New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-16
NOTES FROM LONDON.

DR. JOSEPH PARKER'S VIEWS OF
COMMERCIAL RELIGION AND
OF PROFITABLE SER
MON-PREACHING.
London November 80.
The Sneaker la lent the weight OF MS name 10
rho crushing Of the Hon. Ignatius Donnelly @nd
HE crvn,ocram II was not needed but 1t Is well
co,ne because there are always people Win
whom authority counts for more than evidehce'
Mr. Donnelly's absurdities have been exposed
over and over again. They were disposed OF once
for all by the Rev Dr. Nicholson in his pamphet
"No Cryptogram in Shakespeare Even
nonnhlet was more than Mr.. Donnellys TWO DIG
and bulky octave volumes of elaborate nonsense
deserved Nevertheless, Mr.. Speaker Is OF opi'i-
ion that Dr. Nicholson performed uselul str
vice: that he not a Don QulNo'e u''i"s a.
u;nam,,,s but was once for all dispensing very
dangerous error I'm that most admirapie anu
nains,aking pamphlet Dr. Nicholson examined
every item in Mr. Donnelly's statement ana
moved them all to be absolutely fictitious
No doubt that is a service to those VINO COME
IN this subject with an open mind II an! SUI"
there be 1t may prevent some persons iro'" W.
ing fooled by Mr. Donnelly. Those VINO are "
termined to be deceived will be deceived al '''e
same \ man who has once given III his "u"e''0
TO a theory does not always. nor perhaps genera
- withdraw it because the theory is proven !"
no absurd Mr. Peel remarked on the shsuiaii''
Of the fact that in past times some men III very
h;.h nos,,ion had imbbed the notion that Snake
speare was not written by SHAKESPEARE
NOS schoolbov of whom the Speaker may not
have heard who. in answering an eNd'iii'a''o"
paper. said that Homer was not write" o'
Iy,r,or hut nv another man of the same name
Ubether this was real or imaginary schoo'oo!
Ydo not know He was in either case, more Una"
a match for Mr.. Donnely
The occasion which brought out the opeaNe'
was the presentation of an lumi'a'e"
70 Dr. Nicholson in the Councii Cha'hoe' " ~
Town Hall bennington: In recognize" - 80"
services in pulverizing Mr.. Donnei!' o'' "' Wv
Sneaker put ii, in destroying most rin''u."'
fiction That is we'll 1t is well also u 0o"'
the danger of giving fresh life 10 "c"oN ~
ruo,.,rs A. n he fiction Next to the schooiooy
whom I have quoted Sir Arthur Hodssoh sum
mary Of the controversy is perhaps the most COM
p,ete: gentlemen. they say that SHAKESPEARE
never wrote Shakespeare and Bacon was III.
.u,hor Relieve me- gentlemen. 1t is all CANNON
put nuns are only permissible In desperate
circumstances Mr. Donnelly's book was founoeu
unon n theory Of italics. APPROXIMATION pas'ha
tion. and other mysteries of misprintng "ii'"
no man could have conceived VINO Khe" any INNS
abou, the facts Of printing in the carry part Va
the seventeenth century. II was based upon du
snlute ignorance. 1t has its dupes. perhaps sun
has perhaps will have. But when man mas
made up his mind TO believe IN so'he'''''e Az,
which there is evidence. the processes ~
resso, seldom have much effect on his credulity'
Or John SHELTON contributes to the December
"Blackwood" some interesting "reminiscences Oh
Mr. Froude. of whose letters he has great num-
Der These he describes as covering VIDE ra"ee
literature history. poetry. philosophy anu pom
tics-and some Of them are given In this arucie'
There are many good passages Froude never
took conventional view nor said Things III
commonplace way When. for example Mrs'
crundv and her pack were in full cry after Mr.
Swinburne Mr.. Froude. admitting that there Is
much in the new volume which Is oooectionaoie
aao,,nes N toin in the pursuit The Saturday
Review was Just then presenting itseir 10
dazzled public as champion Of virtuous propr'-
ety. Said Mr. Froude: THE Saturday Reviews
temperament is ten thousand times more Gamma
BILE than the worst of Swinburnes skts" Amen
Then follows this characteristic comment
Modern responsibility is so utterly witnou.
God. faith. heart; IL shows so singular ihseiiu.,!
in assailng and injuring everything tnat Is NOPE
and good and so systematic preference Tor
what is mean and paltry. that am not SURPRISED
at young fellow dashng his heels INTO 'he l az
Of IT, II he is to be cut up Tor what ne mas
done / would lay the blaine far more heaVhy on
others than on him. and l would select and es-
pecially praise the many things which highly
deserve praise Where there is any kind of true
genius we have no right to drive 1t mad
Whererpon Mrs. Grundy and the Philistnes
generally will naturally turn and reno MT
Froud- Responsibility stands aghast when any
body attacks it: cannot understand why 1t Is not
always respected or respectable and avenges
itself in it's own way on him who has too clear
vision of things they are Mr. SW1nDurne mas
in part outgrown the odium which fastened on
him in those earlier days Here. in monarchical
England. it Is his Repubcanism which Is more
often remembered against him than his offences
against the conventional Probably the two are
connected I'm the mind Of the average Philistne.
and either would be sufficient 10 explain why ne
is not Poet Laureate: suppos.ng he cared to be.
which it is said he does not he has been dry
nursed by Mr. Theodore Watts into respectable
ity.
It is interesting TO find Froude expressing an
opinion on poet so totally unlike Mr.. Swim
burne as Mr.. Browning:
know very little OF Browning's poetry. but
Browning himself I admire extremely, and
have often wished for leisure to read him. |
tried "Paracelsus twenty years ago unsuccess-
fully. and this: suppose, has prevented me from
exciting myself about him as ought
But Brownings verse!-with intellect. thought,
power, grace. all the charms in detail which
poetry should have It rirgs after all like bell
Of lead.
Perhaps never before has Browning been
summed up accurately, nor the want OF
melody in him denoted by happier image than
the "bell of lead
And again on Matthew Arnold: "He knows
that he is strongest In criticism and therefore
cares most TO be praised for his verses The
Judgment Is dlsputable; Froudes knowledge OF
human nature Is not
Or this on two great public men. Froude said
7 do not love Beaconsfed. but love Gladstone