The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-02-22

The Distinguished Poet and Essayist is
Dined by the Cumberland Club and Tea.
dered 81 Reception by abe societs of Art.
Matthew Arnold, the celebrated English po-
Of and essayist, arrived in this city by the noon
train yesterday, from Boston, accompanied by
Mrs. Arnold. He was conveyed to the Fal.
mouth Hotel where apartments had been Sc
cured for him in advance. At 6 D. M, by iu-
vitsticn of Mr.. Fritz H Jordan, he dined at
the Cumberland Club with Mr.. Jordan. Gen.
George Ell. Thorn, Hon. Charles f. Libby, Dr.
Seth @. Gordon, Senior DeRamsault, the Span
ish vice-consul, aud Mr.. John A. Emery.
AT the proper hour Mr.. Arnold was taken
t, the FIRST Parish church, which was three
quarters filed by highly cultured audience.
Mr.. Arnold was introduced to the assembly by
Rev. DR.. Hill in few we'll chosen remarks
and then stepped forward and b, gan his lect-
ure on Numbers, or tho Majority and the
Remnant"
Mr.. Arnold, is tall. well formed, with an air
of breeding aud refine ment. He has rather
long face with broad forehead, keen gray eyes
and flexible m outh, land wears what are COM
A1"hif hbo"u DO uuIbOl CHOP Wllsk9rB.
He is shcrt-sighted, and his voice is not strong.
or at least is not accustomed to addressing
very large audiences. 1t ia voice adopted
r,ther to the lecture hall of colleges than to
large public buildings, but is sufficiently adapt.
ted tn a church. His style is academi-
cal, and though his enunciation is clear he has
the English defect of dropping his voice at the
close of sentence. We do not attempt to
give other than the salient points of the lect-
ure since such an effort as that OF Mr.. Arnold,s
does not admit of an abstract to do it justice,
and we have net space for report in full.
The lecture began with a description of
Athens during the administration of Cleobu
lus Platos account of It's briliancy, supertc-
iality and eensuaity, was translated. This.
the speaker then compared with Isaiah,s ar
count OF e. 9 kingdom of Judah Plato and
Isaiah, be said, saw that an upsound State
could not stand. The philosopher and propb-
| ct. he continued, agreed that the msiority was
always unsound, and saw the great pecessitv
of strong and correct remnant To shake
State to its centre one man might snffiee. To
accomplish any great change in IT'S char acfer
| a considerable body of workers is ne eded. We
shG uld need / allah again and again and do
homage to the ststement that States vera IN
ne raved by the righteous remnant. Tn Atb
ems and judah the remnant was too small tn
be effective. We have earned the right 10
hope. ~
Inc speaker then took text from, .ho NJ.
Testament, which advised men to Lei tbe;r
minds dwell upon whatever was inst and a;na.
able, and elevating, and true Politicians do
not follow this rule but truth over-rides them
and sewers States. As an instance, Englapd's
relations with ireland might be unoted The
| conouerors of the Emerald Isle had failed In
respect to justice. This failure MIGHT haua
been overcome had not second failure been
made in aimiabilty. Another instance was 70
| be found in France. The lectnrer had eiuavo
been strongly drawn towards France. Mon
| sieur Saint Beuve had written to him once
saving that he had penetrated the heart of the
French nation and its literature. He bao al.
ways cherished the letter with pride Whetb
sr ne deserved it or not, he had certainly de
voted much of his time to that stndv wb;cb
was sadly and undeservedly neglected At the
present time. The foundation of fhe French
character came from the original Gaul This
was subsequently modified by the Roman con-
| quest the result being the Gallo.Iatin ma
ture, In which sensuality was prominent.
Then came the conquest of the Franks which
| impaired a strong German tinpe 10 the ma
tonal character But the Gallo Latin eensu
a lily hso prevailed SO far as to prevent
freDce from ever having an art which was
religious in It's depth and BREADTH an art such
as Plndar and Phidias gave to Athens and
Dante and angelo to Italy. This trait of the
French nature was SO strong that it had car
..cu away al ouilRut6Deu Unlocking man like
Ernest RenaD, and caused him to say that ma
tue could do nothing for chastity. Sueh a
SAYING did not spring from Remains own life
l 1nas gas perfectly pnre and He said
voiced the nature of the people at an intellect
nal height, just as lola did on the ground
Whatever nature might think, human nature
certainly cared great deal about this matter.
Inc laliing OF trfnce was made manifest in
her popular lecture. This showed how far tbe
disease had gope. Unless change came the
national life must be more and more impaired
until 1t persisted. France, with her So .OOO. 600
OF people, might hope that there would be
within her bounds large enough eound rem
nant to save her.
lhe speaker then turned to the United
oIates he had spoken perhaps, he said,
enough about this country in times gone by.
Here there were 50.0OO,OO0 of people. The
country vas strong in numbers, but the rule of
the philosophers and prophets might be ap-
pileo' me majority was probably wrong, even
III New York city. In democratic Commute
ty IKE this the danger might lie in certain
want OF respect, in boundess audacity The
failure OF the mind to contem nlate what is
eievst'ug might De the cause of decay. "But
You are 50,OR 900" no said. "Wbat a rem
mani is yoursi" He advised his hearers not
TO make too sure of the efficacy of that rem
nant. Mere numbers weuld not do ali. As
syria and Rome had numbers but thew de-
cayed, Americans were Largely sprung FROM
German stock, the best parentage In the
World Tor any nation. They also had the re-,
SUITS OF PnritgnIsm in c. nserving tho appe.
tte for good. These things in so large ma
ZION might produce saving remnant.
Mr.. Arnold, at the close OF the lecture, was
taken to the Society of Art building. Here
he was received by the committee on his on
tertAinment consisting OF the president. Mr..
W f. Gould, and Messrs. J. P. Baxter, j. G.
Stevens, G. M. Moore, B. f. Davis and w. S.
Lowell For an hour the handsomely decor
ated rooms we're flied with constant stream
oil our best people WIN, welcomed the visitor TO
our city. Among the strangers present were
ex-Fres'dent Cbamberlah, OF Bowdoin Co lege
and Professor Stanton of Bates College.
Alter the reception the go,asts of the club
became the guest of Mr.. John B., Dewitt, and
we're entertained by him at his residence on
D1er,, 'e street, in company with about twen-
- f;va otbs, gentlemen.