Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-08-05
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.


LscruREs ON THE TRUE, THE BEAUTHUL, AND THE Goo
BY VIcroR Cousin. Increased by an appendix Z
French Art Translated, with the appreciation of
Cousin, by 0. W. WIoHr. New York: d. Appleton
Co. 1854.
Victor Cousin is no more "the first philost
pher of France" as Sir VIM. Hamilton declares
than the first of her writer's. The master of styl
at once sprightly and vigorous, he has been able
popularize the dryest and most reconcile specula
tons of philosophy, and by the charm of fuen
and graceful diction to inspire warmth and beau
ty In the cold and comfortless distractions of meta
physics. His writings are conspicuous for certain
aeee of thought and clearness of expression which
illustrate the admirable union Of accurate thinking
and accurate writing; and, indeed it may be broad.
ly asserted that these two attributes are always
found in combination the one subtending the other
as If by necessity as universal and inevitable as
that which obtains in the relations Of mathemati-
cal figure The man who is teres dtgue rotundus
IN his style of thought will always be tersc and fin
ised in his style of expression for in the words of
Pascal, as you study the author you perceive the
man"
Mr.. WIGHT, we are glad to say, has greatly i'm
proved as translator since we last had occasion to
examine his efforts in this department of literary
Industry His version of The Course Of the History of
Modern Philosophy" published nearly ago.
so interarded with Gaicsms that it required one
moderately versed in French in order to comprehend the
fu thought of the author Dr. johnson used say that
translation was the bane of language and when
che aectatons and cumbrous interpretations which have
been traduced from the French !" overset from
the German the great confusion Of English diom,
constrained to think that the Doctor not al
together mistaken in his idea and BESIDES illus
n}ol
he always is the stills Of sesquipedalian and Latin
iEed dicton 1t is firm conviction that the language
Of Shakespeare and Of Milton Of Barrow and Of Addison
is quite adequate express all that is worth knowing in
either French German prose- In poetry, where it is
form that gives much Of the ualue the may be
otherwise but this exception will hold good only Of Ger
poetry Tt is the function Of the translator to
produce the thought Of his author without either increase
or dminuton-the whole thought, and nothing but the
thought, than which know of problem more nice
and difficult in its solution But believe that this end
can always be fully attained by rigid adherence
the part translator to the venacular of the tongue
into which his translation is made than by the importa
ton and accommodation of idoms and locations alien to
the language in which he writes
DR. Wight we infer has either altered his theory of
Translation has unconsciousy improved considerably
the practice of the art for in the volume before u.s.
he has rendered these beautiful lectures Of the French
philosopher into very readable and generally very diom
attic English.
These lectures, we need not say were first delivered
more than thirty years ago. and, though for time,
their author confesses possessing scarcely any influence
beyond the Quarter Latin of Paris they have in con-
aexon with other philosophical teachings filed the whole
world with the and fame Of their author From the
day when Abslard taking his place the and in
the gardens Of Se Geneveve expounded the phosophi
AL systems of his age before three thousand scholars
at the Oratory Of the Paraclete and later STILL ST.
GiIdas in Brittany delivered his farfamed projections
the truths Of Holy Writ analysed by the logic Of
Aristotle, teacher Of philosophy has enjoyed popu.
sarty equal to that Of vIoroR Cousin and when
member that these lectures on intellectual philosophy
we're accompanied by contemporaneous courses under
Gui1ot and Vemain may well doubt whether France
or any other country has ever exhibited era
narabe for Its literary activity and spirit of inquiry
aad contrasting this period with the comparative slug
gshness and subsection Of the French mind at the pre-
day, not warranted in asserting with Cousin
himself that in France democracy will always traverse
liberty by bringing all right into disorder and through
this disorder opening the way dictatorship in the Gov
srnment and passive servtude and Indifference in its
subjects!
In country have the doctrines of an abstract phi
tosophy exerted controlling influence on the destiny
az che people in France. Philosophy, which in other
nations has been cultivated species of gymnas
Gle for the exercise Of the logical faculty. has been taught
France the last word Of all true knowledge" The
passion for distractions for "pure ideas, they
called has become trait almost characteristic Of the
thinking in France gayey and evty of the
nation at large 1t would be difficult to exaggerate the
influence Of Des Carries the minds Of his counrymen
The Disssrato de Asthodo and the Nedtaones de Pri
P&sop created sensation in France few this
day form to themselves any adequate idea Cartssanism
was rapidly infused into the very heart Of the people,
Erng it did the very language and literature of the
nation penetrating the cloisters Of Port Royal trans
gusing itself into the Of Feneon and Bossuet
and tncturng sometimes the racy letters Of the charming
De Sevgne and the fables Of the inimabe La Fontsne
Sir James Stephen in his admirable Lectures the
History of France traces with great learning and ab-
ty the influence of Des Carries in forming the habit Of the
French mind Especially does he dwell at great length
and with great force those provisional doubts from
which Des Carries essays start in the pursuit Of all
true knowledge This disposition regard nothing as
known until has been verified by consciousness
Rcrenee lies at the basis Of that prevalent skepcism
which has subsequently swamped the mind Of the French
people in the Serbonian bog Of hooking infdey. He
e was who first introduced what Sir James calls the
Pyrrhonic succession in France. We do not adopt all
the conclusions Of the English lecturer as to the Carte
sanism Of Pascal but Of the general accuracy Of his
statement concerning the influence Of Des Carries the
subsequent thinkers Of France entertain doubt.
To Cartesianism in France succeeded the sensational
philosophy Of Locke more fully developed by Condl
Vac ondilIac indeed first pushed the system of Locke