New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-02
ESSAYS ON ESSAYISTS
CRITICS CRITICISED
The Charm of Seventeenth Century English Prose
Current Topics from the Human End
Letters from the Dominic

/ choice Of diction as 10 charm even a
literary purist, yet so simple and d.
rect as 20 be quite capable OF being
"understanded Of the people "-even OF
. the proverbial man in the street"
Indeed we are half inclined to wish
I that first place and title had been given
not TO the Absentee Landlord" essay,
delightful as il is, but to one OF those
on language and literature. which by
both precept and example disclose the
mission OF the essay as a propaganda
/ of correct and graceful speech. Thus
in writing of THE Charm of Seven
teenth Century Prose" and OF the con-
trast between that prose and most OF
that Of to-day:
There is a fiuency. not TO say fluidity,
in our present language which makes
for easy writing but does not produce
structural strength. The words
are not clean and sharp. They have no
edge. Words that have been used in
! so many senses that their original sig
nificance has been forgotten come at
length to form only verbal quicksand.
The older writer's had at their COM
mand an abundance Of clean, sharp
words. II mattered little whether the
words were Anglo-Saxon or Latin in
their origin. The important thing was
that their primary meanings were in
the minds of both speakers and listen
ers. It's only way Of putting
things, a mere trick of language do
you say? But language is not a trick,
1t is an expression of personality. Find
out a mans natural and habitual way
of expressing himself, and you find out
a great deal concerning the man."
That is exactly true. II has been said
before, by Newman and Ruskin and
others. But it is so valuable and i'm
portant truth that il can never be
said too often or too emphaticslly. Nor
can it be set forth more effectively
than through the use of examples, such
as that cited by DR.. Crothers from two
versions of the New Testament The
King James's has it.: "A city set upon
hill cannot be hid" The Twentieth
Century Version has it: at is impossi-
BILE for a town that stands on a hill 10
escape notice" Comment, beyond the
citation, would be superfuous. But we
may say that the man who writes es-
says TO such effect as that is a bene-
factor not alone of literature, but of all
civilization. II only about nine-tenths
of our smart, snappy, strictly up-to-
date magazine and newspaper writer's
would take notice of the Absentee
Landlord!
Mr.. Jacks takes another point OF
view, and considers another class of
topics. He deals much more with dis
tinctively current topics. OF these he
writes in part as though they were
matters pertaining to past ages; with
detachment, impartiality and fine de-
liberation, though not without earnest
ness. Thus, of the present war:
What is the cause Of the terrible
calamities which are now falling on
the civilized world? Surely it lies in
the fact that the economic develop
ment of mankind has outstrpped the
moral development The nations of
the world have grown richer without
becoming wiser and juster In a cor
responding degree. During the last
fifty years the wealth of the world
has gone ahead by leaps and bounds,
while the morality of the world has
moved only at snails pace"
That is so sane and convincing a
conception that we are moved to wish
that Mr. Jacks had confined himself
more strictly to such practical con-
sideration Of practical topics, and had
refrsined from some of his more