Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

L

"Dryden knew more of man in his general nature, and Pope in "his local manners. The notions of Dryden were formed by com"prehensive speculation, and those of Pope by minute attention.

[ocr errors]

There is more dignity in the knowledge of Dryden, and more "certainty in that of Pope."; In further illustration of their re spective characters as poets, Dr Johnson remarks, that Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope's "is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe and levelled by the roller." The sep sentiments of Dr Johnson, as to the respective merits of these two poets, entirely correspond with the principles which We h we have stated. Dryden was "superior in acquired knowledge," not, however, because he was more studious than Pope, but because" his mind had a larger range, and "he collected his images and illustrations from a more ex"tensive circumference of science." Pope was naturally more studious, and possessed greater powers of application than his contemporary; and, accordingly, his works are characterized by their remarkable correctness of style and arrangement. Notwithstanding of this we are told, that "Dryden knew "more of man in his general character," and Pope only" in his local manners."-In other words, and in application of our principles, Dryden caught the hues and impressions of surrounding objects directly from nature; they were transferred to his mind in all their living reality, and treasured up there without an effort, and thence embodied in his page in all their native beauty of dress and colouring. Pope, on the other hand, with equal powers of imagination or fancy, in consequence of being inferior to Dryden in conjuring up individual existences or phenomena to illustrate his subject, is wanting in that vividness of conception so well described by Dr Johnson. He treasured up phenomena not directly, but by means of the minute relations which he had traced or observed among them, and hence it is that his knowledge of man in his local manners" was more accurate than that of Dryden. Dryden, on the contrary, observed the actions and manners of men, and traced these directly to the feelings and sentiments from which they sprung; hence it is, that his

1

knowledge of man was more comprehensive than that of Pope. The character of Pope's mind led him not merely to observe, but likewise to remember minute relations, and in this way he came to a knowledge of more general facts. His Lower Individuality being moderate, and his Upper very full, phenomena were suggested to him by means of the relations which he had traced or observed among them. Dryden, on the contrary, had Lower Individuality very full, with Upper not so full. He accordingly recollected phenomena directly; but relations were re-suggested to him rather by means of recollecting the phenomena themselves than in consequence of the power of recollecting relations directly. Hence it is that the writings of Dryden are of a very unequal character.

1

Sometimes he is remarkable for the brilliancy of his conceptions, and at other times he sinks into the most profound carelessness, and writes verses that would disgrace an inferior poet. We are frequently struck with the brilliancy of his conceptions and the vividness of his descriptions, but we are as often disgusted at his inequality. Pope, on the contrary, is equal to a fault, the same abstract metaphysical air reigns throughout. When he brings forward facts to illustrate his subject, he touches them lightly;-they are all of that faint shadowy character which impart but an imperfect conception of the originals. In a word, Pope and Dryden, in their mode of thinking, stand as completely opposed to each other as they do in their cerebral development.

We might give numerous other examples from the poets and historians of the last century illustrative of the truth of these principles; but as an analysis of the character of each would necessarily occupy more time than we can well spare at present, we shall defer this investigation till some future opportunity. We propose, in the first place, however, to analyze a few of the most famous men of the present day, and we shall endeavour to select such only as have obtained pretty general notoriety, to enable even those who are least interested in the fate of the science to apply the principles which are here stated.

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

A GREAT variety of rumours, some about the astonishing success, and others about the dreadful overthrow of our fa vourite science, have of late been reverberated like echoes among the hills in this remote corner of the world; and I am impatient for the receipt of your last Number, to see what portion of truth they contain: One report, for instance, affirms, that the eloquent editor of the Edinburgh Review has not only become a Phrenologist, but has actually written and published, in his 88th Number, a very clever and spirited satire of our opponents, in the form of an attack on the science, in which all the exploded arguments against it are urged with such a ludicrous gravity and outward solemnity of manner as not only broadly to expose their inherent absurdity and emptiness, but to produce a strong positive conviction of the truths against which they are in appearance directed. It is added, that while this article is converting all the sensible antiphrenologists of the three kingdoms as fast as they can read it, and stirring up a demand for books and plaster-casts to an astonishing extent, so as to raise the price of stucco almost 50 per cent., and to call into active operation swarms of Italians as numerous and troublesome in your streets as bakers' appren tices, but groaning under loads of stucco instead of bread, there are still a few persons remarkable, it is in justice added, for very narrow and retreating foreheads, and strong in a rich endowment of Self-esteem, who persist in reading and, understanding the article literally, just as they do Gulliver's account of the Lilliputians and Brobdingnagers, and who conVOL. IV.-No XVI.

2 P

sequently look upon this clever production as a literal deathblow to the new doctrines. It is also reported, that the learned editor, in his zeal to promote the great cause, and to make every reparation for his former maltreatment, has become so enthusiastical and impetuous, that Mr Combe has positively been obliged to write a pamphlet for the express purpose of keeping him within bounds! Now, Mr Editor, if you will just conceive for a moment the intense curiosity one must naturally feel to get a full and satisfactory account of the quantum of truth in all these rumours in a region so remote as this, I am sure your Benevolence will be excited to such vivid action as will instantly prompt you to gratify us by adopting more efficient means for the regular and speedy transmission of your periodical.*

[ocr errors]

And now that my pen is in my hand, I may tell you, Mr Editor, that I have long had a desire to write something for your Journal; but when I recollected what a terrible thing it was, and how trying to the nerves, to see one's lucubrations in print, and especially to hear one's self laughed at, cut up, or abused, as often happens to printed men, my big Self-esteem and Cautiousness revolted at the idea, and drove me from the attempt; but now that I have begun, my valour rises within me, and I shall e'en go on at every risk; but, as my Concentrativeness is none of the biggest, if I ramble a little in my story, I

Some of our readers may marvel, that, at so late a date as the 31st September, our 13th Number, containing the results of Mr Jeffrey's attack, should not have reached Glenhoulakin; but our much-esteemed correspondent and subscriber explains the mystery by telling us, in a private letter, that his venerable residence is so far removed from the line of mail-coaches, rail-roads, and steam-packets, and the half-yearly carrier's horse is so lame in two knees and one ankle (besides being blind of an eye), that he can never calculate on receiving any of his periodicals sooner than twelve months after date. He wisely adds, that this is, after all, no such great hardship as might at first be supposed, as he receives, say the October Number of 1826, about the 31st September, 1827, and he has only to fancy the year the same, to have it in precise course the day it is due, and to have all the pleasure of novelty unimpaired. Some notion of the extreme remoteness of Glenhoulakin from our meridian may be formed from observing the very singular fact of the earth's motion being so much modified there, by its distance from the centre, as to give thirty-one days to their September, when, for time immemorial, ours has only been gifted with thirty.-EDITOR,

[ocr errors]

hope you will not refuse to keep me company, at least till you are tired, or I am done.

But perhaps you think it is time to begin;-I am of the same opinion, and therefore proceed to tell you a hantel about" what I have to say.

You once had a very sensible article about Mr Owen's parallelogramatic communities, in which you discussed the possibility of men living together in numbers on terms of union, equality, and co-operation; and you talked as if no such experiment had ever before been tried. Now, I propose to show that you are wrong in this supposition, and that communities of union and mutual co-operation exist in all quarters of the world, and have existed from the earliest times, and that they are always found to work well where the institution has been properly framed from the beginning, and established in a favourable soil.

It is, perhaps, not the least singular circumstance in the history of the communities to which I allude, that, although, as has since been proved, they have existed and flourished almost, if not altogether, as long as man himself, yet it was not till late in the 18th century that their existence and constitution were discovered and explained to the world by a German of the name of Gall, who has since gained great ce·lebrity by his discovery. Many people, called philosophers, had indeed suspected their existence, and some of them seem even to have occasionally stolen a glance in at the windows, and described what they saw; and almost everybody had remarked the exterior of the buildings so occupied, but without troubling themselves much about the number, habits, or occupations of the tenants. And another kind of men, called anatomists, have been known to examine many of these edifices, after they had been forsaken and abandoned by the proprietors, and to investigate their arrangements and structure with great care, in the hope of finding out the uses of the machinery, and the number and particular occupations of the artists; but every thing they saw was so totally unlike

« ПредишнаНапред »