New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-08-22
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.

An apprcciatlVe article on MT. Sneas
"Charlevoix" with which the September number opens
pays well deserved tribute to that indefatgable stu
dent of the early colonization Of this country The
writer remarks that when the history OF American
Catholic literature comes to be written, the name OF
John Culinary Shea will hold OF the most honorable
places in the record His merits in this particular In
stance are overstated in the following paragraph
He has given much more than a translation OF F.
ChgreVOixs HgiOre. The text Is rendered with great
care and we presume with great fathiulness, into
simple graceful aud idomatic English. The PECULIAR
ties OF the original in the photography OF proper names
and in other particulars all preserved III IS indeed
ChareyOX's work, exactly as any WORK can oe
6nced in Language different from its authors But
Mr. Shea has bestowed upon an editorial SUPERVISION
which nearly doubles its value Win e4trd1r
zeal learning and intelligence, he has traced almost
and in modest and compact foOtnotes WHOSE nunU .
must amount 10 several Thousands has corrected errors
identified localities and thrown perfect nOou OF o
upon doubtful passages ana contrOYerteu
patient industry. the Judgment, ana the usss %
INC scholarship which Mr. Shea brought 10 the exc
cutOn OF this noble task can only DC "
who has studied his work with some care ana 70 wSo
familiarity with the subject has taught something OF ls
difficulties. He has not ony been az tue palns vi Co
sulting the authors to whom Charleyox expressly re-
fers Weighing sOundness of f. Charleyox concur
sions from their testimony. and correcting ois Sos
tions but he has made 1t point 10 discover we
tiles whom the good father followed WITHOUT quots,
and has often pursued devious statements
through OF forgotten BOOKS uhti ne mas ie9o0
at last the truth from which they sIaIteu DoS
this without parade without veIDosity, anu win d
icy mpartiaty Mr.. shea mas approved Allseli n0N'
editor.
"The Stories OF Two Worlds" presents comparison
between "Middlemarch" ard "Fleurange" from
Catholic point OF vew and VIII be read with interest as
an abe piece Of special criticism, special pleading
The writer finds fault with George Eliot for making
Saint Teresa the prototype of her heroine when she has
no idea of what constitutes the real character OF saint
IL seems never to have occurred to her that SAINTS are
not seIfmade as little as the prophets were se1maue
prophets or the apostles sefmade apostles.
1t was perfectly natural that George Eliots Teresa
maIin the failure come from without rather than from
wthn-a mistake easily understood when II Is borne IN
ali in Chrjstiany Socrates, Plato, Aristotle all failed
to make the world better not because they may not
have wished t. bat because they had not the power
They were themselves uncertain of their schemes
Thir highest fights like those OF the best OF modern
philosophers who possess faith never pass beyond
{nteectuai excellence devoid of soul. They may daze
the intellect but they do not touch the soul and tse
they fail While ignorant fshernen who lose their
The writer does justice to the wonderful power with
which the character of Rosamond is conceived and por
trayed
When the lady who pleased TO assume the name OF
George Eliot first startled the English reading world,
tnerc was great doubt the OF the new author
Certainly all such Goubt, II any still existed wOd DC
set at rest forever by the portrait OF RoSamond Nlncy
No man could ever have executed that No man could
ever have gone down into the very fbers of womans
nature, and drawn them all out one by one and laid
them bare before us, show what constitutes that
best marble Of which goddesses are made II Doro-
thea with the strong touch OF Calyinsm Leading heI no.
I
the flower OF Mrs. Lemons school, the chief school IN
the county where the teaching included all that was
demanded the accomplished female-eYen 10 extras
such as the getting in and out OF the carriage
Rosamond Whey Is, perhaps, the most nnlshed por-
Trait ever presented OF the intelligent animal OF the
female sex clever enough 10 despise Mddlemarch not
because it Is low and mean and sOrdd but because 1t Is
TOO narrow and unworthy TO hold so lair aud accom-
plished specimen of humanity ROsamond Vlncy, All
Young Middemarch breaks its heart about her. She
refuses quietly and persstenty wins Lydgate in spite
of himself not because ne Is Lydgate, the generous
ardent hghsOuled young man, but because he brings
with him sphere OF an outer word, with NUT
of great relations distinguished person and an nncon
sciOus air of superiority which Mlddlemarch cannot
offer The result OF the wedding or two such natures
NAV be imagined. George LhOts version of 1t is
horribly real and mserGby natural; ana perhaps the
most powerful part of the book Is the struggle gong on
net generous nature OF the ana the demon
OF self ncarnae in the perfect form and the narrow but
acute intellect OF the who Is so supremacy selfish
thai she absolutely unconscious OF her sesbness and
therefore incurable.
There are several other secular articles in this number
with certain literary flavor not always found in re-
hgOus Magazines, which may recommend them to the
attention of the general reader Among these, should
give the first place in point OF interest to An Ant
Pilgrimage through Rome" after which come Travel
lers and Travelling" Early Marriage" and Scholars