Essays literary & critical

\ ''1" . 4 . , :p II.' $ "I!. n', , " , ' .... \ 1 : t - 1, ( '6\.. · . . ; '. ., .. ' Þ 1 of....". ,' "It." . . . . . :.. .' , .f :t-. . . ". .. '" - - t - .. , ,r :I ':8f , .) t ,{ * ! , t .:t .. . ;'.: t, t ,$ 1 , ,: I.)' ... ;:. " ':t: f . A' "tþt j. .ft t'l' '.f ,' { 1t If: j ,. ' eil . t , . '\ It I.' if' 1\ '. ,., p ';" ... "\: ( T I - """-r R T. M RY'S COllEGE ' --- ,( "- I J'I \ -..-. î , \-.' } t . EVER-Y^\Ar , ( \ ( , \. t I-WiLl .C '\\11 j t"l ' ) " 1 ", TH -F '/ ., .\ , . : . &.BE' l-lY. G\IIC r- \ P \ IN.THY.j\\C5'FJ..Jl tD. \ TO.GO.BY.11-1Y.S10E -'- ( --=--- ,/ \f '- . . r f ... r '" "" ....... ' -' . y - - \ I -L' j) .) \ , "\. \ .... II ' \ 1 \ ( " . II' U , .., ,,\ '\ " '" "'" \ \\ ' '\ ," l \ " { , J' , -.... -\ , ( ) \ \' ' 40-- f ," ' -- ) \. t. \ . !f ... " . - , , . \..... \ . ^ ). , "'" """- ...... ... I ..-. "' - , , \ , '\ , ' .. . \ " , 7 I . \ , J EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS ESSAYS MATTHEW ARNOLD'S ESSAYS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY G. K. C H EST E R TON THE PUBLISHERS OF SJ7SlJ{f:A1eÆ:J-.(,S LIB'l{eßlJ{f WILL BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL APPLICANTS A LIST OF THB PUBLISHED AND PROJECTED VOLUMES TO BE COMPRISED UNDER THE FOLLOWING TIDRTEEN HEADINGS: TRAVEL . SCIENCE .. FICTION THEOLOGY &; PHILOSOPHY HISTORY .. CLASSICAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ESSAYS" ORATORY POETRY & DRAMA BIOGRAPHY REFERENCE ROMANCE .. ,'. , , IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING: CLOTH, FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP; LEATHER, ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS, LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. z _ " ', t I) . ' \t '"7 hÍl.?f/()l9 v H - jI! ESSA YSs- ! LITERAR)1 . &CRITICAL 'I W"MATTHEW : ARNOLD @ 0 -'1;;:;11 NSI j I U .. II... r..,.j ..... ... .". n I ... 'JI Cf ! IV , {II#, ,\ J N ., I íj \ 'Î 11:\ 'j ., .. A:I .. JJ .... I ' .:J ... \. Y.J?52 ' ft i .ðJ _ L t '.: ," \cf:!aV. ,. , , ' . 1 / :" J IJ ._ \:. · j " , . '7. ! c-. - ?J. :4B.. o<..... _ ( III! .'J 1 5 ' 9 '> ') ...- \J IBRARY S1 'AR\F'S COllEG k,'j I I \ LONDON & TORONTO 1ft . I \ PUBLISHED BY J.M.DENT I \, I \ . J &SONS IT!> &IN NEWYORK I J 1 BY E'P.DUTTON & CO II.. 1 ' ñ 'l'é i J " ttI! t l 'ß ..m!I I . JU \: 1'1 '.Ju - ' .. ...., .. .I . R' ! = . . FIRST ISSUE OF THIS EDITION REPRINTED 19 06 19 0 7, Igog, IgII, 19 1 4 CONTENTS .A.G. I. 'fHE FUNCTION OF CRITICISM AT THE PRESENT TIME I National Review, N av. 1864. II. THE LITERARY INFLUENCE OF ACADEMIES . 26 Cornlzi/l Mag., August 1864. III. MAURICE DE GUÉRIN . . . 51 Fraser's Mag., January 1863. IV. EUGÉNIE DE GUÉRIN . . . 7 8 Cornlzill Mag., June 1863. V. HEINRICH HEINE . . e 102 Coynlzil/ Mag., August 1863- VI. PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT 12 7 Cornlzil/ Mag., April 1864. VII. JOUBERT; OR A FRENCH COLERIDGE .. 14 6 National Review, January 1864. VIII. A WORD MORE ABOUT SPINOZA ç 17+ MacMillan', Mag., Ðec. 1863. IX. MARCUS AURELIUS . . . 186 Pictoria Mag., Nov. 1863. X. ON TRANSLATING HO!l.tER .. . II 210 XI. NEWMAN'S REPLY . . 27 6 XII. LAST \V ORDS ON TRANSLATING HOMEa. . . 337 '\'11 INTRODUCTION OUR actual obligations to Matthew Arnold are almost beyond ex- pression. His very faults reforn1ed us. The chief of his services may perhaps be stated thus, that he discovered (for the modern English) the purely intel1ectual importance of humility. He had none of that hot humility which is the fascination of saints and good men. ut he had a cold humility which he had discovered to be a mere essential of the intelligence. To see things clearly, he said, you must" get yourself out of the way." The weakness of pride lies after all in this; that oneseH is a window. It can be a colourcd window, if you win; but the more thickly you lay on the colours the less of a window it will be. The two things to be done with a window are to wash it and then forget it. So the truly pious have always said the two things to ùo personally are to cleanse and to for- get oneself. f'vlatthew Arnold found the window of the English soul opaque with its own purple. The Englishman had painted his own image on the pane so gorgeously that it was practically a dead panel; it had no opening on the world without. He could not see the most obvious and enormous objects outside his own door. The Englislunan could not see (for instance) that the French Revolution was a far-reaching, fundamental and 1110st practical and successful change in the whole structure of Europe. He really thought that it was a bloody and futile episode, in weak imitation of an English General Election. The Englishman could not see that the Catholic Church was (at the very least) an immense and enduring Latin civilisation, linking us to the lost civilisations of the Mediterranean. He really thought it was a sort of sect. The Englishman could not see that the Franco-Prussian war was the,entrance of a new and menacing military age, a terror to England and to all. He really thought it was a little lesson to Louis Napoleon for not reading the TÙnes. The most enormous catastrophe was only some kind of symbolic compiiment to England. If the sun fell from Heaven it only showed how wise England IX Introduction was in not having much sunshine. If the waters were turned to blood it was only an advertisement for Bass's Ale or Fry's Cocoa. Such was the weak pride of the English then. One cannot say that is wholly undiscoverable now.