National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-12-10
ARCHBISHOP BAYLEY.
HIS LECTURE LAST NIGHT At LIN
COIN HAIL.

! tive lecture was deuVered al Lincoln hall by
| that eminent prelate of the Catholic Church,
Archbishop Bayley, Of this diocese. He was at
tended to the platform by Reverend Fathers
| Mcguire, Waiter, Keane, Boyle, Baretti, Bokel
and others. The audience was q large one, and
the presence Of the Archbishop was received with
the prOfOGndest respect. A synopsis is given be-
low of
| THE LECTURE.
1t is net my intention, the Archbishop said, to
| deliver before you what may be called formal
| lecture on literature. An English author has
! written delightful lecture on "Fish Tattle,"
and if seems to me that proper name for my
discourse this evening would be
| BOOK TATTLE.
| Myintention is to hold with you q conversation
| about books where the talking will be all on one
| side-not an uncommon thing, by the way-for
my idea of lecture of this sort is that It should
| be in some measure a recreation to those who
listen to it, as at the best 1t is a very superficial
| imperfect way Of communicating knowledge.
If you really wish TO become acquainted with
must get the best works treating upon It and then
| sit down TO the quiet and careful study of them
! in these busy DAYS, and what little most peopIe
! know think they know is, as 1t were, caught
| fying and taken at second hand, and often in a
| very damaged condition, from reviews and lee
| tHTes and newspapers.
There never was time, perhaps, when the
! poets apOthem, which contains, however, a deep
| philosophical truth that "a little learning is
dangerous thing" was more appIica BILE than to
cur days. Everybody reads, but very few study,
and consequently very lew get any real adVant-
age from their reading
THE SOLID MEAT OF REAL KNOWLEDGE,
if 1 may use such a figure, is made into a voey
thin soup, and although everybody may be said
to get plate Of 1t, there is very little nOursh-
ment in it. Now do not intend to deny the ad-
vBntages Of an ably-conducted review or we'll
edited newspaper. Their usefulness in the sphere
to which they properly belong is evident-i e.
when they are well and conscientiOusly edited,
which, am sorry to say is becoming every day
But do mean to assert that too much time is
given up to them in our days, or rather too many
even OF those who wish to become instructed
satisfy themselves with such knowledge as may
be obtained from them. We are not, with all our
sharpness and boosted means Of educatiOD,a we'll
instructed people.
The remark is often made that our age is an
age OF mediOcrity-thatw we no longer produce any
really great men, and ii is asserted as proof Of
this that If you TO slit the whole mass of the
American people, numbering now some forty
millions, you could not get together a body of
men who, for intellect, thorough training, and
broad, statesmanlike views, would compare with
those who composed the Continental Congress of
l775 or the convention which made the COnstitu-
ton Of IVA
SOME OF THE CAUSES
Of this condition Of things lie upon the surface,
others are nOtrecOgniEed, and five had a Burke
De Maistre, even De ToucqueYille to
point out clearly and philosophically the sources
of the evil and the proper remedies, something
might yet be done to arrest our downward pro-
matters are moral ones no doubt but l will not
speak Of these. One great cause is that the lead
ing men of the country, those who create and in
iuence and direct public opinion, as q general
thing are not educated themselves. They have
not mastered, or attempted to master, the knowl-
edge and experience of the past. They have
never studied the science Of government as such,
and are disposed to ignore that there is any such
science.
They regard man who devotes himself to pro-
found, liberal studies as a bookwOrm, mere
DISTINGUISHED m n raj unf
ness and sagucty, and are induced to give the
preference to the latter as being more practical,
as they call it. Or all folly this is the most IN
reasonable.
THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT
is of the most difficult OF all sciences It re-
guiTes knowledge OF the past, experience strict
adhesion to the principles upon which the gov
eminent was founded, great vigilance, steadiness
in guarding against the encrOachment of any one
department of the government upon another
Hence it is that real craftsmanship has always
been regarded as requiring a combination of the
rarest and most distinguis qualities Guilt
va ed and marured by diligent study and expe
rienCe.
The wise mar in the Book of Ecclesiasticus tells
ms that they whose days are given to their daily
toll and mechanical arts, who are not able to ac
quIe that solid wisdom which 'cometh of Oppor-
tunity OF leisure" shall mot sit in the Judges
seat mot be sought tor In the public council;'
but we have got beyond all that, and have found |
out that the art of governing States is the easiest
thing in the world. If we applied the principle |
10 other things we would find out our mistake.
No one OF us would think Of attempting to cross |
the ocean in q vessel the captain and crew of |
which had never been TO sea before, and which |
had no compass or chronometer or sextant on |
board, but directed its course by the way the |
wind blew or the currents ran; and yet this is |
very much the manner in which the ship of State,
Win some rare exceptions is nayigated in our |
moral and ridiculous bOoks-it is hardly necessary
for me to say anything in speaking to you.
But THE RESTRICTION
goes far beyond this; for under the head of bad /
books are included not only books against sound /
morals, but all books against Faith, against our |
holy religion. The Index EXpurgatorious,n |
which contains a list Of books condemned by the /
Holy See, which she fOrbids her children to read /
under pain Of sin, is, as we know, constant sub
lect OF Tidicule and abuse on the part of mod
ern free-thnkurs. But it only exercises in regard |
10 the members Of the Catholic Church the right, |
bound to exercise toward his Children of keeping
out Of their hands everything which may corrupt |
their minds and lead them to evil.
The notes TO Gibbons History of the Decline and |
Fall Of the Roman Empire have corrupted more /
persons than have been led astray by his gor- |
EeCus but sOphistical text. There can be no doubt
that the most pernicious influence at work in the
world at this moment is from bad books and bad |
newspapers. The yelloT-covered literature, as it
the yellow lever and cholera are nothing, and |
yet there is no quarantine against it. :
To person Of any correct feeling or sound men |
tai culture heavier Penanco could not be i'm |
posed than TO be obliged to read such trash. Such
a magazine, for instance, as
HARPERs'
with its insulting, false caricatures its lying mis-
rel resCntatiOns Of everything connected with the
Catholic Church, is eagerly purchased, while |
other illustrated magazines which have endeaV- |
OrCd TO introduce higher and purer style OF art,
and to avoid Misrepresentation and calumny |
have failed Tor want Of patronage.
We must acquire taste for -eadlng-for to |
certain extent it is an acquired taste. = 1 |
know Of nothing after the consultations of re-
ligiOn more full of advantage to US in every
point of view than a love Or books. =
That wise old man, DR.. Johnson has said some
where that he ''ptied country gentleman on a
rainy day who had no taste for books" :
Thus Cicero, the greatest of the Roman orators
and whose works. for clearness and elevation of
thought and beauty Of dictiOn and style, form
go great an ornament Of Roman literature, says
of books: They nOurish US In our youth delight
us in old age, adorn our prosperity, are a refuge
and sOlace in adversely, are the charm Of our
night with us, ard accompany Us in our journeys
and go with us to our country seats" Then, after
quoting from Cardinal Pacca, the Archbishop
continued: 1t is with food for the MUD as with
food for the body 1t must be sound and good in Or
most important parts Of knowledge is the knoWl-
edge Of where knowledge is to be found. = =
The fact is that life is too short to be consumed
in reading anything but the best book In every
department OF literature, on almost every sub
Jeet, there are few authors who are recognized
as masters; : but the great majority of
books are not worth the paper they are written
on being simply a rehash OF others. 1t is this
state Of things which caused witty critic to say
ina that when ne" BOOK came out he read an old
ALL OUR GREAT ENGLISH HISTORIANS,
Hume, Robinson, Gibbon Macauley. particularly
FrCude, and in our own country Prescott and
Motley, have allowed their peculiar ideas and
pTeluuices TO so pervert their statements, es-
pecIally when anything connected with the Gath
ole Church was to be treated Of that It perva1es
all history as almost to justify the famous die
tiOn Of Sir Robert WalPole in regard to the uu-
trutnfulness Of modern history. Then, after re-
ferIing 10 fCndness for books and the blbIomana
OF sOme and the high prices realized for rare
works, the Archbishop said:
Thus Of the FIRST edition OF the new Bible Of /
which there are only two copies in England, and /
none in France: one Of these copies was pur- /
ceased by Mr.. Sanford in n book shop in the /
Strand for bali a guinea. He gave Il to Exeter /
college, Oxford. 1t would no doubt now sell for /
1000 If lut up at auction. Many OF you will |
recOllect
SIR WALTER sCoTr's
description Of Snufy Davie in the antiquary. |
"Davy Wilson says Oldbuck & Co. could be So re-
warded." Richard Weber, a wealthy English |
man, man Of high culture and intelligence, was /
perhaps one OF the most remarkable examples of Il
q thorough DiblOmaninc. He would set of any /
day on a journey OF several hundred miles, and
that before railroads. in search of a book not in /
his collection. When he died the family seat at Il
HCdBet, an immense old country house, was lit
orally stuffed with books. His house in London
was also full: another at Pimlico, ut Oxford, at
Antwerp. The sale catalogue was in i've thick
octave volumes. 1t will do none of US any harm 4