The whole action of the drama turns upon its chief personages, Cyprian, the Demon, and Justina, hence nothing need be said of its remaining characters. For sufficiently valid reasons we have classified the "Wonderworking Magician" as a drama of free-thought as manifesting to a certain extent the perennial dissonance between truth-search and dogma; but we have also observed that the scope which Calderon allowed to his treatment of the subject is feeble and limited, We have nothing here of the generous appreciation of all human knowledge which we find in others of our dramas-in the "Prometheus," for instance; nothing of the free movement of human instincts and feelings presented to us by the Book of Job, and less even than nothing of the profundity of truth-search and many-sided speculation that pertain to "Faust". Here knowledge is only regarded under one aspect-it is that amount of truth which exists in the dogmas of Romanism. Of general, secular, mundane knowledge, Calderon is invariably suspicious, as indeed becomes an official of the Holy Office and an ardent Romanist priest. We see this temper manifested on different occasions throughout the progress of the play. Thus he makes the Demon have a special power over knowledge attainment, as if it were of an infernal nature, for when Cyprian declares his determination to solve his doubt the Demon replies that he will hide its solution from him. So when he describes the angelic insurrection, knowledge is put forward as the qualification that entitled him to attempt the usurpation of celestial supremacy. Again, knowledge is connected with magic, as if the latter art, with all its infernal connotations, were only the highest attainment. The same spirit is manifested in Cyprian's confession, after he had become a Christian, of the unsatisfactory results of his studies:I am Cyprian, I am he Once so studious and so learnèd, 1 Fitzgerald's translation, p. 224. No doubt this confession pertains to all the dramas of freethought. That study engenders doubt is a skeptical commonplace, and its recognition as a profound truth is not incompatible with the most untiring and determined search; but Calderon, as we need hardly point out, employs the maxim not as an incitement to knowledge, but as a plea for obscurantism. In short, his standpoint is that of ecclesiasticism, that all truth being comprehended in the creed of the Church, secular knowledge of every kind was a useless if not profane acquisition-a standpoint which may be said to have much to say for itself on grounds of antiquity, as it is, mutatis mutandis, the ground of Adam's prohibition with reference to "the tree in the midst of the garden". But with all its shortcomings, dramatic, philosophical, and otherwise, Calderon's play will always excite and sustain a high degree of interest. In respect of Spanish free-thought it has a special significance. It may be characterised as the high-water mark of religious and philosophical inquiry within the limits of Spanish Romanism. That Calderon represents all that is most distinctive in the religion, the general culture, the manners and usages of his countrymen, it would be absurd to deny. He is a veracious exponent not only of the Spain of Philip IV., but, with slight modifications, of the Spain of the present day. To a philosophical outsider nothing in the recent celebration of the bi-centenary of the poet's death was more striking than the avidity with which his countrymen seized upon those natural attributes which have made him the great poet of his country, together with their sublime unconsciousness of imperfections and shortcomings compared with which the highest altitude of poetic sentiment and imagination is devoid of any durable worth. No greater proof could be advanced than that which Spaniards have themselves proffered by means of their undiscriminating eulogies of Calderon, of the real narrowness, obscurantism, deficiency of broad and liberal culture, which continue to characterise that most benighted corner of modern Europe. When the regeneration of Spain, of which some maintain the premonitory symptoms are already discernible, has made undeniable progress, we may be sure that the movement will be accompanied by an increasing depreciation of Calderon as the highest intellect of his country. Not that his real merits will ever be questioned-that is impossible. But Spaniards, emerging from the dark prison cells of the twin giants Ecclesiasticism and civil Despotism, will soon begin to perceive that no amount of poetic imagination, no dramatic versatility or excellence, no degree of grace, tenderness and pathos, no power of versification, can be held to compensate for teachings which, prompted by, have helped to sustain and intensify, bigotry, intolerance, and religious and political servitude. THE SKEPTICS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. Second Edition, Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. "An able and even remarkable contribution to the history of philosophical thought. It is based on adequate scholarship and sturdy mental independence. Biographical and critical estimates of much discernment as well as enough high thinking along other lines to give the book a deserved vogue in thoughtful circles."-Speaker. "To commend the scholarship or candour of Mr. Owen to readers of the Academy is superfluous. The book is unique in English Literature: a really well-ordered and harmonious history of Italian thought from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. Mr. Owen might well have styled his book a History of Rationalism, or even of Thought."Academy. "It is nothing less than admirable, so thorough is the writer's acquaintance with his subject, so fresh his treatment, so vigorous his style."- Westminster Gazette. "The true value of the book remains: a clear, yet profound study of the mental tendencies of those men from whom modern thought, with all its conquests or limitations, has arisen."-Pall Mall Gazette. "Every page overflows with evidence of varied and genuine learning. An immense amount of information is conveyed in a readable and entertaining form; the style, though never over-exuberant, is never dull, and often eloquent or witty. There is abundance of apposite quotations and striking illustration . . . brilliant and interesting volumes."-Guardian. "The Italian Renaissance is conceived quite clearly as a movement of emancipation in thought, essentially unique, but long prepared for beneath the surface of medieval life. Founded on study both of the thinkers themselves and of those who have written on them."Athenæum. "A great deal of light has been thrown on the causes of the Renaissance and its distinctive characteristics in a very learned and well-written work. The sketches of Giordano Bruno and Vanini of the book are really admirable."-Westminster Review. LONDON: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LD. THE SKEPTICS OF THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. "It exhibits wide study, considerable power of presentation and exposition, generous sympathies, and a critical faculty which is sensible and informing. The volume will be welcome to all who concern themselves with philosophic inquiry and the history of speculative thought." -Times. "This is a most difficult book to review; difficult because it takes us over almost unknown ground, difficult because the writer surveys the ground from a point of view peculiarly his own. In a review of a work like this, mere conventional eulogy is out of place. I can only express my very great admiration of it, and how keenly I feel my incompetence to gauge adequately the learning of which proofs are given on every page."-Wentworth Webster in the Academy. "All the qualities of Mr. Owen's Italian Skeptics are plentiful in his present volume. He is excellently well learned, and a writer of vast research."-Daily Chronicle. "Mr. Owen has studied his subject profoundly; he gives copious references; he brings to a difficult task an open and candid mind. A highly meritorious piece of work.”—Spectator. "Mr. Owen's previous volume on the Italian Skeptics would have been sufficient to establish his credit as an erudite and enlightened critic; this volume will add to his reputation. We are greatly indebted to writers like Mr. Owen."-Critical Review. LONDON SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LD. |