Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 098.djvu/351



Author:Quintus Horatius Flaccus, the man of the world, translated and edited by the author of "The Soul; Her Sorrows and Aspirations," is a conjunction a little curious. Not but that conjunctions more curious might be suggested—such as if Mr. Carlyle were to undertake "Anacreon," or M. Leigh Hunt to compass "St. Augustine," or Bishop Philpotts to give us "Lucretius," or Mr. Charles Lever to tackle "Aristotle," or Dr. Candlish to essay "Catullus," or Mr. Albert Smith to operate upon "Æscbylus," or Dr. Wardlaw to close with "Aristophanes, or Mr. Thackeray to elect "Josephus`," or Mr. Rathbone Greg to attempt "Ovid," or Mr. Dickens to vacate "Bleak House" for the Patres Apostolici. But then, these conjunctions are only suggested, as things in posse;and, indeed, not quite that. Whereas the coalition of the tippling, trifling, laughter-and-lampoon-loving Sabine Farmer, and the sad-hearted struggler through so many "Phases of Faith," is a thing in esse—lying before us, an actual fait accompli, and to be had across the bookseller's counter, by all who are interested in the classics, or in want of a—crib.

In a history of contemporary theology in England, a conspicuous place will be due to the Brothers Newman. Both are exercising a deep influence on thinking minds. Both are ultra—though each in an opposite direction. Together, they represent, emphatically enough, the restless spirit of religious inquiry by which the age is possessed. The elder brother, John, is indeed far more widely known, and exercises a far more profound, individual, positive influence than the younger, Francis. If the Franciscans are a sturdy community, the Johnians are quite as earnest, and vastly more numerous and enterprising. Both brothers are the ardent doctrinaires of Development; but the seeming sympathy is actual antipathy—the one dates à parte ante, the other à parte post—their stations are at antipodes. The feud of principles between them is mortal as the personal feud between the Theban Adelphi. At the same time, there is, au fond, a tie of intellectual and spiritual brotherhood, which has probably been observed, in spite of all their antagonism, by those who are familiar with the writings of both. This it might be interesting and instructive to illustrate, by reference to the Romanist's peremptory polemics and the Sceptic's desolating negations; but the present is no place for such comparisons, nor beseems it Sir Nathaniel to constitute himself a judge of such matters—albeit he is not like Gallio, to whom.

The present editor, then, of Flaccus, is none other than the stern, severe assailant of the Creed of Christendom—the most spiritual of strugglers under an Eclipse of Faith. The story of Francis Newman's life recals and exemplifies our laureate's darkly winged words—