New-York tribune., 1872-01-16
NEW PUBLICATIONS

DIP. bSi. Holt Williams lass of critics whose
~ n,i holorge 10 the rare class " .i .,o o,l,o
Nj lSiio ooio"so ooual interest with tne "ol~s
comments are often OF e0us MS judgments both of
OF which they ue". ut are not 90 much c1uciSins as
literature ana u 10 with the productions OF lhlei
creations nc " or the artist handles the materlas
iect rs '"0 ,nressing them with tno stamp % '
OF haVu@ s,aI and powerful nina. lie is never SUI
ewh on orr nv his subject. No admuauoI Vi soi"u'
tueaE Nm 10 the essential character OF lts "olA'
pncontemplating o. the beautiin ana inaoes'i1 n'onu
I" t;s+oricaI greatness he never loses ms OVID
a'Sr'S " his mind isno less fruitful and sug-
ros,ivo in discussing the intellectual CLAIMS oi
So, tbon IL he we're occupied with an ndepend-
ant creative process of his own
idca Of the history of literature III the cOhCep
.or of NJ Tane is similar 10 that OF tue his'o'! VI
.+ In eech department the productions Oh genius
arc conservative. They grow out OF the CNiiN".
&;op of the age, - the prevailing deVeIoplneu. "a
erlture. and passion, and manners,-Whcn III I'
.n-n &c created. or certainly at least, essenuauy
modified by natural conditions. Inc eIe'' ir
leetual works Of nation present n tai'niui
nj the nation itself. In the various llhes oi ~ "
from Shakespeare and Bacon down TO 80 for,,s
Dickens and Carlyle, we have an '"T EI,. Tno,;sb
aud noetical images in which the SOU VI 'no nt
az ~, f,,d deIigbt IL is the purpose oi Nj
1oi,s il himself, TO select the niosV
i'"'. and Tfc-Iike of these literary portraitS'
Ill r,,res,nt the essential characteristics -o "
,nd n different periods Of her history 10 9, 80 a
,bcn in appropriate groups ana suoN"' ,t Iis
free and candid exposition Inc cAeo"''g ...,s &C
work accordingly, does not turn Oh tn0 5oco
t;bliographv Ii aims to seize the epiil'u" Z, NJ
Of which every genuine Dooh Is d" l's r1glish
,rfn,s Lnov, ledge of the positive facts oI ~ re, H.
,;t.~ l. indeed mastcrful Ne parallel 10 II IL 70"
t,r-, AMONG other living foreign wrl'eis -, -
-. 81, inn tbe boarded treasures vi "" w
- -, the earliest date OF IT'S cuil< "'iu" :, -
tu",' if the sigual excellence of his WORK ~ -
ne tho marvellous insight with WIhcn uo ef
,bo secret mental impulses, the lhleiIoi I a.
t,sliro and passion, that prompl 'ue V"' 49,
oe,octi,e writers. He o0ud edS"S i"S '
,,olnitotine fbers of the heirU "ni'" "",0
iiF ,o the forms of passionate eX-
gwen i' ,t he prefers 10 represent the
ip",.,I t;tolity of the man, clothed in flesh ana
Ii ,ith sinew and muscle intact and no marx
Ihn ,robe or surgeons knife, His descriptions are
Los tbe work Of analysis than of synthess, less
rocess of dissection than of reconstruction he iu-
troduces us not into gallery Of wax hgures' o9'
into the society of living men whose characters arc
a norton of th5 national soul. and whose "li''c"
words are the expression of their character =,
Tho seminal idea which peTvades the WOFh oi NJ
Taipc and on which he insists WIN SUI" p'l''- ~
fierce and beauty of illustration IS thaC
no abstract or accidental product ouV 'no
e r1,at "a most vital and peculiar IN the
aoxelonment of a nation. 1t consists Nell
.Lor of mythologies nor OF languages
~ of the records of men "who arrange
words and imagery according to the necessities OF
their organs and the original bent OF thelI htel-
Iects" A dogma a legislation, catcehlSm Is noun
ing in itself Back of all is the man, coipoIeh anu
visible, who eats. walks, labors and fights Inc
ultimate object of the study Of literature Is ychoI
sgy.
But NJ. Taine's method will be more clearly undeiN
stood fIom some specimens OF hls manner tnan from
any verbal explanations In the following passage
we have picture of the times OF Queen Elizabeth
after the feryent religious belief Of the Middle Ages
had given place to the revival OF tie pagan spu' o
every walk Of society.
II Saa psganisru which reigned in Ezaoeths court,
moi only in letters but il d0cinea FsgenS hnt h"6
north, always serious. generally somptf, uut H.n %
rested like that Of the south, natural iorees m
s3S S3RS a from e exes SS Of re4Sscn debaGcher
ike Marlowe and Greene. with others te
poor short human life only dream, ana beyond u
the long sad sleep Tor them death is rne goSi CI G a, a.
the issue. II they carry their beyond, they per
oeive the soul welcomed into puTeT world but the
corpse abandoned to the damp earth or the ghost hover
S about the chmchyard. They speak Ike skeptiGs or
-uperstious men, never genuine believers, Their
heroes have human religious virtues against crime
uioty aud the fear of God. If others few and far, like
Sidney and spenseT catch glimpse Of this god II is as
has resemnance to personal God s6St eaTs al the
el the slightest motions Of the heart e ~ the world
but He docs not weigh upon human life He leaves u
y do Snq not drsi Know SR as Yet the sort narrow prison
which official cant and respectable cTecOs were ater Oh
TO connc action and intelligence. Even the believers
sincere Christians, like Bacon and Browne, discard al
oppressive seruness reduce Christianity 10 sort O
moral poetry and allow naturaism TO su0sist beneath
religion In such broad and open channel speculatlOl
could spread it, wings. With Lord Herbert appeared
systematic desm; with Milton and Algernon sidney
philosophical religions Clarendon went so far as TO com
mare Lord Faland gardens to the groves OF Acadene
Against the rigOrism Of the PurltaDs, Chlhngw0rtl
Haes, Hooker, the greatest doctors OF the Engis
Church. give large place TO natural son-sO large
that never TO this day, has Il made such ali I'd
Passing over the sections devoted to Spenser, 81
PiIlip Sidney, Ben JOnson, and other illustriou
characters of that day, we come to VI. Taines com
meats on Shakespeare whose mind, ne admits Of al
sthds. is the most perplexing TO the French mode
pf aIalysis and reasoning, "a nature, poetical, i'm
NORA inspired superior to reason by the suddel
revelations of his seers madness, the most creative
shat engaged in the Of the details o.
actual existence in the dazzling caprice of fancy, IL
she profound complications Ofsuperhuman passions.
or Shakespeare all from withn-I from
his soul and his genius external circumstances con
trbuted ht slightly to his development He was init
Snatoly bound up with his that is, he knew by
perence Tie manners OF country, court and town he
had visited ue nights depths, the middle regions Of the
condition Of mankind; nothing more. For the rest MS
ufe was commonplace the irregularities, troubles, pas
whole, such an meet with everywhere else. His
father glove and wool stapler, very easy crcun.
stances hdNig married sort of country bcresS had
become mgh-h&lH and chef alderman in his little
Town; Dut when Shakespeare reached the age four
property obliged - resign his municipal Offices, and 10
remove his son from school to assist ln in his hncss
The young fellow applied bimself to IL az well as he
could, not without crapes and escapades il we
are 70 DtneVe tradition be Was one Of the thirsty souls
OF the Place, with mind 10 support the reputation Of
having been beaten et BidefTd n one o ,c sey
fhA fhapn nsIT