New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-06-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
posTHUMOUs ESSAYS IN A DOMAIN
RARELY INVADED.

I-or will he able to read the papers III ''iiS
volume without regret that the author Is "o'
s,,li alive to complete the plans which seem u
have been in his mind A forgotten h'erd'"''
restored to little purpose unless there De o'o"t"'
80, - u,a with II a vivid conception OF the
age which created IT. Most people enter ''in
groun ~ opinions about the Middle Ages which
Z, wound be fattery to describe as supersu'io"s'
There seems to be in their minds sort OF chasnn
he,vasn modern and medieval times as II some
~, tho course of time had been completely
s,onned for longer than Joshuas great day IN the
Valley ~ Aialon and as II the world had sud
danIv taken a new start on A new line OF progress
about the time OF the Reformation or the dis
coverv ~ America AS a matter OF fact, there
has been no interruption. The world Is JUST the
same old Truepenny that 1t was when people
were looking for II 10 come TO an END IN the year
1000 II ore puts his ear TO the ground ne can
hear exactly the same kind Of prophecies ABOUT
Tho calamity n come in the year ZOO that people
talked millennium ago But humanity now mas
had more ancestors than II ever had before. Its
heritage Is so much the greater. and 1t has just
now turned its thoughts 10 a single aspect OF the
universe the material world. with wonderful sue
cess II congratulates itself on its improve
ment in virtue. but il should humbly give thanks
for being released from temptation such as its
forefathers were not strong enough to with
stand. Nothing shows more quickly than
study Of literature the essential unity and I'M
changeableness Of human nature. 1t has fash
ions in its way of saying things. so that one
age-for example the nineteenth century-talks
smartly about the rudeness and lack Of style in
other ages. but when YOU strip of the garments
Of fire phrase the substance Of what is said is
the same.
In an essay on THE Medieval Feeling for
Nature Professor Mclaughlin showed how the
active out-of-door life of people in the medieval
period deadened the sensitiveness 10 natures
moods and beauties felt. at least expressed. In
modern times He seemed to imply that the
change took place first Of all in the mind Of
PetrarCh, and described at length the ascent
which that poet made to the summit Of Mount
Ventoux near Avignon. Looking over the vast
landscape Petrarch at first overwhelmed by
It. Then he studied II in detail; then he INDUCED
In classical Renaissance; and finally taking out
Of his pocket copy Of ST Augustine's Confessions
he restored himself 10 the normal medieval con-
ception that the human soul outvalues all ma
terial things and that mountains are trifes COM
pared with the sublime dignity Of man. The
critic cortrasted these thoughts OF Petrarch with
those Of Wordsworth TO show how far apart is
the piety of the two poets" The spirit with
analogy between human emotions ana The phe-
nornena Of the world without us" Professor Nc
Laughlin thought TO be new TO literature. He
exemplifed from a wide range Of reading how
little sympathy with nature was shown by poets,
whether scholarly or popular. in old times. In
accounting for the defect he pointed out how
limited was the number Of those who left their
thoughts in writing In the face OF all fne-spun
theories on the subject this very simple thought
seems 10 be a good solution OF the problem
Macaulav led the way in saying that man began
to love the stern aspects Of nature only after ne
mastered her Others have seen in the methoos
of modern science the training for the new SEN
stiveness TO nature. But just as Professor NC
Laughlin said. Many through the centuries
before our later ease Of publication, may have felt
the modern sensations without ever putting thein
into words" Literature was the product OF ."o
classes in the Middle Ages-of scholars 10 whom
II became a habit from the training when they
received and Of those inspired creatures VINO
were driven by a will not their own. There was
not on earth anything 10 compare with the
modern dilletante. who is forever on .he strain
for new sensation or the new shade OF sensa-
,,on 7, is n the minute labors Of these writer's.
he minor poets. the writers OF forgotten nc'ion'
ne delicate essayists whose work was too fragile
acknowledges and never has paid Somebody
might do a good turn by taking Darwn's essay
n, earthworms as a model and writing on the in
run,era BILE multitude Of authors who have created
the soil and the atmosphere for modern lterat-
ure Great authors are apt TO he significant
onlv bv showing how far the world has moved IN
g. given direction They are landmarks. But the
little authors are the makers OF the lana lseH'
Now there were in this sense no little authors III
the Middle Ages. One could count on the nnsets
all the writer's OF those centuries in whom
genius was replaced by senslbility. II the ques-
ton be raised how much genius there j.
In the poems which Professor Mclaughlin
discussed In successive essays-Clrlch Won
Iiechtenstein, Neidhart Won Reuenthai' or
we;rher the Gardener-the proper reply Will De
the tn ouoque; five hundred years from no" no"
nuch genius will be decphered In the Things
which we admire to-day! 1t would be invidious
IN specify. But II you try to make your library
Of recent authors satisfactory to the coming man.
Won will soon find that small purse ana ie"
shelves will suit your purpose.
The value OF these authors whom rroieSsoi
Mclaughlin has reviewed lies In the fact tha'
,ho,. ,,eat two paramount objects They salts
aed their own age and they reveal that age ~
raoasrs q, later times The courty hfe the
rude nobility and the peasantry the wiz Iree-
booter. all stand living before our eyes IN 'he
few pages which Professor Mclaughlin deVo'eu
TO each OF them. He could not claim 70 90 this
purely by an effort Of his own intelligence lie
has simply chosen from these old poets the pas
sages which renew the ancient life for his read
ers Fortunately. he had taste and skill Tor
translation in we'll as for prose. Many
Of the fragments which he has turned into Eng
fish metre will live long, apart from the repu'e
OF the authors whom he followed, simply because
he has put new beauty in them. They Will help
10 keep alive the feeling Of unbroken continuity
In the history OF the race which VIII be found
sooner or later to be indispensable to the proper
s,udv OF man. The division Of the life Of the
world into epochs is we'll enough In It's way, but