CRITICISING AND JUDGING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3763, 7 August 1883, Page 4

CRITICISING AND JUDGING.

(Philadelphia Ledger.) It is somewhat singular that, although all persons are willing to admit that there are many things they cannot do, and many things they cannot comprehend, very few ; are willing' to admit that thei-o is anything they cannot criticise. If criticism merely means picking flaws and finding fault, it is certainly' an easy task, considering that nothing is perfect; but if wo arc to accept the definition given by the best authorities, as " the art of judging," a certain reticence in its indulgence would bo highly becoming. In order to judge with even tolerable fairness of any article we examine, or any achievement we witness, or any character wo discuss, we must have a good understanding of what constitutes its value—that is, wo must be able to realise its purpose in the world, and to discover how far it fulfils that purpose. Thus, although a man may not understand the process by which a piece of cloth is made, he may know so well the uses to which it is to be applied, and be so keen in discriminating by sight and touch how far it is calculated to accomplish those uses, that we rightly call him a good judge of the cloth and able to criticise it. If he should essay to criticise a horse, a book, or a picture, however, he may bo utterly nnfit fur the task, because he lacks one or both of these qualifications in those particular directions. Yet in the voluminous, hasty and loose criticism of people and things that we are always reading or hearing, how little of either of these capabilities do we find ! Who that has listened thoughtfully to the various remarks made in ;i picture gallery, or after a concert, lecture, or play, is not aware that at least nine-tenths of them betray only a .superficial acquaintance with the thought of the artist or speaker, and but little discernment as to how thought has been carried out r The same is true in the continual criticism we hear npon people and their doings. Characters arc pronounced upon with the utmost glibness, acts denounced, motives assigned, qualities, good and bad, distributed with an assumption of certainty that shows an utter unfitness for the task. Those who cannot in the least fathom the spirit of the one they describe, who have no sympathy with his aims, no penetration into his"thoughts, no knowledge of his temptations or influences, or weaknesses, will yet unhesitatingly criticise his character and his actions without a blush for their audacity. It may be objected that if we are to wait until we are in this sense competent to criticise, avc shall never express any opinion at all. It is true there are very fuw subjects upon even -which the wisest among us have the means of forming a just and true judgment. It is just in those few that the statements made arc the most careful and guarded. The more we truly know on the merits of a question, the more anxious we arc to convey only a truthful idea to others; the less wo know, as a general thing , , the more license we give our tongues. Yet the fact that wo are unable to judge fully of anything, while it should make us modest, and even reticent, need not seal our lips concerning it. Opinions we must have, though they bo incorrect ; impressions we must receive, though they may be delusive, and if wo utter them, not as a final and authoritative decision, but simply as our own impressions or opinions, subject to change, if more light can bo thrown on them, and given only for what they may be worth, we shall not oit'end against truth or modesty. It is the arrogant assumption of certaintj-, the unqualified decision, the positive declaration that such and such things are so, when all that we have any right to affirm is that they appear so to our present view, that constitute unjust and unwarrantable criticism. There is another point to observe in those numerous cases where our powers are too limited to attain full certainty, which is always to lay the emphasis on the good rather than the evil. Both exist in everything and in every person, and either can be found by diligentseareh. But he whofixes In.-) eyes upon the good and holds it up to the view of others, gets muck nearer the truth -than lie who emphasises the evil. Just as a man would give a false impression of an orchard, who looked only upon the ground where the premature and wormeaten fruit had fallen and described only what lie had thus seen, so airyonc who looks only at the defects, foibles, and imperfections of the world, or of his own nation, or community, or family, though ho may describe exactly what he sees, sacrifices the real truth. Although from our limitations wo cannot possess the whole truth concerning anything, however, small, wo can decide whether to welcome the better or the worse ; though we may not be able to present to others a full estimate of it we can choose on which part to dwell. The good preponderates in reality, let it preponderate in our thoughts and in our words; it lives and grows by its own vitality ; let us also nourish that growth by bringing it into the clear air of human vision and the warm atmosphere of human sympathy.