The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-04-14
LITERATURE AND FREEDOM.
ADDRESS LAST NIGHT BEFORE THE PEITHoLo-
CLAN SOCIETY, OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, BY


ADDRESS LAST NIGHT BEFORE THE PEITHoLo-
CLAN SOCIETY, OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE, BY
EUGENE LAWRENCE
Eugene Lawrence delivered an address last evening"
before the Peithoogan Society," OF Columbia College, at
Irving Hall The hall well died by highly re-
spectacle audience. Prior tothe address reception
was held in the anteroom OF the hail. which was ut
tended by many Of the honorary members OF the So
ciety. including several distinguished pcrsonages.
among them Professor Drisicr, Professor Short and
others. several OF the trustees OF tho college and
number OF ladies'. Mr.. Lawrence selected for the sub
jcct OF his address "Llerature and Freedom"
He commenced by showing that II was not patron
age that produced literature, nor was It an apprec
tive public, nor was 1t pecunary reward Neither OF
these produced Homer. or Burns, or Longielow, or
Bryant, or Prescott. Neither inspired "rhanatopsis"
or The Song oil Life" Nor Is IL SOIL climate or phys
cal advantages that produced literature. For when
all European intellect seemed dead IN the Middle Ages,
II was living and active upon the volcanoes OF Iceland
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries Sacmund and
Snorri Stureson wrote their troatises upon poetry.
govern the poet, Is not true when viewed by tho
light Of history. Nor is It In periods OF general
wealth ana ease that The mind has been most
productive In tho first century OF tho Christian era
tho civilized world rested in unexampled peace. In
tho second the OF the Antoniues represents gen.
eral cnuson OF knowledge all ovcr the world But
that period bare and stcrc only the great figure
Of racitus Is painting with sad pen tho horrible
picture of tyranny, ana Juvcna hooking at the moral
TALL OF Rome.
TYRANNY NO ENCOURAGES or LITERATURE.
Tho teuda caste equally powcrIess producing
intellect Lord Derby ana Mr. blsraeli IN their recent
addresses Scotland. have attempted in VAIN TO dis
cover some period when literature aourshed under
tho shelter oil tyranny and CASTE
FREEDOM GODFATHER LITERATURE
In ireedom alone has literature found It's rude and
painful birth. IL was Dante the offspring oil DEM
ocratc Florence, that gave Europe the first strong
Impulse OF mental progress Milton, fed upon tho
d Of and fhs aye 70 that
produced Shakespeare the result OF tho intense
earncstness Of rising Pari.ansm The age Of Louis
NV owed all its strength to the mental vigor OF the
Huguenots. Poitcncss, scli-respect, Independence,
genius altogether republican virtues. Tyranny IS
always coarse and crucl aristocracy violent and rude
Literature sprang up IN the early repuDcansm OF
Greece and Rome We discover in Greek history the
best to the question, What Is u that creates
hteraturey Freedom Is the first element OF literary
progress
CONTACT WITH EARLIER MINDS.
One author becomes the parent OF another. Tho
process by which the literary passion awakened is
invariabe II Is tho contact OF some earlier mind.
We find his illustrated In Homer, and can almost
IN those wild, sad immortal ballads sources OF all mod
crn thought. The speaker went on to show how
Homer had affected all late literature; how no Is read
In the Western wilds as he was twenty-five hundred
years ago on the shores Of the Mediterranean; how
Bryant completes his p0etical by translation
OF "Homer." and Longicllow of DANTE" Homcr's
greatest offspring Homer's characters can be found
almost every modern nove. Tho Greek authors
cities the chef instruments in extending The
influence Of rising literature. The speaker described
Athens In its finest period the home OF OF let
tiers. Also the Greek o letters, who devoted all
their lives to their studies. Athens persisted, and
finally in tho Dark Ages became the naunt of band Of
robbers Ho also described the and decay or Ro-
man literature; tho spiendors OF Rome under
Domitan and Trajan and the literary OF tho
oil Tacitus anu the utter decay OF the Roman
teect with the death oil the national conscience.
THE REVIVAL OF LITERATURE.
Tho revival came IN the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries and the literary passion awokc with tho
OF new series OF republics The workngmen OF the
Middle Ages had built their homes labor aud human
equality The strife OF the people against caste and
tyranny begun. Dante tho master OF modern
literature, arose. The Italian poets, offspring OF
Homer, Virgil, Tacitus and Livy, sang the charms OF
classic literature There was something wonderful in
the vitality OF an iaea. II lives through ages and
wives the shocks OF ceasccss revolutions The speaker
showed how Macauay studied Horodotus and Thucy-
didcs necessarily; how the finest ideas of Plato
Diogcnes reappear In Sir Thomas More, Emerson and
Carlyle Paris borrows classic from Athenlan
models.
The i've centuries that have followed Dante have
been the most turbulent period Of tho worlds history
and literature and freedom have made their way with
difficulty. But free education Is everywhere ad vanc-
ing Republican literature IL becoming the teacher OF
mankind 1t is tho chief charm OF this age
we live IN period Of hope, aud that all the future
seems Frightening beioreus