The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1883-03-07
Recent Publications.

Our prompt acknowledgment every week of
the books sent to us we consider as ordinarily a
sufficient compensation for the same. We re-
serve to ourselves the privilege of giving a more
or less extended notice of the same, which is fol
the benefit of our readers. 1t would be impos-
sible for us to examine all the books sent to us,
and especially the innumerable little volumes
written for children.
The latest of the Morley Series of English Men
Of lie ters is Macaulay By j. C tier Morrison
Harper C Brothers. 1888 To our liking, it is
the best, and to large part of the reading pub
lie, we doubt not, it will Immediately prove to
be one of the most attractive
The enthusiastic admirers of the great Histc-
rian, Essayist and Poet seem never to grow
weary of hearing him eulogsed. Eulogium ex-
presses and justfes their own estimate of his
literary supremacy, and points out excellences
which had escaped their notice, while it brings
afresh to view the personal characteristics of a
life admirable and engaging almost without a
parallel in literary biography. The present
volume is eubgistic but not solely nor mainly
SO. IL is specially critical, and thus adds the
piquancy of controversy to the resume of &C
cepted facts and judgments.
The biographical portion of Mr. Morrison
work, not occupying more than about forty
pages of the whole 1872, adds nothing in the
way of new information to the readers of Mr..
Trevelysn's Life and Writings of his uncle but
is by skilful condensation rendered more i'm
pressive.
In his critical estimate, however, Mr.. Morri-
son is original and able, if not always convinc-
ing, and not unfrequently inconsistent. He
denies to Macaulay :" the very highest rank in
literature" but he has failed to name his supe-
rior. He has also failed, we think, to assign
sufficient reasons for his comparative Judgment.
In general, he considers him incapable of high
speculation, wide generalization, and deep moral
sentiment. He would, Mr.. Morrison seems to
suppose, have been much improved had he been
imbued with the philosophy of Coleridge and
Kant, and with the theories of Bentham and
had he enjoyed the privilege of a sewers drill
ing in Hegelianism at Berlin or Tubingen he
might have been writer of different stamp.
Possibly-and therefore, we would say, it is for
tunate for tie world that these conditions did
not exist.
Mr.. Morrison discusses separately, and in
way delightfully."- acute and scholarly The Ro.
man Lyrics, The Essays, and The HISTORY.
Each is freely admitted to be superior to any
thing of the same kind, with which it may be
compared, and according to the model proposed
to himself by the author, well-nigh perfect But
in Mr.. Morrison's opinion, they should have
been constructed upon different model. Mac
aulay should have scared in speculation, spread
himself in generalization. and diged in senti-
ment Again we -Possbly-and he might
thus have pleased the DISQUALIFICATION but
it would have been cruel for the sake of the
closet-philosophers to defraud the hundreds Of
thousands who have been delighted and in
structed by his writings as they are.
Let it not be supposed that there is anything
of a carping spirit of detraction in Mr.. Morri-
sons volume. On the contrary, he is in full
admiring sympathy with all that is noble In the
man and surprising in his achievements, and
gives what will be to most readers a new view
Of the power of Macaulay as an orator, and his
capacity for elevated, yet practical statesman
ship. And those who have not read Mr. Trevel-
vans book, and know Macaulay only as an
author, will have their admiration of him height
ened when they learn how trutb-loving, brave.
and incorruPtible he was in public life and how
tender, unselfsh, and selfsacrifcing in every
domestic relation. All that Mr.. Morrison does
is frankly to avow his conviction that Macaulay
has been rated too high, and in this he only
gives expression to growing sentiment, in some
degree perhaps just. But this he does in such
an admiring spirit, that one can hardly UNDER
stand how we can estimate him too highly, and
we do not feel at all aggrieved that the author
has differed from US, even when he has not con
WINGED, and we enjoy ungrudgingly the literary
excellence of his work. P.