Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-12-25
SUBLIME NONSENSE.
THE HIGHLY IMPORTANT PART "
PLAYS IN LITERATURE.
Quotations TO sustain This--shatespeares
Fools" Mrs. NIckieby "-Physioiogist
Okin's suaIl-Harvey and JenDer
To ne Editor Of he Dispdtch:

One of our most distinguished college
presidents. IN commenting upon certain
view which he thought proper to oppose
called IL view full of the subllmest
nonsense" Rev. Tiberius G.. Jones, IN re-
plying to the president, reproduces tho
phrase "sublimest nonsense" and adds
the words whatever that may be-" FROM
these last few words one would naturally
suppose that the critic is skeptical rs TO
the existence of sublime nonsense" or
that he doubts whether nonsense Is ever
sublime. -.
1t is not my purpose to take sides on TINS
question. when two such masters OF
thought and of style as Tlberius Jones and
+. q. Robinson are engaged feet disposed
TO say, 1T Is o very pretty hght a. !.
stands, and will not spoil 1t by meddnng;
Still, the controversy suggests tho hehly
important part which nonsense has played
in our literature.
Shakspeare's fools" are characters who
play no mean parts III several of bis most
magnificent dramas. These fools " were
professional nsense-makers, and were
employed. encouraged, paid, and petted
by mobiles and kings. What would king
Lear" be without the "fool"?
But leaving out the professional fools"
rs well as all the nonsense which Shake
speare Intentionally wrote to amuse. II IS
clear that nonsense is sometimes the best
sort of sense. II this we're not true, how
could 1t ever be right to answer fool
according to his folly? and how could
Paul say. - speak as q fool"! Did not
Elijah do Just this when he tauntngly
said: Cry aloud for he is god; either
he is talking or he ia pursuing, or no IS on
! a journey. or peradventure he sleepetn
and must be awaked."
hot lnVA
Shakespeare's authority for the false and
foolish maxim, There IS nothing IN
name" But look at the facts: Miss Juliet,
q sweet little love-sick girl, Is desperately
in love with q hereditary enemy OF her
house, and as his name was an ugly fact IN
her way. she attempted to reason herself
into the belief that the name was of no
consequence. In this frame Of mind she
asks, Whats in a name?" and adds the
rather irrelevant remark. "A rose by any
other name would smell as sweet" Inc
dramatlst shows his sense by making the
love-sick girl talk nonsense. And what
power Miss Juhet's nonsense has been IN
the world!
Campbell, in his fine work on the PhilosO-
ply of Rhetoric, gives some space to the
discussion of nonsense, and the space IS
/ by no means wasted. He quotes from the
"Teutonic 1heosophlst y q remarkable pas
sage, which TO most readers VIII oe IN
mltIgated nonsense: "All the voices OF
/ the celestial JOyfulness qualify, COM
mix. and harmonic II the fire, which
/ was from eternity IN the good quality
/ If any reader should conclude that this
| sentence % when written was mere
piece Of rigmarOle, with no attempt at
meaning, thai reader would be wide OF the
mark. for u was written by Jacob BOehm,
who certainly was not fOollng, but meant
to mean something.
Whether any human being not pro-
nounced idiot ever talked the hopelesslY
inane and dresry drawl which Mrs.
Mcklebyn always talks in one Of Dick
enss finest novels Is question which, 10
the credit or human nature, feel much
inclined TO answer IN the negative; and,
after somewhat careful study OF the sub
ject. | am convinced that the great
novelist, in creating such character,
committed serious breach OF the prlncl-
pies of his art. "Barnaby Budge" IS lad
enough. but Mrs. Nickeby" Is intolera-
bic. She Is, perhaps, the most portentouS
bore IN all English fiction; and Vet,
figuring as she does IN one OF the most
wldely-read Of all Dickens's marvellous
creations. % Mrs. Elckeby." with her nom
sense. influences larger mass Of English
Speaking people than does the magnlh-
cent imagery OF the "Faerie Queene," or
the sublime eloquence OF " Samson Ago
uIs:cs.'
Alrs Nickleby's nonsense was written 70
amuse; but there Is good deal OF serious
literature from which tho general reader
cen extract no meaning. Note the follow
ing sentences ~: Man IS the whole OF
acknowledgements however, out or
all numters-he can, therefore, produce
numbers out of himself Arithmetic -
the truly-absolute or divine science. he
olOZy Is arithmetic persOnlned.' for
God 20 become real, He must appear un-
der the form of sphere. here IS no
other form for GOd. God Is rotating
globe: the world Is God rotating" " Self,
CONSCIOUSNESS 10 living clllpse.'
"Gazlng upon snail, one believes that
be finds the prophesylrg goddess sitting
upon the tripod. What majesty IS IN
creeping snail What reflection, what
earnestness, what tlmldity, and yet ct tho
same time what firm confidence Surely
a snail is an exalted symbol of mind SUM-
berlng deeply within itself"
Now, If some drunken idiot, with a
"mind slumbering deeply within itself
under the fumes of bad whiskey, had got
OF such stun as this we might perhaps ac-
count for il, but these quotations are from
a sober treatlse-namely, the pnyslophl-
losophy OF Professor Lorenz Okln, of Hu-
rich a very able and learned man, IN emf
nent physiolOglst, to whom science Is IN
debted for i'm Dortant discoveries IN era
Iut intended to say what seemed TO him 10
have n serious meaning. WHAT he ex-
pected his readers TO learn from such
I8rgon the present writer can by no means
divine.
The cultivated Atheniaus thought that
Paul Was utterIng nonsense when he rea;
soned IN the market-place. Ihey called
him "babbler."
Festus thought that Paul was talking
nonsense when the Apostle was preaching
the resurrection. and the Roman Judge
pronounced the Jewish secretary crazy.
What the Corinthlan critics called the
foohshness of preaching" the inspired
APOSTLE called "the power of God and the
wisdom of God"
DR.. Harvey discovered and published
the fact of the circulation OF the blood.
and lost his practice by his nonsense"
Jeuner worked out his theory Of Yaccina-
ton, and was called fool for his pains.
The nonsense" of yesterday Is the
science of to-day. j. {. Hidden.
RlchmOHd, Va.
A ppINCEcS,G TROUSSEAJ