The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-13

| concentrating process will not be accom-
| plished without an admixture of salutary
| and accepted pain" Prayers for the de-
parted would be n natural Inference from
| this doctrine. Accordingly, the Church
| has walked in the path opened for 1t by St.
| Pau! through his prayer in behalf OF One
| siphorus." Canon MacColl remembers
| Gladstone saying years ago that he could
| not sec how prayers for the dead could be
condemned without undermining the doc
| trine OF prayers for the living.
Gadstone's scholarship is discussed by
Mr.. Arthur J. Butler. When one recalls
that the statesman signalzed his final re-
lease from more than sixty years OF politi-
cal labor by publishing a translation OF
Horace's OdCs. it is obvious that any ac-
count OF his career which should overlook
the scholarike side of his activity would
be incomplete. Although just now 1t Is the
fashion to regard the classics as at best
| useful exercises for such young people as
have a bent that way, yet. up to genera
ton ago, 1t was quite usual for public men
to occupy their leisure In classical transla-
lions. 1t Is well known that Lord Derby,
the Rupert Of debate" translated the il'dd
into English verse, and was capable OF
beautiful Latinity. Lord Carnarvon trans
lated part of the Odyssey as well as the
igdmcmnon OF Fschylus with the approval
of good scholars. People still far from old
age can remember when no great speech in
Parliament was deemed complete without a
Latin quotation or two; indeed, 1t is said
that a dexterously applied line OF Virgil or
Horace has had now and again its effect
upon the fate OF measure. II was amid
a generation saturated with classical lite
nature and thinking no ornament so befit-
ting learned man as a picture OF ancient
letters that Gladstone grew up We are
told that, during the earlier years of his
parliamentary life. his constant companions
we're Homer and Dante. and 1t is clear
that he must have as the phrase Is, kept
up his classics for In 1s4o he was invited
to act as examiner for the Newcastle
Scholarship at Eton. Twenty years later
he and Lord Lyttelton published a volume
Of "translations' into and from various Ian
guages The renderngs from Italian and
German are all in Gadstone's portion of
the book they serve to show that before
he had long left the University-for most Of
the pieces. though not published till 1861,
date from the thirties-Dante and Schiller
we're familiar to him Homer and
Horace. One OF Gladstones contributions
20 the Joint work was rendering into
rhymed Latin verse OF the famous hymn
Rock of ages cleft for me-" in which he
aimed at catching the manner OF the me-
dieval hymn writer's. His first appearance
in TINT In 10 ,lo
dent was when he published his work called
Studies on Homer and the HomeriC Age"
This was followed some years later by "Ju-
ventus Mundi: the Gods and Men Of the
Heroic Age" in which the greater part OF
the results arrived at in the earlier work
were embodied with considerable modfca-
tons. In 1876 appeared "Homerc Syn
chronisms; an Inquiry into the Time and
Place OF Homer" in which a good deal OF
use was made OF recent researches into
ancient Egyptian history. With two ex-
ceptlons the book Just mentioned was the
last volume published by Gladstone on Ho-
merle matters. OF the two exceptions the
best known. small. but packed with matter.
is the "Homeric Primer" published in 1873;
a date at which the veteran statesman
though nominally only one OF the rank and
file Of the Opposition. was very much in
the forefront OF the battle This little book
represented a study OF some fifty years
compressed into a small compass and set
forth in clear and popular language. SO that
II may be perused with interest even by
those who cannot read a word OF Greek
Gladstone persisted to the last In looking
at Homer as an individual With the theory
that the Homeric poems are combination
OF great number OF ballads produced by
many different authors at different periods.
and peced together. by one or more editors
at a comparatively late date. he had but lit
tie sympathy. He would not even accent
the modified forms of the hypothesis, that
which makes the Had and the Odvsscu
the work OF different authors, and that
which assigns parts Of the Hiad to the au-
thor OF the Odyssey. To him, Homer was
Homer as surely as Virgil was Virgil or as
Dante was Dante. The latest Of Glad
stones works on Homeric questions ap-
peared In 1890 under the title Landmarks
Of Homeric Study" This may be regarded
as syllabus or brief summary OF his Anal
views on the subject. |
With the feelings that he cherished as to |
' N'e"'' "a on'ient iedrHihB' IL Is not
strange that Gladstone should have ALWAYS |
taken deep interest in the institution |
wherein, more than elsewhere. learning finds |
"A home namely, the ancient universities To |
his own University OF Oxford his attachment |
never wavered Even when smartng from |
his rejection as It's Parliamentary representa- |
tive. he could say: II have loved the Uni |
versty OF Oxford with deep and passionate
love. II my affection Is OF the smallest ad