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 HARPHIUS

142

HARRIS

through liis noviceship and philosophical studies in Belgium. His four years' theological course was divided between the English Jesuit Theological College, St. Beuno's in Wales, Rome, and Louvain. Ordained priest in 1859, he was appointed professor of theology the following year at St. Beuno's College. Two years later he was transferred to the chair of logic and general metaphysics at St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst. A man of highly-strung nervous disposition and in- tense mental application, his health made frequent changes necessary. He returned after a short time to teach theology at St. Beuno's, and subsequently worked on the mission for some years, achieving a high reputation as a preacher. During the last half- dozen years of his life he suffered from prolonged attacks of mental prostration, the malady at times assuming an acute form.

He possessed considerable powers of abstract thought, with a remarkable talent for metaphysical reasoning. Indeed, excessive subtlety impaired his efficiency both as lecturer and WTiter, leading him to devote disproportionate time and space to obscure ontological questions of minor significance, and con- sequently to leave unfinished the treatment of more important philosophical issues. A vigorous contro- versialist he was personally of a most amiable and childlike disposition. His chief literary works were: " Peace through the Truth, or Essays on Subjects con- nected with Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon", I (London, 1869), II (1874); "The Metaphysics of the School", 3 vols. (London, 1879-18S4). In addition to these he pub- lished several smaller works in booklet form. Amongst them were the following: "On Modern Principles"; "God the True the Good and the Beautiful"; "Man- chester Dialogues"; " Lectures on Papal Infallibilit}'". He also wrote a series of articles on Newman's " Graiu- marof Assent", shortly after its appearance. But the penchant for metaphysical rather than psychological analysis which characterized Harper's mind rendered him not very sympathetic with that remarkable work. Thovigh possessed of considerable literary gifts he adhered to the method rather of anglicizing the scho- lastic terminology than translating the conceptions of the Schoolmen into the language of modern philo- sophical literature.

Michael Maher.

Harphius, IIenky. See Herp, Henry.

Harrington, Willia.m, Venerable, English mar- tyr; li. 15(10; d. 18 February, 1594. His father had entertainetl Campion at the ancestral home, Mount St. John, early in 1581. Though the family did not persevere in the Faith, the yoimgest son never forgot Campion's example. lie went abroad, first to the seminary at Reims, then to the Jesuits at Tournai (1582-1584) and would have joined the order had not his health broken down and forced him to keep at home for the next six or seven years. In PVIiruary, 1591, however, he was able to return once more to Reims, and, having been ordained, returned at mid- summer, 1592. Next May he fell into the hands of the persecutors, and nine months later suffered at Tyburn, after having given proofs of unusual con- stancy and noljlemindedness in prison, at the bar, and on the scaffold. It was, we may suspect, this very heroism, which induced a posthumous calumniator, Friswood or Fid Williams, an apostate of evil life, to say that he had had a child by her before he was a priest (see Harsnct, cited below). If the charge had stood alone, it might have been difficult to refute it now. Fortunately for us. Fid had joined to it many other ba.se and certainly untenable accusations, both against him and also against the rest of the clergy and the whole Catholic borly. Her assertions must there- fore be everywhere suspected, and in Harrington's case entirely rejected, as Father Morris (cited below) clearly proves. It is also noteworthy considering the

frequency with which foul accu.sations were made in those days, that this is the onlj' one against an Eng- lish martyr remaining on record.

The Muiilh. .ipril, 1S74, 411-42:i ; Harsnet. Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures, wliercunto are annexed the confessiona of the parties themselves (London, 1603). 230-2:42; Academy (London, 19 Feb.. 1S76). 165; Morris, Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers (London, 1875), 104-107; Knox, Douau Diaries (London, 1S7S).

J. H. Pollen.

Harris, Joel Chandler, folk-lorist, novelist, poet, journalist; b. at Eatonton, Georgia, U. S. A., 1848; d. at Atlanta, Georgia, 3 July, 1908. Chiefly known for his stories of negro folk-lore which created an original department in American literature, he spent most of his life in journalistic work. Of humble par- entage and meagre education, he knew and loved as a boy "fields, animals, and folk" better than books. Apprenticed in 1862 to a plantation editor, whose library was open to him, he learned [jrinling and journali.sm in a grove, worked on various Louisiana and fJeorgia pa- pers, a n d fro m 1876 to his retire- ment in 1890 was on the .staff of till' .\tlanta "Consti- tution". "The Tar Baby", con- tributed by acci- <lent (1S77), found him his vocation. His knowledge of nature and the negro, acijuired unconsciously in "the plantation ", ripened as he wrote, resulting in a series of vol- umes whereof "Bre'r Fox" the villain, antl

JuKL CH-^N

DLER HaKRIA

the hero, "Bre'r

Rabbit other animals, with Mr. Sim, Sister Moon, Uncle Wind, and Brother Dust are the dramatis pcrsoniF. " L^ncle Remus ", a wise old negro, is the narrator, "Miss Sally" the guardian spirit, and "the little boy" a breathless listener. Wit, hiunour, homely wi.sdom, and kindly sj'mpathy, combined with unrivalled knowledge of negro dialect and character, make " Uncle Remus, His Songs and Sayings " (1881), "Nights with Uncle Remus" (1883), "Uncle Remus and His Friends" (1893), "Little Mr. Thimblefinger" (1894), "Mr. Ral)l)itat Home" (1895) unique among folk-stories, distinctively American, and interesting to "children of all ages". They were translated into twenty-.seven languages, and their author, popularly named " LIncle Remus ", was lost in the narrator. But apart from liis Uncle Remus's talcs Harris ranks high as a novelist. "Mingo" (18,84), "Free Joe" (1887), "Daddv Jake the Runaway" (1889), "Balaam and his Master" (1891), "Aaron", "Aaron in the Wild- woods" (189:!), and the "Chronicle of Aunt Minervy Ann" disclose a sympathy and intimate ac(|uaintance with slave and master possessed by no otlier writer, and point to the wisest solution of the race problem. Of his forty volumes he prized most "Sister Jane" and "Gabriel Tolliver", stories of his native Shadj Dale, and ^\Titten in his later years. They are his most finished work and the best record of his life and thoughts. The "Uncle Remus Magazine", founded in 1900, contains many a wise essay flavoured with the originality, whimsical humour, gentle charity, and purity of thought and expression that character- ized all he WTote: "a homely, kind philosophy that uplifts the mind and grips the heart". His favourite reading — the Bible, Newman, Faber, :\ Kempis, and Sheehan — his mental honesty, and the example of his