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    March 24, I860,] The Leader and Saturday...

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    TRANSLATED POETRY.* THE principles on wh...

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    * Thoughts on MiqlUh Prosody. ami Transl...

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    Antony Gunther. M Odjsbn Philosophy In G...

    his renown as a philosopher is wholly undeserved , though France places him at the head of philosophers . ¦ ' ¦ What Protestantism originated , Protestantism lias ^ continued . With few exceptions—Maiebkanchb is one—the leading philosophers since the birth of Protestantism have been dissenters from the Papacy . This is natural enough . A Catholic philosopher is hampered at every step by the necessity of reconciling his system With authority ; and authority cannot fail to discountenance what harmoniseth not with its demands . Descabtes proceeded hypocritically enough , for he said that everything belonging to taitn he lef t in his speculations untouched . He then went forth on a voyage of universal doubt . How at the same moment faith could remain unassailed , while universal doubt was pursued , we are unable to understand ¦ _ . ' :

    . . .. . OF the few German Catholics who , in recent days , have devoted themselves to the study of philosophy , one of the most conspicuous is Antony Gunteceb . He has written numerous works , which are remarkable for their eccentricities of style . His adinirers claina for him profound originality 5 but the originality , if any , is more in the manner than in the substance . Not essentially from Cartesianism does his scheme of things differ . Gunther has been an ardent controversialist , and has no love for systematic exposition . He dashes his thoughts at us with aphoristic brevHy , polemical warmth , or caustic wit ; but in the main he is an adherent of that dualism which German philosophy has rejected , ^ Guntheb was born at Lmdenau , in Bohemia , in . 1783 . He carried

    with him to the school and the University those Catholic convictions in which he had been educated . But these we ' re somewhat loosened by an acquaintance with philosophy , though not quite abandoned . His parents wished him to devote himself to theology 5 this he refused , turning his attention to law . In 1810 he went from Prague to Yienna to become the tutor of the Prince Pebdikandvon Bbetzenheim . Philosophy , which had led GuNTinEE into scepticism * cured him of scepticism . He became a priest , associating himself with the Jesuits about the time that ^ expelled from Russia , they found an asylum in Austria . For many years he has led the quiet life of a student at Vienna . . . - - GiisTnEit t

    . At the instigation of the Jesuits , the whole ofj ' s wors were condemned at Rome , . were placed among prohibited books . This was in the summer of 1857 . The same fate had befallen the Italian RosiiiNi , and other enlightened Catholic philosophers , whose orthodoxy was unquestionable . GutStherV condemnation has excited deep sympathy and strong indignation in the Catholic ^ body . It was . thought a strange reward for his services to Catholicism . Guntheb is an eminently pure , pious , and self-denying man . After he became a priest he had never sought a , situation of any kind , and refused numerous advantageous offers . Living in poverty , he had been the-disinterested champion of the Church ' s dogmas , had attacked Atheism and Pantheism , had warred with the schools of Hegel and Hehbart , had tried to give Christianity a broad and sure philosophical basis .

    But the Jesuits are never satisfied unless they can reign alone . They wish the Church to terrify , and riot to persuade . A virulent pamphleteer , like Louis Veutllot , is , more to their taste than a humble worshipper like Antony Guntiiek , who would show that faith , though unintelligible , is not therefore unreasonable . So far as logical consistency is concerned , they are undoubtedly right . Only in the clouds of Obscurantism can the papal Church prepare invincible weapons in conflict with its determined foes . Our feeling of admiration , esteem , and pity for Antony Guntheb ought not . to hinder us from-seeing that such attempts as his , however well meant , would turn philosophy from "" its natural development . Kant was a Theigt , but Fichte , Schi < xi . ing and Hegel were all . iu ' different fashions , Pantheists ; tlumgh-it would

    be extremely unfair ever to consider Pantheism as equivalent to Atheism . Pantheism may be , and if > often is , intensely religious . Fichtu ' s Pantheism tended to raise the man into the doniigod , the demigod into the god ; it had the same heroic aspirings its uncienfc Stoicism . Tlie Pantheism of Sciieixinc * was more of an Oriental kind , such as we find in the Hindoo . mythology . It made scienco , it made nature mibtiinely poetical . Hegki / s Pantheism was the idolatry of etero ' ul reason . It was arid and withering , and we love it not . The belief that Pan theism ) ever leads to Materialism is a vulgar error . It is from the visible to tlie invisible Unit Pantheism , is always attracted . It i « not in forms , but in the life deeper than forms , that it dwells . We are not , however , vindicating it ; we are simply stating it . Whatever may bo its value , or whatever its fruits , it has for sixty years been the dominating philosophy among our German brethren ; and Jacob Boeiime , and tho greatest of the mystics , huvo been called in to illustruto it , and to help in its

    advocacy . The most interesting aspect of . Pantheism is rachellingism in connection with Bpehmeism . Since the death of HispEi ,, thirty years ago * German philosophy has goue in throe directions . In thu iirHt place , Hugelianisin has rushed into every possible extravagance . . In the second pluce ^ there ) have been sentimental and , spiritualist philosophies , chiufly pveached by those who dread legitimate , inexorable , philosophical consequences - f and , thirdly , in harmony with Germany ' s - industrial triumph ? , Baconianism has been gaining ground ; a bastard BaconianiVn , tlmt < of Comt-e , also findimg diriciplea , Germany , as the region of pure philosophy , can never be sutisHed with sentiinental or epiiitualiab syateins , or w » tn Baconiauism , either true ov false . Tho most exalted , the inopt expansive Ontological scheme , ns contrnutod with puny psychology , alone cap fill and food tho colossal Gorjnim intellect . Our friend , then , Anton y Gunthek , though clever and witty , and shrewd and genial , though a good fellow aa well as an honest Catholic , simply

    blunders . Philosophy tries to see , and when it sees it tries to speak , the absolute truth . If so , then there has been no philosophy during the present century , except the German . There was a time when he who was the best cultivator in the -. field of thought was the greatest philosopher ; but now he is tlie greatest philosopher who is the best architect in the city of thought . The world ' s first thinkers scatter seeds as they rush along ; then come the cultivators ; then come the architects . The Germans are unsurpassed as philosophical architects . Bub when the vast and numerous edifices which they have built are overthrown , will not the same succession be repeated ? He that hath any philosophical genius at this hour must be a scatterer of seed . On what soil it falls he

    knows not ; he knows not whether a single seed will ever' grow . Nevertheless , he scatters and scatters . I ) ivlner than the cultivators in philosophy are the scatterers ; diviner than the architects are the cultivators ; the hodmen of whom we have so many are mere hodmen ; and they must not judge either the scatterers , the cultivators , or the architects . In philosophy England offers us only hodmen—^ muscular mortals , who are totally useless where there is nothing to build . We are ourselves , we trustj no hodmen ; cultivators and architects we are certain that we are not . We sometimes , in a joyous dream , imagine that we are seatterers of seed ; yet scatterers where it can never grow . With Anton y Gunthee let us part kindly . The old man , now nearly eighty years of age , has borne his courageous testimony . If not a mighty and magnificent philosopher , he is what is better- ^ -a martyr . Into the furrows ploughed by fourscore years on his brow , le ' fc us -throw a gleam of sunshine if we can . Hail ! and farewell , truehearted Antony Guntheb .

    March 24, I860,] The Leader And Saturday...

    March 24 , I 860 , ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . %$ l

    Translated Poetry.* The Principles On Wh...

    TRANSLATED POETRY . * THE principles on which poetic translation should be conducted are better felt than expressed , better expressed than observed . It should neither be too literal nor too free . This , if we understand him rightly , is Mr . Martin ' s theory . He . wishes to convey the impression produced upon himself by the originals , and to be as literal and close as the difference between the languages will admit . But to be " too close is to be hopelessly prosaie , " and that Mr ,-. Martin would avoid by all means . ^ He is , indeed , morbidly fastidious in this particular ; and to escape baldness sometimes runs into dinuseness—or substitutes the images and associations of modern for those of the Augustan times ; The following ,: for instance , is clearly a case of substitution : — - " Gloom is for age . Young hearts should glow-With fancies bright and free , Should court the crowded walk ,-the show , And at dim eve love ' s murmurs low Beneatli the trysting tree ; " The laugh . from the sly corner , where Our girl ia hiding fast , The struggle for the look of hair , The half well-pleased , half smgry , air . The yielded kisB at laBt . " Now is this version too free ? We' are afraid that it is , and that Mr . Martin has ventured too frequently on the licence . It gives to the translation an entirely modern air and spirit ; and the fault arises from Mr . Martin's desire to impart to Horace what never belonged to the poet . He wished to give ' him the feeling and sentiment of a modern lover , though conscious that never was poet so great a stranger to them as the Jjatin lyrist . Of love itself we hold Horace to have been quite ignorant ; and it is suspected that most of his erotics were indeed derived from Greek originals . They present passion at seuond-hand . Mr . Martin was not ignorant of all this ; but he was afraid of the classical coldness that he had to interpret , and preferred a warmer slyle j so ventured on a modernised colouring of' the' antique cameos , " which we find , for . the moat part , copied after tlie fashion just illustrated . Iiet us , however , confess that this same ode " to Tualiarohus" is one of the happiest : eflbrts in the volume , and does Mr . Martin infinite credit . There are thoso , however , who will doubt whether the etanza adopted represents the original as it ought . It certainly leads to diiluseness ; a .. d , in general , Wo find that Mr . Martin HUes-to allow himself room enough . We tukq it that tho only r « al model for translating Horace is that set by Milton in his version of tho filth ode , in the first book . Hero , n . t once , are severity and elegance reconciled . Mr . MaHin ' s translation of , this ode sutt ' ors gryatly in comparison . It js , moreover , very inferior to flome other versions wo , coulil name . Yet it 1 ms evidently been laboured , ove »* to tho point of incurring grammatical inaccuracy in tho search for poetxeal diction . , ... ., On this head perhaps nothing satisfactory cap bo done until the English translator shall bo privileged to render unauustionecl the ancient poet ' s meaning- in tho anciont measures . But it requires that first these should be naturaliBod in the lSngUsh languugo ; ana there are strong-minded men who think that this is quite poasiblo . Hero wo have , for instance , a pamplilob of Lord Kodcadulo » on the

    * Thoughts On Miqluh Prosody. Ami Transl...

    * Thoughts on MiqlUh Prosody . ami Translations from Tloraoo . By Lord Rhdksdalk . ( J . It , and JiiineB Varkor . ) Thq Odos ofUCoraao translated " into ^ fW «/* } ° ™ « - . l > a XA J ° * Notes , By'l ' WKODOHB Maktin . ( Johu W .. A ' arkor wid Son , ) Nathan the Wise / a Dramatic I ' ecni , in 'J ? ivo Aofs . By Ootthoid BnSSS LPBSiia . ; rmnalfttod from the Q « ™|»^»«> bJTiIo & oJ I ^ KSSJlMO , and ft OrHiOrtlSurvpy of his I ' yextion , Writinge , & o . Ity AiXHTUva ltmon . ( A . W . Uo »» ot 6 . )

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 24, 1860, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24031860/page/13/