Right Living as a Fine Art. By Newell Dwight Hillis.
(Oliphant,. Anderson, and Ferrier. ls.)—Mr. Hillis prefixes as a text to his discourse on life a sentence from W. H. Channing which is cer- tainly worth noting : "To live content with small means ; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion ; to be worthy, not respectable ; and wealthy, not rich ; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart ; to study hard;' to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently ; await occasions, hurry never ; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden, and unconscious • grow up through the common,—this is my symphony." We are not sure that the text had not better be left to speak for itself. Mr. Hillis begins with a discourse on beauty. It would be cen- sorious to object to it, but we must say that the writer leaps very easily over a stupendous chasm when he writes :—" Having lingered long before the portrait of Antigone or Cordelia, the young girl finds herself pledged to turn that ideal into life and character. The copy of the Sistine Madonna hanging upon the wall asks the woman who placed it there to realise in herself this glorious type of motherhood." There is a significant variety here. In one ease the picture " asks "; in the other the spectator is "pledged." There is a world of difference between the two things. There are good things in this little book ; but one cannot help remembering that the cult of beauty is no new thing in the world, and that it has flourished in times that were ethically corrupt.
Previous page
