Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
thought , language , and opinion . If his commentaries on the character and productions of tlie principal men of action or speculation , whether emperors , philosophers , or theologians , did nothing move than this , the philosophy of the first six centuries would be curious aud interesting . The work , however , is further entitled to great praise , as a picture of the political changes of the Roman rulers , so far as they were compelled into a certain course by the opinion of mankind , — an essential exhibition of the character and opinion of the leading philosophers of the epochsas well as the temper and doctrines of the Fathersand of the
, , manner in which Pagan and Patristic speculation sometimes reacted upon each other . In addition to the forceful and life-like manner with which this is generally done , prominent notices of the most remarkable works , as well as the most remarkable writers of the period , are given ; the reader has the whole presented to him , not in a series of parts where each is necessarily worked up for effect on the same scale to the same importance , but as a representation of the actual . "
Niebuhr ' s " Lectures on Ancient Ethnography and Geography , " * which have been lately compiled from notes taken by his pupils , and translated from the German by Dr . Toler , are truly marvellous . Independently of the vast amount of knowledge concentrated in a comparatively small space , we are struck by the interest which they excite , the lucidncss of the arrangement , ancl the Avonderful skill with which a somewhat dry subject is handled . The work , however , before us is not merely a compilation of curious and ingenious learning ; it is a manual of ancient geographywith
, all that elevates and distinguishes geography as a seience . It is no dry detail of the course of rivers , the sites of towns , the position of headlands , or the topography of battle-fields ; but it is a series of valuable historical notices , illustrated by the knowledge of a traveller , and the inexhaustible learning of a German savant . The first volume treats of Greece ancl her colonial possessions east of Italy ; the second , of Italy and her Greek colonies , together with interesting mention of Spain , Gaul , Britain , and
Bhineland . To every lover of classical literature and history we can warmly recommend it . Of M . Comte ' s " Positive Philosophy "f wo have not quite the same high opinion , although wo recognise the talent of the author , and his great power of analysis and method . Translated , however , aud condensed by Miss Martine ' au , in Avhose tendency to Atheism , Ave may en passant observe Ave have never put the slightest beliefmuch that would otherwise havo
, rendered the work a dangerous one to place in the hands of a young and enthusiastic student is omitted ; and it is in this form only that we can recommend it to the student of philosophy ; and even then it must be read with caution . With M . Comte ' s sneers at the hope of a life beyond the grave , we have no sympathy . He may deny , if he pleases , the existence of mind ; he may build theory upon theory out of the materiel ; but he cannot , Ave venture to believe , shake tho faith of this generation in tho
existence of a universal ancl benevolent Almi ghty , or undermine the belief of the educated in the truth of the revelations bequeathed to mankind by His Son . To metaphysicians M . Comte ' s philosophy in this respect may give satisfaction ; but to the world at large it will only induce a regret
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
thought , language , and opinion . If his commentaries on the character and productions of tlie principal men of action or speculation , whether emperors , philosophers , or theologians , did nothing move than this , the philosophy of the first six centuries would be curious aud interesting . The work , however , is further entitled to great praise , as a picture of the political changes of the Roman rulers , so far as they were compelled into a certain course by the opinion of mankind , — an essential exhibition of the character and opinion of the leading philosophers of the epochsas well as the temper and doctrines of the Fathersand of the
, , manner in which Pagan and Patristic speculation sometimes reacted upon each other . In addition to the forceful and life-like manner with which this is generally done , prominent notices of the most remarkable works , as well as the most remarkable writers of the period , are given ; the reader has the whole presented to him , not in a series of parts where each is necessarily worked up for effect on the same scale to the same importance , but as a representation of the actual . "
Niebuhr ' s " Lectures on Ancient Ethnography and Geography , " * which have been lately compiled from notes taken by his pupils , and translated from the German by Dr . Toler , are truly marvellous . Independently of the vast amount of knowledge concentrated in a comparatively small space , we are struck by the interest which they excite , the lucidncss of the arrangement , ancl the Avonderful skill with which a somewhat dry subject is handled . The work , however , before us is not merely a compilation of curious and ingenious learning ; it is a manual of ancient geographywith
, all that elevates and distinguishes geography as a seience . It is no dry detail of the course of rivers , the sites of towns , the position of headlands , or the topography of battle-fields ; but it is a series of valuable historical notices , illustrated by the knowledge of a traveller , and the inexhaustible learning of a German savant . The first volume treats of Greece ancl her colonial possessions east of Italy ; the second , of Italy and her Greek colonies , together with interesting mention of Spain , Gaul , Britain , and
Bhineland . To every lover of classical literature and history we can warmly recommend it . Of M . Comte ' s " Positive Philosophy "f wo have not quite the same high opinion , although wo recognise the talent of the author , and his great power of analysis and method . Translated , however , aud condensed by Miss Martine ' au , in Avhose tendency to Atheism , Ave may en passant observe Ave have never put the slightest beliefmuch that would otherwise havo
, rendered the work a dangerous one to place in the hands of a young and enthusiastic student is omitted ; and it is in this form only that we can recommend it to the student of philosophy ; and even then it must be read with caution . With M . Comte ' s sneers at the hope of a life beyond the grave , we have no sympathy . He may deny , if he pleases , the existence of mind ; he may build theory upon theory out of the materiel ; but he cannot , Ave venture to believe , shake tho faith of this generation in tho
existence of a universal ancl benevolent Almi ghty , or undermine the belief of the educated in the truth of the revelations bequeathed to mankind by His Son . To metaphysicians M . Comte ' s philosophy in this respect may give satisfaction ; but to the world at large it will only induce a regret