, 1888-11-15
ESTHETIC BRIEFS.
Reading Matter for the Learned
and Literary.
Combined Effect of Railroads
and Dictionaries.
The Renaissance Period Foley In Re-
ligion--Wagner's Opinion OF
London Musicians.

LOnuon MuslC1ahe.
Dictionaries and railroads are improv
ing the English language; one because i,
Is common reference and guide to voca.
bularv, the other being the means of inter.
mingling people who. otherwise isolated
in sections remote from each other, would
soon drift into the use of vague, varied and
erroneous accents of words and equally ir.
regular pronunciation.
The writer hereof was not born in In.
diana; but when quite young he visited
relatives In that state. One Sunday morn.
ing, as the members Of the family with
whom | was quartered, were preparing to
attend church at neignboring village, the
eldest daughter hailed the hired man. say.
ing, Sam, gear up the critters" The
meaning of her mandate was riddle to
one who had always heard such words as
harness up the horses"
While down in Oregon recently met
and conversed with plainly-dressed man
| that took to be u rancher. His method
OF swearing without being profane sur
prised me- "pod bum it," said he, IL
sold my sheep out in Eastern Oregon, til
after election. by grape don t know
how free wool is going to affect me, and
convex it suppose III have to buy them
back again after | see how things CO."
That man is a banker-interested ia half
a dozen banks in Oregon, and no doubt
many of the readers of The REVIEW, who
are old-timers, know to whom this incl
dent refers.
Slang and vague expressions are yet in
vogue In England, but not so generally as
they were during the last century, or be.
fore the beginning of the great railroad
boorish and inelegant word. still in use
both there and in parts of the far Eastern
states, but it is found much earlier in
Robert Green's voluminous writings.
ellis slang term for the lower part
OF the face, was used with much the same
meaning by Ben johnson and Lord Bacon.
The school systems of the English race,
and the universal reading of correct sem
tences and photography in the standard
newspapers of our day, together with the
other two sdjuncts mentioned, WILL within
our common pnraseology and bring good
English into use among the people Of all
sections, however remote from each other.
THE VAIL OF WAGNER.
The music loving world adores the COM
positions of Wilhelm Richard Wagner,
and will continue to do so for all time.
But few musicians can fully master, per-
form, play or reach the maximum of the
vast scope of intention in his music. and
this difficulty was commented upon by
him in the following letter written from
London, where he was strnp.
CLING with the "Lost Chord"
as It were, amid impossibllities
Il live here like damned soul in hell.
So deep had not thought should ever
have to sink again. How miserable ap.
pear to myself holding on in this position
most repugnant to :me is indescribable.
and acknowledge that it was a true sin,
a transgression, to accept this London in.
vltatlon, which, under the most favorable |
circumstances, could only take me far out |
OF my proper path. | certainly need not |
speak to you in detail about my present |
position; it is the consequent result of the |
greatest inconsequence that | ever COM
mitted. 1t has brought me to being OBJ |
u ged to beat time for (''abdirigireu" an
English concert programme (D; Herewith |
is SAID! | have stepped into |
the middle of swamp of proprieties aud |
customs, in which must now stick fast |
over my ears, without being able to get |
the least fresh water for my relief Sir, |
we are not used to that. is the everlasting |
echo that we hear! Even the orchestra |
can offer me no compensation it consists
almost entirely of Englishmen. i. e., clever
machines who can never be put in the
right vibration; trade and business kill
everything. A public which Il am
assured-is very favoraby dis
posed to me, and yet can never be raised
out OF itself. accepts the most impressive
music just like the most tedious, without
in anyway showing that it has received
real Impression; Therefore this ridicu
Mendelssohn cult"
THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD.
Whilst this Sunday article in the RE.
VIEW Is for the learned, those whose minds
have been trained to deve the mental
rather than the physical, it may yet be
read with interest by anybody else. There
fore we shall analyze the meaning of the
ambiguous word renaissance.
1t Is used in various senses, but gener.
ally looked upon as one portion Of long
continuous movement. the aim of which
was to preserve and to advance European
culture-a movement divisible indeed,
so far as the eighteenth century, into
three periods, yet only intelligible when \
considered in its continuity.
We have, hope, outgrown the narrow
fashion OF terming these three periods the
Dark Ages, the Middle, and the Renais.
sance; we recognize. though perhaps in.
sufficiently, that cultmre-to use perforce
another word which is also unsatisfactory,
As denotinR processes rather than results
that culture is single development, ad-
vancing and receding. checked and accel.
grated, but that it is never strictly Rem.
aissance; that knowledge is never strictly
born again. To culture, the somewhat
phrase evolution may be ap.
piled with full and indisputable right.
Mental life, like physical has at mo time |