Etc. [pp. 217-223]

1889.]
Etc.
not know of any college in the country that has
them in its chair of English literature at present.
There is but the very slenderest supply of such qualities to be had anywhere in the world,-as any one
may satisfy himself by a study of the literary criticism now extant in the best of critical journals. Professor Cook brought, however, a philological training to the department such as it had not had before; and in matters of systematized efficiency, of
equipment, and of consideration in the University
curriculum, he leaves it decidedly strengthened. In
general influence in University matters he has not
merely been always of weight on the side of the best
scholarly standards, but has been especially useful in
helping to bring these to bear on the preparatory
schools,- a most important part of the University
work. Professor Cook is a loss to Berkeley, and
it is very gravely to be doubted whether it will be
possible to fill the chair again as satisfactorily.
His successor, it seems, is already appointed, and
with somewhat surprising haste. Professor Gayley
is entirely unknown by reputation on this Coast: he
has been an instructor in Michigan University, and
that is about the extent of our knowledge of him. In
the absence of such knowledge there can be nothing personal, and therefore nothing ungracious, in
saying that so hasty filling of so important a chair
cannot but be received with anxiety and misgiving
by friends of the University. There would have
been no impropriety in leaving it vacant for a year,
or several years, while long and careful search for
the best man was made: we believe the chair at
Yale to which Professor Cook is going has been vacant for four or five years, ar d is, indeed, the same
one with regard to which overtures were made to
Professor Sill somne time before his death. A chair
of English literature is one especially hard to fill:
there is no place in the world where specialist training is given for it; there is no really eminent teacher
of English literature, and criticism, and composition
living. Right or wrong, it is the custom to consider
that these things must come by nature or not at all,
and there is no place to which college trustees can
turn to find some one equipped for them, as men are
equipped for philology, or chemistry, or mathematics, or metaphysics. It was Professor Sill's belief
that they could be imparted, and he achieved some
surprising results in that way; it was his aspiration
to see the literary chair in American colleges filled
under as exacting conditions of scholarship as any
other, and according to some sound and consistent
standard; and he believed that if this were done,
it would add another important element to the vast
significance in American society of the colleges. At
present half a dozen magazines and other journals
comprise more literary and critical strength than the
colleges do. We do not think of any other depart ment of intellectual attainment,- science, or his
219
tory, or economics, say, -in which such second
place would have to be assigned to the colleges.
The resources for filling a chair of literature being
thus slender, the difficulty of finding the right man
thus especial, it was the more to have been expected
that a long time might have to be spent in the effort.
Professor Gayley may prove to be the ideal man,
and refute every misgiving: every friend of the University will wait with the most cordial desire to see
him do so.
Gray's Elegy in Spanish.
To THE EDITOR OF THE OVERLAND:
With this I hand you a Spanish version of Gray's
"Elegy written in a Country Churchyard," which
has never, so far as I am aware, been published,
and which in my humble judgment should not be
permitted to perish in manuscript. It is the work
of Don Jose Miralla, a gentleman of whom I have
been unable to glean any further information than
is contained in a note from Mr. Pelham W. Ames,
of which the following is an extract:
"I have a clipping from a newspaper as follows:
"'The incident referred to in the following sonnet
was a popular disturbance which took place in Havana in April, I820, and which was quieted by a
speech delivered by Don Josd Antonio Miralla, beginning with, "La Libertad no tiene mayor enemigo
que el desorden." This speech was said to have
been one of great eloquence and power.
"' S efior Miralla was the author of a remarkable
translation of Gray's Elegy into Spanish, which elicited high praise from Mr. Ticknor and Mr. Longfellow. He visited this country in I822-'23, and
received here marked attention.
"'AL CIUDADANO MIRALLA, CON MOTIVNO DE
HABER SOSEGADO EL FUROR DEL PUEBLO
EL DIA 15 APRIL, 1820.
SONETO.
Par Donz Jose Fernandez de Madrid.
Visteis alguna vez del mar airado
Encresparse las olas agitadas,
Cuando de opuestos vientos contrastadas,
Bramando sin piedad se han levantado?
Ya desciendan de un cielo encapotado
Las centellas por Jupiter lanzadas;
Ya no atiende a las velas destrozadas
E1 marinero absorto y consternado.
Sale Neptuno, empuna su tridente,
Sosieganse las olas del oceano,
Y la calha renace de repente.
Imagen de ese mar fue el pueblo Habano,
Y de Neptuno el joven elocuente
Que aplacar supo su furor insano.'"