The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-11-01


onablo hcr to compute with accuracy her gaini
and losses at tho hazard or faro tublcs
Any lady Of ton IN the last century who could
| road tocrably we'll and who could legiblJ
| write her own nnn,e. was sct down by all whose
opinion wns worth having as alearned woman
II sho was further equal to the feat OF occa.
sionaily indiotinx vivncious epistie. she wnf
universally acknowledged brilliant wit
Undor my circumstances her cducstion wns
considered finished when sho had completed
hor sixteen year Thereafter che passed into
London or provincial society. where her chiei
ond aud aim was TO display what attractions
she possessed 10 tho best possible advantage,
| and tn contract a marriage with some person
Of quality without delay.
PASSING TO the two national universities. It is
cvidont that they did not during tho Georgian
era answer eithor VI the purposes Of acad-
emlcai institutions They were neither eli.
Client instructors OF youth. nor were they foci
OF Enlightenment DR.. johnson. who entered
Pembroke College. Oxford. in 1753 tolls us
that his tutor asked him why he had boon ab.
sent from lectures for many successive days
II answered had been sliding In Christ
Church meadow. And this said with as
much nonchalance MS ON now talking to
you" In 1853 tho Earl OF Chcstofleld wrote:
"Whon took my son AWAY from school re-
| solved 10 send him directly abroad. No had
been at Oxford myself" Writing from Christ
Church In 1895 to his irlood Gray. the poot.
West saya: Consider mo very seriously here
in strange country. Inhabited by things that
col! themselves doctors and masters OF arts: a
country flowing with sylloaisn,s and alo. whore
Horace and Virgil are equally unknown"
This description Of Oxford ia matched by tho
irony Of Gray. who. roforrlug 10 Cambridge
a. IL was In his day says: "Surely II was Of
this place. now Cambridge. but formerly known
By tho name Of Babylon. that the prophet
spoke whom he said tho Wild boasts OF tho dos
ert sl,nll dwell thc-c. and their houses shall no
full Of doleful croaturo.. md owls shall bulll
thore, and satyrs shall dance thsre thor forts
and towcrs shall be den forever. a Joy OF wild
asses." &c. Gibbon tells us in his mcmoirs
that tho yoar and two months he spent at Mag
dalen College. Oxford. wore the most idle and
improbable OF his whole life. and he ndds, to
tho University Of Oxford acknowledge NO OBJ
legation; mud she will as chcorfully rcnolnco
me for n son as I mn willing to disclaim her for
mother" That Gibbon Ind warrant for
Interpretation is acknowledged by the present
Warden Of Merton College. Oxford lie finds
| Gibbons estimate OF tho university In the mid
| die OF the last century confirmed Ly IN ex-
| animation OF tho ncademical record. II we
may Judge by the statistics OF inctriculntioE
the nation at large had lost confidence III Or
ford instruction. It 10 equally certain that
Oxford contributed fur less than in former
nges to politics or religion. Notwithstanding
the adverse testimony OF tho poet Gray. due
partly perhaps to his dislike for mathematics,
| there Is reason to believe that in intellectual
attachments Oxford was outstripped BY Cam
bridge during the eighteenth century. Wemay
note finally that at both Oxford and Cambridge
| the undergraduates dressed regularly for din
| ner in white wnistcoats, white stockings, and
low shoes. and wore their wigs. fully combed.
| cured. and powdered. A powdering room was
to be found in every ell-regunted house. It
is scarcely necessary to add that hard drink
ing was the besetting sin OF university socl-
ETY. In the Georgian era What the average
Oxford undergraduates propensities were In
| tho reign Of George l. may be inferred from
| "Reminiscences OF Dr. johnson. who had been a
| needy student in a by no means opulent col
lege. He told Boswell that he remembered
when at Pembroke College drinking three
bottles OF port at sitting without feeling
much the wose6 Tor it NJ. VIII
Won Moltke's Histsry OF the aaeo.Germnn
| War.
One Of the most important military histories
which has ever been given to the world is The
| account Of The Franco German War by Count
| Won MoLTKE. an English translation Of which
has Just been published by the Harpers. This
narrative Of great events by the chief motor in
| them must always occupy a conspicuous
place in the small class Of frst-hand authorl-
! ties to which Cpsar's commentaries on the
Gallo wars and the autobiosraphies OF Grant
and Sherman belong. Tho data furnished by
such works are OF imperishatle value. however
divergent and even conflicting may be the
deductions drawn from them by subsequent
expounders Of their military and political
| significance. In one respect this book by
| the organizer Of his country's triumph in
the Franco-German war bears u singularly
close resemblance to the work of the great
Roman General. It Is marked by the
same simplicity one might almost say
austerty. Of treatment and by the samo near
approach to placement OF the writer's por-
sonaity. In the one case us in the other. the
use OF the flrst personal pronoun Is vigorously
avoided. and the render who had no other
| sources OF information would DO as unlikely to
divine tho role Of Won Moltko In tho cam
palgns of 1901 rs he would to guess from
| the famous commentaries tho part which
Caesar played upon the same stage Of action
some nineteen centuries before.
Tho species OF noble pride which benrs the
outward somblarce OF humility md makes
men OF tho 3lnltke type shrink from, Il recital
| OF thoir own achievements. was not easily re-
| conc!cu TO the composition even Of so cold
and coioyless II record Us that which ~ now
laid before us. We learn from the preface
that no had oiton bacn l!npultuncd In vain TO
| hlnku uso OF his leisure hours at his country
place In noting down some " his recollec-
tlona lilo always objected. We arc told. in
tho following words: Everything official
| that have hua OCCASION to write. or that is
| worth remembering. ID t., b. snan in the
| archives Of thu stat Corps. Ny personal en-
| porcnccs had nnitnr Do buried with mo" For
| memoirs in general he NAT. TN aversion OIL the
ground that thoy only served 70 crafty the
writer's vanity and often contributed to listo.t
| important historical events by the subjective
viows OF m individual and tho intrusion OF
| trivial details. 1t could easily happen. he
| thought. thnr tho character Of a man which
| should IN history stand forth in august SIM
plicity might 10 hidcoIsly disllgured by the
narrative ri cortain personal experiences. and
TINT tho idcn halo which hn'l surrounded hp
;pbk lana i,.,i oat