The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-01 00:00:00

JULY 1, 1854. to the exclusive study of classics. This is ma nifestly wrong ; but qufere, did the fault lie with the university or the student? 5. The influence of scientific discovery on in tellectual education is Dr. Whewell's subject, a proposition more fully stated as follows : - - The proposition is this—that every great advance in intellectual education has been the effect of some consi• derable scientific discovery, or group of discoveries. Every improvement of the mental discipline of those who stand in the forefront of humanity has followed some signal victory of their leaders—every addition to the means of intellectual culture has been the result of some extraordinary harvest, some more than ordinary bounty of the intellectual soil, bestowed on the preceding years. The first great onward movement of which history makes mention is that headed by Socrates and Plato, and opposed by the sophists of their time. These latter were not necessarily the unprincipled or shallow de claimers which we are wont to represent them. Their morality was the average morality of most ages and countries ; they professed to cultivate the intellect ; they were masters of the art by which a subject is illustrated and an audience persuaded. But their teaching lacked substance. In logic they were del cient They could fence with words, but not demonstrate; and the necessity as well as the possibility of a stricter mode of reasoning was the real reform introduced by the new philo sophic school. Where were these learnt? Dr. Whewell answers, "In the study of " geometry." And on this study accord►ngly they delighted to dwell, magnifying its impor tance, and even pronouncing it indispensable to the acquirement of real knowledge. It was here that they had had placed before them examples of real and certain truth—they had been admitted to contemplate clear and indisputable truths—truths which they could de- monstrate to be true—truths which they could trace to principles of intuitive evidence—truths which it did not appear to be speaking too highly of, if they called them necessary and eternal. We know for certain that the age of Plato was one of great geometrical discoveries in Greece ; and in the teaching of Plato we witness their result. He who entered seriously upon this, then new, science could not fail to per ceive that there was a certain and solid truth ; a knowledge which was not mere opinion ; science which was more than seeming: that man has powers by which such truth, such knowledge, such science, may be acquired ; that therefore it. ought to be sought, not in geometry alone, but in other subjects also ; that since man can know, cer• tainly and clearly, about straight and curved in the world of space, he ought to know—he ought not to be content without knowing—no less clearly and certainly, about right and wrong in the world of human action Since the mind can thus reason to certain truths, it must have in it the principles of truth, and whence did it derive them? Since it can know what it has not learned from the senses, it must have some other source of knowledge; and how much is implied in this ! Since it can conceive and bring forth eternal truths, how can it be the child of a day, a transient creature, born one moment and perishing the next? The principle endures to the present time ; for in England, as in every country where a high standard of education prevails, no one is held to be thoroughly taught whose mental discipline does not include at least some elementary knowledge of mathemati cal truth. Turn now from Greece to Rome. The Ro mans, a fighting, working, always busy race, did nothing for abstract science. But there was one science which for its practical usefulness was cultivated and held in honour among them—that of jurisprudence. Here they were really originators Or rather, it was they who made the subject a science— who gave it the precision of a science, the generality of a science, the method of a science. And how effectually they did this we may judge from the fact that the jurispru• dence of Rome is still the basis, the model, the guide, the core of the jurisprudence of every civilised country—of our own, less than most, but still, in no small degree, of our own. The imitators and pupils of the Greeks in every other department of human speculation, in jurisprudence the Romans felt themselves their masters. Cicero says proudly, but not too proudly, that a single page of a Roman jurist contained more solid and exact matter than a whole library of Greek philosophers. And the law, before enunciated, holds good here also. The discoveries of a few Feat minds impressed themselves on the national teaching : The law of Rome was the main part of the education of the Roman youth. Cicero reminds his brother Quintins that they bad learnt the old laws and the formula , of legal proceedings by heart, as a sort of domestic catechism or THE PRESS. nursery rhyme. Every Roman of eminence spent the early part of his morning in giving legal opinions to his clients—not like our justices of the peace when appealed to as a magistrate but as an adviser and protector; and every young member of the aristocracy had to fit himself for this office. Every young Roman of condition was a Roman jurist. And the study of the law, thus made a leading branch of a liberal education, continued so through the middle ages—continues so still. Throughout Europe the principles of the civil, or Roman, law are still appealed to ; they occupy our universities ; they influence, though they have ceased to control, the deci sion of our courts. These two branches of knowledge do, in fact, comprise nearly all that can be done in the way of mental discipline : A young man well imbued with these, the leading el, mute of Athenian and Roman culture, would, we need not fear to say, be superior in intellectual discipline to three•fourths of the young men of our own day on whom all the ordinary appliances of what is called a good educa- tion have been bestowed. Geometer and jurist, the pupil formed by this culture of the Old World might make no bad figure among the men of letters or of science, the lawyers and the politicians, of our own times. Dr. Whewell next proceeds to discuss the in fluence of modern sciences—the inductive process, the examination of natural phe nomena, and the practice of logic on educa tion. He ends with a caution against the misuse, or undue appropriation, of scientific terms—a topic of great importance, admitting of fuller treatment 1. The Palatial Works of the late Catherine Grace Godwin. Edited, with a Sketch of her Life, by A. Cleveland Wigan. Lon don: Chapman and Hall. 2. Lyra Australis; or, Attempts to Sing in a Strange Land. By Caroline W. Leakey. London : Bickers and Bush. 3. The Sweet South ; or, a Month at Algiers. By Eleanor Darby. London : Hope and Co. 4. The Titans of To-day, and other Poems. By the Author of " Sesostris." London : Hope and Co. 5. Poems. By Philip Chaloner. London : Saunders and Otley. 6. A Poem and a Pamphlet. London : Chap- man and Hall. 7. Poems. By Melanter. London : Saunders and Otley. WE must throw together in one notice a number of poetical books on our table, though they have little other connection than that they are all in rhyme. They range from what we take to be a two-guinea quarto to a sixpenny pamphlet, and, if they show nothing else, afford evidence of the abundant facilities given to authors to place their works before the public, and so far relieve us from all fear of any Mil ton remaining mute and inglorious in our day. 1. Here we have a handsome quarto volume richly bound in scarlet and gold, and profusely illustrated. The name of Catherine Grace Godwin must be familiar to most readers of light literature, her first work having been published in 1824 ; and, from that period till her death in 1845, she was a constant contri butor to annuals and magazines, and occasion ally issued a volume of her own. She enjoyed the friendship of Wordsworth, who paid her a higher compliment than indiscriminate praise would have conveyed. On receiving "The Wanderer's Legacy, and other Poems," he read them attentively and criticised them closely. On the whole his judgment was highly favour able. " Destiny " and "The Monk of Carnal doli" in his opinion "evince extraordinary powers." His criticism, conveyed in a long letter, is now published for the first time, and adds value to a volume which, apart from the decorations lavished upon it by artist, printer, and binder, is intrinsically interesting, and must gratefully remind surviving friends of the amiable and accomplished authoress. 2. A volume of nearly 300 pages, containing a number of short poems, which pleasingly re mind us of the gentle and pious muse of Mrs. Hemans, though without her sweep of wing. The authoress in a short preface, evincing mo desty and good taste, expresses a " timid hope " that they may prove a faint ' footprint in the " sands of time.'" Whether that be so or 617 not, she has produced much sweet verse, gene rally pervaded by a tone of subdued melan choly. The following lines prettily indicate that hope which female writers of refined sen timent are usually happy in expressing : As reapers cut the yellow sheaves, As fall the sere and autumn leaves, — The ground their bed of death; As snows beneath a winter sun, As fades the light when day is done, As melts the vapour's breath ; So would I die, so pass away: I could not, would not live alway ! But in my breast a restless thing, As fluttering bird that beats her wing, Strikes hard to burst away. It would not be content to die, It longs a►d strives to soar on high, To bright and fadeless day ! To where the sky gains brighter hue Than that which stays the eath•bound view ! For flight, uncaged and free, it longs, To sing on high its native songs— More clear and animate. Its heaven•plumed wing it could not stoop, As meaner things of earth, which droop And are annihilate ; Rut, circling wide, would farther sweep, Beyond yon Married ether deep ! 3. This "metrical outpouring" of Mrs. Darby's "impressions" was only written because what she saw at Algiers was " far too poetical to be " described in prose." If other reasons are wanting, the fair authoress refers us to the fea thered tribes and the running brooks. "Ask " the birds why they sing, and the fountains " why they flow Is it not because they can " not help it?" Very true ; but the birds don't make puns when they sing ; parrots might, but they do not sing sweetly ; and a poet should not aspire to be compared to a parrot. It is not witty to call Algiers "All-Jeers," and if it were it is not original. One Jonathan Swift had done so a hundred years ago, when his great intellect was decaying, and he amused himself by buffoonery with the simple, unwise, clever schoolmaster Sheridan. Some of the lyrics at the close of the volume have, we see, been set to music. Sound in such compo sitions is considered, we presume, of more importance than meaning. Schamyl, the Cir cassian hero, is made to inquire after his " gallant young bird," his " brave boy," and further, "Where my fair stag•eycd Circassian bride ?" a difficult question to answer, for we believe Schamyl, like another hero who long waged successful war against Russia—Charles XII. of Sweden—never was married, and has a de cided antipathy to women. 4. In " The Titans" there is evidence of vigorous capacity, but we prefer the " other poems." There is force in the following sketch of John of !lamella flitting like a phantom giaour through the forest gloom to vindictive death:— Who is he that rides madly Through forest and flotal ? Too brave to be base, And too proud to be good ; With bent brow, all bared To the tempest's wild din, And white lip set firm As the spirit within. Ride, John of Ravella, From fear thou art free, Since the wife thou didst cherish Was faithless to thee ; What reck'st thou of tempests? Thy heart is a flame, Since the brand of dishonour Was set on thy name. 5. The introduction to this volume furnishes a notable example of the strength of the poetic passion. The author left for the Australian gold fields in 1852, entrusting his precious MS with a friend, and promising to send over funds for its publication, should he prove fortunate. We suppose his adventure succeeded, and that a few handfuls of gold-dust, or a parcel of nug gets, has been expended in setting this volume before us. We can readily imagine the eager ness with which the author at the diggings will await a critical judgment on his labours, but we fear he is doomed to some disappoint ment as to the sensation they will excite. The principal poem is in the Byronic style, and penned with some point and passion. It is quite spirited enough to please friends, and shows the writer to be aclever fellow with cleat sense and ready wit. But there our commen dation ends. On the whole we like his prose