New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-31

the forty seventh proposition oil Eucn' "ooi"'0'
was poor creature n mere chattcieI' WE" sPe"'
his life talking to no purpose-chol'Pi"s los'r ~
;he mere sake of argument Gree" uas'"s
somewhat better Acschylus is va 'rulS sis"n'''
man one Of the LARGEST characters ever Known
and all whose movements are clumsy anu husc'
like those Of son of Anall" Then the Antigone
If Sonboclcs i the finest thing Of the KIND ever
skctchcd by man" Euripdes is called rl'h'f
sensat,oual and vain writer. With the Romans
he is more at home. The Greeks lie compares ~
thu. Frrnch who. he declares. have produced 10
msn q ocnius The Greeks, he thinks, may DC
called qhc children Of antiquity, but the Romans
were the men of antiquity. lheV were suons
and they were thrifty-cardinal virtues poth III
tho cvcs of Thomas Carlyle for as ne says, UNIT
we'll understood, includes IN ltscil the ues' Nl'"''
that a man can have in this world" ard again, IL
is the foundation of all manner oil virtue III d
rotion Corl,lc's ideas of the aggrcsSons OF
Rome do moi consort very we'll with his views
on the course of the French Revolution. lie
iustiGcs the Romans on the characteristic plea
that they were wiser than the nations they con
oucrcd Thus for instance, No one would WISH
10 sec some fool wandering ahout at ms own Will
and without any restraint or direction; we must
admit il 70 be far better for him If some wise
man were TO take charge of him, even though by
lOIct, dilHOu-u Ni"i '''Ni' NV :" N~
operation
In the Middle Ages the great phenomenon was
tbe triuuph of Belief over Unbelcf according TO
CARLYLE and this greatness had no relation TO the
character Of the belief that trlumPhed' Douu',
this strange philosopher asserts, IL W ho
STATE" IT, is a state Of mental paralNss-a llghJ
painful state Of mind, one which the healthy man
won't entertain M all but if lie can 90 nothing
better with il. dismiss il altogether lhc tIlhing
fact that all intellectual progress has been duc 10
his morbid state" is nothing 10 Carlyle
pclicf-no matter in what's the indication ana
The cause of health ana when we sec II IN Mhol'
world we may be sure that the world Is ape 10
saw and Ia do something. Whether the Mldue
ACES were a period of universal belief - ducs-
thn regarding which much might be sald, plt IT
i NOT worth while 10 enter upon II. On" Oh thc
besf things in these lectures is the appreciation
of Dante vet many may demur 10 the eStlm'.te-
AcSchylus. Dante, ShakcSpc irc-Onc really IAN
not add another greater name to th'SVi VIZ
really might. without much difficulty sA!lStlthic
Il greater name for the first but perhaps ,arlIic
was not altogether serious 40 lllS pun" ~
Spanish literature he appears TO Know Only
Ccrvantos Lopc dc Vega and Caldcr0n ana not
much concerning either of tile two lattcr. TN M
notes to this lecture Professor brcchc cdllouSA
recommends TO inquircrS Boutcrwak Il''or! vi
Spanish Literature" instead Of llcknors iar
siipcrior work. Crryantcs he praises almost iul-
scmcly, and accords him a place and influence
never certainly, allowed him by hls own coII-
Coming down 70 English literature we are not
surprised to find Carlyle canonizns John hhoN'
and irving him character whlch II" serious NE
torian has indcr7rd. bat see Professor "ic,h'
noe, on this subject. Milton the lecturer Gid not
symlathiz, with. He was polcmical altogether ;
d" Paradise Lost j. artificial, almost wooden :;
there j. no life in Niiton'S characters, and 80
forth Swift gets sunc justice. and Or. johnson
more. Hume i, praised. and ''ibhon deprecated
or course Goethe receives liberal ana large tf''t
ncnt. brt thc uerrowncss of tie general view Is
vel Indicated in CarlylrS conclusion that wh't
lie calls tho cia Of si,cptci.m ended with Ncrih'r-
ism According 70 him in ! SIS thrlStcndon llid
returned or wa returning - or: of belief
hn,y docs The history of the human NINA duIluE
the last haifccnturv bear out this belief lhr
general trend of -" lectures il toward an OPP
iim.m which their author certainly ana not lph3
tain: but they are not clearly thou ght ont: ihcN
are often .scf-contradictOry thcH JaI['ncnt- IRE
often crude or even fnntasti". and II j. 'iicN!t
20 mt them down without recurring 10 the suSpl-
cion mentioned ~ the beginning oi t'is review
ramrlv. the suspicion that Carlyle had the i"s'
81 reasons for declining 10 place them among his
other works. The notes II Professor Greene are
scholarly and Helpful