New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-04

e. The Macmillan Company.
1t Is a pleasant thing to have Mr. John Morley
emerge from the atmosphere OF politics which
has never quite fitted him and resume his old
vocation of a Of letters 1t has been un-
nece..ar.ly long sinss tle cutie e Eol.aire and
Rousseau and Nauvonarguos has gwen US
taste Of his literary quality. 1t would be all
very well if he had been giving to party what
was meant for mankind-we might at least have
read his speechcs-but nothing he has done in
Parliament has been eloquent Of the John Nor
ley who some eight or ten years ago was
tent with the triumphs of a student. His lect-
Ure on Machiavel however shows that his
artistic faculties have not slept. 1t is an ad-
mlrab,e essay, with less epigram than might
have been expected. but with all the old clarity
ard all the old power Of Selling the attention
and holding it. If some doubt is entertained Il.
to the wisdom Of Mr.. Morley's having devoted
himself to the exploitation OF an arid theme, 1t
may be rctOrted that he proves very quickly
the fallacy of the traditional idea concerning
Machiavol who is not arid at all. but a source
o. modern inspiration for modern men. There
is a curious indispOsiton abroad to grant the
old Italian his rightfu merits. This may have
been comprehensive twenty-five years age. but
more recently there las been so large litera-
ture Of intelligence and sympathy forming
around Machiavel that it is inexcusable TO
weigh him in the old scales of narrow Oistrust
Villari's Life and Times alone ought to have
taught people better what to think about the
enigmatic author Of i Principe" and there have
been editions Of that profound work. like Mr.
Burds, with Lord Acton's scholarly preface,
from which saner idea of Machiavelli should
have been imbibed Nevertheless, Mr.. MORLEY
speaks in this lecture of his seekng
above all things to set his hero right before the
world
In q certain sense Machiave could not be his
hero The word implies set of characteristics
which Mr.. Morley would be the last one to claim
for the willy Florentine diplomat and secretary.
He admits frankly that "Machiavelli not
meant either by temperament or principle to be
willing martyr. Nobody had in him less
Of the stole; his private character was not more
austere than the Italian morality of his day"
But Mr. Morley wisely lays stress upon the
quality Of that morality and takes pains to show
us that If Machiavei took a loose view of the
obligations Of Christian gentleman 1t was be-
cause neither he nor many Of his contempo-
raries pretended to know anything about the
traits Of such individual. The Renaissance
was frankly pagan. There was much piety, no
doubt. and good deal OF it in the earlier
devotional art of the time. but when Mr.. Morley
tells us that what distinguishes the italian
Renaissance from such epochs Of luxury and
corruption as the French Regency Is sublime
contempt of human life. a fury Of private
venge, a spirit of atrocious perfidy and crime.
we begin to blame Machiavelli less and his time
more. He was, after all, man Of the fifteenth
century. He must be judged accordingly. "Ital-
ian society,"" says Symonds, speaking Of this era.
admired the bravo almost as much as imperial
Rome admired the gladiator: it assumed that
genius combined with force of character re-
leased men from the shackles of ordinary mo-
rality" Is it any particular wonder that Machia-
velli was in agreement with feelings shared by
the whole civilization Of his day? And there is
this to be said to his credit: Cynical as he may
have become. he, at any rate. kept his hands
clean. Whether he would have restrained him
self in the face of great temptation we do not
know If his friend Cesar Borgia had put a
band Of mercenares at his disposal to use for
his own purposes he might have attempted to
put into practice the ideas which he developed
in his most famous work But this seems hardly
credible. He a bookish man, and had no
taste himself for the violence which he con-
donos 50 placidly in others. The notion which
for some time obtained credence that he had had
a hand in Borgia's vile coup at Sngaglia has
long since been exploded. The true temper Of the
man is revealed in this passage from letter
written at the farm of san CascianO, to which
he had Withdrawn upon the fall Of the popular
PARTY in l512 After describing his rural pur-
suits. and especially his wrangling games with
The people Of the countryside, he says
''When evening falls - home and enter my
writing room. On the threshold put off my
country habit, filthy with mud and mire. and