The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-12-07

yet. rs matter OF fact. tho services rendered
by him. in the capacity Of leader writer. to the
Morning Post proved 30 exceptionally valuable
that the proprietor keen and experienced
man OF business. offered Colerdge. for reg
ular daily work upon tho staff s2OOD n
ycnr--un honornriun which then. and for many
n year aftorwnrd. was not merely unparalleled
hut unapproached. in English journalism. Mr..
Trail dcvotes some pages to tho discussion OF
this subject all Of which we should DO glad to
quote. but we can find room only for two or
three sentences which should have great
weight. not only because tho writer has evil
dently read with care Coleridgo's contributions
to tho Morning I1s'and Courier. but because no
Is himself an expert in newspaper work.
The fact Is and 1t Is q fact for
which tho current conception OF Cole.
ridges intellectual character does not al
together prepare one-thnt no was q work
man OF tho very first order of excellence in this
curious craft His articles in short be-
long to that valuable class to which. while 1t
gives pleasure to tho cultivated reader. tho
most commonplace and Phistine man OF busi-
ness cannot refuse tho. to him. supreme praise
OF being eminently practical. They hit tho
nail on tho head in nearly every case. and they
take tho plainest and most direct route to their
point. dealing in rhetoric and metaphor only
80 far as the strictly business ends Of tho
argument seemed to require
1t is we'll known that Colerdge projected.
though he scarcely began to outline. a system
OF philosophy which. as he conceived and pre-
dicted. would prove an unassaiabls bulwark OF
tho Christian religion. Thirty years after his
death his disciple. Mr.. Green. undertook to set
forth tho Coleridgian position in a work en-
titled Spiritual Philosophy" We doubt II
there are ten mon living in England who would
huV L.. -, All.
tise and we could not bottcr certify to the
thorouahness and conscicntousness of tho
Investigations undertaken by this bog-
rapher than by pointing out that Mr..
Trail has actually read this book From
tho chapter devoted to the analysis of Mr..
Green's exposition 1t seems that what is sound
and cogent In the doctrines eXpounded is not
new. and what is now is unfounded or illogical.
MIR. Trails CONCLUSION is. so far as he thinks 1t
just to draw any definite inference from Mr..
Green's report. that Coeridge's ethical teach
ings would be much more effective were they
wholly "dissociated from the exceedingly
abstruse metaphysics to which they have been
welded"
We do not believe 1t possible to speak at once
more justly and moro tendery OF the unhappy
failing by which the splendid faculties of Cole
ridge were long eclipsed and. no doubt in
some measure blighted. than Mr.. Trail has
spoken here As we see. he writes. the fate
marred and self-marred life OF Coleridge draw
ing to II close. the pitifu words OF Kent over
his dead master rise irrepressibly to tho lips:
Oh. let him pass; he hates him
Who would upon tho rack OF this tough world
Stretch him out longer"
And in the concluding paragraph OF the final
review We read 1t seems unGracious and I'M
grateful to speculate too curiously on what fur
Their or other benefits this great intellect might
have conferred upon mankind. had its possess
or been endowed with those qualities OF reso-
luton and independence which he lacked.
Itwould DO wiser and better for US to
dwell rather upon its spendor and helpfulness
in the hours ofits efficacy. to think how vast is
then the expanse which it Eliminates. and its
radiance how steady and Serene. NJ. W. II.