Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/218

 180 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io«-s. iv. AUG. se, DR. WILLIAM BARRY contributes to The Quarterly fieview for July a thoughtful and wide- minded paper bearing the name of ' The School for Critics.' It is a review of the third volume of Mr. George Saintsbury's 'History of Criticism" and other books, old and new. That literary criticism can ever be reduced to scientific precision is im- possible, for the value of any work of literary art depends on countless aspects, which change as the world changes. Pope is still regarded by most of us as an important poet with considerable facility of expression, but we do not now value him for the same reasons that delighted the men of the •eighteenth century. His serene optimism was then a fashionable mode of thought; now, though optimism is once more in the ascendant, it is of a far wider and more complex kind, with which Pope's thoughts have little connexion—are perhaps, indeed, at times antagonistic. This is only one •example of which a countless number might be given. The points of view vary from time to time, and often very rapidly; and such is the case not •only with the multitude who read only to pass away the time, but also among many of those who possess the critical faculty in a high degree. But though criticism can never be raised to the precision •of a positive science, and is assuredly not an art in the same sense as is the case with all the higher literature, it holds an important place as a guide through the bypaths of human thought and endea- vour. The misfortune is—and it is by no means a •trivial one—that those who would be the most ijenefited thereby are the very people who are the least likely to read thoughtful books, such as those of Mr. Samtsbury and his compeers. Among the papers of the late Bishop of London has been found It was, unhappily, come upon too late for it to form a part of the volume of 'Lectures and Addresses' issued in 1903. Mrs. Creighton does not know when or where it was delivered, but internal evi- dence, she believes, indicates that it was written after 1887. We have no special knowledge on the matter, but would suggest that it has never been given to the world in any form before. To us it seems not improbable that it may have been written for some special purpose, but that private or public engagements hindered its being delivered as an address. Whatever may have been the reason that it has not hitherto seen the light, we are specially glad to have it now, for Dr. Creighton, a most accurate reasoner. had a mind saturated with the facts of the history of those eras in which he took a special interest. It is prudent for most of us who study the evolution of states and religions to abstain from passing moral judgments either of praise or blame, and especially of the latter, on those who have forwarded or retarded what we regard as progress; for though morals, when studied from the standpoint of the casuist, may be absolute, not relative, an historian may be, and commonly is, able to tell us what occurred and the factors which brought about the changes he chronicles with more or less accuracy, while he may have little of the faculty for estimating the moral position of those who were the prominent authors of change. Were the two faculties to coalesce an historian of the highest order would result. But we doubt whether any of us are at present far enough removed from the passions and onesided judgments of our fore- fathers to produce anything approaching a fairly accurate moral picture. Bishop Creighton, however, went far in this direction. His historical works, apart from the great interest which they have as chronicles of events, are of still greater value as setting before his readers the ethical position of the actors. This paper abounds with acute criticism. We cannot but wish that time had been given so that the few pages we possess might have been expanded into a volume, such as, had it existed, we cannot doubt would have been a valuable guide for many of us as a corrective of the too harsh judgment we are apt to form of the men of the past. " Englishmen " he tells us, " are famous for preferring verbal truth to any search for abstract justice, though I imagine that many make exceptions, as, for instance in selling a horse." Casuistry has to English ears an ugly sound, and we all admit that at times it has played strange pranks with the conscience never- theless it may be well to give heed to the few lines the authar has supplied on the subject. The pas- sages on religious persecution and witchcraft will furnish some readers with new ideas, and, it may be, work occasionally a change in the point of view Mr. Edward^Wright in his ' Romance of the Out- lands ' deals with the novelists who have laid the adventures of their characters in foreign lands. His paper is valuable, though perhaps he distri- butes praise somewhat indiscriminately. 'The Princes of the Peloponnese,' by Mr. William Miller, shows great knowledge of a time regarding which many are complacently ignorant, but it ii far too much condensed. Sir Charles N. Eliot's 'Buddhism of Tibet' throws an interesting, though somewhat faint, light on the religion of one of the most obscure places of the earth. It is strange to see how very far Buddhism has wandered from what we all assume to have been the original type- Prof. Elton's ' Recent Shakespeare Criticism' is an article which we trust will be widely read. It would be vain in our limited space for us to venture on criticism. JJ'otires 10 Corrrsnoubrnts. We must call special attention to the following noticet:— ON all communications must lie written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WK cannot undertake to answerqueries privately. To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a se|>arate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or page* to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication "Duplicate." A. B. ("Straight is the line of duty").—William Maccall, a friend of Carlyle, and author of 'Ele- ments of Individuality.' MO TICK. Editorial communications should be addressed to "The Editor of 'Notes and Queries'"—Adver- tisements and Business Letters to "The Pub- lisher"—at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chaucer? Lane, E.C.
 * i manuscript lecture of really extraordinary import.