TRAVELS IN ITALY. 4I recurs a ladder, which forms the family crest. In a land of monuments and tombs, designed to exhibit the wealth of princes and the perfection of Art, these of the Scaliger family are among the best. in the construction of which frequently | wretched excuse for Juliet's sepulchre, which the custodian here shows, is considered to be an imposition. Almost any stage carpenter can get up a better tomb, and but for the location, one which is just as likely to have contained the fair sleeper, while her restless lover was slaying everybody about him and finally himself. The old cathedral is a Gothic structure of large proportions, but of secondary interest. The church of St. Zeno Maggiore is one of the oldest and of the noblest proportions. It dates from the eleventh century. The balcony in front is supported by two immense lions, in red marble. The portal is carved to represent Bible scenes from the creation of woman to the betrayal by Judas and the crucifixion; also representations from the life of St. Zeno, who was the bishop in the ninth century, and in whose memory the church has been built. Within, a double row of massive pillars and columns alternating, support the arched roof, which is of open fretwork. Numerous statues, among them those of the Savior and Twelve Apostles, are placed upon the choir screen, within the chancel and in side niches, between the windows. The latter are of finely stained glass and are of themselves a pictorial history of the Bible and of sacred traditions, preserved in the characters of hero saints of all ages. A vase of porphyry, just within the entrance, about thirty feet in circumference, attracts attention by its great size and artistic workmanship. The road from Verona to Venice passes through Vicenza, a town of twenty-seven thousand inhabitants, in which many buildings designed by the great Palladio are erected, and give uniform evidence of the taste and ability of that_ renowned architect. One of the finest of these is the city museum, in which is a picture gallery and a collection of Roman antiquities. A few miles nearer "the city of the sea" is the ancient town of Padua, the capital of a province and place of considerable commercial importance. It traces its origin to Antenor, the mythical king of Troy, and was, in the reign of Augustus, the wealthiest town in northern Italy. It was, during the middle ages, a famous seat of learning, containing a university founded by Frederick II, 1238 A. D. Across the rapid flowing Adige, which divides the town, upon a lofty eminence that rises abruptly from the river's bank, is located the castle of St. Peter, with a garrison of six thousand troops. From the top of the barracks a magnificent view is obtained of the environs of Verona, the Alps, and the distant Appennines. Not far distant, within an enclosed garden, a ruined chapel may be seen, in which a dilapidated tomb is exhibited as that of Shakspeare's Juliet. It is of the red marble of Verona, and is altogether unattractive and desolate. While the facts of the great author's play are undisputed, and indeed are recorded as having actually occurred in the time of Bartollomeo della Scala, 1300 A. D., the The church of St. Anthony of Padua, is the most imposing structure in the city. It is three hundred feet long, half as wide, and a hundred and twenty high. It has seven domes, which rise conspicuously from the roof. The interior possesses the usual variety of statues, pictures, treasures and relics that characterize the more favored churches of Italy. It may be well here to remind the reader that the churches and cathedrals of this Catholic country are the repositories of the fine arts. The most famous pictures, statues and works of art, will be found within them; and while the chanting of the choir boys may offend the ear of protestant Christians, and the smell of incense stifle and sicken, those who would see the wonderful works of the great masters in all the branches of art, must endure these annoyances and spend most of their time about the portals of the vast structures, named with the names of saints, and occupied by orders of shaven priests. 42 MORAL EDUCATION. When President George A. Smith visited Europe and Asia, in 1872-3, some of his party objected to visiting so many churches, some days they had as many as thirteen on their programme-but he realized the fact that the churches con MORAL ABOUT thirty-five years ago, an eminent English philosopher proposed to erect the laws of character into a science, and to call it Ethology. I do not know that the idea has been developed, except EDUCATION. All-pervaded as society is by moral evils of every grade, how amazing that society should be without a moral code, without a statute book, without a moral Blackstone or Kent. You are perhaps startled at this statement, but if there is such a book known to society, I do not know of it. The Bible, you say? But is the Bible a code? No more than it is a body of divinity, or a catechism. The Bible is a collection of sacred books, written by many authors, scattered along the track of fifteen centuries. It blazes with moral principles, but they are scattered like physical facts over the face of nature. And like the scattered parts of a tangram they must be brought together before they are seen to be a symmetrical whole. Numbers, too, are staring us in the face always, but numbers become powerful only when made into arithmetic. There is a grammar in all human speech, there is geographic truth in every foot of the earth's surface; but before geography and grammar can be taught properly, their principles and facts must be systematized. And so, abundant as are the materials of ethics, we need the systematic moral Unload Ethics of its foreign matter, and it becomes simply, Rules of Conduct. Its elements are simpler than the four rules of arithmetic, or rather, than the two fundamental principles, adding and substracting, out of which grow all arith-code as the instrument of effective moral metical operations, and which become complicated only when applied to complicated problems. Such is Ethics-a few simple rules of conduct which any child can learn, but which become difficult of application when applied to complicated questions. Notorious as moral philosophers are for their debates on incidental questions, they are remarkably agreed on what constitutes the ethical code. They will debate as to why men ought to do right, but not as to what is right. in the speculations of phrenologists, so- • tain the "sights," and could not be induced to change the programme. It was amusing to see half his party take seats on the steps of some of these, while he and the others were rubbing against the melancholy priests inside. De Vallibus. It is not easy to construct this science, or it would have been done long ago; but the clue is in hand when we see that its formative principles lie in the domain of psychology, and that the work to be done is the accommodation of these principles to this special subject. teaching. The services of the Church in this direction are very important. To her, society is chiefly indebted for its general moral soundness and growth. But the teaching of casuistry is only incidental to the mission of the Church, which is to fill men with the powers of the world to come. A pure life on earth is of course required, and the broad principles by which that life is to be regulated are announced and insisted upon. The Church gives men right principles, and let the MORAL EDUCATION. 43 schools systematize them, and develop | teacher and disturb the school, but befor themselves and for society those details which shall inform and guide men in their daily life, and be made a part of the scheme under which the young are educated. cause behavior is the great thing of all the things they have to learn; that morals are not subsidary to scholarship, but the reverse; that what a boy learns is not as important as what he does; and that, at the outcome of his school life, what he knows is not as important as what he is; that what he can do is of small consequence compared with what he is inclined to do and what he does. It is not forgotten that much is wanted in moral training besides a text book-a good mother, a good father, a good teacher, a good discipline, favoring circumstances, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," and all that. Moreover, mental training is moral training to a certain extent; and the failure to recognize this has occasioned much needless concern among good people, especially in reference to public schools. Though there may be no special moral religious training, the ordinary exercises of a well conducted school are highly ethical in their influence. And when the teacher is high toned, his personal influence is elevating upon his pupils. And there is a great deal of miscellaneous moral instruction given in every school as well as in every good home. It is only proposed in this article to do systematically what is now done unsystematically, and hence incompletely; to accept ethics as a study. It is claimed that the subject is at least as important and susceptible of schoolroom treatment as geography or arithmetic. And that, for the same reason that a child ought not to be left to pick up his arithmetic as he may, he ought not to be left to pick up his morals as he may. It is, of course, desirable that parents should look after their children's improvement, both morally and intellectually, but parents may be incompetent or neglectful. Moreover, the idea of education is that all its teachings shall be systematic; that it shall include the whole nature, moral, physical, and intellectual; and that it shall leave nothing to chance. If the teacher is expected to turn out an ethical character, he must have the ethical feature in his programme. He is not to be satisfied with incidental effects and incomplete results, or with occasional efforts. Children must understand that they are expected to behave themselves, not simply that they may not plague the The details of this moral work on the pupil are for consideration and experiment. As to the systematically didactic part, it should be both oral and textual. With advancing maturity the simplicities of elementary teachings may properly pass into the more complex conditions of life, where sound principles conflict with each other, and difficult problems beset every pathway. To a child nothing is more mysterious than the moral complications of life-nothing more impossible than the straightforward use of the moral maxims which he has learned. The application of plain principles to actual life, Aristotle considered the most bewildering puzzle of human existence. He regarded practical virtue as the nice adjustment of a hundred forces. He saw that human association would be an impossibility, if every good principle was to be run like a redhot ploughshare through the tangled vines of social life; but a man must get along like a skirmisher feeling an enemy, by glancing warily to the right and to the left before advancing. Nothing is good! exclaimed Aristotle; everything depends on the way you use it. The wise man will "sound his dim and perilous way through life." A right principle is, of course, not to be sacrificed; but when it conflicts with the demands of other right principles, then comes the trouble. When you exhort a child to "speak the truth always," how is he to know that you do not mean that he shall give every one "a bit of his mind"-or that private matters are to be made public—or that whatever he knows about people is to be spouted over the neighborhood? Or, if you caution him against a deluge of truth, 44 MORAL EDUCATION. shall he dry up entirely? How is he to know what to tell and what to refuse to tell; when to speak and when to be silent? And what about evasions and flattering speeches, and all the strategies of society and of war, too, if you choose? Was John Champe right when he went after Benedict Arnold, and told a thousand lies to get him? If not, what shall we say of General Washington, "who never told a lie," and Henry Lee, "the soul of honor," who sent him to the British to tell all those lies? You say that was war. All life is war! Emerson says, "Regard your best friend as a beautiful enemy." We are always hiding spies under the flax. What does Paul mean when he says he becomes all things to all men? Is it right for you to flatter a popular prejudice which in your heart you despise? These are everyday questions, and a sad part of a child's actual social educa- | tion is to teach him to conceal the truth and to impose on others by false pretences. Thomas Carlyle need not have made himself so unhappy about social shams; but the most of what he says is true. These examples are mentioned, not to apologize for social shams, or to indicate any opinion in regard to them, but only to illustrate the difficulties of both children and grown people in applying plain cardinal principles of morality. The field of American politics is our greatest moral chaos, because it is comparatively a new branch of human experience, and one offering a greater variety of strong temptations than any department of old world society. The average American needs far more moral training than the average European. The very features in our American life which most powerfully develop the individual, and give prosperity and power to the nation, are like the great motive powers-fullest of danger. Our business life is miscellaneous and unsettled, especially in the younger States, where new things and new questions arise hourly; and our whole civil life is raw and exposed, and endlessly complicated, and largely without precedents. Railroads, copper and silver mines are new elements in politics -and Satan never wears more angelic garbs than when he approaches a public officer with a placebo. If it were possible, he might deceive even the elect. And if the great and mighty are deceived, who can wonder if the clodhopper should see no harm in selling his vote if it pays better than suckering tobacco from sun to sun in the hot days of summer? He may not know whether it is best for the country for John Doe or Richard Roe to go to the legislature, but he knows that a little money is a good thing to have, and if he works for Farmer Smith's fifty cents a day, why shouldn't he work for John Doe's five dollars a day, with whisky thrown in? Doesn't Dr. Black sell his time? Doesn't Lawyer Jones sell himself for money to any horsethief that wants to get justice cheated? Then "why may I not take money, yes, and work, and use money to elect John Doe?" The packing of conventions, the carrying of elections, the putting through of corporation measures, are among the mysteries of society. The sharpest investigating committees, the keenest detectives, are often balked in their efforts to find the center of the plot; and yet many good men are misled by specious pretences, even when not carried to the point of corruption; whilst others find themselves almost unwittingly involved in transactions which a clear moral insight would have led them to reject with scorn. Mr. Jefferson said that even in his day rogues had a wonderful facility for getting into office; for, in the first place, they stole the hearts of the people in order to get into office; and then, after getting in, went to stealing in other ways. The explanation of the whole thing is found in the moral obtusity of the people at large. It is said that the Tichborne claimant in England is regarded by the common people simply as a gentleman kept out of his rights. If a public man is convicted of at least questionable moral conduct, he still has the chance of an ovation from his constituents. The moral perspicacity of the masses must be quickened before we can be sure of EDMUND SPENSER. having pure officers. They must not require a candidate for their suffrages to blunt the edge of his moral nature in order to secure his own election, and then expect stern virtue from him after he gets into office. They must not only require purity, but they must know what purity is; they must know how to apply moral principles to acts in all situations. And they can learn this only in the pri- | mary schools; for the masses never get beyond the primaries. It is hard to believe, without examination, that the education of the primary school alone can do much to elevate the people intellectually or morally; but the student of history knows that the primary school has powerfully modified the characters of many nations. And its future is to be far greater than its past. The masses will certainly be made smart; but if they are to be made virtuous as well as smart, they must be at least as quick to solve a moral as an arithmetical problem. The masses of men are honest in intention; the danger lies in their obtusity. When villainy is clearly shown to them, they put it down; and it is owing to this bottom honesty in the people, that when our political must is set to fermenting, it works itself clear for a while. But these cycles of fraud are costly and dangerous. We love self respect and the respect of the world; and our grand edifice of popular government is shaken to its foundations. | EDMUND SPENSER. THE reign of Queen Elizabeth is illustrious for many things. For no one is it so remarkable as for the many bright literary stars, which shone during its years;-stars such as Shakspeare, Sir Phillip Sidney, the great philosopher Bacon, and the greater poet Spenser. After the death of Chaucer, the beautiful muse, Poetry, seemed to pass away from the English mind, leaving behind her but the rustle of her garments to fan into a dull spark, the drowsy imagination of some idle songster. But in the sixteenth century she again appeared and made herself known through the beautiful words of Edmund Spenser. 45 This poet was born in London, about the year 1553. He received his education at Cambridge, from which place he took his degree of M. A. It was also at college that the poet made the acquaintance of Gabriel Harvey, a gentleman who proved to be a very useful friend. After leaving Cambridge, Spenser went Moral doctrines are simple in their elements, and progressively complex and difficult. They have a phase suited to every grade of school; and as in general scholarship, the lower schools are largely affected by the upper, so will it be in the teaching of Ethics. And when through all the grades of education the work upon character becomes as systematic and thorough as the work upon intellect, it may fairly be expected that the material magnificence of the present will be far surpassed by the moral glory of the future. O. H. Riggs. | to the North of England, where he formed an attachment for a young lady who did not reciprocate his affection; and to console himself, the young man wrote his first work, "The Shepherd's Calendar." This poem was sometime after re-arranged and dedicated to Master Phillip Sidney, to whom Spenser had been introduced by his friend Harvey. The acquaintance of Sidney naturally brought the poet under the notice of the Earl of Leicester, by whose influence the young man procured, in 1580, the position of secretary to Lord Grey, in Ireland. He was also presented, by this nobleman, to the queen. About six years after his presentation, the castle of Kilcohnan, near Cork, was awarded Spenser, to which place he immediately removed and there remained, until a short time before his death. The estate of Kilcohnan was situated upon one of the most lovely spots of the "Emerald Isle," and in his first rapturous |
0 Recensies Reviews worden niet geverifieerd, maar Google checkt wel op nepcontent en verwijdert zulke content als die wordt gevonden. Review schrijven |