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 pared in this country for the convenience of students of Spanish, while more thoroughly grounded, do not attempt to enter the critical field, nor will Fitzmaurice-Kelly's "History of Spanish Literature," a convenient handbook on many subjects, repay examination. Two experts upon the drama, however, write with ampler information. Isaac Goldberg's essay, appearing at the beginning of his "Drama of Transition," invites comparison with the best work of the Spanish critics. Exceptional insight and sympathy also illumine the pages of Storm Jameson's "Modern Drama in Europe," reflecting, perhaps, more satisfyingly than any other the spiritual side of this great idealist. Ignorance of the language has unfortunately compelled a reliance upon second-hand authorities in matters of detail, leading upon occasion to eloquent comparisons with a beatified Lope de Vega, endowed for the purpose with dramas of model construction, palpitating with vital, distinctive characters. In the cold light of truth, Benavente does not derive from the florid line of Lope. Except for his astonishing richness, his starry spirituality reminiscent, in Shelley's phrase, of the autos of Calderón, he has little in common with the Golden Age of the Spanish Renaissance. With a nicer intuition—the prophetic vision of the poet—Rubén Darío has visualized Benavente as of the major, nobler stock of the dialectical troubadour and knight of the spirit, who carried the banner of his country in the new dawn at the close of the Middle Ages throughout the Christian world: "Jacinto Benavente is the man who smiles… Amid the debacle with which the nineteenth century closed in Spain, his face smiles as from an invisible frame. He is Mephistophelian, a meticulous philosopher, whose isolation has become a weapon of defense. As he talks or writes, like a true prince, he always has a poignard at his side, or a fool. He possesses independence, which is more priceless to a man than any kingdom, and so he is the master of truth and the tamer of lies. His culture is cosmopolitan, and his mental processes, which are wholly foreign to his people, bewildering in the land of fixed tradition, but they will not astonish the observer who has the keenness to perceive how this soil, which has been so fertile of genius, has


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 Gazeta once let slip the Constituent Assembly would be a convention. That is an example of the empty, petty, contemptible bragging of our Menshevik lackeys of the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie. In order that it shall not resolve itself into a "Frankfort chatterbox" or a first Duma, in order that it be a convention, the Constituent Assembly must have the courage, the ability, the power to strike merciless blows at the counter-revolution, and not to give in to it. In order that it succeed, it is necessary that power sholdshould [sic] be in the hands of the most radical, the most resolute, the most revolutionary class in a given epoch. It is necessary that it be supported by the whole mass of the town and village poor (semi-proletariat). For that purpose, it is necessary, above all, to wage a decisive war against the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie.

Such are the real, the class conscious and material conditions of a convention. It is sufficient simply to enumerate these conditions precisely and clearly, to understand how laughable is the bragging of Rabochaya Gazeta, how profoundly ridiculous are the constitutional illusions of the Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki concerning the Constituent Assembly in contemptorarycontemporary [sic] Russia.

In attacking the petty bourgeois "Socialists" of the year 1848, Marx particularly and violently condemned their uncontrolled phrasemongery about "the people" and the majority of the people in general.

That recollection is very appropriate in considering the second aspect of constitutional illusions, in analyzing the conception of "majority."

In order that the majority should realy rule in a country, it is necessary to have definite, actual conditions, namely: it is necessary that such a form of government be established, such a governmental authority, as would furnish the opportunity to have affairs decided by a majority and to assure the development of that opportunity into reality. From another point of view, it is necessary that the majority, in accordance with its class composition and in relation to any other class within that majority (or outside of it) should be able to direct government co-operatively and successfully. It is evdentevident [sic] to every Marxist that these two real conditions play a decisive role in the question of the majority of the people, and in the course of governmental affairs in accordance with the will of this majority. Nevertheless, all the political literature of the Social

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Rh by Tacitus is generally regarded as a rain-charm. From the similarity of this cult to that of goddesses of fertility all over Europe, we may assume that Nerthus, like Frey, partook of this character. Amongst other Teutonic races the earliest parallel to her peregrinations is recorded by the Byzantine historian Sozomen, in the fifth century, who states that the Goths lead round a statue in a covered vehicle. From the ninth century we have the item: "concerning the images which they carry about the fields," in a list of prohibited superstitions. But ample evidence for these practices is afforded by the ceremonies, common up to twenty years ago, connected with Plough Monday in England and with Frau Holle in Germany.

It is to be noted that the names Nerthus and Njörd are identical in all but gender, and it seems that in Scandinavia Nerthus has changed her sex and has subsequently been partly ousted by Frey; Njörd, however, still rules over fishery and wealth — two very closely allied ideas among the Norwegians, to whom a sea teeming with fish was quite as important as the fertility of the land. It is just possible that it is Njörd to whom a ninth century Latin poem refers, under the name of Neptune, as a chief god of the Normans. Frey seems also to have partially ousted his sister Freyja. One of the Edda poems is concerned with a certain Ottar, who sacrifices oxen to Freyja, and whom she on one occasion declares to be her husband — a parallel case to that of Frey and the priestess mentioned above, but with the sexes reversed.

Of the numerous other gods mentioned in our sources some may be either tribal deities, or better-known gods under other names. Such are the Frisian god Fosite: the twins whom Tacitus equates with Castor and Pollux, and who are worshipped by the Nahanarvali: the god Saxnot, or Saxneat, forsworn with Wodan and Thunor in an Old Saxon formula for converts, and claimed as an ancestor by the English East Saxon royal family. Other gods, such as Balder and Loki, of whom we only hear in Scandinavia, have been occasionally regarded as mere mythological figureheads. Of the evil-disposed Loki there is indeed no trace of any sort of cult. It has been suggested that he was a Finnish god. Balder is the subject of much controversy, some scholars dismissing him from the rank of deity altogether, while Dr Frazer maintains that the story is a survival of tree worship, and of the ritual sacrifice of the god. In any case the only reference to an actual cult of Balder occurs in a late and doubtful saga. Tyr, who seems to have been a war-god, stands in a different category. It is likely that he had once been an important deity all over Teutonic Europe, though his cult was already overshadowed by that of Odin at the dawn of historical times. Some modern authorities place his cult in close connexion with that of Nerthus — for which view certain local groups of place-names afford support — and regard him as being originally a god of the sky. A reference by Procopius to Ares, in his account of the inhabitants of Thule, and by Jornandes to Mars, both of


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202 once more, occupied Balneum Regis and Orvieto, but in November, 605 the imperialists obtained a new armistice at the price of paying a tribute of 12,000 solidi. From that time till Agilulf's death and even afterwards, this armistice was continually prolonged. It is true that a definite state of peace, which would have naturally led to a legal partition of the Italian soil, was not effected, though Agilulf's ambassador Stablicianus seems to have entered into negotiations on this subject in Constantinople. Agilulf died in 616 after 25 years of a warlike reign, in which he had expanded and strengthened his empire and obliged the Romans to pay tribute.

To Agilulf his son Adaloald (a minor) followed in name, but Theodelinda exercised the ruling influence on government in his place. While Authari had never allowed Lombard children Catholic baptism, a Catholic chapel had been conceded to Theodelinda at Monza and Adaloald himself was already baptized as a Catholic, though by a schismatic, and Theodelinda, who exchanged occasional letters with Pope Gregory, was schismatic in relation to the Three Chapters. In this way Agilulf had not tolerated the organisation of the Roman Church within the reach of his power, but the schismatic bishop of Aquileia and his schismatic suffragans had taken refuge with the Lombards. Agilulf had also given deserted land in the Apennines at the confluence of the torrent Bobbio and the Trebbia to the Irish monk Columba (Columbanus) who had fled from Gaul, and differed dogmatically from Rome. He also gave permission to lay the foundations of a monastery at Bobbio, but the monks soon turned to orthodoxy after Columbanus' death, and even got a privilege in 628, by which they were exempted from the power of the neighbouring bishop of Tortona. In contrast to the national chiefs, who were still Arian, the government favoured the Catholics or at least the schismatics, and in consequence Roman influence made rapid progress in the Lombard kingdom, favoured partly by the social influence of the Roman subjects, partly by the intercourse with the Roman neighbours, which the long armistices had so well prepared. Nevertheless the peace was once more broken at the beginning of Adaloald's reign between the Exarch Eleutherius and the Lombards under the commander Sundrarius, who owed his training to Agilulf, but this war was ended by another armistice, the exarch consenting to pay a tribute of 500 pounds in gold. In the following years the Roman influence on the king was so great that he was generally said to be either mad or bewitched. Perhaps it was the national party among the Lombards which raised upon the buckler Arioald, the duke of Turin, the husband of Adaloald's sister Gundeberga, and after several combats dethroned King Adaloald, who was then said to have been removed by poison (626). Arioald reigned ten years too, without much change in the course of Lombard politics. He came in conflict with his Catholic wife, who was released from prison by the intervention of the Franks


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 retained in its bosom in the hope of coming springs, the potentialities of a Ramón Lull."

Dramatically, Benavente's career falls into three divisions, approximately of equal duration. The first, from his début as a dramatist to the production of "Saturday Night," was a period of experiment, interesting chiefly for its brilliancy and the spell which it cast over his contemporaries. When Benavente produced at the Español, Madrid dined an hour earlier. The same tendencies are evident that appear in his non-dramatic prose, guiding the policies of La vida literaria, the periodical established by him in order to promote the radical ideas of the rising generation. "A Lover's Tale" and "Love of Loving" bring to the theatre the interests of the editor, testifying to a ready sympathy with new and foreign influences, while the more serious, if lesser, plays of the epoch reveal æsthetic and marked ethical preoccupations. Most popular, beyond question, were the satiric pieces, facile, graceful, with a suspicion of personal animus always lurking between the lines. Benavente's art, from the beginning, has been so nicely, so humanly centred that few of his characters have escaped identification with persons prominent in the social or political life of Madrid. Conspicuous among the earlier comedies, "The Banquet of Wild Beasts," Lo cursí, and "The Governor's Wife," reveal unmistakably, although in embryo, all the promise and essential properties of what was later to become the new theatre. It is easy to see in retrospect that too much emphasis has been placed upon the social and too little upon the human bias of these sparkling comedies, which, with the lapse of time, appear unambiguous and clear. An indifference to the mechanics of living—a corollary, indeed, of all thorough idealism—is fundamental even from the beginning. Society and the individual are pictured in apposition. Neither fashion nor custom is a spiritual force, but inasmuch as society has become bankrupt in ministering to the individual, the individual finds himself confronted with the choice of making his escape from society, or of asserting his independence through unremitting struggle, or else of accepting the alternative of surrender and spiritual


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 Revolutionists and Mensheviki, and more than that, all of their political activity, discloses a complete lack of understandngunderstanding [sic] of these conditions.

If the power of government is in the hands of a class whose interests coincide with the interests of the majority, the administration of the government can then be, in realtyreality [sic], identical with the will of the majority.

If, on the other hand, the government power is in the hands of a class whose interests diverge from the interests of the majority, then every attempt to govern inevitably becomes a fraud upon or a subjugation of that majority. Every bourgeois republic furnishes us with hundreds and thousands of examples of this.

In Russia the bourgeoisie reigns politically and economically. Its interests, especially during an imperialistic war, diverge most acutely from the interests of the majority. That is the reason why the key to this question, when stated from a materialistic Marxian point of view and not from a formalist-juridical one, lies in revealing that divergence, in fighting against the deception of the masses by the bourgeoisie.

But our Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki have completely proven and revealed their real role as instruments for the deception of the masses (majority) by the bourgeoisie, being leaders and assistants in this deception. No matter how sincere some individuals among the Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki may be, their fundamental political principles—imagining that it is possible to proceed from an imperialistic war to "a peace without annexations and indemnities" without dictatorship of the proletariat and the victory of Socialism; imagining that it is possible to transfer the land to the people without compensation and to impose "control" over production m the interests of the people without proletarian dictatorship and Socialism—these fundamental political (and, naturally, economic) principles of the Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki present objectively in themselves the self-deception of the petty bourgeois, or, what amounts to the same thing, the deception of the masses (majority) by the bourgeoisie.

Here is our first and primary "correction" of the phrasing of the question of majorities by the petty bourgeois democrats, Socialists of the Louis Blanc type, Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki: why discuss the question of majority when the majority itself is only a formal moment, a temporary condition, whereas materially


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626-652] and allowed Catholic service in a church of John the Baptist at Pavia.

The alliance which Agilulf had formed with the Avars was dissolved. They invaded Italy and killed Gisulf, duke of Friuli, with nearly the whole of his army; his widow perfidiously surrendered Cividale which was entirely burnt down and the open country was devastated, the Lombards offering resistance only in the fortified castles at the frontier, till the Avars turned back to Pannonia after their raid. No help was to be expected for Friuli at that time from the weak kingdom; but at last Gisulf's sons escaped from the Avars, and the two eldest, Taso and Cacco, took the reins of government into their hands. While the power of the Avars was decreasing, the young dukes in alliance with Bavarians and Alemans fought successfully against the Slavs, and during Arioald's reign penetrated victoriously into the valleys of the Alps perhaps as far as Windisch-Matrei and the valley of the Gail, and obliged the Slavs to pay tribute. But, following the intention of Arioald, it is said, the exarch quietly removed Taso and Cacco, and their uncle Grasulf was nominated duke of Friuli while the two younger sons of Gisulf, Radoald and Grimoald, appealed to the protection of the mighty duke Arichis of Benevento.

After Arioald's death the nobles in the kingdom elected the duke Rothari of Brescia, an ardent Arian, who was connected with the former dynasty by his marriage with the widowed queen Gundeberga. Nevertheless his policy (unlike that of his predecessors in the last twenty years) was decidedly hostile to the Romans, though he tolerated the gradual establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in the Lombard kingdom. He sought to keep order in all internal matters and to raise the king's authority over the nobles, and to this purpose war against the imperials, which had rested during two decades, was taken up again, in order to strengthen the king's royal domain by new conquests. He passed the Apennines and conquered the coast between Luna and the Frankish boundary; he did not instal dukes here but kept the conquered land under direct royal administration, so that the greater part of the west of Italy was royal. He destroyed Oderzo in the east, the last remnant of Roman power on the Venetian mainland, and slew the imperials in a bloody battle on the borders of the Scultenna not far from the central seat of Roman dominion; he concluded a suspension of hostilities shortly before his death (652). His son Rodoald followed him, but was killed after a few months' reign.

More famous even than by his victorious enterprises and by the saga that attaches itself to the name of "King Rother," Rothari was the first legislator of the Lombards. Up to that time, the Lombards, like all barbarian nations, had been ruled by customary laws, handed down to them verbally by their ancestors. Rothari ordered them to be written down, published as Edictus after having consulted his nobles, and confirmed according to Lombard custom by an assembly of warriors at Pavia


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 and in reality this majority is the majority of the party which is realizing the deception of the majority by the bourgeoisie?

And, surely—here we come to the second "correction," to the second of the fundamental conditions previously indicated—surely, it is possible to interpret that deception properly, if only we clear out its class roots and reveal its class meaning. It is not an individual deception, it is not "trickery" (I express myself roughly). It is a deception and idea which results from the economic environment of the class. A petty bourgeois finds himself in such an economic situation, his life conditions are such, that he cannot help deceive himself; he vacillates involuntarily and inevitably between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. There cannot be any any [sic] such thing as an independent course economically for the petty bourgeois. His past draws him to the bourgeoisie, his future to the proletariat. His reason urges him to the latter course, his prejudice (according to a well-known Marxian expression) to the former. That the majority govern the state, be the real beneficiary of the majority interests, the real guardian of its rights, etc., a definite class condition is necessary: the coalition of the majority of the petite bourgeoisie, at least during the decisive moment and at the decisive place, with the revolutionary proletariat.

Without this class condition, the majority is a fiction, which may exist for some time, shine, sparkle, make noise, win laurels, but which is destined to crash to disaster with absolute inevitability. That, by the way, is precisely the disaster awaiting the majority of the Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki, as determined by the Russian Revolution in July, 1917.

Let us proceed. A revolution differs from "the ordinary condition" of affairs in government in that disputable questions concerning society are of necessity solved by the class struggle and the mass struggle until the moment of establishing its definite and determining forms. There is no other alternative if the masses are free and armed. From that basic fact it follows that, in a real revolution, it is not enough to announce "the will of the majority"—no, it is necessary to prove yourself stronger at the decisive moment and at the decisive place; it is necessary to conquer. Beginning with the peasants' revolts in the middle ages in Germany and continuing through all the great revolutionary movements and epochs up to 1848 and 1871, to the year 1905, we see countless examples of how the better organized, the more conscious, the better armed minority imposes its will upon the majority and defeats it.


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530-554] Far East were brought to the Mediterranean from China through the oases of Sogdiana, and the sea routes by which precious stones, spices, and silk were brought from Ceylon to the ports on the Persian Gulf, were in the hands of Persia. Persia not only guarded these routes jealously, but also regulated with special severity the exportation of silk, which was indispensable to the Byzantines. Justinian determined to remedy this state of things. In the Black Sea, the ports of the Crimea, Bosphorus, and Cherson made, with the south of Russia, a splendid district for barter; besides this Byzantium, situated at the mouth of the Black Sea, carried on a brisk trade with Lazica. But, from the Sea of Azof, as well as from Colchis, the Caspian could be reached, and then if a northerly direction were taken the oases of Sogdiana could be reached without crossing Persian territory. Another route offered itself more to the south. The Syrian and Egyptian merchants set out from Aila on the Gulf of Akabah to work the shores of the Red Sea, and then extended their operations as far as the ports of Himyar on the east, and the great Ethiopian port of Adoulis on the west. But Adoulis kept up wide-spread relations with the whole of the Asiatic East, and her ships, like those of the Arabs of Yemen, went as far as Ceylon, the great emporium for India. Thanks to these routes, Justinian thought that he could divert the trade of which the Persians had the monopoly from the usual routes. During 530 or 531 strange negotiations took place with the Himyarites and the Court of Axum, with the object of persuading those peoples to agree with the Emperor's plans, and to bring the products of the Far East straight to the Red Sea. The "King of Kings" of Axum readily agreed to do so; but the Persians had the upper hand in the Indian ports, and they would not allow themselves to be deprived of their profits. The peace therefore of 532 restored the transactions between the Empire and the Sassanid monarchy to their ordinary footing.

However, thanks to the importation of raw silk, which became once more regular, the Syrian manufactures were flourishing. The rupture with Persia in 540 brought about a grave crisis for them, and Justinian only made matters worse by the unwise measures which he took. In his excessive love of regulations he attempted to fix the price of raw silk, by a law which enforced a maximum price. He hoped thus to substitute a monopoly of the manufactures of the State for the ruined private industry. The Syrian industry was seriously injured by these measures. Luckily the cultivation of silk-worms did much to repair the disasters. The eggs of the worms were brought into the Empire from the country of Serinda by two missionaries, between 552 and 554. The silk industry soon recovered when raw material could be obtained more cheaply, although Byzantium was not successful in freeing herself completely from Persia. On the whole, however, Byzantine commerce was flourishing. Alexandria was a splendid port, and grew rich by exporting corn,


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 defeat. Yet though society is defective, human nature is weak, and the tragedies of character in the last analysis are tragedies of the will.

Although Benavente's theory of art, as well as his philosophy of life, were fully developed in 1892, when he first began to write, and have undergone since no radical change, yet it is not until the maturing of his subjective manner that we encounter the master of the theatre, of the heart and human motive at his full stature. Technique and conception have now become distinctive and original. The monumental achievement of this, his second,second [sic] period must be adjudged the cycle of five play's, incomparably rich in texture, iridescent in mood, whose subject is the great adventure of life, the faring-forth of the spirit to the conquest of what life holds, and the realization of its ideal. Benavente has here unfolded a "Pilgrim's Progress" of a secular, restless age. The prologue to the series, "Princess Bebé," is a comedy of questioning, of overtones. Youth looks out upon life, dissatisfied with the shams and substitutes which have imposed upon its innocence, and eagerly and earnestly puts the great interrogation, which is to be answered in the succeeding plays. In "Saturday Night" the solution is discovered through ambition, in "Stronger than Love" through duty, accepted at first as a convenience, but entailing inevitably renunciation and surrender. The fourth play, "The Bonds of Interest," depicts in turn the birth of the spirit directly through the transforming power of love, while the cycle concludes with a cameo-like epilogue, the beautiful comedy "The School of Princesses," presenting the discipline of sacrifice, which is conceived as the crown of experience and the unleashing of the spirit, and hence provides not only the subject of the epilogue but the climax and supreme moment of each of the preceding plays. An open and inquiring mind, an ambitious and resolute will, patient of duty, transformed by love, chastened by sacrifice—such is the genesis of the spirit and the measure of man. High feeling, glamourous expression, insight and sympathy, touched by a haunting suggestion of the ever-present awe and majesty of life, together place these dramas at the front of the modern


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 Frederick Engels placed special emphasis on the lesson to be learned from the experience unifying to a certain extent the peasant uprisings of the 16th century and the revolution of 1848 in Germany, namely: the lack of unity of action and of centralization among the oppressed masses, due to their petty bourgeois form of life. And, from this point of view, we come to this conclusion: the simple majority of the pettybourgeois mass does not, as yet, decide anything and cannot decide anything, as long as the organization, the political consciousness and its centralization (inevitable for victory) is such that it gives the millions of petty bourgeois only the position of serving as the instrument either of the bourgeoisie or of the proletariat.

Finally, as we know, the problems of social organization are solved by the class struggle in its most aggressive, most violent form, namely, in the form of civil war. And in this civil war, as in every war the deciding factor—which as a fact and in principle is disputed by no one—is economic. It is extremely characteristic and significant that neither the Social-Revolutionists nor the Mensheviki deny this in principle, and, acknowledging the capitalistic character of contemporary Russia, dare not soberly look the truth in the face. They fear to acknowledge the truth, the fundamental division of every capitalistic country, Russia included, into three fundamental and decsivedecisive [sic] divisions: the bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The first and the third are universally spoken about, universally acknowledged. The second—which happens to be the majority in point of number—is refused sober recognition from an economic, from a political, from a military point of view.

The truth is painful—that is the conclusion to which the fear of self-analysis of the Social-Revolutionists and Mensheviki leads.


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Every revolution means a sudden break in the lives of great masses of people. Unless such a break matures, no real revolution can take place. And, just as every break in the life of an individual teaches him something, causes him new experiences and new sensations, so a revolution imparts to the whole people in a short time lessons of great import and value.

In revolutionary epochs, millions and tens of millions of people learn more in a week than in a year of ordinary, every-day somnolent existence. For, a sharp crisis in the life of a whole people shows with exceptional clarity which classes exist and what ends they pursue, what forces they may utilize in their work, and by what means of action they proceed.

Every class conscious worker, soldier and peasant should seriously consider the lessons of the Russian Revolution, particularly now, when, early in August, it is perfectly clear that the first phase of our Revolution has ended disastrously.

What were the masses of the workers and peasants after when they accomplished the Revolution? What did they expect from the Revolution?

It is clear that the workers and peasants expected liberty, peace, bread and land.

But what did they get?

Instead of liberty, we see the former tyranny being re-established. The death penalty is introduced for soldiers at the front. Peasants are haled to court for undertaking, of their own accord, to seize the land of the landholders. The printing offices of the workers' papers are wrecked. Bolsheviki are being arrested, either


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 theatre. "Field of Ermine" and "A Collar of Stars," although of more recent date, may also be listed in the catalogue of psychologic, symbolic drama in which the objective and subjective elements are contrasted with maximum power and effect.

The more important miscellaneous works composed at this period deal predominantly with the influence of character when achieved ("Autumnal Roses"), or with conditions and environments which react upon or inhibit its growth. As in "Señora Ama" and "In the Clouds," neither fact nor environment are of interest in themselves, but are presented as externalizations or postulates of volitional or other human elements. A more strictly psychologic bent further makes its appearance in what may be called comedies of mental states ("Brute Force"), while the lighter one-act comedy of equivocation continues as practised at an earlier day. The best of the one-act pieces belong also to these years.

With "La Malquerida," acted in 1913, Benavente enters upon another phase. As has been well said, the tragedy is not a study in psychoanalysis, but a psychoanalytical play, compact of inhibitions and suppressed desires, so intensively true that it has met with remarkable response both in Spain and in North and South America. Society and the will no longer furnish the theme; indeed, the volitional element has almost entirely disappeared, and we find ourselves enmeshed in a maze of reactions and determinations of the mind, in which the outward world is reduced to the lowest possible terms, the modicum indispensable for bringing the play upon the stage. The dramas of these later years are inexhaustible in variety. "The Evil That Men Do" offers a study of jealousy, "Thy Proper Self" of self-respect. A strange, absorbing projection of mirrored emotions, "A Traitor to All, Yet to All Be Ye Loyal," is concerned with the tragedy of character as reflected entirely from without, imposing itself in the place of the character that is real, as "Our Lady of Sorrows" attains true character within by virtue of a reflected character that is false. Not less moving is the powerfully austere tragedy of indifference and mis-


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 30 was done according to the religious superstition to avert evil, said: "Why performest thou these ceremonies?"

And Sigala replied: "Dost thou think it strange that I should protect my home against the influences of demons?"

Then the Teacher answered: "Ceremonies will not protect thy home. Thou must guard it with good deeds."

And Buddha taught the people, saying:

He who labors in the interest of self, so that he may become powerful, or rich, or renowned, will find no reward; but he who labors for righteousness and truth will find great reward, for even his worldly defeat will be a victory.

Self is not a fit vessel to receive lasting success. Self is small and brittle, and its contents will soon be spilt; but truth is large enough to hold the yearnings and aspirations of all selves, and its' contents will be kept forever.

The overcoming of self is not to destroy the souls of men, but to preserve them.

He whose mind is free from the illusion of self, will stand and not fall in the battle of life.

He who follows after Justice and truth will endure forever.

He who has in his heart the love of truth has drunk the water of immortality.

There is no self. He who says that the soul is his self and that the self is the thinker of our thoughts and the actor of our deeds, teaches a wrong doctrine, which leads to confusion and darkness.


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 Rh There is mind. He who understands by soul mind, teaches the truth which leads to knowledge and light

The bodhi (knowledge and enlightenment) is eternal and dominates all existence, as the good law guiding us in the search for truth. It changes brute instinct into mind.

Kutadanta, the leader of the Brahmins in the village of Danamati, said: "I am told that thou art the Buddha, the Enlightened. But if this were so wouldst thou not come as a king in glory and power?"

And the Teacher answered: "Thine eyes are holden. If the eyes of thy mind were undimmed thou wouldst see the glory and power of truth."

Said Kutadanta the Brahmin: "Thy doctrine is without consistency. If it were consistent, it would stand; but as it is not, it will pass away."

The Teacher replied: "The truth will never pass away."

Kutadanta said: "Thou tearest down religion. Thy disciples despise religious rites and refuse to offer sacrifice to the gods; and reverence for the gods can only be shown by worship and sacrifice. Religion consists in worship and sacrifice."


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 take, "A Lady." Again, with "The City of Gaiety and Confidence," second part of "The Bonds of Interest"—itself the outgrowth of La canta de la primavera, or "Spring Song," published fifteen years previously—we enter the domain of the drama of ideas. What "The Bonds of Interest" does for the individual, "The City of Gaiety and Confidence" undertakes to do for the State, attempting to precipitate from that abstraction the vital principle which supports it, in which the being of the nation inheres. Neither a political satire nor a war play, this pageant of predigested ideas, tendencies, forces, assembled and marshalled under names, surrenders but partially to the spectator upon performance, reserving its message to be delivered up in the amplitude of leisure hours. Such creations, of course, have little relation to the commercial theatre, but are possible only to the master, who imposes his pleasure upon public and actors at will. Benavente, always versatile, comes at last to move with even greater facility, through a wider range of subject and style than before, touching new interests, reviving old, weaving into the most delicate patterns the threads of his phantasmagoric theatre. Insinuation replaces statement, revelation succeeds conflict, while the implication waits upon the approximations of thought. In the final estimate, the subjective drama, the drama of antitechnique, must be held to postulate an antitheatre, opposed in conduct and in content to all the canons which have hitherto accepted by theatrical art. Beside this most elusive of divinations, the experiments of the Expressionists and Monodramatists of the North, of the Futurists and other bizarre Italian cults, appear material and halting indeed.

Considered intelligently, with a mind unbiassed by preconceptions of the objective stage, these plays yield their own explanation, after much reflection and much love. During the next decade their study will repay the attention of all followers of the theatre.


text: Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series/Theory and Criticism: Notes on the Plays


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 226 to be absorbed. He was in correspondence with the Bishop of Orleans and the Archbishop of Paris. With this aim he wrote his Eirenicon, Is Healthful Reunion Impossible? The Belgian Jesuit De Buck corresponded with Bishop Forbes of Brechin. The Jesuit Father

Attempts were made by Newman to induce Pusey to visit Rome; or at least to get up a big petition and present it to the Holy See; quietly observing at the same time that the sort of petition which he had in view "cuts off the subscribers to it from the existing Establishment;" Newman also suggested that no Anglican Bishops should go. Pusey replied by enquiring why should not Newman himself go to Rome for the Council. Dupanloup invited him as his theologian. But Newman declined, on the pretext that he was not a theologian, and would only be wasting his time in matters which he did not understand.

Not unnaturally, Pusey's penetrating criticism was:

"If they invited any, it should be Bishops. Theologians go to accompany their Bishops. They have ignored our Bishops, and ask any of us whom they may ask informally, because they will deliberately withhold all acknowledgement of the slightest basis upon which we can treat as a Church."

"I have no doubt," Pusey added, "that the invitation to Rome is given in the hope that the imposing spectacle presented by the Council may bring about individual


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 ] conversions of English Churchmen more or less learned or well known. But what can we expect when they invited the great Greek Church simply to submit? I expect nothing under the present Pope."

"The difficulty of treating is this, that we have two entirely distinct objects: we, corporate reunion upon explanation of certain points where they have laid down a minimum and upon a large range beyond it; they, individual conversions or the absorption of us."

Meanwhile, Pusey prepared an edition of Cardinal Torquemada's great work, against the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, originally composed for use at the Council of Basle at the instigation of Pope Paul III. This edition Pusey dedicated to the Council about to be held in Rome. He sent copies to Rome for the Bishop of Orleans, and other members of the Council. These were returned from Rome with refusé written upon them. Pusey wrote to Newman to enquire what this meant. Newman answered that he was certain that the Bishop to whom the books were sent would not be guilty of such incivility; and suggested a suspicion that the Roman police would not pass a book with Pusey's name. This suspicion proved correct. Newman wrote again: "I had a very kind letter from Bishop Clifford, telling me that neither he nor the Bishop of Orleans had refused my book, and asking me to send it to him at Clifton." But these despotic methods of government at the end of the nineteenth century were hardly conducive to the advancement of mutual understanding, or indeed to the interests of truth. The movements at Rome were watched by Pusey with ever-deepening sorrow:—

"Manning's is a strange lot," he wrote "with,


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 228 I should have thought, but a very moderate share of learning, by throwing himself into the tide, to seem to be at the head of a movement which should revolutionise the Church. It is a mysterious lot, one which one would not like for oneself. The composition of the Congregation on Dogma has discouraged us. Those whom we should have had most confidence in, Mgrs. Dupanloup and Darboy, omitted, and Manning in it. It is utterly hopeless to send any propositions to a Congregation in which Manning should be a leading member. I am told that he has been impressing the Council, or at least important Bishops, with the idea that hundreds of thousands of the English would join the Roman Communion if the Infallibility were declared."

Pusey's biographers say that


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Council of the Vatican was opened on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8th December I869). There was significance in the selection of the day. That very day, fifteen years before, Pius IX. had proclaimed a new dogma on the Virgin; and, as a fervid prelate assured him, he who had declared the Virgin immaculate was now to be proclaimed by her infallible. The Council was held in the South Transept of St Peter's, and at the opening service seven hundred and two members were present. So large an Assembly had never been held before. The proportions of the two opinions were roughly between four and five hundred Infallibilists and between one and two hundred opponents of the doctrine.

Meetings of the Council were of two kinds: the ordinary Congregations, at which none but members and officials were permitted to be present, while the proceedings were secret; the Public Sessions, at which the public were admitted, and the Decrees proclaimed. Of the former kind there were in all eighty-nine, of the latter four. Only two, however, of the Public Sessions declared matters decreed: for the first was entirely occupied with ceremonial, and at the second


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 230 (6th January) no Decrees were ready; it was accordingly devoted to recitals of the Creed of the Council of Trent. The Pope was never present except at the four Public Sessions. He exerted his influence without compromising his dignity.

The secrecy of the proceedings was thoroughly in accordance with the Italian disposition. Every official and member of the Council was sworn to observe it. But the regulation proved ineffective, partly because the Pope himself released certain members of the majority from the necessity of its observance, and partly because the incessant discussions in unofficial assemblies of the Bishops could not easily escape publicity. Much information leaked out in various directions and appeared in print.

The influence of Pius IX. upon the Council was exercised partly through official documents. Three important papers were issued by him to the Council during its early period: The Constitution on Procedure (18th December 1869); on Election to the Papacy in case of a Vacancy (1st January 1870); on Absolving from Ecclesiastical Censures (15th January 1870). The significance of the last may be measured by the following description. Its effect was "to cancel episcopal encroachments on the Papal authority." The second was intended to prevent any assertion of power by the Council in case the Pope might die.

But far the most important of these three Constitutions was that which regulated the Council's procedure (multiplices inter). This remarkable document asserted that the right of proposing subjects for discussion belonged to the Papal See, but that the Pope nevertheless desired and exhorted the Bishops to give in their proposals to a Congregation appointed for that


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] purpose. The value of the concession was qualified by the fact that the Congregation in question was selected entirely by the Pope, and was composed of Ultramontanes.

All the officers of the Council, including the five Presidents, were appointed by the Pope on his own authority; and their names were given in this Decree. The details of procedure were also therein defined. No Bishop was to leave without the Pope's permission.

This certainly was a striking document. The French statesman, Ollivier, says that "its novelty, its boldness, its audacity is only realised when compared with the proceedings at Trent." At Trent the Regulations were determined by the Bishops themselves.

When the Vatican Council began its work, several Bishops, including the Archbishop of Paris, attempted to protest against the restrictions imposed upon them; but the presiding Cardinal suppressed all objections with a declaration that the Pope had so ordained, and that his decisions could not be called in question. To this declaration the minority submitted. Thereby in effect they acknowledged the Pope's power to determine the Regulations. This has been called "the first of the feeblenesses, or to speak more indulgently, the resignations of the minority."

The actual product of the Vatican Council consists of two Dogmatic Constitutions known respectively by their opening words as the Constitution Dei Filius and the Constitution Pastor Æternus. Of these the former was proclaimed in the third Public Session, the latter in the fourth Public Session. The contents of the former are the doctrine of God, of Revelation, of Faith, and of the relation between Faith and Reason. The latter contains the Ultramontane theory


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Rh Thus if the quantity of carbonic acid increases in geometric progression, the augmentation of the temperature will increase nearly in arithmetic progression. This rule – which naturally holds good only in the part investigated – will be useful for the following summary estimations.

I should certainly not have undertaken these tedious calculations if an extraordinary interest had not been connected with them. In the Physical Society of Stockholm there have been occasionally very lively discussions on the probable causes of the Ice Age; and these discussions have, in my opinion, led to the conclusion that there exists as yet no satisfactory hypothesis that could explain how the climatic conditions for an ice age could be realized in so short a time as that which has elapsed from the days of the glacial epoch. The common view hitherto has been that the earth has cooled in the lapse of time; and if one did not know that the reverse has been the case, one would certainly assert that this cooling must go on continuously. Conversations with my friend and colleague Professor Högbom, together with the discussions above referred to, led me to make a preliminary estimate of the probable effect of a variation of the atmospheric carbonic acid on the temperature of the earth. As this estimation led to the belief that one might in this way probably find an explanation for temperature variations of 5°–10° C., I worked out the calculation more in detail, and lay it now before the public and the critics.

From geological researches the fact is well established that in Tertiary times there existed a vegetation and an animal life in the temperate and arctic zones that must have been conditioned by a much higher temperature than the present in the same regions. The temperature in the arctic zones appears to have exceeded the present temperature by about 8 or 9 degrees. To this genial time the ice age succeeded, and this was one or more times interrupted by interglacial periods with a climate of about the same character as the present, sometimes even milder, When the ice age had its greatest extent, the countries that now enjoy the highest civilization were covered with ice. This was the case with Ireland, Britain (except a small part in the south), Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Russia (to Kiev,


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 32 The Teacher said: "Greater than the sacrifice of bullocks is the sacrifice of self. Blood has no cleansing power. Better than worshipping the gods is righteousness among men."

Kutadanta said: "Thou believest that beings are reborn; that they migrate in the evolution of life; and that subject to the law of karma we reap what we have sown. Yet thou teachest self-extinction as the highest happiness of Nirvana."

The Teacher said: "Thou art concerned about thy soul. Yet is thy work in vain, because thou art lacking in the one thing needful. There is rebirth of character, but no transmigration of self. The thought-forms reappear, but there is no ego transferred. Only through delusion do men dream that their souls are self. Thy heart is cleaving to self. Thou art anxious about heaven, and therefore canst not discern the happiness of truth and the immortality of truth. The Buddha has not come to teach death, but to teach life; and thou seest not the nature of living and dying.

"This body will be dissolved, and no amount of worship and sacrifice will save it. Therefore seek thou the life that is of the mind. Where self is, truth cannot be; when truth comes, self disappears. Let thy mind rest in the truth; propagate the truth; put thy whole will in it, and let it spread. For in the truth thou shalt live forever. Self is death and truth is life. The cleaving to self is continual dying, while abiding in the truth leads to Nirvana, which is life everlasting."

Kutadanta said: "Where is Nirvana?"


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268 Orel, and Nijni Novgorod), Germany and Austria (to the Harz, Erz-Gebirge, Dresden, and Cracow). At the same time an ice-cap from the Alps covered Switzerland, parts of France, Bavaria south of the Danube, the Tyrol, Styria, and other Austrian countries, and descended into the northern part of Italy. Simultaneously, too, North America was covered with ice on the west coast to the 47th parallel, on the east coast to the 40th, and in the central part to the 37th (confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers). In the most different parts of the world, too, we have found traces of a great ice age, as in the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Syria, the Himalayas, India, Thian Shan, Altai, Atlas, on Mount Kenia and Kilimandjaro (both very near to the equator), in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Kerguelen, Falkland Islands, Patagonia and other parts of South America. The geologists in general are inclined to think that these glaciations were simultaneous on the whole earth ; and this most natural view would probably have been generally accepted, if the theory of Croll, which demands a genial age on the Southern hemisphere at the same time as an ice age on the Northern and vice versâ, had not influenced opinion. By measurements of the displacement of the snow-line we arrive at the result, – and this is very concordant for different places – that the temperature at that time must have been 4°–5° C. lower than at present. The last glaciation must have taken place in rather recent times, geologically speaking, so that the human race certainly had appeared at that period. Certain American geologists hold the opinion that since the close of the ice age only some 7000 to 10,000 years have elapsed, but this most probably is greatly underestimated.

One may now ask, How much must the carbonic acid vary according to our figures, in order that the temperature should attain the same values as in the Tertiary and Ice ages respectively? A simple calculation shows that the temperature in the arctic regions would rise about 8° to 9° C., if the carbonic acid increased to 2.5 or 3 times its present value. In order to get the temperature of the ice age between the 40th and 50th parallels, the carbonic acid in the air should sink to 0.62–0.55 of its present value (lowering of temperature 4°–5° C.). The demands of the geologists, that at the genial epochs the climate should be more uniform than now, accords very well with our theory. The geographical annual and diurnal ranges of temperature would be partly smoothed away, if the quantity of carbonic acid was augmented. The


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 Rh The Teacher answered: "Wherever the precepts of truth are obeyed."

Kutadanta said: "Do I understand thee that Nirvana is not a place, and being nowhere it is without reality?"

The Teacher answered: "Thou dost not understand me aright. Listen, and answer me: Where does the mind dwell?"

"Nowhere," replied Kutadanta.

"Then," said the Teacher, "there is no such thing as mind.

"Where does wisdom dwell?"

"Wisdom has no given dwelling place," replied Kutadanta.

Said the Teacher: "Thinkest thou that there is no wisdom, no salvation, because Nirvana is not a place? As the mind passeth over in the heat of the day, so the Tathagata comes to blow over the minds of mankind with the breath of love."

"But tell me," said Kutadanta, "if there be no atman (self), how can there be immortality? The activity of the mind passeth, and we are gone when we cease thinking."

The Teacher said: "Our thinking is gone, but our thoughts continue; reasoning ceases, but knowledge remains. It is as when a man during the night desires to send a letter, and, after having called Ins scribe, has a lamp lit and the letter written. Then when that has been done, he extinguishes the lamp. But though the writing has been finished and the light has been put out, the letter is still there.


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 34 Thus does reasoning cease and knowledge remain; mental activity ceases, but experience, and all the fruits of our acts endure."

Kutadanta said: "Tell me, where, if the sankharas (the elements of body and mind) are dissolved, is the identity of my self? If only my thoughts are propagated, and if my soul migrates, my thoughts cease to be my thoughts, and my soul ceases to be my soul. Where is the identity of my self?"

The Teacher said: "If a man were to light a lamp would it burn all night?"

"It might do so," answered Kutadanta.

The Teacher asked: "Is it the same flame that burns in the first watch of the night as in the second?"

Kutadauta replied: "Yes, it is the same flame." Then, on second thought, he said: "No, it is not."

"Then," said the Teacher, "there are flames, one in the first watch, and the other in the second watch."

"In one sense," answered Kutadanta, "it is not the same flame, in another sense it is. It burns the same kind of oil, it gives the same kind of light, it serves the same purpose."

The Teacher said: "Would you call those flames the same that have burned yesterday, and are again burning today in the same lamp, filled with the same kind of oil, illuminating the same room? Suppose the flame of the first watch had been extinguished during the second watch; would you call it the same if it burns again in the third watch?"


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 Rh Kutadanta replied: "In one sense it is a different flame, in another it is not."

The Teacher asked: "Has the time that elapsed during the extinction of the flame anything to do with its identity or non-identity?"

Kutadanta said: "It has not. There is a difference and an identity, whether many years elapsed or only a second; and whether the lamp has been extinguished in the meantime or not."

"Then," said the Teacher, "the flame of to-day is, in a certain sense, the same as the flame of yesterday; and in another sense, at every moment it is different. Also the flames of the same kind, illuminating with equal power the same kind of rooms, are in a certain sense the same."

"True," said Kutadanta.

"Then," said the Teacher, "dost thou deny that the same reasoning holds good for thee that holds good for the things of the world?"

"No," answered Kutadanta, "I do not; the same reasoning holds good universally; but there is that about my self which makes it different from other things, as well as from other selves. There may be another who feels like me, thinks like me, and acts like me; but though he had my name, he would not be me."

"True," replied the Teacher, "he would not be thee. But tell me, is he who goes to school one, and when he has finished his schooling another? Is it one who commits a crime, and another who is punished?"


text: The Prince Who Learned Everything Out of Books


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Rh reverse would be the case (at least to a latitude of 50° from the equator), if the carbonic acid diminished in amount. But in both these cases I incline to think that the secondary action (see p. ) due to the regress or the progress of the snow-covering would play the most important rôle. The theory demands also that, roughly speaking, the whole earth should have undergone about the same variations of temperature, so that according to it genial or glacial epochs must have occurred simultaneously on the whole earth. Because of the greater nebulosity of the Southern hemisphere, the variations must there have been a little less (about 15 per cent.) than in the Northern hemisphere. The ocean currents, too, must there, as at the present time, have effaced the differences in temperature at different latitudes to a greater extent than in the Northern hemisphere. This effect also results from the greater nebulosity in the arctic zones than in the neighbourhood of the equator.

There is now an important question which should be answered, namely: – Is it probable that such great variations in the quantity of carbonic acid as our theory requires have occurred in relatively short geological times? The answer to this question is given by Prof. Högbom. As his memoir on this question may not be accessible to most readers of these pages, I have summed up and translated his utterances which are of most importance to our subject : –

"Although it is not possible to obtain exact quantitative expressions tor the reactions in nature by which carbonic acid is developed or consumed, nevertheless there are some factors, of which one may get an approximately true estimate, and from which certain conclusions that throw light on the question may be drawn. In the first place, it seems to be of importance to compare the quantity of carbonic acid now present in the air with the quantities that are being transformed. If the former is insignificant in comparison with the latter, then the probability for variations is wholly other than in the opposite case.

"On the supposition that the mean quantity of carbonic acid in the air reaches 0.03 vol. per cent., this number represents 0.045 per cent. by weight, or 0.342 millim. partial pressure, or 0.466 gramme of carbonic acid for every cm.2 of the earth's surface. Reduced to carbon this quantity would give a layer of about 1 millim. thickness over the earth's surface. The quantity of carbon that is fixed in the living organic world can certainly not be estimated with the Phil. Mag. S. 5. Vol. 41. No. 251. April 1896.


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 studied and fraternised with young soldiery passing to the front; above all, he walked the hospitals, reading the Bible, distributing clean clothes, or apples, or tobacco; a patient, helpful, reverend man, full of kind speeches.

His memoranda of this period are almost bewildering to read. From one point of view they seem those of a district visitor; from another, they look like the formless jottings of an artist in the picturesque. More than one woman, on whom I tried the experiment, immediately claimed the writer for a fellow-woman. More than one literary purist might identify him as a shoddy newspaper correspondent without the necessary faculty of style. And yet the story touches home; and if you are of the weeping order of mankind, you will certainly find your eyes fill with tears, of which you have no reason to be ashamed. There is only one way to characterise a work of this order, and that is to quote. Here is a passage from a letter to a mother, unknown to Whitman, whose son died in hospital:—

"Frank, as far as I saw, had everything requisite in surgical treatment, nursing, etc. He had watches much of the time. He was so good and well-behaved, and affectionate, I myself liked him very much. I was in the habit of coming in afternoons and sitting by him, and he liked to have me—liked to put out his arm and lay his


text: The Prince Who Learned Everything Out of Books/Act 1, Scene 1


text: The Prince Who Learned Everything Out of Books/Act 1, Scene 2


text: The Prince Who Learned Everything Out of Books/Act 1, Scene 3


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 hand on my knee—would keep it so a long while. Toward the last he was more restless and flighty at night—often fancied himself with his regiment—by his talk sometimes seem'd as if his feelings were hurt by being blamed by his officers for something he was entirely innocent of—said 'I never in my life was thought capable of such a thing, and never was.' At other times he would fancy himself talking as it seem'd to children or such like, his relatives, I suppose, and giving them good advice; would talk to them a long while. All the time he was out of his head not one single bad word, or thought, or idea escaped him. It was remark'd that many a man's conversation in his senses was not half so good as Frank's delirium.

"He was perfectly willing to die—he had become very weak, and had suffer'd a good deal, and was perfectly resign'd, poor boy. I do not know his past life, but I feel as if it must have been good. At any rate what I saw of him here, under the most trying circumstances, with a painful wound, and among strangers, I can say that he behaved so brave, so composed, and so sweet and affectionate, it could not be surpassed. And now, like many other noble and good men, after serving his country as a soldier, he has yielded up his young life at the very outset in her service. Such things are gloomy—yet there is a text, 'God doeth all things well,' the meaning of which, after due time, appears to the soul.

"I thought perhaps a few words, though from a stranger, about your son, from one who was with him at the last, might be worth while, for I loved the young man, though I but saw him immediately to lose him."

It is easy enough to pick holes in the grammar of this letter, but what are we to say of its pro-


text: Index:The Amulet for 1826.pdf

title: Index:The Amulet for 1826.pdf


text: The Prince Who Learned Everything Out of Books/Act 2, Scene 1


text: The Prince Who Learned Everything Out of Books/Act 2, Scene 2


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 it, this safe method of induction may perhaps lead the way to conclusions that materially differ from those which, on the one side, as well as on the other side, of a controversy concerning the Old Testament History, have been advanced, and have been tacitly assented to.

To defame, by all means, the ancient Israelitish people, as a "horde of barbarians," has been the purpose of a certain class of writers; and on the other side a mistaken timidity has beguiled writers into the error of supposing that, in admitting this imputed barbarism, an extenuation, or a palliation might be found for those events and those courses of action in the history of the people which most offend our modern tastes, or which stand condemned by Christian principles. What has been wanting, and the want of which has shed confusion upon the subject, has been—we need not say—candour and truthfulness on the one side; but more of intellectual and moral courage on the other side of this modern argument.

The ancient Israelite had no peer among his contemporaries; nor do we find analogous instances on any side that might render aid in solving the problem of this race, either in its earlier or its later history. In truth, there is as much need of an admission of the supernatural element for understanding the national character, as there is for understanding the narrative of its fortunes and its misfortunes—the catastrophes that have overwhelmed


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 found goodness and tenderness? It is written as though he had the mother's face before his eyes, and saw her wincing in the flesh at every word. And what, again, are we to say of its sober truthfulness, not exaggerating, not running to phrases, not seeking to make a hero out of what was only an ordinary but good and brave young man? Literary reticence is not Whitman's stronghold; and this reticence is not literary, but humane; it is not that of a good artist but that of a good man. He knew that what the mother wished to hear about was Frank; and he told her about her Frank as he was.

Something should be said of Whitman's style, for style is of the essence of thinking. And where a man is so critically deliberate as our author, and goes solemnly about his poetry for an ulterior end, every indication is worth notice. He has chosen a rough, unrhymed, lyrical verse; sometimes instinct with a fine processional movement; often so rugged and careless that it can only be described by saying that he has not taken the trouble to write prose. I believe myself that it was selected principally because it was easy to write, although not without recollections of the marching measures of some of the prose in our


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 * rose was in rich bloom on Sharon's plain,

When a young mother, with her First-born, thence Went up to Zion; for the boy was vow'd Unto the Temple-service. By the hand She led him, and her silent soul, the while, Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye Met her sweet serious glance, rejoic'd to think That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers, To bring before her God. So pass'd they on, O'er Judah's hills; and wheresoe'er the leaves Of the broad sycamore made sounds at noon, Like lulling rain-drops, or the olive-boughs, With their cool dimness, cross'd the sultry blue Of Syria's heaven, she paus'd, that he might rest; Yet from her own meek eyelids chas'd the sleep

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That weigh'd their dark fringe down, to sit and watch The crimson deepening o'er his cheek's repose, As at a red flower's heart: and where a fount Lay, like a twilight star, midst palmy shades, Making its banks green gems along the wild, There too she linger'd, from the diamond wave Drawing clear water for his rosy lips, And softly parting clusters of jet curls To bathe his brow. At last the Fane was reach'd, The earth's One Sanctuary; and rapture hush'd Her bosom, as before her, thro' the day It rose, a mountain of white marble, steep'd In light like floating gold.—But when that hour Waned to the farewell moment, when the boy Lifted, through rainbow-gleaming tears, his eye Beseechingly to hers, and, half in fear, Turn'd from the white-rob'd priest, and round her arm Clung e'en as ivy clings; the deep spring-tide Of nature then swell'd high; and o'er her child Bending, her soul brake forth, in mingled sounds Of weeping and sad song.—"Alas!" she cried,

"Alas, my boy! thy gentle grasp is on me, The bright tears quiver in thy pleading eyes,
 * And now fond thoughts arise,

And silver cords again to earth have won me, And like a vine thou claspest my full heart—
 * How shall I hence depart?—

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 English Old Testament. According to Whitman, on the other hand, "the time has arrived to essentially break down the barriers of form between Prose and Poetry for the most cogent purposes of those great inland states, and for Texas, and California, and Oregon;"—a statement which is among the happiest achievements of American humour. He calls his verses "recitatives," in easily followed allusion to a musical form. "Easily-written, loose-fingered chords," he cries, "I feel the thrum of your climax and close." Too often, I fear, he is the only one who can perceive the rhythm; and in spite of Mr. Swinburne, a great part of his work considered as verses is poor bald stuff. Considered, not as verse, but as speech, a great part of it is full of strange and admirable merits. The right detail is seized; the right word, bold and trenchant, is thrust into its place. Whitman has small regard to literary decencies, and is totally free from literary timidities. He is neither afraid of being slangy nor of being dull; nor, let me add, of being ridiculous. The result is a most surprising compound of plain grandeur, sentimental affectation, and downright nonsense. It would be useless to follow his detractors and give instances of how bad he can be at his worst; and perhaps it would be not much wiser to give extracted specimens of


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How the lone paths retrace, where thou wert playing So late along the mountains at my side?
 * And I, in joyous pride,

By every place of flowers my course delaying, Wove, e'en as pearls, the lilies round thy hair,
 * Beholding thee so fair!

And, oh! the home whence thy bright smile hath parted! Will it not seem as if the sunny day
 * Turn'd from its door away,

While, thro' its chambers wandering weary-hearted, I languish for thy voice, which past me still,
 * Went like a singing rill?

Under the palm-trees, thou no more shalt meet me, When from the fount at evening I return,
 * With the full water-urn!

Nor will thy sleep's low, dove-like murmurs greet me, As midst the silence of the stars I wake,
 * And watch for thy dear sake.

And thou, will slumber's dewy cloud fall round thee Without thy mother's hand to smooth thy bed?
 * Wilt thou not vainly spread

Thine arms, when darkness as a veil hath wound thee, To fold my neck; and lift up, in thy fear,
 * A cry which none shall hear?

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What have I said, my child?—will not hear thee Who the young ravens heareth from their nest?
 * Will not guard thy rest,

And, in the hush of holy midnight near thee, Breathe o'er thy soul, and fill its dreams with joy?
 * Thou shalt sleep soft, my boy!

I give thee to thy God!—the God that gave thee, A well-spring of deep gladness to my heart!
 * And precious as thou art,

And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee, My own, my beautiful, my undefiled!
 * And thou shalt be His child!

Therefore, farewell!—I go; my soul may fail me, As the stag panteth for the water-brooks,
 * Yearning for thy sweet looks!

But thou, my First-born! droop not, nor bewail me, Thou in the shadow of the Rock shalt dwell,
 * The Rock of Strength—farewell!"

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Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/23

18 old belongings that for a month or two after going into their midst there seemed but little opportunity of securing anything approaching a representative series. Several specimens that were finally discovered are believed to be the very last of their kind among the Pimas, though of course such a statement must be made with reserve. Prof. J.J. Thornber, of the University of Arizona, accompanied the party on a round trip of 80 miles along the Gila river and to him the collection is indebted for about 50 herbarium specimens, representing the larger portion of the economic plants of the Pimas that are susceptible of preparation in this way. To him also is due the credit of examining end identifying the mass of material gathered by the persons engaged at Casa Blanca and Gila Crossing. As complete a list as possible of the plants used for food, medicine, and the like was made, after which the services of both men and women were enlisted to point out the plants in the course of a trip through the river bottoms or on the hills. Furthermore, a number of sets of seeds was obtained, a portion of which were planted during the summer of 1902 for the purpose of raising plants that could not otherwise be identified. Unfortunately, the season proved too dry for them to germinate and the list is consequently less complete than it should be. The Pima name is given in all cases.

The American people owe the Pimas a lasting debt of gratitude. The California pioneers that traversed the southern route before the warfare between the Pimas and the Apaches. After several months acquaintance with this old woman Mrs Russell obtained from her much information concerning the Pima woman's views of warfare us well as knowledge of facts pertaining to various customs, especially those peculiar to her sex. Antonio Azul (see pl., a) was the head chief of the tribe, and from him much information concerning war customs and recent history was obtained. Kiʼsatc, Cheese, an old Santan pariah, had employed such wit as grudging nature had endowed him with in practising the arts of the medicine-man. His contributions, while of a minor character, proved to be of interest. William Blackwater, an elderly Pima, had taken an active part in the later history of the village of Blackwater, which is situated at the eastern end of the reservation. He was employed but a short time and gave information concerning history and customs. Haʼhali, or Juan Thomas, Christian Pima who was formerly a medicine-man, contributed much valuable information concerning the "occult." He also furnished a calendar record and made a number of specimens illustrating the medicine-man's paraphernalia. Tcoʼkŭt Nak, Owl Ear (pl., b), an old man, lived at the Salt River village and was the first from whom a calendar record was obtained. Benjamin Thompson, so far as could be learned, kept the only calendar in the central group of villages about Casa Blanca, and he related the events that are commemorated by it. Kâemâ-â, Rattlesnake Head (pl., c), a chief, is known to the whites as Joseph Head. He gave an excellent specimen of a calendar record and stick. Interpreters. The principal interpreter, who was employed by the month during the entire period of the writer's stay, was José Lewis, a Papago who had lived from childhood among tha Pimas. He had once been engaged by the Bureau of American Ethnology to write a vocabulary of his own language and to supply other information, so that he was acquainted with the phonetic alphabet and other approved methods of procedure. He was engaged in linguistic work the greater part of the time. Melissa Jones, the official interpreter at the agency, was employed to interpret the statements of Sikaʼtcu, her mother, known to the whites as "Old Mary," and also at intervals on the calendars. Jacob L. Roberts spoke quite as good English as the averige white man of the country and was employed to secure Tcoʼkŭt Nak's calendar (pl., b) and for the final revision of the linguistic material. Carl Smart, of Sacaton, and Thomas Allison, of Blackwater, were occasionally engaged as temporary interpreters. In addition to these there were half a dozen others who were employed for from one to three days each at the lower villages.

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Page:R L Stevenson 1917 Familiar studies of men and books.djvu/150

 how happily he can write when he is at his best. These come in to most advantage in their own place; owing something, it may be, to the offset of their curious surroundings. And one thing is certain, that no one can appreciate Whitman's excellences until he has grown accustomed to his faults. Until you are content to pick poetry out of his pages almost as you must pick it out of a Greek play in Bohn's translation, your gravity will be continually upset, your ears perpetually disappointed, and the whole book will be no more to you than a particularly flagrant production by the Poet Close.

A writer of this uncertain quality was, perhaps, unfortunate in taking for thesis the beauty of the world as it now is, not only on the hill-tops but in the factory; not only by the harbour full of stately ships, but in the magazine of the hopelessly prosaic hatter. To show beauty in common things is the work of the rarest tact. It is not to be done by the wishing. It is easy to posit as a theory, but to bring it home to men's minds is the problem of literature, and is only accomplished by rare talent, and in comparatively rare instances. To bid the whole world stand and deliver, with a dogma in one's right hand by way of pistol; to cover reams of paper in a galloping, headstrong vein; to cry louder and louder over everything as


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Page:The Amulet for 1826.pdf/143

Trumpet's voice hath roused the land,
 * Light up the beacon-pyre!

A hundred hills have seen the brand,
 * And waved the sign of fire!

A hundred banners to the breeze
 * Their gorgeous folds have cast,

And, hark! was that the sound of seas?
 * A king to war went past!

The chief is arming in his hall, The peasant by his hearth; The mourner hears the thrilling call, And rises from the earth! The mother on her first-born son Looks with a boding eye;— They come not back, tho' all be won, Whose young hearts leap so high.

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The bard hath ceased his song, and bound
 * The falchion to his side;

E'en for the marriage altar crowned,
 * The lover quits his bride!

And all this haste, and change, and fear,
 * By earthly clarion spread!

How will it be when kingdoms hear
 * The blast that wakes the dead?

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Page:The Amulet for 1826.pdf/375

knelt—the Saviour knelt and pray'd,
 * When but His Father's eye

Look'd thro' the lonely Garden's shade,
 * On that dread agony!

The Lord of All above, beneath, Was bow'd with sorrow unto death.

The sun set in a fearful hour;
 * The heavens might well grow dim,

When this mortality had power,
 * So to o'ershadow Him!

That He who gave man's breath might know The very depths of human woe.

He knew them all!—the doubt, the strife,
 * The faint perplexing dread;

The mists that hang o'er parting life,
 * All darken'd round His head;

And the Deliverer knelt to pray— Yet pass'd it not, that cup, away!

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It pass'd not—tho' the stormy wave
 * Had sunk beneath His tread;

It pass'd not—tho' to Him the grave
 * Had yielded up its dead.

But there was sent Him, from on high, A gift of strength, for man to die!

And was His mortal hour beset
 * With anguish and dismay?

How may we meet our conflict yet
 * In the dark, narrow way?

How, but thro' Him, that path who trod?— Save, or we perish, Son of God!

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text:
Page:R L Stevenson 1917 Familiar studies of men and books.djvu/151

 it comes up, and make no distinction in one's enthusiasm over the most incomparable matters; to prove one's entire want of sympathy for the jaded, literary palate, by calling, not a spade a spade, but a hatter a hatter, in a lyrical apostrophe;—this, in spite of all the airs of inspiration, is not the way to do it. It may be very wrong, and very wounding to a respectable branch of industry, but the word "hatter" cannot be used seriously in emotional verse; not to understand this, is to have no literary tact; and I would, for his own sake, that this were the only inadmissible expression with which Whitman had bedecked his pages. The book teems with similar comicalities; and, to a reader who is determined to take it from that side only, presents a perfect carnival of fun.

A good deal of this is the result of theory playing its usual vile trick upon the artist. It is because he is a Democrat that Whitman must have in the hatter. If you may say Admiral, he reasons, why may you not say Hatter? One man is as good as another, and it is the business of the "great poet" to show poetry in the life of the one as well as the other. A most incontrovertible sentiment surely, and one which nobody would think of controverting, where—and here is the point—where any beauty has been shown. But how, where that is not the case? where the hatter


text:
Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/24

] days of transcontinental railroads often owed their lives to the friendly brown-skinned farmers whom they met upon the Gila. This tribe rendered notable assistance as scouts in the long contest with the Apaches. Even had they remained neutral, they would have deserved friendly consideration on the part of the whites, but as they fought bravely in the latter's behalf justice requires that their services be accorded proper recognition.

The Pimas live in two river valleys that are strewn with the ruins of prehistoric buildings and other evidences of the presence of a considerable population that had attained probably the highest degree of civilization or culture to be found north of Mexico. The present race has been variously regarded as the descendants of the one that has disappeared, as having amalgamated with it, and as being entirely independent of it. The determination of the exact relationship of the two groups has been held constantly in mind during the course of these investigations. Closely connected with this principal problem are those problems of the extent and direction of the migrations of men and culture toward the Sierra Madre, the Rio Grande, the Pacific, and the plateau to the northward. Was this a center of culture or was it a halting place in the march of clans?

The tribe known as the Pimas was so named by the Spaniards early in the history of the relations of the latter with them. The oldest reference to the name within the writer's knowledge is that by Velarde: "The Pima nation, the name of which has been adopted by the Spaniards from the native idiom, call themselves Otama or in the plural Ohotoma; the word pima is repeated by them to express "negation." This "negacion" is expressed by such words as pia, "none," piatc, "none remaining," pimatc, "I do not know" or "I do not understand." In the last the sound of tc is often reduced to a faint click. The Americans corrupted this to "Pimos," and while this form of the word is now used only by the illiterate living in the neighborhood of the tribe, it is fairly common in the literature referring to them. They call themselves Âʼ-âʼtam, "men" or "the people," and when they wish to distinguish themselves from the Papago and other

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Page:The Amulet for 1826.pdf/60

graceful tree, With thy green branches drooping, As to yon blue heaven stooping, In meek humility.

Like one who patient grieves, When the fierce wind's o'er thee sweeping, Thou answerest but by weeping, While tear-like fall thy green leaves.

When summer flowers have birth, And the sun is o'er thee shining, Yet with thy slight boughs declining, Still thou seekest the earth.

Thy leaves are ever green: When other trees are changing, With the seasons o'er them ranging; Thou art still as thou hast been.

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text:
Page:On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground.pdf/35

270 same degree of exactness; but it is evident that the numbers that might express this quantity ought to be of the same order of magnitude, so that the carbon in the air can neither be conceived of as very great nor as very little, in comparison with the quantity of carbon occurring in organisms. With regard to the great rapidity with which the transformation in organic nature proceeds, the disposable quantity of carbonic acid is not so excessive that changes caused by climatological or other reasons in the velocity and value of that transformation might be not able to cause displacements of the equilibrium.

"The following calculation is also very instructive for the appreciation of the relation between the quantity of carbonic acid in the air and the quantities that are transformed. The world's present production of coal reaches in round numbers 500 millions of tons per annum, or 1 ton per km.2 of the earth's surface. Transformed into carbonic acid, this quantity would correspond to about a thousandth part of the carbonic acid in the atmosphere. It represents a layer of limestone of 0.003 millim. thickness over the whole globe, or 1.5 km.3 in cubic measure. This quantity of carbonic acid, which is supplied to the atmosphere chiefly by modern industry, may be regarded as completely compensating the quantity of carbonic acid that is consumed in the formation of limestone (or other mineral carbonates) by the weathering or decomposition of silicates. From the determination of the amounts of dissolved substances, especially carbonates, in a number of rivers in different countries and climates, and of the quantity of water flowing in these rivers and of their drainage-surface compared with the land-surface of the globe, it is estimated that the quantities of dissolved carbonates that are supplied to the ocean in the course of a year reach at most the bulk of 3 km.3 As it is also proved that the rivers the drainage regions of which consist of silicates convey very unimportant quantities of carbonates compared with those that flow through limestone regions, it is permissible to draw the conclusion, which is also strengthened by other reasons, that only an insignificant part of these 3 km.3 of carbonates is formed directly by decomposition of silicates. In other words, only an unimportant part of this quantity of carbonate of lime can be derived from the process of weathering in a year. Even though the number given were on account of inexact or uncertain assumptions erroneous to the extent of 50 per cent. or more, the comparison instituted is of very great interest, as it proves that the most important of all the processes by means of which carbonic acid has been


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Page:The Amulet for 1826.pdf/61

It is not just to thee, For painter or bard to borrow Thy emblem as that of Sorrow; Thou art more like Piety.

Thou wert made to wave, Patient when Winter winds rave o'er thee, Lowly when Summer suns restore thee, On some martyr's grave.

Like that martyr thou hast given A lesson of faith and meekness, Of patient strength in thy weakness, And trust in Heaven!

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Page:The Amulet for 1826.pdf/294

Oh life, what wouldst thou be, but that thine end Has hope!

heart hath turned away
 * From its early dream;

To me its course has been
 * Like a mountain stream.

Pure and clear it left
 * Its place of birth;

But soon on every wave
 * Were taints of earth.

Weeds grew upon the banks,
 * And as the waters swept

A bad or useless part,
 * Of all they kept

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Till it reached the plain below
 * An altered thing,

Bearing trace and sign
 * Of its wandering.

Withered and noxious leaves
 * Floated on its brim,

And the blue, clear face of heaven
 * Was in its mirror dim.

Just thus my heart has changed
 * By the world which it has past;

Ah, hope, and truth, and feeling,
 * Are too pure to last.

But that stream will wash away
 * Its earthly soil and stain,

When its wandering has reached
 * Its grave, the main.

And such is my heart's hope
 * From sorrow and sully free,

It will find a glorious home—
 * Thy rest—eternity.

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text:
Page:R L Stevenson 1917 Familiar studies of men and books.djvu/152

 is simply introduced, as God made him and as his fellow-men have miscalled him, at the crisis of a high-flown rhapsody? And what are we to say, where a man of Whitman's notable capacity for putting things in a bright, picturesque, and novel way, simply gives up the attempt, and indulges, with apparent exultation, in an inventory of trades or implements, with no more colour or coherence than so many index-words out of a dictionary? I do not know that we can say anything, but that it is a prodigiously amusing exhibition for a line or so. The worst of it is, that Whitman must have known better. The man is a great critic, and, so far as I can make out, a good one; and how much criticism does it require to know that capitulation is not description, or that fingering on a dumb keyboard, with whatever show of sentiment and execution, is not at all the same thing as discoursing music? I wish I could believe he was quite honest with us; but, indeed, who was ever quite honest who wrote a book for a purpose? It is a flight beyond the reach of human magnanimity.

One other point, where his means failed him, must be touched upon, however shortly. In his desire to accept all facts loyally and simply, it fell within his programme to speak at some length and with some plainness on what is, for I really


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Page:R L Stevenson 1917 Familiar studies of men and books.djvu/153

 do not know what reason, the most delicate of subjects. Seeing in that one of the most serious and interesting parts of life, he was aggrieved that it should be looked upon as ridiculous or shameful. No one speaks of maternity with his tongue in his cheek; and Whitman made a bold push to set the sanctity of fatherhood beside the sanctity of motherhood, and introduce this also among the things that can be spoken of without either a blush or a wink. But the Philistines have been too strong; and, to say truth, Whitman has rather played the fool. We may be thoroughly conscious that his end is improving; that it would be a good thing if a window were opened on these close privacies of life; that on this subject, as on all others, he now and then lets fall a pregnant saying. But we are not satisfied. We feel that he was not the man for so difficult an enterprise. He loses our sympathy in the character of a poet by attracting too much of our attention in that of a Bull in a China Shop. And where, by a little more art, we might have been solemnised ourselves, it is too often Whitman alone who is solemn in the face of an audience somewhat indecorously amused.


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Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/25

20 divisions of the same linguistic stock they add the word âʼkimûlt, "river." "River people" is indeed an apt designation, as evidenced by their dependence on the Gila.

Gatschet has thus defined the Pima linguistic stock in an article entitled "The Indian languages of the Pacific," which was published in the Magazine of American History:

During the early part of the nineteenth century there were eight Pima villages on the Gila according to statements made by Kâʼmâl tkâk and other old men of the tribe. The numerous accounts by travelers and explorers contain mention of from five to ten pueblos or villages. The names are usually those bestowed by the Spanish missionaries or unrecognizable renderings of the native terms. The villages were principally upon the south bank of the river, along which they extended for a distance of about 30 miles. Some have been abandoned; in other cases the name has been retained, but the site has been moved. The first villages named by Kino were Equituni, Uturituc, and Sutaquison. The last two were situated near the present agency of Sacaton (pl. ). The first may have been the village of Pimas and Kwahadkʽs, which was situated west of Picacho on the border of the sink of the Santa Cruz river (fig. 1), which was abandoned about a century ago and was known as Akûtcĭny, Creek

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Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/514

486 the sixth century, and both in connexion with human sacrifice, are usually held to indicate Tyr, as is also the important god Mars of Tacitus. The identity of Mars and Tyr is established by glossaries which equate Mars with "Tiw," "Tug," as in Tuesday. In Scandinavia the word Tyr originally means "god," and in compounds is applied to Odin.

There is evidence that Frigg, in Northern mythology Odin's wife, was also widely known among Teutonic nations, but she seems in part to have been ousted from her place by Freyja, and in part to have suffered that general decline which must have overtaken the Germanic goddesses since the time of Tacitus, in whose day female divinities appear to have been in the ascendancy — we think of his Veleda, Isis, Ausinia, Nerthus. It is noteworthy that Bede knows of several important goddesses in England, though all other trace of them has vanished.

One class of female divinities however still held a place in Scandinavian belief at least. It seems likely that the term dísir — "(supernatural) female beings" — covered both the valkyries and the norns. The valkyries in the North were Odin's handmaidens in war, and some trace of such beings survives in Anglo-Saxon glossaries, where wælcyrge is used to translate "Bellona," "Gorgon," etc., though in the laws the word is merely equivalent to "sorceress." The norns seem to have been hereditary tutelary spirits: they are thought of as causing good or evil fortune to their owner, and appear in dreams to him, frequently in threes, to warn him of impending danger. When there is only one attendant spirit she is called hamingja, or "Luck." Such a being appears to the dying Hallfred the Unlucky Poet, and to her the Saga-writer evidently ascribes the ill-luck first of Hallfred and later of his son. It seems possible to discern an original distinction between these beings and the fylgja or "associate," which appears as a mere materialisation, as it were, in animal form, of the chief characteristic of its owner; — his soul, perhaps, though it is not the immortal part of him, as it dies on his death. It is probably closely connected with the werewolf beliefs, and that the conception was common to all Teutonic races is indicated by the Song of Roland, which makes Charles the Great dream before Roncesvalles of a fight between a bear and a leopard. The dísir are however too capricious to be called guardian spirits. Those of one family, provoked at the coming change of faith, are credited with having killed one of its representatives. We see the reasonableness of the attitude taken up by a would-be convert, who stipulates that the missionary shall guarantee him the mighty archangel Michael as his "attendant angel" (fylg ju-engill).

All the three sacrifices to dísir on record occur in the autumn, and of one it is stated that it took place at night. It is noteworthy that the term disa-thing is used as late as 1322 to denote a festival at Upsala. A "dísar-hall" appears to be an old name for a temple. From Germany we have a charm which seems rather to invoke the aid of friendly


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