New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-18
THE HJMANIST.

THE HCMAN1ST.
II was as a personality that Jowett couh'eu
first and last his scholarship great as II was
being interpenetrated with the vitality OF MS
nature In fact ii just this fusion OF the
man with the student that made him great LII
England this has been curiously overlooked at
times There have been many capuous critics
Of his plato" Even to-day there are patroniz-
ing remarks on his fame, and the publication in
London Of the present Life fortnight or so
ago, provoked more than one solemn shake OF
the head. Messrs. Abbott and Campbell have
been blamed for filling two stout octavos with
their record Jowett was not so great as all
that. they were owllshly Informed. Partly this
attitude has sprung from Jowetts history IN
respect 10 theology. His share in the prepare
ton of the famous Essays and Reviews mas
been remembered more or less vindictlvey' even
by those who pretend TO regard 1t as having
been unduly magnfed in the eyes OF the world
Theological controversy always leaves deep
mark in England, and Jowetts hberahty MS
contumacy. as some would call IL, mas not peei
entirely forgiven yet But still more mas uepie
citation Of his eminence arisen from msunder-
standing Beloved as he was, there WERE never
theless few Englshmen. even among his friends,
who realized that they had in Jowett that rarest
of social phenomena. a true. in fact remarka-
DIV symmetrical humanist He was that mucn
more than he scholar translator
teacher or an administrator. He was, indeed
all of these things in a peculiarly complete and
successful way just because he was humanls''
Just because he that humansn. 10 reahze
ITSELF must mean much more tran classical
learning. as a superficial culture would inter-
pref IL to mean. Jowetts humanism was per-
feet fulflment Of the promise of the term
drenching Of his life and mind in the humanities,
an absorption of his genius in tic whole move
nent of human life There is flavor of pa
ganism about the epithet. Perhaps that IS the
reason why it was never applied to him by
his countrymen. But they were not likely 10
think of It, Jowetts tremendous force as a
man they could and did value highly. to an ex-
tent I'm fact unparalleled in the annals OF uni
versity life. Jowett's personal charm was also.
as has been indicated above, probably his strong
est hold upon his time. But the Engilsh genius
is slow to recognize an expression OF itself which
is varied mobile. many-sided In the sense which
the phrase would carry in France. Jowett was
much in sympathy with the French, he would
sometimes go so far to say that Voltaire
"had done good than all the Fathers or
the Church put together" and his own charac-
ter had a Gallo fiexibllity and breadth. 1t is
the more surprising that this should have been
the case when it is remembered that he was all
and. at times. prejrdiced man. But where OK
ford was entertaining in him an angel unawares
was in fostering temperament almost alien In
some ways to its immutable traditions. Jowett
founded tradition of his own.
He was great Platonist, but greater as an
avatar Of the philosopher himself; raising the
literature Of the latter TO higher power ana
living what other men theoriZed about. his
scholarship has often been mpugned because he
dealt inadequately or arbitrarily with some OF the
mint and cummin Of the Republic or the Dla-
logues" but here again the odd spectacle
TO which we have referred, the spectacle OF a
scholar only partly understood being crltic'seo
in pedantc matters when the whole drift of his
genius was tremendously toward the goal WIN
which his critics thought they were concerning
themselves To test this in the simplest and
most direct manner the reader has only to
traverse the literature of Plato and recall the
men who have identified themselves with his
principles Jowett is first, and the rest nowhere.
and the point TO his pre-emnence lies In Its de-
rivation not merely from his published work.
but from all the relations Of his life. He him
self was fain TO believe that he had used his lie
not wisely but too well. He was fond OF sue
cess and tried to succeed. He died with some
Of that sense OF having achieved less than his
goal. which is the birthright Of every ambitious
man. But he died, too, murmuring Mine mas
been a happy lfe bless God for my life and
the reader Of his biography gives wider appl!-
cation 10 the lines than Jowett would have been
disposed to permit. He could not, or, at any
rate, did not know how rounded out his life had
been, how from the beginning to the end his
course had been, for all its frequent storms as
strong and secure as that Of Tennysons tidal
sea- "too full for sound foam" He would
have suspected that perhaps his contemporaries.
more especially his Juniors. had been justified
In their contributions to the Jowett apochrypha,
saying things in fun which he would have hum
bly, admitted to be but too true. And he was not
without the complacency with which he has been
SO often charged Professor Abbott tells story
of his friends last days in which one
the delicately egotistic expression of the Mas
ter's face: ION one occasion when he en-
tering the gate Of Wytham Park he suddenly
remembered that in old days he had the entree'
Of the place; he leaned forward and said to the
woman who kept the lodge, L have permission
TO come in, do you know me? / am Professor
Jowett'-pause: L am the Master of Ballot
pause. till the woman answered. I don't know
you, sir: but, Lord bless you. II doesn't matter
who you are, you come in here" In an
episode like this Jowett could be complacent
enough In his cherubic way, and enough has
been said about his conversational methods to
excuse the ribald person who assumed to take
Jowett saying: What i know not is not
knowledge" But 1t is idle to judge specifically
. man like the Master of Baiol. Go to the root
l.Aa