The Press. — London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

16 .~ .~. -.r r •. :. Tho " Notes on Modern Geography " and the " Transmutation of Matter," though full of interest, are of too purely scientific a cha racter for our columns. Th 9 next essay, on "The Relation of Novels to Life," is the most characteristic of those contained in the volume. The subject is, also, on the whole, one of the most popular. But, as it is mainly a criticism of the " esprits fins" by an "esprit geometrique," it contains, as might be expected, a few rather amusing re sults. Its professed object is to provide rules by which (as the writer somewhat affectedly expresses it) " the experience held solution " by . . . . novels may be precipitated, and to " ascertain the processes by means of which " the precipitate may be made fit for use," or, at least, " to point out the limits and direction " of the instructions which are wanted " to that end, Mr. Stephens has certainly taken up a most tempting problem; but, we fear, a most hopelessly difficult one. The idea of drawing up a set of rules by which the effect of " those historical and personal disturbing " forces " the operation of which mats the generality of the maxims, moral and social, of any given novel-writer, and distorts his repre sentations of human character, may be even approximately allowed for, when stated with the parade of scientific precision here as sumed, seems worthy of a place in the Academy of Lagado or the Palace of Queen Whims. It is very easy to conclude, in a rough, general way, that Mr. Thackeray is "bitter," and Mr. Dickens "sentimental," and so forth, and abate our belief in their repre- sentations of human nature accordingly ; but, even supposing that Mr. Stephen's notion could be carried out in the case of known writers, how should we deal with a new candi date for our faith, armed with new axioms, presenting new characters, and utterly un known except by his " first novel" ? This is a serious difficulty ; there would be nothing but the witness to try the case by, and nothing but the case to try the witness by ! It would be tolerably difficult, one would suppose, to draw up a table of " reductions " to be applied to different observers of human nature by all readers of fiction, on the principle of those in use amongst astronomers, for example. But suppose it done, and that we could sit safely down to " Tom Jones" with our " Fielding equations " by our side, containing the appro priate allowances fur suppressed gout, con stant insobriety, duns, debts, and lace ruffles, or take up " Sir Charles Grandison," with a " Richardson•table," all " gruel and respecta " bility," what would protect us against the latent blunders of " Ashford Owen "? To avoid this dilemma, it would have to be made impera tive on every new writer to furnish a careful biography, with testimonials from the clergy man and medical man of the parish, certifi cates from intimate friends, and, in very deli cate cases, thermometrical and barometrical observations during the hours of composition, a list of jours muigres, and the apothecary's " small account" for the quarter I Even all this would not be sufficient ; for Mr. Stephen's proposition itself rests on probability alone, and, when we conic to the details of its appli cation, we find some very striking instances of the operation of the " personal disturbing " force " and the effects of position and habit —e.g., in his views of the relation between love and marriage. We should thus need " correc tions " for " the corrections " which his theory would furnish before we could safely apply them. Really, it is impossible to avoid an allusion to the famous machine for cutting cabbages, one of the inventions of the academicians of Lagado, which took no less than fourteen horses to put it fairly in motion, and often failed in making a single cut after all. We cannot help thinking that the unfortunate young victims of the errors of novelists, in whose behalf this article has been composed, will have to depend, after all, on the ordinary effects of years and actual experience of life for their recovery ; and that, as to that very small section of blockheads who are narcotised into dreaming inactivity for life by the effects of inordinate early indulgence in fiction, it is a matter of infinitely small importance to the universe, or even our own planet, whether they ever recover from their stupor or no. Mr. B riraley's essay on " Tennyon's Poems " Wily - IF THE PRESS. is a neatly-written puff, and nothing more : through fifty-four closely-printed pages, wi upwards of forty lines in each page, there is hardly a single word of dispraise. " The Laureate can do no wrong," is the one princi ple of the writer's criticism : " sapiens uno " minor est Jove . . . rex denique regnm, " pra3cipue sanus," even "cum pituita molesta " est:" under the influence of which disorder, in rather an aggravated form, we imagine Mr. Tennyson's last poem to have been composed. The last paper, on "Education and Classi cal Stldies," is a pleasantly-written, chatty, and sensible defence of the good old system of classical and mathematical training against the inroads of new notions, or, as Mr Carlyle would say, a few good words for " old clo'." Mr. Clark would still make the study of Greek and Latin, of pure and mixed mathematics, compulsory on all members of a university, as a means of training the three great mental faculties, reason, memory, and imagination. The arguments which he employs are not new; but they are agreeable and forcibly placed be fore the reader, and will be perhaps more readily accepted in the present day, inasmuch as the author does candidly acknowledge the past deficiencies of Cambridge in satisfying the requirements of professional education. We have been obliged to omit from our list the two essays on " The British Navy " and on the " Limitations to Severity in War," both subjects of considerable interest just at pre sent., but both rather loosely treated. The latter paper is written iu a spirit of com mendable impartiality, and attempts to estab lish principles which, if carried out, would be eminently beneficial to humanity. History of Rome. By Henry G. Liddell, D.D., Dean of Christ Church, late Head Master of Westminster School. London : Murray. IN feasts of literature, as in less intellectual repasts, there is often danger, either of a sur feit as to digestion, or of appetite as to taste. " Too much" not only sickens the body but palls the palate; and hence the great masters of the culinary art cater for variety. Authors and artists adopt similar precautions against monotony. Unhappily for reviewers, the case is different. We are compelled to be critical upon new works. We cannot adjourn our examination of important books, even though too many of one kind appear together; and it is with some feelings of apprehension that we observe five volumes of history from two dis tinguished Deans of the Church side by side with those of the picturesque Macaulay. We feel reassured, however, on recollecting that the historical volumes of Mr. Macaulay, the Dean of St. Paul's ("History of Latin Christianity," vols. iv., v., and vi.), and the work now before us, are totally different as to tone, style, object, and execution. Mr. Macaulay wrote to the reading public at large. His audience in coffee-houses, as well as colleges, was always present to his mind. In Dean Milinan's important work the author chiefly regarded scholastic readers, divinity students, and a few philosophical inquirers unattached to the great Universities. Dean Liddell, on the other hand, desired to meet a pressing want of the time. All parties are agreed that a good history of Rome for schools is much required. An annotated and revised " Goldsmith " will not answer the purpose. Even in school-books there must necessarily be some reference to the revolutions that have taken place in what we shall call the science of Roman history. Dean Liddell long since proposed, as he tells us, to meet this want ; he then laid by his work, and afterwards took it up, and enlarged it into the present form We turned to his volumes with much interest. The Dean's popularity at Westminster School was well deserved, and it is a security that he will be efficient in his new post at Oxford, where his practical intellect and conciliating disposition will be eminently valuable. Yet our respect for the character of the estimable Dean must not be allowed to bias our critical opinion of the author. The qualities required in the head of a great English school, and in a popu lar historian, are not likely to be frequently united, mrsz- - ; SATURDAY, Dean Liddell's performance is too learned for a school-book, and scarcely finished enough for a complete history of Rome. The two volumes contain nearly a thousand pages ; and it is satisfactory that the work is ended, un- like the several fragmentary histories which have been offered to the public within the last few years. Its greatest merit is the vast quan tity of valuable matter compressed into it; ex• tensive information of the sources of Roman history, under its German interpreters, is dis played. Its greatest defects are, that the author evidently vacillated between a mere school-book and a history for a higher audi ence, and, last but not least, that the charms of style have scarcely in any place been applied to his theme. The arrangement of the matter is also in many respects unsatisfactory. The first chap. ter commences with a geographical description of Italy, in which present and past are mingled together, much in the style of one of Dr. Arnold's early lectures on Roman history. Then the author proceeds to narrate the first legends of Rome, and in his fifth chapter he discusses their authenticity. But, after re verting again to the stream of narrative, we find him applying his sixteenth chapter also to the sources of Roman history. Nor is this a solitary instance of want of due arrangement. In his third chapter (p 59) Dean Liddell writes, " This will be a convenient opportunity " to give some account of the city of Rome, " with its hills, walls, and gates," and enters upon the topic. Afterwards, in the sixth chapter of his second book (p. 91), the Dean again disserts upon the description of the city. This returning to a half-treated topic has a most crude appearance. In his discus sion of the social classes of Rome similar de fects may be observed. The style does not compensate for this want of method. Colloquial, and almost affectedly idiomatic, the author disregards the aid of effect. The Stirling drama of the Punic wars, than which in the whole of ancient or modern history no story is m're rich in grand vicissi tudes land lasting human interest, is not spiritedly told by Dean Liddell. His matter is generally well selected, but his manner is too dry. An historian may be too stinted in the use of colour ; its abuse by some recent writers is not to banish its aid in proper places. Yet we confess that we have found some thing most agreeable in the austere simplicity of Dean Liddell's English style. its homely flavour is wholesome to the literary taste after the seasoned dainties of Mr. Macaulay and the favourite• French historians of the time. There is a copious stock of good Saxon words throughout the text, and we never read a history of Rome with so few polysyllables. The quantity of matter in the work, as we said, is its leading merit. All the main facts of the Roman annals are narrated. The sentences are not spun out, reflections are sparse, episodes are avoided, and ingenious dissertations are not introduced to show the author's learning. It is not easy by extracts to show its character, but as it is an important publication we shall select some representative passages. We doubt whether Dean Liddell has distinct appreciation of the genesis of the historical myth. The subject did not escape the atten tion of ancient critics ; and even after all that Niebuhr and others have written, it contains a mine of unexplored thought. The grand Asiatic myths have not been sufficiently cons pared with those of classical antiquity, and the schools of Hegel and Strauss have added many fallacies to the true philosJphy of the Mythus. In trying to mark the distinction between the heroical and religious myth, Dean Liddell observes of the Greek legends:— The direct and easy way in which the imagination of such persons accounts for marvellous phenomena is to refer them to the operation of persons. When the atten tion is excited by the regular movements of sun and moon and stars, by the alternations of day and night, by the re• currence of the seasons, by the rising and falling of the seas, by the ceaseless flow of rivers, by the gathering of clouds, by the rolling of thunder and the flashing of light ning, by the operation of life in the vegetable and animal worlds—in short, by any exhibition of an active and motive power—it is natural for uninstructed minds to consider such changes and movements as the work of divine per sons. In this manner the early Greek legends associate themselves with personiflcation of the powers of Nature. All attempts to account for the marvels which surround us P RP MI