238 Our Collegiate Course; OR, AIDS TO SELF-CULTURE. COMPOSITION.-Exercise.-Define the several parts of speech. Quote any twenty lines of poetry, and mark the different parts of speech as in Neil's 'Rhetoric," p. 38. Write six sentences of no fewer than six words each, exemplifying the use of 1st, noun; 2nd, pronoun; 3rd, verb; 4th, adjective, respectively. Quote any six complete sentences, from any work, containing adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions respectively. In each case the example of the part of speech exemplified is to be underlined. Write one sentence, containing in itself all the parts of speech. GEOGRAPHY.-Junior Exercise.Mention the chief component parts of the empire of Great Britain. Note the quarter of the globe in which each is situated. Construct a table of them thus: Geographical Components of Great Britain. And fill in with twenty words in each column. Write a sentence exemplifying the use of each part of speech. Quote six different lines of poetry in which the several parts of speech respectively occur. HISTORY.-Junior.- Describe the early races of Britain. Its conquest by Cæsar, and its condition under the Romans. Construct a chronological table of the battles which took place under the Roman dominion. Senior.-Describe Britain under the Romans-the Saxons-the Danesthe Normans. Illustrate the passage, "In Asia British adventurers founded an empire not less splendid, and more durable than that of Alexander." [See British Controversialist, October to December, 1859.] LITERATURE (English). Spalding's "History of English Literature," or Professor Craik's "Manual of English Literature." S. Neil's "Shakespere: a Biography." Exercise.-Study the period between the battle of Hastings and the death of Chaucer, 1066-1400 A.D. Write a notice of Roger Bacon [see British Controversialist, June and July, 1858], William of Malmesbury, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Matthew Paris. Give a synopsis of the life of John Wycliffe, John Gower, Mandeville, and Chaucer [see British Controversialist for January and March, 1860]. Cri. ticize any of the works of the lastmentioned authors. Quote from any works of these writers five sentences containing words now obsolete, giving the modern equivalents for these words. LOGIC. Junior. "The Art of Reasoning," by Samuel Neil. Exercise.Write out a synopsis of the three earliest chapters. Note any three difficulties met in the perusal of each chapter. Construct a table of sensation. G. H. LEWES's work on "Aristotle" is in the press. The late Sir G. C. Lewis's "Essays on the Administrations of Great Britain, 1783-1830," edited by Sir E. Head, Bart., are nearly ready. A complete and uniform edition of the theological works of the Rev. J. H. Hinton, A.M., is to be issued by subscription. "History or Romance?-The Life of Jesus," has appeared in Rotterdam, by Oosterzee, formerly assistant of Professor Lange in his Bibelwerk at Bonn. It is occasioned by Renan's treatise. Miss Adelaide Procter, author of 4 'Lays and Legends," 1858, daughter of Barry Cornwall, died 1st February, aged 29. Miss Lucy Aiken, daughter and sister of the authors of "Evenings at Home," author of a "Life of Addison," &c., died 29th Jan., aged 81. H. A. Taine (b. 1828), author of "French Philosophy in the XIXth Century," has just issued "English Positivism: a Study upon J. S. Mill." "The Intermediary," a French "Notes and Queries," has been started. Ventura de la Vega, of Madrid, dramatist and lyrist, author of "The Man of the World," &c., is dead. A Dante journal has been begun in Florence. The Rev. W. A. Newman, D.D., formerly Dean of Cape Town, author of "The Martyr's Dreams," &c., editor of the South African Magazine, 1850-2, died at Hastings, aged 52. Volumes of poems by both Tennyson and Browning are spoken of as in the printer's hands. The five-yearly prize of 1,000 thalers (£150), instituted in Germany in 1844, has been awarded to M. Louis Haeusser (b. 1818), author of the "History of the Rhenish Palatinate," &c., for his "History of Germany from the Death of Frederick the Great." Heinrich Rose (b. 1795), Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Berlin, and author of a "Manual" of that science, which has been translated into almost every European language, died 29th January. Stephen C. Foster, the "negro song" writer, is dead. He was buried at Pittsburgh, Jan. 21st. G. B. Torre has edited, with notes and an introduction, the writings of Christopher Columbus. Dr. J. H. Plath's "Essays on the Religion and Worship of Ancient China, the Sources of the Biography of Confucius," &c., have been reprinted from the "Transactions of the Bavarian Academy. Mr. W. Hepworth Dixon (b. 1821) is reported to be engaged in composing a "Biography of Edward, Second Marquis of Worcester," author of "A Century of Inventions." A translation of Shakspere into Russ has just reached the second edition. It is done by M. Ketcher. A life of Flaxman, the sculptor, is in preparation by G. F. Terriswood. A collected edition of the writings of the late statesman and scholar, Sir G. C. Lewis, containing, as far as may be, his contributions to journals, magazines, &c., is engaging his relatives and friends. The French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences has elected as corresponding member Mr. Edwin Chadwick. of London, born near Manchester, in 1800, one of the early contributors to the London Review, and now distinguished as a legislative and administrative reformer, on the vacancy caused by the death of Archbishop Whately. A monument, in honour of Joost Van der Vondel, the prince of Flemish poets, author of " Gysbert d'Amstel," "Lucifer," "Palamede," &c., died Feb. 5th, 1679, aged 91, has been erected in Amsterdam, though Cologne was his birth place. An authentic memoir of Hugh Miller, stonemason, banker, geologist, eaitor, story-teller, critic, poet, lecturer, &c., is in preparation as a supplement to "My Schools and Schoolmasters." Mr. Roger Acton-a gentleman long connected with the London press-has accepted the editorship of the Illustrated London News. A people's edition of Renan's "Vie de Jésus" is about to be issued, price one franc, in Paris. Dr. D. R. Ballantyne, the distinguished Sanscrit scholar, died 16th Feb. "A History of the Language and Literature of Wales" has been published in Germany. A new (Protestant) version of the Scriptures is issuing, in parts, in Paris. "Christian compared with the Old and the New Philosophy," by Sanseverino, is a noticeable book. The publication of Dr. Latham's edition of Dr. S. Johnson's "Dictionary," in thirty-six monthly parts at 3s. 6d. each, has been commenced by Messrs. Longman. A new work by Wm. Smith, author of "Thorndale," "Gravenhurst," "Dramas," &c., is said to be in the press. An annotated edition of Sterne's "Tristram Shandy " is in the press. A people's edition of the "Speeches &c., of Prince Albert," price one shilling, is out. Carlyle's "Frederick," Vol. IV., is said to be just ready. M. de Falloux is preparing an edition of the "Correspondence of the Abbé Lacordaire." 66 George Grote (b. 1794), politician and historian, whose work on Greece " has become a standard on the subject, has been elected foreign member of the Paris Academy of Social and Political science, in succession to Lord Macaulay. The paper on Renan's "Life of Jesus," contained in the North British Review, is attributed to the Duke of Argyle, and that on "Thackeray " to Dr. John Brown. The Shakspere Tercentenary C mittee are settling down, and seer likely now to accomplish their end we' both in London and at Stratford. Shakspere Controversies. "This king Shakspere, does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs? indestructible;-really more valuable in that point of view than any other means or appliance whatsoever?"Carlyle. SHAKSPERE! What can be said of Shakspere that has not been already said? All that jealousy, adulation, admiration, and love, only stopping short of worship, can utter, has been spoken, and even depreciation has added its bass to complete the harmony of the resounding appreciation of which he has been the subject. If "all is well that ends well," it is surely time to close the play and let the hero rest. Such, we cannot doubt, is a reflex of the thought which first arises in our readers' minds on noting the title of our paper-written in the hope of affording a clue through the mazes of a few of those controversies of which Shakspere and his writings have been the subjects. To us it seems a dutiful homage to the prevailing hero-worship of the time to present to our readers an aspect of the absorbing question of the period not likely to be taken elsewhere, and which could nowhere else appear so fittingly. Round the name, fame, life, writings, memory, and present worth of Shakspere the ceaseless waves of controversy have not restrained themselves, and we purpose here to cast our eye over the courses of their currents, and to attempt to show in some measure a way along which we may steer, if we should find ourselves caught in the onflow of their forces. "Of this Shakspere of ours, perhaps the opinion one sometimes hears a little idolatrously expressed is, in fact, the right one: I think the best judgment, not of this country only, but of Europe at large, is slowly pointing to the conclusion that Shakspere is the chief of all poets hitherto; the greatest intellect who, in our recorded world, has left record of himself in the way of literature." Regarding a man possessed of such a seeing eye, and taking such a sweep with it, it is almost impossible but that there should be differences of opinion held, and in accordance with this à priori probability, the facts are that a whole literature of controversy has been written concerning Shakspere. It may now be judicious to issue an outline of this controversy, that the subscribers to this serial may be put in possession of a few of the topics of interest seerhich have been and may again be raised in connection with the efe and works of this "foremost man in all the files of time." we It is unnecessary here to exhaust " a mint of phrases," the sweet smoke of rhetoric,' Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation, in laudation of "William Shakspere, the protagonist on the arena of modern poetry, and the glory of the human intellect ;" that will, we doubt not, be done sufficiently, if not efficiently, elsewhere. All is said when we have said "None but himself can be his parallel." "Such a poet," Douglas Jerrold averred, “by the charm of his genius permeates and perpetuates a deeper philosophy and more practicable truths than any set code of laws or legislation could compass. The people feel the force of such genius; and his precepts, his illustrations, and his wisdom have made him reverenced on every hearth. He contains within himself a moral code, and touches every phase of humanity; we at once love and revere our teacher." It is almost impossible to enumerate, arrange, and discuss all the controversies of which Shakspere has been made the subject, in a brief paper such as this must be; but we may conveniently notice the greater part of them under one or other of the following heads, viz., his personality, birthplace and birthday, life, character, learning, works and popularity, text, sonnets, religion, and commemoration. Among recent controversies regarding Shakspere, perhaps the most singular is that relative to his personality. Is Shakspere the dramatist a myth, and only the alter ego of Lord Bacon? That question has been put before the public by Miss Delia Bacon in America, and by W. H. Smith and others in England. Of his actual existence there is, of course, no doubt,-that can be traced in the register of his birth, in his marriage bond, in legal documents regarding the purchase of property, in court records of actions at law, in his will, by his monument, and by the testimony of friends. It is only of his dramatic genius that scepticism has been pronounced. It is said that Pope's sketch of Shakspere is full of the express characteristics of Bacon; that Bacon possessed cultured dramatic talents, and could assume the most diverse characters; that his lordship not only assisted at, but even wrote, " masques; that he was an intimate friend of Lord Southampton; that the Shakspere folio of 1623 was not issued till Bacon's retirement from public life, when he was poor and in straits, to raise money; that Shakspere was a money-seeking, business man, and not, therefore, likely to be much of a poet, or to be disinclined to accept a douceur for lending his name to a deception of so slight a sort as that implied in supporting a false repute in society; and that Lord Bacon, guilty of receiving bribes, would not be nice in conveying them to another through a common friend. Hence it is highly improbable that Shakspere wrote dramas, and highly probable that Lord Bacon is the person who "wrote Shakspere." Now "mark how plain a tale" will set this down. |