New-York tribune., 1911-03-05

French was shaped to it's extraordinary
perfection by the social influence OF the
greatest of royal courts How was Eng
lish likely 10 fare on the swelling tide OF
democracy? If oddity of diction or the
invention of ugly words or the revival OF
worn -Out and Inappropriate old ones were
hurting English. the fault came rather
Z from above than from below. rather from
those who ought to know better than from
those who had no chance Of knowing at
all. What was the effect of science on
English language and literature? Having
pointed out that Darwin. Huxley. Sir Jo-
seph Hooker and Button were no mean
writer's Of prose Lord Morley said that
Dante Gabriel Rossetu. a true poet. IL
not n great one. declared himself not at
all sure that the earth revolved round
sun, and TO that scandalous position he
added what. after all. did it matter
whether the earth moved or not"' lie
once met RoSSetti on the eve of general
election, and was thunderstruck 10 find
that he knew nothing about 1t. When the
thing was explained 10 him he said II did
not much matter whether Wings or Tories
won. In prose fiction one writer Of power
fu mind was saturated with the spirit OF
science. hut who did not feel that George
Elot's greatest literary work was i'm
paired, PERHAPS worse than impaired, by
her association with science. All her
native and well-trained strength of soul
was needed To prevent her being crushed
by the thought expressed by Keats: How
many sit and hear each other groan, How
earth is full of sorrow and midnight de-
Spairs" Now look at another change. The
influence OF aScertained facts was hecom-
ing greater and greater in the province of
hiStory. Documents were brought almost
! i'm barrow-loads every year 10 the students
door Was this overburden of recorded
fact a blessing or misfortune for modern
history? Surely 10 move with freedom under
it was hard. What would have become of
! the splendorS Of Carlyle'S French ReVolu-
ion" il he had followed the scale and
| the method of his own Frederick the
I Great? Under such conditions of bulk
was il not almost inevitable that form as
, form was buriel alive?
Lord Morlcy's advice to those of his
hearers who were "hastening into com
| position" was admirable. He commended
| to them two qualities, for one of which
! he said he must use a French name
Those two qualities were sanity and
/ jHStCsSc. Sanity they ALL knew, by name
at least. JUSfcsSc was not "A synonyme
! tor justice. 1t was more Ike equity. bal
/ ance. measure. reserve. But people who
/ aimed at those two qualities must curb
their ambition Of writing Ike Carlyle or
/ RuSkin. They must take the chance Of
being called dry The advantage of these
/ TWO qualities was that they We're within
reach while grandeur was not. Referring
incidentally 10 literary criticism, he eX
pressed the hope that nobody would un-
dcrvalue ii or fall into the grave blunder
cf regarding II rs mere parasite on
creative wCIk. The other day ne saw a
lament on what was called the decline of
modern prose. Grand prose was now not
often heard but nobody could envy the
man who was not affected by the high
passages I'm Sir Thomas Browne. Sir
Waltor Raleigh. Bacon, Hooker. Burke.
Noboiy could envy the man whom these
h,gh passages did not affect with some
thing of the swell OF emotion produced by
soul inspiring forces. Grand prose came
from supreme issues, from earnest con-
victiou, from eager desire to convert and
persuade. from sublime events. from pas
/ soncte beliefs. But where the themes
wer. those of scientific proof IL was only
natural that prose should he Unconditional