The Modern Language Quarterly Volume 6 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt: ...Saintsbury's words, and all those who respect and love our national literature owe him a deep debt of gratitude for them, and not less for the manner in which he has substantiated them, and defended the credit of our English critics against the neglect made fashionable by one who, while himself among our ablest critics, frequently wrote with very little judgment when criticism itself was his theme. Of course, there is another side to the question, and we shall be most curious to see how in his third volume the Professor will deal with the contrasted groups of Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing in Germany, and Hazlitt, Coleridge, and Lamb in England--for the comparison here suggested between Coleridge and the Schlegels is hardly to be taken seriously. One point on which we have little doubt is that Professor Saintsbury will underrate at least one of the German trio. This, however, is to anticipate, and as far as the present volume is concerned the attempted vindication is triumphantly successful. Bacon is rightly dismissed as of small positive importance in the field of criticism. Daniel and Ben Jonson receive adequate and appreciative treatment. It is, however, in the more or less parallel or contrasted criticisms of Boilean and Dryden that Pro fessor Saintsbury shows himself at his best. The former is a really first-rate piece of destructive criticism, not pretending 'to a mere colourless impartiality, ' but sane, judicious, and convincing. The author lets out fairly from the shoulder, and every blow tells. His criticism of Dryden is correspondingly enthusiastic, and with reason. No critic of the age of classical orthodoxy had a more genuine and worthy appreciation for what was best in literature independent of the forms and fashions of the day. Two other estima...