International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 523 pages of information about International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1,.

International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 523 pages of information about International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1,.
chancellorship he published his “Discourse on Natural Theology.”  In 1840 he published his “Historical Sketches of the Statesmen who flourished in the Time of George the Third;” in 1845-6, “Lives of Men of Letters and Science who flourished in the Time of George the Third;” and he has since given to the world works on “The French Revolution,” on “Instinct,” “Demosthenes’ Oration on the Crown,” &c., &c.  Collections of his Speeches and Forensic Arguments, and of his Critical Essays, as well as the other works above referred to, have been republished in Philadelphia, by Lea and Blanchard.

In the language of the Editor of his “Opinions”, Lord Brougham is remarkable for uniting, in a high degree of perfection, three things which are not often found to be compatible.  His learning is all but universal:  his reason is cultivated to the perfection of the argumentative powers; and he possesses in a rare and eminent degree the gift of eloquence.

Of his learning it may be said that there is scarcely a subject, on which ingenuity or intellect has been exercised, that he has not probed to its principles, or entered into with the spirit of a philosopher.  That he is a classical scholar of a high order, is shown by his criticisms on the internal peculiarities of the works of the ancients and their styles of composition.  They evince an intimate acquaintance with the great master pieces of antiquity.  The book-worms of Universities—­those scholastic giants who are great on small questions of quantity and etymology,—­who buckle on the ponderous armor of the commentators in the contest with more subtle wits, on the interesting doubt of a wrong reading; such men, in the spirit of pedantry, have refused to Lord Brougham the merit of profundity, while they allow that he possesses a sort of superficial knowledge of the classics; they say that he can gracefully skim the surface of the stream, but that its depths would overwhelm him.  Now, while this may be true as regards the fact, we dissent from it as regards the inference.  It is a question to be decided between the learned drones of a by-gone school and the quicker intellects of a ripening age, which is the better thing,—­criticism on words—­on accidental peculiarities of style—­or a just and sympathizing conception of the feelings of the poet or the wisdom of the philosopher.  Men are beginning to disregard the former, while they set a high value upon the latter:  so much laboriously-earned learning is at a discount, and allowance should be made for the petty spite, the depreciating superciliousness, of disappointment.  Lord Brougham’s classical knowledge partakes more of that intimate regard and appreciation which we accord to the great writers, than of this pedantry of the schools.  Hence the cry of want of depth, that has been raised against him.  Like many other great men of his age, he has read the authors of Greece and Rome in a spirit that has identified him with their thoughts and feelings, by taking into account the circumstances of their times; and the result has been, that he has exchanged the formalities and critical sharp-sightedness of acquaintance for the intimacy of friendship.

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International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.