotion2 and this is one reason why we cannot do justice to his poetry1 or appreciate it as he appreciates it4 ,to make this perfectly clear1 let us take two or three lines from ,shakespeare3-- ,blow1 blow1 thou winter wind6 ,thou art not so unkind ,as man's ingratitude1 ,thy tooth is not so keen1 etc41 etc42 which ,i have somewhere seen thus rendered into ,french3 ,souffle1 souffle1 vent d'hiver6 ,tu n'es pas si cruel ,que l'ingratitude de l'homme4 ,ta dent n'est pas si penetrante1 etc41 etc4 ,why are we inclined to laugh as we read this8 ,because it excites in us an undercurrent of consciousness which1 if put into words1 might run something like this3-- ,insufflate1 insufflate1 wind hibernal6 ,thou art not so cruel ,as human ingratitude4 ,thy dentition is not so penetrating1 etc41 etc4 ,no such effect would be produced upon a ,frenchman4 ,the translation would strike him as excellent1 which it really is4 ,the last line in particular would seem poetical to us1 did we not happen to have in our language words closely akin to dent and penetrante1 and familiarly employed in senses that are not poetical4 ,applying these considerations to ,mr4 ,longfellow's choice of words in his translation of ,dante1 we see at once the unsoundness of the principle that ,italian words should be rendered by their ,romanic equivalents in ,english4 ,words that are etymologically identical with those in the original are often1 for that very reason1 the worst words that could be used4 ,they are harsh and foreign to the ,english ear1 however homelike and musical they may be to the ear of an ,italian4 ,their connotations are unlike in the two languages2 and the translation which is made literally exact by using them is at the same time made actually inaccurate1 or at least inadequate4 ,dole and dolent are doubtless the exact counterparts of dolore and dolente1 so far as mere etymology can go4 ,but when we consider the effect that is to be produced upon the mind of the reader1 wretchedness and despairing are fat better equivalents4 ,the former may compel our intellectual assent1 but the latter awaken our emotional sympathy4 ,doubtless by long familiarity with the ,romanic languages1 the scholar becomes to a great degree emancipated from the conditions imposed upon him by the peculiar composition of his native ,english4 ,the concrete significance of the ,romanic words becomes apparent to him1 and they acquire energy and vitality4 ,the expression dolent may thus satisfy the student familiar with ,italian1 because it calls up in his mind1 through the medium of its equivalent dolente1 the same associations which the latter calls up in the mind of the ,italian himself4 #da ,but this power of appreciating thoroughly the beauties of a foreign tongue is in the last degree an acquired taste1--as much so as the taste for olives and kirschenwasser to the carnal palate4 ,it is only by long and profound study that we can thus temporarily vest ourselves1 so to speak1 with a ,french or ,italian consciousness in exchange for our ,english one4 ,the literary epicure may keenly relish such epithets as dolent2 but the common ,english reader1 who loves plain fare1 can hardly fail to be startled by it4 ,to him it savours of the grotesque2 and if there is any one thing especially to be avoided in the interpretation of ,dante1 it is grotesqueness4 #da ,a consummate ,italian scholar1 the delicacy of whose taste is questioned by no one1 and whose knowledge of ,dante's diction is probably not inferior to ,mr4 ,longfellow's1 has told me that he regards the expression as a noble and effective one1 full of dignity and solemnity4 ,those who have read over ,dante without reading into him1 and those who have derived their impressions of his poem from ,m4 ,dore's memorable illustrations1 will here probably demur4 ,what6 ,dante not grotesque6 ,that tunnel-shaped structure of the infernal pit2 ,minos passing sentence on the damned by coiling his tail2 ,charon beating the lagging shades with his oar2 ,antaios picking up the poets with his fingers and lowering them in the hollow of his hand into the ,ninth ,circle2 ,satan crunching in his monstrous jaws the arch-traitors1 ,judas1 ,brutus and ,cassius2 ,ugolino appeasing his famine upon the tough nape of ,ruggieri2 ,bertrand de ,born looking 7if ,i may be allowed the expression7 at his own dissevered head2 the robbers exchanging form with serpents2 the whole demoniac troop of ,malebolge1--are not all these things grotesque beyond everything else in poetry8 ,to us1 nurtured in this scientific nineteenth century1 they doubtless seem so2 and by ,leigh ,hunt1 who had the eighteenth-century way of appreciating other ages than his own1 they were uniformly treated as such4 ,to us they are at first sight grotesque1 because they are no longer real to us4 ,we have ceased to believe in such things1 and they no longer awaken any feeling akin to terror4 ,but in the thirteenth century1 in the minds of ,dante and his readers1 they were living1 terrible realities4 ,that ,dante believed literally in all this unearthly world1 and described it with such wonderful minuteness because he believed in it1 admits of little doubt4 ,as he walked the streets of ,verona the people whispered1 ,see1 there is the man who has been in hell6 ,truly1 he had been in hell1 and described it as he had seen it1 with the keen eyes of imagination and faith4 ,with all its weird unearthliness1 there is hardly another book in the whole range of human literature which is marked with such unswerving veracity as the ,divine ,comedy4 ,nothing is there set down arbitrarily1 out of wanton caprice or for the sake of poetic effect1 but because to ,dante's imagination it had so imposingly shown itself that he could not but describe it as he saw it4 ,in reading his cantos we forget the poet1 and have before us only the veracious traveller in strange realms1 from whom the shrewdest cross-examination can elicit but one consistent account4 ,to his mind1 and to the mediaeval mind generally1 this outer kingdom1 with its wards of ,despair1 ,expiation1 and ,beatitude1 was as real as the ,holy ,roman ,empire itself4 ,its extraordinary phenomena were not to be looked on with critical eyes and called grotesque1 but were to be seen with eyes of faith1 and to be worshipped1 loved1 or shuddered at4 ,rightly viewed1 therefore1 the poem of ,dante is not grotesque1 but unspeakably awful and solemn2 and the statement is justified that all grotesqueness and bizarrerie in its interpretation is to be sedulously avoided4 ,therefore1 while acknowledging the accuracy with which ,mr4 ,longfellow has kept pace with his original through line after line1 following the footing of its feet1 according to the motto quoted on his title-page1 ,i cannot but think that his accuracy would have been of a somewhat higher kind if he had now and then allowed himself a little more liberty of choice between ,english and ,romanic words and idioms4 ,a few examples will perhaps serve to strengthen as well as to elucidate still further this position4 ,inferno1 ,canto ,,iii41 line #bb1 according to ,longfellow3-- ,there sighs1 complaints1 and ululations loud ,resounded through the air without a star1 ,whence ,i at the beginning wept thereat4 ,according to ,cary3-- ,here sighs1 with lamentations and loud moans ,resounded through the air pierced by no star1 ,that e'en ,i wept at entering4 ,according to ,parsons3-- ,mid sighs1 laments1 and hollow howls of woe1 ,which1 loud resounding through the starless air1 ,forced tears of pity from mine eyes at first4 #db #db ,quivi sospiri1 pianti ed alti guai ,risonavan per l' ner senza stelle1 ,perch' io al cominciar ne lagrimai4 ,canto ,v41 line #hd3-- ,,longfellow4--,fly through the air by their volition borne4 ,,cary4--,cleave the air1 wafted by their will along4 ,,parsons4--,sped ever onward by their wish alone4 #dc #dc ,volan per l' aer dal voler portate4 ,canto ,,xvii41 line #db3-- ,,longfellow4--,that he concede to us his stalwart shoulders4 ,,cary--,that to us he may vouchsafe ,the aid of his strong shoulders4 ,,parsons4--,and ask for us his shoulders' strong support4 #dd #dd ,che ne conceda i suoi omeri forti4 ,canto ,,xvii41 line #be3-- ,,longfellow4-- ,his tail was wholly quivering in the void1 ,contorting upwards the envenomed fork ,that in the guise of scorpion armed its point4 ,,cary4-- ,in the void ,glancing1 his tail upturned its venomous fork1 ,with sting like scorpions armed4 ,,parsons4--,in the void chasm his trembling tail he showed1 ,as up the envenomed1 forked point he swung1 ,which1 as in scorpions1 armed its tapering end4 #de #de ,nel vano tutta sue coda guizzava1 ,torcendo in su la venenosa forca1 ,che1 a guisa di scorpion1 la punta armava4 ,canto ,v41 line #ea3-- ,,longfellow4--,people whom the black air so castigates4 ,,cary4--,by the black air so scourged4 #df #df ,genti che l' aura nera si gastiga4 ,line #acf3-- ,,longfellow4--,kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating4 ,,cary4--,my lips all trembling kissed4 #dg #dg ,la bocca mi bacio tutto tremante4 ,purgatorio1 ,canto ,,xv41 line #aci3-- ,,longfellow4-- ,we passed along1 athwart the twilight peering ,forward as far as ever eye could stretch ,against the sunbeams serotine and lucent4 #dh #dh ,noi andavam per lo vespero attenti ,oltre1 quanto potean gli occhi allungarsi1 ,contra i raggi serotini e lucenti4 ,mr4 ,cary's bright vespertine ray is only a trifle better2 but ,mr4 ,wright's splendour of the evening ray is1 in its simplicity1 far preferable4 ,canto ,,xxxi41 line #aca3-- ,,longfellow4--,did the other three advance ,singing to their angelic saraband4 ,,cary4--,to their own carol on they came ,dancing1 in festive ring angelical ,,wright4--,and songs accompanied their angel dance4 ,here ,mr4 ,longfellow has apparently followed the authority of the ,crusca1 reading ,cantando al loro angelico carribo1 and translating carribo by saraband1 a kind of ,moorish dance4 ,the best manuscripts1 however1 sanction ,m4 ,witte's reading3-- ,danzando al loro angelico carribo4 ,if this be correct1 carribo cannot signify a dance1 but rather the song which accompanies the dance2 and the true sense of the passage will have been best rendered by ,mr4 ,cary4 #di #di ,see ,blanc1 ,vocabolario ,dantesco1 s4 v4 caribo4 ,whenever ,mr4 ,longfellow's translation is kept free from oddities of diction and construction1 it is very animated and vigorous4 ,nothing can be finer than his rendering of ,purgatorio1 ,canto ,,vi41 lines #ig-aag3-- ,o ,german ,albert6 who abandonest ,her that has grown recalcitrant and savage1 ,and oughtest to bestride her saddle-bow1 ,may a just judgment from the stars down fall ,upon thy blood1 and be it new and open1 ,that thy successor may have fear thereof3 ,because thy father and thyself have suffered1 ,by greed of those transalpine lands distrained1 ,the garden of the empire to be waste4 ,come and behold ,montecchi and ,cappelletti1 ,monaldi and ,filippeschi1 careless man6 ,those sad already1 and these doubt-depressed6 ,come1 cruel one6 come and behold the oppression ,of thy nobility1 and cure their wounds1 ,and thou shalt see how safe 8 is ,santafiore4 ,come and behold thy ,rome that is lamenting1 ,widowed1 alone1 and day and night exclaims ',my ,caesar1 why hast thou forsaken me8' ,come and behold how loving are the people2 ,and if for us no pity moveth thee1 ,come and be made ashamed of thy renown4 #ej #ej ,o ,alberto ,tedesco1 che abbandoni ,costei ch' e fatta indomita e selvaggia1 ,e dovresti inforcar li suoi arcioni1 ,giusto gindizio dalle stelle caggia ,sopra il tuo sangue1 e sia nuovo ed aperto1 ,tal che il tuo successor temenza n' aggia3 ,cheavete tu e il tuo padre sofferto1 ,per cupidigia di costa distretti1 ,che il giardin dell' imperio sia diserto4 ,vieni a veder ,montecchi e ,cappelletti1 ,monaldi e ,filippeschi1 uom senza cura3 ,color gia tristi1 e questi con sospetti4 ,vien1 crudel1 vieni1 e vedi la pressura ,de' tuoi gentili1 e cure lor magagne1 ,e vedrai ,santafior com' e oscura secura84 ,vieni a veder la tua ,roma che piagne1 ,vedova e sola1 e di e notte chiama3 ,cesare mio1 perche non m' accompagne8 ,vieni a veder la gente quanto s' ama2 ,e se nulla di noi pieta ti move1 ,a vergognar ti vien della tua fama4 ,so1 too1 ,canto ,,iii41 lines #gi-hd3-- ,as sheep come issuing forth from out the fold ,by ones1 and twos1 and threes1 and the others stand ,timidly holding down their eyes and nostrils1 ,and what the foremost does the others do ,huddling themselves against her if she stop1 ,simple and quiet1 and the wherefore know not4 #ea #ea ,come le pecorelle escon del chiuso ,ad una1 a due1 a tre1 e l' altre stanno ,timidette atterrando l' occhio e il muso2 ,e cio che fa la prima1 e l' altre sanno1 ,addossandosi a lei s' ella s' arresta1 ,semplici e quete1 e lo 'mperche non sanno4 ,francesca's exclamation to ,dante is thus rendered by ,mr4 ,longfellow3-- ,and she to me3 ,there is no greater sorrow ,than to be mindful of the happy time ,in misery4 #eb #eb ,ed ella a me3 ,nessun maggior dolore ,che ricordarsi del tempo felice ,nella miseria4 ,inferno1 ,v4 #aba-abc4 ,this is admirable1--full of the true poetic glow1 which would have been utterly quenched if some ,romanic equivalent of dolore had been used instead of our good ,saxon sorrow4 #ec ,so1 too1 the ,paradiso1 ,canto ,i41 line #ajj3-- ,whereupon she1 after a pitying sigh1 ,her eyes directed toward me with that look ,a mother casts on a delirious child4 #ed #ec ,yet admirable as it is1 ,i am not quite sure that ,dr4 ,parsons1 by taking further liberty with the original1 has not surpassed it3-- ,and she to me3 ,the mightiest of all woes ,is in the midst of misery to be cursed ,with bliss remembered4 #ed ,ond' ella1 appresso d'un pio sospiro1 ,gli occhi drizzo ver me con quel sembiante1 ,che madre fa sopra figlinol deliro4 ,and1 finally1 the beginning of the eighth canto of the ,purgatorio3-- ',t was now the hour that turneth back desire ,in those who sail the sea1 and melts the heart1 ,the day they've said to their sweet friends farewell2 ,and the new pilgrim penetrates with love1 ,if he doth hear from far away a bell ,that seemeth to deplore the dying day4 #ee #ee ,era gia l' ora che volge il disio ,ai naviganti1 e intenerisce il core ,lo di ch' hen detto ai dolci amici addio2 ,e che lo nuovo peregrin d' amore ,punge1 se ode squilla di lontano1 ,che paia il giorno pianger che si more4 ,this passage affords an excellent example of what the method of literal translation can do at its best4 ,except in the second line1 where those who sail the sea is wisely preferred to any ,romanic equivalent of naviganti the version is utterly literal2 as literal as the one the school-boy makes1 when he opens his ,virgil at the ,fourth ,eclogue1 and lumberingly reads1 ,sicilian ,muses1 let us sing things a little greater4 ,but there is nothing clumsy1 nothing which smacks of the recitation-room1 in these lines of ,mr4 ,longfellow4 ,for easy grace and exquisite beauty it would be difficult to surpass them4 ,they may well bear comparison with the beautiful lines into which ,lord ,byron has rendered the same thought3-- ,soft hour which wakes the wish1 and melts the heart1 ,of those who sail the seas1 on the first day ,when they from their sweet friends are torn apart2 ,or fills with love the pilgrim on his way1 ,as the far bell of vesper makes him start1 ,seeming to weep the dying day's decay4 ,is this a fancy which our reason scorns8 ,ah1 surely nothing dies but something mourns6 #ef #ef ,don ,juan1 ,,iii4 #ajh4 ,setting aside the concluding sentimental generalization1--which is much more ,byronic than ,dantesque1--one hardly knows which version to call more truly poetical2 but for a faithful rendering of the original conception one can hardly hesitate to give the palm to ,mr4 ,longfellow4 ,thus we see what may be achieved by the most highly gifted of translators who contents himself with passively reproducing the diction of his original1 who constitutes himself1 as it were1 a conduit through which the meaning of the original may flow4 ,where the differences inherent in the languages employed do not intervene to alloy the result1 the stream of the original may1 as in the verses just cited1 come out pure and unweakened4 ,too often1 however1 such is the subtle chemistry of thought1 it will come out diminished in its integrity1 or will appear1 bereft of its primitive properties as a mere element in some new combination4 ,our channel is a trifle too alkaline perhaps2 and that the transferred material may preserve its pleasant sharpness1 we may need to throw in a little extra acid4 ,too often the mere differences between ,english and ,italian prevent ,dante's expressions from coming out in ,mr4 ,longfellow's version so pure and unimpaired as in the instance just cited4 ,but these differences cannot be ignored4 ,they lie deep in the very structure of human speech1 and are narrowly implicated with equally profound nuances in the composition of human thought4 ,the causes which make dolente a solemn word to the ,italian ear1 and dolent a queer word to the ,english ear1 are causes which have been slowly operating ever since the ,italian and the ,teuton parted company on their way from ,central ,asia4 ,they have brought about a state of things which no cunning of the translator can essentially alter1 but to the emergencies of which he must graciously conform his proceedings4 ,here1 then1 is the sole point on which we disagree with ,mr4 ,longfellow1 the sole reason we have for thinking that he has not attained the fullest possible measure of success4 ,not that he has made a realistic translation1--so far we conceive him to be entirely right2 but that1 by dint of pushing sheer literalism beyond its proper limits1 he has too often failed to be truly realistic4 ,let us here explain what is meant by realistic translation4 ,every thoroughly conceived and adequately executed translation of an ancient author must be founded upon some conscious theory or some unconscious instinct of literary criticism4 ,as is the critical spirit of an age1 so among other things will be its translations4 ,now the critical spirit of every age previous to our own has been characterized by its inability to appreciate sympathetically the spirit of past and bygone times4 ,in the seventeenth century criticism made idols of its ancient models2 it acknowledged no serious imperfections in them2 it set them up as exemplars for the present and all future times to copy4 ,let the genial ,epicurean henceforth write like ,horace1 let the epic narrator imitate the supreme elegance of ,virgil1--that was the conspicuous idea1 the conspicuous error1 of seventeenth-century criticism4 ,it overlooked the differences between one age and another4 ,conversely1 when it brought ,roman patricians and ,greek oligarchs on to the stage1 it made them behave like ,french courtiers or ,castilian grandees or ,english peers4 ,when it had to deal with ancient heroes1 it clothed them in the garb and imputed to them the sentiments of knights-errant4 ,then came the revolutionary criticism of the eighteenth century1 which assumed that everything old was wrong1 while everything new was right4 ,it recognized crudely the differences between one age and another1 but it had a way of looking down upon all ages except the present4 ,this intolerance shown toward the past was indeed a measure of the crudeness with which it was comprehended4 ,because ,mohammed1 if he had done what he did1 in ,france and in the eighteenth century1 would have been called an impostor1 ,voltaire1 the great mouthpiece and representative of this style of criticism1 portrays him as an impostor4 ,recognition of the fact that different ages are different1 together with inability to perceive that they ought to be different1 that their differences lie in the nature of progress1--this was the prominent characteristic of eighteenth-century criticism4 ,of all the great men of that century1 ,lessing was perhaps the only one who outgrew this narrow critical habit4 ,now nineteenth-century criticism not only knows that in no preceding age have men thought and behaved as they now think and behave1 but it also understands that old-fashioned thinking and behaviour was in its way just as natural and sensible as that which is now new-fashioned4 ,it does not flippantly sneer at an ancient custom because we no longer cherish it2 but with an enlightened regard for everything human1 it inquires into its origin1 traces its effects1 and endeavours to explain its decay4 ,it is slow to characterize ,mohammed as an impostor1 because it has come to feel that ,arabia in the seventh century is one thing and ,europe in the nineteenth another4 ,it is scrupulous about branding ,caesar as an usurper1 because it has discovered that what ,mr4 ,mill calls republican liberty and what ,cicero called republican liberty are widely different notions4 ,it does not tell us to bow down before ,lucretius and ,virgil as unapproachable models1 while lamenting our own hopeless inferiority2 nor does it tell us to set them down as half-skilled apprentices1 while congratulating ourselves on our own comfortable superiority2 but it tells us to study them as the exponents of an age forever gone1 from which we have still many lessons to learn1 though we no longer think as it thought or feel as it felt4 ,the eighteenth century1 as represented by the characteristic passage from ,voltaire1 cited by ,mr4 ,longfellow1 failed utterly to understand ,dante4 ,to the minds of ,voltaire and his contemporaries the great mediaeval poet was little else than a ,titanic monstrosity1--a maniac1 whose ravings found rhythmical expression2 his poem a grotesque medley1 wherein a few beautiful verses were buried under the weight of whole cantos of nonsensical scholastic quibbling4 ,this view1 somewhat softened1 we find also in ,leigh ,hunt1 whose whole account of ,dante is an excellent specimen of this sort of criticism4 ,mr4 ,hunt's fine moral nature was shocked and horrified by the terrible punishments described in the ,inferno4 ,he did not duly consider that in ,dante's time these fearful things were an indispensable part of every man's theory of the world2 and1 blinded by his kindly prejudices1 he does not seem to have perceived that ,dante1 in accepting eternal torments as part and parcel of the system of nature1 was nevertheless1 in describing them1 inspired with that ineffable tenderness of pity which1 in the episodes of ,francesca and of ,brunetto ,latini1 has melted the hearts of men in past times1 and will continue to do so in times to come4 ,infinite pity1 yet infinite rigour of law6 ,it is so ,nature is made3 it is so ,dante discerned that she was made4 #eg ,this remark of the great seer of our time is what the eighteenth century could in no wise comprehend4 ,the men of that day failed to appreciate ,dante1 just as they were oppressed or disgusted at the sight of ,gothic architecture2 just as they pronounced the scholastic philosophy an unmeaning jargon2 just as they considered mediaeval ,christianity a gigantic system of charlatanry1 and were wont unreservedly to characterize the ,papacy as a blighting despotism4 ,in our time cultivated men think differently4 ,we have learned that the interminable hair-splitting of ,aquinas and ,abelard has added precision to modern thinking4 #eh ,we do not curse ,gregory ,,vii4 and ,innocent ,,iii4 as enemies of the human race1 but revere them as benefactors4 ,we can spare a morsel of hearty admiration for ,becket1 however strongly we may sympathize with the stalwart king who did penance for his foul murder2 and we can appreciate ,dante's poor opinion of ,philip the ,fair no less than his denunciation of ,boniface ,,viii4 ,the contemplation of ,gothic architecture1 as we stand entranced in the sublime cathedrals of ,york or ,rouen1 awakens in our breasts a genuine response to the mighty aspirations which thus became incarnate in enduring stone4 ,and the poem of ,dante--which has been well likened to a great cathedral--we reverently accept1 with all its quaint carvings and hieroglyphic symbols1 as the authentic utterance of feelings which still exist1 though they no longer choose the same form of expression4 #eg ,carlyle1 ,heroes and ,hero-,worship1 p4 #hd4 #eh ,see my ,outlines of ,cosmic ,philosophy1 ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #abc4 ,a century ago1 therefore1 a translation of ,dante such as ,mr4 ,longfellow's would have been impossible4 ,the criticism of that time was in no mood for realistic reproductions of the antique4 ,it either superciliously neglected the antique1 or else dressed it up to suit its own notions of propriety4 ,it was not like a seven-league boot which could fit everybody1 but it was like a ,procrustes-bed which everybody must be made to fit4 ,its great exponent was not a ,sainte-,beuve1 but a ,boileau4 ,its typical sample of a reproduction of the antique was ,pope's translation of the ,iliad4 ,that book1 we presume1 everybody has read2 and many of those who have read it know that1 though an excellent and spirited poem1 it is no more ,homer than the age of ,queen ,anne was the age of ,peisistratos4 ,of the translations of ,dante made during this period1 the chief was unquestionably ,mr4 ,cary's4 #ei ,for a man born and brought up in the most unpoetical of centuries1 ,mr4 ,cary certainly made a very good poem1 though not so good as ,pope's4 ,but it fell far short of being a reproduction of ,dante4 ,the eighteenth-century note rings out loudly on every page of it4 ,like much other poetry of the time1 it is laboured and artificial4 ,its sentences are often involved and occasionally obscure4 ,take1 for instance1 ,canto ,,iv4 #be-cf of the ,paradiso3 #ei ,this work comes at the end of the eighteenth-century period1 as ,pope's translation of ,homer comes at the beginning4 ,these are the questions which they will ,urge equally2 and therefore ,i the first ,of that will treat which hath the more of gall4 ,of seraphim he who is most enskied1 ,moses1 and ,samuel1 and either ,john1 ,choose which thou wilt1 nor even ,mary's self1 ,have not in any other heaven their seats1 ,than have those spirits which so late thou saw'st2 ,nor more or fewer years exist2 but all ,make the first circle beauteous1 diversely ,partaking of sweet life1 as more or less ,afflation of eternal bliss pervades them4 ,here ,mr4 ,cary not only fails to catch ,dante's grand style2 he does not even write a style at all4 ,it is too constrained and awkward to be dignified1 and dignity is an indispensable element of style4 ,without dignity we may write clearly1 or nervously1 or racily1 but we have not attained to a style4 ,this is the second shortcoming of ,mr4 ,cary's translation4 ,like ,pope's1 it fails to catch the grand style of its original4 ,unlike ,pope's1 it frequently fails to exhibit any style4 ,it is hardly necessary to spend much time in proving that ,mr4 ,longfellow's version is far superior to ,mr4 ,cary's4 ,it is usually easy and flowing1 and save in the occasional use of violent inversions1 always dignified4 ,sometimes1 as in the episode of ,ugolino1 it even rises to something like the grandeur of the original3 ,when he had said this1 with his eyes distorted1 ,the wretched skull resumed he with his teeth1 ,which1 as a dog's1 upon the bone were strong4 #fj #fj ,quand' ebbe detto cio1 eon gli occhi torti ,riprese il teschio misero coi denti1 ,che furo all' osso1 come d'un can1 forti4 ,inferno1 ,,xxxiii4 #gf4 ,that is in the grand style1 and so is the following1 which describes those sinners locked in the frozen lake below ,malebolge3-- ,weeping itself there does not let them weep1 ,and grief that finds a barrier in the eyes ,turns itself inward to increase the anguish4 #fa #fa ,lo pianto stesso li pianger non lascia1 ,e il duol1 che trova in sugli occhi rintoppo1 ,si volve in entro a far crescer l' ambascia4 ,inferno1 ,,xxxiii4 #id4 ,and the exclamation of one of these poor wretches of the frozen crust is an exclamation that ,shakespeare might have written3-- ,lift from mine eyes the rigid veils1 that ,i ,may vent the sorrow which impregns my heart4 #fb #fb ,levatemi dal viso i duri veli1 ,si ch' io sfoghi il dolor che il cor m' impregna4 ,ib4 #aab4 ,there is nothing in ,mr4 ,cary's translation which can stand a comparison with that4 ,the eighteenth century could not translate like that4 ,for here at last we have a real reproduction of the antique4 ,in the ,shakespearian ring of these lines we recognize the authentic rendering of the tones of the only man since the ,christian era who could speak like ,shakespeare4 ,in this way ,mr4 ,longfellow's translation is1 to an eminent degree1 realistic4 ,it is a work conceived and executed in entire accordance with the spirit of our time4 ,mr4 ,longfellow has set about making a reconstructive translation1 and he has succeeded in the attempt4 ,in view of what he has done1 no one can ever wish to see the old methods of ,pope and ,cary again resorted to4 ,it is only where he fails to be truly realistic that he comes short of success4 ,and1 as already hinted1 it is oftenest through sheer excess of ,,literalism that he ceases to be realistic1 and departs from the spirit of his author instead of coming nearer to it4 ,in the ,paradiso1 ,canto ,x4 #a-f1 his method leads him into awkwardness3-- ,looking into ,his ,son with all the love ,which each of them eternally breathes forth1 ,the primal and unutterable ,power ,whate'er before the mind or eye revolves ,with so much order made1 there can be none ,who this beholds without enjoying ,him4 ,this seems clumsy and halting1 yet it is an extremely literal paraphrase of a graceful and flowing original3-- ,guardando nel suo figlio con l' amore ,che l' uno e l' altro eternalmente spire1 ,lo primo ed ineffabile ,valore1 ,quanto per mente o per loco si gira ,con tanto ordine fe'1 ch' esser non puote ,senza gustar di lui ehi cio rimira ,now to turn a graceful and flowing sentence into one that is clumsy and halting is certainly not to reproduce it1 no matter how exactly the separate words are rendered1 or how closely the syntactic constructions match each other4 ,and this consideration seems conclusive as against the adequacy of the literalist method4 ,that method is inadequate1 not because it is too ,,realistic1 but because it runs continual risk of being too ,,verbalistic4 ,it has recently been applied to the translation of ,dante by ,mr4 ,rossetti1 and it has sometimes led him to write curious verses4 ,for instance1 he makes ,francesca say to ,dante1-- ,o gracious and benignant ,,animal6 for ,o animal grazioso e benigno6 ,mr4 ,longfellow's good taste has prevented his doing anything like this1 yet ,mr4 ,rossetti's extravagance is due to an unswerving adherence to the very rules by which ,mr4 ,longfellow has been guided4 ,good taste and poetic genius are1 however1 better than the best of rules1 and so1 after all said and done1 we can only conclude that ,mr4 ,longfellow has given us a great and noble work not likely soon to be equalled4 ,leopardi somewhere1 in speaking of the early ,italian translators of the classics and their well-earned popularity1 says1 who knows but ,caro will live in men's remembrance as long as ,virgil8 ,la belie destinee1 adds ,sainte-,beuve1 de ne pouvoir plus mourir1 sinon avec un immortel6 ,apart from ,mr4 ,longfellow's other titles to undying fame1 such a destiny is surely marked out for him1 and throughout the ,english portions of the world his name will always be associated with that of the great ,florentine4 ,june1 #ahfg4 ,,xii4 ,,paine',s ,,st4 ,,peter4 ,for music-lovers in ,america the great event of the season has been the performance of ,mr4 ,paine's oratorio1 ,st4 ,peter1 at ,portland1 ,june #c4 ,this event is important1 not only as the first appearance of an ,american oratorio1 but also as the first direct proof we have had of the existence of creative musical genius in this country4 ,for ,mr4 ,paine's ,mass in ,d--a work which was brought out with great success several years ago in ,berlin--has1 for some reason or other1 never been performed here4 ,and1 with the exception of ,mr4 ,paine1 we know of no ,american hitherto who has shown either the genius or the culture requisite for writing music in the grand style1 although there is some of the ,kapellmeister music1 written by our leading organists and choristers1 which deserves honourable mention4 ,concerning the rank likely to be assigned by posterity to ,st4 ,peter1 it would be foolish now to speculate2 and it would be equally unwise to bring it into direct comparison with masterpieces like the ,messiah1 ,elijah1 and ,st4 ,paul1 the greatness of which has been so long acknowledged4 ,longer familiarity with the work is needed before such comparisons1 always of somewhat doubtful value1 can be profitably undertaken4 ,but it must at least be said1 as the net result of our impressions derived both from previous study of the score and from hearing1 the performance at ,portland1 that ,mr4 ,paine's oratorio has fairly earned for itself the right to be judged by the same high standard which we apply to these noble works of ,mendelssohn and ,handel4 ,in our limited space we can give only the briefest description of the general structure of the work4 ,the founding of ,christianity1 as illustrated in four principal scenes of the life of ,st4 ,peter1 supplies the material for the dramatic development of the subject4 ,the overture1 beginning with an adagio movement in ,b-flat minor1 gives expression to the vague yearnings of that time of doubt and hesitancy when the oracles were dumb1 and the dawning of a new era of stronger and diviner faith was matter of presentiment rather than of definite hope or expectation4 ,though the tonality is at first firmly established1 yet as the movement becomes more agitated1 the final tendency of the modulations also becomes uncertain1 and for a few bars it would seem as if the key of ,f-sharp minor might be the point of destination4 ,but after a short melody by the wind instruments1 accompanied by a rapid upward movement of strings1 the dominant chord of ,c major asserts itself1 being repeated1 with sundry inversions1 through a dozen bars1 and leading directly into the triumphant and majestic chorus1 ,the time is fulfilled1 and the kingdom of heaven is at hand4 ,the second subject1 introduced by the word repent descending through the interval of a diminished seventh and contrasted with the florid counterpoint of the phrase1 and believe the glad tidings of ,god1 is a masterpiece of contrapuntal writing1 and1 if performed by a choir of three or four hundred voices1 would produce an overpowering effect4 ,the divine call of ,simon ,peter and his brethren is next described in a tenor recitative2 and the acceptance of the glad tidings is expressed in an aria1 ,the spirit of the ,lord is upon me1 which1 by an original but appropriate conception1 is given to the soprano voice4 ,in the next number1 the disciples are dramatically represented by twelve basses and tenors1 singing in four-part harmony1 and alternating or combining with the full chorus in description of the aims of the new religion4 ,the poem ends with the choral1 ,how lovely shines the ,morning ,star6 ,then follows the sublime scene from ,matthew xvi4 #ad-ah1 where ,peter declares his master to be the ,christ1 the ,son of the living ,god1--one of the most impressive scenes1 we have always thought1 in the gospel history1 and here not inadequately treated4 ,the feeling of mysterious and awful grandeur awakened by ,peter's bold exclamation1 ,thou art the ,christ1 is powerfully rendered by the entrance of the trombones upon the inverted subdominant triad of ,c-sharp minor1 and their pause upon the dominant of the same key4 ,throughout this scene the characteristic contrast between the ardent vigour of ,peter and the sweet serenity of ,jesus is well delineated in the music4 ,after ,peter's stirring aria1 ,my heart is glad1 the dramatic climax is reached in the ,c-major chorus1 ,the ,church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets4 ,the second scene is carried out to somewhat greater length1 corresponding nearly to the last half of the first part of ,elijah1 from the point where the challenge is given to the prophets of ,baal4 ,in the opening passages of mingled recitative and arioso1 ,peter is forewarned that he shall deny his ,master1 and his half-indignant remonstrance is sustained1 with added emphasis1 by the voices of the twelve disciples1 pitched a fourth higher4 ,then ,judas comes1 with a great multitude1 and ,jesus is carried before the high-priest4 ,the beautiful ,f-minor chorus1 ,we hid our faces from him1 furnishes the musical comment upon the statement that the disciples all forsook him and fled4 ,we hardly dare to give full expression to our feelings about this chorus 7which during the past month has been continually singing itself over and over again in our recollection71 lest it should be supposed that our enthusiasm has got the better of our sober judgment4 ,the second theme1 ,he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter1 yet he opened not his mouth1 is quite ,handel-like in the simplicity and massiveness of its magnificent harmonic progressions4 ,with the scene of the denial1 for which we are thus prepared1 the dramatic movement becomes exceedingly rapid1 and the rendering of the events in the high-priest's hall--,peter's bass recitative alternating its craven protestations with the clamorous agitato chorus of the servants--is stirring in the extreme4 ,the contralto aria describing the ,lord's turning and looking upon ,peter is followed by the orchestra with a lament in ,b-flat minor1 introducing the bass aria of the repentant and remorse-stricken disciple1 ,o ,god1 my ,god1 forsake me not4 ,as the last strains of the lamentation die away1 a choir of angels is heard1 of sopranos and contraltos divided1 singing1 ,remember from whence thou art fallen1 to an accompaniment of harps4 ,the second theme1 ,he that overcometh shall receive a crown of life1 is introduced in full chorus1 in a cheering allegro movement1 preparing the way for a climax higher than any yet reached in the course of the work4 ,this climax--delayed for a few moments by an andante aria for a contralto voice1 ,the ,lord is faithful and righteous--at last bursts upon us with a superb crescendo of strings1 and the words1 ,awake1 thou that sleepest1 arise from the dead1 and ,christ shall give thee light4 ,this chorus1 which for reasons presently to be given was heard at considerable disadvantage at ,portland1 contains some of the best fugue-writing in the work1 and is especially rich and powerful in its instrumentation4 ,the second part of the oratorio begins with the crucifixion and ascension of ,jesus4 ,here we must note especially the deeply pathetic opening chorus1 ,the ,son of ,man was delivered into the hands of sinful men1 the joyous allegro1 ,and on the third day he rose again1 the choral1 ,jesus1 my ,redeemer1 lives1 and the quartet1 ,feed the flock of ,god1 commenting upon the command of ,jesus1 ,feed my lambs4 ,this quartet has all the heavenly sweetness of ,handel's ,he shall feed his flock1 which it suggests by similarity of subject1 though not by similarity of treatment2 but in a certain quality of inwardness1 or religious meditativeness1 it reminds one more of ,mr4 ,paine's favourite master1 ,bach4 ,the choral1 like the one in the first part and the one which follows the scene of ,pentecost1 is taken from the ,lutheran ,choral ,book1 and arranged with original harmony and instrumentation1 in accordance with the custom of ,bach1 ,mendelssohn1 and other composers1 of introducing into their sacred compositions the old popular choral melodies which are the peculiar offspring of a religious age4 ,thus the noblest choral ever written1 the ,sleepers1 wake1 in ,st4 ,paul1 was composed in #afjd by ,praetorius1 the harmonization and accompaniment only being the work of ,mendelssohn4 ,in ,st4 ,peter1 as in ,elijah1 the second part1 while forming the true musical climax of the oratorio1 admits of a briefer description than the first part4 ,the wave of emotion answering to the sensuously dramatic element having partly spent itself1 the wave of lyric emotion gathers fresh strength1 and one feels that one has reached the height of spiritual exaltation1 while1 nevertheless1 there is not so much which one can describe to others who may not happen to have gone through with the same experience4 ,something of the same feeling one gets in studying ,dante's ,paradiso1 after finishing the preceding divisions of his poem3 there is less which can be pictured to the eye of sense1 or left to be supplied by the concrete imagination4 ,nevertheless1 in the scene of ,pentecost1 which follows that of the ,ascension1 there is no lack of dramatic vividness4 ,indeed1 there is nothing in the work more striking than the orchestration of the introductory tenor recitative1 the mysterious chorus1 ,the voice of the ,lord divideth the flames of fire1 or the amazed query which follows1 ,behold1 are not all these who speak ,galileans8 and how is it that we every one hear them in our own tongue wherein we were born8 ,we have heard the opinion expressed that ,mr4 ,paine's oratorio must be lacking in originality1 since it suggests such strong reminiscences of ,st4 ,paul4 ,now1 this suggestion1 it seems to us1 is due partly to the similarity of the subjects1 independently of any likeness in the modes of treatment1 and partly1 perhaps1 to the fact that ,mr4 ,paine1 as well as ,mendelssohn1 has been a devoted student of ,bach1 whose characteristics are so strong that they may well have left their mark upon the works of both composers4 ,but especially it would seem that there is some real1 though very general resemblance between this colloquial chorus1 ,behold1 etc41 and some choruses in ,st4 ,paul1 as1 for example ,nos4 #bi and #cf-ch4 ,in the same way the scene in the high-priest's hall might distantly suggest either of these passages1 or others in ,elijah2 ,these resemblances1 however1 are very superficial1 pertaining not to the musical but to the dramatic treatment of situations which are generically similar in so far1 and only in so far1 as they represent conversational passages between an apostle or prophet and an ignorant multitude1 whether amazed or hostile1 under the sway of violent excitement4 ,as regards the musical elaboration of these terse and striking alternations of chorus and recitative1 its originality can be questioned only after we have decided to refer all originality on such matters to ,bach1 or1 indeed1 even behind him1 into the ,middle ,ages4 ,after the preaching of ,peter1 and the sweet contralto aria1 ,as for man1 his days are as grass1 the culmination of this scene comes in the ,d-major chorus1 ,this is the witness of ,god4 ,what follows1 beginning with the choral1 ,praise to the ,father1 is to be regarded as an epilogue or peroration to the whole work4 ,it is in accordance with a sound tradition that the grand sacred drama of an oratorio should conclude with a lyric outburst of thanksgiving1 a psalm of praise to the ,giver of every good and perfect gift4 ,thus1 after ,peter's labours are ended in the aria1 ,now as ye were redeemed1 in which the twelve disciples and the full chorus join1 a duet for tenor and soprano1 ,sing unto ,god1 brings us to the grand final chorus in ,c major1 ,great and marvellous are thy works1 ,lord ,god ,almighty4 ,the cadence of this concluding chorus reminds us that one of the noteworthy points in the oratorio is the character of its cadences4 ,the cadence prepared by the #f_/d chord1 now become so hackneyed from its perpetual and wearisome repetition in popular church music1 seems to be especially disliked by ,mr4 ,paine1 as it occurs but once or twice in the course of the work4 ,in the great choruses the cadence is usually reached either by a pedal on the tonic1 as in the chorus1 ,awake1 thou that sleepest1 or by a pedal on the dominant culminating in a chord of the major ninth1 as in the final chorus2 or there is a plagal cadence1 as in the first chorus of the second part2 or1 if the #f_/d chord is introduced1 as it is in the chorus1 ,he that overcometh1 its ordinary effect is covered and obscured by the movement of the divided sopranos4 ,we do not remember noticing anywhere such a decided use of the #f_/d chord as is made1 for example1 by ,mendelssohn1 in ,thanks be to ,god1 or in the final chorus of ,st4 ,paul4 ,perhaps if we were to confess our lingering fondness for the cadence prepared by the #f_/d chord1 when not too frequently introduced1 it might only show that we retain a liking for ,new ,england psalm-tunes2 but it does seem to us that a sense of final repose1 of entire cessation of movement1 is more effectually secured by this cadence than by any other4 ,yet while the #f_/d cadence most completely expresses finality and rest1 it would seem that the plagal and other cadences above enumerated as preferred by ,mr4 ,paine have a certain sort of superiority by reason of the very incompleteness with which they express finality4 ,there is no sense of finality whatever about the ,phrygian cadence2 it leaves the mind occupied with the feeling of a boundless region beyond1 into which one would fain penetrate2 and for this reason it has1 in sacred music1 a great value4 ,something of the same feeling1 too1 attaches to those cadences in which an unexpected major third usurps the place of the minor which the ear was expecting1 as in the ,incarnatus of ,mozart's ,twelfth ,mass1 or in ,bach's sublime ,prelude1 ,part ,i41 ,no4 #bb of the ,well-tempered ,clavichord4 ,in a less degree1 an analogous effect was produced upon us by the cadence with a pedal on the tonic in the choruses1 ,the ,church is built1 and ,awake1 thou that sleepest4 ,on these considerations it may become intelligible that to some hearers ,mr4 ,paine's cadences have seemed unsatisfactory1 their ears having missed the positive categorical assertion of finality which the #f_/d cadence alone can give4 ,to go further into this subject would take us far beyond our limits4 ,the pleasant little town of ,portland has reason to congratulate itself1 first1 on being the birthplace of such a composer as ,mr4 ,paine2 secondly1 on having been the place where the first great work of ,america in the domain of music was brought out2 and thirdly1 on possessing what is probably the most thoroughly disciplined choral society in this country4 ,our ,new ,york friends1 after their recent experiences1 will perhaps be slow to believe us when we say that the ,portland choir sang this new work even better1 in many respects1 than the ,handel and ,haydn ,society sing the old and familiar ,elijah2 but it is true4 ,in their command of the pianissimo and the gradual crescendo1 and in the precision of their attack1 the ,portland singers can easily teach the ,handel and ,haydn a quarter's lessons4 ,and1 besides all this1 they know how to preserve their equanimity under the gravest persecutions of the orchestra2 keeping the even tenour of their way where a less disciplined choir1 incited by the excessive blare of the trombones and the undue scraping of the second violins1 would be likely to lose its presence of mind and break out into an untimely fortissimo4 ,no doubt it is easier to achieve perfect chorus-singing with a choir of one hundred and twenty-five voices than with a choir of six hundred4 ,but this diminutive size1 which was an advantage so far as concerned the technical excellence of the ,portland choir1 was decidedly a disadvantage so far as concerned the proper rendering of the more massive choruses in ,st4 ,peter4 ,all the greatest choruses--such as ,nos4 #a1 #h1 #ai1 #bj1 #bh1 #ce1 and #ci--were seriously impaired in the rendering by the lack of massiveness in the voices4 ,for example1 the grand chorus1 ,awake1 thou that sleepest1 begins with a rapid crescendo of strings1 introducing the full chorus on the word ,awake1 upon the dominant triad of ,d major2 and after a couple of beats the voices are reinforced by the trombones1 producing the most tremendous effect possible in such a crescendo4 ,unfortunately1 however1 the brass asserted itself at this point so much more emphatically than the voices that the effect was almost to disjoin the latter portion of the chord from its beginning1 and thus to dwarf the utterance of the word ,awake4 ,to us this effect was very disagreeable2 and it was obviously contrary to the effect intended by the composer4 ,but with a weight of four or five hundred voices1 the effect would be entirely different4 ,instead of entering upon the scene as intruders1 the mighty trombones would only serve to swell and enrich the ponderous chord which opens this noble chorus4 ,given greater weight only1 and the performance of the admirable ,portland choir would have left nothing to be desired4 ,we cannot speak with so much satisfaction of the performance of the orchestra4 ,the instrumentation of ,st4 ,peter is remarkably fine4 ,but this instrumentation was rather clumsily rendered by the orchestra1 whose doings constituted the least enjoyable part of the performance4 ,there was too much blare of brass1 whine of hautboy1 and scraping of strings4 ,but in condonation of this serious defect1 one must admit that the requisite amount of rehearsal is out of the question when one's choir is in ,portland and one's orchestra in ,boston2 besides which the parts had been inaccurately copied4 ,for a moment1 at the beginning of the orchestral lament1 there was risk of disaster1 the wind instruments failing to come in at the right time1 when ,mr4 ,paine1 with fortunate presence of mind1 stopped the players1 and the movement was begun over again1--the whole occurring so quickly and quietly as hardly to attract attention4 ,in conclusion we would say a few words suggested by a recent critical notice of ,mr4 ,paine's work in the ,nation4 ,while acknowledging the importance of the publication of this oratorio1 as an event in the art-history of ,america1 the writer betrays manifest disappointment that this work should not rather have been a symphony1 #fc and thus have belonged to what he calls the domain of absolute music4 ,now with regard to the assumption that the oratorio is not so high a form of music as the symphony1 or1 in other words1 that vocal music in general is artistically inferior to instrumental music1 we may observe1 first1 that ,ambros and ,dommer--two of the most profound musical critics now living--do not sustain it4 ,it is ,beanquier1 we think1 who suggests that instrumental music should rank above vocal1 because it is pure music1 bereft of the fictitious aids of language and of the emotional associations which are grouped about the peculiar timbre of the human voice4 #fd ,at first the suggestion seems plausible2 but on analogous grounds we might set the piano above the orchestra1 because the piano gives us pure harmony and counterpoint1 without the adventitious aid of variety in timbre4 ,and it is indeed true that1 for some such reason as this1 musicians delight in piano-sonatas1 which are above all things tedious and unintelligible to the mind untrained in music4 ,nevertheless1 in spite of its great and peculiar prerogatives1 it would be absurd to prefer the piano to the orchestra2 and there is a kindred absurdity involved in setting the orchestra above that mighty union of orchestra1 organ1 and voices which we get in the oratorio4 ,when the reason alleged for ranking the symphony above the oratorio leads us likewise to rank the sonata above the symphony1 we seem to have reached a reductio ad absurdum4 #fc ,now within two years1 ,mr4 ,paine's ,c-minor symphony has followed the completion of his oratorio4 #fd ,these peculiar associations are no doubt what is chiefly enjoyed in music1 antecedent to a properly musical culture4 ,persons of slight acquaintance with music invariably prefer the voice to the piano4 ,rightly considered1 the question between vocal and instrumental music amounts to this1 ,what does music express8 ,this is a great psychological question1 and we have not now the space or the leisure requisite for discussing it1 even in the most summary way4 ,we will say1 however1 that we do not see how music can in any way express ideas1 or anything but moods or emotional states to which the ideas given in language may add determination and precision4 ,the pure symphony gives utterance to moods1 and will be a satisfactory work of art or not1 according as the composer has been actuated by a legitimate sequence of emotional states1 like ,beethoven1 or by a desire to produce novel and startling effects1 like ,liszt4 ,but the danger in purely instrumental music is that it may run riot in the extravagant utterance of emotional states which are not properly concatenated by any normal sequence of ideas associated with them4 ,this is sometimes exemplified in the most modern instrumental music4 ,now1 as in real life our sequent clusters of emotional states are in general determined by their association with our sequent groups of intellectual ideas1 it would seem that music1 regarded as an exponent of psychical life1 reaches its fullest expressiveness when the sequence of the moods which it incarnates in sound is determined by some sequence of ideas1 such as is furnished by the words of a libretto4 ,not that the words should have predominance over the music1 or even coequal sway with it1 but that they should serve to give direction to the succession of feelings expressed by the music4 ,lift up your heads and ,hallelujah do not owe their glory to the text1 but to that tremendous energy of rhythmic and contrapuntal progression which the text serves to concentrate and justify4 ,when precision and definiteness of direction are thus added to the powerful physical means of expression which we get in the combination of chorus1 orchestra1 and organ1 we have attained the greatest sureness as well as the greatest wealth of musical expressiveness4 ,and thus we may see the reasonableness of ,dommer's opinion that in order to restrain instrumental music from ruining itself by meaningless extravagance1 it is desirable that there should be a renaissance of vocal music1 such as it was in the golden age of ,palestrina and ,orlando ,lasso4 ,we are not inclined to deny that in structural beauty--in the symmetrical disposition and elaboration of musical themes--the symphony has the advantage4 ,the words1 which in the oratorio serve to give definite direction to the currents of emotion1 may also sometimes hamper the free development of the pure musical conception1 just as in psychical life the obtrusive entrance of ideas linked by association may hinder the full fruition of some emotional state4 ,nevertheless1 in spite of this possible drawback1 it may be doubted if the higher forms of polyphonic composition fall so very far short of the symphony in capability of giving full elaboration to the musical idea4 ,the practical testimony of ,beethoven1 in his ,ninth ,symphony1 is decidedly adverse to any such supposition4 ,but to pursue this interesting question would carry us far beyond our limits4 ,whatever may be the decision as to the respective claims of vocal and instrumental music1 we have every reason for welcoming the appearance1 in our own country1 of an original work in the highest form of vocal music4 ,it is to be hoped that we shall often have the opportunity to hear with our ears this interesting work2 for as a rule great musical compositions are peculiarly unfortunate among works of art1 in being known at first hand by comparatively few persons4 ,in this way is rendered possible that pretentious kind of dilettante criticism which is so common in musical matters1 and which is often positively injurious1 as substituting a factitious public opinion for one that is genuine4 ,we hope that the favour with which the new oratorio has already been received will encourage the author to pursue the enviable career upon which he has entered4 ,even restricting ourselves to vocal music1 there is still a broad field left open for original work4 ,the secular cantata--attempted in recent times by ,schumann1 as well as by ,english composers of smaller calibre--is a very high form of vocal music2 and if founded on an adequate libretto1 dealing with some supremely grand or tragical situation1 is capable of being carried to an unprecedented height of musical elaboration4 ,here is an opportunity for original achievement1 of which it is to be hoped that some gifted and well-trained composer1 like the author of ,st4 ,peter1 may find it worth while to avail himself4 ,june1 #ahgc4 ,,xiii4 ,a ,,philosophy ,,of ,,art4 #fe #fe ,the ,philosophy of ,art4 ,by ,h4 ,taine4 ,new ,york3 ,leypoldt ,holt4 #ahfg4 ,we are glad of a chance to introduce to our readers one of the works of a great writer4 ,though not yet #ff widely known in this country1 ,m4 ,taine has obtained a very high reputation in ,europe4 ,he is still quite a young man1 but is nevertheless the author of nineteen goodly volumes1 witty1 acute1 and learned2 and already he is often ranked with ,renan1 ,littre1 and ,sainte-,beuve1 the greatest living ,french writers4 #ff ,that is1 in #ahfh4 ,hippolyte ,adolphe ,taine was born at ,vouziers1 among the grand forests of ,ardennes1 in #ahbh1 and is therefore about forty years old4 ,his family was simple in habits and tastes1 and entertained a steadfast belief in culture1 along with the possession of a fair amount of it4 ,his grandfather was sub-prefect at ,rocroi1 in #ahad and #ahae1 under the first restoration of the ,bourbons4 ,his father1 a lawyer by profession1 was the first instructor of his son1 and taught him ,latin1 and from an uncle1 who had been in ,america1 he learned ,english1 while still a mere child4 ,having gone to ,paris with his mother in #ahdb1 he began his studies at the ,college ,bourbon and in #ahdh was promoted to the ecole ,normale4 ,weiss1 ,about1 and ,prevost-,paradol were his contemporaries at this institution4 ,at that time great liberty was enjoyed in regard to the order and the details of the exercises2 so that ,taine1 with his surprising rapidity1 would do in one week the work laid out for a month1 and would spend the remainder of the time in private reading4 ,in #ahea he left college1 and after two or three unsatisfactory attempts at teaching1 in ,paris and in the provinces1 he settled down at ,paris as a private student4 ,he gave himself the very best elementary preparation which a literary man can have1--a thorough course in mathematics and the physical sciences4 ,his studies in anatomy and physiology were especially elaborate and minute4 ,he attended the ,school of ,medicine as regularly as if he expected to make his daily bread in the profession4 ,in this way1 when at the age of twenty-five he began to write books1 ,m4 ,taine was a really educated man2 and his books show it4 ,the day is past when a man could write securely1 with a knowledge of the classics alone4 ,we doubt if a philosophical critic is perfectly educated for his task1 unless he can read1 for instance1 ,donaldson's ,new ,cratylus on the one hand1 and ,rokitansky's ,pathological ,anatomy on the other1 for the sheer pleasure of the thing4 ,at any rate1 it was an education of this sort which ,m4 ,taine1 at the outset of his literary career1 had secured4 ,by this solid discipline of mathematics1 chemistry1 and medicine1 ,m4 ,taine became that which above all things he now is1--a man possessed of a central philosophy1 of an exact1 categorical1 well-defined system1 which accompanies and supports him in his most distant literary excursions4 ,he does not keep throwing out ideas at random1 like too many literary critics1 but attaches all his criticisms to a common fundamental principle2 in short1 he is not a dilettante1 but a savant4 ,his treatise on ,la ,fontaine1 in #ahec1 attracted much attention1 both the style and the matter being singularly fresh and original4 ,he has since republished it1 with alterations which serve to show that he can be docile toward intelligent criticisms4 ,about the same time he prepared for the ,french ,academy his work upon the historian ,livy1 which was crowned in #ahee4 ,suffering then from overwork1 he was obliged to make a short journey to the ,pyrenees1 which he has since described in a charming little volume1 illustrated by ,dore4 ,his subsequent works are a treatise on the ,french philosophers of the present century1 in which the vapid charlatanism of ,m4 ,cousin is satisfactorily dealt with2 a history of ,english literature in five volumes2 a humorous book on ,paris2 three volumes upon the general theory of art2 and two volumes of travels in ,italy2 besides a considerable collection of historical and critical essays4 ,we think that several of these works would be interesting to the ,american public1 and might profitably be translated4 ,some three or four years ago1 ,m4 ,taine was appointed ,professor in the ecole des ,beaux ,arts1 and we suppose his journey to ,italy must have been undertaken partly with a view to qualify himself for his new position4 ,he visited the four cities which may be considered the artistic centres of ,italy1--,rome1 ,naples1 ,florence1 and ,venice1--and a large part of his account of his journey is taken up with descriptions and criticisms of pictures1 statues1 and buildings4 ,this is a department of criticism which1 we may as well frankly acknowledge1 is far better appreciated on the continent of ,europe than in ,england or ,america4 ,over the ,english race there passed1 about two centuries ago1 a deluge of ,puritanism1 which for a time almost drowned out its artistic tastes and propensities4 ,the ,puritan movement1 in proportion to its success1 was nearly as destructive to art in the ,west1 as ,mohammedanism had long before been in the ,east4 ,in its intense and one-sided regard for morality1 ,puritanism not only relegated the love for beauty to an inferior place1 but contemned and spat upon it1 as something sinful and degrading4 ,hence1 the utter architectural impotence which characterizes the ,americans and the modern ,english2 and hence the bewildered ignorant way in which we ordinarily contemplate pictures and statues4 ,for two centuries we have been removed from an artistic environment1 and consequently can with difficulty enter into the feelings of those who have all this time been nurtured in love for art1 and belief in art for its own sake4 ,these peculiarities1 as ,mr4 ,mill has ably pointed out1 have entered deep into our ethnic character4 ,even in pure morals there is a radical difference between the ,englishman and the inhabitant of the continent of ,europe4 ,the ,englishman follows virtue from a sense of duty1 the ,frenchman from an emotional aspiration toward the beautiful ,the one admires a noble action because it is right1 the other because it is attractive4 ,and this difference underlies the moral judgments upon men and events which are to be found respectively in ,english and in continental literature4 ,by keeping it constantly in view1 we shall be enabled to understand many things which might otherwise surprise us in the writings of ,french authors4 ,we are now slowly outgrowing the extravagances of ,puritanism4 ,it has given us an earnestness and sobriety of character1 to which much of our real greatness is owing1 both here and in the mother country4 ,it has made us stronger and steadier1 but it has at the same time narrowed us in many respects1 and rendered our lives incomplete4 ,this incompleteness1 entailed by ,puritanism1 we are gradually getting rid of2 and we are learning to admire and respect many things upon which ,puritanism set its mark of contempt4 ,we are beginning1 for instance1 to recognize the transcendent merits of that great civilizing agency1 the drama2 we no longer think it necessary that our temples for worshipping ,god should be constructed like hideous barracks2 we are gradually permitting our choirs to discard the droning and sentimental modern psalm-tune for the inspiring harmonies of ,beethoven and ,mozart2 and we admit the classical picture and the undraped statue to a high place in our esteem4 ,yet with all this it will probably be some time before genuine art ceases to be an exotic among us1 and becomes a plant of unhindered native growth4 ,it will be some time before we cease to regard pictures and statues as a higher species of upholstery1 and place them in the same category with poems and dramas1 duly reverencing them as authentic revelations of the beauty which is to be found in nature4 ,it will be some time before we realize that art is a thing to be studied1 as well as literature1 and before we can be quite reconciled to the familiar way in which a ,frenchman quotes a picture as we would quote a poem or novel4 ,artistic genius1 as ,m4 ,taine has shown1 is something which will develop itself only under peculiar social circumstances2 and1 therefore1 if we have not art1 we can perhaps only wait for it1 trusting that when the time comes it will arise among us4 ,but without originating1 we may at least intelligently appreciate4 ,the nature of a work of art1 and the mode in which it is produced1 are subjects well worthy of careful study4 ,architecture and music1 poetry1 painting and sculpture1 have in times past constituted a vast portion of human activity2 and without knowing something of the philosophy of art1 we need not hope to understand thoroughly the philosophy of history4 ,in entering upon the study of art in general1 one may find many suggestive hints in the little books of ,m4 ,taine1 reprinted from the lectures which he has been delivering at the ecole des ,beaux ,arts4 ,the first1 on the ,philosophy of ,art1 designated at the head of this paper1 is already accessible to the ,american reader2 and translations of the others are probably soon to follow4 ,we shall for the present give a mere synopsis of ,m4 ,taine's general views4 ,and first it must be determined what a work of art is4 ,leaving for a while music and architecture out of consideration1 it will be admitted that poetry1 painting1 and sculpture have one obvious character in common3 they are arts of ,,imitation4 ,this1 says ,taine1 appears at first sight to be their essential character4 ,it would appear that their great object is to ,,imitate as closely as possible4 ,it is obvious that a statue is intended to imitate a living man1 that a picture is designed to represent real persons in real attitudes1 or the interior of a house1 or a landscape1 such as it exists in nature4 ,and it is no less clear that a novel or drama endeavours to represent with accuracy real characters1 actions1 and words1 giving as precise and faithful an image of them as possible4 ,and when the imitation is incomplete1 we say to the painter1 ,your people are too largely proportioned1 and the colour of your trees is false2 we tell the sculptor that his leg or arm is incorrectly modelled2 and we say to the dramatist1 ,never has a man felt or thought as your hero is supposed to have felt and thought4 ,this truth1 moreover1 is seen both in the careers of individual artists1 and in the general history of art4 ,according to ,taine1 the life of an artist may generally be divided into two parts4 ,in the first period1 that of natural growth1 he studies nature anxiously and minutely1 he keeps the objects themselves before his eyes1 and strives to represent them with scrupulous fidelity4 ,but when the time for mental growth ends1 as it does with every man1 and the crystallization of ideas and impressions commences1 then the mind of the artist is no longer so susceptible to new impressions from without4 ,he begins to nourish himself from his own substance4 ,he abandons the living model1 and with recipes which he has gathered in the course of his experience1 he proceeds to construct a drama or novel1 a picture or statue4 ,now1 the first period1 says ,taine1 is that of genuine art2 the second is that of mannerism4 ,our author cites the case of ,michael ,angelo1 a man who was one of the most colossal embodiments of physical and mental energy that the world has ever seen4 ,in ,michael ,angelo's case1 the period of growth1 of genuine art1 may be said to have lasted until after his sixtieth year4 ,but look1 says ,taine1 at the works which he executed in his old age2 consider the ,conversion of ,st4 ,paul1 and the ,last ,judgment1 painted when he was nearly seventy4 ,even those who are not connoisseurs can see that these frescos are painted by rule1 that the artist1 having stocked his memory with a certain set of forms1 is making use of them to fill out his tableau2 that he wantonly multiplies queer attitudes and ingenious foreshortenings2 that the lively invention1 the grand outburst of feeling1 the perfect truth1 by which his earlier works are distinguished1 have disappeared2 and that1 if he is still superior to all others1 he is nevertheless inferior to himself4 ,the careers of ,scott1 of ,goethe1 and of ,voltaire will furnish parallel examples4 ,in every school of art1 too1 the flourishing period is followed by one of decline2 and in every case the decline is due to a failure to imitate the living models4 ,in painting1 we have the exaggerated foreshorteners and muscle-makers who copied ,michael ,angelo2 the lovers of theatrical decorations who succeeded ,titian and ,giorgione and the degenerate boudoir-painters who followed ,claucle and ,poussin4 ,in literature1 we have the versifiers1 epigrammatists1 and rhetors of the ,latin decadence2 the sensual and declamatory dramatists who represent the last stages of old ,english comedy2 and the makers of sonnets and madrigals1 or conceited euphemists of the ,gongora school1 in the decline of ,italian and ,spanish poetry4 ,briefly it may be said1 that the masters copy nature and the pupils copy the masters4 ,in this way are explained the constantly recurring phenomena of decline in art1 and thus1 also1 it is seen that art is perfect in proportion as it successfully imitates nature4 ,but we are not to conclude that absolute imitation is the sole and entire object of art4 ,were this the case1 the finest works would be those which most minutely correspond to their external prototypes4 ,in sculpture1 a mould taken from the living features is that which gives the most faithful representation of the model2 but a well-moulded bust is far from being equal to a good statue4 ,photography is in many respects more accurate than painting2 but no one would rank a photograph1 however exquisitely executed1 with an original picture4 ,and finally1 if exact imitation were the supreme object of art1 the best tragedy1 the best comedy1 and the best drama would be a stenographic report of the proceedings in a court of justice1 in a family gathering1 in a popular meeting1 in the ,rump ,congress4 ,even the works of artists are not rated in proportion to their minute exactness4 ,neither in painting nor in any other art do we give the precedence to that which deceives the eye simply4 ,every one remembers how ,zeuxis was said to have painted grapes so faithfully that the birds came and pecked at them2 and how1 ,parrhasios1 his rival1 surpassed even this feat by painting a curtain so natural in its appearance that ,zeuxis asked him to pull it aside and show the picture behind it4 ,all this is not art1 but mere knack and trickery4 ,perhaps no painter was ever so minute as ,denner4 ,it used to take him four years to make one portrait4 ,he would omit nothing1--neither the bluish lines made by the veins under the skin1 nor the little black points scattered over the nose1 nor the bright spots in the eye where neighbouring objects are reflected2 the head seems to start out from the canvas1 it is so like flesh and blood4 ,yet who cares for ,denner's portraits8 ,and who would not give ten times as much for one which ,van ,dyck or ,tintoretto might have painted in a few hours8 ,so in the churches of ,naples and ,spain we find statues coloured and draped1 saints clothed in real coats1 with their skin yellow and bloodless1 their hands bleeding1 and their feet bruised2 and beside them ,madonnas in royal habiliments1 in gala dresses of lustrous silk1 adorned with diadems1 precious necklaces1 bright ribbons1 and elegant laces1 with their cheeks rosy1 their eyes brilliant1 their eyelashes sweeping4 ,and by this excess of literal imitation1 there is awakened a feeling1 not of pleasure1 but always of repugnance1 often of disgust1 and sometimes of horror ,so in literature1 the ancient ,greek theatre1 and the best ,spanish and ,english dramatists1 alter on purpose the natural current of human speech1 and make their characters talk under all the restraints of rhyme and rhythm4 ,but we pronounce this departure from literal truth a merit and not a defect4 ,we consider ,goethe's second ,iphigenie1 written in verse1 far preferable to the first one written in prose2 nay1 it is the rhythm or metre itself which communicates to the work its incomparable beauty4 ,in a review of ,longfellow's ,dante1 published last year1 we argued this very point in one of its special applications2 the artist must copy his original1 but he must not copy it too literally4 ,what then must he copy8 ,he must copy1 says ,taine1 the mutual relations and interdependences of the parts of his model4 ,and more than this1 he must render the essential characteristic of the object--that characteristic upon which all the minor qualities depend--as salient and conspicuous as possible4 ,he must put into the background the traits which conceal it1 and bring into the foreground the traits which manifest it4 ,if he is sculpturing a group like the ,laocoon1 he must strike upon the supreme moment1 that in which the whole tragedy reveals itself1 and he must pass over those insignificant details of position and movement which serve only to distract our attention and weaken our emotions by dividing them4 ,if he is writing a drama1 he must not attempt to give us the complete biography of his character2 he must depict only those situations which stand in direct subordination to the grand climax or denoument4 ,as a final result1 therefore4 ,taine concludes that a work of art is a concrete representation of the relations existing between the parts of an object1 with the intent to bring the essential or dominating character thereof into prominence4 ,we should overrun our limits if we were to follow out the admirable discussion in which ,m4 ,taine extends this definition to architecture and music4 ,these closely allied arts are distinguished from poetry1 painting1 and sculpture1 by appealing far less directly to the intelligence1 and far more exclusively to the emotions4 ,yet these arts likewise aim1 by bringing into prominence certain relations of symmetry in form as perceived by the eye1 or in aerial vibrations as perceived by the ear1 to excite in us the states of feeling with which these species of symmetry are by subtle laws of association connected4 ,they1 too1 imitate1 not literally1 but under the guidance of a predominating sentiment or emotion1 relations which really exist among the phenomena of nature4 ,and here1 too1 we estimate excellence1 not in proportion to the direct1 but to the indirect imitation4 ,a ,gothic cathedral is not1 as has been supposed1 directly imitated from the towering vegetation of ,northern forests2 but it may well be the expression of the dim sentiment of an unseen1 all-pervading ,power1 generated by centuries of primeval life amid such forests4 ,so the sounds which in a symphony of ,beethoven are woven into a web of such amazing complexity may exist in different combinations in nature2 but when a musician steps out of his way to imitate the crowing of cocks or the roar of the tempest1 we regard his achievement merely as a graceful conceit4 ,art is1 therefore1 an imitation of nature2 but it is an intellectual and not a mechanical imitation2 and the performances of the camera and the music-box are not to be classed with those of the violinist's bow or the sculptor's chisel4 ,and lastly1 in distinguishing art from science1 ,taine remarks1 that in disengaging from their complexity the causes which are at work in nature1 and the fundamental laws according to which they work1 science describes them in abstract formulas conveyed in technical language4 ,but art reveals these operative causes and these dominant laws1 not in arid definitions1 inaccessible to most people1 intelligible only to specially instructed men1 but in a concrete symbol1 addressing itself not only to the understanding1 but still more to the sentiments of the ordinary man4 ,art has1 therefore1 this peculiarity1 that it is at once elevated and popular1 that it manifests that which is often most recondite1 and that it manifests it to all4 ,having determined what a work of art is1 our author goes on to study the social conditions under which works of art are produced2 and he concludes that the general character of a work of art is determined by the state of intellect and morals in the society in which it is executed4 ,there is1 in fact1 a sort of moral temperature which acts upon mental development much as physical temperature acts upon organic development4 ,the condition of society does not produce the artist's talent2 but it assists or checks its efforts to display itself2 it decides whether or not it shall be successful ,and it exerts a natural selection between different kinds of talents1 stimulating some and starving others4 ,to make this perfectly clear1 we will cite at some length ,taine's brilliant illustration4 ,the case chosen for illustration is a very simple one1--that of a state of society in which one of the predominant feelings is melancholy4 ,this is not an arbitrary supposition1 for such a time has occurred more than once in human history2 in ,asia1 in the sixth century before ,christ1 and especially in ,europe1 from the fourth to the tenth centuries of our era4 ,to produce such a state of feeling1 five or six generations of decadence1 accompanied with diminution of population1 foreign invasions1 famines1 pestilences1 and increasing difficulty in procuring the necessaries of life1 are amply sufficient4 ,it then happens that men lose courage and hope1 and consider life an evil4 ,now1 admitting that among the artists who live in such a time1 there are likely to be the same relative numbers of melancholy1 joyous1 or indifferent temperaments as at other times1 let us see how they will be affected by reigning circumstances4 ,let us first remember1 says ,taine1 that the evils which depress the public will also depress the artist4 ,his risks are no less than those of less gifted people4 ,he is liable to suffer from plague or famine1 to be ruined by unfair taxation or conscription1 or to see his children massacred and his wife led into captivity by barbarians4 ,and if these ills do not reach him personally1 he must at least behold those around him affected by them4 ,in this way1 if he is joyous by temperament1 he must inevitably become less joyous2 if he is melancholy1 he must become more melancholy4 ,secondly1 having been reared among melancholy contemporaries1 his education will have exerted upon him a corresponding influence4 ,the prevailing religious doctrine1 accommodated to the state of affairs1 will tell him that the earth is a place of exile1 life an evil1 gayety a snare1 and his most profitable occupation will be to get ready to die4 ,philosophy1 constructing its system of morals in conformity to the existing phenomena of decadence1 will tell him that he had better never have been born4 ,daily conversation will inform him of horrible events1 of the devastation of a province1 the sack of a town by the ,goths1 the oppression of the neighbouring peasants by the imperial tax-collectors1 or the civil war that has just burst out between half a dozen pretenders to the throne4 ,as he travels about1 he beholds signs of mourning and despair1 crowds of beggars1 people dying of hunger1 a broken bridge which no one is mending1 an abandoned suburb which is going to ruin1 fields choked with weeds1 the blackened walls of burned houses4 ,such sights and impressions1 repeated from childhood to old age 7and we must remember that this has actually been the state of things in what are now the fairest parts of the globe71 cannot fail to deepen whatever elements of melancholy there may be already in the artist's disposition4 ,the operation of all these causes will be enhanced by that very peculiarity of the artist which constitutes his talent4 ,for1 according to the definitions above given1 that which makes him an artist is his capacity for seizing upon the essential characteristics and the salient traits of surrounding objects and events4 ,other men see things in part fragmentarily2 he catches the spirit of the ensemble4 ,and in this way he will very likely exaggerate in his works the general average of contemporary feeling4 ,lastly1 our author reminds us that a man who writes or paints does not remain alone before his easel or his writing-desk4 ,he goes out1 looks about him1 receives suggestions from friends1 from rivals1 from books1 and works of art whenever accessible1 and hears the criticisms of the public upon his own productions and those of his contemporaries4 ,in order to succeed1 he must not only satisfy to some extent the popular taste1 but he must feel that the public is in sympathy with him4 ,if in this period of social decadence and gloom he endeavours to represent gay1 brilliant1 or triumphant ideas1 he will find himself left to his own resources2 and1 as ,taine rightly says1 the power of an isolated man is always insignificant4 ,his work will be likely to be mediocre4 ,if he attempts to write like ,rabelais or paint like ,rubens1 he will get neither assistance nor sympathy from a public which prefers the pictures of ,rembrandt1 the melodies of ,chopin1 and the poetry of ,heine4 ,having thus explained his position by this extreme instance1 signified for the sake of clearness1 ,taine goes on to apply such general considerations to four historic epochs1 taken in all their complexity4 ,he discusses the aspect presented by art in ancient ,greece1 in the feudal and ,catholic ,middle ,ages1 in the centralized monarchies of the seventeenth century1 and in the scientific1 industrial democracy in which we now live4 ,out of these we shall select1 as perhaps the simplest1 the case of ancient ,greece1 still following our author closely1 though necessarily omitting many interesting details4 ,the ancient ,greeks1 observes ,taine1 understood life in a new and original manner4 ,their energies were neither absorbed by a great religious conception1 as in the case of the ,hindus and ,egyptians1 nor by a vast social organization1 as in the case of the ,assyrians and ,persians1 nor by a purely industrial and commercial regime1 as in the case of the ,phoenicians and ,carthaginians4 ,instead of a theocracy or a rigid system of castes1 instead of a monarchy with a hierarchy of civil officials1 the men of this race invented a peculiar institution1 the ,city1 each city giving rise to others like itself1 and from colony to colony reproducing itself indefinitely4 ,a single ,greek city1 for instance1 ,miletos1 produced three hundred other cities1 colonizing with them the entire coast of the ,black ,sea4 ,each city was substantially self-ruling2 and the idea of a coalescence of several cities into a nation was one which the ,greek mind rarely conceived1 and never was able to put into operation4 ,in these cities1 labour was for the most part carried on by slaves4 ,in ,athens there were four or five for each citizen1 and in places like ,korinth and ,aigina the slave population is said to have numbered four or five hundred thousand4 ,besides1 the ,greek citizen had little need of personal service4 ,he lived out of doors1 and1 like most ,southern people1 was comparatively abstemious in his habits4 ,his dinners were slight1 his clothing was simple1 his house was scantily furnished1 being intended chiefly for a den to sleep in4 ,serving neither king nor priest1 the citizen was free and sovereign in his own city4 ,he elected his own magistrates1 and might himself serve as city-ruler1 as juror1 or as judge4 ,representation was unknown4 ,legislation was carried on by all the citizens assembled in mass4 ,therefore politics and war were the sole or chief employments of the citizen4 ,war1 indeed1 came in for no slight share of his attention4 ,for society was not so well protected as in these modern days4 ,most of these ,greek cities1 scattered over the coasts of the ,aigeian1 the ,black ,sea1 and the ,mediterranean1 were surrounded by tribes of barbarians1 ,scythians1 ,gauls ,spaniards1 and ,africans4 ,the citizen must therefore keep on his guard1 like the ,englishman of to-day in ,new ,zealand1 or like the inhabitant of a ,massachusetts town in the seventeenth century4 ,otherwise ,gauls ,samnites1 or ,bithynians1 as savage as ,north ,american ,indians1 would be sure to encamp upon the blackened ruins of his town4 ,moreover1 the ,greek cities had their quarrels with each other1 and their laws of war were very barbarous4 ,a conquered city was liable to be razed to the ground1 its male inhabitants put to the sword1 its women sold as slaves4 ,under such circumstances1 according to ,taine's happy expression1 a citizen must be a politician and warrior1 on pain of death4 ,and not only fear1 but ambition also tended to make him so4 ,for each city strove to subject or to humiliate its neighbours1 to acquire tribute1 or to exact homage from its rivals4 ,thus the citizen passed his life in the public square1 discussing alliances1 treaties1 and constitutions1 hearing speeches1 or speaking himself1 and finally going aboard of his ship to fight his neighbour ,greeks1 or to sail against ,egypt or ,persia4 ,war 7and politics as subsidiary to it7 was then the chief pursuit of life4 ,but as there was no organized industry1 so there were no machines of warfare4 ,all fighting was done hand to hand4 ,therefore1 the great thing in preparing for war was not to transform the soldiers into precisely-acting automata1 as in a modern army1 but to make each separate soldier as vigorous and active as possible4 ,the leading object of ,greek education was to make men physically perfect4 ,in this respect1 ,sparta may be taken as the typical ,greek community1 for nowhere else was physical development so entirely made the great end of social life4 ,in these matters ,sparta was always regarded by the other cities as taking the lead1--as having attained the ideal after which all alike were striving4 ,now ,sparta1 situated in the midst of a numerous conquered population of ,messenians and ,helots1 was partly a great gymnasium and partly a perpetual camp4 ,her citizens were always in training4 ,the entire social constitution of ,sparta was shaped with a view to the breeding and bringing up of a strong and beautiful race4 ,feeble or ill-formed infants were put to death4 ,the age at which citizens might marry was prescribed by law2 and the ,state paired off men and women as the modern breeder pairs off horses1 with a sole view to the excellence of the off-spring4 ,a wife was not a helpmate1 but a bearer of athletes4 ,women boxed1 wrestled1 and raced2 a circumstance referred to in the following passage of ,aristophanes1 as rendered by ,mr4 ,felton3-- ,,lysistrata4 ,hail6 ,lampito1 dearest of ,lakonian women4 ,how shines thy beauty1 ,o my sweetest friend6 ,how fair thy colour1 full of life thy frame6 ,why1 thou couldst choke a bull4 ,,lampito4 ,yes1 by the ,twain2 ,for ,i do practice the gymnastic art1 ,and1 leaping1 strike my backbone with my heels4 ,,lysistrata4 ,in sooth1 thy bust is lovely to behold4 ,the young men lived together1 like soldiers in a camp4 ,they ate out-of-doors1 at a public table4 ,their fare was as simple as that of a modern university boat-crew before a race4 ,they slept in the open air1 and spent their waking hours in wrestling1 boxing1 running races1 throwing quoits1 and engaging in mock battles4 ,this was the way in which the ,spartans lived2 and though no other city carried this discipline to such an extent1 yet in all a very large portion of the citizen's life was spent in making himself hardy and robust4 ,the ideal man1 in the eyes of a ,greek1 was1 therefore not the contemplative or delicately susceptible thinker but the naked athlete1 with firm flesh and swelling muscles4 ,most of their barbarian neighbours were ashamed to be seen undressed1 but the ,greeks seem to have felt little embarrassment in appearing naked in public4 ,their gymnastic habits entirely transformed their sense of shame4 ,their ,olympic and other public games were a triumphant display of naked physical perfection4 ,young men of the noblest families and from the farthest ,greek colonies came to them1 and wrestled and ran1 undraped1 before countless multitudes of admiring spectators4 ,note1 too1 as significant1 that the ,greek era began with the ,olympic games1 and that time was reckoned by the intervals between them2 as well as the fact that the grandest lyric poetry of antiquity was written in celebration of these gymnastic contests4 ,the victor in the foot-race gave his name to the current ,olympiad2 and on reaching home1 was received by his fellow-citizens as if he had been a general returning from a successful campaign4 ,to be the most beautiful man in ,greece was in the eyes of a ,greek the height of human felicity2 and with the ,greeks1 beauty necessarily included strength4 ,so ardently did this gifted people admire corporeal perfection that they actually worshipped it4 ,according to ,herodotos1 a young ,sicilian was deified on account of his beauty1 and after his death altars were raised to him4 ,the vast intellectual power of ,plato and ,sokrates did not prevent them from sharing this universal enthusiasm4 ,poets like ,sophokles1 and statesmen like ,alexander1 thought it not beneath their dignity to engage publicly in gymnastic sports4 ,their conceptions of divinity were framed in accordance with these general habits4 ,though sometimes1 as in the case of ,hephaistos1 the exigencies of the particular myth required the deity to be physically imperfect1 yet ordinarily the ,greek god was simply an immortal man1 complete in strength and beauty4 ,the deity was not invested with the human form as a mere symbol4 ,they could conceive no loftier way of representing him4 ,the grandest statue1 expressing most adequately the calmness of absolutely unfettered strength1 might well1 in their eyes1 be a veritable portrait of divinity4 ,to a ,greek1 beauty of form was a consecrated thing4 ,more than once a culprit got off with his life because it would have been thought sacrilegious to put an end to such a symmetrical creature4 ,and for a similar reason1 the ,greeks1 though perhaps not more humane than the ,europeans of the ,middle ,ages1 rarely allowed the human body to be mutilated or tortured4 ,the condemned criminal must be marred as little as possible2 and he was1 therefore1 quietly poisoned1 instead of being hung1 beheaded1 or broken on the wheel4 ,is not the unapproachable excellence of ,greek statuary--that art never since equalled1 and most likely1 from the absence of the needful social stimulus1 destined never to be equalled--already sufficiently explained8 ,consider1 says our author1 the nature of the ,greek sculptor's preparation4 ,these men have observed the human body naked and in movement1 in the bath and the gymnasium1 in sacred dances and public games4 ,they have noted those forms and attitudes in which are revealed vigour1 health1 and activity4 ,and during three or four hundred years they have thus modified1 corrected and developed their notions of corporeal beauty4 ,there is1 therefore1 nothing surprising in the fact that ,greek sculpture finally arrived at the ideal model1 the perfect type1 as it was1 of the human body4 ,our highest notions of physical beauty1 down to the present day1 have been bequeathed to us by the ,greeks4 ,the earliest modern sculptors who abandoned the bony1 hideous1 starveling figures of the monkish ,middle ,ages1 learned their first lessons in better things from ,greek bas-reliefs4 ,and if1 to-day1 forgetting our half-developed bodies1 inefficiently nourished1 because of our excessive brain-work1 and with their muscles weak and flabby from want of strenuous exercise1 we wish to contemplate the human form in its grandest perfection1 we must go to ,hellenic art for our models4 ,the ,greeks were1 in the highest sense of the word1 an intellectual race2 but they never allowed the mind to tyrannize over the body4 ,spiritual perfection1 accompanied by corporeal feebleness1 was the invention of asceticism2 and the ,greeks were never ascetics4 ,diogenes might scorn superfluous luxuries1 but if he ever rolled and tumbled his tub about as ,rabelais says he did1 it is clear that the victory of spirit over body formed no part of his theory of things4 ,such an idea would have been incomprehensible to a ,greek in ,plato's time4 ,their consciences were not over active4 ,they were not burdened with a sense of sinfulness4 ,their aspirations were decidedly finite2 and they believed in securing the maximum completeness of this terrestrial life4 ,consequently they never set the physical below the intellectual4 ,to return to our author1 they never1 in their statues1 subordinated symmetry to expression1 the body to the head4 ,they were interested not only in the prominence of the brows1 the width of the forehead1 and the curvature of the lips1 but quite as much in the massiveness of the chest1 the compactness of the thighs1 and the solidity of the arms and legs4 ,not only the face1 but the whole body1 had for them its physiognomy4 ,they left picturesqueness to the painter1 and dramatic fervour to the poet2 and keeping strictly before their eyes the narrow but exalted problem of representing the beauty of symmetry1 they filled their sanctuaries and public places with those grand motionless people of brass1 gold1 ivory1 copper1 and marble1 in whom humanity recognizes its highest artistic types4 ,statuary was the central art of ,greece4 ,no other art was so popular1 or so completely expressed the national life4 ,the number of statues was enormous4 ,in later days1 when ,rome had spoiled the ,greek world of its treasures1 the ,imperial ,city possessed a population of statues almost equal in number to its population of human beings4 ,and at the present day1 after all the destructive accidents of so many intervening centuries1 it is estimated that more than sixty thousand statues have been obtained from ,rome and its suburbs alone4 ,in citing this admirable exposition as a specimen of ,m4 ,taine's method of dealing with his subject1 we have refrained from disturbing the pellucid current of thought by criticisms of our own4 ,we think the foregoing explanation correct enough1 so far as it goes1 though it deals with the merest rudiments of the subject1 and really does nothing toward elucidating the deeper mysteries of artistic production4 ,for this there is needed a profounder psychology than ,m4 ,taine's4 ,but whether his theory of art be adequate or not1 there can be but one opinion as to the brilliant eloquence with which it is set forth4 ,june1 #ahfh4 ,,xiv4 ,,athenian ,,and ,,american ,,life4 ,,in a very interesting essay on ,british and ,foreign ,characteristics1 published a few years ago1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,r4 ,greg quotes the famous letter of the ,turkish cadi to ,mr4 ,layard1 with the comment that it contains the germ and element of a wisdom to which our busy and bustling existence is a stranger2 and he uses it as a text for an instructive sermon on the gospel of leisure4 ,he urges1 with justice1 that the too eager and restless modern man1 absorbed in problems of industrial development1 may learn a wholesome lesson from the contemplation of his ,oriental brother1 who cares not to say1 ,behold1 this star spinneth round that star1 and this other star with a tail cometh and goeth in so many years2 who aspires not after a double stomach1 nor hopes to attain to ,paradise by seeking with his eyes4 ,if any one may be thought to stand in need of some such lesson1 it is the ,american of to-day4 ,just as far as the ,turk carries his apathy to excess1 does the ,american carry to excess his restlessness4 ,but just because the incurious idleness of the ,turk is excessive1 so as to be detrimental to completeness of living1 it is unfit to supply us with the hints we need concerning the causes1 character1 and effects of our over-activity4 ,a sermon of leisure1 if it is to be of practical use to us1 must not be a sermon of laziness4 ,the ,oriental state of mind is incompatible with progressive improvement of any sort1 physical1 intellectual1 or moral4 ,it is one of the phenomena attendant upon the arrival of a community at a stationary condition before it has acquired a complex civilization4 ,and it appears serviceable rather as a background upon which to exhibit in relief our modern turmoil1 than by reason of any lesson which it is itself likely to convey4 ,let us in preference study one of the most eminently progressive of all the communities that have existed4 ,let us take an example quite different from any that can be drawn from ,oriental life1 but almost equally contrasted with any that can be found among ourselves2 and let us1 with the aid of it1 examine the respective effects of leisure and of hurry upon the culture of the community4 ,what do modern critics mean by the healthy completeness of ancient life1 which they are so fond of contrasting with the heated1 discontented1 or imperfect and one-sided existence of modern communities8 ,is this a mere set of phrases1 suited to some imaginary want of the literary critic1 but answering to nothing real8 ,are they to be summarily disposed of as resting upon some tacit assumption of that old-grannyism which delights in asseverating that times are not what they used to be8 ,is the contrast an imaginary one1 due to the softened1 cheerful light with which we are wont to contemplate classic antiquity through the charmed medium of its incomparable literature8 ,or is it a real contrast1 worthy of the attention and analysis of the historical inquirer8 ,the answer to these queries will lead us far into the discussion of the subject which we have propounded1 and we shall best reach it by considering some aspects of the social condition of ancient ,greece4 ,the lessons to be learned from that wonderful country are not yet exhausted ,each time that we return to that richest of historic mines1 and delve faithfully and carefully1 we shall be sure to dig up some jewel worth carrying away4 ,and in considering ancient ,greece1 we shall do well to confine our attention1 for the sake of definiteness of conception1 to a single city4 ,comparatively homogeneous as ,greek civilization was1 there was nevertheless a great deal of difference between the social circumstances of sundry of its civic communities4 ,what was true of ,athens was frequently not true of ,sparta or ,thebes1 and general assertions about ancient ,greece are often likely to be collect only in a loose and general way4 ,in speaking1 therefore1 of ,greece1 ,i must be understood in the main as referring to ,athens1 the eye and light of ,greece1 the nucleus and centre of ,hellenic culture4 ,let us note first that ,athens was a large city surrounded by pleasant village-suburbs1--the demes of ,attika1--very much as ,boston is closely girdled by rural places like ,brookline1 ,jamaica ,plain1 and the rest1 village after village rather thickly covering a circuit of from ten to twenty miles' radius4 ,the population of ,athens with its suburbs may perhaps have exceeded half a million2 but the number of adult freemen bearing arms did not exceed twenty-five thousand4 #fg ,for every one of these freemen there were four or five slaves2 not ignorant1 degraded labourers1 belonging to an inferior type of humanity1 and bearing the marks of a lower caste in their very personal formation and in the colour of their skin1 like our lately-enslaved negroes2 but intelligent1 skilled labourers1 belonging usually to the ,hellenic1 and at any rate to the ,aryan race1 as fair and perhaps as handsome as their masters1 and not subjected to especial ignominy or hardship4 ,these slaves1 of whom there were at least one hundred thousand adult males1 relieved the twenty-five thousand freemen of nearly all the severe drudgery of life2 and the result was an amount of leisure perhaps never since known on an equal scale in history4 #fg ,see ,herod4 ,v4 #ig2 ,aristoph4 ,ekkl4 #dcb2 ,thukyd4 ,,ii4 #ac2 ,plutarch1 ,perikl4 #cg4 ,the relations of master and slave in ancient ,athens constituted1 of course1 a very different phenomenon from anything which the history of our own ,southern ,states has to offer us4 ,our ,southern slaveholders lived in an age of industrial development2 they were money-makers3 they had their full share of business in managing the operations for which their labourers supplied the crude physical force4 ,it was not so in ,athens4 ,the era of civilization founded upon organized industry had not begun2 money-making had not come to be1 with the ,greeks1 the one all-important end of life2 and mere subsistence1 which is now difficult1 was then easy4 ,the ,athenian lived in a mild1 genial1 healthy climate1 in a country which has always been notable for the activity and longevity of its inhabitants4 ,he was frugal in his habits1--a wine-drinker and an eater of meat1 but rarely addicted to gluttony or intemperance4 ,his dress was inexpensive1 for the ,greek climate made but little protection necessary1 and the gymnastic habits of the ,greeks led them to esteem more highly the beauty of the body than that of its covering4 ,his house was simple1 not being intended for social purposes1 while of what we should call home-life the ,greeks had none4 ,the house was a shelter at night1 a place where the frugal meal might be taken1 a place where the wife might stay1 and look after the household slaves or attend to the children4 ,and this brings us to another notable feature of ,athenian life4 ,the wife having no position in society1 being nothing1 indeed1 but a sort of household utensil1 how greatly was life simplified6 ,what a door for expenditure was there1 as yet securely closed1 and which no one had thought of opening6 ,no milliner's or dressmaker's bills1 no evening parties1 no ,protean fashions1 no elegant furniture1 no imperious necessity for ,kleanthes to outshine ,kleon1 no coaches1 no ,chateau ,margaux1 no journeys to ,arkadia in the summer6 ,in such a state of society1 as one may easily see1 the labour of one man would support half a dozen4 ,it cost the ,athenian but a few cents daily to live1 and even these few cents might be earned by his slaves4 ,we need not1 therefore1 be surprised to learn that in ancient ,athens there were no paupers or beggars4 ,there might be poverty1 but indigence was unknown2 and because of the absence of fashion1 style1 and display1 even poverty entailed no uncomfortable loss of social position4 ,the ,athenians valued wealth highly1 no doubt1 as a source of contributions to public festivals and to the necessities of the state4 ,but as far as the circumstances of daily life go1 the difference between the rich man and the poor man was immeasurably less than in any modern community1 and the incentives to the acquirement of wealth were1 as a consequence1 comparatively slight4 ,i do not mean to say that the ,athenians did not engage in business4 ,their city was a commercial city1 and their ships covered the ,mediterranean4 ,they had agencies and factories at ,marseilles1 on the remote coasts of ,spain1 and along the shores of the ,black ,sea4 ,they were in many respects the greatest commercial people of antiquity1 and doubtless knew1 as well as other people1 the keen delights of acquisition4 ,but my point is1 that with them the acquiring of property had not become the chief or only end of life4 ,production was carried on almost entirely by slave-labour2 interchange of commodities was the business of the masters1 and commerce was in those days simple4 ,banks1 insurance companies1 brokers' boards1--all these complex instruments of ,mammon were as yet unthought of4 ,there was no ,wall ,street in ancient ,athens2 there were no great failures1 no commercial panics1 no over-issues of stock4 ,commerce1 in short1 was a quite subordinate matter1 and the art of money-making was in its infancy4 ,the twenty-five thousand ,athenian freemen thus enjoyed1 on the whole1 more undisturbed leisure1 more freedom from petty harassing cares1 than any other community known to history4 ,nowhere else can we find1 on careful study1 so little of the hurry and anxiety which destroys the even tenour of modern life1--nowhere else so few of the circumstances which tend to make men insane1 inebriate1 or phthisical1 or prematurely old4 ,this being granted1 it remains only to state and illustrate the obverse fact4 ,it is not only true that ,athens has produced and educated a relatively larger number of men of the highest calibre and most complete culture than any other community of like dimensions which has ever existed2 but it is also true that there has been no other community1 of which the members have1 as a general rule1 been so highly cultivated1 or have attained individually such completeness of life4 ,in proof of the first assertion it will be enough to mention such names as those of ,solon1 ,themistokles1 ,perikles1 and ,demosthenes2 ,isokrates and ,lysias2 ,aristophanes and ,menander2 ,aischylos1 ,sophokles1 and ,euripides2 ,pheidias and ,praxiteles2 ,sokrates and ,plato2 ,thukydides and ,xenophon3 remembering that these men1 distinguished for such different kinds of achievement1 but like each other in consummateness of culture1 were all produced within one town in the course of three centuries4 ,at no other time and place in human history has there been even an approach to such a fact as this4 ,my other assertion1 about the general culture of the community in which such men were reared1 will need a more detailed explanation4 ,when ,i say that the ,athenian public was1 on the whole1 the most highly cultivated public that has ever existed1 ,i refer of course to something more than what is now known as literary culture4 ,of this there was relatively little in the days of ,athenian greatness2 and this was because there was not yet need for it or room for it4 ,greece did not until a later time begin to produce scholars and savants2 for the function of scholarship does not begin until there has been an accumulation of bygone literature to be interpreted for the benefit of those who live in a later time4 ,grecian greatness was already becoming a thing of the past1 when scholarship and literary culture of the modern type began at ,rome and ,alexandria4 ,the culture of the ancient ,athenians was largely derived from direct intercourse with facts of nature and of life1 and with the thoughts of rich and powerful minds orally expressed4 ,the value of this must not be underrated4 ,we moderns are accustomed to get so large a portion of our knowledge and of our theories of life out of books1 our taste and judgment are so largely educated by intercourse with the printed page1 that we are apt to confound culture with book-knowledge2 we are apt to forget the innumerable ways in which the highest intellectual faculties may be disciplined without the aid of literature4 ,we must study antiquity to realize how thoroughly this could be done4 ,but even in our day1 how much more fruitful is the direct influence of an original mind over us1 in the rare cases when it can be enjoyed1 than any indirect influence which the same mind may exert through the medium of printed books6 ,what fellow of a college1 placed amid the most abundant and efficient implements of study1 ever gets such a stimulus to the highest and richest intellectual life as was afforded to ,eckermann by his daily intercourse with ,goethe8 ,the breadth of culture and the perfection of training exhibited by ,john ,stuart ,mill need not surprise us when we recollect that his earlier days were spent in the society of ,james ,mill and ,jeremy ,bentham4 ,and the remarkable extent of view1 the command of facts1 and the astonishing productiveness of such modern ,frenchmen as ,sainte-,beuve and ,littre become explicable when we reflect upon the circumstance that so many able and brilliant men are collected in one city1 where their minds may continually and directly react upon each other4 ,it is from the lack of such personal stimulus that it is difficult or indeed wellnigh impossible1 even for those whose resources are such as to give them an extensive command of books1 to keep up to the highest level of contemporary culture while living in a village or provincial town4 ,and it is mainly because of the personal stimulus which it affords to its students1 that a great university1 as a seat of culture1 is immeasurably superior to a small one4 ,nevertheless1 the small community in any age possesses one signal advantage over the large one1 in its greater simplicity of life and its consequent relative leisure4 ,it was the prerogative of ancient ,athens that it united the advantages of the large to those of the small community4 ,in relative simplicity of life it was not unlike the modern village1 while at the same time it was the metropolis where the foremost minds of the time were enabled to react directly upon one another4 ,in yet another respect these opposite advantages were combined4 ,the twenty-five thousand free inhabitants might perhaps all know something of each other4 ,in this respect ,athens was doubtless much like a ,new ,england country town1 with the all-important difference that the sordid tone due to continual struggle for money was absent4 ,it was like the small town in the chance which it afforded for publicity and community of pursuits among its inhabitants4 ,continuous and unrestrained social intercourse was accordingly a distinctive feature of ,athenian life4 ,and1 as already hinted1 this intercourse did not consist in evening flirtations1 with the eating of indigestible food at unseasonable hours1 and the dancing of the ,german4 ,it was carried on out-of-doors in the brightest sunlight2 it brooked no effeminacy2 its amusements were athletic games1 or dramatic entertainments1 such as have hardly since been equalled4 ,its arena was a town whose streets were filled with statues and adorned with buildings1 merely to behold which was in itself an education4 ,the participators in it were not men with minds so dwarfed by exclusive devotion to special pursuits that after talking shop they could find nothing else save wine and cookery to converse about4 ,they were men with minds fresh and open for the discussion of topics which are not for a day only4 ,a man like ,sokrates1 living in such a community1 did not need to write down his wisdom4 ,he had no such vast public as the modern philosopher has to reach4 ,he could hail any one he happened to pass in the street1 begin an argument with him forthwith1 and set a whole crowd thinking and inquiring about subjects the mere contemplation of which would raise them for the moment above matters of transient concern4 ,for more than half a century any citizen might have gratis the benefit of oral instruction from such a man as he4 ,and ,i sometimes think1 by the way1 that--curtailed as it is to literary proportions in the dialogues of ,plato1 bereft of all that personal potency which it had when it flowed1 instinct with earnestness1 from the lips of the teacher--even to this day the wit of man has perhaps devised no better general gymnastics for the understanding than the ,sokratic dialectic4 ,i am far from saying that all ,athens listened to ,sokrates or understood him3 had it been so1 the caricature of ,aristophanes would have been pointless1 and the sublime yet mournful trilogy of dialogues which pourtray the closing scenes of the greatest life of antiquity would never have been written4 ,but the mere fact that such a man lived and taught in the way that he did goes far in proof of the deep culture of the ,athenian public4 ,further confirmation is to be found in the fact that such tragedies as the ,antigone1 the ,oidipous1 and the ,prometheus were written to suit the popular taste of the time2 not to be read by literary people1 or to be performed before select audiences such as in our day listen to ,ristori or ,janauschek1 but to hold spell-bound that vast concourse of all kinds of people which assembled at the ,dionysiac festivals4 ,still further proof is furnished by the exquisite literary perfection of ,greek writings4 ,one of the common arguments in favour of the study of ,greek at the present day is based upon the opinion that in the best works extant in that language the art of literary expression has reached wellnigh absolute perfection4 ,i fully concur in this opinion1 so far as to doubt if even the greatest modern writers1 even a ,pascal or a ,voltaire1 can fairly sustain a comparison with such ,athenians as ,plato or ,lysias4 ,this excellence of the ancient books is in part immediately due to the fact that they were not written in a hurry1 or amid the anxieties of an over-busy existence2 but it is in greater part due to the indirect consequences of a leisurely life4 ,these books were written for a public which knew well how to appreciate the finer beauties of expression2 and1 what is still more to the point1 their authors lived in a community where an elegant style was habitual4 ,before a matchless style can be written1 there must be a good style in the air1 as the ,french say4 ,probably the most finished talking and writing of modern times has been done in and about the ,french court in the seventeenth century2 and it is accordingly there that we find men like ,pascal and ,bossuet writing a prose which for precision1 purity1 and dignity has never since been surpassed4 ,it is thus that the unapproachable literary excellence of ancient ,greek books speaks for the genuine culture of the people who were expected to read them1 or to hear them read4 ,for one of the surest indices of true culture1 whether professedly literary or not1 is the power to express one's self in precise1 rhythmical1 and dignified language4 ,we hardly need a better evidence than this of the superiority of the ancient community in the general elevation of its tastes and perceptions4 ,recollecting how ,herodotos read his history at the ,olympic games1 let us try to imagine even so picturesque a writer as ,mr4 ,parkman reading a few chapters of his ,jesuits in ,north ,america before the spectators assembled at the ,jerome ,park races1 and we shall the better realize how deep-seated was ,hellenic culture4 ,as yet1 however1 ,i have referred to but one side of ,athenian life4 ,though seekers after wisdom1 the cultivated people of ,athens did not spend all their valuable leisure in dialectics or in connoisseurship4 ,they were not a set of dilettanti or dreamy philosophers1 and they were far from subordinating the material side of life to the intellectual4 ,also1 though they dealt not in money-making after the eager fashion of modern men1 they had still concerns of immediate practical interest with which to busy themselves4 ,each one of these twenty-five thousand free ,athenians was not only a free voter1 but an office-holder1 a legislator1 a judge4 ,they did not control the government through a representative body1 but they were themselves the government4 ,they were1 one and all1 in turn liable to be called upon to make laws1 and to execute them after they were made1 as well as to administer justice in civil and criminal suits4 ,the affairs and interests1 not only of their own city1 but of a score or two of scattered dependencies1 were more or less closely to be looked after by them4 ,it lay with them to declare war1 to carry it on after declaring it1 and to pay the expenses of it4 ,actually and not by deputy they administered the government of their own city1 both in its local and in its imperial relations4 ,all this implies a more thorough1 more constant1 and more vital political training than that which is implied by the modern duties of casting a ballot and serving on a jury4 ,the life of the ,athenian was emphatically a political life4 ,from early manhood onward1 it was part of his duty to hear legal questions argued by powerful advocates1 and to utter a decision upon law and fact2 or to mix in debate upon questions of public policy1 arguing1 listening1 and pondering4 ,it is customary to compare the political talent of the ,greeks unfavourably with that displayed by the ,romans1 and ,i have no wish to dispute this estimate4 ,but on a careful study it will appear that the ,athenians1 at least1 in a higher degree than any other community of ancient times1 exhibited parliamentary tact1 or the ability to sit still while both sides of a question are getting discussed1--that sort of political talent for which the ,english races are distinguished1 and to the lack of which so many of the political failures of the ,french are egregiously due4 ,one would suppose that a judicature of the whole town would be likely to execute a sorry parody of justice2 yet justice was by no means ill-administered at ,athens4 ,even the most unfortunate and disgraceful scenes1--as where the proposed massacre of the ,mytilenaians was discussed1 and where summary retribution was dealt out to the generals who had neglected their duty at ,arginusai1--even these scenes furnish1 when thoroughly examined1 as by ,mr4 ,grote1 only the more convincing proof that the ,athenian was usually swayed by sound reason and good sense to an extraordinary degree4 ,all great points in fact1 were settled rather by sober appeals to reason than by intrigue or lobbying2 and one cannot help thinking that an ,athenian of the time of ,perikles would have regarded with pitying contempt the trick of the previous question4 ,and this explains the undoubted pre-eminence of ,athenian oratory4 ,this accounts for the fact that we find in the forensic annals of a single city1 and within the compass of a single century1 such names as ,lysias1 ,isokrates1 ,andokides1 ,hypereides1 ,aischines1 and ,demosthenes4 ,the art of oratory1 like the art of sculpture1 shone forth more brilliantly then than ever since1 because then the conditions favouring its development were more perfectly combined than they have since been4 ,now1 a condition of society in which the multitude can always be made to stand quietly and listen to a logical discourse is a condition of high culture4 ,readers of ,xenophon's ,anabasis will remember the frequency of the speeches in that charming book4 ,whenever some terrible emergency arose1 or some alarming quarrel or disheartening panic occurred1 in the course of the retreat of the ,ten ,thousand1 an oration from one of the commanders--not a demagogue's appeal to the lower passions1 but a calm exposition of circumstances addressed to the sober judgment--usually sufficed to set all things in order4 ,to my mind this is one of the most impressive historical lessons conveyed in ,xenophon's book4 ,and this peculiar kind of self-control1 indicative of intellectual sobriety and high moral training1 which was more or less characteristic of all ,greeks1 was especially characteristic of the ,athenians4 ,these illustrations will1 ,i hope1 suffice to show that there is nothing extravagant in the high estimate which ,i have made of ,athenian culture4 ,i have barely indicated the causes of this singular perfection of individual training in the social circumstances amid which the ,athenians lived4 ,i have alleged it as an instance of what may be accomplished by a well-directed leisure and in the absence or very scanty development of such a complex industrial life as that which surrounds us to-day4 ,but ,i have not yet quite done with the ,athenians4 ,before leaving this part of the subject1 ,i must mention one further circumstance which tends to make ancient life appear in our eyes more sunny and healthy and less distressed1 than the life of modern times4 ,and in this instance1 too1 though we are not dealing with any immediate or remote effects of leisureliness1 we still have to note the peculiar advantage gained by the absence of a great complexity of interests in the ancient community4 ,with respect to religion1 the ,athenians were peculiarly situated4 ,they had for the most part outgrown the primitive terrorism of fetishistic belief4 ,save in cases of public distress1 as in the mutilation of the ,hermai1 or in the refusal of ,nikias to retreat from ,syracuse because of an eclipse of the moon1 they were no longer1 like savages1 afraid of the dark4 ,their keen aesthetic sense had prevailed to turn the horrors of a primeval nature-worship into beauties4 ,their springs and groves were peopled by their fancy with naiads and dryads1 not with trolls and grotesque goblins4 ,their feelings toward the unseen powers at work about them were in the main pleasant2 as witness the little story about ,pheidippides meeting the god ,pan as he was making with hot haste toward ,sparta to announce the arrival of the ,persians4 ,now1 while this original source of mental discomfort1 which afflicts the uncivilized man1 had ceased materially to affect the ,athenians1 they on the other hand lived at a time when the vague sense of sin and self-reproof which was characteristic of the early ages of ,christianity1 had not yet invaded society4 ,the vast complication of life brought about by the extension of the ,roman ,empire led to a great development of human sympathies1 unknown in earlier times1 and called forth unquiet yearnings1 desire for amelioration1 a sense of short-coming1 and a morbid self-consciousness4 ,it is accordingly under ,roman sway that we first come across characters approximating to the modern type1 like ,cicero1 ,seneca1 ,epictetus1 and ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,it is then that we find the idea of social progress first clearly expressed1 that we discover some glimmerings of a conscious philanthropy1 and that we detect the earliest symptoms of that unhealthy tendency to subordinate too entirely the physical to the moral life1 which reached its culmination in the ,middle ,ages4 ,in the palmy days of the ,athenians it was different4 ,when we hint that they were not consciously philanthropists1 we do not mean that they were not humane2 when we accredit them with no idea of progress1 we do not forget how much they did to render both the idea and the reality possible2 when we say that they had not a distressing sense of spiritual unworthiness1 we do not mean that they had no conscience4 ,we mean that their moral and religious life sat easily on them1 like their own graceful drapery1--did not gall and worry them1 like the hair-cloth garment of the monk4 ,they were free from that dark conception of a devil which lent terror to life in the ,middle ,ages2 and the morbid self-consciousness which led mediaeval women to immure themselves in convents would have been to an ,athenian quite inexplicable4 ,they had1 in short1 an open and childlike conception of religion2 and1 as such1 it was a sunny conception4 ,any one who will take the trouble to compare an idyl of ,theokritos with a modern pastoral1 or the poem of ,kleanthes with a modern hymn1 or the ,aphrodite of ,melos with a modern ,madonna1 will realize most effectually what ,i mean4 ,and1 finally1 the religion of the ,athenians was in the main symbolized in a fluctuating mythology1 and had never been hardened into dogmas4 ,the ,athenian was subject to no priest1 nor was he obliged to pin his faith to any formulated creed4 ,his hospitable polytheism left little room for theological persecution1 and none for any heresy short of virtual atheism4 ,the feverish doubts which rack the modern mind left him undisturbed4 ,though he might sink to any depth of scepticism in philosophy1 yet the eternal welfare of his soul was not supposed to hang upon the issue of his doubts4 ,accordingly ,athenian society was not only characterized in the main by freedom of opinion1 in spite of the exceptional cases of ,anaxagoras and ,sokrates2 but there was also none of that ,gothic gloom with which the deep-seated ,christian sense of infinite responsibility for opinion has saddened modern religious life4 ,in these reflections ,i have wandered a little way from my principal theme1 in order more fully to show why the old ,greek life impresses us as so cheerful4 ,returning now to the keynote with which we started1 let us state succinctly the net result of what has been said about the ,athenians4 ,as a people we have seen that they enjoyed an unparalleled amount of leisure1 living through life with but little turmoil and clatter4 ,their life was more spontaneous and unrestrained1 less rigorously marked out by uncontrollable circumstances1 than the life of moderns4 ,they did not run so much in grooves4 ,and along with this we have seen reason to believe that they were the most profoundly cultivated of all peoples2 that a larger proportion of men lived complete1 well-rounded1 harmonious lives in ancient ,athens than in any other known community4 ,keen1 nimble-minded1 and self-possessed2 audacious speculators1 but temperate and averse to extravagance2 emotionally healthy1 and endowed with an unequalled sense of beauty and propriety2 how admirable and wonderful they seem when looked at across the gulf of ages intervening1--and what a priceless possession to humanity1 of what noble augury for the distant future1 is the fact that such a society has once existed6 ,the lesson to be drawn from the study of this antique life will impress itself more deeply upon us after we have briefly contemplated the striking contrast to it which is afforded by the phase of civilization amid which we live to-day4 ,ever since ,greek civilization was merged in ,roman imperialism1 there has been a slowly growing tendency toward complexity of social life1--toward the widening of sympathies1 the multiplying of interests1 the increase of the number of things to be done4 ,through the later ,middle ,ages1 after ,roman civilization had absorbed and disciplined the incoming barbarism which had threatened to destroy it1 there was a steadily increasing complication of society1 a multiplication of the wants of life1 and a consequent enhancement of the difficulty of self-maintenance4 ,the ultimate causes of this phenomenon lie so far beneath the surface that they could be satisfactorily discussed only in a technical essay on the evolution of society4 ,it will be enough for us here to observe that the great geographical discoveries of the sixteenth century and the somewhat later achievements of physical science have1 during the past two hundred years1 aided powerfully in determining the entrance of the ,western world upon an industrial epoch1--an epoch which has for its final object the complete subjection of the powers of nature to purposes of individual comfort and happiness4 ,we have now to trace some of the effects of this lately-begun industrial development upon social life and individual culture4 ,and as we studied the leisureliness of antiquity where its effects were most conspicuous1 in the city of ,athens1 we shall now do well to study the opposite characteristics of modern society where they are most conspicuously exemplified1 in our own country4 ,the attributes of ,american life which it will be necessary to signalize will be seen to be only the attributes of modern life in their most exaggerated phase4 ,to begin with1 in studying the ,united ,states1 we are no longer dealing with a single city1 or with small groups of cities4 ,the city as a political unit1 in the antique sense1 has never existed among us1 and indeed can hardly be said now to exist anywhere4 ,the modern city is hardly more than a great emporium of trade1 or a place where large numbers of people find it convenient to live huddled together2 not a sacred fatherland to which its inhabitants owe their highest allegiance1 and by the requirements of which their political activity is limited4 ,what strikes us here is that our modern life is diffused or spread out1 not concentrated like the ancient civic life4 ,if the ,athenian had been the member of an integral community1 comprising all peninsular ,greece and the mainland of ,asia ,minor1 he could not have taken life so easily as he did4 ,now our country is not only a very large one1 but compared to its vast territorial extent it contains a very small population4 ,if we go on increasing at the present rate1 so that a century hence we number four or five hundred millions1 our country will be hardly more crowded than ,china is to-day4 ,or if our whole population were now to be brought east of ,niagara ,falls1 and confined on the south by the ,potomac1 we should still have as much elbow-room as they have in ,france4 ,political economists can show the effects of this high ratio of land to inhabitants1 in increasing wages1 raising the interest of money1 and stimulating production4 ,we are thus living amid circumstances which are goading the industrial activity characteristic of the last two centuries1 and notably of the ,english race1 into an almost feverish energy4 ,the vast extent of our unwrought territory is constantly draining fresh life from our older districts1 to aid in the establishment of new frontier communities of a somewhat lower or less highly organized type4 ,and these younger communities1 daily springing up1 are constantly striving to take on the higher structure1--to become as highly civilized and to enjoy as many of the prerogatives of civilization as the rest4 ,all this calls forth an enormous quantity of activity1 and causes ,american life to assume the aspect of a life-and-death struggle for mastery over the material forces of that part of the earth's surface upon which it thrives4 ,it is thus that we are traversing what may properly be called the ,,barbarous epoch of our history1--the epoch at which the predominant intellectual activity is employed in achievements which are mainly of a material character4 ,military barbarism1 or the inability of communities to live together without frequent warfare1 has been nearly outgrown by the whole ,western world4 ,private wars1 long since made everywhere illegal1 have nearly ceased2 and public wars1 once continual1 have become infrequent4 ,but industrial barbarism1 by which ,i mean the inability of a community to direct a portion of its time to purposes of spiritual life1 after providing for its physical maintenance1--this kind of barbarism the modern world has by no means outgrown4 ,to-day1 the great work of life is to live2 while the amount of labour consumed in living has throughout the present century been rapidly increasing4 ,nearly the whole of this ,american community toils from youth to old age in merely procuring the means for satisfying the transient wants of life4 ,our time and energies1 our spirit and buoyancy1 are quite used up in what is called getting on4 ,another point of difference between the structure of ,american and of ,athenian society must not be left out of the account4 ,the time has gone by in which the energies of a hundred thousand men and women could be employed in ministering to the individual perfection of twenty-five thousand4 ,slavery1 in the antique sense1--an absolute command of brain as well as of muscle1 a slave-system of skilled labour1--we have never had4 ,in our day it is for each man to earn his own bread2 so that the struggle for existence has become universal4 ,the work of one class does not furnish leisure for another class4 ,the exceptional circumstances which freed the ,athenian from industrial barbarism1 and enabled him to become the great teacher and model of culture for the human race1 have disappeared forever4 ,then the general standard of comfortable living1 as already hinted1 has been greatly raised1 and is still rising4 ,what would have satisfied the ancient would seem to us like penury4 ,we have a domestic life of which the ,greek knew nothing4 ,we live during a large part of the year in the house4 ,our social life goes on under the roof4 ,our houses are not mere places for eating and sleeping1 like the houses of the ancients4 ,it therefore costs us a large amount of toil to get what is called shelter for our heads4 ,the sum which a young married man1 in good society1 has to pay for his house and the furniture contained in it1 would have enabled an ,athenian to live in princely leisure from youth to old age4 ,the sum which he has to pay out each year1 to meet the complicated expense of living in such a house1 would have more than sufficed to bring up an ,athenian family4 ,if worthy ,strepsiades could have got an ,asmodean glimpse of ,fifth ,avenue1 or even of some unpretending street in ,cambridge1 he might have gone back to his aristocratic wife a sadder but a more contented man4 ,wealth--or at least what would until lately have been called wealth--has become essential to comfort2 while the opportunities for acquiring it have in recent times been immensely multiplied4 ,to get money is1 therefore1 the chief end of life in our time and country4 ,success in life has become synonymous with becoming wealthy4 ,a man who is successful in what he undertakes is a man who makes his employment pay him in money4 ,our normal type of character is that of the shrewd1 circumspect business man2 as in the ,middle ,ages it was that of the hardy warrior4 ,and as in those days when fighting was a constant necessity1 and when the only honourable way for a gentleman of high rank to make money was by freebooting1 fighting came to be regarded as an end desirable in itself2 so in these days the mere effort to accumulate has become a source of enjoyment rather than a means to it4 ,the same truth is to be witnessed in aberrant types of character4 ,the infatuated speculator and the close-fisted millionaire are our substitutes for the mediaeval berserkir1--the man who loved the pell-mell of a contest so well that he would make war on his neighbour1 just to keep his hand in4 ,in like manner1 while such crimes as murder and violent robbery have diminished in frequency during the past century1 on the other hand such crimes as embezzlement1 gambling in stocks1 adulteration of goods1 and using of false weights and measures1 have probably increased4 ,if ,dick ,turpin were now to be brought back to life1 he would find the ,new ,york ,custom-,house a more congenial and profitable working-place than the king's highway4 ,the result of this universal quest for money is that we are always in a hurry4 ,our lives pass by in a whirl4 ,it is all labour and no fruition4 ,we work till we are weary2 we carry our work home with us2 it haunts our evenings1 and disturbs our sleep as well as our digestion4 ,our minds are so burdened with it that our conversation1 when serious1 can dwell upon little else4 ,if we step into a railway-car1 or the smoking-room of a hotel1 or any other place where a dozen or two of men are gathered together1 we shall hear them talking of stocks1 of investments1 of commercial paper1 as if there were really nothing in this universe worth thinking of1 save only the interchange of dollars and commodities4 ,so constant and unremitted is our forced application1 that our minds are dwarfed for everything except the prosecution of the one universal pursuit4 ,are we now prepared for the completing of the contrast8 ,must we say that1 as ,athens was the most leisurely and the ,united ,states is the most hurried community known in history1 so the ,americans are1 as a consequence of their hurry1 lacking in thoroughness of culture8 ,or1 since it is difficult to bring our modern culture directly into contrast with that of an ancient community1 let me state the case after a different but equivalent fashion4 ,since the ,united ,states present only an exaggerated type of the modern industrial community1 since the turmoil of incessant money-getting1 which affects all modern communities in large measure1 affects us most seriously of all1 shall it be said that we are1 on the whole1 less highly cultivated than our contemporaries in ,western ,europe8 ,to a certain extent we must confess that this is the case4 ,in the higher culture--in the culture of the whole man1 according to the antique idea--we are undoubtedly behind all other nations with which it would be fair to compare ourselves4 ,it will not do to decide a question like this merely by counting literary celebrities1 although even thus we should by no means get a verdict in our favour4 ,since the beginning of this century1 ,england has produced as many great writers and thinkers as ,france or ,germany2 yet the general status of culture in ,england is said--perhaps with truth--to be lower than it is in these countries4 ,it is said that the average ,englishman is less ready than the average ,german or ,frenchman to sympathize with ideas which have no obvious market-value4 ,yet in ,england there is an amount of high culture among those not professionally scholars1 which it would be vain to seek among ourselves4 ,the purposes of my argument1 however1 require that the comparison should be made between our own country and ,western ,europe in general4 ,compare1 then1 our best magazines--not solely with regard to their intrinsic excellence1 but also with regard to the way in which they are sustained--with the ,revue des ,deux ,mondes or the ,journal des ,debats4 ,or compare our leading politicians with men like ,gladstone1 ,disraeli1 or ,sir ,g4 ,c4 ,lewis2 or even with such men as ,brougham or ,thiers4 ,or compare the slovenly style of our newspaper articles1 ,i will not say with the exquisite prose of the lamented ,prevost-,paradol1 but with the ordinary prose of the ,french or ,english newspaper4 ,but a far better illustration--for it goes down to the root of things--is suggested by the recent work of ,matthew ,arnold on the schools of the continent of ,europe4 ,the country of our time where the general culture is unquestionably the highest is ,prussia4 ,now1 in ,prussia1 they are able to have a ,minister of ,education1 who is a member of the ,cabinet4 ,they are sure that this minister will not appoint or remove even an assistant professor for political reasons4 ,only once1 as ,arnold tells us1 has such a thing been done2 and then public opinion expressed itself in such an emphatic tone of disapproval that the displaced teacher was instantly appointed to another position4 ,nothing of this sort1 says ,arnold1 could have occurred in ,england2 but still less could it occur in ,america4 ,had we such an educational system1 there would presently be an ,education ,ring to control it4 ,nor can this difference be ascribed to the less eager political activity of ,germany4 ,the ,prussian state of things would have been possible in ancient ,athens1 where political life was as absorbing and nearly as turbulent as in the ,united ,states4 ,the difference is due to our lack of faith in culture1 a lack of faith in that of which we have not had adequate experience4 ,we lack culture because we live in a hurry1 and because our attention is given up to pursuits which call into activity and develop but one side of us4 ,on the one hand contemplate ,sokrates quietly entertaining a crowd in the ,athenian market-place1 and on the other hand consider ,broadway with its eternal clatter1 and its throngs of hurrying people elbowing and treading on each other's heels1 and you will get a lively notion of the difference between the extreme phases of ancient and modern life4 ,by the time we have thus rushed through our day1 we have no strength left to devote to things spiritual4 ,to-day finds us no nearer fruition than yesterday4 ,and if perhaps the time at last arrives when fruition is practicable1 our minds have run so long in the ruts that they cannot be twisted out4 ,as it is impossible for any person living in a given state of society to keep himself exempt from its influences1 detrimental as well as beneficial1 we find that even those who strive to make a literary occupation subservient to purposes of culture are not1 save in rare cases1 spared by the general turmoil4 ,those who have at once the ability1 the taste1 and the wealth needful for training themselves to the accomplishment of some many-sided and permanent work are of course very few4 ,nor have our universities yet provided themselves with the means for securing to literary talent the leisure which is essential to complete mental development1 or to a high order of productiveness4 ,although in most industrial enterprises we know how to work together so successfully1 in literature we have as yet no co-operation4 ,we have not only no ,paris1 but we have not even a ,tubingen1 a ,leipsic1 or a ,jena1 or anything corresponding to the fellowships in the ,english universities4 ,our literary workers have no choice but to fall into the ranks1 and make merchandise of their half-formed ideas4 ,they must work without co-operation1 they must write in a hurry1 and they must write for those who have no leisure for aught but hasty and superficial reading4 ,bursting boilers and custom-house frauds may have at first sight nothing to do with each other or with my subject4 ,it is indisputable1 however1 that the horrible massacres perpetrated every few weeks or mouths by our common carriers1 and the disgraceful peculation in which we allow our public servants to indulge with hardly ever an effective word of protest1 are alike to be ascribed to the same causes which interfere with our higher culture4 ,it is by no means a mere accidental coincidence that for every dollar stolen by government officials in ,prussia1 at least fifty or a hundred are stolen in the ,united ,states4 ,this does not show that the ,germans are our superiors in average honesty1 but it shows that they are our superiors in thoroughness4 ,it is with them an imperative demand that any official whatever shall be qualified for his post2 a principle of public economy which in our country is not simply ignored in practice1 but often openly laughed at4 ,but in a country where high intelligence and thorough training are imperatively demanded1 it follows of necessity that these qualifications must insure for their possessors a permanent career in which the temptations to malfeasance or dishonesty are reduced to the minimum4 ,on the other hand1 in a country where intelligence and training have no surety that they are to carry the day against stupidity and inefficiency1 the incentives to dishonourable conduct are overpowering4 ,the result in our own political life is that the best men are driven in disgust from politics1 and thus one of the noblest fields for the culture of the whole man is given over to be worked by swindlers and charlatans4 ,to an ,athenian such a severance of the highest culture from political life would have been utterly inconceivable4 ,obviously the deepest explanation of all this lies in our lack of belief in the necessity for high and thorough training4 ,we do not value culture enough to keep it in our employ or to pay it for its services2 and what is this short-sighted negligence but the outcome of the universal shiftlessness begotten of the habit of doing everything in a hurry8 ,on every hand we may see the fruits of this shiftlessness1 from buildings that tumble in1 switches that are misplaced1 furnaces that are ill-protected1 fire-brigades that are without discipline1 up to unauthorized meddlings with the currency1 and revenue laws which defeat their own purpose4 ,i said above that the attributes of ,american life which we should find it necessary for our purpose to signalize are simply the attributes of modern life in their most exaggerated phase4 ,is there not a certain sense in which all modern handiwork is hastily and imperfectly done8 ,to begin with common household arts1 does not every one know that old things are more durable than new things8 ,our grandfathers wore better shoes than we wear1 because there was leisure enough to cure the leather properly4 ,in old times a chair was made of seasoned wood1 and its joints carefully fitted2 its maker had leisure to see that it was well put together4 ,now a thousand are turned off at once by machinery1 out of green wood1 and1 with their backs glued on1 are hurried off to their evil fate1--destined to drop in pieces if they happen to stand near the fireplace1 and liable to collapse under the weight of a heavy man4 ,some of us still preserve1 as heirlooms1 old tables and bedsteads of ,cromwellian times3 in the twenty-first century what will have become of our machine-made bedsteads and tables8 ,perhaps it may seem odd to talk about tanning and joinery in connection with culture1 but indeed there is a subtle bond of union holding together all these things4 ,any phase of life can be understood only by associating with it some different phase4 ,sokrates himself has taught us how the homely things illustrate the grand things4 ,if we turn to the art of musical composition and inquire into some of the differences between our recent music and that of ,handel's time1 we shall alight upon the very criticism which ,mr4 ,mill somewhere makes in comparing ancient with modern literature3 the substance has improved1 but the form has in some respects deteriorated4 ,the modern music expresses the results of a richer and more varied emotional experience1 and in wealth of harmonic resources1 to say nothing of increased skill in orchestration1 it is notably superior to the old music4 ,along with this advance1 however1 there is a perceptible falling off in symmetry and completeness of design1 and in what ,i would call spontaneousness of composition4 ,i believe that this is because modern composers1 as a rule1 do not drudge patiently enough upon counterpoint4 ,they do not get that absolute mastery over technical difficulties of figuration which was the great secret of the incredible facility and spontaneity of composition displayed by ,handel and ,bach4 ,among recent musicians ,mendelssohn is the most thoroughly disciplined in the elements of counterpoint2 and it is this perfect mastery of the technique of his art which has enabled him to outrank ,schubert and ,schumann1 neither of whom would one venture to pronounce inferior to him in native wealth of musical ideas4 ,may we not partly attribute to rudimentary deficiency in counterpoint the irregularity of structure which so often disfigures the works of the great ,wagner and the lesser ,liszt1 and which the more ardent admirers of these composers are inclined to regard as a symptom of progress8 ,i am told that a similar illustration might be drawn from the modern history of painting2 that1 however noble the conceptions of the great painters of the present century1 there are none who have gained such a complete mastery over the technicalities of drawing and the handling of the brush as was required in the times of ,raphael1 ,titian1 and ,rubens4 ,but on this point ,i can only speak from hearsay1 and am quite willing to end here my series of illustrations1 fearing that ,i may already have been wrongly set down as a lavulator temporis acti4 ,not the idle praising of times gone by1 but the getting a lesson from them which may be of use to us1 has been my object4 ,and ,i believe enough has been said to show that the great complexity of modern life1 with its multiplicity of demands upon our energy1 has got us into a state of chronic hurry1 the results of which are everywhere to be seen in the shape of less thorough workmanship and less rounded culture4 ,for one moment let me stop to note a further source of the relative imperfection of modern culture1 which is best illustrated in the case of literature4 ,i allude to the immense1 unorganized mass of literature in all departments1 representing the accumulated acquisitions of past ages1 which must form the basis of our own achievement1 but with which our present methods of education seem inadequate to deal properly4 ,speaking roughly1 modern literature may be said to be getting into the state which ,roman jurisprudence was in before it was reformed by ,justinian4 ,philosophic criticism has not yet reached the point at which it may serve as a natural codifier4 ,we must read laboriously and expend a disproportionate amount of time and pains in winnowing the chaff from the wheat4 ,this tends to make us digs or literary drudges2 but ,i doubt if the dig is a thoroughly developed man4 ,goethe1 with all his boundless knowledge1 his universal curiosity1 and his admirable capacity for work1 was not a dig4 ,but this matter can only be hinted at3 it is too large to be well discussed at the fag end of an essay while other points are pressing for consideration4 ,a state of chronic hurry not only directly hinders the performance of thorough work1 but it has an indirect tendency to blunt the enjoyment of life4 ,let us consider for a moment one of the psychological consequences entailed by the strain of a too complex and rapid activity4 ,every one must have observed that in going off for a vacation of two or three weeks1 or in getting freed in any way from the ruts of every-day life1 time slackens its gait somewhat1 and the events which occur are apt a few years later to cover a disproportionately large area in our recollections4 ,this is because the human organism is a natural timepiece in which the ticks are conscious sensations4 ,the greater the number of sensations which occupy the foreground of consciousness during the day1 the longer the day seems in the retrospect4 ,but the various groups of sensations which accompany our daily work tend to become automatic from continual repetition1 and to sink into the background of consciousness2 and in a very complex and busied life the number of sensations or states of consciousness which can struggle up to the front and get attended to1 is comparatively small ,it is thus that the days seem so short when we are busy about every-day matters1 and that they get blurred together1 and as it were individually annihilated in recollection4 ,when we travel1 a comparatively large number of fresh sensations occupy attention1 there is a maximum of consciousness1 and a distinct image is left to loom up in memory4 ,for the same reason the weeks and years are much longer to the child than to the grown man4 ,the life is simpler and less hurried1 so that there is time to attend to a great many sensations4 ,now this fact lies at the bottom of that keen enjoyment of existence which is the prerogative of childhood and early youth4 ,the day is not rushed through by the automatic discharge of certain psychical functions1 but each sensation stays long enough to make itself recognized4 ,now when once we understand the psychology of this matter1 it becomes evident that the same contrast that holds between the child and the man must hold also between the ancient and the modern4 ,the number of elements entering into ancient life were so few relatively1 that there must have been far more than there is now of that intense realization of life which we can observe in children and remember of our own childhood4 ,space permitting1 it would be easy to show from ,greek literature how intense was this realization of life4 ,but my point will already have been sufficiently apprehended4 ,already we cannot fail to see how difficult it is to get more than a minimum of conscious fruition out of a too complex and rapid activity4 ,one other point is worth noticing before we close4 ,how is this turmoil of modern existence impressing itself upon the physical constitutions of modern men and women8 ,when an individual man engages in furious productive activity1 his friends warn him that he will break down4 ,does the collective man of our time need some such friendly warning8 ,let us first get a hint from what foreigners think of us ultra-modernized ,americans4 ,wandering journalists1 of an ethnological turn of mind1 who visit these shores1 profess to be struck with the slenderness1 the apparent lack of toughness1 the dyspeptic look1 of the ,american physique4 ,and from such observations it has been seriously argued that the stalwart ,english race is suffering inevitable degeneracy in this foreign climate4 ,i have even seen it doubted whether a race of men can ever become thoroughly naturalized in a locality to which it is not indigenous4 ,to such vagaries it is a sufficient answer that the ,english are no more indigenous to ,england than to ,america4 ,they are indigenous to ,central ,asia1 and as they have survived the first transplantation1 they may be safely counted on to survive the second4 ,a more careful survey will teach us that the slow alteration of physique which is going on in this country is only an exaggeration of that which modern civilization is tending to bring about everywhere4 ,it is caused by the premature and excessive strain upon the mental powers requisite to meet the emergencies of our complex life4 ,the progress of events has thrown the work of sustaining life so largely upon the brain that we are beginning to sacrifice the physical to the intellectual4 ,we are growing spirituelle in appearance at the expense of robustness4 ,compare any typical ,greek face1 with its firm muscles1 its symmetry of feature1 and its serenity of expression1 to a typical modern portrait1 with its more delicate contour1 its exaggerated forehead1 its thoughtful1 perhaps jaded look4 ,or consider in what respects the grand faces of the ,plantagenet monarchs differ from the refined countenances of the leading ,english statesmen of to-day4 ,or again1 consider the familiar pictures of the ,oxford and ,harvard crews which rowed a race on the ,thames in #ahfi1 and observe how much less youthful are the faces of the ,americans4 ,by contrast they almost look careworn4 ,the summing up of countless such facts is that modern civilization is making us nervous4 ,our most formidable diseases are of nervous origin4 ,we seem to have got rid of the mediaeval plague and many of its typhoid congeners2 but instead we have an increased amount of insanity1 methomania1 consumption1 dyspepsia1 and paralysis4 ,in this fact it is plainly written that we are suffering physically from the over-work and over-excitement entailed by excessive hurry4 ,in view of these various but nearly related points of difference between ancient and modern life as studied in their extreme manifestations1 it cannot be denied that while we have gained much1 we have also lost a good deal that is valuable1 in our progress4 ,we cannot but suspect that we are not in all points more highly favoured than the ancients4 ,and it becomes probable that ,athens1 at all events1 which ,i have chosen as my example1 may have exhibited an adumbration of a state of things which1 for the world at large1 is still in the future1--still to be remotely hoped for4 ,the rich complexity of modern social achievement is attained at the cost of individual many-sidedness4 ,as ,tennyson puts it1 ,the individual withers and the world is more and more4 ,yet the individual does not exist for the sake of society1 as the positivists would have us believe1 but society exists for the sake of the individual4 ,and the test of complete social life is the opportunity which it affords for complete individual life4 ,tried by this test1 our contemporary civilization will appear seriously defective1--excellent only as a preparation for something better4 ,this is the true light in which to regard it4 ,this incessant turmoil1 this rage for accumulation of wealth1 this crowding1 jostling1 and trampling upon one another1 cannot be regarded as permanent1 or as anything more than the accompaniment of a transitional stage of civilization4 ,there must be a limit to the extent to which the standard of comfortable living can be raised4 ,the industrial organization of society1 which is now but beginning1 must culminate in a state of things in which the means of expense will exceed the demand for expense1 in which the human race will have some surplus capital4 ,the incessant manual labour which the ancients relegated to slaves will in course of time be more and more largely performed by inanimate machinery4 ,unskilled labour will for the most part disappear4 ,skilled labour will consist in the guiding of implements contrived with versatile cunning for the relief of human nerve and muscle4 ,ultimately there will be no unsettled land to fill1 no frontier life1 no savage races to be assimilated or extirpated1 no extensive migration4 ,thus life will again become comparatively stationary4 ,the chances for making great fortunes quickly will be diminished1 while the facilities for acquiring a competence by steady labour will be increased4 ,when every one is able to reach the normal standard of comfortable living1 we must suppose that the exaggerated appetite for wealth and display will gradually disappear4 ,we shall be more easily satisfied1 and thus enjoy more leisure4 ,it may be that there will ultimately exist1 over the civilized world1 conditions as favourable to the complete fruition of life as those which formerly existed within the narrow circuit of ,attika2 save that the part once played by enslaved human brain and muscle will finally be played by the enslaved forces of insentient nature4 ,society will at last bear the test of providing for the complete development of its individual members4 ,so1 at least1 we may hope2 such is the probability which the progress of events1 when carefully questioned1 sketches out for us4 ,need we fear1 asks ,mr4 ,greg1 that the world would stagnate under such a change8 ,need we guard ourselves against the misconstruction of being held to recommend a life of complacent and inglorious inaction8 ,we think not4 ,we would only substitute a nobler for a meaner strife1--a rational for an excessive toil1--an enjoyment that springs from serenity1 for one that springs from excitement only44444 ,to each time its own preacher1 to each excess its own counteraction4 ,in an age of dissipation1 languor1 and stagnation1 we should join with ,mr4 ,carlyle in preaching the ',evangel of ,work1' and say with him1 ',blessed is the man who has found his work1--let him ask no other blessedness4' ,in an age of strenuous1 frenzied14444 and often utterly irrational and objectless exertion1 we join ,mr4 ,mill in preaching the milder and more needed ',evangel of ,leisure4' ,bearing all these things in mind1 we may understand the remark of the supremely cultivated ,goethe1 when asked who were his masters3 ,die ,griechen1 die ,griechen1 und immer die ,griechen4 ,we may appreciate the significance of ,mr4 ,mill's argument in favour of the study of antiquity1 that it preserves the tradition of an era of individual completeness4 ,there is a disposition growing among us to remodel our methods of education in conformity with the temporary requirements of the age in which we live4 ,in this endeavour there is much that is wise and practical2 but in so far as it tends to the neglect of antiquity1 ,i cannot think it well-timed4 ,our education should not only enhance the value of what we possess2 is should also supply the consciousness of what we lack4 ,and while1 for generations to come1 we pass toilfully through an era of exorbitant industrialism1 some fragment of our time will not be misspent in keeping alive the tradition of a state of things which was once briefly enjoyed by a little community1 but which1 in the distant future1 will1 as it is hoped1 become the permanent possession of all mankind4 ,january1 #ahgc4