DAWN OF LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 64, 4 August 1914, Page 4

DAWN OF LITERATURE.

AN ENTERTAINING LECTURE. If the Rev. 11. J. Lewis has for the > object of llris coui'ao of lectures at the' Technical College an attempt to fit thci people of New IVyniouth to rebut thttcharge /.bat JScw Zca.Uiideio have iwig literary appreciation, he could have chosen no better gambit than Ihis Jeo»J toe on "The Duwn of Literature" with: which he opened his courwe at the Coi- " lege last night. The- lecture was {riven 1 fiee, with the object of bringing the'' course before the public, but unfortu-1 nately -was not very well attended. * Possibly the somewhat unpleasant Svcather conditions, combined with thjr fact that the lecture as iixed at an hour latliei earlieis* than is "usual, was responsible for tiMs, There is no doubt that the lecture on its merits deserved a large ittendance, and that the course should prove both popular and instructive. Mr. Lewi>, in his treatment of the subject, contrived to instil into it soma of Shis own enthusiastic appreciation of' the joys of literatm-. He handled hislecture with the touch of a maatei and opened up new and undivim-d fields of vision.

Mr, Lewis, in his preliminary rentalka,> stated that tine object of literary lectures was to foster and cultivate tlis elevating elements in human life. He' who had not been presented to the, freedom of literature had not yet awsikened from his pre-natal sleep, for liters ature was a record in the most appropriate language of the best thoughts from the best minds. It was; life translated into language, and led its Mower from the plains of dullness to the heights of awakening interest. EngljjjJt, literature hucl been said to have begun: 1300 years in the old sea and war Bcngs of the nation,, but its origin was really as indefinable as the source of the Thames : n the Cotswold hills, It aiming hlce that river from many sources, from Irdia, Gnece, Borne, and the Far East, Homer was its well head, and was to all ;r HTitfT= wliai th - .Amazon was to all other river®. Th'e date of his birth was unknown, but it was at least certain that he composed and sang at least 600 years 8.0. His charm l»y largely .'n his infinite variety, in his passionate fire, and tender pathos, yet withal uis leaven of kindly fbumor. Homer's Tlliad was the Greek Bible Another of his ctilarms was hi» intense humanity l . There "were four theme" of which the world would never tire tilde chivalrous lovie of man for woman woman's! tender affection for man, th: pining l of an exile for his native land and the love of a patriot fw his eoun try, and with all tihese tlremes Home: dealt asi only a master could do it. lir Lewis dealt in an ijluminativo manne with the various phases of human feel ing embodied in Homer's Uliad from th fall of Troy and the death of Hecto to the tender bedside scenes which fol lewed. ffe tMrew the light of abundan knowledge on the Odyssey with its Stor of Penelope's faithfulness uuintaine' for years until the bending of the boi o c her husband Ulysses by the returne hero himself. Forsaking Homer, h turned to the Book of Job, wlhich h said was ore o' the oldest in the worl and tlio ooblest short poem cvot wril ten. He illuminated with trerahan analysis the wonderful story of Jo standing forth triumphant as the rihlan pion of the perfect faith before th challenge cf the author of evil andbcai ing out :n his nobV endurance of ever bodily and mental affliction the prou boast of Jdhiovah that, here was a una who could endure for his faith in t3i goodnesds of God. Mrl Lewis' treatmen o f this section of hia subject was ei peciatyy mastuly.' The next phase i the dawn of English said M Lewis, came after an interval of lOC years, with VirgK, born 70 years B.C and embodying t!hte great liiik <betwee the ancient and modern. He wrote tl Enead, which was the Latin Odysse; Then came Dante 1200 years lateT, prt duct of the richest and ripest eultui of Florence; whose lofty genius mad him one of the three poet* of the ag The streams of literature from the! springs to England by a channel cut b the disco vary of the long-lost old mam scripts, and the invention of printin Then came Chaucer, the first great po< and storv-teller of England, and. E' munid Spencer, a dreamer of imimorti dreams. Last came Jrililn Bunvai unique in his lock of erudite lenov ledge, which did not hinder the ur< drction oi a book 1 of striking virilif and originality. With all these phas< in the dawn of literature, Mr, Lew dealt in a manner of which tiWe confim of a brief report preclude an tulequaf description., but which could' not fa to impress liis hearers witih the p® sibijities of tin course -of lectures wJiic fcc offers,