Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

documents, official reports, and files of correspondence. Mr. Winsor shows boldness and balance of judgment, accuracy in statement, and a sense of literary proportion. He has not scrupled to question some conclusions affirmed by earlier historians, and always cites valuable authority for his own. He is not only instructive, but stimulating.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

To the important philosophical writings, Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy (1874), The Destiny of Man (1884), The Idea of God (1885), Myths and Myth-Makers (1872), Darwinism and Other Essays, Excursions of an Evolutionist (1883), which established his rank as a thinker, John Fiske (born 1842) has within recent years added noteworthy historical works. He, too, is a native of New England, and a graduate of Harvard; he has held connection with the University in various capacities during many years. The Discovery of America, American Political Ideas, The Beginnings of New England, The American Revolution, The Critical Period of American History, Civil Government in the United States, have brought him enthusiastic praise both from critics and youthful students. Like Walter Bagehot, Fiske has made his philosophy the lodestar of his economic and historical reasoning. He is at once brilliant and profound, accurate and clear, logical and genial. As he is still in the prime of life, and a comprehensive plan underlies his several productions, he would seem destined to foremost rank among the American historians of our time.

A History of the United States under the Constitution has been elaborated by James Schouler (born 1839), a native of Massachusetts, who began his professional life as a lecturer on law. The five volumes of his work (1880–1891) cover the period from the close of the Revolution to the beginning of the Civil War, with portraiture of the social and political growth of our people. Schouler has not marshaled so formidable an array of final authorities as Bancroft or Winsor; he does not attempt the philosophical analysis of Fiske; but his method is good and his judgment trustworthy. His pages are brightened by graphic pen-portraits and interesting episodes. He gave especial attention to the current political and periodical writings of his chosen period, and reflects much of its vivacity.

Another student of the same period is John Bach MacMaster (born 1854), a native of Brooklyn, New York. Civil engineering first led him to authorship, and he held the professorship of that subject in Princeton, when the marked success of his History of the People of the United States brought him renown in a new field. His first volume appeared in 1883, and in the same year he assumed the chair of American history in the University of Pennsylvania. As his theme coincides with that of Schouler, the sources of his material have naturally been somewhat similar. The individualities and methods of the two writers have, however, produced different results. Henry Charles Lea (born 1825), a native of Philadelphia, made a few early ventures in the direction of the natural sciences, but soon concentrated his mind and pen upon the mediæval and ecclesiastical history of Europe. He wrote much for periodicals, and two collections of his essays antedate his magnum opus. Studies in Church History (1869) and Superstition and Force (1883) showed broad learning, mental acumen, and an easy style. All these qualities appeared to better advantage in his History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church (1884), which condenses into one eminently readable volume the fruits of voluminous and painstaking research. A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (1887-1888), including an exhaustive study of political, mental, and social conditions, has received high encomiums. Not only has it that sound learning and excellence of method without which a work of such compass must lamentably fail; it also shows discrimination in arrangement, vigor, and richness of style. A distinguished English critic has called it “a . . . solid structure that will survive the censure of all critics."

The able scholar who is called "the only original American authority in Prussian history," succumbed to the toilsome preparation involved by his chosen life-work, and left it incomplete. Herbert Tuttle (1846-1894) was born in the Green Mountain State, of vigorous native stock, and worked his way through the University of Vermont. In the journalistic paths which he first entered, his progress was rapid. As editorial writer for the Boston Advertiser, then as Paris correspondent, studying language, history, and international law amid the closing scenes of the Third Empire; as Berlin correspondent of the London Daily News (1872-1878), editor of the International

Gazette (1874-1876), holding an influential social and literary position in the brilliant German capital, his life broadened rapidly. He became an enthusiastic student of international relations, contributed constantly to leading periodicals, published a volume of essays on German Political Leaders (1876), and soon determined to portray, broadly and sympathetically, the evolution of the Prussian State, as related to modern Europe. Carlyle's heroic portrait of the great Frederick had followed the impressionist's manner, careless, even untrue in many details, and picturing Prussia from the outside. Tuttle had sympathetic acquaintance with Prussian personalities and traditions, with the spirit and languages of other Continental nations; and moreover had access to much literary evidence not considered by Carlyle. Accepting a call to Cornell University, he returned to America, and published his first volume in 1883, making its completion his absorbing aim. His fourth volume remained in manuscript at the time of his death.

From Prussian as from English and American authorities his work won prompt recognition. His style is clear and direct, never labored, although condensing the fruits of laborious research. His judgments are both acute and judicious. It was fitly said that "his mind glanced with swift penetration over the material of knowledge . . . possessing an intuitive power to divine the philosophy of events." His rare gifts as an instructor and inspirer of youthful students cannot be overlooked in the summary of his powers.

[merged small][ocr errors]

1. Richard Hildreth. 2. William Hickling Prescott. — 3. George Bancroft.-4. John Lothrop Motley.-5. Francis Parkman.-6. Justin Winsor.-7. John Fiske.8. James Schouler.-9. John Bach MacMaster. — 10. Henry Charles Lea.-11. Herbert Tuttle.

CHAPTER VIII.

EMERSON, THE CONCORD SCHOOL, AND LATER

ESSAYISTS.

"All his earnest is good earnest; and, unlike many critics, as well of philosophy as of literature, he shows no trace in himself of the evils he deprecates in others." Westminster Review, 1840.

"Emerson sits under the tree planted by Fichte."— Westminster Review,

1870.

"No sweeter soul e'er trod earth's ways." - William Sharp.

"More genial and more delicate than Carlyle, he nevertheless had much in common with the English philosopher, and his loss will be keenly felt on both sides of the Atlantic.' - London Standard.

"As Wordsworth's poetry is, in my judgment, the most important work done in verse in our language during the century, so Emerson's essays are the most important work done in prose."- Matthew Arnold.

THE religious controversy which arose in Boston in the early part of the nineteenth century gradually took a more general form. Theological formulas became too narrow a limit for independent thinkers, and Theodore Parker's example was followed by a group of young people, who abandoned sectarian debate for the sake of becoming philosophers. The master-mind among them was Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), whose place of residence has supplied the name by which they are known- the Concord School.

Emerson invested the platform of the lyceum with a charm and influence which it has lost in later days. His lectures were essays collated from his voluminous commonplace book, and were delivered in a style of oratory combining neighborly familiarity with oracular emphasis. The

strongly moral bent of his mind may have been an inheritance from the eight generations of clergymen among his ancestors. He graduated at Harvard, studied divinity, and was ordained as a Unitarian minister; but he soon gave up the charge of his congregation, and in 1832 began a life of meditation and literary aims. In 1833 he made a short visit to Europe, and then began a lasting friendship with Carlyle. About this time, also, began his long career as lecturer. He was one of the original editors of The Dial, a short-lived magazine (1840-1844) devoted to literature, philosophy, and religion. The contributors were all more or less at variance with conventional standards, and expressed their views with more force than consistency. Among them were Margaret Fuller, George Ripley, Alcott, and Thoreau. In 1841 and 1844 the two series of Emerson's essays were published; in 1847, his poems. The year 1848 found him traveling and lecturing in England, where he renewed his old intimacy with Carlyle. On his return to America he lectured on English Character and Manners, and his lectures were published in 1856 as English Traits. Others of his works are The Conduct of Life, Society and Solitude, Representative Men, and Letters and Social Aims. His poems are highly valued by most of his readers, but rather as terse and noble epitomes of his peculiar thought than as examples of perfected melody or form. They are not numerous, but have been several times collected and edited since 1846.

In 1872-1873 Emerson again visited Europe, said farewell to Carlyle, and traveled on the Continent and in Egypt. The last years of his life were spent among friends and admirers, who treasured his speech and companionship most reverently, and made as light as possible the burdens of old age.

« ZurückWeiter »