manual exercise of it; and when he sees readers turn away his heart
misgives him for his fellow-men. Is it as it always was, that they do
not wish to know the truth? Alas! good eremite, men do not seek the
truth as they should; but do you know what the truth is? It is a thing
ideal, displayed by the just proportion of events, revealed in form and
color, dumb till facts be set in syllables, articulated into words,
put together into sentences, swung with proper tone and cadence. It is
not revolutions only that have color. Nothing in human life is without
it. In a monochrome you can depict nothing but a single incident; in a
monotone you cannot often carry truth beyond a single sentence. Only by
art in all its variety can you depict as it is the various face of life.
Yes; but what sort of art? There is here a wide field of choice. Shall
we go back to the art of which Macaulay was so great a master? We could
do worse. It must be a great art that can make men lay aside the novel
and take up the history, to find there, in very fact, the movement and
drama of life. What Macaulay does well he does incomparably. Who else
can mass the details as he does, and yet not mar or obscure, but only
heighten, the effect of the picture as a whole? Who else can bring
so amazing a profusion of knowledge within the strait limits of a
simple plan, nowhere encumbered, everywhere free and obvious in its
movement? How sure the strokes, and how bold and vivid the result! Yet
when we have laid the book aside, when the charm and the excitement
of the telling narrative have worn off, when we have lost step with
the swinging gait at which the style goes, when the details have faded
from our recollection, and we sit removed and thoughtful, with only the
greater outlines of the story sharp upon our minds, a deep misgiving
and dissatisfaction take possession of us. We are no longer young, and
we are chagrined that we should have been so pleased and taken with the
glitter and color and mere life of the picture. Let boys be cajoled by
rhetoric, we cry; men must look deeper. What of the judgment of this
facile and eloquent man? Can we agree with him, when he is not talking
and the charm is gone? What shall we say of his assessment of men and
measures? Is he just? Is he himself in possession of the whole truth?
Does he open the matter to us as it was? Does he not, rather, ride us
like an advocate, and make himself master of our judgments?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account