Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/454

Rh 434 ENGLISH LITERATURE [MODERN. was given to the world the long and splendid series of novels, commencing with Waverley and ending (when his mind had partially given way) with Castle Dangerous. We do not forget that a living French critic, whose admirable style makes even his paradoxes attractive, treats the Waverley Novels with little ceremony ; they were taken, he says, for faithful copies of the antique world in Europe at a time when people knew no better ; now we go to the original sources of information, and find that he distorts everything. But, in the first place, so far as the Waverley Novels consist of the skilful evolution of plots invented by the author, and of the contrasted play of characters created by him, and not of historical pictures, this criticism does not touch them at all. In Peveril of the Peak, for in stance, where a peculiar zest attaches itself to the love of Julian Peveril for Alice Bridgenorth on account of the political and religious differences which divide their fathers, though Scott might be proved to have omitted some im portant features in his historic sketch of the Restoration, still the deep attraction of the story would not lose its charm. So again, in Ivanhoe, although the repulsion between Saxon and Norman the concrete picture of which, presented in this novel, so deeply impressed the historian Thierry be to some extent an exaggeration of the feelings which actually prevailed between the two races under Richard I, yet neither does this inaccuracy affect the sub stantial truthfulness and instructiveness of the historic tableau, nor, if it did, would the tragic passages which describe the siege of the castle of Front-de-Boeuf exercise an inferior fascination. But, secondly, the real meaning of M. Taine s charge is, not that Scott has mis-read history, but that he has not read it from the special philosophical stand point of M. Taine. He did not read it in the conviction of the relativity of all events, nor regard it simply as the evolution of the Welt-Geist, nor believe that human society, through the stages of theology and metaphysics, advances inevitably to the bourn of positive science. But it remains to be proved whether these views of history will not prove more ephemeral than the simpler conceptions which pos sessed the mind of Sir Walter Scott. Edin- Reference was made above to the commencement of the burgh Edinburgh Review in 1802. The tendencies of thought Review, which distinguished its founders were of so remarkable a character, exercised so marked an effect on the philosophy, the legislation, and even the literature of their times, and are still so influential, that some attempt to analyse and describe them must be made. There were varieties of opinion among the writers for this celebrated review from the first; amongst them were mere Whigs and mere literary critics, but that which gave it a backbone was its being partially the organ of a party, known some years later by the name of &quot;Philosophical Radicals.&quot; This school took its philosophy from Locke, Bentham, and Adam Smith. It held that the old systems which admitted the principle of authority were for ever ruined and discredited, that, as government was an affair of contract, so religion was an affair of evidence, and that, since the same evidence was estimated differently by different minds, the right course was, to confine religion within the domain of the individual conscience, tolerating all forms of it not anti social, but giving political prominence to none. Coleridge, in an eloquent work published in 1829, * supported the theory of a national church, not as the channel for teaching religious truth, but as providing a machinery for diffusing culture and enlightenment, as well as teaching morality by example, through the length and breadth of the land. This view was too Platonic for the school we are now con sidering which, however, did not attack the already 1 Constitution of Church and Staie. existing established church, but contented itself with insist ing that its clergy should be vigilantly controlled by the state, lest they should teach principles or practices incon sistent with the general good. Churches they regarded as decrepit and perishing institutions ; it was the state which, in their eyes, flourished in immortal youth; and their hopes of future good were involved in the development of civilization under its auspices. They believed in the gradual advance and perfectibility of the race through the operation of wise institutions, furthering the free play of all tho human faculties, while guaranteeing the order and stability of society. The happiness that would thence arise, consist ing in the realization of &quot; the greatest good of the greatest number,&quot; they regarded as the satisfaction of enthusiasm and the goal of effort. To political economy, that eminently lay study, and to the development of physical science, they looked for the measures and the means requisite for the attainment of this happiness. Moreover, since, from their point of view, there was nothing absolute in moral sanctions, it was ridiculous fora nation to hamper itself by adherence to engagements contracted by a former generation, on the plea of national honour, if such adherence was prejudicial to the interests of the living. Views of this kind, begin ning even then to be propounded, drew from Burke the ex clamation that the &quot; age of chivalry was past,&quot; and that &quot; that of sophists, economists, and calculators had suc ceeded.&quot; The study of social grievances, and of the means of removing them, assumed a prominent place among their objects, and gave rise to much laudable and beneficial activity. On humanitarian grounds they supported the agitation against slavery which Christian philanthropists like Clarkson and Wilberforce had commenced from a religious motive. Senior occupied himself with the evils of the old poor-law ; Francis Homer became a great authority on finance ; Sir Samuel Rom illy took up the reform of our criminal jurisprudence ; Ricardo, J. S. Mill, and M Culloch studied the laws of the creation and dis tribution of wealth, and demonstrated the impolicy of re strictions on trade. The benefits of national education began to be seen and enforced ; and Lancaster and Bell entered upon useful labours connected with th.e organiza tion of schools and the supply of teachers. Harriet Martineau wrote popular tales, and Elliott &quot; Corn-law Rhymes,&quot; in order to indoctrinate the multitude with sound views on economical questions. In short, all the good was done or attempted which men starting from the basis of empirical philosophy could do or attempt ; whatever was outside the range of that philosophy was neglected. There is something rather saddening in the contemplation of .the careers of most of the eminent literary men of this epoch. Byron and Shelley were cut off in the flower of their days ; Southey s overtasked brain gave way some years before his death, and the same fate befell Ireland s gifted singer, Thomas Moore. Scott, ruined through too much haste to be rich, literally worked himself to death to clear off the mountain of liability which his implication in Ballantyne s failure had thrown upon him. Coleridge, though he lived to old age, had weakened a will originally irresolute, and shattered nerves originally over-sensitive by the fatal practice of opium-eating ; in the time of grey hairs he subsided into a dreamy talker aboat &quot;sum-in ject&quot; and &quot; om-iu-ject.&quot; 2 Wordsworth alone preserved to the last an unimpaired sanity of mind and body, for which Woi he might thank the simplicity and serenity of his life in wori Westmoreland, where he settled on his return from France. Rapt in profound meditation, he communed among the mountains with the spirit of the universe; and the beauty of the crag, the tarn, the flower, transmitted itself, through. Carlyle s Life of Sterling.