,,books ,,and ,,men                     
,,by                                    
,,agnes ,,repplier                      
,illustration                           
,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york             
,,houghton1 ,,mifflin ,,and ,,company   
,the ,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge      
#ahii                                   
,copyright1 #ahhh1                      
,,by ,,agnes ,,repplier4                
,all rights reserved4                   
,,eleventh ,,impression                 
,the ,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge1     
,mass41 ,u4 ,s4 ,a4                     
,electrotyped and ,printed by ,h4 ,o4   
,houghton  ,company4                    
,,contents4                             
,,page    ,,children1 ,,past ,,and      
,,present                               
#a    ,,on ,,the ,,benefits ,,of        
,,superstition                          
#cc    ,,what ,,children ,,read         
#fd    ,,the ,,decay ,,of ,,sentiment   
#id    ,,curiosities ,,of ,,criticism   
#abe    ,,some ,,aspects ,,of           

,,pessimism                             
#aeg    ,,the ,,cavalier                
#aia                                    
,,books ,,and ,,men4                    
,,children1 ,,past ,,and ,,present4     
,as a result of the modern tendency to  
desert the broad beaten roads of        
history for the bridle-paths of         
biography and memoir1 we find a great   
many side lights thrown upon matters    
that the historian was wont to  treat as
 altogether beneath his consideration4  
,it is by their help  that we study the 
minute changes of social life that      
little by little  alter the whole aspect
 of a people1 and it is by their help   
that we  look straight into the ordinary
 every-day workings of the past1 and    
measure the space between its existence 
and our own4 ,when we read1 for         
instance1 of ,lady ,cathcart being kept 
a close prisoner by her husband  for    
over twenty years1 we look with some    
complacency on the roving  wives of the 
nineteenth century4 ,when we reflect on 

the dismal fate  of ,uriel              
,freudenberger1 condemned by the ,canton
 of ,uri to be burnt  alive in #agfj1   
for rashly proclaiming his disbelief in 
the legend of  ,william ,tell's apple1  
we realize the inconveniences attendant 
on a too  early development of the      
critical faculty4 ,we listen entranced  
while  the learned pastor ,dr4 ,johann  
,geiler von ,keyersperg gravely         
enlightens  his congregation as to the  
nature and properties of were-wolves2   
and we  turn aside to see the           
half-starved boys at ,westminster       
boiling their  own batter-pudding in a  
stocking foot1 or to hear the little    
,john  ,wesley crying softly when he is 
whipped1 not being permitted even then  
the luxury of a hearty bellow4          
,perhaps the last incident will strike  
us as the most pathetic of  all1 this   
being essentially the children's age4   
,women1 workmen1 and  skeptics all have 
reason enough to be grateful they were  
not born a  few generations earlier2 but

 the children of to-day are favored     
beyond  their knowledge1 and certainly  
far beyond their deserts4 ,compare  the 
modern schoolboy with any of his        
ill-fated predecessors1 from  the days  
of ,spartan discipline down to our      
grandfathers' time4 ,turn  from the     
free-and-easy school-girl of the period 
to the miseries of  ,mrs4 ,sherwood's   
youth1 with its steel collars1 its      
backboards1 its  submissive silence and 
rigorous decorum4 ,think of the         
turbulent and  uproarious nurseries we  
all know1 and then go back in spirit to 
that  severe and occult shrine where    
,mrs4 ,wesley ruled over her infant     
brood  with a code of disciplinary laws 
as awful and inviolable as those of  the
 ,medes and ,persians4 ,of their supreme
 efficacy she plainly felt no  doubts1  
for she has left them carefully written 
down for the benefit  of succeeding     
generations1 though we fear that few    
mothers of to-day  would be tempted by  
their stringent austerity4 ,they are to 

modern  nursery rules what the ,blue    
,laws of ,connecticut are to our more   
languid  legislation4 ,each child was   
expected and required to commemorate its
  fifth birthday by learning the entire 
alphabet by heart4 ,to insure  this     
all-important matter1 the whole house   
was impressively set in  order the day  
before2 every one's task was assigned to
 him2 and ,mrs4  ,wesley1 issuing strict
 commands that no one should penetrate  
into the  sanctuary while the solemn    
ordeal was in process1 shut herself up  
for  six hours with the unhappy morsel  
of a child1 and unflinchingly drove  the
 letters into its bewildered brain4 ,on 
two occasions only was she              
unsuccessful4 8,molly and ,nancy10 we   
are told1 failed to learn in the  given 
time1 and their mother comforts herself 
for their tardiness by  reflecting on   
the still greater incapacity of other   
people's bairns4    8,when the will of a
 child is totally subdued1 and it is    
brought to  revere and stand in awe of  

its parents10 then1 and then only1 their
  rigid judge considers that some little
 inadvertences and follies may  be      
safely passed over4 ,nor would she      
permit one of them to 8be chid  or      
beaten twice for the same fault10--a    
stately assumption of justice  that     
speaks volumes for the iron-bound code  
by which they were brought  into        
subjection4 ,most children nowadays are 
sufficiently amazed if a  tardy         
vengeance overtake them once1 and a     
second penalty for the same  offense is 
something we should hardly deem it      
necessary to proscribe4  ,yet nothing is
 more evident than that ,mrs4 ,wesley   
was neither a cruel  nor an unloving    
mother4 ,it is plain that she labored   
hard for her  little flock1 and had     
their welfare and happiness greatly at  
heart4 ,in  after years they with one   
accord honored and revered her memory4  
,only  it is not altogether surprising  
that her husband1 whose ministerial     
functions she occasionally usurped1     

should have thought his wife at  times  
almost too able a ruler1 or that her    
more famous son should stand  forth as  
the great champion of human depravity4  
,he too1 some forty  years later1       
promulgated a system of education as    
unrelaxing in its  methods as that of   
his own childhood4 ,in his model school 
he forbade  all association with outside
 boys1 and would receive no child unless
  its parents promised not to take it   
away for even a single day1 until       
removed for good4 ,yet after shutting up
 the lads in this hot-bed of  propriety1
 and carefully guarding them from every 
breath of evil1 he  ended by expelling  
part as incorrigible1 and ruefully      
admitting that  the remainder were very 
8uncommonly wicked40    ,the principle  
of solitary training for a child1 in    
order to shield  it effectually from all
 outside influences1 found other and    
vastly  different advocates4 ,it is the 
key-note of ,mr4 and ,miss ,edgeworth's 
,practical ,education1 a book which must

 have driven over-careful and           
scrupulous mothers to the verge of      
desperation4 ,in it they are  solemnly  
counseled never to permit their children
 to walk or talk  with servants1 never  
to let them have a nursery or a         
school-room1  never to leave them alone 
either with each other or with          
strangers1  and never to allow them to  
read any book of which every sentence   
has  not been previously examined4 ,in  
the matter of books1 it is indeed       
almost impossible to satisfy such       
searching critics4 ,even ,mrs4          
,barbauld's highly correct and righteous
 little volumes1 which ,lamb  has       
anathematized as the 8blights and blasts
 of all that is human10  are not quite  
harmless in their eyes4 ,evil lurks     
behind the phrase  8,charles wants his  
dinner10 which would seem to imply that 
,charles must  have whatever he desires2
 while to say flippantly1 8,the sun has 
gone  to bed10 is to incur the awful    
odium of telling a child a deliberate   

untruth4    ,in ,miss ,edgeworth's own  
stories the didactic purpose is only    
veiled by  the sprightliness of the     
narrative and the air of amusing reality
 she  never fails to impart4 ,who that  
has ever read them can forget ,harry and
  ,lucy making up their own little beds 
in the morning1 and knocking down  the  
unbaked bricks to prove that they were  
soft2 or ,rosamond choosing  between the
 famous purple jar and a pair of new    
boots2 or ,laura forever  drawing the   
furniture in perspective8 ,in all these 
little people say  and do there is      
conveyed to the young reader a distinct 
moral lesson1  which we are by no means 
inclined to reject1 when we turn to the 
other writers of the time and see how   
much worse off we are4 ,day1 in         
,sandford and ,merton1 holds up for our 
edification the dreariest and  most     
insufferable of pedagogues1 and         
advocates a mode of life wholly  at     
variance with the instincts and habits  
of his age4 ,miss ,sewell1 in  her      

,principles of ,education1 sternly warns
 young girls against the  sin of        
chattering with each other1 and forbids 
mothers' playing with  their children as
 a piece of frivolity which cannot fail 
to weaken the  dignity of their         
position4    ,to a great many parents1  
both in ,england and in ,france1 such   
advice  would have been unnecessary4    
,who1 for instance1 can imagine ,lady   
,balcarras1 with whom it was a word and 
a blow in quick succession1  stooping to
 any such weakness2 or that august      
mother of ,harriet  ,martineau1 against 
whom her daughter has recorded all the  
slights  and severities of her youth8   
,not that we think ,miss ,martineau to  
have  been much worse off than other    
children of her day2 but as she has     
chosen with signal ill-taste to revenge 
herself upon her family in  her         
autobiography1 we have at least a better
 opportunity of knowing  all about it4  
8,to one person10 she writes1 8,i was   
indeed habitually  untruthful1 from     

fear4 ,to my mother ,i would in my      
childhood assert or  deny anything that 
would bring me through most easily10--a 
confession  which1 to say the least1    
reflects as little to her own credit as 
to her parent's4 ,had ,mrs4 ,martineau  
been as stern an upholder of  the truth 
as was ,mrs4 ,wesley1 her daughter would
 have ventured upon  very few           
fabrications in her presence4 ,when she 
tells us gravely how  often she         
meditated suicide in these early days1  
we are fain to smile  at hearing a fancy
 so common among morbid and imaginative 
children  narrated soberly in middle    
life1 as though it were a unique and    
horrible experience4 ,no one endowed by 
nature with so copious a fund  of       
self-sympathy could ever have stood in  
need of much pity from the  outside     
world4    ,but for real and             
uncompromising severity towards children
 we must turn  to ,france1 where for    
years the traditions of decorum and     
discipline  were handed down in noble   

families1 and generations of boys and   
girls  suffered grievously therefrom4   
,trifling faults were magnified into    
grave delinquencies1 and relentlessly   
punished as such4 ,we sometimes  wonder 
whether the youthful ,bertrand du       
,guesclin were really the  wicked little
 savage that the old chroniclers delight
 in painting1 or  whether his rude      
truculence was not very much like that  
of naughty  and neglected boys the world
 over4 ,there is1 after all1 a pathetic 
significance in those lines of          
,cuvelier's which describe in barbarous 
,french the lad's remarkable and        
unprepossessing ugliness3--        8,il 
n'ot si lait de ,resnes  ,disnant1      
,camus estoit et noirs1 malostru et     
massant4      ,li pre et la mre si le   
hoiant tant1      ,que souvent en leurs 
cuers aloient desirant      ,que fust   
mors1 ou noiey en une eaue corant40     
,perhaps1 if he had been less flat-nosed
 and swarthy1 his better  qualities     
might have shone forth more clearly in  

early life1 and it  would not have      
needed the predictions of a magician or 
the keen-eyed  sympathy of a nun to     
evolve the future ,constable of ,france 
out of  such apparently hopeless        
material4 ,at any rate1 tradition       
generally  representing him either as   
languishing in the castle dungeon1 or   
exiled to the society of the domestics1 
it is plain he bore but slight          
resemblance to the cherished enfant     
terrible who is his legitimate          
successor to-day4    ,coming down to    
more modern times1 we are met by such   
monuments of  stately severity as       
,madame ,quinet and the ,marquise de    
,montmirail1  mother of that fair saint 
,madame de ,rochefoucauld1 the trials of
 whose  later years were ushered in by a
 childhood of unremitting harshness  and
 restraint4 ,the marquise was incapable 
of any faltering or weakness  where     
discipline was concerned4 ,if carrots   
were repulsive to her little  daughter's
 stomach1 then a day spent in seclusion1

 with a plate of the  obnoxious         
vegetable before her1 was the surest    
method of proving that  carrots were    
nevertheless to be eaten4 ,when         
,augustine and her sister  kissed their 
mother's hand each morning1 and prepared
 to con their  tasks in her awful       
presence1 they well knew that not the   
smallest  dereliction would be passed   
over by that inexorable judge4 ,nor     
might  they aspire1 like ,harriet       
,martineau1 to shield themselves behind 
the  barrier of a lie4 ,when from       
,augustine's little lips came faltering 
some  childish evasion1 the ten-year-old
 sinner was hurried as an outcast  from 
her home1 and sent to expiate her crime 
with six months' merciful  seclusion in 
a convent4 8,you have told me a         
falsehood1 mademoiselle10  said the     
marquise1 with frigid accuracy2 8and you
 must prepare to leave  my house upon   
the spot40    ,faults of breeding were  
quite as offensive to this grande dame  
as  faults of temper4 ,the fear of her  

pitiless glance filled her daughters    
with timidity1 and bred in them a       
mauvaise honte1 which in its turn       
aroused her deadliest ire4 ,only a week 
before her wedding-day ,madame  de      
,rochefoucauld was sent ignominiously to
 dine at a side table1 as a  penance for
 the awkwardness of her curtsy2 while   
even her fast-growing  beauty became but
 a fresh source of misfortune4 ,the     
dressing of her  magnificent hair       
occupied two long hours every day1 and  
she retained  all her life a most       
distinct and painful recollection of her
 sufferings  at the hands of her        
coiffeuse4    ,to turn from the         
,marquise de ,montmirail to ,madame     
,quinet is to see the  picture          
intensified4 ,more beautiful1 more      
stately1 more unswerving  still1 her    
faith in discipline was unbounded1 and  
her practice in  no wise inconsistent   
with her belief4 ,it was actually one of
 the  institutions of her married life  
that a garde de ville should pay  a     

domiciliary visit twice a week to       
chastise the three children4 ,if  by    
chance they had not been naughty1 then  
the punishment might be  referred to the
 account of future transgressions1--an  
arrangement  which1 while it insured    
justice to the culprits1 can hardly have
  afforded them much encouragement to   
amend4 ,her son ,jerome1 who ran  away  
when a mere boy to enroll with the      
volunteers of '#ib1 reproduced  in later
 years1 for the benefit of his own      
household1 many of his  mother's most   
striking characteristics4 ,he was the   
father of ,edgar  ,quinet1 the poet1 a  
child whose precocious abilities seem   
never to  have awakened within him      
either parental affection or parental   
pride4  ,silent1 austere1 repellent1 he 
offered no caresses1 and was obeyed     
with timid submission4 8,the gaze of his
 large blue eyes10 says ,dowden1        
8imposed restraint with silent          
authority4 ,his mockery1 the play of an 
intellect unsympathetic by resolve and  

upon principle1 was freezing  to a      
child2 and the most distinct            
consciousness which his presence        
produced upon the boy was the assurance 
that he1 ,edgar1 was infallibly  about  
to do something which would cause       
displeasure40 ,that this was a  common  
attitude with parents in the old rgime  
may be inferred from  ,chteaubriand's   
statement that he and his sister1       
transformed into  statues by their      
father's presence1 recovered their life 
only when he  left the room2 and by the 
assertion of ,mirabeau that even while  
at  school1 two hundred leagues away    
from his father1 8the mere thought  of  
him made me dread every youthful        
amusement which could be followed  by   
the slightest unfavorable result40      
,yet at the present day we are assured  
by ,mr4 ,marshall that in ,france  8the 
art of spoiling has reached a           
development which is unknown  elsewhere1
 and maternal affection not infrequently
 descends to folly  and imbecility40    

,but then the clever critic of ,french  
,home ,life had  never visited ,america 
when he wrote those lines1 although some
 of  the stories he tells would do      
credit to any household in our land4    
,there is one quite delightful account  
of a young married couple1 who1  being  
invited to a dinner party of twenty     
people1 failed to make their  appearance
 until ten o'clock1 when they explained 
urbanely that their  three-year-old     
daughter would not permit them to       
depart4 ,moreover1  being a child of    
great character and discrimination1 she 
had insisted  on their undressing and   
going to bed2 to which reasonable       
request they  had rendered a prompt     
compliance1 rather than see her cry4    
8,it would  have been monstrous10 said  
the fond mother1 8to cause her pain     
simply  for our pleasure2 so ,i begged  
,henri to cease his efforts to persuade 
her1 and we took off our clothes and    
went to bed4 ,as soon as she was  asleep
 we got up again1 redressed1 and here we

 are with a thousand  apologies for     
being so late40    ,this sounds half    
incredible2 but there is a touch of     
nature in the  mother's happy           
indifference to the comfort of her      
friends1 as compared  with the whims of 
her offspring1 that closely appeals to  
certain past  experiences of our own4   
,it is all very well for an ,englishman 
to  stare aghast at such a reversal of  
the laws of nature2 we ,americans1  who 
have suffered and held our peace1 can   
afford to smile with some  complacency  
at the thought of another great nation  
bending its head  beneath the iron yoke4
    ,to return1 however1 to the days    
when children were the ruled1 and not   
the rulers1 we find ourselves face to   
face with the great question  of        
education4 ,how smooth and easy are the 
paths of learning made now  for the     
little feet that tread them6 ,how rough 
and steep they were  in bygone times1   
watered with many tears1 and not without
 a line of  victims1 whose weak strength

 failed them in the upward struggle6    
,we cannot go back to any period when   
school life was not fraught  with       
miseries4 ,classic writers paint in grim
 colors the harshness  of the pedagogues
 who ruled in ,greece and ,rome4        
,medival authors  tell us more than     
enough of the passionless severity that 
swayed the  monastic schools1--a        
severity which seems to have been the   
result of  an hereditary tradition      
rather than of individual caprice1 and  
which  seldom interfered with the mutual
 affection that existed between master  
and scholar4 ,when ,st4 ,anselm1 the    
future disciple of ,lanfranc1 and his   
successor in the ,see of ,canterbury1   
begged as a child of four to be  sent to
 school1 his mother1 ,ermenberg1--the   
granddaughter of a king1  and the       
kinswoman of every crowned prince in    
,christendom1--resisted  his entreaties 
as long as she dared1 knowing too well  
the sufferings  in store for him4 ,a few
 years later she was forced to yield1   

and these  same sufferings very nearly  
cost her son his life4    ,the boy was  
both studious and docile1 and his       
teacher1 fully  recognizing his         
precocious talents1 determined to force 
them to the  utmost4 ,in order that so  
active a mind should not for a moment be
  permitted to relax its tension1 he    
kept the little scholar a ceaseless     
prisoner at his desk4 ,rest and         
recreation were alike denied him1 while 
the utmost rigors of a discipline1 of   
which we can form no adequate           
conception1 wrung from the child's      
over-worked brain an unflinching        
attention to his tasks4 ,as a result of 
this cruel folly1 8the brightest  star  
of the eleventh century had been        
well-nigh quenched in its  rising40#a   
,mind and body alike yielded beneath the
 strain2 and  ,anselm1 a broken-down    
little wreck1 was returned to his       
mother's hands1  to be slowly nursed    
back to health and reason4 8,ah1 me6 ,i 
have lost  my child60 sighed ,ermenberg1

 when she found that not all that he had
  suffered could shake the boy's        
determination to return2 and the mother 
of ,guibert de ,nogent must have echoed 
the sentiment when her little  son1 his 
back purple with stripes1 looked her in 
the face1 and answered  steadily to her 
lamentations1 8,if ,i die of my         
whippings1 ,i still mean  to be         
whipped40    ,the step from the monastic
 schools to ,eton and ,westminster is a 
long  one1 but the gain not so apparent 
at first sight as might be supposed4    
,it is hard for the luxurious ,etonian  
of to-day to realize that for  many     
years his predecessors suffered enough  
from cold1 hunger1 and  barbarous       
ill-treatment to make life a burden on  
their hands4 ,the  system1 while it     
hardened some into the desired          
manliness1 must have  killed many whose 
feebler constitutions could ill support 
its rigor4  ,even as late as #ahcd1 we  
are told by one who had ample           
opportunity  to study the subject       

carefully that 8the inmates of a        
workhouse or a  jail were better fed and
 lodged than were the scholars of ,eton4
 ,boys  whose parents could not pay for 
a private room underwent privations     
that might have broken down a cabin-boy1
 and would be thought inhuman  if       
inflicted on a galley-slave40 ,nor is   
this sentiment as exaggerated  as it    
sounds4 ,to get up at five on freezing  
winter mornings2 to sweep  their own    
floors and make their own beds2 to go   
two by two to the  8children's pump0 for
 a scanty wash2 to eat no mouthful of   
food until  nine o'clock2 to live on an 
endless round of mutton1 potatoes1 and  
beer1 none of them too plentiful or too 
good2 to sleep in a dismal cell  without
 chair or table2 to improvise a         
candlestick out of paper2 to be         
starved1 frozen1 and flogged1--such was 
the daily life of the scions  of        
,england's noblest families1 of lads    
tenderly nurtured and sent from         
princely homes to win their ,greek and  

,latin at this fearful cost4            
,moreover1 the picture of one public    
school is in all essential  particulars 
the picture of the rest4 ,the miseries  
might vary somewhat1  but their bulk    
remained the same4 ,at ,westminster the 
younger boys1 hard  pushed by hunger1   
gladly received the broken victuals left
 from the  table of the senior election1
 and tried to supplement their scanty   
fare  with strange and mysterious       
concoctions1 whose unsavory details have
  been handed down among the melancholy 
traditions of the past4    ,in #ahdg a  
young brother of ,lord ,mansfield being 
very ill at school1  his mother came to 
visit him4 ,there was but one chair in  
the room1  upon which the poor invalid  
was reclining2 but his companion1 seeing
  the dilemma1 immediately arose1 and   
with true boyish politeness  offered    
,lady ,mansfield the coal-scuttle1 on   
which he himself had been  sitting4 ,at 
,winchester1 ,sydney ,smith suffered    
8many years of misery  and starvation10 

while his younger brother1 ,courtenay1  
twice ran away1  in the vain effort to  
escape his wretchedness4 8,there was    
never enough  provided of even the      
coarsest food for the whole school10    
writes ,lady  ,holland2 8and the little 
boys were of course left to fare as well
  as they could4 ,even in his old age my
 father used to shudder at the          
recollections of ,winchester1 and ,i    
have heard him speak with horror of  the
 misery of the years he spent there4    
,the whole system1 he affirmed1  was one
 of abuse1 neglect1 and vice40    ,in   
the matter of discipline there was no   
shadow of choice anywhere4  ,capricious 
cruelty ruled under every scholastic    
roof4 ,on the one  side1 we encounter   
,dean ,colet1 of ,st4 ,paul's1 whom     
,erasmus reported  as 8delighting in    
children in a ,christian spirit20 which 
meant that  he never wearied of seeing  
them suffer1 believing that the more    
they  endured as boys1 the more worthy  
they would grow in manhood4 ,on the     

other1 we are confronted by the still   
more awful ghost of ,dr4 ,keate1  who   
could and did flog eighty boys in       
succession without a pause2 and  who1   
being given the confirmation list by    
mistake for the punishment  list1       
insisted on flogging every one of the   
catechumens1 as a good  preparation for 
receiving the sacrament4 ,sir ,francis  
,doyle1 almost the  only apologist who  
has so far ventured to appear in behalf 
of this  fiery little despot1 once      
remarked to ,lord ,blachford that ,keate
 did  not much mind a boy's lying to    
him4 8,what he hated was a monotony of  
excuses40 8,mind your lying to him60    
retorted ,lord ,blachford1 with a  keen 
recollection of his own juvenile        
experiences2 8why he exacted it  as a   
token of respect40    ,if1 sick of the  
brutality of the schools1 we seek those 
rare cases  in which a home education   
was substituted1 we are generally       
rewarded  by finding the comforts       
greater and the cramming worse4 ,it is  

simply  impossible for a pedagogue to   
try and wring from a hundred brains the 
excess of work which may1 under clever  
treatment1 be extracted from  one2 and  
so the ,eton boys1 with all their       
manifold miseries1 were at  least spared
 the peculiar experiments which were too
 often tried upon  solitary scholars4   
,nowadays anxious parents and guardians 
seem to labor  under an ill-founded     
apprehension that their children are    
going to hurt  themselves by            
over-application to their books1 and we 
hear a great deal  about the expedience 
of restraining this inordinate zeal4    
,but a few  generations back such       
comfortable theories had yet to be      
evolved1 and  the plain duty of a       
teacher was to goad the student on to   
every effort  in his power4    ,perhaps 
the two most striking instances of home 
training that have been  given to the   
world are those of ,john ,stuart ,mill  
and ,giacomo ,leopardi2  the principal  
difference being that1 while the        

,english boy was crammed  scientifically
 by his father1 the ,italian poet was   
permitted to  relentlessly cram himself4
 ,in both cases we see the same         
melancholy1  blighted childhood2 the    
same cold indifference to the mother1 as
 to  one who had no part or parcel in   
their lives2 the same joyless routine   
of labor2 the same unboyish gravity and 
precocious intelligence4 ,mill  studied 
,greek at three1 ,latin at eight1 the   
,organon at eleven1 and ,adam  ,smith at
 thirteen4 ,leopardi at ten was well    
acquainted with most ,latin  authors1   
and undertook alone and unaided the     
study of ,greek1 perfecting  himself in 
that language before he was fourteen4   
,mill's sole recreation  was to walk    
with his father1 narrating to him the   
substance of his  last day's reading4   
,leopardi1 being forbidden to go about  
,recanati  without his tutor1 acquiesced
 with pathetic resignation1 and ceased  
to  wander outside the garden gates4    
,mill had all boyish enthusiasm and     

healthy partisanship crushed out of him 
by his father's pitiless logic4         
,leopardi's love for his country burned 
like a smothered flame1 and  added one  
more to the pangs that eat out his soul 
in silence4 ,his was  truly a wonderful 
intellect2 and whereas the ,english lad 
was merely  forced by training into a   
precocity foreign to his nature1 and    
which1  according to ,mr4 ,bain1 failed 
to produce any great show of juvenile   
scholarship1 the ,italian boy fed on    
books with a resistless and craving     
appetite1 his mind growing warped and   
morbid as his enfeebled body  sank more 
and more under the unwholesome strain4  
,in the long lists  of despotically     
reared children there is no sadder sight
 than this  undisciplined1 eager1       
impetuous soul1 burdened alike with     
physical and  moral weakness1 meeting   
tyrannical authority with a show of     
insincere  submission1 and laying up in 
his lonely infancy the seeds of a sorrow
  which was to find expression in the   

key-note of his work1 ,life is ,only    
,fit to be ,despised4    ,between the   
severe mental training of boys and the  
education thought  fit and proper for   
girls1 there was throughout the         
eighteenth century  a broad and         
purposeless chasm4 ,before that time1   
and after it1  too1 the majority of     
women were happily ignorant of many     
subjects  which every school-girl of    
to-day aspires to handle2 but during the
  reigns of ,queen ,anne and the first  
three ,georges1 this ignorance  was     
considered an essential charm of their  
sex1 and was displayed  with a pretty   
ostentation that sufficiently proves its
 value4 ,such  striking exceptions as   
,madame de ,stal1 ,mrs4 ,montagu1 and   
,anne ,damer  were not wanting to give  
points of light to the picture2 but they
  hardly represent the real womanhood of
 their time4 ,femininity was then  based
 upon shallowness1 and girls were       
solemnly warned not to try  and ape the 
acquirements of men1 but to keep        

themselves rigorously  within their own 
ascertained limits4 ,we find a famous   
school-teacher1  under whose fostering  
care many a court belle was trained for 
social  triumphs1 laying down the law on
 this subject with no uncertain hand1   
and definitely placing women in their   
proper station4 8,had a third  order    
been necessary10 she writes naively1    
8doubtless one would have  been created1
 a midway kind of being40 ,in default1  
however1 of this  recognized via media1 
she deprecates all impious attempts to  
bridge  over the chasm between the two  
sexes2 and 8accounts it a misfortune    
for a female to be learned1 a genius1 or
 in any way a prodigy1 as it  removes   
her from her natural sphere40    8,those
 were days10 says a writer in           
,blackwood1 8when superficial  teaching 
was thought the proper teaching for     
girls2 when every science  had its      
feminine language1 as ,hindu ladies talk
 with a difference  and with softer     
terminations than their lords3 as ,the  

,young ,ladies'  ,geography1 which is to
 be read instead of novels2 ,a ,young   
,ladies' ,guide  to ,astronomy2 ,the    
,use of the ,globes for ,girls'         
,schools2 and the ,ladies'  ,polite     
,letter-,writer40 ,what was really      
necessary for a girl was to  learn how  
to knit1 to dance1 to curtsy1 and to    
carve2 the last-named  accomplishment   
being one of her exclusive privileges4  
,lady ,mary ,wortley  ,montagu received 
lessons from a professional             
carving-master1 who taught  her the art 
scientifically2 and during her father's 
grand dinners her  labors were often so 
exhausting that translating the         
,enchiridion must  have seemed by       
comparison a light and easy task4       
,indeed1 after that  brilliant baby     
entrance into the ,kitcat ,club1 very   
little that was  pleasant fell to ,lady 
,mary's share2 and years later she      
recalls the  dreary memories of her     
youth in a letter written to her sister1
 ,lady  ,mar4 8,don't you remember10 she

 asks1 pathetically1 8how miserable we  
were in the little parlor at ,thoresby80
    ,her own education she always       
protested was of the worst and flimsiest
  character1 and her girlish scorn at   
the restraints that cramped and         
fettered her is expressed vigorously    
enough in the well-known letter  to     
,bishop ,burnet4 ,it was considered     
almost criminal1 she complains1  to     
improve her reason1 or even to fancy she
 had any4 ,to be learned  was to be held
 up to universal ridicule1 and the only 
line of conduct  open to her was to play
 the fool in concert with other women of
  quality1 8whose birth and leisure     
merely serve to make them the most      
useless and worthless part of creation40
 ,yet viewed alongside of her           
contemporaries1 ,lady ,mary's advantages
 were really quite unusual4 ,she  had   
some little guidance in her studies1    
with no particular opposition  to       
overcome1 and tolerance was as much at  
any time as a thoughtful  girl could    

hope for4 ,nearly a century later we    
find little ,mary  ,fairfax--afterwards 
,mrs4 ,somerville1 and the most learned 
woman in  ,england--being taught how to 
sew1 to read her ,bible1 and to learn   
the  ,shorter ,catechism2 all else being
 considered superfluous for a female4   
,moreover1 the child's early application
 to her books was regarded with  great  
disfavor by her relatives1 who plainly  
thought that no good was  likely to come
 of it4 8,i wonder10 said her rigid aunt
 to ,lady ,fairfax1  8that you let ,mary
 waste her time in reading60    8,you   
cannot hammer a girl into anything10    
says ,ruskin1 who has  constituted      
himself both champion and mentor of the 
sex2 and perhaps  this was the reason   
that so many of these rigorously drilled
 and  kept-down girls blossomed         
perversely into brilliant and scholarly 
women4 ,nevertheless1 it is comforting  
to turn back for a moment1 and  see what
 ,holland1 in the seventeenth century1  
could do for her clever  children4 ,mr4 

,gosse has shown us a charming picture  
of the three  daughters of ,roemer      
,visscher1 the poetess ,tesselschade and
 her less  famous sisters1--three little
 girls1 whose healthy mental and        
physical  training was happily free from
 either narrow contraction or hot-house 
pressure4 8,all of them10 writes        
,ernestus ,brink1 8were practiced in    
very sweet accomplishments4 ,they could 
play music1 paint1 write1 and  engrave  
on glass1 make poems1 cut emblems1      
embroider all manner of  fabrics1 and   
swim well2 which last thing they had    
learned in their  father's garden1 where
 there was a canal with water1 outside  
the city40  ,what wonder that these     
little maidens1 with skilled fingers1   
and clear  heads1 and vigorous bodies1  
grew into three keen-witted and charming
  women1 around whom we find grouped    
that rich array of talent which         
suddenly raised ,holland to a unique    
literary distinction6 ,what wonder  that
 their influence1 alike refining and    

strengthening1 was felt on  every hand1 
and was repaid with universal gratitude 
and love6    ,there is a story told of  
,professor ,wilson1 that one day1       
listening to  a lecture on education by 
,dr4 ,whately1 he grew manifestly       
impatient at  the rules laid down1 and  
finally slipped out of the room1        
exclaiming  irately to a friend who     
followed him1 8,i always thought ,god   
,almighty  made man1 but he says it was 
the schoolmaster40    ,in like manner   
many of us have wondered from time to   
time whether  children are made of such 
ductile material1 and can be as readily 
moulded to our wishes1 as educators     
would have us believe4 ,if it be  true  
that nature counts for nothing and      
training for everything1 then  what a   
gap between the boys and girls of two   
hundred years ago and  the boys and     
girls we know to-day6 ,the rigid bands  
that once bound  the young to decorum   
have dwindled to a silver thread that   
snaps  under every restive movement4 ,to

 have 8perfectly natural0 children      
seems to be the outspoken ambition of   
parents1 who have succeeded in          
retrograding their offspring from       
artificial civilization to that pure    
and wholesome savagery which is too     
plainly their ideal4 8,it is assumed    
nowadays10 declares an angry critic1    
8that children have come into the  world
 to make a noise2 and it is the part of 
every good parent to put  up with it1   
and to make all household arrangements  
with a view to their  sole pleasure and 
convenience40    ,that the children     
brought up under this relaxed discipline
 acquire  certain merits and charms of  
their own is an easily acknowledged     
fact4  ,we are not now alluding to those
 spoiled and over-indulged little       
people who are the recognized scourges  
of humanity1 but merely to the  boys and
 girls who have been allowed from       
infancy that large degree  of freedom   
which is deemed expedient for           
enlightened nurseries1 and  who regulate

 their own conduct on the vast majority 
of occasions4 ,they  are as a rule      
light-hearted1 truthful1 affectionate1  
and occasionally  amusing2 but it cannot
 be denied that they lack that nicety of
 breeding  which was at one time the    
distinguishing mark of children of the  
upper  classes1 and which was in a great
 measure born of the restraints that    
surrounded them4 ,the faculty of sitting
 still without fidgeting1 of  walking   
without rushing1 and of speaking without
 screaming can be  acquired only under  
tuition2 but it is worth some little    
trouble to  attain4 ,when ,sydney ,smith
 remarked that the children of rank were
  generally so much better bred than the
 children of the middle classes1  he    
recognized the greater need for         
self-restraint that entered into  their 
lives4 ,they may have been less natural1
 perhaps1 but they were  infinitely more
 pleasing to his fastidious eyes2 and   
the unconscious  grace which he admired 
was merely the reflection of the        

universal  courtesy that surrounded     
them4 ,nor is this all4 8,the necessity 
of  self-repression10 says a recent     
writer in ,blackwood1 8makes room for   
thought1 which those children miss who  
have no formalities to observe1  no     
customs to respect1 who blurt out every 
irrelevance1 who interpose  at will with
 question and opinion as it enters the  
brain4 ,children  don't learn to talk by
 chattering to one another1 and saying  
what comes  uppermost4 ,mere listening  
with intelligence involves an exercise  
of  mental speech1 and observant silence
 opens the pores of the mind as         
impatient demands for explanation never 
do40    ,this is true1 inasmuch as it is
 not the child who is encouraged to     
talk continually who in the end learns  
how to arrange and express his  ideas4  
,nor does the fretful desire to be told 
at once what everything  means imply the
 active mind which parents so fondly    
suppose2 but rather  a languid          
percipience1 unable to decipher the     

simplest causes for  itself4 ,yet where 
shall we turn to look for the 8observant
 silence10  so highly recommended8 ,the 
young people who observed and were      
silent  have passed away1--little ,john 
,ruskin being assuredly the last of the 
species1--and their places are filled by
 those to whom observation  and silence 
are alike unknown4 ,this is the         
children's age1 and all  things are     
subservient to their wishes4 ,masses of 
juvenile literature  are published      
annually for their amusement2           
conversation is reduced  steadily to    
their level while they are present2     
meals are arranged  to suit their hours1
 and the dishes thereof to suit their   
palates2  studies are made simpler and  
toys more elaborate with each succeeding
  year4 ,the hardships they once        
suffered are now happily ended1 the     
decorum once exacted is fading rapidly  
away4 ,we accept the situation  with    
philosophy1 and only now and then1 under
 the pressure of some new  development1 

are startled into asking ourselves where
 it is likely to  end4      ,,footnotes3
    #a ,life of ,st4 ,anselm1 ,bishop of
 ,canterbury4 ,by ,martin ,rule4        
,,on ,,the ,,benefits ,,of              
,,superstition4      8,we in ,england10 
says ,mr4 ,kinglake1 8are scarcely      
sufficiently  conscious of the great    
debt we owe to the wise and watchful    
press which  presides over the formation
 of our opinions1 and which brings about
  this splendid result1 namely1 that in 
matters of belief the humblest  of us   
are lifted up to the level of the most  
sagacious2 so that really  a simple     
cornet in the ,blues is no more likely  
to entertain a foolish  belief in       
ghosts1 or witchcraft1 or any other     
supernatural topic1 than  the ,lord     
,high ,chancellor or the leader of the  
,house of ,commons40 ,this  delicate    
sarcasm1 delivered with all the author's
 habitual serenity  of mind1 is quoted  
by ,mr4 ,ruskin in his ,art of ,england2
 assentingly1  indeed1 but with a       

half-concealed dismay that any one could
 find it  in his heart to be funny upon 
such a distressing subject4 ,when he1   
,mr4 ,ruskin1 hurls his satiric shafts  
against the spirit of modern            
skepticism1 the points are touched with 
caustic1 and betray a deep  impatience  
darkening quickly into wrath4 ,is it not
 bad enough that we  ride in steam-cars 
instead of post-chaises1 live amid brick
 houses  instead of green fields1 and   
pass by some of the 8most accomplished  
pictures in the world0 to stare gaping  
at the last new machine1 with  its      
network of slow-revolving1              
wicked-looking wheels8 ,if1 in addition 
to these too prominent faults1 we are   
going to frown down the old  appealing  
superstitions1 and threaten them1 like  
naughty children1 with  the corrective  
discipline of scientific research1 he   
very properly  turns his back upon us   
forever1 and distinctly says he has no  
further  message for our ears4    ,let  
us rather1 then1 approach the subject   

with the invaluable  humility of ,don   
,bernal ,dias del ,castillo1 that       
gallant soldier who  followed the       
fortunes of ,corts into ,mexico1 and    
afterwards penned  the ,historia        
,verdadera1 an ingenuous narrative of   
their discoveries1  their hardships1 and
 their many battles4 ,in one of these1  
it seems1  the blessed ,saint ,iago     
appeared in the thickest of the fray1   
mounted  on a snow-white charger1       
leading his beloved ,spaniards to       
victory4 ,now  the conquestador freely  
admits that he himself did not behold   
the  saint2 on the contrary1 what he did
 see in that particular spot was  a     
cavalier named ,francisco de ,morla1    
riding on a chestnut horse4 ,but  does  
he1 on that account1 puff himself up    
with pride1 and declare that  his more  
fortunate comrades were mistaken8 ,by no
 means6 ,he is as firmly  convinced of  
the presence of the vision as if it had 
been apparent to  his eyes1 and with    
admirable modesty lays all the blame    

upon his own  unworthiness4 8,sinner    
that ,i am60 he exclaims devoutly1 8why 
should ,i  have been permitted to behold
 the blessed apostle80 ,in the same     
spirit1  honest ,peter ,walker strained 
his sight in vain for a glimpse of the  
ghostly armies that crossed the ,clyde  
in the summer of #afhf1 and1  seeing    
nothing1 was content to believe in them1
 all the same1 on the  testimony of his 
neighbors4    ,sir ,walter ,scott1 who  
appears to have wasted a good deal of   
time  in trying to persuade himself that
 he put no faith in spirits1  confesses 
quite humbly1 in his old age1 that 8the 
tendency to belief  in supernatural     
agencies seems connected with and       
deduced from the  invaluable conviction 
of the certainty of a future state40    
,and beyond  a doubt this tendency was  
throughout his life the source of many  
pleasurable emotions4 ,so much so1 in   
fact1 that1 according to ,mr4  ,pater's 
theory of happiness1 the loss of these  
emotions1 bred in him  from childhood1  

would have been very inadequately repaid
 by a gain in  scientific knowledge4 ,if
 it be the true wisdom to direct our    
finest  efforts towards multiplying our 
sensations1 and so expanding the brief  
interval we call life1 then the old     
unquestioning credulity was a  more     
powerful motor in human happiness than  
any sentiment that fills  its ground    
to-day4 ,in the first place it was      
closely associated with  certain types  
of beauty1 and beauty is one of the     
tonics now most  earnestly recommended  
to our sick souls4 8,les fions d'aut    
fais0 were  charming to the very tips of
 their dewy1 trembling wings2 the elfin 
people1 who danced in the forest glades 
under the white moonbeams1  danced their
 way without any difficulty right into  
the hearts of  men2 the swan-maiden1 who
 ventured shyly in the fisher's path1   
was  easily transformed into a loving   
wife2 even the mara1 most suspicious    
and terrible of ghostly visitors1 has   
often laid aside her darker  instincts1 

and developed into a cheerful spouse1   
with only a tinge of  mystery to make   
her more attractive in her husband's    
eyes4 ,melusina  combing her golden hair
 by the bubbling fountain of ,lusignan1 
,undine  playing in the rain-drenched   
forest1 the nixie dancing at the village
  feast with her handsome ,flemish lad1 
and the mermaid reluctantly  leaving her
 watery home to wed the youth who       
captured her magic  seal-skin1 all      
belong to the sisterhood of beauty1 and 
their images did  good service in       
raising the vulgar mind from its        
enforced contemplation  of the sordid   
troubles1 the droning vexations1 of     
life4    ,next1 the happy believers in  
the supernatural owed to their          
simplicity  delicious throbs of         
fear1--not craven cowardice1 but that   
more refined  and complex feeling1 which
 is of all sensations the most          
enthralling1  the most elusive1 and the 
most impossible to define4 ,fear1 like  
all  other treacherous gifts1 must be   

handled with discrimination3 a thought  
too much1 and we are brutalized and     
degraded2 but within certain  limits it 
enhances all the pleasures of life4     
,when ,captain ,forsyth  stood behind a 
tree on a sultry summer morning1 and saw
 the tigress  step softly through the   
long jungle grass1 and the affrighted   
monkeys  swing chattering overhead1     
there must have come upon him that      
sensation  of awe which alone makes     
courage possible4#b ,he knew that his   
life  hung trembling in the balance1 and
 that all depended upon the first  shot 
he fired4 ,he respected1 as a sane man  
would1 the mighty strength  of his      
antagonist1 her graceful limbs instinct 
with power1 her cruel  eyes blinking in 
the yellow dawn4 ,and born of the fear1 
which stirred  but could not conquer    
him1 came the keen transport of the     
hunter1 who  feels that one such        
supremely heroic moment is worth a year 
of ordinary  life4 ,without that dread1 
not only would the joy be lessened1 and 

the  glad rebound from danger to a sense
 of safety lost forever1 but the        
disciplined and manly courage of the    
,english soldier would degenerate  into 
a mere brutish audacity1 hardly above   
the level of the beast he  slays4    ,in
 children1 this delicate emotion of     
fear1 growing out of their  dependent   
condition1 gives dignity and meaning to 
their courage when  they are brave1 and 
a delicious zest to their youthful      
delinquencies4  ,gray1 in his chilly and
 melancholy manhood1 years after he has 
resigned  himself to never again being  
8either dirty or amused0 as long as he  
lives1 goes back like a flash to the    
unlawful delight of a schoolboy's       
stolen freedom3--        8,still as they
 run they look behind1      ,they hear a
 voice in every wind1      ,and snatch a
 fearful joy40    ,and who that has ever
 watched a party of children1 listening 
with  bright eyes and parted lips to    
some weird1 uncanny legend1--like that  
group of little girls for instance1 in  

,mr4 ,charles ,gregory's picture  ,tales
 and ,wonders1--can doubt for a moment  
the 8fearful joy0 that  terror lends    
them8 ,nowadays1 it is true1 their      
youthful ears are but  too well guarded 
from such indiscretions until they are  
old enough to  scoff at all fantastic   
folly1 and the age at which they learn  
to scoff  is one of the most astonishing
 things about our modern progress4 ,they
  have ceased to read fairy stories1    
because they no longer believe in       
fairies2 they find ,hans ,andersen      
silly1 and the ,arabian ,nights stupid2 
and the very babies1 8skeptics in       
long-coats10 scorn you openly if you    
venture to hint at ,santa ,claus4 8,what
 did ,kriss ,kringle bring you this     
,christmas80 ,i rashly asked a tiny mite
 of a girl2 and her answer was as       
emphatic as ,betsey ,prig's1 when1 with 
folded arms and a contemptuous  mien1   
she let fall the ever memorable words1  
8,i don't believe there's  no sich a    
person40    ,yet the supernatural1      

provided it be not too horrible1 is     
legitimate  food for a child's mind1    
nourishes its imagination1 inspires a   
healthy awe1 and is death to that       
precocious pedantry which is the  least 
pleasing trait that children are wont to
 manifest4 ,while few  are willing to go
 as far as ,mr4 ,ruskin1 who1 having    
himself been  brought up on fairy       
legends1 confesses that his 8first      
impulse would  be to insist upon every  
story we tell to a child being untrue1  
and  every scene we paint for it        
impossible10 yet a fair proportion of   
the  untrue and the impossible should   
enter into its education1 and it  should
 be left to the enjoyment of them as    
long as may be4 ,those of  us who have  
been happy enough to believe that       
salamanders basked in  the fire and     
mermaids swam in the deeps1 that        
were-wolves roamed in  the forests and  
witches rode in the storm1 are richer by
 all these  unfading pictures and       
unforgotten memories than our more      

scrupulously  reared neighbors4 ,and    
what if we could give such things the   
semblance  of reality once more1--could 
set foot in spirit within the enchanted 
forest of ,broceliande1 and enjoy the   
tempestuous gusts of fear that  shook   
the heart-strings of the ,breton        
peasant1 as the great trees  drew their 
mysterious shadows above his head8 ,on  
either side lurk  shadowy forms of elf  
and fairy1 half hidden by the swelling  
trunks2 the  wind whispers in the heavy 
boughs1 and he hears their low1         
malicious  laughter2 the dry leaves     
rustle beneath his feet1--he knows their
  stealthy steps are close behind2 a    
broken twig falls on his shoulder1  and 
he starts trembling1 for unseen hands   
have touched him4 ,around  his neck hang
 a silver medal of ,our ,lady and a bit 
of ash wood given  him by a wise woman1 
whom many believe a witch2 thus is he   
doubly  guarded from the powers of evil4
 ,beyond the forest lies the open path1 
where wife and children stand waiting by

 the cottage door4 ,he is a  brave man  
to wander in the gloaming1 and if he    
reaches home there will  be much to tell
 of all that he has seen1 and heard1 and
 felt4 ,should  he be devoured by       
wolves1 however1--and there is always   
this prosaic  danger to be              
apprehended1--then his comrades will    
relate how he left  them and went alone 
into the haunted woods1 and his         
sorrowing widow  will know that the     
fairies have carried him away1 or turned
 him into  stone4 ,and the wise woman1  
reproached1 perhaps1 for the impotence  
of  her charms1 will say how with her   
own aged eyes she has three times  seen 
,kourigan1 ,death's elder brother1      
flitting before the doomed man1  and    
knew that his fate was sealed4 ,so while
 fresh tales of mystery  cluster round  
his name1 and his children breathe them 
in trembling  whispers by the fireside1 
their mother will wait hopefully for the
  spell to be broken1 and the lost given
 back to her arms2 until ,pierrot1  the 

charcoal-burner1 persuades her that a   
stone remains a stone until  the        
,judgment ,day1 and that in the mean    
time his own hut by the kiln is  empty1 
and he needs a wife4    ,but            
superstition1 it is claimed1 begets     
cruelty1 and cruelty is a  vice now most
 rigorously frowned down by polite      
society4 ,daring  spirits1 like ,mr4    
,besant1 may still urge its claims upon 
our reluctant  consideration2 ,mr4      
,andrew ,lang may pronounce it an       
essential element of  humor2 or a purely
 speculative genius1 like ,mr4 ,pater1  
may venture to  show how adroitly it can
 be used as a help to religious         
sentiment2 but  every age has pet vices 
of its own1 and1 being singularly       
intolerant  of those it has discarded1  
is not inclined to listen to any        
arguments  in their favor4 ,superstition
 burned old women for witches1 dotards  
for warlocks1 and idiots for            
were-wolves2 but in its gentler aspect  
it often threw a veil of charity over   

both man and beast4 ,the ,greek  rustic1
 who found a water-newt wriggling in his
 gourd1 tossed the  little creature back
 into the stream1 remembering that it   
was the  unfortunate ,ascalaphus1 whom  
the wrath of ,demeter had consigned to  
this  loathsome doom4 ,the medival      
housewife1 when startled by a gaunt wolf
  gazing through her kitchen window1    
bethought her that this might be her    
lost husband1 roaming helpless and      
bewitched1 and so gave the starving     
creature food4        8,o was it        
war-wolf in the wood8      ,or was it   
mermaid in the sea8      ,or was it man1
 or vile woman1        ,my ain true     
love1 that misshaped thee80    ,the     
,west ,indian negress still bestows     
chicken-soup instead of scalding  water 
on the invading army of black ants1     
believing that if kindly  treated they  
will show their gratitude in the only   
way that ants can  manifest it1--by     
taking their departure4    ,granted that
 in these acts of gentleness there are  

traces of fear and  self-consideration2 
but who shall say that all our good     
deeds are not  built up on some such    
trestle-work of foibles8 8,la vertu     
n'iroit pas  si loin1 si la vanit ne lui
 tenoit pas compagnie40 ,and what       
universal  politeness has been fostered 
by the terror that superstition breeds1 
what delicate euphemisms containing the 
very soul of courtesy6 ,consider  the   
,greeks1 who christened the dread furies
 8,eumenides10 or 8gracious  ones20 the 
,scotch who warily spoke of the devil as
 the 8good man10  lest his sharp ears   
should catch a more unflattering title2 
the ,dyak  who respectfully mentions the
 small-pox as 8the chief20 the ,east    
,indian  who calls the tiger 8lord0 or  
8grandfather20 and the ,laplander1 who  
gracefully alludes to the white bear as 
8the fur-clad one10 and then  realize   
what perfection of breeding was involved
 in what we are wont to  call ignorant  
credulity4    ,again1 in the stress of  
modern life1 how little room is left for

 that  most comfortable vanity which    
whispers in our ears that failures are  
not faults6 ,now we are taught from     
infancy that we must rise or fall  upon 
our own merits2 that vigilance wins     
success1 and incapacity means  ruin4    
,but before the world had grown so      
pitilessly logical there was  no lack of
 excuses for the defeated1 and of       
unflattering comments for  the strong4  
,did some shrewd ,cornish miner open a  
rich vein of ore1 then  it was apparent 
to his fellow-toilers that the knackers 
had been at  work1 leading him on by    
their mysterious tapping to this more   
fruitful  field4 ,but let him proceed   
warily1 for the knacker1 like its       
,german  brother1 the kobold1 is but a  
capricious sprite1 and some day may     
beguile him into a mysterious passage or
 long-forgotten chamber in the  mine1   
whence he shall never more return4 ,his 
bones will whiten in their  prison1     
while his spirit1 wandering restlessly  
among the subterranean  corridors1 will 

be heard on ,christmas ,eve1 hammering  
wearily away till  the gray dawn        
brightens in the east4 ,or did some     
prosperous farmer save  his crop while  
his neighbors' corn was blighted1 and   
raise upon his  small estate more than  
their broader acres could be forced to  
yield1  there was no opportunity        
afforded him for pride or               
self-congratulation4  ,only the witch's 
art could bring about such strange      
results1 and the  same sorceries that   
had aided him had1 doubtless1 been the  
ruin of his  friends4 ,he was a lucky   
man if their indignation went no further
 than  muttered phrases and averted     
heads4 ,does not ,pliny tell us the     
story of  ,caius ,furius ,cresinus1     
whose heavy crops awoke such mingled    
anger and  suspicion in his neighbors'  
hearts that he was accused in the courts
 of  conjuring their grain and fruit    
into his own scanty ground8 ,if a woman 
aspired to be neater than her gossips1  
or to spin more wool than they  were    

able to display1 it was only because the
 pixies labored for her  at night2      
turning her wheel briskly in the        
moonlight1 splitting the  wood1 and     
drawing the water1 while she drowsed    
idly in her bed4        8,and every     
night the pixies good      ,drive round 
the wheel with sound subdued1      ,and 
leave--in this they never fail--      ,a
 silver penny in the pail40    ,even to 
the clergy this engaging theory brought 
its consolations4  ,when the ,reverend  
,lucas ,jacobson ,debes1 pastor of      
,thorshaven in #afgj1  found that his   
congregation was growing slim1 he was   
not forced1  in bitterness of spirit1 to
 ask himself were his sermons dull1 but 
promptly laid all the blame upon the    
biergen-trold1 the spectres  of the     
mountains1 whom he angrily accused1 in a
 lengthy homily1 of  disturbing his     
flock1 and even pushing their           
discourtesy so far as to  carry them off
 bodily before his discourse was        
completed4    ,indeed1 it is to the     

clergy that we are indebted for much    
interesting  information concerning the 
habits of goblins1 witches1 and gnomes4 
,the ,reverend ,robert ,kirke1 of       
,aberfoyle1 ,perthshire1 divided his    
literary labors impartially between a   
translation of the ,psalms into  ,gaelic
 verse and an elaborate treatise on the 
8,subterranean and for the  most part   
,invisible ,people1 heretofore going    
under the name of ,elves1  ,faunes1 and 
,fairies1 or the like10 which was       
printed1 with the author's  name        
attached1 in #afia4 ,here1 unsullied by 
any taint of skepticism1  we have an    
array of curious facts that would       
suggest the closest  intimacy between   
the rector and the 8,invisible ,people10
 who at any rate  concealed nothing from
 his eyes4 ,he tells us gravely that    
they marry1  have children1 die1 and are
 buried1 very much like ordinary        
mortals2  that they are inveterate      
thieves1 stealing everything1 from the  
milk  in the dairy to the baby lying on 

its mother's breast2 that they can  fire
 their elfin arrow-heads so adroitly    
that the weapon penetrates to  the heart
 without breaking the skin1 and he      
himself has seen animals  wounded in    
this manner2 that iron in any shape or  
form is a terror to  them1 not for the  
same reason that ,solomon misliked it1  
but on account  of the proximity of the 
great iron mines to the place of eternal
  punishment2 and--strangest of         
all--that they can read and write1 and  
have extensive libraries1 where light   
and toyish books alternate with         
ponderous volumes on abstruse mystical  
subjects4 ,only the ,bible may not  be  
found among them4    ,how ,mr4 ,kirke   
acquired all these particulars--whether1
 like ,john  ,dietrich1 he lived in the 
,elfin ,mound and grew wise on elfin    
wisdom1  or whether he adopted a less   
laborious and secluded method--does not 
transpire4 ,but one thing is certain3 he
 was destined to pay a heavy  price for 
his unhallowed knowledge4 ,the fairies1 

justly irritated at  such an open       
revelation of their secrets1 revenged   
themselves signally  by carrying off the
 offender1 and imprisoning him beneath  
the dun-shi1  or goblin hill1 where he  
has since had ample opportunity to      
pursue  his investigations4 ,it is true1
 his parishioners supposed he had died  
of apoplexy1 and1 under that impression1
 buried him in ,aberfoyle  churchyard2  
but his successor1 the ,rev4 ,dr4       
,grahame1 informs us of the  widespread 
belief concerning his true fate4 ,an    
effort was even made  to rescue him from
 his captivity1 but it failed through   
the neglect  of a kinsman1 ,grahame of  
,duchray2 and ,robert ,kirke1 like      
,thomas of  ,ercildoune and the three   
miners of the ,kuttenberg1 still 8drees 
his  weird0 in the enchanted halls of   
elfland4    ,when the unfortunate       
witches of ,warbois were condemned to   
death1 on  the testimony of the         
,throgmorton children1 ,sir ,samuel     
,cromwell1 as  lord of the manor1       

received forty pounds out of their      
estate2 which  sum he turned into a     
rent-charge of forty shillings yearly1  
for the  endowment of an annual lecture 
on witchcraft1 to be preached by a      
doctor or bachelor of divinity1 of      
,queen's ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,thus  he
 provided for his tenants a good sound  
church doctrine on this  interesting    
subject1 and we may rest assured that   
the sermons were  far from quieting     
their fears1 or lulling them into a     
skeptical  indifference4 ,indeed1 more  
imposing names than ,sir ,samuel        
,cromwell's  appear in the lists to do  
battle for cherished superstitions4 ,did
 not  the devout and conscientious      
,baxter firmly believe in the powers of 
witches1 especially after 8hearing their
 sad confessions20 and was  not the     
gentle and learned ,addison more than   
half disposed to believe  in them1 too8 
,does not ,bacon avow that a            
8well-regulated0 astrology  might become
 the medium of many beneficial truths2  

and did not the  scholarly ,dominican1  
,stephen of ,lusignan1 expand the legend
 of ,melusina  into so noble a history1 
that the great houses of ,luxembourg1   
,rohan1  and ,sassenaye altered their   
pedigrees1 so as to claim descent from  
that illustrious nymph8 ,even the       
,emperor ,henry ,,vii4 was as proud of  
his fishy ancestress as was ,godfrey de 
,bouillon of his mysterious  grandsire1 
,helias1 the ,knight of the ,swan1      
better known to us as the  ,lohengrin of
 ,wagner's opera2 while among more      
modest annals appear the  families of   
,fantome and ,dobie1 each bearing a     
goblin on their crest1 in  witness of   
their claim to some shadowy supernatural
 kinship4    ,there is often a marked   
contrast between the same superstition  
as  developed in different countries1   
and in the same elfin folk1 who  please 
or terrify us according to the gay or   
serious bent of their  mortal           
interpreters4 ,while the ,keltic ourisk 
is bright and friendly1  with a tinge of

 malice and a strong propensity to      
blunder1 the ,english  brownie is a more
 clever and audacious sprite1 the       
,scottish bogle is a  sombre and        
dangerous acquaintance1 and the ,dutch  
,hudikin an ungainly  counterpart of    
,puck1 with hardly a redeeming quality1 
save a lumbering  fashion of telling the
 truth when it is least expected4 ,it   
was ,hudikin  who foretold the murder of
 ,james ,i4 of ,scotland2 though why he 
should  have left the dikes of ,holland 
for the bleak ,highland hills it is hard
  to say1 more especially as there were 
murders enough at home to keep  him as  
busy as ,cassandra4 ,so1 too1 when the  
,english witches rode up the  chimney   
and through the storm-gusts to their    
unhallowed meetings1 they  apparently   
confined their attention to the business
 in hand1 having  perhaps enough to     
occupy them in managing their broomstick
 steeds4  ,but when the ,scottish hags  
cried1 8,horse and hattock in the       
devil's  name60 and rushed fiercely     

through the tempestuous night1 the      
unlucky  traveler crossed himself and   
trembled1 lest in very wantonness they  
aim their magic arrows at his heart4    
,isobel ,gowdie confessed at her  trial 
to having fired in this manner at the   
,laird of the ,park1 as he  rode through
 a ford2 but the influence of the       
running water turned her  dart aside1   
and she was soundly cuffed by ,bessie   
,hay1 another witch1  for her           
awkwardness in choosing such an         
unpropitious moment4#c ,in  one respect 
alone this evil sisterhood were all in  
harmony4 ,by charms  and spells they    
revenged themselves terribly on their   
enemies1 and  inflicted malicious       
injuries on their friends4 ,it was as   
easy for them  to sink a ship in        
mid-ocean as to dry the milk in a cow's 
udder1 or to  make a strong man pine    
away while his waxen image was consumed 
inch by  inch on the witch's smouldering
 hearth4    ,this instinctive belief in 
evil spells is the essence1 not of      

witchcraft only1 but of every form of   
superstition1 from the days of          
,thessalian magic to the brutish rites  
of the ,louisiana ,voodoo4 ,it has      
brought to the scaffold women of gentle 
blood1 like ,janet ,douglas1  ,lady     
,glamis1 and to the stake visionary     
enthusiasts like ,jeanne d',arc4  ,it   
confronts us from every page of history1
 it stares at us from the  columns of   
the daily press4 ,it has provided an    
outlet for fear1 hope1  love1 and       
hatred1 and a weapon for every passion  
that stirs the soul of  man4 ,it is     
equally at home in all parts of the     
world1 and has entered  freely into the 
religion1 the traditions1 and the       
folk-lore of all  nations4 ,acton flying
 as a stag from the pursuit of his own  
hounds2  ,circe's swinish captives      
groveling at their troughs2 ,bjrn turned
 into  a bear through the malice of his 
stepmother1 and hunted to death by  his 
father1 ,king ,hring2 the ,swans of ,lir
 floating mournfully on the  icy waters 

of the ,moyle2 the loup-garou lurking in
 the forests of  ,brittany1 and the     
oborot coursing over the ,russian       
steppes2 ,merlin  sleeping in the gloomy
 depths of ,broceliande1 and ,raknar    
buried fifty  fathoms below the coast of
 ,helluland1 are alike the victims      
8,of woven paces and of waving hands40  
whether the spell be cast by an outraged
 divinity1 or by the cruel hand  of a   
malignant foe4    ,in #aheg1 ,mr4       
,newton discovered at ,cnidos fragments 
of a buried and  ruined chapel1 sacred  
to ,demeter and ,persephone4 ,in it were
 three  marble figures of great beauty1 
some small votive images of baked       
earth1 several bronze lamps1 and a      
number of thin leaden rolls1 pierced    
with holes for the convenience of       
hanging them around the chapel walls4   
,on these rolls were inscribed the dir1 
or spells1 devoting some enemy  to the  
infernal gods1 and the motive for the   
suppliant's ill-will was  given with    
great navet and earnestness4 ,one woman 

binds another who  has lured away her   
lover2 a second1 the enemy who has      
accused her of  poisoning her husband2 a
 third1 the thief who has stolen her    
bracelet2  a fourth1 the man who has    
robbed her of a favorite drinking-horn2 
a  fifth1 the acquaintance who has      
failed to return a borrowed garment2    
and so on through a long list of        
grievances4#d ,it is evident this  form 
of prayer was quite a common occurrence1
 and1 as combining a  religious rite    
with a comfortable sense of retaliation1
 must have been  exceptionally soothing 
to the worshiper's mind4 ,persephone was
 appeased  and their own wrongs atoned  
for by this simple act of devotion2 and 
would that it were given to us now to   
inscribe1 and by inscribing doom1  all  
those who have borrowed and failed to   
return our books2 would  that by        
scribbling some strong language on a    
piece of lead we could  avenge the      
lamentable gaps on our shelves1 and send
 the ghosts of the  wrong-doers howling 

dismally into the eternal shades of     
,tartarus4    ,the saddest thing about  
these faded superstitions is that the   
very  men who have studied them most    
accurately are often least susceptible  
to their charms4 ,in their eagerness to 
trace back every myth to a  common      
origin1 and to prove1 with or without   
reason1 that they one  and all arose    
from the observation of natural         
phenomena1 too many  writers either     
overlook entirely the beauty and meaning
 of the tale1  or treat it with a       
contemptuous indifference very hard to  
understand4  ,mr4 ,baring-,gould1 a most
 honorable exception to this evil rule1 
takes  occasion now and then to deal    
some telling blows at the extravagant   
theorists who persist in maintaining    
that every tradition bears its          
significance on its surface1 and who1   
following up their preconceived         
opinions1 cruelly overtax the credulity 
of their readers4 ,he himself  has shown
 conclusively that many ,aryan myths are

 but allegorical  representations of    
natural forces2 but in these cases the  
connection  is always distinctly traced 
and easily understood4 ,it is not hard  
for  any of us to perceive the likeness 
between the worm ,schamir1 the hand  of 
glory1 and the lightning1 when their    
peculiar properties are so  much alike2 
or to behold in the ,sleeping ,beauty or
 ,thorn-,rose the  ice-bound earth      
slumbering through the long winter      
months1 until the  sun-god's kisses win 
her back to life and warmth4 ,but when  
we are  asked to believe that ,william  
,tell is the storm-cloud1 with his arrow
  of lightning and his iris bow bent    
against the sun1 which is resting  like 
a coin or a golden apple on the edge of 
the horizon1 we cannot  but feel1 with  
the author of ,curious ,myths1 that a   
little too much is  exacted from us4 8,i
 must protest10 he says1 8against the   
manner in  which our ,german friends    
fasten rapaciously upon every atom of   
history1  sacred and profane1 and       

demonstrate all heroes to represent the 
sun2  all villains to be the demons of  
night or winter2 all sticks and spears  
and arrows to be the lightning2 all cows
 and sheep and dragons and  swans to be 
clouds40    ,but then it must be        
remembered that ,mr4 ,baring-,gould is  
the most  tolerant and catholic of      
writers1 with hardly a hobby he can call
 his  own4 ,sympathizing with the sad   
destruction of ,william ,tell1 he casts 
a lance in honor of ,saint ,george      
against ,reynolds and ,gibbon1 and      
manifests a lurking weakness for        
mermaids1 divining-rods1 and the        
,wandering ,jew4 ,he is to be           
congratulated on his early training1 for
 he  assures us he believed1 on the     
testimony of his ,devonshire nurse1 that
  all ,cornishmen had tails1 until a    
,cornish bookseller stoutly denied the  
imputation1 and enlightened his infant  
mind4 ,he has the rare and happy        
faculty of writing upon all mythical    
subjects with grace1 sympathy1  and     

vraisemblance4 ,even when there can be  
no question of credulity  either with   
himself or with his readers1 he is yet  
content to write as  though for the time
 he believes4 ,just as ,mr4 ,birrell    
advises us to lay  aside our moral sense
 when we begin the memoirs of an        
attractive scamp1  and to recall it     
carefully when we have finished1 so ,mr4
 ,baring-,gould  generously lays aside  
his enlightened skepticism when he      
undertakes to  tell us about sirens and 
were-wolves1 and remembers that he is of
 the  nineteenth century only when his  
task is done4    ,this is precisely what
 ,mr4 ,john ,fiske is unable or         
unwilling to  accomplish4 ,he cannot for
 a moment forget how much better he     
knows2  and instead of an indulgent     
smile at the delightful follies of our  
ancestors1 we detect here and there     
through his very valuable pages         
something unpleasantly like a sneer4    
8,where the modern calmly taps  his     
forehead10 explains ,mr4 ,fiske1 8and   

says1 #8,arrested development6'  the    
terrified ancient made the sign of the  
cross1 and cried1  #8,were-wolf6'0#e    
,now a more disagreeable object than the
 8modern0  tapping his forehead1 like   
,dr4 ,blimber1 and offering a sensible  
elucidation of every mystery1 it would  
be hard to find4 ,the ignorant  peasant 
making his sign of the cross is not only
 more picturesque1  but he is more      
companionable1--in books1 at least1--and
 it is of far  greater interest to try  
to realize how he felt when the specimen
  of 8arrested development0 stole past  
him in the shadow of the woods4  ,there 
is1 after all1 a mysterious horror about
 the lame boy1--some  impish changeling 
of evil parentage1 foisted on hell1     
perhaps1 as  ,nadir thrust his          
earth-born baby into heaven1--who every 
,midsummer  ,night and every ,christmas 
,eve summoned the were-wolves to their  
secret  meeting1 whence they rushed     
ravenously over the ,german forests4    
,the  girdle of human skin1 three       

finger-breadths wide1 which wrought the 
transformation2 the telltale hairs in   
the hollow of the hand which  betrayed  
the wolfish nature2 the fatality which  
doomed one of every  seven sisters to   
this dreadful enchantment1 and the      
trifling accidents  which brought about 
the same undesirable result are so many 
handles  by which we grasp the strange  
emotions that swayed the medival man4   
,jacques ,roulet and ,jean ,grenier1#f  
as mere maniacs and cannibals1 fill     
every heart with disgust2 but as        
were-wolves an awful mystery wraps  them
 round1 and the mind is distracted from 
pity for their victims to  a fascinated 
consideration of their own tragic doom4 
,a blood-thirsty  idiot is an object    
that no one cares to think about2 but a 
wolf-fiend1  urged to deeds of violence 
by an impulse he cannot resist1 is one  
of  those ghastly creations that the    
folk-lore of every country has placed   
sharply and persistently before our     
startled eyes4 ,yet surely there  is a  

touch of comedy in the story told by    
,van ,hahn1 of an unlucky  freemason1   
who1 having divulged the secrets of his 
order1 was pursued  across the ,pyrenees
 by the master of his lodge in the form 
of a  were-wolf1 and escaped only by    
taking refuge in an empty cottage1 and  
hiding under the bed4    8,to us who are
 nourished from childhood10 says ,mr4   
,fiske again1 8on  the truths revealed  
by science1 the sky is known to be      
merely an  optical appearance1 due to   
the partial absorption of the solar rays
  in passing through a thick stratum of 
atmospheric air2 the clouds are  known  
to be large masses of watery vapor1     
which descend in rain-drops  when       
sufficiently condensed2 and the         
lightning is known to be a flash  of    
light accompanying an electric          
discharge40 ,but the blue sky-sea of    
,aryan folk-lore1 in which the          
cloud-flakes floated as stately swans1  
drew many an eye to the contemplation of
 its loveliness1 and touched  many a    

heart with the sacred charm of beauty4  
,on that mysterious sea  strange vessels
 sailed from unknown shores1 and once a 
mighty anchor  was dropped by the sky   
mariners1 and fell right into a little  
,english  graveyard1 to the great       
amazement of the humble congregation    
just  coming out from church4 ,the      
sensation of freedom and space afforded 
by  this conception of the heavens is a 
delicious contrast to the conceit  of   
the ,persian poet1--          8,that    
inverted ,bowl they call the ,sky1      
,whereunder crawling cooped we live and 
die20    or to the ,semitic legend1     
which described the firmament as made of
  hammered plate1 with little windows   
for rain1--a device so poor and         
barbaric1 that we wonder how any man    
could look up into the melting  blue and
 admit such a sordid fancy into his     
soul4    8,scientific knowledge1 even in
 the most modest men10 confesses ,dr4   
,oliver ,wendell ,holmes1 8has mingled  
with it something which partakes of     

insolence4 ,absolute1 peremptory facts  
are bullies1 and those who keep  company
 with them are apt to get a bullying    
habit of mind40 ,such an  admission from
 so genial and kindly a source should   
suffice to put us  all on the defensive4
 ,it is not agreeable to be bullied even
 upon those  matters which are commonly 
classed as facts2 but when we come to   
the  misty region of dreams and myths   
and superstitions1 let us remember1     
with ,lamb1 that 8we do not know the    
laws of that country10 and with him     
generously forbear to 8set down our     
ancestors in the gross for fools40  ,we 
have lost forever the fantasies that    
enriched them4 ,not for us are  the pink
 and white lions that gamboled in the   
land of ,prester ,john1  nor his onyx   
floors1 imparting courage to all who    
trod on them4 ,not for  us the          
,terrestrial ,paradise1 with its 8,welle
 of ,youthe1 whereat thei  that drynken 
semen alle weys yongly1 and lyven       
withouten sykeness20#g  nor the         

,fortunate ,isles beyond the ,western   
,sea1 where spring was ever  green2     
where youths and maidens danced hand in 
hand on the dewy grass1  where the cows 
ungrudgingly gave milk enough to fill   
whole ponds  instead of milking-pails1  
and where wizards and usurers could     
never  hope to enter4 ,the doors of     
these enchanted spots are closed upon   
us1  and their key1 like ,excalibur1    
lies hidden where no hand can grasp it4 
8,the whole wide world is painted gray  
on gray1      ,and ,wonderland forever  
is gone past40    ,all we can do is to  
realize our loss with becoming modesty1 
and now and  then cast back a wistful   
glance                                  
8where underneath        ,the shelter of
 the quaint kiosk1 there sigh        ,a 
troup of ,fancy's little ,china ,dolls1 
,who dream and dream1 with damask round 
their loins1      ,and in their hands a 
golden tulip flower40      ,,footnotes3 
#b ,the ,highlands of ,central ,india4  
,by ,captain ,james ,forsyth4    #c     

,letters on ,demonology and ,witchcraft4
 ,by ,sir ,walter ,scott4    #d ,the    
,myth of ,demeter and ,persephone4 ,by  
,walter ,pater4    #e ,myths and        
,mythmakers4    #f ,book of             
,were-,wolves4 ,by ,baring-,gould4    #g
 ,travels of ,sir ,john ,mandeville4    
,,what ,,children ,,read4      ,it is   
part of the irony of life that our      
discriminating taste for books  should  
be built up on the ashes of an extinct  
enjoyment4 ,we spend a  great deal of   
our time in learning what literature is 
good1 and a great  deal more in attuning
 our minds to its reception1 rightly    
convinced  that1 by the training of our 
intellectual faculties1 we are unlocking
  one of the doors through which        
sweetness and light may enter4 ,we are  
fond of reading1 too1 and have always   
maintained with ,macaulay that we  would
 rather be a poor man with books than a 
great king without1 though  luckily for 
our resolution1 and perhaps for his1    
such a choice has  never yet been       

offered4 ,books1 we say1 are our dearest
 friends1 and so1  with true friendly   
acuteness1 we are prompt to discover    
their faults1  and take great credit in 
our ingenuity4 ,but all this time1      
somewhere  about the house1 curled up1  
may be1 in a nursery window1 or hidden  
in  a freezing attic1 a child is poring 
over ,the ,three ,musketeers1 lost  to  
any consciousness of his surroundings1  
incapable of analyzing his  emotions1   
breathless with mingled fear and        
exultation over his heroes'  varying    
fortunes1 and drinking in a host of     
vivid impressions that are  absolutely  
ineffaceable from his mind4 ,we cannot  
read in that fashion  any longer1 but we
 only wish we could4 ,thackeray used to 
sigh in middle  age over the lost       
delights of five shillings' worth of    
pastry2 but  what was the pleasure of   
eating tarts to the glamour cast over us
 by  our first romance1 to the enchanted
 hours we spent with ,sintram by  the   
sea-shore1 or with ,nydia in the        

darkened streets of ,pompeii1 or        
perhaps--if we were not too carefully   
watched--with ,emily in those  dreadful 
vaults beneath ,udolpho's walls6    ,nor
 is it fiction only that strongly       
excites the imagination of a  child4    
,history is not to him what it is to us1
 a tangle of disputed  facts1 doubtful  
theories1 and conflicting evidence4 ,he 
grasps its  salient points with simple  
directness1 absorbs them into his mind  
with tolerable accuracy1 and passes     
judgment on them with enviable  ease4   
,to him1 historical characters are at   
least as real as those of  romance1     
which they are very far from being to   
us1 and he enters into  their           
impressions and motives with a facile   
sympathy which we rarely  feel4 ,not    
only does he firmly believe that ,marcus
 ,curtius leaped into  the gulf1 but he 
has not yet learned to question the     
expediency of  the act2 and1 having     
never been enlightened by ,mr4 ,grote1  
the black  broth of ,lykurgus is as much

 a matter of fact to him as the bread   
and  butter upon his own breakfast      
table4 ,sir ,walter ,scott tells us that
  even the dinner-bell--most welcome    
sound to boyish ears--failed to win  him
 from his rapt perusal of ,percy's      
,reliques of ,ancient ,poetry2 but      
,gibbon1 as a lad1 found the passage of 
the ,goths over the ,danube just  as    
engrossing1 and1 stifling the pangs of  
hunger1 preferred to linger  fasting in 
their company4 ,the great historian's   
early love for history  has furnished   
,mr4 ,bagehot with one more proof of the
 fascination of  such records for the   
youthful mind1 and he bids us at the    
same time  consider from what a firm and
 tangible standpoint it regards them4   
8,youth10 he writes1 8has a principle of
 consolidation4 ,in history1  the whole 
comes in boyhood2 the details later1 and
 in manhood4 ,the  wonderful series     
going far back to the times of old      
patriarchs with  their flocks and herds1
 the keen-eyed ,greek1 the stately      

,roman1 the  watchful ,jew1 the uncouth 
,goth1 the horrid ,hun1 the settled     
picture of  the unchanging ,east1 the   
restless shifting of the rapid ,west1   
the rise  of the cold and classical     
civilization1 its fall1 the rough1      
impetuous  ,middle ,ages1 the vague warm
 picture of ourselves and home1--when   
did we  learn these8 ,not yesterday1 nor
 to-day1 but long ago1 in the first dawn
  of reason1 in the original flow of    
fancy4 ,what we learn afterwards are    
but the accurate littlenesses of the    
great topic1 the dates and tedious      
facts4 ,those who begin late learn only 
these2 but the happy first feel  the    
mystic associations and the progress of 
the whole40#h    ,if this be true1 and  
the child's mind be not only singularly 
alive  to new impressions1 but quick to 
concentrate its knowledge into a        
consistent whole1 the value and         
importance of his early reading can     
hardly be overestimated4 ,that much     
anxiety has been felt upon the  subject 

is proven by the cry of                 
self-congratulation that rises on  every
 side of us to-day4 ,we are on the right
 track at last1 the press  and the      
publishers assure us2 and with tons of  
healthy juvenile  literature flooding   
the markets every year1 our ,american   
boys and girls  stand fully equipped for
 the intellectual battles of life4 ,but 
if we  will consider the matter in a    
dispassionate and less boastful light1  
we  shall see that the good accomplished
 is mainly of a negative character4  ,by
 providing cheap and wholesome reading  
for the young1 we have partly  succeeded
 in driving from the field that which   
was positively bad2  yet nothing is     
easier than to overdo a reformation1    
and1 through the  characteristic        
indulgence of ,american parents1        
children are drugged  with a literature 
whose chief merit is its harmlessness4  
,these little  volumes1 nicely written1 
nicely printed1 and nicely illustrated1 
are  very useful in their way2 but they 

are powerless to awaken a child's       
imagination1 or to stimulate his mental 
growth4 ,if stories1 they  merely       
introduce him to a phase of life with   
which he is already  familiar2 if       
historical1 they aim at showing him a   
series of detached  episodes1 broken    
pictures of the mighty whole1 shorn of  
its 8mystic  associations10 and stirring
 within his soul no stronger impulse    
than  that of a cheaply gratified       
curiosity4    ,not that children's books
 are to be neglected or contemned4 ,on  
the  contrary1 they are always helpful1 
and in the average nursery have  grown  
to be a recognized necessity4 ,but when 
supplied with a too lavish  hand1 a     
child is tempted to read nothing else1  
and his mind becomes  shrunken for lack 
of a vigorous stimulant to excite and   
expand it4  8,children10 wrote ,sir     
,walter ,scott1 8derive impulses of a   
powerful  and important kind from       
hearing things that they cannot entirely
  comprehend4 ,it is a mistake to write 

down to their understanding4 ,set  them 
on the scent1 and let them puzzle it    
out40 ,sir ,walter himself1 be  it      
observed1 in common with most little    
people of genius1 got along  strikingly 
well without any juvenile literature at 
all4 ,he shouted the  ballad of         
,hardyknute1 to the great annoyance of  
his aunt's visitors1  long before he    
knew how to read1 and listened at his   
grandmother's knee  to her stirring     
tales about ,watt of ,harden1 ,wight    
,willie of ,aikwood1  ,jamie ,telfer of 
the fair ,dodhead1 and a host of border 
heroes whose  picturesque robberies were
 the glory of their sober and           
respectable  descendants4 ,two or three 
old books which lay in the window-seat  
were explored for his amusement in the  
dreary winter days4 ,ramsay's           
,tea-,table ,miscellany1 a mutilated    
copy of ,josephus1 and ,pope's          
translation of the ,iliad appear to have
 been his favorites1 until1 when  about 
eight years old1 a happy chance threw   

him under the spell of the  two great   
poets who have swayed most powerfully   
the pliant imaginations  of the young4  
8,i found10 he writes in his early      
memoirs1 8within my  mother's           
dressing-room 7where ,i slept at one    
time7 some odd volumes  of ,shakespeare2
 nor can ,i easily forget the rapture   
with which ,i sate  up in my shirt      
reading them by the light of a fire in  
her apartment1  until the bustle of the 
family rising from supper warned me it  
was  time to creep back to my bed1 where
 ,i was supposed to have been safely    
deposited since nine o'clock40 ,and a   
little later he adds1 8,spenser  ,i     
could have read forever4 ,too young to  
trouble myself about the  allegory1 ,i  
considered all the knights1 and ladies1 
and dragons1 and  giants in their       
outward and exoteric sense1 and ,heaven 
only knows how  delighted ,i was to find
 myself in such society60    8,how much 
of our poetry10 it has been asked1 8owes
 its start to  ,spenser1 when the ,fairy

 ,queen was a household book1 and lay in
 the  parlor window-seat80 ,and how many
 brilliant fancies have emanated  from  
those same window-seats1 which          
,montaigne so keenly despised8  ,there1 
where the smallest child could climb    
with ease1 lay piled up  in a corner1   
within the reach of his little hands1   
the few precious  volumes which perhaps 
comprised the literary wealth of the    
household4  ,those were not days when   
over-indulgence and a multiplicity of   
books  robbed reading of its healthy    
zest4 ,we know that in the window-seat  
of ,cowley's mother's room lay a copy of
 the ,fairy ,queen1 which to her  little
 son was a source of unfailing delight1 
and ,pope has recorded  the ecstasy with
 which1 as a lad1 he pored over this    
wonderful poem2  but then neither       
,cowley nor ,pope had the advantage of  
following ,oliver  ,optic through the   
slums of ,new ,york1 or living with some
 adventurous  8boy hunters0 in the      
jungles of ,central ,africa4 ,on the    

other hand1  there is a delicious       
account of ,bentham1 in his early       
childhood1  climbing to the height of a 
huge stool1 and sitting there night     
after  night reading ,rapin's history by
 the light of two candles2 a weird      
little figure1 whose only counterpart in
 literature is the small ,john  ,ruskin 
propped up solemnly in his niche1 8like 
an idol10 and hemmed  in from the family
 reach by the table on which his book   
reposed4 ,it  is quite evident that     
,bentham found the mental nutrition he  
wanted  in ,rapin's rather dreary pages1
 just as ,pope and ,cowley found it in  
,spenser1 ,ruskin in the ,iliad1 and    
,burns in the marvelous stories  told by
 that 8most ignorant and superstitious  
old woman10 who made  the poet afraid of
 his own shadow1 and who1 as he         
afterwards freely  acknowledged1 fanned 
within his soul the kindling flame of   
genius4    ,look where we will1 we find 
the author's future work reflected in   
the  intellectual pastimes of his       

childhood4 ,madame de ,genlis1 when but 
six  years old1 perused with unflagging 
interest the ten solid volumes of       
,cllie1--a task which would appall the  
most stout-hearted novel-reader  of     
to-day4 ,gibbon turned as instinctively 
to facts as ,scott and ,burns  to       
fiction4 ,macaulay surely learned from  
his beloved neid the art of  presenting 
a dubious statement with all the        
vigorous coloring of truth4  ,wordsworth
 congratulated himself and ,coleridge   
that1 as children1 they  had ranged at  
will                            8through
 vales      ,rich with indigenous       
produce1 open grounds      ,of fancy20  
,coleridge1 in his turn1 was wont to    
express his sense of superiority  over  
those who had not read fairy tales when 
they were young1 and  ,charles ,lamb1   
who was plainly of the same way of      
thinking1 wrote to him  hotly on the    
subject of the 8cursed ,barbauld crew10 
and demanded how he  would ever have    
become a poet1 if1 instead of being fed 

with tales and  old wives' fables in his
 infancy1 he had been crammed with      
geography1  natural history1 and other  
useful information4 ,what a picture we  
have  of ,cardinal ,newman's sensitive  
and flexible mind in these few words    
which bear witness to his childish      
musings6 8,i used to wish10 he says  in 
the third chapter of the ,apologia1     
8that the ,arabian ,nights were  true2  
my imagination ran on unknown           
influences1 on magical powers  and      
talismans4444 ,i thought life might be a
 dream1 or ,i an angel1 and  all the    
world a deception1 my fellow angels1 by 
a playful device1  concealing themselves
 from me1 and deceiving me with the     
semblance of  a material world40        
,alongside of this poetic revelation may
 be placed  ,cobbett's sketch of        
himself3 a sturdy country lad of eleven1
 in a  blue smock and red garters1      
standing before the bookseller's shop   
in ,richmond1 with an empty stomach1    
three pence in his pocket1 and  a       

certain little book called ,the ,tale of
 a ,tub contending with his  hunger for 
the possession of that last bit of      
money4 ,in the end1 mind  conquered     
matter3 the threepence was invested in  
the volume1 and the  homeless little    
reader curled himself under a haystack1 
and forgot all  about his supper in the 
strange1 new pleasure he was enjoying4  
8,the  book was so different10 he       
writes1 8from anything that ,i had ever 
read  before1 it was something so fresh 
to my mind1 that1 though ,i could not   
understand some parts of it1 it         
delighted me beyond description1 and    
produced what ,i have always considered 
a sort of birth of intellect4 ,i  read  
on till it was dark1 without any thought
 of food or bed4 ,when ,i  could see no 
longer1 ,i put my little book in my     
pocket and tumbled down  by the side of 
the stack1 where ,i slept till the birds
 of ,kew ,gardens  awakened me in the   
morning4444 ,i carried that volume about
 with me  wherever ,i went2 and when ,i 

lost it in a box that fell overboard in 
the  ,bay of ,fundy1 the loss gave me   
greater pain than ,i have since felt at 
losing thousands of pounds40    ,as for 
,lamb's views on the subject of early   
reading1 they are best  expressed in his
 triumphant vindication of ,bridget     
,elia's happily  neglected education3   
8,she was tumbled by accident or design 
into a  spacious closet of good old     
,english books1 without much selection  
or prohibition1 and browsed at will upon
 that fair and wholesome  pasturage4    
,had ,i twenty girls they should be     
brought up exactly in this  fashion40   
,it is natural that but few parents are 
anxious to risk so  hazardous an        
experiment1 especially as the training  
of 8incomparable  old maids0 is hardly  
the recognized summit of maternal       
ambition2 but  ,bridget ,elia at least  
ran no danger of intellectual           
starvation1 while1  if we pursue a      
modern school-girl along the track of   
her self-chosen  reading1 we shall be   

astonished that so much printed matter  
can yield  so little mental nourishment4
 ,she has begun1 no doubt1 with childish
  stories1 bright and well-written1     
probably1 but following each other  in  
such quick succession that none of them 
have left any distinct  impression on   
her mind4 ,books that children read but 
once are of scant  service to them2     
those that have really helped to warm   
our imaginations  and to train our      
faculties are the few old friends we    
know so well that  they have become a   
portion of our thinking selves4 ,at ten 
or twelve the  little girl aspires to   
something partly grown-up1 to those     
nondescript  tales which1 trembling ever
 on the brink of sentiment1 seem afraid 
to  risk the plunge2 and with her       
appetite whetted by a course of this    
unsatisfying diet1 she is soon ripe for 
a little more excitement and a  great   
deal more love-making1 so graduates into
 ,rhoda ,broughton and the  8,duchess10 
at which point her intellectual career  

is closed4 ,she has  no idea1 even1 of  
what she has missed in the world of     
books4 ,she tells  you that she 8don't  
care for ,dickens10 and 8can't get      
interested in  ,scott10 with a placidity
 that plainly shows she lays the blame  
for this  state of affairs on the two   
great masters who have amused and       
charmed  the world4 ,as for ,northanger 
,abbey1 or ,emma1 she would as soon     
think  of finding entertainment in      
,henry ,esmond4 ,she has probably never 
read  a single masterpiece of our       
language2 she has never been moved by a 
noble poem1 or stirred to the quick by a
 well-told page of history2 she  has    
never opened the pores of her mind for  
the reception of a vigorous  thought1 or
 the solution of a mental problem2 yet  
she may be found  daily in the          
circulating library1 and is seldom      
visible on the street  without a book or
 two under her arm4    8,in the         
love-novels all the heroines are very   
desperate10 wrote  little ,marjorie     

,fleming in her diary1 nearly eighty    
years ago1 and  added somewhat          
plaintively1 8,isabella will not allow  
me to speak of  lovers and              
heroins10--yearning1 as we can see1 over
 the forbidden  topic1 and mutable in   
her spelling1 as befits her tender age4 
,but  what books had she read1 this     
bright-eyed1 healthy1 winsome little    
girl1--eight years old when she         
died1--the favorite companion of  ,sir  
,walter ,scott1 and his comfort in many 
a moment of fatigue and  depression8 ,we
 can follow her path easily enough1     
thanks to those  delicious1 misspelt    
scrawls in which she has recorded her   
childish  verdicts4 8,thomson is a      
beautiful author10 she writes at six1   
8and  ,pope1 but nothing to ,shakespear1
 of which ,i have a little knolege4     
,macbeth is a pretty composition1 but   
awful one4444 ,the ,newgate ,calender   
is very instructive40 ,and again1 8,tom 
,jones and ,grey's ,elegy in a  country 
churchyard10 surely never classed       

together before1 8are both  excellent1  
and much spoke of by both sex1          
particularly by the men4444  ,doctor    
,swift's works are very funny2 ,i got   
some of them by heart4444  ,miss        
,egward's ,edgeworth's tails are very   
good1 particularly some  that are much  
adapted for youth1 as ,laz ,lawrance and
 ,tarleton40 ,then  with a sudden jump1 
8,i am reading the ,mysteries of        
,udolpho4 ,i am much  interested in the 
fate of poor poor ,emily4444 ,morehead's
 sermons are1  ,i hear1 much praised1   
but ,i never read sermons of any kind2  
but ,i read  novelettes and my ,bible1  
and ,i never forget it or my prayers40  
,it is apparent that she read a great   
deal which would now hardly  be         
considered desirable for little girls1  
but who can quarrel with  the result8   
,had the bright young mind been starved 
on ,dotty ,dimple  and ,little ,prudy   
books1 we might have missed the         
quaintest bit of  autobiography in the  
,english tongue1 those few scattered    

pages which1  with her scraps of verse  
and tender little letters1 were so      
carefully  preserved by a loving sister 
after ,pet ,maidie's death4 ,far too    
young  and innocent to be harmed by ,tom
 ,jones or the 8funny0 ,doctor ,swift1  
we may perhaps doubt whether she had    
penetrated very deeply into the         
,newgate ,calendar1 notwithstanding a   
further assertion on her part that  8the
 history of all the malcontents as ever 
was hanged is amusing40 ,but  that she  
had the 8little knolege0 she boasted of 
,shakespeare is proven  by the fact that
 her recitations from ,king ,john       
affected ,scott1 to use  his own words1 
8as nothing else could do40 ,he would   
sob outright when  the little creature  
on his knee repeated1 quivering with    
suppressed  emotion1 those              
heart-breaking words of ,constance3--   
8,for ,i am sick and capable of fears1  
,oppressed with wrong1 and therefore    
full of fears20    and1 knowing the     
necessity of relaxing a mind so highly  

wrought1 he  took good care that she    
should not be without healthy childish  
reading4  ,we have an amusing picture of
 her consoling herself with fairy tales1
  when exiled1 for her restlessness1 to 
the foot of her sister's bed2  and one  
of the first copies of ,rosamond1 and   
,harry and ,lucy found its  way to      
,marjorie ,fleming1 with ,sir ,walter   
,scott's name written on the  fly-leaf4 
,fairy tales1 and ,harry and ,lucy6 ,but
 the real1 old-fashioned1 earnest1      
half-sombre fairy tales of our youth    
have slipped from the hands of  children
 into those of folk-lore students1 who  
are busy explaining  all their flavor   
out of them2 while as for ,miss         
,edgeworth1 the little  people of to-day
 cannot be persuaded that she is not    
dull and prosy4  ,yet what keen pleasure
 have her stories given to generations  
of boys  and girls1 who in their time   
have grown to be clever men and women6  
,hear what ,miss ,thackeray1 that loving
 student of children and of  childish   

ways1 has to record about them4 8,when  
,i look back10 she  writes1 8upon my own
 youth1 ,i seem to have lived in company
 with a  delightful host of little      
play-mates1 bright1 busy children1 whose
  cheerful presence remains more vividly
 in my mind than that of many  of the   
real little boys and girls who used to  
appear and disappear  disconnectedly1 as
 children do in childhood1 when         
friendship and  companionship depend    
almost entirely upon the convenience of 
grown-up  people4 ,now and again came   
little cousins or friends to share our  
games1 but day by day1 constant and     
unchanging1 ever to be relied  upon1    
smiled our most lovable and friendly    
companions3 simple ,susan1  lame        
,jervas1 the dear little merchants1     
,jem1 the widow's son1 with his  arms   
around old ,lightfoot's neck1 the       
generous ,ben1 with his whip-cord  and  
his useful proverb of #8,waste not1 want
 not1'--all of these were  there in the 
window corner waiting our pleasure4     

,after ,parents'  ,assistant1 to which  
familiar words we attached no meaning   
whatever1  came ,popular ,tales in big  
brown volumes off a shelf in the        
lumber-room  of an apartment in an old  
house in ,paris2 and as we opened the   
books1  lo6 creation widened to our     
view4 ,england1 ,ireland1 ,america1     
,turkey1  the mines of ,golconda1 the   
streets of ,bagdad1 thieves1 travelers1 
governesses1 natural philosophy1 and    
fashionable life were all laid  under   
contribution1 and brought interest and  
adventure to our humdrum  nursery       
corner40#i    ,and have these bright and
 varied pictures1 8these immortal       
tales10  as ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold termed
 them1 lost their power to charm1 that  
they are banished from our modern       
nursery corners2 or is it because  their
 didactic purpose is too thinly veiled1 
or--as ,i have sometimes                
fancied--because their authoress took so
 moderate a view of children's          
functions and importance8 ,if we place  

,miss ,edgeworth's and ,miss  ,alcott's 
stories side by side1 we shall see that 
the contrast between  them lies not so  
much in the expected dissimilarity of   
style and  incident as in the utterly   
different standpoint from which their   
writers regard the aspirations and      
responsibilities of childhood4  ,take1  
for instance1 ,miss ,edgeworth's        
,rosamond and ,miss ,alcott's ,eight    
,cousins1 both of them books purporting 
to show the gradual development  of a   
little girl's character under kindly and
 stimulating influences4  ,rosamond1 who
 is said to be a portrait of ,maria     
,edgeworth herself1  is from first to   
last the undisputed heroine of the      
volume which  bears her name4 ,laura may
 be much wiser1 ,godfrey far more       
clever2 but  neither of them usurps for 
a moment their sister's place as the    
central  figure of the narrative1 round 
whom our interest clings4 ,but when we  
come to consider her position in her own
 family1 we find it strangely           

insignificant4 ,the foolish1            
warm-hearted1 impetuous little girl is  
of  importance to the household only    
through the love they bear her4 ,it is  
plain her opinions do not carry much    
weight1 and she is never called  on to  
act as an especial providence to any    
one4 ,we do not behold her  winning     
,godfrey away from his cigar1 or        
,orlando from fast companions1  or      
correcting anybody's faults1 in fact1   
except her own1 which are  numerous     
enough1 and give her plenty of concern4 
,now with ,rose1 the bright little      
heroine of ,eight ,cousins1 and of its  
sequel ,a ,rose in ,bloom1 everything is
 vastly different4 ,she is of the       
utmost importance to all the grown-up   
people in the book1 most of  whom1 it   
must be acknowledged1 are extremely     
silly and incapable4  ,her aunts set the
 very highest value upon her society1   
and receive  it with gratified rapture2 
while among her male cousins she is from
  the first like a missionary in the    

,feejees4 ,it is she who cures them  of 
their boyish vices1 obtaining in return 
from their supine mothers  8a vote of   
thanks1 which made her feel as if she   
had done a service  to her country40 ,at
 thirteen she discovers that 8girls are 
made to  take care of boys10 and with   
dauntless assurance sets about her      
self-appointed task4 8,you boys need    
somebody to look after you10 she        
modestly announces1--most of them are   
her seniors1 by the way1 and all  have  
parents1--8so ,i'm going to do it2 for  
girls are nice peacemakers1  and know   
how to manage people40 ,naturally1 to a 
young person holding  these advanced    
views of life1 ,miss ,edgeworth's       
limited field of action  seems a very   
spiritless affair1 and we find ,rose    
expressing herself  with characteristic 
energy on the subject of the purple jar1
 declaring  that ,rosamond's mother was 
8regularly mean10 and that she 8always  
wanted to shake that woman1 though she  
was a model mamma06 ,as we read  the    

audacious words1 we half expect to see1 
rising from the mists  of story-book    
land1 the indignant ghost of little     
,english ,rosamond1  burning to defend1 
with all her old impetuosity1 the mother
 whom she  so dearly loved4 ,it is true1
 she had no sense of a 8mission10 this  
commonplace but very amusing little     
girl4 ,she never1 like ,rose1 adopted  a
 pauper infant1 or made friends with a  
workhouse orphan2 she never  vetoed     
pretty frocks in favor of philanthropy1 
or announced that she  would 8have      
nothing to do with love until she could 
prove that she was  something beside a  
housekeeper and a baby-tender40 ,in     
fact1 she was  probably taught that love
 and matrimony and babies were not      
proper  subjects for discussion in the  
polite society for which she was so     
carefully reared4 ,the hints that are   
given her now and then on such  matters 
by no means encourage a free expression 
of any unconventional  views4 8,it is   
particularly amiable in a woman to be   

ready to yield1 and  avoid disputing    
about trifles10 says ,rosamond's father1
 who plainly  does not consider his     
child in the light of a beneficent      
genius2 while1  when she reaches her    
teens1 she is described as being 8just  
at that age  when girls do not join in  
conversation1 but when they sit modestly
  silent1 and have leisure1 if they have
 sense1 to judge of what others  say1   
and to form by choice1 and not by       
chance1 their opinions of what  goes on 
in that great world into which they have
 not yet entered40    ,and is it really 
only ninety years since this delicious  
sentence was  penned in sober earnest1  
as representing an existing state of    
things6  ,there is an antique1 musty1   
long-secluded flavor about it1 that     
would  suggest a monograph copied from  
an ,egyptian tomb with thirty centuries 
of dust upon its hoary head4 ,yet       
,rosamond1 sitting 8modestly silent0    
under the delusion that grown-up people 
are worth listening to1 can  talk       

fluently enough when occasion demands   
it1 though at all times her  strength   
lies rather in her heart than in her    
head4 ,she represents that  tranquil1   
unquestioning1 unselfish family love1   
which ,miss ,edgeworth  could describe  
so well because she felt it so          
sincerely4 ,the girl who  had three     
stepmothers and nineteen brothers and   
sisters1 and managed  to be fond of them
 all1 should be good authority on the   
subject of  domestic affections2 and    
that warm1 happy1 loving atmosphere     
which  charms us in her stories1 and    
which brought tears to ,sir ,walter     
,scott's eyes when he laid down ,simple 
,susan1 is only the reflection of  the  
cheerful home life she steadfastly      
helped to brighten4    ,her restrictions
 as a writer are perhaps most felt by   
those who admire  her most4 ,her pet    
virtue--after prudence--is honesty2 and 
yet how  poor a sentiment it becomes    
under her treatment6--no virtue at all1 
in fact1 but merely a policy working for

 its own gain4 ,take the long           
conversation between the little ,italian
 merchants on the respective  merits of 
integrity and sharpness in their        
childish traffic4 ,each  disputant      
exhausts his wits in trying to prove the
 superior wisdom  of his own course1 but
 not once does the virtuous ,francisco  
make use  of the only argument which is 
of any real value1--,i do not cheat     
because it is not right4 ,there is more 
to be learned about honesty1  real      
unselfish1 unrequited honesty1 in       
,charles ,lamb's little sketch of       
,barbara ,s---- than in all ,miss       
,edgeworth has written on the subject in
  a dozen different tales4    8,taking  
up one's cross does not at all mean     
having ovations at dinner  parties1 and 
being put over everybody else's head10  
says ,ruskin1  with visible impatience  
at the smooth and easy manner in which  
,miss  ,edgeworth persists in grinding  
the mills of the gods1 and distributing 
poetical justice to each and every      

comer4 ,it may be very nice to see  the 
generous ,laura1 who gave away her half 
sovereign1 extolled to the  skies by a  
whole room full of company1 8disturbed  
for the purpose10  while 8poor dear     
little ,rosamond0--he too has a weakness
 for this small  blunderer--is left in  
the lurch1 without either shoes or jar2 
but it  is not real generosity that     
needs so much commendation1 and it is   
not  real life that can be depended on  
for giving it4 ,yet ,ruskin admits  that
 ,harry and ,lucy were his earliest     
friends1 to the extent even of          
inspiring him with an ambitious desire  
to continue their history2 and  he      
cannot say too much in praise of an     
authoress 8whose every page is  so full 
and so delightful4 ,i can read her over 
and over again1 without  ever tiring4   
,no one brings you into the company of  
pleasanter or wiser  people2 no one     
tells you more truly how to do          
right40#aj    ,he might have added that 
no one ever was more moderate in her    

exactions4 ,the little people who       
brighten ,miss ,edgeworth's pages are   
not expected1 like the children in more 
recent books1 to take upon  their       
shoulders a load of grown-up duties and 
responsibilities4 ,life is  simplified  
for them by an old-fashioned habit of   
trusting in the wisdom  of their        
parents2 and these parents1 instead of  
being foolish and  wrong-headed1 so as  
to set off more strikingly the child's  
sagacious  energy1 are apt to be very   
sensible and kind1 and remarkably well  
able to take care of themselves and     
their families4 ,this is the more       
refreshing because1 after reading a few 
modern stories1 either ,english  or     
,american1 one is troubled with serious 
doubts as to the moral  usefulness of   
adults2 and we begin to feel that as we 
approach the age  of ,mentor it behooves
 us to find some wise young ,telemachus 
who will  consent to be our protector   
and our guide4 ,there is no more        
charming  writer for the young than     

,flora ,shaw2 yet ,hector and ,phyllis  
,browne1  and even that group of merry  
,irish children in ,castle ,blair1 are  
all  convinced it is their duty to do   
some difficult or dangerous work in  the
 interests of humanity1 and all are     
afflicted with a premature              
consciousness of social evils4          
8,the time is out of joint2 oh1 cursed  
spite6      ,that ever ,i was born to   
set it right60    cries ,hamlet wearily2
 but it is at thirty1 and not at        
thirteen1 that he  makes this unpleasant
 discovery4    ,in religious stories1 of
 which there are many hundreds published
 every  year1 these peculiar views are  
even more defined1 presenting themselves
  often in the form of a spiritual      
contest between highly endowed1         
sensitive children and their            
narrow-minded parents and guardians1    
who1  of course1 are always in the      
wrong4 ,the clever authoress of ,thrown 
,together is by no means innocent of    
this unwholesome tone2 but the  chief   

offender1 and one who has had a host of 
dismal imitators1 is  ,susan            
,warner1--,miss ,wetherell1--who plainly
 considered that virtue1  especially in 
the young1 was of no avail unless       
constantly undergoing  persecution4 ,her
 supernaturally righteous little girls1 
who pin  notes on their fathers'        
dressing-tables1 requesting them to     
become  ,christians1 and who endure the 
most brutal treatment--at their parents'
  hands--rather than sing songs on      
,sunday evening1 are equaled only by    
her older heroines1 who divide their    
time impartially between flirting  and  
praying1 between indiscriminate kisses  
and passionate searching for  light4 ,a 
,blackwood critic declares that there is
 more kissing done in  ,the ,old ,helmet
 than in all of ,sir ,walter ,scott's   
novels put together1  and utters an     
energetic protest against the           
penetrating glances1 and  earnest       
pressing of hands1 and brotherly        
embraces1 and the whole vulgar          

paraphernalia of pious flirtation1 so   
immeasurably hurtful to the             
undisciplined fancy of the young4 8,they
 have good reason to expect10  he       
growls1 8from these pictures of life1   
that if they are very good1  and very   
pious1 and very busy in doing grown-up  
work1 when they reach  the mature age of
 sixteen or so1 some young gentleman who
 has been  in love with them all along  
will declare himself at the very nick of
  time2 and they may then look to find  
themselves1 all the struggles of  life  
over1 reposing a weary head on his      
stalwart shoulder4444 ,mothers1  never  
in great favor with novelists1 are      
sinking deeper and deeper in  their     
black books1--there is a positive       
jealousy of their influence2  while the 
father in the religious tale1 as opposed
 to the moral or  sentimental1 is       
commonly either a scamp or nowhere4 ,the
 heroine has1  so to say1 to do her work
 single-handed40    ,in some of these   
stories1 moreover1 the end justifies the

 means to  an alarming extent4 ,girls   
who steal money from their relatives in 
order to go as missionaries among the   
,indians1 and young women who  pretend  
to sit up with the sick that they may   
slip off unattended to  hear some       
inspired preacher in a barn1 are not    
safe companions even  in books2 while1  
if no grave indiscretion be committed1  
the lesson of  self-righteousness is    
taught on every page4 ,not very long ago
 ,i had  the pleasure of reading a tale 
in which the youthful heroine considers 
it her mission in life to convert her   
grandparents2 and while there  is       
nothing to prevent an honest girl from  
desiring such a thing1 the  idea is not 
a happy one for a narrative1 in view of 
certain homely  old adages irresistibly 
associated with the notion4 8,girls10   
wrote  ,hannah ,more1 8should be led to 
distrust their own judgment20 but if    
they have the conversion of their       
grandparents on their hands1 how can    
they afford to be distrustful8 ,hannah  

,more is unquestionably out of  date1   
and so1 we fear1 is that ,english       
humorist who said1 8,if all the         
grown-up people in the world should     
suddenly fail1 what a frightful  thing  
would society become1 reconstructed by  
boys60 ,evidently he had  in mind a land
 given over to toffy and foot-ball1 but 
he was strangely  mistaken in his       
notions4 ,perhaps the carnal little hero
 of ,vice ,vers  might have managed     
matters in this disgraceful fashion2 but
 with ,flora  ,shaw's earnest children  
at the helm1 society would be           
reconstructed on  a more serious basis  
than it is already1 and ,heaven knows   
this is not  a change of which we stand 
in need4 ,in fact1 if the young people  
who  live and breathe around us are one 
third as capable1 as strenuous1 as      
clear-sighted1 as independent1 as       
patronizing1 and as undeniably our      
superiors as their modern counterparts  
in literature1 who can doubt  that the  
eternal cause of progress would be      

furthered by the change8  ,and is it1   
after all1 mere pique which inclines us 
to ,miss ,edgeworth's  ordinary little  
boys and girls1 who1 standing half dazed
 on the  threshold of life1 stretch out 
their hands with childish confidence for
  help8      ,,footnotes3    #h         
,literary ,studies1 vol4 ii4    #i ,a   
,book of ,sibyls4    #aj ,ethics of the 
,dust4                                  
,,the ,,decay ,,of ,,sentiment4         
,that useful little phrase1 8the        
complexity of modern thought10 has been 
so hard worked of late years that it    
seems like a refinement of cruelty  to  
add to its obligations4 ,begotten by the
 philosophers1 born of the  essayists1  
and put out to nurse among the          
novel-writers1 it has since  been       
apprenticed to the whole body of        
scribblers1 and drudges away at  every  
trade in literature4 ,how1 asks ,vernon 
,lee1 can we expect our  fiction to be  
amusing1 when a psychological and       
sympathetic interest  has driven away   

the old hard-hearted spirit of comedy8  
,how1 asks ,mr4  ,pater1 can ,sebastian 
,van ,stork make up his mind to love and
 marry and  work like ordinary mortals1 
when the many-sidedness of life has     
wrought  in him a perplexed envy of     
those quiet occupants of the churchyard1
  8whose deceasing was so long since    
over08 ,how1 asks ,george ,eliot1  can  
,mrs4 ,pullet weep with uncontrolled    
emotion over ,mrs4 ,sutton's  dropsy1   
when it behooves her not to crush her   
sleeves or stain her  bonnet-strings8   
,the problem is repeated everywhere1    
either in mockery  or deadly            
earnestness1 according to the           
questioner's disposition1 and  the old  
springs of simple sentiment are drying  
fast within us4 ,it is  heartless to    
laugh1 it is foolish to cry1 it is      
indiscreet to love1  it is morbid to    
hate1 and it is intolerant to espouse   
any cause with  enthusiasm4    ,there   
was a time1 and not so many years ago1  
when men and women found  no great      

difficulty in making up their minds on  
ordinary matters1 and  their opinions1  
if erroneous1 were at least succinct and
 definite4  ,nero was then a cruel      
tyrant1 the ,duke of ,wellington a great
 soldier1  ,sir ,walter ,scott the first
 of novelists1 and the ,french          
,revolution  a villainous piece of      
business4 ,now we are equally           
enlightened and  confused by the keen   
researches and shifting verdicts with   
which  historians and critics seek to   
dispel this comfortable frame of        
darkness4 ,nero1 perhaps1 had the good  
of his subjects secretly at  heart when 
he expressed that benevolent desire to  
dispatch them all at  a blow1 and       
,robespierre was but a practical        
philanthropist1 carried1  it may be1 a  
little too far by the stimulating       
influences of the  hour4 8,we have      
palliations of ,tiberius1 eulogies of   
,henry ,,viii41 and  devotional         
exercises to ,cromwell10 observes ,mr4  
,bagehot1 in some  perplexity as to     

where this state of things may find an  
ending2 and he  confesses that in the   
mean time his own original notions of   
right and  wrong are growing sadly hazy 
and uncertain4 ,moreover1 in proportion 
as the heavy villains of history assume 
a chastened and ascetic  appearance1 its
 heroes dwindle perceptibly into the    
commonplace1 and  its heroines are      
stripped of every alluring grace2 while 
as for the  living men who are          
controlling the destinies of nations1   
not even  ,macaulay's ever useful       
schoolboy is too small and ignorant to  
refuse  them homage4 ,yet we read of    
,scott1 in the zenith of his fame1      
standing  silent and abashed before the 
,duke of ,wellington1 unable1 and       
perhaps  unwilling1 to shake off the awe
 that paralyzed his tongue4 8,the ,duke 
possesses every one mighty quality of   
the mind in a higher degree than  any   
other man either does or has ever done60
 exclaimed ,sir ,walter to  ,john       
,ballantyne1 who1 not being framed for  

hero-worship1 failed to  appreciate his 
friend's extraordinary enthusiasm4      
,while we smile at  the                 
sentiment1--knowing1 of course1 so much 
better ourselves1--we feel  an envious  
admiration of the happy man who uttered 
it4    ,there is a curious little       
incident which ,mrs4 ,lockhart used to  
relate1  in after years1 as a proof of  
her father's emotional temperament1  and
 of the reverence with which he regarded
 all that savored of past  or present   
greatness4 ,when the long-concealed     
,scottish regalia were  finally brought 
to light1 and exhibited to the public of
 ,edinburgh1  ,scott1 who had previously
 been one of the committee chosen to    
unlock  the chest1 took his daughter to 
see the royal jewels4 ,she was then  a  
girl of fifteen1 and her nerves had been
 so wrought upon by all  that she had   
heard on the subject that1 when the lid 
was opened1 she  felt herself growing   
faint1 and withdrew a little from the   
crowd4  ,a light-minded young           

commissioner1 to whom the occasion      
suggested  no solemnity1 took up the    
crown1 and made a gesture as if to place
  it on the head of a lady standing     
near1 when ,sophia ,scott heard her     
father exclaim passionately1 in a voice 
8something between anger and  despair10 
8,by ,g--1 no60 ,the gentleman1 much    
embarrassed1 immediately  replaced the  
diadem1 and ,sir ,walter1 turning aside1
 saw his daughter1  deadly pale1 leaning
 against the door1 and led her at once  
into the  open air4 8,he never spoke all
 the way home10 she added1 8but every   
now and then ,i felt his arm tremble2   
and from that time ,i fancied he  began 
to treat me more like a woman than a    
child4 ,i thought he liked me  better1  
too1 than he had ever done before40     
,the whole scene1 as we look back upon  
it now1 is a quaint illustration  of how
 far a man's emotions could carry him1  
when they were nourished  alike by the  
peculiarities of his genius and of his  
education4 ,the  feeling was doubtless  

an exaggerated one1 but it was at least 
nobler  than the speculative humor with 
which a careless crowd now calculates   
the market value of the crown jewels in 
the ,tower of ,london4 8,what  they     
would bring0 was a thought which we may 
be sure never entered ,sir  ,walter's   
head1 as he gazed with sparkling eyes on
 the modest regalia  of ,scotland1 and  
conjured up every stirring drama in     
which they had  played their part4 ,for 
him each page of his country's history  
was the  subject of close and loving    
scrutiny4 ,all those ,davids1 and       
,williams1  and ,malcolms1 about whom we
 have an indistinct notion that they    
spent  their lives in being bullied by  
their neighbors and badgered by their   
subjects1 were to his mind as kingly as 
,charlemagne on his ,throne of  the     
,west2 and their crimes and struggles   
and brief glorious victories  were part 
of the ineffaceable knowledge of his    
boyhood4 ,to feel  history in this way1 
to come so close to the world's actors  

that our  pulses rise and fall with     
their vicissitudes1 is a better thing1  
after  all1 than the most accurate and  
reasonable of doubts4 ,i knew two little
  ,english girls who always wore black  
frocks on the #cjth of ,january1  in    
honor of the 8,royal ,martyr10 and tied 
up their hair with black  ribbons1 and  
tried hard to preserve the decent       
gravity of demeanor  befitting such a   
doleful anniversary4 ,the same little   
girls1 it must  be confessed1 carried   
,holmby ,house to bed with them1 and    
bedewed their  pillows with many tears  
over the heart-rending descriptions     
thereof4  ,what to them were the        
8outraged liberties of ,england10 which 
,mr4 ,gosse  rather vaguely tells us    
tore ,king ,charles to pieces8 ,they saw
 him  standing on the scaffold1 a sad   
and princely figure1 and they heard  the
 frightened sobs that rent the air when 
the cruel deed was done4  ,it is not    
possible for us now to take this        
picturesque and exclusive  view of one  

whose shortcomings have been so         
vigorously raked to  light by indignant 
disciples of ,carlyle2 but the child who
 has ever  cried over any great historic
 tragedy is richer for the experience1  
and stands on higher ground than one    
whose life is bounded by the  schoolroom
 walls1 or who finds her needful        
stimulant in the follies of  a          
precocious flirtation4 ,what a charming 
picture we have of ,eugnie  de ,gurin   
feeding her passionate little soul with 
vain regrets for  the unfortunate family
 of ,louis ,,xvi4 and with sweet        
infantile plans  for their rescue4      
8,even as a child10 she writes in her   
journal1 8,i  venerated this martyr1 ,i 
loved this victim whom ,i heard so much 
talked  of in my family as the #bast of 
,january drew near4 ,we used to be      
taken to the funeral service in the     
church1 and ,i gazed at the high        
catafalque1 the melancholy throne of the
 good king4 ,my astonishment  impressed 
me with sorrow and indignation4 ,i came 

away weeping over this  death1 and      
hating the wicked men who had brought it
 about4 ,how many  hours have ,i spent  
devising means for saving ,louis1 the   
queen1 and the  whole hapless           
family1--if ,i only had lived in their  
day4 ,but after much  calculating and   
contriving1 no promising measure        
presented itself1 and  ,i was forced1   
very reluctantly1 to leave the prisoners
 where they were4  ,my compassion was   
more especially excited for the         
beautiful little  ,dauphin1 the poor    
child pent up between walls1 and unable 
to play in  freedom4 ,i used to carry   
him off in fancy1 and keep him safely   
hidden  at ,cayla1 and ,heaven only     
knows the delight of running about our  
fields  with a prince40    ,here at     
least we see the imaginative faculty    
playing a vigorous and  wholesome part  
in a child's mental training4 ,the      
little solitary ,french  girl who filled
 up her lonely hours with such pretty   
musings as these1  could scarcely fail  

to attain that rare distinction of mind 
which all  true critics have been so    
prompt to recognize and love4 ,it was   
with  her the natural outgrowth of an   
intelligence1 quickened by sympathy  and
 fed with delicate emotions4 ,the       
,dauphin in the ,temple1 the ,princes   
in the ,tower1 ,marie ,antoinette on the
 guillotine1 and ,jeanne d',arc at  the 
stake1 these are the scenes which have  
burned their way into many  a youthful  
heart1 and the force of such early      
impressions can never  be utterly       
destroyed4 ,a recent essayist1 deeply   
imbued with this good  principle1 has   
assured us that the little maiden who1  
ninety years  ago1 surprised her mother 
in tears1 8because the wicked people had
 cut  off the ,french queen's head10    
received from that impression the very  
highest kind of education4 ,but this is 
object-teaching carried to its          
extremest limit1 and even in these days1
 when training is recognized  to be of  
such vital importance1 one feels that   

the death of a queen is  a high price to
 pay for a little girl's instruction4   
,it might perhaps  suffice to let her   
live more freely in the past1 and       
cultivate her  emotions after a less    
costly and realistic fashion4    ,on the
 other hand1 ,mr4 ,edgar ,saltus1 who is
 nothing if not melancholy1  would fain 
persuade us that the 8gift of tears10   
which ,swinburne prized  so highly and  
,mrs4 ,browning cultivated with such    
transparent care1  finds its supreme    
expression in man1 only because of man's
 greater  capacity for suffering4 ,yet  
if it be true that the burden of life   
grows  heavier for each succeeding      
generation1 it is no less apparent that 
we have taught ourselves to stare       
dry-eyed at its blankness4 ,an old      
rabbinical legend says that in ,paradise
 ,god gave the earth to ,adam and  tears
 to ,eve1 and it is a cheerless doctrine
 which tells us now that  both gifts are
 equal because both are valueless1 that 
the world will  never be any merrier1   

and that we are all tired of waxing     
sentimental  over its lights and        
shadows4 ,but our great-grandfathers1   
who were  assuredly not a tender-hearted
 race1 and who never troubled their     
heads about those modern institutions1  
wickedly styled by ,mr4 ,lang           
8,societies for ,badgering the ,poor10  
cried right heartily over poems1  and   
novels1 and pictures1 and plays1 and    
scenery1 and everything1 in  short1 that
 their great-grandsons would not now    
consider as worthy of  emotion4 ,jeffrey
 the terrible shed tears over the       
long-drawn pathos of  little ,nell1 and 
has been roundly abused by critics ever 
since for the  extremely bad taste he   
exhibited4 ,macaulay1 who was seldom    
disposed  to be sentimental1 confesses  
that he wept over ,florence ,dombey4    
,lord  ,byron was strongly moved when   
,scott recited to him his favorite      
ballad  of ,hardyknute2 and ,sir ,walter
 himself paid the tribute of his tears  
to  ,mrs4 ,opie's dismal stories1 and   

,southey's no less dismal ,pilgrimage to
  ,waterloo4 ,when ,marmion was first   
published1 ,joanna ,baillie undertook to
  read it aloud to a little circle of   
literary friends1 and on reaching  those
 lines which have reference to her own  
poems1        8,when she the bold       
enchantress came1      ,with fearless   
hand1 and heart in flame10    the       
8uncontrollable emotion0 of her hearers 
forced the fair reader to  break down4  
,in a modern drawing-room this          
uncontrollable emotion would  probably  
find expression in such gentle murmurs  
of congratulation as  8,very pretty and 
appropriate1 ,i am sure10 or 8,how      
awfully nice in ,sir  ,walter to have   
put it in that way60    ,turn where we  
will1 however1 amid the pages of the    
past1 we see this  precious gift of     
tears poured out in what seems to us now
 a spirit of  wanton profusion4 ,sterne1
 by his own showing1 must have gone     
through  life like the ,walrus1 in      
,through the ,looking ,glass1           

8,holding his pocket handkerchief       
,before his streaming eyes20    and we  
can detect him every now and then       
peeping slyly out of the  folds1 to see 
what sort of an impression he was       
making4 8,i am as weak  as a woman10 he 
sighs1 with conscious satisfaction1 8and
 ,i beg the  world not to smile1 but    
pity me40 ,burns1 who at least never    
cried  for effect1 was moved to sudden  
tears by a pathetic print of a dead     
soldier1 that hung on ,professor        
,fergusson's wall4 ,scott was always    
visibly affected by the wild northern   
scenery that he loved2 and  ,erskine was
 discovered in the ,cave of ,staffa1    
8weeping like a woman10  though1 in     
truth1 a gloomy1 dangerous1 slippery1   
watery cavern is  the last place on     
earth where a woman would ordinarily    
stop to be  emotional4 ,she might       
perhaps cry with ,sterne over a dead    
monk or a  dead donkey1--he has an equal
 allowance of tears for both1--but once 
inside of a cave1 her real desire is to 

get out again as quickly as  possible1  
with dry skirts and an unbroken neck4   
,it may be1 however1  that our          
degenerate modern impulses afford us no 
safe clue to those  halcyon days when   
sentiment was paramount and practical   
considerations  of little weight2 when  
wet feet and sore throats were not      
suffered to  intrude their rueful       
warnings upon the majesty of nature2    
when ladies1  who lived comfortably and 
happily with the husbands of their      
choice1  poured forth impassioned       
prayers1 in the ,annual ,register1 for  
the boon  of indifference1 and poets    
like ,cowper rushed forward to          
remonstrate  with them for their        
cruelty4        8,let no low thought    
suggest the prayer1      ,oh6 grant1    
kind ,heaven1 to me1      ,long as ,i   
draw ethereal air1          ,sweet      
sensibility40    wrote the author of    
,the ,task1 in sober earnestness and    
sincerity4        8,then oh6 ye ,fair1  
if ,pity's ray      ,e'er taught your   

snowy breasts to sigh1      ,shed o'er  
my contemplative lay          ,the tears
 of sensibility10    wrote ,macaulay as 
a burlesque on the prevailing spirit of 
bathos1  and was1 ,i think1 unreasonably
 angry because a number of readers1  his
 own mother included1 failed to see that
 he was in fun4 ,yet all  his life this 
mocking critic cherished in his secret  
soul of souls a  real affection for     
those hysterical old romances which had 
been the  delight of his boyhood1 and   
which were even then rapidly            
disappearing  before the cold scorn of  
an enlightened world4 ,miss ,austen1 in 
,sense  and ,sensibility1 had impaled   
emotionalism on the fine shafts of her  
delicate satire1 and ,macaulay was ,miss
 ,austen's sworn champion2 but          
nevertheless he contrived to read and   
reread ,mrs4 ,meek's and ,mrs4          
,cuthbertson's marvelous stories1 until 
he probably knew them better  than he   
did ,emma or ,northanger ,abbey4 ,when  
an old edition of ,santa  ,sebastiano   

was sold at auction in ,india1 he       
secured it at a fabulous  price1--,miss 
,eden bidding vigorously against        
him1--and he occupied  his leisure      
moments in making a careful calculation 
of the number of  fainting-fits that    
occur in the course of the five volumes4
 ,there are  twenty-seven in all1 so he 
has recorded1 of which the heroine alone
  comes in for eleven1 while seven      
others are distributed among the male   
characters4 ,mr4 ,trevelyan has kindly  
preserved for us the description  of a  
single catastrophe1 and we can no longer
 wonder at anybody's  partiality for the
 tale1 when we learn that 8one of the   
sweetest smiles  that ever animated the 
face of mortal man now diffused itself  
over the  countenance of ,lord ,st4     
,orville1 as he fell at the feet of     
,julia in a  death-like swoon40 ,mr4    
,howells would doubtless tell us that   
this is  not a true and accurate        
delineation of real life1 and that what 
,lord  ,st4 ,orville should have done   

was to have simply wiped the            
perspiration  off his forehead1 after   
the unvarnished fashion of ,mr4         
,mavering1 in  ,april ,hopes4 ,but      
,macaulay1 who could mop his own brow   
whenever he felt  so disposed1 and who  
recognized his utter inability to faint 
with a  sweet smile at a lady's feet1   
naturally delighted in ,mrs4            
,cuthbertson's  singularly accomplished 
hero4 ,swooning is now1 ,i fear1 sadly  
out of  date4 ,in society we no longer  
look upon it as a pleasing evidence  of 
feminine propriety1 and in the modern   
novel nothing sufficiently  exciting to 
bring about such a result is ever       
permitted to happen4  ,but in the good  
old impossible stories of the past it   
formed a very  important element1 and   
some of ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's heroines can 
easily  achieve twenty-seven            
fainting-fits by their own unaided      
industry4 ,they  faint at the most      
inopportune times and under the most    
exasperating  circumstances3 when they  

are running away from banditti1 or      
hiding  from cruel relatives1 or shut up
 by themselves in gloomy dungeons1  with
 nobody to look after and resuscitate   
them4 ,their trembling limbs  are always
 refusing to support them just when a   
little activity is  really necessary for
 safety1 and1 though they live in an    
atmosphere  of horrors1 the smallest    
shock is more than they can endure with 
equanimity4 ,in the ,sicilian ,romance1 
,julia's brother1 desiring to speak  to 
her for a minute1 knocks gently at her  
door1 whereupon1 with the  most         
unexpected promptness1 8she shrieked and
 fainted20 and as the key  happens to be
 turned on the inside1 he is obliged to 
wait in the hall  until she slowly      
regains her consciousness4    ,nothing1 
however1 can mar the decorous           
sentimentality which these  young people
 exhibit in all their loves and sorrows4
 ,emily the  forlorn 8touched the chords
 of her lute in solemn symphony10 when  
the  unenviable nature of her           

surroundings might reasonably have      
banished  all music from her soul2      
,theodore paused to bathe ,adeline's    
hand  with his tears1 in a moment of    
painful uncertainty2 and ,hippolitus1   
who would have scorned to be stabbed    
like an ordinary mortal1  8received a   
sword through his body10--precisely as  
though it were a  present1--8and1       
uttering a deep sigh1 fell to the       
ground10 on which1  true to her         
principles1 8,julia shrieked and        
fainted40 ,we read of the  ,empress     
,octavia swooning when ,virgil recited  
to her his description  of the death of 
,marcellus2 and we know that ,shelley   
fainted when he  heard ,cristabel read2 
but ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's heroines1 though 
equally  sensitive1 are kept too busy   
with their own disasters to show this   
sympathetic interest in literature4     
,their adventures strike us now  as     
being1 on the whole1 more amusing than  
thrilling2 but we should  remember that 
they were no laughing matter to the     

readers of fifty  years ago4 ,people did
 not then object to the interminable    
length of a  story1 and they followed   
its intricate windings and              
counter-windings  with a trembling zest 
which we can only envy4 ,one of the     
earliest  recollections of my own       
childhood is a little book depicting the
  awful results of ,mrs4 ,radcliffe's   
terror-inspiring romances upon  the     
youthful mind2 a well-intentioned work1 
no doubt1 but which  inevitably filled  
us with a sincere desire to taste for   
ourselves of  these pernicious horrors4 
,if ,i found them far less frightful    
than ,i  had hoped1 the loss was mine1  
and the fault lay in the matter-of-fact 
atmosphere of the modern nursery2 for   
does not the author of the now          
forgotten ,pursuits of ,literature tell 
us that the ,mysteries of ,udolpho  is  
the work of an intellectual giant8--8a  
mighty magician1 bred and  nourished by 
the ,florentine muses in their sacred   
solitary caverns1  amid the pale shrines

 of ,gothic superstition1 and in all the
 dreariness  of enchantment40    ,that  
was the way that critics used to write1 
and nobody dreamed of  laughing at them4
 ,when ,letitia ,elizabeth ,landon      
poured forth her soul  in the most      
melancholy of verses1 all ,london       
stopped to listen and to  pity4         
8,there is no truth in love1 whate'er   
its seeming1      ,and ,heaven itself   
could scarcely seem more true4          
,sadly have ,i awakened from the        
dreaming      ,whose charmed slumber1   
false one1 was of you10    wrote this   
healthy and heart-whole young woman2 and
 ,lord ,lytton has  left us an amusing  
account of the sensation that such poems
 excited4  ,he and his fellow-students  
exhausted their ingenuity in romantic   
speculations concerning the unknown     
singer1 and inscribed whole reams  of   
fervid but indifferent stanzas to her   
honor4 8,there was always10  he says1   
8in the reading-room of the ,union1 a   
rush every ,saturday  afternoon for the 

,literary ,gazette1 and an impatient    
anxiety to hasten  at once to that      
corner of the sheet which contained the 
three magical  letters ,l4 ,e4 ,l4 ,all 
of us praised the verse1 and all of us  
guessed  the author4 ,we soon learned   
that it was a female1 and our admiration
  was doubled1 and our conjectures      
tripled40 ,when ,francesca ,carrara     
appeared1 it was received with an       
enthusiasm never manifested for  ,pride 
and ,prejudice1 or ,persuasion1 and     
romantic young men and women  reveled in
 its impassioned melancholy4 ,what a    
pattering of tear-drops  on every page6 
,the lovely heroine--less mindful of her
 clothes than  ,mrs4 ,pullet--looks down
 and marks how the great drops have     
fallen like  rain upon her bosom4       
8,alas60 she sighs1 8,i have cause to   
weep4 ,i must  weep over my own         
changefulness1 and over the sweetest    
illusions of my  youth4 ,i feel suddenly
 grown old4 ,never more will the flowers
 seem so  lovely1 or the stars so       

bright4 ,never more shall ,i dwell on   
,erminia's  deep and enduring love for  
the unhappy ,tancred1 and think that ,i 
too  could so have loved4 ,ah6 in what  
now can ,i believe1 when ,i may not even
  trust my own heart80 ,here1 at least1 
we have unadulterated sentiment1  with  
no traces in it of that 8mean and       
jocular life0 which ,emerson so  deeply 
scorned1 and for which the light-minded 
readers of to-day have  ventured to     
express their cheerful and shameless    
preference4    ,emotional literature1   
reflecting as it does the tastes and    
habits of  a dead past1 should not stand
 trial alone before the cold eyes of the
  mocking present1 where there is no    
sympathy for its weakness and no  clue  
to its identity4 ,a happy               
commonplaceness is now acknowledged to  
be1 next to brevity of life1 man's best 
inheritance2 but in the days  when all  
the virtues and vices flaunted in gala  
costume1 people were  hardly prepared   
for that fine simplicity which has grown

 to be the  crucial test of art4 ,love1 
friendship1 honor1 and courage were as  
real  then as now1 but they asserted    
themselves in fantastic ways1 and with  
an ostentation that we are apt to       
mistake for insincerity4 ,when ,mrs4    
,katharine ,philips founded her famous  
,society of ,friendship1 in the  middle 
of the seventeenth century1 she was     
working earnestly enough  for her       
particular conception of sweetness and  
light4 ,it is hard not  to laugh at     
these men and women of the world        
addressing each other  solemnly as the  
8noble ,silvander0 and the 8dazzling    
,polycrete20 and it  is harder still to 
believe that the fervent devotion of    
their verses  represented in any degree 
the real sentiments of their hearts4    
,but  ,orinda1 whose indefatigable      
exertions held the society together1    
meant  every word she said1 and credited
 the rest with similar veracity4        
8,lucasia1 whose harmonious state       
,the ,spheres and ,muses only imitate10 

is for her but a temperate expression of
 regard2 and we find her  writing to    
,mrs4 ,annie ,owens--a most unresponsive
 young ,welsh-woman--in  language that  
would be deemed extravagant in a        
lover3--        8,i did not live until  
this time        ,crowned my felicity1  
,when ,i could say without a crime1     
,i am not thine1 but thee40    ,one     
wonders what portion of her heart the   
amiable ,mr4 ,philips was  content to   
occupy4    ,frenchwomen of the          
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries    
found their  principal amusement in     
contracting1 either with each other or  
with  men1 those highly sentimental     
friendships which were presumably free  
from all dross of earthly passion1 and  
which rested on a shadowy basis  of pure
 intellectual affinity4 ,mademoiselle de
 ,scudry delighted in  portraying this  
rarefied intercourse between congenial  
souls1 and the  billing and cooing of   
,platonic turtle-doves fill many pages  
of her  ponderous romances4 ,sappho and 

,phaon1 in the ,grand ,cyrus1 8told each
  other every particular of their       
lives10 which must have been a little   
tedious at times and altogether         
unnecessary1 inasmuch as we are assured 
that 8the exchange of their thoughts was
 so sincere that all those in  ,sappho's
 mind passed into ,phaon's1 and all     
those in ,phaon's came into  ,sappho's40
 ,conversation under these circumstances
 would be apt to lose  its zest for     
ordinary mortals1 who value the power of
 speech rather as  a disguise than as an
 interpretation of their real           
convictions2 but  it was not so with    
this guileless pair4 8,they understood  
each other  without words1 and saw their
 whole hearts in each other's eyes40    
,as for the great wave of emotionalism  
that followed in ,rousseau's  train1 it 
was a pure make-believe1 like every     
other sentiment that  bubbled on the    
seething surface of ,french society4    
,avarice and honor  alone were real4 ,to
 live like a profligate and to die like 

a hero were  the two accomplishments    
common to every grand seigneur in the   
country4  ,for the rest1 there was a    
series of fads1--simplicity1            
benevolence1  philosophy1 passion1      
asceticism2 ,voltaire one day1 ,rousseau
 the next2  ,arcadian virtues and court 
vices jumbled fantastically together2   
the  cause of the people on every       
tongue1 and the partridges hatching in  
the  peasant's corn2 ,marie ,antoinette 
milking a cow1 and the infant ,madame   
,royale with eighty nurses and          
attendants2 great ladies1 with jewels in
  their hair1 on their bosoms1 and on   
their silken slippers1 laboriously      
earning a few francs by picking out gold
 threads from scraps of  tarnished      
bullion2 everybody anxiously asking     
everybody else1 8,what  shall we do to  
be amused80 and the real answer to all  
uttered long  before by ,louis ,,xiii41 
8,venez1 monsieur1 allons-nous ennuyer  
ensemble40  ,day and night are not more 
different than this sickly hothouse     

pressure and the pure emotion that fired
 ,scott's northern blood1 as  he looked 
on the dark rain-swept hills till his   
eyes grew bright with  tears4 8,we      
sometimes weep to avoid the disgrace of 
not weeping10 says  ,rochefoucauld1 who 
valued at its worth the facile          
sentimentality of his  countrymen4      
,could he have lived to witness ,m4 de  
,latour's hysterical  transports on     
finding ,rousseau's signature and a     
crushed periwinkle  in an old copy of   
the ,imitatio1 the great moralist might 
see that his  bitter truths have in them
 a pitiless continuity of adjustment1   
and fit  themselves afresh to every age4
 ,what excitation of feeling accompanied
  the bloody work of the ,french        
,revolutionists6 ,what purity of        
purpose6  ,what nobility of language6   
,what grandeur of device6 ,what bottled 
moonshine everywhere6 ,the wicked old   
world was to be born anew1 reason  was  
to triumph over passion2 and            
self-interest1 which had ruled men for  

six thousand years1 was to be suddenly  
eradicated from their hearts4  ,when the
 patriots had finished cutting off      
everybody else's head1  then the reign  
of mutual tenderness would begin2 the   
week--inestimable  privilege6--would    
hold ten days instead of seven2 and     
,frimaire and  ,floral and ,messidor    
would prove to the listening earth that 
the very  names of past months had sunk 
into merited oblivion4 ,father ,faber   
says  that a sense of humor is a great  
help in the spiritual life2 it is  an   
absolute necessity in the temporal4 ,had
 the ,convention possessed  even the    
faintest perception of the ridiculous1  
this friendly instinct  would have      
lowered their sublime heads from the    
stars1 stung them into  practical       
issues1 and moderated the absurd        
delusions of the hour4    ,at present1  
however1 the new disciples of           
8earnestness0 are trying  hard to       
persuade us that we are too humorous1   
and that it is the  spirit of universal 

mockery which stifles all our nobler and
 finer  emotions4 ,we would like to     
believe them1 but unhappily it is only  
to  exceedingly strenuous souls that    
this lawless fun seems to manifest      
itself4 ,the rest of us1 searching      
cheerfully enough1 fail to discover  its
 traces4 ,if we are seldom capable of   
any sustained enthusiasm1  it is rather 
because we yawn than because we laugh4  
,unlike ,emerson1  we are glad to be    
amused1 only the task of amusing us     
grows harder  day by day2 and ,justin   
,mc,carthy's languid heroine1 who       
declines to  get up in the morning      
because she has so often been up before1
 is but  an exhaustive instance of the  
inconveniences of modern satiety4 ,when 
we read of the ,oxford students         
beleaguering the bookshops in excited   
crowds for the first copies of ,rokeby  
and ,childe ,harold1 fighting over  the 
precious volumes1 and betting recklessly
 on their rival sales1  we wonder       
whether either ,lord ,tennyson's or ,mr4

 ,browning's latest  effusions created  
any such tumult among the undergraduates
 of to-day1  or wiled away their money  
from more legitimate subjects of        
speculation4  ,lord ,holland1 when asked
 by ,murray for his opinion of ,old     
,mortality1  answered indignantly1      
8,opinion6 ,we did not one of us go to  
bed last  night6 ,nothing slept but my  
gout40 ,yet ,rokeby and ,childe ,harold 
are  both in sad disgrace with modern   
critics1 and ,old ,mortality stands     
gathering dust upon our bookshelves4    
,mr4 ,howells1 who ought to know1  tells
 us that fiction has become a finer art 
in our day than it was  in the days of  
our fathers1 and that the methods and   
interests we  have outgrown can never   
hope to be revived4 ,so if the          
masterpieces  of the present1 the       
triumphs of learned verse and realistic 
prose1  fail to lift their readers out  
of themselves1 like the masterpieces  of
 the past1 the fault must be our own4   
,we devote some conscientious  hours to 

,parleyings with ,certain ,people of    
,importance1 and we are  well pleased1  
on the whole1 to find ourselves in such 
good company2  but it is a pleasure rich
 in the temperance that ,hamlet loved1  
and  altogether unlikely to ruffle our  
composure4 ,we read ,the ,bostonians    
and ,the ,rise of ,silas ,lapham with a 
due appreciation of their minute        
perfections2 but we go to bed quite     
cheerfully at our usual hour1 and  are  
content to wait an interval of leisure  
to resume them4 ,could ,daisy  ,miller  
charm a gouty leg1 or ,lemuel ,barker   
keep us sleepless until  morning8 ,when 
,st4 ,pierre finished the manuscript of 
,paul and ,virginia1  he consented to   
read it to the painter1 ,joseph ,vernet4
 ,at first the  solitary listener was   
loud in his approbation1 then more      
subdued1 then  silent altogether4 8,soon
 he ceased to praise2 he only wept40    
,yet ,paul  and ,virginia has been      
pronounced morbid1 strained1 unreal1    
unworthy  even of the tears that        

childhood drops upon its pages4 ,but    
would ,mr4  ,millais or ,sir ,frederick 
,leighton sit weeping over the          
delightful  manuscripts of ,henry       
,shorthouse or ,mr4 ,louis ,stevenson8  
,did the last  flicker of genuine       
emotional enthusiasm die out with       
,george ,borrow1  who lived at least a  
century too late for his own            
convenience8 ,when  a respectable1      
gray-haired1 middle-aged ,englishman    
takes an innocent  delight in standing  
bare-headed in the rain1 reciting       
execrable ,welsh  verses on every spot  
where a ,welsh bard might1 but probably 
does not1  lie buried1 it is small      
wonder that the 8coarse-hearted1        
sensual1  selfish ,saxon0--we quote the 
writer's own words--should find the     
spectacle more amusing than sublime4    
,but then what supreme satisfaction     
,mr4 ,borrow derived from his own       
rhapsodies1 what conscious superiority  
over the careless crowd who found life  
all too short to study the  beau ties of

 ,iolo ,goch or ,gwilym ab ,ieuan6      
,there is nothing in the  world so      
enjoyable as a thorough-going monomania1
 especially if it be  of that peculiar  
literary order which insures a broad    
field and few  competitors4 ,in a       
passionate devotion to ,welsh epics or  
to ,provenal  pastorals1 to ,roman      
antiquities or to ,gypsy genealogy1 to  
the most  confused epochs of ,egyptian  
history or the most private             
correspondence  of a dead author1--in   
one or other of these favorite          
specialties our  modern students choose 
to put forth their powers1 and display  
an  astonishing industry and zeal4      
,there is a story told of a far too     
cultivated young man1 who1 after        
professing a great love for music1 was  
asked if he enjoyed the opera4  ,he did 
not4 ,oratorios were then more to his   
taste4 ,he did not care  for them at    
all4 ,ballads perhaps pleased him by    
their simplicity4 ,he  took no interest 
in them whatever4 ,church music alone   

was left4 ,he had  no partiality for    
even that4 8,what is it you do like80   
asked his  questioner1 with despairing  
persistency2 and the answer was         
vouchsafed  her in a single syllable1   
8,fugues40 ,this exclusiveness of spirit
 may  be detrimental to that broad      
catholicity on which great minds are    
nourished1 but it has rare charms for   
its possessor1 and1 being within  the   
reach of all1 grows daily in our favor4 
,french poets1 like ,gautier  and ,sully
 ,prudhomme1 have been content to strike
 all their lives upon a  single resonant
 note1 and men of far inferior genius   
have produced less  perfect work in the 
same willfully restricted vein4 ,the    
pressure of the  outside world sorely   
chafes these unresponsive natures2 large
 issues  paralyze their pens4 ,they turn
 by instinct from the coarseness1 the   
ugliness1 the realness of life1 and sing
 of it with graceful sadness  and with  
delicate laughter1 as if the whole thing
 were a pathetic or  a fantastic dream4 

,they are dumb before its riddles and   
silent in its  uproar1 standing apart   
from the tumult1 and letting the        
impetuous  crowd--8mostly fools10 as    
,carlyle said--sweep by them            
unperceived4  ,herrick is their         
prototype1 the poet who polished off his
 little  glittering verses about        
,julia's silks and ,dianeme's ear-rings 
when all  ,england was dark with civil  
war4 ,but even this armed neutrality1   
this  genuine and admirable             
indifference1 cannot always save us from
 the  rough knocks of a burly and       
aggressive world4 ,the revolution1 which
 he  ignored1 drove ,herrick from his   
peaceful vicarage into the poverty and  
gloom of ,london2 the siege of ,paris   
played sad havoc with ,gautier's        
artistic tranquillity1 and devoured the 
greater part of his modest  fortune4 ,we
 are tethered to our kind1 and may as   
well join hands in  the struggle4       
,vexation is no heavier than ennui1 and 
8he who lives  without folly10 says     

,rochefoucauld1 8is hardly so wise as he
 thinks40                               
,,curiosities ,,of ,,criticism4         
,there is a growing tendency on the part
 of literary men to resent what  they   
are pleased to consider the             
unwarrantable interference of the       
critic4 ,his ministrations have probably
 never been sincerely gratifying  to    
their recipients2 ,marsyas could hardly 
have enjoyed being flayed by  ,apollo1  
even though he knew his music was bad2  
and worse1 far worse1  than the most    
caustic severity are the few careless   
words that dismiss  our cherished       
aspirations as not even worthy of the   
rueful dignity  of punishment4 ,but in  
former days the victim1 if he resented  
such  treatment at all1 resented it in  
the spirit of ,lord ,byron1 who1 roused 
to a healthy and vigorous wrath1        
8expressed his royal views      ,in     
language such as gentlemen are seldom   
known to use10    and by a comprehensive
 and impartial attack on all the writers

 of his  time proved himself both able  
and willing to handle the weapons that  
had wounded him4 ,on the other side1    
those authors whose defensive  powers   
were of a less prompt and efficient     
character ventured no nearer  to a      
quarrel than--to borrow a simile of     
,george ,eliot's--a water-fowl  that    
puts out its leg in a deprecating manner
 can be said to quarrel  with a boy who 
throws stones4 ,southey1 who of all men 
entertained the  most comfortable       
opinion of his own merits1 must have    
been deeply  angered by the treatment   
,thalaba and ,madoc received from the   
,edinburgh  ,review2 yet we cannot see  
that either he or his admirers looked   
upon  ,jeffrey in any other light than  
that of a tyrannical but perfectly      
legitimate authority4 ,far nobler       
victims suffered from the same bitter   
sting1 and they too nursed their wounds 
in a decorous silence4    ,but it is    
very different to-day1 when every       
injured aspirant to the  ,temple of     

,fame assures himself and a sympathizing
 public1 not that a  particular critic  
is mistaken in his particular case1     
which we may  safely take for granted1  
but that all critics are necessarily    
wrong  in all cases1 through an abnormal
 development of what the catechism      
terms 8darkness of the understanding and
 a propensity to evil40 ,this  amiable  
theory was1 ,i think1 first advanced by 
,lord ,beaconsfield1 who  sorely needed 
some such emollient for his bruises4 ,in
 ,lothair1 when  that truly remarkable  
artist ,mr4 ,gaston ,phbus1 accompanied 
by his  sister-in-law ,miss ,euphrosyne 
,cantacuzene1--,heaven help their       
unhappy  sponsors6--reveals to his      
assembled guests the picture he has just
  completed1 we are told that his air   
8was elate1 and was redeemed from       
arrogance only by the intellect of his  
brow4 #8,to-morrow1' he said1  #8the    
critics will commence4 ,you know who the
 critics are8 ,the men who  have failed 
in literature and art4'0 ,if ,lord      

,beaconsfield thought  to disarm his    
foes by this ingenious device1 he was   
most signally  mistaken2 for while      
several of the reviews were             
deferentially hinting  that perhaps the 
book might not be so very bad as it     
seemed1 ,blackwood  stepped alertly to  
the front1 and in a criticism           
unsurpassed for  caustic wit and        
merciless raillery held up each feeble  
extravagance to  the inextinguishable   
laughter of the world4 ,even now1 when  
few people  venture upon the palatial   
dreariness of the novel itself1 there is
 no  better way of insuring a mirthful  
hour than by re-reading this vigorous   
and trenchant satire4    ,quite recently
 two writers1 one on either side of the 
,atlantic1 have  echoed with superfluous
 bitterness their conviction of the     
total  depravity of the critic4 ,mr4    
,edgar ,fawcett1 in ,the ,house on ,high
  ,bridge1 and ,mr4 ,j4 ,r4 ,rees1 in   
,the ,pleasures of a ,book-,worm1 seem  
to find the ,english language painfully 

inadequate for the forcible  expression 
of their displeasure4 ,mr4 ,fawcett     
considers all critics  8inconsistent    
when they are not regrettably ignorant10
 and fails to  see any use for them in  
an enlightened world4 8,it is           
marvelous10 he  reflects1 8how long we  
tolerate an absurdity of injustice      
before  suddenly waking up to it4 ,and  
what can be a more clear absurdity than 
that some one individual caprice1       
animus1 or even honest judgment  should 
be made to influence the public         
regarding any new book80  ,moreover1 he 
has discovered that the men and women   
who write the  reviews are mere         
8underpaid vendors of opinions10 who    
earn their  breakfasts and dinners by   
saying disagreeable things about        
authors1  8their superiors beyond       
expression40 ,but it is only fair to    
remind  ,mr4 ,fawcett that no particular
 disgrace is involved in earning one's  
breakfasts and dinners4 ,on the         
contrary1 hunger is a perfectly         

legitimate and very valuable incentive  
to industry4 8,god help the bear1  if1  
having little else to eat1 he must not  
even suck his own paws60  wrote ,sir    
,walter ,scott1 with good-humored       
contempt1 when ,lord ,byron  accused him
 of being a mercenary poet2 and we      
probably owe the ,vicar  of ,wakefield1 
,the ,library1 and ,venice ,preserved to
 their authors'  natural and unavoidable
 craving for food4 ,besides1 if the     
reviewers are  underpaid1 it is not so  
much their fault as that of their       
employers1  and their breakfasts and    
dinners must be proportionately light4  
,when  ,milton received five pounds for 
,paradise ,lost1 he was probably the    
most underpaid writer in the whole      
history of literature1 yet ,mr4 ,mark   
,pattison seems to think that this fact 
redounds to his especial honor4    ,but 
there are even worse things to be       
learned about the critic  than that he  
sells his opinions for food4 ,according 
to ,mr4 ,fawcett  he is distinguished   

for 8real1 hysterical1 vigilant1        
unhealthy  sensitiveness10 and nurses   
this unpleasant feeling to such a degree
  that1 should an author object to being
 ill-treated at his hands1 the  critic  
is immediately offended into saying     
something more abominable  still4 ,in   
fact1 like an uncompromising mother ,i  
once knew1 who always  punished her     
children till they looked pleasant1 he  
requires his  smarting victims to smile 
beneath the rod4 ,happily there is a    
cure1  and a very radical one1 too1 for 
this painful state of affairs4 ,mr4     
,fawcett proposes that all such         
offenders should be obliged to buy the  
work which they dissect1 rightly judging
 that the book notices would  grow      
beautifully less under such stringent   
treatment4 ,indeed1 were it  extended a 
little further1 and all readers obliged 
to buy the books  they read1 the        
publishers1 the sellers1 and the        
reviewers might spare  the time to take 
a holiday together4    ,mr4 ,rees is    

quite as severe and much more ungrateful
 in his strictures2  for1 after stating 
that the misbehavior of the critic is a 
source of  great amusement to the       
thoughtful student1 he proceeds to      
chastise that  misbehavior1 as though it
 had never entertained him at all4 ,in  
his  opinion1 the reviewer1 being guided
 exclusively by a set of obsolete  and  
worthless rules1 is necessarily         
incapable of recognizing genius  under  
any new development3 8,he usually is as 
little fitted to deal with  the tasks he
 sets himself as a manikin is to growl  
about the anatomy of  a star1 setting   
forth at the same time his own thoughts 
as to how it  should be formed40 ,vanity
 is the mainspring of his actions3 8,he 
fears  to be thought beneath his author1
 and so doles out a limited number  of  
praises and an unlimited quantity of    
slur40 ,like the ,welshman1 he  strikes 
in the dark1 thus escaping just         
retribution2 and in his stupid          
ignorance he seeks to 8rein in the wingd

 steed10 from having no  conception of  
its aerial powers4    ,now this is a    
formidable indictment1 and some of the  
charges may be  not without foundation2 
but if1 as too often happens1 the 8wingd
  steed0 is merely a donkey standing    
ambitiously on its hind legs1 who  but  
the critic can compel it to resume its  
quadrupedal attitude8 ,if1  as ,mr4     
,walter ,bagehot warned us some years   
ago1 8reading is about to  become a     
series of collisions against aggravated 
breakers1 of beatings  with imaginary   
surf10 who but the critic can steer us  
safely through  the storm8 ,never1 in   
fact1 were his duties more sharply      
defined or  more sorely needed than at  
present1 when the average reader1 like  
the  unfortunate ,mr4 ,boffin1 stands   
bewildered by the ,scarers in ,print1   
and  finds life all too short for their 
elucidation4 ,the self-satisfied who    
8know what they prefer10 and read       
accordingly1 are like the enthusiasts   
who follow their own consciences without

 first accurately ascertaining  whither 
they are being taken4 ,it has been well 
said that the object of  criticism is   
simply to clear the air about great work
 for the benefit  of ordinary people4   
,we only waste our powers when we refuse
 a guide1  and by forcing our minds     
hither and thither1 like navigators     
exploring  each new stream while        
ignorant of its course and current1 we  
squander  in idle researches the time   
and thought which should send us        
steadily  forward on our road4 ,worse   
still1 we vitiate our judgments by      
perverse  and presumptuous conclusions1 
and weaken our untrained faculties by   
the very methods we hoped would speed   
their growth4 ,if ,mr4 ,ruskin and  ,mr4
 ,matthew ,arnold resemble each other in
 nothing else1 they have  both taught   
earnestly and persistently1 through long
 and useful lives1  the supreme         
necessity of law1 the supreme merit of  
obedience4 ,mr4  ,arnold preached it    
with logical coldness1 after his        

fashion1 and ,mr4  ,ruskin with         
illogical impetuosity1 after his2 but   
the lesson remains  practically the     
same4 8,all freedom is error10 writes   
the author of  ,queen of the ,air1 who  
is at least blessed with the courage of 
his  convictions4 8,every line you lay  
down is either right or wrong3 it may   
be timidly and awkwardly wrong1 or      
fearlessly and impudently wrong2 the    
aspect of the impudent wrongness is     
pleasurable to vulgar persons1 and  is  
what they commonly call #8free'         
execution4444 ,i have hardly patience   
to hold my pen and go on writing1 as ,i 
remember the infinite follies of  modern
 thought in this matter1 centred in the 
notion that liberty is  good for a man1 
irrespectively of the use he is likely  
to make of it40    ,but he does go on   
writing1 nevertheless1 long after this  
slender stock  of patience is exhausted1
 and in his capacity of critic he lays  
down  ,draconian laws which his         
disciples seem bound to wear as a heavy 

yoke  around their necks4 8,who made    
,mr4 ,ruskin a judge or a nursery       
governess  over us80 asks an irreverent 
contributor to ,macmillan2 and why1     
after  all1 should we abstain from      
reading ,darwin1 and ,grote1 and        
,coleridge1  and ,kingsley1 and         
,thackeray1 and a host of other writers1
 who may or  may not be gratifying to   
our own tastes1 because ,mr4 ,ruskin has
 tried  and found them wanting8 ,it is  
not the province of a critic to bar us  
in  a wholesale manner from all authors 
he does not chance to like1 but to  aid 
us1 by his practiced judgment1 to       
extract what is good from every  field1 
and to trace1 as far as in us lies1     
those varying degrees of  excellence    
which it is to our advantage to discern4
 ,it was in this way  that ,mr4 ,arnold1
 working with conscientious and         
dispassionate serenity1  opened our eyes
 to new beauty1 and strengthened us     
against vicious  influences2 he added to
 our sources of pleasure1 he helped us  

to enjoy  them1 and not to recognize his
 kindly aid would be an ungracious form 
of self-deception4 ,if he were          
occasionally a little puzzling1 as in   
some parts of ,celtic ,literature1 where
 the qualities he detected  fall        
meaningless on our ears1 it is a        
wholesome lesson in humility to         
acknowledge our bewilderment4 ,why      
should the lines        8,what little   
town by river or sea-shore1      ,or    
mountain-built with quiet citadel1      
,is emptied of its folk this pious      
morn80    be the expression of a purely 
,greek form of thought1 8as ,greek as a 
thing from ,homer or ,theocritus20 and  
8,in such a night      ,stood ,dido1    
with a willow in her hand1      ,upon   
the wild sea-banks1 and waved her love  
,to come again to ,carthage10    be as  
purely ,celtic8 ,why should        8,i  
know a bank where the wild thyme blows0 
be ,greek1 and        8,fast-fading     
violets cover'd up in leaves0    be     
,celtic8 ,that harmless nondescript1 the

 general reader1 be he ever  so anxious 
for enlightenment1 is forced to confess 
he really does not  know2 and if his    
ignorance be of the complacent order1 he
 adds an  impatient doubt as to whether 
,mr4 ,arnold knew either1 just as when  
he  8comes up gasping0 from a sudden    
plunge into ,browning1 he is prompt to  
declare his firm conviction that the    
poet never had the faintest idea  what  
he was writing about4    ,but there is  
another style of enigma with which      
critics are wont to  harry and perplex  
us1 and one has need of a               
8complication-proof mind10  like ,sir   
,george ,cornewall ,lewis1 to see       
clearly through the tangle4 ,mr4        
,churton ,collins1 in his bitter attack 
on ,mr4 ,gosse in the ,quarterly        
,review1 objected vehemently to         
ever-varying descriptions of a single   
theme4 ,he did not think that if        
,drayton's ,barons' ,wars be a 8serene  
and  lovely poem10 it could well have a 
8passionate music running through  it10 

or possess 8irregular force and sudden  
brilliance of style40  ,perhaps he was  
right2 but there are few critics who can
 help us to know  and feel a poem like  
,mr4 ,gosse1 and fewer still who write  
with such  consummate grace and charm4  
,it is only when we pass from one       
reviewer  to another that the shifting  
lights thrown upon an author dazzle and 
confuse us4 ,like the fifty-six         
different readings of the first line of 
the ,orlando ,furioso1 there are        
countless standpoints from which we are 
invited to inspect each and every       
subject2 and unless we follow the       
admirable example of ,mr4 ,courthope1   
who solves a difficulty by gently       
saying1 8,the matter is one not for     
argument1 but for perception10 we  are  
lost in the mazes of indecision4 ,thus  
,mr4 ,ruskin demonstrates most          
beautifully the great superiority of    
,sir ,walter ,scott's heroines over  his
 heroes1 and by the time we settle our  
minds to this conviction  we find that  

,mr4 ,bagehot1 that most acute and      
exhausting of critics1  thinks the      
heroines inferior in every way1 and that
 ,sir ,walter was  truly felicitous only
 in his male characters4    ,happily1   
this is a point on which we should be   
able to decide for  ourselves without   
much prompting2 but all disputed topics 
are not  equally intelligible4 ,there is
 the vexed and vexing question of       
romantic and classical1 conservative and
 liberal poetry1 about which  ,mr4      
,courthope and ,mr4 ,andrew ,lang and   
,mr4 ,myers have had so much to  say of 
late1 and which is1 at best1 but a dimly
 lighted path for the  uninitiated to   
travel4 ,there is that perpetual        
problem1 ,mr4 ,walt  ,whitman1 the      
despair and the stumbling-block of      
critics1 to whose  extraordinary        
effusions1 as the ,quarterly ,review    
neatly puts it1  8existing standards    
cannot be applied with exactness40      
,there is ,emily  ,bront1 whose verses  
we were permitted for years to ignore1  

and in  whom we are now peremptorily    
commanded to recognize a true poet4     
,miss ,mary ,robinson1 who1 in common   
with most female biographers1 is  an    
enthusiast rather than a critic1 never  
wearies of praising the  8splendid and  
vigorous movement0 of ,emily ,bront's   
poems1 8with their  surplus imagination1
 their sweeping impressiveness1 their   
instinctive  music and irregular        
rightness of form40 ,on the other hand1 
,mr4 ,gosse1  while acknowledging in    
them a very high order of merit1 laments
 that  such burning thoughts should be  
8concealed for the most part in the     
tame and ambling measures dedicated to  
female verse by the practice of         
,felicia ,hemans and ,letitia ,landon40 
,so far1 indeed1 from recognizing  the  
8vigorous movement0 and 8irregular      
rightness of form0 which ,miss          
,robinson so much admires1 he describes 
,a ,death ,scene1 one of the finest  in 
point of conception1 as 8clothed in a   
measure that is like the  livery of a   

charitable institution40 8,there's      
allays two 'pinions10  says ,mr4 ,macey1
 in ,silas ,marner2 but we cannot help  
sometimes wishing1  in the cause of     
perspicuity1 that they were not so      
radically different4    ,as for the pure
 absurdities of criticism1 they may be  
culled like  flowers from every branch1 
and are pleasing curiosities for those  
who have a liking for such relics4 ,were
 human nature less complacent  in its   
self-sufficiency1 they might even serve 
as useful warnings to  the impetuous    
young reviewers of to-day1 and so be not
 without their  salutary influence on   
literature4 ,whether the result of      
ignorance1  or dullness1 or bad temper1 
of national or religious prejudices1 or 
of mere personal pique1 they have boldly
 challenged the ridicule of  the world1 
and its amused contempt has pilloried   
them for all time4  ,when ,voltaire     
sneered at the ,inferno1 and thought    
,hamlet the work of  a drunken savage1  
he at least made a bid for the          

approbation of his  countrymen1 who1 as 
,schlegel wittily observes1 were in the 
habit of  speaking as though ,louis     
,,xiv4 had put an end to cannibalism in 
,europe4  ,but what did ,englishmen     
think when ,hume informed them that     
,shakespeare  was 8born in a rude age1  
and educated in the lowest manner1      
without  instruction from the world or  
from books20 and that he could not      
uphold  for any time 8a reasonable      
propriety of thought08 ,how did they    
feel  when ,william ,maginn brutally    
declared that ,keats                8the
 doubly dead      ,in that he died so   
young10    was but a cockney poet1 who  
wrote vulgar indecorums1 8probably in   
the indulgence of his social            
propensities08 ,how did they feel when  
the same ,maginn called the ,adonais    
8dreary nonsense0 and 8a wild  waste of 
words10 and devoted bitter pages to     
proving that ,shelley  was not only     
undeserving1 but 8hopeless of poetic    
reputation08 ,yet  surely indignation   

must have melted into laughter1 when    
this notable  reviewer--who has been    
recently reprinted as a shining light   
for the  new generation--added serenely 
that 8a hundred or a hundred thousand   
verses might be made1 equal to the best 
in ,adonais1 without taking  the pen off
 the paper40 ,this species of sweeping  
assertion has been  repeated by critics 
more than once1 to the annoyance of     
their friends  and the malicious delight
 of their enemies4 ,ruskin1 who1 with   
all his  gifts1 seems cursed with what  
,mr4 ,bagehot calls 8a mind of contrary 
flexure1 whose particular bent it is to 
contradict what those around  them say10
 has ventured to tell the world that any
 head clerk of a  bank could write a    
better history of ,greece than ,mr4     
,grote1 if he would  have the vanity to 
waste his time over it2 and ,i have     
heard a man of  fair attainments and of 
sound scholarship contend that there    
were  twenty living authors who could   
write plays as fine as ,shakespeare's4  

,jeffrey's extraordinary blunders are   
too well known to need repetition1  and 
,christopher ,north was not without his 
share of similar mishaps2  ,walpole     
cheerfully sentenced ,scandinavian      
poetry in the bulk as the  horrors of a 
,runic savage2 ,madame de ,stal objected
 to the 8commonness0  of ,miss ,austen's
 novels2 ,wordsworth thought ,voltaire  
dull1 and ,southey  complained that     
,lamb's essays lacked 8sound religious  
feeling20 ,george  ,borrow1 whose       
literary tastes were at least as erratic
 as they were  pronounced1 condemned    
,sir ,walter ,scott's ,woodstock as     
8tiresome1  trashy1 and unprincipled10  
and ranked ,shakespeare1 ,pope1         
,addison1  and the ,welsh bard ,huw     
,morris together as 8great poets10      
apparently  without recognizing any     
marked difference in their respective   
claims4  ,then there is ,taine1 who     
finds ,pendennis and ,vanity ,fair too  
full of  sermons2 ,mr4 ,dudley ,warner1 
who compares the mild and genial humor  

of  ,washington ,irving to the acrid    
vigor of ,swift2 and ,mr4 ,howells1 who1
  perhaps in pity for our sense of loss1
 would fain persuade us that  we could  
no longer endure either the 8mannerisms0
 of ,dickens or the  8confidential      
attitude0 of ,thackeray1 were we happy  
enough to see these  great men still in 
our midst4    ,imagine1 ye who can1 the 
fiery ,hazlitt's wrath1 if he but knew  
that  in punishment for his youthful    
admiration of the ,nouvelle ,hlose a    
close resemblance has been traced by    
friendly hands between himself  and its 
author4 ,think of ,lord ,byron's        
feelings1 if he could hear ,mr4         
,swinburne saying that it was greatly to
 his--,byron's--credit that  he knew    
himself for a third-rate poet6 ,even    
though it be the only  thing to his     
credit that ,swinburne has so far       
discovered1 one doubts  whether it would
 greatly mollify his lordship1 or       
reconcile him to  being classed as a    
8,bernesque poet10 and the companion of 

those two  widely different creatures1  
,southey and ,offenbach4 ,perhaps1      
indeed1 his  lively sense of humor would
 derive a more positive gratification   
from  watching his angry critic run     
amuck through adjectives with frenzied  
agility4 ,such sentences as 8the        
blundering1 floundering1 lumbering1 and 
stumbling stanzas of ,childe ,harold1   
444 the gasping1 ranting1 wheezing1     
broken-winded verse1 444 the hideous    
absurdities and jolter-headed  jargon10 
must surely be less deeply offensive to 
,lord ,byron's admirers  than to ,mr4   
,swinburne's4 ,they come as near to     
describing the noble  beauty of ,childe 
,harold as does ,southey's senseless    
collection of  words to describing the  
cataract of ,lodore1 or any other       
cataract in  existence2 and1 since the  
days when ,milton and ,salmasius hurled 
8,latin  billingsgate0 at each other's  
heads1 we have had no stronger argument 
in favor of the comeliness of           
moderation4    8,the most part of ,mr4  

,swinburne's criticism10 hints a recent 
reviewer1  8is surely very much of a    
personal matter1--personal1 one may say1
  in expression as well as in           
sensation40 ,he has always a 8neat hand 
at an epithet10 and the 8jolter-headed  
jargon0 of ,byron is no finer  in its   
way than the 8fanfaronade and falsetto  
of ,gray40 ,but even the  charms of     
alliteration1 joined to the fish-wife's 
slang which has  recently so tickled the
 fancy of ,punch1#aa cannot wholly      
replace  that clear-headed serenity     
which is the true test of a critic's    
worth  and the most pleasing expression 
of his genius4 ,he should have no       
visible inclination to praise or blame2 
it is not his business1 as  ,mr4        
,bagehot puts it1 to be thankful1 and   
neither is he the queen's  attorney     
pleading for conviction4 ,mr4 ,matthew  
,arnold1 who considered  that ,byron was
 8the greatest natural force1 the       
greatest elementary  power1 which has   
appeared in our literature since        

,shakespeare10  presented his arguments 
plainly and without the faintest show of
  enthusiasm4 ,he did not feel the need 
of reviling somebody else in order  to  
emphasize his views1 and he did not care
 to advance opinions without  some      
satisfactory explanation of their       
existence4 ,mr4 ,courthope may  content 
himself with saying that a matter is one
 not for argument1 but  for perception2 
but ,mr4 ,arnold gave a reason for the  
faith that was  in him4 ,mere preference
 on the part of a critic is not a       
sufficient  sanction for his verdicts1  
or at least it does not warrant his     
imparting them to the public4 ,swinburne
 may honestly think four lines  of      
,wordsworth to be of more value than the
 whole of ,byron1 but that  is no reason
 why we should think so too4 ,when ,mr4 
,george ,saintsbury  avows a strong     
personal liking for some favorite       
authors1--,borrow and  ,peacock1 for    
instance1--he modestly states that this 
fact is not in  itself a convincing     

proof of their merit2 but when ,mr4     
,ernest ,myers  says that he would      
sacrifice the whole of ,childe ,harold  
to preserve one  of ,macaulay's ,lays1  
he seems to be offering a really        
impressive piece  of evidence4 ,the     
tendency of critics to rush into print  
with whatever  they chance to think has 
resulted in readers who naturally       
believe that  what they think is every  
bit as good4 ,macaulay and ,walter      
,savage ,landor  are both instances of  
men whose unusual powers of discernment 
were  too often dimmed by their         
prejudices4 ,macaulay knew that         
,montgomery's  poetry was bad1 but he   
failed to see that ,fouqu's prose was   
good2 and  ,landor hit right and left1  
amid friends and foes1 like the blinded 
,ajax  scourging the harmless flocks4   
,it is quite as amusing and far less    
painful to turn from the critics'       
indiscriminate abuse to their equally   
indiscriminate praise1 and to  read the 
glowing tributes heaped upon authors    

whose mediocrity has  barely saved them 
from oblivion4 ,compare the universal   
rapture which  greeted 8the majestick   
numbers of ,mr4 ,cowley0 to the         
indifference which  gave scant welcome  
to the ,hesperides4 ,mr4 ,gosse tells us
 that for half  a century ,katherine    
,philips1 the matchless ,orinda1 was an 
unquestioned  light in ,english song4   
8,her name was mentioned with those of  
,sappho and  ,corinna1 and language was 
used without reproach which would have  
seemed  a little fulsome if addressed to
 the ,muse herself40                    
8,for1 as in angels1 we                 
,do in thy verses see      ,both        
improved sexes eminently meet2          
,they are than ,man more strong1 and    
more than ,woman sweet40    ,so sang    
,cowley to this much admired lady2 and  
the ,earl of ,roscommon1 in  some more  
extravagant and amusing stanzas1        
asserted it to be his unique  experience
 that1 on meeting a pack of angry wolves
 in ,scythia1        8,the magic of     

,orinda's name      ,not only can their 
fierceness tame1      ,but1 if that     
mighty word ,i once rehearse1      ,they
 seem submissively to roar in verse40   
8,it is easier to flatter than to       
praise10 says ,jean ,paul1 but even     
flattery is not always the facile work  
it seems4    ,sir ,walter ,scott1 who   
was strangely disposed to undervalue his
 own  merit as a poet1 preserved the    
most genuine enthusiasm for the work of 
others4 ,when his little daughter was   
asked by ,james ,ballantyne what she    
thought of ,the ,lady of the ,lake1 she 
answered with perfect simplicity  that  
she had not read it4 8,papa says there  
is nothing so bad for young  people as  
reading bad poetry40 ,yet ,sir ,walter  
always spoke of ,madoc  and ,thalaba    
with a reverence that would seem        
ludicrous were it not so  frankly       
sincere4 ,southey himself could not have
 admired them more2 and  when ,jeffrey  
criticised ,madoc with flippant severity
 in the ,edinburgh  ,review1 we find    

,scott hastening to the rescue in a     
letter full of  earnest and soothing    
praise4 8,a poem whose merits are of    
that higher  tone10 he argues1 8does not
 immediately take with the public at    
large4  ,it is even possible that during
 your own life you must be contented    
with the applause of the few whom nature
 has gifted with the rare  taste for    
discriminating in poetry4 ,but the mere 
readers of verse must  one day come in1 
and then ,madoc will assume his real    
place1 at the feet  of ,milton40#ab ,the
 mere readers of verse1 being in no wise
 responsible  for ,milton's position in 
literature1 have so far put no one at   
his  feet2 nor have they even verified  
,sir ,walter's judgment when1 writing   
again to ,southey1 he says with         
astonishing candor1 8,i am not such an  
ass as not to know that you are my      
better in poetry1 though ,i have had1   
probably but for a time1 the tide of    
popularity in my favor40 ,the same      
spirit of self-depreciation1 rare enough

 to be attractive1 made him  write to   
,joanna ,baillie that1 after reading    
some of her songs1 he had  thrust by his
 own in despair4    ,but if ,sir ,walter
 was an uncertain critic1 his views on  
criticism  were marked by sound and     
kindly discretion1 and his patience     
under  attack was the result of an      
evenly balanced mind1 conscious of its  
own strength1 yet too sane to believe   
itself infallible4 ,he had a  singular  
fancy for showing his manuscripts to his
 friends1 and it is  quite delicious to 
see how doubtful and discouraging were  
their first  comments4 ,gray1 when hard 
pressed by the 8light and genteel0      
verses  of his companion1 ,richard      
,west1 was not more frugal of his       
doled-out  praises4 ,but ,scott exacted 
homage neither from his acquaintances   
nor  from the public4 ,when it came--and
 it did come very soon in generous      
abundance--he basked willingly in the   
sunshine2 but he had no uneasy  vanity  
to be frightened by the shade4 ,he would

 have been as sincerely  amused to hear 
,mr4 ,borrow call ,woodstock 8tiresome1 
trashy1 and  unprincipled0 as ,matthew  
,arnold used to be when pelted with     
strong  language by the ,london         
newspapers4 8,i have made a study of the
  ,corinthian or leading-article style10
 wrote the great critic1 with           
exasperating urbanity2 8and ,i know its 
exigencies1 and that they are no  more  
to be quarreled with than the law of    
gravitation40 ,in fact1 the  most       
hopeless barrier to strife is the steady
 indifference of a man  who knows he has
 work to do1 and who goes on doing it1  
irrespective of  anybody's opinion4     
,lady ,harriet ,ashburton1 who dearly   
loved the war of  words1 in which she   
was sure to be a victor1 was forced to  
confess that  where no friction was     
excited1 even her barbed shafts fell    
harmless4  8,it is like talking into a  
soft surface10 she sighed1 with         
whimsical  despondency2 8there is no    
rebound40    ,american critics have the 

reputation of being more kind-hearted   
than  discriminating4 ,the struggling   
young author1 unless overweeningly      
foolish1 has little to fear from their  
hands2 and1 if his reputation  be once  
fairly established1 all he chooses to   
write is received with  a gratitude     
which seems excessive to the more       
exacting readers of  ,france and        
,england4 ,if he be a humorist1 we are  
always alert and  straining to see the  
fun2 if a story-teller1 we politely     
smother  our yawns1 and say something   
about a keen analysis of character1 a   
marked originality of treatment1 or a   
purely unconventional theme2  if a      
scholar1 no pitfalls are dug for his    
unwary feet by reviewers  like ,mr4     
,collins4 ,such virulent and personal   
attacks we consider  very uncomfortable 
reading1 as in truth they are1 and we   
have small  appetite at any time for a  
sound kernel beneath a bitter rind4 ,yet
  surely in these days1 when young      
students turn impatiently from the  very

 fountain-heads of learning1 too much   
stress cannot be laid on  the continuity
 of literature1 and on the absolute     
importance of the  classics to those who
 would intelligently explore the        
treasure-house  of ,english verse4      
,moreover1 ,mr4 ,collins has aimed a few
 well-directed  shafts against the      
ingenious system of mutual admiration1  
by which  a little coterie of writers1  
modern ,della ,cruscans1 help each other
  into prominence1 while an unsuspecting
 public is made 8the willing  dupe of   
puffers40 ,this delicate game1 which is 
now conducted with such  well-rewarded  
skill by a few enterprising players1    
consists1 not so  much in open flattery1
 though there is plenty of that too1 as 
in the  minute chronicling of every     
insignificant circumstance of each      
other's  daily lives1 from the hour at  
which they breakfast to the amount of   
exercise they find conducive to         
appetite1 and the shape and size of     
their dining-room tables4 ,we are       

stifled by the literary gossip which    
fills the newspapers and periodicals4   
,nothing is too trivial1 nothing  too   
irrelevant1 to be told2 and when1 in the
 midst of an article on  any subject1   
from grand-dukes to gypsies1 a writer   
gravely stops to  explain that a        
perfectly valueless remark was made to  
him on such an  occasion by his friend  
such a one1 whose interesting papers on 
such a  topic will be well remembered by
 the readers of such a magazine1 we are 
forcibly reminded of the late ,master of
 ,trinity's sarcasm as to the  many     
things that are too unimportant to be   
forgotten4    ,people fed on sugared    
praises cannot be expected to feel an   
appetite  for the black broth of honest 
criticism4 ,there was a time1 now       
happily  past1 when the reviewer's skill
 lay simply in the clever detection  of 
flaws2 it was his business in life to   
find out whatever was weak  or absurd in
 an author1 and to hold it up for the   
amusement of those  who were not quick  

enough to see such things for           
themselves4 ,now his  functions are of a
 totally different order1 and a great   
many writers  seem to think it his sole 
duty to bring them before the public in 
an  agreeable light1 to say something   
about their books which will be         
pleasant for them to read and to pass   
over in turn to their friends4  ,if he  
cannot do this1 it is plain he has no   
sanction to say anything  at all4 ,that 
the critic has a duty to the public     
itself is seldom  remembered2 that his  
work is of the utmost importance1 and   
second in  value only to the original   
conception he analyzes1 is a truth few  
people take the pains to grasp4         
,coleridge thought him a mere maggot1   
battening upon authors' brains2 yet how 
often has he helped us to  gain some    
clear insight into this most shapeless  
and shadowy of great  men6 ,wordsworth  
underrated his utility1 yet             
,wordsworth's criticisms1  save those   
upon his own poems1 are among the finest

 we can read2 and1  to argue after the  
fashion of ,mr4 ,myers1 the average     
student would  gladly exchange ,the     
,idiot ,boy1 or ,goody ,blake and ,harry
 ,gill1 for  another letter upon        
,dryden4 ,as a matter of fact1 the      
labors of the true  critic are more     
essential to the author1 even1 than to  
the reader4 ,it  is natural that poets  
and novelists should devoutly believe   
that the  creative faculty alone is of  
any true service to the world1 and that 
it cannot rightly be put to trial by    
those to whom this higher gift is       
rigorously denied4 ,but the critical    
power1 though on a distinctly lower     
level than the creative1 is of          
inestimable help in its development4    
,great work thrives best in a critical  
atmosphere1 and the clear light  thrown 
upon the past is the surest of guides to
 the future4 ,when the  standard of     
criticism is high1 when the influence of
 classical and  foreign literature is   
understood and appreciated1 when        

slovenly and  ill-digested work is      
promptly recognized as such1 then1 and  
then  only1 may we look for the full    
expansion of a country's genius4 ,to be 
satisfied with less is an amiable       
weakness rather than an invigorating    
stimulant to perfection4    ,matthew    
,arnold's definition of true criticism  
is familiar to all  his readers2 it is  
simply 8a disinterested endeavor to     
learn and  propagate the best that is   
known and thought in the world40 ,but by
  disinterestedness he did not mean     
merely that a critic must have no       
distinct design of flattering either his
 subject or his audience4 ,he  meant    
that in order to recognize what is      
really the best a man must  free himself
 from every form of passion or          
prejudice1 from every fixed  opinion1   
from every practical consideration4 ,he 
must not look at things  from an        
,english1 or a ,french1 or an ,american1
 standpoint4 ,he has no  business with  
politics or patriotism4 ,these things   

are excellent  in themselves1 and may be
 allowed to control his actions in other
  matters2 but when the question at     
issue is the abstract beauty of a  poem1
 a painting1 a statue1 or a piece of    
architecture1 he is expected  to stand  
apart from his every-day self1 and to   
judge of it by some  higher and         
universal law4 ,this is a difficult task
 for most men1 who  do not respire      
easily in such exceedingly rarefied air1
 and who have  no especial taste for    
blotting out their individuality4 ,with 
,macaulay1  for instance1 political     
considerations frankly outweigh all     
others2 he  gives us the good ,whig and 
the wicked ,tory on every page1 after   
the  fashion of ,hogarth's idle and     
industrious apprentices4 ,mr4 ,bagehot1 
while a far less transparent writer1    
manifests himself indirectly in  his    
literary preferences4 ,when we have read
 his essay on ,shakespeare1  we feel    
pretty sure we know his views on        
universal suffrage4 ,mr4 ,andrew  ,lang 

has indeed objected vehemently to the   
intrusion of politics  into literature1 
perhaps because of a squeamish distaste 
for the  harsh wranglings of the        
political field4 ,but ,mr4 ,arnold was  
incapable  of confusing the two ideas4  
,his taste for ,celtic poetry and his   
attitude towards home rule are both     
perfectly defined and perfectly         
isolated sentiments2 just as his        
intelligent admiration and merciless    
condemnation of ,heinrich ,heine stand  
side by side1 living witnesses  of a    
mind that held its own balance1 losing  
nothing that was good1  condoning       
nothing that was evil1 as far removed   
from weak enthusiasm on  the one hand as
 from frightened depreciation on the    
other4    ,it is folly to rail at the   
critic until we have learned his value2 
it  is folly to ignore a help which we  
are not too wise to need4 8,the best    
that is known and thought in the world0 
does not stand waiting for  admission on
 our door-steps4 ,like the happiness of 

,hesiod1 it 8abides  very far hence1 and
 the way to it is long and steep and    
rough40 ,it is  hard to seek1 hard to   
find1 and not easily understood when    
discovered4  ,criticism does not mean a 
random opinion on the last new novel1   
though  even the most dismal of light   
literature comes fairly within its      
scope4  ,it means a disinterested       
endeavor to learn and to teach whatever 
wisdom  or beauty has been added by     
every age and every nation to the great 
inheritance of mankind4                 
,,footnotes3    #aa        8,but when   
poet ,swinburne steps into the fray1    
,and slangs like a fish-wife1 what1 what
 can one say80    #ab ,compare ,charles 
,lamb's letter to ,coleridge3 8,on the  
whole ,i expect  ,southey one day to    
rival ,milton2 ,i already deem him equal
 to ,cowper1  and superior to all living
 poets besides40                        
,,some ,,aspects ,,of ,,pessimism4      
,when ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold delivered   
his lecture on ,emerson in this         

country1 several years ago1 it was      
delightful to see how the settled       
melancholy of his audience1 who had come
 for a panegyric and did not  get it1   
melted into genial applause when the    
lecturer touched at last  upon the one  
responsive chord which bound his        
subject1 his hearers1  and himself in a 
sympathetic harmony1--,i mean ,emerson's
 lifelong1  persistent1 and             
unconquerable optimism4 ,this was       
perhaps the more  apparent because ,mr4 
,arnold's addresses were not precisely  
the kind  with which we ,americans are  
best acquainted2 they were singularly   
deficient in the oratorical flights that
 are wont to arouse our  enthusiasm1 and
 in the sudden descents to colloquial   
anecdote by which  we expect to be      
amused4 ,for real enjoyment it was      
advisable to read  them over carefully  
after they were printed1 and the oftener
 they were  so read the better they     
repaid perusal2 but this not being the  
point  of view from which ordinary      

humanity is apt to regard a lecture1 it 
was with prompt and genuine relief that 
the audience hailed a personal  appeal  
to that cheerful1 healthy hopefulness of
 disposition which we  like to be told  
we possess in common with greater men4  
,it is always  pleasant to hear that    
happiness is 8the due and eternal result
 of  labor1 righteousness1 and          
veracity10 and to have it hinted to us  
that  we have sane and wholesome minds  
because we think so2 it is pleasanter   
still to be assured that the disparaging
 tone which religion assumes  in        
relation to this earthly happiness      
arises from a well-intentioned  desire  
to wean us from it1 and not at all from 
a clear-sighted  conviction of its      
feeble worth4 ,when ,mr4 ,arnold recited
 for our benefit  a cheerless little    
scrap of would-be pious verse which he  
had heard  read in a ,london schoolroom1
 all about the advantages of dying1--   
8,for the world at best is a dreary     
place1      ,and my life is getting     

low10--    we were glad to laugh over   
such dismal philosophy1 and to feel     
within  ourselves an exhilarating       
superiority of soul4    ,but            
self-satisfaction1 if as buoyant as gas1
 has an ugly trick of  collapsing when  
full-blown1 and facts are stony things  
that refuse to  melt away in the        
sunshine of a smile4 ,mr4 ,arnold1 like 
,mr4 ,emerson1  preached the gospel of  
compensation with much picturesqueness  
and  beauty2 but his arguments would be 
more convincing if our own  observation 
and experience did not so mulishly stand
 in their way4  ,a recent writer in     
,cornhill1 who ought to be editing a    
magazine for  ,arcady1 asserts with     
charming simplicity that man 8finds a   
positive  satisfaction in putting       
himself on a level with others1 and in  
recognizing that he has his just share  
of life's enjoyments40 ,but  suppose    
that he cannot reach the level of       
others1 or be persuaded  that his share 
is just8 ,the good things of life are   

not impartially  divided1 like the      
spaces on a draught-board1 and man1 who 
is a covetous  animal1 will never be    
content with a little1 while his comrade
 enjoys  a great deal4 ,neither does he 
find the solace that is expected in the 
contemplation of the unfortunate who has
 nothing2 for this view of the  matter1 
besides being a singular plea for the   
compensation theory1  appeals too       
coarsely to that root of selfishness    
which we are none of  us anxious to     
exhibit4 ,the average fustian-clad man  
is not too good to  envy his neighbor's 
broadcloth1 but he is too good to take  
comfort  in his brother's nakedness4    
,the sight of it may quicken his        
gratitude1  but can hardly increase his 
happiness4 ,yet what did ,mr4 ,arnold   
mean  in his poem of ,consolation--which
 is very charming1 but not in the  least
 consoling--save that the joys and      
sorrows of each hour balance  themselves
 in a just proportion1 and that the     
lovers' raptures and the  blind robber's

 pain level the eternal scales4 ,it is  
not a cheering bit  of philosophy1      
whatever might have been the author's   
intention1 for the  very existence of   
suffering darkens the horizon for       
thoughtful souls4  ,it would be an      
insult on the part of the lovers--lovers
 are odious  things at best--to offer   
their arrogant bliss as indemnification 
to the  wretch for his brimming cup of  
bitterness2 but the vision of his seared
  eyeballs and sin-laden soul might     
justly moderate their own expansive     
felicity4 ,sorrow has a claim on all    
mankind1 and when the utmost  that ,mr4 
,arnold could promise for our           
consolation was that time1 the          
impartial1        8,brings round to all 
men      ,some undimm'd hours40    we   
did not feel that he afforded us any    
broad ground for  self-complacency4     
,the same key is struck with more       
firmness in that strange poem1 ,the     
,sick ,king in ,bokhara1 where the      
vizier can find no better remedy for    

his master's troubled mind than by      
pointing out to him the vast burden  of 
misery which rests upon the world1 and  
which he is utterly powerless  to avert4
 ,it is hardly worth while1 so runs the 
vizier's argument1 for  the king to vex 
his soul over the sufferings of one poor
 criminal1 whom  his pity could not     
save1 when the same tragic drama is     
being played  with variations in every  
quarter of the globe4 ,behold1 thousands
 are  toiling for hard masters1 armies  
are laying waste the peaceful land1     
robbers are harassing the mountain      
shepherds1 and little children are      
being carried into captivity4           
8,the ,kaffirs also 7whom ,god curse67  
,vex one another night and day2         
,there are the lepers1 and all sick2    
,there are the poor1 who faint away4    
8,all these have sorrow and keep still1 
,whilst other men make cheer and sing4  
,wilt thou have pity on all these8      
,no1 nor on this dead dog1 ,o king60    
,whereupon the sick monarch1 who does   

not seem greatly cheered by this        
category1 adds in a disconsolate sort of
 way that he too1 albeit envied  of all 
men1 finds his secret burdens hard to   
bear1 and that not even to  him is      
granted the fulfillment of desire1--    
8,and what ,i would1 ,i cannot do40     
,unless the high priests of optimism    
shall find us some stouter  arguments   
than these with which to make merry our 
souls1 it is to be  feared that their   
opponents1 who have at least the knack  
of stating  their cases with pitiless   
lucidity1 will hardly think our buoyancy
  worth pricking4    ,as for that small 
and compact band who steadfastly refuse 
to recognize  in 8this sad1 swift life0 
any occasion for self-congratulation1   
they  are not so badly off1 in spite of 
their funereal trappings1 as we are     
commonly given to suppose4 ,it is only  
necessary to read a page of  their      
writings--and few people care to read   
more--to appreciate how  thoroughly they
 enjoy the situation1 and how1 sitting  

with ,hecate in  her cave1 they weave   
delicate thoughts out of their chosen   
darkness4  ,they are full of the        
hopefulness of despair1 and confident in
 the  strength of the world's weakness4 
,they assume that they not only         
represent great fundamental truths1 but 
that these truths are for the  first    
time being put forth in a concrete shape
 for the edification and  adherence of  
mankind4 ,mr4 ,edgar ,saltus informs us 
that1 while optimism  is as old as      
humanity1 8systematic pessimism0 is but 
a growth of the  last half century1     
before which transition period we can   
find only  individual expressions of    
discontent4 ,mr4 ,mallock claims that he
 is  the first who has ever inquired    
into the worth of life 8in the true     
scientific spirit40 ,but when we come to
 ask in what systematic or  scientific  
pessimism differs from the older variety
 which has found a  home in the hearts  
of men from the beginning1 we do not    
receive any  very coherent answer4 ,from

 ,mr4 ,mallock1 indeed1 we hardly expect
 any4  ,it is his province in literature
 to propose problems which the reader1  
after the fashion of ,the ,lady or the  
,tiger8 is permitted to solve  for      
himself4 ,but does ,mr4 ,saltus really  
suppose that ,schopenhauer  and         
,hartmann have made much headway in     
reducing sadness to a science1  that    
love is in any danger of being          
supplanted by the 8genius of  the       
species10 or that the 8principle of the 
unconscious0 is at all  likely to       
extinguish our controlling force8 ,what 
have these two subtle  thinkers said to 
the world that the world has not        
practically known  and felt for         
thousands of years already8 ,hegesias1  
three centuries  before ,christ1 was    
quite as systematic as ,schopenhauer1   
and his system  begot more definite     
results2 for several of his disciples   
hanged  themselves out of deference for 
his teachings1 whereas it may be        
seriously doubted whether all the       

persuasive arguments of the ,welt als   
,wille und ,vorstellung have ever made  
or are likely to make a single          
celibate4 ,marcus ,aurelius was as      
logically convinced of the inherent     
worthlessness of life as ,dr4 ,hartmann1
 and1 without any scientific  apparatus 
whatever1 he stamped his views on the   
face of a whole nation4  ,we are now    
anxiously warned by ,mr4 ,saltus not to 
confound scientific  pessimism with that
 accidental melancholy which is the     
result of our  own personal misfortunes2
 but ,leopardi1 whose unutterable       
despair  arose solely from his personal 
misfortunes1 or rather from his moral   
inability to cope with them1--for       
,joubert1 who suffered as much1 has     
left a trail of heavenly light upon his 
path1--,leopardi alone lays bare  for us
 the        8,tears that spring and     
increase      ,in the barren places of  
mirth10    with an appalling accuracy   
from which we are glad to turn away our 
shocked and troubled eyes4    ,it is a  

humiliating fact that1 notwithstanding  
our avaricious greed  for novelties1 we 
are forced1 when sincere1 to confess    
that 8les  anciens ont tout dit10 and   
that it is probable the contending      
schools  of thought have always held the
 same relative positions they do  now3  
optimism glittering in the front ranks  
as a deservedly popular  favorite2      
pessimism speaking with a still1        
persistent voice to those  who1         
unluckily for themselves1 have the      
leisure and the intelligence  to attend4
 ,schopenhauer hated the ,jews with all 
his heart for being  such stubborn      
optimists1 and it is true that their    
records bear ample  witness to the      
strong hold they took on the pleasures  
and the profits  of the world4 ,but     
their noblest and clearest voices1      
,isaias1 ,jeremias1  ,ezekiel1 speak a  
different language2 and ,solomon1 who1  
it must be  granted1 enjoyed a wider    
experience than most men1 renders a     
cheerless  verdict of vanity and        

vexation of spirit for 8all things that 
are done  under the sun40 ,the          
,egyptians1 owing chiefly to their      
tender solicitude  about their tombs1   
have taken rank in history as a people  
enamoured  rather of death than of life2
 and from the misty flower-gardens of   
,buddha have been gathered for centuries
 the hemlock and nightshade that  adorn 
the funeral-wreaths of literature4      
,but the ,greeks1 the blithe and jocund 
,greeks1 who1 as ,mr4 ,arnold justly    
observed1 ought never to have been      
either sick or sorry1--to them1  at     
least1 we can turn for that wholesome   
joy1 that rational delight  in mere     
existence1 which we have somehow let    
slip from our nerveless  grasp4 ,whether
 it was because this world gave him so  
much1 such rare  perfection in all      
material things1 or because his own     
conception of the  world to come        
promised him so exceedingly little1--for
 one or both of  these reasons1 the     
average ,greek preferred to cling       

tenaciously to the  good he had1 to the 
hills1 and the sea1 and the sunshine1   
rather than to        8,move among      
shadows1 a shadow1 and wail by          
impassable streams20    and his choice1 
under the circumstances1 is perhaps     
hardly a matter for  amazement4 ,that a 
people so richly endowed should be in   
love with life  seems to us right and   
natural2 that amid their keen           
realization of its  fullness and beauty 
we find forever sounded--and not always 
in a minor  key--the same old notes of  
weariness and pain is a discouraging    
item1  when we would like to build up an
 exhaustive theory of happiness4 ,far1  
far back1 in the ,arcadian days of      
,grecian piety and simplicity1 the      
devout agriculturist ,hesiod looked     
sorrowfully over the golden fields1     
searching vainly for a joy that remained
 ever out of reach4 ,homer1 in a        
passage which ,mr4 ,peacock says is     
nearly always incorrectly translated1   
has given us a summary of life which    

would not put a modern ,german to  the  
blush3--        8,jove1 from his urns   
dispensing good and ill1      ,gives ill
 unmixed to some1 and good and ill      
,mingled to many1 good unmixed to none40
    ,sophocles says uncompromisingly    
that man's happiest fate is not to be   
born at all2 and that1 failing this good
 fortune1 the next best thing  is to die
 as quickly as possible4 ,menander      
expresses the same thought  more        
sweetly3--        8,whom the gods love  
die young20    and ,euripides1 the most 
reverent soul ever saddened by the      
barrenness  of paganism1 forces into one
 bitter line all the bleak hopelessness 
of  which the ,greek tragedy alone is   
capable3--        8,life is called life1
 but it is truly pain40    ,even as     
isolated sentiments1 these              
ever-recurring reflections diminish     
perceptibly the sum of a nation's       
gayety1 and1 if we receive the drama  as
 the mouthpiece of the people1 we are   
inclined to wonder now and then  how    

they ever could have been cheerful at   
all4 ,it is easy1 on the other  hand1 to
 point to ,admetos and ,antigone as two 
standing examples of the  great value   
the ,greeks placed upon life2 for the   
sacrifice of ,alkestis  was not in their
 eyes the sordid bargain it appears in  
ours1 and the  daughter of dipus goes to
 her death with a shrinking reluctance  
seemingly out of keeping with her heroic
 mould4 ,but ,admetos1 excuse him  as we
 may1 is but a refinement of a common   
type1 old as mankind1 and no  great     
credit to its ranks4 ,he may be found in
 every page of the world's  history1    
from the siege of ,jerusalem to the     
siege of ,paris4  ,kempis  has          
transfixed him with sharp scorn in his  
chapter ,on the ,consideration  of      
,human ,misery1 and a burning theatre or
 a sinking ship betray him1  shorn of   
poetical disguise1 in all his unadorned 
brutality4 ,but to  find fault with     
,antigone1 the noblest figure in        
classical literature1  because she      

manifests a natural dislike for being   
buried alive is to  carry our ideal of  
heroism a little beyond reason4 ,flesh  
and blood  shrink from the sickening    
horror that lays its cold hand upon her 
heart4 ,she is young1 beautiful1 and    
beloved1 standing on the threshold  of  
matrimony1 and clinging with womanly    
tenderness to the sacred joys  that are 
never to be hers4 ,she is a martyr in a 
just cause1 but without  one ray of that
 divine ecstasy that sent ,christian    
maidens smiling  to the lions4 ,beyond a
 chilly hope that she will not be       
unwelcome to  her parents1 or to the    
brother she has vainly striven to save  
from  desecration1 ,antigone descends   
8,into the dreary mansions of the dead10
    uncheered by any throb of           
expectation4 ,finally1 the manner of her
  death is too appalling to be met with 
stoicism4 ,juliet1 the bravest of       
,shakespeare's heroines1 quails before  
the thought of a few unconscious  hours 
spent in the darkness of the tomb2 and  

if our more exalted views  demand       
indifference to such a fate1 we must not
 look to the ,greeks1 nor  to him who   
8,saw life steadily1 and saw it whole10 
for the fulfillment of our idle fancy4  
,youth1 health1 beauty1 and virtue were 
to the ancient mind the natural         
requisites for happiness2 yet even these
 favors were so far at best  from       
securing it1 that 8nature's most        
pleasing invention1 early death10  was  
too often esteemed the rarest gift of   
all4 ,when ,schopenhauer says  of the   
fourth commandment1 8#8,honor thy father
 and thy mother1 that thy  days may be  
long in the land1'--ah6 what a          
misfortune to hold out as a  reward for 
duty60 we feel both shocked and repulsed
 by this deliberate  rejection of what  
is offered us as a blessing2 but it is  
at least  curious to note that the happy
 ,greeks held much the same opinion4    
,when  the sons of ,cydippe--those      
models of filial devotion--shamed not to
  yoke themselves like oxen to the cart1

 and with strong young arms to  drag    
their mother to the feast of ,hera1 the 
ancient priestess begged  of the dread  
goddess that she would grant them her   
best gift2 and the  prayer was answered1
 not with length of days1 nor with the  
regal power  and splendor promised of   
old to ,paris1 but with a boon more     
precious  still than all4               
8,whereat the statue from its jeweled   
eyes      ,lightened1 and thunder ran   
from cloud to cloud      ,in heaven1 and
 the vast company was hushed4      ,but 
when they sought for ,cleobis1 behold1  
,he lay there still1 and by his         
brother's side      ,lay ,biton1 smiling
 through ambrosial curls1      ,and when
 the people touched them they were      
dead40#ac    ,it is hard to assert in   
the face of a narrative like this that  
the  ,greeks valued nothing as much as  
the mere delight of existence4    ,as   
for the favorite theory that            
,christianity is responsible for  the   
weakening of earthly happiness1 and that

 her ministers have  systematically     
disparaged the things of this world in  
order to  quicken our desire for things 
eternal1 it might suffice to hint that  
,christianity is a large word1 and      
represents at present a great many      
different phases of thought4 ,mr4       
,arnold objected1 rationally enough1  to
 the lugubrious hymns from which the    
,english middle classes are  wont to    
draw their spiritual refreshment2 and   
,dr4 ,holmes1 it will be  remembered1   
has spoken quite as strongly in regard  
to their depressing  influence upon ,new
 ,england households4 ,but ,christianity
 and the modern  hymn-book are by no    
means synonymous terms1 and to claim    
that the  early church deliberately     
lowered the scale of human joy is a very
  different and a very grave charge1 and
 one which ,mr4 ,pater1 in ,marius  the 
,epicurean1 has striven valiantly to    
refute4 ,with what clear and  delicate  
touches he paints for us the innocent   
gayety of that new  birth1--a gayety    

with no dark background1 and no         
heart-breaking limits  of time and      
space4 ,compared to it1 the sombre and  
multitudinous rites  of the ,romans and 
the far-famed blitheness of the ,greeks 
seem incurably  narrow and insipid4 ,the
 ,christians of the catacombs were      
essentially  a cheerful body1 having for
 their favorite emblem the serene image 
of  the ,good ,shepherd1 and believing  
firmly that 8grief is the sister of     
doubt and ill-temper1 and beyond all    
spirits destroyeth man40 ,if in the     
,middle ,ages the ,church apparently    
darkened earth to brighten heaven1  it  
was simply because she took life as she 
found it1 and strove1 as  she still     
strives1 to teach the only doctrine of  
compensation that the  tyranny of facts 
cannot cheaply overthrow4 ,the medival  
peasant may  have been less badly off1  
on the whole1 than we are generally     
pleased  to suppose4 ,he was1 from all  
accounts1 a robust1 unreasoning         
creature1  who held his neck at the     

mercy of his feudal lord1 and the rest  
of his  scanty possessions at the       
discretion of the tax-gatherer2 but who 
had  not yet bared his back to the      
intolerable sting of that modern gadfly1
  the professional agitator1 and        
socialistic champion of the poor4 ,yet  
even without this last and sorest       
infliction1 it is probable that life    
was to him but little worth the living1 
and that religion could not  well paint 
the world much blacker than he found it4
 ,there was scant  need1 in his case1   
for disparaging the pleasures of the    
flesh2 and  hope1 lingering alone in his
 ,pandora box of troubles1 saved him    
from  utter annihilation by pointing    
steadily beyond the doors of death4     
,as a matter of fact1 the abstract      
question of whether our present         
existence be enjoyable or otherwise is  
one which creeds do not  materially     
modify4 ,a pessimist may be deeply      
religious like ,pascal and              
,chteaubriand1 or utterly skeptical like

 ,schopenhauer and ,hartmann1  or purely
 philosophical like faint-hearted       
,amiel4 ,he may agree with  ,lamennais1 
that 8man is the most suffering of all  
creatures20 or with  ,voltaire1 that    
8happiness is a dream1 and pain alone is
 real40 ,he  may listen to ,saint       
,theresa1 8,it is given to us either to 
die or to  suffer20 or to ,leopardi1    
8,life is fit only to be despised40 ,he 
may read  in the diary of that devout   
recluse1 ,eugnie de ,gurin that         
8dejection  is the ground-work of human 
life20 or he may turn over the pages of 
,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 and see how a    
typical man of the world1 soldier1      
courtier1 and navigator1 can find no    
words ardent enough in which to  praise 
8the workmanship of death1 that finishes
 the sorrowful business  of a wretched  
life40 ,i do not mean to imply that     
,leopardi and ,eugnie  de ,gurin        
regarded existence from the same point  
of view1 or found the  same solace for  
their pain2 but that they both struck   

the keynote of  pessimistic philosophy  
by recognizing that1 in this world at   
least1  sorrow outbalances joy1 and that
 it is given to all men to eat their    
bread in tears4 ,on the other hand1 if  
we are disinclined to take this  view1  
we shall find no lack of guides1 both   
saints and sinners1 ready  to look the  
,sphinx smilingly in the face1 and      
puzzle out a different  answer to her   
riddle4    ,another curious notion is   
that poets have a prescriptive right to 
pessimism1 and should feel themselves   
more or less obliged1 in virtue  of     
their craft1 to take upon their         
shoulders the weight of suffering       
humanity4 ,mr4 ,james ,sully1 for       
instance1 whose word1 as a student of   
these matters1 cannot be disregarded1   
thinks it natural and almost  inevitable
 that a true poet should be of a        
melancholy cast1 by reason  of the      
sensitiveness of his moral nature and   
his exalted sympathy for  pain4 ,but it 
has yet to be proved that poets are a   

more compassionate  race than their     
obscurer brethren who sit in            
counting-houses or brew  beer4 ,they are
 readier1 indeed1 to moralize over the  
knife-grinder1  but quite as slow to tip
 him the coveted sixpence4 ,shelley1    
whose soul  swelled at the wrongs of all
 mankind1 did not hesitate to inflict   
pain on the one human being whom it was 
his obvious duty to protect4  ,but then 
,shelley1 like ,carlyle1 belonged to the
 category of reformers  rather than to  
the pessimists2 believing that though   
the world as he  saw it was as bad as   
possible1 things could be easily mended 
by simply  turning them topsy-turvy     
under his direction4 ,now the pessimist 
proper  is the most modest of men4 ,he  
does not flatter himself for a moment   
that he can alter the existing state of 
evil1 or that the human race1  by its   
combined efforts1 can do anything better
 than simply cease to  live4 ,he may    
entertain with ,novalis a shadowy hope  
that when mankind1  wearied of its own  

impotence1 shall efface itself from the 
bosom of the  earth1 a better and       
happier species shall fill the vacant   
land4 ,or he  may believe with ,hartmann
 that there is even less felicity       
possible in  the coming centuries than  
in the present day2 that humanity is    
already  on the wane2 that the higher we
 stand in the physical and intellectual 
scale the more inevitable becomes our   
suffering2 and that when men  shall have
 thrown aside the last illusion of their
 youth1 namely1 the  hope of any        
obtainable good either in this world or 
in another1 they  will then no longer   
consent to bear the burden of life1 but1
 by the  supreme force of their united  
volition1 will overcome the resistance  
of nature1 and achieve the destruction  
of the universe4 ,but under no          
circumstances does he presume to imagine
 that he1 a mere unit of pain1  can in  
any degree change or soften the         
remorseless words of fate4    ,to return
 to the poets1 however1 it is edifying  

to hear ,mr4 ,leslie  ,stephen assert   
that 8nothing is less poetical than     
optimism10 or to  listen to ,mr4 ,john  
,addington ,symonds1 who1 scanning the  
thoughtful soul  for a solution of man's
 place in the order of creation1 can    
find for  him no more joyous task than1 
,prometheus-like1        8,to dree      
life's doom on ,caucasus40    ,even when
 a poem appears to the uninitiated to be
 of a cheerful1 not to  say blithesome  
cast1 the critics are busy reading      
unutterable sadness  between the lines2 
and while we smile at ,puck1 and the    
fairies1 and  the sweet ,titania nursing
 her uncouth love1 we must remember that
 the  learned ,dr4 ,ulrici has          
pronounced the ,midsummer ,night's      
,dream to be  a serious homily1 preached
 with grave heart to an unthinking      
world4  ,but is ,robin ,goodfellow      
really a missionary in disguise1 and are
 the  poets as pessimistic in their     
teaching as their interpreters would    
have us understand8 ,heine undoubtedly  

was1 and ,byron pretended to be4        
,keats1 with all the pathos of his      
shadowed young life1 was nothing of  the
 sort1 nor was ,milton1 nor ,goethe1 nor
 ,wordsworth2 while ,scott1  lost1      
apparently1 to the decent requirements  
of his art1 confessed  unblushingly that
 fortune could not long play a dirge    
upon his buoyant  spirits4 ,and         
,shakespeare8 ,why1 he was all and      
everything4 ,day and  night1 sunlight   
and starlight1 were embraced in his     
affluent nature4 ,he  laid his hand on  
the quivering pulses of the world1 and1 
recognizing  that life was often in     
itself both pleasant and good1 he yet   
knew1 and  knew it without pain1 that   
death was better still4 ,look only at   
the  character of ,horatio1 the very    
type of the blithe1 sturdy1 and somewhat
  commonplace young student1 to whom    
enjoyment seems a birthright1--         
8,a man that fortune's buffets and      
rewards      ,hast ta'en with equal     
thanks40    ,yet it is to this man1 of  

all others1 that the dying ,hamlet      
utters the  pathetic plea1--        8,if
 thou didst ever hold me in thy heart1  
,absent thee from felicity awhile1      
,and in this harsh world draw thy breath
 in pain      ,to tell my story40       
,here at last is a ray of real light1   
guiding us miles away from the  murky   
paths of modern ,french and ,english    
poetry1 where we have stumbled  along1  
growing despondent in the gloom4 ,to    
brave life cheerfully1 to  welcome death
 gladly1 are possible things1 after all1
 and better worth  man's courage and    
convictions than to dree on ,caucasus   
forever4    ,it is ludicrous to turn    
from the poets to the politicians1 but  
nowadays  every question1 even the old  
unanswered one1 8,is life worth living80
  must needs be viewed from its         
political standpoint4 ,what can be more 
delightful than to hear ,mr4 ,courthope 
assert that optimism is the  note of the
 ,liberal party1 while the              
,conservatives are necessarily          

pessimistic8--especially when one       
remembers the genial utterance  of ,mr4 
,walter ,bagehot1 contending that the   
very essence of ,toryism  is enjoyment4 
8,the way to be satisfied with existing 
things is to  enjoy them40 ,yet ,sir    
,francis ,doyle bears witness in his    
memoirs that  the stoutest of ,tories   
can find plenty to grumble at1 which is 
not  altogether surprising in a sadly   
ill-regulated world2 and while the      
optimistic ,liberal fondly believes that
 he is marching straight along  the     
chosen road to the gilded towers of ,el 
,dorado1 the less sanguine              
,conservative contents himself with     
trying1 after his dull1 practical       
fashion1 to step clear of some of the   
ruts and quagmires by the way4 ,as  for 
the extreme ,radicals1--and every nation
 has its full share of these            
gentry1--their optimism is too          
glittering for sober eyes to bear4 ,a   
classical tradition says that each time 
,sisyphos rolls his mighty stone  up the

 steep mountain side he believes that it
 will reach the summit2  and1 its       
ever-repeated falls failing to teach him
 any surer lesson1 his  doom1 like that 
of our reforming brothers1 is softened  
into eternal  hope4 ,but it may at least
 be questioned whether the other        
inhabitants  of ,tartarus--none of whom1
 it will be remembered1 are without     
their  private grievances--do not       
occasionally weary of the dust and      
racket1  and of the great ball forever  
thundering about their ears1 as it rolls
  impotently down to the level whence it
 came4    ,the pessimist1 however1--be  
it recorded to his credit1--is seldom an
  agitating individual4 ,his creed      
breeds indifference to others1 and he   
does not trouble himself to thrust his  
views upon the unconvinced4 ,we  have1  
indeed1 an anecdote of ,dr4 ,johnson1   
who broadly asserted upon  one occasion 
that no one could well be happy in this 
world1 whereupon  an unreasonable old   
lady had the bad taste to contradict    

him1 and to  insist that she1 for one1  
was happy1 and knew it4 8,madam10       
replied  the irate philosopher1 8it is  
impossible4 ,you are old1 you are ugly1 
you are sickly and poor4 ,how1 then1 can
 you be happy80 ,but this1 we  think1   
was rather a natural burst of           
indignation on the good doctor's  part  
than a distinct attempt at              
proselytizing1 though it is likely  that
 he somewhat damped the boasted felicity
 of his antagonist4  ,schopenhauer1 the 
great apostle of pessimism1 while       
willing enough to  make converts on a   
grand scale1 was scornfully unconcerned 
about the  every-day opinions of his    
every-day--,i was going to say          
associates1 but  the fact is that       
,schopenhauer was never guilty of really
 associating  with anybody4 ,he had at  
all times the courage of his            
convictions1 and  delighted in          
illustrating his least attractive       
theories4 ,teaching  asceticism1 he     
avoided women2 despising human          

companionship1 he  isolated himself from
 men4 ,a luminous selfishness guided him
 through  life1 and saved him from an   
incredible number of discomforts4 ,it   
was  his rule to expect nothing1 to     
desire as little as possible1 and to    
learn all he could4 ,want1 he held to be
 the scourge of the poor1 as  ennui is  
that of the rich2 accordingly1 he       
avoided the one by looking  sharply     
after his money1 and the other by       
working with unremitting  industry4     
,pleasure1 he insisted1 was but a purely
 negative quality1  a mere absence from 
pain4 ,he smiled at the sweet1 hot      
delusions of  youth1 and shrugged his   
shoulders over the limitless follies of 
manhood1 regarding both from the        
standpoint of a wholly disinterested    
observer4 ,if the test of happiness in  
the ,arabian paradise be to hear  the   
measured beating of one's own heart1    
,schopenhauer was certainly  qualified  
for admission4 ,even in this world he   
was so far from being  miserable1 that  

an atmosphere of snug comfort surrounds 
the man whose  very name has become a   
synonym for melancholy2 and to turn from
  his cold and witty epigrams to the    
smothered despair that burdens          
,leopardi's pages is like stepping at   
once from a pallid1 sunless  afternoon  
into the heart of midnight4 ,it is      
always a pleasant task for  optimists to
 dwell as much as possible on the       
buoyancy with which every  healthy man  
regards his unknown future1 and on the  
natural pleasure he  takes in recalling 
the brightness of the past2 but         
,leopardi1 playing  the trump card of   
pessimism1 demonstrates with merciless  
precision the  insufficiency of such    
relief4 ,we cannot in reason expect1 he 
argues1  that1 with youth behind us and 
old age in front1 our future will be    
any improvement on our past1 for with   
increasing years come increasing        
sorrows to all men2 and as for the      
boasted happiness of that past1  which  
of us would live it over again for the  

sake of the joys it  contained8 ,memory 
cheats us no less than hope by hazing   
over those  things that we would fain   
forget2 but who that has plodded on to  
middle  age would take back upon his    
shoulders ten of the vanished years1    
with  their mingled pleasures and pains8
 ,who would return to the youth he is   
forever pretending to regret8    ,such  
thoughts are not cheerful companions2   
but if they stand the test  of          
application1 it is useless to call them 
morbid4 ,the pessimist does  not contend
 that there is no happiness in life1 but
 that1 for the  generality of mankind1  
it is outbalanced by trouble2 and this  
flinty  assurance is all he has to offer
 in place of the fascinating theory  of 
compensation4 ,it would seem as though  
no sane man could hesitate  between     
them1 if he had the choice1 for one     
pleasant delusion is worth  a hundred   
disagreeable facts2 but in this serious 
and truth-hunting age  people have      
forgotten the value of fiction1 and1    

like sulky children1  refuse to play at 
anything4 ,certainly it would be hard to
 find a more  dispiriting literature    
than we enjoy at present4 ,scientists1  
indeed1  are reported by those who have 
the strength of mind to follow them  as 
being exceedingly merry and complacent2 
but the less ponderous  illuminati1 to  
whom feebler souls turn instinctively   
for guidance1 are  shining just now with
 a severe and chastened light4 ,when on 
pleasure  bent they are as frugal as    
,mrs4 ,gilpin1 but they sup sorrow with 
a long  spoon1 utterly regardless of    
their own or their readers' digestions4 
,germany still rings with ,heine's      
discordant laughter1 and ,france1 rich  
in the poets of decadence1 offers us    
,les ,fleurs du ,mal to wear upon  our  
bosoms4 ,england listens1 sighing1 while
 ,carlyle's denunciations  linger like  
muttering thunder in the air2 or while  
,mr4 ,ruskin1 8the  most inspired of the
 modern prophets10 vindicates his       
oracular spirit  by crying1             

8,woe6 woe6 ,o earth6 ,apollo1 ,o       
,apollo60    with the monotonous        
persistency of ,cassandra4 ,mr4         
,mallock1 proud  to kneel at ,mr4       
,ruskin's feet as 8an intellectual      
debtor to a  public teacher10 binds us  
in his turn within the fine meshes of   
his exhaustless subtleties1 until we    
grow light-headed rather than           
light-hearted under such depressing     
manipulation4 ,mr4 ,pater1 who at  one  
time gave us to understand that he would
 teach us how to enjoy  life1 has1 so   
far1 revealed nothing but its           
everlasting sadness4 ,if  the old       
,cyrenaics were no gayer than their     
modern representatives1  ,aristippus of 
,cyrene might just as well have been    
,diogenes sulking in  his tub1 or       
,heraclitus adding useless tears to the 
trickling moisture  of his cave4        
,even our fiction has grown             
disconcertingly sad within the last few 
years1 and with a new order of sadness1 
invented apparently to keep  pace with  

the melancholy march of mind4 ,the      
novelist of the past had  but two       
courses open to him3 either to leave    
,edwin and ,angelina clasped  in each   
other's arms1 or to provide for one of  
them a picturesque and  daisy-strewn    
grave4 ,ordinarily he chose the former  
alternative1 as  being less harassing to
 himself1 and more gratifying to his    
readers4  ,books that end badly have    
seldom been really popular1 though      
sometimes  a tragic conclusion is       
essential to the artistic development of
 the  story4 ,when ,tom and ,maggie     
,tulliver go down1 hand in hand1 amid   
the  rushing waters of the ,floss1 we   
feel1 even through our tears1--and  mine
 are fresh each time ,i read the        
page1--that the one possible  solution  
of the problem1 has been reached2 that  
only thus could the  widely contrasting 
natures of brother and sister meet in   
unison1 and  the hard-fought battle be  
gained4 ,such an end is not sad1 it is  
happy  and beautiful2 and1 moreover1 it 

is in a measure inevitable1 the  climax 
being shadowed from the beginning1 as in
 the tragedy of the  ,greeks1 and the   
whole tale moving swiftly and surely to 
its appointed  close4 ,if we compare a  
finely chiseled piece of work like this 
with  the flat1 faintly colored sketches
 which are at present passing muster    
for novels1 we feel that beauty of form 
is something not compounded of  earthly 
materials only1 and that neither the    
savage strength of ,french  and ,russian
 realism1 nor the dreary monotony of    
,german speculative  fiction1 can lift  
us any nearer the tranquil realms of    
art4    ,nor can we even claim that we  
have gained in cheerfulness what we have
  lost in symmetry1 for the latest      
device of the pessimistic story-writer  
is to marry his pair of lovers1 and then
 coldly inform us that1 owing  to the   
inevitable evils of life1 they were not 
particularly happy  after all4 ,now     
,lady ,martin 7,helen ,faucit71 that    
loving student and  impersonator of     

,shakespeare's heroines1 has expressed  
her melancholy  conviction that the     
gentle ,hero was but ill-mated with one 
so fretful  and paltry-souled as        
,claudio2 and that ,imogen the fair was 
doomed to an  early death1 the bitter   
fruit of her sad pilgrimage to          
,milford-,haven4  ,but be this as it    
may1--and we more than fear that ,lady  
,martin is  rightly acquainted with the 
matter1--,shakespeare himself has       
whispered  us no word of such           
ill-tidings1 but has left us free1 an'  
it please  us1 to dream out happier     
things4 ,so1 too1 ,dorothea ,brooke1    
wedded to  ,will ,ladislaw1 has before  
her many long and weary hours of        
regretful  self-communings2 yet1 while  
we sigh over her doubtful future1 we    
are glad1 nevertheless1 to take our last
 look at her smiling in her  husband's  
arms4 ,but when ,basil ,ransom1 in ,the 
,bostonians1 makes a  brave fight for   
his young bride1 and carries her off in 
triumph1 we  are not for a moment       

permitted to feel elated at his victory4
 ,we want  to rejoice with ,verena1 and 
to congratulate her on her escape from  
,mr4  ,filer and the tawdry music-hall  
celebrity2 but we are forced to take    
leave of her in tears1 and to hear with 
unwilling ears that 8these were  not the
 last she was destined to shed40 ,this  
hurts our best feelings1  and hurts them
 all the more because we have allowed   
our sympathies to  be excited4 ,it      
reminds us of that ill-natured habit of 
the ,romans1  who were ungrateful enough
 to spoil a conqueror's triumph by      
hiring  somebody to stand in his        
chariot1 and keep whispering in his ear 
that  he was only human1 after all2 and 
it speaks volumes for the stern         
self-restraint of the ,roman nature that
 the officious truth-teller  was not    
promptly kicked out in the dust4 ,in the
 same grudging spirit1  ,mr4 ,thomas    
,hardy1 after conducting one of his     
heroines safely through  a great many   
trials1 and marrying her at last to the 

husband of  her choice1 winds up1 by way
 of wedding-bells1 with the following   
consolatory reflections3 8,her          
experience had been of a kind to teach  
her1 rightly or wrongly1 that the       
doubtful honor of a brief transit       
through a sorry world hardly called for 
effusiveness1 even when the  path was   
suddenly irradiated at some half-way    
point by day-dreams rich  as hers4444   
,and in being forced to class herself   
among the fortunate1  she did not cease 
to wonder at the persistence of the     
unforeseen1 when  the one to whom such  
unbroken tranquillity had been accorded 
in the  adult stage was she whose youth 
had seemed to teach that happiness was  
but the occasional episode in a general 
drama of pain40 8,what should  a man do 
but be merry80 says ,hamlet drearily2   
and1 with this reckless  mirth pervading
 even our novels1 we bid fair in time to
 become as  jocund as he4               
,,footnotes3    #ac ,the ,sons of       
,cydippe1 by ,edmund ,gosse4            

,,the ,,cavalier4      8,an evil        
reputation is light to raise1 but heavy 
to bear1 and very  difficult to put     
aside4 ,no ,rumor which many people     
chatter of  altogether dieth away2 she  
too is1 after her kind1 an immortal40   
,so  moralizes ,hesiod over an          
exceedingly thankless truth1 which1 even
 in  the primitive simplicity of the    
golden age1 had forced itself upon      
man's unwilling convictions2 and while  
many later philosophers have  given     
caustic expression to the same thought1 
few have clothed it  with more delicate 
and agreeable irony4 ,rumor is1 after   
her kind1  an immortal4 ,antus-like1 she
 gains new strength each time she is    
driven to the ground1 and it is a       
wholesome humiliation for our very      
enlightened minds to see how little she 
has suffered from centuries  of analysis
 and research4 ,rumor still writes our  
histories1 directs  our diplomacy1 and  
controls our ethics1 until we have grown
 to think  that this is probably what is

 meant by the vox populi1 and that any  
absurdity credited by a great many      
people becomes in some mysterious  way  
sacred to the cause of humanity1 and    
infinitely more precious  than truth4   
,when ,wodrow1 and ,walker1 and the     
author of ,the ,cloud of  ,witnesses1   
were compiling their interesting        
narratives1 ,rumor1 in  the person of   
8ilka auld wife in the chimley-neuck10  
gave them all  the information they     
desired2 and this information1          
countersigned by  ,macaulay1 has passed 
muster for history down to the present  
day4 ,as  a result1 the introduction of 
,graham of ,claverhouse into ,mr4       
,lang's  list of ,english ,worthies has 
been received with severely qualified   
approbation1 and ,mr4 ,mowbray ,morris  
has written the biography of a  great   
soldier in the cautious tone of a lawyer
 pleading for a criminal  at the bar4   
,if ever the words of ,hesiod stood in  
need of an accurate illustration1  it   
has been furnished by the memory of     

,claverhouse2 for his evil  reputation  
was not only raised with astonishing    
facility1 but it has  never been put    
aside at all4 ,in fact1 it seems to have
 been a matter  of pride in the         
grim-visaged ,scottish saints to believe
 that their  departed brethren were1 one
 and all1 the immediate victims of his  
wrath2 and to hint that they might      
perhaps have fallen by any meaner  hand 
was1 as ,aytoun wittily expressed it1   
8an insult to martyrology40  ,the terror
 inspired by his inflexible severity    
gave zest to their  lurid denunciations1
 and their liveliest efforts of         
imagination were  devoted to conjuring  
up in his behalf some fresh device of   
evil4 ,in  that shameless pasquinade1   
the ,elegy1 there is no species of      
wickedness  that is not freely charged1 
in most vile language1 to the account of
  every ,jacobite in the land1 from the 
royal house of ,stuart down to its      
humblest supporter2 yet even amid such  
goodly company1 ,claverhouse  stands    

preminent1 and is the recipient of its  
choicest flowers of  speech4        8,he
 to ,rome's cause most firmly stood1    
,and drunken was with the saints' blood4
      ,he rifled houses1 and did plunder
      ,in moor and dale many a hunder2  
,he all the shires in south and west    
,with blood and rapine sore opprest40   
,it is needless to say that             
,claverhouse1 though he served a        
,catholic  master1 had about as much    
affinity for the ,church of ,rome as the
  great ,gustavus himself1 and that the 
extent of his shortcomings in  this     
direction lay in his protesting against 
the insults offered by a  ,selkirk      
preacher to ,king ,james through the    
easy medium of his religion4    ,now it 
is only natural that the ,covenanters1  
who feared and hated  ,dundee1 should   
have found infinite comfort in believing
 that he was  under the direct          
protection of ,satan4 ,in those days of 
lively faith1  the charge was by no     
means an uncommon one1 and the dark     

distinction  was shared by any number of
 his compatriots4 ,on the death of ,sir 
,robert ,grierson of ,lag1 the devil1   
who had waited long for his prey1       
manifested his sense of satisfaction by 
providing an elaborate funeral  cortge1 
which came over the sea at midnight1    
with nodding plumes and  sable horses1  
to carry off in ostentatious splendor   
the soul of this  much-honored guest4   
,prince ,rupert was believed by the     
,roundheads to  owe his immunity from   
danger to the same diabolic agency which
 made  ,claverhouse proof against leaden
 bullets2 and his white dog1 ,boy1  was 
regarded with as much awe as was        
,dundee's famous black charger1  the    
gift of the evil one himself4 ,as a     
fact1 ,boy was not altogether  unworthy 
of his reputation1 for he could fight   
almost as well as his  master1 though   
unluckily without sharing in his        
advantages2 for the  poor brute was shot
 at ,marston ,moor1 in the very act of  
pulling down  a rebel4 ,even the clergy1

 it would seem1 were not wholly averse  
to  ,satan's valuable patronage2 for    
,wodrow--to whose claims as an historian
  ,mr4 ,morris is strangely             
lenient--tells us gravely how the       
unfortunate  ,archbishop of ,st4        
,andrew's cowered trembling in the      
,privy ,council1 when  ,janet ,douglas1 
then on trial for witchcraft1 made bold 
to remind him of  the 8meikle black     
devil0 who was closeted with him the    
last ,saturday at  midnight4    ,but    
even our delighted appreciation of these
 very interesting and  characteristic   
legends cannot altogether blind us to   
the dubious  quality of history based   
upon such testimony1 and it is a little 
startling to see that1 as years rolled  
by1 the impression they created         
remained practically undimmed4 ,colonel 
,fergusson1 in the preface to  his      
delightful volume on ,the ,laird of     
,lag1 confesses that in his youth  it   
was still a favorite ,halloween game to 
dress up some enterprising  member of   

the household as a hideous beast with a 
preternaturally long  nose1--made1 in   
fact1 of a saucepan handle2 and that    
this creature1  who went prowling       
stealthily around the dim halls and     
firelit kitchen1  frightening the       
children into shrieks of terror1 was    
supposed to  represent the stout old    
cavalier searching for his ancient foes 
the  ,covenanters4 ,lag's memory appears
 to have been given up by universal     
consent to every species of opprobrium1 
and his misdeeds have so far  found no  
apologist1 unless1 indeed1 ,macaulay may
 count as one1 when  he gracefully      
transfers part of them to ,claverhouse's
 shoulders4 ,mr4  ,morris coldly        
mentions ,sir ,robert ,grierson as      
8coarse1 cruel1 and  brutal beyond even 
the license of those days20 ,colonel    
,fergusson is  far too clever to weaken 
the dramatic force of his book by       
hinting  that his hero was not a great  
deal worse than other men2 and ,scott1  
in  that inimitable romance1 ,wandering 

,willie's ,tale1 has thrown a perfect   
glamour of wickedness around the old    
laird's name4 ,but in truth1 when  we   
come to search for sober proven facts2  
when we discard--reluctantly1  indeed1  
but under compulsion--the spiked barrel 
in which he was  pleased to roll the    
,covenanters1 in ,carthaginian fashion1 
down the  ,scottish hills2 and the iron 
hook in his cellar1 from which it was   
his  playful fancy to depend them2 and  
the wine which turned to clotted  blood 
ere it touched his lips2 and the active 
copartnership of ,satan in  his private 
affairs1--when we lay aside these       
picturesque traditions1  there is little
 left save a charge1 not altogether     
uncommon1 of  indecorum in his cups1 the
 ever-vexed question of the ,wigtown    
martyrs1  and a few rebels who were     
shot1 like ,john ,bell1 after scant     
trial1 but  who1 ,heaven knows1 would   
have gained cold comfort by having their
 cases  laid before the council4 ,on the
 other hand1 it might be worth while to 

mention that ,lag was brave1 honest1 not
 rapacious1 and1 above all1 true  to his
 colors when the tide had turned1 and he
 was left alone in his  old age to      
suffer imprisonment and disgrace4       
,but if the memory of a minor actor in  
these dark scenes has come down  to us  
so artistically embellished1 what may we
 not expect of one who  played a leading
 part through the whole stormy drama8   
8,the chief of  this ,tophet on earth10 
is the temperate phrase applied to      
,claverhouse  by ,macaulay1 and it      
sufficiently illustrates the position   
popularly  assigned him by his foes4    
,rumor asserted in his behalf her       
triumphant  immortality1 and            
crystallized into tradition every       
floating charge  urged by the           
,covenanters against his fame4 ,so      
potent and far-reaching  was her voice  
that it became in time a virtuous       
necessity to echo it2  and we actually  
find ,southey writing to ,scott in      
#ahjg1 and regretting  that ,wordsworth 

should have thought fit to introduce the
 ,viscount of  ,dundee into the sonnet  
on ,killiecrankie1 without any apparent 
censure  of his conduct4 ,scott1 who    
took a somewhat easier view of poetical 
obligations1 and who probably thought   
that ,killiecrankie was hardly  the     
fitting spot on which to recall         
,dundee's shortcomings1 wrote back  very
 plainly that he thought there had been 
censure enough already2  and nine years 
later he startled the good people of    
,edinburgh1 on his  own account1 by the 
publication of that eminently heterodox 
novel1 ,old  ,mortality4 ,lockwood tells
 us that the theme was suggested to ,sir
 ,walter  by his friend ,mr4 ,joseph    
,train1 who1 when visiting at           
,abbotsford1 was  much struck by the    
solitary picture in the poet's library1 
a portrait  of ,graham of ,claverhouse4 
8,he expressed the surprise with which  
every one who had known ,dundee  only in
 the pages of the ,presbyterian         
annalists must see for the  first time  

that beautiful and melancholy visage1   
worthy of the most  pathetic dreams of  
romance4 ,scott replied that no         
character had been  so foully traduced  
as the ,viscount of ,dundee2 that1      
thanks to ,wodrow1  ,cruikshanks1 and   
such chroniclers1 he who was every inch 
a soldier  and a gentleman still passed 
among the ,scottish vulgar for a ruffian
  desperado1 who rode a goblin horse1   
was proof against shot1 and in  league  
with the devil4    8#8,might he not1'   
said ,train1 #8be made1 in good hands1  
the hero of a  national romance1 as     
interesting as any about either ,wallace
 or ,prince  ,charlie8'    8#8,he       
might1' said ,scott1 #8but your western 
zealots would require to be  faithfully 
portrayed in order to bring him out with
 the right effect4'0    ,train then     
described to ,sir ,walter the singular  
character of ,old  ,mortality1 and the  
result was that incomparable tale which 
took the  ,english reading world by     
storm1 and provoked in ,scotland a      

curious  fever of excitement1           
indignation1 and applause4 ,the most    
vigorous  protest against its laxity    
came from ,thomas ,mac,crie1 one of the 
numerous biographers of ,john ,knox1    
8who considered the representation  of  
the ,covenanters in the story of ,old   
,mortality as so unfair as  to demand1  
at his hands1 a very serious rebuke40   
,this rebuke was  administered at some  
length in a series of papers published  
in  the ,edinburgh ,christian           
,instructor4 ,scott1 the 8,black ,hussar
 of  ,literature10 replied with much    
zest and spirit in the ,quarterly       
,review2  cudgels were taken up on both 
sides1 and the war went briskly on1     
until  ,jeffrey the ,great in some      
measure silenced the controversy by     
giving  it as his ultimatum that the    
treatment of an historical character in 
a work of pure fiction was a matter of  
very trifling significance4 ,it  is not 
without interest that we see the same   
querulous virtue that  winced under ,sir

 ,walter's frank enthusiasm for         
,claverhouse uttering  its protest      
to-day against the more chilly and      
scrupulous vindications  of ,mr4        
,morris's biography4 8,an apology for   
the crimes of a hired  butcher10 one    
critic angrily calls the sober little   
volume1 forgetting  in his heat that the
 term 8hired butcher10 though most      
scathing in  sound1 is equally          
applicable to any soldier1 from the     
highest to the  lowest1 who is paid by  
his government to kill his fellow-men4  
,war is  a rough trade1 and if we choose
 to call names1 it is as easy any time  
to say 8butcher0 as 8hero40 ,stronger   
words have not been lacking to  vilify  
,dundee1 and many of these choice       
anathemas belong1 one fears1  to        
,luther's catalogue of 8downright1      
infamous1 scandalous lies40  ,their     
freshness1 however1 is as amazing as    
their ubiquity1 and they  confront us   
every now and then in the most forlorn  
nooks and crannies  of literature4 ,not 

very long ago ,i was shut up for half an
 hour in a  boarding-house parlor1 in   
company with a solitary little book     
entitled  ,scheyichbi and the ,strand1  
or ,early ,days along the ,delaware4    
,its name  proved to be the only really 
attractive thing about it1 and ,i was   
speculating drearily as to whether      
,charles ,lamb himself could have       
extracted any amusement from its pages1 
when suddenly my eye lighted  on a      
sentence that read like an old familiar 
friend3 8,the cruelty1  the brutality1  
the mad1 exterminating barbarity of     
,claverhouse1 and  ,lauderdale1 and     
,jeffreys1 the minions of episcopacy and
 the king40  ,there it stood1 venerably 
correct in sentiment1 with a strangely  
new location and surroundings4 ,it is   
hard enough1 surely1 to see             
,claverhouse pilloried side by side with
 the brute ,jeffreys2 but to meet  him  
on the banks of the ,delaware is like   
encountering ,ezzlin ,romano on  ,fifth 
,avenue1 or ,julian the ,apostate upon  

,boston ,common4    ,much of this       
universal harmony of abuse may be fairly
 charged to  ,macaulay1 for it is he who
 in a few strongly written passages has 
presented to the general reader that    
remarkable compendium of  wickedness    
commonly known as ,dundee4 8,rapacious  
and profane1 of violent  temper and     
obdurate heart10 is the great           
historian's description  of a man who   
sought but modest wealth1 who never     
swore1 and whose  imperturbable         
gentleness of manner was more appalling 
in its way than  the fiercest transports
 of rage4 ,under ,macaulay's hands      
,claverhouse  exhibits a degree of      
ubiquity and mutability that might well 
require  some supernatural basis to     
sustain it4 ,he supports as many        
characters  as ,saladin in the          
,talisman2 appearing now as his brother 
,david ,graham1  in order to witness the
 trial of the ,wigtown martyrs1 and now 
as his  distant kinsman1 ,patrick       
,graham1 when it becomes expedient to   

figure  as a dramatic feature of        
,argyle's execution4 ,he changes at will
 into  ,sir ,robert ,grierson1 and is   
thus made responsible for that highly   
curious game which ,wodrow and ,howie   
impute to ,lag's troopers1 and which    
,macaulay describes with as much gravity
 as if it were the sacking  and pillage 
of some doomed ,roman town4 ,it is hard 
to understand the  precise degree of    
pleasure embodied in calling one's self 
,apollyon and  one's neighbor           
,beelzebub2 it is harder still to be    
properly impressed  with the tremendous 
significance of the deed4 ,i have known 
a bevy of  school-girls1 who1 after an  
exhaustive course of ,paradise ,lost1   
were  so deeply imbued with the sombre  
glories of the satanic court that  they 
assumed the names of its inhabitants2   
and1 for the remainder of  that term1   
even the mysterious little notes that   
form so important an  element of        
boarding-school life began--heedless of 
grammar--with 8,chre  ,moloch10 and     

ended effusively with 8,your            
ever-devoted ,belial40 ,it is  quite    
possible that these children thought and
 hoped they were doing  something       
desperately wicked1 only they lacked a  
historian to chronicle  their guilt4 ,it
 is equally certain that ,lag's drunken 
troopers1 if  they ever did divert      
themselves in the unbecoming manner     
ascribed  to them1 might have been more 
profitably1 and1 it would seem1 more    
agreeably1 employed4 ,but1 of one thing1
 at least1 we may feel tolerably        
confident4 ,the pastime would have found
 scant favor in the eyes of             
,claverhouse1 who was a man of little   
imagination1 of stern discipline1  and  
of fastidiously decorous habits4 ,why1  
even ,wandering ,willie does  him this  
much justice1 when he describes him as  
alone amid the lost  souls1 isolated in 
his contemptuous pride from their feasts
 and  dreadful merriment3 8,and there   
sat ,claverhouse1 as beautiful as when  
he lived1 with his long1 dark1 curled   

locks streaming down over his  laced    
buff-coat1 and his left hand always on  
his right spule-blade1 to  hide the     
wound that the silver bullet had made4  
,he sat apart from them  all1 and looked
 at them with a melancholy1 haughty     
countenance40 ,if  history be1 as       
,napoleon asserts1 nothing but fiction  
agreed upon1 let  us go straight to the 
fountain-head1 and enjoy our draught of 
romance  unspoiled by any dubious taint 
of veracity4    ,mr4 ,walter ,bagehot1  
that most keen and tolerant of critics1 
has pointed  out to us with his         
customary acumen that ,macaulay never   
appreciated in  the highest degree      
either of the two great parties--the    
,puritans and  the ,cavaliers--who      
through so many stirring events embodied
 all the  life and color of ,english    
history4 ,in regard to the former1 it   
may be  safely said that whatever       
slights they have received at the hands 
of  other historians have been amply    
atoned for by ,carlyle4 ,he has thrown  

the whole weight of his powerful        
personality into their scale1 and has   
fairly frightened us into that          
earnestness of mind which is requisite  
for a due appreciation of their merits4 
,his fine scorn for the pleasant  vices 
which ensnare humanity extended itself  
occasionally to things  which are       
pleasant without being vicious2 and     
under his leadership  we hardly venture 
to hint at a certain sneaking preference
 for the  gayer side of life4 ,when     
,hazlitt1 with a shameless audacity rare
 among  ,englishmen1 disencumbers       
himself lightly of his conscience1 and  
apostrophizes the reign of ,charles     
,,ii4 as that 8happy1 thoughtless age1  
when king and nobles led purely         
ornamental lives10 we feel our flesh    
chilled at such a candid avowal of      
volatility4 ,surely ,hazlitt must  have 
understood that it is precisely the     
fatal picturesqueness of that  period to
 which we1 as moralists1 so strenuously 
object4 ,the courts of  the first two   

,hanoverians were but little better or  
purer1 but they  were at least uglier1  
and we can afford to look with some     
leniency upon  their short-comings4 ,his
 sacred majesty ,george ,,ii4 was       
hardly1 save in  the charitable eyes of 
,bishop ,porteus1 a shining example of  
rectitude2  but let us rejoice that it  
never lay in the power of any human     
being to  hint that he was in the       
smallest degree ornamental4    ,the     
,puritan1 then1 has been wafted into    
universal esteem by the breath  of his  
great eulogist2 but the ,cavalier still 
waits for his historian4  ,poets and    
painters and romancers have indeed loved
 to linger over  this warm1 impetuous   
life1 so rich in vigor and beauty1 so   
full to  the brim of a hardy adventurous
 joy4 ,here1 they seem to say1 far more 
than in ancient ,greece1 may be realized
 the throbbing intensity of  an         
unreflecting happiness4 ,for the ,greek 
drank deeply of the cup of  knowledge1  
and its bitterness turned his laughter  

into tears2 the  ,cavalier looked       
straight into the sunlight with clear1  
joyous eyes1  and troubled himself not  
at all with the disheartening problems  
of  humanity4 ,how could a mind like    
,macaulay's1 logical1 disciplined1  and 
gravely intolerant1 sympathize for a    
moment with this utterly  irresponsible 
buoyancy6 ,how was he1 of all men1 to   
understand this  careless zest for the  
old feast of life1 this unreasoning     
loyalty to  an indifferent sovereign1   
this passionate devotion to a church and
  easy disregard of her precepts1 this  
magnificent wanton courage1 this  gay   
prodigality of enjoyment6 ,it was his   
loss1 no less than ours1  that1 in      
turning over the pages of the past1 he  
should miss half of  their beauty and   
their pathos2 for ,history1 that        
calumniated muse1  whose sworn votaries 
do her little honor1 has illuminated    
every inch  of her parchment with a     
strong1 generous hand1 and does not mean
 that  we should contemptuously ignore  

the smallest fragment of her work4 ,the 
superb charge of ,rupert's cavalry2 that
 impetuous rush to battle1  before which
 no mortal ranks might stand unbroken2  
the little group  of heart-sick         
,cavaliers who turned at sunset from the
 lost field of  ,marston ,moor1 and     
beheld their queen's white standard     
floating over the  enemy's ranks2 the   
scaffolds of ,montrose and ,king        
,charles2 the more  glorious death of   
,claverhouse1 pressing the blood-stained
 grass1 and  listening for the last time
 to the far-off cries of victory2       
,sidney  ,godolphin flinging away his   
life1 with all its abundant promise and 
whispered hopes of fame2 beautiful      
,francis ,villiers lying stabbed to  the
 heart in ,surbiton lane1 with his fair 
boyish face turned to the  reddening    
sky1--these and many other pictures     
,history has painted  for us on her     
scroll1 bidding us forget for a moment  
our formidable  theories and strenuous  
partisanship1 and suffer our hearts to  

be simply  and wholesomely stirred by   
the brave lives and braver deaths of our
  mistaken brother men4    8,every      
matter10 observes ,epictetus1 8has two  
handles by which it  may be grasped20   
and the ,cavalier is no exception to the
 rule4 ,we  may1 if we choose1 regard   
him from a purely moral point of view1  
as a lamentably dissolute and profligate
 courtier2 or from a purely  picturesque
 point of view1 as a gallant and loyal  
soldier2 or we may1  if we are wise1    
take him as he stands1 making room for  
him cheerfully  as a fellow-creature1   
and not vexing our souls too deeply over
 his  brilliant divergence from our     
present standard4 ,it is like a breath  
of  fresh air blown from a roughening   
sea to feel1 even at this distance  of  
time1 that strong young life beating    
joyously and eagerly against  the       
barriers of the past2 to see those      
curled and scented aristocrats  who1    
like the 8dandies of the ,crimea10 could
 fight as well as dance1  facing        

pleasure and death1 the ball-room and   
the battle-field1 with the  same smiling
 front1 the same unflagging enthusiasm4 
,no wonder that ,mr4  ,bagehot1         
analyzing with friendly sympathy the    
strength and weakness  of the ,cavalier1
 should find himself somewhat out of    
temper with an  historian's             
insensibility to virtues so primitive   
and recognizable in a  not too merry    
world4    8,the greatness of this       
character is not in ,macaulay's way1 and
 its  faults are4 ,its license affronts 
him1 its riot alienates him4 ,he is     
forever contrasting the dissoluteness of
 ,prince ,rupert's horse with  the      
restraint of ,cromwell's pikemen4 ,a    
deep1 enjoying nature finds in  him no  
sympathy4 ,he has no tears for that warm
 life1 no tenderness  for that extinct  
mirth4 ,the ignorance of the ,cavaliers1
 too1 moves  his wrath3 #8,they were    
ignorant of what every schoolgirl       
knows4' ,their  loyalty to their        
sovereign is the devotion of the        

,egyptians to the god  ,apis3 #8,they   
selected a calf to adore4' ,their       
non-resistance offends the  philosopher2
 their license is commented on in the   
tone of a precisian4  ,their indecorum  
does not suit the dignity of the        
narrator4 ,their rich1  free nature is  
unappreciated2 the tingling intensity of
 their joy is  unnoticed4 ,in a word1   
there is something of the schoolboy     
about the  ,cavalier2 there is somewhat 
of a schoolmaster about the             
historian40#ad    ,that the gay         
gentlemen who glittered in the courts of
 the ,stuarts  were enviably ignorant of
 much that1 for some inscrutable reason1
  we feel ourselves obliged to know     
to-day may be safely granted1 and       
scored at once to the account of their  
good fortune4 ,it is probable  that they
 had only the vaguest notions about     
,sesostris1 and could  not have defined 
an hypothesis of homophones with any    
reasonable  degree of accuracy4 ,but    
they were possessed1 nevertheless1 of a 

certain information of their own1 not   
garnered from books1 and not  always    
attainable to their critics4 ,they knew 
life in its varying  phases1 from the   
delicious trifling of a polished and    
witty society  to the stern realities of
 the camp and battle-field4 ,they knew  
the  world1 women1 and song1 three      
things as pleasant and as profitable  in
 their way as ,hebrew1 ,euclid1 and     
political economy4 ,they knew how  to   
live gracefully1 to fight stoutly1 and  
to die honorably2 and how  to extract   
from the gray routine of existence a    
wonderfully distinct  flavor of novelty 
and enjoyment4 ,there were among them1  
as among the  ,puritans1 true lovers1   
faithful husbands1 and tender fathers2  
and  the indiscriminate charge of       
dissoluteness on the one side1 like the 
indiscriminate charge of hypocrisy on   
the other1 is a cheap expression  of our
 individual intolerance4    ,the history
 of the ,cavalier closes with           
,killiecrankie4 ,the waning  prestige of

 a once powerful influence concentrated 
itself in  ,claverhouse1 the latest and 
strongest figure on its canvas1 the     
accepted type of its most brilliant and 
defiant qualities4 ,readers of          
old-fashioned novels may remember a     
lachrymose story1 in two closely        
printed volumes1 which enjoyed an       
amazing popularity some twenty years    
ago1 and which was called ,the ,last of 
the ,cavaliers4 ,it had for its  hero a 
perfectly impossible combination of     
virtues1 a cross between  the ,chevalier
 ,bayard and the ,admirable ,crichton1  
labeled ,dundee1  and warranted proof   
against all the faults and foibles of   
humanity4  ,this automaton1 who moved in
 a rarefied atmosphere through the whole
  dreary tale1 performing noble deeds   
and uttering virtuous sentiments  with  
monotonous persistency1 embodied1 we may
 presume1 the author's  conception of a 
character not generally credited with   
such superfluous  excellence4 ,it was a 
fine specimen of imaginative treatment1 

and not  wholly unlike some very popular
 historic methods by which similar      
results are reached to-day4 ,quite      
recently1 a despairing ,english  critic1
 with an ungratified taste for          
realities1 complained somewhat  savagely
 that 8a more intolerable embodiment of 
unrelieved excellence  and monotonous   
success than the hero of the pious      
,gladstonian's  worship was never       
moulded out of plaster of ,paris40 ,he  
was willing  enough to yield his full   
share of admiration1 but he wanted to   
see  the real1 human1 interesting       
,gladstone back of all this conventional
  and disheartening mock-heroism2 and1  
in the same spirit1 we would  like      
sometimes to see the real ,claverhouse  
back of all the dramatic  accessories in
 which he has been so liberally         
disguised4    ,but where1 save perhaps  
in the ever-delightful pages of ,old    
,mortality1  shall we derive any        
moderate gratification from our search8 
,friends  are apt to be as ill advised  

as foes1 and ,dundee's eulogists1 from  
,napier to ,aytoun1 have been           
distinguished rather for the excellence 
of their intentions than for any great  
felicity of execution4 ,the             
8lion-hearted warrior10 for whom ,aytoun
 flings wide the gates of  ,athol1 might
 be ,cur-de-,lion himself1 or ,marshal  
,ney1 or ,stonewall  ,jackson1 or any   
other brave fighter4 ,there is no       
distinctive flavor of  the ,graeme in   
the somewhat long-winded hero1 with his 
8falcon eye10  and his 8war-horse black 
as night10 and his trite commonplaces   
about  foreign gold and ,highland honor4
 ,on the other hand1 the verdict of the 
disaffected may be summed up in the     
extraordinary lines with which          
,macaulay closes his account of         
,killiecrankie1 and of ,dundee's brief1 
glorious struggle for his king3 8,during
 the last three months of his  life he  
had proved himself a great warrior and  
politician1 and his name  is therefore  
mentioned with respect by that large    

class of persons  who think that there  
is no excess of wickedness for which    
courage  and ability do not atone40 ,no 
excess of wickedness6 ,one wonders what 
more could be said if we were discussing
 ,tiberius or ,caligula1 or if  colder  
words were ever used to chill a         
soldier's fame4 ,mr4 ,mowbray  ,morris1 
the latest historian in the field1 seems
 divided between a  natural desire to   
sift the evidence for all this          
wickedness and a  polite disinclination 
to say anything rude during the process1
 8a  common impertinence of the day10 in
 which he declares he has no wish  to   
join4 ,this is exceedingly pleasant and 
courteous1 though hardly of  primary    
importance2 for a biographer's sole duty
 is1 after all1 to the  subject of his  
biography1 and not to ,macaulay1 who can
 hold his own  easily enough without any
 assistance whatever4 ,when ,sir ,james 
,stephens  published1 some years ago1   
his very earnest and accurate           
vindication  of ,sir ,elijah ,impey from

 the charges so lavishly brought against
 him  in that matchless essay on ,warren
 ,hastings1 he expressed at the same    
time his serene conviction that the     
great world would go on reading  the    
essay and believing the charges just the
 same1--a new rendering  of 8,magna est 
veritas et prvalebit10 which brings it  
very near to  ,hesiod's primitive       
experience4    ,as for ,mr4 ,morris's   
book1 it is a carefully dispassionate   
study of  a wild and stormy time1 with a
 gray shadow of ,claverhouse flitting   
faintly through it4 ,in his wholesome   
dislike for the easy confidence  with   
which historians assume to know         
everything1 its author has touched  the 
opposite extreme1 and manifests such    
conscientious indecision as  to the     
correctness of every document he quotes1
 that our heads fairly  swim with       
accumulated uncertainties4 ,this method 
of narration has one  distinct          
advantage1--it cannot lead us far into  
error2 but neither can  it carry us     

forward impetuously with the mighty rush
 of great events1  and make us feel in  
our hearts the real and vital qualities 
of history4  ,mr4 ,morris proves very   
clearly and succinctly that ,claverhouse
 has  been1 to use his temperate        
expression1 8harshly judged10 and that  
much  of the cruelty assigned to him may
 be easily and cheaply refuted4 ,he     
does full justice to the scrupulous     
decorum of his hero's private life1  and
 to the wonderful skill with which1     
after ,james's flight1 he roused  and   
held together the turbulent ,highland   
clans1 impressing even these  rugged    
spirits with the charm and force of his 
vigorous personality4  ,in the field    
,claverhouse lived like the meanest of  
his men2 sharing  their poor food and   
hard lodgings1 marching by their side   
through the  bitter winter weather1 and 
astonishing these hardy mountaineers by 
a power of physical endurance fully     
equal to their own4 ,the memory  of his 
brilliant courage1 of his gracious tact1

 even of his rare  personal beauty1     
dwelt with them for generations1 and    
found passionate  expression in that cry
 wrung from the sore heart of the old   
chieftain  at ,culloden1 8,oh1 for one  
hour of ,dundee60    ,but in the earlier
 portions of ,mr4 ,morris's narrative1  
in the scenes  at ,drumclog and         
,bothwell ,bridge1 at ,ayrshire and     
,clydesdale1 we  confess that we look in
 vain for the ,claverhouse of our fancy4
 ,can it  be that this energetic1       
modest1 and rather estimable young      
soldier1  distinguished1 apparently1 for
 nothing save prompt and accurate       
obedience to his orders1 is the man who1
 in a few short years1 made  himself so 
feared and hated that it became         
necessary to credit him with  the direct
 patronage of ,satan8 ,one is tempted to
 quote ,mr4 ,swinburne's  pregnant lines
 concerning another enigmatic character 
of ,scottish  history3--        8,some  
faults the gods will give to fetter     
,man's highest intent1      ,but surely 

you were something better      ,than    
innocent40    ,of the real ,dundee we   
catch only flying glimpses here and     
there1--on  his wedding night1 for      
instance1 when he is off and away after 
the now daring rebels1 leaving his bride
 of an hour to weep his  absence1 and   
listen with what patience she might to  
her mother's  assiduous reproaches4 8,i 
shall be revenged some time or other of 
the  unseasonable trouble these dogs    
give me10 grumbles the young husband    
with pardonable irritation4 8,they might
 have let ,tuesday pass40 ,it is  the   
real ,dundee1 likewise1 who1 in the gray
 of early morning1 rides  briskly out of
 ,edinburgh in scant time to save his   
neck1 scrambles  up the castle rock for 
a last farewell to ,gordon1 and is off  
to the  north to raise the standard of  
,king ,james1 8wherever the spirit of   
,montrose shall direct me40 ,in vain    
,hamilton and the convention send  word 
imperatively1 8,dilly1 dilly1 dilly1    
come and be killed40 ,the wily  bird    

declines the invitation1 and has been   
censured with some asperity  for his    
unpatriotic reluctance to comply4 ,for  
one short week of rest  he lingers at   
,dudhope1 where his wife is awaiting her
 confinement1 and  then flies further   
northward to ,glen ,ogilvy1 whither a   
regiment is  quickly sent to apprehend  
him4 ,there is a reward of twenty       
thousand  pounds sterling on his head1  
but he who thinks to win it must move1  
like ,hdr1 with his feet shod in        
silence4 ,by the time ,livingstone  and 
his dragoons reach ,glamis1 ,dundee is  
far in the ,highlands1 and  henceforth  
all the fast-darkening hopes of the     
loyalists are centred  in him alone4    
,for him remain thirteen months of      
incredible hardships  and anxiety1 a    
single stolen visit to his wife and     
infant son1  heart-sick appeals to      
,james for some recognition of the      
desperate  efforts made in his behalf1 a
 brilliant irregular campaign1 a last   
decisive victory1 and a soldier's death4

 8,it is the less matter for  me1 seeing
 the day goes well for my master10 he   
answers simply1 when  told of his mortal
 hurt2 and in this unfaltering loyalty  
we read the  life-long lesson of the    
,cavalier4 ,if1 as a recent poet tells  
us1 the  memory of ,nero be not wholly  
vile1 because one human being was found 
to  weep for him1 surely the memory of  
,james ,stuart may be forgiven much     
because of this faithful service4 ,it is
 hard to understand it now4        8,in 
,god's name1 then1 what plague befell   
us1      ,to fight for such a thing80   
is our modern way of looking at the     
problem2 but the mental processes  of   
the ,cavalier were less inquisitorial   
and analytic4 8,i am no  politician1 and
 ,i do not care about nice              
distinctions10 says ,major  ,bellenden  
bluntly1 when requested to consider the 
insurgents' side of  the case4 8,my     
sword is the king's1 and when he        
commands1 ,i draw it in  his service40  
,as for that other and better known     

,claverhouse1 the determined foe of  the
 ,covenant1 the unrelenting and         
merciless punisher of a disobedient     
peasantry1 he1 too1 is best taken as he 
stands2 shorn1 indeed1 of  ,wodrow's    
extravagant embellishments1 but equally 
free from the delicate  gloss of a too  
liberal absolution4 ,he was a soldier   
acting under the  stringent orders of an
 angry government1 and he carried out   
the harsh  measures entrusted to him    
with a stern and impartial severity4    
,those  were turbulent times1 and the   
wild western ,whigs had given decisive  
proof on more than one occasion that    
they were ill disposed to figure  as    
mere passive martyrs to their cause4    
8,for treason1 d' ye see1      ,was to  
them a dish of tea1      ,and murder1   
bread and butter40    ,they were stout  
fighters1 too1 taking as kindly to their
 carnal  as to their spiritual weapons1 
and a warfare against them was as       
ingloriously dangerous as the melancholy
 skirmishes of our own army  with the   

,indians1 who1 it would seem1 were      
driven to the war-path by  a somewhat   
similar mode of treatment4 ,there is not
 the slightest  evidence1 however1 that 
,claverhouse was averse either to the   
danger or  the cruelty of the work he   
was given to do4 ,religious toleration  
was  then an unknown quantity4 ,the     
,church of ,england and her             
,presbyterian  neighbor persecuted each 
other with friendly assiduity1 while    
,rome was  more than willing1 should an 
opportunity offer1 to lay a chastening  
hand on both4 ,if there were any        
new-fangled notions in the air about    
private judgment and the rights of      
conscience1 ,claverhouse was the  last  
man in ,england to have been a pioneer  
in such a movement4 ,he was             
passionately attached to his church1    
unreservedly loyal to his king1  and as 
indifferent as ,hamlet to his own life  
and the lives of other  people4 ,it is  
strange to hear ,mr4 ,morris excuse him 
for his share in  the death of the lad  

,hyslop1 by urging in his behalf a      
,pilate-like  disinclination to quarrel 
with a powerful ally1 and risk a censure
 from  court4 ,never was there a man who
 brooked opposition as impatiently1     
when he felt that his interests or his  
principles were at stake2 but  it is to 
be feared that the shooting of a        
,covenanter more or less was  hardly1 in
 his eyes1 a matter of vital importance4
 ,this attitude of  unconcern is amply  
illustrated in the letter written by    
,claverhouse to  ,queensberry after the 
execution of ,john ,brown1 8the         
,christian carrier10  for the sole crime
 of absenting himself from the public   
worship of  the ,episcopalians1 says    
,macaulay2 for outlawry and resetting of
  rebels1 hint less impassioned         
historians4 ,be this as it may1 however1
  ,john ,brown was shot in the          
,ploughlands2 and his nephew1 seeing the
  soldiers' muskets leveled next at him1
 consented1 on the promise of  being    
recommended for mercy1 to make 8an      

ingenuous confession10 and  give        
evidence against his uncle's associates4
 ,accordingly1 we find  ,claverhouse    
detailing these facts to ,queensberry1  
and adding in the  most purely neutral  
spirit1--    8,i have acquitted myself  
when ,i have told your ,grace the case4 
,he the  nephew has been but a month or 
two with his halbert2 and if your       
,grace thinks he deserves no mercy1     
justice will pass on him2 for ,i1       
having no commission of justiciary      
myself1 have delivered him up to the    
lieutenant-general1 to be disposed of as
 he pleases40    ,here1 at least1 is a  
sufficiently candid exposition of       
,claverhouse's  habitual temper4 ,he    
was1 in no sense of the word1           
bloodthirsty4 ,the  test oath was not of
 his contriving2 the penalty for its    
refusal was  not of his appointing4 ,he 
was willing enough to give his prisoner 
the  promised chance for life2 but as   
for any real solicitude in the matter1  
you might as well expect ,hamlet to be  

solicitous because1 by an awkward       
misapprehension1 a foolish and innocent 
old man has been stabbed like a  rat    
behind the arras4    ,when ,plutarch was
 asked why he did not oftener select    
virtuous  characters to write about1 he 
intimated that he found the sinners more
  interesting2 and while his judgment is
 to be deprecated1 it can hardly  be    
belied4 ,we revere ,marcus ,aurelius1   
but we delight in ,csar2 we  admire ,sir
 ,robert ,peel1 but we enjoy ,richelieu2
 we praise ,wellington1  but we never   
weary of ,napoleon4 8,our being10 says  
,montaigne1 8is  cemented with sickly   
qualities2 and whoever should divest man
 of the  seeds of those qualities would 
destroy the fundamental conditions of   
human life40 ,it is idle to look to     
,claverhouse for precisely the  virtues 
which we most esteem in ,john ,howard2  
but we need not1 on that  account1 turn 
our eyes reproachfully from one of the  
most striking  and characteristic       
figures in ,english history4 ,he was not

 merely a  picturesque feature of his   
cause1 like ,rupert of the ,rhine1 nor a
  martyr to its fallen hopes1 like the  
,marquis of ,montrose2 he was its       
single chance1 and1 with his death1 it  
died4 ,in versatility and daring1  in   
diplomatic shrewdness and military      
acumen1 he far outranked any  soldier of
 his day4 8,the charm of an engaging    
personality10 says a  recent critic1    
8belongs to ,montrose1 and the pity of  
his death deepens  the romance of his   
life2 but the strong man was ,dundee40  
,,footnotes3    #ad ,literary ,studies1 
vol4 ii4                                
,transcriber's ,notes    ,page #ab3     
8,marquis de ,montmirail0 changed to    
8,marquise de ,montmirail0  8to the     
acount0 changed to 8to the account0     
,page #dd3 8,la virtu n'iroit0 changed  
to 8,la vertu n'iroit0    ,page #fj3    
8,jacque ,roulet0 changed to 8,jacques  
,roulet0