The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-04-17
Our @Io.
for Tho Democratic Advocate.
GLAHoEs AT A GREAT BOOK.

nat we may make this confession without /
hame. Substituting side-glances and light |
comments for thorough analysis and careful
umming up OF inertia and dement's is .'what |
se all do bat not all, we would iain believe,
because we have to.
Il may be said that literary production has
70 vastly increased ~ 20 render any other
method inexpedient. What kind Of proluc-
non, forsooth7 IL II not, such as Il Is, 10
arge part the effect, rather than he cause. Of
he laxity OF the critics? As for ourselves.
We wonder what sort Of conception these slip.
shod critics can have Of the intent and scope
Of their office.
Thorough criticism Is needed for the pnr.
pose, not Of diminishing the fruits of mental
labor, but OF conducting TO taeir soundness,
ripenessi wholesomeness, aud To their proper
increase. That intelligence is more wide.
spread than ever, aud literary producers more
numerous, are facts gladly admitted, but facts
strongly favorable to the elevation Of our lit
erary standards.
For work Of the latter tendency, as well as
Tor the breadth Of its nationality and the free.
dom Il allows where freedom is most needed.
much credit is due TO Scribner Though Il did
seem to miss entirely the main point ia the
book we are about TO notice. II Is also
worthy Of remark that the time is at hand
when Baltimore should participate 10 this
work. Our Lanier is making his power felt
abroad. The same is true in some degree
indirectly Of our genial and gifted Spencer,
Dus does he not feel impelled to open up a
new way for himself and others?
That the individuality which we call sGeorRe
Eliot is unique, will hardly be questioned.
Ia the development Of her large mind and the
expansion Of her sympaihies, she has, as a
writer for mankind, reached height which.
It rs safe 70 say, no other novelist oil her coun.
Try has attained. She has attained il, not by
Ignoring or undertaking their works, but BY
using these, and her own, as stepping stones
to higher things" the telling OF charming
stories she IS surpassed, especially by Scott;
bGs as a moralist--a moral instructor and
insP'rer-she IS not cqualed; not even by
Dickens or Thackeray. Greater as an artist,
save IN some dramatic elements, Though she
has much dramatic power, her art makes ef.
ieetiye almost ineomparably greater intellec-
tuai and moral qualities. Many readers may
be unprepared to admit this proposition IN is
entirety, but let them examine and reflect be.
fore denying IT, She has studied 10 learn
what men have been; she has mediiated pro
foundly and observed with singular keenness
10 know what they are and may be; and, 4
those with ears to hear, she has come fortl
with powerful appeals 10 struggle for the sub
Inner possibilities she discerns. Though un
| hike him in important respects, she seems 1,
us 70 be the peer Of Carlyle.
The volume before us is a series Of ESSAYS
IN which the author reviews some Of the char
aeterisIies Of her own times from a standpoint
OF high intellectually aud Of deep and wide
reaching sympathy. In the chapter enIitle,
Looking Backward there are some vAlua
BILE lessons for those who croak over the de
geneIacy Of their own age.
4 lheophrastus makes poor figure person
ally the only explanation Of his presence be
ing, apparently, the fact that a dummy wa
desired to cast a shadow upon what migt
otherwise have been regarded as an unplesi
ant egoism.
Others have alluded, with more or less en-
phasis, to the wit the intellectually stimula
ing influence, and the moral earneslness {
the work; for all this, and more, il should b
read and studied throughout. There is les
miuaie exactness in the construction Of ser
tenees than formerly; a refreshing openness an
freedom OF style. We may, as before, som,
times have to struggle with the author
thought, but this means only that we have
climb to her plane; and no one can der
that II pays TO make the ascent.
Our specific object, however, is TO indicatl
principally in the authors own words, Il
significance Of the last chapter. Its very til
Is inspiring; "The Modern Hep hep hep !
u IS not cry ralyiag strangers, throug
blood, TO n strange land it calls the Jews
their national home. With remarkslJe n;
the mind, Gentle as well as Jewish, is pr
pared for it. Thoughts are presented ihl
must be destined to clear up, both for jew
and Christianized Genliles, many mysteri,
Of the past.
The reader Is first put upon the watch I,
resemblances and differences between Il
Jews and other peoples; then the importap,
OF the preservation Of national memories.
an element and means OF national ereatnes
the error Of considering the Jews as pure
exceptional race, the value Of the Old Test.
meat as picture Of national deyelopmen
and the Jewish separaieness, or feeling
race, so unique in its iateasiiy, are luminous
set forth, but not more so than the corre
p0ndeRce Ia essential qualities between the
separa,eness, before the dispersion, aud ihl
OF examples SO near as the English nalioI
the Pnntans, and the Anglican Chnrchme,
Al any rate, seeing that the Jews we
more specifically than any other nation ed
Gated int0 sense Of their supreme NOR
value, tie chief matter OF surprise is that a.
other nation is found 10 rival them 10 tn
form Of self-conhdenee.
, Aiier the dispersion, they were hunted, O
pressed, and abused by aliens in the name
one OF their own low-eountrymen.
WAS this the method by which Christ d
sired his title to the Messiahship 10 be col
mended 10 the hearts aud Understandings
the nation in which be was borng Many
his sayings bear the stamp OF that patriots
: which places fellow-eonnlrymen 10 the inn
circle OF affection and duty" II was natul
that the influence Of oppression should
/ more or less degrading. Il was also natui
that they should cherish all differences Il
, marked them of from their hated espresso
all memories that consoled them with sen
OF virtual though unrecogRized superiority
! Their subsistence as a separate peo,
through all these ages is proof Of s'uncomm
tenacity, physical aud mental, and pee
liar feeling Of "the ties Of inheritance both
blood and faith.
Expairiated and denalionaIized, they Ia
! been more than any other race exposed
. moral influences that have resulted IN one
their present dangers: "a spirit OF uniyer
alienism teuphemistically called cosmops
tanism.N Hut the premature fusion of re-.
tends TO an obliterntion Of national charact
istics, and in emphasizing this danger the I
thor ingeniously strengthens the argument
favor " a Jewish nationality.
& She proceeds;
! III We are TO consider the future Of
! Jews at all, il seems reasonable 10 take a,
, preliminary question: Are they destined
complete fusion with the peoples among VIII
J they are Dispersed, losing every remnant o
distinctive consciousness as Jews; or,
: there in the breadth and intensity with viii
the feeling Of separateness. or what we n
call the organized memory Of national cs
sciousness, actually exists in the world-wi
Jewish commuailies--the seven millions seI
tered from east 10 west--and again. are The
, in the political relations Of the world, /
conditions present or approaching for the n
toraiion Of q Jewish state planted on the I
ground as = centre Of national feeling, o sour
OF dignifying protection, q special channel |
! special energies which may contribute sol
! added form Of national genins, and an add
voice in the councils Of the worldY'
With increasing farvor she asks:
"Why are we 50 eager for the dignity
certain populations Of whom perhaps we ha
, never seen single specimen, and Of whr
/ history, legend, or literature we have be
contentedly ignorant for ages, while we sns
at the nation Of n renovated national diga
for the Jews, whose ways Of thinking d
| whose very verbal forms are 90 our lips
every prayer which We end with az Ames
, Some Of rs consider this question disnlias
.sk.,, al.ss. h.r, nn,d that f&n wcnI:kiaef In,