Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-07-24

/ LANCASTER. PA. July "a, 1890.
Culture and Criticism.


at first "a universal panaceas oracu-
lar gems in price beyond Trim and
Thummim lost 10 Israel "--have then
fallen into neglect, and finally into utter
disuse. These gospels have all con-
tanned some truth, and also, for they
were human, much error. They have
extended throughout the whole range
Of human knowledge, thought, and emo
fion, from the gospel according to Spur
hiem and Combe-the little ISM" long
since exploded, known as phrenology--
to the gospel according to Carlyle, Rus
kin, and Herbert Spencer.
Probably no very superior man or
woman--no Ruskin or Mrs. Browning,
Carlyle or George Eliot--has ever lived,
acted suffered or thought, who has not
left behind them fulsome admirers and
hypercritical or ignorant detractors, by
whom their fame, in the generation
Immediately following their own, has
greatly suffered. We have two COM
paratively recent and striking instances,
one Of silent man of action, whose
name and everything connected with it,
was presented daily in ten thousand
forms, TO all his countrymen, for months
succeeding, as well as preceding, the
time Of his death. The other was
that Of the strongest, most rugged per-
sonality in English literature within
this century. Few philosophical writer's
ever impressed their own individuality
! more strongly upon their time than did
Thomas Carlyle. A grand, rugged,
her lac, al
y human being, and like all Of us, pos
sessed his weaknesses and poor human
vanities and faults. These the world
knew MS well before he died as after,
but 10 he dies, and then comes the
deluge of post-mortcm Carlylean liten-
ture. Then
Begins the scandal aud the cry:
Proclaim the faults he would not show,
Break lock and seal, bctray the trust,
Keep nothing sacred; tits but lust
The many-headed beast should know"
But the truth all taught, rs well as
the error, too frequently dies with them.
New lights rise in the sky, the old are
forgotten. But often il is even worse
than this
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft Inferred with their bones.
This brings as to a modern gospel
preached by one Of the daintiest of mod
ern prophets. But let us not, for the
Z moment at least, let his daintiness repel
us, but see If we cannot recognize some
thing beneath the daintiness which it
may be worth our while to remember.
The prophet is-Malthew Arnold, and
kiS gospel is briefly that of culture by
way Of literature. Therefore, in order
( to comprehend our prophet, we must
hrst understand the two chief terms of
his gospel we must know what he
means by culture and what he un-
derstands by literature. Culture Is
the possession of a mind which has
been strengthened, broadened and made
generous by knowledge of the best that
has been thought and said in the world
"A mind imbued with the best literature
Of all ages by constant communion
with the greatest thinkers, poets, artists
and writers. This, then, is what he means
by culture. What is literature ? The
best, of course, that has been, in all
ages, written and said But how are
We to know what this best Is? Just
here comes in Mr.. Arnold's third term
In the syllogism of his gospel-the true
critic. That the true critic is easy TO
md Mr.. Arnold is, himself, one of the
very last of men to allege. Indeed, a
recent event in the literary world proves
Its difficulty beyond the shadow of even a
single caviling doubt. Sir John Lubbock
was asked to write list of what were,
In his opinion, the best hundred books
iB the world. And all who know any-
thing about literature, and who read his
list, were doubtless very much surprised
At many OF tho books il contained. Lists
OF books became at once the rage, and
Ruskin and many Others wrote lists of
what they regarded as the best hundred
books.
Nevertheless, these lists are valuable.
aud II we had all that were published
aud would agree to use them in our
reading, we could feel certain that we
should Ike gamers by so doing. For in
stance, we would, of course, find certain
limited number of books common 20 all
Of them. Very well, if we had not read
any Of the books contained in every one
Of these lists, we would have an excel
lent reason for reading these very books.
In each of these lists we would find
however widely they might differ in
respect to lesser authors-The Bible.
Shakespere, Homer, Dante, Milton,
Plato, Cicero, Goethe, Ceryantes' "Don
Quoixote," and perhaps Humboldt,s
Cosmos" or the works of Herbert
{ Spencer.
Thus, If criticism, unbiased by any
other motive-and in this case il would
be worthy of the greatest and noblest
minds--should coniine itself only TO
teaching us what is the best which has
been thought and written in all ages if
such criticism could finally come to be
generally relied upon, so that we could
all agree, in spite of differing tastes,
concerning what Is and what i not the
best that has been said and thought in
the world and furthermore, if we
would then all act upon our knowledge.
would we not all gain that broad, gener-
ous, literary culture, which is the end TO
be attained Would we not also all
!. owe something TO Matthew Arnold, for
thus pointing out the way to the attain
ment oil so desirable consummation
How many Of our cultured readers
are thoroughly familiar with even the
brief list of great writers which we bsys
enumerated? How many, wear after
year, pass these great works by in order
to read the trashy novel which for the
moment is I" all the rage"?
The New Soutb