The Eclectic Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Vol. 1

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Excerpt from The Eclectic Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, Vol. 1: January to April, 1843 Figurative illustrations are as fatal to Mr. Alison as they are, indeed, to most writers who are at once careless and ambitious. His Opinion of the age of George III. Is ex pressed by an astronomical metaphor, which he has contrived to distort with a perverse ingenuity rarel surpassed. Bright, ' he says, 'as were t e stars of its morning light. More brilliant still was the constellation which shone forth in its meridian splendor, or cast a glow over the twilight Of 118 even ing shades.' - (vii. The simile would have been perfect of its kind, if Mr. Alison had but added that his constellation had dis. Appeared, as constellations are wont to do, in the darkness of the ensuing night. In the same manner, he speaks of a narrative as 'tinged with undue bias, ' (pref. Xxxi.) of a historical work as closed with a ray of glory, ' (pref. Xxxviii.) - of a truth as pro claimed in characters of fire to mankind.' (viii. We cannot omit the two follow tug sentences, which we consider to be al most unique. The htat contains a simile which to us is utterly unintelligible - the other an elaborate confusion of metaphor, which nothing but the most patient ingenu ity can unravel. 'in says Mr. Ali son, ' 'goethe, profound and imaginative, was re¿ecting on the destiny of man on earth, like a cloud which turns up its silver lining to the moon. - (vii. 'in Lin news she (sweden) has for ever unfolded the hidden key by which the endless variety of ¿oral beaut is to be classified, and the mysterious link is preserved between vege table and animal life.'-(viii. Mr. Alison does not wear his borrowed plumes with a better grace than his original ornaments. The following is an instance of a fine thought carelessly appropriated and thoroughly spoiled. The British Bard in Gray's famous ode speaks of the banners of his victorious enemy as fanned by con quest's crimson wing.' Mr. Alison has adorned a passage of his history with this easy and spirited metaphor, but he has most unskilfully transferred the ventilation from the banners to the minds of the con querors, and assures us, that 'it is not while fanned by conquest's crimson wing, that the real motives of human conduct can be made apparent.' - (ix. A similar and still more painful example of bad taste is to be found in the very next page. All the springs, ' says he, which the world can furnish to sustain the fortunes of an empire, were in full activity, and worked with con summate ability, but one (quer three was wanting, without which, in the hour of trial, all thc'i others are but as tinkling brass - n4 alison'b history or armors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.