Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/587

 Addison : Clergy in American Life and Letters 577 among the most salient pieces of evidence, if evidence were needed, of the mischief done both to scholarship and to authorship, not to speak of literature, by the prevalent custom of publication in hastily pre-arranged series. The precise genesis of this work, is, of course, a matter of con- jecture. On general principles, one would infer from the result that the ])ublishers, desirous of increasing their usefulness by the evocation of some "National Studies in American Letters," sensibly selected as editor of the series a scholarly essayist and poet, unquestionably among the few living Americans whose writings may be expected to survive ; and that thereupon, being very busy and enterprising publishers, they confided the "National Studies" to his care. One would infer, fur- thermore, that this editor, himself among the most busy and stimulating professors of a university whose reputation is deservedly more than na- tional, found his primary duties so absorbing as perforce to limit the time which he could devote to merely editorial labors ; and so that, having selected for this " Study " an author whose character and ability justly commanded his confidence, he found himself unable to assist this author with any considerable supervision or suggestion. One would in- fer, finally, that this author, who had somewhat inadvertently agreed to finish his book at a fixed time, honestly did his best ; but that his mani- fold distractions as a parish priest left him no leisure for such prolonged, concentrated mental processes as seem generally needful for the develop- ment of an intellectual conception into organic vitality. Such things are bound to happen when even the best of men find themselves in the grip of a series. Unless some such thing happened in this case, Mr. Addison's Clergy is incomprehensible. Undoubtedly it is so gentle in spirit, that to speak of it ungently seems heartless. The milk of human kindness exudes from every page. Whatever the case with students or readers, Mr. Addison may sleep nightly with a conscience void of offence towards any man concerning whom he has written. When one has said this, however, one has almost exhausted the commendation which is compatible with conscientious criticism. According to the preface, "the book does not aim to be either ex- haustive or encyclopaedic, but to give a general view of the literary work of those who, by their religious calling, may be included in the term ' the clergy. ' It was thought that this could best be done by treating in sketches typical clergymen who were literary men, and then making a more extended examination of the most important writers — Dwight, Channing, Parker, Bushnell, Beecher and Brooks, who by their work would illustrate the whole subject. " Sufficient biographical material has been introduced to give a back- ground to the purely literary analysis. No attempt has been made to enter into theological discussion or criticism. Religious references occur only when rendered necessary because of the theological character of the books that are examined " (p. viii). Already we are a good way from " the Clergy in American life," con- cerning which phase of his subject Mr. Addison has little more to say