The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-28

other century. and. even when the inquirer
has done his work, there will remain the
difficulty Of clothing the skeleton with flesh
and blood Unless abandon all that makes
history really interesting to anybody but
the antlquary and the statistician. shall
still be satisfied. After all, too, the main
facts are pretty we'll ascertained. Darnley
was blown up. hoover supplied the pow
| der. and the Spanish Armada certainly
came somehow to grief. Froude's imagi-
nation may invest those facts with poet
ical haze. In reading him, l do not know
certainly where fiction ends and facts
begin. The history may be an impression
ist' picture, colored and distorted by the
| mirror in which the facts are reflected.
But can take that into account ] know
that am not TO read with unqualified faith.
| l get such a narrative of the past as should
Of the present if confined myself TO party
| journalism. 7 must study writer's OF OPP
| pOsite prejudices, and superpose the pict-
4 ures As ell ~ ! can ] must take the
story not AZ definitive truth, but AZ an aspect
! Of the truth seen from a particular point Of
| view. | get at least one important fact:
| If not the real persons, the images pro-
| jected by them upon the imagination of
| their par,isans, and to see for a Iuiu"nt
| as they SAW is a help TO understanding the
ideals and the pre- judices Of the time.
Impelled 10y his temperament To exag-
reraie the influence Of indiNidualities in the
evolution of events, and. consequently to
| take a dramatic view of history. Froude
, was marked out for a hero-worshpper.
His inexorabl. need Of a hero led him in
certain instances to accept persons foi the
raj, "a hp tn tho laast ipaHpf. "A
Such was the case when Froude essayed
20 write the history Of England in the six
teenth century Where was he TO find a
personality who should give unity of action
TO the drama, and unrsyci the wild and
chaotic play Of conflicting powcrs' Mr..
stephen recognizes that "Froudes artistic
instincts overpowered his historic vision
Wien he chose Henry VIII. for the part
His true problem, imagine. should have
been To show how that very arbitrary and
tvrannical person was enabled TO carry out
20 much Of his purposes. and to be accepted
by 40 large a part OF his subjects as a ma
tional hero. When Froude took him for
an embodiment Of high purpose and states
nanlike insight, and discovered that the
man constantly acted like a brutal despot
from the lof st political motives. he un-
dertook one II the most heroic pieces ~
wh,tewashing on record. The Protestant
refused to accept such a champion. and
the burly figure looked awkward in wings
and white robe
" turned out to be oven more impractical
BILE 10 make a heroine Of Queen Elizabeth.
The vain and selfish vixen could not I've made
to play the part. The result was that "shs
got upon his nerves She cared nothing
for creeds: she would not admit the papal
claims to power over the English Church;
but she hated knoxs Calvinism more than
Philips Catholicism. Instead Of putting
herself at the head Of European Protestant
ism. her whole policy was to play or tho
two Catholic powers against each other by
judi .ious alienation of lying promises. She
would not risk her throne for a cause. She
preferred to lie, and twist. and perjure her
self, and betray her friends and though
at bottom her purpose was moderately
upright. she had no nice sense OF honor to
raise difficulties. She systematically in
duoed other people To do her dirty work,
and abe shufaed out Of her responsibilities
and left her agents to their fate. She kept
out OF the fray as long "a she could and
thought only Of saving her pocket by a
cheese-parins policy. which was almost
fatal when the great inevitable struggle
came at last. II she finally succeeded 1t
was because she yielded TO the Ministers
against whose advice she had struggled
for thirty years. Her greatness was an
illusion. due partly TO the fate which forced
her at last TO accept the policy Of wiser
men and partly to the stupendous run Of
luck which saved her from the consequences
Of her blunders."
With a scarcely disguised sensation Of
relief Mr.. Stephen turns from a perfume
tory review of Froude's deficiencies 70 a
cordial acknowledgment Of his literary
charm. Anyhow Froude was a most skill
full historical artist | remember being
startled many years ago by the assertion
OF friend that Froude's style was superior
to Macaul Us. My no ions II style were
then too orud. to q shocked by acaulay's
obvious auts Il taste. his strained and
tiresome antitheses and the purple patches
Of glazing crudity. The graceful simplicity
and restraint of Froudes style, the skill
with which he makes n story ell it II
and develops the drama without obtruding
himself as Snowman are less palpable TO a
youthful reader Elsewhere in the same
essay wa read: mo man If his generation,
l think had a finer literary faculty. While
entirely free from the mannerisms of his
prophet lCarlylel. he can be equally vivid.
His style is thoroughly masculine. and yet
never fat, prosaic or violent
II.
In the paper on Shakespeare a. a Man
Mr. Stephen does not profess to write as
specialist He has made no minute study
Of the poets commentators. He does not
pretend to throw any new light on the
initials Nv. H." or to have detected new
philosophical meaning in Hamlet Yet
in his meditations on the life and character
of Shakespeare. "a these are illuminated to
a certain extent by his writings. Mr. Stephen
has arrived at some sensible. and probably
| trustworthy. conclusions. which the reader
| will thank him for setting down He does
not concur with Mr lee In holding that we
can know nothing about Shakespeare be-
| yond His external history. He Is inclined,
| on the contrary, to agree with Prof. Brnndos
| that certain amount Of spiritual biography
may b. elected from the sonnets and plays.
| Instead Of assuming. IA Browning does,
that Shakespeare is not self-revealing for
| the very reason that he was dramatist
| Nj. Stephen points out that there IL a great
/ deal Of self-revelation In Browning him