WATTS’S LITERARY GUIDE B E I N G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L I B E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D P U B L IC A T IO N S .
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No. 57.]
AUGUST 15, 1890.
[Trice One P enny.
N E W P U B L I C A T IO N S .
OU R L I B R A R Y S H E L V E S .
•“ T he Agnostic Annual ” for next year, in addition to the paper by Mr. S. Laing on “ An Agnostic View of the Bible,” will contain a special article by the Hon. C. K . Tuckerman on “ The Instability o f Faiths.” Among the other contributors will be Dr. Hardwicke, Dr. Bithell, Mr. Amos Waters, Mr. Charles Watts, Mr. W. Stewart Ross, Mr. G. J. Holyoake, Mr. F. J. Gould, Dr. Paul Carus, Mr. B. Russell, and others. The “ Annual ” will be published on October 1st.
Mr. G. W. Foote, under the title “ Is the Bible Inspired ?” (id .) , has published a criticism on “ Lux Mundi.”
T he price o f the new edition of “ The Curse of Conventionalism ” will be reduced to 2d., so as to ensure an increased circulation for the brochure.
Mr. C harles C. C attell announces that his “ Men of the P ast” (6d.) will be ready early in October. The cheap edition o f his “ Thoughts for Thinking” (is.) is issued. . M. R enan’s third volume of the “ Histoire du Peuple d’Israel ” will appear at the beginning of October.
I n October Messrs. Longman propose to publish the two final volumes o f Mr. Lecky’s “ History o f England in the Eighteenth Century.”
Messrs. Percival & Co. have recently issued “ The Religion o f Humanity, and Other Poems ” (6s.), by Annie Matheson.
T he Progressive Publishing Company have just issued four valuable reprints. The first consists of the two opening chapters, with their voluminous notes, from Jeremy Bentharn’s “ Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.” It deals with the ethics of Utility, and is called “ Utilitarianism ” (2d.). The second reprint is a larger one— “ The Church o f England Catechism Examined” (is.), by Jeremy Bentham. This is a remorseless attack on the Church Catechism, showing how it tends to corrupt morality. By way of preface a brief biography of Bentham is supplied by Mr. Wheeler, who has unearthed in the British Museum some striking proofs of Bentham’s utter scepticism. The third reprint is entitled “ The Mortality o f the Soul ” (2d.), by David Hume, with an introduction by G. W. Foote. This essay, which is not included in the ordinary editions of Hume, has been pronounced by Professor Huxley “ a model o f clear and vigorous statement.” T h e concluding reprint is an early pamphlet of Shelley’s, published in 1814, entitled “ A Refutation of Deism.” Mr. Foote furnishes a brief introduction.
The recent debate at St. James’s Hall, London, between Mr. Hyndman and Mr. Bradlaugh, on “ The Eight Hours’ Question ” (6d.), has been printed verbatim in pamphlet form.
Mr. John Morley has a style which we prefer to that of Macaulay. It is full of masculine force and graceful sobriety. With an added degree o f brilliance, it would approach an affectation of smart antithesis and overstrain. With an extra touch o f gravity, it would be in danger o f heaviness. Its English is o f a model type— pure, lucid, easy. Mr. Morley writes with such practical directness and genial sense that, masterly critic as he is, his manner rather suggests the cultured man of affairs than the elegant literatist. Never does he praise or censure a book merely as a book, but always as a factor in the social evolution, wielding its influence for good or ill over individual conduct and public progress. These are the characteristics that strike us during a perusal of
“ D ID E R O T A N D T H E ENCYCLOPAEDISTS ”
(Macmillan; Globe 8vo edition, 1886; 2 vols., 365 pp. and 351 p p . ; 5s. each vol.). This work, following upon Mr. Morley’s volumes on Voltaire and Rousseau, completes his survey of the daring and innovating literature which led the way to the French Revolution. The title indicates that a considerable group of authors are dealt with, among whom Denis Diderot (1713-1784) is the central and inspiring figure. The chief builders, besides Diderot, of the great Encyclopaedia and its kindred literature were D ’Alembert, Grimm, Holbach, Helvetius, and Raynal. The Encyclopedists, says Mr. Morlcy, “ affected the national life on every side, pressing forward with enlightened principles in all the branches o f material and political organisation. Their union, in a great philosophical band, gave an impressive significance to their work,”
It is sometimes the fashion to speak of the Encyclopaedia as if it were nothing but a collection of essays on religion and philosophy. It should be noted, therefore, that this series of twenty-eight volumes, of which the first was issued in 1751 and the last in 1772, was largely composed of articles of information on the arts, sciences, and manufactures. Eleven o f the volumes consisted of illustrative plates. But the Encyclopaedia acted as an immense propeller of the new intellectual order— first, by giving the chief rank and dignity to secular knowledge; secondly, by exalting the position of the labourer; and, thirdly, by criticism of theological systems. The laboratory, the workshop, the university were glorified, and the Church (that is, more especially, the corrupt French Church) derided and contemned. But not without danger. Royal decrees, denunciations by the Jesuits, suspensions and suppressions, betokened the alarm created by the new portent. But Diderot kept his hand on the helm, and doggedly, even cheerfully, steered his great enterprise to completion. This was his magnum opus. What else he did and wrote and said is told by Mr. Morley in a way that enchains the reader from one end of the book to the other. No exaggerated estimate is drawn o f Diderot. When he acted meanly or hypocritically, the thing is put down in plain black and white. We know the names and the characters of his mistresses. But of these latter irregularities Mr. Morley shrewdly observes : “ To connect them
