The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

underrated, and its education has been looked
upon as a sure preparation for the most
bigoted resistance to the claims of progress.
Self-educated—that is, uneducated—agitators
have shown that the study of the classics
hinders men from taking a part in dative life,
and that only the people who have not studied
are fit for practical purposes. We shall not
stop to confute this error: but certainly
during the last few years the atmosphere of
Oxford has entirely changed. There is much
more regard for the present, more modern
literature, more discussion of the politics of
the day. No frequentei of wine-parties talks
about Aristides, under pain of a tine. Sir
James Graham is more frequently mentioned
in debates than his prototype, Proteus. Even
the reading-men who are " cramming " for a
double first are glad to have the opportunity
of relaxing their minds during some portion
of the day. Oxford has not been eclipsed in
scholarship by Gower-street : she still turns
out men of no moderate attainments; and all
fathers will allow, on the other hand, that the
university gives her young meu ample time
and opportunity for amusement.
There have been many attempts at Oxford
during our recollection to make some decided
literary movement. The " Tracts for the
Times," originating among fellows of the
university, had caused such a sensation
throughout England that it was considered
incumbent upon modern Oxford to emulate its
ancestors. A work of that kind, however, was
considered too stupendous, and young men
generally confined themselves to the imitation
of another species of publication, which, though
far lighter, had yet met with much success—
the "Art of Pluck." The Oxonian booksellers
windows are surfeited with volumes of this
class, in verse or prose, from the "Rime of
the Ancient Bacoalere" to the " Adventures
of Mr. Verdant Green." Numerous endea-
vours have been made to start a monthly
magazine. These always failed, and, in gene-
ral, deservedly. But the present undertaking
is so very different, and promises so highly,
that we feel hardly justified in classing it with
the abortive attempts of undergraduates and
the miserable fun of the Verdant Greens.
The " Oxford Essays:" are the work of some
of the younger fellows in the university. The
writers do not belong to any set, and in the
preface they disclaim the intention of advo-
cating " any particular set of opinions, thee-
" logical, social, or political. Each writer is
" responsible for his own opinions, and for
" none but his own ; and no attempt has been
" made to give a general unity of thought to
" the publication. The tie that unites the
" different contributors is not that they think
" alike, but that they belong to the same
" university." We find no attempt here to
revive Tractarianism ; no bitter attacks on
dissenters and the Parliament that gave them
admission to the university ; no fierce Toryism,
and not so much Aristotle as we might have
expected. But we are glad to find some dis-
cussion of Oxford studies and general learning,
subjects which men whose forte lies in teach-
ing might be expected to handle with most
advantage. The massive thought of the work
is the more pleasant as contrasted with the
threadbare sentiments of most modern writ-
ings. Here we have men young, vigorous, of
schdarship, and of expanded views, instead of
writers who cram for their learning in the
British Museum, and whose views are so
narrow that they have no scruple at borrowing
those of every one else. We cannot speak too
highly of Mr. Seller's essay on " Lucretius
and the Poetic Characteristics of his Age."
To an earnest appreciation of the beauty of
this author as a poet and philosopher, Mr.
Seller adds such a thorough knowledge, not
only of the works of Lucretius, but of his life,
disposition, and character, as inferred from
his writings, and of the light thrown on the
times in which he lived by each simple tsx-
pression, that he enlists all our sympathies
with his subject. The following passage on
the harmony of the Latin poet strikes us as
possessing no ordinary power :
We find in his poem that the hexameter verse has made
great advances since the days of Ennius. This change
may be ascribed to the rapid progress of an energetic age,
rather than to the efforts of any one individual ;for we
find in Catullus the Latino exh
o f a ameter
different moulded
kind from
into great
perfection and beauty, ug