The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-26

Having thus prepared the way for q
nropsr understanding Of his subject Prof.
Rabbit devotes a chapter 70 Leasing and
sis famous work According to the
famous Germans own estimate he IL more
remarkable FOR his powers 81 assimilation
than for his spontaneity. In fact he owes
a very great deal not only % those with
whom he agrees but even to the very
Frenchmen. like voltaire, whom he is
striving 20 discrsdit The more you
study the 'Laokoon.' In fact. the lees Il
seems 20 contain that IL strictly original.
Evidently, says our author. IL the Ger
mans are 10 Justify the high claims they
make for Losing a. a critic they mus. rest
them on other grounds than his intellec-
tual originality or the,hneness II his taste.
The decisive word about Isessing was
really uttered by Goethe We may have
another Intelligence like leasing. but We
shall wait long before We So such another
character After dealing this blow
10 the century old fetch Prof. Bah
bitt proceeds TO discuss with the utmost
fairness t.azsinE's claims 10 credit. assert
ine that he is in some respects the most
masculine figure Germany has produced
since Luther and pointing out the anal
ogies between the careers % these two
iconoclasts In entirely different felis ~
action. A. Luther after emancipating
Germany from spiritual servitude tO
Rome aimed 10 80 up a definite discipline
and looked With horror on those Who made
use ~ their liberty 20 fall into mere anti
40 Lessing looked with dis
gust on the young antinomians of the
storm aud Stress. who were for getting
rid u all codes and setting up instead an
uncharted emotionalism. What Leseing
repudiated was the artificial and super
fetal in Wrench tradition az the risk Of
Iosinr a real virtue. the exquisite urbanity
which the French AZ their best had sue
ceeded in attaining; and 20 Il came about
that Germany failed % get the benefit Of
the great French reaction against pc
dantry and still suffers from this failure
What We md in Lessing's 'Laoko0n- 10
not primarily an appeal IN taste and feel
ing but a mixture Of Aristotelian theory
ard precise linguistic and antiquarian
research. In fact what he has done Ia
little more than TO develop the lines Of La
Fontaine 70 the effect that -Words and
colors are not identical things. and the
eyes are not the ears
The material with which the poet works
is words. and words necessarily follow
one another in time What the poet can
really paint 10 actions. and in rendering
anything that is not action he should
strive 10 Translate il into terms Of action.
10 Homer does not try % paint directly
the beauty Of Helen but puts Il into action
by showing il eject upon the old men
on the wall of Troy; but all the details
with which the poet can deal only dis
commercially the painter can render M
they actually occur in space. and a. his
art has at Is command but a single in
slant his limitation appears when he
attempts N paint action. The moment.
then, IL all important for the plastic artist.
and. a. I,essing saws. hs must select
the most pregnant moment though
he can suggest other moments: hut
this. tho great central generalization of
the -LAokoon.' namely. that poetry deals
with temporal. painting with zpatial
relations. poetry with the successive.
painting with tho cosxistent. will not
seem strictly original 20 the student who
Il familiar with tho previous literature
Of the subject A. an instance of the
eighteenth century confusion 81 the
genres Prof Babbitt mentions Father Cas-
tells theory Of a color clavichord.' an
instrument designed % mako sound visi-
bic and interpret II In terms Of color.
Even people poassnsed Of color addition do
not attach Identical oolors 10 the same
lotes IN the scals,. Father Castel was am
bilious also n give permanency ~ his
'olor concerts and imagined a room whose
walls should be hung with rigadoons and
ninuets. with sarahands and paaaaoaRlias.
with cantatas and s0natas o. even with a |