Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



515 



A PLEA FOR THE ART OF PROFANITY. 



■l"iiE Atlantic Monthly contains a humorous apologia 

 lor what ihc writer calls the lost art of profanity. He 

 says : — 



Whalevcr may be ils history as a praclicc, llie true psycho- 

 ^ical luiiclion of profanity is just this : to offer to the per- 

 turbed spirit an outlet for the energy which his provocation, 

 whatever it may be, lias arouseil. The natural outlet for the 

 energy thus provoked would, of course, be some act of retalia- 

 tory violence. 



Understood, then, as a substitute for actions which would be 

 nowadays either unlawful or impossible, profanity assumes at 

 once a certain dignity of ils own, as being possessed of a psycho- 

 logical importance. One would seem to be juslitied in speak- 

 ing of it as an art. 



DEKIMTION OF THE ART. 



The question at once arises, "Wherein consists the Art of 

 Profanity ? " and the answer is obvious : the Art of Pro- 

 fanity consists in that choice of expletives and objurgations 

 which, to a small extent by their meaning, but principally by 

 their phonetic resonance and impact, shall offer the perturbed 

 spirit the most satisfactory substitute possible for the natural 

 action in whose plate they stand. If one seeks merely to "ease 

 his mind " a meaningful oath is quite unnecessary. All one 

 needs is a good big mouthful of crackling consonants. For it 

 is in its phonetic character that your true oath dischaiijes its 

 proper function. 



HOW TUE N.\TIONS SWEAR. 



The writer distinguishes the national characters in 

 the \arious national oaths : — 



The straightforward, outspoken, brute anger of the Anglo- 



' Saxon finds its truest satisfaction in the detonative lingual and 

 the booming mute of our poor old overworked "damn." The 

 more crafty haired, and the more disguised passion of the 

 Latin races finds its apler expression in the purring aspirants and 

 malignant sibilantsof their liackneyed"sacrcs" and "carrambas." 

 While the deliberate, unhurried, deep-seated vindictiveness of 

 the Orient is unmistakably betrayed in such polysyllabic male- 

 dictions as that one which so delighted the poetic soul of 



, Thomas Huxley, " May the jackals howl on his grandmother's 

 grave." 



CARDINAL NEWMAN'S CHARACTER. 

 Mr. Wjlkrid Ward, in the Dublin Review for April, 

 supplements the picture that he has given of the great 

 Cardinal by a special study of his sensitiveness. He 

 ■■iiys of Newman : — 



His taste for wine was so delicate, though he drank it spar- 

 ingly, that he chose the wines for the Oriel cellars. His 

 musical ear was keen, and music such an intense delight to him 

 that when he played ISeethoven's quartets on the violin, after an 

 interval of some twelve years, he broke down and sobbed aloud, 

 unable to go on. His sensitiveness to smell is apparent in .\ 



ll-knuwii passage in " Loss and Gain." 



i'his extraordinary physical sensitiveness was the counterpart 

 U) his sensitive intellectual perceptions (if the phrase may be 

 allowed), and to his spiritual jierceptions. In this latter sphere 

 h» sensitiveness gave an insight which, to the believer, was 

 almost miraculously true ; yet to the unlieliever his "intui- 

 tions " ap()sared to l>e the suggestions of a morbid fancy. 



He realised the mind of an Agnostic and the force of the 

 reasons which afl'ccled it to a degree which alienated the sym- 

 pathy of the orthodox, who could not. tolerate the notion that 

 unfaith was so plausible. Vcl his profound conviction of super- 

 natural iruth made him completely out of sympathy with the 

 unbelievers with wlio^e thoughts he was, nevertheless, in closest 

 and most undcrstan<liiig touch. 



Personally I think that a profouml consistency of view is 

 apparent under all thc-«ul)tle variations of moo<l and the inter- 

 action of his estimates of din'creiiras(>ccts of each case. 



The Quarterly Review for April declares that Newman 

 will live in literature as the author of a fascinating 

 religious autobiography, in history as the author of 

 the Essay on Development. The tragedy of his life 

 is that, with his rare gifts, his, in many ways, unsur- 

 passed powers, and his unique personality, he was the 

 father of them that look back. 



'I'he Edinburgh Review declares that Newman was 

 neither a complete Catholic nor a complete Protestant, 

 but he was responsible be}ond all others for grafting 

 Anglo-Catholicism and Jlodernism in the institutions 

 where they have found a place. It speaks very highly 

 of the greatness shown in his unbroken consistency 

 and unity of aim. Conscious of his rare Hterary gifts, 

 he made no attempt to immortalise himself by them. 



A HUMAN DOCUMENT. 



" \W W." contributes tu the Englishicoman the 

 first instalment of an autobiographical sketch, " A 

 Working W'oman's Life," which for sheer truthfulness 

 could not be exceeded even by the fiction which in 

 magazines masquerades as fact. The " life " records 

 the earliest impressions. The child loses her mother 

 when but ten days old, and her father dies the same 

 )ear, leasing an old ser\ant as the self-appointed 

 guardian. The devotion of the foster-mother is 

 pictured in a few telling paragraphs, until extreme 

 poverty compels her to place the child in the union : — 



Things got very desperate before Mrs. Baker could bring 

 herself to apply for relief. I remember, and always shall 

 remember, one night when we had had nothing to eat all day, 

 no fire, and no light, we were all crying with cold and hunger 

 — Mrs. Baker suddenly jumped up and put on her bonnet, 

 and said she would throw herself and us in the stream, and that 

 would end it. 



Then follows a recital of the stupidities which we 

 are glad to think no longer characterise the workhouse 

 official of to-day : — 



On Sunday we always had to sit in school after church, and 

 learn the collect, gospel and epistle for the day. How we 

 hateil Scripture ! Those who did not succeed in learning it had 

 to stay in or have the cane — that was our Sunday. And so it 

 went on for five years. I did my share in teaching, in needle- 

 work, etc., but was not sent to the wash-house. The governess 

 was not unkind to me ; I never cried if she caned me, and she 

 often found she had caned me for someone else. 



The worst evils remain and must continue until the 

 barrack is entirely superseded by the cottage home : — 



Oh ! it is a horrible system altogether. Girls know simply 

 nothing of the world outside ; they expect goodness and kind- 

 ness from every one. They don't get it — they arc paupers and 

 are reminded of the fact by their mistresses, and so they run 

 away — only to be picked up on the streets. They know 

 nothing of the cviLs existing in the world outside the four high 

 walls. What happens to them and where do they go ! 



A CHARMING sketch by iM. K. Waddington, with 

 delightful illustrations by E. C. Pei.\otto, gives the 

 readers of the April Scribncr a vivid conception of 

 Cadcnabbia, on Lake Como. A curious fact is men- 

 tioned, that the Customs boats on the Lake flash 

 searchlights across its waters at intervals, in order to 

 discover and detect any smugglers that may be passing 

 in the dark. The effect on visitors present for the 

 first time is cunfusiog. 



