Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 12.djvu/625

 612 NEW BOOKS. they were at length combined by Dante and Shakespeare into the modern sentiment, with all its distinctive characters or " overtones ". Of these there are in all eleven (i. 48-52) ; the last enumerated being " Admiration of Personal Beauty ". This " aesthetic overtone of Love," which " is com- monly heard before and above all the others," tends more and more to be- come of " preponderating importance ". Modern Love depends especially on the charm of individual expression, to which the Greeks were indifferent, and this in turn on intellectual cultivation. The modern development of Romantic Love may be compared with the modern development of the art of Music ; " the individualisation of Beauty and character " being com- parable to the discovery of harmony (ii. 137-8). All this is developed with a liveliness of style and an abundance of interesting observations of which it is impossible to give an idea in a summary. Most of the qualifications and distinctions that a critic could suggest find their proper place in the volumes. But Mr. Finck does more than develop the evolutionary theory that his title promises. The special interest of the book is in its seeking rational grounds for freedom of matrimonial choice. Regarding everything from the point of view of the race, the author rejects at once the French system of " marriages of reason " and (implicitly) the proposals of those ancient theorists and modern anthropologists who have thought that choice should be based on other reasons than personal preference, and decides for the "Anglo-American" system. To get at his conclusion, he starts from a discussion of Schopenhauer's theory ; and his own theory is in reality Schopenhauer's without the pessimism, and with scientific verification. "Apart from the suggestive details of his essay," Mr. Finck says, " Schopenhauer's merit and originality lie, first, in his having pointed out that Love becomes more intense the more it is individualised ; secondly, in emphasising the fact that in match-making it is not the happiness of the to-be-married couple that should chiefly be consulted, but the consequences of their union to the offspring ; thirdly, in dwelling on the important truth that Love is a cause of Beauty, because its aim always is either to perpetuate existing Beauty through hereditary transmission, or to create new beauty by fusing two imperfect individuals into a being in whom their shortcomings mutually neutralise one another " (ii. 73). Romantic Love, with its free choice, the preponderance in it of the aesthetic element, and its individualisation, thus promotes the interests of the race in the highest degree. And " Anglo-American Love is Romantic Love, pure and simple, as first depicted by Shakespeare, and after him, with more or less accuracy, by a hundred other poets and novelists " (ii. 37). " Love is the cause of Beauty, as Beauty is the cause of Love; " but it is only one cause. "Personal Beauty has four sources" Health, Mixture of Nationalities, Romantic Love and Mental Refinement. When the relations of all these are considered, it is seen yet more clearly in what way all the interests of the race are inseparably associated with Romantic Love. Psychology. The Motive Powers. Emotions, Conscience, Will. By JAMES M'CosH, D.D., &c., President of Princeton College. London : Mac- millan & Co., 1887. Pp. vi., 267. This is the promised sequel to the author's Cognitive Powers, noticed in MIND xi. 586. While admitting the importance of the modern threefold division of the mental powers, Dr. M'Cosh insists that " it is of moment to keep up the old twofold division as being the deepest, as having run through the ages, and as being embodied in our habitual thoughts and in common literature ". The modern distinction, he thinks, " leaves out the moral power or conscience, which is entitled to have a separate place as one of the characteristics of man, specially distinguishing him from the