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Leader (1850-1860), 30th January 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16

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      N9 The Leader. [No. 410, January 30, 185...

      n 9 THE LEADER . [ No . 410 , January 30 , 1858 .

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      ! Citautircv ?— '

      Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...

      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges ana police of literature . They do not ° makeiaws—they interpret and try to enforce tiiem .-Edinburgh Bev % ew .

      — ? The Dean Of Westminster Has Just Pub...

      — ? The Dean of Westminster has just published an interesting pamphlet on Some Deficiencies in our English Dictionaries , being the substance of two papers read by him before the Philological Society in the month of November last . Few are better entitled to write on the subject of English philology than Doctor Tbench . A diligent student of the language himself , he has the power of communicating his enthusiasm to others , and has done more than any one besides towards popularizing the scientific study of our vernacular English . Anxious to turn the enthusiasm thus created to practical account , he submitted , as many of our readers may remember , during the last year to the Philological Society a plan for collecting materials towards the fuller elucidation of English lexicography . This plan was in the main to invite the co-operation of all who

      were interested in the subject , and to distribute among the volunteers who responded to the invitation the vast number of important works rich in materials for illustrating the history of the language which had been either altogether overlooked or only very partially employed for this purpose before . The Society at once adopted the Dean ' s suggestion , circulating without delay outlines of the plan and appeals for help . This effort has already been attended with . considerable success . The appeal was responded to by seventy-six volunteers , among whom the works of a hundred and twenty-one English authors , in most cases the whole works of each author , were distributed , and several important contributions have already been received . The pamphlet before us is written to help forward this movement , by awakening more general interest in the effort , and by fixing attention on the points in which our existing dictionaries are most deficient , and where , therefore , active and intelligent help is most

      needed . We need scarcely say that we heartily sympathize with the effort suggested by Dr . Tokench , and undertaken by the Philological Society . It is very seasonable , and , if attended with reasonable success , will be a national service of the highest value . But to ensure its success , it is absolutely necessary that the object in view should be fixed with precision . The limits of the task undertaken must be clearly defined , or a great deal of the labour employed upon it ¦ willbe thrown away . Dr . Trench ' s pamphlet does not by any means fully supply this indispensable condition of successful effort . Many of the important points

      discussed in his pamphlet are left practically undecided , the conclusions suggested or arrived at being too vague for use . Take , for instance , the first point touched upon that of obsolete words . Dr . Tbench complains most justly that in . our existing dictionaries these words are incompletely registered , but lie gives no practical rule for correcting this cardinal defect . His plan , if fully carried out , would introduce fresh evils far greater than the one to be remedied . He suggests every word once used by an English author ought to be found in a good English dictionary . In illustration of what he means , he selects in the following passage a number of words from the writings of a single English writer , none of which have hitherto found a place in any of our dictionaries : —

      The maker , for example , of an English Dictionary may not consider ' muherosjty , or * subsannation , ' or ' coaxation , ' or ? ludibundness , ' or * delinition , ' or ' septemfluous , ' or medioxumous , ' or mirificent , ' or palmiferoua , ' or ' opime , ' or a thousand other words of a similar character which might be adduced ( I take all these from a single work of Henry More ) , to contribute much to the riches of the English tongue ; yet has he not therefore any right to omit them , as all these which I have just adduced , with a thousand more of like kind , have been omitted from our Dictionaries . A more unfortunate example could scarcely have been selected . Dr . Heney More was a notorious word-coiner , and he has introduced more new

      compounds from Hebrew , Greek , and Latin into his writings than any English author of equal respectability . If all the words issued from his prolific mint were to be accepted as sterling coin , he would almost require a dictionary for himself . He has , in fact , appended such a dictionary to one of his works , his mystical poem on the soul , the very title of which ,. * Psycho-Zoia / is an illustration of bis morbid passion for exotic terms . The truth is , such a rule with regard to obsolete terms must be defined by some reference to the character of the words themselves , and the position of the authors in whose writings they appear , or it is practically worthless . For the rest , we need scarcely add that the pamphlet , though deficient as a practical guide , abounds with valuable hints and curious information touching the important subject discussed .

      The New Library Edition Of The Pickwick ...

      The new Library Edition of the Pickwick Papers , published jointly by Messrs . Bradbury and Evans and Messrs . Chapman and Hall , is an auspicious commencement of this handsome and serviceable reproduction of the Opera omnia of our great novelist , and does infinite credit to both the houses " ^ reSponsiBlo"f 6 Fits ftppeWaficiff : On-how-manythousandsof-the-most ^ favourod bookshelves in our own country , and far away , wheresoever the English tongue is spoken and English hearts boat freely , will this priooleaa treasury of wit and humour , large-hearted wisdom , and fine humanity , bo set in honour —» possession for ever ! How many of our generation will the re-reading of Pickwick carry back to happy days , when ho who , still in the prime and fulness of his manhood , is doing bravo work as an unacknowledged legislator , was budding forth in all the exuberant freshness and prodigal abundance of the youth of genius ! May ho long bp with us in bodily prosoncc , best loved by those who know him best , honoured by all ! In spirit ho will be the welcome

      guest with all the coming ages ; so long , at least , as the English race and language endure . The externals of the new edition , as to paper and typography , are worthy of the author—what can we say more ?—and we note with pleasure the generous and feeling dedication to Mr . John IForster , a name justly honoured by the press , and well deserving to be handed down side by side with that of Charles Dickens . ARNOLD'S MEROPE . Merope : a Tragedy . By Matthew Arnold . Longman and Co . There are two separate topics offered to the critic in this volume , one the tragedy itself , and the other the preface in which Mr . Arnold argues in favour of a restoration of the forms of Greek Drama . To do justice to either of these topics would require more space than any journal can allow ; and to touch on them both would obviously be only to the disadvantage of both . We shall leave the preface and its theoretical discussions to the quiet meditation of the reader , whose attention is specially directed to it ; and say a few words on the tragedy which that preface introduces . Merope is the closest reproduction of the forms » of Greek tragedy which , to our knowledge , has been yet attempted . Hitherto scholarly poets have been contented with an imitation of certain parts of the Greek form , or with such implied allusions as would gratify the scholarly reader , but no one has adopted that form in all its niceties and characteristics , as if submitting to all the conditions which affected the Grecian poet . Mr . Arnold now tries that experiment on the English public . Modern , intensely modern in spirit ( as it ought to be ) Merope is minutely antique in form . Not only are the more massive peculiarities of the Greek Drama reproduced , not only have we the simplicity of structure , slowness of movement , and choral interruptions , which were necessities in the Greek Drama , but we have also the simplicity of diction and the balanced seesaw of dialogue . In fact after a careful reading of Merope the English reader may congratulate himself on having made acquaintance with a Greek play . But this is , after all , a slight matter compared with poetic interest : a scholar might have achieved such a feat ; but to write Merope something more than scholarship was required . We cannot but regard the form as a mistake ; yet in spite of the gratuitous restraints which the author has laid upon himself in imitating where he should have been creating , we feel throughout the play a fine dramatic instinct moving a thoughtful and accomplished mind . The characters are not pure Greek , but very human , and moved by ' modern ideas . The language too is modern , of course , yet having much of the pregnant simplicity of the ancients , sometimes careless to a point remarkable in one so solicitous of ancient finish , but never meretricious or tricky . Let this portion of the early scene between Merope and the tyrant illustrate what we have said : — ( To Mekope . ) I sought thee Merope ; I find thee thus , As I have ever found thee ; bent to keep , By sad observances and public grief , A mournful feud alive which else would die . I blame thee not , I do thy heart no wrong : Thy deep seclusion , thine unyielding gloom , Thine attitude of cold , estrang'd reproach , These punctual funeral honours , year by year Bepeated , are in thee , I well believe , Courageous , faithful actions , nobly dar'd . But , Merope , the eyes of other men Read in these actions , innocent in thee , Perpetual promptings to rebellious hope , War-cries to faction , year by year renew'd , Beacons of vengeance , not to be let di ^ . And me , believe it , wise men gravely blame , And ignorant men despise me , that I stand Passive , permitting thee what course thou wilt . Yes , the crowd mutters that remorseful fear And paralyzing conscience stop my arm , When it should pluck thee from thy hostile way . All this I bear , for , what I seek , I know ; Peace , peace is what 1 seek , and public calm : Endless extinction of unhappy hates : Union cemented for this nation ' s weal . And even now , if to behold me bore , This day , amid these rites , this black-rob'd train , Wakens , O Queen ! remembrance in thy heart Too wide at variance with the peace \ seek—I will not violate thy noble grief , The prayer I came to urge I will defer . MKROl'D . This day , to-morrow , yesterday , alike I am , I shall bo , have been , in my mind Tow ' rda tlieo ; towards thy silence aa thy speech . Speak , therefore , or keep silence , which thou wilt . VOI / XTHONTB 8 . Hear me , then , speak ; and let this mournful day , The twentieth anniversary of strife , Henceforth bo honour'd as the dato of peace . Yes . twenty years ago this day behold The king Oresphontes , thy groat husband , fall : It needs no yearly offerings at bin tomb To keep alivo that memory in my heart ; _> , —iriIvosrnndrwhlle'I- 'Beo-tho-Hght ,-wlU 4 ivo . — ., For wo wore Uinomon ^—more than kinsmen—friends : Together wo had sprung , together lived ; Together to thin isle of Pelops camo To take tlio inheritance of Hercules ; Together won this fair Mcsscniun land—Alas , that , how to rule it , was our broil ! Ho had hi » counsel , party , friends—I mino ; Ho stood by what he wish'd for—I the same ; I sinoto him , whon our wishes olash'd in arms : Ho had amlt mo , had ho been swift as I . But while J sinoto him , Queen , I honour'd him ;

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 30, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30011858/page/16/