Manzoni [pp. 587-593]

189.] Manzoni. 587
single other extract will, it is hoped, justify its
admission here:
"Superficial education is an education to daily
and deliberate falsehood. It is all pretence, and
no reality, on the part of teacher and taught;
each professing loudly to do, what each is conscious he is not accomplishing; so that the whole
of the student's life, from year to year, is an habitual falsehood, a living lie; till truth and honor,
religion, friendship, all that is most sacred in the
relations and sensibilities of human life, degenerate into a sham. Hence an age of superficial
knowledge, is necessarily an age of pretenders,
quacks, hollow insincerity, frivolous scepticism,
heartless formality; without depth, intensity,
earnestness, heroism, faith. * * * Perhaps
the briefest and surest recipe to make a sorry
villain, at once a showy impostor and a shallow
dupe, is to give him a superficial college education. Better learn to make shoes, well and truly,
better for the intellect and the heart, better for
himself and for others, than to mis-learn the
whole circle of knowledge, classical, mathematical, philosophical."-p. 25.
This Address seems richer than is usual with
such performances, in fresh native thought. There
are several other parts of it which it would be
pleasant to exhibit and remark upon-especially
that idea which seems to be the key-note, so to
speak, of the author's system; the tendency of
one thing well and truly learned, to spread its
power, like leven, through the mind, when in
turn it comes to learn other things. But we
must forbear. The pamphlet itself, of twentynine pages, will richly repay the labor, or rather
add profit to the pleasure of perusal.
*
MANZONI.
BY H. T. TUCKERMAN.
As I stood by the taflrail of the little steamer
that plies up and down Lake Como, a good-na tured fellow-passenger, whose costume and bear ing denoted the experienced gentleman, indica ted the various points of interest along the beau tiful shores. It was a clear warm day of that
enchanting season, in those climates, when spring
is just verging into summer. The atmosphere
was transparent and every indentation of the
beach had a well-defined relief; the sails of the
fishing-boats were reflected, in the water, as dis tinctly as if it were a mirror; and the cloudless
sky wore the densely azure hue peculiar to that
region. My companion urbanely pointed out
every object worthy of note, which the shifting
landscape afforded; here was the site of Pliny's
country-seat, there the former residence of Queen
Caroline of England, and now we are directly
opposite the villa of Pasta; but there was a more
genial animation in his look and voice, as a low
promontory loomed in sight neither remarkable
for the cultivation at its base. nor the picturesque
beauty of its treeless slope; "just behind that
ridge," said he, " is the road which Don Abbondio followed until he encountered the bravi who
forbade him to marry the Promessi Sposi." The
perfectly natural manner in which the locality of
an imaginary scene was thus designated, as if
quite as real and more interesting than the abodes
of actual persons, struck me as the very best evidence of Manzoni's genius and fame. All genuine creations assert and maintain a distinct personality; and this is, perhaps, the readiest and
most faithful test whereby the legitimate characters of fiction may be distinguished from the
counterfeit. The most universal triumph of this
kind is that of Shakespeare, of whose personages
we habitually speak not only as actual, but worldfamiliar celebrities. It is probable that if the
origin of those characters in fiction, which are
recognised by the general feeling of mankind as
living originals, could be analyzed, it would appear that their essential features were drawn carefully from life. The chief attraction of the novels
of the reign of George the Third, is said to have
been that the individuals depicted were wellknown at that period, and this fact gave a relish
to the infirmities of character thus revealed.
But a more recent instance occurs in regard to
several of the best delineations of Dickens, whose
Pecksniff, Squeers, brothers Cheerbyle and others are confidently identified; so that, even if
there is an error in the designation, it only shows
how nearly the author followed nature. Another
convincing proof of the substantial relation to
our experience, such daguerreotypes from life,
bear, is the habit so prevalent of naming our ac quaintances from the well-drawn characters of
able novelists. To realize the variety of fanci ful beings who have been added by modern ge nius to the world's vast gallery of memorable
portraits, it is only requisite to summon before
our minds, the long array of Scott's familiar cre ations. Charles Swain has done this in a poem
entitled Dryburgh Abbey; and the obsequies of
no human being were ever graced by so glorious
an array of the representatives of human nature,
acknowledged as such by the verdict of mankind,
as this procession of his own "beings of the
mind and not of clay," which are described as
following Sir Walter to the tomb.
An avidity for fabulous narrative seems to have
characterized the oriental races. The indolent
life of that dreamy clime naturally induced a ne cessity of being amused. Professed story-tellers
were patronized by those in authority; and doubt
1819.]
Manzoni.
587