The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-06-04
A New Life Of bentley.
| v.
M. W. H.

In the last volume added to the collection
OF English Men Of Lotters." reprinted by the
Harpers. we have biographical and critical
estimate of Richard Bentley by Prof Il. C. JEDD.
The subject of this narrative was a scholar in
both the strictest and the highest sense of the
word. and he also played n conspicuous part in
the contemporary world Of letters; and he is
fortunate in obtaining for q biographor man
who is at once Greek scholar and. as this
book demonstrates the. master OF IN admira
bic English style The reader Is thus enabled
to gain in the most facile and pleasurable way
an accurate and vivid conception OF an inter-
3sting parsonage. who was certainly the fore
most man OF learning OF his time in England
II not in Europe. and whose merits have been
rather mag fled than diminished by the sharp
scrutiny OF modern criticism.
As writer of English Bentley Is represented
by the Dissertation on Phalaris lin which he
showed the apocryphal character Of the epis
ties ascribed to tho Agrigentine tyrantl
the Boyle Lectures. the Remarks on Dis
course OF Free Thinking. Sermons and
Letters. During the earlier hal: Of his
life the model OF polite prose was Dry
den or Temple. while during the latter
half it was Addison. But although Bentley's
English is stamped with the mind of his age. it
was very little Influenced by any phase of its
manner. His style is thoroughly individual
the most striking trait being the nervous
homely diction. Thus he writes on one occa-
sion: Commend me to the man that
with thick hide and solid forehead
can stand bluff against plain matter Of fact"
And again: If the very first Epistle Of nine
lines only has taken me up four pages in scour-
ing. what sweet piece OF work should have
of it tn cleanse all the rest for them" Oxford
men Of the time discarded such language as
vulgar. and complained OF Bentleys descend
ing to low and mean ways OF speech.
The truth is that. although Bentley was n
scholar of wide learning and deep insight his
simple English was rs racy in its way as was
Bunyan's. 1t has the tone OF the strong mind
which goes straight to the truth. and intends
tho assertion OF clear common sense: it is
pointed with the sarcasm Of ono whose own
knowledge is thorough and exact. but who is ac-
customed to find imposture wrapped up
in fine or vague words. and takes an
ironical delight in using the very home
Hest images and phrases which accurately
fit the matter in hand With the exception
Of Swift twho. being wit rather than a
scholar. took the opposite side in the Phalaris
CONTROVERSY. no one has exceIled Bentley in
the power OF making u pretentious fallacy alb
surd by the mere force Of translation into SIM
Pile terms. 1t is manifest too, that. like Swift's
his literary dicton was comparatively close to
the colloquial living speech of the edu-
Gated men OF his day You meet in him
the. faults OF grammar which people were
apt to make In talking, or which had
even come to DO thought idiomatic through
the habit Of the ear. Thus Bentley would
say Neither Of these two improvements
are registered" Those sort OF requests. III
DISPUTE with nobody about nothing tmeaning
about anything). mo goat had been there
neither" In this sympathy with living speech
and comparative negligence Of rigid syntaX,
Mr.. Jebb recognizes the affinity of Bentley's
genius to Greek. which is tho voice of life
rather than TO Latin, which Is the expression Of
law. The scholarly trait. in fact. of Bentlcy's
style was not precise composition, but pro-
pricty and force in the use OF words. whether
of English or Of Latin growth.
OF course in discussion Of Bentley's liter
AIRY performances Mr.. Jebb is obliged to ac-
knowledge tho ludicrous miscarriage OF his
criticism on the Paradise Lost" 1t will be
remembered that Bentley proposed more than
eight hundred cancellations in Millions poem
most OF which aimed at stricter propricty in
the use OF language, better logic. or clearer
syntax AS to the faults OF taste which now
appear to us so ludicrous. 1t is only fair. rs Mr.
Jebb suggests. to make some allowances for
the standards OF tho correct" period. and to
recall Johnson's remarks on MiltOn's versinca-
ton. which now seem well nigh rs impairment.
1t is a significant fact also that Pope liked
many OF the cancellations, and wrote 'puchre"
or bene" opposite them in his copies Of Bent
lcy's edtion-in spite Of that line in the Dunciad
which describes the critic rs having humhlei
Millions strains" But even where we concele
that the new reading Is what Milton might
have given, we can nearly always feel morally
certain that he did not give it, Mr.. Jebb can
find only one instance ont of eight hundred
suggested readings which strikes him as an
exception. 1t is in that passage Of Book VI.
1922 which describes Satan wounded by the
sword of tho Archangel Michael. where for q" nee
tarous Bentley propo, ed ichorous" because
nectar Is the wine Of the gods. whorcas Homer
has another name for the ethereal Juice which
flows in their veins. n wv. the form Of Milton's
verse indicates that he was thinking OF the
lliad. and no poet was less likely than Milton
toconfusa nectar with chor. Mr.. Jcbb submits
accordingly that here nj least Bcntey's cor
r"ction If not true. deserved t. be so.
We pass by Il natural transition to Bentlrv's
scholarship. because his edition of the Para
disc Lost" raises nm obvious inquiry We
know that his emGudltions Of Milton are near