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THE LITERARY GUIDE =

A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D A N D R E V I E W O F I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O G R E S S .

No. 122.]

FEBBUARY i, 1896.

[Price One Penny.

N E W P U B L I C A T IO N S .

T he Open Court Publishing Co. announce the early publication o f several important volumes— “ Karma : A Story of Early Buddhism ” (3s. 6d.), by Dr. Paul Carus ; “ Goethe and Schiller’s Xenions ” (4s. 6d.), selected and translated by Dr. Carus ; “ The Prophets of Israel : Popular Sketches from Old Testament History ” (4s. 6d.), by Carl Heinrich Cornill; and “ The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution ” (8s. 6d.), by Professor E. D. Cope.

T he Duke o f Argyll has been at work for close upon fifteen years upon a philosophical book, which he regards as the most important he has written in his life. It will soon see the light, but under a different heading to that first chosen. It is now to be styled “ The Philosophy of Belief,” and will cover very much the same ground (though in a different fashion) as a famous work of Mr. Arthur Balfour.

Messrs. Putnam have in hand the fourth and final volume of the writings of Thomas Paine ; but its complete appearance will be preceded by the publication of a cheap edition of “ The Age of Reason.” This will be accompanied by an historical introduction by the editor, Mr. Moncure Conway, embodying recent researches, and an unpublished letter of Paine relating to the publication of this work and the theft of Part Second by an English printer. Messrs. Putnam also publish a cheap popular edition of Paine’s “ Rights of Man ” (3s. 6d.), carefully revised by the same editor, and with his historical introduction.

A dmirers of the author o f “ The City of Dreadful Night ” owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Bertram Dobell, who has, in conjunction with Messrs. Reeves and Turner, just published a volume of James Thomson’s “ Biographical and Critical Studies ” (6s.). The volume consists chiefly of essays not previously collected, and includes articles on Rabelais, Ben Jonson, William Blake, Shelley, Garth Wilkinson, John Wilson, James Hogg, Robert Browning, and others. The book is intended to form the first volume of a collected edition of the author’s prose writings, which will make five volumes in all.

T he latest addition to the Religion of Science Library is entitled “ On Memory, and the Specific Energies of the Nervous System ” (9d.), the writer being Professor Ewald He ring.

Messrs. Williams & Norgate have published a little work entitled “ The Idea of God and the Moral Sense in the Light of Language,” and which claims to be a philosophical inquiry into the rise and growth of spiritual and moral concepts. The author is Mr. Herbert Baynes, m .r .a .s .

O U R L I B R A R Y S I I E L VES.

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HUXLEY’S COLLECTED ESSAYS.— VI. “ Begin with the Ionians.” So Huxley, with twinkling, sarcastic eye, counsels the young inquirer who desires to attain the status of Superior Man in the study of Philosophy. “ Begin with the Ionians, and work steadily through to the latest new speculative treatise.” And the laborious plodding will result in much fluent superficiality and little proficiency. But, if the young disciple seeks solid knowledge, he need not go beyond the limits of the English tongue, and may even modestly content his soul with Berkeley, Hume, and Hobbes. Towards a better understanding of the two former masters Huxley contributes his essay on

“ HUME,”

with helps to the study of Berkeley (Macmillan; 3x9 p p . ; 5s-)

Part I. Hume’s Life. At Edinburgh, in 1711, David Hume came into the world. Not long afterwards the father died, leaving three children in the mother’s care. Mrs. Hume once said of David, “ Our Davie’s a fine good-natured crater, but uncommon wake [weak]-minded.” He learned a little Greek, and dreamed much of philosophy. At the age of sixteen he astonished a friend with these sage reflections :—

“ My peace of mind is not sufficiently confirmed by philosophy to withstand the blows of fortune. This greatness and elevation of soul is to be found only in study and contemplation. This alone can teach us to look down on human accidents. You must allow me to talk thus like a philosopher; ’tis a subject I think much on, and could talk all day long of.” The family destined him for the law, the wig, the silk, and the rhetorical persuasion of dunderheaded juries. The wise fates destined him for a higher sphere. Abruptly and finally the legal text-books were abandoned. After some years of indecision he turned his face towards the market and counting-house. Meanwhile physical disorder led to mental disquietude. The sorrows of Werter lowered over his soul. He meditated on pain, poverty, and death. An office-stool afforded meagre enough scope for so active a mind. He renounced commercial pursuits. In 1736 David Hume crossed to France, eked out his small resources by stinting his food and clothing and social tastes, conversed with Jesuit scholars, and composed a “ Treatise on Human Nature” (published 1738-40). Adam Smith and Hume became friends in 1740, Adam then being only seventeen years old. “ Moral and Political Essays” (1741-2) proved the added brilliance of his pen. From one of these essays Huxley quotes a characteristic piece of bright suggestion :—

“ As force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is, therefore, an opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and the most popular.”