_History of Flemish Literature_. By OCTAVE DELEPIERRE, LL. D. 8vo.
London. John Murray. 1860.
"When I write in Danish," says Oehlenschläger, "I write for only six
hundred persons." And so, in view of this somewhat exaggerated
statement, he himself translated his best works into the more favored
and more widely spread Germanic idiom. It requires a certain amount of
courage in an author to write in his own native tongue only, when he
knows that he thereby limits the number of his readers. We see in our
own days, among the Sclavonic races, men whose writings breathe the
most ardent patriotism, whose labors and researches are all
concentrated within the sphere of their nationality, publishing, not
in their own Polish, Czechish, or Serbian, but in German or French.
The history of language shows us a two-fold tendency,--one of
divergence from some common stem, followed by one of concentration, of
unity, in the literature. Thus, in France, the _Langue d'Oïl_
superseded the richer and more melodious Provençal; in Spain the
Castilian predominated; while for several centuries it has been the
steady tendency of the High-German to become the language of letters
and of the upper classes among the various Teutonic races. Since the
Bible-translation of Luther, this central dialect has not only become
the medium in which poet and philosopher, historian and critic address
the nation, but it may be said to have entirely superseded the
Northern and Southern forms. Whatever local or linguistic interest may
be manifested for the works of Groth in the Ditmarsch _Platt-Deutsch_,
or for the sweet Alemannic songs of Hebel, the centralizing tongue is
that in which Schiller and Goethe wrote.
The allied Danish and Dutch have escaped this ingulfing process. The
former, instead of retreating, seeks in the present to enlarge its
circuit; and great are the complaints in Schleswig-Holstein of the
arbitrary and despotic imposition of Danish on a State of the German
Confederation. The present government of Holland has not remained
inactive. Much has been done to encourage men of letters and
counteract the Gallic influences which prevailed in the early part of
the century.
But the Flemings speaking nearly the same language as their Protestant
neighbors, where is their literature now? The language itself, in
which are handed down to us some of the masterpieces of the Middle
Ages, as "Reynard the Fox" and "Gudrun," is disregarded, even
discountenanced, by Government. It is with a feeling of sadness that
we read the annals of a literature which met so many obstacles to its
progress. Despised by foreign rulers, thrust back by the Spanish
policy of the Duke of Alva, its authors exiled and seeking refuge in
other lands, its very existence has been a constant battling against
the inroads of more powerful neighbors.
Surely, "if words be made of breath, and breath of life," there is
nothing a nation can hold more dear than its own tongue. Its laws, its
rulers, may change, its privileges and charters be wrenched from it,
but that remains as an heirloom, the first gift to the child, the last
and dearest treasure of the man. Perhaps nowhere more than in Flanders
do we meet with a systematic oppression of a vernacular idiom. From
the days of the contests with France, through the long Spanish
troubles and dominion, the military occupation of the country by the
troops of Louis XIV., the Austrian rule, the levelling tendency of the
French Revolution, and the present aping of French manners by the
higher powers of the land,--through all this there has been but one
long, continuous struggle, and the ultimate result is now too plain.
We find the Flemish spoken by nearly two-thirds of the inhabitants of
Belgium, divided from the Walloon or _Rouchi-Fran ais_ by a line of
demarcation running from the Meuse through Liege and Waterloo, and
ending in France, between Calais and Dunkirk. It differs in no
material points from the Dutch, being essentially the same, if we
except slight differences in spelling, as _ae_ for _aa_, _ue_ for
_uu_, _y_ for _ij_. Both should bear but one common name, the
Netherlandish. That differences should be sought can be accounted for
only by the petty feeling of jealousy that exists between the
neighboring states, their literary productions varying in grammatical
construction scarcely more than the writings of English and American
authors.
Mr. Octave Delepierre, who since 1830 has published some ten or twelve
monographs relating to the antiquities and history of Flanders, has
presented the English public during the course of the present year
with a history of Flemish literature. With an evident predilection for
authors south of the Meuse, Mr. Delepierre has nevertheless given us
the first clear and connected account we possess of the history of
letters in the Netherlands. Without careful or minute critical
research, he has shown little that is new, nor has he sought to clear
one point that was obscure. His work is pleasant reading, interspersed
with occasional translations, though scarcely answering the requisites
of literary history in the nineteenth century. Having followed the
older work of Snellaert [_Histoire de la Littérature Flamande_.
Bruxelles. 1654.], in the latter half of the volume, page for page, he
has not even mentioned by name the authors of the last quarter of a
century.
Let us glance at that portion of literature more particularly
belonging to Flanders and Brabant.
The first expressions of the Germanic mind, the song of "Hildebrand,"
"Gudrun," the "Nibelungen," have been handed down to us in a form
which shows their origin to have been Netherlandish. The first part of
"Gudrun" is evidently so; and we find, as well in many of the older
poems of chivalry, as "Charles and Elegast," "Floris and
Blanchefloer," as in the national epos, intrinsic proofs that the
unknown authors were from the regions of the Lower Rhine. These elder
remnants, however, can scarcely be claimed by any one of the Teutonic
races, as they are the common property of all; for we find the hero
Siegfried in the Scandinavian Saga, as well as in the more southern
tradition. Mr. Delepierre has translated the following song, almost
Homeric in its form, which belongs to this early period, when
Christianity had not obliterated the memories of barbarous days:--
"The Lord Halewyn knew a song: all those
who heard it were attracted towards him.
"It was once heard by the daughter of the
King, who was so beloved by her parents.
"She stood before her father: 'O father,
may I go to the Lord Halewyn?'
"'Oh, no, my child, no! They who go to
him never come back again.'
"She stood before her mother: 'O mother,
may I go to the Lord Halewyn?'
"'Oh, no, my child, no! They who go to
him never come back again.'
"She stood before her sister: 'O sister, may
I go to the Lord Halewyn?'
"'Oh, no, sister, no! They who go to him
never come back again.'
"She stood before her brother: 'O brother,
may I go to the Lord Halewyn?'
"'Little care I where thou goest, provided
thou preservest thine honor and thy crown.
"She goes up into her chamber; she clothes
herself in her best garments.
"What does she put on first? A shift finer
than silk.
"What does she gird round her lovely
waist? Strong bands of gold.
"What does she put upon her scarlet petticoat?
On every seam a golden button.
"What does she set on her beautiful fair
hair? A massive golden crown.
"What does she put upon her kirtle? On
every seam a pearl.
"She goes into her father's stable, and takes
out his best charger. She mounts him proudly,
and so, laughing and singing, rides through
the forest. When she reaches the middle of
the forest, she meets the Lord Halewyn.
"'Hail!' said he, approaching her, 'hail,
beautiful virgin, with eyes so black and brilliant!'
"They proceed together, chatting as they go.
"They arrive at a field in which stands a
gallows. The bodies of several women hang
from it.
"The Lord Halewyn says to her: 'As you
are the loveliest of all virgins, say, how will
you die? The time is come.'
"'It is well: as I may choose, I choose the
sword.
"'But, first of all, take off your tunic; for
the blood of a virgin gushes out so far, that it
might reach you, and I should be sorry.'
"But before he had divested himself of his
tunic, his head rolled off and lay at his feet:
his lips still murmured these words:
"'Go down there into that corn-field, and blow
the horn, so that my friends may hear it.'
"'Into that corn-field I shall not go, neither
shall I blow the horn. I do not follow the counsel
of a murderer.'
"'Go, then, down under the gallows, and
gather the balm which you shall find there,
and spread it over my bloody throat.'
"'Under the gallows I shall not go; on your
bloody throat I shall spread no balm. I do
not follow the counsel of a murderer.'
"She took up the head by the hair, and
washed it at a clear fountain.
"She mounted her charger proudly, and,
laughing and singing, she rode through the
forest.
"When she reached the middle of the forest,
she met the mother of Halewyn. 'Beautiful
virgin, have you not seen my son?'
"'Your son, the Lord Halewyn, is gone
hunting: you will never see him again.
"'Your son, the Lord Halewyn, is dead. I
have his head in my apron, which is red with
his blood.'
"And when she arrived at her father's gate,
she blew the horn like a man.
"And when her father saw her, he rejoiced
at her return.
"He celebrated it by a feast, and the head
of Halewyn was placed on the table."
Flemish writers claim as entirely their own that epic of the people,
"Reynard the Fox." Their right to it was long contested; nor has
anything been done since the labors of Willems, who, in opposition to
the opinion of William Grimm, settles the authorship of the "Reinaert
de Vos" on Utenhove, a priest of Aerdenburg. It seems natural to
suppose that this most popular of Middle-Age productions should have
originated in the very region which later gave to the world a school
of painting that incarnated on canvas the phases of animal life,
taking its delight and best inspirations in the burlesque side of
human passions.
In its first period, Flemish literature found some encouragement from
its princes. John I. of Brabant fostered it, and even took, himself,
the title of Flemish Troubadour. Under Guy of Dampierre, who neither
in heart nor mind was sympathetic with the people he ruled, we find
Maerlant, still revered by his country; his name is ever coupled with
the epithet of Father of Flemish Poets. Didactic rather than poetical,
his influence was great in breaking down the barriers which separated
the people from the higher classes, by adapting to their own
home-idiom the best productions of the age. About this period we find
prevalent those Northern singers corresponding to the _Trouvères_,
_Troubadours_, and _Jongleurs_. They are in Flanders the _Spreker_,
_Segger_, and _Vinder_, who, when travelling through the country, took
the name of _Gezel_, received in town or village, court or hamlet, as
the wandering minstrel of the South. The golden age when sovereigns
doffed their royal robes to lay them on the shoulders of some
sweet-singing poet, as the old chronicles tell us, was of short
duration in the North, if ever the _Sproken_ or erotic poems may be
said to have brought their authors into such favor. On the other hand,
we find some of the wanderers arrested for theft and other crimes.
Little light has been thrown on their first ante-historical attempts.
Until the late labors of German philologers, little had been done to
clear up the confusion resting on this period of literary history. As
yet the field has scarcely been explored beyond the regions not
immediately connected with the literature of Germany. We have long
historical poems of little interest, arranged without
order,--interminable productions of thousands and ten thousands of
lines of uncertain date, didactic and encyclopedia-like, besides
unmistakable remnants of a Netherlandish theatre.
The battle of Roosebeke, where the second Artevelde and his companions
succumbed to superior numbers, was the last great enterprise of the
Flemings against the French. Half a century earlier, a strong league
had been formed against these powerful neighbors. In the interior, the
country was divided into factions,--the partisans and enemies of
France. Prominent were the _Clauwaerts_ and the _Leliarts_, from the
lion's claw and the _fleur-de-lis_ which they respectively wore on
their badges. The country, which has ever been one of the
battle-fields of Europe, was abandoned to all the horrors of civil
war. The Duke of Brabant was childless. The Count of Flanders gave his
daughter, his only legitimate child, in marriage to the Duke of
Burgundy; and the provinces soon came into the hands of those
ambitious and restless enemies of the Court of France. It may easily
be imagined that these events were not without their influence on a
language deteriorated on the one hand by constant contact with a
Romanic idiom, and in Holland by the transmission of the sovereign
crown to the House of Avesnes.
The "Chambers of Rhetoric," an institution peculiar to the Low
Countries, reached their highest point of prosperity under the
Burgundian rule. The wandering life of poets and authors had nearly
ceased. The _Gezellen_, settled in towns, and moved by the prevalent
spirit which prompted men of one calling to unite into bodies,
naturally fell into corporations analogous to the Guilds. Without
attaching any very definite or clear idea to the term Rhetoric which
they employed, these associations exerted great influence upon the
whole literature of the Netherlands. Many would date their origin as
far back as the early part of the twelfth century. In Alost, the
Catherinists claimed to have existed as early as 1107, on the mere
strength of their motto, AMOR VINCIT. At any rate, we are left
entirely to conjecture with regard to the first beginnings of these
literary guilds, which seem in many respects an imitation of the
poetical societies of Provence. Every poet of note was a participant
in them. In Flanders there was scarcely a town or village that did not
possess its Chamber. Brabant, Holland, Zealand soon followed in the
movement. One of the principal, the Fountain of Ghent, seems to have
exercised a certain supremacy over the other confraternities of art.
The proceedings of these companies, protected at first by princes,
were carried on with great magnificence. They were in constant
communication with each other throughout the country. Their _facteurs_
or poets composed songs and theatrical pieces, which were performed by
the members. They had a long array of officers, with princely names;
and none was complete without a jester. Their larger assemblies were
accompanied with long festivities, the solemn entry into a town or
village being styled _Landjuweel_ (Landjewel). The nobility mingled in
them, incited by the example of Henry IV. of Brabant or
Philippe-le-Bel. The wealth of the Netherlands was displayed on these
solemnities, and the citizens rivalled their monarchs in magnificence.
The burghers of Ghent and Bruges and Antwerp shone, on these
occasions, in the gaudy pomp of princely patricians. All were invited
to take part and dispute the prizes awarded by fair hands.
It can scarcely be expected that these guilds, composed in many cases
of mechanics, should give rise to works of the highest order of merit.
Their dramatic representations were rather gorgeous than tasteful,
their attempts at wit little better than buffoonery, their humor mere
personal vituperation. Yet even in matters of taste they are not much
inferior to the then more pretentious academies of other lands. It was
an age of long religious dramas, of tortured rhymes and impossible
metres, when strange and new versification imported from France found
favor among a people whose silks and linens and rich tapestries were
destined to reach a wider circulation than all the poetical effusions
of their guilds, the "Lily," the "Violet," and the "Jesus with the
Balsam Flower."
It was Philip the Fair who, wishing to centralize the scattered
efforts of these societies, established at Malines, in 1493, a
sovereign chamber, of which he appointed his chaplain, Pierre Aelters,
_sovereign prince_. With an admixture of religion, in accordance with
the spirit of the Middle Ages, the sacred number was fifteen. There
were fifteen members. Fifteen young girls were to form part of it, in
honor of the fifteen joys of Mary. Fifteen youths were instructed in
the art of rhetoric, and the assemblies were held fifteen times a
year. Charles V. was the last chief of this assembly, which had
previously been removed to Ghent. In 1577 it greeted the arrival of
the Prince of Orange, but this was its last sign of vitality.
The Chambers of Rhetoric reached their climax in a time of
fermentation. The impatience, the feeling of uneasiness and restraint,
is felt in the drama of these days, which was wholly under the control
of the Chambers. The stage, that "mirror of the times," is often the
first manifestation of the unquiet heaving and subsequent up-bubbling
in the fluid compost of the mass that constitutes a nation. When
freely developed, it is the pulse-beat of the people. And so,
throughout the Netherlands, at the end of the fifteenth century and
the beginning of the sixteenth, we find the allegorical drama giving
way to more definite and direct personations. Those cold
representations of vices and virtues, of vice in its nakedness, such
as to render the reading, when not absolutely tedious, distasteful, to
say the least, to our modern ideas,--all such aimless productions were
giving way to the conscious expression of satire. Diatribes against
prevalent abuses, personal invectives scarcely veiled, were fast
becoming the order of the day. It is no wonder, then, that the guilds,
which had found favor formerly, should gradually be crushed, in
proportion as the rulers sought to check the spirit of reform. Among
the authors of this period may be mentioned Everaert and Machet. The
_refrain_ was much cultivated, and not, like the drama, for the
expression of dissatisfaction. Anna Byns, an oracle with the Catholic
party, wrote when the language was in its most degenerate state, under
Margaret of Austria. She was styled the Sappho of Brabant, though her
poems are all religious. They were translated into Latin, and were
read as masterpieces till the middle of the last century.
A taste for religious writing prevailed in the Netherlands throughout
the sixteenth century. William van Zuylen van Nyevelt first published
a collection of the Psalms of David. These, in imitation of the French
Calvinists, were sung to the most popular melodies. Zuylen found many
imitators. The Catholic party composed songs in opposition to the
Reformers; and we have psalms and songs by Utenhove, the painters Luc
de Heere and Van Mander, by Van Haecht and Fruytiers. A long list of
obscure names, if we except those of Marnix and Houwaert, is mentioned
as belonging to this period,--their works mostly didactic or
controversial. Houwaert, a Catholic, one of the avowed friends and
partisans of the Prince of Orange, courted the Muses in the hottest
days of civil strife. He published a poem, in sixteen cantos, entitled
"The Gardens of the Virgins," tending to show the dangers to which the
fair sex is exposed, and condemning as unreal all love not centred in
God. With a remarkable fertility of composition he possesses an
uncommon smoothness of versification, combined with a power, so
successful in his age, of illustration from history or romance, from
the sacred writings or the legendary lore of the people. The work was
received in those days of trouble with unbounded enthusiasm. Brabant
was thought to have given birth to a new Homer. His praises resounded
in verse and song, and the young girls of Brussels crowned him with
laurel.
The government of the Duke of Alva, and the succeeding years of
revolution, were a period of desolation for Flanders. The Guilds of
Rhetoric were dispersed; town after town was depopulated; Ghent, the
loved city of Charles V., lost six thousand families; Leyden,
Amsterdam, Haerlem, Gouda, afforded refuge to the emigrants. The
golden age of literary activity is about to dawn in the Dutch
republic. In the other provinces the national language is more and
more neglected. It gives umbrage to the foreign chiefs who act as
sovereigns. With it they identify all the opposition that has
prevailed against them. Archduke Albert carries his condescension no
farther than to address in High-German such of his subjects as can
speak only Flemish. His Walloons he treats with no more civility,
answering them but in Spanish or Latin. Ymmeloot, lord of Steenbrugge,
a native of Ypres, endeavors in 1614 to stem the current of opposition
and reawaken a love for letters. He suggests many reforms in the
versification, and gives the example. He is followed by many, and
Ypres becomes for a time a centre of versifiers. But the spirit of
originality has flown, and the literature of Holland is enriched with
the name of many a Fleming who preferred exile to the new rule.
In 1618, the General Synod of Dordrecht decreed that a new translation
of the Bible should be undertaken. Two Flemings, Baudaert and Walaeus,
and two Dutchmen, Bogerman and Hommius, completed it. Like the work of
Luther, this tended in a great measure to fix the language, preventing
the preponderance of one dialect over the other.
Foreign imitation begins to prevail in Flanders. Frederic de Conincq
constructs dramas on the models of Lope de Vega, with the necessary
quota of nocturnal visits, abductions, dagger-thrusts, and bravado. An
action entirely Spanish is conducted in the veriest _patois_ of
Antwerp. Ogier follows in his footsteps, introducing upon the stage
the coarsest language. He represents vice in its most revolting forms.
His theory, as he himself explains it, is, that "it is necessary to
represent vice on the stage, as the Romans formerly on certain days
intoxicated their slaves and showed them to their children, in order
that they might at an early age become inspired with a disgust for
debauchery." Yet his comedies enjoyed the highest favor, and have been
pronounced by native critics among the most remarkable and meritorious
productions of the epoch. They are ever distinguished by vivacity,
truth, and fidelity, in depicting the many-sided life of the people.
He seems to have been a literary Ostade or Teniers, with less of
ingenuousness and good-nature in the portraiture.
In the mean time the French language continues to gain ground every
day. In Brussels, native authors seek in vain to oppose the
encroachments of the "Fransquillon," as Godin first styles them; but,
save the feeble productions of Van der Borcht, the Jesuit Poirtiers,
and the Dominican Vloers, we find but translations and imitations.
Moons versifies some hundreds of fables. A half-sentimental, sickly
style, consisting only of praises, of self-abnegation, of pious
ejaculations, prevails. It is the worst of reactions;--the country,
after its first outburst, had sunk into quietude, the lethargy of
inaction.
Holland, on the other hand, is active and doing. Its poets and
historians are at work, the precursors of Bilderdyk and Tollens, the
poet of the people. Bruges, in the eighteenth century, produces two
writers of merit,--Smidts and Labare. In French Flanders, De Swaen
adapts from Corneille, and publishes original dramas. Many songs are
composed both in the northern and southern provinces, mostly of a
religious character. Philologers seek to revive the neglected idiom
with little success. But the century is blank of great names. The
Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres, established at Brussels by
Maria Theresa, was composed of members totally unacquainted with the
Flemish. It took no notice of the language beyond publishing a few
prize-memoirs in its annals. The German barons who ruled cared little
for their own tongue: how should they have manifested interest in that
of their Belgian subjects? The subsequent French domination was no
improvement. On the 13th of June, 1803, it was decreed by the
Republic,--"In a year, reckoning from the publication of this present
ordinance, the public acts, in the departments once called Belgium,
... in those on the left bank of the Rhine, ... where the custom of
drawing up acts in the language of those countries may have been
preserved, are henceforth to be written in French." The Bonaparte rule
was not of a nature to restore former privileges. In spite of the
feeble remonstrances that were urged against such arbitrary measures,
an imperial decree of 1812 enjoined that all Flemish papers should
appear with a French translation.
Under the rule of King William, vigorous measures were employed to
reinstate the native idiom. At first warmly seconded, Government soon
met with an unaccountable opposition even from its subjects. The Dutch
was combated by those connected with education. It was ridiculed by
the Walloon population. Since the independence of Belgium, the
_mouvement flamand_ has been felt more than once by the would-be
French rulers. In 1841, a Congress was held in Ghent, where all the
members of the Government spoke in Flemish; energetic protests were
addressed to the Chamber of Representatives, all with little avail. At
present, though the language is nominally on a par with French, it
meets with little encouragement. The philological labors of Willems
entitle him to a place among the greatest of the present century; he
was until his death the leader of the intellectual movement of his
country.
Of later authors, we may mention the laureate Ledeganck, Henri
Conscience, whose works have now been translated into English, French,
German, Danish, and Swedish, Renier Snieders, Van Duyse, Dantzenberg.
Modern literature seems to have taken a new flight; it is animated by
the purest love of country, by an ardent desire in its authors to
revive the use of their native tongue. The tendency is rather
Germanic. At the Singers' Festival, held in Ghent a short time ago,
the songs sung breathed a spirit of union and love for the sister
languages. As a fair sample, we may quote the following:--
"Welaen, Germaen en Belg tezaem ten stryd
Voor vryheid, tael en vaderland!
De vaen van't duïtsch en vlaemsche zangverbond
Prael op't gentsch eeregoud!
Wy willen vry zyn, als de adelaer
Die stout op eigen wieken dryft,
Voor wien er slechts een koestring is, de zon.
Alom waer der Germanen tael
Zich heft en bloeid en't volk,
Daer is ons vaderland!"
* * * * *
_The Glaciers of the Alps_. Being a Narrative of Excursions and
Ascents, an Account of the Origin and Phenomena of Glaciers, and an
Exposition of the Physical Principles to which they are related. By
JOHN TYNDALL, F.R.S., etc., etc. With Illustrations. London: John
Murray. 1860. pp. xx., 444.
Our readers are probably aware that the question of the causes of
glacier formation and motion, cool as the subject may seem in itself,
has demonstrated the existence of a great deal of latent heat among
scientific men. In England, the so-called _viscous_ theory of
Professor J.D. Forbes held for a long while undisputed possession of
the field. According to him, "a glacier is an imperfect fluid, or
viscous body, which is urged down slopes of a certain inclination by
the mutual pressure of its parts." With that impartial
superciliousness to all foreign achievement which not seldom
characterizes the British mind, the credit of all the results of
observation and experiment on the glaciers was attributed to Professor
Forbes, who seems to have accepted it with delightful complacency. But
presently doubt, then unbelief, and at last downright opposition began
to show themselves. The leader of the revolt was Professor Tyndall,
whose book is now before us. The controversy has begotten no little
bitterness of feeling; but none is shown in Mr. Tyndall's volume,
which is throughout written in the truest spirit of science,--with the
earnest frankness that becomes a seeker of truth, and the dignity that
befits a lover of it.
Not content with any theoretic antagonism to the Forbes explanation of
the phenomena, Mr. Tyndall devoted all the leisure of several years to
an examination of them on the spot. At the risk of his life, he
verified the previous observations of others and made new ones
himself. At home, he made experiments upon the nature of ice,
especially upon its capacity for regulation and the effect of pressure
upon it. He satisfied himself that snow may be changed to ice by
pressure, that crumbled ice may in like manner be restored to its
original condition, and that solid ice may be forced to take any form
desired. Under proper conditions, lamination may be produced by the
same means. The result of his investigations is, that the glacier is a
solid body, and that _pressure_ answers all the requirements of the
glacier-problem, and is the only thing that will.
The book is one of uncommon interest, and discusses many topics beside
the glaciers, though nothing that is not in some way related to them.
Mr. Tyndall does justice to former investigators,--especially to M.
Rendu, who, though imperfectly supplied with demonstrated facts,
theorized the phenomena with the happiest inspiration,--and to
Agassiz, of whose important observations, establishing for the first
time the fact of more rapid motion in the middle of the glacier,
Professor Forbes had appropriated the credit. The style is remarkably
agreeable, in description vivid, and in its scientific parts clear.
Indeed, we do not know whether we have enjoyed the narrative or the
science the most. Professor Tyndall has the uncommon gift of being
able to write science so that the unscientific can understand it,
without descending to the low level of science made easy. The Royal
Institution may well congratulate itself on having in him a man every
way qualified to succeed Faraday, whenever (and may it be long first!)
his chair is vacant.
* * * * *