Notes on the High School Reader and Biographical Sketches
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^'»^^^^^^^^~^^ l^^||l«^>llnll1 I^^r^-"-l~"~^^^'~'~'-~~«^~<>^ ff, f^:il'V^-''SO|M J^:<^*»^««^I<:A^i^^.Vll^ft:s'i<;^^Vv\^^^ ^€60 OEI^T®. *t*<tf»•>[> ^c>^f»>;^ss^^^!r'^•^Vvv^^^x^^^^xv^.^c*^ Hui^TCIt, iost 4 Co. T^I^^ON ', pgaSBM»illMBWaBillMMWWW IW -^aij 'hilllci 2 U A Oi\JUn JtuiT^ Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2009 witli funding from Ontario Council of University Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/c2notesonhighswest00daws : NOTES ON THE HIGH SCHOOL READER. AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. RY *-» -TV T TT-r /x /> f.-r -^ w rrt rt t> jx. vATiij'jh, r).A., I.U.D., HEAD MASTER WESTON HIGH SCHOOl- TORONTO G. M. ROSE & SONS, Entered according to Act of Parliament of CanadiV, iu the year one thou-^and eight hundred and ei^'hty seven, by HuNTER, Kose & (Jo., at the Depart- ment of Agriculture. — PREFACE. In presenting the comj^lete annotation of the High School Reader, the author has to thank his fellow-teachers in the Public Schools, High Schools, and Collegiate Institutes for the cordial reception accorded to the pioneer volume of Notes on some of the selections, issued a few months ago; and he trusts that the now ccmipleted edition will be found as useful a joreparation for the class-room as its predecessor has proved to be. As to the general plan followed in these Notes, little need be added to what was announced in that little brochure: ) is ' ' as a ( 1 It not intended that the Notes should be regarded substitute for careful instruction by the teacher, and still less for careful preparation by the 2:)upil in each extract of the Reader. All that is aimed at is to put the student in possession of such information as will enable him to enter on an intelligent study of the passage under consideration; hence the annotatorhas carefully avoided the common i:)ractices of tabulating statements, and labeling, or libeling, the authors with cut and dried quota- tions of the opinions of the critics. He has not, however, consci- ously avoided the discussion of anything that seemed to him at all likely to cause serious diflficulty to an ordinary student, nor has he adopted the easy plan of slurring over an obscurity by means of a question more easily asked than answered. (2) An effort has been made to present such Biographical Sketches, at least of the more important authors, as would inspire the student with a living interest in the subject of the sketch. Nothing is related of any author except such incidents as seemed - to bear directly either on the formation of his character or of his style; and wherever it seemed advisable to guide the student to a fair estimate of his author, such clues have been thrown out as a])peiared most likely to answer the purpose. (3) The well-read teacher will no doubt detect many points in wijdoli the critical estimate here given differs, and in some cases wideilji, from the average estimate of the jsrofessional critics—e.g. Rs to 1 he literary value of the laureate odes of Tennyson—but if these divergences from the too well lieaten path serve no other purpose, they may at least help the pupils to understand that the IV PREFACE. chains of mere authority may be too galling, and that in literary criticism, as in all other branches of human learning, the grand desideratum is that each should learn to think for himself, and be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him. (4) If the pupil has been very frequently warned against the sceptical tendency of much of our verse of to-day, it is not only because it seemed well to guard thoughtless readers against the subtlety of Agnostic poison, but because, from a purely Uterary view, it seemed that the baleful influence of the new No-creed is Hkely to be as fatal to poetry as to morals and religion. (5) It ought not to be necessary to offer any apologies for the introduction of so much Etymological matter into the notes. Surely the time has come when we ought to make an effort to lift our more advanced pupils, and especially those who are about to become teachers of others, out of the worn rut of mere Latin and Greek roots, and to let them see that their language, the noblest and most useful that has yet been developed among men, belongg to an immense family of languages, of which Latin and Greek are but humble members. It will be noticed that wherever the Ety- mology clearly pointed to an Anglo-Saxon root, this has been given to the exclusion frequently of the other forms in which the same root appears iu cognate dialects; this has been done partly to avoid unnecessary detail, partly in order not to impose too severe a task on the memory of the student. For the same reason the anno- tator has, excejjt in a very few instances, shunned the temptation, to which his early studies exposed him, of referring words in our language back to the Sanscrit roots in which most words in the Aryan languages occur in their most ancient, and therefore piirest forms. The imperative necessity of economising space must be accepted as the reason for the neglect of aU " paragraph laws," in the Bio- graphies, sepecially; though, after all, there is no very deep moral obliquity involved in even the utter ignoring of these and similar fabrications of the theoretical grammarians. In conclusion, any suggestions for the improvement of these notes will be thankfully received by the publishers and the author. K. DAWSON. Sigh School, Weston, Sept., 1887. NOTiUS OS THE HIGH SCHOOL READER. FROM THE FIEST BOOK OF KINGS. King Solomon's Prayeb and Blessing. —Extract I., page 33. Introfluctor) Skelcli.—The Books of Kings are so called because they relate the history of th'^ Kings of Israel and Judah from the time of Solomon (c. 1015 B.C.), tiU the final dissolution of the kingdoms and downfall of the state,—a period of four hun- dred and fifty-five years. They are evidently compiled from older and more voluminous records, more than one editor, in all proba- bihty, having been engaged in the compilation ; but by whom these old records were dicested into their present form is not known. A Jewish tradition ascribes the work to Jeremiah ; while others attri- bute it to Isaiah, and still others to Ezra. Space would not permit a full discussion of the subject here ; nor, indeed, would this be a suitable place for such a discussion. In the original the two Books of Kings formed only one book, as was the case also with the Bookf of Samuel ; the di\dsion being made in each case by the translators who prepared the Septuagint, or old Greek version. These transla- tors gave the title Books of Reigns, or Kingdoms, to the works known in modern versions as the Books of Samuel and Books of Kings, the latter forming the third and fourth books of the series. It would have been a more artistic sub-division had they arranged the Kings in three books, corresponding to the three periods covered by the events described : —1, narrating the history of the reign of Solo- mon ; 2, the histories of the separated kingdoms of Judah and Israel ; 3, the history of Judah, after the disruption of Israel. The historical credibility and value of the Books of Kings is attested by strong external and internal evidence, and they have in all ages been regarded as strictly canonical both by the Jewish and the Christian churches, (The absence of notes on this extract and the one immediately following it will be readily excused by those who do not beHeve that the Bible should be made the vehicle for the communicatior of secular knowledge in the school-room.) — 2 ISAIAB. ISAIAH. Invitation.—Extract 11., page 39. In'roduefory ^k<-tcli.—^Nothing is reaiiy known, much liaa been it r;or.iouslj conjectured about the parentage and history of Isaiah, the first in order of the four Greater Projahets. Even his personabty has been denied by some writers, who would have it that the l)ook of Isaiah is merely a compilation of isolated and scat- tered prophecies, collected and arranged during the Captivity at Babylon. This position has been vigorously and successfully at- tacked by Hengstenberg, Lee, Jahn, and others ; but we cannot here discuss the merits of the question. He prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah ; and from the fre- quency of his predictions concerning the Messiah, he has beoji called tho Evangelical prophet. A Je\\ash tradition asserts that he was sawTi asunder by order of Manasseh ; but, needless to say, the story is a very doubtful one, and ia fact we know as little of the manner of his death as we do of his mode of life. His style is marked by the absence of all straining after effect, but is lofty and well sustained throughout, possessing in its perfection all the har- mony and grace of the old-time Hebrew poetry. Pre-eminent among the sacred poets of antiquity are Job, David, and Isaiah ; Job excelling in strength of description, and David in tenderness, while Isaiah transcends not only these but all other poets in sub- limity. In many respects he resembles Homer; but even Homer is far surpassed in dignity and grandeur, both of conception and expression, by the Hebrew poet. Com^jaring the writings of the four Greater Prophets, we observe that Jeremiah is distinguished by the yearning tenderness and plaintive melody with which he treats subjects of a mournful, elegiac character; Ezekiel blazes forth Avith an uncommon energy and ardour, denouncing God's judgments with a fiery earnestness too truculent to admit of poetic grace and elegance; Daniel pours forth his soul in humble prayer, and offers the pious thanks of a grateful heart in language of tlifl utmost plainness and directness ; Isaiah chooses magnificent themes, and clothes his grand ideas in n majestic diction peculiar to him- self.